It Demands To Be Felt

It Demands To Be Felt: Chapter Eleven

"yeah, much better. I feel like a new man!" Louis giggled, squeezing their fingers together and kissing Harry's nose. "it's you. you made me feel better."

Harry shook his head, frowning a bit. "Lou, I didn't-"

"no, you did. you did everything. you took care of me, you helped me get better...christ, you spent the whole night with me while I was barfing into the toilet. and you took care of Livvie too. that really means a lot to me, babe. thank you for everything, Harry. you're a lifesaver." he kissed Harry's lips softly and then leaned his head onto his chest as Harry wrapped his arms around him.

"always, Lou," Harry mumbled, thumbing tiny circles into the soft wool of Louis' sweater. "I'll always be here for you."

Louis grinned and pressed his face into Harry's chest. "how did you even know I was awake?" he said, muffled.

"I watched you sleeping from the Rooftop and waited for you to wake up."

"nooooo!" Louis squealed, laughing and breaking away from Harry. "that's so stalkerish!"

"I'm kidding, idiot! I know how your body clock works. you always wake up at about 8:15 and then you just lay there for like twenty minutes."

Louis was speechless. "I... I don't know which one of those excuses is creepier. let's go with the body clock one, though." he giggled and opened his bedroom door, and Harry followed, grinning. Louis padded down the stairs in tiny sock feet, and Harry climbed up on top of the staircase railway and slid all the way down, laughing the whole way.

"Haz," Louis scolded as Harry jumped down from the railway, "you shouldn't do that so often. you know that my mum hates when you do that; it's bad for the wood and she just redid the--"

"why, hello, Harry!" came the gentle voice of Louis' mum, who appeared from another room and smiled softly at the boys. "I thought I heard you making a ruckus with my son's bedroom window a minute ago."

"oh, erm...yeah, sorry about that, ma'am," Harry mumbled, ducking his head respectfully and looking down to hide his embarrassment.

"aw, come on now, Harry, I'm just messing with you!" Mrs. Tomlinson pulled Harry into a hug and reached up to ruffle his hair. "getting tall, aren't you? stop growing! you'll be twice as tall as Loubear before you know it-"

"Mum," Louis hissed, slapping his forehead and pushing past her to walk to the kitchen.

"he hates when I call him that, doesn't he?" she asked Harry, tutting quietly. "silly boy. oh Harry, by the way--" she lowered her voice and leaned closer, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder--"thank you for staying here these past few days. Louis needed taking care of, and I wasn't here; if it weren't for you I don't know what I would have done."

"oh, it's nothing, really. I love being with them. your family is like my family too," Harry grinned.

"we're always here for you, Harry! what we have is yours," Mrs. Tomlinson smiled. "and Livvie told me you made her breakfast and let her pick out her own outfit?" Harry nodded, rolling his eyes, and she laughed loudly, turning to walk upstairs. "that must have been a sight to see."

after Harry could hear her waking up the baby upstairs, he walked into the kitchen and leaned against the wall, staring at Louis, who had his head buried in the refrigerator, rummaging through what Harry knew was just old leftovers and spoiled milk.

"you need to go shopping. I could barely find anything to cook yesterday, everything was either used up or-"

"yeah, cause someone used half a carton of eggs and a whole pint of milk on their damn casserole!" Louis shut the door and turned around, sticking his tongue out and putting his hands on his hips. "there isn't even enough sugar for a cup of tea!"

"sorry!" Harry laughed, walking over to his boyfriend and kissing him on the forehead. "c'mon, we can go get some stuff. put on your shoes, babe, I'll go get your jacket."

rolling his eyes but smiling too big to be considered genuinely upset, Louis smiled up at Harry before going off to find his shoes.

--

about thirty minutes later, the boys had arrived at Henderson's grocery. Louis rolled a cart over to the first aisle and looked to Harry. "what do we need?"

"I don't know...whatever wasn't in the fridge?"

"of course." Louis pushed the cart down the dairy aisle, humming as he grabbed a few things off the shelf and putting them in the cart as Harry silently trailed behind. butter, eggs, milk, cream... "what kind of ice cream should we get?" he asked, doodling lines and circles in the frost that covered the freezer windows.

"hmmm..what do they have?" Harry wrapped his arms around his tiny boyfriend, tucking his thumbs in Louis' belt loops and pulling him close.

"there's chocolate chip, rocky road, vanilla bean, cookies and cream, double fudge, chocolate chip cookie dough, French vanilla, birthday cake, raspberries and cream, mint chocolate ch-"

"I think," Harry's voice rumbled deep and slow in Louis' ear, "that we should get Louis-flavored ice cream."

Louis shivered (Harry is such a tease sometimes, god) and Harry grinned, tickling Louis and untangling himself so that he could open the freezer door. "I'm kidding," he grinned, "but we should get chocolate chip cookie dough. it's your favorite, yeah?"

Louis nodded and blinked slowly, mouth gaping open. "y-yeah," he mumbled, clasping his hands together.

Harry's eyebrows drew together as he took out a carton and shut the door. "you sure? you seem-"

"yeah it's fine," Louis stuttered, not wanting to explain his getting-turned-on-by-Harry's-voice issue.

"alright then, if you insist." his boyfriend shook his head, unconvinced, and handed Louis the ice cream. "okay, get in."

"what?"

"the cart, silly! get in the cart!"

Louis raised his eyebrows, puzzled, and Harry said, "do I have to pick you up? I can, you know; you weigh like-"

"okay, fine," Louis cut him off, climbing up into the shopping cart and setting the ice cream in his lap, holding on to the sides. Harry took off running down the aisle with the cart, giggling as Louis squealed and laughed loudly.

they flew through the whole store like that, ignoring glares from the store employees and the "hey, watch it!"s from the other customers. they picked up things they didn't need: strawberry milk and cracked pepper crackers and mechanical pencils, a spatula, four boxes of tea, and even a new toothbrush for Olivia. Harry piled the groceries on Louis' lap, laughing when they spilled over and onto the floor. when they finally made it to the checkout, their ice cream had melted and the two of them owed £89.46.

Harry fished out his credit card and handed it to the cashier, giving him a winning smile when he rolled his eyes. "have a nice day," the cashier drawled glumly, and Harry smiled and took off, pushing Louis in the cart.

"well that guy seemed like he's having a great time here!" Louis said sarcastically as they walked out the sliding doors.

"would you be having a great time, Lou, if you had to deal with people like us?" Harry grinned.

"of course!" they both laughed and Harry brought the cart to a stop. "um...how are we going to get all of this home?"

they hadn't brought a car; they had just walked since their houses were only about a half mile away. Harry shrugged and said, "do you think they would notice if one of their carts was missing?"

Louis giggled and kissed him on the nose.

and that was how Harry and Louis came to be the proud owners of a 2012 4-wheel Henderson's shopping cart and a half gallon of completely melted chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.