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Harry and Louis stepped into their hotel room, both exhausted from their most recent show. It had been pretty go-go-go for the entire band for the past few days, but tomorrow they'd get to take a much needed day off. Maybe they'd explore the city together, maybe they'd stay in and catch up on their sleep. Either way, it was long overdue.
While Louis seemed to settle on a bed pretty quickly, Harry was still buzzing with some lingering after-show adrenaline and couldn't bring himself to lay down just yet. Yeah, he was tired, but at the same time his body wasn't quite ready to shut down.
"Lou?" He asked, Louis opening his eyes in response.
"Hm?"
"Wanna help me build a blanket fort?" Harry asked, eyes wide and grinning.
This got a chuckle out of his older bandmate. "Any particular reason?"
"Just kinda miss bein' a kid is all..." Harry began. "You know? Like... we're on the go constantly, been this way since we were 16, or at least since I was, and sometimes... I don't know. It's comforting."
Louis smiled at Harry's rambling, getting up from the bed. "Yeah. I get what you mean. 'Course I'll help, Haz."
The two swiftly got to work stripping the pillows and duvets from the hotel beds, but they're not quite satisfied with the meager amount. Louis scans the dressers and closet for any extras, but the closet only yields a single pillow. Louis grabs it before heading to the phone to request more.
"We can't bother the front desk for this, it's silly..." Harry said, taking it from Louis and hanging it back up.
"I know another way." Louis says, a spark in his eye.
"No stealing anything!"
"No, no! Not at all what I was thinking." Louis replied, pulling out his phone. He sent a quick text to their group chat, Harry peeking over Louis' shoulder to read it.
"Hazza and I are making a pillow fort! Come join! Bring your blankets (and snacks)"
Upon hitting send, Harry's eyes lit up at the thought of a giant blanket fort with all five of them in it. Well... maybe not all five of them. Louis was always happy to indulge him and Niall would probably be all for it, but Liam and Zayn? This might be a bit too childish for them, Harry thought to himself.
He was broken out of this train of thought by a knock at the door, and sure enough, Niall was standing there with his hotel blanket, ready to help with the fort.
"Lads, we're gonna make the best fort ever! Payno and Zayn comin'?" Niall asked.
"Not sure. Don't know that they'd be into this." Louis said.
"Ah, their loss."
The three began to push around various bits of furniture before setting the blankets and pillows up in a comfortable pile on the floor. The blanket they chose as their roof kept collapsing, and none of them knew how to get it to stay propped up. Harry looked like he was about to cry; he was less in control of his emotions when he was tired and right now the thought of not getting to have his blanket fort was devastating.
Niall refused to give in, trying to weigh the roof-blanket down using Louis' suitcase on the bed, but the blanket was stubborn and kept unceremoniously collapsing onto the floor.
Harry stared at it, tears welling up, prompting Louis to hug him, stroking his back. "Shh, it's alright, we'll get it."
Niall tried again. He did not get it. He was on the verge of giving up when he heard a knock at the door, Louis' eyes widening in surprise.
Louis went to go open it, seeing Liam and Zayn on the other side with bags of chips, popcorn, some hot chocolate mix, and of course, their hotel room blankets.
"Sorry we're late, lads!" Liam smiled. "Just grabbing some snacks for the fort."
Harry ran over, grabbing the bag of chips from Zayn and hugging him tightly. Zayn's eyes widened a bit in surprise before returning it.
"So, this the fort?" Liam asked.
"We're working on it..." Niall replied sheepishly. "We can't get the roof to stay up."
"Here, let me." Liam said. He took the blanket's edge from Niall, tucking it into the box spring of the nearest bed, before grabbing Louis' suitcase to weigh down the other end of the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch. The "roof" was a bit slanted due to the height difference, but it didn't fall down, causing Niall to cheer.
"I've never, uh... had a blanket fort before." Zayn confessed.
"WHAT???" the other boys looked at him incredulously.
"Yeah, my sisters were never really into that sort of thing, so... just never really got the chance. I know it seems childish and silly but I was really excited to get that text from you, Louis."
"He had to beg me to come with him." Liam laughed. "But you did request snacks, so we had to get those first."
Louis and Zayn went off to make the hot chocolate and pop the popcorn, while Harry opened the bag of chips and watched as Liam continued to help Niall make the fort the best it could possibly be.
Louis and Zayn returned just as Niall and Liam were stepping back to admire their handiwork, while Harry looked at it with tears in his eyes, putting his arms around them both.
"It's perfect. Thank you so much."
Harry crawled inside, Louis crouching down to hand him his mug of hot chocolate before crawling over and cuddling up next to him. Liam opted to sit in the corner by the bed, Niall lay on his stomach near Harry's legs, and Zayn rested his head on Liam's shoulder.
They could see the room's TV from the fort, so Niall just put on whatever movie happened to be on, no one really knew or cared what it was. They weren't paying attention, wrapped up in their own little blanket fort world.
But eventually, the hot chocolate's been downed, the mugs strewn about the floor, and the exhaustion of the tour is catching up to them. One by one, they all start slowly dozing off. Harry's the first to go, sprawled out on his back with Louis' head on his chest, who follows close behind him. Zayn and Liam hadn't moved at all, both of them sitting up against the side of the bed, Zayn's head still resting on Liam's shoulder, Liam's head on top of Zayn's. Niall was wrapped up like a little burrito with one of the extra blankets on the floor, snoring gently.
So what if they were supposed to be adults now? There was nothing wrong with a bit of childish fun every now and again.