Chapter Text
It had been a year since Louis left.
A whole year of late night phone calls, clumsy video chats, and sending songs back and forth when the time zones got too tangled. Harry had gotten used to hearing Louis’ voice filtered through static, seeing him pixelated on a screen. It was easier that way, sometimes. Easier to pretend that his heart wasn’t unraveling more every day.
But tonight, Louis was back.
Harry stood just outside the karaoke bar, the neon lights buzzing overhead, hands shoved deep into his pockets. His heart hammered so loud he half expected it to echo out onto the street. He tried to breathe, tried to calm the way his stomach twisted and turned, but it was useless. Louis was inside. Louis was here. And Harry wasn’t ready. He would never be ready for Louis.
The door creaked open behind him, and a familiar voice broke through the noise of his thoughts.
“He is inside, mate.” Niall’s grin was wide, teasing and full of energy.
“Huh?” Harry blinked, heart skipping a beat.
“Yeah. Shawn’s buying him a pint. Come on. You're making it look like you are waiting for a bloody date.” Niall winked exaggeratedly.
Harry rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. Maybe he was waiting for a date. Maybe he had been for the past four bloody years.
Inside, the place was loud and messy, the way it always was, people belting out terrible pop songs, glasses clinking, the low hum of conversations battling against the karaoke machine.
And at the back corner where their group always gathered, wa Louis.
Harry froze.
Louis was laughing at Liam, his head tipped back, shoulder shaking. His hair was longer now, sun streaked and messy in a way that looked effortless. His skin was sun warmed, golden from wherever he had been. His hands moved animatedly as he talked, the familiar way he couldn’t contain the stories he wanted to spill from him.
He looked different.
And somehow exactly the same.
Louis must have felt Harry staring because he turned, scanning the room, and their eyes met.
Harry forgot how to breathe.
For a second, everything else faded out. It was just Louis, standing up from the booth, the smile on his face growing impossibly wider.
Harry moved without thinking.
They met halfway across the bar, crashing into each other in a hug that knocked the air from Harry’s lungs. Louis’ arms wrapped tight around him, strong and steady and real. He smelled like sunshine and home.
“Missed you,” Louis murmured against Harry's shoulder.
“Missed you too.” Harry squeezed him tighter, unwilling to let go.
He could feel Louis smiling against him, and something in Harry’s chest finally, finally loosened.
They pulled apart slowly, but Louis didn’t go far. His hand stayed hooked around Harry’s wrist, thumb brushing against his pulse like he needed the contact just as badly.
“Come on,” Louis said, tugging him toward the others. “We have got so much shit to catch up on.”
Harry followed, dazed and warm all over.
Niall shoved a drink into his hand the moment he sat down.
“Finally! Thought you were gonna chicken out and run home.” Niall crowed, while Louis furrowed his brow, confused but smiling.
Harry flipped Niall off half-heartedly, which only made him laugh harder.
Louis slid into the booth beside him, close enough that their thighs brushed. Close enough that Harry could feel the heat of him, the way his shoulder bumped Harry’s when he leaned over to steal a sip from the glass without asking.
Like old times.
But it wasn’t.
Every glance, every graze of fingers, every brush of knees under the table felt electric. Like a live wire stretched taut between them.
The others caught up easily, swapping stories, teasing Louis about his tan, about how he probably got soft being away. Louis gave it back just as quick, laughing until his cheeks flushed pink.
Harry sat there, letting the noise wash over him, sneaking glances at Louis when he thought he wouldn’t notice.
Louis caught him looking more than once, a little smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth each time. He didn’t say anything though. Just bumped his foot against Harry’s under the table, light and easy.
Harry’s chest tightened.
He didn’t want to hide anymore.
Not the way he lit up when Louis laughed. Not the way Louis’ hand kept drifting closer, without him realising. Not the way Harry’s entire world felt sharper, brighter, just because Louis was here.
At some point, Zayn and Shawn got up to butcher a duet, dragging Niall along for backup vocals. Liam was chatting with someone at the bar.
It was just them.
Louis and Harry.
The neon lights painted Louis in soft colors, pink, blue, gold, and he looked at Harry with a fond smile.
Harry swallowed hard. His heart was hammering so loud it felt it shook the whole booth.
“What?” Louis titled his head, smiling gently.
“Nothing.” Harry shook his head. Louis didn’t look away.
“Yeah?” Louis leaned in a little closer, voice dropping. “Because it looks like you’ve got a lot going on up there.”
Harry huffed a laugh, nerves tightening in his stomach.
“Maybe.” Harry fiddled with the edge of his glass.
“You gonna tell me?” Louis nudged his knees against Harry’s.
Harry stared at him. The curve of his mouth, the light in his eyes, the way he looked at Harry with a smile on his face.
And Harry thought… No. No more hiding.
“Later,” Harry said, voice thick.
Louis searched his face for a moment, something soft and yearning blooming in his eyes.
“Alright,” he said, voice low and sure. “Later.”
Harry exhaled a shaky breath, something huge and invisible unwinding from around his chest. For now, he sat back, letting their knees press together under the table, feeling Louis right there beside him. Solid. Real.
His.
When Zayn and Niall finally stumbled back, flushed and laughing from their terrible rendition of “Don’t Stop Believing”, Harry slipped away from the booth.
His hands shook a little as he walked up to the karaoke sing up. He scribbled down a song before he could lose his nerve, handed it over to the DJ and waited.
It was all or nothing now.
***
The mic in Harry’s hand felt heavier than it should have.
It was almost laughable, really, how much his fingers trembled around it. He could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, louder than the chatter of the bar, louder than the clinking of glasses. His palms were damp. His throat was dry. But his feet moved forward anyway, carrying him to the center of the small, battered stage.
The crowd barely noticed him at first. Just another face, another voice about to fill the space. But then Niall spotted him, whistling low and sharp. A few heads turned. Some polite claps followed, curious but casual. Harry barely registered them. His gaze already found the only thing that mattered.
Louis.
Laughing at their usual booth, throwing his head back, eyes crinkled in a way that always made Harry's heat ache in longing.
Not for long.
The first soft strums of the piano floated through the air, wrapping around the room like a hush. Harry curled his fingers tighter around the mic, grounding himself. This was it. No more hiding.
He drew a shaky breath, locked eyes with Louis, and sang.
“What would I do without your smart mouth?
Drawing me in, and you kicking me out”
Louis looked up mid laugh, confusion flickering across his features. His smile faltered, the joke on his lips dissolving into silence. His whole body stilled like he had been caught in a moment he didn’t understand yet.
Harry’s voice quivered but didn’t break.
He let the words fill the space between them, letting them close the distance he hadn’t dared to before.
“You've got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down”
Harry watched as realization dawned in Louis’ eyes, a slow, dawning awareness that this wasn't just another song, another performance.
This was for him.
Only for him.
Harry held his gaze across the bar, the whole world shrinking down the stretch of space between them.
“What's going on in that beautiful mind?
I'm on your magical mystery ride”
The notes floated out into the still air. Louis leaned back in his seat, stunned, his hands curled into fists on the table like he didn’t know what else to do with them.
“And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be alright”
Harry closed his eyes briefly, grounding himself in the words. They meant more tonight than they ever had. He needed Louis to feel it, to understand how long he had been carrying this, how long he had been quietly offering pieces of himself, hoping Louis would take them. When he opened them again, Louis was still staring at him, like he was something precious, fragile and extraordinary.
“My head's under water
But I'm breathing fine
You're crazy and I'm out of my mind”
The rawness in Harry’s voice caught on the notes, cracked slightly, but he didn’t care. He meant every word. His heart beat against his ribs, but Harry knew it was already in Louis’ hands.
Harry gripped the mic tighter, poured every raw piece of himself into the next words.
“'Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections”
Harry saw Louis’ hand twitching on the table. His lips parted again.
Harry smiled, small and shaky and real. His eyes never left Louis’.
The bar had gone completely silent. Even the bartenders had stopped moving.
“Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose, I'm winning”
Louis rose out of the booth slowly, rising to his feet like he was pulled by invisible stings.
'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you, oh-oh”
Harry’s chest ached with the weight of it, the pure truth of it.
The second verse came in soft and trembling.
“How many times do I have to tell you?
Even when you're crying, you're beautiful too”
Louis took one step forward.
Then another.
The whole room watched, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered to Harry but Louis.
“The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood”
Harry’s voice wobbled, but he didn’t break. He couldn’t.
He needed to tell Louis all of it.
Harry’s throat ached with how much he needed Louis to understand, to see him, truly, fully.
“You're my downfall, you're my muse
My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues
I can't stop singing, it's ringing in my head for you”
Louis was halfway to the stage now. His hands clenching and unclenching at his side.
Harry’s fingers tightened around the mic as he sang, his heart open and bleeding on the sticky floor. His eyes locked on Louis’. He almost didn’t notice the way the corners of Louis' mouth quivered, almost. But it fueled him. Made him stronger. Made him brave.
“My head's under water
But I'm breathing fine
You're crazy and I'm out of my mind”
Louis stopped at the edge of the stage, chest heaving, eyes wide and glassy.
Harry smiled through the tears burning at the corners of his eyes.
He gestured with his free hand, pulled Louis closer even without touching.
“'Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections”
Louis moved.
One step. Then two. Up to the stage.
“Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you”
They were face to face now, Harry’s hand trembling slightly as he offered the mic.
Louis didn’t take it.
He reached for Harry’s hand instead, curling their fingers together.
“You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose, I'm winning”
Harry barely breathed as Louis sang the lines. He could just watch as all his dreams came true.
Harry’s breath hitched as Louis leaned in, forehead pressed tightly against his. A tremor passed through both of them like a current.
Their connection sang louder than any note Harry could have hit.
“'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you, oh-oh
Give me all of you, oh”
Harry sang, soft and aching.
Louis’ voice joined his later, rough, unsteady, beautiful, as he sang the next verse.
“Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts
Risking it all, though it's hard”
They sang to each other, not the crowd.
Just them.
Just this.
The last chorus approached and their voices weaved together, a little messy with tears but perfect.
“'Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections”
Harry laughed breathlessly on the word loves, because Louis squeezed his hand tighter.
Louis leaned closer, forehead touching Harry’s.
“Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose, I'm winning”
They barely needed the mic anymore. Their voices carried without it.
Harry saw it then, the exact moment Louis decided.
And Harry was with him. He wouldn’t wait another second.
Louis let go of Harry’s hand, only to cup his jaw instead. And Harry leaned in, touching their lips, song forgotten.
The bar erupted into cheers and whistles, but Harry didn’t care. He melted into Louis, hands fisting in his shirt, clinging like he would never let go again.
When they finally broke apart, breathing hard, Louis pressed their foreheads together again.
“You should’ve told me sooner,” Louis whispered, grinning against Harry’s lips.
Harry laughed, heart bursting.
“I did,” Harry breathed. “I left my heart in every song I sang to you.”
Louis smiled wilder, tilted his head, and kissed him again.