p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Here's the thing—he thought he could be the king. He was wrong./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius had underestimated this whole ordeal. It was nothing like he'd imagined, but of course his imagination was full of a romanticized picture of how threesomes really worked. He'd never stopped, not even for a moment, to contemplate the fact that, perhaps, feelings of jealousy and envy would grow. Scorpius never stopped to think that maybe three Slytherins trying to share each other was a disaster just waiting to happen./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"It didn't help that two of those Slytherins were brother and sister. Yes, Scorpius had not thought this through at all. How ironic it was that they were standing on the ruins of a fallen empire when their own unraveled beneath them./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Lily Luna didn't want to do it anymore./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;""I can't. I can't continue to sneak around. I want a family! I want to settle down! For Merlinsake, I want someone I don't have to share!" Lily shouted. She could not look either of them in the eye. It hurt too much for her to watch this fall apart. They'd always been LilyScorpiusAlbus. There hadn't been any space between them since they were 14, Lily younger than that. "I can't," she repeated, softer. Her voice cracked./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius blinked. They'd never had any issues with sharing each other. He didn't understand where this was coming from. "Why?" It was all he could manage. He knew if Lily was out, Albus would follow. That was how it'd always been. If Scorpius was the king of their group then Lily was definitely the queen./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Lily stared at him for a moment, then her eyes flashed towards Albus. She turned and apparited away from both of them without a word./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"The silence was heavy on Scorpius' chest. Blinking away tears of frustration and anger and, perhaps some sadness, he turned to Albus. It was all falling apart and all he could do was watch. Some leader he was. "Why?" He echoed, his voice louder, demanding./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Albus sighed and pushed his glasses further up his nose, a tick of his triggered by anxiety. He lowered his head, black shaggy hair falling into his eyes. "She's in love with you. We both are."/span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"With that, Albus turned and disappeared as well, leaving Scorpius alone on the ruins of an ancient city with his thoughts as his only company. Scorpius had imagined Babylon had been beautiful once—brick walls build high and towering palm trees—but it had fallen. It was an age old story, but it felt familiar in the sense of metaphors./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius couldn't choose between the two. Not only would it ruin his friendship with the other, but he was in love with both of them. He couldn't choose./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius never thought he'd have to./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"As it turns out, he didn't. They'd made the decision for him. They wouldn't have him, and he wouldn't have either of them. /spanspan style="max-height: 999999px;"Being king wasn't as wonderful as Scorpius had pictured./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"The problem was he never thought his empire would fall./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius had underestimated this whole ordeal. It was nothing like he'd imagined, but of course his imagination was full of a romanticized picture of how threesomes really worked. He'd never stopped, not even for a moment, to contemplate the fact that, perhaps, feelings of jealousy and envy would grow. Scorpius never stopped to think that maybe three Slytherins trying to share each other was a disaster just waiting to happen./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"It didn't help that two of those Slytherins were brother and sister. Yes, Scorpius had not thought this through at all. How ironic it was that they were standing on the ruins of a fallen empire when their own unraveled beneath them./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Lily Luna didn't want to do it anymore./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;""I can't. I can't continue to sneak around. I want a family! I want to settle down! For Merlinsake, I want someone I don't have to share!" Lily shouted. She could not look either of them in the eye. It hurt too much for her to watch this fall apart. They'd always been LilyScorpiusAlbus. There hadn't been any space between them since they were 14, Lily younger than that. "I can't," she repeated, softer. Her voice cracked./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius blinked. They'd never had any issues with sharing each other. He didn't understand where this was coming from. "Why?" It was all he could manage. He knew if Lily was out, Albus would follow. That was how it'd always been. If Scorpius was the king of their group then Lily was definitely the queen./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Lily stared at him for a moment, then her eyes flashed towards Albus. She turned and apparited away from both of them without a word./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"The silence was heavy on Scorpius' chest. Blinking away tears of frustration and anger and, perhaps some sadness, he turned to Albus. It was all falling apart and all he could do was watch. Some leader he was. "Why?" He echoed, his voice louder, demanding./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Albus sighed and pushed his glasses further up his nose, a tick of his triggered by anxiety. He lowered his head, black shaggy hair falling into his eyes. "She's in love with you. We both are."/span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"With that, Albus turned and disappeared as well, leaving Scorpius alone on the ruins of an ancient city with his thoughts as his only company. Scorpius had imagined Babylon had been beautiful once—brick walls build high and towering palm trees—but it had fallen. It was an age old story, but it felt familiar in the sense of metaphors./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius couldn't choose between the two. Not only would it ruin his friendship with the other, but he was in love with both of them. He couldn't choose./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"Scorpius never thought he'd have to./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"As it turns out, he didn't. They'd made the decision for him. They wouldn't have him, and he wouldn't have either of them. /spanspan style="max-height: 999999px;"Being king wasn't as wonderful as Scorpius had pictured./span/p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"span style="max-height: 999999px;"The problem was he never thought his empire would fall./span/p