December 14th, 2020
Merlin’s beard, it was cold.
It was fucking freezing.
Albus awoke to see Scorpius snuggled up beside him, his arm wrapped around him and their legs intertwined. Albus’ eyes widened, and he instinctively started to pull away, pausing upon seeing Scorpius begin to stir. Albus’ stomach twisted as he returned to his original sleeping position, his eyes open as wide as they could possibly be.
What the fuck…?
Albus’ face felt hot despite how cold the room was.
He didn't know what this feeling was. He felt weird. He felt… warm. Warm and a little nauseous, and like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. He knew he wasn't supposed to feel like this. He wasn't supposed to feel so weird about sleeping in the same bed as his best friend. They were just friends. That was it. It was cold in their dorm, so they were cuddling for warmth. That's it.
He knew that wasn't it.
Albus felt sick.
He didn't like Scorpius. Not like that. He didn't want to like Scorpius. He wasn't gay. It wasn't gay to admire how beautiful Scorpius looked while he was sleeping and stare at his pink lips while thinking about how much he wanted to kiss them.
That was normal.
That was something friends did.
They were just besties. Nothing more.
Scorpius soon awoke with a quiet groan as he turned slightly. Albus stayed still, staring up at the ceiling and steadying his breathing. He shut his eyes tightly, letting out a shaky breath.
Be normal, Albus. It’s fine.
Scorpius let out a quiet exhale, and he sniffed, curling further into Albus’ body.
What the fuck. What. The. Fuck.
“Mmmngh,” Scorpius stirred awake, his eyes opening slowly. He shut them again, shoving his face into Albus’ chest.
Okay. This is fine. This is normal friend behavior.
“Albus?” Scorpius opened his eyes, peeking up at a now wide-eyed Albus. He smiled upon seeing that he was awake. “Oh, you’re up early.”
Albus opened his mouth to speak, but only a pathetic squeak came out. Lord, this was embarrassing.
“I’m cold,” Scorpius muttered, his voice a bit raspy having just woken up. He curled further into Albus, sprawling his arm across the boy’s waist. Albus tensed up, peering over at Scorpius. Fuck. He had to know what he was doing. This wasn’t something friends did, despite how much he tried to convince himself that it was. This wasn’t normal.
Albus wanted, more than anything, to pull away.
But it felt so nice.
Why did it feel so nice? Why did he enjoy being so close to Scorpius?
This wasn’t normal, right?
Was something wrong with him?
Albus looked over at Scorpius, his eyebrows furrowed. He inhaled through his nose, trying not to puke as he wrapped his arm around Scorpius.
This was gay.
He couldn’t deny it anymore. This was undoubtedly something that could only be explained with homosexuality. This wasn’t something besties did.
Scorpius looked up at Albus, and his eyes widened as if he just realized what he was doing. He squirmed in the embrace, seeming suddenly uncomfortable. Albus cursed himself in his head; he knew he shouldn’t have done anything. He shouldn't have risked doing anything which would make the situation any more awkward than it already was. He watched as Scorpius broke away, awkwardly clearing his throat after pushing himself out of bed. He rubbed his arms, looking away from Albus.
Albus let out a breath, his eyebrows furrowed. He didn't mean to make Scorpius uncomfortable.
Ugh .
He watched Scorpius as he grabbed a hoodie he'd left inside out and thrown on a chair, sliding it on and letting out a breath.
“I'm freezing,” Scorpius said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Are you not cold?”
“Why do you think I haven't gotten out of bed yet?” Albus asked, and he heard a natural laugh from Scorpius. He sighed, relieved. Good. Things weren't too awkward between them. Albus rubbed his eyes, pushing the blanket off of him and shivering instantly. He didn't want to get out of bed. Maybe he could just go back to sleep for a few hours. He shut his eyes, feeling himself drifting off.
The feeling was quickly interrupted by Scorpius letting out a high pitched squeal. Albus’ eyes shot open, and he quickly sat up, looking to Scorpius.
“What?” Albus kicked his feet off the bed, the cold air hitting him as he walked over to where Scorpius was. The blond was stood by the window, his face pressed up against the glass. He giggled, bouncing up and down and looking to Albus with a wide grin on his face.
“Look!” He turned back to the window, and Albus looked as well, his mouth falling open slightly as soon as he did.
“Wow,” He whispered, his awed expression turning into a soft smile. “First snow of the year.”
Scorpius screamed, punching Albus repeatedly in the arm.
“Scorpius!” Albus laughed, grabbing Scorpius’ arms in an attempt to calm him down. Scorpius didn't seem to relax, and he instead continued to giggle as he broke away, throwing his jacket on, along with a pair of socks and boots.
“Where exactly are you going?” Albus asked, following Scorpius as he paced around.
“Outside,” Scorpius stated, wrapping his scarf around his neck. “And you're coming with me.”
“Am I?” Albus asked with a smirk. Scorpius handed him a jacket and a scarf, to which he immediately put them both on.
“Put shoes on. And- pants,” Scorpius said.
“But it's cold out,” Albus whined, throwing a pair of dark gray sweatpants on, along with a pair of socks.
“Just hurry!” Scorpius bounced on his heels as he waited for Albus.
“Okay, okay,” Albus laughed, tying his sneakers and standing up. Before he could steady himself, Scorpius grabbed his hand, pulling him out the door and outside the school.
Albus gasped as he got outside, gazing around as delicate snow floated to the ground. Snow had already begun piling up on the ground, and Albus struggled to walk without slipping. Scorpius seemed to have no problem, and ran outside, laughing cheerfully as he stomped around in the snow. Albus couldn't help but smile as he watched him. Tons of students were wandering about outside, all equally as excited about the sudden snowfall. Albus knelt down, balling up a lump of snow and forming a sphere. He stood, staring carefully at Scorpius and lining up his shot. Quickly, he threw the snowball, hitting Scorpius in the back of the head. Scorpius jumped and turned quickly, his mouth open in exaggerated shock.
“You're going to regret that, Albus Severus Potter,” Scorpius smirked, bending down to quickly gather some snow for snowballs. Realizing Scorpius was serious, Albus began to gather snowballs as well, collecting a pile. He flinched as he felt a snowball crash against his head, and he looked up, seeing Scorpius grinning evilly as he held a pile of snowballs.
“Oh, it's on ,” Albus smiled, throwing a snowball back at Scorpius. Scorpius ran, hiding behind a tree as he attempted to dodge Albus’ snowy attack. His attempts to hide were proven futile, as he jumped up upon feeling a snowball fall on his head. Scorpius threw a snowball back at Albus in response, the snowball hitting Albus square in the face. Albus stumbled back, wiping the snow off of his face. Another snowball hit him, and he fell to the ground dramatically, his body being submerged in snow.
“Aghhh, you got me,” Albus sarcastically laughed, his limbs sprawled out in the snow. Scorpius came running over, standing over Albus and dropping a snowball on his face.
“Ow!” Albus whined and covered his face as Scorpius cackled, though he couldn't help but laugh as well. Scorpius threw himself to the ground as well, laying out with his limbs spread and letting himself merge with the snow. The two stared up, watching the snow fall down on them. It was beautiful, but Albus thought the boy next to him was an even prettier sight.
He turned to Scorpius, noticing that the blond had his tongue out to catch snowflakes as they fell. Albus let out a soft laugh, grabbing Scorpius cold, wet hand and holding it in his own. Scorpius quickly turned to Albus, a smile growing on his face. Albus snorted at the boy’s appearance. His hair was a mess, his face was hot pink, and snot was running from his nose despite how many times he'd tried to wipe it away. He was smiling so wide that it seemed painful. It was the most beautiful thing Albus had ever seen.
He exhaled, staring back up at the sky.
“We're going to get frostbite,” Albus stated calmly.
“You're probably right,” Scorpius answered. “We should... head inside soon.”
But neither of them moved.
They stayed on the ground, hands intertwined, eyes focused up at the falling snow. Albus smiled.
It started to snow harder. And, despite his shivering body and frozen nose, Albus felt warm.