#I’ll be giggling about you calling Harry musty for a long long time

[blackandwhlteaesthetlc]

Ewww just seen you claiming Bravo men are influenced by Harry. Tom and Kory are hot with full heads of hair, unlike Harry Styles who is balding, ugly, and musty. Hope this helps!

💀💀💀

[howrry]

friendship bracelets, firecrackers, and far too much sunscreen

a/n: here it is! this was supposed to be a one shot but i got WAY too carried away with it so its a full blown fic now! i kept getting too immersed while writing it so if you’ve never been to summer camp... it’s gonna feel like you did after reading this. grab a snack kids cause this is a doozy

w/c: 13.1k holy sHIT

warnings: lotta smut, alcoholism

Your alarm jerked you awake at 7 am sharp, and when you shot up onto your elbows, the humidity of the morning air made your pillowcase stick to your cheek for a moment. Yuck. That's why you insisted on showering in the morning, since the sticky, hot air would make you sweat all night anyways. You popped your neck to release the tension that sleeping at a weird angle caused.

Mornings were so peaceful; if only you liked them. The air was a little thick, but the birds didn't seem to mind as they chirped and tweeted at the beautiful sun-shiny day.

"What craft are we doing this morning?" you grumbled to Kathia, another counselor who was getting up and stretching her arms. Of course you'd share a cabin with the biggest morning person you'd ever met.

"Leather crafts. Hammering designs into bracelets and luggage tags. Some of the older girls get to do belts since their hand eye coordination will help them finish quicker," Kathia explained, going into the sun salutation poses. The first morning you two had spent together, she claimed it's how she stayed flexible even after quitting cheer. You weren't sure how some yoga related to the strength to do flips, but she still impressed campers year after year with her refined tumbling skills.

"That doesn't seem too bad. You just have to make sure the little girls don't hammer their fingers into ground beef," you reasoned, getting out of bed and finding clothes to wear that day along with your shower caddy.

"Yeah, but it'll get boring after twenty minutes," Dani, your other cabinmate, complained. Dani hated mornings as much as Kathia loved them, and typically stayed in bed until the very last minute. It was quite common for her to show up to breakfast still in her pajamas, and sneak back into your cabin to change during the camp announcements.

"Not everything in life has to be wild and exciting, Dani," Kathia tsked while bent in half at the hips, with her head between her knees. "This camp is for the girls, not us."

"Kat is right," you agreed, pushing the screen door out to leave for the shower units. "Try to be in day clothes at breakfast, Dani, please?"

She barely made a noise before plopping back down into her pillow as the door swung behind you. You played some music on your phone, and the shuffle put on some old Arctic Monkeys. You tried to keep the volume low, since the camper cabins are not far from yours and you weren't exactly allowed to have phones around campers.

You hummed Knee Socks to yourself as you turned on the water, waiting for it to get warm. You'd gotten your shower routine down to a science, proving that the past few months of learning when to turn on the water and exactly which degree to turn the knob to for the ideal temperature had been worth it. Since you were the only person up and at 'em this morning you thought nothing of taking your musty t-shirt and shorts off, leaving you in your underwear in the shower units.

It wasn't the most exposed structure, since the whole thing was made of concrete. Concrete floor, concrete walls, concrete stalls between each shower and toilet. The only thing missing was a concrete ceiling, but it actually didn't have a ceiling at all; only a wire fence stretched over the top to keep out leaves and sticks from being blown into the showers. The toilets were covered by a tin roof, but if it rained during your shower, you were doubled soaked. And probably frozen.

Still waiting for the water heater to kick in, you danced along to the guitar solo in the song. You swayed your hips, banged your head, and spun around the concrete in your shower shoes until a big hand clasped over your mouth. You freaked the fuck out until the mystery person started shushing you and turned you around, revealing himself to be your boyfriend, Harry.

"Well, aren' you adorable. Dancin' around in your knickers to good ole Alex Turner. I quite like him m'self, but clearly not as much as you do," he teased, kissing your cheek and letting his hand fall off of your mouth.

"Shut up, you scared the hell out of me! What are you doing here anyways?" you asked, noticing how little he was actually dressed. He was only in red plaid boxers, looking honestly delicious with messy hair and still-tired puffy eyes.

His shoulders lifted to his cheeks and dropped. "Woke up a little earlier than my alarm and decided to surprise you."

You laughed hoarsely. "And surprise me you did. I nearly screamed."

"Well what 'm gonna do next is really gonna surprise you, then." Before you could ask when he meant by this, he grabbed you by the back of your head and yanked you into the shower you'd been warming up.

You gasped, choking on some shower water. "Harry! I'm in my underwear!" you sputtered stupidly, unsure of what to say.

"So what? Y'were gonna change into new ones anyways. We should make out," he decided, and frankly he was right. It was just water, and you should make out. It wasn't often that counselors had alone time, so you shrugged and tossed your arms around his neck and kissed his smiling mouth.

"Y/N? Are you up already?" a voice from outside the showers asked. You and Harry separated and you gasped softly when you realized the voice belonged to Cricket, the middle aged camp director who ruled with an iron fist.

"Uh, yeah!" you blurted, unsure of what to do. Harry awkwardly backed into the corner of the shower as you popped your head out of the curtain, trying to hide the fact that you still had a bra on. Cricket was brushing her teeth in the trough sink, orange hair pulled up out of her face into a bun.

"Morning, hon, I was heading back from getting the campers' mail and figured I'd brush my teeth real quick since I had my toiletries on me," she explained, wetting her toothbrush in the water.

You nodded and dove back into the shower to find Harry confusedly waving his arms around as if to ask what to do. There was no way to leave the shower units unnoticed until Cricket left, so Harry simply had to wait to make his escape.

You grinned. "Better finish this shower before I lose the hot water," you said aloud, as if you were talking to Cricket, but really you were playing a game with Harry. You popped the hooks on your bra open and shimmied your underwear down your legs, leaving you naked in front of your boyfriend.

"I know what you mean," Cricket responded around a toothbrush in her mouth. "You have to learn to love the cold water."

You seductively combed some shampoo through your hair before lathering yourself up with body wash, running your fingers over every square inch of your tanned body. Harry was watching in awe at this explicit dance you were performing for him, with the camp director not even fifteen feet away completely unaware of what was happening.

Soon you heard the sink shut off and Cricket spit out the toothpaste down the drain. "I'll see you at breakfast, Y/N dear!" she called before walking away.

When the crunch of the leaves under Cricket's footsteps subsided, Harry let out a breath. "You're a menace! How 'm I gonna walk back to m'cabin with a hard on like this?" he gestured to the obvious tent in his boxers.

You giggled, rinsing out the last of the shampoo in your hair and squeezing out the water. "Shame. You should've worn real pants. I think I can help you, though," you offered vaguely, making Harry perk up thinking about the possibility of a good morning handy. Instead, you twisted the shower knob all the way to the coldest setting and pointed it at the corner Harry was huddling into.

The shriek he unleashed when the freezing water touched his skin was unlike any other you had ever heard. You'd been a counselor at summer Camp Jalita for two years now and had heard the screams of girls who thought they were drowning, of girls who were actually drowning, girls who saw huge bugs and lizards and once an armadillo, girls who tripped and fell, and once a girl who thought her cabin was haunted because the wind was moving the canvas flaps that hung over the screens, but this one cry released by your grown ass boyfriend pierced your ears like a knife.

"Shhhh, quit it! We just avoided getting caught by Machiavelli herself and I don't want your sissy ass to get us busted now," you reprimanded, shutting off the water entirely so that the two of you could leave. You started to get dressed as he scampered away, with one less hard-on than he had five minutes ago.

Harry was one of two male counselors at your summer camp. The other male counselor was this nice, older gentleman named Paul, who was an expert at archery and taught classes to the campers. Harry was one of the lifeguards and taught swim lessons. The other counselors (all 15 or so), counselors-in-training, members of the general camp staff, and the director were women and had a certain responsibility, and it was expressly forbidden for a counselor to date other counselors, regardless of gender.

You were never clear on why this was a rule in the first place, but you couldn't have imagined it would be a problem when you applied to be a counselor a couple years ago. Until this summer, the camp had only hired Paul and female lifeguards, so the dating policy wasn't a problem for you. Then, one of the old lifeguards got engaged and then pregnant, they needed a replacement, and they hired Harry.

You met him at a meeting long before setting foot on the campgrounds that summer, in an air-conditioned office room in the city. It was almost as opposite from actual summer camp as one could get; the humidity controlled office, the hushed tones used, the blouses and slacks worn could never prepare a newcomer for what camp was like. Harry was the relaxed vibe in a building full of squares and you couldn't help but be attracted to him.

You were a little dazed the morning of that meeting, and accidentally followed Harry into a bathroom, not realizing that A) he wasn't a girl and B) that it was a solo bathroom that lacked stalls. When it dawned on you what you'd just done, you backed out of the room stammering out an apology, but Harry had thankfully found it much more amusing than embarrassing.

"I love the enthusiasm, darling, but I think I've got it from here m'self," he joked before closing the door. You were officially too mortified to pee and scampered back to the meeting room. Afterwards, he formally introduced himself as Harry and your relationship blossomed from there.

Except, again, dating was super duper not allowed. Cricket drilled it into your heads a million times during the meetings and during on-site orientation. But you and Harry persevered and had managed to sneak around the first five or six weeks of the summer without anyone catching on. It wasn't easy, but the two of you figured out ways to be subtly romantic and also found times to get busy.

As for being romantic, it was done in the fashion that anything you did for each other could be easily explained by normal events. Harry would leave you a beautiful wildflower on your pillow for you to find at the end of the day and you told your cabinmates you'd picked it yourself; you would slip a bag of his favorite kind of chip you'd swiped from the kitchen into his swim bag, and he acted like he'd known it was there the whole time. A few love letters here and there, some sneaking out at night to gaze at the beautiful stars, one too many joints shared at the riverbanks, and you had yourself a full-swinging summer romance.

As for getting it on... well, that took a bit more work. See, the cute little gifts and notes you leave for each other can be just in passing should one of you get caught. "Oh, did I drop that paper into Harry's bag? My mistake. No harm done, he's busy teaching little kids how to tread water." But sex, simply put, required both of you to be there. Two missing counselors to be accounted for rather than one.

Fortunately, there was one golden opportunity each week. New sets of campers and counselors-in-training cycled in week by week, arriving Sunday morning and departing the following Saturday evening, giving the counselors one night each week to themselves. The counselors were permitted to do whatever they wanted, so long as it wasn't dangerous or meant leaving the camp grounds.

So that gave you and Harry your time. You still weren't completely out of the woods, since the no-dating policy was still in effect even on counselor Saturdays, so the excuses for your locations basically got whackier and whackier throughout the summer. Once, you left the cabin at 10:30 pm, telling Dani and Kathia that you were going to find some glitter for an arts and crafts event you didn't have planned until Wednesday. By the time you got back with tangled hair and your underwear in your pocket, Kat was already asleep and Dani was too busy being high to even notice your return.

Harry was so passionate during sex. He was just naturally a really handsy guy and you chalked it up to him not being able to touch you at all during the day, but he was all over you when you were intimate. He kissed and bit and grabbed and stroked and pulled, anything to get a physical touch with you. It was always mind-blowing, and his giving-to-receiving ratio was unlike anyone else you'd met or had relations with.

He'd scampered out of your shower only minutes ago and you already missed him. You mozied your way back to your cabin where Kathia was also already dressed and Dani was practically dragging herself out of her bed.

"What was that scream from earlier? Did a camper see a snake or something?" Kat asked, sitting on her knees on your bed with two hair ties and a brush.

Dani plopped down on the bed in front of her, and you sat on the floor in front of Dani. The two girls behind you started braiding the hair of the girl in front of them, a system you three had been doing for weeks now. Kathia was too neurotic to wear her hair in any fashion other than a sleek ponytail and your fingers were too shaky and unskilled to properly French braid hair, thus the perfect set up was discovered.

You paused a little. Kat tended to be a bit of a rule-follower and you'd carefully kept the fact from even your cabin mates that you were dating Harry. "Nope, I just got in the shower a little too early and the cold water unlocked an ancestral scream from me." Not bad, you thought to yourself. You were never super great at holding a bluff... but you'd gotten better over the summer.

Kathia made a little noise. "Weird, you're usually pretty good at that." She breathed for a moment while braiding back Dani's wavy hair. "Oh, well. I guess it's a good way to wake up. What do you think they're gonna be serving for breakfast?"

***

After eating breakfast tacos, cleaning up the Great Hall where the camp eats every meal, and going over camp announcements, it was over to the art pavilion. You spent the day demonstrating wetting the leather, hammering in the designs, and chatting with your counselors-in-training about you were going to do later in the day.

Your group of girls this week consisted of ladies age 13-15, which was your personal favorite age group. They were too young to be edgy and mean, too old to be crybabies about everything that wasn't perfect or what they were used to, and they were really, really funny. And frankly, the more freedom you gave the girls, the more likely they were to listen to you. The camp understood this and gave the older girls the least strict schedule of all the campers. So long as you made it to each meal and were in bed at a godly hour, you were pretty much free to do whatever you wanted for the remaining time during the week.

"I was thinking of tubing," one of the CITs suggested. "When I put up the poles after fishing, I saw the storage unit was full of these industrial sized tubes. Wouldn't it be fun to float the river on our last day here?" she gushed.

"That's not a bad idea. I'd need to make sure no one is fishing today," you thought aloud, scratching your head and trying to avoid the braids becoming loose. It was finally Saturday and the campers were kind of bummed that they had to leave that evening anyways, so maybe this was just the thing to lift their spirits. "Oh, and I'd need a lifeguard." Your finger shot out towards the CIT who'd suggested it. "After crafts, you're excused to go find me a lifeguard to accompany us. We'll probably tube backwards since the river doesn't move super fast and we get less exercise if we just sit in a tube and float." The girls nodded together in agreement, excited that they now had an excuse to wear their cute bikinis they'd packed.

See, that's how you remained off the radar with Harry. If the CIT just happened to pick him for the tubing, that's nobody's fault except chance. If he'd been your first pick, some alarm bells were bound to go off in the heads of other counselors and CITs.

"Could we ask Kathia's group to join us?" another CIT asked. "They're the same age as us and I don't think they have any plans either."

"Great idea! Hand me the walkie so I can ring her up," you ordered, pointing to the walkie talkie on the table next to the first CIT. "Tubing party later today!" you announced to your campers, who also cheered at the fun final adventure.

When everyone was waiting down at the riverbanks later that day holding their big tubes, Harry strolled down wearing a tan fishing hat, bright orange swim trunks, and a ridiculous amount of white sunscreen slathered on his nose. Black sunglasses sat on the brim of his hat and a red whistle hung around his neck, resting daintily between his chest muscles. If the campers weren't so intimidated by his size and attractiveness, they probably would've laughed at him.

The group felt no need to waste time and immediately started their way up the river. Some girls sat in their tubes and paddled their way upstream, while some girls planned to drag another and switch off who got to sat in the tube. Kathia ran a timer on her watch to tell girls when to trade places. Harry carried one girl in his tube at a time and some campers were practically tripping over the river rocks to get to be the one H pulled. He played this game with some of the girls where he would yank the rope attached to the tube until it slipped out from under the camper and she dropped into the river. They would come up laughing and squealing until Kat reprimanded him.

"Aren't you supposed to be the lifeguard?" she prodded jokingly. "Some girl is gonna get a concussion from that."

Harry sighed. "All you do is nag, Kathia dear. That's why Y/N is my favorite counselor." He nodded his head over to the side where you were pulling a girl using a camp brochure as a fan. You stuck your tongue out.

Kat feigned being insulted. "Hey! You can't have a favorite counselor!"

"Relax," he waved a hand to deflect Kathia's words. "Watch this." Harry turned to the group of girls in tubes. "Raise your hand if Kathia is your favorite counselor." A majority of the hands shot up. "Raise your hand if Y/N is your favorite counselor." Another majority of hands lifted, and Harry winked to both of you. "Now... raise your hand if I'm your favorite counselor." Every single one of the hands raised, including yours, Kat's, and Harry's. He always was quite the narcissist. "See ladies? Favorite counselor isn't a person; it's a tier."

Your group finally reached the end of the tubing trip, since the point of the river furthest north was at the Great Hall and it was already in sight. Everyone started dragging their tubes out of the water to carry back to the storage unit. You put your tube in the unit last, and when you turned to go back to your group, Harry slapped your ass on the way out. He'd been holding the door and probably waited for the opportunity to do that. You tried to glare at him but he had such an excited grin you couldn't even pretend to stay mad at him.

By this point, the group was grouchy from either having to wash off the river water with a garden hose, excess sun exposure, or both, so Harry decided to cheer everyone up. "Hey, when everyone's changed and back from their cabins, how about we all have some ice cream?" he suggested when the group was huddled in their towels outside Great Hall, and their general mood instantly lifted. He leaned to you and whispered, "I bought a ton of weed from one of the cooks, so I get special food privileges. Gotta learn to network." He clicked his tongue and shot a finger gun at you, making you roll your eyes and laugh.

***

Saying goodbye to your campers each week was hard and didn't get easier no matter how long the summer went on. You got seven days of living with strangers and by the time they leave, they're like ten new sisters that you'll never see again. The campers would start to look up to you and they'd be just as bummed as you. If it weren't for their faces brightening when they saw their parents or older siblings arriving to pick them up, you'd think it wasn't worth it.

When the last girl was picked up, the sun was already setting. The lifeguards began slathering aloe vera on each other's shoulders, the cooks were lugging boxes of food for the week into the kitchen, and the remaining counselors were drawing broken toothpicks to see who got to use the washing machines first. You, however, were plotting your escape to Harry's cabin for that night.

When Dani and Kat weren't around to see, you kicked out a path leading up to your cabin so your feet wouldn't crunch the leaves. You sprayed a coat of sunscreen onto the spring that pulled the door shut so that it wouldn't creak. Some trial and error led you to learn that the humid air only allowed this to work for about 12 hours until the sunscreen melted off, so you did this as late as possible.

Harry also took some precautions. The frames that the mattresses sat on were super old and made a ton of noise when you two were, you know, on it, so he dragged it (with the sheets and blankets and pillows still on it) down to the ground. Concrete floors can't squeak when you're getting fucked into it. Fortunately, since he was a guy and the other lifeguards were girls, he got his own cabin to stay in, so cabin mates were one less factor to worry about on his end.

When you arrived at his cabin that night, you used your special knock that you two agreed on to eliminate Harry opening the door in his underwear when it was really Cricket or Paul or even worse, a lost camper. H opened the door wearing shorts that rode low on his hips and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt draped over his shoulders.

"Hey, princess," he murmured, pulling you into his cabin and kissing you.

"Morning, babe," you joked. "Has it been lonely waiting for me all by yourself?"

He took two steps backwards and sat back, landing with a thump on the mattress. His arms shot back and he balanced himself by leaning on his palms. "Terribly so. Almost thought you weren't comin'."

You followed him down onto the mattress. "As if I would skip out on this." Harry scooted back and you climbed over him, straddling his hips. You already could feel his semi pressing against your core-- only a few thin layers separated you two.

Even the slight pressure of him brushing up against your center had soft gasps slipping from your lips, and Harry's first two fingers slipped between them. "Haven't even done anything yet and 've already got you whimperin'. Don't think I'll ever get over how responsive yeh are."

You giggled, or at least as much as you could with two fingers in your mouth. Your eyes fluttered shut as your lips closed around him and you sucked gently, making him twitch beneath you.

"Oh, you're playing dirty tonigh'," he noted, pulling his hand from your lips and flipping you over so that you were below him. He pulled your shirt off and licked at your now-exposed nipples. A wandering hand of his discovered that you were soaking wet. "M'so glad you make it easy for me, pet." He flipped you onto your stomach and yanked your shorts down, giving him easy access to slip his cock into you.

Having sex only once a week made it difficult to stay accustomed to his size. He wasn't like, a monster or anything, but he was bigger than average and having cabin mates eliminated the option of touching yourself. So every week, when you and Harry got together, he had to re-fuck you open to handle his width.

Before the burn from the stretching had quite subsided, Harry let his carnal side out and started pounding into your mercilessly, assaulting your delicate and sensitive walls. His fingernails dug into the soft skin above your hips and his balls slapped your clit, stimulating you from the inside out.

"Someday, I'm gonna fuck yeh in private, and I won' have to cover y'mouth. I wanna hear every moan, whimper, and gasp I can get out of yeh," he punctuated his statement by bottoming out all the way, the head of his cock pressing against that spongy spot inside you, and your jaw dropped open. Harry, thankfully, was quick and had a hand smacked against your mouth before any noise slipped out. "Bet it sounds like heaven when you get fucked hard."

You were getting close to coming really fast. At this point, Harry had one arm snaked around the front of your body pulling you as close to his chest as he could, and the other hand was clasped around your mouth, forcing you to pant through your nose as he fucked you harder and faster. You clenched your walls around his pulsing cock and he moaned into your ear, and you finally hit your peak. Harry followed soon after, pulling out and painting your back with thick white ropes.

After you both came down from your highs, Harry got to work cleaning you off and helping you get redressed. As much as the two of you would love to spend the whole night talking and cuddling and, y'know, having more sex, it was imperative that you go back to your cabin before anyone could notice you were missing.

"Love the glow you've got," Harry mused, leaning against the cabin wall and looking down at you laying on the mattress. "You're the most beautiful woman I reckon 've ever seen."

You sat up, tucking your knees to your chest and covering your face with your fingers. "Making me blush. I love you, Harry, but I've gotta get back to my cabin." You checked your watch. "T minus eight hours until we get new campers, and I haven't slept a wink yet."

Harry smirked. "I'd apologize but I know yeh enjoyed it." You stood up to leave, leaving a fat smacking kiss on your boyfriend's cheek. "I love y'too, babe, get back t'bed safely."

And off into the night you went.

***

The departure of your campers was obviously immediately followed by a new set of bright young faces ready to have the most fun week of their summer. When new girls checked in, they were separated by which counselor would be responsible for them during the week, all of which waited on the courtyard right outside Great Hall. As each camper joined your group, they sat in a circle with you talking about themselves.

"Y/N? Do you mind speaking with me for a moment?" a voice behind you called. It was Sydney, a girl your age who was essentially Cricket's right hand man.

Sydney had blonde hair with a thick dark chunk of roots on her whole head. Her jaw was unnaturally square and nose turned up, looking like one of the wicked stepsisters. She stood with her arms crossed above her camp shirt, pinning her lanyard to her body.

You wobbled to stand up and bounced over to her. "What's up?"

Her eyes dropped to your shoes, a pair of light blue Chacos strapped over your feet. "You're not supposed to be wearing those. The camp rulebook says close-toed shoes only on campgrounds."

Your hands found your hips and you narrowed your eyes. "Really? You mean, the rulebook that pretty clearly states that only campers have to wear close-toed shoes." God, this was such a stupid thing to be arguing over. Didn't Sydney have better things to be worrying about?

"You should at least try to set a good example for your girls," Sydney seethed.

"Just like you're doing with that beer breath before it's even noon?" you bit, not in the mood for such a petty argument. If she wanted smoke, she'd get smoke. Her face contorted a little, but you shut her up before she could retaliate. "Yeah, I thought so. Let me deal with my girls as I see fit, and I'll leave you to yours. Oh wait! You were deemed not responsible enough so now you're a jealous lapdog. Mind your own, Syd."

You trudged away from her and rejoined your group where they were all chatting about new movies they were gonna see when camp ended. "Hey girls!" you started, sitting back down. "So, who would play you in a movie about your life?"

***

The week rolled along without making much of an impression until smack halfway in the middle of it, when the day was so violent it demanded it left an impact on you.

That Wednesday, the sun was over-the-top vicious. The members and attendees of your camp were no strangers to hot and humid weather, but when the first sunburn was reported at the modest hour of 10 am, nobody complained when Cricket ordered for minimal sun exposure and forbade swimming until the temperature cooled back down.

The lifeguards were bored silly since their number one purpose became obsolete. Two of the lifeguards opted out of taking up any new responsibility, and spent the day washing their laundry in the counselor's quarters, playing Super Smash Bros in the office building, and enjoying indoor weather wherever they could find it.

Harry was much too in love with the campers to shut himself in, however. He floated around the camp from group to group, joining in with the kids making crafts, cleaning up the campgrounds, and playing games. In fact, you didn't even see your wanderer boyfriend for most of the day anyways.

After lunch, everyone has a mandatory thirty minute "resting" time after eating. They claimed that it was to prevent campers getting stomach cramps while swimming or running around, but even as years went on and that myth was debunked, nobody really suggested the rule get thrown out since it was a half hour of just chilling and not having to work. (Plus today, one of the most sweltering of days, nobody was exactly itching to go run laps immediately after consuming tons of lasagna and garlic bread).

You were laying in bed during your rest hour, and most of your girls were in their cabins doing fuck-all. You chose to read, and picked one of your favorite books, The Duff.

Dani's girls were always really young, so she spent her rest hour getting her girls in bed for a nap. They were allowed a longer resting time since this was the time of day was the hottest (even on regular days when records weren't being broken), and them napping was better than them being out in the sun. Today, Kathia's group had the chore of cleaning up Great Hall after lunch, so you were in your cabin alone when someone knocked at the door.

"Come in," you called, and placed your book down holding your finger in the spot you left off at.

The door swung open to reveal one of your campers, a 13-year-old girl named Paige. "Hey, Y/N. I had a question." She stepped in and sat on one of the empty beds, pulling her Chaco-adorned feet up with her.

"Shoot."

"How mad would you be if we were out a little later than lights out tonight? We're older, so we're more responsible than the young girls, and we'll all be together so it's like ultra buddy system."

One of your eyebrows shot up. "Is that really what you're asking me?"

Suddenly the cabin door swung open, and Kathia entered. She yanked her ponytail out of its tie and immediately brushed it out with a comb, waving to Paige.

The camper sighed and dropped a dark piece of hair she'd been playing with. "Okay. I'll level with you. One of the girls in my cabin brought an iPad and never turned it in, and we wanna see if we can find the office's WiFi password to watch a music video that just came out."

You couldn't help but let out a laugh. "I have so much faith in the youth of today. When I was a camper here, I missed out on watching the music video for 5SOS's Amnesia."

Kathia chimed in. "I missed a Hoodie Allen concert with my friends. Not that I could've done anything about that."

"You liked Hoodie Allen?" you balked, making the blonde girl laugh and nod. "Anyways," you continued, turning back to Paige. "I'm proud of you guys solving problems together. What music video are you gonna watch, anyways?"

She looked down, almost embarrassedly. "Have you heard of Billie Eilish? It's one of hers."

"God, how old do you think I am?" you rolled your eyes. "But listen to me extremely carefully." Paige leaned in, gripping her ankle. "If you get caught, I'm 100% throwing you under the bus. Cricket will unleash hell upon you and your cabin, and I won't lose a blink of sleep over it. Am I clear? Do. Not. Get. Caught."

The camper nodded vigorously, jumped off the bed, saluted, and took off out of the cabin. Huh. You liked her style.

"I can't believe you let that slide," Kathia spoke up, plopping down onto her bed to enjoy what was left of her rest hour.

"Are you criticizing my parenting skills?" you asked, picking your book back up as Kat chuckled to herself and shook her head.

One problem with the camp was its lack of cell service. Even if you and Harry managed to check your phones without getting in trouble with camp staff, there isn't enough service for miles to communicate. So even now that you had an opportunity to see Harry tonight without disturbing your campers, the info would have to be relayed to him in person.

When your rest time finished up, you popped over to your girls' cabin and poked your head in.

"Hey ladies! I don't feel like planning out more stuff to do inside for the rest of the day. Does anyone object to just chilling in our cabins for an hour or so?" When this was met with silence, you continued, "Great! Will anyone back me up when I say one of my campers didn't feel well so we didn't plan any afternoon activities together?" Two girls raised their hands. "Our cup runneth over! Rock, paper, scissors for who gets to be my scapegoat and I'll catch y'all later!"

You practically skipped to Harry's cabin, but when you got close you slowed your roll to be conspicuous. You opened the door to find that he wasn't in there, so you made yourself at home on his bed, kicking your feet up on the bedpost and sniffing his pillow.

Your timing was golden, since H came back shortly after you got comfortable. "Well, I see you have no intention of moving," he noted, wiping sweat off his face with a white rag.

You sat up. "I'm not staying forever. Just wanted to let you know we should meet up tonight. Maybe... the abandoned cabins?"

Harry's head reared back a bit. The abandoned cabins were a grouping near the riverbanks that got destroyed in a flood. Fortunately, the flood happened when there were no camps in session, so no one was hurt. Some were rickety and damaged, some only had walls left, and some were nothing more than concrete slabs jutting out of the dirt. The bathroom structure was still standing but gutted, missing a roof and donning big padlocks on the toilet stall doors.

"Tha's a new spot. What made you think of it?" he questioned, grabbing a water bottle and taking a few drinks from it.

"Overheard a group at lunch talk about hiking near there and how eerie it was. I think sneaking around there would be exciting and... I don't know. Kind of sexy," you admitted, rolling your head to the side almost to hide your face.

"Now yeh're speaking my language," he chuckled, pointing a ringed finger at you. "I'll meet you tonight, then?"

"Yessir," you affirmed, jumping up to wrap your arms around his neck. "Did you have a fun day doing nothing?"

"Nothing?!" he cried, almost choking on his water. "I spent the whole day givin' girls piggy back rides. Being charming and fun and popular isn' always easy, Y/N." He kissed your forehead to show he was kidding, but you still rolled your eyes.

"You joke, but that kinda talk is in your nature, Styles," you poked, heading towards the door.

"'f tha's true, then you really can't be mad at me for it, huh?" A little dimple popped out at the corner of his smile and he held his arms out in a lazy shrug.

"Watch me," you winked, and shut the door behind you.

God, the rest of the day crawled on painfully. The indoor rule which stretched until just before dinner, and after dinner the whole rest of the day is automatically planned out through Taps, camp announcements, evening games, and lights-out. Your options when it came to activities were pretty limited, so you spent the remaining hours before the last meal letting the girls check out the library that was adjacent to the Great Hall. Of course, the books hadn't been updated since 1996 and the 14 inch TV didn't have any cables to plug into the walls, so that day honestly kinda sucked.

Your girls had good spirit, though, and honestly seemed kind of excited for their own risky night they planned ahead. You wondered which out of the set you got that week were going to sneak out and which ones were gonna stay back and hold down the fort. Paige seemed like exactly the type to stage this kind of rebellion. Whatever.

So that evening, you waited on your bed, wringing your hands in anticipation. Dani was exhausted from her long day wrangling kiddies, and Kathia was always in bed early anyways. Before you knew it, you were the only awake person left in your cabin and had to patiently wait to leave so that you wouldn't be waiting on Harry.

Even with your worrying, you still overshot your departure and were left to kill time before he got there. Which cabin would you two go in? Only two had a roof left, and one of them literally shifted in place when you pulled on the door handle. The alternative was totally missing screens over the windows, and they appeared to have been cut out with a knife. Weird.

You heard the crunch of the leaves Harry was stepping on before he had any opportunity to scare you, so you quietly called him over to your cabin of choice.

"Well, hello there, beautiful," H flirted when he got to you, pulling you into his arms and spinning the two of you around. "You come 'ere often?"

You squealed a little before he steadied you again. "No, actually, this is my first time. Care to show me around?"

"Nope," he responded. "Was a hike getting here. Let's sit." He plopped down to the concrete floor and pulled you onto his lap, lazily tossing an arm around your waist and pressing kisses to the spot where your neck met your shoulders.

That was a sensitive spot for you, and you let your head roll to expose more skin for Harry to kiss and your jaw hung open. His free hand snaked down into your shorts, petting around to get inside your underwear and feel your folds.

"Fuck," he groaned, "You're always ready for me. Are you always this ready to get fucked?" His fingers just barely dipped inside you, not even past the second knuckle.

You nodded, one hand flying back to grab his hair and pull on it. H always loved when you got a little rough with him despite your meek nature, and he moaned breathily as you tugged at his curls. He also shoved his fingers all the way inside you and hooked them to brush against your G spot. His calloused palm grinded against your clit and he bit at your jawline, ear, and neck.

The pumping motion of his fingers created this delicious wet noise, and that combined with the moans and gasps of you coming on his fingers did a great job of covering the footsteps of someone approaching the abandoned cabin.

Harry slipped his hand out of your shorts and brought his fingers up to your lips to suck them clean. You were just getting ready to hop off his lap and give him a quick blowie when you heard the unmistakeable crack of someone stepping on and breaking a branch.

You and Harry's heads snapped towards the outdoors and then back to each other, wordlessly deciding that it was time to get out of there and it was every man for himself.

Jumping up from the floor, you two simultaneously realize that the door was not an option and the only way out was through where the windows used to be. You scrambled over gracelessly (while Harry leaped, rolled on the ground, and took off like a bullet) due to your jelly legs and landed on your back in the leaves. Adrenaline made you shoot back standing, and you darted towards the faint sound of the running river.

In the dark, you struggled to find the path that ran alongside the river for the whole stretch of camp since you didn't have a phone or a flashlight to help you see. Eventually, the caliche-lined footway was under you and you slowly walked back to your cabin.

You were terrified, of course, but you didn't have any other choice. You'd never had a call that close before; how could this happen? Could someone else have known about your plan? If it were Cricket, she would've stopped the two of you, right?

Your legs were still pumping with adrenaline and carried you back to main camp in no time. You crept back into your cabin to find both of your roommates sleeping soundly.

Well. Guess there's nothing left to do but sleep and see what the next day would bring. You sure hoped Harry made it back safely as well.

The next morning, nobody acted weird. Kat did her stretches, Dani complained about having to teach elementary aged girls to tie-dye shirts later that day, the cooks barely paid attention to the girls they were giving food to, Harry merely shrugged to you when your eyes widened at him during breakfast, and the staff was just as boring and predictable as always. Nobody acted as if you or H were busted.

You decided to let yourself relax. Maybe it was one of the campers who went hiking near there the day before. Maybe they were looking for something and got lost. No harm, no foul. To ease your stressed mind, you told your group they were going to weave friendship bracelets that day. You hoped the repetitive and soothing motion would loosen the knot in your stomach.

Things were actually going quite great, until your walkie-talkie hissed alive. "Cricket to Y/N. Please come to my office A-S-A-P." Fuuuck.

You simply nodded to your CIT, who understood you had to go. The walk to the office was like heading to a slaughterhouse and you could barely even feel your legs. You imagined how badly this meeting could possibly go (which really wasn't a great idea. You were practically sweating buckets) and pushed the door to go inside.

The office building was a modest shack, with loud air conditioning and painted concrete floors and doors with that arm that shuts them behind you to keep the cool air from escaping. One half of the building was individual offices, while the other half was an open area with chairs, tables, and spare storage for decorations. Sydney sat at one of these tables and her nose wrinkled when she saw you.

Syd gestured to the hallway leading to the offices and you quietly opened the door to Cricket's office. The older redheaded woman glanced up from her computer and nodded at a chair, not saying anything for several moments after you sat down.

She finally took off her glasses and folded her hands on the desk. "Y/N, I needed to talk to you about something quite important that's come to my attention," Cricket began. Here it goes. Your stomach was already twisted up in fear.

Be cool, you thought to yourself. "Uh, what's going on?" you asked, just barely avoiding your voice cracking. You were sure your hands were still trembling, so you sat on them.

"We, at Jalita, greatly value our rules and regulations we've set in place for our counselors, as they directly reflect on the safety of our campers. A direct violation of these rules shows you just don't care about that safety." Man, Cricket was really laying into you. "This is, however, your first time breaking the rules..."

You couldn't keep it in anymore. "And I promise it'll be the last!" You weren't sure if saying that would do you any good at this point, but it had to be worth something to get that across.

"... I should hope so. I mean, letting your campers run around the grounds after lights out and take twenty-so cartons of orange juice?! Were they raised by wolves?" Wait. What? This is about the stupid orange juice cartons? You and Harry hadn't been caught? "You're quite lucky we accidentally over-ordered juice this month, and now our numbers even out, or you'd have some thirsty campers by the end of the summer."

So... Cricket was mad because your campers had stolen a bunch of OJ for their Billie Eilish watch party. You couldn't help but feel like Paige was behind this tomfoolery and were again intrigued by her style. You sucked a big breath in through your nose before speaking again. "I'm so sorry, Cricket. You're right. I-I should've kept a better eye on my campers and I won't let this happen again." Your hands folded in your lap, suddenly not shaking anymore.

"I'm very glad to hear that. And since, like I said, this is your first time getting in trouble, all's well that ends well. You're free to go, Miss Y/N. Don't let me see you in here again, but I will see you at the fireworks show tonight." Oh fuck, right, it was the Fourth of July and time for the annual fireworks show. Cricket slid her glasses back on her nose, pushed the sleeves of her cardigan up her forearms, and turned back to her laptop.

Thankful for your easy out and the opportunity to leave, you nodded curtly and bolted out the door and down the hallway, back in the office's main room. Sydney sat at a big table sorting sparklers into cups that would go on the tables during dinner before the fireworks show, and merely turned her nose up at you. The blast of the A/C unit felt like it was getting louder so you ran out the doors to the familiar heat and humidity.

The pressure was starting to crush you. Sneaking around, making out in closets, flirty notes, brief touches that left you wanting more, wanting more in general and not being able to have it, it was maddening! You wanted Harry, and you wanted all of him, and the summer wasn't over yet.

You knew that you probably should've gone back to your campers, but your CIT could handle them and you needed to see H. Where could he be? It was just before three o'clock, his last class of the day was the advanced class at 1:30, and it lasted an hour. Knowing Harry, he'd probably left immediately after to go take a shower and would be out by now, probably getting dressed in his room, so you went there first.

You threw open the door to his cabin without thinking to knock or otherwise announce yourself. Harry was in the middle of the room facing away from the door, one towel wrapped around his body riding dangerously low on his hips and another on his head to dry his hair. He spun around, shocked at the sudden intruder but quickly relaxed when he realized it was just you. "Hey, pet. I heard the radio, what did Cricket w--" he was cut off by you marching up and pulling him down to you for a kiss.

The chlorine smell lingered on his skin even after the shower, creeping up and burning your nose a little bit. The towel on his head fell to the floor as he grabbed your waist with damp hands. You popped off his mouth as quickly as you'd started, creating a juicy noise when you separated.

"We didn't get caught. Yet. She was chewing me out for something else I'd done." You plopped down onto his bed as he dropped the towel on his waist to put on boxers and shorts.

"Tha's good," he mumbled to himself as he pulled up his black shorts and tossed a hole-y t-shirt on. His hair was still dripping wet, but he just pushed it back out of his face before joining you on the bed.

"Yeah," you said emotionlessly and began picking at the threads of your white braided anklet.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Wha's wrong? Figured yeh'd be leaping for joy at th'news." He grabbed the hand doing the picking and lifted it, softly kissing the knuckles.

"The pressure is killing me," you blurted all at once. "I'm so scared of getting in trouble, and I don't want to get kicked out of camp for this, but I really like you and I want to keep seeing you but holy shit I'm not used to this whole forbidden romance thing."

There was a moment of silence between the two of you before Harry let out an adorable giggle. "Oh, my God, tha' had to have been the cutest thing 've ever seen. You're such a doll." He leaned back on the palms of his hands amusedly, dimples popping out of his tanned cheeks.

"Not even you will take me seriously!" you cried, jumping up and heading to the door. Harry quickly followed you and grabbed your arm before you could leave his cabin.

"Whoa, there, kitten. Yeh can't leave right now, Paul's going back to his room after his 2:30 class. Can't have 'im seeing you leave m'cabin. " Sure enough, through a sliver of the window not covered by the canvas flaps, you saw Paul trudging back to his room with a bow strapped to his back. "N'I'm sorry I laughed. What would make you feel better about this? A second opinion? Just telling someone here what's going on? Have yeh even told anyone else about us?"

"No!" Your eyes narrowed to slits. "Why? Have you?"

He snorted. "Yeah, the only male counselor under 25 is dating another counselor, it'd be a great idea to tell a girl counselor, 'cause she certainly won't tell anyone el--"

"Okay, okay, damn, you've made your point," you interrupted, holding a hand to his chest. "What should I do then?"

He shrugged. "Do yeh think telling a trusted friend counselor about us would make yeh feel better?" His big hands rubbed up and down the sides of your arms, oddly enough calming you down. You nodded gently, looking up at him. He responded by kissing you again. "'m sorry we can't be more open, baby, yeh know I want t'be."

You rolled your shoulders back, making his hands drop back down to his sides. "I know, love. We gotta do what we can. I'll see you at the fireworks show." He could barely even wave to you before you fluttered out of his room back into campgrounds.

Who to talk to? You honestly couldn't even think of someone really worthy to tell this big secret to. Your mind went at a million miles an hour, but fortunately your legs did the thinking for you and took you in the direction of the art pavilion.

It had a giant sign over the main entrance with the words Dabbler's Den in yellow paint. As a camper, you once asked why it was named that, and allegedly it was to reference how many art forms you would dabble in while there. Today, apparently, was tie-dye t-shirts, since you found Kathia and a CIT demonstrating to her campers how to squeeze the bottles of runny dye onto their twisted-up and rubber banded t-shirts. While you were lucky enough to snag another older set of girls this week, this time Kat was stuck with 10-year-olds.

"Remember ladies," Kathia cheerfully announced to the group, not noticing your arrival. "When it comes to tie-dye, more is more when it comes to pigmentation, but be realistic about our dye budget!" The campers giggled at her joke and immediately started lunging for ketchup and mustard bottles filled with various colors.

"Kat? Can I talk to you in private for a sec?" you tapped the bubbly girl on the shoulder, making her whip around to face you.

"Sure," she agreed, taking the paint-smeared apron off and hanging it on a brass hook on the wall. "Sierra, make sure no one tries to drink the dye while I'm gone!"

Her CIT flashed a thumbs up, but one of the campers yelled, "We're not four years old, Miss Kathia!"

The Dabbler's Den was divided in half by a craft room in the middle, with a hallway leading to the back of the pavilion. There were steps to this section, and it was only used when the Den was double booked. It looked off into the river and was considerably more quiet than the other half.

"What's going on? What did Crick say?" Kat asked, already hopping onto the battered craft table with wide eyes.

"She got on my ass about letting my campers steal orange juice from the Great Hall. But... there's something else I have to tell you." Your lower belly suddenly filled with nervous energy, and your hands fiddled with each other.

Kathia's head lulled to one side. "What's up?"

"Harry and I are dating. We have been for months now, and I know it's not allowed, but I'm so scared of getting caught and keeping it to myself is absolutely killing me. I've never kept a secret of this magnitude before. I'm so scared Cricket is gonna find out, is my hair going gray? I think I'm barely twenty and already getting gray hairs." You punctuated your wild ramble with your fingers threading through your hair and tilting your whole head forward so Kat could see the strands and check for actual graying hairs.

"Y/N, calm down!" Kathia reassured, grabbing your shoulders and standing you back up. "I already knew."

"And I've been sneaking around for weeks trying to keep it on the down low but it's stressful! I've-- wait." You stopped for a good few seconds, reading Kat's face. It was like she was holding back a laugh. "You already knew," you deadpanned, unsure if it was a question or not.

"Yes, I did!" she affirmed, finally letting out that laugh. "I've been onto you for like two and a half weeks now. Do you think you're secretive? You always get the right shower temperature, Y/N." Kat shrugged and dropped her eyes to the ground for a moment. "When you just let Paige go off at night, I kinda got the idea that it was so you could have some fun of your own but I wasn't sure who with. I severely doubted it being Paul so unless you were gay this whole time, it had to be Harry. Before you snuck out, I pretended to be asleep and followed you to see if I was right and I may have seen something I shouldn't have."

Your eyes widened. "You were the one who caught us?!" Your hands flew up to cover your mouth before you could even stop them.

"Yes! I was as embarrassed as you were afraid, so I bolted to get back to the cabin before you did, but I think I woke up Cricket. I couldn't see super well so I knocked over a box that was by her window. Tell your campers I'm sorry about getting them busted."

You sighed in relief, placing a hand over your heart. "Wow. That's a huge weight off my chest. You're not gonna tell anyone, right? About Harry and me?"

Kathia shook her head. "I don't necessarily approve of it, but I like you. I won't rat you out to Cricket or anyone else here. That doesn't mean someone else won't find out though," she warned, wagging a finger at you. "So be careful. Speaking of your campers, what did you do about them sneaking out and getting caught by Crick?"

You picked at a cuticle. "I kinda... took the fall for it. Promised not to let it happen again."

Kathia shook her head, walking towards the stairs back up to the other side of Dabbler's. "You said you weren't gonna do that. Stand by your own word. Take control of your life, Y/N!" she called after you, grabbing her apron and tossing it back on. You wouldn't have admitted it then, but she was right. You remained speechless for a few moments before turning and going back to your bracelet-weaving campers.

As the evening approached, the weather cooled down, and the sky went a bright pink before darkening altogether, camp went into a frenzy to prepare for the show. Counselors wrangled up their girls and ensured they had towels to sit on and Cricket was occupying all walkie talkie traffic getting staff to move their cars off the field where the fireworks would be launched.

You were minding your own business once you got your more competent girls settled in, and just so happened to be caught in Crick's line of sight when you were looking for Harry just before the show was due to start.

"Y/N!" Cricket snapped, pointing at you.

"Ma'am?" you replied, halting in your tracks and turning to her.

"The show is supposed to begin soon and I haven't seen Sydney anywhere. She's the one who's in charge of the fireworks. Can you go find her? If you need me I'll be in my usual fireworks spot," she tapped the folding chair slung over her shoulder for good measure and went on her way.

Part of you wanted to let Sydney fail, to pretend to have looked for her and just let her be late and take the blame for herself, but you couldn't. Syd had never done anything specifically bad to you other than get on your ass about rules, so you went looking for her.

The first place you thought to try was her cabin, which was empty. Then you went to the office building where Cricket had reprimanded you just hours before. Thanks to the evening weather, when you opened the door, the air inside was actually cool enough to give you shivers and goosebumps.

There was a clattering from one of the storage closets (one you and H hadn't consummated in yet, for the record) and you terrifiedly approached the door. It could be a raccoon, or a small deer, or a huge conglomeration of evolved rats, or a sexual predator. Or... maybe not.

You turned the knob before jumping back, and Sydney bursted out from the closet, dropping to the ground and catching herself on her hands. The infectious reek that followed her out of the room and the clinking of obvious bottles behind her revealed that she was off-her-ass drunk. Sydney looked up through fluttered lashes, clearly amused at herself.

"Oops! How did I end up in the closet, I'm not even gay!" she slurred, giggling and hiccuping around her words.

"Sydney... what the fuck?" you blurted, unsure of what to do in this situation. Sure, you and Harry smoked a little on weekends. And maybe you weren't even supposed to be together in the first place... but you didn't get blackout drunk when you're supposed to be around campers! "You're supposed to be on firework duty in five minutes!" Yeah, as if that's still a viable option at this point. Real Mensa member over here.

"S'no big deal," Sydney countered, wobbling back up onto her feet, only to casually lean on a table. "Just point the lighter, put your right hand in, keep your shoulders straight, HEY MACARENA!" she yelled, echoing in the office building.

"Sydney! Pipe down! I've got to get you to bed, now," you decided while reaching for her, but she jerked away, suddenly angry.

"Don't *hic* touch me!" she coughed. "I don't have to *hic* do what you *hic* say! What are you gonna do? Tell on me? I'm sure once you do that, Cricket will love to know you've been fucking the lifeguard the whole time." She stamped her feet and crossed her arms like a child... like a child with a detrimental secret.

Your breath almost caught. "I don't know what you're talking about." You continued to try to sorta carry Sydney back to her cabin, and she was too drunk and angry to stop you this time.

You managed to guide the intoxicated girl back to her cabin and get her set up in her own bed. You placed a trashcan next to where her head was, poured a glass of water for her to drink when she woke up, and settled her body into the "recovery" position you'd learned in high school. Push them on their side, pull the top knee over to support the position, extend the bottom arm to keep from rolling over, and place the top arm under the chin to prevent choking on vomit. Before you knew it, Sydney was snoozing peacefully. You double checked that she was still breathing through at least one of her orifices (she was, all of them actually) and flipped off the light to her cabin.

What were you going to do about Sydney? She clearly knew about you and Harry and probably had been waiting for a good enough reason to let you know she was onto you. Was she just talking out of her ass, or would she really be willing to take you down with her unless you kept quiet about her drinking problem? You'd never been blackmailed before and frankly you thought that those gray hairs were starting to come in full swing.

No time to worry about that. You, obviously, were going to be late to the fireworks show, but then again, the girl who was in charge of it wasn't even going to be attending. All you had to do was find someone willing to cover for Sydney who wouldn't ask a bunch of questions about her whereabouts.

Paul was the obvious first choice-- you searched around for him and found him smoking a cigarette behind the nurse's office. He saw no problem in working the fireworks stand and didn't really care much about why Syd wasn't available anymore, so all you had to do now was find H and enjoy the light show.

When you finally found him, he was standing on the edge of the field between the campers and the pool holding what appeared to be a quilt. He was scanning around for you, and when he saw you his face lit up and you jogged over.

"What's with the blanket?" you asked breathlessly, pointing at the big red quilt folded up into his arms.

"Was thinkin' we could share it." Harry's hands weren't free to gesture, but he motioned with his chin towards the ground.

You smiled a tiny bit. "Okay. That's cute." You helped Harry unfold the blanket until it was fully opened and laid on the ground to his left.

The fireworks show was now officially overdue, but fortunately nobody had a watch or a phone that could tell them the difference between eight and eight oh five. The camp had a murmur of mild conversation and excited whispers draped over everyone, and it was completely silenced when the first rocket shot into the air.

As soon as the first firework popped and every head of every camper, counselor, and director was pointed up at the sky, Harry reached over to his right and grabbed the edge of the blanket, pulling it over both of your bodies, making a small cocoon of just the two of you. You were out in the open, and nobody was looking.

He gazed down at you like you were the most beautiful artwork he had ever seen, like you were the moon, like you were a fireworks show. He fluttered his eyes shut and so did you, and his lips were on yours.

Sparks were flying through your whole being at this intimate yet critically risky move. Making no noise was the hardest part, because even though the explosions and crowd were loud, there were moments of silence as the fireworks shot up... Silence that would shamelessly reveal the gasps and moans and kissing noises the two of you elicited from the other.

Finally, when the oxygen level got just low enough under the blanket that both of you tapped out, he lifted the quilt up and the two of you sat up and enjoyed the rest of the show, breathless and a little sweatier than everyone else there.

Harry looked at you instead of the sky. He was smiling at you, and when you looked down from the show to meet his gaze, his smile did that subtle change when a normal, closed-mouth smile gets bigger, as if he was too happy to keep his teeth hidden. It was like when you were around, there wasn't a face he could physically make to show how happy he was with you.

After the show, when all the campers were tucked away in their cabins, the counselors (except for Sydney, of course) gathered around the massive fire pit by the riverbanks. Harry brought his guitar and some of the cooks brought s'mores ingredients. The fire was lit up and some of y'all roasted marshmallows while the rest enjoyed the music.

One of the girls suggested singing Country Roads and at first everyone laughed, but when Harry started strumming it out softly, nobody could bring themselves to not sing along. Everyone swayed with full hearts as the fire danced up into the night sky.

"I wanna make a toast," Dani announced, standing up from the log she'd been sitting on. "I've been dealing with seemingly infinite young children for almost two months now in addition to one of the most uptight bosses I've ever had, and I once worked for someone who make you clock out to pee." The counselors laughed a little but died down as she continued. "But you know what keeps me going, week after week? You guys. Getting to have moments like this is what really makes summer memorable. That, and the really good garlic bread the kitchen has. Shoutout to Hannah." More laughter erupted as one of the cooks flipped her hair pridefully. "So yeah. I toast to my fellow counselors. May we all make it out without hurting a fellow counselor, a CIT, camper, or Cricket!"

Not everyone had a whole s'more or a water bottle, so the rest of us had to toast with a dry graham cracker. The resources were lackluster, but it was the words that counted and Dani nailed them.

The next day, when you were walking back from Dabbler's with your group, you got an unfortunate message from your hip.

Your walkie talkie crackled to life. "Cricket to Sydney and Y/N. My office, now."

You froze in place. "Ten-four," you muttered to yourself, not even reaching for the talkie. You barely nodded to your CIT before taking off in the direction of the office.

Sydney was already in Crick's office by the time you got there. The three of you stood in the room together in a triangle formation, and the air in the room was palpably tense with the sound of blood rushing in your ears getting louder and louder. Finally, Cricket spoke up with a simple question.

"Can someone explain to my why Paul was in charge of the fireworks yesterday?"

It was silent, and neither you nor Sydney were quite sure what to say. Not only did either of you want to tell the truth, but you also hated each other too much to construct a safe backup story to cover your asses.

Cricket continued. "Yesterday, I gave Sydney the job of setting off the fireworks, and Y/N the job of finding her before the show started. So... pray tell. Why did Paul ask me this morning where the leftover matches and sparklers go? I would've assumed that since I gave Sydney that job that she would've been the one asking me that." Her tone was condescending and drawn out, as if you were stupid.

"I guess I fell asleep," Sydney finally cooed. Oh my God. She was trying to pin this on you! "When I woke up it wasn't until after the show had ended! I must not have been woken up in time." Her eyes drifted over to you, as if you should be ashamed for letting this happen.

"What?!" you shrieked. "You were piss drunk when I found you! You couldn't open a door let alone handle fireworks! You're lucky I didn't leave your ass in the closet to puke all over yourself, and now you're turning me in as if I got you wasted and I didn't cover for you?!" By now you'd reached the breaking point and decided to really seal Sydney's fate. You marched over to the closet you'd discovered Sydney in and yanked the door open. Sure enough, the smell hadn't gone away and neither had the bottles that noisily rolled out. "How do you explain that? 'Cause I don't drink and I don't think Cricket's sauce of choice is a fucking Four Loko! Are you still drunk now? Can you even defend yourself?" you hissed. Earlier in the summer you probably would’ve let Sydney make whatever accusation she wanted and taken it in stride, but you were done. No more making excuses for other people and being a doormat.

Sydney's face flickered, devastated over her blown cover, but pushed on anyways. "At least I'm not a slut! You've been fooling around with Harry this whole summer!"

It's a pretty good thing your anger totally overwhelmed how bad you were at acting. "You fucking liar! You're making that up so you won't get busted even though you already have been. I don't even like Harry! He's loud and arrogant and narcissistic and irrespon--"

"Y/N, that's enough." Cricket finally chimed in, overwhelmed by what was going on. "Nobody likes being accused of things they didn't do, but it's not an excuse to insult Harry. If you have such a problem with him, take it up with him some other time," Cricket reprimanded, and it took so much in you not to burst out laughing. "And you, Sydney, should be embarrassed. Creating a rumor to deflect off your own alcoholism? At least use something believable next time." Crick rolled her eyes as she talked and Syd's jaw was practically on the floor. "I believe your time at Camp Jalita is over. Get your things packed by tonight or the camp board will hear about this and charges will be pressed."

Unable to do anything else, Sydney complied. When she'd left the room and slammed the door behind her, Cricket stepped forward and placed a hand on your shoulder. "I'm sorry I had to call you in here for that. I figured something was up with Sydney and I knew she would lie to me. But you... you're the most trustworthy counselor here, and I thought you'd give me the truth. So thank you. You're free to go back to your girls and enjoy the rest of your week."

"Any time, Cricket," you replied with a smile. So maybe you were lying to her the whole summer and everything she knew about you was a swindle, but Crick's words still made your heart swell.

"Oh, and Y/N?" she called just before you made it outside. "You should really give Harry a chance. He's actually quite a nice boy if you get to know him!" Cricket offered, sitting down at her desk and slipping her glasses on.

You giggled. "Of course, ma'am, I'll try."

Since your campers were busy getting ready to go swimming, the only place you could think to go was back to your cabin. Dani and Kat were on the brunette's bed, poring over a tabloid Dani's mom sent to her through camp mail.

"Y/N? What's wrong? Why are you out of breath?" the girls asked, concerned over your distraught appearance.

You sat on your bed and sighed. "I just got Sydney fired."

Your cabin mates gasped, demanding to know the whole story. You went over every detail, from her chastising you since the beginning of the summer, to her drinking problem, to her blackmailing you, to the meeting you had only moments before.

"Wait, wait, what was she blackmailing you over?" Dani asked, brows furrowed. Oh, right-- she didn't know about you and H. You explained you and Harry's story including any detail you could remember, and by the end of it Dani was practically squealing in delight. "Oh my God! Y'all are so cute together! I should've known. You always get the right temperature in the shower, there had to have been someone else!" You and the other girls laughed together, and you finally felt something that you hadn't felt since before the summer started. You couldn't quite pin what it was, but it was the feeling of not having to hide anymore.

Acceptance? Safety? Freedom? Whatever it was, you wanted to bathe in that feeling forever.

***

With Sydney out of the picture and your two friends offering to cover up for you whenever they could, the remainder of your summer with Harry blew by without you even realizing it. Something else that happened without you realizing it was the two of you falling deeper and deeper in love than either could have fathomed.

Every year, at the end of the summer, the camp staff makes a huge banner to hang up in the Great Hall that every counselor that worked that year signed. There are banners dating back to the 80's, and every year had a certain theme. One was fall-themed and all the felt pieces signed by the counselors were orange and yellow and red leaves. One was rain-themed and the signed pieces were raindrops.

This summer it was art-themed. Each counselor was given a splat-shaped piece of felt to sign their name on. You, of course, demanded your favorite color, annoying the girl passing them out.

You took your time to write your name, carefully writing it in pencil first. You poured yourself a second cup of coffee that day in secret and painstakingly traced it out with a Sharpie. That evening, with caffeine still in your veins, you proudly showed it to Harry at the end of the day before Taps.

"'S beautiful, Y/N," he beamed. "Yeh've got magic hands."

You could feel your cheeks heat up even in the slightly chilly dusk weather. "Thanks, love."

"I was wondering if yeh'd want to... I don' know. Add something small? To commemorate our summer together?" he suggested, voice low.

Your eyes flickered up from the felt piece. "What did you have in mind?" you asked warily, not wanting to be completely obvious.

"A small seashell in one of the arms goin' off th'splat. It's an ancient symbol of love, and also was the symbol of Venus, the Roman goddess of love," he explained, his voice still low.

Your heart swelled at this sweet side of Harry. "Oh, my God, H," you said, matching his volume.

"Let's begin Taps, ladies and Harry and Paul!" Rachel, the camper leader, called. Everyone crossed their arms right over left and clasped hands with the person next to them, creating a giant intimate chain while everyone sung.

"I would love that," you whispered to Harry, dropping your head into the crook of his shoulder before singing, "Day is done..."

"Gone the sun..."

"From the lake, from the hills, from the sky..."

[writings-of-dumpy]

The Princess and the Pirate

A/N: Well, this story is entirely selfish, but it’s my tumblr so who cares. If you do chose to read, I hope you enjoy!

Summary: Descendants has a hold on me and Harry Hook is at the center of it.

~Prologue~

Five years ago, Mal left Auradon and broke up with Ben. She left her friends and home in search of her greater purpose, as she put in her breakup note, and escaped the pressures of being Ben’s lady of the court. Ben then decided that he would once and for all scrub the Isle of the Lost clean of villains and villainy. Harry, Uma and Gil were among the first to be taken to Auradon to be given a chance at a new life, and Harry found it to be quite rewarding. After about a year or so of working together, Ben, Carlos, Jay, Evie, Harry, Uma, and Gil were a tight-knit group of friends with Evie now Ben’s Lady and Uma his Chief Advisor. With work to be done on both ends of the bridge, Harry elected to stay on the Isle and help keep the order and safety of the people of New Auradon, which is what the combination of the island and the mainland was now called. After a few years of peace and prosperity and all of the descendants growing out of Auradon Prep, Auradon university was built and would begin its inaugural semester in just a week.

 ~Harry~

It had been an extremely long time since Harry had even thought of stealing, pillaging, or anything even remotely unpleasant. He had learned to be a good person effortlessly and enjoyed making others laugh and girls he found attractive blush with his now harmless flirting. Harry let out a sigh as he looked out onto the clean and bright streets of what was once a musty, dirty, crime-ridden cesspool of misery he was forced to call home. He looked past the small island to the mainland where he was about to head for some of his very first educational experiences. His father wasn’t much of an academic and his mother had died just a few years after his birth, so the only formal training he had was in cartography. While on Neverland with his father before the Beast rounded everyone up and plopped them on the isle, Harry had been taught to fight, have fun, and even fly under the tutelage of Peter Pan. Harry thought back to those days as he made his way to Auradon university. He thought about Gil and Uma, who he hadn’t seen but once a year for the past five since Mal’s departure (which of course sparked Ben’s Clean It Up act, as the group called it) and he wondered if they’d be as happy as he is to finally have stability.

Harry followed the signs and found his way to the student housing where he was greeted with a tight hug by Gil.

“Harry! Oh, man I’m so glad you’re here! We’re roommates, can you believe that?!” Gil exclaimed.

“Let him breathe, Gil, he just got here,” Harry heard Uma say from behind Gil. Harry chuckled and embraced his significantly shorter friend.

“Still wearing that eyeliner and hook I see?” Uma asked skeptically.

Harry shrugged. “Ye know me.”

“Come on, I’ll show you our room! Oh and these are the houses: there’s Aurora, Kita, Florian, and Shang! We’re in Shang where all the cool guys are. Aurora is where all the princesses and musical people are. Florian is for all the writing people are… like reporters and thinkers. Kita is where all the science nerds are, so if you need homework help, go to them,” Gil explained as they walked through the path. As Harry looked around, he happened to see the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her hair was long and red and her skin was paler than Snow White’s he was sure.

“Who is tha’ beauty?” Harry asked after stopping dead in his tracks.

“That’s Rayla. She doesn’t say much, but man can she sing. We had karaoke night last night and she won by a landslide,” Uma explained.

“Is she a princess?” Harry asked. He hoped the answer was no because he knew he’d never be able to get near a princess. New Auradon was a wonderful place, but there were still some who feared the children of such horrid people.

“Not sure… Nobody knows who her parents are, so I’d assume not,” Uma responded with a shrug.

Harry and Gil walked into the house labeled ‘Shang’ and were greeted by Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos.

“Hey, look who finally made it!” Ben said and pulled his eyeliner-wearing friend into a hug. Harry greeted everyone and smiled, then noticed Uma’s sudden shyness and looked over to see Lannie walking by.

“Hey, guys! Hi, Uma,” she said and winked at the teal-haired girl.

Uma blushed and Harry’s smile grew into a gawk at Uma. “Are ye- “

“We had ONE date,” Uma said quietly, and Harry noticed her cheeks turning red.

“I’m going to go meet my new roommate, I’ll see you guys at dinner, okay?” Evie said and gave Harry’s shoulder a squeeze before kissing Ben briefly and skipping off towards Kita house.

“When are you proposing?” Carlos asked Ben once Evie was out of earshot.

“Proposal? Well, i’s about time, lad,” Harry said and patted his friend on the back.

Ben blushed and smiled. “Well… I had to get all of my knights together, which includes you now, Harry.”

Harry smiled and tried not to get too choked up. “I’m honored.”

For the very first time, Harry was home and he was excited for this coming year of learning and was hopeful about his new position.

 ~Rayla~

“Is that the last of it?” my mom asked my father and I, who had just carried the last of her teaching materials to her classroom inside of the massive campus that was Auradon university.

“Yes,” we groaned in unison.

“This is so exciting, isn’t it? All of my research is going to be spread across all of Auradon’s finest…” my mother said and practically floated around the room.

“Yes, I’m very happy for you, but Jane… did you really have to bring all of England with you?” my father asked.

“Tarzan, you can’t convince me that those were heavy while when I met you, you bore your weight and then some on your knuckles,” my mother responded which caused me to chuckle.

My parents looked at me and smiled. “Why don’t you go find your room, dear? We’ll see you at dinner. Maybe you’ll make friends!”

I rolled my eyes and waved goodbye to them. It’s not that I didn’t like people, I just… didn’t say much. I wasn’t in the business of people, I was going to this university to become a veterinarian—Auradon’s first, in fact. I got along with people in passing just fine, but I guess it was odd that I was perfectly comfortable not saying anything. I had very few human friends growing up and I was often teased for hanging out with animals at the various shelters rather than going to parties. I knew my parents worried, but I couldn’t find it in myself to be someone I’m not. When I explained that to them, they understood and usually left me alone about it.

I approached Kita house and entered the gigantic mansion to find a large group of people mingling about in the common area directly ahead of me. Since my performance last night at the karaoke bar, people all over this campus have been saying hello to me in passing. I wave and greet them back, of course, but the conversation never seems to go further. So when none of them seemed to notice my entrance, I was slightly relieved that I wouldn’t have to reciprocate an awkward greeting. Instead I headed up the stairs towards the dorms and scanned down the hall until I found my name and another on a large blue door.

I opened the door and found that half of the room had been taken already, which made picking a bed extremely easy, for which I was very grateful.

“Oh! Hello, you must be Rayla! I’m your roommate, Evie,” a woman with glossy blue hair said cheerfully from the claimed closet.

“Hi, yeah, nice to meet you,” I said and smiled politely.

“Hey, you won karaoke last night, right? Wow! I thought you would have been in Aurora for sure! Where did you learn to sing like that?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I learned from birds, I suppose.”

Evie laughed. “You’re so funny! I hope you don’t mind, I took this half of the room already.”

“Not at all,” I said with a smile and set my things down.

“So what are you studying?” Evie asked me.

“Veterinary medicine,” I answered while unpacking.

“Wow, that’s amazing. We actually have a campus mutt named Dude. He’ll probably be the most interesting dog you’ll ever meet,” Evie said. I looked at her quizzically.

“Oh?”

“He talks.” I smiled. “All dogs talk, you just have to speak their language.”

“No, she means actually talk. Like you,” I heard a male voice say from behind me. I turned around and saw a small and tan collie mix sitting in our doorway. “You’re not going to try and poke me, are you?” the dog said.

I stumbled backwards in shock and Evie giggled.

“I know right? I guess he got into some nasty magic and nobody knows how to reverse the spell,” she shrugged.

I knelt to his level and held out my hand for him to smell. “So… you’re a talking dog… Alright, Evie. I’ll give you this one, he is certainly the most interesting dog I’ve ever met.”

For the next hour or so, Evie and I talked a lot about what our goals were and Evie told me all about her plans to create new formulas of makeup and beauty products and I was thoroughly impressed with her ambition.

“Hate to interrupt, but dinner is in ten minutes,” a boy with glasses, a bowtie, and a sweatervest said from our doorway.

“Thanks, Doug,” Evie said not making eye contact and visibly uncomfortable. After he left, I looked at her as we got up to walk together.

“What was that all about?” I asked her.

She sighed and explained as we walked down the stairs and out of the house towards the dining hall, “That’s Doug, he and I used to date. When I first came here, my mother, the Evil Queen, told me to find a prince but then Doug made me feel like I didn’t need one. So we dated and then we just drifted apart when Mal left, and then Ben and I really started to get to know each other, so now he thinks that I’m shallow and that I just want a prince to marry so I can live in a castle, but that isn’t true! I love Ben and I’d do anything for him. The fact that he’s King is only happenstance… You don’t think I’m shallow, do you?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I think you’re very smart and loyal.. But I’ve also only known you for an hour.”

Evie giggled. “Feels like longer. Oh, hey! There’s Ben, you should come meet him and the rest of our friends! Come on, they’ll love you.”

Evie lead me over to a large table that sat about 12 people. Evie introduced me to each of them, and she introduced me to them, “Rayla, this is Ben, Carlos, Jane his girlfriend, Jay, Uma and Lannie, Gil, and Harry.”

I waved to everyone shyly and smiled.

The man named Harry was sat next to me and got up only to take my hand and bow deeply. “Pleasure to meet ye, lass. I’m Harry,” he said and planted a soft kiss on the top of my hand. I stood there completely stunned and blushing.

“Damn, he doesn’t miss a beat, does he?” the girl named Uma said, which earned her a glare from Harry. He pulled out a chair next to his seat for me and I thanked him, still blushing. Evie sat next to me and grinned at my face, which I was sure was red.

The room went quiet and I saw at the professors’ table my parents as well as many other famous faces and the Fairy Godmother herself stood up to address us, “Welcome everyone to the very first semester of Auradon University! As headmistress, I hope that you all have a wonderful time learning and growing. But for now, enjoy your dinner. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!”

[niallsstainedcoffeecup]

The Right Message Part 2

Gemma approves of Harry dating her best friend, but what will happen when things become rocky?  The lovely @pxrrishly requested a part 2.  I hope you all enjoy.  Feedback and Requests are welcomed.  Lots of Love!

           “You’re dating my brother?” Gemma asked, quirking an eyebrow at Y/N.   Y/N eyes darted between Harry and Gemma before nodding sheepishly, “Yeah.” Gemma nodded, focusing on Harry’s flushed cheeks, “You’re dating my best friend?” Harry wrung his hands together, “Yeah, we’re dating.” Gemma nodded, keeping her eyes locked on Y/N’s coffee table.  Harry glanced across the room where Y/N pressed herself further against the loveseat in an attempt to disappear.  Harry’s thin fingers pinched his rosy lips while he waited for Gemma’s response. “How long have you had feelings for her?” Gemma asked, flipping her head toward her brother. Harry huffed, dragging a hand through his messy curls, “Well, I can’t remember an exact moment.  I think the moment she returned home from college one Christmas, and she seemed to have this different glow about her.” Y/N blushed, chewing on her bottom lip, “Was that the Christmas when I returned from my study aboard trip?” Harry nodded, “I remember the fire in your eyes when you talked about exploring the world.  I nearly kissed you that night.” Gemma gagged, “Okay, this is too weird. Y/N’s like my sister, but I couldn’t imagine her with anybody better.” Y/N giggled, “We promise not to disgust you.” Gemma chuckled, patting Y/N’s knees, “I’m glad you finally dropped James.  Michal and I talked about hooking you up with someone, but we never planned this.” Harry smiled, “I love her.” Y/N grinned, “I love him too.” Gemma rolled her eyes, standing from Y/N’s couch, “Okay, Y/N and I have important business to tend to.  Can you leave?” Harry pouted, “What if I wanted to spend the day with my girlfriend?” Y/N giggled, “H, Gemma and I need to finish these sunglasses.  I’ll see you tonight?” Harry nodded, stretching his aching muscles. Gemma shuffled into Y/N’s kitchen, placing the blue kettle onto the stovetop.  Harry pressed his hands against the leather cushions, ducking his head down.  Y/N grinned, pressing her lips against Harry’s chapped lips.  Harry shouted his goodbyes, leaving Y/N and Gemma alone in her house.   *  *  *  *  *  *            Steam danced above the sizzling chicken and seasoned vegetables. The white wine sloshed around the wine glasses.  Y/N swayed her hips along with the soft jazz music playing from Harry’s speakers. Harry smiled, admiring his beautiful girlfriend dancing around his kitchen.  Her bare feet slid across the white tile while her hands swayed above her head.  Harry chuckled, interrupting Y/N’s next step by placing his hands on her hips. “Have you decided to join me?” Y/N asked, winking at her blushing boyfriend. Harry smiled, pressing his lips against Y/N’s wine-stained lips, “I love you.” “I love you,” Y/N breathed out, keeping her forehead against his.   Harry’s green eyes enchanted Y/N’s as they continued waltzing around the middle kitchen island.  He intertwined his fingers with Y/N’s fingers, ignoring the chicken sticking against the nonstick pan.   “I go back to the studio on Monday,” Harry mumbled. Y/N frowned, swallowing down the dry chicken, “I forgot that my boyfriend’s a pop star.” Harry chuckled, sipping his wine, “I’m glad I’m a pop star.  I don’t think I could be a chef.” Y/N giggled, “The chicken isn’t that bad. I like my chicken cooked.” “Yeah, but I don’t want my chicken tasting like a brick,” Harry grumbled, poking around the dry meat. “Will the band meet for Monday’s rehearsal?” Y/N asked. Harry nodded, “Mitch and Sarah, but I don’t know about Adam and Clare.  Jeffrey invited everyone, but Adam’s busy with his family.” Y/N smiled, “I love Adam’s kids.  Hey, have you heard from Ben?  Did Ruby like her birthday gift?” Harry nodded, “She loved it.  She’s a little bookworm.” Y/N and Harry continued talking over the dry chicken and vegetables. *  *  *  *  *  *              The black pen scribbled against the notebook paper.  Harry’s thin fingers pressed against the cold ivory keys. Mitch strummed his guitar, humming along with Harry’s melody.  Jeffrey scanned over Harry’s lyrics, shaking his head at the last line. “I don’t like how this sounds,” Jeffrey grumbled. Harry huffed, dragging the pen across the page until the ink pooled near the end of the line.  He bopped his head along with the flowing lyrics.  The song portrayed another fun night out with a beautiful girl, but the lyrics refused to mash with Harry’s idea.  His pink phone buzzed against his jiggling thigh. “I’m sorry.  I better take this call,” Harry mumbled, swiping his thumb across the screen. Harry rubbed his aching neck, “Hello?” “Hey love, are you free for lunch?  I finished another project, and I need a greasy meal,” Y/N giggled. Harry smiled, scratching at the scruff growing on his chin, “I’m sorry.  We’re working hard on this new album.  I’ll see you tomorrow for our date?” Y/N huffed, “Harry, we haven’t seen each other all week.  I miss my boyfriend.” Harry nodded, “I promise to spend all night with you tomorrow.  I love you.” “I love you,” Y/N mumbled, hanging up the call. Harry’s thumb pressed against the phone’s side button until the screen faded black.  He slipped the phone into his pocket, returning to the uncomfortable piano chair.  Mitch, Jeffrey, and Harry continued messing with the lyrics and melody.   *  *  *  *  *  *              Liv hopped onto Gemma’s red couch, cuddling against the gold plush pillows. Y/N smiled, petting Liv’s sleek black and white fur.  Gemma shuffled into the living room, placing two steaming tea mugs onto her coffee table. “How are things?” Gemma asked, falling onto her couch. Y/N sipped her tea, shaking her head, “I’m well.  How’s Michal?” Gemma crossed her legs, scrolling through the television’s guide, “He’s doing well.  How are things with my little brother?” Y/N’s panicked heart begged Y/N’s mouth to spill every worry about her failing relationship, but she couldn’t complain about Gemma’s brother.  Her eyes zoned on the television shows zooming past her racing thoughts. “Are things okay between you two?” Gemma wondered, facing her stressed friend. Y/N huffed, rubbing under her bagged eyes, “Gem, I haven’t seen him in forever.  We are going out to dinner tomorrow, but he won’t answer my calls. He turns off his phone once he steps inside the studio.” Gemma nodded, “Well, maybe you should talk to him.  Did it bother you when you were his friend?” Y/N shook her head, “He wasn’t my boyfriend then.  Sure, I missed talking with him, but I never wanted to bother him.  Now, I want to see my boyfriend.” Gemma frowned, “I’ll stand by your side with whatever decision you make.” Y/N smiled, returning her attention toward the woman saying yes to her wedding dress.  She hoped her relationship with Harry wasn’t in danger. *  *  *  *  *  *              The clocked ticked down, mocking Y/N’s broken heart.  The tall waiter tripped past Y/N’s table again, eyeing the empty seat.  The cold white wine warmed up under the restaurant’s warm yellow lights.  Y/N ducked her head down with every customer that passed by her table.  She couldn’t stare into their eyes filled with pity.  She messaged Harry again, wondering where her boyfriend might be. After spending thirty minutes alone at her table, she chunked the crumpled cash against the cream table cloth. Her black heels clicked against the brick floor while her hands tugged up her black jeans.  She drove home, swallowing the rage burning up her throat. She slipped into her comfortable gray sweats and a gray sweater.  She wiped the red lipstick from her lips, blinking back the tears pricking her eyes. Y/N wrapped a blue blanket around her shivering body.  Her eyes drooped shut, ignoring Harry’s calls buzzing her phone.  Someone pounded on Y/N’s door, startling Y/N awake from her dreams.  The door swung open, revealing a glaring Harry. “Harry, how did you get inside?” Y/N asked, propping herself up on her elbows. “I remembered you hid a key under your doormat. Why haven’t you answered my calls? I was worried sick,” Harry shouted. Y/N rolled her eyes, “Now you know how I feel. Did you read my messages?  You forgot about our date.” Harry’s scowl dropped, “I didn’t forget. Didn’t we schedule that for tomorrow?” Y/N stood up, “Harry, you agreed to meet me for dinner tonight.  You promised, and you broke that promise.  I can’t keep waiting for my boyfriend to make time for me.” “You knew my busy schedule when you started dating me,” Harry huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Y/N nodded, “Yes, but I thought you might give your girlfriend more time than you gave me when I was your friend.  I haven’t seen you all week.” “I’m working on an album.  I wasted three months after the tour with you, and I can’t waste any more time.” Y/N’s jaw dropped, “You think you wasted time with me?  You weren’t calling it wasted time when you fucked me.” Harry opened his mouth, but he knew he messed once the words left his mouth.  He wished he might swallow those words.  Y/N shook her head, blinking back her heartbroken tears.  She refused to cry in front of Harry. “I’m done.  I can’t fight for thirty minutes of your time.  I think it was better off when we were friends,” Y/N mumbled, biting down on her trembling bottom lip. Harry’s heart cracked once Y/N’s words wrapped around his cloudy mind.  He shook his head, staring in disbelief at his girlfriend.  He glared, storming out of Y/N’s house.  He wished he never read that message three months ago.   *  *  *  *  *  *              “You broke up?” Gemma gasped, dropping the pink box filled with donuts onto Y/N’s messy bed. Y/N nodded, blowing her red nose into a tissue. Gemma gripped the musty white curtain, dragging the cloth against the sleek rod.  The bright sunlight burned Y/N’s bloodshot eyes.  Her matted hair shot up in every direction around her throbbing head.  Gemma tossed the dirty tissues into a nearby bin, processing the new information. “What happened?” Gemma wondered. Harry confessed the secret first after sobbing on Gemma’s couch.  He took the blame, saying he should’ve never attempted to date their best friend.  Gemma panicked and drove to see how her best friend happened to take the break up.   “He ditched our date for another writing session.  I told him that I couldn’t fight for his time.  I dumped him because he refused to make time for me,” Y/N croaked out. Gemma frowned, digging through the donut box, “Y/N, you realize that you were dating Harry Styles?  You understood his career before dating him.” Y/N rolled her eyes, “Gem, I understood his career as a friend.  I didn’t need to see Harry when we were friends because I shut up my aching heart with shit boyfriends.  When Harry admitted that he loved me, he allowed that love in my heart to blossom, but he didn’t shower my needy heart with love.” Gemma chuckled, “Do you always get deep when heartbroken?” Y/N flipped Gemma off, hiding her smile behind her donut, “Shut up.  Are you still my friend?” Gemma snorted, flicking Y/N’s knee, “I told you that I’d be by your side no matter what.” Y/N smiled, leaning her head against Gemma’s shoulder.  Gemma planned how she might bring her heartbroken brother and stubborn friend together again. *  *  *  *  *  *               Gemma’s green mittens slid the red pan from her hot oven.  Michal swept the dust bunnies away from the dining room table. Y/N screwed the metal device into the thick cork, pulling until the bitter grape scent greeted her nose. Gemma invited Y/N over for Sunday dinner because Y/N never turned down a free meal.  Gemma also invited Harry over for their mother’s roast because Harry never turned down Anne’s roast recipe.  Michal worried that Gemma’s plan might fail, but Gemma understood these two people better than they understood themselves.  The doorbell echoed throughout the silent house. “Who’s here?” Y/N asked, handing Gemma her wine glass. Gemma shrugged, “I don’t know.  Michal, will you open the door?” Michal nodded, hiding his nervous smile. He opened the door, revealing his grinning brother-in-law.  Harry pressed the green wine bottle against his body as if he were holding a baby. Michal stepped aside, greeting the cheerful man.  Y/N froze upon hearing Harry’s husky voice compliment the scent.  Y/N faced Gemma with wide eyes.  How could Gemma trick her like this?  Y/N didn’t have time to flee the scene because Harry stepped inside the kitchen with a blushing Michal.  Harry’s smile dropped once he spotted Y/N near his sister. “What are you doing here?” Harry asked, shooting daggers at Y/N. Y/N rolled her eyes, “Gemma invited me. She is my best friend.” “Yeah, well, she’s my sister.  I think I have the higher right to be here.  We’ll miss you.” Y/N glared, “I’m not leaving.  Perhaps the studio needs you more.  We’ll send a plate with you.” Michal chuckled nervously, rubbing his neck, “Did you hear about those crazy cats stealing the neighbor’s underwear?” Gemma rolled her eyes, “You two were best friends before you dated.  Now, can we act like adults and eat together?” Y/N huffed, “I can.  Can you do that, Harry?  Or will you join us thirty minutes late?” Gemma shoved a plate into Harry’s hands before he could reply.  Everyone gathered around the dining room table, shoveling the delicious chicken into their mouths. “How’s life been?” Gemma asked Harry. “Good, we’re getting some progress on the album,” Harry mumbled between mouthfuls. Y/N grinned, thinking about the new songs. She wanted to ask about the songs, but her prideful heart sealed her lips shut.   “How’s the project going?” Michal asked Y/N. Y/N nodded, “Gem and I finished the last pair last night.” Harry smiled, wishing he might congratulate his friend, but his broken heart tainted that idea.  Instead, Harry planned on rubbing salt into Y/N’s wounds.  He’d make her wish that she never broke up with him. *  *  *  *  *  *              Harry kicked his feet onto Gemma’s coffee table, placing his hands behind his head.  Y/N dragged Liv’s favorite pink string across the floor.  Michal and Gemma cuddled together on their couch, watching the couple admire each other from afar. “Well, I better head home soon.  I have a date tonight with this new girl,” Harry yawned.  Y/N dropped the string, staring wide-eyed at her ex-boyfriend.  Gemma gasped, her eyes darting toward her heartbroken friend.  Michal frowned, watching Gemma’s plan backfire.  “You’re dating someone already?” Y/N’s broken voice spoke up.  Harry nodded, “This new girl is willing to deal with my work schedule because she loves me.”  Y/N shook her head, “I loved you.  I love you too much, and that’s why I couldn’t handle your work schedule.  I couldn’t go hours without your lips on mine.  I couldn’t go a week without gushing about my new project with you.”  Harry’s heart stuttered at the tears flowing down Y/N’s cheeks.  He expected her to admit that she moved on too, but he never wanted to make her cry.  “I’m sorry.  I guess I never listened to you,” Harry mumbled.  Y/N nodded, “You didn’t call me at all for weeks.  How would you feel if I ignored your calls?”  Harry frowned, “I wouldn’t feel good.”  “Yeah, I hope you have fun with this new girl,” Y/N mumbled.  Y/N staggered past a stunned Gemma and Michal. Her sobs haunted Harry’s mind as she stuffed her feet into her boots.  The bitter wind brushed against her damp cheeks while she unlocked her car. Harry’s hands gripped the couch, begging his feet to move.   “You better go fight for her,” Gemma smiled, patting Harry’s knees.  Harry nodded, jogging out the open front door. Y/N’s car roared to life, scaring Harry’s fragile heart.  He couldn’t let her drive away from his life.  Harry’s fist tapped rapidly against her window.  Y/N glared, unrolling the window slowly.  “What?  What do you want?  Do you want to dig the knife deeper into my heart?” Y/N spat out.  Harry shook his head, “There isn’t a girl. I lied because I wanted to get back at you.  You broke my heart, and I didn’t think you cared about our relationship.”  Y/N gasped, “Harry, you thought I didn’t care that the love of my life walked out of my life?  You thought I would’ve moved onto another shitty guy after dating the only person who mattered in my life?”  “I’m sorry.  Please, I need you in my life.  I promise to make time for you,” Harry begged through his sobs.  Y/N frowned, patting Harry’s cheek, “I don’t know.  I mean, I can’t go through this again.”  “We won’t break up again.  Please, I need you in my life,” Harry mumbled.  Y/N nodded, “Okay, you aren’t off free, but I’ll give us a second chance.”  Harry smiled, leaning his head through Y/N’s open window.  He crashed his lips against Y/N’s trembling lips.  Y/N smiled into the kiss, cupping Harry’s wet cheeks.  Gemma and Michal watched the happy couple reunite from their front window.  Gemma knew her plan would work.

[spicelupin-blog]

S.Black: Fill Me With Light (Part 3/3)

PART ONE | PART TWO

Sirius Black. Post Prisoner of Azkaban. Requested. Part 3/3.

Summary: In which Sirius is enjoying the light that Y/N fill his home and heart with.

Pairing: Sirius Black (Old) x Reader (Younger)

Warnings: Kinda not really sexual.

Genre: Very fluffy.

Words: 1433

Sirius considered himself the luckiest man on earth. He had spent a whole year as a free man, living under the radar to avoid incarceration. He had to stay secluded in his terrible childhood home, but he wasn’t alone anymore.

He would wake up every morning to see a lump under the sheets next to him. Regardless of the number of times that he had seen this, it still brought a giddy smile to his face. Sometimes, she would be facing him, peacefully sleeping. He’d stare at her for a few minutes, taking in all her features illuminated by the golden sun pouring in through the ajar curtains.

How did he become lucky enough to get her? He didn’t deserve to be the one who woke up next to her, or the one to sit across from her while they ate dinner, or the one to watch her read a book while in bed with her hair dripping wet from her shower. She deserved to have someone her age, with a bright unblemished future ahead of them. Yet, she chooses to stay with him.

They had their first date the morning after their affectionate night together. Due to them staying up until morning light, Sirius woke up at nearly noon. He looked around the bedroom, feeling for Y/N, only to find the spot and room empty. He felt his heart drop into his stomach, realizing she was more than likely gone. She probably woke up and realized how insane he was and bolted. With his head now forming a brutal migraine, Sirius forced himself out of bed and down the stairs.

His breath hitched when he entered the dining room to see an array of breakfast foods lining it. He was so used to Kreacher’s reluctantly made scrambled eggs, that he approached the food with narrowed eyes.

“Why are you creeping towards the waffles? Afraid you’ll scare them away?” The honey-dripped voice he had fallen in love with within a span of an evening spoke behind him.

Sirius spun around to see Y/N standing in the archway between the kitchen and the dining room. She was wearing a Gryffindor quidditch jersey that Sirius recognized as his own back in his younger years. Her legs were bare, running on for what seemed like miles. She had a glass of orange juice in her hand, looking at Sirius with amusement.

“You know, Sirius,” she started with a teasing tone as she walked past him to sit in a chair. “Waffles have no legs. They can’t escape.” She smirked as she took a sip of her drink, and Sirius found him watching her every movement.

Sirius cleared his throat, trying to seem more alert; nonetheless, he was still taking note of how her toes curled and her fingers played with the discolored tablecloth. “I’m aware of the anatomy of food, my dove.”

Y/N laughed at that before offering Sirius a waffle, which Sirius gladly accepted. Y/N told him how his mean old house elf said some rude things to her after she found some clothes to wear. Kreacher refused to make her food, calling her a mudblood under his breath before disappearing into some musty hidden place. In turn, Y/N decided to make them both breakfast. She continued on telling Sirius about her mother and how she taught her plenty of cooking spells. She mentioned how much she loved helping her mother cook and bake as a child, and Sirius listened closely. He held onto every word she said, imagining going to the childhood home she described. Meeting her mother and father and truly becoming a part of her life.

This was in no way Y/N and Sirius’s last date. Y/N would come for dinner every night after she got off work at a muggle café. He learned how much she loved muggles, her father being one and being raised in both worlds. He would click the object called a pen that was in her apron pocket until she got annoyed and snatch it away. The annoyance didn’t live for long though, as Y/N would kiss his cheek and call him, “The annoying Mr. Black.”

By November, most of Y/N wardrobe had somehow materialized in the House of Black. When Sirius would tease her about her use of his closet space, Y/N would blush and rolled her eyes.

“Would you rather I have to go home after dinner every night in order to get dressed the next day? Leaving you all alone?” Sirius shook his head. “Exactly.”

When Harry had sent Sirius a letter telling him he’d been mysteriously chosen as a fourth champion, Y/N was there to remind Sirius that Harry would be okay. Sirius knew the death toll of the Triwizard Tournament and was riddled with anxiety that Harry would somehow join that statistic. Y/N told him that Harry was noble and strong, telling him stories of Harry’s bravery in his first three years.

Sirius listened to all the tales, resting his head in Y/N’s lap while she stroked his hair. He was torn between being a Marauder and a responsible godfather with his reactions. In the end, he settled on allowing whatever reaction that bubbled up express. He didn’t feel the need to put on a show for her as she knew what he was thinking anyway.

Christmas came, and sadly Harry was staying at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball. After reading this, Sirius fell back onto the couch, letting out a huff.

“What’s wrong? Is Harry okay?” Y/N asked from over her book. She was curled up on a loveseat opposite of him with a blanket covering her chilly frame.

“Yes. He’s great, really. Spending the break at school for a ball.” Sirius stated, pouting like a little kid, making Y/N smirk and get out of her seat, abandoning her book and blanket.

She sat on the end near Sirius’s head. “Oh, Mr. Black. You’re so cute when you’re pouty.” She poked his cheek teasingly, leaning closer to his face.

“I’m not pouting…” He grumbled, looking away from her eyes because he knew she could read his every thought. And frankly, Sirius Black was lying through his teeth.

“Of course you’re not.” Y/N giggled, fiddling with his hair. She lightly pecked his pouty lips, making Sirius lift his head a bit as they pulled away. “Pouty and needy. This must really be bothering you.”

Sirius let himself relax into her hand playing with his hair, admitting, “I wanted to introduce you two. We’d have Christmas together. You’d get along well, I bet. We’d be like a family. Opening presents, sitting by the fire, eating a Christmas dinner.”

Y/N paused her twiddling, making Sirius feel tense. He’d admitted numerous times about wanting to be like a family to Harry, but he’d never included Y/N in the mix. What if she wasn’t ready for that? She was only eighteen, maybe the idea scared her.

“You want to be a family? With me included?” Y/N asked, her voice soft and wary.

Sirius gulped, pulling himself up to look her in the eye. He took her hands in his own. “I want you there for everything and anything. If you need time to think about that, I understand. You don’t have to be a part of it if you don’t want to, or if the idea is too much for you. I’ll understand, but please tell me if you do.”

Y/N took a couple of seconds to ponder the idea. She knew, deep down, that Sirius and Harry were a package deal.  This made her imagine waking up every morning in a house with Sirius. She’d make her infamous waffle and Sirius would come downstairs, a bed haired Harry following in tow. She imagined taking Harry to Diagon Alley for supplies at the end of the summer, her and Sirius sitting outside of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. She knew it was a hypothetical situation, but she was in awe of it.

“I would love to be a part of your family, Sirius.” Y/N smiled, making Sirius serious face melt into a goofy grin.

“You have no idea how happy that makes me, Y/N.” He grinned, grabbing her face and kissing her passionately.

Between heated kisses, Y/N spoke, “How about you show me by taking me upstairs?” She rather not do the deed out here, as you never know when that creepy little house elf will pop out of a shadow.

Sirius hoisted her over his shoulder making her let out a surprised shriek. “Come on, my dove.”

He really was a very lucky man.

Masterlist

[niallsstainedcoffeecup]

The Road Trip Part 1

Hey guys, this is a new Bestfriend!Harry series.  Harry and his best friend, Luna, go on a trip together, but Luna’s boyfriend ruins it all.  Feedback and requests are welcomed.  Enjoy!

            Harry tugged the bulky orange suitcase down the cobblestone path. He huffed, hoisted the luggage over his shoulder, dropping the case in the tiny trunk.  He hoped there was not another suitcase awaiting him in her house.  His best friend, Luna, leaned against the cool gray brick wall.  Luna frantically scrolled through her phone, thumb hovering over her boyfriend’s contact. Harry planned a summer road trip since Luna dreamt of touring the world as a child.  Harry enjoyed watching Luna’s eyes light up with joy and curiosity. Harry remembered when he brought her along with him to an art opening, and Harry would never forget how she bounced with joy all night.  What was the only downside to their trip?  Luna’s annoying boyfriend invited himself.  Now, they were thirty minutes late, waiting for Luna’s boyfriend to show up. Harry remembered meeting Luna’s boyfriend, Daniel, at a house party.  Daniel, a handsome man, but could kill a party in a matter of seconds.  The man spewed random facts that put everyone to sleep.  Luna chewed on her nails, waiting for Daniel to answer his phone.   “Hello?” His thick British accent rang out. “Babe, where are you?  Harry and I are waiting for you,” She mumbled. Harry rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, “Yeah, like I’m a ball of happiness waiting for him to show up.” She glared, bumping Harry’s hip with her own. Harry chuckled, deciding to lock up her house while she spoke with Daniel.   “Okay, we will pick you up.” Harry groaned internally, refusing to travel an extra fifteen miles to Daniel’s house.  Harry prepared to throw a tantrum, but his icy heart melted when he caught sight of her wide grin.  It would only be a few months with the man.            Daniel packed three suitcases, overloading the trunk.  Harry assumed half of the suitcases contained books since Daniel curled up in the backseat and read Moby Dick.  Harry attempted to read that book once for a class but resorted to spark notes after ten minutes of deciphering the text.  Luna sat next to Harry, fiddling with the radio stations.  Harry enjoyed trips with Luna because she was the ideal passenger. Luna played the best music, fed Harry snacks they had purchased at local shops, and talked enough to keep Harry awake. Daniel noted Luna feeding Harry chips and Haribo, growling with jealousy.  Daniel despised Harry.  Harry followed Luna around with hearts in his eyes, and Daniel assumed asking Luna to be his girlfriend would tell Harry that she was off limits, but it had not worked. Luna squealed, yanking her fingers away from Harry’s rosy lips.  Harry laughed, licking her thumb again, after accidentally brushing his tongue against her fingers when he grabbed a green gummy bear.   “Can I have the yellow ones?” She wondered. Harry nodded, “Of course, you know that the yellow ones remind me of cleaning products.  How could you like them?” She chuckled, “I don’t know.  I guess I’m a weirdo.” “We knew that,” Harry joked. Daniel rolled his eyes, slamming his book shut. Harry glanced back, smirking at Daniel’s furrowed eyebrows.  Harry felt thrilled when he annoyed Daniel.   “How’s the book?” Harry asked. “Great, it is my fifth time reading it.  The music playing makes it hard to focus,” Daniel grumbles.   Luna frowned, twisting the knob to lower Stevie Nicks’ voice.  Harry scowled, refusing to let Daniel control this trip. “Didn’t know that my gran is with us,” Harry hissed. Luna frowned, disappointed with Harry’s behavior.  Harry ignored her stare, focusing on the road.   “Harry, have you read Moby Dick?” Daniel asked, leaning his elbows on his knees.   Harry nodded, “Professor Goldstein assigned it sophomore year.  I nearly died that semester.” Luna giggled, praying Daniel would not retort with a backhanded comment. “Well, I guess you did not understand the symbolism.  Some people can’t wrap their minds around great literature.” Harry’s blood boiled.  His fist tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.  Harry opened his mouth, preparing the best argument, but Luna interrupted him. “I finished Fifty Shades of Gray,” She blurted out. Harry smiled, relaxing his muscles, “Did you?” She laughed, “Yeah, that is the last time I let Niall choose the book for our club.” “I’m surprised he didn’t force you to read Golfer’s Digest,” Harry joked. “He nearly did, but Kassie stopped him.” “Bless Kassie, she saved that boy,” Harry tsked, shaking his head. Luna nodded, zoning out on the scenery around her.  Daniel continued planning his next attack on Harry.  An entire trip with that man was too long for Daniel.            Harry yawned for the fourth time, searching for their hotel.  Daniel snoozed in the backseat, cuddling Moby Dick into his chest.  Luna leaned her head against the window, her pale cheek smushed against the cool glass. Harry watched as her lips parted, allowing small puffs of air to flutter out.  Harry grinned, covering her arms with his sweatshirt.  Harry found the neon blue sign, parking in the filled lot. Harry groaned, stretching out his arms. He reached across the console, nudging her cheeks with his thumbs.  She whined, eyebrows furrowing, as she buried herself deeper into his passenger seat.   “Love, we arrived.  You need to wake up,” Harry softly whispered.   Harry spent years learning how to wake up Luna. One must softly nudge her into consciousness, then talk softly because her ears are still sensitive.  When Luna is fully awake, one must prepare for cuddles and promise that she can rest soon.  “Can you carry me?” Harry’s heart skipped a beat.   Usually, he would lift her up and carry her into the hotel, but Daniel would throw a fit.   “I would, but Daniel would have my head. How about you get up, and I’ll repay you with chocolate chips muffins.” She cracked an eye open, “And a tall iced latte?” Harry chuckled, “Yes.” She moaned and groaned, gathering her phone and snacks.  Harry flipped around, swatting Daniel on the forehead.  Daniel jumped awake, shooting daggers at Harry.   “Oh, I’m sorry, I did not know that was your forehead.  Anyways, we have a hotel room to catch.” Daniel huffed, climbing out of Harry’s car. Luna opened her arms, falling into Daniel’s side.  Harry bit his lip because he knew that if Daniel weren’t here, Luna would be cuddled into his side right now.  Harry pulled each suitcase out, carrying his toward the check-in desk.  Harry helped Daniel once their room keys were in their pockets.  Daniel trudged past Harry’s room, but Luna stopped.  She smiled sadly, watching Harry open his door.   “Are you okay?” She asked. Harry turned toward his dark hotel room. Usually, Luna shared a room with him on every trip.  His mom, Anne, stopped setting up the guest room since Luna and Harry shared his bed. Harry wanted to hold onto Luna and tell Daniel to fuck off, but he simply nodded. “Great, breakfast tomorrow?”  She asked, bouncing on her tiptoes. Harry grinned, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Harry bent down, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.  She froze, blushing at the contact.  Harry smirked, watching her stumble away while waving at him.  Harry shut his door, allowing his tired eyes to close. Luna shut her door, regulating her breathing after Harry’s peck.  Daniel looked up from his book, winking at her. “Are you tired?” He asked, patting the spot on the bed next to him. She frowned, “I have an early morning with Harry.  We have this breakfast shop we want to try.” “Am I not invited?” Daniel asked, perking up. She rolled her eyes, “Of course, why would you not be invited?” “I don’t know.  You said that you and Harry had plans.  You did not specify that I was included in them.” “What’s wrong with you?” She noticed his cold tone. He fluffed his pillow, “You always do things with him.  We are exploring the world, shouldn’t we be doing things as a couple?” “We are doing things as a couple.  Harry is apart of the package deal.  You understood that when you asked me to be your girlfriend,” She hissed, throwing her t-shirt onto the ground. “Fine, let’s just go to sleep,” He huffed. “I’ll be right there,” She mumbled, slipping into her nightgown.   She slid open the balcony door, stepping out into the cool summer night wind.  She stared up at the constellations, organizing her thoughts. She did not understand where Daniel’s jealousy came from, but she was not a fan.  Maybe Harry spent too much time with her, but where else would he go?            Harry hummed along with Shania Twain his fingers tossed his hair around. Harry recently ditched his long locks, which upset Luna.  He remembered her complaint being, “Now, I can’t call you Tarzan.  What will I call you?”  Harry fixed his hair, giving up on a stray strand that hovered over his right eyebrow.  Harry zipped up his black jeans, tossed on a white t-shirt, and slid his feet into a pair of brown boots.  Harry skipped down the musty hall, halting at Luna’s door.  He lifted his fist, knocking twice.  Luna squealed, spritzing vanilla perfume on her skin.  Daniel rolled his eyes, collecting her wallet and his book.  Luna cracked open the door. “Who is it?” She asked, attempting to quiet her giggles. Harry bit back his giggles, “Maid service.” “Oh great, I left quite the mess,”  She yanked open the door, gasping when she saw Harry.   By this time Harry and Luna were in a fit of giggles, “What a handsome maid.” Daniel stood there, feeling confused and irritated.  They had not left a mess in their room, and why was Harry this perky at seven in the morning.   “It’s an inside joke,” Luna explained, catching sight of Daniel’s expression. “Yeah, one time, Luna called the maid since she accidentally spilled soda on the carpet.  I had left to grab a movie, and when I returned she thought I was the maid.” “I guess it’s a ‘should have been there’ type of joke,” Daniel complained. Luna frowned, “Well, let’s grab breakfast.” Harry nodded, offering a hand to her. Usually, Luna held Harry’s hands wherever they went.  Luna blamed her cold hands on poor circulation, so Harry warmed them with his own. Luna looked over at Daniel’s raised eyebrow.  She nodded, nudging Harry’s side.  Harry noticed the sorrow and yearning in her eyes.  His smile fell, and so did his heart.  He nodded, watching Daniel link elbows with Luna.  Harry glared because Luna hated linking elbows.  She complained that linking elbows made her feel awkward.  What was she supposed to do with her arm?  Harry swallowed his comments, walking toward the elevator.   “How did you sleep?” Daniel asked Harry. Harry smiled, “Wonderful.  How did you sleep?” “Great, Luna didn’t hog the blankets last night.” Luna chuckled awkwardly, “I forgot my second blanket.” Harry frowned, Luna needed multiple blankets to stay warm throughout the night.  Harry supplied her with three blankets each time they had a sleepover.  How could Daniel laugh it off while his girlfriend barely slept?            The tiny brick café smelt of delicious baked goods.  Luna’s stomach growled as soon as she stepped inside. Harry’s mouth watered, examining each muffin and bread they had.  Daniel whined about the bitter coffee scent.   “What are you going to order?” Harry asked Luna. Luna checked the menu again, “I want an egg croissant, but I want to try a chocolate chip muffin.” “Why not get both?” Harry wondered. “This is why I love you,” She smiled, leaning into Harry. Harry smiled, “I love you too.” They each ordered their items.  Harry decided on two slices of their lemon poppy bread, Luna ordered the croissant and the muffin, and Daniel chose a slice of banana bread.   “Can we sit outside?  Please?  It looks beautiful.  The sun is coming out, they have vines draping down the umbrellas, and we can people watch!” Harry nodded, “Sure, anything you want dear.” She rolled her eyes, swatting at Harry. Harry watched her run out to grab a table.  She waved, pointing toward a table near the sidewalk.  Luna enjoyed watching people go about their lives and making up stories based on the short encounter.  Harry loved each story.   “Are you in love with her?” Daniel spoke up, startling Harry.   “Geez, where did you come from?” Harry asked, gripping his chest. Daniel rolled his eyes, “Answer me.” Harry rolled his eyes this time, “Commanding, how attractive.  No, I am not in love with Luna.  We’ve been best friends since middle school.  She understands me better than I understand myself sometimes, but I do not love her.  You can back off now.” “Oh, I’m not jealous.  I wanted to make it clear that she is mine.  She never thinks of you in bed,” Daniel bragged. Harry clenched his jaw, “Great.  Just don���t call her yours because she is an independent woman.  She could drop you in a second and never care.  Now, shall we join her?” Daniel watched Harry scamper off,  “I’ll make her hate you.” “What took you so long?” Luna asked Daniel, noticing he arrived later than Harry had. “Bathroom,” Daniel mumbled. Harry pointed his fork toward an elderly lady talking animatedly on the phone, “What’s her story.” Luna nodded, “Ah, Karen.  She recently divorced her husband because he cheated on her with the pool boy.  Right now, she’s exploding on a sandwich shop employee about her divorce.  She’ll never find love again, except in cheap wine bottles.” “Wow, what a tragedy,” Harry mumbled, wiping away a fake tear. “Sometimes people fall out of love.”            “Are you ready to explore?” Daniel asked, stepping into the hotel with Luna and Harry. “Sure, where should we go?” Luna questioned. Harry looked around the hotel, “Actually, you go ahead.  I’ll catch up with you two later.” “What?  I thought we wanted to do this together,” Luna complained. “I do, but I need to grab something. Have fun with Daniel,” Harry mumbled, pecking her cheek before jogging off. Daniel nearly cheered, thinking Harry understood his message about leaving Luna alone.   Luna pouted, turning toward Daniel, “Where should we go?” “I found a bookstore around here.  Shall we visit it?” Luna shrugged, wishing Harry was here to make some stupid joke.   Harry drove down crowded streets, searching for the shop.  Harry smiled parking at some dimly lit store.  Harry stumbled through the front door, breathing in the cinnamon candle scent. An elderly lady rushed toward Harry. The short, chubby lady reminded Harry of his gran.  Happiness and comfort emitted from the woman. “Hello dear, how may I help you?” Her honey-sweet voice warmed Harry. “I’m searching for your quilted blankets. My best friend left her blanket at home, and we are traveling all summer.  I figured I’d buy her one,” Harry blushed. She grinned, “Right this way.  We have a wide selection of quilts.  My daughters and I knit each one.” Harry gripped the soft cloth, feeling his muscles relax, “Wow, these feel amazing.  I might have to buy two.” “We would love that.  Everyone buys quilts online, so our customers have disappeared.” Harry frowned, “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay, everything will be okay. I’ll be at the desk when you are ready,” The woman flashed one last smile before leaving Harry alone. Harry grabbed a lavender quilt for Luna, a blue one for himself, and three of the yellow ones.  Harry did not need five new quilts, but he wanted to help the shop. “Wow, you are purchasing five quilts?” “Yes ma’am, these quilts are amazing.” The woman grinned, ringing up Harry’s quilts. Harry enjoyed making people’s lives better.  Harry walked out of the store, proud that he made that woman’s day.  He messaged Luna, telling her to meet him at the hotel.              Luna dragged Daniel down the street, eager to see Harry.  Daniel spent an hour discussing books with another woman. The doe-eyed woman checked out Daniel too many times for Luna.  Luna attempted to pull Daniel away, but he waved her off.  She finally left him alone, missing the moment when he saved the other woman’s number on his phone.  Now, Daniel boiled with anger.  He had to leave because of Harry.  Luna waited impatiently in the elevator, watching the glowing red digits change on each floor.  Harry sat on his bed, tapping his feet.  Luna knocked on the door, opening it only a second later. “Harry, what is the surprise?” She asked, eyes searching around his room.   Harry laughed, removing his hands from behind his back, revealing the quilt.  Luna squealed with joy, reaching for the blanket. “Thank you. You are a lifesaver.  I hate sleeping without an extra blanket!” Daniel glared, watching Harry buy his girlfriend another gift.  Harry constantly surprised Luna with tiny gifts, which Daniel would buy if Harry didn’t beat him to the punch.   “I bought you one too.  I didn’t know what color you wanted, so I bought you a yellow.” Daniel forced a smile on his face, “Thank you.” “What were you two doing?” “Daniel took us to this bookstore.  It was amazing,” Luna cooed, smiling up at Daniel. Daniel smirked, capturing her plump lips with his thin lips.  Harry winced, looking away from his best friend making out with her boyfriend. “Well, how about we go see that art museum? I’ll even bring my camera.” “Yes, Harry takes the best photos,” Luna gushed.   Harry chuckled, loading up the film into his camera.   “I mean, he’s an art major.  Shouldn’t he be good at photography?” Daniel wondered. “No, I could suck at it.  That would be ironic,” Harry joked. Daniel nodded, chuckling lightly to break the tension.  Luna gripped Daniel’s hand, moving toward the door.  Harry followed, locking his hotel room.  Maybe things with Daniel would get better with time.