Archive of Our Own ^beta

"What?" Harry tears his gaze away from the television and focuses it on Louis, who's watching him smugly. Harry appears to have come into the middle of a conversation that Louis has apparently been holding...with him. He's a bit confused.

"I've convinced Paul that it's absolutely necessary that we stop in Paris, Texas." Harry stares at Louis blankly. "Do you know what they have in Paris, Texas, Haz?"

"The world's largest.... escargot?"

Louis wrinkles his nose. "Ew, why would you even... no. They have a miniature Eiffel Tower! And guess what it has on." He pokes Harry's side.

"Cowboy boots?"

"Close! A cowboy hat! And remember Georgia? You promised you'd pose with me at the next tourist attraction. Well, here's your chance, babe."

"Alright then." Harry pulls Louis against his side, tucks his chin down over the top of Louis' head and focuses back on the episode of Robot Chicken that he and Liam are watching.

They get halfway through another episode before the bus rolls to a stop, and then Paul is calling down from the front of the bus in a horrible approximation of a southern accent, "Welcome to Paris, Texas, y'all!"

Louis stands up, bounces up and down a few times on his toes excitedly before turning around and holding a hand out to Harry. 

"You do remember that we've been to the actual Eiffel Tower, don't you?"

Louis rolls his eyes. 

"Of course I do, but this is the cowboy Eiffel Tower. Don't take this away from me! Now come on." He wiggles his fingers impatiently, eyebrows raised. 

Harry takes his hand and lets Louis pull him up off the sofa and into the bunks so they can put on shoes and sunglasses. He tugs a beanie on over his hair, ducks his head to look in the small mirror stuck to the inside of the storage cupboard that functions as a closet and fusses with his fringe.

"Paris is the city of love, right?" Louis asks from where he's hunched over one knee, tying the laces on one of his trainers.

"Yep," Harry answers as he tucks his phone into the pocket of his jeans and slides his sunglasses up his nose.

"So, like, by extension, we are currently in the other city of love. We should like, go find a tattoo parlor and get hearts tattooed on our arses or something. To commemorate."

Harry snorts. "Yeah, alright Lou."

"I knew you'd agree." Louis pats Harry's bum as he squeezes past and heads toward the bus door. The rest of the guys are already outside, stretching and squinting against the bright summer sun, and Harry blinks behind his shades. True to Louis' word, there is a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower wearing a large red cowboy hat.

"Christ," Harry mutters, both horrified and amused, and Louis sidles up next to him so that their shoulders are pressed together.

"You promised."

"I'd rather the peanut. Let's go back to Georgia."

"Nice try, Styles." He wraps a hand around Harry's elbow so he can't get away, phone clutched in the other hand, and shouts over his shoulder, "Horan!"

Niall is standing half a foot behind them, as it turns out, and he raises an eyebrow at Louis in question. Louis holds his phone out, shakes it impatiently in Niall's face.

"Take a photo of me 'n Haz. And get the whole tower in the frame, please."

He aims a dirty look at Liam, but Liam is too busy trying to convince Zayn that they need to climb the tower to notice.

Harry sighs down at the ground, then figures, why the hell not.

"Here, take one with mine, too." He fishes his phone out of his pocket and tosses it to Niall. Louis claps him on the shoulder.

"That's the spirit! Getting into the excitement, are we Haz?"

"Not really," Harry hums. "Just haven't instagrammed anything in a while."

He and Louis walk closer to the tower, but away from a small cluster of toursists speaking in rapidfire Mandarin. Louis drags Harry close with an arm around his waist, and Harry drapes his across Louis' shoulders, tips his head so his cheek is resting on Louis' hair and smiles, wide and over-bright.

"One, two..." Niall shouts from a ways back, one of their phones held up. 

Just before he calls out a three, Louis murmurs, "Love you, Haz."

Harry's smile shifts into a genuine one, and then Niall is giving them a thumbs up and switching phones. It's Louis' phone, and he knows this one won't be tweeted, so he turns his head until his nose is buried in Louis' hair, tugs him a little bit closer and angles their bodies toward each other.

"Aww," Zayn coos from a few feet away.

Louis flips him off, but he giggles into Harry's chest, then pulls his head back and looks up at him. His eyes are sparkling in the afternoon sun and he says, tone pleased, "Good couple picture. You have fulfilled your promise."

Niall walks over to hand them back their phones, and Harry lets go of Louis so they can take them. He thumbs open instagram and calls up the photo, frames it out and types Paristagram into the text box with a little chuckle, then posts it.

"Right, lads, time to go!" Paul calls from over by the bus.

Harry walks off while Louis and Niall take quick photos of each other with the tower, but he's only gone a few feet when he hears Louis shout, "Piggyback!"

He pauses automatically and braces himself, only stumbles a little when Louis leaps onto his back. He fits his hands under Louis' knees and hitches him a bit higher, then plods toward the bus, feet dragging through the grass. "Christ, you're -"

"Don't you dare say heavy, or I'm sleeping with Zayn tonight."

"No you're not!" Zayn shouts as he climbs the stairs into the bus, and Harry chuckles. 

Louis bounces a little on Harry's back, and Harry staggers, gasps out, "Lou, don't! If we fall, we're going to fall on my face."

"Can't have that," Louis chirps, and he pinches Harry's cheek. "'S our money-maker." Then, as they pass Paul, he pats Harry's chest and says, "Paul! We need to make one more stop in town. Hazza dear and I are getting each others' initials tattooed on our bums to commemorate our visit to the city of love."

"No you're not," Paul sighs, and Harry nods at him.

"No, we're not."

"You lot are no fun," Louis grumbles into Harry's ear.

Harry struggles up the stairs onto the bus, but doesn't put Louis down until they've reached the lounge, where he tosses him onto the sofa. Louis lands with an oof, but before he can sit up, Harry turns and crawls on top of him, pinning him to the cushions with his weight. Louis wraps his legs around the backs of Harry's, ankles fit into the dips behind Harry's knees, and lifts his hands, buries his fingers in Harry's hair under his beanie and scratches lightly at his scalp.

"You're not sleeping with Zayn," Harry mumbles against Louis' chest, and Louis snorts, breath sifting through Harry's fringe.

"Of course I'm not. He doesn't like to cuddle."

"Zayn loves to cuddle," Zayn announces as he enters the room. He drops onto the sofa beside them and pokes Louis on top of the head. "He just doesn't like to cuddle with you because you take up the entire bed."

Louis gasps. "Haz, I think Zayn just called me fat."

"Rude," Harry agrees sleepily.

Louis pokes him on the shoulderblade. "Aren't you going to defend my honor?"

"Mmmm," Harry mumbles. He drags his fingers up Louis' sides so that he shivers, then settles them on either side of Louis' neck, thumbs tucked behind his ears where he knows Louis likes to be rubbed.

Louis sighs and tips his head back to look at Zayn. "Harry's taking a nap, but when we get to Houston, expect a duel in my honor."

"Right," Zayn says, an amused tilt to his mouth. "A duel with the world's largest kitten. How worrying."

"Hey," Harry protests weakly, already half asleep. "'M terrifying."

"Course you are, Haz," Louis murmurs. He scratches at Harry's scalp again, presses a kiss to the top of his head. "Sleep, babe."

"You too," Harry mutters. He strokes behind Louis' ears, smiles at the low rumble in Louis' chest.

"Oooh, is it nap time?" Harry hears Niall say, then the couch is dipping by his feet and a hand is curling around his leg. Zayn mutters something and Harry hears Liam whisper a response, and then Niall says, "Put on some Adventure Time, Z."

The TV starts up, a low murmur and the flicker of lights behind Harry's eyelids, but he doesn't mind.  It's cool and dark in the room, bus vibrating pleasantly underneath them. Louis' chest is rising and falling evenly beneath his cheek, breath ruffling his fringe on every exhale, and Niall's hand is stroking absently over the bone of his ankle, and Harry thinks it might be hard sometimes, being away from home so much and living on a bus, but as long as he's got his family with him, he'll be alright.