I Still Need You

Chapter five

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Louis woke up to an empty bed. He frowned, eyes still closed as he felt behind him for Harry, sighing heavily when the sheets felt cool under his palm. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up, blinking groggily as he slowly adjusted to the early morning light that was spilling in through the sheer curtains, the blackout layer having been brushed aside. He sighed, throwing the duvet off of himself and wrapping it around himself, not bothering to put clothes on, the smell of freshly cooked bacon wafting into the room led Louis to the kitchen where he stumbled upon a lovely sight.

Harry was at the stove, back facing Louis as he faintly hummed an unrecognizable tune. He wasn't wearing much, something Louis had gotten used to over the years; no shirt, exposing his well-toned, tanned back muscles and broad shoulders, and joggers that were obviously Louis' judging by how far they rode up on his legs, almost showing his shins.

Louis gulped, taking a step forward and raising his hand as though he was going to rub the other boy's shoulders like he used to in the mornings, only to flinch back to his original position as he recalled the night before. It came back in a rush; the phone call, the hug, his room, the kiss, and Harry's words; I'll always come.

His nails rug into his palms, hard enough to mark. He bit his cheek at the memory. The kiss. He could still feel the soft, phantom press of Harry's lips against his own. How Harry placed his hands on the side of his head as he leaned in again for the second peck before wishing Louis a good night, leaving him to ponder over his feelings for another few hours before sleep finally won him over. Though he was conflicted with old feelings he thought he buried, he admitted he forgot how much he loved the feeling.

Louis cleared his throat, making his presence known. Harry finally turned around, a faint smile dusting his lips as he took in Louis' attire. "Good morning! I've made a full english breakfast. Take what you want." he said as he grabbed two plates from the cupboard, smile more prominent when his eyes finally focused back on Louis' face.

"Thanks." Louis took the plate handed to him with one hand, the other gripping the blanket tightly around his shoulders, and loaded it with the food Harry had prepared. He took a shaky breath before he talked again, almost too conversationally for the subject at hand.

"So, are we going to talk about last night?" he turned to see Harry shrug, leaning back against the island as he took a bite of egg.

"I don't think there's much to talk about, really."

Louis raised his eyebrows, "Really? Because I can think of one thing that needs to be addressed."

"We kissed." Harry kept his eyes on his plate, "You were upset, I was there, you kissed me. End of story there's nothing more to talk about."

"You kissed me back. Twice." Louis' eyes narrowed. Is he seriously going to pretend that this isn't a big deal?

"Yes? It's not that big of a deal. People kiss, Louis."

"Exes don't. Now can you please stop pretending like nothing happened so we can talk about this?" Louis groaned, placing his half-finished plate near the sink having lost his appetite.

"But nothing happened."

Louis huffed at Harry's indifference. "Fine. if you want to be a prick who's living in denial then so be it. I just wanted to talk. I don't really care." he collected his blanket train and stalked off to his room, slamming the door harder than anticipated. He flinched at the noise as he climbed back into the cool bed, cocooning himself in the duvet.

I really, really do.

...

Louis lost track of how long it had been since he crawled back into bed. Harry hadn't come in to talk like he used to do when they had arguments or spats, not that he expected he would. He had heard footsteps outside his door once or twice before they would fade away again.