Work Text:
Be Alright
At that moment, running seemed to be his best option. The fact that he was rather a fighter than a flighter didn’t seem to matter. The pouring rain drenched his clothes in mere seconds. His sneakers impacted the concert with such force that made his shaking legs hurt. Each step made a deafening sound, combined with an occasional splash here and there when his shoes landed in a poodle. People on the street either yelled, insulted or looked disapprovingly at him. But, none of it mattered. Not when his mind was far far away, in another place entirely. His thoughts were a mess.
His boyfriend and his best friend. Unbelievable! It wasn’t even foresought by Hermione. And she was the group detective, the one who knew things before anyone else noticed them.
Harry wasn’t meant to find them, of course. Apparently they had been having an affair for months now. Seeing them was a fluke in their perfect scheme. Trust Harry to ruin things for them . Nevertheless, blaming him was pointless, since he was more clueless than a cactus. Besides, wanting to surprise your boyfriend shouldn’t be something to be incriminated for. Especially when you hadn’t seen said boyfriend for two weeks.
It sucked. A lot. However, not a single tear had been shredded.....Yet. He had forbidden himself the act of crying. It was not worth it. Pointless even. Also, dying was better than showing his pain to those people he should stop considering his friend/love of his life. “The Heart of the saviour of the magic world gets painfully broken by his boyfriend Blasie and his best friend Ron!” -or something even more dramatic than that- would probably be The Daily Prophet's headline tomorrow morning.
He should have seen it coming. Now that he knew, the signs were obvious. The glancing, the blushing; the inappropriate jokes, the unnecessary touching; the excuses Ron made when he couldn’t hang out; all those times Blaise had sneaked in the middle of the night to go God knows where; the lies. Hell, Harry had heard them and didn’t even realize it. He thought Ron was in the bathroom with someone else, not Harry’s boyfriend!
Laughter shouldn't have come as easy as it did. It bubbled through his chest bitterly; heaving his shoulders, slowing down his run. It was so fucking ironic, and he was so fucking dumb. An idiot, really.
Harry came back to his senses some minutes later, when the streets became unrecognizable. He didn’t know how long he had been running. Breathing became a difficult task, and his legs didn’t want to hold him anymore. That’s exactly when his brain decided it was a great idea to unleash the contained tears, which blurried his already bad eyesight. He was alone in a dark alley that smelled like cat piss, crying the hell out of his eyeballs. Pathetic was one of the many words that came to mind. He hated himself for caring this much, for allowing something as stupid as being cheated on to drag him down. For Merlin’s sake, he defeated Voldemort, he endured a lot more pain, both physically and mentally. But here he was, weeping like a child whose favourite toy had been broken by another kid.
Five minutes later, when he had recomposed himself just a little bit, he phoned for help. Yes, Phoned. Harry owned a mobile phone, as hard as it is to believe. Hermione made him buy one for emergencies (though, she normally called to tell him banal things). Using his wand was not an option anyway, since he dropped it at the sight of Blaise and Ron devouring each other like animals.
He marked his second -and last- contact in his list and pressed call. It rang three times before someone picked up.
“Jeez Potter, it’s a quarter past three on a monday morning! Couldn’t you wait at least till ten?” The voice on the other end of the line was a mixture of drowsiness and annoyance.
“Sorry” Harry mumbled “I left my wand behind and I’m lost. Could you pick me up?” He tried the best to hide the fact that he had been crying. Worrying Draco was the last thing he wanted to do. But his efforts proved worthless.
“Are you crying?”
“No….? why?” The lightness in his voice sounded fake even to his ears. Draco sighed and said: “I’ll perform a location spell. Hang in there, I’m coming.” With that, he ended the call.
Impossible as it seems, Harry and Draco were friends. After the war, they had talked and declared some kind of truce, which led to an odd but wonderful friendship -or at least that’s what Harry says to irritate Draco-. They understood each other in ways others couldn’t, both sharing a past with Voldemort, neither having a choice but to follow the path made for them by adults.
The Gryffindor had introduced the Slytherin to the muggle world, and the Slytherin had introduced the Gryffindor to Blaise during a Ministry party two and a half years ago. It took them about a month to start dating. Harry had fallen for Blaise’s charm in an instant. And let’s not speak about falling in love, just that it had taken him less time than expected.
By the time Draco arrived it had stopped raining. The grey-eyed man was wearing a dark grey turtleneck, black pants with black shoes and a large beige coat. His hair was a bit messy, which was a rare occasion. Harry guessed it was due to the haste to help his friend.
*~
The Slytherin looked him up and down twice, like he was taking in Harry’s appearance, maybe searching for injuries. Because he cared about him, though he denied it most of the time. At the lack of blood and bruises on Harry’s body, Draco relaxed just a bit. You could never know what his friend has been up to.
However, the peace didn’t last long. Harry cut short the distance between them and hugged a very stunned Draco. The latter was about to comment on how Potter was getting all his clothes wet when he heard a sniffing sound. He returned the embrace, moving his left hand up and down Harry’s back.
“Do you want me to take you to my apartment?” Draco asked softly. He felt the Gryffindor nod slowly against his shoulder. “Okay, I’m going to apparate. Hold on tight.”
They appeared outside his penthouse white double doors. Trying to open the door while hugging someone was harder than it looked. He got tired of not being able to put the key in the lock, grabbed his wand and casted an alohomora. Walking was also difficult, but he somehow managed to do it.
Once inside he guided Harry to the bathroom. “Why don’t you take a shower. I will bring you warm clothes in a second.” He started for the door when Harry said “Thank you”.
“That’s what friends are for, right?” Harry couldn’t see him cringe at his own comment, since he was facing the bathroom entrance. It’s not that he didn’t mean it; it’s more that what he felt for Harry wasn’t exactly platonic friendship feelings. Having a crush on one of your closest mates was rather normal. He did the math and all.
Nonetheless, a relationship with Harry was impossible, since the man had fallen head over heels for his other best friend, Blasie. Long story short, Draco contented himself with a simple friendship. If his heart skipped a beat now and then when looking at Harry, or when they touched accidentally or hugged, was not important. He had learnt to ignore it. Kind of.
Once he was out of the bathroom’s door, a sigh escaped from his throat. The noise of the shower starting got him back to his feet. He found himself in his walk-in closet, which was crammed with all types of garments. Searching in the muggle outfits section he found something that might fit Harry -dark green silk pajama bottoms and a black t-shirt (which he’d never worn in his life and doesn’t know why he owns-.
Draco went back to the bathroom, passing by the many landscape’s paintings he had bought on every trip he’d made. Because the shower still running, knocking seemed fruitless. Thus, he opened the door and positioned the outfit on the only shelf that wasn’t packed with creams and skin-caring products. While he was at it, Draco grabbed a towel from one of the cabinets and hanged it on the round-pointed white hook that matched with the creamed colored wall.
“I left you some clothes and a towel, I’m going to make some tea and then we can talk in the living room.” Leaving before Harry had the chance to answer was a smart move, since he probably wasn’t in the mood to tell Draco about his problems and he’d most likely complain about the talking part. Also, the faster he left the bathroom the better. Let’s just say that steam didn’t cover all of the bathtube’s glass door and leave it at that.
Fifteen minutes later, both wizards found themselves comfortably seated in Dracos’ big caramel couch. Harry was holding a smoky cup of tea with both of his hands and staring out the huge arched window in front of him. A soft grey blanket was on his shoulders. The Slytherin, on the other hand, was seated sideways, looking intently at his friend, his tea mug forgotten on the glass coffee table. Silence was thick between them, none of them had spoken a word since seated.
Draco was growing impatient. Forcing Harry to talk wasn’t something he wanted to do, although it was becoming a rather appealing option. Not wanting to wait anymore, he created an opening
“So, are you going to tell me why you called me past three A.M, crying in a dark alley? Or are we going to sit here in silence until sunset?” Maybe it was a little passive-aggressive, but that usually made Harry talk.
“Blaise cheated on me” came out of Harry’s mouth faster than a bullet. The Gryffindor inhaled sharply and then exhaled slowly. “With…...with……...Ro…..with...Ron” The last word was said in a sad quiet voice, as if it hurted to name his best friend.
This time, the silence weighted differently, lighter. But mixed with something else Harry couldn't quite decipher. Pity, or maybe sympathy. Slowly turning his head towards Draco, the Gryffindor met the Slytherin eyes.
Ah, it’s anger combined with sadness, plus a tinge of guilt Harry thought. They stared at each other for some minutes before Draco decided to break the spell.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault. It’s their fault” The shower had helped Harry to arrange his thoughts, and also to arrive at some conclusions. Not allowing Draco to apologize again, Harry cutted him off with a piercing glance that said do not continue with this conversation.
“How did you find out?” was said sourly.
Harry bit his lower lip and deposited the half empty tea mug on the table. Then, he started playing with his fingers, all the while looking at the floor. After a moment he spoke. “So, as you can see, I returned early from the auror mission.”
“Yeah, why did you think I was so worried when you called? I thought you were dying or something.”
“You can be really dramatic sometimes” Harry was rewarded by a threatening stare, which made him smile just a little. “Anyway” he continued in a more serious tone. “Surprising Blaise came across my mind as a wonderful idea, because we hadn’t seen each other for a while. Boy could I have been any wronger” An ugly smile appeared on Harry’s face. “Apparently they had forgotten to shut down the Floo Network, which allowed me free entrance to my now ex boyfriends’ house. They hadn’t even made it to the bedroom. They were on the coffee table in front of the chimney like a fucking museum exhibit.” All the pent up anger was being freed, laced in his words. “It’s as they wanted me to find out. I mean, it’s the perfect plan, isn’t it? Now Blaise doesn’t have to put up with breaking up with me nor telling me he has been fucking my best friend for Merlin’s know how long”
Draco was quiet, his lips a thin line, his mind black. What do you respond to that ? Nothing, he thought.
Harry took a long deep breath, which was meant to call him down. It didn’t work that well, but at least it was something.
The silence lasted a while longer than before. Both men were lost in their own train of thought.
Finally, Draco spoke again. “What are you going to do now?”
“To be honest, I don’t know.” Harry hadn’t had the time to consider what would come next. Having the talk with Blaise now would end up badly. He didn’t feel nor had the strength to get through it. “ ‘Suppose I’ll talk to him when I’m ready.”
“Cursing him doesn’t sound like a bad idea. In fact, it’s the best one I had in a while.” Draco’s voice was icy, his expression cold.
“If it comes to it, I’ll let you know.” A smile made its way through Harry’s face. Draco was an amazing friend, and Harry was grateful to have him in his life. “Can we finish the conversation tomorrow? Right now the only thing I want to do is sleep hours and hours.”
“Sure, you can stay here if you want. The guests room is empty after all.”
“Thank you; you know...for everything.”
Draco’s expression softened a little bit. He smiled sweetly at Harry. “You are very welcome. Now, come on, we have to find some sheets for your bed.”
They both got up and walked towards the hidden closet in the hallway’s wall. Draco picked some white silk bed sheets, to then march down to the last door. Some spells here and there were the only thing needed to be setted up and ready for bed -pajamas and all-.
Harry laid down on the middle of the bed with a small jump and a gentle pluff. He tucked himself under the covers . ‘ Childish’ behaviour like that always made the Slytherin roll his eyes with fake annoyance, while something like fondness made its way through his chest.
“Goodnight Harry, sleep well.” Draco was almost at the door when Harry said: “Could you stay with me for a while?” The silent understandment that leaving Harry alone right now wouldn’t be wise was implicit in the unsaid words.
“Of course” Walking back to the bed, Draco settled down next to Harry, who was already breathing soundly, almost asleep. Almost.
Draco made his best to ignore his heart, or the speed it was beating at. “One day” he whispered so quietly, reassuring his heart that their time would come. He pressed a small kiss on Harry’s forehead, stroking gently his cheek. “One day”. Then, Morpheus’s spell dawned on him.
Months from now, would be when Draco found out that Harry heard him. But for the time being, they’d continued to be friends. At least till Harry figures out his feelings.