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Albus Potter is freaking RIGHT OUT. (_alsevpotter) wrote in adorkability, @ 2011-01-01 01:51:00

Never get drunk again
July 28 2010



Albus had only been that pissed once before, when he was leaving Hogwarts. The party had been massive and his family being his family meant the liquor was free and easy, or at least as free and easy as alcohol can be in the presence of too many adults. Which meant he'd forgotten how stupid he got after two glasses of anything. His head throbbed until his nose began to hurt. He gritted his teeth, gagging on his own mouth scum and groaned into his pillow.

It hadn't been worth it.

He winced, trying to remember how he even made it back to bed last night, let alone get properly dressed. A glass of water sat on the table beside him and he grabbed it, heavy and deadened and slow. He swallowed around a thick knot of gross that was stuck to the rough of his mouth, coughing.

The cough woke Regulus, who was sitting on the bed, back against the headboard, next to Al. He'd intended to stay awake all night but he'd nodded off somewhere around three am.

Now, fully awake after only the second it took to remember why he was sitting, fully clothed on the bed next to Al, Regulus reached over grabbing the glass from Al's hand as it began to slip.

"Morning, Dancing Queen," Regulus smiled slightly. He'd been terrified the night before when he'd not known where Al was, and most especially after Scorpius had to make that stupid comment about back rooms. Now after the danger had passed Regulus could see a bit of humor in Al's choices.

"Yengh," came the witty reply. Al rolled over once the glass had been stolen from his grip and found himself at a loss for anything coherent, other than, "ow".

His face crumpled in misery and the motion only made him want to hide further under the covers to escape the pain of it. He couldn't remember what he did last night, only blurred flashes of sweat and alcohol and really loud music. Al lifted his hands to the sides of his face and gripped it just to make sure it hadn't fallen off.

Regulus chewed on his lip to keep from laughing. Al was in pain so he couldn't very well laugh at him, but it was pain brought on by some rather interesting behavior. He didn't know Al had that in him.

He reached down and brushed the hairline on Al's forehead gently. "If you want more water, let me know." The smile faded now, replaced by the feelings of something dreadful could have happened to Al, Regulus would know what to do if that happened.

It came as a surprise to him that instead of wanting to shy away from the touch, Regulus' hand was cool on contact and gentle and he found himself nosing his way across the bed to press into the other boy's side and let that be enough. He knew he should ask for something for his head, but in a sick way, Al suspected that would be cheating.

"Thanks."

He wasn't quite ready to ask what he'd done or said. His family had a bad habit of saying too much while shitfaced and he wasn't an exception. How could he be? It wasn't fully in his nature to resist showing off. But usually he had some sense of self-preservation. He'd been a Slytherin for fuck's sake. It was in the doctrine.

Regulus was struck by the strong desire to pull Al closer to him, as close as they could get, but he didn't want to make anything uncomfortable for Al, and settled for what was being shared right then. Knowing that sound probably wasn't the best thing for Al at that moment Regulus was hesitant to ask, but Regulus knew what it was like to come down off of mind altering substances.

"Need anything else?"

"A new head?" Al asked. His arm snaked around Regulus' waist as he squished his face in closer to Regulus' bony hip as he tried to make the pressure in his head release. It didn't work. He hadn't really expected it to. "Think you can get one of those?"

Even those two short questions made his brain burn. "I'm not doing that again," he declared in a raw whisper. It stung too much to do anything louder.

Regulus' fingers moved from Al's forehead down to his temple and gently rubbed the spot.

"I like the head you have, I could get you some pills though, if you like," Regulus responded, they were just a flick of the wand away.

"Does seem out of sorts for you."

Al's eyes were bloodshot and tired, dimmer in the quasi-darkness of early morning and he nearly missed the question just by staring at Regulus and drifting in and out of consciousness. If blood stopped beating at his forehead, if the pressure let up behind his eyes and nose, maybe he could go back to sleep. He nearly worked up a smile when he registered what had been said but it became a grimace too easily. "Please?"

He lowered his gaze and chewed gently on his bottom lip. "It seemed smart at the time."

Regulus pulled his hand away from Al's temple just long enough to summon the bottle of pills from the bathroom cabinet. It took only a second to pop the lid, and using his fingers as his other hand was still holding on to the glass, he dug out two pills for Al, offering them and the glass for him to take.

"It always does." Boy wasn't that the truth about any kind of drug, and didn't Regulus know it.

Al took both pills at once, swallowing them down with saliva more than water but ended up sipping down the rest of the water in shaky intervals. He hated how Muggle medicine took an eternity to act when potions started at once. Moments like this one reminded him how desperately messed up this situation was. And it was desperately messed up.

"Can't remember how I even found the place." He handed the glass back to Regulus and wormed his way back under the covers.

Regulus shifted so that Al could take the pills and then settle back down. Once situated Regulus' hand was back at Al's temple.

"Now that is a mystery that shall remain unsolved, we have no clue how you ended up there." The Gipsy? Really?

Al winced and this time more from the situation than any kind of ache. This was why he never drank. His brain gave up on him. He knew he hadn't walked. He could remember entering the club just as the sunlight was dying and finding it so loud and right that it never entered his mind to leave.

Never once gave it a thought that he'd picked a gay night club in the middle of the city off the strip, away from anywhere someone would look for him to get himself toasted.

It never occurred to him to turn his mobile off.

He was glad he hadn't. "But you found me."

"Yes, you managed to keep enough wits about you to brag of your location," Regulus said, only a bit mockingly. "And if you hadn't we'd have searched all night until we found you."

Al grumbled incoherent hate words into the cotton folds of Regulus' shirt and clung just a little harder. He couldn't remember who else had come, but now that he was thinking about it. He remembered more than one set of hands grabbing and pulling, hugging and lifting.

"I didn't vomit on anyone, did I?"

Now Regulus did laugh, softly, Al probably wouldn't appreciate loud noises, but it was pretty clear what he was doing. "Maybe a family of cockroaches. You managed to make it to the gutter"

But the joviality left quickly. "You had me worried last night."

Al squeezed his eyes shut, grit his teeth and nodded. His stomach twisted after a shudder. "I'm sorry."

Regulus wanted to demand Al never did that again, but knowing his own mistake ridden past and how difficult and futile it was to make that kind of promise he held his tongue. Instead he leaned down and, despite the awkward angle, kissed the top of Al's head.

"I love you, don't forget that, okay?"

"Sentimental." His smile was strained and uneven when he pulled back to see Regulus' face. He wouldn't forget. It still felt too close to being unreal to forget. Just as he hadn't forgotten that he hadn't said it back.

"That is much better than ridiculous," Regulus smiled back, and he leaned down to kiss Al's forehead one more time. "Do you need anything else? I can leave you to recover in peace, without the mocking, if you prefer."

Al's cheeks heated. He lifted his hand that had drifted across Regulus' stomach and wound it around his chest, tugging him. "You're that too. Don't leave?"

"Ridiculously sentimental?" That was the natural evolutionary pairing for those two words.

"If you insist," Regulus settled back against the headboard, "but I can't promise not to mock you now and then." The cup abandoned on the side of the bed Regulus lifted his hand to rest on Al's hand now gripping the fabric of his shirt.

"I can't promise I'll stay awake."

He relaxed onto the bed with a soft sigh of contentment. His headache was present but not pressing and beating and if he fell asleep, he might not even notice it anymore. Wouldn't that be nice? Al liked to think so.

"Alright, and I'll not keep you from it," Regulus said simply. He couldn't really argue with that, sleeping a bit more wouldn't be unwelcome.

On the cusp of sleep and more than a little out of it, Al whispered, "thank you" and hoped Regulus understood why with his last thought before succumbing to his body and falling back asleep.