Mutually Beneficial | H.S.

7

Flowers are fucking pointless, right? What purpose do they serve, other than looking pretty? Y/N thinks she might just pick the next petals she sees right off their stems.

Sure. Maybe they're crucial to the welfare of bees, and maybe they're very important in the cheering up of a person after a long, hard day—or even just as a silent way of apologising to your nan for your lack of visits... but Y/N doesn't care. She does not care. Fuck walks, fuck flowers, and fuck Harry's fingers twining with hers. Even though they feel really, really nice. Y/N can't take it anymore.

The wind, thankfully, stays at a very enjoyable speed. Light and breezy; nothing that may cause frantic hands to fly to her dress to hold it down after a shocking gust. And whilst Harry may have alluded to the fact that her indecent exposure was some source of amusement for him, he too is relieved that he's not had to do any emergency fixes.

Quite surprisingly, actually, Harry has turned off all allure. Literally. As though he has a switch on the back of his head that flicks from sultry to sweet. The moment the pair had reached a road, he'd been alert—insistent on Y/N switching with him to be furthest away from the onslaught of cars. It was... thoughtful. Unexpected, somewhat, when the whole Daddy thing was still going round... and round... and round inside of her head. She hadn't really been paying much attention to his soft murmurs, asking her to change sides with him as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. Perhaps she was further gone than she realised, when all she could do was nod with a sort of lag, and only meet his eyes for a second before she caught the look of an incoming pram—weighed down by the peaceful sight of a sleeping baby.

If Harry notices then he doesn't say anything—perhaps his hand tightens around hers and he walks a little closer than necessary—but he doesn't mention her mood or his.

He buys her ice cream and walks them to a public park in which he prompts her to sit on the verdant grass and props his sunglasses on her nose. He pulls her calves across his lap and watches goosebumps follow in the wake of his soft fingertips and the bumps of his knuckles as he caresses her skin. He kisses her chin where a melty drop paints her, licking his lips with a smile that scrunches his eyes. He behaves appropriately and yet... Y/N suddenly wants to have very public sex. He calls her a messy girl in the most innocent of lilts but the insinuation, the different sort of mess that she starts picturing—the very same colour of the frozen treat she is licking.

Y/N's eyes are absent, the pair are hardly talking to one another, and her legs buzz with every touch of Harry's hands against them. Her answers are reduced to halfhearted hums and gradual nods all while he watches her with a fond regard.

She can't be blamed—when the closing of his front door prompts the last of her composure to disintegrate; to fall apart at the seams and land in a frail mess on the floor. Y/N wants to join it more than anything. "Please..." a whisper falls from her bitten lips, too quiet to make out the word but the noise is carried. Harry's hand meets the small of her back and then brushes up to smooth over her shoulder as he lifts her chin up with his index finger.

"What is it?" His brows pull together. Y/N can't speak. Her focus dances from left to right—rapid movements—unspoken urgency. "You need to tell me... with your words, no matter how pretty your eyes look." Smaller, nervous palms push into his stomach. Knees bend and meet hard floor. Harry's fingers tangle into her hair, gripping but not tugging—holding her head at an angle. "This isn't talking, darling. What are you trying to do down there?"

Y/N cups the backs of his knees, hardly registering the sarcasm that drips from his tongue. "Harry..."

"Is it?" A little yank against her scalp.