Beauty In Numbers

5

He had really started to evaluate his and Harry's friendship after he talked to Niall at the mall. They were friends, but were there something more than that between them? Louis had no idea. He was totally inexperienced when it came to love. He never thought that anyone would like him for who he was so he hadn't even bothered to explore that side of life. Until Harry. He didn't feel the same around him as he did around one of the other boys. He got butterflies in his stomach whenever Harry was around and it had started a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't stupid, quite the contrary. He had read about love but he had never experienced it so he was new to it which made him nervous. Was it always this nerve-racking? Not knowing what the other person felt? Why couldn't people just say what they felt so there would be no questions about it? He was all about honest, straightforward communication usually but Harry made him shy. What if he told him that he wasn't falling in love with him too? That would crush him. 

He didn't even know how or when it happened. One day it was just there, all these feelings that he didn't know how to handle really. Love was pretty stupid. There were no guidelines, no schedule, no order to it. That stressed him out.

Nevertheless, Harry seemed to like his company. They hung out almost every day. He even spent Friday nights with him and his family making facial masks and painting his nails. The girls loved him and his mum treated him like he was one of the family. He didn't want to talk to his mum about how he felt about Harry. It was private.

Two days before Christmas Harry showed up with a big box in his hands.
"Merry Christmas Lou, oh, and Happy birthday!"

"You bought me a present?" Louis asked with his mouth hung open. His ears turned red.

"Of course." Harry smiled.

"I have one for you too, up in my room." Louis said as he let him inside.

"You do? Thanks!" Harry beamed.

Louis was home alone. Jay had taken the girls to town for some last-minute Christmas shopping. They went to his room and he closed the door behind them. He walked up to his bed and got the present underneath it.
"Here."

"Do you want to open them now or wait for Christmas?" Harry asked.

"Now!" Louis grinned. They sat down on the bed.
"You go first."

"Okay." Harry smiled and opened the gift.

It contained five photo albums.
"You know, so you can fix that mess in your room." Louis said.

Harry laughed softly.
"Thank you! This is a great gift. Perfect!"

"It's not boring?" Louis wondered.

"Absolutely not. It's very thoughtful and I love it. Now, open yours." Harry smiled.

Harry's gift was much bigger. Louis removed the paper carefully. He gasped when he saw what Harry had given him. It was three pictures in frames. It was all close-ups of three different objects, a sunflower, a pine tree cone, and a seashell. Louis felt tears well up. It was the most wonderful gift he had ever received.
"You took the pictures?"

"Yes." Harry confirmed.

"I love it. You brought Fibonacci into my bedroom. I...damn, this is making me emotional. Sorry." Louis said and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"That's okay. Do you need a hug?" Harry wondered.

"Yes. Wait, let me just put these on the desk." Louis giggled.

He got up and carefully placed the frames on his desk before he returned to the bed. Harry opened his arms and he threw himself at him, making Harry fall to his back. Louis clung to him like a koala bear. Harry stroked his back and hair to comfort him. Louis giggled and rolled to the side. He looked up at Harry and got lost in his perfect, green eyes. He was laying on Harry's arm. He was so close and Harry smelled lovely. He didn't know what came over him but he leaned in and pressed their lips together. He caught up with his own actions and pulled back with a gasp. His eyes flung open and he stared at Harry, mortified over his reaction.

Harry smiled and cupped his cheek.
"It's okay. You can kiss me. I've wanted to kiss you for weeks, I just never built up enough courage to ask you."

Louis' face lit up in a shy smile. He hesitated briefly but then he leaned back in, but this time Harry met him halfway. He felt Harry's soft, plump lips against his own once more. He didn't really know what to do next, he hadn't kissed anyone before but then Harry started to move his lips so he copied his action. Harry opened his mouth slightly so he did that too. All the hair on the back of his neck raised when he felt Harry's tongue entering his mouth. He let out a small whimper. Harry kisses him a while longer before he pulled back and looked at him. They slowly started to smile at the same time.
"I really like you, Louis. A lot."

"I like you too." Louis confessed.

"That's the best Christmas gift I could ever get." Harry smiled happily.

"Yeah, but I love the pictures too." Louis replied.

"And I love the photo albums." Harry beamed.

"That was my first kiss." Louis informed him.

"Oh, I hope it was okay. If I had known..." Harry said but Louis stopped him.

"It was 1.618!" He grinned.

"Perfect?" Harry asked and Louis nodded his head happily.

"You are 1.618." Harry said softly.

Louis' eyes grew wide.
"No, but we are! You're sixteen and I'm eighteen! I can't believe I haven't thought about it before. That's mindblowing."

"So, perfect for each other? Yeah, I'd have to agree with that." Harry smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.