whatever silence adara thought she’d enjoy up in the gryffindor common room is immediately destroyed once company enters the room. max stomps into the room angrily; tufts of hair covered in snow, face flushed from the cold and his robes wrinkled and askew. “did you lose to the house elves again?” she asks, voice timid but filled with concern, in reference to the last snowball fight.
the annoyed huff he responds with is expected so ara keeps the rest of her questions to herself and silently conjures up a thick blanket and a steaming cup of hot cocoa for him. “here; to warm you up.” she says with a smile, handing the things over. “i don’t mean to pry but don’t be so glum, max. the elves are just really sneaky opponents and i’m sure you’ll beat them next time.”
she’s been sitting quietly in one of the many halls of the castle, perched on a bench as she looked over a few of her notes for a test that she was certain would soon pop up within the walls of the potions classroom, when she’d heard him speak. she recognized him immediately, a natural distaste for him falling on her tongue, but she didn’t like wasting effort on someone who’d hurt her family in more ways then one. since she was sure he no longer held connection to her cousin, she’d done well to avoid him when she saw fit, but now wasn’t one of those times.
she’d wanted to hold back any response, but then she caught sight of the light dusting of snow falling from the grey skies, and she was out of her seat in an instant. her grin was small, but her eyes spoke volumes ( winter was her favorite season for a reason ). “well, would you look at that,” she let out, and as she cast him a side glance, she figured she could afford to be nice. “…merry chistmas, maxwell.”
Baking has never been his forte, nor appreciating the other's company. Jaewon has been close with Eunwoo, yes but Maxwell seems like an uncertain individual for him-- he always has his guard up. But today, he teases, jokes, conversations turning into laughs, odd. There’s flour on his hands and he goes to clasp it on the other’s cheeks.
“We can’t share a scarf- what do you think you’re doing?!”
“it’s a SUPER long scarf though?—just wait—watch.” she utters the word with enough determination, tip of her tongue poking out as she wraps one end of the scarf around the boy’s neck and yanks a little too roughly, leaving herself with ample length to wrap around her neck leisurely, sighing in content. “see? perfect.”
nik stands in a huddle of his closest friends, a ragtag group from different years and houses. their own personalities were honestly stark contrasts of each other but yet Nik gravitates towards them, finds himself laughing more and worrying less. each situation comes with its own set of downsides though and nik was currently experiencing one of those fable downsides. shivering from the cold air, he throws his hand in a rather high stakes game of rock, paper, scissors. his hand quickly rising and falling as he throws one motion right after the other. his friends quickly fall from the huddle in a mixture of giddy laughter and cheers until nik and one of his best friends were left. it all ends quickly as he throws in his fist and finds it falling quickly under ‘paper’, leaving nikolas the loser.
he curses quietly under his breath and stares up at his friends with wide eyes, hoping the look would lessen his punishment. but it’s evident that they’ve grown prone to his ‘puppy dog eyes’ and each of them are staring at him with predatory grins. nik shivers and shakes his head, already completely prepared to beg for mercy. unfortunately they don’t give him enough time. “i dare you to kiss the next stranger that passes by,” the words are said by his best friend no less. nik glances out of the little alcove they had hidden themselves under for the time being, and the courtyard before them is currently caught in a stubborn downpour of rain. nik tugs at his bottom lip and turns back to glare at him. “out there? right now?” his best friend grin grows wider as he nods. “yes right now, out there.” nik curses again, this time loud enough to be heard by the entire group. it’s their giggles and laughter that chases him out into the pouring rain where he’s finds himself drenched in no time. he spots his victim as he turns the corner only a few seconds later, max. he stares over his shoulder in disbelief at his group of friends who are all waving and gesturing at him to get it over with.
nik only hesitates for a moment longer as he stomps right up to the gryffindor. “hi,” he mutters before smiling nervously at the other. “sorry about this,” follows really quickly as he reaches out and wraps his fingers in the cloth of max’s robes. tugging him closer, he closes his eyes and leans in before pressing his lips against the others in softly for a few moments before he’s drawing back. “your lips are really soft, please don’t punch me.” the words tumble out in a nervous jumble, nik licks his lips and smiles a little before ducking his head down. turning on his heel, nik quickly scurries away back to the safety of his alcove where he hides his face in his hands, a bit embarrassed.
music trickled out from the bonfire that the fellow students had made to blow off steam before the difficult tests came in. it was almost a tradition now, sneaking out after curfew with butterbeer in hands and the hushed whispers of excitement. most of the other fifth years were lingering around the warm crackle of the fire, but seungjun had glanced up at the sky to see the thick grey clouds and determined it safer away from the drunken frenzy that would burst into life when the rain began to fall down on them. he’d been stepping over a log when something caught his ankle, leaving him to scream and tumble into the dead autumn foliage. it took a moment of scrambling to get to away from danger, and that was long enough for the cackled amusement to wash over seungjun’s panic.
as soon as his eyes connected with max’s through the dim moonlight, his forehead met the back of his hand and he huffed a breath. this was unbelievable. his chest heaved with more intakes of air until his heart slowed from the rush of adrenaline and he could bring himself to look up at the gryffindor. “what the hell are doing here?” seungjun hissed in his frustration, hoping that max wouldn’t question why the ravenclaw crawled closer to him and slumped next to the same tree trump he was nestled in the shadow off. the scent of alcohol crinkled seungjun’s nose, and he found his answer despite the continued echo of laughter from the other male at his side.
his slurred and rambled recounts of seungjun’s actions seeming to amuse him greatly.
the first droplet splattered on the back of seungjun’s hand as he rubbed at his aching heart, glancing up in time to hear the crack in the sky and see the first cascade of raindrops to come tumbling down to earth. water so quickly began to soak the length of his jeans and the arms of his jacket, leaving it cling to his form as he listened to max mutter about one thing or another. words incomprehensible and difficult to follow for the ravenclaw until his name punctured through the space, securing his attention back completely on max.
‘have you ever kissed a boy?’
it was such a perturbing and probing question, one that seungjun was not given the chance to answer when one of max’s cold hands prickled goosebumps on his nape, pulling him in. lips a mixture of cold water, of hot breath and the lingering taste of alcohol. max’s fingers dug into seungjun’s nape and his teeth pinned seungjun’s lower lip. the sharp sting elicited the lowest exhale of groan from the ravenclaw, eyes squeeze shut and his body dipping over to deepen the kiss – only for it to be over, for max’s hand to push at his chest roughly and pat him in the daze.
‘now you have,’ being the smug proclamation, with damp hair sticking to his pale skin and heavy droplets falling from his black lashes as he looked away. a cold splatter of rain on the tingling in seungjun’s lips and a shiver quivered down through him. the only warmth radiating in hot flushes from his heart as his head sunk back against the trunk. his brow furrow as his bottom lip began to jut out.
why did he always suffer when other people drank – it wasn’t fair.
