When you tell the world you're mine

Chapter 9: Trouble in paradise

Harry had spent all his life in the shadow of his brother. He was the second child, the spare. He was a prince, of course, but ever since he was a kid he tried to be as different as his brother as possible. He didn't know if it came naturally in his personality or if he groomed it over the years, but to this day, no one could say that Harry was just like William and he was proud of that. He had the blessing of being left alone while his brother attended all the boring classes that a future sovereign should have. He had more time to play, he had his way of getting out of trouble and he was spoiled endlessly by his parents. He liked it. He wasn't oppressed in a duty as a future monarch, he'd always be just a prince.

But then he started to grow up and noticed that his carefree days were coming to an end. Harry remembered the first time his duty was imposed on him. The first time he had to separate himself from his Royal persona. When it was his responsibility, his duty to be present at some place. That was the day he had to walk behind his mum's coffin. He could exactly pinpoint that day when his father, grandmother and grandfather didn't look at him as a wild kid anymore. He had grown so much in that terrible day and that's when, for the first time, Harry had to be just like William. He noticed that his father wasn't accepting of his antics and playfulness. He suddenly had to transition from a spoiled brat to a young man with a title and a duty to carry on.

 He had to be polite when he wanted to scream and snap at everyone and everything. 

He had to be poised when he wanted to just be left alone. 

He had to have a serious face when he wanted to cry his eyes out. 

He had to be in the center of attention when he only wanted his mum's embrace and love.

Harry remembered that he almost didn't make it to the end of the day. He had begged his father to not attend the service, but Charles wouldn't hear of it. He was sad, Harry noticed, but he put on his "work mode" and told him it would be hard on all of them, but Harry attendance was a non-negotiable thing. No one knew that the person that actually convinced Harry to attend was William. He found his little brother in their mom's bedroom, hugging her pillow and crying silently. He somehow knew how to handle the situation. He left Harry cry for a good hour before sitting beside him on the bed. They shared a chat that only two heartbroken teenage boys could have and William said that from now on, everything he did, would be to make his mom proud. And that sentence stuck with Harry forever. He had to make her proud. He had to show the world small pieces of her, in him. In the way he spoke, in the way he treated people and in the way he lived his life.

Harry got up and sat on his mother's desk and started to write a letter to her. Where he simply stated how much he loved her, how much he loved every time she smiled at him and how much he'd miss her (even though at the time he didn't know the extension of it), and how he'd do everything in his power to make her proud. 

He sealed the letter, addressed it with "Mummy" and went to sleep at his brother's bedroom. He slept with that letter and asked his father to give it to her. He spent part of the service trying to see if it was there. He was glad it was.

(...)

Harry was wild when he was a teen. That was a world known fact. He was scolded daily by everyone in his family. But to be honest, he didn't really care. He wanted to be as careless as possible, for as long as possible. He was the favorite prince of the tabloids. They were selling lots of papers because of him and his scandals. Although he denied, he had lots of one night stands over the years and lots of girlfriends. Of course he thought he'd marry one of them after they dated for so long but somehow it wasn't in their future. When William and Kate finally decided to get married, Harry was happy for his brother, but he felt deep down that even though he was fighting to be as different as possible from William, he was now wanting to have the same thing his brother had: someone he could count on, someone to be by his side and first and foremost: someone to start a family with him.