December 22
Two months and twelve days. Two months and twelve days since Scorpius had kissed him. Two months and twelve days since he started dating his best friend. Two months and twelve days since he learned how to move the fear to make room for the love. And now it was snowing like crazy outside and he was cold as hell but couldn’t hug Scorpius like he wanted to.
December 22 of 2022 wasn’t a special day, apart from the fact that it was exactly two months and eleven days since Scorpius had asked him to keep this a secret. From most people, at least. They were sitting in his bed, with a silencing charm, hearing the autumn leaves hitting the cold glass of the windows because of the furious wind. And the blonde boy started to awkwardly ask his best friend and now boyfriend if they could not tell their parents about their relationship. Not just yet.
It wasn’t like Draco would exactly mind. It was just that Scorpius was a literal human shaped candy and always wanted to be so good and so sweet about everything. He explained to Albus that, even after his coming out, he and his dad never quite discussed his sexuality and the people he dated and loved. In fact, they hadn't discussed love at all. It was still an open wound for the older Malfoy, after the love of his life passed away. Scorpius had dated two guys since then, one without his dad knowing at all and the other one that he had informed his dad about, just not much. Not enough, at least. And now he had this, he stated, now he had this huge ball of love and feelings and so much to explain that he just… he just needed to do it right. He wasn’t going to write a letter to his dad telling him about how he believed he might have found the real meaning of falling in love, that he was just happier than he had ever been, that he had beat his worst fears and it went well, he wasn’t that afraid of losing everything anymore. It was all too serious to sum it up on a piece of paper Albus understood. He kept it a secret from his parents as well. Christmas break was not so long from there, they could wait. Albus would wait forever, if he had to.
But of course, he couldn’t. They had told some people. Mostly the essentials. ‘Essentials’, Albus learnt, didn’t only mean his roomates who could potentially walk in on them making out and do something stupid before the boys had a chance to explain themselves. ‘Essentials’ also meant people that he wanted and needed in his life. It was so shocking to him, how easier life was after you admitted you needed people surrounding you to go through things, bad or good.So some people knew. Some family members and even some friends. Not a number that exceeded 10, but it was perfect still.
Albus didn’t get mad at Scorpius for asking for secrecy, because in reality, he quite liked it. He was never a really public person. He seemed and acted rather cold to most people. He didn’t at all mind staying in his lovely cloud of love forever.
But their parents were important. They had to tell them. They wanted to tell them. So they decided for the last day of the break. So if anything happened it wasn’t so awkward.
And that’s how they got themselves into this situation. Being cold, needing a hug, but being too surrounded by people to do it. Not without not feeling the need to explain something and risking screwing it all over.
December 22 of 2022 wasn’t at all a special day. Except for the fact that Albus Potter learnt that he maybe didn’t want to be a private person. Maybe he just wanted to love. Maybe he wanted to get warm hugs from people that he loved when it was cold outside. Maybe he didn’t have to keep so many secrets. Maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe, he was just as human as everyone else.