The week was grueling, and not even Harry's cheerful demeanor could get him through the day. Next Friday was their first game of the season, and Draco had too many things going on to focus.

"Are you alright?," Harry whispered lowly into his ear, causing Draco to jump in his seat, eyes going wide.

"I'm fine," Draco replied shakily.

That voice...

"You don't look so well," came another whisper, and Draco felt his head spin.

"Malfoy looks like he's going to be sick, I'm walking him to the nurse."

Draco allowed himself to be lead out of the classroom. Harry continued to whisper softly into his ear, letting Draco rest heavily on him.

"What happened?!," Madam Pomfrey asked, instructing Harry to lay Draco down on the bed.

"I don't know. He was zoning out during class, then I asked if he was alright and he looked positively ill."

"Let's check your temperature Mr. Malfoy. Low grade fever," she tutted. "Drink all of this water. Small sips."

Draco did as told, leaning his head against the wall.

"And you Mr. Potter?"

"I'm sleeping, yes. Is there anything I can do for you Draco?"

"Take notes for me?"

"Of course. I'll come and see you before practice yeah?"

"You don't have to you have work."

"I always have time for you," Harry replied with a soft smile before heading back to class.

"What's going on Mr. Malfoy?"

"I'm just stressed out is all."

"Let's talk stress management and then you can lay down for the rest of the period."

Harry was worriedly taking notes, but he forced himself to stay focused for Draco. He knew his friend took extremely meticulous notes, and Harry didn't want to jeopardize his grades.

Draco didn't reappear until the last period of the day.

"Alright?," Harry whispered to him.

"Better," Draco agreed, feeling goosebumps arise on his skin.

"Still practicing?"

"Have to."

Harry frowned at Draco, who shrugged at him in return before turning to the front of the room. Once the bell rang, Harry gave Draco his binder, filled with his notes.

"I know your notes are extremely organized, so I tried my best."

"Thank you Harry, I really appreciate it."

"C'mon Malfoy flirt later!"

"Upset you're not in this position Zabini?," Draco bit back. "I'll talk to you later yeah?," he continued softly to Harry.

"Feel better."

"Thanks Harry."

Harry's shift was long, but the money was better tonight than other days. When he got home, he started his video upload, then had dinner.

He was steadily increasing in viewers, and that was bringing in more money. Not that he did it for the money, he enjoyed helping people and having a creative outlet.

Soon enough, he would reach 1 million subscribers and earn his gold play button. The bronze one for 100,000 was currently still in its box. It's not that he was embarrassed to hang it up, he just appreciated his anonymity, and really didn't want to explain to anyone what else he did in his spare time.

Sleep seemed to be coming quickly, but Harry needed to stay up until the video was done uploading. He thought a 20 minute long mic brushing video could do the trick.

It ended up being a no talking video, because Harry only had the energy to do his intro and ending. Some viewers really liked only listening to the sounds, and Harry could respect that.

As the video was almost done, Harry began making a list of things to do. Homework, his work schedule, shopping list, chores, and other ASMR video ideas. He recorded all of the writing sounds and thought they could do well in a compilation of other pen and paper sounds.

The uploading of his video was still incomplete, so Harry began filming another video. He hadn't had much time to film due to the project, so he thought he would get ahead of his filming schedule. He added editing to his to do list for tomorrow, and wrote down his video uploading schedule.

Finally, the upload was complete, and Harry fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and didn't awake until his alarm went off the next day.

Saturday's were always extremely busy for Harry, so he micromanaged his time down to the minute. After showering, he sent Draco a message asking how he was feeling.

Getting out his recording equipment, Harry then began to make a cooking video. He thought Draco could use some homemade soup, and thought the chopping sounds and visuals could be a hit. Harry had decided to release two versions of this videos. One he would do a voiceover for where he would care for his sick friend, and the other would just be the sounds and visuals.

After quickly making breakfast, Harry then began to get his tutoring materials ready for the day. While waiting for his student to arrive, he began editing last night's video. His videos were typically all recorded straight through so he only needed to edit the audio. He managed to complete it by the time his student arrived, and was feeling good about the day.

Just as suspected, Draco was feeling worse than he had been the previous day. Practice had really tired him out, and his fever had returned. He was stuck in bed all day per his mother, and he was not enjoying it.

He smiled at Harry's text message, and rolling onto his side he texted him back, snuggling into his blankets.

Harry: what are you up to right now?

Draco: Being consumed by my blankets

Harry: consumed? do you need saving?

Draco: *attachment*

Harry: awww

Draco felt his face flushing at the message, wondering how to interpret it.

Harry: do you think you can make it downstairs?

Draco: If there's a good enough reason, I may be persuaded

Harry: i'm outside :)

Draco: I'm coming

Harry knocked on the door, and was promptly greeted by Narcissa.

"Hello Mrs. Malfoy, how are you today?"

"I'm doing well Harry, thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were coming over. Draco is sick."

"I know, and I'm not staying long. I just made him some soup this morning that I wanted to drop off before I head to work."

"Oh. That's very kind of you dear. Please come in."

"Hello Harry," Draco spoke, sniffling as he wrapped the blanket around his shoulders.

"Hi Draco. I brought you some soup."

"He made you some soup," Narcissa clarified with a small smile on her face. "Thank you for stopping by Harry, I do hope you'll stop by again once Draco is feeling better. Don't be out of bed too long Draco dear."

"Of course Mother. You made me soup?"

"This morning yeah. I thought it might help."

"Thank you Harry, really. A can would have sufficed though."

Harry wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

"Absolutely not. I hate the lingering metallic aftertaste. This is much better."

"It is, because you made it for me," Draco said sincerely.

"I hope it helps you. I need to head to work but I'll text you later, yeah?"

"My house is out of the way though."

"It's alright, it's a nice day, I enjoyed the bike ride here. I finish right after the dinner rush so I can bring you something if you'd like?"

"You don't have to."

"I wanted to check up on you anyway. If you're asleep I'll just leave it with your mother."

"Thank you Harry."

"I hope you feel better soon. Enjoy the soup."

Leaning his head against the door frame, Draco watched Harry bike away, holding onto the soup.

"Let's get you a bowl of that soup shall we? Oh it smells divine. And there's some bread in here. Do you want to eat here or in bed?"

"I'll eat here, a change of scenery is nice."

"Mr. Potter does seem to have taken a liken to you."

"Harry's great, really. He walked me to the nurse's office and took my notes for me yesterday."

"That's very kind of him. And then to go through the effort of making you a soup and bringing it all this way."

"What are you getting at Mother?"

"I'm just saying that's a lot of kindness for a... friend you just met."

"He's my only friend. Zabini has never shown any kindness to anyone except for you and Father. Don't mistake Harry's actions for something they're not."

"All I'm saying is that I approve. And he's welcome to cook here any time. Have your soup."

Draco tried not to think of the implications of what she was saying. He could only hope to end up with someone as compassionate as Harry, but he thought Harry himself was off limits. He also wasn't necessarily out of the closet. Draco wasn't hiding it per se, but he also wasn't acting on it. His father would never approve, but at least his mother liked Harry. That counted for a lot.

The soup tasted like heaven, and Draco told Harry exactly that. He may have praised Harry a little bit too much, but in his defense he had a lot of medicine coursing through him.

Harry: stop, you're gonna make me blush. besides, you're worth the effort

Draco: Now you're going to make me blush

Harry: tell me what you want for dinner, and I'll get it

Harry: don't tell me you're fine with anything because I'll bring more food than needed

Laughing quietly, Draco sent Harry his usual order before laying down in his bed for a nap. After wishing Harry a good shift, he was quick to fall asleep.

The next time Draco woke up, it was hours later. His mother came to check on him, and ushered him to take a shower or a bath so that his sheets could be washed and changed.

He complied, sinking into the bathtub and and queuing up some of his favorite ASMR videos on the tv. Leaning his head against the tub, he allowed himself to relax and not think.

One hour later, he went back into his room wrapped in a fluffy towel. He changed into clean pajama pants and a baggy hoodie before going downstairs for a snack.

After that, he put on some quiet music and started to copy Harry's notes into his proper notebooks. While he had Harry's notebook, he immediately went to his chemistry notes so that he could do some more work on the project.

Soon enough, Harry was texting him that he was here.

Draco: don't knock, I'll let you in

Due to his late snack, Draco's parents left him alone when they had dinner. For all they knew, he was sleeping. Slinking down the stairs, Draco quietly let Harry in.

"Do you want some company?," Harry asked quietly.

Draco nodded, put a finger to his lips, and led Harry up to his room.

"Sorry for the sneaking, I don't think Mother and Father want me having guests right now. I finished copying the notes you lent me though, so you can have your notebook back."

"Thanks. Ready to eat?"

"You didn't have to get me food, but I appreciate it. Do you wanna sit on the bed? Everything was washed a few hours ago. I don't think I'm contagious? I'm fairly certain it's just from stress."

"I have a strong immune system."

"Everyone says that but then they complain when they get sick," Draco replied with a snort, moving over so that Harry could sit next to him.

"I slept on a mattress on the floor in a cupboard under the stairs for my whole life. I'll survive. I see you were working on the project notes?," Harry asked, sitting next to Draco and setting the food out.

Draco opened his mouth to respond, then immediately closed it. Obviously Harry did not want to discuss that, so Draco would move on.

"I was working on the notes yep. I was comparing yours to mine to make sure I missed nothing. After we eat I can hook my computer back up to the tv so we can work on the project more? Unless you wanna go home-"

"No I'm fine, I just don't want to overwork you."

"I'm more concerned about overworking you Harry. You look tired."

"I'm used to it, it's alright. Inspiration struck late last night, but it put me ahead in some things. I have a lot of lists floating around. Besides, I have Sundays off unless someone calls out last minute at the restaurant. Then I'm on call."

"Your life sounds hectic."

"Well, it's never boring."

"What do you like to do for fun?," Draco asked, tucking into his meal.

"I like to run and listen to music I suppose, I don't have much time to myself. Cooking and baking. YouTube."

Draco's ears perked up at this, but he stayed quiet.

"I love music. Who do you listen to?"

"As Harry started listing off names, Draco's smile turned into a grin."

"I think you're absolutely perfect Harry Potter."

Harry blushed and attempted to stammer out a response, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I wouldn't say that," Harry finally replied, eating to keep himself busy.

"I would and I obviously have excellent taste. You'll stay after we eat then to work on the project?"

"As long as you kick me out when you get too tired."

The two men poured over their shared notes for hours, completing the next portion of the project and starting the following one.

"I think next week is when we should actually get all of our supplies going. Right now it's just been the research and theoretical work, but I think we're ready to proceed."

"I agree."

"Do you need to get back home now?"

"Unless you still want some company, but I don't want to get caught by your parents and get either of us in trouble."

Sighing, Draco leaned his head on Harry's shoulder.

"I like your hair better like this," Harry commented, leaning his head against Draco's.

"Flat and lifeless?"

"It lays nicely when it's flat. Not that it didn't look good before, it's just... softer."

"I couldn't be bothered today, I'm a complete mess."

"You're sick, you're allowed to be," Harry replied softly.

"But I shouldn't be."

"I'm a complete mess everyday, so agree to disagree. I should be heading back though."

Draco sighed and followed Harry as he began to cleanup.

"I'll take care of it, don't worry. I'd drive you home but I don't think I'm allowed to drive under the influence of these medications."

"Don't worry about, it's a nice night."

Draco opened the window in his room to feel a chilled breeze.

"Do you have a jacket?"

"No, I didn't bring one. I'll be fine."

"Then you'll actually get sick. Here, I'll give you one of my hoodies. I like them oversized so they should fit you just fine."

"Thank you Draco."

Draco should be thanking Harry with how good he looked in that hoodie.

"You can keep it if you'd like, I have lots. Let me walk you out."

Once they finally said goodnight, Draco cleaned up his room from their meal, put away all of the notes, and then prepared for bed. By the time everything was finished, Harry texted him that he had arrived home safely.

Draco: Sweet dreams Harry, thank you again for today

Harry: goodnight Draco, thank YOU for the hoodie

Harry: *attachment*

Harry had sent him a mirror picture of him grinning goofily wearing the hoodie, giving Draco a thumbs up.

Draco: New contact picture :) I'll talk to you soon

Draco fell asleep with a smile on his face, holding onto his blankets a little tighter than usual.