You SHOULD TOTALLY do it yourself and give us another snippet of your vegas fic because I am persecuted by it day and night and waiting for it to be here within us since that so far away day you shared that first scene(bless you, it was so good). It haunts me that I still don't know how they feel when they first see each other again. Or the conversation they have when they wake up next to each other, DAMN. So yeah, like if you feel like sharing...you know, like, would be appreciated haha
OH NO! I forgot you!!!! Iām so sorry! SO SORRY! I had my birthday weekend and then uni stress and the doctor stress and then gluten stress and IāM SO SORRY!!!! Man, I feel so sorry, I tag promised you that Iād post something and everything, Iām awful :( Sorry. Iāll give you their first conversation, and hope that somehow you see this ask!Ā
He closes thedoor behind him and turns around, finding that the three others are therealready, apparently only waiting for him. Oops.
āOh,ā he says,startling slightly. He hadnāt thought he was running late, but maybe he wasafter all. āSorry, guess I lost track of time. Didnāt mean to keep you guyswaiting.ā
āNot at all,āLiam shakes his head, his face splitting into a massive smile. āI only juststumbled out of my room a moment ago.ā He shakes his head and takes a steptowards Harry, which makes Harry realise that heās been standing there rootedin front of the door like a loon rather than moving to greet Liam properly.āBugger that anyway, Harry, come here! I havenāt seen you in ages.ā
They meet eachother halfway in a tight hug, Harry clutching Liam against him as though heāstrying to make up for all the time they havenāt hugged. āMissed you,ā hemurmurs into Liamās neck as he finds that heās kind of reluctant to let goagain. Hugging Liam now only cements to Harry thatās heās probably missed theother man even more than heād allowed himself to believe.
āMissed you too,man,ā Liam says, seeming just as reluctant to let go as Harry is. āLetās not goso long without seeing each other again, please?ā
āNo,ā Harryagrees, shaking his head slightly. āNo, letās never.ā
Liam pulls backand smiles, squeezing Harryās upper arms once before letting go. Harryās almostembarrassed to find that the corners of his eyes are slightly damp, but reallyhe shouldnāt have expected anything else.
āOi, lads,āNiall interrupts them, pretending to wipe away a tear as they turn theirattention back to him. āThat was beautiful, touched my soul and all. But,really, Iām starving. Can we save the waterworks for after dinner?ā He gesturestowards the door, and Liam laughs, making his way back towards the other two.
Itās not untilthen that Harry gets the opportunity to properly take in Louis. He somehowsimultaneously looks exactly the same and so, so different. Heās clearly olderthan the last time Harry saw him, the crinkles by his eyes slightly deeper andthereās just something about his very being that seems older, more settled,more mature. Calm. A kind of calm that heād never really been able to achieveback when they were still in the band, too energetic, always bubbling, plottingtheir next act of mischief. Thereās not much of the manic energy that used toooze out of him left. Heās dressed in skinny jeans much like Harryās apart fromthe fact that his are dark blue. Theyāre rolled up, revealing a pair of tannedankles leading into a pair of black Oxfords. His chest is covered by a nice,fitted black jumper with speckles on it, and it hits Harry once again how muchLouisā style is exactly the same, only more mature. That probably shouldnāthave come as a surprise seeing as so many years have passed by, and yetā¦
His hair isswooped back into a lazy quiff, and itās longer than Harry would have expectedit to be, the ends of his hair nearly touching the nape of his neck. He looksso good. Even when Harry doesnāt know where they stand he can appreciate thatLouis looks good, looks hot, looks positively breath taking. But then again,Louis has always been handsome regardless of whether he was donned out insweats or dressed to the nines. Age has clearly only made him better, like heis his very own personal brand of fine wine.
Their eyesfinally meet, and Harry desperately hopes Louis was too distracted by Niall tonotice how Harry was taking him in. He thinks so, because he doesnāt recogniseanything in Louisā eyes that might indicate that heād caught Harry - for thelack of a better term - checking him out.
Prior to thismoment Harry hadnāt known what to expect from this first encounter with Louis;should they shake hands, should they hug, should they completely ignore eachother? What could he expect to see in Louisā eyes? Hate? Anger? Indifference?Kindness? He still doesnāt quite know how heās supposed to react, but he doesrealise that his emotional reunion with Liam is probably only going make thisone with Louis all the more awkward.
āCome on,āNiallās voice interrupts Harryās thoughts once again. āA good steak waits forno one, Harold, better move those legs and come along with us.ā
Harry chuckles,canāt do anything but, and finally moves properly towards the others, breakinghis focus on Louis who in turn is turning his back to Harry as he makes his wayout of room after Liam. Harry canāt quite figure out whether he should berelieved that whatever showdown was to happen between him and Louis gotpostponed or sad that they didnāt just get to rip off the band aid, so tospeak, and get it over with. Heās probably going to keep building it up in hishead to this massive confrontation until it finally happens, and the longer hegets to ponder it, the more anxious heās gonna get.
He follows theothers diligently out of the room, though, and into the lift. He doesnāt knowwhere theyāre going for dinner, but he knows that Niall considers himself quitethe food connoisseur, so heāll have prided himself on pre-picking only the bestplaces to eat for them. Wherever it is, itās bound to be delicious.
Once theyāre allin the lift, Harry finds himself somehow having ended up standing next toLouis. Liam and Niall are deep in conversation and Harry steels himself forwhat will undoubtedly be some very awkward minutes. He very decidedly does not look at Louis.
āDid you fly infrom LA?ā Louis asks, and for two seconds Harry just keeps staring straightahead until he realises that Louis is talking to him.
āLA?ā hequestions dumbly until he fully registers Louisā question. āOh, yeah. Yeah, Idid.ā
āThatās nice,āLouis says, and when Harry chances a look sideways at him, heās smilingslightly, looking back at Harry. Seems that Louis, too, is in on theāletās-make-this-a-great-weekend-for-Niall-and-be-civilā plan, though it is kindof odd, Harry has to admit. āNo jetlag, then, right?ā
āUh, no,ā Harryanswers. āI guess not. Iām pretty knackered still, though? Did you, uh, did youfly in from London?ā
āNo,ā Louissays, āActually I came in from New York, so no jetlag for me either.ā
āThatās nice,āHarry says, still kind of flabbergasted that theyāre even having thisconversation right now. Louis hums in reply just as the lift announces theirarrival to the main hall with a ping.
