When the Christmas holidays came, Louis' family was informed that instead of Harry, Louis' girlfriend would come to visit them before Christmas.

Louis could tell two things when he told his family this. First, they were all extremely surprised when he told them he had a girlfriend. He did not know if he should feel offended. Was it so surprising that a girl liked him?
The second thing he noticed was that his whole family was really disappointed that Harry was not coming this year.

"Well," Jay, their mother, said, "At least we'll see the Styles family on New Years."

The time came, where the students had to say goodbye to each other. Zayn had only been dismissed with brief 'Bye's by his roommates, not that they thought he would care. He had plenty popular friends.

The four of them stood in the parking lot, waiting for their parent's cars to pick them up.

Niall hugged Harry especially tightly when his parent's arrived. "I'm just one call away, okay? Just say a word and I'll come flying from Ireland, yeah?" He whispered into his ear.

Harry smiled at him gratefully. "Same to you."

Liam was the next to leave, also hugging them goodbye, although a bit more awkwardly. "I'll see you guys next year." He grinned before climbing into the his parent's red Mercedes. Louis and Harry waved until he was gone.

"So..." Harry asked quietly, looking around the deserted parking lot. Most of the other students were waiting inside since it was quite cold. Or they were being picked up at another time. "Where is Eleanor?"

Louis smiled sadly. Eleanor would be coming with him this time. "She's inside. I'll text her when my mum arrives."

Harry hummed in acknowledgement. Louis looked at him from the side. The younger boy was wearing a beanie on his dishevelled curls and his luggage was laying beside him carelessly. He looked so soft and cuddly with his scarf and warm jacket. He still seemed cold since he was hugging himself and shivering a bit.

Louis suddenly got the overwhelming need to hold him, so he did. He stepped closer to his best friend and pulled him into a warm hug into which Harry immediately melted. Louis kissed his temple and buried his smile in his curls. A wave of unnamed but overwhelming affection for this boy run through Louis and settled in his heart, making him smile uncontrollably. He was feeling incredibly happy like this. Sighing, he wished this moment would never end.

Suddenly, a the loud beep of a horn startled them to look up and see the blue Mini of Harry's parents. Louis and Harry looked at each other again.

"Looks like we're going in separate cars for the first time." Harry whispered. They both did not dare to let go of each other or look away, drinking each other in.

"We'll see each other again in two weeks." Louis whispered back, bringing his face closer to Harry's so their noses were touching. Harry's eyes fluttered shut, enjoying Louis' gentle touches. The older boy nosed at Harry's cheek, and his heart started racing. He had no idea what he was doing, he was just following his instincts, and in this moment, nothing felt more right than letting his lips touch Harry's cheek, softly like a rose petal, and he trailed his lips down Harry's cheek until he reached the corner of his mouth. Harry could not think about anything else but LouisLouisLouisLouisLouis, and he turned his head to finally connect their lips.

This was unlike anything either of the boys had ever felt before. It was better than in any movie, or any cheesy love novel. It was magical, new and exciting, awakening every single body cell and trembling with an overwhelming feeling of happiness, but at the same time, it felt familiar and real, a feeling of bone deep contentment.

Again, a beep of a horn startled them out of their bubble, and suddenly, the cold reality hit Louis. It seemed like Harry was feeling the same because despite looking extremely unsure of how to proceed, he smiled shakily at Louis before going to the blue car and climbing in without a word.

Louis looked after him, bringing his hand up to his lips. His feelings were a wreck of uncertainty, butterflies, helplessness and regret.

He saw a group of girls climbing into the car which had startled Louis and Harry out of their moment. The girls were laughing and generally looking carefree. Louis wished he could go back to being carefree like that. Before his stomach had to endure a constant roller coaster of feelings.

,'','','','','','','','','',

Eleanor was nice and polite and she got on like a house on fire with Louis' sisters, especially Fizzy.

But it was not the same as with Harry. Nothing was ever like it was with Harry.

Louis knew that Eleanor also knew it. He knew that Eleanor felt a bit out of place. It did not help that Harry was mentioned quite often. When they talked about the past Christmas year stories, when they spoke about New Years, when they baked because Harry was an excellent baker, when someone asked Louis how Harry was doing, when Louis talked about school...

Harry was just such an essential part of Louis' life, and with that also of his family's life.

Not to mention... the kiss.

He had not told anyone. He had not even talked with Harry about it. Yes, they texted almost constantly, but they never mentioned the kiss. But still, Louis could barely think about anything else.

Sometimes, he tried to distract himself by kissing Eleanor, but that only made him think about Harry's kiss even more.

Fortunately, Eleanor stayed only three days at the Tomlinson household since her parents wanted their daughter home the few weeks that they could.

Christmas came and went, and before he knew it, it was New Years.

The Tomlinsons gathered in the Styles household and Louis had never felt happier to have Harry by his side again.

Harry's family sometimes eyed them curiously since they had seen them kiss in the parking lot, but they were sensitive enough not to say anything. It seemed like they knew that they had not figured it out. Or maybe Harry had told them. Louis did not know, but he did not dare to ask.

As they all stood on the rooftop, counting down the seconds before the new year would begin, Louis looked at his Hazza.

He was looking up at the early fireworks in wonder, his smile shining brighter than any of the colourful fire sparks in the sky and his eyes twinkling much more beautifully that the stars above them, and Louis made a New Years resolution to himself.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Zerooooooo."

Louis leaned in and placed a lingering kiss on Harry's cheek.