He knew something was up when he saw her kick the ball with her nondominant foot, favoring her left the rest of the game as well. To anyone that didn't know Luz, it wouldn't have seemed odd, that's how good she was with both feet. But Harry did know, and once he saw that Luz had been playing mostly with her left, he knew she was hurt enough to stop using her favored leg.
Luz hummed, resting her chin on Harry's shoulder. "Still a good shot, though."
"Utterly unmatched," Harry agreed, setting her down once he'd reached the car. "And we set out what we came to do."
"Which was?" Luz asked, her voice trailing off at the end.
Harry grinned. "Hustle the other team and win for the first time in the two years since we started playing them."
Luz pulled the headband she'd been wearing all night lower over her ears. Harry knew that now that they weren't running around anymore, she was probably freezing, but she didn't say anything about it or complain. "Do people know you're this competitive?"
"Probably," Harry guessed. He'd never really tried to hide his competitive nature from anyone, friends, family, fans, or otherwise.
The two of them hopped in Harry's car and peeled out of the parking lot of the fields they played at tonight, music from Harry's phone playing softly as he drove them to the pub where his friends already were.
As they walked through the doors of the pub, Luz stretched up to Harry's ear so that he could hear her over all the commotion. "I had fun tonight."
"Did you? " Harry asked, but he knew it was the truth. Foul play aside, he could tell that Luz was in her element tonight, and he was glad he got to watch it up close. "We'll have to do this more often then."
"Ha," Luz joked, knowing what Harry was angling at. "You just want us to have a more permanent home here."
Harry had been dropping subtle hints that he wanted to spend more time in London these last couple months. She understood where he was coming from- his family was here, he spent a lot of time here for work. It was his home just as much as Los Angeles was.
Luz wasn't completely opposed to the idea of moving semi-permanently, but she was still taking time to process it. She had traveled when she was an athlete, but California was all she'd known for most her life. Not to mention she wasn't licensed to practice physical therapy anywhere but in California, and she didn't see herself spending so much time by herself in London without a job to occupy her time. But she wanted to support Harry. If this was something he wanted, then she would find herself a job in London and make it work.
"Maybe," Harry agreed. "But it could be fun right? You and me in London a few months out of the year winning football matches and going out afterwards." Harry could picture it so easily, and if he had to picture it for the both of them for a little bit until Luz was convinced, then he could do that.
"But it's so cold here," Luz whined playfully. "You know how I get when I'm cold. Do you really want that, what, six months out of the year?"
Harry grinned breezily, his arms snaking around her waist as they waited in line to order their drinks. He kissed her temple and took her hands in his, which were frozen to the touch, something unusual for Luz.
Their conversation was paused as they ordered their drinks and hung out with Harry's friends. All of them were incredibly nice, throwing their arms around Luz's shoulder and treating her like they'd known her for years. As they stayed and talked at the pub, Harry threw out to their table that he'd been trying to convince Luz to move here. There were too many people around for her to punch his shoulder, which was why he said it in the first place. So Luz listened to all of Harry's friends encourage this endeavor the rest of the evening.
"You're evil," Luz whispered on their walk back to Harry's car. It was a difficult statement to take seriously considering she was clinging to Harry's side with her hands keeping warm under his jumper. She was just the right balance of tipsy and self-aware that she had only cuddled into him and not crawled into his lap at the pub or now as they continued down the sidewalk.
"What do you mean, love?" Harry asked her, knowing full well what he had done when he told his friends about their unmade plans for the future.
Luz just hummed, and Harry wasn't sure what to make of it. He figured they would talk more on the drive back to his place, but she fell asleep soon after he started driving. When he pulled into his driveway, he didn't even try to wake Luz up, just walked around, unbuckled her seatbelt, and carried her inside and upstairs. As he set her down on the bed, she blinked her eyes open, a sleepy smile on her lips.
"Hi," she whispered, pushing a strand of hair out of his face. "Are we home?"
Harry grinned at her, letting Luz wrap her arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. He shuffled so that Luz was holding him close against her chest, her cheek pressed against his.
Tilting his head to get a better look at her, he peppered Luz's face with kisses until she hid away in the crook of his neck. She felt Harry shake lightly from his giggling, but he eventually sobered up to answer her question. "I don't know, are we?"
"Hm, ask me in a day or two and when I'm sober. But," Luz nestled deeper into the bed behind Harry. "This bed is extremely comfortable. Kind of a game changer."
"Wait a minute," Harry replied immediately by turning in Luz's arms.
She responded by cupping his cheeks in her hands. "Yes?"
"You're telling me that for months I've been trying to convince you to entertain the thought of living here for a few months out of the year, and all I had to do was get you into my bed?"
Luz blushed but gave him a small nod. "I wouldn't put it that way, but... yeah, I guess you could say that."
One corner of Harry's mouth turned up, his dimple flashing. Luz matched his grin, but cuddled into his chest soon after, a clear sign to him that she was ready for sleep. He was surprised that Luz hadn't wanted to do any of her nighttime routine, but they had a long day, so he was content to just sleep and deal with her complaints about not having washed her face before going to bed in the morning.
"Good night, baby," Luz whispered with her eyes closed.
Harry pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning off the light on his nightstand, grinning a little when he felt her hands against his skin, her thumbs trailing across his midsection. Feeling good about the prospect of making this house their second home, Harry kissed her forehead again. "Good night my love."
Hustlers
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