Chapter Text
After Albus left for detention, Scorpius lay back down and watched the stars. He focused on his breathing, trying to calm himself after coming undone under Albus' gaze. Although he was still incredibly anxious, he couldn't help but smile to himself as well. Albus liked him. Albus really liked him.
When Albus returned to the dorm later that night, Scorpius pretended to be asleep in his bed. He wasn't ready to face Albus, especially not in a dark room late at night. The environment carried a pressure to it that Scorpius' nerves just couldn't cope with. He sensed Albus hovering near his bed, probably checking to see if he was awake. Scorpius heard a faint curse word and it took all the strength he had not to let out a chuckle. Finally, he heard Albus getting into his own bed, and he relaxed.
The next morning Albus and Scorpius walked down to breakfast together. Instead of their usual laughter and chatter, their conversation was forced and polite. Their hands brushed each other's more than usual but both boys pretended not to notice.
Once they sat down at the Slytherin table, they were both relieved to be joined by Rose. "Morning, Slytherins," she called cheerily as she sat down. "How was your first night out of hospital, Scorpius?"
Scorpius blushed, looking at Albus quickly before turning to Rose. "Fine."
Rose narrowed her eyes, sensing she was missing something. "Okay…" she said turning to Albus. "What about you Albus? Happy to have Scorpius back?"
Now it was Albus' turn to blush. "Of course," he said quietly.
Scorpius could see Rose was trying to meddle for him, not realizing he had already told Albus how he felt. It was only making him feel more awkward. He quickly excused himself, pretending he needed to go to the bathroom.
Rose watched Scorpius hurry away before turning back to Albus. "What in Merlin's name was that?" she asked suspiciously.
"Oh," said Albus, still blushing, "we're kind of together."
"Kind of?"
Albus fidgeted nervously. "I think we got together last night."
Rose nodded knowingly. "So how was it?"
"What?" Albus said confused.
"The kissing!"
Albus eyes widened and his blush darkened. "We haven't…we didn't…" he stammered awkwardly.
"You didn't kiss him?" Rose asked astonished.
"No, I was embarrassed. It was awkward."
Rose narrowed her eyes. "You do want to kiss him, don't you?"
"What? Of course I bloody well do," Albus said defensively.
"Sorry, Albus, I'm just checking. If you're experimenting or something, be careful. Scorpius really likes you."
"I'm not experimenting Rose. He's the only one I've ever thought about -"
"Then go and kiss him," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why do I have to do it? Why can't he kiss me?"
"Scorpius is way too shy. He'd never-"
"He kissed you! And what if I'm shy too?"
Rose sighed. "So you want your first kiss to be while he's drunk on firewhiskey? You both obviously want it. It's awkward between you two because you're both nervous about it. All you need to do is go find him and snog him senseless. Problem solved."
Albus swore. Rose stared at him, eyebrows raised.
"Alright, alright, I'll go...find him. But I can't just walk right up and kiss him. It has to be the right moment."
Rose snorted. "You'll be waiting a long time, Albus."
Albus sighed.
"Hey, Albus?"
Albus and Rose looked up to see James approaching the table. Rose rolled her eyes and Albus turned back to his food, ignoring his brother.
James didn't take the hint and sat himself down next to Rose, across from Albus. "I know you're still mad, Albus, and you have every right to be. I just need you to know I'm sorry, okay?"
Albus looked up at James. "You really hurt Scorpius."
James sighed. "I know."
"I'm keeping the map."
"Oh," said James surprised, "okay, sure."
Albus almost rolled his eyes. His brother was never this accommodating. Usually he was just a jerk.
"If you say one wrong word to Scorpius-"
"I won't."
"If you even look at him wrong-"
"I won't."
"Okay," said Albus nodding.
"So….you forgive me?" James asked cautiously.
"No," said Albus, "but I will."
James smiled in relief. It was progress.
"I want the invisibility cloak," continued Albus.
James laughed. "Nice try," he said, winking at Albus before heading back to the Gryffindor table.
"Jerk!" Albus called out after him.
Rose glared at Albus.
"What?" he asked.
"You let him off too easy."
Albus grimaced. "Scorpius forgave him."
"Scorpius is too pure for this world," said Rose jokingly.
"Yeah, he is," said Albus distractedly noticing Scorpius had just re-entered the Great Hall, "Excuse me."
Albus made his way over to Scorpius determinedly, desperately trying to maintain some form of confidence to follow through with his plan. When they reached each other, Albus grabbed hold of Scorpius hand and pulled him back towards the entrance. "Come for a walk with me," he said with false casualness.
Scorpius was surprised but delighted. "Okay," he said nervously, hoping Albus wouldn't notice how his voice was shaking. He let Albus escort him through the halls and outside to the Hogwarts grounds. They made their way to the Great Lake in silence, hands held tightly.
Near the edge of the lake, Albus stopped abruptly and reached out to hold Scorpius other hand, so that they were facing each other, both hands intertwined.
"There's something I've wanted to do," said Albus carefully, looking into Scorpius's eyes.
"Me too," replied Scorpius softly.
Albus looked at Scorpius lips and knew he wanted nothing more than to snog Scorpius senseless, like Rose had suggested, but he hesitated. Why was this so hard? He closed his eyes and swore quietly.
Suddenly he felt a light pressure on his lips and his eyes flew open in surprise. Scorpius was kissing him and his lips were on fire. He kissed Scorpius back awkwardly, having absolutely no clue what he was doing, only knowing that it felt amazing.
After a moment, Albus took a step back to catch his breath, however still held Scorpius' hands firmly in his. "Do you realise that all this time we could have been doing this instead of hugging?" he said breathlessly.
Scorpius chuckled, and pulled Albus into a tight embrace. "I like hugging," he said grinning.
Feeling Scorpius' warm body up against him, Albus couldn't help but agree. "Maybe we can do both?" he suggested cheekily over Scorpius' shoulder.
Scorpius laughed again and pulled his head back slightly so they were facing each other. Albus tilted his head and let Scorpius lean in and kiss him again.
"You're good at that. Sure you haven't been practicing?" teased Albus.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Well, there was that half a millisecond kiss with Rose. It really improved my technique."
Albus giggled. "Your technique? Do you mind showing me? I'm not quite sure what you mean…"
Chuckling, Scorpius kissed Albus again, this time more passionately than before, bringing a hand up to run it though Albus' hair. When they finally came up for air, both boys were breathing heavily.
"At least take me on a date first," joked Albus.
Scorpius grinned. "Albus Potter, will you go on a date with me?"
Albus pretended to think about it seriously and Scorpius laughed.
"That's alright, I might go ask Rose instead then…" said Scorpius jokingly turning away.
"Oh no you don't," said Albus pulling him back, "you're taking me on a date."
"Now?" Scorpius asked.
"Yes."
"But we've got class!"
Albus pouted.
"Albus!" Scorpius exclaimed laughing, "I am not cutting class to take you on a date."
Albus made a point of sighing very loudly and dramatically.
"Albus!"
"Alright, alright," conceded Albus, "we'll head back but don't forgot you owe me a date."
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Albus, you'll get plenty of dates. I've got a never-ending jar of silver sickles in our dorm and I plan to use every single coin on you."
Albus grinned widely and purposefully dropped a few random curse words.
Scorpius shook his head laughing. "You do realise they're your own sic…oh whatever, keep swearing."
Albus shrugged but stopped swearing. "So when's our first date, Scorpius?"
Scorpius chuckled. "Lunch?"
"And we can do more of this?" asked Albus excitedly.
"If you mean hugging and kissing, most definitely," agreed Scorpius.
Albus smiled so wide his cheeks started to hurt. "I think I'm going to like being both your best friend and your boyfriend."
Scorpius grinned. "Me too, Albus."
The End