Chapter Twenty Nine

They spend the better part of three hours wandering around the small setting. Despite the small size, each of them seemed to get caught up in looking intently through the shops they wandered through. Niall and Louis had left twenty minutes ago in search of their third round of ice cream sourced from a rather amazing sweets shop across the green. Zayn was still caught up in talking with the shop owner and main artists in one of the painting and photography stores which left Liam and him wandering aimlessly towards the look out over the estuary.

Evening was drawing nearer and the faint glow from the setting sun lit up the murky water below. A dozen or so people meandered their way along the retreating tide, small children running around after each other.

"It never gets old being able to go places and nobody recognizes you. As if we were just like every other person, here to enjoy ourselves and not to escape from the mayhem of what our lives have become." Liam muses as they lean against the stone wall.

"Bit heavy for the first night of a holiday don't you think?"

"The truth though." He pauses for a moment, Liam's gaze slowly taking in the stunning view before him. "We're lucky you know, that we get the chance to come back and do this. That we were big enough that people still care. I know we all went off and did our own individual things and were goddam successful doing it, but I wouldn't give up this chance for the world. Being back with you guys is how we started, I'd have hated never getting the opportunity to do this again."

He didn't have any words for that, what more could he say? They were so god dam privileged to be doing this, too have such a dedicated fan base and people who this time round are actually on their side. And this time, they'd get it right.

~~~

They put Niall's profession switch to good use that night. Seated around a large outdoor setting venue at a standard restaurant Niall and Liam had got chatting to a middle aged couple seated behind them and sure enough had spun a massive tale about the five of them. The story had rambled on for a good half hour of conversation, how Niall and Liam had managed to keep up with the lies they were spinning was beyond him, but it had certainly been entertaining. He'd gone along with his fashion designer persona when he'd been asked a question by the husband and had told him that his greatest inspiration was Alessandro Michele, was he supposed wasn't a lie.

Louis had been the absolute standout however. Even Niall couldn't compete with Louis endless charm and wit as he'd spun his own story about his 'teachers training'. Harry had spent the entire time trying to hide firstly his amusement at the blatant lies Louis was telling the couple who had sat engrossed listening to him speak, and trying not to reminisce of the times they'd sat together in their houses or in hotel rooms across the world making up scenarios of if they'd met in their lives outside of the circumstances they had. The lives they could have lived together away from the spotlight.

The couple had been entranced by his worlds, completely falling for his story and had bid the five of them goodnight with great enthusiasm. The minute the five of them were on their way back towards their house along a dimly lit path they'd burst out laughing. Thankfully no one had been around to witness seeing five grown men fall over themselves at their own personal joke.

None of them had had more than two drinks so they could hardly blame it on any alcohol. Still they managed to all stumble over each other as they pushed through the door and tumbled into the living room onto the sofas. Harry landed first on the sofa, sprawling over the entire thing as the others plonked down onto their own chairs. Louis made to walk past him and he felt himself drawn to the movement. They were trying to move past their awkwardness, get back to a stage of feeling comfortable around one another and honestly he was tired of pretending he still wasn't so immensely drawn to Louis. He reached out and settled his hands either side of Louis' waist, pulling him down to lie beside him on the sofa. Louis came easily, not resisting Harry's slight tug on his waist and curled up against Harry's back, arms curled up before him with his head resting back against Harry's chest.

Completely ignoring the slight stammering in his chest, his left arm draped lazily over Louis stomach, the other tucked beneath his own head. None of the others commented on their newfound proximity though Harry didn't miss the knowing glance Zayn shot them both. They'd all spent enough years becoming accustomed to his and Louis' constant need to be touching each other. Not always romantically or sexually, but just that constant need to be connected to the person they loved, it was simply how the dynamic between them worked.

Harry didn't listen to the conversation carrying on around them, his mind too caught up in the reality of having Louis in his arms again. It wasn't the same as it had once been, but it was more than he ever thought he'd have again.

He'd struggled over the past four years thinking of moving on to a love life that wasn't with Louis. How someone could be so different yet compliment him so completely he'd never fully understood, but he'd missed it endlessly none the less.

He knew both he and Louis were vulnerable around one another for the moment. He knew Louis well enough by now to know he at least was confused in being around him again, that he too was struggling to define any boundaries. Despite the years they'd had to grow up they had always been so in tune with one another, cliché and all he felt he could read Louis almost better than he could himself.

Louis coming so easily down into him only strengthened that thought, his thoughts slipping from one thought to the next and he vaguely registered his fingers drawing circular patterns over the think fabric of Louis shirt.

Hesitating the moment he realised what the was doing, he continued when he felt Louis push back further into him, as if he'd felt Harry's hesitation and was reassuring him. He began tracing the patterns again, trying to focus on the conversation instead of his thoughts.

"...Back in the studio for another round maybe late August and then we'll go to..."

"How we could incorporate that section into the songs, weave them together and create a new sound...."

"Draw some inspiration from this one artist who I met..."

He gave up after another couple of minutes, his heart racing and mind tumbling over his own thoughts. Instead he nuzzled further down into the sofa, tightening his grip around Louis and shut his eyes.

"Haz." A voice sounded from far away, bringing him slowly back into consciousness. His name sounded again and he blinked his eyes open.

He was still pressed into the couch, the room now dark and the curtains drawn. It took him a moment before his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw Louis leaning down over him. One knee pressed into the sofa in front of his chest and his hand resting gently on his shoulder.

"You should head to bed, you'll suffer for it in the morning if you stay on the couch."

"How long was I out?" He asked in a low drawl, tiredly forcing his eyes to remain open.

"Two hours. The others just headed upstairs."

"Right." Drawing his legs over the side of the sofa he braces himself as he pushes up off the sofa and stands on slightly swaying feet. Louis slinks an arm around his waist and he leans gratefully into him. Louis smelt like the rain, he smelt like home. Warmth radiating from him as they slowly walked towards the stairway.

"I've got it." He says as he reaches the first step, Louis' room being only on the first floor.

"You look like you're about to drop and fall asleep on the steps Haz, I'm coming with you."

He doesn't bother arguing further than that, his mind to fumbled by sleep to do so. Louis stays patiently by his side as he navigates the steps and fumbles along the silent corridor to his room.

Louis pushes open the door to his room, the faint glow from the lamps guiding the pathways outside filtering into the room through the open window. Louis lowers him down on the side of the bed and immediately steps away to close the curtain, engulfing the room in sudden darkness. He hears the sound of two things colliding followed by a string of mumbled curses and struggles to contain his laughter.

"I thought I was meant to be the clumsy one."

"Oh don't start that with me Styles." Louis grumbles back but that only makes him laugh harder.

He knows he should be more considerate with Liam on the same level as his room but there's a bathroom and linen closet separating their rooms and doesn't think the sound would travel that far.

"You should really get out of those clothes you know." Louis says after his laughter has faded.

"Bit forward in our relationship don't you think?" Harry blurts out before his brain can filter the words and he mentally slaps himself for letting that come out.

"Very funny, you know exactly what I mean. Besides, I've seen you without clothes on enough to be used to the sight."

"Is that so?" He says lowly, trying his best to suppress the sudden rush of heat through his body.

"Yes, now stay still." Louis says, shuffling towards him in the dark but his rushed words don't do much to convince Harry that Louis isn't currently blushing almost as deeply as he was right now. He really didn't know how they'd both so blindly fallen into this topic.

Louis' hands fumble over his shoulder, hands moving down and slowly begin undoing the few buttons down up on his shirt. Heart pounding in his chest he doesn't dare move or try to say that he's well capable of doing this himself despite his tiredness. Instead he barely breaths as Louis pops open the last of the buttons and slides the shirt down his arms. In the faint light of the room he can just make out the blue of Louis' eyes staring intently back at him.

Louis' voice is heavy when he says, "I think you can probably manage the trousers."

The bed shifts as Louis moves off of it, backing away towards the door and blindly fumbles for the handle. "Night Haz." He says and slips out of the door without another word.

He sits dumbfounded for a while, mind racing to try and understand everything that just happened. How on earth had the night progressed to the point where Louis had practically half undressed him?

Managing to up do the clips holding his trousers together he slips them off, laying them over the back of the armchair beside his bed and slips beneath the covers. The phantom trace of Louis' fingers burning like a brand across his bare skin. Groaning to himself, wondering what on earth he did to deserve being teased by the very person he was well on his way to making amends with.

Louis felt something, there was no way he didn't. That didn't explain how the two of them were slotting so seamlessly back together again. Louis hadn't said a word about them cuddling together on the couch earlier, as if he had craved it as much as he had. Harry now knew that Louis didn't let him go back then because he didn't love him anymore, he had let him go because he had loved him too much. Those feelings still bright beneath the surface despite all the time they'd spent apart.

Whatever was happening between them was developing rapidly after their shared forgiveness, what he really wanted, needed, to know right now, was where Louis stood with this.

He knew without having to dig too deep in himself that he wanted Louis back. There was no way he could love Louis the way he did back then, and not been able to move on for four years to not feel that way now. Louis was his match in every possible way. Harry missed him in every conceivable way possible, and now with things mostly settled between them he needed to know how Louis felt in this.

The main problem, he thought solemnly to himself, was that Louis still wasn't out. His contract with Eleanor didn't end till December and technically he was still under Syco despite his current ongoing efforts to leave the label. Even if they got back together, they would still have months to face in secret as they once had done. It had broken them apart once before and the thought of going through that again was too unbearable to consider. He wouldn't rush into this blindly, despite how much his heart craved too, especially when he and Louis still hadn't even discussed this yet.

Louis not being out wasn't the deciding factor in this. If the contract would truly end in December, he'd easily wait till then to be able to claim Louis as his publicly. They'd spent five years in the closet, a few more months wouldn't be all that difficult in comparison. It was that he hadn't even spoken properly with Louis about his coming out, whether he would want to do so any time soon. Sure they'd briefly spoken of it early on but not completely. This would be Louis choice, and his alone. This was something for him.

But that didn't stop him from wanting to be the one to stand at Louis side when he did so. Wanted it more than anything to stand proudly in front of the world and claim Louis as his and his alone.

Jesus, they'd only fully made up yesterday and here he was trying to plan their future together again!

He was really getting over his head with all this. But when had he ever not wanted to do everything with Louis, maybe they were still a long way off being what they once had been, but he knew without even having to consider it that he'd wait till the end of time to be with Louis.