a guide to modern philosophy ⁽ᴸˢ⁾

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ xxᴠ*

"It's alright Louis," Harry hugs the smaller man right back. They stay this way for a while, Harry afraid to let go of him. He can feel Louis' shakiness and stiffness. The rich man holds his body as if the world was ending right here and now, the constant beating of Louis' frantic heart making Harry think of the possible variations of how to calm the man down.

"What if we take a bath, yeah? Relax your body a little," Harry offers. Louis finally lets go of Harry's t-shirt and looks right into his eyes.

"Yeah, I think it is a good idea," he nods his head, looking down onto the ground. He didn't look at his feet this much his whole life. This situation he got himself into is just making him feel so small and powerless.

"C'mon then," Harry takes one of Louis' hands, leading the way towards the huge bathroom. 

Since Harry has no idea how to run the bath, Louis obviously takes the charge and sets up the water temperature and turns on the water. The huge jacuzzi is slowly filling up with the clear hot water, the puffs of vapour deliberately finding their way up to the white ceiling.

They both quietly undress, at this point none of them feeling a shame of being naked around each other. It's like they've known each other for eternity, but the reality is they actually met almost 3 weeks ago.

But as much as they grew comfortable with the nakedness, both of the men didn't get used to the beauty of each other's bodies just yet. Harry is trying so hard not to stare at the petite body of Louis', but he can't help it. He just wants to run his hands through every curve of his body.

First, he wants to touch every inch of his body while looking closely, inspecting every bit, every small crease, every perfection and imperfection. Then, he wants to run his hands through Louis' body with closed eyes, just to memorise the soft touch into his fingertips. He wants to sculpture Louis' perfect being and perpetuate it into a hard white marble. Body like this should be immortalised and put into the national gallery of art for everyone to adore.

Louis' body should be celebrated like Michelangelo's David sculpture.

For Harry, Louis is all of Michelangelo's art combined together, and then a little bit more.

Just as Harry is trying not to stare, Louis is doing no better than the curly boy. Though the rich man is still angry, the subtle glances Harry's way are making him calmer and a little bit happier. The strong and clumsy body of Harry's is clouding Louis' mind, bringing heat inside of his heart and well, also into his abdomen.

He is just as much hungry as Harry to touch the delicate, tanned skin of the curly boy. He wants to soap it and massage it, clean every inch of it. He wants to wash Harry's head, also massage the scalp while whispering sweet nothings into Harry's ear.

He wants to examine Harry's tattoos. He wants to engrave every little detail of theirs into his memory, so he could reminisce their art for the rest of his life. He wants to trace their outlines with his fingertips and hear Harry's sweet laugh while he would complain about the ticklish feeling of Louis' touch. Louis would then kiss every tattoo while counting them in his head, leaving just a little bit of his heart behind every kiss.

None of them wants to acknowledge the fact Louis' stay in Rome is dangerously close to an end. Harry's heart is clenching every time he is thinking about it, what is going to happen? What are they going to do? Will Louis just leave and forget about him?

Louis knows very well he won't be able to forget such an angel. He doesn't know what to do, though. His mind is brutally all over the place and Zayn's outburst didn't make it any better. In reality, Zayn just made Louis more anxious and full of regret. He knows Zayn is right. He should be kicking Harry out and spare him and also himself another suffering. But that's kind of impossible because Louis is too selfish. He wants to be around Harry, no matter how wrong it is.