Light on His Feet
Written for Wild About NottPott's 100 - 1k Word Challenge.
Theme: AGILITY | WC: 983
"He's a madman on a bike!" Blaise zig-zagged his hands through the air. "You should have seen him in Rome! I thought he was going to plow into a car!"
Harry's gaze sharpened as if he could somehow use this (blatantly exaggerated) piece of information like a codex to crack the riddle of Theodore Nott.
"So you can ride a bike just fine, but you can't ride a broom?"
"I can ride a broom!" Theo scathed, hitting Harry with the full force of his glare. Harry only cocked his head to the side. "But riding a bike and riding a broom are completely different."
"He's unrecognizable on a bike, Harry," Blaise insisted, ignoring Theo's death glare. "The way he can dart through crowds of people! Quick as a fish, agile as a bird. I thought maybe he'd taken some kind of physical enhancement potion."
"I am capable of athleticism!" Theo insisted over the sound of his former best friend's snicker.
"I don't even know if I can ride a bike," Harry sighed.
Draco rolled his eyes. "If you can ride a broom, you can ride a bike."
Theo shot Draco a disbelieving look. "Are you kidding? You don't have the leg muscles for it. You used magic to propel yours half the time!"
Draco pinked. "I was on vacation! I didn't want to sweat!"
Harry cast a secretive smile Theo's way that did wonders for his mood.
Harry gradually drifted closer to him, letting Blaise and Draco go on ahead. They slowed, picking their way down the uneven path together.
"Do you think it would be hard to learn how to ride a bike?"
Theo took in Harry's downcast face. He could see that Harry was measuring himself against some imaginary ruler and finding that he had come up short.
"No, it's not hard. It's fun." Theo smiled when Harry's green eyes darted up hopefully. "It's a beautiful way to see the country."
"So is flying," Harry teased.
"Think of all the details you miss from way up there. Like those cowslips," he pointed out the dandy yellow flowers leaning into the sun. "Or the way the mica glitters on those rocks, or the sight of all the green leaves moving with the wind. You'd never see this from the air."
Theo's attention wandered for a moment, caught up by the magnificent beauty of spring.
When he looked to see why Harry had gone suspiciously silent, he noticed a large furrow in the earth directly in Harry's path.
"Watch out!"
"Merlin!" Harry side-stepped into him, holding on for balance, Theo's hand shot out and naturally curved around Harry's opposite hip. Almost reflexively, his fingertips tensed and dragged across Harry's shirt, feeling the smooth roll of skin and muscle underneath.
Oh. My. God. What are you doing? Theo yanked his arm back and shoved his hands in his pockets, prickling self-consciously. What a way to play that off casually, Theo, what the fuck is wrong with -
A stone overturned under his foot. Pain shot up his leg as his ankle rolled and knocked him off-kilter. His hands wouldn't come out fast enough to help him, so he yanked them around his face and braced to hit the ground.
"Got you!"
Strong arms wrapped around him. Harry slid over the rocky terrain, his leg bent like he'd caught Theo in a dip during a waltz. He curled Theo to his chest.
"Are you okay?" Harry panted.
"Mrrph," Theo said, careful not to move his lips as they were currently smashed up against Harry's pectoral muscles.
"Oh, sorry!" Harry relaxed his arms, but did not let him go. The world tilted. He saw white clouds, blue sky, a mess of black hair, and glinting green eyes behind a set of round glasses.
Harry was far too close.
"Theo?"
Merlin's beard, he smelled so good. How was that even fair? Theo did the only thing he could think of and tried to roll out of Harry's grip, but he held him close, scanning every inch of his face.
"I'm going to need a verbal response."
From this angle, he was too beautiful to even look at.
"You do this to me," Theo whispered, every lick of common sense and self control he'd ever possessed flying down the hill with what remained of his dignity. Harry's lips parted slightly. As Theo watched, Harry unconsciously darted his tongue out, wetting them.
"What do I do?" Harry asked.
"You make me feel -" like I'm in free fall, like I'm sprinting down a hill with no way to stop, like I'm always two seconds from smashing myself to pieces at the bottom of a cliff, like I'm -
"- clumsy," Theo finished lamely.
They stared at each other for a heartbeat too long.
"I don't know what to do," Harry blurted out. "I'm afraid I'll say the wrong thing, and then you won't talk to me ever again."
"Impossible."
"Get a ROOM already!" Blaise shouted at them from down the hill.
Harry closed his eyes. His cheeks were pink.
Theo began to feel the first stages of delight.
"For the love of...I'm going to kill him."
"Me too," Theo agreed, a slow smile stretching across his face. Harry looked at him and blushed more prettily.
"Come on. Let's go dig his grave." Harry hauled him up and looped one arm around Theo's waist, cinching him tight to his side to help him limp down the hill.
Something about his proximity to Harry made him say the stupidest, most impulsive things that came to mind.
"Sounds like a fun first date."
He was momentarily blinded by the radiant smile that lit up Harry's face. Then, he was obliviated on the spot by Harry leaning in to kiss his cheek - swift, gentle, easy, like he'd done it a hundred times before.
"Yeah, it does," he whispered in Theo's ear.
