And It's Dark in a Cold December

It was early in the morning, the busy town was still, and would be for another couple of hours, a fresh blanket of snow covering everything, glistening in the early morning light. The peaceful, soothing atmosphere would soon be destroyed though by the small children trudging through the winter wonderland that had descended upon the town overnight. 

Harry lay in bed in what can only be described as a cocoon of blankets and sheets. His fondness for sleeping naked working against him as the temperature dropped to a freezing degree. Louis poked his head into the room as he passed, shaking his head as he went. He couldn’t help the tiny smile that found its way onto his face though, that boy was just too much for him sometimes. Now, Louis wasn’t normally a morning person but even the warm embrace of his comforter couldn’t block out the chilly nip in the air, thus effectively waking him up.

The flat was eerily quiet, an oddity in the Styles-Tomlinson household. The only sound at the moment was the the shuffle of feet across hardwood floor and the click from one of the knobs on the stove being turned on. Then silence once more. Louis stood with his hip against the counter thinking about what the day was  going to hold, but with one look outside he knew. 

The shrill whistle of the tea kettle rung out breaking the silence throughout the flat, but Louis wasn’t worried about his plan. Harry slept like the dead. Louis made his tea with a tiny bit more urgency than normal. He was itching to get on with his plan. Tea made; he quickly opened the back door, holding back a groan as the icy wind hit him like a brick wall, and scooped up a handful of the cold fluff that was snow. 

With tea mugs in hand Lou crept down the hallway towards Harry's room. Harry was in the same position he was in when Louis passed by earlier and for that Louis couldn't be anymore grateful, Harry's back was towards him. Louis set the mugs down on the nightstand and then pried a tiny bit of the covers away from his friend. And without a second thought he shoved the handful of snow he had down the younger boy's back and smashed the covers back into place. 

Harry had bolted upright in bed and exclaimed, "BLOODY HELL LOU! WHAT THE FUCK?"

And the entire time Louis is standing by the side of the bed laughing and enjoying the evil plan his mind had conjured up so early in the morning. But because he was so caught up in praising himself Lou didn't notice the pillow coming straight for his head. The pillow hit him with a soft "oomf" and it happened once more before it registered in his head what was happening. When the switch in his mind clicked on telling him to stop the pillow he grabbed it causing Harry to jerk forward into the nightstand, this in turn caused the still relatively hot tea to spill all over the both of them. But it mostly got Harry, and in that moment he was regretting the fact he preferred to sleep in his birthday suit. 

"Jesus," Louis hissed the tea cooling to room temperature. 

"Lord. Why?" escaped Harry's clenched teeth gaining the older boy's attention. Lou rushed to his side only to have Harry gently push him away mumbling he was fine. 



A few hours later the two boys were all bundled up and venturing out into the white abyss. They were just walking along with no destination, the soft crunch of snow reverberating after every footstep. Their feet had led them to the park and from there to a giant snow bank that the wind had crafted. As they were walking by Harry shoved Lou causing him to fall into the pile of snow to his left. 

"What the hell Hazz?" Lou shouted around a melting mouthful of snow. 

"Oh, you know," Harry laughed, "just payback boo bear." 

And this started their little game of chase that morphed into a snowball fight. The fight ended rather abruptly though when Harry over calculated his throw and it a woman in the back of the head. He could only manage an "I'm sorry!" before the laughter took over and he was on the ground much like Louis. The "Oh my Gods" being spewed out of their mouths were breathy and full of excitement.  

"Four for you Hazz," Louis said once the laughter had died down, "you go Hazz."

"Shut up," the curly haired boy in question replied with a giggle. 

Then is was silent, or as silent as it can get outside. The two boys lay staring at each other. This might sound weird, or even awkward to some, but that was just how they were. They were, as cliche as it sounds, lost in each other's eyes. Harry was completely mesmerized by the shiny gray-blue orbs swimming with laughter. And Louis found it was impossible to look away from those rich forest green emeralds, sprinkled with flecks of gold right around the center. They were moving closer to one another too, it was like some unearthly magnetic force was pulling them together and they could do nothing to stop it, but they didn't even notice the lack of space between them in the first place. Oh no. What was personal space again?

They were slowly closing in and Lou took a moment to flick his eyes down to Harry's lips. Slightly parted and breath mingling with the air around them, swirling around and then getting carried away.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

And then the brush of cold chapped lips against cold chapped lips. When they pulled away a giggle bubbled passed Harry's lips which made a smile spread across Louis' face. "Harry you're way too cute," Lou said while laying his forehead against the younger boy's.

"Thanks boo bear. You're not too bad yourself," came his reply while leaning up to give Lou an eskimo kiss.