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With the barrier brought down, and Uma busy with Mal, Harry needed something new to hold his attention. Something sweet from Auradon to enjoy, to tuck into and spoil. He turned a corner in the confusing as all hell gardens, and like fate, like Fairy Godmother herself had plopped this down into his path, here was Harry’s new entertainment. His new toy. A pretty Auradon boy, perched on a bench, tucked away in the shadows, and reading a book. Hiding from the brand new celebration.
You. You had your nose buried in whatever you were reading, legs curled up towards your chest, folded all in on yourself. So absorbed in your book it was like you didn’t even know he was there. Damn, what a sweet thing you looked to be. Naturally, Harry flounced right up to you, using his hook to push your book shut, and nearly crowing in delight when you look up with big wide eyes. With that frightened look in your eyes, you look like a wee little dove. Adorable.
"You're from the Isle of the Lost! You're not supposed to be here-" Your voice is high, light and pitched with startled fear.
Harry just grins, leaning over you. "Didn't notice, did ye? Yer queen brought the barrier down. We can all go wherever we want now. Ain't that nice?"
Instead of responding to him, your gaze first shoots to the sky, where even from here you'd be able to see the glistening domed barrier and permanent storm that hung over the Isle of the Lost. After a moment, you look back at him, mouth just lightly agape. "When did that happen?"
"Oh, dovie, just now! Got to get your head out of those books, look up, talk to people." His smile grows wider, getting down to your level. "Show a guy around, yeah?" All you do is stare, before Harry grabs your wrist to pull you to your feet. “Well, c’mon then.”
You startle once again, with the flight response of a rabbit, before settling down. It seems that even though you’re rapidly experiencing shock over and over, you adjust very fast. Because you huff, yanking your wrist out of his grip. “The least you could do is say please.” With the frown on your face, you look like an angry kitten.
Harry loves that. The isle had been full of bristly angry people, constantly at each other’s throats or vying for a higher spot in the pecking order. But here was a soft, nice thing, who’d had a comfortable enough life that he felt safe enough to snap at Harry. So the pirate gives one of his dramatic bows, nodding at you. “Alright then, would you please be so kind as to show me around, darling?” Clearly, he’s still being a pedantic asshole, but from the dazed look melting across your face, you like it. Who knew so many Auradon kids had a thing for bad boys?
You screw your expression up though, wrinkling your nose and blinking hard. “Fine. Only because you said please.” Straightening up, you step next to him and dust off your pants. Harry has to grin when you hold one hand out to him, lacking the callouses and scars of someone from the isle. You're perfect. Absolutely wonderful. Harry's got his fingers entwined with yours, and you're towing him through the gardens, giving an animated lecture on every single plant or bush you pass; telling him what all of it is. The book under your arm is a botanical guide that you cling to. as you detail all of the lush gardens you pull him through. Harry hasn't seen any of it before. You tell him about trailing wisteria and wandering willows, rhododendrons and marigolds. Vibrant, colorful, wonderful things that could never grow on the isle. It's fantastic, and having you explain it all to him is even better. The isle had been grungy, with desperate people, filled with smoke and ash.
Auradon was... Auradon was everything the isle wasn't. If he wasn’t in public, Harry might let the memories overcome him. But instead, he was under a sprawling cloudless blue, and a garden that rolled on as far as he could see. He was utterly surrounded by beauty, from the earth beneath his feet to the sky above his head. All the way to you, the pretty boy holding his hand and introducing him to your world without even a second thought.
Three hours later, you’d taken Harry through the entire garden, circling all the way back to the alcove with the bench where you’d been originally. Everyone else was still celebrating, and you could hear the noise from your spot, but it was still blissfully, silently, wonderfully empty. Settling down onto the bench and curling up like Harry was no longer here, like now that you’d shown him around, he’d just prance right off and leave you behind. But he doesn’t. Before you can swing your leg up onto the bench, Harry plops down, mirroring your pout. “Just gonna leave me behind now, eh? I don’t get any more attention?” His voice is low, almost husky, trying to get a rise out of you. He's already decided that you're his. Decided that you with your heart on your sleeve and sweetness in your gaze, are his.
You blink. Then blink again. Processing. Slow on the uptake for this. Eyes widening as you realize. He wants to stay. Instead of going back to the chaos with all his friends, this energetic pirate looking boy wants to stay with you. The realization must wash over your face, because Harry uses his hook to slice a rose off one of the bushes, turning back to present it to you. After a moment, you do take it, carefully avoiding the thorns. With his gift accepted, Harry shifts closer, half teasing, but looking to see if you'll push him. Looking to see if you'll let him stay. And you do. You sit up, scooting into his side while opening your botany book. It's tilted in your lap so Harry can see the pages too, see illustrations and pictures of the things he'd seen in the gardens.
But you flip to another part of the book, voice soft with a softer smile on your face as you point to the page. "This section has plants from other parts of the world. I've never seen them before either." And Harry is drawn in immediately, focused on your voice as you read aloud, near lulled into a trance by the combination of your voice and your finger sliding across the page as you narrate. The world is so big, there's so much to see, and here you are, sharing it with him without a second thought. Perfect, you are. That's how the rest of the day goes, with Harry's head half propped on your shoulder, you reading aloud to him. A sweet boy from Auradon, sharing his world with a pirate from the isle, kind and gentle in a way Harry barely knows. You don't even know him and you've accepted him just as fast, so Harry's already decided he's going to be yours in whatever way you'll have him. He'll stay, so long as you agree to let him be here.