keep driving

27. tea with cyborgs

Song: u + me = <3 by Olivia Rodrigo 

Explaining the whole thing to Niall takes a bit longer.

They get to Harry's flat, Louis obviously makes fun of him for being so hippie. Harry pouts and says he isn't even, and Louis points out that his flat is home to a record player, his collection of cameras, a vintage bookshelf, a lot of plants and antique rugs, all clean and filled with sculptures and small statues his dad brought him from all over the planet sometimes. Harry only rolls his eyes at Louis' laughter but smiles as Louis dives into his bed, saying he will stay there until he rots because Harry's bed is so comfortable.

"Of course you'd be the person to have silk sheets, Harold" He mocks, but pulls the sheets up to his neck. 

Harry stares at him, all cuddled up in his bed. He has to repeat it in his head. There is Louis fucking Tomlinson, all cuddled up in his bed. What the fuck.

He hates to admit it, but there have been some moments where he was in his bed, all alone, maybe, possibly, thinking about none other. Staring at the ceiling, replaying Louis' arrogant smirk, his confident walk through the halls, his cocky remarks in class. Most of all the way he leant on his motorbike outside the building, smoking and chatting to his admirers. 

And now he's in Harry's bed, matching tattoos on their arms. 

Harry actually feels like screaming and crying and throwing himself at Louis and cuddling him forever because he looks so gorgeous. 

"Stop staring at me" Louis sasses. "You have two options, either join me for a nap or let me nap alone, but I can't nap when someone stares at me during my nap like a creep. Do you have a nap kink or something?"

Harry only smiles and goes to take a shower as well, mostly because he will start screaming if Louis says the word 'nap' one more time. Apparently, Louis lied about staying in his bed for the rest of his life, because he joins Harry as soon as he hears the water running. 

"Oh thank god," Harry breathes out as Louis steps into the shower. "I was already wondering if we started celibacy on kingdom grounds." 

"Couldn't keep my hands off you even if his majesty himself was watching." Louis jokes, making Harry let out a goofy laugh. 

Before he can say another word, Harry slaps his hand over Louis' mouth. "Don't say role play. No way." 

Later, Niall comes over, Harry cooks for them while Niall spends solid five minutes just staring at Louis, squinting his eyes as if Louis is a riddle he needs to solve for a crossword puzzle. Louis looks absolutely terrified while the lad walks around him in circles, but after Niall is finished examining him like he's something that could explode, he only smiles, smacks him on the shoulder and goes to pull three beers out of Harry's fridge, making himself comfortable on the couch. 

"Jesus, that was scary" Louis whispers to Harry as soon as Niall is out of earshot.

Then the irish lad shouts for Louis to join him so he can teach him the game he invented himself, because "as my brother-in-law, it's kinda necessary you know that game"

Harry only smiles down at the pan and Louis presses a gentle kiss to his cheek before he leaves his side to join Niall on the couch. As they eat, all of them on the couch, Harry's legs over Louis' lap, he finally asks them the inevitable question hanging in the room. How did you get together?

This time, Harry mostly speaks and Niall is outwardly confused, because Harry couldn't stand Louis a few weeks ago. 

Well, he realised that he just couldn't stand him because he was jealous. Maybe jealous of everyone who hung out with Louis, the people he flirted with, the people who had his attention. Maybe he was jealous of Louis as a person in the beginning until it faded into a... crush. And he didn't even noticed how he subconsciously masked his jealousy with annoyed comments and eye rolling, every single time he saw Louis strutting into the class room so effortlessly pretty and confident. He was jealous, but he was also kind of in love, and he pretended to just be pissed off. That's what Niall got to hear every day. So, he takes longer to catch up than Zayn, until after they've finished dinner and move on to tea and muffins Niall brought with him from his mum's.

He still doesn't really get it, even after Harry explained the whole story and summarised it once more. It's like they're having tea with a cyborg, really.

"Jesus Niall, what's so hard to understand?" 

"I don't know" Niall exclaims sarcastically, flinging his arms in the air. "Maybe the whole Avengers cast thing? Or the yacht thing? Or that you stole a motorcycle?"

"It was fun" Louis chuckles and Niall furrows his brows. 

"I do understand it. It's just..." He pauses, "I kind of don't believe you." 

"Hey that's rude," Louis laughs, taking another sip. "You think we're making all of it up?" 

Niall shrugs. "I think you might have a four-week streak of constant sun stroke and you're totally nuts now." 

Harry laughs, then he gets an idea. He stands up from the couch and goes into his room, where his backpack still stands on his desk chair. He digs around until he finds his camera and turns it on.

When he walks back through the small hallway, he stops right before entering the living room, their voices sounding from around the corner.

"You really like him?"

"Yeah" Louis replies softly. "I really, really like him. Like, proper liking"

Harry only smiles widely and walks in, sitting even closer to Louis than before and showing Niall the pictures he took throughout the last weeks.

Niall takes the camera and clicks through them, slowly starting to smile the more he clicks. Louis' hand goes through Harry's hair and he turns his head to smile at him, leaning in. Before he can connect their lips, though, there's a scream and the camera lands on his legs. Louis catches it right before it would've bounced down onto the floor and they look at Niall, who covers his face in his hands, still whimpering.

"What?" Harry chuckles. 

"You could've warned me!"

"About what?" Harry asks, the question laced with laughter. 

"The nudes?! I didn't need to see Louis Tomlinson's dick"

"Oh" Harry says, biting his lip and Louis laughs loudly, throwing his head back. "Sorry mate"