My Little Bird

Saturday was complete madness.

Harry was awake at ten minutes past seven, bouncing up and down on the bed and poking her in the ribs, all while obnoxiously singing her name at a decibel level that was extremely inappropriate for early in the morning. Asher swatted his hands away from her side but he just found other ways to annoy her. Eventually, when he rolled over to lay on top of her and whined directly into her ear, she gave up on the wish of getting anymore sleep. "You're suffocating me, you giant ass."

He pushed himself up on his hands to look down at her as he grinned victoriously at his success. "You're nearly impossible to wake up, you know."

"I like my sleep," she grumbled, reaching up to rub her bleary eyes. The fact that it had taken her hours to fall asleep in the first place didn't help matters. "You suck."

"Sorryyyyy. But Mum's making breakfast and if we don't get down there first, Gem's gonna eat all the bacon."

"You are an actual five year old."

"But it's bacon!" he protested with an incredulous look on his face. "Bacon! If you can't get excited about bacon, I don't know if this relationship can continue any further."

"Oh, get off me," Asher replied, rolling her eyes as she pushed her hands against his chest and he obliged, flopping down in the very narrow empty space between her and the wall. She threw the covers off her legs and stood up, stretching her limbs before she went over to her duffel bag. "Can I take a shower at least?"

Harry shook his head. "No time. After breakfast, we have to go into town so I can make the rounds. I have a system set up; it's very clever."

"You're a huge pain in my ass, Styles." She stopped rummaging through her bag to turn back to him, but the smirk on his face only made her groan in annoyance and do her best to fight the blush. "I swear to God, if you say something cheeky right now, I'm never having sex with you again."

"That hardly seems fair."

"Don't you need to be getting dressed too?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

He shrugged his shoulders and hopped up from the bed, walking up behind her and resting his hands on her hips as he pulled her back against him and pressed a chaste kiss to the small bruise on her neck below her ear. "Might have a bit of a mark there," he muttered before letting her go and grabbing his bag, which was right next to hers.

Asher shot him an unamused look but he just grinned proudly and started digging through his bag for some clean clothes. She spotted a brightly colored article near the top and quickly plucked it out of his bag, holding the tie dye tee shirt up to her body. "Can I wear this?"

"Sure, if you want," he chuckled. "But I'm not even sure it's clean."

She hesitantly raised it to her nose to smell it then shrugged before removing the tee shirt she'd slept in. "Just smells like your cologne. I'm gonna wear it." While she pulled on a bra, the too big tee shirt, and her comfiest leggings, he got dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and an almost neon orange sleeveless tee shirt-- literally the only thing he owned that was more attention grabbing than tie dye. "You're just trying to outshine me, aren't you?"

"Always," Harry laughed as he tugged a black beanie on over his wild bedhead. "Come on."

Asher tied a knot in the back of her shirt to make it a little less baggy then threw her unwashed hair up into a bun on top of her head as they headed downstairs to the kitchen and, much to Harry's disappointment, Gemma was already sitting at the counter eating a slice of bacon with a smirk on her face. "You better not have eaten it all," he warned as he slid onto the stool next to her.

"Watcha gonna do about it?"

He glared at her before looking over at his mother where she was leaned up against the counter, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands and a sympathetic smile on her face. "Sorry, baby. You were too slow this morning."

"Ha! No bacon for you!" Gemma cheered and Harry's whole demeanor changed as he leaned over onto his girlfriend, burying his face in the crook of her neck and pouting, complete with the pitiful sad lip rolled out. Asher tried not to laugh as she reached one hand up to stroke his cheek; Harry around his family was one of the cutest things she'd ever seen. They picked on one another and joked around but it was plainly obvious that they loved each other and it made her wish that her parents were more like his.

Robin was silently watching from the table and he grinned at her when Anne set her coffee down to walk over to the microwave oven and retrieve a plate that had been hidden inside it. Harry didn't look up, still too busy pouting into her shoulder when Anne slid the plate onto the counter in front of them and Asher saw that it was nothing but slices of bacon covering the entire thing. She laughed, nudging him with her elbow and he picked his head to look at her as she nodded toward the plate. Harry's eyes went wide and he licked his lips as he reached for a piece but Gemma slapped his hand away and shook her head. "That's for Asher, not you. She's the guest in this house. You act like you were raised in a barn."

Harry glared at her before turning back to face his girlfriend and Asher just shook her head at how pitiful he looked. She picked up a slice and took a bite before holding the other half of it up to his mouth and he immediately bit it, nearly taking her fingers as well, grinning proudly as he chewed. As soon as he swallowed it, he leaned over and kissed her, simultaneously grabbing himself another slice from the plate and stuffing it into his mouth as he sat back on his stool. Asher wrinkled her nose at him, offended that he'd only kissed her as a distraction so he could get more of her bacon, but she decided to let it slide and when she finally tore her eyes away from him, she saw his mother and sister exchanging knowing smiles.

-

Harry wasn't kidding about the system he had for going around town to see everyone. They'd left as soon as they finished breakfast and at five o'clock, they were just finishing up. They'd gone all over the place: all the shops on the main street, the bakery where he used to work, even popping in to see his favorite teacher from school. He'd proudly introduced her as his girlfriend everywhere they went and while most of the adults seemed genuinely happy for him, Asher noticed that the younger ones were more reserved about their opinions of her. She understood why they would be hesitant and guarded about someone new in Harry's life, but really, if his family was okay with her, then his friends should be too. She was just glad that no one outright disliked her, or at least didn't say anything to her face.

Despite the fact that they were both dressed very lazily, Harry had decided that they should have dinner at the local pub he always had to visit when he came home. A lot of his old friends hung out there on Saturday nights, so he was expecting to see them all. Since it was still early, there wasn't much drinking going on inside; instead, there were a few families spread out across the tables, laughing and talking as they ate dinner together. Harry led her through the sporadically placed tables to sit down in the very back.

While they shared a basket of fries, people were continuously coming up to their table to catch up with Harry, some of them only stopping by to hug him and say hello and some of them sitting down in one of the empty chairs and having a full on conversation. Asher just sat back quietly and ate her share of the fries while he talked to each and every one of them; she mostly had no idea what they were talking about, but she was content to just sit across from him and watch him as he talked and laughed. She could see how happy he was being back home and seeing all the people he knew and loved from before his life skyrocketed into super stardom.

Finally, there was a lull in the stream of old friends and neighbors and Harry was able to finish off the last of their fries before getting up to go and say hello to Tom, the man who owned the place. He pulled Asher along behind him, keeping a firm grip on her hand and when they reached the bar, he wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her close into his side. A scruffy, burly man with graying hair and a scowl on his face was filling two mugs on the opposite end and once he set the beers on the bar in front of the two men who ordered them, he wiped his hands on the towel draped over his shoulder and started toward where they were standing. When he looked up and caught sight of Harry, his glower immediately turned to a grin and his attitude changed completely. "Harry! It's so good to see ya! Oh, and who's this lovely bird?"

"Tom, this is my girlfriend, Asher. Ash, Tom owns the place. And he lives across the street from Mum."

"Good to meet ya!" Tom exclaimed before looking back at Harry with a quirked brow. "Never brought one home before, eh, lad?" he asked, nodding his head toward Asher not-so-inconspicuously and then grinning like a fool when Harry's cheeks tinted pink.

He looked over at her with a bashful smile, his fingertips grazing the narrow strip of skin exposed between the bottom of her tee shirt and the waistband of her leggings, and he gave her hip a little squeeze as he hugged her tighter to his body. Tom shook his head and gave a hearty laugh before he filled two pints for them and set the glasses on the bar. Asher wasn't really a beer type of girl but she thought it would be rude to refuse the drink so she picked hers up and took a few small sips, trying her best to keep from grimacing at the taste. Harry had just raised his to his lips when an excited voice called his name from all the way across the room and he quickly set it back down and spun around to face the little girl as she ran at him full force.

"Hey, you! When did you get so big?" he asked, hoisting her up into his arms and she hugged his neck while he just chuckled. "How old are you now? Twenty-five?"

"I'm six!" she giggled, placing her small hands on either side of his face and squishing his cheeks together until he was making a fish face. "You got more pictures on you." She leaned over to get a better look at his left arm and lightly poked each of the new tattoos he'd acquired since the last time she had seen him.

"Yep," he nodded. "A few."

"She has some too," the little girl whispered, her light brown eyes shifting over to Asher, and Harry laughed and nodded again. "She's pretty. Is she your girlfriend?"

"She sure is. Would you like to meet her?" The child looked between the two of them unsure for a moment but then she giggled, which Harry took as a yes. "Luce, this is Asher. Ash, this is Lucy. She's my best girl," he said, lightly poking her ribs and making her squeal.

"Not the best, Harry. She's the best now. I'm the best after her."

"Oh, right. Of course."

"It's very nice to meet you, Lucy," Asher said and she let out a surprised laugh when Lucy stuck out her small hand to shake.

"You talk funny," the child observed.

"Well, I'm not from here. I live in Florida, in America."

Lucy's eyes widened to twice their normal size as she glanced at Harry for a moment before settling her gaze back on Asher. "Really?!" Both Harry and Asher confirmed with a yes but that only made the little girl's face scrunch up in confusion. "But isn't that far away from Holmes Chapel?"

"Four thousand miles," Asher nodded.

Even though she had no concept of actual distance and didn't really know what miles or kilometers or whatever were, Lucy knew that thousand was a lot and she let out an amazed "Wow" as she shifted her gaze between the two of them.

A tall blonde woman in a nice gray dress and pearls came to a stop in front of them then, letting out a heavy sigh as she shifted all her bags to one hand and placed her free hand on her hip. "Luce, you can't just bombard Harry that way. He gets enough of that already."

"Oh, don't listen to 'er, Luce. You can always attack hug me, okay?" Lucy giggled and Harry glanced up at the woman giving him a stern look before he turned his attention back at the child in his arms. "Listen to her the rest of the time though. Do everything she says because she's got some pretty scary punishments."

"Oh, piss off! I never punished you!"

"Hi, Em," he grinned.

The woman rolled her eyes at him but then cracked a smile. "Hi, Harry. You mum didn't tell us you were coming home this weekend."

"It was sort of an impromptu visit. Oh, by the way, this is my girlfriend, Asher. Ash, this is Emily. She babysat me and Gem from the time we were babies."

Emily groaned. "Don't say it like that! You make me feel old."

"But Mum, you are old," Lucy interrupted and Emily attempted but failed to contain her laugh.

"Thanks, love. Now come on, let's leave Harry and Asher alone now. Dad's waiting for us at home."

"But we can't leave without my picture! I always get a picture when we see him!"

Emily sighed heavily and shook her head at her daughter before looking up at Harry. "I'm sorry. Do you mind?"

"Of course not!" he replied, like he was hurt that she would even ask that. After all, she was the person who'd been responsible for changing his diapers when he was an infant; he owed her a dozen lifetimes of pictures with Lucy. Emily set down the handful of bags she was holding and dug through her purse for her phone.

"Not you," the little girl said, shaking her head at Harry and turning her head to look to Asher, pointing a tiny finger. "You."

"Me?" Lucy nodded and Asher laughed as the little girl practically jumped out of Harry's arms and into hers. She shifted Lucy over to her hip while Harry made exaggerated pouty faces at them both. Lucy covered her mouth with her hands and giggled while Asher just shook her head at him and turned her focus back to the child. "Are you sure you want me in your picture with him? I'm kind of a mess today."

"Your hair is a bit wild," Lucy whispered, brushing her tiny palm over Asher's head to smooth over any hair sticking up and then tucking a loose piece back into her bun. "There. And don't worry, Harry's a mess today too."

It was comical just how offended he got when a child insulted the way he looked. "Well fine," he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. "I just won't be in the picture at all then."

"Aww, c'mere," Lucy cooed, reaching one arm out to him and wiggling her tiny fingers. Harry shuffled closer to them, still retaining his sad little frown, and she patted his cheek when he got close enough. "You'll get over it."

Asher couldn't help but laugh out loud while Lucy grinned proudly at being the reason for her laughter. Harry grumbled something about them being bullies as Emily held up her phone and asked if they were ready to take the photo. Lucy's little arms wrapped themselves around Asher's neck as she hugged her tightly and Harry draped his arm over Asher's shoulders, pulling them both closer to him as they all smiled for the camera. The flash was temporarily blinding but as soon as it was over, Lucy was clambering down from her arms and hugging Harry's leg. She giggled again when she pulled away and she said goodbye before she ran over to her mother and grabbed her hand, tugging her towards the door.

"She so liked me better than you," Asher said, turning back to the bar once they were gone.

Harry rolled his eyes playfully as he picked up his glass and took a sip of his beer. "That's because she's known me her whole life, and you're new and exotic."

"Exotic? I'm a fucking American! That's not exotic!"

"It is to a six year old who's never been outside Cheshire."

She scoffed, giving him a poke in the ribs. "You're just jealous."

-

The small silver clock on the wall over the window said it was ten minutes til three.

After they'd come back from the pub, Anne made dinner and they ate a second meal before Asher helped her clean up the kitchen while Harry and Gemma sat side by side at the counter, playfully bickering with each other. It was safe to say the two siblings missed each other terribly when they were apart. Once everyone went their separate ways to go to bed, the deterioration of a perfectly stress-free day began. It had happened by total accident. They were lying squished together in Harry's old twin bed talking about something completely innocent, when it sparked a comment about something Niall had allegedly (because he would never admit to it) done while they were on tour in Australia.

Once it was brought up, the damage was done. The simple mention of tour had branched out to the band which in turn branched out to the fame and the attention. That same guilty look made its way back onto Harry's face and he just continued apologizing for everything that had happened in the past two weeks. He finally fell asleep around 1am, leaving her alone with her thoughts in a room that was dead silent except for his steady breathing and an occasional soft snore. With everything going on in her head, she knew that it would be another long night of not being able to fall asleep so she very carefully removed herself from under Harry's arm and quietly crept out of the room to go down to the kitchen.

She'd been sitting there for over an hour, a half eaten slice of chocolate cake on a light blue plate in front of her and a deep frown on her face as she stared at the thinnest hand on the clock, watching it circle around and around as the minutes ticked by. A sudden thud made her jump, but when she turned to see what it was, she found Gemma standing in the doorway of the kitchen, yawning as she squinted her eyes at the harshness of the light radiating from above the stove. Aside from that, there was no other light in the room at all. "What are you doing up at 3am?" she asked, shuffling further into the room.

"Couldn't really sleep," Asher shrugged, stabbing the cake with her fork. "He's been so tired lately and he's finally gettin some sleep so I didn't want to disturb him with my tossing and turning."

Gemma opened a drawer and retrieved a fork before sliding into the chair across from her. "Something on your mind?" she asked, as she dug into the slice of cake and shoved a bite into her mouth.

Asher shook her head. "No, it's nothing really."

"Oh, come on," she protested, giving the girl across from her an unamused look.

"It's just-.....all this fame stuff, I guess." Asher wasn't sure how open she should be with Gemma because she still wasn't one hundred percent positive how Gemma felt about her. If she was already leaning toward dislike and then Asher told her the problems she was having, it might only make Gemma dislike her more. On the other hand, she really wanted to know what sort of advice she might give. "It's so sudden, y'know? It's a huge adjustment and I'm not handling it all that well. Actually, I'm kind of terrified. Pretty sure I had a panic attack on the way to lunch the other day, just because of all the fans and paparazzi. That's ridiculous, right?"

Gemma blinked a few times, processing what she'd been told before she shook her head and licked the chocolate off her lips. "Not at all. I've seen how overwhelming it can get and I don't envy you one bit for having to deal with it. It's not so bad for me really because I'm just his sister; people recognize me on the street sometimes, but it's usually like two or three of them. I can't imagine having to deal with it every time I leave the house."

"I think the stuff people write is worse," Asher frowned, pushing a hand through her long mess of hair. "I mean, someone always trying try to take a picture of me even when I'm by myself kind of blows, but the people online are just brutal. They can say whatever the hell they want because they're safe behind their computer screens. Up until two weeks ago, I never imagined so many people could be that malicious and hateful for absolutely no reason. This whole thing is just really daunting to take on all at once and admittedly I've overreacted once or twice. And I feel awful because he takes the blame for it and it's not his fault. All this stupid shit happens to us and it makes him feel guilty and then it makes me feel guilty that he feels guilty because he has no reason to and then he feels guilty for making me feel guilty. It's just this massive needless circle of guilt and it's so ridiculous because it's not our fault and yet we're the ones feeling like shit about it."

"You just have to try your best to ignore it and focus on yourselves."

"Yeah, that's what everyone's been telling me but it's actually really hard." She sighed, dropping her fork onto the now mostly empty plate and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I guess I'm just worried that one day he's gonna wake up and see something that someone's said and decide that they're right- that I'm not worth all the trouble. All the bad press he's gotten and probably will keep getting because of me, all the awful things even his own fans have said to him on twitter, and really, what the hell kind of fans are they if they talk to him, and about him, like that? It's so rude and disrespectful and it's my fault in the first place. If they're gonna talk shit, then it should be about me, not him. He's never done anything but work his ass off to make them happy and people are being mean to him just because of me. It's so unfair that he's getting treated this way because he is legitimately the nicest fucking person I have ever met in my life. The last thing in the world I want is for him to be unhappy, especially when it's because of me." She could feel her eyes watering as she thought over some of the things she had seen people say to him over the past few days and it made her sad and angry all at once.

"You know," Gemma sighed, leaning back in her seat. "I admit, when he told me that you didn't know who he was, I was skeptical. But the morning after you found out about it all, he called me and told me everything that happened from the very beginning and that's when I started believing that you and your feelings for him were genuine. Still, until I've met someone and gotten a feel for them, I keep my guard up. I stay hesitant about the people Harry lets into his life. I can't help it; he's my baby brother and he's got such a big heart and I can't stand the thought of people taking advantage of him. When I met you yesterday, I could tell that you were a nice girl, but I still wasn't completely sure of you yet. I think I am now."

Asher's brows furrowed as she quickly swiped at the water droplets under her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Just now, when you were talking, you made up my mind for me."

"But I was just whining about everything that's going on-"

"No," Gemma cut her off, shaking her head. "You know what I heard? That you're just worried about how everything that's going on is affecting him." She looked across the table to the younger girl, whose features were still clouded over with confusion, and decided to approach it differently. "Ever since Harry became so prominent in the public eye, he's only properly dated one or two people. He saw how fast things happened for him and the other lads and how girls associated with them got treated, and he just decided that he didn't want to put someone through that. He'd done a pretty good job of keeping that up until you came along and then he was torn; he told himself he couldn't put someone in that position and subject them to all the sudden madness that would come from dating him, but, at the same time, he liked you. Really liked you. Like, more than I've ever seen him like someone before. He struggled with it, and he still does. Because he wants to be with you so badly, but he feels like he's hurting you by doing so."

"But it's not him!" she sighed in exasperation. "And I know that I still have a lot of work to do in learning to adjust to everything, but he's worth it. God, he's so fucking worth it. I love him, Gemma. There's nothing in the world I wouldn't do for him."

Gemma smiled. "He'll always be more concerned about you than he is about him. It makes me feel better to know that you'll be more concerned about him than you are about you. He needs a girl like that. He's always so busy taking care of others, making sure they're happy, and he needs someone who's going to be doing that for him."

"I hope I make him happy," she mumbled softly, more to herself than to the girl across the table.

"Trust me, you do." Gemma chuckled at the look on her face and stuck her fork into the last chunk of cake left on the plate, popping it into her mouth. "About the media stuff, everyone is right, stay away from stuff about you. There's absolutely no reason to read massive tumblr posts about why some random girl in California hates you. You can pretty much guarantee that anything she says is simply because she's jealous. And, like, who fucking cares if they don't like an outfit you wore or the way you fixed your hair? Also, whatever they say about that cafe prick and Harry's ex-monster, ignore that. Reading someone calling you a slag isn't beneficial at all and it doesn't matter because the people who know you know that's not true. They know what really happened. Now, that's not to say you can't ever have a peek at what's being said, especially once you and Harry are on different continents, but the trick with it is you just have to dismiss it all as false. Know what they're saying so that you won't be caught off guard but also know that none of it is true. That he would never be so stupid to do the types of things those tabloids suggest he does. That even if he were stupid enough, he loves you too much to do that to you."

"That's one major thing I have to work on. Someone needs to just take away my internet access."

"Ash?" Both Gemma's and Asher's heads snapped up to look to the doorway where Harry stood leaning against the door jamb in just his questionably sized underwear, a sleepy frown on his face as he rubbed his eyes. "What are you two doing?"

"Havin' a chat," Gemma shrugged. "A chat you were not invited to."

He shuffled further into the room and slid his hand over Asher's back to rest on her shoulder, leaning against the side of her chair, but despite the fact that he was still half asleep, when she looked up at him, he immediately noticed the redness of her eyes and the thick tears that still lingered, ready to fall at any moment. "What happened?" he asked, his body tensing as he stood straight up and looked pointedly at his sister. "Why is she crying?"

Gemma scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I didn't do it."

"Nothing happened," Asher interrupted, sliding her hand over his. "It's fine."

"If it were fine, you'd be upstairs in bed with me, not sitting in the kitchen crying at 3am."

"Alright, it wasn't fine, but it is now." She smiled as she studied the concern in his features, remembering Gemma's words from just a few minutes before, and she stood up from her chair, lacing her fingers with his. "Come on, let's go to bed."

He blinked slowly, like he wasn't really sure what was going on, but then he nodded his head and turned to leave the kitchen, pulling her along with him. Asher stopped just inside the kitchen doorway, causing him to freeze as she turned back to the girl watching them from the table. "Thank you, Gemma."

Gemma smiled, showing off a pair of dimples similar to her brother's. "Thank you."

She chuckled softly and said goodnight before following Harry back up the stairs and down the short hallway to his bedroom. He flopped down heavily onto his tiny bed before rolling onto his side to give her room to lie down. Once she had done so, he draped his arm over her body and one of his legs over hers. "You're not goin' anywhere this time," he mumbled, shifting her closer and nuzzling his face in the crook of her neck.

"Don't worry," she whispered, gently brushing her fingertips over the ink covered arm that held her close to him. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be."