Basil felt ridiculous just standing beside his bed as Lissington stood by the door, evidently at his beckoning for supper. He had woken the other in hopes of getting something in the redhead’s grumbling belly after all. It was good that he was willing to go and eat, right? Basil sighed a little to himself. The pleading request was out before he could catch the words as they tumbled from his lips however, and he found he was a little bit surprised by Lissington’s response.The distance closed between them faster than he anticipated and before Basil could think, or let his mind catch up, he had an armful of the pretty Hufflepuff again. Lissington’s face was buried in his shoulder and Basil blinked a few times in rapid succession, unsure. Was he being fair to the other? Likely not. Keeping him here, or wanting to, was not in the tired, miserable, busy, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor’s best interest. He had so many things to take care of now and he seemed to almost be in the right headspace to do it. It was a selfish desire to delay otherwise and Basil realized sooner or later he would have to set it aside. Still, he lifted his arms to wrap carefully around the other’s shoulders as if he would break. “I’m sure you could tempt me into just about anything right now,” he sighed into Gus’ neck, albeit too honestly.
Basil didn’t know why but it felt as if the moment Gus walked over that threshold everything would be different. Painful, again. There was a small, self-preservative part of him that wanted to keep that from happening for as long as possible. It wasn’t realistic; he’d have to face reality eventually. But right now, with his arms wrapped loosely around the one he’d been haunted by for almost a decade, Basil just couldn’t bring himself to pull that trigger. He would regret every moment longer that he hesitated, that he was the one to mislead them and demand without qualm the attention he so desperately desired. It would be impossible to return to normal after this. He had shown his hand too clearly and putting this to rest again seemed… unlikely, without a significant amount of chaos and disaster. (Chaos Basil Foxwood was not sure he’d survive again.) He pressed closer into Lissington’s neck, and closed grey eyes to these thoughts. He couldn’t bear to let them sink in now, to start filling the cracks that echoed in his empty heart. So instead, he did the most destructive thing he could think of. He pulled back and gently pressed another kiss to Gus’ lips simply because he could.