Title: Thin Line Between Love and Hate

Rating: T

Characters/Pairings: Anthony/Justin.

Authors Note: I'm not too sure if this turned out decent, and because the two particular characters didn't exactly have personalities, I just went on a limb. Written for 51 Phrases - Minor Male Challenge given out by Blaze Moonlight on HPFC. Planning on this to be a collection of one-shots of this pairing in a chapter story.

It wasn't that they were gay, because they weren't. I mean, sure two perfectly straight blokes can kiss one another with no repercussions, right? It wasn't their fault that they were stuck together in a broom closet together. It was all Michael, Terry, Ernie and Hannah's idea.

They were shoved in there and ordered that they best sort out their differences otherwise they'd be locked in Myrtle's bathroom instead for two days. Understandably, they forced themselves to get through all their problems - even if it did take over three hours.

"Shit, where the hell is the light?" Justin fumbled around the broom closet in an attempt to find the light.

"Up your arse," Anthony deadpanned.

"Oh, how witty of you."

"Sarcasm is the lowest form wit, you know. I thought that a Hufflepuff like you would know that - but you are renowned for being the stupid house, so I'll let it slip."

"Oh, go die in a hole!"

Anthony raised an eyebrow in the dark, knowing that unless Justin had perfect eyesight, he wouldn't have seen it. "Glad to know you've outgrown acting your shoe-size. And I hope you know all that racket your making isn't going to help one bit... We're in the wizarding world, in case you haven't noticed. There's no light cord or light switch."

"Who said I wasn't looking for a candle?"

"Do you usually look for candles by patting the wall?"

"... No."

"My point exactly. Just get your wand and use that as a light."

"Why don't you?"

"Because they stripped me of my wand, didn't they? Obviously they thought I'd be intelligent enough to find a way out of this hell hole of a place. Naturally, I assumed they wouldn't strip you of your wand. Now use your wand."

Hating to admit this, Justin spoke, "I don't know the charm."

"How is it that you can't remember a first year charm but yet you can recite the stats of every Quidditch player in the league from memory?" Anthony asked, disbelievingly.

Anthony had been on the receiving end of this when they were put together for a Transfiguration assignment in third year. Justin just wouldn't shut up about how marvelous and magnificent it had been that the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team beat Gryffindor.

"Okay then, Mr. I-Know-Everything," Justin retorted, his voice cutting, "What's the spell?"

"Lumos," Anthony replied simply, ignoring the glare Justin cast upon him, despite not being able to actually see it. "Do you need me to refresh your memory of how to pronounce it as well? It's simple enough. It goes LOO-mus. Got it?"

"Bugger off." With a flick of his wand and a mutter of the spell, Justin was able to get the end of his wand to glow and light up the room. Looking proud of himself, Justin gave Anthony a look that could only be called condescending. "There."

"Congratulations, you've now gone from being one whole stupid to one ninety-nineth stupid."

Justin sat himself on the floor opposite Anthony and snorted, "I'm not stupid. In fact, I got accepted into Eton."

"Am I suppose to be impressed? I don't even know where Eton is," Anthony said in reply.

Justin looked triumphant. "And here I was thinking that you knew everything. Well, ha."

"Ha, what?" scoffed Anthony. "Ha that I don't know an obviously unknown school that you probably don't even have to try out for?"

Justin paused, his grin falling. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"That. Make me feel like I'm some kind of worthless filth. I might not be in Ravenclaw, but that doesn't mean I'm completely stupid."

Anthony arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. You're acting like a clone of Draco Malfoy except with better hair and you actually look like a bloke," Justin replied slowly, running his eyes over Anthony in what he thought was a discreet manner.

"Are you checking me out?"

A faint blush tinted Justin's cheeks but he strongly shook his head, "Of course not. Do I look like I'm checking you out?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well, I'm not. So forget you even thought that, Goldstein," Justin replied, beginning to play with his tie.

Justin's obsession with ties was almost legendary. He loved them. In fact, if he could marry a tie, he would. If he could marry a tie, he'd be arrested for polygamy yet.

"You're lying," Anthony observed.

"How do you figure that?"

"You play with ties when you're lying. Also, you never look someone in the eye when you do so - it's the oldest trick in the book."

"Well, obviously I don't look anyone in the eye because I'm focused on the tie. Have you ever tied a tie without looking? It's bloody hard."

"And now you're avoiding the subject," added Anthony.

"I'm not avoiding the subject - I'm making conversation. There's a difference."

"There's not a difference when it comes to you because you don't know the difference. Pick up a dictionary sometime."

"I don't carry a dictionary wherever I go, unlike you. Ravenclaws are my dictionary," retorted Justin.

"Do you even know where the dictionaries are in the library? Actually, do you even know where the library is?"

"The place where all those lonely Ravenclaws hang out because their books are their only friends? Yeah, I think I do. You practically live in there/"

"Was that the best you've got?"

"That's what people say when they haven't got a comeback," Justin announced

"And that's what people say when they haven't got a good comeback."

"I hate you."

"Well... I hate you too. Are we finished being petty now? Because honestly, I can go all day. Training with my older brother helps me with that, Finch-"

Justin shut Anthony up by pressing his lips against Anthony's roughly. It was the only way Anthony would have shut up, he reasoned. Merlin knows that he didn't want to hear the Ravenclaw run his mouth for the next couple of hours. And so, this is what they did in the privacy of the broom closet. If anyone asked, their answer would be that they spent their time sorting through their problems, because they weren't gay.