Work Text:
"Wakey wakey, Ron." Harry's voice floated in through the door but it only prompted the ginger man to pull his duvet up just that little bit more snugly around his head.
"Leave me alone. It's my birthday." He muttered. All he wanted for his birthday was to be allowed to hide in his bed and avoid seeing pretty much everyone. The only thing that he wanted to see at all that day was the underside of his duvet.
"You can't spend all day in bed!" Harry's protest came from almost directly over him, but Ron didn't dare steal a peek. He knew that if he did then there was a chance that he would crumble and honestly he didn't think that a day of crying was at all what he needed.
"I think I can do what I want," Ron said quietly. The family would blame his anti-social behaviour on the fact that he was out last night, and that seemed like a better idea than them finding out the truth. They couldn't know that the reason that he was moping around in bed was that he was sick of seeing Harry with Ginny. He supposed that if anyone worked that out, he could just blame it on jealousy that the two of them were even in a relationship in the first place, especially after his relationship with Hermione had crashed and burned so horrifically, but he knew that today he was feeling fragile. Today he just needed to protect himself from feeling anything.
Harry seemed to have other ideas, however, as the next thing that he knew was that the covers were being pulled back. "What's going on with you?"
Ron tried to snatch the covers back but it was too late. He could see Harry now, those green orbs staring at him as if he had grown another head overnight.
"Get out!" He exclaimed as he got to his feet, backing away from Harry. He knew his inhibitions were down and the last thing that he needed then was to let his emotions take over as they so badly wanted to. "Just get out."
"Ron..?" Harry asked slowly, now doing the exact opposite of what Ron needed him to and taking a step towards him instead.
And that was it. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Ron could feel the hot tears that were feeling his eyes and rolling down his cheeks now, but he couldn't stop them and he couldn't stop the words that then tumbled out of his mouth.
"I can't do this. You can't stay here any more. You need to leave. Leave my room and leave my house."
He could just about make out the look of alarm on Harry's face. He knew that he www being harsh and he knew that Harry didn't exactly have anywhere else to go but this set-up was killing him.
"Ron.." Harry's voice was a lot softer than Ron needed it to be. He needed Harry to be angry at him, somehow that felt like it might have made things easier, but that just wasn't the case.
"I can't keep seeing you every day. I can't keep seeing you with her. It hurts more than she's my sister." Ron managed to take a breath. "Merlin! My sister… This is bullshit."
"Me being with Ginny isn't a new thing…" Ron could hear the frown in Harry's voice, his confusion, but his thoughts weren't making sense to him so he doubted that he would make much sense to Harry at all.
"I can't keep doing this! I can't keep kissing strangers and pretending that they're you!" It was out in the open before Ron even had a chance to stop it and he watched as the words passed through the air to Harry.
And he watched in horror as Harry visibly took a step backwards.
"Fuck." Ron breathed after what felt like an impossibly long time, during which he had wanted to run away but his feet had not wanted to cooperate. "You need to go."
"Ron...we need to talk about this." Harry pushed the subject, which he didn't appreciate. He didn't think that talking about this was a good idea anyway, especially when he didn't seem to have any control over his own body or his own emotions.
"We don't. You need to leave. Just get out!" He was yelling now, which he didn't mean to do, but he couldn't seem to help it at all.
"Ron." Harry remained calm somehow and took a couple of steps towards Ron who felt as if he was about to explode. He could feel himself vibrating with anger about how he was handling all of this, but all he seemed to do was direct it at Harry.
"Are you deaf?! I said get out!"
Harry stared at him for a long time, during which neither of them moved again, before he spoke, his demeanour still calm in a way that made Ron even more furious. How could he be okay with this?
"Why do I need to leave?" Harry asked slowly, those green orbs of somehow managing to ground Ron, even if it was only for a moment.
"Because I love you and I can't breathe when you're here." The words sounded broken, yet they were still some of the clearest words that Ron had ever spoken. "Because I love you and it's killing me. Now please, give me this one birthday wish and leave me alone."
"After this birthday present," Harry whispered before he closed the remaining distance between them and pressed his lips against Ron's. It only lasted for a second and then Harry was gone, leaving Ron to collapse to his knees right there in his bedroom.
This was far from one of his best birthdays, and yet… that kiss was everything he could ever have asked for.