The inception of July seemed too good to be true. If Harry were to absolutely exaggerate, he'd say it felt like they had spent most of their days cocooned under the delicate shelter of a golden-petaled blossom.
He learned more and more about the layers that made Louis seem more humane and less of whatever Harry had perceived in the first few weeks they had spent together. The flaws added to his beauty. It was endearing as well as amusing to watch Louis get infuriated whenever he was a little reckless with the stove or diving a little too deeper into the lake. It was endearing to watch Louis fuss over his stock of wood. It was endearing to watch a grown man break into a sweat whenever goats were mentioned in a conversation. It was especially so bloody endearing to watch Louis watch the stars.
Which was why, Harry didn't exactly mind giving up his favored spot by the lake.
They spent most of the summer exploring the forest, picking flowers from fields that neared the peripheries of the forest, and gazing at the bloody stars — even if it did become a little mind-numbing for him after the first few times.
He blinked, staring at the jagged outline of Louis' throat from where he had his head laid on the man's lap. Louis had his head resting against the tree trunk, eyes presumably closed with the way they were neither trained on the night sky nor him. "Did you know that the Prince of Eonshire had the nastiest crush on the son of Sir Tomlinson?"
Louis moved to look down at him, his eyes a stark paradox to the darkness of the night that drowned them within its embrace. "Sir Tomlinson?"
He supposed he should have known Louis would never give him a direct answer. He could either shrug off the stupid curiosity or dig his own grave henceforth. "Mhm. Don't you know Sir Edward Tomlinson? The most trusted baron of the Zemira Empire?" Louis took a minute before he responded, seeming unfazed by the question. It made him question his judgment for a moment. Because what if Louis was not actually the son of Sir Tomlinson and he had made everything up in his head?
"You mean to tell me that brat had a crush on me?" Louis looked down at him then, the corners of his lips quirked up in a crooked smirk.
"You — You, I — "
He fish-mouthed for a good minute before he retrieved his grasp over his cognitive abilities, shocked — not by the fact that Louis belonged to a Noble lineage but rather at just how easily and seamlessly the alpha had accepted the truth.
"You are the son of Sir Tomlinson?" He put on all the tedious years of drama classes to work, furrowing his brows as if he had just been made to face the bitter and ugly reality. Louis merely hummed, his throat bobbing discernibly. It was attractive and under any other circumstances, Harry would have reached out to lick a fat stripe up the column of his throat but not now.
"Why do you live like this —" He paused, screwing his eyes shut. "I apologize, uh — I don't, I don't —"
His heart stammered in his chest, tongue heavy with words that wouldn't just come out. "I am banished from the kingdom," Louis said then, the alpha's fingers aimlessly playing with the curls that tickled at his left earlobe.
Harry wasn't sure where he was supposed to direct his attention - to the unexpected words being spoken or the tender sensation that bloomed within his chest at the display of such raw yet trifling affection being bestowed upon him. "I am sorry for keeping you in the dark for so long." Louis continued before Harry could even arrive at a conclusion, his voice soft and so, so sincere.
"I've been meaning to tell you this since we met, but uh, at first, I didn't want to scare you off and as time progressed, I just turned into a bit of a coward." With each ticking second, the dense pit of guilt deep in his stomach burned and burned. It was certainly very clear that hiding this little piece of information from him had bothered Louis. Harry felt ashamed of himself then — perhaps for not giving more consideration to what he was hiding from Louis. Whatever it was, it was pathetic, extremely so.
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Polaris || l.s.
Fanfiction[discontinued until further notice] Harry's heart was dead set on freedom. It was not a recent thing, he had been itching to get away from the confines of the responsibilities he had as the prince of Eonshire. Running away from home was easy, but b...
