I’m glad you guys are comfortable enough around us to be doing that. NOT. The words appeared in green ink on the page of Sungyeol’s Charms textbook he was reading, Woohyun’s handwriting scrawling over his own hastily-jotted-down notes in the margins.

Sungyeol grinned inwardly, getting out his own Lettering quill in order to answer. He was lying on the L-shaped couch they’d transfigured from the old desks and chairs in their usual empty classroom, propped up against Myungsoo’s side such that his feet pointed straight at Woohyun and Dongwoo on the other limb of the couch. Myungsoo chose right then to wriggle his left arm out from behind Sungyeol’s back to drape it across his chest, probably more for Myungsoo’s own comfort more than anything –

BARF
BARF
BARF

appeared on Sungyeol’s page.

Jealous! Sungyeol wrote back, muttering ‘mittite Woohyun’ under his breath and seeing the words fade off his own page in order to appear on Woohyun’s.

No, disgusted. If I’d known you two were going to be so gross around each other I’d never have come to this ‘study session’.

It’s not even like we’re making out!

I will kill you both and drop you in the Black Lake if you start doing that

what are you both lettering about? leaving me out :(

I’m just telling Yeol how I’m going to need to wash out my eyeballs after all these public displays of affection.

YOU BOTH ARE SO CUTE I CAN’T STAND IT!!!

See, Woohyun, Dongwoo thinks we’re cute.

That’s because Dongwoo is a fat little baby puppy wrapped up in cotton candy wrapped up in hearts and cupids and chocolate. Of course he’d find your disgustingness cute.

HAHAH

was i just insulted? i can’t tell.

Just because your soul is a black hole, Woohyun…

Dongwoo if you ever finally score with that ravenclaw and start doing this with her in front of me too I’m going to kill everybody.

I think you need to get laid.

Look at this loser talking about getting laid like everyone in here isn’t a .

have you guys kissed yet? :DDDD

I DON’T WANT TO KNOW

You are the biggest liar on earth, Woohyun. And no, we haven’t :(

We’ll get going then! Leave you two alone so you guys can go do whatever sickeningly mushy things you want to do. BYEEE

woohyun after that massive sulkfest you were in last week cos yeol wasn’t paying enough attention to you now you want yeol to spend time with myungsoo over you?

THANK YOU DONGWOO. Woohyun, your reply?

…Maybe I really do need to get a girlfriend.

But guys, seriously, he’s nice, right? you like him?

i’ve always liked him!

Of course, Yeol.

“What are you guys doing?” asked Myungsoo, amused at how the three of them were trying to look innocent, Lettering quills held obviously in their hands and still on the same page in their books they were at nearly ten minutes ago.

“Gossipping about me?” He teased, enjoying the uncomfortable look of deer-caught-in-the-headlights on Sungyeol’s face. “It’s time to go, anyway. Dinner’s going to be soon.”

The three of them packed up gratefully, wondering why none of them were better at lying. Myungsoo didn’t seem put out, though – even though they’d clearly been talking about something to do with him he seemed to take it on faith that they weren’t leaving him out on purpose and hadn’t demanded to know what they’d been talking about. Every day, something new to endear Myungsoo to him further, Sungyeol thought.

“You can ask Luna and Junghwan to come study with us, too,” Sungyeol told Myungsoo as they prepared to part at the stairs, Dongwoo nudging Woohyun ahead first so that they could have a moment before they separated for the day. “I mean, I should probably meet them. I promise to charm their socks off.”

“Oh, um,” Myungsoo began, but Sungyeol had already seen the immediate reluctance in his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t… told them… yet.”

“Why?” Sungyeol asked, Myungsoo again doing that thing when he was uneasy where he looked at everything but Sungyeol. “Where do they think you’re going everyday?”

“I mean, they know I’ve become friends with you guys,” Myungsoo said hurriedly. “And I’ve said I’ve been needing quiet time to study, but I don’t know if they suspect anything.”

“Myungsoo,” Sungyeol said firmly, making Myungsoo look at him. “You haven’t answered me. Why haven’t you told them?”

Myungsoo looked miserable. “I don’t know if they’ll take it well,” he replied, looking for all the world like he wanted to take his words back.

“You mean they’re – because I’m a boy? They’re your friends, Myungsoo, I’m sure they will understand.”

“They’ve never said anything against it,” Myungsoo tried to explain. “But – they’ve never said anything about them being okay with relationships like this, either. And Junghwan really doesn’t like it when I try to hug him and stuff – I don’t know. They’re my closest friends, they mean so much to me.”

“Don’t I mean something to you?” Sungyeol frowned, stung. Myungsoo’s eyes widened at that, and he reached out immediately for Sungyeol.

“I didn’t mean –“

“So you want to keep me a secret from them?” Sungyeol knew he was being unfair and the horrified look on Myungsoo’s face at Sungyeol’s offended tone made him feel like a total bastard, but his pride had latched on to the fact that Myungsoo would rather keep their relationship hidden than tell his own best friends – how long was this supposed to go on? He couldn’t stop himself from feeling that it had to be because he was simply less important; he had braved his own best friend’s jealousy to be with Myungsoo, and he told himself he didn’t care who else found out. His heart sank, something bitter taking its place.

“I’m going to tell them! Just not yet, please, I have to think about how to do it-”

“And if they can’t accept it?” Sungyeol asked quietly, hurt always making him try to hurt back. “You’ll stop seeing me?” Sungyeol could almost taste the rejection in his mouth.

“I never said that, Sungyeol,” Myungsoo pleaded. “Try to understand. Not everybody has friends like you do.” Myungsoo sent him one last long look of disappointment and turned to leave, effectively ending the conversation.

Sungyeol watched Myungsoo until he disappeared down the stairs, the chaos in his head underlined by insistent guilt he tried to ignore.

*

The day of the Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor game dawned bright – one of those days where the air smelled amazing and just being out in the crisp sunshine was enough to lift your spirits. It was the antithesis to everything Sungyeol was feeling – his footsteps towards the Quidditch pitch couldn’t have been more leaden.

He hadn’t spoken to Myungsoo since their quarrel four days ago, doing everything he hated Woohyun to do to him when they were in a fight; his pride being the main stumbling block. Every time he thought of contacting Myungsoo to apologise or talk about it – and he’d thought about it a lot – all it took was the thought that he wasn’t as important to Myungsoo as his friends ; and he did nothing.

He went through his warmup and drills clinically. His heart was so far from being in it that this long-awaited game, so looked-forward to because he’d be flying with Myungsoo – he hadn’t even thought about it as flying against Myungsoo – now was the last thing he wanted to do.

He saw Woohyun among the early birds in the stands on the Gryffindor side, sitting alone for once.

“Woohyun,” he called from the air, and Woohyun gave him a wave back. “Where’s Dongwoo?”

Woohyun gave him a look, and Sungyeol found he already knew the answer. “He is a Hufflepuff, Yeol.” And he’s mad at you, so there’s no way he’d cheer for you over his own house, anyway.

Dongwoo being angry with you was like your favourite chocolate tasting bitter in your mouth, or a loyal puppy you’ve known all your life refusing to let you pet it – unthinkable up to the point it happens, and thereafter wholly disconcerting and depressing. He’d demanded to know why Myungsoo had become extra quiet and broody, refusing Dongwoo’s invitations to breakfast or conversation; and when Sungyeol had tried to defend himself Dongwoo had just given him this long stare that showed everything he felt about the matter.

“Dongwoo, try to see it my way. He doesn’t even want-”

“Yeol, shut up.”

Sungyeol’s eyes widened, and he sat down involuntarily on the stone bench nearby from surprise. He had never, ever heard Dongwoo use that tone on anyone.

“I’m going to tell you something about Myungsoo and his friends that I probably should have told you earlier, so you better listen. When Myungsoo was in first year he was really quiet. You think he’s quiet now? Nothing compared to when he was eleven. I made friends really easily, but he didn’t. I tried talking to him a few times but he was so shy and so awkward that after a while I thought he just didn’t want to be friends with me, which was fine. But then he found Luna and Junghwan – and he just seemed to blossom, or something. He started smiling a lot more, and talking in class. I even heard him laugh for the first time only after he started being friends with them. Those three are some of the seriously nicest people I’ve ever known – I’m not close with them, because I’ve got you and Woohyun, but honestly? I would like to be. Everybody should be friends with them, but that’s not the point. When Myungsoo’s dad got sick two – no, three years ago-”

“Wait, what’s wrong with his dad?”

Dongwoo paused. “He didn’t tell you?”

Sungyeol shook his head, feeling out of his depth. Woohyun was right, he didn’t really know Myungsoo at all.

“He should tell you that, not me. I only know because he disappeared for two weeks in the middle of the semester and everybody ends up knowing one another’s drama in Hufflepuff, our year’s batch was so small. But anyway, bottomline: they pulled him through it. Everyone could see how they basically stuck to him like glue during that time, he was never without at least one of them. He looked half-dead most days, but they helped him. And here you are, making him choose between them and you?”

“I never said I wanted him to choose!” Sungyeol protested.

“That’s what you’re doing, Yeol. You’re not giving him time to think of how to break the news to them, and you’re basically not giving him any options. You more or less ordered him to tell them, and if they can’t accept it, too bad for them, because you are clearly more important.”

Sungyeol’s frowned as he let that revelation sink in slowly, waves of shame from Dongwoo’s words prompting him to try to salvage some face. “If they’re such great friends as you say why is Myungsoo so scared to tell them? It shouldn’t even be an issue.”

“Maybe it isn’t, but Myungsoo doesn’t know that,” Dongwoo replied, as if explaining to a young child. “He obviously isn’t sure what they think about two boys together, and so he’s scared. If he lost them Myungsoo would just die, Sungyeol. You’re different – you are you no matter what and you don’t really care what other people think most of the time. You can’t expect him to be the same.”

Sungyeol looked up at Dongwoo, trying to make his regret show as much as possible on his face. “Why am I so stupid?”

“It’s your temper,” Dongwoo said, getting up to leave. “You don’t think things through, you just react.”

Sungyeol half-got up to follow Dongwoo back to the castle, but Dongwoo started walking away without a look back – Sungyeol sat down again, stunned. He’d thought that Dongwoo wouldn’t be angry anymore after their talk; clearly he had more making up to do than just looking penitent.

Myungsoo looked straight ahead when it was finally time for the lineup before the whistle, the stands full to bursting with excited students and earsplitting roars of lion hats from the Gryffindor side. The Hufflepuffs had brought their brass band with them, so the Red lions roared to the Huff clash of cymbals and blasts of their trumpets, and for the first time, Sungyeol found all the noise annoying, frustrating in their obstruction of his thoughts. Myungsoo didn’t look at him even casually, although Sungyeol thought he had to be able to feel the weight of Sungyeol’s stare on his face. Look at me, Myungsoo, look at me. He’d thought of sending Myungsoo an apology note early in the morning so he’d get it the moment he woke up, but decided it would be better to try to talk to him personally before the game; he should have known Myungsoo wouldn’t give him that opportunity. It wasn’t that Myungsoo was stubborn, but – no, actually, Myungsoo was just that stubborn.

Sungyeol forced himself to get his head in the game. They’d talk when everything was over, and he’d show Myungsoo how sorry he was and if he was lucky Myungsoo would forgive him and wouldn’t think he was hopeless. Right now, he had to focus. It wouldn’t do to drop points just because of his own private conflicts; he owed that to his team, even if it meant scoring points against Myungsoo. Sungyeol grimaced. If he looked like he was trying really hard to score would Myungsoo take it as some sort of affront?

Harry was in position next to him this time, again looking nervous to the point of throwing up. It really didn’t help that Myungsoo’s face was set in one of his intense stares, dark eyes seeming to look right through Harry; Sungyeol saw Harry gulp.

The whistle blew, and the game began.

Hufflepuff, it became clear after half an hour or so, was having a really bad day; Gryffindor’s points on the scoreboard leapt into the hundreds after only twenty minutes, while Hufflepuff’s stayed in the double digits well after Gryffindor had easily broken three hundred. Sungyeol didn’t know if Darius was just having the game of his life and defending his heart out or the Hufflepuff chasers had taken bribes to throw the game – and then immediately realized the absurdity of his thoughts; it was Hufflepuff, not Ravenclaw or Slytherin – but whatever it was, Sungyeol was starting to get panicky. Myungsoo was combing the pitch with a single-minded determination, and as the points gap got larger the more desperate the cries aimed at Myungsoo from the Hufflepuff stands became. Sungyeol didn’t want to help thrash Hufflepuff – he’d already made eight scores – because he was pretty sure the path to reconciliation would be a lot smoother if Myungsoo didn’t have to bear the burden of finding the snitch too late to save the game, or worse, not finding the snitch at all. Hufflepuff or not, Myungsoo took Quidditch rather personally.

And then Sungyeol saw it – the tiny golden wings fluttering from the corner of his eye. The snitch was hovering near the middle Hufflepuff goal, but Harry was at the other end of the pitch; Myungsoo, however, was only thirty metres away, looking in the opposite direction; Sungyeol was torn, horrified at himself at even the thought of betraying his own team in order to help matters with Myungsoo. It wasn’t as if there was any way he could try to communicate with Myungsoo to let him know where the snitch was, anyway – he couldn’t call out to him, and he couldn’t do it by magic; he supposed he could have turned Myungsoo’s broom around if he had his wand with him, but the players and their brooms were all enchanted with a full-body version of a self-renewing Finite Incantatem spell so that they couldn’t be bewitched during play. He couldn’t break formation to go to Myungsoo, either, because apart from Darius noticing (Darius noticed everything) the whole stadium would too, and despite his own claims to the contrary he wasn’t ready to have the whole school talking about how the Gryffindor chaser had gone to talk to the Hufflepuff seeker in the middle of the game which led to the Huff seeker finding the snitch immediately afterwards. Maybe he could try to whack the snitch over to Myungsoo with his broom if he could think of a way to make it inconspicuous enough –

The quaffle literally flew past his face, Sungyeol blinking at the sound of exasperated shouts from Angie who had thrown it to him to catch. Sungyeol tried to keep up, turning around to see if he could still intercept it, but it was too late. The Hufflepuff keeper had got it, and it was already in the possession of the Hufflepuff chasers, racing towards the Gryffindor goals. However, one good thing had come out of Sungyeol’s mistake; Myungsoo had seen the glinting of gold, his face lighting up as he streaked towards it. He was a blur of yellow and black lightning as he chased the snitch, the little ball trying to escape as fast as it could; but Harry noticed Myungsoo’s sudden speed as had the screaming crowd, and was racing his way over to him. Sungyeol for the first time felt less than charitable towards their new seeker, huge green eyes notwithstanding.

Hufflepuff stood at 170, Gryffindor 320. The best Hufflepuff could hope for was a draw; the worst would be their most humiliating loss in years.

Myungsoo and Harry were almost neck and neck, Myungsoo with an advantage of several inches over the first year and therefore closer to the snitch – but Harry flew like he didn’t care if he ended up in the infirmary, pushing closer to Myungsoo and crouching as if he wasn’t beyond launching himself off his broom and at the snitch if he needed to. The Huff chasers took this moment of distraction to try to score, and Sungyeol and the beaters were screamed into action by Kyung. The cheers that erupted throughout the stadium as Sungyeol and Angie executed a Woollonggong Shimmy to block the Hufflepuff chaser going for goal high above the drama unfolding below filled Sungyeol with heart-thumping apprehension – did Harry beat Myungsoo to it?

He looked down to see Myungsoo racing victoriously ahead with the snitch held high to unbridled celebrations on the Hufflepuff side, Harry slumping behind Myungsoo as his speed cooled off, and Sungyeol didn’t know whether to feel happy or upset. They hadn’t lost, anyway – they were tied now, and Myungsoo had gotten the snitch first; Sungyeol supposed that all in all things had rather ended on the plus side.

Until Darius called them all in for a debriefing that lasted nearly two hours, spending no small amount of those two hours berating Sungyeol for missing Angie’s throw because if he’d caught the quaffle and made the goal Gryffindor could have won the game, if only by ten points. Sungyeol stayed quiet, accepting responsibility for his carelessness; there wasn’t anything he could say in his defence, as he doubted trying to explain that his boyfriend being happy was more important at the moment than a win this early in the season would have held any water with Darius.

There it was – he’d finally let himself think it. Boyfriend. Myungsoo, my boyfriend. It was still weird to him, booyyffrrieeendd, but the more he thought about it the more he liked it. Not that Myungsoo was, yet, in reality; Sungyeol had no idea if he had to formally ask Myungsoo to be his boyfriend or if things would just naturally slide into boyfriend territory after a while – Sungyeol gave up. It was too complicated.

“Sungyeol, are you even listening to me?” Darius demanded, and Sungyeol tried his best to feign serious attention. Darius went on to increase their training to four times a week now because their next game was Slytherin and they couldn’t afford another repeat performance of today, even if they’d been way ahead on points the majority of the game. Harry looked miserable, a fact that hadn’t escaped Darius – he still told Harry he was expecting better from now on if Harry didn’t want them all to think his first win was just a fluke.

Sungyeol sent Harry a sympathetic look as he hurried out of the locker room, Darius’ debriefing finally over. The pitch was empty as expected, and he was stumped for a moment as to where he could find Myungsoo. If he was in the Hufflepuff basement celebrating with the others there was no telling when he’d be out, and Sungyeol didn’t want to drag him away from his friends at dinner – he decided to chance it and send Myungsoo a note. If he didn’t reply or wasn’t free to meet up now then Sungyeol would just try again after dinner, and again and again until he answered. He looked at his depleting store of enchanted message notes – he sure was spending a lot of them on misunderstandings with Myungsoo.

Sungyeol hurried to their meeting place – he had come to think of the classroom as theirs – and quickly scribbled two notes, one to Woohyun telling him where he’d been for the past two hours and where he was now, and the other to Myungsoo, asking him to meet him in their spot so that he could apologise. The two notes fluttered off, Sungyeol sending a speeding charm after them to make sure they didn’t take their own sweet time getting to their intended recipients. He tucked his wand back into his robes and settled down to wait for Myungsoo. He was prepared to grovel – he wasn’t too proud to beg when he was so clearly in the wrong; he at least had that going for him. He gave himself a mental reminder to thank Dongwoo for setting him straight – and for being so supportive the entire way, actually. Being enthusiastic about Myungsoo, warning him about Woohyun getting jealous, and now bothering to help explain why Sungyeol was being such a massive idiot even though technically it didn’t really affect him if Sungyeol and Myungsoo worked things out or not – Dongwoo really was an amazing friend.

Sungyeol was still choosing the exact words to use to apologise to Myungsoo when the door opened quietly, Myungsoo slipping into the room.

“I left the Hufflepuff team celebration for this,” Myungsoo faced him squarely, don’t waste my time going unsaid.

Sungyeol’s head snapped up, and everything he’d prepared to say flew out the window. He stood up to make his way over to where Myungsoo was standing with his arms crossed by the door, Myungsoo’s expectant eyes never leaving him.

“I’m sorry,” Sungyeol said, fighting through the embarrassment he felt at his own actions. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. Take as much time as you want to tell them.”

“And if I never tell them?” Myungsoo challenged, face serious but softer.

Sungyeol forced himself to be calm and think, not react first, as Dongwoo had said. “I think that you should eventually tell them – you shouldn’t have to hide from your own best friends. But they are your friends, and you know best.” Sungyeol swallowed, not at all sure that was the right thing to say.

 “I suppose that’s an improvement,” Myungsoo said, looking quizzically at Sungyeol. “At the very least, all this is teaching us important things about each other, no?”

“Well, I hope that you see that I’m just as ready to apologise when I’m in the wrong as I am quick to say stupid things because I jump to conclusions?” Sungyeol tried. “And that while I overreact sometimes it’s usually because I care a lot about the matter at hand.”

“Why is it important to you that people know about us, Sungyeol?” Myungsoo asked, dropping his arms to adopt a more open stance, the gesture not going unnoticed by Sungyeol.

“Because… don’t get me wrong, I’m not stupid enough to think that we could broadcast this and expect everyone to be okay with it, or not care if people got nasty,” Sungyeol said slowly, “But you’re important to me. And I want the other people who are important to me to know that you are, too. I know we’re just starting out, but I’m quite sure of my feelings for you. I don’t want to hide you.”

“How can you be so sure, Sungyeol?” Myungsoo asked, grabbing the front of Sungyeol’s shirt gently in mock-frustration. “Making a relationship work is so much more complicated than liking someone.”

Sungyeol thought of the times they’d been together in the short month they’d known each other – missing Myungsoo when they were apart, genuinely enjoying their talks about everything under the sun, how he felt like he wanted to burst whenever Myungsoo touched him; they could break up next month, for all he knew. Maybe it really was all just a very powerful crush that could evaporate at any time – he couldn’t blame Myungsoo for being cautious.

“It feels right,” Sungyeol said, relying on inexplicable honesty when all else failed. “You feel right.”

Myungsoo sighed, looking at him, and finally smiled despite himself. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me on my win today?” he said, Sungyeol letting out an internal whoop that the whole thing had ended with Myungsoo still standing smiling in front of him, quite emphatically not hating Sungyeol.

“Okay,” Sungyeol said, and went for it. Myungsoo’s small surprised gasp when Sungyeol kissed him made Sungyeol’s heart flip, his arms coming around to hold Myungsoo against him so that not just their lips were touching. Myungsoo’s hands came to rest on Sungyeol’s biceps, one sliding up into Sungyeol’s hair to play with it as they kissed – Sungyeol didn’t know if it was because of Myungsoo’s nervousness that demanded an outlet through the movement of his fingers. It was slow, and new, and while the kiss itself was probably quite unremarkable as first kisses went Myungsoo still felt like his body was burning up and icy cold at the same time.

Sungyeol kissed Myungsoo with all the limited experience of his sixteen years; he knew he probably wasn’t going to win any awards for kissing, and so struggled with the need to bowl Myungsoo over in favour of exploring Myungsoo’s mouth. His lips were soft against his, and had opened readily to let Sungyeol in; the feel of Myungsoo’s breath warm against his cheek and the small ways he moved his head as they kissed and how Sungyeol knew without a doubt that his ears were flaming red near-undoing Sungyeol.

The pain when it ripped through Sungyeol was so unexpected that he had to struggle for breath as he sank to the floor, Myungsoo’s eyes flying open at Sungyeol’s strangled gasp and instinctively grabbing at his arms to try to hold him upright as his knees gave out. The spasms wracking Sungyeol’s body made Myungsoo lose his grip, Sungyeol collapsing to the floor.

“Sungyeol?” Myungsoo asked urgently, scrambling to kneel down beside Sungyeol on the floor as Sungyeol scrabbled at the stone flagstones for purchase, the other hand pressed to his stomach. Another surge of pain tore through him and Sungyeol couldn’t help the cry that fell from his lips, panting as the pressure in his abdomen grew.

Myungsoo whipped out his wand, uselessly pointing it at all four corners of the room in case someone was concealed in them. He cast spell after spell for the revelation of magic around the two of them to see if he could find out what was happening to Sungyeol, but another hoarse cry from Sungyeol made him stop and focus his attention on Sungyeol instead. His hands shaking, he tried every pain-relieving spell he knew, but when the blood began to soak through Sungyeol’s pristine school shirt the wand dropped nervelessly from Myungsoo’s fingers.

It bloomed across Sungyeol’s shirt from his collarbones right down to his thighs, Myungsoo’s terrified gaze following the dark patches as they appeared. Sungyeol’s face had gone white, one hand fisted tight into Myungsoo’s shirt.

“Get… someone…” Sungyeol ground out breathlessly, but Myungsoo was paralysed with shock and indecision. Leave Sungyeol here alone and run to get a teacher even though he had no idea where anybody was, or try somehow to bring Sungyeol with him to the infirmary? He didn’t know if he could keep a levitation charm steady at the pace they needed to move –

Woohyun opened the classroom door, poking his head in to see if Sungyeol and Myungsoo were inside; belatedly, Myungsoo registered through the haze of panic in his brain that there had been a knocking on the door for the past minute. “Sungyeol?” Woohyun was calling out, but immediately stopped short, staring at Sungyeol and Myungsoo on the floor. Dongwoo followed him, shocked cry falling from his lips as he rushed to Sungyeol’s side.

Sungyeol was almost covered in blood by then, Myungsoo’s hands too from where he had tried to staunch the flow from Sungyeol’s chest.

“Woohyun,” Myungsoo choked out, word turning into a sob.

Woohyun drew his wand and levelled it at Myungsoo, chest heaving. “Get away from him,” he said, the look on his face chilling.

“Woohyun, no,” Myungsoo held out his shaking hands, Sungyeol’s blood running slowly down his wrists. “Please, get help, he needs-”

Woohyun’s shouted Incarcerous knocked Myungsoo backwards the same time Dongwoo screamed at Woohyun to stop.

Sungyeol’s eyes fluttered closed.

*