It takes me a second to get a sense of time and space when I feel Harry’s lips brush over mine softly the next morning.
“Hey”, he whispers and brushes through my hair, feeling sticky from the salty water, “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

I smile a little and let my hands travel to his hair with my eyes still closed. “Good morning.”

I pull him down a little and wrap strands of hair around my finger before trying to open my eyes a little. “I really didn’t want to wake you up when you looked so beautiful in your sleep, but it’s nearly ten and it’s our last proper day so I-“

I interrupt him by pressing a kiss to his lips and nod. “Yeah. Good that you woke me. Thanks, babe.”

“You’ve gotten so soft”, Harry says with a small chuckle, “Never could I have imagined you thanking me for waking you up.”

I roll my eyes a little but blush at his words because he’s so right. He makes me go all soft and happy and careful.
“I just really don’t feel like being any different when I’m around you. Maybe it’s those stupid curls. Or your eyes. Your lips maybe. Or the way you talk.”

Harry laughs and leans down to hug me tightly, burying his face in my neck, his breath tickling my skin a little.
“Let’s get going then, yeah?”

“Mhmh”, he makes, not moving an inch, “In a second.”

I laugh. “See, it’s you changing now. Getting all relaxed, I’m gonna be the morning person after all.”

He quickly shakes his head and then sits up to tie his hair into a bun.

“I wish you’d braid it”, I say, accidentally saying a thought out loud I didn’t even know existed.

“My hair?”, Harry asks, looking at me a little surprised.

“Yes, obviously. What else?”

“I can't braid”, he says and shrugs, “Never learned it.”

“Have a second hair tie?”, I ask and sit up, “Because I grew up having to tie several sister’s hair.”

He smiles a little and hands me a second hair tie. I move behind him, brushing his hair until it’s all fluffy and his curls aren’t as visible as they were before.

“I’d recommend not taking the braids out afterwards”, I say, “I kind of destroyed your curls.”

He laughs and then I start braiding, his left side first, right one afterwards. I can’t do it as quickly as I could a few years back, but in the end, it ends up looking just fine.
“Turn around”, I say and smile broadly when I see him.

I cup his jaw with my hand to press a kiss to his forehead. “So pretty.”

He blushes a little and touches his braids with his hands. “I’ll leave them in then?”

“I’d be offended if you didn’t. Yes, please.”

He smiles softly and leans forward to peck my lips.
We brush our teeth outside the van and change into some comfortable clothes before we get going. Harry wants to drive once again and I don’t start discussing with him but let him climb into the drivers seat anyways, smiling happily because he starts wiggling around in his seat excitedly, his braids looking so pretty on him.

“Quit staring”, he says without looking at me and starts the engine.

We drive for about two hours before we’re less than an hour away from home. “Won’t drive any further”, Harry says after having parked the car in the middle of some small city, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “If we get any closer to this roadtrip ending not only temporally but also geographically I’ll cry.”

I let out a weird ‘aww’ what makes Harry laugh at me. “Shut up”, I say, climbing over to the drivers seat to kiss him for a bit.

“Now lets go and get lunch”, Harry says, “I’ll take you on a date.”

I’m not sure why such a simple sentence makes me smile and blush so much, but it’s something else when he says it.

“Okay”, I mumble, opening the door so we can get out of the car. He wraps his fingers around mine as we stroll through the streets for a bit, pointing out weird dresses in the windows of shops, reading through the menus of restaurants until we find a nice, cosy Italian restaurant with a terrace we can sit on.

Harry smiles at me from across the table, looking at me from over the edge of his menu. I smile back and try to contain myself to not just kiss him all over the face in the middle of the restaurant.

I decide to wrap my ankles around his under the table instead and take one of his hands to trace along his knuckles with my thumb carefully.

“You’ve gotten so affectionate”, Harry says, grinning happily, “I’m a good influence.”

“You’re not influencing me”, I say, “You’re just being so ridiculously adorable, I can’t fucking help it.”

He leans over the table and presses a small kiss to my cheek, smiling. “You know, you’re actually the cheesiest person ever, you’d just never admit it.”

I roll my eyes and am happy about a waitress approaching our table at that moment because I wouldn’t have known how to reply anyways.

“No, forget it”, Harry says, opening the small chest in which the waitress brought the bill, “I invited you on this date so I am paying.”

“That’s such a stupid rule”, I say, trying to snatch the bill out of his hands, “I could’ve invited you too. Lets at least share.”

He shakes his head again. “No chance, baby. I won’t let you.”

I blush a little bit again and scoff before leaning back in my chair. “Then I’ll at least get us some dessert.”

He nods before putting money into the chest. “You can do that, yes. Ready to leave?”

I nod and he walks around the table to take my hand before we head out again. His fingers fit between mine comfortably and his thumb draws little circles into the palm of my hand slowly.

We get ice cream at an ice cream parlour and sit down at the riverside, watching the ducks while Harry feeds them with his left over cone every now and then.

My feet are pulled up against my body so I’m able to lean against Harry completely, letting my body rest against his side fully, enjoying the careful but steady grip of his hand around my waist.

“Can we go here again once we’re a boring, old couple?”, Harry asks, kissing the top of my head.

“Yeah. And then we’ll think back on all the nice things we experienced together already.”

“Good”, he says, smiling happily.

We head back to the car after a few more hours of doing nothing, time passing way to fast with Harry next to me.
We stay at a campsite that I still remember going to as a child and Harry cooks some curry for us while I watch him, admiring the way he scrunches up his nose sometimes, the way he tries brushing through his hair until he notices it’s still in braids and just touches them carefully before smiling, the way he frowns when concentrating.

“Got all the dishes and the wine out?”, Harry asks, putting curry on both of our plates before walking over to the blanket where I’m waiting for him.

He sets the plates aside and nearly throws himself on top of me so I fall backwards a bit. “You’re so amazing, Louis”, he whispers, brushing our noses together once before he moves away again.

“You are too”, I say, “But also very weird.”

He chuckles and hands me one of the plates. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks, H. You’re the best.”
“Am I?”

I hum with a small nod and it makes him grin before he takes a sip of wine out of the bottle. He grimaces a little. “Bit sweet.” He takes another sip and shrugs.

He hands me the bottle and I take a sip as well. “Not the best but not the worst either. Had worse ones.”

He laughs and nods. “It’ll do.”

We finish eating mostly in silence and when we’re done, we decide to not to care about the dishes today but climb onto the roof again, watching the sun go down slowly.

“Wanna see if we can spot any stars?”, Harry whispers, pulling me in closer, kissing my forehead.

I nod and lay my head down on his chest, putting the nearly empty bottle of wine away. The alcohol wasn’t very strong so all I feel is my stomach rumbling because of how sugary it was.

“I feel drunk”, Harry says, “I don’t think it’s from the wine.”

“No?”
He shakes his head. “Think it’s you. Make my tummy go all crazy and make feel so lightheaded. Think I’m a bit drunk on love.”

“Love, mhm?”

He shrugs. “Who knows. Maybe.”

“Maybe”, I agree quietly, kissing him until all of that disgusting wine taste on our lips is gone and it’s just Harry anymore.

“Stars”, I remind him quietly, “That’s what we wanted to do.”
He nods but doesn’t look away, instead brushes a strand of hair out of my forehead. “You’re nicer to look at than stars.”

He eventually does turn away though, taking my hand as we look up into the sky in silence, a warm blanket spread over both of us.

“Think my wish got fulfilled?”, Harry whispers, “Think he’s looking over me, maybe?”

“For sure”, I say quietly, “I think he’s watching and smiling down on his gorgeous, amazing son. Bet he’s so proud.”

There’s a single tear running down Harry’s cheek so I wipe it away with my thumb quickly. “Don’t be sad, babe.”

“’m not. At least not only sad. Just emotional. About being able to let him go and about having you next to me, having you care about me. About this being over tomorrow. It’s a lot, you know. But mostly, I’m very happy. About you. And us. And how this turned out.”

“Shut it”, I say, suddenly feeling the alcohol stronger than before. Or probably, it’s Harry’s words, making my head spin. “That’s too much for my heart.”

He giggles, hiding his face in my neck, kissing it softly once. “You know, I think I’ll forever like you this much”, he mumbles, “For ever and ever.”

“You certainly are drunk.”
He laughs a little too loud, considering it’s the middle of the night on a campsite. “I’m not drunk, silly. I’ll tell you all of it again when not having had a sip of alcohol. Believe me, I mean every word.”

“Do tell me”, I say, “Enjoy it quite much.”

“Will. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and again and again and again.”

My eyes are getting heavy slowly and Harry brushing through my hair makes me even more tired. “Sleep, baby. Sweet dreams.” He kisses me once and I barely get out a quite ‘You too’ before I’m fast asleep.

~~~

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