Author's Note: Hello all! This is just a little one-shot gift!fic I had written for a friend on LJ. For those of you waiting, I am currently working on finishing up Unveiled Secrets. I have about five more chapters to write (I already have the storyline done) and then you'll start seeing updates. After Unveiled Secrets, I'll be *attempting* to finish The Dark Side of the Moon. Until then however, here's something to tide you over. :) I hope you like it!
Harry sighed in a put-upon fashion, barely listening to the store clerk that had been prattling on at him for the last fifteen minutes. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be buying a new bed. What Harry wanted, what he really wanted, was to be snuggling up in his old bed with his lover. Former lover. Merlin was that hard to remind himself. Draco had left him, which led Harry to his current predicament. He had to purchase a new bed; any sleep he attempted was plagued by memories and visions of blond hair, tousled from a round of blissful morning sex. They had fought, as per usual but this time, in the end, Draco had left. Maybe it was Harry's fault. Normally he was the one who backed down and curbed his stubbornness, allowing his volatile boyfriend a minor victory. It was either that, or sleep alone. The blond was more than capable of staying cross for DAYS.
They had often argued over Harry's long hours and frequent undercover gigs. Draco had wanted his boyfriend home more often, hating it when Harry was on missions; Harry wouldn't be able to make contact, he could be gone for weeks at a time, his escapades were often extended without any warning and Draco would be left to worry and wring his hands all alone in an empty house. The fight in question had been over Harry's continued (respectful) refusal to take on the head auror position at the ministry. The current head was angling to retire and was determined that Harry would be his successor. Harry, however, had no desire to be chained to a desk and office in a nine-to-five job that he received no personal satisfaction from. Draco, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than for his boyfriend to suck it up and take the job. It had gotten to the point that Draco had started becoming increasingly more furious after each of Harry's refusals (which were numbering in the double digits by now).
With the blowup fight of doom, Harry had tried to "agree to disagree" by walking away and saying that he didn't want to argue anymore. Apparently Draco hadn't wanted to agree in any sense because when Harry had calmed down enough to seek his capricious lover, the blond was gone. Harry had tried to clamp down his panic, at least for a few days to see if maybe Draco just needed some time apart to collect his thoughts and cool off. Reality was brought home to the auror quite quickly however, as a scant three days after the blond had left all his personal belongings vanished without a trace. Harry could only assume that he had summoned them or sent some of the Malfoy family house elves.
"Look," Harry interrupted the clerk, still rattling off numbers and statistics. "I just want a bed. Nothing fancy. I could care less about what type of wood it's made out of or any secret compartments it has. I don't care about anything you've been saying for the last quarter of an hour. I would just like to sleep at some point without wanting to tear all my hair out. This one here is just fine." Harry gestured to simple bed with the minimum amount of furnishes. He didn't even notice the frown he was receiving from a lurking bystander nearby.
"Draco," came the annoyed drawl of one Pansy Parkinson. Only Pansy could managed to sound thoroughly frustrated yet remarkably bored at the same time. "This has gone on long enough. Your antics are becoming childish."
The man in question idly played with the food on his plate, waving away one of the Malfoy house elves bobbing by his elbow with a bottle of wine. He frowned, clearly not enjoying the conversation but knowing full-well that nothing would stop Pansy from lecturing him half-to-death when she believed he truly deserved it.
"It's obvious that you miss him. You overreacted. He left to calm himself down to keep him from saying, or doing, anything hasty. Instead of doing the same, you up and left! Just admit it and go get Potter back!" Draco said nothing, not even meeting his friend's eyes. Pansy seemed to take this as license to continue. "You didn't see him, Dray. He looked terrible and it's obvious he hasn't been sleeping. And that atrocity he was buying. It was… beige, Draco, BEIGE. Positively hideous. It didn't even come with a respectable headboard. You should have seen how he snapped at the clerk! I thought he was going to start yelling-" Draco chose this moment to finally speak up and interrupt what was quickly becoming a mini-tirade.
"Pansy! Stop. Okay, just stop! I'll go talk to him, alright? You win!"
Pansy just donned a characteristically Slytherin, smirk, eerily similar to a cat that had just sneaked something off of the dinner table. Draco huffed, shoving away his dish and banging his head against the ornate tabletop. When had he turned into such a bloody pushover? Well, to be fair… Pansy was quite persuasive (in an annoying, you-know-I'm-right, don't-even-bother-protesting, sort of way). Besides, it was Pansy. She had known Draco intimately since they were children. If anyone knew just what to say to propel Draco to action, it was her.
Harry paused in his action of stirring the soup that would hopefully be his dinner, if he could get it to turn out properly. His hand suddenly paused in its orbit over the soup. Had he just heard a movement in the foyer? Quick as a flash, the soup ladle in the auror's right hand was replaced with his wand. Jinx on his lips, Harry slowly made his way out of the kitchen. Before he had even gotten to the loveseat, his body was frozen in shock. Draco was standing there, head downcast and fists clenched.
"Hullo Harry," he bit out.
"Draco?" Harry asked hesitantly, reaching out towards his former lover but not actually moving towards him. All he wanted was to embrace the mercurial blond, but he knew Draco well enough to know that it wouldn't go well if he tried it, not unless it was Draco initiating the contact.
For a few tense minutes, neither man said anything. Abruptly, Draco blew past Harry towards the kitchen.
"What is that awful stench? Don't tell me you were trying to cook. You know you're wretched at it."
Harry couldn't help but smile at Draco's apparent return to domesticity. He had to admit, the blond had a point. Harry couldn't cook for shite.
"Well, I had to eat something for dinner, didn't I? Couldn't just starve because you weren't here. Especially as you made it pretty clear that you weren't coming back." The last part was whispered and the auror couldn't quite manage to keep the creeping hint of bitterness out of his tone.
Draco's shoulders hunched in what was probably some sort of a defensive gesture. He turned to look at Harry, slowly, as if wishing to be doing any one of a million other things; anything rather than facing his ex-boyfriend.
"Harry listen I'm sorry. I'm not saying you were right, because you're still an inconsiderate arse, but I might… Imighthaveoverreacted. A little. But you have to understand-mmf!" Draco was silenced by a pair of bruising lips being crushed onto his own. Harry kissed the blond as if they had been apart for years instead of what was in reality only a few weeks.
"I'm sorry too," was Harry's muttered reply as he finally broke away from the blond. "I know you just wanted me to be home more. I should have at least been willing to consider the head auror position." A soft smile broke over Harry's features. "I think I might have found a solution… well, more of a compromise really."
Draco arched an elegant eyebrow, for the moment biting back any sarcastic comments.
"Now, it isn't perfect so don't get too excited." Harry rushed to say. "I found out that after I turned down the head auror position the last time, they finally approached someone else about it. Ron. He doesn't want the job for the same reasons I don't but he and I both agreed that it wouldn't be so terrible if we could share the desk work with someone else." Draco's eyes began to widen in comprehension, features clearly saying that he barely hoped to believe the words coming out of the auror's mouth.
Harry too, smiled, seeing the hope dawn over Draco's face and bring a certain brightness to his eyes. "Ron and I agreed that we would be willing to take the job if we could be co-heads together. That way we could each still have a fair share of missions and leg work without having to be chained to our desks 24/7. I talked to the current head and he agreed that, considering that Ron and I have worked together in various ways for so long, we could probably function as co-heads together quite efficiently. I'm sure the fact that we're both war heroes didn't hurt our case either. Although at this point, I think the poor bloke is just so desperate to retire, he would agree to about anything at this point." Harry paused, hoping Draco would take the compromise. "So… what do you think?" Harry prodded.
"I think… that you're still a great prat but…" Draco smiled as his words seemed to make Harry blanch. "It's a good compromise."
The auror grinned hugely, looking to all the world as if he had just won the Quidditch cup. His grin faltered however, when the blond suddenly looked grim and put his hands on his hips.
"Now," Draco said sternly. "Let's go see this monstrosity of a bed Pansy told me so much about. I need to burn it."