I sit on the couch, remote in hand, flipping through the countless channels in search of something to watch and ultimately finding nothing. I've been trying to keep myself busy for the last two hours because Harry is still sleeping. I've been fighting the urge to selfishly walk into the bedroom and wake him up myself, but he just got back from tour and he needs his sleep.
Just as I am about to turn the TV off, the faces of five familiar boys appear on the screen. Harry, Zayn, Liam, Niall, and Louis are all sat on a couch that can barely fit the five of them as they engage in conversation with the interviewer. A smile starts to grow on my face when the interviewer asks Harry about me, as always. It might get annoying to anyone else to have to hear about Harry talk about his girlfriend all the time, but I don't mind.
The interviewer moves on from Harry to talk about Zayn and Perrie, and that's when I hear shuffling behind me. I turn my head to see Harry moving towards me, dressed in only a pair of black Calvin Klein's. His hair is disheveled and his hand is rubbing the sleep from his eyes, much like a small child who can't sleep.
"Hey," I say softly. Harry lays down on the couch, tucking his knees into his chest and lays his head in my lap. "Did you sleep alright?"
Harry brings a fist to his mouth to cover a cough that escapes his lips. "No."
"Are you feeling okay?"
"No," Harry answers again, his voice even raspier than usual.
"What's wrong?" I ask him, softly stroking the loose curls away from his face. He brings his hand over his mouth to cover another cough. "Are you sick?"
"I think so. I probably caught what Liam had."
"So you thought you'd come out here and share your germs with me?" I say sarcastically, leaning over to look at Harry with a smirk on my face.
"No, but you are a lot warmer than the bed, so here I am," he says and wraps his arms around me, pulling me close to him. "But we can always kiss if you want."
"Back to bed," I instruct, trying to pull him off my lap.
"No," Harry whines, wrapping his strong arms tighter around me. I slump back against the couch in defeat, because I am no match for his strength. "Come with me."
"No, you'll get me sick too."
"Please," Harry pleads and looks up at me with a certain desperation in his eyes that I know is going to make it difficult for me to say no.
"Fine."
Harry turns his head away from me as he crawls off my lap, but I still catch the smallest hint of a smirk cross his face, obviously happy that he got what he wanted. He pads back into the bedroom before plopping down onto the bed. He lays his head down on the pillow and drapes the covers over his torso and closes his eyes. They open again within seconds and land on me standing in the doorway. He rolls over onto his side and pats the spot on the bed next to him.
"Do you want anything?" I ask, because I know the second I lay down, he'll ask me for a glass of water or to turn the heat up.
"Somebody to cuddle with. Now come here," Harry grumbles, reaching his arm across the bed, urging me close enough so he can grab my hand.
"Do you want some soup?"
He opens his mouth - probably to decline the offer before he can hear it - but then closes it and gives me a small nod. "Okay."
I walk into the kitchen and pull out a can of chicken noodle soup from the pantry. I begin rifling through the cupboards in search of a pan, being careful to keep the noise to a minimum in case Harry has fallen back asleep. I finally find one and place it on the stove top and pour the contents of the soup can into the pan.
Ten minutes later, I'm pouring the hot soup into a bowl and walking back into the bedroom. Much to my surprise, Harry's still awake.
"Why are you still awake? You should be asleep," I scold, placing the soup on the nightstand next to him and sitting down on the bed.
"Well, mom, my head hurts," Harry says while rubbing his temples before throwing his pillow over his face.
"If you eat this, it will make you feel better," I say, removing the pillow from his hands and earning a groan from him.
"Fine. But only if you feed it to me." Harry rolls over to look at me with a smirk.
"You are such a child."
"But you still love me," Harry says with a that warm, genuine smile that is contagious, and I find myself smiling too.
I grab the spoon and dip it into the hot liquid. I bring the spoon to my mouth to cool it down a bit, before carefully moving it to Harry's mouth. Harry reaches his head forward to take the spoon into his mouth, but before he can, I move the spoon back to my mouth and swallow the soup.
"Mmm," I hum, before dipping the spoon back into the soup and taking another bite of noodles. "This is good. You should try it."
I glance over at Harry, expecting him to look at me with his jaw hanging open, but he's not. One side of his mouth is twisted up into a smirk, one of his dimples indented into his cheek. "We'll just see how you like that when you're sick."
Before I can respond, he begins coughing again. I instinctively bring my hand up to his forehead and it feels warm. Harry's eyes close under my touch, and my hand trails down his face to cup his cheek.
"Go to sleep," I whisper and he sighs in response.
I stand up from the bed and start toward the door but a firm grip on my wrist stops me. I look down at Harry on the bed, looking almost God-like. The sunlight streaming into the room reflects off his tanned skin, making him glow like an angel. "Don't go. Please."
He slowly begins to pull me towards the bed, but I don't stop him. I crawl over him onto the other side of the bed, hopefully leaving enough space so I don't catch any of his germs, but Harry inches closer to me and drapes an arm around me. I rest my head against the headboard as my hand finds its way into Harry's hair. As silence falls over the room, I find it harder to keep my eyes open any longer.
-
My eyes flutter open to a different view than when I fell asleep. Just under my nose, I see a tattoo of a butterfly and I bring my hand up to lazily trace it with my finger. I'm startled when a chuckle erupts from Harry's chest, causing his stomach to shake with laughter. "That tickles."
I rest my chin on his chest and look up at Harry, who's smiling at me. I smile back at him and lean into his touch as he brings one of his large hands to my head and moves a few stray strands of hair out of my face and behind my ear.
"How are you feeling?" I ask, placing a gentle kiss to his chest.
In turn, he places a kiss to the top of my head before responding, "Much better now."