i love you more | scorbus

~ Chapter Fifteen ~

TW: They talk about what happened last chapter, which (after some research) proved to be sexual harassment there is nothing detailed at all, but I think the trigger warning is necessary.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Nothing is more hateful than failing to protect the ones you love."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Scorpius was trying to drown himself in the shower, letting the hot water run down his back whilst he stared at the clean, green tiles in front of him. He couldn't get the last few minutes of his life out of his mind no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't erase the fear Albus was mad at him, despite having just been sexually harassed while trying to go for a walk.

He studied the blooming bruise on his wrist from where he had been grabbed, feeling pathetic inside and out. The marks of Liam's fingers were bright red from the strength he'd used to pin Scorpius to the wall, it ached to touch. the thought of talking about it with Albus was beginning to make him feel dirty, he wanted to forget it had happened but just couldn't.

"Scorp? You've been in here for around half an hour, you should probably get out soon." Albus said kindly, opening the door to the bathroom to speak to his boyfriend. Nobody tended to lock the door, the shower was hidden by a curtain anyway.

"Y-yeah I'm coming." Scorpius answered quickly, snapping out of his thoughts. He waited until the door closed to turn the water off and get dressed, dumping his clothing in the washing before shuffling outside. He regretted putting Albus' jumper in the washing, only he didn't thing he could bring himself to wear it again until it was washed and didn't remind him of tonight.

Scorpius shuffled over to his friend's bed, sitting on it silently. Albus looked up from the book he'd been reading at his boyfriend, sad he was clearly unwell. He wasn't surprised that his crush was being so quiet, he seemed a bit flustered and tired.

Although, Albus was starting to get a bad feeling in his stomach.

"Feeling any better?" Albus asked, pulling his jumper off to hand it to the shivering boy in front of him. Scorpius pulled it over his head and shrugged, wrapping his arms around his knees.

"I'm fine."

"What's wrong?" Albus asked, finally putting the book away completely to give Scorpius his full attention.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"I can tell something is wrong." The bad feeling in Albus' stomach got worse. He couldn't quite describe why it didn't feel right, but something was making his stomach spin. "If you don't want to tell me what it is, I can't force it out of you. But, when you're ready, I'll be here."

"I just don't want to talk about it." Scorpius' voice began to shake, tears rising to his eyes in an instant.

Albus grew worried and he leaned forward to envelop his friend's fingers in his, ceasing their fiddling.

"Why are you down, gorgeous?"

He didn't purposely call Scorpius that, after all it was nothing more than the term he'd been calling the boy in his head. However, he meant it. He truly believed Scorpius was the most beautiful person he'd ever laid his eyes on.

What made it a million times better was the sparkle in his beloved grey eyes when he heard what he was called. It brought an essence of calm to the blond, who immediately gripped his friend's hands back.