Open Road (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 18

"We can't just ignore this forever, you know," Louis said finally. It had been eating him alive since the last time they had spoken.

Harry's knuckles turned white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. "I know," he nearly growled.

Over the music and in his mind, Harry had thought, and thought, and thought some more about what to do, planning all the things he thought he could. Now it was just time to execute what he had decided.

"Look," Louis started. "I don't-"

"I wanted to-" Harry said at the same time.

"You go first," Louis muttered, his eyes cast downwards.

"No, you."

"Oh, okay," whispered Louis. "I don't want to put any pressure on you, but you know that I, like, like you that way."

Harry didn't respond, only gripping the steering wheel tighter and pushing their car a little faster.

Louis was almost crying now, he could feel hot, wet tears trapped behind his eyelids. He wasn't really sure why he wanted to cry; it was the combination of a lot of things, he presumed.

All his life, he had kept his emotions bottled up. These past few days, all of his affection, care and love for the dimpled boy in the drivers seat had been suppressed. It was killing him, but he couldn't lose it, couldn't break down in front of this boy.

But Harry knew Louis inside and out, knew what each little thing he did meant, and maybe he loved those little things. It was all just so confusing, although one thing was clear to Harry: Louis needed him now.

"Hey," Harry whispered. "Hey love, don't cry."

A loud sob escaped Louis' lips and Harry turned off at the next exit, pulling over onto a side street. He unbuckled himself and crawled over to Louis, brushing his cheeks with the pads of his thumbs as if to catch the unshed tears.

"Baby, baby," he mumbled, pressing butterfly kisses all over Louis face, making a bubbling giggle escape his lips.

Harry knew this was out of line, acting this way and giving the boy kisses, but he couldn't help it.

Letting go was one of the hardest things for Harry. He couldn't go with the flow, or wing it like Louis. He couldn't roll with these feelings when he didn't know what they were, but the way Louis' eyes turned so electrically blue when he was trying not to cry and how his cheeks would flush just so had Harry wanting to let go, for the first time in a long time.

Bubblegum pink was Harry's new favourite colour. It was the colour of Louis' pretty lips that he wanted to kiss so bad. Not now, though. Now his baby was crying and he needed to fix that.

Let go, said one part of Harry while the other told him that this was a bad idea. You'll only end up hurt. No one will understand. There's management and Liam and Niall, you can't do this to them.

Louis was unaware of the situation in the sweet boys mind. He could pay attention to nothing but the rough fingers on his cheekbones and the heat where Harry's lips had pressed to his skin.

Honestly, with both boys keeping all of their thoughts to themselves, nothing was being solved.

"Harry?" Louis whispered, gazing into his green, green eyes. "Tell me what you're thinking, baby."

Taking a deep breath, Harry opened his mouth only to close it again uncertainly.

"I-" he choked out. "I don't know what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling. All I know is you, and how your eyes look like coming home to me, but I'm already home, Louis. Home is wherever I'm with you."

Louis smiled a watery smile and nodded. He knew exactly what Harry meant, so he leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss to the side of Harry's lips.

They're close now, Harry can make out the minuscule tear drops that glisten among Louis' eyelashes and he can smell the salt of the few escaped ones drying.

Dumb noses, thinks Louis as his collides softly with Harry's, but Harry just nuzzles against him, Eskimo kissing the small boy beneath him.

"Hey," Harry laughs breathlessly, kissing Louis' nose. "No matter what, I have you and you have me. We can take it slow, yes?"

And Louis is elated, he's on cloud nine. Shamelessly a few years do roll down his raw cheeks and the light makes them sparkle as Harry kisses them away, coming closer and closer until he's hovering just above Louis' lips.

"Yes," he whispered. "Slow," before his bubblegum pink lips are on Harry's strawberry lemonade red ones and it was perfect again.

Neither boy thought about the consequences as their lips pushed gently against one another's. But that didn't matter, what did was Louis' hands in Harry's hair tugging gently.

Pulling away breathlessly, Louis looked down to see that his seatbelt was still fastened on and Harry was awkwardly leaning over the centre console.

"Babe," he giggled. "That can't be comfy."

Harry repositioned himself back into his seat and blushed.

Tenderly, Louis grabbed Harry's hand and interlocked their fingers, eyeing Harry's expression to see if this was okay, or if they would go back to the awkward tension they'd had before.

A broad grin broke across Harry's gorgeous face as he restarted the car, gripping onto Louis' small hand tightly and not caring that it was a little sweaty. It was Louis', and that was all that mattered.

"Harry?"

"Yeah, boo?"

"You feel like home, too."

-

Can I just say that Louis and the Cinderella ball is just the sweetest thing in the world?