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albus doesn’t think he’s ever seen scorpius so disheartened. he left the dorm in a frenzy of rambling and tightly clutching onto his scarf as it tried to escape his neck. albus teased him the whole way out and he blushed and brushed him off like normal. albus was expecting the dorm mostly to himself for the rest of the day. but then scorpius came back. fourty-five minuets later, tears fall down his pale cheeks.
“scorpius?” albus worries, closing his book with one and rising from his bed with the other.
scorpius pulls his scarf off with both hands. he holds it and looks down into it. his tears rolling off his face and falling onto his grey scarf like rain onto pavement.
“i waited for twenty minutes. she never showed. so i asked her friend, and she said rose’d gone off to hogsmeade with some other boy, and that they’d left hours ago.”
albus can’t even begin to explain how hot his blood begins to feel. “she stood you up?”
he says in disbelief. scorpius had gone out of his way to invite rose out, begged his father for extra spending money, planned to buy her a cat as a gift–which, personally, albus thought was too much–and she decided to stand him up?!
“i didnt want to make a fool of myself at hogsmeade looking for her so i just came back.”
“you don’t need rose to make a fool of yourself, scorpius.”
albus jokes, trying to lighten the mood. but scorpius just looks at him, watery eyes threatening to spill more tears. albus stumbles his words, rubbing his nape.
“sorry, that was… insensitive.”
“it’s alright..” scorpius says, taking his jacket off and hanging it on his bedpost. The blonde boy sighs and slouches onto his bed, staring down at his scarf again.
albus stays quiet for a moment, walking over to scorpius until he finally stands in front of him. he gingerly takes the scarf from his hands and hangs it up over his bedframe. “alright, you can’t just sit in here and morn rose all day,”
scorpius chuckles a bit, sniffling and wiping his nose with his sleeve. “she’s not dead, albus.”
“you can’t let that bitch ruin your day. especially not your valentines day, okay?”
“albus.” scorpius scolds.
“we’re gonna do something. you and me. forget about rose, she’s stupid. and you’re not stupid. you’re a loser, but you’re not stupid.”
scorpius blinks up at him, cheeks drying as he smiles softly with a laugh. “yeah, thanks, albus.”
albus offers a hand and scorpius takes it, standing from his bed. “let’s head to hogsmeade anyways! show rose all she’s missing without you!”
scorpius nods, wiping his eyes. “alright, as long as you don’t attack her if we do see her.”
“no promises.”
scorpius puts his jacket back on and ablus his own, but before scorpius can get his scarf on albus pulls him over and out the door, pulling his own scarf over scorpius’ head.
“albus! you’ll get cold!”
“nah, i’ll be fine!”
albus practically runs scorpius all the way to hogsmeade. the poor blonde is panting, sweat dripping down his face by the time they arrive.
“of course,” scorpius pants. “you’re the one who finds a way to make me sweat in the middle of winter.”
“what better way to show rose what she’s missing?” albus jokes, shrugging.
scorpius shoves him, laughing “albus!”
albus laughs too, throwing his head back. students pass and stare at them like they’re crazy. whisper like they’re freaks. but scorpius and albus don’t care. they’ve always been weird, together. it’s nothing new.
albus lets scorpius rest an arm around him, he wraps his around the blonde’s shoulders, as they walk. laughing and joking whenever they see friends hugging or couples snogging.
scorpius turns to albus and begins making kissy noises and albus shoves him away, chuckling. “oh- stop.”
scorpius trudges through the snow, laughing too. “what? you were staring, thought you wanted some?”
“i am not snogging you, scorpius.”
scorpius laughs harder. “aw, am i not pretty enough?”
“scorpius-”
“am i not old enough for you, albus?”
scorpius hunches over, howling with laughter. he places a hand on albus’ shoulder, laughing so hard he begins to fall over.
“i don’t have a thing for older women!” albus exclaims, clearly unamused, as a lady passes stares at him uncomfortably.
“right, right.” scorpius says, holding his head now that he’s calming down.
“i’m getting butter beer, with or without you.” albus starts walking away and scorpius jogs to catch up, still laughing to himself.
“it’s not funny, scorpius.”
“it’s a little funny, albus.”
albus enters the three broomsticks and picks a small table near the window. he and scorpius order a butter beer and spend their time speaking about the latest book they’ve read–scorpius insisted they start a book club for their dorm but albus was the only member to join, so, now they read a new book every month.
“i dunno, scorpius, i just don’t like edward.”
“how?! he’s the perfect specimen! he’s handsome and strong and protective! those are like the perfect qualities in a partner.”
albus shrugs and takes a sip of his butter beer. “he gaslighted bella for the whole book and then left her at the end. honestly she’s better off with alice at this point.”
“what?! no, honestly? albus…”
albus shrugs again and looks outside the window. the glass is icy and a bit misty but still, through the fog, he can see rose’s big puff of blonde hair.
“scorpius!” albus says, putting his hands on the glass. “it’s rose!”
scorpius turns to look outside too, becoming a bit quiet.
albus puts his hand on scropius’ and pulls him up. “well, come on!”
“wait, albus! i’m not done with my drink!”
but albus pulls them both out of the door, running up to pass rose at exactly the right time. scorpius looks a bit nervous, fixing his hair meticulously.
“scorpius!”
“yes, yeah, right!”
when rose passes them with giovanni moore attached to her arm she immediately catches their figures. she stops gio and pulls him over to them.
“albus, scorpius. hello?”
“rose.” albus glares. “you were supposed to go out with scorpius today.”
rose seems like she pretends to think, placing a finger on her chin. “oh yeah…” she says, “i forgot.”
“you ‘forgot’?” albus clenches his fighters and scorpius places a hand on his. he glances his green eyes at scorpius’ grey ones and his fists loosen.
“yeah. i forgot. forgive me, okay?” she shrugs, as if she’s not really sorry. “despite that, however, you two seem to be having fun.”
scorpius nods, pulling albus’ scarf further up his face. “we have been, really. it’s been the best day i could’ve asked for.”
“really?” rose asks, resting her head on her taller boyfriends shoulder. “well that’s good, i guess!”
rose chuckles, glancing at albus’ scarf on scorpius’ neck. “get cold, didja bread-head?”
scorpius glances down at the scarf too, face suddenly beginning to go pink.
“alright, rose. goodbye.” albus says, pulling scorpius away from his bitchass cousin. “fuck you!” he says as he walks away, flipping her off.
“hate you more!” rose calls back, flipping him off too.
“albus!” scorpius puts his hands over the shorter boys, covering up his middle finger. “s-sorry, rose! see you later!”
they walk for a little while longer until albus pulls scorpius into honeydukes and leads him to the chocolate section. both are silent for a moment, albus pulling different chocolates off the shelves, before scorpius speaks up.
“y’know, albus,” he starts, fiddling with his jacket cuffs. “i think that did make me feel better.”
albus raises an eyebrow. “it did?”
“yeah,” scorpius nods. “seeing rose, it made me realize… i don’t need her to have a good time, cause… i’ve got you right here, and, with you, i have the best time.”
albus looks down, shoving the chocolate in his pocket. “oh, scorpius, don’t get all cheesy on me.”
“seriously!” scorpius says. “i can imagine my life without rose and without my dad and without my books, even! But, no matter how hard i try, i can’t imagine my life… without you in it.”
albus scoffs playfully, rolling his eyes. “didn’t you actually live that?”
“uh- yeah, and i hated it so much i gave up my empire for you.”
albus breathes a bit, averting his gaze from scorpius. “that’s sweet,” he pauses stuttering a bit. “i guess…”
scorpius smiles and moves in closer to albus.
“hey, albus?”
“hm?”
“will… you be my valentine?”
albus’ breath hitches in his throat. words choking their way back down his esophagus.
“i-” he chokes out, clutching the leather of his jacket. “would like that…”
“good.” scorpius smiles wider. “cause, i’d like that too.”
they’re silent for a moment, a bit awkward. the candy shop is empty and it makes the silence even more deafening.
this time, its albus that breaks it.
“scorpius?”
“yes, albus?”
“do you.. fancy me?”
scorpius fiddles with his jacket cuff again, sinking his face deeper into albus’ scarf. “i… i think i do.”
“right…”
“...do you… fancy me?”
“yeah, i think i do too.”
“right…”
albus takes a deep breath and grabs scorpius wrist.
“albus?”
“scorpius.” albus says, pulling them closer. “tell me i’m allowed to kiss you.”
scorpius gulps, cheeks flushing bright pink. “y-yes.”
so, before he can chicken out, albus pulls scorpius to him and crashes their mouths together. he backs himself up into the shelf of candy, using the wood to keep his knees from buckling. scorpius seems like his confidence is going to give any second.
people always say your first kiss feels like fireworks, takes like sugar, lasts forever, and while one of those may be true of albus, the rest seems kinda bogus. scorpius doesn’t need to feel like fireworks or to taste like honey. because, scorpius is who he likes, not the feeling his kiss brings.
“albus…” scorpius whines when he hears the shop door bell ring and albus obliges and lets him go.
“what? scared to be seen with me?” albus jokes, wiping his lips with his thumb.
“no!” scorpius says, “i just don’t want to be caught snogging in the chocolate aisle!”
and albus laughs again. “oh, scorpius!”
“stop! don’t laugh at me!” scorpius says but he starts laughing too.
“yeah,” albus says, covering his eyes. “i fancy you, alright! i fancy you real bad.