Something in the World Today

1

whoknows on ao3

*

It shouldn’t be a surprise, the first time that Louis drops to his knees in front of Harry. It shouldn’t be, because it’s been something that Louis has needed for a long time. It shouldn’t be, because he’s been crawling out of his skin for weeks on end. It shouldn’t be, because Harry always makes him feel better. It shouldn’t be, because he’s needed this even when he didn’t know that he needed it.

Somehow, it still is.

Louis has been annoying all day, and he knows it. It’s just - it’s been such a long week, long and shitty, and he’s been on the verge of cracking nearly the entire time. He misses his mum and the girls and his friends from home, and Stan. God, he misses Stan.

Having the boys around helps, but it’s more of a distraction than anything. For the most part, being around the boys only riles him up even more, gets him convincing Zayn that it’s a good idea to steal the extra keycards out of Paul’s bag and go around messing with people’s stuff, gets him convincing Niall that it’s a fucking awesome idea to drive a golf cart around outside of the venue while some of their fans run after them, gets him hyping Liam up so much that he runs around for fifteen minutes with Niall slung over his shoulder.

And then there’s Harry.

Harry’s just as bad as the rest of them, and even worse when it comes innuendos and making things sexual, but he fucks around just as much as Louis does. Maybe even more, when he feels like it.

There’s something about him, though, something that has calmed Louis right from the beginning. It’s easier to be calm when Harry is, like it spreads through him and out to Louis.

Today’s a little worse than most days - Louis is going a little bit stir-crazy. Zayn’s long since lost all interest in doing anything that isn’t taking a nap, Niall’s off somewhere with Caroline getting another fitting - because he’s getting more and more muscles by the day, about which Louis still isn’t sure how he feels - and Liam’s having an earnest discussion with the sound crew.

That pretty much only leaves Harry, unless Louis’ going to bug one of the crew or Paul or something, and as much fun as that is, it’s never quite as much fun as messing around with one of his boys.

Harry’s nowhere to be seen, though, and in the ten minutes it takes Louis to find him he’s become itchy in his own skin, about ready to pop if he doesn’t just do something.

That’s why the first thing he does upon finding Harry is to launch himself at his back and send him flying face first into Lou, who happens to be holding what appears to be a container of blonde hair dye, which happens to go flying up into the air and ends up drenching Marco, who happens to be passing by at exactly the wrong moment.

Oops.

The good part about all of that is that, admist all of the shouting, Harry’s hands come up and support Louis underneath his thighs so he doesn’t go sliding towards the ground.

Once the yelling stops, Harry’s hands tighten around Louis’ thighs, and he says, both annoyed and impatient, “Can’t you wait to be acknowledged for once?”

Well. That’s just not very nice. Louis continues to ignore Marco, standing dumbfounded not even two feet away, and says, “Can’t you grow a bigger dick? I’ve heard all the girls complaining about how yours is too small.”

Harry’s back tenses up underneath him in a way that it never does unless he’s actually pissed. Louis pinches the back of his neck until Harry yelps and lets go of his legs, sliding down and landing on the ground with a thump.