minishaw one-shots

dubai (part 3)

warnings: smut and cheating (6430 words)

-

Evening had fallen and Harry sat in the resort's downstairs bar, having a few cocktails. He had had lunch by himself after leaving Simon alone to think, hadn't seen him since. He assumed Simon hadn't left his room all day, had hoped he would maybe see him for dinner, but Harry ended up skipping that too when there was no sight of the older. 

He had spent a good amount of time on the football field but no Simon, couldn't even last thirty minutes by the pool before he decided to go for a run. He felt his skin trying to get away from his body, guilt-ridden, and it made him sick to his stomach. He had to stop mid-way through his run and barely made it over to a bush, before he spilt his guts, emptying his stomach on the pretty Dubai lands. He had spent a few moments, coughing his lungs out, before he stood back up, pushed through the pain and continued his run. He wasn't angry at Simon, didn't have it in him. They had both given into temptation and Harry wasn't sure he could ever forgive himself for that.

He got pulled out of his train of thought when someone joined him at the bar, tore his eyes off his drink in front of him and was met with his friend, Simon Minter, the guy he had looked up to when he was younger, the reason he looked forward to every Sidemen shoot or meeting, his everything. Simon looked terrible, his eyes red and puffy, and he was hunched over, like a beaten and defeated man, looked nothing like how Harry always knew him to be. Despite all of that, Harry still thought Simon was the most handsome person he had ever seen. Harry knew he had been crying and he felt heartbroken for his friend. He wished he could take it all back, started to think that having a taste of Simon as a lover was perhaps not worth the aftermath.

"How do you feel?" Harry asked carefully. He knew the answer, Simon felt horrible of course, he did.

"I just feel guilty," Simon replied. Harry placed a hand on Simon's shoulder, squeezed it lightly but just as quickly dropped it again, reminded himself not to. Simon ordered a drink, alongside a few shots, and Harry decided not to comment on it, though he knew it was probably better if Simon didn't drink.

"Did you-" Harry started, when the bartender was done placing their drinks in front of them.

"No, I didn't talk to her, if that's what you were going to ask," Simon cut him off.

"She tried to call me, but I ignored it. I just- I couldn't. I didn't know what to say and I couldn't pretend nothing had happened," Simon added, throwing back two shots in a row and pulling a painstaking face.

"I understand," Harry replied softly. Simon lifted another shot and Harry was about to step in before Simon held it in front of him.

"Want one?" He asked, and Harry looked at him for a second.

"You could probably use some too," he added. The way Harry felt was probably insignificant, compared to what Simon was going through, but Simon still looked out for the younger, was still considered. Harry knew the offer of alcohol was a weird gesture to try and cheer someone up, but he appreciated it, took the shot from Simon and threw it back. If there was one thing Harry found comfort in, it was drinking, had done so multiple nights to try and forget about Simon, especially when he saw him together with Talia, a brutal reminder of what wasn't his.

"I never expected the holiday to go like this," Simon then said.

"Me neither," Harry replied. Simon shook his head like he was angry, and perhaps he was. Harry was still somewhat expecting him to snap, to blame it all on Harry, and though he knew it wouldn't be fair, he felt like he deserved it.

"I just- I can't wrap my head around how it happened. I've been going through it in my mind all day," Simon went on. Harry stared at his friend for a moment. He had assumed Simon was only thinking about Talia, how to make things right, to make her forgive him, but Harry never expected him to go through the turn of events, didn't think the older cared about why or how it happened, just wanted to focus on solving the problems it had caused, instead.