flower crowns // l.s.

27½

The thing about Harry is that he is so kind. The kindest thing ever to walk this earth, really. So Louis knows Harry wouldn't be anything but sweet doing whatever he planned for their first date, even if it was just a slow walk in the city for ice cream. Harry wouldn't complain. Usually (and he hates to even think this) he would take advantage of that kindness and go somewhere extremely cheap; but, again, this is Harry. He doesn't want to be that way with him. It's an odd thing to stress about a date like he has—he's never done it before, but then again, he's never had feelings like this before. Maybe everyone has a different type of feeling with a different person. He didn't feel this with Matt, Donny, or Oliver—this feeling of excitement and nervousness and queasiness all in one. (He also never Googled 'Romantic Things to do in London' because he never stressed about dates. Some people had the talent of patience, or balance—his was dates. At least, he thought it was until now.)

Google wasn't very helpful. He'd scroll and scroll through different pages, each of them mentioning the London Eye or an expensive French restaurant (thanks, Google), but that all seemed so . . . typical. He wanted to be extravagant and unique. Then, he realized, if he wanted to be unique, he'd have to leave London. So he began to look up places out of London.

The Lake District. He read about the place, saw it was just a lake and mountains and woods, assumed Harry wouldn't like such a scary place at night, and kept scrolling.

Cornwall. Beautiful. He remembered going there when he was younger, but didn't fancy eating seafood and dragging Harry down trails he walked on as a child.

Frustrated, he shut his computer and tapped his forefinger on top of it. He needed to do something special. He had to. And he wanted to, of course; he decided to call Liam.

"Liam," Louis said after they greeted each other. "I need your help."

"All right, what is it?"

"This may sound a bit strange, but I need to know where Harry's been taken on his dates."

There was pause. "That is strange. Why?"

"Because I'm having trouble thinking up something creative for our first date and I need some confidence. Please tell me his other first dates were absolute crap and nothing special."

Liam sighed. "One time he was on a date with a boy who saved someone's life. A lady was choking on her food and the guy came in and did the Heimlich maneuver. Harry said it was one of the most amazing nights of his life."

Louis groaned and stood up, scratching his head. "You couldn't humor me and tell me not to stress out? That all of his dates were awful? Now I have to compete with a superhero!"

"Louis, look. Harry doesn't care what happens on the date, just as long as he's with you. He doesn't need flashy things or tons of chocolates, he just likes knowing someone cares for him. Just show him you care, and he'll love it. Okay? Was that what you needed?"

"Yeah," Louis nodded, mind racing with thoughts. "Yeah, thanks. I'll do that."

He hung up and paced around for a moment, evening his breaths out, before it hit him. He put on his shoes and ran out the door.

+ + +

Harry was dressed so beautifully. He had on a sheer, pale pink shirt (of course it was a button-up. Louis' starting to believe that's all Harry owns), that was giving him such a soft look. The pale pink made his skin glow, believe it or not, and made his eyes pop. And because it was sheer, he could faintly see the outline of his dark tattoos beneath it. He now believes Harry is the epitome of ethereal, dressed like this. Even Harry's long hair seemed curlier than usual that just added to his delicate look.