Chapter 1
Toge walks down the halls of the most esteemed wizarding school (and the only one he knows), Hogwarts. He takes in the fanciness of the place, his first-grade self still unsure if he were actually allowed to be there. There's another boy his age, who feels the same way as him. He's, similarly to Toge, also venturing through the hallways instead of being at the dining hall. Both of them could be caught and gotten points taken from both their houses, but they were confident in their abilities to escape.
They eventually find each other— sapphire eyes locking onto amethyst ones, each letting out a short gasp. They hadn't noticed each other's presence, but when they noticed that the other was exactly the same as them, the Ravenclaw student awkwardly smiled, while the Slytherin boy hesitantly waved at him. Being in Slytherin but having a personality like his was no joke. The second and third graders have taken it upon them to bully him, all because they didn't believe that he should have been sorted there, and because of those "ugly seals" on his face.
Those "ugly seals" allowed him to use magic with his voice. It's sort of like voice-recognition artificial intelligence, but he wasn't good at controlling it, so he chose to not speak, communicating through sign language or just texting whatever he had to say.
Yuuta, on the other hand, was treated badly at home, but now, he had a good life. He was close to the "son" of one of the teachers, and that teacher was highly respected. Thus, he managed to make a few friends, and didn't get bullied because of the unique powers he possessed.
The two were similar, in a way. Except Toge always felt like a burden, whereas Yuuta was finally— slowly, but surely— being accepted into society.
"Hey," Yuuta calls out at the younger boy. "I'm Yuuta. What's your name?"
Toge wishes he could respond. Instead, he backs up, signing an apology even though Yuuta probably couldn't read it, and running off. He wishes he could have said it, "Toge Inumaki," but he simply couldn't, the fear of hurting people haunting him even more.
The next time the two of them meet, they're together in the same situation. A teacher was laughing at them, and the other was judging unimpressed, because they'd been caught by the ghosts who had all started chasing the duo. Eventually, the ghosts rounded them up, and they started running side by side, Yuuta gasping, "It's you!" and Toge staying silent as he had the first time.
Until they ran into the damn Spells teacher. He's not sure, but Toge vaguely remembers him since he'd delivered his Hogwarts letter, and also remembers him introducing himself doubling as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He had pure white hair, and his blue, piercing eyes looked unnatural. To top it off, he was from one of the strongest families in wizarding history— the Gojo family.
He'd appeared along with the Potions teacher, from god knows where. Everyone liked him, and he was usually very friendly. But, he was stricter than a few teachers about rules, so they dreaded running into him while doing something against the rules. Being out of the dining hall during dinner wasn't exactly illegal, so they didn't get points taken off. But the ghosts and Professor Gojo were laughing at the two, who'd fallen down right in front of the two professors' feet.
They were sent straight to Headmaster Yaga's office. He didn't know how to react— whether to laugh or scold them. He ultimately decides that it's not that big of a deal, and lets them off with a warning. On the walk back to the dining hall, Yuuta's aggressively and persistently trying to get Toge to say something. He doesn't think he knew how to sign, though, so he still stays quiet. Yuuta interprets this as a sign that Toge didn't want to be friends with him, and saw his face droop. Cute, Toge finds himself thinking, but ends up dragging Yuuta around in the dining hall to find anything he can write on.
He finds a piece of paper, at the place he was supposed to sit. A note from a bully, no doubt. Still, he casts a spell by whispering, "Accio pen," and the entire hall feels a strong gust of wind as a pen finds its way right into Toge's hand.
"Toge Inumaki," he writes on the paper. "My power's stronger than others, so I have to refrain from talking. My spells are also usually amplified, so I try not to use it. You can just see it as me being mute."
He expects Yuuta to be horrified, running away, calling him a freak and hoping to never see him again. Instead, the raven just stared up at him with bright, shining eyes.
"That's so cool!", he says, in the still noisy dining hall. Toge feels his face heat up, smiling and ruffling the hair of the shorter one. The bullies take this opportunity to try and spread their "hate the Inumaki kid" agenda over to Yuuta and the whole of Ravenclaw. And if possible, the other houses as well.
"Hey, kid. Listen to us, this guy? He's a curse. Just a big loser in this huge school. You'd be better off avoiding him!" the Slytherin boy yells out, but Yuuta— gente, sweet, kind Yuuta— stands his ground. He rolls his eyes at the bully. He defends Toge— the stranger whom he'd gotten to know because they were both young, stupid, and needed time for themselves.
"You're the loser here! Inumaki isn't bad, he's amazing and you're just jealous that he's better than you and don't want to admit it!"
The whole dining hall goes silent. The third graders stare at him angrily and things are about to take a turn for the worse, the headmaster speaks up, thank goodness— and he seems to have realised the predicament that Toge is in, because he announced a speech to the entire school that bullying of any sort would not be tolerated and bullying could lead to expulsion. There were many murmurings resounding around the hall after that as well as stares at him, but Toge was just glad that someone stood up for him and he had a friend now. Minus Maki, of course, but she had other friends to hang out with now.
Toge didn't see Yuuta around as much after that, even though he promised that he'd go find Toge as much as he could. He mostly had to sneak into his dorm in the dead of the night to find him, because he was so busy in the day, helping classmates or doing homework. Toge was sure that he was going to be a very, very successful guy. He'd most likely be head prefect, too, when they reach that level.
He'd find Yuuta shaking him at 11pm, whispering a gentle "hi" to the taller boy. He'd wave back, smile a bit under the turtleneck he usually wore. Not that he didn't have pyjamas, but he was far too conscious about the stupid marks on his face that connected him to the damn Inumaki household name. The Ravenclaw would jump onto his bed, movement light and soft, just lying down under the blankets with Toge as he told him all about his day, his friends, what lessons he had.
Sometimes, they had lessons together. When Yuuta recognised Toge in any of his classes, he'd immediately sit right beside him— not that anyone wanted to sit with him, anyway.. except Maki, but she, again, has other friends who she liked and hung out with. Toge wasn't her only friend, like she was Toge's. Minus Yuuta, of course.
He couldn't keep living with only these two as his friends, though, so he accidentally befriends an animagus panda. His name is quite literally Panda, but he disliked his human form, thus he stays in his panda form constantly. He's the first friend that Toge makes on his own. As in, he approached Panda. In fact, Panda decided to help him after they'd become friends with his communication issue. As the ever-huge bigbacked animagus he was, he'd suggested for him to use onigiri ingredients for his "safewords". He could convey his intentions and comments through them, and in the end he did agree to this.
So, one absolutely normal day, and Panda and Toge are hiding on one of the dorms' roofs at Hogwarts, writing down all the onigiri ingredients they could think of:
Shake/Salmon: positive/affirmation/yes/good
Okaka/Fish flakes: negative/no/disapproval/bad
Konbu/Kelp: greeting (hi, bye, gm, gn)
Takana/Mustard leaf: concern/worry/i can do it/oops/sorry
Sujiko/Salmon roe: teasing/joke
Ikura/Caviar (by far my favourite): all slurs and swears and offensive stuff i know
Mentaiko/Spicy cod roe: motivational/u got this
Tsuna/Tuna: look at something
Tsuna mayo/Tuna mayo: general use/do it/do something about it
"Yeah, that list looks like it's enough. You can come up with more over time if you need to, too!"
"Shake!"
"Wait, you're using them already? I'm gonna need that cheat sheet for a bit," Panda jokes, leaving them both laughing. The bell for class rings just then, and Toge immediately offers to teleport Panda to wherever he needed to go, because that was what he was going to use. Panda agrees, because he had Professor Geto for the next lesson, and he wouldn't hesitate to take away points from Hufflepuff if he was late. He breathes out a teleportation spell, teleporting the two of them into Panda's class as he waved goodbye, teleporting himself off to whatever class he had next.
"Inumaki, what did I say about using teleportation? I could feel your magic from a mile away, geez.." the teacher, undoubtedly Professor Gojo, says. He'd been looking after Toge for a while, since he went to hand-deliver the letter that his parents repeatedly burned.
"Takana," he says, forgetting that no one knew about his little language except Panda. It seems like Gojo knew about it, for some reason, though. Probably his crazy six-eyes family technique shit. None of which he actually cares about.
"It's alright, bud! Just try not to use it so much."
And just like that, the lesson starts, Toge happy that he was going to have a little communication thing to use instead of just keeping silent or struggling to write on paper or something.
The year flies by, and soon, it's already his second year. Panda, Maki and Yuuta were introduced to each other by Toge, and the three of them became fast friends. Toge also tells Maki and Yuuta about his onigiri language, which they quickly learn to decipher accurately. Of course, it took a lot of work, which Toge is infinitely grateful for. Soon enough, they could understand him perfectly and he was happy.
As second-graders, they had a lot more responsibilities. Well, not as much as when they get older, but yeah. They had to learn a lot more things that were probably unnecessary, but thank god Hogwarts lessons are so fun. Toge would've died from boredom ages ago. And also thank god, because Yuuta was in every single one of his lessons this year.
Out of Panda, Maki, Yuuta and Toge, Yuuta and Toge were the closest. Maki talked to Panda a lot more, since he stood out so drastically. Toge was relatively hard to find, being already short as he was, and Yuuta was even shorter. She already didn't have anyone to train Quidditch with, so she might as well just take Panda's company.
Unfortunately, only a week into their second year, Yuuta was offered a four-year exchange programme with some school across the seven seas for his "outstanding academic performance". He was reluctant to go, but the teachers didn't really give him an option. He had to go, whether he liked it or not.
The farewell was relatively (very) sad, Maki and Panda just having sad looks on their faces while Toge was almost full on crying, tears streaming down his face as he just stared at Yuuta. It was a funny sight, admittedly, but Yuuta immediately went to hug him, starting to cry himself, too.
While Yuuta was off in some foreign land, they called and texted a lot. It got so insane to the point that Toge had to escape to the Slytherin common room to call him instead of in his bedroom, and sometimes Maki would come down. She'd scold Toge for staying up so late, and scold Yuuta over the phone for calling so late.
During this time, there were a group of first-graders that joined that year. They were very.. peculiar. He didn't expect one of them to actually be Gojo's self-proclaimed adoptive son. He spoiled him a lot, way more than he ought to. Thank god Megumi grew up right, because Toge doesn't think he could handle a sassy, bratty Megumi.
Nobara was a half-blood who was really good at Potions. And, also Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she claims it's because Maki taught her. Really, Toge didn't think anyone would approach Maki, but Nobara was a very independent person, so he wasn't surprised.
Yuuji was probably the most interesting of all of them. He was the vessel of "You-Know-Who", Sukuna. He'd swallowed one of Sukuna's cursed fingers, to protect Megumi when they first met. Gojo offered him a scholarship to Hogwarts, for saving him, and that's how he joined.
They were really nice to him, going to far as to pay attention to his body language and help him whenever he could. He didn't like feeling so disabled and useless, but appreciated it nontheless. They also started learning sign language, all of them, so that they could communicate with him without the onigiri ingredients. They were all crazy interested in Quidditch, too, so Maki finally found her people.
The first time Quidditch was introduced to them was in the third grade. Toge immediately thought of Yuuta, thinking that he'd really like playing Quidditch, throwing bludgers around and chasing the golden snitch. He personally wasn't a fan, though. His broom was so quick that he had to be banned from every single Quidditch match. It was practically cheating if he were allowed to compete.
He didn't plan to tell Yuuta, though, to let him find out as a surprise. He missed the days when Yuuta was right there beside him, Toge ruffling his hair as he playfully glared at him. He wondered how he was doing.
Just like that, another boring year without Yuuta passes by, the Ravenclaw one-sidedly fighting with Toge's juniors from all the way across the world to learn sign language better so he can prove that he's better than those "puny juniors!" (Toge might have let out a little laugh.)
It's already their fourth year by this time, and Yuuta was still isolated all the way at the land of freedom and oil. He missed everyone back home, and here, Yuuta was pretty much a loner, having joined like, two weeks late.
"Y'know, it doesn't feel right. Being here," he sighs, voice staticky over the phone.
"Takana," Toge replies. "Mentaiko, Yuuta!"
"Thanks, Toge.. also, how's the rest been doing? I haven't texted them in a few weeks by now, haha."
"Shake," Toge says, recounting the last time he saw each of them. He saw that Megumi and Yuuji have started going out on their own more often, leaving Nobara with Maki. He tells Yuuta that he's suspicious. Of them being queers. He says that last bit as a joke, making sure for Yuuta to know he meant it as a joke, and thankfully he doesn't seem homophobic towards anyone. I mean, look at him. He doesn't look like the type to be homophobic. In fact, he looks the exact opposite. His hair had grown out a lot more, and now he didn't have it just spiking out— a choice he wishes he made earlier instead of always cutting it.
"Yeah, from your descriptions, Megumi and Yuuji might be dating. And I feel like Nobara is EXACTLY Maki's type. Don't get be wrong, friendships can exist, but this sounds a little fruity."
Toge stifles a laugh, and then Gojo appears in the middle of the Slytherin common room. He's done for, he thinks, but Gojo just stared him down and asked to see his phone. Toge handed it over, and Gojo waves really aggressively before handing it back.
"Don't sleep too late, geez. Even Megumi never slept this late before. And it's like, 4am."
And just like that, he disappears again. Toge and Yuuta stare at their phones for a bit before cracking crooked little smiles.
"Yuuta, konbu," Toge says, deciding that he really should go to bed.
"Night, Toge!"
The rest of year four passes by relatively quickly. But you know what doesn't? The whole week before Yuuta comes back.
Time works in the most mysterious of ways. Toge couldn't sleep for days, and the days went by agonisingly slowly. Even Maki and Nobara agreed that they were pretty slow, which is a whole new level of agreement.
"Tsuna mayooo..." Toge complains, staring at his phone for the tenth time that minute.
"Geez. Toge, be a little more patient, can you? I get it, you miss your precious long-distance boyfriend and can't wait to get him ba—"
"Okaka! Ikura, ikura, Maki! Okura, takana!"
"Oh my lord. Stop swearing at me, Toge Inumaki, I'm going to beat your ass!"
"Ikura, ikura, ikura! Ikura!" he yells at the top of his lungs as he runs away from the angry ass girl, his lack of a growth spurt giving him a speed advantage. But then again, Maki kept up, and he was almost beaten to death. Jokingly.
Eventually, the day of Yuuta's return does arrive, and Toge illegally took his broom over to the airport to meet Yuuta. It's late at night, 10:30pm, but he was so energetic he could explode.
You
YUUUUTAAAAA
YUUUTAAAAAAAAAA IM WIATING
img.png
HURRY UP SLOWASS!!
Sent 10:31pm
Yuuta ♪( ´▽｀)
WHAT
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE
I DOUBT THE TEACHERS LET YOU.
TOGE INUMAKI DID YOU SNEAK OUT
Sent 10:34pm
You
mayhaps
Sent 10:34pm
Yuuta ♪( ´▽｀)
You're going to be the death of me
I'm heading out the gates rn
Sent 10:34pm
The Yuuta that walks out isn't a clumsy, awkward Yuuta. The Yuuta that comes out is a whole head taller than Toge, broader build, different hair, different feel. He didn't even flinch when Toge suddenly jumped onto his back (it was to welcome him. He doesn't feel like he's welcomed Yuuta if he didn't scare or tease him at least once. What did they feed Yuuta there?? Does their KFC have magic capable of changing his Yuuta to this Yuuta?)
"Ikura?? Yuuta, takana.." he whines, dejected that he won't be able to mess up his hair, or even reach him, for that matter. He won't even be able to tease him about anything.. aw shuckles....
"Toge? Why are you cursing at me first thing, what the hell? Aren't you supposed to cry and bawl and say 'Oh my god! Yuuuuuuuuutaaa you're back!' and hug me?" Yuuta says. God, Toge was the one who was supposed to be teasing!
"Umeboshi, Yuuta," he says, offhandedly. Oops. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to understand what "umeboshi" was just yet. Thank all the gods up there for that.
"Huh— hey, you've never told me about that one. What does it mean?"
Toge stays silent the entire way back. Not like it was very long, anyway. Toge just teleported the both of them miles back like it was nothing. They were right outside the Ravenclaw dorm.
"Toge," Yuuta pleads. "Pleeease? What's umeboshi? Toge!!" He whisper-shouts at Toge as he turns around, pretending not to hear Yuuta.
"Mentaiko, tsuna mayo takana?"
"Oh, yeah. Sure, just give me a second!"
Yuuta disappears into the Ravenclaw dorms, giving Toge enough time to explode in on himself. They were still fourteen! Well, fifteen that year, but still.. he decides that he would tell Yuuta its meaning by the end of the year.
When Yuuta comes back out, Toge's usual, quiet and mysterious self is back. He's way bigger now, he thinks as he grabbed his hand, holding it up against his own to compare.
"Heh, you're still short," Yuuta teases, and Toge feels like he's going to bend over in half and sink into the ground like the ghosts. That was so out of character! He wants his cute, innocent mini Yuuta back..
Toge sticks his tongue out above his turtleneck— one thing that was familiar to him. Toge had always worn turtlenecks, to cover up the family sigils on his cheeks that he hated so much. Personally, Yuuta thought they were pretty. But no one needs to know except Yuuta himself.
Their night is spent like from when they're just little kids who'd just entered the school: lying down on Yuuta's bed, this time, because he had a whole room to himself at that point in time, and whispering hushed stories about everyone. Toge felt like he was a child again, just lying down there, not having a care in the world. He only felt like that around Yuuta— that comfortable, small little bubble that is his world. That thought sounded a bit romantic.
Toge had long accepted that Yuuta wasn't like others towards him. Toge knew that he would never hurt him since the moment he'd defended him in the middle of the dining hall when they were the raw, young age of 11. Thank goodness that Toge was used to not talking, because he'd probably have blurted it out on accident and killed himself by now.
Yuuta was a great, kind person. He always looked out for others, but never himself. Toge noticed a lot about him. He liked the dark. He didn't like the sun. He wasn't ever a sports guy (not until Quidditch, anyway) and he liked the honey lemon tea that Toge made whenever they snuck into the kitchen because they couldn't sleep. He hated cars. He loves that ring that he always wears. He likes all his friends. He doesn't like noises that are too loud. He doesn't like big crowds that much. He likes being alone with two or three others. He doesn't like headaches. He likes caring for Toge. He likes standing up for people. He loves a girl named Rika. She gave him the ring.
But Yuuta would definitely find it weird that he liked him, if he ever found out. He'd stop all this nice little bed sessions. He'd stop defending Toge. He'd stop liking Toge as a friend, and he'd be like a missing puzzle piece. With at least one piece missing, a puzzle would never be complete. And what was Toge Inumaki without his precious friend Yuuta Okkotsu? Right, nothing. Incomplete, unfinished Toge Inumaki. So he couldn't risk everything.
Yuuta noticed that Toge hadn't been replying. He was even zoning out. Toge never did that. Not the Toge he knew. He would never tell Toge, but he paid attention to him a lot more than friends do. He knew that Toge's eyebrows would crease when he was thinking. He knew that Toge's eyes lit up brightly whenever he mentioned a topic that he liked. He knew that Toge has always been a selfless person. He knew that Toge always cared. Even though he was ruthlessly bullied even before he came to Hogwarts, he was so, so kind. He was forgiving. He was brighter than the stars Yuuta liked to watch at night. He was sweeter than the honey lemon tea that he made on late nights where they couldn't sleep. He was the prodigy that Yuuta could never beat, but he didn't mind that. Because it was Toge who was in first place. Toge would always be able to beat him.
He waves in front of Toge's face, but he still seems to be transfixed, in his own world. Disassociated from everything else.
"Toge," he says, softly, gently— he almost cringes at how much fondness and affection is in that damn voice, but he's so full of love for the Slytherin student that he can't help himself.
That seems to snap Toge out of it, though. He blinks a few times, then signs an apology. He's far too tired for anything. He'd missed the last four whole years without Yuuta. He'd forgotten how safe and whole he felt under the blankets, hidden from public view.
"No, don't apologise. Are you okay?"
"..Shake."
"I... Toge, is there something you're hiding?"
They were just two awkward, pining pre-teens. But they were getting somewhere. They were communicating, and communication is key. Especially for a relationship like theirs. After a short silence, Toge replies again.
"Takana, okaka tsuna mayo."
I don't want to talk about it.
"I'm not going to force you," Yuuta says, voice sweeter than Toge's favourite macarons. It almost lets him believe that he loves him. "But I'm always here for anything you need, okay?"
Toge nods, then hides deeper into the blanket. They retreated into the warm, comfortable sheets for the night, a single sentence lingering in the room. They share the comfortable silence, closing their eyes and Toge falls asleep with Yuuta on his mind.
The next morning, they don't wake up for school. No teachers come to find them. They just lie there, two tired, emotionally drained boys who've missed each other for years.
The one who first discovers them is Megumi. He looks into the room, noticing that the "transfer student" is back at Hogwarts. Then, he sees a familiar tuft of white hair from underneath the blanket. He identifies the tuft as Toge's hair, and realises why Maki, Panda and Toge were always talking about him, and even more recently. Were they dating? He didn't think his senior would be dating anyone anytime soon. Or maybe, that was because he already had a boyfriend..!
He silently leaves the room. Whatever he relays to Yuuji and Nobara ends up being relayed to Maki as "Toge has a boyfriend" but the girl is not told of who the boyfriend is. She seems to have forgotten that Yuuta came back just the night before, and when she went to look for Toge that morning, he was gone. She'd panicked like mad, before remembering that this was Toge they were talking about. Toge, who couldn't speak because he'd accidentally kill someone by whispering some spell.
"Are you meaning to tell me that Toge and his boyfriend hooked up?" Her eyes are wide and she looks like she had no clue who this guy was. And she was Toge's closest friend (minus Yuuta)! What the fuck? She decides to just sigh and deal with this when Toge comes back from his boyfriend.
Toge comes back a bit before dinner. He's dragged Yuuta along, and before Maki could yell her ass off at him, she gawks at Yuuta. That was not Yuuta. No fucking way.
"Hey, Maki. Missed me?" Yuuta teases— right, Toge had forgotten about his new, bold personality.
"What the hell did the Americans feed you?" is the only thing she manages out, as Panda approaches the group and almost shrieks. He asks Maki's exact same answer, but in a shriek-ish voice.
"Uh.. I don't know? But they eat way more than necessary. Better to be full than hungry or something."
"This is NOT Yuuta. It cannot be Yuuta. No way. Maki, we're dreaming. First it's Toge missing in the morning, then it's him having a boyfriend, and now this?" Panda says, thankfully in a normal voice now.
"Huh? Okaka?" Toge has no idea what boyfriend they're talking about. He doesn't "talk" to anyone besides them and the juniors. And ocassionally Gojo, because he's willing to talk to the person who freed him from that damn house, but that was all.
"What? Then where the hell were you the whole morning?" Maki asks, but it dawns on her as she asks the question. "Yeah, nevermind. I don't wanna know."
Nobara, Yuuji and Megumi approach them. They're all now just gathered underneath a random flight or stairs, dusty and full of cobwebs.
"Hey guys! What are you doing here? Who's this?" Yuuji greets, no one reacting except Toge and Yuuta who give him a wave at the exact same time. Megumi stays behind the Gryffindor students, knowing that he was the one who'd found them out first. Oops.
"..This is Yuuta Okkotsu, he left for some stupid four year programme in grade two, just before we met you three. Toge is deathly attached to him."
Toge mutters an "ikura" under his breath, Yuuta chuckling silently. He decided he should probably, uh, greet them.
"Hey, it's nice to meet you. Toge's talked about you three a lot," he smiles, the damn shine of his Americanised teeth basically illuminating brighter than the fucking sun.
"Wait. You're Okkotsu? Like, the one in the photos that Maki and Toge show us? Because you don't look like that.." Nobara starts, and Toge almost has to beg her to shut up because once she starts she never stops. But, thankfully, her sentence trailed off. Great for everyone! Thank you for not starting a whole speech.
"Uh, yeah. Puberty hit hard, I guess?" Puberty didn't just hit him hard. It hit him like a fucking truck, and he'd never seen anyone who had such a massive explosive growth like him. Maki seems to have the same thought process, because she snorts, shaking his head, and outright saying what she thought.
Yuuta coughed and awkwardly tried to stand behind Toge, not used to the attention. God, he wished he was still an 11 year old and shorter than Toge himself. Toge smiles at him reassuringly, tugging the sleeve of his cloak to stand a bit more in front. He had to look down to see Toge, oh god, he's so cute, Yuuta thinks. He shakes his head, trying to move behind again. Toge laughs his usual, soundless laughter. An endearing sight, but it would've been even more endearing if Toge had breathed a single sound of laughter.
"We should go to the dining hall," Panda suggests, his stomach growling right on time. Maki makes a jab at him, saying something about "your stomach is basically our alarm clock" and Panda making a fake offended sound.
The group headed over, waving their farewells as they split up to go sit at their own house tables. Yuuta and Megumi end up sitting side by side, awkwardly avoiding eye contact. A few of Yuuta's old friends came to surround him, and soon it was a whole cluster of people, with Yuuta right in the middle. He was suddenly overwhelmed with an onslaught of people asking for a photo, his autograph and even to touch his arm. What the fuck? So, as Yuuta's amazing best friend.. ahem.... who knew that he disliked crowds, he tried to get him out. Maybe. Should he?
But then, Yuuta spoke up, his charm immediately working on all these crazy students.
"I'm sorry, but I'd appreciate it if I did this at a later time."
They all started muttering and the crowd dissipated, leaving Yuuta to breathe a sigh of relief as he looked Toge's way and smiled at him to tell him that he was okay. Toge smiled back, giving him a thumbs up for encouragement.
"Damn, you're so bad for him," Maki laughs, eating away at her food.
"Okaka. Maki mentaiko Nobara!"
"Oh, shut up, you!"
The rest of their dinner was peaceful, full of teasing, laughing, gossipping, and having cross-hall conversations with Yuuta, who was being approached one by one, slowly, by awaiting girls and boys.
Dinner went by relatively well, Megumi even being able to clarify that Yuuta and Toge weren't dating, just really close. He did find out that Yuuta was absolutely crazy for Toge, though. Nobara was going to go insane with this new information, probably.
They were still really young, so Megumi was originally hesitant on accepting it. Out of Nobara, Yuuji and himself, he was closest to Toge, and they did talk about a lot of things. He knew that Toge was a great guy, but to fall in love at just fourteen? He had his reservations. To be fair, they're going to be fifteen this year. That did little to quell his nerves, but it's ultimately Toge's choice. The least he could do was support him in his decisions.
After dinner, they got ready for bed, and then they met up again at the Ravenclaw dorms. They snuck into Yuuta's room, but a huge group of students, two of which are actually allowed to be there, being snuck in wasn't easy. When everyone finally got into the spacious room, they were glad to find that Yuuta wouldn't have any roommates until the next year, so they could use his room as their hangout.
"Let's play something," Yuuji suggests, putting down a huge monopoly board that he pulled out from under his cloak. No one's surprised anymore except Yuuta, but he had an excuse.
"Um. How about we save that for the holidays," Megumi says, reasoning with them that they'll wake up the entire building if they played monopoly at 8pm, because the game was going to last long. Toge agrees with this decision, and they decide on truth or dare, because it was the easiest game and the first one they could think of.
"I'll start," Nobara goes, because she loved going first in games. "Yuuta, truth or dare?"
He'd honestly expected it, since he's new to their little group and all. He was originally going to just leave them to do their things, because he wasn't part of their group just because he popped out of nowhere with Toge. But the group (and especially Toge) insisted, so he joined them. He swallows thickly before replying rather hesitantly.
"Uh.. truth?" That sounded way more like the Yuuta that they all knew in first grade. It was hard to imagine Yuuta any way otherwise, but there he was.
"Do you maybe like anyone? Just curious, y'know. Haha."
She was definitely trying to matchmake Yuuta with someone here, and the someone was not so discreetly ogling him.
"Oh," he says, his mind immediately floating somewhere beyond that question, reaching far into his head and bringing unpleasant memories to surface. "Yeah, I do."
But his face doesn't look like how you'd look at someone you like. So, Nobara couldn't really tell if he was bluffing. Toge immediately signs to him, asking if he's okay. He knows about Rika, and he knows about a lot of things that Yuuta's gone through, because he's the first person that wasn't in his family who he'd told about the incident.
Yuuta smiles weakly, nodding. He'd be okay, maybe.
"Alright. Maki, truth or dare?"
"You're all cowards. Dare."
"Grab your phone and video call us. You're going to take your broom out the window and float outside the headmaster's office until he sees you. Also, you have to wear a ghost costume, because that's the stupid part."
Toge doesn't know how he can handle his childhood trauma but still say something so funny, and have his voice unwavering. Well, Toge could hear a slight wobble in his voice, but he said he'd be okay, and Toge was sure that he wasn't the same Yuuta he knew in the past.
The game passes like that, Yuuta pretending he was still okay from the memories that resurfaced from that first question. He was probably replaying the exact scene in his head again and again, the poor boy. Toge wanted to just hug him, let him cry his lungs out until he feels better and forgets about everything, drifting off to sleep.
He feels himself drifting off, and he falls asleep with Yuuta on his mind.
And he unconsciously leans his head against Yuuta's shoulder. The taller boy glanced at him, smiling slightly although it was a bit unsure. He pretended like it was nothing, just letting Toge rest on his shoulder like that.
"Oh, shoot, he's asleep," Maki says, groaning a bit. She didn't really want to drag a delirious Toge all the way back to their dorm.
"Don't worry, he can stay here. I'll wake him up earlier so he can go back."
His reply sounded rehearsed. Was he subconsciously rehearsing for if this kind of situation happened? Maybe.
Maki gave him a very funny look, raising here eyebrows repeatedly before she tells everyone that it's time to go back. Everyone files out of the room, running off to the exit before they got caught by the Ravenclaw prefect.
Toge, despite not being the Toge that Yuuta was familiar with from when they were first-graders, was still a deep sleeper. How he did that, Yuuta didn't know. You-Know-Who could be attacking and Toge'd be sound asleep, completely unbothered by the noise. It made him laugh, sometimes, how silly Toge could be.
He lifted the Slytherin student up gently, lying him down on the bed and getting in with him. He doesn't think that it's very straight of him to be sleeping in the same bed as another guy. He doesn't think that this is what completely platonic best friends do. But he'll take it, because he gets to be around Toge.
He didn't think he'd be able to love again, after Rika's passing. He doesn't think he's capable, doesn't think he deserves it. Because his love caused Rika to die, and he doesn't want the same thing to happen to Toge. Not sweet, kind, caring Toge. Never him. Toge is the one who he prays to never, ever hurt. He'd hurt him by leaving him all the way back in second grade, and he didn't want to hurt him now.
They fall into peaceful slumber, Toge on Yuuta's mind as he succumbs to the lull of sleep.
The next morning, Yuuta does wake Toge up earlier, so that he can sneak out, back into his room and get changed. Toge, ever so sleepy, had teleported himself back, unbothered to walk all that distance. Hogwarts was huge.
They meet up again at the dining hall for breakfast, but this time it's just the two of them. They wanted to be selfish for a while, have the other to themselves.
As the dining hall got more and more crowded, Maki, Panda and the juniors join them once more. No one tries to sit between Yuuta and Toge, because even though they wouldn't say anything, they'd probably be upset.
"So, Yuuta. Are you jetlagged? Because you don't seem to be," Panda starts, because he's genuinely curious. He sleeps as much as he can, but he'd probably die of jetlag until he could readjust.
"Um, no, not really."
There were still plenty of people approaching him for stuff, but the looks that Toge shot were enough to deter them. They just wanted to enjoy their breakfast, was it that hard?
"Geez, Toge, you're scaring away everyone you see.." Maki comments, making Nobara hold back her laughter and Yuuji gave a smile.
"Okaka," Toge says casually, like he wasn't glaring aggressively hard at all the people who tried to walk up to Yuuta a few seconds ago, continuing to eat his breakfast. Yuuta laughs a bit, and they all send the duo very questionable looks but neither take notice of it.
"Damn loverboys," Maki says under her breath, Panda nodding in agreement.
They've all already gotten used to Yuuta by this point, and everyone just decided to ignore the huge groups of people coming to Yuuta like he was a damn celebrity. Eventually, he was nothing short of campus crush, and only at 15. Well, 14, but he was 15 soon.
The year goes by pretty quickly, having to study for their OWLs and the juniors getting more leadership opportunities as well as work, so they could only see each other during meals. Yuuta's birthday passes, and he's now fifteen. And still growing. Damn.
By the time Toge even reaches 162cm, Yuuta's a whopping 170— what the hell? Toge hoped he doesn't grow any more. He'd probably be horrified to see a Yuuta who was even taller.
Then their OWLs go by. After that, everything seems to settle down a bit more. Toge's birthday finally passes, and he decides that it's finally enough. He can tell Yuuta now, and pray that he didn't hate him forever after that.
"Yuuta, tsuna mayo," he says one day, the day before they're all going to return home for Christmas with their families. Toge was staying at Hogwarts, along with Professor Gojo and Megumi. They're playing UNO in the room. He'd won already, and Yuuta just finished. Yuuta nodded, getting up and they walked off to the Ravenclaw common room. By that point, the other Ravenclaw students already found out, but they didn't mind, so the group was always welcome.
"So, what is it?" Yuuta says, concern lacing his voice. Toge never asked him to talk together on their own. It was weird and abnormal and Yuuta was worried. For him.
"Umeboshi," Toge says, and Yuuta knew what it meant.
"I'm ready to tell you what it means."
And Yuuta is ready to know what it means. He looks at Toge, whose face is flushed and red and he doesn't know how to calm him down.
He just holds Toge's hand, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. That was not very straight of him. But then again, he doesn't think he's very straight himself.
That seems to make Toge calm down enough to actually tell him though. Toge meekly, awkwardly signs.
"I love you."
Yuuta feels his heart skip a beat. He felt his whole entire face flush and it suddenly got unbearably hot in the room.
"Wait, you're serious..?"
Toge nods, his eyes looking everywhere but Yuuta's face. And when their eyes finally lock onto each other, Yuuta found it difficult not to stare.
"W-well, then. Toge," he says, and Toge may or may not have immediately thought that it was a rejection. But he let Yuuta finish. "Umeboshi."
They're both a little shocked, but when Yuuta lifts his hand and gently kisses his knuckles, Toge can't help the feeling that he's loved. He's cared for, and Yuuta loves him the way he loves Yuuta. It's everything he could ever ask for. He's so unbearably happy, and his face is also embarrassingly red. If Maki ever saw his face, she'd take a billion photos and he'd never live this down.
"I've loved you for a while now, Toge, and I thought it was wrong. But now, I don't think I care about what's right and wrong."
"..Yuuta..."
He's speechless. He's beyond happy, and he's actually going to explode if this really isn't a dream.
"Takana?"
"Yes, I'm serious. This is the most serious I've been in my life."
Yuuta makes a face, and the two burst into laughter.
"Will you be my boyfriend?" Toge signs, and Yuuta presses a kiss to his forehead as his answer. They both know what that means, and Toge is going to be happy for the rest of his life. He swears he'll never shower again. But he does, because Yuuta just knows what he's thinking and assures him that he'll get more to come, and they're both content, sitting there on the couch, leaning against each other as they whispered nonsense to each other.
Yuuta gives Toge endless kisses all over his face that night, and Toge returns them by being extra clingy, because he's too awkward and shy to kiss the tallass guy at that point. Then, his face morphs into a mischevious smirk. "Wanna make out?" To which Yuuta playfully hit him and laughed. They were both too flustered and nervous to do anything beyond just showering each other with attention at that point.
"Yuuta, mentaiko shake."
"Yeah, we should go back." Yuuta plants one more kiss on his forehead, holding him close. What did he do to deserve the affection of precious Toge? He'd never know, but he's eternally glad he did whatever he did.
They get up soon after, returning to the room after they'd calmed down. They weren't embarrassed by each other or anything, but they wanted to love each other quietly, secretly for a bit.
"Tsuna," Toge says as they enter, and all eyes are on them.
"Soo, what did you talk about?" Nobara asks as soon as the door closes back again.
"Just a new movie that's coming out. It's about some alien invasion," Yuuta replies, and it's almost funny how good they are at lying in front of their friends' faces.
"Well, that's boring," Maki scoffs, and they find out that it's currently a one on one, Yuuji versus Panda. Panda's losing, though.
"Ikura, Panda."
"Well, I'm sorry, UNO God, but I can barely place any cards with the colours I have."
He'd drawn the whole deck, still not getting a single red. Oh lord.
They spend the night laughing at how bad Panda was at UNO, booing Toge because he was good, and yelling "UNO!" and making the most of the night. They wouldn't be able to hang out with each other in a bit, so they always tried to have the funnest day ever on the last day. The time inevitably flies by, and they're all retreating back to their dorms for the night.
Toge stayed behind, as he's been doing for the past year. Maki angrily mumbles something about excessive PDA as she leaves, pissed once more because she has to walk all the way back on her own. Once they all leave, Toge leans on Yuuta's shoulder, feeling slightly cold. For what reason he really didn't know. He prayed he wasn't sick.
"Why did you have to confess the day before we separate for months," Yuuta whines, complaining and upset that he won't be able to see his now boyfriend for the next two months.
"Takana," Toge rolls his eyes, still slumped against his boyfriend of a few hours, "I was worried that you'd reject me. Then I'd have two months to think of how to face you again." Yuuta had to admit that that was what he'd do, too.
Yuuta sighs, hoisting Toge up and hauling him over to the bed where he just lays on top of him, unmoving and exhausted.
It was already 1am, and although that was a common sleep time for them due to OWLs, they were over, and Yuuta would like to get some much needed rest. So did Toge, but then again, Toge was a bit of a prodigy. All of this was taught to him before, forced into his little young brain by his cruel family.
"Togee... do you want to go home with me tomorrow?" Yuuta asks, slightly hesitant and a little whine in his voice.
Toge had not expected that. "We haven't even been together for a full day, and you already want me to meet your parents?" He teased, and Yuuta responds by attacking his face with kisses and Toge feels more loved than he's ever been loved his entire 15 years of living.
"Well, yeah. My parents know about you, and so does my little sister, haha," Yuuta replies, his face slightly red as he buries his face into the crook of Toge's neck, his speaking sending vibrations into his neck and he giggled, the ticklish feeling taking over him. It was nice. His boyfriend was nice. Amazing. He was so sweet. And Toge didn't even think about the fact that Yuuta's told his family about him before. He smiles bashfully when he realises.
"So, what's your answer?" He says, secretly hoping that he'd agree.
"Okaka, Yuuta. Tsuna mayo Gojo." He definitely does not want to ask Gojo. He'd immediately stare at him and wiggle his eyebrows because he knew everything.
"Gggh... I can ask him for youu.."
"Yuuta, okaka," Toge laughs, and the sound brings such a bright smile to Yuuta's face that Toge thought he would explode into confetti and fly up to the sun.
"Aw man. You better call me every day."
"Shake, shake."
Toge shivers slightly at the coldness of the damn room, and it doesn't go unnoticed by Yuuta. He drags the both of them properly under the covers, and he hugs Toge tight, to share their body heat. Something that Toge really liked was how warm Yuuta always was. Toge's body had really bad temperature circulation or whatever it was called, so he always huddled close to Yuuta during their late night shenanigans.
Toge leans as much as he can into Yuuta, the warmth enveloping him and making him instantly feel sleepy. Yuuta whispers a spell to turn the lights off, and they lie in comfortable silence in the cold room.
Falling asleep again in each others arms, their future together on their minds but they'll never tell each other out loud, because they knew that the other knows how much they care for each other. Hogwarts has never felt so extraordinarily much like home before.