D.R.A.R.R.Y Supremacy

25 - Trouble in Paradise

"Draco, Baby, wait," Harry moaned as Draco started walking away from him. He gently held Draco's forearm and turned him around to face him. "I assure you, President Snow's not gonna try to suck my cock."

"Ugh, stop, I can't help but visualize it," Draco exclaimed, clearly disturbed. "Why do you even want to plan the Hunger Games with him, Potter? You don't even know this guy."

"It's not about him, it's about the thrill," Harry countered. "I've been growing quite bored of maintaining a stable business for centuries. I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to try something new for a change."

Draco fell silent for a moment and stared at Harry, as if he were calculating. After what felt like a century, he spoke in a tone laced with disappointment. "Well I hope you're not growing quite bored of maintaining our stable relationship for centuries. If that was the case, why would you turn down the opportunity to try someone new, right?"

Harry sighed. Draco had been going on and on about this for the past seven years. He would constantly ask Harry if he was tired of him yet, and would always say he was worried that Harry would seek variety and thrill. He always knew Harry was not one who would enjoy a monotonous, steady life, but Harry wished Draco would relax and just trust the partner he's been with for hundreds of years. Sometimes Harry even wondered if Draco was just projecting his own thoughts, that maybe Draco was the one growing bored of Harry. But Harry was not as big of an overthinker as Draco was, so he often brushed off the thought before it could further develop. But now that Harry thought about it, maybe Draco was threatened by Snow because he was attracted to him and saw him as a contender. Draco did call him "Mr. Pretty Boy". Maybe Snow was Draco's type.

"Draco, we've been together for so long, you should feel secure with me by now," said Harry.

"It's the total opposite," Draco argued. "The more years we've been together, the more chances there are that you'd have grown tired of me already. In romances where immortality exists, there's no such thing as a happy ending. If one lives on for eternity, they're bound to go through a million divorces. There's a reason why authors only write about how two characters get together then end it with a happy ending. They only write about the tension, and once the tension's gone, story's over. Ever wondered why they don't talk about what happens after the happy ending? Because perfection, peace, stability — they bore people. And if they're boring to readers, wouldn't the characters themselves be bored as well? I mean, come on, Harry, just look at the fifty year olds who only have sex once a year!"

"Draco, where is all this coming from?" Harry groaned. "It's just that you've been extra insecure lately—"

"How can I not be?" Draco exclaimed. "We meet a lot of attractive, interesting people. In our eternal lifetimes, we've met so many and will endlessly meet more. The threats come and go, but they never stop coming."

"Threats?" Harry questioned. "How are our friends and acquaintances considered threats?"

Draco paused and looked confused. "I don't know," he surrendered. "I honestly don't understand myself lately, Potter. It's like I just keep getting more and more jealous and worried and my overthinking has been getting worse. I think I love you too much to the point that it's breaking me, Potter. I'm incredibly vulnerable and weak and I feel stupid. I'm successful, handsome, forever young and I'm out here being jealous of guys who are beneath me, it's pathetic. Remember that time last year when I was jealous of that hot janitor who cleaned your office everyday? Just the thought of him being in constant close proximity to you made my chest constrict with jealousy. That's what my love, or obsession even, is doing to me, Potter. Now I'm jealous of a guy over 200 years younger than me. We're not even in the same age group, let alone the same generation! And if you go to Panem and spend your days and nights planning the games with a handsome guy like Snow, even if I know you wouldn't betray me I know myself enough to expect that I wouldn't sleep a wink. Even if you don't make any moves on him, what if you accidentally get charmed by him, or so impressed with him that you can't help but admire him a little too much? Then it's either you'll talk about Snow endlessly and hurt my feelings, or keep your admiration to yourself, like some dirty little secret, which is just as bad."

"Trouble in paradise?" Pansy Parkinson interrupted, stepping in between Harry and Draco, facing Draco with her Voldemort face.

"AHHHHHH!" Draco shrieked, unintentionally drawing attention from the crowd. "Man, will you stop frightening people with your face like that?"

"First of all, I'm not a man, I'm a zhe/zhey now," Pansy retorted. "Second of all, you're the one who messed up my face with all those horcruxes. May you eternally live with the guilt." She then floated away as if she were high.

"Anyway," said Draco, re-centering. "Father always told me to find a relationship that logically works, one that just makes sense. He said that feelings fade by law of nature. That's why so many old couples just seem to be best friends, roommates even. But what Father forgot to mention was that when feelings fade, they're bound to be replaced. Because while feelings fade, it is human nature to feel. Yes, feelings for one person can be fleeting, but what will replace it, then? Feelings for someone else! For many years I have dreaded the day that your feelings for me will fade, leaving room for feelings to develop for someone else. It feels as if it's fate, as if I'm destined to meet my doom. I have eternal life, but it feels as if time is ticking. I'm running out of time, Harry. And I'm going mad. I don't know what to do anymore. Losing you would instantly kill me. But loving you is slowly killing me. I- I shouldn't have immortalized myself. I just sentenced myself to a lifetime of emotional torture."

Harry's heart broke for Draco. He knew how sensitive and fragile his lover was, and he couldn't bare to know he was the root cause of his pain. "Draco, my love, I have had countless pet snakes die and get replaced in my lifetime, and there are more to come. There's Salazar II, Salazar III, and you know all the other Salazars after that. Why do you think I give them all the same name when they're not the same snake? To feel some sort of permanence. Even though I know it's not original Salazar, I like to believe I've been with the same snake since day one. That original Salazar wasn't brutally eaten by that Longbottom's crazy pet donkey. I dont want a Draco II, Draco III, or anyone else. I want you, and I want you forever. If I had wanted a new flame every couple years, I would've done the horcrux stuff by myself. I did what I did because I wanted to be with you for the rest of our lives. What's the point of an eternal life if everything else is fleeting?"

"You got me half convinced, Potter," Draco whispered. "Alright, go to Panem. But if I end up losing you, I'll never forgive myself for letting you go."

Harry felt a pang of guilt as he greeted the other guests, feigning happiness and perfection all the way until the end of the afterparty. He couldn't help but feel like he and Draco's love for each other was starting to eat Draco alive. After all, too much of a good thing can still consume even the strongest people. It was their 300th immortalization anniversary celebration, and they were not in a celebratory mood. Why? Because of jealousy, insecurity, and trust issues.

Is this what happens when you spend too many years with someone you love? Harry thought to himself. Does healthy, satisfied love have an expiration date? I mean, three hundred years is a long time. Maybe those couples who died happily married at the age of ninety wouldn't have been such a perfect couple if they had lived until the age of three hundred.

"Mr. Potter." A Peacekeeper from Panem interrupted Harry's train of thought. "Allow me to escort you to meet President Snow. He has prepared a spa night for the both of you to unwind before planning the Games."