Loving You Is Free

Chapter 8

Harry woke up slowly on Saturday morning, falling in and out of sleep for a long while until he finally fully woke up to the sound of Louis typing away on his laptop beside him. Harry twisted around in the sheets and opened his eyes to look up at Louis, who was sitting up with his laptop resting on his thighs, his hair sticking up in several different directions. Harry wanted to run his hands through it and mess it up even more.

"Morning," he said instead, voice still thick with sleep.

Louis paused his work and looked down at him, a small smile playing on his lips. "Hey."

Harry smiled back and yawned, pushing his legs out straight and arching his back slightly in a stretch. Louis reached down to tuck a stray curl behind his ear, and Harry decided he liked lazily waking up in bed next to him.

"Let me finish answering these emails really quickly," Louis said, turning his attention back to his laptop. "It'll just be a few more minutes."

Harry nodded and snuggled down deeper into the sheets. He was kind of surprised with how at peace he felt. He'd come over to Louis' last night a nervous wreck, feeling guilty for the date with David and anxious over telling Louis about it, but Louis continued to be understanding and so bloody perfect. Harry had never felt so fond of someone before.

He moved his hand to trace circles onto Louis' thigh, just beneath the fabric of his boxers, drawing shapes and spelling out his name. Eventually, his bladder started to talk to him, so he begrudgingly got up and went to the bathroom, before joining Louis back in bed and sliding beneath the covers again. Louis closed his laptop and set it aside, laying back down too, so that he and Harry were facing each other.

"Morning," Harry said again.

"Good morning," Louis giggled. "How're you feeling?"

Harry smiled sheepishly, could feel his cheeks heating up. "Much better than I was last night. Thank you for that."

"Of course," Louis replied with a cheeky wink. "Anytime."

They lay there in silence for a moment, before Louis shifted and cleared his throat awkwardly. Harry took a shaky breath, knowing what was coming.

"We need to talk," Louis said, and Harry tried not to panic as he thought about all of the cliche things those words implied, but he knew Louis was right. This talk was a long time coming, and he couldn't avoid it anymore.

"Okay," Harry agreed. "Do we have to get up?"

Louis smiled softly. "Nah."

Harry smiled back and nodded for Louis to start. Louis was going to have to take the reigns on this one or else Harry would chicken out.

"You like what we do, yeah?" Louis asked after a moment. "When we play?"

Harry nodded, ducking his head to hide his face in the pillow. They both already knew the answer to that one. "Love it."

Louis wasn't letting him get away with it that easily. He ran a hand down Harry's cheek gently and then tilted his chin up to look at him.

"What do you like about it?"

Harry thought for a moment, trying to pinpoint what it even was that he liked so much about it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd shown his true self to someone he was sleeping with, couldn't remember the last time he wasn't putting on a show. Somewhere down the line, he'd started doubting that anyone would be attracted to him just for him, rather than the act he put on. Louis though... Louis seemed to like him just fine when all of the masks fell down, and that was what terrified Harry so much.

"Sometimes I don't know how to be myself anymore," Harry told him honestly, trying to form these thoughts into coherent sentences. "Especially... like, in bed. And it's just... it's so easy with you."