GeneralUnicornDuckPudding I'm so glad you're here for the ride! thank you for your continued encouragement :) I won't spoil how it will go… but hope you like !

Hermlils Thank you for the review! Hope you enjoy this update :)

Marinolis No thank you! I'm glad you found my fic :)

Chapter Fifteen

"It's different with you."

Draco burrowed his face into Potter's shoulder and breathed in the scent deeply as tremors shook his entire body. He wanted to put his arms around him, feel him rather than be pressed against him. But in that moment, he was paralyzed, allowing the stronger arms to envelop him.

He would laugh at how dramatic they looked, on their knees on the floor in the middle of the room at night. But he didn't care. All he cared about was that Potter was there. For him.

Draco let his last tears seep into his mate's jumper.

The arms around his waist moved up as the Gryffindor's hands started gently rubbing his back. Draco felt as Potter's head dipped and leaned against his, close to his ear as he whispered:

"I understand what you're saying, okay?" He sighed, sending a warm breeze over Draco's lobe that made him shiver. "I-I… Fuck I'm no good at this…"

His arms tightened around him, it gave Draco the courage to lean up on his knees and put his own arms around Potter's waist. They leaned against and into each other, chest to chest, temple to temple. They felt each other's heartbeats.

"I.." Potter started hesitantly. He dug his nails into Draco's back, "Maybe you can tell what I'm trying to say?"

Draco closed his eyes. Of course he could feel a lot of it. In the way he held onto him, the way he looked at him across the hall, in the rhythm of his heart, the way he rested easily against him, the way they reacted to each other, sought each other out. He put his forehead against Potter's shoulder, sinking a little into his knees to accommodate for their height difference.

"I'm not sure what I can tell," Draco answered, "Regardless, I need to hear it."

The raven nodded and started moving. "Let's at least get off the floor, I can't feel my legs anymore." He got up and held out a hand for Draco, looking down at him with a small smile as he added, "Plus you're getting dust on your ass and it's not very becoming."

"Can't have that." The blond took his hand and allowed himself to be helped up.

Keeping a firm grip on his hand, Potter led him back to the hospital bed and they sat next to each other. The Gryffindor held his hand on his lap, gently turning it around, playing with his fingers like he was examining it. Draco leaned his shoulders against his, feeling the tension in his back dissipated. He also noticed that with their proximity, he could see further around him, he could hear the wind through the trees. Things he hadn't even realized he had been missing.

Finally Potter murmured, "This feels wrong," as he stared at their intertwined hands, "But also really right."

"Why?"

Potter frowned as he clasped his second hand around Draco's. "Ginny…" he answered, "But at the same time… I don't know, it just feels… right. Ugh, I really don't know how to explain it. It's easy for you with your.. your…"

"Potter," Draco interrupted, "I do realize that it must be hard considering your mental faculties, but I am going to need you to say a sentence at least."

Potter let out a small chuckle, "Well that I suppose." He turned to face the Slytherin fully, propping up his knee on the bed and keeping their hands between them. He focused his gaze on the bed. "You challenge me," he continued, "Constantly, you git. You don't let me get away with stupid shit, or feeling sorry for myself, you'll answer boohoo, is Potty sa~ad. You don't care I'm the boy-who-lived. You push me to be better too, to see things differently - even if often your opinion is complete bullshit, sorry not sorry - somehow you're always new and surprising. Everything feels more intense with you, more exciting. You… feel like flying. I suppose… in many ways you know me better than anyone else. And I feel like I know you the same way."

"I thought exactly the same," Draco tried to prompt him to look up, "And remarkably, regardless of that thick skull, you're doing quite well expressing yourself."

Harry smiled at him for a moment before looking back down. "And with Ginny…" he continued, "It's easy. Too easy sometimes. She agrees with everything I say. She's always there to support me but will never challenge or contradict me. I know how she'll react, what she'll say. It's comfortable but often it's also… boring. I know what a day with her will look like. Sometimes I feel like… she isn't really anyone outside of me. I know her days revolve around the moment she'll see me and it's a pressure I don't like."

He leaned forward so that his forehead touched Draco's chest, whispering more quietly, "But you're the opposite; and I don't know if we would ever be easy… and part of me feels like I might want easy after everything."

Draco looked up, feeling his eyes start to sting. He grabbed Potter and pulled him close, sneaking his arms around his shoulders and gently cradling his head into his neck.

"I understand," he croaked.

"But I feel it too," Potter added, "Whatever this is."

Draco nodded as the raven returned the hold he had on him, sneaking his arms around his waist and nuzzling his neck. The blond breathed in deeply and silently, willing his heart to slow down.

"I'm sorry," The Gryffindor whispered, "I know this is hard on you."

"It's been a fucking party," he tried to respond casually but felt his heart go faster. He held onto him tighter. "It's okay. In a sense it's easy for me. Not like I have another choice anyway. For me, it has to be you. Can't have anything less than the Golden boy."

Potter smiled into his neck, "You and your bloody standards."

And finally he looked up, keeping his arms around him, and locked their eyes.

"How long can I think about it?"

"As long as you want."

"No," he sighed, "I mean… you don't have an unlimited amount of time, right ? So tell me, how long?"

Draco put his forehead against Potter's and answered, "Long enough. I don't know how long exactly, but I can wait."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

Potter leaned forward and gently placed his lips on Draco's in a tender motion they hadn't yet shared. The Slytherin put his hands on Potter's cheek, pulling him in deeper. Hoping it wouldn't be their last, but fearing that it might be.

The more Draco thought about it, the more he decided that Potter was right.

They wouldn't be easy. Draco couldn't really envision a version of them in which they would be.

They would be a lot of things. Exciting, absolutely. Challenging, definitely. They would tease each other, they would make each other laugh no doubt. They would deal with each other's traumas. They'd share their magic, they would be stronger together. They'd challenge each other's beliefs. They would change and grow together. They'd fit. They'd love each other.

Draco believed in all that, with a certainty only a Veela could have.

But regardless of the bond he knew that they shared, he also knew it wouldn't make them be different people. He'd continue being an ass. Potter would continue being annoyingly oblivious. They'd keep fighting. They would be explosive. They'd get on each other's nerves.

They wouldn't be easy.

They never were.

Potter had lived through a childhood with abusive muggles, a puberty filled with near death experiences. He had grown up with the pressure of the entire wizarding world on his shoulders. He had died.

As Draco laid in the dark, in the silence, with only his thoughts around him, he realized, and decided that Potter really did deserve for things to be easy.

More angst this time! Even though it's a little shorter, I'm still recovering from my operation…

Hope you enjoy :)

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