Insomnia

5

Like some romance novel cliché, they woke up spooning when Louis' alarm went off. He turned around to shut it off.
"Good morning." Harry mumbled half awake.

"Let me get this straight, or gay or whatever. I spent four months with constant insomnia losing my fucking mind and all it took to cure it was crawling into bed with a stranger." Louis muttered.

Harry burst out in a fit of giggles. He turned around to face Louis. He looked all soft and cuddly with messy hair and hooded eyes.
"I guess."

"Do you mind if I come over again after work? If it's too much you can tell me." Louis said.

"You help me sleep as well. Of course, I want you to come over." Harry smiled.

"Great. I have to run. See you later." Louis said and left.

Harry just lay in bed and stared at the ceiling with a goofy smile on display. When his alarm went off he got up, changed, ate something, and headed to work after he had brushed his teeth and freshened up.

His mood changed as soon as he stepped his foot inside his office and saw the pile of work stacked on his desk. He sighed and started to dig through it. He was on a deadline and by lunch, he was ready to cry.

He stepped right into the shower as soon as he got home. He rested his head against the tiles and let the warm water pour over him. He thought about smashing his head against the shower wall for a second but that was an awful idea.

He got dressed and sat down on the sofa and just stared blankly into space. A knock on his door made him return to reality. He didn't even have the strength to go open it so he just shouted "come in!"

Louis walked inside and immediately saw that something was wrong. He sat down next to him on the sofa.
"Hi, how are you?"

"I hate my job. It stresses me out." Harry sighed.

"Alright. Let's do something about it then. Where's your computer?" Louis asked.

"Bedroom." Harry replied.

"I'll get it. You, order pizza. I want pepperoni." Louis sad and got up.

"You're so bossy!" Harry whined.

"Sometimes." Louis winked and disappeared into the bedroom.

Oh. Harry blushed slightly and took out his phone. Pizza sounded great. He called in an order. Louis had returned with the computer and handed it over.
"Start looking for jobs."

"You make it sound so easy." Harry sighed and got up instead.

"Where are you going?" Louis laughed surprised.

"I need wine for this. It's Friday, wanna drink a bottle with me?" Harry asked.

"Sure." Louis agreed.

Harry went to the kitchen to get a bottle and some wine glasses. He poured them some and took his glass and leaned back on the couch.
"What is your dream job?" Louis asked.

"I don't know. Something creative." Harry sighed.

"Alright. What did you study?" Louis wondered.

"Economy." Harry chuckled.

"What? Why?" Louis questioned.

"I have no idea." Harry shrugged.

"Alright. Do you wanna go back to school, get another degree?" Louis asked.

"Absolutely not!" Harry huffed.

"Give me that." Louis said and waved for him to hand over the computer.

Louis searched for available jobs.
"Dog trainer?"

"I know nothing about dogs!" Harry laughed and took a sip of his wine.

"Do you like dogs?" Louis asked and raised an eyebrow.

"I love dogs but I don't want to train them. Next suggestion." Harry smiled.

"Ehm, let's see... Yoga instructor?" Louis suggested next.

"I don't know yoga!" Harry giggled.

"You can learn? It must be the least stressful job you can have." Louis grinned.

"Next." Harry chuckled.

"Keep an open mind! Hm... Oh, here! Work in an art gallery?" Louis continued.

Harry thought about it.
"That's a maybe."

Their pizza arrived and Harry paid for it and brought it to the living room. Louis continued to go through the list of available jobs. An hour later he had convinced Harry to apply for fifteen different jobs, reminding him that he didn't have to accept them and most likely would get an offer on all of them. Their little job hunt made Harry feel better.
"Thanks, Lou." He smiled.

Louis smiled and rubbed his stomach.
"I'm full."

"Yeah, me too." Harry said and leaned back and stretched his legs in front of him.

Louis giggled all of a sudden.
"Me mum hated pizza. I mean, how is that even possible? It's literally bread with nice things on top."

Harry smiled but watched him cautiously, waiting to see if talking about his mum would make Louis upset again.
"And like, with seven kids, there's bound to be pizza sometimes but she just ordered for us and made food for herself."

"You have six siblings? You only mentioned four the other night." Harry wondered.

Louis' smile turned sad.
"Yeah, the youngest are turning three in a couple of months. They won't even remember her. They drew the short end of the stick. Like, they will never know what an amazing mum they had for a short period of their lives." He looked close to tears.

"They will know that because you and your other siblings will tell them about their amazing mum." Harry said softly.

Louis' eyes filled up with tears.
"Yeah." He choked.

He wiped his eyes.
"I didn't mean to make you sad." Harry said quietly.

"I'm sad all the time, Harry. It helps, talking about her but I'm sorry that you have to be my fucking therapist." Louis replied dryly.

"I don't mind. Talk about her as much as you want. Cry, scream, whatever." Harry said.

"You're pretty awesome, you know that?" Louis smiled.

"So are you." Harry replied. "Hug?"

"Yeah, I could need a good cuddle." Louis chuckled.

Harry wrapped his arms around him and hugged him. When they let go Louis yawned.
"It's getting late. Wanna try and get some sleep?"

"Yeah." Harry agreed. It occurred to him what an odd situation this was. A week ago they had never met and now they shared a bed together. It should feel weird, but it didn't.

They brushed their teeth together. Louis grabbed a bag in the hallway.
"Uhm, I brought something to sleep in. Jeans aren't exactly comfortable." He explained with a sheepish smile.

"Good thinking. I'll change into something more comfortable too." Harry smiled.

Louis disappeared into the bathroom to get changed and Harry went to his closet and found a t-shirt and some sweatpants. He hurried to get change. Louis came out of the bathroom in a matching outfit. They climbed into bed and got under the covers.
"Good night." Harry said.

"Yeah, good night." Louis replied.

Two hours later they were still awake. They were both twisting and turning. Around four Harry gave up and turned on the tv.
"So much for sleeping." Louis muttered.

They finally drifted off to sleep at seven.