“I look fantastic,” Chen says smugly from where he’s admiring himself in the mirror sitting in the corner of his room.

D.O. rolls his eyes, shrugging on his dress robes that had previously been lying on his bed, all neatly ironed and hand-sewn.

And since he had had extra material when he had finished, D.O. had also, very graciously he might add, made a set of dress robes for Xiumin as a thank you for not asking too many questions when D.O. had asked him to help smuggle cupcakes to the Slytherin common room that first night in the library.

D.O. had dropped off the robes at the Hufflepuff common room yesterday, a short note scrawled on a piece of parchment that was stuck to the package.

D.O. hopes Xiumin likes black.

Chen strikes a pose in front of the mirror just as D.O. looks up from fixing his tie.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Chen starts dramatically, “I give you the magical, the suave, the daring…”

He pauses for effect as D.O. watches him expressionless, wondering silently how he managed to become best friend with such a weirdo.

Chen smirks at his reflection, raising one eyebrow before he finishes his sentence.

“Kim Jongdae the Magnificent, otherwise known as Chen the y.”

D.O. chokes on air.

“What?” Chen asks innocently, turning to look at his friend, before his eyes widen. “Woah, D.O., you look good.”

D.O. blushes, not used to receiving compliments from his trickster friend.

Chen continues, oblivious to D.O.’s red cheeks.

“I mean, hot damn, you are going to turn some heads tonight. I swear, Kai’s going to fall over and die or something, because-“

D.O. squawks in indignation, because he’s still fretting about their solo performances, and Chen laughs, hugging his friend quickly.

“I’m just kidding,” he says against D.O.’s shoulder, and D.O. smiles in return, arms wrapping around Chen’s waist to return the hug.

“You look good too,” D.O. admits, because Chen does look dashing in his midnight blue robes he had received from his parents, both of them employees of the Ministry of Magic, a few weeks ago.

“I know,” Chen says teasingly, and D.O. slaps his arm as a response.

“Come on Kim Jongdae the Magnificent,” D.O. says, pulling away and grabbing Chen’s wrist to pull him out the door, despite Chen’s complaining that he hadn’t even got to use his hair gel yet. “Let’s go find Xiumin and see what he thinks of your dress robes.”

D.O. muffles his giggles against his palm as Chen sputters behind him.

“I’m going to die,” Kai wails melodramatically from where he’s lying face-down on the floor, looking like a blob of pink and frills.

Tao wrinkles his nose in disgust at the garbled sounds coming from Kai’s mostly still figure, except for the occasional banging of his fists on the floor, which makes him look like a five year-old throwing a tantrum.

“Shut up Kai,” Tao complains, rubbing his temples. “You’re giving me headache and no amount of crying is going to change what you’re wearing.”

Kai lifts his face up from the floor, glaring at Tao through swollen eyes, his nose an unnatractive shade of red.

“You shut up,” he shoots back, wiping a hand under his nose, and Tao recoils, curling his legs underneath him on the bed so that he looks like some kind of dignified house cat. “It’s not like you’re going to the Winter Formal wearing dress robes that should belong to your sister!”

“I think you look adorable,” Sehun offers meekly from the other side of the room where he’s helping Kris with his tie because Kris can’t seem to figure out that tying a tie does not involve just making a knot with the fabric.

It’s a wonder he hasn’t choked himself yet.

Kai doesn’t even bother responding to Sehun, only taking the time to give him a withering look before planting his face back into the floor to mope.

Sehun sighs and finishes with Kris’s tie, stepping back to look at him.

“There, you’re done,” he says, patting Kris on the arm.

Kris shoots Sehun a grateful smile before moving to sit next to Tao on the bed, the two of them automatically leaning closer to each other, and Sehun frowns, a question flitting through his mind.

But it’s gone before he can think more about it because Kai is getting to his feet, hands moving to wipe at his cheeks, eyes narrowed at all three of his friends.

“Okay,” he says, placing his hands on his hips, which makes him look more girly, and Kris snorts, making Kai pause and look dangerously contemplative, as if he’s wondering what the best method would be to kill Kris later.

“Shut up Kris,” Sehun pipes in, sitting down on a nearby chair. “What were you going to say Kai?”

Kai takes a deep breath, crossing his arms over his chest instead, and looks at all of them.

“If you guys are going to laugh, I suggest you do it now, before we get to the Winter Formal, because I am not going to be made fun of by my friends along with the rest of the school, so let’s get all of the amusement out now please, so I can suffer in severe humiliation in peace later.”

Everyone blinks at Kai, Tao’s mouth curling up dangerously, but Sehun jumps up quickly, wanting to save the situation.

He feels bad for Kai, but it’s not like the dress robes look bad on him. Sure, they’re a little girly with the color and the ruffles and the lace, but they fit him well and, honestly, even though Sehun would never ever admit it to his best friend, Kai looks good in pretty much everything.

“No one’s going to laugh at you,” Sehun says, and Tao opens his mouth.

“Actually, I-,” Tao starts, but Sehun aims a well-placed kick to his leg that’s hanging off of the bed, and Tao yelps, the rest of his sentence lost.

“Hey,” Kris protests as Tao looks at him with tearful eyes, and Kris places a protective arm around Tao’s shoulders.

Sehun pauses, an earlier thought coming back to him, and he gives Kris and Tao a thoughtful look, forgetting about Kai’s predicament for the moment.

“Do you two have something to tell us?” Sehun asks, and Kai makes a disgruntled noise behind him.

“Excuse me,” Kai says, moving to stand by Sehun, “but we were kind of focused on my impending doom the last time I checked. Not on Tao’s weird for Kris.”

Tao lets out a sound that’s half-surprised, half-angry, and Sehun glances over at Kai.

“Sorry,” he apologizes, forgetting about Kris and Tao again. “Anyways, none of us are going to laugh at you Kai. Just go and enjoy the formal. Who cares what everybody else thinks?”

Kai pauses, thinking about Sehun’s words.

Then he pouts.

“But what about Cupcake?”

Sehun facepalms.

“I don’t even know who that is Kai,” he says, exasperated. “But if he really likes you, than he won’t care.”

Kai nods, and then smiles, seeming to brighten up instantly.

Sehun sighs internally with relief.

“By the way,” Kai starts, “you all look really good too.”

Tao leans back on his hands. “Duh,” is all he says.

Sehun looks at them all as well. They do look good, he has to