Unspoken Love

4: SCHOOLBOY CRUSH

"So, how was detention?" Albus asked conversationally as Scorpius entered the almost empty dormitories that Thursday night. Without looking at his face, Scorpius knew that Albus was wearing an awaiting smirk, eager to hear every detail of how agonizing their temporary separation from each other had been.

"Thrilling!" Scorpius answered enthusiastically, causing his desired reaction of Albus's questioning eyes flitting up immediately. The brunette rolled his eyes as he caught sight of Scorpius's teasing grin, "If you count cleaning the trophy room thrilling." he added.

"Personally, I don't," Albus smiled as Scorpius flopped down beside him on his back, causing the bed to dip momentarily under Albus who had been lying on his stomach, doodling in the margins of his potions textbook as he awaited his best friends return. For a few moments they lounged in each other's presence in silence. Neither one of them had mentioned their conversation or the amortentia incident from the previous night, but both were grateful to be speaking to each other again. 

     Albus  gazed over at Scorpius's face, tracing his eyes over his lips...eyebrows...eyelashes. Scorpius let out a tired sigh and rubbed his eyes before propping himself on his elbow and leaning over Albus's book, causing Albus to snap his eyes back to the pages and the hair on his arms to stick up straight at the mere thought of their close proximity. 

"Snake," Scorpius said softly as he absentmindedly ran his fingers over the doodles on the page, one being a swirling snake that stretched from the bottom of the page to the top in elegantly black, sparkling ink. Albus smiled at Scorpius's fascination with his drawings and felt a small pang of pride, watching the blonde boy begin to flip through the pages with a smile playing on his lips. 

"Ooh, I want this one tattooed." Scorpius said jokingly, pointing to the bottom of the page where Albus had practiced writing his name in cursive. 

"My name?" Albus laughed, his breath caught in his throat nervously at the thought of Scorpius getting his name permanently drawn on his body. 

"Yeah, right across here." Scorpius said, running his finger across his forehead with a smile. Albus shook his head and turned his face away to shield the rising blush on his cheeks.  

"Right, you'll have to tell me what your father says after you run that past him." Albus said, closing his potions book. He pushed it into his book bag and turned to look back at Scorpius who had chuckled quietly. 

"No seriously, we should get each other's names tattooed. Or like...matching tattoos." Scorpius said after a few moments of silence, he masked his own nervousness with a cool grin, breaking the tension. Albus raised his eyebrows. 

"Is that what best friends do?" He asked, his heart was pounding again, he never noticed when it began, just when it was so fast that he was afraid Scorpius might hear it. 

"I would say best friends get matching tattoos. But, we don't usually do what other best friends do anyways so what's the difference." Scorpius said quietly with a hint of a smile on his lips. He fell onto his back again and stared at the ceiling. Am I being too obvious? Is this too flirtatious? Would Albus pick it up? Do I want him to pick it up? Scorpius thought, running his eyes up and down the wooden panels that made up the ceiling to distract himself from all of the consequences of his actions. 

"My dad would love that." Albus laughed, sitting up and leaning against his headboard. Scorpius smiled and stared up at him, thankful that Albus didn't find his comment uncomfortable. Or perhaps he did and wanted to change the subject, Scorpius couldn't help but wonder. 

"All the more reason." Scorpius smiled. 

"Reminds me, I should write to home. Just to tell them I'm not running away with a time turner or dying." Albus said, rolling his eyes as Scorpius nodded approvingly. "Tell them I say hello." Scorpius said as Albus leant over the side of his bed to rummage in his school bag which he'd strewn on the floor. Scorpius couldn't control his eyes wandering down Albus's back....the brunette resurfaced with a quill in one hand and a piece of parchment in the other while the blonde tore his eyes away hastily.