Awaking in the morning was a consistent drifting, in and out of consciousness. Louis smiled when he realized the warmth of Harry's solid body against him. Everything from the night before came rushing back to him and he snuggled closer and drifted off a little again.

He thought briefly of Harry having to leave again, of his ex, the end... but he pushed away, contently bathing in the lulling warmth and the familiar smell of Harry. It was reminiscent of the first night they had slept together. 

At that time Louis had been afraid of Harry leaving, too, wanting to push that thought away as long as he could, until it became inevitable. But Harry had surprised him, telling him that he wouldn't leave for another two weeks. 

Louis sighed. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know when Harry was leaving this time. He closed his eyes and concentrated on thinking about nothing, or about anything else. He settled for the smell of Harry's hair, burying his nose in it. He asked himself what shampoo Harry was using and if he was buying it in the woman's  section. 

"Are you sniffing my hair?" Harry's scratchy, extremely deep morning voice curled into the lazy morning silence.

Louis paused, "No." He said but considering he still had his face buried in Harry's hair it was not very convincing. And shit, the rumbling laugh that came from Harry's chest went straight to Louis... core. Or a bit further down. He hadn't even noticed the he was spurting a morning wood, oh well.

Harry seemed to have noticed too, "Ready for next round, are ya?"

Louis laughed, "A bit too tired." He said truthfully. He moved his leg so he was lying half on top of the other man and felt something poke his thigh. He sniggered as Harry let out a sharp breath, "You're one to talk." He pressed his thigh between Harry's legs, rubbing against his hard on.

"Louis." Harry groaned, torn between annoyance and pleasure. Latter seemed to outweigh because he clutched onto Louis' hips and ground upwards. He felt Louis rubbing against his hip, developing a dirty rhythm that Harry was helpless not to follow. Harry started to suck at the side of Louis' neck, biting when Louis got Harry particularly good. 

Louis movements grew more frantic. Harry loved the way Louis moved above him. "Too tired, eh?" He teased, a bit out of breath.

"That's right." Louis panted, not faltering with his movements, "You could really help a tired guy."

Harry grinned lazily. "Not helping enough?" He asked, thrusting up a bit harder.

"Not at all." Louis answered, although Harry heard his breath hitch.

A surge of desire to prove himself to Louis shot through Harry's gut, and he flipped them over, almost smoothly. Louis gasped as he landed on his back, Harry grinning down at him cheekily. 

"Don't look so self-satisfied." Louis glared, but it was weak. They picked up a rhythm again but Harry wasn't sure if the change of position necessarily changed the power relations between them. Harry was still following everything Louis wanted, even without him saying it. In the end, they added to the mess from the night before with each others name falling from their lips breathlessly.

Once Harry had gotten his breath under control again, he lifted his face from Louis neck, grinning down at him. It turned into a soft smile when he saw Louis blinking up at him with a dazed smile. He felt Louis shift slightly and then a hand was gently cradling Harry's cheek. He leaned into it, practically purring as Louis scratched his scalp with his other hand.

While Louis watched Harry preening under his attention, Louis' mind started to clear up. This was a perfect morning. Louis already knew he was going to miss mornings like these dearly. Harry wasn't even gone and he already felt the slight ache in his chest. 

"When are you leaving again?" Louis whispered. 

Harry's eyes shot open in surprise, not having expected the sudden change of mood. He nuzzled his nose against Louis' cheek. "Never." He whispered.

Louis groaned, "Harry, I'm serious." 

Harry pushed himself up onto his elbows, smiling down at Louis. "I am too."

Louis frowned, "What do you mean?"

Harry sighed and rolled to the side, staring at the ceiling. Louis rolled onto his side to watch him. "I don't want to leave." Harry elaborated, "England is so... cold and boring... and grey. And I feel like that too when I'm there. And I just..." He let out a long breath, looking for the right things to say, "I fell so fast for you, Louis." He turned his head slightly to Louis, whispering, "I can't lose that."

Louis watched him for a few moments, stunned. He didn't know what to say, what to think even. His head started to clear and he turned Harry's words around in his head for a minute. "So..." Louis swallowed, "So you just left? You just packed up your things and left your home?"

"You're worth it. " Harry told him softly.

Louis looked incredulous, "But... but you should never just give everything up just for one person. That's crazy! What if they leave? What is left? What-"

"Are you planning to leave me?" Harry smiled. He had anticipated this reaction exactly and it made him even more sure that this was the right decision. 

Louis shook his head, "That's not the point. We never know what will happen. I don't plan to leave you but we'll never know and we don't even know each other that long. What if it turns out that we're not made to be together? What if we start to fight frequently or what if you get sick of hearing clarinets on regular basis or what if-..."

"Louis," Harry started caressing his cheek, "Relax, darling. It's fine. I'm sure we are gonna work out." Louis opened his mouth to protest but Harry laid a finger on his lips, "If it helps, this moving wasn't just the desire to be with you again, Lou. I told you, London was just... dark. It lost its spark after I got to be here, experience all of this. I- I get why you don't want to leave. This place is special."

Louis didn't say anything for a while, just watching Harry closely.

"Okay," He whispered after a while, "I'm sorry for freaking out. I guess every other person would have been over the moon if someone did something like this for them."

Harry grinned, pecking Louis lips shortly, "I didn't expect any less from you."

Louis' eyes crinkled with his wide smile, "Shower? We're pretty gross."

!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i

The following day around one thirty, Louis was standing in the kitchen, trying to cook. I know, shocking.

But taking a bite of the homemade mash, Louis grinned proudly because this was actually pretty good. He crouched down to check the oven. 

No, it was not chicken stuffed with mozzarella wrapped in parma ham. Louis had considered it, but then he he remembered what Harry said about attempting to start living vegetarian because "It's not only so much healthier, Lou," Harry had explained, "It's better for the whole world. Do you know how much water is necessary and how much greenhouse gases are emitted when killing an animal and getting it ready to eat? And how much rain forest is destroyed for the feeding of the animals? And anyways, I've seen a video on You Tube. I'll show you."

And Harry had proceeded to show him a video of animals in terribly cramped slaughterhouses who were biting and scratching themselves out of boredom and pain. And them how some pigs, especially, were squeaking horribly before being killed.

And, okay, Louis had hated Harry for showing him this. He would have preferred living in blissful unawareness. It's not like people weren't at least a bit aware of how the meat industry worked, but how could Louis eat a steak with a clear conscience now that he had seen that? Most people would just ignore the knowledge after that, and if Louis was being honest with himself, he would have too.

But of course he wanted to be supportive of his... boyfriend?

Maybe Louis should ask Harry to be his boyfriend after they ate their meal of paprika stuffed with mozzarella, wrapped in Emmentaler cheese and spiced aubergine slices. It looked fancy, in Louis' opinion. 

They could take a few more minutes in the oven, Louis decided and stood up to arrange the candles on the kitchen table. He asked himself when Harry would be back. 

He had left this morning, leaving a note saying 'Morning, my sweet. I have a meeting but I'll be back around two, give or take. You look so cute all cozy and cuddled up in your bed. I don't want to leave you:( I'll see you around noon, my lovely cutie boo<3'.

Louis had rolled his eyes but a reluctant smile had made his way to his lips. Harry was just soo cheesy and... okay, incredibly endearing. 

But what had dawned on Louis was that, although Harry had been with him for almost two days, Louis didn't exactly know why he was here in the first place and how his job arrangements were now. It stupidly hadn't crossed his mind and Louis hit himself for it because, wasn't this the precondition so Harry could stay?

Turning to the oven, Louis let out a breath of relief when he saw the paprika halves, aubergines and cheese were not burnt yet. Actually, they looked really perfect right now, a bit brown but not dark. Louis took them out, put them down on the worktop and let them cool down a bit.

Then, Louis let himself fret about his appearance and how he would ask Harry to be his boyfriend. He paced into the living room, back into the kitchen and picked up his phone. He looked at himself in the selfie camera, adjusted his fringe, then texted Harry, asking him when he'll be back.

Already at your house, came the immediate answer. 

"Damn." Louis muttered and hurried to light up the candles. He heard the keys at the flat door. Apparently Harry had taken the liberty to take one of Louis' two keys before leaving this house this morning.

"Lou?" 

"In the kitchen." Louis shouted back. He had managed to lit the last candle and rounded the table to approach Harry. The business man was still in his suit, though his jacket, tie and shoes were already off, and he was grinning at Louis with a bunch of roses in his hands. He handed them to Louis, who hid his blush in the bouquet, "You absolute cheese ball."

Harry laughed, stepping into his space to press his lips to his forehead. "You're welcome."

Louis grinned, titling his head to give Harry a quick kiss before turning around to go into the kitchen. "I have a surprise for you too."

"Smells great." Harry followed Louis.

"It does?" Louis threw a grin over his shoulder, and it grew when he saw the look of surprise on Harry's face at the state of the kitchen. "Good, for a moment I was worried I got too used to the smell of my awful food."

Harry ignored his last statement in favour of examining the fairly clean kitchen, the neatly laid table and the colourful candles. "Who is the cheeseball now?" Harry teased, though his grin was blinding.

Louis pulled a chair back for Harry to sit down on, the latter complying. "Don't halloo till you're out of the woods." Louis put one paprika half on each plate and divided the mash, "Maybe I'm gonna poison you."

"I'm willing to take that risk." Harry replied.

"Dug in then." Louis watched him nervously. 

Harry hesitated, then looked up, "Louis, I can't eat if you stare at me like that." 

"Oh." Louis blushed, looking down at his plate.

The food turned out pretty good, to Louis' relief, and while Harry was telling him about his meeting, though more the things he had seen on the way to the building, Louis thought about how to stir the conversation into the future direction. While Harry was rambling about a flower combination he had seen in a beautifully cultured garden, Louis cleared his throat, "Harry?"

Harry looked up to signal that he was listening.

But Louis backpedaled, "No, sorry for interrupting. Continue."

Harry frowned, "No, Lou. Come on. It seems important to you. What's on your mind?"

Louis sighed, a small smile on his face as Harry reached over the table to caress his hand reassuringly. "Okay, umm... I was just wondering, like, what are you doing? I mean, you have obviously business meetings so, can you continue your old job over here? Or do you already have a new job here? Or..." Louis trailed off.

Harry smiled, "Fair point. I'm still at Mr. Payne's company. Like, I'm basically here to do all the Verona affairs. The problem is that there is not much to do here. I came here for a contract extension with J&D but I've already told Mr. Payne I'd stay. He wasn't really happy. It's still really important to have face to face contact in his company. So, I'm gonna have less work, also less money. And if I'm doing good, Mr. Payne will send me on business trips. Me living here isn't really convenient for him, so maybe I'll be resigned in future, I don't know."

"You'll lose your job?!" Louis asked incredulously, "Why would you do that? You had a stable job, Harry. How can you risk all that just for-..."

"For my happiness?" Harry interrupted, "Louis, you were the one who showed me that all this security, this welfare, is nothing if I'm not happy. Over here, with you, I'm the happpiest I've ever been."

"But-"

"But nothing, Louis. I'm perfectly fine and I know I'm gonna be perfectly fine. Besides," He paused, "I have an idea what the future could look like, but let's not talk about that right now, okay?"

Louis examined him carefully, "What kind of future plans do you have?"

Harry sighed, "Lou, let's not talk about work right now."

"I want to know." Louis argued, pouting.

Harry ran his hands over his face, resigned, "Okay, but first," He took Louis' hands in his own, "I need to ask you a question." He paused, smiling nervously, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

Louis tried, but failed, to hide his smile and attempted to glare at Harry, "I wanted to ask you that."

Harry grinned, a sigh of relief leaving his lips. He leaned over the table to steal a couple of kisses form Louis, until his thighs ached from half standing, half sitting.

Louis smiled when Harry sat back down, leaning his cheek into his hand, "So... future? Work? What?" He prompted.

"Okay, umm, I talked to Mr. Payne."

"Yes?" Louis said when Harry didn't continue immediately.

"About... starting my own business."

Louis' eyes widened, "Your own? Wow? And what did he say? Don't you need really much money to start?"

"Yeah, it will be a risk, definitely, but I was thinking... like, you could join?"

Louis frowned, "Harry, that's really cute that you want to give me a stable job but I'm really not qualified for-"

"No, no, you'll definitely be qualified, listen. I've looked into it and I think there could be enough demand for it."

"For what?"

"Music sheets. Like, a music publishing company. It could be everything, new written, old ones, new arranged stuff. But what is really requested in the internet often is, like, modern music, for example pop music, on piano, but maybe we could also do it for, for instance clarinets and string instruments and stuff. What do you think?"

Louis remained silent for a minute, turning the idea over in his head, "Well, I have no idea how business works, but it's an idea. And I guess we're still young. If it doesn't work and we lose everything, at least we're together right?"

Harry beamed, "Right."

The soft smile on Louis' face told him everything Harry needed to know. He knew Louis loved him as much as he did. And he knew that Louis was willing to risk as much for him as Harry had for him, leaving his whole old life behind him. And even if neither of them dared to say it out loud yet, they knew that they didn't want anything but built up a future. Together.

The End (is the beginning of a new story...)

A/N: Is this an abrupt ending? I planned to end it here but I have the feeling it's not a proper ending.

Anyways, I'll look at what you're saying but consider it as completed. Maybe there'll be an epilogue. 

I have ideas for other books so it would be amazing if you'd keep an eye on my further updates. I really, really love you guys. Thank you so much for your support<3

Maybe you also have tips what I could do better in my future writing. I would really appreciate some feedback:)