The Boy I Love -HEDRIC (2)

9.(CH) can't get you out of my head

CEDRIC

XL

Without a doubt, that would be a night he would never forget.

From the moment it started, he knew it. 

As much as he suspected he didn't want it to end, even when Harry nearly fell asleep on the couch around two in the morning. He rested his cheek against the back of it, his eyes almost closed. An image that inspired Cedric to follow his example. 

Harry didn't exactly look comfortable.

Cedric decided to wake him up to say goodbye before leaving, so he could go to bed.

“I'm not sleepy.”

It was funny that Harry was trying to talk him out of it.

Although it was an easily refutable statement, to his surprise, Harry woke up enough to chat for a while longer and this time it was Cedric who leaned back, repressing a yawn.

Against his will, he decided it was time and got up. 

XLI

He couldn't tell who hugged whom first. 

Standing in front of the fireplace, they melted into each other in a way he hadn't known possible. That unfamiliar feeling carved a path inside Cedric that he knew he would take frequently from now on. A mixture of peace and storm at the same time, one of those that devastates you in its path and nothing is the same ever again. 

The order did not matter, because after that prior conversation so…

Intimate and not at all reassuring, it was all Cedric wanted to do.

Unable to move away, he held on tightly and closed his eyes, letting himself be carried away by the lightness that filled him when feeling Harry's hands behind his back, encircling Cedric with his head in the crook of his neck. It seemed acceptable to say goodbye like that: the limits of their friendship had expanded, as if they had leveled up. 

Acceptable for one minute. 

The side game where Cedric had his heart in his mouth and so many trapped emotions was another matter.

Two and he stopped counting.

The pounding in his chest was all he could make out as Harry stepped back a few inches. With his face so close to his and his big green eyes watching him with an intensity he could only think must match his own, he heard him murmur his name. 

“ Cedric. ”

Like a whisper.

A warning.

And maybe it was because all summer he had Harry in his head.

Because he couldn't escape that bubbly feeling all night.

Because he would have sworn that Harry Potter was about to kiss him, Cedric leaned in an instant, breaking the short distance between them. Harry’s lips were so soft against his, warm and the pressure of his hand on the fabric of his shirt, as if Harry was holding on to him… 

Cedric had never felt like this in his entire life.

Trembling, alert and lost at the same time.

Each movement ignited a sensation that grew more compelling. That was the way Cedric would have ever imagined his first kiss. The need that came with each one caught him off guard and it might as well have been ten minutes or ten seconds before Harry pulled away for air. 

Then they looked at each other. 

What had they just done?