all my love from paris [ls fanfiction]

3. speechless

Author's note: there's a song in the media that will be useful later on this chapter. I'll add a note when you're suppose to play it. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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Louis and Harry walked through some stores near the Sena river. Their goal was to buy a towel for their picnic so they could sit on the floor together and spread out the food around them, but they ended up stopping at every stall they passed by so they could look at all the street art and tourist merch.

"Caricatures are stupid." Louis remarked, as he observed a man draw a caricature of a little girl, typically exaggerating her big forehead with his pencil. "It accentuates people's bad features. It makes them look bad, increases their insecurities - and people actually pay for it. Like, if I have a big nose, why would I pay a man to draw me a bigger nose and make me feel worse about it? Besides, the drawing doesn't even turn out pretty."

"You have a very cute tiny nose." Harry stated, touching the tip of Louis' nose with his finger playfully and completely ignoring everything else in the boy's statement.

"Not the point." Louis replied, hiding a smile in response to Harry's affectionate gesture.

As they went by a few more stalls, one of them caught Harry's attention due to all the colorful flowers surrounding it. He came closer, inspecting all the key-chains and postcards with all the breathtaking views of Paris. He decided he wanted to take something to give to Gemma to make it up to her since he missed dinner. He pondered whether he should buy something for his mum, as well, but that would imply he had to explain why he spent the whole night in Paris with some lad and that might not go very well. It was different with Gemma, they had a really good relationship and he felt like he could tell her everything and she wouldn't say a thing. He was sure that if he informed her that he robbed a bank she would be all kinds of supportive and comforting. And of course he loved his mother, too, and they'd get along really well, but some things required a whole different level of explanation and she might not take it the better way, either. He decided to keep this a secret so he kept going, trying to find something Gemma would appreciate. His hand went through some of the key-chains to get a better view of them, but something on the shelve right next to it caught his immediate attention. It was a round box, golden with white sparkles forming the image of the Eiffel tower and it had some small colorful macaroons attached to a pendent at the side. Harry grabbed it, opening it up by the tiny button in the front. His reflection showed up in the mirror inside the box.

Perfect.

Harry closed the mirror and nodded to Louis, letting him know that he found what he was looking for and they could leave. But as they were arriving to the cashier, a sign intrigued Louis.

"What the hell is a DIY post card?" He cracked a laugh as he saw a sign next to them with those exact words.

Harry snorted. "Some overly expensive souvenir, for sure. Probably with a fake montage of the Eiffel tower."

Louis' brow arched, intrigued. "Interesting." He got closer to it, analyzing the different post-cards in the stand right next to the sign. There was a fake set of the Sena river right next to it and a camera standing right in front. Louis smile opened. "Let's have one."

Harry rolled his eyes but Louis caught a glimpse of it, protesting. "Hey, I saw that!" He grabbed Harry by the hand and pulled him closer to the lady on the cashier. "C'mon now." He turned his attention from the boy to the lady in front of them, throwing her his best smile. "Hello. We'd like one of those post-cards, please." He asked, pointing out the sign they just saw.

"Great! Follow me." The lady bypassed the counter, heading to the set where they'd just been and placed herself right before the camera after turning the studio lights, that Louis hadn't notice until then, on. She then pointed to the set, encouraging them to go and pose. "Go on, don't be shy." She joked, her accent very noticeable.