The Deviants | Harry Styles AU

XXXIII| The Battle

He leaned forward to give her a kiss on the lips. He let his lips linger there for a while as he breathed into the kiss. His arms wrapped around her waist and held her there tightly, as if she would leave.

"Harry," Avery backed away, pushing her arms into his chest to create some distance between them.

"Yeah?" he answered, confused as to why she backed away so quickly.

"I don't want to fight with you. If this is going to work we have to try and hold our own, for the sake of everyone," Avery shook her head.

Harry's right lip pulled into a half smile as his hands grabbed both sides of her face and brought her in for another kiss. All the anger they had previously taken out on each other had melted away as Avery relaxed herself into Harry and let his lips keep molding into hers. He pulled away quickly just to kiss her again. He repeated his actions until he breathed in deeply and completely cut off their kiss. His forehead fell onto hers as he looked down at her with his green eyes.

"Avery I live in a world where I have lost everything since I was a child. My youth was stolen from me by the selfish act of my father and I was forced to learn how to let things like that just happen and never fight for them. I am tired of that same old routine. I refuse to succumb to the pressures of it all," Harry told Avery. She kept looking up at him, their eyes never leaving one another's. Avery took in a deep breath and sighed.

"I'm tired," Avery said as she pushed herself away from him lightly and started walking into the other room. He followed behind her and bent down to start setting up the arrangements he had made from the previous night. He had a single sleeping bag on the floor and he started unrolling it. Avery watched him as he did this and a look of guilt fell across her face. He probably slept horribly but he sacrificed his sleep for her.

She bit her lip as she walked over to him. His head tilted up to look at her as a child would to their mother. She bent down to his level and held his hand, stopping him from his actions. "Sleep in the bed, I will sleep here," she said softly as she scanned his eyes for his reaction.

"No, I can't do that," Harry shook his head at her.

"Why not?" Avery gave him a look of confusion. Her eyebrows knitted together as she tried to maintain her temper. Her mind was probably filled with things like why? Was it because he saw her as weak? Was it because she was a girl?

"Because I don't deserve it," Harry answered slowly. Avery was surprised by his response and only smiled lightly.

"Everyone is worthy in life, in this case you are more than deserving than I am," Avery gave him a sad, sympathetic smile.

"You do not understand Avery, I have done a lot of shit in my life. I am not proud of any of it," Harry gave her the same sad smile that she had given him.

"Sleep with me," Avery said out of nowhere. Harry's eyebrows knit together into a frown. "Like on the bed," Avery corrected, in case he had thought something else. He remained with the same look of confusion across his face. He stood quiet as he looked down in thought at the sleeping bag. "Oh c'mon, you'll be intimate with me but you won't sleep with me in the same bed?" Avery rolled her eyes jokingly.

Harry chuckled softly as he looked up at her and nodded, "Okay."

He lifted himself up and Avery mimicked his movements. She smiled to herself as she made herself comfortable in the bed that had been so lonely the night before. She got under the covers and faced Harry. He took off his shirt and tossed it to the ground before getting into the bed. He scooted closer to her, closing the gap between them.

"What did you mean by that? That you've done a lot of shit?" Avery asked as her eyes wandered to his exposed chest. The tattoos along his neckline were so dark, almost new. She wanted to ask about those too but she understood that those were probably a result of the things he had done in the past.