Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters get in.

Note: If you want me to answer a question you have to be logged in so I can contact you. Kaytee, Scorpius and Louis belong to Rowling so you can do with them what you want. Rorake is the only one that's mine.

How To Act

Stifling a yawn Albus slowly opened his eyes as he stretched out his arms and legs, his second yawn hard enough to slightly crack his jaw before he sleepily sat up and looked around him to take stock of the morning thus far. He wasn't surprised to see that everyone else was still asleep except for Louis, he was just surprised that he'd woken up before his alarm sounded. And since he'd rather not hear his alarm go off if it didn't have to Albus turned it off and then pushed back his covers, sliding off the bed and shuffling over towards his cousin with his hand over his mouth to stifle any more yawns. Climbing into his cousin's bed Albus settled onto Louis's pillow while he studied the blonde who was busy brushing his long, white blonde hair out, obviously ignoring him for a moment.

"You still mad at me?"

Glancing down at his cousin Louis only wished it was that easy to stay mad at Albus. "I'm going to spend weeks telling you 'I told you so' once this blows up in your face."

His lips twitching in amusement Albus wisely didn't allow his lips to curve into a smile. "If that's what you want then go ahead. IF it blows up in my face that is."

Louis rolled his eyes, pointing his brush towards Albus's head for emphasis. "The only way this isn't going to blow up in your face is if you mess this whole thing up before things get really sticky between you and Malfoy. Which okay, is a distinct possibility knowing you, but you do have his long term crush going for you which will make him put up with you longer than most."

Insult plain on his face Albus glared at Louis, completely awake now.

"Oh please, that wasn't a dig about your bad dating record. Well okay, it is a little, but I meant that you don't know how to date another guy and that's going to trip you up from the start."

"You don't exactly have any experience there either, now do you?" Albus shot back somewhat nastily. They both knew that Louis had been asked out plenty, but while the blonde would flirt with other men he always turned them down, stubbornly holding out for the Slytherin who more often than not seemed content to pretend Louis didn't even exist in his world.

"You really want to go there?"

Reading his cousin's face correctly Albus hunched his shoulders and shock his head.

"Smart man. Sometimes."

Biting back a resort to that Albus turned the conversation back to the important point. "Why would dating a guy be any different than dating a girl? I mean you'd think dating a bloke would be even easier given that we're so much easier to understand than girls."

"Hah, that's what you think." Louis almost felt sorry for him. He would, if not for the crack about his lack of dating experience and the fact that Albus had completely and totally brought this on himself. "You have no bloody idea what you're getting yourself into. You probably think you can just treat Malfoy like all your other girlfriends and that will be that. But it's not that easy. This is a whole other Quidditch game, Mate."

Uh oh, this didn't sound good.

Sitting up so that they were eye level Albus asked how things were different, prepared to give his cousin his undivided attention.

Where to start, Louis pondered, deciding examples were the best place given the circumstances. "Who's going to pay for wherever you go at Hogsmeade as a couple?"

Confusion on his face Albus opened his mouth to inform his cousin that of course he would be paying when the point registered. "I won't naturally pay because…because he's a guy too."

"Exactly. That's going to be the big thing, Al, the fact that you're used to being the guy in a relationship. You can't treat Malfoy like a girl, especially in public. He won't stand for it and you wouldn't take it in his place either. You've always gone out with girls who were on the quieter side, ones that didn't mind your dominate personality and habit of taking charge of things. And maybe Malfoy won't mind that to a degree, but you can bet all our bank vaults that he has too much pride and dominant genes of his own to let that go on too long. Heck, he might try and dominate you if given the chance."

Frowning, Albus considered this. He'd always had the upper hand with Scorpius before, but he'd basically invited the Slytherin to get up close and personal now and there was no way the man wasn't going to try and take advantage of that.

And wanting to scare Albus off his stupid plan Louis figured now was the time to hit his best friend with the most obvious problem. "And I don't just mean dominate you in terms of deciding where to go, how to spend your time, or who's paying for lunch, Al. I mean sex too. He's not a girl, Cous, he's not going to be shy about letting you know he's spent years salivating over the thought of getting you naked. Sure he promised to keep his hands above your waist, but he added that little clause as you'll recall for a reason. You'd be an idiot to think he won't exploit every chance he gets to touch and snog you, to tempt you to let him do more because we're guys and therefore obsessed with sex to an almost unhealthy degree. He'll be offering it, you know he will. And he might not be amendable to taking bottom either."

Every ounce of color drained from Albus's face even as he told himself that the sex issue wasn't an issue because he was never going to go remotely that far with Scorpius.

"I…I can handle it. I can. We're surrounded by dominant women in our family who always want their way. I know how to handle that sort of thing." Was what Albus finally managed to say when he was pretty sure he wouldn't stutter too badly.

Louis snorted. "Are you actually going to look me in the eye and tell me they haven't made us their bitches in the past when it suited them? We're so solidly under our mamans' thumbs at times it's a wonder we don't have back problems."

Okay ya, his female relatives might fit the female physical stereotypes, but when it came to their personalities they pretty much did as they liked and heaven help anyone that got in their way. He'd always been one of the few males in his family who wasn't attracted to ballbusters, and now he was involved with someone who actually had balls too.

Crap, this was going to be a lot harder than he'd thought, wasn't it?

"So how do gay guys figure the other stuff out, the paying dinner and making moves thing?" Baby steps, Albus told himself to fight back his panic. He'd started with baby steps and work up to the more…complex problems.

"How am I supposed to know, I don't date."'

"Okay…I deserved that."

Louis smirked and reached out to playfully ruffle Albus's hair, which was sticking out everywhere anyway. "Yeah, you did."

)

An hour later Albus stood with his back pressed up against the cool stone of the castle's wall, doing his best to ignore the looks he was getting from the Slytherins who'd noticed him as they came out of the passageway that led down to the Slytherin dormitories. Thankfully many of them were hardly awake so they paid him little notice, but he'd gotten more than a few dark, suspicious looks as well as some demands to know what he thought he was doing lurking in their territory. The fact that he wouldn't say why he was there other than to meet someone pissed a number of them off, particularly the Slytherin Quidditch players.

Glaring at the chaser before him, the man stubbornly refusing to back off until he got answers, Albus got right in the man's face in turn, not intimidated in the least. "I can damn well stand wherever the hell I want, Corvis. I'm not here to sabotage your team, it's not like we need any help beating you guys."

"We almost had you last game!" The Slytherin snarled back, still peeved at the fact that his team had been winning until Potter had gotten ahold of the snitch.

"As the saying goes, 'Almost doesn't count'."

That was all it took to send them both into a heated debate about whose team was better, the language and insults drawing quite a bit attention to them with a number of Slytherins stopping to listen and take offense to the Gryffindor's opinions. Especially since he was a Potter Gryffindor.

Thankfully a Slytherin who people tended to leave the hell alone opted to shoulder his way through the crowd and get involved, the Slytherin chaser clamping his mouth shut as soon as he locked eyes with his captain.

"Beat it, Corvis."

Beating it without a backward glance Corvis and pretty much everyone else headed towards the Great Hall, regretful that they couldn't watch the two captains go head to head but knowing better than to think Flint would tolerate them treating him like someone who was there for their amusement.

"Thanks, Flint." He had respect for his fellow captain, not to mention being a little in awe of him. No one messed with the sixth year, there was just something in his icy eyes that made you freeze under his gaze.

"I wouldn't have had to step in if you weren't trespassing on our turf and shooting your mouth off."

Albus thought about protesting his innocence but didn't see the point. "I'll be leaving shortly. I'm just waiting for someone."

Flint considered this, guessing the most likely candidate. "Malfoy?"

"Yup."

Since Malfoy wasn't on his team he didn't give a crap if Potter had finally snapped where the blonde was concerned, or if Malfoy had finally decided to settle for just being friends. But since he didn't want anything to happen to Potter that might prevent the man from competing against him once Quidditch started up again Flint announced that he would wait with the other captain, knowing his presence would have the other members of his house keeping their distance.

Not minding the company Albus was content to talk Quidditch with the other man until Scorpius finally came stumbling out of the passageway, his arms wrapped around his barely conscious roommate.

Acting on instinct Albus hurried over and took Rorake's other side, shifting the man's heavy arm over his own shoulder as he took on more than his fair share of the large Slytherin's weight, having more upper body strength than Scorpius. "What the heck's wrong with him?"

"He stayed up late last night. He'll wake up as we go." Scorpius answered from the other side, Rorake so big they couldn't see each other thanks to his bulk. "What are you doing here, not that I'm complaining."

"I came to walk with you to breakfast." Albus informed him as they started to move again towards the Great Hall, the Gryffindor suddenly remembering his manners enough to call out a good bye to Flint, telling him he'd see him later.

"If Goyle doesn't lose complete consciousness and squash you both like bugs." Was the Slytherin's response as he easily walked past them unhindered, amusement in his voice. "Later, Potter, you two."

Scorpius watched him walk off with a scowl before turning his attention to the fact that Albus had come to walk him to the Great Hall. "You didn't have to come all the way over here to walk with me. I always have Rory to deal with in the mornings and I can't imagine my housemates were that welcoming." He wanted to do some welcoming himself, but his hands were too damn full at the moment.

"So he's always like this? Why don't you just levitate him and carry him magically?"

"It makes him nauseated."

"Carrying him it is then."

"I can hear everything you guys are saying, you know." Rorake's voice was decidedly slurred and drowsy, but apparently he was with them somewhat.

Neither of them wanted a grumpy Rorake on their hands, so Albus and Scorpius opted to keep quiet up until they happened to run into a large group of Ravenclaws who were also on their way towards the Great Hall, two of them abandoning the rest to come over and investigate.

"Hello, Al, Malfoy, Goyle." The twins spoke in tandem, moving to match their step to Albus's as they walked at their friend's side. "Is he alright?"

"Just very, very tired. We can't levitate him because he gets airsick so to speak."

They considered this, sharing looks as they silently communicated with each other in the very cool but just a little creepy way they did. And coming to a conclusion the two nodded and then Lorcan drew his wand, using it to conjure up a large leather chair with wheels.

"That will make it easier, won't it?" Lysander asked as he grabbed the chair and wheeled it around and behind Rorake, Albus and Scorpius carefully setting Rorake down in it while the twins advised them as to how best to go about it. After that it was a simple matter of Scorpius and Albus pushing the chair, which was a lot easier on their backs and shoulders.

All three of them thanking the twins they resumed their walk towards the hall, Albus informing the two brothers that the reason he was with the two Slytherins was because he was dating Scorpius after they asked what had brought him to their side of the castle so early in the morning.

Both interested to see how the twins would react they were just as surprised Albus at their matter of fact response.

"We knew you were bi-curious." Lorcan said.

"Or are you just trying to prove to everyone that you aren't your father?" Lysander wanted to know.

"Or is it both?" They asked together.

Stumbling in reaction Albus would have tumbled if he hadn't had Rorake's shoulder to grab onto for support. Thankfully Rorake was shocked enough not to care that said shoulder was being dug into.

While Albus sputtered like an idiot, only half the words coming out of his mouth making any sense, Scorpius pondered what Lorcan had said. The twins thought that Albus was bi-curious? Because if that was the case…oh if that was the case, the Slytherin all but purred to himself, glad for the barrier his friend provided as a decidedly evil smile curved his lips.

"I'm…we're dating…that's it." Albus finally managed to get out, completely mortified by the situation and more than a little annoyed that Scorpius hadn't stepped in and spoken for him so that his stupidity induced rant got cut off.

"Okay." They chimed.

He was used to the twins being a little on the weird side, but still…"Okay? Louis and Lucy freaked, and Frankie thought Scorpius had doused me with a love potion and hauled my ass to the Med Wing. When I finally got it through his thick head that I was in my right mind he took to his bed and has now, apparently, taken ill."

"We just want you to be happy because we love you." Was their simple answer.

"Awwww, I love you guys too."

)

The closer they got to the Great Hall the more people there were staring and whispering around them. A number of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were in the know since Lucy and Frankie hadn't exactly been quiet while they'd freaked out over Albus's decision, and so the news was already spreading by the time they arrived to provide their viewing audience with some evidence that the rumors might actually be true.

"I feel like I should wave at them." Lysander observed, being stared at by association.

"It's like my first day here all over again." Which was not a day or feeling he'd wanted to go through again, Albus thought as he forced himself to look beyond the people, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Well it's freaking the hell out of me." He preferred to remain in the background as much as possible, and he was getting the fucking creeps being stared at by everyone. And on that note Rorake ordered them to stop pushing, getting out of the chair so that he could rise to his full height, therefore making the death glare he skimmed over the crowd staring at them that much more lethal.

Watching them instinctively shrink back a little Albus couldn't help but whistle in appreciation. "Man but I'm glad you and Scorpius are basically a package deal. That's going to make this so much easier."

Rorake would have scowled at the Gryffindor but knew Scorpius would make him pay for it later. So instead he turned his attention to the twins, thanking them again for the chair since it had been a lot more comfortable than having to listen to his best friend bitch about his weight and sleeping problems all the way to the hall.

"You're welcome." They chirped together, Lysander the one who made the chair disappear before they said their good byes and headed towards the open doorway leading into the hall.

Picking up on the fact that Rorake was still more than a little cranky Albus kept his good bye short before turning his attention to the man he had decided to date, the challenge in the Slytherin's eyes daring him to do something while they were surrounded by people waiting to see what would happen next.

Not wanting to encourage him too much Albus moved in close and while everyone watched pressed his lips against Scorpius's in the briefest of kisses, ignoring the gasps all around them. Lifting his head Albus smiled. "See you in class."

And on that note he headed out as well, making his way through the crowd without a backward glance.

Having a brief moment of clarity as he watched the Gryffindor go Rorake looked over at Scorpius in depressed resignation. "That little kiss just wiped out all the common sense I spent the night trying to drill into your head, didn't it?"

"Oh ya."

"Damn."