The first time they met, Donghyuk nearly crashed into him as he chased Jiwon through the hallways. His best friend stole his shoes when he was sleeping and woke him up by pelting him with pillows before running away while cackling. 

So, Donghyuk was both shoeless and sleep-angry. And Jiwon was fast and aided by the knowledge that Donghyuk catching him would not have a good outcome.

“Woah!” The Slytherin said, steadying Donghyuk, who had almost toppled over, by grabbing onto his arms with strong hands. “Are you okay?”

Donghyuk shook himself awake, grumpy expression pasted onto his face as he stared at Jiwon’s retreating back. 

“I’m fine,” he seethed calmly, “just about to murder a Gryffindor.” Junhoe snorted, glancing down at his bare feet back to his half-asleep, half-furious face. 

“I think I can already tell why.”

Donghyuk finally looked at his savior and almost gasped out loud. Goo Junhoe, Slytherin and one-half of the most infamous troublemaking duo Hogwarts had ever faced. Also best friends with Slytherin prefect, Kim Hanbin, the only reason he hadn’t been suspended yet (and Jiwon’s crush, though he refused to admit it).

“Er,” Donghyuk said, “thanks for catching me.”

Junhoe smiled at him brightly, patting him on the arm. “No problem!” He pointed a thumb back in Jiwon’s direction. “But you might want to get going before you lose him.”

Donghyuk straightened up. Oh, right! Jiwon, that jerk! He nodded, thanking Junhoe one more time before launching down the hall after his friend, bare feet slapping against the stone floor. 

He missed Junhoe staring after him, a softer smile on his face as he watched the smaller Ravenclaw run further away from him. He also missed Hanbin and Chanwoo appearing next to Junhoe and nudging him suggestively with wiggling eyebrows. Junhoe shoved them aside and walked away with a huff, the two laughing as they followed after him.

-

It wasn’t any better the second time, though on the bright side, Donghyuk finally had shoes on. 

Jiwon was still trying to undo his bright blue hair that the Ravenclaw hexed him with a week ago, and the utter satisfaction Donghyuk felt whenever he caught glimpses of it throughout the school was incomparable to anything else. 

Lesson learned: don’t mess with Donghyuk for he is wrathful and unafraid of retaliation. 

Anyways. Donghyuk had procrastinated pretty badly on an upcoming charms test and he was Panicking very calmly. As in, staring blankly into a charms textbook with soulless eyes that screamed for help. 

Thirty minutes into his one-sided contest with the blasted book, he blinked, standing up abruptly and marching away while his pounding headache steadily grew worse. 

Then he bumped into someone. A very broad and warm someone. Donghyuk, having slept less than four hours for three days in a row fruitlessly studying for this test, wanted to fall asleep against this firm, bed-like human. 

He almost knocked out when a familiar, and extremely amused, voice asked him. “Are you okay?” He jolted awake and looked up at Junhoe sheepishly, the younger clearly holding back a laugh. 

“‘M fine,” he mumbled, yawning into his hand. His migraine died down to a dull ache, he didn’t know why, but being around Junhoe was soothing to him. 

Maybe it was because he only experienced stress whenever he hung out with Jiwon, who seemed to have a small amount of common sense and self-preservation.

Junhoe spoke up again, “You seem… stressed.” Donghyuk assumed the Slytherin was referring to the dark eye bags and defeated slump of his shoulders. 

“Charms is killing me,” was his only reply. As Donghyuk thought up ways to possibly hex himself so he wouldn’t have to take the test and instead just spend time in the infirmary, Junhoe hesitantly cleared his throat. 

He watched as the taller shifted, hands twitching like they wanted to twist in something. “If you want,” he said shyly, “I could help you. Charms is one of my better subjects.”

Donghyuk couldn’t contain his excitement even if he tried. Which he didn’t. “Can you?!” He exclaimed, grabbing both of Junhoe’s hands with his own and missing the tip of Junhoe’s ears turning pink.

The librarian glared at them and shushed Donghyuk loudly, though they both ignored her. Junhoe nodded in response. “Yeah. Hanbin helped me understand it a lot.”

Donghyuk sighed in envy. “I wish I had a smart best friend,” he said mournfully. “All Jiwon knows best is DADA. Which would be fine – if he knew how to teach. He always just makes noises instead of explaining how to do the spells.”

He’d learned early on never to rely on Jiwon. The one time he needed help, he got stuck in a room with him for an hour, watching and hearing him cast amazing spells and then making blasting noises with his mouth. 

Complete waste of his time. 

Junhoe laughed softly, eyes crinkling up and straight teeth appearing from behind his lips. Donghyuk’s breath caught. Oh wow. He was pretty.

He immediately scolded himself. Bad Donghyuk! No thinking that way about potential tutors!

“Let’s go back to your table and I’ll explain.” Junhoe said and Donghyuk led them both back to his textbook, still open and abandoned heartlessly. 

As they settled into their seats, Junhoe scooted closer to Donghyuk, leaning down to whisper to him so they could escape the librarian’s wrath. 

Donghyuk couldn’t help but take notice of how warm and soft Junhoe felt pressed against him. His voice, low and charming, murmured into his ear and Donghyuk unconsciously relaxed. 

Junhoe was a good teacher, he didn’t know how the Slytherin did it, but whatever it was, it helped. 

He got an E on his test.

-

It wasn’t even his fault this time. Junhoe had been the one laughing with his friends and not looking at where he was going before he crashed into Donghyuk, the smaller male falling to the ground. 

Junhoe jolted in surprise and looked down. He gasped, hurriedly reaching down to help Donghyuk up as he asked, “Are you okay?! I’m so sorry!”

Donghyuk laughed, casually brushing off the dust on his robe as he waved off Junhoe’s concern. “I’ve experienced worse,” he reassured him. “I’m friends with Jiwon, after all.”

Ah, Jiwon. The adventurous, adrenaline junkie. Donghyuk lost count of the times he landed in the infirmary with a broken or sprained limb after his older friend wrangled him into a new ‘journey’ he wanted to try. 

“Still,” Junhoe said, before being interrupted by Hanbin coughing. 

Hanbin smiled at Donghyuk, sweet and friendly. “Junhoe didn’t mean to knock you down. His body can’t keep up with mind at times.” He ignored Junhoe sending him a glare as Donghyuk laughed loudly. 

“He’s too tall,” Donghyuk agreed, looking at where his eyes met Junhoe’s shoulder. “But I’m fine. It’s not the first time we’ve collided.”

Chanwoo wiggled his eyebrows before huffing when Junhoe dug his elbow into the younger’s gut. He rubbed his stomach, sending Junhoe a wicked glare and asked Donghyuk, “Want to come with us to The Three Broomsticks? Let him make up for forcing you to see his face so often.”

Hanbin and Donghyuk snickered while Junhoe hissed at Chanwoo, raising a threatening fist at his friend. Chanwoo stuck out his tongue, knowing Junhoe was just all talk. 

Junhoe rolled his eyes, sighing out before turning to Donghyuk and mumbling, “I’ll treat you. If you want to come, of course.”

Hanbin smiled indulgently at Junhoe and patted his back in support, unseen by Donghyuk. 

“Sure!” The Ravenclaw responded, joining the trio as they started walking down to Hogsmeade, chatting about school and getting to know the new addition to their group. 

Donghyuk didn’t know how long he spent with them, but he really liked the group. They were so close and funny, and they clearly cared about each other deeply. It reminded him of Jiwon and Jinhwan, except his friends didn’t quite try to have a competition on who could insult the others the most. 

It was nice. He snuck a glance at Junhoe and found him staring back, a soft look in his gaze. They flinched, but kept the eye contact, smiling at one another shyly. They missed the smug looks Chanwoo and Hanbin sent each other. 

He could get used to this.

-

They were paying attention the next time they met, Junhoe jokingly bumping his shoulder into Donghyuk as they passed by one another. “Funny seeing you here,” he said, eyes twinkling with mirth. 

Donghyuk snickered, “Is this our thing now?” He nudged Junhoe back playfully and they fell into step with each other. 

“It should be,” Junhoe replied, tilting his head before a glint came to his eyes. He abruptly stopped Donghyuk in the hallway. 

“What’s wrong?” Donghyuk asked, but Junhoe shook his head, looking very determined about something.

“Wait here,” he said before darting away, turning the corner and leaving the other to stand to the side of the hallway, students having to curve around him. 

As the crowd ebbed away, Junhoe came back, marching towards Donghyuk like he was on a life or death mission. 

Before Donghyuk could get a word out, Junhoe bumped into him lightly and fell to the ground dramatically. 

Looking the smaller right in the eyes, he said with a straight face, “It seems I’ve fallen for you.”

Donghyuk choked, turning bright red as the some of the students still milling around the halls snorted quietly, slapping a hand over their mouth as they watched the spectacle happening in front of their eyes. 

“Junhoe?” Donghyuk squeaked out in mortification. 

Junhoe stayed where he was. “The only way to save me is to say yes to going on a date with me.”

Donghyuk looked around, trying to see if this was just some elaborate prank, when he caught sight of two green robes hiding behind a pillar, peeking to watch them. 

Junhoe sent a glance back and Hanbin gave him a thumbs up, Chanwoo too busy wheezing with laughter. 

It registered to Donghyuk that this was not a prank at all. He turned his attention back to Junhoe and grabbed his hands, pulling him up. 

Junhoe anxiously waited in silence until he whined, “Answer me!”

Donghyuk smiled widely, leaning forward to bump their foreheads together. “Yes,” he replied fondly. 

He’d never seen Hanbin and Chanwoo move so fast, leaping out to crash into the duo with congratulations spilling from their mouths as the students around them clapped. 

Donghyuk hid his face inside Junhoe’s chest and felt Junhoe wrap his arms around him. 

“I’ll come pick you up at 5 and we can go to The Three Broomsticks,” Junhoe whispered. 

“It’s a date,” Donghyuk said back. 

Yeah, he could definitely get used to this.