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Harry’s fingers elegantly glided over the pianoforte, his morose façade growing even more desolate as the shadows of his darkened room hooded over his face, a glass of scotch on top of the sleek black surface of his instrument. Lately, he couldn’t stop playing this song. The song he named after her.
“Well, someone was forcing me to give you a present,” he mumbled to her when she brought it up that day, and he sighed. He wondered if things would be different now if he had just told her he wrote every note with her in mind, and that he didn’t need the prompting of an annoying A.I. to offer it to her.
I was distracted and in traffic
I didn't feel it when the earthquake happened
But it really got me thinkin', were you out drinkin'?
Were you in the living room, chillin', watchin' television?
It's been a year now, think I've figured out how
How to let you go and let communication die out
It had been a year since they last spoke, the last time being when he carelessly disregarded her confession and told her he didn’t believe in love. He wasn’t entirely truthful to her, and Piu-Piu called him out on it so many times. The bloody bird could see clear as day what Harry left out; that he was afraid of what would happen in the future. He was scared that eventually, his eccentricity would drive her to the edge and she’d walk away from him, and whatever they had would come crashing down. So, he gladly accepted their present and forced her to be satisfied.
He never considered that she would be too hurt to go along with his antics this time.
I know, you know, we know you weren't
Down for forever and it's fine
I know, you know, we know we weren't
Meant for each other and it's fine
He didn’t even stop Piu-Piu when the bird eventually blocked him from communicating with her. He was just so upset by everything, upset with Piu-Piu for saying that separating them both was what was best for them, and upset with her for giving up too easily. He was trying, damn it! Could they not see that?! he thought angrily, banging his fists onto the keys, emitting a shrill sound. He was so caught up in his rage that he almost missed how the russet-colored alcohol swirled back and forth in the glass. His brows furrowed as he stared at it, the vibrations gradually increasing until he felt the floor start to shake, the scotch tipping down to the marble floor with a loud crash.
He caught his balance on the pianoforte and whirled his head around as the large doors of his room opened, Big Guy running frantically inside, his skin chalky and caked with sweat.
“Young Master, you’re being summoned. Hurry, it’s not safe!” Big Guy cried, escorting his charge immediately.
But if the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
You'd come over and you'd stay the night
Would you love me for the hell of it?
All our fears would be irrelevant
He stood stoically as he watched the television screen show a horrific sight; the sky burning red as a thousand comets littered it, growing bigger and bigger as it approached the Earth. His mother was clutching at his father’s arms with all her might, tears in her eyes. His father, ever the spitting image of him, tightened his jaw and looked up at him.
“There’s an underground bunker we can go to. The government has been preparing for this for quite some time and I secured our pass inside it. We need to go now,” His father said, leaving no room for nonsense. Harry stared back and blinked once, and then another…but the hundreds of flashing images of conversations dated a year in the past was all he could see.
He couldn’t do it. The thought of going somewhere safe while somewhere out in the world, the woman he let walk away from him would be swallowed up by this danger. The thought that in the event that bunker does keep his family alive, she wouldn’t was…
His body moved before his mind caught up to him, taking a step backwards and surprising everyone in the room, including himself. He stared at his parents apologetically before taking another step back, his entire being determined to turn this time.
“I’m sorry. I have to go somewhere,” he said, and he took off back to his room, where he left the one device that could help him. Big Guy tried to catch up but failed, his eyes sweeping down to the item he never thought his young charge would ever forget to bring with him.
“Young Master! You forgot your mask!”
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
The sky'd be falling and I'd hold you tight
And there wouldn't be a reason why
We would even have to say goodbye
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right? Right?
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right? Right?
Harry zeroed in on his phone and grabbed it tightly, his heart beating a mile a minute from a multitude of emotions so new, it exhausted him. If anyone knew how to find her, it was Piu-Piu.
“Piu-Piu, I need you,” he commanded, desperation leaking in his voice.
“Harry, what are you doing? You should follow your parents and go somewhere safe!” Piu-Piu cried.
“I’m not going anywhere until I find her first!” Harry replied, scrolling through the trail of texts he’d long forgotten in an effort to massage his ego and his heart, looking at the words like they might somehow hide the keys to her location.
“But Harry, you know I can’t do that. It’s not allowed to share any personal information,” Piu-Piu denied, though his voice sounded uneasy as well.
“There’s no way she’ll be able to find a place to hole out while this entire planet goes to shit!” He bellowed. “You know as well as I do that she’s going to die out there! I can bring her back!”
“But-but…I really don’t think…,” Piu-Piu trailed, his programming colliding with the emotions that his two favorite people managed to bring out of him as he evolved and absorbed their experiences.
Piu-Piu’s feathers quivered with fear as Harry glared daggers at him, something an AI bird thought impossible to induce, but he figured nothing was impossible to a man on a mission. “But Harry, I’m really not allowed to say any per—”
“Piu-Piu,” Harry said, his voice coming down low like a lion on the prowl. “Remember your goal?” he asked, and Piu-Piu immediately knew what he was talking about. After all, didn’t he repeat over and over again that he brought these two people together to prove that true love was possible? That true love exists? “Tell me and we get what we both want,” Harry declared, and Piu-Piu froze. “Yeah, you heard me.”
“Now tell me where she is.”
I tried to imagine your reaction
It didn't scare me when the earthquake happened
But it really got me thinkin', the night we went drinkin'
Stumbled in the house and didn't make it past the kitchen
Ah, it's been a year now, think I've figured out how
How to think about you without it rippin' my heart out
Harry drove like a madman in the crimson streets, his eyes darting around as he overtook cars left and right, Piu-Piu chirping out directions as he sped off. He had stupidly spent a minute and a half yelling at the poor thing when he finally revealed her location, and realizing that she was so near and yet so far.
She was near enough back then that if he had taken courage and threatened Piu-Piu sooner, he would’ve been right next to her. Now, however, she was too far for them to get to the bunker’s location in time.
Still, he had to try.
And I know, you know, we know you weren't
Down for forever and it's fine
I know, you know, we know we weren't
Meant for each other and it's fine
He was rounding a corner when Piu-Piu released a sharp squeal, sounding an alarm and yelling that Y/N was in a nearby building. He stopped the car and immediately went inside, dodging the people going up and down the stairs in panic.
Please, he begged in his head, calling out to all the stars he looked up to every night, wishing for something, anything, to turn back time. Please let me find her, and I swear I’ll rewrite all my mistakes.
But if the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
You'd come over and you'd stay the night
Would you love me for the hell of it?
All our fears would be irrelevant
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
Sky'd be falling while I hold you tight
No, there wouldn't be a reason why
We would even have to say goodbye
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
You'd come over, right?
You'd come over, you'd come over, you'd come over, right?
He kicked down the door of the roof access and looked around, initially not seeing anyone. He was beginning to lose faith and was about to yell at Piu-Piu for wasting their time and making a mistake when he caught sight of her, clothes covered in soot and her hair a little in disarray. She was clutching a little boy, probably about 3 or 4 by his size, and for a moment his heart broke, thinking she had moved on and was carrying a child she created with another man.
As if his inner thoughts called out to her in plea, Y/N looked to the side and her eyes widened, spotting his tall, unmistakable frame from where she was standing, the child in her arms sliding down to the concrete in the process.
Harry glanced at the child’s face and saw that the child looked nothing like her at all, and that, weirdly enough, if he squinted, looked a bit like him. Hell, the kid was even clutching a small horse stuffed toy in his hand.
He looked back at Y/N, who continued to stand there in amazement, shaking her head a little bit as if he was a mirage that would disappear if she turned away fast enough. He walked towards her, sirens and smoke going off in the distance behind him. He stopped in front of her, just staring at her, committing every detail of her face to memory.
I know, you know, we know you weren't
Down for forever and it's fine
I know, you know, we know we weren't
Meant for each other and it's fine
“Who’s that?” he asked, and he could hear Piu-Piu slapping his forehead in dismay. The bird then made a melodious sound and called the little boy to him, asking if he wanted to see something cool.
Y/N bit her lip and picked on the inside of her elbow, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden from the intensity in Harry’s eyes. “He was trapped inside one of the cars outside. I was trying to find his mom,” she said, before looking up. “Harry, what are you doing here?” she asked, and he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat immediately after the question.
He had a million things to say to her; how he was sorry for breaking her heart, how he broke his in the process, and that he was afraid of losing her and that due to that fear, he inevitably did. He wanted to tell her how not a single day had passed that he hadn’t regretted it and that she was the first thing he thought about from the moment he woke up till the second he closed his eyes for the night.
But there was no time. There was literally no time for long-ass speeches, and the world had no problems telling him that.
But if the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
You'd come over and you'd stay the night
Would you love me for the hell of it?
All our fears would be irrelevant
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
The sky'd be falling while I hold you tight
No, there wouldn't be a reason why
We would even have to say goodbye
Fortunately for him, he was never a man who could give speeches anyway. He has always been a man of action. And the fear that had plagued him for so long flew away as he raised his arms up and held her face in his hands so tenderly, tilting it up ever so gently that she couldn’t help but gasp.
He took advantage of the opening and swooped in, pouring all of his pent-up emotions, his long-hidden love searing through his lips and tongue. He kissed her languidly, his eyes closing automatically as he focused everything on her, and he felt her body give in to his warmth. Her arms slowly wrapped around his arms and his back, angling her head to the side to deepen the kiss they so desperately, finally caved.
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?
You'd come over, you'd come over, you'd come over, right?
They only pulled away when they lost their breath, and Harry gently placed his head on her forehead, sighing softly. They stared into each other’s eyes and Y/N saw in his gaze everything he couldn’t say…how sorry he was, how hurt he’d been, and how he was absolutely, irrevocably in love with her.
A tear streamed down her face as she smiled, her heart mending and breaking at the same time. Oh, how fleeting time was…
“Took you long enough to figure it out,” she said, using the last of the strength in her heart to give that humorous jab. He smiled apologetically back and kissed her on the forehead, holding her in his arms tighter, savoring every moment. He felt her words on her shoulder before he heard them, and he closed his eyes.
“I love you too, Harry. Thank you for finally finding me.”
If the world was ending, you'd come over, right?