Sighing heavily, Harry handed over his plane ticket to the flight attendant who was welcoming him on the plane. He looked past her and saw the long line of seats. He swallowed nervously and hoped he looked calmer than he felt. He wasn't having a nervous breakdown or anything, but he did feel a bit uneasy. He had never been on a plane after all, and this was going to be a new experience. He knew there was nothing to be nervous about, so he managed to let the kind smile the flight attendant gave him calm him.
"Ah, sir, you are seated in seat number thirty-four. I have to warn you sir, the young man you are sitting next to seemed extremely nervous. I think you might need to be a bit patient with him." She handed the ticket back over to him and waved her hand in the rough direction of his seat. "Anyway, have a pleasant flight."
Harry pulled himself together and picked up his hand luggage that he had placed by his feet. He began to walk down the aisle towards his seat and took deep breaths. Now he wasn't so worried about the plain journey, but more about the poor person he would be sitting next to who was obviously far more nervous than he was. He told himself that he would be as comforting as he could considering he had never been on a plane before. He soon found his seat and placed his bag under the seat in front of him. He knew he could put it in the overhead locker, but he wanted it somewhere he could easily reach it. He took another deep breath and then sat in his seat. He gave a curious glance to the man sat next to him and nearly fell off his chair into the aisle when he realised who it was.
"Malfoy?" he whispered. Malfoy looked away from the window he was staring out of and fixed his wide eyes on him. Harry could see that Malfoy looked absolutely terrified.
"Hey," he whispered, and then he looked back around out the window. He didn't say anything else, and Harry didn't know what to say, so instead, he did something very inappropriate. He reached out and put a comforting hand on Malfoy's thigh. Malfoy seemed to tense up slightly before he relaxed. "What are you doing?" he asked quietly as he eyed the hand on his thigh.
Harry snapped his hand away quickly, not even realising what he had done. He blushed and looked away. Harry bit his lip and counted in his head to give him something to do. He had managed to get to one hundred-and-two before he could hear Malfoy's breath quicken. He looked over and could see that Malfoy had a small layer of sweat over his head. Harry had no idea what to do, but he knew he couldn't exactly leave Malfoy to have a breakdown in the middle of a plane.
"Malfoy, you need to calm down," he said as he placed a hand on his shoulder. This time he was more aware of the comforting gesture. The plane started to move and some of the cabin crew were stood in the aisle with life jackets on and someone was explaining the safety procedures but Harry wasn't listening. He was far too busy rubbing Malfoy's shoulder, trying to get him to take deep breaths and to calm down.
"That's easy for you to say Potter," he spat, "You were raised by muggles, you have probably been on one of these monstrosities loads of times." It was then that the man in the seat in front thought it was a good idea to turn around and glare.
"Mate, get your boyfriend to shut up yeah? Some of us want to hear the safety announcement." Harry gaped and was about to reply before Malfoy jumped in.
"Oh shut up yourself you great oaf." Oh god, there was going to be a stand up fight on the plane before it even took off. The man was about to say something but one of the cabin crew came over and told him to kindly be quiet or they would have to stop the plane to get him off. She then turned to Harry and fixed him with a more sympathetic glance.
"I'm sorry sir, I know your boyfriend is very nervous, but could you please try something to calm him down. We will be taking off very soon." The plane was still moving to the runway and Harry knew that it was only a matter of minutes until it took off. He was about to explain calmly that Malfoy was not his boyfriend, but she walked away to take her seat at the front for take-off.
It was only a few minutes later when the plane speed up and lifted slightly into the air. Malfoy quickly grabbed his hand in obvious panic and in any other circumstances; Harry would have shaken him off. But it was at least keeping him quiet, and that was all Harry wanted. He turned to look at Malfoy and saw that he had his head thrown back against the chair; eyes closed and was taking deep breaths. Harry swallowed hard and tried not to get aroused in the middle of a plane.
Why was it that he had to be sat next to the one man in the whole of Britain who he had fallen in love with? Of course, Malfoy didn't know this, and he certainly never would. Harry would take it to his grave.
He wasn't sure how he fell in love with him exactly, just that he had. They both worked in the same shop in Diagon Alley. It was owned by Blaise Zabini who had kindly employed Harry. The shop sold many different types of shoes, and Harry had a passion for making and selling shoes. Harry had done most of the work, making and selling the shoes, while Blaise had just owned the shop, only coming in a once a week for a few hours to check it was all in working order. Then Blaise thought it would be a good idea to hire someone to help Harry as it did get very busy and he was often run completely off his feet working very hard. Enter Draco Malfoy. Malfoy just got in the way more than he helped. He wasn't able to make any shoes because he was shit at it, and his salesman techniques where shocking. Blaise had known this, and asked Harry if he thought it was best he let him go, but for some unknown reason, Harry had felt terrible about Malfoy being sacked. Harry could see that he really did seem to be trying his best. So Harry asked for him to be allowed to stay. They never meet up outside of work even if Harry wanted to. He knew that Malfoy disliked him still, even if Harry had fallen in love with the git somewhere along the way.
Finally the plane levelled out and the seatbelt sign was taken off. Malfoy didn't seem to want to let go of his hand, and he was fine with that. He would take whatever he could get. He turned to check that Malfoy was still actually alive, because he hadn't said a word for at least fifteen minutes. Malfoy must have sensed his gaze on him because he opened one eye and turned his head slightly to look at Harry.
"Not a word," he said and then closed his eye again. Malfoy tightened his hand on Harry's slightly and Harry would be lying if he said that his stomach didn't do a tiny flip.
He fumbled with his bag to get his book – which was difficult considering he was holding hands with Malfoy. He managed to get it out eventually and he laid it on his lap so he could read it with one hand. He had managed to read for a few more minutes before the flight attendant who had asked him to calm his 'boyfriend' down came back and crouched down next to him in the aisle in a very patronizing manner.
"Has your boyfriend calmed down now sir?" she asked as she looked past him at Malfoy. Harry followed her gaze and saw that the corner of Malfoy's lip twitched slightly. Bloody bastard, Harry thought.
"Uh, he isn't my boyfriend," he said quietly, not really wanting to draw attention to himself. The lady just smiled apologetically.
"Oh, sorry sir, I didn't realise you were married. So, has your husband –" she winked at him "– calmed down now?" Harry just gaped at her and gave up. Seriously, as far as they all knew they could have been complete strangers. How the hell had they come to the conclusion that they were together? Where was that other flight attendant who had greeted him to start with? She knew they were not together. He looked around and noticed that she was seeing to the passengers at the front. Oh great, so that meant he was going to have this annoying bint as the flight attendant who was working back here. Brilliant.
"Yes, he is fine now thank you." what was the point in denying it? He had already tried. The lady nodded and then went to stand up before she stopped.
"Oh, my name is Donna by the way. If you need anything, give me a shout. I'm sure he will be fine with you here, but you never know." She stood up and patted him on the shoulder before she moved down the aisle. Harry breathed a sigh of relief that she had decided to bugger off and turned back to his book in his lap.
"Our wedding was so beautiful, wasn't it Mr Malfoy?" Harry smiled slightly and turned to Malfoy.
"Prat," he said affectionately. "And excuse me, but I believe you took my name, Mr Potter."
Malfoy just shook his head smiling before he closed his eyes again. Harry realised that this was clearly his way of coping with the nerves. Harry returned to his book and read a whole chapter before he realised something. He bent the top of the page – which he hated doing usually, but he forgot to bring a bookmark – and closed the book placing it on his lap, all one handed as his hand was still in Malfoy's. He turned in his seat so he was facing Malfoy more and scowled.
"Why are you going to Barcelona?" Harry was going for the business. He was going to all the shops in Barcelona to look at all the different types of shoes. He knew full well that Blaise had just used that as an excuse to get him to finally take a holiday. Harry hated taking holidays on his own, and so he never did. But Blaise looked so proud of himself that he had managed to come up with an excuse for him to go on holiday thinking that he had got one over on Harry that Harry couldn't refuse. He was a little scared to be going on his own, but he didn't mind. Blaise had arranged it all, after Harry said he would go. He had booked the plane tickets after Harry said he had never been on a plane before and would rather go by plane than portkey just for the experience.
"Blaise said I had to go for work or something." Harry could tell that was a lie right off, but instead he just 'hmm'ed and hoped it sounded convincing. They sat in silence for another few minutes. Malfoy still had his eyes closed and Harry looked past him and out the window, looking at all the clouds in the sky. It was very beautiful to look at.
"So, you gay boys are married then yeah?" It was the man who was seated in front of them. He had taken his seat belt off and was kneeling on his seat, looking over the back of it at them. "It's disgusting if you ask me. Guys are meant to be with birds, end of." Harry was about to say something about him being an arsehole, but Malfoy cut in.
"I'm afraid I would rather be with another bloke than a bird thank you. I'm not into bestiality as it happens." Harry just gave him an attentive smile and squeezed his hand in thanks.
"Oh, yeah, real funny you dick head. Just keep your hands to yourself when you pass me. I don't want to be touched up by a poof."
Harry instantly bristled. "Hey!" he said as he sat up straighter in his seat. "You listen here you absolute –"
"I'm already married you shit head! Why would I want to touch that when I have someone much better looking?" Harry snapped his mouth shut at
Malfoy's words. Okay, so they both hadn't denied that they were married, but neither had actually said that they were… until now. Harry felt himself blush.
"Yeah, just 'cause you're married don't mean you're going stay faithful." He smiled a smug smile as if he had made an excellent point. Well, that wasn't an excellent point, it was a stupid point made by a stupid homophobe. Harry watched as Malfoy opened his mouth to say something. Harry just squeezed his hand.
"Don't bother. It isn't worth it." The man raised his eyebrows in a mocking manner, still smirking, and turned back around to sit in his seat. Harry was struck with the knowledge that they were acting as if they really were fucking married so he snatched his hand away quickly and picked up his book from his lap. He started to read and tried very hard not to react when Malfoy sought out his hand yet again. He just looked at their clasped hands out of the corner of his eye and tried very hard not to let his lips quirk into a small smile. Obviously he failed terribly.
Malfoy started to take deep breathes again, and Harry was sure that he was seriously having a hard time of it. He didn't even know if it was Malfoy's first time on a plane. He was going to ask, but decided that it must be. It was quite shocking that Malfoy was on the plane at all, he could have easily gone by Portkey.
Harry wasn't even aware of his eyes dropping shut. He didn't realise that he had fallen asleep until he was woken up by someone shaking his shoulder. He started awake and looked at who had dared woken him up when he was having such a lovely dream about – oh, actually it was a dream about doing the frantic shopping for Christmas dinner so he was quite glad to be woken up from that. He found himself looking up into the worried eyes of Donna.
"Sir, you need to come and see to your husband. He has been in the toilet for well over half an hour and is refusing to come out." Oh good god. Why did he fall asleep? He knew that Malfoy was going to get worse and more restless as the plane journey went on. He just knew it. He sighed heavily and got up out of his seat, ignoring the snort of laughter the man in front gave. He was very tempted to clip him around the head as he went, but realised that would end very badly. He moved around Donna and made his way to the end of the plane where the toilet was situated. He knocked on the door quietly.
"Um, Mal – uh I mean, Draco, darling," he gritted out, "Don't you think it is time you came out of the toilet?" Donna scooted up closer to him and knocked on the door as well.
"Sir, we really do need you to exit the lavatory, other passengers need to use it and the seat belt sign will be going on shortly." There was no response, however, so she just sighed and gave a pleading look to Harry. He wasn't sure what the hell he was meant to do about it. He wasn't really his bloody husband, so how was he meant to do anything?
"Okay, how about you let me in?" Harry didn't even have time to think about what he had just said because there was a loud click and then he was being pulled into the toilet. Malfoy closed the door again quickly, presumably so Donna couldn't pull him out by his ear. Malfoy was looking very pale as he slid down to the floor, resting his head on his arms that were propped on his knees. There wasn't much space to move around, and so Harry had to shuffle around a few times until he was squatting in front of a clearly nervous Malfoy.
"This is all your fault," Malfoy said through gritted teeth. "If you hadn't decided you wanted the experience then I would not be on this plane right now and most likely sunning it up on a beach in Barcelona!" Harry just gaped at him, wondering just what the hell he was going on about. He could have gone by Portkey if he wanted to, Harry wasn't making him and he was pretty sure Blaise hadn't made him either. In fact, he was still unsure why Malfoy was even going, and was he expected to stay with him on the holiday? Maybe Harry had got it wrong, and that it really was a business trip and it wasn't just an excuse for Blaise to send him on holiday.
"What are you going on about?" he asked. Malfoy just snorted and lifted his head off his knees, and glared at Harry.
"You are so oblivious it's unreal. Why do you think I'm on this death trap for? You, you fucking idiot. Blaise just used the business trip as an excuse to send your over-worked arsed on holiday and I volunteered to go with you because I know that the reason you don't go on holiday is because you don't wish to go alone. But you had to be a bloody idiot and travel by plane because you wanted the experience and I didn't want you to have to go alone in case you were nervous, but it turns out you are perfectly fine and I'm having a break-down."
Now, Harry knew he was oblivious, he knew that he would miss people trying to flirt with him, he knew that he wouldn't notice when a customer tried to pocket some shoes. But he was sure he would notice if Malfoy like him. He spent most of his working day just staring at the man like a lovesick teenage girl, so he was sure he would have noticed something like that. He was sure of it.
"Oh god, how long do we have until we land? I can't take it much longer." Malfoy groaned and smacked his head back on his knees, letting out a quite 'ow'.
"We should be landing in about fifteen minutes," he said as he eyed his watch. Jesus, just how long had he been sleep for? "That is why you need to get your arse out of this toilet and into your seat, ready for landing." Malfoy didn't say anything; he just continued to sit there. Finally, curiosity won and Harry found himself asking: "Why did you volunteer to come with me? I thought you still hated Me." he asked it quietly, and was half convinced that Malfoy hadn't even heard him.
"I do not hate you," Malfoy said hotly. "Quite the opposite actually, which may I add, is fucking annoying when you are so oblivious that you don't even notice."
Harry could feel a smile tugging at his lips, and he tried very hard to suppress it. "You mean to tell me, you came on this holiday with me because you want to get in my pants?"
Draco let out a loud grunt. "You don't have to be quite so crude about it, but essentially, yes. It came to my attention that you were obviously not going to make a move and so I needed to do something, and I thought that coming on holiday with you was a rather large gesture that you would not be able to ignore."
Harry hummed and nodded his head. "Yeah, that is a pretty big gesture considering you are having a nervous breakdown over here." Harry's whole body felt warm with the knowledge that Draco (he really should start calling him that, in fact, he should have a long time ago) had gotten on the plane even though he was clearly shitting his pants. And then there was the fact that he had sort comfort from Harry practically the moment he sat down.
"Yes, it bloody well is. So are you just going to sit there or are you going to tell me whether or not I have just put myself through this for nothing." Harry chuckled as he could tell Draco was getting worse. He thought that it was more due to the fact he had just admitted he liked Harry than the fact he was on a plane. It was obviously a bit of both.
"Of course it wasn't wasted, but you really didn't need to do this you know. You could have just given me a sandwich at work and casually told me you know," he said quietly. It was true, he wasn't a huge romantic and a simple gesture would have been enough for him.
"Well you could have bloody said so sooner! You haven't dated anyone for – well I don't even know, you haven't dated anyone since I have been working at the shop, so I thought you had high standards or something. I thought I would have to do something stupid like this to get your attention!"
Harry's legs had become numb, so he settled himself down on the floor cross legged. "Yeah, I do have pretty high standards. I never dated anyone because no one was you, idiot." Harry rolled his eyes when Draco's head snapped up. "Yes, that's right, I have been pinning after you since you stepped through the door. In fact, I saved your arse several times when Blaise wanted to sack you. You can thank me for that later."
Without saying anything else, Harry grabbed Draco by the face and pulled him so that their lips met. They kept their mouths closed for several seconds until Harry opened his mouth and pushed his tongue forward. Draco followed suit and their tongues entwined. Draco groaned and practically tried to sit in Harry's lap. Harry just laughed and pulled away. He stroked his thumb across Draco's pale cheek and sighed. He looked so pale, although he did look slightly less panicked.
"I am making a huge scene aren't I?" he bit his bottom lip and looked away from Harry. "I just – I was getting a bit agitated and you were asleep and I panicked. I didn't want to wake you up because you looked so peaceful and that dick head in front kept giving me weird looks and I just needed somewhere where no one was watching me. Then fucking Donna starting pounding on the door and I just – thank fuck she went and got you." Harry grabbed out blindly, searching for Draco's hand. He soon found it and squeezed it tight. There was a knock on the door and Donna's voice came through.
"You really need to go back to your seat now sirs." Harry stood up and pulled Draco with him. He unlocked the door and stepped out, with Draco coming out behind him. Donna blushed slightly and looked past them into the toilet. "You didn't – um, you know… in there did you? I hope you cleaned up after yourselves if you did because I'm not going –"
"No, we did not shag in your tiny little toilet," Draco said irritably as he rolled his eyes. Harry just sniggered and followed Draco down the aisle to their seats. Draco sat in his seat near the window and instantly grabbed Harry's hand the moment he sat down in his seat. They had only been sat down for all of two minutes before the bloke in front turned around again.
"Shagging in plane toilets? Classy." He smirked and then extended his hand to them over the back of the seat. "Look, I'm sorry I was a dick. You love who you love and I shouldn't judge. My name is Greg." Harry shook his hand with a nod. Draco glared at him for a few moments before he reluctantly shook the hand. Harry could see he was reluctant to shake his hand by the way that Draco clenched his jaw.
Greg turned back around and Harry turned to face Draco. "Maybe you should just sleep this off? I will wake you when we have landed." Just then, they heared the pilot telling them it was ten minutes until landing. Unsurprisingly, Draco's hand tightened and once again he started to breathe heavily. Harry stroked his hand with his thumb in what he hoped was a soothing motion.
The plane started to descend, and Harry thought that everything would be alright. Oh, how wrong he was. Draco let out a small cry of distress and looked at Harry with pure panic in his eyes. "What-the-fuck is wrong with my ears?"
Harry laughed, and then proceeded to wince when he realised that his ears were starting to hurt too. "Oh, that apparently happens sometimes when landing. You are meant to suck on a sweet or something to help, but I didn't bring any."
"I would probably make a joke here about how you can suck on my cock if you like but my ears fucking hurt! Can't you do something? Whip out your wand or something, there has to be a spell."
Harry thought that there must be a spell somewhere, but he didn't know it. He just shook his head with an apologetic smile and hoped that Draco would just stop bloody moaning. Luckily enough, Draco did stop moaning. He kept a strong hold on Harry's hand and then looked out of the window. They stayed like that until they felt the loud bump of the plane landing on the airport runway.
Before they knew it, they had collected their luggage – Harry's from under Greg's seat and Draco from the overhead locker – and were bidding a half-friendly goodbye to Greg and Donna. Donna had just smiled at them sappily and Harry roll his eyes. They walked down the steps that had been attached to the aeroplane door and walked through the door to the airport. Both Harry and Draco sighed heavily when they saw the queue for passport control and reluctantly got in line with the other passengers. They talked aimlessly the whole time they queued up. They talked about the fact that Draco was absolutely shocked when Harry came into work one day with a new tattoo that he had got when he was drunk and was highly embarrassed about. Harry had mostly just talked about how stupidly handsome Draco always looks first thing in the morning and how unfair it is.
Once they had made their way through passport control, they made their way over to the conveyer belt where their suitcases should be arriving. They saw Greg standing by it and went and stood next to him, even though Draco had protested. Soon enough, Draco announced that his bag was coming around. They had stood right near the opening where the luggage was coming out with several people stood to the left of them, the direction the bags where going. Draco reached out to grab his suitcase, but due to the fact that he was clearly as weak as anything, he struggled to get it off. He started to move with the bag, knocking people out of the way. There were several "Hey, watch it mate" and "Oi," from people who had been barged out of the way.
"Fucking hell," Harry mumbled under his breath. "Draco! Let it go and let it go around again you complete prat!" He shouted to the idiot who was still clinging on to his bag. He heard Greg laugh next to him and suddenly felt sorry for Draco. He really was pulling hard at his bag to get it off. He finally let it go with a huff of frustration and marched back over to Harry.
"That was very embarrassing," he mumbled under his breath, with a bright red face. Harry just patted his arm. He looked over to the conveyer belt and saw his suit case coming out of the opening. He quickly and efficiently grabbed the suitcase of the conveyer belt and placed it by his feet.
"I will get yours." He said as he saw it coming around yet again. He picked it up, and soon let out a huff of breath. Fuck, that was one heavy suitcase. What the hell did he have in it? He too walked a bit to the left with the bag as he had a bit of a struggle getting it off. Nevertheless, he managed to get it off the conveyer belt a lot easier than Draco and placed it by Draco's feet without knocking anyone out of the way.
"Thanks." Draco said with small smile. They both picked up their bags and made their way out of the airport in search for a taxi. Something suddenly hit Harry.
"Hey, hold on a second. Are you staying in the same hotel as me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Draco coughed and then looked away, shoving his hands in his pockets, obviously trying to look like he was looking for a taxi. "Uh, same hotel and room actually." Harry choked and then spun his head around to look at Draco.
"Same room?" Draco nodded and then looked back at Harry with a grin.
"Well, I was planning on seducing you on the plane, and then we would only need one room right? And if my seducing failed, and you told me you didn't want me, well, I was planning on taking a Portkey not another fucking plane, home again, as it would be pointless sticking around when I only came here for you anyway." Harry just laughed and shook his head.
"You really are an idiot. Come on then," he said as he picked up his luggage and started to move towards the taxi bank on the other side of the road. They put their suitcases in the boot of the car and then slid in. Draco told the taxi driver the name of the hotel in perfect Spanish and then grabbed hold of Harry's hand once more. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Draco turned to Harry.
"You will tell me if I look like I'm starting to burn when we are on the beach won't you?" He looked so sincere that Harry couldn't help laugh. He pulled Draco down into a kiss.
He knew that this was going to be an amazing holiday.
Fin
Authors note: okay, so I wasn't actually planning on writing their holiday and just the plane journey, but now I'm wondering if I should write it and add it on as another chapter or whatever. Anyway, if you want me to write the holiday, then please say so or don't bother if it was so bad you would rather not see more LOL. I wouldn't blame you, I only wrote this for my own entertainment and I really am terrible at writing stories so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to see more. But let me know if by some miracle you do.