Paperboy. (h.s. au)

35.

"Damn it, Birdy. Did you receive secret professional training for this?" Harry ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Absolutely not! Did you ever consider the fact that you're bad at chess?" I roll my eyes and advance on his queen.

"No, I have not. Because I am the best. Because I never lose," Harry told me matter-of-factly, "and I just lost." He throws up his hands and shoves himself from the floor, where he was laying across from me in his stomach. He stumbles into the kitchen and throws open the refrigerator door, grabbing a bottle of water and then slamming the door shut with an overly dramatic sigh.

"Hey now, don't take it out on the fridge, you big baby!" I scold him, laughing but trying to hide it. I get a huff in response. Seriously.

After an hour of scrabble and about ten minutes of arguing over why we should not, under any circumstances, play monopoly, we settled on chess. Both of us knew how to play it and we also claimed that we were both the best. Harry said that "there can only be one," so the natural thing to do was to settle it. And settle we did.

Now, I look over at him and say, "You up for another game or are you too afraid you'll lose again? After all, you are the best. Right?" I tease him from the floor while he playfully glares at me over the counter top.

"If you knew what was good for you, Birdy, you'd cut the smack talk. You don't know what you're doing." He smirks and looks down and I felt the butterflies take flight in my stomach. Again.

"I'm just saying, you're the," I put my hands up and made air-quotes, "'chess King.' And I just knocked your actual chess King and Queen into the dirt."

"If you weren't so recently recovered, I'd tackle you into the dirt too."

"But you wouldn't, see? Because I'd probably win that fight, too." I smile up at him and he rolls his eyes, sighing in response.

"You're all talk. I'm not scared of you." He smiles with one side of his mouth and saunters over to his couch, where he slumps into a seat.

When he noticed I was just watching him, he made a face, "You going to join me or what?"

Quickly, I add, "I don't associate with losers."

"That's it," Harry bites his bottom lip in concentration and slides off of the couch and right onto me, grabbing my arms firmly but gently and keeping me in place. He slowly moves his hands down to my sides and left them there for a few seconds before I rotate to face him. Out of the corner of my eye as I turn, I see his beautiful face hovering above me. His arms hold him up on either side of my body and his hair falls into his face. I roll over more quickly now, and I must have misjudged how far away he was, because my elbow flies into his face, knocking his arm down in the process. He falls on top of me completely now, a hand to his nose and eyes squeezed shut "Ow."

As Harry's hands flew to his nose and mine to my mouth, covering it as I gasp at what happened.

"Ugh." Harry grumbles as he rolls off of me and moves his hands from his face, blood covering his fingertips. Well, shit.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Harry I-"

"I didn't know you got so aggressive over chess!" He laughs through his hands and groans again.

"Ah, crap. Okay, come into the kitchen and sit." I help him off the floor and he follows me into the kitchen, leaning his backside on the table, tilting his head back and wiping his hands on a napkin.

I scurry around and find a cloth, which I then soak with cold water and ring out, leaving it damp. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." He moves his hands from his face and allows me to apply the washcloth to his nose. He moves his hands back up, and I let him hold it there.