valentine (Complete)

V

"Can you- what- say that again?" Louis is sure he's mishearing. He's come to maybe nearly almost accept that Harry might want him, but the idea that Harry would want him like that? 

"I'm sorry, I won't say it again, I'm sorry," Harry rushes out and Louis reminds himself to blink. 

"No, no, what?" Louis feels like his brain has fallen into puzzle pieces that he can't put back together and he can't figure out how to say what he wants to. 

"It's fine, I'll tell her we're not- I'll call- it's fine-" Harry seems to panic as well and Louis feels as though his heart could beat its way out of him.

Boyfriend?

"No- it's fine- she can- you can-" he couldn't get the words to sound right. He couldn't hear his thoughts over his own heartbeat, and it only seemed louder as Harry started to leave the room without a glance towards him.

"No, no- you don't have to say- it's fine, really, I'll just-" Harry, in all his long glory, managed to hit his hip on the counter in his attempt to flee the kitchen, and it silenced him and managed to bring Louis out of his tranced state.

"I'm not just saying, Harry, you can... you know... call me that... if you want..." Louis would swear he almost passes out from anticipation as he waits for Harry to say something - anything.

"Do... do you have an icepack?" Harry eventually asks. And okay, maybe not anything.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course," Louis says as he jumps of the counter he had been sitting on and goes to the freezer to grab an ice pack. He gives it to Harry, who now leans against the counter and refuses to lift his eyes.

"So you're... you're okay with it?" Harry asks, almost looking up but seeming to decide against it moments before meeting Louis's eyes.

"It's encouraged," Louis says quietly, and he's not sure he said it until Harry laughs lightly.

"Okay, um... you... you can too. Call me that," Harry says nervously. He still doesn't look up, but Louis can see that he's smiling.

"So that's settled... are the cookies done?" Louis asks, and Harry - absolute menace - still doesn't look at Louis, and instead looks to the bowl with the cookie dough.

"Yeah. Um, yeah, that's done," Harry stumbles out, looking back to the floor.

Louis will be damned if he's going to put such a special label on someone that won't look at him.

"Okay... do you wanna do something else?" Louis asks. Harry - finally, bless him - looks up.

Louis could scream after Harry still doesn't meet his eyes before looking back down.

"Um... yeah... do you- do you have any ideas?" He asks, and for another moment Louis hopes to look into his eyes, before they once again meet the floor.

"I don't know. Have sex, play cribbage? Paint something? - Zayn left some stuff," Louis offers, saying anything he can think that they could do.

"You really are a wonder," Harry says a moment later, and Louis's wondering eyes find him again and - finally.

Finally he looks into Harry's face, and he finds him smiling, a fond glint in his eyes. Oh, Louis does love to be looked at like that.

"That's the first thing that came to your mind?" Harry asks softly, letting out a small chuckle with that sparkle in his eyes.

"What did I say?" Louis asks. He doesn't register his own voice as he asks, he's not even sure he could say his own name as Harry's eyes sparkle even more. He loves to be looked at like that.

"You said we could have sex."

"Oh, yeah... we should," Louis replies, and Harry looks away, only to bark out such a ridiculous laugh that Louis has to laugh as well.

"Maybe we should," Harry says back, still while laughing. He stands up from where he'd been leaning against the counter and holds eye contact with Louis as he comes towards him.

"M-maybe we should," Louis damns himself as he loses his confidence. Harry giggles though, and Louis can't help but also release a giggle he'd never admit was a giggle. 

Harry kisses him and Louis finds himself amazed - again - by the feeling of his touch. The feeling is stronger than it had been before, and the only thought Louis could think was this is my boyfriend. 

So Louis celebrated his boyfriend's birthday. Late, yes, but nevertheless celebrated. 

"Louis. Louuiisss," Harry whispers, dragging his name. Louis lets out a sound just grumpy enough for Harry to know that he wasn't ready to be woken up. He didn't actually feel grumpy, he felt quite content. He still refuses to pen his eyes though. 

"What do you want?" He asks, trying his best to sound annoyed, but he couldn't help but smile. 

"Do you want a cookie?" Harry asks back, and upon hearing the smile in his voice, Louis has to open his eyes. He can't lay here while Harry's got a smile he's not seeing. 

"Of course I want a cookie," he replies, trying not to sound too fond. Maybe he is too fond - but Harry's his boyfriend so he's allowed to be fond. 

"I made tea to go with them," Harry tells him as he sits up and lightly rubs the sleep from his eyes. 

"Are you trying to woo me? I'm already wooed, you know," Louis says as he takes the cup, and Harry sets the plate of cookies between them, his own cup in hand - a cup that he'd brought from his place to Louis's flat so he would have his special cup. 

"I've had you wooed since December. Actually, I'm trying to manipulate you into staying with me forever," Harry answers matter-of-factly before grabbing one of the perfectly shaped cookies. "Cheers." 

"Cheers. I think you've already got that too," Louis tells him as they hit their cookies together gently and each take a bite, "these are brilliant." 

"Thank you. I think this batch turned out better," Harry says, holding out his cookie to Louis. Louis takes it, giving him his before they each take another bite. 

Louis is amazed. Did they just build a tradition? Are they always going to switch cookies and take a bite of each? 

He smiles at Harry, at the thought of them building little things they just do because it's how they did it the first time. 

By some higher power, Louis controls himself until they finish their cookies and tea, but he can only hold himself back for so long. Eventually he has to give in - he has to pull Harry into a kiss and maybe a little more than a kiss.