it's not a walk in the park to love each other {l.s.}

part 4

With classes going on regularly now, Harry finds he's sad that he and Louis don't get to spend as much time together as they did during the break.

There are weeks when they're both often tucked away in their bedrooms, staring at tiny squares of their classmates and professors. Harry finds himself tending to some exotic plant he's been forced to take care of for his biology class. It's big and leafy and Louis had been severely confused when he had walked into the kitchen and seen Harry with lab goggles and yellow gloves on, squinting at the patterns on the leaves.

He'd quickly forgotten his confusion as soon as Harry picked him up and fucked him against the refrigerator, all traces of plants and learning swept from his head. While Harry is sad at their new lack of time together, he also has it to thank for this new direction of their relationship. It seems Louis feels the same way about seeing less of Harry and therefore both men have begun to make an effort to spend time together after and before their classes.

Louis makes Harry do this silly, viral ab challenge every single morning and even though it kills Harry and makes him want to cry sometimes, he finds that he goes to sleep, looking forward to this little ritual with Louis.

It also doesn't hurt to see Louis in tight little shorts each morning, doing squats. Harry can't believe he ever thought he was in better shape than the other man. Louis crushes each ab workout with fervor while Harry suffers inwardly at the inevitable pain.

Right now, he and Louis are both in the kitchen as Harry stares determinedly at an old recipe book.

"What exactly are we doing?" Louis whines. "And why can't we go play Wii sports?"

Harry raises his eyebrows at him. "You really want to get your arse beat in Wii bowling again?"

Louis glares at him but there's no malice. "Fuck off H, just because you've won the last five times doesn't mean anything," he says, about as menacingly as a cute puppy looks.

Harry just hums thoughtfully. "We're making a sourdough starter," he chooses to ignore Louis's complaints about Wii bowling and his obviously superior skills.

Louis looks unimpressed. "Will it involve more whisking?" he asks suspiciously, and Harry is fondly reminded of their last baking encounter where he attempted to teach the older man to make brownies. Louis simply could not get the concept of whisking even though Harry gave him a very thorough hands-on demonstration.

After insisting on using the electric mixer, Louis then had not heeded Harry's warning about the speed or timing at all and it had blown up in their faces. Literally. Brownie batter had flown everywhere, reminding Harry of their first ice cream fisticuffs.

Luckily this incident had ended with the two licking the batter off each other's faces and then Harry enthusiastically eating Louis out on the kitchen floor and then fucking him into oblivion. It seems the kitchen has been host to their passionate activities, more times than they can count now.

"No whisking," Harry reassures him. "This will go great with the kombucha I'm making."

Louis groans. "Not the kombucha," he wails out. "Tastes like dirty socks and does nothing for you at all."

Harry stares fondly at the man. "I literally told you that it didn't have alcohol in it, from the get-go," he reminds Louis.

Louis simply turns his nose up. "I don't remember hearing any such warning Harold."

Harry thinks he needs to go to the doctor something because he's incapable of being annoyed at the other man anymore. Everything Louis does screams cute or hot and Harry doesn't quite know what to do with himself. While he's glad they're not fighting anymore, he's overwhelmed by the affection he feels for Louis. And he's not even sure Louis feels the same way. Sure, the other man listens to him in the bedroom, but Harry doesn't know if they're just entering friends-with-benefits territory.