duuuuuude you have GOT to come out tonight we're enacting cruelty upon those who have transgressed so badly that we can justify any act against them... and you KNOW we're interpreting our delight as moral righteousness... Yeah it's fucking crazyyyyyyy get an Uber
it is funny when I get asks like “haven’t seen grim in a while. is she okay?? is she dead? do you love her?” and then while I’m typing an answer, Grim is sprawled across my arm like this
Summary: Y/N is outgoing, Harry is shy. They become flatmates and don’t expect much. But shared silence, small routines and his unfinished music start to change everything.
———————
The flat was quieter than Y/N expected.
Not empty, there was the distant hum of traffic through the window, the occasional creak in the pipes like the building was still deciding whether it wanted to behave properly, but quiet in a way that felt intentional. Like it hadn’t yet chosen what kind of life it was going to hold.
Y/N stood in the middle of the living room with a half open suitcase at her feet and a mental list that already felt outdated; buy lamps, get groceries, pretend this isn’t overwhelming.
The walls were off white. The carpet had clearly given up years ago. The window let in pale afternoon light that made everything look slightly softer than it really was.
It wasn’t much. But it was hers now.
The key turned in the lock, Y/N looked up quickly.
The door opened slowly, like whoever was on the other side wasn’t entirely sure they were allowed to exist in the same space as her.
He stepped in first, Harry.
That was all she knew, name on the lease, scribbled neatly beside hers. He froze the second he saw her, one hand still on the door, the other holding two worn suitcases that looked like they had traveled more than he had.
“Oh,” he said.
Like he hadn’t expected another human being to be part of the deal.
Y/N blinked, then smiled immediately, easing the moment on purpose. “Hi.”
A pause.
He nodded a little too fast. “Hi. You’re Y/N?”
“That’s me.”
“Right,” Another pause. He looked like he was mentally checking a list no one had given him. “M’ Harry.”
“I figured” she said lightly.
That earned a flicker of something on his face almost a smile, but like it didn’t know if it was allowed to fully exist yet.
“Okay,” he said quietly, as if confirming reality.
The silence that followed wasn’t awkward exactly. Just unpracticed.
Y/N decided to fix that immediately.
“So,” she said, gesturing vaguely around the flat, “This is it. Our glamorous new lifestyle.”
Harry let out a small, surprised breath that might’ve been a laugh if it had been braver.
“Yeah, pretty luxurious”
“That’s the spirit!” she said.
He looked at her then, like he wasn’t used to people filling silence on purpose.
It made him even more interesting.
Harry picked up his bags again.
“I’ll take the room at the end of the hall, if that’s okay?”
Y/N nodded instantly. “Yeah, that’s fine. I’ve already mentally claimed the other one anyway.”
That got a real reaction, just a small one. His mouth twitched like he was trying not to smile.
“Good,” he said. Then after a beat, “I mean, not good. Just, efficient.”
Y/N grinned “We love efficiency.”
He nodded again, like he was relieved there was a system to this conversation now.
Then he disappeared down the hallway.
———————
The flat changed once Harry started moving through it.
Doors opened and closed softly. Fabric shifted. The low thud of belongings being set down carefully echoed through the walls like he didn’t want to disturb the building too much.
Y/N unpacked slowly, but not because she was overwhelmed, more because she kept pausing to listen to the soft hum of a melody that carried through the air.
There was music coming through the wall.
Faint. Uneven. A guitar, maybe.
It started simple, uncertain chords, like someone testing whether sound was safe in this new space. Then stopping. Then trying again, slightly different each time, like he was searching for something without knowing what it looked like.
Y/N stopped folding a shirt halfway through.
She listened properly now.
It wasn’t polished. It didn’t feel meant for anyone else. It felt like it was just, happening. Private, accidental honesty.
Then it stopped. The silence afterward felt heavier than before.
Y/N frowned slightly, then shook it off and kept unpacking.
———————
Later, they met properly for the second time in the kitchen.
Y/N got there first this time. She was already opening cupboards like she had a right to them, because she did and discovering they were mostly empty except for the bare minimum to keep them alive.
Behind her, she heard a careful pause in the doorway, causing her to turn around.
Harry stood there holding an empty mug. He looked like he had stopped moving the second he realized she was in the same room.
“Oh” he said again, softer this time.
Y/N smiled at him immediately, like it was her job to make this easier. “Hi again.”
“Hi” he replied, still standing in the doorway like it might be safer there.
She nodded toward the mug. “Tea again? That’s impressive for day one.”
“I uh, I didn’t really plan on having another.” he admitted.
“That tracks” she said warmly.
That got another almost smile from him.
He stepped inside slowly, as if the floor might have opinions about him.
Y/N leaned against the counter. “So, Harry are you always this quiet or am I just lucky?”
His eyes widened slightly. “I’m not, I mean, I can talk!”
“That’s good,” she said. “I was starting to worry I’d accidentally moved in with a very polite ghost.”
A pause. Then very quietly, he said, “I’d be a terrible ghost.”
That made her laugh, genuinely.
“Why?”
“I’d probably apologize too much” he said then immediately looked like he regretted saying it.
Y/N tilted her head. “That’s actually kind of adorable.”
His ears went slightly pink. “It’s not.”
“It is” she insisted.
He looked down at his mug like it had betrayed him. Y/N decided to ease off, just a little.
“So, Tea? Or is this more of a standing in the kitchen, being mysterious kind of thing?
He blinked at her before replying “Tea. Definitely tea.”
“Perfect,” she said “I approve of your life choices so far.”
That earned her a small, real breath of laughter from him this time, short, surprised, like it escaped without permission.
Harry placed her mug down carefully in front of her, fingers brushing the handle, then immediately retracting like it had burned him.
Y/N noticed. She didn’t comment. Not yet.
Instead, she just said “You know, you look like someone who apologizes when a chair makes a noise”
He glanced at the chair he was sitting on.
“I don’t do that”
Then, a few seconds later, more quieter he mutters “I might have done that once.”
Y/N smiled into her tea “I like you already.”
He looked up quickly “You do?”
“Yeah,” she said simply “You’re interesting.”
That seemed to unsettle him in a way he didn’t know how to process.
“I’m not really” he said.
“That’s exactly what interesting people say.”
He shook his head slightly “I don’t think that’s true.”
Y/N leaned back in her chair, studying him properly now.
He wasn’t confident. Not in the loud, obvious way in the careful way. Like he moved through the world trying not to take up too much space, even when he clearly had it.
“So” she says gently, “what do you do when you’re not apologizing to furniture?”
That got a real pause, before he speaks again.
“I work”
“Wow” she said. “Revolutionary.”
A small smile threatened again.
“I play guitar sometimes,” he added after a second.
Y/N perked up slightly. “I heard that earlier.”
He froze. “You did?”
“Yeah” she says casually. “Through the wall. It sounded kind of beautiful, actually.”
That made him go still in a different way, like he hadn’t expected that version of himself to be heard.
“It’s not finished” he said quickly.
Y/N tilted her head at him “So?”
He hesitated, then shrugged a little. “It’s just noise until it is.”
“That’s not true” she said softly.
He looked at her then, properly, like she’d said something that didn’t fit inside his usual way of thinking.
Y/N didn’t push. Just smiled a little and took a sip of tea like this was normal.
Harry looked down at his mug again, turning it slightly in his hands.
After a moment, he said, quieter than before.
“I usually don’t let people hear it.”
“Well,” Y/N said lightly “good thing I’m not people, then”
That earned her a startled look. Then finally, a proper smile, small, shy, real.
“Right” he said.
And this time, the silence between them didn’t feel like distance. It felt like the beginning of something neither of them had named yet, but both of them had already started paying attention to.
At the local hamburger shop and they said yelled out “order 167!” And three middle school age kids yelled in perfect unison “ 6 7!” Life is sometimes so beautiful
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