#59: My heart is a babbling mess
►username: anonymous
►prompt #:59
►title: My heart is a babbling mess
►pairings: luhan/sehun
►rating: PG
►word count: 3.7k
►warnings: n/a
►summary: In which a potion is brewed, friends intervene and chaos ensues.
►author's notes: In which a potion is brewed, friends intervene and chaos ensues.
“Wait, he’s in the Ravenclaw common room…What is he doing in the Ravenclaw common room when he’s from Hufflepuff?” Sehun muttered under his breath while poring over the Marauder’s map.
“He’s best friends with Minseok hyung, it shouldn’t be surprising…”Jongin replied without looking up from his Charms homework, used to Sehun’s insane stalkerish suspicions.
“But still, he’s been in there for 2 hours! That’s way too long! Don’t they have like a rule for how long visitors can stay in another house’s common rooms? What on earth are they doing? Doesn’t he need to sleep? Omg don’t tell me he’s sleeping in Minseok hyung’s dorm? Nooooooo he cannot taint my hyung’s innocence!” bemoaned an increasingly distraught Sehun.
“They might just be doing homework you know, something which you should also be doing. And please, he’s also close to Soo and stays over in Soo’s dorms all the time, do you hear me complaining?” continued Jongin who was slowly starting to lose his patience with the lovestruck teenager. “Plus, it’s not as though you’re doing anything about it, you just stare at his dot on the map for an unhealthy amount of time.” It’s pathetic, thought the other Slytherin in his head.
To be honest, Sehun thinks that he is more than just a pathetic stalker. (Okay, maybe he is slightly delusional) But honestly, the thought of approaching Luhan terrifies the younger boy. Luhan was perpetually surrounded by hordes of people, girls and boys alike who all admire him for his incredible Quidditch skills and his personable nature. And he’s never seen without Yixing and Minseok which made it practically impossible to approach him (if Sehun could even get through the throng of fans in the first place.) Hence, being the sly Slytherin Sehun is, he managed to nick the Marauders Map from Filch’s office and have been spending hours poring over the map, following Luhan’s dot around and hoping to catch him alone.
Meanwhile, in the Ravenclaw common room, Luhan was feverishly flipping through the pages of Advanced Potion Making.
“I remember seeing it here during one of Slughorn’s classes, where is it…where is it…”he muttered repeatedly, in a manner that was not dissimilar to Sehun’s (unknown to either man). Across the table, Yixing rolled his eyes at how desperate Luhan was being while Minseok sniggered at the lovesick 6th year.
“I can’t believe you are actually going through with this ridiculous plan,” Minseok commented as Luhan scribbled down the various ingredients needed to make a love potion.
“Well, you come up with a better idea!” the man in question huffed. Wait, is it powdered Moonstone or powdered Ashwinder eggs? Luhan frowned at his parchment, chewing intently on his bottom lip.
“Erm, you could always ask him out on a date?” Minseok countered as though that was the dumbest question to have ever left Luhan’s lips. Then again, this is Luhan, he should really not be surprised.
“Nooooooo, what if he says no? My poor weak heart won’t be able to handle the rejection!” Luhan cringes at the thought of Sehun declining his offer. “Not to mention, I’ll be the laughing stock of the entire Slytherin house and you know how mean they can be.”
“But Lu, you know a love potion is not real love right? What are you going to do once the effects wear off?” a concerned Yixing questioned.
“Well, the plan is to be the bestest boyfriend ever so that even when the potion wears off, he would still want to stay by my side,” answered a confident Luhan.
“But still, I don’t think it’s a very good idea” Yixing said hesitantly.
“Why don’t you just ask Kyungsoo? Isn’t Jongin like best friends with Sehun? He would know if Sehun is even the slightest bit attracted to guys. Or you,” suggested Minseok. “Then you won’t need to go through all these trouble” he frowned, looking reproachfully at the mess of parchments that littered their usually neat common room.
“Do you think he’ll know? Jongin is not the most subtle of people and he is slightly dumb despite being a Slytherin and all…I’ve always thought it was because he’s been hit by Bludgers too often… ”Luhan pondered thoughtfully.
“Well, you will never know if you never try.”
“Wait, wait, repeat what you’ve just said” Jongin looked Luhan up and down with incredulous eyes. “Did you just ask if Sehun will be willing to go out with you? Seriously? As though that question actually warrants an answer?”
“Erm? Yes?” Luhan answered, slightly confused by the reaction he received from the younger boy while Kyungsoo smacked Jongin and mouthed the word tact at him.
“Why not? I mean, you are The Luhan after all, Prefect and Quidditch captain, highly sought after by people regardless of age or gender,” Kyungsoo reasoned.
“But he just never looks interested! Every time I talk to him, he seems to be so bored by me! Howwww, Soo howwwwww~” Luhan flailed, looking utterly defeated at the thought of attempting a conversation with his favourite dongsaeng.
Watching Luhan get increasingly hysterical, the couple heaved identical sighs, wondering why they have to be friends with such a hopeless pair of idiots.
Sehun was staring intensely at the Marauders’ Map while hiding beside the statue of the one-eyed witch that concealed the hidden passageway into Hogsmeade. After hearing from Jongin who heard it from Yixing who heard it from Luhan himself that he plans to ditch Prefect duties in order to sneak into Hogsmeade for butterbeer, Sehun has finally decided to grow a pair and started planning this seemingly “coincidental” meeting that would score him a Hogsmeade date with his favourite Hufflepuff senior.
He was so obsessed with counting the number of steps that would take Luhan to the statue of the one-eyed witch that he forgot to check which direction his crush would be coming from. As Murphy’s Law would have it, Luhan walks up from the side that puts Sehun in plain sight of the elder, startling the poor fanboy so much that he dropped the map before he could even think “mischief managed”.
“Sehun! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Hogsmeade already?” asked a pleasantly surprised Luhan while Sehun was scrambling to pick up the fallen map and stuff it into his back pocket with fumbling fingers.
“Ermmmm…I…I…I just felt like taking this way today” Sehun stuttered lamely with a blush, all pre-formulated excuses disappearing in front of his long-time crush. “I mean, I really wanted to go to Honeydukes and this is the fastest way in” he continued, trying to make his weak excuse sound more believable.
Unbeknownst to him, Luhan was too busy fighting the colour off his own cheeks and cheering internally to notice the loophole in his reasoning because if Sehun had gone with the school, he would have reached Honeydukes hours ago. Instead, the teenage girl in Luhan was simply too elated over the fact that he can spend more time with the cute Slytherin junior.
With shy smiles that betrayed nothing of the tsunami of emotions brewing inside the minds of both boys, they stumbled awkwardly after one another down the passageway and into what will be a turning point in their relationship.
“And Jongin was so absorbed in looking at Kyungsoo that the snitch nicked him right smack in the eye! You should have seen look on Soo’s face, the poor boy nearly died of laughter.” Luhan told the story, complete with elaborate hand gestures and comical expressions. Even though Sehun has heard the story from Jongin himself countless of times, he just couldn’t find it in him to interrupt the elder’s enthusiastic recounting. Instead, he was too mesmerised with the myriad of expressions adorning Luhan’s face that the contents simply went in one ear and out the other.
When Luhan spoke, there was a sparkle in his brown eyes that twinkled in the small amount of light emitting from his wand and Sehun couldn’t help but be proud that he was the reason for the dazzling demeanour of the other. Taking in Luhan’s profile, his eyes found the pink lips that were shaped perfectly around every syllable pronounced and all of a sudden, Sehun felt an insane urge to push Luhan against the walls of the dark passageway and kiss him senseless. Shaking his head to clear his mind of any other perverse thoughts regarding the other, Sehun thought resolutely to himself, “don’t freak him out, you have to start slowly by being friends”. With another small nod to himself, the younger student hurried after Luhan.
The two of them ended up bumping into Kyungsoo and Jongin in Honeydukes, bickering over chocolate frogs.
“No Jongin, we’re not buying any more chocolate frogs so that you can set them free” said an exasperated Kyungsoo as he dragged a pouting Jongin away from the shelf of hopping frogs to stop at the shelf of Fizzing Whizzbees instead.
“Hmmm, maybe I should get some of these so that I wouldn’t have to tiptoe to kiss you anymore” Kyungsoo said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
“But hyung, I could always carry you, you’re so light and squishy!” Jongin cooed at his smaller boyfriend, earning a half-hearted smack on the arm from the other and a mock-serious voice telling him to behave himself in public.
“Gosh, can you guys get any cheesier?” Luhan interrupted the lovebirds’ mating calls with a roll of his eyes.
“Please, just because your love life with your little crush isn’t working out does not mean that we cannot flaunt our relationship” Kyungsoo countered, bringing an arm around Jongin’s waist, snuggling into his boyfriend’s side.
“Wait hyung, you have a crush?!” exclaimed Sehun, trying his best to mask the crestfallen expression on his face with one of surprise. The thought that the elder has already found someone else had his heart plummeting into the pit of his stomach and breaking into a thousand pieces. Why has he never noticed it before? Sehun racked his mind, thinking about all the people he’s seen Luhan around with on the Marauder’s map and analysing every single possibility. Is it Yixing? It can’t be, last time I checked he’s definitely still in denial about liking the Head Boy Kris. Minseok? But he’s dating another pretty Ravenclaw. Baekhyun? Chanyeol? But Sehun was sure those two had something going on with each other. Suho? Nah, not Luhan’s type. If not these people then who can it be?!! The poor fifth year’s mind has started going into an overdrive that he did not even hear Jongin calling his name.
“Earth to Sehun!! What had you thinking so hard? We just asked if you want to join us for butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks, how about it?” Jongin continued.
“Huh? Oh erm sure!” Sehun replied absent-mindedly while silently resolving to follow Luhan’s dot on the map for days on end to find this elusive crush. I mean I’m just going to make sure that the person is worthy of my hyung. Not that I’m worried or anything, I mean he’s not even mine. The boy continued to war with himself in his head, convincing his heart that this is not jealousy, no way.
On the other hand, Luhan was disappointed with Sehun’s response (or lack thereof). Despite the tempest brewing in the mind of the younger, Sehun’s face was schooled carefully into his usual blank expression, never betraying the inner tumult he was going through. Maybe Kyungsoo was wrong about him liking me? Does that mean that I have to go through with the love potion plan? Why Sehunnieeeee, why won’t you like meeeeeee? Luhan whined internally.
For the rest of the afternoon, both boys were distracted by their various plans while Kyungsoo and Jongin simply looked on and sighed at how stupidly oblivious they were being.
“Ow! Damn it Yixing, you just elbowed me in the gut!” hissed Luhan in pain, trying to manoeuvre out of the way as the other Hufflepuff vehemently grinds Moonstone into powder. They were crammed into the girls’ lavatory on the first floor together with Minseok - the ideal location for illegal potion brewing, supervised by Moaning Myrtle from the divider between the cubicles.
“I wouldn’t do this if I were you,” she sniffled haughtily, “it’s terribly unromantic to feed someone a love potion brewed in such unsanitary conditions.”
“What do you know? Nobody had ever given you a love potion,” replied an already irate Luhan.
At the insinuation, Myrtle gave a loud blood-curdling wail and zoomed down the last toilet in the row, splashing water onto its unsuspecting occupants.
In said cubicle, Jongin gave a soundless scream as he got soaked by ice-cold water from the waist down. Cursing Myrtle silently in his mind, he tried to wring the water from his robes as soundlessly as possible. Kyungsoo stifled a laugh as he patted his indignant boyfriend on the back before returning to the task at hand - a babbling potion that would aid Sehun’s confession instead.
The great hall was filled with chattering from students having breakfast but over at the Hufflepuff table, a certain boy was bouncing restlessly in his seat as he watched Jongin slip the perfected love potion into a certain Slytherin’s daily dose of chocolate milk tea (yes, Hogwarts did expand their drinks menu).
Unbeknownst to him, the Slytherin couple have a plan of their own. While Luhan was too busy scanning the great hall to look out for a certain someone’s arrival, Jongin sneakily slipped the bottle of love potion into his messenger bag in exchange for his vial of raspberry flavoured babbling potion.
“Why does Luhan keep staring at the Slytherin table?” Sehun asked in excitement as he dropped into a seat beside Kyungsoo. “Is he finally acknowledging my existence?!”
“Please, he already knows you exist. Stop slobbering all over him like a lovesick puppy,” Jongin said impatiently with a roll of his eyes while shoving a cup of pinkish chocolate milk tea into Sehun’s hand, with a nod of the head that indicated the other to drink it.
Sehun took a big gulp from the said cup before retorting with gusto, “says the one who used to follow Kyungsoo everywhere.” A loud crash distracted the trio from their conversation and the gazes of all fell on a certain Hufflepuff who was just climbing back onto the bench after having toppled off it a minute ago. Sehun quickly glanced at Jongin with a concerned look but the other simply shrugged nonchalantly while Kyungsoo felt like banging his head on the wall at the amount of stupidity all around.
“He drank it, he drank it, ohmygoodness he really drank it!” Luhan squealed to a bemused Yixing and an unimpressed Minseok, while flailing around at the Hufflepuff table. “How long do you think it’ll take to have an effect? 10 minutes? 5 minutes? 1 minute? Omg what am I going to do?!!” moaned a hysterical Luhan, covering his face with his hands and shyly peeping through his fingers at the boy sitting at the Slytherin table. “This was a terrible idea…why didn’t one of you stop me!”
His best friends looked at each other with raised eyebrows before Yixing feebly replied, “trust me Lu, we’ve tried”
“You didn’t try hard enough!” exclaimed the nearly hysterical boy.
“…”
“Apparently, the potion needs the maker to make the first move before it becomes effective,” Minseok lied offhandedly to his overexcited friend.
“What? Why didn’t you mention this earlier?! How am I supposed to approach him? Wasn’t the whole point of the potion so that he’d approach me instead?” Luhan said in horror.
“He has already taken the potion, what harm will it do to you if you just said hi?” Yixing reasoned.
Seeing no way out since the plan has already been executed (he didn’t want someone else to approach Sehun first because what if Sehun fell for the wrong person?!), Luhan took a few deep breaths and his first tentative steps towards the Slytherin table.
“Hi Kyungsoo, Jongin, Se…ehun” Luhan stammered as he approached the Slytherin table, taking a seat opposite Kyungsoo that also happens to be beside Sehun and eyes flitting everywhere but at the object of his affections. “Ermmmm, how’s breakfast? I mean wait no, how’s the weather? Perfect day to erm raise Blast-ended Skrewts don’t you think?”
Beside him, Kyungsoo was finding it difficult to resist the urge to strangle all the idiots in front of him (except maybe Jongin). How difficult was it to confess to someone who already likes you? But to his tremendous relief, the babbling potion they perfected chose the most opportune moment to take effect.
“Luhan hyunggggg~ you’re adorable! Talking about the weather and Skrewts as though you are under a babbling potion!” Sehun started, words flying out of his mouth at a mile an hour. Luhan paled at the maknae’s thoughtless comment before blushing upon realising that the other had called him adorable. Meanwhile, Jongin pressed his forehead onto the cool dining table, feeling a headache coming up very soon.
“Hyungggg you’re the best! I really like you a lot, you are so cool during Quidditch matches, even when you’re falling from the sky after getting hit by Chanyeol’s bludger! And you’re so pretty, even though when you laugh your jaw dislocates. Don’t worry, I think that’s totally cute too!” Luhan’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of the word pretty (because damnit why doesn’t anyone believe that he’s manly) despite being stunned by the unexpected love confession in front of half the school.
“and…and…and you always help me out with school work, especially during Herbology when the Venomous Tentacula tries to strangle me. You never laughed at my lisp and even said it was cute and that was when I started having this humongous crush on you in first year. But it was last Christmas that I realised how much I love you because you stayed back in Hogwarts with me during Christmas just because I couldn’t go home. Hyunggggg, I really really really really really really really like you, so please please please say you will be my boyfriend?” Sehun finished breathlessly.
Seeing that Sehun has finally managed to get everything out of his system, Kyungsoo silently cast an anti-jinx spell to reverse the effects of the potion because hey, Sehun knew too many of Jongin’s secrets that it was definitely not safe to let him keep going.
Sehun clapped a hand over his mouth in shock, unable to believe what possessed him to say all those things, as he looked at Luhan with a mixture of horror and anticipation. After all, the harm is already done.
However, the response of the Hufflepuff captain came as a shock to everyone. Instead of feeling all happy because his crush has finally confessed, Luhan started bawling outrightly, wringing his hands in distress while sobbing uncontrollably.
“No no no, this is all wrong. You’re not in love with me, it’s only because of the love potion that you’re feeling this way and saying these things. Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry ah Sehun, it wasn’t supposed to be this way, this is such a bad idea, I’m really sorry. I would rather have you not feel anything for me than have you confessing feelings which you don’t mean.” Luhan choked out, blinking rapidly and rubbing away the stray tears that betrayed him.
Too stunned by the Hufflepuff’s response to even give a decent reply to the sentences which didn’t make sense whatsoever, Sehun pulled his distraught hyung into his arms and cuddled him to his chest, muffling the elder’s racking sobs in his robes. Instead of calming down, the action had Luhan struggling out of the younger’s hold, mumbling words like “this isn’t real”, “it’s all a lie” and “Luhan, this is all your own fault”.
Feeling absolutely helpless because the boy of his affections is getting increasingly hysterical, Sehun gently lifted his hyung’s chin and silenced all his objections with a smothering kiss, nibbling on the elder’s bottom lip and coaxing the other give him a taste of his small mouth. Luhan sighed at the touch before parting his lips to let the other in. Sehun tasted better than he expected, the kiss made sweeter by a hint of chocolate milk tea on the younger’s lips. It erased some of the anxiety from Luhan’s blanked out mind as he basked in the heat of the kiss, wanting more of the other’s warmth.
It took a discrete cough from Jongin to break them apart while Kyungsoo remarked tartly that it “took you long enough to finally realised that we still exist.”
Before Luhan could comprehend what had just happened and proceed to freak out about how “the kiss was not real”, Kyungsoo stepped in and explained how they switched the love potion for a babbling potion to get Sehun to confess and how they should both just stop whining and get together to save everyone’s ears from falling off with all their lovesick crooning.
“Awwww hyung, you actually wanted to give me a love potion?” Sehun smirked mischievously while ruffling Luhan’s hair as the older boy buried his face in Sehun’s robes in embarrassment (though not before shooting a death glare at Kyungsoo and Jongin).
“Shut upppp, who was the one who gave such a terrible confession! How could I not have saved you from the Venomous Tentacula? It was going to strangle me too! And how many times do I have to say, I’m not pretty!” Luhan retorted, punching Sehun in the chest, albeit very weakly.
“Hyung, you’re really adorable. Does that mean you’re officially my boyfriend now?” Sehun whispered into Luhan’s ear, leaving him a kiss on the cheek in the process.
“Urgh, I hate you.”
“Nope, you love me.”
During the next Hogsmeade weekend, as our favourite couple was busy staring into each other’s eyes in Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop, four of their friends were secretly having a meeting in the Three Broomsticks over pints of Butterbeer.
“Cheers! Now we don’t have to hear endless ramblings of undying love!” declared Jongin in relief.
As the four of them raised their glasses to their brilliant plan, the bells on the door rattled and a very windswept Kris entered, making a beeline for Madam Rosmerta at the bar.
“Look at him, getting his way all the time just because of his above-average face. So what if he looks hot on a broomstick? And that baby unicorns love him? His eyebrows still look like mating caterpillars,” Yixing commented with a frown, surprising everyone because the Hufflepuff is usually a peace-loving person.
The other three exchanged amused glances before Minseok muttered in exasperation, “not another one!”
►prompt #:59
►title: My heart is a babbling mess
►pairings: luhan/sehun
►rating: PG
►word count: 3.7k
►warnings: n/a
►summary: In which a potion is brewed, friends intervene and chaos ensues.
►author's notes: In which a potion is brewed, friends intervene and chaos ensues.
“Wait, he’s in the Ravenclaw common room…What is he doing in the Ravenclaw common room when he’s from Hufflepuff?” Sehun muttered under his breath while poring over the Marauder’s map.
“He’s best friends with Minseok hyung, it shouldn’t be surprising…”Jongin replied without looking up from his Charms homework, used to Sehun’s insane stalkerish suspicions.
“But still, he’s been in there for 2 hours! That’s way too long! Don’t they have like a rule for how long visitors can stay in another house’s common rooms? What on earth are they doing? Doesn’t he need to sleep? Omg don’t tell me he’s sleeping in Minseok hyung’s dorm? Nooooooo he cannot taint my hyung’s innocence!” bemoaned an increasingly distraught Sehun.
“They might just be doing homework you know, something which you should also be doing. And please, he’s also close to Soo and stays over in Soo’s dorms all the time, do you hear me complaining?” continued Jongin who was slowly starting to lose his patience with the lovestruck teenager. “Plus, it’s not as though you’re doing anything about it, you just stare at his dot on the map for an unhealthy amount of time.” It’s pathetic, thought the other Slytherin in his head.
To be honest, Sehun thinks that he is more than just a pathetic stalker. (Okay, maybe he is slightly delusional) But honestly, the thought of approaching Luhan terrifies the younger boy. Luhan was perpetually surrounded by hordes of people, girls and boys alike who all admire him for his incredible Quidditch skills and his personable nature. And he’s never seen without Yixing and Minseok which made it practically impossible to approach him (if Sehun could even get through the throng of fans in the first place.) Hence, being the sly Slytherin Sehun is, he managed to nick the Marauders Map from Filch’s office and have been spending hours poring over the map, following Luhan’s dot around and hoping to catch him alone.
Meanwhile, in the Ravenclaw common room, Luhan was feverishly flipping through the pages of Advanced Potion Making.
“I remember seeing it here during one of Slughorn’s classes, where is it…where is it…”he muttered repeatedly, in a manner that was not dissimilar to Sehun’s (unknown to either man). Across the table, Yixing rolled his eyes at how desperate Luhan was being while Minseok sniggered at the lovesick 6th year.
“I can’t believe you are actually going through with this ridiculous plan,” Minseok commented as Luhan scribbled down the various ingredients needed to make a love potion.
“Well, you come up with a better idea!” the man in question huffed. Wait, is it powdered Moonstone or powdered Ashwinder eggs? Luhan frowned at his parchment, chewing intently on his bottom lip.
“Erm, you could always ask him out on a date?” Minseok countered as though that was the dumbest question to have ever left Luhan’s lips. Then again, this is Luhan, he should really not be surprised.
“Nooooooo, what if he says no? My poor weak heart won’t be able to handle the rejection!” Luhan cringes at the thought of Sehun declining his offer. “Not to mention, I’ll be the laughing stock of the entire Slytherin house and you know how mean they can be.”
“But Lu, you know a love potion is not real love right? What are you going to do once the effects wear off?” a concerned Yixing questioned.
“Well, the plan is to be the bestest boyfriend ever so that even when the potion wears off, he would still want to stay by my side,” answered a confident Luhan.
“But still, I don’t think it’s a very good idea” Yixing said hesitantly.
“Why don’t you just ask Kyungsoo? Isn’t Jongin like best friends with Sehun? He would know if Sehun is even the slightest bit attracted to guys. Or you,” suggested Minseok. “Then you won’t need to go through all these trouble” he frowned, looking reproachfully at the mess of parchments that littered their usually neat common room.
“Do you think he’ll know? Jongin is not the most subtle of people and he is slightly dumb despite being a Slytherin and all…I’ve always thought it was because he’s been hit by Bludgers too often… ”Luhan pondered thoughtfully.
“Well, you will never know if you never try.”
“Wait, wait, repeat what you’ve just said” Jongin looked Luhan up and down with incredulous eyes. “Did you just ask if Sehun will be willing to go out with you? Seriously? As though that question actually warrants an answer?”
“Erm? Yes?” Luhan answered, slightly confused by the reaction he received from the younger boy while Kyungsoo smacked Jongin and mouthed the word tact at him.
“Why not? I mean, you are The Luhan after all, Prefect and Quidditch captain, highly sought after by people regardless of age or gender,” Kyungsoo reasoned.
“But he just never looks interested! Every time I talk to him, he seems to be so bored by me! Howwww, Soo howwwwww~” Luhan flailed, looking utterly defeated at the thought of attempting a conversation with his favourite dongsaeng.
Watching Luhan get increasingly hysterical, the couple heaved identical sighs, wondering why they have to be friends with such a hopeless pair of idiots.
Sehun was staring intensely at the Marauders’ Map while hiding beside the statue of the one-eyed witch that concealed the hidden passageway into Hogsmeade. After hearing from Jongin who heard it from Yixing who heard it from Luhan himself that he plans to ditch Prefect duties in order to sneak into Hogsmeade for butterbeer, Sehun has finally decided to grow a pair and started planning this seemingly “coincidental” meeting that would score him a Hogsmeade date with his favourite Hufflepuff senior.
He was so obsessed with counting the number of steps that would take Luhan to the statue of the one-eyed witch that he forgot to check which direction his crush would be coming from. As Murphy’s Law would have it, Luhan walks up from the side that puts Sehun in plain sight of the elder, startling the poor fanboy so much that he dropped the map before he could even think “mischief managed”.
“Sehun! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Hogsmeade already?” asked a pleasantly surprised Luhan while Sehun was scrambling to pick up the fallen map and stuff it into his back pocket with fumbling fingers.
“Ermmmm…I…I…I just felt like taking this way today” Sehun stuttered lamely with a blush, all pre-formulated excuses disappearing in front of his long-time crush. “I mean, I really wanted to go to Honeydukes and this is the fastest way in” he continued, trying to make his weak excuse sound more believable.
Unbeknownst to him, Luhan was too busy fighting the colour off his own cheeks and cheering internally to notice the loophole in his reasoning because if Sehun had gone with the school, he would have reached Honeydukes hours ago. Instead, the teenage girl in Luhan was simply too elated over the fact that he can spend more time with the cute Slytherin junior.
With shy smiles that betrayed nothing of the tsunami of emotions brewing inside the minds of both boys, they stumbled awkwardly after one another down the passageway and into what will be a turning point in their relationship.
“And Jongin was so absorbed in looking at Kyungsoo that the snitch nicked him right smack in the eye! You should have seen look on Soo’s face, the poor boy nearly died of laughter.” Luhan told the story, complete with elaborate hand gestures and comical expressions. Even though Sehun has heard the story from Jongin himself countless of times, he just couldn’t find it in him to interrupt the elder’s enthusiastic recounting. Instead, he was too mesmerised with the myriad of expressions adorning Luhan’s face that the contents simply went in one ear and out the other.
When Luhan spoke, there was a sparkle in his brown eyes that twinkled in the small amount of light emitting from his wand and Sehun couldn’t help but be proud that he was the reason for the dazzling demeanour of the other. Taking in Luhan’s profile, his eyes found the pink lips that were shaped perfectly around every syllable pronounced and all of a sudden, Sehun felt an insane urge to push Luhan against the walls of the dark passageway and kiss him senseless. Shaking his head to clear his mind of any other perverse thoughts regarding the other, Sehun thought resolutely to himself, “don’t freak him out, you have to start slowly by being friends”. With another small nod to himself, the younger student hurried after Luhan.
The two of them ended up bumping into Kyungsoo and Jongin in Honeydukes, bickering over chocolate frogs.
“No Jongin, we’re not buying any more chocolate frogs so that you can set them free” said an exasperated Kyungsoo as he dragged a pouting Jongin away from the shelf of hopping frogs to stop at the shelf of Fizzing Whizzbees instead.
“Hmmm, maybe I should get some of these so that I wouldn’t have to tiptoe to kiss you anymore” Kyungsoo said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
“But hyung, I could always carry you, you’re so light and squishy!” Jongin cooed at his smaller boyfriend, earning a half-hearted smack on the arm from the other and a mock-serious voice telling him to behave himself in public.
“Gosh, can you guys get any cheesier?” Luhan interrupted the lovebirds’ mating calls with a roll of his eyes.
“Please, just because your love life with your little crush isn’t working out does not mean that we cannot flaunt our relationship” Kyungsoo countered, bringing an arm around Jongin’s waist, snuggling into his boyfriend’s side.
“Wait hyung, you have a crush?!” exclaimed Sehun, trying his best to mask the crestfallen expression on his face with one of surprise. The thought that the elder has already found someone else had his heart plummeting into the pit of his stomach and breaking into a thousand pieces. Why has he never noticed it before? Sehun racked his mind, thinking about all the people he’s seen Luhan around with on the Marauder’s map and analysing every single possibility. Is it Yixing? It can’t be, last time I checked he’s definitely still in denial about liking the Head Boy Kris. Minseok? But he’s dating another pretty Ravenclaw. Baekhyun? Chanyeol? But Sehun was sure those two had something going on with each other. Suho? Nah, not Luhan’s type. If not these people then who can it be?!! The poor fifth year’s mind has started going into an overdrive that he did not even hear Jongin calling his name.
“Earth to Sehun!! What had you thinking so hard? We just asked if you want to join us for butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks, how about it?” Jongin continued.
“Huh? Oh erm sure!” Sehun replied absent-mindedly while silently resolving to follow Luhan’s dot on the map for days on end to find this elusive crush. I mean I’m just going to make sure that the person is worthy of my hyung. Not that I’m worried or anything, I mean he’s not even mine. The boy continued to war with himself in his head, convincing his heart that this is not jealousy, no way.
On the other hand, Luhan was disappointed with Sehun’s response (or lack thereof). Despite the tempest brewing in the mind of the younger, Sehun’s face was schooled carefully into his usual blank expression, never betraying the inner tumult he was going through. Maybe Kyungsoo was wrong about him liking me? Does that mean that I have to go through with the love potion plan? Why Sehunnieeeee, why won’t you like meeeeeee? Luhan whined internally.
For the rest of the afternoon, both boys were distracted by their various plans while Kyungsoo and Jongin simply looked on and sighed at how stupidly oblivious they were being.
“Ow! Damn it Yixing, you just elbowed me in the gut!” hissed Luhan in pain, trying to manoeuvre out of the way as the other Hufflepuff vehemently grinds Moonstone into powder. They were crammed into the girls’ lavatory on the first floor together with Minseok - the ideal location for illegal potion brewing, supervised by Moaning Myrtle from the divider between the cubicles.
“I wouldn’t do this if I were you,” she sniffled haughtily, “it’s terribly unromantic to feed someone a love potion brewed in such unsanitary conditions.”
“What do you know? Nobody had ever given you a love potion,” replied an already irate Luhan.
At the insinuation, Myrtle gave a loud blood-curdling wail and zoomed down the last toilet in the row, splashing water onto its unsuspecting occupants.
In said cubicle, Jongin gave a soundless scream as he got soaked by ice-cold water from the waist down. Cursing Myrtle silently in his mind, he tried to wring the water from his robes as soundlessly as possible. Kyungsoo stifled a laugh as he patted his indignant boyfriend on the back before returning to the task at hand - a babbling potion that would aid Sehun’s confession instead.
The great hall was filled with chattering from students having breakfast but over at the Hufflepuff table, a certain boy was bouncing restlessly in his seat as he watched Jongin slip the perfected love potion into a certain Slytherin’s daily dose of chocolate milk tea (yes, Hogwarts did expand their drinks menu).
Unbeknownst to him, the Slytherin couple have a plan of their own. While Luhan was too busy scanning the great hall to look out for a certain someone’s arrival, Jongin sneakily slipped the bottle of love potion into his messenger bag in exchange for his vial of raspberry flavoured babbling potion.
“Why does Luhan keep staring at the Slytherin table?” Sehun asked in excitement as he dropped into a seat beside Kyungsoo. “Is he finally acknowledging my existence?!”
“Please, he already knows you exist. Stop slobbering all over him like a lovesick puppy,” Jongin said impatiently with a roll of his eyes while shoving a cup of pinkish chocolate milk tea into Sehun’s hand, with a nod of the head that indicated the other to drink it.
Sehun took a big gulp from the said cup before retorting with gusto, “says the one who used to follow Kyungsoo everywhere.” A loud crash distracted the trio from their conversation and the gazes of all fell on a certain Hufflepuff who was just climbing back onto the bench after having toppled off it a minute ago. Sehun quickly glanced at Jongin with a concerned look but the other simply shrugged nonchalantly while Kyungsoo felt like banging his head on the wall at the amount of stupidity all around.
“He drank it, he drank it, ohmygoodness he really drank it!” Luhan squealed to a bemused Yixing and an unimpressed Minseok, while flailing around at the Hufflepuff table. “How long do you think it’ll take to have an effect? 10 minutes? 5 minutes? 1 minute? Omg what am I going to do?!!” moaned a hysterical Luhan, covering his face with his hands and shyly peeping through his fingers at the boy sitting at the Slytherin table. “This was a terrible idea…why didn’t one of you stop me!”
His best friends looked at each other with raised eyebrows before Yixing feebly replied, “trust me Lu, we’ve tried”
“You didn’t try hard enough!” exclaimed the nearly hysterical boy.
“…”
“Apparently, the potion needs the maker to make the first move before it becomes effective,” Minseok lied offhandedly to his overexcited friend.
“What? Why didn’t you mention this earlier?! How am I supposed to approach him? Wasn’t the whole point of the potion so that he’d approach me instead?” Luhan said in horror.
“He has already taken the potion, what harm will it do to you if you just said hi?” Yixing reasoned.
Seeing no way out since the plan has already been executed (he didn’t want someone else to approach Sehun first because what if Sehun fell for the wrong person?!), Luhan took a few deep breaths and his first tentative steps towards the Slytherin table.
“Hi Kyungsoo, Jongin, Se…ehun” Luhan stammered as he approached the Slytherin table, taking a seat opposite Kyungsoo that also happens to be beside Sehun and eyes flitting everywhere but at the object of his affections. “Ermmmm, how’s breakfast? I mean wait no, how’s the weather? Perfect day to erm raise Blast-ended Skrewts don’t you think?”
Beside him, Kyungsoo was finding it difficult to resist the urge to strangle all the idiots in front of him (except maybe Jongin). How difficult was it to confess to someone who already likes you? But to his tremendous relief, the babbling potion they perfected chose the most opportune moment to take effect.
“Luhan hyunggggg~ you’re adorable! Talking about the weather and Skrewts as though you are under a babbling potion!” Sehun started, words flying out of his mouth at a mile an hour. Luhan paled at the maknae’s thoughtless comment before blushing upon realising that the other had called him adorable. Meanwhile, Jongin pressed his forehead onto the cool dining table, feeling a headache coming up very soon.
“Hyungggg you’re the best! I really like you a lot, you are so cool during Quidditch matches, even when you’re falling from the sky after getting hit by Chanyeol’s bludger! And you’re so pretty, even though when you laugh your jaw dislocates. Don’t worry, I think that’s totally cute too!” Luhan’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of the word pretty (because damnit why doesn’t anyone believe that he’s manly) despite being stunned by the unexpected love confession in front of half the school.
“and…and…and you always help me out with school work, especially during Herbology when the Venomous Tentacula tries to strangle me. You never laughed at my lisp and even said it was cute and that was when I started having this humongous crush on you in first year. But it was last Christmas that I realised how much I love you because you stayed back in Hogwarts with me during Christmas just because I couldn’t go home. Hyunggggg, I really really really really really really really like you, so please please please say you will be my boyfriend?” Sehun finished breathlessly.
Seeing that Sehun has finally managed to get everything out of his system, Kyungsoo silently cast an anti-jinx spell to reverse the effects of the potion because hey, Sehun knew too many of Jongin’s secrets that it was definitely not safe to let him keep going.
Sehun clapped a hand over his mouth in shock, unable to believe what possessed him to say all those things, as he looked at Luhan with a mixture of horror and anticipation. After all, the harm is already done.
However, the response of the Hufflepuff captain came as a shock to everyone. Instead of feeling all happy because his crush has finally confessed, Luhan started bawling outrightly, wringing his hands in distress while sobbing uncontrollably.
“No no no, this is all wrong. You’re not in love with me, it’s only because of the love potion that you’re feeling this way and saying these things. Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry ah Sehun, it wasn’t supposed to be this way, this is such a bad idea, I’m really sorry. I would rather have you not feel anything for me than have you confessing feelings which you don’t mean.” Luhan choked out, blinking rapidly and rubbing away the stray tears that betrayed him.
Too stunned by the Hufflepuff’s response to even give a decent reply to the sentences which didn’t make sense whatsoever, Sehun pulled his distraught hyung into his arms and cuddled him to his chest, muffling the elder’s racking sobs in his robes. Instead of calming down, the action had Luhan struggling out of the younger’s hold, mumbling words like “this isn’t real”, “it’s all a lie” and “Luhan, this is all your own fault”.
Feeling absolutely helpless because the boy of his affections is getting increasingly hysterical, Sehun gently lifted his hyung’s chin and silenced all his objections with a smothering kiss, nibbling on the elder’s bottom lip and coaxing the other give him a taste of his small mouth. Luhan sighed at the touch before parting his lips to let the other in. Sehun tasted better than he expected, the kiss made sweeter by a hint of chocolate milk tea on the younger’s lips. It erased some of the anxiety from Luhan’s blanked out mind as he basked in the heat of the kiss, wanting more of the other’s warmth.
It took a discrete cough from Jongin to break them apart while Kyungsoo remarked tartly that it “took you long enough to finally realised that we still exist.”
Before Luhan could comprehend what had just happened and proceed to freak out about how “the kiss was not real”, Kyungsoo stepped in and explained how they switched the love potion for a babbling potion to get Sehun to confess and how they should both just stop whining and get together to save everyone’s ears from falling off with all their lovesick crooning.
“Awwww hyung, you actually wanted to give me a love potion?” Sehun smirked mischievously while ruffling Luhan’s hair as the older boy buried his face in Sehun’s robes in embarrassment (though not before shooting a death glare at Kyungsoo and Jongin).
“Shut upppp, who was the one who gave such a terrible confession! How could I not have saved you from the Venomous Tentacula? It was going to strangle me too! And how many times do I have to say, I’m not pretty!” Luhan retorted, punching Sehun in the chest, albeit very weakly.
“Hyung, you’re really adorable. Does that mean you’re officially my boyfriend now?” Sehun whispered into Luhan’s ear, leaving him a kiss on the cheek in the process.
“Urgh, I hate you.”
“Nope, you love me.”
During the next Hogsmeade weekend, as our favourite couple was busy staring into each other’s eyes in Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop, four of their friends were secretly having a meeting in the Three Broomsticks over pints of Butterbeer.
“Cheers! Now we don’t have to hear endless ramblings of undying love!” declared Jongin in relief.
As the four of them raised their glasses to their brilliant plan, the bells on the door rattled and a very windswept Kris entered, making a beeline for Madam Rosmerta at the bar.
“Look at him, getting his way all the time just because of his above-average face. So what if he looks hot on a broomstick? And that baby unicorns love him? His eyebrows still look like mating caterpillars,” Yixing commented with a frown, surprising everyone because the Hufflepuff is usually a peace-loving person.
The other three exchanged amused glances before Minseok muttered in exasperation, “not another one!”