part twelve
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harry stands at the door to louis and jesy's flat, tapping his left foot nervously, wringing his hands together. he has been hearing tumbling around from behind the thin wood for a few seconds, and he readies himself, putting on a brave face as the door opens. "hello, harry," says jesy, and he nods slowly, swallowing thickly. jesy invited him here while louis is away at uni still, finishing up his last friday class.
"hello," he says politely, giving her a nervous wave, which she rolls her eyes at and motions for him to come in, jerking her head to the side a little. following her in and closing the door behind them gently, he fidgets with his fingers and stands pigeon-toed as jesy settles back onto the couch, making herself comfortable.
she stops moving after a few moments and looks up at him, and they just stare at each other for nearly 30 seconds - just... staring. after another few seconds, a humor induced grin laces its way up jesy's lips and blush dusts harry cheeks, he ducks his head a little. "quit looking so scorned, you aren't in trouble. take a seat if you want," she offers, actually laughing a little. harry doesn't know whether to be soothed or offended.
but, regardless, he walks over to the recliner adjacent to jesy, and crosses his ankles top over top, intertwining his fingers. "okay, s─sorry," he stutters nervously. he knows why he's been summoned here. the good 'ole fashioned if-you-mess-this-up-and-break-his-heart-i-will-snap-your-neck type talk. and, harry is naturally awkward ─ he can only imagine how this is going to go.
"don't apologize, sweetie!," jesy laughs in surprise, and harry deflates a little, trying not to be so tense. suddenly, and jesy must feel it, too, because she immediately stops laughing, the atmosphere turns serious. "you know why you're here, don't you?," she asks, raising up a little bit, putting her crossed arms on her knees, looking at harry with concentration. he nods, sucking in his bottom lip. "okay ─ i don't want this to go the way you're probably assuming that it will. why don't you start out by telling me a little about yourself?," she asks softly, which surprises harry greatly. he assumed that jesy would be cold-cut and brutal.
"o─okay...," he murmurs, twisting at the ring on his middle finger rather roughly. "what do you want to know?," he swallows, and jesy purses her lips.
"hmm... start out with small facts. what do you want to do with your life? what do you look for in a person? what are your intentions with louis?," she counts, and harry nearly sputters at the word intention.
"i don't have any intention with louis. i like him a lot, and i enjoy his company ─ so i asked him out, not so that i could get any gain out of it aside from getting to spend time with him," he says defensively, and then his eyes widen and he clamps his jaw tight and he shakes his head. "i'm sorry! that sounded rude and mean ─ i'm sorry, i promise that i'm not mean!," he cries, covering his face with his hands.
jesy furrows her eyebrows and leans forwards on her feet to touch harry on the arm lightly. "hey, i know you weren't being mean. i'm glad you reacted like that, actually. it proves that you aren't after... it means that you like him for him. that's all i can ask for," she says, patting harry's shoulder, and he smiles microscopically, ducking his head again. "but if you mess this up i will snap your neck," she adds, and ─ yep ─ there it is.
"i don't plan on messing it up... i've been... i've liked louis for quite some time," he confesses to her, and she blinks, settling back onto the couch. "it's just... i─i've just had this respect for him. every time i saw him in the hallways, wearing a dress or high heels, or wearing lipstick or something... it made me feel like nobody was like him... that he was too brave. and then ─ and then, i started to realize that i liked how he looked in dresses and heels and lipstick and... and... i knew that he didn't like me. he detested me, and i think it's because we are so different... but i'm really glad he ran into me that day ─ that he's given me a chance at all, really. um, sorry for rambling...," he blushes, realizing that he has completely opened up to jesy, who looks just as surprised.
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"your hair is so curly," louis murmurs, facing harry on his lap, twiddling his hair gently, making sure not to pull it. "it's very... soft. bouncy," he adds, making harry grin at him, wanting to squeeze a pillow to his chest and scream because fond. "and look how nice your eyebrows are," he continues, which makes harry's brows furrow, ironically.
"my eyebrows?," he asks in confusion, and louis nods, poking harry right between the eyes ─ but not harsh or violently.
"yeah, you have really good eyebrows. and i bet you could cut my finger with your jawline. i could prick my finger! and look at the dimples!," he coos, sticking both of his index fingers into the creases in harry's cheek which are caused from his gigantic smile. "what are you grinning so big for?," he asks, and his lips tug up a little, and he squeaks when harry suddenly starts to tickle his sides.
"why do you think i'm smiling so big for?," he says sarcastically, playfully nibbling on louis' jaw. louis laughs a little, cries a little, and begs a little as he is assaulted by harry's fingertips on his sensitive sides. he breathes in a quick breathy laugh as harry finally quits, suddenly wrapping him up in his arms, bringing him to his chest. "i'm just happy to be with you," he whispers as answer, shaking louis from side to side like a rag doll.
"sap," louis huffs, thankful that his blush is hidden. "absolute sap," he accuses, but he squeaks again as harry gives his side another tickle. he wiggles out of harry's embrace to lean back and scowl at him, pointing a finger at him. "you better watch it, styles," he warns right as the front door opens, and he dives back into harry's neck as calum, michael, and a few members of the football team come in.
"whoa! what are you doing?," calum shrieks as they all cover their eyes, misinterpreting their interpretive positions, louis straddling harry on the couch in the middle of the day. "take it to your room ─ "
" ─ we weren't doing anything but talking!," harry interrupts, and calum stops shouting profanities, stomping his foot and rolling his eyes in dramatic relief. "what happened to playing on the pitch until five, anyways?," he asks as everyone enters the flat, and someone shuts the door after themselves.
calum squares his eyes at him. "were you planning on christening our couch?," he asks, putting both of his hands on his lithe hips, and harry huffs at him.
"no, but i was planning on cooking dinner and settling down for a movie," he says, nudging his head to indicate to louis, who is still buried in his neck. "doesn't that sound good, baby?," harry asks, rubbing his strong fingers up and down louis' spine. he's wearing a thin, lilac colored t-shirt paired with dark denim pants that ─ literally, like, literally ─ look painted on.
"we can totally still do that!," michael jumps in, coming back from the kitchen with an apple in one hand, a bag of cheetos in the other, handing the apple to calum, turning to look at harry. "what are you cooking? what movie were you planning on watching? is he okay?," he says rapid fire, and harry rolls his eyes.
he gently shakes louis' shoulder, trying to get him to come back out. "the footballers are here," louis whispers, and harry tries to look at him, but he can't see his face.
"it's okay, lou, they're good guys ─ would i associate with anyone negative?," harry asks, and louis purses his lips, tentatively shaking his head, slowly resurfacing. "it's just us and calum and michael in here, the rest of the guys are probably raiding our fridge ─ eating us out of house and home...," he says dramatically, which makes louis grin a little. "hey," harry suddenly says, looking up at a chatting calum and michael, drawing their attentions, "who all did you bring?"
"um...," michael says, thinking, "troy, sam, ollie, brandon, kenneth, jason, derek... did donnie tag along?," he directs to calum, who nods, pointing into the kitchen.
"he's the one drinking the o-j from the carton," he says, jabbing his thumb as reference, "and why is jason pulling out the egg carton?"
harry's eyes widen and he stands up suddenly, holding onto louis' legs quickly, having forgot he was on his lap, and he's surprised by how easily he can carry him. "we'll see you guys later," harry says, really not in the mood to throw a fit in front of louis. he knows that they don't have ill intentions, but the footballers that calum and michael seem to have befriended often urk his nerves.
"where are we going?," louis asks as harry gently lowers him to the ground in front of the coat rack. he doesn't protest as harry grabs his light purple jumper off of the hanger, helping it over his head, making sure not to mess up his hair an/or make-up.
harry shrugs, pulling his own jacket down from the coat rack ─ a beat up looking denim garment lined with white cotton ─ buttoning it up three buttons at the bottom. "um, we don't have to go anywhere in particular? we could go to yours?," he suggests innocently, fiddling with the inside of his coat pocket, missing the way louis' eyes widen.
if harry comes over, he will see all of his girly things ─ high heels, posters, skirts, make-up, underwear.
"u─um... sure. jesy might be there," he says nervously as harry finally adjusts his pocket and loops his arms with louis', reaching forward to open the door for him. "thank-you," he murmurs, pressing into harry as the nippy weather bites into his bare skin. "it's so cold...," he grumbles, and harry grins, shuts the door, and wraps his arms around his waist, kissing his head.
they keep such a close proximity walking through the parking lot, trying to share body heat, and louis starts to think. harry asked him on a date, yet he hasn't made any say about the time, day, location... nothing. "it is sort of cold," harry agrees, oblivious to louis' inward pondering. "are you hungry?," he asks as they get to harry's beat up truck, covered in a little snow, and harry ─ of course ─ opens louis' door for him.
louis shrugs his shoulders a little. "we can still cook supper, i do have a working kitchen at my flat...," louis murmurs softly, sarcastically, and harry narrows his eyes at him, making louis' face break out in a grin.
wordlessly, harry leans forward and kisses louis' cheek, and louis blushes as harry shuts his door and scrambles around to his side of the truck. he rubs his fingers together quickly, trying to warm them as he dramatically shivers, and he then puts the keys into the ignition, making the old truck give a shady grumble sound and shudder ─ but it starts regardless. "what do you wanna cook?," harry asks, turning the air on in the car, even though the engine hasn't warmed up enough to give out warm air.
"um... we have bread dough... sweet corn... other veggies... i think some pizza supplies... we need to go grocery shopping," he lists off, huffing and throwing his hands in the air at the end. "i don't really cook, by the way, so i'll just stand back and watch you do your thing," he says as harry reverses, looking behind them so he doesn't hit anything.
"then what is your thing?," harry asks, looking forward, setting the car to drive, looking over at louis with amusement.
"isn't it obvious?," louis asks dramatically, rolling his hands in circles. harry furrows his eyebrows. "looking pretty!"
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"you really need to go grocery shopping," harry informs louis, raising up from his crouched position, leaning backwards to stretch his spinal-cord. "but... sweet corn are tears of jesus, so we have a start," he says, putting the can of corn onto the bar ─ which is rather cluttered. "and you should really clean up, packrat," he adds teasingly, but louis takes the bait.
"then you should be happy to help me clean up a little after the food is cooked?," he assumes, raising both of his eyebrows, making harry sigh. "you're such a babe," louis smiles in surprise, reaching forward to squeeze harry's cheek, which makes the taller boy grin widely, making louis lose his grip on the skin. "okay!," he claps his hands together. "if we hurry, we'll be able to get everything done before nightfall," he says, rushing around harry, making him squawk by slapping his bum.
"you cheeky boy!," he shouts in surprise, crossing his arms over his chest as louis snickers, pulling a bag of yeast from the cabinet beside the fridge, putting it on the counter, moving to the fridge to pull out vegan pepperoni, then a package of pre-shredded oil cheese. "hey, does vegan pizza taste any different from regular?," harry asks, and louis purses his lips, closing the door to the fridge, dumping the things onto the table.
"harry...," he mutters, shutting his eyes for a second, "i'm a vegan. i've never tasted regular pizza. but, if you're asking if it tastes good ─ obviously it does, how else would you explain all of this?," he continues, patting his tummy, making harry's face harden.
"you aren't fat," he says sternly, and louis' eyes widen at the seriousness.
"harry ─ "
"you're not fat," harry interrupts, and louis huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. harry's stern face breaks into a soft smile. "c'mon, don't pout," he whines, and louis turns his back to him. "don't be mad at me, i didn't do anything," he continues, and louis wants to throw a handful of flower on him, just to see how he'd react.
"how do we start?," louis asks, picking up the bag of yeast, changing the subject. smooth.
"um... do you have any aprons? that's a good place," he says, and louis nods, kind of embarrassed. all their aprons are frilly and flowery. "let's get to cooking your first meal!"