Author's Note: This chapter is the climax of the story. No pun intended, but there is a fairly intense (though still T) sex scene in this chapter, so be aware. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
-SQ
Disclaimer: I am neither JK Rowling nor Anthony Rapp, therefore I own neither Harry Potter nor the song "Just Some Guy". I really love both though :)
Chapter Eleven: Just Some Guy
Albus felt rather self-conscious as he walked with Scorpius up the steps of a shiny metal building over which blazed the magenta words The Sentinel.
He had been rather amused to see that Scorpius had apparently kept up the habit of Muggle shopping that Albus had introduced him to way back when. The two young men had spent their afternoon hitting up some high class boutiques of the kind which Albus never would have set foot into alone in either the Muggle or wizarding worlds, and now Albus sported a tailor-cut dark green silk vest over a pale gold open necked linen shirt with elbow length sleeves. His trousers were black skinny jeans which he could literally feel showing off his ass. Beside him, Scorpius looked completely at ease in a thin, dark gray, form-fitting, collared woolen sweater which reached three quarters of the way down his thighs and buttoned on the side with large silver buttons. He too was wearing skinny jeans, but his were a pure, eye-aching white. A dark blue ribbon secured his long pale locks out of his face and a paler blue stone glinted from a thin silver chain encircling his throat. It was hard to imagine that this confident, collected man had ever been the insecure, clingy boy Albus had known at Hogwarts. It was obvious now that Scorpius needed to rely on no one but himself.
"Relax, Albus," said Scorpius, grabbing Albus's fidgeting hands and moving them away from the golden buttons on the front of his vest, "you look fine, stop fussing."
"Is this really how people dress when they go to these places?" asked Albus.
"Yes, Albus." Scorpius reassured him with a laugh. "This is really how people dress when they go to these places. How long has it been since you've been clubbing?"
"Er..." said Albus.
Scorpius looked at him.
"You have been clubbing, haven't you?"
"Of course!" said Albus in an offended tone.
"How many times?"
"Er—once?" offered Albus. "Since when are you the clubbing type anyway?"
"Since one of my boyfriends introduced me to it a few years back," said Scorpius. "Unfortunate for him, seeing as I met the guy I dumped him for at one of the clubs he took me to, but there you go. Come on, we're wasting time, let's go in."
The two men climbed the steps and handed their money to a burly and bored looking security guard before stepping into the bar.
The inside of the club was as metallic as the outside, with multicolored lights making the silver walls and furniture glow like some sort of neon rainbow. The bar was on the far wall, tended by several witches and wizards between the ages of twenty and thirty who wore clothing designed to entice without being indecent, a definite improvement on the scandalous attire found on the barmaids in the few straight oriented bars Albus had visited. The dance floor was full of witches and wizards moving and mingling to the music provided by a live band of transvestites performing surprisingly good covers of Weird Sisters songs from an elevated stage.
"What do you think?" asked Scorpius over the noise, sliding himself onto a barstool and motioning over a bartender who was incredibly cute in a boyish way.
"I like it," said Albus. "Do you come here often?"
"Oh, sometimes," said Scorpius, shrugging. "It's my favorite place, but it's no fun to come alone so I haven't been in a while."
"What can I get you two hunks?" asked the bartender, leaning his elbow on the counter and flashing them a smile.
"A vodka tonic," said Scorpius. "Make that with Absolut Ruby Red."
The young man nodded at Scorpius, offering him a conspiratorial wink with one blue eye, and then looked questioningly at Albus.
Albus eyed the bottles of alcohol behind the counter. He usually did most of his drinking at family gatherings, not a bars, and he didn't have the remotest idea of what to choose.
"Er—I dunno..." he looked at Scorpius. "I'll just have what he's having."
"Two Absolut Ruby Red vodka tonics coming right up," said the bartender and swept around to prepare the drinks, swinging his hips so that his low-slung jeans revealed an enticing slice of bony hip.
*****LA*****
A while later—Albus and Scorpius were enjoying their second round of drinks—Albus felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, Mr. Wallflower, I haven't seen you out on the dance floor yet. Have a problem with the music?"
"Erm—no—I just—" stuttered Albus, feeling like a complete idiot.
The speaker, a tall redhead with a lithe, muscular built and heavy violet eyeliner laughed. "Then what are you waiting for?"
Albus found himself glancing at Scorpius, as though he needed the blonde's permission to go with this man.
"Go, go!" said Scorpius, pushing him from his chair. "Have fun! That's what you're here for!"
Albus stood and the redhead quickly pulled him away from Scorpius and into the crowd.
Albus had to admit his new acquaintance was a good dancer—much better than Albus himself, that was for sure. His arms circled first Albus's neck and then his waist as he shifted his weight back and forth, bending Albus first forward and then backward, all the while grinding their hips together just enough to be sensual.
From the bar Scorpius watched the sexy, eyeliner-sporting newcomer dance with Albus and ordered himself another drink. How long were the two going to dance together anyway? As if on cue, the song ended and the tall redhead passed the shorter boy off to another partner, but somehow this didn't make Scorpius feel any better.
Scorpius cursed himself for being jealous of the other men (how many was he going to dance with anyway?) Albus was dancing with. They were friends (he could call them that by now, right?), that was all, and if he had wanted to dance with the other man he should have bloody well asked him! It was the alcohol making him think such ridiculous thoughts, Scorpius decided, taking another large sip of his tequila sunrise, definitely the alcohol.
*****LA*****
Albus returned an indefinite amount of time later, flushed and panting, to find Scorpius staring blearily into space over a half-empty glass of something green and bubbly.
"Scorpius?"
Scorpius blinked and turned his bleary gaze slowly to Albus, squinting to bring the other man into focus.
"You're back," he slurred, a goofy grin adorning his features. "Have fun?"
Albus eyed the man sitting in front of him. "Scorpius, how many drinks have you had?"
"This is my..." Scorpius counted on his fingers "f-fourth I—hic!—think," he said.
"And you're already this pissed?" said Albus. "Merlin, Scorpius, I knew you had a ridiculously low alcohol limit when we were at school, but I thought by now you would have built some tolerance."
"Nope," said Scorpius cheerfully, swaying slightly and catching himself on the edge of his seat. He reached for his glass, but Albus quickly moved it out of his reach.
"Oh no, I'm taking you home," he said firmly, sliding his arm under the blonde's armpits and hoisting him up.
Scorpius stumbled and then found his feet but Albus kept a firm arm around him as he steered him toward the door.
"Now, where do you live?"
Scorpius shrugged good-naturedly. "Don't—hic!—really remember. Downtown...somewhere..."
"Oh Merlin," said Albus. "Can't you even remember your own address?"
Scorpius screwed up his face in concentration. "Maybe...something with a four...yes, definitely a four..."
"This is hopeless," said Albus. "I'll just take you back to my place and you can tell me where you live in the morning when we're you're sober. Though you're going to have one hell of a hangover."
*****LA*****
Albus, who was none too sober himself, opted to take a taxi back to his flat rather than risk trying to Apparate.
Once there he was presented with an unforeseen problem: there was only one bed. Resigning himself to sleeping on the couch—which was not a futon—Albus left Scorpius, who had by now sobered up enough to at least not be a physical danger to himself or any of Albus's belongings, to settle himself in Albus's bed while Albus readied the couch, confident that he was drunk and tired enough to fall asleep anywhere, even an uncomfortable sofa.
*****LA*****
Twenty minutes later, showered and dressed in the much more comfortable outfit of nothing but his boxers and open bathrobe, Albus, his arms full of blankets to try and make the couch at least marginally more comfortable, made his sleepy, drink-groggy way from the bathroom to the living room.
Albus's bedroom, which was currently occupied by a most-likely already passed out Scorpius, was in between these two points, and as he passed by the door he half-glanced in that direction. What he saw made him stop dead as though he had walked into a wall—a very solid, rather painful wall.
The door was ajar and Scorpius, who was not passed out, was standing casually in the middle of the room, wearing not a stitch of clothing, looking like the some resplendent Grecian statue.
All coherent thought fled Albus's alcohol muddled brain. The blankets fell from his arms onto the floor and his feet took him over them and into the room quite of their own accord.
Scorpius started slightly at the noise and looked up. From the look on his face he hadn't been expecting the encounter any more than Albus had.
"Albus? You look as though you've seen a ghost."
"Not a ghost," said Albus breathlessly. "An angel."
Scorpius looked confused for a second and then glanced down at his own naked body, flushing a becoming shade of pink.
"Oh...I hadn't realized..."
"I should...go now..." said Albus, making no move to do so.
Scorpius nodded and then shook his head. He looked confused again for a moment and then took a step toward Albus.
"You're gorgeous," he breathed, now close enough to reach out and touch the other man, though he did not.
"Me?" Albus managed, still unable to take his eyes off of Scorpius's perfect body.
Scorpius nodded and took another step forward so that they were nearly chest to chest. Albus could smell the aroma of sweat and alcohol and heady maleness that rose in a cloud around Scorpius as thick as perfume.
"I couldn't take my eyes off you all night," said Scorpius.
Now Scorpius did touch him, lightly, on the exposed skin of his chest, still slightly damp from his shower.
Albus shivered.
"Are you cold?" asked Scorpius.
"No," said Albus. "Are you?"
"No," said Scorpius.
Albus grazed the hairs on Scorpius's forearm with his fingertips.
"You have goosebumps."
Scorpius trailed his own fingers down Albus's chest to his stomach.
"So do you."
Albus felt his stomach clench as he swelled inside his boxers; involuntarily he gripped Scorpius's arm.
Scorpius bent his face into the crook between Albus's neck and shoulder.
"We shouldn't be doing this," he said huskily. "I'm drunk."
"So am I," said Albus, as though that somehow made it alright.
After that all talk ceased. Scorpius closed the last millimeters of distance between their bodies, Albus somehow managing to shuck his robe and boxers in the process. Their mouths found each other and worked with a passionate frenzy matched only by their hands as they worked their way down each other's naked forms, exploring flesh that was at once intimately familiar and completely new. Albus fisted his hands around Scorpius's butt cheeks, digging his fingernails into the soft, supple flesh. Scorpius responded by shoving Albus up against the bedroom wall, his own hands sliding between them to fondle the shorter man's erection while his mouth worked its brutal way down Albus's neck to his nipples.
The two fell sideways onto the bed, heedless of the tangle of blankets they shoved unceremoniously to the floor in favor of more working room. Scorpius's mouth continued its journey downward until it took the place of his hands, and Albus strained against him, moaning in pleasure. It had been far too long since he had last had someone else in his bed, and even longer since that someone had been another man. In fact, the last time he had been with someone else of his own gender he had been fourteen...
He rejected that train of thought as irrelevant to the matter at hand, and opted instead for shifting his position so that he could penetrate Scorpius with his recently liberated member.
Scorpius cried out in exhalation as the two men came together, his palms pressed flat against Albus's sculpted abs. This was surely what heaven felt like, he thought as their two spent bodies relaxed as one against the sheets.
Albus's arms felt strong and protective around Scorpius's waist, and his lips still brushed lingering, lazy kisses against his shoulder.
"That...was...wonderful," whispered Albus between kisses. "You're...perfect... Just how I remember you...only a thousand times better. Stay here forever...and nothing will ever harm you ever again."
"I'll stay as long as you want me to," said Scorpius, drowning in the low, mellow tones of Albus's voice, hardly even aware of what he was saying. "I love you. I'll never leave you."
Words he'd said to half a dozen other guys in the past five years, and yet they felt as new as the first time he had uttered them. To Albus, he realized.
"How did I get here?" he wondered aloud, lifting himself up slightly to look at Albus's face. "How in Merlin's name did I get so lucky? I didn't do anything. I've tried so hard over the past five years to find something, someone, and now, when I didn't try at all, this happens."
"You always did try too hard," murmured Albus. "And besides, I'm nothing special, I'm just some guy you used to know a long time ago."
Scorpius rolled over and stretched out on his back, raising his arms above his head and smiling sincerely up at Albus. Albus couldn't help but leaning down to steal another kiss.
"I love you," said Scorpius into Albus's mouth, hands stroking the dark-haired man's tanned skin, brain buzzing with adrenaline and alcohol. "I love you, I love you, I love you..."
Albus laid his cheek against Scorpius's chest, head suddenly too heavy to hold aloft, and ran his fingers through Scorpius's silky hair, watching Scorpius's shining silver eyes with sleepy wonder.
He moved his hand down from Scorpius's hair to his heart.
"I've found my safe haven..." he murmured drowsily, too tired to care if he sounded stupid or sappy, "right here... How was I ever lucky enough to find you again? So...easily."
Scorpius shrugged a shoulder and closed his eyes, savoring the feeling of Albus's fingers in his hair, still familiar after all these years. "No particular luck. I'm no more special than anyone else. Just another guy. You're Albus Potter, you could have anyone. "
"Because my father's famous."
"No, because your heart is so big, your mind's so alive. You're more passionate and free spirited and open minded than anyone I've ever known. You have the vision and drive to take whatever you want, and you use it to give instead. You helped me to heal once when we were barely old enough to understand what was going on, and now you've helped me again to realize that I've been living in a rut."
He closed his eyes again, exhausted after his little speech, unwilling to think any more past the bliss of this moment.
"Right now I'd go to the end of the world with you if you asked me to."
Albus too closed his eyes, and sensed rather than heard or felt Scorpius breathe in his scent as he was breathing in Scorpius's. The blonde's thin fingers traced manicured nails over the exposed skin of his back. As Albus began to doze off the only thought in his head was that he hoped this feeling wouldn't die, because he was sure he was happier now than he had ever been in his entire life. Scorpius could say whatever he wanted about being just another guy like anyone else, Albus knew he was surely an angel sent down from heaven; a thousand times more...more...just more than anyone else in the entire world.
And mine, all mine...
*****Song Lyrics*****
So he's holding me in his arms
And he's giving me sweet little kisses
And he's telling me he'll never harm me
And he's whispering how wonderful this is
And I tell him that I love him
And I tell him I'll be true
And I've said these things to other boys,
but right now the old words feel so new.
And I ask him, how did I get so lucky, I didn't even have to try.
I don't know, he says, I'm nothing special,
I'm just some guy.
And he's smiling like he means it
And he's stretched out on his back
And he's telling me that he loves me
for the fifth or the sixth time, I can't keep track.
And I watch his eyes as they shine,
run my fingers through his hair
And I touch his chest where his heart is
and tell him I find safe haven there.
And I ask him, how did I get so lucky, I didn't even have to try.
I don't know, he says, I'm nothing special,
I'm just some guy.
And I say, your heart is so big, and your mind's so alive.
You have passion and freedom and vision and drive
You have so much to give and you give it with care
You have helped me to heal and there's nowhere I won't go with you
And he's holding me now even tighter
And he's breathing me in
And he's telling me now that he loves me
And he's tracing his fingertips over my skin
And I'm happier now than I've ever been
And I'm hoping this feeling won't die
And if he says he's just some guy that's fine
the truth is he's mine.
My sweetheart, my love, sent down from the sky
So very much more than just some guy.
AN: So...*grin* what'd you think? About the bar, the reunion, the sex scene, the chapter in general, really, I'd like to know. This is the second chapter that has a large chunk that doesn't really pertain to the song, and the first where I tried to follow the song lyrics more or less in order. There is one more chapter after this and then it's over, so review while you can! ;)
-SQ