Chapter 4
Draco’s early. He knows this. But he can’t help and continue on to the shop anyway. He has been counting down the minutes since his last lesson and he’s excited to finally be back. It’s only been the weekend, but he has really missed it. Draco has missed the calmness that comes with making the different pieces and he’s missed working with Harry so close by.
Draco and Harry’s relationship is interesting. They’re definitely friends, but they aren’t close enough friends to be talking outside of Draco’s lessons. In fact, they don’t know much about each other besides the basic things. Like Draco knows that Harry has a godsibling named Teddy, but he doesn’t know who Harry’s parents are and the reason that he doesn’t live with them. And Harry knows that Draco is (was?) an artist, but he doesn’t quite know the full reason that Draco decided he couldn’t do it anymore. In fact, they barely know anything about each other; they’ve only scratched the surface while they’ve been talking. Draco decides he needs to change that. He knows that they’re friends, but he wants to be closer to Harry. He wants to understand him.
As Draco nears the shop, he catches sight of someone smoking out front. He’s never had the urge to smoke before, but he has always had a strange fascination with watching others smoke. He stops at the corner of the street, watching the smoker, barely out of their sight. He watches as the mystery person brings the cigarette back up to their mouth before breathing the smoke back out. Draco stares for a little while longer before looking down at his watch and realizing he should head to the shop so he can look around at Harry’s pieces before his lesson with Harry actually begins.
Rounding the corner, Draco starts to finish his walk to the shop, but as Draco gets closer, he stops in his tracks. It’s Harry. Harry is the smoker. Harry smokes. And he looks extremely hot while doing so. Draco doesn’t quite know how to process this information; he just stares as Harry takes another drag of the cigarette. He doesn’t know how long he stares, but eventually, Harry realizes he’s being watched and turns his gaze towards Draco. Harry coughs and shuffles his feet at the sight of Draco. Harry’s cough startles Draco out of his stare and he decides to take another step towards Harry.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” Draco says, pleased with this new discovery.
“Yeah, I do. I hope that’s not an issue or anything,” Harry replies curtly. He doesn’t know why Draco was staring like he was, but he can only imagine it was because he was disgusted by Harry’s bad habit.
“No. No, not at all,” Draco rushes to get out in fear of upsetting Harry. “I know I’m early, but I was hoping to have a look around the shop at some of your pieces before we started today so I’m just going to head inside,” Draco finishes and heads into the shop before he can make a fool of himself. His little crush just became instantly larger and he can feel himself starting to blush about the entire situation.
Once inside the shop, Draco immediately heads straight for the right side of the room where his favorite items are. There’s a small collection of bird-related items that caught his attention the very first time he had really looked around. Draco has always loved birds. He loves the way that they move and how many different kinds there are in the world. The amount of bird-related pictures he’s drawn in his career is high: they’re one of the few things that Draco used to paint for himself. There is just something about birds that have always spoken to him, and the ones on these pieces of pottery are no different.
Most of the birds were in flight and that was what originally stood out to Draco. They looked so free while flying around on their plates and mugs. But there was one item that Draco loved more than the rest: a medium-sized teapot with a simple bird sitting in its nest painted on the side. It looks so happy and carefree in its nest﹘like it knows it can be whoever it wants to be. The bird has a home of its own and can do whatever it wants. Draco wants that too. He wants to build his own life and be who he is without any fear of disappointing his friends and family. He wants to be carefree. He wants a home of his own where he can be whoever he wants to be.
It was almost time for his lesson with Harry, and Draco decides that today is the day that he’s going to buy the teapot. He grabs it and heads up to the counter to pay, and he’s surprised to find Teddy there. He hadn’t seen them when he first came in, though he wasn’t really looking.
“Hey, Teddy! How’s it going?” Draco asks. He hasn’t talked to Teddy much in the past, but if their turquoise hair was anything to go by, they were definitely someone Draco hoped to get to know in the future.
“Eh. It’s been better. I see you’re finally getting the teapot that you’ve spent the last four weeks staring at,” Teddy easily replies, a hint of teasing in their tone.
“Yeah,” Draco laughs, “I decided it was time.”
“Well, I’m glad it’s going to get a good home.” Teddy finishes ringing Draco up just as Harry is making his way back inside and towards them. He reaches the counter just as Teddy finishes wrapping the teapot so it doesn’t break before Draco can get it home. “Here you go, Draco. Take good care of it, yeah?”
Draco doesn’t know why, but he feels like Teddy isn’t talking about the teapot. He nods his head, though, and takes the bag from Teddy before turning to Harry gesturing for him to lead the way.
They work in silence for a while after Harry gets him started on a mug. It’s one of the simpler things they’ve done, but Draco had expressed to Harry last week that he wanted to make something for his mom, and together they decided on a mug since she loves tea so much.
“So what did you buy earlier? A present for your girlfriend?” Harry asks awkwardly, breaking the silence.
The question startles Draco and he accidentally squeezes too hard on a portion of the clay, causing him to mess up.
“I’m sorry, what?” Draco asks, still taken off guard by the random question.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude,” Harry starts, “I was just curious if you were getting a present for Pansy,” he finishes and Draco immediately bursts out laughing.
“Pansy is not my girlfriend, Harry,” he says as his laughter dies out. “I’m gay.”
The silence is deafening as Draco watches Harry’s face and waits for his reply.
“You’re gay?” Harry’s surprise is evident in his answer to Draco’s confession and Draco can feel the tension building in the room.
“Yeah, I am.” His answer is short and his voice is thick. Harry hadn’t seemed like the kind of guy who would be homophobic, but maybe Draco read the situation wrong. After all, they didn’t really know each other that well, did they? Harry just gave him pottery lessons and they talked about the weather and the shop. Why did Draco expect this to be absolutely fine?
The emotion in Draco’s voice seems to snap Harry out of his trance and he scrambles to say something. “That’s cool. I mean I was definitely surprised and all because you talk about Pansy a lot and you made that vase for her and so I just assumed that you guys were together but you’re gay so you’re obviously not dating her and now I’m rambling and you probably think I’m homophobic but I swear that I’m not I was just surprised.”
Draco just stares at Harry. He meets his eyes and they watch each other for a moment before Draco shakes his head and starts to stand up. “I should go-”
“No!” Harry says, quickly cutting him off. “That all came out wrong. I’m not homophobic, I swear. I’m bisexual, actually.”
Draco sits back down in shock. Harry wasn’t homophobic; he was bisexual. This might be the best lesson Draco has had yet.
“Oh. Well, that’s great,” Draco says and cringes as he does. Luckily for him, some of the tension has lifted from the room and they both laugh as they catch each other’s eye again. Draco shakes his head a little and goes back to his mug. He decides he needs to start over and begins the process over again.
The two continue to work in silence for the rest of the lesson, a new understanding in the air. Draco finishes his mug by the time their lesson comes to an end, and he sticks around a little longer to help Harry clean up the day’s mess. By the time Harry walks him out, there isn’t a trace of awkwardness left between the two of them.
As Draco starts his walk back home, he risks a second glance back at Harry, only to catch him still watching him walk away. Draco gives a small wave before turning back around with a slight smile on his face and an extra skip in his step.