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London Calling

Talking In Your Sleep (The Civil Wars)

Annie

Harry and I went to work cooking breakfast together. He seemed to know his way around a kitchen, which I loved. Cooking was so much fun to me and I loved to do it with people rather than alone. Once they had full coffee cups Niall and Kim left the kitchen. They ended up on the couch and Niall was trying to snuggle Kim.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Snuggling,” he replied.
"What did I tell you this morning?"
"That you don't snuggle. I thought you meant in your sleep."
"I did. But those two over there can see us."
"Fine," he said sighing and giving in. I laughed a bit at their interactions. We could hear and see them and I knew that Kim, though she wanted to resist it would likely cuddle in to Niall eventually. Harry and I finished making breakfast and we all ate in the living room watching mindless television. Once we were done eating I grabbed a quilt out of the pillow nook and wrapped up in it next to Harry.
"Blanket hog," Harry mumbled climbing under the quilt with me.
"Hey, who said I was gonna share with you?"
"I'm so cold. I need warmth." His fingers slid under the hem of my shirt until they found bare skin. They were like ice.
"Holy shit. You are cold." I jumped. He snuggled a bit closer to me and there was today's Olympic event in my stomach. Gymnastics. My stomach ran down the runway, hit the ramp and flipped over the vault and kicked my heart as I felt his lips brush my shoulder. He smiled at me, immediately weakening me and I moved in to his arms, my head resting on his chest.
"So what are you doing today since Lyla is working?" he asked.
"Thought about taking some pictures."
"It's cold are you crazy?" Kim asked.
"I can bundle up. It's not like I have too far to walk to the tube station. I wanted to go outside of London but the weather has me thinking I may not make it out of Camden. Maybe next weekend I'll catch a train out of the city."
"Next weekend is Harry's birthday," Niall said. Harry shrugged, he hadn't told me his birthday was coming up. I knew he said February but didn't realize that so soon he would be turning 20. "He's refusing to decide what he wants to do."
"I was maybe going to go to LA," Harry said.
"Oh." I couldn't hide the fact that I was disappointed. "Well maybe before you leave I can bake you some cupcakes for your birthday."
"Well I was considering changing my mind." He smiled at me again. "But I'd still take cupcakes for my birthday. Those ones you made me last summer when I got home for a few days. The lemon ones."
"Those are so good," Kim said.
"I like the chocolate ones with the chocolate frosting," Niall said.
"How do you know what my cupcakes taste like?" I asked, adjusting myself to look at Niall, my back pressing against Harry's side.
"You made the chocolate last week. I was at his house. Ate the last one you'd sent home with him."
"I'm still pissed at you, you twat," Harry said. "She put rainbow sprinkles on it for me."
"I can make you more," I smiled up at him.
"Dammit bitch. I want pumpkin," Kim said.
"I'll make the pumpkin!" I said.
"I can be a taste tester," Niall offered.
"My job," Kim said. Niall got up off the couch and started to hobble to the kitchen. "Why are you limping? Did I break you?"
"No, it's me knees."
"Wanker was supposed to be on crutches last night. But when I found a picture of you girls on Annie's twitter he decided that crutches weren't sexy and you wouldn't hit on him with crutches."
"You are stupid. You are supposed to be on crutches. Where are they?" Kim asked standing up.
"Back of my car," Harry replied. Kim held her hand out for his keys. Harry handed them to her and she took off down the stairs. She'd only put on a pair of short running shorts and a t-shirt when she woke up this morning. She sprinted down to the first floor and I heard the door shut. About a minute later the door slammed again.
"Fuck it's cold." She was back in the living room in seconds handing the crutches to Niall. "Found your painkillers in the back with it. By the way it's a fucking blizzard out there. Like not just a snow day like I almost couldn't get in the car."
"Niall, hope you didn't have any plans for the day. We likely won't get out of here until late." I couldn't read the look on Harry's face. It almost looked like he was happy to be snowed in with me. I knew that I was happy and not happy about it.
"Try Monday, mate." I turned around to see the forecast on the television. We were in the first few hours of a major blizzard hitting London.
"I should run to the store. Get essentials," I said.
"You went Thursday. And I looked this morning. You totally lied. You have the stuff to make meatballs," Kim said.
"I know I do. I could cook for us all weekend. Do the pumpkin cupcakes, maybe some red velvet since I'll be making cream cheese frosting."
"I like it," Niall said. I quickly went in to the kitchen and took stock of everything I'd bought. I had stocked up at the grocery as if we were throwing a giant party. I'd even made a trip to Whole Foods to buy fancy stuff. I felt hands on my waist.
"Are you okay with me being here? I know that we don't know each other that well," Harry said.
"Yeah, I'm okay with you being here. I like you being here." I turned around to looking at him. He was looking at me in this way that always put me in some sort of trance. Enough that I admitted I wanted him here, which was more information than I had intended on releasing. My phone started to ring on the counter.
"Hello."
"Annie, you alright?" It was Frankie, the owner of the pub I worked at.
"Yeah I'm alright. Luckily I'd gone to the store Thursday. Kim and I are fine. Thank you for checking on me though."
"Well Lizzy was worried about you when she saw the weather. Threatened that I needed to come get you and bring you to the house. I told her if you ran out of essentials and everything closed you'd just let yourself in the pub. I'm closing for the weekend."
"Thanks Frankie but I'm fine. You don't need to come get me."
"Who's that?" Harry asked quietly.
"My boss."
"Is there a man in your house?" Frankie asked.
"A man? What? Give me the phone!" Lizzy yelled in the background.
"Annabelle, you alright?"
"Yes Lizzy. I'm fine. I'm from Iowa. I've seen snow. I've got more groceries in here than should be enough for a family of six for a week. Kim and I are fine."
"Frankie said he heard a man."
"Yes, there is a man in my house Lizzy." Harry blushed. He knew who Lizzy was because she often chatted him up at the bookshop when I would get busy. She loved having him around. Would flirt with him relentlessly because she found him adorable. She was however happily married with two young daughters who also adored Harry.
"Please tell me it's Harry."
"Lizzy!"
"Well is it?" she asked.
"It is Harry." He smiled at me.
"Did you two shag?"
"Lizzy I am not discussing this with you. You're my boss."
"Well did you?"
"No we did not shag." Harry started to laugh a bit, he looked nervous and slightly uncomfortable but his hands were rested on my waist.
"Too bad. You should. He's a very sweet boy. And that smile would make just about any female weak in the knees."
"I know what you mean," I replied. I was staring at the smile right now and not completely sure how I was still upright. My stomach had just done a combination of tricks on the uneven bars again throttling my heart when he bit his lip. "But really Lizzy. We will be alright. If we need anything we'll call you and Frankie. But Harry has a Range Rover. We'd be fine if we needed to go somewhere. Plus we can walk. I've got boots and I'm close to everything."
"Everything will likely close by twelve so go quickly if you need anything. Frankie said the businesses are all gauging what the others are doing."
"Well I better go. I've got two boys in my house that might start to smell if I don't get them a change of clothes. I'll see you Monday Lizzy."
"We may be closed. I'll ring you." The call ended.
"Lizzy says hi," I said quietly.
"Do you really want to run somewhere this morning?" Harry asked. I nodded. "I'll go with you. We can leave these two here. His painkillers will likely make him loopy and tired in a few minutes." I went downstairs to brush my teeth, Harry following. I snuck in to my bedroom to get a better pair of boots and a warmer top. I turned to see Harry in the door, brushing his teeth, with my toothbrush.
"Are you using my toothbrush?"
"I am."
"That's disgusting."
"Eh. I used toothpaste."
"It's still wet. Totally has my germs on it."
"I like your germs," he said. My stomach just did a release over the top bar barely grabbing on just in time to avoid face planting on the mat. In reality I walked in to the corner of my dresser. That was gonna leave a mark.
"American Apparel is about a half block from here. We can go get you two the essentials."
"Sounds good to me." He went back in to the bathroom and I ran upstairs.
"Niall, write down your sizes. We are going to run to American Apparel. Lizzy said shops were closing around noon. I'll get you guys stuff to wear so you can shower. We will stop at Super Drug too for toiletries. So any specifics you need just put them there. Kimmi, need anything?"
"Get some more wine at Super Drug. I have a feeling we will need it,” Kim added.
“Good plan,” I replied and hurried downstairs to find Harry dressed in his coat and holding mine up for me. He helped me slip it on and we were out the door and headed down the stairs to the street. As soon as we were outside I realized that I hadn’t put a stocking cap on. Thankfully it was a short walk. Harry put his hand on the small of my back as we stepped in to the street. The wind picked up and he moved so his arm was around my shoulder pulling me in to him to try and block the wind. We walked in to a completely empty American Apparel.
"Are you still open or are you trying to close?" I asked.
"Yes, just for a bit," the girl replied.
"Thank god. I've got two boys snowed in my place. The car is stuck on the street. Need some essentials. We'll be quick, promise." Harry and I started grabbing underwear, t-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants for he and Niall. I unloaded my arms on the counter making the sales girl laugh.
"The snow is supposed to be gone by Monday. You two are stocking up like the blizzard is shutting town Greater London for weeks."
"You can never be too prepared," I said as went to grab my wallet.
"These are for me crazy girl. You aren't buying my pants and shirts," Harry said.
"There's things for me in there too."
"Count it as payment for not shoving me out in to the cold to unbury my car and drive home." He wrapped the scarf I picked out around my neck, kissing my cheek. “There you look cute." He pulled the new stocking cap down next kissing my other cheek. “And warm.” We loaded up the bags and were out the door picking up the essentials: deodorants, toothbrushes, and wine before heading back home. The snow was coming down even harder as we made it in the building. We both shook the snow out of our hair laughing before we took off up the stairs. Once inside we dropped the bag of Niall's things in Kim's room and Harry's things in mine.
"I'm freezing," I said as I pulled the hat off. I felt my hair start to frizz and stick up straight.
"You should shower. It'll warm you up. I can make some tea while you're in there."
"I'll be quick. Then you can shower. Your cheeks are pink."
"So are yours. Warm up Sugar." I grabbed a change of clothes and headed in to the bathroom. The shower was amazing. I warmed quickly and started to feel clean, washing off last night's makeup and the feeling of the pub off of my skin. I knew I should get out of the shower so everyone else could have a turn but it was my place of solace with Harry in my flat. I could smell him everywhere. He was being touchy feely which was shocking at first but I liked it. I liked him. I wanted to be around him. I wanted to cuddle in to his arms and stay there like I had last night. I finally got out of the shower and put on clean clothes. I stood brushing my hair and debating whether I should put makeup on or not. I wanted to look my best but also didn't want to feel like I was trying too hard, plus my eyelashes felt like they were gonna break off from falling asleep in my mascara last night. I went upstairs to see Kim and Niall had burrowed themselves in blankets on one of the sofas. Niall had his head rested on Kim’s chest and he was laying on his side, back flat against the back of the sofa while she laid on her back mindlessly massaging his scalp. He was out cold.
"How did that happen?" I asked.
"Harry brought him sweatpants and a hoodie. He got warm, the painkillers kicked in and he was out like a light."
"If he's anything like me it's because you're playing with his hair."
"Potentially," Kim said.
"Alright Dimples. The bathroom is all yours. I left you a towel in there. My shower stuff is on the purple shelf. Go warm up."
"Okay, the kettle is on the stove. I found your tea so I made some for myself. Go make yourself a cup." He stood up and kissed my cheek as my stomach landed the perfect backflip dismount off of the uneven bars. He left headed downstairs and I went in to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea.
"He's kissing your cheek. Step in the right direction."
"Oh I'm sure that he's just being nice. Lizzy blatantly asked me if he and I shagged last night when she called this morning. She told me it was a shame I hadn't."
"It is! He's absolutely gorgeous by your standards. He's a sweet guy. And he's completely smitten with you. If you aren't shagging by the end of this blizzard I don't know what to do with you."
"I don't want to push it. He's not around a lot. He travels so much. The last thing he needs is a girl at home."
"No, that's the first thing he needs," Niall said half asleep. "He needs something to make him want to come home. He's been off the last few months. Acting a bit lost. He never seems that way when he knows that he's heading back to London and he can go see you."
"Really?" I asked. My voice was filled with hope and I knew Kim and Niall could hear it. I nearly felt embarrassed but realized that I shouldn’t be. The days I knew I would see Harry were by far my favorite days to wake up.
"Yeah, he's smitten. This one's right. And her boobs make a wonderful pillow," he said snuggling back down in to Kim's chest making us both laugh.
"You're funny on painkillers," I giggled.
"I feel a lot better. Thanks for getting me pills, Kim."
"Welcome," she said. "Get some rest. You looked like you were in pain and I know these are making you tired."
"They are. Wake me up when it's my turn to shower." Niall was quickly asleep for good. Kim and I were quiet for a few minutes making sure he wouldn't wake back up.
"You are at least smiling this morning. You got some snuggling last night I take it?" Kim asked. I nodded taking a sip of my tea.
"He smells good. He's super warm. And he talks in his sleep."
"Seriously like conversational or random things?" Kim asked.
"Conversational. He woke me up in the middle of the night saying something and when I asked him what he said he had a full conversation with me for like two minutes before I realized he was asleep. It's sort of adorable."
"What's sort of adorable?" Harry asked as he came back up the stairs. He hurdled the couch and sat next to me. The black sweatpants and white t-shirt he'd grabbed at American Apparel looked better on him than I'd imagined they would and my imagination had been pretty vivid when I saw him picking things out. I could see the outline of his tattoos through the thin shirt and wanted nothing more than to trace them with my fingers.
"You talk in your sleep."
"Shit. What did I say?" he asked. He almost looked terrified. I couldn’t help but giggle at him.
"Nothing really. You told me I looked pretty."
"You did look pretty." His cheeks quickly flushed pink with embarrassment. "Alright I'm done with the shower. Is that one gonna get himself cleaned up?"
"Yeah," Kim replied. She nudged him a bit to wake him up. "Niall, your turn to shower."
"Thanks." Niall went to stand up and struggled a bit until Kim handed him his crutches.
"I'm gonna help him get down there. If he falls he could sue," Kim said. As soon as they were out of the room I went in to the kitchen to start cooking. I had a list of cupcakes I wanted to bake today and needed to get started on sauce and meatballs. I plugged my earbuds in to my iPhone, turned on some music and started to dance around the kitchen as I got the ingredients for the sauce out so I could get everything ready. I turned to see Harry standing behind me smiling a pretty devilish smile before he pulled the earbuds out of my ears.
"Shit. You saw that didn't you?" He nodded. "Well hi then."
"Did you want help? I'm bored."
"Yeah, how are you with a can opener?"
"I'm pretty decent." I handed him a can opener and gestured to the cans of sauce on the counter as I reached in to my shirt retrieving the iPhone. "Where did that come from?"
"I had it tucked in my bra. I wasn't sure if you found something on TV. Didn't want to bother you."
"You're not a bother. The dancing was cute actually."
"Thanks.”
“What were you listening to?” he asked.
“Fitz and the Tantrums. You’ll like them.” I put the iPhone on the docking station that I kept in the kitchen and restarted the song. ‘6AM’ started to play loudly and I without hesitation started to dance and sing along as he smiled at me. “I got this record on pink vinyl for Christmas.”
“This is the one Tony and Megan got you, right?” I nodded.
“Yeah, they are just so fun. Tony and Megan saw them in November I think. With Capital Cities not too far from home. They text me pictures the whole time. I woke up to about a billion messages. They had a lot of fun. Megan actually picked out the record for me. Knew I’d love it and it was pink.”
“That’s cool. Are they playing in England anytime soon?” he asked.
“Yeah, actually. They are playing a few blocks from here in March.”
“We should go.” Did he just say WE? As in HE wanted to go with ME to see them. WE would go together. I’m positive that my jaw is on the floor. “Do you have tickets?” I nodded. “Well maybe by March you’ll like hanging out with me enough that you’ll invite me.” I laughed at him and to try and shake my nerves. He’s talking future plans. I mean granted it’s like barely a month away and a concert in a club. The stomach gymnast even had to pause for a moment at that and then resumed her never ending back flip routine.
“Will you pour some more water in my cup?" He did that as well as reaching in to the cabinet to retrieve another mint tea bag and pour some sugar in to my cup.
"More tea, Sugar." He handed me the cup.
"Thanks Dimples." I took a sip before I started making espresso and heating some milk.
"What are you doing?"
"Well for one thing I know as much as you love tea in the morning you need something stronger. You like a latte in the morning. You made the tea because you knew I wanted some. And for another I have all of the spices for my pumpkin cupcakes here. I was going to spoil Kimmi with a pumpkin spice latte. She bitches that the Starbucks down the block won't make it for her year round and the end of pumpkin season passed a while ago. What flavor would you like today? Vanilla, mocha, caramel, take your pick."
"How about mint chocolate?"
"How did you know I made that?" I asked surprised. My best friend in college used to make me mint chocolate lattes while I kept her company in the campus coffee shop. I made them for myself on occasion, especially when I missed college and Casey.
"Last week when you were helping that old lady find her book I accidentally picked up your cup because you were bent over and I got distracted. Took a sip of yours. It was delicious."
"Hmm. I could go for that right now. I'll make one for myself too." I started to heat more milk pouring Harry's drinking and garnishing it perfectly. Whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate sauce and a few pieces of an Andes mint that I'd cut up. "You were distracted by me bent over?"
"Yeah, you've got a nice bum. That little denim skirt you wear with leggings and your chucks. First time you wore it without the leggings I nearly went in to cardiac failure." I handed him his cup laughing and feeling my cheeks heat up. "Thanks." I went about making a drink for myself. One sip and was like heaven. For me, mint season didn't exist, I could drink mint 365 days a year and never tire of it. "You've got whipped cream on your nose." He laughed a bit at me and wiped it off.
"Thanks."
"So I really talked in my sleep last night?" I nodded. He looked like he’d been trying to come up with a way to ask about this the entire time he was in the kitchen with me. "Anything else I said that could get me in trouble?"
"Told me you should've kissed me. That you really wanted to kiss me." Shit. I actually repeated what he said out loud. That moment last night had taken me by surprise. I was half asleep and thought he was talking to me until he fell asleep quickly and I realized he'd been talking in his sleep.
"I should've. I did." He paused for a second. "I do." He leaned down pressing his lips in to mine. It was slow, sweet and innocent before he backed away. I was pretty sure my heart, stomach and nerves just did a base jump off of the London Eye together. He kissed me. He actually kissed me. Holy shit. "Better than I dreamed it was."
"You have soft lips." Shit. My inner thoughts are supposed to stay inside my mind and not come out of my mouth. He broke the thought process. Crap did that mean he was hearing this. No. No he couldn't. I'm not crazy, I can still think in my head. He smiled at me like he knew I was kicking myself for saying that but he did have soft lips, distractingly soft lips. He leaned down again and kissed me again. This time long enough that he coaxed my mouth open massaging my tongue with his for a brief moment. I realized as he broke the kiss that ‘Out Of My League’ had started playing. Fitz’s voice drifted through the kitchen repeating the lyric, more than just a dream, over and over again. "You also taste like mint chocolate. That's my favorite flavor."
"It's mine now too." He started to kiss me again distracting both of us from the coffee brewing and the cans needing to be opened. I'd started the garlic and olive oil in the pan and realized I was going to burn it so I pulled away from him, kissing him quickly before heading over to turn the stove down. "Will you show me how to do this?"
"Yeah of course," I started to season the sauce and show Harry what I was doing. It was more difficult than any other time I'd ever made this before he would touch me, or wrap his arms around me or even worse...well better, kiss me. I suddenly loved being in the kitchen. It was filled with the smell of espresso, garlic, the start of a sauce and Harry. I'd never imagined we'd get to this point. I thought I'd keep resisting his request for a drink because I was nervous and suddenly I didn't know why I'd been that way and I didn't want to ever leave this kitchen. He kissed me again causing me to smile directly in to his lips.

Notes

So that was a LONG update. And they've jumped a hurdle! Won't Kim and Niall be proud of Harry for finally kissing Annie? :) The next update should be up hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday. I went to the doctor today as I've been sick for like two weeks and have been given cough syrup and antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection and ear infection. So once the cough syrup kicks (which I'd like to be two hours ago!) I'll likely be too tired to write the next Harry chapter. Though I'm sure his inner-monologue would be funny with that assistance.

Please let me know what you think of this chapter. It covered a lot more than the prior chapters had and is honestly making me hungry for meatballs. Feel free to comment, message, tweet (www.twitter.com/raybansncoffee) or find me on tumblr (www.raybansandcoffee.tumblr.com). I would absolutely LOVE to know what you think. Plus who doesn't want happy thoughts from people when they are sick.

And lastly a bit about the music in this chapter.
* The Civil Wars cover of "Talking in Your Sleep" by the Romantics is absolutely amazing. I miss this band so much and I'm so disappointed that I didn't get the chance to see them live. They are just incredible. So much emotion and power. Do not be surprised if they appear again.
* Fitz and the Tantrums are honestly one of the most incredible bands I've seen live. So much energy on stage. I saw them this summer with my older brother and several of our friends. I hadn't been to a concert in a several years due to some anxiety issues. I feel so lucky to have the friends I went with because they let me get comfortable and pick where we all stood and by the end of probably the third song the guys shoved me up against the stage with friend's wife and barricaded us in so I wouldn't get anxious but could get closer. I don't think I'd danced that much or sang that loud in years, it is definitely one of the top five memories of 2014 for me. If they ever play in your area GO. They are so great.

Thanks so much for reading the latest chapter. Feedback is greatly appreciated. :) xx



Comments

@raybansncoffee
sorry I just saw this!!! I was rereading London Calling on my phone (LG Slide life) and I saw you responded but couldn't respond until I had a computer. I will go read your other story now but i can't promise the same insights- I'm happier now and might've lost my artistic edge

H

Anyone who is interested in reading the real chapter 28 and finishing out this fic head to read the end posted under my new account since I evidently can't get in to it under my original login. http://www.harrystylesfanfiction.com/Story/88873/London-Calling/

@hotforharry
Okay...so evidently there is no way to contact anyone that has anything to do with moderating this page. My facebook account has started to block me from even being able to log in to post anything. I have a new chapter posted on my Tumblr for this. AND I'm getting ready to post the first two chapters of a whole new story. I'd love to hear what you think of both because your insight to what I was writing was incredible. :) I may have to start posting under this user name since I no longer have access to the original username, which sucks.

So evidently this website now hates my Facebook log in and I can't get in to post the new chapter. :( It's posted on tumblr read it visiting raybansandcoffee.tumblr.com

Love to hear the Niall story this was a great read

honeymystic honeymystic
3/21/17