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Albus Dumbledore paced across the room, the floorboards creaking lightly under his steps. He had been there for what must have been only half an hour or so, but had felt like an eternity. He had placed his hat on a nearby table, but kept his coat on, half ready to leave at a moment’s notice if his growing anxiety won out over his eagerness to meet.
The room was lavish, with gold trim around the ceiling, large, gilded mirrors, and a massive bed with an intricately carved headboard. Albus tried not to think of who this room might have belonged to before it was confiscated for the purpose of this meeting. He was better off not knowing. In this case, although it went against his usual morals, ignorance was bliss.
Albus had contemplated leaving more than once. Every second that passed tightened his shoulders and wore at his resolve to stay and see the meeting through. It was a mistake to come, he already knew. It was a mistake to come this time, as it had been every time, yet he couldn’t help himself.
Despite how often he was called the strongest wizard in the world, he had such a pathetic weakness: carefully rolled letters, tied with black ribbon, that smelled of leather and books and times long past.
“You and your pacing. I swear you are incapable of standing still.”
Albus managed to stop himself from jumping at the voice, but only just barely. He turned around to see the source leaning casually in the doorway, eyeing Albus with a fondness rarely seen on his face.
Even though Albus saw the image of Gellert Grindelwald often in the newspapers, it paled in comparison to seeing him in person. With his bright hair and piercing gaze, he never failed to fill up a room with his presence. Albus couldn’t help giving the man a once over with his eyes, and he knew Gellert noticed by the smirk that crossed his face.
The blond man pushed off the door frame and moved further into the room, approaching Albus. He stopped a respectful distance away, both too close and not far enough. He simply gazed at Albus, and the professor felt his heart clench.
“Well, I wouldn’t have to resort to pacing if you would ever show up on time,” Albus said.
“You know I like to keep you waiting, Liebling,” Gellert said. He took another step closer.
“I think it’s more that you like your dramatics. You like knowing I’m waiting for you.”
Gellert chuckled. “That as well.”
Though his mind screamed at him to move back, Albus forced himself to remain still as Gellert closed the last remaining distance between them. Gellert’s hand came up to caress the side of Albus’ face, who closed his eyes to avoid his ex-lover’s searching gaze.
He felt Gellert’s thumb trace the curve of his face and settle on the line of his jaw. He leaned into the touch.
“I have missed you terribly,” Gellert said. “I’m pleased you received my letter.”
Albus opened his eyes to give Gellert an unimpressed look. “If you have missed me so much, you could have easily contacted me whenever you wanted. But instead you are silent for months, and I am meant to simply wait patiently for you to bother with me.”
“Oh, Liebling, if I thought you would come every time I called, I’d have you with me every day,” Gellert said. His hand moved back and into Albus’ hair, running long strands through his fingers. “But you won’t. The guilt eats away at you. How can you lie in bed with me, while you lie to the world about why you cannot defeat me?”
Albus pulled away from the touch and turned his back on Gellert, trying to look anywhere else. His gaze found the bed, and he traced the pattern of the comforter with his eyes. He knew not answering was the same as agreeing to Gellert, but he knew trying to lie would be worse. Despite all Albus’ intelligence, the other man often rendered him dumb and desperate for answers.
A shiver ran down his body as he felt a breath fan over the back of his neck. A hand snaked its way around his middle, until it rested on his stomach. Albus moved his own hand to cover it, and their fingers laced together. Gellert made him touch starved in ways he had never felt before.
“Do you know what I see when I look into the Mirror of Erised?” Gellert said softly against his ear. Albus tensed, his own visions flashing across his mind. “I see you, by my side, tearing down this pathetic world, strong and powerful and forever mine.”
For a moment, Albus could see it, too. He and Gellert, bringing the world to its knees, and rebuilding a new one, together and never again apart. He shook his head as if to send away the vision.
“Do you know what I see?” Albus said.
“What?”
“Your old haircut,” Albus said. He laughed at Gellert’s annoyed huff.
Albus pulled out of Gellert’s grasp and moved towards the bed. He took a seat on the edge and patted the empty space next to him. “I have something for you,” he said.
“Oh?” Gellert replied, following after Albus and taking the offered seat.
From his pocket Albus pulled a chain, and Gellert’s eyes widened when it was held in front of him. Dangling from the end was a silver pendant with a yellow circle, and inside two red droplets of blood dancing around each other. As Gellert’s fingers brushed the metal, the two droplets spun wildly and then converged into one.
“I thought I had lost it,” Gellert said, running his fingers along the chain.
“You did lose it, technically,” Albus said. He leaned forward and placed the chain around Gellert’s neck, letting the pendant fall against his chest, back where it belonged. “You can imagine my surprise when Newt Scamander gave it to me. You underestimate him.”
Gellert tsked, frown deepening. “I don’t want to hear you go on about your little errand boys again, Albus. They wear on my nerves. Don’t think I will spare them just because you like them.”
“Is that jealousy I sense, Gellert?” Albus asked teasingly. “What was it you said to Newt when you were interrogating him in the Magical Congress? ‘What makes Albus Dumbledore so fond of you?’ Were you trying to perhaps get some tips from him?”
Gellert chuckled. “As if I need tips,” he said, and leaned forward, pressing his lips against Albus’ in a sweet kiss.
Albus melted under the touch, one of his hands reaching out to snag onto the collar of Gellert’s jacket and pull him closer. His mind was blissfully blank except for the soft pressure of lips against his, slightly rough yet wonderful.
They pulled away after a moment, Gellert looking smug. “You’re already fond of me,” he continued.
“Unfortunately,” Albus said. He reached out a hand and grabbed the pendant again, rubbing a thumb lightly over the surface. “Newt asked me if I could destroy it.”
“You certainly have the power,” Gellert said. His hand moved up, joining Albus’. “But you won’t.”
“I won’t,” Albus agreed. He closed his eyes, grip tightening on the pendant.
“You like the excuse.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, Liebling,” Gellert said. He moved forward and enveloped Albus in his arms. The professor fell into the embrace with no resistance, happy to once again lay his burdens on the shoulders of someone else. “You let yourself feel such guilt. It is okay to be selfish.”
“It wouldn’t hurt for you to feel guilty every once in a while,” Albus muttered into Gellert’s shoulder. “It might make me like you more.”
“I have no use for guilt. Regret is a weakness.”
Albus pulled back and narrowed his eyes at Gellert. “You have no regrets? About anything?”
Gellert shook his head. “I never said I was without regret, only that it is a flaw. In this world, you only get ahead if you don’t bother looking back,” he said. Gellert stood and removed his wand from his coat pocket, placing it on the bed.
Albus’ eyes were drawn like magnets to the Elder wand resting innocently on the sheets. He remembered his youth with Gellert, spent pouring over books on the roof of Albus’ family home, tracing the sketches of that wand with their fingertips, young and reckless and hopeful.
“Though as always,” Gellert continued, bringing Albus’ attention back to him. The man had shed his coat and scarf, and was slowly beginning to unbutton his shirt. Albus’ face began to flush. “You always find a way to make me feel terribly weak.”
Albus reached for his own coat to remove it, scarcely believing how easy it was for Gellert to make him forget every reason why he should leave. Before he could get far, Gellert reached forward and grabbed his wrists, stopping his progress.
“Let me,” Gellert said, pushing Albus back until he lay across the bed spread with Gellert hovering over him, stripped down to his slightly unbuttoned shirt and dress pants. Albus went without protest, always so quick to give into Gellert’s desires.
Gellert picked up the Elder Wand and traced the tip down Albus’ chest, making him shiver. Gellert’s mismatched eyes watched Albus’ face intently as he lifted the wand and flicked it, stripping Albus of his clothes between one blink and the next.
Albus couldn’t help the moan that tumbled out of his mouth, fingers twisting into the expensive bed sheets and back arching slightly at the thought of such a powerful wand being used for something so hedonistic.
“Not very romantic,” Albus teased, feeling suddenly breathless - it had been far too long since he and Gellert met like this.
“I know you didn’t come here for romance, Liebling,” Grindelwald replied, staring down at the stretch of Albus’ body like a man starved. “Too much sweetness would send you skittering back to your flock of sheep. I know you come to me,” Grindelwald trailed a hand down Albus’ naked chest, dragging a thumb over a sensitive nipple and earning a strangled gasp in return, “to turn that beautiful brain of yours off. You like it when I make you so mindless with pleasure, you don’t have to think of anything at all. Isn’t that right?”
When Albus didn’t respond, Gellert huffed and ducked his head down, dragging his wet tongue across the same nipple. Albus jolted upward, fingers instinctively going to Gellert’s hair to tug at the strands. The movement had his bare cock rubbing up against the front of Gellert’s pants and Albus whimpered, feeling his cockhead drag against the metal zipper with stinging pleasure.
In the real world, when it came down to it, Albus was more powerful than Gellert, even with the other man in possession of the Elder Wand - but in the bedroom, Gellert held all the power. It was an unparalleled high for Albus to not be the one in charge, to not have to make any decisions, just lay back and let Gellert drive him to newfound heights of ecstasy.
Gellert’s tongue laved over Albus’ chest, toying with one nipple, and then the next, until both hardened under the stimulation and Albus’ brain began to turn to mush. Albus lifted his bare legs and caged Gellert between them, trying to close the distance.
“Gellert,” Albus moaned, using his hold on Gellert’s hair to draw his mouth up until their lips hovered just centimeters apart. “Please. . .”
“You are always in such a rush, Liebling.” Gellert pressed their lips together, pushing his tongue into Albus’ mouth to draw out a choked off, shaky breath. His hands found Albus’ thighs on either side of him and grabbed them, stroking along the sensitive skin there with an expertise gained from years of learning exactly how to play Albus’ body like an instrument.
Gellert pulled his mouth back, ignoring Albus’ lips chasing after him, and kissed his neck instead, pressing his words underneath Albus’ jaw. “Why can’t I take my time enjoying you?”
Because the longer I spend with you, the harder it is to leave, Albus thought, but did not voice aloud. “You know why,” he said instead, petting through Gellert’s hair. “I’ll be missed. People will come looking. I can hardly go five minutes without the Minister banging on my door asking for advice on how to deal with you.”
“Let them wait,” Gellert said, tracing Albus’ cheekbone with his thumb. “The whole world can burn if it means I get more time to enjoy you like this.”
“Gellert,” Albus scolded with no real heat, turning his face away from Gellert’s touch.
Gellert sighed, knowing the argument was lost before it had even really begun. Albus had witnessed firsthand Gellert’s stubborn resolve, his drive, his endless desire to pursue what he wanted with a single-minded focus, uncaring of cost or consequence. But when it came to Albus, he gave in so easily, yielding in a way he never did with anyone else.
The knowledge of his influence over Gellert shouldn’t make Albus’ heart beat so wildly, body awash in a heady warmth and pride.
“You weaponize my fondness for you.”
“If only your little followers could see how easily you let me sway you,” Albus teased.
Gellert grinned, sharp and wicked, snaking his left hand around Albus’ thigh to slide between his cheeks, rubbing a dry finger over his hole. Albus twitched underneath Gellert, unconsciously pushing his hips down to chase the teasing sensation.
“My followers have never taken you here,” Gellert said in an intimate whisper, thumb pushing forward to test the resistance. “If they knew how sweet you open up, how well you take me, how your body aches to be filled. . .” The tip of his thumb slid inside, carving Albus open, the stinging pain making Albus moan and tighten around the digit. “How hungry you are. If they knew, they would also fall to their knees at your feet, begging for scraps of your attention.”
“Oh, is that the secret?” Albus panted, rocking down on Gellert’s finger. “I just let all your followers have me and that’s how I dismantle your entire organization? I’ll have to write a letter to the Minister to let him know.”
Gellert growled, a familiar spark of jealousy lighting up his eyes as another finger joined the first, dry and prying but so good it sent a rush of pleasure shooting down Albus’ spine. “No one will have you but me,” Gellert hissed through his teeth, twisting his fingers upward. “You are mine.”
“Yes,” Albus said, far too quickly, even knowing how dangerous it was to admit.
Even though he always ran, trying to keep out of Gellert’s influence and reach so he wouldn’t succumb to the easy temptation of throwing it all away, Albus knew his heart would always belong to Gellert. There had never been anyone else, would never be anyone else. No one else who had seen the dark loneliness settled like a shadow in his soul and instead of turning away in horror, embraced it. Who knew the worst parts of Albus’ mind and still wanted to hold him, to keep him.
Albus’ wand was still in his coat pocket, but he lifted his fingers and snapped, sending Gellert’s remaining clothes shooting off to fold themselves on a nearby chair. With his lover finally naked, Albus surged upwards, wrapping his arms around Gellert’s back and pulling them firmly together.
At the touch of skin on skin, they both moaned, instinctually rutting against each other in uncoordinated movements, desperate to chase the sensation. Gellert pulled his fingers free, ignoring Albus’ whine at the loss, and instead wrapped a hand around both their cocks, while his other hand grabbed Albus’ jaw, holding it still while he shoved his tongue inside Albus’ mouth.
They lost precious minutes to wet kisses and the drag of their cocks together, the heat between them building and building until Albus’ felt sweat beading along his hairline. He felt almost possessed, entirely out of touch with his body as his hands roamed Gellert’s back, nails digging and clutching on for dear life.
Gellert let go of their cocks and pulled their mouths apart, a strand of saliva tying their spit slick lips together until it finally snapped. Albus’ couldn’t help but stare as Gellert hovered over him, mouth bruised red from kissing, hair mussed, pupils blown wide, and chest heaving, every breath making the pendant rise and fall in a hypnotic rhythm. The two drops of their blood twirled happily inside of the yellow glass, merging and separating and spinning in a chaotic dance.
“Dirty trick,” Gellert panted, taking his own cock in hand and giving it a long stroke. “Using your gift for wandless magic for something so lewd. If only everyone who worshiped the ‘Great Albus Dumbledore’ knew how desperate you were to be dominated.”
With one hand, Gellert grabbed Albus’ thigh, spreading him wider, and with the other, he directed his cock down to Albus’ dry hole, running the head teasingly over the furled muscle.
Albus groaned and his nails dug bloody crescents into Gellert’s back, chasing the fog threatening to over take his mind as he sunk further into pleasure.
“You’d let me have you like this, wouldn’t you?” Gellert said, voice soft but laced with a lick of heat. “You would let me open you up with just my cock and nothing else. Your body is always so much more honest than your words, Liebling. I know it would let me in eagerly, spread wide to swallow me whole and then clamp down tight so I couldn’t leave.”
“Do it,” Albus said, embarrassment flooding his face red but leg lifting to try and pull Gellert closer. “Take me, I want you inside, please, Gellert, please.”
Gellert leaned down until their bodies were pressed together, moving his hands up to drag along Albus’ sides and then down to his hips, fingers twitching with the desire to grab. Albus turned his face towards the sheets, body tensing, as Gellert’s cock slid against his opening.
“Is it easier for you to forgive if it hurts, Albus?” Gellert whispered, moving his lips against Albus’ ear. “If I just take what I want, can you more quickly shed the shame of lying with me?”
“Gellert, I-” Albus began, and then stopped, words failing on his tongue.
Yes, but also no. He wanted it to hurt, to feel the ache in his body long after he left Gellert again, something he could cling to as tangible and real - proof this wasn’t all just a dream, a desperate attempt of his mind to sooth the aching loneliness present at the very core of his being.
And yes, he wanted it to hurt, to be able to pretend like this was nothing, that Gellert was simply using him for pleasure and discarding him, so Albus could pick himself up afterwards, brush himself off, and go back to rallying against Gellert in the real world without guilt eating him alive.
“It’s okay, Liebling,” Gellert said after a moment of tense silence, pressing a line of quick kisses down the side of Albus’ face. “I understand. You know I understand, more than anyone.”
Albus turned back to face Gellert, staring up at his eyes, full of so many different emotions it was hard to tell them all apart. He leaned forward, kissing him lightly, all the things he couldn’t say aloud shared in the movement of his lips and his shared breath.
“I understand,” Grindelwald repeated, hands moving back to their position on Albus’ thighs, spreading them wide. “But I cannot give you what you want.”
He slid back down, mouth scattering kisses across Albus’ chest, stomach, the tip of his cock, his balls, and down further, until he was eye level with Albus’ hole. Albus’ thighs twitched in his grip, but he held them firm.
“With me, you will feel nothing but overwhelming pleasure,” Gellert said, words thick with lust, as his face moved forward, breath ghosting over the sensitive muscle. “So when you leave here, and crawl back to your flock, you will hardly be able to sleep without thinking of how thoroughly I took you apart.”
The first touch of Gellert’s tongue against his hole made Albus whimper, body trying to twist away from the overwhelming sensation. Gellert did not allow him freedom, tightening his hold on Albus’ legs to make sure he could not escape. His devilish tongue licked a board stripe over the pink skin, lapping eagerly. He pressed his tongue against the tight opening, battling the resistance there while Albus moaned loudly, until he was finally able to slide inside.
Albus felt his magic crackling just under his skin, always so much harder to control when overwhelmed. He pounded his fists into the bedspread and threw his head back with a groan, unfocused eyes staring up at the ceiling while Gellert pried him open down below.
“Gellert!” he cried out, straining against Gellert’s hold, unsure if he wanted to pull his legs away or tighten them around Gellert’s head, making it so he couldn’t stop.
Gellert laid a kiss on Albus’ hole and then let go of one of Albus’ thighs to spread where he had been working him open, blowing a cool stream of air over the wet skin. Albus was wracked with a full body shiver, hissing at the feeling.
“You see how you are so honest here?” Gellert said, accent becoming more pronounced the more he became lost to his own pleasure. “How you open so beautifully, desperate to have me inside you, with you always?”
The fingers returned, this time wet with lubricant, and Albus shuddered again to know the most powerful wand in the world could be used for nothing more than to fulfil both their carnal desires.
Gellert pressed two inside, prying Albus open with gentle twists of his fingers, purposefully avoiding the spot he knew would make Albus see stars. “I would have you like this everyday, Liebling,” Gellert continued, driving deeper and deeper. “By day you use that magnificent brain to reshape this putrid world, and at night, I turn it to mush by taking you again and again until you can scarcely remember your own name.”
A third finger slid inside, driving Albus wild, soon followed by the return of Gellert’s tongue, lapping hungerily around his spread hole, dipping in between the gaps in the fingers to search out sensitive skin.
Albus’ cock jolted against his stomach, weeping a steady stream of precum, angry red and desperate for a release he knew would not come quite yet. He rocked his hips down again, spearing himself on Gellert’s tongue and fingers, wanting more and more and more.
“Gellert,” he begged, reaching down to claw at Gellert’s arm. “Please, please, ah, I need you. . .I need, oh Merlin, I need you inside. . .”
Gellert pulled out his fingers, gave one last long lick across Albus’ hole, and then crawled back up Albus’ body, caging him in with his arms. Gellert looked like he was starving, eyes drowning in a desperate hunger.
He spread Albus’ legs around his hips and settled between them like he belonged there. Gellert took his cock in hand again and directed it back to Albus’ hole, teasing the rim. “Albus,” he said, sliding his fingers into Albus’ hair to cradle the back of his head. “Tell me the words I want to hear.”
Albus shook his head, wanting to look away from Gellert’s heavy stare but unable to, trapped in the whirlwind of lust and love he saw inside.
“Tell me, and I’ll give you what you want. Anything you want.”
Albus shut his eyes, overwhelmed with the heady mixture of hatred and love he felt for the man above him - the man who knew his heart better than anyone else, but who used that knowledge to manipulate and pry, try and force Albus to admit things he could never say aloud.
He took a steadying breath and opened his eyes again, leveling Gellert with the most determined look he could muster, and shook his head firmly again.
Gellert let out a long breath and smiled despite the disappointment clear in his gaze. “Always so stubborn, Liebling. But I cannot fault it. You know I will give you whatever you want, regardless. I would deny you nothing, and certainly won’t deny myself the pleasure of your body.”
He moved his hips forward, piercing Albus with his cock in one smooth slide, grunting as Albus’ body tightened around him. Albus moaned as he was steadily filled, digging his fingers into Gellert’s hair and tugging hard. The stretch felt obscenely good, like Gellert was taking up every inch of his body, sending Albus’ thoughts scattering to the wind.
There was no greater pleasure than this, letting it all go, allowing Gellert to turn his mind blissfully blank and give up any attempts at being in control. Albus’ eyes threatened to roll back in his head as Gellert settled in the final inch, flush together. Gellert cussed lowly in German, pulling out slightly and then thrusting back in, before beginning a series of short, brutal thrusts.
After the first few, Gellert titled his hips and struck Albus’ prostate, making Albus cry out and his back bow upwards, chasing the feeling.
“Right there, yes?” Gellert muttered, slamming forward to torment the sensitive spot and grinding his cock against it. Albus’ eyes watered and the lights around them flickered wildly, surging brighter. “I can feel your magic all around us.” Gellert looked up, mismatched eyes glowing with wonder. “It’s beautiful, Liebling.”
Albus tried to reign his magic back in, but it was like trying to stop a rushing river with your bare hands. Gellert’s movements drove him to distraction, sending waves of warm pleasure across his body. The air between them crackled with power, like static, prickling their skin.
Gellert drew him into a messy, wet kiss, nothing but tongues and nipping teeth. Albus struggled to hang on, clinging to whatever part of Gellert he could reach, his arms, his hair, his back. He was finding it impossible to remember why this was a bad thing, why he let himself deny this pleasure over and over and over.
Why would he ever return to his own flat, empty and alone, fielding endless letters begging for his advice, or money, or for help, when he could be here instead, secure and held tightly in Gellert’s arms?
“Only I can make you like this,” Gellert said, pulling their mouths apart with a wet noise and pressing his cock firmly into Albus. “So wild, so unrestrained. We could have this always, Albus, if you would just give in.”
Albus tightened around Gellert, making him let out a deep moan and stutter his hips. He pulled Gellert down, tucking the other man’s face against the side of his neck, who eagerly took to the task of leaving a trail of stinging bites along the surface.
Albus didn’t want to talk, he just wanted to feel - let the pleasure overtake him so entirely there would be nothing left inside his brain but white noise and heat.
Gellert sat back after a minute, panting hard, and pulled his hips back, dislodging his cock. The entire bed frame shook with the force of Albus’ displeased cry, staring up at Gellert with a wild, furious stare.
“Liebling. . .”
Albus didn’t wait for however Gellert was going to tease him next, always so eager to prod and poke, pushing the limits of what Albus would tolerate. He surged forward and shoved Gellert back onto the mattress, climbing on top of his hips and wasting no time as he sank back down onto Gellert’s cock.
Gellert’s moan was loud enough to echo around the room. He grabbed Albus’ hips and thrusted up, hard, hilting Albus with every movement. Albus followed easily, matching the movements and grinding Gellert’s cock against his prostate, spreading his hands across Gellert’s chest. His fingers found the pendant, warm to the touch and humming with life.
One of the nearest lightbulbs brightened to a blinding level and then exploded, sending glass spraying across the floor. As Gellert picked up his speed, hips shoving up in a quickly devolving rhythm, more quickly followed, until the room was lit only by the fireplace on the far side.
“You are beautiful,” Gellert said, rubbing his hands along Albus’ toned thighs, nails catching and dragging against the hair. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Liebling. I want you more than anything in this world.”
Albus shut his eyes against the words, hips stuttering. “Please. . .” he choked out, unsure if the plea was for Gellert to be silent or never stop talking.
“Albus,” Gellert said softly, reaching out a hand to wrap around Albus’ cock and thumb at the head. “I love you.”
Albus seized around Gellert’s cock, vision going white as his orgasm ripped through his body. The fireplace surged with heat, flames shooting outward and scorching the carpeted floor. He might have screamed, but he could hardly tell, his ears ringing and his mind beautifully empty.
He distantly felt Gellert follow soon after him, slamming his hips upward and shouting out in German, and then warmth flooding his hole. Gellert collapsed back onto the bed, panting, and held Albus close, trailing his hands up and down his back with reverent touches.
Albus let his head fall onto Gellert’s chest, vision blinking back into focus to see the pendant glowing where it rested on sweat drenched skin. The two drops of blood had formed into one, thrumming with power. He closed his eyes again and pressed his face into Gellert’s body, breathing in his familiar scent as he came down from his high.
There was a few minutes of blissful silence, filled only with their steady breathing and the crackling of the fireplace. Albus already knew he was going to be pulling this moment and putting it in his pensive to play over and over whenever the loneliness threatened to overtake him.
It was Gellert who eventually broke the silence. “Will you stay?” he said, voice carefully neutral, but his wandering hands gave him away, caressing Albus’ skin with a fondness impossible to ignore.
Albus sighed and rolled off of Gellert until they lay side by side, at eye level with one another. Gellert didn’t let him get far, moving his arm to drape around Albus’ waist and drag fingers against his lower back.
“You know I can’t,” Albus said, moving a hand to trace along Gellert’s jaw. Gellert turned his face into the touch, searching for affection.
“Just for the night,” Gellert said, as close to begging as he ever let himself get. To see the most evil wizard of their time, the man who struck fear and terror into the hearts of so many, look up at Albus with a heavy desperation in his eyes, made Albus’ heart flip in his chest. “The world will turn without you for a few hours. I want you with me for as long as I can.”
“Gellert, if you would just. . .stop all this madness. Renounce your followers, this insane cause you are doing everything to pursue. . .maybe then, we could. . .we could go somewhere else, just us, where the Ministry won’t find you. Start over.”
Gellert took Albus’ hand and moved it to his lips, pressing a kiss onto the palm. “Liebling, you know I can’t. What I am doing. . .it’s too important.”
“What happened to you denying me nothing?”
Gellert smiled, eyes crinkling around the edges, more pronounced now in their older age than from Albus’ memories of their summer together so many years ago. “I give you an inch and you want the world.”
“I don’t want the world, I want you,” Albus huffed, scooting closer so their bodies pressed against each other.
“Perhaps I am too selfish,” Gellert mused, sliding a hand into Albus’ hair. “I want both. You, and the world.”
Albus laughed, despite himself, even as their quiet bubble of isolation threatened to pop underneath the looming threat of their lives outside this room. “I think we are just both too stubborn to ever agree.”
“Maybe a compromise, then, just for tonight,” Gellert said. “You can pretend I agreed to stop, and I can pretend you decided to join me. Either outcome would end with you staying here, in this bed with me. A white lie we can tell ourselves for a few more hours together.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Albus said, shaking his head, unable to stop the fondness alighting in his heart. “Fine, shall I go first? I’m renouncing my duties to the Wizarding World and joining your little cult. I’ll send an owl letting the Ministry know in the morning.”
“And I renounce my ‘little cult’,” Gellert said, eyes shining with mirth, “to run around with your flock to stop all the evils of the world, or whatever is you are trying to do. Are we agreed?”
“Agreed,” Albus said, then surged forward, capturing Gellert’s lips in a heated kiss that was quickly returned with enthusiasm.
And although it was all just a fantasy, a white lie they were telling themselves to keep the illusion of choice going, Albus couldn’t help but be happy in that moment, holding the love of his life in his arms, at least for a few more precious hours.
*