One Direction One Shots (all ships) Vol II

Lilo - Its Not an Illusion (Part 2)

Liam tried his best to contain his smile, but, when he finally looked away from Louis' twinkling smile, Geoff was watching him, assessing. Liam avoided that potential topic like the plague and shuffled them all out the door quickly.

The aquarium was quiet, but not dead. There weren't many families this early in the day so it was mostly older couples and singles. Louis and Liam walked ahead of his parents as they walked past the salt water fish wing of the venue. Liam watched as Louis' eyes caught the movement of every fish that swam by, never staying on one very long. His smile was small and relaxed and left Liam considering whether or not he should hold Louis' hand. He really wanted to hold Louis' hand.

"Babe, look at this!" Louis made the decision for him and grabbed Liam's hand to pull him over to a shallow pond of stingrays. Liam totally kept his cool and didn't smile like a schoolgirl when Louis fisted at his shirt in excitement.

"Would you like to pet one?" the attendant asked.

Louis looked like a kid in a candy store when he looked up at Liam. Then Louis layered his hand over Liam's and brought them to run over the slippery soft skin on one of the stingray's backs. Liam gasped a little at how cold they felt, but then sat on the edge of the pool with Louis facing him and let Louis lead their hands over each of the creatures floating around. Liam's eyes stayed on the animals for as long as they could before gravity pulled them back to Louis.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Louis asked towards the stingrays.

"Beautiful," Liam breathed, eyes held steadfast on the curve of Louis' lips.

Louis looked up and saw Liam looking at him instead of the pond and floundered for some witty remark to make the flutter in his chest dissipate. But it was so heavy, and Liam was so close, his hand still intertwined with Louis'. So Louis just did the only thing he could think of.

He kissed him. Deep and long and probably not appropriate for parental eyes. But Liam was kissing back, deep and long and with enthusiasm, so Louis scooted closer and tucked his foot behind Liam's ankle and wrapped his dry fingers in Liam's hair, and led his tongue over Liam's while his parents and everyone else watched. Their hands were still connected under the water while soft floating sea creatures ran along their fingers.

"Mm mmm." Louis startled when someone cleared their throat. "We're ready for lunch when you boys are." Louis nearly threw himself into the pond at the look on the poor father's face.

Louis stood abruptly and actually saluted the older man before wincing at his stupidity and clamping his hand to his side. "Yes, sir. Of course."

He turned to find Liam staring at him dopily, grin expanding across his face. "Wow."

Louis rolled his eyes and pulled Liam up so he could whisper, "Now is not the time."

Liam didn't seem to care. "But...wow." Louis groaned in frustration, but ignored him for now.

The rest of the aquarium was quiet. Louis was trying his hardest not to freak out because that was the first time he'd lost control with a client since he was a newbie. He had to keep up appearances, hold Liam's hand and pretend that making out in public wasn't a thing. Because they were boyfriends. That's the illusion.

By the time Louis finally sat down on Liam's couch, he was mentally and physically exhausted. After seeing how excited Louis got over the stingrays, Liam dragged Louis all over, pointing out pointy fish and glowing fish and sharks. Admittedly Louis had a blast, but the line between what was real and what wasn't was steadily becoming less clear.

"I'll start on dinner. You guys relax." With that, Liam left Louis and his parents in the living room. Almost immediately Geoff dozed off next to Karen, light snores tickling her shoulder.