Happy Springsmut, okydoky! Author:piratesword Recipient:okydoky Title: Flat Wars (Winner Takes All) Rating: NC-17 Pairing(s): Albus Severus/Scorpius, Lily, Harry Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. Summary:Later, Scorpius would look back and pinpoint this as the moment where things had started to go wrong. When Lily Potter accepts a position at Hogwarts and moves out of the flat that she shares with her best friend and her brother, it becomes increasingly clear that Albus and Scorpius are not compatible as flatmates. Eventually war breaks out between the two, with neither one willing to admit they’ve done anything wrong. Add in meddling family members, rampant sexual tension, long hours at the Ministry and copious amounts of firewhisky, and Scorpius thinks that maybe he's in over his head. Warnings: (Fl)angst, blow jobs, swearing. Word Count: ~10,000 Author's Notes:okydoky gave me a variety of things to work with, and I pulled out the following specific prompts: Aurors, Healers, Slytherin!Albus, full English breakfast, hospitals, batteries, firewhisky, traveling outside of London, drunken exploits and plot. Some are only mentioned once or twice, others are worked into the plot. I hope that you enjoy reading this, okydoky! Thanks to B for all of her handholding, and for looking this over for me. <3
::
Lily was still awake by the time Scorpius and Albus got home from work that night. She was sitting on the couch and reading some sort of ancient-looking textbook, her red hair pulled up into a haphazard bun. She looked up only when Albus closed the door behind them and, carefully folding the corner of one of the old, yellowed pages down to keep her place, closed the book. "Come over here," she said. "I’ve got something to tell you."
Albus wandered over right away, leaving his coat on and curling up in the armchair next to the bookshelf. Scorpius took a moment longer, instead choosing to hang his coat on the peg by the door first. He collapsed in the seat next to Lily and lazily reached out a hand to pick up the now-forgotten book. "Hogwarts: 1700-1800, a Historical Perspective," he read out loud. He looked from the cover to Lily’s face and asked, "Why are you reading this?"
"Headmaster Longbottom offered me a position at Hogwarts this morning," Lily said, looking down at her hands. Then she looked back up and added, "I’d be teaching History of Magic, starting in September. If I take it, I’ll also be Head of Ravenclaw."
Albus’ eyes widened. "That’s amazing!"
She grinned at them, something almost like relief spreading across her face. "Yeah, isn’t it? I figured that if I’m going to be working at Hogwarts, and if I’m going to be in charge of so many students, I’ll need to have intricate knowledge of the history of the school itself."
Scorpius nodded and then said, "You’re only twenty-three. That’ll make you the youngest Head of House in the school’s history, won’t it?"
"Second youngest," Albus corrected. "Headmaster Snape was younger than Lily is when he joined the staff."
"That’s still an amazing accomplishment," continued Scorpius. He cast Albus a look that clearly said ‘Please stop talking. You’re making me look stupid.’
Albus shrugged, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Thank you," Lily said, blushing slightly. Then she spoke almost hesitantly, "You know I’ll be moving to Hogwarts come August. Do you want me to help you find a new flatmate?"
Albus and Scorpius glanced at one another. "I reckon we could handle the rent on our own," said Albus.
Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, might be a bit tight at first, but we still have a few weeks to save."
Lily tilted her head to look at them, a slightly concerned look on her face. "It isn’t a problem at all, guys. You know, I think that James is thinking of moving back to London. I could talk to him?"
Scorpius felt ill. "Uh, no – I mean, not that I have anything against your brother, but, uh -"
Albus grinned slightly and said, "I don’t think having James move in would be the best move. He’s not exactly fond of Scorpius, Lils."
"That’s an understatement," said Scorpius dryly.
"He just can’t handle that you’re my best friend," said Lily. "He thinks I’m supposed to be best friends with Rose."
"Rose is a bit of a bitch," said Albus, "and she’s always coming up with these ridiculous schemes to get her way."
Lily snorted. "Like you don’t?"
Albus looked vaguely offended. "I was a Slytherin! I’m allowed to be sneaky and self-serving. She was in Gryffindor – it’s entirely different."
"Right," said Scorpius, not grasping Albus’ logic.
"You were both in Ravenclaw," said Albus, still appearing offended. "You wouldn’t understand."
"Albus, my father is the Head of Slytherin. My mother was in Slytherin – I’ve seen my fair share of sneaky and self-serving."
"Yeah," Lily said. Then she looked at Scorpius. "You know, I always thought it was weird you ended up in Ravenclaw."
"Why?"
"I didn’t," interjected Albus lightly, poking his sister in the shoulder. "The man can’t lie worth a damn."
"I can lie!" Scorpius protested, looking offended.
Albus rolled his eyes. "No, you can’t."
"I lied to Professor McGonagall once," he said. "She caught Lily and I out late, playing a prank on Rose. I told her we were doing our Prefect rounds, and she let us go."
"She let us go because I told her that," Lily said, trying not to laugh. "Bit of a selective memory you have there, Scorpius."
Albus started laughing and a moment later, Lily joined in. Eventually, Scorpius caved and admitted that he was horrible Slytherin material, and the three spent the rest of the night reminiscing and laughing, none of them wanting to discuss what would happen when Lily left.
::
The next week passed in a blur and between working a particularly tricky smuggling case and helping Lily to decide what she needed to pack, Scorpius had barely gotten any time to himself, let alone any time for sleep. So when the Bosci case was finally closed at the end of the week, Scorpius came home and collapsed into his bed from exhaustion.
It was nearly noon when Scorpius woke the next morning, his fingers curled tightly around the top edge of the blankets. He spared a quick glance at the clock and then, with a low mumble, turned on his side and tried to burrow deeper underneath the warm covers. He debated for a moment about whether or not to get up and close the curtains, the midday sunlight being far too bright for him to easily get back to sleep, or to stay in bed and try to block it out in some other way. A moment later Scorpius made his decision and tightened his grip on the blankets, dragging them up and over his head.
Another hour or so must have passed before a loud banging noise echoed throughout the flat and woke him again. He made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, but did not make any attempt to move. A few moments later someone knocked sharply on the door to his bedroom. Scorpius did not answer, hoping that they’d go away. That wasn’t the case, though, and a second later there was a loud creaking noise as the door was pushed open.
"Morning," said Lily.
"Ugh," mumbled Scorpius, trying desperately to bury his head under his pillow. He couldn't see her face, but he could literally feel her rolling her eyes at him.
Another moment of silence passed, and then Scorpius felt something crawl onto the bed. There was a sharp tug at the top of his blankets and when they fell away, Lily came into view, a disapproving look on her face. "It's nearly one, you know."
"Oh, really?" said Scorpius, even though he had known.
Lily frowned at him and then reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ears. "You're supposed to be meeting Albus later today, aren't you?"
"No, we're meeting on Tuesday," said Scorpius tiredly. Convinced that this was all he needed to say, he leaned back against the pillows again and closed his eyes.
Lily poked him in the arm. "It is Tuesday, you idiot."
"What?" He opened his eyes and stared at her. "You’re having me on, Lily. It’s Monday afternoon."
"No, it isn’t."
"Yes, it is!"
Lily rolled her eyes and said, "It’s Tuesday, mate."
Scorpius frowned. "Really?"
"Yes," said Lily. Then, in a disapproving tone she added, "This is why you shouldn’t work double shifts. You’ll sleep right through a day – my dad used to do that a lot when we were little."
"Shit," Scorpius mumbled, pushing himself out of the bed. "I’m going to be late!"
Lily rolled her eyes again and walked around the bed. "You aren’t meeting him until four. You’ve still got a few hours."
"Right," said Scorpius, relieved. He then relaxed back into the bed. "I think I’ll just grab some more sleep, then, if you don’t mind."
Apparently, Lily did mind. She made an irritated noise in the back of her throat and grabbed Scorpius by the arm. "It’s time to get up," she hissed, hauling him out of the bed and down the hall to the kitchen, where there was a full English breakfast laid out on the table, complete with a steaming mug of black coffee, which Scorpius took graciously.
"You’re rather bossy," mumbled Scorpius, cradling the coffee close.
Lily made a sound of agreement in the back of her throat as she rummaged around in the cupboard. She turned around a moment later with a small tea dish in one hand and a fork in the other. She sat down next to Scorpius and reached over, scooping a few pieces of bacon and grilled tomatoes onto her plate.
Scorpius made a face at her. "It’s polite to ask first, Lily."
"Well, I made it."
"That’s not the point," said Scorpius, motioning at his plate with his fork. "It’s still rude to take something without asking first."
Lily rolled her eyes and then made a face of her own as Scorpius took a sip of his coffee. "I can’t believe you’re drinking coffee with your breakfast."
Scorpius frowned.
Lily motioned towards her own mug. "It tastes so much better with tea."
"I don’t drink tea in the morning," Scorpius said.
Lily gave him a disgusted look and reached over again, this time to swipe a few mushrooms from his plate. At Scorpius’ indignant look, Lily merely grinned. "You know you’ll miss me," she said, unceremoniously waving her fork in the air and winking at him.
"Oh yes," said Scorpius dryly. "I always miss people that steal my food."
"You mean you miss people that cook your food," corrected Lily. "You and Albus will starve without my gourmet skills."
Scorpius rolled his eyes and Lily grinned again. When Lily reached for his plate again, this time to snatch the last piece of tomato, he didn’t make any move to stop her. He wouldn’t admit it, but he knew that both he and Albus would miss having her steal their food. They’d miss a lot of things about Lily, certain quirks and habits that they’d grown accustomed to dealing with on a daily basis.
But he knew that mostly, they’d just miss having her there.
::
Despite having been awake for a few hours, Scorpius was late leaving the flat that afternoon. He blamed Lily for that, although he knew it was mostly his own fault. Scorpius was not a morning person at the best of times and most days, it could take him a good few hours to fully wake up, let alone to be ready for the day. So by the time he made it to Diagon Alley it was nearly a quarter past four, and he hurried through the crowds, keeping an eye open for a familiar mop of dark hair. He found Albus sitting at one of the tables outside Fortescue's about ten minutes later.
Scorpius gave him a wave and hurried across the street towards him. Albus raised an eyebrow at him as he collapsed into an empty chair on the other side of the table. "You’re late," was all that Albus said, pushing a steaming mug across the table to Scorpius. "Black coffee – thought you could use it."
"Thank you," said Scorpius. He reached out to take the mug and his fingers brushed against Albus’. Something jolted inside of Scorpius, and he snatched his hand away quickly, cradling the mug in his hands and staring at the table. It wasn’t exactly a secret that Scorpius had a bit of a crush on Albus (well, Scorpius amended, it seemed like everyone but Albus knew), but this was neither the time nor the place to let that get the better of him. Schooling his face into a pleasant, blank expression he said, "I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting. I honestly thought it was Monday."
Albus waved the apology off and gave him a searching look. "I know that you’re obsessed with getting that promotion, but you don’t need to kill yourself to do it. I didn’t see you once in the past two days, you know."
Scorpius shrugged, almost sheepishly. "I know, apparently I slept all day yesterday."
Albus eyed him for a long moment, looking as though he wanted to say something else, but whatever he saw on Scorpius’ face made him drop it. Instead he said, "I’ve got the next few days off. There was an outbreak of Dragonitius just after I left and they quarantined it. Only the Healers that were on my floor when it broke out can be there – they don’t want the rest of us getting infected."
"Ah," said Scorpius. "I’ve still got tomorrow off – we should plan on doing something."
Albus chuckled. "Maybe we can finally drag Lily out for an evening. I feel like all she’s been doing lately is reading about Hogwarts."
"It is a bit boring," acknowledged Scorpius.
Albus grinned and walked around the table, collapsing into the seat next to Scorpius. "Lily is a bit boring," he corrected, wrapping an arm around Scorpius’ shoulders. Scorpius twitched a bit at that, but it was such a small movement that Albus barely noticed. He pulled Scorpius closer and added, "Lily won’t have a social life without us around, you know."
They both laughed at that, and Scorpius felt some of the tension inside him fade away as Albus pulled away and went to get them more coffee. It was sad that Lily would be leaving them, but he couldn’t help but be relieved that Albus would still be there. Scorpius had long ago come to terms with his feelings for Albus. He may not have been able to have Albus in the way that he truly wanted, but he was more than willing to have him in his life in any other way possible. And if the only way he could do that was as friends and flatmates, then so be it.
::
The last weekend of July was spent packing up all of Lily’s things and moving them to Hogwarts. Albus had managed to get Lorcan Scamander to switch him weekends at St. Mungo’s and was thus able to be there for the entirety of the moving process.
Scorpius had not been quite as lucky, as it was much more difficult to swap shifts within the Auror department. He’d tried to talk to his supervisor about maybe working something out, but it seemed that Auror Weasley had little to no sympathy for Scorpius’ plight, despite the fact that it involved helping his niece move. After all, if there was one person on the planet who seemed to dislike Scorpius more than James Potter did, it was Ronald Weasley. Scorpius still didn’t know quite why that was – all he knew was that it had something to do with his father, and something to do with his being best friends with Lily.
In the end, Scorpius had ended up working all day Friday and Saturday morning. Surprisingly enough, though, he’d managed to get the latter part of Saturday and all day Sunday off due to the interjection of none other than Harry Potter himself. Potter had wandered onto their floor late Saturday afternoon and pulled Weasley out into the hallway to speak with him. When Weasley had returned only a few minutes later, he’d looked very irritated.
Potter had followed him back in, smiling widely. He’d made a waving motion with his hand and said, "Come along, Malfoy. I’ve got a special assignment for you."
Scorpius had scooped up his things and hurried after him. "What assignment, Sir?"
Potter had grinned. "I believe you’re due to help my daughter move to Hogwarts? Albus has been stopping by and complaining all day about how he has to do all this heavy lifting and work while you get to laze around the office. I finally decided to override Ron just to shut Albus up. If I hear him whine one more time, I’ll hex him."
Scorpius had grinned back and said, "Thank you, Sir."
Potter had just shrugged at him. "You’ll have to make up the rest of your shift next weekend, you know. Now get going before Albus comes back. I can’t promise what will happen if he does."
After that, Scorpius had rushed back home. Albus and Hugo had both looked relieved that Scorpius was there to help them move things, but neither James nor Rose looked particularly pleased by this development. Ginny Potter had never warmed up to Scorpius quite as much as her husband had over the years, but she’d been kind and courteous nonetheless, something that Scorpius had appreciated.
By late Sunday evening, everything was gone. Lily, Albus and Scorpius stood in a small semi-circle around the door to Lily’s empty room for a long moment. Finally, Lily turned her gaze away from the door and looked at them. "You’re both wonderful, you know. You’ll both have to come up for the first Hogsmeade weekend and visit me."
They’d both assured her that they would and then they said their goodbyes. She gave them a long look in the doorway and said, "Are you sure you don’t want me to help you find a third flatmate?"
Scorpius frowned. "Why? We said we could cover the rent."
Albus nodded in agreement and cast his sister a baffled look. Lily stared at them for another second before nodding. "All right, if you’re sure."
After Lily left, Albus and Scorpius stayed in the doorway and looked at one another.
Albus grinned after a moment. "Well, looks like it’s just you and me, mate."
Scorpius grinned back. "Yeah, looks like."
Albus chuckled and threw a hand around Scorpius’ shoulder and maneuvered them back into the flat, the door closing behind them with a soft click. Later, Scorpius would look back and pinpoint this as the moment where things started going wrong.
::
A week later, Scorpius was seriously beginning to wonder how he’d managed to live in the same flat as Albus Potter for five years. It was suddenly as though every single thing Albus did grated on Scorpius’ nerves; he wouldn’t put away the dishes, he wouldn’t do his laundry, he wouldn’t clean up after himself when he was done in the kitchen.
It was starting to drive Scorpius mad.
Albus, of course, was no help at all. When Scorpius had finally decided to bring the issues up over dinner one evening, the blow-up had been one of epic proportions. For every problem that Scorpius seemed to have with Albus, Albus had a matching one with Scorpius.
"You don’t take out the trash!" Albus had hissed, his fingers grasping tightly at the spatula in his hands.
"You leave empty milk cartons in the fridge!"
"Well, you leave the telly on at night."
"You bring home random strangers at night, and you’re not even quiet about it. My room is all the way across the flat and I can hear everything!"
Albus flushed at that and grasped for something to retaliate with. "You keep buying foods that I’m allergic to, Scorpius!"
"You’re a wizard, Albus, and a healer at that! Don’t use that as an excuse," replied Scorpius. Then, a second later, "I don’t see why I always have to go shopping, either! You’re just as capable as I am of walking down the street!"
"I have gone shopping!" Albus snapped. "You just don’t like the food I buy."
"The only thing you buy is pasta!"
"I like pasta!"
"So do I," Scorpius had admitted, "but not every single day."
The argument ended about ten minutes later, when Albus had screamed something about staying at Hugo’s flat that night. Then he’d promptly stormed out the door and left Scorpius to stand in the now-empty kitchen by himself, their dinner – spaghetti, for the third night in a row - still sitting untouched on the table.
::
Two days later, Albus still hadn’t returned to the flat. Scorpius was slightly worried, although at the same time he was more than a little relieved, if only because he could only begin to imagine what Albus would do when he found out that Scorpius – in a fit of rage after their last argument – had tossed all of Albus’ dirty laundry into the trash.
"He’ll probably murder you," Hugo had told him over dinner. "I’ve never seen him so angry before and, you know, he’s my cousin. I’ve known him forever. What did you do, Malfoy?"
Scorpius bristled. "Why do you automatically assume that this is my fault?"
Hugo shrugged. "I’m sure that it’s both of your faults, but I’ve only heard his side of the story. Regardless of who started this, you two need to figure it out. He’s going home tonight – maybe you can talk to him then? You’re both being childish."
"Yeah," Scorpius said sullenly. "Maybe I’ll talk to him."
::
Two weeks later and things had not improved. In fact, if pressed, Scorpius had to admit that things had simply gotten worse. Albus had come home that night, just as Hugo had said he would, but he’d refused to leave his room. Scorpius had knocked on the door, he’d banged on the door and he’d spent half the night standing outside of it, waiting for Albus to let him in. Eventually, Scorpius had gotten so fed up that he had given up and retreated to his own room.
It took another three days before Scorpius caught sight of Albus again. Their shifts must have been overlapping, because as Scorpius was coming home from work that afternoon, it looked as though Albus was getting ready to leave. Scorpius found him in the kitchen, making a salad for his lunch break. Scorpius stood outside the door for a few moments and debated whether or not it was worth going inside. It was his stomach that made the decision for him in the end. He was hungry, and technically, he owned half of the kitchen.
"Hello," Scorpius said, his decision made. He forced the words out through his teeth as he walked past Albus, who was busy chopping lettuce, and grabbed some bread.
Albus grunted in response, steadily not looking at Scorpius.
They worked in the kitchen for about ten minutes, side by side, not speaking. The tension was so thick that Scorpius was nearly overwhelmed by it. At one point, they reached for the onions at the same time, and when Albus’ hand brushed against Scorpius’, Albus made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and snatched his hand back and shot Scorpius a furious look.
Scorpius saw red.
He couldn’t believe the other man – being angry was one thing, but did Albus really hate Scorpius so much that the mere thought of touching him was that horrible? Not looking at Albus, he shifted over just slightly to the left, as far away from him as he could get without looking obvious.
Two could play that game, thought Scorpius sullenly as he turned his attention back to hacking the onion to bits. He was so engrossed in not paying attention to Albus, in planning on a way to get revenge, that he missed the pained, apologetic look that Albus shot him a moment later.
::
Scorpius got his chance for revenge the next morning. In a departure from the everyday norm, Scorpius had dragged himself out of bed early – earlier than Albus, even – and wandered out into the kitchen. During their fight two weeks ago, one of the things that Albus had brought up was the fact that Scorpius seemed to be averse to taking out the trash when it was time.
Well, Scorpius was about to take out the trash.
He had decided that if Albus liked pasta so much, then who was Scorpius to complain? Clearly, Albus thought all the other food in the house was garbage compared to his precious pasta. So Scorpius was going to help him get rid of it all, and he moved through the kitchen quickly and efficiently. With only a few murmured words and a quick flick of his wand, everything from the lettuce to the coffee grounds was affected. Surely Albus would be grateful that Scorpius had taken the initiative to get rid of all that trash for them.
He pocketed his wand and put the lid back on the canister of what was once coffee and went back to his bedroom. A few minutes later he was fast asleep and it was only an hour later, when Albus burst into his room, that he woke again. "Can I help you?" asked Scorpius, casting him a bleary-eyed look.
A second later it took all of Scorpius’ self-discipline to keep his face straight when Albus whipped the coffee canister across the room at him. It hit the corner of the bed, the lid flying off. Instead of coffee grounds flying everywhere, Scorpius found himself being sprayed by a flood of small macaroni noodles. "What the fuck is this?" Albus snarled, pointing at the pasta angrily. "All of our food has mysteriously turned into pasta. I can’t even make a cup of coffee!"
"That’s strange," said Scorpius mildly.
Albus cast him a furious look and, despite the severity of the situation and the very-likely possibility of getting hexed, Scorpius couldn’t help but think that he looked sort of cute in that moment. "You have no idea who you’re messing with, Malfoy."
"Is that a threat?"
"No," said Albus as he spun on his heel and slammed Scorpius’ door shut behind him. "It’s a promise."
::
That had not been an idle threat, as Scorpius discovered only two days later. He’d ended up having to work another double shift that day because his partner, Louie Thomas, had been sent to St. Mungo’s after a particularly nasty bust had left him missing an arm. After spending a long day being shouted at by Ron Weasley and having to deal with all of the paperwork that the case – and Louie’s injury – had generated, all Scorpius had wanted to do when he got home was to curl up in his bed and get some sleep.
He made it home around seven, just before it started raining in earnest. He shook off the few excess drops that had hit him on his way in and hung his coat and umbrella on the door. A quick look through the flat showed that he was home alone – if he remembered Albus’ schedule for the week correctly, then Albus wouldn’t be due home for another three hours. He grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and walked down the hall towards his room.
He wrapped his fingers around the doorknob and twisted it to the side, but the door did not open. Frowning, Scorpius tried it again. When the door still did not budge, he set his glass down on the floor near the bathroom and tried to open the door again, this time throwing his body weight against it. There was a rattling sound as the door was shoved forward, and then something fell through the crack and landed on the floor.
Scorpius blinked and looked down to see a single, empty milk carton lying at his feet. He frowned and tried to push the door in further, once again throwing his body weight against it. This time, more small milk cartons tumbled out, one after another after another, until there was a pile of them on the floor next to him. His eyes widened as he realized what was going on.
Albus had literally filled his room to the brim with empty milk cartons.
Scorpius twitched slightly, his fingers curling tightly around his wand. He knew that if Albus had done something like this to anyone else, he would have found it hilarious. The fact remained, though, that Albus had done it to him and, therefore, it was not allowed to be funny. In fact, Scorpius couldn’t remember having been this irritated in quite some time.
All he wanted to do was to go to sleep.
With that single thought in his mind, he flicked his wand towards the door, but nothing happened. He frowned and tried again, but the cartons did not disappear, nor did the door open. Scorpius let out a string of cursing at that point; he suddenly remembered that Albus had always been better at charms than he had.
Ten minutes later, Scorpius gave up and went to Lily’s old room. He curled up on the empty bed and transfigured a tissue into a blanket. It was another hour before he managed to fall asleep, thoughts of strangling Albus being the foremost thing in his mind.
::
"He filled your room to the brim with milk cartons?" said Lily, something that was half-amusement, half-disapproval flowing across her face. "Then he charmed them so that you couldn’t get rid of them?"
"Yes," said Scorpius tightly, curling his fingers tightly around the mug in his hands. It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of November and Scorpius had decided to meet Lily at The Three Broomsticks for lunch. "They’re still there – it’s been three weeks, Lily! I can’t get into my room for anything. I’ve been sleeping on the couch and transfiguring random things around the flat into clothes."
Lily coughed. "That’s…creative, you have to admit."
Scorpius scowled.
"Sorry," said Lily, not sounding sorry at all. "What did you do after that?"
"I went to his office at St. Mungo’s – he shares it with Lorcan, and he let me in without a problem. Albus keeps stealing the batteries – that I buy – out of the remote for the telly to use in his toothbrush." Scorpius gritted his teeth slightly. He hated having to buy them in the first place, but using magic on the telly or the remote only seemed to mess them up, so he didn’t really have any choice. "So I went into his office and transfigured all of his office supplies into batteries – quills, parchment, clipboard. All of it. He was furious."
Lily put her head in her hands and sighed. "I knew something like this would happen if I left."
"You did?"
"Of course," said Lily. "I offered how many times to find you two another flatmate? I knew that you two couldn’t function in that flat without a third person. Your personalities are too different – you’re a clean freak, Albus is a slob. You’re a night person and Albus wakes up at the crack of dawn. You’re a prude and Albus will shag with anything that has two legs."
"I am not a prude!"
Lily cast him a look. "Maybe prude wasn’t quite the right word, Scorpius, but we both know that the only person who you have any interest in shagging is Albus."
"That isn’t true!"
"Please, I’m your best friend. He’s my brother. You think I haven’t noticed the rampant sexual tension between the two of you? It’s been brewing for years," said Lily. She gave him a long look and added, "The difference between the two of you is that Albus is willing to shag anyone and everyone else while he waits for something to happen between the two of you. You, on the other hand, cling to the idea of being all romantic and ‘waiting’ for him. I bet the last time you shagged someone must have been at least a year ago."
Scorpius tightening his grip on the mug and said, his tone biting, "We are not having this discussion, Lily."
"I rather think we are," replied Lily. She grinned and said, "You know why you’re having such problems with him? It’s because I’m not there to act as a buffer. Before I left for Hogwarts, the two of you had me around to act as a buffer for your weird attraction to each other. Now that I’m gone, the sexual tension is running rampant and you two don’t know how to handle it because you’re both idiots."
"I take offense at that," said Scorpius irritably.
"Take all the offense you want," said Lily. "That doesn’t make it any less true. Neither you nor Albus knows how to handle the way you feel for each other, so instead you let the tension build to the point where it’s suffocating you both. You’re both on edge, and thus everything the other one does is driving you insane."
"You’re trying to tell me that if I shag your brother everything will just fix itself?"
"Oh, no," replied Lily. She took a sip of her tea and added, "I wouldn’t want you two to just shag each other because you thought it would make you get along better. I mean, I think you should shag each other anyway, but it’d be nice if the initial reason is a good one. I’m sure you two would still be horrible flatmates, even if you were shagging. I just think that if you were together as a couple, you’d make more of an effort to get along in all ways."
Scorpius stared at her. "That makes absolutely no sense."
Liy shrugged. "Dad noticed it, too. He actually thought you two were together already. He was shocked when I told him you weren’t – he thinks your both idiots, by the way."
"Your father thinks we’re shagging?" asked Scorpius, looking horrified. Then, "You discussed my sex life – Albus’ sex life – with your dad?"
"Don’t you mean your non-existent sex life, Scorpius? And of course," said Lily. She gave him a confused look. "Would you rather I talk about it with my mum?"
Scorpius felt ill again. "No, no. You know what? Let’s just stop this discussion here and pretend it never happened."
Lily rolled her eyes at him, but did not say anything else. A moment later she got up to grab another cup of tea, leaving Scorpius sitting alone at their table, his head bowed as he pondered her words.
::
Scorpius thought about what Lily said for the next few days. He’d never really considered the possibility that Albus might have similar feelings.
Now that he had, though, he absolutely no idea what to do about it.
He had considered bringing it up to Albus. They were speaking again, but it was still strained and awkward. The last time that either of them had attempted any sort of revenge against each other had been about three weeks before, when Albus had snuck into Scorpius’ office and charmed everything to smell like trash. Scorpius had been less than impressed by that, as had Weasley. The elder Potter, however, had been amused by the entire thing. Eventually he had stopped laughing long enough to help Scorpius figure out the counter curse. Potter claimed that he was only doing so because he didn’t want to have to deal with Scorpius smelling like that on a daily basis, but Scorpius knew the real reason was simply because Potter liked him.
Scorpius had planned another attack on Albus in retaliation for that, but in the end he’d been busy, and so tired of fighting that he’d just never gone through with it. That had seemed to be enough to put a hiatus on their war, and the past three weeks had been fairly quiet. Scorpius’ room was still filled with cartons; Scorpius was beginning to think that Albus didn’t know how to remove them. Most of Albus’ office supplies were still in the form of batteries; Scorpius had tried to reverse it, he really had, but he couldn’t get everything quite back to normal. Aside from those two ongoing issues, though, everything seemed somewhat back to normal.
They’d even managed to share a civil dinner a few nights earlier. Albus had cooked some sort of Chinese dish, and they’d spent the meal mostly talking about Lily and how much she was enjoying teaching. It hadn’t been anything spectacular, but it had been enough that it gave Scorpius hope that everything would even out between them. He hoped that once things were back to normal, he’d be able to bring the discussion he’d had with Lily up to Albus.
That particular dream was shattered a few days later. In retrospect, Scorpius had only gone into Albus’ room that evening because he was tired of wearing transfigured clothing – the shirt he had on at the moment had been made from a sheet of sandpaper he’d found in a drawer, and every time he moved it would rub uncomfortably against his skin. He’d only planned to borrow one of Albus’ shirts – after all, it was Albus’ fault.
He’d been rummaging around in one of Albus’ shirt drawers when he’d found the first of the clippings. It was a small piece of paper that advertised a flat for rent in Oxford. Scorpius moved another shirt out of the way and found another, this one for a flat in Watford. Then he found another clipping, this time for a flat in Harlow. There were six of them all together, each for a different flat for rent.
Albus was going to move out, he was going to leave.
The very thought of it made Scorpius ill. He had thought that maybe things had been improving – Scorpius had even taken the trash out the other morning, without Albus having to tell him to do it! They’d had dinner – they’d stopped harassing one another. Could he have been misinterpreting everything? Was the stop in fighting simply because Albus had found another way out, because Albus knew he only had to deal with Scorpius for a bit longer?
Had Lily been wrong?
Scorpius made a muffled sound and sank to the floor, the clippings bunched together in his fist. Albus couldn’t just leave. He just couldn’t. They’d been friends for years and although Scorpius knew that things within the flat had gotten bad for awhile, he’d really thought that they’d be able to work through it. Clearly, he’d been wrong.
He pushed himself up from the floor and bit back an angry sound. He was sure there was a bottle of firewhiskey hiding somewhere in the kitchen and, if there was ever a good time to get drunk, then this was it.
::
It was nearly midnight when Albus finally got home. Scorpius didn’t so much see him as hear him, the unmistakable sound of Albus stumbling his way through the doorway a clear indication that he was probably just as drunk as Scorpius himself was. Scorpius wasn’t really surprised by that revelation – anytime James and Albus were together usually ended up with both trying to out drink the other.
"Hello," Albus hiccupped as he stumbled into the room, his left hand flying out to steady himself before he fell into the wall. Apparently he was drunk enough to have forgotten that he and Scorpius had spent the better part of two months at war and had only recently gotten back onto speaking terms. "Whadda you still doing up?"
"Where have you been?" asked Scorpius from his place on the couch. He stretched each word out slowly, and was very proud at how steady his voice sounded.
Albus collapsed into the chair by the bookshelf and stretched his legs out. He narrowed his eyes at Scorpius, as though trying to bring him into focus and said, "Was with Rose, Hugo, James and Teddy. Didya know that James and Teddy are sharing a flat?"
"Goody for them."
"Mmm," hummed Albus. "I miss you, Scorp."
"Don’t call me Scorp, Potter."
Albus made a face at him. "Don’t call me Potter, Malfoy." He stretched out the ‘oy’ for a few moments, then stopped and gave Scorpius a long look. "Why’re you still up?"
"Thinkin," said Scorpius as he made a vague motion towards the nearly-empty bottle of firewhiskey lying on the floor.
"Whadda bout?" slurred Albus. He leaned forward and reached out for the bottle. It took two tries for him to pick it up. He was in the process of sitting back in his seat when he stopped and squinted at something else on the floor. "What’s that?" he mumbled, his fingers curling around one of the clippings that Scorpius had knocked on the ground earlier.
"Nothing," mumbled Scorpius sullenly, trying unsuccessfully to lean forward and take it back from Albus.
Despite being drunk, years of Quidditch had perfected quick reflexes, and Albus was by far the quicker of the two. He easily moved out of the way and squinted at the paper again before his eyes widened. "You got this outta my room!"
"Did not!"
"These were locked in a drawer, Scorp! I don’t remember what drawer," Albus admitted a moment later, a clear testament to just how drunk he really was. "But I know the drawer was in my room. You went in there without my permission."
"You’re looking for a new flat," said Scorpius.
Albus still looked extremely displeased by this blatant disregard for his privacy. "You went into my room."
"You’re moving out."
"What if I am?" said Albus a moment later, looking furious. "Are you going to break in there to spy on me, too?"
Scorpius leaned forward and snatched the firewhisky back from Albus. He took a final gulp of it and threw it at the wall. He felt a fleeting moment of satisfaction when the bottle hit the wall and shattered, causing Albus to flinch. "I dunno," Scorpius hissed. He stood and walked unsteadily towards the doorway. "If you can give up on us so easily, then you probably aren’t worth stalking."
Albus frowned and stumbled after Scorpius. He lost his balance only a few steps into his pursuit and tumbled into Scorpius, sending them both flying into the wall. Scorpius landed hard, his back colliding uncomfortably with the doorknob. Albus collided with his front a moment later, his hands reaching out to grab at Scorpius’ clothing in an unsuccessful attempt to balance himself. "You don’t know what you’re talking about," he hissed, his breath hot on Scorpius’ neck.
"I rather think I do," Scorpius bit back. He reached out and grabbed at Albus, his fingers tightening into the curve of his hipbone. He pushed forward then, trying to get Albus to move enough that he could wriggle his way out.
Albus, it seemed, would have none of that. He pushed forward, trapping Scorpius against the wall. "You don’t know what you’re talking about," he repeated, pressing closer, his fingers digging so hard into Scorpius’ hipbone that he knew there would be bruises there tomorrow. "You don’t know anything."
"Fuck you, Albus," Scorpius snarled, trying to pull away. "Everything is always about you, and if you’re not getting your way you’re just going to up and leave, aren’t you? Well, here’s what I think you can do with your stupid -."
Albus leaned forward and kissed Scorpius, effectively shutting him up in the middle of his angry rant. Albus was kissing him, Scorpius thought hazily, grabbing at any and every part of Albus that could. A moment later Albus moved one of his hands to grasp at Scorpius’ neck, pulling him down and closer, and Scorpius stopped thinking altogether.
Albus kissed like he did everything else: sloppily, his lips moving everywhere and anywhere. He didn’t seem to have any particular destination in mind – one moment his lips were on Scorpius’ neck, the next he was pressing them against his mouth, kissing Scorpius hard and quick. He tasted of the firewhisky that he’d had earlier that night, of the peppermints that Scorpius knew he always ate on his way home after a night of drinking. It was a strange, bitter taste, and Scorpius wanted more.
Somehow, Albus managed to maneuver them over to the couch without either of them getting injured. He pushed Scorpius down and pressed a series of quick, biting kisses into the curve of his neck. He slid a hand under Scorpius’ shirt and pushed it up, his fingers pressing firmly into the skin of Scorpius’ stomach. "Lean back," Albus mumbled, kissing his way back down Scorpius’ neck.
Scorpius did as he was told and Albus rewarded him with a grin. Then he pulled Scorpius’ shirt up further and pressed his lips against his chest, biting and licking his way down towards the waistband of his jeans. Albus popped the first button open then moved back up to kiss Scorpius. "This okay?" he asked, nipping at Scorpius’ bottom lip briefly before pulling back and looking at him. There was a look in Albus’ eyes, a look that Scorpius had never seen in them before, and it made him want to both get away and to pull him closer.
"I don’t know," said Scorpius honestly, biting his lips and looking straight at Albus. "I’m not sure if – I don’t know if we - look, I don’t think we should do this right now."
"Huh?" said Albus, looking bewildered. Clearly, that was not the response he had been expecting.
"I’m drunk – hell, you’re drunk." Scorpius pushed Albus away as well as he could, considering that he was still mostly out of sorts. He took a few unsteady steps back, buttoning his jeans and straightening his shirt out. "I don’t think we should do this right now, Albus. It’s not a good idea. I’ll…we’ll talk tomorrow, when we’re sober."
"What -," Albus began, but Scorpius didn’t catch it all. He was already fleeing down the hall to Lily’s old room. When he got there he locked the door and then leaned back against it, breathing heavily. Part of him was proud of himself for making the adult decision, for doing the right thing. That part of him knew that sleeping with Albus while drunk and angry would only make things worse between them.
There was another part of him, though, that couldn’t help but imagine what Albus must be feeling right then. Scorpius closed his eyes and pictured Albus still sitting there alone on the couch, confused and angry and humiliated and alone. Part of him wanted to go back, to tell Albus he was sorry.
He didn’t.
::
Scorpius did not leave the room the next day, nor the day after that. On the third morning Scorpius had no choice but to go into work, but he waited until he was sure the flat was empty before he snuck out. He ended up arriving nearly an hour early and had spent the greater part of that hour sulking in the break room, the mug of coffee in his hands untouched.
The day seemed to drag along. He was only supposed to be working five hours that day, but it felt more like ten. By the time he got out of work it was nearly six in the evening and, assuming he had gotten Albus’ schedule right, a clear area. He’d have two hours to stop for something to eat and make it back to the flat before Albus got home from his shift.
Scorpius made it home around seven. He stopped in front of the door to their flat with a box of Chinese takeout in one hand, all of the files he needed for the Brenley case gripped tightly in the other. It took him four tries to shift all of the things he was carrying in his hands around enough that he could lean forward enough to open the door without something falling. It took another minute or so for him to get the door open – he tried twice, but it had seemed stuck both times. On his third try it swung open and Scorpius pushed his way inside, moving slowly to keep from dropping things.
The door shut behind him with a soft click, and it took Scorpius a moment to realize that he hadn’t been the one to shut it. He turned around and nearly dropped all of the things he was carrying.
"Well look who just wandered in," said Albus dryly.
Scorpius shifted uncomfortably and glanced around the flat. He wondered if there was another way out, if he could make it to one of the other rooms before Albus could stop him.
Albus seemed to read his mind. "I wouldn’t try it," he said lightly. "I got Lorcan to cover for me so that I could skive off of work early. I wanted to make sure I was home first so I could catch you. You really think I wouldn’t have considered the possibility of you trying to hide again? I charmed all the doors in the flat – they’ll only open for me."
Scorpius shifted uncomfortably and inched back towards the wall. "That’s why I couldn’t get in at first," he realized out loud, more to himself than to Albus. "I don’t see why you did it."
"We need to talk," Albus said. He motioned towards the couch and said, his voice cold, "Sit down, Scorpius."
Scorpius sat.
Albus sat down on the edge of the table, directly across from Scorpius. He stared at Scorpius for a long moment, almost as though evaluating him. "You shouldn’t have gone through my things the other night," he said finally.
"I know," said Scorpius, head bowed. "I was looking for a shirt – mine are all still stuck in my room – and when I saw something else, I should have stopped looking."
Albus stared.
"Not that I should have been in there in the first place," Scorpius amended quickly, not wanting to be on the receiving end of a hex. Albus may have been a healer, but that didn’t exclude the fact that the only person in his family that could best him in a duel was his father. "I’m very sorry."
"You do have a point," Albus had mumbled, slouching slightly. "If I hadn’t ruined your room, you wouldn’t have had to go into mine. I, uh, tried to reverse that charm the other morning. I can’t seem to get it quite right, though. I think it was a bit advanced, even for me."
Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, I tried to fix all of the things in your office, but I can’t get them quite back to normal."
Albus’ lips twisted slightly, and it took Scorpius a moment to realize that he was trying to bite back a smile. "We’re a right pair of idiots, aren’t we?"
Scorpius shrugged. "Yeah, I think we are."
Albus slid forward on the table until he was sitting on the edge, his knees bumping uncomfortably against Scorpius’. "I’m sorry, Scorpius. The thing with the clippings is, well," Albus paused and looked down at the floor. "I thought maybe if we looked for a bigger place, with more room, we’d be less likely to irritate one another? This place is a decent size – if fit three of us for how long? But without Lily or someone else around to keep us from driving each other insane, it feels a lot smaller than it really is."
"You want us to both move?" Scorpius said, looking flabbergasted.
Albus nodded. "If you had read the clippings you would have seen that all the ones I had marked were for two bedrooms, and rather large. Dad offered to help us out for the first few months if we need it – said something about ‘anything to keep you from murdering each other’."
"So you weren’t moving away?" Scorpius only just managed to stop himself from adding ‘from me’ to the end of that.
"Of course not," Albus said, frowning. "I mean, I was pissed off. But I wasn’t about to just give up on us."
"On us?" echoed Scorpius, blinking.
Albus flushed slightly and said, "On us being flatmates. Flatmates."
"Flatmates, right." Scorpius said. They sat in silence for a moment and then Scorpius couldn’t stop himself. "You kissed me the other night."
Albus mumbled something and looked down at the floor again. Scorpius was half-tempted look down as well, just to see what it was that Albus found so fascinating.
"Sorry?" asked Scorpius, leaning forward. "I didn’t catch that."
"I said that it was more than just a kiss."
Scorpius flushed slightly. "Right, right."
There was another moment of silence and Albus said, "I’m going to kiss you now, just so you know."
Scorpius blinked. "Sorry?"
"I’m not drunk," Albus explained as he leaned forward. "Neither are you. We’re both extremely sober and, well, I want to see something."
Scorpius didn’t have time to argue, to say anything else, because a moment later Albus leaned forward and kissed him. It was different this time, slower. Albus’ lips were warm and soft, brushing against Scorpius’ lightly. At some point Albus deepened the kiss and twisted his head just slightly to the side. A bit of stubble brushed against Scorpius’ face and he moaned at the sensation, reaching out and pulling Albus closer.
Albus didn’t taste of firewhisky this time, which Scorpius considered a vast improvement. He still tasted like mints, but there was another flavor there, too. It was vague, barely there. Scorpius almost wanted to call it apple, but he wasn’t entirely sure that would do it justice. Eventually the need for air was too much for Scorpius to ignore and reluctantly, he grabbed Albus by the shoulders and pushed him back. "That was nice," he mumbled.
Albus leaned forward until their foreheads were resting against one another. "Just nice?" he asked, grinning slightly. "Looks like I’ll have to step it up a bit, yeah?"
"Huh?"
Albus chuckled and leaned back, resting both of his hands on Scorpius thighs. He gave Scorpius another grin and sank to his knees in front of him. Sliding his hands up to the waistband of Scorpius’ pants he said, "Just relax."
Scorpius wanted to say something, say anything. But by the time he managed to open his mouth, Albus already had his cock in his hand, and all coherent thoughts immediately left his mind. Albus grinned up at him and took his hand from Scorpius’ cock. Scorpius made a sound of protest, but it died in his throat a moment later as he watched Albus raise it to his lips and spit in his palm of his hands.
"You’re not going to run away again, are you?" asked Albus softly as he lowered his hand back down and wrapped it around Scorpius’ cock. He slid his hand back and forth, fingers tightening the closer to the base that he got.
"Yeah," moaned Scorpius, letting his head fall to the side. He realized what he had said a second later. "I mean, no."
Albus raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, licking at the tip of Scorpius’ cock. "You seem a bit confused," he said, chuckling again. Then he opened his mouth and took the length of Scorpius cock in.
Scorpius nearly screamed. He dug the fingers of one hand into the cushions in a desperate attempt to anchor himself. His other hand ended up in Albus’ hair, tangling and pulling, urging him closer, to take him deeper.
Albus rolled his eyes up to look at Scorpius, his own fingers digging and pressing uncomfortably into Scorpius’ thighs. Scorpius took one look at him and came with a muffled sound, his fingers tightening and pulling at Albus’ hair so hard that he was surprised he hadn’t rip some of it out.
"Come on," said Albus, pulling back. He tugged impatiently at Scorpius, who was still trying to catch his breath, and hauled him up. He dragged him towards the hallway. "We don’t have all night."
Scorpius stumbled after him, his fingers grasping tightly at Albus’. A part of him wanted to correct Albus’ statement, but he knew that this wasn’t the time. Albus was wrong - they did have all night.
Scorpius hoped that maybe, just maybe, they’d have every night.
::
It was nearly noon when Scorpius woke the next morning. It took another ten or so minutes before he realized that he was alone in the bed - Albus’ bed, he thought to himself, the thought being both exciting and daunting to him - and that there was a small, folded white note laying on Albus’ pillow. Scorpius stared at it for what seemed like hours, something uncomfortable twisting at his gut. Finally he forced himself to reach out and grab it.
He held the note in his hands for a moment and then slowly unfolded it. When he opened it and scanned the contents, he couldn’t stop a single sob from bursting forth.
Scorpius –
My dad called and asked me to meet him for breakfast. I didn’t want to wake you , mostly because I didn’t want to have to listen to you whine about being up so early. Will be back in a few hours, and I’ll bring you something back to eat.
- Albus
Relief flowed through Scorpius as he leaned back in the bed, his arm hanging just over the side. He let out another choked, relieved sob and slowly released his fist, letting the letter tumble unceremoniously out of his fingers and onto the floor. A moment later he rolled over until he was laying on Albus’ side and buried his face into Albus’ pillow, inhaling a scent that was part apple, part spice and entirely him.
Another hour or so must have passed before Albus finally pushed his way into the bedroom, carrying with him a steaming mug of coffee in one hand and balancing what looked to be a plate of warm biscuits in the other. "Morning," said Albus softly as he gently set the plate on the table. "How’re you?"
Scorpius reached out and snatched one of the biscuits off of the plate, his fingers brushing against Albus’. Something warm spread throughout Scorpius and he looked down at the bed briefly before forcing himself to look Albus in the eye. "I’m good, I’m good."
"That’s good," said Albus, grinning slightly. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and poked Scorpius in the side. "Budge over."
Scorpius moved and a moment later they were both on their sides in the bed. Albus curled up next to him and threw one arm over his side, the other arm reaching around stealthily to try and steal one of Scorpius’ biscuits. Scorpius caught him in the act and grabbed at his wrist, his fingers tightening firmly around it. "Those are mine," said Scorpius lightly, his words muffled slightly by the pillow his face was half-pressed into.
"That’s strange," said Albus, "I thought I had bought them. Silly me."
"Silly you," Scorpius echoed. Then he released Albus’ wrist and moved to grab his fingers, entwining them with his own. "I was half afraid you’d bring me pasta."
Albus groaned. "No, not pasta. I seem to have lost my taste for it since that pleasant morning a few months ago when you decided to transfigure all of our food."
Scorpius grinned into the pillow. "You deserved it."
They stayed like that for a bit and then Albus shifted closer. "Do you have any idea what we’re doing?"
Scorpius shrugged. "Not really."
Albus’ breath was hot on Scorpius’ neck. "I don’t want this to end badly," he admitted after a moment. "I’d rather have you as a friend forever than lose you because this doesn’t work out."
Scorpius was silent for a long time. Then he tightened his fingers around Albus’. "You won’t lose me. It will work – we’ll make it work."
Albus chuckled. "Does ‘it’ mean coming to terms with our issues in the flat? Or does ‘it’ mean this new development?"
"Both, hopefully," Scorpius replied dryly. "I’d hate to have to kill you for leaving out the dishes after we’ve just shagged. I’d hate to kill you even more for shagging someone else."
Albus leaned closer and pressed a kiss into Scorpius’ hair. "I don’t need anyone else if I’ve got you."
"I notice you didn’t address the subject of the dishes," said Scorpius, his voice dry.
Albus grinned widely at him and Scorpius rolled his eyes. They fell into silence again. "I’m not an easy person to love," Albus said softly a moment later, curling in closer. "I’ve got some pretty nasty mood swings, you know."
Scorpius snorted. "That’s an understatement."
"You aren’t exactly perfect either," Albus mumbled, burying his head into the curve of Scorpius’ shoulder. "You’ve got a nasty sense of humor, and you’re a horrible morning person. I still think we should consider moving into a larger flat. We might have to move outside of London to afford one, but I really do think that some more room might help."
Scorpius shifted, rolling over so that he was facing Albus. He pressed forward and planted a small, chaste kiss on Albus’ lips. "We’ll make it work," he repeated. "Somehow, we’ll make it all work."