𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝙽𝙴 | 𝑡. ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑

IX | 𝑂𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠

⊱ ────── ๑♡๑ ────── ⊰

(Y/N)'s POV

"Hey Har-Bear," I said to the curly haired boy who was looking out through my bedroom window with his back to me, no response. "Harry?", nothing. "Look, I don't know-"

"How could you?", he spoke quietly, his voice cracked, while he was still looking out of my bedroom window, his body turned away from me.

"Harry...", I said with a sigh. I had no idea what to say to him, what even was there to say? I was hoping this wasn't about me going out with Tom but of course that's what it was about.

"I saw the pictures all over the internet, let me guess. He took you to the fair, was his sweet and charming self, maybe even won you a prize, and now everything's good?", I didn't say anything, and he scoffed at my silence.

"I told you to stay away from Tom and now you're back with him?!", he snapped, turning around to face me.

Harry was never one to get angry. He and Sam believed that life was too short and just preferred to move on and not let the little things affect them, but this was different. There was always this underlying tension when it came to him and Tom, especially around me, but I didn't want to be in the middle of it, now I had no choice.

"It's not like that! Tom and I just wanted to reconnect as friends...a-and besides, it's none of your business what I choose to do," I said getting more and more frustrated with again having to defend myself when I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Why do you care if I hang out with him anyway? I could fuck him and it would still be none of your business!"

"Because I love you!", he shouted as he got closer to me.

"I love you too Harry, you know that. You're one of my best friends in the entire world," I assured him as I went in for a hug, still not entirely sure what upset him so much about me hanging out with Tom.

"No (Y/N), I'm in love with you," he confessed.

"W-What?"

"I'm in love with you, so in love with you," he smiled as he snaked an arm around my waist, making me feel uncomfortable.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement, perhaps I shouldn't have been. Tom, Ginnie, and even my family, had always insisted that Harry harbored feelings for me, but I just never saw it. Maybe I was blind to it because I only ever saw him as my best friend.

"Since when?", I asked, gently taking his arm off of my waist, watching it drop to his side.

"It's silly when you think about it", he said, a bit more relaxed, and plopped onto my bed, "it was that summer your parents made you get that internship at that hospital in the countryside. I picked you up one day, you had been written up by your supervisor because you'd been caught sneaking out food from the patients and feeding fox cubs in the bushes..." He stopped and smiled to himself.

"I remember that," I said with a shy chuckle at how silly I was, remembering how my coworkers were upset for possibly luring foxes to the area.

"It was silly, but the fact that you cared so much about the small woodland critters to go to those lengths really resonated with me. It opened my eyes to how you aren't only beautiful and brilliant, but you are the kindest person I know, even when you try to hide it."

"Harry, that was four years ago...y-you've really had feelings for me for that long?", I asked, utterly bemused.

He nodded, "but you were too busy being infatuated with my brother to notice," he spat bitterly, the small smile that moments before had been on his face, now gone.