be there for you

six .

Twenty minutes later he's changed into some tracksuit bottoms and one of Simon's hoodies, curled up against the elder with the blanket thrown over both of them. He thinks it's for the best that he stayed home, he's tired and dizzy and his mind keeps shifting between too many thoughts and then not thinking anything at all.

This isn't the first time he's had a bad day, and it's definitely not the first time he's had one while living with Simon. University has just added to his stress levels, and sometimes he needs a day to recharge.

The channel was switched from the Japanese show to some random cooking show that Simon seems to enjoy. The elder had asked Harry if he wanted to watch anything, but he had declined, knowing that anything else would probably be too overwhelming to be background noise.

Harry tries to nap, but fails, as expected. He can hardly ever find himself being able to sleep during the day, and is only able to sleep at night with medication. It's something he dislikes, but has dealt with his whole life, so he deals with it. Instead, he just rests his eyes, letting his thoughts travel wherever they want to go at that moment. A lot of the time his thoughts travel back to Simon. It's not that much of a a surprise, as he's currently tucked in the space between Simon's arm and his side.

Simon is a solid, grounding presence in Harry's life. Whenever he needs to be pulled back into reality, or even away from it, Simon is always there doing whatever he can to help. He wishes he could do more for the elder in return.

Harry feels bad again, the tendrils of guilt snaking up his spine and wrapping around his tongue.

Somehow, Simon knows, because Simon always seems to know. The arm around his shoulders drops to his waist and pulls him just a bit closer. And in turn, the guilt fades away, and Harry relaxes, breathing in deeply.

Fifteen minutes pass, and Harry can only go so long without feeling restless, so he shifts in his spot a few times before sitting up completely. He reaches for his phone, though when he sees the onslaught of notifications he immediately puts it back down.

"Let's go somewhere," Harry says abruptly, removing Simon's arm from his lap and standing up.

Simon grabs the remote, turning the television off and grabbing their discarded blanket, which had ended up nearly on the floor when Harry stood up. "You're always so eager to go places," Simon notes, folding the blanket neatly and placing it on the back of the couch.

Harry shifts his weight from one foot to the other, fiddling with the sleeves of his- Simon's hoodie. "You know, according to the Myers Briggs personality test, I'm an adventurer." He says proudly, straightening his back and standing up taller. "But honestly, it's not too accurate, I haven't taken any other tests though."

"Ah, really?" Simon muses. "I'm a defender, whatever that means."

"That makes sense," Harry comments. "Defenders are really in tune to other people and sometimes work towards perfectionism. They analyze people. You take responsibilities personally and get stuff done, which makes sense. You exceed expectations. Despite being an introvert type, you get to know people well and are perceptive to details about them. It really suits you, honestly."

Simon stares at him for a few seconds, lips curled up slightly. "You know a lot. Tell me about yours." Simon says, and Harry beams, immediately shooting into a detailed explanation on the different personality types.

If there's one thing Harry loves about Simon, it's this. The way he picks up on when Harry is interested in something, the way he prompts the younger to talk about it and doesn't show any judgement. A lot of the time when Harry rambles like this, people get overwhelmed and tell him to slow down, or they say they aren't interested and tell him to stop. Harry doesn't blame them, sometimes he knows he can be a little too much.

But Simon is the opposite. If he senses that Harry is excited about a conversation topic, he encourages him to keep talking, and engages with him to show he's also interested. If he wanted to, Simon could be a really good teacher.

When Harry is done with his spiel about personality types, he looks to Simon for some sort of approval. He just smiles, reaching forward and tugging on Harry's ear.