Archive of Our Own ^beta

Louis hadn’t really considered that this could happen to him. He hadn’t expected X-FACTOR either though and maybe that should have taught him. But really, there was absolutely no way to expect Harry Styles. For Louis it was like meeting a kindred spirit. An adorable, curly-haired kindred spirit. He was more than okay with that kind of surprise and latched onto Harry (literally sometimes) like maybe he was a little bit scared he’d disappear otherwise. Luckily Harry didn’t seem to mind and clung to him right back. They grew close so fast Louis had trouble imagining life without Harry after only a few weeks. He was pretty sure Harry felt the same. It was like they knew everything about each other instinctively. All the important things anyway.

The shirt Harry wore for their “So What?” performance though completely blindsided him. It wasn’t even just the shirt, he’d been there when Harry had tried it on for the first time, but something about seeing him belt out how he was a rock star in it was different. It made something hot churn low in Louis’s gut and suddenly he noticed just how low that neckline really was and that the pendants dangling from the simple chain around Harry’s neck were quite tantalizing against the pale skin of his pecs, thank you very much. (Pecs! Louis had never paid attention to pecs before!)

Performances always sort of rushed by without him really noticing that he was in them, but this time he was actually worried about missing his cues. Muscle memory only got you so far and Harry was so incredibly distracting; swaying and bopping and flirting with the girls in the first row. Louis considered it lucky for the first time that their line-up put Liam in between Harry and him. At least like this he could only see him in the very corner of his eye. It was much easier to ignore him there.

Still he almost ran into Matt when he followed Harry up the stairs. Luckily the moment was brief enough to not disrupt the flow of the performance. He was rather glad that Harry was sat behind him, even though he could feel the heat coming off the other boy in waves in that short moment when Harry’s hand bumped into his shoulder. Or maybe that was his own body heating up.

The crowd exploded into cheers and then the lights went out before the regular lighting came back on and they left the stage. Louis could feel the buzz of excitement in his veins and the almost delirious confusion that swam with it. His legs were shaking and when Zayn slung an arm over his shoulders, pulling him in a little, he felt his knees buckle and he staggered a bit.

“Whoa, you okay, mate?” Zayn asked and stepped back, his arm slipping from Louis’s shoulders to grip his upper arm tightly.

“Louis?” Harry must have had heard Zayn and turned around, because suddenly he was at Louis’s other side, holding him up much the same way the other boy did. Niall and Liam hovered in the background, worried expressions on their faces and Louis hated putting them there.

“’M fine,” Louis assured them, but when Zayn experimentally let go of his arm and he tried to take a step, he had to concentrate far too much to not fall over.

“You’re not fine,” Harry declared and pulled Louis’s arm across his own shoulders, holding onto it with his hand and slinging his other arm around Louis’s waist.

“I’m taking him back to the dressing room,” he told the others who nodded and stepped aside for him.

“Make sure he gets some water and sugar,” Liam said.

“I know,” Harry rolled his eyes but shot the other three a reassuring smile.

“We’ll come get you when we’re needed back on stage,” Niall offered and Harry nodded his thanks and began steering Louis down the corridor.

“I’m not an invalid, Harry, I can walk by myself,” Louis insisted, trying his best to ignore the way Harry’s shirt fell open from leaning forward slightly to support Louis’s weight.

“Don’t be daft. You barely manage not to trip over your own feet on a good day,” Harry joked.

“I resent that notion. I’m the most graceful person you’ve ever met, Styles!”

Harry huffed in amusement, but nodded.

“True. No one else I know manages to stumble without actually falling quite as much and as spectacularly as you do.”

“You wound me, Hazza,” Louis complained. He could feel the buzzing recede and his strength coming back a little though. Still, it was probably a good thing that Harry insisted on holding on to him. He only hated how it made everyone stop and stare at them like he was bleeding all over the carpet. It was just a little sugar low, nothing else. Harry seemed to be doing a good job of shooting everyone “chill out, I got this” looks though and no one actually stopped them.

Harry let go of Louis’s hand for a moment to open the door to their dressing room and sat the other boy down on the battered sofa before turning back around and closing the door. There was bottled water and a couple of bags of candy and when Louis grabbed a bottle, Harry very decisively took it from him and unscrewed the cap before handing it back. Louis shot him a dark look.

“Seriously, Harry, it’s not that bad,” he insisted. Harry chuckled a little.

“I know, I just like riling you up.”

“You’re a very mean person,” Louis mumbled half-heartedly before taking careful sips from the bottle. It did feel good and his stomach wasn’t too queasy to take it so that was probably good. On the other hand, Harry was still standing right in front of him and Louis didn’t want to look up at his chest, but really didn’t want to look at his, ehem, lower half, any more because if this was where his thoughts were going today then, well…

“I know. You tell me frequently,” Harry answered easily and reached to the side to grab a roll of Fizzers. Louis settled for watching his fingers untwist one end and taking three of them out (not that smart an idea either). It was only when he lowered the water and Harry pushed his fingers and the candy into Louis’s face that he realized those were meant for him, not for Harry himself. Too startled to do anything else, Louis obediently opened his mouth and let Harry feed him the candy. His fingers bumped into Louis’s lips on their retreat and Louis just knew that Harry could see the slight flush that spread over his cheeks.

God damn it, what was wrong with him today?

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Harry asked, voice concerned and reached the Fizzers-free hand forward to put it on Louis’s forehead. Louis very decidedly did not look at Harry’s torso at that and instead ground the candy in his mouth into little pieces before swallowing it.

“You’re a little hot,” he observed, taking his hand back off Louis’s head and Louis really, really didn’t mean to say it, but suddenly he could hear his own voice echo back into his ears.

“Well, so are you.”

Harry didn’t even miss a beat but threw his head back and let out a loud laugh at that. It wasn’t really all that rare for Louis to make an off-handed comment about how Harry was the prettiest of them or how all the girls adored his curls. It would have been a blessing that Harry hadn’t realized how very much Louis had meant what he had said, had Louis’s blood not decided to rush into his cheeks again.

“Are you sure you’re alright? You’re all flushed.” Harry drew he brows closer together and shot Louis a concerned look. Louis rubbed a hand over his face and shot Harry a short look. He could of course say that he was not feeling all that well – but that would be lying and sooner or later (probably sooner rather than later) people would find out and that would not be fun at all. And on the off chance that they did believe him, they’d put him in bed for a couple of days, the lads would be extra stressed and he would miss practices. So really, the truth was the only way to go.

“I’m not flushed,” he mumbled. “I’m blushing.”

“Oh,” Harry said.

The awkwardness stretched between them for seemingly endless moments and Louis had a quick internal debate about whether he should just try and convince Harry that he had been joking after all before dismissing the idea. Honesty was always the best policy.

“Well, I can’t say I blame you. I mean, look at me,” Harry grinned, obviously having come to terms with Louis’s admission. Louis just made a pathetic little noise (that he would not admit to EVER) and buried his face in his hands.

“No, come on, it’s alright,” Harry tried to comfort Louis, a little laughter still evident in his voice. Louis only shook his head, his face still hidden behind his hands. The younger boy tried laying a hand on his shoulder and pushing him upright, but Louis shrugged the hand off.

“Louis,” Harry said decisively and knelt before his friend, dropping the roll of Fizzers reaching for his hands to pull them off his face. Louis wouldn’t let his hands be moved though and Harry didn’t want to force him into anything.

“It’s alright, really. You’ve said it loads of times before,” Harry shrugged. “So you think I’m pretty. Everyone thinks I’m pretty. It’s not a big deal or anything.”

Louis made an anguished noise in the back of his throat and lowered his hands to look at Harry.

“You don’t understand!”

“Well, then, explain,” Harry asked, his face showing his earnest concern for his friend. Louis took a shaky breath and raked a hand through his usually very meticulous hair that started to stick up at odd angles.

“It’s not that I think you’re pretty… Well… I do and you are, but that’s not…” he tried, but cut himself off after a little while and pushed a hand through his hair again.

“It’s okay,” Harry encouraged him and Louis couldn’t believe that all he could think of was still how Harry looked almost beautiful now. The honesty seemed to make his face softer and his curls framed his features perfectly as always. The stage outfit really didn’t help either and all he wanted to do was devour that boy when all Harry wanted to do was to help him.

“It’s not that I think you’re pretty,” Louis started again, more quietly this time and Harry subconsciously leaned forward to hear him better and licked his lips in anticipation. Not a good move. Or a very good move. Louis couldn’t really decide at the moment and he didn’t really want to either.

“It’s more that all I can think about is how ridiculously low cut that shirt you’re wearing is and that your skin looks really soft and that your lips are all pink and shiny because you’ve licked them just now and I just want to grab you and kiss you till we’re both out of breath because you’re ridiculously attractive and if I think about this for too long, I’ll probably get really turned on.”

Harry didn’t say anything, just waited to see if Louis had any more to say.

“And I promise tonight’s the first time this has happened and I’ve never thought about this before and I’m really sorry; it’ll probably never happen again, it’s just… well…” he made a helpless gesture with one of his hands in Harry’s general direction before wringing his hands together. His focused his eyes down onto his and Harry’s shoes and tried to ignore the way his cheeks heated up.

“Hey,” Harry tried to catch Louis’s attention and when that didn’t work, he lowered his face so he could catch Louis’s eye and bring him up to eye level again. “Like I said, it’s alright.”

“It really isn’t,” Louis shook his head.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Harry grumbled and leaned forward to press his lips against Louis’s for a short moment. “See? No big deal.”

Louis got stuck somewhere between groaning and laughing and trying to ignore just how much his lips tingled from just this very brief contact.

“You can’t do that,” he complained but couldn’t help somehow feeling relieved. There was something wrong with them, he decided.

“Yeah, I can,” Harry grinned back and put his hands on Louis’s thighs.

“You really can’t,” Louis insisted, but didn’t stop Harry from pushing himself up until he was right in Louis’s face. He himself wasn’t even really sure he’d meant that.

“Stop me then,” Harry grinned, the tilt of his mouth a very obvious challenge.

“Not a chance,” Louis grinned back and instead leaned forward to capture Harry’s lips in the searing kind of kiss he’d imagined for the past 20 minutes. He didn’t waste a lot of time of getting acquainted with the feel of Harry’s lips or the way they fit over his, instead opting to push his tongue forward. Harry apparently didn’t mind, opening his mouth to his friend eagerly. Their tongues bumped into each other clumsily before twirling around each other and drawing a heartfelt groan from one of the boys. Neither was sure who had uttered it and neither particularly cared.

Harry let go of Louis’s thighs and wound his arms around his neck instead, climbing onto the sofa fully, straddling the other boy. Louis’s hands in turn wound around Harry’s waist, pulling him in until they were pressed together as tightly as possible.

“I don’t know how you do this to me,” Louis whispered when he tore his mouth free, peppering kisses down the column of Harry’s neck.

“I’m not doing anything to you,” Harry shot back, pushing one hand up into Louis’s hair, messing it up further, burying his fingers in the long strands. Louis ignored him, and bit and licked at every piece of skin he could reach. Using his hold on Harry’s waist, Louis leaned the boy backward, so he could trail his kisses lower, following the line of the chain and sucking that pendant into his mouth along with the skin.

“Oh God, you can’t…” Harry started, but cut himself off with a gasp. Louis soothed the bite with his tongue, sucking the flesh into his mouth and pressing his tongue against it.

“Louis, you can’t… people will see…” Harry reminded him and tugged at his hair.

“Stop me then,” Louis growled, throwing Harry’s earlier words back at him. Harry just gave a cheeky grin and hauled Louis back up, pressing against his shoulders and using his own body to push Louis back against the backrest of the sofa, pressing their lips together again. Louis’s hands abandoned their position on Harry’s back. Instead one of them crept inside his open shirt, coming to lie right over where his heart was beating faster than usual while the other clung to his hip, Louis’s thumb brushing teasingly against the fabric of Harry’s green boxers.

“Best idea you’ve had all day,” Harry grinned against Louis’s lips before giving him another peck.

“Agreed,” Louis grinned back, pushing forward for another kiss.

“You’re okay, then?” Harry asked, leaning out of Louis’s immediate reach and shooting him a concerned look.

“Yeah, I am. It really was just a sugar low or something. Though where did those Fizzers go?”

Harry reached to the side, grabbing the roll of candy. Louis just opened his mouth, signaling that he expected to be fed. Raising a not exactly dainty eyebrow Harry shoved the entire roll into Louis’s mouth, before leaning back to laugh at his outraged expression. While Harry was busy laughing, Louis chewed the candy pallets in an alarmingly quick manner, before pulling Harry back in and pressing their lips together for another kiss, pushing at least part of the sweet mush into Harry’s mouth before Harry snapped his mouth shut and moved back again.

“Gross!” he exclaimed, but didn’t really have another choice than to swallow.

“Nothing you haven’t had in your mouth before,” Louis grinned at him and then shot a look at the door.

“The others are probably gonna show up soon.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re still sitting on me.”

“That’s not that unusual.”

“You’re straddling me.”

“Okay, that is unusual,” Harry sighed and moved so he sat on the sofa beside Louis, his legs draped over the other’s lap. Louis shot him a smile and started sorting out his hair. Not a moment too soon either, as the door swung open a moment later and Liam, Zayn and Niall piled into the room.

“I’m alright,” Louis said before any of the boys could even ask. “Just a little low on blood sugar.”

“Harry feed you candy then?” Niall asked, grinning, and earned himself laughter from Harry and a wicked grin from Louis.

“Yep. All better now.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” Zayn murmured and left the room, shaking his head. Liam grinned at them like he didn’t need to know what happened in order to be amused and Niall grinned a broad “Come on, lads, time to see what Great Britain has decided”.

Harry swung his legs off the couch and stood up, bouncing on the balls of his feet a little before offering a hand to Louis and pulling him up with rather more strength then necessary, making them collide for a moment. Harry drew one corner of his mouth up into a wicked smirk before running out the room, slinging an arm around Liam’s shoulders. Louis stared after him and shook his head to himself. He wasn’t entirely sure how they had ended up here, but he was going to make the most of it while it lasted.