Songs For How You Taste | l.s.

Chapter 27

Warning: panic attack

Harry sat at the table; laptop opened to PowerPoint while he scribbled in his notebook. He was finishing up all the notes for his midterm tomorrow for Media Production. He knew it was getting really late, felt his eyes strain against the bright light of his laptop. But he just wanted to review these two chapters one more time.

Bare feet padded through his kitchen, arms wrapped around him and held him – a soft kiss was placed on the top of his head. "Come to bed?" Louis asked, his voice was groggy, and his skin was warm. He must've fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Harry.

"I need to go over this chapter again," Harry said, nuzzling into the warmth. He felt his body sag into Louis' arms. A hand came up to stroke his hair.

"You've already gone over that part, love," Louis reminded him. Louis was sat at the table with him earlier, finishing his paper while Harry reviewed this exact same chapter. All of Louis' midterms were either art projects or essays – no tests for him. Harry felt his eyes close as Louis rubbed mesmerizing circles into the top of his head.

"Okay," he mumbled. He shut the laptop, let himself be pulled up into Louis' arms.

"Do you want a shower tonight or in the morning?" Louis asked while they walked down the hall.

"Morning," Harry whispered, already feeling the way his body was begging to give away into sleep – his hips and lower back were aching from sitting down and studying for hours, his fingers were cramping from writing out his notes – he could barely keep his eyes open.

Louis held him, rubbed his back for him until he fell asleep.

Harry woke up to his alarm blaring, face buried in Louis' neck. Louis grumbled softly. Harry leaned over and kissed Louis, small kisses over his cheeks and forehead. "You need a ride to uni today?"

"No, my class got cancelled today. I'm having a sleep in."

Harry smiled at him. "Alright," he said, ruffling his hair. Harry tried to relax in the shower, but he couldn't stop himself from rattling off what he studied for his class.

The Lumiere brothers premiered ten short films in Paris in 1895 – the first break through in the modern day cinematic experience.

Broadcast radio first became popularized through orators reading stories on air.

He needed to check his notes for what year that was though. He had typed that up on the study guide on his laptop. When he stepped out of the shower, instead of his feet landing on the towel, he got tripped up in a pair of Louis' sweatpants he left laying there. He tried to kick them to the side as he wrapped his towel around his waist but ended up getting caught up in one of Louis' hoodies. He gathered them both up in his hands, depositing them in the laundry on his way back to his bedroom.

He pulled on a soft sweater and some jeans before he went back to his dining table and opened his laptop. When he opened it, the laptop didn't cut on. He hit the power button – nothing. Tried again, and the laptop flashed an image of an empty battery.

He thought he'd just go get his charger – last he remembered Louis borrowed it when they watched a movie on his computer in bed two nights ago. Harry went back to his room and found Louis' laptop with the charger still plugged in, the laptop sat under an empty bag of Doritos Louis put there. When he pulled the charger out, the chord got caught and knocked a half full bottle of water to the ground – without the cap. It was Louis' as well.

The bottle bounced against the ground, water splashing at his feet. "Fuck," he swore, apparently loud enough to wake Louis.

"Babe? Everything alright?" Louis asked, voice sleep heavy and dazed. Looking around his room, Harry suddenly felt closed in, felt like Louis had clutter everywhere. Where normally Harry could see Louis in the soft, sweet corners of his life – tucked under his comforter and curled up with him on the couch and a hand resting on his thigh while he drove – now, he felt overwhelmingly surrounded by him, his dirty clothes around his room, the inconvenient bottles of water, the misplaced laptop chargers.