Timeless [ A Harry Styles OU ] {1/2}

drabble: when harry finds out about rhea and samuel (pre-timeless)

Harry can't sleep.

It's been a while since he's had a sound sleep, because he can fall asleep but he ends up waking too early or waking up in the middle of the night.

He knows why, of course. He misses her.

His girl, with her beautiful long brown hair and big brown eyes. Her twinkling laugh and warm skin. He missed the way she would wake up with fluttering eyes and when they focused on him, she would give him the most blissful smile. He missed the way she would run her fingers through his hair when his tummy was upset or he was having a bad day. He missed her smell, that unique and intoxicating combination of coconut and oranges. He'd searched all across the world for a girl like her, naively thinking that because they couldn't be together, he could easily find someone else to make him happy.

It had been 52 days since he last saw Rhea Trivedi Williams. 52 days since all the paper work for the hiatus had been completed and everyone went their own ways. 52 days of pure agony and regret for not making her his when he had the chance.

Harry buries his face into his pillow, hoping if he tries really hard not to think about her, he won't. It's a battle he has with himself near everyday. Truthfully, there's not a second that goes by where he doesn't think about her.

"Fuck," he grumbles, sitting up a little. He reaches for his phone on his nightstand, rolling over onto his back with a huff. He types his passcode in, blinking his eyes as they adjust to the blinding brightness. He lowers it and sits back against his pillows, tapping on the twitter icon.

Most nights it comes to this — mindlessly scrolling through social media because he needs some sort of distraction to put him to bed. Twitter, as usual, has nothing of importance. He switches to Instagram, scrolling through photos. He likes one that Ben had posted of Ruby eating cheerios, smiling at his goddaughter. He continues to scroll through the photos.

He almost misses it, scrolling past too quickly.

But he'd recognize that smile anywhere.

Harry's heart stills in his chest as he drags his finger upwards on the screen and he sees what the photo is.

Rhea's in some other man's arms, hugging his waist and smiling brightly. Harry looks at the way the man is pressing a kiss to her forehead, his hand clutching the phone tighter. It's a sweet photo, Harry thinks. She looks happy.

That's what kills him.

She looks really happy. He can't stop staring at it. The man is holding her so closely and she looks so content against him. Harry's jaw locks as his eyes tear away from the photo to read the caption: @samuel​keats gives the best kisses.

Harry's heart splinters in his chest as he realizes that this is it. He's truly lost her.

He wants her to be happy, he's always wanted that, to a point where he's sacrificed what they could be to keep her happy. But now that she is, with another man, he can't help but feel like his world is crumbling beneath his feet.

He swallows and leans over to turn on his nightstand lamp, as if looking at the photo in the light will change anything. It only makes Rhea's happiness more apparent. It makes the sting burn just a little bit more.

He taps on Samuel's username, frowning even deeper when he sees that his account is private. He wonders how many photos he has of Rhea on there.

Harry takes once last glance at the photo and shakes his head with a scoff. His finger hovers over it, wondering if he should like it. He decides against it and  logs out of his account and then logs into the one he hasn't been on in a long time.

A part of him is still surprised it's there, that Rhea hadn't taken it down. He scrolls through the photos of them over the years, private and just for them. Some are intimate, but nothing too crazy. These were meant for just them two anyway. There's photos of them sharing snacks and cuddling and being them.

As he locks his phone, he realizes the only thing he wants to do is sleep. To erase that he ever saw that photo of Rhea with him. He doesn't want to entertain the string of thoughts in his mind, ranging from what Rhea is doing right now to wondering if she is with him.

He wonders, in the unbearably loud silence of his room, if she misses him the way he misses her. He wonders if she feels as broken as he does without his other half. He wonders if they'll ever be Rhea and Harry again. But most of all, he wonders if she's happier than she was when they were together.