Title - Getting Away 5/24

Author - Lena

Pairing - Harry/Ron, Harry/various OC's (slash and het), Ron/OC (slash)

Rating - this chapter - PG

Feedback - [email protected]

For warnings, disclaimers, etc. please see chapter 0/24 - msg#11257

Chapter Five - Wednesday

The next morning, they felt better and refreshed. Ron took his shower first, while Harry looked through a local magazine, reading about the different sights to see in Miami. As he was reading, he could hear Ron singing in the shower, as he had always done.

As Ron had got older though, he voice had gotten better. His talking voice still had a bit of a squeak to it, like it hadn't quiet changed when he was a teenager, but his singing voice sounded like some of the alternative rock stars of the present. Harry thought it had the right mix of deepness, yet boyish tone to it. He thought it was so good, that he didn't mind the singing.

Soon, it was his turn in the bath and he moved quickly, as it was shopping day, so once they got their jeans and t-shirts on, they walked across the street to the marketplace. It was a colorful and large place with lots of shops and places to eat.

They walked by a store that had electronic equipment in the window. Ron stopped and looked at it. He turned to Harry and said, "Let's go in. It's looks interesting."

Harry knew Ron was interested in all the electronic muggle things, so he agreed. They walked in and music was booming from a huge stereo on the wall. Ron started poking at some of the different equipment. Harry said, "Maybe you shouldn't do that."

Ron said, "My dad would be fascinated by this, wouldn't he?" He continued walking down the aisle, looking wide-eyed. They reached the end of the aisle and saw colorful illustrations of what looked like some sort of cover of a comic book. Harry read off the names of the titles, "Grand Prix...Zonko...Star Battle..." He stopped in front of a black box and read, "PS2...hey!"

Ron turned from where he was looking and said, "What?"

Harry said excitedly, "I know this, well...sort of...Dudley had an original one. It was called PlayStation back then!"

Ron looked at the box and said, "Really? What is it?"

Harry said, "It plays games...well, you can play games on it."

"Really?" Ron said again. He was really intrigued. "Do you know how to play?" He continued.

Harry said, "Yeah, I think I remember. This one looks a little different though." He rubbed his lip with the side of his hand, as he tried to remember that far back.

They were startled when someone walked behind them and said, "There's a game in there. You can try it if you want." Ron and Harry turned to see a salesman talking to them.

Ron said a little too loudly, "Can we?"

The salesman said, "Sure!" He pushed a button and the screen the game was hooked up to flashed. On the screen, came a logo and instructions. The salesman continued pushing buttons until he got to the beginning of the game. It was a racecar game.

There were two controls, so Harry took one and Ron the other. Harry said, "Yeah, I sort of remember, but the buttons are different."

The salesman said, "Did you have the older version?"

Harry said, "No, my cousin did."

The salesman said, "Okay, well, yeah, the buttons have changed." He started pointing to the buttons and said, "This one is to move, this one to jump, this one to..." He spent a few minutes explaining. Harry wasn't sure he was going to remember all his instructions.

The salesman finally pushed another button and the game flashed and started. The salesman touched Harry on the shoulder and said, "You're the blue car and you..." He touched Ron, "...are the red car."

Ron muttered, "How appropriate."

Harry and Ron started pushing buttons and moving the larger tabs on their controls. Their cars were running into each other and Ron was yelling, "Hey. Hey!!"

Harry and Ron were contorting their bodies trying to get their cars to move in the direction they wanted to. Ron's car bumped Harry's and he said, "Ron, watch out!"

Ron's car sped ahead. Harry was not going to let that happen, so he put his hand around the large tab underneath and shot towards Ron's car. Harry bumped Ron's car from behind. Ron yelled, "Not fair!"

Harry laughed and kept pushing the buttons on his control, making his car go faster. His body dipped up and down, bending his knees, like he was really on a ride. Ron's right leg was leaning out from his body, like he had his foot on the accelerator in his dad's car. They yelled back and forth at each other, making their cars go faster and faster.

Then, on screen, there was a horrific crash, as Harry’s car rammed more violently into Ron’s than it did before. The two cars ended up in a ball of fire. Both Harry and Ron stopped pushing buttons and stood there with their mouths open, staring at the screen. The salesman laughed at them.

Ron was the first to react. “Harry! You wreck our cars!” He was yelling.

Harry smiled and said, “It’s just a game. We can start over!”

Ron hadn’t realized that the game could start over millions of times. “Oh.” He looked at the cover of the game. “I want one of these.”

Harry said, “Maybe. It would be fun.”

Ron and Harry looked through the rest of the store and the salesman gave them his card, if they wanted to come back and buy the games.

They wandered through the marketplace, looking for clothing stores. They knew they needed some shirts, shorts, shoes, and swim trucks and anything else that caught their eye. They walked into a clothing store that seemed to have things that appealed to both Harry and Ron.

Then they went to a swim shop and began looking through the swimwear. Ron pulled out a purple colored one that looked to Harry like underwear. Harry said, “What the hell is that?”

Ron said, “I don’t know. I like the color though. I’m going to ask the salesman.”

Harry rolled his eyes again and continued looking through the swim trunks. He wanted something that had more coverage. He pulled out a blue pair of trunks that went down to nearly his knees. They had ocean wave designs on them and had a tie string around the waist. He liked them.

Harry turned towards Ron and saw he was engaged in conversation with the salesman behind the counter. Harry was always amazed that Ron was never shy about making friends and taking to strangers. After all, Ron had been the one to talk to Harry first on the train to Hogwarts, all those years ago. Harry was Ron’s best friend, but Ron had many acquaintances.

When Ron had come out as gay a few years before, he had shocked some people, but not Harry. Ron had confided in his conflicted feelings about his sexuality for years to Harry. Harry always had the feeling that Ron had confided in him, because he hoped Harry would feel the same way, but Harry didn't, really, but he did care for his best mate.

Harry didn’t care that his best mate was gay. He just wanted Ron to be happy. Harry was pleased that over the few years of Ron coming out, he was starting to become more secure with himself and confident. Harry had become more subdued in the years since Voldemort’s death, so Ron sometimes had to push Harry to get him out of his comfort zone. This vacation was one of those times.

Harry walked over to the counter with his trunks and approached Ron and the salesman. The salesman, whose tag said his name was ‘Paul’, looked a bit unfriendly to Harry, as Ron said, “Hey, Harry, find something you like?”

“Yeah, I think so. What about you?” Harry gave a smirk and Ron narrowed his eyes, but Harry could see the friendly gleam in them.

"Yeah, I'm going to get these." Ron pointed to the purple underwear looking thing.

Harry said, "I'm getting these." He laid the trunks up on the counter.

Ron said, "Paul was telling me of some clubs over the bridge in South Beach."

Harry was pulling his money out to pay for the trunks, but said, "South Beach?"

"Yeah, that's a neighborhood here in Miami, but it's on an island over one of the bridges you can see from our hotel."

Harry knew Ron was getting ready to try to talk him into going out to party. Ron continued, "So, wouldn't that be fun?"

Harry said, "Um, I don't know."

Ron said, "Paul says there is a club that you and I would both like. You know, girls go there too."

Harry lifted his head at the word 'girls', but said, "Ron, I'm still tired from yesterday."

Ron looked at Paul and said, "Well, give me the address and maybe we'll see you there."

Paul scribbled the address on the back of a card and said, "You can grab the "C" bus to get there and then me or someone will give you a ride back. The bus stop is across the street from your hotel. Hope to see you there." He handed the card to Ron and smiled.

Ron smiled back and both guys paid for their items and left the store. They continued shopping for a while and then stopped in the food court for a quick lunch before heading back to the hotel with their many packages.

When they returned to their room, Ron immediately began badgering Harry to go to the club. "Come on, Harry! It'll be fun, really. There will be girls there...girls you would like...Paul said. Come on!"

Harry was lying on his bed with all the new clothes surrounding him. "Ron, I'm tired. We can go another night, can't we?" Harry knew he was being a little bit a bore, but Ron could go himself if he really wanted to.

"Come on, Harry!"

"Go yourself, if you want. That's fine."

"Harry, but I want you to come. It'll be fun."

"Ron, when has me not going, ever stopped you?"

Ron sighed exasperated. "We are on VA-CA-TION! We are supposed to be having fun!"

Harry said, "No."

Ron said, "Fine. I'm going without you."

Harry said, 'Fine!"

Ron stomped across the room and grabbed some of the new clothes they had bought. He picked through until he found a pair of jeans and a plain dark blue T-shirt. He went into the bathroom to freshen up and put on his clothes. He sat on his bed as he put on his black boots and looked at Harry briefly as he walked passed him to the door. He said, "I hope you and the bloody veletision have fun together."

Harry hadn't moved this whole time, but now he sat up and said, "We will!"

Ron opened the door, walked through it, and then slammed it with a loud bang.

Harry stewed for a while before he fell asleep. He didn't hear Ron come in at four in the morning.