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Harry rolled over in bed, his mind in a hazy in-between state of sleep and consciousness. He clumsily felt around the other side of his bed to pull Louis in closer to him, but found it to be empty of his boyfriend.
Louis' absence stirred him further, causing him to yawn and gradually wake himself up more fully to find where Louis had gone to.
As he began to sit up in bed, his ears perked up to a noise coming from the bathroom next to his bedroom. He frowned slightly when he made the sound out to be muffled whimpers and sniffles, his heart sinking as the realization dawned on him.
He sighed heavily and rolled out of bed, feelings of dread affecting his stomach as he wondered why his love was in tears at this time of the night.
He stumbled to his bathroom and leaned against the closed door, sighing again as he heard Louis' panicked whines more clearly.
Harry knocked on the door, just loud enough for Louis to hear. The sniffles ceased immediately, and the bathroom remained silent afterwards.
"Baby? I'm right here, hon. May I come in?" Harry asked in a rough but caring voice.
There was a long pause before he heard Louis sniffle a few more times, hesitating greatly before answering with a shaky, "Uh, y-yeah."
Harry pushed the door open to find Louis standing at the sink, the hem of his sweater soaking wet. Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he struggled to make sense of the scene.
Louis looked back at him with anguish and tears evident in his eyes. His breathing was labored and his hands were fisted in the wet wool sweater.
"I'm so, so sorry, Hazza... I... I never meant to, I'm really sorry, I... I..." Louis stuttered, straining to keep his voice as strong as possible. "It was an accident, Hazza, I'm so-" he cried before cutting himself off again, biting his lip as more tears flowed down his cheeks.
"Hey, hey, Louis. Relax, love, come on. No tears," Harry chided. He advanced towards Louis with open arms. "Take a few deep breaths for me, sweetheart, okay? And then we can talk about this."
Louis nodded miserably, holding himself back only for a moment before leaning in and letting Harry's arms envelope him.
After a few minutes of Harry swaying the two of them in a big hug, he pulled back slightly and tilted Louis' chin up so he could face Louis directly.
"Can you tell me what you were doing in here, angel?" he asked with a kiss to Louis' forehead. "I'm sure everything'll be fine," he added quietly.
Louis took a deep breath and fidgeted briefly, struggling to think of how to start.
"Well, I... um... I was... We were-we were sleeping, Hazza, and... um... I had a dream about you, about, uhm... how you were touching me before we fell asleep, you know..." he explained, his cheeks already a bright red.
Harry let his hand drop from his chin and move to hold Louis' hand in his. "Mhm, I know, sweet pea. Why the tears?" he asked gently, concern layering his voice.
"I, well... I... In the dream, we were touching for a while, and it was really nice, but, um... I woke up, and I... I promise I didn't mean to, but when I woke up, I was all messy like I get when we play?" he asked in a small voice.
"Oh yeah? My angel had a wet dream?" Harry asked with careful interest. "That's not bad, honey, that doesn't mean you're bad," he said softly.
"No, Haz, I... I was... I promise it was an accident, Hazza, but it... it got on your sweater a lot," Louis explained, his voice trailing off to a whisper. Harry glanced down to see Louis holding a handful of the sweater he'd lent Louis right before bed. Upon looking more closely, Harry noticed a wide smear of come in the damp fabric. His eyes travelled back up to meet Louis' again to find more tears streaming down his face.
"I've been trying to clean it," Louis offered in a small voice.
"Oh, honey," Harry said softly, pulling Louis into his chest. He kissed his head and rubbed his back, aiming to gently relax Louis. "Angel, I'm not mad... Not at all, love, I promise you."
Louis gave a small nod where his head rested against Harry's shoulder but offered nothing else.
"It's no big deal, baby. Not at all, yeah?"
"...You sure?" Louis asked quietly.
"Of course, yeah. Nothing to be upset over, sweet pea. It'll come out in the wash. You don't need to mess with it. It'll get taken care of, okay?" Harry asked, cupping Louis' face to speak to him directly again.
"'Kay," Louis mumbled, his cheeks still delicately flushed.
Harry leaned down to give him a warm kiss before pulling back. "Let's get you changed, sweetheart," he said, tugging on the hem of the sweater.
Louis nodded and pulled it off, following Harry into the bedroom. Harry grabbed a clean crewneck sweatshirt from a shelf in his closet and pulled it over Louis' naked body, giving him another kiss and helping fix his hair afterwards.
He gathered the wet sweater in his hands and tossed it in the hamper in the corner of his bedroom before turning back to Louis.
"We okay now, baby?" he asked carefully, wiping leftover tears from Louis' face. "Wanna go back to sleep? Or you want another cup before bed?"
The shy glance from Louis as he bit his lip with unease was enough of an answer for Harry. He firmly ran his big hands down Louis' bum and the backs of his thighs to lift him up into his arms. Louis rested his head on Harry's broad shoulders as Harry carried him to their kitchen. Harry dropped sweet kisses to his hair as he set him down on their counter before going about the kitchen to make the two of them a cup of tea.
Once he had them prepared, he lifted himself onto the counter beside Louis, leaning his head against the smaller boy's.
"Are we okay now, darling?" Harry asked again after they'd taken a few sips.
Louis nodded a bit and remained silent, staring down at the cup in his hands.
Harry waited a few moments before pressing a firm kiss to his temple. "Are you sure, baby?" he whispered against his hair.
Louis sighed quietly. He shrugged slightly before mumbling, "Feel embarrassed, I guess."
Harry nodded before giving him another kiss. "No damage has been done... It'll come out easily, it's okay," he said again.
"No, I meant about... about the other part," Louis confessed quietly.
Harry snaked an arm around his waist and squeezed his hip. "That doesn't make you bad, I promise. Everyone has those dreams sometimes, sweet pea."
Louis traced a finger around the edge of his mug before glancing up shyly at his boyfriend. "You?" he asked quietly.
Harry's cheeks flushed a little as he gave Louis a small smile. "Yeah, of course. I've had a few happy ending dreams about you, love."
"About me?" Louis asked. "What... what do we do in your dreams?" he wondered quietly.
Harry hummed to himself. He ran his hand up and down Louis' side in a comforting way before leaning down to kiss him softly.
"Well," he answered, speaking softly against Louis' mouth, "they always begin like this."