Wrinkles in Life

Chapter Eight

       "So I think I want to tell everyone," Draco said while he and Harry laid in bed. Harry stopped playing with his fingers. "Tell everyone what?" the brunette said cautiously.

      "About me wearing makeup," said Draco. Harry looked equal parts proud, relieved, and disappointed. When Draco told him as much, his boyfriend gave him a little smile and said, "I am so proud and happy that you want to tell people who you are, babe. I just - well, I thought you meant you were going to tell everyone about us."

       Draco stopped playing with Harry's hair. "Do you want to tell everyone about us?" Cause I do. I don't want to rush into this but it would feel right, Draco thought.

      "I think so," Harry said hesitantly. "I'm not going to pressure you into coming out, but I want to be able to hold your hand and kiss you in the Great Hall without doubting myself in front of everyone. I want that and I've been denying it when people ask if Ginny and I are dating. Do you want to?"

      Draco realized with a start that he did want that. He wanted to proudly tell people that Harry was his boyfriend and that they were serious.

      Harry took Draco's silence as a bad thing and immediately rushed to say, "I mean, we've been dating for almost a month and a half so I was thinking that we were serious - are we serious? Cause I would like for us to be. Serious, that is."

      Draco laughed and kissed Harry, who gave him a relieved smile. "You're rambling, Potter. Yes, I want us to be serious," the Slytherin said. "Would you mind if I came out about makeup before, well, coming out?"

      "You're always so articulate, Mr Advanced Runes," Harry teased. "I would never mind. I get it, I really do." Draco couldn't help his smile and kissed his amazing boyfriend again. How life has changed, he thought happily. The person Draco had regarded as an enemy was now the person he trusted most, the person that made him feel completely safe and loved. Am I in love, Draco thought. And if he was, would that be such a bad thing?

      A couple days later, Draco looked amazing, sporting a bright red lip while he refused to leave his and Harry's room. Draco still wanted to do this, he wanted to be himself in front of everyone. It was just so damn scary, though, to know that people would stare and whisper.

      Harry took Draco's clammy hands. "I'll be right beside you. You look beautiful and I'm not sure if this is the right time to unload all of this on you, but I love you. Draco, you can do this."

      The blonde couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips. "I love you, too," he breathed. They both smiled and Draco pulled Harry close. Their foreheads were touching and Harry's arm wrapped around his waist. Gray eyes met green ones, the edges of their eyes crinkling from their smiles. The blonde felt secure and happy. Accepted in every sense of the word.

      It doesn't matter if people reject me, Draco thought. They will never know what I went through and what this all means to me. He had gone through so much to make his life better and Draco was fast approaching the last wrinkles in his life. Makeup and then coming out were the last steps to showing who he was and Draco couldn't wait to face the world head on now that he had the support he needed. His mum, Pansy, and now Harry and all their friends. They would be there for him, Draco knew it in his gut that it was true. The blonde was slightly scared to put himself out there in ways he had never dared to even think about before, but when he looked into the reassuring green in Harry's eyes, Draco knew that what he was doing was right and true to himself.

      "The ones who care don't matter, and the ones who matter don't care," Harry told his boyfriend. "It's a quote from a muggle children's story but it's always stuck with me. Whatever happens, I'll always be here for you and so will our friends. I know it."

      "And I know it too," said Draco. "Okay, let's go."