#He is asking your opinion on napkin colours and if the neckline on his dress is too low or not low enough.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dishonourable Demonstration

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[harryimaginedstories]

a little something called courage

Hi friends! :) This is a request and a very romantic and fluffy-christmas-best-friend-type story.

Summary: At a christmas after party, Y/N gets drunk and flirts with H.

Picture aint my own.

Outside thousands of tiny snowflakes danced from the cloudy sky and met the already white and frozen ground, bringing white light into the cloudy and grey evening. In times like this it was especially nice to have a warm and cozy flat, one that smelled of sweet biscuits and was filled with the soft sound of various classic christmas songs. Harry agreed. 

“You’re flat is so much nicer than m’house,” he’d replied to me asking why he hung out at my place ever since coming back from tour, “So homey and feels like christmas, too.”

Of course I didn’t mind that my best friend refused to leave my side, on the contrary, Harry was what made my home feel as comfortable to me as it already did to him.  He was here now, too, watching amused as I turned left and right in front of the mirror in my room, brushed through my hair and I blushed when he chuckled at the sight of me checking out my bum in the black jeans hugging my legs.

“You’re a vain one,” he commented lowly from where he sat on the edge of my bed.

He was already dressed for the occasion, a black, thin silk shirt that wore his last name where he carried his heart, and skinny jeans covered his body, proving once more that he didn’t need much in order to look attractive. He’d surely manage to make all of my coworkers swoon the moment him and I would arrive at my work’s christmas party. For some reason my heart skipped a beat at the thought of other women lusting after him, but I brushed it off and  glance at his reflection behind me, just in time to catch the smile and wink he sent my way, before he turned his attention back on his phone.  To be fair I had spent the past 15 minutes deciding what to wear, only to then change my mind and look for something else, and Harry’s patience impressively hadn’t wavered once. He didn’t seem too bothered by it, and really I didn’t have any other choice anyway.  Tonight I wanted my coworkers to think I looked nice next to Harry, who’d spontaneously decided to tag along, and that was a challenge since he was simply the most gorgeous human being in the world and made anyone by his side fade into the background. Usually that was fine with me, but tonight I cared to be seen as well, maybe a little bit also so that the people drooling over him would hold themselves back. My fingers pulled at the hem of my silver top and I scrunched up my nose in disapproval.

“Harry?” 

“Hm?”

My eyes wandered over my appearance. Over all it was a great outfit and suited the occasion, but I didn’t feel right.

“Do I look nice?” I asked my fashion expert of a best friend, “Be honest.”

Harry’s eyes found mine in the mirror and I watched with growing insecurity how they moved from my face to my chest, stomach and then legs. He sat up straighter, tilted his head and frowned. 

“Turn around.” 

I followed his request, feeling a little silly and his chest rumbled with a laugh when I ended my little twirl with a curtsy. He nodded in approval. “I think you look lovely, darling.” The honesty in his tone made me blush and I turned to look away quickly, though of course he could see my flustered expression in my reflection.

“Thanks, H.”

“Those jeans give you a great arse,” he continued to comment, humor in his voice, and though I sent him a glare, the confirmation that I looked hot to him had my heart flutter, “And I love the shiny top. Suits your pretty eyes. However, may I make a suggestion?”

I nodded, slightly confused, and looked at him expectantly. “Sure.”

Harry got to his feet and made his way over to my closet with bouncing steps. A cheeky smile was flashed my way and I arched my brows, wondering what he had in mind. I watched him rummage through my clothes, giggled at how some items earned a nod and even small whistle of approval while others he tossed to the side with a head shake and a “What the hell did you think when buying this shit?” or a “Tell me you got this for a joke.” Finally his fingers pulled out a hanger from the rack and held it out to me with a delighted expression on his face, indicating he’d found what he’d searched.

“In my humble opinion,” Harry said, “I think you should wear this.”

The hanger carried a dress, one I’d bought months ago and never dared to put on before. It was a navy blue velvet fabric with tiny stars of silver embroidered along the neckline. I knew that it suited me well and loved how it felt against my skin, but it was a little... out there.

“The neckline is a little lower than what I would normally wear,” I began slowly, “Meaning it just covers my boobs and that I can’t wear a bra under it ‘cause it would be visible. I agree and really like the dress as well, but it’s too much, Harry.”

“Look,” Harry handed me the hanger and turned back to my closet, where he crouched down and began to look for shoes that would match the outfit, “I think you look beautiful right now, I genuinely do. However: it’s tame and safe. Which is good, but I think you could, if not should, look fucking hot tonight, sweetheart. A) rub it into all of your coworkers faces and b), we’re going out after anyway and the dress isn’t too revealing for a club, is it?”

“Well, I’m flattered,” I laughed and raised the dress to look at it more closely. 

It really was a pretty dress and both the colour as well as the cut was very flattering, but wouldn’t my coworkers think that I’d overdressed? My nose scrunched up and with a final glance at Harry, who always wore outfits that were more than just a little out there and didn’t care what anybody thought as long as he himself liked them, I walked back into the bathroom. 

“I’m going to slip it on!” I declared. 

“Good girl,” Harry called after me, “Just found shoes that go with it as well.” 

....

Harry’s hand was a constant pressure at my lower back and whenever my eyes met his, however brief, he smiled. We’d earned quite the looks from the people gathered in the venue, some diverted straight to Harry but I did notice a couple eyes checking me out as well, making me smile with confidence.

“I told you,” Harry hushed into my ear, a response to somebody complimenting my appearance and I blushed heavily, “You look beautiful.” 

“So say Harry,” my colleague, Gina, a tall and pretty woman with dark hair, said, before casually resting her palm on Harry’s arm, “Are you and Y/N coming to the after party?” 

“You mean the club some of you’re going to?” 

She nodded, red painted lips stretched into a smile. My eyes glared at the hand she refused to take off his arm.

“Sure,” Harry replied politely, shrugging her hold off by casually reaching out to pull me closer, “S’always great fun to go out with m’bestie, isn’t it?”

“As long as you don’t puke on me again,” I giggled with a nudge to his stomach.

It was his cheek’s turn to flush and I waved off the girl’s request to tell the story behind my comment. There wasn’t much behind it, but I remembered Harry, hunched over the toilet and as pale as a sheet asking me to please never tell anybody about his state, something I agreed to while washing out the stains his vomit had left on the shirt I’d taken off a minute earlier. 

“Thanks for not spilling ‘bout that low of my life,” Harry murmured the moment we were left alone again.

We stood by the table, picking out different snacks from the finger food section for the other to try, since all of them looked pretty much the same amount of gross and Harry had come up with a game he called ‘let’s see who’s the worst at pretending this doesn’t taste like shit’. I took a sip of champagne and nodded. “You’re welcome. I’m not too keen on people knowing the details of that night myself anyway.”

“Right,” Harry grinned and I kicked his shin, but of course he went on regardless, “Saw you damn close to naked that night.” 

The christmas music playing and the people chatting was loud enough for my annoyed groan of “Harry!!” to be overheard. He grinned, proud that he’d hit a nerve.

“How you noticed my almost nudity while throwing up your guts is still beyond me,” I added, quieter this time, “Here, try this.”

His face grimaced when he tasted the weird looking pastry I’d held out for him (my heart made an unfamiliar jump when his lips wrapped around my fingertips to take the food into his mouth) and he shushed me when I giggled at him casually spitting all of it out and onto a napkin.

“Attractive,” I mumbled.

Harry’s eyes narrowed and his brows arched. I knew he wasn’t going to let our earlier conversation go. “I’d notice you taking off your shirt no matter what m’doing.”

I sent him a glare. “Stop that or I’ll shove the rest of that pastry thing down your throat.”

The giggle that followed my words had Harry’s heart drop and he found himself itch to reach out and hug me to his chest. Not only did the dress flatter my body in every way possible, he thought, but there was something else as well, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on but it sure made it hard not to kiss me. He bit his lip. Why was he thinking about kissing his best friend? We chatted some more, sometimes with other people and sometimes only with each other and slowly dusk turned into a pitch black night before the big windows. I admired the golden stars, how lovely the snow looked and sighed to myself when Harry’s arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into his chest. With my back pressed to his front he hummed lowly, happiness warming his stomach.

“We don’t have to go out with them,” he murmured into my ear, “Can just go home.” 

It was a wish he only voice because I wasn’t facing him. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had the courage to admit that he didn’t really want to go get drunk with people he didn’t care about, not when there was a couch and movie player in my flat where it’d be just us.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste?” I argued, “Since I put on this dress and all.” 

He chuckled behind me. “True, that it would be for sure. So you’re down?”

Please say no, his head begged me.

“Yes,” I turned to face him, slowly moving out of his hold. 

He did look incredibly handsome. His green eyes reflected the many colourful christmas lights that decorated the room and his skin seemingly glowed, perhaps partly due to the makeup he’d let me apply to his face in the afternoon. Well, maybe just because he was that pretty to look at.

“What are you staring at me for?” he asked, lips quirked up into a smile.

I shrugged. “Nothing. So... can we go?”

“Sure. I think your friends, Gina and Amy, are ready to leave as well.”

....

The club Gina and Amy dragged Harry and I to was one he’d been to before and the moment we stepped inside the dark venue that had loud music jumping from the walls, he warned me that there was a barkeeper he’d want to say hello to and have a quick chat with since he knew him for some reason I couldn’t quite hear over all of the noise and wanted to catch up. I could tell Harry didn’t like the idea of leaving me in the middle of a club, but I reassured him that since I wasn’t completely on my own but with two friends, it would be fine.

“M’not gonna be long, anyway,” he repeated, eyes full with worry, “Promise.”

“Sure, no, it’s fine, H. You just come find me later alright?”

He nodded and with a quick, warm, kiss to my cheek left my side for the first time all week. It felt kinda weird and I watched him walk away with the wish to call him back right on the tip of my tongue.

“Where is he going?” Gina asked, faint disappointment in her voice. 

Her brown eyes stared after his figure pushing its way through the crowd, a look in her orbs I couldn’t quite place. Maybe she fancied him, I thought, who didn’t, right? If I were a nicer person I would set them up and play matchmaker. I knew Harry wouldn’t mind a girlfriend these days. 

“Sucks to be alone at christmas,” he’d complained on a daily basis ever since late november, at first via texts and now every day in person. 

I knew what he meant, as I was very single myself. It would’ve been nice to have a body to cuddle up to in the middle of these cold nights, to have someone help put up a christmas tree and I longed for the stress and pressure of having to find the perfect present for my significant other. Harry felt the same. And Gina was pretty and from my limited experiences with her I knew she was quite nice so maybe... no, not gonna happen. I wasn’t going to set my Harry up with anybody. 

“He’s saying hi to a friend who works here,” I explained briefly, distracting myself form having just thought of Harry as my Harry.

Amy returned from the bar with drinks for us and handed me the cranberry flavored one. We clinked our glasses together, cheered on our short christmas break that was starting today and the moment I swallowed the first sip I knew the amount of alcohol in there would make me tipsy. And that was just drink number one. I shuddered, then raised the glass for another sip.

“So you and Harry,” Amy began after we chatted about this and that for a while, “What’s going on between you two?”

It had been a question both her and Gina had been burning to ask me ever since I’d arrived at the office party with the handsome male by my side.  They’d noticed how close our bodies stayed throughout the small gathering, as if there was an invisible thread binding them together and keeping them from moving apart. I knew it was easy to mistake our friendship for a lover’s relationship, since Harry and I were as close and loving with each other as other couples who actually were with each other romantically, and I had had my fair share of awkward conversations about it before, so I didn’t mind them mentioning it now too much. Especially since I had been right and was in fact already a little tipsy. I found myself minding a lot less when there was alcohol involved. I shrugged. “Nothing. We’re best friends, why?”

In sync, Gina and Amy’s heads tilted and their eyebrows arched. I took another sip and shrugged once more. 

“What?”

“Well, I mean,” Gina smiled, “I figured guys weren’t a couple but I thought you guys were dating...”

“...or at least hooking up,” Amy finished with a laugh.

“Nope,” I shook my head, giggling myself, “We don’t think of each other like that.” 

“That’s not exactly true,” Amy argued, her voice slightly raised over the loud music, some dubstep version of ‘All I Want For Christmas’, “I see the way his eyes rest on your face, like, all the time. How he pulls you into his side or compliments you every minute or so. If that isn’t a guy who fancies a girl I don’t know what is.” 

“No, no, no, that’s not what he’s like everyday,” I explained quickly, “he’s the one who convinced me to wear this dress since he likes it a lot and now... well he’s just a bit clingy lately, I guess. We were separated for a long time while he was away working and when he’s back we’re always a bit more attached to the other than usually. But there’s nothing more behind it. I swear.”

I thought they would let it go after that elaboration, but being the nosy girls they were the subject of me and Harry kept being brought up. They asked about the origin of our friendship, tried to dig and get more details about the night he puked on me and finally repeatedly asked if I had feelings for him, to which of course I’d said no every time.

But did I really not have feelings for him, my drunk head suddenly began to question. He was attractive, obviously, and my type. But besides that he was also the easily smartest man I’d ever met, the most thoughtful and genuinely good person in my life and, well, I cared about him more than I did anyone else I considered a best friend of mine. I swallowed hard. Shit.

All the while I was slowly realizing things I had tried not to before, I was handed drink after drink, all of them different and payed by either Amy or Gina. Part of me knew that their generosity wasn’t just them being nice, but them trying to get me drunk enough to spill the secrets about Harry and my feelings I was trying to hide from them.  I was lucky they didn’t give a shit about him being famous or how wealthy he was, or else I would’ve drunkly admitted way too much had they bothered to ask, because two shots later, I was positiv that I was very drunk. 

“Listen,” Amy sighed, not quite sober herself, “We think that you and Harry are meant to be.”

“Wonderful,” I laughed, “You got to that conclusion after meeting him for the first time just three hours ago?”

Gina nodded and giggled. “I wouldn’t mind getting with him myself, believe me.”

I knew it! Forget it Gina!

“But I think he’s into you and I know when there’s no changing a guy’s mind. So, Amy and I think you should go over to him and finally, do yourself a favor, and jump his bones.”

“Though the jumping and boning should maybe happen when you’re alone with him,” Amy added.

I rolled my eyes and turned to find his face in the crowd. Harry hadn’t been out of my sight for more than five minutes since he left my side. The friend he was speaking to had his back to us, so Harry’s eyes could find mine and watch over me at all times.  He’s so cute, my drunk brain sighed, always making sure I’m okay. Fuck. I’m really drunk. The cloud my head was stuck in slowed my thoughts and made them all romantic the moment Harry was involved. Fucking hell.

“Oi!” Gina called out, “She’s not saying no!”

Both of them clapped their hands in excitement, bearing wide smiles. 

“I can’t!” I groaned and hid my eyes behind my shaking palm, “He’s my best friend.”

Amy shoved another drink into my free hand. “That’s exactly why you’re going to go for it.”

I glanced at the yellow-ish drink. “Now what even is this?”

Amy smiled, raising her own cocktail. “A little something called courage.”

After emptying that drink number I-didn’t-know-anymore as well, my eyes found his face. Okay. This was the dumbest idea ever and something I would for sure regret the moment my brain sobered up. In this moment however... Harry did look great. And inviting. As always, drawn to him and longing to be closer, my feet carried me towards him without my head consenting to it.  Harry’s hands reached out for my arms the moment I got closer, steading me. I’d been tumbling, apparently, and looked as if I might trip over my own feet, worrying him the second I got closer.  His fingers touched my bare skin and I felt my heart squeeze itself so tightly it hurt in my chest. 

“Ow.”

“How much did you have?” Harry asked, brows furrowed and no humor in his tone. 

When he spoke the music around us seemed to quieten, all of my senses only there to pay attention to him.

“S’this the girl?” his friend wondered behind me and Harry gave a short nod, all of his thoughts on me. 

“Y/N, you alright?” 

“Sure!” I cheered and leaned my head against his shoulder as I embraced him awkwardly, “Missed you, that’s all. Promised you’d be right back.”

He smiled at my pouted lips. “M’sorry, love. But, really, how much did you drink?”

I shrugged. “A bit. A lot. Don’t know, but probably slightly too much.”

“Slightly,” he agreed. 

Harry’s arm sneaked around my waist and his fingers fisted the velvet material. He was glad I was with him and cursed himself for not having noticed the many different glasses of alcohol I’d been drinking from in his absence. It wasn’t that he minded me consuming alcohol, it wasn’t his place to anyway, but something about my current state made him uneasy and ache to get me out of the situation as fast as possible. My hand absently drew patterns over his chest and I followed my own finger with attentive eyes. His skin was warm under the thin material and my tongue had to hold back the small moan rolling off it at the thought of the warmth being revealed to my eyes. If only that damn silk wasn’t there. 

“Is it your turn to throw up on me tonight?” Harry joked when I hiccuped and the tiniest bit of bile tickled my throat. 

I shook my head, then grinned up at him and poked his cheek. “Only if that means it’s your turn to take off your shirt. Remember? Like I did that night.”

“I’m gonna leave you two to it,” the guy Harry had met up with excused himself and Harry quickly apologized to him, promised to reach out another time and then turned to me. 

His hands held me at an arms reach from him and I blushed when his eyes stared into mine intensely. “What’s gotten into you, Y/N? Don’t think I’ve seen you quite this tipsy before. If not dare I say, wasted.”

“I’m fine,” I groaned and slapped his shoulder, “Fun-police.”

My hands reached for him again, gentler this time, and Harry’s lips parted in surprise when I shrugged off his hold and instead slung my arms around his neck. I nuzzled his collarbones and giggled at how funny it felt to press my breasts, which were as I’d warned him earlier today, not supported by a bra, to his chest. Harry loosely held me to him. 

“Jeez, Y/N,” he sighed, “M’gonna take you home, alright? Think you’re unwell.”

“Because I want to be close to you?” I gasped, pushing him back. 

Sudden hurt cursed through my middle, making my tummy turn and eyes water. He was rejecting me, he didn’t want me to touch him or be as clingy with him as he’d been with me all week. If that wasn’t beyond unfair! Harry frowned at my upset expression. 

“Hey,” he caressed my cheek gently, “Don’t give me that look, baby. M’just worried about you, s’all. Appreciate how much you like me all of a sudden, believe me. S’nice to have you attached like that.”

“M’not being clingy,” I whined, though of course I was. 

“You are,” he smiled and soothed my pout with a kiss to my forehead, “but I like it, so it’s fine. Please let me get you home now, though, alright?”

“I’d much rather dance with you!” I giggled, letting him take my hands only to move them and force them up so he was sort of twirling me around, “Show off my dress and my hot, handsome and oh so sweet Harry.”

At that he laughed and when I looked up at him, his cheeks were flushed and his eyes wide. His heart hammered in his chest and never before had he felt himself long to lean in and kiss me as strongly as he did now.

“Babe,” he warned, “You’re drunk off your arse. C’mon.”

His fingers interlocked with one of my hands and he pulled me with slow but certain steps towards my two giggling friends. He wore a stern look, though I knew him well enough to know that there was a smile right under the surface and that he wasn’t really mad at me or them. 

“Don’t care which one of you is responsible for this,” he nodded at me giggling behind him, amused with how his shirt looked when I pulled at the hem, “but m’gonna have to take care of her now. So thank you very much.”

“As if you mind,” Gina grinned. 

Harry glanced at her before turning to Amy, the arguably most sober one from all of us, “Will you two be alright without us?”

“Of course,” she assured him, “Go get Y/N home.”

....

It was a funny drive home. Harry spent the whole twenty minutes apologizing profoundly to the cab driver who had to endure me singing christmas songs (baldy), me shouting at Harry that I was serious and sure that I would throw up right now (I didn’t), me crying because I was embarrassing Harry and finally, me complimenting a helpless Harry every five seconds. 

“I love your hair,” I’d sighed, one fist holding on to it tightly, “So fucking soft.”

“Thanks, love,” Harry sighed, by this point just letting me say and touch whatever I wanted since trying to shut me up had proven itself to be pointless. 

I leaned in closer, my lips ghosted over the shell of his ear and Harry’s toes curled when I moaned faintly and my warm breath hit his skin. “Tell you a secret. I wish I knew what it was like to hold on to it during sex.”

“And on that note,” the cab driver interrupted, “M’glad to say that we have reached your destination.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever tipped somebody as much as I did that poor man,” Harry groaned as he carried me down the hallway and into my bedroom. 

I giggled against his neck and kicked my legs back and forth. “You’re such a good guy, H.”

Once there, he dropped me on my mattress and began to remove my shoes with quick fingers, freeing my aching feet.

“Want me to help with your dress as well?” he asked, genuinely trying to help and with no erotic thoughts behind his suggestion at all. Well, perhaps some.

I gave a lazy nod and stretched out my arms. “Yes please.”

A shirt was dropped on my chest and I giggled when Harry accidentally tickled me by touching my sides briefly. He fumbled to find the zipper, pulled it down and slowly began to push the material off my shoulders and then down my stomach, all the while trying to adjust the shirt he’d thrown over me like a blanket so it kept certain areas covered from his eyes. 

“You’re so sweet,” I cooed once I lay technically naked, except for the shirt, before him, “A real gentleman.” 

“Thanks,” he hummed, “Now put the shirt on while I’ll find you a pair of shorts, alright?”

With numb fingers I somehow managed to push my body up and into a sitting position and then pull the shirt over my head. It fell over my thighs and it was then that I realized the shirt wasn’t mine, but the silky fabric he’d been wearing all night. I diverted my eyes to the Styles resting right over my left breast, and blushed. 

“Suits you,” he hummed and smiled when my eyes found his where he stood by the edge of my bed. Topless. 

“You’re not wearing a shirt,” I sighed, a small grin pulling at my lips, “Didn’t even have to throw up on you first.”

He laughed and shrugged at that, then tossed me a pair of shorts, though when I groaned and complained that I couldn’t put them on myself, he complied and helped me pull them up my legs. 

“Do you think we can skip brushing my teeth?” I whimpered, the thought of getting up saddening me somehow. 

“Sweetheart,” he sighed and sat down beside me, and his heart aching at how adorably uncertain I looked, “Please don’t drink like this again, alright?” 

“Alright, “ I nodded and he smiled softly when my fingers found his. 

For a moment we stayed silent, my eyes were set on his hand while his didn’t leave my face. My head wasn’t too cloudy anymore, maybe because the water he’d forced me to drink before carrying me to bed, was working wonders already, and slowly I started to realize what I’d done. Oh, shit.

“I kinda flirted with you tonight,” I murmured, hot embarrassment burning my cheeks.

Harry giggled adorably and I moved to make room for him so he could slip under the blanket and cover me with it as well. My head found his shoulder to rest on and his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me further into his chest. 

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head and dropped a kiss to my temple, “Don’t be. S’fine.”

We fell silent once more, our eyes focused on different spots in my room and slowly we both felt sleep creep up on us.  I scratched his bare tummy with my fingers and sighed against his skin. This felt incredible. The silk material warmed against my skin as it lay pressed to his naked chest, a fact I under other circumstances would have swooned over. He held on to me tighter. 

“M’only saying this because you’re my best friend,” he sighed against my forehead and moaned lowly when my leg pushed between his so we lay wound together, “And because I think the alcohol s’gonna delete the memory off your brain by tomorrow anyway, but I kinda fancy you, Y/N.”

The words were rushed and his chest rumbled under my ear when he spoke. I cuddled myself further against him, joy and love warming my heart.

“Good,” I murmured and placed a soft kiss to the warmth of his jaw, “Kinda fancy you as well, H.”

The white pillow our heads were resting on dipped when he turned his head and upon looking up our eyes met, curiosity and surprise reflecting in the other’s orbs.

“Huh,” he hummed and a finger found my cheek to caress it tenderly, “Okay. Maybe try not to forget this bit of the night then.”

“I’ll give it my best.” 

We didn’t kiss that night, though I burned to do so. But Harry already hadn’t imagined to admit how he felt while I was intoxicated, the truth had just spilled out of him at the sight of me comfortable and pressed to his chest and because it felt so good to be cuddled up to me in my bed, but he at least he wanted our first kiss to be when we were both sober and, well, when it was perfect. And turned out perfect came the next morning, when both of our mouths smelled of morning breath and they met each other smiling, after I’d sleepily hushed into his ear that my memory was very much in tact and that I still very much and head over heels, adored my best friend.

Hope you enjoyed this! I quite like it not gonna lie... :)  Feedback is very welcome, positive as well as negative. Let me know!  Also: Masterlist And: Christmas Harry