Inclination

Hunky in Houndstooth, Helpful Validations, History Resurfacing

Harry wants to ask you for tips on where to go for the date since you had chosen such an incredible restaurant for him and his stupid blind date that ended up just being a wasted outfit, but he wants everything to be a complete surprise.

He asks his secretary for her opinion, jotting down all of her suggestions onto a yellow sticky note before retreating into his office to call his sister. He almost considers calling your roommate at a time that he knows for certain you'd be at work, but he thinks he's probably still bitter since they've parted ways.

His sister comes over to his house to help him pick an outfit midweek; sorting through his closet before finally landing on a coffee and onyx colored pair of houndstooth trousers with a matching vest, the back comprised of black silk. She gasps and holds it up in the air on its hanger, "where have you been hiding this?"

He shrugs and gathers it from her hands, "it's not like... nerdy?"

She shakes her head candidly and taps his shoulder, "no. Try it on for me."

He sighs and shoves her out of his walk in closet for privacy while he changes and she notices the paintings above his bed right away, "new work, Harry?" He peeks his head out of the closet to see what she's referring to and his body breaks out into goosebumps at the memory of your dreams. You two haven't shared one in awhile and he's worried that it was a passing phenomenon that will never happen again. Either that or it was never real and every waking instance surrounding it was a complete coincidence.

"Uh, yeah, some dreams I've been having actually," she hums in response and Harry steps out of his closet with the outfit on and his hands tucked into his pockets, a black fitted t-shirt pulling across his chest and shoulders underneath the vest, "what do you think?"

His sister gasps and nods vigorously, "yes. That's the one for sure. Have you been working out? You're like," she flexes her arms and shoulders, "hunky."

He rolls his eyes and tosses her a brief middle finger, "yeah. Maybe... been playing a lot of tennis, I suppose."

His sister steps into his closet and starts rustling through his jewelry, "so who's the lucky guy?"

Harry's been dreading this moment ever since he became comfortable with the idea of being with a woman himself. He remembers how nauseating it was to come out to his family and how final it felt; as if he were expressing himself in a "this is me, take it or leave it" sort of manner and now here he is, redacting everything that he had struggled so hard to come to terms with, both with himself and societally.

Of course his parents and his sister took it extremely well, they're all very close and they've always been the progressive type; very love-oriented and open minded. His mum cried a bit, but mostly due to his bravery about the situation. Now he's beginning to feel a bit like the boy who cried wolf and he's not sure why. He also has no idea how to break the news to his sister who has stopped peering at his rings to stare at him as she waits for an answer.

Harry coughs into his closed fist and mulls over the options: should he just say your name and see how she reacts? Should he explain everything from the beginning? Or should he brush it off for now and try to think of a better answer and then get back to her later?

"It's uh," he sucks air in through the side of his mouth awkwardly as he buys time to consider the easiest way to deliver the news. He answers on a large exhale of breath that makes it hard for her to understand what he's said, "s'not a man."

She pulls her eyebrows together and steps out of his walk-in to approach him, "what, love? Couldn't hear you. Who is it?"

He suddenly feels a pounding headache inside of his skull and he rubs his fingers against his forehead before drilling his knuckles into his temple. This feels as difficult as when he came out in the first place and he wishes his sexuality wasn't something that he felt he had to share with or explain to everyone.