Solace ~ h.s.

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Edward has always been easy to talk to, which makes me considerably less nervous to talk to him right now. It must be incredibly confusing for him, the situation between Taron and Harry today. I wouldn't expect him to understand it and honestly, I barely understand it myself.

The game plan for speaking with him, the one I had been rehearsing on the way home, had completely vanished the moment I knocked on his door.

"Hey buddy." He's lying on his bed, with a book in his hands, and looks to me when he sees the door open. He perks up seeing me, probably because of his love for food.

"Is food ready?" He wonders, getting up to dart out of the room. I shake my head at him and motioned for him to stay put.

"Harry's ordering us something." I tell him, to which he nods understandingly.

There isn't much time for cooking, or even baking, anymore. With my boss wanting me in earlier and earlier and her wanting me to stay longer, I hardly have time to make home cooked meals for Edward and I. Then when there is time, I just seem to be too tired to put forth the effort. We've been eating take away a little bit too much.

"Can we talk?" I ask him, looking hesitantly around the room to distract myself.

I had done my best with decorating it before we got fully settled. The walls had come a dreary tan colour and they still remain the same today, though I promised Edward we'd paint it soon. He has a bed with football sheets that he adores, saying that he will never want any other sheets. The books that he's been obsessing over recently are set up on his brand new bookshelf, beside his desk. It's a quaint room, but I think he likes it.

"What do you want to talk about?" Edward asks, grabbing my attention. I sigh and take a seat on the opposite side of the bed that he's sitting on. I reach my hand out to the boy, wanting to be a tad bit closer to him. Instead of putting his hand in mine, he simply scoots close to me and leans up against my side.

"I'm sorry for what you had to see earlier, with Harry and Taron. I had no idea that any of that was going to happen and if I did I would have prevented it." I try to explain, not exactly finding the right words.

"Why did Harry hit Taron?" Edward asks for the second time tonight.

How do you explain to a five year old that your current love interest was hitting your ex-boyfriend because your ex cheated on you and called you awful things? Probably cautiously.

"Do you remember when I moved back home?" I ask him; I, myself, thinking back to that day.

I hadn't told my parents I was coming home. I barely had time to even pack a bag before I left my shared home with Taron, let alone phone my family. I had just enough time to angrily start crying and lightly yelling as I packed a bag and stormed off to the bus station.

I remember crying all the way from Manchester to Northwich; the way the other riders stared at me breaking down as they went about their day. I think the driver was getting ready to kick me off the bus for disturbing him and his job, but thankfully I had made my stop.

As soon as my mum had opened the door, I broke down in another bout of tears as she pulled me into her embrace and held me tight. My dad threatened to kick Taron's årse for me as he rubbed my back and handed me his nightly glass of bourbon. Edward was getting ready for bed, but as soon as he saw me he stayed awake for the rest of the night, comforting me.

"You asked me why I was living at home again, you said adults don't live with their parents. I told you it was because Taron and I had a fight and we decided we didn't love each other anymore. Remember, we talked for a long time and I said that we'd probably not see him again?"

"I remember." Edward said, looking up at me with those big blue eyes I've always adored.

"Well, I didn't want us to see him again because he hurt my feelings." He hurt my feelings by betraying me and my love for him. "Taron's like a supervillain, right? On the outside he appears to be one thing, but on the inside he's a whole different person."

"Like Batman?"

"Yes, but Taron's not a good guy, buddy." I try to say nicely. "Um, when we saw him today, he said something that not only hurt my feelings, but Harry's too." Edward's nose scrunches up in a cute manner, making me chuckle a little bit, despite the topic of conversation.

"I thought you said hitting wasn't the answer." Well, at least I got my point across.

"It's not, so please don't go around hitting people, and Harry knows that too. Harry just made an adult decision in order to protect me." I explain lightly, trying to dodge around the heavier parts of the topic.

"He made you cry though, does that mean we aren't going to see Harry anymore?" I can already see the pout taking over Edward's face at the mere thought of not seeing Harry again. It warms my heart that this once stranger has made such an impact on Edward's life.

I remember telling Edward that first night back home, something that must have stuck in his brain:

He made me cry, yes, and I don't want to see him anymore. That's a lesson you should learn, Edward. Girls are complicated and you may not understand them, which might frustrate you. But never make a girl cry...

"No, of course not. Harry's not going anywhere." I promise him, wrapping my arms around the small boy to pull him onto my lap. "You really like Harry, don't you."

"Yeah," Edward perks up, lifting his head from my shoulder to make eye contact with me, "he's really nice to me and he's really fun. I talk about him a lot with Dr. Black at school because he tells me stories and then I'll tell her. Plus, he makes you happy."

"He does make me very happy."

"It's like I have a big brother." I fain offense at the boy, pretending to be hurt by what he's said.

"What's wrong with your big sister?" I joke with him.

"You're a girl." His answer is simple, and exactly what I expected from a five year old boy. At this age, all girls have cooties, which means I don't have to worry about dating for a long time.

"Let's go hang out with Harry, shall we?" I look about the room as if someone was listening in, before motioning Edward to come close. He eagerly does, always having been excited when it comes to secrets. "Harry thinks you're mad at him."

"Bad I'm not!" Edward nearly exclaims, jerking away from me as he climbs off my lap.

I follow the boy out of his room, watching him dart into the lounge where Harry sits. Harry's sat on our sofa, phone in hands and concentration written all over his face. When he hears our footsteps, he looks up just in time to be tackled in a hug from Edward. His face holds a look of shock as he hugs the boy back, looking up at me in a confused manner from where he sits.

"Hey there, bud -"

"I'm not mad at you." Edward interrupts Harry from going on with his admittance. Harry's face softens and he grins up at me, looking relieved that he hadn't scared the body off today. "Thank you for protecting Annie." Harry arms encircle tightly around my brother, holding the boy to his chest, his eyes fixed up at mine.

"It's my pleasure."

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