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James Potter’s eternally open bedroom door had literally no upside Albus could think of. Too many times he’d passed by to glimpses of James sprawled across his bed asleep and more naked than Albus ever needed to see. His loud and echoing laugh carried to every corner of the Potter house through his constantly wide open door, and some of the conversations Albus had been forced to overhear were nothing short of scarring. And then there were rare times, like right now, when standing in the doorway and not knowing whether to knock on an open door made Albus feel ridiculous.
His brother’s bedroom door was as open as his heart and was something Albus could never relate to. James had nothing to hide and lived shamelessly. And it wasn’t that Albus did have something to hide, but he’d never been able to approach life with the easy trust that James had.
“You can come in.” James didn’t look up from whatever he was writing, laying flat on his stomach across his bed.
“Right.” Albus stepped into the bedroom and cleared his throat, trying to act naturally.
James looked up from his parchment and grinned. “Oh, I thought you were Dad.” He went back to scribbling away at the parchment spread in front of him, which couldn’t have been easy on the soft surface of his bedspread.
“Hey,” Albus paused for an awkwardly long time and then looked at his feet. “What you doing?”
James looked up from the parchment and eyed his brother suspiciously. “Writing an erotic novel.” He sucked on the end of his quill as if in thought. “What’s a synonym for ball sack?”
Albus paused for half a second and felt himself blush. “No you’re not.” He folded his arms.
“Nothing gets past you, Al.” James clicked his fingers and pointed at Albus who frowned. “I’m answering fanmail. But I could still do with a synonym for ball sack.”
Albus opened his mouth and closed it again. Even after seventeen years, James’ sense of humour threw him at times. He forced a short laugh and considered abandoning his plan altogether.
James gave him a questioning look. “Did you need something? I’ve got a few of these to do before Lily drags us into party preparations.”
Albus didn’t look him in the eye and fiddled with the back of his hair. “I was wondering if you wanted to go running with me.” He held his trainers up as if in proof that that was why he’d come.
“Is this an early New Year’s resolution?”
“No, I’m always running. I, er, just don’t know the routes around here that well.”
This was a huge lie and James most definitely knew it given the suspicious look he immediately threw in Albus’ direction. He’d never been able to deceive James, despite trying several times when they were little.
James grinned cheekily. “Have you missed me being at Hogwarts with you?”
Albus shrugged, starting to suspect James was aware he had an ulterior motive and dropping the trainers to the floor. “Yeah, a bit.”
“Oh.” James watched him sit down on the bed and there was a long pause. “Aw, Albus!”
A smirk spread across Albus’ lips. “Not sure why, I can open a copy of The Quaffling Times and remind myself what a prat you are whenever I want.”
James grinned and pulled himself into a seated position. “Did you know I was named Sexiest Broom Dismount of the Month in the last issue?” He paused and Albus just stared at his ridiculous brother for a second. “You’re trying to work out how to dismount a broom sexily now aren’t you?”
Albus rolled his eyes. “I really, really wasn’t. Did they actually say that about you?”
James shoved him lightly on the shoulder. “Nah, made it up.”
“Arse.” Albus shoved him back.
“That’s not very nice, I don’t think I want to run with you now.” James picked his quill back up and went back to his fanmail, balancing it across his lap. “Anyway, what did you need to talk about?”
Albus felt his face heat up and he started to absent-mindedly play with his earlobe. “When did I say I needed to talk about anything?”
James fixed him with a judgemental look. “Not once, ever in our lives, have you expressed a desire for me to come running with you.”
“Only because you slow me down,” Albus muttered, aware of how childish he sounded.
With a derisive snort, James cast the parchment and quill to one side and threw an arm obnoxiously around Albus’ shoulders, nuzzling his nose uncomfortably close into Albus’ face. “Come on, Al, what is it?”
“Nothing! I just wanted to go running,” Albus insisted, pulling James’ arm off him; he was regretting ever coming in here.
“Did not,” James said quickly.
“Are you a Legilimens now?” Albus folded his arms in annoyance.
“Don’t need to be when you’re so obvious, Al.”
“Oh yes, please give me tips on how to be subtle and secretive like you,” Albus spat sarcastically, indicating James’ wide-open door and stack of fanmail.
James sighed and shook his head. “You want to run with me because you have something you want to ask me. You’re not asking Scorpius, which means it’s about Scorpius. I’m right, aren’t I?”
Albus scowled at his brother’s smug expression and muttered the most unenthusiastic confirmation he could. James’ grin grew wider as he started gesticulating with both hands.
“So it’s about your boyfriend, and you’re not asking Mum, like you did when you needed help with his Christmas present, which means it’s about sex.”
Albus choked on thin air and felt himself turn red, because how the fuck had James worked that all out so quickly? He’d planned what he was going to say so he’d come across as cool as a cucumber, and this was not James’ part of the script.
“How the fuck did you work that all out so quickly?”
James shrugged. “Told you, you’re obvious, I’m your brother.”
“I am not obvious,” Albus protested. If I really was that obvious, maybe I wouldn’t be having this dilemma, he added in his head.
“I knew you were gay before you did,” James retorted.
“You did not! Teddy was the first person I told and you weren’t even there and then you said-”
“Chill, Al. You’re too easy to wind up.” James chuckled.
Albus narrowed his eyes; he hated giving into James’ teasing. “Look, if you’re going to be like this then I’ll just go.”
“But I didn’t get to give you any sex advice yet. What do you want to know about? I know Dad‘s talk is a bit vague.” James cast around for ideas. “Orgasms? Threesomes? Foursomes?”
“Stop!” Albus put his hands over his ears while James chuckled to himself. “Stop talking! Never say that word again!”
“What word? Foursomes?” James was a paragon of innocence, until an obnoxious smirk spread across his face. “Is foursomes the word you don’t want me to say, Albus?”
“In my head, I’m thinking of four different hexes I want to use on you right now,” Albus said through gritted teeth.
“Okay, I won’t say foursomes anymore.” James smiled angelically. “What should I call them instead? Multi-party sexual experiences?”
“Multi-party what?” an incredulous voice sounded from the of-course-still-open door.
Albus and James both jumped and turned in horror to see Lily staring at them both in utter revulsion. For all James’ bravado and pleasure in making Albus squirm, he drew a line at ever exposing their little sister to such topics of conversation.
“Nothing, Lil,” Albus said with a snort while James looked like he’d swallowed a cactus.
“Why couldn’t I have had sisters?” Lily asked nobody in particular. “I have jobs for you both.”
Albus eyed her warily. Their parents allowing Lily to take the reins in organising the New Year’s Eve party they were hosting seemed like a massive oversight. Then again, Albus remembered that their parents were conveniently out all afternoon.
“Can it wait, Lils?” James caught Albus’ eye. “We were going to go running.”
Albus shot him a grateful smile but already had his resigned sigh in place for Lily’s inevitable response.
“No, this is more important,” she said, brushing off James’ noise of complaint and turning away from them with a swish of her long, red hair. “Come downstairs.”
“Do we have to?” James said quietly when she’d gone.
“You owe her, James. She just walked in on you talking about multi-party sexual experiences.” Albus was already on his feet, ready to humour their little sister and complete whatever ridiculous task she required.
“Technically,” James stood up to follow, “I wasn’t talking about them, but if you’d like to, I’ve always wondered what would happen if you put two-”
Albus clamped a hand over James’ mouth to muffle the end of his sentence. “I’m disowning you, we are no longer brothers.”
James just laughed and ruffled Albus’ hair.
In the kitchen, Lily was sat at the table, surrounded by pieces of shiny silver paper which she was cutting and looping together into chains. She looked up as the boys entered and pointed to a tray of champagne flutes.
“Al, dip the rim of each glass into that glitter,” she ordered, like this was a standard piece of party preparation. “James, can you use magic to make these lanterns different colours?”
As the only one of them old enough to use magic outside of school, Lily often roped James into various plans of hers and Albus knew he would become equally as involved once he turned seventeen the following month.
Albus and James exchanged looks and smirked, before setting about their tasks, sat on either side of Lily. She hummed along to the soft music playing in the background and concentrated on her paper chain; James caught Albus’ eye.
“So what-”
“James!” Albus hissed urgently, directing his eyebrows towards Lily, who was now calmly cutting a giant zero out of glittery paper. He would have thought his brother had enough sense to save this conversation for another time.
“I was going to say: what colour am I supposed to be painting this one?” James replied with a pointed look.
Lily leaned over and appraised the situation. “Gold, definitely gold.” She sighed and searched the table top. “I’m going to get another pair of scissors.”
As soon as she’d left, James leaned over to mutter in Albus’ ear.
“C’mon, Al. I’m on the edge of my seat here.” He even shuffled himself forward in his chair until he literally was on the edge of his seat.
With one quick glance to make sure Lily wasn’t coming back, Albus turned to him and sighed. “Fine. I want to… give Scorpius something.” Albus fixed James with a meaningful look, willing him to understand.
James smirked. “Christmas has just been, Al. I don’t think you need to give him anything else.”
Albus just scowled at James; he knew James understood what he was getting at.
“Or is this not something you can wrap up and put under a tree?” James pressed, clearly really enjoying making Albus squirm.
“You know it’s not,” Albus muttered darkly. “I want to… I don’t know how to… I want to make him happy. I want him to… feel good.”
“Give him a nice big hug,” James smiled angelically, and then demonstrated, squeezing Albus uncomfortably tight.
“Get off, James.” Albus shoved him away. “You know what I’m getting at.”
“Actually, you could be talking about a number of things.” James grinned wickedly. “But yes, I understand the general sentiment.” James pressed a hand to his heart and adopted a look of faux innocence. “And what, dear brother, makes you think I would know anything about that?”
Albus simply gave James a look, silently saying they both knew exactly what (or who) Albus was getting at. Then Albus shook his head.
“Look, I don’t want you to tell me… how to-” Albus cleared his throat and felt his cheeks burn. “I just… need some advice on how to bring the subject up. How do I tell Scorpius I want to-”
Lily suddenly returned to the room, singing loudly and presenting Albus with a container of glitter.
“Tell Scorpius you want to what?” She sounded genuinely curious and then her face fell. “You’re not breaking up with him, are you? I won’t let you, Al! No!”
Albus felt his heart clench a little at the words. “No! Of course not, Lily.”
She looked at him in wide-eyed concern and Albus thought quickly.
“How do I tell Scorpius I want to kiss him at midnight?”
There was a split second in which Albus thought James hadn’t got his meaning, but he subtly winked (of course James could wink subtly) and glanced at Lily for a moment before replying.
“Well, you’ve been together a long time now. Why can’t you just outright ask him if you can kiss him at midnight?”
Lily grinned and leant across Albus for a new piece of paper. “Why don’t you just kiss him, Al? He’s your boyfriend, and anyway, Scorpy loves all that romantic stuff. It would make him so happy if you just spontaneously kissed him at midnight.”
James smirked. “Lily’s right, Al. You should just kiss him at midnight. Why is all this preparation talk necessary? Actions speak louder than words.”
Lily giggled and went to wash her hands at the sink on the other side of the kitchen.
Albus lowered his voice. “Because, I tried to… be spontaneous, after the Yule Ball. Scorpius is so innocent he didn’t catch on to what I wanted to do.”
James frowned. “So innocent? Al, you two have, well, you’ve seen each other-”
Lily returned and sat beside James, unscrewing the top of a pot of gold paint.
“You’ve seen each other outside of school before. You know, with no school on.” James stared pointedly across the table.
“Yes!” Albus replied quickly. “Er, we saw each other at the end of the summer holidays. I stayed at Scor’s the night before the train, his dad took us to King’s Cross.”
Lily looked at Albus like he was mad. “What? You’ve seen Scorp loads more than that. He was here almost every week of the summer, Al.” She shook her head like Albus was a bit slow and she was helping him out hugely with the reminder. “James, you were here most of the time?” she added incredulously.
“Yeah, of course he was,” Albus muttered and directed his words to James again. “Lily’s right, we saw each other loads. But we didn’t always have… time, to do anything.”
“Anything?” James pressed gently.
Albus sighed. “We really only did one thing, but we did it quite a few times.” He noticed Lily frowning. “Chess. We played chess. Me and Scorpius played chess a lot this term at school too.”
“You’re rubbish at chess, Al,” Lily commented bluntly. “I bet Scorpius always won.”
“Did he?” James smirked.
“No, I won sometimes.”
“And does Scorpius have his own chess set?” James was enjoying himself immensely. “Or did you just use yours every time?”
“We… took turns, using his chess set and mine.”
“What about using both chess sets at the same time?”
“James, are you okay? Why are you asking so many questions about chess? You can’t play chess with two sets at the same time, do you not know anything?” Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes at James.
“Yes you can, can’t you, Al?”
Albus wanted to die a little bit.
“Sometimes we used both at the same time,” he replied reluctantly, although there was a hint of pride in his heart. James looked vaguely impressed; perhaps he’d been thinking Albus had yet to do anything at all.
“But how? There aren’t enough squares on the board, and how did any of the moves work if you had-”
“Do you think these need more glitter, Lily?” Albus kicked James hard under the table when he started to laugh.
James did not take the kick as an indicator to stop talking. “So let me get this straight, you’ve got pretty good at playing chess now, and you want to try your hand,” James snorted, “at some Gobstones?”
Lily pulled a face. “Gobstones is disgusting. When that gross stuff squirts in your face, yuck!”
It was too much for James who fell into an extreme coughing fit to cover up his fit of laughter. Meanwhile, Albus wished more than anything that they could have had this conversation in private without the need for these stupid codes.
“Long may you continue to think that, Lils,” James eventually choked out, his eyes streaming.
“I can’t believe you’ve never played Gobstones with Scorpius before, Al. People are always playing it in the Gryffindor common room, is it not the same in Slytherin?” Lily didn’t seem phased by James’ odd spluttering noises.
“Typical Gryffindors, no shame,” Albus couldn’t help setting James off again.
Lily just threw them both a highly judgemental look and crossed the room to start hanging her glittery 2023 banner up.
Many deep breaths later, James finally collected himself enough to contribute again. “Okay, Al, here’s what you do. The next time you and Scorpius are playing chess, ask if you can use your Gobstones in the game.”
“Is it that simple?” Albus asked in desperation.
“Yes!” James insisted. “Say you want to try using Gobstones,” he smirked, “and see what he thinks of the idea. Although I imagine he’ll be into it.”
A clattering sound indicated Lily had dropped her banner as she turned to stare at James in incredulity. “James, do you really not know how chess works? You can’t just use Gobstones instead.” She shook her head and muttered something about James, picking up the fallen banner.
“He’s got no idea, has he?” Albus gave an exaggerated sigh and crossed the room to assist Lily with the banner.
James simply sat chuckling away to himself.
Over the sound of the running shower, Albus quietly practised what he could say to Scorpius. He only felt safe enough to mutter it very quietly under his breath even though the noise of the shower would more than drown him out.
James was right, it was straightforward. He would just wait until they were in the heat of the moment, and then he’d ask Scorpius if he could try something. It would be simple.
With a firm resolve that this would work, Albus stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself, jumping out of his skin when James’ loud voice echoed from his room, only seconds before he came barging into the ensuite bathroom. He was twirling a quill around with one hand and a piece of parchment floated in front of him.
“James!” Albus cried; just because James seemed to have no sense of privacy in his own room didn’t mean everyone else did too.
James sighed casually as if this were a normal place for them to meet and scribbled something on the parchment, muttering to himself. “Thank you so much for taking the time to write again.”
Albus glared at him. “What the bloody hell are you doing in here?”
James started to speak without even looking up at Albus. “I know you said you didn’t want any tips,” he stuck the quill behind his ear and locked eyes with Albus, “but speaking of tips…”
To Albus’ utmost horror, James withdrew a party blower from his pocket. It was one from Uncle George’s shop which Albus knew would release mini fireworks when blown.
“Now, when you see Scorpius later,” James held the party blower to his lips, “you want to-”
“Fuck off, James.” Albus shoved past his brother into his bedroom, leaving him stood in his ensuite with the party blower, chuckling to himself. “And stop using my good quill to answer your fanmail!” he added in annoyance.
James just laughed and walked out of Albus’ room, obnoxiously blowing the party blower over his shoulder with a cheeky grin, a small display of fireworks in his wake.
“Arsehole,” Albus muttered under his breath, feeling his cheeks flame. It wasn’t often James could wind him up like this anymore; he felt like he was twelve again.
He continued to curse James under his breath the entire time he was getting dressed. Lily had insisted the theme of the party was fancy casual but Albus interpreted that as his favourite black jeans without rips and one of his nicer hoodies. He was regarding his outfit in the mirror for just a second when his bedroom door pushed open and James invited himself inside yet again.
“Don’t you ever knock?” Albus sighed in agitation, marching into his ensuite where James immediately followed.
“Which photo shall I send to Wendy Coates?” James sidled over to the sink and held a photo of himself in each hand. His winning smile shone out of both images and then of the real James in the middle, making Albus more suspicious by the second.
“No idea who Wendy Coates is,” Albus replied sulkily, looking into the mirror and pointing his wand at his hair to dry it faster.
“She’s a fan, very keen. Actually, I think she already has this one,” James mused, turning the photo of him on a broom to himself.
“The other one then,” Albus put his wand away and turned to face James, bracing himself to be teased again; it was some kind of brotherly sense, he just knew it was coming.
“Excellent, thanks, Al.” James retrieved his quill and started to autograph the chosen photo with big, swirling motions.
“That’s… it?” Albus asked tentatively, staring at James suspiciously.
“No.” James smirked, tucking the signed photo away. “What’s your gag reflex like? I only ask because-”
“James, I swear to Merlin, I will end you,” Albus spoke through gritted teeth and pushed all of his long fringe into his face to hide his annoyance. Letting James know he was getting to him would only encourage him. He pretended to be focused on fixing his hair into place the way he liked it rather than anything James had to say about gag reflexes.
“Alright, alright, keep your hair on,” James backed out of the room but then stopped and grinned again. “Well, don’t keep your hair like that. Brush it or something, this is a nice party.”
Albus threw his hairbrush at James’ retreating, chuckling figure. Merlin he was annoying.
Not even five minutes later, Albus’ peace was interrupted again by an irate Lily insisting he couldn’t wear a hoodie. The only way to satisfy Lily was to allow her free reign of his wardrobe, which she relished, spending the best part of half an hour selecting different options for him to choose from and laying them out on his bed.
“What’s Scorpius wearing? We can colour coordinate,” she mused, standing back to appraise all the options she’d selected.
Albus shrugged, clueless. “No idea, I’ll find out when I see him.”
Lily looked disappointed then her expression turned more serious. “Al, you’re not really worried about kissing him at midnight, are you?”
“Er, no, I feel much better about that now,” Albus tried to sound convincing.
“Because I think it’s more likely that Scorpius would be disappointed if you didn’t kiss him at midnight. I thought he loved that sort of thing.”
Albus couldn’t help but smile fondly. “He does, you were right, I was overthinking it.”
Lily smiled and reached for a denim blue, buttoned shirt from the bed, thrusting it at Albus. “Wear this, with the sleeves rolled up to your elbows and the jeans you have on.”
Albus accepted it, bemused. “I never wear this. Mum bought me it but I don’t think blue suits me.”
“It does! You have perfect colouring for dark blue, it’ll bring out your eyes,” Lily insisted.
“My eyes are green,” Albus protested.
Lily put her hands on her hips and fixed him with a defiant stare. “Scorpius will love it.”
“If you say so,” Albus muttered, agreeing to change into the shirt to please Lily. He’d never worn it, but it wasn’t that bad.
Lily skipped off and it didn’t take long for Albus to admit she was right. The blue shirt looked sort of good on him, with the sleeves rolled up and just the first button undone. He’d never cared much about what he wore, but since getting together with Scorpius - who always dressed impeccably - Albus found himself wanting to put a bit more effort in.
Yes, Scorpius would like this.
Albus felt himself blush when he thought about seeing Scorpius later and what he was hoping to do and he ducked his head away from his reflection, as if it were watching him. Knowing his luck, James would come barging in again any second to wind him up and the last thing Albus needed was for James to find him pink in the face and smirking to himself.
But Albus knew James, and this time, he’d be ready for him.
It wasn’t until much later, once a few people had already arrived for the party, when James swooped in with his next attack. Albus knew it was coming; Teddy hadn’t arrived yet and James was getting bored. But Scorpius and his dad weren’t there yet either, and Albus had a horrible feeling James was going to wait until his boyfriend had arrived to make another suggestive comment.
Scorpius would hate that, Albus needed to head him off first.
He’d been talking to Rose, who had crafted a detailed plan to sneak alcohol under her dad’s nose and was keen to share it with Albus, but she’d left after her girlfriend arrived. Scorpius still wasn’t there so Albus made sure he was standing alone where James could see him; he would be unable to resist teasing him some more. And as predicted, James spotted Albus, grinned wickedly and sidled over. Albus swallowed and prepared himself.
“Now, Al, when you see Scorpius later,” James gave his usual merry grin.
Albus steeled himself and turned to look James straight in the eye. “Yes?”
James blinked but didn’t falter as Albus continued to stare him down. “Well, have you thought about how you’re going to…”
There was an oddly silent pause. James looked momentarily confused.
“What, James? How I’m going to what?” It was Albus’ turn to smirk at his brother. “Please, share the incredibly detailed sex advice you were about to give your little brother. I’m all ears.”
It worked.
James was flustered, Albus only had a few seconds before he regained his composure and made them both uncomfortable just to prove a point. His brother was shameless and would do anything to gain the upper hand over Albus.
“Maybe later,” Albus patted him sympathetically on the shoulder, “Scor’s here.”
Before James could do more than splutter in annoyance, Albus left him with a cheery wave to greet his boyfriend. He would likely have to avoid James until Teddy arrived and he was distracted enough to stop bothering Albus.
“Scor!” Albus greeted him with a tight hug, burying his face into the familiar clean scent of Scorpius’ hair. He’d let it grow a bit, and it fell in a soft, slight wave over his gorgeous eyes. Albus reached out to brush it away. “I like this.”
Scorpius smiled, his beautiful, familiar smile and pulled back from Albus, running his hands up and down the arms of Albus’ shirt. “I like this. Is it new?”
“New-ish, Lily picked it,” Albus shrugged.
Scorpius circled his arms around Albus’ waist and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “You look amazing. I missed you.”
“Missed you too,” Albus smiled against his lips, their foreheads touching. “Forgot how beautiful you are.”
A faint blush passed over Scorpius’ cheeks. “I can’t wait to kiss you at midnight. Our first New Year’s Eve together.”
Albus thought about his earlier conversation with James and grinned. “Starting the year together feels nice.”
“And Lily’s really outdone herself with the decorations,” Scorpius cast his hands around the lavishly decorated room.
Albus caught hold of them and steered Scorpius to face a nearby, glitter-adorned decoration. “I made that one.”
Just past the glittery lantern Albus was indicating, he could see James and Teddy, who was taking his coat off. James caught Albus’ eye then leant over to whisper something in Teddy’s ear. Albus wanted to die on the spot when Teddy raised his eyebrows and then gave him a cheery thumbs up across the room, complete with a wink.
“Oh, I should go and say hello to your brother,” Scorpius waved and made to head over; James was already grinning wickedly.
“No! Not now.” Albus grabbed his elbow and tugged him around to face him. “He’s, er, arguing with Teddy.” He tried to look solemn about this made up fact which had the desired effect of making Scorpius want to stay well away; he didn’t handle confrontation well. “And I should say hi to your dad, come on, let’s go.”
“Okay,” Scorpius agreed happily, seemingly unaware that Albus was avoiding James, who was bound to say something stupid if he gave him the opportunity.
They found his dad making conversation with Albus’ mum in the kitchen.
“Scorpius, hello, my love.” Albus watched his mum greet Scorpius with a hug and he turned to Draco Malfoy to shake his hand.
“Nice to see you, Mr Malfoy,” he said politely.
“Draco is fine, Albus,” he replied, taking Albus’ hand in both of his and smiling warmly. “It’s lovely to see you.”
Scorpius reached for Albus’ hand and gave it a small squeeze. Albus saw his mum smile fondly.
“Scorpius, you’re still welcome to sleep over if that’s okay with you, Draco,” she directed her words to both of the Malfoys.
“Yes please!” Scorpius replied eagerly and Draco nodded firmly.
“Now, you must try this quiche Harry’s made.” Ginny hurried Draco away, sending a quick wink over her shoulder in Albus’ direction.
It was really no wonder where James got it from.
Speaking of James, he picked that very moment to make his presence known, ambling over to them both, blinding grin first. He had a drink in each hand but he thrust one into Albus’ hand and pulled Scorpius into a one-armed hug.
“Scorp! Good to see you, my man,” James clapped him on the back and withdrew, reclaiming the second drink from Albus (he’d already taken several sips). “How have you been? Good Christmas?”
While Scorpius launched into a quick monologue of his Christmas Day and some of his favourite presents, Albus narrowed his eyes at his brother. Surely James wouldn’t dare tease Albus right in front of Scorpius like this? He’d asked him before to show a bit of sensitivity around his boyfriend, who wasn’t used to rambunctious sibling shenanigans in the way Albus was.
“You got a new chess set for Christmas, did you?” James winked in his customary way. “Albus tells me you’re quite the chess opponent.”
Albus not so subtly trod on James’ foot.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Scorpius laughed. “We hardly play chess, Albus. And you’ve beaten me loads of times!”
James’ eyes sparkled with glee. “I bet he has! What about Gobstones, Scorp? Do you play that?”
“Haven’t you got your own boyfriend to annoy?” Albus said through gritted teeth.
“He’s not annoying me!” Scorpius sounded offended. “I like Gobstones, James. But I haven’t played it in ages.”
“Yeah, me neither, mate,” James chuckled and nudged Scorpius’ shoulder.
“Did you want to play with me? Is that why you’re asking?” Scorpius smiled his adorable smile.
“Ooh, no.” James eyed Albus with an over the top wary expression. “Nice offer, but I could never do that to Albus.”
With a hearty laugh, he strutted away leaving Albus fuming and Scorpius faintly confused.
“What did he mean by I could never do that to Albus?” Scorpius wondered aloud. “You don’t even like Gobstones.”
“Nothing, he’s really drunk, being weird,” Albus pulled Scorpius into the living room.
“He didn’t seem drunk, and I thought he didn’t drink much anymore in his new career?”
Why was Scorpius so observant?
“Oh look, there’s Rose,” Albus said quickly, dragging Scorpius over to their friend.
The festivities of the party were enough for Scorpius to forget about James’ strange behaviour and Albus too was relaxed enough that he forgot to keep avoiding his brother. Instead, he simply enjoyed being around all the people he loved, and eating good food and drinking the occasional glitter-adorned glass of champagne. He didn’t like the taste much but the bubbles fizzing in his head felt rather nice.
They kept him pleasantly warm as everyone huddled together outside for the midnight countdown, at which Uncle George and Uncle Ron would be setting off a spectacular firework show. Ten became one in what felt like no time and Albus was kissing Scorpius and they were wrapped up in each other as if they weren’t surrounded by people.
“Happy new year, love,” Albus whispered, gazing into Scorpius’ shining eyes and feeling almost overwhelmed with love for him.
“I love you,” Scorpius breathed back, and even though they were surrounded by people, it felt like they were in their own world.
And suddenly, Albus needed them to be.
He took hold of Scorpius’ hand and gently started to pull him back inside, slipping away from the noisy party enjoying the fireworks and guiding Scorpius upstairs to his bedroom. As soon as the door shut behind them, Scorpius surprised him with an eager kiss in the dark, his strong arms pressing them both up against the door.
“Missed you so much,” Scorpius said breathlessly, peppering kisses all over Albus’ neck and jawline. Albus buried his fingers in the back of Scorpius’ soft hair and tilted his head back, exposing his throat to Scorpius’ gentle lips. It didn’t matter that it was almost pitch black in the room, the occasional far away firework flash illuminating the drawn curtains.
“Shall I?” Scorpius twirled his wand artfully with a questioning glance.
Albus nodded emphatically. Scorpius was already seventeen, he could cast a silencing charm for them both. This was going perfectly to plan.
Scorpius cast the charm, placed his wand down and almost immediately buried his hands in Albus’ hair, leaning in to kiss him again. Albus gently guided them both towards his bed until Scorpius was forced to sit down. His long fingers made quick work of the buttons down the front of Albus’ shirt; Albus gasped in delighted surprise, it wasn’t like Scorpius to take the lead like this.
“Missed you so much,” Scorpius murmured in response to Albus’ surprise and then he looked up, locking eyes with Albus in the gloom. “Is this okay?”
“Of course,” Albus breathed, wriggling out of his shirt and assisting Scorpius with his own soft jumper - it must have been cashmere. “I missed you too.”
Navigating their trousers was a bit much in the dark, so Albus flicked on one of his bedside lamps which bathed the room in a soft glowing light. With a surreptitious glance at his bedroom door to check he really had locked it behind them, Albus pulled Scorpius down on the bed beside him and made quick work of removing the last of both of their clothes.
Albus’ mind was half on the words he was about to say to Scorpius while they kissed passionately. He rolled them both over so he was balanced above Scorpius and gazed down at him with as much of a smoulder as he could manage.
“Scor, I want to… I want to make you feel good, better than ever,” he whispered meaningfully.
“You always make me feel good,” Scorpius smiled angelically and pulled him in for another kiss.
“But this time…” Albus tailed off, feeling foolish.
“What?” Scorpius simply beamed up at him.
James’ straightforward advice suddenly seemed to stick in Albus’ throat and prevent him from just asking Scorpius if he could try something new. Maybe he should introduce the chess and gobstones analogy.
“You know how we…”
It had been too long, he’d interrupted their naked snogging session for long enough and the mood was slowly dying if Albus didn’t do something about it. He stopped talking and pressed his lips to Scorpius’ again, flipping the two of them onto their sides as Scorpius responded just as enthusiastically.
He’d let things progress a little further and then bring it up again. But not too much further, or he’d miss his chance again.
Their new position allowed hands to wander in between their bodies, but Albus was so caught up in focusing on getting the moment just right that he flinched when he felt Scorpius’ familiar fingertips brushing against him.
“What? What is it, love?” Scorpius immediately withdrew his hand and looked at Albus with eyes of deepest concern. “Did I hurt you? I’m sorry, I didn’t ask you first, I thought you wanted me to… I’m sorry, I didn’t wait for you to give me verbal consent, I’m sorry, Albus, I-”
“Scor.” Albus interrupted his monologue with a gentle finger to his lips. “It’s okay, your hand was just a bit cold.”
“Oh,” Scorpius grinned sheepishly then made a big show of rubbing his hands together to warm them up.
And Albus couldn’t bring it up, not anymore. He was too in his head and afraid that, if he didn’t just let it go for tonight, he’d offend Scorpius with his skittish behaviour. Besides, it wasn’t as if what Scorpius was suggesting was unenjoyable.
Albus was vaguely aware of weak, morning sunlight making itself known through a small gap in his bedroom curtains. His head felt heavy and his eyes bleary as he shivered, his bare shoulders chilly.
“Here,” a low voice greeted him and Scorpius wrapped the duvet snugly around Albus’ shoulders, cuddling into him underneath the warmth of the bedding. “You can go back to sleep.”
But it was hard to want to go back to sleep when the alternative was Scorpius’ lovely presence. Albus shifted in his boyfriend’s arms until they were face to face and Scorpius smiled sweetly, seeming to be wide awake.
“Morning, love,” Albus said, his voice gravelly with sleep.
Scorpius beamed. “We don’t have any clothes on,” he said matter of factly. “It’s nice.”
It certainly did make a nice change to have the privacy to fall asleep as they were, rather than fumbling around for pyjamas in the darkness of the Slytherin dormitory while their silencing charms wore off.
Albus wriggled a little bit closer to Scorpius under the duvet, revelling in the feeling of their bare torsos touching. And then another feeling of something in between them. Something hard and warm and unmistakable. Albus closed his eyes for a second and grimaced.
“I’m sorry,” he said automatically.
“What for?” Scorpius grinned wickedly, and he learnt over to kiss the side of Albus’ neck, just below his ear. “Want some help with that?”
Albus felt his jaw drop; did Scorpius just say that? He was expecting a comment about natural blood flow and an interesting fact about the differences in hormone levels in the morning compared to at night.
“The New Year’s changed you,” Albus tried not to feel flustered by his boyfriend’s behaviour.
“Being away from you made me realise how much I love showing you how much I love you,” Scorpius was still using that low, wicked voice, aiming all his words in a rough whisper at the base of Albus’ earlobe.
“Show me,” Albus replied eagerly.
Scorpius pressed a soft kiss to the sensitive skin behind Albus’ ear, then followed it with another further down his neck, then another over his adam’s apple. He continued a trail of soft kisses all the way down Albus’ chest, shrugging the duvet off both of them. His lips were past Albus’ sternum, but they weren’t stopping; Scorpius kept kissing him, dipping lower and lower down his body.
Eventually, he stopped as he reached the last of Albus’ torso and looked up at him. “Albus, can I try something new?”
Albus’ bedroom door stayed firmly closed for the rest of the morning.