snowgall

Last City by zeitgeistic
Originally published April 30, 2014 on Livejournal as part of the

dracotops_harry fest

Rated: NC-17
Word Count: 27,500
Summary: ~~Twenty-four~~ Twenty-three men, six cities, and one unusual sexual requirement.

Why I love it:
This was such a perfectly amazing story, and yet I almost didn't read it! Having Harry participate in a The Bachelor type televised game show just sounded too cracky when I first heard about it. But don't let yourself be put off by the premise - the characterizations are fantastic, the humor is spot-on and laugh-out-loud funny at times, and the sex is ridiculously hot. All that, and it's emotionally satisfying and romantic too.

Harry doesn't want to be on this show, but Ron signed him up for it, and he's too considerate to back out now (but he's dreaming up retributions every night). He's irritated that Draco is one of the contestants, and initially plans to vote him off right away. But some of the other participants are even worse. And so Draco stays...and stays. And through the various ridiculous challenges he's forced to complete, we see that he understands Harry very well indeed, and would make him an excellent match.

It's truly wonderful how zeitgeistic uses the framework of the game show to illustrate just how insightful Draco is (while nevertheless remaining his snarky self) and how unlucky in love Harry has been. And when these two get together - wow. It's just...intense. The whole thing is awesome. Hot, moving, tender, and also funny. The ending is heart-breakingly beautiful too.

Excerpt:
“Ron,” Harry said, staring directly into Javier’s camera. “When I return to England, I will find you, and I will kill you, and even Hermione will never find your body. And I’m sorry that Rosie’s going to grow up without a dad, I really am, but maybe one day Hermione will find love again and—”

He was cut off as Hermione came up and elbowed him. She said into the camera, “You deserve that, Ron, but Harry’s going to have a good time anyway. Please don’t forget that the milk will spoil if you leave it out so be sure to put it back in the icebox—”

“This isn’t Teach Your Moronic Husband How to Keep a Baby Alive, Granger,” said Malfoy, coming up on Harry’s other side and also talking straight into the camera. “It’s, in case you haven’t heard, the Get Potter Fucked Show—”

“We’ll have to bleep that,” Dennis said, sighing. “What have I told you, Malfoy?”

“I don’t fucking know, Creevey,” said Malfoy. “If you remember, tell it to my secretary instead. She’s home watching Scorpius and she better be doing an excellent job or it’ll be her job.” His eyes narrowed at the camera.

“We are in a gay sauna,” Harry said for the benefit of viewers, and also, sort of, himself. He was still trying to believe how horrible his life actually was. “I’ve been informed that I have to get into a hot tub with seven other gay men, my best friend Hermione, and the production crew of the Stag Shag Show.”

“Despicable,” Hermione muttered.

Harry noted that, despicable or not, she was still wearing her red swimsuit. She’d also brought a book. The Year of Magical Thinking. Fuck, this was turning out to be a nice holiday for Hermione. Maybe he should sign someone up for this show and then tag along until they eliminated him out of spite or good sense.

“How do you feel about that?” asked Miles.

“Like it would be a lot more exciting if you weren’t here filming it.”

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