Obsidian & Bronze {Fred Weasley}

46. All I want for Christmas

"How's the shoulder?" He whispered lowly in my ear, his warm and husky breath fanning over my cheek and neck, sending goosebumps across the surface of my skin.

"It's good" I croaked back, lifting my hand to my eyes and wiping away the remainder of sleep as Fred planted a kiss on my forehead, and then my temple, followed by my nose, and chin, finally connecting his lips with mine.

It had been like this every morning since the day after I arrived at the burrow, each night sneaking away to Percy's old room once the rest of the house fell asleep. Waking up in his arms each crisp morning, buried beneath the sheets, my head pressed against his bare chest just right so his heartbeat was the only constant sound.

Every morning had been the same, the same steady flow of cold air that slipped through the crack in the window, the same innocent chatter as my eyes adjusted to the intrusion of sunlight, the same not so innocent acts that followed. Everything was predictable, steady, until that morning.

"Be my girlfriend again" He whispered, as though it was the most casual of questions, his fingers stroking lengths across my bare arms, pushing against the ripples of my skin, his chin pressed into the crown of my head as I laid against him.

"I'm sorry?" I uttered, tilting my head backwards until my neck ached, looking up at him, a wide and aching smile wiped across his face.

"Be my girlfriend again" He repeated, slighting more sure of himself this time, sitting himself up and turning me to face him, his hands resting on my shoulders as his eyes bored into mine, "Look, I know we've been here before, but I wasn't sure of anything then, and I'm still not sure of much now, but I'm sure that I love you, and I know you love me too"

"And what if-" I whimpered, the sudden reality of this moment suffocating my thoughts.

"What if what? If I leave?" He asked, slightly more aggressively than I was sure he had intended, suddenly softening his hard features to compensate.

I nodded.

"Hear me when I tell you that I am not going anywhere, and I promise to devote everything to proving that to you. I love you, let me prove it" He pleaded, his fingers laced with mine in his lap, his bottom lip worrying between his teeth.

I didn't say anything for a moment, there was no deliberation, I just wasn't sure I could form any words. My thoughts had been dulled by the brutal thundering beat of my heart rattling in my chest and in that moment I had forgotten the last time he had been so exposed, he looked beautiful when he was vulnerable.

"I'll be your girlfriend again, under one condition" I smiled over at him, his soul exposed, spilling out around us, my hand tempted to reach out for it, to ball it up tightly, and tuck it away, to hold onto it forever.

"And what's that?" He whispered quietly, scared his voice, to loud, would shatter this moment.

"You have to catch me first!" And with that I launched myself off the bed, without a further plan I bolted straight for the door, refusing to look back as I hurled myself towards the bathroom, unintentionally about to back myself into a corner.

I could hear Fred scramble off the bed behind me, the sound of the covers rusling beneath his feet frantically, and run out the bedroom door, chuckling huskily in a way that almost made me stop as my insides ignited.

"You are an idiot, Miss Black" He sniggered, gripping onto the door frame and swinging himself into the bathroom, his chest heaving and his cheeks flushed a washed out scarlet.

I had stepped into the shower in a moment of fret, panicked and stupid, I pulled the curtain drawn, hoping he hadn't seen me climb inside, evidently I was wrong.