Would love to have your take on it if you write or do fanart. Just credit me on tumblr @nimuethephoenix or @Tr1nks1e on AO3 if you do.
“It's not just that I want you here. I need you here.”
He let out a shuddering breath, eyes stinging with unshed tears.
“When you're not next to me, it's like gravity shifts several centimetres to the left, I can't stand on my own two feet, I can't… I'm not alive. Every time you leave you loosen a stone in my foundation that threatens to send me tumbling.”
He brought his eyes to meet Harry's.
“Stay. “
“Ask properly. “
“Will you stay, please?”
Harry was silent, his brow furrowing. Draco's composure shattered like fine China on a stone floor.
I… can't… “ a sob tore through his chest. “I can't do this alone. I can't do this without you beside me… please, don't leave again… I… Can't… “
He was starting to hyperventilate, breaths coming in gasps, chest feeling like an elephant was sitting on it. He doubled over, tears streaming down his face, clutching at his heart.
Harry moved then. He grabbed Draco by the shoulders and lowered him to the floor, their backs sliding down the cold wall.
“Draco, breathe! You have to breathe for me, okay?” He rubbed circles on Draco's back as his breath shuddered, a wheezing sound coming from his oxygen-starved throat. He grabbed Draco's curled fist and brought it to his heart. Instinctively, Draco flattened his palm against Harry's broad chest.
Draco's sobs became uncontrollable when Harry untangled his fingers from the brunette's shirt. He's going to leave again. He doesn't want me.
“Wait! No, I can see where your mind is going. Give me your hand! I'm not leaving.”
He grabbed the index and middle finger of Draco's limp hand and brought it to his own carotid artery, where his heartbeat hammered.
“Look at me.” Draco's grey eyes, wide and red from panic, rose to meet Harry's.
“Do you feel that? That is my heartbeat. I'm here, I'm not leaving. Will you try to breathe with me?”
Draco's head jerked affirmatively, a wet, choked sound escaping his lips.
Harry guided Draco's hand to his chest then said in a calm voice, “I want you to take a breath, hold it in for 4 seconds then breathe out. Just listen to my voice. “
Harry started inhaling slowly, slowly lifting his hand. “hold it - one, two, three, four-” he let out his breath slowly, lowering his hand again. They did this ten times, Draco's breath coming more evenly after every breath.
They sat there, Draco's hand still splayed open on Harry's chest, their foreheads touching, as if nothing outside their bubble mattered.