A/N: not edited, so bear with me! x
Chapter 19
HARRY POV
Harry moved out of the bed slowly, trying not to wake Louis. He glanced at the bedside clock. 9 am. Perfect.
The past few days had been amazing so far. The week was flying by, and now, it was Christmas Eve. But more importantly, it was Louis' birthday. And Harry wanted to make sure that everything would be perfect.
He had talked to Jay the day before, and she had made sure to get a few things together for Harry, so that he'd be able to put together a little surprise for Lou. He was absolutely determined to make this day as amazing as possible for his friend. And seeing as Louis usually woke up around 11 or so, Harry knew that he had to hurry if he wanted this to work. He quietly slipped out of the room and tiptoed his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Jay was already sitting at the kitchen table, sipping at her coffee and reading a magazine. She put the magazine down when Harry walked in. "Hi love, sleep well?"
"Great, thanks Jay," he replied warmly. He started feeling so comfortable around Jay in such a short amount of time; it was as if he'd known her forever. "Is everything ready?"
She nodded, standing up and pulling the essentials out of cupboards and the fridge. Harry was just getting out a few bowls and other items when Lottie walked in through the door. Lottie had almost completely gotten over her shyness after Harry's third day staying at the Tomlinson household, and now Harry was confident that she was at least semi-comfortable around him. He wasn't exactly sure why she'd been so weird around him to begin with, but he didn't ask questions. "Morning Lottie," he said happily. "Wanna help?"
Lottie's cheeks turned slightly pink. "What are you guys doing?.."
"Sh," Jay shushed her daughter. "We don't want the twins waking up, they'll just cause trouble. We're making Louis a surprise for his birthday, it was Harry's idea."
Lottie's blue eyes found Harry's, and she smirked at him. Harry concentrated on pulling items out of drawers, suddenly finding the mixing bowl in front of him to be quite interesting as his cheeks heated up. "Oh did he now?" Lottie said teasingly.
Harry ignored her jibe. "I wanted to make him a cake, your mum decided to help me by providing me with the essentials," he said, motioning to the items that now cluttered the countertop. "You can help if you'd like."
"You know how to bake?" Lottie asked, sounding quite surprised.
"Yeah, I've always loved baking. Cooking too, actually."
Lottie shot her mum an incredulous look, to which Jay simply shrugged, a small smile on her face.
"What?" Harry asked, genuinely confused.
"What CAN'T you do?" Lottie asked, sounding surprised.
"Lots of things," Harry replied quietly.
"Somehow I doubt that..." Lottie muttered.
An awkward silence overtook the small kitchen. Suddenly, Jay spoke up. "Well, I think I'm going to go get some laundry done. I'll leave you to it, Harry."
"Thanks Jay," Harry called over his shoulder before turning to Lottie. "So, do you want to help or what?"
Lottie just smiled at him and walked over to the sink, washing her hands. "What do you want me to do first?"
****
Harry was just pulling the cake out of the oven around ten. It came out perfect, not burnt in the slightest. It looked absolutely amazing, but he wasn't very surprised. Red velvet was always his specialty; he had no idea why, but his red velvet cakes always turned out the best. Harry was tempted to just eat it right then and there.
"Thanks Lottie, I think I can take it from here," he said as he started pulling frosting out of one of the cupboards.
"No problem, glad to be of assistance," she said, pulling off her apron and going to the sink to wash the flour off of her hands. Before leaving, she hesitated. "Harry," she said quietly. Harry shut the cupboard and turned to look at her. "Yeah?"
"Do you know if Louis....do you know if he could be...."
Harry raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to finish her question.
"Ismybrothergay?" she asked quickly, the words tumbling out so fast that Harry barely understood correctly. She clamped her hand on her mouth after saying it though, as if she wasn't supposed to say that.
Harry blinked in surprise, thinking that he'd heard her wrong. "Excuse me?"
"Is, um, is he, you know, gay?" she asked, sounding uncomfortable.
If only, he thought. "Why do you ask?..."
"I don't know, I just thought....I don't know."
"Erm...well, he hasn't talked to me about anything like that. I don't think so."
Lottie stood there for a long while. "Are you sure?"
He looked up at her, her gaze piercing. Her eyes were so incredibly like Louis'. They stood there, staring for a long while before Jay walked in. "How's the cake coming?" she asked brightly, oblivious to the tension in the room. Harry breathed out a small sigh of relief, glad for the distraction. "Great so far, I was just going to start frosting it!"
"That's excellent darling, it looks delicious! I wish Louis could bake like you do, he's wretched at it."
Harry blushed at the compliment. "Thank you, but I'm sure he's not all that bad."
Jay snorted. "You have no idea. Anyways, Lottie, come into the living room. I need your help wrapping presents!"
Lottie groaned. "Mum, do I have to?"
"Oh don't give me that, come on," she said, beckoning for Lottie to follow her out of the kitchen. Harry determinedly avoided her eyes as she stomped out of the kitchen, her words not leaving his mind. Why had she thought Louis was gay? Does she think...could he...could he be interested in guys? Harry hadn't ever thought about that possibility, always thinking that Louis was straight as a ruler. But...maybe...
No. Harry couldn't let himself think it's possible, he couldn't get his hopes up. Bad things happen when Harry gets his hopes up.
He turned back to the cooling cake, and unscrewed a jar of cream cheese frosting, trying to put those thoughts out of his mind.
****
Harry wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, sure that he smeared frosting or flour or something all over his face in the process. It had taken a while, but he had gotten it to be just right. A bright red "Happy Birthday Louis" was perfectly swirled on top of the layer of cream cheese frosting. He put the tube of frosting down and looked down at his masterpiece, hands on his hips. He was quite proud of it.
He looked up toward the clock hanging right above the kitchen door. 10:30. Louis would be up soon. He washed up and slid open one of the drawers, grabbing the CD he burned for Louis and the woolen hat he bought for him that he'd conveniently hidden there upon arrival, and walked into the living room, where Jay and Lottie were wrapping presents. "Happen to have an extra box hanging around?" he asked. Lottie tossed him a smallish one near her. He caught it with a muttered thank you, and sat down with the gifts. He put them into the box and grabbed a roll of blue wrapping paper (blue like Louis' eyes) and began to neatly tape up the box. He held it up when he was finished, feeling like something was missing. It needed a bow.
"Jay, do you-"
Harry stopped when he saw Jay's and Lottie's surprised facial expressions. His eyes widened. "Did...did I do something wrong?"
Jay and Lottie shared a look, and turned back to Harry. "You can wrap presents too?!" Lottie asked.
"Harry, I'm starting to think that you can do absolutely anything," Jay laughed.
"I didn't think guys could actually wrap presents," Lottie continued, not having gotten over the shock yet.
"Lottie," her mother scolded. "Not all boys are as handicapped in present-wrapping as Louis is, don't judge based solely off of him," she joked. Harry laughed. "Yeah, Lou's quite terrible at wrapping," he admitted. "Do you have a bow, Jay?" She handed him a bag. "There's a lot in here, love, you can go ahead and pick one out."
"Thanks," he smiled, feeling so incredible comfortable around both of them. The Tomlinson family made him feel so welcomed, like he was a part of the family. And he loved it.
****
LOUIS POV
"Oh Loooouisssss!"
What was that? Louis grumbled in his half-conscious state, mind swirling. He cracked his eyes open and saw the back of a curly head walking towards his window and yanking open the curtains. "Ow," he muttered as the light hit his eyes, burying his face into his pillow. "Stooop," he whined.
"Wake up sunshine! It's noon! You've slept later than usual!"
"Mfffjgoifmfm," Louis grumbled. As his sleep-riddled mind regained consciousness, he turned toward where Harry was standing, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light.
"Come on, get up Lou! I have something for youuuu," Harry sing-songed.
As his vision cleared, Louis noticed that Harry was standing suspiciously with his hands behind his back. He slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
Harry walked over and sat on the side of the bed. "Happy birthday Louis," he said quietly, and handed Louis a neatly-wrapped box with a cute green bow sitting on top.
Huh?
Oh, right, it was his birthday. He hadn't even been able to process that because stupid, adorable Harry had assaulted his senses far too early in the morning. Well, early for him anyways...
"I wanted to be the first to say it. And first to give you your present," Harry said, his green eyes shining brightly in the small room.
Louis just stared at the present stupidly, his brain not yet functioning fast enough for him to be able to respond coherently.
"Well go on, open it!" Harry said excitedly, dropping the present on his lap, and Louis couldn't help but comply, watching Harry squirming around excitedly with his mussed curls and dimpled cheeks and wide smile.
He cleared his throat as he started ripping open the package. "You're quite excited this morning," he said teasingly, his throat still scratchy from sleep. Harry's cheeks tinted a bit, as he shrugged and practically bounced up and down on the bed like an excited child on Christmas morning. Louis finally got the paper off, and opened up the white box. The first thing he saw was a knit beanie with the large pom pom on top of it, and his face lit up with delight. He grabbed it and quickly shoved it on his tousled hair, grinning happily. "I love it! How do I look?" Harry giggled. "Fantastic, Lou. There's another thing in there, look!"
Louis looked back in the box and pulled out a CD case. He looked at Harry questioningly.
"I made you a playlist," Harry said excitedly, "of some of my favorite songs that I thought you might like too. I know it's not much, but I feel like...I don't know, I feel like it's more of a meaningful gift, because, well, I made it myself. It was fun to make too."
Louis' eyes softened as he watched the light and happiness dance in his excited friend's eyes. The fact that Harry took the time to burn him a playlist of some of his favorite songs was really, really sweet. "Grab me my laptop," he told Harry. "I wanna listen to this right now."
Harry shook his head. "Later, Lou. Let's go downstairs now, come on!"
Louis raised his eyebrows. "What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing! I just wanna go downstairs! Come on!"
Louis, extremely confused, rolled his eyes and complied, following a buzzing Harry downstairs and into the kitchen. The second he walked in he was greeted with quite a loud chorus of happy birthdays, and saw his family plus Harry standing around a table full of his favorite breakfast foods, and a rather large red velvet cake, complete with lit candles and everything.
Louis looked up at his family, confused. They never did anything like this for him, they usually just bought him a cupcake or something and they went out to dinner later. "Awww you guys shouldn't have!"
"But we did," Jay said. "It was Harry's idea," she added, and Harry blushed. "Daw Haaaaz how sweet," Louis teased, pinching Harry's cheek. Harry rolled his eyes. "Shut it and blow out your candles, Lou," he muttered.
"Harry made the cake too! But I helped!" Lottie chimed in, and Louis looked at Harry, eyes widening in surprise. "You made this?"
Harry nodded, biting his lower lip.
Louis looked at his friend in wonder. Harry honestly never ceased to surprise him.
"Well go on then, blow out your candles!" Jay prompted. Louis leaned over and blew them out, maintaining eye contact with Harry across the table the entire time. He didn't know exactly what he'd wished for, he hadn't had anything in particular in mind. But all he was thinking about when he blew out his candles was Harry; his kindness and how caring and wonderful he was and how he put so much effort into making Louis' birthday a special one. He even baked him a cake, for god's sake...
His family cheered after he blew the candles out, and Jay proceeded to cut the cake, giving the first slice to Louis, and then cutting some out for the twins, who were waiting eagerly. Louis turned to Harry, who was smirking at him. "Did you make a wish?" Harry asked softly. "Not sure," Louis replied thoughtfully, watching Harry's confused expression while taking a bite of cake. He then squealed in surprise before Harry could respond to his lack of birthday cake wishes. He quickly swallowed his mouthful. "Haz, this is amazing! When'd you learn to bake like this?!" Harry shuffled his feet on the floor and shrugged. "Stop being so damn modest, Harry, you have a right to brag about something this good! It's amazing!" Harry rolled his eyes. "You're so weird, Louis, you know that?" Louis shrugged, looking at Harry as if to say you know you love me. Harry responded to that with an of course I do, stupid look. The family sat down at the kitchen table, spooning eggs, bacon, waffles, and cake into their plates as they chattered happily, and watching Harry converse so easily with his family, strangely enough, made Louis feel all fuzzy inside. He tugged on the beanie Harry had given him and smiled at everyone happily, digging into Harry's delicious cake while making eye contact with Harry every once in a while and grinning. Only one word could accurately describe that morning: perfect. All because of Harry.