A/N: This was inspired by lonely hand's prompt: human and pairing: Albus/Scorpius in the Next-Gen Drabble Tag.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of its wonderful characters, they all belong to J.K. Rowling.
Scorpius smirks at him in the corridors, and gives him a knowing look.
Albus avoids eye contact, and keeps his head down. He hates that Scorpius knows his secret.
Scorpius loves knowing other people's secrets; he loves holding their secrets over them, it makes his own seem less...catastrophic.
Albus hates the way he feels inside, hates how his stomach knots whenever he sees that blond head, hates how his heartbeat triples whenever he catches that trademark smirk.
Scorpius shuts out the world, relying on other people's pains to avoid his own. He lives in a shell of ice, never admitting it to himself what he really feels. Scorpius won't admit that the one thing that could melt his ice shell is the boy he loves to pick on, the boy who's secret he uses to taunt the boy; the secret that is so very close to his own.
Albus hates that Scorpius is constantly tormenting him, but secretly revels in the attention the Malfoy boy is giving him.
Scorpius secretly pines for the boy whose life he makes miserable.
It is a chance meeting in the dead of night, both with the same ambition to get a midnight snack from the kitchens. Scorpius grabs Albus, and Albus is sure Scorpius is going to throw him against the wall or something, but Albus is surprised. When Scorpius' lips crash into his, neither boy can deny the fire behind it, the mutual longing for this moment.
It's dark, and I was half asleep, Scorpius tells himself later. He hates to think that he let his emotions get the best of him.
Albus still walks around school with his head down, and now the avoidance is mutual. There is no fairytale "we kissed so now we're going to live happily ever after together forever." They are only human, after all.
Thanks for reading, I'd love to know what you thought of it!