Life Inc.

Harry woke next morning feeling groggy, but almost instantly became thrilled with the realization that his night at the fun fair with Louis was still forefront of his mind and he was still ‘switched off’. He hauled himself into a slightly more upright position and tousled his curls until they felt like they had fallen into the right places.

Louis’ bedroom was still as warm and comforting as the first time he had been in there. The winter morning sunlight that filtered through the blinds he hadn’t closed properly gave the cream walls a soft glow that made the room feel very safe, as though nothing could hurt him in this room.

Harry had been furious when Louis had tricked him into sleeping in his room while he slept on the sofa. He had been fully prepared to let Louis keep his admittedly very comfortable bed, and Louis had appeared to concede when Harry had told him this, even telling Harry where in the utility room he could find an extra blanket in case he got cold during the night. However, upon returning to the living room with said blanket, he found Louis already tucked up on the sofa under the first blanket, a playful smirk written across his features. Harry had grumbled, but he knew that Louis had won this round, and in many ways, just the fact that this made Louis happy made him happy, for reasons he hadn’t had the energy to work out yet. Hence, he had woken up in Louis’ bed.

He swung his legs out until his feet hit soft carpet and stood up, stretching to work out the unpleasant stiffness from where he’d been sleeping on his arm. He tugged on the tracksuit bottoms Louis had leant him the night before - almost falling over in the process - until he could put his own jeans back on now that they would be dry. He was about to put on the borrowed shirt too, but remembered with a smile an incident from the night before involving the haunted house and an unexpected skeleton, leading to Louis getting ice cream all over the shirt that Harry had been wearing. He’d lived with it during the rest of the night, but he didn’t really want to put it back on this morning. He didn’t know where Louis kept his shirts and didn’t particularly want to go rooting through drawers, so he decided that shirtless was best until he got his own clothes.

He padded quietly down the stairs in case Louis was still asleep, surprised to find a fluttery nervousness in his stomach. To his slight disappointment, he found both the living room and the kitchen empty, the blankets Louis had been sleeping under folded up neatly on the coffee table. Instead, there was a scribbled note sat on the kitchen table.

‘Gone for a run, be back soon, make yourself at home. L : ) ’

Harry smiled, fingers grazing over the blue letters. He wondered if it would have felt strange for Louis to have to leave a note for someone after all these years, even if it was just the boy who had accidently bomb-shelled into his life.

His stomach suddenly growled angrily to remind him that it was empty and it was much later than he’d usually eat breakfast, so he set about investigating the kitchen cupboards to see what he could find.

When Louis returned from his run ten minutes later, he too crept through the house, thinking that Harry was still asleep upstairs. He was surprised when he reached the kitchen doorway to be greeted by a shirtless Harry in front of the cooker, his back to him, his tracksuit bottoms settled frustratingly low on his hips again.

Louis bit his lip and leant slowly against the doorframe, knowing that Harry wasn’t yet aware of his presence, watching as his hips swayed slightly to whatever song he was humming quietly to himself and the way his pale skin was stretched over surprisingly strong back muscles and broad shoulders.

After a few minutes, Louis decided that whilst he was perfectly happy to spend all day admiring the physique of the boy he was in love with, it would be difficult to explain to Harry if he caught him, since he was near drooling at the sight. He straightened up and made it look as though he had just walked through the door.

“Hey, I’m home,” he called, laughing at the way Harry jumped and spun round to face him, an adorable blush rising on the younger boy’s cheeks. Louis couldn’t stop his eyes from raking over Harry’s even more aesthetically pleasing torso.

“Louis, you scared the life out of me! I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”

“I must have left long before you woke. I’ve been gone a good thirty, forty minutes,” Louis remarked as he downed a refreshing glass of water and Harry disappeared into the utility room, reappearing a minute later with his shirt on.

“Good run?” He asked, returning to whatever he had been cooking that smelt so delicious.

“Very pleasant, thank you. Good sleep?”

“Annoyingly good,” Harry replied, fighting an inexplicable smile. “You want breakfast?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Louis grinned.

“You mentioned shopping, so I hope you don’t mind, but I made a list of things you might need. Feel free to add or remove as you see fit,” Harry shrugged, pointing to the piece of paper that rested on the table where Louis’ note had been earlier.

“You angel, thank you. It’s quite early still so if we go after breakfast, it shouldn’t be too busy.” Harry nodded in agreement as he handed Louis a plate of toast, bacon and scrambled eggs. Louis grinned his thanks, subtly trying to avoid the touch that set his skin on fire. Harry sat opposite him with his own plate, glancing up every few mouthfuls to gauge Louis’ reaction and how he was feeling, gathering up the nerve to ask Louis something that had been bothering him.

“Louis…the box in your bedroom, I noticed it the last time I was here too…it holds the answers to where you came from, doesn’t it?” Louis sighed, and to Harry it seemed as though he almost visibly curled up into himself at the painful lack of memories. Louis glanced up after a pause, trying to catch Harry’s now averted gaze.

“Probably, yes. I woke up with it.” Louis’ voice was soft and quiet. He suddenly sounded very fragile, the lost, lonely boy revealing himself.

"How come you can’t open it?” Harry found his tone matching Louis’, ashamed that his question had done this to him when Harry was supposed to be trying to do the opposite.

“No key. At least, I don’t think I have the key. I don’t want to force it open because I don’t know what’s inside and I don’t want to damage it. The lock’s too thick to cut.”

“Do you want to open it?”

“Of course. Who doesn’t want to know where they came from?”

“What if the answer isn’t what you’re looking for?”

“That’s better than no answer at all.” Louis paused again, then suddenly began to laugh. Harry glanced up in surprise.

“Why are you laughing?” he demanded, confused, the sad atmosphere of the room broken.

“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?”

“Well, this is all very new to me and I’m a curious person,” Harry defended, which seemed to only make Louis laugh more. Harry would be lying if he said he didn’t relish in the sound, but he shifted uncomfortably at the strange sensation it set off in the pit of his stomach.

“Thank you for breakfast, that was the best post-run meal I’ve had in years,” Louis teased slightly when he had recovered, taking both of their empty plates and dumping them in the sink. “Let me just jump in the shower and then we can go food shopping.”

“Can we stop off at my house and get some fresh clothes too? I don’t how long I’m going to be switched off for.”

“Sure, that’s fine. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be down.” He shot Harry a final grin before heading upstairs. A minute later, the sound of the shower running filled the house. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his curls, feeling decidedly confused. Silently cursing Louis for a reason he wasn’t quite sure of, he went into the utility room to change into his jeans, making sure to neatly fold up Louis’ tracksuit bottoms. Once he was fully dressed again, he wasted the rest of the time washing up.

“Ready?” After the ten minutes or so that Louis had predicted, his voice cut through the quiet of the kitchen. Harry smiled and turned, his eyes unconsciously tracing over the striped shirt that clung to Louis’ torso in all the right ways and the red skinny jeans that were equally as tight.

“Ready,” he confirmed, dragging his eyes away and grabbing the list and his hoodie.

“So…you’re sticking around then?” Louis asked as they set off walking down the road, trying to sound casual. Harry gave no clues that he had seen it as anything more than just a simple, innocent question.

“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. I was worried I might scare you off or something.”

“How on earth would you do that?” Harry asked incredulously.

“I’ve never done any form of relationship with anyone that I can remember. What if I do something wrong or something?”

“Trust me Louis, you can’t scare me away, I promise.” Harry’s words brought a small smile to Louis’ lips, but he tried in vain to suppress the swell of feelings that coursed through him; that wasn’t going to help anything.

“Harry, does this whole switching on and off thing scare you at all?” Louis asked, looking up at the sky, which was quickly becoming overcast again. He suddenly became aware that Harry was no longer walking next to him, and hadn’t answered him. He glanced back to find that Harry had stopped and was looking confusedly around. “Harry?” Louis called, hoping that it was just Harry mucking around, or that he’d thought of something that required pausing. But his heart sunk and a sick feeling rose in his chest, despite knowing it was inevitable, when Harry walked away from him for the second time without a second glance.