A Thousand City Lights ➳ l.s

Chapter ➳ 10

Not edited. A little short. Definitely getting heated in one way or another.

Song: I'm A Mess - Ed Sheeran (I'm sorry I'm putting a lot of Ed Sheeran in here. . .)

They pull apart, out of breath. Not from the kiss, but the fact that the kiss was with each other.

And maybe Harry was right. He shouldn't worry. So he didn't.

Harry was smiling and wouldn't keep his hands off Louis. Not that Louis was complaining. He loved the attention and the touch felt so right.

Louis kept his arm hooked with Harry's as they walked closer to the tower. It was shining brighter now. The stars dotted the sky and twinkled about, as if they were dancing just for them.

"Paris is beautiful." Louis says. Looking up and down and side to side at his surroundings.

"You're beautiful." Harry replies. A drum line starts in Louis' pumping heart and it's so freaking loud in his ears. He blushes and turns away.

"Why did you wanna do this?" Louis asks him, after awhile of admiration. (Harry admiring Louis, Louis admiring, well, everything).

"Do what?"

"Travel."

Harry shrugs. Looking ahead, a mother pushes her baby in a stroller along. A little boy holding her hand, too. "I dunno," he says. "there's lots of reasons."

"Name one." Louis urges. He rests his feathery brown head on Harry's shoulder, just barely tall enough to reach it.

Harry smiles again for the millionth time that night. He could never stop smiling when he's got his Louis with him.

"Well for one, I've always wanted to know what other people's prospective looked like. Physically, that is." Harry answers.

Louis nods. They stand there, arms hooked together and one head laid on the one's shoulder. Absolutely perfect.

➳

Back at the hotel, both boys stripped down to their boxers. They had gone to Louis' hotel room. The mattress was very small. A single bed. So they made a makeshift bed on the floor.

They lay on their backs, their hands interlocked. Harry is starring up at the ceiling fan, but Louis' attention is on the boy next to him.

He's so lost in his own world, he doesn't even notice when Harry calls his name.

"Sorry. What was that?" Harry laughs and Louis blushes a little.

"I said, we kissed." he says again.

Louis looks up at the ceiling fan too this time. He blinks a few times before wiggling a bit in his spot on the floor. "Yeah." he says, but his voice got caught in his throat. He coughs to clear it. "Yeah, we did."

"I'm okay with it." Harry says. And then he looks to Lou who looks back. Both wide eyed and filled with curiosity. "Are you?"

And for once, Louis is actually okay with something on this trip. Or adventure. Or whatever you call this. He's okay. And Harry knew he would be.

"Yes. I'm definitely okay with it." Louis agrees.

Silence is so familiar and common with them. It comes easily and never once has it become awkward.

So when a very thick layer of it comes between them, they don't ignore it, but instead embrace it. Use it as a time to enjoy one another.

But the clock is ticking and it's late and Louis' tired. He rolls until his stomach his met with Harry's side. Harry's arm wraps around Louis' shoulders instantly. Like they belonged there.

Louis' head lays delicately on Harry's chest and flutters his eyes close, like a butterfly. And then Harry's chuckling because he's thinking of little butterflies on Louis' eyelids, flapping their little wings.

Louis cracks open an eye and mumbles. "What?"

Harry stops laughing and rubs at Lou's back. "Nothing, Lou. Go to sleep."

Louis closes his eyes and tries to even out his breathing and fall into a blissful sleep.

Harry doesn't go to sleep until 4 AM rolls around. All night he had been writing his journal. Scribbling and writing the events that occurred (technically) the day before.

He writes his goodbye at the end of the page, signing off. But in the end, he knows it's all one big goodbye. But he knows he'll be okay.

➳

When Louis wakes up the next day, Harry isn't beside him. He sits up and rubs at his eyes. His back muscles crack as he stretches. The wooden floor was not as comfortable as he thought. He regretted not sleeping in the bed.

Once he took notice that his tall, lean and curly friend (at least he thinks friends. But friends don't kiss each other on the lips. Do they?? No. He didn't think so. He's not quiet sure. But that's for another day), isn't there, he notices a small brown tag sticking out from the white duvet.

He leans over and tugs on it. A brown, beat up journal is attached to it. Louis' eyebrows furrow because this isn't a book and he's certainly never seen it before.

There's writing on it, but it's messy and hard to read. He flips it over in his hands, now certain that it's probably Harry's.

It feels weird in his hands as he rotates it over and over again. In his mind, he wonders if he should peek inside.

But two things get in the way.

A) It's Harry's and he's always been a man of respect. Especially of others personal items.

And B) He may find something he could go his whole life without reading and be completely fine.

Anyways, it's too late for Louis to even pull the journal open because the bathroom's door knob is jiggling open.

Louis scrambles to put the journal back under the duvet. He lays down on his back and starts biting on the inside of his thumb.

Harry steps out then, his hair wet and matted down. Baby Tarzan pops into Louis' mind and it makes him smile.

A towel is wrapped around Harry's waist and he smells of mint and evergreen.

He spots Louis on the floor, finally awake, and leans against the door frame.

"You know. I like it here. I just might stay for awhile." he says.

Louis sits up and leans back on his hands. "Really?"

"Sure. Why not?"

Louis giggles and nods. "Yeah, okay. But one condition." he says, putting up his finger for emphasis.

Harry's eyebrows pinch together and looks at Louis, giving him a weird look. "What's that?"

"We get a hotel room with a larger mattress. These floors are hell."