This is the Way I Fall

Author's note--Told you that I'd give you the prompts in the chapter in which they occurred! And just so you're prepared, it goes UP...and then back DOWN...Thank you for reading (and thank you for reviewing)...don't kill me...

Prompt "You try scraping your uterus out of your fucking panties and see how well YOU deal with it!" (me, about a month ago during that 'time of the month', which has since been dubbed 'Ginny, the red-headed menace')

"Shot through the cunt, and you're to blame!" (also me, same timeframe...adapted from Bon Jovi's 'You give Love a Bad Name')

"You can't rape the willing." (no idea WHO said it, but it's the reason I will most likely never be able to be raped)

This is the Way I Fall by Graballz

Chapter 6

Too Much Information

They stepped into the fraternity house, amazed at how different it seemed just because they were late to the party. Everyone was at different levels of inebriation, and there were even a couple of people passed out on the couches.

“Is this what we look like?” Draco whispered to Harry as they wound their way though the house, looking for their usual group.

“God, I hope not,” Harry replied, wrinkling his nose as they passed the bathroom, where they could hear sounds of retching. “I guess you don’t notice the smell when you’re drunk,” he added, trying not to breathe through his nose.

“Oh my god, it’s about fucking time you two bitches got here,” Tina turned up out of nowhere, snapping at them and glaring as if they had personally pissed in her alcohol.

“Hi, Tina,” Draco said warily, giving Harry a ‘what the hell’ look.

“Don’t you ‘hi, Tina’ me, blondie,” she warned, jabbing a finger in Draco’s face. He frowned, and Harry slid his arm around Draco’s waist, recognizing his lover’s look. Draco was trying not to take offense.

“Hey, Tina, where is everyone else?” Harry asked, trying to divert the conversation.

“You don’t want to talk to me? FINE! Be that way! Typical fucking guy,” Tina shrieked as tears started to roll down her cheeks. Harry was thoroughly alarmed. He had always thought of Tina as level-headed and steady, if a bit sarcastic. This insecure, moody girl in front of him was a stranger, and when he and Draco exchanged looks, he could tell that Draco was just as shocked.

“Don’t mind her,” Marian tapped Harry on the back as she squeezed past them to get a look at her girlfriend. “She’s drunk as a skunk. How’re you doing, tiger?” She added to Draco with a smile.

“Shut up,” Tina shoved her finger in Marian’s face, who brushed it off with a shrug. “Don’t you fucking talk about me like I’m not here!”

“What’s wrong with her?” Draco asked in a loud stage whisper.

“Draco means,” Harry translated, shooting his boyfriend an exasperated look. “Is Tina okay?”

“It’s her ‘time of the month’,” Marian shrugged. “She hasn’t gotten any in a few days, and it makes her a regular, needy bitch. But she’s still MY regular, needy bitch.”

“I fucking hate you,” Tina pushed Marian’s hand away when Marian tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Marian nodded wisely and shook her head at Harry and Draco.

“Wow…” Draco was speechless at the glaring hatred that emanated from their friend. “Is she always like this once a month?”

“Hey, you try scraping your uterus out of your fucking panties and see how well YOU deal with it,” Tina spat, turning on her heel and walking away. Draco’s mouth dropped open at her crassness, and Harry snorted, running a hand over his forehead.

“Sorry, guys, it’s just not her night,” Marian sighed. “I thought she might feel better if she drank, but so far, it’s been backfiring on me. The more she drinks, I think, the hornier she gets, and since we don’t do that now, the meaner she gets.”

“That sucks,” Harry said sympathetically, touching Marian’s arm in support. He gave her a wink, and she smiled back, knowing that he was the steady one while Draco succumbed to the mood swings more.

“You guys go enjoy the party, though,” Marian waved vaguely in the direction of the back porch. “I think the rest of our alcoholics are somewhere that way.”

“Thanks,” Harry called as Marian drifted off in search of her hotheaded girlfriend, following the sound of a drunken, warbled impression of Bon Jovi, changed from ‘Shot through the heart’ to a loud rendition of ‘Shot through the cunt and you’re to blame’.

**********

The back porch of the fraternity was screened in, but it was a nice night for March. It wasn’t too cold, and there was a light breeze blowing through. They spotted Tim making out with a girl who wasn’t Maria in one darkened corner while Derek and Scott were chatting with Todd who was being mauled by a blonde that they didn’t know, but she was practically humping Todd’s leg as she devoured his neck. Their fraternity brother merely had an arm around the girl, helping her keep her balance, head cocked to the side to allow her access to his neck while he carried on a conversation with the other two. Draco plopped down on the couch next to Scott while Harry made himself comfortable on a low wicker chair.

“Hey, dudes, what’s grooving?” Todd’s eyes lit up when he saw them, and he grinned.

“Who’s the bird?” Draco propped his elbows on his knees as he tried to get a look at the girl’s face, but she didn’t even notice him.

“That foreign exchange student from Sweden,” Scott said, nudging Draco with his elbow. “I’ve already got bets that she passes out in his lap. You want in?”

“Don’t do it, Draco,” Stephen warned, walking up behind them. “That girl can hold her liquor like nobody’s business. If you want to bet, bet that SHE wears HIM out. Ol’ Todd there is out of practice with the ladies, what with his ‘big head’ and ‘little arms’ and all.”

“Hey, Stephen,” Harry greeted their dance instructor. “No Carmela?”

“She’s already passed out in my room,” he winked mischievously, and they all laughed.

“So you guys aren’t drinking tonight, huh?” Derek eyed Draco nervously, almost as if he expected the blonde to launch himself across Scott to get to him.

“Nope,” Draco said, looking back at Derek with a furrowed brow. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Memories of Draco hitting on Derek before the tango demonstration surfaced in everyone else’s minds, and they all started snickering some more.

“See? I TOLD you they were laughing at me!” Tina’s injured voice rang out as she and Marian came to the porch.

“No, no, Tina, remember when Draco hit on Derek?” Harry wiped his eyes and tried to recover.

“I did WHAT?” Draco’s head snapped around to look incredulously at his boyfriend. “I did no such thing!”

“You did, tiger,” Marian said in an amused tone. Tina began giggling and couldn’t stop. She collapsed in Marian’s arms, and Harry jumped up to help her lower her drunk girlfriend into the chair just as Tina broke into sobs. “Thanks, Harry. She’s such a bloody girl tonight.”

“So Draco, no propositions for Derek tonight then?” Scott eyed the blonde sitting next to him. Harry had perched on the arm of the couch next to Draco, and Draco had immediately put a hand on Harry’s knee.

“No, you wanker,” Draco hissed. “I don’t want to proposition him ANY night!”

“Touchy,” Scott remarked, downing the remainder of his beer and belching loudly.

“Too bad,” a new voice said, and everyone’s head turned to see Tim standing behind Derek’s end of the couch. The girl he had been kissing was nowhere in sight. “It might have been fun to watch. Much more fun than watching Todd there get raped by the non-English speaking chick.”

“Hey, man, you can’t rape the willing,” Todd winked back. Harry stiffened, knowing that this was perhaps the worst direction the conversation could go.

“It’s NOT a joking matter!” Draco cried, jumping to his feet. Harry cringed; here it was. “You stupid pathetic fuck-wits don’t have ANY idea of what actual hardship means! You’ve never fought in a war! You’ve never had to watch people around you die! You’ve never had to sit and listen to your mother cry herself to sleep at night after being raped! You sit around in your fancy American houses, drinking your stupid-ass American beer, and going to your dumb American classes, thinking you have it all tough because the hardest decision you have to make today is whether to wank before or after class! There are real people out there suffering, so don’t make jokes!”

Draco realized halfway through his speech that he was dangerously close to crying in public, and to his horror, he choked on his last sentence and tears came before he could stop them. He turned blindly and ran smack into his solid Gryffindor. Harry put his arms around Draco and knew that they needed to leave post-haste.

“Guys, I’ll explain later,” Harry said in a quiet voice. “Please don’t be mad at him for this.”

He led Draco out the back door, not wanting to take him through the house again, and hoped that the people they had just left behind would understand. Harry shivered as they walked, remembering the looks on their faces as Draco had started up. Even Tina the drunken smart-mouth had been shocked into silence at the vehemence and rage in Draco’s tone. Todd had even pushed the Swedish girl away, and she had tossed her hair over her shoulder to glare at Draco, only to be cowed as well. Derek, Scott, Stephen, and Tim had looked pole-axed, as if they couldn’t quite believe what they were hearing and who they were hearing it from.

Harry also knew that Draco was unstable and more likely to blurt out something more incriminating about their lives before coming to America. So far, none of the American Muggles knew about the Prophecy, the Boy Who Lived, the Final Battle, or anything else about the British wizarding world, and Harry intended for it to stay that way. When Draco was rational, Harry didn’t have to worry, but it was when Draco’s anger took over his tongue that Harry was concerned something might slip. As it was, Draco hadn’t revealed anything particularly dangerous, other than the fact that he was referencing himself and Harry in his little speech, but Harry was already working out an explanation so that he could pass off Draco’s comments as being about ‘war in general’.

He also wondered, as he steered his shaking boyfriend back towards their apartment, whether Draco would have been as sensitive if they hadn’t just fought about that particular topic. If the subject of rape had come up any other day, would Draco have joked along with everyone? Or would he have gotten as angry as he did earlier? Harry felt that Draco was particularly justified in his anger, after having learned that Draco believed his mother to have been raped by Arthur Weasley.

A change in Draco’s demeanor and stride brought Harry out of his thoughts. The blonde had stopped crying and shut down, a blank expression on his face. He had pulled out of Harry’s grasp and was now walking calmly beside the Gryffindor. Harry reached for Draco’s hand, but the Slytherin violently pulled it away, not looking at Harry, and he knew that Draco couldn’t stand being touched at the moment. It broke his heart not to be able to do something about it, but he respected Draco’s needs, even though he himself wished he could hold Draco’s hand for his own peace of mind.

**********

Author's note--*wails* It'll be okay, I promise!!! Draco's just...overwhelmed and doesn't quite know how to handle it. He needs cuddles (*hint hint*) LOL I hope the 'frat party scene' is believable...and that the dialogue was true as far as the casual manner in which we usually treat matters of seriousness and Draco's outburst. It's true that we really don't think about the way our jokes affect our perception or other people until the subject (that we're joking about) hits home.

And I hope you enjoyed the obviously-unconditional love that Tina and Marian share, even when Tina's being difficult and drunk...and the different throwbacks and references to things that happened in "Pray" and "Dance".

Just in case anyone picked up on this or was wondering...yes, Tim and Maria broke up. *grin* Hey, not EVERYONE can have the amazing awesome power of love on the first try!

And as far as the ending of the chapter, *sigh* they WILL be okay! They're just going through some stuff right now. Poor babies...*hugs Harry and Draco* Anyone else?

To cheer you up: I was listening to Bon Jovi's 'You Give Love a Bad Name'--is that the name of the song? I know he has a couple that are pretty closely named with similar lyrics--anyway, that song came on the radio, and my ex always joked that I had gotten "shot through the cunt" during that 'time of the month'...and it just clicked when I changed the words.

And lastly, my dad had a triple bypass heart surgery this morning, but it went well and I am now off to the hospital to go and be with him. I wanted to get this up and out to you before I left, just in case I am not able to be around tomorrow or something.

But I will make it up to you...how about if I extend "Fall" from 8 chapters to, like, 12 or so? Will THAT be okay? (Yeah, I was planning on ending it after 8 chapters, but something just happened that I want to be part of "Fall" and not the next one...*sigh* I don't know about you guys, but sometimes my plot bunnies exhaust ME with the way they hop around and change at the last second!)

Thank you for all of the reviews! You guys rock! Stick around because it'll turn out okay!

gorgeousbrowneyes HEY!!! Welcome back!!! Thanks for the LONG review!!! I'm sorry that the books have taken you away from the world of slash, but you know we're always here when you have a second to brek away!

As you can see, yes, we DID see them at the party. As far as them heading off to Brazil, *mysterious wink* You're on the right track. Keep going with that.

I understand completely how you feel about rapists and pedophiles. Theirs is the type of crime that continues to victimize long after the perpetrator is gone/dead/away. *sad*

Thank you for your kind words regarding my writing! (Maybe I shouldn't tell you this because it might spoil your high opinion of me lol) I used to be one of those 'crap' writers. No, really! I recently found an old erotica site that I had posted two (heterosexual, non-fanfiction) oneshots, and it was the 'horrible accident' effect.

You know when you're watching something horrible (like a car accident or a train wreck or something) and you just can't look away, even though you know you should? Yeah...I reread those two oneshots (about fellatio! Even if it was a girl giving it to a guy instead of guy/guy) and I couldn't stop cringing!!! Granted, it was back when I was a freshman/sophomore in college (2003 and 2004) but still...

Thank GOD for the slash and fanfiction that has DRASTICALLY improved my writing!!!

You guys don't think less of me now, do you? *wink* j/k

Roozette *cowers* I know, baby, and I'm sorry...it's getting closer, though! Thank you for your kind words!!! I really liked the references to the past, too, and there are a couple more in this chapter! *happy dance*

I, too, have done many a stupid thing while drunk. I think the most notable one was when I was in Ireland (last year) and I drunk-dialed my friend here in the US (cell phone to cell phone--the most expensive kind of calling there is!) plus a six hour time difference to tell her that I was drunk off my ass! LOL And there was one time when I was in New York City (a couple of years ago) and I drunk-dialed an ex to tell him that I was over him but would always 'love him like a friend' while my new boyfriend kept trying to wrench the phone away from me! *oops*

And yes, Draco might get stupid and flirty while drunk, but he has Harry...how can any mere Muggle even COMPARE to tempt Draco? (That's my philosophy, anyway) Harry's too Gryffindor (and has a too-ingrained sense of loyalty and morality) to cheat, plus it's DRACO. There is always the worry that perhaps Draco would be 'taken advantage of' while in an inebriated state, but if they're at the fraternity, the brothers will look after our cute drunk blonde, even if Harry isn't around. But no, you don't have to worry about them looking elsewhere; they are the 'be-all, end-all' of each other's worlds, and that is JUST how it should be!