instagram // l.s.

seventy three

Louis shivered in the cold mid-morning air, taking a sip of his coffee, and Harry linked their arms, pulling him closer. He laughed softly as Louis leaned into him.

"Cold?"

Louis wrinkled his nose. "It should not be this cold in June at ten in the morning."

Harry hummed in agreement, resting his cheek on the top of Louis' head. Louis leaned into his side, letting out a content sigh, and Harry pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

"I'm glad you're here," he said softly. "In Holmes Chapel, I mean. It's been incredible."

Pulling away, Louis met Harry's eyes, a grin fighting to take over his face. "I'm glad I'm here too." Harry's expression turned to match Louis' broad smile, and he pulled Louis back to his side, again resting his cheek on his tousled hair.

They wandered down the sidewalk for a while in almost complete silence until an incredulous voice echoed through the quiet street.

"Harry?"

Harry startled and whipped around, squinting as he searched for whoever had shouted for him. Finally, his eyes landed on a boy a bit behind them on the sidewalk.

"Mason?"

The boy awkwardly jogged closer, stopping a few feet away, and pushed his floppy blond hair out of his face. "Harry, wow, I haven't seen you since, like... year nine. You look different. Good, I mean. You just graduated, right?"

Harry nodded, smiling lightly. "Yeah, it's been a while. And I did, yeah, just a few days ago, actually."

"Sick, I'm glad to hear it! I graduated earlier last week." The boy – Mason – turned to Louis, flashing him an apologetic smile. "Hi, sorry to interrupt you guys, I just haven't seen Harry in ages, I couldn't believe it was him. I'm Mason, and you're...?"

"Louis," Louis said, waving briefly.

"I haven't seen you around before, what brings you to Holmes Chapel?" Mason asked curiously.

"I'm visiting Harry from Doncaster, actually, he's— I mean, we're—," Louis fumbled, quickly realizing he didn't know how to continue.

"—Boyfriend. He's my boyfriend," Harry finished, glancing at Louis nervously. When Louis grinned broadly, a warm feeling spreading through his chest, Harry relaxed, turning back to Mason with a barely concealed smile.

"Boyfriend, yeah," Louis repeated softly.

Surprise flickered over Mason's expression for a millisecond, but he simply smiled cheerily. "Congratulations! You two are cute."

Louis pressed his lips together to hold back the grin threatening to take over his expression. "Thanks," he managed.

A beeping sound coming from Mason's phone interrupted his next sentence, and he fished it out of his pocket, wincing as looked at the screen. "Sorry, I've gotta go, I'm due to meet someone for breakfast and I'm late. See you around, hopefully!"

With that, he dashed down the street, turning a corner, and then he was out of sight. Harry took this as a cue to start walking again, tapping Louis on the elbow to signal him to follow. After a brief moment of silence, Harry spoke, nerves clear in his voice.

"I didn't mean to just... impose a title on you. The boyfriend thing, I mean. If you're not cool with being together, that's fine, or, not fine, but I'll understand?"

Louis took Harry's hand, squeezing gently. "The boyfriend thing is good. I like it."

Harry let out a relieved breath. "Okay. Okay, good." He intertwined his fingers with Louis', letting their hands swing freely between them as they walked.