Kings and Beggars of the World - Part 14
Title: Kings and Beggars of the World
Rating: NC-17
Author: braincloud2
Parings: Harry/Louis, ot5
Warnings: Sexual content, unexplained time-travel, and some offensive language.
Disclaimer: I don’t own people. I don’t intend offense. This is fiction.
Word Count: 75,000-something-idk COMPLETE
Summary: Harry’s on tour and he feels on top of the world-until he wakes up one morning to find himself at the first day of the X Factor boot-camp, just sixteen years old again, and absolutely terrified that he’s just lost the last two years of his life.
pt 1 --- pt 2 --- pt 3 --- pt 4 --- pt 5 --- pt 6 --- pt 7 --- pt 8 --- pt 9 --- pt 10 --- pt 11 --- pt 12 --- pt 13
A/N : Sorry for the pathetically long wait!! I'm posting all the rest right now. Also, sorry my computer hates lj's new format, so I had to do these a little differently gahh~ I hope you like it anyway...
Harry didn’t know what to do after the cameraman muttered his apologies and backed out of the room. He stayed where he was for a long moment, half-raised off the pillow, the blanket fallen off his bare shoulder and dropped around his waist. He listened to the sound of the other boys’ breathing, feeling the warmth of Louis’ legs between his own and staring at the doorway until Louis huffed a sleepy breath and rolled over, his hand coming up to land on Harry’s stomach and clenching into the blanket.
Harry looked down at it, covered the smaller hand with his own and holding it against himself for a moment, letting the warmth of the other boy bleed into him, before he carefully shifted and pulled out from beneath the quilt so as not to wake Louis.
The effort was in vain though as Louis sucked in a larger breath and opened his eyes, the colour stopping Harry in his place. ‘Hey,’ he whispered.
Louis made a muffled questioning noise, squinting his eyes closed again and tugging at the hand he still had a hold of.
‘No, Lou.’ Harry reached up and pushed the other boy’s fringe to the side the way he wore it. ‘I’m just gonna have a shower.’
Louis groaned unhappily, closing his eyes properly to go back to sleep, and letting Harry slip his hand out of the loose grasp. Harry scooped up a pair of trousers and slipped them on silently before making his way down to the bathroom, thinking his shower excuse actually sounded like a good idea. He locked the door and shucked off his trousers again, turning the taps to the hottest temperature he could stand.
Only, once the noise of the water running filled his ears and washed over his head, and there was no possibility of someone barging in on him, did he allow himself to think of every worst thing that could happen and feel every fear he had.
1D
Harry spent the next day in perpetual dread of being called away for a ‘talk with Simon or one of the other X Factor managers, but everyone was so busy preparing for the show that night that people barely had time to bark orders at them before rushing away, let alone lecture them. Harry laid low the whole day, obeying orders and staying huddled next to Zayn as he seemed to sense that Harry was in a mood and sat quiet with his arm around Harry’s side, his thumb stroking the skin above his waist-band.
Mostly Harry was relieved that the night before hadn’t changed the dynamic of the band. Apart from a brief moment in the morning when Liam had handed Louis his shoes, and Louis’ cheeks went pink as their eyes had met, the day had been normal.
Harry just didn’t know how long it would last.
1D
His answer came the next day when they were getting ready for the results show and one of the staff came by with a clipboard and a frown, asking Louis to come follow her.
Louis looked surprised but agreed quickly, taking his arm off Niall’s shoulders and leaping up to follow the lady into the backstage corridors. Harry stared after him, his stomach crawling with a thousand different bugs and his heart-beat running for gold.
Zayn touched his shoulder and he jerked in shock. ‘Harry, mate, you okay?’
‘What’s the matter with him?’ Liam asked.
‘Dunno. Hey. Haz, breathe man.’
Zayn pushed on Harry’s back, and he bent over handing his head between his knees. Sucking in enormous breaths, Harry slowly calmed down as he listened to Zayn’s voice.
‘There, you’re alright,’ Zayn said, rubbing over Harry’s back. ‘You gonna tell us what’s wrong?’
‘Uh-’ Harry tried to decide what to say, but just then Louis came hurrying out from backstage towards them, a pinch between his eyebrows. ‘Louis!’
Louis glanced at him and his frown deepened. He sat down back next to Niall.
‘What was that about?’ Niall asked.
Louis shook his head. ‘Tell you later,’ he muttered.
Someone called for them to come onstage and the topic was abandoned as they got ready to rehearse the group performance again.
1D
‘Right, so what exactly was that earlier?’ Zayn asked the moment their bedroom door shut behind them.
Louis leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. ‘Well, Simon knows.’
‘Knows what?’ Niall asked, blanching.
‘Not everything,’ Louis amended, his eyes flicking to Harry’s ‘Just-’
‘About you and me,’ Harry finished, feeling flat and blank.
‘Uh, yeah he does,’ Louis admitted. ‘Or at least, he thinks he does from a bunch of rumours he’s heard.’
‘So what’d he say then?’ Harry asked.
‘I-’ Louis stopped, his mouth turning to a flat, unhappy line. ‘Harry, it doesn’t matter. It just means we have to be more careful is all. Make sure no one sees us. We’ll be fine.’
‘What did he say though?’ Harry repeated, his shoulders tensing up.
‘This involves all of us, Louis, come on.’ Liam said, leveling a look at the older boy.
Louis sighed as if put upon. ‘Look, he basically said that relationships weren’t encouraged in the X Factor house and that we should be careful. Especially because the show is reaching a critical point and what happens here will affect all of our careers and we need to think responsibly with this much attention on us.’
‘What?’ Liam said. ‘He thinks we should stop?’
Louis stepped forward to push Liam’s shocked face away. ‘He wasn’t mean about it, man. He was being all Simon-y, you know? He was worried because rumours are spreading and he knows how awful it can get.’
‘We kno’ that too though,’ Niall pointed out. ‘All them vicious rumours.’
‘Yeah, exactly. If we just tone it down a bit-’
‘No, Simon’s right,’ Harry interrupted Louis. ‘I think we should-we need to stop.’
The four boys stared at him like Harry had just said he was quitting the band.
‘I mean,’ Harry said. ‘If we went back to how we were before for a bit, it would probably be best.’
‘You want to go back to just being friends?’ Louis asked, flatly.
‘No, well, yes, but only for a couple of weeks, ‘till after the finals and then we’ll get time to ourselves.’
‘Oh sure, a break. Where in we all go back to our own houses before we have to go on the X Factor Tour and then we’re back in the same position. Cameras all around us.’
‘Are you saying you want us all to come out?’ Harry asked, incredulous.
‘No, I’m just saying that if we wait for the right time, we’d be waiting years.’
All the boys were silent for a moment, digesting this.
Louis said, ‘Simon just said that he’d noticed how close we were getting and some people had told him some things about us. He warned against the stress and problems that would arise if it got out that Harry and I were like this.’
‘Why’d he ask you by yourself, if I’m involved too?’
‘I don’t know how Simon thinks. Maybe because I’m the oldest he thought I’d listen to him better or something.’
Niall snorted.
‘Anyway,’ Louis continued. ‘Believe me, it was all quite intense and I’m definitely in no hurry to be having that conversation again-it was terrifying-but it doesn’t mean anything. We don’t have to stop anything.’
‘Louis…’
‘No listen, okay? We will lay low, maybe till the end of X Factor, but we’ll just be extra careful about what we’re doing. Nothing has to change much. We’ll just take it easy a bit and watch what we’re doing, which will make everyone happy. Then we can enjoy the last few weeks of X Factor properly without worrying anyone.’
‘You make it sound simple,’ Liam said.
Louis winked at him. ‘You wait, it’ll be buzzing.’
1D
‘We are terrible at this.’ Harry groaned half a week later.
Zayn raised his eyebrows from his own bed where he’d been napping before Harry had come in. ‘We’re not that bad.’
‘You were nibbling on Liam’s ear at lunch.’
Zayn huffed. ‘Yeah, well. He has cute ears.’
‘And Niall was snuggling with Louis earlier.’
‘Mm. They’re good, aren’t they?’
‘I saw you watching them too. You looked like you wanted to eat them.’
Zayn sighed, smiling at the ceiling. ‘Did you see when Louis fed Niall that strawberry at dessert? Fuck.’
Harry rolled over. ‘You’re hopeless.’ There was a rustle and Zayn was suddenly beside him, threading his fingers lightly through Harry’s hair.
‘I know you’re still worried, Haz. I’m sorry, but it’s hard to hold back, you should know, you started it.’
‘But it’s not just a game anymore, I can’t think of it as just fun like you guys are.’
‘No one’s thinking of it as just fun, Harry.’
Harry stared up at Zayn, his eyes big.
The other boy groaned, pushing his fingers into Harry’s hair. ‘Yeah, we might have started this as a kind of game, but now I know I’m allowed to touch, or that you wouldn’t mind me doing this.’ He planted a brief, searing kiss to Harry’s open lips. ‘It’s impossible to stop. We are trying though.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ Harry watched Zayn’s eyes flick down his body and he bit his lip in anticipation.
Zayn let go of him instead. ‘It’s really hard not to, when I know you want me to.’
Harry’s heart sank in disappointment and he silently told himself off, that this was what he wanted. ‘We really should hold off though,’ he said glumly.
‘I’m not saying you’re not right, I’m just saying that I don’t know how long this holding off thing is going to last. We’re not good at it, yeah? Right, I’m gonna find the others. You staying here?’
‘Yeah. I’ll twitter or something.’
‘All right.’ Zayn went to move away but stopped, frowning like he was fighting himself before leaning in again and pressing another, harder kiss on Harry that made him sink into the mattress.
‘‘Kay. Going.’ Zayn pulled himself away quickly, getting out the door before Harry could call him back.
Harry lay back and stared at the bed above, realising only then that he had naturally settled down on Louis’ bed, not his own. ‘Hopeless,’ he said again to the empty room.
A few minutes of wallowing later, the door pushed open and Louis entered with a steaming hot mug.
‘Brought you some tea, babe,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Just the way you like it.’
Harry smiled. ‘Thanks.’
‘No worried.’ He handed it over and then dug inside his pocket. ‘Also, Cher got some chocolates in the post and I stole one, put but you can have it.’ He dropped a pink-foiled, heart shaped chocolate on Harry’s chest, smiling guilelessly.
‘Aw. You’re giving me your heart?’
Louis’ smile widened, his eyes crinkling. ‘I knew you were the only one who would properly appreciate it.’
‘I do.’
‘I mean, you appreciate everything I do, right Harold?’
‘Uh.’ Harry eyed him warily, not liking the kind tone in his voice. ‘Yes?’
‘Good answer.’ Louis told him, before leaning down and blowing a giant raspberry right under Harry’s jaw-making the younger boy shout and automatically squirm away.
Hot tea splashed everywhere, narrowly missing Harry but spilling all over the bed. ‘Ah!’
‘Ooh God, sorry! Are you okay?’ Louis hovered over him contritely.
‘My tea! There’s tea in the bed!’
Louis relaxed, grinning once he realised Harry was fine. ‘Whoops. Hard luck, mate, see you later.’
Harry yelled after him as Louis escaped. ‘It’s your bed, you bloody-’
He gave up with another sigh. Placing his mug, now only a third full, on the floor, Harry set to changing Louis’ sheets, knowing the older boy would forget and complain about the damp sheets later otherwise.
1D
The fifth week past quickly and despite Harry’s worries, the boys mostly behaved themselves or were at least lucky in not getting caught again. It helped that the public and media got distracted being out-raged that Treyc got sent home while Katie Waissel stayed.
Even though it felt like they had a knife handing over their necks, Harry couldn’t resist when Louis tugged him into a dark corner or when Niall snuck up behind him in their bedroom, catching him in such a filthy kiss against the door that Harry’s toes curled into the carpet and he forgot his reason for coming into the room.
As the premier for the 7th Harry Potter movie came around the boys were happy to sit back and let the other contestants go ahead in the excitement of a red carpet event, although meeting Emma Watson again was just as cool as the first time.
The days slipped by and everybody around them pushed faster, the shows getting bigger, and the boys just seemed to sink further into each other. Harry found himself rarely away from Louis’ side, and
even though he knew he should step back, all the older boy had to do was smile at him and hold out his arm and Harry was drawn back in like a magnet.
‘God, Harry, you looked so good in that suit,’ Louis groaned into his ear.
‘Yeah?’ Harry’s breath hitched. ‘Was it s-something about the way, I looked tonight?’
‘You fuck.’ Louis huffed a laugh, thrusting down harder, his hips snapping faster into Harry. ‘Fuck. Look at these legs. They’re fantastic, I can’t believe you keep these hidden under jeans all the time.’
‘I try to-oh God -I take them off as much as poss-oh.’
Louis sat up a bit, hiking both of Harry’s pale legs high and running his hands down over his thighs. ‘Could stare at you forever like this.’
Harry swiped his hair off his forehead, closing his eyes briefly at the feeling of fullness inside him. Opening his eyes again, he stared up at the older boy framed between his stretched legs and Harry’s cheeks flushed even darker. ‘Me too,’ he said.
Louis’ thrusts rabbited fast and hard into him. The red on Harry’s cheeks spread down his neck and across his shoulders, his mouth open in soundless pleasure as wave as bliss rose higher over him.
‘Please,’ Harry gasped.
Louis bent Harry’s legs further, leaning forward to nose up under Harry’s chin. ‘What was that?’
‘Louis, Louis, please. Please, please.’
‘Love hearing you beg like that.’ Louis’s hand slipped all the way down Harry’s leg and took him up in hand.
Harry groaned as he felt Louis everywhere and he clutched Louis’ shoulder, his toes curling and he had to desperately slap a hand out for purchase on the wall as his head tilted back and his world turned to pure bliss. Shuddering with the after shocks, he came down, feeling his lax body still being forced up the bed by Louis’ movements. The older boy licked up Harry’s chest his eyes closed as he kept working his hips, and Harry felt himself twitch as he realised Louis licking up the mess he’d made over himself.
‘Louis,’ he groaned again, and the older boy latched onto the apple of Harry’s throat, holding lightly between his teeth as he pounded up into him twice more before his thrusts lost all pace and he shook as he came.
‘God,’ Louis said, releasing him. ‘So good, Hazza.’
‘You-were alright, I guess,’ Harry mumbled sleepily.
‘What?’
Harry keep his eyes closed but his dimples started to show, and a second later he laughed as Louis dropped his legs to poke and prod at Harry’s sides. ‘I’m the best you’ve ever had and you know it, you absolute bugger.’
‘Okay, okay,’ Harry half laughed, half groaned. ‘You’re still inside me, you prat. Get out.’
‘You know, we should have a competition one of these days, to see who can last the longest,’ Louis said, as he carefully pulled out of Harry.
Zayn snorted from the other bed. ‘Liam’d win.’
‘Yup,’ Niall said, still lax against Zayn’s bare thigh where he’d finished. ‘Hands down. No doubt about it.’
‘‘Payno is asleep,’ Louis argued, pointed at the boy under Zayn’s arm. ‘He dropped away the moment he finished.’
‘Yeah, but he’d started way before you two even came into the room. He has the most stamina out o’ us all.’
Louis huffed and Harry patted his side. ‘It’s okay, Lou. You’re still the second longest.’
Louis scrunched up his nose, turning the corners of his mouth down as he jutted out his chin in displeasure. ‘No fair. I wanna be the best.’
‘Can’t have everything you want,’ Harry said, curling closer.
‘Who says?’
‘Sleep,’ Liam moaned without opening his eyes. ‘No talky.’
Louis settled down against Harry, whispering in his ear. ‘Hmm. We’ll talky more about this tomorrow.’
1D
‘Hey, you all right?’ Harry asked Zayn a few days later.
‘Yeah.’ He took another drag of his cigarette, looking out across the dark fields behind the house from the balcony.
‘You must be down to your last packet of those.’
‘Nah, I haven’t really been smoking, just felt like I needed it today. I’m gonna get my mum to convince the X Factor managers to let me go home for his last few days my Grandpa’s in hospital. I want to say a proper goodbye this time at least.’
‘Sorry, man.’
‘Yeah. So, hey, you and Tommo, huh?’
‘What?’
Zayn just raised his eyebrow.
Harry bit his lip. ‘Zayn, you know I’m like that about all of you, right? So is Lou.’
Zayn smirked. ‘Obviously. Right back at you too, we’re all just not as intense about it as you and Louis.’
‘Hey,’ Harry protested.
‘It’s not a bad thing or anything. It’s more like the opposite. You’re so tangled in each other you can’t even see it. It kind of makes me happy to watch though.’
Harry rubbed his nose to hide his smile. ‘You sap.’
‘Only ‘cause you lot turned me into one.’
‘You really don’t mind about us?’
Zayn sent smoke curling through the air. ‘Ah, not gonna lie. Sometimes I still get this weird jealous thing, but it’s not really jealously, I dunno. It’s more like possessiveness over the both of you.’
‘Oh.’
Zayn shrugged. ‘People go their whole lives searching for what you two have.’
Harry bumped his shoulder into Zayn’s. ‘Poetic. You should tweet that.’
‘Wanker.’ Zayn bumped his shoulder back, and the two of them stood together sharing each other’s warmth against the winter air and looking out across the moonlight hills behind the X Factor house.
Part 15
Rating: NC-17
Author: braincloud2
Parings: Harry/Louis, ot5
Warnings: Sexual content, unexplained time-travel, and some offensive language.
Disclaimer: I don’t own people. I don’t intend offense. This is fiction.
Word Count: 75,000-something-idk COMPLETE
Summary: Harry’s on tour and he feels on top of the world-until he wakes up one morning to find himself at the first day of the X Factor boot-camp, just sixteen years old again, and absolutely terrified that he’s just lost the last two years of his life.
pt 1 --- pt 2 --- pt 3 --- pt 4 --- pt 5 --- pt 6 --- pt 7 --- pt 8 --- pt 9 --- pt 10 --- pt 11 --- pt 12 --- pt 13
A/N : Sorry for the pathetically long wait!! I'm posting all the rest right now. Also, sorry my computer hates lj's new format, so I had to do these a little differently gahh~ I hope you like it anyway...
Harry didn’t know what to do after the cameraman muttered his apologies and backed out of the room. He stayed where he was for a long moment, half-raised off the pillow, the blanket fallen off his bare shoulder and dropped around his waist. He listened to the sound of the other boys’ breathing, feeling the warmth of Louis’ legs between his own and staring at the doorway until Louis huffed a sleepy breath and rolled over, his hand coming up to land on Harry’s stomach and clenching into the blanket.
Harry looked down at it, covered the smaller hand with his own and holding it against himself for a moment, letting the warmth of the other boy bleed into him, before he carefully shifted and pulled out from beneath the quilt so as not to wake Louis.
The effort was in vain though as Louis sucked in a larger breath and opened his eyes, the colour stopping Harry in his place. ‘Hey,’ he whispered.
Louis made a muffled questioning noise, squinting his eyes closed again and tugging at the hand he still had a hold of.
‘No, Lou.’ Harry reached up and pushed the other boy’s fringe to the side the way he wore it. ‘I’m just gonna have a shower.’
Louis groaned unhappily, closing his eyes properly to go back to sleep, and letting Harry slip his hand out of the loose grasp. Harry scooped up a pair of trousers and slipped them on silently before making his way down to the bathroom, thinking his shower excuse actually sounded like a good idea. He locked the door and shucked off his trousers again, turning the taps to the hottest temperature he could stand.
Only, once the noise of the water running filled his ears and washed over his head, and there was no possibility of someone barging in on him, did he allow himself to think of every worst thing that could happen and feel every fear he had.
1D
Harry spent the next day in perpetual dread of being called away for a ‘talk with Simon or one of the other X Factor managers, but everyone was so busy preparing for the show that night that people barely had time to bark orders at them before rushing away, let alone lecture them. Harry laid low the whole day, obeying orders and staying huddled next to Zayn as he seemed to sense that Harry was in a mood and sat quiet with his arm around Harry’s side, his thumb stroking the skin above his waist-band.
Mostly Harry was relieved that the night before hadn’t changed the dynamic of the band. Apart from a brief moment in the morning when Liam had handed Louis his shoes, and Louis’ cheeks went pink as their eyes had met, the day had been normal.
Harry just didn’t know how long it would last.
1D
His answer came the next day when they were getting ready for the results show and one of the staff came by with a clipboard and a frown, asking Louis to come follow her.
Louis looked surprised but agreed quickly, taking his arm off Niall’s shoulders and leaping up to follow the lady into the backstage corridors. Harry stared after him, his stomach crawling with a thousand different bugs and his heart-beat running for gold.
Zayn touched his shoulder and he jerked in shock. ‘Harry, mate, you okay?’
‘What’s the matter with him?’ Liam asked.
‘Dunno. Hey. Haz, breathe man.’
Zayn pushed on Harry’s back, and he bent over handing his head between his knees. Sucking in enormous breaths, Harry slowly calmed down as he listened to Zayn’s voice.
‘There, you’re alright,’ Zayn said, rubbing over Harry’s back. ‘You gonna tell us what’s wrong?’
‘Uh-’ Harry tried to decide what to say, but just then Louis came hurrying out from backstage towards them, a pinch between his eyebrows. ‘Louis!’
Louis glanced at him and his frown deepened. He sat down back next to Niall.
‘What was that about?’ Niall asked.
Louis shook his head. ‘Tell you later,’ he muttered.
Someone called for them to come onstage and the topic was abandoned as they got ready to rehearse the group performance again.
1D
‘Right, so what exactly was that earlier?’ Zayn asked the moment their bedroom door shut behind them.
Louis leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. ‘Well, Simon knows.’
‘Knows what?’ Niall asked, blanching.
‘Not everything,’ Louis amended, his eyes flicking to Harry’s ‘Just-’
‘About you and me,’ Harry finished, feeling flat and blank.
‘Uh, yeah he does,’ Louis admitted. ‘Or at least, he thinks he does from a bunch of rumours he’s heard.’
‘So what’d he say then?’ Harry asked.
‘I-’ Louis stopped, his mouth turning to a flat, unhappy line. ‘Harry, it doesn’t matter. It just means we have to be more careful is all. Make sure no one sees us. We’ll be fine.’
‘What did he say though?’ Harry repeated, his shoulders tensing up.
‘This involves all of us, Louis, come on.’ Liam said, leveling a look at the older boy.
Louis sighed as if put upon. ‘Look, he basically said that relationships weren’t encouraged in the X Factor house and that we should be careful. Especially because the show is reaching a critical point and what happens here will affect all of our careers and we need to think responsibly with this much attention on us.’
‘What?’ Liam said. ‘He thinks we should stop?’
Louis stepped forward to push Liam’s shocked face away. ‘He wasn’t mean about it, man. He was being all Simon-y, you know? He was worried because rumours are spreading and he knows how awful it can get.’
‘We kno’ that too though,’ Niall pointed out. ‘All them vicious rumours.’
‘Yeah, exactly. If we just tone it down a bit-’
‘No, Simon’s right,’ Harry interrupted Louis. ‘I think we should-we need to stop.’
The four boys stared at him like Harry had just said he was quitting the band.
‘I mean,’ Harry said. ‘If we went back to how we were before for a bit, it would probably be best.’
‘You want to go back to just being friends?’ Louis asked, flatly.
‘No, well, yes, but only for a couple of weeks, ‘till after the finals and then we’ll get time to ourselves.’
‘Oh sure, a break. Where in we all go back to our own houses before we have to go on the X Factor Tour and then we’re back in the same position. Cameras all around us.’
‘Are you saying you want us all to come out?’ Harry asked, incredulous.
‘No, I’m just saying that if we wait for the right time, we’d be waiting years.’
All the boys were silent for a moment, digesting this.
Louis said, ‘Simon just said that he’d noticed how close we were getting and some people had told him some things about us. He warned against the stress and problems that would arise if it got out that Harry and I were like this.’
‘Why’d he ask you by yourself, if I’m involved too?’
‘I don’t know how Simon thinks. Maybe because I’m the oldest he thought I’d listen to him better or something.’
Niall snorted.
‘Anyway,’ Louis continued. ‘Believe me, it was all quite intense and I’m definitely in no hurry to be having that conversation again-it was terrifying-but it doesn’t mean anything. We don’t have to stop anything.’
‘Louis…’
‘No listen, okay? We will lay low, maybe till the end of X Factor, but we’ll just be extra careful about what we’re doing. Nothing has to change much. We’ll just take it easy a bit and watch what we’re doing, which will make everyone happy. Then we can enjoy the last few weeks of X Factor properly without worrying anyone.’
‘You make it sound simple,’ Liam said.
Louis winked at him. ‘You wait, it’ll be buzzing.’
1D
‘We are terrible at this.’ Harry groaned half a week later.
Zayn raised his eyebrows from his own bed where he’d been napping before Harry had come in. ‘We’re not that bad.’
‘You were nibbling on Liam’s ear at lunch.’
Zayn huffed. ‘Yeah, well. He has cute ears.’
‘And Niall was snuggling with Louis earlier.’
‘Mm. They’re good, aren’t they?’
‘I saw you watching them too. You looked like you wanted to eat them.’
Zayn sighed, smiling at the ceiling. ‘Did you see when Louis fed Niall that strawberry at dessert? Fuck.’
Harry rolled over. ‘You’re hopeless.’ There was a rustle and Zayn was suddenly beside him, threading his fingers lightly through Harry’s hair.
‘I know you’re still worried, Haz. I’m sorry, but it’s hard to hold back, you should know, you started it.’
‘But it’s not just a game anymore, I can’t think of it as just fun like you guys are.’
‘No one’s thinking of it as just fun, Harry.’
Harry stared up at Zayn, his eyes big.
The other boy groaned, pushing his fingers into Harry’s hair. ‘Yeah, we might have started this as a kind of game, but now I know I’m allowed to touch, or that you wouldn’t mind me doing this.’ He planted a brief, searing kiss to Harry’s open lips. ‘It’s impossible to stop. We are trying though.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ Harry watched Zayn’s eyes flick down his body and he bit his lip in anticipation.
Zayn let go of him instead. ‘It’s really hard not to, when I know you want me to.’
Harry’s heart sank in disappointment and he silently told himself off, that this was what he wanted. ‘We really should hold off though,’ he said glumly.
‘I’m not saying you’re not right, I’m just saying that I don’t know how long this holding off thing is going to last. We’re not good at it, yeah? Right, I’m gonna find the others. You staying here?’
‘Yeah. I’ll twitter or something.’
‘All right.’ Zayn went to move away but stopped, frowning like he was fighting himself before leaning in again and pressing another, harder kiss on Harry that made him sink into the mattress.
‘‘Kay. Going.’ Zayn pulled himself away quickly, getting out the door before Harry could call him back.
Harry lay back and stared at the bed above, realising only then that he had naturally settled down on Louis’ bed, not his own. ‘Hopeless,’ he said again to the empty room.
A few minutes of wallowing later, the door pushed open and Louis entered with a steaming hot mug.
‘Brought you some tea, babe,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Just the way you like it.’
Harry smiled. ‘Thanks.’
‘No worried.’ He handed it over and then dug inside his pocket. ‘Also, Cher got some chocolates in the post and I stole one, put but you can have it.’ He dropped a pink-foiled, heart shaped chocolate on Harry’s chest, smiling guilelessly.
‘Aw. You’re giving me your heart?’
Louis’ smile widened, his eyes crinkling. ‘I knew you were the only one who would properly appreciate it.’
‘I do.’
‘I mean, you appreciate everything I do, right Harold?’
‘Uh.’ Harry eyed him warily, not liking the kind tone in his voice. ‘Yes?’
‘Good answer.’ Louis told him, before leaning down and blowing a giant raspberry right under Harry’s jaw-making the younger boy shout and automatically squirm away.
Hot tea splashed everywhere, narrowly missing Harry but spilling all over the bed. ‘Ah!’
‘Ooh God, sorry! Are you okay?’ Louis hovered over him contritely.
‘My tea! There’s tea in the bed!’
Louis relaxed, grinning once he realised Harry was fine. ‘Whoops. Hard luck, mate, see you later.’
Harry yelled after him as Louis escaped. ‘It’s your bed, you bloody-’
He gave up with another sigh. Placing his mug, now only a third full, on the floor, Harry set to changing Louis’ sheets, knowing the older boy would forget and complain about the damp sheets later otherwise.
1D
The fifth week past quickly and despite Harry’s worries, the boys mostly behaved themselves or were at least lucky in not getting caught again. It helped that the public and media got distracted being out-raged that Treyc got sent home while Katie Waissel stayed.
Even though it felt like they had a knife handing over their necks, Harry couldn’t resist when Louis tugged him into a dark corner or when Niall snuck up behind him in their bedroom, catching him in such a filthy kiss against the door that Harry’s toes curled into the carpet and he forgot his reason for coming into the room.
As the premier for the 7th Harry Potter movie came around the boys were happy to sit back and let the other contestants go ahead in the excitement of a red carpet event, although meeting Emma Watson again was just as cool as the first time.
The days slipped by and everybody around them pushed faster, the shows getting bigger, and the boys just seemed to sink further into each other. Harry found himself rarely away from Louis’ side, and
even though he knew he should step back, all the older boy had to do was smile at him and hold out his arm and Harry was drawn back in like a magnet.
‘God, Harry, you looked so good in that suit,’ Louis groaned into his ear.
‘Yeah?’ Harry’s breath hitched. ‘Was it s-something about the way, I looked tonight?’
‘You fuck.’ Louis huffed a laugh, thrusting down harder, his hips snapping faster into Harry. ‘Fuck. Look at these legs. They’re fantastic, I can’t believe you keep these hidden under jeans all the time.’
‘I try to-oh God -I take them off as much as poss-oh.’
Louis sat up a bit, hiking both of Harry’s pale legs high and running his hands down over his thighs. ‘Could stare at you forever like this.’
Harry swiped his hair off his forehead, closing his eyes briefly at the feeling of fullness inside him. Opening his eyes again, he stared up at the older boy framed between his stretched legs and Harry’s cheeks flushed even darker. ‘Me too,’ he said.
Louis’ thrusts rabbited fast and hard into him. The red on Harry’s cheeks spread down his neck and across his shoulders, his mouth open in soundless pleasure as wave as bliss rose higher over him.
‘Please,’ Harry gasped.
Louis bent Harry’s legs further, leaning forward to nose up under Harry’s chin. ‘What was that?’
‘Louis, Louis, please. Please, please.’
‘Love hearing you beg like that.’ Louis’s hand slipped all the way down Harry’s leg and took him up in hand.
Harry groaned as he felt Louis everywhere and he clutched Louis’ shoulder, his toes curling and he had to desperately slap a hand out for purchase on the wall as his head tilted back and his world turned to pure bliss. Shuddering with the after shocks, he came down, feeling his lax body still being forced up the bed by Louis’ movements. The older boy licked up Harry’s chest his eyes closed as he kept working his hips, and Harry felt himself twitch as he realised Louis licking up the mess he’d made over himself.
‘Louis,’ he groaned again, and the older boy latched onto the apple of Harry’s throat, holding lightly between his teeth as he pounded up into him twice more before his thrusts lost all pace and he shook as he came.
‘God,’ Louis said, releasing him. ‘So good, Hazza.’
‘You-were alright, I guess,’ Harry mumbled sleepily.
‘What?’
Harry keep his eyes closed but his dimples started to show, and a second later he laughed as Louis dropped his legs to poke and prod at Harry’s sides. ‘I’m the best you’ve ever had and you know it, you absolute bugger.’
‘Okay, okay,’ Harry half laughed, half groaned. ‘You’re still inside me, you prat. Get out.’
‘You know, we should have a competition one of these days, to see who can last the longest,’ Louis said, as he carefully pulled out of Harry.
Zayn snorted from the other bed. ‘Liam’d win.’
‘Yup,’ Niall said, still lax against Zayn’s bare thigh where he’d finished. ‘Hands down. No doubt about it.’
‘‘Payno is asleep,’ Louis argued, pointed at the boy under Zayn’s arm. ‘He dropped away the moment he finished.’
‘Yeah, but he’d started way before you two even came into the room. He has the most stamina out o’ us all.’
Louis huffed and Harry patted his side. ‘It’s okay, Lou. You’re still the second longest.’
Louis scrunched up his nose, turning the corners of his mouth down as he jutted out his chin in displeasure. ‘No fair. I wanna be the best.’
‘Can’t have everything you want,’ Harry said, curling closer.
‘Who says?’
‘Sleep,’ Liam moaned without opening his eyes. ‘No talky.’
Louis settled down against Harry, whispering in his ear. ‘Hmm. We’ll talky more about this tomorrow.’
1D
‘Hey, you all right?’ Harry asked Zayn a few days later.
‘Yeah.’ He took another drag of his cigarette, looking out across the dark fields behind the house from the balcony.
‘You must be down to your last packet of those.’
‘Nah, I haven’t really been smoking, just felt like I needed it today. I’m gonna get my mum to convince the X Factor managers to let me go home for his last few days my Grandpa’s in hospital. I want to say a proper goodbye this time at least.’
‘Sorry, man.’
‘Yeah. So, hey, you and Tommo, huh?’
‘What?’
Zayn just raised his eyebrow.
Harry bit his lip. ‘Zayn, you know I’m like that about all of you, right? So is Lou.’
Zayn smirked. ‘Obviously. Right back at you too, we’re all just not as intense about it as you and Louis.’
‘Hey,’ Harry protested.
‘It’s not a bad thing or anything. It’s more like the opposite. You’re so tangled in each other you can’t even see it. It kind of makes me happy to watch though.’
Harry rubbed his nose to hide his smile. ‘You sap.’
‘Only ‘cause you lot turned me into one.’
‘You really don’t mind about us?’
Zayn sent smoke curling through the air. ‘Ah, not gonna lie. Sometimes I still get this weird jealous thing, but it’s not really jealously, I dunno. It’s more like possessiveness over the both of you.’
‘Oh.’
Zayn shrugged. ‘People go their whole lives searching for what you two have.’
Harry bumped his shoulder into Zayn’s. ‘Poetic. You should tweet that.’
‘Wanker.’ Zayn bumped his shoulder back, and the two of them stood together sharing each other’s warmth against the winter air and looking out across the moonlight hills behind the X Factor house.
Part 15