Quality Bro-Time

[Asaiah Murphy]

It had definitely been a while ago since the two best friends were alone together since there were usually three of them goofing around the castle but today Asaiah wanted to have some alone time, or bro-time as they would sometimes call it, with Wyatt this late afternoon. He told Wyatt to come to the student lounge as soon as he finished his dinner so that the Slytherin boy could get some snacks from the kitchens first and then went back to the Slytherin House table to hurriedly slurp his tomato soup and go to the kitchens. After being provided with a bowl of salty potato chips and drinks for the two of them by the House Elves Asaiah walked into the student lounge and smiled as soon as he caught glimpse of his best friend, ''Yo, dude!'' He said happily as the Slytherin sat down on the same couch as Wyatt and placed the bowl and drinks on the table in front of them.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt eagerly jumped at the opportunity to meet with Asaiah for some much needed hang out time. Admittedly he'd been avoiding Marisol and therefore the Slytherin boy because the gift that she had given him after the Yule Ball had made him feel so strangely. Affection in a way he'd never felt before and all he wanted to do was push that down and away. The only way he could see to do that was to pretend it had never happened. This eagerness allowed him to be early and have scoped out the couch for them to use for themselves and so Asaiah's company was well received. "Bro!" The boy grinned and nodded towards him, as a thank you for getting the chips and pop for them to have. "How've you been, dude? It's been forever. Since that crazy chick!" He laughed as he shook his head because he was slowly learning that girls were just a bit insane. He had no real understanding as to why Marisol was so aggressive or why this weird Ravenclaw was either. He was just glad only one of them hated him.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah grabbed a handful of potato chips and sat back in the couch whilst listening to his best friend talking to him. ''I know right!'' He happily exclaimed. Because Asaiah went home for the winter break and was busy helping his parents with the christmas dinner the Slytherin had little to no time to write both him and Marisol but only to sent them their christmas gifts though even that cost him a lot of time because Axel was acting his usual self again and Asaiah had lost patiences with his companion during this fase but eventually after promising his owl a lot of treats he finally wanted to deliver their gifts. Asaiah had bought Wyatt a cleaning kit for his surfboard as he remembered his best friend telling him that he used to surf back in the muggle world. ''What about you?'' he then asked ignoring the comment about the Ravenclaw Keeper because he did not feel like talking about her. ''How was your break? A lot better than mine was I reckon.''

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt stuffed some food in his mouth as per usual as Asaiah spoke. Listening with the corner of his lip turned up in an amused grin. "Man it was so chill," Wyatt answered because he had stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays and because he had stuck to himself during the time, reading his new book and wishing he could go surfing. He had hoped Asaiah would've enjoyed his two gifts. One was a joke. A piece of Falmouth Falcon's merchandise with a note attached, playfully mocking his buddy. The real gift was a lot less scandalous. It was a custom beater's bat with Asaiah's initials engraved and the Slytherin emblem on as well. He had been able to ensure it was ready for game play as well too which was a perk. He hadn't been able to see if his friend had used it in a game thus far but hopefully in the next it would be a good tool for the job. His only hope was that it wouldn't allow Asaiah to beat Gryffindor in their upcoming match because his house loyalty was strong and despite his avoidance of Marisol lately, he felt very tied to her success as well. "I spent the whole time locked away in my dorm, pretty much. What about you?" He knew that Asaiah had gotten into a fair bit of trouble over the winter holidays due to his grades but he hoped it would be a better vacation because that would just be a kick in the pants otherwise when they could've all hung out and made Wyatt's discomfort gone because his Slytherin bro was a great buffer.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah was glad that Wyatt's winter break had been chill as his was far from that, though luckily for him he wasn't at fault at all this time. ''I spent my time locked away, too.'' the Slytherin boy told his best friend. ''My stupid family decided to get into a fight at Christmas dinner because Jennifer hadn't spend as much money on gifst as my parents, which somehow made then all worked up and angry, which then caused my brother to take side with mom and dad and Hannah to take side with Jennifer, leaving me in the middle of it.'' You could tell that Asaiah was obviously still a bit upset with his family for ruining Christmas for him. ''So whilst they were fighting I grabbed a chicken leg and went up to my room.'' he added. Then he remembered the way too expensive, but at the same time best gift someone had ever given to him. ''Dude, thank you so much for the bat!'' Asaiah said with gratitude, ''I haven't used it much but I will when Slytherin needs to play against Gryffindor.''

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt felt only sympathy for his best friend. He could not remember the last time he had a sit down dinner like that but at least his had not been interrupted by silly fighting. His mom fought for a living so that would hardly be fair anyway. Plus they were weirdly always on the same page with everything as far as he could tell. "At least you got some food before you ran off," he said, trying to seem more positive but he knew what it felt like to be down and out with no way to turn his mood around and he felt for Asaiah. "Dude, it was nothing," he said dismissively but he was glad that it made the boy happier. "Did I tell you I had it hexed so any time you play against Gryffindor you lose?" he said with a chuckle. He was in no way that much of a talented wizard to do such a thing. "Thanks for the surf kit. I can't wait to use it. My boards are going to need some serious TLC," he said, it was true too.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled at his best friend's comment. True, at least he got to enjoy some of the food while it was still warm and eatable. He wanted to tell his friends that stuff like fighting and skipping dinners was beginning to become normal for him now that his parents and one of his siblings were getting into a lot of fights, but he didn't want them to worry about it, as that was his job to do and not theirs. Asaiah's eyes widened when Wyatt told him that he didn't need to thank his friend for the christmas gift he bought for him . ''It was nothing? It was nothing?! Dude! I know your family is big on money but that must have cost you a sh*tload. How much allowance do you get?'' Of course the Slytherin didn't really want to know how much money his friend had to spend but the gift meant so much to him that he felt guilty for buying Wyatt the cheapest cleaning kit he could pay for.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt was sometimes a little more than oblivious to what a person's meaning to their words because he was a simple person. He most often assumed that everybody spoke what they felt, even if he sometimes didn't so he hardly noticed the true disappointment in Asaiah's face at having a subpar Christmas. If he had, he surely would have reacted differently. Maybe if Asaiah knew how the consolation prize for only seeing his parents between cases and surgeries at strange hours of the day was money, he might understand how willing he was to throw it around like it was nothing. "I don't really get allowance," Wyatt admitted with a shrug. He did get money when he asked for it if he was going to spend it on something in particular but his parents didn't give him an allowance in the typical sense. "I just want my baby to have nice things," he said with a wink. He had seen this said on television, often used as a form of misogyny but he only would say it as a joke to Asaiah. Not for the meaning that would make his mother endlessly upset with him.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah grinned when Wyatt called him ''my baby'' simply because he thought that it was funny especially since he was older than his Gryffindor friend. He patted his friend on the back and grabbed another handful of chips. ''Sure, dude.'' After finishing the last chip Asaiah looked up at his friend again. There had been a moment of silence while he was eating because he had been thinking about Wyatt's gift and how much it actually meant to him, so after a few moments of thinking about what to say, ''Dude, I know that you just wanted to give me a great gift - which I am very thankful for - but don't, OK?'' He told his best friend whilst moving his finger quickly above a lit candle on the table. ''I know you mean well, but I.. I kinda feel guilty for not buying you a gift that was of equal value.'' Asaiah never really talked much about how poor his family actually was but because he really did feel guilty, he wanted Wyatt to know that he could never top his gifts. At least not until he was making some money of his own.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt felt badly all of a sudden when he had been so certain that this would be a great thing to do for his best pal. Why wouldn't he want to do something nice? He was in a unique situation where money wasn't something he really had to think about. He was hardly the CEO of his favourite tech company but his family had more than their fair share so the boy just happily did whatever he wanted when he requested money for something from his parents. "Yeah okay," Wyatt said, uncomfortably. He didn't like to talk about it much as it brought up a butt load of other problems with it, mostly as he knew he was 'privileged' but hardly knew what to do about it. He was only thirteen, after all. "So um... I'm hoping next year to go back home for Christmas. Maybe even visit somewhere I can have a white Christmas. I never really had those before... It never snows in L.A. but still, it'd be cool," he said, changing the subject. "Are there like wizard winter sports or is it just Quidditch?" Although he had known about the wizarding world for a couple years now he still felt a bit lost with the entire thing, which just made him miss Marisol more because she was equally as confused as he was for the most part.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah threw some of the potato chips in his hand sideways at Wyatt when he noticed the sudden change of expression on his best friend's face and said, "I didn't say that you needed to feel bad, dude, so stop or I'm going to punch you." he told the Gryffindor with a grin on his face, hoping that he could brighten the mood again because he didn't want the two of them to feel bad tonight. He had asked his friend to hang out with him because he wanted to have a good time with him not to be sad and emotional. "Yeah, it'd be cool to have a white Christmas, wouldn't it" he said, imagining snow falling in Auckland for once since he too had never seen a white Christmas before. Asaiah shook his head at Wyatt's question about winter sport. Come to think about it, the Slytherin wasn't even sure if wizards had those kind of sports. The only sport he knew wizards played was Quidditch. "I don't know, dude." he said.