A/N: Johnny/Mark. (What the flub is their ship name??) Warning for underage, but no and... Warning for house hate? I guess?

Attitudes towards Slytherin had always been skewed, but an influx of house mixing in recent years had been doing them a lot of favours. There were still a few Gryffindors with a bone to pick and some Hufflepuffs who couldn't help being intimidated, but the Ravenclaws had never batted an eyelash and it seemed the rest of the school was catching up to that.

It was sort of unavoidable really, when you had couples like Mark and Johnny around.

Mark was one of those Gryffindors that was almost universally well-liked, who'd always made an effort to help out whenever he could and who had so much positive and restless energy that every club wanted him and every club got him. He was popular, to say the least.

Johnny, on the other hand, was a pretty typical Slytherin. He was marked by his ambitions, good-looking for the sake of being good-looking and he had a tongue as sharp as broken glass. But there was no denying his love for Mark.

Johnny aimed high and most of the time he succeeded, but there were plenty of other times where his attempts fell just a little short and it was at those times when he would fumble and panic and completely lose his chic image and Mark would respond by doubling over in a fit of giggles and Johnny would stare at him, abashed and a bit judgemental, but with eyes gone soft and warm as if Mark were the most precious being in all of creation.

There were other times too, when Mark was busy with some or another activity and Johnny would sit to the side and just smile and watch him; or when Mark's laces came undone and Johnny would tut and shake his head, but still crouch down to tie them.

A more memorable incident was when someone (Yuta) enchanted Mark's potions book to fly around the common room ceiling and Mark and Johnny spent twenty minutes jumping and even having Mark climb onto Johnny's shoulders chasing it until DoYoung had walked in and simply accio-ed it into his hand.

Embarrassed, they'd looked, gob-smacked at each other until DoYoung left and then they'd collapsed, laughing and laughing until their stomachs ached.

They'd grown up together, next door neighbors four years apart and practically inseperable, except for the first two years where Johnny had been at Hogwarts ahead of Mark and that tenderness and familiarity showed.

They were a sweet pair and no one could refute the gentle warmth and fond teasing that Johnny showed to his darling boyfriend, regardless of Slytherin this or Gryffindor that. It did a lot to help ease the sorting stigma.

It also helped that their entire friend group was mixed: Yuta and SiCheng in Slytherin with Johnny; DoYoung and HaeChan in Hufflepuff; TaeYong and JaeHyun in Gryffindor with Mark and, finally, Ten and TaeIl in Ravenclaw.

(Of all of them, SiCheng's green and silver scarf always inspired the most surprise and disbelief... At least until people saw how he had everyone, especially TaeYong, wrapped around his little pinkie. Then they understood.)