Tolerate It || l.s ✓

Chapter 40

COMMENTTTT (thanks soz)

Harry bit into his cheese scone, humming appreciatively as he closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, Louis's figure was illuminated before him in the golden hues of the setting sun.

"Good?" Louis nodded to the scone and Harry hummed again.

"So good. How's your pastry?"

"Fuckin' lovely." Louis grinned and Harry's eyes scanned over his face, taking in Louis's every feature.

He watched as Louis's eyelashes fluttered against his skin, and how his tongue darted out to lick his lips. He watched as Louis's hand reached up to sweep his fringe to the side, casting a sliver of a shadow over the golden-basked skin.

"You look really pretty in this light." Harry said before he could even think about it. Immediately a blush began to spread across his face, and he prayed it wasn't noticeable.

Louis looked at Harry with slightly widened eyes, his pastry held halfway up to his mouth. As Louis's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, Harry thought that this might be the first time he'd ever seen Louis blush.

"Sorry." Harry added quietly.

"No, don't be." Louis seemed to piece himself together. "Glad you think I'm pretty, sweetheart." He beamed, "well, in this light at least."

"No, no. You're always pretty, just this light really shows it." Harry mumbled, stuffing more of the scone into his mouth as an excuse to shut himself up.

Louis snorted, nudging Harry's foot with his own under the table. "Thank you babe."

Harry nodded, switching to chewing on his lip as he swallowed his mouthful. He looked up as the old woman from behind the counter wandered over to them, a slice of cake in each hand. Harry frowned a little, shaking his head.

"Um, sorry but we didn't order those." Louis said softly to her.

She frowned, not quite understanding.

Louis pointed to the cakes before shaking his head.

The woman said something in French, smiling as she waved her hand in dismissal and Harry's face split into a grin.

"Merci, merci beaucoup!" He beamed and the old woman put a hand on his shoulder, nodding at Louis happily before returning to her earlier place.

Louis turned to Harry, raising his eyebrows.

"They're on the house!" Harry giggled.

"You speak French?" Louis asked and Harry shrugged, weighing up his hands.

"I've dabbled."

"You are full of surprises, and I'm also kinda pissed off that you didn't bring that skill out when we didn't know where we were going." Louis teased.

"Hey, I said I've dabbled. I'm not fluent. I didn't want to get it wrong. That would've just been embarrassing."

"Cutie." Louis chuckled. "So, on the house you say?"

"Mhm." Harry nodded, "she thought we were sweet."

"Awe." Louis cooed, "we are sweet."

"Sweet as sugar." Harry drawled in a southern accent and Louis snorted.

The two drifted into quiet, just taking in the atmosphere around them until Harry broke the silence.

"How are you Louis?" He asked sincerely.

"I'm alright thanks love." He said honestly, his voice soft.

"I feel like we always talk about me so I wanna talk about you for a bit." Harry said with a shrug. "How are your siblings?"

"Well, you know what teenagers are like." Louis laughed a little, "Charlotte is obsessed with this boy in her tutor. She just keeps asking me for advice, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm shit at relationship advice. The rest of the girls are just waiting on summer now, and Ernest just really, really fucking loves tinned peaches."

Harry giggled at the last part, "tinned peaches are wonderful to be fair to him."

"Hm, I'm not sure I can agree with you on that one babe." Louis clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "They're weird."

"What do you mean weird?"

"Funny texture, all slimy." Louis wrinkled his nose.

"You're all slimy." Harry retorted, getting strangely defensive of tinned peaches.

"Well, thanks I suppose." Louis chuckled, kicking Harry gently under the table.

"Sorry, you're not all slimy." Harry fought back a smile, "only a little bit."

"You cheeky little sod." Louis huffed out. "I'll have you know that I'm not slimy in any way."

Harry shrugged, "you say that but you never know."

"You're a twat." Louis pointed sternly, a contradicting grin on his face.

Harry reached across the table, holding his hand out. Louis looked at him in confusion, placing the pepper pot in his outstretched palm.

"No." Harry whined. Louis removed the pepper pot, and replaced it with the salt pot. "Are you doing this on purpose?" He frowned.

Louis removed the salt pot, and replaced it with a sachet of sugar. This time he was fighting back a smirk.

Harry huffed, beginning to remove his hand but Louis grabbed it, slotting the two together. A content smile made its way onto Harry's face.

"Thank you." He squeezed Louis's hand.

As the two finished their drinks, they thanked the lady politely, slipping out of the door.

"Fuckin' hell." Harry frantically covered his eyes with two paw-like hands as they rounded the corner.

Louis laughed in disbelief. "Come on, just keep your eyes down and keep walking."

"Louis, there are people fucking on a bench. Jesus, it's not even dark out."

"Come on, you innocent darling. Keep walking."

"I'm not innocent." Harry kept his hands over his eyes, "I just have a sense of common decency."

"Don't tell me you've never had sex in public." Louis spoke and Harry removed his hands, looking at Louis.

"Not out in the open, and certainly not in the light. Why, have you?"

"I mean, I'm not impartial to a car fuck."

"Why are we talking about this?" Harry groaned, his cheeks were flushed.

"Because we just saw real life porn together and you said you're not innocent. Think of it as a bonding activity."

"Could our bonding activity not have been like everything else we've ever done together?"

"Nah." Louis shrugged. "So, what really gets you going?" He was trying not to laugh and Harry was glaring, embarrassment prominent on his face.

"No." Was all Harry said.