Author's note: set during Daesung's fifth/Seungri's fourth year at Hogwarts. The tale of how they met. 

His back hurts.

There’s something particularly odd about being dead tired but incredibly tense at the same time. The muscles in his shoulders, his neck and his back seem to be simultaneously loose from tiredness and bunched up to the point of causing him pain because of the stress. Daesung recalls everything he still has left to do for the next two weeks and his limbs almost grow heavier with each single thought.

O.W.Ls year is hell or, at the very least, cruel and unusual punishment. The next two years may be just as difficult but they will surely be lighter because they can drop classes they’re not interested in or that don’t benefit them but, during fifth year, they have to take exams in all of their compulsory classes plus their two optional subjects. The teachers don’t seem intent on giving them a breather either, pushing them since the very beginning of the term.

Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Potions, Astronomy, History of Magic, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes. It’s too much, even for someone who doesn’t tend to procrastinate, even for someone in the house of the hard working, even for someone who has students from the year above helping at the end of every week. Ravenclaw may have an easier time of it but he doesn’t know how the other houses can possibly deal with this.

Not that Daesung has a good track record with managing stress, his tendency to retreat into himself and let it fester until it reaches full-blown panic is well known amongst his friends. Youngbae had warned him of how busy and draining this year would be and he had believed and taken him seriously as he always did but that still hadn’t prepared him for this. The stress of having to choose which subjects to pursue next year and the fact his options will be dependent on the grades he gets aren’t helping him at all.

That statue of Boris the Bewildered has never been a more welcomed sight and he quickens his sluggish pace, counting the doors as he passes it. One, two, three, four! Yes! A very tired sigh escapes him as soon as he enters the room and lets his bag full of books hit the floor, carefully as to not spill ink all over his parchment. That’s the last thing he wants to add to his current list of problems to worry over.

The bathroom is pretty large and as spotless as ever. To one side there are several closed stalls, to the other side there’s the bathtub – although, calling it a pool would probably be more accurate. It’s sunken into the ground and far too big. Aside from its size, the most eye catching thing about it are the hundred taps on its borders, each one gold with a different jewel incrusted in the metal.

It’s not something you’d expect to find in a school, at least not to be used by students. Granted, the access is limited to only a couple of them: prefects, the Head Boy and Girl and the Quidditch captains. That’s actually part of the reason he doesn’t use it all that often despite being able to, it feels a little bit unfair that most of the student population can’t get inside, but at that moment all he wants is relief from his stress.

He opens one of the stalls and quickly gets undressed, pilling his clothes neatly on top of the toilet before making his way to the other side of the room. You’d think such a big bathtub would take a while to fill but in truth it takes only a couple of minutes. There’s a painting of a mermaid on one of the walls – who thought that was a good idea? – and Daesung ignores her loud giggles as he sinks into the warm water.

A pained groan escapes him as he slides down lower, letting only his neck and head stay above the water. His muscles relax by degrees, turning languid and lazy and moving to turn on some of the taps turns into a struggle. Each of them has a different function: some released colorful bubbles, some scented water, some a rather odd but relaxing foam. That’s what the jewels are for, to mark which ones release what but he hasn’t used it enough to memorize them all.

Daesung chooses only two, one with his favourite sent – something slightly flowery but subtle enough to not overload his senses and actually be comforting – and one with bright yellow, almost white coloured bubbles. He’s never been particularly adventurous when he’s feeling stressed so those will do, Daesung thinks as he retakes his spot in one of the corners and leans his head back onto the edge of the bathtub.

The bubbles move ever so slowly across the surface of the water, swishing back and forth gently in almost hypnotic motions. His gaze loses focus after only a few seconds of staring at the sight and his head drops to the side when his eyelids start feeling heavy. He hasn’t been getting enough rest lately and the water is so warm, so relaxing, that he’s starting to fall asleep before he fully realizes it.

One of the bright bubbles finally reaches him, brushing across his nose and promptly bursting, startling him awake. His shoulder hits the back of the tub painfully as he sits up with an almost jump, flailing a little, his movements uncoordinated with the fogginess of sleep still clinging at his brain. It takes a few seconds for him to realize what happened and register the loud giggles echoing around the bathroom.

His entire face flushes bright red as he sinks again, sneaking a glance at the portrait of the mermaid clearly laughing at him behind a small hand.  Daesung knows it’s just a painting, merfolk don’t actually look like that, and it’s not even a wizarding portrait with someone’s personality and memories instilled in it but that knowledge doesn’t stop him from feeling embarrassed.

Maybe the painting serves some sort of purpose but who thought the students would feel comfortable with having someone watch them bathe, even if it’s not an actual person? He closes his eyes and shoves himself away from the wall, taking a deep breathe before submerging himself completely for a few moments.

Between his studies and his prefect duties Quidditch is entirely out of the question so he hadn’t participated in the tryouts.  Despite his immense fondness for the sport – it’s a bunch of wizards chasing each other on brooms for Merlin’s sake! – he knows he wouldn’t be very good at it because it’s more than a little violent and violence had never come easy for him. It’s something he’s come to terms with but sometimes he misses flying classes, there’s just something incredibly wonderful about that kind of freedom.

Swimming isn’t quite up to par but it’s close and he lets himself enjoy the feeling of it, making his way from one end of the tub to the other a couple of times, brushing his hair away from his face whenever he comes up for air. The mermaid is still giggling and he knows he looks ridiculous but does his best to ignore it and just focus on relaxing. After a few minutes Daesung stops near one of the walls, placing both of his forearms on it and letting the rest of his body remain floating.

A sudden noise catches his attention and he raises his head, turning it to the stalls. There’s the sound of someone moving around, of something rustling, despite it being completely silent earlier.  Is… is someone there with him, he wonders, starting to panic a little. Merlin this is incredibly embarrassing but he honestly hadn’t noticed anyone else was there! The bathroom had been absolutely silent when he came in!

He’s frozen, stuck in place as one of the stalls closest to the tub suddenly opens and someone stumbles out. Daesung has never seen him before – he seems somewhat young, his loud yawning, his stretching. his ruffled hair and disheveled clothes giving away the fact he had been sleeping there.  Although apparently not enough judging by the dark circles under his eyes.

The robes mark him clearly as a Gryffindor and there is no prefect badge attached to their front but that’s as far as Daesung gets before the unknown boy suddenly starts stripping in front of him. That startles him out of his surprise and he gesticulates wildly but the other guy must still be sleeping or something because he doesn’t even stop, tossing his tie somewhere before pulling his shirt off and his pants down.

“Wh-what are you doing?!”

His voice is too high-pitched, cracking with his rising embarrassment and his darkening cheeks but it seems to do the trick. The Gryffindor stops in the middle of pulling off his socks, blinking and turning his head to look at him. Silence settles between them as they just stare at each other, one of them bent and grabbing a foot, only in his boxers and one of his socks, the other leaning half out of the tub and completely .

… completely . It dawns on him suddenly and Daesung helplessly tries to cover his bare chest with his arms, lowering himself down until only his head is visible about the water and the bright bubbles.  Still blinking slowly, the other guy finishes pulling off his one remaining sock before straightening out, a grin breaking out across his face a second afterwards as he waves.

“Hello!”

“… hello?” it comes out as a very confused, slightly hesitant greeting but his senses quickly come back to him and he shakes his head,  shyness and embarrassment making him entirely too flustered and reactionary. “Hello?! Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m Seungri!” comes the reply as the boy keeps grinning at him, laced fingers coming to rest at the back of his neck, standing there casually as if he’s not only wearing his boxer shorts and nothing else. The mermaid giggles, actually waving at the Gryffindor in what is clearly a familiar motion and he waves back with a half saucy, half ridiculous wink.

Daesung looks back at the blushing painting, then back at Seungri, then back at her again, mouth opening and closing but only managing to articulate some very vague questioning noises. The sound of footsteps snaps his attention back to the stalls and a strangled, panicked sort of sound escapes him, making the other boy stop on his way over.

“So, can I joi-“

“Absolutely not!”