Written by: anniebeard on archive of our own

Posted on: March 22, 2018

Description: Harry finds something that Taylor wasn't ready for him to.

Official Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14061432#main

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Taylor stood silently in the doorway, watching her boyfriend as he sat on their couch doing a crossword puzzle. His brow was furrowed, and he looked adorably focused. He wore a light blue flannel paired with black jeans, a belt, and brown boots, which she always found weird, because she never wanted to wear jeans at home, but, you see, she wasn't complaining. He looked so attractive in such a simple outfit that it drove her mad. His hair was a complete mess, just begging to be played with. The window behind him presented the city of New York that they both loved so dearly, and she thought to herself that this was perhaps the best view of her life.

She stepped over to Harry quietly and joined him on the couch, moving to his lap and cupping his face to kiss him. "Hi," she whispered softly. He immediately kissed her back, losing his place in his crossword book, and eventually throwing it onto the floor.

"Hi," he whispered back, and they were already smiling into their kiss and almost missing each other's mouths like complete fools.

Her hands moved to his hair, and when Harry's eyes fluttered open for a brief moment, he saw an "HS" engraved on her left thumb, and his eyes widened. He gulped, and she was still kissing him and completely unaware, but he opened his mouth and whispered softly, "Hey, what's on your hand?"

She held up her right hand and turned it to the other side as well. "Nothing."

"No, your other hand."

She covered her thumb with a finger. "Nothing." She laughed nervously, and tried to kiss him again, but he wasn't dropping the subject.

Harry gently moved her finger away. All of his touches were always so gentle that it made Taylor weak. It was definitely a Harry thing, because she had never had a boyfriend who was so sexy and exciting yet so soft and sweet. "Did you...did you get a tattoo?"

She moved her face away from his slowly out of shame. "I...I, uh..."

"Wait, when'd you get this?"

"I went like, two nights ago. I dunno. I didn't tell you because I thought you'd be mad at me or something. I just didn't want things to be weird between us."

His voice was still so soft and smooth, and his head was tilted as he tried to understand her words. His fingers pushed a strand of light blonde hair out of her eyes. "Why do you think I would be mad?"

"I don't want you to be like, 'you're gonna regret it if we break up', or like, something like that. I just wanted it for myself." She let out a sigh and continued, "And I didn't want you to think you had to get my initials tattooed or something now. I don't know. I just, I know it's stupid - that's the thing. And I didn't want you to tell me how stupid it was."

Now Harry was frowning and softly stroking her cheek. He let out a sigh and began, "Hey, look at me, baby. I'm not mad. I hate that you thought I would be." Sometimes his heart broke thinking about how her ex-boyfriends had treated her in the past. She was often so fragile; apologizing for everything and questioning him if he were annoyed with her, even though he never was. She was now able to look into his eyes again; her heart rate had returned to normal and she felt safe and calm under his touch. "As long as you like it and are sure of it, what's the problem? It's...a compliment, more than anything."

Taylor let out a weak smile, and the butterflies in her stomach churned even minutes after the word "baby" left his lips.

"Now, tell me, did you cry? I have to know." He was smiling and was excited to hear her answer.

"I didn't. It wasn't so bad."

"I know, right? It's kind of cathartic, if anything."

Taylor was laughing now. "I think this is it for me, though. At least...for a long time. I don't wanna go overboard."

Harry pouted in an attempt to appear hurt, but quickly found himself unable to stop smiling and smirking. "I can't help but be offended. If you think there's such a thing as 'going overboard', you might be dating the wrong guy."

"No, not a chance. I like all of my boyfriend's tattoos. They're all very.. him." She smiled and kissed him again.

"You know, you've actually never told me which one's your favorite. I'm curious."

"I have a better idea." Taylor whispered seductively, "I can show you," as she unbuttoned his flannel and began to trace some of his tattoos. The shirt joined Harry's crossword puzzle book in a spot on their floor. Their skin almost touched if it weren't for the very thin fabric of her pink tank top, and it drove him crazy. She traced over every tattoo on his body. His eyes were closed and he felt weak under her touch. He knew she was enjoying having such control over him. "I think I'm gonna go with this one," she whispered as she touched the tattoo of the ship on his arm. "I remember the day you got it."

"That's a nice one," he replied softly. "That was a nice day."

"It was."

They kissed again. It was less heated now. It was soft and slow, yet not at all boring. They'd never told each other, but these were both Taylor and Harry's favorite kind of kisses.

They fell asleep on their couch that evening, too lazy to even move to the bedroom. Harry fell asleep first, and she stared at all of the ink on his chest as she watched it move up and down, and she realized that there wasn't any inch of him that she weren't madly in love with.

And Taylor eventually fell asleep that night too - with no regrets.