A Cup of Tea, Please

17 | Cafe of Cuddles

Draco's jaw fell at the words, as he repeated "Broke up?"

Harry pressed his lips together tightly in an attempt to gain at least some control over himself. He nodded.

"But how? Why? You two used to be all over eachother! Whatever happened?"

"We do— I mean, we still like eachother. Nothing happened, it's just . . . we don't think our lives will work well together; we both want different things and——"

Fuck. The last thing Harry wanted to happen happened. His words were cut off by the feeling of his throat tightening. He could barely breathe, let alone speak. The harder Harry tried to get his words out, the harder his tears flowed.

"I'm sorry," Harry muttered, wiping away tear after tear with the end of his sleeve, but it was no use. He resorted to cupping his face with his hands, his lip quivering as sobs demanded to be let out. But he fought back.

He shouldn't be crying. Not in a cafe. Not during the festive season. Not in front of Draco Malfoy. But Harry couldn't control himself—as much as he tried, his attempts at calming himself down were futile. He was dpending more effort than he could afford.

Caught up with trying not to embarrass himself, Harry hadn't noticed the sudden heat that encompassed him. Around his chest, arms and back. He forced his eyes open, only to see arms wrapped around him. Harry turned his head and just about managed to see, through heaps of tears, Draco.

Draco was hugging him?

Harry couldn't think straight. He couldn't remember the last time that he'd been hugged. It didn't matter who cared at this point. Harry just wanted someone to care about him. Without thinking, he brought his hand up to rest on Draco's, which sat on his chest, right above his beating heart.

"Thank you," Harry whispered as Draco eventually let go of him, "I really needed that."

"Oh, really?" Draco half-smiled, though still visibly a bit worried about Harry. "I was about to apologise—I wasn't sure if you'd like that."

Harry felt a smile creep across his own lips, then looked down at the empty cup of tea before him. "Er, how much, by the way?"

"Hm? Oh, don't worry about it," Draco said softly. "That's on me."

"But that's not fair—you work here! And I had the tea, so——"

"Honestly Harry, I'll pay. It's okay."

"But have money that I——"

Before Harry could finish his sentence, Draco had already disappeared with the empty cup of tea, to not only put it away but also pay for it. What was going on in Draco's head? Why did he care this much about Harry?

He finally found an opportunity to ask the question, as the blonde approached Harry's table again and sat himself back in his seat, opposite.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" asked Harry, tilting his head.

"You're going through a hard time. It's only human decency to make life as easy as I can for you, even if I can't do much."

"But . . . why? Just a few years ago, you would've sniggered in my face and—I dunno—gone around running your mouth about it."

"I'm trying to change, you already know that."

"Oh, right. It's still a little weird though. I'm seeing you doing all these nice things for me, and then I see your face and recognise you as the same person who tried to hurt me and my friends."