Work Text:
Harry should have known that taking Draco to Harrods was a bad idea.
But it’s not his fault, not really, buying a Christmas gift for someone from a muggle store was their assignment for the Muggle Studies class (the one that every 8th year had to take). And Harrods just looked so pretty with all of the Christmas lights and decorations.
Harry hadn’t been allowed to go into stores like that as a child, so when Draco had pointed and said, “that one.”
Harry had said, “okay.”
But they’d been in the store for four hours, wandering around the seemingly endless sections, and Draco seemed to have found something for everyone that they knew at Hogwarts. Harry thought he’d probably found things for people he didn’t know judging by just how many things were in the trolley.
None of that mattered as much as the fact that there was a security guard that seemed to be following them around at this point. And even though Harry knew that he hadn’t done anything wrong, he was still starting to feel a little anxious.
“Are you ready?” Harry asked him, trying not to sound impatient.
Draco hummed, ticking through the items in the trolley. “We haven’t found anything for Hagrid.”
“We?” Harry asked.
The other boy blinked at him, “of course we. It’s a partner assignment.”
“But the assignment was just to get one gift!” Harry protested, feeling warm, and embarrassed, and inexplicably pleased at the thought of giving gifts like they were a couple. Because they weren’t a couple; no matter how much Harry might wish they were.
“But how could we choose just one person?” Draco asked. “We’ll hurt everyone else’s feelings.” And then he did something which Harry found completely unfair; he pouted at him.
Harry may have been the conqueror of the dark lord; the teenager who sassed back every teacher, ministry official, or reporter who spoke to him the wrong way; and a person who was generally ready to fight whatever needed to be fought but nothing had prepared him for that face. He had absolutely no defense against him, he was too bloody cute. “Fine,” he said. “Fine.”
The other boy smiled brightly at him. “Hagrid,” he repeated.
Which was how they ended up in the pet area, picking out a ridiculously overpriced bed for Fang.
They went through the checkout and Harry felt like every single person around them was judging them, waiting for them to say it had all been one big joke. He was feeling like he was underdressed in his hoodie and jeans, young and not taken very seriously.
Draco, on the other hand, seemed to have no such compunction. He chatted with the woman checking him out like they were old friends and she ended up selling him a few more add-ons at the register.
The total was staggering, Harry didn’t think he’d ever seen a number that high on a cash register and wondered absently if Harrods registers went higher than normal registers.
Draco didn’t even bat an eye, he continued talking while he swiped the bank card that was attached to his vault at Gringotts. The receipt printed out and Harry watched as it seemed to flow unendingly from the register. “You two have a merry Christmas,” the woman said when she tore it away and handed it to Draco.
“You too,” Draco replied, pushing the trolley away.
Harry stepped into the elevator behind him and waited for the doors to close before asking, “how are we going to carry all of this?”
Draco rolled his eyes, “we’ll just cast lightening charms. Then once we’re out of muggle London we’ll shrink them too.”
He laughed, short and then longer, because he couldn’t help it. "This was ridiculous," he said, laughing louder.
"What was?" Draco asked, looking at Harry like he'd lost the plot, but smiling in spite of himself.
Harry leaned against the wall of the elevator, "I never would have been allowed in a store like this," he said, gesturing to the store as they emerged from the elevator and onto the street, carrying their massive bags. "And you just bought everything that struck your fancy without a single care about what anyone around you was thinking."
"Why should I care about what any of them are thinking?" he asked. "I don't know them, I'll never see them again. And I wasn't doing anything wrong, I was just shopping-"
He reached out and bumped him with his shoulder, "You didn't do anything wrong," he agreed. "I just never feel like I belong in that sort of place," he said seriously.
Draco stopped and looked at him, "Listen to me," he said and Harry turned to look at him, "You are Harry fucking Potter. You can and should have everything that you want and no one should get to tell you who you are."
He blinked.
"Don't let small people make you feel small," he added. Then he said, a little softer, a little more genuinely, "You are the best person I've ever known. You deserve whatever you want."
And Harry did the only thing that made any sense to him, he dropped his bags and kissed him, both hands cupping his surprised face.
By the time Harry's brain caught up with his body and he started to panic, Draco had dropped his bags and was kissing Harry back. When he pulled back, Draco grinned, "Lucky for me that I'm the thing that you want."
Harry laughed and leaned his forehead against Draco's, "You're not a thing. You're a person with wants of his own."
"Lucky for you, I want you too, then."
And of all of the Christmas presents that Harry'd ever received, the kiss Draco gave him next was probably his favorite.