Crap Tea and Cuddles

Piper’s eyes flitted from the screen of her laptop to the lump next to her in her bed. Said lump let out another sniffle, then heaved a deep sigh before rolling over and catching her gaze.

A little less than an hour ago, Piper had been revising the notes she had taken in her Philosophy class the previous day when her mobile rang out loudly and interrupted her scholastic kick. When she accepted the call, a stuffy and slightly disoriented Harry explained to her through whines and whimpers that he was sick and needed her to take care of him.

“But your bed is so much more comfortable than mine,” he had drawled out, his voice thick with phlegm. “And you make such good tea. Please, Pippy?”

Piper had slept in Harry’s bed quite a few times, and she could safely say that the mattress that he had spent a rather obscene amount of money for was much more comfortable than the one she had given Glenn from down the hall seventy-five pounds for. And she also knew that her tea tasted like absolute shit.

Despite all of that, she still ended up giving in to Harry’s pleading and agreed to take care of him.

And that was how she ended up in the position she was in now: forced to the very edge of her bed, in danger of falling off at any moment, because her sickly friend took up a majority of the mattress with his lanky limbs, scrolling through her Tumblr dashboard and listening closely to make sure Harry was still breathing through all of the mucus in his system.

“Pippy...I’m thirsty.”

Piper nearly rolled her eyes at how utterly childish Harry sounded. “Would you like me to get you some water? Or maybe some juice?”

“No, I want tea.”

The eyeroll could not be held back any longer.

Piper snapped her Macbook closed and set it down on her bedside table before rising up from her mattress. After slipping her feet into her bunny slippers and wrapping herself up in the cardigan she had discarded on the floor near her bed after arriving back home from picking Harry up from his house, she stretched her arms above her head and let out a yawn.

“Okay, I’ll go make you some tea. While I’m doing that, you come up with a movie that we can watch when I come back, alright?” she said as she reached out to brush Harry’s hair off of his forehead.

He let out a content sigh and nodded his head feebly.

With a smile and the reassurance that she would be back shortly, Piper set off for the small kitchen of her flat.

Making proper tea was one of the few things that Piper considered to be a major pain in the neck. She rarely made it for herself, seeing as by the time the brewed tea made it into her mug, she had completely lost her craving for it. In fact, the only person she ever really made tea for was Harry.

After filling the kettle with water and setting it down on the cooker, she retrieved her tea leaves from the cupboard, as well as a mug.

When she was a young girl, no older than eleven years old, her mother decided that her daughter needed to learn how to make a proper pot of tea because ‘it was a skill that every woman needed to possess.’ Despite all of her mother’s attempts to instill this skill in her, Piper could not make a good cup of tea to this day.

When the bothersome task of preparing Harry’s tea was complete, Piper just knew that she hadn’t let it steep long enough, nor had she put enough honey in it. She had successfully made yet another shit cup of tea.

“I’m warning you now,” she announced as she shuffled through the door of her bedroom. “This tea is terrible.”

Slowly and with a rather exaggerated show of effort, Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position. Once he was comfortably leaning against the headboard of the bed, he reached out his hands for the mug in Piper’s hand.

“Remember, you asked for this,” she said before handing the tea over.

Harry shook his head, then brought the mug to his lips. After taking a long sip, he let out satisfied ‘ah’ and pulled his lips up into a weak smile. “Perfect, as always, Pippy,” he mumbled.

“Full of shit, as always,” Piper teased, returning his smile. “Now move over, you bugger.”

Harry did as he was told and scooted over to make room for her on the bed.

“So what movie did you pick out for us to watch?” she asked once she had settled in.

“I put it on top of your computer,” Harry said, lifting his free hand in a feeble attempt at pointing to her laptop. “‘S Monsters Inc..”

Piper smiled at his choice in movie, finding that he chose a children’s film absolutely adorable. Not that she would tell him that and miss out on the chance to tease him.

“You truly do become a full-grown child when you’re ill,” she chuckled, reaching out to pinch his cheek.

“I told you about pinching my cheeks!”

Harry scowled and swatted at her pinching fingers, which only made her laugh harder.

“But they’re so cute and pinchable! I just can’t help it,” she goaded, pinching his cheek again for emphasis. “Those dimples are simply irresistible.”

“And you’re simply annoying me right now.” Harry gave her hand another smack before heaving a loud sigh and rolling his eyes. “‘Sides, you’re the one who owns the movie. If anyone’s a full-grown child, it’s you.”

“Oh, don’t be such a grump. I was just messing with you.”

All that she got in reply was a ‘hmph’ and another eye roll.

“Alright, alright. I’ll put the movie in and quit my teasing,” she grumbled with an eye roll of her own. “You’re so moody sometimes, my God.”

It was quiet, aside from the occasional sip of tea from Harry, while Piper set up the movie on her laptop.

As the opening credits began dancing across the screen, she couldn’t help but dance around a bit to the jazzy music playing.

From beside her, Harry chuckled quietly, “You’re an odd one, Pippy.”

Piper stuck her tongue out in reply, causing Harry’s chuckles to turn into full-blown laughter.

“You better stop making fun of me, sickly boy,” Piper scolded teasingly, reaching out to pinch Harry’s cheeks. “Or else I won’t play nurse for you.”

Harry’s eyebrows raised as a cheeky smile pulled at his lips. “Mm, wouldn’t want that to happen.”

It took a moment for Piper to catch on to what he meant, but once she had, her mouth dropped open and she reached out to punch Harry’s arm. “Harry Edward Styles, you lewd boy! I should wash your mouth out with soap or something. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I’m kidding!” Harry reached over to grab hold of Piper’s swinging fist before it hit him again. “I’m just kidding, Pippy.”

Piper rolled her eyes and shook her head, trying her best to hide the smile that was desperate to take over her lips. “Like I said, you’re a lewd boy.”

After the two were done teasing each other, they quieted down and focused on the movie playing on the screen of the laptop in front of them. As the movie continued on, they got more comfortable, eventually ending up snuggled up with each other.

The last thing Piper recalled seeing before drifting off to sleep was Boo wandering around the Monsters Inc. factory in the monster costume that Sulley and Mike had made for her.

The next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake.

“Pippy, wake up. The movie’s over,” Harry whispered, giving her shoulder another firm shake.

With a loud groan, she rolled over to face him. “Mm, ‘m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Do you wanna watch another movie?”

Harry shook his head and let out a small noise of disapproval.

“What do you wanna do then?” Piper asked with a quiet chuckle.

Harry moved in closer and slung an arm across her middle. “Go to sleep. ‘m sleepy,” he mumbled.

“Good, ‘cause so am I.”

Piper slipped out of Harry’s grip and retrieved her computer from underneath of the blankets on the bed, then powered down the machine. Once she was sure that it was off, she set it down on her bedside table before reaching out to turn off the lamp sitting on the table, leaving the room pitch black.

“Alright, move over and let me have some space on my bed,” she grumbled while trying to push Harry to the other side of the mattress. “You take up so much room for such a lanky boy.”

Harry let out a noise that was a cross between a gasp and an indignant ‘hmph’. “I am not a lanky boy. I have muscles, y’know.”

“You can still be lanky and have muscles, y’know.”

“You’re insufferable sometimes, Pippy.”

Piper giggled to herself as she situated herself behind Harry, wrapping her arms around him and making herself the ‘big spoon’. Harry snuggled into her and once he was comfortable, let out a happy hum.

The two laid in silence for a few minutes until Harry spoke up, his voice coming out in a hushed whisper. “Thanks for taking care of me, Piper. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Harry,” Piper whispered back as a smile spread across her face. “Anything for my best friend.”

Harry turned his head to grin back at her, and she took the opportunity to lean in and kiss his cheek. The smiles on both of their faces grew as she pulled away, and they just stared at each other until Piper stuck her tongue out at him again.

“Now turn back around so I can properly cuddle you, lanky and lewd boy,” she murmured.

Harry sighed heavily at her teasing, but did turn around to allow her to cuddle him.

“Can you play with my hair?” he asked after a couple minutes. “It feels really good when you do.”

Piper bit her lip to hold in the coo that she so desperately wanted to let out over how childish and adorable Harry sounded. “Sure, Har,” she said instead before reaching out to brush his hair off of his forehead.

The quiet returned as she ran her fingers through Harry’s soft curls and his breathing evened out as he was lulled to sleep by Piper’s nimble fingers sliding through his hair.

Even after Harry had drifted off to sleep, Piper continued to play with his hair as she listened to his phlegmy snores. She did this until her own eyes began to droop and she couldn’t fight off sleep for much longer.

With a content sigh, she leaned over to kiss Harry’s cheek again. “Night, Harry,” she mumbled before snuggling into him and letting sleep overtake her as well.