Another chapter that is only a little while after the previous one! I'm sorry I updated a day late…. Ah I'm sorry I want to update on time but art school is killer. Anyway it's short because I have an essay due tomorrow!


The pizzeria that Harry had chosen was small, but the food was good and besides, he wasn't planning on staying there very long anyway. It was close enough to his flat that they could pick up a pizza and just walk back, and that's all he needed.

"Mario's Pizza?" Malfoy scoffed beside him. "How cliche can Muggles get? Mario! Really."

Harry just chuckled and guided him inside. A bell tinkled and Malfoy scowled at the sudden bright lights and the orange walls. Harry, on the other hand, inhaled deeply and smiled. He loved the smell of pizza (although not as much as treacle tart).

"I'm going to just get my usual, I think," Harry said, and the girl behind the countered nodded at him and winked.

"Sure, Mr. Potter," she said. "And for you?" Suddenly, she was looking at Malfoy with big doe eyes, and Harry felt a sudden rush of anger. It abated quickly, but he was confused by the powerful emotion. Malfoy coughed beside him and stepped forward quickly.

"I'll have the arugula and chicken?" Malfoy asked, and the girl nodded at him, never taking her eyes off his slim form. Malfoy flushed and joined Harry.

"Hmm, she likes you," Harry laughed, but didn't really feel it. Malfoy's face went an even deeper pink.

"Yes, well. I couldn't be less interested." Malfoy coughed in embarrassment. "She lacks a certain aspect in her anatomy that I'm very much drawn to." He watched as Harry stared at him intensely, a confused look on his face. He stood like that for several seconds before Malfoy blurted out, "Merlin, Potter, I'm gay."

Harry burst out in a sudden fit of coughing that didn't really abate until the girl called their orders.

"Alright, Potter?" Malfoy said in amusement as he grabbed the two slices of pizza. Harry looked up, and now it was his turn to blush. At this moment, he thanked Godric for his darker skin.

"Yes, erm. Quite fine."

"Well, if you want to know more," Malfoy began, but Harry cut him off with a sharp cough.

"No." He shook his head, as if in a daze. "It's fine."

Malfoy's smile faltered.

He brought it up again, though, on the way back, and Malfoy's amused smile reminded him of Hermione's, on the night that she and Ron had come for dinner and drinks. Are you interested in men, Harry? Hermione had the same kind of light in her eyes that Malfoy had right now.

"When did you know." He said it more like a statement, and didn't really clarify what he was talking about. But Malfoy seemed to know.

"Hogwarts, Yule Ball, Fourth Year." Malfoy laughed, a short bark. "It was one of the boys from Beauxbatons."

Harry's heart fell a little and he didn't know why. "Were you interested in other people after that?"

"Yes. Of course. Most of the boys were… not interested in return. Theo Nott and I shagged a few times." Malfoy paused here, and looked at Harry through his peripheral. Harry felt a sudden blaze of fury at Theodore Nott and then shook his head, as though to clear it. Malfoy continued. "It's hard, though. When you're a Death Eater, no one really wants to shag you. When you're gay, your father doesn't really want you to have control of the entire Malfoy fortune just so you can burn it away like some poof. His words, not mine," he said in a quick aside. "Anyway, I didn't want to really admit it to anyone, and one of my particularly nasty unrequited crushes," here he gave Harry a burning stare, "gave way into one of my most destructive streaks yet. Basically, all of sixth year."

Harry shivered. "Who was it?"

Malfoy stared at him in disbelief, and then laughed. "You're incredibly dense, Potter," he said, and then strode ahead. "Grimmauld Place is just up here, isn't it?"

"Draco," Harry called, but he was already up the steps and opening the door.

"You're a slowpoke, Potter!" he called, and disappeared inside the house.

Harry slowed, and shook his head, but he could not shake his unsettlement from his mind.

oOo

"You're acting so weird about it," Draco observed. The movie was flickering on Harry's Muggle television screen - some cheesy action movie that Draco had picked out - but the sound was low enough for them to talk in the background.

"Am not," Harry said.

"Yes, you are." Draco turned to him. "You have gay friends, right? Dean and Seamus, and Luna and Ginny?"

"They don't count," Harry said. And they didn't really, not to him. He couldn't care less what Luna and Ginny did in their free time (although, according to some people - the Prophet - he should care more what his ex-girlfriend was doing behind closed doors with her girlfriend), and neither Dean nor Seamus had ever sparked anything within him. So no, they didn't count. "They're just. They're my friends, Draco."

"Are you saying I'm not your friend?" Draco asked, sounding hurt. As Harry snapped his head to look at him, the blond laughed. "Kidding."

"S'not funny," Harry said, but he smiled too.

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments, allowing themselves to pretend to watch the movie in front of them. Harry counted six explosions before Draco turned to him again.

"So, since when am I Draco?" Ah. He had picked up on that pretty quickly.

"What do you mean? You've always been Draco, unless you changed your name at some point and I am caught unawares," Harry joked.

"You know what I mean," Draco said, and Harry was caught under his intense gaze once again.

"I dunno," Harry mumbled, and took a large bit of pizza, hoping to buy himself a pass. It didn't work, and Draco continued his stare. "Erm, why would I call one of my friends by their last name?" Even to himself, it felt like a fake question, and he cringed.

"I suppose," Draco murmured, but even though Harry trained his eyes back on the television screen, Draco's eyes didn't leave him for a long time.

At one point, another explosion blasted on screen, and the main character kissed a girl that he had pulled out of nowhere. At the same time, Draco crossed his legs and his foot skimmed Harry's leg and then they were touching. Just sitting there. Touching. Harry felt it in his bones and sighed a little. He had missed people touching him, he thought. He would have been happy to have anyone touch him, of course. The fact that it was Draco Malfoy didn't even matter. It was just the two of them sitting there, touching, and that was fine and normal and something friends did. So Harry didn't pull away and neither did Draco and they just watched the characters onscreen kiss while explosions went off around them. Harry had never been so happy.

oOo

The movie was over, and Draco moved. Harry felt a sudden cold on his leg, where Draco's foot had been, and shivered.

"That was alright." He reached for the television and Harry was struck by a sudden desire to make him stay.

"Tea?" he blurted, and Draco looked at him curiously before leaning back and nodding.

"Sure."

Harry stood up abruptly, nodded sharply, and practically ran to the kitchen. As soon as he got there, he leaned heavily on the counter. What's wrong with me? He shook his head and put hot water on, listening to the way the water sounded when he poured it, when it bubbled. It was nice and calming. He wasn't sure why he needed to be calmed down, but he needed it all the same. He turned slowly and let out an embarrassing squeak as he realized Draco was right behind him, staring down at him through pale gold fringe.

"Some Auror, Potter," Draco smirked. "Didn't even hear me coming." He stared down into his eyes for a moment, silver meeting green, and then smiled. "What kind of tea have you got?" Without waiting for Harry to answer, he leaned up past him, pressing his side into Harry. Harry got another whiff of that cologne that had entranced him so much, and he breathed in deeply, eyes fluttering shut. Then Draco moved away, a strangled sound coming out of his throat, and Harry opened his eyes to see him, a box of Earl Grey in his hand, eyes wide, and pale face now beet red.

"Oh, erm. Sorry?" He wasn't quite sure what he had done wrong.

"Earl Grey is fine," Draco said loudly, and then threw the box on the counter. "I have got to use the loo."

"Yeah, sure," Harry said and vaguely gestured toward the door.

He stood there for a few minutes, trying to think of what he had done wrong, but all he could bring to mind was the smell of that bloody cologne and Malfoy's wide, pale eyes, his red cheeks, his long fingers gripping the tea. Bollocks.

Draco returned, with his coat around his shoulders, still a little pink.

"I daresay I should be headed home, Potter."

"What?" He didn't want Draco to leave, he really, REALLY didn't want them to leave, but he looked so embarrassed. And he would kill Harry if he tried to address it. Bloody wizarding honor and all that. "Okay, let me walk you out. Or would you like to Floo?"

"I'll walk, thank you. I could use the fresh air." Draco nodded.

The two of them wandered out of the kitchen, Harry trailing a bit behind Draco, watching his bowed head and slumped shoulders. It wasn't very obvious, but Harry had noticed it. They stopped in the entryway, as Draco brushed some imaginary lint off his shirt. He looked back up at Harry now, and he didn't look embarrassed any longer. Just sort of brave, Harry thought, and his eyes were dark. He leaned in, and Harry tensed up, but Draco just paused.

"Until next week, Potter," Draco whispered in his ear. Harry felt shivers down his spine that continued long after the door had closed, and he recognized Draco's magic mark lingering in his entryway. That night, he sat on those stairs for a long time.


Was that abrupt as heck or what? I didn't edit hardly at all because I just wanted to get it out into the public before I have to force myself to work on this bloody essay :((( Also I might not update next week so I can bring you guys an extra long chapter that I've been working on! Let me know what you guys think.

Anyway DRACO IS GAY (no duh) and he is coming on to Harry pretty hard and Harry is being a little oblivious fucker. I just want to shake him sometimes. Harry! Notice Draco!

Anyway, please review! My lonely college student ass would appreciate it (I love seeing reviews from you guys, comments or criticism or otherwise)! Your reviews keep me alive.