Title: Loyalty
Author: Ashanta
Rating: PG
Summary: For some strange, unexplainable reason, I had the desire to write a Justin/Cedric story. As in, that "curly haired kid, Justin Finch- Fletchley" having some kind of innocent boy-crush on the all around good- guy and crush-worthy Cedric Diggory, and Cedric being his usual sweet, kind self about the entire matter, not wanting to hurt Justin's feelings, and thus...this thing evolved. Or mutated. Whichever.
Pairing: Cedric/Justin
Setting: PoA time-span, perhaps GoF later
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Chapter Four: Truth
Cedric was certain he had only made situations, in fact, worse than before. He wasn't exactly sure what had been going on in his head when he kissed Justin on the forehead, but he knew what was going on his head now. Mostly, it had to do with Justin being thirteen, male, and extremely naïve and innocent. None of these, Cedric noted, mixed very well. He also had the feeling that these ingredients would become volatile if added to his own mix of nearly-sixteen, male, and easily persuaded.
It was just that Justin's face look so dejected, Cedric did the first thing that came to mind that he hoped would make him feel better. In retrospect, putting a hand on the younger boy's shoulder would've just as easily sufficed, and led to a lot less confusion.
It seemed as though he and Justin had been simultaneously avoiding one another for the entire weekend, their late night meetings forgotten in the confusion of the past couple of days. But no one seemed to be whispering or conspiring behind Cedric's back, so he figured Justin's friend who had spotted them earlier had kept his promise not to tell anyone.
Well, really, Cedric thought as he munched on toast that Monday morning before class, there was nothing to tell. Sure, he had kissed Justin, but really, it was only on the forehead. His own mother kissed him on the forehead months ago at King's Cross before he'd boarded the Hogwarts Express. Then again, his mother probably didn't get a slight lurch of excitement in her stomach when she did, either.
At least, Cedric hoped she didn't.
In truth, Cedric was avoiding Justin in hopes of lessening the chances of stirring up anymore feelings when he saw the curly-haired, normally talkative third year.
Unfortunately, fate was not on Cedric's side. As soon as he got up from the Hufflepuff table and entered the Great Hall, Justin was there as well, waving hello to another Hufflepuff third year, a girl with a long plait who'd just passed him by.
Cedric didn't even have the chance to consider hiding; Justin turned around and instantly spotted the tall fifth year. He reddened a little, but smiled genially at Cedric and said hello.
"Hi, Justin," he replied, his throat feeling unusually tight. "Er...look, about Saturday..."
"It's fine," Justin said quickly, before Cedric could elaborate. "Hey, my Herbology class was cancelled this afternoon; do you want to hang out?"
Cedric actually had Defense Against the Dark Arts at that time, and wasn't too keen on missing any of Professor Lupin's classes, but he remembered then that he'd heard from Zacharias Smith that Lupin was sick today, and Snape would be substituting. Perhaps he could chance it...
"Yeah, all right, sure. I'll meet you in the common room, then?"
The common room, Cedric realized a little too late, was filled with the other third years who also had Herbology cancelled. Still, with Cedric skiving off class, he couldn't exactly wander around the corridors, so they decided to go into Justin's dormitory, taking the wizard's chess with them.
Everything seemed to fall into place after that, a rapid series of actions taking place. They had been sitting on the floor near Justin's bed, speculating about what gruesome punishment Cedric would have to face once Snape found out he had purposely missed class, and laughing when they realized Professor Lupin could and would overrule the punishment since it was his class, after all, when Cedric found himself suddenly very close to Justin. As in so close, that he could count the individual freckles on Justin's face. Justin leaned in closer to Cedric, closing his eyes, and the older boy, almost unthinkingly, closed his as well and moved forward...
SMACK!
Their foreheads cracked together and they parted, disoriented, and slightly smarting.
"Sorry...sorry," Justin muttered, rubbing his head, and Cedric wasn't sure whether or not he was apologizing for trying to kiss him, or for bumping his head against the other boy's. "I guess it's not as easy as it looks..."
Cedric smiled in spite of himself, and gently took Justin's chin into his hand and tilted his head up to face him; Justin's eyes went rather wide. "It helps if at least someone can see where they're going..." Cedric said softly, and demonstrated by gingerly leaning forward and pressing is lips lightly against Justin's. "See?"
Justin stared. "No...my eyes were closed." Justin said in awe, putting his fingers to his lips in amazement. He leaned forward in hopes to return the kiss, but was stopped by his and Cedric's noses bumping into each other, pushing against one another in a rather uncomfortable manner. He backed away, a little red with embarrassment, and said, "Really, you make it look so easy."
"Come at me again, and tilt you head a little to the side when you feel our noses touch," Cedric advised, grinning slightly that he was coaching Justin on how to kiss him when he could've been in Snape's class right now. Justin did, and was met with the reward of Cedric's lips greeting his own.
For Cedric, it was a rather chaste kiss, but for Justin, who didn't even know about how to go about initiating one, it was enough for the butterflies in his stomach to violently tie themselves in knots and then shoot up to his heart, hammering against it loudly.
They separated, and Justin was blushing so brightly his face even felt hot. "I-I'd, er, I'd better get ready to start heading back upstairs for class..." Justin said, and began to stand up, fumbling against his bed, which he used to push himself up into a standing position. "Um, thanks, for the, er..." Justin was once again at a lost for coherent words as he looked up at Cedric's smiling gray eyes. "Well, anyway, thanks...I'll see you later, then?" He smiled weakly, and Cedric gave him one last, parting kiss, lingering a little longer than the first two. Justin nearly toppled sideways out of the door.
Cedric waited a little while until he could no longer hear Justin's footsteps, and then followed, closing the door to Justin's dormitory behind him.
