Work Text:
“As I was saying, the Yule Ball is one of those super old traditions the elder families refuse to admit is old fashioned,” Professor Gojo addressed the 7th and 6th years and Megumi could make the clear disdain on his face all the way from his seat. “But since Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year you have to attend it!”
Next to Megumi, Yuuji raised his hand, yellow gloves tightly snuggled over it. “Uh, Professor?”
“Yes, Yuuji! What is it?” Gojo turned to him with a big smile, his feet dangling at the edge of the desk he was currently sitting on.
“What exactly is the Yule Ball?” Yuuji scratched the back of his head.
“Oh.” The man blinked as if just realizing something. “I didn’t tell you?”
Megumi resisted the urge to plant his head on top of his open book, though one of his eyes twitched nonetheless. Leave it to this man to forget the most important details.
“It’s a dance! It will be held on Christmas Eve and there will be live music and snacks!” Gojo explained happily and with a clap of his hands he hopped off his desk. A flick of his wand had the empty chairs at the front of the class move away as if on their own, creating an empty space right at its center.
Nobara and Yuuji looked excited at the mention of free food and music as expected of them. Megumi did not really care for dances, it would mostly be a distraction from his studies, but taking a break every once in a while would do him some good.
“Alright! Everything’s looking good.” Gojo tossed his dark green robes aside and rolled up his sleeves. He then walked up to them and offered a hand down at a blank staring Megumi.
“Will you join me please, Megumi?” He even went as far as to flash him a charming grin.
Megumi had no other option so he suspiciously took the offer, the back of his neck flushing at the sudden attention though not completely surprised. The man had a nasty habit of embarrassing him in front of everyone.
Gojo led them to the center of the room and placed his left hand on top of Megumi’s shoulder.
“Now, place your right hand on my waist,” he instructed and turned to face him completely.
“What?” Megumi blanched as he belatedly realised he would have to actually dance with his professor in front of the whole class.
Gojo guided his hand around his waist, oblivious of the teen’s internal panic, or seemingly, and with another wave of his wand music sounded all around them.
“Follow my lead,” he added quieter just for Megumi to hear and then propelled them forward, his free hand taking Megumi’s at the side. Megumi snapped his head down and tried to follow the choreography as best as he could, Gojo counting each step loudly.
“Each one of you, find a partner!” He instructed the rest of the class. “Headmaster Yaga will have my head if you make a fool of yourselves at the ball!”
Megumi caught a glimpse of Nobara approaching his cousin Maki, a tall 7th year from Slytherin, and Yuuji trying to wrap his arms around Panda, another 7th year from Hufflepuff and Headmaster Yaga’s son who had been the unlucky victim of the side effects of the Polyjuice potion, his body covered with black and white fur just like a real life panda. Apparently as a child he’d fallen right into his father’s cauldron while the man was distracted, though he didn’t seem to mind as much.
Slender fingers turned his head back to the front, Gojo giving him a teasing wink. “Eyes on your partners!” He called around him innocently. He must have done it on purpose just to stir him up. Megumi stared at him with a sour mood. Why did he have to choose him for this? Yuuji had looked far more willing.
The music picked up, it was an old kind of waltz and Megumi was starting to get the hang of it but he found he couldn’t look at Gojo’s face for too long. He always felt too vulnerable whenever the clear blue eyes focused on him underneath the crescent moon glasses the man adored, as if he could not hide anything from them. He just hoped his face wasn’t the same shade of red as Nobara's scarf. He turned his attention up to long white eyelashes making the man look almost frostbitten and then higher than that, matching white bangs falling over his eyes. His ears were kind of pointed, he faintly remembers the man telling him his family line were descendants of veela. He glances back at the pair of eyes every now and then but they don’t betray any thought behind them, just crinkling slightly at the edges with amusement.
As the music came to an end Gojo took a step back and bowed, smiling up good-naturally at Megumi, who once again was at a loss of a reaction, and then broke off, a hand ruffling his hair.
“Good job everyone! Class dismissed!”
Nobara and Yuuji snickered at him and Megumi shot them a quick glare. His friends were absolute demons, they’d never let this one down, he could already feel it.
***
Megumi stared flatly at the piece of paper in front of him, hearts and poems written with fine ink, a strong flowery fragrance coming off of it, only one of the hundreds he'd flipped through today. How he hadn't thrown any at the fireplace next to him so far had been a miracle.
"Such a good student I have, helping me reply to fan letters so late at night!" Professor Gojo spoke up enthusiastically despite Megumi's obvious expression.
"You asked me," Megumi reminded, and really asking was pushing it thinking back on how he'd practically gotten dragged off after Quidditch practice.
"Hmm, I hardly ever see you outside of Transfiguration these days. What better way to catch up?" Gojo added with a teasing grin.
Megumi sighed but didn't say anything, instead opting to open another letter. It had been true that he'd been extra busy with exams coming up, but that wasn't the only reason.
"Have you found a date for the ball?" Gojo asked curiously, a mischievous tilt in his voice that Megumi knew was trouble.
"Yuuji and I are going as friends. Nobara asked Maki," he said, aiming for a casual reply. Yuuji had asked him over breakfast earlier that day, claiming that there wasn't anyone he was interested in at the moment besides Jennifer Lawrence, a muggle actress he had posters of on both sides of his bed at the Hufflepuff dorms. Megumi hadn’t seen them for himself but to some of their classmates who grew up in communities of the wizarding world and were unfamiliar with muggle culture it looked like Yuuji had some mysterious muggle girlfriend and rumors got around fast. Yuuji never seeked to disprove them. But getting back on track, the ball arrangements worked out for the both of them, so Megumi had no reason to say no.
"Yuuji! Did he ask you out?" Gojo asked shamelessly, eyes wide and even leaning forward on his desk with more interest now. Truly, Megumi thought, what happened to professors respecting their students' privacy?
"Yes, he asked me to go to the ball with him, we're not together," Megumi stated firmly, trying to get his point across the man's thick skull.
"But this is such a good opportunity!" Gojo clapped his hands together, completely ignoring him. "Have you decided on what to wear? I know the best place for a matching set, right next to Olivander's. Do you need money?"
Megumi rubbed the sides of his temples, already feeling the beginning of a headache forming. And here he thought he'd gotten lucky all this time with the letters.
"Please don't make a big deal out of it. I said we're only going as friends, there's no need for a set."
Gojo had the bad habit of throwing all his money away, being born in one of the richest pureblood families in the wizarding world sure had its perks. He also had the bad habit of meddling with Megumi's life ever since he found him, Megumi aged eleven and Gojo still a 7th year at Hogwarts. All these years later, that habit never died.
"That sounds so boring! Fine, fine~ I won't mention the set again, I promise!" Gojo made a motion of zipping his lips shut at the glare Megumi shot at him.
A few ticks passed by in silence and Megumi thought he'd finally gotten some peace when Gojo spoke up again.
“What about a corsage? I know a florist on the same building as Shutterbutton's Photography Studio, in Carkitt Market-”
Megumi stood up and set his work down.
"You're welcome for the letters, I'm going back to my room to study." He bowed and reached for the door without glancing back.
“Ah, wait! Megumi!”
Megumi paused and sighed, his shoulders dropping in exasperation. “If you say anything else about me and Yuuji again I swear on Merlin’s beard—”
“No, no, I promise! Your personal life is of no concern to me!” Behind him Gojo crossed his palm over his chest to swear it.
It was what Megumi had hoped to hear, the words themselves reassuring, but he still felt a small pang of pain at the center of his chest.
“I just wanted to thank you,” his professor said, voice slightly quieter. “You must be very busy with studying lately and I took away your free time.” Megumi did turn then because the sentiment of gratitude was foreign to Gojo most of the time.
His office was filled with letters and homework to be graded along with more books just thrown all over the place. It was honestly incredibly messy and Megumi had no clue how the man even found anything or why he didn't use a simple charm to put everything in place, probably out of boredom, but he also looked kind of lonely in the middle of it.
“I know you don’t like depending on me, but if you ever need any help like before, don't hesitate to ask! Just make sure Nanami doesn’t find out!” He gave Megumi a conspiratory wink, his palm supporting the side of his head.
There had been a time that Megumi was struggling with his homework before Gojo enrolled as a professor, he’d worked very shortly as an Auror from what Megumi remembers. Being born in the muggle world, even though his father was a wizard from what he had been told, he didn’t know what happened to the man one day he just left, there had been quite a few things he didn’t immediately understand. A young Gojo would show up at his doorstep ever since their first fateful encounter, looking completely out of place in the muggle neighborhood, sometimes even taking the shape of a big white cat just to mess with him, and stay up many nights explaining things to Megumi, the light of his wand illuminating the ink on the pages of his books. It was kind of nostalgic to remember.
“Oh, and before I forget,” Gojo picked up the conversation as if his previous words meant nothing. “I was thinking of hiring this photographer for your pictures—”
“Goodnight.” Megumi turned around and slammed the door shut, the sound of laughter echoing behind him.
The walk up the tower to the Ravenclaw Common Room was not far but the ache from before would not lessen.
He had sadly known the reason for a while now.
Having a crush on a professor was not uncommon, he even knew many who had a crush on this particular one too. It made a lot of sense from an objective point of view, the Ravenclaw in Megumi had reasoned. Gojo was easily the most attractive person at school, and that wasn’t just Megumi’s opinion, even the man didn’t pretend not to know it. Plus, being one of the most powerful wizards of their generation, if not the most powerful as the man liked to self proclaim, he was basically a celebrity, if his fan letters were anything to go by.
At first Megumi had been annoyed by him, he was arrogant and did not think before saying whatever came to his mind. He's still annoying, but as the years went by he started seeing smaller things most wouldn’t notice at a first glance.
Gojo had been just as clueless about the muggle world as Megumi had been about magic. The first time he’d seen a television his blue eyes had been blown wide with wonder, and they’d spent a full summer’s break just binging muggle movies, from cheesy French romances to Japanese horror that had the white haired man screech at the top of his lungs and reach for his wand only for Megumi to remind him calmly that these things were fake and that they needed their device in one piece.
He also came to realise that his overly excited attitude was mostly just a front he put up.
During one day on winter’s break in Megumi's 2nd year he’d opened the front door of their shared apartment with Tsumiki to find Gojo just standing there with several bags full of presents in his hands and a slightly too wide smile on his face, the snow from the storm mixing in with his white hair. He hadn’t known the man for that long so he didn’t think much of anything, but Tsumiki on the other hand was far more observant than him, and gave Megumi a worried side glance. She’d ushered the man inside, asking how on earth he hadn’t frozen to death and helped him dust off what was left of the snow on his coat.
Most of the day had been normal, they put the presents under the small christmas tree in the living room. Tsumiki had made them all hot chocolate and they chose to binge the Lord of The Rings trilogy. The only thing Megumi could notice different about Gojo had been his laugh, he would cackle louder than usual at scenes that sometimes were not even that funny to begin with, though he got often teased by the man that he had no sense of humor in his bones.
At the end of the day they opened up the presents, which were mostly candies, exploding bonbons, chocolate frogs and jelly slugs, though Megumi also got new robes and Tsumiki a luxury eagle-feather quill and more school supplies. When Gojo had opened his first present he’d been greeted with a pair of large colorful spectacles that looked completely ridiculous on him.
“What even are these?! Everything looks so weird!” Gojo had laughed and stared through them, like a very peculiar breed of a demented, multicoloured owl.
“They’re called Spectrespecs!” Tsumiki replied happily. “I hear you can see things with these invisible to the naked eye. Supposedly there’s these creatures that cause headaches and unhappy feelings to linger. If you can see them then you can avoid them!”
“Woah, that’s so cool,” Gojo looked around them, though for a moment seemingly distracted. He stopped right over Megumi and gasped. “There’s something right there! It’s huge, it’s got eyes and everything!”
Megumi had looked around him in confusion. He felt fine. Was there really some weird creature looming over him?
Then Gojo had tipped up the glasses, an innocent look in place. “Oh, nevermind. It’s just Megumi.” He grinned, slightly softer than before, and Megumi threw him a pillow right at his stupid face.
His own gift had been simple, a hand knitted scarf from Madam Malkin’s, its pattern a deep green intertwined with threads of silver, a small dragon embroidered at the edge.
“It’s cold,” he’d reasoned with half a shrug, there wasn’t really much you could buy someone with so much money anyway. If the man went around like he showed up today he’d end up bedridden at best and Megumi had no intentions of having to deal with that.
Gojo had ruffled his hair as he always did and thanked them, wrapping the scarf around his neck and half of his face, the glasses still resting on the bridge of his nose looking like a hot mess with now all of his face covered up, it was almost endearing to look at.
“You know…” He’d said strangely quietly, his expression hidden behind layers of fabric, before shaking his head and resuming his usual cheerfulness. “I quit my job today!”
“What? Why? I thought you loved being an Auror?” Tsumiki had asked with audible concern.
“Oh, that. Nah~” Gojo waved his hand dismissively. “My family thought it was the best career path for me, being so incredibly talented and all.” His words held the same arrogance as always but his tone was unusually cold. “I got bored of it, honestly,” he added and then fell quiet again.
That had been when Megumi understood why Tsumiki was so suspicious earlier. Gojo’s words had been nonchalant but even he could tell the man wasn’t sharing everything with them. Something must have happened that he didn’t want them to know.
“But,” Gojo picked up quickly afterwards, attitude once again changed, “I already know what I’m going to do! So don’t worry your little minds over it! You might even get a small surprise!”
It had been weird getting used to seeing him at Hogwarts so often after that, not to slip up and act too familiar with him, even though the man made no such efforts.
Megumi never got to figure out what had made Gojo quit his old job, but it had made him wonder how much he didn’t know about the man.
Another thing, he learned the hard way.
Tsumiki had gotten hospitalized at St Mungo's; some unknown curse had hit her after touching a necklace, the person behind it never caught. Megumi had felt like he was drowning in the middle of the busy hospital, useless to help, healers, medi-witches and wizards running past him. He hadn’t even been at such a large hospital before, most injuries he sustained had been treated in less than a week by Madam Shoko at the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts.
Then this fool had shown up from thin air right next to Megumi who didn’t even know how that was even possible at the time, he’d only traveled by the Knight Bus, the Hogwarts’ Express and the floo network, so he’d just stared at the man teary eyed and confused, before lunging himself at him and full on sobbing. He didn’t remember much after that, probably from shock, but he remembers soft hands combing back his hair and holding him tightly.
“Shhh, it’s okay, I’m here. You’re going to be okay, she’s going to be okay.”
He’d always felt safe around Gojo, and for many years he didn’t have to find a reason for that. Gojo was Gojo, insanely powerful and incredibly annoying and a part of Megumi’s life for as long as he could remember.
But he did start to question things with time.
One day he caught himself lazily watching the light coming through the tall windows of the classroom saturate the tips of Gojo’s white hair and make them glow. There was a certain kind of energy that buzzed around him, the way the man spoke and gestured and waved his wand in patterns through the air with precision and elegance. It was confidence and years of practice but it was also something else, as if magic wasn’t a tool for him, but more like he himself was magic. And then Megumi had belatedly realised that he hadn’t been paying attention to the last half an hour of the actual lecture.
Needless to say, it had been there for quite a while but he’d grown to terms with it. He had no qualms about telling the man and risking his job, he was still a student and the laws of the Ministry of Magic did not differ much from the muggle ones. Also, he didn’t want to risk his relationship with Gojo in general.
Still, it did not feel great to have to sit there as the man you’ve been quietly crushing on for Merlin knows how many years was actively trying to set you up with one of your classmates.
***
Megumi fixed the cuffs of his coat as he and Yuuji made their way towards the Great Hall, the freezing air howling outside the windows.
Yuuji had chosen to wear something more traditional, deep burgundy colored dress robes with golden embroidery all around, they suited his peculiar hair color nicely.
The pair entered the hall as the oak doors opened before them and they looked around. The room was decorated for the occasion, with fairy lights, garlands, banners and candles flying low under the ceiling.
They spotted Nobara near the buffet idly chatting and laughing at something Maki said next to her.
“Is that a whole stuffed turkey? Dude! We have to try!” Yuuji practically jumped down the stairs as they made their way over.
“Shouldn’t we dance first? Or do you expect me to hold your greasy hands while at it?” Megumi grimached as Yuuji turned to glance at him, turkey already in hand.
“Oh,” Yuuji said intelligibly. “Uh, oops?”
As Yuuji quickly ran to wash his hands after that he spotted Gojo, kind of hard to miss with how loud the man was, chatting excitedly particularly close with one of the professors from Durmstrang, a noticeable scar on her face that kind of made her look intimidating, though the woman just simply looked annoyed and tired, and Megumi forced his eyes elsewhere.
The Weird Sisters filled the room with live music and Yuuji returned showing his clean hands proudly, before they decided to join the rest of their classmates dancing. It was entertaining, Megumi guessed, they spoke about Quidditch most of the time, apparently Yuuji wanted to apply as a beater for the Hufflepuff team this year and it made a lot of sense, despite being a Hufflepuff Yuuji had the physique of a Gryffindor, though such stereotypes were pretty weird in Megumi’s opinion. Megumi hadn’t applied for Quidditch in the first place, but Yuuta, a 7th year and their team’s captain, had approached him and said they could really use someone with his talents, whatever that meant.
It had taken him a long time to get used to flying on a broom, on one occasion he remembers clearly, Gojo had taken him flying with him. The man practically never used public transport, and he kept messing up with Megumi on purpose, flying way past the speed limit and doing hoops and twists mid air, and Megumi’s grasp on his robes had slipped and before he’d known it he was plunging through the air at an alarming speed. Gojo had caught him obviously or he wouldn’t live to tell the tale and Megumi refused to get on a broom with him for a month after that, no matter how many times the man apologized, though still laughing about it undermining his efforts at honesty.
After the third song ended he and Yuuji returned to the buffet to grab something to drink. Yuuji had bumped into a muscle-toned man wearing the Durmstrang uniform who turned out to be the very well known professional Quidditch player Aoi Todo. He had known the guy was close to their age but seeing him up close it was hard to believe it. For some reason the guy had taken this personally and challenged Yuuji to a dance off. Megumi watched his friend get dragged back to the dancefloor and leaned back with a glass of cheap fizzy orange juice in hand.
He scanned the room with boredom, he saw Yuuta dancing with a Hufflepuff from his year named Toge, he didn’t know much about him but his family owned a restaurant in muggle London apparently.
His eyes passed Headmaster Yaga and Professor Nanami seated at the top of the teachers’ table, the Head of their House looking like he wanted to be anywhere else but here.
Finally he stopped as his wandering gaze fell upon white hair just across from him. Gojo looked bored as well, the lady from before nowhere in sight. The man smiled politely at all the students that greeted him. Megumi noted one of his feet bobbing up and down to the rhythm of the music.
“Go ask him,” Nobara sighed, her cheeks colored rose seemingly from dancing, as she came up and downed a glass of green ale, the only alcoholic beverage allowed that day. She proceeded to make a face like gagging after that. “Yikes, that’s disgusting.” Perhaps that was the reason why it was allowed in the first place.
“Ask who and what?” Megumi blinked confused and shifted nervously on his feet.
“Ask Gojo to dance. Please don’t give me that look, you can't lie and we both know it. I’ve seen how you look at him.”
Megumi stood there frozen, feeling like he’d been the one who’d tried the ale. Was he really that obvious? Did anyone else know? Had he been staring for people to notice? Merlin, had Gojo noticed-
“Stop panicking. I doubt he knows, that guy has the intelligence of a troll,” Nobara once again spoke up, making Megumi wonder if she could read his thoughts.
“No, I can’t read your mind, I’m no Legilimens. Though you shouldn’t be worried about me. Look, I don’t get it personally but it’s painful to watch you pine like that.”
“He’s a professor…” He heard himself say slowly. He couldn’t let himself hope for something he knew was impossible.
“Relax, I didn’t say go up and makeout with him,” Nobara said nonchalantly, making Megumi blush at the thought, “it’s not illegal to ask him for a dance. If you don't, someone else will.” She gave a pointed nod of her head towards a girl with pale blue hair from Beuxbatons eyeing the man timidly. Megumi noticed she was carrying a sword on top of her uniform, were swords even allowed at the ball? With that Nobara downed a second glass of ale, still making a face, and turned back towards the dancefloor, leaving Megumi alone again.
He turned his attention back to the white haired man in question. He’d changed his usual dark green robes for a silky white shirt and dark trousers, the shirt high collared, with long sleeves and ruffled cuffs. It was anything but simple, the fabric would shimmer under certain parts of the light, but the man wasn’t one to shy away from over the top outfits.
Blue eyes caught his own and Megumi felt his breath stutter at being caught staring, but Gojo just gave him a wide smile and waved excitedly from across the room. Right. Megumi reached over and dunked a glass of the green ale, Merlin. It really tasted awful, before turning over and walking across the dancefloor decidedly.
He immediately regretted his decision once he reached his destination.
“How’s my dearest student doing? Are you having fun?” Gojo asked happily, his eyes taking in Megumi with unconcealed adoration. From this close Gojo was even more striking than before, his hair matching perfectly with his outfit and Megumi could even make speckles of silver dusted at the edges of his eyes like stars.
“Yes,” Megumi replied as he remembered he’d been asked a question and then frowned as he processed it. “Well actually not really.” He turned and leaned back at the edge of the buffet next to Gojo just observing the dancefloor in thought. Great, now what was he supposed to say?
“Oh? Why’s that? Not fond of dancing?” Gojo tipped his head to the side to regard him curiously.
“It’s alright I guess. Someone stole my partner.” Megumi turned to find Yuuji struggling to keep up with the guy from Durmstrang but looking like he was having fun nonetheless, their steps somehow syncing.
“Todo! That homewrecker!” Gojo laughed and shook his head watching them.
Megumi glanced back in the direction of the blue haired girl from before but couldn’t find her.
“How come you’re not dancing anyway?” He managed to croak out somehow, seemingly just making conversation.
Gojo seemed to think over the question for a bit, his lips pursing in thought. “I think most people find me intimidating, can you even believe that?”
Right. Where would anyone get that idea? Still, now was as good of an opportunity as ever. Megumi took in a calming breath and tried to clear his thoughts before blurting, “Doyouwanttodance?”
Gojo turned to him with a lost but kind expression, “Hm?”
Megumi hoped to whatever ghosts were watching over him in the afterlife that he’d just disappear right then and there. Of course the man hadn’t understood a word with how fast he’d been speaking.
Megumi cleared his throat nervously and stared pointedly at the floor. “I was just wondering if you would like to dance?” He was definitely blushing, Morgana save him.
He sneaked in a peek at Gojo who’s eyebrows had flown up almost to his hairline, at least it didn’t look like the man hadn’t heard him. Quickly though the surprised expression was schooled into one more mischievous and the man put aside his drink and turned back to Megumi with a manic grin.
“Sure!”
Megumi nodded, unable to process he had just managed that but feeling like he was about to regret it. Gojo placed a hand on his shoulder and they made their way at the edges of the ballroom. Megumi tried not to shudder as he placed his hand over Gojo’s middle like in their practice and they joined in on the dance, steps slow but familiar. They didn’t speak, unlike him and Yuuji, and Megumi recalled Nobara’s words about Legilimency. It wasn’t a subject on their curriculum yet but Megumi had done a bit of a light research on this particular area of magic before, simply out of curiosity. He glanced up at Gojo’s clear blue eyes, he didn’t seem to be concentrating on anything and wandless magic was extremely difficult but then again it was Gojo Satoru, the man could probably cast spells in his sleep, so Megumi tried to stir his brain away from anything too embarrassing.
Just as they made a swift turn the man leaned in slightly and whispered, “Your partner is up ahead, want to go say hello?”
Megumi was confused for a moment before he realised Gojo must’ve meant Yuuji. “Uh, not really?” The boy would probably snicker at him seeing him dancing with Gojo, he didn’t need more eyes on them as it was.
“Oh?” Gojo pulled back with a mirrored look of confusion. “How is he going to get jealous if he’s all the way over there?”
Megumi missed a step. “What?”
Gojo maintained the confident image but his expression wavered uncertainly. “That's why you asked me, wasn’t it?”
Megumi felt the pang of pain from before at the center of his chest. Of course he would think that. The music ringed loudly in his ears and he almost stopped and left but reasoned it would draw even more attention, he’d have to explain the reason one way or another, and dancing with Gojo wasn’t an opportunity he’d get any other day. He was mad, but he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at Gojo specifically, remembering how the man acknowledged he wasn’t easily approachable. It would make sense from his point of view.
“I told you I don’t care about that, can’t you just leave it alone?” His words came out sharper than he’d intended and he felt bad for it immediately as soon as he saw the other’s face fall. “I just…” He rushed to think of something to say to make up for it and added quietly, “You looked like you wanted to dance...”
The music came to an end and applause drowned out Megumi’s senses before the next piece began. It was much different to anything he’d danced before, faster with a lot of violins and flutes.
“I don’t know how to…” He looked up at Gojo at a loss of what even the steps to this one were to find Gojo’s eyes already on him with a soft expression. He seemed to be thinking of something before smiling slily again.
“It’s a folk-style dance called Céilí. Rumour has it once you start dancing to it you won’t be able to stop,” he explained, far too unconcerned for Megumi’s liking. “Follow me.”
The room swirled around them in one big blur as their bodies twined in and out of one another in time to the music. Flurries of colors passed by them as the rhythm picked up, the steps included lots of twists and turns. Megumi absently noticed their outfits by chance matched, black and white fabrics spinning around each other, silver and gold mixing in, and for a second he wondered how the pair must’ve looked to all the people watching.
“Stop worrying, you’re doing great. Just go with the flow,” Gojo whispered encouragingly as he pulled back to bow with one hand behind his back graciously, and then pulled back in again, Megumi mirroring his moves.
Megumi tried to ignore everything else around him save for the music and the man in front of him. Gojo smiled widely and warmly across from him as they joined hands at the center, and Merlin, he looked so beautiful, the back of Megumi’s brain noted how warm and soft the other man’s hand felt against his. They turned clockwise and then anticlockwise, their steps tapped lightly in sync on the floor, not that Megumi could feel that, but he did feel his own smile in place before he was even aware of it.
Later if anyone asked Megumi he couldn’t for the life of him remember what the steps of the dance even were. He wasn’t sure if the dance itself was enchanted or if maybe there had been another reason why.
The music kept picking up speed and volume but it was surprisingly very liberating to just let yourself get lost in it and adrenaline pumped through his veins. He had far too many years to worry about anything else, a calmness overtaking his senses as it spread over him and he felt all his thoughts drift away.
The two dashed across the floor as if the music was simply carrying them over, claps echoed around them with each step, hyping up the remaining pairs that had managed to stay in the circle for that long, but neither Megumi nor Gojo paid that any mind.
***