Edinburgh is for Lovers (l.s.)

xxxvi.

Harry's first year and a half of living in Edinburgh made him truly understand what Louis meant about this city being home. It was their city.
He and Louis had gone to Holmes Chapel together for the holidays and to celebrate Louis' birthday, but still the city called them back.
Edinburgh was home to the cafe where Harry and Louis had met over three years earlier, where Louis had written his first book, and where Harry had opened his own publishing company. When he had hit the year mark of living in Edinburgh, Harry had had a large conference meeting with the owners of Camden Press. Daniel, Paul, and Harry had come to an agreement that Edinburgh Printing Co. should be its own entity. Contracts had been signed, and Harry had bought the rights to Edinburgh Printing Co. and renamed it H&L Publishing.

Louis had spent the fall and winter writing his second book, and was ready to publish it only a few months after the re-branding of H&L Publishing. They'd published his book that spring, 1500 copies first run, and had it on shelves at Waldron's, as well as a few book stores in Edinburgh that they had started to frequent.
Louis balanced teaching at the university with the occasional book signing and helping Harry with paperwork every time they found a new shop that wanted to carry his book. Louis' second book was purely poetry. He'd written hundreds and hundreds of poems, and managed to choose the perfect 150 to publish.
When the lease at their flat was up, Harry and Louis had agreed to stay there another year since the publishing company was so close and they were already quite settled. They had made the flat their home, cozy and made up of the two of them.
Their foot falls and laughter filled the house, Louis' books sat front and center on their bookshelf, they had the fire going in the winter and the terrace doors open in the summer. They even had Connell and Graham come to their flat every so often for drinks and to catch up. Although they still made their way to Glasgow from time to time.

When Harry had bought the rights to Edinburgh Printing and changed the name, he'd had an interesting inquiry from another author, asking to be published under H&L Publishing. He'd worried at first that it might be an issue if he wanted to maintain a good relationship with Camden, but a phone call with Daniel assured him that they'd previously agreed upon it, and that was how Henry Garrick became the second permanent author on H&L's publishing list.

The following autumn, Louis had finished teaching for the year and spent most of his days in the office with Harry, either in his own office writing or in the arm chair in Harry's office reading something new. The lease for their flat was up again in less than a month, and they'd decided to move.
The rooms got emptier by the day, boxes stacked against the walls and then taken to their new home. They'd found a house outside of city center that they could afford comfortably as H&L Publishing grew, and they'd  bought it at the end of the summer and had been slowly moving things over when they had the time between work.

Louis let out a loud, relieved sigh as he flopped down on the couch in their new living room. "Okay, I'm officially exhausted."

Harry chuckled and walked over with a glass of wine extended to Louis before sitting down beside him.
"Me too. But we did it. We're all moved in."

"Now to spend the entire weekend unpacking."
Louis grinned as he took a sip of wine.
"Mm. Is this birthday wine?"

Harry nodded and shrugged playfully, knowing that the type of wine they reserved for both of their birthdays sat open on the kitchen counter.
"Birthday of our new home?"

"You are very sweet." Louis leaned in closer and kissed his cheek.
"I love it. Happy birthday to us and our new home."

Harry laughed as their glasses clinked together and leaned in, stealing the fresh, sweet drops off Louis' lips.
"Happy birthday to us."