Artifice

Normal

I woke up by myself, embracing the sun peeking through the hotel window and the warmth coming from behind me. His chest was pressed against my back, I could feel his head resting just behind mine and his arm wrapped around my waist. It was a feeling I never though I'd enjoy as much as I did, being wrapped in someone's arms like this.

I laid there motionless, not wanting to wake him up. It felt like a dream, everything that occurred in the past few hours. There was a moment when I feared it was all a dream, there was no way he admitted to what he did yesterday, but it was.

Minutes passed, I adjusted my head better on the pillow and closed my eyes. I couldn't actually fall back asleep and I knew it, usually when I woke up it was nearly impossible for me to do so. I listened to the faint sound of his breathing, accompanied by the sound of running water that sounded to come from another room around.

I carefully turned around, even with his arm still on top of me. I brushed a few strands of hair that had tested on top of his face.

Without a thought, I placed a gentle kiss on his lips. He groaned in response and I brought my hand up to my mouth to stop myself from laughing. For some reason I found it ironic that when I wasn't even trying to wake him, he did anyways.

I could feel his hand moving up from my side while he began to stretch in place, a yawn escaping his lips. He slowly opened his eyes to meet mine.

"Morning." I don't think I'll ever be fully use to his morning voice, it was oddly attractive and soothing.

"Happy Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." He corrected me and I simply rolled my eyes. He wore a sleepy grin on his face, still being half asleep.

-

Harry moved around the apartment in only his superman boxers, finding a comfortable place on the couch as I tried to clean the dishes from the breakfast he made the both of us.

The weekend passed better than I ever expected. It helped a lot that I had Harry by my side, whenever I felt overwhelmed by simply being there where I had so many bad memories, he would take notice and rub my hand or place a kiss near my temple.

We were back in the city again but my mind still lingered to how the weekend started off. I knew visiting his grave after so many years would haunt me even more than when I would rarely venture back home. I sucked it in for the sake of Harry still being here and maintaining the emotional wall I've constructed over the years.

"Done." I said to myself, whipping my hands on my pants.

I found Harry carelessly sprawled on the couch, half naked still.

"As much as I love the view, you should probably put some clothes on."

"You should probably take some clothes off." An annoying smirk spread across his lips.

"You're unbelievable." My tone was neutral, trying to hide how amusing I found this whole situation. Harry was sitting half naked in shorts that should only belong to children while making dirty comments.

Harry soon reluctantly went to my room to put on some clothes he had in the bag from the weekend. He walked out fully clothed and with a red box in his hands.

"Scrabble?" I asked, recognizing the box that I had under my bed with other random boxes.

We sat down at the coffee table. Harry was cracking his knuckles and making comments about how good his was at the game.

Harry started off, placing a simple four letter word in the middle.

The board began filling up after time with words. As we kept playing I soon remembered why I haven't touched this game in ages, I was horrible at it. Harry knew it also, he tried but failed to keep his cockiness suppressed. I would've been more annoyed if he didn't look adorable while ridiculously smiling or bit down on his lower lip while concentrating.