nobody shines the way you do » l.s.

part ten

When Louis opened his eyes the next day, he found himself cuddled up beside Harry. He frowned slightly wondering if he was still dreaming. Harry had his arm wrapped around Louis and Louis could feel his finger tracing figure eights on his back, even though his eyes were closed.

"Harry," Louis whispered, his voice raspy from sleep. Harry lifted his eyelids open immediately and then smiled at Louis warmly.

"You're awake," he said. "I've been waiting since this morning for you to get up, but I didn't want to bother you."

"What are you doing here?" Louis asked him, confused and bleary, still a bit sleepy. Zayn and he had returned very late because of how slow the trains ran at night. And they ended up getting two large pies from the pizza store a few blocks from their apartment, which took them a while to finish but sent them into a food coma right after.

"You left yesterday," Harry said, instead of answering the question.

"So did you," Louis reminded him, somewhat bitter and almost clingy. After just having woken up and Harry being so close to him, he couldn't help it. His brain-to-mouth filter wasn't working and all he could do was stare down at Harry's pink lips. Now that he'd gotten a taste, he had no idea if he'd ever be able to get over it or stop thinking about it.

"I'm sorry," he said to Louis. He paused for a moment, calculating what to say next while his hand was still running against Louis' back, making him feel even more sleepy. "Are you mad at me because of what I did?"

Louis frowned because he wasn't really sure if he was mad or not. He knew the context behind the kiss upset him, but he didn't hate the kiss. "I don't know--I guess it just took me by surprise," he replied.

"I think it worked," Harry said. "Peter was pretty jealous yesterday, but he didn't do anything about it."

"Oh," Louis shrugged, not really in the mood to talk or think about Peter so early in the morning.

Louis was also incapable of saying anything more now that his mind was wandering back to the kiss and how it had lit up a fire in him. He'd never felt that way about any kiss in his life and it astounded him that someone could ever make him feel so much. That this boy he'd met at a party two years ago could just stumble into his life and make him want to change everything he ever believed in. However, the saddest part about that was that he knew they could never be and that feeling all this was useless anyway. It didn't stop him from wanting it that much more, though.

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked, his hand moving down to brush up against the skin under Louis' t-shirt.

Louis lifted his eyes to look at him. "What you did last night."

Harry's expression changed immediately and he was looking at Louis the way he did last night when they kissed. His mouth parted and eyes almost frantic with want. His hand slowly moved up under Louis' t-shirt to the center of his back to pull his body closer, keeping his eyes locked on Louis'. Louis wondered if Harry could hear how fast his heart was beating or if he knew that no one could ever have the effect Harry had on him. They both closed their eyes at the same time, leaning in when Harry's phone started ringing.

Really loudly.

The two of them jumped back and Louis sat up on his bed, trying to compose himself. They'd just almost kissed again. What the fuck? Harry was going to kiss Louis without showing off to anyone and it was going to happen. Louis wanted to die and throw Harry's phone out the window into the Hudson River. He watched as Harry got out of bed and cupped the phone to his ear before disappearing out of the room, leaving him with a longing expression. Louis had no idea what to do.