you sat by the seaside, around a bonfire the boys had put together listening to them telling stupid stories about everything and anything that’s been going on in their lives. you were having the loveliest time with them that not even the cold could make you want to get up and leave, however, that didn’t mean you weren’t freezing despite being close enough to the firepit and having a throw covering your legs.

between the laughs and harry’s animated storytelling, everyone else failed to notice how bad you were trembling as the wind picked up but not harrison, that sat right by your side with a thick cable knit throw around his shoulders. “oh my god, y/n. you’re shivering.” he pointed out the obvious. “here, take my jacket.” by the time he finished the sentence he was already draping his wool-lined denim jacket over your shoulders.

“thanks, h.” you chuckled, bringing your hands up to tug at the jacket snuggling more into harrison’s lingering warmth in the lining of it. your hands that you had managed to keep warm under your blanket graced over harrison’s and the low temperature of his hands made you gasp. “gosh, your hands are freezing!” you noted, turning to look at him with wide eyes.

“yeah, it’s alright though.” he shrugged and chuckled.

“let me warm them up,” you told him, not waiting for a verbal answer to move even closer to him and clasping both his cold hands in yours to share your warmth, quickly realising it wasn’t enough, so naturally you shoved them into the jacket closing it over his forearms leaving you both in the most awkward position.

“what are you two doing!?” harry interrupted himself to laugh at you and harrison.

“trying to stay warm?” you mumbled, eyeing up the rest of the boys.

“it looks uncomfy though.” tom exposed eliciting tipsy laughs from everyone including you and harrison.

“it is.” harrison grinned, “c’mere,” with a swift move he pulled you a bit closer to his spot as he shuffled back a bit, clumsily positioning himself behind you, arms encircling your middle bringing you even closer to his chest. his chin rested on your shoulder before he spoke again right into your neck, “there, now we can keep each other warm.” with a smile and a new warmth on your face you nestled into him placing your hands on top of his, fingers scurrying between his, shielded from the peering eyes under his jacket.

unprompted, harrison buried his face into your neck, fingers squeezing yours and arms tightening slightly around your waist that had you biting back the huge smile that fought to break your cool demeanour.

“don't think i won't carry you if i have to!” harrison had said to you from the threshold of your bedroom when you whined about not being in the mood for a pub quiz. you had been sulking the whole day for no particular reason and you were sure you were getting on harrison’s nerves, so you ultimately complied with his efforts at putting you in a better mood —and to not be carried out of your flat by your best friend.

you weren’t going to lie, you were both a bit tipsy when you both made it out of the pub in a fit of silly giggles and chuckles. “can’t get over that you don’t know the lyrics to careless whisper.” you pointed out for the millionth time after the music round.

“i was three pints down! and my music brain doesn’t work well under pressure.” harrison defended himself as you two started the walk back to your flat.

“you don’t need beer for your brain to not work well.” you retorted playfully, eliciting a dramatically offended gasp from the boy next to you. “no, but really, harri. thanks for dragging me out of the flat, i owe you one.” you sighed, getting real for a moment.

“don’t be silly, you don’t owe me anything.” harrison reassured you, lazily throwing his arm around your shoulder and pulling you closer to him. you walked in silence for a few steps until you felt the need to bring something up to him just because it was sort of bothering you.

“you chickened out,” you said, hoping he would pick the cue.

“‘bout what?” his brows furrowed as he looked at you quizically prompting you to let out a halfhearted chuckle.

“about the girls on the table next to ours.” you bumped your hip with his in a teasing way.

“what about them?” he couldn’t be more oblivious, you thought, rolling your eyes at him.

“oh my god, harrison! you’re going to tell me you didn’t notice how they were eye-fucking you the whole time!?” you acknowledged incredulous.

“i don’t care. i only care about you.” he said lowly, as if only for you to hear. his words made you stop abruptly, the half-smile that dangled on the corner of your lips falttered as your wide eyes focused on the blonde.

“come again?” you mumbled, not sure if your heart was ready to hear that come out of the boy you fancied lips again. harrison let go of you and hurried to the middle of the deserted street.

“i don't care about everyone else! i care about you, Y/N!” he vocalised at the top of his lungs, the words echoing throughout the neighbourhood which cause you to clumsily run to him and cover his mouth with your hand.

“shush!” you whisper-shouted at him but broke into another fit of tipsy laugher at the silly occurrence. he removed your hand from his mouth and laughed with you, smoothly slipping his fingers through yours while his other hand cupped your waist, keeping you close to his front. your cheeks burned and your heart felt as if it was going to jump right out of your chest but you didn’t want to pull away, you wanted to wait and see if something else happened, if he was going to kiss you or simply let go of you when he realised how close you were to each other.

you had been venting to harry for the past hour and a half, he listened and offered you comfort when you got overwhelmed and broke down in tears. it had been over two years since you and harrison broke up and moved on, well, he moved on. you dated each other for a few months and you were the happiest you’d ever been but harrison wasn’t and you could see and feel he wasn’t in love with you the way you were with him.

you were friends though, so when you broke up you swore you wouldn’t let that come between your previous friendship and you did your best to swallow the pain of seeing him often and not being able to call him yours. selfish, sure, but you couldn’t help yourself. it all became ten times worst for you when he brought his new partner to the friend group, you remembered perfectly how your chest ached, how the air didn’t seem to reach your lungs and how the room started to spin.

with the most genuine smile you could muster at that moment you got introduced, they were perfect for him, you could see it in the way they both smiled at each other whenever they crossed glances and god, did it hurt. for weeks it sent you into a spiral of questioning what was so wrong with you that he found it impossible to love you the way he loved his partner now or why he didn’t seem to care that you were still in pain.

little over a year now and you felt trapped in the city, suffocated and out of place, no matter how much you loved everything there it just wasn’t the place for you anymore. “i’m moving, harry.” you sniffled after taking a few seconds to compose yourself. harry’s reaction was cut short by his blonde friend bursting through the front door, you straightened up on the sofa hoping your eyes didn’t look as sore as they felt but that thought went out the window when harrison’s smile dropped the moment he stepped into the living room.

“hey... you’ve been crying.” his worried tone squeezed your heart but you forced yourself to smile at him and shake your head negatively silently reassuring him, not trusting your voice just yet. you saw him take a few steps towards you and your limbs pushed you up to your feet as if in self-defence and moved you the opposite way he was just to keep the distance between you and the boy that didn’t care about breaking your heart over and over.

“i better get going.” you sigh, “harry, um, thank you for listening.” the whisper barely reach the auburn-haired boy, still, he nodded his head and sent you a sad smile. with that you rounded the back of the sofa and made it for the front door, you would’ve sung the door opened the moment your hand landed on the knob but a too familiar hand wrapped around your elbow before you could do so.

“y/n, please, talk to me… it kills me seeing you like this.” he said, not knowing it all shattered your heart even further.

“everything’s fine, don’t worry.” you tried to speak with conviction but the tears just flooded out on their own free will leaving you a sobbing mess for a pair of seconds.

“hey! hey, hey, it’s alright! it’s okay, my friend, i’m here, i’ve got you.” his arms attempted and went over your shoulders trying to console you but in reality, it felt as if he was stabbing you repeatedly without mercy although, your arms found themselves wrapped around his waist squeezing him tightly afraid that it might be the last time you could do so for a long while.

the soft murmuring of the tv was the only thing that accompanied the sound of harrison’s heartbeat in your ear as you laid your head on his chest while cuddled up in the sofa of his flat. his fingers ran up and down your forearm in a soothing way nearly lulling you to sleep, and you would’ve succumbed to your slumber if it wasn’t for his voice coming to gently remind you that he was still there very much worried for your state.

“you’re amazing, you know?” he whispered, his voice a little raspy from how long the two of you had gone without speaking. the blonde’s words managed to make the corners of your lips lazily curl upwards, however, you refrained from replying prompting him to keep talking in the same soft tone. “i... sometimes, i guess i kinda wish you could see yourself through my eyes.” he rambled, you knew he was just letting his mouth run with what was in his mind at that moment. bad days weren’t odd in your life but they were in harrison’s and at times you felt bad he had to worry so much for something you knew was temporary.

“i don’t think that’s a good idea.” you retort finally strong enough to speak up.

“why’s that?” he prompted, nudging your head with his cheek to encourage you to look up at him. reluctantly you complied, moving your head back to stare up at the boy.

“i’ll be insufferable. goddess complex, can you imagine?” you exposed, eliciting a low chuckle from your boyfriend.

“well, it’ll be understandable.” he shrugged, the corners of his mouth turning downwards in that well-known harrison frown while his hand that was caressing your arm moved to trace your figure from your thigh all the way to your waist.

you did your best to compose yourself before coming out of the bathroom and walking back to set, hoping to not be approached by anyone the rest of the day. that was immediately thrown out the window when you saw a figure wrapped in a blue coat on your peripheral view. “morning!” he said enthusiastically as he started walking with you. you offered him a weak smile that you were sure didn’t reach your eyes and he was quick to point the obvious out as his own smile faltered. “hey... you’ve been crying.” he frowned as he said it.

“i’m okay, is just—” a sob interrupted you, fresh tears filling your eyes. in an instant harrison had you enveloped in his arms and you welcomed his embrace hiding your face in the blonde’s neck.

“hey! hey, hey, it's alright! it's okay, my darling, i'm here, i've got you…” he reassured as his lips came to press a lingering kiss on the top of your head. “what happened?” the boy asked softly and between quiet sobs, you explained how you had mixed up some schedule sheets and now there was a gap in the day that had the potential to mess up filming and even though the first ad had said it was fixable you still felt bad for the mistake you had made. “aw, love.” he whined, squeezing you gently, “could sneaking away with me make you feel better?” he suggested, making you pull away just enough to be able to find his face.

“maybe,” you offered him a small smile that drew him in immediately, closing the distance between your lips to place a quick but sweet peck on them not caring that you were both at work.

harrison’s eyes darted from your moving figure in the kitchen of his flat to his friend sitting in front of him in the living room. the sound of your laughter mixing in with the girl’s that stood there with you pulling his gaze back to you as soon as he had torn them away, whatever his mate was saying didn’t register at all in the blonde’s head, he felt bad that he wasn’t paying attention but he had so much in his mind at the moment. his fingernails absently scratched the label on the beer bottle he held, peeling it off as he mentally went over the script he had curated a week prior to the party.

he was blankly staring in your direction, coming off of his daze when your sparkling eyes met his. a wide grin spread across your face at the sight of him, he saw how your shoulders shrugged adorably when he managed to return the smile. the young man’s heart did a somersault at your genuine gesture, a smile was all it took for him to excuse himself from the one-way conversation and start for the kitchen inhaling deeply as he wiped the sweat in his palm on his black jeans. “your highness.” you said as soon as he was close enough to hear you above the music and chatter around the flat. 

“stop that.” he chuckled, cheeks growing warmer. both of you stayed silent for a couple of long seconds, just looking around the people-littered place. “um, have you seen the terrace?” harrison finally spoke, pointing his beer at the sliding doors that took to the open space. your head shook negatively as your gaze heeded where he pointed. “wanna see it?” the blonde offered, thinking that it’ll be nice to have a bit more privacy if he was going to move ahead with his plan.

“please,” you smiled at him, grabbing the drink you had put down beside you ready to follow him. valiantly he slid his hand into your free one and lightly tugged you towards the balcony, “oh, it’s really nice!” your gasp brought a wider smile to his face, “missing a couple plants, though.” 

“i’m on it, don’t worry.” he reassured with a breathy laugh, “if you have any suggestions let me know.” you agreed beaming at him, subconsciously swinging your hands that were still clasped together causing him to look down at them. his thumb gently caressing the thenar region of your hand. “so hypothetically, if i were to ask you out would you be happy about it or…” 

“hypothetically?” you laughed, “well, if you were to hypothetically ask me out then i’d be pretty upset.” his hands grew more clammy with your answer, not knowing how to make up for potentially upsetting you. “but if you were to ask me out for real, then i think i’d be really happy.” when you finished he felt his heart flutter and he let out a small, nervous and breathy laugh in relief.

“y-you think?” he stuttered out of excitement, his brow lifting quizzically.

“i know,” with the assurance you took a step closer to him, tilting your head at him expectantly, clearly still waiting for him to actually say it. his hand squeezed yours before he articulated.

“would you like to go out with me? some time, anytime really. when you’re free,” harrison rambled on, trepidation settling on the pit of his stomach.