A/N: I want to give a special thanks to everyone who has been leaving reviews. I read each one and try to take what you guys say into consideration as I continue writing. Your feedback has been such a great help!

Also, this chapter is a bit different from the previous ones. After the first two sections, there will be nothing but flashbacks.

Harry opened the door and quickly pecked Severus on the cheek.

"Hey, Sev," he greeted weakly, reaching behind the man to bring in his luggage. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night (for the obvious reasons) and was still pretty bummed about everything. Still, he was going to do his best to make sure his bad mood didn't ruin the trip for Severus. This was supposed to be a celebration of their relationship, not National Wet Blanket Week. Plus, he had something important to tell Severus later on.

He frowned when his hands grasped nothing but the air. "Wait, where's all of your stuff? I thought you were bringing it here. Are we leaving from your place now?" Harry asked, trying to mentally recalculate his schedule. They were already running behind as it was.

"We are not going anywhere," the older man said, crossing his arms. "More specifically, I am not going anywhere, at least not with you."

Harry shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not following. Are you mad at me about something? Was it about last night?"

Let's be clear about something. They were far from being a perfect couple. They fought constantly. But they had lasted this long because they always found a way to make things work. Severus would knock on his door with a bag of Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in his hand. Harry would send Severus streams of haikus expressing his regret and desire to reconcile. They'd makeup and make out. They'd move on. It was an effective system, but it took time. And they had no time to spare today.

If Harry had to guess the cause of the newest drama, he'd guess it had something to do with all of the drunk texts he'd sent last night. Severus had probably just reached his limit trying to understand Harry's sloppy messages and wanted them to stop. That wasn't hard to fix. He'd just cut his phone off after work or something. Then, of course, there was the content of the texts he'd sent. He'd probably have to apologize for that, too.

Severus looked surprised, but Harry still couldn't tell if his guess was right or not. "Yes, it's exactly about last night," the older man admitted.

"Listen, Sev. I know you told me to stay out of your stuff, but I had to know what size boxers to get you. I swear that's the only reason why I was in your drawers," he promised.

Severus snorted. "You think that is what I'm upset about?"

Harry scrunched up his eyebrows. "Then what are you mad about?"

"What were you doing last night?"

Harry was still lost. "I was at the bar with some colleagues from work."

"Doing what?"

"…Working…" He hated blatantly lying to Severus like this, and now he started wondering if there was even a point. He might as well explain his plan to his boyfriend now that everything was pretty much over. Maybe Severus would have an idea on how to fix things. He was a smart man, after all. "Listen, I actually have something to tell y–"

Severus laughed. As in he threw his head back, opened his mouth wide, and laughed. But the noise sounded more pained than anything else. "This is just wonderful. I should have known," he mumbled.

"Known what?" (What was going on?

"Who has business meetings every day after work?"

"Uh…" That was a toughie.

"Late nights at work. Always tired. All the clues were there from the start, weren't they? Too stupid to hide your tracks any better, Potter? Or was it that you are really just that cocky? Well, guess what? I found out!"

The banker stumbled back in shock. There was literally spittle flying from the corners of the pub owner's mouth. "Whoa, Sev. What are you talking about?"

"How many others are there?" Severus snarled.

"Other what?"

"Other guys you're dating! Screwing! Whatever!" the man fumed, advancing on Harry at an alarming speed.

"Sev, I honestly don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you take a moment to calm down so that we can talk about this reasonably?"

"Stop calling me that," he hissed. "And you can drop the innocent look. You forget that you're a local celebrity, Potter. I know you probably think you're stealthy during your weeknight activities, but there are cameras everywhere in today's world. And you weren't so lucky this time. They caught you at some restaurant with your other boy toy."

"My other what?"

Severus shook his head. "If you can't remember, which wouldn't surprise me given you're a raging alcoholic, then you only have to search for your name on Google. You'll see the pictures of you holding onto his shoulder adoringly, smiling at him like he's the best thing that's ever happened to you. You two look adorable! You and what's-his-name. Oh, wait. I think the article called him Dudley. Yes, that was it. Because your couple name is Harley now. Isn't that cute?"

Harry was trying to catch up. Someone had taken a picture of Harry and Dudley at the bar. Probably right before he'd stormed off. He didn't know about the whole "adoring" thing, but maybe the liquor had loosened up his facial muscles and caused him to make weird expressions. Or maybe somebody caught the wrong angle. They could have manipulated the picture with Photoshop, too. Whatever had happened, it was all a big misunderstanding.

"I don't know who took the picture, but they've got it all wrong. Dudley Dursley is a guy from work."

That seemed to have been the wrong thing to say. Something had clicked in Severus's brain, and Harry had a feeling he wouldn't like the result.

"I remember him," Severus mumbled slowly. "He's the one that wrote up my contract…So has this entire thing been a joke to you, Potter? Huh? Is it funny stealing a man's money and his h-"

Harry was scared when Severus stopped talking and rushed to fill in the silence. Silence was bad. That only gave the pub owner more time to add onto his ridiculous theories and accusations. No, this was the time for talking and explaining.

"No, we were fighting. All of us. I even punched Andy."

Severus smirked. "They told us about that. Apparently, you're a jealous man. Andy was being a bit too chummy, too touchy-feely with Dudley, huh? You got a little tipsy, and down Andy went. They've leaked pictures of it all over the internet. Don't worry about it, though. All of your fangirls are spinning the story into a classic love triangle. You had protect 'your man' Andy or else Dudley would be stolen away. Oh, the tragedy!"

Oh, my God. Harry wanted to throw up. What was wrong with people these days? How could they sit there with a couple of pictures and NO background story and create this absurd soap opera? They didn't even know him.

"That's not what happened at all," Harry protested heatedly. "Andy said something nasty, and I reacted. I probably shouldn't have punched him, but it had nothing to do with my feelings for Dudley. And, just to be clear, I hate Dudley."

"What? Did you two have a lovers' quarrel this morning or something? Did he end up choosing Andy even after your manly display?"

Harry was stung. How could Severus believe any of this? He was a rational man. Didn't he see how ridiculous all of this was? "No! Dudley's not my lover! Severus, come on. You know I'm not cheating on you. Why would I? I lo –"

"Don't say it, Potter," Severus hissed. "Keep those sweet, little lies for people who might actually fall for them. I came here to see if you'd have the decency to confess and man up. I wanted you to tell me to my face how you're so pathetic that you get off on stealing people's money and messing with their heads. But I guess that's where I went wrong." He chuckled humorlessly. "I thought you were a man, but you're nothing more than a little boy playing childish games."

"Severus!"

"Have fun in D.C., Potter!" He turned his back and moved towards the doorway.

"Severus!"

"And I don't think I have to describe to you what will happen if you set foot in my pub again," Severus warned before making his departure.

"Severus!" Harry cried, dropping to the ground in despair.

He wasn't sure if he had the energy to get up.

When Neville and Luna showed up, the door to Harry's apartment was still open and Harry hadn't moved an inch. For the past two hours, he'd been frozen in place. He'd been trying to pinpoint the exact moment when everything had gone to hell and was mentally reviewing every memory he had since STA had started.

"Oh, Harry," Luna cooed, sliding to the floor to comfort her friend.

"We've been trying to reach you for the past hour, Harry," Neville said, looking worriedly at the blinking red light coming from his voicemail machine. "We weren't sure if we'd catch you before you left for the airport…"

Their flight was scheduled to have left half an hour ago. Harry's packed bags were still in the hallway.

"We just read the articles and knew you'd be upset about all the gossip," Luna explained, rubbing circles across Harry's back.

"The media is really insane these days," Neville mumbled.

"Severus didn't believe it, did he?" Luna asked.

Harry flinched at the name. "I planned on telling him I loved him today…after we landed," he admitted sorrowfully, looking down at his lap.

"Oh, Harry," Luna repeated. "I'm so sorry."

"It'll be okay," Neville proclaimed.

Those were empty words.

"Nothing will be okay. I fucked up things at work, and things are fucked at home," Harry said, properly summing up his current situation as far as he was concerned.

Luna and Neville shared a look, and Harry felt bad about making them worry. He should probably try to change the topic.

"You smell different now, you know," he said to Luna. "You smell like moonlight… You smell nice."

Of course, his nose instantly searched for any lingering remains of his favorite scent from earlier that day. When it couldn't, his eyes started to water.

Luna hugged him tightly. "Oh, Harry," she murmured for the third time.

"Look, there's a baby duckling," Harry observed, pointing to the ball of brown feathers that was slowly emerging from the lake.

"That's redundant, Potter," was his date's reply.

Harry ignored the comment and only shook his hand out at Severus. "It's probably hungry," Harry stated.

Severus narrowed his eyes. "What exactly do you expect me to do, Harry? Jump into the water and use my beak to catch a fish? Do you think…"

For a moment, his mind drifted. The lake was the same, but now Severus was standing at the center of it instead of at the edge. Severus's dark jeans were hidden under the liquid sapphire, but his forest green v-neck was still visible. Without a word of warning, Severus dunked his head into the water and lifted his head back up. It was unclear whether or not he'd caught anything, but Severus did start quacking loudly until a group of five baby ducks glided over to him. Severus looked sternly at them, but the ducklings still quaked happily back.

Severus stopped his rant when Harry abruptly started laughing. "What in God's name has gotten into you?"

Harry waited until his chuckles had mostly subsided before he answered. "Nothing, I'm just really happy," he said, giving a small smile and shaking his head at his daydream. Mama Duck Sev.

Severus met and held Harry's gaze before dropping his right arm across Harry's shoulders. Harry scooted closer to his boyfriend and enjoyed the beautiful view. Minutes passed in comfortable silence before they were interrupted by a tiny squawk. They both dropped their gaze to the ground where the tiny bird was making tiny, wild gestures with his little wings. Severus gave it a stern look.

"Come on," Severus beckoned suddenly, pulling Harry back to the sidewalk.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, slightly confused. (The man looked like he was finally warming up to the bird. Why did they have to leave now?)

The other man refused to say a thing until they'd reached the hot dog stand they'd passed earlier. When Severus asked the vendor for just a hot dog bun, things finally clicked.

They held hands all the way back to the lake.

"Don't lie to me," Severus warned.

Harry gave up. "Fine," he said, throwing his arms up in the air. "I haven't read the book. I've been busy at work. So sue me."

Severus still had his arms crossed. "No one's mad that you didn't read the book, Harry. I could care less. Someone of your taste couldn't properly appreciate the work of Dr. Tracy, anyway."

Harry rolled his eyes. It was more than clear that Severus would never respect his literary preferences again after the time he saw the Ok! magazine sitting on his coffee table. Harry had tried to defend himself, but the man refused to listen. The banker imagined that he would have to live the rest of his life making up for that one-time grocery store purchase. (To his credit, Bradley Cooper was on the cover. And he'd just gotten out of a pool…)

"If you're not mad that I didn't read the book, then what are you so upset about?"

"The book talk cost fifty dollars a person, Harry."

The younger man nodded slowly. "Yeah, aren't people saying he's going to win a Nobel Prize soon or something like that?" You had to pay a premium to see about-to-be celebrities. Harry had been luck enough as it was to get the steal that he did. He's heard a couple behind them say they'd paid seventy-five a pop.

"Why would you pay one hundred dollars to come here? You were obviously bored out of your mind the entire time."

Harry raised his pointer finger. "Hey," he protested. "That is not true."

"I counted, Harry. You nodded off four times before he even started discussing the fourth chapter and started snoring before he even reached the sixth."

Harry scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "That's not because I was bored, Sev. I promise. It's just that I've had such late hours at work lately. I guess I was more tired than I realized." He felt really bad for the humiliation he'd probably caused his boyfriend. It was true, though. Staying out past midnight at pubs was fine for college kids, but he didn't have that same kind of energy. He tried to get enough rest so that he'd be fine for their weekend dates, but sometimes Dudley could be so demanding on Friday nights, refusing to let him leave any earlier than two a.m.

"Be that as it may, you still haven't answered my question."

Scrunching up his face, he tried to remember what the older man had asked. "Oh, you wanted to know why I bought the tickets?" He shrugged. It wasn't like there was some long, complicated answer. "I knew you'd want to go. You've been going on and on about Dr. Tracy so much that I thought you would leave me for him if you were given the chance."

He laughed to lighten the mood, hoping that Severus would crack a smile, too. Or at least argue that he didn't really like Dr. Tracy that much. (It was ridiculous, right? You can idolize a person but not want to date him or her? Right? Right?!...Just because Dr. Tracy was single. And rich. And handsome. And smart. That didn't mean Severus had any feelings for him. Just respect and admiration. Right? Right?!...Fuck. He should have never bought these tickets.)

The pub owner was looking at Harry like he was a different species, the type of nasty intergalactic ones covered in slime and spewing acid. (Last weekend they'd watched Men in Black on his couch. Which really means that Severus sat in his chair reading while Harry was glued to the screen.)

"It's sickening how you throw such money around like it's pennies and nickels," Severus spat. "Does it really mean so little to you?"

Ah. Somehow, Harry was relieved. Maybe it was because they fought about money all of the time. Anytime Harry offered to pay for the meal, it was an argument. Anytime Harry got him little gifts (a bookmark, a book about international beers, etc.), Severus refused to accept them. The only reason why Harry had been allowed to pay for the book talk was because he's said that Dr. Tracy was one of his favorite authors and he'd read enough of the man's Wikipedia page to pass Severus's pop quiz. Severus had still wanted to pay for his share, but Harry had deflected that argument by suggesting that Severus treat Harry to the next date. Harry secretly hoped it wouldn't come to that. He knew the man wasn't broke, but he felt dirty taking money from the pub owner when he had such intimate knowledge of his financial struggles.

In short, money was a sensitive topic for the both of them and probably would be until Harry solved everything at work.

Harry placed his hands on Severus's arms and tried to tug them loose. "Sev, I'm not saying that one hundred dollars is nothing. It's something. We could have gone to the movies twice with that money and bought you all the tubs of popcorn you wanted." Finally, the pub owner let his arms drop to his sides. Harry slid his hands down his arm until they reached Severus's. He squeezed them briefly before letting go. "But I knew those things wouldn't matter to you as much as this would. Can't you see? To me, the book talk was worth it. Because it was worth it to you."

Harry shut his eyes. He hated these moments because he could never tell how the other man would react. (Would this turn into another fight?)

This time he was pleasantly surprised when he felt dry lips meet his. Nevertheless, he tried to get over his shock so that he'd have time to actually enjoy the kiss. Sadly, it ended far too quickly.

Your wardrobe is great

I don't care if it's all black

You are still sexy

Harry felt like a circle of heat was centered on his forehead. He looked up from his plate to catch Severus studying him. Harry panicked and wondered if he'd done something rude. This was the first time anyone (besides Hermione) had cooked for him, and he didn't quite know how he should behave.

"The bruschetta was the best I've ever tasted," he complimented, adding in a smile to smooth things over. "Should I help you clear the table?"

Severus didn't bother answering, so Harry just wringed his hands beneath the wooden table. Was Severus still mad that Harry had shown up at his front door without a welcoming gift? Luna had said he should have brought a bouquet of flowers, but Harry wasn't sure how well that would have gone over. Still, he probably shouldn't have come over empty-handed...

"So…"

Severus nodded as if they'd reached some unspoken conclusion. "I sleep on the right," he announced before pushing his chair back and wandering out of the dining room.

Harry sprang up and followed.

He ought to have been embarrassed by how loudly his chair clattered to the ground, but he wasn't. He was in a hurry, goddamn it.

It was wrong of me

Your cuddling was too cute

Had to tell Neville

Harry sucked in a breath. There. It was done. No take-backs. (Expedia had a strict cancellation policy. You could read all of the fine print if you wanted to, but it basically boiled down to this: you're not getting any of your money back.)

He leaned back in his chair and snorted a laugh. The plane tickets alone had cost him $1300. He knew Severus would have a fit when he found out Harry had paid for the trip on his own. Whatever. They'd fight about it for half an hour then Harry would agree to let Severus pay for meals (the only thing he hadn't already covered). They'd makeup and make out. They'd move on.

A/N: I can't wait to hear about what you thought about this chapter! Thanks for reading! :)