52 Birthdays with Lou

Love.

And he thinks, for the first time, that maybe, just maybe, he’s found it. But he wishes once more, just in case.

19

 

When Harry turns nineteen he’s really at a lost of what to wish for, because the wish that he’d used for the past two years, had finally been granted.

He’s found love.

Harry spends the day with all the boys, and that night Louis and him return to their flat, after a long day of pretending to be nothing more than close friends. Because that’s all they are to the public and that’s all they re to the boys and their family.

But once the door closes, and Harry finds himself alone in Louis’ room, as the older boy strips him of each of his articles of clothing, that is when Harry is reminded that he has found love.

It’s hidden, for now, but it’s there.

Louis brings him a cupcake, he didn’t make it because Harry had forbidden him from the kitchen after an incident in November, but it’s still a nice gesture. He hands it to him that night, right before the last minute of his birthday passes, as they lay in bed and Harry gazes at the single candle, pondering what to wish for.

It isn’t as hard as it had been the previous years, as Louis caresses his body He blew out the candle with his one, simply wish.

Come out with Louis.

20

When Harry turns twenty, he and Louis have just come out publically a month or so before, and are still in the midst of the backlash.

There is more than Harry expected, but less than Louis expected, so it’s a happy medium of sorts. But because of the drama, Harry didn’t want to leave the flat, so instead Louis invites everyone to their place.

It’s packed, bodies everywhere. Louis’ sisters are climbing on Niall, and his Mum is crying in a corner because ‘Her baby isn’t a teenager’, and Zayn is getting drunk with Gemma, and Louis is clutching his hand and grinning as he presents the cake.

“You can be a twenteen with me now!” Louis whispers into Harry’s year, as he stands behind the birthday boy who bends over the candles, staring at the light and contemplating what to wish for.

In the end, he keeps it simple. He doesn’t wish to be a twenteen with Louis.

He just wishes to stay with Louis.

21

 

When Harry turns 21, he realizes he’s happy.