muggle!au

for the reserve league - captain, season 1, round 12, write about a first for your otp (first meeting)

for meet cutes day 1 - a always bakes a cake for new neighbors on their floor. b just moved in.

for 366 words - house

1131 words by google docs

Albus knocks on the door of apartment 3B and stands back. The cake in his hands is still warm, and he can feel it through the Tupperware. Usually, he goes all out and leaves it in the fridge overnight so he can frost it and leave some sort of nice message on it. Today, though, Albus isn't in the mood. He needs to go back to his apartment and sulk in private.

Unfortunately, he's known for making cakes for new residents, not sulking. The apartment complex he lives in is a cheap and small one. For most of the residents, it's their first apartment and they move out within a year or so. Albus has been living there for five years, though, and it was in his second year where he had decided to be a friendly neighbor and bake a cake for a new neighbor on his floor. Since then, whenever there's a new neighbor that moves in, Albus bakes them a cake.

This new person can't be an exception.

The new 3B opens the door, and Albus immediately regrets not waiting to ice the cake. Mister 3B is tall and lanky, probably around Albus' age, twenty-three, with a wispy blond beard growing, and blond hair that is almost glowing.

He's beautiful.

"Um," Albus says, as his new neighbor stares at him. He doesn't remember why he was here in the first place.

"Hello?" the man says, and Albus remembers the container he's holding.

"Welcome to the apartment," he manages to get out, holding forward the container. "I'm Albus. I made you a cake." The man looks taken aback for a second, but he composes himself quickly and takes the container from Albus.

"Thank you," he says, looking touched. "I'm Scorpius. Do you want to come in?"

Albus nods silently, and he follows Scorpius into the apartment. As he enters, he looks around, and the apartment is bare. He follows Scorpius into the cramped kitchen that's a mirror image of his, and Scorpius places the container on the counter and produces two paper plates and two forks from a cabinet.

"Would you like?" he offers, and Albus nods. Suddenly, he doesn't want to leave to his own apartment and sulk. He wants to stay here, with this Scorpius.

Scorpius hands him a plate with crumbled cake on it, and Albus follows him to the main room of his apartment. Scorpius sits down on the floor, criss-cross-applesauce, and gestures for Albus to join him.

"I haven't had any time to buy furniture," he says, and Albus nods, understanding, and sits down. When he first moved in, it took him months to get anything other than a bed.

"What brings you here?" Albus asks, taking a bite of his own chocolate cake as he zeroes in on a small crumb on Scorpius' cheek.

"I'm going to Hogwarts," Scorpius explains. The campus of Hogwarts is a ten minute walk from their apartment complex, and it's the reason Albus moved there in the first place — living on an apartment off-campus was much cheaper, and it was also cheaper than commuting from his parent's house an hour away.

"I go there, too," Albus says, pleased to have something in common with Scorpius — something that could potentially lead to them hanging out more. "What are you studying?"

"I'm trying to become a therapist," Scorpius says, and he finishes the last bit of his cake. "What about you?" he asks, setting aside his plate and his fork.

"Neurosurgery," he answers, and suddenly he's brought his mind back to the reason he didn't want to bake Scorpius a cake in the first place. Not even a cute guy could fix his mood.

"Wow, so he can bake and he's smart," Scorpius says with a lopsided smile.

Albus grimaces and looks down at his half eaten cake. "I'm failing about half my classes, so I'm not doing so well. I'm right on the verge of flunking out," he admits. Suddenly, he loses his appetite.

Albus places his plate on the floor, and his anxieties come rushing back to him. He had gotten a letter that morning from Hogwarts' administration telling him that he's one class away from flunking out of the school entirely. He's never felt so bad in his life, but going through medical school is harder than he had thought it would be. He's been doing it for a year and he's already doing terrible at it. When he had gotten his undergraduate, he had done fairly well. He wasn't anything exceptional, but he was okay. He thought he would be okay in his graduate classes as well, but Hogwarts' medical program has been — to put it lightly — kicking his ass.

Scorpius is silent for a few moments, and Albus gets the huge urge to leave. He has work he needs to catch up on, and sulking to do. Still, that would be rude, so he stays.

"Hey," Scorpius says, nudging Albus with his foot. Albus looks up, and Scorpius has stretched out his legs on the floor. He still has a smile, even though it's smaller now. "I believe in you," he says with a nod, which is strange. They don't know each other. All Albus knows is that Scorpius is cute, doesn't have furniture, and is going to be a therapist.

"Why?" Albus asks. If Scorpius is going to be a therapist, he might as well get some practice now.

"I'm pretty good at people," Scorpius says with a shrug. "I think you can stick at it and you'll get exactly where you want to go some day." Albus must look unconvinced, so Scorpius continues, "You brought me a cake. I moved in here knowing no one and feeling like it would be like that for a long time, but you proved me wrong. I don't think that type of person is going to flunk out."

Albus rolls his eyes with a smile. It's just a cake, really. Still, he appreciates the reassurance.

"You aren't going to get anything done if you sit around here all day," Scorpius says, getting up. He holds out a hand over Albus, and Albus accepts it, getting up as well. "Now, go, do your work," he says, dragging Albus to the door. "Visit me later."

Scorpius opens the door for Albus. Albus is about to leave, but he turns around in the doorway.

"Thank you, Scorpius," he says, and he doesn't really want to leave anymore. Scorpius is right though. He can bring himself up from this. He has work to do.

"Thank you," Scorpius replies, his smile going up to his eyes.

Albus leaves and walks down the hall to his apartment. He wonders how soon is too soon to bring Scorpius another cake.