For the Road

33

"And this is the kitchen," Louis finishes. He raises his arm to show off the kitchen to a smiling Harry. Louis can already tell Harry is going to like being in here. The kitchen doesn't get used too often since Louis is terrible at cooking, but hopefully Harry can liven the place up (and perhaps make sure Louis eats better.)

"This is... amazing, Louis, really," Harry breathes. Louis walks towards the grand table overlooking the garden and sighs loudly as he sits down. Harry sits next to him and links their hands over the table. Louis can feel himself blushing and quickly tries to even out his increasing heart rate.

Louis' become such a schoolgirl when it comes to Harry. At first, he was more relaxed, but now he can't do anything without blushing. There has never been a time when Louis ever imagined himself being the blushing type. Harry's taken on a more relaxed personality now and can easily reach out and touch Louis without thinking.

"I'll let you unpack," Louis says. As soon as they arrived at Louis' house, Harry put his things down and demanded (nicely) a tour. Harry sighs quietly and stands. He walks over and places a kiss on the top of Louis' head before going towards the door and grabbing his bags.

"Love, will you show me where my room is again? There's three spares and I'm not sure which one you want me in," Harry shouts. Louis groans and stands to show Harry the room he cleaned for him.

It isn't that Louis' untidy, it's just that he likes things. Completely random and meaningless things fill his spare bedrooms. Liam is always trying to get rid of stuff when he comes around, but Louis protests. He did manage to get one of the spares cleaned out for Harry to use.

"Here," Louis points out. Harry points to the neighboring door.

"This is yours, right?"

Louis gives a quick nod, praying that Harry doesn't say what he's probably thinking. Of course, Louis cleaned out the spare room that's closest to his, but he doesn't want to admit that out loud. Harry, however, doesn't seem bothered and enters the room.

The room is simple. Louis wants to give Harry as much freedom to decorate his room as he wants. Harry sets his things down and pulls out a poster. Louis cringes as he sees the awful picture. It's the first photo shoot One Direction ever did. They all look prepubescent in it and wear hideous matching outfits. Louis wants to burn it.

"I've had this poster since 2011 and I couldn't just leave it behind," Harry explains. Louis folds his arms across his chest.

"You could've," Louis mumbles. Harry glares at him and continues to pull out clothes. It continues to surprise Louis that Harry's a fan. Of course, he knows that Harry likes their music, but it's shocking to be reminded that he's been in the fan base for so long.

"I'm gonna unpack," Harry explains. It's a silent cue for 'you're not needed anymore'. Louis steps forward and pulls Harry away from his bags and into his arms. Louis wraps his hands around Harry's waist and takes a few Moments to absorb Harry's scent.

"I'm glad you're living with me," Louis sighs. He looks up and smiles at Harry. Harry smiles, dimples on display, and leans down to give Louis a quick kiss. Louis gives him a final squeeze before letting Harry finish unpacking.

~_~_~

A few hours have passed, and Harry had the majority of his things put away. Louis' only slightly offended when Harry brought out the cooking supplies he got from his family for Christmas (Louis doesn't know what half the things do, admittedly). After seeing the empty refrigerator, Harry decided on taking their first shopping trip together.

"Why is kale on the shopping list," Louis points out. They walk down a street in LA, heading to the closest store. Harry's the one that suggested walking (obviously not Louis, because why walk when you have a perfectly good car?)

"Because I like kale," Harry counters. He gives Louis a look that he gets from Liam quite frequently. It's the one that screams 'don't push it' that always makes Louis want to push it. Louis decides that keeping Harry happy is probably more important than teasing him, so, instead, he just makes a sour face and follows Harry.

The pair stops at a crosswalk. Harry's looking around trying to take in everything he can. Louis admires Harry fondly. Harry's fingers are at his lips and his eyebrows are slightly furrowed. Grey skinnies cover his lanky legs and a 'Kiss' band shirt covers his upper body. Louis' eyes travel down Harry and he rolls his eyes teasingly at his boyfriend's worn out boots.

A pat on Louis' shoulder breaks his concentration, and he turns to see a girl around fifteen. "Louis," She asks. Her voice is soft and close to breaking. Louis notices her bright blue hair and abnormally golden eyes. He sees another person standing behind her.

"Yes, Love?" Louis sees Harry turn to him at the word 'love' and can't help smiling.

"Can I-I... uh... get a p-picture? P-Please!" Louis notices the crowd around him and grabs the girl's hand gently and leads her away from everyone. He doesn't want to meet the girl around so many people, and he's scared she might have an anxiety attack or maybe faint.

"We're on holiday and decided we would spend a day trying to find one of you guys. Heard you were back from tour," The relaxed one explains. Louis' shoulders tense at their words. Of course, he loves meeting fans, but it makes him uncomfortable to think that people will fly across the world to get even a glimpse of him. It makes Louis feel like he's some wild animal in a zoo.

"Well, I guess it paid off," Louis jokes. The blue-haired girl anxiously pulls out her phone, but her hand is shaking so bad Louis' scared she'll drop it.

"I'll take it for you," The other person offers. They take the phone from the blue-haired girl and motions for the pair to stand closer together. They snap a few pictures before returning the phone back to the girl.

"Harry?" Louis turns to Harry when the teen says his boyfriend's name. Harry's eyes widen for a Moment and then his jaw drops. Louis assumes the pair knows each other.

"I know you from Instagram, right? I can't believe I didn't recognize you when I saw you," Harry says. He brings them into a hug and smiles.

"Yeah, I thought it was you, but I wasn't sure. Everyone's worried about you. You haven't been responding a lot. The group-chat is practically dead without you," They explain. Louis watches the two pathetically.

"We should catch up at some point! Message me later and I'll respond, I promise this time. For now, we gotta go get some shopping done," Harry explains. The group gives a few last goodbyes before heading off in their separate ways. 

~_~_~

Hey guys! How are you? This took a while to write considering I don't know any of the British Christmas traditions. (What's in a cracker? I didn't write it in bc I have no clue what it is)(no ham???????) Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! ~B

ATLC: I speak English fluently, however I'm in Spanish classes (level 2) and I'm in an ASL club. 

Bonus Goal: 13 votes and 11 comments

QOTC: Who do you stan the most from 1D (all isn't an answer)