haven ☞ l.s

0.9

"So, this is Harry," Louis says again. "I told him we should come here because, one: I want you to meet him, and two: He's got some questions, if that's okay?"

Zayn finally cracks the hint of a smile at Harry, and he feels accomplished, though he didn't do anything.

Harry assumed that Louis would have told Zayn everything already, so he's surprised when Zayn asks, "Questions about what?"

Feeling like a child, Harry looks to Louis for assistance.

"Zayn, man, what do you think, considering we're sitting in the middle of a BDSM sex club?"

Harry wants to hide, embarrassed about asking a near-stranger these things. He puts his head down, fiddling with the numerous rings on his fingers while he waits for someone else to say something. When he feels Louis nudging his arm, he looks up to see Zayn waiting expectantly.

"I can try to help with anything," Zayn says. "If you're with Louis, though, you probably know more than you think you do."

+

Haven is about to reopen for the night, and Harry's mind is whirring at full speed. He imagines little men inside his brain, filing away all this new information for safe keeping, moving frantically because of the workload.

Zayn gave him answers to all the questions he needed to ask, everything from "What does subspace feel like?" to "Have you ever had to red-out during a scene, and how did you feel after?".

Knowing that Zayn was once just as unsure as Harry is now makes Harry feel infinitely more empowered and ready to try new things.

Louis left the two of them alone to talk once he saw that they got along well enough. Harry thinks that if he met Zayn elsewhere, they probably wouldn't become friends, but now they have more than a few common interests—Louis counting as one of them.

Either way, it's nice to talk with someone who knows what Harry is feeling, in a way that Louis can't. And now Harry has some foresight into how it would feel to do something more intense, if he wanted to. As time goes on, he thinks it's becoming more of a possibility.

Louis wanders back over to them right around the time when Haven starts opening their doors to the public again. Zayn glances backwards and sees him, turning back to Harry and saying, "I should probably get going. Have Louis give you my number, yeah? Was nice to meet you."

Harry smiles with a nod. Louis goes and stands behind Harry, hands digging into his shoulders soothingly. He leans down and kisses the side of Harry's neck, making him giggle and twist away, saying, "Lou, that's rude."

"Rude how ?" he asks incredulously. "Look around you, tell me what building you're in."

Harry laughs again, standing up off the couch and stretching. "Do you have to be home soon?"

Louis taps his lip, an apologetic expression already forming. "Kind of do, love. I've been putting off grading these papers for a while, and I said they'd be handed back tomorrow. But if you want to stay awhile, I can pick you up again later?"

"No, no," Harry says. "A night in sounds nice. I can help."

Later, when they're both settled on the couch with a stack of mostly poorly written essays, a steaming mug of hot coco in their hands, Harry tentatively says, "Can I ask something?"

Louis sets down his pen instantly, nodding.

"Have you blindfolded anyone?"

It's been on his mind since he talked with Zayn, something he called sensory deprivation. Zayn said it's the most intense feeling he's had, without eyesight or hearing, at the complete mercy of his dom. The thought of it has been stuck in Harry's head, being so alone yet taken care of, the image playing in his mind on a loop.