Loving You Is Free (by littlelouishiccups)

Naamloos deel 9

Louis forgot how much he loved having a boyfriend. He and Harry had only been doing the boyfriend thing for a little over week, but Harry had definitely taken up residence in Louis' space. He liked seeing the extra toothbrush Harry used when he stayed over sitting next to his in the bathroom, and he liked it when he found random hair ties on the bedside table, or in between couch cushions. He loved the simple domesticity of it all, but he also loved showering with someone after morning sex, and lazily making out for ages on the couch, while a film went on unwatched in the background.

Which is what was happening currently, until Harry pulled back and started poking Louis in the side instead. He looked down at Louis, his curls falling down and framing his face, his lips kissed raw and red. Louis didn't know what could possibly be so important that they'd need to stop kissing.

"What do you want for your birthday?" Harry asked, for what had to have been the fiftieth time in the past five days.

"I've already told you I don't need anything," Louis said, amused, but also touched that Harry was seemingly so worried about this. He really just didn't need anything, and he couldn't think of anything he really wanted that Harry could get for him. "Just put a bow on yourself and blow me. That should suffice."

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. "You're such a pain."

"And you're a distraction," Louis retorted, thinking of all the work he needed to do before the holidays the next week. He and Harry were already meeting each other's families - because apparently, just like Louis had lead his family to believe Harry was his boyfriend, Harry had done the same. And they also both apparently had really nosy mothers.

"Good distraction though, yeah?" Harry asked, rocking his hips down and waggling his eyebrows up and down ridiculously.

Louis was still getting used to this side of Harry. It wasn't until he'd let all of his walls fall down that Louis realized just how guarded he had been before, always so calculated and careful. He'd hidden that by exuding an air of flirty confidence, but Louis knew better now. Yes, Harry was flirty and calculated and confident, but he was also goofy and vulnerable, and sometimes he was just an asshole. Louis liked learning all of the different sides to Harry, like the side who wore ripped jeans and tattered band t-shirts, rather than designer button downs and flashy shoes, which had been a bit of a surprise. There were just so many things that made Harry... Harry, and Louis loved learning all of his complexities.

"Best distraction," he told Harry, kissing him again briefly, before pushing him off and sitting up.

"Haven't you got plans?" Louis asked him, knowing Harry and Niall were getting together to write some music that afternoon. They'd already gotten together once, prior that week, and Louis was interested to see how everything turned out.

Harry checked his watch and nodded. "Yeah, I should get going. Where's the studio again?"

"I can drop you off," Louis suggested. "I've got to run a few errands, so I can take you since I'm going out anyway."

He needed to do some serious last minute Christmas shopping. He had everything sorted for Harry, and for Lottie and Fiz, but he was yet to get anything for his younger siblings or his mum and Dan. He had a few things in mind, but there would also be a lot of winging it.

Louis dropped Harry off at the studio before heading to the shops. He spent the better part of the afternoon poking around, and he ended up with nearly everyone sorted. He just needed to buy a few more toys for Ernie and Dottie, but he planned to order their gifts online and have Amazon overnight the shipment to him.

He returned home around dinner time and heated up leftovers from the fajita meal he and Harry had made the night before, and then went to his home office to check up on everything. He was going over his notes for an important meeting he had that week, when he distantly heard the key turning in the lock of his back door, which meant he should either be expecting Liam, Niall or Eleanor.