Chapter Text
Harry hates when Louis goes away on his trips.
Louis plays for Manchester United with his lucky number, 28, and he travels a lot during game season. Most of his trips last at least a week, and they happen pretty frequently.
Harry and Louis have been living together for the past 5 years, ever since Harry graduated from uni, and it’s quiet moments like this one that make Harry realize just how much he misses having his best friend’s loud and fun demeanor around the flat.
Their flat was pretty simple, with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen connected to an open area with a table, which is what they call the dining room, and their living room. The living room is where they spend most of their time, because it’s got the tv, couch, and all of their gaming consoles.
Harry is currently sitting on the couch, with his feet up on the coffee table that sits in the center of the room. The tv is turned on in front of him, but he’s not paying much attention to it. He had just finished watching The Notebook (which was one of Harry’s favorites, but he would never admit that), and now some other random action movie was playing. He thinks the main guy might be Daniel Craig, but then again he doesn’t really care for those kinds of movies.
Harry checks his watch, which lies on his left wrist, crossing over a tattoo. He has quite a few tattoos, but not nearly as many as Louis.
Back in uni, Louis took Harry to get his first tattoo. Harry was nervous, but Louis insisted he would be fine. Of course, Louis was right. He’s always right. Harry rolls his eyes, laughing a bit at the idea of Louis knowing Harry thought that.
It was only 3:01 pm, so Harry just sighed and let his head fall back onto the couch cushion behind him.
He was extremely bored, because his two best friends, Niall and Liam were busy today, and Louis was away.
He could always call Zayn, but Harry’s only ever really hung out with Zayn while Louis was with them. He considers calling him, because maybe they should get a little closer.
Just as he goes to get up off the couch, his phone rings on the kitchen counter.
He looks at the name on the screen and smiles before answering.
“God, I cannot wait to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night.”
Harry laughs slightly, because whenever Louis calls Harry, he is always the first one to talk, and he always starts as if they had been having a conversation the whole time.
“Wait, are you coming home tomorrow?”
Harry obviously knew the answer to this, but it was always fun to piss Louis off a bit.
Harry couldn’t help but laugh a little bit as the other end went quiet, Louis clearly annoyed with his friend.
“Not funny, Haz.”
“It was a little funny.” Harry is fully laughing now. He has always found himself hilarious, even when other people didn’t.
The line is silent as Harry calms himself down, and he just knows that Louis is pouting on the other end.
“Lou calm down it was a joke, stop pouting.”
“What? I’m not pouting.” Louis says defensively.
Harry just stays silent as he gives a skeptical look, raising his left eyebrow. He knows Louis can’t see him, but can still tell what face he is making.
“Alright fine, I might be pouting. Put that face away.”
Harry smiles, satisfied, and the two engage in mindless conversation for the next twenty minutes, before Louis has to get back to practice. He has a game tonight, and then he’s hopping on a plane first thing in the morning and coming back home.
“Haz, I gotta go to practice now,” it’s almost as if Louis can see Harry’s face, because before Harry can say anything, Louis says, “Stop frowning, you’re gonna make me sad.”
Harry laughs a little at this and says, “Fine, go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
At that last part, Harry can’t help but feel extremely excited. When Louis answers him, Harry can pretty much hear his smile through the phone.
“Can’t wait. Bye!”
Harry is still smiling as he hangs up and puts his phone down on the table.
He misses his best friend so much.
:::
Louis had gotten a flight back to Doncaster, where the flat is, at 4:47 am.
This meant he never really went to bed the night before, just showered after practice and got an hour or two of sleep before he had to wake up again.
He knew he would sleep on the plane, but he still didn’t want to be grumpy when he saw Harry for the first time in weeks.
Louis would like to think he’s a pretty independent person. He was forced to be mature at a pretty young age because he was the oldest and was always taking care of his younger sisters. For some reason though, Louis cannot be apart from Harry for more than two weeks.
Whether it meant Louis came home, or Harry came to one of Louis’ games, the two of them had never been apart for more than two weeks.
Louis had been in New York for a game, and he had gotten on the eight hour flight early in the morning.
Although he was extremely excited, it did not take much for Louis to fall asleep. In fact, it took a total of about 15 minutes for him to get situated in his seat and fall asleep.
About 4 hours into the flight, the plane had hit some turbulence and Louis was jolted awake. He had fallen asleep in an awkward position, so he had a little stiffness in his neck.
It was now almost 9:00 am, and there was just under half the flight left.
Louis decided to look at the movie selection on the screen in front of him. His teammate, Stan, had also fallen asleep next to him, but he had some cartoon Louis didn’t recognize on the screen.
Louis and Stan had been distant friends in high school, with only one or two classes together. They found themselves on the same team years later, and became extremely close immediately. Luckily for Louis, Stan lived near him and Harry, so he got the same flight as Louis.
Louis laughed at his friend sleeping with his mouth half-opened and eyes half closed.
He turned back to his screen to swipe through the movies, when he landed on one that made him smile.
He would never watch The Notebook on his own, but he knows it’s Harry’s favorite movie. Harry would never admit to this, but Louis knows.
Louis just smiled and turned the screen off, thinking he should probably get some more sleep so he won’t be in a pissy mood for Harry.
:::
Harry was running a little late, which was not unusual, but he really didn’t want to be late today.
He was currently running from his car that he had just parked to go pick up Louis at the airport.
It was just after 8:00 am in Doncaster, and Louis had just texted Harry that his flight had landed. Harry was thankful for this, because he had always had a hard time with all of the time differences, and he didn’t really know what time he should be at the airport.
Harry walked through the airport doors and went to wait by the rest of the people by the door where the people from the plane got out.
As people began to exit the door, Harry grew antsy, just wanting Louis to get here already. He texted Louis saying he was waiting, just to let him know.
A minute later, Louis walks out of the door, laughing with Stan. He doesn’t see Harry yet, but as his eyes scan the crowd, Harry yells out his name.
“Lou!”
Louis smiles at the sound of his best friend’s voice as he turns to face it. He says goodbye to Stan, who had just spotted his girlfriend. They both nod at each other and part ways.
Louis turns his wide smile to Harry, whose smile is just as wide as Louis’.
He takes that moment to sprint at Harry, and tackle him in a hug. Harry seems ready for it though, because he only falters back one or two steps, catching Louis.
Harry laughs at his best friend, but only for a second before saying, “I knew you were gonna do that.”
Louis smiles even wider, if it’s possible, and says “And I knew you were gonna be late, so I took a longer time getting off the plane.”
They laugh at each other, and at how well the two know one another.
They break apart and Harry wraps an arm around Louis’ shoulders, as Louis snakes his arm around Harry’s waist.
Louis used to be taller than Harry in high school, but the second Harry turned 17 he just shot up. Louis has always been rather short, to his dismay, but it did not
help that his best friend was a fucking giant.
“Do you wanna see the guys?” Harry asks.
“Absolutely.” Louis answers, “But, I’m starving and I want you to make me something.”
Harry rolls his eyes, and Louis interrupts by saying, “I mean, I could just do it-”
“No!” Harry almost yells, and Louis laughs.
It’s not exactly a secret that Harry is better in the kitchen than Louis. The first and only time Louis had made a meal, it was with Harry, the first week they lived
together. It was some chicken dish that was way too complicated for Louis, and of course he managed to fuck it all up within 5 minutes. Harry didn’t bother him about it though, just started from scratch and didn’t mention it again. Louis appreciated that, and ever since then Harry has been the house cook.
“Fine then. What are you making me?” Louis says, still smiling.
Harry seemed to think for a second, before smiling and answering, “I don’t know, maybe some chicken..”
Louis gasped and tried to hide his blush, because Harry had never mentioned this since then and Louis just assumed he had forgotten.
“How dare you,” Louis started, trying to sound offended, “We’ll just pick up some hashbrowns from McDonalds on the way.”
Louis pushed Harry from behind as Harry just laughed louder.