Don't be Happier

Chapter seven

Author's notes: Hi, beautiful people. This is me saying something for the first time. I just want to thank everyone who's reading this fic. I'm sorry if sometimes I take a little longer to update, I just get a little insecure and feel really discouraged to write. I hope you all like this, lots of love. Fern x

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Louis came back to his senses when he heard the door opening beside him and he didn't have enough time to stand up and leave before the familiar face was speaking, staring down at him with worried eyes.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, hand reaching for his eye and rubbing it, sleepy.

Louis loves sleepy Harry.

The older one quickly stands up, having a hard time balancing himself on his shaky legs. Perhaps he drank a little more than he came to notice. Harry was wearing only grey sweatpants and white socks. For a moment, Louis' eyes got lost in his body. Wondering how it felt to trace them with his fingertips, kiss each one of them, leave pretty love bites all over his skin.

"Louis?" Harry calls him, furrowing his eyebrows at him. "Do you wanna come in, or..."

"No," The shorter one quickly answers, heart breaking at the sight of his face saddening. Instantly, he changes his mind. "Okay, maybe for a bit," he murmurs under his shaky breath.

The man smiles at him, dimples and wrinkles and all. Louis' heart warms and the familiar feeling of butterflies makes him feel a little dizzy as he walks inside the small room. It's tidy and clean, just like Harry's always been. It makes him feel nostalgic. It also smells like expensive floral cologne.

Louis pretends not to be completely amazed by it.

Harry lays on his back, getting cozy on the pillows and reaching out what seems to be a joint resting on the bedside table. "Lighter?" He asks, licking his lips and placing the joint in between them.

Louis feels like maybe it isn't really healthy for someone to wish they were a joint. He grabs the lighter inside his back pocket and throws it to Harry, who takes his time to light up his thing. He takes one, two and then a third hit before he offers to the older man, who gulps before taking it and sitting down on the bed, back facing the short haired man.

They both stay quiet for what seems forever. And by forever, it means long enough for him to feel like he's floating. Long enough for him to shoo Harry a little so he has enough space to lay down there next to him. He reaches for a pillow and hugs it, turning to his side, now facing a Harry that's looking up at the ceiling.

"When did you start smoking?" Louis breaks the ice, feeling a little antsy.

Harry laughs at his question. They're both so high. He doesn't even turn to face him. "A year ago, I think... It makes touring a little less tiring," he says.

"Yeah."

"When did you start with the cigarettes?" Harry asks him, finally turning to face him, eyes green and pupils dilated.

Louis shrugs. "After I got into UNI," he says, "you really fucked me up," before he notices.

The younger man furrows his eyebrows, looking hurt. Louis knows he's about to apologise again, for the millionth time since the day back in his house. "I'm joking," he tells him, smiling softly, "relax."

"But I really did, didn't I?" Harry whispers. It's more of a rhetorical question, really, like he knows exactly how badly things ended.

Or how badly things never ended, really.

Silence fills the room again and it looks feels a fucking elephant is keeping them company. Louis wonders what the other man is thinking, remembers how he used to say "a penny for a thought" whenever the younger one would be too quiet, lost in his thoughts. He wonders who Harry turned out to be after he last saw him, if maybe he's still the same young Hazza that would bring cookies and Disney movies over to his place.