Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters end up in. Hope you like this little story of mine!

Step Four

After thoroughly drying himself off Alexei stepped into his trousers and zipped and buttoned them into place. He hadn't bothered to bring his shirt into the bathroom with him since he saw little point in wearing it until all the lost buttons from it were located. He'd look for them after he got some food in his stomach.

Wearing nothing but the trousers Alexei borrowed a comb to slick back his black hair, not surprised that Hugo didn't possess anything resembling hair gel for him to use. The Gryffindor pretty much let his curls do whatever the hell they wanted unless someone else made him do otherwise. And since he rarely needed to shave that wasn't an issue either, Alexei absently thought to himself, a small smile curving the Slytherin's lips at his next thought. Because as it turned out Hugo wasn't the only one bearing visible marks from the night before. He'd discovered whisker burns in some very interesting places while he was showering and intended to keep the marks on his skin as handy proof that he and Hugo were sleeping together.

Plus he seriously loved the beard. There were no words.

Not that he had any intention of telling Weasley that, though the genius had probably already figured it out, Alexei thought as he left the room and stepped into the hallway. He didn't smell breakfast when he headed in the direction of the kitchen so he wasn't all that surprised to see that the food set out on the counter consisted of two kinds of cereal, some cut up fruit, toast, stuff to put on said toast, and milk and juice. Naturally he couldn't cook either, that was what his house elf was for, so Alexei didn't complain and simply loaded up his plate. There were bound to be plenty of other things to get peeved about before the meal was over. Though maybe if Hugo kept silent they'd be okay given that the other man was looking rather yummy with his sleep tousled curls, glasses, and the baggy pajama bottoms that were riding low on the Gryffindor's hips.

"Do you need those glasses or don't you?" Alexei asked as he took a seat across from Hugo, who of course hadn't touched his food yet because he'd been waiting for him.

"Just for reading still, but I forget I'm wearing them most of the time." Hugo motioned towards the newspaper beside him. "Any particular section you want?"

Shaking his head the Slytherin dug into his food, the two eating in silence for several minutes before Alexei pointed towards the simple tee Hugo was wearing with his fork. "Do you need help dealing with the bruises?" Normally he would have never offered to help the Gryffindor, but he didn't want to see those marks later. That would definitely kill the mood for him.

"No, I'm very good at removing them, but thanks for asking." Smiling Hugo thought about reaching out to pat Alexei's hand but wisely reconsidered. "I wouldn't have thought they'd bother you so much. Didn't your previous bed partners look a little worse for wear in the morning too?"

"None of them bruised as easily as you. Don't the idiots you date dislike seeing you look like that?"

"Oh it's very rare that I get bruised with anyone else except for the occasional love bite." Was Hugo's matter of fact response as he smiled a secretive little smile. "There's really no comparison."

Okay…that sounded like a dig against him, but he'd spent a large chunk of the night and morning hearing the other man begging him for more sex of the dominating sort. It also made him think of an incident that had happened a couple years ago where he'd had the misfortune to be sitting in a booth placed beside one containing a number of idiots, one who was dating Hugo. He hadn't been eavesdropping, he'd had better things to do, but they'd been obnoxiously loud and he'd happened to overhear the guy sleeping with Weasley say something about how Hugo was sweet and cuddly when it came to sex. At the time he'd laughed his head off at the very idea, assuming that the man wasn't actually sleeping with the Gryffindor and just wanted his friends to think so, but…

"Are you saying I'm the ONLY man you've slept with recently that's properly fucked your brains out?"

"Pretty much."

"What the hell?"

Hugo sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "You know how most people see me. That's how they expect me to be in bed too. I'm lucky to get PG13 dirty talk."

Okay, he had no idea what PG13 was, but he was pretty sure he understood what the Gryffindor was implying from context and tone of voice. "How could they…do you deliberately date men with the intelligence of trolls? For Merlin's sake, you have the biggest brain in the United fucking Kingdom. Of course putting mental images into that head of yours works better than physical foreplay. Hell, I've made you come from words alone."

Hugo's sigh was dreamy now. "Yeah, I know."

"Why the hell don't you tell them what you want to hear, you idiot?"

So he'd gone from having the biggest brain in the United Kingdom to an idiot in the space of seconds. Smiling ruefully at the thought, Hugo pointed out that if he had to ask to be dominated or talked to like a man…well that totally killed the whole mood for him. Not that he hadn't tried to carefully steer some in that direction, but apparently he was just too cute to properly dominate in all but Alexei's mind. In the end he'd just had to accept that fact, especially since he didn't want to damage the sexual egos of any of the men he slept with. Everyone knew the male ego was a lot frailer than a woman's.

"No wonder your relationships never go anywhere."

"It's certainly a contributing factor, yes."

)

Hugo had had a little mental debate with himself while he was throwing together breakfast, distracting himself from thoughts of joining Alexei in the shower had seemed wise, and having reached a decision decided to pose the question he'd asked the night before and hadn't been sufficiently answered. It was the Weasley in him, his curiosity just had to be appeased or it would eat at him for the foreseeable future. He had to risk asking.

And Alexei was too pigheaded not to continue with his plan, Hugo reassured himself, so odds were things wouldn't end between them no matter what he said. Oh please let this not ruin his chances with Alexei, for the love of Merlin. "Alexei…I still don't see how you think you can convince people we're dating for real. Our public history is too well known. What's your plan? I can't help you if I don't know."

"I don't need your help."

"Obviously you do, since we're pretending to date each other for your revenge, remember?"

Hugo wasn't surprised when the Slytherin rolled his eyes.

"You think it's a stupid plan, right?" Alexei waited until Hugo reluctantly nodded before continuing. "And therein lies the brilliance of said plan. It's such a stupid, cliché, brainless form of revenge that no one, once they use what little intelligence they have, will believe that someone of my evil brilliance wouldn't be able to come up with a better plan. And who in their right mind would believe I'd whore myself just to embarrass my family? No one else knows how hot we are in bed together, they won't realize that I see that as the lone benefit of this agreement besides the payback. Plus, for your information, this is only part of my plan."

"Oh." Mulling that over Hugo had to admit that the other man had a point. Alexei really had screwed his brains out apparently, he should have thought of that angle earlier. Though that last part had him worried, especially since he still couldn't see this plan thing working regardless. "What else are you going to do?"

"None of your nevermind."

"Well then what's our cover story for getting together? I mean people aren't going to believe you came into the pub last night, saw me, and fell hopelessly in lust with me despite the fact that you came in royally peeved and looking for trouble."

Okay, that they did need to discuss, Alexei acknowledged. "We'll say we were together before that. Be honest why I was mad last night, everyone knows I don't get along with my family."

"Are we going to admit to the fact that we were together at school?"

Hugo watched the Slytherin consider this, not adding his own comments since he was pretty split on the idea himself. On the one hand it would give their sudden relationship some much needed foundation, and it would be nice to have it in the open, but on the flip side those months with Alexei weren't ones he was particular proud of since he'd spent them lying to people about what he was doing and basically allowing Alexei to turn him into the Slytherin's dirty secret. Alexei hadn't been seeing anyone then, but he'd felt like the man's mistress.

It was not a situation he would ever allow himself to be put in again.

"That would make people believe us faster…but that would be one more thing we'd have to convince them of. As it is I still can't believe you managed to hide it given what a crappy liar you are."

"If I'm such a crappy liar then why did you ask me to play your lover in this scheme of yours? There are other men out there your family doesn't like either."

"Because if I had sex with any of them I really would be whoring myself to get back at my idiot family and that's so not happening. You're different."

He wanted to ask how he was different, oh he wanted to ask, but he knew better than to think he'd get a straight answer, and so Hugo opted to just be happy that Alexei was so willing to admit their attraction for each other this time around. Maybe absence really had made Alexei fonder of him.

They slipped into silence for several minutes before Alexei commented that maybe Hugo was right about them admitting that they'd been involved before. What he didn't say was that the reason the idea was beginning to appeal to him was because in a week his Quidditch team was going up against the Chudley Cannons and Hugo had dated the team's keeper four years ago. Imagining the other man's reaction to learning he'd had Hugo first amused Alexei greatly.

"So we're going to say that we were secretly dating back then and you recently asked if I was interested in going out with you again?"

"Please. Like I'd ever come crawling back. You showed the interest in a repeat because the guys you date are so crappy in bed and I said yes. We can say that that's how I knew where you were last night, that we'd arranged to meet there after dinner to discuss the whole thing."

"You won't say that about the other guys I've dated." Hugo's voice took on just a hint of warning. "If you do I won't confirm and then we'll just look at odds and your plan will be ruined. As it is I can't see how you think you can be nice to me in public for a day, much less a month."

"But you don't want nice, do you? Mr. Nice Guys bore you. I'm what you want."

Hugo opened his mouth to comment, the words dying in his throat at the sound of someone knocking at his front door.

Both men turned their heads at the sound of the front door being opened, the sound of Rosie calling out her and Sev's arrival reaching their ears. Given that the woman was seven months pregnant neither was surprised when it took her a while to come into view, her husband at her side in case she needed his help. Hugo carefully got up and started towards them with a smile of welcome, Alexei remaining where he was as he enjoyed watching her eyes bulge out of her head as she gaped at him like a landed trout.

Like her brother he preferred his cousin's wife speechless.

"Hi, Rosie, Sev. Have you two had breakfast already? Maybe you should sit down, Rosie, you look a little pale."

"My cousin is sitting at your breakfast table without a shirt on. You're lucky she hasn't keeled over from the shock." Sev kept a firm grip on Rosie's arm, both to restrain her and to make sure that he could catch her if she fainted.

"Sev."

"Alexei."

"WHY IS ALEXEI DOLOHOV HALF NAKED IN YOUR FLAT?!"

Taking his big sister's hand in his, Hugo gave it a reassuring squeeze before dropping the bomb so to speak. "Actually, Alexei and I are dating. He slept over and that's why he's still here. So what brings you by so early?"

When she just kept looking at him like he'd lost his mind Hugo decided that getting her into a chair really was the best idea, suggesting that they do so to Sev who nodded in agreement, each taking one of Rosie's arms as they steered her towards Hugo's abandoned chair.

"Having problems walking, Hugo?" Sev asked with a devilish gleam in his blue eyes. He'd noticed the stiffness of his brother in law's gait and had put two and two together. It was better for him to have his fun at the boy's expense while Rosie was too out of it to give him heck for it.

"I fell out of bed."

"So clumsy. That's why mum and dad wouldn't let him have a bunk bed when he was little. They were worried he'd roll off in the-wait a second." Eyes narrowing as her incredibly smart brain started working again, Rosie looked from her husband to Alexei to Hugo, her brown eyes zeroing in on the hickies that decorated her brother's neck with a choked gasp.

Alexei gave her a truly evil grin. "I fell off the bed with him."

Sev and Hugo gave him dark looks as they guided Rosie onto the chair.

"Now remember, stress isn't good for the baby." The warning was as much for his wife as it was for his cousin. "And you know Alexei wants you to lose it for his amusement. And I know it's horrible to think of them dating now, but seriously, it can't last and Alexei's no doubt up to something and Hugo is playing along because he's too damn nice for his own good. Think about it and take slow, calming breaths."

"But the news that Baby is dating the spawn of Satan will finish my father off! He still hasn't recovered from the baby news yet!"

Seeing the surprise on his cousin's face Sev explained. "Apparently he convinced himself it was okay that we got married by brainwashing himself into believing that we weren't having sex. The pregnancy shattered that belief quite thoroughly."

The cousins shared a look that said they both thought Ron Weasley was an idiot, but opted not to say so while the man's children were in the room. Neither wanted to be kicked out of their Weasley's bed at the moment and the two Gryffindors were fiercely protective of their father, especially since he was normal in a family of geniuses. The man's kids did not react well to digs where he was concerned.

Thinking a change in conversation was in order Hugo pointed to the cloth bag Sev had been carrying in his free hand and still held. "So what did you bring? New books?" His gaze was hopefully, his sister and brother in law both bibliophiles too. They weren't quite as devoted as he was, but they all kept each other supplied with new reading material.

"Yeah." Sev said as he handed the bag over, Rosie waiting until that transaction was complete before she informed them that they weren't books at all.

"What? You said they were books."

"I lied. The 'books' in there are actually containers full of treats that I transfigured to look like books. Hugo, you're going to want to hold onto that bag tight and put it somewhere where Sev can't get at it. And no, I will not be baking anything else for the rest of the week to replace what I'm giving him, Sev. The whole point in giving the chocolate to him is so I don't eat it and get even fatter than I already am."

"But I'd eat it instead!" Looking utterly devastated at this turn of events Sev couldn't believe the depths of his wife's betrayal. She had given his chocolate away to Hugo, who she knew he couldn't go up against because of the boy's evil cuteness powers.

"You eat too much chocolate as it is."

Enough was never enough, and why only he and Albus seem to get that was beyond Sev. But this was an argument he never won with her so he tried a different route. "You aren't fat, you're pregnant. And I love you just the way you are no matter how big you get. More of you to love, right?"

"Oh please, I still have people who whisper behind my back that I must be slipping you love potions to keep you. If I stay this fat they'll all think they were right because no one can grasp that you married me for my baking first and foremost." She'd married the man the majority of their schoolmates would have voted the most popular, gorgeous, and charming Slytherin to attend Hogwarts in decades. That he'd picked her as his future wife in their seventh year had shocked all those who hadn't understood his underlying motive.

And most people didn't realize that her hubby and Alexei were a lot alike in their love of making fools out of everyone around them for their own amusement. Sev was just a lot more subtle about it, Rosie thought with an expressive eye roll.

"Please, like you'd manage to slip me love potions behind my back. I'm better at potions than you are."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"ARE NOT!"

"Are too…and if your weight really becomes that big of an issue for you I'll simply return you to your former size through a Polyjuice potion. We have to have some of your old hair somewhere."

Rosie all but growled her husband's name in response.