Title: Concession
Author: indigorhapsody
Summary: Harry asks an unexpected question. Harry/Draco.
Warnings: Slash.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is created by J.K. Rowling and owned by umerous corporations which I do not represent.

"How do you feel about me?" Harry asked, completely out of the blue.

It took Draco a few precious seconds to pull himself away from where he was wistfully reliving the past twenty minutes they had just passed together, and wrap his mind around what his bed-partner had just said.

Harry had never seemed to want to talk after sex, a characteristic which Draco had grown to appreciate greatly in the year since they had been foolish enough to start living together. If anything was said at all, usually Draco said it, and it was frequently something along the lines of "not bad, Potter," or "get off me, Potter, my legs are falling asleep." Certainly never anything remotely related to how he was actually feeling at the moment. Merlin, no. He'd bite off his own tongue before he revealed something like that. If he were more honest with himself, he would have admitted that his tongue had been thus imperiled more than once as he lay just as he was now, more deeply gratified than he really had a right to be, given how they weren't supposed to feel about each other. He had certainly never been so honest with Harry, and had never really intended to be.

Which was why, on this particular occasion, the fact that Harry seemed to want to talk about how he was feeling made Draco quite nervous. He sat up a little, turning in Harry's direction but unable to look directly at him. "What exactly are you getting at?" he countered edgily.

Harry's odd spell of courage seemed to leave him. His shoulders slumped. "I just - I mean - I didn't - "

"Spit it out, Potter," Draco said, sounding a lot more impatient than he felt.

Harry winced a little and looked away. "Just something Ginny said the other day." Draco's heart sank. Ginny had someone else, but she and Harry were still quite close, something that Draco had never been comfortable with. "We were talking about her and Dean, and she said that she knew he loved her because he made so many sacrifices to be with her. You know, with the war and all."

A very unpleasant emotion sparked within Draco, something between anger and hurt. What more did Harry want from him? Their relationship was undeniably passionate, but they had a silent agreement that it remain undefined. That Harry seemed to want to discuss it now, after so long, certainly didn't bode well for the future of such an arrangement. But Harry wouldn't be so blunt about it - so cruel - would he? "What about it?" Draco was sure his voice sounded a lot more frightened than angry.

"I only meant that lately, things have seemed a little too - quiet," Harry said lamely.

"Getting bored?" He struggled not to sound too bitter.

Harry frowned. "Are you?" he asked, quite seriously.

If things were different, he would have simply said 'yes' and be done with it. Harry would be relieved, the whole pressure of carrying on this - whatever it was - would be lifted, and they could just go their separate ways. If he said 'no,' then things would get more complicated than either of them could handle, and they would both end up getting hurt in the end. He just couldn't bring himself to answer.

It was quiet for a long while. Harry looked away. Whatever Draco thought the next words out of Harry's mouth would be, they certainly weren't "I love you."

They were simple words, and Draco told himself immediately that Harry probably didn't mean them. But they still sent his world spinning off its axis. It took him a moment to realize that Harry was still speaking. "I'm sorry I didn't said it before," he was saying, while Draco fell apart, "I should have said it before, but I didn't want to say it before I knew I really meant it."

"Then don't." Draco said faintly, his heart constricting painfully.

"But I do mean it," Harry said fiercely, putting both hands on Draco's shoulders. "I know, I'm sure, but I need to know how to prove it to you. Tell me what I need to do to prove it," he pleaded.

Stunned, Draco simply couldn't decide how to react. Harry just seemed so goddamn sincere, and he was damned if he didn't owe it to him to return some measure of that sincerity. That didn't make it any easier. "I don't think," he said carefully, "that you need to prove anything." Harry looked like he going to protest, so Draco went on. "Do I?"

Harry's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Draco said slowly, clearly, "that I came back here to live with you, believing that the Ministry was going to snap my wand if I was lucky, and throw me in Azkaban if I wasn't. He hesitated, gauging Harry's reaction. "Do you think I did something like that because you're a fabulous shag?"

"I - I never thought about it. I just assumed you believed me when I told you it would be alright," Harry said, reaching out and threading his fingers through Draco's.

"I didn't trust anyone to protect me from anything. With good cause," Draco admitted. He took a deep breath. "But it still might have been worth it, if you had been wrong."

I can't believe I just said that, Draco thought, watching the play of incredulity on Harry's face, and meant it.

"Does that mean - "

"Probably," Draco interrupted. "As for you, Potter, I'm a trial of my very own. You've said it yourself," he said wryly, smiling at the contrite flush on Harry's cheeks. He took the dark-haired man's face gently in his hands, and forced him to look right in his eyes. "You've paid your dues, I'm sure," he whispered, leaning in and giving Harry what was a perfectly smashing kiss, judging by Harry's enthusiastic response. They broke apart reluctantly, simply staring at each other for a moment. "Besides," he continued, trying and failing to sound as though he were unaffected, "just the fact that we're still together says more than anything." Unable to resist any longer, he leaned in again. "Especially since we're terribly ill-suited."

"I don't think we're quite as ill-suited as you think," Harry mused, his eyes becoming slightly unfocused as Draco trailed his lips lightly along his collarbone.

The blond hummed a little, enjoying his companion's positive reaction as he did so. "Perhaps not," he murmured against Harry's skin.

Draco conceded, in the back of his mind, that they probably needed to have more of these sorts of conversations.