“No”, I say and cross my arms in front of my chest to which Harry only laughs before rolling his eyes.

“Louis, let me drive.”

He’s already sitting on the driver’s seat, fingers drumming on the steering wheel and he looks so convinced I’m pretty sure I don’t have a chance.

“Last time, you nearly crashed the car into a tree.”

“See. Only nearly. I’m a good driver. I know what I’m doing so buckle up now, because I’m just gonna drive.”

I sigh, admitting my defeat and buckling up, laying my feet down on the headboard before turning on some music. “Lets go then.”

We didn’t talk about yesterday again. Not about the hugs and the tears and about falling asleep with his arms wrapped around mine. It’s not like I’ll mention it again if he doesn’t, for sure not.

He looks over for me with a small smile on his lips for a second before clicking on the map and starting the engine.

We drive in silence for about two hours before we both get hungry because it’s already two p.m. and we only had breakfast so far.

“Stop at some rest area or actually cook?”, Harry asks and turns down the music a little.

I shrug. “I’d say cook, but it’s you who’ll end up doing that, so you decide.”

He laughs and nods. “I’ll do that, no worries. Let’s find a campsite to stay at then?”

I nod. There’s supposed to be some really beautiful forests around so we’ll probably go on a small walk there this afternoon.

We end up driving for another hour before we find a decent, very small campsite with only two other vans and three tents on there. We find a spot in a corner and park the van.

“So fucking hungry”, I say and jump out of the car to get the camping stove from the back, “You better hurry up.”

Harry nods and gets some pasta and tomato sauce out of a box. “Will do.”

We chuckle and my tummy flutters in a weird way again. It doesn’t take too long until Harry is cooking, me sitting next to him awkwardly, trying to help, but him refusing to let me do anything because apparently, I’ll just mess it up.

I decide to built up the table with one chair and the bucket we might have stolen from the first campsite and set the table instead.

It does taste rather good, especially compared to all those disgusting sandwiches wrapped in plastic we got from gas stations.

Harry smiles contently and puts his spoon down in the bowl. “The lady at the reception gave me this map with hiking paths through the forest. I don’t exactly want to hike but how about a small walk? I could really use some movement after sitting in the car all the time.”

I nod. “Yeah, if you want.” He smiles and nods before getting up to get his jacket from the van. We decide on doing the dishes once we’re back, get dressed a little warmer, lock the car and leave.

We have to walk along the road we came from for a bit first. “I hate walks”, I say, “So be prepared for a lot of complaining.”

Harry scoffs. “Good thing we decided on a walk then, Louis. Fabulous idea.”

I laugh and shrug. Maybe, in reality, I just really didn’t want to say no to his suggestion. Maybe the way his face lit up when he read about those small walks and that region on a blog in the internet, I really couldn’t bring it over to tell him that I hate walks with my whole heart.

“Look”, he says and points to a path leading away from the road, “I think that’s where we need to go.”

I nod and follow him. It goes like that for about an hour and the longer we walk, the more I realize that this isn’t even so bad. It’s kind of relaxing, walking with Harry, talking every now and then, walking in silence for a while, laughing about stupid jokes and pointing out pretty flowers.

At some point, Harry decides that he really wants to climb down the hillside to a small stream, but I definitely won’t do that, so I wait on a small bench next to the regular path, where everyone else walks. Not Harry.

I hear him cursing every now and then. “You okay?”, I shout and then I hear him cursing again before shouting a quick yes and continuing to climb.

“I’m there”, he calls after some time and then it turns quiet. Maybe he’s meditating or something. Or doing yoga. I wouldn’t be surprised.

I get bored after some time and spot some flowers at the other side of the path. It’d be stupid, wouldn’t it?

I’m not sure why I get up anyways to pick some if the white small flowers Harry found so pretty earlier. Not sure why I lay the very small bouquet down on the bench next to me and wait for him to come back.

It takes at least another ten minutes before I see him appearing again, a big smile on his face as if that was the best thing he ever did.

“Oops”, he says, nearly slipping down again and laughs.

“Hi. You’re so stupid, you know that, right?”

He shrugs. “It was fun."
He comes walking over and sits down on the bench next to me, stretching out his legs in front of him and sighing contently.

His gaze lands on the flowers laying next to me and he smiles. “There”, I say quietly, picking them up and stretching out my hand.

“For me?”

I nod, not sure why it feels like I’m blushing when he takes them from me with a big smile and inspects it as if it was the prettiest flowers he ever saw.

“Thank you.”

And then, all of the sudden, he’s leaning forward, pressing a kiss to my lips before quickly pulling away, cheeks turning pink.

“Sorry”, he mumbles and stares at his shoes.

I’m a bit overwhelmed by it all, my lips still tingling from where he pecked them for a second, my head spinning because maybe, I want to kiss him very badly now.

But then again, he apologized, so maybe, he doesn’t even want me to kiss him.

He looks up again after a few seconds have passed, still looking like a little boy that had to confirm that he did something forbidden.

There’s something extremely beautiful about the green in his eyes and that strand of hair tugged behind his ear and the way he’s blushing, so I don’t really think when I lean forward again, cupping his jaw with my hand, pulling him in a little.

I lean forward completely and feel our lips brushing before I connect them completely, his breath hitching a little. It’s a short kiss again, not lasting long before I have to pull away and check his reaction, but it confirms that those feelings I’ve been having for the past two days or so, didn’t come from nothing.

It’s quite afterwards again and I feel a bit like I’m seventeen again, kissing a boy for the first time. I usually don’t just catch feelings for persons, not really. I usually don’t even allow myself to do so because I never felt the need to have anything else than a quick hook-up with anyone except for maybe, the boyfriend I had when I was eighteen.

Harry clears his throat quietly and stares at a tree right across from him for a bit. “Up there is supposed to be a spot with a really good view. Wanna go?”

I’m not sure what he thinks about all of this, but considering he kissed me first, this has to mean something, doesn’t it?

“Sure.” I nod quickly and he smiles a little before getting up from the little bench, tugging the flowers into his pocket carefully.

The rest of the walk might be a bit awkward, maybe. I am not sure. Maybe it’s not even awkward and I’m all making it up in my head. Probably it is though, because Harry doesn’t say a word.

We arrive at the spot just ten minutes later and it really does look beautiful. “I just realized”, Harry says and stares down at the landscape below us, “We don’t have a single picture of us together.”

“I’m not much of a picture-taker”, I say.

“I noticed. Let’s take one then?”

I nod and he pulls his phone out of his back pocket, clicking on the camera before moving a little closer to me. I’m not sure what comes over me, but for some reason, I decide to turn and peck his cheek carefully once he snaps the picture.

“Sneaky”, is the only thing he says and it makes me laugh quietly. Maybe this doesn’t have to be awkward.

We stay at the spot for a bit, Harry scribbling into his sketchbook while I try to take a few photos with his phone. I end up staring at the picture of us most of the time instead. The way his eyes light up with surprise, blush spreading over his cheeks prettily. The way there’s crinkles showing next to my eyes and I look happy, at peace, almost.

We walk down again a little later, in silence most of the time, but it doesn’t feel weird, surprising enough. It’s pretty comfortable actually.

When we arrive at the van again, the first thing Harry does is go and do the dishes. He insists it’s okay and I don’t have to come with him.

I stay at the van instead, calling mum to update her a bit, still not saying anything about that boy that somehow ended up coming on this trip with me. It’d freak her out, for sure.

The sun is slowly setting and I see a few people throwing sticks and wood into the fire bowls that are placed on nearly every spot. I look around and see one right next to our van.

“Harry?”, I ask once he gets back, “Can we please make a campfire?” I try to make puppy eyes because I really, really like the image of the warm fire with Harry right next to me.

He laughs a little and places the box with the washed dishes on our table. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s supposed to be very cute so you can’t resist.”

“Oh, yeah, obviously. Totally cute.” I roll my eyes and he chuckle quietly before nodding.

“Yes, we can do a campfire. Since when do you even care about my opinion, love?”

I’m not sure whether I want to throw my phone after him or kiss him because of the petname. I decide on not doing either of it but just keep sitting on my chair, waiting for him to slip into a warmer hoodie.

“Do we even have any wood?”
I shrug. “No. Didn’t really think about that.”

“Amazing.” Harry scoffs and walks away, probably looking for sticks. I get up as well and after five minutes I come back with one stick in my hand while Harry already filled the whole fire bowl.

“Great work, Louis”, he says and shakes his head in disbelief, “Sometimes I can’t believe you managed to live on your own for so many years already.”

I roll my eyes. “I usually don’t have to collect sticks in my flat. Besides that, where’d you even get them all from?”

“I walked over there”, Harry says and points to a few trees and bushes, “While you searched around the restrooms. Notice a difference?”

I sigh and nod before walking over to the van to get a blanket where we can sit on from the van. I spread it on the floor and sit down while Harry tries to light the fire. It’s a little bit amusing, seeing him fail a few times but I try to keep my laughter in.

“Asshole”, Harry says once he finally managed to light a for now rather small fire, “You suck.”

I just laugh and watch as the flames grow bigger. Harry sits down next to me, again scribbling into his sketchbook. I sometimes try to get a small glance at what he’s going but I never managed to look at it.

After some time, the fire is so big it’s warming us already and Harry puts his notebook away, pulling his knees up to his chest with a smile. “Was a good idea.”

I smile over at him, admiring his eyes and lips and skin, that almost looks golden in the light of the fire for a bit. He’s rather beautiful.

“What?”, he asks, smiling slightly.

I just shrug and look at the fire again. All of this is so weird. I don’t know if I want to feel this way about him and even if I did, I’m not sure what he even thinks of all of this. You can kiss people without having feelings for them, right?

“Is everything okay?”

I nod with a small smile on my lips, watching as the flames tangle up in themselves, growing bigger and smaller, looking almost as if they danced.

I feel Harry moving closer and then he’s wrapping and arm around me, letting his hand rest at my waist and pressing his fingers into my skin in a comforting manner.

I’m not sure why, but in that moment, it feels right, so I lean over, resting my head onto his shoulder carefully, breathing in the smell of fire and his perfume.

Harry lifts a hand and brushes a strand of hair out of my forehead, continuing to brush over my cheek with his thumb softly, smiling down at me and I can feel my skin glowing with heat.

“You’re pretty.”

I try not to do or say anything, try not to show any reaction, but it’s not so easy, when having Harry next to me, that perfect human being that makes me such honest, real compliments that I’ve never had anyone tell me before, not when they were sober and truly meant it.

I don’t say anything but move a little closer, my leg touching his, my side pressing into his, my head still on his shoulder and I don’t ever want this to stop, really.

~~~

i think this is the most slowburn I've ever written and it's already too slow-

they finally kissed wohooo