Forbidden Blushing

Pain feels good

Dumbledore stood in front of the ominous door, this hallway in the Ministry was twenty degrees colder than the main branches. An eyeball popped out of the door's eyehole, something you'd see at a joke shop.

"Name and prisoner request?" The eyeball spoke in a squeaky voice, occasionally the lids of the eye would close allowing the eye to blink. Albus was curious to see the rest of it, was it just the eye, or was there someone behind it?
Distracted by the eye Albus stuttered on his words struggling to make out his name.

"Albus Dumbledore, I am requesting to see Gellert Grindelwald." He was standing close to the door with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing his very best robes, Albus wanted to secure an article that didn't state how disheveled he appeared for once.

The door opened at a slow pace, creaking every second or so. Behind the door was a guard different from the eyeball, he was a jacked man with many scars sprawled across his face. The man's face softened after seeing that Albus was not the minister, and was just a visitor.

"For the specific prisoner, you request every item you own will be confiscated." The man handed Albus folded clothes similar to Healer's robes. Albus placed his wand, muggle watch, and robes in the bin. Albus followed the man into an elevator, it was more shifty than the prior one.
"The prisoner is more lively than I'd ever seen him, must be because he's going home with you." The guard chuckled knowing the new plans made for Grindelwald.

"Gellert. I mean Grindelwald is not coming home with me, it's a strictly professional business." Albus managed to play off his embarrassment by rambling.

Albus and the guard arrived just outside Grindelwald's cell, Albus took a quick breath and opened the door.
He sat down on a concrete bench in front of the cell. It was the nicest jail he'd ever seen, Grindelwald was better off in his two hundred square foot room than in Hogwarts.

Albus and Grindelwald started at each for what felt like minutes.
"Nice place right? Grindelwald stated.

Dumbledore was dumbfounded, "Except for all of the rubbish you have on the walls." Plastered across what looked like a bulletin board were wrinkled letters.

"I keep only important letters but I do not believe you would find interest in them anymore." Grindelwald stood up to grab the letters and Albus got a real look at his appearance. His hair was brownish-gray and was making its way down to his jawline. Albus had never seen his hair this grown out it was quite thick and wavy, and many of his tattoos were now showing many quotes laid upon his skin.

"This one you will enjoy Dumbledore." He started to read with a stupid look on his face, Albus could just slap it off.

"Just me and you, we didn't write this all for no reason. all of the words, the hidden meanings, it wasn't all for nothing. I'll always come back to our story, as many times as it hurts me too. it was made to end this way, and it has to. I loved you with everything this story has brought us, now go on and enjoy what you have left.

-With Love Albus Dumbledore

Albus felt bile rising in his throat, that was the letter he wrote for Grindelwald when he left him. When Albus and Gellert were seventeen their methods of finding the deathly hallows were skewed. Both boys went to almost every sacred pureblooded family using borderline illegal persuasive acts using them for information. It was mostly Grindelwald that performed the acts and Albus did the talking. It was almost like a good cop bad cop in a way, Albus came to the realization that raking pure-blooded families for information was not something he signed up for. Of course, he was true to World Domination but not like this, he wanted people to respect him he didn't want to be feared. Albus desired to be flourished with people coming to him for information or guidance. Not on their knees for him because of how scared they were.

       "You kept them for all these years. Why?" This is the first time Albus didn't have a thought in his mind, why did Gellert Grindelwald keep messages from when he was most vulnerable? Dumbledore always thought that love was an insecurity of Grindelwald, that he was ashamed of putting himself second and going all-in for something that didn't involve people worshipping him.

       "To your dismay, I do not look over these every night and cry over them. I look at them because this is my past, and my future needs to be based on this. You Albus were not the only thing that happened to me, you need to remember that you left me. You left me vulnerable, with nothing we were so close to getting what we finally wanted. I loved my life and this is a reminder of what it was like, and if you think that I'm weak or insecure about what happened to me, I'm not I realize that I'm the victim here. You can walk around these halls and think that you're better than everyone else here but you're just like me. You're an outsider that everyone wants to be but they don't know who the true Albus Dumbledore is. I know who Albus Dumbledore is or maybe I thought I did." Grindelwald face was hard to read, he wasn't visibly upset. Gellert wanted a reaction out of Albus, he wanted pity not for him being in jail but for leaving him 29 years ago.

       "I assume that you're aware that you will be residing at Hogwarts. I don't want you at Hogwarts I don't want you anywhere near Credence or the children at the school, but as we all can see I have no say in the ministry. Goodbye Grindelwald. I'd rather you rot here than be free of your crimes." Albus glanced at all of Grindelwald's tattoos with curiosity hoping to see what they say. He continued to walk out the door ignoring all the noise behind him.

       Grindelwald was so mad that he didn't get any emotions out of Dumbledore how could he possibly not say anything? I mean he kept his letters for 29 years and he didn't say anything he just talked about his stupid school and his stupid kids who does he think he is? Gellert continued to pound on the glass trying to take all of his anger out on the impenetrable material, his hands started to bleed it felt good. Gellert kept doing it until he realized that his hands were raw he never really thought of doing that before Albus came in. Maybe he just brings something out of him.

       Albus blocked out all noise from squeaky doors, to talking eyeballs until he apparated to Hogwarts. He sat upright in his desk chair he took his hair in his hands and yanked at it. How could he talk about how he was the victim of everything he's done that was the most infuriating thing ever said? Dumbledore thought about what Gellert said, comparing them to each other. They were not the same person how could they possibly be the same person none of their tendencies are the same. Both boys dealt with emotions differently, they both knew that about each other. Albus knew that Grindelwald sometimes shielded his true emotions to make himself appear more masculine, Grindelwald changed Albus to the point where he did the same thing. Both boys wanted to believe that they didn't change throughout the relationship but that was just denial.