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Pathetic fallacy had never been so perfect than in this case – ominous black clouds hung in the sky above the motorway, rain pattering down into the stream of traffic snaking along below, and beading up on the window screens. The cars sat at a standstill. Inside one of these cars sat a tall, curly haired lad, tapping the steering wheel in frustration, and a small, feather haired lad staring out the window at the torrent of rain outside.
“What even is the hold up?!” growled the taller lad, scowling at the sea of cars that spread as far as the eye could see. Louis, Icey blue eyes glancing anxiously at Harry, shrugged, reaching over and patting Harry’s knee in what he hoped would be a comforting manner.
“I don’t know Haz. Try and calm down Love, yeah? I know you want to get home for Christmas but even if we arrive late tonight, we’ll still be there tomorrow when everything kicks off.”
Harry huffed, breath condensing due to the steadily decreasing temperature inside the car. Noticing this puff of vapour, Louis reached forward to fiddle with heating controls, when something else caught the corner of his eye. A grin spread across his face.
Soon, the car was filled with familiar piano chords. Harry glanced across at Louis, who was holding Michael Bublé’s Christmas album, and passionately mouthing along to the song.
“I don’t want a lot for Christmas….”
Harry rolled his eyes, fighting back the smile that was already tugging at the corners of his mouth. He continued to watch Louis. Louis, who was over exaggerating every word, adding in fist grabs, and screwing his face up with every high note, really milking it. All soft eyes and fringe flicks, it was endearing in a roundabout way. Harry could feel his anger slipping away slowly. But he still fought from giving the Louis victory of a smile.
As the second verse drew to a close, with Louis pointing out Harry as all he wanted for Christmas supposedly, he pulled the biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes he could muster, begging Harry to join in. Harry just shook his head slightly, pursing his lips, triggering Louis to mime his heart breaking. He sighed heavily.
“And all these lights are shining, so brightly everywhere….”
Louis face lit up, grin from ear to ear as he watched Harry. He was stiff at first, rolling his eyes with a slightly bemused expression, making it clear he was just humouring Louis. But slowly, giggles crept in, and by the third line, he was gone. Dramatic hair flicks and miming into pretend microphone joined the act. Louis seized his hand for the final chorus, looking into each other’s eyes, and pouring on excessive cheesiness into the lyrics. Soon, the song drew to a close, and they stayed, staring at each other, giggles leaking from their mouths through stifling fingers. Louis watched the last of the anger disappear from Harry’s eyes, and breathed a slight sigh of relief. Darting forward, he pressed a sweet kiss to Harry’s cheek, before twisting round to face window screen.
“Traffics moving Haz. Eyes on the road.”
Harry twisted round, shifting the gear stick and pressing down on the accelerator, creeping forward, grin still firmly plastered on his face. Louis resumed his staring out the window, fingers still tracing lazy circles into the rough fabric of Harry’s jeans, and a soft smile on his face. He had succeeded in making his love happy. And that was all he really wanted.