Taming

Scorpius woke the following morning with Albus in his arms. It felt good and nice, but not back to normal by any means. He wondered how long it would take before he was used to having Albus back with him.

He ran his hand through Albus’s shaggy hair and smiled a little. Albus was so damn cute while he was sleeping. Scorpius petted him again and Albus’s eyes opened.

“Morning,” he rumbled sleepily.

“Hi.”

“What’re you doing?”

“I was just thinking how cute you are when you’re all sleepy,” Scorpius told him with a smile.

Albus grinned at him. “You look gorgeous. But you always do.”

“Thanks,” Scorpius said, pleased at the compliment. “Want to go down to breakfast?”

“Sure.”

They dressed companionably, but not with their usual banter. Suddenly, Scorpius had an idea. “Why don’t we skive off morning classes and plan a welcome-back party for Rosie?”

Albus smiled at him. “Good idea! We’ll find Lily and the others and get something set up.”

Scorpius smiled back. He felt bad, though. He knew that it was taking the easy way out to throw themselves into an activity rather than trying to sort out their differences, but he was tired of talking. He wanted to do something.

And he wanted to talk to Rose. Something wasn’t right between himself and Albus, and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
He needed Rose.

*******************

Scorpius and Albus spent the whole morning and early afternoon together. They laughed and joked with Lily, smiled at each other, held hands in the corridor on the way to lunch, and argued good-naturedly over what color scheme Rose would like best for the decorations. But something wasn’t right.

Later, Rose walked in the door to the Ravenclaw common room and promptly burst into tears when she saw her party. Scorpius hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. So did Albus. She exclaimed over the decorations, and Scorpius brought her punch. But something wasn’t right.

That evening, the party had dwindled to the family and closest friends. They sat, talking about anything and everything. Albus sat on Scorpius’s lap and snogged him enthusiastically. Everyone teased Hugo and Kate for being reluctant to do the same thing. Everything seemed back to normal. But something wasn’t right.

Scorpius knew that Albus felt it too. Their touches were forced. Their kisses were less tender. They exchanged fewer words. Soon everyone else could feel it, and they began to exchange nervous glances. Several times, Scorpius noticed Rose staring at him questioningly, but she didn’t say anything.

Lily tried her hardest to inject levity into the situation, but eventually the others made their excuses and left Albus, Scorpius, Rose, and Lily alone in the common room. Lily suggested that they have a slumber party together, but Scorpius doubted they’d have much fun. Before he could say anything, though, Albus stood up suddenly.

“You three go ahead. There’s something I have to do. I’ll be back a little later.” He kissed Scorpius and disappeared out the door without a backward glance.

Scorpius sat, slightly shocked, staring after him.

“What the hell was that about?” Rose asked.

“We’re having some trouble readjusting,” Scorpius admitted, feeling like he might start to cry again.

“Oh, Sweetheart,” Rose sighed. “What happened?”

“He fucked Kane Morton, that’s what happened,” Scorpius said bluntly.

Lily gasped. “You must be joking! He wouldn’t…”

“He did.”

Rose sighed. “Are you going to be able to get past it?”

“Somehow I think I might actually have an easier time getting past that than he will getting past what I did.”

“What did you do?” Lily asked.

Scorpius looked at Rose, silently asking her if she wanted Lily to know, when Lily shouted, “No way! You two?”

Scorpius cursed himself for forgetting how quick Lily could be. “No, not us two! Nothing happened!”

“Well, not ‘nothing,’” Rose confessed. “We sort of… snogged.”

“Ohmigod!” Lily squeaked. “Details!”

“That’s the whole story, Lil. Sorry to disappoint you, but nothing happened,” Rose said mildly. Scorpius thanked her with his eyes for not telling Lily what he’d actually done.

“So just once? And nothing else?”

“No,” Rose said. “Just once.”

“So Alby gets to have sex with some random guy, and you’re the bad one for kissing someone else once?” Lily tossed her hair. “You’re hardly being fair to yourself. And if Albus is making you feel this way, he’s being a complete prat. Again.”

“Well, you have to understand, Lil. He was with a guy. I kissed a girl. Your brother seems to think that I’m not going to be able to give up girls for him. He’s always known that he was gay. I haven’t. I still don’t. I mean, I’m not gay. It would be a lie for me to say that I am. And Albus thinks that means that he can’t trust me not to want to run off and have babies with some girl.”

“Considering you asked him to marry you, I’d say that’s a rather paranoid attitude,” Rose commented mildly.

“Is it, though? What did I do when I saw him with Kane? I snogged a girl.”

“No, you snogged Rose,” Lily said firmly. “I mean, yeah, Rose is a girl, but she’s also your best friend. And the person you’re closest to besides Albus. It’s natural you’d go to her. It’s not like you picked up a random girl and shagged her. Alby should be able to see the difference!”

“Well, he has a bit of a blind spot about this girl thing.”

“That’s because he is the girl,” Rose said.

“What?”

“In your relationship. He’s obviously ‘the girl.’ I mean, you asked him out, you proposed to him. He was the virginal one, and you’d sowed your wild oats. When you were making wedding plans, he was so obviously planning to be the bride, although he wouldn’t admit it. And though I haven’t ever asked you this, and I don’t want to know now, thank you very much, I’m pretty sure that, if I can be blunt, when the two of you have sex, he isn’t fucking you. He’s the girl. The fact that you like real girls, even just in theory, makes him replaceable. It makes him more jealous.”

Scorpius sat, stunned. Once again, Rose had surprised him by seeing what he should have been able to see in front of his own face.

“That makes a lot of sense, actually,” Scorpius told her.

She smirked. “What? You thought a little coma would throw me off? Please.”

He and Lily laughed. “So what do you suggest, oh wise one?”

“You really want me to be honest?”

“Always.”

“I suggest you let him bugger you. In fact, I suggest you beg him for it.”

“Rose!”

Lily laughed. “I think she makes a good point.”

“Better than she knows,” Scorpius admitted.

“Why?” Rose asked him.

“Because when I said that he fucked Kane, I mean he fucked Kane. And you were right about Albus and I. I’ve never actually… you know.”

Rose nodded sagely. “He wants to be the man for once. I think if you let him, he’ll stop feeling like he can be replaced by some other girl.”

“Besides, you could totally like it,” Lily offered helpfully.

Scorpius blushed. Trying to salvage his dignity, he changed the subject. “So where do you suppose Albus ran off to, anyway?”

The girls shrugged, as clueless as Scorpius. That is, until the common room door opened and Albus reappeared.