All The Things I Hate About You, Part XI
Rating: M
Summary: All The Things, continued. Kate Advent, Day 11.
#11 Fire whiskey makes you look irresistible
Draco wasn't particularly delusional, and so when he woke up in Granger's arms in the early hours of the morning, he didn't let his mind run rampant with how the rest of the day might pan out between them.
New Year's Eve.
What a terribly pathetic excuse for a holiday. How grotesque! An entire day spent celebrating the end of one year and the subsequent start of another one when time was an arbitrary figment of imagination and beginning the new calendar year with a kiss was not scientifically proven to increase one's good fortune. It was as absurd and as trusted as divination.
Yet, for the first time in his whole life, he wanted to partake in the stupid tradition.
He wanted to kiss Granger when the clock struck twelve, and he wanted it to mean something, to mean that the new year would be filled with new memories they shared and the promise of something fruitful forming from their unlikely flatmate situation. Perhaps something less platonic.
Draco let the warm water relax his muscles as he leaned languidly against the tile of the shower. There was a loud bang as Granger barged into the bathroom and tripped over his clothing and practically launched herself at the counter, knocking over several bottles of skincare (his, not hers, though he was slowly introducing her to his routine and coaxing her into following the regimen like that of a wild doe).
"Granger?" He snapped, immediately turning away from the frosted glass so that she couldn't see his very naked body. "What the fuck?"
"I have to pee," she grumbled.
Much to his displeasure, she did not see herself out and politely wait for him to vacate the bathroom, or even the shower and wrap a towel around himself, but instead she wiped at the sleep in the corner of her eyes and lifted the toilet seat.
"GRANGER YOU ARE NOT - " He broke off, swearing under his breath and averting his gaze. "Yes," he murmured to himself. "Yes, you are."
After the sound of the flush and the tap being turned on, he craned his neck over his shoulder to peer over at her with irritated vehemence. It was too bloody early in the morning for this.
Not to mention it was very difficult for him to hide his hard-on when his previous thoughts of kissing her where being doubly entertained by the way her oversized shirt barely covered her bum when lifted her hands to wash them.
"CAN YOU NOT?" He hissed loudly.
She flicked her wet hands toward him playfully, "Relax, would you? It's not like I haven't seen you naked, nor that you haven't seen me naked as well."
"Don't remind me," he grumbled under his breath. Then, he spoke up again with a heightened sense of panic as she lifted her shirt and deposited it on the floor, "Granger, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"
She frowned at him, "Joining you."
"What?" He shifted in the shower, willing himself to calm the blood rushing south. "Absolutely not, why would you do that? We've never done that!"
"We're friends, Malfoy," she stated matter-of-factly. "It's not like it'll change anything. Besides, think of all the water we'd be saving."
"I don't give a fuck about the planet at the moment, Granger,"
Granger shrugged, then slipped out of her knickers and slid the shower door aside to step in. Feeling immensely cornered and unnerved, Draco stepped out and wrapped a towel around himself. She pouted.
"You know what? You enjoy the rest of the hot water by yourself. I have to – There's something that I – Ugh, never mind. Bye."
He sulked and left the bathroom with a scowl on his face and water dripping all over the suite.
Later that night had not been much better. He'd drank copious amounts of whiskey, glass after glass until he was successfully good and drunk. The alcohol calmed his nerves and provided a much-needed relief from the buzzing of his muscles in Granger's presence.
They'd opted to attend the resort's party to celebrate the stupid holiday, and it was packed with couples; half were clearly together and enjoying a reprieve from their mundane daily lives, and the other half were clearly single with every intention of grinding and flirting with each other in the hopes of securing a semi-decent kiss for when the night came to an end.
"Your bottle is already half-empty," Granger noted, settling into the armchair next to him.
He leaned back into the cushions and sighed, "Perhaps it's half-full."
"I would not have pinned you for the optimist," she remarked with a teasing lift of her eyebrows in his direction.
They were in a secluded corner because as readily as Draco had agreed to attend this stupid event with her, he absolutely loathed it. She regrettably fell in the latter of the categories and had been shamelessly flirting with an athletic-looking bloke.
"And you take the role of the pessimist," he countered. "The earth must have bent off of its axis."
She rolled her eyes, "I'm not pessimistic, just realistic."
"I beg to differ," he replied, sounding very much like he didn't beg anything.
Granger's expression sobered up a bit as she narrowed her eyes at him, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Oops. He'd done it now. He knew that tone. It was one of her most disapproving ones which meant he was surely in for a lecture of some sort regarding either his ill behaviour or despicable morality.
Oh, well.
He was drunk and he was feeling especially self-loathing at the moment.
"Let's dance," he suggested, stumbling forward and taking her hand. She protested slightly, pushing him for an explanation for his commentary, and eventually he caved. "Fine, fine. Will you desist with your shrill shrieking? I haven't the stamina to withstand it this evening, Granger."
She sighed, letting him pull her in and twirl her around in a somewhat lively, yet intimate dance.
"That oaf that you've been chatting up all night has no intention of calling you tomorrow morning should you be dim-witted enough to let yourself fall into his arms tonight." He said, looking over her wild curls and not meeting her eyes.
"Why do you care who I talk to?" She countered, then lightened her tone to a teasing one. "Afraid that I won't be in your arms to keep you warm tonight? We can always find you a bird to keep you occupied if that's what's bothering you."
He gritted his teeth.
She was positively impossible!
Draco looked down at her and the way she fit so comfortably in his arms – as she had so painstakingly pointed out that he was becoming dependent on – and there was a moment where he thought about leaning in and kissing her.
It wouldn't be entirely out of the question for him to do so, would it? He'd been able to think of nothing else since the firewhiskey first burned his lips, and she had suggested that he find someone. What if he told her he didn't want anyone else? That he only wanted her, only ever her.
She had also clearly been looking for someone to share her insipid New Year's kiss with… so why not let it be him?
They were friends, and they were so highly compatible so would it really be so out of the norm to presume that if they kissed it wouldn't ruin everything between them? By process of deduction, Draco could safely presume that there must be some part of her that wanted him the same way he wanted her – or at least to explore the possibility of them.
Draco knew that if he kissed her there was always the possibility that she would shove him away and curse him for forgetting Nothing more. There was the chance that if he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers that she would slap him (which was not something he wanted to revisit) and flee to her mindless oaf for comfort.
However, there was also the undeniable fact about Hermione Granger which Draco knew would be pertinent to him kissing her should he dare to try it; he would have to ask her permission because she was the kind of person who was not fond of being made to do things and especially was not fond of not having a voice on a subject – especially one involving her.
He would have to ask her, then, if he wanted to kiss her. He would have to cup her cheek, tilt her chin up to place her lips a breath away from his, and he would have to ask her, "May I kiss you?" or "May I kiss you, Granger, please?"
But of course not. He wouldn't say please because that was so perfunctorily not him.
Ah, but then what if she asked him why? There was no way Draco was going to even attempt to answer that one. No. Better that he just kept his brain-deteriorating thoughts to himself and not kiss her.
It was a stupid, stupid tradition anyway.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, jarring him from his internal and destructive reverie.
"Nothing," he replied, then took hold of her hand and pulled her away from the dance floor, picking up a bottle of champagne on their way out. "Let's break into the baths and get away from this cesspool of desperation, shall we?"
"Sure," she smiled.
Kill me, he thought, please.
A/N - Dedicated to jacpin2002 (again, lol) for all of the love on this fic and TAoB. That comment on soulmates and Kendrick made my fucking day... best compliment ever xx