Animal

Chapter 19

A person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn and not easily mended.

*NARRATOR'S POV*

"Princess, sit still." Harry's been struggling to keep a hyperactive Louis from wiggling off his lap during Photo-Journalism for the past ten minutes or so.

"My bum's asleep." Louis glances down over his shoulder between Harry's chest and his back.

He squirms a bit more and Harry groans when the perky behind belonging to his exquisite boyfriend rubs harshly against his crotch. With a firm hand - and the other that's plastered inevitably to his chest - Harry wraps a binding arm around Louis' middle.

Nobody could blame Louis for being fidgety and irritable. His latest appointment with their new doctor, revealed that he would actually be lactating and his body needed to start adjusting earlier. That meant nipple pads from the drug store bought by Harry when Louis started feeling the dampness and told the man when he found him in Art.

"Enough, darling." Harry scolds, rubbing Louis' thigh soothingly and feeling the boy lean back against him.

Pout on full blast, Louis throws an arm over Harry's steady shoulders. "Sorry."

Niall was trying once again to chat up his latest acquaintance, and didn't at all feel stabbed in the heart by the way Zayn's eyes travelled to Louis every two seconds. The tanned older man felt personally betrayed by Harry's fond interaction with Louis. He couldn't stand it.

"Hungry?" Harry turns Louis in his lap.

Louis shakes his head and faces the desk as the professor walks in. His legs are shorter than Harry's so of course they dangle off the chair as he swings them childishly. Harry nuzzles the back of his nape and draws nonsensical patterns on Louis' tummy where the pudge remained prominent.

"Bean's cold." Louis whispered in Harry's ear, tone soft and gentle like he was when he wanted to be taken care of.

"Is it?" Harry takes his jacket off the back of his chair and drapes it over Louis' shoulders. "Better now?"

"Bean's warmer now." Louis gratefully kisses Harry's cheek. "Thank you."

"Welcome, baby."

With the loud screech of a heavy chair against the wooden flooring, Zayn wakes up and storms off. He doesn't wait and doesn't look back at Niall's heartbroken expression, only wishing that Louis would have it instead.
He was doing this on purpose to Zayn, throwing his cool exterior way off with his innocent temptation. It got Zayn even hotter for the boy when the game became a chase.

"If people are done dramatically exiting my class-" The patient teacher eyes the swinging door that Zayn exited through. "-I'd like to get us through this semester."

There's faint laughter before everyone settles again. Harry is vigilant and always two-minded, able to keep track of Louis' fidgeting whilst taking notes. Niall and Louis turned their pencils into swords to battle in boredom.

"Pay attention." Harry confiscates Louis' pencil and receives a pointedly aggravated look in return. "You're misbehaving."

"I'm bored." Louis argues.

"We must all do things that bore and annoy us."

Zayn re-enters the room with a new, solid resolve. He takes his seat next to Niall again and even smiles at the smitten boy when he asks what's wrong. Louis' proud of their progress but he doesn't trust Zayn with Niall, his especially sensitive but chipper best mate.

"You okay?" Niall asks him and Harry's dead eyes with pearls of hard black onyx dare Zayn to utter a single inappropriate thing.

He's been on to Zayn's case from their first moment of sight. There's no doubting that the male has found interest in Louis, but Harry's been serving as a jealous and protective boyfriend long enough to develop a reputation. He will skin Zayn before the lad's allowed anywhere near his princess.