Louis wakes up before the alarm is set to ring and Harry is still sound asleep. Louis turns it off and decides he will wake Harry up after having taken a shower. Because he needs a shower.
He gets out of his bed and walks to the bathroom. The room is not big but it has enough space and there are also little bottles of shampoo and body wash. Louis takes a look at himself in the mirror and almost winces at the bags under his eyes. Yes, he slept, but he is still tired and apparently it shows.
He undresses and gets in the shower once it has heated up. He lets the hot water wet his hair and plasters it to his forehead, standing still under the water. Louis takes his time and when he is finished he goes out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He had forgotten to take his clothes in the bathroom.
When he goes out, Harry is awake and staring at the ceiling, sprawled all over the bed like a starfish. When he hears Louis, he turns his head and his jaw goes slack as his eyes rake over Louis' chest, then his lower half and the fact that he was only in a towel made Louis feel extremely self-aware and exposed. Harry's eyes are burning through Louis' skin and Louis does not know if he feels so self-conscious about his body because Harry is a stranger or if it is because he is fucking attractive. Or maybe because of both.
Louis clears his throat and looks away from Harry's much too intense gaze. Harry's eyes snap up to Louis' face and he goes back to staring at the ceiling, blinking slowly. He seems to pull himself together and sits up, but not looking at Louis.
"Okay, so um." Harry starts. "I, uh, was wondering if I could borrow some clothes from you? Because I obviously don't have any. And don't worry I'll buy some back for you." He adds and looks at Louis.
Louis blinks and nods. "Of course."
He bends down and he sees Harry quickly looking on the opposite side of Louis who takes two pairs of sweats and two jumpers, one for him and another for Harry. He hands him the clothes with a pair of briefs but he does not look at him while he does so.
"Thanks." Harry says with a light smile, looking at Louis swiftly before going into the bathroom and locking himself in.
Well, that was pretty awkward. Louis had always had this ability to put himself and others in awkward situations, but this time it was not even his fault. Okay, maybe if he had not left the bathroom almost naked when an almost stranger was there it would have been less awkward.
Harry comes out of the bathroom a good fifteen minutes later and Louis is lying on the bed, looking at his phone. He was watching dog videos. Louis looks up to Harry and sees that his clothes are a bit too tight on Harry but he looks good anyway.
"I'm definitely going to need to buy you and myself clothes." He chuckles as he pulls on the sleeves of the sweater, walking toward his bed to sit on the edge.
"I'm not letting you buy me anything. I'm already feeling like I'm your sugar baby or something and just, no." Louis says, which makes Harry look at him as he lets out a small laugh.
"Okay but if I give you a gift, you can't refuse it."
Louis tilts his head to the side and leans on his elbows to look at Harry better.
"Why not?" He raises a brow.
"It's rude to refuse a gift." Harry says matter of factly.
"Okay, but imagine someone gives you a dead rat and says: 'It's a gift, you have to keep it'. I could say no and I would say no."
Harry rolls his eyes. "I'm not offering you a dead rat, Hero. I'm just buying you clothes because I took yours and you took me with you on your trip."
"You can't always use the excuse of me 'saving' you to get your way." Louis tells him.
"I absolutely can. You'll see." Harry shrugs. "What time is it?" He asks before Louis has the time to reply to the first thing he has said. Louis grabs his phone and looks at the screen.
"It says 4:33." Louis informs him.
"We should go now if we don't want to be late for the tour." Harry says happily and gets up, already walking out of the room. Louis rolls his eyes and follows him, making sure to lock the room and then he pockets the keys.
...
"There is no way I'm doing this again in my life and let alone with you." Louis says as he throws himself in his bed after the tour.
The tour was cool in itself and it was not always in the dark but it sometimes happened that they were in darker places. And when this happened, Louis was not very serene so he was sticking closer to Harry. When Harry realised that Louis was in fact scared of the dark, this fucker thought it would be funny to scare the hell out of Louis by randomly grabbing his arm and shaking him left and right or to let Louis walk in front of him and blow air in his neck to pretend someone was about to kill him.
Harry laughs and sits at the edge of his bed. "Oh come on, it was fun."
Louis sits up to throw Harry a death glare and Harry bites his lip not to laugh.
"Of course it was fun for you, idiot. All you did was scare the living daylights out of me." He shakes his head and Harry rolls his eyes.
"I specifically asked you beforehand if you were scared of the dark and you told me that no you weren't." Harry points out. "You shouldn't have lied."
He had a point. A fair one, even. But fuck that.
"You don't even know me and yet you feel way too comfortable around me." Louis says and Harry shrugs.
"Yeah, that's in my nature. I usually feel comfortable around people and trust them blindly."
"You know it's not a quality, right?" Louis raises a brow.
"Oh yeah I do. But I can't help it." Louis rolls his eyes at Harry's wide eyes. He is so lucky Louis is not a murderer or such.
"Can we go eat? I'm starving." Harry says, clapping his knees and gazing expectantly at Louis.
"Where should we eat?" Louis asks because he has no idea where they could go eat.
"There's a restaurant 200 feet underneath us." He beams.
"Okay." Louis agrees. He was hungry as well and it could be cool.
"Let's go then." Harry gets up and walks out. "Oh by the way, I'm paying." He says and walks out the door.
Louis follows him quickly and makes sure to lock behind them, because Harry never seems to do so, before running after him. When he catches up, he flicks Harry's ear and Harry frowns.
"Hey." He complains.
"Stop wanting to pay for everything we're doing, Dimples. I'm not your sugar baby and therefore you don't have to take care of me. I'm twenty three and had a job, so I'm perfectly able to take care of myself." Louis tells Harry.
"You're twenty three and had a job?" Harry says.
"Well, yeah. I got fired." He admits. "How old are you?" He changes topic, ashamed of the reason why he got fired.
"I'm twenty one." Harry answers as they near the elevator to go down to the restaurant .
"Don't we have to have a reservation?" Louis asks when they step inside.
"We'll see. If we have to then I'll negotiate. I'm good at that." Harry shrugs and presses a button before they go down.
"Okay." Louis agrees, hoping Harry is right.
They are down at the restaurant in a minute and Louis is stunned by the place. There's light -thank goodness- and it is really cool.
"Hello!" Harry says joyously at the girl behind the counter.
She smiles at him and then asks "Hello, do you have a reservation?"
Louis looks at Harry who looks totally serene and tilts his head with this blinding and dimpled smile.
"Oh yeah, I was wondering if you had a table left, maybe? Please?" He says sweetly and he had this angelic look on his face, Louis would have said yes instantly.
The woman looks at him and then sighs. "Okay there's two tables left, I'll take you to one."
"You're the sweetest, thank you darling." Harry tells her as she rounds the counter and guides them toward a table.
Louis is quite impressed with Harry to be honest.
They both sit at the table, face to face, and the woman gives them two menus and says she will be back in ten minutes to take their order. After that, she is gone.
Louis looks through the menu -just the burger part- and decides he will go with the safe choice, which is a simple cheeseburger.
"So, Hero." Harry starts, not taking his eyes off his menu. Louis looks at him and waits for him to continue. "Why did you get fired?"
"Oh." Louis was not expecting that, he hoped Harry forgot. "Well, um, funny story, that." Harry looks up at him and looks into his eyes. "See, I worked in a restaurant and the funny thing is that I don't know how to cook. So one day the cook, who was my mate Stan, had a problem and so my boss asked me to take his post. I said yes because it couldn't be that hard to grill a steak. Turns out I'm not even able to do that without burning half of the kitchen."
Louis waits for Harry's reaction, who stood completely still, eyes still boring into Louis'. Harry's lips twitched and he started laughing quietly, looking away from Louis.
"Oh my god, you can't even cook a steak." He says while laughing and Louis frowns and kicks him lightly under the table. "Hey." Harry complains as he stops laughing, a smile still lingering on his lips.
"Don't laugh. It isn't funny." Louis says seriously. "I lost my job and almost killed everyone in the kitchen!" He says when Harry just laughs again.
"Oh so you're a killer?" He asks, raising a teasing eyebrow. Louis rolls his eyes and lifts his menu to hide his face from a cackling Harry.
"Oh come on, Hero. Don't be like that, I'm joking." Louis could already tell he was rolling his eyes.
The woman then comes back and asks for their order.
"I'll take a cheeseburger and the seasonal option for the beer, thanks." Louis says as he hands her the menu.
"And I'll have the California grilled chicken sandwich and a Merlot." Harry says with an easy and polite smile.
"Okay." She answers with a smile directed to Harry and a bit too friendly to be professional. "I'll be back with it in ten minutes." She walks away.
Harry looks at her leaving and then turns to Louis and Louis narrows his eyes.
"We share a room so you won't come back with her. No way." Louis says and Harry chuckles.
"She's beautiful and looks very sweet, but she's not my type." Harry just says.
"Well I couldn't have known since I don't know you. But I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page." Louis answers.
"Fair point you got here." Harry nods.
"And who takes wine with a burger anyway? And who takes a burger with vegetables and avocado." Louis asks.
"I do." Harry says. "Do you have a problem with it?" He asks with a smile.
"Yes, I do. Avocados are disgusting." Louis huffs.
"Really now?" Harry asks with a smile way too wide and too blinding for Louis' liking.
"Yes!" Louis says pointedly.
"You're weird." Harry says without his smile waving off.
"Says the one who eats avocados." Louis mutters.
"You said?" Harry raised a brow.
"Nothing." Louis smiled at him.
Let's face reality. Avocados are not that good, okay? What is the hype? Actually, Louis could not really know if avocados are good considering the fact that he never ate one, but it is green. Whatever is edible and green can be nothing good.
"You sound like a child." Harry shakes his head as the waitress comes with their drinks.
"Thanks, darling." Harry says and Louis swears he just saw her blush.
"Thank you." He tells her.
She leaves again and Harry brings his drink to his lips to take a sip as Louis tastes his beer. It's good. No idea what it actually is but as long as it tastes good, it does not matter.
"Oh!" Harry says suddenly and startles Louis who was deeply invested in his beer "I was wondering if I could borrow your phone to call my mum? Because I don't have mine and she must be worried." He says.
"Oh, sure. Just, maybe when we're not 200 feet underground with probably no service." Louis says.
"Thanks and yeah of course." Harry beams.
"Are you close to your mum?" Louis asks him, because judging by the grin Harry has on his face, he seems to love his mum.
"Yeah. She, my sister and I are super close." He nods, a fond smile upon his pink lips. "And the fact that I haven't called her in three days and we usually talk every day, she must be worried." He says and he looks worried at the idea of his mum being worried and there is way too much 'worried' in this sentence. "Are you close to your family?" Harry then asks him.
"Oh, yeah." Louis smiles and crosses his arms. "I have my mum and my siblings and we're all pretty close."
"How many siblings do you have?" Harry asks curiously.
"Five sisters and a little brother." Louis says fondly.
He must admit that this trip will make him sad in the way that he will not see his family for an undetermined time. He also feels bad for leaving his mum to handle six kids on her own. She will have to do it when Louis leaves the house and Lottie is here to help her, so it will probably be alright. And his mum is brillant so he figures they will be okay for a little time.
"I'd love to have a big family." Harry replies.
"Me too." Louis says and smiles.
They just stare at each other for a moment and they are interrupted by their plates being placed before them. They snap out of their stare and thank the waitress before digging in their plates. And then the remainder of the dinner is spent in a comfortable silence.
It is only when they get up and are about to pay that they talk.
"I'm paying." They say at the same time and they both snap their head in the direction of the other, a frown upon both their faces.
"You're not paying!" Louis exclaims, frowning.
"I am!" Harry replies and hands the lady his card.
Louis huffs and bats Harry's hand away to give the lady his card.
"I already told you I'd pay." Harry counters, batting Louis' hand away and holding his card out to the woman who looks kind of amused but also confused.
Louis' frown deepens and he bats Harry's hand away again.
"I already told you you don't have to pay because you're not my sugar daddy." Louis says and after that, they started to bat each other's hands away and were fighting like two-year-old kids.
"Okay!" The lady says and grabs the first card she can get her hands on, which is Harry's.
"A-ah!" He says with a triumphant smile at Louis' outraged face.
The woman hurries to give Harry his card back and almost pushes them away toward the elevator. When they step in, Harry still have this stupid winning smile on his face and Louis is still crossing his arms and sulking like a kid. Harry presses the button and then there is a heavy silence which apparently is not destined to last long because Harry's stupid mouth opened to talk around an even stupider smile
"I told you I always get what I want."
"Shut up." Louis tells him and gets out of the elevator the second the door opens.
Louis practically run to their room to lock Harry out because Louis is a stupid twenty-three-year-old man who is scared to get old and who hold grudges for the stupidest things.
When Harry reaches the room and tries to open it, Louis is blocking the door and pressed against the wall. He smiles triumphantly when he hears Harry groan on the other side.
"Hero, open the door."
"Nope." Louis replies, sliding down the door and sitting on the floor.
"I'm gonna stop calling you Hero and start calling you big bum if you keep this up." Harry says after a few seconds.
Louis raises his eyebrows and looks at the door like he could see Harry through it. "So you're staring at my arse when I'm not looking?" He asks.
"Nope, I just saw it."
"Oh yeah, okay. You're two feet taller than me so obviously it's in your line of sight." Louis rolls his eyes.
"Exactly." Harry says and Louis snorts.
"You don't know me, and you feel too comfortable."
"You already told me that, old man." Harry says .
"I'm repeating it because it's still the case." Louis replies. "And how do you even come up with these nicknames?"
"Well, Hero was because you saved me from an undeniable kidnapping and death, old man is because you have a short memory -I could have called you goldfish, for that." Harry says and he is so much into his rambling he probably does not hear Louis unlock the door. "And least but not last, big bum is obviously because you have a massive-"
Louis opens the door and Harry falls backwards from where he was sitting on the floor against the door. So Harry is now lying on the floor, looking up at Louis with his wide green eyes and unruly curls everywhere. "-arse" He finishes. "Oops." Harry says.
"Hi." Louis says because he does not know what to say. They just stare, Louis with his hand on the doorknob and Harry lying on the floor.
"You have an amazing bum, by the way." Harry breaks the silence and Louis lets out a chuckle.
"Thanks, Dimples. Now get up and go to sleep, we will wake up early tomorrow."
"Yes!" He says and eagerly gets up.
He gets inside and Louis closes the door. When he turns around the first thing he sees is Harry half naked and his fit tattooed torso. Louis might be drooling and gaping, but his eyes widen when he sees him take his sweats off. Louis quickly shakes himself out of whatever is this creepy staring and shields his eyes.
"Ew, ew, ew! Are you getting naked?!" Louis says and he hears the ruffling of clothes stop before Harry's loud laugh echoes in the room.
The thing is that Louis would not mind looking at Harry's body -not entirely naked because of the stranger situation- because like he was fucking fit. But still.
"I'm not getting naked because I don't know you but I'm not sleeping with anything more than my boxers. Never." He says and Louis dares look between his fingers only to see Harry already under his bed covers.
Louis does the same and they both go to sleep, setting an alarm before so they can leave and see the sunrise tomorrow.
...