Play Pretend, Find a Friend? (Larry Stylinson)

17

XVII.

Knowing Harry was the kind of person who passed out after an orgasm was something Louis never considered he would one day know. The room was quiet now, sounds of pleasure replaced with sounds of sleep. When Louis focused on the warm puffs of breath from Harry's nose, which he felt because his face was buried in the crook of Louis' hip, he found a rhythm to them and unintentionally matched it to his own breathing.

The room was cold from the open windows, but warm from sharing body heat. Louis was perfectly content. He was currently propped up against the pillows with Harry curled up at his love bite laden hips. After Harry had given him what was quite literally the best blowjob of his life, Louis had returned the favor and then had the sheer pleasure of cuddling him to sleep. Louis' jaw was already sore but he would not trade that for the world. He traced his fingers very lightly over the lines of Harry's back, observing the small movements of his ribcage with each breath.

He was sitting here because he couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't fall asleep because he couldn't let himself fall asleep.

This was his least favorite part of the night. When he had to get dressed and head back to his own room. His body was calling for him to stay right here and bask in this pure warmth and comfort, but he knew Harry wouldn't want that. It would be much easier if he left now, saving them both the awkwardness of the morning after.

The record was still spinning, and Louis knew he should move the needle, but he didn't want to get up just yet, for fear of disturbing Harry's sleep. Comatose as he was, Louis had a feeling any small movement would wake him. So he didn't move, aside from tracing invisible shapes along his spine with the pads of his fingers. If he was only going to get a moment, he was going to damn well enjoy it.

So he sat there. And thought about how much he liked Harry. And thought about how different he was from Landon, even though he didn't mean to compare them. And thought about how he didn't like Landon at all anymore and hadn't liked him for months. It felt good to admit these things to himself in the dark, quiet spaces of the seconds that passed like molasses. Like a weight lifting off his shoulders, or crawling into bed after a long day, all of this was a relief.

He sighed, and stroked Harry's hair. The thing was, he didn't want to leave. He didn't want to make a run for it in the middle of the night and pretend this never happened. He didn't want both of them to wake up alone and only have this night in their memories, soon to fade into oblivion.

He had to get up, though.

Maybe he could treat himself to a hot shower on his way out, as a consolation prize for this night that was sadly finite. A quick shower in the nice en suite that was a million times better than the communal showers back at Louis' dorm.

He carefully extricated himself from Harry's sleepy hold and crossed the room for the shower. The hot water loosened some of the tension in his muscles from stress. He'd already showered here once before, last week when he and Harry messed around with a soccer ball outside and Harry accidentally slide-tackled him, sending them both into the mud. Messy and cold, they trudged up the stairs to his room and Harry offered Louis the shower first, encouraging him to use the kiwi and aloe body wash because he thought he would like it. It was fruity and sweet and it smelled like Harry, so that was what Louis used tonight, taking the time to exfoliate and scrub his body clean.

He felt like a new person once he stepped out of the bathroom, glowing in the darkness. He finally removed the needle from its constant spin on the record, and cast a longing glance back at the bed as he began to pull on his clothes.

Harry was still sleeping soundly, his hands tenderly curled in front of his chest, sex hair obscuring part of his face. His expression was free from tension and it made him look younger in a way, or maybe just softer. His eyelids twitched a little like he was experiencing something in the dreamworld, which brought Louis back to the time they shared a bed and Louis' own dreams betrayed him, changing his perspective on everything to do with Harry.