Bubble Gum
prompt here (this is a great blog! Follow it! ---> @otpprompts ) (High School or College) Person A(Harry) asks for gum from Person B(y/n). B says that they will, if A does the dare on the wrapper. A promises to and the dare was to confess to their crush. A is reluctant to, but they promised. B pesters A about it for a few days because A keeps putting it off. Finally, A says they’ll do it when they have a class together. At the end of the day, B walks with A out of the classroom asking if they did it yet. A says that it’s the only thing they need to do before going home. A gets nervous and says they can’t. B encourages A and asks what they’re afraid of. A responds without thinking that they’re afraid it’ll ruin their friendship. How B responds is up to people.
Enjoy!
-- Bubble Gum --
It was a normal sunny day on campus, just like it had been the weeks before. Finally good weather was hitting London and people felt like they could breathe in and enjoy a nice day out without much chance of rain, a thing that was practically a miracle.
Obviously this wasn’t the case for everyone in the town; as per usual, students were always on a rush, having to drink endless amounts of caffeine to keep themselves from falling apart during midterms and making deadlines, and so the campus was busy and alive, with people running around here and there, trying to make it to their classes or the library or their jobs. It was a nice atmosphere nonetheless. People rushing into hallways with piles of books, in between which you could find Harry, with his heavy backpack and disheveled hair, worrying he was running late and with a sour taste at the tip of his tongue.
Just a few minutes before, he had stumbled into his pal Niall and stolen a sip of his coffee to try and wake himself up before the boring Psych class he was about to face, except, of course, Niall liked his beverage just how Harry hated it. It woke him up, for sure, with how bad the taste was and how much he wanted to just scrape his tongue rid of the nasty flavour.
Rushing into the classroom he found it half empty, and to his luck, the teacher’s chair as well. With a quick once-over the room, he spotted just what he was looking for. And so, Harry found himself stomping up the steps of the big classroom, making his way to the top row where his friend y/n was sat with her messy bun atop her head and a cozy oversized sweater, surely his, that shielded her from the unforgiving A/C the lecture room seemed to always have on. She greeted him with a bright smile right after popping her bubblegum bubble, but before she could say anything he was letting his bum down on the chair next to hers and sticking his hand out in her direction. “Yeh got more gum?” “Uhh…yeah” she thought back to the amount she’d gone through already and did the quick math that yes she did have some more. “Please” he started with a look of annoyance on his face and moving his mouth in a way that made it seem like he was trying to get rid of something from his tongue, something gross at that. “Niall gave me a sip o’his coffee and it had coconut milk… I hate coconut milk. Need the taste off” his fingers bent in, back and forth, urging her to help his case as more and more people strolled into the cold classroom.
In the years she’s known Harry she’s learned how much he’s into the healthier things and strange organic products, all except for coconut milk, he just couldn’t get behind that, could not even give it a whiff, so after hearing what had happened earlier she felt for him. “Sure, you poor thing” she mocked him as he rolled his eyes. Reaching inside her bag she digs around for the small package, and it isn’t until she’s pulled it out that she realizes she still has a pack of that weird gum that comes with the dares inside. With a giggle she shows them to Harry who’s still desperately trying to forget the horrid taste. A small laugh escapes his lips as he spots the brand she’s displaying at him. “Really? How old are yeh, ten?” It’s the mockery in his tone that makes her pout, immediately moving her arm out of Harry’s reach and keeping him from grabbing a much desired stick of mint gum. “Fine then…” His face is confused at her actions and her head shakes along with strands of loose hair that frame her face carelessly “No gum for you mister” “What? Come on! Please!” But she continued to pout comically. She was unbelievable, Harry thought as he rolled his eyes. “Ok, yeh really are ten years old. Just pass the gum before-” and just his luck, the teacher walked in slowly, making his way to his desk to settle everything before the class began and Harry whined under his breath. “You can have the gum…” y/n murmured so as not to be caught in the silence that settled immediately after the teacher’s arrival, even though the old man had yet to say a word and set up his notes and display. “If you do the dare inside” Y/n was short of clapping like an excited 4 year old at their birthday party when they realize the huge gift in the corner is for them, and it’s something they’ve been asking for years now… However many of those 4 he could talk proper during.
With another roll of his eyes, Harry agreed – promised, even – that no matter what it was he would do it for the sake of getting that sweet minty freshness in his mouth right this moment, laying his hand on the table for her to give him the gum as he payed fake attention to the old man about to start his lecture. Something about cognitive lord knows what was displayed on the projector and Harry vaguely remembers reading about it in the lecture notes – that were meant to be at least skimmed through before class – and he’s sure y/n already knows more about it because of course she probably read all the way through to the final chapter of the semester ahead of time. The feeling of her fingers on his open palm bring him back from his thoughts and into reality, which sadly meant his tongue still tasted the terrible coconut milk of Niall’s brew. Y/N was giggling lowly next to him and he couldn’t understand why, but all he cared about was popping the gum in his mouth and letting out a short moan-y grunt as he bit into it and it washed away the horrid flavour. Reaching her hand over, y/n showed Harry the words printed on the paper.
Dare: Confess to your crush.
“Come on!” y/n edged on as she walked inside Harry’s dorm after him. “No way” he bit back rolling his eyes as he let his body crash on his bed. Y/N had been pestering him about the dare since the moment they stepped out of class that morning, and it was currently 4pm and here she was, still nagging, and all he wanted to do was for her to drop it but apparently she wouldn’t any time soon. “Besides” Harry interjected, thinking up exactly how to escape the whole situation “I don’t have a crush on anyone, so…” y/n sat up from the Niall’s mattress on the other side of the room. “Liar!” She barked. “I know you do! I’ve known you for years, and I know when you like someone! It’s my best friend intuition” she smiled triumphantly at her sound logic making Harry scoff as he rubbed his tired eyes. Two tests in the span of 3 hours, he was ready to call it a day. “Well your best friend intuition is a bit wonky because I don’t like anyone” he flipped the covers of his bed and lay underneath them hoping she’d catch the drift that he was done with the topic. “I know you like someone” “I don’t-” “You told me you do!” Harry peeked from under his blanket with a confused look on his face. “A while back at that party? You were drunk and told me there was someone you started liking a lot” y/n whined sitting by his body on his bed and tugging at his arm. He was fucked. Harry rolled his eyes and groaned “See? You do like someone” He didn’t remember shit from that night, but now he wouldn’t get out of this bullshit as easily with y/n proudly sat on the information that Harry indeed had a crush on someone. “Fine, I like someone” he admits dejectedly making y/n squeal. “But I’m not telling her I like her” “Nu-uh! That was the dare and!-” she piped before Harry could interrupt “you promised you would do the dare!”
As usual, Harry was faced with y/n’s big puppy eyes that he’s not managed to learn how to be invulnerable to. “Fuck’s sake y/n, fine! I’ll tell her!” Even though y/n’s happy cheer makes him smile, he knows his in big trouble. “Are yeh gonna let me sleep now?” “Yes, sir” As she goes to get up, Harry makes grabby hands at her, taking hold of her shirt and pulling her to his frame as he whines softly, and she catches the drift. Letting him sleep didn’t mean she had to leave; in fact he really enjoyed whenever she could crash for a couple hours, and she really enjoyed Harry’s cuddles – no matter how hard it was for Harry to get her to admit it – he knew she did.
He didn’t know how he managed but the week had almost gone by completely with him getting away with not confessing to his crush. Harry wasn’t sure how much longer y/n would take his simple excuses and he thanked heavens for her busy schedule that kept her from sticking to him the whole day through just to make sure he talked to her. ‘Did you tell her?’ He read the text message y/n had sent him while they studied in the library, and with a roll of his eyes he looked up from his notes and gave her a blank, annoyed expression. ‘you promised’ she chimed back via text, and again, Harry sighed. Why does she want him to do this so bad? Exasperated, he thinks over and over that he can’t do this, but y/n will not stop asking. He grabs his phone and texts her a quick ‘fine. I’ll do it today, when we have a class together’ looking up in time to see y/n give him a thumbs up and an excited smile before picking back up on his reading for his chemistry class not knowing why he had given her an specific time frame, now he was surely screwed.
He sighed reading over the same words. Confess to his crush. That was such a ten year old dare, and yet here he was, unable to accomplish it. He peered up from his textbook to silently and secretly look over at y/n in front of him, from under hooded eyes. She was smiling softly, quietly reading a book for her history report, and focused on understanding every event and memorizing the important dates, and Harry soon found himself focused on trying to figure out how her cheeks were always the rosiest, cutest tint he had ever seen, and memorizing the way strands of her soft hair fell in front of her face. Her delicate fingers reaching over just to pull them back messily. He couldn’t confess to her that a few months – almost half a year ago – he’d found himself thinking she was extremely beautiful and itching to have her close and hold her for a lot longer. Wanting to kiss her. His best friend.
Looking down to his notebook he started to doodle along the edges of the paper, mind occupied thinking if he would be able to do it. To tell her at the end of the day. He ran over the possible outcomes. All of them ending with terrible news for their long friendship, or with her feeling awkward and out of place, and he was filled with anxiety once more. How could he tell her she was all he thought about for the past few months, and more so the past week with her pushing him to complete this dare. He already had enough torture pinning after her and yet being the one to cheer her up during stressful nights, run his fingers through her hair cause it soothed her, and cuddle with her when he took naps, and telling her he loved her, all those things he got to do, in a light a little less bright than the one he wanted to have.
He wanted to hold her at night in a different way, play with her hair and call her beautiful, kiss her blushed cheeks and her lips, and cuddle with her every chance he got, in a different way.
He wanted to tell her he loved her in a different way, and hopefully get an I love you back.
He’d began dreaming of it and he knew eventually his feelings would catch up to him and he wouldn’t be able to continue being just friends with her, but he had hoped he’d have to worry about that when the time came, and not now, not at her own timing and with her begging him to tell his crush that he liked them. Not when she was so oblivious that Harry fancied her, that it could only mean she didn’t fancy him back. Not when Harry knew he didn’t have a single chance.
But a promise was a promise, and he always kept his promises to her, and his resolve was coming to an end with y/n pushing and pushing and pushing. So when he walked out of his last class of the day, y/n in tow chirping about if he had talked to the girl or not, he grabbed her hand before she could say anything more and started walking in the direction of her dorms. Confused, y/n followed in silence. Maybe he was taking her to his crush so she could witness the whole thing, and be there when hopefully her best friend got himself a date. She felt giddy thinking about it, already happy for him in a way.
When they reached her dorm, they walked all the way to her room, her roommate luckily gone to class or something else. “ok? so?” “I… I can’t do it” He stuttered. “What? Come on Harry, you pro-” “Don’t give me that you promised thing again, please” He couldn’t take it. He knew every time she said it, she was guilt tripping him a little bit, and he hated not keeping his promises to her, and she knew that. “I can’t do it and that’s it.” “Why not?” “Because…” he hesitated “Because I really care for her… yeah? And I care about my friendship with her. And this would… This would ruin it completely” “What?! Of course not! If she’s your friend then that could only make it so much better!”
Harry should have immediately read into that, she was so lost, she didn’t get it, catch his drift or anything. Nothing.
Harry already imagined this would be horrible, but his patience had run out and he was not going to be able to live through another day like the last week had been. So he stood tall, hopeful, and sighed, blurting the words out without another thought, much like ripping a band-aid, except this felt like ripping duct tape off his arm and taking all the little hairs with it. “Fine… I… y/n, I like you…” There was silence and even though it wasn’t long, to Harry it felt like years. “what?” She whispered, shocked-stuck in place. Was Harry joking? Was he for real? What was this? She didn’t know, she couldn’t fully understand and the smile on her face was something Harry read as an awkward smile, sending him to a spiraling anxiety once more. “Ok, yeah… I like you.” “Harry… I-” “You don’t” he finished for her, and laughed embarrassed, playing with his rings in a nervous tic, after she softly shook her head no. “Yeah…” he scratched his chin “Well… Dare completed” once more he laughed one of those painful shy laughs of his, not knowing where he stood.
It was like he was lost, her room felt different, he felt different. There was something that he couldn’t place, like he’d never been in her room, standing there in front of her bed, before, and no matter how comforting her make-up clean face was – a face he’s known for years and that has been his safe place for so long, there, standing with his sweater engulfing her just how it gives him butterflies – the whole atmosphere felt nothing like ripping a band-aid, or duct tape from his arm. It felt like ripping a stitch from a recent surgery. And then it hit him, he knew exactly what it was.
It was his heart he was feeling, torn and out of place.
“Harry I… I didn’t know… I’m sorry... I-I’ve been pushing all week and I… I didn’t… Harry-” “No, no” he shook his head smiling, putting his hands up to stop her rambling, trying to fake everything was ok. Maybe it was ok and it was just him that didn’t know how to react. He should be okay, right? He saw this coming. “It’s not your fault okay.” “But, Harry-” She tried interjecting. She was so sorry. Y/N felt like she needed to apologize for not returning his feelings or for making him so stressed or something. Anything. And he looked so... dejected, and with reason. “Jesus” he sighed “It’s fine y/n. I like you like that… and you don’t like me, like that…” he chuckled “it’s fine… We’re fine, we…” he stopped and bit his lip, then he hissed shortly, inhaling through gritted teeth, “We’re fine, right?” “I don’t know what to- I’m... so sorry I…” y/n stood there, hands hidden in the sleeves of the sweater as she felt her back giving out from so much tension. She didn’t like him, why? She wondered. She wondered what she was to say, or to do, but for once Harry made her lost for words, and not in the way she now knew Harry hoped. “We are fine” he decided, ending the interaction and the discussion, and nodded smiling at her, dimples on display but eyes tired and dark. “phew” he sighed with a laugh “Okay… so I’m going to go now, but!” He put a finger up when he saw her try to interrupt “we’re okay. We can do like nothing happened, right? We’re fine.” He wasn’t sure if he was assuring her of anything more than he was trying to assure himself this was okay, he was going to live and so would their friendship. If he said it enough times, it would be a reality, and he didn’t care if it took him all he had, he was going to make sure they were fine. “Yeah” y/n whispered softly when she saw the chance to finally speak, not like she had anything to add or knew what to say “And I will be seeing you tomorrow at the library. Kay? We have to study for that Chemistry test” Harry continued like she hadn’t muttered a word, busing himself with the task of picking up his backpack, and walking over to leave her dorm, he lay a kiss on her forehead like he’s used to doing when saying goodbye to her, and strutted out the door, smiling and with a hop in his steps, closing the door after himself.
He was fine. They were going to be fine and this could all be forgotten and left in the past. He didn’t remember a single time he had argued or fought with y/n, because they always forgave each other and quickly, all the bad times, he tried and succeeded to erase from his brain. So there was no memory of them ever being something less than the best of friends. This would be no exception. This would be forgotten like all the little insignificant times something’s happened between them.
He was fine. Maybe he felt like he needed a drink, or ten, but he was fine.
And his heart would be fine, eventually. It had to be. So Harry made sure to add an extra skip to his walk, because nothing had happened and everything was normal and no matter how embarrassed he felt, how much he was dying to beat himself up for confessing and potentially fucking shit up, he would be fine.
No matter how much his heart ached and he could hear it beating in his ears, the good thing was his heart was still beating, right? Even when it felt like it had stopped the moment he walked in his dorm and closed the door behind him.
He placed a hand on his chest. Yes, there it was. Still beating. Like their friendship.
He was fine.
It was all a big scare and by tomorrow it would feel like a big dream or a suspense-filled nightmare, and he was fine. “I’m fine” he said to the air, laying on his bed and patting his cheeks dry from the few tears he had absentmindedly let fall. He cleared his throat and decided to call it a day, snuggling into his covers.
“I’m fine, we’re fine” he muttered, and he knew this was his new mantra.
Feedback is greatly appreciated! Please! I saw that prompt a while back (that blog I got the prompt from is so awesome. Go to it whenever I have a writer’s block so I recommend to all my fellow writers to check it out!) and decided to write it and it took me a while and I didn’t know where I wanted it to go until a few minutes before writing the ending and I’m kinda happy I wrote it that way and can’t wait to hear what you all think :)
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Smooches, Iv. xo.
