The Exceptionals

Chapter Sixteen: Revelations

     When Louis awoke the next day, he was warm. He opened his eyes and saw himself tucked against an equally warm chest. Faintly, he nestled closer and the arms around his naked body engulfed him tightly, afraid he'd vanish within the morning mist.

Louis' eyes glimpsed towards Harry, whose eyes were open and dazedly staring back.

"How long have you been awake?" Louis asked.

"Not long." The purr of his voice vibrated closely.

There was just one word wandering and gliding throughout Louis' head: beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Harry looked beautiful like this. With the sunrise suffocating his eyes. Harry always appeared stunning, no matter when, what he did, or where he went.

But there is definitely something especially beautiful about waking up beside the one you love.

Louis cleared his throat and pushed himself away from the warmth. The boy looked at him curiously as he unwrapped his arms but let him go. Louis sent a coy smile over his shoulder as he got off the bed, cognizant of the unflinching gaze that followed closely until he disappeared into the bathroom.

Looking into the mirror was definitely a choice; a venture of bites that journeyed all across his chest and neck, settling warmly between his thighs. Stunned, he opened the cabinet and pulled out a container with white and pink pills, swallowing them without effort before brushing his teeth. When he returned to his bedroom, Harry was lying above the sheets with an arm thrown over his eyes to shield from the fluorescent rays. His naked inked torso was long and thin, and Louis licked his lips at the sight of his soft thighs.

Carefully, he walked towards the bed, halting at the lip. "Harry." No reply, but Louis saw the small tilt of his lips, the dimple caressing his cheek, a clear retaliation that he was being ignored.

Harry didn't bother looking up. So Louis took it upon himself to make him look.

They spent their morning together. Louis rode him, and when Harry couldn't take it any longer and flipped them around, Louis only sighed happily.

*****

The following Monday as he walked down the campus with his bag loose around his shoulder and his headphones in place, it was hard not to smile.

Earlier when he was in his first lecture, he couldn't stop his eyes from drifting. He'd only been caught twice, and the green-eyed boy merely smirked in response, going back to writing down in his notebook.

Fascinating.

What little time helped develop big changes, he thought.

Mid-November and the sky looked like it threatened to rain snow. His shoes cracked the brittle leaves beneath his feet, hearing it even through the hollow music that so tenderly played.

He felt it first, and saw it second, the tall man who slipped into an easy step beside him. Louis bared a glance to see his hands in the pocket of his jeans, chill air falling from his broken lips. "Can I walk with you?" He breathed, his wide green eyes so deep Louis almost lost his footing.

"Hmm," he thought out loud. "I have important things to do, so I don't know." He slipped a discrete hand to pause the music.

Harry frowned, "More important things than me?"

Louis falsely debated it, tilting his head as they now both headed towards where Louis went. He would never admit this to anyone, but he completely forgot where he was meant to go, only knowing he had a free period and that Harry smelt like wood and the sea. "I don't know." He said. "Are you more important than my grades?" He greedily asked.