salute ➳ 〚h.s.〛 〚a.u.〛

chapter 12 - daytime desserts & helping hands

Ice cream was enough of an incentive so he didn't need to say anything more. Piper whipped the shower curtain back, reaching for a towel hanging from the rack on the wall. She dried off her head first and then the rest of her before stepping out. She told Harry to wait and then went to get him another towel. She was forced to give him hers when she couldn't find another one. "I really need to do laundry," she muttered, her cheeks going red.

"It's fine petal," Harry said comfortingly as he finished drying off, brushing past her naked, quite unabashedly. "We've shared a lot more than that."

Piper followed him to her bedroom where he was pulling on the clothes he had picked up from the bathroom. She rifled through her own closet, pulling on some knickers, a bra, and a pair of leggings. She caught sight of a box in the corner of her closet while she was searching for a jumper and an idea popped into her head.

"Do you need something to wear?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder. Harry was shirtless, sniffing his t-shirt warily. Piper rolled her eyes, pulling the box from the closet and tossing it at him. "Here, wear this."

"Is this a present?" Harry said, sounding a little too excited. He looked up from the shiny wrapping, confused. "It's not for me, is it?"

"Nah, something I got Andrew last year that I decided he didn't deserve at the last minute," Piper shrugged off, ignoring that sympathetic look on Harry's face. She was fine – she didn't need his pity. "It should fit a bit big on you since Andrew is much chubbier."

Harry was already tearing the paper, ripping it off enthusiastically. He tore the lid off the box beneath and pulled out a magnificent Christmas jumper (if such a thing existed). It was a thick knit cardigan, navy blue, decorated with red Christmas trees and white reindeer. It was pretty tame for a Christmas jumper overall. "This is certainly something," Harry said when a long silence had fallen, him holding the jumper away like it personally offended him.

"Oh come on," Piper pleaded, now absolutely desperate to see him in it. "It's a fine jumper and Christmas is less than two weeks off anyways. It'll be fun." She turned, throwing jumpers off the shelf in her closet until she found the one she was looking for. "We could even be matching," she suggested as she pulled it over her head.

Her own jumper was much worse, navy blue covered in white fair isle snowflakes and big reindeer. It was a little hard to look at sometimes, but at least it wasn't one of those jumpers that looked like someone had puked up colours.

Harry sighed before sliding the sleeves up his arms and pulling the cardigan on. "Fine," he acquiesced as he did up the buttons, closing the jumper up over his chest. "So how does it look?"

"Smashing," Piper said as she grinned. She leapt over the clothes she had tossed on the floor, bumping into Harry as she leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Now, ice cream time."

"Are you going to dry your hair first?" Harry asked a little warily, as if afraid she would pounce just for him suggesting it. "Only, it's quite cold out and you've just gotten over being ill."

"You're like my mum," Piper grumbled as she stomped back to the bathroom, searching in the cabinet for her hair dryer. "Pips, you can't go out with wet hair, it'll freeze." God, she was getting a little too good at impersonating her mother. It frightened her how easy it was to adopt that nagging voice.

Harry sat on the toilet the entire time she was blow drying her hair, watching with interest as she brushed through the red locks and tried to tame them. She didn't know what was so compelling but it felt nice to be looked at so she let him. Anyways, he had put on a Christmas jumper for her sake. She could let him watch her creepily as much as he wanted.