Stop All the Clocks (This Is the Last Time I'm Leaving Without You)

chapter 13

Harry let his breath out on a long, contented sigh as he flopped back against the pillows and pulled Malfoy down with him. "Fuck," he sighed. "Taking up with you was the most brilliant idea I've ever had." Fucking hell, he felt good, every inch of his body warm and loose, his skin still tingling faintly from the force of his climax. Sex with Malfoy had started off brilliant and somehow it just kept getting better.

Malfoy laughed softly beside him and pressed closer, draping one arm over Harry's chest. "Of course it's a brilliant idea, but it was mine, if you'll recall. I was the one who suggested a relationship."

"Yeah, well I was the one who said we shouldn't wait to get drunk to fuck each other. And I'm the one who took you home the first time."

"And I was the one who let you," Malfoy said smugly, and Harry realised that no matter what he said, he wasn't going to win this.

They dozed for a while, draped over each other, then Harry woke up to his stomach grumbling. They took a shower together, which involved a lot of groping and another orgasm, then made their way to Malfoy's kitchen where they stood at the counter to eat leftover pasta as they talked about work. After they finished, Harry washed the dishes while Draco dried them and put them away.

"I got something for your birthday," Malfoy said, reaching up into a cabinet as Harry finished drying his hands on a dishtowel.

"Really?" Harry asked, feeling vaguely guilty. Malfoy's birthday had come and gone without Harry even acknowledging it, but at that point they'd only been having drunken sex every couple of weeks so he hadn't really felt he owed Malfoy a gift. "Er, that's nice of you."

Malfoy just grinned at him over his shoulder, and something warm and fluttery expanded behind Harry's ribs. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to Malfoy grinning at him. It made him look younger, carefree and boyish, and Harry wasn't quite sure whether this was the person Malfoy had always been and kept hidden, or if this was the person he was becoming when he was with Harry. Either way, Harry wasn't sure what he'd done to suddenly earn this version of Malfoy, or what he should do to keep him.

"Here," Malfoy said, holding out a paper bag wrapped around something about half the size of a Bludger.

Harry took it, the paper crinkling, and opened it up to find-

"Oh bloody hell. You've got to be joking."

Malfoy just grinned again, the stupid tosser, and Harry no longer found that expression as charmingly boyish as he had just a minute ago as he lifted his gift free of its wrapping. It was a black mug with the words 'I Choose the Chosen One!' circling the rim in bright green lettering, and his own stupid face plastered across the side. As Harry stared down at it, Mug-Harry winked at him, actually winked at him, what the fucking hell. Malfoy laughed, the sound warm and bright as sunshine.

"Oh Merlin, the look on your face!" he gasped out and kept laughing so hard he doubled over.

Harry's fingers tightened around the handle of his new mug and he seriously considered clunking Malfoy over the head with it. "There's no way I'm using this. Where did you even find this thing?"

"There's a shop in Diagon Alley selling all sorts of Harry Potter-themed items," Malfoy said, finally regaining some control over himself, though he still had that brilliant grin on his face. "I almost got you a Harry Potter snow globe, because the little you inside it flails around in a panic if you shake it too hard. And I don't think I'll ever not find that funny, if you're ever looking for a gift for me. But I went with the mug because you're the practical sort and I thought you'd appreciate something you can use every single day."

Harry felt a bit faint at the thought of a little him trapped inside a snow globe, though Malfoy shaking it as hard as he could to see what would happen sounded about right. He'd probably started cackling madly right there in the middle of the shop. "And my face is on everything?"

"Absolutely," Malfoy said as he stroked his finger down Mug-Harry's face, and Mug-Harry licked his lips and fluttered his eyelashes.

"Why is he even doing that?" Harry asked, staring down in disbelief.

"I know," Malfoy said, beaming down at the mug Harry held. "He's a bit of a strumpet, isn't he?"

"I'm never going to use this," Harry said. Never in a thousand years. If this were the last mug on the planet, he'd sooner die of thirst than drink out of it.

"Well," Malfoy said, plucking it from Harry's hands. "That's fine, then. Looks like I've got a new mug."

"You're not going to use it, either," Harry told him as Malfoy made the most ridiculous kissing face at the mug, and Mug-Harry puckered up his lips and made it right back at him.

"You can't stop me," Malfoy said, and Harry knew he shouldn't argue because the more he let on that the mug annoyed him, the more often Malfoy would use it because it did just that.

"I'll break it," Harry threatened.

Malfoy grinned at him. "Then it's a good thing I cast a competent Reparo, isn't it?" He touched his new mug, and Mug-Harry winked at him again. Malfoy smiled delightedly and winked back.

"I can't take you seriously when you're flirting with a mug," Harry said. This ridiculous side of Malfoy was something that had been coming out more and more as they spent time together, and Harry still hadn't quite figured out what to do with it.

Malfoy just laughed. "Jealous, Potter?"

"Why on earth would I be jealous of a mug?"

"I don't know," Malfoy said slowly, a wicked grin playing at his lips. "I'm going to be putting my mouth on him an awful lot."

Harry snorted. "Be serious," he said, though he couldn't quite suppress a smile.

"Why?" Malfoy asked, still smiling. He set the mug aside. "Life's not serious. It's ridiculous and messy and complicated," he said, sliding his arms around Harry's waist and tipping his face up for a kiss. "And it's far, far too short to take seriously."