Current mood:	giggly
Current music:	The White Stripes - You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
Entry tags:	100quills, draco/neville, fic, i love christinalove, squee

Fic: Sugar Coated [Draco/Neville, G]
title. Sugar Coated
author. sappholococcus
rating. G
pairing. Draco/Neville
prompt set. 100.1
prompt. #53, Look.
summary. The time that Neville loves Draco most is when he's asleep.
word count. 549 (wow. I actually wrote something under 1000 o.O)
warnings. pure, unadulterated schmoop. Very fluffy, very little plot.
disclaimer. all your wizards are belong to JKR (stolen from artisticentropy :P)
author's note. this is because pinkelephant42 left me and our current Draco/Neville thread is now stalled in a place where Draco is Still Very Unhappy, so I wrote schmoop to make him feel better.


The time that Neville loves Draco most is when he's asleep.

Not because he doesn't love Draco when he's awake. Sure, he's sarcastic and snarky, frustrating and often tiresome, but he hasn't left Neville yet, and that's how Neville knows Draco loves him back.

When he's asleep, Draco looks undignified, vulnerable, and even -- Draco would kill him if he ever said this aloud -- cute. His blond hair isn't quite so perfect when he's unconscious: it's disheveled, tufted, and falling across his face.

Occasionally, out of pity for his lover's ego, Neville brushes it back behind his ear. Or rather, attempts to. Draco is so easy to disturb that this must be done with caution, even though when he's left alone he can sleep for hours on end.

Neville doesn't want to annoy him, even though he's awfully cute when he's half-awake and grumpy, so he just looks.

The light from the curtains (partially opened so that Neville can see better) falls across half of Draco's face, leaving the side pressed against the pillow mostly in shadow. His pale eyelashes look longer, glinting in the morning sun. One hand is curled on the pillow next to his chin, long fingers clenched delicately in the pillowcase, and the tiny, usually invisible golden hairs on his knuckles flutter with each breath.

But it's his face that makes Neville feel so warm and fuzzy inside. Open and peaceful, not shuttered and unreadable like it so often is when he's awake. Draco looks younger with his defences down, less like the worn, tired war veteran that he is.

The fact that he can still look like this after he's been through is incredible, and the fact that he lets Neville witness it is nothing but a miracle.

The moment never lasts forever. Draco's return to consciousness is heralded by a small flutter of his eyelashes, and then Neville is being analysed through clear grey eyes.

"Good morning," he whispers, leaning in to press a chaste kiss to Draco's pale pink and slightly parted lips.

"Mm," Draco replies drowsily. Neville can tell he's smiling from the way the corners of his mouth curve up. After a moment, Draco pulls back to look at him, raising one eyebrow. "Is it a good morning?"

"Yes," Neville says, his tone leaving no room for doubt. What he doesn't say is: because you're here.

"They always are," Draco yawns, shifting closer under the pretense of curling deeper into the blankets. Neville's smile turns into a grin, and he snuggles into the warmth of the other man's body, laughing when one of Draco's hands bats ineffectually at his shoulder.

"Git," Draco grumbles, muffling the word in the blanket.

"You love me," Neville counters bravely. He pulls the blanket back to kiss Draco's neck, eliciting a small sigh and then a distinct harrumph noise from the blond.

"Do not."

Neville tenses for a moment, but then Draco presses closer, one long arm snaking around Neville's neck. "But you love me."

"I do," Neville whispers, smiling again.

"S'why I keep you around," Draco murmurs, and then he's asleep again.

Neville takes one look at his face and knows that the denial was a lie. "You love me," he whispers again, and this time Draco doesn't refute it.