My Little Bird

Leaving Holmes Chapel wasn't easy.

They had about a week's worth of homemade food packed away in a basket in the back seat when they pulled out of the driveway and Harry's family stood on the front steps waving goodbye to them until they could no longer be seen. Asher had only just met them, but in the short weekend that she had spent with there, she had grown to adore them and by the time Sunday evening came around, she didn't want to leave. It had been harder to say goodbye to his mother than it had been to say to her own when she left Florida for the summer.

By the time they stopped at a drive thru for dinner and drove all the way back to London, it was almost half past ten. Harry refused to let her carry any of the bags into his flat so she just watched him in amusement as he draped both his duffel and hers over his shoulders then grabbed all eight bags that his mother had sent home with them before heading for the door. If his hands weren't so massive, he would never have made it. She followed him up the steps and dug the key out of the pocket of his jeans since he couldn't do it himself, giving him a light smack on the shoulder when he made a cheeky comment. Once the door was unlocked and opened, he headed straight to the kitchen, setting all the bags of food on the counter before continuing toward the stairs with their duffels, grumbling about how tired he was. Asher stayed in the kitchen to put away all the containers of food that Anne had made for them before she followed after him up to his room.

Harry was sprawled out across the bed still completely clothed, his long legs dangling off the edge and a pillow covering his head. He'd discarded their duffels right by the door and she would have tripped over them if she hadn't looked down at the last second. She nudged them out of the doorway with her foot and shut the door before she walked over to the bed and hopped up onto it to undo the laces of her shoes. He finally rolled over onto his side as she shimmied out of her blue jeans and when she glanced over her shoulder at him, he was grinning. "What?" she asked, dropping them onto the floor next to the bed before flopping backward to lie beside him.

He draped his arm over her and buried his face in her shoulder, his warm breath causing millions of tiny goosebumps to erupt across her skin. "I like when you don't wear bottoms," he muttered, pressing a kiss to the pulse point of her neck.

Asher laughed but the sound caught in her throat when his hand slid over her hip and dipped under the lace band of her underwear. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I thought it was fairly obvious," he shot back.

"Five minutes ago, you were-" She was interrupted by the gasp that left her mouth when his nimble fingers began skillfully working and she closed her eyes, the rest of her sentence coming out as more of a moan than a statement. "-soooo tired."

"Yes, but then I remembered how long it's been and I miraculously acquired more energy."

"It's been two days."

"Today's almost over so technically it's three." He stopped right in the middle of what he was doing, earning a glare from her as he rested his hand flat against her stomach instead and propped himself up on his elbow to look down at her with a small smirk on his face. "Why, are you saying you don't want to?"

"I hate you," she grumbled.

Harry laughed at the scowl on her face and leaned over to press his lips to hers. "I love you too."



Waking up on Monday morning almost felt too perfect to be real life. The sun was streaming in bright and warm through the large window, the sheets were cool, and she was snuggled right up to Harry's body. The only unpleasant thing about it was the fact that her face was pressed uncomfortably into his side, right under his birdcage tattoo, so hard that she could feel his ribs against her forehead. She moved back a few inches and rubbed her bleary eyes, yawning as she glanced around the room, momentarily forgetting where they were. A smile automatically made its way onto her face when she looked over at him, still sleeping peacefully on his stomach with his arms folded under his pillow to support his head and the ivory sheets pooled around his waist. She propped herself on one elbow and draped her other arm over his lower back, leaning over to leave light kisses across his shoulder blade.

It didn't take much to rouse him from his light sleep. He picked his head up from the pillow and looked over his shoulder with squinted eyes, a sleepy smile making its way onto his face when he saw her watching him. "Morning," he rasped, rolling over onto his back before once again collapsing onto his pillow.

Asher chuckled and snuggled back into his side, resting her head on his shoulder and brushing her fingertips over the lines of ink on his stomach. "Morning."

"Sleep well?"

"No complaints. Well, except that you're kind of a cover stealer."

Harry scoffed. "I am not!"

"You are," she insisted. "I woke up cold like three times only to find you cocooned in the blankets and me with none whatsoever. I had to go steal a sweater from your closet to get warm."

He looked down at her with a frown, running his hand over the thick wool fabric covering her back. "I was wondering why you were clothed. I don't like it. Take that off."

"Screw you, I'm cold!"

Harry laughed, reaching down to pull the covers up to his chin before holding them up as an invitation for her to climb under them as well. "Off," he urged.

"Oh fine," she sighed, yanking the burgundy sweater over her head and tossing it down to the foot of the bed before sliding under the blankets with him.

He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her tight against him, tucking the covers under her chin with a little smile. "See, isn't this better?"

"You're still a cover stealer in your sleep."

"As long as I'm not conscious, I can't be held accountable for that, can I?"

Asher playfully rolled her eyes when his bottom lip jutted out like a scolded child's. "I guess not."



"Hey babe?"

"Hmm?"

"Are we going to spend all day in bed?"

She lifted her head from his chest and quirked a brow at him. "Why, do you dislike the idea?"

"Not at all. It's one of my favorite things to do," he grinned. "But right now, there's one other thing I want to do."

"And what's that?"

"I want to take you on a date."

The thought of going out on a date in public with him made her stomach drop and she hoped the immediate uneasiness and reluctance she felt didn't come through in her facial expression. "It's past noon and it's the middle of summer. Where are we gonna go on a date that you won't be spotted?"

"I don't care if I'm spotted," he shrugged, and it didn't even register with him that she had meant them being spotted together. She was the one who had been inadvertently causing all the drama surrounding him so it was she who had the need to worry. The fact that he didn't realize that only made her worry more.

"I know we've been out together a lot, but never on an actual date. Are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, don't you have, like, people who have to okay stuff like that?"

"I probably need to make a call beforehand, but it's just as a heads up. I'm not asking for their permission."

"And you can just do that?"

Harry chuckled. "It's my life, Ash. They could make all the suggestions they want, but my personal life is ultimately up to me."

"Right." She nodded, but she was still hesitant about the whole thing. "Um, okay. But you have to take me to El's first so I can shower."

"You can shower here," he offered, grinning and wiggling his brows at her suggestively.

Asher cracked a smile. "But I still need clean clothes and everything. It'd just be easier to go back there and get ready."

"Oh, alright then, if I have to," he sighed dramatically, throwing the sheets off his body and sliding off the bed to stand up. Asher watched completely mesmerized as he stretched his arms above his head before he walked across the room to his bathroom, pausing to look back at her with a pout. "You know, it's completely unnecessary to shower separately."

"Shhh, I'm trying to enjoy the view of my boyfriend's butt."

Harry let out a loud laugh and shook his head before he disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower. Asher took the time to bundle herself up in his massive blankets while he wasn't in the bed and then she reached for the remote control on the nightstand to turn on the television. The movie that Harry had gotten for her was still in the dvd player so she decided to watch it again while she waited for him to get ready.

He was rejoining her after a fifteen minute shower, his hair dark and dripping wet and a sage green towel wrapped around his waist as he walked over to his closet to retrieve some clothes. "Hey, why are you clothed?" she called after him. "I don't like it. Take that off."

"That sounds familiar," he chuckled, pulling out a pair of blue jeans and a plain white tee shirt before turning back to face her. "Oh wait, you stole it from me."

"Off," she commanded just like he had to her earlier.

Harry shook his head at her but dropped his towel anyway and she just smiled in satisfaction as she watched him walk over to the dresser to get a pair of his boxer briefs. "Sometimes I think you only want me for my body."

"Duh."

"Mean," he pouted, pulling on his Calvin Kleins then his ridiculously tight blue jeans. Asher chuckled as she got up from the bed and began picking up her various items of clothing from the night before, putting them on one by one until she was fully dressed while she sang along with the movie's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends." Harry grabbed a plaid button down from his closet as an afterthought and after he'd rolled the sleeves up, he pulled on a pair of boots and shook out his damp hair, raking his fingers through it a few times. Asher laced up her shoes while he turned off the television and he grabbed her duffel bag on their way out.

Eleanor was curled up on the sofa with Louis when they got back to her flat. Asher left Harry to answer the questions about their weekend while she went upstairs to get ready. She thought about that phone call Harry had to make to his people the whole time she was in the shower and by the time she'd dried her hair and applied some moisturizer, she could feel the anxiety settling in her bones. It felt like there was an iron grip on her lungs, forcing her to take shallow breaths and when she was getting dressed, she noticed that her hands were shaking. For a few moments, she thought she might have another panic attack but she sat down on the edge of the bed and closed her eyes, tightly gripping the duvet in her fists until she calmed herself down enough to rejoin the others.

Harry's entire face lit up when she appeared at the bottom of the stairs, smoothing out her skirt. "This okay for what you have planned?"

"Yeah, it's-....you look gorgeous."

"Thanks," Asher chuckled, pulling her sunglasses out of her bag as she walked further into the room. "Ready then? Did you make your call?"

"All taken care of," he replied, getting up from the chair across from Louis and Eleanor. "Let's go."

Eleanor just beamed at the two of them, so inexplicably happy for her cousin, as she and Louis shouted their goodbyes to their friends as they walked toward the front door. As soon as they were outside, Asher slipped her sunglasses onto her face and not long after, Harry did the same. "So where are we going?"

"First, we're having lunch. Any preferences?"

"Not really. I'm starving so I'd eat just about anything except black pudding."

"Did I ever say I was sorry for that?" he asked with a grin, reaching over to grab her hand but he only gave it a little squeeze before he let go again.

"Yes, but I really don't think you meant it."

"You're right, I didn't." She gasped in mock offense and punched him in the arm but he just laughed again and changed the subject. "Come on, I know a good place not too far from here."

The place to which Harry was referring was a little bistro tucked away on a quiet side street about a ten minutes' walk from Eleanor's flat. At two o'clock on a Monday afternoon, the lunch rush had mostly passed so there were only three tables occupied and they were businessmen absorbed in their iPads, geriatrics sipping their coffees, and two young mothers, each with a very small child toddling around the table. Asher felt more at ease upon seeing the location of the restaurant, but then when Harry opted to sit at a table outside, her anxiety shot right back up. She said nothing, not wanting to put a damper on their first actual going-out date, and sat down in the iron chair across from him as the waiter came up to their table.

It was hard not to look as worried as she felt. The flashbacks of the crowd she'd endured going to lunch with El and Perrie were enough to keep her gripping the edge of her seat, glancing around every few minutes for any sign that a crowd like that could happen again. Only it would be worse because Harry was actually there this time. Very shortly after the waiter left to get their drinks, she noticed three burly men take seats at a table on the other side of the restaurant's small courtyard and it seemed they were all keeping an eye out just like she was. It occurred to her then that when Harry was making calls to get everything squared away, he had probably placed one to his security team as well. Knowing that they were about twenty feet away made her feel a bit like she was being chaperoned on her date, but it also relaxed her and eased her mind.

By the time their food was served, she had stopped worrying enough to actually enjoy herself. The anxiety of huge crowds, paparazzi, and rude fans had pretty much dissipated the longer she sat there across the table from him. Harry was the kind of person who could talk about something like dirt and make it so enjoyable that it didn't matter that it was such a boring topic; he was just so excited about everything he talked about and it was impossible not to be mesmerized by him. He was so expressive and his smile was contagious and he was always thinking of some funny story that related to whatever the topic was and then he was laughing. Asher stayed silent, just watching him with a smile on her face and she thought to herself that there was no way she could have ever not fallen in love with someone like him.

It wasn't until the meal was over that Harry seemed to realize that she had barely said anything the entire time. His features immediately filled with concern, brows furrowing and lips pouting slightly as he glanced around them before leaning forward in his seat. "You alright?"

"I'm amazing. Why?"

"You've barely said a word."

She chuckled. "I'm just-....enjoying it. Being with you."

"Oh." He sunk his teeth into his bottom lip to hide the sheepish smile and his cheeks flushed only the slightest bit as he looked down at the empty plate in front of him. "Well.....good. I'm glad."

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

He looked up to meet her gaze, lightly shaking his head. "For what?"

"Everything."

The smile on his face widened, denting his cheeks in as he reached across the table to take her hand where it rested next to her water, and she didn't even care anymore if there was someone watching. Only a few moments passed before his phone chimed in the pocket of his jeans and his eyes widened as he let go of her hand and got up from the table to retrieve his phone. He read the message and put the phone back in his pocket before he looked back at her with a grin. "Ready for Phase Two of the best day-date you've ever had?"

"The only day-date I've ever had," she corrected with a laugh as she stood up and pulled her bag up onto her shoulder. Harry dropped some bills onto the table and grabbed her hand, pulling her back toward the much busier main street and he let go when they got near but he stayed very close to her side. They were just about to turn the corner when they heard Harry's name being called from somewhere behind them.

Both of them turned at the same time and she didn't realize how close the security guys were following but they had turned at the voices too. There was a group of four girls briskly walking toward them with huge smiles on their faces as they each dug into their pockets and purses for their camera phones. The security guys looked at Harry and he sighed, turning back to Asher. "I'm gonna talk to them for a bit, but we have to leave in..." He paused to look at his watch. "Seven and a half minutes. Remember that."

Asher nodded and Harry gave his men the okay to wait for them around the corner. She tried to follow and wait for Harry around the corner too but he grabbed her wrist and held her to the spot next to him, giving her a reassuring smile before he let her go. It was obvious just looking at the girls that they were trying their hardest to hold in their squeals. They all looked to be around fifteen or sixteen with the exception of the short one in the front, who might have been twelve, if that, and had silent tears streaming down her cheeks. They apologized profusely for interrupting and politely asked for photos. Two of them were definitely American and the other two were from somewhere else, Brazil probably if she had to guess by their accents. Asher gathered that the two sets of sisters were tumblr friends who both happened to be on family trips to London while she stayed silent and out of the way to give them some room as they took turns hugging him and getting their photos taken. She started to panic when the tallest of the four rounded on her until the girl grinned. "Wow, you're even prettier in person!"

"Oh!" Asher exclaimed, completely caught off guard. "Thanks, that's really sweet of you."

"I love your skirt! Where's it from?"

"A, um, thrift store back home." Now that she wasn't just Asher, but Asher, Harry's Styles's possible girlfriend (because that was as much as the world knew for certain), she felt uneasy about admitting that she shopped at Salvation Army and other stores like it. Ever since she started shopping for herself, she'd never been scared to say it, but now she was under careful scrutiny and subject to harsh judgment and she wondered if it was worth the trouble to say.

"You shop thrift stores?" the girl asked, her honey brown eyes widening in surprise. "So do I! That's so cool of you to admit. A lot of people look down on thrifting, which totally sucks because if you don't have the money to go to the popular stores, then people make fun of you for wearing secondhand."

Asher noticed the change in her tone and the way her face fell and she felt bad for her. She knew what it was like to be talked about because of the way she dressed and she felt sorry for the girl. "That's true, and it does suck a lot. But who cares what they say? Wear what you want. You don't want to be dressed just like everyone else anyway."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she nodded and after a moment, she smiled. "So you're from Florida right?"

"Yeah, Tampa. And Tallahassee through the school year."

"My aunt lives in Tallahassee! I live in Fort Lauderdale and I hate it. Worst city ever."

"I don't think it's specifically Fort Lauderdale," Asher decided. "I think it's Florida in general. That's why I came here in the first place. Just get away from Florida for awhile."

"Wise choice doing it in the summer. My family is only here for the week but when we were boarding the plane to leave, it was like 89 degrees. And our flight was at ten in the morning!"

Asher groaned. "I dread going home. I've gotten so used to the weather here."

"Ash?" Harry interrupted and when she looked over at him, he was smiling. "Sorry, we need to get going." He apologized to the group of girls for having to leave, but he promised to tweet the group photo that he'd had Asher take with his phone and then he hugged them all.

The girl Asher had been talking to turned back to her after she'd said her goodbyes to Harry and grinned. "It was so cool to meet you! Can I hug you too?"

"Oh, sure!"

"I hope you guys are dating for real," she whispered once she had Asher in an embrace. "He seems really happy and I think that's you."

Harry couldn't hear what the girl had said to Asher but the smile on her face when they pulled away made his heart jump in his chest and he couldn't help but smile too. He knew that Asher had been very apprehensive about fan encounters, considering the rough crowd a few days before and the really horrible things that a lot of them had been saying about her online, but all it would take was one positive experience to show her that it wasn't all bad.

He hoped that would be enough.