Chapter 53 / Something Right

                                    

                                          
Scorpius fiddled with his new necklace as he sat in front of Albus' bedroom window, smiling. The view he stared at was the same it had been since he had arrived. There was the backyard, the fence around it, and the neighbour's house beyond that. Nothing spectacular; nothing to marvel over. Yet the smile on Scorpius' face as he looked out at it hadn't left him since he had awoken that morning. Neither had it abandoned him all throughout yesterday.
In fact, Scorpius could hardly remember a time he had been so happy.
I love you, Scorp.
He closed his eyes so that the view from the window transformed into the memory of Albus' face when he whispered those words. He couldn't remember whether his heart had skipped a beat or if it had sped up erratically at that moment. He couldn't remember anything other than the sincerity and affection on Albus' face. It was all the proof he needed to know that for the first time, he and Albus were on the same page. Albus loved him. Finally.
The door to the bedroom opened.
"Hey," Albus greeted, shutting the door behind him.
Scorpius turned around, unable to get rid of his grin. Either way, he wasn't embarrassed about it. Let Albus see his joy. "How was your shower?"
"Bloody freezing, actually," Albus answered as he returned the grin. He rapidly dried his hair with the towel he was holding, leaving it messier and more chaotic than usual. "What were you doing?"
"Sitting ... thinking." Scorpius shrugged.
Albus took a step closer and his smile grew. "What about?" he asked mischievously, already knowing the answer.
Scorpius let the playful moment linger before simply answering, "You."
"What about me?" Albus approached him until he stood within an arm's reach of Scorpius.
Rolling his eyes in mock exasperation, Scorpius replied, "What you said yesterday." He smiled fondly. "What you did yesterday," he clarified.
Albus reached out a hand and pulled Scorpius so that he stood up. They were face-to-face. "What did I do yesterday?"
His playful question served only one purpose, so Scorpius decided to act upon it. "This," he said, before rising up and planting his mouth against Albus'.
It was only their second separate kiss—third, if you counted the disastrous one in the dormitory a month ago—but it felt like something Scorpius had always known; something he was comfortable with. Security and warmth flowed from their kiss and covered him. He lifted his arms and placed them on Albus' shoulders.
The pressure of Albus' lips on his own was an addicting touch and Scorpius sought it like a moth to a flame. He knew that when the time came for them to break the kiss, he would feel bereft; robbed; like something he desired more than anything would suddenly and unbearably be stolen from him. How How had he survived before without Albus' kiss? Now that he knew Albus loved him, it was almost as if another life had begun. One with Albus. He didn't need to be alone anymore.
Albus' arms crept onto his hips and cradled him, keeping him steady, as his mouth became more persistent, searching for more. Scorpius was willing to give it. When he felt the wetness of Albus' tongue lap at his lips, his heart began to race and the temperature in the room rose rapidly. But he didn't need to think twice about what to do. Smiling inside, Scorpius opened his mouth, and savoured the moment when his tongue first touched Albus'. Tingles of bliss tickled his body, signalling a wave of pleasure to decorate his skin with tiny goose bumps.
Albus was true to his personality even in their kiss; curious, insatiable, bold. He made sure to explore all of Scorpius' mouth, to taste and touch everything, and Scorpius allowed him. There was nothing he could withhold from Albus.
One of Albus' hands abandoned his hip and resettled at the back of Scorpius' head, threading and caressing his fingers through his hair. Scorpius swore he was about to melt; he physically fought to keep himself standing upright as his knees were wonderfully weakened.
Albus spent one last moment playing and toying with Scorpius' bottom lip before he pulled away, but although their kiss ended, the connection didn't. Their noses remained in touching distance while they fought to regain breath, smiling in the sliver of space between them. Smiling, because things were finally right; as they should be.
But there was one question Scorpius wanted the answer to. "What changed your mind?"
"About what?"
"Me. Us. About the kind of relationship you want."
A beat of silence. "Teddy," he said eventually, "and Adam. When I saw them together—the way they were together—I decided that that's what I wanted to have with you." Albus took on a sheepish look and offered Scorpius one of his trademark sideways smiles. "Sorry I kept you waiting."
Scorpius returned the embarrassed smile. "Sorry about Eamon."
"Eamon?"
"I know you didn't like him," Scorpius explained. "It can't have been easy for you to see me with him."
Albus shuffled on the spot uncomfortably and Scorpius knew he was remembering what it was like. Then he sighed. "But it was my fault. I pushed you away. To him. God, Scorp, you don't know how much I regret that—"
"Shhh," Scorpius interrupted gently. "That's in the past. It's over. It doesn't matter." He lifted himself on his toes and planted a small yet intimate kiss on Albus' lips. "I love you."
A heart-warming smile grew slowly on Albus' face replacing his guilt. "Yeah?"
Scorpius grinned. "Yeah."
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Keeping secrets had never been difficult for Scorpius. There were things about him only he knew, and he had never been compelled by a burning desire to speak it to another person. His mode of living was internal and private, and he was more than okay with that.
Yet this time, keeping his mouth closed was harder than before. His heart's innermost desires were becoming his reality and for the first time, he wanted everyone to know. He did, however, have the sense to realise that Albus needed to want the same thing. Until that happened, their secret relationship would have to remain exactly that.
His first test was when Adam approached him later that day, and gave Scorpius the perfect invitation to spill his heart.
"Hello," Adam said, as he perched himself next to Scorpius on the blanket-covered snow and tucked his hands under his arms for warmth. The family had decided to spend the day at the field down the road for a game of Quidditch. Albus, James, Lily, their father, Teddy and James' friend from school—Arthur, another seventh year Gryffindor—were currently engaged in a three-on-three Quaffle match high above them. Scorpius, of course, had opted to play the role of spectator. Apparently, so had Adam. "Why aren't you playing?"
"I can't," Scorpius answered honestly. "I'm absolutely terrible on a broom, just ask Albus."
Adam chuckled. "I thought all wizards had it ingrained in them to love flying," he joked.
"Not this one," Scorpius replied with a short laugh, pointing at himself. "What about you? Why aren't you playing?"
Adam shrugged. "Not in the mood, I reckon. Plus, I couldn't keep up with them crazy English blokes," he said, nudging his chin in an upward direction to point to the flying figures above. "And Lily, too," he added with a chuckle.
Scorpius laughed along, knowing that the youngest Potter gave as good as she got on the pitch, even if she had chosen not to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"So you know Albus from school?" Adam asked.
"Yes, we're friends," Scorpius answered automatically, without stopping to consider that recent events had perhaps shifted the status of their relationship to something a little more intimate than 'friends'.
Adam nodded along. "Ted told me a lot about Albus. They seem to get along like a house on fire," he joked. Then he turned to Scorpius and tilted his head a little, "But he never told me about you. Don't worry; I blame him entirely for it." He laughed good-naturedly. "Ted always misses the details," he said of his partner fondly.
Grinning at his joking manner, Scorpius said, "No, actually, Teddy never really knew me until two days ago. Well, I suppose we are cousins, but he never knew I was Albus' friend until he arrived," Scorpius clarified. "Albus and I have only been friends since September." This fact made Scorpius pause. Four months ago, he hardly knew Albus. The very idea was bizarre.
Adam looked surprised and impressed. "September?" he echoed. "Wow, I'd have guessed at least a few years." Scorpius found he was happy about that. "Still, Ted and I met around that time, and look at us now." Adam smiled fondly.
Scorpius envied how open and freeing Adam must feel speaking about Teddy. "Forgive me for asking, but how did you know so soon? How did you know Teddy was—?" Scorpius stopped mid-sentence. He had been too forward; said too much.
Adam grinned. "How did I know Teddy was the one?" he asked for Scorpius. "I knew," he said simply and honestly. "When I met him, I just knew. You get this feeling inside of you. Like something's right," he tried to explain, but then he stopped and sighed. "I'm not doing a good job of explaining, but ..."
"No, you are," Scorpius replied. I have that same feeling when I'm with Albus. "Thank you."
Snorting, Adam said, "I don't know why I deserve a thank you, but cheers all the same." He turned to face Scorpius. "Why'd you ask?"
"I admire you, really. I think what you have with Teddy is something to be desired," Scorpius answered sincerely.
Adam smiled warmheartedly. "One day you'll get there and have that too," he said kindly.
A loud cheer from Albus rang out across the field as he scored a goal and Scorpius smiled inwardly.
"I think ... I think I might already have it," he said, forcing himself to keep his eyes off Albus lest he attracts any suspicion from Adam.
"Yeah?" Adam asked. "Who is she?"
Scorpius almost did a double take at Adam. She? Scorpius thought he had always made it obvious—in both his speech and manner—that his sights were most certainly not set on any female. He knew he shouldn't feel offended at all, but he couldn't stop the small nudge of annoyance that Adam simply assumed he was straight. Scorpius made sure to correct his mistake. "He, actually."
To Scorpius' surprise, Adam's reaction was far from the embarrassed one he was expecting. Instead, Adam broke into a grin. "Oh good, I was waiting for you to say it. I didn't know if you didn't want it to be known."
Scorpius stared at him. "So you knew?"
"Takes one to know one." Adam winked. "I knew almost as soon as I saw you. So let me rephrase: who is he?"
Adam's smile was contagious. Soon, Scorpius found he couldn't resist the upward pull on his mouth. "If I told you that, I'd have to kill you," he joked.
"Oh, now I'm really curious!" Adam laughed.
"Adam! Scorpius!" Mrs Potter called from where she was magically preparing some hot drinks for the family. "You boys want to tell me if this hot cocoa has enough chocolate in it?"
Scorpius and Adam grinned to each other. "Anything to help you, Mrs Potter," Adam said genially, getting up and offering to help Scorpius stand also. They meandered over to the warm drinks.
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Ten minutes later, six brooms were carelessly discarded on the snow by their riders, in favour of hot chocolate. Scorpius giggled as he watched Albus almost inhale the drink down. "Mum, you are a genius," he declared as he sighed in bliss. "I thought parts of me would start falling off, I was that cold."
"And whose bright idea was it to start playing Quidditch in the freezing temperature in the first place ... without a Heating Charm?" Mrs Potter asked in a voice that was part stern, and part playful.
All heads turned to Mr Potter, who smiled sheepishly. "Mine?" Mr Potter said guiltily. Scorpius could almost imagine Albus saying that and adopting the same awkward look. Evidently, Albus had taken after his father. "Aw, come on! It wouldn't have been natural with a Heating Charm! I'd rather freeze than boil!" Scorpius' eyebrows lifted at that: perhaps Albus wasn't quite the same as his dad, after all? Scorpius knew Albus preferred heat to cold.
Mrs Potter sighed and said, "Clearly, the only sane people here are myself, Scorpius and Adam. Come on then, let's get back to the house before you develop frostbite."
On the way back, Albus and Scorpius dropped back a little, walking a few metres behind Teddy and Adam, who, Scorpius saw, were holding hands. The urge to do the same with Albus made his fingers twitch.
"I saw you talking to Adam," Albus said in a hushed voice so that their conversation did not drift beyond the two of them. "How was it?"
"It was fine. Great, in fact. He's really quite funny," Scorpius replied.
Albus smiled. "What were you talking about?"
"Relationships, actually."
"You told him about us?" Albus asked. Scorpius could detect no panic in his voice, but he knew that Albus internally tensed up at the thought, nonetheless.
Scorpius nudged him with his elbow light-heartedly. "I didn't mention you, don't worry. Well, not by name at least. He knows I'm in a relationship with some boy," he explained.
"Some boy?" Albus grinned. "Should I be jealous?"
Scorpius nudged him again, except harder. "Prat," he muttered. "He told me a little about he and Teddy, and what it was like when they first met." He turned and looked at Albus, locking their eyes. "They're really in love, you know. It's nice."
"I can tell. It is nice. If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have gotten the guts to do this," he said, before leaning down, swiftly kissing Scorpius on the mouth, and pulling away in the space of less than a second.
Scorpius gasped and looked around anxiously. "Albus, someone might have seen," he whispered frantically.
Albus was laughing softly. "Who's gonna see? They're all ahead of us. Is it such a bad thing to kiss my—?" He stopped and squinted his eyes a little, as if he was trying to determine which word was the right one to use.
"Boyfriend?" Scorpius suggested with a playful smile. Calling Albus his boyfriend made his heart leap.
"Yeah, okay, let's go with that," Albus agreed with mock flippancy. Then, as if testing the word out, he said, "Boyfriend." He smiled at Scorpius. "I'm not ashamed of it or anything like that. Don't think I am because I'm not telling anyone. I'm just getting used to it, you know." He ran a hand through his hair. "Merlin, how on earth am I supposed to tell my parents?"
"You will; eventually. And I'll be there if you need me to be. I'm okay with keeping it a secret," Scorpius said. "Besides, telling my father will be equally as painful."
"But he already knows you're gay."
"As a label, yes. Not as a... lifestyle, so to speak. I think it'll really affect him when I tell him I've got a boyfriend."
Albus paused in thought for a moment. "So ... you never told your parents about Eamon?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Scorpius' mouth grew into a small smile. "I had my sight set on something better. I had hoped Eamon would never be a permanent fixture in my life. Turned out I was right."
"So now I'll have to bear the brunt of your father's wrath? Won't be easy. The man already thinks I'm an idiot. Telling him I'm dating his son is gonna be like a slap to the face."
Scorpius laughed. "Oh, don't be such a drama queen. You'll be fine."
Albus rounded on him with his mouth open in surprise. "Why, Scorpius Malfoy, it sounds like you have some sort of concern for my well-being" he said sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up." Scorpius hit him on the arm. "As long as we don't do anything too inappropriate in front of my parents."
"Inappropriate?" Albus echoed. Then he tore his eyes away and look to the left, seeing something and allowing an idea to form in his brain. "How's this for inappropriate?"
Suddenly, he yanked Scorpius' arm and pulled him off the path and behind a tree on the side of the road. He wasted no time in locking their mouths together.
"Hmmph!" Scorpius tried to mumble, his conscience flaring warning bells in his head that they could be seen at any moment. One of the Potters could easily return to check up on them. It was then he remembered that he wasn't the one with the secrecy problem—it was Albus. And if Albus was okay with kissing him in public, then who was he to complain? Instantly, he joined the kiss and gave as good as he got, lifting himself up on his toes and pressing his face further into Albus'. He felt Albus smile against his lips.
Their tongues joined in on the fray desperately, as did their hands. One of Albus' palms gently cupped the back of Scorpius' neck, while Scorpius linked his over Albus' shoulders. Shivers exploded from his nape, skittling all the way down his body, and Scorpius was entirely sure it had nothing to do with the chill. He loved being held by Albus; loved the feeling of Albus' hands holding him so warmly and intimately. As if Albus would never let him go. He hoped not.
It hadn't been like this with Eamon. With Eamon, everything was calculated. Every kiss was carefully thought out. Scorpius' mind had always been whirring, trying to figure out the procedure of their kisses.
With Albus, it was a spur of the moment. It was fast, and hot and driven by emotions buried deep within him, which only Albus could uncover. Scorpius wanted Albus to be the only one who knew this side of him.
"Albus ..." he whimpered in the split-second of time between their kisses. The single word evaporated instantly in the sliver of air between them, already lost as they continued to explore each other.
Albus' other hand, which had so far remained innocently by his side, began to trace the shape of Scorpius' lower back and side. Layers of thick clothing separated Albus' palm and Scorpius' skin, but Scorpius swore he felt it like a gentle yet purposeful caress.
Love flushed through him, bringing a whole new layer of heat between them and Scorpius knew they needed to stop before things went out of hand. Despite the fact that the Potters were far away by now, it didn't cancel out the fact that they were still in public and right outside people's houses.
"Albus," he whispered again, mumbling his name against his lips. He lowered his hands and placed them against Albus' chest, adding an extra pushing pressure, so that he got the hint. "Albus, we should stop," he said once their mouths separated.
Albus looked dazed. "What? Why?" he panted.
He swallowed and tried to breathe in more air. "We're outside," he reasoned. "Anyone can see. Plus, we should head back to your house."
Albus took a moment to look around him, realising Scorpius was right. It made Scorpius smile that Albus was so taken up with kissing him to have forgotten his surroundings. He turned back to face Scorpius and smiled, moving his thumb gently over the soft skin behind Scorpius' ear. "I really don't want to," he whispered hoarsely.
Scorpius blushed and bit his lower lip, feeling it throb. "We should. They'll wonder where we are."
Albus' eyes lowered marginally until they focused in on Scorpius' mouth. He licked his own lips as he watched. Scorpius grew hot once more at the attention Albus was giving to his mouth. "Let them," Albus said impulsively, before colliding his mouth with Scorpius' once more.
Heart in his throat, Scorpius indulged him, letting Albus' hands guide him into the kiss, trusting that Albus would hold him, even if his knees failed him. At the rate they were going, Scorpius was sure he would swoon eventually.
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When they finally made it home, Scorpius could have sworn he saw both Teddy and Adam grin knowingly at them. He shook the suspicion away, though—how could they possibly know?
But later that night when they were preparing to go to sleep, Albus turned to him a little sheepishly and told him that Teddy (and likely Adam now) was actually well aware of their relationship. When Scorpius had asked how, Albus told him about his spontaneous rendezvous at 3 am a couple of days before. Scorpius found he wasn't concerned or upset at all, but rather happy that Albus had taken the initiative to act.
                          
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Next Chapter: Back at school, Albus does something he should have done a long time ago.