The lift doors caught on the bright red Auror robes as they clattered shut behind Harry, warning him how close he'd been to the exit. But, Draco was pressed against the back wall, arms crossed and face bright pink.
Harry cursed under his breath for staring.
"You can't leave well enough alone, can you?"
The words were soft, but Harry couldn't help his grimace at their accusatory nature. As the lift jerkily went down instead of up, he groaned at the multitude of lights showing they would have to stop at every level before going back up to the floor the two of them needed. Rubbing the back of his neck, he glanced at Draco, an apology on his lips.
"Don't." Draco pushed off the wall and moved towards Harry, halting a foot away, the enclosed space suddenly feeling a touch more stifling. "Don't apologize, I shouldn't have said that. I...I should thank you."
Harry froze as they made their first stop, a green haired witch joining them, her voluminous robes forcing the two men off to the one corner, nearly touching.
"It's nothing," Harry insisted, hating his skin for blooming in a blush so easily. He couldn't get the memory of Draco grabbing his arm out of his head, the memory replaying over and over again in his mind the last several days. He'd hoped pulling one of his favors in the clerk's office would rid the intrusive thoughts, but it had only served to place the way Draco looked when he smiled, or waved his hand at him when he insisted he was paying for lunch, though he knew he was on a fixed income with the rehabilitation.
"Daft." The word whispered over Harry's shoulder as Draco was forced to stand behind him. He repressed a shudder from the chill down his spine.
The bright haired witch exited the lift after two more stops, and no one took her place, leaving them alone again. Before Harry could step forward, he felt Draco's hand on his arm again, and he nearly jumped out of his own skin, spinning to face the shorter blonde.
At this proximity he realized the height difference wasn't that significant, once he'd gained the final few inches of growth defying his childhood malnourishment. For years Draco was taller than him, but he got a strange flip flop in his stomach looking down slightly into wide eyes. Guilt swarmed him instantly, realizing Draco was the same height as Jeff, and a wave of nausea twisted inside of him.
Things hadn't been going well between them for ages, a lack of communication and frankly a lack of anything at all growing a rift between the two men who'd fallen into bed too quickly and made commitments both regretted. Harry was too excited at his own personal revelations, and Jeff didn't have the patience he required to move through the stages of a relationship so new to Harry while also handling his terrible hours in law enforcement. He swallowed down the memory of the night a week ago when Harry had finally lost control out of exhaustion over something admittedly trivial, and Jeff demanded he get his shit and his mutant ass to get the fuck out of my flat.
Draco still had his hand on his arm, so he gently grabbed it and removed it so he could take a step backwards. The slight gap between Draco's slips snapped shut as Harry moved away, and his guilt twisted even tighter at the bereft expression on the man's face.
"You didn't deserve to remain in that bloody program," Harry said, desperate to fill the silence hanging between them. "I did what I could, and you only had a year left, so I can still get Parkinson off early, too."
He realized his mistake instantly as the openness of Draco's gaze closed instantly. Rapt attention snapped to an emotionless mask.
"So I was just another on your list of people to fix?"
"No, that's not what I meant, I-"
"Just...stop talking. Please." Draco cleared his throat.
Stupid stupid stupid. "Malfoy, don't do that," Harry said, pressing on past the discomfort and anxiety, desperate not to take five steps back when he thought they were taking so many strides towards civility, the reason he put in a good word for him in the first place. "I did it because I wanted to. What good is this stupid Auror position if I don't do some good with it? I hate the stuff here I can't fix, and Hermione is helping me, especially now that I'm living with her, to try to find out ways I can help. I'm pants at this, I'm not a Slytherin like you and Blaise. I'm like a bull in a fucking china shop and -mmph!"
Harry's eyes went wide as Draco put a silencing finger over his mouth, and saw how close they'd gotten in the lift.
"If you'd like to make it up to me," Draco said quietly, not moving his finger, "meet me after work for dinner tomorrow night."
Without breaking contact with his warm hand, Harry nodded, some of the anxiety releasing from his gut.
After several more silent, but more comfortable, stops on the lift, they reached the Atrium level. Harry turned to let Draco out first, and he controlled his breathing as he kept quiet, working to keep this truce. He'd already fucked up one relationship this week, he wouldn't forgive himself for ages if he did the same with the blossoming friendship he was reaching for in Draco like a buoy in a storm.