Archive of Our Own

Hoseok hated snakes. No argument there.

Since that time at the zoo when he, not really understanding how, suddenly found himself with a spotted, slimy tube around his shoulders that moved, he hadn’t been so prone to the hissing animal. Muggle zoos were a horrible place.

However, all rules need an exception to prove them, and Hoseok’s exception was a cute, blonde Slytherin of the sixth year. To be fair, his traits and mannerisms reminded more of those of a cat. Also, the constant I-don’t-give-two-fucks look.

“You’re staring again.” Hoseok’s train of thoughts was abruptly interrupted and he lowered his gaze to his plate, half-full of breakfast goodies. He peeked at his best friend, head still low.

“Did he notice?” He whispered.

Taehyung was fixing his yellow and black striped tie, while flicking his gaze over the different tables of the Great Hall, in order to peek at the blonde boy, being definitely more careful than Hoseok. “Seems not.”

Hoseok left out a sigh of relief and resumed eating his breakfast, only to nearly suffocate on a piece of treacle tart with Taehyung’s next words. “You should ask him out, Hobi.”

After a gulp of water and some coughing, Hoseok managed to send a glare in his best friend’s direction, one which he hoped was serious enough despite his eyes being a little teary and red due to the crumbs of tart that apparently decided that his lungs were a nice place to live, blocking his air supply for some seconds. Taehyung wanted to kill him with that statement.

“Excuse me, what?”

Taehyung raised an eyebrow. “Alright, maybe not this straightforward, but you should at least speak to him?”

Hoseok suddenly wanted to laugh. Taehyung raised the other eyebrow, as well.

“Tae, he’s Min Yoongi. He’s a Slytherin. A snake. You know how it is, they don’t consider us at their level. How many Hufflepuffs do you know that are actually friends with a Slitheryn?” Hoseok said, resignation in his voice.

Taehyung shrugged. “There’s always a first time. And if he actually mistreats you just because of your House, then you know he’s an idiot and you have to get over your crush on him as soon as possible.”

Hoseok just hummed and unwrapped a chocolate frog.

“Seems like I was wrong, he probably caught you staring. He’s coming this way,” Taehyung laughed when Hoseok widened his eyes, gathering his things before standing up from his seat. “See you later, I have to add the last two inches to the History of Magic essay,” and then he was gone.

Hoseok was still munching his chocolate frog, and suddenly he remembered that he had some lines left to that assignment too, but this was not the time to think about it. Because a blonde head responding to the name of Min Yoongi was approaching, and before he knew, it was too late to run off.

Yoongi sat on the bench, legs on the opposite side as Hoseok’s, so that his back was leaning on the table. “Hey. Hoseok, right?”

Hoseok swallowed the chocolate, trying to remain completely unaffected even if his crush knew his name and he was going to have to apologize for staring like a creep, and nodded.

“Cool, I’m Yoongi.” Then he gave a half smile, and Hoseok felt that his heart was about to melt.

Then he got a grip of himself and cleared his voice, starting to apologize before Yoongi could bring out the situation. “So, uhm, I-“

“Yes, you’re probably questioning why I’m here. You see, my first year was a bit bumpy –I’m a Muggle born – and with all the stuff to learn and get used to, I couldn’t grasp how to properly ride a broom. Then, since Flying is taught only in first year, I didn’t get better, and I still have problems with broomsticks.”

Hoseok looked at Yoongi with furrowed eyebrows. So he wasn’t going to talk about the staring thing? Or maybe Hoseok was lucky and he really didn’t notice. He held onto that hope.

Also, a Muggle born in Slytherin? That was rare.

“To make it short, Madam Hooch told me to fix this issue as soon as possible, since next year I’ll be busy with NEWTs, and told me to ask you to be sort of my tutor, because apparently you’re the best Seeker in the school.” Hoseok noticed a light hint of pink colouring Yoongi’s cheeks, but maybe it was his imagination playing games with him.

Yoongi’s eyes chose that moment to fix themselves into Hoseok’s, and even if Hoseok had something smart and appropriate to say at that moment, it would have vanished from his mind.

“So, will you…”

The Hufflepuff blinked once, twice, and shook his head. He was submerged into Yoongi’s eyes, staring, again.

“Yes, of course, I mean, I’d be pleased to help,” Hoseok couldn’t fight a bright smile erupting from his lips. “Do you want to go now or do you have class or something else to do?”

Hoseok could swear he saw Yoongi’s eyes widen a little, shining. “I actually have all morning free.”

-

Okay, it wasn’t allowed and points would be deducted from Hufflepuff if someone caught him skipping class, but could you really blame him for choosing to spend time with his crush instead of two boring hours of History of Magic?

Plus, his twenty-inches essay still wasn’t finished, and it was too late to hope to arrive in class early and quickly arrange the last lines. Taehyung, being the good friend he is, would have covered him.

Not to count that the Quidditch field was surely free at that hour of the morning, and that meant the two of them alone. All the better.

Yoongi was explaining his troubles with broomsticks while they covered the short distance between the castle and the field on foot.

“I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like, once I’m high up enough, the broom stops following my lead. And I usually panic,” he admitted, looking at the ground. Hoseok knew that admitting their flaws, for a Slytherin, was difficult, so he appreciated Yoongi’s honesty even more.

“Hm, that’s strange. I know it happens with some old Comets, but not to that scale,” Hoseok’s face scrunched in thought.

“Please don’t ask me which model I used to use because I honestly don’t know,” the blonde hurried to say.

Hoseok burst into a bright laughter. It was almost an involuntary reaction, every time Yoongi spoke or was brought into conversations (especially late night rambling with Taehyung), hell, every time the guy appeared in his thoughts, he couldn’t help but smile.

By then, they had arrived at the field, so Hoseok opened the storage room’s door and began searching for a broom in particular. He exulted with a “Found you!” when he finally brought out of the pile of broomsticks the one he was looking for.

“Alright, this is a Nimbus 2000, and currently the best this school has to offer. It’s not the best broomstick, at all,” Hoseok thought about his beloved Firebolt Supreme back in his dorm, “but it’s not bad. Also, it’s in pretty good conditions.”

The blonde pressed his lips in a line. “You could have picked the worst broomstick ever and I wouldn’t have known.”

Yoongi seemed a bit confused when Hoseok closed the door and headed towards the grass of the field. Hoseok couldn’t really blame him.

“Wait, but for you…?”

Hoseok couldn’t help a giggle. “Since you said you tend to panic when you are high up, and I don’t want anything to happen to you, I’ll fly behind you to see what the issue is.”

Okay, now those cheeks were definitely pink.

However, Yoongi didn’t say a word and mounted on the broom, quickly followed by a smiling Hoseok, extremely proud of his idea. He didn’t want to pass any boundaries or make things awkward, so he avoided putting his arms around Yoongi’s waist and settled for latching a hand on the wood under him.

True to the blonde’s word, nothing strange seemed to happen on the first minutes of flying, and Hoseok was enjoying the feeling of the wind on his skin, the ground far away, even if Yoongi was going at a much lower speed than Hoseok usually would, and he closed his eyes.

That’s when he heard the other hiss, and the broom weirdly swerved to the left.

Hoseok immediately opened his eyes and reached forward to rest his hands lightly on Yoongi’s shoulders. “Hey, it’s alright, probably a particularly strong gust of wind,” he knew it was a lie, but tried to comfort the blonde anyway.

The problem was that the broom didn’t stop moving left and right, Yoongi’s weight leaning left and right as well. Hoseok peeked at his face and noticed that his eyelids were screwed shut, his nose scrunched up and his brows furrowed.

“Hoseok, pl-“ he swallowed thickly, “please, can we get down?”

He wasted no time in reaching forward to grab the broomstick with one hand, keeping the other on Yoongi’s left shoulder, trying to rub soothing circles, and angling the wood downwards. Hoseok was torn between keeping the speed to a minimum, and allowing a mild descent, and getting Yoongi on the ground as fast as possible, seeing how he was uncomfortable.

As soon as Hoseok’s feet touched the green grass, he discarded the broom, tossing it on the ground without much care, and made sure that Yoongi had landed safely too, supporting his back with his arm. He didn’t expect the blonde to lean on his side, however, clutching a handful of his white shirt in his fist and resting his forehead on his right shoulder, to stabilise himself.

After a second or two, Yoongi abruptly moved away. “I’m sorry, uh, I-“

“You fear heights.”

Yoongi glared at Hoseok, bewildered. “What?”

“You fear heights. Maybe you didn’t even notice, or you thought it was something else, but I’m telling you, the reaction you had up there is obviously of someone who fears heights.” Hoseok tried to tell Yoongi this with a sweet, almost apologetic smile, letting him know he wasn’t judging him at all.

Yoongi’s eyes were still wide open.

“Maybe there’s a way to overcome it,” Hoseok tilted his head in thought. “What do you say we meet here again?”

The Slytherin only nodded, evidently still confused and shocked. Seeing how he wasn’t getting any verbal response from the appalled boy, Hoseok sighed. “Is four in the afternoon okay? I have Divination until half past three.”

This seemed to shake Yoongi from his trance. “You took that joke of a subject?”

-

A mess of yellow-bordered clothes and grey-tinted hair plopped down on the other bed in Hoseok’s dorm room, disturbing the previous quietness.

Then, Taehyung decided that only making noise wasn’t enough, and literally jumped on Hoseok’s bed, propping his chin on Hoseok’s sternum. “What are you reading?”

Hoseok tried an evasive answer. “It’s for class.”

“Really? And what subject requires to read a book about human phobias? Last time I checked, you didn’t take Muggle Studies,” Taehyung stated.

Hoseok sighed, closing the book and trying to make space on his bedside table to put it away, between all the empty water bottles, unfinished assignments, and quills. “Alright, it’s not for class. A friend of mine mentioned that he has a particular fear and I got interested in the matter,” it wasn’t even too far from the truth.

“Oh, so now you and Yoongi are friends? I knew it!” Taehyung playfully hit Hoseok’s shoulder and gained an eye roll.

“I was just beginning to ask myself what could have kept you from two delightful hours of History of Magic and a mind-blowing Transfiguration class, today, but I think I have an idea,” the boy smirked.

“Fine, he asked me to help him because he has problems with Flying, and apparently he’s scared of heights. Hence, the book about phobias, and I skipped class because I’m a weak man and he had the morning free,” Hoseok blurted out all at once. “For Madame Sprout, I wasn’t feeling well today.”

“You’re whipped, man,” Taehyung shot him an amused look.

-

Hoseok learned a lot of interesting things that night, from one of the few Muggle books the school library had. For example, he discovered that Yoongi suffered from light acrophobia – Muggles and their strange names – that manifests as the irrational fear of heights and high places, such as cliffs, high buildings, and planes. Hoseok remembered that planes were those metal cylinders that flew in the sky, and also wondered why brooms weren’t mentioned. A broomstick could reach pretty high up, after all, and Yoongi had suffered an episode of this phobia precisely on a broomstick.

Probably, Yoongi didn’t even think that he suffered from fear of heights and instead blamed it in his poor abilities on top of a broomstick. It was probably the phobia that made him lose his control over the broom in the first place, Hoseok thought.

He also learned that Taehyung could be really annoying when he decided to tease you about your crush. He managed to deprive Hoseok of all of his Hufflepuff patience.

-

While Miss Trelawney rambled about how he could see the imminent death of a Ravenclaw, brought upon himself by his own destructive hands, Hoseok just couldn’t focus to save his life. His mind continued to fly off to Yoongi, with whom he was about to spend a whole afternoon. He just hoped nobody planned on practicing Flying or Quidditch today.

His eagerness brought him to run to his dorm immediately after the clock ticked half past three, and then to rush to the Quidditch field, his Firebolt Supreme with him.

Obviously, it was still very early when he arrived, so he decided to play a little with a Quaffle in the meantime. He was flying around a hoop, throwing the red ball through it and then catching it on the other side, before re-throwing, flying around, and re-catching.

Suddenly, a voice from down below made the corners of his lips raise. “Weren’t you a seeker?”

He headed towards the ground, where a blonde Slytherin was standing, and tossed the Quaffle aside before shifting backwards on the broomstick. Yoongi seemed to catch the hint and mounted on the wood in front of Hoseok.

“This is a Firebolt Supreme. Not to gloat, but it’s considered by many the best broomstick on the market right now. Flying is a lot more secure and a lot less bumpy than with that Nimbus 2000 of yesterday,” Hoseok informed, grabbing the wood with both hands like he was doing a moment before, only that now between his arms there was a lithe, pale body, and he had to let his head hover over Yoongi’s shoulder to see what was in front of him. Lucky for him, Yoongi was short. Adorably so.

“I’m going to lead the broom. You stay there, relax, and tell me when it’s too much.” Hoseok said in a low tone of voice, not really whispering, but paying attention to not startle Yoongi since he was practically talking in his ear. Yoongi nodded.

The book suggested that the first step to help an acrophobic person was to get them to relax. Also, it was recommended to try and gradually expose to higher and higher heights, and Hoseok was doing just that.

Ten feet, twenty, thirty, forty above the ground: then Yoongi’s body started to tense. Hoseok could feel it, the two of them being so close that he could also notice how his breaths became shorter and shorter.

He removed one hand from the broomstick and let it rest on Yoongi’s outer thigh, occasionally rubbing it and stroking with his thumb.

“Relax. You’re safe,” he murmured, then stalled in mid-air, probably eighty feet or so above the ground. “Are you alright?”

Yoongi nodded, then seemed to gather all his strength to whisper, “Yes, I’m okay.”

Hoseok, however, kept his arm around Yoongi’s waist and his hand on his thigh. “You don’t have to look down.”

“I don’t.” A deep breath.

They stayed up there for a while, Hoseok couldn’t really tell how long, but he was anything but bored. Not when he had Yoongi’s cute, perfect profile to look at, his small nose, pouty lips, and the soft angle of his jaw to print on his memory.

He observed the boy calming down, slowing his breath and heart rate, loosen up his tensed muscles, then he closed his eyes and it was the representation of peacefulness.

Hoseok, in the back of his mind, thought that this whole situation should have felt awkward and uncomfortable, but instead, it just felt normal. It just felt right.

“Should we go higher?” Yoongi asked, breaking the silence.

“Only if you want to.”

Yoongi seemed to think about it for a while, then shook his head.

“Then we’ll go higher another time,” Hoseok stated, and started flying downwards. Yoongi’s back was leaning on his chest, now.

Back on the ground, Hoseok retrieved the abandoned Quaffle and put it back on the box, with the other balls. The two Bludgers were particularly agitated that day, moving around inside their chains, but not nearly as excited as Hoseok.

On their way back to the castle, Yoongi asked what day it was.

“Friday, why?”

“So tomorrow’s Saturday. I wanted to go to Hogsmeade, because I need some new quills, but Jimin’s apparently found, and I quote, ‘the cutest girl of the entire wizarding world’, and I don’t really want to go alone, so…” he trailed off, probably seeing the confused look on Hoseok’s face. “Jimin is my best friend, shorter than me, blonde hair but darker than mine, that resembles noodles,” he added.

Hoseok vaguely recalled a boy with puffy cheeks and plump lips always near Yoongi, and couldn’t help his stunned expression when he repeated, “Shorter than you?”

Yoongi narrowed his eyelids – and wow, he resembled a cat even more than usual – and glared at Hoseok. “What are you implying?”

“Nothing, nothing, I swear,” Hoseok replied, fighting a smile.

“Anyways, would you like to go with me?” Yoongi’s eyes showed his hope for a positive answer. Hoseok was more and more amazed of how the face that was usually so unimpressed about everything could so clearly show so many emotions.

“Uh, yes, alright,” Hoseok smiled, without even thinking about it. But this had been the answer even before Yoongi could pose the question.

-

Hoseok thought a lot about what that offer could mean for Yoongi and him. He tried to not let his feelings for Yoongi invade his mind, to avoid the disappointment and frustration that would inevitably come after.

Yoongi was probably needing a friend to stay with him while he bought what he needed in Hogsmeade, saw that Hoseok, despite being a Hufflepuff, wasn’t that bad and decided to take the chance.

Yeah, it was probably that. But Hoseok couldn’t help but be happy and excited that Yoongi, at this point, presumably considered him his friend. That’s why, the morning after a night of poor sleep, he was beyond thrilled to meet the blonde boy. Excitement flooded through him even while waving at Taehyung, that unfortunately had to remain in the castle because his parents couldn’t sign his permission form.

At the station, he wasn’t able to see him at first, but before he could even start thinking the worst, he felt long, slender fingers on his forearm, and standing by his side was Yoongi, featuring a blinding, little smile. Now that Hoseok thought about it, everything about Yoongi was little and tiny. And adorable.

It got Hoseok feeling some kind of stirring in his stomach, up to his throat, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.

Hoseok realized that he didn’t recognize his figure right away because his blonde locks were partially covered by a sort of hat, made of wool, that seemed to take the shape of his head, except for a small, little tip. It looked soft, and completed Yoongi’s tiny aesthetic.

Of course, Hoseok had to tell him. “What’s this?” he giggled, taking the soft peak between his thumb and index fingers.

“Oh, it’s something Muggles wear when it’s cold outside. It’s called a beanie,” the blonde shrugged.

“It’s cute. It fits you.”

Yoongi turned his head to his right. “Uh… Shall we go?”

Hoseok nodded and let him lead the way. There was something that attracted his gaze towards Yoongi that day. If it was possible, he found himself shamelessly staring at the Slytherin even more than usual.

They arrived at Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop: it was a small, candle-lit room, and every available surface was littered with parchment pieces, some blank, some with doodles and drops of ink. The shelves were covered with neatly lined-up quills, from standard, boring ones to special models that did all kinds of strange stuff. The owner, as Hoseok imagined, was an old man, looking like he neared death with every step he took. Hoseok was glad he sat on a chair most of the time.

“So… why are we here?” Hoseok asked while Yoongi examined the wide collection of special quills. There were ones specially made for left-handed people, some that didn’t need ink and some that wrote on their own. Hoseok observed one of these swirl around and form the words “Scrivenshaft is ugly”.

“I need new quills, I told you. I keep breaking them,” Yoongi raised his hand, where he clutched at least half a dozen standard quills. How do you even break them? Hoseok didn’t know, but he didn’t investigate further. “Also, I saw a quill last time I went here that was perfect for… here!” he grabbed said quill and held it in front of his face for Hoseok to see it.

It was shaped like a broomstick, the shaft was even curved like an actual one, and small plumes were gathered together at the end to form the tail. But the thing that made it unique was the tiny, stylised man that hanged from the broomstick, attached to the shaft with only a hand, looking like he was having the best of times. It was so, very beautiful and every little detail was meticulously brought to perfection.

“It’s adorable, Yoongi, but I can do better than that,” he flattened a hand over his chest and raised his chin, exaggerating fake vanity. “One time I flew all around the Quidditch pitch hanging upside down, I was attached to the broom with the back of my knees,” he laughed hard at the memory, and noticed that Yoongi was laughing too.

“Yeah, I know, I was there,” he said. Hoseok later recalled that it was a match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, so it made no sense that Yoongi was there. “Anyways, even if it’s not as good as you, do you like it?”

Hoseok scrunched his brows together. “Yes, it’s really beautiful, but why-“

“Cool.” He turned on his heels and made his way to the owner’s counter, before bringing out a black leather thing and starting to count coins.

Hoseok took some time to realize what was happening, but when it clicked, he immediately tried to stop him with a hand on his shoulder. “Yoongs, you really don’t have to-“

“Shut up.”

“But-“

“Think of it as a thank you for helping me, alright?”

“Still, I-“

Yoongi turned his head towards him and sent him a dangerous glare. Suddenly Hoseok didn’t want to keep arguing anymore.

So, he let Yoongi buy the Quidditch quill for him, and tried not to show too much how happy the gift actually made him feel. If he listened to his heart, he probably would have been doing backflips in the middle of the road.

They decided to head for the Three Broomsticks, and seated at a table, sipping on overly sweet Butterbeer and telling stories, anecdotes, all that passed their mind. Hoseok’s jaw ached from too much laughter when Yoongi told him about a time when Jimin was waiting for McGonagall in her studio and decided to swing his leg over his head, falling from the chair and slamming his ass onto the ground in the process. All this, without realizing McGonagall and Dumbledore just entered the room and saw it all.

Hoseok dried the tears that formed under his eyes with his fingers, still laughing. “Hell, both McGonagall and Dumbledore? What had he done?”

“I don’t know, probably got caught making out in the Prefects’ toilet with some random girl,” Yoongi took a sip of his drink, trying to stop the laughter. “He’s a ladies’ man, you know.”

Hoseok’s mind drifted away. A ladies’ man, like more or less all the other Slytherins he knew of. All of them, except for Yoongi.

Yoongi, who had been sitting with him for at least two or three hours by then. Yoongi, who could  have easily found another Slytherin to spend his weekend at Hogsmeade with, but instead chose Hoseok. Yoongi, that contrary to his usual standards, hadn’t stopped smiling all day and even bought him a gift. This was not what normal Slytherins did.

Yoongi was a mystery, Hoseok decided. From the outside, he was always sleepy, always unimpressed, and looked like he didn’t care about anything. But when you actually got to know him, you discovered that in reality, his face could show more different emotions than you could think of, and his smile and laughter were two of the best things Hoseok had ever witnessed.

Maybe that was why he kept them hidden to the rest of the world.

Hoseok just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Hey, um, Yoongs?”

The blonde tilted his head, listening.

“Uhm, I was just wondering why you asked me to keep you company, today, instead of, I don’t know, another Slytherin?” Hoseok felt his voice lower with each word, until he pronounced the last words almost shyly, almost in a whisper.

Yoongi seemed genuinely surprised. “Why would I?”

The Hufflepuff really hoped he wasn’t saying something stupid, but he realized how wrong and almost offensive it sounded with every word that came out of his mouth. “Well, you see, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs don’t really go well together. You all actually often only hang out only with people from your House.”

The blonde raised an eyebrow, as to say, “really, Hoseok?”. Then shook his head, a small, resigned smile on his lips. “Okay, I’ll admit, some of them are sort of racist towards other Houses. But some means not all of them, alright? I’m pretty sure Jimin’s at Madam Puddifoot’s with a Gryffindor girl right now.”

Hoseok felt an exhale of relief leave his body when he ensured that Yoongi wasn’t offended or bewildered by his words.

“And just so you know, I chose to spend the day with you because I like being with you, silly. And of course, I wanted to thank you.”

“Yoongi, for the hundredth time, there’s no need to thank me, also because your fear still hasn’t completely vanished, has it?” Hoseok hid his exploding joy behind those words, hoping he had done a good job despite the uncontainable smile on his lips.

Yoongi shrugged, finishing his drink.

The rest of the day passed too quickly. They satisfied Hoseok’s sweet tooth at Honeydukes (“Hoseok, that thing is basically concentrated sugar, what the hell?”) and made a quick stop at Dominic Maestro’s Music Shop, where Hoseok discovered that Yoongi liked to play a Muggle instrument called “piano” (“Yes, but how do you distinguish which key does a particular note? They’re all identical, Yoongs!”).

Hoseok probably fell for Yoongi somewhere along the way.

Yoongi’s cheeks turned permanently pink at a certain point, and Hoseok didn’t know if it was the cold November breeze or something else. He hoped.

Eventually, it was time for them to head back to the castle, and they walked together until their ways separated in the Entrance Hall, where Yoongi had to take the stairs to reach the Slytherin Dungeon. It was pretty late, seeing how they were the only two people in sight.

Hoseok was sad that the afternoon was over. “So, um, thank you for the quill, and all the rest,” he smiled.

Yoongi smiled too, and it was unfair how Hoseok’s knees almost wobbled. The blonde was right in not smiling often, if this was the result when he did. It might have done serious, physical damage if one wasn’t careful. “I’m glad we hung out together.”

“Alright, see you on the pitch? We still need to work on your fears, right?” Hoseok could hear the hope in his voice, but what was the point in hiding it anymore?

“Yes, sure.” They waved goodbye. Hoseok was walking ten inches over the ground while he headed for the Hufflepuff Basement.

-

Some days passed, because Hoseok didn’t want to pass for a stalker or a freak. He missed Yoongi’s company, but he only politely waved at him when they bumped into each other. He was trying to not stare so much. He was being good.

But Yoongi shattered his good intentions when suddenly, one morning, he arrived at breakfast later than usual, sleepier than usual, blonde locks messed up. But the highlight was his shirt, that wasn’t completely buttoned up, the top two or three buttons missing, with no tie in sight, and left his pale neck and a part of his protruding collarbones bare.

Hoseok looked once, then widened his eyes and looked again. He turned his head towards Taehyung, that raised his eyebrows, and then looked at Yoongi for the third time.

“No.” Hoseok was shocked. “No, this is illegal.” He shook his head, trying not to think about how adorable Yoongi was, and how much more he looked like a sleepy kitten.

Taehyung was giggling. “Your snake is attacking you, be careful,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

Hoseok glared at him. “Okay, I’ll go talk to him.”

He was proud of himself because he honoured his promise, and waited until Yoongi finished his breakfast before “casually” bumping into him near the doors of the Great Hall. “Hey, Yoongs.”

He saw the blonde guy near Yoongi raise his eyebrows and look at the other Slytherin in a funny way. Jimin, he assumed.

“Oh, hey Hobi.” Hoseok’s heart was about to jump out of him at the nickname. “Sorry, I heard your friends call you that and I figured… It’s a cute nickname,” he added.

Hoseok wasn’t bothered at all, and smiled even more brightly, then a voice interrupted. “Okay, I’m going to go before you two step up the game. See you in class, Y,” Jimin spoke, a smirk on his face, but he somehow managed not to sound arrogant.

Yoongi just nodded at him, and Hoseok decided that for his own well-being and mentality, that shirt needed to be buttoned up as soon as possible. Unless he didn’t want to speak to Yoongi while staring at his collarbones, which would have been pretty rude.

So, he took matters into his own hands and started popping the two or three buttons back into place. “You should retrieve your tie before going to class.”

Yoongi visibly shivered, and Hoseok couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t that cold inside the Great Hall.

“Oh, I wanted to tell you later anyway, I think I’m ready to go higher,” Yoongi said.

“Are you free tonight?” Hoseok tried, really tried, not to show his excitement.

Yoongi, for his delight, nodded. “See you later.”

-

Hoseok then discovered that Taehyung had observed the entire scene from a distance, and was ready to hit him for spying before the grey-haired Hufflepuff said something that distracted him. “You both are head over hills for each other,” the guy had whispered, trying not to let Professor Flitwick hear him.

Hoseok’s lips formed an o. “Wait, do you really think so?” he started the sentence with his voice too loud, and abruptly lowered it along the way. He felt Flitwick’s warning glare on him while he continued to talk about Summoning Charms.

Taehyung raised his eyebrows. “It’s written on your faces. Also, ‘it’s a cute nickname, Hobi’ and the face you made right after,” Taehyung mocked, and earned an elbow directly on his ribs.

“Seriously though, what face did I make?” Hoseok asked, worried that he had somehow embarrassed himself.

“You just- you just smiled like a kid when it’s Christmas, Hobi,” Taehyung explained, temporarily taking his eyes off the professor where he kept them, to make it seem like he was paying attention, and looked at Hoseok. “And he wasn’t different. Didn’t know Slytherins could smile,” he added.

Hoseok drifted off his train of thoughts, looking at the grass outside the castle through the windows. “Yeah, and what a smile.” Taehyung sighed, shaking his head.

“Mr. Kim and Mr. Jung, clearly Summoning Charms don’t entertain you enough? Have you got something else to suggest to the class?” Professor Flitwick’s voice brought the two back to reality, and they quickly shook their heads and apologized.

-

They met at the field, and Hoseok noticed how Yoongi seemed more active than he was in the morning.

“I slept through History of Magic,” he shrugged when Hoseok pointed it out. “It’s not like Binns would have noticed anyway.” Hoseok agreed. The image of a sleepy Min Yoongi asleep on the desk, head resting over his crossed arms was adorable, he thought.

“Want to ride behind me?” Hoseok suggested, and Yoongi immediately embraced the proposition, climbing on the broomstick. Hoseok took his hands and positioned them on the crests of his hips.

They went up, and up, and up, and Yoongi continued to clutch onto Hoseok tighter, tighter, and tighter, until his head rested on Hoseok’s back. “You alright?” Hoseok felt the need to make sure, and he felt Yoongi’s head moving up and down on his back, so he flew just a little bit higher. He didn’t know how much they were high on the ground anymore, one hundred feet or so, more or less. Higher than last time, for sure.

Apparently, his mind shifted away for a bit – it needed to stop, really – because he didn’t register that Yoongi’s fists, where he was clutching handfuls of Hoseok’s shirt, were trembling. And similarly, his whole body.

“Yoongs, fuck- I’m sorry,” he began to descend, but Yoongi stopped him with a hand on his upper arm.

“It’s fine, just- just give me some time to get comfortable,” he said, but Hoseok wasn’t convinced the slightest bit. His mind was focused on one thing and one only: making Yoongi relax.

He stabilised the broomstick in mid-air, then lifted one leg and made it pass over the wood to join the other on the other side. He repeated the process again, with the other leg, so that he was seated on the broomstick, exactly like one would when flying normally, with the one exception being that he was facing the tail of the broom.

Nothing new for him: he had seriously done worse, more dangerous things atop his Firebolt, and he was able to ride the broom wherever he wanted even in that position. But that time, he focused on keeping it as still as possible, because he didn’t want to make the situation worse for Yoongi.

Yoongi, who was awfully trembling, and clutching his hands together having lost Hoseok’s hips to hold on. Hoseok was immediately flooded with the need to make him feel better, make him relax, anything that would make him stop trembling.

He shifted nearer to him, separated his hands which were scraping ugly hangnails on each other, and put them on his shoulders, around his neck, then wrapped his arms around the other’s chest. He was incredibly cold, even for November weather since he was covered in warm clothes and a thick coat, so Hoseok tried to warm him up. Everyone said Hoseok was always slightly warmer than normal, even in deep winter, and at that moment he was grateful for being such.

“Shh, Yoongs, relax. It’s okay, you’re okay,” he whispered on Yoongi’s ear, and felt him leave a soft exhale. He stroked his back and let him rest his whole weight on him.

After a while, Yoongi brought up his head to look at Hoseok on his own. “Better?” Hoseok asked, still holding him tight.

Yoongi didn’t answer. He didn’t even look like he understood the question, maybe he didn’t even hear it. He just stood there, staring at Hoseok with half-lidded eyes and mouth slightly open.

A sight to see, undoubtedly, but Hoseok still wanted to make sure he was doing better.

So, he opened his mouth again to repeat the question, but Yoongi drew closer and slotted their lips together before he could talk.

It lasted barely a second, and left Hoseok completely, utterly lost in confusion. Only one thing in his head was clear: he wanted to do it again.

And who was Hoseok to go against his own mind? He brought Yoongi closer, tightening his arms around him, and kissed him, again, and again.

Pouty lips like his were a dream to kiss. Soft, bouncy, and adorable even if they weren’t the plumpiest. Hoseok felt warmth seep inside him, inside his very bones, and radiate from his body at the same time.

Somehow, Yoongi moved even closer, until he was basically sitting on Hoseok’s lap, legs hanging from either side of the broomstick. He tickled the skin of Hoseok’s nape, making the short red hairs there straighten up.

Hoseok cupped the blonde’s jaw and tilted his head up, parting his lips in the process, and wasted no time in deepening the kiss. It turned sloppy, a mess of tongues playing together, the two of them eager to get as close to the other as possible.

They were there, up in the sky, hidden in plain sight. Everyone could see them, if only they raised their heads, but they would have probably seen only a black dot vaguely shaped like someone riding a broomstick.

Yoongi was short of breath when they parted, panting heavily, and Hoseok wasn’t much better. His cheeks had reached a deep shade of pink that really, really* suited him. He nervously coughed, looking even cuter in Hoseok’s eyes.

“So, uhm... are you feeling better?” Hoseok honestly didn’t know what to say.

Yoongi swallowed before talking, his gaze on the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. “Better? Amazing, Hoseok, amazing is what I’m feeling.”

Hoseok stroked his thumb on the blonde’s cheek, unable to do anything but smile.

-

“So, uhm, do you want to keep seeing each other?” Yoongi blurted out in their way back towards the castle.

“As in ‘date each other’? Because if it’s what you mean, I’m definitely down for that.”

Yoongi smiled. Hoseok wished he could see that smile on the other’s face forever.

Suddenly, he didn’t hate snakes anymore. Not that one, at least.

But he never hated him in the first place, he remembered.