Chapter Text
Jeno had been running through the corridors for a good twenty minutes now, looking for some "Lee Donghyuck". He didn't know what he looked like, but the description he was given was pretty much all he needed to know in order to recognize the unknown boy. It was past midnight and he was missing in the common room. The light coming from his wand was bothering the moving portraits, men and women groaning as they covered their face ; he knew it, felt slightly sorry even. If only he had had the Marauder's map, it would have been much easier. But, as expected, the item was impossible to find. Lost, perhaps.
Where is he? He thought with a heavy sigh, his brows furrowed in annoyance. Why would he sneak out like that? Now it was Jeno's fault for not noticing someone was missing, and he had to fix it. He could hear miss Mcgonagall's words in his brain : "If you don't find the boy, Gryffindor will lose a significant amount of points Mr. Lee." Great, really great. His house was already a mess, barely getting any points, and now they were about to lose the few they had won.
"Young boy, what are you doing, you need to sleep." A portrait mumbled, visibly annoyed too. "Is this an habit for Gryffindor's boys? Sneaking out in the middle of the night."
He didn't need to say more for Jeno to stop in his track, turning around faster than ever. "You saw another boy ?" He asked, hope shining in his eyes.
"Of course I did ! And he wasn't alone, he was with this beautiful boy from Slytherin, a prefect if I remember well ? Oh, they were loud, it woke me up." Jeno rolled his eyes, a familiar face erupting in his mind. Of course it had to be him.
"Na Jaemin." He growled before turning his attention back to the painting. "Do you know where they went, perhaps?" His voice was much smoother, trying hard to conceal his anger. Na Jaemin was troublesome, really, he was everywhere and was always bothering everyone. Jeno had heard story about him that made him roll his eyes too many times ; this boy seemed to be a pain in the ass. He was glad he wasn't his friend.
"I think they went ouside, probably stargazing if you want my opinion. I would too, if I could. You know-"
"Yeah, great, thank you very much, I need to go now." Jeno interrupted, speed walking next to the talkative portrait and making his way to the nearest exit. Donghyuck was going to die, Jeno was going to murder him. This way, he wouldn't sneak out with the most annoying Slytherin in the entire castle. Jeno couldn't believe his luck, having to see Jaemin's irritating face this late at night when all he wanted to do was jump in his bed and drift to sleep.
Once the black-haired boy was out, he regretted his decision. The wind was cold, which made sense considering the fact that they were in January. Thankfully, it did not snow, but it was still freezing. Jeno hated it, he liked better the hot summer of California, the hot but heavy weather of Vietnam during august. This, he hated. But he had to do it, he had to walk and find the duo before they would go anywhere else. If he were to miss them, Jeno would probably lose his mind, his sanity. He was not going to chase them around the castle in the middle of the night, he was not in the mood.
The Gryffindor boy kept walking, anxiously looking around, trying to find the two boys. He made his way near the lake, somewhere fairly popular for the students, and here they were. He could see them, standing near the water, giggling happily. The moon was shining on Jaemin's face, and for a moment Jeno thought he looked innocent, beautiful too. Shaking his head, he walked faster, his steps breaking branches, making quite a lot of noise in the silent night. They were bound to notice him, and Jeno didn't care the slightest.
Two heads turned his way, Donghyuck's eyes opening wide once he realized who was coming their way. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god Jaemin I'm fucked." The Gryffindor prefect could hear him say in a panicked voice, his hands coming to grab his head for a split moment. Yeah right, you should start panicking.
"It's not like he can say anything, you're with me after all, I'm a prefect as well." Jaemin announced, proud of himself, but ended up getting a look from his friend.
"It doesn't matter, you're the Slytherin prefect, you're not my prefect !"
As they were bickering, Jeno finally arrived next to them, grabbing onto the other Gryffindor's arm. "You, you go to our common room and go to sleep. We will talk about it tomorrow morning so don't sleep in. We almost lost points because of your stupidity. Stop being so reckless, and stop hanging out with such persons. He has a bad influence on you."
Donghyuck didn't really feel like talking, actually, he simply nodded, almost running away from Jeno and the dark aura that was emitting from him. Jeno was pissed, no, it was an understatement. Jeno was worse than pissed ; he was tired and mad, knew he still had to scold the boy the next morning. And on top of that, in front of him, was none other than Na Jaemin.
The Slytherin boy looked entertained, amused. He had this stupid smile plastered on his face, a smile that said : You hate me right? I know, I'm fine with it. I love bothering innocent people who only want to live their life.
Jeno was clearly losing his mind, his veins boiling with anger. He hated Na Jaemin, he was sure of it now. It was the first time he ever saw him this close, and even though he was indeed very attractive, the Gryffindor couldn't help but want to punch his face. Crazy what a random boy could make him feel.
"He didn't tell you we were going stargazing I presume ?" Asked the Slytherin in the nicest voice he could use. It only got on Jeno's nerves.
"No, he didn't. You, as a prefect, should have told me you were going to take a Gryffindor student with you. That's irresponsible." Jeno managed to say through his anger, a stern look on his face, jaw clenched and eyes darker than usual.
Jaemin on the other side, seemed to enjoy this whole argument, his arms crossed on his chest. He was staring at Jeno, a very tiny smile lingering on his lips. He wasn't going to lie, he found Jeno very handsome, even hot, at the moment.
"You're quite hot right now." It slipped out of Jaemin's mouth, which wasn't surprising when you knew how honest Slytherins could be. Jeno, on the other hand, was extremely shocked, at a loss for words.
"E-excuse me?" The poor boy stuttered, his eyes wide with lack of understanding. He wanted to punch him so bad, it was driving him wild. It seemed that Jaemin was the only one who could make him feel that way, and it was a little scary.
"I think you heard me just well. You look hot when you're mad. It's a pity you like girls." Jaemin started, confidence radiating around him, creating an aura that could only belong to a Slytherin. "But, if I'm not wrong, you're single now, right? Didn't your girlfriend break up with you? You had a lot of girlfriends throughout the years, I'm impress-."
"Shut. the. fuck. up." Jeno cut him off, taking a few steps toward him. Jeno and Jaemin were around the same height, but in this moment, Jeno was incredibly intimidating, even for the brown-haired boy who honestly had to prevent himself from squealing. Deranged.
Laughing nervously, probably because he didn't want to be hit, Jaemin put his hands in front of him. "Calm down, I was only joking." Not really, but please don't hurt my face...
Jeno suddenly stopped, his eyes falling on Jaemin. He seemed to have lost his confidence, and it might have boosted Jeno's ego. There wasn't really a reason to be mad either anyways ; his girlfriend did break up with him. He didn't even love her, why was he overreacting?
"Yeah right." Jeno mumbled, his body relaxing. "Anyways, the next time you take Donghyuck with you to... watch the stars, tell me. It's a pain to have to come all the way here." He concluded, but as he was about to turn around, a hand grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could go away.
"Don't you want to see the stars ? I mean... You're already here and you made my friend go. I don't want to watch them on my own. It's no fun." Jaemin explained, eyes barely on Jeno. He seemed shy, or maybe it was all an act ; which could totally be. Jaemin did take some drama classes.
Silence fell around them. Jeno didn't know what to answer, somehow being too nice to say no. It was true, because of him Jaemin was on his own. Finally, he sighed, giving up. "Fine." Jaemin's face immediately lit up, and if it hadn't been Lee Jeno right in front of him, he would have probably jumped on him to give him a hug.
The duality of Na Jaemin.
The both of them decided to sit down near the lake, eyes fixed on the sky as a comfortable silence fell around them. All anger and hatred was gone. Jaemin seemed relaxed, calm. He had lost his cockiness, his snarky remarks. It felt odd to Jeno, sometimes glancing at the younger. But Jeno didn't know something very important : Jaemin had had his eyes on the other prefect for a while now.
Jaemin was calmly sitting down in the bleacher of the stadium, watching a quidditch match. He couldn't believe he was there, that he had decided to follow his friends.
Well, technically, he didn't follow, he was grabbed and forced to follow. And if he were to be honest, he was crazy annoyed because of it. Why did he need to be there? Watching a stupid Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. He already knew Gryffindor was going to win ; they had this player, Lee Jeno, prefect if he remembered well, and he was their lucky charm. If he played, they won. Even Jaemin knew that, even though he didn't know what the boy looked like.
He truly didn't, until Donghyuck pointed at one boy on a flying broom. Black hair, quite tall, quite handsome too. "It's Jeno !" His friend shouted with excitement but Jaemin was unable to answer anything.
"Nana ?"
Jaemin hadn't realized, but he was staring. His cheeks warmed up ; he was caught.
"Oh my god Na Jaemin ! Don't tell me you find Lee Jeno cute ?" Jaemin hurriedly shook his head, laughing slightly.
"Don't be dumb Hyuck, I don't find people cute. I never do."
"Yeah, right, you scared me for a moment." The red haired said with a laugh, pushing his friend's shoulder. "He isn't into boys anyways."
"Oh." Simply said the other, his eyes finding Jeno once again.
Sounds like a challenge.
After that, Jaemin couldn't help but notice when the Gryffindor was around, he couldn't help but think about him from times to times, should he talk to him ? No, it was a bad idea. Hyuck was going to tease him for that, too. Jaemin decided he should just date other boys and stare from afar.
Jeno couldn't help but think about all the things he had heard about Jaemin. Were they all true ? As his eyes fell on the other boy sitting right next to him, his face beautifully illuminated by the moonlight, he decided that maybe, he could give him a chance. He didn't seem that bad, especially with his mouth shut. But why did he hear all of these things, then ? Rumors could be made up, but not that many...
"Na Jaemin is dating another boy, again. He changes boyfriend every week I swear." Jeno's best friend, Mark (another Gryffindor), said one day as they were studying in the library.
"Who ?" Jeno muttered, his eyebrows furrowed. The name felt familiar, but he couldn't put a face on it.
"Na Jaemin. Slytherin's prefect. Light brown hair, big brown eyes, very pretty for a boy." Mark tried to describe, but Jeno didn't seem to see who he was talking about.
Right on cue, the figure of the said boy appeared in the library, his hands sunk into his pockets. He clearly didn't belong in a library, but it was whatever.
"Him !" Mark said a little too loud for Jeno's liking, getting everyone's attention. As a reflex, the prefect let his face fall in his hands. He hated attention, especially in those kind of moments. Letting his fingers move so he could see through them, he glanced rapidly at the said boy.
Wow, he was indeed very beautiful. Almost like a girl. That's what Jeno thought, but he soon shook his head, blushing a little. What was he thinking ? It was a boy. A boy.
Mark removed his friend's hands from his face, rolling his eyes. "Come on, no need to be shy, nobody heard what I said."
Mark was truly clueless sometimes, it helped Jeno a lot in this moment. At least he didn't think his friend was blushing because he did think that this Jaemin boy was cute.
[A few weeks later]
Jeno was laying on his bed, thinking. The other boys of the dorms were talking very loudly, one of them complaining.
"I swear he made me feel so safe and I thought he was in love with me I-I'm such an idiot. I can't believe I didn't listen to you guys. You knew Jaemin was a dick and I didn't want to believe you and look at me now. He played me, broke my heart, and he already is with someone else. I'm so stupid."
Jeno was listening closely. Jaemin ? Sounded familiar... Wait... Na Jaemin ?
He sat up on his bed, eyes falling on the group of boys. They all turned their attention to him, the boy who was talking and visibly crying staring at him with a very small smile.
"You're so lucky Jeno, you like girls. You don't have to care about players like Na Jaemin. Stupid Slytherin."
As an answer, the black-haired boy simply laughed, letting himself fall back in his bed. He was now busy staring at the ceiling.
So Jaemin was a dick ? Interesting. Clearly, his looks didn't made him look mean at all. He looked like an angel, his smile was bright and his laugh sounded like heaven. Jeno had realized that because ever since that day at the library, his eyes would wander to find Jaemin. He didn't know why he had developed a kind of obsession, but clearly, it was about to become hatred.
This boy was a nightmare, he knew it.
As weeks went by, he heard more and more stories about this boy. How nasty he could get, how rude and mean he was acting. How did he even manage to be prefect ? It was a mystery, but what was for sure was that Jeno didn't want anything to do with this Slytherin boy. And if he were to cross path with him, he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to hold back his anger. After all, this boy had hurt so many people, he deserved to hurt too.
"Jeno ?" Jaemin interrupted the memories of the other prefect.
Then, Jeno realized. He had been staring. All this time, he had been staring at Jaemin. Blushing hard, the boy turned his face toward the sky. Thank god it was dark, Jaemin probably couldn't see his red cheeks, could he ?
"Are you okay ?" Jaemin asked, worry painted on his face. Jeno, next to him, sighed heavily.
"Yes I am Jaemin, can we please watch these goddamn stars in silence, I don't feel like talking to you."
To say that Jaemin was taken aback was an understatement. He had his mouth opened in a "O" shape, as if he was going to talk. But no words were able to make their way through his throat.
It took him a whole minute to recover, before he regained his composure. His very Slytherin composure. Glaring at Jeno, he turned to him completely.
"What the fuck ? Do you have a problem with me ? 'Cause if you do you better tell me right now. I'm not here to deal with your mood swings." It was now Jeno's turn to be taken aback, his face turning to the side in order to make eye contact with Jaemin.
"You want to know what's my fucking problem ? You're out there making everyone around you suffer, you make them cry and hurt, and you don't even bat an eyelash. You're not even a little sorry for all of these boys ? How did you even become prefect ? How can someone this useless and cruel be a prefect ? You're everything but a role model Na Jaemin. I hope that you are aware of how miserable you look. Did you lack of that much love during your childhood ? Do you really have to behave like this ? Like a child ? How can your parents even look at you, you are a disappointment."
Jeno was out of breath, his eyes were dark and he felt so angry it was overwhelming. Jeno usually didn't care about other's business, it wasn't his place to say anything, but he had seen boys from his house cry over this damn boy. And here he was, playing innocent. Jeno's heart was beating so fast, it felt so different.
Jaemin though, on the other hand, was completely still. He had broken the eye contact, and his eyes were staring at the grass. It was so dark outside, Jeno couldn't tell what expression he had on his face. He was scared to know, too.
It wasn't Jeno, these words weren't Jeno. He was never mean, he could barely kill a bug, and here he was, being the meanest to a boy he barely knew.
"You say I'm a disappointment but what would you be then ? You're not a disappointment ? Did you hear yourself ? You don't know me and yet you feel so brave, saying things you don't understand." Jaemin finally spoke, in a very low voice. "To say that- To say-."
"To say what ?" Jeno asked, trying to look at Jaemin's face. This attempt was a failure, he couldn't see a thing, and it made him worry (a little). "And for fuck's sake please look at me instead of hiding."
Slowly, Jaemin raised his head. And as a consequence, Jeno's heart stopped beating. Jaemin had an unreadable expression on his face, his eyes had lost their shine. He looked somewhere between sad and angry, but also empty.
"To say that I actually find you cute and that ever since your quidditch match in September." The Slytherin said loud enough for the other boy to hear him. "But you're just as bad as me. And I wouldn't date myself."
Jeno almost choked on his saliva, blushing even more before rolling his eyes. (Why was he even blushing, it clearly wasn't a situation where he should have been blushing. Weirdo.) "I'm not as bad as you, I'm just honest. That's how you look. Well, not look, because you look really cute and angelic and all so more like... That's how you make yourself look, how you behave. Because as I said you clearly look too good to be true and-"
"You find me cute?" Jaemin said and, oh god, Jeno wished he had stayed quiet instead of rambling.
"N-No, wait, that's not what I said." Jeno tried to save himself, his hands coming to his face, hiding himself. Idiot, you are an idiot Lee Jeno.
"But I clearly heard you say, I quote, 'You look really cute AND angelic'." And Jeno knew that if he were to look at the prefect he would see a shit-eating grin on his lips.
"Good night Jaemin." The black-haired one got up, soon followed by the other one.
"Jeno do you really hate me that bad?"
The said boy had to stop for a moment, his eyes scanning the wide sky and the beautiful stars.
"I don't think I hate you. I just got angry and I talked without thinking, I'm sorry Jaemin I shouldn't have said that."
"I deserved it."
"No you don't. Nobody does."
"Jeno I didn't mean what I said either."
"I know."
He huffed. "How would you know."
"Jaemin stop behaving like this."
"Like what?"
"Like you're scared of people finding out that you're a nice guy."
Jaemin stopped breathing for a few seconds, his hands shaking very slightly. How did Jeno read him this easily? A chill ran down his spine.
"Jeno." Turning to Jaemin, he smiled for the first time this night and Jaemin almost melted right on the spot. "Would you go on a date with me ?"
Visibly panicked, Jeno shook his head, eyes wide opened. "Jaemin I'm not-I'm- I can't, I don't like boys ? I don't-"
"It's okay Jeno, I don't want you to come out or anything. Just, let's hang out together and get to know each other ?"
Nodding slowly, the Gryffindor smiled again, but this time shyly. "Okay, see you, then."
"Wait a second." the Slytherin prefect mumbled, getting closer to the other boy. "Don't hate me, but I'm just thankful, so you know..." Next thing Jeno knew, Jaemin's lips were on his burning cheek. "Thank you for being honest with me. Now I gotta go."
Jaemin seemed as flustered as Jeno, making his way to the castle, his cheeks on fire.
And here was Jeno, standing alone in the dark, questioning his entire life. Jaemin was such a flirt, the biggest flirt Jeno had ever met. He made the boy uncomfortable, his heart skipping beats.
"What am I doing? Oh my god-" He facepalmed, quite hard actually, groaning because it did hurt. "Go to sleep Jeno. You need sleep."
That night, Jeno and Jaemin kept thinking. Jaemin couldn't help but think about all the things the Gryffindor had said. And Jeno couldn't help but think about the way Jaemin's lips felt against his cheek. How would it feel to kiss-
"Oh my god-" Another facepalm.
"Jeno please, just sleep you've been facepalming for the past ten minutes and it's 2 in the morning !" A boy in the room complained.
"Sorry. Goodnight." Jaemin was going to be the end of him.