TIRED TIRED SEA (Larry Stylinson) by MediaWhore on AO3

CHAPTER 9

Shoutout to rocketman & RWRB for inspiring one of the scenes in this chapter! - MediaWhore

"Do you have to encourage my dog to go swimming every single time we"re down here?" Louis asks, pretending to be annoyed when Clifford runs in the water to grab the tennis ball Harry just threw in there.

There"s not much that would stop his stupid pet from running into the freezing water, but Louis often tries to limit the damage so he doesn"t have a big lump of fur trailing water everywhere in the cottage.

Harry definitely doesn"t look remorseful at all. He gives Louis a massive grin before exclaiming excitedly when Clifford comes running, tennis ball in his mouth.

"Look at you!" Harry yells, applauding, before grabbing the ball. "You"re such a champion. A big swimming champion!" he insists, before throwing the ball again.

"Clearly you do," Louis deadpans, mostly to himself.

"Aww, come on. Don"t be grumpy, he loves it," Harry says, jogging a little to get to Louis" side, wrapping an arm over his shoulders.

"You"re cleaning up the mess he"s going to leave in the house later," Louis declares, resting his head against Harry"s arm.

"Of course," he agrees, kissing Louis" forehead. "It"s worth putting in the work for his happiness, right?" he says and Louis really should stop feeling surprised whenever he says deep, insightful things like they"re little nothings.

"I suppose," Louis jokes, rolling his eyes.

"It"s like me following the program," Harry adds, reaching inside his jacket for a pair of sunglasses Louis had no idea he owned. He puts them on and looks at the horizon. "It"s worth all the work."

"To gain happiness?"

"Well, to get closer to it, at least," Harry laughs. "I don"t know that people are ever fully truly happy. I mean, they are obviously, I just mean... No one is happy all the time. People aren"t built that way. And life would lack depth. But no one should be unhappy the way I was, you know?"

Louis looks down at the sand, wrinkling his nose. He sniffs. "Yeah, definitely not," he says, trying to not let himself feel emotional. "Though you"re cheating a lot on the program I have to say. I mean, what part of this is your routine?" Louis teases. "Not to mention you"re not even doing group therapy."

"Oi!" Harry says with a laugh, tightening his arm around Louis" shoulders. "Do you want all my AA secrets to be spilt in The Sun or the Daily Mail because some random can"t keep his mouth shut."

"Isn"t like... the foundation of the whole thing anonymity, like... wouldn"t that be breaking a sacred rule."

"Yeah, "cause people have never been known to break rules," Harry says and Louis can"t see his eyes, but he guesses he"s probably rolling them.

"It"s just me," Louis says softly as Clifford runs back towards them. He grabs the ball and throws it again, on the sand this time thank you very much. "You can say you"re too anxious to risk it even though there"s probably groups you could go to fine. I won"t judge."

Harry"s shoulders drop a little and he nods. "Yeah, I suppose."

Louis clears his throat, then, awkwardly says: "so what do you want for tea then?"

It makes Harry laugh, at least. "Is that you trying to subtly change the subject because you"ve made me morose now?"

Louis puffs his cheeks like a chipmunk, crossing his eyes, before exhaling. "Yep!" he admits, tilting his head a little to look at Harry. He smiles when he feels Harry"s arm around his shoulders tighten even more, Harry holding him closer. "Is it working?"