Closer Than Brothers

Finally

It was one long week later when something finally happened.

The Muggles in the village had started to notice the two boys lurking in the graveyard, so they had now resorted to the woods just outside Godric's Hollow when they wanted to escape Albus' house, which was now frequently more often after the Aberforth incident. It was one of these days, and Albus was waiting in the woods for Gellert. By now, he was used to Gellert sneaking up on him, so was braced for any attack.

Gellert Apparated right behind Albus with a loud crack, scaring him despite all his efforts to be ready.

Gellert shook back his hair and laughed. "Every time, Albus, every time."

"I didn't know you were going to Apparate," said Albus defensively, "besides, I didn't cry out that time."

"Yeah, but you jumped pretty violently." Gellert grinned at his friend. "You must know that it brings me such joy to scare you every morning, so please, never stop being scared."

Albus laughed and put a hand on Gellert's shoulder. "I won't, my friend, I won't. Just to make you happy."

And Gellert would know what Albus meant by that.

Gellert then put both of his hands on Albus' shoulders. "Good."

Before Albus knew what was happening, Gellert had moved his hands up to Albus' face, leaned in...

And kissed him.

It wasn't perfect, but that didn't matter. It was good enough, and it sent Albus' heart dancing madly in his chest because this was what he had wanted, and finally, finally, it was actually happening. The kiss, although imperfect, felt so right in the moment, and when they broke apart, there was no awkwardness between them, just a kind of satisfied silence.

Gellert cocked his head. "Was that good enough?"

Albus shrugged. "I bet you could do better."

"Is that a challenge, Albus?" Said Gellert, raising his eyebrows.

Albus couldn't help his grin. "I'm not sure. Do you want it to be?"

"Well you know I can't refuse a challenge."

And they kissed again. This time it was better. There was still room for improvement, but it was definitely more enjoyable, so it lasted longer.

They broke apart, and Albus was very aware of the large grin still plastered on his face. He nodded. "That was better."

"Good," said Gellert. "Now we have that sorted out, shall we carry on planning wizard dominance?"

Albus laughed. "So like you to kiss me and then just go straight back to planning."

"So shall we?"

"Well, we might as well."

That day was odd, to say the least. For Albus, it felt like the world had changed entirely, but Gellert acted more or less the same. At the end of the day, when they were about to depart and go their separate ways, Albus told Gellert this.

Gellert shrugged, suddenly looking awkward. "I... I guess I didn't want to think too much about it, because I don't normally show actual affection towards people. It's new, and I don't know how to deal with it. I may have come off as remote, but I just didn't want to think about it. Does that help?"

Albus grinned as they reached his front door. "Yeah. Just checking it meant the same to you as it did to me."

With a surge of sudden courage, Albus leaned over and kissed Gellert very lightly on the cheek. Gellert's face turned a delicate shade of pink.

"See you tomorrow morning, then," Gellert said, regaining some of his charming demeanour, then he turned on the spot and vanished, leaving Albus alone outside his front door.