Be Your Everything

Harry, Alice, and Liam piled their bags onto the train with them. Only 2 other people were boarding at the same time, so it was easy to get seats at the very back of the train where no one would disturb them. Harry, who was wearing a hoodie and beanie again, and would slip some sunglasses on just before they arrived at the station, was seriously worrying. What if the press had somehow got wind of him coming home today? What if they were waiting for them at the station? He wasn't worried for himself, though. He knew that Alice just wasn't ready for the scary experience of being stalked by paparazzi.
Alice, on the other hand, wasn't thinking about that at all. She was excited to be going to London again. It had been years since she had left her tiny hometown. Without much of an inkling of just how famous Harry's band was she didn't know she had anything to be worried about. She began to play with the drawstrings on her pants as she thought. She'd been with her father when she was in London last and she was afraid that, when she visited the places they had (which was inevitable) that the feelings she had buried would come flooding back in a rush; her sadness, her grief. Big Ben was going to be the worst. They had spent a lot of time driving and walking past there because their hotel hadn't been far away and even stepping foot on the same pavement might break her into little pieces.
Harry breathed an audible sigh of relief when he looked out the window at the station and saw no cameras or notepads. He hauled his bag over his shoulder and made for the door, following behind Alice, who was following Liam. The boys would have offered to carry her bag for her but it was light and strapped to her back. Harry pulled on his hood to make it tighter - he was deathly afraid that someone would recognize him. Liam had an identical hoodie on with a cap underneath shielding his face from prying eyes.
After a quick, silent goodbye Liam hailed a taxi for himself and left to his own home where Danielle was waiting for him due to a text he had sent her, letting her know he was coming home. Alice anxiously followed a few steps behind Harry as he threw his bag and hers into a cab of their own. She didn't know how taking a cab worked in reality - she had seen it in movies but had never even seen someone catch one in real life, never mind herself.
"Are you worried?" Harry's quiet voice came from next to her. She continued to stare at the vehicle's floor as she thought.
"A little," she admitted with a small shrug. "I don't think ''worried is the right word. Maybe unsure about what it'll be like..."
"Me too. Definitely not worried though." He was watching her as inconspicuously as he could manage. He noticed the way her hair rippled slightly in the breeze from the drivers cracked window, the way she fidgeted with the sleeve of her grey jumper, the way her eyes flickered from one thing to the next as she looked out the window. Those blue eyes. They looked sad. When she was happy they would take on a bright, light blue and you could tell she wasn't faking. But when she was sad or said I'm fine, they would remain a dark blue. He'd quickly picked up just how terrible of a liar she was because of this. Wondering what had made her feel so sad, he noticed her head move a little and snapped his head back around so she wouldn't catch him staring. His eyes moved upward and caught the cab driver smirking at him in the rearview mirror. They exchanged a quick smile and Harry shook his head at himself. He knew he was digging himself a very big hole.

5 meters. Alice felt like she was going to throw up. 4 meters. Was she really doing this? 3 meters. She couldn't breathe. 2 meters. She was going to pass out. The door. Fuck. Breathe.
Her wide eyes followed Harry's movements as he swiftly unlocked the door. A musty, old smell reached her nose when she stepped inside. Evidently no one had been there in weeks.
Harry didn’t like the smell. It didn’t smell like his home anymore and he hated himself just that little bit more for ruining things. Why hadn’t he just kept his big mouth shut? Making a mental note to work on that, he dumped his keys on the kitchen table along with his bags.
Alice followed suit and watched as he opened curtains and windows all over the flat until there was dull light streaming in at every possible place. There was a crisp breeze filtering through the screens and causing her skin to break out in goose bumps. She hugged her jumper closer to her body.
“Just chuck your bag anywhere for now. I’ll help you unpack in your room soon.” Harry told her.
She gaped and it took her a few seconds to respond. “I have my own room?”
He nodded. “Too right you do. I won’t have you sleeping on the couch for the rest of your life.”
“I won’t be here the rest of my life-“
“You know what I mean,” he rolled his eyes and picked up his bags again, shuffling over to another door. Alice assumed this was his room. “What do you want for tea?” (A/N: tea means dinner for all you Americans)
“Err…” she fumbled with her words, unable to think of anything. “Something easy?” There was no way she’d let him cook anything for her on her first night there.
“How about we order in?” he agreed, sauntering back into the living room with his hands stuffed in pockets.
“What can we order though?” The only time Alice had ever ordered food to her bedroom had been when she had come to London with her dad and they had ordered room service. Scrambled eggs aren’t exactly extravagant.
“What do you like?”
She was stumped again. “These are the wrong questions to be asking me.” She giggled a little.
“What do you mean?” he frowned slightly and cocked his head to the side.
“Well… I’ve never actually ordered in before.” She confessed without looking him in the eyes. She felt strangely embarrassed about it.
“Oh,” he nodded absently. “Chinese?”
Biting her lip, Alice thought. She’d never had Chinese before. “Doesn’t sound too bad.” She reasoned.
“Chinese it is!” he clapped his hands in excitement. “Are you allergic to anything?”
“Bees,” she answered automatically, colouring slightly when she realized what had happened. “I mean… not that that has anything to do with food…”
Harry’s loud laughter filled the room and suddenly she felt much warmer. “No, I don’t think it does!”
He noticed straight away that she was already beginning to relax. He was glad. Seeing her upset was no fun because she just looked so… innocent. Her eyes were starting to take on a lighter shade of blue.
“Alright, let’s go see the damage in your room then,” he proposed and led the way. It was the second door down the hall, the bedroom next to his. His flat was big, but not enormous so there was only one short hallway and all that had were the doors to the bathroom and toilet, which, unfortunately, were in different rooms to each other. The kitchen and living room were in the same area, separated only by his dining table.

- - -

A/N:
Just for visual, this is what I imagine the apartment to look like-
Living room & kitchen.
Alice’s (or spare) bedroom.
Harry’s bedroom.
Bathroom.
Toilet.

- - -

Harry had promised himself fairly on in his career that he wouldn’t get an obnoxiously large house because he didn’t want the fame or money to go to his head. He wanted to stay him. So he had rented out this modern, not-to-small apartment in the middle of London.
Alice couldn’t believe her eyes. This bedroom was much more sophisticated than her own but she found herself missing the pictures that had been stuck to her mirror in her old room, the height chart that had been carved into the doorframe, the green handprint she had left when she was younger that Liz just hadn’t had the heart to remove. No. No, this was perfect for her now. She mustn’t think about the past. That wouldn’t end well at all.
“Is it alright?” Harry asked anxiously. He didn’t really understand why he felt the need to impress her - it’s not like she had anywhere else to go – but the kink in his stomach wouldn’t let up.
She turned to him, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “It’s perfect!”
And then she threw herself at him.