Something in him shattered when he felt her kiss him back. As if some glass wall that had been keeping back a tide had broken and he was being swept away by the flood. Harry kissed her in the way that he had always wanted to, with heat and hunger and a need so infused into him that he wished he could consume her with it. The sound of Ben's polite cough was like white noise inside of his head, Ben could watch for all he cared and rather than make the pirate hesitate, it only spurred him to press closer, hold her tighter, kiss her more deeply.
Uma curled her fingers into his hair and with a sharp tug that made him grimace, she forced them apart but it was the way she said his name that kept him from resisting as she pushed him away. It wasn't a severe pain that he felt when she didn't meet his eye, more of a crushing weight in his chest made difficult to swallow as she turned her focus back onto the King and all his plans for the future.
Focusing on his job, watching Uma's back in hostile territory, was enough to keep him occupied for the most part but eventually, that heaviness in his chest ached to the point of suffocation. Every second felt like an eternity, dragged past him in the lowered voices of both Uma and Ben while they discussed politics and legislations that he couldn't have followed even if he had tried.
By the time Uma led the way out of the office, the rhythm of the guards breathing just outside of the door was imprinted in his head. He followed Uma at a careful distance as the silence between them dragged on. She couldn't be angry at him, could she? She hadn't seemed angry when he had kissed her, not until the golden boy had coughed at least. That familiar pang of irritation poked at his ribs like a blunt knife and just as Harry felt as if he couldn't take the silence any longer, Uma jerked herself to a stop and turned on him like a spitting fire.
So, she was angry at him. The heavy weight in his chest that anchored him into a state of anxiety grew heavier but it didn't stop him from rolling his eyes when she spoke about Ben, as if the King didn't stop to kiss his precious Mal whenever she was in a room with him. Harry opened his mouth to retort but found the argument dying as she stepped forward, closing what remained of the distance between them and cut him off. Another pang of irritation, bothered that she felt like she had to ask him at all. He watches the way that she clenches and unclenches her fists, a familiar warning sign of impending danger but also another sign of Uma pulling herself back.
He hated that. Hated that she felt like she had to restrain the storm in her because Auradon wouldn't like it. Hated that she was falling prey to all the things that Auradon told them that they couldn't do. “ Why not ? ” He was treading in dangerous waters, she was already on the edge as it was and if he pushed her any further there was bound to be a response. But he couldn't bring himself to care, that festering feeling demanded to be heard. He reached up to touch her chin, thumb tracing over her lower lip.
“ I wanted to, so I did it. Isn't that what we do ? Whatever we want ? ” When had it changed? When did they start following Auradon's rules? Harry released a slow breath when he felt her fingers in his hair again, the way she threaded them into his roots and he felt like he was sinking. He's pulled into her, drawn like a moth to an open flame and he didn't care if he was burned, so long as he was burned by her. The feeling of her lips against his own is fit to devour and Harry can only respond with the same insatiable hunger. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her as if he never wanted to stop. // @tealtendrils continued from here
