I Do?

Spaghetti and Balls

Harry watches as Louis breaks open the bag of spaghetti noodles. "Let's see... I'll need a pot, a pan, and your spice rack," Louis announces as he turns towards Harry. Wordlessly, Harry grabs the pot and a pan from their rack and passes them to Louis.

"Alright, let's get this started then. How hungry are you," Louis questions. Harry considers this before shrugging.

"Whatever, I'll eat some," He decides. Louis nods as he fills the pot with water. One of Harry's favorite features of his apartment, besides the waterfall shower, is the water attachment by their stove so they can fill pots with water without having to travel to the sink.

"You didn't answer my question, but I'll make enough for leftovers. Looks like you need some real food around here," Louis decides. Harry doesn't take his statement personally. It's true after all, they don't eat anything except takeout.

Harry slides into the chair by the island as Louis starts the pot of water. He watches carefully as Louis dumps the contents of the tomato sauce into the pan along with the meatballs. Louis seems like a natural in the kitchen, Harry decides. Louis reminds him of their old cook, Janet.

"How did you get so good at cooking," Harry questions. He doesn't know where the question comes from, but it's too late. Cooking is one of the things Harry never got to learn. He should, after all, it's a basic necessity, but they always had chefs around the house so there wasn't a need. Now that he's on his own, maybe he should invest in the skill.

Carefully, Harry stands and moves a little closer to Louis to watch his movements. "This isn't really cooking. Real cooking would be homemade pasta and sauce, but I don't have time for that. One day I'll show you how," Louis promises with a genuine smile. Harry bites his lips and looks away. He doesn't want Louis to stay around long enough to make him homemade pasta or spaghetti sauce.

"But like, where did you learn how to do this stuff," Harry asks nonchalantly. He runs a hand through his hair as he leans against the counter in an attempt to look unbothered as if he doesn't really care if he hears the answer or not.

"How did I learn to boil water," Louis questions through a laugh. Harry's cheeks glow pink with embarrassment and he finds himself drawing back. Louis' blue eyes seem to rest on Harry for a moment before he turns back to the stove.

"My dad," Louis starts. "He worked a lot and he wanted me to be able to make something for dinner so I wasn't hungry."

"We had a chef," Harry announces a little too loudly. He realizes how loudly he spoke and clears his throat before continuing. "We had a chef," He says a little quieter this time. "Her name was Janet. My dad fired her when I was 16. I was on this strict diet for Polo, but I wanted some cake for my birthday because it was my birthday, you know? Dad said no, but Janet snuck me some that night. She spent all day making it and trying to keep it a secret from my dad. He found out and fired her for it anyway."

Louis doesn't say anything for a moment and Harry realizes he's done it again. He's said too much and scared him off. One would think he'd learn after a while, but once Harry starts talking he doesn't stop and then he looks dumb.

"Sorry," Harry sighs as he takes his seat again at the island.

Louis doesn't say anything as combines the noodles and sauce together. Harry curses under his breath as Louis walks over with two plates in his hand. He slides one over to Harry and offers him a small smile.

"Eat up, Bellissimo," Louis says as he takes the seat next to Harry.

Harry stands to grab silverware from one of his drawers. He places a fork in front of Louis and sees the boy's lips pulled into a tight frown. "My dad passed," Louis admits.

Harry stops and looks at Louis, not wanting to disrupt the moment. Louis stares hard at his plate, his blue eyes seemingly glaring at the pasta on his plate. "I'm sorry," Harry whispers.

"He used to take me to Italy and France with him all the time before he died. I, uh, this is my first holiday without him actually," Louis explains. Harry slowly moves to his chair, worried that if he moves too fast or too suddenly he'll startle Louis.

"Must be hard," Harry sighs. He has no clue what to say or how to console Louis. Harry was never good with emotions, emotions besides anger and lust, anyway.

"It's fine, I- uh. I don't know why I told you that actually," Louis says as he glances up from his pasta, the spell broken. He throws Harry a half-assed smile as he sniffles a bit. "So, you and Niall seem close."

"Yeah, he's my best friend. We kinda grew up together," Harry explains. He takes his fork and stirs some pasta around it.

"Must be nice to have a mate like that," Louis sighs as he takes a bite of his food. Harry watches as the red sauce stains a bit of the corner of Louis' lips.

"Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Did you not have many friends growing up," Harry asks. He brings the fork to his mouth and takes a bite of his food. It's good, better than anything Harry could've done anyway. Even for frozen and jarred sauce, Harry decides.

"Not really. I worked mostly on hobbies and stuff. Got really into footie, and my dad was making me learn Italian and French, so that took up most of my time," Louis shrugs. Harry nods as he takes another bite.

"My dad put me in Polo as a kid because I was ass at golf. Mom tried getting me into piano for a couple of years too, but Dad didn't like it so he pulled me out. He said 'music is for sissys' so I stopped," Harry explains.

Harry glances down at Louis' plate and finds that the other man is already done eating. "Uh, you can sleep on the couch if you need to. I can grab some blankets and stuff," Harry says.

"Yeah that'll work alright," Louis replies as he stands. Harry turns and Louis offers him a small smile.

"I'll be back then," Harry says softly. He brushes past Louis as he exits the kitchen to grab a spare blanket and pillow.

When he returns with the items in hand, he finds Louis in pair of grey sweatpants with a black shirt. He must've changed while Harry stepped away. Awkwardly, Harry passes the items to Louis.

"Alright, if you need anything my bedroom is on the left," Harry says as he points towards his bedroom door. Louis gives him a small nod.

They stare at each other for a moment. Harry doesn't know what to say next and decides there's nothing else to say. "Well, uh, goodnight," Harry mumbles as he starts towards his room.

"Dormi bene, piccolo," Louis whispers 

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Hey guys! As promised, an update for ya. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! ~B