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Sebastian was suffering.
Utterly, irreparably suffering.
And his suffering took the form of him sprawled on the floor of the Slytherin common room, textbook open in front of him, parchment crumpled beside it, and Ominis Gaunt seated neatly just out of reach on the loveseat, legs crossed like some elegant literary portrait come to life.
They were studying. Or rather, Ominis was studying. Sebastian was counting the number of freckles on Ominis’ collarbone, which had been scandalously exposed thanks to a slightly loosened top button.
“I’m going to die,” Sebastian announced flatly. “This is it. I’m going to pass into the next life surrounded by conjuration diagrams and the sweet scent of your shampoo.”
“You’ve got three chapters left,” Ominis said without looking up. His fingers skimmed the thick Braille book in his lap.
Sebastian slumped onto his back with a groan. “This is domestic abuse.”
“Mmmhm,” Ominis hummed mildly, still not looking at him. “And so is you handing in your Charms assignment late for a second time.”
Sebastian shot upright. “That was uncalled for.”
“Was it?”
“Yes! You’re cruel. And heartless. And—”
“Still waiting for you to finish the chapters.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at him. Ominis was the picture of calm: polished robes, pressed collar, hair smooth and silvery in the firelight. He looked so composed. So untouchable.
Sebastian wanted very much to touch him.
He sighed, loud and theatrical, and flopped back onto his book. “When we’ve been together for forty years, and I bring this moment up as the reason I never reached my potential, I hope you feel terrible.”
“I’ll write a poem about it,” Ominis said solemnly.
Normally, Sebastian liked Charms. Normally, he wouldn’t have any trouble reading three long chapters on Advanced Wand Movement Theory and then writing an eleven-inch essay on it.
But normally, Ominis wasn’t sitting in the armchair by the fire, hair soft and free from any product.
Normally, Ominis wasn’t Sebastian’s boyfriend.
But as of three days ago, he was.
And now Sebastian was ruined for anything other than looking at Ominis, talking to Ominis, holding Ominis, kissing Ominis… and yeah. The way he tilted his head when he read, and the way his hair caught the firelight, it was downright distracting.
Ten minutes later, Sebastian had made no further progress, mostly because Ominis had tucked one ankle behind the other and crossed his legs again, which did things to Sebastian’s brain chemistry.
He sat up again, rested his chin in his hand, and gave his boyfriend the most pitiful look he could summon.
“Not even a little kiss?” Sebastian tried, voice dipped low, teasing. “Right here. On the cheek. Won’t even ask for tongue, promise.”
There was a pause.
Then Ominis turned a page and said, without inflection, “Finish. Your. Reading.”
Sebastian groaned into his palms. “Ominis, my love, my light, my most beautiful tormentor—”
“Sebastian,” Ominis said, not looking up, but with an amused curl on his lips. “Read your chapters.”
Sebastian groaned dramatically and flopped back on the couch. “I can’t. It’s so boring. I’d rather look at you.”As expected, Ominis’ cheeks turned a fetching shade of pink as he turned a page a little too roughly.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not,” Sebastian huffed. “I’m in love.”
Ominis did smile at that, but continued reading. Sebastian pouted, glaring at the thick book in his lap.
“You know what could help me focus?” he asked suddenly, creeping closer. Ominis arched one eyebrow but didn’t speak.
“A kiss.” Sebastian looked hopefully at him. Ominis huffed, the pink hue on his cheeks stubbornly remaining.
“No.”
Sebastian mock-gasped. “Come on,” he pleaded. “Just one. A quick one. One peck. And then I’ll read.”
Unfortunately, where Sebastian was shamelessly persistent, Ominis was unyielding and stubborn.
“Finish your chapters, Sebastian,” he sighed. “You’ll get a kiss when you’ve read all of them.”
Sebastian, of course, took “no” as more of a suggestion than an actual boundary. He edged a little closer on the couch, eyes trained on Ominis’ profile. Then, very casually, he leaned in to brush a quick kiss against Ominis’ cheek.
“Sebastian.” The warning was low, amused, and unyielding.
Sebastian grinned and leaned back. For about thirty seconds. Then his hand somehow found its way to Ominis’ thigh, resting there like it belonged.
“Sebastian.” This time, the tone was flatter.
“What? I’m just sitting here,” Sebastian said innocently, fingers inching up a fraction.
“Read,” Ominis said, turning another page.
Sebastian tried a kiss to the temple. “Sebastian.”
A ghost of a smirk tugged at Ominis’ lips, but he didn’t turn his head. “Come on,” Sebastian pleaded, eyes wide and imploring. The classic puppy-dog look. Useless, sure, since Ominis couldn’t see it, but the tone? That carried all the necessary drama.
“Just one kiss. One! You won’t even notice. It barely even counts.” He gasped. ”You know what? I’ll make you a deal. One kiss, and I’ll be quiet for ten minutes. Two kisses, I’ll be quiet for thirty minutes. Now that’s a bargain if I’ve ever heard one!”
“You couldn’t stay quiet for thirty minutes if your life depended on it.”
Sebastian leaned back with mock injury. “I could if properly motivated.”
“You’re proving my point about your inability to focus.”
“That’s slander.”
“That’s fact.”
Sebastian let out a long suffering groan.
”If you accept my offer, I’ll even summarize the chapters to prove I’m actually reading. You won’t even remember I’m here.”
Ominis just arched one amused eyebrow.
“Tempting,” he said. “But finishing this essay is even more tempting.”
Sebastian groaned like he’d just been sentenced to Azkaban. He flopped back with all the grace of a dying starfish, snatched up his book, and cracked it open; aggressively, almost tearing a page in protest.
“Fine,” he huffed. “I’ll read your stupid chapters.”
“They’re not my chapters,” Ominis said serenely, flipping a page. “They’re Professor Ronen’s chapters.”
Sebastian didn’t reply. He’d already entered his martyr phase.
What followed was an hour of pure academic agony. He muttered curses under his breath like a tragic hero. He kicked the rug. Changed positions three times: flat on his back, then upright, then somehow upside-down with his legs hanging off the armrest. But, against all odds… he actually read.
Every. Single. Word.
Every now and then, Sebastian allowed himself a quick glance at Ominis, who sat with his eyes half-closed, fingers gliding effortlessly across the page. It was honestly unfair. Ominis didn’t have to deal with the distraction of sight like Sebastian did. If he could see Sebastian, in the way Sebastian kept sneaking glances at him, he might finally understand the struggle. But no—he remained blissfully oblivious, exiling Sebastian to the opposite end of the couch like some cruel, cold-hearted librarian enforcing a no-flirting-in-the-reading-room policy.
At long last, Sebastian slammed his book shut with a triumphant thunk, wearing the expression of a crup begging for food scraps by a table.
“Now?” he asked, eyes wide with hopeful desperation.
Ominis placed his own book down with the resigned grace of someone enduring great hardship — namely, Sebastian — and let out a long-suffering sigh. But there was the hint of a smile tugging at his lips as he said: “Fine. Now.”
Sebastian didn’t need to be asked twice. He practically launched himself into Ominis’ lap, curling up like a smug Kneazle finally reclaiming its rightful spot by the fire after a long and unjust exile.
Ominis let out a surprised grunt as he suddenly found himself holding all 160 pounds of hormonal, desperate, and overly affectionate boyfriend. His book slipped from his hands and landed on the floor with a dull thud, but his arms instinctively settled around Sebastian’s hips to steady him.
"This was the worst hour of my life," Sebastian declared dramatically, leaning in and finally getting to draw in the scent of Ominis' cologne, and skin, and Ominis. "This was torture. Abuse. A crime worth a life sentence in Azkaban."
“Indeed,” Ominis replied flatly, though a genuine smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Those forty-five minutes were… truly excruciating.”
“Not for you, I bet,” Sebastian huffed, gently brushing a thumb over Ominis’ cheek. As always, he found himself captivated by the smoothness of the skin there: the hollow where Ominis’ eye socket began, and those grey, unseeing yet striking eyes. Ominis was like a living work of art Sebastian never wanted to stop touching.
“Maybe I’m a bit more academically disciplined,” Ominis murmured, leaning into the touch.
“Or maybe,” Sebastian replied, pressing his thumb against Ominis’ maddingly teasing Cupid’s bow, “I just have better priorities.”
Ominis huffed a laugh, and Sebastian settled deeper into Ominis’ lap, a satisfied grin tugging at his lips.
”You still need to write the actual essay”, Ominis reminded him.
”Easy”, Sebastian scoffed. ”I’ll just steal your self-dictating quill and do it.”
”Then I’ll withhold kisses again,” Ominis threatened. ”You won’t get far in life by cheating.”
Sebastian shook his head in mock-indignation. ”It’s not cheating, it’s strategic resource optimation. Like these kisses,” he explained, pressing a soft one to the corner of Ominis’ mouth, “are rightfully mine. Stolen from me during those excruciating study hours.”
Ominis laughed, warm and a little breathless, his hands resting lightly on Sebastian’s hips. “Is that so?”
"Yep." Sebastian captured his lips in a slow, thorough kiss, sucking lightly on Ominis' bottom lip, just for good measure. "I didn't tell you, but the debt increases exponentially. I have at least an hour of study-free snogging to cash in now."
“You’ll thank me when you hand in your assignment on time and Professor Ronen praises your detailed description of wand movements,” Ominis panted when they parted.
“The joke’s on him,” Sebastian murmured against his lips. “All that information went straight out the other ear. I’ll probably just write an essay about how soft your hair is when you don’t bother styling it, or how your lips still taste like that honey-glazed chicken you had for dinner.”
Ominis let out a mortified, choked noise. “Please don’t,” he begged, “or I’ll never be able to show my face in Charms class again.”
“That’s fine,” Sebastian said firmly, pressing a proper kiss to those plush lips. “Then I get to keep you in my bed and do this all day instead.”