"Do you...well...I mean...I could give you a massage?"
(It also has a lot of Harper being cute with each other).
Piper was sitting on the couch, curled up on herself, when she heard the front door to HQ bang closed. "Harry?" she called out hopefully.
A moment later, the door to the entertainment room swung open and Piper lifted her head from the back of the couch with a small smile on her face. When Liam's head poked into the room instead, it shifted to a frown as she sighed.
"It's just me," Liam said with a friendly smile of his own. "Did you need something?"
"Not from you," she grumbled. When she caught the frown that crossed Liam's face she grimaced sheepishly. "Sorry, that came out wrong. I just... I was hoping you were Harry."
"Clearly," Liam opened the door further and stepped into the room. "Are you okay? You look a little off."
"I just had a long day," she admitted as she slumped against the back of the couch, tugging her legs closer to her chest. "I've got a headache, we're all out of ice cream, I had to wait twenty minutes in line at Boots behind this man who didn't know how to use his coupons so I could buy my damn tampons and my back is killing me and — shit, sorry Li, I didn't mean to unload on you like this."
"It's okay," Liam said as he walked slowly toward the couch. "Is there something I can do?"
"Not really." Piper shrugged. "Unless you've discovered a way to get rid of period cramps with magic or something."
"Can't do that, unfortunately."
Liam scratched his neck, a little blush colouring his cheeks. Piper was a little surprised that he wasn't running in the other direction at the mention of periods but then again, he had sisters. Harry was very comfortable with talking to Piper about her period because he'd grown up with Gemma, a girl who had no problem talking about things that made him uncomfortable. Liam probably had a similar situation growing up, having heard his sisters talking about it. She could account his little blush to the fact that Liam was more conservative than his friends and liked to be respectful toward Piper and her privacy. She appreciated that.
"It's fine, Liam," she said with a sigh as she picked up the remote and went back to what she'd been doing before — scrolling through netflix looking for a bad action movie to cheer her up. "Just leave me to wallow on my own."
Liam stayed standing where he was for a moment and when Piper looked back, he seemed to be thinking about something. "I could just keep you company, if you want," Liam offered. "Or, do you... well... I mean... I could give you a massage? To help with your back pain."
"You don't have to do that."
"I don't mind," Liam told her with a gentle smile. "Really."
Piper remembered the way he'd massaged her shoulder when she'd injured it in the gym — obviously Liam knew what he was doing. And her lower back was aching. She could do with a message. "If you're sure," she said with a shrug.
"Yeah, go on. Turn over."
Piper readjusted so she was lying across the couch on her stomach, her arms crossed under her chin to pillow her head. Liam perched on the edge of the couch beside her hips and carefully pulled up the bottom of her shirt to expose her back.
"Where is it the worst?" he asked as he touched his fingers to the base of her spine. "Here?"
"A little higher — yeah, right there," she told him when he'd run his fingers up an inch or two and hit the spot where the pain seemed to originate. Liam began rubbing his fingers in gentle circles and Piper was about to tell him that wasn't how a massage worked when his thumbs dug in on either side of her spine and — oh, that was exquisite.
It was clear from the way he'd treated her shoulder and now, how he pinpointed the pressure points to relieve her pain, that Liam knew what he was doing. And thank god for that. Piper found herself moaning into her arm as Liam kneaded the tight muscles in her back.
"God yes, Li, right there," she said as he shifted to the right a bit, his thumb working into the muscle to smooth it out. "Oh shit, that feels so good."
"Doing alright?" Liam clarified when she let out a particularly long groan. "I'm not being too rough, am I?"
"No it's perfect," she insisted. Liam pressed his palm, warm to the touch, against her spine and rubbed the heel of his palm down and Piper arched her back. "Yes, yes, yes — that's it. Fuck yes."
"Am I interrupting something?"
Piper's eyes snapped open and angled toward the doorway where Harry was standing with his coat still on, a plastic bag hanging from his wrist. He quirked a brow at the scene in front of him and Piper was about to explain when Liam found a particularly tight spot, working both thumbs down into it. She let out a groan that sounded positively lewd, her eyes slipping shut blissfully for a moment.
"Thought I was the only one who could make those sounds come out of you," Harry muttered as he walked into the room.
"Don't be jealous," Piper snapped at him as he came to sit on the table across from her. "Liam's just helping me with my back pain."
Liam's hands stilled. "I can stop —"
"Don't you dare," Piper growled back at him. A little smiled crossed Harry's face as he snorted a laugh. Liam looked curiously between the two of them and then resumed what he was doing.
It's not like there was any reason for Harry to worry or for Liam to feel uncomfortable. Harry and Piper were forever; nothing was coming between them. For that reason, it was rare that they got jealous. And Liam was one of Piper's best friends. If he wanted to give her a back massage, so be it.
Harry didn't seem perturbed. He just rummaged around in the plastic bag until he pulled out a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream. "Got this for you," he explained as he set it on the table, "because I know we finished the last bit of ice cream together the other day."
"Harry, you blessed creature, thank you."
"It's a pleasure, petal," he said with a fond smile. "Want to watch a film and have a night in?"
"More than anything."
Liam lifted his hands from her back and Piper craned her head around. "My replacement is here," Liam said as he nodded toward Harry with a little smile. "I'll leave you to it."
"Thank you, Liam. I really needed that. I appreciate it."
"Anytime," Liam said as he stood up. "Have a nice evening you two."
When he was gone, Harry rose to his feet and shed his coat, holding it over one arm. "I'll go put this away and grab two spoons from the kitchen."
"One spoon," Piper corrected with a scowl as she grabbed the tub of ice cream and held it close. "Mine."
"You're going to eat that all on your own?"
"That was the plan."
Harry rolled his eyes and turned away, leaving the room to go get rid of his coat. Piper went back to searching netflix for something to watch. She decided on Tomb Raider and started it up, waiting for Harry to return.
When he came back, it was with one spoon and that made Piper smile. The way he so selflessly sacrificed his ice cream meant a great deal to her.
"What are we watching?" Harry asked as he manhandled her on the couch so that she was sitting in between his spread legs, leaning back against his chest comfortably. "Tomb Raider?" he questioned when he finally noticed the opening credits. "Didn't you watch this last week?"
"It was this or Terminator," she told him. "I figured you'd prefer Angelina Jolie."
"Who cares who's in the movie?" Harry murmured as his arm circled her waist, his large hand spread out over her sore abdomen. "I've got my favourite girl right here."
"Hmm, you're so charming," Piper mumbled as she cracked open her tub of ice cream and dug her spoon in. She held it over her shoulder and offered it to Harry. "There's your reward."
"If I'd known one spoon meant sharing," Harry muttered around his mouthful of ice cream, "then I wouldn't have insisted on two."
"Silly boy. One spoon always means sharing. If I was really going to eat the whole thing myself, I'd have demanded you leave me alone to eat my feelings in peace."
"Oh, of course. How foolish of me."
Piper shuffled around so she was more comfortable, lifting her feet up to prop them on the table and bend her knees up, and shimmying down a bit so her lower back pressed to Harry's stomach so there was some warmth on the sore spot. Harry's arm readjusted so it was around her waist, his other arm circling lower so his hand was back on her abdomen.
They watched the movie for a bit, Piper feeding Harry spoons of ice cream every so often in between her own bites and Harry scoffing at the fighting techniques, like he always did with action movies ("it's impractical and unrealistic, Piper. Can you blame me?"). When she started to feel the pain of her cramps at full force once more, the ice cream failing to do anything except make her brain think she was feeling better, she turned her head against Harry's chest.
"Will you rub my tummy?" she asked him, murmuring against the exposed skin at his throat. "Like you did last time?"
"One more bite of ice cream first," Harry negotiated and Piper was more than happy to give him not one but two bites of ice cream when she felt his warm hand slide under her shirt and begin rubbing gentle circles over her cramping abdomen. "How's that?" he asked after a moment.
"Perfect," she murmured with a sigh as she let her eyes drift shut. "Thank you. I love you."
"I know you do," Harry said as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you too, petal."
"I'm so lucky I have you," she added as she placed her hand on top of Harry's on her tummy.
"I do give the best massages, don't I?"
"Tummy massages," Piper corrected. "You know I love you, Harry, but Liam's got a gift that I can't deny."
Harry chuckled, the sound making his chest vibrate against her back. Piper shuffled her shoulders a bit so she was pressed even closer to him and felt him tighten his arm in response.
"But Liam won't hold you like this," he muttered in her ear before dipping down to press a kiss to the skin just below it.
"No, he won't. And I wouldn't want him to." Piper craned her head around so she could smile sweetly at her boyfriend who was wearing a fond smile and looked incredibly handsome and was also massaging her sore tummy. It was the perfect moment. "You're pretty special, Harry Styles."
"Hmm, I know." Piper gave him a look and Harry just chuckled. "I think I should be rewarded for being so special and brilliant."
"Don't remember anyone saying brilliant..."
"So I'd like my reward please. Another bite of ice cream perhaps?"
Piper glanced down at the tub in her lap which had melted a bit and looked more like a goopy mess than anything edible. She reached over to drop it onto the table and turned a bit between Harry's legs instead so she could reach a hand up to curve around his face. She eyed his lips with a little grin and then her eyes flicked back up to meet his heated stare.
"I think I have an idea for a different reward."
"Better than ice cream?" Harry asked as his own gaze drifted down as she wet her lips.
"Much better than ice cream."