Draco watched as Potter straddled the bike.
It wasn't like Draco was scared of it or anything. He'd been on many an automobile in his time. He rode horses weekly, and could probably handle any broomstick you gave him. His only problem was, well, did the ground have to be so damn close to where you put your feet. It would be so easy for a foot to slip. Then, if that happened, it would either tear off all the flesh on your foot, or send you flying into the nearest object. When you were on a broomstick, twenty feet in the air, it took real effort to crash into anything. Seeing risk so up and front made him uneasy.
Potter looked back at him and grinned. "Scared, Malfoy?"
Draco scoffed, faking confidence the way he did in Hogwarts. He walked with his head held high towards the bike. "You wish."
Draco stopped at his end of the bike, and awkwardly threw one leg over the other side of it. The bike was just barely big enough for them both to fit, and that was suddenly made clear as Draco lowered himself down to sit. His front was suddenly flush against Potter's back.
Potter visibly tensed, and Draco leaned back a bit. The boy was wearing ripped, jean trousers today. Probably due to the unexpected chill. It was truly nearing Autumn. Those along with an unzipped fleece, prevented Draco from actually making contact with Potter's bare stomach.
"Erm," Potter said, "I can't move up any, could you-"
"Move back? I don't think the back wheel will be very comfortable, and I like my arse the way it is, thank you." Draco stated curtly.
"Alright, uh..."
It was clear Potter was being squeamish today. Draco couldn't imagine why. When they slept in the same bed, Draco usually ended up holding Potter from the behind. Potter hadn't made a big deal of it then.
"What's the matter?" he asked, truly innocently for once.
It wasn't as if Potter suddenly had an epiphany, and now realised that Draco had more than platonic interest in Potter. Of course, he would never use that as an excuse to be a pervert. He'd more than gladly climb off the bike if Potter had a problem.
"Nothing. It's nothing." Potter said firmly, readjusting his grip on the handlebars. "You can lean forward again. Besides... you'll fall off if you don't hold onto something."
Somewhat relieved, Draco did just that. He folded his hands around Potter's waist. Careful to only touch the fleece. He propped his head up on the smaller boy's shoulder, and asked, "Like that?"
"Yeah," Potter breathed. "Put up your feet,"
Draco complied, and put his feet up against the small bars. The only thing between them and the ground. Draco gulped.
"Done," he muttered. He resisted the urge to look back at his feet. To make sure they wouldn't suddenly slip and all that.
"Good, hold on tight."
And with that, Potter put up the kickstand, and started the engine with a roar.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The second they took off, Malfoy tightened his grip around Harry's waist with an unmanly squeak. Malfoy buried his face into Harry's shoulder, eyes surely squeezed tight. Harry didn't mind.
They cut through the air. The wind loud and cold as it streamed past them. Harry breathed in deeply through his nose, and focused on the road ahead of him. The engine made them obnoxiously loud compared to all the other vehicles, but Harry didn't mind. He was sure that Malfoy had a different opinion.
Turns out driving this thing was all about balance and speed. If you didn't get the ratios right you'd tip too far to one side, or unexpectedly swerve. Harry tried to go at a moderate pace for Malfoy's sake.
Malfoy's grip had only tightened since they left the driveway.
"Why are you going so damn fast?!" Malfoy demanded. His face still squished into Harry's neck.
"I'm going slower than the speed limit!" Harry called, turning a corner.
"Lier!" Malfoy accused.
"Am not! Maybe if you actually looked up you'd see."
"No!" Malfoy shouted. To prove his ridiculous point, Malfoy buried his face further. Harry almost fumbled when he felt lips. They weren't doing anything, just there along with the rest of the boy's face. But, still, Malfoy's lips were on his neck.
Harry shook his head, jostling Malfoy a bit.
"Suit yourself," Harry shouted. He revved the engine, and sped up the barest amount. Malfoy didn't react. Harry did it again. Again, no reaction.
He assumed, a tad unfairly, he could actually go the speed limit now. Harry finally could keep up with the other vehicles on the road. The cars surrounding them had been just going around them previously.
Malfoy made an annoyed sound, that might've been a swear but it was too windy to properly hear it. Harry laughed.
He turned the corner. Due to their increased speed, the turn was far more tilted. Again, the ratio of balance and speed. The faster you are, the more you tilt when you turn. Harry had expected it. Malfoy hadn't.
"Gah!" Malfoy yelled, one arm flailing. Thankfully it was the arm opposite to the ground. In it's panic, the arm was now fully wrapped around his torso. "Don't do that!" Malfoy scolded, loud enough for Harry to hear.
"I can't not turn, Malfoy." Harry called back, enjoying himself far too much.
Malfoy groaned, not pleased, at all, with Harry's joviality.
"We're about to head onto the freeway," Harry informed, switching lanes with little difficulty. People seemed to get that they were both stupid teenagers doing something stupid, and gave them plenty of room to work with.
"And that means?" Malfoy shouted, still not looking up.
"It means that we're going to need to move faster. More hills and turns as well." Harry called back to him. Careful not to screw over some poor driver, by accidentally breaking a rule of the road.
They needed to go one town over to get to the nearest arcade. Harry had made sure to memorize the route. The freeway was the quickest way there, although he wasn't sure Malfoy appreciated the thought.
"Oh, goody," he heard Malfoy mutter sarcastically, "do your best not to crash will you?"
Harry chuckled a bit as he slowly sped up to the proper speed. "I'll try my darndest."
Harry did not hear, Draco's muttered, "Good Lord,"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thankfully, they made it to the retail park without incident. Harry smiled cheekily as he helped Malfoy off the bike. With a slumped posture, and a slightly green complexion, Malfoy looked downright queasy.
"You alright there?"
Malfoy shot him a look, and put a fist up to his mouth. He swallowed back bile, and breathed in deeply through his nose. "I think- I think I need to sit down," he said tersely.
Harry readily agreed, and guided the boy to the nearest bench. Malfoy sat down heavily, and stared down at a spot between his feet. Probably contemplating his existence. Harry grimaced. He hadn't thought the trip had been that bad. For him at least.
Harry looked around at the bright retail park. Couples walked around, both old and young. Kids pulled their caretakers by the hand to wherever had sparked their curiosity. The arcade was two restaurants down. A regular flow of kids and teenagers went in and out. Younger kids came out with little, white bags of sweets and trinkets. While the older teenagers came out with small stuffed animals, and ripped off Mardi Gras necklaces. More than a few passerby sent him and Malfoy concerned glances. With a half-fake smile, Harry waved them off.
Beside him, Malfoy groaned. Harry immediately focused back on him.
"You, Potter, are a horrendous driver." Malfoy accused, leaning back and staring at him with glassy eyes.
"Sorry?"
Malfoy didn't look impressed.
"Look, I know I'm not the best-"
"The worst ," Malfoy butted in.
"- but I think I did a decent job of it. We didn't crash!"
"'We didn't crash,'" Malfoy mocked, "I think that's setting the bar a little low, don't you?"
"I think it's setting the bar a perfectly reasonable height,"
"It's a rubbish height is what it is." Malfoy grumbled. He stretched his arms over his head, and yawned. "Your incompetence aside, why don't we go to that games thingy now?"
"The arcade?" Harry proffered.
"The arcade, sure, whatever it's called." Malfoy waved a hand in dismissal, and unsteadily got up. Harry was quick to follow. Malfoy stared at Harry, and Harry stared at Malfoy. Then, Harry realised, Malfoy had no clue where they were, and Harry was expected to show him where they were going.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, "Yeah, the arcade. It's this way."
Harry grabbed Malfoy's wrist, like the other boy had done to him so many times before, and led him to the building. It was fairly large for an arcade. People of all shapes and sizes were bustling about, paying too much attention to their games and prizes, to pay any attention to the two wizards. Harry instantly went to the coin machine. Ta-ta had given him fifteen pounds to spend at the arcade, and a solid twenty more for a treat afterwards. It was clear the man expected the leftovers.
"Alright, so this is where we'll get our tokens." Harry all but yelled in order to speak over the crowd. "You slide in the money like this-" Harry slid in the ten pound slip, "and the equivalent amount of tokens comes out." The machine spat out the tokens into a small tray. Harry kneeled, and quickly shoved all of them into his pockets.
Back with the Dursleys, it wasn't uncommon for Dudley to steal his coins. He didn't exactly trust the other kids here either.
"And you put the 'tokens' into the machines to play them?" Malfoy asked, taking the handful of tokens that Harry gave him. Malfoy kept one out to study, and pocketed the rest.
"Essentially, yeah." Harry said, nodding.
"How do you know which to play?" he asked, looking around with mild interest.
"You pick one that looks cool, here let me show you." Harry grabbed Malfoy's wrist again, and walked them to the nearest free machine.
It was TRON.
Excellent.
"I'll show you how good a driver I am." Harry boasted, inserting two tokens.
Malfoy grumbled something, very doubtful of Harry's claim. Harry decided to ignore the sour puss to his left, and started up the game.
A circle appeared on the screen, it split into four parts. Harry directed the little choosing icon down to the left right piece. The way TRON worked was that there were four mini games, and once you won all the games, you got your tickets. One full level completed, equalling five tickets.
DESTROY THE ENEMY TANKS. The instructions blared. Harry grinned, and moved his little tank icon around the grid maze. The ammunition the tank shot out, bounced against the neon green walls, and hit their target. Since it was only level one, there were only two tanks. Easy compared to the twenty Harry had worked up to on the machine at Little Whinging.
He moved onto the next mini game, after he'd won. Eight drones guarded a flashing circle. His goal: get to the flashing circle before the timer ends. The concept was simple enough. Harry easily shot all the little drone guards, and got into the flashing circle long before the timer ended.
Harry quickly finished off the last two minigames. Five, linked tickets were spat out of the little slot.
Harry planned to play the next level so he left them there.
It brought him back to the level screen. The circle was back with all four of its pieces. A little timer in the center started counting down from ten. And Harry rushed to play the next mini game.
"And that's supposed to be entertaining?" Malfoy asked, still doubtful.
"Well, yeah! As you keep going through the levels, they get harder and harder." Harry said, slightly distracted. TRON wasn't a game you could converse much while playing.
"Hm," Malfoy hummed, watching the soldier avatar take down more drones. "Then, let's see how long you can last hotshot."
"Was that a challenge?" Harry asked, a grin creeping onto his face without permission.
"Of course not." Malfoy said dismissively. "Think of it as a chance to prove your worth."
"Oh, so that's how it is? I see, I see..." Harry trailed off. His smile never left his face as he took down another tank. He'd prove his worth alright, and he'd do it with style.
... it just so happened that the very second, an opposing tank sneaked up behind him. Harry only spotted it when it was too late. The enemy tank promptly shot him. Ending the game, and leaving Harry with only five measly tickets.
"You're not worth very much, apparently." Malfoy said amused. Harry scowled at the damned machine. It was its fault that he had failed, anyway. No, actually. It wasn't the game's fault, or Harry's for that matter. It was Malfoy's . The smug git ought to know that it was downright offensive to mess with someone playing TRON.
Harry huffed, as he ripped off the pathetic five tickets and shoved them into the pocket opposite of the tokens.
"I lost because of you, you bastard."
"Are you certain, because I'm quite certain I didn't do anything." Malfoy said, handing Harry two tokens to put into the machine. The bastard had probably already sensed that he wanted to go a second round. And this time he'd show Malfoy.
His pride depended on it really.
He slotted in the coins, and the game started up again.
Harry made it six levels, despite Malfoy's taunting. Six levels meant thirty tickets, add on the five they had already, and they could, if they wanted to, buy seven tootsie rolls.
But they were just getting started.
Harry and Malfoy slowly migrated around the arcade. Malfoy didn't participate much. Only playing games like Skee-Ball, or other things that were remotely familiar to him. Malfoy seemed content with watching most of the time. Harry didn't judge. Malfoy was at least trying to understand most of the game concepts. Although, it would be nice if he stopped saying snide comments every time Harry lost.
They completed a lap. Harry's pockets were practically overflowing with tickets. Malfoy had taken up the duty of holding onto the few tokens they had left.
"Right," Harry said, "is there anything else you wanna try before we cash in?" he asked.
Malfoy looked around thoughtfully. They had tried just about every game that hadn't been occupied by another person when they walked by. This didn't leave many options.
"What's that?" Malfoy pointed to the small island of machines in the middle. More specifically, he pointed at The Claw. The devil machine. The money eater. The personal bane of all ten year old's existence.
Harry groaned quietly. He had purposefully avoided that one, you see. "That's The Claw,"
"That's not very helpful, Potter," Malfoy said, walking, without a care, up to the machine. Harry dutifully followed, an annoyed frown on his face. "It looks relatively simple." Malfoy commented idly, fiddling with the joystick.
"Yeah, but..." Harry trailed off.
The display box held a variety of small stuffed animals. They all were the same brand. Harry could tell from the identical pairs of glitter eyes. The company was most likely a sponsor to the arcade, that or they're cheap.
"But?" Malfoy prompted.
"They're usually rigged so you can't win." Harry explained, successfully keeping the bitterness out of his tone.
Malfoy turned towards him. His fair, blonde hair reflected the decorative Christmas lights that hung above their heads. Harry personally always thought the flashing was annoying.
"Are you sure they're rigged?" Malfoy asked, a taunting edge coming into his voice. "Or are you just bad?"
Offended, Harry opened his mouth to retort, but Malfoy interrupted.
"Oh no, I get it. You're too worried about failing."
"That's not-"
"You don't have to lie, Potter. I can see you're clearly bashful about such topics. We can go play that Monkey and Barrels game again, if you like. It's not like-"
"Fine!" Harry shouted. He unkindly shoved Malfoy away from the control panel, and held out a hand for tokens. Malfoy wordlessly handed him four tokens. He refused to look at Malfoy's smug face.
Harry knelt and slid in the tokens. He stood back up, muttering, "Damn money eater."
Harry played around with the joystick, the claw following its movements. Since there was no timer, Harry could afford to be petty.
"Do you want anything specific?" Harry asked, eyeing all the little plushies. There was a bright purple monkey that would be easy enough.
"Hmm," Malfoy hummed aloud, "Something pink?"
"'Something pink,'" Harry mocked, "Alright then, Mr Malfoy. How about..." Harry grinned as he spotted his prey, "how about this charming little dragon."
Malfoy shrugged.
Harry positioned the claw over it. Not very well, mind you. "You'll see how much of a scam this is." Harry boasted.
"Mm, we'll see," Malfoy said, watching.
Harry slammed the lower button, turned, and crossed his arms. He didn't even have to look; he was so sure it wouldn't work. Then, there was a thunk. Harry reared right around to ogle at the machine. The pink dragon was gone. Harry looked desperately at the area around the receiving box. It wasn't there either. That could only mean-
Malfoy crouched down, and stuck his hand into the slot where the dragon was supposed to come out. He retrieved the little plush, and held it out for Harry to see.
"A scam, huh?"
Harry grabbed the stuffie and studied it in awe. "Wha- these things never work! They don't!"
"There are always exceptions, Potter." Malfoy commented wisely.
"Ughhhhh," Harry groaned in defeat. "Here then," Harry shoved the plush into Malfoy's chest. "You deserve it, you prick."
It took Malfoy a few seconds to actually take hold of the dragon. "Oh," he said, bluntly.
Harry snorted. "Don't look so surprised, Malfoy. I got it for you anyway."
Malfoy nodded, as if convincing himself of something. He tucked the little dragon under his arm, and swiveled towards the prize counter. "We need to trade in the tickets, yeah?"
"...yeah?"
"Well then, let's go." And Malfoy marched off to the prize counter.
Harry thought he might be imagining it, or it was a trick of the Christmas lights, but Malfoy's ears were bright red, and a blush travelled down his neck.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Snape was going to kill them.
He was, Draco just knew it.
They had almost three hundred tickets by the end of their time at the arcade. Potter, the idiot, thought it would be funny that they spend the entire three hundred on spider rings. Spider rings cost three tickets. They now had one hundred spider rings, in a large paper bag, which one of them had to hold during the bike ride back. What a way to spend ten pounds.
"I can't believe you've done this," Draco said, gesturing with his pretzels towards the bag that Potter carried. They had agreed on getting pretzels afterwards. The pretzels were quite good in Draco's opinion.
Harry scoffed, around a bite of pretzel. He swallowed, and said, "Stop acting like you didn't have a part in this."
"You're right, I should've stopped you when I had a chance." Malfoy sighed regretfully.
"Posh bastard,"
"Hair-brained twit,"
Potter laughed, and bumped the bag of spider rings against Draco's thigh. "Please, you're the one with hair on the brain."
"Oh? And I'm a bastard as well? Last I checked, I was in line to be a Lord."
"That's where the posh bit comes in."
"Har har," Draco said sarcastically. "And I suppose that's where your twit bit comes in."
Potter hit him with the bag again, this time hard enough for Draco to stop teasing. Well, mostly anyway.
They continued towards the bike, which they had left in some restaurant's parking lot. It was only six in the afternoon, but it would be dark sooner rather than later. Autumn truly was afoot. Due to that pleasant fact, they would need to head back within the hour. Draco definitely didn't want to ride that abomination in the dark.
They arrived at the abomination, and Potter wasted no time climbing on it. He leaned against the handlebars, and smiled cheekily up at Draco. The pureblood rolled his eyes and took the finishing bite of his pretzel. Once he was done, he crumpled up the napkin. Not one to shove trash in his pockets, Draco asked Potter, "You done with yours?"
"Yep," Potter answered. He then proceeded to shove the last half of the pretzel into his gob, and held out the napkin for Draco to take. "All done," he said through a mouth full of pretzel.
Draco wrinkled his nose, and hesitantly took the napkin. "Heathen."
Potter snickered, and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his fleece coat. Draco walked off to find the nearest bin.
When he returned, Potter was staring down at the front wheel of the bike. His posture no longer relaxed. Something was on his mind.
"Is something the matter?" Draco asked, approaching him and the bike.
"This is gonna sound weird," Potter warned, finally glancing up at Draco.
"Everything you say is weird,"
"Shove off, I'm trying to be serious," Potter defended, sitting up properly.
Draco stood directly in front of him, and crossed his arms. "Alright then, what is it?"
Potter braced himself. "Can I, maybe, call you by your first name?" he asked, holding his breath.
Not expecting that, Draco blinked dumbly. The pureblood looked away, and took out the pink dragon plushie from under his arm. He turned it around in his hands, thinking. "Erm, I can't see why not."
Potter beamed up at him, as his shoulders sagged.
"Can I call you by yours?" Draco asked, looking up.
"Oh!" Potter exclaimed, like he hadn't thought of that quite yet. "Of course! I mean, uh, if you want to?"
"I'd like to," Draco said, amused.
"Then absolutely!" Potter smiled warmly up at him, slumping down to relax on the handlebars once more. "I've been waiting to ask you that for a while now, actually." Potter admitted, his face flushing slightly. A happy blush, Draco noted.
"Is that so?"
"Mhm, other things too." Pot- Harry said.
"Like what?" Draco asked, moving to sit at the back of the bike. Harry was practically leaning over the front of it, so there was plenty of room for him to sit sideways.
Harry twisted back to face him. That didn't seem to be too comfortable, because Harry started getting off the bike.
"What are you doing? Draco asked, amused at the Gryffindor's antics.
"Turning around," Harry muttered, as he fully got off the bike. He did indeed turn around, and went to sit on the bike, this time backwards. "There," he said, satisfied, "that's better,"
"Hm," Draco hummed, scooching back a bit, "I hope that was worth it."
"It was," Harry said, confidently, "it's better to be facing you when I ask this."
"Oh?" Draco said, interest caught. "Is it really something so scandalous?"
"Yeah, actually it is," Potter admitted, face suddenly flushing brighter.
Draco was expecting something to do with his family. Or his association with death eaters, and whether his morals truly were grey. Or maybe even some homework to copy, because Potter hadn't finished his. All those questions were reasonably in the realm of expectation. What he wasn't prepared for was:
"Do you... like me?"
Draco blinked twice. "Pardon?"
"I mean like, ah," Harry's carefully crafted plan visibly disintegrated, "as more than friends. You know, like, like like. You probably don't even- uh, you know what? Just forget it. Yeah, do that, this was so stupid. Anyw-"
"Potter," Draco said, trying to butt in.
"-ay, you'd never think of me like that. Would you? I guess that's what I'm asking- crap, fuck, uh, if you're wondering I think of you like that. You're probably not wondering that, are you? It'd be cool if you were though. But you aren't. Are you? Cause- fuck, no. This isn't what I wanted- ughhhhh. I should probably shut up now. But, like-"
" Potter," Draco warned.
"Odin and me were talking yesterday. And, and, and, urgh, I knew this would happen. But Odin was all like, 'digest the butterflies', and I was all like, 'no that's not how it works'. But you know how Odin gets. And- I- bollocks, where was I going with this? You know what it doesn't matter. You're not gonna-"
" Harry," Draco stressed. "You're so bloody stupid."
Harry's next words froze on his lips.
"If you're asking me if I'd like to be your boyfriend, then the answer is, yes ." Draco said quickly, feeling his own blush rise.
He didn't know what Dad would think about all this of course. All during his training as a child, he was taught to 'AVOID ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS AT ALL COSTS'. But Draco thought he could make an exception. After all, there were always exceptions.
Draco hugged his dragon closer.
"Oh? Oh!" Harry exclaimed, realizing what Draco meant. "Yes! That's what I'm asking! Do you, uh, do you want me to be your boyfriend?"
" Yes ," Draco emphasised.
"That's- um, great?" Harry said awkwardly.
Draco laughed, loud and clear. He leaned forward, then sweetly kissed Harry on the cheek. He pulled back, smiled softly, and said, "It is great, isn't it?"
They ended up naming the Dragon plush Dingleberry.