Lying naked next to a stranger can definitely throw a few things into perspective. Such as the dark pit of loneliness inside a soul that can only be filled by one person's presence. And how that pit can really grow when trying to take solace in another.

Sighing softly, Albus let his gaze just barely fall sideways to look at the man next to him. The stranger whose body did less for him that he had hoped. He certainly was fit and Albus had to admit that he was definitely into that type. The type who could pick him up and fuck him against a wall with hardly any effort. But everything about him was so different from Scorpius, this tryst really just ended up reminding him of how much he missed that. And thinking this only sent him down a spiral of memories he so desperately wished he could forget. Namely one in particular.

It was just after the funeral. Just after Albus had returned to school. He hadn't even mustered the wherewithal to attend classes yet; he had spent the last couple days merely wandering the halls or lying fully clothed on his bed in a ghost-like state. The news had long since sunk in, it just…didn't quite feel real yet. Like any moment Lily would pop around the corner, pulling off their dad's invisibility cloak with that dimply grin of hers. Cackling like a maniac.

"I don't think I tell people I love them enough," Albus muttered to Scorpius on one of the last nights he allowed himself to sulk. He was curled into his then-boyfriend's side, fingers just under his shirt. Just able to touch the pale skin of his stomach. They broke up just a few days later and Albus was well aware of this being the last time he was so sweetly intimate with him. "I don't think…. I don't think I told her that I, uh…loved her. Not enough. Do I tell you enough?"

Scorpius, as always, was gentle yet light-hearted in his response. "No, not really," he whispered back and Albus' heart started pounding. "No, I could probably count on one hand how many times you've said it."

"That can't-"

"Shh, let me finish." Ever so gently, Scorpius coursed his fingers through Albus' hair. A moment later, they were replaced with his lips. He pressed sweet kisses against the roots over and over again until Albus began to relax beneath him. "You don't say it but once in a blue moon. But the way you kiss me, Al…. Whenever you kiss me, I know you pour your heart and soul into it. Into me. You kiss me like you've never loved anything more in the world. Like I'm the only one in the world. You show it so well. You're so full of love; I don't see how anyone could think different. And you shower that on everyone. Not just me.

"She knew, Al. She knew you loved her. Anytime she needed you, you were there at the drop of a hat. Like that time she ripped her skirt in the middle of the Great Hall? You guys were fighting and still you were right at her side in a flash. You helped her out of there before hardly anyone noticed, your sweater around her waist. It's the little things, Al. It's the little things with you."

Smiling through the tears falling down his cheeks – they were always falling these days – Albus leaned up to give Scorpius one of those breath-stealing kisses. The ones that he put his entire self into. The ones that spoke for themselves when he just couldn't find the words. Which, to be honest, was most of the time.

Albus hadn't kissed Scorpius like that since that night. He had to wonder if he could still tell Albus loved him without those kisses. If he showed it well enough these days….

"Hey." Albus pulled himself violently from his own thoughts, whipping his head to the side. The stranger was awake, smiling at him like he was something special. For just a moment, his stomach fluttered and he allowed himself to smile back. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?"

"Nothing." Throwing memories aside, Albus pushed up from the pillow and closed the small gap between them. He captured the stranger's lips and felt him melting beneath. Felt him caving in to the heat of the kiss and wondering somewhere in the back of his mind if he could feel even an ounce of Albus' love in it. Or if, perhaps, that was something only Scorpius could feel.

Or, more than likely, something he reserved solely for Scorpius and Scorpius alone.