Impulse

Chapter Twenty- Two

*NARRATOR'S POV*

"You're awake, petal?" Harry is speaking gently into Louis' ear, keeping the boy bundled up andwarm. "Can you have a bath now, Darlin'?"

 Louis had bolted awake with such a stricken sense of self awareness that he kicked the cocoon ofsheets away in an angry tumble. His throat caught him mid-scream and he started to fuss with thesheets when they didn't budge. His crotch area was hurting and he remembers what Gemma did.

 Hewants to see it, wants to make sure. 

"Petal?" Harry lay back, confused but not interrupting, as Louis battled the bedding.The look his boy gave him was a sad, hurt one.

 He sat up then and stilled Louis with a simple kissthat kept him stagnant while he untwined the sheets. Louis had gotten them in more of a knot andtangle than what it was before.Louis' first act of freedom is to surprise the fuck out of Harry and touch his limp penis during aninspection. He thinks it's really there so he relaxes and situates himself in Harry's lap on purpose,not accepting any excuses when he wraps himself around the man. 

"What was that, petal?" Harry never thought he could stupefied in his life. His petal proved himwrong.Hiding his face, Louis begins the trying duty of unbuttoning Harry's shirt that could fall as a blousetoo. Harry let's him of course, peppering innocent kisses all over Louis' blushing face whenever theboy looked up at him. 

"Sweet petal." Harry lifted Louis' face with his chin and kissed his nose. "What will you do to me?"Breaking into laughter when he discovers why Louis wanted his shirt open, Harry unintentionallymakes Louis feel silly about what he was doing.

After the last button had popped, Louis made itobvious that he wanted to share the warmth of Harry's skin so he opened the halves and cuddled upagainst him. He tried closing the shirt around him but the task was unachievable.

 "Oh sweetheart." Harry takes Louis by both his wrists and pulls him back onto his thighs. "You cando anything you want with me, petal."Louis brightens like a ray of sunlight when Harry's the one to hold him close and wrap him upunder his shirt. It still doesn't button up but this is progress anyway. 

"Why were you so scared, petal?" Harry can feel the trembling on Louis' body even now, theaftermath of a frightening dream. 

"B-Bad dream." Louis manages to say, looking over Harry's shoulder and out the window into thebackyard

."What happened in your bad dream?"After his tremors hit a boiling point because of Harry's question, they settle and Louis' teeth nolonger chatter. The boy hugs Harry around the neck and reassures himself that he's safe now.

 "Wanna cuddle." He tells Harry, doe-eyed and honestly hoping that the man will adhere to hisrequest. 

Harry gives him a tight squeeze around his shoulders and Louis almost doesn't let his awful dreambother him anymore. It's still there though, the last lingering hanger in a coat closet down a hallwaynobody will venture. The squeeze ends eventually and Louis wishes he was a feline so he couldpurr, blocked from anyone ever seeing him in the castle of Harry's big biceps. 

"After a bath, okay?" Harry smacks a wet kiss on Louis' neck. "We have to make sure you're cleanand warm, petal."Louis can put up with that he supposes. He nods when Harry asks again to make sure he's okay withit.

 Louis appreciates the task of asking, and does not hesitate to lock arms around Harry's head whenhe's hoisted into the air. It's like a rollercoaster sometimes, and other times it was a little less fun. 

"I remember having bubble baths as a child." Harry tells him in a drawl that captivates Louis'attention. "Right up until I was an adolescent."When Harry doesn't go on to tell him why, Louis huffs quietly and tugs on a curly lock.