Archive of Our Own

Halfway through a very peaceful morning—one which Tsukasa had been intending on keeping that way—a loud explosion could be heard from the dungeons, ebbing through the stone walls.

And the scream that followed somehow managed to be even louder than the actual explosion, which probably could’ve been considered a feat by itself.

“Rui!”

Glancing up innocently, the culprit turned to look at the student who had dashed into the abandoned classroom. With one hand holding himself up against the doorframe, Tsukasa Tenma slowly raised a shaking finger as he pointed at the Slytherin boy standing in the middle of the classroom, his chest heaving.

“What have you done this time?!” He yelled, glaring daggers at the purple-haired boy, who now had his hands raised, a shit-eating grin resting on his face.

The darkness of the underground classroom made Rui look like some kind of mad scientist, his dark silhouette only illuminated by the dim glow of the potions before him. Huffing in annoyance, Tsukasa straightened, fixing Rui with what he hoped was a menacing stare as he crossed his arms and glared at him.

“It was just an innocent experiment, I swear~” Tsukasa watched Rui with mild apprehension even as he drew closer, glancing around to observe the wreckage. “At least I didn’t start any accidental fires like last time.”

“And I’m supposed to be grateful for that?!”

“It could always be worse.”

“It’s the third explosion this week! Did you really have to go to such… great lengths for your experiments?” The blond examined the smoking remains of what appeared to be Rui’s robot inventions. One of them was still struggling to stand, and another started clinging to Rui’s miraculously unharmed clothes. “What the…?”

“I was simply playing around with my newly animated robots! Aren’t they even more adorable when they can walk?”

“Not in the slightest! Even when they couldn’t walk, you programmed them to lob bugs at me to ‘fix’ my phobia of insects! How’s that any better?!”

Even with an accusatory finger in his face, Rui’s smile didn’t waver. “Ah, well, you see, it was very effective, wasn’t it?”

“You—!”

“Anyway,” Rui carried on as if Tsukasa never said anything, “don’t you want to know what I’ve been up to? Today’s experiment involved testing the effectiveness of my potions on my lovely robots!” He gestured at the bottles of potions lined up across the closest table, the liquids inside them glowing in so many colours that it was mesmerising to look at. “These potions can affect human behaviour, and I had a theory that they could affect transfigured robots as well.”

Against his will, Tsukasa found that his curiosity was piqued. “Huh… did it work?”

“It worked very well!” The boy said happily, snatching up and presenting a robot to him.

“This one took the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, and he appears to be experiencing the effects right now. Do you see how happy he is?” The robot kicked its feet in the air, a smiley face appearing on its digital screen. Why it still worked even within the walls of Hogwarts was a mystery to Tsukasa, but he supposed Rui was just a genius like that. “Isn’t he adorable?”

“And those,” Rui pointed at the group of robots that were huddled together on the ground behind a desk, “made the mistake of drinking the Confusing Concoction without my permission. They’re very confused now, as you can see.” Indeed, Tsukasa watched as they tried to walk before accidentally bumping heads with each other, knocking all of them to the ground like a line of falling dominos. “Fascinating, isn’t it? I have to say, I wasn’t expecting these results!”

“And the Exploding Potion caused the explosion. Don’t worry about the robots, they survived in the end!” Rui finished cheerfully. “They aren’t programmed to feel pain, and as you can see, they can rebuild themselves even after sustaining severe damage to their bodies!”

Tsukasa nodded slowly, slightly absorbed in Rui’s words.

“That is cool… wait, no!” He shook his head to snap himself out of his daze, before brandishing a finger in Rui’s face. “I’m confiscating all of your robots and your potions! You should be more concerned about the amount of property damage you’ve—stop looking at me with that face!”

Much to Tsukasa’s chagrin, Rui’s sad puppy expression was too effective on him!

“Don’t act innocent! You know what you’ve done!” Attempting to act a bit more intimidating, Tsukasa crossed his arms and glared at the boy, only to stop, affronted, when Rui only started fake-sobbing.

“Tsukasa-kun is so cruel to me! Does our years of friendship not mean anything to you? I worked so hard on building my precious robots…”

“Stop trying to gaslight me!” he cried. Unfortunately, Tsukasa had a sneaking suspicion that he was already fighting a losing battle. Rui’s shoulders drooped as the boy shook his head, sighing dramatically and clutching at his heart.

“Tsukasa-kun should be more supportive of my endeavours…”

Speechless, Tsukasa threw his hands up in the air, feeling at a complete and utter loss for what to do.

“Fine! Just don’t do it again! If you do, at least conduct your experiments in a safer environment next time!” The blond almost regretted that statement upon seeing the way Rui’s eyes lit up instantly, all traces of that feigned sadness disappearing immediately.

This little—

“I knew you couldn’t resist my charms, Tsukasa-kun!” Rui clasped their hands together, the smirk returning to his face. Momentarily, Tsukasa’s brain short-circuited at the warmth touch of Rui’s hands against his, trying to ignore the way his stomach did a nervous backflip. “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”

“I—well, of course! I am the greatest wizard to exist, after all!”

Rui was still standing too close to him for comfort, and Tsukasa really had to try his best not to look directly at him for fear of the Slytherin boy noticing the flush on his face that was comparable to the deep red of Tsukasa’s own robes.

Instead, he watched the robots return to the confines of Rui’s deceptively small bag, scampering back to safety. He really should figure out where the wizard was getting his expanded knowledge of spells from.

“In that case, could I interest the greatest wizard in the entire world in this very lovely potion?” Tsukasa blinked in surprise when Rui handed him a small, suspiciously heart-shaped glass bottle from the table. The bright pink liquid inside glowed with a mother-of-pearl sheen, pulsing against the confines of the smooth glass. It looked oddly familiar, but Tsukasa couldn’t quite put his finger on it…

“This is my little gift to you; treat it as a thank you present~” Rui curled Tsukasa’s fingers around the bottle, before a certain glint appeared in his topaz-coloured eyes. “Though, you might want to keep it out of sight from the professors…”

Just then, the ringing of the bell cut their conversation short. Reaching behind him quickly, Rui swung his bag across his shoulder, barely casting a second glance back at the stunned Tsukasa, who was still standing in the middle of the classroom, holding a potentially illegal potion of unknown origin in his hands.

“Seems like it’s time for me to take my leave.” Rui fixed Tsukasa with a small grin, winking almost flirtatiously at him while slowly backing away.

“Use my gift responsibly… but I’m not particularly concerned about that. I know Tsukasa-kun is always such a morally upstanding student.” The blond bristled slightly at the teasing note in Rui’s voice, but before he could respond, there was a furious shout from further down the hallway.

“Kamishiro! Come here at once!” Tsukasa recognised the voice of the Gryffindor Head of House, Professor Meiko. All the teachers were used to Rui’s shenanigans, as well as his ability to run away from anyone who tried to catch him destroying school property with his experiments. Professor Meiko didn’t even sound that angry, and Tsukasa could’ve sworn that there was a hint of amusement in her voice that she was trying to cover up with a stern tone.

“Oh, well, see you around, Tsukasa-kun!” Rui waved at him before sprinting away. Even in his haste to leave, he didn’t forget to throw out another call of “love you” that didn’t go unnoticed by the few unsuspecting students passing by outside.

Tsukasa resisted the powerful urge to bury his face in his hands. Professor Meiko joined him in the classroom shortly after, not bothering to chase after Rui anymore after the failed attempts at catching him in the past. Recalling Rui’s words from before, Tsukasa hastily slipped the potion into his pocket, straightening and trying to look like the responsible Head Boy he typically was.

Resting a hand on her hips, the professor waved her wand in the air, murmuring Reparo under her breath. The broken desks immediately repaired themselves with her silent command. Seeing the disgruntled expression on Tsukasa’s face, though, it appeared that Professor Meiko was no longer capable of keeping her lips from twisting up into a smile.

“…well, at least the damage was more contained this time.” She started after a prolonged period of silence from the typically loud and exuberant boy. “Thank you for your help, Tenma-kun.”

“It’s no problem at all, professor. Sorry for not stopping him quickly enough, though.” Professor Meiko only shook her head, patting him on the shoulder.

“It’s alright, Tenma-kun. Oh, and Kamishiro-kun seems to have left behind one of his robots.” Tsukasa glanced down at the humanoid-shaped… thing, which was valiantly attempting to grab onto the nearest chair leg. “You should keep it with you, Tenma-kun, and return it to Kamishiro-kun when you run into him next time.”

Tsukasa wasn’t given a say in the matter as Professor Meiko proceeded to deposit the robot into his arms, a pinch of soot rubbing off onto the surface of Tsukasa’s well-pressed and cleaned robes. The blond resisted the compulsive urge to drop it on the floor.

He nodded quickly, bowing to her.

“Thank you, Professor! I’ll go to class now!”

But once Tsukasa stepped out into the empty halls, he recalled that he didn’t have any lessons in the morning that day. As such, sticking a suspicious-looking robot under his arm and carrying an unknown potion on his person, Tsukasa headed up the stairs, avoiding the trick steps on the way up.

He found his way back to the Gryffindor Tower quickly enough, coming to a stop before the Fat Lady’s portrait to speak the password to her.

“Baubles,” Tsukasa muttered, and the sleeping Fat Lady slowly opened her eyes, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Speak up, boy, I can barely hear you.” She responded, sounding a little grouchy. Upon eyeing the boy who appeared lost in thought, though, she sighed, her expression softening slightly.

“Rough morning?” This finally caught the blonde’s attention as he looked up to see the door swinging open, revealing Gryffindor’s common room inside.

“Kind of,” Tsukasa replied, before thanking the Fat Lady and stepping into the common room.

The painting behind him rumbled shut, shutting the doorway behind him. The familiar scent of burnt wood and cinnamon enveloped Tsukasa as he took in the cozy space before him. Antique lamps placed along the wall flickered as the nearby fireplace crackled, the brilliant embers glowing brightly.

As he walked through the common room, Tsukasa squeezed the potion through his robes lightly as if to ensure that it was still there. A faint sense of relief filled his heart as he noticed the empty common room as well. At least he could have some semblance of privacy while everyone was still having their lessons.

Tsukasa quickly climbed the stairs to the upper parts of the Gryffindor tower, throwing the door open with a loud bang. The room inside was dim, with its curtains drawn shut. Faint light could be seen along the edges of the thick velvet; the table lamp at the far side of the room faintly illuminated the area in a warm hazy orange glow. It was dim, but just bright enough for Tsukasa to make out the silhouettes of furniture, but not enough to scrutinise their details.

Two figures, who could be seen huddled in the darker parts of the room, whipped their heads around at the suddenness of Tsukasa’s extravagant entry.

Ah, so the tower wasn’t completely empty after all.

“Tsukasa-senpai?” A familiar voice called out hesitantly, bright orange hair emerging from behind the shadows.

“Ah, Akito!” Tsukasa approached the ginger, acknowledging the figure behind him too. “And Toya!” The bi-coloured hair boy nodded back, smiling at the blonde.

It was common to see Toya in Gryffindor’s dormitory, as Akito often brought him in to discuss homework. After a point, the Gryffindor students considered the Ravenclaw boy as an honorary member among them. Even the Fat Lady recognised his face, allowing him to pass through as long as no professor caught sight of it. Occasionally, she even struck up a few conversations with him, which was something she rarely did with other house students.

An frequently teased Akito about this, with the latter just brushing her off and saying it wasn’t any different with her and Kohane from the Hufflepuff house. This always resulted in the two bickering, often ending up with Toya or Tsukasa as the peacemaker.

Tsukasa smiled fondly at Toya, glad that he was making more friends. He seemed happier these days, especially when around Akito. The two of them were practically attached to the hip! It was nice to see that Toya was making friends.

Though, he could’ve sworn that their hair seemed slightly disheveled, and their faces carried a light flush across their cheeks. It might’ve been because of the warm lighting…

“Toya was teaching me a new spell from transfiguration class!” Akito suddenly said as he noticed Tsukasa’s prolonged stare. This made the boy instantly light up as he walked over to pat Toya on the back gently. However, their conversation did not last long as Tsukasa was reminded of the cool glass bottle in his palm.

He needed to figure out what the potion was, and whether Tsukasa should even set about using it. Tsukasa jumped when he felt a palm suddenly land on his shoulders, snapping him out of his thoughts. Man, he really had to stop zoning out so much.

“Is something troubling you, Tsukasa-senpai?” Toya asked, looking concerned. Tsukasa let out a long sigh as he gently took one hand out of his robe, unfurling his fingers, which were wrapped around the cool glass bottle.

At the same time, the robot under his arm suddenly wriggled around, forcing Tsukasa to drop it onto the ground where it landed on its feet before tottering over to Akito. The orange-haired boy tried to back away from it, but the robot only continued making grabby motions in his direction.

“What’s that? Is it going to explode?” Curiosity winning out, Akito bent down to poke at the robot while Toya stepped closer to Tsukasa, a look of apprehension on his face.

Tsukasa glanced over at him, his hand still outstretched for Toya to look at the mysterious potion. “I don’t know—Rui left it behind after causing the explosion. I’m going to return it to him during lunch…” The robot’s legs flailed wildly as Akito grabbed it by the arms, giving it a good shake. Almost immediately, its digital eyes turned into swirls from the dizziness.

“Hah, it looks just like you, senpai.”

“Thanks?” Toya took the bottle from Tsukasa’s hands, and Akito moved to join them. Still manhandling the poor robot, the orange-haired boy squinted at the labelless bottle and the way its pearly pink contents swished around.

A beat passed.

“…why the fuck do you have a love potion?”

The three boys stared at the bottle in contemplative silence.

Finally, Toya was the one who broke the silence first.

“Well done, Akito, you remembered what I taught you!” The ginger blushed, averting his glance and mumbling a soft word of thanks under his breath. “But, senpai, why do you have a love potion?”

“I don’t know!” Tsukasa yelped, realisation slowly sinking in as he stared at the bottle. “Rui just gave it to me!”

“So why does Kamishiro-senpai even have a love potion?!” Akito pointed at the bottle Toya was still admiring. “Aren’t they only found in the restricted part of Professor Meiko’s lab?”

“He doesn’t just have a love potion, he made it,” Tsukasa declared, as if it was something to be proud of. Rui truly was a prodigy with his ability to make potions beyond their level…

“What.”

“Okay, so what do I do with it?!” Tsukasa wailed, bringing them back to the problem at hand. “Why would Rui even give me this potion?! If Professor Meiko catches me with it, I’m going to be demoted!”

“We could help you dispose of it.” Toya suggested, truly the only actually helpful person in the room.

“But it’s a heartfelt and special gift from Rui!” Tsukasa exclaimed, waving his hands around in an exaggerated motion. Akito fluidly sidestepped one of his arms. “I can’t just throw it away!”

“Then use it on someone,” Akito shrugged, reaching over to fish the bottle from Toya’s hands and toss it back to Tsukasa. The blonde let out a startled yelp as he fumbled for a while to catch the bottle.

“You could use it on Kamishiro-senpai!” Toya said rather enthusiastically, as he gently ushered Tsukasa out of the sleeping quarters. The robot was shoved back into his arms as well. “It’s almost time for lunch. You can return his robot and sneak this into his food at the same time.”

“What?!”

His yell accidentally startled several juniors who were exiting their rooms. After frantically bowing to them apologetically, Tsukasa quickly turned back to the other two boys, his cheeks feeling warmer than usual as he tried to lower his voice.

“But he’s my best friend!” Watching him over Toya’s shoulder, Akito raised a brow at him, and Tsukasa immediately felt the instinctive urge to defend himself. “I can’t do that to him! It goes against all of my morals!”

Akito rolled his eyes behind Toya’s shoulder, but there was a smug grin plastered on his face as he leaned against the doorframe.

“Even if you gave him the potion, what’s the worst that could happen? Kamishiro-senpai is already obsessed with you.” There was an underlying emotion in his voice, which made Tsukasa squint at Akito suspiciously.

“Besides, I’m pretty interested too, not gonna lie. I mean, the effects of the potion are temporary, so there’s no harm done—” Toya gave him a look, and the ginger quickly backtracked. “…not that you have to take my suggestion seriously.”

It was too late for that, though. The seeds were already planted in Tsukasa’s mind, and from the smile forming on Akito’s face, his mortification was clearly written out on his face.

Thankfully, Toya fixed Akito with another stern look, making the ginger shrug and return into his room. Once he disappeared from sight, the blue-haired boy turned back to Tsukasa, looking a little embarrassed.

Tsukasa sighed.

“Sorry about that. You don’t really have to take our suggestions that seriously, and I’ll gladly dispose of the potion for you.” Tsukasa paused to contemplate this for a moment, but found that he couldn’t bring himself to hand the bottle over to Toya. Seeing his hesitation, Tsukasa blinked when Toya just let it go, lowering his hand while looking unsurprised by his decision.

“…are you not going for lunch?” Tsukasa mumbled, and Toya shook his head.

“No, I had a really late breakfast with Akito, so we’re not feeling that hungry yet. If you actually decide to try using the love potion, I wish you good luck, Tsukasa-senpai.”

Before Tsukasa could respond, the Ravenclaw boy waved goodbye and disappeared back into the room. With that, the blond was left alone with his thoughts in the wake of the ensuing silence.

When Toya finally shut the door behind him, Akito was already struggling to stifle his laughter. Though he raised a slightly judgemental brow at his boyfriend, Toya could understand why Akito found the whole situation rather comical.

“I think we just gave him an existential crisis. He seems pretty oblivious.” Toya watched as Akito flopped back onto his bed, staring up at the dark red drapes above.

“Reminds me of a certain someone…” Akito squawked in indignation, propping himself up with his elbows to glare at Toya.

“Hey, I thought it was just a bro-to-bro outing!”

“…Akito, I booked us a candlelight dinner, gave you flowers and chocolates on White Day, and you still thought it was a bro thing.” Toya deadpanned. “It took nine dates and a confession to get you to understand.” Akito just laughed as Toya laid down beside him, intertwining their fingers together.

As silence fell, Toya spoke again.

“I’m sure Tsukasa-senpai and Kamishiro-senpai will be fine. They’ve always had a close relationship anyways.”

—⊹₊⟡⋆

Tsukasa didn’t know what the fuck he was supposed to do.

He had been hiding away in the privacy of his dormitory for the past few minutes, his heart pounding a little too loudly against his ribs as the Gryffindor boy tried to weigh his options.

Speaking to his kouhai earlier didn’t help at all, and in fact, Tsukasa was trapped in a much greater dilemma now. Even a sensible kid like Toya was encouraging him to feed his best friend a love potion. What even happened there? Instead of convincing Tsukasa not to give in to his intrusive thoughts, they only started encouraging him.

Unfortunately for Tsukasa, the seeds were planted too deeply in his mind for the blond to just forget about it.

On top of that, Akito clearly knew all about Tsukasa’s feelings for Rui that ran deeper than just friendship. He didn’t know how Akito found out, since Tsukasa never told Toya about such things, but the ginger just knew things that he never should’ve been capable of knowing! He’d been subtle about his feelings, surely…

Though Akito had the courtesy of not bringing it up directly in front of Toya earlier, the blond most definitely did not miss the way Akito looked thoroughly unconvinced by Tsukasa’s claims that he didn’t wish to use the potion on Rui. Honestly, if Akito had brought it up right then and there, Tsukasa had a feeling that he would’ve crumbled from the sheer humiliation of it all.

Sighing heavily again, Tsukasa stared down at the tiny bottle in his hands, and the glass glinted tauntingly back at him.

Naturally, as the Head Boy and someone that every student was supposed to look up to, the right thing for Tsukasa to do was to destroy the potion. He’d never report something like this to the teachers, of course, but what Tsukasa could do was give Rui a stern talking to when they saw each other next time.

Furthermore, it was… really immoral to just give someone a love potion without their knowledge. Groaning in frustration, Tsukasa forced himself to tuck the offending object back into the pocket of his robes, rising to his feet. If he didn’t hurry, lunch would end before he even got the chance to get a proper meal before his lessons. Tsukasa was just about to leave until the loud chirping of Rui’s abandoned robot interrupted him in his steps.

He almost forgot all about having to return the robot to Rui. The boy hurriedly turned back to scoop it back up, tucking the robot back under his arm before finally racing out of his room.

When he stepped foot into the Great Hall, though, Tsukasa was instantly met with countless baffled stares from his fellow schoolmates around him as he walked in, and he knew the exact reason for it. Though it’d only been six months since the school year began, everyone had gotten used to Tsukasa’s habit of throwing the doors open to announce his dramatic entrance. That day, preoccupied with his chaotic thoughts, Tsukasa completely forgot about that one essential part of his day.

As usual, Tsukasa walked away from the Gryffindor table, already heading to his usual seat at the Slytherin table. However, as his eyes scanned across the sea of black and green at that table, Tsukasa found that there was no hint of cyan-streaked lilac hair in sight.

That was baffling, and Tsukasa would never admit it out loud, but a sinking feeling of what felt like disappointment quickly formed in his heart. Did Rui actually decide to skip lunch because of their confrontation from earlier? It wasn’t in Tsukasa’s nature to take such things so seriously, nor did he actually believe that Rui was intentionally avoiding him, but…

Lost in thought, Tsukasa sat down slowly at any empty space on the bench. He blindly reached for the closest dish to him, and just as he was about to bite into the strip of pork chops that he’d acquired, someone nudged him not too gently with their elbow.

Jumping slightly, Tsukasa whipped his head around only to see his friend, Nene Kusanagi, staring at him with one brow raised.

When he opened his mouth to offer a greeting, Nene was already speaking.

“What’s up with you today?” She started without preamble. “You’ve been acting weird from the moment you walked in, and you’re late to lunch.”

When Tsukasa only blinked at her in confusion, Nene sighed.

“Okay, nevermind that, but where’s Rui? I thought he wasn’t here because he was busy with you, but you’re late and he hasn’t appeared at all.”

If only you knew…

“Ah, uhm, I don’t know where Rui is. He ran away from me after I caught him setting off an explosion just now. I actually came here to return his robot, since he accidentally left it behind in his hurry to leave.” Tsukasa laughed, but the sound only came out stiff and awkward.

Catching sight of said robot, which was now politely sitting down beside Tsukasa, Nene only looked a little concerned as she asked. “…is it going to explode too?”

Tsukasa shuddered, and that action felt a little less like acting. “I hope not! I’ve been holding onto it for the past hour and nothing has happened yet.”

“I guess. So, wanna tell me why you’re acting so out of sorts today?” Hearing that question, Tsukasa only started laughing nervously again.

“W-well, I mean, it’s nothing serious? I mean, not really that serious, you probably wouldn’t want to know, it’s not important, you’re better off not knowing…” Nene fixed him with an unimpressed look, and the words came out in a rush, “Rui gave me a love potion and I don’t know what to do with it.”

There was a period of prolonged silence between the two of them, one which was only broken by the repeated anxious stabbing of Tsukasa’s fork into the pork chop on his plate. The blond kept his gaze stubbornly on the very interesting piece of meat, but when Nene spoke, her tone could only be described as incredulous.

“…that’s it?”

Jaw dropping, Tsukasa turned to stare at her.

“Were you expecting anything more?!”

“I mean, yeah? You walked in with such a weird expression that everyone thought that something bad might’ve happened. I thought you confessed to Rui, and that dumbass rejected you on accident—”

Tsukasa slumped onto the table. “Somehow, this is so much worse than that…”

He could sense Nene’s gaze upon him. “Why?”

“Because I can’t just throw it away!” Tsukasa pressed both hands against his face. “Also, it doesn’t help that Akito and Toya both tried convincing me to use it on Rui when I asked them what I should do with it. The very same person who gifted the potion to me!”

“Oh.”

Tsukasa was still talking, his voice growing more and more muffled as he sank deeper in his seat.

“And the more I think about it, the more tempted I am to try it out. I know the effects of the potion are going to be temporary, and Akito even said that nothing will change because of how Rui acts towards me all the time, but intentionally giving him the love potion is still going to make me feel really guilty!”

Miserable, Tsukasa glanced up at Nene from where he’d buried his face into his arms. There was an inscrutable expression on his friend’s face even as the Slytherin girl nodded slowly, taking in this information.

“You’re on my side, right? I should just destroy the potion and—”

“Well, I think you should use the potion on Rui too.”

Tsukasa shot up.

“Huh?!” Nene winced at his sudden yell, but continued.

“You said it yourself—the effects are temporary. And Shinonome-kun is right, by the way; there is a chance that absolutely nothing will happen because Rui’s already too obsessed with you for the potion to actually do anything.”

Dismayed, Tsukasa shook his head slowly, not wanting to believe his ears.

“Nene, you’re supposed to be my voice of reason! I told you all of this so that you’d do the right thing of convincing me not to do this—”

“And now, I’m telling you to not be a coward. Do it.”

“Don’t you think that’s going a little too far?! I don’t want to force Rui to feel anything towards me!”

“…force?” Nene muttered to herself under her breath, but Tsukasa barreled on without paying attention to what she was saying.

“It would turn out so badly if he finds out too! Rui will never want to be my friend again if he knew what I did with his heartfelt present.”

“Tsukasa.” The firmness in Nene’s voice snapped Tsukasa out of his rant. Purple eyes glared at him pointedly. “Don’t you think that you and Rui have spent enough time dancing around your feelings for each other by now? Spare some thought for the rest of us—we’re all tired of watching you two act like you aren’t down bad for each other.”

“But Rui doesn’t like me back—?” He replied, confused, but Nene’s eyes suddenly flicked to something behind Tsukasa.

“Oh, would you look at that, Rui’s here.” Indeed, Tsukasa caught a glimpse of lilac hair from the corner of his eye just before he shoved his face back into his hands.

Nene was watching him; he could feel the pressure of her stare on him again. “Once he sits down, you should sneak the potion into his food while returning the robot to him. This might be your only chance to do it, you know.”

“What has my life come to…?” Tsukasa wondered out loud, and Nene started shaking his shoulder vigorously.

“He’s coming over now. Tsukasa, get up!” Nene hissed with urgency, and begrudgingly, Tsukasa pushed himself into an upright position again, smoothening out his robes in a futile effort to calm himself down.

When he glanced up, Tsukasa’s breath momentarily caught in his throat upon seeing familiar glinting topaz eyes and that slight smile which made Tsukasa’s heart trip over itself and tumble down a flight of stairs. Swallowing as much as he could when faced with his best friend and then love of his life, Tsukasa greeted him with the most enthusiastic nod he could muster.

Thankfully, Nene was quick to engage Rui in conversation, drawing the Slytherin boy’s attention away from Tsukasa for the moment. It gave Tsukasa enough time to compose himself and pack the butterflies in his stomach away, and he could school his expression into what he hoped looked like neutrality.

It didn’t stop the heat in his cheeks from flaring again when he glanced back at Rui, who was chatting animatedly with Nene. Somehow, he looked even more handsome than usual…

“—I’ve been busy searching for extra parts around the school to further enhance my robots. Say, Nene, would you happen to know where I can get more Muggle inventions from within Hogwarts?”

“I’m not helping you to sneak illegal contraband into school again.” Tsukasa reached a hand into his pocket to touch the bottle of Amortentia again. “Sit down and eat before lunch ends.”

“So unwilling to bend the rules for your friend.” Rui sighed dramatically, sinking down with a plop beside Tsukasa. The robot narrowly escaped in time, and Tsukasa tried not to let his flustered emotions show as Rui’s left hand brushed slightly against his. Even the slightest graze of their skin burned like iron. “It’s no fun if we keep sticking to old technology…”

“You shouldn’t discuss things like smuggling illegal contraband in front of me, Rui.” Tsukasa finally spoke, sunset-hued eyes narrowing at his friend. “I’m going to ask the professors to up the security during our next Hogsmeade visit, and I’ll actually do it this time.”

Rui grabbed his chest with a betrayed look on his face. “Truly heartless, Tsukasa-kun…!”

Nene was looking at Tsukasa expectantly, though the blond was valiantly attempting to ignore it. He shook his head in response, but nothing could stop the smile from forming on his face.

“That reminds me,” Rui tilted his head, and Tsukasa pointed at the robot which had been kicked to the floor, “you left one of your robots behind just now. You should take it back.”

“Oh, so that’s why the headcount was one off. Thank you, Tsukasa-kun!” Rui turned away, bending down to examine the robot. “Hmm, you look fine…”

As Rui started muttering things to himself, his back fully turned to Tsukasa, Nene nudged him with urgency, prompting Tsukasa to pull the potion out of his pocket. Suddenly finding it very hard to breathe, Tsukasa held his breath as his shaky fingers worked to remove the cork from the tip of the bottle.

Everyone was preoccupied with their own conversations, and Rui was none the wiser to the thoughts racing through Tsukasa’s mind at several miles per second. He glanced back down at the bottle he held under the table, sucking in a breath to steady himself.

Blood rushed loudly in his ears, and Tsukasa’s body tensed as he waited for the perfect opportunity. He could feel Nene’s silent encouragement even though Tsukasa tried his hardest to ignore it.

When he was absolutely certain that no one was watching, Tsukasa allowed a few drops of potion to fall onto the food on Rui’s plate.

And just as quickly, he capped the bottle and slid it back into his pocket, where the bottle pressed against his thigh like a reminder of what he’d done. Rui finished checking on his robot, plopping it back into his bookbag, and he was about to resume eating his lunch.

Tsukasa sat there, his hands frozen to his lap. As Rui lifted a piece of chicken to his lips, the blond realised that if he wanted to, he still had the chance to stop Rui from consuming it.

But in the end, he bit onto his tongue as Rui took a bite, his body so tense that Tsukasa felt like he couldn’t move for the next century.

His heart almost leaped out of his throat when Rui seemed to sense Tsukasa’s prolonged gaze on him. Though he glanced at Tsukasa questioningly, Rui still offered him a gentle smile that filled his heart with a strange fluttering that Tsukasa couldn’t wipe away.

Transfixed, Tsukasa couldn’t look away as Rui swallowed the bite he’d taken, thereby completely succumbing to the potion he had ingested. There was no turning back now.

Tsukasa could not help glancing at Rui’s actions for any changes throughout the entirety of lunch, solely focusing on his facial features and actions for any abnormalities.

Before he knew it, lunch had ended and he had already walked Nene and Rui to Slytherin’s dormitory entrance.

“Tsukasa-kun, you seem rather quiet today, did something happen?” Rui asked, his cat-like eyes fixating on the boy in front of him.

“Ah, I’m just a little tired,” Tsukasa paused, before adding on. “Because a certain someone made me run three floors down to the dungeons to stop them from blowing up the whole campus.”

“My, Tsukasa-kun, you’ll need to exercise more if you are getting tired from just that.” Rui teased Tsukasa, pinching his cheeks gently.

Before Tsukasa could push Rui away, the lilac-haired boy already pulled his fingers away from the blond’s cheeks and turned his attention back to Nene, who was facing a stone wall and muttering the password.

The stone wall rumbled, revealing a dark passageway. Nene looked over at Tsukasa and waved goodbye before disappearing inside. Rui moved to follow her, but the boy lingered by the doorway for a brief moment to look at Tsukasa.

“Go get some rest,” Rui said, giving the blond his signature cat-like grin. “See you at dinner later~”

The entrance rumbled shut, blending seamlessly back into the stone wall. Tsukasa stared at the wall for a couple of seconds before finally walking back to the Gryffindor dormitory.

Still no change.

—⊹₊⟡⋆

Tsukasa slammed the glass mug on the table, heaving slightly as he wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. That bastard…! Is he messing with me on purpose? The blond seethed, clutching the mug’s handle so tightly that his knuckles were almost turning white.

Two days had passed, and no changes were to be seen from Rui. He was still the same annoying explosion maniac that Tsukasa chased down the hallways.

Hell, the Gryffindor boy was considering the possibility that the potion malfunctioned, and Rui had accidentally fallen for someone else instead.

All those flirtatious greetings in the hallways… Are they an effect of the potion? Tsukasa scrunched up his face in frustration, trying to think back on the purple-haired boy’s behaviour.

However, despite his best efforts, all he could remember was Rui’s “Oya, Tsukasa-kun, you look cute today~” from earlier that day, making heat rise to the blond’s face as he slumped onto the table.

Fuck.

“I need one more glass of butterbeer…” The boy groaned, downing the remaining liquid in the mug.

“Tsukasa-senpai, I think that’s enough for today,” Toya said, glancing at three empty mugs of butterbeer stacked at the edge of the table.

Oh right. Akito and Toya were accompanying him. Or perhaps it was more like he crashed their outing, but he made it up to them by offering to pay for all of their drinks.

He had tailed Rui and his friends from the campus to Hogsmeade—not in a creepy way, of course, and found them entering the Hog’s Head Inn for a drink.

Luckily for him, Tsukasa then spotted his Gryffindor and Ravenclaw juniors hanging out, and took it as an opportunity to continue spying on Rui.

The Hog’s Inn was an area where Hogwarts students loved to hang out with friends, and the butterbeer was something every student would get when they arrived at the inn. The place was dingy and cramped; its ceiling hung rather low, and the wooden beams supporting the roof were weathered and worn. A severed boar's head hung on the wall, giving the place its name. The tables were fully occupied as customers noisily chattered away, all while chugging down mugs of various colourful concoctions.

Tsukasa had ducked through the entrance and approached Akito and Toya, who were hanging out in a corner, and it also coincidentally gave him a view where he could spy on Rui, and that was how he ended up in his current situation.

Toya glanced at Tsukasa with concern, and the senior felt a twinge of guilt having to rely on his kouhai for help again.

“Look, Tsukasa-senpai,” Akito snapped, glaring at the blond. “I don’t know what is going on with you and Kamishiro-senpai, but can you please stop crashing our dates?!”

“H-huh? How did you know—date?” Tsukasa looked at Akito in confusion before shaking his head. “No, nevermind, that’s not the point!”

He started filling them in on what had transpired within the past two days, and how he listened to their advice and used the potion on Rui, despite having no symptoms of him being all lovey-dovey around Tsukasa. Of course, not before apologising to the duo for ruining their outing, to which they only said that they fully understood his predicament.

“If the potion didn’t work, doesn’t that mean Kamishiro-senpai li—” Toya began enthusiastically, but Akito immediately clamped his mouth shut with his palm and shook his head subtly.

“Oh, wow, senpai, that must’ve sucked that the potion isn’t working,” Akito continued on, and Tsukasa did not miss the blatant sarcasm lacing every word, “but now, you’re really acting like a lovesick idiot.”

Toya gave Akito a stern look that seemed to say “Akito, enough”, while pushing the hand away from his mouth. The ginger simply rolled his eyes.

“You’ve been staring at him for quite some time, actually.” Toya said in a much kinder tone than Akito, but Tsukasa only collapsed further into his chair, feeling embarrassed. Hopefully, nobody other than Akito and Toya saw him staring at Rui…

“The potion should’ve worked within twenty-four hours, unless…” Tsukasa looked up, his voice glum. “…he accidentally fell for someone else.”

The duo just stared at Tsukasa as the poor boy spiralled down into a panic, muttering to himself as he withered away in his seat.

“It’s so hopeless, I’m hopeless…”

“What’s hopeless?”

Tsukasa almost jumped out of his seat and he turned around to see Rui standing in front of him.

“Mind if I join you guys?” The blond just dumbly nodded and scooted over to give the lilac-haired boy some space to sit.

Tsukasa found it hard to breathe within the proximity of Rui, and every time one of them moved, their elbows brushed against each other. Glancing from the corner of his eye, he stared at Rui’s face, taking in his features, and felt his cheeks grow warmer at the thought of reaching up and kissing him on the lips. Tsukasa could stare at Rui’s saffron eyes forever if he—

“Ahem,” Akito’s voice jolted his senior out of his daydream. “Toya and I will take our leave, see ya.” He then grabbed Toya’s hand, and they both turned to make their swift escape.

Tsukasa wanted to beg Akito and Toya to stay, and to not leave him alone with Rui. They were the only ones who could make the situation less awkward. The ginger just shrugged and Toya mouthed back “good luck” before ducking out of the doorway, disappearing from sight.

Great. As if his day could not get any worse. All Tsukasa wanted was to tail Rui for a little to observe him, not go out with him!

“Where did your friends go?” Tsukasa asked, propping an elbow on the table while avoiding eye contact with Rui.

“They wanted to go back to the campus to finish their homework,” Rui replied, and Tsukasa could feel the lilac-haired boy staring at him.

The two boys sat in silence as an air of awkwardness settled over them.

“Tsukasa-kun,” Rui clears his throat, finally breaking the silence. “Are you… unhappy with me?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been avoiding me,” the boy looked away, looking somewhat… upset?! “Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No!” Tsukasa hurriedly exclaimed, shaking his head furiously.

“I’m not mad at you, Rui! You didn’t do anything wrong! I’m just—” Tsukasa trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

Seeing the boy’s reaction, Rui sighed and stood up. “Tsukasa-kun, if you feel uncomfortable, I’ll take my leave now.”

“W-wait!” The blond stammered, grabbing his best friend’s wrist. A beat passed and their eyes interlocked.

“Want to hang out for a while longer?”

—⊹₊⟡⋆

A gust of cold wind hit Tsukasa in the face, sending a shiver down his spine.

The air was colder now that winter was approaching. Little lights decorated the displays of the stores at Hogsmeade, the streetlamps bathing the area in a warm, cozy glow. Christmas decorations could already be seen in various shops, despite only being November.

Tsukasa and Rui walked down the street in silence, their fingers occasionally brushing, but neither deciding to pull away. The pair walked past Zonko’s Joke Shop, and Tsukasa could see Rui’s eyes immediately light up at the sight of it.

There was an unspoken routine they would do whenever they came to Hogsmeade.

Go to the Hog’s Head Inn for a quick drink, visit Zonko’s Joke Shop, and finally enter Honeydukes sweet shop to get some candies. Occasionally, they would visit other shops to replace their old stationery, or to check out the latest broomstick models.

The bell tinkled as Tsukasa gingerly pushed open the door to the joke shop. Jokes, tricks and novelties buzzed and popped on the shelves and display cases. Rui immediately walks around, admiring all the toy pranks, his eyes filled with child-like wonder.

“Look, Tsukasa-kun, it’s a fanged frisbee!” Rui held up a green frisbee with sharp edges around it. “I wonder if I could sneak it back to Hogwarts…”

“I’d suggest you don’t,” Tsukasa held up a sneakoscope and pointed at it smugly. “Unless you’re prepared to face immediate punishment.”

“How mean of Tsukasa-kun…” Rui pouted, but it did not last long as both boys burst into laughter.

“I guess I would just have to use a stunning spell on you so you’d be unable to set the sneakoscope off,” Rui teased, throwing a fake toy bug onto Tsukasa as he yelped, before chasing the other boy.

Eventually, they got kicked out from the shop for causing a huge ruckus. But all they did was glance at each other and grin broadly.

The duo spent the next hour window shopping, and before they knew it, the sky had turned into a dusky shade of purple, the first speckles of stars twinkling brightly above them. The sun slowly set behind the hills, and around them, the street lamps started lighting up one by one, and it was time to head back to school for their curfew.

“I had fun today, thank you, Rui.” Tsukasa grinned, his breaths coming out in white puffs before him.

“I had fun too.”

Silence settled over the duo again, although it wasn’t awkward this time. Each of their footsteps fell in sync and created a rhythmic pace.

“Tsukasa-kun.”

The boy looked up just as the last remaining rays from the sun bathed Rui in a warm orange glow.

And there he stood, dumbstruck, because by the gods, Rui looked absolutely ethereal.

Tsukasa just noticed how close they were. All of a sudden, the aching soreness and cold disappeared, replaced by a feeling of warmth.

The blond parted his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, he felt another pair of lips pressed onto his, and just as quickly as it came, it was gone.

That was my first kiss… Tsukasa brushed his hands over his lips, barely processing what was happening. He looked up at Rui only to see the boy frozen in shock, his eyes wide.

“I’m, I—I don’t know…” Rui stammered shakily, taking a step backwards, and Tsukasa realised he had said his thoughts out loud.

“Rui—”

“I-I’m so sorry.” Rui whispered before taking off.

All Tsukasa could do was watch the other boy’s figure disappear past the campus walls, far from reach.

He was left standing alone in the cold, an empty feeling weighing down on him

—⊹₊⟡⋆

“Oi, Tsukasa, pass me the flobberworms.” Nene demanded, and Tsukasa grabbed a palmful from the plate beside him and handed it to her, still feeling slightly zoned out. It took him a moment to realise that Nene was staring at him weirdly.

“…did I do something wrong?” Tsukasa questioned, and the grey haired witch only eyed him before turning to toss the flobberworms into her potion brew.

“No, just… okay, who are you and what have you done to the Tsukasa I know?”

“…what?”

“You just touched a bunch of flobberworms with your bare hands. The Tsukasa I know would never do such a thing because you’re terrified of dirty bugs. Also, you’ve been really distracted lately, and don’t think that Emu and I haven’t noticed how you and Rui are actively avoiding each other. What happened? Rui didn’t even show up today.”

Oh, so that was all she wanted to know. Nene’s voice echoed a little too loudly through the girls’ bathroom that they were currently hiding in, but they didn’t have to worry about anyone else overhearing their conversation other than the one ghost that hid inside one of the other bathroom stalls.

Currently, Nene was using one of the toilet bowls as a makeshift cauldron for the testing of Emu’s crazy potion recipes. The pink-haired witch was nowhere to be seen, though Nene did mention that she’d gone to the storeroom to ‘acquire’ more ingredients for them.

Usually, Rui would assist Emu in creating her strange potions while Tsukasa was forced to watch on in horror. Though Nene often tried to be the voice of reason along with the blond, she occasionally chose to participate as well, leaving Tsukasa to be the unfortunate victim of the Testing Phase.

“Whatever happened between you two, I know it couldn’t have been that bad,” Nene continued after a lengthy silence on Tsukasa’s end. Using a randomly acquired ladle, she stirred the potion while talking. “Even if Rui found out about the potion, he wouldn’t have gotten mad at you. I don’t even think he’s emotionally capable of being angry at you for this long anyway—he’s too obsessed with our World’s Greatest Star for that.”

Tsukasa could only sigh in response.

“Holy shit,” Nene ogled at him, “what in the world did you do?”

Mercifully, the loud bang of the doors being thrown open prevented Tsukasa from having to answer that tiring question. Another one of Tsukasa’s good friends and Nene’s girlfriend, Emu Otori, beamed at them over the massive heaping tray of unknown herbs and ingredients, her smile so bright that it was practically blinding as she hurried over to them.

“Nene-chan, Tsukasa-kun, I’m back! How’s the potion going?”

Relieved that the responsibility of ensuring that the potion didn’t explode was no longer resting on her shoulders, Nene stepped away from the potion to give Emu more space.

“It’s alright. I was more focused on talking to this dumbass over here,” she gestured in Tsukasa’s direction, “about his relationship issues.”

“Ehh? Is this about the thing that he has going on with Rui-kun?” Tsukasa turned away, deflating slightly against the wall. “Rui-kun didn’t want to talk to me when I asked him about it either…”

“Something happened between them last weekend, and it led to this.” Nene replied, giving Tsukasa a pointed look. “They haven’t been talking since, and Tsukasa is a mopey mess now.”

“Hey, I’m not—”

“That’s sad… I always thought Tsukasa-kun and Rui-kun liked each other!” Tsukasa tried not to let the bitter emotions overwhelm him again for the umpteenth time that week as he glanced back down at the floor, arms crossed. He hadn’t cried, not yet… “Did you confess to Rui-kun?”

Tsukasa shook his head glumly, and Nene gave him a pat on his back.

“Even if I did… I doubt he would’ve accepted my confession.” He forced a sharp laugh that ended up coming out a little strangled. “Honestly, I think I’ve already messed up my one chance…”

When he was only greeted with silence, Tsukasa glanced up to see that both witches were now looking at him with the same flabbergasted expressions.

He didn’t even have the strength to ask them what he had said wrong this time.

“I…” Nene trailed off before exchanging a look with Emu. Tsukasa was starting to feel like everyone knew something that he didn’t. “Uh…”

“…well, whatever it is, we can help you out!” Emu suggested brightly, smiling a little encouragingly at the blond. “We’ll find a way to get Rui to talk to you, and everything will be wonderhoy again!” Tsukasa wished that he could retain a semblance of her enthusiasm, but unfortunately, he was feeling too depressed to do that.

“That’s what I’ve been saying.” Tsukasa squeezed his eyes shut as he slouched against the wall. “Spit it out already, Loverboy.”

There really isn’t any point in dragging it out much longer, right? Sighing, Tsukasa decided to just take the plunge and suffer the consequences later.

“…he kissed me.”

“…”

“What?!”

It took Tsukasa a while to explain the details of everything that happened, and with every word that came out of his mouth, it looked like Nene was dying to say something. Emu just had an expression of shock that would’ve been funny in any other circumstance except for this.

“So yeah, that’s what happened.” Tsukasa finished, and Nene finally got her chance to speak.

“It doesn’t make sense at all. Why would Rui avoid you when he was the one that initiated the kiss?”

“Because he thought I rejected the kiss,” Tsukasa said tiredly, making both of them go silent. “He probably assumes I hate him now and thinks I led him on by using the love potion.”

“Rui never needed a love potion to make him want to kiss you—”

“A love potion?” Emu questioned, her eyes going wide as she tilted her head, pressing a finger to her lips. “What love potion?”

“Rui gave Tsukasa a bottle of Amortentia last week, and I… kinda convinced him to use it on Rui because I knew that it wouldn’t actually do anything.” Nene spoke first, sparing Tsukasa the humiliation of having to explain that. “Obviously, I was right, but it still doesn’t answer my question of why Rui would avoid him.”

“Oh…” For a moment, Emu looked a little guilty.

“I remember giving Rui one of my love potions a few weeks ago.”

“You did what?!”

“I’m so sorry, Tsukasa-kun!” At least she looked genuinely apologetic about it. “Rui-kun told me he was just going to use it on his robots, so I gave it to him. I didn’t know that he would…”

Tsukasa waved it away before she could say anything else.

“It’s fine, really. Honestly, it’s my fault for actually giving it to him anyway. I’m just experiencing karma now.”

Nene elbowed him, drawing a pained yelp from Tsukasa as he rubbed his aching ribs, glaring at her in betrayal.

“Don’t say that. Look, I know for a fact that you’re both misinterpreting the situation here. Rui’s a total idiot, okay? He’s never going to confess his feelings for you unless you force it out of him, and he literally kissed you. You know he was never the kind to take the initiative to do such things.”

“Yeah!” Emu exclaimed, and when Tsukasa glanced at her, she nodded at him with something like determination in her eyes.

“The love potion was a diluted extract too, and it only affects Rui-kun’s robots and other animals! I’m sure that Rui-kun really meant it when he kissed you!”

Tsukasa’s mind spun with that new revelation, but he was getting to a point where he was too exhausted to care.

Nene was regarding him with a look of concern again.

“You should talk to him, you know. I can convince him, and if he tries to run, Emu can catch him.”

“There’s no need for that.” Tsukasa’s shoulders sagged. “If Rui doesn’t want to talk to me, I won’t be able to find him.”

He pushed himself off the wall, turning to leave. Tsukasa could sense their concern for him, but the blond only continued walking away.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t like he was being offered any further reprieve after that disaster of a weekend. As one of the Chasers on Gryffindor’s Quidditch team, Tsukasa was expected to show up at every training session Akito held. Almost as if the situation couldn’t get any worse than it already was, the first match of the season was Gryffindor against Slytherin.

And of course, the Seeker on Slytherin’s team had to be none other than Rui Kamishiro himself.

Tsukasa tried his best to focus on preparing for the match, acting as if nothing was wrong and trying to boost the team’s morale. However, after staying behind after a training session for only a few minutes, Tsukasa spotted a flash of lavender hair in the corner of his eye and was forced to make a hasty escape from the field.

He pretended not to see the way Rui tensed as Tsukasa brushed past him, but in the end, no words were exchanged between them.

Whatever sort of funk Tsukasa worked himself into by the end of that dreadful week was enough for Akito to come up to him on the day before the actual match. While in the middle of a conversation with one of the other sixth-year players, An Shiraishi, the blond felt a tap on his shoulder before whipping around to face the captain, who had an unreadable expression on his face.

“Look,” the ginger started before Tsukasa could speak, “I don’t know what happened between you and Kamishiro-senpai again, but you’ve been really distracted during training for the past week. Please try to get your head in the match tomorrow.”

Cursing internally, Tsukasa nodded at his kouhai. Was his situation with Rui becoming public knowledge or something? It was a terrifying thought.

“Of course! You don’t have to worry, Akito.” The boy nodded, but he didn’t look particularly convinced by Tsukasa’s words.

That night, Tsukasa found it incredibly difficult to focus on his schoolwork. Thankfully, none of his roommates questioned it and chalked his behaviour up to anticipation of the match that would happen on the following day.

As he collapsed on his bed and stared at the ceiling, Tsukasa’s mind continued to spin. It was nearing midnight, and though Tsukasa typically preferred to sleep early every night, his unbearable thoughts kept him awake past his usual hours.

Tomorrow, he decided, pulling the covers up to his chin. Regardless of the outcome, he was going to talk to Rui tomorrow.

He was determined to settle this matter once and for all!

On the following day, the Quidditch pitch buzzed with energy and excitement as students filled the stands. The yearly Quidditch tournament finally arrived. Three large golden hoops were stationed on each end of the ovular pitching grounds, towering into the sky, its surface reflecting off the afternoon sunrays.

Tsukasa paced around the changing room while wringing his hands together nervously. When Akito started doing his morale-boosting speeches, Tsukasa gradually tuned out of every conversation around him until it was time for them to enter the pitch.

And even with the loud cheering of the spectators in the background, Tsukasa didn’t allow himself to get distracted, tightening his grip on the broomstick in his hand.

Alright, all I have to do is approach Rui after the match to ensure he doesn’t escape again.

He’d arrived at the pitch before everyone else that morning with the intention of practicing a few rounds and hopefully clear his mind. Tsukasa also skipped breakfast, but it wasn’t like he had felt particularly hungry anyway. He then grabbed his Firebolt and flew around the field aimlessly, feeling the morning autumn breeze against his face while hoping that it could clear his mind.

Being a Chaser, Tsukasa needed to score goals using a large red quidditch ball, also known as a Quaffle, for his team. Together with his two other Chaser teammates; An and Kotaro, they also had the duty of ensuring that they could score more points for the team until their seeker spotted the Golden Snitch.

As per usual, the spectators were bedecked in half red and half green. Gryffindor versus Slytherin was one of the slightly more exciting matches because they always had a close competition for the Quidditch Cup every year.

“Hello everyone! Welcome to Hogwarts’ first Quidditch game of the season!” The voice of the student in charge of commentary, Mizuki Akiyama, declared loudly into the microphone. “Today’s game is Slytherin versus Gryffindor!” Cheers erupted from the stands of the respective houses, hollering encouragement and waving their coloured flags.

If his memory served him right, she was another close friend of Rui’s, way before Tsukasa came along. Why was everything reminding him of Rui?

There was nothing else that could be done other than for Tsukasa to try talking things out later. He flew to his usual position in the air across from an opposing teammate, and once again, his gaze drifted back to where Rui sat casually on his own broomstick.

Tsukasa had a theory that the Slytherin boy actually modified it to be faster than even the average Firebolt, but no one could prove it.

Currently, Rui dangled two legs off one side of his broom, arms folded casually while smiling at a very grumpy Akito. He made it look easy, completely unfazed by how he hovered thirty meters in the air without holding onto his broom for support. Rui’s flying robots were nowhere to be seen, but Tsukasa had a sneaking suspicion that they would make their presence known at some point during the match.

“The players have taken their positions as Kagamine-sensei steps onto the field to begin the game.”

On the ground below them, their flying instructor, Kagamine-sensei, stepped onto the field and approached the giant case on the ground. Glancing up at all of them, she placed one hand on her hip before she spoke.

“I am demanding a fair game from all of you,” she started, eyeing the Slytherin players specifically. Her stare lingered on Rui for a touch longer than the rest. “No cheating.”

“And for the last time,” Kagamine-sensei continued, “that also means flying robots are prohibited on the pitch, and any players caught using them will cause their team to lose fifty points immediately. I hope you’re listening, Kamishiro.”

“But you allow Golden Snitches?” Rui called out to her, snickers erupting from the stands. “Sounds a little prejudiced, if you ask me.”

Kagamine-sensei chose to ignore him. With a swift kick directed at the box on the floor, the lid flipped open for the Bludgers to escape.

“The Bludgers have been released, and so has the Golden Snitch. The Snitch is worth a hundred and fifty points, and the Seeker that catches the Snitch will end the game.”

Kagamine-sensei’s face didn’t reveal any emotion as she picked up the red Quaffle and tossed it into the air.

“The Quaffle is released, and the game begins!” Mizuki cheered enthusiastically into the microphone, and the Chasers surged forward in hopes of gaining possession of the Quaffle.

Tsukasa immediately dived straight down, snatching the Quaffle and making a sharp turn upwards, earning whoops from the Gryffindor stands. With the Quaffle in hand, he weaved around the field, dodging the Slytherin Chasers skillfully. He needed to ensure that Gryffindor got a head start in the game.

The blonde skillfully sped up his Firebolt, darting across the field towards Slytherin’s golden hoops. From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of lilac hair and immediately turned his head around. Distracted, the blond did not notice the Bludger hurtling towards him, Arata waving his bat smugly from afar.

“Watch out!” Gryffindor’s Beater, Airi, yelled, swerving behind Tsukasa and hitting the Bludger in the opposite direction.

Tsukasa was right about feeling worried about the Beaters from the opposing team. When Akito used to be a Beater, he gave them a run for their money until he accidentally hit the Bludgers so hard it knocked Tsukasa out for three days. That hit Arata gave was equally, if not even more deadly than the ones Akito gave. He could have been knocked out for the whole Quidditch season.

Thanks to Airi’s save, the blond immediately regained focus and dodged an incoming Slytherin chaser before throwing the Quaffle into the hoop.

“And Gryffindor takes the lead!” Mizuki announced into the microphone, and the stands yet again erupted into cheers. “That was a close one; that Bludger was flying fast.”

You could say that again, Tsukasa thought, as Akito swooped in from above and hovered beside him.

“You could’ve gotten seriously injured,” Akito hissed, glancing at Slytherin’s Beater, who showed no sign of remorse. “Focus on the match, Tsukasa-senpai.”

Tsukasa took in a shaky breath and nodded, mumbling a word of apology before repositioning himself. An gave him a look of encouragement, and Kotaro gave a thumbs up before Kagamine-sensei threw the Quaffle into the air again.

The following matches went on relatively smoothly, and both teams were neck-to-neck with their points. Tsukasa tried approaching Rui, but before he could call out his name, either an enemy Chaser or Bludger would come flying his way, causing the blond to dodge and increasing the distance between him and Rui.

Despite being able to snatch the Quaffle from the opponent’s hands and dodge Bludgers skillfully, Tsukasa still could not focus, his brain searching for every way to reach Rui. Akito must have noticed his lack of focus as he kept on glaring at Tsukasa whenever the blond made eye contact with him.

“…and Slytherin scores! This leads to both teams with a tie, a hundred and fifty points each!” Mizuki calls out. By now the tension was high, and Tsukasa could see Akito darting across the field at high speed, glancing around for the Golden Snitch.

Both teams were clearly exhausted, and it was only a matter of time before the game would reach its conclusion. After that, Tsukasa would need to confront Rui and settle whatever tension between them once and for all.

The fifth round began, and the blond felt a drop of water fall on his nose. He blinked, glancing up to see how the bright blue skies were now overcast by dark grey clouds overhead. It didn’t take long for the drizzle to escalate into a heavy downpour, but the match carried on.

An insistent buzzing could be heard amidst the sound of rain, and Tsukasa caught a brief glimpse of the Golden Snitch darting past him. Blinking water droplets out of his eyes, he signalled to Akito, who immediately wasted no time and surged forward.

However, Rui had spotted the Golden Snitch before Akito did, chasing after it immediately.

“And Rui Kamishiro has his eyes on the Snitch!” By that point, Tsukasa had completely given up on the idea of ever being able to refocus on the match.

Actually, Quidditch be damned, it was just a game, and saving his friendship with Rui was infinitely more important than it! Trapped on all sides by the spectators of the game and Tsukasa himself, Rui would have nowhere to run during their conversation, and he could excuse his behaviour on wanting to distract Rui so Akito could get the Snitch first.

And with that, Tsukasa began chasing after Rui Kamishiro.

“Rui!” Tsukasa yelled, hot on the other boy’s heels while the rain insistently slapped against his face. Surprisingly, despite the roar of the pouring rain and the strong winds blowing against them, Tsukasa’s voice was loud enough to reach the lilac-haired boy, and his head snapped up immediately.

“Tenma-kun,” the blond tried not to let the hurt he felt at the change in how Rui addressed him. “I thought Chasers were supposed to be busy scoring goals, not distracting poor Seekers like myself.” Almost like a silent threat, Rui’s bright purple robot chirped at him from where it finally revealed itself beside him.

“I—” Tsukasa dodged and fought to keep up as Rui made a few risky dips and dives with the intention of throwing him off. Too bad for him, Tsukasa was a star flyer in his class!

“Y-you’re the Quaffle now!”

That drew a laugh from Rui. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him. “What?”

“Yes! That’s right. Now, are you going to tell me why you’ve been ignoring me?”

Rui’s face turned stony again.

“You should leave, Tsukasa-kun.” There was a warning buzz from the robot that had attached itself to Tsukasa’s broomstick at some point, but Tsukasa was unafraid.

“So it’s not ‘Tenma-kun’ anymore? Also, you just kissed me out of nowhere before running away and avoiding me. Don’t you think that’s a little uncalled for?”

“Hm. Says the one who gave me a love potion.”

Gagged, Tsukasa almost lost Rui again in his shock.

“I—I know. And I’m really sorry about giving it to you without your knowledge.”

“Well, you don’t have anything to apologise for. Though if you ever want your enemies dead, you shouldn’t poison their food until it’s your last resort. We were surrounded by our schoolmates, and I tasted Emu’s love potion in my food from the very first bite I took.” Tsukasa’s jaw dropped. “So, I did deceive you as well.”

“You really weren’t affected by the potion at all! Why did you kiss me, then?”

“What if I said that it was just out of pure curiosity? What then?”

“Then, I’d call you a liar, because I know it was more than that! People don’t just kiss their best friends out of curiosity!”

Finally, Rui turned to face him fully, fixing Tsukasa with cold eyes.

“You don’t know how I feel. Why are you so adamant about pressing this issue?”

“But I know how I feel!” Tsukasa exclaimed, leaning in closer to grab onto the hem of Rui’s sleeve. There was a flash of red in the corner of his vision, but Tsukasa paid it no mind as he leaned in closer.

“Don’t you get it, Rui?! I love you!”

Tsukasa watched as realisation gradually dawned on Rui’s face, but before the other boy could even utter a response, Tsukasa yelped as Akito darted before them in hot pursuit of the Snitch, the chaos of the spectators and commentary drowning out Rui’s response.

Unfortunately, because of the added distraction of Tsukasa’s presence, Rui was incapable of reacting in time to dodge when Akito suddenly cut into the middle of his path. The sudden stop caused Rui to lose his balance, and without thinking, Tsukasa lunged forward to catch him—

With that, they unceremoniously tumbled off their broomsticks and plunged to the ground.

Somehow, Tsukasa’s hand gripped onto Rui’s as they fell, and just before they hit the cold, unforgiving ground, Rui’s robot cushioned their fall slightly with another bright chirp and whistling noise.

“…well,” Rui started as they laid there together, fingers interwoven together, “this definitely wasn’t how I imagined your confession to me.”

—⊹₊⟡⋆

“…well, other than a few cuts and bruises, it seems that you two made it out without any broken bones. However, since you did fall a few hundred feet from your broomsticks, I suggest staying in the infirmary for a few more hours before I can let the both of you go.”

Wincing at her words, Tsukasa nodded sheepishly at the matron, Luka-sensei. He then resisted the urge to smack Rui across the head for the giggle he let out at her words. Once Tsukasa had thanked her for the help in patching them up, Luka disappeared back into her office, leaving them to their own devices.

And of course, that meant Rui somehow ended up sneaking over to Tsukasa’s bed and resting his chin on the blond’s pillow, all while staring up at Tsukasa with big innocent-looking eyes. The boy only narrowed his eyes at him, but it couldn’t keep the smile from forming on his face.

“What do you want?”

“Tsukasa-kun is so mean for ignoring me.”

“I’m trying to get some rest! Don’t forget that you’re partially the reason we’re here now.”

“Indeed, it was quite a neat tumble we took earlier. I sincerely apologise for my sins, Tsukasa-kun, but I must say… didn’t you also sneak a love potion into my food? You have just as many things to apologise for~” Tsukasa’s mouth parted to apologise, but upon seeing that familiar teasing glint, he gave Rui a gentle flick in the forehead instead.

The boy drew back, frowning at him in displeasure while rubbing that painful spot.

“Hey!”

“Yeah, I know. I’m really sorry for giving you that love potion. To be fair, you also tricked me into it all while knowing that it wouldn’t even work.” Rui’s pout dissolved back into his devious grin. “And you even roped Emu into your plan. Seriously…”

“Hehe~”

They fell back into comfortable silence again. Since the matron didn’t emerge from her office to tell Rui to go back to his own bed, the taller boy quickly made a space for himself to lie down beside Tsukasa, forcing them to cuddle. If anyone walked in on them like this, Tsukasa would never recover.

“So,” Rui spoke again, his voice muffled from where his face was pressed into the pillow, “you like me?”

Tsukasa’s breath stuttered, and for a moment, he found it difficult to speak. Rui continued to lay there unmoving, but with his ear pressed close to Rui’s heart, Tsukasa could hear the way it thudded a little faster, almost as if Rui was anxious to hear his confirmation even after Tsukasa declared it for the entire school to hear just now.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Hmm… how long has it been?”

“I think…” The answer surfaced to the forefront of his mind before Tsukasa even needed to think. A part of him had always known, but he supposed that he never gave his feelings much thought at that time. “It’s been about four years. It happened when I saw you telling stories to the first-years with your robots, and then the teachers started chasing you because you smuggled the robots into the school without permission. Then, I tried finding you again to be friends with you, and you know how the rest goes.”

Rui’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “Ah. Yes, I do. I must say, it is rather surprising to hear that. I’ve had feelings for you for the past few years as well.”

Tsukasa gaped at him, shifting back to stare at him.

“What? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well, for one, I was a bit of a coward. I didn’t want to risk losing a friendship over confessing my feelings, and on top of that, you weren’t picking up on any of the signals I tried giving you…”

“You were giving me signals?! I thought you were the one who wasn’t picking up on my hints!”

“Hehe, perhaps we are, as Mizuki once put it very eloquently, oblivious idiots.”

“You’re more of an idiot than me. Who just runs away and avoids the person they like after kissing them? That was my first kiss, and you didn’t even do it right.” Tsukasa scoffed, glancing away with a huff when Rui only laughed softly at his words.

Suddenly, a gentle hand cradled his face, prompting Tsukasa to glance at the other boy with wide eyes. There was a look in those topaz gemstones that he recognised all too well as the “I’m going to start a very controlled fire” expression, but he quickly forgot all about that when Rui leaned in so close that they almost shared breath.

“Then, shall we do something about that now?”

Tsukasa’s eyes widened as Rui captured his lips in a hungry kiss, the tips of his ice-cold fingers searing against the burning skin of Tsukasa’s cheeks. Initially caught off guard by the suddenness of that move, it took a moment for the blond to remember how to make his body function again, and he tilted his head up further, encouraging Rui to deepen the kiss.

“…ew, really? Right in front of my salad?”

Jumping away from each other, Tsukasa’s face was practically on fire as he forced himself to turn to the four other people who had the great fortune of walking in on him and Rui making out with each other. Nene looked like she would rather be anywhere else, Mizuki was grinning while giving them a supportive thumbs-up, and Toya sported a neatly wrapped present in his hands while Akito kept his eyes dutifully trained on the ceiling.

Mizuki looked the most excited of the bunch. “You guys finally made up!” she gushed, and while it took Toya a second to recover, he nodded at Tsukasa with a kind smile on his face.

“Congrats, senpai. Akito finally told me the truth about your entire situation with Kamishiro-senpai, and I would like to apologise for everything I might’ve said because of my lack of understanding of your situation—”

“N-no, it’s completely fine! I can see why you misunderstood in the first place…” Grumbling softly at the interruption and the presence of visitors, Rui buried his face into the crook of Tsukasa’s neck as if to hide from the world. “In the end, it was only thanks to your help that we managed to get together in the first place!”

“But not before over half of the school was under the impression that we were already dating…” Rui mumbled into his shoulder.

“What?!”

“Oh, also, we thought that you might want to know the outcome of the match. Gryffindor won after I spotted the Golden Snitch, but I don’t think anyone really cared that much after your very passionate declaration of love halfway through the match that took down the Slytherin Seeker.” Akito crossed his arms as he leaned against the bedpost. “I’ll have the team learn that as a potential strategy for next time.”

“I thought patients needed time alone to rest. I want to continue cuddling and kissing Tsukasa-kun now, it’ll speed up my recovery.”

“…why am I still talking to a bunch of idiots?” Akito mumbled, but the expression on his face said otherwise.

Nene rolled her eyes and eyed Rui and Tsukasa. “Good grief, at least you both settled it pretty quickly, and had no problems figuring out your feelings, unlike a certain ginger dude.” Akito opened his mouth, trying to argue back, but Tsukasa interrupted him.

“Wait… you’re dating someone?” Tsukasa started slowly, the pieces in his head slowly clicking together and he spotted Akito holding Toya’s hand.

“You’re dating Toya?!” the blonde yelled, earning a pointed glare from Luka-sensei, before lowering his voice, “How long have you two been together?!”

“Around a month,” Akito shrugged before taking a step back. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a date to attend to that will be uninterrupted this time.”

Tsukasa stared at Rui, but the Slytherin boy shrugged too. Nene gave him a look that seemed to say ‘Took you long enough’.

Not long after, Luka chases Nene and Mizuki out of the infirmary, saying that the patients need to rest. Tsukasa ended up questioning Rui about Akito and Toya’s relationship, but the lilac-haired boy only looked incredibly amused by the blond’s reaction.

Soon after, the two boys settled into a comfortable silence, their bodies pressed together.

“I’m so glad we made up,” Tsukasa said, breaking the silence.

Rui hummed in agreement and smiled, pulling Tsukasa closer to his chest.

—⊹₊⟡⋆

A loud explosion rocked the floor, and it was quickly followed by a piercing scream.

“Rui!”

“Oops, you caught me~”

The furious Head Boy was holding the snickering purple-haired boy at wand-point, harmless gold sparks flying from the tip as Tsukasa gestured wildly at him.

“This is the eighth day in a row!” he yelled, and Rui’s grin only seemed to grow wider. Around them, students who were just passing by stopped to watch, but Tsukasa could hardly care about that.

Instead of looking embarrassed by the scene that they were causing, Rui only reached out to touch the blond’s hair.

“Oya, Tsukasa-kun, your bangs are looking a little singed over here.”

“And whose fault is that?!”

“Kamishiro! Stop right there!”

Rui took a small step back to glance down the hall. “Oh, it seems that Professor Kaito has caught onto us! Quick, Tsukasa-kun, it’s time to go!”

“You are not roping me into your messes again—” Unfortunately, no sooner had the words left his mouth than Tsukasa found himself being tugged along behind Rui as they sped off down the halls. Even though his protests continued, Tsukasa made no visible effort to yank his hand away from where it was twined tightly with his partner’s. “Rui!”

They turned down another corridor, away from the students and their professor, who was out for their blood—or more specifically, Rui’s in particular. Tsukasa didn’t have much time to contemplate his life choices before they were forced to duck through the opening behind a random tapestry on the wall.

Together, they sprinted up the dimly lit flight of stairs before them, and even though they were both panting heavily by the time they reached the top, nothing could dim the brilliance of the smile on Rui’s face, and the flush in Tsukasa’s cheeks wasn’t entirely because of physical exertion either.

The palm of Rui’s hand burned against his as they emerged from another painting and into a mercifully empty corridor on the upper floors of the school. They didn’t stop running until Rui successfully hid them in one of the smaller towers, and Tsukasa threw his head back against the wall behind him.

“Y-you’re insane…” He panted, his voice echoing a bit too loudly in the enclosed space they were in, and Rui flashed a grin at him.

“Insanely good at running away!” Tsukasa turned to face his boyfriend fully.

“Professor Kaito will have your head on a stake one day, you know?”

Rui draped his arms over Tsukasa’s shoulders, and their eyes met.

“I’m not scared, because I have a very, very strong and capable star on my side.” Rui continued studying Tsukasa with a look of hunger in his eyes. Used to it, Tsukasa only raised himself on his tiptoes to further narrow the distance between them.

It didn’t take long for their lips to meet, but they were quickly interrupted by the door swinging open and a sweet voice calling up to them from the base of the stairs.

“Kamishiro-san, I’m taking ten points from Slytherin on Professor Kaito’s behalf.” Of course, the person to catch them would be the Head Girl, Mafuyu Asahina. Trying and failing to disguise the mortification he felt, Tsukasa responded to her hesitantly.

“I—uhm, we’re really sorry about this, Asahina-san.” Tsukasa’s breath caught in his throat when Rui pressed their lips together again, preventing him from saying anything more.

The worst thing about being caught by Mafuyu was the fact that she barely showed anything more than polite calmness, and that tripled the amount of humiliation he felt. “It’s alright, Tenma-san. Though, please do try to make it to class on time once you two are done with what you’re doing. I’ll be leaving now.”

“Bye…!” Tsukasa forced out, and the slam of the door obscured the shameful squeak that escaped from his mouth when Rui tried to claim his lips for another kiss. “R-Rui! For propriety’s sake… s-stop trying to kiss me when I’m talking to other people!”

“But it’s fun to see Tsukasa-kun look so flustered whenever I do it.” Tsukasa shoved his chest lightly, making Rui feign offense to it even as another light giggle escaped as he danced away from Tsukasa’s touch.

“We already got caught, so let’s go to class already.” He replied while valiantly fending off more sneaky kiss attacks from his demon of a boyfriend.

“Class is boring,” Rui whined, a pout on his face. “I much prefer spending time with you~”

“…I sit beside you at every class?”

“It doesn’t feel the same…”

Tsukasa poked him gently. “I’ll give you one confiscated belonging of your choice if you come with me and sit through the entire class now.” He had already started dragging his boyfriend halfway down the stairs, and Rui let out a half-hearted sigh before pressing a kiss to Tsukasa’s cheek.

“Fine~ I demand more kisses in exchange too.”

“You’ll kiss me either way.”

Their next class was Potions, and since the classroom was located in the dungeons, it took them a while to arrive. Before they entered, though, Rui stopped him just by the doorway, barely out of view from their classmates inside.

“Kiss me one more time?” The twinkle and hopeful look in Rui’s eyes filled Tsukasa’s heart with a fluttering sensation that he was probably never going to get used to.

Still, he sighed, but even that couldn’t stop Tsukasa from smiling as he allowed Rui to steal a final kiss from him.

“…you’re impossible sometimes, you know?” He questioned, and Rui winked at him.

“But you love me for it~”

Tsukasa intertwined their fingers more securely.

“Yeah, I do.”

Fin.