Erin was many things, but intelligent was not one of them. He barely scraped by in the classes he didn't care about and worked hard to get the grades he did in the others; even when he studied answers failed him and he was more liable to be sullen than studious in class. For social things it was much the same - he paid very little attention to what was going on around him and generally ignored gossip. He usually didn't know what was going on in the school, who was dating whom, anything like that unless it directly affected him or his small circle of friends/acquaintances/enemies.
 
But sometimes, he took an interest in things. And though he wasn't all that intelligent in a dozen other ways, Erin was very perceptive when it came to people. He had a knack for reading body language or seeing the connection between people before they ever knew it themselves. He wasn't all that sly, or cunning, not like a Slytherin at all, but perceptiveness let him pass for it sometimes, for his nastiest insults always had an edge of truth. Add that perceptiveness to rabid curiousity, natural stubbornness, and well-earned paranoia about gender trickery, and Toko was doomed from the start.
 
It was his dispassionate approach to school goings-on that took him so long to notice a certain 7th year, and his niggling suspicions did the rest. For a week and a half he shadowed the older boy in the halls and stared over at Toko at dinner, sat at a table only a few down in the library and took an interest in who Toko talked to. He even risked the library, sitting only a few tables down from the other and hunching his shoulders whenever he saw someone blonde. He wasn't particularly subtle about it - he wasn't even trying to be. He wanted Toko to feel his stare, and he wanted him to be nervous. Damn well he should be, if he was who - what - Erin thought he was. But he wasn't sure, and so he never approached Toko, only studied carefully the tilt of his head as he talked or the way he drank his pumpkin juice at breakfast. The only time he left Toko alone was when the Hufflepuff was with Dax. Erin always felt uneasy around the Fayette twins, the kind of uneasiness that can only come from seeing someone who looks almost exactly like yourself, except better and with more muscles. Classes, of course, he couldn't do anything, nor Quidditch practice, and sometimes, hell, he just didn't feel at all like stalking. He'd do his own thing in the common room or sulk around the castle. Once or twice, by some bizarre twist of fate, Toko would stumble upon him when he wasn't even trying, and that was a weird experience. Seeing the older boy stutter and stammer his way through an apology was a disappointing setback.
 
But he'd think about the girl in the club, bubblegum breath, bony hips, scraping nails down tingling skin, and suspicion would bloom again (other emotions, too, heat and not-indignation and the slightest, hesitant guilt for what he was doing, but Erin tried not to think about those things too much). There was even the faint despairing howl, why couldn't you have been a girl? But Erin didn't think he was mistaken.
 
It was a long week.
 
Now he plodded along a corridor on the 4rd floor, just passing the library on the Friday before the Valentine's dance. He wasn't following Toko today - he was taking a break. He'd see how the boy danced at the Valentine's event and then maybe he could be certain. He was so close, he thought, but maybe... there was still some doubt. There was reluctance, too. He'd like to keep the memory of the smiling girl tossing back shots, such a cheap and glamorous sight. It'd been a good night until Kitty had shown up. But if he was correct, then... it wasn't fair or fitting or right for anybody to be deceived like that, Erin didn't like it, didn't like that he'd been tricked. Oh sure, in other things, whatever, he knew he was easy to fool, but in this? No. It was quite a blow to his ego. He'd thought she'd liked him - well, had been drunk enough to like him. It was kind of embarrassing, to think he was so horny, or dazzled, whichever, that he hadn't even noticed.
 
And it was a touchy subject for him anyway, other boys. Razzy had just left and that made things... uncertain. Erin didn't like uncertainty. Not at all.

Toko scuttled out of the library, newly mended satchel slung over his shoulder. Like the usual posture he had: head down, curtain of black hair in his face, glasses slipped down his nose, gaze pinned to the tops of his scuffed up sneakers. He’d been in a bit of a haze lately, because...because.

Well.

Unlike usual, Tae-song Toko was smiling. A private little tilt of lips, all inward. There was a little spring in his step, however slight. His hands got sticky with sweat whenever he thought it about it too much, in that sweet-anxious-stupid kind of way. He laughed, just a little, and wiped his hands off on his slate grey sweater vest. He was happy.

Dax Fayette was taking him to the ball.

Not like that, not really, but…it was close enough for Toko. He was going with people, he was going with friend-like creatures. To pull a real Cinderella would be something beautiful, yes. Get all trussed up, wear a mask, have everyone think he’s some far off princess from Japan, dance all night, and leave Dax clutching at little more than a glass slipper and a question.

He glanced up just in time to see another body in the deserted corridor, most other student bodies flooded away from the library to do more dance-like business. The broad curve of shoulders and the fall of pale blonde hair reminded Toko that he didn’t have anything to wear yet, and he vaguely wondered what color Dax’s dress robes were and –

Speaking of pulling a Cinderella, holy jesus, it was.  Erin. That was the boy’s name. That name made his heart thump a bit faster and broke out his palms in a sweat…like and unlike Dax, maybe, only this wasn’t soft and sweet at all. This was pure queasiness writhing in his stomach.

“Hullo,” Toko chirruped, voice a tight whistle in his throat. He’d felt those eyes, a little, when he wasn’t too busy being in a mentally invalid lovey daze.  He dipped his head a little in greeting, and that faint smile flickered off his lips like a snuffled candle flame. “Um…and. G’bye. Heh.”

The urge to break into a dead run was awful powerful, but Toko settled for scuttling past Erin Harper with more speed in his step than strictly needed.

It took Erin a moment to recognize the object of his recent attentions. Automatically he stepped back to avoid bumping into the other boy, and then as Toko tried to scuttle past his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Waaaait a minute - " And a tan arm grabbed him around the waist and hauled him back, seriously limiting the possibility of escape. For the few years he had on the fifth year, Toko was still smaller, and Erin loomed over him in a less-than-friendly manner. This vaguely threatening vibe was slightly offset when he swooped in to peer critically at Toko's face, his free hand coming up to push the hair away and tilt the chin up. The scowl dropped away as he gave Toko the scrutiny of his life, blue eyes tracking intently over every feature. And then, quick as a snake, he whipped the glasses off of Toko's face.

"Ha!" he crowed triumphantly, drawing back to point an accusatory finger. His voice dropped to a hiss. "It is you. I don't appreciate such deception, you little liar."

Toko yelped, high and piteous like a kicked puppy. There would be that cinnamon bubble gum breath huffing on Erin’s face again, but this time far less sensual than it might have been by night in Spellpunk. Epic eons less sensual, in fact. This was just pure fright and shock, every little bit. His pupils were blown out, making his dark eyes look like two big black ink drops.

“Wha—I…I…” Stammering, gaze darting around like shot marbles, looking at everywhere and anything but Erin’s face. Toko’s heart was currently lodged somewhere in his trachea, he could almost feel it pounding away in there, blocking his words and breath. “What are you t-talking about? Please, gimme back my glasses!”

Blood boiled in his cheeks and in the shells of his ears, and one spindly little paw darted into his pocket, clutching for his wand.

The yelping and struggling only fueled Erin's case. Toko wasn't denying it, was he? A blast of sugary sweet cinnamon hit his nose, their faces too close, and Erin grimaced. Yes, it was the same, the same bloody gum - it was this as much as anything else that made him let go.

But only for a moment, as Toko went for his wand. Erin's hand clamped onto his wrist like an iron vice. Tiny bones, he noted with a dull anger, most unlike his usual hot-blooded rage. Like a girl's, and easy to break. An uneasy mix of nausea and shame was mixing in his own stomach, souring in its week-old juices.

It went against his strange and erratic morals to bully someone who'd been kind to him in this manner. Erin provoked enemies, acquaintances, and strangers alike; like any juvenile predator he had an eye for the weak ones, the ones ordinarily quite like Toko (the weak ones for entertainment, the strong for a challenge, and this was where he differed from the usual bully). But that was so long as it wasn't personal, and he'd always had a soft spot for those who saw some value in him. It felt weird to grip Toko's tiny wrist in his hand with malicious intent; he wanted to shrug off the wrongness of it. Even if it'd been an act, for a little bit at least, Yumi had made him feel... different. There was a reluctance to his actions, but he just had to keep reminding himself of the inherent deception.

And hell, if Toko liked it for the sake of wearing woman's clothing, whatever, Erin didn't care. It was only the alternate that rankled at him, the thought that it had all been a joke, and on him.

"Drop it," he ordered, several minutes too late; he realized belatedly he'd had Toko's wrist in silence for a bit, and wondered what the other boy had seen on his face during that time. Erin didn't want to frighten him too badly, and neither did he want Toko to see exactly what he was feeling. He let go of Toko's wrist quite suddenly, taking several steps away, and silently handed the Hufflepuff back his glasses. "There's no need for that. Look - "

But he wasn't sure what to say now, his anger having run up against a cowering Hufflepuff who wouldn't look him in the eye. Undoubtedly the same person he'd laughed and danced with, but acting entirely different.

"Look," he said again, this time with more exasperation than anything else. "What the bloody hell were you thinking? You git."

“What—what was I thinking?” There was a sharp snap in those little words. Toko’s eyes were huge in shock, still slackjawed from the deep what the fuckery of the past three minutes. “Did – did you not see what you just did? You threw me against a wall.” The brittleness of his voice trailed off into something more like a whimper. Anger was there, yeah, but it was only embers. It was mostly just confusion.

If this is what happened when little weirdos found out you were over-equipped, Toko decided right here and now he’d hide in the room of requirement whenever he wanted to play Yumi. Jesus. He hissed and rubbed at the ache Erin’s grip had put in his wrist. Spindly fingers clutched his wand so tight his knuckle bones strained on skin.

“F-fuck off, seriously!" he spluttered. "I…I’m not dropping anything, psychoboy. Jesus Christ.” Toko huffed out a shivery breath and shoved his glasses back on one handed. They were all askew, but whatever. That was the least of his problems right about now. He cringed back close as he could to the cold stone wall, huddled down into himself like a garden snake.

 “Alright,” he choked out, “you outed me, s-sure.” There he went with his nervous ping pong ball eyes again, looking around the deserted corridor hoping someone would round the corner. “If… if this is some weird closet case thing, I’m s-sorry I guess, but…but I don’t want anything to do with it, okay? Just lemme alone, please.” He hugged his arms around himself and clenched his eyes shut, face set in a rigid scowl.

Maybe Erin had a right to be upset, but that didn’t mean Toko wasn’t thinking about how quick he was with an obliviation spell.

"Oh, I did not," Erin shot back. And, "Fine, don't drop it. But - " No threats. Erin's mouth snapped shut. He'd forgotten he was being nice now on account of the fact that Toko looked like he was about to shiver himself out of a spine. "Fine," he said again, through only slightly gritted teeth. "Whatever makes you feel better."
 
"Alright. You outed me, s-sure."
 
Well that was easy. Erin blinked.
 
"You admit it?" he asked suspiciously. "You - hey! I'm no closet case." The words were hissed and indignant, just like the impatient sigh he gave when he caught his temper rising again. His tone changed as he continued - it was even, nonhostile, as careful as he could make it. "Look. Was it a joke? That's all I wanted to know."
 
Toko hugged himself, eyes squeezed shut, and Erin just about wanted to throw him into another wall. For Merlin's sake, he wasn't going to do anything to him. Yumi had been way more... well, brave. Bollocksy. Direct. What a pity. Anyways, what was he going around scowling for? Erin had only grabbed him a little.

“What?”

That seemed to be Toko’s go to word. There really weren’t many other words for it,  beyond what and the and hell. Those big eyes fluttered open again, dark and wide. Not just nerves and puzzlement this time, more calculating. The same dissecting look Erin had given Toko only moments before, only this time not looking for physical things.

Exactly what things Toko was looking for, though, he wasn’t sure.

“You...? Um.?”

Every drop of saliva he had felt like a cotton. His tongue flickered across his lips quick as a serpent tasting air. Toko always felt that Yumi would make a wickedly good Slytherin – in a way that meant Toko would make a decent one too, but he didn’t think about that.

“No. No, it wasn’t a joke.” Spoken very softly to the cold flagstones beneath their shoes, but little bits of flint spiked it all the same. Anxiousness lingered around him like cloud. “Why do you even – it’s none of your business. It’s no reason to...to bloody s- stalk somebody, either.”

Ahh, there was some reminder of Yumi, all big dark eyes and looking with purpose. A different purpose, Erin rather thought, and it made him uncomfortable that he didn't have the slightest idea what Toko was looking for.
 
He raised a blonde eyebrow, rather imperiously. "What?" he asked, and only just restrained himself from shifting his stance or crossing his arms defensively.
 
But he relaxed upon receiving his answer, the burdens of paranoia and teenage social anxiety lifting.
 
"Well all right, then," he said in a much more cheerful manner, the relief making him positively chatty.
"I wouldn't have wanted this to get all over school. Again. And of course it's none of my business now, dress as a girl, wear your makeup, I don't care. Pretty tricksy those heels must be, though, but if you want it, go for it, whatever. Mm, and I wasn't stalking. I was..." He paused a moment, thinking, then spoke the  word with deliberate care. "Investigating."

Toko stared up at Erin for a long moment, lips parted and eyes wide. He’d been struck dumb yet again by the overpowering weirdness of the moment.

“Do…do you really not see anything messed up here?” he squeaked. “Ffft! And…and you’re talking like you should be embarrassed of me? I’d rather have people know I wear t-tricksy high heels than know I hung around the neck of a creeper like you.”

...and what I do and what I wear has balls all to do with you.

Toko clutched his wand close to his chest, fingertips of the other hand fluttering up and down the shaft like startled birds. His face was a rigid mask, little glower set on hard as he could. It was difficult, twitching nervous rabbit thing he was. He tried to sidestep Erin, hugging the wall.

“Get what all over school? That a t-tranny gave you a stiffy?” That word made him flinch, but it was held out to Erin like a hot coal on the end of a shovel. Traces of surprise at his own boldness flickered through his eyes, and he looked down.

He didn’t have much self-esteem or courage or anything really, but Erin talking about it like it was simple as slipping into a pair of heels made something in him spark. Wherever Toko kept Yumi locked away during the day, she was waking up. Warmth flared across his cheeks and for once it had nothing to do with embarrassment.

“And…that that you followed him around for an … er, investigation. Right.” the corners of Toko’s lips twitched. He was smiling, a little. There was nothing nice about that smile. “Don’t try to get cutesy, alright?” he said quietly. “It’s not gonna get you anything.”

Erin cocked his head, gave Toko a smile. It was so like the smiles he'd given in the club, outwardly charming, sweet, but tainted with knowledge now and not nearly so friendly. "Then tell them," he suggested lightly. "Or don't. I don't care - and I won't tell anyone - but seeing as I doubt you're anxious to be my neck-candy I really don't think you need to worry about either of those options."

The little thing was twitchy and anxious to leave - but Erin didn't match his sidestep, only turned his head to watch him, and wondered idly whether Toko would really resort to his wand.

“Get what all over school? That a t-tranny gave you a stiffy?”

"Not quite how I'd put it," Erin murmured, but he was distracted by the stutter of the fatal word, and he tilted his head to the side and concentrated on the rising harshness of the comment until he discovered, with some surprise, that Toko was getting angry at him. It took him aback, because while he didn't particularly give a rat's arse whether Toko was angry at him or not, he couldn't understand why. So the following him around bit must've been annoying, but it was hardly like he'd done it all the time, and only for a week besides. He hadn't hurt him - had tried to not hurt him, anyways - and now that he'd gotten his confession, Erin would be A-OK with walking away and never talking to Toko again. Of the two of them, it wasn't Toko who'd been tricked, and Erin - unlike, say, the Callum Knights of this world - hadn't the faintest intention of punishing Toko for it.

He would never have thought the anger sprung from his casual dismissal of Toko's "hobby," a dismissal born of pure and utter disinterest, because Erin assumed that if the other boy could do that sort of thing than surely it was because he liked it, wanted it, was comfortable with it. It wasn't like a kiss or a grope, some sudden urge that was reckless, potentially a mistake but so quick and easy to make. Yumi took time to create, to smear that eyeliner and mascara on thick, to cast the contact-charms and to pick out the outfits for each and every night. It was very deliberate.

And for Erin, for whom violence and manipulation were quite ordinary occurrences (whether to him or other people), a little following around and a harsh grip hardly seemed worth the effort to get angry about.

“And…that that you followed him around for an … er, investigation. Right. Don’t try to get cutesy, alright? It’s not gonna get you anything.”

Erin frowned, and there was something cold in the expression, responding as much to Toko's tone as his actual words. Still he tried to explain - somewhat - with a shrug and a strangely heated, "I don't want anything. I'm done. That's all I wanted to know, and now - " How to phrase this to talk the little tiger down? - "I'll leave you alone." He spread his hands languidly, eyebrows raising and lips quirked now into a mocking little half-smile.