“Lou,” Harry whispers. Louis doesn’t move. “Lou,” he tries again, letting his thumb drag over Louis’ jaw, and smiles brightly when Louis stirs. “Lou, wake up. It’s Christmas.”
“Haz?” Louis croaks, voice rough from sleep.
Harry nips along Louis’ jaw, following the previous path of his thumb. “It’s Christmas, Lou. Get up.”
“What time is it?” Louis rasps out, lifting his hand to tangle in the curls at Harry’s neck as his eyes drift shut again.
Harry has the decency to looks sheepish. “Just after 5:00 a.m.”
Louis groans and kisses him gently. “Go back to sleep. We still have a couple of hours.”
“But, Lou,” Harry whines. “It’s Christmas.”
“You were that bratty little kid that woke up before dawn trying to open presents, weren’t you?” Louis nuzzles his nose alongside Harry’s.
Harry’s face falls, and he shifts away. “No. I wasn’t allowed to. The one time I did, I was seven. That year sucked.”
Louis pulls Harry back in close to him with his hand still twisted in Harry’s hair. “What did they do? Make you stay in your room an extra hour?” he teases, his lips ghosting over Harry’s.
“They returned all my gifts,” Harry admits quietly.
Louis snaps his eyes fully open. “What the fuck, Haz? You were just a little kid.”
“They had…they had gotten me a kitten. A puppy was never an option, no matter how much I wanted one, because my dad is allergic, so a kitten was my best chance for a pet. She was beautiful, Lou. So perfect and tiny. Solid white with green eyes. I had been asking all year, and just like that, she was gone.” A single, silent tear drips down Harry’s face to his lips.
Louis brushes his fingers over Harry’s bottom lip and kisses him softly, licking away the salty tear. “Alright, love. Let’s get up. We can make breakfast for everyone.”
“Really?” Harry perks up and beams a wide smile.
Louis climbs over Harry and pulls him to his feet. “Yeah, come on, before I change my mind.”
Fingers laced together, Louis pulls Harry behind him toward the kitchen. Harry stops suddenly and pulls Louis back and into him, hugging him in middle of the hallway. “Thank you.”
Louis lifts his head and rests his chin on Harry’s chest. “I’d do anything for you, Hazza. You just have to ask.”
An hour later, Louis wakes everyone while Harry sets the table, placing a full spread of breakfast in the center, buffet style. The rag tag group comes in slowly, in various states of dress, or undress as the case may be as can be seen with Zayn and Niall bringing up the rear of the bunch in only their boxers.
Niall yawns and scratches his belly. “Why so early?”
“Harry couldn’t sleep on account of it being Christmas.” Louis softens the words with a wink. “If I have to be awake, so do you.”
“Just because your boy toy wants to get up at the ass crack of dawn, doesn’t mean you have to make the rest of us suffer,” Zayn grumbles, falling into a chair at the table.
