No Strings Attached

Epilogue

Lying facedown into his pillow, Louis listened as Harry slowly made his way back into the room before shutting the door quietly behind him. Almost three months later and the sound of his boyfriend coming back into the bedroom like it was his own still made his heart stutter stupidly. He had thought, rather foolishly, that something would eventually push Harry away, that their entire relationship had been something ephemeral and out of a dream. But as Harry slid under the covers and wrapped an arm around his waist to draw him closer, Louis knew that this was real. 

Harry was here and he wasn’t leaving. 

“She’s back to sleep,” he breathed into Louis’ ear, gently squeezing his bicep. “Finally.” 

“Thank you,” Louis mumbled, drawing from away from the pillow and pushing closer toward Harry so that his back met the bare flesh of the other boy’s chest. “I would have done it myself but…well, you made a mess.” 

Harry shrugged and pressed a tender kiss into the crook of Louis’ neck. He shivered from the touch, and his breath hitched as the younger boy ran his fingers along the contour of his collarbone. Eyes closed, he felt soft fingertips brush lithely down his arm in slow, circular motions that seemed to run in tandem with the fluttering of his heart. He waited for the inevitable moment when Harry’s touch moved delicately to his wrist, lightly tapping there and teasing him to be so close yet so seemingly far away. Louis decided he’d had enough and grabbed Harry’s hand into his own, where it rested there warm and whole. 

The other boy sighed into his shoulder, tightly intertwining their fingers as if he could never let go. His honey brown curls fell lightly onto Louis’ skin, feathery and ticklish. Lying there together like this with the heavy silence of nighttime lulling them closer toward haziness – it was their favorite way to fall asleep. 

“I love you,” Harry murmured, letting his requisite ‘goodnight’ tumble softly into the silence.   

Louis couldn’t help but smile; it was just as inevitable as the response he could never grow tired of giving. 

“Love you, too, Haz.” 

He assumed this meant it was time to go to sleep, but Harry seemed insistent. 

“No,” he said, voice husky. He pulled his hand out of Louis’, scattering light kisses into his hair and down his neck as he stroked a long line back up his arm. “I really, really love you.” 

The words pulled Louis’ eyes open, and he couldn’t deny the obvious playfulness in his voice. With minor difficulty, he maneuvered around in Harry’s arms until they were facing each other. And much as he had expected, the other boy was wearing an adorable yet rather maddening smirk. 

“Really?” he whispered incredulously, and Harry’s face lit up in acknowledgement. “Another go? Can we even do that right now? I’m tired, Hazza.” 

“But I’m not.” With that, Harry withdrew his hold on Louis’ body and straddled him in one swift motion that had the older boy blinking several times before he caught up to what had happened. He held him down by the shoulders and leaned down to catch Louis’ lips in his, but Louis was quicker. 

Louis thrust his head to the side, leaving Harry with a mouthful of pillow. The younger boy cast him an intense glare, eyes twinkling with mischief.  But Louis only grinned unapologetically. 

“Why can’t we sleep?” he suggested, though he found that he only half meant it. 

“Lou…” Harry whined, slowly motioning to kiss him again. This time, Louis didn’t move away, and instead caught Harry’s lips in a feathery kiss, one that seemed to extend goosebumps downward and throughout the rest of his body. When he pulled away, his voice seemed to buzz with anticipation. “But I’m leaving.”