A/N: Honestly, not sure what's up with this one. It's kind of wild. I wrote it in a very short time because college just started and I'm feeling only a *tad* overwhelmed, so I'm going to apologize for the quality? It's cute but I'm not sure I quite got down on paper what I had in mind. Either way, this was my honest try and I hope it satisfies the few people who will read it.

Written for the QLFC as Captain for Puddlemere, S8 R11.

Prompt: Captain - Who's Afraid of the Dark? (S7)

Word Count: 1,109

It all started because Neville claimed he wasn't afraid of the dark.

Seamus, much like the other three boys in the room, immediately informed Neville that was impossible. Sure, they were fourth years, which certainly meant they shouldn't be scared of a little adventure under the cover of night. But this was Neville. He was the most predictable of them all and he always played innocent.

Ron was the one to suggest they play a game of hide and seek (perhaps a tad childish but they were quite bored of studying, after all) in the courtyard to figure out if Neville was telling the truth - because of course Ron did - and Harry agreed. Seamus smiled gleefully at the prospect, but he had noticed Dean only nod softly in response. What was that all about?

Several hours later, they were standing in the courtyard, watching as the moon slowly inched its way across the starry skies. Harry and Ron were late. Neville stood with his arms crossed a few feet away from where Seamus had plopped down against the fountain, Dean stoically standing next to him. A small fire crackled on the rocks in front of them.

"It'd do them good to arrive on time for once." Seamus said. He continued playing with the edge of his robes.

"Perhaps they forgot." suggested Dean.

"They wouldn't!" He said.

"If they don't arrive soon, I'm going back in to finish that homework for Flitwick."

The shorter boy looked at his friend and noticed for the first time that evening the slightly agitated look on Dean's face. He'd grown quite accustomed to identifying his best mate's moods based on the smallest changes in body language.

That was, after all, what happens when one stares at a person every time they're concentrating.

"Are you good there, mate?" He asked.

"Yeah. I just want to get this homework done." said Dean. There - his eye twitched slightly. Seamus swallowed his pride over continuing to recognize the signs of lying in his friend and squinted at Dean.

"Whatever you say."

Before Dean could accuse him of anything, Harry and Ron burst into the mostly quiet courtyard. Whatever they'd been doing had sent them into bouts of hysterics, so the five of them stood there for a couple of minutes while Harry tried to get Ron to stop laughing so hard.

"Right, well, we all know the rules. I'll come looking for everyone." Ron said once he'd gotten his breath back, and with that they were off.

Seamus grabbed Dean's sleeve and ran in a direction. Dean made a noise of frustration, but followed without complaint until a suitable alcove in the outer walkway was found.

Once they'd shoved up against opposite walls and couldn't hear Ron anymore, Seamus gripped Dean's elbow. In the near pitch-blackness of the night it was impossible to see anything - not even his own rather cold fingers were visible.

"What's wrong?" He asked for the second time that evening.

"I told you already. I'm worried about the homework."

Without being able to clearly see Dean's face, it was impossible to tell if he had relaxed or only tensed up more.

"Dean," Seamus tried again, "You know I won't…you can tell me anything. You know that."

It was true. They were brutally honest with one another. Dean was only one of two people in the entire world who knew Seamus was gay. Seamus was one of the very few who knew of Dean's various anxiety issues.

There was a few minutes of silence while Dean seemingly tried to figure out how to reply. Ron's voice faded in and out in the distance a couple of times. They weren't terribly far from the courtyard, but Seamus was counting on it taking Ron at least 15 minutes to start searching the walkways.

"I-okay, Shay, I know you won't but you have to promise me you won't tell anyone else." Seamus only nodded. "I might have a small fear of the dark."

"You?" He was honestly shocked. How had it taken him this long to figure that out?

"It's fine when I'm with people, at least, most of the time. But you know how my anxiety is and because of that I have really bad paranoia. It's silly because there are literal ghosts in this castle," Dean said, sounding relieved, "We just didn't have ghosts in my house and I was always so scared… I still run through the halls to my bedroom when I'm home. My stepfather loves to make fun of it - in a kindhearted way - but I don't do well when it's pitch black outside. Even if I do function better when it's midnight than at 6 in the morning."

"How did you manage to not tell me this for the better half of four years? Do you realize this means I should've scoffed at you earlier when Neville brought up that he wasn't scared of the dark?" said Seamus, smiling pointedly.

"I'm not going to tell everyone else! Regardless, you're probably making your 'scoffing' face at me right now."

"So you're okay because I'm here?" Seamus asked while he tried to orient his face into something less judgemental.

"Yes. And I usually am since you - or someone - usually is. At least, here at Hogwarts."

"That's a relief to hear. I can usually handle your panic attacks, mate, but I don't think I'd be much help stuck in a dark alcove." said Seamus, smiling despite the fact that he knew Dean couldn't see it.

"Oh, we wouldn't be here any longer if I were freaking out." said Dean.

It sounded to Seamus like he was smiling too.

"Right, well, if that's the case, we can wait here for as long as it takes Ron to find us. Or I guess until Filch sniffs us out."

"I'm throwing you to Filch and running if he comes before Ron." replied Dean, and Seamus knew for a fact that he was smiling now.

They were technically not quite past curfew yet - with the winter months settling in, it was just that much darker out. But the clock would chime soon to signal they had half an hour to go, and Ron still hadn't come back near them yet.

"Let's wait a while yet." Seamus said.

They stood in the alcove, silent and alert. Animal noises from the Forest pierced the blanket of quiet that lay on the grounds.

But Seamus knew that Dean was still grateful to have company because at some point, when Ron started calling from nearby, a hand slipped into his own. He tried not to smile too broadly.

The darkness hides many things.