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“He wants me dead, I swear,” Jaehyun says with a huff, letting his back fall against the courtyard grass without any concern for the dirt that’s already clinging to the back of his robe. “He wants me to die, and honestly, at this point, I want me to die too.”
“Will you stop being so melodramatic?” Mark says, looming over him in a way that perfectly blocks the sun from Jaehyun’s eyes. He nudges Jaehyun’s ribs with his foot, only earning a groan of dissatisfaction from the other. “Is it really worth dying over?”
“No, but the way my shoulders ache right now make me want to die anyways. Who does he think he is?” Jaehyun puts on his gruffest impression of his captain, lowering the pitch of his voice in an attempt to sound more like him. “ You’re not getting back on that broomstick until you prove to me that you can hit a ball, Jung. Ridiculous. I was hitting bludgers for an extra hour after practice, and he still wasn’t happy.”
“Reminds me of my baseball coach as a kid,” Mark says, resolving to sit next to Jaehyun in the grass. “He’d make me stand at home plate until I could hit pitches with my eyes closed.”
Jaehyun nods, knowing full well that Mark is talking muggle gibberish again and that he has no idea what a ‘based ball’ is.
“Well, I bet your coach didn’t hate your guts.”
“Johnny doesn’t hate your guts! You’re his favorite, no doubt. He just wants you to be a better player. He works all of us hard, you know that.” Mark says, sprawling out on the grass and enjoying the breeze just before sunset.
“He works you hard, but he tries to make me cry,” he grumbles, closing his eyes to try and relax himself after such a rough practice. “It’s bullshit.”
“Your our best shot to win this weekend, maybe he’s just nervous.” Mark hops up, brushing his back to get rid of any spare pieces of grass. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” Jaehyun nods, rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself off the ground. “Thinking about practicing after dinner, you wanna come?”
“Dude. You were just complaining about Johnny working you too hard,” Mark laughs, but Jaehyun just shrugs, hoping that if he works harder now, their captain will go easy on him at their last practice before their next match.
When they settle down at neighboring seats at the ever-full Gryffindor table, a familiar voice knocks Jaehyun out of the few seconds that he had with his own thoughts.
“So, Johnny’s laying into you, huh?” Jaemin says, squeezing himself onto the bench between Jaehyun and some unfortunate first year. The constant chatter of the Great Hall is loud, but Jaehyun dreams of the day that it will be loud enough to drown out the sound of his younger teammate. “I’m not saying that you’re bad at what you do, I’m just saying that Johnny totally thinks that I’m better.”
“Would you scram?” Jaehyun sighs, directing his attention to digging his fork into a pork chop instead of threatening the second year with the prongs. His counterpart just smiles back, knowing full well exactly how to drive Jaehyun insane after enough practices.
Jaehyun regrets that fateful day in late September when he stood next to his captain and pointed to a cackling blur of Na Jaemin as he flew past them. He has said ‘ that kid can swing. ’ And while Jaemin definitely had the power to keep up with Jaehyun as their second Beater, he has the exact inverse of Jaehyun’s personality. When Jaehyun would charge forward, Jaemin would hit a backhand to catch the Chaser behind him off-guard. It works well in the sky, but drives Jaehyun mad on the ground. When Jaehyun is serious, Jaemin is stifling a laugh just behind him. He’s just like the little brother that Jaehyun never wanted.
“Anyway,” Jaemin says, leaning his elbows onto the table, “I was talking to my inside source, Injun, and he said that his cap was going to talk to good ol’ John about doing a little bit of night scrimmage tonight to get ready for the battle on Sunday.”
“Why,” Mark sighs in defeat, “do you always talk like that?”
But Jaehyun’s ears had already filtered out Jaemin’s typical nonsense and locked onto the idea of a night scrimmage.
“How reliable is your source?” Jaehyun asks, suddenly interested in what the boy has to say.
“He’s the Slytherin equivalent of me,” Jaemin smiles.
“So, not reliable at all,” Mark nods, taking a sip of his drink in defeat.
“No! I mean he’s the favorite.” But Jaemin’s shoulders tense up when he sees their captain approaching them from where he was sat at the end of the table. Jaehyun clears his throat uncomfortably and Mark does his best to peer behind him without making it obvious that he’s looking.
“Hey,” Johnny says, casual as ever, but Jaehyun still feels as if Johnny is flipping through a book of curses in his head to direct at him.
Jaemin breathes in, about to start his schmoozing routine, when Johnny directs his attention straight at Jaehyun.
“Kun wants to do a night run, but I want our boys to get some rest. Come out and have night practice with me, we can work on your aim.”
Jaehyun stares blankly up at Johnny,wanting badly to say no but feeling as if he can’t let his captain down. Jaemin is wide-eyed next to him, silently begging to be invited along, but no one answers.
“Okay, sure,” Jaehyun says, pushing his plate away from him on the table. “Give me a bit to get ready and I’ll meet you just past sunset.” He feels regret bubble up in his stomach as Johnny turns away and Mark’s eyes land on his own.
“He cancelled our scrimmage because of you,” he says, pouting as if Jaehyun has the power to change it. “This is ridiculous! You need to talk to him about it.”
“I will…” Jaehyun assures, mentally denying the words as he speaks them. “Sorry, boys.”
“Jaemin, you didn’t tell everyone, did you?” Mark asks, and Jaemin shakes his head. Then he pauses in consideration, and opens his mouth.
“I didn’t tell Johnny,” Jaemin says, “but I told the rest of the team. Technically, that’s not everybody.”
“I’m gonna head out,” Jaehyun sighs, swinging his legs over the bench and picking up a final grape off of his plate before popping it into his mouth.
“Good luck!” Jaemin says, cheery in a way that Jaehyun will never understand. “Hope he doesn’t kill you or something!”
Jaehyun is lazily knocking a Quaffle into the air and trying not to let it fall when Johnny strolls onto the field. He knocks it towards Johnny as lightly as he can with the enchanted bat, and he catches it before dropping it into the grass.
“Let’s get started, I want to get as much in as we can before curfew,” Johnny says, pulling on his worn gloves and kneeling in front of the case, ready to release an unruly Bludger.
“Don’t you think I’ve worked enough this week?” Jaehyun asks, walking over to pick up the discarded Quaffle and put it back in the case. Johnny follows him with his eyes until Jaehyun is hovering over him, not answering for a moment.
“I don’t know,” he says, “don’t you think we need to be our absolute best for the match this weekend?”
“Yes, we do. The team doesn’t rely on me.” Jaehyun steps back as Johnny stands up to meet his eye. “You don’t make anyone else practice late, and you’re working me to the point of exhaustion.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Johnny says, “we need you on the top of your game against their insane Beaters. You know how dirty they play.”
“Why not practice with Jaemin?” Jaehyun asks, picking up his bat from beside the case and holding it under his arm. “He has less experience than I do, he needs all the help he can get.”
“Listen,” Johnny says, “if you don’t want to practice, fine by me. Go back to your dorm, rest easy, but know that if we lose Sunday, the blame is on you.”
“The blame should be on the captain,” Jaehyun says, “are you really that uncertain about winning? That you’d pass off the blame to someone else to save your skin?”
Jaehyun swears he can see red beginning to blossom on Johnny’s cheeks in anger, and he’s afraid he’s pushed too far when Johnny glares at him.
“You think I don’t take pride in my team?” Johnny says with a bit of a chuckle, like he can’t believe what Jaehyun said. He takes a step forward, putting his hand on Jaehyun’s shoulder. “Maybe you should start taking responsibility for your actions. You cost us our last match, you need to work to prove to me that you can handle this.”
“You know what?” Jaehyun sputters out, trying to think about what he’s going to say, but Johnny is intimidating when he’s close and he’s starting to think that maybe Johnny’s right.
“What?” Johhny says, sounding half amused, knowing full well that he’s won.
If you ask Jaehyun, he kissed Johnny out of panic. He doesn’t remember his thought process, and he thinks in hindsight that it’s an awful plan. But he does it anyway in the moment, leaning forward where Johnny’s face was already close to him, kissing him and squeezing his eyes shot in a moment of instant regret.
Johnny stumbles backwards, his foot landing right in the case for the team’s Quidditch set. He catches his balance on the strap that cages in one of the Bludgers, setting it free in the process while looking at Jaehyun in shock. The Bludger flies straight into the air and Jaehyun quickly swings his bat out from where it’s held under his arm, knocking it straight into the ground and planting his foot on it, struggling to hold it still before Johnny grabs it and wrestles it back into the case.
“Sorry,” is the first thing Jaehyun says after both of them avoid looking at each other for a minute. “I don’t--”
Johnny kisses him first this time, kicking the case away from them with his foot to avoid another slip-up. He pulls Jaehyun into him by the waist, making Jaehyun let out a noise before easing himself into kissing back. Johnny pulls away from him, looking down at his feet.
“I was gonna talk to you,” Johnny says, catching Jaehyun off guard when he speaks up, “after the match. About, uh, that.”
“That?” Jaehyun says.
“I like you,” Johnny lays out slowly, forming the words hesitantly with his tongue. “But I guess there’s no reason to wait now. It’s kind of out in the open.”
“I don’t… get it,” Jaehyun says, making Johnny look up at him with a furrowed brow. “You’ve been treating me like shit for the past few weeks… because you like me?”
“No! Well, yes, but,” Johnny stutters, “I was trying to help you. I want you to be captain next year when I leave. This is a bad time to be telling you all this.”
“Can I kiss you again?” Jaehyun says, not waiting for an answer before he leans forward and softly puts his lips on Johnny’s again. Just as Johnny reaches for Jaehyun’s hand with his own, a ringing sound surrounds them.
“Shit, it’s curfew,” Johnny says against the skin of Jaehyun’s cheek. “We have to go.” He kneels down to close the case on the ground, standing up and picking it up to leave.
Jaehyun takes Johnny’s free hand in his, taking him by surprise.
“Come on, we’re gonna be late,” Jaehyun says, then takes off running, pulling Johnny behind him back into the castle.
When Jaehyun sits down at breakfast, Mark takes a deep breath in to ask one of a million questions about the night before: why Jaehyun came into their dorm 30 minutes past curfew out of breath, why he’s smiling before 9 a.m., and what exactly happened when he said he would talk to Johnny last night. His train of thought is interrupted by Johnny coming to sit across from the two of them, a blabbering Jaemin not far behind.
“Morning,” Johnny says, reaching for a muffin in front of him and flashing a smile at Jaehyun that has Mark feeling rather excluded. He hits Jaemin with his elbow, pointing towards the spread in front of them. “Tomorrow’s the big day, eat up so you have energy for practice this afternoon.”
“How’d you sleep?” Jaehyun says, not to anyone in particular, but Mark’s eyes go towards Johnny for an answer anyway.
“Oh, fine,” Johnny smiles again, and Jaehyun smiles back. It’s unusual as of lately to see both of them smiling at each other, and Jaemin clears his throat to break the silence.
“So,” he says, perked up at the idea of new information, “did you two kiss and make up?”
Johnny inhales a piece of muffin just as Jaemin finishes his sentence, coughing uncomfortably as Jaehyun stares down blankly at his food.
“I’m gonna go… study,” Jaehyun says, leaping up from the table, ignoring how Mark calls from behind him that ‘ it’s Saturday! ’
Johnny lets out a deep breath, recovering from his near-choking experience, looking at Jaemin who only smiles back innocently. He nods at them, then gets up from the table to catch up with a speed-walking Jaehyun. The other two watch them leave the hall, and Jaemin sits upright as soon as they’re out of sight.
“Wanna go follow them and see what they’re up to?” He asks, and he doesn’t miss the way Mark squints his eyes toward the exit.
“Just eat your food,” he finally says, watching Jaemin’s expression fall. He sighs, wondering why Jaehyun left in such a hurry, letting his curiosity get the best of him. “We can catch up with them once you’re done.”
Jaemin’s head shoots up in excitement, grabbing his fork and shoving food into his mouth as quickly as he can. Mark just shakes his head with a laugh of endearment, already planning to lead Jaemin off-course to give the others plenty of time to get away. Whatever is going on between them, Mark knows to keep it out of Jaemin’s sight, unless he wants the whole world to know.