✘ skeleton sailor | h.styles -discontinued-

[vii]

Harry curses under his breath after kicking the wall in the corridor. He brings his right hand's fingers to the split skin just under his right eye and then winces. "Fuck." If there's one thing he hates, it's fighting. Fighting is useless so he makes it a habit not to get too irritated with people and not to irritate other people to the point of wanting to throw a punch at him. "What the fuck?"

"I know you. I fucking know what you've done." The man's voice is sharp and almost familiar. It's all a blur after that, being shoved against the wall and kicked between the legs. It's a low blow but it's extremely effective.

The side of his neck feels just as much pain as the throbbing on his face, yet his knuckles have been completely untouched, which doesn't feel fair at all. He was jumped. Half upset and half wounded, he drags himself to Valarie's door and thinks about what he's about to do before knocking one her door. It's 2 in the morning but apparently people tend to be up this late.

The first punch is to his collarbone, and it stings like being stabbed with a knife. Something definitely shatters there but he's too wrapped in confusion to really be concerned. The man above him gets in his face and then kicks his torso. "You're a piece of shit and I swear to all damn gods that I'll kill you for what you've done."

Harry pushes his hair from his eyes and barely manages to shrug his shoulders. "I don't even know what you're talking about?"

"You're a dirty man, you little shit. I've seen you and now you're done. Done."

He starts knocking harder as the pain in his chest starts to grow. He knows that means she's getting closer to the door, but she's not getting close fast enough. The burning confusion in his head starts to gnaw at him even harder than before that when she finally opens the door, all he can say is what's on his mind. "What the fuck just happened, Valarie?"

Her eyes grow wider and her mouth parts in surprise. "What happened to your face?"

Harry rolls his eyes. "What's wrong with your boyfriend? Why did he- what the fuck did I do? I don't even talk to the guy, I've never even had a solid conversation with him, I don't-"

"Caspian did that?" Valarie opens her door wider and takes a small step forward. "Are you sure?"

"No," he spits out sarcastically, wincing when she cowers back a little bit. "Sorry."

"I don't know why he would just jump at you like that, he's not a very violent guy."

"Well he sure had me convinced otherwise."

Val frowns. "Can you please chill with the attitude?"

"Sorry." He touches the gash on his face and frowns deeper when he feels all the blood just below his cheekbone. "He said he knows what I've done, which makes no sense because I don't do shit." He takes a moment to shut his eyes and focus on his breathing, not liking the racing feeling in his chest. When he reopens them, he takes notice in the tired look on Valarie's face. She's got on a heavy- looking sweatshirt that ends mid-thigh, and mismatching socks that are half on and half off. Her hair is an absolute mess of tangled curls that don't really look like curls anymore; still soft looking nonetheless. "You look really nice, sorry for waking you up."

"Thank you, sorry that my boyfriend beat you up." She turns her back to him to walk into her apartment, but leaves the door wide open. "Can you come in? There's a draft in the hallway."

When he's inside and the door is closed, he follows her to her living room where there's a lit candle burning on the middle of the floor. Where he would expect there to be a couch, there's just a yoga mat, and by the television there are two empty shelves with stacks of books on the floor. It looks like her living room had just been raided through. "Nice place," he lies.