(Continued from previous chapter)
•••
"I need to tell you something."
Louis leans closer to Harry, wrapping his arms around him. "Okay," he whispers into his hair.
"I-I... I just missed you, today. T-that's all," Harry lies, suddenly backing out.
"Oh. I missed you too, Kitten," Louis says, smiling into his head.
Harry giggles at the pet name. He's always loved those. Baby, love, darling, kitten, babe, sweetheart, honey, sunshine - any of them, he loves.
Especially baby boy.
But Louis doesn't need to know that.
Yet.
They've been in bed for hours, just relaxing and enjoying each other. It's almost ten at night, and they haven't eaten much today, besides the candy and crisps that they ate on the plane.
"H-hey Lou," Harry whispers into the crook of his neck.
"Yes, baby?" Louis replies and Harry almost curses under his breath. The name.
"I have something for you."
Harry gets up, making an unhappy moan spill from Louis' lips at the loss of contact. He goes to his bag and grabs one of his presents that he had for Louis. He wanted Louis to have a five day birthday, giving him one present starting five days before his birthday. It's December 21, and Louis' birthday is in three days. Somehow, even though he didn't give him a present for one or two days, he still has three presents left.
He reaches in the bag and pulls out a large, but flat, box, perfectly wrapped.
"I wrapped it m'self," Harry says cheekily, a bit too proud of himself.
"Good job, kitten," Louis praises. The praise sends a shooting bolt of energy through Harry.
Harry goes and sits on the bed criss-cross, facing Louis. "Even has a little bow on it," he smiles.
"It's great, Haz. Looks amazing," Louis smiles, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Harry's heart beats faster, and he feels like he would not appreciate himself as much if it weren't for Louis' praises. Weird.
Harry hands it to Louis. "Happy day three of your five day birthday. I'm sorry I didn't give it to you when I was supposed to, but I hope you still like it," Harry says, giggling.
"I know I'll love it. What is it?" Louis asks.
"Well, you have to open it up, Lou!" Harry giggles.
It's the weirdest thing - sometimes, Harry can be a small (not) little boy who giggles and blushes at anything. And other times, he can be a dirty little minx who is a complete asshole and knows everything there is to know about... everything. Like today, for example, he was the complete opposite of what he is right now. He was loud and rude and didn't take shit from anyone. And now, he's a little boy who loves pink and strawberry milk.
"Right, right. Forgot," Louis teases, winking at Harry, causing the curly-haired boy to, can you guess it, giggle.
Louis opens one corner of the perfectly-wrapped present, undoing the folds painfully slow. He unfolds the other ever-so-slowly, making Harry's head practically spin. Once he gets the folds undone, he carefully removes the tape. The whole ordeal takes about two minutes - Louis opening the present slowly and Harry staring at his every move, drinking him in as if he were alcohol.
Not like he'd ever drink alcohol, but the point is that Louis is a drug, and Harry is addicted.
Not like he'd ever do drugs, but the point is... well, you know.
Once everything is unwrapped and all Louis has to do is slip the present out of the wrapping, Harry holds his breath. He spent a lot of time on this, and all he wants Louis to do is like it. He doesn't even have to love it. He just wants him to be happy.
Louis slips the large frame out of the wrapping and sets the paper down, gasping. He practically drops the present. Harry can see tears forming in the corners of his eyes, and he speaks before anything else can happen.
"I... I bought you a star. And... I named it LouBear, b-because that's what I call you. D-do you... like it?" Harry asks, his voice shaking with anticipation.
Louis stays quiet, reading the message Harry payed extra to put at the bottom of the framed certificate.
"Hi, LouBear. I got you this star. I bet you won't love it.
With all the love I could possibly muster,
H xx"
"Louis?" Harry whispers out, suddenly worried that he hates it. He's not responding, he must hate it.
"Harry," Louis practically chokes out, a tear slipping down his cheek.
"What?! Do you hate it? Oh my god, you hate it, I'm so sorry, I'll get you something else, I promise, oh go-" Harry rushes out, pulling at his curls.
"Harry," Louis cries, chuckling. "Baby, please. You're rambling. H-Harry, stop, you idiot, I love it. I love it s-so much, oh my god. No one's ever done something like this before, it means so much to me. Thank you, Hazza. Thank you," Louis says, wiping a tear that fell onto the glass.
Harry lets out a deep breath. "Thank god. I thought you hated it or summat. Oh, thank god," he says, his hand on his chest.
Louis sets the certificate on a pillow, leaning back to face Harry. He looks at him up and down before launching himself onto the boy, attacking his face with kisses.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," Louis says, annunciating each set of words with a kiss to a different part of his face.
Unfortunately, his lips were not a part of the fun.
Harry giggles until he's snorting, mainly because it tickles, but also because of what the boy is doing. And Harry stops giggling for a moment, because something just snapped. It just clicked into place. The lightbulb has gone off.
And he is in love.
He is in love with the brown-haired, blue-eyed boy giving him kisses all across his face.
He is in love with Louis William Tomlinson.
Louis stops kissing him and collapses on his chest, his small body barely covering the boy underneath him.
"Thank you," he says one last time, completely out of breath from laughing.
"You're welcome," Harry responds, temporarily pushing aside the thought that he is so, totally screwed.
The boys fall asleep like that, breathing in time with the other.
•••
Louis wakes up before Harry does. He takes a moment to appreciate the sleeping boy underneath him, admiring his every feature.
He looks so peaceful when he sleeps. He looks like a little baby kitten, his eyes shut and his mouth pressed into a thin line. His eyebrows aren't furrowed, just relaxing and his overall look is just... calm.
Louis looks at the clock. It reads 7:34 a.m. Perfect.
In a not-so-creepy (although it totally is) way, Louis watches Harry sleep. What? It's calming for him. Harry is one of the only things in his life that keeps him calm; that keeps him floating.
He calls him his anchor. Because Harry is his anchor. Plus, they've got a thing for nautical items.
A few minutes after, Harry's eyes flutter open, the first thing he sees being the person he wants to see every morning when he wake up.
"Good morning, Princess," Louis says, his voice rough from sleeping.
Harry's cheeks flush, thankful for the curtains being drawn, otherwise Louis would have had quite a show in front of him.
"Good morning. Were you watching me?" Harry asks lightheartedly.
"Maybe."
"Creep."
Louis smiles and presses a kiss to Harry's cheek. Harry looks up at him with bright green eyes, full of innocence and curiosity, even though he boy they belong to is anything but.
(I mean, come on)
"What time is it?" Harry croaks out. Louis almost melts at his morning voice, more deep and rougher than usual.
"About a quarter 'till eight. Come on, I've a surprise for you," Louis smiles.
Harry groans and pulls the covers over his head. "I don't wanna get up," he sing-songs playfully.
"Are you sure?" Louis asks, teasing.
"Hm," he grunts out.
"Alright. I guess I'll just have to visit my best mate's absolute favorite place in the entire world all by myself. What a pity," Louis smiles.
Harry's head pokes out from underneath the white, fluffy comforters. "Where are we going?" He questions.
"More a matter of where I'm going, love. Although, you could come with me bu- no, that's silly talk. You wouldn't want to go when you have your bed. Oh, look at my hand. All sad and alone with no one to hold it. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to find some other guy. Yes, he'll be handsome and ta-" Louis teases, a sugary-sweet voice coating his throat.
"Okay! Okay! I'm up, I'm up!" Harry yells, practically flying out of the bed and towards the washroom.
"See! I'm brushing my teeth because I'm ready to go on an adventure with you! Only me! I'm the only one that can hold that hand, Tomlinson," Harry practically growls, his pink toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, making the whole "scary" demenor look pretty... not scary.
"Yes you are, my princess."
Louis hums happily to himself as he goes to the drawer and pulls out an outfit. He decides to wear something older, like what he used to wear in secondary school.
He pulls out a grey-brown sweater, blue jeans, and white low top Converse that he got when they were in Miami.
He pulls it on while Harry fixes his hair up in the washroom, trying to make himself look as nice as possible. Sure, they're best mates, but he still loves it when he walks out of a room and he sees Louis' jaw go slack and his eyes widen.
He debates on putting his hair up in a bun or not and decides that he wants to. He looks in his little toiletries bag and sees the little boxes that he got when they were in California.
He takes them out, opening them.
Three Mac eyeshadow palettes, four Mac eye shadows, three Mac mascaras, two Mac foundations that match his skin and a few others for contour, and a few different types of makeup to play around with. What? There was a Mac at the mall. Who can blame him?
He wants to put it on, because he's kinda-sorta been watching makeup tutorials on Instagram and YouTube and he has taken a liken to clothing and makeup that are specifically made for women. I mean... skirts. And his legs would look amazing in them, so why not?
He's not a cross dresser, and he has no judgement towards them, he just likes... clothing. Of all sorts, I suppose.
He takes out a few makeup items and opens a random page on Instagram, looking at the videos. The man in the video is doing some sort of summer look, and it's a mixture of flashy and classy. It's neutral, and kind of nude, but it lets people know that they're wearing makeup. Harry takes a deep breath and unscrews the cap on the foundation.
In twenty minutes, Harry's face is perfectly contoured, blushed, eye-shadowed, mascara-d, and lip-stuck. Harry took a deep breath, admiring how the contour and his natural facial features blended together to make the bun he was sporting frame his jawline perfectly.
Harry takes a deep breath in and looks in the mirror. He's already dressed, seeing as he brought his clothes in with him for some reason. He exhales and realizes how worried he is - worried because he doesn't know how Louis' going to react and ever since the vacation started, all he's wanted to do is impress the boy.
He just hopes this will work.
He smiles at himself in the mirror and remembers to breathe. It's just Louis. It's just his best mate that he's been with for six years. It's just the boy who he's hopelessly in love with.
It's just Louis.
Harry notices that his outfit and his makeup match a bit. Nice.
He takes a deep breath and heads towards the door, seeing the silhouette of Louis' figure on the bed, probably scrolling through Twitter.
He opens the door ever so slowly, noticing how it didn't creak until he got halfway through. Louis looked up, of course, because the sound was loud and the boy coming out of it was -
Wow.
As stated before, Harry loves it when he walks out of the washroom and he sees Louis' face completely change, morphed into some kind of love-stare.
Well, he kind of got that.
Louis looked up at him and started to speak before he saw his face. His face. Louis' eyes widened almost comically and his jaw dropped. He slowly got up, not taking his eyes off of Harry - who was blushing madly under his watch - and started to walk over to him. That is, until he tripped and fell on his face.
"Lou!" Harry yells, unable to move from his spot. "Are you okay?"
Louis quickly picks himself up, bouncing back from the fall. "Yeah, yeah. 'M fine, I just... fell in love," he says smoothly.
Harry snorts under his breath, and Louis continues the slow walk he had tried to do before. It takes about fifteen seconds of complete eye contact before Louis gets to Harry, looking up due to the height difference.
Harry holds his breath, waiting for some kind of reaction. What he gets is something he could not have dreamed of.
Louis takes the back of his hand and slowly strokes it down Harry's cheek, his eyes scanning all over his face.
"You," he breathes, his voice coming out in a whisper. "Are the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life," he says, his breath tickling Harry's nose. Harry blushes even more.
"T-thank you, Lou," he starts, Louis' hand not leaving its spot on his cheek. "So...you don't think it's weird? Or girly or whatever?" He asks nervously.
"No - god no," Louis chokes out. Is that what he thinks? Is he nervous about this? He looks... stunning. "No, Harry, do you think that? That it's weird?" Louis asks.
"I mean... isn't it? Just a bi-" Harry starts.
"Hazza, god - I can't believe you think that. You look... stunning, Haz. Fucking beautiful. I don't - I just... I can't even explain how amazing you look. Fucking gorgeous, god," Louis breathes, his hand still running up and down Harry's face, cupping his cheek.
The entire time, Harry's cheeks were flushing a darker shade of red. "T-thank you, Louis. I don't know what to say, god. Thank you," Harry smiles, his dimples making Louis' hand move in its place.
"If I kissed you, would it mess up your makeup?" Louis asks.
What.
What.
This is it. "This is it," Harry thinks.
This is it.
"N-no, I d-don't think so," Harry breathes out.
Louis smiles. "Good. Because I would've done it anyways," he says, leaning in and kissing the corner of Harry's mouth.
Oh.
This isn't it, apparently.
Oh.
Harry tries very hard not to let his disappointment show, and apparently he does a good job, because Louis just smiles and tugs him along, telling him that he has a surprise for him once more.
Once they're seated in the car, Louis driving, and Harry's made sure that they're both buckled in, Louis hands him a slip of paper.
He pulls out of the reserved parking spot. "Bringing these back, eh?" Harry says as he holds up the bet.
"Yup. And it's funny, we've done the bets but we've not really done much to the loser, like we used to. Like that one time I made you sing the Frozen song and then send it to your mum and Niall. We should do that again," Louis says.
"Yeah, you're right. We should," the younger lad says as he unfolds slip of paper.
Written in Louis messy handwriting is the sentence, "I bet you won't dance"
Harry furrows his eyebrows. "What's this mean?" He asks.
"You'll see, Baby Boy," Louis says, his eyes widening after the pet name slips out of his mouth. He didn't mean to say it but; sometimes Harry talks in his sleep and sometimes (all the time) he listens in. And sometimes Harry talks about what he'd like Louis to call him.
Harry's eyes widen and his cheeks tint pink. He giggles into his sleeve. How did Louis know? Did he tell him? He doesn't remember saying anything of the sort.
"Wow, Harry, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Louis rushes out.
"Stop," Harry interrupts. "It's f-fine. I... I like that name. You can call me that if-if you want to, of course."
Now it's Louis' turn to blush. "I will," he says softly.
The rest of the car ride is silent, but comfortable. When they pull up to the Abby Lee Dance Company, Harry's breath hitches in his throat.
"Lou..." he starts questioningly.
"I bet you won't dance," he says.
"Louis, what is this? This is my favorite show, oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!" Harry squeals. Dance Moms is literally his favorite show. Nia is his favorite. She's so spunky and cute and a happy person in general.
"Well, I was just kind of reading up online, and I found out that Abby Lee herself was holding an open dance class for publicity or wha'eva, and I pulled some strings and got ourselves a private dance lesson with Abby. Surprise?" Louis squeaks out.
Harry is stunned. The fact that Louis would go out of his way for him just so he could be on the set of his favorite show, it's...
worthy of being in love with.
"Oh my god. Thank you, Lou. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Harry says, jumping over the seat and hugging Louis tightly.
Louis laughs. "Of course, love. It's nothing compared to what you've done for me."
"Wait," the curly-haired lad says. "I'm not wearing proper dance clothes."
Louis holds up a duffel bag. "I've got you."
Harry smiles and they walk in together.
•••
"Your makeup won't run, will it?" Louis asks.
"Nope. It's all waterproof. Or, in this case, sweat proof," Harry replies casually. Louis hums in response.
Harry looks into the mirror of the dressing room.
"Really, Lou?" He smirks.
The clothing Louis picked out for him were... obscene, to say the least. Harry is clad in a tight pair of blue Lulu Lemon leggings, a matching headband, and a black tank top. Louis, on the other hand, is wearing grey sweatpants and a white tank top.
"What? I don't see anything wrong with your outfit," Louis replies.
"Then how did you know I was talking about that?"
Louis sighs. He puts his hands up in surrender, walking towards him. "Alright. You caught me."
Harry's about to speak again when Louis pushes his up against the wall, standing on his tippy-toes to see him eye-to-eye. Harry's breath catches in his throat, unable to speak.
"Although," Louis rasps out in a husky voice. "You do look pretty sexy," he says, his hands roaming the younger boy's chest.
Harry can't speak. He literally is unable to form a single word out of the millions in the English dictionary.
"Baby Boy," he adds afterwards. He knows just what to say to get Harry going.
Louis grabs a fistful of Harry's tank top with one hand, the other still on his chest. He leans in and pulls Harry with him, their noses touching. Their lips are about to touch when Louis jerks his head to the side, next to his ear.
"Better get going, Princess," he huffs.
Louis walks away with a swing in his hips, knowing that Harry was watching him.
"Damn," Harry thinks when he leaves the room. "I am so screwed."
•••
The class goes by well. It's only Louis, Harry, and Abby in there. She seems completely nice, unlike what is seen when he watches the show. She teaches them a very simple dance, with no tricks or anything of the sorts, but it still has Harry falling over every other beat.
Louis cackles when Harry trips over his own feet and falls for the seventh time in the past ten minutes.
"I can't help it, okay? I'm very clumsy," he says.
"Alright. It's been a true... pleasure working with you, but I'm afraid our three hours are up. Before I go, I have a few people who want to meet you," Abby Lee says.
After she finishes, the entire cast of Dance Moms, including the mothers themselves, come in. Harry practically faints.
Autographs are given and pictures are taken and Harry trips and falls as he's walking out of the studio. Classic.
They change back into their normal clothes and get into the car, this time with Harry driving. They find some cute little cafe in the heart of Los Angeles, and decide to eat there.
They sit outside and bask in the amazing weather. In England, it's always rainy. Which isn't bad, because they love rainy weather, but it is nice to get a break every once in a while. Florida was too muggy, anyways.
Harry orders a sandwich and this drink called Boba. It has these cute little bubbles at the bottom that you can apparently eat. Louis orders a soup and a coconut water. They sit happily and chit-chat about little things. The weather, the place, the people, what they're going to do, everything.
"No, you idiot, it's pronounced "eh-g" not "ay-g," Louis practically screams.
"No! I swear, look it up on Google, it is pronounced "ay-g". I swear it!" Harry responds.
"Okay, fine, I will."
Louis pulls out his iPhone and types in "the pronunciation of the word egg". He turns his volume up all the way and holds it up so Harry could hear it.
"Eh-g," it repeats five times.
"Ha! See, I told you. I win, you lose. I beat you!" Louis cheers, shutting off his phone and sliding it back in his pocket. He pumps his fist in the air.
"Whatever. It's just a word," Harry grumbles.
"Aw, is wittle baby Harry sad that he lost to Daddy Louis?" Louis teases.
"No, but Daddy Louis is sad that wittle baby Harry will never be his wittle baby," he snaps, teasing, of course.
Louis' jaw drops. Harry's mood can go from sweet and innocent to dirty and playful in literally one second.
"Ouch," Harry says suddenly, taking a sip of his Boba and putting it down. "I think I need some ice for that sick burn."
"Ouch," Louis mocks. "I think you need to buy some better comebacks," he says, pulling out a twenty dollar bill and handing it to him.
Harry scowls at him, not being able to hold it and smiling right after.
•••
They spend the rest of the day walking around Los Angeles, hand in hand, of course. They visit some more "must see!" sights and end the day with a dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant. Louis' treat.
When they get back to the hotel, it's around nine at night. They take the elevator up to their suite and walk in, setting their keys down in the master bedroom as if it were their house.
"I've another present for you, Lou," Harry says when they're in their pajamas, about ready to flick on the telly. They aren't really pajamas, per se, more their loose-fitting boxers and bare chests.
Harry gets up and opens a drawer, taking out the large envelope that contained one of the presents he was more proud of. Of course, he was proud of all of them, because he wouldn't get Louis anything less than the best.
Harry sits down on the bed with the envelope in his hand, folding one of his underneath him and letting the other hang off of the bed. He hands Louis the large manilla folder, with the words "Happy birthday, Lou!" written all over it, completed with little hearts around it. All different colors, of course.
Louis opens it up and dozens of letters fall onto his lap, each one in its own envelope as if it were ready to be shipped off.
"Happy day four of your five day birthday. I'm pretty proud of this one," Harry starts as he sees Louis' eyes widen. "I wrote you one letter every single day for the last year. Can you believe I've had the time for that? But yes, on today of last year, I started writing letters. And yes, I wrote one yesterday. And the day before. And yes, even the few days before. It's been really god damn hard, because each one is hand written and two to nineteen pages. I believe March 25 is the longest one, being nineteen. You're supposed to read the day that it's assigned, so today you'd read December 22 of last year. Do... do you like it?" Harry asks, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Harry... I... I don't deserve you. I fucking don't deserve your god damn toenail. You are too good to me. You put in all of this work, even on this fucking vacation from hell. You wrote a letter every single day. Every. Single. Day. I don't understand... you're too amazing. You're too incredible for me and I am so thankful for you. Thank you, Harry. Thank you," Louis says, putting all of the letters except the one he's supposed to read today back into the envelope. He reaches over and hugs him tightly, his heart thumping against Harry's.
"You're welcome, Louis. But it's me who doesn't deserve you, not the other way around."
Louis just smiles and shakes his head. They get under the covers and turn on Dance Moms, Harry snuggling into Louis' side, his nose buried in Louis' neck. About an hour and a half later, they turn off the telly and fall asleep in the same position; their legs intertwined.
•••
And at exactly 12:46 in the morning, Louis adjusts his head and looks down at Harry, pressing his lips to the younger's for a peck.
And yes, it feels exactly the same as it did in the dream.
•••
A/N:
"And Harry stops giggling for a moment, because something just snapped. It just clicked into place. The lightbulb has gone off.
And he is in love."
(edit: june 16, 2016. if you're going to read this book, except it to be dramatic. expect that it's going to drag out and yes, harry is going through some emotional turmoil and he did experience serious abuse, i just haven't gotten there yet. just ran into someone who didn't realize that. ugh)
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
You guys deserved this chapter so much because you've been nothing but incredible this entire time. A little fluffy, a little dirty, a lotta Larry :)
But really, you deserved the happiness.
Speaking of happiness, I BET YOU WON'T HAS 18K READS!!
Thank you so much. This is so amazing and I honestly don't deserve you guys, so thank you.
I'm on summer break god bLESS.
Oh. Another thing.
A very, very small, eensie weensie little thing.
I'm going away??
For a month??
Heh.
I'm going home! I'm going to a sleep away (I sleep there instead of going to my house) camp called Camp Newman. I go there for a month, and starting in two years (counting this summer) I'll be able to go for two months!
That's another reason I gave y'all a happy chapter. Too late to say, but read it slowly. Enjoy it.
And I will see you in a month.
(June 21-July 17)
All the love.
Zoe xx
INSTAGRAM: hoeforlarries/larryforthenight