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Louis is already falling asleep on the plane ride home. He had surprised Harry with a weekend trip to New York just before Christmas but now they’re headed home and he is exhausted. Harry has to shake him awake gently when they’re about to land and he picks his head up lazily from Harry’s shoulder, blinking his eyes open.
Harry drags his boyfriend through customs and into a cab so they can head home. It’s after midnight and frost is biting at their noses and fogging up the taxi windows. Louis reaches a finger over to the window and traces the outline of a heart in it before writing a tiny “L+H” inside.
Harry chuckles lightly and stretches his arm around Louis, pulling the smaller boy in until his head falls onto Harry’s shoulder. Harry kisses him on the cheek and rubs his thumb in small circles on his arm. Louis’ breath begins to even out, tickling the crook in Harry’s neck. He smiles, feeling his heart well up with love for the older boy. He would be content to just sit there, holding his sleeping boyfriend for the rest of his life.
The cab driver pulls up to Louis’ apartment complex and Harry pays him before pulling his and Louis’ bags out of the car. Louis slumps slightly at his boyfriend’s absence, frowning and curling closer into the seat. Harry pulls both bags onto his shoulders, one resting on each hip. He considers waking up Louis but the sleeping boy looks so peaceful that he can’t bear to wake him. He instead thanks god that he’s been going to the gym so much lately and reaches in to pick Louis up.
The cab driver looks at him sympathetically and turns off the car, waving a hand.
“Hey, come on, hand me one of the bags, I’ll take it up for you. It’s Christmas, after all.”
Harry thanks the cab driver profusely, sliding one bag off of his shoulder and handing it gratefully to the man. He picks Louis up princess style, heart fluttering when Louis arms slide comfortably around his neck and his head nestles into Harry’s chest. The smaller boy’s face crinkles against the before-dawn frost that cuts through the air and Harry pulls him tighter in to his chest, trying to warm him.
Once they’re inside the apartment, Harry tries to give the cab driver an extra tip but the man refuses it, insisting that it’s all part of the Christmas spirit. Harry thanks him again and then it’s just him and Louis in the apartment. He kicks off his shoes and pushes open the bedroom door with his hip. He leans over carefully to lay Louis down on the bed. He unbuttons and slides off the older boy’s jeans and pulls the blankets over him.
He sits down with one knee up on the bed and looks down at the sleeping boy. A hopeless sigh escapes his lips.
“I love you, Loubear,” he whispers, quietly enough that it won’t wake him.
He considers bringing the bags into the room first but the fatigue of the trip is starting to catch up to him and Louis’ warm little body looks like it’s begging to be held so he just pushes off his own jeans and slides in next to Louis.
He wraps his arms around him, pulling the small boy’s frostbitten little nose in to be warmed by Harry’s soft t-shirt. Harry rests his chin on top of Louis’ head before kissing his hair softly and drifting off to sleep.