Christmas vacation arrived. Everyone was excited to go home. Luhan and Sehun were reaching the outside of the Castle when they saw Kai, who was waiting for them. There was a bag next to him.

“Goodbye neighbours! I hope you have a wonderful vacation!” he said, brightly smiling.

“Why are you staying here?” asked Luhan, intrigued.

“My parents are out of town. It’s okay, I really don’t mind” he answered.

“You can spend Christmas with us, moron” said Sehun, looking a little bit depressed.

“Thanks for the offer, but I have other plans” replied Kai, showing a smile of excitement.

“Oh really? What are you going to do?” asked Luhan, curious.

“I’m going to Hogsmeade with D.O.” answered Kai.

“What?” asked Sehun, surprised. “Since when are you guys so close?”

“Well… We’re not very close… But he helped me once and it’s time for me to do the same” replied Kai, a little bit embarrassed.

“I think that’s a great idea! Have fun!” said Luhan, pushing his young brother with him. He knew Sehun was against it.

Kai stood there, looking at his Hufflepuff friends leaving. When he turned around, he spotted D.O. and waved at him.

“Are you ready to go?” asked the short one.

“Yup, I have my bag with me. Let’s go” replied Kai, enthusiastically.

Then, the two of them left. When they arrived, they were happily received by D.O.’s father, who was wearing an apron stained with ink.

“Welcome, son! And who is this young tall friend of yours?” asked the old man, with a big smile.

“He’s Kai, from Gryffindor. He’s spending the holydays with us, is that okay to you? He’s going to help us remodelling the store” answered D.O., with his usual blank expression.

“I’m sorry to use your youth like that! But it’s true we need some extra help! Haha!” said D.O.’s father, laughing happily.

“No problem! It’s the least I can do for your son! He always helps me out when I need, you know? I’m happy I can be useful” replied Kai, as excited as the old man.

“Okay, first things first! Let’s go upstairs and find a room where both of you can fit. You guys don’t mind sleeping in the same room, do you? Of course not, you’re both friends and young people do a lot of these things lately!” asked D.O.’s father, walking in front of them while moving his arms around.

“I’m sorry about my dad… He’s a blabbermouth…” whispered D.O. nervously. “He will probably start talking about the time when I was young… So please, ignore it”

Kai giggled. “This family looks like fun” he thought. “So, Mr—“ Kai stopped and looked at D.O. “What’s your family name?” he whispered.

“Do” he answered.

“So, Mr Do, I’m pretty sure you have plenty of funny storied about D.O. when he was a little kid! Tell me about that!” asked Kai, curious. D.O. looked at him with an I’m-going-to-kill-you-very-slowly-an-painfully look.

“Oh that’s right! One day he was playing outside with his brother when he tripped and fell. He started tearing up but he didn’t cry because he wanted to look strong in front of him! His face was priceless, I have a picture! Let me show you that picture!!!” replied the old man, entering a room and opening an old box. After selecting a few pictures, he showed them to Kai. “Here’s the pic I told you about. Doesn’t he look so cute? And this one was when he spilt ice cream on his brother! Oh, and this one—“

“Dad, that’s enough. Kai doesn’t need to know about those embarrassing moments. Damn you and your camera” said D.O., taking the pictures from his father and putting them back in the old box.

“He always acts like that in front of his friends… I apologize for my son’s behaviour” said the old man, bowing to Kai.

“Oh, no! That’s okay, I totally understand! My parents also keep embarrassing pictures from when I was a little kid so I can relate…” said Kai, embarrassingly smiling.

“Okay, let’s go then. Your room is over there. You’re sleeping in the attic. I’m sorry it’s like that but it’s the only place available now!” said D.O.’s father, climbing the stairs and opening the door. “Oh, and we also have only one bed, so you need to share it. Kai and D.O. looked at each other with disgusted faces. “I’ll leave you now. Pack your clothes and your stuff and then come to help me downstairs.” Then, the old man closed the door and left.

“The bed is small…” said D.O., giving a worried expression.

Kai giggle again. “That’s okay, I can sleep on the floor.”

“Don’t be stupid, you’ll catch a cold… We can both fit… If we… Squeeze…”

Kai couldn’t help but laugh. “We’ll think about that later! Let’s pack our things and help your dad.”

After they were finished, D.O.’s father gave them two aprons and a few paint buckets while he went upstairs to clean the other rooms. D.O. went straight to the big white wall, picked a brush and started to work. Kai stood in the middle of the entrance looking confused.

“Why don’t you use magic?” he asked.

“Oh, we don’t use a lot of magic around here…” replied D.O., focused on his painting.

“Why not? We’re at Hogsmeade after all” asked Kai again.

“I guess we’re kind of used to it now” said the short one. But since Kai didn’t reply, he turned around to look at his face. He looked like he was lost, not understanding D.O.’s family habits. “You see… My mother is a Muggle and when we moved to the Muggle world we couldn’t use magic, so…”

Kai was surprised. “Oh… I didn’t know that! So this is how Muggles paint the walls?” he said, while picking a brush and joining D.O.

“You need to be careful, though. You need to pain in the same direction” said the short one, with a serious expression.

Kai was amused with this form of working. It was slower but funnier. While he was discovering a whole new world, he observed D.O. a lot, in order to do a good job. He noticed his petite figure, fragile and gentle but at the same time giving a strong feeling; his fair skin spotted of blue here and there; his arms stretching, trying to reach the high places left to paint. He then approached the older student, offering his help. D.O. has a little complex with his height, he doesn’t like to admit that his shorter than the majority of the boys of his age. He doesn’t like to lose to his limitations.

“It’s okay to ask for help when you need” said Kai, with a gentle voice.

D.O. pouted a bit but then he gave up and accepted his help. He was jealous of his structure. Unlike him, Kai was tall, his shoulders were broad and his arms were muscled just like his legs. That kind of figure gives a protective feeling. In the middle of these thoughts, D.O. felt some kind of a weird energy in his stomach and unwillingly his arm moved on his own. When he regained his senses, he realized that he gave a on the wall, messing up with the hard work of Kai.

“Hey shorty! Look what you did!” grumbled Kai.

“Don’t call me shorty!” D.O. growled.

Kai looked at him and he saw that he was frowning. He shivered, scared with D.O.’s burning stare, but then he decided to get his revenge by painting his face. “You know what your problem is? You think too much about what other people think that you end up having no fun at all.”

“Oh, is that so? Right now there’s a bunch of people outside looking at us and I’m about to do this” said D.O., grabbing his wand and chanting a spell. Suddenly, the paint bucket started to float in the air and landed on Kai’s head.

The ink started to roll down Kai’s face, shoulders and chest, like it was dancing. Kai wiped his eyes, revealing his playful expression. “Oh no, you didn’t!”

He kicked the paint bucket that was closer to him and the ink spread all over the place, including D.O.’s clothes. They laughed out loud and started a war inside the store. When D.O.’s father came to see what was going on, he stumbled across a messy hall with ink spread all over the place and two young foreign blue boys.

“What the heck happened here?” he asked, astonished. “What have you done? You spent all the ink carelessly! What were you thinking?”

The two of them shrugged inside their soaked clothes, giving an innocent look.

“I know goofing around is funny, BUT THAT INK COST ME MONEY! Go wash yourselves. Tomorrow morning you’re going to buy more ink!” he said, showing some wrinkles on his forehead.

After taking a bath and washing their clothes, they went downstairs. D.O.’s father was making diner and it looked tasty. D.O. picked some tableware and started to lay the table. When Kai was going to help him, he was stopped by D.O.’s father.

“I’m really glad D.O. found a friend like you. It’s been a while since he had this much fun. But next time you want to make a mess, do it outside. Understood?” said the old man, looking scary and friendly at the same time.

“I’m sorry sir, it won’t happen again” replied Kai, shivering a bit.

It was a cheerful diner. D.O.’s father told a lot of stories about when his son was a little kid and his relationship with his brother and mother. Kai laughed a lot and was very happy to learn more about him and D.O. was embarrassed but deep inside he was extremely happy. The sun soon settled and the sky was pretty dark, making it possible to see the stars. D.O. and Kai went to the attic and opened the window to look at them. The feeling was good and they were both smiling.

“Okay, so now what?” asked D.O.

“I don’t know… Are you sure about this?” questioned Kai, insecure.

“You’re not going to sleep on the floor” replied D.O., looking serious.

“So, you don’t mind sharing the bed?” asked the Gryffindor student.

“Nope. It’s okay” answered the short one.

Then Kai took off his shirt and lay in bed. D.O. was staring at him, looking worried. “What? You don’t like it? I just can’t sleep with my shirt, and even if I do, I always wake up half … Sorry, I can’t help it.”

“No problem… It’s just that I can’t sleep with my pants…” answered D.O., embarrassed. “Isn’t it going to get weird?”

Kai took some time to answer. “Hum… It’s just the two of us anyway…”

“Saying it like that makes it even more awkward…” replied D.O., taking his pants off hesitatingly.

Then he lay in bed. They were both looking at the ceiling, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. The bed was small, so their shoulders were touching. D.O.’s heart was racing and Kai was feeling a weight on his chest. Even though it was weird, a strange warmth embraced them. For D.O., that touch was bringing back some memories. He wanted to stay like that for a little bit longer so that he could feel Kai next to him. Even if just for a few seconds, they were sharing a moment. Even if it was just a touch, they were sharing the same moment. He wanted to stay like that forever. For Kai, it was like that touch was familiar, a touch that he could only feel around D.O. It was a moment he wanted to treasure. They both looked at each other.

“When I look at you I feel like you hold half of me. I see pictures I can’t remember. I see happy moments my memory hides from me. Who are you?” whispered Kai, with a gentle voice.

“I’m just an idiot who regrets about his decisions” answered D.O., softly whispering. His voice was muffled by his tears.

“I want those memories back” whispered the younger one.

“Yeah, me too” whispered the elder one.

They both held hands and fell asleep.