Summary: Secret crush from friendship.
The morning started as it usually did, Draco waited by the coffee shop holding two cups in hand anticipating Harry's arrival. Harry, as always was running behind schedule. He never was a morning person, Draco thought.
Another fifteen minutes later, Draco began to worry. He finally saw a dark haired man running towards him from around the corner waving. Always the graceful entrance.
"Finally. I was about to drink your cappuccino as well, Potter."
"Sorry, Draco, I received a Floo call this morning and I couldn't get away." Harry sounded serious.
"Oh? Anything interesting?"
"It was the solicitor. The time for trial separation has ended and we need to meet with the therapist again to discuss the future of my…our marriage." Harry answered.
That stung.
"It's been six months already?"
"Yeah, can you believe it?" Harry asked in response while sipping his cappuccino and trying to catch up with Draco's pace on their morning walk to work.
After Hogwarts Draco began working in the potions lab at St Mungo's and Harry started his healer training at the same time. They saw each other at work briefly but never engaged in a conversation that didn't involve work. This cordial work relationship lasted a few years until one day Harry drunkenly ran into Draco at the Leaky Cauldron where he had been busy getting pissed attempting to forget his day. Harry and Ginny had filed for a trial separation, they had been involved with a couples' therapist for a while and it didn't seem to be working. That night, Harry and Draco, who himself went through a nasty divorce bonded and formed an unusual friendship.
Coffee in the morning, an occasional lunch break, and drinks every Friday night had been the routine. An accidental brush of the arm, an awkward drunk hug and crashing on each other's sofa were also part of the practise among other things. Draco didn't know when it happened, but he cursed himself for having gotten too used to scarhead who he supposedly thought was so humble, it was infuriating.
"So what have you decided?" Draco asked, as he thought, that you don't miss her or want her back.
"I am not sure; I told them I need a few days to think it all over. Apparently Ginny was all ready to have the mediation session and they were shocked that I, evidently, had forgotten all about it."
They arrived at their destination; time always seemed to fly back during their morning walks. Harry lifted his cup in a gesture of 'thanks' to Draco and gently touched his hand,
"Thanks again for waiting for me. I am really lucky to have you."
There it was again, Draco could never figure out Harry's advances, were they advances or simple friendly gestures? Draco never exchanged such gestures with any of his other friends.
The next time, Draco and Harry met up at their usual spot after work for a few pints. Habitually, their few pints would turn into an all-night occasion of drunken debauchery.
"Here's to hoping some things will never change," Draco commented lifting his pint glass.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if you get back together with Ginny, is she going to allow you to go out drinking with your mates on a work night?" Draco laughed as he took a sip of his dark stout.
"Oh yeah…that."
"Have you made a decision?" Draco asked innocently, his intent not so quite virtuous.
"What do you think? What should I do?"
"Personally, I'd hate to lose you. I've gotten used to your elegant company and flawless face," Draco replied in sarcasm. "I'd hate to give the coffee shops less business in the mornings and I suppose the walks to work shall become rather mundane once more"
"That's your only reason?" Harry asked. "You don't want to drink alone and be bored whilst walking to work in the morning."
"Don't forget your flawless face and the way you touch my hand every morning when you say goodbye," Draco answered. "Oh, I might need to stop drinking now." Draco felt mortified for blurting out his favourite part of the morning.
"So you do notice it."
"Of course I notice it, Potter, you do it every day."
"Why don't you tell me to stop?"
"Because I don't want you to stop," answered Draco.
"What about the times when I rub your arm insisting that I pay the bill?"
"And what about the times I brush your hair off your forehead because you simply refuse to maintain the travesty you call a hairstyle?" Draco asked in return.
"I notice it, it's the only time you ever initiate any physical contact."
"I didn't realise you require physical contact," Draco uttered.
"I require it from you," Harry replied.
Draco choked on his beer as he took a sip. "Potter, you're drunk."
"Yes, and it took a wakeup call this morning for me to realise that I needed to profess, drunk or sober."
"So, now what?"
"Now," said Harry, "you should take me to your flat and we should snog all night and do things, naked. Hot things. Then we should sleep. You should also Floo call St Mungo's tomorrow that you're going to be out because you've fallen sick and we should spend the day discovering each other's bodies."
"What about you? Don't you have to work tomorrow?"
"I already told them that I wasn't coming in tomorrow, personal day," Harry answered, finishing the last of his lager.
"So you already planned on coming home with me tonight?" Draco asked, a look of enthrallment glanced over his eyes.
"Well, it was either going to be that or go home and cry all night, since the man that I am in love with just scorned me," Harry answered unable to keep a straight face.
"You're dramatic."
"And you want to shag me more than I fathomed."
Draco smirked. "You know the more you insult me, the harder I'll make it for you."
"Is that a promise?"
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