Give Me Truths || l.s

chapter 20

Once the doors have been opened, neither of them is shy about expressing their fondness in more physical ways. If he were an outsider to this situation, Louis might have cautioned to slow things down a bit- after all, they’d only been dating for like a month. But nothing felt rushed here, and nothing felt forced. It’s just that Harry was eager and enchanted, and Louis was passionate and perhaps a bit in love, and if they wanted to memorize each other’s bodies then god damn it they were going to.

It’s why it takes less than five hours for Harry to notice the bandage wrapped around Louis’ rib cage. He’s teasing Louis’ jersey up over his head with playful kisses, but when his fingertips meet an unexpected surface instead of warm, smooth skin, he pulls back in confusion.

“Is that- oh my god, are you okay?” Harry asks in concern. “Are you hurt? Did you-”

“It’s just another tattoo, Haz, don’t worry,” answers Louis with a laugh. “I forgot to tell you, I got it done the other night while you were in your night lecture.”

“You forgot about new, permanent body art?”

“If you haven’t noticed, I’ve sort of got a few already,” Louis teased.

Harry is far too curious to rise to the bait, though. “Can I see it?”

“I dunno… don’t you think that’s sort of an intimate place?”

The tease is ignored with a roll of Harry’s eyes. He pulls gently at the tape holding the square of gauze to Louis’ side, until bit by bit the new art is revealed.

“Flowers?” Harry asks, his tone surprised.

“Not your typical punk tattoo, I know.”

“No, I didn’t mean- I like it!”

“Me too,” Louis smiles. “It’s a bit more feminine than I usually get, but I think the symbolism of the flower is cool.”

“What is it?”

“Magnolia. It stands for beauty and sweetness and innocence.”

“You got something that means innocence as a tattoo?”

Louis burst into laughter. “I dunno what you’re talking about, I’m perfectly chaste. But even if I wasn’t, it doesn’t have to symbolize me, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well like this one is for my mum, and this one is for my sis Fizz, then the one over here-” Louis starts twisting around to point to various spots on his skin so he can declare which loved one they each represent. “So there you have it,” he declares when he’s reasonably sure he’s explained them all.

“That’s really cute, how you symbolize people with your tattoos,” Harry says sweetly. “Who’s this one for, then?”

Louis’ mouth is suddenly a little drier than it was before. “Well just because I have some tattoos that represent people doesn’t mean they all do,” he says a little breathily.

“You’re lying,” Harry says delightedly. “You didn’t answer me, you answered another question- that’s what you do when you’re trying to trick me into not asking something you don’t want to answer!”

“Well it’s no good if you know about it,” Louis mumbled.

“Come on, Louis- spill! Please?”

He’s too good at pouting, and Louis is too terrible at lying to people he cares about. He carefully folds the discarded gauze so he has time to think of what to say. “Well I was serious when I said that not every tattoo symbolizes someone,” he settled on at last. “And it would be weird, probably, to get a tattoo for a guy that you’ve only been dating for like a month.”