i love you, don't you mind? [larry stylinson]

Chapter Nine

Louis contemplated who he should talk to about the strange, harassing messages he's been receiving. All of the possible people he could talk to did not include Harry. He was fearful of the threat pertaining to Harry in the last message. He eventually decided to tell no one, as days had gone by without receiving another message. Louis decided blocking two different accounts was enough action. He promised himself if a third account was made, he would confide in Harry.

For several days leading up to Louis' heat, he was unable to see Harry. Louis was busy attending to the gallery each day, wanting to maximize his attention before leaving for a week. Harry was also maximizing his attention on his workload. He spent all day attending to meetings, reviewing financial accounts, and reaching out to shareholders. When Harry wasn't working, he was figuring out meals to prepare so him and Louis were fed during his heat. Even though they weren't able to see each other in person, Harry and Louis called each other twice a day. The first call was during their lunch breaks, and the second would be before they went to sleep.

Although they were able to make calls, Louis had a lot of alone time to reflect on his relationship with Harry. He had never been so close with an alpha before. Yes, him and Niall were best friends, but him and Niall never cuddled. Niall didn't add braille in the apartment, Louis did. Niall had never even called Louis beautiful. Louis began to feel unfair to compare Harry to one alpha so much.

He then began to compare Harry to alphas besides Niall, ones he had befriended in college. Again, Louis could not recall a similar friendship to what he had with Harry.  Louis still adored Harry's friendship, but he needed to address their closeness next time they saw each other. Concern filled his head when he thought about his jealousy over Taylor, and even the thought of Harry being with someone else drove him mad. These thoughts terrified Louis, because he wasn't supposed to have feelings for Harry. Him and Harry wanted different things in life. He concluded their flirtatious relationship needed to change.

Louis arrived at Harry's house the day before his heat was scheduled, with the help of Niall giving him a ride. As Niall dropped him off, he expressed this was a bad idea, but acknowledged he can't control what Louis does. Although Louis began to realize him and Harry were too close, he wasn't going to spend his heat alone. Louis dismissed Niall's concerns and headed to the front door, excited to see Harry.

The door swung open and quickly Louis was enveloped by a hug from the alpha. "Lou, I missed you!" Ever since they met, they had not gone days without seeing each other. Even though the two were very busy these past couple of days, they missed each other terribly.

Louis hugged him back tightly and expressed, "I missed you too, Haz!" It was a cute nickname Louis started calling him on the phone. Harry looked up and waved bye at Niall before closing the front door. Harry took Louis' suitcase from him and rolled it over to the bedroom. Louis followed behind him, excited to be surrounded by his scent again.

"Harry," Louis said, his tone sounding a little serious. "Come here, I want to talk to you about something." Louis sat on the end of Harry's bed, patting the space next to him.

Harry tucked Louis' suitcase in a corner before sitting next to him. "Yes, Lou?" Harry asked, sounding concerned.

Louis fiddled with his fingers before saying, "I think we should make some boundaries... rules maybe, about us spending my heat together."

"Okay," Harry whispered, looking at Louis with a frown.

"Off the top of my head," Louis recalled, "I don't think we should have sex outside of heats or ruts, to maintain our friendship."