"Get your hands off of me, woman." Draco Malfoy might have been trying to sound threatening, but it mostly sounded irritated and slightly confused. "No. No I won't." Maribel, who had been alternating the thorn in his side and the object of his slightly confused affection giggled, simply adjusting her hands across his eyes. Draco felt a slight shiver run down his spine; he could feel her breath on the back of his neck. "I don't know why you're intent upon doing this." He muttered, allowing the shorter female to lead him to whatever it was she had planned. "Here we are." There was a pause as he considered simply forcing her hands off of his face, but the thought of seeing her blue eyes filled with disappointment made him drop his hands again. "Close your eyes, I need to open the door."
"No. This is ridiculous."
"Please? Please Draco?" He couldn't stand that voice. He couldn't stand it when she called him that.
Or rather, he liked it.
And that was what he couldn't stand. It confused him.
"Fine," the blonde haired male grumbled, and smirked slightly at the slightly delighted squeal that came from the female behind him. Obediently closing his eyes, he allowed her to open the door and then place her hands back over his eyes again and lead him into the room. "Okay. You can look now." Those small hands were gone now, and he opened his eyes before glancing around. Shelves full of watercolors and crayons? White tile floors? "What is this? A muggle kindergarten?"
"Better. An art studio!"
"What the bloody hell, Maribel?" He wasn't sure if he was going to feel comfortable calling her by her first name, although he did like it when she called him by his. "I thought you needed some relaxing. Art therapy is known to work you know."
"You want me to draw?"
"Or paint." She suggested cheerfully, and Draco looked slightly irritated. "I don't paint. Or draw." He said flatly, and Maribel reached out, twining her fingers around his paler ones, and tugging on his arm slightly impatiently. "Please, Draco? Just this once? It will be good for you. I'll…. I'll do something nice for you if you do." Draco turned to face the Hufflepuff, his light blonde eyebrows knitting. "Something nice?" He asked slightly curiously, all too aware of her hand holding his. "I'll…. I'll give you a kiss." Her face turned a dark pink, and Draco felt his own heat up just in the slightest, a light color dusting those pale cheeks for a moment. "What makes you think that I'd want that?" He asked, lips curling up into a slightly forced smirk. "I, uh, I, er?" Maribel's face fell slightly, and Draco's smirk became a real one. "You've got a deal." He agreed, after giving the brown haired teen a few moments to feel anxious. "But if this is lame, the deal's off." Maribel's face lit up like a child at Christmas, and Draco felt a slight twist in his chest. Damn, how had this happened to him?
Trotting to one of the shelves, Maribel picked up a few boxes of crayons and a few sheets of paper before moving back to where the blonde was standing and flopping down on the tile and opening the box, gesturing for Draco to join her. "Come on, come draw with me!" She chirped, and Draco stared down at her for a moment before sitting down on the tile and continuing to stare at her as though she were insane. Maribel didn't seem to notice, and just began to hum to herself, setting down the crayon she had been using and choosing a green one. "Lie down and color, Draco!" Much to her delight he did so, and even took a black crayon and a piece of paper. She turned her attention back to her own art, however after a few minutes she became curious as to what Draco was drawing and began trying to see. The Slytherin noticed, and, with a smirk, turned away slightly and scooted away from her. Maribel whined and scooted after him, trying to peer over his shoulder. "Draco, can I see what you're drawing?" She asked, noticing that he had taken an entire box of crayons with him as moved. "Please?"
"Quit following me. I'll let you see when I'm done," he paused and smirked, and then added a "maybe." The fact that Maribel was still scooting after him made him move further away, intent upon keeping his art secret. This continued for three or four minutes, until Draco hit the wall. Unable to move away anymore, he sat up, holding the picture to his chest so that Maribel couldn't see it. The young woman sat up as well, reaching out and tugging at his hands and trying to get the paper away from him. This was working just as Draco had hoped; she was right up against him, and he had a plan. "You want to see the drawing?" Maribel nodded, noticing after a few moments that their faces were just a little bit close for comfort. "Uhm-hum." She agreed, scooting back slightly. Draco exhaled both in relief and in disappointment, watching her go back to her drawing and moving back himself.
Her face felt warm, and Maribel turned her head away from the blonde when he reappeared at her side with his drawing, biting her lip to calm herself down. Choosing another color; a rather interesting pink, she began to draw a few butterflies on her picture of a bunch of flowers and grass. She was aware of the warm body next to her, and after a few moments, she leaned over slightly, resting against him. She felt Draco stiffen and then relax, allowing the simple contact so long as she didn't try and peer at his drawing. For Maribel, this was more than just an attempt to get Draco to take his mind off of whatever it was that had been bothering him. She didn't get to spend nearly enough time with him. She tried not to approach him when he was surrounded by Slytherins, because she didn't want to ruin his image or get him in trouble with his friends. She might not have much cared for or paid attention to the difference between houses, but she knew it meant a lot more to Slytherins. So even though she wanted to be able to come up to him in the halls and show him something she had made with magic, or a flower she had found, or something else that only she would think Draco might be interested in, she didn't. That made it slightly easier to ignore the way her heart always seemed to speed up when he was around, or the way that she felt her cheeks heating up every time he smirked at her.
They stayed comfortably like that for almost half an hour; silently drawing, Maribel leaning against Draco, and Draco keeping his drawing away from her occasional glance. She had finished a few pieces, her scene with the flowers and butterflies, a drawing of a dragon, and a badger in black and yellow. Now she was working on a drawing of a monkey. A purple monkey. "Draco, are you still working on the same picture?" She asked after a few moments, and he nodded. "Yes. And you still can't look." Maribel squeaked a protest and glared at him mildly. "Please, Draco? Please?" She had moved again, and when he glanced over, he noticed that her face was only inches from his. His gray eyes travelled from her blue orbs down her face and focused in on her pink lips. Her attempts to get his mind off of his worries had worked, and now he was most definitely thinking of other things. Like cinnamon. How had he not noticed what she smelled like? Was that what her lips would taste like? He ran his tongue over his own lips subconsciously and leaned forward, however he was thwarted again as Maribel moved past him not seeming to have noticed what he was trying to do. Her hand reached for his drawing and his breath hissed out from between his teeth in irritation as he slipped the paper away from her fingertips, rolling onto his back, wrapping his arms around Maribel's waist. "You are impossible, do you know that?" He asked softly, and she tilted her head slightly, moving so that she was more comfortable against him. "What are you doing, Draco?"
"I'm taking my reward." It was a simple statement, and, before Maribel could speak, he had brushed his lips against hers for a brief moment before pulling back and moving away, sliding Maribel off and sitting up, running a hand over his face. What the hell had he just done? What was he doing here at all? That girl confused him. This entire situation confused him. He needed a reason to convince himself it was wrong. Needed a reason to cut this off before it started getting worse. Draco Malfoy the prince of Slytherin, kissing a simple Hufflepuff? That was technically wrong, but it didn't help him at all. If that was his only protest; not even he believed it.
"Got it." Those simple words pulled him out of his thoughts and he glanced over to see Maribel holding his drawing victoriously. "Now I can see what you've been hiding from… me…" She trailed off slightly as she flipped the drawing over to see what it was he'd been working on, her already flushed cheeks darkening in color. "You drew me?" He hadn't thought it was very good, but considering the look currently gracing the brown haired teen's face, it must have been good enough. "Oh Draco. It's fantastic." Turning to face him she flung her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his. Caught off balance by the suddenness of it all, Draco had to put a hand behind him to keep from falling over, wrapping his other arm around her waist to keep the Hufflepuff – his Hufflepuff – against him, resting his chin on her shoulder as soon as they moved away for air. "Maybe this whole art thing isn't so bad."