a/n: Written for the lovely Joanna, aka bespokenboy on aff and livejournal! <3

Three Ravenclaws, Two Pranksters, and a Kiss

 “Jongdae, hurry up!” Luhan hissed as he glanced anxiously down the hallway. “Someone’s going to catch us!”

“No one is going to find us,” Jongdae scoffed as he continued to charm various objects in the classroom around him. “We know that the ghosts and teachers patrol the halls on various schedules, and that no one is going to be here at this time.”

“But still,” Luhan huffed as he peered out the classroom door. “We shouldn’t dawdle. Come on, hurry up! Haven’t you charmed nearly everything in the classroom by now?”

“Alright, alright, I’m done,” Jongdae snapped, brushing past Luhan. “Let’s go.”

“Finally,” Luhan huffed as he carefully closed the door behind him and hurried down the hall after Jongdae. “You took longer than usual.”

“And you’re unusually paranoid tonight,” Jongdae shot back as they turned the corner and stopped next to a suit of armor.

Luhan hastily tapped his wand across the stones in a spiral and a wooden door opened in the wall. Jongdae yanked it open and shoved Luhan into the passageway. He stepped through the threshold and turned back to close the door just as a black cat with yellow eyes came around the corner and stared at Jongdae. The cat meowed in alarm and its heels and streaked off into the shadows. Jongdae sighed and quietly shut the door before turning back to face Luhan. “Luhan?”

“Lumos.” A soft blue light radiated from the tip of Luhan’s wand and illuminated the stone corridor they were standing in. “Did the cat see you?”

“Yes, she’ll be calling Shindong along soon. But we know that he won’t find us here, so it’s alright.” Jongdae smirked as he and Luhan began to walk down the corridor. “Remember that time when we found out that he was a Squib?”

“Of course I remember, it was how we first met,” Luhan sighed quietly. “But really, you shouldn’t feel so smug about it, Jongdae. It must’ve been hard for Shindong while he was growing up.”

“I’m not smug about the fact that Shindong’s a Squib, I’m smug about the fact that we both sensed the prankster inside of each other,” Jongdae snickered.

“My intuition for kindred presences is one of my greatest strengths,” Luhan chuckled.

“It’s only because you get caught so often,” Jongdae rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky you found me, to be honest. You’re much stealthier now than you were four years ago.”

“We would’ve met eventually. We’re in the same House, after all.” Luhan and Jongdae reached the end of the stone tunnel and quietly opened the door at the other end. They stepped out on to the entrance of the spiral staircase that led up to the Ravenclaw common rooms, and they began to jog up the stairs; their faces reddening with exertion. At last, they reached the door to the common room and answered the question, tumbling through the door and collapsing to the ground.

“And just where have you two been?”

Jongdae shrieked in surprise while Luhan sat bolt upright. “J-Junmyeon!”

Junmyeon, the Ravenclaw prefect, folded his arms and glared at Jongdae and Luhan from his seat in front of the fireplace. “Please tell me that you guys didn’t do anything stupid again.”

“Of course not, why would you think that?” Jongdae quickly recovered from his shock and gave Junmyeon a cheeky grin as he crossed the room and headed up to the fourth year quarters.

“Because you and Luhan have a tendency to do stupid things,” the fifth year sighed in exasperation. “Luhan, you should know better, you’re a year older than Jongdae.”

“Aw, come on Junmyeon, you know Jongdae and I haven’t gotten into trouble yet,” Luhan coaxed as Jongdae disappeared up the staircase.

Junmyeon just shook his head wearily and got up to join Luhan to head up for bed. “Someday, the Headmaster will catch you during one of your pranks, and all the blame will fall on my head.”

“Aw, Junmyeonnie, don’t be like that,” Luhan sighed and rubbed Junmyeon’s arm soothingly. “We’ll be alright.”

“I hope so,” Junmyeon muttered as he and Luhan entered their bedroom. “For all three of our sakes.”

The next morning, the Great Hall was buzzing with gossip of how someone had cast a spell in one of the Charms classrooms so that everything the students or their professor, Professor Jung, touched turned into white goo, including the door.

Jongdae huffed in annoyance as a pair of giggling of Hufflepuffs passed by Luhan and him. “Don’t they know any better? It couldn’t have just been one charm that was cast; it had to have been many, many charms placed on various objects.”

“Hush now, you never know when one of the professors is listening,” Luhan grimaced as he stuffed rice into his mouth.

“Sorry,” Jongdae muttered as he reached out and grabbed a piece of toast.

“Did you finish all of your homework last night? Do you need any help?” A piece of rice went flying out of Luhan’s mouth, and they both made a face when it landed on the table between them.

“I finished all of my work before we went out,” Jongdae took another bite of his toast. “How about you? How’s studying for your OWLs going?”

“Junmyeon and I stayed up to study a bit with the other fifth years,” Luhan yawned widely.

“You’ll be fine. The two of you could ace those exams in your sleep,” Jongdae scoffed. “You guys are like, our house mascots.”

Luhan chuckled and finished up his rice. “Thanks, Jongdae.” He got to his feet and grabbed his bag. “I’m going to go check out that charms classroom before I go to class. Do you want to come with?”

“Nah, I’ll pass. You go on,” Jongdae waved Luhan away. “I think you’ll be impressed with what I did!”

“Alright,” Luhan grinned. “See you later.”

Luhan walked off. A few minutes later, Junmyeon dropped into the seat beside Jongdae.

“Good morning, dear cousin,” Jongdae smiled angelically at Junmyeon. His smile faded into concern when he saw Junmyeon’s blood-shot eyes and prominent eye bags. “Luhan said that all you fifth years stayed up late last night to get some extra studying in the for the OWLs. How late did you all stay up?”

Junmyeon rubbed a weary hand over his face. “It shows, doesn’t it?”

“Well…a little,” Jongdae admitted. He reached out and ladled some bean sprout soup into a small bowl and shoved it under Junmyeon’s nose. “Eat up.”

“Thanks,” Junmyeon sighed. “By the way, you and Luhan aren’t responsible for that charms classroom by any chance, were you?”

Jongdae chuckled. “Do you think I would tell you if we were?”

Junmyeon shook his head. “You two will be the death of me.”

“No, we won’t. Your lack of sleep is what’s going to do you in,” Jongdae muttered as he punched Junmyeon lightly in the arm. “Come on, eat, you have to go to class soon.”

“Junmyeon? Are you alright?”

Junmyeon and Jongdae both flinched in surprise. Jongdae recovered first and glared up at the intruder. “This is the Ravenclaw table! What’re you doing here, Minseok?” he hissed at the Slytherin prefect.

Junmyeon let out a small noise of despair while Minseok simply ignored him. “Junmyeon?”

“I’m alright, thank you Minseok. Ignore Jongdae please, he’s just trying to rile you up,” Junmyeon said wearily.

Minseok laughed outright at that. “I was wondering about that. Sorry, Jongdae, but I can’t promise that I’ll stop coming by the table every so often.” He reached out and ruffled Junmyeon’s hair gently. “Eat your soup, you look terrible Junmyeon.” He lifted his hand in farewell and walked away, leaving Junmyeon and Jongdae alone at the table.

Junmyeon sighed and stared gloomily at his soup. “Do I look that bad?”

“No, you really don’t Junmyeon,” Jongdae said quickly. “Don’t mind Minseok, he’s just being a jerk.”

“You do know that he’s taking me to the Spring Ball in two weeks, right?” Junmyeon sighed and poked at his bowl. “And he basically just called me ugly. What am I going to do, Jongdae?”

“He’s what?!” Jongdae shrieked, standing up from his seat and staring at his cousin in horror. “You’re letting Kim Minseok—Kim Minseok, the Slytherin prefect, be your date to the Spring Ball?!”

“Is there a problem with that? All kinds of couples go together, Jongdae.” Junmyeon took a dignified spoonful of soup. “And sit down, you’re causing a scene.”

True enough, nearly everyone in the Great Hall was staring at Jongdae. He meekly sat back down, but the expression of horror remained on his face. “I can’t believe this. You—you, my darling, straight-laced cousin, are taking a boy; and not just any boy, but the prefect of Slytherin!” Glee suddenly flitted across Jongdae’s face. “Uncle and Aunt are going to have a field day over this.”

“You should go with someone too, Jongdae.” Junmyeon ignored Jongdae’s teasing and lifted the bowl to his face and gulped down the rest of the broth. He set the bowl down and wiped his mouth with the edge of his sleeve. “I heard that Luhan hasn’t asked anyone yet.”

“What? Why would it matter if Luhan asked anyone?” Jongdae gave Junmyeon a blank look, and Junmyeon rolled his eyes.

“Honestly, sometimes I can’t tell the difference between when you’re trying to act innocent and when you’re just being plain stupid,” Junmyeon grumbled.

“This is great, though! Maybe I can finally find out who Luhan likes,” Jongdae grinned and rubbed his hands together. “You’re the best, Junmyeon.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now go to class, you’re going to be late if you don’t leave right now.”

Jongdae flinched and glanced at his wristwatch. “Oh, you’re right. Well, eat some more Junmyeon, and try and catch some sleep later today.” He gathered up his books and rushed away.

Junmyeon sighed heavily and slumped down in his chair. He pushed the empty bowl of soup away and half-heartedly grabbed a piece of a piece of toast.

“Does it really show that much, though?” Junmyeon murmured quietly, and charmed a pewter pitcher to hover closely in front of his face. He choked at the sight of his reflection and the pitcher crashed on to his lap, splashing black tea all over his robes. Junmyeon sighed and set the pitcher back on the table before waving his wand and cleaning the mess off of his clothes. He slowly got to his feet and headed out of the hall, a headache already aching in his temples.

It was going to be a very, very long day today.

“Hey, Luhan!” Jongdae slid into the chair at one of the study tables in the Ravenclaw common room.

“You look uncharacteristically ecstatic for three o’clock in the afternoon,” Luhan yawned and shoved some of his textbooks aside to make room.

“So…I heard that you still haven’t asked someone to the Spring Ball yet,” Jongdae smiled mischievously.

“Who told you that?” Luhan scowled at the parchment in front of him and dipped his quill in his ink pot. “Also, why does it matter?”

“Why does it matter? What do you mean, ‘why does it matter’, I’ve been trying to find out who you like for the entire duration of our friendship!”

“I didn’t ask anyone to go with me to any of the Balls last year, why are you expecting it to be different this year?” Luhan sighed and carefully began sketching out a diagram of the moon phases of Europa.

“Because last year, you didn’t go to the Spring Ball, dumb .”

“What if I don’t go this year as well?”

“What? But you’ve got to, this year we can pull of a prank together since I’m finally old enough to attend!” Jongdae pleaded.

“Just because we’re going to the ball solely for the purpose of pulling a prank doesn’t mean that I need a date.” Luhan blew across the parchment to try and dry his ink.

“Well, that wouldn’t be the sole purpose of us going to the ball,” Jongdae admitted. “There are obviously going to be hot girls there as well.”

Luhan sighed and set his quill down. “Jongdae,” he said seriously.

“What?” Jongdae beamed at Luhan.

“I don’t find women attractive.” Luhan stared at Jongdae incredulously. “How did you not realize this? You’ve seen all the photobooks of muggle boybands in my suitcase and all the posters of those soccer players around my bed.”

“Just because you have those doesn’t mean that you’re gay. Junmyeon has some of those too.”

Luhan let out a noise of despair. “Jongdae, Junmyeon is going to the Spring Ball with a boy. I think he finds boys attractive.”

“Oh.” Jongdae frowned slightly. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Sometimes, I wonder how you got sorted into Ravenclaw,” Luhan sighed and sat back in his chair, exhaustion written all over his features. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“What, that you like boys? Of course not!” Jongdae hastily replied. “That kind of thing doesn’t matter to me, you know that.”

“I just wanted to check.” A small smile curved at the edges of Luhan’s lips. “Thanks, Jongdae.”

“Yeah.” Jongdae was still frowning in thought. “Wait, Luhan…”

“Yeah?” Luhan groaned, and then reached out to pull a fresh piece of parchment and his herbology textbook towards himself.

“Does that mean that Junmyeon thinks Minseok is hot?”

Luhan stared at Jongdae, and then made a face. “Well, when you put it like that…”

Jongdae gagged. “Gross.”

“What’re you two up to?” Junmyeon chose that moment to pull up a chair to their table. “Jongdae, are you alright? You look a bit green.”

“It’s nothing,” Jongdae wheezed. “Nothing at all.”

“Oh, is that the essay for Professor Do?” Junmyeon looked over at Luhan’s homework with curiosity. “Good luck, it took me three hours to finish mine last night.”

“Why did you finish it last night? It’s due in two weeks!”

“I want to start getting a bit more sleep before the Spring Ball.” A small blush settled on to Junmyeon’s cheekbones as he glanced over Luhan’s notes. “I don’t want to look like a complete mess.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Do you like Minseok that much?”

“I don’t want to look hideous, is that too much to ask?” Junmyeon huffed. “Oh yeah, did you ask Luhan about the Spring Ball, Jongdae?”

“Yeah, I asked him.”

“You put him up to this?” Luhan gave Junmyeon a betrayed look, but Junmyeon just laughed it off.

“He told me that you and he are gay,” Jongdae said quietly.

Junmyeon began to laugh even harder, but then stopped when he noticed how serious Jongdae looked. “You aren’t joking?”

“Nope.” Jongdae settled back into his seat.

“Jongdae, my darling, darling cousin, how did you fail to notice that both of us were gay?” Junmyeon shook his head in disappointment. “Really, what are we going to do with you?”

Jongdae made a face.

Junmyeon rolled his eyes. “Well, I have to go now…prefect duties and whatnot.” He got to his feet and tried to hide an enormous yawn behind his palm.

“When you come back, make sure you take a nap,” Jongdae said, concern darkening his face.

“I will, thanks. See you later guys.”

Luhan and Jongdae watched Junmyeon hurry out of the common room. “Should we have told him that there were flower petals in his hair?” Jongdae murmured.

“No. It was a rough day in charms; I think everyone’s still got some in their hair. We were trying to get flowers to shoot out of the tips of our wands and well…there were a lot of massacred petals all over the classroom.” Luhan turned back to his essay.

“Oh, you do still have some,” Jongdae said suddenly, leaning in to pick out the lavender shreds from Luhan’s hair. Luhan froze in his seat, a deep blush spreading into two large spots on his cheekbones.

“Are you alright?” Jongdae off-handedly blew the petals off of his hand and sat back in his seat. “You’re a bit red in the face.”

“I’m fine!” Luhan snapped and began scribbling away at his parchment with vengeance. “Just fine!”

Jongdae shrugged and turned his attention to stare thoughtfully at the grey skies outside. Suddenly, his eyes widened slightly when a thought came to him, and he turned to Luhan. “Luhan?”

“What?” Luhan grunted as he dipped his quill back into his inkpot.

“If you’re attracted to boys, does that mean that you’re attracted to me?”

Luhan spluttered and knocked his inkpot over. “What?”

Jongdae’s eyes lit up with a devilish glint. “Do you want to kiss me Luhan? Do you?”

[U1] “Keep your voice down, everyone is staring at us,” Luhan muttered as he righted his ink pot and waved his wand to pour all of the ink back inside.

“Answer the question!” Jongdae whined and tugged at the edge of Luhan’s robes. “Please?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Luhan said gruffly.

“What?! But now I want to know.”

“You’ll just have to suffer not knowing,” Luhan said unrepentantly. “Now can you stop whining? I’m trying to write my essay.”

“But Luhan!”

Luhan chuckled quietly as Jongdae proceeded to tease and prod him for the rest of the day.

Eleven days later, and Jongdae still hadn’t given up.

“Luhan?”

“Hm?”

“Do you want to kiss me?” Jongdae batted his eyelashes and puckered up his lips.

Luhan rolled his eyes. “Won’t you give up already?”

“But it’s so fun to tease you!” Jongdae grinned and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. “Besides, isn’t this, like, the perfect place for kissing? A deserted hallway in the middle of the night?”

Luhan rolled his eyes. “I think that you watched too many muggle dramas during Christmas break.”

“Whatever,” Jongdae scoffed. “Come on, you just need to answer the question.”

“If you don’t shut up, one of the teachers is going to find us,” Luhan murmured as he cautiously poked his head around the corner.

At that, Jongdae finally shut up, only to start up again once they had made it safely into the trophy room. “Luhan?”

“Animus.” Luhan waved his wand, and a small statue of a quidditch player sprang to life and began zooming around the room. “What is it?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to kiss me?”

“Get to work, Jongdae,” Luhan said shortly.

Jongdae chuckled softly and rolled up his sleeves, tucking his wand inside of his robes as he set to work. He carefully began to set up an array of confetti bombs and ink spurts around the entrance of the room, his eyes focused intently on his work. He was so focused that he completely missed the way that Luhan kept frequently glancing at him from the corner of his eyes, his eyes sliding over the bow of Jongdae’s lips.

“I think we’re done!” Jongdae stood back and grinned in satisfaction. “This is going to be great.”

“I just hope the right people walk into it,” Luhan mused. “What if Shindong decides to take an early round? Or one of the other teachers wanders in?”

“There won’t be any harm done, it’ll just be their names in ink,” Jongdae said easily. “Come on, let’s go before that cat comes around here.”

“It would be great if the cat was the one who set this off,” Luhan snickered as they carefully wove their way out of the trophy room.

“How would it show the cat’s name? Does that cat even have a name?” Jongdae whispered as they tiptoed back through the corridors towards the secret passage that would take them to Ravenclaw Tower.

“I don’t know, you’re the one that cast the charm. What do you think it would do?”

Jongdae shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe it has a secret name that we didn’t know about, and it will be revealed to the world.”

Luhan laughed softly as they trotted down the corridor and slipped into the secret passage away that would lead them through the school walls. “I did always wonder why Shindong never calls it by name. Maybe he has a special pet name for the cat.”

“Well, I’m just hoping that the right people walk into that trap. Do you remember how shocked we were when we saw them making out by accident, and they almost caught us?” Jongdae laughed freely now, unafraid that anyone would find them.

“That was great,” Luhan agreed as his eyes sparkled with mirth. “I’m glad that we finally got all of the stuff we needed to pull this off.”

“Me too,” Jongdae muttered. “It was starting to make me anxious.”

They walked along in silence after that, and Jongdae started to get bored. “Luhan?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think I’m y?”

Luhan tripped over his own feet, and then glared over at Jongdae. “Would you cut it out already?”

“Why won’t you just answer me?” Jongdae pouted. “I really want to know!” Honestly, Jongdae had started out with the teasing expecting a simple “No, now off” from Luhan, but Luhan’s refusal to answer had made him genuinely curious.

“I’ve already made it clear that I’m not going to answer you,” Luhan said shortly, his voice falling down to a whisper as they exited the passageway at the base of the stairs. “Please stop asking.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Jongdae pouted as they started climbing the stairs to the common room. “C’mon Luhan, please tell me!”

“No.” Luhan started jogging up the stairs in an effort to get Jongdae to shut up. It worked, until they reached the staircase landing and took a break to catch their breaths.

“Luhan?”

“What?”

“Is my sweat attractive to you?” Jongdae grinned broadly even as he wiped off the moisture on his upper lip.

Luhan groaned and turned to the door, knocking and answering the question. The door swung inwards and Luhan hurried inside, Jongdae hot on his tail.

“Luhaaaaan,” Jongdae whined. “Come on, won’t you answer?”

“I should never have told you that I’m gay,” Luhan muttered under his breath.

“I would be a whole lot worse if you liked girls. I had a whole three months of torture planned out for you when I found out your girl crush.” Jongae grinned while Luhan swore that the fires of hell were creating the sparkle in his eyes.

“Jongdae, I’m going to bed, go to your own dorm.” Luhan gently tried to nudge Jongdae towards the stairs.

Jongdae wouldn’t have it. Instead, he grabbed on to Luhan’s arm to stop him from going, and they tumbled down on to the floor of the common room. Luhan braced himself so that he wouldn’t knock the air out of Jongdae when they fell, effectively pinning Jongdae beneath him. Jongdae burst into laughter, his eyes fall shut into happy curves, while his lips curved into his signature kittenish smile.

Jongdae opened his eyes again, the smile staying on his face as he looked up at Luhan. “You’re so clumsy,” he teased. He blinked in surprise when he saw the serious expression on Luhan’s face, and the smile faded from the edges of his mouth. “Luhan? Are you alright?” Jongdae panicked when Luhan’s expression didn’t change. “Oh my god, are you hurt? Did you hit your head? Are you alright?” Jongdae started to sit up, but flinched in surprise when Luhan put a hand on his chest to stop him.

“Luhan,” Jongdae tried again. “Luhan, are you ok?”

Luhan didn’t say anything. He just put his hand under Jongdae’s chin and tipped his face upwards. Jongdae felt his heartbeat start to accelerate; this was getting a little weird. They were both rather touchy, and the type for cuddles and snuggles, but it had never felt this…intimate. A hot flush rose to Jongdae’s cheekbones when he realized that Luhan wasn’t looking at his eyes, but rather, his mouth.

“Luhan…” Jongdae whispered softly. “What is it?”

Luhan leaned in closer, and Jongdae’s eyes widened when he felt their mouths pressing together. His whole body stiffened up, but then the soft pressure was gone and Luhan was scrambling off of him.

“Luhan? Luhan, wait!” Jongdae hastily propped himself up on his elbows.

But Luhan had already vanished up the staircase.

The next morning, Jongdae headed down to the Great Hall with dark bruises under his eyes and a heavy heart. He was unsurprised to see that Luhan wasn’t at the table; he hadn’t been in the dorms either. Jongdae sighed and slumped down into a seat at the end of the table; it wasn’t that he’d never eaten alone before. His and Luhan’s schedules constantly clashed, and they usually ended up eating separately at least twice a week. But now, there was the possibility that Luhan was actively avoiding him—and that hurt.

“Jongdae?” Junmyeon slid into the seat beside him. “Are you alright? You look rather down.”

“Yeah.” Jongdae sighed heavily and reached out to put some food on his plate. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.” Junmyeon frowned and turned to face Jongdae. “Did something happen? Besides Professor Do and Professor Kai’s relationship getting outed to the whole school in a rather impressive manner earlier this morning.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of Jongdae’s mouth, but it quickly faded. “I…I guess something did happen.”

Junmyeon reached out and put a comforting hand Jongdae’s knee. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Jongdae nodded shallowly. “Thanks, Junmyeon.” He put his left hand over Junmyeon’s for a moment, and then gently nudged Junmyeon’s hand away. “Eat up, you want to keep up your sparkling complexion for the Ball tomorrow don’t you?”

Junmyeon blushed and turned towards the food. “Just know that I’m here if you want to talk.”

“Thanks.” Jongdae wrapped the sandwich he’d made out of eggs and fried potato in a paper napkin. “By the way…you haven’t seen Luhan today, have you?”

“He said that he had to go talk to Professor Lee and left the dorms about an hour ago.”

So maybe Luhan wasn’t avoiding him? But then…Jongdae sighed again as his head spun with confusion. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

“Have fun in class,” Junmyeon called after him. He settled back into his chair, his eyebrows furrowed with worry.

A warm hand landed on his shoulder, and Junmyeon flinched in surprise. “Can I help you—Minseok!” Junmyeon gasped in surprise as the Slytherin prefect slid into the seat beside him. “Minseok—you really shouldn’t be sitting there.”

“It’s just for a few moments.” Minseok shrugged as if the entire Great Hall wasn’t watching him in a mixture of horror and awe. “How’re you today?”

“I’m alright. I mean, it’s only the morning,” Junmyeon said, laughing nervously.

Minseok reached out and brushed a strand of hair off of his forehead, and Junmyeon’s laugh faded to silence.

“Does my touching you make you uncomfortable?”

“It’s not that, it’s just that everyone is staring at us right now,” Junmyeon murmured back, shifting anxiously in his seat. “Did you need something?”

“You really care about your cousin a lot, don’t you?”

Junmyeon blinked in surprise at the sudden change in subject. “Well, we are rather close. We grew up together.”

“Huh.” Minseok tapped his fingers against the table for a few moments, and then stood up. “Have a good day today, Junmyeon.”

“Thank you. You too,” Junmyeon called after Minseok’s retreating back. A hopeless blush dusted his cheeks as he stared after his fellow prefect. A few moments later, Junmyeon turned back towards the table to try and hide his face from the stares of the many inquisitive students.

After that morning, Jongdae gave up any hope that Luhan wasn’t ignoring him. Breakfast might have been a coincidence but when Jongdae saw Luhan in the library that same afternoon, Luhan hastily stuffed all of his books into his bag and  sprinted out past him; ignoring the shrieks of the librarian as he dashed away.

Jongdae had been moping since then. He’d gotten a glimpse of Luhan during dinner, but then the library incident rose to his mind, and Jongdae had been the one to take the initiative to run away and hide.

“Jongdae, why are you moping if you were the one who ran away the second time?” Junmyeon settled down into the mattress beside Jongdae in the fourth year dormitory. The room was deserted, as all of other fourth years were still studying downstairs in the common room.

“I’m still sad that he actually had the nerve to run right past me in the library,” Jongdae muttered.

“It was only this morning, and you’re already this sulky,” Junmyeon murmured as he traced soothing patterns on Jongdae’s ribs. “Are you and Luhan fighting?”

“We’re not fighting, per se.”

“So…?”

“Well, we didn’t have an argument or anything. Just…something, uh, happened,” Jongdae muttered.

“Jongdae, what exactly happened? I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on,” Junmyeon gently prodded.

“I…” Jongdae started, and then stopped, embarrassment flooding his cheeks with dark red.

Junmyeon stared at him in surprise. “What happened to my self-confident cousin? Are you actually blushing?” Junmyeon poked at Jongdae’s warm cheeks in fascination. “I thought you only do that when Aunt shows off the albums of your baby pictures at family gatherings.”

“Shut up,” Jongdae muttered, but without any real heat in it. “I just—this is really embarrassing.”

“If you want my help, then you had better tell me what it was,” Junmyeon said sternly.

“I.” Jongdae stopped and sighed, and then tried again. “He—Luhan kissed me last night.”

Junmyeon’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

“Yes!” Jongdae rolled over and buried his face in his pillow.

“Finally!” Junmyeon crowed to the ceiling and rolled over so that he was lying on top of Jongdae. “Good gods, finally!”

“Finally?” Jongdae twisted his face to the side so that he could breathe. “What do you mean, ‘finally’?”

“Luhan’s liked you for ages, Jongdae,” Junmyeon sighed and wrapped his arms around Jongdae in a hug. “He’s not avoiding you because he hates you. He’s probably just embarrassed.”

“Oh.” Jongdae blinked, confusion spreading across his face. “Luhan…likes me?”

“Of course he does,” Junmyeon mumbled. “Have you ever really thought about the way that Luhan looks at you?”

“No, why would I?”

“Think about it,” Junmyeon advised, and rolled off of Jongdae’s back. “I’m going to go to bed now. Good night, Jongdae.”

“You’re going to bed? But this is ridiculously early for you!” Jongdae sat up in bed and pouted as Junmyeon headed towards the door.

“Gotta get my beauty sleep,” Junmyeon winked at Jongdae. “Good night!”

“Sleep well,” Jongdae murmured, and then lay back down after Junmyeon closed the door behind him.

So, Luhan liked him. Had “liked him for ages”, apparently. Jongdae stared up at the ceiling and tried to think about Luhan looked at him. He had to admit, Luhan did look at him a little differently than he looked at Junmyeon, but—did that really mean he liked him? But Junmyeon was one of Luhan’s best friends, so Junmyeon must have some credibility.

Jongdae sighed and rolled on to his side. Great, so Luhan liked him—but had he liked the kiss? Did he himself even like Luhan back? He’d never considered the fact that he might be into guys, although he did have to admit that he did find Luhan to be very beautiful, if not attractive. And the affection that Jongdae felt for Luhan did scare him sometimes, because he’d always thought that they were a little too close to be just friends.

Jongdae sighed and pulled the blanket over his body. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come for him—the only thing that he could do was hope that tomorrow, things might be a little clearer.

The next day, the entire school was abuzz about the Spring Ball. Various professors could be seen helping to organize and decorate the area of the castle that would be used as the ballroom. Classes already ended before dinner so that the attendees would have time to primp and prepare. The first through third years chattered with each other excitedly in the Ravenclaw Common Room, glad to have the night off early. On the other hand, the fourth to seventh years had all vanished up to their dormitories to get ready.

Jongdae hesitantly poked his head into the fifth year dormitory and was unsurprised to see that Luhan was absent. Instead, he came and sat beside Junmyeon as Junmyeon was charming the (non-existent) wrinkles out of his shimmering indigo dress robes.

“Those are nice.”

“Thanks,” Junmyeon hummed as he continued his inspection, not even glancing over at Jongdae. “Father gave them to me as a beginning-of-term gift.”

“I’m sure Minseok will think that you’re very handsome.”

Junmyeon scoffed but a pleased blush rose to his cheeks. “Oh, stop it already.”

Jongdae just smiled and propped his chin up on his hands. “You’re excited to go see him, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am rather excited.” Junmyeon began changing out of his school robes and pulled his dress clothes over his shoulders. “The ballroom looks fantastic, did you get to take a look at it earlier today?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Are you even going to come?” Junmyeon smoothed out his sleeves and flicked his wand to make his mirror levitate in front of his face. He carefully began arranging his hair over his forehead, his eyes intently focused on his fingers.

“I…I don’t know,” Jongdae sighed quietly.

“Well, you should at least come for a few minutes,” Junmyeon murmured as he flattened and then fluffed out his bangs.

“What would I do there?”

“You have other friends, don’t you? You can have fun with them.”

“What if Luhan’s there?” Jongdae felt his palms break out into a sweat at the thought.

“Well, you do want to see him, don’t you?”

“Do you know if he’s going or not?”

“No, I don’t, I’m sorry.” Junmyeon continued to fiddle with the ends of his hair for a few moments. “I don’t know where he could’ve gotten off to.”

“Huh.” Jongdae sighed and sat back on his hands. “Maybe I will go, then.”

“That would be fun. I can hang out with you if all of your friends have dates.”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin your date with Minseok,” Jongdae said immediately, waving his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about me, you just have fun.”

“If you’re sure.” Junmyeon flicked his wand, and then the mirror gently floated back into the place it had been in before. “Do you want me to help you get ready?”

Jongdae hesitated. “You’re all done? You don’t need anything else?”

“I can do both of our makeup at the same time.” Junmyeon’s eyes twinkled with excitement as he looked down at Jongdae. “Come on, it’ll be fun.” He dragged Jongdae off of the bed and out the door, pulling him along to the fourth-year dormitories.

“Makeup? What do you mean, makeup?”

Junmyeon just laughed and pulled Jongdae along, preening a little when the other members of their house stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of him. “Come on, you packed those silver on black dress robes I got for you, didn’t you? You’ll look great in them.” He let go of Jongdae’s hand and pushed him towards the small dresser with his belongings in it. “Come on, hurry and get dressed. We don’t have that much time.”

“Junmyeon, the ball isn’t for another two hours,” Jongdae said flatly, even as he walked over to extract his dress robes from the drawer.

“Like I said, not much time, especially if we’re going to do something with you hair.” Junmyeon looked at Jongdae’s head with a critical look. “Do you want to try changing the colors on it?”

Jongdae squawked in outrage and covered his head with his robes. “Your wand is not coming anywhere near my head!”

Junmyeon chuckled and sat back on the bed. “Hurry up, Jongdae. We have a lot of work to do.”

Jongdae crossed his arms and scowled. “I feel ridiculous.”

“But you look amazing!” Junmyeon cooed at him as they walked down the spiral staircase and out of Ravenclaw Tower. “Seriously, you look fantastic!”

“I’m wearing makeup,” Jongdae mumbled as they set off through the corridors. “This is ridiculous.”

“Oh please, as if I didn’t know about your little experiments with eyeliner,” Junmyeon scoffed.

Jongdae blushed, caught red-handed. “But I’ve never worn it in public,” he whined.

“Jongdae, it’s normal for guys to wear a little bit of makeup. Wasn’t everyone in the dormitory jumping at me to do their eyes?” Junmyeon linked his arm through Jongdae’s as they started down a long staircase that led to five floors down.

“Are you sure this isn’t just a Ravenclaw thing?” Jongdae’s other hand came to brush against his cheeks uncertainly.

“You’ll see when we get down to the ballroom,” Junmyeon assured him. “Seriously, you look great.”

“Thanks,” Jongdae sighed, his breaths coming out in short puffs as they hurried down. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to be late. I can’t believe you did makeup for twelve people, and we’re still going down ten minutes before the ball starts. Are you a wizard or something?”

Junmyeon laughed softly and leaned into Jongdae for a moment. “Are any of your friends coming tonight?”

“Baekhyun is coming with Taeyeon from Gryffindor, and I know that Chanyeol and Sehun are coming as well.”

“Are they coming as a couple?”

“Nah, I think that they’re hoping to hook up with these two fourth year twins from Hufflepuff. Or any girls who happen to be nearby, for the matter.”

Junmyeon laughed quietly. “Well, then, I know that I’m leaving you in good hands. But come find me if anything bad happens, alright?”

“I will,” Jongdae assured him and let go of Junmyeon’s hand as they reached the landing near the doors of the Great Hall. “Now go find your prince, Cinderella!”

Junmyeon punched him in the arm, and then left, sticking his tongue out at him over his shoulder. Jongdae watched; a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth when he saw Junmyeon find Minseok, and the fond look that the pair exchanged.

“Jongdae!” A familiar voice boomed from behind him, and Jongdae wheeled around to face Chanyeol and Sehun.

Sehun wolf-whistled at him. “Damn, you clean up well Jongdae!”

“Junmyeon helped,” Jongdae muttered.

“Yeah, well you look awesome!” Chanyeol clapped Jongdae on the back, and Sehun came up to stand beside him. “I didn’t know that you were coming down tonight.”

“It was a bit of a last minute decision.”

“Is Luhan coming tonight too?” The three of them followed the stream of students entering the ballroom.

“I don’t know,” Jongdae muttered. “So, are you guys going in for the kill with those Hufflepuff twins?”

“Who knows, maybe we’ll snag someone even better,” Chanyeol chuckled, raising his voice to talk over the music of the band. “But first, let’s dance!”

The three of them squeezed into a small pocket of space on the dance floor and messed around for about half an hour so, just having a good time with the equally bad dancers bobbing up and down all around them.

Jongdae started to feel bored; he could feel Chanyeol and Sehun itching to go after a couple of sixth year girls who were dancing nearby them, and he had a feeling that he wasn’t going to get much more out of the night. Sure, it had been fun to dance for a while, but he knew that none of his other friends were going to show and he didn’t feel like dancing with anyone else if Chanyeol and Sehun left him.

Sure enough, Chanyeol and Sehun had moved over to dance closer to the two sixth year girls while his mind was in the clouds, and Jongdae took the opportunity to slip off of the dance floor. He headed over to the refreshment’s table and grabbed a glass of water, lifting it to his mouth to take a sip.

A small hand stopped him from tilting the glass towards his lips. “You don’t want to drink that. I’m fairly sure that someone just spiked all the drinks with a nasty mixture of firewhiskey and butterbeer.”

“Luhan!” Jongdae gasped out, nearly dropping the glass in surprise. “You startled me!”

“Sorry,” Luhan smiled softly, his eyes uncertain.

“It’s ok.” Jongdae hastily set the drink down to the side; if Luhan had actually done what he’d said, then he didn’t want to be the guinea pig for the concoction.

There was an awkward silence, and then Luhan suddenly said “You look really nice.”

Jongdae went bright red, as he remembered what Junmyeon had said the night before. “Thank you.”

“Are you wearing eyeliner?” Luhan leaned in closer, and Jongdae stayed stock still, afraid that if he moved, Luhan would move away again.

“Y-yeah. Junmyeon helped me.”

“Figures,” Luhan chuckled softly. “Have you ever messed around with makeup before?”

“Here and there,” Jongdae admitted, a warm blush still on his cheeks.

There was another awkward silence, and then Luhan took a step back. “Do you think we could talk a bit? Somewhere quieter?”

“Sure.” Jongdae followed Luhan out of the ballroom and across the Great Hall. His heart raced as he walked slightly behind Luhan, unaware of the curious stares following them out of the ballroom.

Back in the ballroom, Minseok had his arms around Junmyeon’s waist as they swayed along to the beat of the song. “Does that have anything to do with why I found Luhan in the Prefect’s Bathrooms a few hours ago?”[U2] 

“It might,” Junmyeon said, a fond smile on his lips. “I hope you didn’t kick him out.”

“No, I figured that you had something to do with it, and I left him alone.”

“You left him alone for me?” Junmyeon teased, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Minseok laughed and squeezed Junmyeon affectionately. “Are you thirsty? Let me get you something to drink.”

“That would be great, thanks.” Junmyeon smiled gratefully and melted off to the side of the dance floor as he waited for Minseok to come back. He could only hope that his friend and cousin would be able to work things out with each other.

“Luhan?” Jongdae looked around the small classroom that Luhan had lead them to. “Are you sure that we’re allowed to be here?”

“Have the rules ever bothered you before?” Luhan shot back defensively, perching up on a desk.

Jongdae grinned. “Nah, not really.”

Luhan rolled his eyes. “Figures,” he muttered under his breath.

There was a few seconds of silence, and then Jongdae took a deep breath, plunging through the gap. “You said that you wanted to talk?”

“Yeah.” Luhan fiddled nervously with the sleeve of his dress robes, and Jongdae’s eyes were drawn to the golden leaf pattern embroidered at the edges. “Uh…so, about the kiss.”

Jongdae tore his eyes away from Luhan’s robes, and braved himself to look Luhan in the eye. “Yes?”

“I’m not sorry,” Luhan said bluntly.

Jongdae felt as if there was a permanent blush stamped to his cheeks, and he off-handedly rubbed at his face to try and make it go away. “Why do you think that you should be sorry in the first place?”

[U3] “Because you might have been offended, or you might not have liked it.” Luhan maintained their eye contact but Jongdae could hear the small quaver in his voice.

“I wasn’t offended,” Jongdae said quickly. “And, I…I didn’t dislike it.” Jongdae could feel his face burning up as he watched Luhan’s mouth drop open in surprise.

Luhan hopped off of the desk and walked forward until he was toe-to-toe with Jongdae. “You didn’t dislike it?” he murmured.

Jongdae shivered when he felt Luhan’s breath bouncing off of his lips. “No.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I did it again?” Luhan leaned inwards slightly.

Jongdae closed his eyes and tried to collect his swirling thoughts; Luhan was so close—too close. And Jongdae couldn’t help but be excited, and a little anxious, at how thrilling it felt.

Luhan took his silence as an affirmative and leaned in to connect their lips. He stayed there, softly pressing their lips together for a few moments, and then pulled back. “Was that ok?”

Jongdae kept his eyes closed and nodded. Luhan laughed softly, and then he was leaning and in pressing a soft kiss to Jongdae’s forehead and wrapping his arms around his shoulders to hold him close.

“I like you,” Luhan mumbled softly into the top of Jongdae’s head.

Jongdae’s hands came up to rest lightly on the front of Luhan’s robes. “I…I think I like you too.”

“You’re not just saying that, are you? What happened to ‘hooking up with hot girls at the ball’?” Luhan asked as he drew backwards so that he could look at Jongdae’s face.

“I’m not just saying that. I thought a lot about it—about us, after you kissed me,” Jongdae said earnestly. “I’m being sincere, Luhan.”

“Alright, alright, just checking.” Luhan let go of Jongdae and stepped away, much to Jongdae’s disappointment. “Do you want to go back to the ball?”

Jongdae made a face. “Nah, I had my fill of that.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t get to dance with me,” Luhan pouted, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Can you even dance?” Jongdae sniffed and turned his head away. “No thanks.”

Luhan rolled his eyes at the jibe, but let it slide. “If you don’t want to go back to the ball, then what do you want to do?”

“Let’s go back up to the dorms. We can start planning our next event, especially since you did the one tonight without me.” Jongdae gave Luhan a reproachful punch in the arm but Luhan just laughed and wrapped his arm around Jongdae’s shoulders.

“Alright let’s go.”

Later that night, when Junmyeon came back from the ball, they simply ignored Junmyeon’s scolding for spiking all of the drinks, and continued drafting out their next set of plans to lock Junmyeon and Minseok in a supply closet together. They figured that the couple would appreciate it; after all, prefects were so busy all the time patrolling around and keeping the school rules straight. This would literally force them to make some time in their busy schedules for each other.

Jongdae and Luhan were already gloating as they imagined Junmyeon’s embarrassed face when a teacher would eventually come and rescue them from the closet.

The End

Bonus Scene

“Luhan?”

“What?”

“Do you think I’m y?” Jongdae propped his chin up on Luhan’s shoulder as their train compartment bounced up and down on the rough tracks on the ride home for summer holiday.

“Why are you still asking me that when you already know the answer?” Luhan didn’t look up from the book he was reading, but he did feel a flash of gratitude for the fact that Junmyeon had decided to go on rounds with Minseok instead of sitting with them.

“Because you get this really cute embarrassed look on your face,” Jongdae cooed, poking at Luhan’s cheeks.

Luhan grumbled and closed his book, turning his head so that he was nose-to-nose with his boyfriend. “There, you have my attention now. Happy?”

“Very much so.” Jongdae leaned in and nuzzled their noses together, delighting in the pink that rose to Luhan’s face.

“I never would’ve pegged you to be the lovey-dovey type,” Luhan said quietly, turning in his seat so that he was facing Jongdae.

“Well, you were wrong.” Jongdae smiled cheerfully at him and grabbed Luhan’s hand. “Incredibly wrong, even.”

Luhan laughed quietly and squeezed their entwined fingers. “I’ll miss you, over break.”

Jongdae’s eyes softened with affection. “I’ll miss you too. But we have owl post, and other ways of keeping in touch.”

“Yeah.” Luhan sighed and leaned forward to kiss the corner of Jongdae’s mouth. “Maybe I can come visit you some time.”

“That would be nice,” Jongdae murmured. “You could stay for a few weeks.”

Their conversation was interrupted when the door to their compartment slid open to reveal Minseok and Junmyeon on the other side.

“Are we interrupting something?” Minseok raised a haughty eyebrow, and Jongdae instinctively stuck his tongue out him.

“No, you weren’t. Are you two done with your rounds?” Luhan leaned back a little but didn’t let go of Jongdae’s hand.

“Yes, we’re all done. Would you mind if we sat with you?” Junmyeon stepped into the compartment as Luhan and Jongdae quickly welcomed them in.

“Are you two ready for summer holiday?” Jongdae asked, making a face at Minseok when Junmyeon wasn’t looking.

Minseok retaliated in kind when Junmyeon turned his head to look out the window, and Luhan shook his head at the two of them.

“If you mean ready to sleep, then I am,” Junmyeon replied, a yawn rising to his mouth. “I could use a bit of rest.”

“You worked too hard. You didn’t need to lose so much sleep over the OWL’s,” Minseok said, frowning as he ran a soothing hand up and down Junmyeon’s arm.

“I want to be a curse-breaker, I had to get top scores in order to gain access to the classes I need next year,” Junmyeon yawned and leaned into Minseok’s shoulder, ignoring the gagging noises Jongdae was making at them.

“Well, you’re riding the train back with us, Junmyeon. You can’t expect to get any sleep now,” Jongdae said in disbelief.

Junmyeon smiled softly. “I suppose sleep can wait for a few hours. What do you want to do?”

“Are you two up for a few rounds of Exploding Snap?” Luhan pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket.

“It’s normal Exploding Snap, right?” Junmyeon stared at the pack of cards with an air of caution; the last time he’d played with Jongdae and Luhan, he’d had to charm his eyebrows to grow back again.

“Don’t worry, none of your hair is going to get burnt this time—at least, I think,” Jongdae said, relishing the growing confusion and slight horror on Minseok’s face.

“Why don’t Minseok and Luhan play the first round?” Junmyeon asked hurriedly, trying to save Minseok from anything Jongdae had up his sleeve.

Unfortunately, Luhan had the same idea as Jongdae, and the round ended with Minseok’s eyebrows half-singed off, along with the beginning of his hairline.

“We’re still making improvements to them,” Luhan admitted as he failed to hide the grin that bloomed across his face at the sight of Minseok’s new look. “I must say, soot does suit you rather well.”

Minseok grunted and got back into his seat, letting Junmyeon turn his face and carefully attempt to fix his hair. “Someday, I’ll get you back for this Luhan.”

“Oh I doubt it,” Luhan said cheerfully. “Come on, Junmyeon, you’re next!”

And when the train finally pulled to a stop and they had dismounted, none of the other students dared to even ask what had happened to Minseok’s face, as he glowered at anyone who dared to spare a glance at him.

a/n: I thought I posted this a while ago, but I guess I never did. Thanks for reading this and comments are always appreciated! I hope to return to my stories on hiatus in a few weeks. Thank you for reading! <3