Cafe Kisses
The man was seated in the center of the cafe in a booth sandwiched between two identical ones. Like brothers. He laughed under his breath at his own little joke. The hostess turned around to face him, silently asking what was so funny. He smiled his normally charming grin, "Nothing, just remembering something..."
She nodded, smiling slightly awkwardly. She was inexperienced at her job, the position was very clearly new to her. He didn't fault her, Albus was in no hurry.
He was seated and a menu was placed in front of him along with his regular cup of tea. He stirred his drink four times counter-clockwise. To be honest, Albus wasn't exactly hungry. He just needed to get out of the castle for a moment, away from his responsibilities. Away from the memories that lingered there like cobwebs over an abandoned mirror.
"Would this be one of your regular haunts?"
The voice itself was somehow haunting yet warm and familiar. Cold but comforting. Like he'd never heard it before but it echoed in his mind since he was a foolish boy. He chuckled, "I don't have any regular haunts."
The man sat in front of him. He looked different again. He had a habit of taking on the faces of those he had met and conquered, but Albus knew what his real face looked like. He'd seen it, touched it, known everything it had to offer. Now he looked like an older man, older than fifty-something both of them were in actuality. His hair was shot grey, especially in the front where it was nearly white. He was still dressed nicely, in a green-grey three-piece suit. To anyone else, this may have been a completely new wizard, but not to Albus. The eyes gave him away.
"Let me see it."
He sighed and opened his palm which had been clutched over the oath. He often spent his nights staring at it, watching the two drops of foolish blood dancing like they had not a care in the world. Sometimes it was entrancing. It brought him back to a better, more innocent life- the one he had lived as a Hogwarts student with the other boy who he hadn't hesitated to call his lover.
"Sometimes I imagine I still feel it around my neck." Albus looked up through his eyelashes, face coated in disbelief. "How does it feel on yours?"
He changed the topic, not bothering to answer the question. His mind was racing with confrontation. But not betrayal, he reassured the pact he had tucked away into his pocket, never betrayal. "Grindelwald, what you're doing is madness."
"You always said that we would reshape this world." Gellert leaned across the table, getting closer to him, "That it was our birthright." He leaned back toward his seat. Albus did not move. "Do you really intend to turn your back on your own kind?"
He was speechless.
"Why did you form this promise with me in the first place, Albus?" He was taunting him, Albus knew. They both knew the answer.
"Because I was in love with you." It was almost a whisper. He knew it was real, he knew his feelings had, at least once, been returned, but still. He hated to admit it now, that those feelings had never truly left, that deep down he was still in love with this evil man. For years he had convinced himself that he was simply yearning for his own youth, to be young again, but that was simply denial. He had once loved Gell, a part of him, way deep down, still did.
"I can't hear you, Albus~"
"Because," He said, louder and sharper than intended, "Because I was in love with you."
"Was?" Gellert chuckled, "You wound me, Albus~"
The two men sat in silence before creeping closer to each other. This felt natural. Familiar. Exactly like their school-age selves. Albus could practically feel Gell's breath on his lips. Heat rushed to his cheek. He averted his eyes, tensing his fist and making eyecontact with the corner of the table. He released a sigh that had been rattling in his lungs for longer than he had realized. He turned his head back to Gell's, ready to say something smooth and mildly snarky, but Gell wouldn't hear it.
The dark wizard's lips were on his, gently yet firmly, like he was claiming a lost prize. Like he was taking back something that was always his. In a way, Albus knew that was exactly what he was doing. Physically, of course; no other witch or wizard had ever kissed him like Gell had. But Gellert Grindelwald, the stubborn fool, had refused to leave his heart. He had laid claim to that back when they were boys.
"Gell..." he mumbled between soft kisses, torn between wanting to push the wizard away and pull him closer.
Gellert Grindelwald moved away from his lips and whispered in his ear, "One way or another, I will destroy their world Albus." The words, the breath on his ear, his presence which Albus had been starved of for years, it all sent shivers down the mans spine. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."