OBSESSION: Part I (Sequel to 'You & I')

21. Right Beside You

Harry woke up first, groaning as he shifted slightly in the bed, feeling a body wrapped around his from behind, clutching tightly to him. It was then that he remembered last night, and he felt Lux's warmth invade every cold crevice of his soul and melt the icy parts of him. His eyes fluttered open to sunshine pouring into the room, and he turned around to face her, his landing directly on her face which was lit up by the sun, making her look almost holy. He blinked, his eyes staring at her for a long time, studying her features, thinking over the things she said to him last night.

He wiggled his hand out from under hers, it somehow got locked there overnight, and he brought his fingers up to her cheek, touching it hesitantly. He brushed his fingertips over her cheekbone, down across her lips, then back up over her cheekbone again. Harry cocked his head to the left slightly, watching her sleep peacefully with her lips slightly parted, her soft breath hitting his chest. He wanted to kiss her awake, wanted to watch her eyes flutter open to his breath against hers, wanted to hear a happy sigh from her lips.

The last words she said to him before she fell into a deep sleep echoed in his mind, "You still feel like home to me." and he felt it too, he felt it with every fiber of his being. He wanted to grab those words out of the air and swallow them whole, making them a part of him forever.

Lux's nose wrinkled up slightly when she felt something brushing up against her cheek, and she reached her hand up to push it off. Her fingers touched skin that wasn't hers, and she blinked her eyes open slowly as she felt over whatever was touching her cheek. The first thing she saw was Harry's face, so close to hers that she could feel him breathing against her mouth, and his eyes were half-open, droopy with sleep and all she saw were pools of sea-green. His mouth was bright red, and the color of his lips always shocked her, the way they always looked ripe, as if he'd been biting them all day to produce such color.

She realized at once that it was his hand against her cheek, his fingertips were what tickled her skin this morning, and her fingers were pressed against his now after catching his hand when he pulled it back from her cheek as soon as her eyes opened. They stared at one another in silence, both noticing that they were pressed together tightly, leaving barely any space for a breath or a whisper between their bodies. Lux wrapped her fingers around his softly, gentle not to grasp too tightly as she guided his hand back up to her cheek.

Harry's eyes traveled down from her eyes to her mouth, staring at it as she pressed his hand against her cheek, nuzzling her face into it just slightly. Her lips twitched, and he watched the glorious sight of them curving upwards slowly into a small smile directed at him. It was something he hasn't seen in a long time, something he desperately missed seeing every day, and he was so entranced by it that he felt his thumb inch to her mouth. Lux's eyes softened at him as he ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip, watching her mouth part slightly as he did so.

"Good morning." She murmured, smiling again with his thumb pressed to her lip.

"I'm in a hospital." He whispered, and she nodded slowly, tilting her head slightly.

His eyes twinkled at her, then, and her breath got caught somewhere between her lungs and her throat. "You... you put your fingers..."

"Down your throat?" Lux finished for him, raising her eyebrows. "Yeah. I did."

"You did." He mumbled, looking over her face slowly, admiring her as if she were a great painting.

"How do you feel?" She asked, squeezing her fingers around his just slightly.

Harry's head turned then, looking at their joint hands against her cheek. His head was pounding, his throat was raw from screaming and throwing up, and he had a terrible taste in his mouth. This wasn't just a hangover, this was a hangover from hell.