Paint Me In A Million Dreams

Chapter 5 - Heavy Damage

Notes from the author: Okay, you need to go and send love and appreciation and praise to Addy and Andy  for being fabulous betas. It's entirely on them that we get an update tonight because I was awfully late with this chapter!

Also, Louis' siblings' age is slightly differed from canon in this fic!

It's also turned into a 10k chapter... oops! But ,well, we're making progress ;) So, without further ado, here it is! Enjoy the read <3

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"I wish we could've been here during Christmas season," Harry said when they boarded the plane in Berlin. "German Christmas markets are something else."

Louis hummed in agreement, watching the rain fall outside. For the two days they had stayed in Berlin, it had constantly rained. Louis didn't think it'd be any different in London. Yet, London suited the rain better than Berlin did.

Inside the plane, Louis sat down next to Oli while Harry and Barbara sat down behind them.

"You're getting better at this," Oli said, fastening his seatbelt. "Both of you."

Louis smiled wearily. "I guess."

They had become better at this. After Rome, they had come to some kind of truce. They were both holding up their ends of the contract, taking the pretending seriously. That didn't mean they got along any better than before, though. It was a truce, nothing more.

Harry was still irritating Louis. On that first morning in Rome, Louis had lost his mind for a second -- a second in which he had thought the irritation could be erased by kissing Harry. He couldn't deny that Harry was attractive, but that didn't explain that slip-up.

Louis tried to ban it from his memory and forget that it had ever happened. It had been nothing but a confusion of feelings. A moment of delusion. Louis' mind was clear again.

Most of the time, anyway.

In Barcelona, they had had some time to see the city. Whenever Louis came there, he fell in love with it more. It seemed that Harry liked it, too. He had been fascinated with every single stone of the city.

They had been sent on a date to Gaudi's house, to make sure that they were seen. Lots of people had taken pictures and asked them for selfies. As they had been told, they had complied to every request and had acted in love the whole time.

It had its good parts, too. Louis had realised that holding someone's hand was something he wanted for real. As soon as he'd get out of this contract, he'd find someone nice to fall in love with and to hold hands with. To kiss. To hold. To have sex with.

God, he missed sex. It had been so long since he had last shared a bed with someone that wasn't one of his sisters. He wanted the heat and the passion -- all of it. He hadn't come out to be shoved right back into a corner where he had to watch instead of act.

All he wanted was a chance at something real and stable. Maybe he had to fool around a little before finding the right one, but God, did he hope the right one was going to come around soon. Louis didn't want to fool around anymore.

He thought of the picture they had taken in Paris. Harry had complained about it being too cheesy, and all Louis had thought was that one day, he'd like to return to the suite with a view of the Eiffel Tower and take a genuine picture like that with the one he loved.

He was a romantic, sue him.

Oli had taken the picture of them on the balcony of Harry's suite, their backs turned to the camera, Harry's arms slung around Louis' waist, the lights of the city illuminating their silhouettes and the Eiffel Tower bright and beautiful in the distance. Harry had put the picture on his instagram in black and white.