Edinburgh is for Lovers (l.s.)

xxxiv.

Harry had been living in his new flat in Edinburgh for six months when he asked Louis to officially move in with him.
They'd spent the last six months bouncing back and forth between their flats, and both of them equally felt like home. Louis' flat had become their weekend home, as they spent their weekdays writing and publishing books in the beautiful stone building of Edinburgh Printing Co. in city centre, and walking home together the two short blocks to Harry's flat.

They'd finished packing up Louis' flat that morning, and spent the afternoon sharing a bottle of wine as they laid on a blanket on the empty wood floor.

"I can't believe I won't live here anymore after today."
Louis sighed as he took another sip from the bottle.

Harry brushed his thumb over Louis' lip, catching a bead of wine and sucking his thumb into his own mouth with a smile.
"You still want to live with me, yeah?"

"Of course I do." Louis laughed and passed Harry the bottle.
"It's just a bit strange. This is the flat I've lived in for the last eight years. First adult place, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded. "I know. We spent so much time here."

"It really felt like home." Louis looked around.

The flat stood completely empty, save for themselves and the knit blanket below them. There were small holes in the walls from nails that once held art and photos, a small scuff on the wood floor from Louis trying to move the small couch in from the hall by himself when he moved in, a black ink spill that mostly blended into the grain of the wood floor where Louis had spilled ink off his writing desk once.
Louis could almost hear the sound of Fleetwood Mac spinning on vinyl like it had every weekend morning that he'd woken up with Harry. He could almost smell the distinct blend of his Yorkshire tea and Harry's black coffee as they both brewed on the kitchen counter in the early morning light. He could picture Harry and himself sitting late in the night out on the fire escape, talking about life as music played somewhere far away.

"It was home."
Harry kissed his forehead and brought him back to the present.
"Your home. My home because you were here."

"You made it feel even more like home. When you were here with me? It felt right." Louis smiled softly.

He closed his eyes and took another sip of wine. The same kind that Harry had poured them glass after glass of just two weeks prior on Harry's birthday. He could feel Harry's wine drunk, clumsy lips pressed against his own and work their way over every inch of skin on his body. He could feel the icy breeze from the cracked bedroom window after they'd made love, their collective body heat too much under the quilt as they snuggled afterwards. He could picture every freckle he'd counted on Harry's cheeks as he slept beside him, and remember the feel of his scratchy chin between his thighs before he shaved the next morning.

"Thank you for letting this become my home too." Harry whispered.

Louis opened his eyes and looked at him. "Of course."
He leaned in and placed a soft kiss to Harry's lips, tangy, spicy, soft.
"And we get to go make ourselves a new home."

He imagined the way his and Harry's footsteps sounded on the wood floor in Harry's flat. It was a pale, warm-toned wood instead of the dark oak wood that were sat on now. But their steps echoed the same, pattering after each other slowly in the early morning to the kitchen, or heavier as they stumbled to bed in the evening, drunk on wine or each other.
He imagined sitting in their arm chairs by the large window in the living room that looked over city centre. In the early winter, the sun rose directly between two buildings across from them, framed by the arch of glass. He imagined the crackle of the fireplace in the living room. They'd sat in front of it nearly every week night since it got cold enough a few months back in October. He imagined they'd probably be able to use it til late April before spending their evenings on the terrace instead. He imagined the white, almost angelic light that filtered into the master bedroom every day regardless of the weather. The ivory comforter soaking it all up, caressing their bare skin, keeping them safe.

"We do." Harry nodded thoughtfully.
"We can always move into a bigger place when the lease is up too, if you want to."

"Some place that didn't belong to either of us first."

"Some place we start together."

"I like that." Louis whispered.

"Then that's what we'll do." Harry promised, setting the bottle down beside them on the hardwood and leaning in.

He let his hand cup Louis' jaw and the other rest on his waist as their lips pressed together over and over.

"We don't have much time left here." Harry whispered against Louis' jaw.

"I want to remember it. Remember how I felt here, how we felt here."
Louis leaned back, laying down on the knit blanket, his feet slipping over the edge and touching the wood floor. He gripped his finger tips into the knit of Harry's jumper and pulled him down with him.

"Lou--" Harry moaned softly as Louis mouthed at his neck and below his jaw.

"Please Harry."

"Lou-- Louis. Always."
Harry nipped at Louis' skin above the collar of his shirt and dipped his fingers under the bottom hem, carefully pulling it over Louis' head and tossing it to the side.

Louis swallowed hard and let out a harsh breath as Harry kissed along the bare expanse of his chest, letting his lips and tongue and touches dance lower and lower. Bare skin, naked, open, together they moved and breathed. Their hearts thudded together in an erratic race; Louis, Harry, impossible to tell where one beat ended and another began.
Harry's calves ached perfectly as his toes pressed against the wood floor, holding himself up slightly over Louis' naked body. Their skin sweaty and sticking to the wood floor where the blanket had moved out of place. The empty living room became their concert hall, echoing moans and gasps and I love, I love, I love you's.
Silence. Laboured breathing the only standing ovation to their encored climaxes.

"Louis-- my darling."
Harry brushed his lips against Louis' sweaty forehead, holding him close.

"Here, the other flat, anywhere in Edinburgh, even somewhere in London or a villa by the sea.... anywhere I can be with you is home. You are my home."
Louis whispered, eye lashes fluttering shut as their lips pressed together again.