Chapter Twelve

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"Wow, um, I'm sorry," Harry stammered, picking his towel off the ground where he'd dropped it. "Hi, how are you?" he blushed a little. "I really wish I could hug you but I'm pretty indecent at the moment, so..." Harry turned around, looking for Louis, but he must have bolted at the first sight of Niall, leaving Harry and Niall alone. "I can't believe I haven't seen you in... God, months now... I missed you so much. I can't believe you're Liam's roommate, that's so cool, I actually know him from school." 

"That's sick," Niall smiled. "Also, stop with the mushy I missed you, because I really fucking want to hug you but I don't want to hug you when you're- you know- when your jangly bits are barely covered." 

Harry laughed so hard his cheeks blushed through with crimson. 

"How have you been this long without a new tattoo, anyway?" Niall said. "Wait, you haven't been seeing anyone else have you?" 

"You'll always be my first and only," Harry said with a cheeky grin. He was still pretty tipsy. 

"What was that?" Louis asked, popping in at the strangest possible time, drying his hair off with a towel. 

"My only tattoo artist," Harry assured him. "Don't worry. Not that you'd worry, you know. I just, I'm single. That's what I mean, I mean, I'm not seeing anyone." 

"You okay there, Hazza?" Louis asked. The older boy had returned wearing low slung sweatpants, exposing his curvy but muscled upper body. His skin always looked golden and sun kissed, even when the weather had been shit lately, and his biceps just looked so fucking ready for Harry to grab onto, ready to pin Harry against a wall, against a mattress, against a table. His sweatpants were low enough on his hips that Harry could see his little happy trail of hair leading down underneath his belly button... Harry wanted to lick ice cream off of it, lay his tongue flat against Lou's warm skin, lapping up melted vanilla ice cream off his body, Lou squirming under the shock of the cold ice cream and Harry's warm tongue swirling down his skin, tugging his sweatpants lower. Was that something people did? Was that a normal thing to think about? Was it too kinky? Something about Louis made Harry's thoughts race to places it had never wandered. Maybe he'd had too many drinks. 

Or maybe he hadn't had enough. 

"Mhm," Harry nodded remembering that Lou had asked him a question, biting his lip, his pupils swallowing up the green of his irises, leaving his eyes dark and hungry. 

"Oh Jesus." Niall said, hiding his face behind a pillow. "I'd tell you two to get a room, but we all know how well that worked out last time." 

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, trying not to stare at Louis' body anymore. 

"Are you going to introduce me to your..." Niall struggled to find the right word, "Your, uh, mate?" he finally settled on. 

"Oops," Harry said, "Sorry, Ni, this is Louis." 

"Hi," Louis said, with a small grin. He turned to Harry. "I brought you some of Liam's pjs by the way." 

"Oh thank God," Harry said, grabbing the plaid pj pants as Louis offered them out to him. 

"Bathroom's across the hall, love," Louis said, "Even you can't miss it." 

Harry scampered out of the room, eager to change into something warm, dry, and a bit more modest than his favourite Aerie panties. 

"So," Niall said, turning serious as soon as Harry had left the room. "How did you meet Harry?" 

Louis picked up on his tone as soon as Niall started speaking. "Or," he said, a little bit buzzed, and if he was bold mouthed when he was sober, he was worse when he was tipsy, "We could skip all that and you could just ask me what my intentions are with him." 

"Okay," Niall said. "What are they?" 

"Are you serious?" Louis said. "Can we go back to the first question?" 

"Nope," Niall said. "No take-backs." Louis saw a small smile that Niall tried to hide, and he felt a bit more relaxed. 

"I just like being around him, you know?" Louis said. "It's like, I just... it's so hard to explain." He thought about earlier, when he was thinking about it, waiting for Harry to show up. "It's like there's magnets under my skin that draw me to him. I just feel better when I'm closer. And he's fucking fascinating," Louis added. "He's so many different things mashed up into one person, and I just don't want to stop learning new things about him ever, because I'll never be able to even guess what I could be missing out on. 'M sorry," he added, when he paused for a moment and Niall wasn't responding, just looking up from his bed with wide, grey-blue eyes. "I guess I'm a bit more drunk than I thought," he mumbled.  

"Just don't hurt him, okay?" Niall said, locking eyes with Louis. 

"Of course not! I wouldn't-" 

"No," Niall said, "I'm really really fucking serious, Louis. I doubt he'd be confiding in you too much about his ex, because, let's be honest, that gets awkward fast, but he's been on the phone sobbing to me for weeks about Cameron. And to be honest, Cam wasn't even that bad to him, they drifted apart pretty naturally. But to Harry, it's devastating. So if you so much as think about hurting him in any way, I will fuck you up ten times whatever damage you could possibly do to Harry." 

"I didn't know he was still upset about Cam," Louis said quietly. 

Niall sighed. "Look, you seem like a really genuine guy, and I know Harry likes you so I want to trust you, but you have to understand... with everything he's been through with Cam, and then of course everything with his dad-"

Harry walked back into the room, in a longsleeve grey t-shirt and plaid pj bottoms. "Tell Liam thanks for the jammies, okay?" Harry smiled, looking cozy and sleepy. 

Everything with his dad? Louis' mind was reeling, and he shot a quick glance over at Niall, who was looking calm and peaceful, like they hadn't just had a really rushed, really serious conversation that left Louis with a lot to think about. 

"How late do the buses run?" Harry asked, sitting down on Niall's bed. 

"Like one in the morning, I think," Louis said. "You can just stay the night, Liam will be fine with it. He likes you a lot." Louis added. Everyone liked Harry, it just seemed to be Louis that everyone was wary of. 

Harry wrapped his arms around Niall. "Finally get to give you a hug," he said, and gave Niall a sleepy hug, that was very koala-like. "Where am I sleeping tonight?" he asked, even though at this rate it looked like he'd be sleeping on Niall's shoulder. 

"Um," Louis started. "Well, Niall's in his room, obviously, and Liam's in his room, and I'm on the couch, so... wherever you're comfortable, I guess." 

"Okay," Harry said, looking over at Louis sleepily. "Couch it is." 

Author: Hi, how's everyone doing? :) Anyone have any wild weekend plans? Anyone staying in all weekend reading fan fiction? (*slowly raises hand*)

I'm a few episodes into OITNB season 3 now and gaahhh I love it so far. 

Also, if anyone has any more story ideas, feel free to share them, I have a lot of the story figured out already but there's always room to work in cute ideas that you guys have :) 

Anyway, have a lovely weekend, next chapter should be up in a few days! 

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