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Harry sighed in relief when he finally walked through his front door and sat down on a chair at his table. It had been another long and hard day at Auror training and Harry was exhausted. He allowed himself a few minutes of peace before he reluctantly got up and headed to have a shower. It was well past midnight by the time he showered and had something to eat, so as soon as he flopped down in his bed, he was asleep.
It wasn't long though until Harry's eyes snapped open in frustration and glared at the wall to his left. In the usually quite apartment next door to him, the tenant had decided that the middle of the night was the perfect time to start putting together furniture. Harry would have chuckled at the persons loud cursing and rage at the inanimate objects if he wasn't so tired, but since it was 3 frigging am, Harry got out of bed, grabbed his glasses, pulled on some old sweat pants and one of Molly's jumpers and went next door to see if he could ask them politely to shut the fuck up.
He knocked on the door with more force than he should have, praying that he didn't wake anymore of his neighbours. He heard the person inside curse again and Harry straightened himself when the foot steps got louder. His words got stuck in his throat however, when non-other than his life long crush- Draco Malfoy, opened the door. All
intentions of telling him to shut up, vanished. Harry just stared at him with the same level of shock he was reading in Draco's eyes. Draco was the first to pull himself together, "What are you doing here Potter?" He breathed. His hair was messy and his face flushed from his previous struggle with the furniture.
"Er," Harry mumbled then cleared his throat. "I, uh, live next door?"
"Oh?" Draco ran his fingers through his hair.
"I was wondering if you wanted any help?" Harry kicked himself mentally.
Confusion replaced the look of shock on Draco's face, "Help?"
"Yeah. Uh, I was sleeping but you woke me up with your attempt to put together what I assume is a desk? From Ikea? I heard you curse them a couple of times."
Draco's face tinged pink. "Oh," he said again. "You can hear me?"
Harry shrugged. "Not usually, but everything is louder at 3am."
"Right. Do you want to come in then?" Draco stepped aside and opened the door wider.
Harry smiled, "Sure."
When the door was shut again and Harry was trying to be subtle at looking at what Draco Malfoys apartment held, Draco shuffled his bare feet awkwardly. "So, Potter.."
"Harry."
"So, Harry. Did you actually come here to help?"
It was Harry's turn to turn pink. "Actually, I was coming to tell you to shut up, but then I saw thought why not offer help. I was also, er, curious?"
Draco chuckled softly. "About what P-Harry?"
"May I?" Harry gestured to the couch and when Draco nodded, he went and sat down, shortly followed by the blond. "Well firstly I was curious about what you're doing in muggle London, but you don't have to answer that if you think that's to invasive." His blush never subsided.
Draco's smile was small. "No, it's fine. I just needed to get out of the Manor and nobody would think to come look for me here," he shrugged.
"Oh." Harry fidgeted with a loose thread on his pants. "How haven't we run into each other before?"
Draco shrugged. "I'm not sure. I gave the superintendent a false name."
Harry nodded, because he had done the same thing. "Apart from that, I don't know."
"Why did you decided to put furniture together at 3am?" Harry asked after some silence.
They both chuckled and some of the tension in the room faded. "I couldn't sleep and I thought why not try assemble it now," Draco shrugged again. "And I have the day off tomorrow. Sorry for waking you."
"It's okay Draco," Harry smiled.
"Were you serious when you offered your help?"
"Yes. If you want it."
Draco sighed in relief, "Thank Merlin. I can honestly admit that muggle 'DIY' is not my forte."
Harry laughed, "We better get to it then. Good thing I don't have training tomorrow either." Draco smiled and lead Harry to his bedroom. There were pieces of paper thrown around the room, which Draco confirmed to be the instructions. "Why didn't you use magic?"
Draco mumbled something incoherent.
"What was that?"
The blond flushed, "I wanted to see if I could do it without. How hard could it be right?" He chuckled dryly.
"It's not hard," Harry said, sitting cross-legged on a clear patch of carpet.
"If it's not hard, you do it then," Draco snapped.
Harry held up his hands in apology. "Sorry. I didn't come here to fight."
Draco sighed and mimicked Harry's position on another clear spot on the floor. "Don't apologize. I'm the one who should be sorry. Please help me put this blasted muggle desk together?" Harry huffed out a laugh and reached over to grab the instructions. Draco's eyes lingered on the patch of skin exposed when his jumper raised up.
He took the time to study the boy sitting across of him. It had only been 2 years since they graduated the unofficial eighth year at Hogwarts and apart from a few occasions, like Harry speaking on his behalf at the trials and then the awkward meeting where Draco had gone to ask for his wand back, they hadn't spoken. They saw each other around the ministry of course. Draco popping in and out, studying to become a potions master- while Harry trained for with the Aurors. But they hadn't spoken, until now. Draco had resented Harry in the beginning, refusing his friendship had been humiliating, but as time went on, Draco realized his feelings went deeper and he suffered in silence as kept up the arch enemy facade.
After the war, the wizarding world discovered was 'bent', that's what his father had called him- among with a lot of other things. It was one of the reasons why he had to get out of the Manor. His mother didn't care, she just wanted him to be happy after everything that he had been through.
Draco sighed and Harry looked up at him. He smiled softly and Harry returned it, pushing his glasses back up his nose with his pinky finger.
He struggled to keep himself relaxed, the man he was in love with was sitting across from him. Too bad he was as straight as they came. He sighed again and this time when Harry looked up, he launched into a summarized assembly explanation. It took a moment for Draco to remember that they were just building a desk.
It took close to an hour for them to finish. They put parts on backwards and got distracted talking about Qudditch and where Harry got his jumper from. By the time Harry left, the desk was proudly in the corner of Draco's room, his cheeks were sore from smiling and he had a promise from Draco, that if he needed anymore help, with anything, he could come next door and ask.
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When Harry woke up the next day, the sun was shining through his windows. He smiled at the memory of last night and thought that the weather matched his mood perfectly. When his stomach growled, he got out of bed, showered, dressed and prepared himself a simple bowl of cereal. Halfway through it, there was a knock on the door. He expected to see Ron when he opened it, but was greeted with startling grey eyes. "Draco!" He grinned. "Need help already?"
Draco laughed, "No. Not yet anyway. I was actually wondering if you'd like to grab a coffee with me?"
"Now?"
"Yeah, if you're not busy? You mentioned last night that it was your day off too and I wanted to repay you for coming over at 3am."
Harry beamed, "Sure. Let me go grab a jumper. Muggle or Wizard?"
He left the door open as he strolled back towards his bedroom and Draco took that as an invitation to come inside. "Muggle. There's a nice cafe a few blocks from here."
"Cool," Harry called out from inside his closet. Draco wandered around the apartment, looking at the photographs hanging on the walls. He smiled at the picture of Harry holding a baby with bright blue hair.
"That's Teddy," Harry said from behind him.
Draco jumped, but tried to play it off as a coat fix. "Yes, I know. The last time I saw Teddy was only a few weeks ago. He had pink hair," he smiled at the memory.
Harry looked at the picture on last time and then at Draco. "Shall we go?"
"Sure," Draco grinned.
Draco lead the way to the cafe. They chatted about the good weather and Draco told Harry about how his own training was going. When they reached the cafe, Harry grabbed a table and Draco ordered them lattes and some muffins. As they waited for the beverages, Harry and Draco had their arms folded, resting on the table. As Draco wrapped up his telling of how his potions master studies were going, the waitress arrived the boys leant back in their seats, not awear of how close they were leaning into each other. They both politely thanked the waitress and when she was out of hearing range, Draco asked oh-so-casually, "So Harry, aren't you meant to be spending all your precious time off with your girlfriend?"
Harry choked on his drink, "Pardon?"
Draco raised an eyebrow. "You know, your girlfriend? Red hair? Related to your best friend?" Harry stared blankly at his companion for a beat and then started laughing. "What?" Draco huffed.
"Sorry," Harry said as he calmed down. He took a sip of his still-hot coffee before continuing. "Ginny and I broke up, oh hmm, about a year and a half ago? Maybe closer to 2."
Draco sipped his own coffee in thought. "Is it too personal to ask why?"
"Promise you wont go running to anyone at the Daily Profit?"
"Yes?"
"I'm gay."
It was Draco's turn to choke, only this time it was on a crumb from the muffin he just bit into. "Are you okay?" Harry asked, voice laced with concern.
Draco waved his hands in front of his face and coughed out an, "I'm fine."
Harry waited, ready to leap out of his chair and perform
mouth-to-mouth if Draco stopped breathing but Draco recovered gracefully. "Sorry."
"No need to apologize," Harry insisted. "You're sure you're okay?"
"Yes, you just startled me."
"By saying I'm gay?" Harry's face flashed with confusion. "That doesn't bother you does it?"
"What? No! I mean, of course not. Why would it? That would be very contridictive of me."
"Huh?"
Draco sighed, "I'm gay too Potter. Haven't you heard?"
Harry's eyes widened. "No. Well, a while ago Ron was going off about how you're bent, but I just ignored him thinking he was just reading too many gossip columns."
Draco chuckled lightly, "Do they know you're gay? Granger and Weasley I mean."
"Yeah. After we graduated from Hogwarts I realized that I didn't fancy girls the way I fancy boys. Kissing Ginny was lovely and all but it didn't feel right. Anyway, I went to Hermione and told her how I felt and she put some things in perspective for me. Soon after that I spoke to Ginny and we broke up. Since then I've only told Ron, the rest of the Weasleys' and a few others like Neville and Luna. I'm not close enough to anyone else," he shrugged.
"But you told me?"
Harry's cheeks pinked. "I, uh, trust you."
"Oh," Draco felt his face getting hot too. "I trust you too." They smiled sheepishly at each other. "Er, I have a confession to make."
"You do?" Harry squinted his eyes, looking Draco up and down suspiciously, dread pooling in his stomach.
"It's nothing bad I swear," Draco assured quickly. The blush staining his cheeks darker. "I actually fancy you. I have for a while now."
Harry's mouth popped open in shock. "Seriously?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
Draco fidgeted with an empty sugar packet, "Wow?"
"I like you too," Harry said breathlessly.
"You do?" Draco gaped at him.
"Yeah," Harry laughed. "I have for a while."
Draco laughed too, a happy warmth spread through his body. "Wow indeed."
"What now?"
"I have to go have dinner with my mother later tonight," Draco said
sadly. "But I could walk you home? It wouldn't be too much trouble."
The boys laughed again and Harry agreed.
On their way home, they couldn't help shooting happy glances at each other. When Draco stopped outside of Harry's door, he waited until Harry had unlocked it before he reached up and kissed him on the cheek. Harry touched his cheek in awe and Draco promised, "Tomorrow," as he went and unlocked his own door and they smiled at each other as they went into their respective apartments, happiness lingering in both boys, long into the night.