hate & other words || h.s au

drabble: in which harry has a surprise

hii friends! so it's been a while and i've missed cleo and harry so much, so i thought why not write a drabble? this idea came to me yesterday and on a whim, i decided to write it. 

i hope you'll enjoy it x

~*~

Harry's POV

Harry doesn't know how he managed to spend over two decades keeping secrets from Cleo. Because now, he can barely keep anything from her. It's like she has a sixth sense when it comes to him. And on most days, Harry considers it a good thing that she can see right through him, but not this time. Not when he's about to pull the biggest — and the scariest, so much so that he shivers each time he thinks about it — surprise he's ever done.

Harry Styles is going to propose to Cleo Ward tonight.

Harry can feel the weight of the small, rectangular box in his jacket, burning holes in his pocket. For the past two years, that box has made a home in his drawer, buried underneath his socks — the only place he knows where Cleo wouldn't go looking. She knows that his mother has given him the family ring — he's the one who told her that — but she doesn't know what it looks like. And Harry refuses to let her take a peek of it until it's time for him to slide it onto her finger.

"Are you sure she doesn't suspect anything?" Harry asks Adam for the, well, he's lost count already.

Adam lets out a chuckle. "Mate, relax. She doesn't suspect a thing." Before Harry can open his mouth and ask his friend if he's really sure, he beats him to it. "And yes, I'm very sure of that. If you don't trust me, trust Daisy. She's keeping Cleo busy."

Harry exhales. Not that he doesn't trust his best mate, but knowing that Daisy is in on this too makes him feel a lot better. "Okay, good."

"Where are you anyway?" Adam quizzes. "This plan's not gonna work if you're not here."

"Almost there," he replies. Harry can see the building that houses Ward's bookstore and his heart lurches in his throat. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

Adam laughs — loud. "I know that feeling."

"What if she says no?" Harry voices out his biggest fear, feeling his chest getting tighter and tighter as he nears the bookstore.

"Mate—"

"What if she laughs at my face?"

"She does that to you everyday."

Ignoring that remark, Harry voices out another fear, "What if she's not ready for this? What if—"

"Harry," Adam's firm voice shuts him up. "Breathe."

Harry does as told. Within seconds, he can feel his heartbeat returning to its normal rate.

"She's not going to say no," Adam tells him. Harry opens his mouth but like before, he's cut off. "And please don't ask me how I know that. I just know she's going to say yes. Maybe she will laugh at your face first but then she'll say yes."

That does sound like his Cleo — the laughing part, at least. Maybe she'll tell him he's being ridiculous or that he's annoying for keeping this whole thing a secret from her. But after that, maybe she'll say yes. God, he hopes she says yes.

Harry can't imagine spending the rest of his life with someone else. When he imagines his future, he sees Cleo by his side — annoying him, laughing at him and with him, rolling her eyes at him when he says something cheesy. If he's being truly honest with himself, he's had that image in his head ever since he realised that Cleo was his soulmate. And not his enemy. But he's been keeping that to himself, scared that she doesn't want the same future as he does.