joelle | d.m

09 | bunny slippers

October, 1994.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to do a couple's costume with Luna," Devonte said as he finished up his last rep of his bicep curl set.

"We don't do that sort of thing," Nayun said dismissively, walking along the rack of dumbbells to examine them. "We have different interests, but we're also the same person. Do you know what I mean?"

"Like a twin flame," he beamed. "That's cute."

Joey sat on the bench of the bench press, keeping her friend company as he did his workout. She'd worked out before with dumbbells and she loved it.

She never did these workouts to improve on her body because she liked the way she looked now. The way she was now. Who she was now.

She was embracing it because six years before, she wasn't who she was now. She was someone entirely different. But she loved using weight-lifting as an escape. She loved how sore she was after. Loved the way she felt afterwards. Loved the feeling of pushing herself because it was yet another escapism for her.

She never opened the letter and it'd been a week. It was still underneath her pillow, untouched.

"Jo-Jo, why do you never want to workout with me?" Devonte's breathless words made her look up from her book.

He was sheened with sweat and he'd taken off his tank top since it was getting soaked in his sweat. The light from the window made the sweat gleam from his biceps as he chugged down his water.

His dri-fit shorts hung low, revealing the waistband of his boxers and his prominent V-line. He had his Quidditch bag, which was also his gym bag, on the floor behind him.

The gym at Hogwarts was big and organized. It was fairly empty at the moment with just the three of them and a few others scattered, doing their own things. There were mirrors on each wall of the room, like every Muggle gym.

"Because I don't have a workout plan, Von," Joey answered his question, crossing her legs up on the bench she sat on. "I just workout when I'm in the mood to die or escape."

"You should join me when I work quads and hammies," he suggested. "Or lower body days."

"Pass."

"Devonte, I can workout with you." Nayun grabbed a two-pound dumbbell from the rack and went to stand next to Devonte in front of the mirror.

"Wearing that?" His siren eyes travelled up and down her lean figure.

Nayun was wearing a black skirt and a white blouse. She had a ladybug brooch on her blouse and black knee-high socks. Her combat boots made her half an inch taller from where she normally stood at five-foot-six. Believe it or not, her entire outfit was thrifted. Even the brooch.

"Sure. Why not?" she beamed as she attempted bicep curls with the two-pound dumbbell.

Joey chuckled through a grin at her kindhearted friend.

"Like this." Devonte went behind her and guided her movements in the proper form of the bicep curl. "Keep your elbow in place when you curl up and down, because then you just look silly."

"Bloody hell, I do feel the burn." Nayun exhaled heavily as she nodded.

He laughed heartily and ruffled the top of her hair. "You're too pure, Nayun."

"Where's Mani?" Joey asked whilst she slid her brown leather bookmark between the pages of her novel. "Are we still going to the bistro shop before we get ready for the party?"

"She's meeting us back at our dorm." Nayun crossed to the rack to put the two-pound dumbbell back in its place. "She probably went to hook up with Diggory or something."