Summary: Louis and Harry are dating and the boys don't know.
"Our secret moments in a crowded room / they've got no idea about me and you"
Dress - Taylor Swift
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Sneaking around is exhilarating. Having a secret world that just the two of you share is nothing short of magical.
Tip-toeing to tour bus bunks or hotel rooms without anyone seeing or hearing adds to the euphoria of a new relationship. Trying on pet names and stealing each other's wardrobe is playing with fire. But Harry and Louis really, really like it.
"Wanna go ice skating tonight?" Louis asks Harry as he makes two cups of Yorkshire tea in the tour bus kitchenette.
"Alone?" Harry wonders.
"Yeah," Louis smiles. He brings the two steaming teacups to the couch, then sits close to Harry as they enjoy their time alone.
"Yorkshire tea again?" Harry observes. Before Louis and Harry started dating, Louis would make Harry his favorite tea, which was peppermint. But for the past three months, Louis has only made Harry Yorkshire tea, with only a few exceptions.
"I've gotta get my boy on the good stuff." Both boys talk quietly despite being the only ones on the tour bus. It feels as if flirting any louder than a soft tone would expose their relationship.
Harry fondly scrunches his nose at Louis' affectionate possession. He slowly leans in to give Louis a kiss, but the door swings open and makes them pull away from each other.
"There you are. We were looking for you," Liam says.
"Why didn't you call us?" Louis wonders.
"We tried. Your phones are off," Niall chimes in; Louis and Harry exchange guilty glances at this.
"Oops." Louis makes a funny face, causing Harry to giggle.
Liam, Niall, and Zayn pile onto the couch, and eventually Niall is pushed onto the floor so everyone can have more room. They boot up a video game on the television while the tour bus starts for a new destination. Louis stretches his arm across the back of the couch, and Harry almost immediately swoops in and nuzzles close to him, with his back on Louis' side and his head on the front of his shoulder.
"Where are we going ice skating?" Harry tilts his head toward Louis as he whispers.
"We can Google ice rinks close to us when we get to the hotel," Louis whispers back, resisting the urge to kiss Harry's forehead.
"Is it a date?" A small smile plays at Harry's lips.
"Yeah." The simple response makes Harry feel warm and fuzzy inside, which seems to be a familiar feeling these days.
"Okay." Harry is almost unable to control his sparkling smile as he sips on his tea and feels Louis drape his arm around his shoulders.
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After sneaking off with a security guard and driving ten minutes away to the ice rink, Louis and Harry smile when they see that the location isn't as crowded as they expected. Harry ties up his skates--and helps Louis tie his--and the couple goes on the ice with wary steps. Harry feels bad that the security guard has to ice skate too, but Louis reminds him that he's just doing his job.
"Ah! Come back here!" Harry almost falls over, so he reaches for Louis' hand.
"You're not gonna drag me down with you," Louis warns.
"Neither are you," Harry protests.
The boys slowly skate hand in hand, finally beginning to acclimate to gliding instead of walking after nearly 30 minutes. Louis occasionally glances at Harry, who has a huge smile plastered on his face and is beaming with pride of having yet to fall. When Harry looks at Louis, all he sees is a boy who stole his heart with humor and an incredible amount of care.
Pine trees with Christmas lights surround the rink, and the warm smell of hot chocolate and the sweetness of candied nuts floats through the chilly air.
Through warm gloves, Louis and Harry squeeze each other's hands when they stumble.
"Wanna get some hot chocolate?" Harry asks as they pass the small food and drink stand.
"Ooh, hot chocolate sounds good," Louis hums, "let's get off after this lap." Just as Louis finishes speaking, snowflakes start falling and lightly dust the ground. The atmosphere is magical; all of their senses are being delightfully infiltrated with a joyful Christmas feeling. Harry feels Louis' eyes on him, and when he turns to him, he sees his favorite baby blue eyes and a warm smile. "I love you," Louis quietly says for the very first time.
"I love you," Harry immediately repeats; a secret just for them. They find comfort in each other's blissful eyes for a moment too long, and they glide right into the rink wall with a solid thud. Louis groans and Harry grunts upon impact, but both boys erupt in laughter a split second later.
"Let's get that hot chocolate now," Louis says, his cheeks blushing a light pink.
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"I'm finally warm," Harry contently sighs into one of the pillows on his bed. After ice skating and momentarily warming themselves up with professions of love and hot chocolate, the boys are now in Harry's hotel room.
"Do you mind if I use your shower?" Louis asks. The last thing he wants is for Harry to assume he wants to end their date with sex, and that him showering is just a segue into that. Unless Harry wants it too, of course, but Louis doesn't want to make Harry uncomfortable.
"Go ahead." Harry looks at Louis, who is in the doorway of the bathroom. "All my stuff's in the shower. You can use any of it. Just not my loofa, though...sorry," he quietly adds.
"Got it, mister germophobe," Louis teases.
"Heyyy," Harry whines. He watches Louis laugh as he shuts the bathroom door. When Harry hears the water run, he wonders if he should be cleaning himself up too. Is he sweaty and gross from ice skating? Is Louis showering to be clean for sex? Harry frantically flies around his room, cleaning himself up with body wipes and cologne, then grabbing a mint and changing into pajamas that are comfortable but still make him look a little sexy--if that's even possible of a t-shirt, underwear, and socks.
"Hey Hazza?" Louis calls from the other side of the bathroom door.
"Yeah?"
"Do you have clothes I can wear to bed?" Louis cracks the door open and pokes his head out when Harry doesn't answer. "Oh, um, can I stay the night? Is that okay? I can go back to my room if you-"
"Don't go," Harry quickly, almost desperately, says. "I want you to stay...if you want."
"Okay," a relieved smile replaces Louis' previously uncertain frown. Harry climbs out of bed and pads to his dresser, where he opens two drawers for Louis.
"Pick anything you like." Louis secures a towel around his waist, then picks the first shirt and boxers he sees. He quickly changes in the bathroom before joining Harry on the bed. "Now what?" The boys sit across from each other, unsure of what to do.
Before they started dating, things were never this complicated. When they would spend the night in each other's rooms, there was no pressure to fulfill the boyfriend roll; all they had to be was friends. There was less awkwardness in dancing around certain questions of intimacy, because the answer was always no. Now that the couple can do whatever they want, the pressure to be more boyfriend and less platonic friend is magnified--especially at night.
"Well, what would we do if we weren't dating?" Louis starts. Harry pauses for a moment before giving a thoughtful answer.
"We would probably be watching a movie or sitting on our phones. I would be thinking about wanting to be cuddled," he admits.
"Friends can cuddle," Louis reasons.
"Not the way I thought about." Louis' eyebrows hover far above his eyes at this, curious as to what his boyfriend could be alluding to.
"What way did you think about cuddling?" Louis asks in a low tone. The way Louis asks the question makes Harry's stomach flip. The younger boy takes his lip between his teeth, and the growing tension between them is almost tangible. He wants Louis to take him any way he pleases.
"Not sexual," he dismisses his thoughts aloud. "I would think about wanting you as more than a friend. We cuddled sometimes, but it just didn't feel right. It felt like it was just friends comforting friends, because that's what it was," he explains. Louis' chest heats up and his heart flutters at this. So, he lays down under the inviting blankets and holds them open for Harry. With a curious smile, Harry joins Louis under the covers and lies down facing him. Louis pulls him in without a word, expressing all his love for his boyfriend through touch and soft kisses.
"How does it feel now?" Louis finally whispers. Harry is completely surrounded by Louis, quickly getting high off of his clean scent and warmth that is both familiar and still new. Every single stressor in his life is erased from his memory, every single heartache long forgotten.
"It's the best feeling in the world," Harry whispers against Louis' chest.
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Incessant knocking quickly pulls Louis and Harry from a state of deep sleep. Their limbs are tangled together, hair messy and hearts happy.
Louis incoherently grumbles under his breath before reluctantly leaving Harry to open the door.
"What do you want?" Louis yawns, his eyes still half shut.
"We have an interview and concert rehearsal today. We have to leave in like, 10 minutes," Liam informs the boys. "And Harry still has one of my shirts. I wanted to wear it today."
"Come in," Louis sighs. Liam shuts the door behind him, sitting on the edge of the bed while Louis rifles through Harry's drawers to find the borrowed shirt.
"Gotta get up now, Harry," Liam gently says. Harry only groans, then buries himself in the covers.
"No. Lou, come back," Harry says in a low, gravely morning voice.
"We've gotta leave soon, Haz," Louis says. His voice is considerably more gentle than it was when he spoke to Liam just seconds ago. "Here you go. We'll be ready to leave soon." He hands Liam the crudely folded shirt before returning to the bed.
"Thanks. And why are you in here?" Liam wonders.
"How'd you know to come here?" Louis realizes.
"I knocked on your door for a while before coming here. We all know you sleep together sometimes," Liam cheekily says.
"Yeah, and that's all we do, perv. Now let us get ready." Louis shoos Liam away with the wave of his hand.
"I'll be back in five minutes," he informs the two boys before leaving.
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Getting wrapped up in your own world of love is quite easy when you are dating someone as lovely as Harry. While Louis used to hang out with all of his band mates, especially Zayn, to kill time, he now finds himself gravitating to Harry more often than not.
"Do you say orange or ahrange?" Harry asks. The couple is sitting close together on the couch, their hands daring to connect.
"Nobody says ahrange," Louis laughs. "Do you say milk or melk?" He asks in return.
"Milk. If you say melk then I've got some bad news for you," Harry chuckles. They continue asking silly questions and making each other laugh, mindlessly throwing flirting into the conversation.
"Hey boyfriends, it's interview time." Zayn runs his hands through Harry's hair to mess it up as he passes by the couch. Louis immediately jumps up and messes up Zayn's hair. "Louis," he complains before looking in a mirror across the room and fixing his previously styled hair.
"Karma's a bitch," he simply replies before turning back to Harry, who is finishing up fixing his hair in his phone camera. "Looks fine, sunshine," Louis smiles. "Come on." He motions for Harry to follow him to the interview room.
"We're not boyfriends, you knob," Harry whispers before sitting between Liam and Niall. The interview is for radio, which means the boys are all sitting behind tables with big headphones over their ears and microphones in their faces. They can't talk to anyone without moving away from the microphone and removing their headphones.
As the interview inches closer and closer to the hour mark, Louis finally stops fidgeting in his seat and decides to text Harry. He has answered enough questions throughout the interview, so he doesn't think he'll get called on.
Louis: Wanna sneak off to the bathroom after this? 👉🏼👌🏼
He purses his lips to suppress his laugh, then taps the send button. However, when he hears a small array of vibrations and text message alerts, his laugh runs as far away as his dignity. His eyes dart around to his band mates, feeling a small sense of relief when no one checks their phones. Except for Niall.
Niall: I didn't know you felt that way about us mate
Once again, dings and vibrations sound off. Niall looks back at Louis with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile, and Louis feels he could die from embarrassment.
"So, are we going to the bathroom now?" Liam asks once the interview ends and the microphones are turned off.
"Shut up," Louis groans. "That wasn't meant for you."
"Who was it for?" Zayn wonders. He, Niall, and Liam all turn to look at Harry, who is sitting silently with his hands in his lap and his upper lip between his teeth. There is no way for Louis to explain himself out of this, especially not with the emojis he used. However, he can stall and hope the boys forget about it.
"We have to go to the venue now," Louis says before starting for the car.
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Since stepping on stage to rehearse, none of the boys have had a chance to talk about Louis' text since they have been busy singing or taking notes from the musical director.
Louis hurries to sequester in the bathroom as soon as they go on break, trying his hardest to avoid his band mates. Maybe if he hides in the bathroom for long enough he can come up with a reasonable explanation for the text he accidentally sent to the band group chat instead of to Harry.
"Louis?" Someone enters the bathroom and knocks on the only locked stall. Louis opens the door for his boyfriend and hugs him. "Technically we've snuck off to the bathroom..." Harry trails, then slides his hands down Louis' front. He starts to unzip Louis' jeans, but the older boy stops him.
"I can't. I'm still mortified from earlier," he sighs.
"You can't? Not even when I do this?" Harry gets on his knees and pulls Louis closer to him by the back of his thighs. "Can I give you a blowjob?" The bathroom door suddenly swings open, and Louis doesn't know what to be more speechless at.
"Those are Louis' shoes," Niall observes.
"Harry's on his knees, holy shit," Zayn incredulously adds. Louis and Harry look helplessly at each other; not a single thing in the world could explain this away. Louis offers a hand to help Harry up, and they reluctantly unlock the door to face their band mates.
"So you finally snuck off to the bathroom, huh?" Liam says. Neither Harry nor Louis answers. Instead, they leave the bathroom, motioning for Liam, Niall, and Zayn to follow them. If they have to expose their secret, it is probably better to do it somewhere comfortable rather than in a bathroom.
The five boys sit in the lounge area backstage, with Harry and Louis sitting next to each other and their band mates watching them intently.
"What do we say?" Louis whispers to his boyfriend. Harry looks around the room and finds that everyone seems to be focused on various tasks. So, Harry uses the opportunity to grab Louis' face and kiss him right there, out in the open, in front of their three best friends.
"...yeah," Harry contently smiles at the boys. Louis is frozen, staring at the side of Harry's face with wide eyes and his lips parted.
"We knew it! We're so happy for you guys!" Liam cheers.
"How long has this been going on?" Zayn wonders.
"Almost three months," Harry smiles, intertwining his fingers with Louis'. They answer as many questions as they can in their remaining break time, and now that Louis sees his friends' overwhelming support, he almost feels guilty for keeping it a secret for so long.
Even though Louis and Harry won't be sneaking around anymore, they can now be openly affectionate in front of their friends, who they learned love them unconditionally. They truly had nothing to worry about.
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Yo this one is not good 🥴😬 hopefully someone likes it haha
Better one coming next I promise 🫡
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