Martin was practically jumping up and down in front of the whale watching boat as Draco and Harry approached. Thomas was just looking a little tense, as always.

"Can we walk slower?" Draco asked out of the corner of his mouth, giving Harry a wink as he looked up at him, surprised. "I would love to see how long it takes until he explodes."

Harry chuckled but shook his head. "You definitely don't want to clean up the mess."

"Hurry up, guys, we want to be on board before the school kids do, don't we? The best places will be gone, soon," Martin shouted as soon as they were close enough, waving his arms at them and indicating a bunch of children hanging around.

Draco sighed. "May I?"

"Of course." Harry let go of the handrims and Draco stepped behind him to push the chair, starting to jog.

Thomas smiled at them when they arrived and Martin swung a plastic bag, beaming.

"We have sandwiches for everyone!"

"Great, thanks!" Harry said.

"Ready to go on board?"

Martin handed their tickets to a young guy with a whale on his shirt. He gave them a fleeting look before admitting them. Thomas was quicker this time and pushed Harry up the narrow gangway that connected the landing stage with the deck.

They settled down in the first row at the front of the ship. Harry did not bother with transferring because the plastic benches looked quite uncomfortable. He wheeled closer to the railing and tried to get a look at the harbor. From his low position, however, he could not see much through the gaps between the massive railing and the handrails. Martin and Thomas at once occupied the places at the very front.

The ship soon filled with people. The teens tried to beat each other for the best position in a group photo while the younger kids ran around and yelled excited. The bustling intensified as the engines started and the boat exited the harbor. Harry had maneuvered back to the front row and put on the breaks as soon as the boat had started to quiver. Draco was stretched on the bench next to him, his head in his folded hands, cap over his eyes, apparently completely unfazed by the hustle around him.

Thankfully, as soon as the ship had left the harbor, most people decided that watching the blank sea was boring and returned to snacks and drinks in the inside of the ship. Thomas and Martin had defended their position on the front railing throughout the whole commotion. Draco seemed to have slept through the hectic. He did not stir until Thomas and Martin yelled at them excitedly.

"Didyaseeannnything?" Draco mumbled, sleepy.

"There might have been a whale at the horizon. Thomas thinks he has seen the blow," Martin explained.

Harry wheeled to the front railing, accompanied by Draco, and squinted through the gap between the handrails.

"Hmm… no whales as I see it", Draco murmured and returned to his bench. Harry stayed, eyes fixed on the horizon as the engine noise suddenly died away abruptly and the speakers of the whale watching ship blared to life.

"Attention everyone, there is a whale in front of us!"

As on signal the deck was flooded with people, swallowing whatever they had been about to eat and swinging cameras above their heads.

Thomas, Martin and Harry let out a gasp simultaneously as a grey mass raised out of the water directly in front of them. Harry could not make out anything more except that it was big before it filled out completely the small rectangle through which he could see. He put in the breaks and grabbed the highest handrail, heaving himself up on his feet. Swaying slightly he found himself staring at meters of meters of whale, submerging now under the boat. If the railing had been just a little lower, he could have touched the animal. A split second he caught sight of the eye, pitch black, looking back at him calmly and his breath hitched. At last the whale raised its huge tail into the air, splashing the water surface before vanishing in a twirl of foaming water. Harry leaned a little more over the railing. The shape of the whale, unbelievably big, was still visible under the water for a heartbeat before it was gone.

Harry shivered despite the heat. He only surfaced to his surroundings as the other passengers around him cheered and the ship engines were turned on again, humming. He blinked and clang to the handrail the next second as the ground suddenly started to move under his feet, the ship gaining speed to catch up with the whale.

"That was awesome," a voice breathed into Harry's ear and strong arms closed around him, steadying him. Harry relaxed his grip around the handrail and leaned into Draco, nodding relieved. The long hair of the other man was swept into his face as the head wind intensified.

"They are so… enormous…" Draco pushed his hair back with one hand, supporting Harry easily with the other.

"Yeah… buoyancy makes a lot possible. Plus, it's beneficial to have a low ratio of surface area to body volume if you are a warm-blooded mammal living in preferably cold waters."

"The scientist is speaking." Harry could feel Draco's smile on his neck and realized how close they were standing to each other. He did not pull back, however. If it was possible, he leaned even more into Draco, closing the last gaps between their bodies.

"There are more over there!"

The shouts and general renewing commotion in the crowd brought both men back to reality. Harry craned his neck to see past the other passengers standing at the railing next to him. The whales came into view when the ship made a slight turn to the left and the engine was turned down again.

"Three of them," Draco whispered. He had not loosened his grip on Harry nor increased the distance between them. Harry felt a shiver run through his body as Draco's warm breath tickled his cheek.

Two whales were floating at the surface, occasionally letting out a spray with a humanly sigh that went through bones. Suddenly, accompanied by a collective cheer from the crowd, a third and smaller one shot through the water surface. The still impressively large body screwed itself unbelievably high into the air, until nearly two third of the whale were visible before it crashed down, sending splashes in all directions.

"It's a baby!" Harry grinned. "A little whale kid!"

Draco chuckled. "It's probably annoying as hell. Imagine his parents telling it to behave in front of other people. 'They are already staring at us!'"

Harry laughed about that picture so hard it drove tears to his eyes.

The small whale kid kept jumping into the air, the boat following the family until they all dived together and did not surface near the boat again. They were however not the only whales that showed itself during the trip. For nearly one hour the ship chased down whale after whale, some of them feeding, surrounded by flocks of birds. People hurried from one side of the boat to the other to get the best view and shoot the best photo. When the boat was finally brought about and the speakers announced the return to the harbor, Harry could not believe that he had been standing up the whole time, albeit supported by Draco.

As on cue he felt his legs wanting to give out under him and fatigue leaping at him as if it had only been hiding behind his back all the time. His wheelchair had been rescued from the crowd by Martin who had put it away in the back between the benches.

"You tired?" Draco had grasped the situation at once and more carried him to the bench than anything else. He let him down carefully and joined the bench next to him, so that Harry could lean against him much as before.

"How do you feel?"

"Good", Harry mumbled, grasping the fabric of his pants to pull his legs on the bench. "That was the… most amazing thing I have ever seen." He realized he was slurring but he found to his own surprise that he did not care.

Draco buried his nose in his neck. "I totally agree with that."

Harry smiled contented and slightly squeezed one of Draco's arms that were loosely wrapped around him. He rested his head onto Draco's shoulder, eyelids growing heavier with every second. A moment later Martin and Thomas came back from their top places at the railing, big happy grins plastered on their faces. Martin winked at Harry when he perceived the two cuddling on the bench and Thomas gave him a thumps up as Draco was looking into a different direction. Harry wanted to protest but before he could even open his mouth sleep surrounded him with blackness.