Harry: I Clearly Have A Thing For Assholes.

Harry: I clearly have a thing for assholes.

Draco: *gasps* did you just subtly called me an asshole?

Harry: No... I clearly said you're an asshole.

Apparently I'm having a class at 10 in the night by @drarrywords

boomerang

Harry stares at the column of Draco’s neck as he throws back a shot of mezcal. He asked for three as soon as they got to the bar, with a clipped voice and his leg bouncing beneath the table. Harry opens his mouth to say something, he’s not sure what, but Draco holds a finger up, silencing him, and throws back a second shot. Only then does he meet Harry’s eye for the first time since they ran into each other at the town square a few hours before.

Harry wants to mention it, the silence, the evasiveness, but the cool gaze floors him in a way he’s entirely unprepared for, and he remains quiet.

“So…” Draco starts after a minute, pale eyebrows scrunched up, “how… have you been?”

Harry wonders if they look uncomfortable, to the outside viewer. He’s not even sure what to say. It’s weird, seeing Draco here, in their hometown. He can’t pretend it’s not weird. It was at this very bar, some ten summers ago, that they fell into each other, it was that very booth in the corner the one they frequented and lost themselves kissing in too many times to keep count.

It’s weird. The years have passed by Draco and made him somehow even taller and somehow even sharper and he wonders how he must look different to Draco too, with his facial hair and his sturdier constitution. How has he been? What a question.

“Well. I didn’t go to uni,” Harry figures that’s as good a place to start as any, “I planned to, as you… knew. Applied to a few, even got accepted to a couple, but finances didn’t add up and my dad was getting too tired to look after the ‘shop. So I stayed.”

“The,” Draco’s eyes are as striking as always, and he fixes them right on Harry, apparently searching his own memory. “The barber’s shop.”

Harry swallows, looks down at his untouched beer. “Yes. My mom and dad helped me with anything they could the first few years, and we had it rough, but we found ways to manage. Then, my grandpa finished the … he calls it the —,”

“The potion,” Draco says with a smile, then seems startled by his own reaction and sits a little straighter. “Yes. I remember he tried his first experiments on us that summer. My hair took weeks to recover, and even then it looked a bit blue for my entire first term of uni.”

Harry swallows again. “Ah. So… you did go to uni.” He doesn’t sound surprised, he knows. He’s not surprised. He always knew Draco would go to a brilliant university and carve a brilliant future for himself.

“Yes. I’ll tell you in a minute, what happened with the potion?”

“Right. Around… I wanna say January ‘04, grandpa got the formula right. He sold it to a French cosmetics company, and things have been brighter since then. Grandma and grandpa moved to London, but my parents and I stayed at the barber shop. Royalties are good.”

Draco nods, a little smile playing at the corner of his lips that makes Harry’s heart beat a little painfully, his brain supplying hundreds of stills of that very same smile across the ocean of time.

Draco hums, “Grandpa Monty’s special hair potion. Unforgettable.”

Harry forces a smile. “So it is.”

Then he clears his throat and asks, “College?”

“Right, of course. I went to King’s College. Law. I’m a criminal defense attorney.“

Harry vaguely recalls a newspaper article, years ago, of a big case, a man who had been accused of laundering millions of pounds. He remembers Draco’s name attached to the case.

He sees Draco now, in a button-up and trousers on a Tuesday night, and nods, swallowing the knot in his throat.

“You look the part.”

Draco doesn’t seem what to know what to say to that, and they are silent for a couple of seconds. Harry reaches forward for Draco’s last shot and downs it. The liquor is crisp and burns his throat. He takes a deep breath.

“What are you doing here, Draco? You’ve not been back in ten years.”

Draco looks down at the table, and his leg starts bouncing again, lightly.

“Just felt like a change of scenery.”

It’s been a long time, but Harry knew him, once, and no person can change that much. He recognizes it when Draco lies, knows the flicker of his fingers and the drop of his voice.

It fills Harry with rage, that Draco would come find him after so long only to spout this, and he can’t stop himself from saying, “Bullshit.”

Draco huffs, apparently not offended, and takes a deep breath. He says, “Look, this isn’t easy. We didn’t exactly part on the best terms.”

And that’s an understatement. Memories flash through Harry’s mind, unbidden. Tears, arguments, the pain of being a secret and the grief of being denied when Draco had been confronted by his family.

“You let them take you away,” Harry tries hard not to sound accusing, but he can tell he fails. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and opens them again once he’s gotten his heart back in check. “I don’t blame you for not being ready to tell them. And it’s been a long time.”

That, more than anything, seems to strike Draco, and he appears to deflate a little, his proud pose wavering and his gaze falling back to the table. “It has.”

“Are you… on better terms… ?” There’s no simple way to ask, so Harry cuts himself off and sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be, I —” Draco trails off. He seems to steel himself up for something, closes his eyes and opens his mouth. “I never forgave myself, I thought about you everyday. I — I was terrible. To both of us. I wasn’t ready, and I knew it, and I dragged us both into it anyway. But Harry,” he opens his eyes, pleading. “If you can find it in yourself to want… I know it’s been a long time. But I’m here now. I’m here.”

Harry feels as though time has frozen, crawled back a decade, left him exposed and open.

“You’re here, because of…?”

“You.”

“Oh.”

“If you want to, we can — we don’t have to. We can just. Talk, get to know each other again. I don’t know,” Draco sounds unsure, small. Harry’s heart has taken residence somewhere near his throat.

He looks at the man in front of him and remembers the boy he loved, who hurt him, who’s come back to try to … win him back, it seems. Harry swallows and reaches forward, tentatively runs the tips of his fingers along the back of Draco’s hand.

“So… tell me. About uni. About your job. About your friends.”

Draco’s eyes widen. Then, he gifts Harry the widest, most hopeful smile he’s ever seen. And he tells him.

Draco: *looking at Harry’s closet* Your closet is a mess 

Harry: You think that’s a mess, you should look at my life. 

Draco: .... 

Draco: You said you were fine

On the sand

Fluff || Domestic ||

There are moments in life when you look at a person and your heart grows the size of a mountain. You look at that person and no matter who it is, whatever they may do, your heart grows fonder and you feel for them all those things you never knew you could feel. That was Draco for Harry. They had been friends for now as long they can remember and to top it off they don't even remember when and how they became friends, it just happened and things had never been the same for Harry or Draco but they don't complain because to them it doesn't matter, what matters is the moment they live in right now, without a worry of anything in the world.

And just like any other day in their life, Harry had asked Draco to meet by the beach because of the lovely spring that came along and the best of the weather blooming for beach. They had their friends over too of course but when it's just them together, others never mattered.

"So, I got the concert ticket." Draco confessed.

"Wait- you- don't tell me?" Harry gasped.

Draco nodded enthusiastically, "Two tickets to NSYNC, Friday night next week."

"How did you get it?" Harry asked equally enthused and partially not being able to believe it.

"Let's keep that confidential. Pulled some strings here and there." Draco bragged.

"You stayed up all night waiting for 2 tickets to get cancelled and took it right when it got cancelled?" Harry narrowed his eyes at Draco who at this point refused to meet Harry's eyes and continued eating his hot dog.

"Draco?"

"What?" Draco whined, "we both wanted to go and I did what I had to do."

"But all night? Don't you sleep like normal humans, you vampire."

"One, I'm not a vampire because have you even seen them, they are so weak that they'd probably die in sunlight, while me, I am surviving absolutely fine. See, I've even got tan lines from my watch. And second, I do sleep, but sometimes comprises have to be made."

“You’re ridiculous, Draco. All night, that’s a lot.” Harry shook his head. 

“If it takes all night to stay awake to take you to a concert that would make you happy, then I’ll stay up every night.” Draco smiled. 

Harry only however wondered if Draco ever knew what his words did to Harry and his heart. It was impossible for Harry to not have his heart racing every single time Draco said something like that, hell, he left his heart racing most of the times. 

Harry smiled as he looked away because right now he didn’t trust what may leave his lips. 

“Do you think we should have asked the others?” Harry asked after a while. 

“I mean we could have but then we would not have been able to spend time alone, you know.” 

“And whatever do you think we are doing right now?”

“oh, you know what I mean.” 

Harry chuckled, shaking his head, “Oh I know exactly what you mean.” he teased. 

Draco nudged Harry off, “I hate you.” 

“But you love me.” Harry laughed and all Draco could do was adoringly roll his eyes at him. 

“For whatever its worth they all are not a fan of NSYNC anyways.” Draco said after a while. 

“Whatever floats your boat.” 

“I really do hate you.” Draco narrowed his eyes at Harry then decided to get up. 

“Where are you going?” Harry asked as he got up.

“Away from you.” 

“That pissed, are you? How would you like me to make it upto you, sunshine?” Harry teased further which only made Draco all the more interested to go away from Harry. 

“You’re insufferable.” Draco said as he decided to walk away. 

“Fine, i’ll stop.” Harry laughed but Draco had already walked far away to not have heard him which left him with a little choice than to follow him towards the ocean, and so he did follow. 

Harry walked towards the ocean, towards Draco, watching him watch the ocean from behind and somehow Harry thought Draco fit so well with the view, like he was a part of the ocean himself, so serene, so calm, so beautiful but shame it was that he never had courage to say all these things to Draco. He wanted to but the moment he would want to say something, his words would die in his throat because he was always afraid of whatever might happen after that.

“Hi, sunshine.” Harry said as he reached Draco. 

“Not quite done, are you?” Draco rolled his eyes at Harry once again. 

“But aren’t you a sunshine?” Harry teased further. 

Draco sighed and almost walked away when Harry stopped him by grasping his wrist. 

“I promise I am truly done.” Harry smiled. 

Draco raised an expectant eyebrow and Harry nodded, giving him the reassurance that he was truly done. 

“Sunshine is an awful nickname by the way.” Draco said after a while. 

“As if sweetheart was a nice nickname to give. That’s the purpose of giving names Draco, they’re supposed to be fun.” 

Draco could not say anything otherwise, he has always quite enjoyed giving names to people and receiving one as well because it showed how much a person cared. It kept a memory of that person in a unique way. Not that he would ever forget Harry but he enjoyed the fact that whenever he’d think of the word sunshine, Harry was the one he thought of and he liked having that thought. 

After long moments of staring far ahead towards the ocean with waves wetting their feet, Draco finally spoke up.

“I don’t want anyone else to go.”

Harry remained confused by Draco’s revelation, so he remained silent. 

“The concert. I don’t want to go with anyone but you.” Draco turned to face Harry.

It was impossible for Harry to not see his soft features, his eyes shining with the red of sunset and the orange of the sky. In that sunset, in that moment, he just knew he loved Draco and there was no denying it. 

“Why?” Harry asked. 

“Is it really not obvious?” Draco asked with a soft smile. 

Harry couldn’t help but smile as he turned to face the ocean. That was perhaps all Harry ever wanted to hear, all he ever wanted to know and now that he knows, he can’t stop thinking otherwise. Now he knew that if there was one moment he wasn't afraid to say anything, say anything that his heart desires, it was this moment.

“Its never obvious with you.” 

“Ah, would you like me to lay the words out for you then?” Draco smiled. 

“Yes, on the sand if you must.” Harry teased. 

Draco shook his head and without even a doubt he knelt down and wrote ‘Go on a date with me?’ before Harry could had even stopped him. 

“Unremarkably fast.” Harry said as he knelt down beside him. 

“Well I did practice 6 times last night.” Draco boasted. 

Harry shook his head with a fond smile and wrote on the sand himself, ‘Go on a date with me too.’ 

Draco smiled, “Technically I asked first, so I should get an answer first.” 

“If we’re playing by technicalities, Yes I would go on a date with you. Now you answer.” 

“I would like to go on a date with you too.” 

Harry smiled at Draco who reciprocated it the same way. 

Yes, Draco made Harry’s heart grow more fonder each day, in a way that he didn’t even know could happen but it did and with every morning that turned over after that day, Harry only knew one thing, that if there was one person he could ask a several times on a date on sand at a beach, it would always be Draco, even if the beach would be crowded with people or if they had their friends around or the dogs ran haywire at the beach, it didn't matter because when it was them, nothing else ever mattered.

Tagging a few people for boost, you can ignore if you like <3 (don't hesitate to tell me if it's a bother)

@drarrywords @silver-de-vonne @phoebe-delia @chinike @wheezykat @elenaxoxo22 @thecornerofbelu @nv-md @littlebodybigheartttt @lilthislilthat @cissa-bee @cluelesspigeons @missdrarrydawn @harryandginnydeservesbetter @draco-lucious-potter @ravena-wrote @textrovert-01

Because I can 😌

Harry: I clearly have a thing for assholes.

Draco: *gasps* did you just subtly called me an asshole?

Harry: No... I clearly said you're an asshole.