Work Text:
2012
—
Kun Qian wasn’t blind. Quite the opposite, in fact; he was naturally observant and made extra effort to be so, to know exactly who he kept around him at all times, how they could be of benefit or detriment to him, how he could be of benefit or detriment to them. He had a knack for deciphering how a person was feeling, what they were thinking. His success rate wasn’t quite 100%, but he was usually right.
So no, he wasn’t blind. He was well aware that Johnny Suh had a crush on him.
From the other side of the Advanced Charms classroom, the Gryffindor caught his eye. ‘Watch this,’ he mouthed.
Kun noted the tenseness of Johnny’s brow, the slight pout on his lips, the subtle upwards twirl of his wand, and followed Johnny’s gaze to ceiling, where stormy grey clouds had started to form. Kun could smell the humidity starting to form in the air.
A drop of water fell on the tip of Johnny’s nose. If Kun had been sitting closer, he might’ve been tempted to brush it off.
As rain started to fall, students around them gasped and raced to cover their scrolls and heads. On Kun’s right, Sejeong grumbled, “Is that Suh? You’d think by N.E.W.T.s he’d get his shit together.”
“I didn’t even hear him say the spell,” Ten breathed to his left. “Did you?”
“Does it matter? Just because he’s a charms prodigy doesn’t mean he gets to disrupt the rest of the class.” Sejeong pulled her shirt unstuck from her collarbone. “Ugh, I’m all wet.”
Ten made a questionable face, but before he could make any comment, the air was clear and the sun had reappeared and all their clothes were dry again.
“Impressive that you managed such a complex spell without verbal incantation, Mister Suh,” Flitwick said, expression deadpan, “But I’m afraid I’ll be taking 20 points off Gryffindor.”
Johnny’s eyes widened comically. “I’m not sure why you think I have anything to do with it, Professor.”
“25 points, then. Any further disruptions and I’ll take a further 25.”
Johnny had the decency to at least wince as the Gryffindors of the class groaned their displeasure. “Noted.”
Flitwick resumed their revision of O.W.L.-level spells, to be mastered non-verbally, and Johnny’s eyes were sharp, attentive. But there was a barely-concealed smile on his lips, and every once in a while, he chanced another towards the sixth years on the other side of the room.
Yes, Johnny Suh definitely had a small crush on him.
“I’m so jealous,” Ten moaned. “That charm didn’t malfunction even a little. Suh isn’t quiet, I would’ve heard him whisper.”
“I’m just trying to concentrate in class,” Sejeong hissed. “I need at least an E for Ollivander to even consider me.”
“I thought you were trying to be Ollivander’s competitor,” Kun whispered.
“I have to learn from someone, don’t I?”
“I wish I was that good at charms,” Ten sighed, evidently ignoring Sejeong entirely.
Kun nudged his Ravenclaw friend gently. “Maybe by seventh year, you will be.”
“The only way I could do it was if I had a time turner.”
Sejeong leaned forward to glare at Ten. “Then get one.”
“Kim, Leechaiyapornkul. Are you all quite done, or do I have to take points off Slytherin and Ravenclaw as well?”
“We’re quite done, Professor,” Ten replied.
“How come he didn’t call Kun out?”
“Shut up, Sejeong.”
If Kun was smug, he tried not to show it. He allowed himself a brief glance at the seventh years on the other side of the room, and caught Johnny staring again. The Gryffindor bit his lip and winked. Ears hot, Kun was forced to look away.
Yes. A small but very obvious, very ridiculous crush.
—
“So I heard you had a drenching in Advanced Charms,” Jennie commented as soon as Kun flopped next to her onto the green leather sofa of the Slytherin common room.
“For hardly a minute.”
Doyoung hardly looked up from his stack of scrolls. “Was it Johnny Suh again?”
“Of course it was.”
“You should ask him out before Flitwick fails everyone in your class,” Jennie said. “Otherwise they’ll will never run an Advanced Charms class again.”
Kun remained silent, even though he knew the flush of his ears would give him away. His friends knew him too well, too long.
“Don’t be silly,” Doyoung scoffed. “Kun wants Johnny to chase him.”
Kun gasped. “I do not.”
“You do. You’ve liked him for years.”
“I just have better things to worry about!”
“Which is why you want him to chase you.”
“I don’t blame you, Kun. I do love being chased myself.” Jennie’s grin was cheshire wide.
Doyoung called her out. “Is that why you chased after Jongin after he dumped you last year?”
Jennie’s expression dropped immediately. She shoved her face in her hands. “I’m trying to forget.”
“Mm,” Kun smirked. “Wasn’t it just this summer that you wrote him a letter? What did it say again?”
“No.”
Doyoung finally looked away from his Potions homework, an evil grin on his face. “I think I remember, was it something like—”
“—‘I’ll always wait for you,’” they finished together, and Jennie groaned into her arm.
“Fuck you both.”
“Kinky,” a soft voice chimed in, causing all of them to jump. Dong stood behind Kun and Jennie’s sofa, carrying a copy of Advanced Rune Translation. “Why does Jennie want to fuck you both?”
“Jongin,” Doyoung drawled.
“Strange. I don’t think either of you could compare.”
“Oi!”
“Oh!” Jennie shot up, placed one hand on Dong’s arm and another on Kun’s. “Dongie! Dongie has a Gryffindor girlfriend. You can help Kun!”
Dong blushed a pretty pink, as she always did at the mention of her Gryffindor girlfriend. Her smartarsery never ceded, though. “Are you trying to date Siyeon?”
Kun closed his eyes. “No.”
“We’re trying to convince him to ask Johnny Suh out,” Jennie explained.
“Johnny Suh and Siyeon are very different people.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And I’m not sure how much I can help.” Dong smiled apologetically. “Siyeon was the one that initiated everything with me. And Johnny’s an upperclassman — I wouldn’t know how to deal with that. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise, I didn’t ask for this.” Kun threw his head over the edge of the sofa and let the green light of the ceiling candles blur his vision. “Besides, I’m still not going to do it. I’m not going to go out of my way to date anyone right now. I have N.E.W.T.s to focus on.”
“I’m with him,” Doyoung agreed, and Kun raised his fist for a lazy fist bump.
“You can’t use N.E.W.T.s as an excuse forever,” Jennie huffed.
“You’re not trying to get a top entry position at the Ministry of Magic.”
“Says the Wizengamot’s youth representative,” Dong muttered. If Doyoung could hear it, he appeared not to care.
“What if he asks you?” Jennie pressed. “Would you reject him?”
No. Kun knew he wouldn’t.
Instead of answering her, he yawned. “I’m tired. Interrogate me when I’m well-rested and don’t have a Potions test to study for.”
The statement caused kerfuffle amongst the girls, who had both clearly forgotten about said test, but not amongst Doyoung who was already on top of it.
Kun had escaped only the latest in a long string of sticky situations. It wouldn’t be the last.
Of course, his track record wouldn’t be clean forever.
—
“Can I sit here?” Johnny asked quietly, pulling Kun’s attention from his History of Magic notes.
The entire row was empty. Kun was in a corner close to the restricted section, far too deep into the library for Johnny to have found him by accident. Hormones aside.
Hormones back in question, because Kun had them too. “Alright,” Kun said, scooting his chair away even though he didn’t need to. Johnny shot him a dazzling smile as he put his books down on the desk and set his ink and quill up. He was wearing a cozy knitted cardigan and his glasses had fallen down to the tip of his nose.
“Essay?” Johnny nodded at Kun’s scroll.
“Yes. This is History of Magic. Wandlore.”
“Oh yes, I remember. Ollivander this and Ollivander that.”
Kun “I’m trying to look into Chinese wandlore. We have so many books about it, but Binns doesn’t teach us anything.”
“Binns is white,” Johnny agreed.
Not funny enough for Kun to laugh, but he did against his will, anyway. He was aware of Johnny’s eyes on him the entire time. Cursed puberty.
He really had to focus on his essay, though, so he didn’t strike any further concentration. Johnny quickly got the hint and hit his own books, so to speak.
Or so he thought.
Kun had hardly dug into his copy of Oriental Wandlore: A Steady Rise Towards Civilisation (he had major problems with the choice of words in that title) when he saw something spark in the corner of his eye.
He turned. Johnny held a small flame in his palm. A point of the wand and the flame was gone, replace by the sensation of a warm breeze.
Johnny’s feigned surprise at being caught was not very well feigned. “Oh, sorry. I was just practicing.”
“I see.” Kun returned to his textbook, wondering how even with silly, exaggerated expressions on his face, Johnny could still look so attractive.
Two more pages in and hardly a hundred words of his essay later, Johnny was speaking again. “Have you ever cast a patronus?”
Kun had never even attempted a patronus. It was an optional spell in Advanced Charms, not examinable in the N.E.W.T.s so he’d never bothered to learn. “No, I haven’t.”
“Oh. Mine’s a brown bear.”
He wasn’t the least bit surprised that Johnny had already managed a patronus. “Interesting.”
“Would you like to see?”
“Perhaps not in the library?” Kun asked, pained. “I don’t want Pince to ban me for life.”
Kun tried to ignore Johnny’s visible deflation. “Later then.”
Kun wanted to ask what “later” meant, but Johnny had returned his focus on his work, and he intended to join him. But this was yet another doomed venture, as Johnny started cursing under his breath.
Kun bit the inside of his cheek. “Are you alright?”
“My hand!” Johnny breathed, short and frantic, “It’s stuck to the desk!”
Kun thought it was a joke at first, until he saw the skin of Johnny’s hand getting stretched where it was stuck to the wooden tabletop. “Merlin’s beard!”
“Help me!”
“Fuck.” Kun wasn’t prepared for this. He placed his hand in Johnny’s and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Whatever it was, a curse or a charm or whatever, it was strong, and off the top of his head, Kun didn’t know how to fix it. This was a problem he couldn’t solve.
Fuck.
“I don’t know what to do,” Kun said, small. He bit his lip and looked into Johnny’s eyes, expecting to find fear, but found him smiling instead.
A swish of the wand and Johnny’s hand was unstuck, lifting into the air and taking Kun’s hand with it. “Fooled you.”
Fooled him. Fooled him.
Kun had been outsmarted.
He looked at Johnny’s smug grin. The satisfaction, the self-congratulations, the mischief — all of those he’d seen many times on his face over the years. There was something else deeper, though, that Kun had taken a long time to come to terms with.
Kun took a subtle but deep breath to clear his head. “If you’re not going to study, and you’re not going to let me study,” he said, hand gripping Johnny’s tightly, “Why don’t we find a lonely corner somewhere and make out?”
Johnny’s hands twitched. Any Johnny-like expressions had been wiped clean, and all Kun saw was complete awe. He might have preened a little. It was nobody’s business.
“What?”
“I won’t repeat myself.”
“I do actually have to study, I swear.” Johnny tried to pull his hand away, but when Kun wouldn’t let go, he pushed his glasses back up his nose with his wrist.
“Don’t you want to kiss me?”
“Yes,” Johnny breathed, “Merlin, yes, I do.”
“Then what’s the problem? It’s not like you can concentrate now, anyway.”
Checkmate. Johnny’s eyes did a thorough once-over of the bookshelf before finally settling back on Kun. “Alright,” he whispered.
—
Kun knew he was being obvious when he got back to the dorms that night, with swollen lips and untidy hair, but no one said a thing. Nor did they say anything in the morning on the way to breakfast, though Dong and Doyoung, and then Ten at the doors to the Great Hall, kept giving him odd looks the entire time.
When they were distracted, Kun’s eyes sought out Johnny. The seventh year sat at the Gryffindor table with his friend Hansol, but somehow knew to find Kun at the right time. Johnny blew him a kiss, and despite his boldness the previous day, Kun found his face burning.
“You catching something?” Ten asked, placing a hand on his forehead.
“No, just hungry.” Kun smacked his hands away. “Let’s go eat.”
Ten, Dong and Doyoung had a silent conversation before parting, and Kun had a feeling he knew how it went.
Their suspicions must have been piqued when a flower bud in small earthen pot floated over the tops of their heads and landed right next to Kun’s plate. There was a note tied around its stem. One side read ‘From Johnny’; the other read ‘Fifth year Herbology, in February’.
“What do they teach in fifth year Herbology in February?” Kun asked.
“That’s forever ago,” Doyoung frowned. “I don’t even remember what they taught us in fifth year Herbology, full stop. I remember the Chinese chomping cabbage and the fucking fanged flowers."
“I remember the troll seeds,” Dong said.
“Jennie would know. She loves Herbology.”
“She’s asleep,” Kun pointed out.
“Ask a Ravenclaw, then.” Doyoung turned around in his seat, to where the Ravenclaws were sitting. “Hey—”
“Herbivicus,” Seunghee, who was sitting close enough to hear everything, apparently, offered.
Of course. The spell that made flowers bloom. What a sap.
Kun pointed his wand at the flower bud and repeated the spell. It bloomed into a beautiful red carnation, almost too big to be real.
“There’s no way you’re not asking him out now?” Doyoung said, eyes boring into the flower.
Kun supposed it was time to let the cat out of the bag. “We snogged in the secret corridor on the fifth floor.”
Doyoung nearly fell out of his chair, while Dong gasped delightedly. “My baby’s all grown up!” she claimed.
“You did what?” Doyoung barked, much more accusatory.
“What of it?”
“Hello!” Ten suddenly appeared at their table, as if he’s being summoned. “My conversation with my fellow Ravenclaws about the impact of the Statute of Secrecy on non-western magical practices is fascinating, but I had the sudden feeling things are more exciting over here.”
“Kun snogged Johnny Suh in the fifth floor corridor,” Dong said brightly.
“He what? Isn’t that where prefects go to have sex?”
“No,” Kun shook his head, “That’s the prefect’s bathroom.”
“I’m so jealous!” Ten whined. “Sejeong is going to kill you, though. She thinks Johnny is a turd.”
“Thanks,” Kun muttered dryly.
“Did you use tongue?”
“Ten!”
“Yep.”
In between the gasps and declarations of horror, Jennie slipped into the empty space next to Doyoung, wearing big, dark sunglasses. “What did I just walk into?”
“Wow, you made it to breakfast,” Kun said.
“Kun snogged Johnny Suh in the fifth floor corridor,” Dong explained.
Jennie balked, slowly removing her sunglasses to reveal her heavy eyebags. “The shagging corridor?”
Everyone had some comment or other, and Kun ignored them in favour of searching the Gryffindor table for his now-favourite Gryffindor. Johnny was, as usual, waiting.
Kun mouthed a ‘thank you’. Johnny mouthed a ‘thank you’ back. Gross and cheesy, but Kun’s heart still jumped an inch out of place.
Silently, Kun prepared himself for a year full of distractions.
—