volumetwo | (no subject)

(no subject)

It's sometime after midnight when James stumbles into the house. The door shuts loudly and he turns quickly, shooting it a betrayed look. Whoops. Sure, he didn't have a curfew anymore, not since he'd finished school, but still: he couldn't see his mother being necessarily thrilled about this.

"Quiet," he murmurs, wand out for light - until he realizes he's not the only person in the living room. Confused, and obviously tipsy, he squints at Scorpius. Baffled. "--what're you doing up?"

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"What?"

Scorpius is a little afraid of going back to James. What if the idiot's going to apologize again? Or worse, punch him? After all, they'd snogged. For a while. And Scorpius had nearly taken James's shirt off in his haste to get close to the other boy.

Tentatively, he steps back into the room, warily approaching.

He sees the wariness in Scorpius's face and he winces internally at that. Ugh. He's too hungover for moral guilt this soon after waking, especially with the way his head is starting to pound. James exhales, a shallow, uncomfortable little sound, before he reaches up to try to smooth Scorpius's hair down for him.

"You've got some lines on your face," he mumbles. "But you can tell them I came in utterly pissed and you fell asleep in here to make sure I didn't choke on my own vomit or something. Win you some brownie points with Al and Da both."

A scoff, now. Amused, though.

"I sleepwalk," he says, grinning. "No one has to know you were drunk. I sleep-walked in here, fell asleep on the floor. Explains the lines and why no one could find me." He shrugs. "I'm not new to telling a few fibs to get out of a tight spot, Potter."

His eyes cut up to his face, and he's a little surprised himself now. Curious, too, and legitimately so. "Do you really sleepwalk?"

Scorpius wants to pat James's head for that. Really. It's quite...cute.

"I've been known to, on occasion. How else would I explain winding up in my father's private library or passed out in the Hufflepuff dorms?" It had been one of his first major lies, and Al even thought it was true. So why not use it to his advantage now too?

He laughs, quirking a brow. "If I can make you believe me, I'm sure your dad'll be no problem."

"Clever," James mutters, but it comes with a roll of the eyes. He hesitates again - it looks like he's about to say something else, even as his hands drop and smooth against Scorpius's shoulders - but then he jumps like a startled cat, glancing out of the room fast.

"-- sorry. Thought I heard a door."

It'd be stupid to pretend he wasn't on edge.

Scorpius's grin fades as he feels James's hands smoothing down his shoulders. The comfort he takes from that.... It can't really be put into words. It's stupid, to get this emotionally invested in someone who obviously doesn't even know themselves well enough to be honest in their own heads, let alone to others. But it's hard to help, when James is nice to him and not bad at snogging to boot.

When James jumps back, Scorpius follows his gaze and sighs. He can hear talking down the hall.

"It's fine," he murmurs, slipping out of James's room.

Al's voice pierces the silence: "Scorpius!!!!!!" And then Scorpius is knocked back into the wall in a brash, rib-breaking hug. "What the bloody hell is the matter with you? Where were you?! Merlin, you idiot!!"

James startles a little when he recognizes the feeling in his throat: jealous. God, he's jealous, and over what? This is so stupid. Scorpius and Al are both still kids; he needs to get over this, to be the adult he is now.

It'll be a day or two later when James steps into the kitchen, heading to the table for the bowl of fruit, catching sight of Scorpius again. His gaze lingers for a second, but he tears it away quickly, pretending that it's not a little awkward to be sort of alone in the house with him again. (Mum and Lily were in the back in her room, working on something together. Al, however, had been grabbed by Teddy earlier that morning for something, but he'd promised to bring him back soon.)

"Going flying," he offers a little stiffly, still not looking at him. "Want to come again? Promise not to shove you in the pond this time."

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