Title: Unrequited
Author: Aoife Malfoy
Characters: Draco, Harry/?
Rating: PG-17 (for language)
Genre: Angst
Word count: 1,008
Disclaimer: Property of JK Rowling. Only borrowing for my own amusement.
Author's note: inspired from a long ago episode of Dawson's Creek
Summary: Sometimes nothing is more painful than love unrequited.
Dedication: To my lovely pimps luciology and haltlos. This is a "thank you" gift for reccing me in your ljs.
Beta: the amazing Sami
You are crying once more, jagged little tears leaking violently from the corner of your beautiful eyes. He has lied to you again. You are heart broken again. And to my eternal happiness and deepest sorrow, you have sought me out to find comfort in my arms yet again. I hold back the now familiar rage that courses through me every time this happens. Each single fucking time he hurt you with his lies and his subterfuge. Then at the same time I feel that familiar thrill I always have when I come in close physical contact with you and the strange combination provides to be a bewildering heady mix.
A thousand thoughts flit through my mind. None of them I am willing to utter for I am afraid to break this fragile bond we share. I know that I am now your friend. No longer fulfilling the role of bitter rival as I was before and I do not want anything to change that. So I bite back the chastising lectures or cutting comments about the rat bastard. I know that you've heard them all before you even came to me. Perhaps that is why you keep coming to me. In any event, I don't say a word. I never do. I just hold you in my arms as you cry and babble inane things about the Merlin knows what. I rub your back in calming circles, all the while feeling like a complete tosser for there is an answering twitch in my pants as I do this but I don't stop for I am unwilling to give up this rare opportunity to touch you.
Slowly your tears stop. You rub at your eyes in that distracted manner of yours that always secretly made me want to cuddle you, which is of course an unheard of reaction from a Slytherin. A blush stains your cheeks as you realize just how thoroughly hysterical you were and how tightly you clung to me in your despair. I tilt your chin up from your staring contest with the floor and I smile softly. Telling you in this way that it was okay and that there is no need to be embarrassed. You beam at me gratefully for half a second before your face shrouds in deep misery once again as you recall his treachery.
I sigh heavily, knowing that once again it would be up to me to pick up the pieces of your broken heart. Mend it with my witty repertoire and sarcastic jokes until you forget all else. Keep you company with pick up games of Quidditch and insipid games of Exploding Snap, you Gryffindors seem to be fond of. And then, just when you are almost back to your shining Golden Boy glory, he'll be coming round again, apologizing, being sappy and sweet and wanting to "chat". And without a single glance or thought you would always forgive him, coo over his ridiculous asinine gifts and leave me behind to go back running into his filthy cheating arms.
Every. Single. Fucking. Time.
I have stopped deluding myself that this time would be different. Only idiots do not learn from history, but then again who am I to talk? Don't only morons get stuck with unrequited love?
You are looking down at the floor again as if it held the secrets to life and it reminded me that it was time for me to play my part. Life, it seems has a cruel sense of irony for now that I am finally one of your most trusted friends, I find myself fervently wishing that I was not. I want to be more but that is something I have learned, yet again, I cannot have.
So it is with a heavy heart and a reluctant smile that I force you to look at me by gripping your shoulders. You look up at me with those pleading emerald eyes, begging for any amount of comfort and I find myself, like always, answering their call.
"Look the way I see it, Potter, is I have two options. One is to cut off the ponce's bullocks so he can never ever walk straight again, let alone come near you enough to cause you pain. And while this choice is satisfying in a way that is decidedly sinful to me, I highly doubt you would appreciate it so I am going to stick to option two. So I am going to hug you now, really tightly and I am not going to let you go for quite sometime so you better get comfortable. And I know that it might seem that a Hufflepuff has invaded my body just now but rest assured I am still my perfect pureblood self. You have just managed to catch me on the day I vowed to be nice to sobbing Gryffindors."
My little crack worked and a small smile forms on your face. I continue on,
"After that I am going to tell you I love you and I am sure all of your friends would readily second this fact so you really are as loved as you always were. Furthermore it is actually a good deal, this whole me loving you thing, because aside from the obvious benefits of being cared for by a Malfoy, it also means that I'm guaranteed to pretty much do anything in the off chance that it would make you feel any better."
A genuine smile teases your lips as you move into my warmth and I once again find myself succumbing to your unique method of torture.
I close my eyes tightly as the tears I've always held back danced lightly behind my shut eyelids. Hating fate, shunning life, cursing you for teaching me the cruel side of love, for showing me that loving a person with all your heart and soul does not always ensure a happy ending. That love is not enough. It's not even close.
Yet even with this knowledge, I still can't help myself from wanting it to be.
Finite.
AN: Sorry as you can tell I was not a happy puppy when I wrote this drabble.