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They were in the flat they shared cuddled up on the couch trying to stay warm. It had been snowing all day so Harry put on the kettle while Louis got the blankets and picked out a movie. After about thirty minutes into the movie Louis turned slightly towards Harry and smiled as he watched the boys lips curl inward to try and stifle a laugh. Harry noticed the boy out of the corner of his eye and turned to face him. "Penny for your thoughts?" Movie completely forgotten, Harry sat and waited for Louis' reply.
"You're so pretty." Did he just say that out loud? Oops. He watched as Harry's cheeks turned a nice shade of red as he continued talking, "Can we talk?" Harry had recovered from the compliment and had returned his full attention to his best friend.
"Sure Lou, what's up?"
"Promise you won't be mad?" Louis refused to make eye contact, scared if he did he'd turn into a babbling mess. Harry looked confused but promised nonetheless and encouraged Louis to continue. "I might-erm, I might possibly be in love with someone." He tried not to rush as he neared the end of his sentence but that proved to be easier said than done.
"That's great Lou! Why would I be mad about that?" Harry smiled over at him and Louis was still refusing to look up. "Lou? What's wrong? Why did you think I'd be mad?"
"Because of who I'm in love with." Louis's voice was barely above a whisper but knew the other boy heard him. He waited for the inevitable follow up question from Harry as he willed his heart to quit beating so quickly.
"Who are you in love with Louis?"
After sitting in silence for what could have been seconds or minutes Louis spoke,
"You?"
With no reply Louis decided to finally look up. Harry was starring at him with wide eyes that could almost be comical under different circumstances. It was settled though, Harry obviously didn't feel the same way but he didn't want to hurt Louis' feeling so he wasn't saying anything. Not being able to take the quiet anymore Louis stood up and scuttled to the front door while grabbing his keys, he turned back to Harry before quickly saying, "It's fine that you don't feel the same way, it's not a big deal. I just thought you should know. Anyways, I'm going to go stay the night at Liam's, so you can...do whatever." With that he was out the door and into the cold winter snow. He decided to cut through a path of snow and rocks to get to his car faster but he regretted taking the shortcut as soon as he stepped in the snow and realized he walked out of the house with his slippers on and could feel his socks getting wet. He sighed in defeat and kept walking until he heard someone behind him yelling. At the shout of his name he whipped around, immediately feeling the rubber souls of his shoes slip on the snow covered rocks and went crashing to the ground twisting his ankle in the process. Harry was at his side in a second, scooping him up into his arms like he weighed nothing and carrying him back towards their front door.
"Lou are you okay? Why on earth would you go out wearing those shoes when you know the ground is slippery?" Harry scolded louis as he laid him down on the couch. He was reaching to examine the injured leg when Louis pulled away,
"Thanks but I'm sure I'm fine. I'll just have Li look at when I get there, don't worry about it." He looked up to see a genuinely hurt look on Harry's face.
"But you always let me fix you up when you're hurt." Of Harry would pull the puppy dog eyes, even now with Louis completely embarrassed and wanting to be anywhere else but there he couldn't say no to Harry.
"Fine, get the first aid kit." In no time Harry was back with the kit and an ice pack. He gently lifted Louis' leg into his lap and as he rolled up the older lad's pajama pants he noticed a few cuts from where he'd fallen.
"Oh Lou, you scraped yourself up pretty bad here." Louis sat and watched as Harry delicately cleaned his wounds, after he was done wrapping his leg up he grabbed the ice pack and held it firmly in place on Louis bruised ankle. "Why were you leaving?" Instead of answering the question Louis kept his eyes down and picked at the hem of his jumper. "Louis? Please talk to me." Finally Louis looked up,
"Well it's not as if you were saying anything so I figured you were freaking out and needed some time alone."
"I'll be honest, I was freaking out, but not for the reason you think." Louis' face contorted in confusion as he tried to figure out what his friend was saying, "I don't understand Haz, what do you mean?"
"I mean, I've been in love with you for years now but I never said anything because I was sure it was one sided. Then here you are telling me I was wrong and it's mutual, yea I freaked out a bit." Harry finished with a laugh as he watched Louis take in everything he was being told.
"So let me get this straight, you don't hate me?" Harry smiled at Louis,
"Nope."
"And you aren't mad?"
"Oh shut up Lou!" Harry pulled Louis in by the front of his shirt and connected their lips. In Louis' opinion it was everything a first kiss should be; it felt...right, no fireworks like in the movies, just right. Like him and Harry were were completely made for each other, there's no one else in the world they should ever be kissing, and the butterfly's pounding away in Louis' tummy agreed. As they pulled apart Louis leaned forward chasing Harry's lips with a sad sound and Harry laughed while complying by giving him a final chaste kiss before saying, "Now that we have that figured out why don't we finish our movie and you and I can cuddle under all of the blankets till bed time?" Louis snuggled into the crook of Harry's neck to place a quick kiss there before pulling the blankets over them,
"Yea, I can deal with that."