Work Text:
~ chenle bakes a cake ~
chenle is very much aware of the fact that slytherin prince na jaemin is very much out of his league.
jisung tells him he shouldn't think that way, shouldn't put himself down, but chenle doesn't see it that way. chenle loves himself, has a healthy mindset. he's pretty popular, is quite funny when he wants to be and he likes to think he's pretty kind and helpful when he wants to be.
the problem isn't that he isn't good enough for jaemin, they're just… literally in different leagues.
they have mutual friends. in fact, since jeno and jisung started dating they're practically in the same friend group now.
the thing is, where chenle clicks better with their louder, more mischievous friends, mark, haechan, or even jisung if he feeling particularly chatty, jaemin prefers the calmer company of jeno and renjun and, again, jisung when he's not being annoying.
chenle clicks more with the others, but there's just something about jaemin that just registers in chenle's brain and he just decides jaemin's worth crushing on. and chenle never gets crushes, so man this is a big deal.
when jisung found out chenle likes his older cousin, he laughed at him for ten minutes and wished him luck. apparently jaemin was hard to please.
chenle always liked a challenge.
his plan begins with a saying he's heard in pretty much every muggle movie he'd seen growing up as a child.
"the fastest way to a man's heart, is through his stomach."
chenle enlists the help of his sister and their cousin to bake a cake his mother used to make, back before she became too busy to look after them.
he meets yizhuo and dejun in the hogwarts kitchens, although yizhuo spends half the time in a very intent conversation with sparky the elf, who seems pleased as punch to be spoken to at all.
"what are you even making this for, chenle?" dejun asks as he whips up the buttercream while chenle starts to cut the strawberries for the middle of the cake.
he hums at his cousin's question, shrugging it off as nonchalant as possible. "just for a friend," he says, voice light, "he said he likes cake and i thought of when mum used to make this."
yizhuo giggles to sparky, "chenle has a crush!" she correctly guesses, "and he's baking him a cake, of all things."
"it's not a crush!" chenle insists, but judging by the heat on his face, his blush was very much betraying him. dejun raises an eyebrow. "it's not!"
"alright," dejun says, dropping his whisk to raise both hands in the air, "alright, it's not a crush."
yizhuo shares a look with sparky, who interjects her own opinion: "sparky thinks it's a crush."
"it isn't," chenle says, just to confirm it more firmly.
yizhuo smirks, she hasn't actually done any work yet, opting instead to watch her brother and cousin suffer, "so, who is it?" she asks, eyes sparkling with mirth.
"none of your business."
"i'm your twin."
"then it's especially none of your business."
yizhuo rolls her eyes, "you're so boring, have some fun."
"how is me telling you about my crush on jaemin-'' chenle freezes. fights the urge to comically slap his forehead in exasperation.
yizhuo's laughter can probably be heard from the top of gryffindor tower.
"NA JAEMIN!" she howls, "as if! AS IF!"
"it's not… that's not… i didn't mean it like that…" he stumbles over his words, even though it's fruitless, yizhuo isn't even listening and dejun is looking at him as though he's grown two heads.
yizhuo's laughter subsides long enough for her to ask, "what? you think baking a cake is gonna make him fall in love with you?"
dejun gasps overdramatically, "did you put a love potion in the icing?"
yizhuo starts laughing, harder than before.
"whatever." he mutters to himself, eventually, going back to baking with more purpose than ever before.
–
he finds jaemin an hour later, walking back to the slytherin common room. the older boy offers a small smile when he sees the hufflepuff, followed by a confused frown when a small cake is unceremoniously thrust into his hands.
"it's a strawberry sponge cake." chenle says, voice wavering as jaemin's eyes flicker between the cake and chenle. "it's my mum's recipe. i, uh, made it for you."
jaemin considers the cake he's now stuck holding for a moment, gnawing at his lip before he lets out a curt, "thanks chenle," with a pained expression.
chenle grins.
jaemin almost smiles back.
they part ways.
chenle can't help but watch jaemin go. walks around the corner then peaks around it to see if he can catch jaemin trying a bit of the cake, maybe.
instead he catches sight of jaemin passing it off to a group of first years walking past him, disgusted expression on his face.
chenle's heart drops to his stomach.
~ chenle uses his charms (skills) ~
"well, if you'd just come to me ," jisung complains when chenle tells him what happened, "you would've known jaemin doesn't like strawberries."
"oh."
"you're an idiot."
chenle shrugs, not too disheartened now he knows the reason behind jaemin's dismissal of his gesture. "i'll note it for next time."
they're on their way to meet their other friends, donghyuck has been insisting they spend as much time together as possible before mark graduates at the end of the school year.
it's only christmas break right now, all of them opting to stay at the castle this year, so chenle isn't sure why donghyuck is already concerned.
chenle supposes he'd miss mark, but he doesn't think their friendship will be ruined if they don't see each other everyday. he doesn't tell donghyuck this, of course, he wants to stay alive, thank you very much.
they're meeting in the slytherin common room, mostly because, with both jaemin and donghyuck being slytherin's it's easier. (donghyuck likes 'hosting' and jaemin likes not having to move too far.)
"i'll think of another way to impress him." chenle says, determined.
jisung rolls his eyes, "oh yeah, what are you gonna do? show him how good you are at nonverbal magic?"
chenle considers it for a moment, "do you think that would work?"
jisung doesn't say anything. just shakes his head in disbelief.
"i'm not taking that as a no," chenle says, undeterred by jisung's lack of answer.
they walk the rest of the way in silence.
–
they hang out like usual. all of them spread across the sofas in the slytherin common room. there's not much of the student body left in the castle for christmas so they've pretty much got the room to themselves, save for the occasional stray student passing them by.
chenle is barely listening to renjun and donghyuck as they argue over - well chenle hasn't listened hard enough to know what they're fighting over. he only knows the ravenclaw would rather die than admit the slytherin is right.
instead, chenle watches jaemin out of the corner of his eye, trying not to be obvious.
the older boy is lounging across an armchair, legs hanging over one arm, while his back nestles into the other. he's listening to the arguing pair with poorly concealed disinterest, a bored scowl etched on his face as his eyes lazily flicker between the two of them.
chenle is on the floor just in front of the armchair. the closest he could get to jaemin without arousing suspicion from their friends.
jisung raised an eyebrow at him when he chose his perch, but chenle simply pretended the taller boy didn't exist.
an hour after they arrive, chenle realises jaemin is shivering. he does a double take, checks nobody else is paying attention then leans closer to jaemin.
the slytherin notices the movement in his peripheral and snaps his eyes to chenle's in confusion.
"are you cold, jaemin?" he whispers, eyes flickering away from the slytherin's intense gaze.
the boy shrugs, "i guess," he says, "probably should've worn a jumper today…"
"i can warm you up!" chenle offers, pulling out his wand. he's been thinking about his conversation with jisung on the way here, and this seems like a perfect opportunity to show jaemin how good he is.
jaemin's eyes widen and he shakes his head softly, "that's really okay, chenle, i'll just grab a jumper later."
"nonsense!" chenle says, voice no longer hushed, catching the attention of mark, jeno and jisung, who watch as he waves his wand.
chenle really is good at non-verbal charms.
really, he is.
he doesn't know how he managed to use a fire-starting charm rather than a heat charm.
he blames his nerves.
either way, jaemin shoots out of his chair to tear his now burning robes from his body. he stamps on the robes, his wand having flown across the common room in his haste to get up.
chenle’s still frozen in place when renjun jumps up to cast aguamenti, easily putting out the fire on jaemin’s now ruined robes.
six heads turn to stare at chenle.
"chenle, what the fuck?" donghyuck asks as jaemin gathers his robes into his arms with a resigned sigh.
chenle shrugs sheepishly, "he said he was cold?"
jisung pinches his nose in disbelief.
~ chenle shows off his intelligence ~
okay, so maybe showing off his charms skills was a bad idea. jaemin now avoids sitting too close to chenle, probably scared of a repeat of the events of that day.
chenle is undeterred, however, and decides to make sure jaemin knows he's smart. it sounds silly but he made himself seem really dumb with that whole fire debacle. so he decides he needs to show jaemin how well he studies.
“honestly, this is stupider than the strawberry cake,” jisung sighs when chenle tells him his ingenious plan. “at least the cake kind of made sense.”
“i don’t know why you’re even against this, you’re always complaining about jaemin intruding on your study dates with jeno! now you’ll have me there as a buffer and i’ll get to prove to jaemin i’m not stupid.”
jisung rolls his eyes, “jaemin doesn’t think you’re stupid, he thinks you're an annoyance, like he does everyone else.”
“that's even worse!” chenle complains, “i don’t want him to think i’m the same as everyone else!”
“well,” jisung says, with an awkward pat on his best friend’s shoulder. “since you ruined his clothes, he might think you’re a bit more of an annoyance than everybody else?”
chenle wails as his fellow hufflepuff rolls his eyes again, ignoring his theatrics.
–
okay, so maybe it was a bit of a feeble plan.
chenle is now seated at a table in the library, jisung and jeno opposite himself and jaemin. the boyfriends have a potions book in front of them but are more interested in looking at each other all goofy.
chenle feels sick just looking at them, and with the scowl on jaemin's face as he reads his herbology book, he can only assume the slytherin feels the same way.
"couples, huh." chenle says, nervous laugh falling from his lips as he leans in to whisper his complaint to jaemin.
jaemin glances up at him, just stares for a moment, as if considering if chenle is worth his time.
he must find something about chenle agreeable because he murmurs back, "i don't know, they were gross like that long before they were a couple…"
chenle laughs. a little too loud.
jaemin gives him a look but says nothing.
"at least they weren't so obvious about it." chenle says, no longer whispering. not really caring if the gryffindor and hufflepuff across from them hear anymore.
jaemin purses his lips in what chenle assumes is amusement considering the corners of his lips twitch up at the same time. "i suppose you're right."
chenle feels a pang of affection in his chest at the quarter smile, something not easily achieved by people that aren't jeno.
desperate to keep the momentum going (and to look smart), chenle taps jaemin's booking, capturing the older boy's attention. "are you struggling with herbology?"
jaemin nods once before he speaks, "i suppose you could say that, i've never been good with plants…"
"i could help?" he offers, happy that he doesn't even have to lie for this, "i'm actually taking the same class, i'm in the hufflepuff/ravenclaw sixth year class for herbology…" to punctuate his words, he pulls out an identical textbook and waves it slightly.
jaemin looks impressed and chenle can't help but smirk at that fact.
they start an easy conversation about herbology, what they don't understand, what they do, and help each other bridge the gaps.
the problem is, chenle's never been one to do things quietly. it's the reason he never studies in the library anyway.
the conversation gets more casual and jaemin even makes a couple of jokes. (chenle had thought that near impossible before). the jokes make chenle laugh.
and he laughs loudly.
which means he speaks loudly.
which means he disturbs everyone else enough for a botchy seventh year to come stiding to the table.
"hey hufflepuff," she says, "if you're gonna carry on with that ugly laugh can you leave? some of us are actually trying to pass our newts."
chenle almost freezes in place, but the embarrassment hits him a little more than usual and he quickly gathers up his books, ignoring jisung's protest from across the table.
he catches jaemin's eye before he moves to get up. the slytherin stares back at him, expression unreadable, and chenle just knows he thinks he was too loud too.
"right." he says quickly, "sorry, i'll leave."
he leaves so quickly he doesn't hear a single word uttered on the table he left behind, and he isn't sure he wants to.
~ chenle plans a (friend) date ~
chenle avoids jaemin for a while after that, until jisung forces him to start hanging out with the group again.
no one mentions his absence, not even jaemin, though the boy does watch him curiously as he walks in. chenle sits cuddled onto an armchair in the gryffindor common room with jisung, sticking his tongue out when jeno frowns at his boyfriend.
chenle sits quietly as the rest of the group talks, trying to pay attention, mostly just playing with jisung's fingers idly.
"i can't believe ," donghyuck complains at some point, "that you convinced me to take the blame for that stupid prank just so you can go on your stupid date with stupid renjun on hogsmeade weekend."
mark grins, "thanks man, when kunhang said prank i didn't think he meant it would be that bad."
"what date?" jaemin asks, monotonous as usual. his voice makes the other boys jump as they'd been sure he wasn't listening.
donghyuck rolls his eyes, "these four," he gestures to the two couples in the room, "are going on a double date in madam puddifoot's hogsmeade weekend. that's why i asked if you wanted to have a roommate's day."
"oh," jaemin says, wrinkling his nose at the mention of the cheesy hogsmeade date spot. "but now you can't go anyway? what am i supposed to do instead?"
chenle doesn't know what comes over him when he quietly says, "you can hang out with me? jisung is ditching me too."
"okay," jaemin shrugs, not seeming much like he cares either way.
chenle lets out a breath of relief. at least he didn't get rejected.
–
they meet in the mid afternoon. in the brief conversation they had making some sort of semblance of a plan, jaemin insisted on meeting later. he likes to sleep, jisung tells him when he mentions it, do chenle doesn't think much more about it.
now, they walk in silence. jaemin a step behind chenle, hands in pockets.
chenle sneaks glances up at jaemin every so often, but the slytherin’s eyes are fixed straight ahead, his usual bored expression fixed on his face.
“i, uh, promised donghyuck i’d get him some snacks from honeydukes.” chenle speaks into the stiff air, “can we go there first?”
jaemin nods, “i like candies,” he reveals, “so i’d like to go there too.”
“you like sweets?” chenle asks, “i didn’t know that.”
jaemin hums his affirmation. “yeah, acid pops are my favourite, i guess.”
“acid pops? one of those almost burnt a hole in my tongue when i was six.”
“me too,” jaemin says, chenle glances to the side, catching jaemin smirking at the memory, “i think that’s why i like them, i don’t know.”
“you’re weird.”
“maybe,” jaemin chuckles, “but so are you, mr. fire starter.”
chenle clicks his tongue in disbelief, “you set someone’s robes on fire one time and they never let you forget it.”
jaemin laughs this time, smiles so much his teeth show.
chenle thinks he’s beautiful.
~ chenle writes a letter ~
"a letter?" jisung asks, eyebrows raised. he's laying across chenle's bed while chenle sits at his desk. "you're… writing a letter
they're the only ones in the room, it being a sunny saturday afternoon. in fact jisung's only here to see if chenle wanted to join him watching donghyuck and jeno practice quidditch.
chenle doesn't even look up from the parchment paper in front of him. "yes. a letter."
"for who?"
"just… someone, it doesn't matter."
jisung shrugs. "okay, let me know if you need anything, i guess?"
chenle waves his hand, dismissing jisung as he continues to write.
–
hello, hey! hi bestie<3
jaemin,
this is so stupid, i'm sorry this is probably gonna annoy you so much, but i dont know what else to do.
jaemin,
i love you.
i like you. like, a lot. i don't know when it started but it just sort of clicked one day and i've been a fool for you ever since.
maybe it started that one day you stood up for me against some stupid bully, it was nearly the end of first year. you stood up for me, scared away the stupid bully and then you turned around and smiled. it's one of the only times i've ever seen you smile.
i thought you were so pretty. i was also like 11 so i don't think i realised that was the start of a crush either.
you're like that, aren't you? you're really overprotective of your friends, even if you don't really show us them affection… or any emotion really.
i
love
like that about you.
i like a lot of things about you.
i know you don't feel the same.
i wish you did.
it's okay, that's why i'm writing this letter anonymously. i just want to get this off of my chest so i can finally get over you.
love,
chenle fuck
your secret admirer
some guy
fuck it, it’s chenle
~ jaemin steals a kiss ~
“jisung!” jisung looks up from the book he’s reading with wide eyes to see his older cousin jogging towards him.
jeno, who is currently serving as jisung’s seat, tightens his hold on jisung as his best friend gets closer. “jaemin? running? is hell freezing over?”
"jisung!" jaemin halts in front of the couple, chest heaving as he struggles to breathe, "damn, i need to exercise more. jisung, have you seen chenle?"
"chenle?"
"yes, chenle! your best friend, remember him?"
jeno chuckles, "merlin's beard, jaemin you're speaking whole sentences, are you okay?"
"no, i'm not, i need to find chenle. " jaemin meets jisung's confused gaze with raised eyebrows, "seriously, sung, where is he? i've looked everywhere."
jisung blinks, takes in all of jaemin for a moment. he sets his eyes on the letter in his hand.
"you're the one he was writing to…"
"jisung, please, focus."
"is it good?" jisung asks.
jaemin frowns, stumbles over his words for an answer to jisung's question.
"are you going to hurt him? if you are, I'm not telling you where he is."
"what? no!" jaemin exclaims, "no, i'm not going to hurt him…"
"so it's good news." jisung smirks at his cousin, who simply rolls his eyes.
"yeah," the corner of his mouth quirks upwards, "i guess it is."
"he's on the astronomy tower," jisung finally says into the aching silence.
jaemin sprints away without even so much as a thank you.
jeno watches him go in utter bewilderment. "what the bloody hell is going on there?"
"with any luck, jaemin's gonna get himself a boyfriend."
"oh, nice," jeno says, "and who's that gonna be?"
jisung chuckles, kisses jeno's cheek, "you're so lucky you're cute."
–
when jaemin reaches the top of the astronomy tower, he doesn't see chenle right away.
he calls the younger boy's name once, twice, three times before the boy comes into view, leaning against the rail, clearly ignoring jaemin's calls.
"zhong chenle, you coward!" jaemin says as he reaches the hufflepuff, waving the letter in his face. "you really sent this in a letter instead of admitting it to my face."
it's when chenle turns to face him that he realises the boy's been crying. "i'm sorry, hyung, i just didn't want to be rejected by you directly."
"chenle…" jaemin sighs, "if you had just spoken to me about this," he waves the letter again, "sooner, you would have known that i feel the same way."
chenle blinks.
jaemin raises an eyebrow.
"you what?"
"i like you, chenle," jaemin says bluntly, "i realise i'm not the best with feelings but i thought i made myself quite obvious? i quite literally only smile at you."
chenle stammers over his words as he replies: "what do you mean obvious? you always look so irritated by me, and you didn't defend me when that girl called me annoying and loud, and you threw out my cake!"
jaemin groans, runs his hand through his hair. "god, i knew that damn cake was gonna come back to bite me."
chenle opens his mouth to speak but jaemin hushes him quickly.
"chenle, i defend you all the time." jaemin starts. "literally half the student population is scared to talk to you because they don't want to piss me off. in fact, i did defend you against that troll in the library, you would've known that if you stayed thirty seconds longer. made her cry, actually. jisung scolded me, but i know deep down he wanted to tell her off too."
"jaemin…"
"and that stupid cake… chenle you have no idea how much i wanted to be able to eat that damned cake… if it had been made of literally any other flavour i probably would have eaten it too. but i really, god, i really can't eat strawberries. i didn't throw it out either, i gave it to some first years, you know that."
"but-"
"chenle, i like you," jaemin admits again, "i've liked you probably as long as you've liked me and i'm so sorry i haven't been good enough at expressing it but i do."
"i like you too." chenle blurts out, if only to stop jaemin from rambling.
it does the trick, jaemin moves forward, wraps an arm around his waist carefully. "can i kiss you?"
chenle barely even nods before jaemin's lips softly graze against his. the kiss is light, their lips move against each other tentatively, both being inexperienced at this.
chenle hums in content, lets his arms curl around jaemin's shoulders, softly pressing their bodies together in a hug.
they break apart, stare into each other's eyes for a moment before chenle breaks the silence.
"hey jaemin?"
the slytherin hums.
"i think that's the longest i've ever heard you talk."
~ bonus ~
"jaemin?" chenle calls as he opens the door to the kitchens, "are you here? i got your note telling me to meet you here?"
sparky is in front of him in an instant. "master jaemin is here," she says, "he's been with sparky all morning, but he didn't listen to sparky when she tried to help!"
"help?" chenle asks, "is he okay?"
he walks further into the kitchen to see his boyfriend in the middle of the kitchen, apron on, hair mussed and cake batter quite literally covering him head to toe.
"your boyfriend is fine," the slytherin mutters as chenle gets closer to him, "he was just trying to make you your favourite cake…"
chenle chuckles when he notices the huge pout on his usually stoic boyfriend's face. "oh baby," he says, "harder than you thought?"
"yeah…"
chenle smiles, kisses off the cake batter on jaemin nose, then presses his lips against jaemin's pout for a soft kiss.
"my lovely boyfriend," he giggles, "do you want me to teach you how to make a cake?"
jaemin nods, then after a beat he adds, "can this one not be strawberry, though?"