10 Years Later (Larry 1d)

Chapter 21

Louis made himself a cup of tea when he got in, settling on the sofa to drink it and browse Twitter. He was overwhelmed by the amount of mentions and that in the space of a few hours he had gained over 30 million followers. His photo with the lads had racked up 10 million retweets. He scrolled through the follows, pouring in quicker than he could read them, smiling when he read a few of them, pretty much all of them saying nice things. He gave Stan a call to catch him up on the last week, but decided against mentioning Harry's confession and his own newly recognised feelings, not quite ready to share that yet. They chatted for a bit before Louis realised he only had twenty minutes before Harry was due to arrive so he wrapped up the call. Once he was off the phone he started to panic, not really knowing how to act around Harry now that he knew he was in love with him.

The chef arrived to cook dinner and Louis went upstairs to get changed, swearing as looked through his wardrobe, finding nothing that was good enough, nothing that was perfect enough to wear to see Harry. He eventually settled on a blue shirt which he thought might bring out the colour of his eyes with smart jeans, leaving his feet bare. He put on some aftershave and smoothed his beard with a little fancy beard oil that the stylist had given him and left his long hair down. He rolled his shirt sleeves up to the elbow and left the top few buttons undone, showing a hint of his chest hair and 'It Is What It Is' tattoo. He looked at himself critically in the mirror for a few minutes wishing that he looked better, but figuring it was the best he could do before the doorbell rang.

Louis raced downstairs to answer the door, his breath catching in his throat when he saw Harry. Harry was wearing a black, more than slightly sheer shirt undone to practically his navel, teemed with black skinny, to the point of being skin-tight, jeans. Louis eyes flicked appreciatively to Harry's lips, his Adam's apple, down to his sharp clavicles, past his smooth pale chest to his butterfly tattoo. Louis unconsciously licked his lips hungrily, his blue eyes darkening as he stared at Harry until Harry asked bemused, "Um, can I come in?" Louis flushed as he realised he'd been staring and tried to act nonchalantly, saying, "Sure" and gesturing inside.

They headed to the kitchen where Louis offered Harry a drink, pouring them each a glass of red wine when Harry nodded. They headed into the lounge to hang out while dinner was being prepared and chatted about their day since they'd seen each other this morning. Harry told Louis about his afternoon with Zayn and Perrie, regaling stories and laughing and Louis told Harry stiltedly about meeting Niall's kids. Louis couldn't relax, couldn't figure out how to act around Harry anymore, he felt like he had a massive neon sign on his forehead screaming, 'I'm in love with you'. He felt everything that he said sounded stupid and berated himself for not being cooler, not being able to come up with the witty banter he'd always been known for. After about 10 minutes of chatting, mostly Harry talking, dinner was ready and they thanked the chef who left them to it.

Harry's green eyes widened as he saw what they had to eat giggling as he recited, "Chicken, stuffed with mozzarella cheese, wrapped in Parma ham with some homemade mashed potatoes", doing the hand movements along with the words and looking at Louis with unbridled joy in his eyes. Louis smiled fondly back at him and pulled out the chairs so they could sit. He watched Harry as they ate, Louis not eating much due to the butterflies in his stomach, mostly just watching Harry. He'd never noticed the way Harry ate before, the dainty mouthfuls he'd take, occasional little kitten licks to the side of his mouth to retrieve stray food and the way his throat bobbed as he swallowed his wine. He ducked his head staring at his own plate when Harry looked over to him and asked, "Aren't you hungry?" and murmured, "Not really" in response, but taking a few more bites just to make sure Harry didn't worry about him.

After Harry had finished eating, Louis cleared the plates and refilled their wine glasses. They relocated to the sofa, Louis grabbing another wine bottle on their way out of the kitchen to avoid having to get up again too soon. Louis sat nervously on one end of the sofa as Harry grabbed the remote and stretched out next to him, throwing his feet over the other end and resting his head on Louis' lap. Harry turned on the TV and scrolled through the film selection, selecting a new-ish comedy film neither of them had seen. Louis forced himself to try and relax, to ignore how close Harry's face was to his crotch and thought of unsexy things to stop himself from hardening. He ran his fingers through Harry's curls, glad the movie was taking Harry's attention so he could just sip his wine and watch Harry.