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It had become something of a joke within Louis’ fandom that he never carried his own bags. The theories were never too serious, mostly leaning towards him being too much of a princess to do it himself. In actuality, Louis figured they must have worked out the real reason somewhere between the third and fourth time a fan’s airport video caught him signing with a man who had the most beautiful green eyes and dimples.
...
It had started when Louis met a fan who was hard of hearing and mostly signed frantically while her mom translated for him. He’d been captivated by how quickly she moved and the weirdly illustrative nature of it, even when the motions didn’t seem to have anything to do with the words being spoken to him. When he climbed into bed that night, he couldn’t get it out of his head, trying to copy some of what she’d done from memory and (he was sure) failing miserably. After that, it had only been a matter of time before he’d decided to take up learning the language for himself.
Louis’ classes had been entirely online, which was far from ideal, but with the travel and the need for privacy, there wasn’t a much better option. Just a few months in, he’d been emailed by the instructor with an invite to an event she’d helped organize. The goal was for BSL students to get more experience signing conversationally by meeting with Deaf peers over free tea and coffee, which was hard to say no to. He checked his schedule and, as luck would have it, he’d be in London then. His team was very on board with him going to the event (as long as security could stay close by), figuring it could be good publicity to be seen getting involved with something like that. Not that Louis cared much about the publicity of it all, but it was a nice little bonus.
Arriving at the event, he was pleasantly surprised by the turnout. The small cafe was bustling with people, all signing with each other. He made a quick mental note to find his instructor and offer to donate some money to help cover the costs, because making sure this many people had an open coffee bar couldn’t be cheap.
After ordering himself a black tea with just a bit of milk, Louis found himself waiting for the drink next to a man in a shockingly pink blouse and more rings than he thought would be advisable. He got his attention, pointing at the rings to ask if they made signing any difficult. The man simply laughed, a really lovely sound, loud and honking. Almost like a goose. Louis quickly filed it away under one of his favorite sounds he’d ever heard. The man (Harry, he spelled out) explained that while they did make some signs hard to do perfectly, if everyone was going to be looking at his hands anyway, he wanted to make sure they were his best feature. Louis thought he was very successful in this endeavor, because it was hard to take his eyes off of them. Once they got their respective drinks, they found themselves completely wrapped up in each other for the rest of the event.
...
Now it had been about half a year since he’d met Harry. They were fast friends, texting almost nonstop. When Louis went on tour, he couldn’t see any reason not to invite Harry to join him for as long as he wanted. Which was how they ended up where they were now, signing with each other in the middle of an airport, getting ready to board their next flight.
“Louis!” a fan called out to him, voice sounding slightly muffled.
“One minute, love,” he called back politely, not looking their way. When they didn’t stop shouting, he turned with a frown to see the girl he’d met all those months ago waving at him and positively squealing with delight in a small group of people. His face lit up with recognition and the frown made way for a smile as he walked over to her, motioning for Harry to follow.
He offered a hello to the full group before turning his attention to the girl. NICE TO MEET YOU AGAIN.
YOU SIGN NOW, she signed with a wide grin.
YES BECAUSE YOU , he replied just as excitedly. She looked a little starstruck at the thought. Harry tapped Louis on the shoulder, asking to be introduced. There was no need though, because the girl cut in immediately.
YOUR NAME HARRY I KNOW. MY NAME ELSA. I LOVE YOU.
Harry blushed adorably under the attention. He hadn’t had any of Louis’ fans talk to him like this before in person, though Louis knew he had gained a small following of his own online since people found his Instagram. He hung back in the conversation, choosing to just watch the two chat. Apparently Elsa considered Harry something of a celebrity himself, which made Louis smile to know that his fans loved the man just as much as he did. After a few minutes of back and forth, she suddenly grew shy. Harry asked what was wrong and she hesitantly signed, LOUIS YOUR BOYFRIEND?
If Harry had blushed before, he was absolutely burning red now, looking to Louis for some cue for how to respond. Oh. Well, he had planned on making some sort of occasion out of asking Harry that same question himself, but no time like the present. He gave him a grin, nodding slightly. Harry turned back to the girl, furiously nodding both his head and fist yes, making Louis laugh quietly to himself. He snuck an arm around his waist, pulling him close. He hoped someone got a video, he already wanted to watch the moment back.