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Draco woke in a cold sweat—nothing he wasn’t used to—and leapt out of bed, panting and rubbing his damp forehead. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t.
“Accept the pain, Draco, and it will hurt less.” He could almost hear his father’s cold voice, could nearly picture him standing behind Draco as his mother gripped his hand tightly. But the Dark Mark wasn’t pain, not really. It was its own world of agony. And even though it wasn’t real, Draco could hear it, see it, feel it…
“Draco?” came the groggy voice in the bed he’d just jumped out of, and Draco sighed with the relief of merely hearing that voice, that sliver of light creeping through his darkest corners, just as it always did.
“Yes,” Draco murmured, rubbing his face with shaking hands as he took a seat back on the bed. “Another nightmare.”
Harry hummed in sympathy, and Draco could feel him sitting up in the bed behind him.
“That’s three this week,” Harry pointed out gently, resting a warm hand on Draco’s bare back.
“Yes, I can count, Potter,” Draco mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his pointer fingers. It wasn’t real.
“And you’ve gotten progressively snarkier with each one, I'll have you know,” Harry replied, rubbing his hand up and down Draco’s back, up his neck, through his hair.
Once more Draco sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back into Harry’s touch. “I’m sorry, darling.”
“I know,” Harry answered, tugging gently at his hair. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
He never wanted to talk about it. It wasn’t real.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Harry repeated a moment later.
“It was the Dark Mark again,” Draco answered quietly. “I could feel it. I could really feel it, I swear—”
He felt Harry’s arm dragging around his neck and over the front of his chest, could feel Harry shifting in the bed so that he was kneeling behind him, Harry’s strong arms snaking over his body from behind, reminding him that he was there, as if Draco ever needed reminding. But he loved it, he loved it all the same. Harry’s warm weight against his back, holding him, being with him in every possible sense... that was real. Harry was real. Harry was more real than anything.
“I love you,” Draco declared humbly, as if it was an admission of weakness, because loving Harry was the least heroic thing a person could do. It was the easiest of paths, a clear way forward, a guarantee.
Harry’s lips pursed softly over the shell of his ear, sucking gently, and Draco could feel his breath everywhere, his heat.
“You’ll never have to deal with this alone, you know,” Harry whispered, and Draco shivered when he shimmied even closer. “I’m never not going to be here.”
“I know,” Draco whispered back, leaning against him, allowing Harry to support him, because as weak as he was, he was allowed to be, with Harry. “Fifteen years I’ve been unable to shake you, Potter. I’ve long since accepted my fate.”
“Fate,” Harry breathed out against his neck. “Yes, I’m your fate.”
Draco smiled to himself. “Fifteen years and you’re as ridiculous as ever.”
“More ridiculous,” Harry replied, his tongue circling over the top of Draco’s shoulder.
“Well, I was trying to be charitable and you’ve gone and ruined it for yourself.”
“More ridiculous but far better looking,” Harry murmured, peppering Draco with the tiniest of kisses, each one a reminder that this was real and nothing else was.
“Harry,” Draco whispered, his eyes fluttering closed as everything slipped away but Harry.
“And I think you’re very charitable,” Harry answered in his achingly sweet, sleepy voice, rubbing his body against Draco’s.
“If you’re trying for some sort of innuendo, it’s entirely lost in translation.” Draco traced circles over the rough skin of Harry’s forearm and tugged him even closer.
“I wasn’t,” Harry said, a smile in his voice. “As usual, you’re the one who made it dirty.”
Draco smiled too, because it was all real. “Says the man with the erection poking into my back.”
“How on earth can I help myself when I’m married to someone so majestically handsome?”
Draco sighed contentedly and leaned back to rest his full weight against Harry. “I suppose I can hardly argue with that.”