Open Road (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 15

"Harry,"

"Yes, Lou?" He answered sleepily.

"I don't think it's safe for you to drive, you look like you're going to pass out any second now," Louis commented, pulling on his seatbelt so he could get a closer view of Harry's lidded eyes. "Yep," he said. "Pull over."

It had been hours of driving without a break, Harry insisted upon making up for their lost time. That meant he was driving half asleep down the I-80 in the middle of the night. In Louis opinion, this was not safe.

"No," Harry whined. "I wanna drive LouLou."

Louis loved sleepy Harry, he was soft and cuddly. He didn't, however, love sleepy Harry when he was driving them down the highway and at risk of passing out any second.

"I'm hyped up on RedBull," Louis pointed out. He had been googling different ways to keep yourself awake since he wanted to stay up for Harry. "You could use a rest, it is midnight after all."

"Okay," Harry sighed, pulling over and unbuckling his seatbelt. Louis did the same and climbed out of the car. Walking around to Harry's door, he groaned inwardly at the thought of dragging the large boy all the way around the vehicle.

Louis tugged at Harry's door repeatedly, not understanding why it wasn't opening until he saw the grinning Harry.

"Meanie," he frowned, slapping Harry's window.

The boy cheekily winked before unlocking the car door again so Louis could help him out. He sat expectantly, blinking in a way that had Louis beside himself.

"Come here, you big oaf," Louis said, opening his arms.

Harry grinned and hopped out into Louis arms, wrapping his own around the smaller man's neck.

"You-got-heavy!" Louis panted, attempting to drag the boy to the passengers side.

Smiling shyly, Harry pushed his face farther into Louis, inhaling his smell of fresh rain and cut grass.

With a thump, Harry was distributed into the passenger's seat where he curled into a ball. Louis clasped the seatbelt around him.

In the drivers seat, Louis had to adjust the height and such, seeing as he was a good few inches shorter than Harry. This made him smile, he liked it that way.

"Hey, Harry," he said. "Did you know that dimples are just dead face muscles?"

This brought a frown to the boys lips, his own dimples disappearing.

"No," he whispered. "Does that mean there's something wrong with me? I thought people liked my dimples."

"Nothing's wrong with you, babe. I love them," Louis said reassuringly.

"Okay," Harry said, his dimples resurfacing. The boy leaned against the window, his mass of hair a pillow enough. He couldn't get Louis words out of his mind.

I like you, the boy had told him. He wasn't sure how to react, it was his best friend telling him this. So, being Harry, he decided to ignore it.

"Where does the saying 'pretty much' come from?" Harry asked after a while.

Louis was puzzled. 1) because it was such a weird thing to think of in the middle of the night and 2) because he, himself, had no clue either.

"I really don't know," he answered. "Harry," he whined after a moment. "Now you have me contemplating the whole English language."

"Sorry," Harry giggled warmly, leaning over and poking Louis' cheek. In return, Louis stuck his finger in Harry's dimple.

"If you could learn any language, what would it be?" Louis asked, breaking the silence.

Harry thought for a money, he was tired and sleepy and not completely coherent.

"Hm, Latin maybe," he answered.

Louis nodded. He'd wanted to be a lawyer, law was practically all in Latin, it made sense.

"You?" Harry asked.

"French," said Louis. "It's pretty, you know? Romantic."

"Chuchoter, citrouille, éffleurer, libellule, pamplemousse," Harry said, listing off the words he knew in French.

"What?" Louis asked, confused.

"Quoi?" Harry translated.

"What are you saying?" Louis questioned again.

"Oh," Harry laughed. "I said to whisper, pumpkin, to touch lightly, firefly, and grapefruit. Random, I know."

"Yep," Louis said. "But pretty, that's why I want to learn it. I didn't know you already knew how."

"I don't," Harry said.

"But-" Louis protested, getting cut off.

"That's it, that's all I know."

"Oh," Louis giggled. "Well, that's more than me."

Harry nodded, he pulled Louis' sweater out of the back seat, wrapping it around himself. It was old, a little run down, a little beat up, but it was something over his thin t-shirt and it smelled like Louis. For Harry, that was more than enough.

It only took a few minutes for Harry to doze off against the window to the feel of smooth pavement under the car tires. Louis smiled at the sleeping boy and turned the radio down low, letting him sleep in peace.

"I love you," he whispered.