Snakes & Secrets || Ominis Gaunt

Chapter Thirteen: Interrupted

Felix sat down with a tired thud into the old chair. He was with Garreth in the abandoned classroom where he worked on his potions. Since the first ingredient run he'd done for him a few weeks ago, he'd begrudgingly agreed to a couple more. To be honest, they were always easy and Garreth paid him quite well, and he enjoyed chatting with him after.

He'd just dropped off the latest batch, Ashwinder eggs, which Felix had to go on a bit of a trek to retrieve. He'd ran into a pack of dark mongrels on his way back, and after a long day studying, the fight had worn him out a bit.

"Hey, Garreth? Can I ask you something?" Felix asked nervously. He was desperate to ask someone for advice and he had decided Garreth might be a good place to start. He didn't want to ask Sebastian about Ominis in case he went and told him, and though he was close with Poppy and Natty as well, he wondered whether another male perspective might be better.

"Sure mate, what's up?" Garreth called back from in front of the cauldron.

"Do you- have you ever... ugh," Felix groaned in frustration, unsure of how to voice his question. "Have you ever had feelings for someone?"

"Course, loads of times. Why do you ask? Got your eye on someone?" Garreth asked with a smirk.

"I guess you could say that," Felix said awkwardly. Have you ever... had feelings for a friend?"

"Not a close one, but I do try to be friends with everyone, actually, so kinda?" Garreth answered, a little distracted by his potion as he dropped his next ingredient in.

"Right," Felix huffed. That's not very helpful. He was going to have to come right out and say it, wasn't he? "Have you ever had feelings for... a guy?" Felix asked, scrunching his eyes shut so as not to see Gareth's reaction.

"Mate, I'm flattered honestly, but you're not really my type," Garreth said back. Felix opened his eyes to see a huge teasing smirk on his friend's face.

"Shut up - I didn't mean you!" Felix said, rolling his eyes at him.

"Ouch," Garreth teased. "But seriously. No, I can't say I have, but I know other guys who have," he shrugged.

Felix looked up in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. It's not that uncommon, you know. And people in the Wizarding world are much more accepting of different sexualities than in the muggle world, if that's what you're worried about," Garreth said with a pointed look.

Felix let out a deep breath. "That's part of it, honestly, yeah. The other is... well, I've been having feelings for a friend and it sort of threw me off guard, because I wasn't expecting it. And for it to be a male friend as well, you know? I've never had feelings for a guy before," he said, feeling stressed out.

"Have you tried talking to them about it?"

"Merlin, no. And scare them away for ever? No way!"

"How do you know they don't reciprocate?" Garreth asked in confusion.

"I... well, I guess I don't," Felix said honestly. "How would I know?"

"How do they act around you? Do they touch you more than other people, sit closer to you? Do they spend more time with you than other people?"

Now you mention it, Felix had been spending a lot of time with Ominis recently. As for the touching, well, Ominis had definitely become more comfortable with Felix touching him as they'd gotten to know each other more. He'd hold his hand if Felix was feeling distressed, if he had a bad nightmare. And Ominis wouldn't shy away if Felix took his hand to lead him somewhere. And they did technically cuddle in bed those two nights. And they did often sit quite close together these days, but the couch in the Undercroft wasn't that big, really, was it? And was any of that a signal of something more, or just a sense of comfort in their relationship?