Summary: Harry hates Halloween more than anything.
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Harry was an absolutely miserable mess and there was simply no other way to describe it.
He was one zombie pop up away from having a heart attack and there was no one to blame but himself. It was his idea to come to the fucking haunted house, he was the one that bought the tickets to get in and paid the parking fee, he was the one that had driven them there, he was the one who'd walked into the house with two excited girls hanging from his arms, jumping around with large smiles on their faces because they'd been waiting to come here forever and he'd always said no because he knew it'd be like this; He'd be scared to death of every gust of wind and they'd laugh at him along with everyone else who noticed him nearly jumping out of his skin and squealing like a little girl whenever somebody popped out in front of him.
Y/N and his daughter, Gwen, had been begging him for the last three years to take them to the haunted house that everyone was buzzing about every single October, and he'd always refused. He would've said no this year as well and they would've did the same thing they did every Halloween; Stayed at home, dressed in matching costumes like the three bears or even some Disney Characters and handed out candy to the little kids that came by in hopes of getting some of Harry's famous homemade granola bars that were healthy yet delicious, as he always reminded them in that tone that always made Gwen cringe, and then they'd watch the one scary movie Harry's heart could (just barely) handle, scary movie, and then it was off to bed. At 10:00. On Halloween.
Boring and too safe, as Gwen always reminded him, and just as it should be, as he always said. They would've been at home doing that right now! If only he hadn't forgotten Y/N's birthday three nights ago and said no to Gwen going on what was supposed to be her first date with her so-called 'boyfriend'...
He hadn't heard a word from either of them until he announced that they were finally going to the haunted house. And now here they were.
"You're doing so good, sweetheart." Y/N rubbed his arm in a comforting fashion and spoke in the softest tone she could muster up. Harry's face flushed as he heard the sound of two little boys snickering behind him, along with his own daughter. "Make them stop." Harry whined. Y/N rolled her eyes and then narrowed them at her daughter. "Quit laughing at your dad, you know he's easily scared-" "Traumatized." Harry corrected her. "I'm traumatized."
"Sure, right." Y/N nodded in agreement, trying to end the conversation before it started. She and Gwen had heard the story a billion times and now it was etched into her brain.
When he was four and a half years old-Or maybe just entering the sweet age of five, as he always said- he'd been knocked over by a group of kids who were all running to get candy from the best house in the neighborhood, the house that always had the good stuff. The snickers, the Twix, the paydays, the candy apples. It was like a candy shop over there, not that the expectations were really high. Every other house always gave out mints and laffy taffies, if they were feeling generous.
Harry had laid on the ground crying for a whole five minutes, his elbow bruised and his cheek feeling sore, and one of those kids had stepped on his finger too! He swore off Halloween from that day on.
Until he was ten when he decided to give it another try.
Mischievous, as every other ten year old boy is, he'd dressed up in the scariest costume he could find, a white sheet with holes in it so he could see because 'what could possibly be scarier than ghosts', and headed out with his friends with hopes of scaring some girls to death, or at least to the point of peeing their pants and running home to their mommies, never leaving their houses again because if they did they'd be in constant fear of seeing the scariest ghost in town, Harry.
Instead, he'd run up to the girl he wanted to scare the most, his secret crush, Jessica Valentine, screamed 'Boo!' Right in her ear, and got smacked to the ground in front of all his friends and hers. When he got up and turned to run away, he ran into the leg of a tall, bloody clown. He'd screamed until he lost his voice and wet his pants right in front of everyone. And then he swore off Halloween for good.
Until.
He was seventeen years old, down in the basement of his mother's house, deciding that this Halloween he'd watch scary movies with a few of his friends, and his sister, who just refused to leave. It'd gone well for a while. Sure, he was jumping and screaming more than the others, but he managed to play it cool. Sure, he was a little iffy about the noises he swore he kept hearing coming from the closet behind the couch that they were sat on, but he was ignoring it fairly well. Sure, he wanted to just go upstairs and sit with his mum and grandma and watch old soap operas and bake cookies, but he was hiding those feelings pretty well.
Until.
"The fuck was that?" His friend, Matthew, had asked as he paused the movie and looked toward the closet door. Harry was relieved for only a second because thank god he wasn't the only one hearing that noise, but then the panic set in. What was that noise? Was there a monster in his closet? Was someone hiding in there?
"I don't hear anything, turn the movie back on." Gemma brushed it off, annoyance lacing her tone before she shoved some popcorn in her mouth. The movie had just been getting good when he'd paused it and she was eager to see what would happen next.
"I'll check it out so we can get back to the movie." Robert, his other best mate, sighed. He swiftly removed himself from the couch, stepped in front of the door, and without a moment's hesitation, pulled it open.
Out fell a skeleton and a witches costume, and Harry ran screaming and crying up the stairs. He didn't know that his cat had been in the closet scratching at the door, she'd gone in there to take a nap as she usually did for some odd reason, and they'd completely forgotten that she was in there and closed the door. He didn't know that the items that had fallen out of the closet were merely Halloween decorations that weren't in use this year, and not some closet monster plotting to kill him. He didn't know any of this until his mum managed to get him to stop crying and explained it to him. And then, for good this time, he swore off Halloween forever.
"It's been like forty years." Gwen muttered. "Build a bridge and get over-" "Forty?" Harry scoffed. "How old do you think I am?" "Your looks say thirty, the way you act says seventy-two. Who knows." She shrugged. "Can we continue now?" She asked as she watched everyone else walking by. They'd stopped in one place, gathered in a corner as they tried to get Harry to calm down.
"Be sensitive. Your father is very shaken up from what happened to him...Almost twenty years ago." Y/N sighed as she continued rubbing his arm. "I can hear the judgment in your tone, and the fake sympathy is oozing out of you. If you don't want me around ruining your fun, just say so." He huffed.
He really wasn't mad, but now was the perfect time to get the hell out of this damn house for good. Gwen smirked as she noticed what he was doing and then sent her mum a look. "We want you around, Harry. It's why we never came without you. If you're not going to go through this house, we're not going to go through this house." Y/N told him, giving him a small smile. "Um-" Gwen started to object but decided to be quiet after receiving a look from her mum. "Yeah, we're only going if you do." She sighed.
Harry thought for a moment before mentally groaning. "Yeah, I'll continue on. I know how much you guys wanna experience this. 'S not so bad, I suppose. I'm scaring myself more than the scarers are." He chuckled a little. "This will be fun when you loosen up." Y/N nodded, rubbing his shoulders. "Trust me, this will be the best hour and a half of your life!"
"Hour and a half?" He squeaked.
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Harry styles prompts
FanfictionJust a few writing prompts Ft. Harry Styles. {And a lot of Fionn Whitehead}