Intellectually, he knew Seunghyun’s family had a mansion.

The problem is, he hadn’t really realized that Seunghyun’s family had a mansion. It’s like when you learn that the sun is a mass of plasma held together by its own gravity going through thermonuclear fusion, sure you know that but how often do you really think about it? The sun is up there, shining every day and you give it no further thought than the rain or breakfast or anything else that’s part of your routine.

Similarly, Daesung hadn’t thought, really thought, about the Choi family in anything more than abstract terms. Now he stands in the biggest foyer he’s ever seen, trying to discretely wipe his sweaty hands on the sides of his robes. Alright so maybe he’s a little bit nervous. Alright so it’s more than just a bit. Alright so maybe he’s trying very hard not to panic.

Seunghyun had reassured him that meeting his parents would most likely go just fine but he can’t help it. The Hufflepuff had been doing his reading, the Choi family is considered neutral in the whole blood purity debate thing and he doesn’t know what to make of that – he wouldn’t even if this wasn’t his boyfriend’s family.

Looking at the rich furniture, the overly detailed wizarding portraits and tapestries decorating the walls or the vastness of the room just makes him even more nervous so he busies himself with greeting the house elf currently asking him if he’s feeling well. It’s the first time Daesung has seen one since Hogwarts – the entire Hufflepuff house knew about the Hogwarts’ kitchens and how to get there and it wasn’t rare to find a few members there at any given time.

He makes sure to greet her and memorize her name, which seems to make her a little bit shy. She talks as they walk out of the room and into the endless hallways, telling him about the family and the mansion and asking if he needs anything whatsoever. Mostly, the apprentice listens with a smile, honestly interested in the conversation. They walk and walk and walk – there’s a west wing and an east wing and how big is this house? – but stop just before he considers asking how much further they need to go.

With a small courtesy, the house elf practically shoves him inside, saying something about not keeping the masters waiting. He swallows dryly, stepping in and trying to resist the urge to see if his robes look okay. The dining room seems bigger than his entire apartment, wide and open and making him even more nervous as he approaches the long, overly fancy table. It’s made out of dark wood and while it seems particularly old, it’s very well preserved. His attention shifts to the carvings on the table and chairs just for a second as he takes his last step.

Then Daesung bows, enunciating his greetings clearly and standing back up only after being acknowledge by the Lord and Lady of the manor. His gaze flickers to Seunghyun for a second, catching him looking a bit anxious but smiling as soon as their eyes meet. The immediate reaction makes a smile blossom across his face too, as he moves to sit down, still staring at his boyfriend. Just a hint of those dimples and he feels better, even if his nerves continue feeling a bit jittery.

No one speaks as he finally sits himself down, nor as the food appears. Daesung raises his eyes to glance at Seunghyun’s parents, not daring to stare. They both look as regal and composed as he does: his father’s hair is darker, falling across his forehead in gentle waves but his cheekbones clearly come from his mother. The silence grows more and more uncomfortable as no one moves to talk or serve themselves. A little ball of anxiety in his stomach grows larger and larger and larger until he starts thinking that maybe he forgot something, already insulted them somehow – and then Seunghyun sighs.

The Hufflepuff blinks, surprised, before turning his eyes to his boyfriend who sighs again, louder this time, and stares at his parents with an accusing look. The silence hanging between all of them lasts for only a second longer before the older couple suddenly starts softly chuckling to themselves, smiles breaking across both their faces and oh, Seunghyun got his dimples from his mother, too. He can’t do anything but keep blinking as the woman reaches across the table and squeezes his hand with an apologetic look. “My apologies, Daesung, but you looked as if you were walking into a funeral rite rather than having lunch with us!”

Cheeks flaring, he laughs a little, embarrassed, lowering his gaze down to the table. He must have looked pale and terrified walking into the room. His hand is squeezed again and he looks up, giving Seunghyun’s mother a reassuring smile. The tense atmosphere suddenly dissipates as the oldest man moves to start serving himself, giving the sign for everyone else to do the same. Daesung half-expects the house elves to show up again before remembering they’re not meant to be seen often.

“Seunghyun told us you’re an apprentice at Ollivanders?”

“Yes!” his response is a bit too loud, startling everyone at the table. His face feels like it’s burning but his embarrassment goes down as they just laugh. That ball of anxiety inside his stomach is slowly unwinding but he’s still a bit high-strung. They mercifully don’t comment on his answer but keep moving the conversation along, even compliment him on him being able to impress his master enough to be taken as an apprentice, making him blush and thank them once more.

Seunghyun’s mother turns out to be an amazingly smart woman, had been top of her year at Hogwarts and is currently involved in some of the Ministry’s research projects. He doesn’t ask which ones, knowing it’s best not to pry since she’s probably under oath, but they involve runes and they end up in a fairly long discussion about their applications and how much that particular brand of magic has been lacking in innovation for the last couple of centuries – he doesn’t bring up Jiyong’s project, but sort of wishes he could, even if he doesn’t know if she’d approve of it.

It’s about fifteen minutes before he realizes he’s been practically ignoring Seunghyun’s father and promptly apologizes for it, but the man doesn’t seem too bothered. Being the Head of the House is his full-time job, what with managing their properties and investments and all the social responsibilities that come with his position. The conversation makes him lapse into silence for a second as he listens. Would Seunghyun have to take over the family someday? That seems pretty likely, but what would that mean for them? And what about… heirs and all that stuff?

Daesung abruptly shoves those thoughts away. It’s not the time to be worrying about that, not when it threatens to make his earlier anxiety come back. He doesn’t have the answers to those questions yet but it seems a bit too soon to be worrying about it. Besides, his parents don’t seem concerned about it and haven’t brought it up so the subject is probably not as difficult as his mind is making him believe it is.  

His gaze crosses with Seunghyun’s every few minutes; the outright affection in his eyes, his smile, makes sure Daesung’s cheeks remain a pleasant red for most of lunch. He feels like he’s fifteen again and smiling every time he catches his crush looking at him from across the Great Hall – except it’s a bit worse because his parents are sitting right there and catching them at it, if the amused smiles that sometimes flicker across their faces are any indication.

They don’t comment on it thankfully – his own parents would probably have teased them to death over it – or on how flushed his face is, merely keep the conversation going as to not make anyone feel uncomfortable again. That’s most likely a necessary skill for anyone who spends a lot of time in social gatherings, you need to master the art of conversation to keep it flowing even when it comes to subjects you’re not interested in. Or when it comes to people you don’t like, he thinks, mind flashing back to that unpleasant couple during the Yuletide ball.

Surprisingly enough, they seem genuinely curious about the muggle world and how muggles in general live without magic. Daesung has spent most of his time with Youngbae and Seungri after leaving Hogwarts and they’re both half-bloods, so he hasn’t felt the need to explain concepts like electricity or the internet before.  He doesn’t get into the science of it and his explanations are a bit vague but they seem to get the gist of most things.

“You mentioned this… cellphone contraption?”

“Oh, uhm, yes! It lets you… send messages? Like owl mail but it’s instant! And you can call each other, hear each other’s voices and sometimes faces whenever you want!”

“Truly?”

They look shocked and he laughs a little. It’s a bit sad that most pureblood wizards have no idea about how brilliant muggles are, how far they’ve come and what progress they’ve made, or even just how big the muggle word is in comparison to the wizarding one. A couple hundred millions wizards worldwide compared to seven billion muggles. He still remembers how gobsmacked Jiyong had seemed as they walked around London, with all those people around. “You can see… each other as you talk? Perhaps like a Floo call?”

Blinking, he turns to Seunghyun who’s been a bit quiet during the meal. The Slytherin looks like he’s thinking, his eyes are slightly narrowed and his brow is doing that furrowing thing it does whenever he’s considering something. Had Daesung not mentioned cellphones to him before? Now that he thinks about it, probably not, since it would be fairly useless. It’s not like one would work in the Alley or even inside this mansion, as much as he wishes they would. “Yeah, you can but it’s more a lot clearer than those. Electronics don’t really work around magic, though.”

His boyfriend lets a little “uhm”, before turning to the food again. He’s clearly still thinking so the apprentice focuses his attention on trying to explain exactly what the internet and Wikipedia area. The latter turns out to be a lot simpler as Daesung himself isn’t entirely sure on how the internet works. Sometimes the older couple stares as him as if they don’t believe him – not like they’re accusing him of lying but like they can’t even imagine the sort of things he’s talking about.

His anxiety is completely gone by the time they get to the desserts and it takes him a couple of hours to be able to leave. Not that he’s in any rush, he’s just a little worried about overstaying his welcome. The fact both of Seunghyun’s parents seem to like him just fine at the end – waving off his bow in favour of squeezing his hands affectionately – makes him feel better than he has all week. They excuse both young men out of the room with gentle smiles, telling Seunghyun to Daesung back to the foyer.

Which he does, sneaking glances at him the entire way there and making his smile turn a bit giddy. They stop just in front of the fireplace and the earlier house elf is there, asking the Hufflepuff if the food was satisfactory and if anything didn’t please him. He reassures her that the meal was delicious and everything was perfect, watching her expression turn pleased before she disappears with a pop.

They’re alone for barely two seconds before he feels slightly cold fingers cradle his face. His breath hitches just before their lips brush together and a sigh escapes him as he closes his eyes and leans forward just a little, pressing their mouths just a bit firmer against each other’s. Seunghyun rests their foreheads together after a moment, kissing him softly again. “My apologies, Daesung. I have been longing for that all day,” he laughs, recalling his words the first day he was escorted home, and brings their lips together once more. “Are you quite alright?”

“I’m just fine now, Seunghyun. Your parents are lovely.”

“I am… relieved… that you think so, Daesung.”

“Were you worried I wouldn’t like them?”

“… perhaps a little.”

“Uhm,” his smile widens, even as his eyes remain closed. “Kiss me again?”

“Of course.”