Magic Storm: For the Sake of Love
Jun. 17th, 2017 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matsu1ninoTitle: For the Sake of Love
Pairing: Matsumiya, Junba
Genre: AU, Crack
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: In their sixth year at Hogwarts, Nino fears a lack of attention from Jun will mean the end of their relationship. Luckily Aiba has a solution.
Author's Note: Happy Birthday Nino! May you forever remain everyone's favourite brat.
Nino gave a deep, tiresome sounding sigh and stretched himself out further on the table he was presently sprawled across. With one hand reaching ahead of him, the other propping up his head to keep it from hitting the hard wood of the benchtop, he twisted his body around in its seat in conjunction to the whine which sounded from his close lips fixed in a pout.
Aiba looked on from where he sat on top of the table beside him. The two of them were lazing about in the Recreation Hall, having had nothing better to do on this leisurely weekend morning; studying for the upcoming examinations was the last thing on their minds. Both humoured and put off by his Slytherin friend’s recent demeanour, Aiba felt torn the longer he watched him as to how he was supposed to react to this increasingly common behaviour. It had been close to a fortnight since he first noticed Nino’s less than subtle whinging regarding the lack of attention he’d been receiving from his boyfriend. Repeated claims that Jun no longer loved him, that he valued his responsibilities to the school more than he did Nino and that they were as good as broken up now were all things Aiba, Sho and Ohno had heard on a regular basis over the past two weeks. Aiba knew he was speaking for all his friends in saying he was sick of it. The pouty expression currently plastered across Nino’s features as he continued to slump against the table was one he’d constantly seen throughout these two weeks, so much so that Aiba was prepared to say it had become a permanent fixture on his friend’s face.
“He’s ignoring me,” Nino sulked. Aiba tried not to roll his eyes. He was all for being supportive but he had known the other boy for many years and knew when he was being melodramatic for the sake of attention. With his boyfriend otherwise preoccupied, it was clear Nino was willing to receive that attention from anyone else he could find.
When Nino sighed again, Aiba reached out to give him a consoling pat on the shoulder.
“Matsujun’s just busy,” he reminded him. “He and Sho-chan are prefects so of course they don’t have much time.”
Nino grumbled something incoherent in a bitter tone and turned his face away so that it was buried in the arm he lay upon. He couldn’t expect anyone else to understand. Jun wasn’t just busy; he was never around. Any time Nino even came close to getting some private time with him, his boyfriend would be whisked away for one reason or another. It was always with an apologetic smile and a weak promise of catching up another time, but Nino had quickly come the realization that said promise would never be fulfilled. He had tried on many occasions to seduce Jun—to tempt him so that he might forgo whatever responsibilities he was supposed to undertake just for a few minutes so they would be able to enjoy each other’s tantalizing presence like they used to—but every one of those attempts had ended in failure.
With each futile effort he’d made, Nino began to notice there was a common reason behind the majority of his boyfriend’s absences. The most recent of his encounters with Jun made this clear enough.
---
It was with a confident swagger that Nino entered the almost entirely deserted Study Hall. A reliable source by the name of Ohno Satoshi had tipped him off that the man he was searching for could be found within these four walls. The moment he arrived, Nino saw for himself this was indeed true. Jun was the only one inside the hall; a lone figure seated at one of many empty elongated tables. It appeared he did not notice Nino’s company at first, too immersed in the notes he was scribbling down from one of the textbooks piled to his right. Nino gave a grin and sauntered over. He wrapped his arms around Jun’s neck and coyly leaned down so that his nose rubbed against the other boy’s cheek ever so lightly. He felt Jun shiver slightly under the feather-light touch and wisp of air exhaled against his neck. Nino’s smile grew, his mouth hovering just above the underneath of Jun’s jaw as his head moved back instinctively in reaction to the smaller guy’s advances.
“Studying hard as always,” whispered Nino. His tongue dared to poke out from between his teeth, not touching the skin but being held close enough so that Jun could feel it’s teasing heat. “You’re well deserving of a break.”
Jun stifled an agreeable moan when Nino gripped his earlobe gently between his teeth and gave it a playful nibble. Opening his eyes, his gaze met with Nino’s for a fraction of a second before he pushed the other boy away and turned back to the books laid out in front of him.
“I can’t.” There was a definite underlying disappointment in Jun’s tone, though his eyes never left the page of the notes he continued to write. “Thanks to some first years making my life a living hell, I’ve been swamped with prefect duties and haven’t had time to study for exams at all. This is the only free period I have all week. Sorry, Kazu.”
Nino glared at his boyfriend. A part of him hoped if he did so for long enough Jun would turn back and give him the attention he was so desperately craving, but in the back of his mind he knew that Jun would not. He could practically see how tense the other boy was due to the stress of exams and prefect duties. If Jun were to turn around, Nino wouldn’t be surprised if it was to tell him to quit behaving like a spoiled brat and to stop distracting him. It made him frown just thinking about it. With one last hard stare in the Gryffindor’s direction, Nino huffed loudly and stormed out of the hall.
It was later that evening after classes had concluded for the day and dinner was being served that Jun approached Nino. The Slytherin had only just left the Great Hall after what had been a very short meal and was making his way back to his common room when a familiar voice called his name from behind. Nino turned to see Jun hurrying after him. Once he had caught up to him, Jun took him by the arm and led him off to the side of the corridor. The moonlight poured down from the sky and flooded the courtyard, illuminating the open stone passage they stood by. Jun reached out his hand to stroke Nino’s porcelain skin, made paler by the evening light bathing their bodies from above. A gentle smile formed on Jun’s face.
“I know we haven’t been able to spend much time together of late.” Jun kept his voice soft like a whisper only Nino could hear, though they stood alone. “But I have some time now before patrols start.”
The heat between their bodies swelled and intensified. Nino felt his back hit the stone as he unconsciously took a step backwards when Jun’s arm hit the wall behind them as if to trap them both, a fluttering warmth filling his stomach. Jun pressed closer. The moon caused a strange and eerie light to be reflected off his eyes before a shadow was cast over them, the sudden darkness and lust making Nino lightheaded. It felt like so long since they’d last shared in a passionate moment such as this.
“Allow me to make it up to you.”
The words echoed but were lost in Nino’s subconscious as Jun leant down to connect their lips. There was no hesitance or reacquainting; no gentle touches or teasing of any sort. There was no time for anything more than quick, burning passion. Time was against them and they had not nearly enough of it to be able to do all the things Nino wished to do. He wanted nothing more than to tear the robes from each other’s bodies and to be taken by his lover right here right now in the middle of the courtyard as they once did, but such a fantasy was impossible.
Time was not just against them; it was non-existent. A raucous cry and resounding crash from the other side of the courtyard was all it took to ruin the moment. The kiss was broken by the startling sound, the two of them pulling away from one another as they searched the area for the source of the disruptive noise. A dark figure ran through the opposite passageway. The moonlight caught on the silver and green of their robes and flashed across their face just enough for Jun to be able to make out the features of young man. The Gryffindor gave an exasperated sigh when he recognized him as Marius, the same first year who had been causing him grief for far too long. Any time Jun confronted the young boy, he suddenly became respectful and well-mannered, and when Jun had mentioned him to the other prefects at their last meeting, no one else reported any instances of troublemaking. For this reason Jun wasn’t sure what to make of the boy. If he didn’t know any better he’d assume Marius was causing trouble for no other reason than to gain his attention.
Jun clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned to Nino. He could tell from the look on the smaller guy’s face that he already knew exactly what Jun was going to say. He was turned away, his posture stiff while his expression was set with resentment.
“I have to go.”
“He’s not even from your house,” Nino said with a growl.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s my job as a prefect to maintain order in the hallways,” Jun reminded him. He let his gaze soften before he stepped forward to give Nino an apologetic kiss. “We’ll continue later, promise.”
Nino said nothing as he watched his boyfriend’s retreating back, his hand raising unconsciously to brush against his lips where Jun’s parting kiss lingered. He knew of the first year Jun was going after to reprimand. Belonging to the same house, Nino had borne witness to the usually good-natured kid a couple of times. At first he’d thought nothing much of him, until he had overheard a few interesting conversations Marius had been having with his friends and finally came to the understanding of why someone with his apparent personality was placed in the serpent house. To think that a first year like him was actually trying to gain attention from his boyfriend—the very thought of it made Nino’s blood boil. He couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else being with his Jun and while the sane part of his brain was calmly reminding him that Jun would have no interest in a first year, seeing his boyfriend walk away from him in such a way with increasing frequency, Nino could not help feeling as though he was slipping away from him.
---
“Three years,” Nino grumbled. He was still leaning across the table but was now sitting properly in his chair, his upper body flopped forward with his head resting on his folded arms. His chin dug into his forearm while his head bobbed up and down with every word he uttered. “We’ve been together for three years, Masaki. What do I do? What if he doesn’t love me anymore?”
“He does! I’m sure of it.” Aiba’s voice was as optimistic as ever but for Nino in his current state it sounded nothing short of patronizing. There was a second of deafening silence as Aiba suddenly went quiet before he spoke again, this time in a manner quite cunning and puckish. “Perhaps you just need a way to remind him.”
Nino glanced up with a look of mild suspicion and immediately recognized the expression his friend wore as the one he did whenever he thought up one of his crazy and usually dangerous ideas. Nino narrowed his eyes.
“What are you thinking?”
Aiba gave a wicked grin and leapt off the table. He grabbed Nino by the wrist and dragged his unwitting friend from the Recreation Hall through the castle, down the spiralled staircase to the dungeons located at the bottom of the Left Viaduct Tower. Nino protested loudly the entire time but Aiba only increased their pace until they were running hand in hand through the corridors. They stopped once they had reached the entranceway to the Potions classroom.
“Let go of me!” Nino snapped as he wrenched his hand out of his friend’s constricting grip. He stared up at the door they were standing outside of. “Why are we here?”
Still Aiba would not say what he was planning, though his smile had grown wider now that they were there. He removed his wand from his robes and pointed it at the keyhole before whispering a simple unlocking charm. There was a quiet click, followed by a creak of rusted hinges as Aiba pushed the door open and entered with much excitement. He capered across the room over to the cabinet full of flasks containing an assortment of different concoctions. Nino followed him at a wary pace. Potions was not a subject he had decided on taking for his senior years at Hogwarts but his friend had, and they’d spent more than enough classes together in this very room over the years for Nino to know what Aiba was capable of when he got his hands on just about any potion ingredients. He watched from a reasonable distance as Aiba hexed the cabinet open and removed a single vial containing a strange liquid glistening with a mother-of-pearl sheen.
“Here!” Aiba smiled brightly as he presented the flask to Nino, who took it somewhat hesitantly.
It wasn’t long before curiosity won out and Nino uncapped the flask to take a quick whiff of the iridescent brew. Almost immediately his senses were overwhelmed by an intoxicating and seductive fragrance beyond anything his mind could comprehend. It smelt of melon pan and violets and a comforting scent of nostalgia that somehow reminded him of home. His breathing slowed as he inhaled deeply, allowing the exquisite scent to fill him entirely. Never before had he felt such utter bliss.
“What is this?” Nino breathed, still lost in the ecstasy the potion’s aroma had brought about.
“Amortentia,” said Aiba. He was holding his nose as he reached over to put the stopper back in the flask before Nino had the chance to drink it. “A love potion. Professor Ogura showed it to us last week. It’s said to smell differently to each person depending on what attracts them.”
The scent faded and Nino blinked repeatedly as though to remove an invisible haze that had been clouding his vision. He nodded at his friend in acknowledgement of what he’d said.
“You can use this to remind Jun-kun that he loves you.” Aiba closed Nino’s hand around the vial. “Put it in his drink and when he sees you he’ll fall in love with you all over again.”
A voice sounded in the back of Nino’s mind telling him not to listen to Aiba as it warned him of everything that could go wrong with this plan, yet he refused to listen to it. While he knew drugging his own boyfriend with a love potion could be considered an extreme measure, he didn’t care. He was tired of Jun not making time for him and needed something, no matter how extravagant, to remind him of their relationship. A love potion seemed as good a solution as any. But there was one small problem.
“You need to be the one to slip him the potion,” Nino told Aiba, who stared in disbelief at his sudden request. When he opened his mouth to protest, Nino cut him off. “I can’t. After giving him those chocolate covered mimid drops as a present for Valentine’s Day, he doesn’t accept anything I give him anymore.”
“You gave him mimid drops?” Aiba could barely contain his laughter.
Mimid drops were some of his favourite sweets. He loved that they were able to make a person sound like a certain animal or object depending on which colour confection they ate. In the past Aiba had even experimented on how long the sounds would last if one consumed a consecutive number of the same coloured drops.
Nino nodded, a proud smirk playing on his lips. “He was barking like a dog for about ten minutes but now he doesn’t trust any gift that comes from me. So you need to be the one to put the potion in his drink, otherwise he won’t drink it. Besides, you just said so long as I’m the one he’s looking at he’ll fall in love with me so who cares if it’s you who does it.”
“I don’t know.” Aiba sounded hesitant but when he met his friend’s gaze and he saw the pleading glint of his eyes, he nodded in agreement. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
---
Nino kept his expression level and unreadable as he entered The Three Broomsticks with Jun in tow, having guilt tripped his boyfriend into coming to make up for blowing him off the past fortnight. Though clearly feeling pressed for time, it was obvious Jun truly did feel guilty for the lack of time he had been able to spend with Nino and that he wanted to make up for it by being with him now. The two of them slipped into a booth situated deeper in the inn and quickly put their order in for two butterbeers. Nino made certain to sit facing the bar while he kept an eye out for Aiba. He had spotted his friend on the second floor almost as soon as they’d entered and had been sure to divert Jun’s attention so that he would not spot him as well. While it would not seem out of the ordinary to run into one of their friends here, Nino did not want to risk Aiba giving the plan away. They had only had one shot at this.
As Jun attempted to make small talk with him, an excuse or two mixed in with a constant stream of apologies for not having made time for each other until now, Nino kept Aiba in his line of sight. He watched behind Jun as his friend fulfilled his intended role. He scurried down the stairs and made a beeline over to the bar where their drinks were being prepared. While Nino could not hear the conversation occurring between Aiba and the bartender, he did catch sight of his friend leaning over when the man turned his back for but a second to deal with another customer to pour the glistening contents of a familiar vial into the beer on the left.
With the potion now distributed, Nino did not dare to take his eye off the glass in question. The last thing he wanted was to mistake them for one another and end up drinking the potion himself. He wasn’t sure what would happen if someone drank a love potion they themselves had intended for someone else, but he was not keen to find out.
The drinks were brought over and placed down. Nino chewed the inside of his mouth knowing the one with the potion was not in front of Jun.
“Did they change the brew?” Jun asked, staring at the beer with his eyebrows furrowed in question. Traces of citrus, fabric softener and yakiniku were all reaching his nose. “It smells different.”
Shrugging off his question, Nino tried not to react to the same scent he’d smelt when Aiba first showed him the Amortentia now emanating fragrantly but subtly from the glass set in front of him. He stared hard at his boyfriend’s drink.
“I want that one,” he demanded in as childish a manner as possible. He gave a pout and pointed at Jun’s glass. “It has more foam.”
Jun looked baffled as he stared at the glass, lowering his gaze to examine the level of froth before comparing it to the other drink. He didn’t look convinced but when Nino huffed and turned away to sulk, he gave a kind smile.
“I didn’t realize you liked the foam so much,” he teased as he switched their glasses around. A relieved smile tugged on the end of Nino’s lips but he forced it back. “Whilst that wasn’t exactly the most convincing way of showing it, you know I’d do anything to make you happy, Kazu.”
The words struck Nino harder than he thought they should have and a nervous feeling suddenly formed in the pit of his stomach. Regret swarmed his mind; his confidence was lost as his desire to go through with this plan disintegrated in an instant. Jun took hold of the handle of his glass and held it up towards his boyfriend as if to make a toast. Nino quietly raised his glass in return. His head was a mess. He didn’t know what to do—should he scream at Jun not to drink or let things play out as originally intended? Whatever decision he was going to make was taken out of his hands when Jun brought the glass to his lips and took in a mouthful of the golden liquid spiked with love potion. Nino watched nervously, clutching his own drink with both hands. He could not even breathe with how tight his throat felt.
As if time had slowed, he waited anxiously in the agonizingly drawn out moment for Jun to drink and for the potion to take effect. The world resumed its normal speed the instant he swallowed and then appeared to speed up as the potion came under effect. In the blink of an eye, Nino saw Jun’s complexion pale dramatically. His healthy aura vanished under an inexplicable sickly guise. His eyes too had changed; with pupils dilated and unfocused, staring blankly ahead of him as his lips parted in a goofy smile. Concerned and beginning to truly regret what he’d done, Nino couldn’t help feeling as though his boyfriend was staring through him rather than at him. He moved to try and get back into Jun’s line of vision, waving his hand in front of the other guy’s face in an attempt to snap him out of his trance.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Jun?”
“I’m much better than okay, I think I’m in love.” Even his voice sounded different, Nino noticed. It seemed brighter than usual, with a slightly deranged undertone.
In spite of the changes Nino was slightly relieved to know that the love potion had at least worked as anticipated. Jun stretched his neck back as he observed his entire surroundings of the inn, taking in every corner of the two levels. When he turned back to face Nino, finally making direct eye contact with him, the words that sounded from his mouth shook the smaller guy to his very core. “Where’s Masaki?”
Nino’s mouth fell open even as Jun continued to look around in a daze. “What?” he exclaimed. Jun glanced back at him. His smile fell and was replaced by an innocently confused expression.
“What?”
“Masaki?” Nino seethed. He looked on in horror as Jun’s spirits perked up once more and he spun around in his seat with a loud cry of “where?”
Aiba, having heard his name being shouted from across the inn glanced over at the booth containing his two friends. After catching sight of the furious glare on Nino’s face as he shot daggers at him from across the tavern, Aiba gulped nervously and made for the door. Seeing his attempt to leave, Jun scrambled up out of the booth and raced after him, leaving his boyfriend stranded and feeling as confused as he was angry.
No matter how many times the moment played over in his mind, Nino couldn’t make sense of it. The love potion was supposed to make Jun fall back in love with him. Aiba told him the potion would work so long as it was Nino who Jun saw first, which he was certain he was. Clearly his friend was very much mistaken in the effects of the powerful infatuation potion and it was safe to say Nino might very well kill Aiba if and when he saw his best friend next. But before he planned how to murder him, Nino needed to fix this mess they had created together. The realization that he knew nothing about this particular potion was ringing through his head—he cursed himself for not having taken Potions as a subject this year. How to reverse the effects was something he was far from having knowledge of, but he had a hunch he knew who might.
---
“You two did what?”
Nino was fairly certain Sho’s outraged cry could be heard by students on the other side of the school and in any other situation he was sure he’d be embarrassed by being scolded and yelled at by one of his friends in the middle of the library, but right now he didn’t care who else overheard them, nor did he take any notice of the many odd looks sent their way from passers-by. Crossing his arms, he glared at the Ravenclaw.
“You heard me, I’m not repeating it,” he snapped. “Now help me figure out a way to reverse the potion and get my boyfriend back.” While Sho spluttered some incoherent words in response to his friend’s demand, Nino turned to where Ohno stood a little off to the side in silence. Though he’d lost sight of Aiba and his lover, Nino had managed to track his Gryffindor friend down first upon returning to Hogwarts and had proceeded to then drag him along in his search for Sho.
“Find Jun and keep him away from Aiba at all costs. If they kiss, so help me I’m going to murder them both.”
Ohno nodded in understanding and headed off to track down his fellow Gryffindor as Nino had ordered him to do. The Slytherin then turned his attention back to Sho, who shook both his head and his hands the second Nino’s gaze came to rest on him. His expression was one of utter disbelief.
“No way. I am not getting involved in this,” he declared matter-of-factly. “Do you know how much trouble we’d be in? You and Aiba-kun already risked expulsion by taking the Amortentia in the first place! Not a chance. If you want an antidote, go talk to Professor Ogura.”
Nino’s glare hardened. If Sho wasn’t going to willingly offer his help, then Nino would just have to force him. He stormed forward, one hand inside the pocket of his robes ready to rip out his wand if need be.
“Dammit Sakurai,” he growled. “Unless you want the whole school knowing that secret you entrusted to me, I’d suggest you help me make an antidote.”
Sho’s eyes widened for a moment before he narrowed them in challenge. “You wouldn’t. I told you that under the Unbreakable Vow—there’s no way you’d tell anyone.”
“Who said anything about me telling them?” Nino’s lips turned up in a sly grin. “One need only slip a drop or two of Veritaserum into your breakfast, and you’d be spilling the secret yourself.”
Sho’s face drained of all colour and Nino felt only satisfaction at his own persuasion skills, knowing his friend was now on board with finding a remedy for this love potion. The secret Sho had revealed to him was a valuable jewel of information Nino knew his friend would not want to ever be known by anyone else. He would have kept his promise not to reveal it to another soul even without the collateral of making the Unbreakable Vow, but that didn’t mean Nino couldn’t use the Ravenclaw’s secret as leverage to his own advantage. He felt his current dilemma to be an ideal time to use such leverage.
Giving a sigh, Sho lowered his head in accepted defeat. He turned to the stack of books he had been standing next to, having preselected them as additional study material even before Nino showed up. He took hold of one with a heavy black binding and hastily flicked through it, stopping a few dozen pages before the end. His eyes scanned the page he’d stopped on while his mouth twitched as though silently memorizing the words written. Without warning he slammed the book shut, tucked it under his arm and paced off, grabbing Nino firmly by the wrist to pull him along.
“Have Ohno and Aiba bring Matsujun to the Potions classroom,” he ordered. His voice was strong and directive but devoid of all emotion other than the slightest hint of annoyance. “The sooner this antidote is made and administered, the better.”
---
While it wasn’t every day that he accidentally caused one of his closest friends—who also happened to be the boyfriend of his longstanding best friend—to become infatuated with him, Aiba really was beginning to question just how he got himself into these sort of situations. His own curiosity was usually to blame whenever things tended to go wrong; a tendency to want to help out as best he could being the cause of most other catastrophes he was involved in. He meant well. He just didn’t always do well.
His current situation was a perfect example of this. He had only been trying to help Nino out with his problematic love life, as any decent friend would. How was he supposed to know things would have turned out this badly? Confusing the one who administers the love potion for the first person seen while under its effects was admittedly his own mistake, but one that was mostly harmless. This much Aiba was willing to argue in his own defence. It was a simple mix up that could have happened to anyone and the effects would wear off on their own sooner or later, so initially he had confidence that everything would work out…eventually. Holding onto that confidence was becoming increasingly difficult however the longer he was on the run from a love-struck Jun and his best friend who Aiba was certain was plotting the various ways to kill him that very moment.
Not favouring the thought of his life ending so soon, Aiba hastily tapped the secret rhythm on the stacked barrels and ducked into the Hufflepuff common room where he felt he would be safest. Jun had been quite close behind him by the time they returned to the school; Aiba could only hope his friend hadn’t seen the pass-rhyme he used to enter and that he still retained enough common sense in his current state not to try. The defensive magic intended to repel intruders was said to be highly effective and while Aiba most certainly did not wish for Jun to enter the Hufflepuff common room, he was also strongly disinclined to the idea of his friend being doused in vinegar if he were to try and gain access while under the effect of the Amortentia potion.
Waiting a few moments by the entranceway to determine if Jun would make an attempt or not, Aiba breathed a heavy sigh of relief when it appeared nothing was happening. He was safely inside where neither Jun nor Nino could reach him. The relief of knowing this caused him to sag against the wall for a moment as he allowed himself to catch his breath before heading deeper inside to his dorm. He knew he would not be able to stay there forever but for now it was the safe haven he needed.
A faint rumble sounded from the direction of passageway, followed by the echo of footsteps heading his way. The noise of it had Aiba holding his breath as he watched the entrance with much apprehension, filled with the fear that Jun would emerge from behind that closed door. His legs lost their strength and he sunk down onto the floor by his bed when the one to enter was not his drugged friend, but the familiar face of one from his own house.
“It’s just you!” Aiba gasped, out of both relief and surprise. Toma stared down at his dorm mate lying on the floor of their shared rom. He raised an eyebrow in question even as he strolled over and offered him a hand up.
“Just me,” he shot back play playfully, pulling Aiba to his feet. “Is there a reason why Jun is kneeling outside our common room begging for you to come out?”
Aiba’s eyes grew wide as the image Toma had just described filled his head. He couldn’t blame his fellow Hufflepuff for being confused by the bizarre situation he’d walked in on but then Aiba wasn’t sure he knew how to explain it to him without embarrassing both himself and his friends even further.
Toma sent him a knowing look. “Another experiment of yours gone wrong?”
“Something like that,” replied Aiba, giving a weak smile. Toma wasn’t too far off in his guess. “Love potion went astray.”
A choked sort of laughter sounded from the other boy the moment the words left Aiba’s mouth and made the latter wince. He remembered Professor Ogura mentioning something about the recipient retaining the memory of everything that happens while under the effect of the love potion; Aiba could easily guess now that he’d divulged the reason behind the peculiarities happening, Toma would never let Jun live it down.
Toma shook his head in a hopeless and endearing manner. “Those two really never do things like a normal couple,” he laughed, surprising Aiba a little with his words. That his friend had already figured out Nino was also involved was something he thought to be quite impressive. Toma sat down on the end of his bed. “So I’m guessing your plan is to hide in here until it all blows over?”
Aiba nodded before the image of what Jun was like outside their common room fleetingly crossed his mind once again. He cringed at the thought. Just how many other students would come across him in that state? It would beyond humiliating and Aiba was certain Jun would blame him for it once all this was over.
“I need to go back out there, don’t I,” he said with a slight whimper in his voice. He was completely dreading what he needed to do and though he’d asked, he knew he did not have to see Toma nod to know what the answer was.
It was with trembling steps that he forced himself out the door of his room, down the stairs and across the common room to the entrance. He felt as if he were walking to his doom.
Stepping outside, Aiba did not even dare open his eyes at first. He was already expecting the worst, most likely in the form of a full-frontal assault triggered by the powerful love potion the moment Jun realized he had come back outside. Aiba did not feel he needed to witness his friend’s infatuated indignity before this realization hit. So when the first thing his brain processed was not another body shamelessly molesting his own, but the voice of Ohno, the curiosity of things was enough enticement for Aiba to peek one eye open. Much to his surprise he saw Ohno standing out the front of his common room, casually talking to Jun with a hand on his shoulder as gentle restraint. Aiba was a little uncertain as to how to approach them. Ohno spotted him first but it was only a matter of seconds before Jun glanced over and caught sight of him as well. A blinding smile stretched from ear to ear, forming the instant his gaze came to rest on the Hufflepuff.
“Masa-chan!” He raced across the short distance between them and threw his arms around Aiba, hugging him painfully tight while his face was buried in the taller guy’s neck. Aiba could feel Jun’s smile against his skin as he stood seeming paralysed to the spot.
When Aiba glanced over at Ohno, he gave a half-hearted smile in response. It lacked any real emotion or proper reassurance, and did little to ease the pending apprehension Aiba was feeling. Jun eventually drew back from the hug but kept his arms wound around the Hufflepuff’s neck, staring deep into his eyes even as Aiba tried desperately to avoid eye contact with him. When all this was over, he knew they’d be lucky to ever be able to look at each other with a straight face again.
“I was saying Sho-chan and Nino have a special surprise planned,” Ohno sauntered over yet managed to keep his distance from the pair all the same. “Perhaps Jun-kun would like it if Masa-chan came with us.”
Ohno exchanged a look with Aiba, who glanced back and forth between him and Jun. He wasn’t sure what his sleepy friend was implying but the earnest and almost dictating glint of his eye was enough for Aiba to hope that what they had planned would alleviate him from this nightmare.
He swallowed hard and turned to Jun. Forcing a smile and the sweetest voice he could muster at that given moment, he asked, “Come with us?”
Jun nodded and stepped away. He entwined their hands. “Of course.”
---
The classroom was dark, musty and cold. Steam was rising up from the cauldron bubbling away over the burner beneath as ingredients were added. Nino watched carefully as Sho stirred the brew once clockwise and then thrice counter clockwise, marvelling as the liquid turned from red to purple. Already the colour had changed what Nino had counted to be about six times, yet Sho showed no sign of it being complete. He was taking each step calmly with careful precision. The Ravenclaw had mentioned earlier that due to the strength of the Amortentia, he had needed to make some adjustments to the base remedy formula in order to counteract the increased potency.
“Are you and Jun broken up?” Sho finally broke the silence as he added extract of gurdyroot to the cauldron and left it to simmer, the sheen of the potion slowly changing from purple to green. He glanced up at Nino just in time to see the latter shake his head. “So explain something to me then. If you’re still together, why would you use a love potion on your own boyfriend?”
“Because,” Nino sighed. “We’re still together now but with the ways things have been of late, I worry Jun will end things with me.”
Sho furrowed his brow in thought. “I see. And you don’t want your relationship to end so you thought to reinstate those old feelings with the use of a love potion, is that right?”
Nino nodded shyly. Somehow hearing it from someone else made it sound a lot more pathetic than it had in his head when he’d been considering the idea in the first place.
“You do realize though that love potions don’t create actual feelings of love, rather intense infatuation,” Sho went on, beginning to sound far too much like their Potions professor for Nino’s liking. He didn’t need a lecture right now and if he was honest, he was barely even listening anymore. He was too caught up in his own anxiety of all the things his boyfriend could be doing this exact moment. The thought of any one of them scared him. He needed to get Jun back, to reverse this mess they had made.
Sensing Nino’s disquiet, Sho let the conversation die there and continued to stir the now orange mixture. Adding seven more wiggentree twigs, he stirred them through twice clockwise, three times counter clockwise and another two clockwise before letting the mix simmer on its own until all colour was lost and they were left with a clear liquid glistening inside the cauldron. Sho removed it from the heat and poured some into a goblet. As he was doing so, the door to the classroom opened and Ohno entered with Aiba and Jun behind him.
Nino stiffened at seeing the two so close together, his teeth clenching when he caught sight of their adjoined hands. He didn’t care how uncomfortable Aiba looked in that moment. All he saw was their proximity.
Having seen the building tension between those in the room, Ohno led Jun over to the benchtop where Sho had just finished brewing the antidote. The Ravenclaw held out the goblet in offering to Jun, who took it with some hesitation.
“What is it?”
Sho opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Nino who growled, “Just hurry up and drink it.” His words acted almost like a trigger that had Jun recoiling away from the goblet in his hand. His friends rushed forward when he went to put it down.
“No, you need to drink it,” Sho told him. “It’s nothing harmful, promise.”
“It’ll help,” Ohno added.
Jun looked lost as he stared down at the clear liquid. When he glanced up at the four standing around him, his eyes were wide and almost frightened, until they came to land on Aiba and they filled with adoration. Aiba nodded encouragingly.
“I don’t want to,” Jun mumbled, looking back down at the glass. He raised his gaze once again to stare into Aiba’s eyes, stepping closer and leaning in. “But, for you…”
Nino couldn’t take it anymore. No longer could he stand there observing such a scene, not when his boyfriend was only seconds away from kissing his best friend right in front of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind was the logic telling him to just hold out a little longer, to not be jealous as the feelings Jun was experiencing were not his own or even real. But all sense of self-control had been lost. He was at his limit and he would do whatever was it took for him to be the one to fix this before it went any further. Striding forward, he snatched the goblet back from Jun and shoved Aiba away from him.
“Nino, what are you doing?” His friends exclaimed in unison.
“Getting my boyfriend back!” he snapped back at them before bringing the glass to his own lips and taking a mouthful of the antidote. He held it in his mouth, slamming the goblet down and spinning around to face Jun. His eyes locked onto his target and he prowled forward towards him.
Jun staggered back away from him but Nino would not let him escape. Seeing him come so close to kissing another had driven him beyond the point of reason. He followed him around the room until they had stumbled into one of the desks. Cornered and trapped, Jun leant backwards in an attempt to avoid the Slytherin but Nino pounced forward to connect their lips, the weight of his body knocking Jun even further back against the table. His mouth opened in a shocked gasp, giving Nino the opportunity administer the antidote he had been holding and let it drizzle down straight into the other boy’s mouth.
A few noises of disgust sounded from the other three behind them but Nino didn’t take any notice of them, keeping his mouth pressed against Jun’s until he was sure all of the antidote was transferred over. The potion was trickled down his throat with much struggle and caused a strangled gurgle to sound from Jun. Swallowing was a task made that much harder by the fact that their lips were still connected in a kiss and was making it impossible to breathe.
When the body stilled beneath him, Nino broke the kiss and pulled back a bit. Jun lay with his head thrown back against the table with small but clear droplets decorating his lips. Worry consumed Nino’s mind and he pressed his ear to Jun’s chest, feeling nothing but a sense of utter relief when he heard the distinct thud of the other boy’s heartbeat. A stifled groan caused him to pull away once more. Two eyes stared back at him, becoming clearer with every blink. Colour had returned to Jun’s face and Nino felt a ray of hope in his heart that things were back to normal.
“That was really gross, Kazu,” Jun grumbled, his voice a little hoarse but otherwise fine. Hearing his own name come from Jun’s mouth had Nino practically flinging himself at his boyfriend. With this, he knew Jun had in fact been revived to his old self.
Their three friends who had been watching from behind exchanged glances with each other. “Let’s give them some space,” Aiba whispered, mostly out of his desire to escape before the reunited pair came down from their high and took vengeance on him for this ordeal. The other two nodded their heads in agreement with his statement and left the room.
Nino didn’t want to move. Their current position was awkward and painful and surely bad for their backs, but he didn’t care. The secure feeling of Jun’s arms wrapped around him, their bodies pressed together in a way that they could not be any closer to one another was too great an experience to give up. He didn’t mind if they didn’t go any further than this. Nothing amorous or randy, not even a kiss. To stay exactly how they were now was all that he wanted.
“How come you felt the need to give me with a love potion?” Jun asked. There was no accusing tone in his voice, as Nino expected there might be. It was simply a question. Nino shuffled around so he was facing away but still tucked up close to Jun. He did not want the other boy to see any part of his face when he answered.
“I wanted you to love me again,” he deliberately mumbled so that he would almost not be heard.
Jun frowned at the answer he received. Shifting around, he managed to pull them both up so they were sitting on the bench side by side.
“When have I ever stopped?” Nino still did not meet his gaze. He gave a silent sight and readied himself to voice every one of his worries that he’d been having of late when Jun cut him off by speaking again. “My heart has only ever longed for you. I know things between us can get tough especially when one of us isn’t around, but just because I can’t be with you doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you. Since the day you confessed to me three years ago—no, since the day we met, you’re the only one I’ve ever thought about. Never doubt my love for you, Kazu. I don’t want anyone else.”
Nino tried hard to control his expression and contain the tearful smile he could feel breaking the surface of his emotions. He sniffed and gave a shy smile instead. “Recent events aside, you mean” he offered playfully. Jun’s face fell.
“Please tell me I didn’t kiss actually him or anything.” He looked horrified by the thought. Aiba was a friend and someone Jun loved dearly, but thinking about him in that way made him cringe. Nino laughed, finding the expression his boyfriend was wearing to be quite amusing.
“Nope,” he put Jun’s mind at ease. “The only one allowed to receive your kisses are me.” Jun leant across to give what his boyfriend was clearly asking for. The touch was soft, a quick brushing of lips with the faintest trace of the antidote still to be tasted on both their mouths.
A smile graced Jun’s lips. “I think I can live with that.”
Pairing: Matsumiya, Junba
Genre: AU, Crack
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: In their sixth year at Hogwarts, Nino fears a lack of attention from Jun will mean the end of their relationship. Luckily Aiba has a solution.
Author's Note: Happy Birthday Nino! May you forever remain everyone's favourite brat.
Nino gave a deep, tiresome sounding sigh and stretched himself out further on the table he was presently sprawled across. With one hand reaching ahead of him, the other propping up his head to keep it from hitting the hard wood of the benchtop, he twisted his body around in its seat in conjunction to the whine which sounded from his close lips fixed in a pout.
Aiba looked on from where he sat on top of the table beside him. The two of them were lazing about in the Recreation Hall, having had nothing better to do on this leisurely weekend morning; studying for the upcoming examinations was the last thing on their minds. Both humoured and put off by his Slytherin friend’s recent demeanour, Aiba felt torn the longer he watched him as to how he was supposed to react to this increasingly common behaviour. It had been close to a fortnight since he first noticed Nino’s less than subtle whinging regarding the lack of attention he’d been receiving from his boyfriend. Repeated claims that Jun no longer loved him, that he valued his responsibilities to the school more than he did Nino and that they were as good as broken up now were all things Aiba, Sho and Ohno had heard on a regular basis over the past two weeks. Aiba knew he was speaking for all his friends in saying he was sick of it. The pouty expression currently plastered across Nino’s features as he continued to slump against the table was one he’d constantly seen throughout these two weeks, so much so that Aiba was prepared to say it had become a permanent fixture on his friend’s face.
“He’s ignoring me,” Nino sulked. Aiba tried not to roll his eyes. He was all for being supportive but he had known the other boy for many years and knew when he was being melodramatic for the sake of attention. With his boyfriend otherwise preoccupied, it was clear Nino was willing to receive that attention from anyone else he could find.
When Nino sighed again, Aiba reached out to give him a consoling pat on the shoulder.
“Matsujun’s just busy,” he reminded him. “He and Sho-chan are prefects so of course they don’t have much time.”
Nino grumbled something incoherent in a bitter tone and turned his face away so that it was buried in the arm he lay upon. He couldn’t expect anyone else to understand. Jun wasn’t just busy; he was never around. Any time Nino even came close to getting some private time with him, his boyfriend would be whisked away for one reason or another. It was always with an apologetic smile and a weak promise of catching up another time, but Nino had quickly come the realization that said promise would never be fulfilled. He had tried on many occasions to seduce Jun—to tempt him so that he might forgo whatever responsibilities he was supposed to undertake just for a few minutes so they would be able to enjoy each other’s tantalizing presence like they used to—but every one of those attempts had ended in failure.
With each futile effort he’d made, Nino began to notice there was a common reason behind the majority of his boyfriend’s absences. The most recent of his encounters with Jun made this clear enough.
---
It was with a confident swagger that Nino entered the almost entirely deserted Study Hall. A reliable source by the name of Ohno Satoshi had tipped him off that the man he was searching for could be found within these four walls. The moment he arrived, Nino saw for himself this was indeed true. Jun was the only one inside the hall; a lone figure seated at one of many empty elongated tables. It appeared he did not notice Nino’s company at first, too immersed in the notes he was scribbling down from one of the textbooks piled to his right. Nino gave a grin and sauntered over. He wrapped his arms around Jun’s neck and coyly leaned down so that his nose rubbed against the other boy’s cheek ever so lightly. He felt Jun shiver slightly under the feather-light touch and wisp of air exhaled against his neck. Nino’s smile grew, his mouth hovering just above the underneath of Jun’s jaw as his head moved back instinctively in reaction to the smaller guy’s advances.
“Studying hard as always,” whispered Nino. His tongue dared to poke out from between his teeth, not touching the skin but being held close enough so that Jun could feel it’s teasing heat. “You’re well deserving of a break.”
Jun stifled an agreeable moan when Nino gripped his earlobe gently between his teeth and gave it a playful nibble. Opening his eyes, his gaze met with Nino’s for a fraction of a second before he pushed the other boy away and turned back to the books laid out in front of him.
“I can’t.” There was a definite underlying disappointment in Jun’s tone, though his eyes never left the page of the notes he continued to write. “Thanks to some first years making my life a living hell, I’ve been swamped with prefect duties and haven’t had time to study for exams at all. This is the only free period I have all week. Sorry, Kazu.”
Nino glared at his boyfriend. A part of him hoped if he did so for long enough Jun would turn back and give him the attention he was so desperately craving, but in the back of his mind he knew that Jun would not. He could practically see how tense the other boy was due to the stress of exams and prefect duties. If Jun were to turn around, Nino wouldn’t be surprised if it was to tell him to quit behaving like a spoiled brat and to stop distracting him. It made him frown just thinking about it. With one last hard stare in the Gryffindor’s direction, Nino huffed loudly and stormed out of the hall.
It was later that evening after classes had concluded for the day and dinner was being served that Jun approached Nino. The Slytherin had only just left the Great Hall after what had been a very short meal and was making his way back to his common room when a familiar voice called his name from behind. Nino turned to see Jun hurrying after him. Once he had caught up to him, Jun took him by the arm and led him off to the side of the corridor. The moonlight poured down from the sky and flooded the courtyard, illuminating the open stone passage they stood by. Jun reached out his hand to stroke Nino’s porcelain skin, made paler by the evening light bathing their bodies from above. A gentle smile formed on Jun’s face.
“I know we haven’t been able to spend much time together of late.” Jun kept his voice soft like a whisper only Nino could hear, though they stood alone. “But I have some time now before patrols start.”
The heat between their bodies swelled and intensified. Nino felt his back hit the stone as he unconsciously took a step backwards when Jun’s arm hit the wall behind them as if to trap them both, a fluttering warmth filling his stomach. Jun pressed closer. The moon caused a strange and eerie light to be reflected off his eyes before a shadow was cast over them, the sudden darkness and lust making Nino lightheaded. It felt like so long since they’d last shared in a passionate moment such as this.
“Allow me to make it up to you.”
The words echoed but were lost in Nino’s subconscious as Jun leant down to connect their lips. There was no hesitance or reacquainting; no gentle touches or teasing of any sort. There was no time for anything more than quick, burning passion. Time was against them and they had not nearly enough of it to be able to do all the things Nino wished to do. He wanted nothing more than to tear the robes from each other’s bodies and to be taken by his lover right here right now in the middle of the courtyard as they once did, but such a fantasy was impossible.
Time was not just against them; it was non-existent. A raucous cry and resounding crash from the other side of the courtyard was all it took to ruin the moment. The kiss was broken by the startling sound, the two of them pulling away from one another as they searched the area for the source of the disruptive noise. A dark figure ran through the opposite passageway. The moonlight caught on the silver and green of their robes and flashed across their face just enough for Jun to be able to make out the features of young man. The Gryffindor gave an exasperated sigh when he recognized him as Marius, the same first year who had been causing him grief for far too long. Any time Jun confronted the young boy, he suddenly became respectful and well-mannered, and when Jun had mentioned him to the other prefects at their last meeting, no one else reported any instances of troublemaking. For this reason Jun wasn’t sure what to make of the boy. If he didn’t know any better he’d assume Marius was causing trouble for no other reason than to gain his attention.
Jun clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned to Nino. He could tell from the look on the smaller guy’s face that he already knew exactly what Jun was going to say. He was turned away, his posture stiff while his expression was set with resentment.
“I have to go.”
“He’s not even from your house,” Nino said with a growl.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s my job as a prefect to maintain order in the hallways,” Jun reminded him. He let his gaze soften before he stepped forward to give Nino an apologetic kiss. “We’ll continue later, promise.”
Nino said nothing as he watched his boyfriend’s retreating back, his hand raising unconsciously to brush against his lips where Jun’s parting kiss lingered. He knew of the first year Jun was going after to reprimand. Belonging to the same house, Nino had borne witness to the usually good-natured kid a couple of times. At first he’d thought nothing much of him, until he had overheard a few interesting conversations Marius had been having with his friends and finally came to the understanding of why someone with his apparent personality was placed in the serpent house. To think that a first year like him was actually trying to gain attention from his boyfriend—the very thought of it made Nino’s blood boil. He couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else being with his Jun and while the sane part of his brain was calmly reminding him that Jun would have no interest in a first year, seeing his boyfriend walk away from him in such a way with increasing frequency, Nino could not help feeling as though he was slipping away from him.
---
“Three years,” Nino grumbled. He was still leaning across the table but was now sitting properly in his chair, his upper body flopped forward with his head resting on his folded arms. His chin dug into his forearm while his head bobbed up and down with every word he uttered. “We’ve been together for three years, Masaki. What do I do? What if he doesn’t love me anymore?”
“He does! I’m sure of it.” Aiba’s voice was as optimistic as ever but for Nino in his current state it sounded nothing short of patronizing. There was a second of deafening silence as Aiba suddenly went quiet before he spoke again, this time in a manner quite cunning and puckish. “Perhaps you just need a way to remind him.”
Nino glanced up with a look of mild suspicion and immediately recognized the expression his friend wore as the one he did whenever he thought up one of his crazy and usually dangerous ideas. Nino narrowed his eyes.
“What are you thinking?”
Aiba gave a wicked grin and leapt off the table. He grabbed Nino by the wrist and dragged his unwitting friend from the Recreation Hall through the castle, down the spiralled staircase to the dungeons located at the bottom of the Left Viaduct Tower. Nino protested loudly the entire time but Aiba only increased their pace until they were running hand in hand through the corridors. They stopped once they had reached the entranceway to the Potions classroom.
“Let go of me!” Nino snapped as he wrenched his hand out of his friend’s constricting grip. He stared up at the door they were standing outside of. “Why are we here?”
Still Aiba would not say what he was planning, though his smile had grown wider now that they were there. He removed his wand from his robes and pointed it at the keyhole before whispering a simple unlocking charm. There was a quiet click, followed by a creak of rusted hinges as Aiba pushed the door open and entered with much excitement. He capered across the room over to the cabinet full of flasks containing an assortment of different concoctions. Nino followed him at a wary pace. Potions was not a subject he had decided on taking for his senior years at Hogwarts but his friend had, and they’d spent more than enough classes together in this very room over the years for Nino to know what Aiba was capable of when he got his hands on just about any potion ingredients. He watched from a reasonable distance as Aiba hexed the cabinet open and removed a single vial containing a strange liquid glistening with a mother-of-pearl sheen.
“Here!” Aiba smiled brightly as he presented the flask to Nino, who took it somewhat hesitantly.
It wasn’t long before curiosity won out and Nino uncapped the flask to take a quick whiff of the iridescent brew. Almost immediately his senses were overwhelmed by an intoxicating and seductive fragrance beyond anything his mind could comprehend. It smelt of melon pan and violets and a comforting scent of nostalgia that somehow reminded him of home. His breathing slowed as he inhaled deeply, allowing the exquisite scent to fill him entirely. Never before had he felt such utter bliss.
“What is this?” Nino breathed, still lost in the ecstasy the potion’s aroma had brought about.
“Amortentia,” said Aiba. He was holding his nose as he reached over to put the stopper back in the flask before Nino had the chance to drink it. “A love potion. Professor Ogura showed it to us last week. It’s said to smell differently to each person depending on what attracts them.”
The scent faded and Nino blinked repeatedly as though to remove an invisible haze that had been clouding his vision. He nodded at his friend in acknowledgement of what he’d said.
“You can use this to remind Jun-kun that he loves you.” Aiba closed Nino’s hand around the vial. “Put it in his drink and when he sees you he’ll fall in love with you all over again.”
A voice sounded in the back of Nino’s mind telling him not to listen to Aiba as it warned him of everything that could go wrong with this plan, yet he refused to listen to it. While he knew drugging his own boyfriend with a love potion could be considered an extreme measure, he didn’t care. He was tired of Jun not making time for him and needed something, no matter how extravagant, to remind him of their relationship. A love potion seemed as good a solution as any. But there was one small problem.
“You need to be the one to slip him the potion,” Nino told Aiba, who stared in disbelief at his sudden request. When he opened his mouth to protest, Nino cut him off. “I can’t. After giving him those chocolate covered mimid drops as a present for Valentine’s Day, he doesn’t accept anything I give him anymore.”
“You gave him mimid drops?” Aiba could barely contain his laughter.
Mimid drops were some of his favourite sweets. He loved that they were able to make a person sound like a certain animal or object depending on which colour confection they ate. In the past Aiba had even experimented on how long the sounds would last if one consumed a consecutive number of the same coloured drops.
Nino nodded, a proud smirk playing on his lips. “He was barking like a dog for about ten minutes but now he doesn’t trust any gift that comes from me. So you need to be the one to put the potion in his drink, otherwise he won’t drink it. Besides, you just said so long as I’m the one he’s looking at he’ll fall in love with me so who cares if it’s you who does it.”
“I don’t know.” Aiba sounded hesitant but when he met his friend’s gaze and he saw the pleading glint of his eyes, he nodded in agreement. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
---
Nino kept his expression level and unreadable as he entered The Three Broomsticks with Jun in tow, having guilt tripped his boyfriend into coming to make up for blowing him off the past fortnight. Though clearly feeling pressed for time, it was obvious Jun truly did feel guilty for the lack of time he had been able to spend with Nino and that he wanted to make up for it by being with him now. The two of them slipped into a booth situated deeper in the inn and quickly put their order in for two butterbeers. Nino made certain to sit facing the bar while he kept an eye out for Aiba. He had spotted his friend on the second floor almost as soon as they’d entered and had been sure to divert Jun’s attention so that he would not spot him as well. While it would not seem out of the ordinary to run into one of their friends here, Nino did not want to risk Aiba giving the plan away. They had only had one shot at this.
As Jun attempted to make small talk with him, an excuse or two mixed in with a constant stream of apologies for not having made time for each other until now, Nino kept Aiba in his line of sight. He watched behind Jun as his friend fulfilled his intended role. He scurried down the stairs and made a beeline over to the bar where their drinks were being prepared. While Nino could not hear the conversation occurring between Aiba and the bartender, he did catch sight of his friend leaning over when the man turned his back for but a second to deal with another customer to pour the glistening contents of a familiar vial into the beer on the left.
With the potion now distributed, Nino did not dare to take his eye off the glass in question. The last thing he wanted was to mistake them for one another and end up drinking the potion himself. He wasn’t sure what would happen if someone drank a love potion they themselves had intended for someone else, but he was not keen to find out.
The drinks were brought over and placed down. Nino chewed the inside of his mouth knowing the one with the potion was not in front of Jun.
“Did they change the brew?” Jun asked, staring at the beer with his eyebrows furrowed in question. Traces of citrus, fabric softener and yakiniku were all reaching his nose. “It smells different.”
Shrugging off his question, Nino tried not to react to the same scent he’d smelt when Aiba first showed him the Amortentia now emanating fragrantly but subtly from the glass set in front of him. He stared hard at his boyfriend’s drink.
“I want that one,” he demanded in as childish a manner as possible. He gave a pout and pointed at Jun’s glass. “It has more foam.”
Jun looked baffled as he stared at the glass, lowering his gaze to examine the level of froth before comparing it to the other drink. He didn’t look convinced but when Nino huffed and turned away to sulk, he gave a kind smile.
“I didn’t realize you liked the foam so much,” he teased as he switched their glasses around. A relieved smile tugged on the end of Nino’s lips but he forced it back. “Whilst that wasn’t exactly the most convincing way of showing it, you know I’d do anything to make you happy, Kazu.”
The words struck Nino harder than he thought they should have and a nervous feeling suddenly formed in the pit of his stomach. Regret swarmed his mind; his confidence was lost as his desire to go through with this plan disintegrated in an instant. Jun took hold of the handle of his glass and held it up towards his boyfriend as if to make a toast. Nino quietly raised his glass in return. His head was a mess. He didn’t know what to do—should he scream at Jun not to drink or let things play out as originally intended? Whatever decision he was going to make was taken out of his hands when Jun brought the glass to his lips and took in a mouthful of the golden liquid spiked with love potion. Nino watched nervously, clutching his own drink with both hands. He could not even breathe with how tight his throat felt.
As if time had slowed, he waited anxiously in the agonizingly drawn out moment for Jun to drink and for the potion to take effect. The world resumed its normal speed the instant he swallowed and then appeared to speed up as the potion came under effect. In the blink of an eye, Nino saw Jun’s complexion pale dramatically. His healthy aura vanished under an inexplicable sickly guise. His eyes too had changed; with pupils dilated and unfocused, staring blankly ahead of him as his lips parted in a goofy smile. Concerned and beginning to truly regret what he’d done, Nino couldn’t help feeling as though his boyfriend was staring through him rather than at him. He moved to try and get back into Jun’s line of vision, waving his hand in front of the other guy’s face in an attempt to snap him out of his trance.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Jun?”
“I’m much better than okay, I think I’m in love.” Even his voice sounded different, Nino noticed. It seemed brighter than usual, with a slightly deranged undertone.
In spite of the changes Nino was slightly relieved to know that the love potion had at least worked as anticipated. Jun stretched his neck back as he observed his entire surroundings of the inn, taking in every corner of the two levels. When he turned back to face Nino, finally making direct eye contact with him, the words that sounded from his mouth shook the smaller guy to his very core. “Where’s Masaki?”
Nino’s mouth fell open even as Jun continued to look around in a daze. “What?” he exclaimed. Jun glanced back at him. His smile fell and was replaced by an innocently confused expression.
“What?”
“Masaki?” Nino seethed. He looked on in horror as Jun’s spirits perked up once more and he spun around in his seat with a loud cry of “where?”
Aiba, having heard his name being shouted from across the inn glanced over at the booth containing his two friends. After catching sight of the furious glare on Nino’s face as he shot daggers at him from across the tavern, Aiba gulped nervously and made for the door. Seeing his attempt to leave, Jun scrambled up out of the booth and raced after him, leaving his boyfriend stranded and feeling as confused as he was angry.
No matter how many times the moment played over in his mind, Nino couldn’t make sense of it. The love potion was supposed to make Jun fall back in love with him. Aiba told him the potion would work so long as it was Nino who Jun saw first, which he was certain he was. Clearly his friend was very much mistaken in the effects of the powerful infatuation potion and it was safe to say Nino might very well kill Aiba if and when he saw his best friend next. But before he planned how to murder him, Nino needed to fix this mess they had created together. The realization that he knew nothing about this particular potion was ringing through his head—he cursed himself for not having taken Potions as a subject this year. How to reverse the effects was something he was far from having knowledge of, but he had a hunch he knew who might.
---
“You two did what?”
Nino was fairly certain Sho’s outraged cry could be heard by students on the other side of the school and in any other situation he was sure he’d be embarrassed by being scolded and yelled at by one of his friends in the middle of the library, but right now he didn’t care who else overheard them, nor did he take any notice of the many odd looks sent their way from passers-by. Crossing his arms, he glared at the Ravenclaw.
“You heard me, I’m not repeating it,” he snapped. “Now help me figure out a way to reverse the potion and get my boyfriend back.” While Sho spluttered some incoherent words in response to his friend’s demand, Nino turned to where Ohno stood a little off to the side in silence. Though he’d lost sight of Aiba and his lover, Nino had managed to track his Gryffindor friend down first upon returning to Hogwarts and had proceeded to then drag him along in his search for Sho.
“Find Jun and keep him away from Aiba at all costs. If they kiss, so help me I’m going to murder them both.”
Ohno nodded in understanding and headed off to track down his fellow Gryffindor as Nino had ordered him to do. The Slytherin then turned his attention back to Sho, who shook both his head and his hands the second Nino’s gaze came to rest on him. His expression was one of utter disbelief.
“No way. I am not getting involved in this,” he declared matter-of-factly. “Do you know how much trouble we’d be in? You and Aiba-kun already risked expulsion by taking the Amortentia in the first place! Not a chance. If you want an antidote, go talk to Professor Ogura.”
Nino’s glare hardened. If Sho wasn’t going to willingly offer his help, then Nino would just have to force him. He stormed forward, one hand inside the pocket of his robes ready to rip out his wand if need be.
“Dammit Sakurai,” he growled. “Unless you want the whole school knowing that secret you entrusted to me, I’d suggest you help me make an antidote.”
Sho’s eyes widened for a moment before he narrowed them in challenge. “You wouldn’t. I told you that under the Unbreakable Vow—there’s no way you’d tell anyone.”
“Who said anything about me telling them?” Nino’s lips turned up in a sly grin. “One need only slip a drop or two of Veritaserum into your breakfast, and you’d be spilling the secret yourself.”
Sho’s face drained of all colour and Nino felt only satisfaction at his own persuasion skills, knowing his friend was now on board with finding a remedy for this love potion. The secret Sho had revealed to him was a valuable jewel of information Nino knew his friend would not want to ever be known by anyone else. He would have kept his promise not to reveal it to another soul even without the collateral of making the Unbreakable Vow, but that didn’t mean Nino couldn’t use the Ravenclaw’s secret as leverage to his own advantage. He felt his current dilemma to be an ideal time to use such leverage.
Giving a sigh, Sho lowered his head in accepted defeat. He turned to the stack of books he had been standing next to, having preselected them as additional study material even before Nino showed up. He took hold of one with a heavy black binding and hastily flicked through it, stopping a few dozen pages before the end. His eyes scanned the page he’d stopped on while his mouth twitched as though silently memorizing the words written. Without warning he slammed the book shut, tucked it under his arm and paced off, grabbing Nino firmly by the wrist to pull him along.
“Have Ohno and Aiba bring Matsujun to the Potions classroom,” he ordered. His voice was strong and directive but devoid of all emotion other than the slightest hint of annoyance. “The sooner this antidote is made and administered, the better.”
---
While it wasn’t every day that he accidentally caused one of his closest friends—who also happened to be the boyfriend of his longstanding best friend—to become infatuated with him, Aiba really was beginning to question just how he got himself into these sort of situations. His own curiosity was usually to blame whenever things tended to go wrong; a tendency to want to help out as best he could being the cause of most other catastrophes he was involved in. He meant well. He just didn’t always do well.
His current situation was a perfect example of this. He had only been trying to help Nino out with his problematic love life, as any decent friend would. How was he supposed to know things would have turned out this badly? Confusing the one who administers the love potion for the first person seen while under its effects was admittedly his own mistake, but one that was mostly harmless. This much Aiba was willing to argue in his own defence. It was a simple mix up that could have happened to anyone and the effects would wear off on their own sooner or later, so initially he had confidence that everything would work out…eventually. Holding onto that confidence was becoming increasingly difficult however the longer he was on the run from a love-struck Jun and his best friend who Aiba was certain was plotting the various ways to kill him that very moment.
Not favouring the thought of his life ending so soon, Aiba hastily tapped the secret rhythm on the stacked barrels and ducked into the Hufflepuff common room where he felt he would be safest. Jun had been quite close behind him by the time they returned to the school; Aiba could only hope his friend hadn’t seen the pass-rhyme he used to enter and that he still retained enough common sense in his current state not to try. The defensive magic intended to repel intruders was said to be highly effective and while Aiba most certainly did not wish for Jun to enter the Hufflepuff common room, he was also strongly disinclined to the idea of his friend being doused in vinegar if he were to try and gain access while under the effect of the Amortentia potion.
Waiting a few moments by the entranceway to determine if Jun would make an attempt or not, Aiba breathed a heavy sigh of relief when it appeared nothing was happening. He was safely inside where neither Jun nor Nino could reach him. The relief of knowing this caused him to sag against the wall for a moment as he allowed himself to catch his breath before heading deeper inside to his dorm. He knew he would not be able to stay there forever but for now it was the safe haven he needed.
A faint rumble sounded from the direction of passageway, followed by the echo of footsteps heading his way. The noise of it had Aiba holding his breath as he watched the entrance with much apprehension, filled with the fear that Jun would emerge from behind that closed door. His legs lost their strength and he sunk down onto the floor by his bed when the one to enter was not his drugged friend, but the familiar face of one from his own house.
“It’s just you!” Aiba gasped, out of both relief and surprise. Toma stared down at his dorm mate lying on the floor of their shared rom. He raised an eyebrow in question even as he strolled over and offered him a hand up.
“Just me,” he shot back play playfully, pulling Aiba to his feet. “Is there a reason why Jun is kneeling outside our common room begging for you to come out?”
Aiba’s eyes grew wide as the image Toma had just described filled his head. He couldn’t blame his fellow Hufflepuff for being confused by the bizarre situation he’d walked in on but then Aiba wasn’t sure he knew how to explain it to him without embarrassing both himself and his friends even further.
Toma sent him a knowing look. “Another experiment of yours gone wrong?”
“Something like that,” replied Aiba, giving a weak smile. Toma wasn’t too far off in his guess. “Love potion went astray.”
A choked sort of laughter sounded from the other boy the moment the words left Aiba’s mouth and made the latter wince. He remembered Professor Ogura mentioning something about the recipient retaining the memory of everything that happens while under the effect of the love potion; Aiba could easily guess now that he’d divulged the reason behind the peculiarities happening, Toma would never let Jun live it down.
Toma shook his head in a hopeless and endearing manner. “Those two really never do things like a normal couple,” he laughed, surprising Aiba a little with his words. That his friend had already figured out Nino was also involved was something he thought to be quite impressive. Toma sat down on the end of his bed. “So I’m guessing your plan is to hide in here until it all blows over?”
Aiba nodded before the image of what Jun was like outside their common room fleetingly crossed his mind once again. He cringed at the thought. Just how many other students would come across him in that state? It would beyond humiliating and Aiba was certain Jun would blame him for it once all this was over.
“I need to go back out there, don’t I,” he said with a slight whimper in his voice. He was completely dreading what he needed to do and though he’d asked, he knew he did not have to see Toma nod to know what the answer was.
It was with trembling steps that he forced himself out the door of his room, down the stairs and across the common room to the entrance. He felt as if he were walking to his doom.
Stepping outside, Aiba did not even dare open his eyes at first. He was already expecting the worst, most likely in the form of a full-frontal assault triggered by the powerful love potion the moment Jun realized he had come back outside. Aiba did not feel he needed to witness his friend’s infatuated indignity before this realization hit. So when the first thing his brain processed was not another body shamelessly molesting his own, but the voice of Ohno, the curiosity of things was enough enticement for Aiba to peek one eye open. Much to his surprise he saw Ohno standing out the front of his common room, casually talking to Jun with a hand on his shoulder as gentle restraint. Aiba was a little uncertain as to how to approach them. Ohno spotted him first but it was only a matter of seconds before Jun glanced over and caught sight of him as well. A blinding smile stretched from ear to ear, forming the instant his gaze came to rest on the Hufflepuff.
“Masa-chan!” He raced across the short distance between them and threw his arms around Aiba, hugging him painfully tight while his face was buried in the taller guy’s neck. Aiba could feel Jun’s smile against his skin as he stood seeming paralysed to the spot.
When Aiba glanced over at Ohno, he gave a half-hearted smile in response. It lacked any real emotion or proper reassurance, and did little to ease the pending apprehension Aiba was feeling. Jun eventually drew back from the hug but kept his arms wound around the Hufflepuff’s neck, staring deep into his eyes even as Aiba tried desperately to avoid eye contact with him. When all this was over, he knew they’d be lucky to ever be able to look at each other with a straight face again.
“I was saying Sho-chan and Nino have a special surprise planned,” Ohno sauntered over yet managed to keep his distance from the pair all the same. “Perhaps Jun-kun would like it if Masa-chan came with us.”
Ohno exchanged a look with Aiba, who glanced back and forth between him and Jun. He wasn’t sure what his sleepy friend was implying but the earnest and almost dictating glint of his eye was enough for Aiba to hope that what they had planned would alleviate him from this nightmare.
He swallowed hard and turned to Jun. Forcing a smile and the sweetest voice he could muster at that given moment, he asked, “Come with us?”
Jun nodded and stepped away. He entwined their hands. “Of course.”
---
The classroom was dark, musty and cold. Steam was rising up from the cauldron bubbling away over the burner beneath as ingredients were added. Nino watched carefully as Sho stirred the brew once clockwise and then thrice counter clockwise, marvelling as the liquid turned from red to purple. Already the colour had changed what Nino had counted to be about six times, yet Sho showed no sign of it being complete. He was taking each step calmly with careful precision. The Ravenclaw had mentioned earlier that due to the strength of the Amortentia, he had needed to make some adjustments to the base remedy formula in order to counteract the increased potency.
“Are you and Jun broken up?” Sho finally broke the silence as he added extract of gurdyroot to the cauldron and left it to simmer, the sheen of the potion slowly changing from purple to green. He glanced up at Nino just in time to see the latter shake his head. “So explain something to me then. If you’re still together, why would you use a love potion on your own boyfriend?”
“Because,” Nino sighed. “We’re still together now but with the ways things have been of late, I worry Jun will end things with me.”
Sho furrowed his brow in thought. “I see. And you don’t want your relationship to end so you thought to reinstate those old feelings with the use of a love potion, is that right?”
Nino nodded shyly. Somehow hearing it from someone else made it sound a lot more pathetic than it had in his head when he’d been considering the idea in the first place.
“You do realize though that love potions don’t create actual feelings of love, rather intense infatuation,” Sho went on, beginning to sound far too much like their Potions professor for Nino’s liking. He didn’t need a lecture right now and if he was honest, he was barely even listening anymore. He was too caught up in his own anxiety of all the things his boyfriend could be doing this exact moment. The thought of any one of them scared him. He needed to get Jun back, to reverse this mess they had made.
Sensing Nino’s disquiet, Sho let the conversation die there and continued to stir the now orange mixture. Adding seven more wiggentree twigs, he stirred them through twice clockwise, three times counter clockwise and another two clockwise before letting the mix simmer on its own until all colour was lost and they were left with a clear liquid glistening inside the cauldron. Sho removed it from the heat and poured some into a goblet. As he was doing so, the door to the classroom opened and Ohno entered with Aiba and Jun behind him.
Nino stiffened at seeing the two so close together, his teeth clenching when he caught sight of their adjoined hands. He didn’t care how uncomfortable Aiba looked in that moment. All he saw was their proximity.
Having seen the building tension between those in the room, Ohno led Jun over to the benchtop where Sho had just finished brewing the antidote. The Ravenclaw held out the goblet in offering to Jun, who took it with some hesitation.
“What is it?”
Sho opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Nino who growled, “Just hurry up and drink it.” His words acted almost like a trigger that had Jun recoiling away from the goblet in his hand. His friends rushed forward when he went to put it down.
“No, you need to drink it,” Sho told him. “It’s nothing harmful, promise.”
“It’ll help,” Ohno added.
Jun looked lost as he stared down at the clear liquid. When he glanced up at the four standing around him, his eyes were wide and almost frightened, until they came to land on Aiba and they filled with adoration. Aiba nodded encouragingly.
“I don’t want to,” Jun mumbled, looking back down at the glass. He raised his gaze once again to stare into Aiba’s eyes, stepping closer and leaning in. “But, for you…”
Nino couldn’t take it anymore. No longer could he stand there observing such a scene, not when his boyfriend was only seconds away from kissing his best friend right in front of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind was the logic telling him to just hold out a little longer, to not be jealous as the feelings Jun was experiencing were not his own or even real. But all sense of self-control had been lost. He was at his limit and he would do whatever was it took for him to be the one to fix this before it went any further. Striding forward, he snatched the goblet back from Jun and shoved Aiba away from him.
“Nino, what are you doing?” His friends exclaimed in unison.
“Getting my boyfriend back!” he snapped back at them before bringing the glass to his own lips and taking a mouthful of the antidote. He held it in his mouth, slamming the goblet down and spinning around to face Jun. His eyes locked onto his target and he prowled forward towards him.
Jun staggered back away from him but Nino would not let him escape. Seeing him come so close to kissing another had driven him beyond the point of reason. He followed him around the room until they had stumbled into one of the desks. Cornered and trapped, Jun leant backwards in an attempt to avoid the Slytherin but Nino pounced forward to connect their lips, the weight of his body knocking Jun even further back against the table. His mouth opened in a shocked gasp, giving Nino the opportunity administer the antidote he had been holding and let it drizzle down straight into the other boy’s mouth.
A few noises of disgust sounded from the other three behind them but Nino didn’t take any notice of them, keeping his mouth pressed against Jun’s until he was sure all of the antidote was transferred over. The potion was trickled down his throat with much struggle and caused a strangled gurgle to sound from Jun. Swallowing was a task made that much harder by the fact that their lips were still connected in a kiss and was making it impossible to breathe.
When the body stilled beneath him, Nino broke the kiss and pulled back a bit. Jun lay with his head thrown back against the table with small but clear droplets decorating his lips. Worry consumed Nino’s mind and he pressed his ear to Jun’s chest, feeling nothing but a sense of utter relief when he heard the distinct thud of the other boy’s heartbeat. A stifled groan caused him to pull away once more. Two eyes stared back at him, becoming clearer with every blink. Colour had returned to Jun’s face and Nino felt a ray of hope in his heart that things were back to normal.
“That was really gross, Kazu,” Jun grumbled, his voice a little hoarse but otherwise fine. Hearing his own name come from Jun’s mouth had Nino practically flinging himself at his boyfriend. With this, he knew Jun had in fact been revived to his old self.
Their three friends who had been watching from behind exchanged glances with each other. “Let’s give them some space,” Aiba whispered, mostly out of his desire to escape before the reunited pair came down from their high and took vengeance on him for this ordeal. The other two nodded their heads in agreement with his statement and left the room.
Nino didn’t want to move. Their current position was awkward and painful and surely bad for their backs, but he didn’t care. The secure feeling of Jun’s arms wrapped around him, their bodies pressed together in a way that they could not be any closer to one another was too great an experience to give up. He didn’t mind if they didn’t go any further than this. Nothing amorous or randy, not even a kiss. To stay exactly how they were now was all that he wanted.
“How come you felt the need to give me with a love potion?” Jun asked. There was no accusing tone in his voice, as Nino expected there might be. It was simply a question. Nino shuffled around so he was facing away but still tucked up close to Jun. He did not want the other boy to see any part of his face when he answered.
“I wanted you to love me again,” he deliberately mumbled so that he would almost not be heard.
Jun frowned at the answer he received. Shifting around, he managed to pull them both up so they were sitting on the bench side by side.
“When have I ever stopped?” Nino still did not meet his gaze. He gave a silent sight and readied himself to voice every one of his worries that he’d been having of late when Jun cut him off by speaking again. “My heart has only ever longed for you. I know things between us can get tough especially when one of us isn’t around, but just because I can’t be with you doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you. Since the day you confessed to me three years ago—no, since the day we met, you’re the only one I’ve ever thought about. Never doubt my love for you, Kazu. I don’t want anyone else.”
Nino tried hard to control his expression and contain the tearful smile he could feel breaking the surface of his emotions. He sniffed and gave a shy smile instead. “Recent events aside, you mean” he offered playfully. Jun’s face fell.
“Please tell me I didn’t kiss actually him or anything.” He looked horrified by the thought. Aiba was a friend and someone Jun loved dearly, but thinking about him in that way made him cringe. Nino laughed, finding the expression his boyfriend was wearing to be quite amusing.
“Nope,” he put Jun’s mind at ease. “The only one allowed to receive your kisses are me.” Jun leant across to give what his boyfriend was clearly asking for. The touch was soft, a quick brushing of lips with the faintest trace of the antidote still to be tasted on both their mouths.
A smile graced Jun’s lips. “I think I can live with that.”
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Date: 2017-06-19 07:23 am (UTC)Poor puppy was sulky cause he didnt receive enough attention haha and aiba chan having to suffer by listening to him everytime...
Why such an intimate matsumiya moment was ruined/interrupted.. 😭 But awww jun-pon rlly did try his best.. kazu you should've known better.
Omg im sure after that valentine jun will never accept anything from nino again XDD that evil brat! Love how nino started to have second thoughts when he realise just how much jun loves him 😢 Ah damn it that's too sweet jun!!
Poor aiba dragged into this all and having a murderous puppy chasing after u wont be fun 😂 sho chan was blackmailed and oh-chan the sidekick XD love how he was just like "yep" and doesnt argue or anything 👏🏻
The last part almost gave me diabetes and so cute to see puppy so jealous and possessive x3 but awww after he gave the antidote (*≧∀≦*) 💜💛 Full on matsumiya rabu rabuuuu~
I think nino would be a very happy puppy! Thank you for writing this for his bday 😘💜💛