Redemption [h.s]

seventy

Grace

I woke up in the thin shard of white light coming from the window as the bed shifted as Harry moved. I turned around, his eyes were still closed but a tiny smile was on his lips, his dark hair messy and contrasting the white of the pillow under his head.

"Hi" I whispered, and his little smile deepened just enough for his dimples to show.

He opened his eyes and blinked a few times at the bright light. "Hello" he whispered back after clearing his throat, bringing the blanket, that had come to rest around his waist when he had turned around, back into his place, covering our shoulders. He cuddled into it a bit relaxing in the warmth, the the slight cold of the room getting to him more since he had gone to sleep without his shirt, with only his boxers to cover him after our conversation of the day before.

"Hang on" I said noticing just then the swirls of black on his arms, and he opened his eyes again, giving me a curious glance.

I gently took his left wrist to observe the drawing of an anchor permanently inked into his skin. "You kind of have a lot of tattoos" I said, and he smiled, seeming relieved.

"Yeah, I kind of do" he replied, copying my words.

"What does this one mean?" I asked referring to the one on his wrist, that I was still holding between my fingers.

He pursed his lips. "It's an anchor" he simply replied, smiling when he saw the unimpressed glance I gave him. "I wanted to have it tattooed on the inside of my wrist, but I decided against it last minute. So I got it here instead."

I nodded, lightly twisting his arm to look at all the other symbols on the arm.

"Uh, they're quite a lot, I don't think I even remember why I got them all" he said, his green eyes still fixated on me with a warm gaze.

I moved the tip of my finger up his arm, and his breath faltered at the touch. "Only black?" I asked him, noticing that none of his tattoos seemed to be coloured.

"Only black" he confirmed my assumptions.

"I like this one" I said tracing the black ink under his collarbones.

"The swallows?" He asked gently, and I nodded.

"They're nice" I replied, and he hummed in response, closing his eyes to linger in the touch. "I kind of like you shirtless, by the way" I said, making him laugh.

"I did not expect that" he said, pulling me closer to him by the waist. "You don't have to go to work today, do you?"

I put my head on his chest, hearing the relaxing sound of his heartbeat. "I don't work today, it's Sunday."

"Can we stay here a while longer, then?" He asked, and I couldn't help but nod.

"We should go out today" he said after a while, "You know, because we ended up not doing it yesterday. I'm sorry about that also."

I turned around to look at him. "You don't have to be sorry because of that. I don't want to go out if you don't feel like doing it."

"I wanted to, it's just... things came up" he replied, referring to what had happened the night before. "I still want to."

I smiled at him. "Then we will" I told him, closing my eyes.

"Dinner though. Dinner would be better than lunch I suppose" he said, making me open my eyes to glance at him.

"It seems to me that you're more interested in having a conversation than in relaxing."

He bit his lower lip nervously. "I'm sorry."