always you (larry stylinson)

chapter 3

§ september 28th, 2010 §

'Harry, are you ready to go?'

Louis started to get impatient. The other boy has been in the bathroom for over an hour now doing God knows what.

'Give me another minute Lou!'

Harry has been combing his hair for the past 20 minutes without noticing. He was very nervous about the evening, after all it was his first official date with Louis. They went out a few times before for coffee or to the cinema and they usually spend every night together watching movies, but this was like a date date. Louis came up with the idea, which surprised Harry. Later on in their relationship he admitted he only did it for Harry to be happy because he knew how much it would mean to him. They were planning to go to a fancy restaurant where they most likely don't belong because they are basically only kids.

'Okay I'm here.' Harry finally stepped out of the bathroom. 'Let's go.' He grabbed his coat because with the British weather you never know when it's gonna rain.

'You look...uh...good.'

This was Louis' first date with a guy so he didn't exactly know what to say. The whole situation seemed absurd because in bootcamp he tried to flirt with every single girl but he kept going back to teasing Harry and before he knew it he realised he was flirting with the boy and didn't even talk to anyone else. Harry was the first to initiate anything more than friendship on one drunken night. Or at least that's how Louis perceived it.

§ sometime during summer 2010 §

All 5 members of the band drank a bit too much at Harry's. When they finally decided it was time to sleep Louis ended up going to Harry's room instead of the guest room. Harry saw the chance and climbed into the bed next to Louis. He was facing the wall so he put his arm around him then turned the boy around so they would be face to face. Harry thought he was sleeping so he gave him a soft kiss (just on the face though, he wasn't very sure of his feelings at the time). To his surprise the guy opened his eyes. To be honest, first he looked quite angry, probably because he didn't know who it was because it was pitch dark in the room. But when he recognised Harry's curls, his face immediately changed. He had the biggest smile Harry has ever seen.

'What did I get that for?'

Harry couldn't decide what Louis' intention with that was, he couldn't make it out if it was sassy AND appreciative, if it was just simply sassy, if it was a bit hateful or any of the sort. He didn't answer for a while, he didn't know what to say so he just stared into the darkness hoping it would be forgotten. But of course it wasn't.

'Hm?' Louis asked again.

'For being amazing.' Harry immediately regretted saying that. He had no idea what went through him. After the toilet incident this was the second most embarrassing moment in his life. 'No wait forget that. I'm just drunk. Good night.' He let go of the boy and turned his back on him hoping they would leave this topic forever.

'No, you don't get out that easily, I wanna hear more about how amazing I am.'

Louis teased but Harry just ignored him. Then he felt Louis' arms sneak around him and a gentle pull. Now they were definitely in a big spoon-small spoon position. They didn't talk after this, just fell asleep. It felt weird for both of them but none of them tried to break it up because it was the good kind of weird. They didn't talk about it the following morning, or ever again. It just became regular for them to sleep like that but nothing more has happened.

§ september 28th, 2010 §

'You do too.'

Harry smiled back at the boy. He could tell he was extremely nervous and his confident and sassy self was nowhere to be found. Their relationship so far hasn't been very serious, they hadn't said anything about it to anyone and they hadn't talked about it themselves but there was an obvious attraction. They spent every free minute they had together, they slept next to each other but nothing else happened. Louis knew this date was gonna change everything.

The restaurant they chose was quite close to them so they decided to just walk there. They walked very close to each other and their hands kept touching from time to time. They didn't know when it happened but by the time they arrived they were holding each other's hand. Louis opened the door for Harry then they walked in.

'Um, we have a reservation for a table for 2.'

Harry's voice was shaking, he was scared of what people would think of them. Louis, this time confidently, grabbed Harry's hand and gave him a squeeze to reassure the boy he was with him and it'd be fine. It didn't look like much but it became a habit for them to do it every time one of them felt insecure. It was subtle, quick, but was worth more than a thousand words. The waiter led them to a table at the back of the restaurant where they weren't very visible. After they ordered a very awkward silent period came. They didn't know what to say.

'So...' Harry broke the silence with a smile on his face.

'So.' came the answer.

Then they started talking about everything as usual, jumping between topics, but trying to avoid the elephant in the room, their relationship, or whatever they had. Believe it or not, it was because of the waitress that it came up that day. She (may I add, very rudely) asked what a gay couple was doing there. (As they later found out she was fired for being rude and disrespectful to same sex couples)

'No...no we're not-' Harry tried to explain that they were actually just friends, before they get kicked out for something that wasn't even exactly real at the time but Louis cut him off.

'Yes, we are actually.' He grabbed Harry's hand and smiled at her. 'And if it's alright with you I'd like to pay because you are very clearly are not fond of me and my boyfriend and I want our first date to be special. H, we're leaving.' The waitress came back with the check, maybe a bit embarrassed to get lectured by an 18 year old. Louis put down an amount of cash that would just about cover it. Harry has never seen him so upset so he thought it would be better if he didn't say anything and just followed the boy out of the restaurant.

'Disgusting. It's not 1950 anymore, let us live for fuck's sake.'

'Lou stop.' Harry grabbed his wrist and stopped him. 'Calm down.'

'How could I? This evening was supposed to be special. I wanted you to enjoy our first date. I know how much you care about these things, I don't give a shit but you do so I don't want a waitress messing it up for you' For a guy who didn't like fancy dates he seemed genuinely upset.

'It was special though.' Harry didn't care about the waitress or the fact that they barely just started eating. All he could think about was that Louis called him his boyfriend and that was worth more than anything.

'What are you talking about?' Lou saw how calm he was so it kind of calmed him down too.

'The thing you said back there...boyfriend.' Harry wanted this to sound a bit cheeky and sassy but he couldn't hide the happiness in his voice. Louis' face changed from upset to something Harry could only describe as oh-fuck-i-didn't-wanna-say-that. This made Harry insecure. Did he not mean it that way?

'Oh yeah that.'

'What, you didn't mean it?'

Now it was Harry's turn to be upset. He thought they finally made progress from something more than friends to an actual relationship but it seemed like he was wrong. He didn't get an answer.

'Oh so you are not gonna say anything, great, as us-'

But he couldn't finish the sentence.

Because Louis kissed him.