Chapter 7
The next morning, Harry woke up slowly. He didn’t recognize much else other than feeling safe and warm. It took him a few minutes to fully realize that he felt that way not because of the silk wrappings around his body but because of the arms wrapped around him pulling him close to a torso.
Neville, his brain supplied. He sighed happily, leant into the man behind him and let himself drift off into being half asleep for a little while longer. He vaguely recognized when Neville woke up.
“Beautiful,” he heard whispered quietly behind him. He floated off into the half beginnings of subspace at just hearing the compliment-it had been so quietly given there was no way Neville realized he was awake. It had just been a statement of fact, only further proving to Harry how sincerely it was meant. He felt a gentle kiss just behind his ear before Neville got up to go to the loo, if the sounds of the shower were anything to go by.
He relished the memories of Neville calling him beautiful and then kissing him behind the ear. But what did it mean? That wasn’t exactly a normal place to kiss someone-it was rather intimate. Did he like that? The answer was glaringly obvious. Yes, he did. He really enjoyed the feeling of Neville kissing him there. It wasn’t like their playtime; kinky things were intimate in an entirely different way. There were things done to you on parts of your body that you expect-arms, torso, legs, groin. Nothing remotely close to being kissed behind your ear like that. So now the question was why did he like it? Was it just that someone kissed him there or was it that it was Neville specifically that did it?
He imagined a random stranger doing the same thing and although it was a nice feeling, it didn’t make his stomach turn over in the delightfully nervous way it had when it was Neville that did it.
So, Neville made him nervous.
But what was he supposed to do about that?
After being untied, an experience made all the more tantalizingly pleasurable by the silk sliding over his body as the knots were undone, Harry and Neville went out to breakfast. Neville had insisted on paying before they trekked down to the dungeon to meet Draco to discuss whatever new parameters the city was trying to put onto them.
“-and believe me when I say that this will be attracting tonnes of tourists! It’ll be great for the twenty-four hour diner just on the corner across the street and for the dry cleaners next door.”
“I understand that’s what you think but I have plenty of people that say the exact same thing and it doesn’t end up working out the way they promised it would.” A moment of silence passed, in which Harry could actually hear the frustration in Draco.
“Look. A part of these building plans is to put in a convention center on the ground floor. I don’t think you realize how many conventions geared towards this particular crowd there are and how much tourism you’re missing out on by the main convention hall across the city not allowing these types of events.”
“They’re just concerned that the…more lewd acts will drive away families.”
“It’s not-is that what you think happens at those conventions? Heavens no! It’s sellers providing wares to customers and panels to talk about safety-sure, there might be demonstrations, but that’s what the demo rooms in the back are for. Additionally, we fully plan on using the convention hall to have seminars with licensed sex educators to help our youth and young adults to understand their bodies. Adults are welcome as well! It’ll be a multi-functional space with these sliding partitions-you’ll see that in the plans on page twenty-six, I believe it is. Or did you not get past the first few pages? There’s an incredible lack support for the gay community, which we plan on filling with regular support meetings and licensed volunteer therapists. It’s not just about kink, it’s about people and their sexual lives. It’s been far too taboo a subject for far too long.” They turned the corner to see Draco lecturing a blonde woman in a pencil skirt and heels.
“Listen, I know you don’t want to spoil your community-we don’t want that either. Do you really think I’d be spending millions just to purchase the building let alone renovate it if I didn’t want to do it right? I could have leased out all these places to bullshite corporations that would pay employees the bare minimum they’re allowed to whilst not providing anything to the community at large and you’re stopping that!”
“You should be careful with how you speak to me. I simply cannot abide by a-a…sexual devience sort of place going into my city.”
“And how many signatures would it take for you to change your mind on that, Ms…?” Harry spoke up. He was at his wits end with these city people and was ready to do just about anything to get them to just sign the paperwork so they could all move on with their lives.
“Ms. Schmidt. And I’ll approve of these plans if you can make out a plan for events, support groups and the like as well as receive signatures from at least ten thousand people.”
“Ten thousand? Done. And we’ve already been working on a plan for the last several months so that won’t be an issue. I’ll deliver those things directly to your desk as soon as I have them and I won’t be leaving your office without all of my permits signed off on when it happens.” She raised her chin to look at him slightly over her nose and appraised him before nodding.
“Do that. Or these plans won’t be approved. And believe me, we will be keeping a very close eye on your property to ensure nothing happens unless you get your permits. Good day boys.” She clicked away in her heels and Draco turned to Harry.
“Where the bloody fuck are we going to get that many people to sign a petition?”
“Where else? We’re going to the next kink convention in France.”
“France?” Neville sounded quite confused. “Why France?” A mischievous smirk crossed Harry’s face.
“Because, Neville. France always has kink conventions.”
Obtaining the signatures was easy-before they knew it, they had well over their goal mark from a wide variety of people in the community. The permits were signed off on, and Draco soon found that he no longer had anything to complain about-except, perhaps, the amount of decorating choices he was going to have to make.
Harry, on the other hand, had since asked Neville if he wanted to start seeing each other romantically instead of only in the kink sense to which Neville readily agreed. They’d already gone on a few dates, all of which went really well, and had even gone so far as to have completely vanilla sex once or twice.
All in all, things were going well. The munch was growing exponentially, Draco decided to start a social media frenzy about kink and their dungeon projects which had already gained a huge following, gaining them more and more brownie points with the city.
Their first support group meeting went over so well that over forty children and well over sixty adults came. They decided after that to make support meetings thrice weekly; one for minors, one for adults and one for the two age groups to be more mixed together for a wider variety of perspectives on issues they may be having. Sexual educators were practically breaking down the doors in an effort to set up classes and every single one had sold out their education class slots so far. Conventions were signing up for weekends like nobody’s business and Firewhiskey’s was having to shut down early some nights because they’d sell out of everything. Even the diner had to start receiving daily shipments so they could keep up with the demand and none of the conventions had even happened yet.
They hadn’t even started the dungeon floors yet when several adult toy and lingerie companies approached them about turning the second floor into a shopping center geared for adults. They moved the dungeon to the third and fourth floor and started signing rental agreements for several smaller companies they knew to be worth having. One of them even offered to fully stock their dungeon with anything they wanted if they could have a triple slot for thirty percent off the rent-which they gladly agreed to.
Harry wasn’t sure how long the immense success would last, or even if they’d break even on the amount of money they spent. But he did know that his community was growing, his best friend was finding happiness in building a legacy and his boyfriend was incredible-when he wasn’t edging Harry, that is.