Chapter Seventeen

Lou slumped against his bus seat, trying to keep his eyes open for the twenty minute bus ride.

When he finally got to the right stop, he stumbled up to his building, hands trembling a little as he fumbled with his ID card and struggled to type in the passcode to get into the building.

He closed his eyes as the elevator took him up to the seventh floor, but the floor already felt like it was moving, so it wasn't too much of a difference.

He headed straight for Harry's room, squinting against the harsh florescent lights as he knocked on Harry's door.

"Hi," Louis singsonged when Harry finally opened the door. "I missed you," he said, latching onto the younger boy as soon as he could.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, sounding like he'd just woken up.

"Mmmm you're sexy, I wish I were dancing with you," Louis mumbled into Harry's shoulder, trying to sway a little back and forth.

"Lou, are you... drunk?" Harry asked, holding back a laugh.

"Little bit," Louis admitted, giggling softly.

"I can dance with you if that's what you want," Harry smiled, holding Lou's shoulders and swaying slowly.

"Not that type of dancing," Louis whispered. He started moving his hips against Harry's and the younger boy's cheeks flushed before he gently moved Louis away.

"Not right now, okay?" Harry said, "You're really drunk, Lou, you should probably just get some rest, do you need help getting into bed?"

"Mmmm are you gonna come to bed with me?" Louis asked, tugging on the hem of Harry's pajama shirt.

"Yeah, just sit down on the bed and I'll help you with your shoes and stuff, okay?" Harry said, helping Louis sit down on the bed.

Harry got down on his knees to undo Louis' shoes, and he looked up to see Louis biting his lip.

"Look so pretty like that," Louis murmured.

Harry blushed, and finished getting Louis out of his shoes.

"Did you need help getting out of your jeans as well?" Harry asked carefully.

Louis nodded, and Harry slowly unbuttoned them and let Lou lift up his hips so he could shimmy the older boy's skinny jeans off his legs.

"Here, let me get you some pjs," Harry said, ruffling through his dresser drawer until he found a pair.

Louis managed to get on the pajama pants easily enough, but he struggled with the shirt, so he lifted his hands up and let Harry put it on for him.

Lou pulled Harry onto the bed for a kiss, and quickly deepened it, tugging at Harry's shirt to keep him close. Lou dipped his hands a little under the waistband of Harry's pajama bottoms, whining a little when Harry moved his hands away.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Don't you want me to...?" Louis asked, confusion muddling everything.

Harry sat down on the bed next to him, leaving a little space between the two of them and resting his hand softly on the older boy's knee. "I don't even want to think about doing anything with you right now, Lou, of course not, you're too drunk."

"That's never stopped anyone else," Louis said softly, looking up at Harry with wide blue eyes that were watering slightly.

"Oh, Lou," Harry said, his brows drawing together in concern. "I'm really sorry."

Louis hiccuped, and drew his knees to his chest. "It's just you've known me for, for a few months now and I haven't given you anything, I don't know, I don't know what... what you're getting from me, don't know why you keep me around."

Louis' words were muddled and slurred, but Harry understood him.

"You're more than just a body, Lou," Harry murmured, smoothing out Louis' tangled hair with his fingers.

"Doesn't feel like it," Louis mumbled, burying his face into the crook of Harry's shoulder.

"I could go on for hours about how much you light up every room that you walk into," Harry said. "But you wouldn't remember it in the morning." He smiled a little, and ran his thumb across Louis' knuckles.

"Tell me anyway," Louis said softly.

"I don't know... there's just so many little things." Harry said, "It's just... like the way your eyes crinkle up when you smile, and the way you drink a ridiculous amount of tea, and how you seem so confident when you're singing in front of everyone even if I know deep down you must be a little nervous. And I know you're a little self conscious of this," Harry moved his hand onto Louis' small belly, "And these," he patted Louis' thighs, "But you really don't need to be... you're just, you're so perfect to me, Lou."

"Are we... are we boyfriends?" Louis asked, wrapping his arms around the younger boy.

"Um, I don't- we haven't talked about that yet," Harry stammered.

"Do you want to be boyfriends?" Louis asked.

"Will you remember when you're sober?" Harry asked.

Louis nodded, looking up at Harry eagerly.

"Then yes," Harry said, his face lighting up in a smile.

Louis smiled back and pressed his lips against Harry's. He didn't really move them, just pressed them there, got tired and slumped back against the younger boy's shoulder. Harry bit his tongue to keep from laughing.

"Are you gonna sleep now, Lou?" Harry asked, nudging Louis softly.

"Mhmm," Louis murmured. He was sluggish, and his eyes were reddened, but he looked up at Harry with one more smile before he collapsed onto the pillows.

Louis' phone started buzzing and Harry quickly fished it out of Louis' jeans, handing it to Lou to answer.

"Mm you answer it," Louis mumbled into the pillow.

Harry decided to just let whoever it was go to message, but as soon as it stopped, it started up again.

"Hello?" Harry answered.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but you need to lay your hands off my friend, he's too fucking drunk for this right now. Tell me your address- I'll pick him up and we won't have any problems, alright? But if you make this difficult on me, I will make it difficult for you, understand?"

"Liam?" Harry asked. "What's going on?"

"Oh! Harry, thank God," Liam sighed in relief. "Oh thank God, do you have Louis with you?"

"Yeah, yeah I do... my roommate went home for reading week on Friday night, so I have the room to myself. I'll keep an eye on him until he's sobered up," Harry said, rubbing Louis' back gently. He turned to face the older boy, nudging his shoulder slightly. "Liam's on the phone, Lou, wanna say hi?"

Louis took the phone from Harry and pressed it against his ear, his eyes closed as he talked, clearly too tired to keep them open. "Hi," Louis mumbled into the phone. "Yeah... yeah I know... uh huh... mmm sorry Liam... love you so much..." he giggled. "Thanks, Liam, byeee."

He passed the phone back to Harry.

"Is everything okay?" Harry asked Liam, his voice a little hushed even though Louis seemed too drunk to be too involved in anything other than bundling himself up in Harry's sheets.

"Yeah," Liam said. "Yeah, just worried about him. He was at the bar tonight and there was this older guy that wouldn't leave him alone, I thought he followed him to the bus stop." Liam let out a shaky breath. "Take care of him, alright?" Liam said.

"I will," Harry promised.

"Well, goodnight," Liam said, his voice still sounding a little tense, like he couldn't shake the fear that something could have happened to Louis.

"Liam?" Harry said.

"Yeah?"

"He's really lucky to have a friend like you," Harry said.

"Thanks," Liam replied.

"Night," Harry said, and hung up Louis' phone, setting it gently on his desk.

He settled under the covers, with Louis curled up against his chest, completely knocked out from a long night of drinking.

"I'm really glad you're okay..." Harry whispered, and kissed Louis gently on the forehead. "...boyfriend," he added, smiling to himself before trying to wrangle some of the blankets out of Louis' tight grasp.

A/N: Hey everyone! How's life? (mine's a bit of a mess right now, but it's also pretty good, life is weird)

So I decided to dedicate chapters to people just to say thanks for being here and reading this :) The only problem was that there's more people I want to dedicate to than there are chapters! so my plan is to scroll through my notifications with my eyes closed and pick one (basically, if you comment/vote a lot, you might get a chapter dedicated to you!).

Also, I decided to go back and add a Polaroid pic for every chapter, it just felt like something cute to add to the story? what do you guys think?

Oh, and one last thing, I'm starting to really get an idea of where the story is headed, so I just wanted to ask you guys if you like the characters so far (or if you have a favourite scene or anything), or if there's something you think I should add to the story? Anywaaaaay hope everyone's having a good day :)