Harry wrapped both his hands around that fist and kissed it. "No. Well, yes, but not like that, Rabastan. Not like how we touch one another. It was just a hug because I'd taken the burden from him, I'd enabled him to do what he wanted to do for once. I've given him the means to break off his betrothal and taken the worry away from being disowned."
"The Black title should go to our children!" Rabastan hissed.
"Our children will still have the Potter and Lestrange titles." Harry argued. "Technically, neither one of us is even a Black! I only got that title because of my godfather, Rabastan. Otherwise, it wouldn't even be open for us to use! Isn't two houses, two lordships, enough? I'm struggling to juggle my responsibilities for two houses, Rabastan. Sorting out those damn portfolios and all the responsibilities that come with running two houses, what if we only have one son? Are you really going to lumber him with three titles? Three lordships? It's too much!"
"So you're going to give away all of our titles?!" Rabastan demanded.
Harry took a deep breath when the red-hot anger spiked inside him. He tried to calm himself and he squeezed the hand that he still held between both of his own.
"I offered my friend, who is stuck in a betrothal with a disrespectful woman because his father is a greedy, money-hungry bastard, the option of being adopted into the Black family if his father disowned him when he breaks his betrothal contract because he deserves better. How is that giving away our titles and lordships?" Harry bit out as calmly as he could through gritted teeth.
"You barely know him."
"You know what? I don't care! I'd do exactly the same thing again, if you can't accept that then it's fucking tough!" Harry said angrily, dropping Rabastan's hand and moving to walk away. Rabastan grabbed him and Harry found himself face-to-face with an angry Lestrange, those beautiful blue eyes sparking with his fury.
"Do you want Nott?"
Harry glared back. "Are we going to do this again, Rabastan? Again?!" "Do. You. Want. Him?!" Rabastan ground out. "No!" Harry shouted out. "I only want you, you thick-headed, overly jealous prat!"
"So, there's nothing between you?" "You know what? I can't deal with you anymore. Are you trying to tell me that I can't have any friends?!"
"No! I just don't want them touching you." Harry sighed and rubbed his forehead. "He was hugging me in gratitude, it wasn't the same!" Rabastan grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug. Harry fought for a moment before he all but melted into the embrace and snuggled his face into Rabastan's neck.
"So, it wasn't like this?" Rabastan asked quietly.
"Not even close." Harry replied as he pushed one hand into Rabastan's hair and massaged his scalp with his fingertips.
"You still love me?" Harry laughed bitterly. "Rabastan, I've only ever loved you. You're the first and only, just, please, please stop being so jealous over nothing. You'll set us onto a road to destruction before we're even married and I can't have that. It's not an environment I ever want to bring children into. If I was hugging him like this and confessing everlasting love then I'd understand, but I wasn't. I've just helped him out of a terrible situation and he was grateful. He doesn't even like me that way, he likes women."
"I didn't mean what I said. You can have friends and you can do what you want with your own lordships. As long as you still become a Lestrange, as long as you marry me, I don't care about anything else. I just want you and I want you to want me."
"I do. Of course, I do. I don't like boys, Rabastan, I like men. I love you. How can you still doubt me?"
"I don't, otherwise I would have been upstairs cursing that Nott boy instead of still down here with you."
Harry sighed and he pulled Rabastan back into a tight hug.
"So, we're okay and you don't mind that I said I'd adopt Theo if his fool of a father disowns him? I'd still be Lord Black, but Theo would be my heir."
"No, I don't mind, but I still don't think Philip Nott will disown his only son and heir. As for us, we're going to be fine."
Harry smiled and he pulled back slightly to kiss him full on the mouth and Rabastan responded immediately. Rabastan's arms wrapped around him and Harry went up on his tiptoes to wrap his arms around Rabastan's neck as their kiss grew in intensity.
The addiction to that mouth, to those lips, to Rabastan's tongue, came back to him in full force and Harry's arms clenched tighter as the kiss deepened and one of Rabastan's hands cupped his cheek and tilted his head and the new angle made everything that much more perfect as Rabastan's other hand slipped down to grope his bum…and that was when their kiss ended as Harry suddenly found himself yanked down to the ground and he looked up to see Rabastan picking himself out of a rosemary bush.
He laughed, he couldn't help it as he watched an enraged Rabastan struggling out of the herb plant, picking the needles from his robes and his hair in furious swipes of his large hands.
"I thought that you two were getting a little too cosy." Xerxes told them unapologetically, twirling his wand in his fingers. "I let it go on for a little while, knowing that you needed to reconnect after your little spat, but when it looked like you'd throw off all of your clothes right here in the garden, then I had to step in. Can I assume that from your passionate lip-lock that things are once again fine between you both?"
Harry looked at Rabastan and smiled.
"Everything's fine." Rabastan answered, smiling back at Harry and pulling him into a hug. "Harry is a good friend and the Nott boy was a bit…handsy in his gratitude towards Harry's kindness. There was nothing to the exchange but friendly interaction. Draco has a loud mouth and Rodolphus overheard a fraction of a conversation and jumped to conclusions."
"Your little spats really must stop. Communication is the key here." Xerxes told them seriously.
"We're just working everything out." Harry insisted with a grin. "We're both passionate men, our tempers run high so we have little fights, but we're also intelligent, rational men too, we'll work it all out and find where everything fits."
"Is everything fitting how you wanted it to?" Xerxes asked with narrowed eyes. "Not exactly, but that's how relationships work, it's all about compromising to accept another person with their own thoughts and feelings into your own life. Compromise is an important requirement in any relationship, not just marriage. If Rabastan fit exactly into me and my schedule with no compromise or wriggling around or any need for me to compromise my own life around him, then I'd have been highly suspicious and worried. So, though it doesn't fit exactly, we're working on it and I actually think Rabastan and I fit together really well because we're accepting of one another's personalities and faults."
Xerxes grinned at him and Rabastan smiled softly, bending down to give him a peck on the lips.
"You really are incredibly mature for your young age." Xerxes complimented him. "Come on, the both of you, I think we've been away from the gathering for far too long already. Lucius will start to question my motives and he'll prevent me from being a chaperone in future. He's far too overprotective of you, Harry. He's like a jealous bear when it comes to his sons."
Harry laughed and looked at himself, he was perfectly clean and unrumpled, though he brushed his robe down regardless. The pathways had all been cleared of snow so that their guests could walk through the garden unobstructed by snow, so there was nothing for him to get wet or dirty on.
Rabastan on the other hand was distinctly rumpled and still covered in rosemary needles. Harry chuckled and brushed him down and straightened out his shirt and robe for him, smiling up at him once he was done. He got another kiss, this one slightly longer than a peck, for his care.
"I love you." Rabastan declared strongly.
"I love you more." Harry insisted with a grin, taking Rabastan's hand and leading him back into the manor via the ballroom.
He'd almost forgotten about Rodolphus in his joy over his love for Rabastan. Or at least he'd forgotten how very angry the man had been, all it took was one look into his fuming face, those enraged eyes, and he knew that he was still in trouble.
"He's going to kill me." He said with a grimace.
"Who?" Rabastan demanded protectively before he caught sight of his older brother's face. "Let me deal with him, you go and get a drink."
"We should do this together." Harry insisted.
"Dolphus likes to act first and listen later, go and get a drink and then come back, so I've had a chance to start talking to him."
Harry nodded and squeezed Rabastan's hand before he made his way to the drinks table.
"Did you make up?" Harry glared at Draco, who had Astoria on his arm, before ignoring him, picking up a glass of pumpkin juice.
"Don't ignore me." Draco hissed.
"You'd deserve it." Harry hissed back. "You could have lost me my betrothal!"
"I didn't mean to!" Draco whined. "I wasn't even going to tell Rabastan, I didn't know that Rodolphus was walking down the corridor at that exact moment!"
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