Glory and Gore || l.s. ✓

Chapter 11

A loud noise and the cold breeze hitting his skin awoke Harry.

He jumped up, looking around for the source of the noise.

Harry's father. The duvet had been yanked off of him and his father was stood beside his bed- face red.

"What are you doing?" He boomed, Harry cowering back.

"I-I'm uh, I'm ill." He stammered, "I threw up earlier."

"I don't care if you're fucking ill! You will attend dinner. Have you no respect?"

"Father, please leave him be." Gemma spoke from behind him, "if he'd had sat with us he would've thrown up all over the table."

"He's a fucking disappointment."

"I'm sorry father. I'm sorry, honest. I just didn't feel up to it, I'm sorry." Harry spoke. "I really am."

"Father," Gemma said, "there's nothing Harry can do to fix it now. He's said sorry, that's all he can do right now."

Harry kept his eyes on his father, whimpering slightly.

"Pathetic piece of shit." The King growled before spinning around and storming out.

Gemma waited until he was gone before shutting the door behind her and sitting down on Harry's bed.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah." Harry forced a smile onto his face, though his eyes were teary.

"Don't listen to him Harry. You're perfectly entitled to skip dinner. It's not like it's your coronation or your wedding that you're skipping, it's just dinner."

"I'm an idiot." Harry sighed, "I shouldn't have skipped dinner."

"It was simply a dinner." Gemma repeated. "Don't stress about it. Here, I brought you a couple of sandwiches. Is that okay?"

"That's wonderful. Thank you Gemma. But may I ask why there were sandwiches at dinner?"

"There weren't, I asked one of the staff to fetch me some."

"Oh, you didn't have to. But thank you so much Gem."

"Would you like me to stay with you?"

"If you have something else to do you may leave."

"I don't, it's okay. I'll stay with you."

"Thank you." Harry smiled gently, "would you like a sandwich?"

"No," she laughed, "I just had dinner. I got them for you. Thank you though."

"I wish father didn't hate me." He chewed on his lip, "I don't even wish he loved me. I just wish he could tolerate me a little."

Gemma moved closer to him, holding him to his side. "I'm unsure if father is capable of tolerating anyone."

"He likes you." Harry mumbled.

"Harry, the only reason he's like this with you is because he wants you to be like him. He has high expectations of you as a male, but you don't have to live up to them. He's not going to be around forever, and when he's not you don't want to be stuck as a person you hate."

"I wish I could be more normal."

"You don't want to be normal. You're perfect the way you are. Don't change yourself to fit in with others."

"But is it worth staying myself?" He sighed, "I've lost my friends and father hates me."

"I don't know about you but I'd rather be myself and have people who like me for me, than have a bunch of fake arseholes around me."