Close Enough

Ch 19 Cedar and Spice

Slowly waking up, Harry snuggled close to the warm body next to him. Arms tightened around him as a soft humming filled his ears. He began to purr softly deep in his chest as fingers ran delicately through his hair. Nuzzling his face into the other person Harry inhaled deeply, noticing the strong scent of cedar and spice. In his half conscious state, Harry found this smell comforting and smiled against the chest his face was pressed into. Sadly it only took one more breath of the scent for Harry’s brain to become fully awake.
Harry’s eyes snapped open; he could see milky white skin and a slightly faded T-shirt. Shifting his arms to support his weight, Harry began to push off of the body below him, silently praying that he was wrong. As soon as his face was far enough off the person to look up, emerald eyes met silver, and both bodies froze. For a long moment Harry looked searchingly into Draco’s eyes, trying to figure out how and why Draco was in bed with him. In that same moment, Draco sat letting whatever was going to happen, happen. He knew that there was nothing he could do to help the situation that he was in at this point, he only hoped that Harry would understand. Actually, Draco hoped that after a night of constant closeness and touching that Harry’s body would help his mind along in the effort to figure out that he was Harry’s mate.
Harry slowly pushed himself up all the way and removed any body part from where it was touching Draco, keeping eye contact the whole time. Draco didn’t move, he allowed Harry to slide out of his arms and let them fall, but otherwise didn’t even hardly breathe. Mentally Draco was chanting, ‘Harry, it’s okay. There is no need to freak out. Please don’t freak out.’ He watched as Harry’s eyebrows slowly knitted together in confusion and he narrowed his eyes slightly.
Confused, that was an understatement for how Harry felt at that particular moment. Harry was completely baffled by the situation that he found himself in; ‘why is Draco in my bed? Why was I cuddling with him? And why the hell do I feel like I want to cry because I’m not doing so any longer?’ Keeping eye contact with Draco, Harry slid himself to the opposite edge of the bed, allowing his feet to fall to the floor. He stood now with most of the bed between himself and the other boy, and broke their stare for the first time. Harry looked over towards Draco’s bed, observing its unmade state, ‘It looks slept in.’ Harry though. His eye’s snapped back to Draco when the other boy moved.
Having sat still as long as he could, Draco slowly slid off of Harry’s bed, keeping his eyes carefully trained on him. Draco didn’t know what Harry was thinking, and wanted to be sure that no harm was going to come to either of them before the situation was explained. He knew how powerful Harry was, and if the other boy thought for one moment that something was off, Draco was sure that he wouldn’t hesitate to hex him into next week. When Draco’s feet hit the floor however, Harry took a couple steps back, apparently wanting more space between them now that Draco was also standing.
When he took his second step back, Harry began to feel an odd tightening in his chest, like something was slowly squeezing the air out of his lungs. His left hand clawed over his heart as he tried to take a deep breath, it sounded more like a gasp really. Harry’s eyes went wide at the now concerned expression that came across Draco’s face, somewhere in his mind a small voice was trying to convince Harry that he should make that look go away, that he should fix whatever is causing it. When Harry took another quick step back the pain got worse and he stopped mid-step.
As Harry moved farther away, Draco felt a ghost of a pain in his chest; it was as though the pain wasn’t really his. From the look on Harry’s face, Draco assumed that the pain was his, ‘Why is he in pain?’ Draco couldn’t figure it out, all he knew was that being closer would fix it. Draco needed to fix it, and he needed to be closer to Harry in order to fix it.
“Harry…” Draco said softly taking a small step closer to him. “Harry… talk to me…” when Harry didn’t move after the first step, Draco took another.
The pain slowly dissipated as Draco got closer, this fact kept Harry frozen where he stood. Draco’s eyes were reassuring somehow, and the fact that the pain was going away only made the desire to be closer to him harder to resist. Harry’s mind raced, everything in his mind felt jumbled, every thought ran into the next. The only rational thought that Harry had was, ‘Why do I want to be close to him? Why does he smell so good?’ Draco’s slow small steps carried him to just outside of arms reach from Harry when he was stopped by Harry’s soft, scared voice, “Draco… what’s happening?”
Draco smiled softly and took another step forward, now only a little over a foot away, “What do you think is happening Harry?” Draco asked reaching up and touching Harry’s cheek gently. At the touch Harry’s eyes fluttered closed, his eyebrows unknitted, and a soft smile pulled at his lips. Draco smiled and closed the space between himself and Harry, resting his other hand gently on Harry’s hip before snaking his arm around Harry’s slim waist.
“I…. I don’t know…” Harry opened his eyes slowly. Draco’s eyes shined happily at Harry, a smile clearly displayed upon his face. “I… I don’t know… I just… I want… I want to be near you…” Harry rested his forehead on Draco’s shoulder breathing deeply, whispering, “Why do you smell so good….” Draco chuckled, nuzzling into Harry’s hair.
“You smell good too, Harry.” At this Draco could feel Harry’s pulse quicken beyond what it already was, he decided it would probably be faster than a hummingbird’s at this point. The blood pumping through Harry’s veins singing loudly with adrenaline and power, and Draco’s instincts were demanding that he do something about it. ‘Not yet.’ Draco told himself. Harry pulled himself back slightly, looking up at Draco searchingly.
“Draco… how did you survive that day in the hospital wing?” Harry asked softly, looking up at Draco, his eyes serious.
“Because I’m not human.” Draco stated in a knowing, flat tone.
“Why were you in my bed with me this morning?” his eye’s narrowing.
“Because you were having a bad dream, and I wanted to comfort you.” Draco answered with a soft smile.
“Why?”
“Because I needed to.” Draco answered, it was cryptic but a perfect answer none the less.
“Draco…. I think you’re…. I think you’re my bonded…” Harry said in a soft, tense and nervous voice. Draco could feel Harry’s whole body tense in his arms, as though he was preparing himself for Draco to pull away and leave him standing there. Draco locked his fingers together against the small of Harry’s back a broad grin spreading across his face.
“Harry…” at his name Harry looked up into Draco’s eyes, “I’m not going anywhere, dear Harry, I promise.” At these words Harry snuggled his face into Draco’s chest, holding tight onto his T-shirt, deeply inhaling Draco’s scent. Harry felt as if a block had been removed from his mind, he could feel something there, a connection, that wasn’t there before. There were thoughts and feelings that’s weren’t his own swimming through his mind; certainty, joy, compassion, strength, love. Harry felt as if with that single sentence, Draco had deconstructed and rebuilt his world. For the first time in Harry’s life, everything felt right.