random ask prompt: roxy needs a hug and harry awkwardly supplies it
<3 I hope you enjoy darling~
“Good work as always, Lancelot,” Harry praises as their debrief concludes.
Roxy nods, serious as ever, but uncharacteristically stays seated.
She’s been a bit weird during the meeting. More subdued. Of course, she’s always the epitome of professionalism and an expert at compartmentalizing the different aspects of their work and her life, but she’s usually a bit more lively.
“Roxy?” he prompts her when a few minutes has passed and she is still staring blindly at the wall.
She blinks and takes a shaky breath, tries for a smile, but fails horribly.
“I think- I think I need a hug,” she says quietly.
And Harry is the first one to admit he is absolutely terrible at comfort. The only reason he has any kind of success with Merlin, his partner of fifteen years, is because Merlin finds his attempts hilarious and will end up laughing his way out of any funk he’s found himself in.
But he thinks he can manage a hug. Probably.
He’s up and kneeling by her chair before he can really think it through.
It’s an awkward hug, with Roxy still sitting and Harry holding her sideways. But Roxy nevertheless hides her face against his shoulder and her hands come up to grip at his suit.
They stay like this a long time, the silence only broken by the odd sniffles from Roxy that Harry very deliberately doesn’t mention. She doesn’t say anything about his clumsy patting of her back either.
Maybe, he thinks distantly, maybe he isn’t entirely rubbish at this comforting business after all.
