geoviki | The course of true love never did run smooth

Boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy wins boy back.

Except for the gender switch, it's the oldest plot in the book. Hey, I even used it in A Thousand Beautiful Things, didja notice? I've got a few H/D recs here that follow that well-worn path in clever ways. As a generalization, these fics tend to minimize the magic, the other HP characters, and most everything else - they're all about this wretched relationship, as Harry and Draco struggle towards something approaching love. This list isn't all-inclusive, you know, so feel free to add your own recs in the comments.

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Anything But Ordinary by

boniblithe

The one with Harry and Draco at the hot dog roast. Harry is...boring. Draco is bored.

If he was going to have to be in the same place as his ex-lover, he was damn well going to throw the fineness of his arse right in Draco's face.

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Days Before by Rae.

Skateboard!Draco. This one's not perfect - it still has more typos than I like to see, plus a few POV switches mid-scene which I always find horrible and disconcerting. But the emotions are solid, and the backstory a little angsty, enough to offset the sweetness.

When he woke up at four the next day, instead of sitting by the window he packed a garbage bag with his few possessions. He clutched the Begonia to his chest.

I will be free of you, he thought, gaze lingering on Harry from the doorway. Then he turned and left, shutting the door ever so softly behind him.

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6 Days in a Week by

dawns56 Communication is way harder than it looks. Our boys still don't have the hang of it.

Harry didn't think Draco wanted to be alone. Sometimes, he wondered if Draco simply left to see if Harry would follow. Perhaps Draco's excursions were simply tests of their relationship.

He was painfully aware that if these were tests, then he was failing miserably.

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Arcadia and its sequel Gloria by Abaddon

nothingbutfic

War does funny things to people. I like the toned-down emotion in this one - the story just slowly progresses matter-of-factly from one uncommon event to the next.

"What are you doing here?" he asked Draco, drying plates as the young man handed them to him, and set them aside to be put away later.

Draco nodded to the suitcases that stood by the kitchen door. Harry had seen them when he came into the room, but having Draco acknowledge them made them real. "I thought I'd move in," he said simply, and handed Harry a fork.

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Season in Hell and After the Flood by Cassie Claire.

A classic dysfunctional relationship, and still one of my favorite stories. The oddball humor just grabs me, and the sex is hot as July.

He examines his nails. "You must be wondering why I'm here," he says.

"I figured you came because you're still in love with me and you couldn't stand not seeing me again," says Harry. "Either that, or you had an inexplicable craving for beer and wooden shoes."

"I was never in love with you," says Draco, quickly.

This gigantic lie hovers between the two of them as if a large, embarrassingly naked man had just entered the room and they were both pretending he wasn't there.

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Untitled by Amalin.

Amalin has quite a poetic style. This is an oldie-but-goodie. Rain included.

Because you are both really just one person in two parts; you could be alone together. You could feel the solitude and not mind it at all when your limbs are wrapped around each other and even your minds are tangled in some subliminal embrace. Yes, you could.

You wonder, absently, if it's possible to break one's own heart.

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The Thin Ice by

saeva

This fic has more of a plot than most of the others. I don't like this Ron very much - she makes him rather unbearable - but he's easily overlooked. And I've never read a more oblivious-and-in-denial Harry.

He glared at Draco. "You can move out any time you want; I'm hardly holding you prisoner."

"Who said I wanted to move out? I was merely pointing out that living with you isn't easy. Honestly. You're always forgetting to clean up after yourself and refuse to get a house-elf even though mine offered to work for you, you work *nights* which I hate, your annoying Weasel is over half the time when you are here and not sleeping -- doesn't he have a job or something? -- as well as that... Granger, and you snore!" As Draco spoke, he ticked off each thing on his fingers.

"Dobby is not your house-elf." Harry sat up so that he could glare at Draco more evenly. "Like I said, you don't have to be here if I annoy you that much. In fact, why did you move in? It's not as if we're in a relationship; you're just a fuck."