part twenty-four
⚥
"when were you planning on telling me?," louis asks, furrowing his eyebrows, twisting his ring around his finger with his left hand's index finger and thumb. his heart hammers as his mother gives a guilty shrug and laugh, smiling at him like she did whenever she had to have him wear boy's clothes for some school function. mandatory.
nobody at the table makes a sound, not even the boys on the furthest part, where they were just laughing and cutting up. "i wasn't purposefully keeping it from you, baby," she says gently, and at the term of endearment, louis' eyes fill with tears, already dreading the idea of not having his mother just across town. not even in the same country. "c'mon, don't cry, it'll be okay. it might not even be forever. dan got a job there, to help design some part on the landing gear on an airplane. how long can that take?," she says cheerily, though it's obvious that the revelation has weighed on her. harry knows how louis and his mum hate to have secrets - they're so close.
"if it'll only be a short amount of time, why don't you just stay here? plenty of wives have husbands overseas...," he says, but even he knows that he's grasping at straws. his mum and his step-father just had twins, there's no way they're going to be separate. "i'm gonna go lie down. thank you for dinner, babe, it was delicious," he sniffles, and harry's mouth bobs as louis leans over and kisses him on the cheek, and his heart thumps at the sweet smell of his perfume as he brushes past.
he tries to hold onto for as long as possible, but he closes his eyes when it's gone in just a few moments, disagreeing as louis sweeps out of the room. "i'm...," niall stammers, and harry opens his eyes and looks over, seeing the blonde haired lad looking sort of uncomfortable. "do you think that it's best if we...?"
harry shakes his head, looking between both of the mums in the room, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. "oh, for heaven's sake!," huffs anne, and harry looks at her startled.
"what?," he asks, tilting his head to side, looking at the door where louis disappeared through.
"i know i didn't raise you like this, harry edward styles. be a gentleman. go comfort your man," she groans, and harry looks over to her, seeing himself in her eyes, though hers are probably more kind than harry's could ever be. he looks at her skeptically, which makes her eyes roll again. "c'mon, babe, we're alright. we'll finish up here and we'll show ourselves out. it's perfectly fine, we'll see you tomorrow. good with you?," she aims the last part to jay, who nods quickly.
"yes, please, that would make me feel so much better," she says quietly, and harry can see how much she regrets hiding this from her son. "just have him give me a ring... whenever he's up for it," she requests, and harry nods quickly, looking over at the three lads at the end of the table, who are nodding in agreement, resuming to their previous, messy eating, smiling at him.
"just don't make too much noise!," niall cackles, and harry's face takes on an expressing of pure scandal. he looks over at him and louis' mums, expecting the same, but they have looks of amused agreement on their soft faces, and harry really should have expected this.
harry itches his ankle with the top of his prosthetic nervously, still conflicted, and he doesn't go until his mum gives him the harshest glare he has ever received, and his mates whoop laughing as he tucks tail and hustles through the house, straight to where he knows louis is.
he had said he was going to lie down, but the tiny boy has taken up the habit of hiding out in the shower, fully clothed, just letting the water hit the floor whenever he's sad from an emotional movie, or scared, from a lightening storm, or stressed, by all of his professors hitting him with excruciating amounts of work and doesn't want harry to know that he's really upset.
harry's guess proves true, because as he nears the restroom, the sound of running water fills the air. there's no sound of the water bouncing off a body, just splatting straight to the ground, going down the drain.
gulping, harry musters up enough courage to knock, a little beat, and puts his ear to the door. waiting for a few moments, he doesn't hear any movement on the other side of the door, and he goes to knock again, but decides to just go on and open the door, in the knowledge that the door's lock doesn't work. "hey! someone's in here- what the-," louis yelps, peeking out from the shower curtain, clamping his mouth shut as he notices that it's harry. "oh," he murmurs, his mouth barely moving, "you should be out there... your mum just got in..."
harry sighs and squeezes his bottom lip between his thumb and his index finger, then uses the same hand to reach up, seamlessly pulling his hair from the holder keeping it in a bun. louis doesn't comment as harry's hair falls down his shoulders. he never understood how harry's hair doesn't look crunchy and knotted up like his sister's did whenever they removed their hair buns.
he also doesn't comment when harry removes his shoes, one by one, more clumsy trying to toe off the shoe on his prosthetic, then his socks, and steps into the shower with louis, who releases his grip on the shower curtain, letting him in without question.
harry looks down at louis once he's under the stray, keeping it from hitting him, towering over him, and silently closes his eyes for a few seconds, breathing through his mouth, and louis blinks several times, his heart thumping in his chest with how much adoration he has for harry.
still fully clothed, water soaking through, also soaking his long hair, cascading down his face, dropping off his nose and lips in a way that puts a buzz in louis' eardrums, makes him feel disoriented. he stops blinking as soon as harry opens his eyes, green in a way they rarely are, water dripping off his forehead, catching on his eyelashes in a very distracting manner. "you're so beautiful," harry whispers, surprising louis, who didn't even realize harry was looking him over in the exact same way.
except louis knows that harry is just trying to make him feel better. his mascara is probably running down his cheeks, his lipstick smudged - he probably looks like a drowned rat, honestly. "harry...," he whispers, his lips folding downwards, and his eyes water up again, his throat beginning to feel raw from holding in the tears. he whimpers in the back of his throat as harry gently takes him by the arm, leading him into his chest, which is on display since his shirt is mostly unbuttoned. they wrap up in each other, and louis snivels sadly, completely distraught.
he remains quiet for a while, just crying softly from time to time, and doesn't fight it as harry starts to slowly peel his dress over his head.
he registers the wet splat as he tosses the garment out of the shower, and he feels harry moving himself, taking his own shirt off. as soon as he hears the other boy's shirt hit the floor he's back on him, welcoming the heat that is coming off of his boyfriend's lean, strong body.
even though the only things they're wearing is harry's denim jeans and louis' dark, lacy underwear and socks, the atmosphere is anything but sexual.
louis doesn't want to release harry as he distances himself just a but, using one hand to unbutton his jeans, the other to slid them off. louis reaches for him immediately, and harry kicks the jeans out of the small, wet space that they're in, and lets louis grab him again.
they stand like that for a while, like they previously had, but they eventually sink to the floor, and louis clutches onto harry's neck, his nose buried right under his jaw, being lulled as harry rubs soft circles in his back with his thumb.
harry notices that he's drifted off when his snivels let up, and his grip slackens around his neck.
slowly, trying not to wake up the sleeping baby, harry stands up, which is quite difficult since his prosthetic leg doesn't get good traction on the tile in the shower. but, he does end up upright, and he winces as louis stirs a little, and the grip on his neck tightens. making quick work of turning the water off, harry looks around to make sure no one is still there (forbid one of their mums see them like this. forbid niall see. harry honestly couldn't imagine the ways he would torture them) before tapping the light switch, closing the door after them, telling himself to remember their wet clothes in the morning.
louis starts to shiver before they get to the bedroom, and harry's slightly chilly, too - louis always keeps the thermostat quite low, to save them power bills.
as soon as they get into the bedroom does harry lay louis down, taking his socks off first, delicately, making sure they, dripping wet, make it into the clothes bin beside the closet. then, with a little more hesitancy, he puts his fingers on louis's hip, shaking him slightly, and he opens his eyes groggily. "do you want to change or do you want me to take them off, poppet?," he asks quietly, and louis' eyes flutter closed.
"you," he answers after a few moments, putting his left forearm over his eyes, "'nd hurry. 'm cold..."
harry gulps and blinks slowly, gently peeling off the underwear that wants to stick to his damp skin. breathing evenly as he can, he doesn't want to disrespect louis, so he keeps himself from staring, gently reaching up to caress louis' chin with his thumb, tossing the panties into the clothes bin with the socks. "so beautiful," he says, crossing to his side of the bed, removing louis' arm, which is placid - he's asleep again. harry chuckles to himself, fondly, and wets his thumb on his tongue, gently wiping away louis' ran mascara as best he can, pulling the blanket up to their noses, bringing louis to his chest, so blissed out by how warm he is. "i love you," he says to louis' sleeping head, kissing his ear gently.
louis reaches over and grabs harry's hand from his waist, pulling it to his chest - startling harry - kissing his knuckles. definitely not asleep. "i love you, too, hazelnut."