A/N: For some reason I had a really strong urge to head back to a CaBW state of mind. Maybe it was because I saw Grouplove recently and they helped me name the story! Seriously, if you haven't listened to 'Cruel and Beautiful World' by them you need to.

Also, while writing this I was listening to the playlist I created for Draco and Hermione in CaBW - to keep in that state of mind - and I have found Bronson and Theo's song! 'Deliver Me' by Sarah Brightman. TELL ME THAT'S NOT PERFECT FOR THEM! :oD

Okay, so this chapter is short. It is just Theo and Bronson. No one else. I figure the next chapter I write for this will be New Year's and that one will just be fun for everyone. So enjoy their private moment. Until next time!

Theo stood nervously just out of view of the doorway. He hadn't come yet. Why hadn't he come yet? Feeling a bit panicked that he had just made a big and humiliating mistake, he sucked back his nerves and walked into view again.

Bronson hadn't moved. Theo looked him right in the eye and, with all the confidence he could muster, said, "Seriously, Bronson, I'm not going to fucking wait in here forever."

And then he walked away again, sitting down on the bed and closing his eyes. He took several deep breaths, trying to listen to what was happening. Someone spoke, but it was so quiet that he couldn't hear who it was or what they said. Then he heard footsteps.

The door creaked before slamming shut. His eyes shot back open. He turned and saw Bronson standing there with his arms crossed. He stood.

"You certainly have interesting timing," said Bronson, not quite looking at him. He kept glancing and then looking away again.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly planning on doing this," Theo admitted.

Bronson's eye finally stopped darting around and settled on him. He bit his cheek. "You know I'm bloody pissed at you, right?"

Theo took a deep breath and said, "I do."

"I was on a date right now."

Theo chuckled softly. "Yeah, I saw that. I thought you liked men, not little, prissy boys."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is he not up to your standard?" Bronson mocked. "Because you're such a man, right? Flooding over with bloody testosterone! Why would I ever want a prissy boy when I can have the straight, manly, never-a-whiney-little-bitch Theo?"

Theo smirked. "Well, ouch."

Bronson smirked back. "I'm not making the first move, you know? I'm in the bloody bedroom. Your play."

"But I'm in the bedroom," said Theo. "Doesn't that make it your play?"

Bronson's smirk grew as he shook his head slowly. "I've already let you skip your turn several times now. This one's all you."

Theo shifted from foot to foot and glanced down at the floor. "All right."

He took a few steps forward. Then paused. A few more steps. A pause and a breath. Those last few steps. He was now staring at Bronson's socked feet. White socks, slightly unmatched. He didn't know why he liked that.

"You have two different socks on," he said mindlessly. Then, when he heard himself, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Bronson couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

"Th'fuck you laughing at?" spat Theo, his head shooting up as he finally found the courage to look Bronson in the eye.

"You," said Bronson, with obvious adoration in his voice.

And that was all Theo needed. He leaned in and kissed him, partially to shut him up and partially because he truly wanted to. Bronson was a few inches taller than him so he had to stand on the balls of his feet, making him feel like a bloody woman. He must have grunted about this or something because Bronson chuckled into his mouth and leaned down so Theo could stand normally.

But it wasn't completely necessary since, only a moment later, Theo was shoving him towards the bed. He pushed him onto it and climbed on top of him, obviously wanting to be the dominant force here. Theo tore off his own jumper and shirt, and then began grabbing at Bronson's.

"Theo, wait," said Bronson, taking his jumper back and holding it in place.

Theo pulled back and gulped. Breathing heavily with his lips slightly parted, he waited.

"I need this to be perfectly clear. No more women. No more anyone." Bronson reached up and stroked his cheek. "Not as long as you're with me. Got it?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Theo nodded. "That was a mistake," he said. "I never meant to -"

Bronson leaned up and silenced him with a kiss. "Let's not talk about that right now."

He separated from Theo just long enough to pull off his jumper before going back in. He had on just a vest underneath and Theo immediately put his hands into it, working it off of him.

"Oooh, someone's feisty!" exclaimed Bronson, laughing as he pulled Theo's head towards his, their lips crashing together once more. Soft moans elicited from Theo's mouth as Bronson held firmly onto his hips, using his grip to grind against him. But then his hands were off, and a zipper was coming undone.

Theo froze, his lips still on Bronson's but not giving anything in return. It did not take Bronson very long to notice.

"What's wrong?" he asked with genuine concern in his raspy, lust-filled voice.

"Nothing. I just ... I didn't realize this was going to happen tonight and I never got the chance to finish thinking about …" His voice trailed off.

Bronson raised his eyebrows and asked, "About what?"

Theo blushed and looked away from him. "About … this."

"This?" Bronson repeated.

"No, not this," said Theo motioning between them. "But … this." He motioned to the entire bed. "You know … positions and such."

Bronson raised his eyebrows further. "Positions?"

Theo's blushed brightened. "I've never bloody shagged a guy, all right? I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, or what the fuck you do. Like, are you a Chaser or a Keeper?"

Now Bronson's eyebrows puckered together. "All right … I understand that the Chaser gets the ball in but the Keeper tends to work really hard at keeping it out. If you want, I can give you a few better analogies -"

"You know what I fucking mean, Bronson!" shouted Theo.

"Remember what I said about the Silencing Charm!" the voice of Quigley called through the wall. "Fighting or shagging, I don't want to hear it!"

Bronson chuckled a little before taking his wand out of his trousers and giving it a flick. Thanks to his time spent with Hermione, he was getting much better at nonverbal magic.

When he put his wand down and looked back at Theo, the other wizard was frowning down at him.

"You're overthinking this, Theo," he said, reaching up and giving his cheek a stroke.

"Maybe," Theo admitted. "But I don't … I've only shagged bloody women before and I don't know if I could ever … keep."

All right, Bronson would cave and admit the analogy worked a little better when said like that. And Theo certainly made him chase.

"That's fine," he said.

"Is it?" asked Theo, cocking his head. "Because you don't exactly seem like a Keeper either."

Bronson shrugged. "Normally, I'm not. But I have, and I like 'keeping'." He winked. "When I was first figuring it all out I was only ever a Chaser because, hey, I'd shagged the hole before. The only difference was the lack of breasts."

"And the addition of an extra cock."

Bronson chuckled. "Yeah, that too. Which is far less frightening than you think it is."

Theo continued to frown and looked away from him. "I really like breasts."

"I know you do," said Bronson, using the hand on Theo's cheek to force him to look at him. He sighed. "Dammit. You're not ready for this."

Theo went white. "No, I am! I -"

"It wasn't a question, Theo," said Bronson, leaning up just enough to gently brush their lips together.

Theo's eyes widened as Bronson pulled away, suddenly looking panicked. "But I want to -"

"Then you'll want to just as much another night, but we're not doing this now." He rolled Theo off of him until he was flat on his back. Then he cuddled up to his side and hovered his head over Theo's face.

"I'm sorry," said Theo. "I thought I could -"

Bronson shrugged it off and said, "S'alright. Honestly, if you were any other man I would probably spend a great deal of time trying to convince you to go through with it, but I like you, Theo. I don't want to just shag you, or have you shag me."

Bronson smiled widely, making the tense wizard beneath him suddenly ease. He closed his eyes and leaned in, kissing Theo softly and loving the feeling of the other man's lips responding to his.

He pulled away and whispered, "I want to keep you. And I am not using a bloody Quidditch analogy. Personally, I see myself as more of a Seeker while you're the Golden Snitch. You keep bloody fluttering away from me."

Theo smiled softly. But just as quickly as his smile came, it vanished. "Why do you like me?"

Bronson raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "What?"

"As fucking clueless as I am about men, I'm bloody aware that you're better looking than me," said Theo. "And it seems like you're only ever around when I'm acting my fucking worst. The first night I met you I was so pissed off my arse that you had to take me home."

"True, but who ever acts their best in this world anymore? Since You-Know-Who took over it seems like we're all at our worst. I can't even remember the last time I saw someone who was genuinely happy. I'm sure you will be a pleasant ray of sunshine once this is all over," sang Bronson as he pinched Theo's cheek.

Theo hit his hand away. "I promise, I won't be. I'm an arse. I was before the war and I will be after."

"You're a sadist and I'm a masochist! Perfect!" Bronson grabbed Theo's face in his palms and kissed him hard.

"Seriously," said Theo, pulling away. "Why?"

Bronson frowned. "Don't tell me on top of all of your other daddy issues, he used to tell you that you're ugly too."

"No." Theo thought about this. "Not that I can recall. He's said a lot of shitty things throughout the years."

"Well, you're not. And sure, maybe I'm better looking, it's all in the eye of the beholder, I believe, but if I wanted someone pretty then I would still be interested in bloody women."

"You're pretty. Does that mean I should just forget it all and find a woman?" Theo smirked.

"I'm rugged!" shouted Bronson. "Not pretty! You better get that bloody right!"

Theo laughed.

"And you're fucking adorable." Bronson kissed him again, this time lingering for a little bit longer. "I mean it, Theo," he said between parts of their lips. "From the moment I saw you I knew you were something special. You were going to be something to me."

"So you're saying you only want me for my looks?" Theo quipped.

Bronson smirked. "Damn straight! I mean … damn gay!"

This time, Theo leaned up and kissed Bronson, their lips soft but still full of passion, though neither of them even attempted to take it any further. It was the closest either of them had ever felt to anyone and they wanted to keep that going. To just have someone there who they cared about. To kiss. To hold. To make them feel something they thought they were incapable of ever feeling.

It wasn't long before the alarm was going off, signaling the curfew. Bronson stopped kissing Theo and pulled away just enough so he could look at him. "The clock strikes midnight, Cinderella. Do you have to leave the ball?"

Theo pursed his brow. "What?"

"Nothing," said Bronson with a faint laugh. "Muggle joke. Do you want to leave?"

Theo stared back at him with unblinking eyes. Bronson smiled at him. He gulped and shook his head. "No. But if I stay, we're not -?"

"We're not doing anything tonight," answered Bronson before he even finished asking the question. "Nothing more than this." He kissed him again. "I'll even let you sleep in the bed."

"Not funny," said Theo with a grimace. "You're really fine with waiting?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Bronson, rolling onto his back. "Now, if Warren asked me to wait tonight I would have sent him packing. But you … you, I'll wait for."

Theo smiled up at the ceiling, for some reason feeling this incredible urge to reach over and hold Bronson's hand. The other wizard was more than happy to oblige, giving his hand a squeeze in return. Then Bronson brought Theo's hand up to his lips and kissed it. Theo was not sure why, but he really liked that.

"We have plenty of time, Theo."

And then Theo's face sunk. He went white. "But we don't," he said. "As a Death Eater, I never know when my time might be up. We die all the time."

"You should never think like that," said Bronson, moving in closer to him, still holding Theo's hand while he put his head on his chest. "This war is going to end one day and we're all going to make it out alive."

"But what if we -?"

"Shhh…" Bronson put a finger up to Theo's lips. At least, he attempted to. He hit him in the eye a couple of times before finally landing on the right spot. "Positive thoughts. You, me, Quigs, Malfoy and Hermione are all going to make it out of London one day and we're going to be in each other's' lives forever and be happy. Got it?"

"But -"

"Got it?"

Theo sighed. "Yeah."

"I like the sound of your heart beating," said Bronson, keeping his cheek on Theo's chest but turning his head enough so he could look at him.

Theo smiled down at him.

Bronson leaned up and gave him one last kiss. "You're stuck with me now, Theo. I promise, we have all the time in the world."

Theo nodded and kissed him back, squeezing tighter onto Bronson's hand as the other wizard sunk back onto his chest and closed his eyes. But Theo could not sleep. He just kept looking at Bronson, reaching out and stroking the hair out of his eyes as he slept so peacefully. For some reason, he had this horrible feeling that he could not shake. That they were not all going to make it out of this alive. Honestly, he had never thought he would and, until now, he never had a reason to try.

But he had Draco now in a way he never had before. With trust.

And he had Hermione.

And Quigley.

And Bronson … More than anyone else, he had Bronson, someone who cared about him in a way he had never been cared about before, and someone he cared for in return. Truly and deeply cared for.

Time truly was precious and it killed him to know that it would eventually run out. And this feeling … It would end.