In My Veins - Epilogue
pairing: arry/Louis
rating: ature
summary: arry Styles is an arrogant pop star who has fallen into a black hole of drugs and self-loathing. Dr. Louis Tomlinson is hired to fix the unfixable; but not if Harry has any say in it. Coauthored wit onedirection5 she writes even numbered chapters, I write odd).
The room was already filled with sunlight when Harry awoke, signaling that he had slept in a bit longer than intended. Judging from the empty space beside him and the clattering coming from the kitchen, Louis had not had the same problem.
Harry rose and stretched, working out the kinks from his new, rather cramped sleeping position (Louis sure did take up a lot of room for such a small person), then shuffled to the bathroom. He shook his hair into an acceptable arrangement and plucked his toothbrush out of the cup by the sink, realizing a moment before he stuck it in his mouth that it was Louis’s. This had been a common occurrence recently; Harry wasn’t sure he’d ever get a definitive inventory on all the ways Louis had crept into his life over the past couple months. From the crumpled clothes on his bedroom floor to the Post-It notes with jokes and good morning messages left around the kitchen on days where Louis went to work before Harry got up, the older boy had wormed his way into Harry’s home (and his heart, but he would never think something so horrifically cheesy, absolutely not). Placing the red brush back into the cup, he selected his own blue one and began to scrub the fuzzy feeling from his mouth.
Once he was sufficiently presentable he walked towards the racket coming from the kitchen. Pausing in the doorway, he was met with the sight of Louis desperately trying to clean up what appeared to be an omelette, but was now just a yellow smear across the tiled floor. Louis straightened with a despairing groan. However, the groan turned into a sigh when Harry caught him from behind, pressing his lips against the purple mark on Louis’s throat that he had placed there the night before.
“Morning, sunshine,” Louis chuckled, squirming to turn and get a look at the boy who had firmly attached himself to his neck. “I was trying to make you a nice breakfast, seeing as it’s three month anniversary…but as you’ve probably gathered that plan didn’t turn out so well.”
Harry felt something warm seep up into his chest. “No, Lou,” he murmured into the older boy’s throat. “It’s perfectly fine. There are muffins in the pantry that we can have. I appreciate the gesture though, you goofball.” He finally detached himself and let Louis turn toward him, drawing the other boy into his arms and burying his nose in the mess of caramel waves.
Louis chuckled. “Love you too, Haz.”
Harry Styles was happy.
~
Ten minutes later and they were sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying their pastries in a comfortable silence. Louis, unsurprisingly, was the first to break it.
“I know you aren’t technically my patient anymore, but I think you should stop by sometime this week.”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “And why’s that?”
“Well, you know how I’ve been wanting to see how well my office works for playing doctor…” Louis shot him a wink.
Choking on his food, Harry blurted, “oh shut it, Louis, you aren’t even a real doctor.”
Louis threw a hand over his heart. “Excuse me, I take offense to that. And that’s Dr. Tomlinson to you, wanker. Anyway, it’s a kink, I don’t need a goddamn degree!”
“In your dreams, babe.”
“Fine! Be that way, you great prude. Your loss. In that case, I’m probably going to go ahead and replace the sofa in my office.”
“But it’s full of memories! Like that time when I sucked you off at your chair then let you fuck me over the desk…” Harry trailed off, a particularly vivid flashback to that day making speech a bit difficult.
Louis leaned over the table, brushing his knuckles down Harry’s forearm suggestively. “Actually, Haz,” he murmured, voice dropping to a low, gravelly pitch, “I can’t say I remember. Perhaps you should…remind me?”
Dropping his muffin without a second thought, Harry clutched Louis’s shoulder and dragged him forward to meet him in the middle, mouths sealing over the forgotten breakfast. After a bit of tripping and fumbling they made it to the couch and Harry pushed Louis onto his back, a wicked grin playing on his lips. Harry made quick work of Louis’s shirt and trousers, discarding them and dragging his tongue down the soft skin underneath. He reached the hem of Louis’s boxers and met the other boy’s eyes, shooting a wink before tugging the material down in one smooth motion and taking Louis’s length into his mouth.
Louis moaned in approval, nails digging into the leather of the couch and leaving marks that were probably permanent. Not that any of that mattered to Harry, who was just enjoying way Louis’s knees pressed against his temple in a desperate attempt to draw him closer. He pressed the flat of his tongue against the underside of Louis’s cock and delighting in the shudder it elicited from the boy beneath him. “Harry,” Louis gasped out, “Harry, love, I’m not gonna last much longer if you keep on like this.”
With one last teasing swipe along the head, Harry withdrew his mouth with a pop and let Louis wriggle out from under him. Louis placed his hands on Harry’s chest and pushed him back against the cushions gently, carefully, lovingly. But Harry was having none of that.
“God, Lou, just fuck me already, you twat.” Louis chuckled against his mouth and pulled away, moving toward the bedroom to fetch the necessary items. “No, now,” Harry insisted, shoving his trousers and pants off together before wrapping his calves around Louis’s back and tugging him back in.
“Haz, it’ll hurt you…”
“You won’t hurt me, you idiot. You couldn’t if you tried.”
~
They came down from their highs slowly, doing their best to draw out the serenity for as long as they possible could.
Louis ghosted his lips over the inside of Harry’s arm and paused over the crease in his elbow. He pressed his thumb against the tiny scars, taking a stuttering breath before kissing it, letting the heat of his breath wash over the evidence of Harry’s battles.
“So what do you think?” Louis whispered. “Are you gonna take the record deal? Simon said you had a week to decide, and the deadline is tomorrow.”
Harry was silent. His eyes were focused on the ceiling, his thoughts centered on the boy tucked under his arm.
“Harry?”
“I dunno…I’d be gone a lot. I’d be recording in Sweden, then promotional work in the States, then the tour…I probably wouldn’t spend more than a few weeks here between now and next year.”
“Oh.” Louis was the one to fall quiet this time, snuggling imperceptibly farther into Harry’s chest. But Harry noticed. Harry noticed everything when it came to Louis.
“But Harry, you can’t put your career on hold for me,” Louis finally spoke. “This is everything we’ve worked for, this is everything you love. I’ve seen you sing and I know what it means to you. And I couldn’t live with myself if I knew I was the reason you weren’t out there doing what makes you happiest.”
Harry laughed softly. “Music isn’t the only thing that I love anymore. You should know that.”
“I do, but-”
“You could come with me.” Harry interrupted before he could stop himself.
Louis blinked in surprise. “W-with you? Like on tour? Like…together? As a couple?Publicly?”
“I guess so, yeah.” He hadn’t meant to suggest it, but now that he had, everything about it just seemed right and Harry couldn’t help but think that this was the way it was meant to be. “I mean you’d have to take a break from your job and I wouldn’t expect that bu-”
He was cut off with a kiss, the same way he had been so many months before. But this one wasn’t harsh, wasn’t full of urgency and frustration. It was simple, sweet, and full of the promise that there would be many more like it to come.
“Of course, Harry. I-I’d love to.”
Harry ducked down to lay a kiss on the smaller boy’s nose and buried his face against his neck, concentrating on Louis’s beating pulse to distract him from the tears pricking in the back of his eyes.
It had taken time and pain and more than a few mistakes to come to the realization, but Harry finally understood. Louis wasn’t an addiction.
He was Harry’s cure.
rating: ature
summary: arry Styles is an arrogant pop star who has fallen into a black hole of drugs and self-loathing. Dr. Louis Tomlinson is hired to fix the unfixable; but not if Harry has any say in it. Coauthored wit onedirection5 she writes even numbered chapters, I write odd).
The room was already filled with sunlight when Harry awoke, signaling that he had slept in a bit longer than intended. Judging from the empty space beside him and the clattering coming from the kitchen, Louis had not had the same problem.
Harry rose and stretched, working out the kinks from his new, rather cramped sleeping position (Louis sure did take up a lot of room for such a small person), then shuffled to the bathroom. He shook his hair into an acceptable arrangement and plucked his toothbrush out of the cup by the sink, realizing a moment before he stuck it in his mouth that it was Louis’s. This had been a common occurrence recently; Harry wasn’t sure he’d ever get a definitive inventory on all the ways Louis had crept into his life over the past couple months. From the crumpled clothes on his bedroom floor to the Post-It notes with jokes and good morning messages left around the kitchen on days where Louis went to work before Harry got up, the older boy had wormed his way into Harry’s home (and his heart, but he would never think something so horrifically cheesy, absolutely not). Placing the red brush back into the cup, he selected his own blue one and began to scrub the fuzzy feeling from his mouth.
Once he was sufficiently presentable he walked towards the racket coming from the kitchen. Pausing in the doorway, he was met with the sight of Louis desperately trying to clean up what appeared to be an omelette, but was now just a yellow smear across the tiled floor. Louis straightened with a despairing groan. However, the groan turned into a sigh when Harry caught him from behind, pressing his lips against the purple mark on Louis’s throat that he had placed there the night before.
“Morning, sunshine,” Louis chuckled, squirming to turn and get a look at the boy who had firmly attached himself to his neck. “I was trying to make you a nice breakfast, seeing as it’s three month anniversary…but as you’ve probably gathered that plan didn’t turn out so well.”
Harry felt something warm seep up into his chest. “No, Lou,” he murmured into the older boy’s throat. “It’s perfectly fine. There are muffins in the pantry that we can have. I appreciate the gesture though, you goofball.” He finally detached himself and let Louis turn toward him, drawing the other boy into his arms and burying his nose in the mess of caramel waves.
Louis chuckled. “Love you too, Haz.”
Harry Styles was happy.
~
Ten minutes later and they were sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying their pastries in a comfortable silence. Louis, unsurprisingly, was the first to break it.
“I know you aren’t technically my patient anymore, but I think you should stop by sometime this week.”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “And why’s that?”
“Well, you know how I’ve been wanting to see how well my office works for playing doctor…” Louis shot him a wink.
Choking on his food, Harry blurted, “oh shut it, Louis, you aren’t even a real doctor.”
Louis threw a hand over his heart. “Excuse me, I take offense to that. And that’s Dr. Tomlinson to you, wanker. Anyway, it’s a kink, I don’t need a goddamn degree!”
“In your dreams, babe.”
“Fine! Be that way, you great prude. Your loss. In that case, I’m probably going to go ahead and replace the sofa in my office.”
“But it’s full of memories! Like that time when I sucked you off at your chair then let you fuck me over the desk…” Harry trailed off, a particularly vivid flashback to that day making speech a bit difficult.
Louis leaned over the table, brushing his knuckles down Harry’s forearm suggestively. “Actually, Haz,” he murmured, voice dropping to a low, gravelly pitch, “I can’t say I remember. Perhaps you should…remind me?”
Dropping his muffin without a second thought, Harry clutched Louis’s shoulder and dragged him forward to meet him in the middle, mouths sealing over the forgotten breakfast. After a bit of tripping and fumbling they made it to the couch and Harry pushed Louis onto his back, a wicked grin playing on his lips. Harry made quick work of Louis’s shirt and trousers, discarding them and dragging his tongue down the soft skin underneath. He reached the hem of Louis’s boxers and met the other boy’s eyes, shooting a wink before tugging the material down in one smooth motion and taking Louis’s length into his mouth.
Louis moaned in approval, nails digging into the leather of the couch and leaving marks that were probably permanent. Not that any of that mattered to Harry, who was just enjoying way Louis’s knees pressed against his temple in a desperate attempt to draw him closer. He pressed the flat of his tongue against the underside of Louis’s cock and delighting in the shudder it elicited from the boy beneath him. “Harry,” Louis gasped out, “Harry, love, I’m not gonna last much longer if you keep on like this.”
With one last teasing swipe along the head, Harry withdrew his mouth with a pop and let Louis wriggle out from under him. Louis placed his hands on Harry’s chest and pushed him back against the cushions gently, carefully, lovingly. But Harry was having none of that.
“God, Lou, just fuck me already, you twat.” Louis chuckled against his mouth and pulled away, moving toward the bedroom to fetch the necessary items. “No, now,” Harry insisted, shoving his trousers and pants off together before wrapping his calves around Louis’s back and tugging him back in.
“Haz, it’ll hurt you…”
“You won’t hurt me, you idiot. You couldn’t if you tried.”
~
They came down from their highs slowly, doing their best to draw out the serenity for as long as they possible could.
Louis ghosted his lips over the inside of Harry’s arm and paused over the crease in his elbow. He pressed his thumb against the tiny scars, taking a stuttering breath before kissing it, letting the heat of his breath wash over the evidence of Harry’s battles.
“So what do you think?” Louis whispered. “Are you gonna take the record deal? Simon said you had a week to decide, and the deadline is tomorrow.”
Harry was silent. His eyes were focused on the ceiling, his thoughts centered on the boy tucked under his arm.
“Harry?”
“I dunno…I’d be gone a lot. I’d be recording in Sweden, then promotional work in the States, then the tour…I probably wouldn’t spend more than a few weeks here between now and next year.”
“Oh.” Louis was the one to fall quiet this time, snuggling imperceptibly farther into Harry’s chest. But Harry noticed. Harry noticed everything when it came to Louis.
“But Harry, you can’t put your career on hold for me,” Louis finally spoke. “This is everything we’ve worked for, this is everything you love. I’ve seen you sing and I know what it means to you. And I couldn’t live with myself if I knew I was the reason you weren’t out there doing what makes you happiest.”
Harry laughed softly. “Music isn’t the only thing that I love anymore. You should know that.”
“I do, but-”
“You could come with me.” Harry interrupted before he could stop himself.
Louis blinked in surprise. “W-with you? Like on tour? Like…together? As a couple?Publicly?”
“I guess so, yeah.” He hadn’t meant to suggest it, but now that he had, everything about it just seemed right and Harry couldn’t help but think that this was the way it was meant to be. “I mean you’d have to take a break from your job and I wouldn’t expect that bu-”
He was cut off with a kiss, the same way he had been so many months before. But this one wasn’t harsh, wasn’t full of urgency and frustration. It was simple, sweet, and full of the promise that there would be many more like it to come.
“Of course, Harry. I-I’d love to.”
Harry ducked down to lay a kiss on the smaller boy’s nose and buried his face against his neck, concentrating on Louis’s beating pulse to distract him from the tears pricking in the back of his eyes.
It had taken time and pain and more than a few mistakes to come to the realization, but Harry finally understood. Louis wasn’t an addiction.
He was Harry’s cure.