Dust Bones [Harry Styles]

051

 n. i'm honored to be able to write this story and receive comments that I just made your day by simply doing something i really enjoy. and i just want to say thank you for everyone who's been commenting since the beginning and has been giving me their full support in every piece of this story. there are about 29 chapters left, and the first 50 or so have been an honor to write. thank you for always supporting me, homies.

 - zeffervescent

mature content

His low voice and his warm breath fans against my skin, causing the unabashed goosebumps to rise on my skin. I raise my eyebrows in focus, continuing to jot down numbers and letters that I have surprisingly remembered.

"You sure you know these?" Harry inquires huskily, yet again, as if doubting.

"Certain," I hum quietly, the pen gliding onto the rough paper with ease. My effortless surge of memory provides a quick photographic memory of those numbers and letters specifically, yet not for their initial purpose. "I didn't think I'd ever need them later on."

Harry pauses for a moment before muttering, "He puts codes on everything. Preferably on anything he wants to hide with excessiveness. Never once has he told me these, and you've managed to spill them out of him?"

I shake my head with disagreement, purposely continuing to write the series of numbers and letters one after the other, not stopping for a second with surprisingly legitable and coherent sentences. "It's not that he told me. I just was around when he'd open them. And I wrote them down once, trying to find out where my mother is, which...I evidently found out. But that's another story," I explain quietly. "He keeps them on his money, illegal agreements with political parties, and such things that he prefers no one is able to find without his consent."

"Not concealing enough, though," he assures, watching me right them down. "How'd you remember them?"

"I wrote them down after every time I saw him put them in. If I couldn't catch all of the parts, then I'd have to wait days or even months before I was able to see him do it again," I said, sighing. "Took me a while, but I was convinced I needed them to find my mother."

There is a silence as I continue on the last code I remembered that my father kept. Harry later rasps, "You never bothered finding her, did you?"

"I couldn't," I reply softly. "It's not like I cared much afterwards, though. I didn't want to complain to my dad."

"You did a hell of a lot of complaining with me, so," he testifies, making me smile. "Still do," he reminds me.

"Ass," I laugh lightly, finishing up the codes. I feel his hand for a slight second as it smacks against my arse as usual. My laughter increases as I elbow him in his chest with playful intentions. "Here, they're all written down. The problem is that I don't remember their purpose. I was like nine, and all I was focused on was remembering the sets, not...the reason for them."I turn around, bodies close as they were before. He takes the piece of paper from me, and examines the numbers. His pale green eyes stare at the paper for so long, I'm unaware of the time that passes before he speaks again, gazing up at me with furrowed eyebrows. I feel like I did something wrong, until he speaks again.

"Cata..." he starts slowly. "I think I understand nearly everything at this point."

My eyebrows furrow and a unstable, short laugh escapes my lips. "What?"

"Hmm...does this ring a bell?" He questions. "You know the sets of codes, you just don't remember their purpose."

I watch him carefully, acknowledging the emphasis he put on know and remember. Our shared gaze is intense as I think over his words, feeling like I know exactly what he's hinting at, though I can't really shine a light to the thoughts. "Baby, you know this," he assures me, his raspy tone almost coaxing me to remember. "You're forgetful as fuck." Oh, forget the coaxing, then. The gasp that escapes my lips next is evidence that his words have marked the x in my mind. Harry nods. "There it is," he murmurs.