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It starts when Delphi attacks Scorpius. That niggling little thought at the back of his mind. There is something more here. The idea that he’d put everything he knows, his family, his very existence, in jeopardy so long as Scorpius is alive and well is overwhelming.
He pushes it to the back of his mind, files it away it deal with later, which is surprisingly easy, when you consider their situation.
Albus picks it back up in Godric’s Hollow, when Scorpius is rambling plans Albus had stopped listening to after the fifth utterly absurd idea. He figures if there’s ever a time to dive into the very delicate waters of maybe I have feelings for my best friend, gay feelings it’s probably when you’re lost in time and most likely about to be wiped from existence.
And, about that, he isn’t really thinking about how sad he is to never have existed, maybe, potentially, in a few hours. He’s thinking about how much he really doesn’t want to leave Scorpius alone. He knows, of course, that in that other reality, Scorpius is far from alone. The Scorpion King is, from what he’s been told, the most popular student at Hogwarts.
Scorpius isn’t really the 'Scorpion King' , though. Far from it.
He’s not like that other Scorpius, who’s cold and cruel. His Scorpius is different; his Scorpius could never thrive in that world. The Scorpius he knows is kind and awkward and wonderfully nerdy. Albus loves the way he pours himself into his books, and the way he looks when he’s really focused on the potion he’s brewing, and the way he sometimes fidgets his sleeves over his hands when he’s deep in thought or nervous, and-
“Cold?”
Albus had forgotten their situation for a moment. He hadn’t noticed the snow start to fall again, hadn’t noticed himself shiver and he definitely hadn’t noticed Scorpius stop talking and look at him.
“Uh,” He mumbles, pulling his jacket tighter around his chest, “I’m alright.” He lies, shivering again anyway for good measure.
Scorpius laughs, despite their situation, and starts to shrug his jacket off. Albus is about to protest, but the fucker is wearing so many layers he probably can barely feel a change. He pushes it onto Albus’ shoulders, a smile adorning his face, and proceeds to sit beside him on the garden wall, only a centimetre of space between them.
He doesn’t try to pick up wherever he left off with his ideas. They just sit there in silence and cold, both highly aware that their time is running out.
Suddenly, he doesn’t feel like that’s enough, sitting side-by-side and waiting for the end. He feels a gnaw at his stomach growing, telling him to make a move, do something, and it takes him a while to process what that actually means. He wants to touch Scorpius, hold his hand, kiss his cheek, or- fuck, he’d settle for anything at this point. In reality he settles on brushing his fingers over Scorpius’ knuckles and apologising as if it were an accident.
Shit, yeah, he’s most definitely in love with his best friend.
He changes the subject back to ‘ways we can possibly get out of this mess’ to distract himself. Five minutes later, Albus comes up with the idea to send a message via his father’s blanket.
The presence of his family only heightens the intensity of the thoughts, even though there are now definitely much more important matters at hand than Albus’ stupid crush. What are they going to think? Will they approve? His dad had tried to keep them apart before, and Albus isn’t sure he won’t do it again if he finds out. It’s one thing to be friends with a Malfoy, but this is a whole other ball game. He goes dizzy with the consequences.
Also, fuck Scorpius. Because he comes to sit beside Albus on a pew, request his jacket back loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to them, and then slip his hand into his for a quick squeeze. It’s comforting and reassuring but, fuck, completely unnecessary. Albus wants to be annoyed, but he can’t help the smile that forms on his lips at the gesture.
Fucking hell, he’s soppy. Even in the face of certain death, he’s a fucking soppy bastard.
They don’t die, as it happens, but that really just means there’s no more urgency for Albus to profess his undying love or whatever. He has time to figure out the best way to go about it, or if he even wants to go about it in the first place.
He focuses on rebuilding his relationship with his dad. That’s more important. He can just… Not think about it until he’s ready. Scorpius will still be there in a few months. He sends his dad an owl almost everyday, apologies a lot, and plans to go on a walk with him in a few days.
Obviously, Scorpius chooses the day he’s supposed to be mending his relationship with his father to pass him in the Great Hall and tells him he needs his help, sliding to sit beside him. “This better be good, I haven’t finished breakfast yet.” He mutters, and Scorpius smiles to let him know he heard it, but not confirming whether or not it’s vitally important. He does nothing to alleviate the tight anxiety winding itself around Albus’ ribs.
Scorpius nudges him, getting up and motioning for Albus to follow. “Are you going to tell me what we’re doing or am I supposed to be following out of blind trust?”
Scorpius slows his pace considerably, “The, uh, blind trust one.” Albus notices he isn’t looking at him, but towards the other side of the Hall, he tries to follow his line of sight but fails miserably.
“If Uncle Ron gets wind that I just left breakfast to follow you without question, he’ll have my head.” Albus jokes, trying again to get information out of the blond.
Scorpius laughs a little, giving Albus a look. “And such a pretty one it is,” He mocks, ruffling his hair obnoxiously, “we wouldn’t want that. He might find out anyway; it depends on how it goes-”
“Alright, now you’re not making any sense.”
Scorpius tugs his sleeves over his hands, slowing to a complete stop just at the end of the Slytherin table. “I’m gonna ask out Rose.”
Albus' stomach feels like it goes into freefall. “Sorry?” He asks, hoping he misheard.
“Rose? Granger-Weasley? Your cousin? I’m going to ask her out.”
“You’re- oh.” Yep, that sounded way too dejected and disappointed. Way to make it completely obvious, Al.
“Is there a problem?”
“Uh, she, um.” Albus swallows the stuttering mess that was about to spill from his throat. “Doesn’t she hate you?”
“No , we have nicknames and inside jokes, we’re-”
“She calls you Bread Head.”
“Which is an affectionate nickname from that time I complimented her on how she-”
“Smells like bread? Fresh bread, if I’m remembering correctly.”
Scorpius lets a pause pass before he gives his retort. “Hate is a strong word, Albus.”
“Scorpius .”
“She might not be my biggest fan, yes.” He admits begrudgingly, frowning at the floor.
“That’s an understatement.” Albus says with a little too much sincerity that he regrets immediately.
Scorpius pretends not to hear, even Albus knows he does, and starts to move again towards what Albus now realises is Rose. “I’ll just have to use my Malfoy charm.” His tone portraying a lot more confidence than his extremely tight posture.
Albus wiggles his eyebrows, “What Malfoy charm?”
“Piss off. It certainly worked on you.” Scorpius laughs.
“Pfft.” Albus rolls his eyes, not even being able to deny it. Again, fuck Scorpius.
The actual asking out of Rose Granger-Weasley goes about as well as Albus expected. Scorpius stutters through a request for privacy that inevitably gets rejected, and then asks her if she’d like to go out sometime with more or less the same coherency. Her friends laugh a little, one of them looks a little sympathetic (to which party, Albus isn’t quite sure), and Rose says, and he quotes, “Absolutely not, Bread Head.”
Scorpius has a point, though, there definitely was pity in her eyes.
Then Scorpius asks him to come to the Quidditch game and he’s a bit thrown at that. They hate Quidditch? And Albus (really) likes the time he gets to spend with him while everyone else is out at the match. It stings that the feeling clearly isn’t mutual. He gets a feeling that Scorpius has only decided he likes Quidditch because of Rose. And, yes, thanks, he’s going to ignore that solid feeling in his gut that is definitely not jealousy.
The rest of the year goes on in a similar fashion. Scorpius talks about Rose or things Rose likes just enough to let Albus know his crush is going to go absolutely nowhere. He tries to forget about it, truly he does, but it keeps popping back up in his mind at the most inappropriate times. For example, whenever Scorpius so much as touches him, and he lies awake in his bed all night wondering what the fuck it meant.
Because they don’t touch, as a general rule, but Scorpius seems to have ran with the idea that this new version of them do. The new version being, from what Albus can ascertain: them, but with more emotions out in the open. Which he isn’t sure he’s entirely fond of. Something about having Scorpius know Albus would rather have the whole world at risk than him die is incredibly awkward. They don’t talk about it, but they both know .
And it’s still apparently not enough to tip the git off that he sort-of, maybe wants to kiss him every time he’s close enough for Albus to easily close the gap.
Once again, fuck Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.
He goes home that summer with a promise to keep in touch, definitely Scorpius. As if he would do any different. But as soon as he leaves Platform 9¾, he’s hit by a feeling of absence that is undoubtedly more intense that it was before he realised he was in love with his best friend. It’s reminiscent of homesickness, or- no, he didn’t actually just think that. That’s far too mawkish, even for him.
And, no, it wasn’t really in the plan (if he even had one) to tell his family. He wouldn’t really be ready to tell Scorpius about his crush, even if he wasn’t annoyingly heterosexual, never mind come out to his parents, gross. But Lily is very observant.
She comes bounding onto the couch beside him one evening while he’s just trying to study in peace. “What are you doing, Ally?” And, yep, that nickname is way more irritating than ‘Al’ will ever be and Albus thinks he might have to kill James for coming up with it.
“Studying.” He says, gesturing to the book he’s reading from and hoping she gets whatever she started the conversation for over with quickly.
“Oh.” She says, leaving a long pause in which Albus doesn’t really want to go back to studying, because he knows she's going to continue, but there’s not much else he can do. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, Lily, I’m fine.”
She continues on anyway, ignoring him. “Because you haven’t really seemed like yourself ever since we got home. You’re quieter, not that you’re the loudest member of the family, exactly-”
“Lily. Shut up.”
“Okay.” She’s quiet for close to one whole second before she opens her mouth again. “That was touchy.”
“Well, I’m trying to study and-”
“Did you and Scorpius have a row or something?”
“No.”
“But it is about Scorpius?”
“No, it’s not.”
“So you admit something’s wrong.” Geez, Gryffindor stubbornness is fucking annoying.
“I,” He starts, beginning to think it could be good to open up to somebody but stopping that train of thought immediately when he remembers he’s talking to his sister, ew, “No.”
Lily huffs, shoving Albus’ books and parchment off his lap, earning a “I was reading that!” from him, and pokes his shoulder until he’s facing her. “Albus Severus, look me in the eyes and tell me you’re okay.” He hates when she does this. When she goes all wise beyond her years and conveniently forgets he’s two years older. He definitely can’t lie to her when she’s like this, damn it.
“I have a crush on Scorpius.” He realises this is the first time he’s said it out loud; it feels nice to get off his chest.
And then, obviously, he’s hit by the weight of it being out there in the world, and how he’s going to have to face up to it properly. God, Lily knows now. He feels like he’s shrinking, is he shrinking?
“Oh. That’s not what I was expecting.”
“What the fuck.” James says, turning into the doorway at the worst possible time, lovely.
“Language!” Their mother yells from behind James, coming into the room and drinking from her mug. Albus really hopes she didn’t hear any of that. Actually, he’d really like to sink into the floor forever and stop existing, thanks.
James comes into Albus’ view, standing to the side and gaping. “You’re gay for Scorpius Malfoy?”
Albus glares at James, “No-”
“Actually, Albus, I think that’s exactly what you just said.” His mum interrupts his denial, not even looking at any of her children and sipping her drink.
Albus opens his mouth to say something, before realising he doesn’t actually have anything to say back. Regret burns red in his chest and on his cheeks. Lily is still sitting beside him, but in a way that’s closer to how she might look if someone just told her there was a bomb rigged to blow somewhere in the room. James is just smirking. Bastard.
“I, uh,” Albus clears his throat, “I think I might turn in.”
“Goodnight, love.” His mother says, having pulled out a book and started reading. Albus probably couldn’t have gotten out of that room faster if his life depended on it.
He actually does get into his bed and sleep, even though it’s seven, just to avoid the very real threat of his dad coming in and having another heart-to-heart. He can think of a good long list of things he’d much rather do than talk to his dad about how he’s got a crush on another boy, such as receiving a kiss from a Dementor.
Albus is slightly more prepared for the not-quite-disapproving-not-quite-approving stare his dad looks at him with the next morning. He and Scorpius’ dad might be on slightly better terms these days, but they still probably aren’t fond of the idea of their sons dating.
It’s tough shit, though, because whatever’s going on in Albus’ head is not their business.
And, of course, of course, the news makes it to the Granger-Weasleys! Why doesn’t James just tell Scorpius himself and have done with it! Rose takes him aside the next time they visit with a, “Go out with Scorpius.”
Albus almost slams his head into the wall, “Not you too. Rose, you, of all people, should know he’s straight.”
“That’s why I need you to go out with him.” Rose nods.
Albus groans. “He doesn’t want to go out with me.” And if looks could kill, the one Rose shoots him after he says that would have him six feet under. “He’s straight, Rose!”
“Who’s strai- oh.” Uncle Ron asks, popping his head around the door.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, honestly I can’t, but I cannot wait until I go back to school.” Albus says to no-one in particular and storms off.
He’s mad, of course he is, he has a right to be. His family, with no permission or even confirmation from him, have taken it upon themselves to out him to all his relatives. And, holy shit, there are a lot of them.
Maybe he’ll actually come out properly to his family at some point when he’s actually got things figured out and doesn’t just have one crush on just the one boy. Girls still exist and they’re still pretty cool. Things are confusing enough without the added pressure from everyone, thanks!
Nobody seems to actually get that though, if James talking about how he, Lily and Rose had come up with a plan to get him together with Scorpius by the end of the year is anything to go on. None of them seem to get that Scorpius is straight, either.
“Here.” James says on the afternoon of the final day of Summer break, coming back into the house from last-minute shopping. He wipes his feet on the mat and tosses Albus an all too familiar bottle.
Immediately, Albus recognises its heart-shape and bright red colour as a love potion. “Why would I want this?”
James freezes, looking at Albus like the reason is the most obvious thing in the world. “For Scorpy.”
“James, I don’t-” He stops himself, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I don’t need a love potion for Scorpius.” Their dad picks that moment to pass the two on his way up the stairs, but James doesn’t seem to care.
“How else are you gonna get him to shag you?” Albus is, needless to say, fucking mortified.
Their dad stops on the middle of the staircase, “James.” He scolds, a weary sigh in his voice, before continuing up the stairs, leaving Albus helpless.
Really, Albus shouldn’t dignify it with a response, just toss the love potion in the bin and forget this happened. However, “Fuck off, James.”
“Albus.” His dad says in the same voice.
James laughs, “Hit a nerve there, did I, Al?” He walks away, still laughing and Albus launches the potion at his head, not caring if it smashes into his hair or not. Fucker.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t smash and just leaves James with a bit of a sore skull. Albus thinks that might be fairer, though, the next day when he takes every possible opportunity to smack him in the offending area on the journey to Platform 9¾.
He sees Scorpius as soon as he crosses the barrier. Albus manages to keep his face neutral until Scorpius notices him too with that huge stupid grin on his face, at which point he literally cannot help the corners of his mouth turning up into a smile.
“Aww.” James cooes from behind him.
“Shut up,” Albus frowns, glaring at him, “and don’t tell him.”
“Ally, I would never.”
“Stop calling me that.” Albus grumbles as he makes his way over to where Scorpius is standing with his dad. “How was your summer?”
“Hm, can’t complain. Yours?”
Albus catches the eye of Rose watching them cautiously from the door of the Hogwarts Express, “Suffocating.” He replies.
He regrets saying it immediately, because it only causes Scorpius to ask a million and one questions about his wellbeing, questions he’d really rather not answer, Scorpy ole chap. ‘Are you okay,’ for example, and ‘what’s been going on,’ ‘how’s your relationship with your dad.’
Albus feels very guilty when Scorpius pulls him in for a hug before they part so they can say goodbye to their parents, because he’s never really shown him that kind of level of concern or kindness without prompting. Albus has already had the realisation he’s a bit of a dickhead, obviously, but it still aches a little.
And then, of course, James and Lily are staring back at him with the most smug grins on their faces he thinks he’s ever seen.
September’s a hard month. Because it feels like Scorpius has been the only thing Albus’ family has allowed him to think about all summer; everything else in his life is running a bit like clockwork and there’s a lot more empty space in his head than there has been the past few years. Now he’s here and Albus might’ve thought it would sort his brain out, make him see that it’s not going to happen so he might as well get over it, but, alas, reality is not as nice.
Actually, the proximity just makes Albus have to resist the urge to spill his guts a lot more. Like a lot.
Like the time he’s eating dinner across from Scorpius and gets a bit (very) lost in his features while he’s talking. Scorpius nudges his hand to get his attention and it takes everything Albus has not to just blurt out, “I’m so in love with you.”
Or when they’re in the common room in the early hours of the morning, with only the sounds of water and page-turning to fill the silence, and Albus plays with the idea of how easy it would be to lean over and plant a kiss on his lips.
Or when they’re making their way from one lesson to another, arms bumping together from lack of space from the overcrowded corridors. Albus has to close his hands into fists just so there’s no temptation to reach out and grab Scorpius’.
It’s quite a struggle to act normal and not fuck things up, but what else is new?
And Rose, fucking hell, it feels like he never shuts up about her. Logically, Albus knows it only seems that way because he’d much rather Scorpius replace her name with his every time he mentions it, but he’s petty. And bitter. And he wants him to shut up about her. Shut the fuck up, Scorpius.
“What?” And, no, nope, no way, he had not just said that out loud. Only, yeah, he definitely had and thankfully Scorpius is only looking at him in mild confusion so Albus is really hoping he only said it quietly.
“Nothing. You were saying?”
Scorpius gives him a funny look, but continues on anyway. “Just mentioning how I saw Rose after the match today and she actually smiled at me. I would call that progress.”
It registers that Rose is probably only leading Scorpius on to annoy Albus and he grinds his teeth in irritation. It’s not going to work, he’s not going to rise to the bait. “When’s the wedding?”
“Don’t worry, mate, you’ll still probably hit that particular life goal before we do.”
“Not likely.” Albus mumbles through gritted teeth.
Scorpius’ expression goes back to the same confusion it had when Albus had mumbled the first time. “Pardon?”
And yes, this is Albus rising to the bait, “Why are you so obsessed with her?” He asks, a little too spitefully, a little too forcefully.
“Rose? I like her.”
“Okay, and she, quite obviously, doesn’t like you back. Why not move on?” Yeah, he realises how very hypocritical that is, but at least he’s not wittering on and on and on about Scorpius. Albus would be completely and utterly fine with Scorpius’ crush on Rose if he never brought her up… In theory.
Scorpius looks down at his feet, and Albus gets a nauseating feeling in his stomach. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I don’t exactly have my pick of the bunch here, Albus.” He says, forcing a slight laugh into his voice.
“Even more reason to go for someone who actually likes you!”
Scorpius scoffs, “You seem to be the only person in this school who actually likes me. Unless you’d like to enlighten me?”
What’s he supposed to say to that? There’s nothing, quite literally nothing, he can say to that without fucking up their friendship. And he can hardly just relax back into his chair like it didn’t just happen, so out of the room he storms. He’ll clean up that mess in a few hours with an insincere apology because fuck you, he meant every word, and they’ll go back to normal.
For now, he goes to the boathouse.
He likes the boathouse; it’s a very calming place to be. He’s probably just developed Stockholm Syndrome for water sounds, living in the Slytherin dorms for so long, but they make him feel safe. It’s early October, so it’s not too cold outside, but Albus, in his childish rage, has forgotten to bring his jumper or scarf or anything, so yeah, he’s fucking freezing.
And it reminds him of that night when everything changed. He wishes Scorpius were here to wrap his jacket around him and squeeze his hand this time. He doesn’t think he’d try to be annoyed by those gestures anymore.
Yep, still a soppy bastard.
It’s easier for him to think in the serenity the lake brings. No-one really uses the boathouse much after the first years have arrived each September, Albus thinks he’s probably the only one who has figured out just how easy it is to sit there with your feet hanging safely above the water and just waste hours thinking about how much of a fucking mess your life is. The beautiful landscape that surrounds Hogwarts really reminds Albus of how insignificant his problems are in the grand scheme of things. Which is usually a good thing for him.
He plans on staying there for a good few hours, shivering and considering whether he should push himself in the lake just to save himself some trouble. It’s becoming a more and more appealing idea until he hears footsteps behind him; he’s not really fond of the idea of forcing someone to fish him out of the lake, to be honest.
“Hi.” He knows that voice, and he probably should’ve been expecting it. Scorpius knows him inside and out, of course he’d know where to find him. Albus’ heart sinks a little bit.
“I’m sorry.” Albus says, as if it were a greeting. May as well get it over with.
Scorpius comes closer, sitting next to him with his legs dangling above the water level. “It’s alright.”
“It’s not. I’m just j- I’m just. A bit of a dick.”
Scorpius laughs a little, “I’d say you’re a lot of a dick. But you’re right.”
“Sorry?”
“Maybe it’s time for me to move on from Rose.”
Oh. Albus suddenly doesn’t know what to do with his hands, fidgeting awkwardly for a few moments before he can make his voice work. “What brought that on? I mean, I’ve criticised your pining before. Never expected you to take it to heart.”
“Don’t really have the patience for it anymore. And OWLs are coming up, I’ll be spending most of my time in the library anyway and then there’s, you know, she never really-”
He’s pulling his sleeves over his hands and ranting. Yeah, he’s hiding something. “Scorpius. You know you can tell me anything, right?” He asks, keeping his hopes very low. They’re very low and Albus isn’t expecting anything from Scorpius. Only, yeah, he really fucking is.
He can feel his heart fluttering when Scorpius sighs, only to have it come crashing down when he says, “I spoke to Rose. Well, I say Rose, I mean Rose and James and Lily. And Hugo.”
Fuck. That’s not good. Actually, that may have been the absolute worst possible outcome.
“What about?” He asks quietly, hoping the deny everything strategy works.
“Uh, you. Mostly.”
“No shit.” Albus forces a short, clipped laugh.
Scorpius swallows hard. “I meant to just talk to Rose, I think she likes me best out of all your relatives, which is saying something, really. I was gonna, uh, ask about you, because you’ve not really been that… You’ve not really been yourself lately, and then we just argued and I was a bit concerned. Rose was kind, she said she should let you tell me yourself, but then James yelled ‘Sack that, our Ally’s gay for you, Scorpy.’ Which was jarring.” Albus doesn’t say anything to that, he physically cannot think about anything besides the fact that he really wants to kill James and then live in a cave by himself for the rest of his life. “Didn’t know they called you Ally.”
Albus’ voice comes out a lot quieter than he expected, “That’s all you have to say?”
Scorpius opens his mouth to say something, closing it immediately and letting the thought develop before he says it. “I think… I think I never really liked Rose. Well, obviously, I like Rose, but I don’t like her. Do you know what I mean?”
“Not really.”
Scorpius sighs and tries again. “I think I just convinced myself I had to date her because that was always the idea that I had of my life in my head. Does that one make sense?”
“Honestly, it makes even less sense than the first one, Scorpius.”
Scorpius lets a pause pass, tapping at the water with the toe of his shoe and staring at the ripples it creates like they hold the answers, the words he needs to say. “Growing up, I just had my books to… Show me how it all was supposed to go. Go to Hogwarts, meet my friends on the train, have an adventure, chase a girl, do something important with my life.”
Albus wrings his hands together. “No offence, Scorpius, but if you don’t get to the point soon I think I’m going to die of anticipation.”
“Point is, Ally- ”
“Don’t.”
“Albus,” He corrects himself, “nobody ever really told me I didn’t have to do all that. Apparently you can just say ‘no, thanks! I don’t want to do that!’ So I don’t think I want to chase girls anymore, Albus. I… I don’t think I like girls.”
They sit in silence for a few minutes, soaking up what Scorpius has just said. Albus wants him to say something else, but Scorpius has apparently decided it’s Albus’ turn to talk. “Wish you’d realised that a few months ago. Might’ve saved me some trouble.” He hears Scorpius laugh, but hasn’t dared look at him since he told him he’d spoken to Rose. He feels Scorpius’ hand reach for his and, fuck, it really hurts to, but he pulls away. “You don’t have to pretend to like me. I’ve been dealing with this unrequited thing for-”
“Merlin, you’re worse than me.” Scorpius says, all on an exhale as he pulls Albus’ shoulders until he’s facing him. And then he kisses him.
In all the ways Albus pictured their first kiss, it was never, ever initiated by Scorpius.
Not that those imagined scenarios could ever live up to this. This is so much better than he ever could’ve expected. There’s obviously the layer of finally, fucking finally, and relief that he never has to pine hopelessly over Scorpius again.
Then there’s the oh, Scorpius’ lips are much softer than anticipated and Albus can definitely feel the warmth radiating from his cheeks. Holy shit. Their noses bump together and, in the novelty of it all, Albus lets out a tiny laugh. He can’t resist the urge to pull his hand up to rest on the back of Scorpius’ neck, feeling the hair there and latching on for dear life.
Scorpius takes his other hand in his own and Albus melts just a tad. Or a lot. Albus melts an embarrassing amount, actually, almost slumping against Scorpius’ chest. He pulls away, shocked by himself, only keeping hold of Scorpius’ hand.
Albus really didn’t see himself being the one making it awkward either. That was always Scorpius’ burden to bear too. Not that imaginary him didn’t find it ridiculously endearing.
Scorpius kind of just looks really alarmed that Albus broke them apart and he can’t have that. So, in he goes back with a quick peck to Scorpius’ lips to just ensure there's no room for uncertainty.
“You are completely oblivious.”
“I am not. Am I?”
Albus turns to rest his head on Scorpius’ shoulder, laughing, “We’re hopeless.”