White Chocolate Fudge | Ksj

white chocolate fudge | ksj

⇒ summary: you and seokjin are the heads of your class, but recently he’s been sneaking off with shitty excuses and leaving you to watch over the students. when you finally follow him after he abruptly bails on your evening walk, you find yourselves in the forbidden forest with… a hippogriff hatchling? 

⇒ hogwarts!au

⇒ pairing: seokjin x female reader

⇒ word count: 11k

⇒ genre: tooth rotting fluff

⇒ warnings: alcohol mention if you consider felix felicis an alcohol

⇒ a/n: guess who’s going to be a starting a series (it’s me)! this will not be a continuation of one specific fic, but rather a compilation of hogwarts!aus for each member, set roughly during the same universe. it’s called SORTED, and this is the first part! i hope you enjoy and please leave me any messages here. (this is unedited, because of course it is.)

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JIMIN 'WHO' MV (2024)

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나비 / NABI — ONE.

SYNOPSIS. in which you’re trying your damned best to willfully ignore your feelings for your friend of over twenty years, but— as always— life seems to have a different plan paved out for you.

PAIRING. choi beomgyu x female! reader. GENRE. childhood friends to not quite friends (derogatory) to not quite friends (endearment) to lovers, romance, humor, hurt/comfort but more on comfort, coming of age, slowburn, college! au, “it’s always been you” trope, pining, tons of denial, beomgyu is the only man ever, featuring a large ensemble of idols from various groups. WARNINGS. swearing, explicit language, alcohol consumption, rumors as a plot device, mentions of sex, a few minor injuries. WORD COUNT. 9k (out of 40k).

NOTE. hehe...it’s here. this first part is a little short and slow, but things are gonna start picking up from here! please let me know what you think so far 😭😭 half my soul was injected into writing the entirety of this i will never be the same again 💔 also, i recommend listening to beomgyu’s covers while reading this and the upcoming chapters HAHA anyhow, please enjoy!

모기 / MOGI — ONE — TWO — THREE

YOU STILL DON’T LIKE CHOI BEOMGYU. Ever since you and he reconciled and publicly became friends again, your life has never known quiet— all thanks to the countless insects constantly buzzing around him, and by consequence around you, every damn day. And it’s not like you can keep avoiding him. Choi Beomgyu has made the executive decision to take advantage of the guilt you’ve been feeling, so for the past month, you’ve been a slave to his whims. 

Responding to 3AM ice cream runs even though you’re swamped with assignments. Going to parties hosted by people you don’t know the fucking names of because he keeps calling you a boring loser. And, the cherry on top, having to deal with Lee Heeseung’s even more annoying presence, just like how you’d predicted he’d behave if he ever finds out you and Beomgyu are friends.

Which he did. Much to your despair and agony.

“Beomgyu, your girlfriend’s here to see you.”

Case in point. You spare him nothing but an eye roll when he lets you in the clubroom of the, ahem, coding club. You’re here because Beomgyu texted you to fetch him a matcha latte and since you’re playing as his slave at the moment (and until your patience runs out), you obliged out of the kindness of your heart, only to get a truckload of teasing in return.

“Oh, hey, what’s up,” Yeonjun throws you a peace sign from their worn out sofa by the door the moment you enter. He’s accompanied by a good number of chip bags on the cushions.

“Hey,” Hanbin greets you as well when you pass by their alleged meeting table. Which, by the way, has stacks of leftover takeout containers and some empty, some half-empty plastic jugs of water. “Beomgyu is on the computer.”

“Thanks,” you tell him. This clubroom is a fucking gremlin hole.

“You know what.” Your path towards Choi Beomgyu is interrupted by Hyunjin, suddenly popping out of the half-wall separating the lounge area from the computers at the back. You jump, because what the fuck? “My heart races everytime you come here. I still get flashbacks from the day you threatened to wreck our safe haven. I think you gave me PTSD.”

Ah, yes. That day. That was eventful. It was the first time you’ve seen Choi Beomgyu cry.

“Serves you right, gossip snorter,” you say. “Out of the way, I have business to deal with.”

Hyunjin indeed gets out of your way, and there he reveals a row of four computers lined up against the wall with their assigned nerds mashing on the keyboards and yelling profanities at matching game screens. You zero in on the one on the far left corner. Surprisingly, Beomgyu is relatively calm compared to the others. You tap on his shoulder. He turns his head around.

“Oh,” he says, pulling his office chair back from out of the desk with a swivel while removing the headphones from his ears and letting them rest around his neck. You notice Jeongin seated beside him, who looks up at you only for a moment only to flinch back to the screen. “You’re here?”

No, shit. You jangle the latte in front of his face, head cocked, and he reaches out for it. But then you quickly jerk back your hand before he can snatch it from you. “Nuh-uh. Pay up.”

“Tch,” Beomgyu clicks his tongue and shoots you a bitter look. “Hyung, can you toss me my jacket?”

Someone from behind does indeed toss him his jacket, and at that very moment as well, Heeseung decides that it’s a great time to indulge in his newly founded hobby. “Hey, how about me? Why didn’t you get me a drink?” He joins the already crowded crevice in the back and swings an arm around your shoulder. “You get a boyfriend and forget all your friends. Have you forgotten that you two got together because of me? I’m hurt, I’m so hurt.”

Your face scrunches up. “Literally, how many times do I have to tell you he’s not my boyfriend.” You elbow Heeseung off, eliciting another whine from him. When your eyes snap back at Beomgyu, you see that he’s preoccupied with going through wallet. You kick his chair. “Say something, dipshit.”

Beomgyu hands you a bill and exchanges it with the matcha latte. You wait for him to speak. He takes a long sip, pulls his face away from the straw with a grimace, hands back the drink to you, then says, “What she said.”

You look at him, drink now back in your hands.

“What the fuck?”

“Keep it,” he says, putting his headphones back on. “Don’t you have class?”

Your jaw clenches. Fucker made you run an errand for nothing. He gives you an asshat smile of goodbye then spins his chair back to his computer. You scoff and smack the back of his head, causing his headphones to slip off. “Bye.”

“Hey!”

“Later,” Heeseung bids you off, and it’s followed by a chorus of goodbyes from the inhabitants of the testosterone infested, stinky gamer cave. Seriously, every time you drop by here, you feel an ounce of your soul shriveling up and rotting away. Yeonjun very politely opens the door for you. You hear one of them yell out before you leave.

“Come over tomorrow. Hanbin hyung’s treating us to pizza!”

And with that, you’re finally free, matcha latte in hand and a desire to breathe in some fresh air because you’re pretty sure the air is polluted in there. But still. It’s been a lot easier to breathe recently than when you two weren’t on good terms.

“Saved you a seat.”

You make it to class two minutes before the schedule. Minjeong proudly taps on the seat next to her, and you take the invitation. “As you should,” you hum, taking out your notes from your bag, and not long after Sungchan arrives and lands on the spot next to you.

It’s the week before finals. Prof Shin starts the class and decides to fuck all of your study schedules by giving a last minute assignment due next week as well. 

“Does this guy want to give us depression before the summer or some shit?” Minjeong complains the moment your professor leaves the lecture hall.“I swear to god, if another prof gives us an assignment due over the break, I’m killing myself.”

“You two have plans over the break?” asks Sungchan, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and the three of you head out for lunch, funneling out into the hallway along with the rest of your blockmates.

“I’m going home,” says Minjeong.

“I have summer classes,” you answer.

Sungchan stops in his tracks. “You serious?” 

“Yup.”

“You bet on it.”

He looks at the both of you like you’re a bunch of withering old ladies and he’s very much unimpressed. “Make some time for the last week. I’m throwing the wildest summer rager and you two can’t miss it.”

You’re pretty sure you replied with something along the lines of an agreement, but you’re not quite sure. The thought completely slips out of your head throughout the next week because, well, finals. And before you know it, your first semester of uni comes to a close, and summer comes crashing in at full swing.

#1: YOU STILL DON’T LIKE HIM FOR WASTING SO MUCH OF YOUR TIME. It’s eight in the morning. Monday. You’re standing in front of Choi Beomgyu’s door.

Knock, knock, knock.

It’s the start of your summer semester so you thought you ought to make something healthy just to kick things off on a good note, but as you were scavenging ingredients for fried rice, you realized you were out of salt so that’s why you’re here. You knock on his door again, three times, and you manage to finish watching five more Instagram reel clips before Beomgyu finally answers the door.

Creak.

“Took you long eno—”

You’re caught off guard by the mop of shaggy hair greeting you, clearly having just woken up. His eyebrows are knitted together while he lets out a yawn. He’s in a tank top. It rides up a little when he stretches his arm to reach for an itch on his back.

“What?” he rasps with a grunt, squinting at you after he’s finally settled himself into reality. “Why the hell are you up so early?”

You clear your throat. “Got any salt?”

Beomgyu blinks at you, processing your words. Then he steps back, points a thumb towards his kitchen, and nudges his head in the same direction. “Go crazy.”

With that, Beomgyu lets you monopolize his kitchen cupboards while he flops onto the sofa. You laugh seeing him practically melt into the cushions. He’s never been a morning person. You’re pretty sure he fell asleep like three hours ago.

“I’m gonna steal some of your chives too,” you inform. Beomgyu makes a muffled noise that you assume is a yes, so you go ahead and take the liberty. When you pop out of his kitchen area, you see him in a not very spine-healthy posture on the same sofa while scrolling through his phone. “I’ll drop off some bokkeumbap later.”

Beomgyu’s eyes flit up from his phone and he wiggles into a more normal position. “Do you have plans today?”

“Class,” you answer on your way back out.

“It’s summer?” he says. “Did your dumb ass get your calendars mixed up?”

You roll your eyes, stopping right before the door with your hand on the knob and turn your head to face him. “I thought I could use the early credits so I won’t have to take too many classes in my fourth year. So I could focus on my internship and all.”

There’s a pause. You can see the three dots slowly appearing in succession above Beomgyu’s bedhead. “Oh,” he says. There’s a drop in his voice. Only for a second. “Well, have fun, nerd.”

You stick your tongue out and leave his apartment with your borrowed goods, returning once more after you’ve finished cooking to give him a portion. Honestly, without the food your moms send over, you’re pretty sure he’d be living exclusively off of takeout.

Anyhow, you head to campus for your first summer lecture, and— for the first time god knows how long— your entire day is spent with a lingering, and almost unusual echo of quiet.

“That’s it for our syllabus. We’ll be starting our full swing of classes next week. See you.”

When you exit the lecture hall, the hallway is near empty. The courtyard too, with only a few students littered about underneath the midday sun. It’s so quiet, it’s weird. Around this time, you’d usually be having lunch with Sungchan and Minjeong, sometimes Beomgyu, sometimes Heeseung, but that brat’s not around right now either because he’s on vacation. 

Not having anything to do, you decide to stop by the campus cafe— Horangnabi. You don’t go here often, committed to the shop near your apartment because, well, it’s more convenient for your morning coffees, but you weren’t able to grab one earlier since you cooked breakfast. Might as well get a latte before you leave campus.

“Hi, welcome!”

You’re greeted by the barista, and like most of campus, it’s pretty empty inside as well. "A spanish latte, please. Iced.” While making your order, a sign on the counter catches your eye.

Part-timers, now hiring. You blink, letting it settle for a moment. Maybe for too long of a moment, because the whir of the milk frother snaps back your attention. 

“Are you interested?” 

The barista slides you your drink over the counter with a smile. You take it and press your lips together in a moment of thought. 

You only have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and it’s too inconvenient, not to mention expensive to go home, back and forth from Seoul to Daegu and vice versa, on the days in between. Most of your friends are on vacation or went back to their hometowns over the break so you have no one to hang out with over the summer. And you could use the extra money.

“I don’t have any experience, though,” you tell her.

“That’s fine. You’ll get a few days of training,” she answers.

Tempting. You’re almost convinced. “What if I just want to work for the summer? Can I quit when the next semester starts?”

“A lot of students do that,” she hums. You see her take a square of tissue paper from the display, jotting down a series of numbers before sliding it over to you as well. “Julie. Call me if you wanna take the bait.”

You spare one more second to ponder. Then you take the number from under her fingers and carefully stuff it into your pocket. “Thanks.”

The heat has finally settled the moment you exit the cafe, a little bell jingle trailing you from behind, and you take a mental note to bring an umbrella with you from this day forward. Their coffee is good, you have to admit. If you work there for a good month or two, maybe you’d even end up saving cash by making your own drinks instead of having to buy them.

You decide to take the path through the parking lot to make your exit. There’s more trees around, meaning more shade because it’s really freaking hot. It’s very bare in the lot. You pass by a few cars, of which you assume belong to faculty and staff, until one of them honks at you, and you flinch to a halt.

Another honk. Your brows furrow. Looking around, you try to find the culprit, but you end up moving your head in just the right direction for the sun to beam its light directly into your eyes, blinding you temporarily, and you wince. God damn it. You hear another honk again, and you feel yourself start to get irritated. It’s coming from behind you. You spin your heels, vision still muddy from the direct sun attack, but nevertheless you start walking.

“Seriously, who the hell keeps fucking— oh!”

You bump into someone. You feel them balance you by your shoulders.

“You should’ve seen how dumb you looked.” You hear a snicker. Of fucking course, it’s Choi Beomgyu. Who else would it be? “But hey, you make a pretty good pigeon jerking your head around like that.”

“Fuck you,” you jab his arms off. “What are you even doing here?”

Beomgyu notices your coffee and takes a shameless sip from it before answering, “Get in the car. It’s so freaking hot out, jesus.” 

You don’t really have a choice because he practically shoves you into the passenger’s seat. So gentle. You nearly spill your drink all over when your ass lands on the leather cushion. 

“I was just about to sleep again after you dropped off the food earlier,” he explains while starting the car, and you watch him intently. Whenever your schedules matched, you’d sometimes go to and from uni together. But you can’t seem to get used to the image of your friend acting like a responsible adult. It’s fucking with you a bit. “But then I got a message from Prof Kim, asking if I could come by the office today.”

He pulls out of the parking lot, and the cool air finally settles into your skin. “For what?” Beomgyu lets out a groan. Must’ve been for a not great reason.

“The EMC department is hosting a conference of some sorts this year and he asked if I could be a volunteer facilitator, ask a few others from the department to help and join along too.”

“Oh? You gonna do it?”

“Ugh. I don’t know.” You pass through security out the main gate and start heading back to your apartment. “I wanted to come home over the break but the working days for this thing will apparently last throughout the summer. Prof Kim did say this will be minused from my volunteer hours, but I don’t know.” Beomgyu then gives you a side eye all of a sudden. “Speaking of. You undutiful daughter.”

“What?” you leer.

“Your mom hoped that you’d be home for the summer, too. Why didn’t you ask her first before enrolling for summer classes?”

“Why the hell do you two keep talking about me behind my back?” You’re shriveling up. Seriously, why does your mom contact him before you? This is getting ridiculous. “And I’m doing all this so I can graduate early and find a job early, by the way. I don’t even have a full week of classes so I can still come home the first week of July.”

Apparently, you two argued for long enough to finally reach your building. 

“Tell me when you plan on going home,” he says, leaning against the wall beside your door watching as you key in your passcode to your unit. 

“Obviously,” you roll your eyes, smiling. The door unlocks. You push it open. “You’re my free ride after all.” 

Now, your expected response from that is another retort from him, how you’ve been exploiting his kindness and whatnot and you’d have to snark back as well. But for some reason Beomgyu just stays quiet. He says nothing, an unreadable look on his face as he looks at yours. You raise a brow.

“What is it this time?”

Choi Beomgyu says nothing. He lifts up an arm, points his index finger near your face, and jabs his finger straight into your forehead.

“I’ll send you a review of your bokkeumbap later.” He laughs at your appalled expression.

“You’d be shocked to find out it’s better than my mom’s,” you say back, a hand tending to the spot he just attacked unprompted.

“You wish.”

“Eat shit.”

“Oh, I definitely will.” 

You send him a kick, which he dodges before fleeing into the safety of his apartment. Slippery bastard. Anyhow, you call it a day and settle into your own place. Few hours later, Beomgyu indeed sends you a review of your cooking with a photo of an empty dish attached. Three out of five, he says. Slippery bastard turned ungrateful bastard.

The next day, you’re at Horangnabi again. The night prior, you called Julie’s number and gave her the news that you’re in, and she told you to come an hour before opening so they can get you settled.

You come in with a greeting, and you see Julie look up from behind the counter to wave you in with a smile. “You’re here! Hanbin, come meet our new part-timer.”

At the mention of Hanbin’s name, you immediately double take, and emerging from the door to what you assume is the storage area is indeed the Hanbin you know from the coding club. 

“You!” you immediately shriek, almost feeling a hint of betrayal because this is the first time you’ve seen him in daylight, because their clubroom is always so fucking dark. And in something other than the god damned flannels everyone in their club is always so fond of wearing like it’s an unspoken uniform. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, so it is you!” Hanbin happily exclaims. “I thought it was just someone with the same name.”

Julie was delighted to find out you two already knew each other. You skip all the necessary introductions and jump in head first into getting acquainted with the equipment instead.

“We’ll go through all of the drinks first. I also have the recipes printed out over here in case you need reference.”

Having a familiar face in an unfamiliar workplace is indeed a pleasant surprise, but there’s also a familiar sense of dread to have one of Beomgyu’s coding club buddies in here. Granted, he doesn’t annoy or tease you as much as the others, but those guys have already given themselves a label in your head, and Sung Hanbin is no exception to your collective bad impression.

“And then you twist the handle— just like that.”

You’re in the middle of your first latte, the espresso machine up and running. After which, Hanbin teaches you how to use the milk steamer without any difficulty, and you pour the milk into the same cup as the espresso you made earlier. “Wow,” Hanbin remarks. “You’re pretty good at this.”

“I think it’s all thanks to the caffeine I’ve ingested,” you say. “Skill buff. Or whatever you guys say.”

Hanbin laughs and compliments your latte once more. Needless to say, it doesn’t take long for your discomfort to completely disappear because at this point in time, Beomgyu’s friends would already start asking you about him— where he is, why isn’t he with you, etcetera etcetera. But his name has not left Hanbin’s mouth even once, and it’s already the end of your first day.

“It’s always slow here, except on rare occasions, so you’ll be able to handle it with no problems,” Julie says before sending you off. “Anyway, Hanbin and I will be around during your shifts, so you can run to us in case a particularly grumpy student comes to order.”

Hanbin gives you a thumbs up and a bright grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

And that’s how you established your new routine for the rest of the summer. It’s just like Julie said. Things are pretty slow. The only notable thing that happened on your second day at work is Beomgyu sending you a very unflattering, low-angle selfie under the blinding lights of the faculty office glaring behind his head with the text message that he said yes to volunteering for the conference. Sad face emoji included. 

On Thursday, Julie taught you how to make a damn good waffle. On Monday next week, you got your first shitty customer. Finally on Friday, you decided to open your skeleton closet to Hanbin, because not once since your a little over a week of working here has he asked you about the whereabouts of Choi Beomgyu.

“You and Beomgyu are friends right?”

There aren’t any customers except for the regulars from Bio that are almost always found in the corner of the cafe until closing. Hanbin is wiping the already squeaky clean counter because there is nothing to do. “Yes?” he answers, a smile on his face, but with a tone that’s evidently confused. “So are you?”

Christ. Now you’re the one bringing that bastard up. “Right. It’s just a little odd.” There, you bring up what you’ve observed so far since working here, and the fact that you and him have shared actual conversations not involving your old friend, and how it’s pretty surprising to you. “One time, I thought someone was going to confess to me. Turns out he just wanted me to convince Beomgyu to help him rank up in League.”

“Well, I don’t really need any help in that area.” Hanbin laughs, shaking his head. “Sounds like you and him have been friends for a long time.”

Neither of you have told anyone about your history. No reason in particular. Beomgyu just never found the need to tell his friends that you’ve known each other from birth, and neither have you. But Hanbin’s presence, when separated from the rest of his friends, just feels like a blanket of comfort, and you find yourself spilling your guts to him— including the previous three to four month cold war you caused and the reasons.

Hanbin is patient. He listens the entire time with an attentiveness you can only compare to a saint. “I guess being a social butterfly has its unintentional consequences. I’m just happy to hear you two made up.”

“I probably would never regularly step foot in your dungeon hole otherwise.”

He laughs. “The guys in the club also tease you a lot, don’t they? Doesn’t it bother you?”

You press your lips together. “Yeah, but at this point it’s just white noise to me now.”

Hanbin looks at you. “That doesn’t mean you enjoy it either.”

Well. He’s not wrong. 

Your conversation gets cut short with the cafe bell signaling the entrance of customers. You look at the door. It’s a whole stampede of people. It’s Choi Beomgyu and his friends and you can’t even go on a day of talking about them without them showing up.

“Whoa, I’ve never been here before.”

“Dude, you’re in your third year. Where the hell have you been?”

“Doesn’t Hanbin hyung work here—”

“Yeah, let’s ask him to give us free cookies.”

“Hyunjin, buy me a drink.”

“Buy your own drink, nerd.”

“Hi, I’ll have an iced americano, and a— o-oh, my god.”

You’re face to face with Yang Jeongin who nearly pisses himself upon the recognition that it’s you behind the corner. It dominoes to the rest of the group. You don’t know why they’re being so dramatic. You let out a huff and a sigh. “An iced americano and…?” 

Jeongin doesn’t get to answer. Beomgyu unwedges himself from the group and squeezes his way to the counter. “You work here now?” 

You cock a brow. “Uh. Yeah.”

“Since when?” he immediately follows up. You’re a little taken aback.

“Since last Tuesday,” you answer after recounting. Beomgyu makes a face that burrows a pit in your stomach.

“You didn’t tell me.”

Okay. Now you’re very taken aback. There’s a cough from the crowd. And then a very intuitive, not-so-hushed remark from one of the boys. “Holy shit. They’re having a lovers’ quarrel.”

It hits a nerve. Hanbin quickly dissuades anything before you could open your mouth. “So, what are you guys ordering?”

The amount of drinks to make and pastries to bring out gets you busy for a while, but you still keep an eye on Beomgyu, watching as he settles back to normal joking mode with his friends while you try to find an opening to talk to him. You and Hanbin finish making all their orders, so you ask him if you can be excused for a moment. He tells you to go ahead and you make your way to Beomgyu, who’s sitting on one of the ends of the three conjoined tables in the more spacious corner of the store.

He’s talking to Yeonjun. When Yeonjun notices you approaching, he immediately quiets down, so you take this as permission to interrupt. You tap on Beomgyu’s shoulder. “Hey.” He turns around and looks up. “You good?”

Beomgyu opens his mouth, about to say something— “Ahem,” — but then Yeonjun clears his throat, accidentally catching the attention of the rest of the boys, and they’re suddenly popping out their heads like meerkats in your direction. “Should I give you two some space?”

“What’s going on?”

“They’re having a moment.”

“Oh my god.”

“Do you guys sell popcorn?”

You’re used to their teasing. You’re used to their bullshit, really. You’re fine if they pull on your hair strands inside their clubroom, but for fuck’s sake this is a public space. Heeseung isn’t even around, but it seems like all his clubmates caught his disease. Your bio regulars are sneaking a few glances at the commotion. There are other customers too. You’re visibly annoyed and embarrassed— which doesn’t go over Beomgyu’s head, because he notices. And he also looked like he’s getting irritated. 

“Hey, you two should just apologize and make up!”

Beomgyu gets up. You see his jaw clench. Oh no. You quickly grab his arm with a tug before he can do anything— only for Hanbin to show up with a tray, setting it down on their table in a less than gentle manner. They flinch. They shut up. Hanbin sets down a few plates with a chilling smile.

“We don’t have popcorn, but here are your fries,” he says. Wow. “Do you guys want to add anything else?”

There’s a single squeak from the group. “No, we’re good.”

Hanbin hums in acknowledgement and retrieves the tray from the table— not without sending you a thumbs up, to which you mouth a thank you in return. He smiles and nods before going back to the counter, and there you feel Beomgyu removing your hold on his arm from a while ago, and you quickly flit your attention back to him, fearing that you might’ve upset him. Again. Like last time.

“Wait—”

“Are you trying to slack off?” he jeers. You look at him, a little surprised. Beomgyu nudges his head to the counter and you see a few customers filtering in. He did remove your hand from his arm, but he’s still holding it. “I’m not upset because you didn’t tell me you started working here. Well. I was. A bit. But not anymore.”

You feel his thumb run through your knuckles, going over the bumps of each joint, followed by a gentle squeeze.

“It must’ve been heaven for you to get some peace and quiet for once. But then I had to bring these losers around,” he wrinkles his nose. You feel a load get off of your chest. Beomgyu lets go of your hand. “If you told me beforehand, I would’ve steered them away from here.”

“Well it’s fine as long as they don’t cause a scene.” You say the last part a little bit louder than conversational-volume. From the corner of your eye, you see Hyunjin cough on his fry. “Anyway, I gotta get back to work.”

“No shit. Go do what you’re paid for, slacker.”

He lands a smack on your back and you’re pushed off to do your job. Gosh. Hanbin welcomes you back to the station and the both of you are kept busy for the time being, up until late afternoon strikes, and Beomgyu says he can’t drive you home today since they’re still needed back at the faculty office.

“Your girlfriend can get home just fine! Prof Kim’s looking for us, hurry—”

And just like that, he gets lugged out of the cafe. Jeongin laments about returning to “printing hell,” whatever he means by that, and the walls of Horangnabi are once again returned to their original state— peace and quiet.

The bell jingles. You hear nothing but the metronomic melody from the speakers. “Your friends are so draining,” you tell Hanbin.

He just laughs. “They’re quite energetic.”

You should’ve appreciated the serenity and calmness of your first couple of days working here because for the next few weeks, the coding club has decided that the campus cafe is going to be their regular hangout spot from now on. Or until their summer volunteer work finally ends.

“You know, you’re so pretty.”

It’s the end of June now. You’re wiping off some spilled milk from the counter when Julie suddenly decides to dote on you. She’s on the other side of the counter, face between her palms, and your wiping stops, face flushed.

“I—I’m sorry?”

“You’re like the prettiest flower in a garden and I’d fend off all the other bees and butterflies just to have you for myself,” she doubles down. You release a laugh, mildly forced because holy shit, this is a new kind of attention. “No wonder you have all these guys buzzing around you all the time.”

Julie thumb-points at the corner the coding club guys usually occupy. You hear Hyunjin losing his shit over something—

“I think he’s the one they keep buzzing around, seonbae.”

—something Choi Beomgyu very likely said considering the grin he has on his face, and how Yeonjun is also collapsing on his shoulders. You watch as his grin disappears into a cup, taking a sip from the lime soda he ordered. Then he notices you staring. He settles down the drink and gets up. 

“Oh no, he’s coming over.”

“What?” he says after reaching the counter, taking the spot next to Julie. “Are you talking shit about me again?”

“Hey, not everything is about you, insect,” answers Julie. Those two have gotten pretty close too. “I was talking about how pretty our new barista is. She’s a breath of fresh air. A rose among the truckload of weeds sullying the pretty interiors of our dear cafe.”

Beomgyu snorts at the comparison. You give him the stink eye.

“I get what she means,” Hanbin slides into conversation. He hums and passes you the milkshake Jeongin ordered. It’s still missing the whipped cream on top. You fetch a container from the fridge and walk back to your station, only to be met by a sudden debate on what kind of flower you are now.

“No, no. She’s not a rose,” you hear Yeonjun interject. “Appearance wise, she’s like a daffodil. Personality wise, she’s a venus flytrap.” A few of them chortle and laugh. You roll your eyes and start shaking the container.

“You’re wrong, she’s a hydrangea!”

“Aren’t they poisonous?”

“Exactly.”

A few more give their pitches. Honestly, you’re pretty impressed by the amount of knowledge these gamer gremlin boys have. You finish Jeongin’s milkshake and give it back to Hanbin for delivery. Beomgyu is quiet throughout the whole debacle, until Hyunjin eggs him on to give his pitch. They need to hear the expert’s verdict, he says. Beomgyu just brushes them off until he notices you looking at him expectantly. He pauses. He’s actually thinking about it. You’re pleasantly surprised at his sudden thoughtfulness— that is, of course, until he actually opens his freaking mouth.

“You’re a milkweed.”

It’s like a ball gets punted into your head. It bounces off and lands on the ground. You hear a wheeze from the boys. You give Beomgyu the middle finger.

“A weed! Not even a flower!”

“Hey, they are flowers! Go look it up!”

Beomgyu can’t redeem himself anymore. You’re already looking at him with bitter disgust and Julie proceeds to call him a piece of shit.

“It really is a flower!” 

He still defends, pleading his case to you even after the topic has shifted. Julie has left to clean up some tables. Beomgyu remains in his spot on the other side of the counter until you decide to believe him and his alleged substantial botanical knowledge. 

“Sure, whatever,” you deride. Beomgyu is still pouty. “Anyway, your conference thingy is this weekend, right? We’re going home right after?”

“Yeah,” he says, still sounding a little bitter and you bite down a laugh. His eyes flutter down, noticing something on your chin, and offhandedly wipes off what you assume is some stray whipped cream from earlier with his thumb. “Do you wanna leave in the morning or afternoon?”

“Oooooh.”

Lee Heeseung suddenly rears his head near the counter to return their empty plates. He’s back from vacation and now he’s here to reclaim his rightful spot as your number one annoyance. “Get a room,” he says with a shit eating grin that you want to wipe the floor with.

“Why’d you even come back early?” you leer at him. “Weren’t you supposed to be island hopping until the end of July?”

He sticks his tongue out. Beomgyu just laughs. “I can’t miss Sungchan’s party. You’re going, right?”

Right. The alleged wildest, most epic summer rager Jung Sungchan mentioned before parting ways with you and Minjeong over vacation. He texted you about it again last night. You couldn’t leave him on read because he called you immediately after.

“Unfortunately,” you lament. “Sungchan’s gonna throw a tantrum if I don’t show up.”

“You know Sungchan?” Beomgyu suddenly asks. 

You give him a pointed look. “Duh, obviously. We’re in the same major.”

It’s like a lightbulb materializes on the top of his head. “Ah,” he says. “I forgot you had other friends.”

You quickly retaliate by attacking him with the nearest thing you can get your hands on: a dish towel. He lets out a very fake, very dramatic yelp of pain and tells on you to Julie noona for abusing your customers and that you should be fired. 

“You’re no customer, you termite.”

“Ack! Noona! She’s hitting me again!”

“Is this how the youngins flirt nowadays?”

Both of you freeze in frame— him trying to yank your weapon from your hands and you with an arm up ready to throw a punch— and turn your heads towards Heeseung, who has a very smug smile playing on his face. You shoot Beomgyu a glare before roughly tugging the dish towel from his grasp. “Shut your mouth, Hee. How’s it going with your compsci girlie, anyway. You’ve stopped bragging since last month.”

Heeseung’s smile stiffens. He breathes out a ‘haha,’ before starting to turn away. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Serves him right. After a while you routinely bid them good riddance since they have to leave for volunteer work again. The weekend comes rolling, they finish the conference, and, with summer vacation coming to a close, you also bid your part-time job here at Horangnabi farewell as well after two-months of service. 

“It’s not like she’s never coming back here,” Beomgyu huffs. You two decided to stop by before leaving off to your hometown, Monday after their conference. Julie refuses to stop squeezing you. Beomgyu tugs on your shirt sleeve, but you don’t budge. “You’re so dramatic.”

“Coming from the guy who’s spending the entire week with her,” Julie spits back. “You better bring her back here in one piece, you bug.”

Choi Beomgyu succeeds in retrieving you this time. The container carrying two cups of coffee swings in your hand as an arm hooks around your neck, tipping you back, and the top of your skull hits Beomgyu’s chin.

“Hanbin, we’re heading out.”

“Drive safe!”

You’re only spending a little over a week in Daegu. You two still need to come back to Seoul in time for Jung Sungchan’s, cough, epic summer rager. He hasn’t missed a day in reminding you about it. You’re out for a joint-family dinner with Choi Beomgyu and his family and your phone buzzes only to see Sungchan’s text saying [three days. i better see you there 🫵🫵🫵]. 

“Your classes don’t even start until September.”

It’s the third week of August. Your mom decides to walk you to Beomgy’s car. “I still need to enroll and register for my classes,” you tell her. “I’ll call you when I arrive.” You pause. “And if you want to know what I’m up to, just ask me directly for god’s sake. Quit asking that guy.”

That guy wrinkles his nose at you. “Auntie, don’t listen to her. She’s just being jealous.”

“Wait until I tell your mom about how you nearly set fire to your kitchen.”

“Say a single word and I’m never letting you in my car anymore.”

Jung Sungchan’s party is at their vacation home in Eunpyeong District because his parents aren’t in the country. There’s a pool (gross). He promised you and Minjeong exclusive room access to escape to in case of emergencies (nice). It’s late afternoon. Beomgyu is already there because, well, he’s Choi Beomgyu and everyone’s obsessed with him. You’re still at Minjeong’s apartment, getting ready and borrowing some of her accessories.

“You sure you don’t want me to drive you guys here?” he asks over the phone. You can barely hear him with the noise in the background. “Taxi fare’s expensive.” 

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Minjeong makes a face from the foot of the bed while she irons her hair. “I’ve saved up a lot of pocket money thanks to you being my personal chauffeur anyway. And Minjeong doesn’t like you. She thinks you’re a douchebag.”

“I don’t even know her!”

“Bye.” You hang up. Minjeong still has a look on her face. “What?”

“I think he’s stringing you along,” she says bitingly.

You let out a huff. “How can he string me along when I don’t even like him?” Minjeong simply says that Choi Beomgyu gives her bad vibes, whatever the fuck she means because the only vibe Beomgyu exudes is the vibe of extreme annoyance. You hop off Minjeong’s bed and change into the outfit you brought, opting to put on this very big, droopy sunhat you once bought at a flea market as extra protection. It’s stupid hot out. You steal some of Minjeong’s sunscreen as well before finally heading out.

“Did Sungchan invite everyone at uni or something?”

A foot into his gate, it’s already so crowded. Like really fucking crowded. There’s music blasting somewhere. You can’t find Sungchan anywhere in the yard so you and Minjeong squeeze your way into the house, and there you find him with Heeseung. Minjeong yells for his attention, and he spins around with a big smile. “Hey, you made it!” Sungchan hurls himself at you with a bone crushing hug. “It feels like it’s been ten years since I last saw you.”

“Quit being so dramat— ack! Tap out, tap out! I give!”

He finally releases you, and you grunt. “Here you go.” He tosses the keys to the room he promised. 

“Have fun partying.” Minjeong snatches it into her hands immediately. You scan the area for a bit. You see Hyunjin and Jeongin in the corner of the living room.

“Boo, you’re so lame,” jeers Sungchan, to which Minjeong just ignores and tugs your arm.

“How about you?” she asks.

You shift your gaze back to her. “I’ll go look for Choi Beomgyu’s round head first then hermit up there with you.” Minjeong makes a gagging noise before going off for the staircase. You’re ready to take out your phone to shoot Beomgyu a text, but you feel a sudden weight on the top of your head, so you look up, brows knitted.

“Your boyfie’s out in the back, sunshine,” Sungchan says while attempting to snatch your hat. 

“Not my fucking boyfriend.” You swat his hand away and readjust the hat on your head. “But thanks. Later.”

The thing about your longtime friend is that no matter how crowded the place, no matter how flooded an area is with people and people and people— he’s generally very easy to find. Just look for a crowd, look for bodies circling around each other and whoever is at the epicenter, at the eye of the storm, is more often than not Choi Beomgyu.

Your trick is proven to be effective this time around as well. When you leave the living room through the glass doors to the backyard, you spot him instantaneously sitting on the ledge of the other side of the pool, feet dipping into the water as he laughs along with the large group surrounding him. It’s bright out— the sun’s rays bouncing off from the water’s surface to glitter the underside of his face. Even the sun has his attention. It’s so comically ridiculous that you almost roll your eyes into a scoff. That is until you see him see you, and within a moment’s notice, he’s up on his feet and is departing from the crowd to walk up to you.

“You’re here.”

The first thing he does is swipe the sunhat from your head, adding it to his obnoxiously colored outfit: a bright pink buttoned top with neon orange flowers, the color matching the necklace he’s uncharacteristically wearing. He’s also got a pair of square framed sunglasses perched on his nose. “Is this your highlighter cosplay?” you ask, snickering. 

He shoots you a glare. “Fuck off. What took you so long, anyway? Thought you got lost or something.”

“I wish I did,” you grunt. There’s a holler and a splash from somewhere. You feel a few droplets hitting the skin of your feet. Beomgyu tugs you by the arm a little farther away from the pool. “This is way too noisy for my liking. And I thought I’ve been desensitized by you and your friends.” 

“Yeah, but—”

“Beomgyu!”

A third voice suddenly barges in from behind you. Beomgyu’s eyes leave your face for a second when you feel someone brush past your shoulders. “Hey!” Beomgyu greets back, giving who you assume is one of his friends a high five before the guy runs off again, then his gaze flits back to you. “Anyway—”

“Hey, kid, haven’t seen you in a while!”

A more familiar face shows up and greets Beomgyu with a slap on the back, once more fishing away his attention. You’ve seen him at Horangnabi before, you think. “Hyung, I’ll get to you in a sec!” he says. When Beomgyu looks at you again, his smile quickly drops into a pursed huff. “Ugh.”

You laugh. “You were saying?”

Beomgyu smacks his tongue in distaste, tugging you even further into a corner in the backyard, right next to a bush-lined fence under the shade. “I was trying to say— it’s good to get out of your comfort zone once in a while, you know. Your mother would cry tears of joy to hear that her hermit of a daughter is at a party.”

“Why do you always bring up my mother when you want to make a point?”

“Extra leverage,” he grins. “There’s drinks in the cooler. Want me to get you one?”

“Nah,” you say. “I’m gonna hole up in Sungchan’s room in about—” you check the time on your phone. “Ten minutes. Minjeong’s already in our sanctuary.”

You receive a pinch on the nose from Beomgyu for that. You try to elbow him off, and just as he’s about to say something again, you two hear his name being yelled out from somewhere in the area. “Choi Beomgyu! Pool volleyball, stat!” Beomgyu pauses, arms dropping to his sides and his shoulders slump in defeat. A single breath of wind, he’s gonna fall over.

“God fucking damn it.”

It’s very funny seeing him like this. “Off you go,” you push his limp body out of the shade, the sun hitting you both once more. Beomgyu makes a grunt of protest. “Go, butterfly, go. Your people are waiting for you.”

Beomgyu gives you a look of awful judgment, but starts unbuttoning his shirt anyway in preparation to take a dive. “You’re not gonna swim?” he asks.

“In that water?” you grimace. “Want me to catch a disease or some shit? You’re on your own, pal.”

“Drama queen,” he huffs, fully removing his shirt now and you’re like whoa there— eyes away, eyes away. A screeching voice calls from his attention. He looks behind to yell back, “Shut the fuck up, I’ll there in a minute!”

“Hand me your phone,” you tell him, holding out your hand. Beomgyu turns around, looking at you with his atrociously bright shirt hanging on his forearm. You clear your throat. “And clothes. Ask Sungchan for directions to his room to find me later.”

“You sure?” he asks, digging into his short pockets.

“Yeah. Go have your fun, loser.”

Beomgyu hums and takes your offer, handing you his phone, tossing his shirt to your face, putting your sun hat back on top of your head and making sure to ruin your hair in the process. He’s so fucking annoying. “I’ll be back after I kick their asses.”

The shirt drops from your face and falls, only to hang on your arm. “Hey. I don’t really care,” you say. Beomgyu doesn’t find that response satisfactory. He makes a face before running off, slow at first before breaking into a sprint once he’s near enough the pool, before jumping straight into the water with a loud splash!

His head emerges from the water, largely grinning with his hair sticking to his skull. It doesn’t take long for him to be swallowed by a group of people. You take this as your cue to leave.

“I know you hate it when people assume you’re dating. But seeing all that, I really can’t blame them.”

“Holy shit— Minjeong,” you jump, meeting face-to-face with your friend the moment you spin your heels. She’s got her arms crossed, looking at you like she’s massively unimpressed. “When did you get here?”

“I thought you died or something,” she shrugs. There’s a splash from the pool, you two getting hit as collateral damages and Minjeong makes a gagging noise. “I can’t believe I left home early for this mess.”

You make a noise of agreement. It’s around four right now, the number of people isn’t getting any smaller, and the music is yet to get louder. Choi Beomgyu’s shirt and phone are still on your person. Said phone buzzing incessantly in your hold. “I’ve been out here for a good ten minutes,” you say. “I think that’s enough.”

“Good call. Let’s go upstairs.”

On the way to the room, you bump into Heeseung, who ropes you in to taking two jello shots before setting you free. You also greet a few people that you know for uni here and there, but you can barely hear them over, well, everything. It’s so chaotic, you’re beginning to wonder how the hell Jung Sungchan is going to clean up the aftermath of this. Or maybe that’s why he was so desperate to have you and Minjeong over. So that you’d help him clean up. 

Minjeong seems to agree with your theory. You two key in the door to the room he gave you while cussing him out. “That bastard. Of course, he’d have ulterior motives.” The door opens. Minjeong lets herself in and immediately throws herself face-first onto the bed. “I’m gonna nap.”

“You dressed up all cutely just to sleep at a party,” you say, scanning around the room for a place to put away Beomgyu’s things. 

“Hey, my ten minutes of screentime needs to be worth it,” she replies, voice muffled by the mattress. “Night, night.”

With how pretty the interiors look, you’re pretty sure this isn’t a room Sungchan frequents. A guest bed, maybe. There’s a large window on the opposite wall revealing a vivid backyard view, sheer white curtains filtering the sun. It’s very bohemian. Tasseled rugs, rattan decor hung all around. You notice the round, wicker seat next to the bed with a patterned cushion. You toss Beomgyu’s belongings there and walk up to the window.

Peeling back the curtain, you look down to see a flood of people scattered all about the yard, muffled music and noises leaking into the cracks of the room. Choi Beomgyu is still splashing around the pool. You watch as he throws a beach ball overhead, eyes following it fly across the water, until it ultimately bounces off the pool ledge and hits someone from behind. He looks pretty happy with the stunt. You let out a huff, a tug on the corners of your mouth, and let yourself sink into the soft rug in between the bed and the windowsill, laying down.

You hear Minjeong squirming from above. Damn, she’s actually sleeping. You’d get up there and join her too, but the floor is already comfortable, and you’re already yawning, so you feel yourself starting to doze off, lulled by the distant sounds of people from the outside.

When you open your eyes again, it’s orange.

You open your phone. Almost six in the evening. The sunset leaks into the room through the sheer curtain, painting shadows on the floor as you blink and regain your consciousness.

Then you hear three sharp knocks from the other side of the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Coming.” It takes a while for you to reconnect the wires in your brain. You let out a yawn as you make your groggy steps towards the door, seeing Minjeong wedged into the upper corner of the bed in a way that’s definitely going to wrinkle her outfit. There’s a few more knocks on the door. You twist the knob open and lo and behold—

It’s Choi Beomgyu.

“Oh, thank god, I found the right room this time.”

Half-clothed. With a very evident, painful red mark on his left cheekbone.

“Holy shit. What the hell happened to you?”

You’re wide awake now. Beomgyu answers with a sheepish grin. “Well. You see. A little accident occurred.” 

He flinches back and looks away guiltily with tightly pressed lips the moment you nudge your face closer. It’s swollen. You take a step back with a sigh. “Explain,” you say, grabbing him into the room. You tip the door close with your foot and bring him to the foot of the bed, careful not to wake Minjeong up in the process.

“Some of the guys got a little too tipsy,” he starts as you sit him down onto the mattress. You kneel onto the bed stool, sinking into the loose blanket draped on the cushion just next to his outstretched legs while he continues yapping. “There was a surfboard involved. Don’t ask. But with alcohol-induced lack of coordination, and then there’s me who was by the pool ledge at the wrong place at the wrong time— I think you can get an idea of what happened.

He leans back, sinking his hands into the cushion. You dip forward. “That’s nothing to brag about.” Yeah, he’s gonna need some ice. 

“I think I bumped my head a little too.”

You feel a breath escape. He’s smiling. How many beer cans has he downed already? “Beomgyu. Seriously. What the fuck?” His face is irritating you, so you grab it and yank it down to get a good look of his big, round head. “Where?”

“Ack! Gently! Do it gently!” he complains, and you feel his right hand coil around your left wrist. “It’s father in the back, I think—”

“Quit grabbing—”

“Ow!”

You do manage to find the bump, but you accidentally press on it a little too hard, causing Choi Beomgyu to yank your wrist in surprise, jerking you forward out of balance. Now, that’s fine and all, but at the same moment, you hear two unfamiliar voices speaking in hushes approaching the door. Your eyes widen.

“Are you sure this room is empty?”

“Yeah, it’s empty, just—”

Swing! 

You try to get up. But your knees slip on the blanket on the stool and you stumble forward upon hearing the door slam open.

It’s a domino effect. Your palms are pressing against the soft mattress. Choi Beomgyu’s bruised face is looking straight at you in alarm. From underneath. You’re on top of him. On the bed. You snap your head towards the door and it’s wide, wide open with two people, half inside, and a few more heads poking in and zeroing in on you as the realization that you forgot to fucking lock it dawns upon you and soaks into your bones.

This. This isn’t a favorable position.

God damn it all.

“Sorry!”

And the door is slammed shut once more. That doesn’t matter. The damage has been done. You feel your face starting to burn and your strength attempting to escape from your body.

“Uh.”

The voice from below you reels your attention back in. You blink. Shit. You’re practically pinning Choi Beomgyu against the bed right now and his face is just a few inches away from yours. The heat is rising to your head. You want to move, but your arms won’t budge— seemingly temporarily locked into place by the shock of the sight underneath you.

His eyes are wide open, reflecting the orange tinted light from the ceiling, flushing his skin with a light shade of auburn, the tint deeper on his cheeks and nose. You see his throat bob, muscles contracting. 

The thing is, you’ve known him for a good twenty years or so, give or take. But you’ve never seen his face this close before, and you have to admit—

“C—can you move?”

Choi Beomgyu is kind of pretty.

Even with an ugly bruise forming underneath his eye.

“Hey. I don’t think this is gonna help kill any of the rumors.”

You look up to see Minjeong further up on the bed, very, very awake. You forgot she’s here. You toss yourself to the side with a squeak, practically hurling yourself off from the bed. “It—it was an accident!” you start. Minjeong simply shakes her head with sigh.

“I know. I saw everything. I was already awake the moment you sat this fucker’s ass on the bed.”

Hot. Your face is very hot. But Minjeong is also very right because god— you’re not sure how far things are gonna escalate. How many people saw that? Five? Maybe Six? Gosh, you don’t fucking know. The only thing you’re sure about is the fact that Lee Heeseung is gonna have a field day once he hears about this. You are royally screwed.

나비 / NABI. © hannie-dul-set, 2024.

---

65. best choice

[ synopsis ] choi beomgyu has spent his entire senior year slacking off and causing mischief. but, due to his inattentiveness, his slacking off went too far and if he doesn't improve the grade in his literature class he'll guarantee himself a seat in summer school. yn has big dreams to be on stage and star on broadway. however, she needs to impress recruiters with one last production as the lead in order to earn herself a spot in a new york based school. when beomgyu's literature teacher makes him join their drama club for extra credit, their futures quickly become intertwined and dependent on each other.

taglist (CLOSED): @heyanonymous123 @flrtsbin @anonella22 @chocorenchin @gyuszie @flowerbe0m @kaikamalover @n034sy @iactaid @suzirumas @pupkashi @choi-beomgyulvr @hearts4hanni @naveries @wccycc @wonioml @burminq @a55hie @wildesreblogs @kaewonie @online--princess @alixox @minkyungseokie @moa4lifeee @yeehawnana @peakaboostuff @txtistheloml @sieuneo @weyrrii @cookiehaos @vianna99 @akari-saka13 @crystal-jellies @veryjeongintxtkid @reiloml @mystiicturtle @sirpoopsalot @certifiedmoa @l0ve-joy @woncheecks @hellohuening @rainbowszi @yeonie137 @neoculturewhat @solstramaii @tocupid @cha0thicpisces @koeuh @iwaplant @lemons4u

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Chameleon Boy (Part 1)

Pairing: Gryffindor!Jin x Ravenclaw!reader

Words: 6.3k

Genre: Hogwarts AU, also pretty sure I created the new genre of Idiots to Morons to Lovers...

Warnings/rating: SFW (but with a fun sprinkle of spice), cursing, reader is emotionally constipated, Jin is somewhat of a perfectionist, mild violence

Author's Note: This is part of the BTS Hogwarts collab hosted by @homeofbangtan! Loosely based on the concept of the song Chameleon Boy by Blue October. I enjoyed writing this fic SO MUCH, y'all. So much that it became a behemoth novel of a thing, totaling 24.3k in total (parts 2 and 3 forthcoming)! Special thanks to @ttaetae for the banner, @min-yoon-kween for being my official beta reader, @hyungieyoongi for being my unofficial beta reader and official hype woman, and @sunshinejunghoseokie and @mochi-molala for putting up with me sending you ideas and snippets of story for over a month straight!

---------------

“Kim Namjoon!”

You wince over your Full English sitting in front of you...it was entirely too early in the morning for anyone to be yelling that boisterously across the Great Hall. You look over your shoulder to see Kim Seokjin, Gryffindor’s Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, walking purposefully towards your best friend, Kim Namjoon, who’s sitting next to you.

“Kim Namjoon!” Seokjin repeats, clapping him on the shoulder and sliding onto the bench between the two of you. His broad shoulders push you down the table.

“...yeah? What do you need?” Your friend smiles up at him, dimples forming in his cheeks.

“I wanted to pick your brain about the essay we had for Herbology. I know the Venomous Tentacula is poisonous and turns you a color if you drink its juice, but for the life of me I can’t remember which one, and I couldn’t find it in the text...care to help a friend out?” Seokjin smiles at Namjoon pleadingly.

“What, had one too many bludgers to the head and can’t remember?” You scoff. Seokjin swiftly turns towards you, suddenly remembering you’re still there. His movement shoves you further down the bench, conveniently towards the edge, where you proceed to topple off completely and land on the cold stone floor of the Great Hall. You can hear sniggers from the Slytherin table as they watch the whole exchange.

“Are you okay?” Seokjin asks, eyebrows raised in concern. He leaps off the bench and offers you a hand to help you up.

“No thanks to you, Seokjin,” you huff, refusing his hand and standing up on your own. You dust yourself off and start to gather your books to leave.

“Call me Jin, everyone does,” he offers up, trying to get you to look at him so he can properly apologize for his carelessness.

You continue to scoop your books into your bag, and only turn to face the boys after you’ve slung the bag over your shoulder.

“Joon, I’ll see you later in the common room. Jin, was it?” You smile with sarcasm dripping from your voice. He hums in acknowledgement, too afraid to push his luck with an actual sentence.

“Venomous Tentacula juice turns the drinker purple. It’s on page 394 of Flesh-Eating Trees of the World.”

Jin stares helplessly after you as you stride away.

------------------------------

“Smooth, Kim.” Jin turns around, only to see Park Jimin, Slytherin’s Seeker, rolling his eyes at him from the next table over.

“Mind your business, Park.” Jin snaps, ears starting to turn red.

“You made it my business when you shoved that poor girl onto the floor in front of the whole school. I’m sure she loved that,” Jimin sneers.

“I said mind your business, Park. You forget I can dock Slytherin points for you talking back to the Head Boy.”

Jimin just glares in response. Jin turns back to Namjoon, gives a hurried goodbye, and heads back over to the Gryffindor table.

How in the world was he going to make up for embarrassing you in front of everyone at breakfast? He knew he had to figure something out, and fast.

------------------------------------------

Jin is still wracking his brain trying to come up with ways to apologize to you as he walks to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Maybe he could do some fancy charm-yes, that sounded good. But wait...what was he going to do, knit you a scarf? He rolled his eyes at that thought and went back to square one in his head as he opened the door and headed to his seat.

Maybe he could bake you something? He was good at kitchen charms, he had the evidence (or should he say lack of evidence) to prove it every time he made treacle tarts or pumpkin pasties for his team. Jungkook would never shut up, asking him continuously about the next time he was planning on making something. Little did JK know, he was planning on making something special for their first game against Slytherin the following week. He smiled to himself thinking about it as he pulled out his quill and paper, prepared for whatever the lesson of the day was. He had to make sure he was on top of his game if he wanted to be a Curse-Breaker after graduation.

A minute till class starts, the door to the classroom bursts open forcefully and you sprint through it breathless. You frown as you see that the only empty seat is next to...Jin. Of course it is. You sigh and take your seat before the professor shows up, quickly pulling out your supplies.

Jin leans in to whisper something to you, but before he can say a word, the classroom door bursts open again to a frazzled, gray haired witch who marches to the front of the room and immediately begins lecturing.

The two of you furiously scribble as she talks, looking over at each others’ notes occasionally if you aren’t able to catch something she said. Jin’s broad shoulders bump into yours several times throughout class, luckily not sending you to the floor this time.

Towards the end of class, the professor mentions that there will be a semester-long project over some form of advanced dark magic.

“Your table mates will be your project partners for the semester!” The professor chirps cheerily.

You smirk across the room at your other best friend, Sunny, who is sitting at the same table with none other than Park Jimin.

“Sunny and Jimin, your project will be over horcruxes,” your professor smiles at them before turning to you.

The smirk that had been on your face falls instantly as you realize who your project partner is.

“Seokjin and Y/N, your project will be over the Imperius Curse.”

Jin turns to you with a nervous smile. “Hey...partner.”

“...hey,” you return in a small voice.

“Do you want to maybe...work on our first essay at the library this weekend together? I’m sure you probably have a better handle on this than I do already, being a Ravenclaw and all.” Jin smiles at you more genuinely this time.

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” You question, eyebrow raised.

“Oh, um. Just that you’re smart and stuff. You knew about Venomous Tentacula poison without even double checking the textbook this morning. So I figured you’re probably really good at essays...I just have to work a little harder sometimes at school stuff, I promise I’m not dumb!” he rambles, pink dusting his cheeks. He’s cute when he’s flustered, you think.

“I know you’re not dumb, idiot,” you smirk up at him.

“...but you just called me an idiot?” he questions, eyebrows furrowed.

“I know you’re not dumb, Jin. You wouldn’t be able to be Head Boy if you were. Plus Joon doesn’t associate with idiots,” you smile warmly, a true grin gracing your face.

Jin chuckles in response, running his hand through his hair to push it out of his eyes. “So meet me in the library this weekend?”

“...I bet you say that to all the girls,” you reply, grabbing your things and walking out of the classroom laughing.

Jin is left dumbstruck staring after you for the second time that day. As he turns back to his notebook, he sees your handwriting in the top corner of his notes. When you had time to write that without him seeing, he has no idea.

Meet me in the restricted section at 4pm on Saturday.

Jin smiles to himself as he finishes packing up his things and heads out. This was going to be a fun project.

--------------------------------------

You busy yourself the rest of the week with your studies, hanging out with Joon, and making fun of Sunny, who is agonizing over being partners with Jimin-who you’re pretty sure she has a huge crush on.

Come Friday, you’re sitting in the Ravenclaw common room poring over your notes for Potions, when you hear a strange clicking sound. You look around the large armchair you’re in and don’t see anything. No one else is in the common room currently because it’s the middle of the afternoon-everyone else is either in the library or out enjoying the sunshine while it lasts. So where is the clicking noise coming from?

As you continue to look around, it becomes louder and more insistent. You can tell it’s coming from outside, so you look towards the window only to see a tiny pygmy owl frantically tapping its beak on the glass.

You immediately jump up from your chair and rush over to the window, opening it as quickly as you can. The little owl flutters in and lands on the arm of the chair you were in before, seeming to scowl at you indignantly for not letting it in sooner.

“I’m sorry, little one. I didn’t realize you were at the window, I thought someone had left Exploding Snap or something out, I would have let you in much sooner had I realized!” You reach forward to pet the owl’s head with your finger, it being much too small to touch with your entire hand. It trills softly at you as you pet it, and you think it may have forgiven you for leaving it outside so long.

“Who are you looking for, hmm? You’re incredibly adorable, you know?” The owl preens under your compliment and sticks out its leg to you, where you can see there is a small folded note with your name on it.

“For me?” You’re surprised-no one ever sends you things unless it’s for your birthday or a holiday. Christmas is more than a month away, and your birthday isn’t until spring term. You reach out and gently remove the note from the owl’s leg, and it promptly hops into your lap and bumps its head against your finger for more affection. You oblige as you unfold the paper, only to see two lines in a messy, loopy scrawl.

Chocolate or cinnamon?-KSJ

P.S. This is HooDini, he likes attention. Maybe too much, actually.

You can’t help the smile that tugs at the corners of your mouth as you look down at HooDini. He’s made himself at home in your lap, looking as if he’d like to fall asleep under your touch. You scoop him into your palms and place him back on the arm of the chair so you can pull out a quill to respond. He looks highly offended, and turns his head away.

“Sorry, HooDini, I didn’t want you to fall,” you laugh softly at the owl’s antics. He peeks his head back around at the mention of his name, settling for watching you write out an answer to Jin.

...cinnamon, for sure. Chocolate is overrated.

P.S. Your owl is cute and I think he might like attention as much as his owner does.

You aren’t sure why Jin is asking about chocolate or cinnamon, but you can’t be too mad. You needed a break from working on your Potions homework, and being able to pet an owl was the perfect remedy...plus, if Jin cared enough to write a whole note, you figured you would indulge him. You tie your response to HooDini’s leg and carry him over to the window.

“Don’t be a stranger, okay?” You give him one last pet, and he nips your finger affectionately before taking off. You head back over to your armchair and start flipping through your notes again.

------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, HooDini comes flapping through the Gryffindor boys’ dormitory window, crashing onto Jin’s four poster bed with his leg stuck up in the air.

“Hoo, you alright, mate? That was quick!” Jin scoops his owl up into his hands, bringing him to eye level to make sure he’s okay.

HooDini hoots softly, insistently shoving his leg towards Jin. He takes the note off the owl’s leg and places him on the blanket at the end of the bed. HooDini immediately makes a burrow for himself and stares at Jin while he reads your response to your question.

He was hoping you’d say cinnamon instead of chocolate...now he knows just what to make you for your study date. Or, not date. Whatever it is. He shakes the thought away. Just because you were cute, did not make this any kind of anything. You barely knew each other anyway. He rummages around in his trunk until he finds what he’s looking for-his mum’s Muggle cookbook he brought from home, as well as a magical cookbook he’d picked up from Flourish and Blotts at the start of the year. He rolls up his sleeves and starts to flip through the pages, making notes from each.

He’s determined-he’s going to make you the best bake of his life.

--------------------------------------

The next day, after lunch and working on Herbology homework out in the greenhouse with Joon, you head to the Ravenclaw common room to pack up for your trip to the library to meet up with Jin. You quickly shove as many books about dark magic as you can into your bag without splitting the seams, and sling it over your shoulder. As you do so, you notice dirt smudged on your sleeve. You attempt to rub it off, and it just smears more into the fabric. You shrug to yourself-you’ll use a spell to get it off later. Jin can deal with a little bit of dirt, it’s just a trip to the library. You head out of Ravenclaw Tower, hoping you won’t have to wait too long for Jin to arrive once you get to the library.

To your surprise, he’s already there once you make your way to the back of the library, and he’s set up a table for the two of you. From the looks of it, he’s been there a while...his hair is mussed from running his fingers through it and he lets out a deep sigh as you approach the table.

Hearing your footsteps, he glances up, startled.

“Oh...hey! Grab a seat,” he reaches to try and straighten up his belongings that are strewn about everywhere with one hand while simultaneously trying to pull out a chair for you with his other hand.

You grab the chair from him and slowly pull it out for yourself.

“I can do that myself, thanks…” You raise an eyebrow at him.

“Of course! I mean, I know that. Sorry,” his ears go slightly pink at your statement as he meekly pulls his hand away from the chair.

You sit down and pull out all your books one by one, his eyes going wide as the stack keeps growing.

“How many do you have in there?...it is one of those bottomless bags? How does it work?” His eyes alight with curiosity.

You stifle a laugh (you are in a library, after all), and shake your head.

“It’s not a bottomless bag, you doofus. I just know how to pack efficiently is all...and I think I have 7 in here? Just things I had that I thought could maybe be useful for our project.”

Jin smiles at you softly as you finish your explanation.

“What?” You look over at him, not understanding what’s amusing about you packing books to use for your project. Doesn’t he want a good grade as well?

“Nothing, you’re just a nerd.” His soft smile doesn’t leave his face as he answers you, but he’s not able to keep eye contact for long.

“Oh, I’m the nerd? Don’t think I didn’t see what you just put away as you were trying to clear the table...Advanced Arithmancy, I think it was?” You smirk, knowing you’re right as his eyes grow wide.

“Well, how else am I supposed to become a Curse-Breaker after graduation? I have to take that class...doesn’t mean it’s not kicking my arse in the process though. It’s why I look like I’ve been electrocuted, it’s stressing me out so much I’m pulling my hair out!” He exclaims, pointing to the mess of hair sitting on top of his head.

“You’re lucky I know what electricity is, otherwise I would think you’re crazy right about now.” You smile as you reach forward across the table, smoothing down an errant strand of Jin’s hair that’s managed to find itself standing straight up in the air. He freezes when your hand makes contact with his head, eyes going even wider than before.

As you pull away, a faint pink dusts your cheeks. Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten in his personal space, seeing as you don’t know each other that well. Before you can dwell on it too much, you notice Jin smiling at you again.

“I forget that not everyone knows what electricity is...goes to show what a Muggleborn I am. You too?” He inquires, genuinely curious to hear your answer.

“Pureblood actually.” You can see his face fall slightly at that, and you rush to clarify. “I absolutely do not buy into the pureblood shit that a lot of the Slytherins like to brag about. I’m not better than you, or anyone else, just because my parents happened to be a witch and a wizard. It’s just dumb luck, that’s all.”

“Wait..so how in the world do you know about electricity then?” Jin cocks an eyebrow at you in confusion.

“I’m in Advanced Muggle Studies, that’s how. I think Muggles are fascinating,” you shrug, the answer seeming simple to you.

You notice a smirk slowly making its way onto Jin’s face, though he is clearly trying to fight it.

“Oh, what now?” You roll your eyes as Jin gives in to the smirk, his eyes twinkling in mirth to match.

“...you really are a nerd, aren’t you?” He chuckles and ducks out of the way as you swat at him with one of your books.

“Shhh!!” The librarian shushes you both as she walks by your table. You’re honestly surprised that it hasn’t happened before now with how loud the two of you have been.

You both duck your heads down, burying your faces in your books while stifling laughter. Once the librarian is out of sight, you raise your head to look at Jin over the spine of Secrets of the Darkest Art.

“So, our project. The Imperius Curse?” You question.

The two of you get to work, poring over endless amounts of books for hours on end, scribbling notes down about anything even tangentially related to the Imperius Curse. Jin comes up with the idea for your first essay to be over the creation of the Unforgivable Curses, and historically how the Imperius Curse has been most frequently used. You’re pleasantly surprised to see he’s prepared an outline of his ideas before showing up to meet you.

Your stomach growling breaks up your study session hours later. Jin glances up at the sound, then looks over at the clock on the wall.

“It’s nine already! I’m so sorry I kept you here this late, you could have left me to go down to the Great Hall for dinner...they’ll have cleaned up already,” he exclaims worriedly looking back at you.

“It’s fine, I’m not that-” Your stomach interrupts you with an even louder sound. You can’t help but laugh at your stomach’s protest.

“Lucky for you, I’m here,” Jin bends down to rummage through his belongings. You peer over, curious.

He pulls out a covered tray of some sort, putting it down on the table. You raise an eyebrow in question. Jin whips off the lid with a flourish, looking extremely proud of himself.

The library is immediately filled with the scent of buttery cinnamon goodness. Your mouth drops open in surprise, and Jin’s eyes sparkle when he sees your reaction.

“Cinnamon chip scones...for you. An apology for embarrassing you at breakfast earlier this week, since I never properly apologized. Thanks for answering my note-I would have hated to have made chocolate chip scones instead. A travesty, really.”

“Jin, you really didn’t have to-” You try to protest, but as you move your hand in front of you to shoo the idea of him feeding you away, he’s placing a scone and napkin in your hand instead. The warmth seeps into your hand through the napkin, a welcome difference from the damp chill in the library.

“How is this still warm? You’ve had them in here for hours…” You’re confused, this isn’t how baked goods work.

“A semi-permanent warming charm, I can teach you sometime. I’m surprised I found something you don’t know about...nerd.” He smirks at you again, enjoying that he’s found something he knows about that you don’t.

Instead of giving him the satisfaction of an answer, you take a bite of the scone instead. It may have been a better bet to try and give a sarcastic comment back to Jin. As soon as the scone hits your tongue, it starts to melt and you let out an involuntary sigh of delight.

“...good?” Jin looks nervous, glancing at you, trying to gauge your reaction.

“...delicious. I think it might be the best scone I’ve ever had?” You admit, as much as you don’t want to.

Jin’s cheeks warm at your praise, a large grin breaking out across his face. He reaches across the table to you suddenly, and before you have the chance to react, he’s brushing his thumb over the corner of your mouth.

“You had a crumb,” he laughs, then furrows his brow and moves his thumb across your cheek. “And...dirt?” He asks, dumbfounded.

You pull away, embarrassed yet again in Jin’s presence.

“It’s from working in the greenhouses earlier today with Joon,” you murmur as you bury your face in your hands, frantically wiping at any other dirt that may still be on your face. Why did you care so much anyway?

Jin laughs goodnaturedly. “Don’t worry about it, I just figured I’d help you out while I was already at it with the crumb...but you’ve been working on homework all day? You need to get out more,” he states matter of factly.

You glare at him across the table in response.

“I’ve got it! You should come to the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch game next week, it’s the first game of the season. Jeon and Park will be at each other's throats, so it should be entertaining for you at least.” Though he labels it as entertaining, his face scrunches in thought while he’s talking.

“And of course, you can come see yours truly, ‘Kill ‘Em Kim’, in action.” He winks at you. “I didn’t become Quidditch Captain for nothing, y’know.”

“I was considering saying yes, until you decided that winking and referring to yourself as ‘Kill ‘Em Kim’ was a good idea.” You roll your eyes as you gather up your belongings to head back to Ravenclaw Tower. Jin follows you as you exit the library.

“Don’t make me Imperio you to come to the game!” He calls down the hallway after you.

You turn on your heel to face him. “You couldn’t Imperio me if you tried, and even if you did, I’m strong enough to break it. Plus it’s an Unforgivable Curse, did you forget? You’d be arrested,” you huff as you turn away and march off to your common room.

“...nerd.” Jin chuckles under his breath as he turns to make his way to his own common room.

When you finally make it to your dormitory, you shrug your bag off your shoulder onto the bed and sink down beside it. You’re exhausted after working on schoolwork all day. You open the bag to unpack its contents-all seven of your textbooks, copious notes, and-what’s this? Even after taking out all your books, there’s still a weight to your bag. You reach inside and pull out Jin’s container of cinnamon chip scones. When had he managed to sneak this inside your things?

There’s also a note in his messy scrawl sitting on top.

One’s not enough if you didn’t eat dinner-consider it a midnight snack. Maybe I can show you that semi-permanent warming charm sometime, or even better, how to make cookies the Muggle way, since you’re so fascinated with us. ;) Hope to see you at the game (supporting Gryffindor, of course)! -Kill ‘Em Kim

You smile to yourself, before tucking the tin into your bedside table drawer...after all, you might want a midnight snack later.

---------------------------------------------

“Come on...please? Pretty please come to the game with me? Jin invited you anyway, you should come!” Sunny whines at you over breakfast the morning of the Gryffindor-Slytherin match. She’s made her way over from the Hufflepuff table just to plead with you with big doe eyes.

“Excuse me, you just want a reason to watch Jimin play since you’re not in either house. You’re using me as a cover because I was actually invited!” You accuse, pointing your fork at her across the table.

She laughs goodnaturedly. “Yeah, so what? I want to watch him play, but I also don’t want to go alone. Please-” Her pleas are cut off by a loud commotion across the room. You both look over to see Jin and Jeon Jungkook, Gryffindor’s Seeker, being clapped on the back by housemates as they laugh and head out of the Great Hall down to the Quidditch pitch to get changed for their game.

Sunny turns back towards you while you’re still staring after the two of them.

“Don’t think I don’t see you admiring his broad shoulders!” She accuses, making you tear your eyes away and look at her again.

“Huh?”

“My point exactly. You’re coming with me, and you’re gonna see Kill ‘Em Kim in action,” she demands.

“Fine,” you sigh as you get up from your table. “Why is his nickname Kill ‘Em Kim, anyway?” You roll your eyes as the name falls off your tongue.

“Have you never been to a game before when Gryffindor’s played?” You shake your head. “Oh, you’re in for a treat then.” Sunny smirks as the two of you walk out of the Great Hall.

-----------------------------------------------

A few hours later, you and Sunny are weaving and dodging your way through throngs of people on the Gryffindor side of the pitch, trying to find the third member of your trio. You had promised Joon you would meet him at the game. You eventually collapse onto a bench once you find him, already sweating. Before you can get too comfortable, a booming voice echoes through the pitch, and the crowd immediately erupts into cheers and collectively stands on their feet. The match must be starting, you suppose.

The announcer welcomes the Slytherin team to the pitch first, giving them all individual introductions. The crowd surrounding you boos lightly throughout each name, until Park Jimin steps on the field. As he hops on his broom and alights from the ground, the boos around you grow in volume. Sunny, seemingly oblivious, claps excitedly and draws stares from several students around you.

“Sunny, people are staring. You can’t cheer for Slytherin in the Gryffindor section,” you hiss under your breath.

“Oh yeah…” She lowers her hands, but can’t seem to wipe the grin off her face as she watches Jimin fly around the pitch.

“And now for our Gryffindor team!” The announcer bellows loudly.

The boos turn into cheers, screams, and stomping around you. It feels like the stands may collapse under you if it keeps up like this.

The announcer introduces the Keeper, three Chasers, and a redheaded girl who’s one of the team’s Beaters.

“Jin’s next!” Sunny squeals in excitement, elbowing you harder than necessary, you think.

Sure enough, the next words out of the announcer’s mouth are-

“Give it up for Gryffindor’s other Beater, and Team Captain, KILL ‘EM KIM SEOKJIN!!”

The cheers around you are deafening...it’s very clear that Jin must be one of the team favorites. However, you are caught completely off guard by what happens next.

As Jin kicks off from the ground and starts to soar at eye-level with the crowd, he pulls his hand up to his mouth and begins to...blow kisses.

You are utterly confused, but before you have time to think, shrieks from female fans drown out any thoughts you may have had. It’s completely overwhelming, but as you look around, you can see the girls around you practically melting into puddles. It’s not just Gryffindors...it’s literally girls from each and every house.

“Kill ‘em with kindness, get it?” Sunny laughs from beside you. You look at her bewildered. Why had you even agreed to come to this stupid game?

As you look back towards the pitch, you find Jin looking your way and you lock eyes. He stops blowing kisses, but has the widest grin on his face because he’s noticed you.

The redheaded Beater comes up behind him and taps him lightly on the head with her bat, and makes an impatient motion with her other hand, clearly trying to communicate that he needs to get his head in the game. He nods at her, and goes to get in position for the start of the game, but not before turning back to you and sending you your own personal kiss and a wink. Now you’re the one that would like to melt into a puddle, and from the looks of some of the girls around you, they’d also like you to melt into a puddle-albeit for a completely different reason.

Sunny shrieks beside you as she grabs your arm. “He blew you a kiss! Kim Seokjin just made eye contact with you and blew you a kiss!”

“I thought you were here for Jimin, yeah?” You look over at her, still a little dazed, but recovered enough to whip out your signature sarcasm.

Before she can answer you, the announcer starts speaking again.

“And finally, Gryffindor’s Seeker, JEON “GOLDEN BOY” JUNGKOOK!!”

The cheers seem loudest for Jungkook, but you’re too busy following Jin’s movements across the field to care much.

The game is intense-Gryffindor’s Chasers are top notch, scoring goal after goal, but Slytherin’s Beaters are fast and furious, frequently sending Bludgers not only towards the Chasers, but also towards Jin and his counterpart, trying to take them out of commission. There’s even a moment where Jin gets sideswiped by a Bludger in his non-dominant arm while having to duck out of the way of the other Slytherin Beater swinging their bat towards his face.

Meanwhile, Jimin and Jungkook are circling the match from above, searching for any glimpse of the Golden Snitch. The game goes on for quite a while, each side occasionally scoring, but it seems the Snitch is nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, both Seekers nosedive towards the ground-you know they must have seen the Snitch, but you can’t seem to find it.

“There, there!” Sunny screams, pointing to the ground near the Slytherin goalposts, where sure enough, you can see a glint of gold in the waning sunlight.

Both Jungkook and Jimin chase relentlessly after the elusive ball, reaching beyond their brooms as much as they can. You can see Jungkook adjusting his position where it almost looks like he’s trying to stand on his broom to get more leverage.

The two Seekers zoom past your area of the stands, following where the Snitch goes. As they pass, there’s a loud crack as Jin winds up and uses the momentum and power of his broad shoulders to blast a Bludger Jimin’s way. The Slytherin ducks out of the way while still reaching his hand out to attempt what seems impossible in the moment-but you see it as well as everyone else does. His hand closes around the Snitch at the last second.

There’s a collective groan throughout the Gryffindor crowd, but then a mumble of confusion.

“It seems we’ve got an interesting result on our hands, folks...Park Jimin catches the Snitch for Slytherin and ends the game, but Gryffindor wins the match!!” The announcer seems as stunned as everyone in the crowd.

The stands around you erupt with noise.

“We won! He won!” You scream in disbelief at Sunny, more excited than you ever thought you’d be about a sporting event.

“Yeah he did!” Sunny shares your enthusiasm. “Should we meet the boys outside the pitch? Congratulate Jin?” She wiggles her eyebrows at you.

“Sure,” you roll your eyes in response. “And you can console Jimin,” you add with a laugh.

By the time you’re able to make it through the stands and to the outskirts of the pitch, the sun has started to set and the crowds have mostly dispersed. The two of you hang around outside where you know the locker rooms are for a little while-just as you’re about to give up and walk back to the castle, players start to file out of the pitch.

Jimin is one of the first to come out, looking rather disgruntled. Sunny looks at you questioningly, wordlessly asking you if you are okay with her leaving to go talk to him. You smile and nod, and she breaks out into a grin as she skips toward him. Though he looks upset, you can tell his mood lifts a little as she makes her way over to him.

“What’re you grinning about?” A deep voice in your ear startles you and you turn to see Jin smiling at you.

“Young love, I think,” you reply, gently motioning towards your friend as she walks away.

“Park and Sunny? Cute, he needs someone to lighten him up a little.” Jin clearly must have just stepped out of the shower, because he keeps having to push wet hair out of his eyes and he’s in a casual tee and pants instead of his Quidditch robes. As he sweeps his hair off his forehead, you notice a blue and purple mark starting to bloom on the outside of his left bicep.

Without thinking, you grab his arm as he brings it down beside him to take a closer look. “Is this where that Bludger sideswiped you?” You ask softly, running your fingers gently over the mark.

“What? Oh...yeah, guess so.” He looks unbothered by the injury.

“Doesn’t it hurt?” You look up at him, and he is taken aback by the concern in your eyes.

“I mean...a little, but it’s not a big deal. A risk of the game, y’know?”

“Yes, but the Slytherins were playing way too rough!” you exclaim. “They sent a Bludger your way while the other one tried to take your head off-that’s against the rules!” You’re getting more riled up the more you think about it-who did Slytherin think they were exactly?

Jin chuckles in response. “The Slytherins always play dirty, and the refs don’t always catch it. I knew what to expect. It’s cute that you’re so fired up about it though.” His signature smirk made its way onto his face yet again.

You roll your eyes at him, but keep your hand on his arm. “Let me take a closer look at this, please,” you plead while looking at him. “At the very least, it’s good practice for me.”

“...practice?” He cocks his head to the side, somehow managing to look like a confused dog.

“I want to be a Healer when I graduate,” you state matter-of-factly. You take his arm and gingerly move it in your hands to take a look from multiple angles.

“It got you pretty good, Jin. I think it might be a bone bruise, it’s hard to tell though with all the pooled blood under the surface.” Your diagnosis is quick-you’re just glad he doesn’t have any broken bones, to be honest. You whip out your wand from your bag and point it at his arm.

“Episkey.”

The blue and purple marks on his arm slowly vanish, as if being siphoned away. As his arm returns to its normal color, he stretches it out experimentally.

“How does it feel?” You ask, wanting to both make sure that he’s okay, and that your spellwork was up to snuff.

“Good as new. Thanks, Nerd.” He smiles down at you, genuine in his gratitude despite the nickname.

“No problem,” you smile back.

The two of you begin to walk back to the castle, sunlight almost completely gone from the horizon. There’s silence, but it’s comfortable. As you walk through the main doors, Jin turns to you.

“So what did you think of the game, hmm?” He has a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he asks the question.

“I thought it was fun, and I’m glad you guys won.”

“Now you know why they call me Kill ‘Em Kim,” he winks obnoxiously at you, and you roll your eyes.

“Yes, because apparently the entire female population of this school wants you to blow them a kiss. You’re in high demand.”

“And yet...you’re the one I blew a kiss to. You must feel special.” He raises an eyebrow at you, daring you to disagree.

“So special,” you laugh. He tries to keep a serious face, but ends up laughing as well.

You both reach a landing in the Grand Staircase where you need to separate to head to your common rooms.

“Well, this is me,” you gesture upwards at the many stairs you still need to climb.

“Yeah…” Jin rubs the back of his neck, looking like he doesn’t want to leave just yet. “Thanks for coming to the game, and thanks for healing my arm for me...you didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course I did! You were hurt, and like I said, practice for me,” you grin up at him.

Jin leans in to hug you goodbye, which is a welcome surprise. You find that he feels warm and comforting, and smells a little like cinnamon-even though he’s just showered. He leans down mid-hug and murmurs in your ear.

“I blew you a kiss because you are special, whether you feel like it or not.” As he pulls away from the hug, he lands a quick but chaste kiss to your cheek.

Before you can say a word, he’s disappeared around the corner with a small wave in your direction. This was not how you thought today would go.

Kill ‘Em Kim, indeed.

----------------------------

Part 2

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