When Scorpius reentered the school after lunch he was not expecting the stares, nor did he understand them. He could see people whispering as he walked by. But he didn't think too much of it, he was more annoyed by the calendars he kept seeing turned open to Albus' page. Of his Albus winking. He was muttering to himself when he walked straight into his best friend.
"Al! Sorry, I didn't see you!"
"No, it's okay. I was looking for you actually" Albus smiled easily at his friend, "Where are you headed after your Ancient Runes class?"
"I was just going to study in our common room, why?"
"Do you want to, uh, do you want to come outside and study with me?" Albus wasn't looking at him anymore, and maybe Scorpius' eyes were betraying him, but he could swear that Albus was acting shy and embarrassed.
"Yeah, I'll come outside with you. Same tree as last time?" Scorpius tried not to look excited.
Albus looked back up; letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Scorpius had agreed. And that was one yes down, and one more to go. "Same tree, I'll see you after the period ends Scor!"
Scorpius walked down the hall with a small on his face, now oblivious to the looks he was getting.
…
Albus was already sitting by their tree (or so it had become in Scorpius' head) when Scorpius walked outside. He tried to look disinterested when he approached, like he hadn't just been struck with numerous pangs of jealousy as he strode through the grounds and spotted a fair few calendars being fawned over.
"Hey Al" he called cheerily.
Albus jumped and dropped the book he was reading "Oh! Scorpius, here, come sit."
Scorpius gave his best friend a funny look, but sat down. It was very unlike Albus to get jumpy and nervous. It was completely out of character; even when Albus had a huge Quidditch game coming up, he never got visibly nervous. He wondered if something was wrong.
"What're you studying?" Scorpius asked casually.
"I was just reading up on Potions. What did you bring?" Albus was still making an effort to avoid Scorpius' eyes.
"Al, are you okay? You look…you look nervous." Scorpius ignored his unopened bag and turned so that he was sitting facing Albus.
"I do?" Albus asked, looking up briefly. Scorpius nodded and Albus continued, "Wow, this is embarrassing. I guess I'll just have to come out and say it."
"Say what?" Scorpius said, looking concernedly at his friend.
Albus finally met his eyes and held his gaze for a few moments, "You have gorgeous eyes Scor" he said simply.
Scorpius blushed, and cursed his pale skin internally "Thanks Al" he whispered.
"But, um, uh. That wasn't really what I wanted to say. See, I...Merlin this is harder than I thought it would be," Albus took a deep breath and continued. "Okay, so at lunch today, Lorenzo came over and asked me out."
"He WHAT?" Scorpius wanted to throw up. Did Lorenzo just want to ruin his entire life? First he crushed Scorpius and now he was trying to steal away the one person Scorpius thought he had a chance with?
"He asked me to Hogsmeade this weekend." Albus repeated softly
"What did you say?!" Scorpius was starting to get very worried.
"I said no of course! Actually…actually I sort of said that I was taking you." Albus wasn't looking at him again as he fingered the spine of his book distractedly.
It was as if someone had cast lumos and Scorpius finally understood. Albus liked him. Albus liked him like how he liked Albus.
Scorpius' breathing slowed down and he allowed his mouth to stretch into a slow smile.
"You don't have to come of course!" Albus had gone back to not looking at him and did not notice the grin on Scorpius' face, "I just wanted to get away from him and I didn't want him to bother you, so I said that. But you don't need to come, and I'm sorry because the whole school sort of heard me yelling at him in the Great Hall. And they heard me say you were going with me, and I guess that means that they think we're together and I'm sorry!" The words were pouring out of Albus' mouth and he couldn't stop them, "Actually, we could stage a breakup if you want! A really public one. And you could yell and throw things and…mmfh!"
Scorpius had cut him off by kissing him. He had taken Albus' head in his hands and pulled him into a chaste kiss. He couldn't bear to see Albus frazzled about something he was perfectly fine with and he just wanted to put him out of his misery. After a few moments he pulled away, searching Albus' face for some sort of reaction.
"Was…was that okay?" Scorpius murmured, looking nervous now.
"Well, I think you're going to have to do it again and then I'll be able to tell you." Albus beamed at his best friend, and without waiting for Scorpius to register what he just said, pulled him into another kiss.
This time the kiss was not so innocent. Albus relished the feeling of Scorpius' lips on his, the warmth of Scorpius' mouth and the thought that anyone could see them. He pulled Scorpius closer. Scorpius moved so that he was straddling Albus, his arms wrapped around Albus' neck and their torsos pressed together. Neither could have guessed how long they had been sitting like that, all thoughts of homework and readings vanished. They eventually came up for air and picked up where they had left off, the kiss becoming more urgent. Scorpius pushed Albus back and climbed on top of him, hardly breaking the contact with Albus' mouth. Scorpius' hands slowly pulled Albus' uniform shirt out of his trousers, and started to unbutton it absentmindedly.
At this point Albus made a small noise of protest at the back of his throat and sat up a little bit, propping himself up on his elbow. Scorpius thought maybe he pushed too far and sat on his heels, his brow wrinkling. Albus had never seen Scorpius look so hot in his life. His hair was a mess, his robes were disheveled and his lips were pink and swollen.
"Merlin, Scorpius. You're killing me." He said softly, tracing his thumb down Scorpius jawline; not taking his eyes off of the familiar face that was only inches away from his.
"We don't need to stop here" Scorpius teased; he didn't realize the implications of what he just said until Albus moved back, his face unreadable.
"Scorpius, you don't know how badly I don't want to stop. I've waited…I've wanted you for a really long time, but. But I want to do this right, okay? Let me take you to Hogsmeade this weekend? And maybe from there we can, well…not stop." Albus had turned red and Scorpius pulled him into a tight hug, burying his face in Albus' shoulder.
"You are the best best friend anyone could ever ask for Albus Potter."