𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋! | harry styles

𝐕

I've dressed Cody in his Iron Man pajamas, and he's got all of his things packed up for a night with Mrs. Eizadi downstairs.

"What are you doing, baby?"

"Nothin'," he says, watching me and fiddling with the makeup on the counter, opening things and putting them down. Before I know it, he's got a smear of bronzer on his cheek and the pads of the fingers on his left hand are stained pink from my blush.

I turn the hairdryer off, stowing it under the bathroom sink, and pull out a handful of makeup remover wipes for his hands. "You ready to go soon?"

"Can I come with you?" He scrunches his face up as I wipe the sparkly brown streak from his cheek.

"You don't want to see Neda and Amun?"

Clean and tidy again, Cody turns to frown at his reflection in the mirror. "She doesn't let me watch the dinosaurs on TV."

I ruffle his hair, reaching into my makeup bag for my eyelash curler and mascara. "I'll let you watch your shows tomorrow, okay?"

He doesn't reply, instead content to make faces at himself in the mirror. We're both laughing at his silly faces when there's a knock on the door. I glance down at my watch, and the late hour makes my heart jump. Between messing around with Cody and tidying myself up, I've completely lost track of time.

"Shit."

Cody clamps his hands over his mouth, stifling a giggle behind them as I duck out of the bathroom.

"Momma said a naughty word!" he yells, laughing loudly.

"I know," I call back to him, mentally kicking myself. "Momma's sorry. No more bad words, I pr-"

The words die in my throat as I swing the front door open and find Harry standing outside. His hood is up, covering his face almost entirely in shadow. But even without the angular lines on show, I'd know that frame anywhere.

"Harry. Hi."

His hand slides up and he yanks his navy hood back, revealing dark brown hair underneath.

"Hi."

A cold draft blows up from the stairwell, and I suddenly remember I'm standing there in just my underwear and a ratty pink dressing gown. I pull it tighter around me.

"I brought your tray back," he says.

"Oh." I reach for the glass dish in his hands. "You didn't have to do that."

Shrugging, his long fingers scratch through the hair that covers his jaw, and he opens his mouth to reply but stops short, his eyes fixing on a spot behind me.

I feel Cody's hand wind around my thigh before I hear him, and when I look down he's staring quietly up at Harry. I place a reassuring hand on the top of his head, and he looks up at me and then back at Harry.

"You wanna say hi?"

Cody murmurs a very quiet hello, burying his face into my leg.

"Cody, right?" asks Harry, offering his hand to Cody.

Something warm and tingly unfurls in my chest as the hand around my thigh loosens, and Cody steps forward, looking at Harry's hand, more specifically the red raw skin on the back of his knuckles. "Did you get an oops on your hand?"

Harry flexes the fingers on his outstretched hand and nods. "Yeah, I did."

"Did it hurt?"

He nods again.

"When I get an oops, Momma puts the pictures on, and it makes it better."

I place a gentle hand on Cody's shoulder. "Cody likes the Avengers Band-Aids, don't you?"