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A soft knock came from the dormitory door.
“Come in!” Jisung called out, looking up from the parchment in his lap. The door creaked open, and Hyunjin poked his head through. Jisung smiled.
“What are you doing in here?” Hyunjin asked.
“Working on the potions essay.”
Hyunjin raised an eyebrow. “The one that’s due next Friday?”
“Yeah, I just didn’t want to leave it till the last minute.” Jisung turned his eyes back to his parchment.
Hyunjin walked over to Jisung’s bed and plopped down next to him.“Why not use one of the desks in the common room?”
“Too noisy. You should try studying in here sometime. It’s nice.”
Hyunjin scrunched his nose in distaste. “I prefer to keep the place where I sleep separate from the place I work.”
Laughter bubbled up in Jisung’s throat.
“What’s so funny?” Hyunjin asked, turning to face Jisung.
“Nothing,” Jisung replied, meeting his gaze with a grin. “You’re just so cute.”
Hyunjin leaned in and placed a kiss on Jisung’s nose, smiling. “You wanna go do something else?” he asked. “You’ve been cooped up in here staring at that essay for way too long and I’m scared your brain is gonna turn into mush.”
Jisung looked down at the last sentence he had written and crossed it out. “Maybe you’re right.” He let out another laugh. “These last few sentences are really bad.”
Hyunjin offered a piece of blotting paper to Jisung as he capped his inkwell. “Where do you wanna go?” Jisung asked, taking the blotting paper and carefully wrapping the tip of his quill in it.
“Room of requirement? I’ve been meaning to check if it could play muggle movies,” Hyunjin replied.
“Can we pick up something to eat from the kitchens first? I think I missed dinner.”
“Of course,” Hyunjin said, standing up. “Why don’t you go up and summon the room, and I’ll bring some food up from the kitchens to you?”
“That sounds wonderful.” Jisung stood up and held his hand out to Hyunjin. Hyunjin grabbed it and pulled Jisung out of the dorm.
The common room was, as Jisung had pointed out, quite noisy. The air was abuzz with soft chatter coming from every corner of the room. Most of the desks were being used by the seventh years, stressing out over their impending N.E.W.T.s, so the younger students had begun to spread out onto the floor. Jisung and Hyunjin picked their way through the room, careful not to step on anyone’s homework or game of Exploding Snap.
Reaching the exit of the common room, Hyunjin held the door open for Jisung. Jisung climbed out of the circular doorway, and Hyunjin let the door swing shut, muffling the noises from inside.
“Well,” Hyunjin said, grinning at Jisung. “This is where we part ways.”
“See you soon baby,” Jisung said, and pressed his lips to Hyunjin’s cheek.
“Anything in particular you want from the kitchens?” Hyunjin asked.
“Surprise me.”
“Yes sir!” Hyunjin mock saluted, the turned and jogged off in the direction of the kitchens.
Jisung watched him go, a warm smile on his face, before setting off towards the seventh floor corridor.
The castle was mostly quiet at this time of day. For the most part, students had retired to their common rooms to relax or work on homework. On his way up the stairs, Jisung glimpsed some students on the floors below, too far away to make out who they were. A chilly breeze gusted by and Jisung wrapped his robes tightly around himself. A wave of fatigue washed over him. When had he gotten so tired? All he'd done was study all day.
Jisung arrived at the wall where the Room of Requirement would appear, and set to work pacing in front of it. He concentrated, filling his thoughts with one thing.
I need a place to watch Muggle movies.
After his third time pacing in front of the wall, a door appeared. Just as he was about to open it, Jisung heard footsteps from down the hall. He turned to see Hyunjin round the corner into the corridor, a large wicker picnic basket in hand.
“Did it work?” Hyunjin called down the hall.
“I haven’t checked yet,” Jisung replied, “I was just about to go in.”
“It’s perfect timing then,” Hyunjin chirped, skipping forward. “Let’s go in together.”
Jisung reached out and grabbed Hyunjin’s hand with one hand and pushed the door open with the other.
“Oh my god,” Hyunjin breathed. The Room of Requirement had taken the form of a cozy living room. A small fire crackled softly in the fireplace, bathing the room in a warm orange glow. A large television hung from the wall above the fireplace, and a VHS player sat on the mantle next to a clock. A large couch sat in the middle of the room, facing the TV. By every measure, it was a standard muggle living room, with one exception: the walls were covered, floor to ceiling, in shelves upon shelves of Muggle movies.
Jisung took it in with awe. The colorful VHS tapes of movies were from more genres than he even knew existed, and there were even a few CDs of newer movies. Hyunjin skipped around the room, scanning the titles that lined the shelves.
“You want to watch anything in particular?” Hyunjin asked over his shoulder.
“I don’t really know any muggle movies,” Jisung shrugged.
Hyunjin turned to face him, looking a little confused. “Isn’t your dad a muggle though?”
“Yeah, but once he found out that my mom was a witch, they decided to live in wizarding society together,” Jisung explained. “By the time I was born, my dad was pretty much living like a wizard, just without the magic.”
Hyunjin’s face lit up with excitement. “So I get to show you all my favorite movies for the first time?”
“Yep!” Jisung giggled.
Hyunjin’s expression turned serious. “We probably only have time to watch one movie, right? I better pick a good one.” He turned away again to look at the tapes.
Jisung walked up to him and wrapped his arms around Hyunjin’s waist, resting his chin on the other boy’s shoulder. “Don’t stress yourself out about it,” he said, rocking side to side gently. “We can always come back.”
“Oh!” Hyunjin’s eyes went wide. “I totally forgot about the food I brought you.” He set down the basket on his arm and opened it up. “I brought you chicken parm, a potato salad, and some poutine,” he said, taking out containers one by one and handing them to Jisung. “There’s also some lemon meringue pie in there if you want.”
“This all looks so good,” Jisung said. “Thank you baby.”
“Don’t thank me!” Hyunjin laughed. “Thank the house elves.”
“I’m not madly in love with the house elves like I am with you though,” Jisung teased.
Hyunjin laughed and ushered Jisung towards the couch. “Go eat! I’ll pick something to watch for us.”
Jisung settled down on the couch and watched his boyfriend browse through all the movies. The poutine container was still warm and it felt good against his cold hands.
Hyunjin turned and presented a tape. “What about this one?”
Jisung squinted to read the cover. “Il Mare? What’s it about?”
“It’s a romance with some science fiction time travel gimmicks,” Hyunjin said. “It sounds cheesy but it’s actually really good. I think you’ll like it.”
“Sounds good! I trust your judgment,” Jisung said.
Hyunjin grinned and walked over to put the tape in the VCR. “Nice, it’s already been rewound.”
The VCR spun to life, pulling in the tape and making whirring noises. Hyunjin reached up and turned on the TV, the bright screen illuminating the room with a blue light that overpowered the dim light from the fireplace. Hyunjin snuggled up next to Jisung, wrapping him in a hug as the movie began…
-
Jisung awoke to the soft ticking of the clock on the mantle. Hyunjin was still wrapped around him, breathing softly. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Jisung tried to focus on the clock.
8:20
A sigh of relief escaped his throat. He hadn’t overslept. Gently, he turned to Hyujin and shook him awake.
“Hmm?” Hyunjin’s sleepy voice was muffled by the cushion he had planted his face into.
“Hyunjin baby we have to wake up now. We have to be in charms class in 40 minutes and we should probably eat something first.” Jisung kissed Hyunjin’s temple before disentangling himself from his arms. Noticing the wicker basket on the floor, he began gathering the food containers and putting them back in the basket.
Hyunjin let out a loud groan before sitting up and stretching his arms. “Did you enjoy the movie?” His early morning voice game out deep and gravelly.
Jisung giggled. “Yeah, I really liked it. I’m glad there was a happy ending.”
“You fell asleep before the movie was over.” Hyunjin rolled his eyes and smiled.
“Maybe I just dreamed the happy ending then,” Jisung said, laughing.
Hyunjin got up and ejected the tape from the VCR, sliding it back into its case. “There are so many more movies I want to show you,” he said as he looked at the towering shelves of tapes.
Jisung fit the last container into the picnic basket and closed it. “Our sixth year isn’t even over yet. You still have the rest of our lives to show me movies,” he said reassuringly, standing up and dusting himself off.
Hyunjin turned to face him. "You should come do stuff like this with me more," he said.
Jisung frowned. "I guess I have been kind of a neglectful boyfriend." He scratched his head sheepishly.
"No, not at all!" Hyunjin pulled Jisung into a hug. "That's not what I meant at all. I'm just... worried," he murmured. "You spend so much time just slaving away at your studies, and I don't think it's healthy."
Jisung buried his face into the crook of Hyunjin's neck.
"I'm not saying you have to be more social," Hyunjin continued, "All that work- it's burning you out. I can see it in your eyes sometimes. I just want you to take more breaks."
Jisung hummed softly and pressed a kiss onto Hyunjin's neck. “I promise I will,” he said. “But first, we should probably get some breakfast."
Hyunjin’s body shook with laughter. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” He let go of Jisung and bent down to pick up the basket.
“Let’s go,” Jisung said softly, and hand in hand, the two boys walked out of the room.