oh sehun is definitely not falling in love (except he is)
►recipient: teatimetaemint
►title: Oh Sehun is definitely not falling in love (except he is)
►pairings: Sehun/Luhan
►rating: PG-13
►word count: 6.4k
►warnings: an inappropriate hippogriff joke
►summary: Luhan's just too pretty and Sehun knows he's in trouble before he's even in it. ministry!au
►author's notes: you're prompts were so cute :D, anyways thank you for giving me the opportunity to write this. i hope it makes as much sense as it does in my sleep deprived head
Fresh out of Hogwarts, Oh Sehun is ready to begin his adventure into the life of an adult wizard. The time for rushing to finish copying his best friends potions essay and stealing pastry’s from the kitchen was no more; it’s time for Sehun’s mature adventure to begin.
He’s an intern at the International Magical Office of Law in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Shortly after graduating Hogwarts with all the required N.E.W.Ts, he had applied to work at the ministry. Of course, he’s going to have to spend several years at an intern before he can acquire a full-time-and most importantly-paid position, but the experience might prove to be exhilarating nonetheless.
So far, Sehun has been an intern for three months, he’s adjusted to the differing lifestyle compared to Hogwarts, and things are going well. That is, until he shows up.
Sehun knew that working in an international office would expose him to witches and wizards of many cultural backgrounds; in fact, many workers in his office themselves grew up in foreign lands. It’s a rewarding work environment, and Sehun never thought it would be an issue-until now.
There’s a man in the department. That is not unusual, Sehun is also a man, and a good number of those in the department are indeed male. This man is also sitting at a desk; again, not out of the ordinary.
He is also the most flawlessly attractive creature Sehun has ever laid eyes on. His hair is a light brown shade; obviously dyed, and fashioned in a way that exudes professionalism but style as well. His eyes are brown and framed by thick lashes, giving the man a feminine look. His nose and mouth are small, cute even, and his skin looks as soft as a baby’s. Sehun wonders briefly if his morning coffee has been bewitched and that he’s witnessing a hallucination.
“Oh, Sehun, nice to see you. I was wondering if you’ve met Luhan here, he’s just transferred from an eastern branch and you’ll be working with him frequently,” one of the supervisors, Kim Joonmyun, announces.
The man in question rises, his well-pressed suit clinging to his body, and Sehun audibly gulps because his mind is already having inappropriate thoughts and it needs to shut up so he can be professional.
“Hello, pleasure to make your acquaintance,” the remarkably handsome stranger greets, making his way over to Sehun. His voice rolls smoothly, like honey, and Sehun finds it just as sweet. There’s the tiniest hint of an accent in his words, but Sehun has always been a sucker for accents, and it only works to intrigue him further.
“G-good morning, sir,” Sehun adds, extending his hand to shake it. The man stares at his hand for a moment, perplexed, before he catches on and takes Sehun’s hand. His hands are smaller than Sehun’s (whose growth spurt seems to be never-ending) and they’re much smoother.
“No need to call me sir, Luhan will be fine. I hope we will get along well,” Luhan finishes with a court smile.
“Y-yeah, okay, me too,” Sehun says dumbly and mentally throws himself out the window (he would, but it’s not really there-just a magical illusion to give them some sense of sunlight).
That night, when Sehun gets home, he dreams repeatedly of a pale face and delicate fingers.
Luhan sure is weird, Sehun thinks to himself. So far it’s Luhan third day at the office. There are four mugs of coffee-all empty-on Luhan’s desk, and he looks as if he hasn’t slept in a week. In the last hour, he has yelled at Sehun twice because he touched Luhan’s things (just helped a paper that the elder had dropped) and Sehun half wants Luhan to transfer somewhere else.
Except he doesn’t, because when Luhan looks at him (not with burning rage) he feels his cheeks heat up and his stomach start to perform a gymnastics routine, and from the intensity of what he feels, his stomach could probably bring home a gold medal.
Sehun feels like a fumbling idiot all day long, and is still confused about his reaction to Luhan by the time his lunch break arrives. He heads towards the ministry cafeteria, and looks around for his Hogwarts/fellow-intern friends. He spots them easily, and makes his way over.
“Hey, bro, what’s up?” Kim Jongdae, who’s currently an intern in Dragon Research, asks. Sehun has known Jongdae since his first year at Hogwarts, and although they were sorted into different houses, they had slowly gotten closer throughout the years.
Sehun sighs as his reply, taking a bite of his sandwich (his mother had packed it for him-what? A growing boy still needs nutrients).
“Bad day?” his other friend, Kim Jongin (his best friend; since he wasn’t an ass like Jongdae) inquires.
“You could say that. There’s this guy who transferred into our department, and…” Sehun trails off, mind wandering to the events of the previous morning. Luhan threatening to staple his eyelids shut if he didn’t stop chewing his gum so obnoxiously. Luhan bursting into tears when he spilt his coffee. Sehun’s heart pounding erratically in his chest when Luhan’s gaze met his, to the point he was sure he was having a heart attack; the list went on.
“Oh, that Luhan guy?” Jongdae pipes up, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.
“Y-you heard of him?” Sehun asks.
Jongdae nods, “word on the street is his mother is a Veela.” Jongdae glances around the room before reaching forwards and whispering the last word into Sehun’s ear.
“Really?” Sehun exclaims, raising a brow.
“Didn’t he like just transfer in; how do you even know?” Jongin remarks, eyeing Jongdae suspiciously.
Jongdae leans back in his seat, face plastered in a mock expression of shock, “you don’t believe me? When have I ever been wrong?” he gasps.
Sehun can remember one incident. It involved himself trying to ask out the Slytherin Seeker, because someone had said ‘yo bro he’s like, so into you just go for it’. Sehun painfully recalls eating his weight in chocolate frogs the following month after being brutally rejected by the object of his desire.
Jongdae squirms in his seat and the look on Sehun’s face, “whatever, don’t judge my ways, Slytherin. I know everything.”
Jongin scoffs.
“Don’t believe me, Jongin? I’m sure Kyungsoo would believe me if I told him about the hippogriff incident,” Jongdae retorts smugly.
Jongin’s face flushes bright red and accidentally crushes his juice box, causing its contents to soil Sehun’s sandwich. Sehun morns it briefly before remembering he’s a wizard and he uses his wand to return it to its former glory.
“How do you even know about that?” Jongin grunts, eyes burning daggers into Jongdae.
Jongdae however, is looking smugger than ever after having proven his point, “you’re underestimating the power of a Ravenclaw,” he answers simply before turning to Sehun, “so is this guy like mega hot, being Veela and all?”
Sehun feels his face betray him as he blushes, “go fuck a hippogriff.”
“I think you are confusing me with Jongin over here.”
“I DO NOT WISH TO INNITIATE SEXUAL CONTACT WITH A HIPPOGRIFF, KIM JONGDAE, THAT WAS A COMPLETE MISUNDERSTADING AND YOU KNOW IT!” Jongin screams, the entirety of the cafeteria turning their heads at his outburst. Jongin sinks back into his seat, covering his face in shame.
Jongdae’s grin is positively menacing.
“That’s good to hear, Kim Jongin, hippogriffs are an endangered species,” somebody from the Beast Division cries and Sehun almost feels bad for his best friend.
***
That night Sehun pulls out his old Hogwarts textbooks and blows off the layers of dust covering them. He searches each and every chapter, scavenging for any information on Veelas. After two full hours of searching, he finally comes across a passage:
Veela appear to be young, beautiful humans. Their looks and especially their dance is magically seductive to almost all male beings, which causes them to perform strange actions in order to get nearer to them. Veela are thought to have their own type of magic which does not require a wand. When Veela are angry, however, they transform into something more like Harpies - their faces turn into cruel-beaked bird heads while long scaly wings burst from their shoulders, and they can launch balls of fire from their hands.[1]
Sehun pales upon reading the description. One of his co-workers, no, his superior, is one (or at least part) of these terrifying beasts? First of all, how can that even be legal; can’t only wizards work for the ministry?
His brain swimming with uncertainly, Sehun can only come to one conclusion. Whatever strange rush of emotion that paralyses him whenever he happens to look at Luhan is nothing more than an uncontrollable reaction to Luhan’s biological variance. Luhan, therefore is a danger and must be avoided at all costs, for Sehun’s health and also if he wants to eventually work his way up in the ministry. Luhan’s magic can’t be his downfall; Sehun will have to resist him.
Sehun rips out the page from his textbook and slips it into one of his office binders the next morning as he heads to work, curtesy of floo powder (apparation is hard, okay?). It seems to weigh his bag down; not because of its physical weight, but the weight of acknowledging that Luhan, the polite yet equality ferocious co-worker of his, was in fact some creature with the ability to play with Sehun’s feelings. The thought is one difficult to accept, but Sehun isn’t entirely sure why.
He shuffles into the office, making a point to keep his eyes glued on the opposite wall from Luhan’s desk. Luhan doesn’t greet him, already divulging in work, and Sehun exhales in relief. He takes his seat, knowing he has a report due at the end of the day and he still has some final touches to add before it’s ready to hand in to Joonmyun.
Sehun gets busy; although known as a slacker throughout his years at Hogwarts, he always possessed the ability to get work done quickly if he set his mind to it. Now that there’s something Sehun really shouldn’t set his mind to, he pours himself into the assignment.
A couple hours later Sehun finishes with a heavy sigh. All he has left to do is walk over to Joonmyun’s desk and hand him the report… but Sehun’s eyes are burning from staring at his desk for too long, and his neck is sore; instead he folds his arms on his desk and burrows his head in them.
“Hello, little one,” Luhan voice rings in Sehun’s ears. He jumps; he only put his head down for two seconds longer than he meant too.
“D-don’t call me that,” Sehun grumbles groggily. If anything, Luhan is the little one, Sehun being practically 10cm taller.
“Make me! Actually, fine, you win; I need to ask you a favour,” Luhan replies, leaning on Sehun’s desk and inspecting him with bright, sparkling eyes. Sehun’s stomach starts warming up for its next gymnastics routine.
“W-what sort of favour?” Sehun asks apprehensively, leaning away from where Luhan is leaning in a bit too close.
Luhan’s face splits into a grin that really isn’t attractive but Sehun can’t help feeling flustered. Yup, definitely Veela.
“I haven’t been living here very long, you know. It’s hard to adjust to living in a new country,” Luhan begins, “one of my biggest challenges is finding a meal I like. That’s why I need you, Oh Sehun, to accompany me to the cafeteria and help me find something that doesn’t taste like dragon bogies,” Luhan adds the last part like it’s not a request but a privilege.
“Why are you asking me?” Sehun knows his voice sounds whiney and petulant but he continues, “I mean, isn’t there somebody else you could ask?”
“That’d be embarrassing, to ask one of my co-workers a favour,” Luhan gasps like Sehun has somehow offended him.
“Wait, then what am I?”
“A lowly intern.” Luhan smiles wickedly.
Sehun scoffs, “asshole,” he mutters without thinking.
Luhan’s face bursts into a toothy grin, “your favourite asshole?” the foreign wizard asks with mock hopefulness. Sehun sputters a little because that sounds a little inappropriate oh my merlin.
He manages to quickly compose himself, “No, sorry, there’s a list,” Sehun retorts. This is one of the longest conversations he has with Luhan and he’s feeling a little…tingly. Luhan’s magic must be stronger than he first suspected.
Luhan pouts and Sehun has to actually cull the urge to rub his eyes because when Luhan does that he doesn’t just look ten years younger, he looks adorable as fuck.
“I didn’t realize you were so popular with assholes,” Luhan comments, and Sehun’s not sure anymore if Luhan’s toying with him or if he’s just oblivious to what he’s saying; either way Sehun’s face lights up like he’s Rudolph and he starts choking on his own spit. Sehun has always had such impeccable charisma; Jongdae would be proud.
“Jerks! My f-friends are jerks, hahaha,” Sehun shouts, startling Luhan.
“So… does that mean you’ll come to the cafeteria… or are just going to keep laughing to yourself like an axe murderer?” Luhan interjects.
Somehow even more embarrassed Sehun replies, “oh, yeah sure.” Fuck this is not going according to plan.
Sehun trails behind Luhan as they make their way to the cafeteria. The most diligent of workers typically remained in their offices to eat lunch, but the large cafeteria was a place for social interaction between ministry employees, something that could prove extremely beneficial in the long run. Sehun mostly liked it because of its resemblance to the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
Sehun spots Jongin and Jongdae already occupying the usual table out of the corner of his eye. He tries to keep his gaze trained forwards and not draw his friends’ attention, but Sehun realizes the fatal flaw in that plan when he notes just how tight Luhan’s pants are. Was it just him, or the air in the cafeteria suddenly felt a little stuffy?
A sharp hit to his bicep is what breaks Sehun from his trance, only for him to realize Luhan is looking at him expectantly. Sehun gulps, had Luhan been talking?
“So? What do you suggest?” the shorter huffs, glaring at the arrangement of various foods.
“What do you like?” Sehun asks, eyeing the selection as well. To be perfectly honest, Sehun only eats sandwiches for lunch; he’d never touched the food the ministry had to offer.
Luhan rolls his eyes with an over-exaggerated sigh, “if I knew, I wouldn’t be asking you, would I?”
“Good point,” Sehun responds softly, racking his brain for an easy meal suggestion for his older co-worker. Sehun himself, despite his incessant love for ham and cheese between two slices a fresh, white bread, isn’t a picky eater. The only thing the Slytherin can’t stand would be pumpkin juice.
Sehun gives Luhan a tray and the older boy grabs it excitedly and places it down on the counter. Sehun can’t remember when he last saw someone whose eyes literally sparkled at the thought of trying something new. Nevertheless, the despite his weird antics, Luhan’s magic was too strong and Sehun felt some invisible force pull him closer as Luhan began to earnestly peruse the food items on display, his expression mimicking a child’s. Damn veelas.
“Ooh! What’s this?” Luhan asks excitedly. There are moments over the duration of Sehun’s short internship where he has wondered if Luhan is indeed older than him. This would be one of those times.
“That would be pea soup, Luhan,” Sehun replies unnecessarily, considering all the dishes are labelled. Where did Luhan come from that they didn’t have pea soup?
“I want it~!” Luhan chimes, eagerly asking the woman behind the counter to spoon him a bowl-full. They continue along, till another treat catches the foreign wizard’s eye.
“Whoa, Sehun, what’s that? It looks amazing!~~~” cue one billion eye sparkles.
“Those would be pork chops,” Sehun explains, pointing lazily towards the meat. Sehun had assumed Luhan had at least tested some of the food found in the country, you know, after immediately moving here, but it seems like this was the first time Luhan had bothered to investigate. What exactly had Luhan been eating this whole time anyways?
“Whoa,” Luhan’s exclamation shocks Sehun out of his daze, and he finds the shorter wizard staring in awe at a pitcher of some beverage. “What. Is. This?”
Ew. Sehun can’t help but internally grimace at the label reading pumpkin juice. Truly, it had to be the most revolting concoction ever to have been, well…concocted. Sehun can still clearly recall the last time he had drunken some after his mother had conned him onto having a sip. He had vomited everywhere (granted five-year-olds were rather prone to throwing up). Just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. Pumpkins were meant to be carved not drank!
Luhan buys himself some pumpkin juice and happily makes his way over to the cash register to pay for his meal. Sehun tags along behind him silently. Thankfully, Luhan chooses a table far from Sehun’s friends and he watches thoughtfully as Luhan begins to eat. The older wizard seems content with his food choices and Sehun wishes he could turn his eyes away but it’s like his eyes have been petrified and can’t move.
“So,” Sehun finally speaks, finding his voice, “that was uneventful.”
“What do you mean uneventful? Are you trying to say I’m boring, Oh Sehun?” Luhan asks dramatically as he diligently cuts his meat with his fork and knife. Sehun ignores the spark in his gut when Luhan says his full name.
“NO!” the poor intern yells, “I mean uh, was that really a two-person job? It’s not that difficult to decipher the contents of pea soup once you read the label.”
Luhan puts down his fork and bites his lip, looking at Sehun with an expression crossed between guilt and amusement.
“Well,” Luhan begins, “maybe I just wanted some company? Maybe I was scared to make an idiot out of myself alone and needed someone like you to tag along?” the playful tone not as evident as before.
“So that I could make myself look like an idiot?” Sehun blurts out before he can even think. He just wanted to know what Luhan wanted from him, not to attack the older wizard and make him feel bad. Sehun feels the panic set in when Luhan’s face falls (and sad on Luhan is a terrible, awful look).
“Sehun you don’t look like an idiot,” Luhan apologizes, “well, you didn’t before. Now you’re making that weird pout-y face-thing and I can’t really defend it.”
Sehun looks down, breaking eye contact. At least Luhan can still find it in his little veela heart to insult him.
Luhan looks directly at him, and grabs Sehun’s hand into his. His skin is warm and soft and with such a small touch Sehun’s whole body immediately feels hot-too hot.
“I’m sorry if you thought I was wasting your time,” Luhan apologizes.
“No, that’s not it. It’s okay. I’m happy you wanted to spend time with me,” Sehun admits honestly. Even if Luhan thinks it’s funny to drag Sehun around, to throw paper airplanes at his head when Sehun’s busy working, or to constantly be teasing him, then so be it, because Sehun is too weak to stop him.
“Great, cause I like spending time with you too. We should do it more often,” Luhan beams, taking a big sip of his pumpkin juice.
The alarm goes off in Sehun’s head when he’s not even disgusted watching Luhan drink pumpkin guts.
***
“I have an emergency, help me!” Sehun hisses into the receiver. A phone is the only muggle device Sehun owns, curtesy of Jongin’s magic-less family ties. Jongdae has one too, but Jongin and Sehun barely answer him. It’s a lot easier to make prank calls when one has access to a wand.
“Hey, I’m not the emergency response team; at least say hello before whining,” Jongin snaps. Sehun vaguely recalls Jongin telling him that he was swamped with work, and Sehun realizes Jongin’s probably sleep deprived and extremely busy. Sehun dangles the idea of calling Jongdae instead, but the haunting memory of the last phone call he received with his no-good Ravenclaw friend has him shutting down that idea immediately.
“Fine, hello,” Sehun mumbles, knowing Jongin doesn’t really care, “anyways, I am in trouble. Like big trouble. Like I haven’t been in this much trouble since Jongdae got us caught drinking butterbeers in our Second Year.” Sehun paced across his room, the crumbled up page of his old textbook clenched in his fist.
“What, detention again? We’re not at Hogwarts anymore, Sehun,” Jongin huffed.
“No, it’s-it’s Luhan.”
“Oh, you mean the pretty boy from your department. Are you calling me at midnight just to ask for dating advice?”
“No, I’m calling to ask for exact opposite of dating advice!”
“You don’t make sense and I’m going to hand up now….”
“No, Jongin, you’re forgetting, Luhan’s a veela. He has magical powers to lure guys in. I mean let’s face it, he’s kind of a jerk-just last week he turned my coffee into chocolate milk while I wasn’t looking-”
“You should thank him for that; you hate coffee. Jongdae and I have been meaning to tell you that you don’t just have to drink it because the professionals all drink it. You do you, man.”
“Jongin, I’m sorry you’re having a shitty week and I’m sorry that you’re little crush on Do Kyungsoo or whatever is going nowhere. But this is serious; Luhan has done absolutely nothing to make me like him yet; whenever I’m with him it’s like I’m thirteen again with a crush on the cutest beater. Luhan is obviously controlling me with magic and I need to get him to stop or else I’m going TO GO CRAZY!” Sehun yells, face red and completely out of breath. God, he was getting so worked up but he couldn’t help it, Luhan was making him feel things that he wasn’t even really feeling.
“Sehun, listen to me. It doesn’t matter what Luhan is, he has feelings too. Just talk to him. He’s not a dementor or anything, trying to suck out your soul with a kiss.”
Sehun’s words get caught in his throat at the word kiss. Kiss. With Luhan. Kissing Luhan. Luhan kissing him. Kissing with-
No! Thoughts like these are exactly what Luhan’s magic is making you think.
“Jongin, Luhan is-”
“Sehun! Talk to him! You see him every day at work, just talk to the guy and tell him what’s bothering you. And if you won’t listen to my obviously sound advice then I’m going to hang up.”
“But Veela!-”
“Good bye!” Jongin cries and Sehun hears the tell-tale beeping signifying that Jongin has indeed hung up on him.
Sehun slumps down on his bed, feeling as if every bone in his body has been removed and he has been reduced to a pile of mush. What was he going to do now? He can’t just talk to Luhan like Jongin had suggested; Luhan will use his powers to clog Sehun’s senses, and then drag him off to lunch again.
Sehun just had to ignore him. He had to ignore Luhan even if it hurt, even if some possessed part of him told him he was acting crazy and should just talk to Luhan, he couldn’t. No more mind games, no more magic; no more Luhan.
***
Unfortunately, it turns out avoiding Luhan completely was a lot harder than Sehun had once thought. Now that they had actually grown to what some might call the beginning stages of friendship, Luhan was always waving, and smiling, and offering Sehun coffee or something equally nice. But Sehun knew exactly what was going on; Luhan was just turning the switch on his magic one notch higher.
“Hey,” Luhan calls one morning, entering the office looking a little worse for wear. Sehun does his best to keep his eyes trained down at his work but he can’t help sneak a peek. It seems as if Luhan hadn’t slept much the night before, and Sehun really wants to ask him what was wrong, and if the older wizard’s tired expression had anything to do with Joonmyun cracking down on them recently, but he can’t; instead he focusses his eyes downwards.
He knows Luhan stops in front of his desk, “hey,” he says again, probably assuming Sehun didn’t hear him the first time.
Sehun holds his tongue and practically bites it too trying to keep silent. He can just imagine Luhan’s face, a mix of confusion and maybe even anger, as Sehun blatantly keeps his head down and doesn’t acknowledge him. Eventually Luhan huffs and saunters over to his desk, and Sehun chances a look but Luhan’s back is to him. Luhan’s magic had to be something else; just sitting there has to be one of the hardest things Sehun has ever had to do.
Luhan keeps approaching him all week, and every time Sehun has to bite his cheek and turn away it feels like a little part of his soul is dying; not to mention the immense guilt. Sometimes Sehun wonders if he should just give in to Luhan’s natural abilities, but knowing Veela’s (from just that one article) he’ll only be hurt in the end. After all, to someone of Luhan’s pedigree, Sehun is just a toy. He knows what he has to do, but it’s hard.
Sehun supposes Luhan catches on after a few weeks because suddenly Luhan is ignoring him too, granted Sehun hasn’t approached him or anything. Still, Luhan no longer says hi to him or smiles when they see each other on the elevator.
It reminds Sehun of his first few days when Luhan transferred, when they were still complete strangers. Although, Luhan still talked to him then, but it was usually to vent about his current project or at least to throw staples at him. Now, it’s as if the Slytherin’s desk is empty to Luhan and it makes him feel like shit. He would say he now knew how Luhan feels, but he misses Luhan’s pull the most. There’s no more magic; he had gotten so used to the attraction he felt for Luhan whenever they got too close, the blood rushing to his face and the gymnastic butterflies in his belly, that it’s hard to let go of. Whenever he would get to close to Luhan, all of Sehun’s senses would tell him to just get closer, but now there’s nothing to get close too. Sehun hasn’t felt this bad since Kris Wu rejected him in front of the whole Slytherin Quidditch team.
Sehun is then surprised when Luhan comes up to his table in the ministry cafeteria a few days later.
“Hey,” Luhan says, “I need to see you after everyone leaves our office. It’s work related so...”
Sehun is stunned for a second and can’t reply, but that’s mostly due to the sandwich lodged down his throat.
“Oh, okay, what exactly is it?” Sehun questions. While totally not thinking about Luhan, Sehun has been throwing himself into his work-it’s a wonder how he’s still only an intern-so he doesn’t really know what this is about.
“It’s about you’re last report. Joonmyun had me look it over and I need to talk to you about it. It’s urgent so…don’t forget,” is Luhan reply. Then the older wizard shoves his hands into his pockets and walks off, leaving Sehun with a bad taste in his mouth (not from the sandwich).
He turns to his friends.
“What, don’t look at me, I’m not the one who upset a Veela.”
“Jongdae,” Sehun enunciates, “I am going to kill you.”
Later Sehun sighs and checks the clock. Technically his work ended twenty minutes ago and he should already be making his way home but Luhan wants to see him. Luhan, the one with the actual job, is still talking with their supervisor in his office and Sehun wonders if it about him. He’s been a pretty decent intern, had himself a good go; Sehun can’t leave this job before he actually gets paid for it!
“Sehun,” Luhan calls, startling the intern. He hadn’t even noticed Luhan enter the room, he’d been too busy staring at the clock and worrying about what Luhan would eventually say to him.
“Oh, are you…done?” Sehun asks, indicating towards their boss’s office. Sehun’s still sitting at his desk while Luhan is standing, and for some reason he feels small.
“Yeah, he’s gone home,” Luhan explained. Sehun noticed Luhan’s gaze was fixed pointedly on his feet, and not at Sehun. “Anyways, I’m sorry I lied to you; this isn’t exactly work related.”
Sehun is confused, “oh,” is all he can manage.
“I just wanted to know; did I do something wrong? Did I accidentally insult you-well, more than the usual amount?”
“I… don’t understand.”
“Why are you mad at me? You’ve been ignoring me for the past few weeks and I want to know what I did so I can owe up to it. I know I’m not as sweet a person as Joonmyun, although I think we can all agree that’s a good thing, but lately I’ve been feeling like suddenly you hate me, and I don’t get it. I’d rather you tell me what’s upset you so I can apologize and we can move on instead of you treating me like this,” Luhan admits, shoulders tense and hands still in his pockets.
To Sehun, Luhan seems incredibly overwrought, which makes him almost want to believe him. But he can’t, because Luhan’s enchanting him and he has some sort of ulterior motive. They can’t get along because with Luhan, Sehun is forced to feel a lie.
“You didn’t do anything,” Sehun quickly states.
“Then why have you been avoiding me all this time. Sehun, if I hurt you I’m really sorry. Please just tell me what I did, you don’t have to forgive me,” Luhan begs. Sehun can practically feel the pain pouring from Luhan and he feels as if he’s suffocating. Sehun never expected this to happen.
“We’re just…not good together. I don’t think we should hang out or talk anymore,” Sehun cringes as he speaks because this suspiciously sounds like a break up. He wishes he could tell Luhan the truth. About how he feels when Luhan leans in too close or says something oddly endearing. How even when Luhan throws a hole-punch at him he still wants to just…get…closer.
“That’s all you’re going to tell me, aren’t you. Well okay, Oh Sehun, if that’s what you think, then fine, we’ll have nothing but a strictly professional relationship. Sorry for wasting your time,” Luhan exclaims, his voice cracking before he storms off, leaving Sehun alone in the office.
Luhan is supposed to be the bad guy for tricking Sehun, but as he stands there alone feeling like a bunch of goblins ripped out his heart and then stomped all over it, Sehun can’t help but feel as if he is in the wrong.
***
“Hey, guess what, idiot,” Jongin says, grabbing a fistful of Sehun’s shirt and slamming him into the wall. Its only 8am and Sehun’s not exactly fully awake yet, but he still feels being shoved and isn’t exactly sure as to why.
“Jongin, what?-”
“I bumped into your friend, Luhan, in the corridor just now. We started talking and well, he told me exactly what you said to him yesterday, you jerk,” Jongin grunts, pushing Sehun again. He goes stumbling backwards and lands rather unattractively on his butt. A couple of girls walking by giggle, but Sehun is too confused to feel embarrassed.
But Jongin’s not finished, “First of all, that was a dick thing to say. Second of all, you’re so stupidly wrong. I want to kill you and Jongdae then turn your bodies into ground meat so I can feed you to a dragon!” Jongin starts going a little red in the face and Sehun would remind him to breathe if he wasn’t so scared that his best friend was about to kick his skull in.
“What are you talking about?” Sehun somehow manages to ask, his mind swimming with questions.
“Jongdae doesn’t know shit. He doesn’t know anything, he never has, and yet an idiot like you still believed him!” Jongin really starts kicking this time and Sehun has to scramble away to avoid death.
“I am having difficulty understanding the point you are trying to make, maybe if you stop trying to bruise my brain you can explain it!” Sehun shrieks, managing to stand up again so Jongin can’t kick him in the face. Instead Jongin starts beating his chest with his fist but at least Sehun’s life is spared, for the moment.
Jongin looks livid and completely exasperated with Sehun’s existence, which is never a good mix. “Luhan’s not a veela. Not even the tiniest bit. He’s never even probably seen a veela!” Jongin screams.
Now the weight of what Sehun has done comes crashing down on him all at once. What he said to Luhan, the way he ignored, him it just comes flooding back to punch him even the face, even stronger than if Jongin had used his fist.
Sehun channels all of his current emotion into one word:
“Fuck.”
“Also,” Jongin adds, as if Sehun’s world isn’t falling apart, “he thinks you’re an asshole.”
“Fuck.”
Jongin’s expression softens, “What are you going to do now?”
“Now seems like a good time to have those dementors suck out my soul to save me from my shame.”
“Sehun.” Jongin’s voice is stern.
“Or I’ll abandon magic and leave this world behind me forever. Maybe I’ll live in a tent. Wanna come with?”
“Sehun.”
“Okay… I guess I should apologize.”
“You guess?” Jongin looks like he’s about to start hitting again.
“I mean I will-I will apologize,” Sehun affirms, dreading what he has to do, and thinking about what he’s done, and overall just being very overwhelmed. Finding out you’ve been living a lie for the past couple months is always overwhelming.
“Good, now go! He was heading towards you’re department office. Try to catch him, quick!” Jongin cries, shooing Sehun off.
Luckily he’s on the same floor as his office and doesn’t have to use the elevator, and instead he runs. He runs because he’s an idiot, he runs because he believed Jongdae, he runs because he was a dick, he runs because Luhan’s never used magic to control him-
“Luhan!” Sehun screams as he hurls the door to their department open and practically trips over his own feet to get inside fast enough.
Sure enough Luhan’s sitting at his own desk, organizing some papers, and looks completely astonished as Sehun stands there, panting and sweaty, gaping at him like a madman.
“What,” Luhan spits, shooting Sehun a venomous glare. Sehun hadn’t thought about how much his actions would hurt Luhan; he only thought about himself.
“I’m here to apologize, for yesterday,” Sehun remarks, locking eyes with Luhan, who looks momentarily shocked before he narrow his beautiful, enchanting, exotic, flawless, sparkling glimmering-ahem-eyes.
“Why the sudden change of heart?” Luhan asks; he’s smiling but he looks so pissed Sehun kind of wishes Jongin had fed him to a dragon.
Sehun exhales, and lowers his gaze. There is no easy way to go about this. He has to say the truth.
“Um, so, someone, who shall remain nameless and stupid, told me you were a veela, you know, like a seducing harpy thing. Anyways, someone else just informed me that you were not and that I am a world class fuck up,” Sehun begins, fumbling with his words. He’s nervous and can’t tell if the sweat on the back of his neck is from running or from what he’s trying to say.
Luhan looks unimpressed, “You have something against veelas?”
“Well, no! It’s just that they’re supposed to be like super beautiful or something,” Sehun tries to explain.
Luhan cocks a hip, “sorry, did I not meet your expectations?” he says loudly, almost yelling.
Luhan looks ten times more upset than when the conversation first began and Sehun blames his big, stupid mouth.
“No, the opposite! I was so attracted to you in a way I didn’t really understood I thought that it just had to be all magic. I thought you were controlling me, and that because of how good looking you are you’d only be a distraction if I kept letting you in.”
Luhan just looks on.
“But now I’ve just been forced to acknowledge that I was wrong. The magic you have over me is a different type of magic, and that doesn’t mean I understand it any better, but you should at least know that contrary to how I act, I like you…a lot,” Sehun finishes. The amount of unconditional affection Sehun has for Luhan is a little terrifying but he keeps that bit to himself.
“Well,” Luhan breaks the silence and Sehun can’t read his expression, “That was one of the oddest confession I’ve ever received, I must admit.”
Sehun stands there, unmoving, until Luhan’s perfect little face breaks out into an impish grin, “how about you buy me a butterbear and we call it even?”
“Oh, okay,” Sehun mumbles, stunned because Luhan just agreed with him.
“Come over here, idiot,” Luhan announces, and Sehun obliges and stands in front of Luhan’s desk.
“I bet a veela can’t do this better than me,” Luhan remarks, grabbing Sehun’s face with his hands.
“Wait, a veela can’t do what?-”
Sehun then shuts up because Luhan’s mouth is touching his and oh it’s a kiss. He’s kissing Luhan, on the mouth. With his mouth. And it’s fantastic.
Luhan breaks this kiss and smiles at him, and Sehun’s sure he’s blushing like a tomato except all he can think of it how soft Luhan’s lips are.
“Was that okay?” Luhan asks, rubbing his thumb against Sehun’s bottom lip.
“Y-yeah, totally hahaha,” Sehun fake laughs then mentally kicks himself for ever speaking ever.
“You know,” Luhan smirks, “no one’s going to be in this office for another fifteen minutes. I think that gives us lots of time to ourselves.”
“To do what?”
Luhan shuts him up with another kiss and Sehun is more than happy to let him.
*1: I took this description from the harry potter wiki http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Veela
►title: Oh Sehun is definitely not falling in love (except he is)
►pairings: Sehun/Luhan
►rating: PG-13
►word count: 6.4k
►warnings: an inappropriate hippogriff joke
►summary: Luhan's just too pretty and Sehun knows he's in trouble before he's even in it. ministry!au
►author's notes: you're prompts were so cute :D, anyways thank you for giving me the opportunity to write this. i hope it makes as much sense as it does in my sleep deprived head
Fresh out of Hogwarts, Oh Sehun is ready to begin his adventure into the life of an adult wizard. The time for rushing to finish copying his best friends potions essay and stealing pastry’s from the kitchen was no more; it’s time for Sehun’s mature adventure to begin.
He’s an intern at the International Magical Office of Law in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Shortly after graduating Hogwarts with all the required N.E.W.Ts, he had applied to work at the ministry. Of course, he’s going to have to spend several years at an intern before he can acquire a full-time-and most importantly-paid position, but the experience might prove to be exhilarating nonetheless.
So far, Sehun has been an intern for three months, he’s adjusted to the differing lifestyle compared to Hogwarts, and things are going well. That is, until he shows up.
Sehun knew that working in an international office would expose him to witches and wizards of many cultural backgrounds; in fact, many workers in his office themselves grew up in foreign lands. It’s a rewarding work environment, and Sehun never thought it would be an issue-until now.
There’s a man in the department. That is not unusual, Sehun is also a man, and a good number of those in the department are indeed male. This man is also sitting at a desk; again, not out of the ordinary.
He is also the most flawlessly attractive creature Sehun has ever laid eyes on. His hair is a light brown shade; obviously dyed, and fashioned in a way that exudes professionalism but style as well. His eyes are brown and framed by thick lashes, giving the man a feminine look. His nose and mouth are small, cute even, and his skin looks as soft as a baby’s. Sehun wonders briefly if his morning coffee has been bewitched and that he’s witnessing a hallucination.
“Oh, Sehun, nice to see you. I was wondering if you’ve met Luhan here, he’s just transferred from an eastern branch and you’ll be working with him frequently,” one of the supervisors, Kim Joonmyun, announces.
The man in question rises, his well-pressed suit clinging to his body, and Sehun audibly gulps because his mind is already having inappropriate thoughts and it needs to shut up so he can be professional.
“Hello, pleasure to make your acquaintance,” the remarkably handsome stranger greets, making his way over to Sehun. His voice rolls smoothly, like honey, and Sehun finds it just as sweet. There’s the tiniest hint of an accent in his words, but Sehun has always been a sucker for accents, and it only works to intrigue him further.
“G-good morning, sir,” Sehun adds, extending his hand to shake it. The man stares at his hand for a moment, perplexed, before he catches on and takes Sehun’s hand. His hands are smaller than Sehun’s (whose growth spurt seems to be never-ending) and they’re much smoother.
“No need to call me sir, Luhan will be fine. I hope we will get along well,” Luhan finishes with a court smile.
“Y-yeah, okay, me too,” Sehun says dumbly and mentally throws himself out the window (he would, but it’s not really there-just a magical illusion to give them some sense of sunlight).
That night, when Sehun gets home, he dreams repeatedly of a pale face and delicate fingers.
Luhan sure is weird, Sehun thinks to himself. So far it’s Luhan third day at the office. There are four mugs of coffee-all empty-on Luhan’s desk, and he looks as if he hasn’t slept in a week. In the last hour, he has yelled at Sehun twice because he touched Luhan’s things (just helped a paper that the elder had dropped) and Sehun half wants Luhan to transfer somewhere else.
Except he doesn’t, because when Luhan looks at him (not with burning rage) he feels his cheeks heat up and his stomach start to perform a gymnastics routine, and from the intensity of what he feels, his stomach could probably bring home a gold medal.
Sehun feels like a fumbling idiot all day long, and is still confused about his reaction to Luhan by the time his lunch break arrives. He heads towards the ministry cafeteria, and looks around for his Hogwarts/fellow-intern friends. He spots them easily, and makes his way over.
“Hey, bro, what’s up?” Kim Jongdae, who’s currently an intern in Dragon Research, asks. Sehun has known Jongdae since his first year at Hogwarts, and although they were sorted into different houses, they had slowly gotten closer throughout the years.
Sehun sighs as his reply, taking a bite of his sandwich (his mother had packed it for him-what? A growing boy still needs nutrients).
“Bad day?” his other friend, Kim Jongin (his best friend; since he wasn’t an ass like Jongdae) inquires.
“You could say that. There’s this guy who transferred into our department, and…” Sehun trails off, mind wandering to the events of the previous morning. Luhan threatening to staple his eyelids shut if he didn’t stop chewing his gum so obnoxiously. Luhan bursting into tears when he spilt his coffee. Sehun’s heart pounding erratically in his chest when Luhan’s gaze met his, to the point he was sure he was having a heart attack; the list went on.
“Oh, that Luhan guy?” Jongdae pipes up, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.
“Y-you heard of him?” Sehun asks.
Jongdae nods, “word on the street is his mother is a Veela.” Jongdae glances around the room before reaching forwards and whispering the last word into Sehun’s ear.
“Really?” Sehun exclaims, raising a brow.
“Didn’t he like just transfer in; how do you even know?” Jongin remarks, eyeing Jongdae suspiciously.
Jongdae leans back in his seat, face plastered in a mock expression of shock, “you don’t believe me? When have I ever been wrong?” he gasps.
Sehun can remember one incident. It involved himself trying to ask out the Slytherin Seeker, because someone had said ‘yo bro he’s like, so into you just go for it’. Sehun painfully recalls eating his weight in chocolate frogs the following month after being brutally rejected by the object of his desire.
Jongdae squirms in his seat and the look on Sehun’s face, “whatever, don’t judge my ways, Slytherin. I know everything.”
Jongin scoffs.
“Don’t believe me, Jongin? I’m sure Kyungsoo would believe me if I told him about the hippogriff incident,” Jongdae retorts smugly.
Jongin’s face flushes bright red and accidentally crushes his juice box, causing its contents to soil Sehun’s sandwich. Sehun morns it briefly before remembering he’s a wizard and he uses his wand to return it to its former glory.
“How do you even know about that?” Jongin grunts, eyes burning daggers into Jongdae.
Jongdae however, is looking smugger than ever after having proven his point, “you’re underestimating the power of a Ravenclaw,” he answers simply before turning to Sehun, “so is this guy like mega hot, being Veela and all?”
Sehun feels his face betray him as he blushes, “go fuck a hippogriff.”
“I think you are confusing me with Jongin over here.”
“I DO NOT WISH TO INNITIATE SEXUAL CONTACT WITH A HIPPOGRIFF, KIM JONGDAE, THAT WAS A COMPLETE MISUNDERSTADING AND YOU KNOW IT!” Jongin screams, the entirety of the cafeteria turning their heads at his outburst. Jongin sinks back into his seat, covering his face in shame.
Jongdae’s grin is positively menacing.
“That’s good to hear, Kim Jongin, hippogriffs are an endangered species,” somebody from the Beast Division cries and Sehun almost feels bad for his best friend.
***
That night Sehun pulls out his old Hogwarts textbooks and blows off the layers of dust covering them. He searches each and every chapter, scavenging for any information on Veelas. After two full hours of searching, he finally comes across a passage:
Veela appear to be young, beautiful humans. Their looks and especially their dance is magically seductive to almost all male beings, which causes them to perform strange actions in order to get nearer to them. Veela are thought to have their own type of magic which does not require a wand. When Veela are angry, however, they transform into something more like Harpies - their faces turn into cruel-beaked bird heads while long scaly wings burst from their shoulders, and they can launch balls of fire from their hands.[1]
Sehun pales upon reading the description. One of his co-workers, no, his superior, is one (or at least part) of these terrifying beasts? First of all, how can that even be legal; can’t only wizards work for the ministry?
His brain swimming with uncertainly, Sehun can only come to one conclusion. Whatever strange rush of emotion that paralyses him whenever he happens to look at Luhan is nothing more than an uncontrollable reaction to Luhan’s biological variance. Luhan, therefore is a danger and must be avoided at all costs, for Sehun’s health and also if he wants to eventually work his way up in the ministry. Luhan’s magic can’t be his downfall; Sehun will have to resist him.
Sehun rips out the page from his textbook and slips it into one of his office binders the next morning as he heads to work, curtesy of floo powder (apparation is hard, okay?). It seems to weigh his bag down; not because of its physical weight, but the weight of acknowledging that Luhan, the polite yet equality ferocious co-worker of his, was in fact some creature with the ability to play with Sehun’s feelings. The thought is one difficult to accept, but Sehun isn’t entirely sure why.
He shuffles into the office, making a point to keep his eyes glued on the opposite wall from Luhan’s desk. Luhan doesn’t greet him, already divulging in work, and Sehun exhales in relief. He takes his seat, knowing he has a report due at the end of the day and he still has some final touches to add before it’s ready to hand in to Joonmyun.
Sehun gets busy; although known as a slacker throughout his years at Hogwarts, he always possessed the ability to get work done quickly if he set his mind to it. Now that there’s something Sehun really shouldn’t set his mind to, he pours himself into the assignment.
A couple hours later Sehun finishes with a heavy sigh. All he has left to do is walk over to Joonmyun’s desk and hand him the report… but Sehun’s eyes are burning from staring at his desk for too long, and his neck is sore; instead he folds his arms on his desk and burrows his head in them.
“Hello, little one,” Luhan voice rings in Sehun’s ears. He jumps; he only put his head down for two seconds longer than he meant too.
“D-don’t call me that,” Sehun grumbles groggily. If anything, Luhan is the little one, Sehun being practically 10cm taller.
“Make me! Actually, fine, you win; I need to ask you a favour,” Luhan replies, leaning on Sehun’s desk and inspecting him with bright, sparkling eyes. Sehun’s stomach starts warming up for its next gymnastics routine.
“W-what sort of favour?” Sehun asks apprehensively, leaning away from where Luhan is leaning in a bit too close.
Luhan’s face splits into a grin that really isn’t attractive but Sehun can’t help feeling flustered. Yup, definitely Veela.
“I haven’t been living here very long, you know. It’s hard to adjust to living in a new country,” Luhan begins, “one of my biggest challenges is finding a meal I like. That’s why I need you, Oh Sehun, to accompany me to the cafeteria and help me find something that doesn’t taste like dragon bogies,” Luhan adds the last part like it’s not a request but a privilege.
“Why are you asking me?” Sehun knows his voice sounds whiney and petulant but he continues, “I mean, isn’t there somebody else you could ask?”
“That’d be embarrassing, to ask one of my co-workers a favour,” Luhan gasps like Sehun has somehow offended him.
“Wait, then what am I?”
“A lowly intern.” Luhan smiles wickedly.
Sehun scoffs, “asshole,” he mutters without thinking.
Luhan’s face bursts into a toothy grin, “your favourite asshole?” the foreign wizard asks with mock hopefulness. Sehun sputters a little because that sounds a little inappropriate oh my merlin.
He manages to quickly compose himself, “No, sorry, there’s a list,” Sehun retorts. This is one of the longest conversations he has with Luhan and he’s feeling a little…tingly. Luhan’s magic must be stronger than he first suspected.
Luhan pouts and Sehun has to actually cull the urge to rub his eyes because when Luhan does that he doesn’t just look ten years younger, he looks adorable as fuck.
“I didn’t realize you were so popular with assholes,” Luhan comments, and Sehun’s not sure anymore if Luhan’s toying with him or if he’s just oblivious to what he’s saying; either way Sehun’s face lights up like he’s Rudolph and he starts choking on his own spit. Sehun has always had such impeccable charisma; Jongdae would be proud.
“Jerks! My f-friends are jerks, hahaha,” Sehun shouts, startling Luhan.
“So… does that mean you’ll come to the cafeteria… or are just going to keep laughing to yourself like an axe murderer?” Luhan interjects.
Somehow even more embarrassed Sehun replies, “oh, yeah sure.” Fuck this is not going according to plan.
Sehun trails behind Luhan as they make their way to the cafeteria. The most diligent of workers typically remained in their offices to eat lunch, but the large cafeteria was a place for social interaction between ministry employees, something that could prove extremely beneficial in the long run. Sehun mostly liked it because of its resemblance to the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
Sehun spots Jongin and Jongdae already occupying the usual table out of the corner of his eye. He tries to keep his gaze trained forwards and not draw his friends’ attention, but Sehun realizes the fatal flaw in that plan when he notes just how tight Luhan’s pants are. Was it just him, or the air in the cafeteria suddenly felt a little stuffy?
A sharp hit to his bicep is what breaks Sehun from his trance, only for him to realize Luhan is looking at him expectantly. Sehun gulps, had Luhan been talking?
“So? What do you suggest?” the shorter huffs, glaring at the arrangement of various foods.
“What do you like?” Sehun asks, eyeing the selection as well. To be perfectly honest, Sehun only eats sandwiches for lunch; he’d never touched the food the ministry had to offer.
Luhan rolls his eyes with an over-exaggerated sigh, “if I knew, I wouldn’t be asking you, would I?”
“Good point,” Sehun responds softly, racking his brain for an easy meal suggestion for his older co-worker. Sehun himself, despite his incessant love for ham and cheese between two slices a fresh, white bread, isn’t a picky eater. The only thing the Slytherin can’t stand would be pumpkin juice.
Sehun gives Luhan a tray and the older boy grabs it excitedly and places it down on the counter. Sehun can’t remember when he last saw someone whose eyes literally sparkled at the thought of trying something new. Nevertheless, the despite his weird antics, Luhan’s magic was too strong and Sehun felt some invisible force pull him closer as Luhan began to earnestly peruse the food items on display, his expression mimicking a child’s. Damn veelas.
“Ooh! What’s this?” Luhan asks excitedly. There are moments over the duration of Sehun’s short internship where he has wondered if Luhan is indeed older than him. This would be one of those times.
“That would be pea soup, Luhan,” Sehun replies unnecessarily, considering all the dishes are labelled. Where did Luhan come from that they didn’t have pea soup?
“I want it~!” Luhan chimes, eagerly asking the woman behind the counter to spoon him a bowl-full. They continue along, till another treat catches the foreign wizard’s eye.
“Whoa, Sehun, what’s that? It looks amazing!~~~” cue one billion eye sparkles.
“Those would be pork chops,” Sehun explains, pointing lazily towards the meat. Sehun had assumed Luhan had at least tested some of the food found in the country, you know, after immediately moving here, but it seems like this was the first time Luhan had bothered to investigate. What exactly had Luhan been eating this whole time anyways?
“Whoa,” Luhan’s exclamation shocks Sehun out of his daze, and he finds the shorter wizard staring in awe at a pitcher of some beverage. “What. Is. This?”
Ew. Sehun can’t help but internally grimace at the label reading pumpkin juice. Truly, it had to be the most revolting concoction ever to have been, well…concocted. Sehun can still clearly recall the last time he had drunken some after his mother had conned him onto having a sip. He had vomited everywhere (granted five-year-olds were rather prone to throwing up). Just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. Pumpkins were meant to be carved not drank!
Luhan buys himself some pumpkin juice and happily makes his way over to the cash register to pay for his meal. Sehun tags along behind him silently. Thankfully, Luhan chooses a table far from Sehun’s friends and he watches thoughtfully as Luhan begins to eat. The older wizard seems content with his food choices and Sehun wishes he could turn his eyes away but it’s like his eyes have been petrified and can’t move.
“So,” Sehun finally speaks, finding his voice, “that was uneventful.”
“What do you mean uneventful? Are you trying to say I’m boring, Oh Sehun?” Luhan asks dramatically as he diligently cuts his meat with his fork and knife. Sehun ignores the spark in his gut when Luhan says his full name.
“NO!” the poor intern yells, “I mean uh, was that really a two-person job? It’s not that difficult to decipher the contents of pea soup once you read the label.”
Luhan puts down his fork and bites his lip, looking at Sehun with an expression crossed between guilt and amusement.
“Well,” Luhan begins, “maybe I just wanted some company? Maybe I was scared to make an idiot out of myself alone and needed someone like you to tag along?” the playful tone not as evident as before.
“So that I could make myself look like an idiot?” Sehun blurts out before he can even think. He just wanted to know what Luhan wanted from him, not to attack the older wizard and make him feel bad. Sehun feels the panic set in when Luhan’s face falls (and sad on Luhan is a terrible, awful look).
“Sehun you don’t look like an idiot,” Luhan apologizes, “well, you didn’t before. Now you’re making that weird pout-y face-thing and I can’t really defend it.”
Sehun looks down, breaking eye contact. At least Luhan can still find it in his little veela heart to insult him.
Luhan looks directly at him, and grabs Sehun’s hand into his. His skin is warm and soft and with such a small touch Sehun’s whole body immediately feels hot-too hot.
“I’m sorry if you thought I was wasting your time,” Luhan apologizes.
“No, that’s not it. It’s okay. I’m happy you wanted to spend time with me,” Sehun admits honestly. Even if Luhan thinks it’s funny to drag Sehun around, to throw paper airplanes at his head when Sehun’s busy working, or to constantly be teasing him, then so be it, because Sehun is too weak to stop him.
“Great, cause I like spending time with you too. We should do it more often,” Luhan beams, taking a big sip of his pumpkin juice.
The alarm goes off in Sehun’s head when he’s not even disgusted watching Luhan drink pumpkin guts.
***
“I have an emergency, help me!” Sehun hisses into the receiver. A phone is the only muggle device Sehun owns, curtesy of Jongin’s magic-less family ties. Jongdae has one too, but Jongin and Sehun barely answer him. It’s a lot easier to make prank calls when one has access to a wand.
“Hey, I’m not the emergency response team; at least say hello before whining,” Jongin snaps. Sehun vaguely recalls Jongin telling him that he was swamped with work, and Sehun realizes Jongin’s probably sleep deprived and extremely busy. Sehun dangles the idea of calling Jongdae instead, but the haunting memory of the last phone call he received with his no-good Ravenclaw friend has him shutting down that idea immediately.
“Fine, hello,” Sehun mumbles, knowing Jongin doesn’t really care, “anyways, I am in trouble. Like big trouble. Like I haven’t been in this much trouble since Jongdae got us caught drinking butterbeers in our Second Year.” Sehun paced across his room, the crumbled up page of his old textbook clenched in his fist.
“What, detention again? We’re not at Hogwarts anymore, Sehun,” Jongin huffed.
“No, it’s-it’s Luhan.”
“Oh, you mean the pretty boy from your department. Are you calling me at midnight just to ask for dating advice?”
“No, I’m calling to ask for exact opposite of dating advice!”
“You don’t make sense and I’m going to hand up now….”
“No, Jongin, you’re forgetting, Luhan’s a veela. He has magical powers to lure guys in. I mean let’s face it, he’s kind of a jerk-just last week he turned my coffee into chocolate milk while I wasn’t looking-”
“You should thank him for that; you hate coffee. Jongdae and I have been meaning to tell you that you don’t just have to drink it because the professionals all drink it. You do you, man.”
“Jongin, I’m sorry you’re having a shitty week and I’m sorry that you’re little crush on Do Kyungsoo or whatever is going nowhere. But this is serious; Luhan has done absolutely nothing to make me like him yet; whenever I’m with him it’s like I’m thirteen again with a crush on the cutest beater. Luhan is obviously controlling me with magic and I need to get him to stop or else I’m going TO GO CRAZY!” Sehun yells, face red and completely out of breath. God, he was getting so worked up but he couldn’t help it, Luhan was making him feel things that he wasn’t even really feeling.
“Sehun, listen to me. It doesn’t matter what Luhan is, he has feelings too. Just talk to him. He’s not a dementor or anything, trying to suck out your soul with a kiss.”
Sehun’s words get caught in his throat at the word kiss. Kiss. With Luhan. Kissing Luhan. Luhan kissing him. Kissing with-
No! Thoughts like these are exactly what Luhan’s magic is making you think.
“Jongin, Luhan is-”
“Sehun! Talk to him! You see him every day at work, just talk to the guy and tell him what’s bothering you. And if you won’t listen to my obviously sound advice then I’m going to hang up.”
“But Veela!-”
“Good bye!” Jongin cries and Sehun hears the tell-tale beeping signifying that Jongin has indeed hung up on him.
Sehun slumps down on his bed, feeling as if every bone in his body has been removed and he has been reduced to a pile of mush. What was he going to do now? He can’t just talk to Luhan like Jongin had suggested; Luhan will use his powers to clog Sehun’s senses, and then drag him off to lunch again.
Sehun just had to ignore him. He had to ignore Luhan even if it hurt, even if some possessed part of him told him he was acting crazy and should just talk to Luhan, he couldn’t. No more mind games, no more magic; no more Luhan.
***
Unfortunately, it turns out avoiding Luhan completely was a lot harder than Sehun had once thought. Now that they had actually grown to what some might call the beginning stages of friendship, Luhan was always waving, and smiling, and offering Sehun coffee or something equally nice. But Sehun knew exactly what was going on; Luhan was just turning the switch on his magic one notch higher.
“Hey,” Luhan calls one morning, entering the office looking a little worse for wear. Sehun does his best to keep his eyes trained down at his work but he can’t help sneak a peek. It seems as if Luhan hadn’t slept much the night before, and Sehun really wants to ask him what was wrong, and if the older wizard’s tired expression had anything to do with Joonmyun cracking down on them recently, but he can’t; instead he focusses his eyes downwards.
He knows Luhan stops in front of his desk, “hey,” he says again, probably assuming Sehun didn’t hear him the first time.
Sehun holds his tongue and practically bites it too trying to keep silent. He can just imagine Luhan’s face, a mix of confusion and maybe even anger, as Sehun blatantly keeps his head down and doesn’t acknowledge him. Eventually Luhan huffs and saunters over to his desk, and Sehun chances a look but Luhan’s back is to him. Luhan’s magic had to be something else; just sitting there has to be one of the hardest things Sehun has ever had to do.
Luhan keeps approaching him all week, and every time Sehun has to bite his cheek and turn away it feels like a little part of his soul is dying; not to mention the immense guilt. Sometimes Sehun wonders if he should just give in to Luhan’s natural abilities, but knowing Veela’s (from just that one article) he’ll only be hurt in the end. After all, to someone of Luhan’s pedigree, Sehun is just a toy. He knows what he has to do, but it’s hard.
Sehun supposes Luhan catches on after a few weeks because suddenly Luhan is ignoring him too, granted Sehun hasn’t approached him or anything. Still, Luhan no longer says hi to him or smiles when they see each other on the elevator.
It reminds Sehun of his first few days when Luhan transferred, when they were still complete strangers. Although, Luhan still talked to him then, but it was usually to vent about his current project or at least to throw staples at him. Now, it’s as if the Slytherin’s desk is empty to Luhan and it makes him feel like shit. He would say he now knew how Luhan feels, but he misses Luhan’s pull the most. There’s no more magic; he had gotten so used to the attraction he felt for Luhan whenever they got too close, the blood rushing to his face and the gymnastic butterflies in his belly, that it’s hard to let go of. Whenever he would get to close to Luhan, all of Sehun’s senses would tell him to just get closer, but now there’s nothing to get close too. Sehun hasn’t felt this bad since Kris Wu rejected him in front of the whole Slytherin Quidditch team.
Sehun is then surprised when Luhan comes up to his table in the ministry cafeteria a few days later.
“Hey,” Luhan says, “I need to see you after everyone leaves our office. It’s work related so...”
Sehun is stunned for a second and can’t reply, but that’s mostly due to the sandwich lodged down his throat.
“Oh, okay, what exactly is it?” Sehun questions. While totally not thinking about Luhan, Sehun has been throwing himself into his work-it’s a wonder how he’s still only an intern-so he doesn’t really know what this is about.
“It’s about you’re last report. Joonmyun had me look it over and I need to talk to you about it. It’s urgent so…don’t forget,” is Luhan reply. Then the older wizard shoves his hands into his pockets and walks off, leaving Sehun with a bad taste in his mouth (not from the sandwich).
He turns to his friends.
“What, don’t look at me, I’m not the one who upset a Veela.”
“Jongdae,” Sehun enunciates, “I am going to kill you.”
Later Sehun sighs and checks the clock. Technically his work ended twenty minutes ago and he should already be making his way home but Luhan wants to see him. Luhan, the one with the actual job, is still talking with their supervisor in his office and Sehun wonders if it about him. He’s been a pretty decent intern, had himself a good go; Sehun can’t leave this job before he actually gets paid for it!
“Sehun,” Luhan calls, startling the intern. He hadn’t even noticed Luhan enter the room, he’d been too busy staring at the clock and worrying about what Luhan would eventually say to him.
“Oh, are you…done?” Sehun asks, indicating towards their boss’s office. Sehun’s still sitting at his desk while Luhan is standing, and for some reason he feels small.
“Yeah, he’s gone home,” Luhan explained. Sehun noticed Luhan’s gaze was fixed pointedly on his feet, and not at Sehun. “Anyways, I’m sorry I lied to you; this isn’t exactly work related.”
Sehun is confused, “oh,” is all he can manage.
“I just wanted to know; did I do something wrong? Did I accidentally insult you-well, more than the usual amount?”
“I… don’t understand.”
“Why are you mad at me? You’ve been ignoring me for the past few weeks and I want to know what I did so I can owe up to it. I know I’m not as sweet a person as Joonmyun, although I think we can all agree that’s a good thing, but lately I’ve been feeling like suddenly you hate me, and I don’t get it. I’d rather you tell me what’s upset you so I can apologize and we can move on instead of you treating me like this,” Luhan admits, shoulders tense and hands still in his pockets.
To Sehun, Luhan seems incredibly overwrought, which makes him almost want to believe him. But he can’t, because Luhan’s enchanting him and he has some sort of ulterior motive. They can’t get along because with Luhan, Sehun is forced to feel a lie.
“You didn’t do anything,” Sehun quickly states.
“Then why have you been avoiding me all this time. Sehun, if I hurt you I’m really sorry. Please just tell me what I did, you don’t have to forgive me,” Luhan begs. Sehun can practically feel the pain pouring from Luhan and he feels as if he’s suffocating. Sehun never expected this to happen.
“We’re just…not good together. I don’t think we should hang out or talk anymore,” Sehun cringes as he speaks because this suspiciously sounds like a break up. He wishes he could tell Luhan the truth. About how he feels when Luhan leans in too close or says something oddly endearing. How even when Luhan throws a hole-punch at him he still wants to just…get…closer.
“That’s all you’re going to tell me, aren’t you. Well okay, Oh Sehun, if that’s what you think, then fine, we’ll have nothing but a strictly professional relationship. Sorry for wasting your time,” Luhan exclaims, his voice cracking before he storms off, leaving Sehun alone in the office.
Luhan is supposed to be the bad guy for tricking Sehun, but as he stands there alone feeling like a bunch of goblins ripped out his heart and then stomped all over it, Sehun can’t help but feel as if he is in the wrong.
***
“Hey, guess what, idiot,” Jongin says, grabbing a fistful of Sehun’s shirt and slamming him into the wall. Its only 8am and Sehun’s not exactly fully awake yet, but he still feels being shoved and isn’t exactly sure as to why.
“Jongin, what?-”
“I bumped into your friend, Luhan, in the corridor just now. We started talking and well, he told me exactly what you said to him yesterday, you jerk,” Jongin grunts, pushing Sehun again. He goes stumbling backwards and lands rather unattractively on his butt. A couple of girls walking by giggle, but Sehun is too confused to feel embarrassed.
But Jongin’s not finished, “First of all, that was a dick thing to say. Second of all, you’re so stupidly wrong. I want to kill you and Jongdae then turn your bodies into ground meat so I can feed you to a dragon!” Jongin starts going a little red in the face and Sehun would remind him to breathe if he wasn’t so scared that his best friend was about to kick his skull in.
“What are you talking about?” Sehun somehow manages to ask, his mind swimming with questions.
“Jongdae doesn’t know shit. He doesn’t know anything, he never has, and yet an idiot like you still believed him!” Jongin really starts kicking this time and Sehun has to scramble away to avoid death.
“I am having difficulty understanding the point you are trying to make, maybe if you stop trying to bruise my brain you can explain it!” Sehun shrieks, managing to stand up again so Jongin can’t kick him in the face. Instead Jongin starts beating his chest with his fist but at least Sehun’s life is spared, for the moment.
Jongin looks livid and completely exasperated with Sehun’s existence, which is never a good mix. “Luhan’s not a veela. Not even the tiniest bit. He’s never even probably seen a veela!” Jongin screams.
Now the weight of what Sehun has done comes crashing down on him all at once. What he said to Luhan, the way he ignored, him it just comes flooding back to punch him even the face, even stronger than if Jongin had used his fist.
Sehun channels all of his current emotion into one word:
“Fuck.”
“Also,” Jongin adds, as if Sehun’s world isn’t falling apart, “he thinks you’re an asshole.”
“Fuck.”
Jongin’s expression softens, “What are you going to do now?”
“Now seems like a good time to have those dementors suck out my soul to save me from my shame.”
“Sehun.” Jongin’s voice is stern.
“Or I’ll abandon magic and leave this world behind me forever. Maybe I’ll live in a tent. Wanna come with?”
“Sehun.”
“Okay… I guess I should apologize.”
“You guess?” Jongin looks like he’s about to start hitting again.
“I mean I will-I will apologize,” Sehun affirms, dreading what he has to do, and thinking about what he’s done, and overall just being very overwhelmed. Finding out you’ve been living a lie for the past couple months is always overwhelming.
“Good, now go! He was heading towards you’re department office. Try to catch him, quick!” Jongin cries, shooing Sehun off.
Luckily he’s on the same floor as his office and doesn’t have to use the elevator, and instead he runs. He runs because he’s an idiot, he runs because he believed Jongdae, he runs because he was a dick, he runs because Luhan’s never used magic to control him-
“Luhan!” Sehun screams as he hurls the door to their department open and practically trips over his own feet to get inside fast enough.
Sure enough Luhan’s sitting at his own desk, organizing some papers, and looks completely astonished as Sehun stands there, panting and sweaty, gaping at him like a madman.
“What,” Luhan spits, shooting Sehun a venomous glare. Sehun hadn’t thought about how much his actions would hurt Luhan; he only thought about himself.
“I’m here to apologize, for yesterday,” Sehun remarks, locking eyes with Luhan, who looks momentarily shocked before he narrow his beautiful, enchanting, exotic, flawless, sparkling glimmering-ahem-eyes.
“Why the sudden change of heart?” Luhan asks; he’s smiling but he looks so pissed Sehun kind of wishes Jongin had fed him to a dragon.
Sehun exhales, and lowers his gaze. There is no easy way to go about this. He has to say the truth.
“Um, so, someone, who shall remain nameless and stupid, told me you were a veela, you know, like a seducing harpy thing. Anyways, someone else just informed me that you were not and that I am a world class fuck up,” Sehun begins, fumbling with his words. He’s nervous and can’t tell if the sweat on the back of his neck is from running or from what he’s trying to say.
Luhan looks unimpressed, “You have something against veelas?”
“Well, no! It’s just that they’re supposed to be like super beautiful or something,” Sehun tries to explain.
Luhan cocks a hip, “sorry, did I not meet your expectations?” he says loudly, almost yelling.
Luhan looks ten times more upset than when the conversation first began and Sehun blames his big, stupid mouth.
“No, the opposite! I was so attracted to you in a way I didn’t really understood I thought that it just had to be all magic. I thought you were controlling me, and that because of how good looking you are you’d only be a distraction if I kept letting you in.”
Luhan just looks on.
“But now I’ve just been forced to acknowledge that I was wrong. The magic you have over me is a different type of magic, and that doesn’t mean I understand it any better, but you should at least know that contrary to how I act, I like you…a lot,” Sehun finishes. The amount of unconditional affection Sehun has for Luhan is a little terrifying but he keeps that bit to himself.
“Well,” Luhan breaks the silence and Sehun can’t read his expression, “That was one of the oddest confession I’ve ever received, I must admit.”
Sehun stands there, unmoving, until Luhan’s perfect little face breaks out into an impish grin, “how about you buy me a butterbear and we call it even?”
“Oh, okay,” Sehun mumbles, stunned because Luhan just agreed with him.
“Come over here, idiot,” Luhan announces, and Sehun obliges and stands in front of Luhan’s desk.
“I bet a veela can’t do this better than me,” Luhan remarks, grabbing Sehun’s face with his hands.
“Wait, a veela can’t do what?-”
Sehun then shuts up because Luhan’s mouth is touching his and oh it’s a kiss. He’s kissing Luhan, on the mouth. With his mouth. And it’s fantastic.
Luhan breaks this kiss and smiles at him, and Sehun’s sure he’s blushing like a tomato except all he can think of it how soft Luhan’s lips are.
“Was that okay?” Luhan asks, rubbing his thumb against Sehun’s bottom lip.
“Y-yeah, totally hahaha,” Sehun fake laughs then mentally kicks himself for ever speaking ever.
“You know,” Luhan smirks, “no one’s going to be in this office for another fifteen minutes. I think that gives us lots of time to ourselves.”
“To do what?”
Luhan shuts him up with another kiss and Sehun is more than happy to let him.
*1: I took this description from the harry potter wiki http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Veela