Current mood:	blah
Current music:	Maroon 5 - Can't Stop
Entry tags:	100quills, draco/neville, fic, one-shot

Fic: Reflections [Draco/Neville, PG-13]
title; Reflections
author; sappholococcus
rating; PG-13
100quills prompt set; 100.1
prompt; #71: Scars
word count; 504
pairing; Draco/Neville
summary; Neville wants to remember, but Draco only wants to forget.
warnings; ANGST of the post-war nature, slash, misuse of a mirror, minor D/s
author's note; this was intended as a drabble, but I fail at keeping fic to 100 words >.> I guess each part might almost count, but they all add up to a ficlet. Of sorts.


bandaids.

Neville didn't really expect them to make it out of the war unscathed.

It's the mental wounds that bother him most, the parts of the Manor that he's afraid to step foot in again because of the blood in the cracks of the floors and the spirits of the dead haunting the walls. Draco is the exact opposite -- he averts his eyes from his own body when he undresses, and he hasn't let Neville anywhere near him for a long, long time. Neville wants to to tell him that it's alright, that there's nothing to be ashamed of, that it's the warmth and comfort of Draco's body that he wants, whether it's as perfect as its owner would like or not.

He thinks that maybe, just maybe, he's allowed to stay at the Manor because Draco loves him (still?), but there's no way to be sure. It could be that Draco just doesn't want to be alone, and he knows Neville won't protest if he keeps his distance.

Neville stays because he hopes it's the former.


memory.

He took an inventory of his scars, once. Standing naked in front of the floor-length mirror in Draco's bedroom, he mapped out his skin with his fingertips, just as he walks the long hallways of the house and remembers the names of those that have been lost.

There's a streak of rough tissue on his shoulder from the Severing Charm that was meant for his throat, and a bump on his hip from when his own clumsiness broke the bone, and the hurried spell to fix it didn't work properly.

The scars from their lovemaking are long gone, completely invisible. Where Draco's teeth used to sink possessively into his neck, there is only pale skin; where his fingertips dug harshly into Neville's hips, nothing to show. Only the lingering ghost of a touch, a little bit stronger when Neville's own hand brushes over them.

So occupied is he that it takes nearly a full minute to notice the pale figure reflected in the mirror behind him.


catharsis.

The mirror feels very cold against Neville's skin when Draco shoves him against it. He's face to face with himself, staring deep into his own eyes for a moment before they shift in their sockets, trying to look for Draco, but the angle is wrong and there's a firm hand on the back of his neck that keeps him from turning his head.

Finally he gives up and lets his eyelids close in submission, concentrating on the body heat that's counteracting the chill of the glass. There are fingers on his spine now, rougher than they once were but familiar all the same.

Neville moans softly when the fingers reach his arse and tries to press back against them, but the teeth closing over the soft skin between his neck and shoulder freeze him in place with a small shudder.

And when Draco is finally inside him, it feels like coming home.