no homo // scorbus texting au

seventeen

albus (2:23pm): dad, what time will you be home?

harry (2:25pm): Why do you ask? Wait, are you coming home this weekend?

albus (2:26pm): yes, uncle ron came to get rose and hugo and said he could take me and james, too

harry (2:28pm): That's wonderful! Why didn't you tell me? Will Scorpius be there, too?

albus (2:30pm): yes, he's here, too. is that okay?

harry (2:31pm): Of course, kiddo. I should be home by 6 or so. See you then. Hug your mum for me.

albus (2:32pm): will do!

- - -

albus (2:35pm): teddy, have you got the balloons?

teddy (2:36pm): got em!

albus (2:37pm): rose, the playlist?

rose (2:38pm): i'm literally in the backseat of the car you're in rn, but yes, i've got the playlist all set

hugo (2:40pm): my mom is going to get the cupcakes btw

albus (2:41pm): excellent!!! i'm so excited!!!

james (2:43pm): Al, Dad is going to hate this. Like, he's going to HATE this.

albus (2:45pm): of course he will james, that's the POINT

scorpius (2:47pm): I thought the point was that you support your dad not being straight.

albus (2:48pm): ....yea, that's the point!

james (2:50pm): God, you're such a nightmare.

- - -

"What on earth are you all doing?" Ginny asks as she makes her way into the kitchen, surprised to see most of the room taken up by balloons and cupcakes in a variety of shades. 

"Hi, Mrs. Potter!" Scorpius' voice exclaims somewhere from inside the clump of balloons. 

Ginny laughs. "Hi there, Scorpius. Hi, Hugo," she adds as her nephew wraps her up in a hug. "So what's the plan here? What's happening?"

"Mum, don't ask," James warns, looking up from where he and Teddy are coloring in one corner of a banner.

"What's that?" she asks, inching closer.

"NO!" Albus shouts, literally climbing over the kitchen table so he can full-out lay over the banner, hiding it from his mother's view. "Mum, it's a surprise! Stop looking! Don't look! Close your eyes!"

Ginny shakes her head, walking out of the kitchen. "My kids are such nightmares..."

"Have you finished blowing up the balloons?" Albus asks once his mother's gone, leaning over Scorpius' shoulder. Scorpius turns his head to kiss Albus' cheek, and then leans his head against Albus', smiling to himself.

"Almost done. I think there are three balloons left."

"Okay, great. My dad should be here soon." Albus kisses Scorpius' temple and moves to go check on Rose and her playlist, but he stops and catches Scorpius' elbow.

"What is it?" Scorpius asks.

"Mmm." Albus doesn't say anything, just hugs his boyfriend from behind, setting his chin on Scorpius' shoulder. "Hey, I love you."

Scorpius just rests in that for a second, in the feeling of Albus holding him with his chin on his shoulder, in the sound of his boyfriend's voice, of the fact that Albus loves him. "I love you, too." He picks up a balloon to blow it up, and Albus lets him go.

"Hey, don't –" Albus pauses and breaks eye contact. "Merlin's beard. Don't make eye contact with me while you're doing that."

Scorpius takes the balloon out of his mouth. "While I'm doing what? I'm just –" Then he puts two and two together and blushes bright red, and his face only flushes further when Albus starts to smirk in response. "Don't look at me like that, you horny shit."

"You're the one who's enjoying blowing up that balloon way too much!"

"I have no idea what I just walked into, but it needs to stop," James tells his brother. "According to Aunt Hermione, Dad's on his way home."

"Shit!" Albus shakes the image of Scorpius and the balloon out of his mind and scrambles to finish getting the kitchen set up. He's just plugged the speakers into the wall when the kitchen door opens, and Harry stands there in a surprised silence. The shoddily drawn banner says "WE KNOW YOU'RE GAY," and there's a slight, awkward pause before Rose plays the playlist.

Harry presses a hand to his mouth, clearly unsure of how to respond. Ginny peeks her head into the kitchen after her husband and has to cover her face to keep from laughing aloud. And in the middle of all of it, of the hundreds of balloons and cupcakes and too-loud music, is their son. Their ridiculous, impulsive, painfully creative son, who Harry loves so much in this particular moment that he could probably throw up.

"Well," is all Harry manages for a second. He's still trying so hard not to laugh.

Albus is holding Scorpius' hand too tight. "You're not mad, are you?" Albus asks slowly, just now having realized that this whole thing could've made his father angry. Harry's not really one to get angrily – Ginny was more the type to shout when the kids drove her mad – and Albus realizes he's not entirely sure how he'll handle that.

"No," Harry says finally. "I'm not mad, Al. Don't worry."

"We made cupcakes," he tries, holding a red one out to his father. Harry still hasn't smiled, and Albus is squinting at him, trying to interpret his response. Sure enough, though, a smile cracks across Harry's face, and Albus finally exhales.

"You did all this just for me, huh?" Harry shakes his head fondly, looks over at Ginny. "Did your mom tell you?"

"No, we just figured it out," James answers, mouth full of green cupcake.

"It was mostly me," Albus adds.

"No, it wasn't," James laughs.

The party goes on for a few more hours, and Albus slips out the back porch to get away from all the noise. Scorpius follows him a few seconds later, sitting on the steps beside his boyfriend and leaning his head on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Albus assures him, kissing the top of Scorpius' head. "Just a little overwhelming in there."

"Want me to go back in? Would you prefer to be alone?"

"No," Albus says quickly, looping an arm around Scorpius' shoulders. "I always want to be with you."

"Even when I'm blowing up balloons?"

Albus' face is burning. "Shut up, Malfoy. Low blow."

"Nice choice of words. Low blow."

"Listen, it was the face you were making, plus you were blushing a little, and you know, you just sort of looked like you were sucking –"

"Shut up."

"Oh, what? You can make jokes about it but I can't?"

"Exactly." Scorpius grins at him, cocky as hell, and Albus would fight him on that if he weren't so damn pretty. Instead he settles for just kissing him once and sitting with him in the quiet of the backyard for a while. He's pretty sure nothing could be better than this, sitting with Scorpius in his arms, no worries in sight.