Harry didn't show up on time for their next diner date, and Draco was getting antsy.

"No Harry?," Delilah asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"He's supposed to be here. He was on call at work so I'm assuming he was called in."

"I'll give you a few more-"

"Draco!"

Everyone in the nearby vicinity winced at the volume of Harry's voice.

"Sorry!," he whispered in embarrassment, covering his face with one hand as he shuffled over to the table. "I am so sorry," he repeated once he sat down.

"I'll give you two a few minutes."

"I'm sorry."

"Is everything okay Harry? You don't look quite well."

"I'm very frazzled. I got you these."

"Oh."

Draco turned a delightful shade of pink as he accepted the flowers Harry handed him.

"What are these for?"

"Being late. Raid."

Draco's fingers grabbed the wand in his waistband automatically.

"Let's put in our orders and you can check me out in the bathroom?"

"Okay. What are you getting?"

"A giant plate of nachos. A burger and fries. Then, I'm taking you out for ice cream."

"Can we add a salad to that?"

"A salad smothered in dressing."

"For Merlin's sake Harry," Draco replied with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine, no dressing," he huffed.

"And you're drinking water."

"Yes Healer Malfoy."

Draco ordered a personal pizza and Harry's eyes widened. As his mouth opened, Draco kicked his shin. Harry stuck his tongue out at Draco and ran a hand through his hair.

"Come on then you," Draco instructed with a sigh, grabbing Harry's hand and leading him to the bathroom.

Harry gently shook his hand off and Draco couldn't help but feel a tad hurt.

"It's not that I don't want you to, just looks a tad suspicious if you're aggressively dragging me by my hand into the bathroom. I can dream though," Harry finished with a grin.

"Potter!," he hissed, smacking Harry on the shoulder.

"You're going to bruise me terribly. You're doing the opposite of healing me."

"You!"

"Me," Harry replied with a lazy grin.

"I think you've hit your head."

"I don't need a concussion to recognize how much I like you, you prat."

"Any injuries I should be worried about?"

"I don't think I got hit with anything but you can check for your piece of mind."

Draco hummed while he worked, and Harry smiled at him unabashedly.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Looking at me like that."

Harry crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue and Draco couldn't help but laugh.

"Insufferable git."

"I'm going to start answering to 'insufferable' now," Harry retorted with a dramatic sigh, washing his hands in the sink.

Draco followed suit and bit back a smile as Harry dramatically opened the door for him.

"Let's see if any of your three meals are ready."

"I don't think anything I have to say is a good response."

"Potter. Don't you dare tell me that this is the first time you've eaten all day."

"Does a chocolate bar count?"

"I don't understand how you've survived this long without me."

"Being alive, but not living," Harry answered honestly, grabbing Draco's hand again.

Insults from Harry were so much easier to deal with than compliments.

"You're something so special," Draco replied quietly, shaking his head.

"Ooh my nachos and your salad are here!"

"Your salad actually."

With a smirk, Harry dumped the salad over his nachos.

"There."

"Absolutely insufferable."

"That's Malfoy speak for 'I love you' I know it. Share with me?"

"I suppose I can sample some of that monstrosity as you tell me about your day."

"So I was looking at furniture catalogs..."

Harry was such a great storyteller, Draco was absolutely captivated. He gestured with his hands, made silly sound effects and faces, and Draco couldn't look away.

"Let me get this right. You actually let one of the other aurors get hit with a stunner instead of jumping in front of him?"

"I threw up a shield that blocked the brunt of it, but yes. After we talked last I couldn't help but wonder why I kept doing that. I wondered if they were relying on me to take all of the damage and that's why they weren't as reactive. He didn't even move Malfoy."

"I'll kill him," Draco replied calmly, taking a sip of his drink.

"I think he can handle that just fine himself. He actually looked offended that I didn't jump in front of him."

"He shouldn't be allowed in the field, endangering people like that!"

"That's the thing, it's not really people, it's just me."

"There is no 'just you' Harry. You mean a lot of things to a lot of people, myself included. I know I poke fun, probably more than I should, but I like having you back in my life. I mean that."

"Thank you Draco. I needed that."

"Slice of pizza?"

"I'll trade you some of my fries."

"Deal."

Every meeting, Draco got more and more vulnerable with Harry, and he couldn't help but smile. Slowly, he was working his way through Draco's walls, not quite realizing how far past his own walls Draco already was.

"Potter, I don't think I can have ice cream after this."

"Rain check on our ice cream date then."

"I suppose we must. I won't be able to do my job if I can't move."

"We can apparate to yours instead of walking. Let's go."

"The bill-"

"Is already taken care of."

"You said it was my turn!"

"I did, but then I ordered half the menu," Harry replied sheepishly.

"You're getting a t-shirt that says 'insufferable' on it because I can't deal with you anymore. So help me Potter if you don't let me pay the next time I see you we won't be going out anymore," Draco threatened.

"Okay, I promise."

"Good. Now take me home."

"Gladly."

Harry couldn't stop the smile that took over his face at Draco's choice of words.

"Alright Potter, you know the procedure by now."

"Go put on your pyjamas first. I'll be waiting on the couch for you to get back."

"Oh. You remembered."

"I'm pretty sure there's a portion of my brain with your name on it," Harry replied with a snort. "I just catalog everything you say and do because I never know when it'll come in handy."

Draco couldn't help the giddy giggle that escaped his mouth as he leaned against the door to his bedroom. He chose the most beautiful flower from the bouquet Harry had given him and cast extra strength preservation charms on it before carefully pressing it into a book. It was the first time a man had ever bought him flowers, and he wouldn't forget it.

While Draco was getting ready for bed, Harry was being nosy. He was walking around Draco's living room, looking at all of his belongings. Longingly, he looked at all of the photos of Draco and his Slytherin friends, wishing he, Ron, and Hermione were still that close. Shaking his head, he settled back onto the couch, holding the same pillow close that he had last time.

"Alright, story time. Which ones are we getting rid of today?"

"Let's go back to the arms. It's getting warm so I'd love to be able to wear some sleeveless shirts without wanting to tear my skin off."

"Okay."

"This scar is from like three weeks ago? Not a knife, I actually got hit with a wooden plank with some nails in it. Completely muggle, very barbaric. Got called by a junior Auror, turned around, and whack there I went. Merlin, I'm like a human punching bag."

"Simple story, easy to heal. What about this one?," Draco asked, tracing a long scar down Harry's arm.

"Ah. Chemical burn. Illegal potion making ring. They started a fire to try and burn all of the evidence. Had to put the fire out the muggle way. I didn't want to use magic, I wasn't sure what we were dealing with. I grabbed a big tarp and threw it down. Burnt my robes, burnt my arm, but I preserved some of the evidence. I had the blaze controlled as best as I could until our experts finally came in."

"What kinds of potions were they?"

"They were trying to extend the length of polyjuice and make it more permanent. There were so many samples that once we had all of the evidence we needed, we actually did conduct a controlled burn. I had never seen anything like it before."

"Well, now you don't have a reminder of that."

"Thank you."

"That will be the last one for today unless you have anything small?"

"You're going to laugh."

"Have I laughed at anything else?"

"Well no, but this one is embarrassing," Harry admitted sheepishly.

"Try me."

"I have this scar on my hip from being distracted and running into the sharp edge of a counter."

"A... counter?"

"Yeah, I told you it was embarrassing."

"What distracted you?"

"Oh, you know. Things..."

It was in fact Draco himself who had distracted Harry all those years ago. Both men were in the Ministry, and Harry had watched as Draco nervously dropped something. When he bent down to pick it up, Harry had stumbled and walked directly into the sharp edge of the countertop.

"A counter...," Draco mused, biting his lip to hold in a laugh. "Let's see it then."

He wasn't laughing as Harry lowered the edge of his boxers and trousers to expose the small scar.

"Did this happen at work?"

"Yep."

"What were you doing?"

"Trying to walk to my office."

"And you got distracted."

"Mhmm."

"By me when I dropped my papers and bent down to pick them up?," Draco asked wickedly.

Harry sputtered, his face turning red as he tried to come up with another story.

"Careful Potter, I need to know so I can heal this."

"You're a menace, did you know that? Yes, okay, you distracted me. Merlin, it's like you don't know how attractive you are. You move and my eyes just follow you."

"Well, maybe your feet should follow your eyes then hmm? There, all better."

"Are you telling me I should kick you in the arse?"

"Are you telling me you were staring at my arse?," Draco asked, jaw dropping in shock.

"What else would I have been looking at?"

"I thought you were making fun of me being clumsy, not checking me out!"

"Both can be true at once," Harry agreed with a cheeky smile.

"Insufferable."

"Not my fault you have a nice arse."

"Can we please change the subject?," Draco begged, his face feeling hot.

"You're not tired today," Harry acquiesced.

"I'm learning my limits better."

"Does that mean I can take you out for ice cream now?"

"I'm in my pyjamas."

With a cheeky grin and a snap of his fingers, so was Harry.

"There, now I'm not overdressed."

"You want me to go out with you to get ice cream, dressed like this?"

"You've never gone out in your pyjamas before?"

"Obviously not, these clothes are for sleeping. Be happy I'm even letting you see me in them."

"Come on, let's go. For me?"

"I-"

"Yes yes, I'm insufferable. I'll even let you pay."

Draco snorted before quickly covering his mouth.

"Fine."

With a fond roll of his eyes, Draco nudged Harry out of the way so he could put his shoes back on.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

"I appreciate it. It's nice having someone to do things like this with again. After the war when we couldn't sleep, Ron, Hermione, and I would go for walks in our pyjamas and get ice cream. We'd grab a disposable camera and use up all of the film with utter nonsense, just trying to get each other to smile and remind ourselves that there were still moments to live for. Merlin, we haven't done that in... well, since they moved in together on their own I reckon."

"I'm going to heal Weasley extremely slowly the next time he finds himself in my room. To think that we fought over your friendship and he won and he threw all of those years away? I should be grateful I suppose, because now it's my turn," Draco announced triumphantly, holding up a digital camera. "I know exactly where we can go. Come along Potter, the night is young."

Harry didn't think he'd ever get over the feeling of Draco's hand in his own. He often found his thumb running small circles over Draco's hand, just as a reminder that it's still there, keeping him grounded.

"When are you free next?," Harry inquired, swinging their conjoined hands between them.

"We can do Tuesday or Thursday? I'm catching up with Pansy and Blaise on Wednesday."

"Let's do Thursday then. I don't want to accidentally have you overexert yourself to the point where you can't enjoy yourself."

"Aren't you sweet."

"I have my moments. I can't hog all of your time, no matter how much I may want to."

"You're going to give me a complex Potter."

"Better than my hero complex," Harry replied with a snort.

"I hear rumors you're growing out of that and letting people fight their own battles."

"We'll see how long that lasts. I just need to find something else meaningful to do with my time, like you. You have an admirable career, you actually help people. The Ministry's corrupt and I never know what they want to tack my name onto."

"It's admirable until I let Wesley suffer longer than I'm supposed to," Draco replied with a snort.

"That's sweet, in a convoluted way I suppose. Don't endanger your job for me."

"For you? Who said it's for you? If you recall, the Weasel was my enemy before he was yours."

"He's not my enemy, he's just hot headed."

"Potter we all remember his treatment of you in fourth year."

"Yeah, well," he trailed off a shrug.

"Harry no, you didn't deserve that," Draco said softly, stopping them in their tracks.

"With how many times things like this happen, it almost has to be my fault doesn't it?," he asked with a self-deprecating smile.

"You're not even partners, I don't understand why he'd be upset if you're quitting."

"Honestly I don't quite understand his reasoning myself. I'm just tired of fighting."

"We're here, let's get your ice cream."

"Thank you."

"Harry is there even ice cream in there?!," Draco asked in horror once Harry received his bowl.

"Somewhere."

"We could've just purchased a bunch of sweets if you didn't actually want ice cream."

"Next time."

Draco's heart skipped a beat at how easy this was. He would let himself have this.

"Next time you can't sleep, come see me," he offered, bumping Harry's shoulder as he accepted his strawberry ice cream.

"I don't want to impose."

"Do it anyway. Can you take a picture of us please?," Draco asked the worker, handing him his camera.

"Sure mate."

"Cheers, thank you."

After their photo, Draco led Harry to a park he loved to stop by when he needed an escape.

"You know you can stop, right? You just need to find something worth your time. Have you tried volunteering?"

"I did a few times but it's hard doing things, being with people, when I'm me. Maybe I'll look into some muggle means of volunteering. That could be nice."

"Maybe there's some muggle classes you can take? Like painting or something that can give you a new hobby?"

"I think I'll pop over to the library tomorrow. Thanks Draco."

"You can repay me by pushing me on the swing after we finish our ice cream."

As if Harry would refuse a chance to touch Draco on purpose.

"Deal," he promised, stealing a swipe of Draco's ice cream.

"Hey!"

"Do you want some of mine?," Harry offered with a smirk, holding his spoon out to Draco.

"Since you're offering," Draco replied, his smirk more devious than Harry's as he wrapped his lips around Harry's spoon.

"You have something, right there," Harry whispered, wiping the corner of Draco's mouth with his thumb.

"Messy eater," Draco flirted back, winking at Harry.
 
"You're so...," Harry trailed off, shaking his head. "How much film do you have left in that camera?"

That was the fun of being a wizard Harry thought, as he and Draco used their magic to suspend the camera in mid-air and take photos. This was what Harry's life should be like. Draco Malfoy's laugh was quickly becoming one of his favorite sounds.

"I'm going to sleep so well tonight," Draco said with a grin, stretching out on the slide.

Harry watched as part of his shirt rode up and taut, pale stomach was exposed.

"Well, I'm always available to help tire you out," was out of Harry's mouth before he could help it.

Draco giggled, face turning red as he placed his hand over his mouth.

"I bet you could," he murmured. "Walk me home?"

"Of course."

It really hit Harry then, just how much he would do to keep that smile on Draco's face. He didn't realize that Draco was thinking the exact same thing as he wished Harry a goodnight.

{Okay besties, here's the interactive part of the fic process. Let me hear your painful/silly suggestions for how Harry can have more scars. My personal favorite is the counter story. I need some more ideas so I'd love to hear what you're all thinking.}