"The con about cooking your own food is that you have to prepare it, cook it, wait, and then do the dishes", Draco lamented, sprawling out on the counter.
"At least it smells better than potions", Harry retorted.
"I don't even want to think about going back right now. The only thing I'm looking forward to is us sharing a room. Even that is almost completely overshadowed by the thought of everyone hating me."
"I love you, and I will gladly hex anybody who even looks at you wrong."
"Because that isn't suspicious."
"I'll just say I'm your roommate and if they have a problem with that they'll have a lovely chat with McGonagall. The same goes for Parkinson and Zabini. Hell, it goes for all of the Slytherins. I won't stand for house prejudices anymore. I'm tired of all of the fighting, and all of the judging."
"You're so incredibly special Harry", Draco replied, kissing him softly.
"You are feeling extra loving today", Harry teased, pulling him down for another kiss.
"After today, I don't know when it will be safe to kiss you, so I'm kissing you as much as possible."
"Lunch will be done in 10 minutes. We have time."
With a wicked grin, Draco pulled Harry down onto the counter with him, and they had a very pleasant snogging session. Draco was preening at all of the positive attention he had received from Harry.
"My beautiful boy", Harry whispered before he pulled away with one last quick kiss to check on lunch.
Draco was wondering how he had gotten so lucky to have Harry in his life. His support made all the difference, and Draco knew he was doing so much better. Both men were doing so much better.
The two men had lunch, and were trying to figure out what else to do with their day.
"What else did you research my Prince?"
"There was an aquarium, a few zoos, some museums, more amusement parks, beaches, something called mini golf. I was surprised at how much was available."
"Mini golf?"
"What even is mini golf?"
"You take like... a stick and use it to hit golf balls into a hole and you keep score", Harry attempted to explain.
"Huh. I'll give it a go I suppose."
"This way, when we come back, we can spend a whole day at the aquarium, and a whole day at the zoo."
"I love hearing you talk about our future", Draco replied, kissing Harry softly.
"For once, I actually love that I do have a future, because you're in it. My shining constellation."
"You're so incredibly cheesy Potter."
"You love it Malfoy. I just know you're a closet hopeless romantic."
"I will neither confirm nor deny that. Let's see if I'm better at this muggle sport than you are."
The two got changed, wearing their matching band t-shirts, black jeans, and boots.
"We're going to be the hottest couple there", Draco said with a smirk, holding an arm out for Harry.
"Aren't we always my sweetheart?"
"Damn right."
Draco was absolutely awful at mini golf, to the point where he stopped keeping score.
"Draco, you need to relax", Harry said, holding back laughter.
"I hate this sport", he huffed, lips forming a pout.
Harry kissed the pout off of his face.
"Let me help you."
Wrapping his arms around Draco, he guided his swing.
"Wait, you're not doing this on purpose so I'll hold you, are you?"
"Potter, I'm extremely competitive. Why would I of all people lose something on purpose? If I wanted your affection I would either demand it or take it."
Stifling a laugh, Harry took his turn, getting a hole in one.
"You suck."
"I could, with consent of course", Harry flirted with a wink.
Heat crept up Draco's face and he looked away as Harry laughed. Soon enough, they finished up their round of mini golf.
"Come on my blushing beauty, let's get something to drink yeah?"
Rolling his eyes, Draco walked off to the snack stand, with a grinning Harry right behind him. They stood in line as Draco questioned what half of the menu items were.
"Harry what on earth is a slushie?"
"It's like frozen juice essentially. It comes in different flavors, usually fruit."
"Interesting. I'll take a blue raspberry. That sounds fun."
Harry ordered a cherry for himself. Holding the slushie in one hand and Draco's hand in the other, they started walking around the boardwalk.
"This is actually not terrible", Draco mused, lips pursued around the straw.
"Can I try some?"
"Of course you can."
Instead of handing Harry his cup like a normal person, Draco pulled Harry in for a deep kiss. His tongue traced along Harry's bottom lip, and Harry tentatively opened his mouth. Harry pulled away breathlessly as Draco smirked triumphantly.
"Good?"
"Brilliant."
"I can't tell if I like cherry though, I think I need another taste."
Before Draco could lean back in, they were interrupted by a voice.
"Mom, I didn't know they had grape flavor! Their lips are purple."
The mother raised an eyebrow at the two men.
"Sorry bud, they don't have grape. I like purple too so I had the nice woman at the counter mix cherry and blue raspberry", Harry replied sheepishly.
"Mom can I get that too?"
"Sure sweetie. Let's leave the nice two men alone now."
Walking away, she turned around and mouthed "thank you" to Harry. He smiled and nodded his head in response.
"That kid just stole the rest of my cherry, didn't he?", Draco asked with a pout.
Laughing, Harry just switched out their cups.
"I hate children", Draco muttered, angrily sipping the cherry, and making a face at the sweetness. "My drink is better anyway. Give it back."
"My poor Draco", Harry cooed, pulling him in for another kiss.
"Git", Draco huffed, allowing Harry to kiss him anyway. "Let's go find something else to do."
Throwing an arm around Harry's waist, Draco led him down the boardwalk to investigate another building.
"What's laser tag darling?"
"Oh you're going to absolutely love that, come on."
Pulling along a confused Draco, Harry paid for both of them. They walked into the holding area together, and listened to the rules being explained. Draco was insanely excited to play.
"Would you like to play on the same team or different teams?", the worker asked them.
"Different! You're going down Potter."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Harry knew he had made a mistake. All Draco did was gloat as he hunted Harry. He shot lasers carelessly at everyone else on Harry's red team, still managing to find his target. It became a stealth mission between the two, and Draco was excellent at finding his target. Harry played the defensive until he managed to corner Draco.
A standoff commenced, and they spent the last half hour of their time chasing each other and ducking behind columns and walls. Sometimes laughter would give the other man away, but for the most part, they took the competition very seriously.
They embraced each other once the lights came back on, and the worker approached them, eyebrows raised.
"Everyone in the monitoring room was watching you two. That was the best round of laser tag we've ever seen played here."
"Really? It was our first time playing", Draco replied with a shrug.
As the worker's draw dropped, Draco proceeded to ask him to take a picture of Harry and himself. Once they finished up there, it was time for dinner. Draco wanted to be sure that Harry was back home for 7pm, which was midnight in their home timezone.
Going behind a building, they apparated to the restaurant Draco had chosen.
"New Jersey is known for its diners, so I brought you to one. They have a lot of options foodwise, so I thought it would be something nice to try."
Harry just smiled at Draco and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you my Prince. Today has been absolutely wonderful."
"I just hope the food is good."
They took their seats in the back of the diner, tucked away into their own corner, listening to whatever music was playing over the speakers. After getting their water, Draco shot his straw wrapper at Harry, who was humming along to the music.
Harry, obviously being the more mature one of the two of them, normally took the wrapper off his own straw. He smiled softly when Paper Rings by Taylor Swift came on.
"This song reminds me of you", Draco said with a smile.
"The wine is cold
Like the shoulder that I gave you in the street
Cat and mouse for a month or two or three
Now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe"
The lyrics were seemingly meant to describe the two men.
"I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings
Uh huh, that's right
Darling, you're the one I want, and
I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this
Uh huh, that's right
Darling, you're the one I want
In paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams
Oh, you're the one I want"
Both men counted this as their best accident. Draco was a bit of a materialistic person due to how he was raised, but he would gladly accept anything Harry had to offer him.
"Kiss you once 'cause I know you had a long night
(Oh!) Kiss you twice 'cause it's gonna be alright
Three times 'cause you waited your whole life"
Their whole lives were spent wasting time with silly arguments, fights, and sexual tension. They had a lot of time to make up for.
"I want to drive away with you
I want your complications too
I want your dreary Mondays
Wrap your arms around me, baby boy"
Neither man was looking forward to sleeping in a bed all alone after this trip. Mentally, both were planning out excuses as to why they would go and see the other.
"You're the one I want, one I want
You're the one I want, one I want"
Leaning across the table, Draco kissed Harry one last time very softly, before going to the bathroom. While he was gone, Harry started twisting the straw wrappers, and then tied them off. The wrappers were decorated with tiny patterns, and Harry thought it was adorable. Slipping the two paper rings into his pocket, he started looking through the menu again waiting for Draco to return.
"Decide on what you want yet?"
"You're the one I want", Harry teased, referencing the song.
"Now that is the kind of cliche that I love. I think I may get something with pasta, I'm not sure."
"There's so many options, I have no clue what to get."
"I could always order for you", Draco offered.
Their waiter came and asked if they wanted to start with any appetizers, saying there was a discount if they combined two.
"We'll take stuffed mushrooms and mozzarella sticks please."
"Excellent choice. Are you ready to order your meals yet?"
"A few more minutes please."
Harry was more than happy to let Draco do all of the talking.
"I think I'll go for the rack of ribs. I don't typically order what I know I can cook at home."
"So I won't get the ravioli then", Draco teased. "The chicken parmigiana sounds great, I think I'll get that."
"It does sound good", Harry agreed.
"Do you want to split half and half?"
"You read my mind."
WIth a smile, Draco held Harry's hand across the table.
"I wish we could be like this, in public, forever", Draco thought.
"So do I. Will you still want to be mine even when I go back to wearing my glasses?"
"I think your glasses are cute. We'll just have to practice kissing when you have them on so I don't get poked in the eye."
Harry laughed quietly and smiled up at Draco. Draco felt so special under Harry's gaze. It was like he was Harry's sole purpose to exist. In a way, maybe he was. The rest of dinner went by peacefully, and no one disturbed the two men. They were every bit the perfect couple, completely oblivious to their surroundings.
It was 6:40 when they were finished. They took a 10 minute stroll to allow their food to digest as apparating still made Harry feel queasy sometimes. When they got back home, Draco asked Harry where he would like to be when he officially turned 18.
"Can we sit on the beach? I want to end this trip how we started it."
"Of course sweetheart."
Draco grabbed a blanket for them to sit on, then returned inside for the giant cupcake he had bought for Harry. Sticking some candles in it, he placed it on a plate, and held it behind him as he sat next to Harry, who had cast a tempus charm. It was floating over a drawing of a cake with candles in the sand.
With a goofy smile, Draco counted down for Harry, who watched Draco holding the camera more than he did the time.
"Happy birthday, my wonderful Harry", Draco spoke, snapping a picture as Harry blew out the sand candles.
Draco then presented him with the cupcake, which Harry carefully placed on the blanket before pulling Draco in for a sweet kiss.
"What was that for?"
"Good luck. I hope that all of my birthdays for the rest of my life start like this."
Harry pulled out the paper rings he had twisted in the diner, and slid one onto Draco's finger.
"This will be replaced with a real one someday. I know it's really soon to be so sure of something like this, but we've known each other since we were 11. We've both grown up a lot, and we're mentally a lot older than 18. I know whatever I feel for you is genuine. You're the one I want."
Draco was on the verge of tears, and pulled Harry in for their sweetest kiss up to date, his lips conveying all of the feelings he couldn't put into words. After casting protective charms on the rings, they shared Harry's cupcake, and spent the rest of the night enjoying each other's company.
{Shoutout to Izzy_926 for commenting the lyrics to Paper Rings by Taylor Swift on one of my chapters. I hope this was worth it! ~ J}