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Chapter Text

Mob heard the door to Greenhouse Six open and close behind him and loud arguing followed, but he didn’t lift his eyes from the Venomous Tentacula he was tending to. He could hear Professor Minegishi’s thin, sharp voice, so surely the people who had arrived were meant to be there, despite the fact that Greenhouse Six was for the more advanced students. Many of the plants here were dangerous and could kill.

Take the Venomous Tentacula, for example. It was a feisty little plant that could easily strangle and poison any person unqualified to handle it. Mob picked up his spray bottle and started spritzing water on it. The Tentacula opened its maw and whined, vines sprouting forward. Mob offered his gloved hand and the vines coiled around it.

He smiled softly.

The voices grew louder. Mob wished he’d brought his earmuffs. But he was usually the only one who came around Greenhouse Six at this hour. The Tentacula wriggled and whined, spikes brushing harmlessly against the thick leather of Mob’s gloves. He reached to run his fingers over the vines, towards the snapping mouth-like part of the Tentacula’s stem. It calmed down, drool-like sap running down its mouth.

He’d brought Tome exactly once to help him care for the plants in Greenhouse Six, since she had dragged him out to the Astrology Tower in the dead of night. She had screeched his ear off for being so careless with a plant as dangerous as this, but this wasn’t being careless, Mob thought. He was just listening to the needs of the plant.

“I can’t help you,” Professor Minegishi said, his voice dominating the conversation. Mob pulled his head deeper between his shoulders and the Tentacula started wriggling again. “Ask someone else. Ask him. It’s your project.”

Did they really have to fight here? Even outside would have been better. Thankfully, he heard Professor Minegishi lifting one of the pots and the door opening and closing again. It was quiet once more. Mob breathed a sigh of relief. He placed the bottle back on the table and grabbed a small, silver cutter instead, moving the vines around his hand out of the way to cut off the small side shoots beneath them.

The quiet steps behind him alerted Mob to the presence of another person. And here he had hoped that both of the arguers had left. The steps approached him and Mob made room so that they could walk past him with ease. Even so, the walker stopped right in front of him and just stood there. Mob saw a pair of shoes in his periphery.

The person must have wanted to talk to him, then. He lifted his eyes from the plant. More vines sprung forward, sensing him pulling away and Mob let them crawl up his arm. The Tentacula calmed down when it realized he wasn’t struggling.

It was some blond boy. Vaguely familiar looking. And he was staring right at Mob with a wide smile, a hand on his hip and said hip cocked to the side. He must have been looking for a conversation and for some reason he was looking for it from Mob.

He waited for the boy to start.

“Hey! Kageyama!” he said. “I didn’t realize it was you!”

Mob was usually the only person who came around Greenhouse Six for extracurricular work. He knew there was a club that gathered at Three every Wednesday afternoon, but Mob had stopped going due to how noisy it got. And besides, the Tentaculas were here. Someone needed to look after them when the sixth years’ weren’t.

”Remember me? I’m – We had a duel on year four? You – I was kind of a jerk, but you really helped me out?”

Mob tilted his head. He supposed the boy did look familiar. Weren’t they in Herbology together?

Yes. He remembered now. The blond was the loud one who last year had been quick to tell everyone the class was pointless.

Now that he thought about it, he had been much more quiet this year. So quiet, in fact, that Mob had kind of forgotten he was there at all. He turned back to the Tentacula and kept clipping the laterals.

”I, uh. I was just talking with Professor Minegishi,” he said. ”You probably heard. He said… Mh. Maybe you could, ah. Help me?”

Oh. He was still talking. Mob turned back to him.

”I wasn’t listening,” he said truthfully. ”I’m sorry.”

The boy opened his mouth, then laughed, rubbing his neck.

”Ah, no, no, that’s fine!” he said. He was really loud. ”Rude to listen in on other people’s conversations, right? The thing is, uh, I’m about to flunk Herbology and Captain said that if I can’t get my grades to Acceptable at least by the time of O.W.L.s, I’d be off the team.”

Mob wasn’t sure why he was being told this, but he nodded his head anyway, because that seemed like the appropriate response. The boy’s smile died down a little, the hand going from his neck to his throat.

”So I talked to Professor Minegishi about it. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be taking Herbology after the O.W.L.s, but I kind of need this grade, so I, uh, the Professor gave me extracurricular work to better my grades.”

He must have been a good talker, then, since Professor Minegishi was a lot of things, but patient wasn’t one of them. Or maybe Professor Minegishi had just been feeling kind. Mob didn’t think this boy could be that good of a talker, since he still hadn’t said anything important.

”I thought I could do this myself, I mean, how hard can Herbology be?” he asked and waved his hand, laughing a little again.

Mob turned back to the Venomous Tentacula and started untangling his hand. It reached for him, whining softly and Mob patted the area over its mouth trying to placate it.

“Not that I’m saying that it can’t be hard! Or like, that if you’re really good at it, that doesn’t mean that you’re good at something pointless. No. Wait. That wasn’t what I meant to say.”

Mob started tuning him out. He was sure that once the boy would get to his point, he would let Mob know.

“ – but turns out I kind of, sort of almost killed the project Professor gave me.”

How irresponsible. He pulled his gloves off. As important as it was to wear them when working in Greenhouse Six, he didn’t like how sweaty his hands got. Mob waved his palms around a little, trying to get the feeling to dissipate.

“So then I thought, hey. I know someone, who’s like, really good at Herbology. So I was thinking that maybe… Ah. That maybe you could… help me out a little?”

Ah. It seemed that they had finally reached the point of the conversation. Mob turned to look at him and had to raise his head to look at his face, rather than his Gryffindor tie. The boy stood up taller suddenly. Mob held his gloves in one hand, his cutters in the other, waiting for him to finish his request.

“I was – “ he started, then stopped and seemed to change tactics. His voice gained a new tone Mob couldn’t place. “You’re clearly the best in Herbology, Kageyama,” he said. He got closer suddenly. Really close, in fact. He placed his hand next to Mob on the table, right next to the Venomous Tentacula’s pot and leaned over him. “So I thought – “

Whatever he had meant to say got cut off when the Tentacula latched onto his arm, sharp spikes digging into his unprotected skin.

His scream was very loud.

Later, when he was released from the Hospital Wing, his skin fixed but still a little pinkish where it had been regrown, Mob learned that his name was Hanazawa Teruki and that he should not be allowed in close proximity with plants of any kind. Mob had needed to spend hours with the Tentacula to calm it down enough so that it would stop crying.

It turned out that Professor Minegishi had trusted Hanazawa with a Queen Briar. He had it in Greenhouse Seven. Queen Briars were not a dangerous plant per se, but they could be temperamental and, if not treated correctly, overrun even the most careful witch or wizard’s garden. Getting them to bloom was the hard part. That required careful pruning, a delicate watering plan and constant observation to keep the Briar in size. But with proper care, one should be able to make the plant grow vibrant flowers of pink. Truly, Mob thought, Queen Briars were a beautiful thing, with leaves and stalks of blue and turquoise, spikes of pale pink.

The care needed to make one bloom was what made Queen Briars a project more suited for seventh year students, if for school work at all. It was definitely not a project for fifth years.

Perhaps the Professor had not been as kind as Mob had thought, since it was very unlikely that Hanazawa was going to be able to take care of it himself. By the time Mob got to see it, the poor plant was near death. The few remaining leaves were green, almost yellow, and everything drooped sadly.

”It’s impossible,” Hanazawa said, standing back while Mob moved to inspect it. ”I’ve done everything. Everything! And it just won’t get better. Professor Minegishi told me to keep a journal on it until I got it to bloom, but I think it’s defective.”

Mob used his wand to lift a leaf, inspecting it closer. The Briar needed immediate attention. The soil was sopping wet, algae growing on it and the direct sunlight had left its leaves pale. He pulled his gloves on and hurried to the storage at the back of the greenhouse.

“You’ve been overwatering it,” he huffed, carrying in a new pot with him. He started filling it with fresh, drier soil. Not enough fertilizers, too much water. He could tell Hanazawa hadn’t been singing to it either, so no wonder it was drooping. Soon it would have started growing mold and then it would have been too late. But there was still time. The Briar needed to be repotted immediately.

He walked to the pot. The Queen Briar was barely a stick in its soil, thin and listless, no sign of its vibrant colors. It was a surprise the poor plant still lived, but Mob supposed it was one of the though ones, too stubborn to die.

The first thing he needed to do was get it out of the direct sunlight. Mob put his arms around the pot and tried to lift it up. Emphasis on the tried. It was so heavy, too heavy to lift. He huffed and puffed and pulled it to the edge of the table, but couldn’t lift it past the railing.

“What are we doing now?” Hanazawa asked, hovering over his shoulder.

”Direct… sunlight,” Mob gasped.

”You want to move it?”

He tried to.

The pot rose into air and Mob jumped back. For a moment he just stared at it, then turned to look at Hanazawa, who had a wand in hand and an expression too familiar on his face.

He was laughing at him.

“Did you forget we’re wizards for a moment?” he asked.

Mob turned to stare at his feet. He hurried to a shadier spot between the large leaves of the lone, enormous Monstera Deliciosa in the back.

“Hey, no, it’s totally okay!” Hanazawa hurried to say.

“Put it here, please,” Mob said.

“Kageyama. Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Here, please.”

The pot flew to the spot here was pointing at and Mob knelt next to it. He could see Hanazawa standing close, shifting weight from one foot to another.

“I get it,” Hanazawa said quickly. “You’re from a muggle family, right? My dad is a muggle!”

Mob looked up at him through his fringe. Well. It had been a while since anyone had bothered to call him a squib to his face. They’d done that for a while, which made no sense to him, because only wizard born people could be squibs, or at least that was how Professor Reigen had explained it.

It was just scary sometimes, how volatile his magic could be. Even five years in.

Herbology was better. Herbology was easier. If he knew what the plants wanted and needed, he didn’t have to use any magic. Most of the time. He turned back to the Briar.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m not mad.”

Hanazawa relaxed visibly. He leaned against the table next to Mob, this time looking carefully at what was on it before doing it.

”So, like, I totally get that it can be such a culture shock to suddenly just jump into all of this, right?” Hanazawa said, leaning back, arms crossed, throwing hair out of his eyes. ”So, if you ever need, like, someone to talk to about it, I’m here, you know?”

Mob hummed. They needed to give the Queen Briar some emergency care. He would repot it, build it a support for it to lean against, then leave it to recover until he could give it some fertilizer. But what they needed before all that, was music to calm it down. He wasn’t much of a singer, not good enough to calm down the picky magical plants he’d dealt with before anyway, but the greenhouses had a gramophone for such occasions.

“I mean, we could talk about all sorts of things, not just that. I mean, we haven’t really talked after that duel, you know, but I’ve seen you around and I think that you seem like a cool guy and all.”

Mob got into the zone nicely. Everything around him kind of faded away and the only thing that mattered was the rescue. He wheeled the gramophone from Greenhouse Three into Seven, and set it playing to keep the Queen Briar from becoming further stressed out. Then he tapped carefully on the sides of the pot to loosen its roots. The Briar wasn’t big, it hadn’t been given the right conditions to grow, so pulling it out was easy just as long as he was careful. The spikes were sturdy and would have easily broken skin, but could not pierce his dragon skin gloves.

The roots needed to dry out. Mob set the Briar to a shady spot near the gramophone while he prepared the new pot and got rid of the damp soil of the old one. Mob was careful to remove the roots that had started to rot while the poor Briar had been drowning. He set the plant into its new pot with care. He fixed a simple piece of wood on one side of the pot for the Briar to lean against and tied a ribbon around the plant temporarily. It would have to be removed later so that the Briar would not take it as a slight against it and start sulking. He worked diligently. It didn’t take that long. Well, time kind of lost its meaning when he got into the zone. All of it blended together while he was making himself busy. Mob assumed he hadn’t taken that long.

Sweat gathered on his face and he rubbed it off with the side of his glove. He stepped back and looked the Briar over.

It was still too sickly, still too green, too pale and weak, but he had done his best. Only time would tell if it would be strong enough to pull through. Mob had a good feeling about this, though.

”Wow.”

Mob nearly jumped out of his skin when Hanazawa spoke up.

“Is it –? Did you fix it?”

Fix wasn’t really the word Mob would have used here. But he supposed it would do. He nodded.

”Thank you. I didn’t… I didn’t think you’d do this for me. After everything that happened last year. I didn’t think you’d really do it.”

Mob tilted his head. He had kind of forgotten Hanazawa was there. But that would have been a rude thing to say, right? He rubbed his cheek.

“You’ll need to fertilize it soon,” he said instead. “But not before… not before it has recovered. Not before it’s growing again. And the watering. Do you have a moon calendar? Water it every three days, spray water on the leaves every full and new moon. Leave it out in the moonlight. It’ll help the growth. Um.” He rubbed his gloves together, the tiny nubs on the fingers feeling nice when they passed each other. ”After that, the really important thing is to play music to it. Most like classic, but you’ll have to find its preferences yourself. Um. And the moon calendar, if there’s a blood moon, then you should hide it away, or it’ll start growing really fast.” What else? “Never fall asleep next to it. Don’t get any blood on it. Hm.”

”You really know this stuff from the top of your head, huh?”

”Shouldn’t you be writing this down?” Mob asked. It was his assignment, not Mob’s.

Hanazawa stared at him for a moment, then shook his head sharply. Apparently that wasn’t an answer in the negative, though, because he dove down to dig a scroll and a quill from his bag. He looked around, lips curling a little.

“Is this whole place dirty?” he said. He took a quick look at Mob, looked away just as quick. “Never mind.” He started scribbling furiously against the driest table. ”So fertilize it – ” he said.

”Only after it starts growing again.”

” – and not too much water. Um. Something about moonlight…”

”Water it once every three days,” Mob said. ”And spray any leaves on the days before the full and new moon. No blood.”

”Okay, okay. Got it.” He waved his wand over the text to dry it faster. The scroll flew back to his bag, folding neatly.

Mob started to clean up the mess he’d made around the greenhouse. He’d ended up doing all the work. Not that he minded. The Briar had needed his help, so naturally he would do all he could to make sure it would survive. He wasn’t sure how that was going to help Hanazawa get a better grade, though. Well. It wasn’t any of his business, really. He just hoped Hanazawa would take better care of the Briar in the future. He pushed the soil bags into their right places, upended the Queen Briar’s previous pot into the compost and took the pot to the warehouse at the back. Hanazawa did… something. During all that. Mob wasn’t really looking.

He did appear close by, when Mob started to push the gramophone on its pedestal towards the door. One moment he was struggling with it by himself, the next Hanazawa had materialized next to him. Well. It was easier to push together.

”Do you spend a lot of your free time in the greenhouses?” he asked. Their hands were touching. Why were their hands touching? Mob moved his hand a little, leaving some space between them.

”I guess,” he said. ”Here and in the dungeons.”

”Oh? With Professor Reigen?” Hanazawa asked and sneered. “That guy’s a total hack. I’ve been telling everyone, I swear he doesn’t know a lick of magic. If it wasn’t impossible for him to be a muggle, I’d swear he was one.”

”I think he’s nice. He’s helped me a lot.”

Hanazawa floundered and let out a string of weird sounds Mob couldn’t quite understand.

”I- I mean yeah, he is a great guy, isn’t he? A real people person, huh? But yeah, Herbology and Potions. Those really go hand in hand, don’t they?”

Their hands were touching again. Hanazawa must not have realized. There was no longer any room for Mob to comfortably move his hand to give him space. He supposed they’d have to live with it.

He realized he could have asked Hanazawa to levitate the gramophone too. Well. It must have slipped both their minds. They rolled it together back to Greenhouse Three.

”Hi, Mob!” one of the fourth year Ravenclaws, Emi called after him. Mob lifted a hand, gave an awkward wave.

”Hello,” he said.

Everyone was staring, he realized. Usually they’d just let him be on his way, used to his presence by this point, but now all eyes were on him and Mob froze on his feet. Did he… had he done something wrong?

Ah, but no. They weren’t actually staring at him, but at Hanazawa. One of Emi’s friends leaned next to her ear and started whispering furiously.

He wasn’t sure what that was about, but as long as it wasn’t about him, he was fine with it. He walked out of the greenhouse, fully sure that Hanazawa would stay behind to talk with the others. But once again, the steps behind him revealed the contrary.

Mob glanced at him. He was smiling widely and when their eyes met, Hanazawa brushed some hair off his face and shrugged.

”The downsides of being popular,” he sighed, but coupled with the smile he was wearing Mob wasn’t entirely sure if he really meant it as a bad thing. ”But yeah, I naturally spend most of my time in the pitch.”

Apparently their conversation was still going. Mob rarely had talks this long with people he wasn’t friends with.

”Why?” he said.

”To practice, of course!” Hanazawa said and spread his arms.

When Mob just stared at him in silence, his arms dropped a little.

”You know,” he said a little more uncertain. ”For Quidditch? That I play?”

”You play?”

”I’m the Seeker!” Hanazawa said and threw his hands down. ”Come on, I know I’m on the enemy team, but still! You don’t have to play with my feelings like this!”

Mob hadn’t realized he’d hurt his feelings. That had not been his intention.

”Sorry,” he said. ”I didn’t know.”

He hadn’t followed the games after the second year. Too loud. Sagawa from his year played and Sagawa was nice. Ritsu played too, but that wasn’t enough of an incentive to get him to go watch a game with all the screaming and pushing. Besides, the castle was wonderfully quiet when most of the students were out at the pitch. Ritsu always told him afterwards if he’d done well anyway.

He had, for a fleetingly short moment entertained the idea of joining a team, since Tsubomi seemed to like quidditch players, but it had only taken one flying lesson before he realized that high altitudes with high velocities did not go well with his stomach. After his fourth lesson in row spent puking on the pitch, he had been allowed to sit and watch on the ground instead.

Hanazawa was just staring at him, his eyes large and mouth open. He really had not meant any offence. Mob turned to look at him as well. Well, he tried to look him in the eye only to see them zero in on his cheek instead. Mob saw him swallow, lick his lips, then lift his hand a little. Hanazawa seemed to hesitate a moment, then reached forward.

He brushed his fingers against Mob’s cheek and Mob jumped at the sudden contact. Hanazawa jumped as well, pulling back as if burned, hands up and cheeks red.

”Dirt!” he shouted. ”You had – You had dirt on your face!”

Oh. Mob reached to rub at his cheek. So he had. Well, that wasn’t really so uncommon. He often ended up spending most of his evenings scrubbing dirt from under his nails. Tome had laughed that sometimes he looked like some sort of a forest spirit with the twigs in his hair and mud on his robes when he came back from the greenhouses.

“Thank you,” he said.

”No problem! Hey, you know what, you should come sit with us for dinner,” Hanazawa said, suddenly bumping their shoulders together. ”With me and my friends. I’d like to introduce you to everyone.”

”No thank you,” Mob said. ”I’m eating with Tome.”

Hanazawa had been about to say something more, but he seemed to have forgotten what it was. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes a little.

”Who’s Tome?” he asked.

”My friend.”

”She can’t be more popular than us,” he said and laughed a little. His eyes grew a lot bigger suddenly and he lifted his hands up, waving them at Mob’s face. ”Not that it matters, actually!” he said. ”I just… It’s nice meeting new people!”

Not really. Mob thought it was stressful. But he supposed there were different strokes for different folks. That was what Professor Reigen said, anyway. Mob was very pleased with the friends he had right now, though.

Hanazawa pursed his lips.

”Okay,” he said. ”Maybe some other time, then?”

Mob didn’t know about that. Hanazawa seemed nice enough, but talking to new people was always so hard. But… he supposed there was nothing wrong with having a bit of practice. Besides, Hanazawa seemed like the type of a person who was fully capable of having a conversation by himself. Maybe his friends would be like that too. He smiled a little and nodded.

Hanazawa’s smile was dazzling compared to his.

“Great!” he said. “That’s really great. And thank you so much again for helping me, Kageyama.” He grabbed at Mob’s hand for some reason and kept it between his. When he spoke, his voice had suddenly gone lower, his smile softer and he was looking at their hands. “I promise, I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

Well. As long as he would take better care of the Queen Briar, that was enough for him. It would be nice to be able to see it bloom.

There was something weird to Hanazawa’s smile. It was smaller than the ones from before, his eyes downturned, his cheeks still red from before. Mob looked at their hands as well, expecting him to say something about there being dirt on them. But Hanazawa was just running his thumb over his knuckles.

There was no dirt.

Well. It did feel kind of nice, he supposed.

Hanazawa was a little weird, wasn’t he?

Tome was not pleased when the subject of the Queen Briar was brought up.

”So you’ll help some Gryffindor quidditch hottie with his plant stuff and not me with my Astrology? Unbelievable!” She threw herself on the couch in the Hufflepuff common room and dropped her feet into Mob’s lap. Mob lifted his book out of the way with practiced ease and waited for the feet to settle.

”It’s cold up there at night,” he said.

”Yeah, but think of the things we could see, Mob! Aliens!”

”Hmm.” Just because they had found out magic was real didn’t mean aliens would be next. Mob rested the book on Tome’s legs.

”Hanazawa, huh?” she said, staring up at the ceiling, arms crossed behind her head. ”He must be getting desperate. I mean, he’s a good player and all. You should let him flunk. Maybe score us a win sometime.”

Mob hummed and turned a page.

Mob liked talking with Tome. She was a good talker. Kind of like Hanazawa, he supposed. She could hold most of the conversation by herself and still keep Mob in it. They’d been friends ever since she’d almost steamed him over in the hallway on his first week in Hogwarts. He’d been lost and about to have a meltdown.

”I’m sure your brother would like to see the Gryffindor Seeker taken out as well. I wonder who’d replace him.”

”Mm-hm.”

Mob liked the Hufflepuff common room. He didn’t have much to compare it to. Ritsu had taken him to the Slytherin common rooms a few times even thought it was kind of against the rules, but those had been much colder. Darker too. Ritsu said he liked it, that it was a perfect place to study and Mob believed him even though he much preferred the well lit, plant-filled and warm room they had.

”You make sure to let that Hanazawa know that he owes you one for this, alright? An eye for an eye. Are you listening to me, Mob?” She shook her legs and the book on them. Mob put a finger on the line he had been at.

”No.”

”Figures.” She sighed and stared up. ”But seriously. You have to come with me up to the Astrology Tower again some day. I tell you, it’s breathtaking. You won’t get a view like that during classes. It’s all quiet and nice.”

That did sound nice.

“Then you’ll have to help me at the greenhouses.”

Tome groaned loudly and turned so she was leaning on her stomach. Mob placed the book back on her legs.

Mob had kind of assumed that his emergency care for the Queen Briar would be the last he saw of Hanazawa. They had, after all, existed apart from each other so far, so what need was there to talk again? He had checked on the Briar a few times to see that it was faring well and it was. The leaves had already gained back some of their blue and soon it would start sprouting again, ready to catch up lost time. Now Hanazawa would only have to take care that it wouldn’t grow to envelope the whole greenhouse.

Mob had assumed that since Hanazawa had it all under control, they could continue living their separate lives.

He was proven wrong when on their next shared Herbology class only a few days later, Hanazawa pushed his way between Inukawa and Mob just as they had been feeding their Fanged Germanium.

“Hey, Kageyama!” he said, smiling widely, completely disregarding Inukawa’s surprised yelp of: “Hey!” The Germanium snapped its jaw with displeasure, groaning its hunger. “I just wanted to say thank you again for your help with the plant thing. I think we’ve really turned it around now!”

Mob had not prepared for a conversation. The classes usually followed a familiar pattern. Professor Minegishi lectured them, kept it nice and short and then they would have an assignment. There was usually no need for conversation with anyone other than Inukawa, and Inukawa was familiar.

Hanazawa was smiling expectantly.

”Um,” he said.

Hanazawa was so close, too. Pressing against his shoulder with his own. Mob couldn’t really pull away either, unless he wanted to step into Sagawa’s space behind him.

“You should really come see it,” Hanazawa said. “It’s growing much better now. All thanks to you.”

Oh. He could speak up here. Mob relaxed a little.

”Yes, I know,” he said. ”I’ve seen it.”

Hanazawa’s eyes grew a little larger. ”You went to see it?” he said.

Was he not supposed to?

”You should have told me!” he said, pressing even closer. Mob took half a step back and stepped on Sagawa’s foot. ”I would have come with you!”

”Ah, no. I was. I just. On my way to Greenhouse Six,” he said.

”Oh.” Hanazawa deflated a little. It didn’t last for long, though. ”But you should come with me today. After this, before lunch. I could ask you for some tips!”

Inukawa cleared his throat from behind Hanazawa, but the blond did not seem to notice. Inukawa poked his head from behind him and met Mob’s eyes, lifting a brow. A question. Mob shrugged.

”So you’ll come?”

”Um. Please move, Hanazawa. You’re in Inukawa’s way.

Hanazawa turned his head slowly to Inukawa. Mob didn’t see the expression he had, but Inukawa shrunk back a little.

“Come on, man,” he said weakly. “I just… I just want to feed my Germanium.”

Hanazawa looked at the plant, then at Mob and stepped back. Inukawa scurried closer, looking at Hanazawa from under his brows. Hanazawa didn’t go far, still just a little too close for comfort.

”But you’ll come, right?” he said.

Mob hummed. He supposed the Briar would have better chances of success if he did. He nodded.

Hanazawa’s smile shone bright.

”Great!” he said and started walking backwards, back to his own table. His friends were staring at them. All of them. Just. Staring. Mob hadn’t even realized they were looking. Hanazawa shot finger guns at Mob and winked. ”I’ll wait for you outside, yeah?”

There was nothing more to it, then. He nodded and turned back to their Germanium. They had a box of frozen pixies and Mob picked one of them up, feeding it to the hungry plant.

”What was that?” Inukawa asked under his breath.

”What?”

Inukawa lifted his brows and tilted his head towards Hanazawa’s table. Their Germanium remained unattended, snapping upwards hungrily while the others clapped their hands on Hanazawa’s back and Hanazawa rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

”He is flunking Herbology,” Mob said.

Inukawa glanced at their direction. ”No wonder,” he said. ”Did you see their Germanium? Minegishi is going to – ”

“Hanazawa!” Professor Minegishi’s voice carried over the greenhouse and a few of the students giggled. “Ten points from Gryffindor. I thought you were going to take Herbology more seriously from now on!”

Hanazawa’s head shot up like he was about to say something, but then he looked at Mob and blushed.

”Sorry, Professor,” he said, cowed.

His friends burst out laughing.

”Oh,” Inukawa said. ”Oh.”

”Hm?”

”Nothing, nothing. Just… thought of something. Never mind me, Mob.” He reached for the pixies as well.

Three a week was perfect for a Fanged Germanium of this size. These homegrown Germania were bred to grow larger fangs than their wild counterparts, which made them worse at hunting, so they needed to be hand-fed. Once they got bigger, though, they might like something more human sized. But the fangs were usually harvested by that time, unless you grew them for the sake of growing. Mob and Inukawa’s Germanium was the largest and healthiest of the bunch, mostly thanks to Mob taking care of it outside their classes as well, but it wasn’t like the others were in bad shape either.

Mob might have… kind of snuck in to take care of the ones that were being mistreated as well. He knew he shouldn’t. Professor Minegishi had caught him once already. But he hadn’t redacted any points, just shook his head tiredly and let it go, so Mob didn’t think he’d actually get punished for it.

Hanazawa, just as promised, waited for him outside the greenhouse when the class was over. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, a lazy smile on his face. Mob saw more than one student stumbling on nothing, too busy staring at him on their way out.

“Good luck, Hanazawa!” one of the Gryffindors called, tone teasing.

”Shut up!” he shot back, before turning to Mob with a smile. ”Hi! Let’s go see it then, yeah?”

Mob wasn’t sure why exactly he was needed, but if Hanazawa so wanted, then he wouldn’t complain. At least now he was taking the health of the plant seriously.

“ – then I told him that it was clearly a foul, he’d been targeting me specifically and – “

Oh. He was talking. Mob hadn’t realized. He tried to focus, but realized that it was Quidditch. He had never really… learned the rules. Or cared that much. He did always cheer for Ritsu, naturally, from inside the castle. But he never truly understood the rules.

Hanazawa opened him the door to Greenhouse Seven and Mob made a beeline for the Queen Briar.

It was doing well, all things considered. Better. The yellow tint had disappeared almost completely, leaving the leaves healthy and blue. There were new turquoise nubs near the stem already, a few days away from bursting into leaves.

He had been right. This one was a fighter. Hanazawa would have his hands full pruning it soon.

“Did you fertilize?” Mob asked.

”I did everything you told me to!” Hanazawa said proudly. ”This is probably going to be the best what-ever-this-is there is. The Professor can’t flunk me now.”

“Queen Briar,” Mob said absentmindedly. He pulled on his gloves to try the spikes. Already sharp enough to pierce skin. The Briar was still too weak to try to ensnare him and bleed him dry, though he wouldn’t dare to fall asleep next to it. “If it’ll be strong enough to bloom.” He stood up and removed the glove.

”You think it won’t be?” Hanazawa said, some worry getting to his voice. ”You think – ”

”If you take good care of it, it will bloom,” Mob promised. He needed to do better than he’d done before, though. He tapped a finger on his cheek. ”You need to keep it from growing too much or it’ll waste its energy. But as long as you do that, you should be fine.”

”What? How? What do I do?”

Mob turned to look at him. Had he not been paying any attention during their classes? This was something they’d gone over during their first year.

Hanazawa offered him an apologetic smile.

Well. He was about to flunk his classes, wasn’t he? Mob sighed.

”I will let you know when,” he said.

”You will? Kageyama, you’re the best.”

”Hmm.”

“So you will come to eat with me – us this dinner, right?”

Mob didn’t remember promising anything of the sort. A tiny flicker of worry started thrumming just beneath his lungs.

“Um.”

“I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Hanazawa promised, as if that was going to make anything better. He threw his arm around Mob’s shoulder, pulling him close so there was no escape. Mob didn’t remember giving an answer before Hanazawa was already pulling him out of the greenhouse, the Briar completely forgotten.

“I thought you wanted tips,” he said.

“Oh! Sure, sure. Give me what you got, Kageyama.”

Hanazawa was so hard to read. He would say one thing and mean something else completely and Mob was having a real hard time following his train of thought.

He would have probably gotten along with Ritsu great.

“Do you remember how often to water it now?”

“Of course! Three times a day – “

”Once every three days,” Mob said quickly, worrying for the sake of the Briar already.

Hanazawa lifted his hands up. ”Joking! Joking. Because I overwatered it before, right? So I was – I remember it now, once every three days, got it.”

He was very strange.

The Gryffindor table was a lot rowdier than the Hufflepuff one. Mob got sandwiched between Hanazawa and some sixth year whose name he had forgotten as soon as he’d heard it.

They were… very loud. And animated. Always on the move, always at least two people talking at the same time. And they were so, so excited to have Mob there with them.

It was too much. Way too much. Too much everything. Noise, touch, sight, every sense was overwhelming him at the same time. He knew that in theory he was just a few steps away from the Hufflepuff table, not that far away from his usual spot, but it was a new table, with new and loud people. He was being squeezed tight between a perfect stranger and the only somewhat familiar Hanazawa, unable to escape, unable to breathe properly without feeling someone right there. He was blanking out, trying to block out everything, but he knew that the others were talking to him and the fact that he couldn’t hear a word they were saying was making his teeth ache. He was breathing too fast. He knew he was. The noises around him turned into a cacophony of meaningless sound. He couldn’t even think of eating and adding to the already jumbled mess of senses.

Hanazawa was talking to him. Asking him something. They weren’t really talking that loud, the people around them, but they really were. Screaming. Almost. Not really. Mob stared at his plate without seeing it.

Hanazawa repeated the question, louder. Too close to his ear.

Mob didn’t – He wasn’t –

There was a hand on his arm, pulling at him. It was almost too much with everything else, but then he recognized Ritsu’s face from the sea of unknowns.

They were talking now. Hanazawa’s voice was insistent, his hand motions wide and sharp, but Ritsu’s voice was the one Mob latched onto. Crisp and familiar. His hand was lifted from his side to Ritsu’s shoulder and he squeezed onto the fabric of his robe. Okay. This was familiar.

And then they were walking.

The noises grew quieter, more muffled. Cool outside air hit his face and Mob felt like he was breathing for the first time in fifteen minutes. It took him a moment to realize that they were sitting on the grass. He let go of Ritsu’s robe and curled his fingers around the blades of grass and just held tight for a moment.

He could feel them trembling under his hands, growing.

Mob pulled his knees to his chest and leaned his head against them.

Quieter here. Good. Better. Mob was breathing properly again. Ritsu didn’t talk for a long time, just breathed loud enough so that Mob could match his own with his. In. Hold it. Out. In again. Slowly he uncoiled and relaxed. Opened his eyes.

A few clovers had bloomed and then died around his fingers. He pulled his hands free and wiped them on his robes.

“How are you feeling?” Ritsu asked.

“Better,” he mumbled. “Thank you, Ritsu.”

Ritsu hummed and shook his head.

It was so nice to be able to sit down with Ritsu again. After their big fight last year, things had gotten much easier with him. Mob hadn’t even realized how strayed their relationship had gotten until Ritsu had pointed it out.

He was so lucky to have a brother as great as Ritsu.

“What were you even doing there?” he asked softly. “Did they –?”

“Hanazawa asked me to come.”

He didn’t have to look up to know Ritsu was frowning. “You know you could have said no, right?”

”Mmh. Hanazawa is nice.”

A short pause. ”Oh?”

”But it was too much.”

Ritsu sighed and shook his head. His smile was warm, though. Mob smiled back. Thank goodness for his brother.

Ritsu leaned back against the castle wall. It was a nice, shady spot.

”If he’s such a nice guy, then he should’ve noticed you weren’t feeling well.”

That wasn’t fair. Hanazawa didn’t know. Mob leaned his head against his brother’s shoulder.

”Thanks, Ritsu,” he said.

Ritsu just chuckled quietly. ”What were you doing, conspiring with the enemy anyway?” he said and jostled the shoulder Mob was leaning on. ”I hope he wasn’t bothering you because of me.”

”I think he wants to be friends,” Mob said thoughtfully. ”He’s very friendly.”

”Is he now?” Ritsu said. ”That’s interesting. He used to be such a git.”

Mob couldn’t really tell. He didn’t remember exchanging much more than a handful of words with him before year four. Then there had been that duel.

”He’s nice now,” he said.

”If you say so.”

Ritsu produced a scone from under his robes. He offered it to Mob.

”Do you want me to have a word with him?” Ritsu asked. ”Ask him to be more thoughtful?”

Mob shook his head. ”No.” For some reason people Ritsu had ”a word with” on Mob’s behalf tended to become more distant afterwards. It didn’t really matter, since most of the time those people had been rude to begin with, but there was no reason to do that with Hanazawa. ”But thank you anyway.”

”Of course.” Ritsu’s smile was as warm as ever. Then he lifted his head and looked somewhere over Mob and it fell away.

Mob followed his stare to the stairs up to the castle. Hanazawa was there, standing in the doorway, worrying his hands together. When he noticed Mob looking, he lifted a hand to a wave, but didn’t come any closer.

”I should talk to him,” Mob said.

Ritsu’s look was sour.

”You really don’t need to,” he said.

Mob finished the scone, brushed his hands on his robes and got up.

”Thank you, Ritsu,” he said once more.

Ritsu sighed and waved his hand. ”Any time.” He looked at Hanazawa. ”Make sure he won’t make the same mistake twice.”

All things considered, Hanazawa was very understanding and more apologetic than Mob had expected.

”Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. ”Do you…? If you need to go to the Hospital Wing, I can – ”

”No, I’m fine, really,” Mob said. ”It was just too much too soon.”

Hanazawa looked at his feet.

”Maybe next time you can come eat with me at the Hufflepuff table.”

He looked up.

”I could?” he said.

Mob nodded. ”If you want to.”

”Yeah. Sure. We can do that. Totally. Whatever you need.” He lifted his eyes and froze, meeting Ritsu’s right behind Mob’s shoulder.

”Hanazawa,” Ritsu said.

”Kageyama.”

Strange. Mob could really tell the difference between the ways Hanazawa said his name and how he said it when he was talking to Ritsu. Interesting.

The Queen Briar was prospering in Hanazawa’s care. New leaves were blooming and the vines reaching ever higher. It would soon need to be cut before it would go berserk and start filling the entire greenhouse. Mob could tell Hanazawa had done his best to take care of it, even though he was still clearly giving it just a bit too much water.

Holding onto his promise to help, Mob sought out Hanazawa to tell him the news. He found him waiting for his Defense Against the Dark Arts class with a girl. He was surprised to see him alone with one. He wondered if they were dating.

Ritsu had been quick to tell him that Hanazawa had been kind of a serial charmer during year four, getting and dumping girl- and boyfriends faster than anyone else in the school. Mob couldn’t really tell, he had never seen Hanazawa being anything but polite to everyone he talked to.

Well, whether the girl was a friend or a girlfriend, Hanazawa was clearly busy, so Mob wouldn’t bother him for long. He approached him from behind and the girl was the first to notice him, her eyes growing large. She grabbed onto Hanazawa’s sleeve and pulled it, nodding her head towards Mob just as he got to them.

Hanazawa turned, then jumped like Mob had just startled him, going from a somewhat slouched position to straight-backed attention.

“Kageyama!” he yelled and Mob flinched at the volume level. “What are you –? When did you –? Huh. Hi!”

The girl was laughing into her hand now. Hanazawa sounded like he was choking.

“I want to see you after school,” Mob said. Simple and easy. Perfectly polite.

For some reason this made the girl gasp, though, and turn to Hanazawa with a wide smile. Mob looked between Hanazawa’s sputtering and the girl’s weird reaction and tried to understand what was going on. A blush was spreading fast on Hanazawa’s face and he was looking everywhere but at Mob.

“Sure!” he said, rubbing vigorously at his neck. Had he perhaps swallowed something wrong? He wasn’t really choking, was he? Mob hadn’t thought Hanazawa to be this easy to startle. He would have to be more thoughtful in the future. “Meet me outside the Great Hall? Maybe?”

That worked perfectly. That way they could walk to the greenhouses together. He nodded.

When he moved past them, he heard the girl whisper-shout: “Teruuuu!” To which Hanazawa gave a quick: “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

Strange. But so many relationships were strange to him, so he supposed they must have been dating. He remembered not being able to even talk to the direction of a girl last year. Well, there was Tome, of course, but Tome was Tome. He still wasn’t a good talker, but he was getting better.

Hanazawa must have been really good with girls, if Ritsu’s words were to be believed. Maybe he would have some tips to help him get Tsubomi’s attention. That seemed like a fair trade for his help.

Mob spent the entire History of Magic class thinking about the Briar. He had only read of them before. How much would they need to be cut to achieve the best circumstances for blooming? Briars were aggressive growers, so it would be important to keep them trimmed down, but what was the best way to manage them? He chewed on the tip of his quill, thoughtful not to get any ink on his face again. Would he have time to get some books from his room before meeting with Hanazawa? He didn’t want to go in blind and end up hurting the Briar. Yes, he would have to get his books first. Mob ran the side of the quill under his chin and stared through the window. Someone was snoring a bit to his right.

Hanazawa was… an interesting person. He must have lived an interesting life. Had lots of friends. And he was so friendly with Mob, too. He was pretty sure he’d been a lot less nice before, but then again, lots of people had been considerably ruder to him before year four.
He hadn’t really thought about their duel a lot since last year. A lot of it was still a little hazy to him. Mob could remember Hanazawa challenging him into a duel out of the blue. Naturally, Mob had had no interest in it. He wasn’t that good with spells, so a duel against him would have been boring anyway. All that wand waving and complicated words, he just didn’t get them. Simple spells, yes, but every year things got more complicated and Mob had to rely on Ritsu to help him with them.

Hanazawa had cornered him after Mob had declined his offers a few times. He’d taken Mob’s wand pretty easily, gloated about it and he’d said a few pretty mean things about him and Ritsu.

Mob had kind of… accidentally ended up trashing the schoolyard when Hanazawa had tried to hex him. To be fair, attacking someone without a wand was pretty unfair, so Mob hadn’t really felt that bad about taking him down.

After that, a lot of the snide remarks had died down.

Mob was just glad that things were better now. It used to be that he could only let his guard down at the greenhouse after classes, the common room and the dungeons when it was just him and Professor Reigen. Now the whole school was more open to him. He could go anywhere he wanted, it felt like. Not that he wanted to. He was quite pleased with the routine he’d built for himself these past five years.

After the class, he hurried out, bidding good-bye to Inukawa before jogging down the stairs to the common room. He was out of breath soon enough, but did manage to get the books he wanted and make his way to the Great Hall. By the time he got there, Hanazawa was already waiting for him.

Mob wasn’t sure how, but somehow Hanazawa had found time to switch from the clothes he’d been wearing when Mob had seen him just a few hours prior to another, cleaner set. His tie was shining clean, like it had just been picked out of its package, unlike Mob’s worn, black and yellow one. Mob’s was the same from his first year, familiar under his fingers.

He had done something to his hair too. It was shiny and wavy. Well. He supposed it was always like that, but now it looked to be even more so. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, he just knew that something was different. It looked very soft, but at the same time sculpted carefully to its shape, like it could stand its ground against a hurricane.

Hanazawa was fidgeting when Mob saw him, fingers on his shiny, new tie, pulling at it, foot tapping on the ground. Some Gryffindors passed him and he shot them a quick, stiff smile.

Mob wondered if he had maybe asked him to come at a bad time. But the moment Hanazawa spotted him, he let go of his tie and offered Mob the most dazzling smile he had seen in a while. It was like Hanazawa had stars behind his eyes.

Oh. He was wearing cologne too. It stung Mob’s nose.

“Kageyama,” he said and his voice was soft as honey. “Good to see you.”

“You’re going to get your clothes dirty,” Mob said.

He had not meant to embarrass Hanazawa, but his words made his face bloom red and his eyes grow large.

“O- oh?” he said, his voice going right from the deep rumble to a high squeak. “Really? Where are we going?”

What did he mean where were they going? He sounded so excited too. Surely he knew what they were doing?

“The Queen Briar needs to be cut,” he reminded him.

For a moment Hanazawa just stared at him. Maybe through him. He had that same empty look in his eyes that Mob sometimes caught in the mirror in the morning.

“Oh,” Hanazawa said, far more flat than a moment before. Then, a little sharper: “Oh! Right. Of course. Ha. Haha. Exactly. I’d completely forgotten.”

How was that possible? It was the only thing Mob had been thinking about for days now, trying to decide when it would be the best to do the cutting. But then again, Hanazawa wasn’t that interested in Herbology, so that would explain it.

His dwindling excitement was a little disheartening, though.

“If you want to change your clothes – “ he started.

Hanazawa lifted his hands. “Oh, no, no, no, that’s perfectly fine. I just – I spilled juice on my robes before. Ha! I didn’t – I didn’t think you’d even notice! Yes! About that Briar. Let’s get to it!”

Well. Maybe he was a little enthusiastic. Mob smiled. Or at least he was pretending for his sake. They walked together and Hanazawa opened the door for him again.

“You’ll show me how to do it, right?” he asked. “I don’t want to ruin our project at this point.”

He should have been paying more attention during classes. Mob knew he wasn’t listening to Professor Minegishi, because he’d caught him staring his way more than once during classes. But then again, Mob’s thoughts tended to wander too and he’d end up staring into nothingness without even realizing what he was looking at. Hanazawa would always notice when he looked back, though, waving, nodding or even winking every now and then when their eyes met.

Professor Minegishi was starting to lose his temper.

Mob pulled his gloves on and next to him Hanazawa did the same. Mob got a pair of sturdier cutters from the storage. The small silver cutters Ritsu had gotten for his birthday wouldn’t cut through the finger thick branches like they did the small side shoots.

He lifted the leaves out of the way and showed Hanazawa. “You go to the base, where’s it’s still turquoise.” He placed the cutter there, snuggly against the main stem. “And then you just,” snip, “cut it like this.”

Hanazawa was looking at him, not the cutters. When had he gotten that close? They were both kneeling next to the Briar, so close that Mob could see his throat working when Hanazawa swallowed.

“Did you get that?” asked.

“Hm? Huh? Yeah!”

“Good. Then you try it. It’s your project.”

“Oh. Yeah! Totally.”

Mob offered him the cutters and Hanazawa held them by one handle like he would a wand. What he should have been doing, was cutting the newest, lighter colored stems. Instead he just knelt there next to Mob and stared at the cutters like he wasn’t sure how they worked. He swallowed again and looked at Mob, something lighting up in his eyes.

”Hanazawa?”

”Please, show me how,” he said, holding the cutters to him.

But he’d just done so. Mob sighed. He was going to make him do the whole project, wasn’t he? Not that Mob would have minded. He would have just liked Hanazawa to be more forthcoming with it, instead of acting like Mob didn’t know what he was doing.

He reached to pluck the cutters from him, but Hanazawa didn’t let go of them.

”Sh- show me,” he said a little unsteadily, ”like, how I should hold my hands. And all. Could you?”

Okay? Was this really necessary? Instead of taking the cutters from him, Mob placed his hands on Hanazawa’s and guided them to the stem.

”You clip from the base,” he said. ”Here.” He squeezed Hanazawa’s hands together around the cutter and the stalk snapped off.

Hanazawa’s face was beet red. Well. If this was so embarrassing, he should have considered listening more carefully when Mob was explaining it the first time. Mob pulled his hands free and Hanazawa was fiddling with the cutters, smiling a weird little smile.

”Thank you so much, Kageyama,” he said. ”You’ve been such a big help, you know? If you ever like want anything in return – and I mean, like, anything,” he said, looking him in the eye. “Just say a word, okay?”

Mob thought about asking him to help with Tsubomi. But that felt a little crass. He’d talk to Tsubomi when he was ready. Worrying about her now wouldn’t help.

“You still need to cut the others,” he said.

Hanazawa seemed to deflate before his very eyes and Mob thought about what Tome had said before, about making sure that Hanazawa owed him something. Was that how these things worked? It was kind of disappointing. Hanazawa turned to the Briar and with uncertain hands tried to clip the stems like Mob had shown him.

Mob stood up and removed his gloves.

They were getting a little old. They had seen good use and the thought of getting a new pair was kind of distressing.

But it would be good to get used to the idea while they were still in use.

“I don’t really need anything,” he said, thinking his words carefully. “But… I could use a new pair of protective gloves.”

Hanazawa looked up at him, studied him for a moment, then smiled brightly.

“What’s your size?” he asked.

An owl dropped a new, fancy pair of dragon skin gloves next to his breakfast only two days later. Colored light blue with pink highlights just like the Queen Briar, and very soft on the inside, they must have been expensive. They were far better quality than his old ones.

Hanazawa gave him a red-faced wave from his table, his friends all hooting and hollering. Mob wasn’t sure what to do, but since it was payment for his work, he supposed he didn’t need to do anything.

He did thank him afterwards when they were at the greenhouses. Hanazawa was as red as his tie.

He was funny.

”So,” Tome said, turning away from the chessboard and her approaching loss at the hands of Inukawa. ”What exactly is your deal with that Hanazawa guy?”

Mob lifted his head from the book he’d been reading and looked at them. Tome’s king was tapping his foot expectantly at her, but there was nothing that could save him anymore. His forces were all but gone.

”Deal?” Mob said. ”I help him with his Herbology.”

”Yeah, yeah,” Tome said and waved her hand. ”Doesn’t mean you have to spend so much time together outside the greenhouses, though.”

True. Lately more and more of his free time had been spent with Hanazawa. They weren’t even doing Herbology related things most of the time. Hanazawa was turning from an awkward acquaintance to a comfortable friend and Mob couldn’t really complain. Hanazawa was nice, despite being a little pushy. So was Tome, and they got along well enough.

”He’s nice,” Mob said.

Tome took a look at Inukawa, who wiggled his brows and her king threw his tiny arms up and fell to sulk on his throne.

”Nice like Inukawa and I are nice, or like… Tsubomi is nice?”

Mob frowned.

”I don’t understand the question.”

”Tome means – ”

”Shush, sh sh shhh,” Tome said and waved her arms. ”Let him come to the realization himself.”

Mob frowned a little deeper. Tsubomi was nice, but she was different. Mob had talked about her with Hanazawa too and even though he didn’t seem to share the admiration many people had towards Tsubomi, he had agreed that she was nice.

The same way as Hanazawa, though?

Oh. They meant if he liked him like he liked Tsubomi.

Well the answer was obvious, then.

”I like him like I like you two,” he said and rested his hand on the spot he had been left on the page.

”See?” Tome said and reached to punch Inukawa on the shoulder. ”Told you.”

But the two of them did have a point. He and Hanazawa had been spending a lot of time together lately. Walking from class to class, sitting out and watching clouds – well, Mob was watching, Hanazawa was talking – studying together. It turned out Hanazawa was pretty good at everything he put his mind to. Apparently Herbology just hadn’t been a subject he thought interesting enough.

He was a quick learner, though. He just had trouble getting his hands dirty.

It wouldn’t take long until the Queen Briar would reach full growth and then it would bloom. Mob chewed on his lip. He wondered if they’d be friends after the project too? He certainly hoped so.

Chapter Text

Apparently, Hanazawa was not happy with just the gloves as payment for Mob’s help. They had somehow, through a winding path of different conversation topics ended up once again at Quidditch when Mob had shared that he had only passed his flying lessons by a technicality.

Hanazawa had decided, that what he needed was personal tutoring.

“And you know,” he said. “I’m kind of a big deal with the team,” he boasted, placing a hand on his heart, his voice humble even though nothing else about him was. “Not to brag, or anything, but I’m pretty much the reason we won last year’s cup. So if there’s anyone who can help you fly, then it’s me.”

Mob had tried to tell him, that it was okay and that he didn’t really want to learn to fly, but for some reason Hanazawa had taken this as a challenge.

“I didn’t think I’d need to learn Herbology either,” he said. “You never know what life will throw your way, you know? I promise, it won’t be that bad once you get used to it.”

“I’m going to throw up,” Mob warned him.

Hanazawa seemed to think that was funny for some reason.

So next weekend found them outside, with Hanazawa showing Mob his broom.

“It’s a brand new Thunderbolt VIII,” Hanazawa said, holding it out for Mob to see. “Not even on the market yet, but my mom is friends with a Thunderbolt executive and he heard that I play, so he decided to make an exception.”

It certainly did look like a broom. Mob nodded his head, because he was pretty sure that was the correct response to the situation.

“You know, if you want to touch it, you can,” Hanazawa said. “I don’t let just anyone ride it. Sabotage, you understand. But… I trust you, Kageyama. Go ahead. Try it.”

Mob took it into his hands and immediately felt like he was doing it wrong. He just… held it there. The dark wood was polished and clean, very smooth under his hands. Nicely smooth, in fact. He started running his fingers over it. It wasn’t smooth as glass but more like… a rock sanded by waves. Like that piece of sea glass Tome had given him on year two. But not quite. Very nice either way. He dipped his nails into the carved logo of Thunderbolt, the golden lettering. Ritsu’s broom was much more worn in comparison. It had seen good use, his hands had worn a lighter area to the front of the broom. Hanazawa’s really was brand new.

Without thinking, Mob lifted it to his face and ran his cheek over the nice, polished wood.

He didn’t realize how weird that must have looked like until he saw Hanazawa staring at him, eyes as large as saucers, face as red as his tie.

Whoops.

“Sorry,” he said, flustered, shoving the broom back to him. “It’s just… the texture. Is nice.”

“No!” Hanazawa said and refused to take it back. “It’s… totally fine!”

Mob had made it awkward. He swallowed, shifted his weight. He really wanted to stop touching the broom right now, before he’d start running his thumbs over it again. He held it to Hanazawa long enough for him to finally take it, the redness never quite fading from his face. To distract himself for it, Mob dug his hand to his pocket, where he kneaded into the fabric.

Hanazawa stared at the broom in his hands like he wasn’t really seeing it properly and Mob just wished the ground could have opened up and swallowed him whole.

“Well then!” Hanazawa said suddenly. “You wanted to learn how to fly?”

He really didn’t, but at this point he was willing to do anything to move on.

“What part do you think was the hardest for you?” Hanazawa asked.

“Mmh,” Mob said and shifted. He couldn’t really say everything, could he? Hanazawa just wanted to help. “Speed. Height. You know, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“Nonsense!” Hanazawa said. “It’s a wonderful idea! We’ll start slow. From the basics. Work our way up. Unless… you want to try riding it with me.”

“I thought I was going to ride it with you anyway?” Mob said. “You’re not leaving me alone with this, are you?”

“Oh! No, no, no. I was just thinking… Maybe… if you’re feeling too nervous, you could sit behind me and I could show you the ropes. Like… like you did when I was cutting the Briar.”

Mob didn’t see how this was the same thing at all, nor did he think the racing broom was built for two people in mind. But Hanazawa was already climbing on, waving at Mob to follow.

True, he would rather have Hanazawa in control of the broom than flying it himself.

Mob looked at him.

Hmm. His smile was inviting. It spoke of confidence. Mob shifted and looked at the miniscule amount of space behind him.

There was nothing there to hold on to.

Maybe he had grown from his weak stomach. Maybe he could handle it now. And Hanazawa would be in control, so he wouldn’t have to be worried about crashing at least. He flew that thing for the team, so he must have known what he was doing.

Clearly Hanazawa wasn’t doing this for his sake. No, Hanazawa just wanted to be helpful, because he felt like he owed it to Mob. It was silly and Mob had tried to make sure that he knew he wasn’t being owed anything, but he supposed if this was how Hanazawa wanted to pay him back, it would be okay.

He climbed carefully behind him and yes. It was not very comfortable. Oh. Hanazawa was wearing cologne again. Not as much as the first time he’d picked it up, thank goodness, but still enough that Mob could smell it.

“Hold onto me, okay?” Hanazawa said.

“Have you done this before?” Mob asked, putting his hands on his shoulders. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Yeah, totally!” Hanazawa said. “I once took a girlfriend up on a picnic on the castle roof and – You know what? Doesn’t matter. You holding on alright? Ready to try this?”

He didn’t really have an answer that would have worked for him, so he just hummed. That seemed to be enough to Hanazawa, who kicked off the ground.

The moment the earth disappeared from under his feet, Mob knew this had been a bad idea. The hands that had been holding onto Hanazawa’s shoulders were now around his entire torso, holding tight.

Hanazawa’s voice was shaky when he asked: “You okay back there?”

Mob managed to get an unsteady sound past his tightly squeezed teeth and Hanazawa laughed breathlessly.

“I’m just going to make a small circle around the grounds, okay? We won’t get very high. That okay with you?”

Mob nodded. They really weren’t that high, maybe half a meter above the grass. They weren’t going that fast either and Hanazawa was a good flier it seemed. The broom didn’t wobble one bit, not at all like it had done when Mob had tried flying on year one. As they flew, his hold relaxed a little and he could actually look around a bit.

It was a nice day. Sunny. Lots of students had come to enjoy the last few good days of summer before it got colder. Some of the leaves on the trees had already started to change color. The Great Lake came into view and it was still in the sunlight, only the smallest waves lapping at its shores.

Mob’s hands slid down from Hanazawa’s back to his hips. They were very close, Mob could feel him shivering at the touch. They made it to the shore, skirted near the water and Mob could see into the murky depths. Tiny fish swam out of the way, sunlight glinting from their scales.

This was not a side of flying Mob had seen before. He might have been a bit more interested in learning, had he known that it could be like this. Easy. Calm. He leaned his cheek against Hanazawa’s shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t mind, and watched the sky and the slowly moving clouds above them. He supposed this was nice. Hanazawa had been right. At this speed, the wind wasn’t too bad either, but just right.

But a broom like this wasn’t meant for two people. Hanazawa’s flying form might have come from practiced ease, even without the use of the leg stands in the back, but Mob’s legs were getting tired.

He told Hanazawa as much.

“Okay,” he said, looking over his shoulder. The wind must have gotten to him worse than it got to Mob, because his eyes were glassy and cheeks rosy. “Mind if I speed up a bit? Show you what this baby can do!”

Mob didn’t think that was such a good idea. But it wouldn’t be for that long, he supposed. He held tighter and Hanazawa let out a weird little yelp, kicking up more speed.

Oh. No. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. They only got faster the tighter Mob held on to him, everything around him turning into a blur. The speed of the broom didn’t seem to match to what he was seeing with his eyes, his stomach churning in clear warning, head hurting. He held on for dear life, wind whipping his hair around his face, and tried not to think about it. He pressed his face against Hanazawa’s back.

The strong smell of his cologne wasn’t helping one bit. Mob’s jaw was glued shut, he couldn’t get a word of a warning out. The castle came into view and Hanazawa just didn’t slow down.

When he stopped, he did it by pulling the broom into a sharp hook and boy did that not help either.

“Well?” Hanazawa said, turning to face him. “What do you think?”

For some reason, he looked very shocked when Mob barfed on his robes.

Flying was very important to Hanazawa. Even though Mob didn’t share in his interest, he did care for his friend. Ritsu had always said that he was okay with Mob not coming to see his games, telling him that he didn’t want Mob to make himself feel uncomfortable in the crowds where Ritsu couldn’t help him. Now that Mob was thinking about it and the fight they’d had last year, he thought that maybe that hadn’t been quite right either.

So when Hanazawa asked him to come watch his game, Mob relented with only a bit of hesitation.

“I’ll come,” he said and Hanazawa beamed. “Who will you be playing against?”

“Oh, it’s going to be great,” Hanazawa said. “You’ll be seeing me play against the old Gryffindor arch enemy. I’ll be sure the grab the snitch just for you. You’ll cheer for me, right?”

“Yes, but who will you be playing against?” Mob asked, shutting the book he’d been reading and putting it in his bag.

Hanazawa’s smile waned a little. “The Slytherins,” he said quickly, then continued in same breath: “But that won’t change anything, right? It’ll be tough, but if I know you’ll be there to root for me, then I know I won’t lose.”

“Oh,” Mob said, shaking his head. “In that case, I’m sorry. I’ll be cheering for Ritsu.”

Hanazawa’s smile dropped, revealing misery. That didn’t last long, though.

“Well, maybe you’ll come to my next game too. Oh, wait. That’s Hufflepuff. Shit.”

Hanazawa was funny. Mob smiled. The more time he spent with him, the more glad he was to have a friend like him. He had never had a friendship quite like he shared with Hanazawa and it was so nice. He was so lucky to have so many good people in his life.

Ritsu was so excited when Mob told him he’d be coming to the game that he realized he’d been right. He wished Ritsu had said something sooner, he would have surely suffered any lengths to make his little brother happy. It was wonderful to see how Ritsu’s eyes grew full of light when Mob brought it up.

It was just as sad to see most of that light dimming down in to clear annoyance when Mob told him he was coming because Hanazawa had asked.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Ritsu asked. “You know how noisy and crowded it gets.”

Mob nodded. “Tome and Inukawa are coming with me,” he said. “Also.” He pulled his bag to his lap and dug out his earmuffs. “Could you maybe renew the charm on these?”

Ritsu took the earmuffs, stared at them, torn.

“You’ll be cheering for the Slytherin team, right?” he asked.

Mob smiled. Ritsu was very transparent.

“Of course.”

The shine was back in his eyes and the earmuffs were soon as good as new.

They were put to good use on the day of the game. It felt like the whole school had come to see the two houses compete against each other. It would have been way too much, but Mob had prepared in advance.

The earmuffs were excellent. They muted the noises of the crowd, turning the roaring into a faraway rumble, while still letting Mob hear what Tome and Inukawa were saying.

“I’m telling you, there’s no way Slytherin is going to lose the first match of the year,” Inukawa said. “Not after last year’s defeat. I hear they’ve been practicing like crazy.”

“Yeah, but the Gryffindor Seeker has something to prove,” Tome said.

Mob looked at how the banners flew in the wind. He hoped the match wouldn’t take that long. But he supposed they usually took almost the whole day. But that was what he had brought his book for.

“I can’t believe he got you to come,” Inukawa said and hit his elbow against Mob’s arm.

Mob turned to them.

“I bet there’s going to be a full on brawl on the field,” Tome said. A wide smile started pulling at her lips, narrowing her eyes. “Bet you Ritsu is going to start it.”

“Ritsu doesn’t do fights,” Mob said.

“Oh, I hear he’s been at Hanazawa’s throat before too. Now he’d have a reason to really tear into him.”

“Really?” That didn’t sound like Ritsu.

Tome and Inukawa met eyes, then Tome slapped her hand on Mob’s shoulder. “Tell you what, why don’t you go ahead and wish your brother good luck before the match. We’ll go get our seats over there,” she said, pointing at a spot between the stands. “We’ll save you a spot.”

That sounded like a great idea! Mob smiled, nodded, and turned to head back towards ground level and the Slytherin changing rooms. Players were already leaving, waiting outside and Mob craned his neck to see someone familiar.

“Oi! Kageyama!”

Mob jumped, then relaxed immediately when he recognized the Slytherin Beater, Onigawara. He meandered closer with his bat resting against his shoulder.

“Looking for your brother?”

He nodded.

“Just left to talk with the enemy,” Onigawara said and smirked. “That blond kid came looking for trouble. You think they’re going to fight?”

That didn’t sound like either of them, if Onigawara meant who he thought he meant. Onigawara pointed him in the right direction and Mob hurried. He really didn’t think there was any reason for the two of them to fight and he was worried that he hadn’t heard about their bad blood before this. Well. Ritsu had been a little sour about their friendship, maybe, but he had never said anything about it.

Mob heard their voices before he saw them, coming from behind a corner. He hastened his steps.

“Either way, I get what I want,” he heard Hanazawa say and it had been a while since he’d heard that tone of voice out of him. “If I win for Gryffindor, he’ll be congratulating me for the victory. If you steal the win, he can soothe me with his words.”

“No,” Ritsu bit out, far sharper than he ever talked to Mob. “Brother will be cheering for me!”

“Irrelevant,” Hanazawa huffed.

Mob rounded the corner and Ritsu spotted him immediately.

“You just don’t like the fact that I’m going to steal him away from under your nose,” Hanazawa said.

“Who?” Mob asked.

Oh. He’d forgotten how easily spooked Hanazawa could get sometimes. He must have jumped half a meter at least.

“Kageyama!” he yelled and for once Mob was wearing his earmuffs at the right time. “When did you get here?”

Ritsu crossed his arms, a smug smile pulling at his lips.

“Hey, Shige,” he said. “You’ll be cheering for my win, right?” he said.

“Of course,” Mob said. “I already told you that.”

Hanazawa deflated. Mob reached to pat his arm.

“Don’t worry, Hanazawa,” he said. “I’ll still root for you too. I can do both.”

There was just no pleasing both of them, was there? Now they both looked upset and Mob shifted with discomfort.

Maybe it would be better if he didn’t watch the game after all, since it seemed to cause this much animosity between them.

“Do you want me to leave?” he asked.

“No!” Ritsu said at the same time as Hanazawa reached to put his hand on Mob’s arm and say: “Absolutely not.”

“Your friend Hanazawa just needs to learn some manners and good sportsmanship,” Ritsu said, his tone kind and eyes soft even though Mob could clearly see the blade he was trying to hide behind them.

“And Little Brother needs to learn to grow up and let go,” Hanazawa said, holding tighter onto Mob’s arm. “Maybe Kageyama should teach that to you.”

“Excuse me,” Ritsu said, far less soft. “What my brother needs to do is look at the people in his life and see which ones are two-faced, ego-driven, self-centered jerks.”

“I absolutely agree.” Hanazawa was now fully draped on Mob’s shoulder. “He should see which people around him have his best interests in mind and which are only out for themselves.”

“Exactly,” Ritsu spat, grabbing onto Mob’s other arm.

“Please don’t fight,” Mob said uncertainly.

“We’re not fighting,” Hanazawa said immediately.

“At least I’m not,” Ritsu agreed as well.

“It doesn’t sound like you’re not,” Mob said, looking pointedly at the both of them.

“Oh, Little Brother and I are simply… excited about the match,” Hanazawa said, patting at his shoulder. “Sometimes he just gets a little mean when he’s excited. Right?”

“Speak for yourself,” Ritsu said. “But brother, it might be a good idea to go sit with Tome and Inukawa. I’m sure we’ll be starting soon.”

“A perfectly adequate idea,” Hanazawa said, his voice dripping with something Mob couldn’t quite place. “You’ll watch me out there, right Kageyama? I’ll give you the snitch when I win.”

Mob pulled free just as Ritsu said: “There’s no need. I can give it to Shige once I win.”

They could say whatever they wanted, but Mob recognized a fight when he saw one and he didn’t think his presence had helped one bit. But thanks to their bad behavior, Mob did not feel one bit bad when he pulled his book out just as the game was about to start and read it through the entirety of the game.

It was a Gryffindor win and Ritsu sulked about it for several days. Hanazawa did gift the snitch to him afterwards, as promised. Mob was pretty sure he wasn’t allowed to take it from the game, but he liked how it felt to run his fingers over its crevices, so he started keeping it in his pocket with the piece of sea glass Tome had given him.

“Any plans to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?” Hanazawa asked.

Mob shook his head.

”Great! I mean, me neither. What a coincidence. Why don’t we go together, just the two of us this time? My parents sent me way too much money again and I just need to spend it on someone important. You know? What type of candy do you like? I’m something of a regular at Honeyduke’s, my mom is friends with the owner’s wife.”

There was plenty of room on the bench, yet for some reason Hanazawa chose to sit close enough for their legs to press together. He was lounging lazy against the wall behind him, his tie loosened and hair waving free in the wind. The sun was nice and warm on their skin, even though the air was getting chillier. Mob had wrapped his black and yellow scarf around his neck already to keep the wind out.

He turned the page on the book he was reading.

”No,” he said. ”I’m not going.”

He felt Hanazawa’s leg move against his and he appeared in his line of sight.

”Why?” he asked. Mob looked up and Hanazawa was staring into his eyes with a pleading look. Mob looked back down, then up again. ”Going with your brother again? You said you didn’t have plans.”

Mob shook his head. ”I’m not going,” he repeated.

”You’re not – Oh. But why?”

”The Tentaculas are blooming,” he said and put his bookmark between the pages. ”Professor Minegishi asked me to help with them. They get a little rowdy.”

Hanazawa looked at him like he had personally betrayed him.

”You’re staying to do schoolwork?”

”No. I’m helping Professor Minegishi.”

Hanazawa threw his arm around his shoulders and shook him. This somehow ended up with them being even closer, smushed together from knee to shoulder even when Hanazawa stopped pulling at him.

”That’s basically the same thing!” he whined. ”Come on. It’ll be fun!”

”I’m not going,” Mob said.

”Fiiiine.” He let go of Mob’s shoulder and slumped against the wall. “But seriously, what kind of candy do you like? I’ll bring you something.”

”Chocolate.”

”Chocolate it is, then!” Hanazawa declared.

It didn’t occur to Mob until later that day that it had been very nice of Hanazawa to invite him. It wouldn’t have been the first time they’d gone together, Hanazawa often tagged along with Tome, Inukawa and him. He had a point, though, they had never gone just the two of them. It felt kind of weird to think of going with Hanazawa and not the others, but he supposed it could have been fun. He might have gone otherwise, but he had more important things to do.

So when the day came, he bid farewell to Tome and Inukawa, waved at Ritsu before he disappeared out through the door with Shou and stayed to eat his breakfast a little while longer. The castle got so quiet on the weekends when people left to go to Hogsmeade. Not as quiet as it got on the days of the games, but quiet enough. He finished in peace, with mostly first and second year students out and about.

Maybe he should ask Hanazawa to go with him next time. He wanted to show that he hadn’t just brushed him off without a reason. He found that often times what he meant and what he said did not go hand in hand, so clarification might be in order. Unless the next time wouldn’t work out either.

The thought was a little stressful. What if Hanazawa hadn’t actually even wanted to go with him in the first place and had just asked out of politeness? What if since Mob had turned him down, he wouldn’t want to go again?

No. That was silly. Mob was thinking too much. It was just that he very much enjoyed Hanazawa’s friendship and he did not want to screw it up somehow. Friendships were hard sometimes.

He’d just have to ask later.

Professor Minegishi had asked a handful of students to help him out with the Venomous Tentaculas. It wasn’t the first time Mob had helped him with things like these, so most of the people gathered outside Greenhouse Six were familiar faces. Sixth and seventh year students, mostly, all with experience and interest.

Mob was pretty sure Hanazawa wasn’t supposed to be there. He was sure he would have remembered if it had been mentioned and Hanazawa was unlikely to have the skill required for the job. But there he was, already lifting his hand in greeting.

“Remind me to get you that chocolate next time, okay?” was the first thing he said when Mob got close enough.

”What are you doing in here?” Mob asked.

”I could ask the same thing,” Professor Minegishi said before Hanazawa could answer, appearing from the greenhouse with gloves up to his shoulders. ”I don’t remember asking you to come.”

Hanazawa threw his hair out of his face and smiled. ”I thought you could use some help and I could use the practice. I can show you just how far I’ve come already.”

Professor Minegishi did not look convinced.

“No,” he said. “You’re staying out. We won’t have time to rush you to the Hospital Wing when you get caught, this needs to be done today.”

“Please!” Hanazawa said as if offended by the mere notion. “I was ensnared once already and Kageyama’s bravery saved me. I have learned my lesson and won’t be caught twice!”

At least one person here had confidence in Hanazawa’s abilities. Professor Minegishi just looked like he wanted to go back to his office and never come out again.

“You can help me out,” Mob said.

Hanazawa was all smiles. “I will!”

“Fine! Fine,” Professor Minegishi said. “But if he gets poisoned, it’s on you, Kageyama. Alright! Gather in, everybody. Let’s not lose any fingers this year, alright?”

The Tentaculas had all bloomed at the same time and a sickly sweet smell filled Greenhouse Six. The smell was somewhere between floral and rotting and Hanazawa made his displeasure heard immediately.

“Eyuch,” he said. “That’s not going to wash off for days!”

“Hanazawa is free to leave whenever he pleases!” Professor Minegishi shouted from the other side of the room.

The Tentaculas were loud, yapping at each other, trying to reach for other pots with their vines, but Professor Minegishi had erected walls between them to keep them from tearing each other leaf for leaf. Without the correct type of bee to pollinate them here, the work needed to done by hand, but having this many Tentaculas this close to each other meant that they got territorial and would have rather torn each other to pieces.

They just needed a bit of help.

“Everybody got their gloves on?” the Professor shouted over the snarling and whining of the plants. “Good. Now get yourselves feathers and get to work. I’d like to be done before dinner.”

It was meticulous work. The Tentaculas wouldn’t let anyone close enough to even touch them in this state of their cycle and they needed to be calmed down before their flowers could be reached. Mob saw some of the students using spells to immobilize them, one brave soul was using a water sprayer. He supposed that if it worked, it was fine. He just moved slowly, deliberately, letting the Tentacula know exactly what he was doing and when he was doing it, offering his free hand for them to grasp while making quick work with the feather.

Professor Minegishi had prepared a careful order of which Tentacula was to be used to pollinate which, pairs put to close vicinity. There was no rushing this process, just working through it, one step at a time.

One of the sixth years yelped and pulled back, holding his arm. The Tentacula he had been tending to was hissing. It had managed to reach beyond his glove and sink its spikes through the cloth of his robe. The skin of her arm was red and bloated.

”To the Hospital Wing, then. Go!” Professor Minegishi shouted.

It was pandemonium. Mob tried to pay it no mind, but he did wish he’d brought his earmuffs with him. Every time someone yelped and their Tentacula growled, Mob flinched and pulled just a little further away. He would have been able to work so much faster without everyone making so much noise, but he knew that it couldn’t be helped. It was too late to leave now anyway.

It wasn’t good, though. When he got agitated, the plants got agitated as well.

And suddenly, there was complete silence. Mob looked up to see Hanazawa holding his wand. They were standing in a small bubble, just Mob, Hanazawa and the two displeased Tentaculas. Everything else through the shimmering surface of the bubble came through softer, muffled.

Mob blinked and just stared at Hanazawa for a moment.

“Is this helping?” Hanazawa asked.

The smile came without a thought, just sort of spread on Mob’s face like moss over the foundation of the greenhouse. A warm feeling unlike any he could remember feeling recently was born in his chest, a soft thrum that made him feel very endeared.

He didn’t know what to say, so he said the simplest thing.

“Thank you.”

He didn’t think it could be possible, but Hanazawa smiled even wider, preening at the simple thanks.

”Why, of course!” he said. ”I might not be able to do much with these little tentacle gremlins – ”

”The Venomous Tentacula.”

” – but this I can do.”

How thoughtful. The warm feeling did not dissipate when he turned back to the Tentacula. It remained and smoldered in his chest like a small fire. With Hanazawa’s help, he could focus and his ease calmed down the Tentacula as well.

It was fast work once he got to it. Everything else kind of faded into background noise once he got into the zone and worked through the list Professor Minegishi had given him. Helping the Tentaculas meant that they could calm down and they would have new, small sprouts to tend to soon. He would love to take a few home, but he knew his parents couldn’t take care of them while he was gone, so it was better to just enjoy them while they were here.

It took them a few hours to get all the Tentaculas tended to. The rewards of the job would come later. Afterwards they’d lost only three students and the plants could be separated properly once more.

Professor Minegishi looked exhausted. He might have tried to put on a front, but Mob knew he was worried about the students that had had to rush to the Hospital Wing.

“Good job, everyone,” he sighed. “You can be sure to see this as a positive on your report card. Now get going.”

Mob pulled his gloves off. The ones Teruki had gotten him were much better at not making his hands sweaty, but it was still nice to get some fresh air after working without pause for a few hours. He moved to one of the Tentaculas, the one that had caused the biggest ruckus. Now it was calm and quiet, munching on a mouse Mob had given to it as a reward for not mauling his arm.

“Much calmer now, aren’t they?” Professor Minegishi asked.

Mob nodded his head.

“No wonder,” Teruki said, moved as if he was going to lean on the table next to Mob, then changed trajectories and ended up leaning his hand on his hip instead. “Getting that pent up? I get it, hormonal teenagers, am I right?”

Mob blinked at him, not sure what he was getting at.

“You know,” Hanazawa said and pushed his elbow to Mob’s side. “Everyone needs some release every now and then. Nothing wrong in helping out a little.”

Professor Minegishi groaned loudly.

“What?” Mob said.

”Boy, I am going to deplete every single house point Gryffindor has if – ”

”You know,” Hanazawa said and wiggled his brows. ”Wasn’t thin kind of like… You know?” His brows kept moving up and down in smooth waves. Very skillful. Mob didn’t think he could move any part of his face that fast.

Oh. He was talking about sex.

”Not really,” he said. ”They’re plants, Hanazawa.”

The brows stopped and now Hanazawa was blushing. He was an odd one.

”At least one of you knows how to be mature,” Professor Minegishi said. ”Ten points to Hufflepuff. Good work today, Kageyama.”

Mob preened. It wasn’t often that he got house points, but it was always nice.

Hanazawa clapped his hand on his shoulder, squeezing tight. When Mob lifted his head to look at him, Hanazawa was smiling and Mob remembered the warmth in his chest. It was quick to ignite again. A curious little feeling, yet so intense at the same time.

Hanazawa turned to talk to Professor Minegishi.

“With Kageyama’s help, I’ll definitely be making that Queen Briar bloom. Then you have to give me a better grade!”

The Professor just stared at him for a moment, then smiled dryly.

“The deciding factor whether or not you get a better grade is your work journal,” he said, in as gleeful tone as Mob had ever heard from him. “Not whether or not you’re going to get Kageyama to make that thing bloom or not. Well. You’re going to fail your course if it doesn’t, but the only thing I’m going to be evaluating is your report.”

Hanazawa’s face fell.

“What? Since when?”

“Since the start of the project,” he drawled and laughed. “You should have thought about listening to my instructions better before rushing to nearly kill the Briar so you could ask help from Kageyama.”

Hanazawa spluttered and waved his hands.

”I didn’t – I wasn’t – I really tried at first! I did.”

”Hmm.” Professor Minegishi shook his head. ”Whatever. Go on. We’re done here. I’ll clean up the mess.” He pulled a wand out. ”You’ve already done enough. Get going, then.”

”Thanks, Professor,” Hanazawa said, sounding anything but thankful. Mob tried to put a little more gratitude to his words, but he wasn’t sure if it came through properly or not. They started heading off towards the castle.

Hanazawa was feeling talkative. But then again when was he not?

”Did you see that? You did most of the work!” he said. ”The others were too busy trying not to get bitten while you were working like a professional, dealing with them like they were nothing!”

Oh. Mob hadn’t noticed.

”I’m glad we got it done,” he said. Then he turned to Hanazawa and thought about the warmth. ”Thank you,” he said again, softer this time, trying to make sure that Hanazawa really understood how important this had been for him. ”I’m glad you came with me.”

Hanazawa got that wobbly little smile again, that one Mob hadn’t seen him give to anyone else. It made him feel kind of special.

”Of course,” he said. ”I mean, Hogsmeade weekends come and go, but this was something that was important to you. So.” One hand flew to his neck, the other waved about in sharp motions.

Ah! That made him remember.

“When are you next free?” Mob asked. “Would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade next time?”

Hanazawa blushed all the way to his hairline.

”Y- yeah! Totally! Absolutely! I would love to! Yeah, whenever you have time!”

He had worried over nothing.

Hanazawa really was nice.

”So, I’m reading about the Queen Briar,” Hanazawa said, shifting against Mob’s side. “And it says here that it blooms at full moon. Is that correct?”

Mob nodded. He was sure the subject had come up at some point or another.

“But will it only last for the night? Will it have to pollinated then, if we want it to carry fruit?”

That was a good question. Mob started chewing on the frayed end of his quill, leaning away from the couch and Hanazawa had to straighten his back so he wouldn’t fall behind him. Mob thought about the question, homework completely forgotten. He wasn’t sure. He offered his hand over to Hanazawa.

Hanazawa stared at it for a moment before reaching over and putting his hand on it, curling his fingers around Mob’s.

”The book,” Mob said.

”Oh!” Hanazawa yanked his hand free, pulling back, trying to hide how red his face had gotten. ”Yeah, that makes more sense. Here!” He nearly threw the book to Mob’s lap. Mob ran his finger over the description of the text.

It didn’t say.

”I need to see what the other books say.”

Hanazawa was playing with his fingers. They were sitting in the Hufflepuff common room, on a couch near a window where Mob could forget what he was doing and stare at clouds for long periods of time when they were supposed to be helping each other do homework. Hanazawa had become a common sight here, he no longer drew curious glances when he climbed through the door with Mob. Yes, sometimes the members of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team would come over and they would banter with each other a little, but it never got serious. Usually Tome would come to sit with them, but with the nights growing longer, she spent most of her evenings in the Astrology Tower until curfew.

Right now it was just the two of them. It was rare to have the entire common room just for themselves, but Mob thought it was nice. It was warm and cozy and Hanazawa would lean against his shoulder with just the right amount of pressure, his hair tickling his neck. It was almost a shame to rise up from the comfy sofa and walk the short distance to the bookcase near the fireplace, but this mystery needed an answer. He pulled one of the more well worn books out and returned.

Mob fell back on the couch next to Hanazawa, who immediately got back next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder and leaning his face on it, reading over Mob’s shoulder while he leafed through the pages.

”Hmm.” He read in silence, ran his finger over the grainy page, almost able to feel where the ink gave way to clean parchment. ”Oh. It… it only blooms for a few hours at night.”

What a disappointment. He was not going to be seeing it, then.

He could feel Hanazawa looking at him, turned his head a little to meet his eyes.

He tried to rein in his disappointment when he said: “Well. I suppose it can’t be helped.”

“Can’t you like, use your magic on it?” Hanazawa said.

Mob hummed. “I don’t know any spells for that.”

Hanazawa shook his head. “No, not spells. I mean… your… that other magic. You do.”

Mob shook his head. “You don’t want to mess up the Briar’s rhythm. That could end badly.”

Hanazawa hummed and turned back to the book.

“Suppose we’re going to have to ask the Professor to give us a permission to go there after dark,” he said.

Of course. Mob let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Of course they could, it was a simple solution to their problem. Hanazawa was smart.

Neither of them mentioned the fact that Hanazawa’s assignment didn’t actually require them to see the blooming. The fact that the Briar was already growing buds that would flower in a few days time meant that all Hanazawa needed to do now was finish his report and hope that Professor Minegishi would be in a lenient mood. Neither of them spoke up about it, but Mob was sure they were both thinking it.

Seeing the flowers wasn’t part of the job. Pollinating them and making sure that the Briar would carry fruit was irrelevant.

When Mob turned to look at Hanazawa again, he could see him still looking back, trying to hide his smile by pressing his mouth against the hand on Mob’s shoulder.

Mob smiled as well. Who would have thought helping Hanazawa with his work would have ended up with such a nice friendship? Mob liked being this close to Hanazawa. It was similar to how he could be with Ritsu and Tome, but not quite the same. It was hard, sometimes, missing being close to others like this but fearing that he would make the wrong impression asking for it. He was so glad to have Hanazawa, to be able to feel this comfortable with him.

He leaned his head against Hanazawa’s, nuzzled his face against his hair and breathed deeply. He was very, very lucky.

It was very unfortunate, then, that when Hanazawa went to ask for Professor Minegishi to give them a free pass for the next full moon, the Professor declined.

“Hanazawa’s job was to make sure that it would bloom,” he said. “Nothing more. Write your report, give it back to me by Monday and we’re done.”

And that was it. No going around it. Mob was going to have to learn to cope with the disappointment. He was sure he would get over it eventually, he’d just have to… give it time.

It was such a shame too. The Queen Briar was doing marvelously. Hanazawa, despite himself, had managed to keep it alive and well enough to grow three flower buds and seeing him excited about it had been endearing.

There was nothing else to it. Try as he might, Hanazawa did not get the Professor to budge, so afterwards they were sitting outside the greenhouses, watching the last leaves falling from the trees, leaving only the evergreens looking full of life. Morning frost had melted where the sun reached the lawn, but not from the shady spots between buildings.

Mob kicked his feet and tried not to think about the Briar.

“Well,” Hanazawa said. “I guess there’s nothing else left to do, then.”

Mob hummed.

“We got to sneak out.”

“Huh?” He turned to look at Hanazawa, who had crossed his arms and was nodding his head. “Sneak out?”

“Yeah,” he said and seemed to be getting excited about his own idea, leaning closer. “I’ve done it plenty of times before. It’s surprisingly easy, if you know what you’re doing.”

Mob met his sparkling eyes for a moment, then turned to look out towards the lawn. He kicked his feet faster.

“Professor Minegishi is going to realize it was us, if the Briar carries fruit,” he said.

“Who cares!” Hanazawa said. “He’s not going to pin it on you, you’re like the only student he likes.”

Hanazawa might have been right about that. And Mob did want to see the Briar in bloom. When else was he going to get a chance like that?

Going out after curfew was a little… uncomfortable, though.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing!” Hanazawa said, leaning back and waving his hand, downplaying the situation. He pressed the other hand against his heart, closing his eyes. “You’ll have me with you and I have never been caught after curfew. Trust me, I once took my boyfriend to see the – Ah. No. Let’s not talk about that. You’ll be in safe hands, I assure you!”

Mob trusted him. Hanazawa was quick to stroke his own ego, but most of the time he could do what he boasted.

So he agreed. Hanazawa looked like Mob was the one doing him a favor, which was pretty flattering. Only a few days later Hanazawa stayed behind in the common room, stayed until it was dark and most of the Hufflepuffs had gone to bed already.

The only one with them was Tome and she was sulking with her arms crossed near the fireplace. She had a book on her lap. She had been pretending to read it for the passing hour or so instead of throwing dirty looks like daggers their way as the curfew drew nearer.

”You never sneak out with me!” she whined. ”No matter how many times I ask!”

”You never ask me to sneak out to the greenhouses,” Mob reasoned.

”Because it’s boring,” she said and threw herself over the armrest of the couch, the book falling from her lap, unattended. ”And it’s dirty in there!”

”We’ll be back in an hour or so,” Mob said.

Tome grumbled and reached to pick up the book. ”Have fun or whatever!”

Hanazawa was practically beaming when they snuck out of the common room. His smile was so bright it was going to get them caught for sure. Despite his assurances, the idea of being found out made Mob’s insides twist.

Hanazawa grabbed hold of his hand and held it tight.

“It’s dark,” he reasoned and squeezed Mob’s hand. “This way we won’t get separated.”

It made sense to him. Hanazawa didn’t have to explain himself. Mob didn’t mind it. Hanazawa’s hands were warm and calloused from all the quidditch practice. It felt nice. Mob rubbed his fingers against the tougher, harder parts of skin on his palm. Hanazawa’s smile got wobbly, but he looked very happy all the same, so he probably didn’t mind.

Moving around the halls and hallways of the castle was very different after dark. It was quieter, yes, but not as welcoming as it was in the common room when everyone was focusing on their own things, relaxing between classes. No, this quiet was more nervous, like a prelude to a loud bang. But Hanazawa seemed to know exactly what he was doing, pulling Mob with him, keeping in shadows and avoiding the bigger hallways.

Every now and then they would hear steps approaching, a teacher or maybe a prefect doing their nightly rounds and Hanazawa would pull him behind a statue or around a corner. Every time Hanazawa would move to stand between Mob and the source of the steps, standing so close Mob could feel his robes against his chin. They were never caught. He was so thoughtful. Mob wouldn’t even know what to do if they got caught. He’d been out of bed and out after curfew before, but always with a permit. This was so new.

He’d never had detention either.

He wasn’t sure if the churning in his stomach was nervousness or excitement. It kind of felt like both.

They reached a corridor with wide windows letting in light from the outside. The moon was already high, shining from the cloudless sky, lighting everything in the corridor in cold tones. The Briar would be in full bloom already. They should hurry. But Hanazawa was slowing them down, not letting go of his hand. Mob turned to look at him.

The moonlight painted shadows across his face and made his hair look like pure silver. It reflected from his wide eyes, shone like diamonds when Hanazawa looked at Mob.

It was beautiful.

Mob supposed he could see why Hanazawa was so popular. He hadn’t really thought about it before, but looking at him now, there was no denying it. Hanazawa was very handsome.

Hanazawa swallowed thickly and the hold on Mob’s hand tightened. He was looking down at Mob, looking at his face, at his mouth.

”Ka- Kageyama,” Hanazawa said and his voice was weird, paper thin.

Mob tilted his head. If they wanted to get the Briar pollinated, they should hurry. The longer they spent out here, in the open, the more likely they were to –

”Hey! You’re not supposed to be out at this hour!”

– get caught. Oh well.

Hanazawa squeezed his hand tight and pulled him back. They started running, Hanazawa pulled Mob behind him. The prefect came into view from behind a corner, a Ravenclaw by his colors, and he was yelling at them to stop, but they had no intention of doing so. Hanazawa ran fast, so fast Mob could hardly keep up with him. They dashed through another door into another part of the castle, but the prefect’s steps were getting closer.

Hanazawa didn’t let go of his hand.

They weren’t going to be able to shake off their chaser like this, not with Hanazawa having to drag Mob with him. They turned corners, threw open doors, but the prefect was always just a few paces behind them.

Mob saw a door, reached his hand towards it and it flew open with force. He pulled Hanazawa with him into the broom closet and closed the door behind them.

The steps ran right past them, growing fainter, then stopping.

The broom closet was small, not meant for two people in hiding. Mob hadn’t considered that, but then again, he hadn’t considered a lot of things when running. He was leaning against a shelf, sandwiched between Hanazawa and a hard corner, a broomstick just behind his back, digging into his spine, but he couldn’t move to remove the broom unless he wanted to be chest to chest with Hanazawa.

Both their breaths were heavy. He could feel Hanazawa’s against his face, puffing warm and smelling like breath mints. He could barely see Hanazawa’s outline when he dug out his wand and whispered a soft: “Lumos.”

Mob listened for the prefect outside. He was moving back and forth, clearly still on the lookout. His steps were growing more distant again.

Hanazawa shifted. Mob could feel it, couldn’t really get far enough that he wouldn’t. He tried to move himself, but the broom behind him just moved along with him, pressing twice as hard into his back.

Hanazawa’s chuckle was breathless, stuttery against Mob’s face.

“Wow,” he whispered. “Lucky us, huh? How did you –?”

The prefect was coming back. Mob lifted his hand and pressed it against Hanazawa’s mouth, pressing his lips to silence him. Hanazawa let out one strangled squeak and then said nothing more.

The broom was starting to get painful behind him. But if he moved, it would clatter.

The steps got closer. Closer.

Hanazawa’s lips stuttered against his hand.

And then the prefect walked right past their hiding spot. His steps got farther and farther away from them until Mob could hear them no longer. He moved his hand from Hanazawa’s mouth and he let out a shaky exhale. He hadn’t even realized Hanazawa was holding his breath until he could feel it washing over him again.

He turned to look at Hanazawa to find him staring at him, mouth forgotten open, lips moving like they were shaping words that never got enough wind under them to be said. In the light of his wand, Mob saw Hanazawa’s tongue poke out of his mouth and dart across his lips before disappearing again.

Would it be safe to leave already? The prefect would still be looking for them, he had probably alerted the teachers as well.

Hanazawa’s hands landed on each side of his head on the shelves, framing him between them. Mob looked back up at him and in the small space of the broom closet he had somehow moved even closer. The wand and their only source of light was trembling somewhere over Mob’s head, making the shadows dance around them.

”Kageyama,” Hanazawa whispered. And then he said nothing more.

The insistent poking of the broom behind him was turning from painful to intolerable. He tried to shimmy it away from him, but it just got caught in his robes, clanking against the shelf behind him. Mob pulled away from it, closer to Hanazawa, intending on taking it by hand and moving it that way.

But then Hanazawa gasped and his wand fell to the floor with a clatter, light going dark.

There were suddenly hands on Mob’s face.

Oh. And lips on his own.

Hanazawa was kissing him.

His back hit against the shelves again, the broom digging back to his spine. He grunted in pain and Hanazawa pulled him off, switching them around so that Hanazawa was the one against the shelves.

They were kissing. Why were they kissing? Mob put his hand on his shoulder and suddenly there was a tongue in his mouth, rubbing against his own.

He pushed Hanazawa off. Hanazawa let out a questioning sound and tried to chase after him.

”Hanazawa,” Mob said. ”I’m sorry. I like Tsubomi.”

And just as soon as he had appeared in Mob’s personal bubble, Hanazawa was as far away from Mob as possible in the limited space of the broom closet.

It was dark and Mob couldn’t see his face, but he could recognize the strain from his voice when he said. “Oh,” and then: “Ha ha. Right. So you do. I forgot.”

It was okay. It hadn’t come up in a conversation in a while.

Mob reached to touch his lips. Still wet. He could taste Hanazawa’s breath mint in his mouth.

”I think they’re gone now,” he started.

Hanazawa flung the closet door open and stumbled out.

”Let’s go!” he said.

Too loud. Mob reached for his arm, shushed him as softly as he could and Hanazawa threw a quick look his way before turning back around. He reached to grab his wand from the floor, hiding it in his robes. He couldn’t hide his blush from Mob, though, his beet red face. The arm Mob was holding was trembling.

”It’s okay,” Mob said. ”It’s fine.”

Hanazawa shook his head. He opened his mouth, then closed it. When he managed to get the words out, they came out far quieter. “Let’s just… Let’s check on the damn plant, okay?”

That was what they’d come here to do. Mob let go of his arm and nodded.

Hanazawa was really quiet the rest of the way. Mob couldn’t blame him, he was stuck in his own thoughts too. He found his hand reaching for his lips every now and then, brushing against them.

He had never been kissed before. He’d not thought it could be like that. So intense. When he’d imagined kissing Tsubomi, he’d thought of a shy peck on her cheek, sometimes even on her lips.

Not a tongue in his mouth. Or hers either, for that matter. No. Something like this had never even crossed his mind. He’d heard of broom closet make-outs, Inukawa talked about them sometimes in hushed tones. Mob had understood them in theory.

Getting to be part of one was something else, though.

He ran a tongue over his lips.

He had kind of liked it.

Taking a look at Hanazawa, he was staring at the ground with a frown. He looked like what Ritsu sometimes looked like when he’d asked if Mob was feeling okay and he’d given him what he thought to be a neutral enough response.

Not an expression he wanted to see in someone he cared about.

What had helped with Ritsu had been to try to talk more honestly about his feelings. With Hanazawa, though…

He wasn’t sure.

The air outside was nippy. It bit into Mob’s ears and nose the moment they were out through the doors and he pulled his scarf higher to protect his face from it. Hanazawa didn’t even look like he had noticed they were out now. Mob wanted to reach for his hand and hold it, but… maybe that wasn’t such a good idea right now.

Greenhouse Seven was quiet when they reached it and the Queen Briar was standing in moonlight, reaching towards it like it was basking in its glow. The three vibrant pink flowers were blooming beautifully, petals open, the flowers each about the size of Mob’s hand. Mob hurried to the Briar’s side.

The flowers were beautiful. Surprisingly delicate for such a spiky plant. Their fragrance was subtle too.

Mob pulled out a quill from his pocket. It was a fluffy quill, a thoughtful gift from Ritsu. Mob loved rubbing it against his face. It also doubled as a useful tool for pollination.

He reached for the Briar, then hesitated.

It wasn’t his project.

”Here, Hanazawa. Take this,” he instructed.

Hanazawa didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at him when he carefully snatched the quill from his hands. He held the pen like a wand and didn’t move.

There clearly was a problem here.

”You know,” he said slowly. ”About the… about the kiss – ”

”I’m sorry!” Hanazawa blurted, still looking at the floor rather than Mob. ”I read the situation wrong. I’m sorry.”

Mob mulled over it for a while, then nodded.

”It’s okay,” he said.

Hanazawa looked hopeless still. Mob gathered his wits and placed a hand on his arm. Hanazawa jumped a little, looked at him then back at the floor.

”You’re important to me,” Mob said. ”But I think… I’m sorry, but I don’t think I like you the way you like me.”

Hanazawa stared resolutely at the floor and nodded without a word.

”I do like you, though,” he continued. ”You are an important friend.”

A short, wet laughter escaped from Hanazawa’s mouth and he rubbed his face with his sleeve. Then he suddenly looked up at Mob with a wide smile. It was a little watery, a little unsteady, but bright.

”You are important to me too,” he said. ”Yeah. Friends. Yeah, you’re my friend. I’m so sorry, I overstepped.”

Mob nodded. Good. He was glad they were able to talk about this. He motioned towards the Queen Briar and Hanazawa stepped next to him. Mob showed him how to pollinate it properly. It was a shame they didn’t have another Briar here, but if they were lucky, the fruits would produce seeds healthy enough to grow new saplings. Afterwards, Hanazawa wrote his notes to be added to his report.

Hanazawa was brave. He’d jumped into the kiss just like that. No wonder he was so popular. He’d dated a whole lot, if Ritsu was to be believed. Boys and girls. Kissing had seemed as easy as breathing to him.

Mob took the quill and started running it over his lips, deep in thought. He hardly even noticed Hanazawa looking at him over his notes.

He was so brave. Mob should try to take a leaf out of his book. Tsubomi wasn’t going to notice his existence if he said nothing about it. She was popular too and had lots of people that liked her. If he waited too long, she might find someone else she liked more.

He wondered if kissing was like breathing to her too.

Hanazawa sighed heavily and when Mob turned to look at him, he had buried his face into his hands.

Only a week later, Mob had managed to gather his courage enough to ask Tsubomi out. Mob brought her flowers and everything. Ritsu was very proud of him, along with Tome and Inukawa. Tome said she hadn’t though he had the guts, but Mob knew she meant well.

Tsubomi was very kind when turning him down. It still stung a whole lot. Mob spent the week after that working hard in the greenhouses, barely talking to anyone.

And then he was over it.

Except not really. Because now he couldn’t stop thinking about kissing Hanazawa.

The thoughts snuck up on him almost without him realizing. One moment he would be biting on the tip of his quill, listening to a lecture, the next he’d be running his fingers over his lips, thinking about Hanazawa.

It was rather odd.

He’d spent the entirety of his first five years in Hogwarts with a crush on Tsubomi. Through many of the heavier emotions, that had remained a constant. She was the only person he had ever thought about like that. He hadn’t even considered anyone else. Because she was nice. Because Mob knew her. And because if he was going to end up with anyone, he thought it might as well be her.

Now that he had talked to her, though, and received her answer to his confession, he found someone else occupying his thoughts in ways Tsubomi never had.

It didn’t help that Hanazawa was a constant in his life now. Always there. After the little broom closet accident, Hanazawa had doubled down on his friendliness, almost aggressively declaring them to be the best of friends to anyone willing to listen. Sometimes to other people too. Tome took that as a direct insult, Ritsu wasn’t pleased either, but Mob still thought it was nice to have a friend as affectionate as Hanazawa.

People didn’t usually make out with their friends, though. Or think about kissing them. Get lost in thoughts of spending time together.

He might have spoken too soon when he told Hanazawa he didn’t feel the same way.

Which was a problem.

He wasn’t sure how deep Hanazawa’s feelings ran or if turning him down had made him reconsider. That could have been bad. Mob had not liked the taste of rejection from Tsubomi and the two of them had barely changed words since year one. Getting rejected by Hanazawa would cut a lot deeper.

He wondered if it had cut a lot deeper for Hanazawa as well. As jovial mask as he put on, Mob could tell he wasn’t as quick to touch him as he had been before.

He wanted to talk about it. But finding the right words could be so hard sometimes. Mob was painfully aware that he rarely had the words he needed to say what he felt. The people around him, the ones that stayed and didn’t fray away, had found ways to understand what he wanted to say even though the words didn’t always come to him, but sometimes it got frustrating. It was so much easier to say nothing than to fumble through embarrassing explanations.

A confession was something he didn’t want to mess up. Words like that could be so easily misinterpreted.

But then again, Hanazawa hadn’t needed to use words either.

Mob ran his fingers over his lips.

Maybe it could be that easy. No words, just… actions.

The idea created a nervous sort of energy in his stomach. A churn that was somewhat familiar, but new at the same time. Yes. He could do that. But. But it was so bold. Everything could go wrong.

But at the same time, everything could go right as well.

The uncertainty was terrifying. The outcome was unknown. It made Mob’s hands sweaty.

But there was nothing to be done about it but try. Hanazawa wouldn’t try to make a move twice, not with how embarrassed he’d gotten. If he didn’t do anything about it, the feelings between them could fester, drowned like roots in an overwatered pot. He knew what the situation required, he just wasn’t sure if he had what it took to be as brave as Hanazawa had been.

He could tell Ritsu was worried, that Tome and Inukawa could tell something was going on. Maybe they thought this was still about Tsubomi. In a way, maybe it was. Everything had kind of rolled into one ball of nervous energy. Ritsu tried to tell him that talking about it could help. Mob had talked to them before he’d confessed to Tsubomi. He didn’t want to get their hopes up for nothing.

He could tell them afterwards. Once he’d gotten all of it out of his system.

Hanazawa was none the wiser. At least, Mob was pretty sure he didn’t know what Mob was planning. He didn’t want to wait, couldn’t wait much longer. The nervousness would get the better of him if he did.

So one day, when they were walking out of the library, Mob decided he was going to go for it.

With his hands sweaty and trembling, he reached for Hanazawa, pulled at his sleeve to stop him in the middle of the hallway.

“Hm?” he said. “What is it, Kage-“

It was a quick peck, fast and too sharp. He had aimed it at the corner of his mouth, but eyes squeezed shut, in too much of a rush, he hit Hanazawa right on the center of his mouth and whatever he had been meaning to say was lost.

Mob pulled back, holding his bag strap, shifting back and forth on his feet, waiting for his reaction.

Hanazawa, for his part, just stared at him dumbfounded, eyes large and mouth forgotten open.

He wasn’t the only one staring. Other students, people milling around them in the same hallway had stopped as well. They were all staring, whispering behind their hands and Mob’s neck started to feel sweaty too.

Oh. Oh no. He hadn’t thought about the attention others would give them. When Hanazawa had kissed him, it had been in a broom closet, where no one could see them.

Maybe this had not been such a good idea after all.

And Hanazawa was still saying nothing, just staring at him with a glazed look.

Oh no.

He’d been right. Hanazawa had moved on.

“Ah,” he said, thawing slowly. “I thought you – I was going to – Do you mind if I –?” Hanazawa waved his hand at the direction of the stairs and the Gryffindor common room he had been heading towards.

It felt like he’d turned into a marble statue, unable to move, frozen still. When he snapped his head back and forth in a nodding motion, it was like breaking concrete. He’d been right. This had been a bad idea. Hanazawa was turning away, his face red all the way to his hairline, legs stiff like they weren’t working properly. He turned his back to Mob.

All Mob could do was stare at his feet.

This… was not how he had thought this was going to go, to be honest.

Hanazawa was hurrying off and Mob just… couldn’t move. Didn’t want to. He was going to grow roots and stay there forever.

He wondered if this was what Hanazawa had felt, when he’d turned him down before.

Oh. Hanazawa had stopped. He hadn’t gotten far.

He turned around on his heels and speed walked back to him.

”On second thought,” he said. ”We need to check on the plant. Right now.”

”Huh?” Mob said. No they didn’t. The Queen Briar was doing wonderfully, the three tiny fruits would take time to grow. It would not be needing any checking until next watering and –

Hanazawa grabbed hold of his hand, curled his fingers around Mob’s wrist and started pulling at him to follow. Now Mob was very confused. Hanazawa wasn’t looking at him, just pulling him behind him like a ragdoll, nearly running in his hurry to get into the greenhouses.

A seventh year class had just finished, so the greenhouse was a mess. The Briar was doing just fine. Still a little frailer than a Queen Briar ought to be, but strong enough to carry fruit. Mob was about to comment on it, when Hanazawa put his hands on his shoulders, whirled him around and pushed him against a table.

They were kissing again.

It hadn’t been like this the first time.

Hanazawa’s hands felt like they were everywhere at once, they were moving so fast. One moment they were both on his shoulders, then one was on his cheek, behind his neck, on his back, his hip, gripping onto the front of his robes. They landed on one spot long enough for Mob to register them and then they were moving again, while Mob’s own hands hung uselessly against the table.

Hanazawa was right in his personal space, lips moving fast, going deeper than Mob had expected. He didn’t know what to do with the tongue running across his lips or the needy sounds Hanazawa was making while pushing into his space. His leg pushed between Mob’s thighs and the hands kept moving. And just when Mob thought about how he should maybe respond to the kiss somehow, Hanazawa’s lips were no longer on his, but leaving a trail of tiny kisses on his chin, up his left cheek, dangerously close to his ear. Then on the other side, going up, hands framing his face.

Too fast. Mob reached for Hanazawa’s hands, but they moved to another spot before he could grasp them.

”Hana… Hanazawa,” he managed to gasp before he planted his lips on his again.

Hanazawa made a noise, a soft, keening noise at the back of his throat and pulled back, but only a little. Mob could feel his lips moving, when he spoke. ”Please,” he said, ”call me Teruki.” And then he was moving again.

”Teruki,” he said. ”Too fast.”

The lips just below his jaw stopped and Hanazawa pulled back a little.

”Too fast?” he said. He sounded winded as well, his face brilliantly red, eyes glossy.

”Mmh,” Mob said and nodded.

”Oh,” he said and laughed breathlessly, pulled back just as fast as he’d gotten close and Mob was left reeling. ”Sorry! Sorry, I… I thought you… I read the situation wrong again, I’m so sorry, I swear I wasn’t – ”

Mob reached and managed to catch his hand this time.

”Too fast,” he repeated. ”Please slow down.”

He blinked once. Twice. Then a slow smile appeared on his face, wobbly but strong.

Hanazawa reached for his face again, this time more deliberate.

”I’ve wanted to kiss you for such a long time,” he said. Mob saw it coming this time and knew what to do.

Kissing really wasn’t what he had thought it would be like. It was intense. Kind of nice. Hanazawa certainly seemed to know what he was doing, so Mob just tried to mirror him while holding onto the hand he had managed to capture. He could tell he wasn’t maybe as good at this as Hanazawa was, but when he opened his eyes a little, when he pulled back and took in Hanazawa’s flushed state, he could tell both of them were enjoying it. Mob leaned back in, fumbled with his free hand to find something to hold onto. He ran his fingers over Hanazawa’s robes and his tie, nice and shiny. Almost brand new.

Hanazawa was the next to pull away, but only so that he could rest his head in the crook of Mob’s neck.

”Woah,” he heard him say. ”Kageyama, you are so…” And then he didn’t say anything more. His nose nuzzled against his throat and he heard Hanazawa breathe deeply.

It was okay, though. Mob knew what it felt like to be at a loss for words.

”I thought about it,” he said. ”And I think I might like you the way you like me after all. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize.”

Hanazawa shook his head against his neck, hair tickling Mob’s chin.

”No, it’s… I’m just glad. Real glad. Wow. I wish you’d given me a warning.” He pulled back and looked Mob in the eyes. ”I can be smooth, too, you know. I can.”

Mob tilted his head and Hanazawa grinned. He placed a hand on the table behind him, tilting his head and giving that narrow-eyed smile he sometimes did, showing teeth, leaning close.

”Hey, Kageyama,” he said. ”Will you go out with me? I’m head over heels for you.”

Mob nodded. ”You can call me by my first name too, if you want to.”

Hanazawa looked away, red-faced.

”Damn it, Kageyama!” he said and laughed unsteadily. ”You’re too good at this. You know that?”

”You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” he said.

”No! No, no. I’ll call you… Shigeo. From now on.”

Well. They would both have to get used to that. But Mob thought it wouldn’t be much of a problem. He leaned in to kiss him again.