More Than a Memory

2

"God," Aiden pants, throwing an arm over his eyes and waiting for his breathing to return to normal. "Are you always like that?"

"Like what?"

Fuck, this guy is incredibly hot. He sits up beside Aiden and puts his glasses back on, looking around the room curiously. He rakes a hand through his black curls, and Aiden's eyes linger on a muscular bicep. He coughs, feeling awkward. "Erm. I don't know. I can't remember the last time I came that many times in one night."

"Oh." Harry swallows, and Aiden tracks the movement along his throat. "I mean, we slept for a couple of hours between..."

"Not the point."

"Right. Er. No, not all the time, but sometimes. I'm...I was..."

"Trying to get over someone?" Aiden had recognized the desperation in his eyes. The pain. Not unlike his own.

Harry startles slightly, finally turning to look over at him.

"Me too," Aiden smiles grimly. "Although tonight may have done the trick. God, another couple of fucks like that and I may forget the cheating fucker even exists."

Harry laughs, flushing a bit. It's endearing. "Er, yeah."

"How long's it been?"

"Six months."

Aiden winces. "Three-and-a-half for me. Do you want to talk about it?"

Harry shrugs.

"I had been with my boyfriend for...god, nearly eight months? Longest relationship I'd ever been in, and one day I came home from work early and he was fucking my next-door neighbor in my bed. Had been the whole time, apparently. I didn't see it coming. I was so completely in love with him. The red flags were there, though, if I'd been paying attention."

"I'm sorry," Harry says gently, watching him as Aiden wraps his arms around his stomach in an attempt to comfort himself. "You didn't deserve that."

Aiden's mouth twitches, and he blinks rapidly, fighting back tears. "Thanks."

"I..." Harry hesitates, swallowing hard. "I proposed. We'd been together for three years, living together for two. I was so sure he'd say yes, I never even considered the possibility that he might not want it. He ran. He didn't even say goodbye, just cleared out while I was at work and left a note."

"What the fuck? Really? Why?"

"I...I can't say for sure," Harry hesitates, his eyes going distant. "We had a weird history before we got together. I think it still scared him sometimes, even though we were..." he let out a shaky laugh. "Really happy together, honestly. Most of the time."

"Weird history?"

"We went to a, erm, boarding school together, when we were kids. We developed a rivalry early on. We were in different houses and played on different...football teams...and we had different ideas about what the erm, what the world should be like. We hated each other. When we were sixteen there was an incident...I nearly killed him. He still has scars from it, on his chest. It was an accident, I swear I didn't mean to hurt him, but I...I know it can't have been easy to trust someone who'd done that to you, even years later. No matter how much he may have wanted to."

"Wow." Aiden shook his head. "I wasn't expecting that. That's..."

"I know."

"How did you ever get together? After all of that?"

"Well, you see, it started when he became friends with my friend Hermione..."

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