From Louis:

'Come over?'.

To Louis:

'I'm down at the bakery, elbow deep in dough, a bit sticky'.

From Louis:

'Can I come over?'.

To Louis:

'Use the backdoor and text me when you're outside'.

Thanking the heavens for technology having evolved this much, Harry told his phone that it didn't need to text Louis any longer what he was telling it to. Now feeling a bit jumpy and excited at seeing Louis again, he tried to finish up this dough a bit faster to be able to solely focus on Louis when he'd be here. It has only been a day since their date but Harry already couldn't wait for him to show up, way too eager to have him back in his arms. He wasn't sure if this was normal anymore. He felt like a teenager with their first crush and wasn't sure if that was a good thing. First crushes were never serious. Were they serious?

Shaking his head at the down-spiral of his thoughts, Harry finished up the dough and pushed the bread into the oven, right in time for Louis' text to come through, telling him he was outside. With a flick of his wrist, he opened the front door of his home without even leaving the backroom, hearing faint footsteps approaching the backdoor. His heartbeat picked up instantly.

"Haz?" Louis' head poked through the crack of the backdoor, peaking inside and spotting him by the oven. "Hi".

"Hi" Harry felt himself smiling in less than a second, walking over to him with puckered lips. "No kiss hello?".

Rolling his eyes for show, Louis closed the distance and pecked his lips in greeting but before he could pull away again, Harry took hold of his face and prolonged the kiss for a moment, feeling needy and in desperate need of attention right now.

"Hello to you too" Louis hummed against his lips. Like this, he could feel how big Louis was smiling. "Could get used to this".

Feeling his pulse react to that statement, Harry just pecked his lips again a total of three times before stepping back and letting Louis get fully into the room, waving his hands around uselessly as if he hadn't walked through this room before. But this was the first time of Louis being in here with knowing about magic. It made him almost as nervous as his casual words.

"Now that I'm actually taking this room in, it definitely looks a lot more magical than in passing" Louis surveyed the room slowly. "What were you making? I can smell a ban in the oven".

Snorting out a laugh, Harry wrapped his arms around Louis' waist from behind, definitely taking himself and Louis by surprise with that gesture. "Just bread for a friend. He's back in town and I thought I'd make him his favourite".

"In your magic kitchen?" Louis tilted his head up a bit to glance at him. "A magic friend then?".

"Yes, a magic friend. We went to school together with his twin and stayed friends over the years. He's a travel and lifestyle influencer now. Who would've thought that's a thing" Harry let him know casually, keeping his arms around him while trying to come up with something to do to make this seem normal.

"Not me" Louis chuckled cutely, leaning further into his touch, so maybe Harry didn't need to do anything. "My sister Stella is trying to turn her job into an influencer thing. It's kinda working".

Hearing some worry swinging in Louis' voice that Harry could definitely understand, he chose not to address it this time. "Good for her. Ethan is travelling all around the world with his girlfriend because of this. She's an influencer as well. Fashion and stuff".

Crinkling his nose at that probably unconsciously, Louis started to stroke with his thumb over Harry's wrist. "Not my cup of tea but you do you, I guess. And your friend's back in town, yeah?".

"Correct. We haven't seen each other in ages, so it's really nice" Harry confirmed without going into more detail about Ethan himself or the nature of their past. Louis didn't need to know. It would only worry him. Harry knew that for a fact. "He wanted to be here for my birthday but he came a bit earlier now due to some change in his schedule. Tiffany came with him, which is nice. I don't really know her that well. Only from some video calls".

During secondary school, Ethan and Aidan had been his closest friends with all three of them being witches and attending the same camp. Sadly, Aidan had turned out to be homophobic. Ethan on the other hand had been his first everything. They'd experimented together and had done all their firsts like this but it had never meant more than it had been. They were friends and had never been more.

"Any plans for your birthday besides that?" Louis turned around in his arms, wrapping his around Harry's middle, looking up.

"Why? You wanna see me too?" Harry pulled him impossibly closer, leaning down a little to be nose to nose. Their height difference wasn't that huge but somehow Harry liked that Louis was kind of an inch shorter than him. That was new and exciting.

"Maybe I have a gift for you but only maybe" Louis rubbed their noses together, shocking Harry but he was loving it.

"You didn't need to get me anything though, Lou" Harry told him honestly. He didn't expect Louis to buy him a gift. It felt big.

"I didn't, not really" Louis confused the shit out of him with this hint, grinning knowingly. He was insufferable sometimes.

"Oh?" Harry cocked an eyebrow up suggestively.

"No" Louis pinched his side, making him squeal shrill. "Not what I meant, you pervert".

"I'm innocent" Harry claimed while Louis kept pinching him.

"Sure" Louis looked extremely unimpressed.

"Fine, whatever. But I'm curious now, Lou" Harry surrendered easily, way too interested in this mysterious present for him.

"Too bad. You have to be patient a little longer, Haz" Louis let go of him, stepping away and walking towards the mess of his baking from earlier. "Look at this place. What did you do?".

"Bake?" Harry followed him almost automatically. "I wanted to be done when you'd show up. More focus on you".

"That's cute but you still have to clean that up or do you wanna give Niall and Sarah a heart attack in the morning? That would be irresponsible, Haz" Louis was being a little shit on purpose.

"Of course. Stupid of me not think of that" Harry slapped his own forehead, playing along. "Feel kind enough to help?".

"Normally I would but you finished without me, which means I couldn't assist. So, you have to clean alone, Haz. I'm supervising though. I'm good at that" Louis hopped up onto a clean part of the table in the middle of the room, looking so endlessly cute.

"I bet" Harry stopped right in front of him but restrained from reaching out to touch. He liked the game they had going on.

"Throwing in comments and telling people what to do is like breathing to me. You better bet your ass, Harold" Louis grabbed his chin with two of his fingers, leading him closer.

"So now my ass is on the line if you're lying?" Harry threw him a challenging look, his chin tingling like crazy.

"I wouldn't be so worried about your ass, Darling" Louis' voice dropped lower than he has ever heard it before. "I'd say it's safe".

"Are you not gonna make sure of it though? No testifying?" he felt drawn in by Louis' hypnotising eyes and that voice.

Smirking mischievously, Louis crashed their mouths together, pushing his tongue in directly. Feeling like putty in Louis' hands, Harry almost started purring when Louis' hands wandered from his chin to his chest and all the way down to his waist, only to go further down and stop on his bum, squeezing it teasingly and making him moan into the kiss filthily. That has been strangely unexpected although he had provoked that move himself.

"I can testify it's unharmed" Louis backed away when Harry wanted to dive in again. "And now you should really get rid of your mess before you're making another one".

"You're a bloody tease" Harry grumbled aroused, pouting right into Louis' face but he only started laughing.

"What can I say? That's just me" Louis did not sound apologetic at all. He was definitely enjoying seeing him this flustered from just making out for a moment. "Now get to work, Harold".

"Bossy" Harry murmured loud enough for Louis to hear but he started cleaning nonetheless because Louis had a point.

"Get used to it" Louis winked exaggeratedly at him.

There were those words again and they made his head spin. Louis repeatedly saying something that would indicate them not being just a fleeting thing made him feel dizzy, not sure in which way yet. It sounded casual but still sure. Random but meaningful at the same time. As if he was counting on them working out. As if he was expecting this to last longer than a couple of weeks tops. As if he really wanted both of them to get used to it because he wouldn't leave willingly. As if he actually wanted to stay. As if ...

"What has you thinking so hard, Haz?" Louis stopped him from spiralling because of him. Pure irony. "You're all frowny".

"I've just been thinking about us" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself, desperately needing to come up with some kind of path to go down instead of the actual truth. It was too much and it would probably ruin their moment.

"In which way?" Louis hooked surprisingly calm, not sounding worried or alarmed in the slightest. Maybe he was sure, after all.

"I've been thinking about when to go on our next official date and if we'd do something less dangerous for my bum" Harry came up with the perfect solution for his self-made problem.

"You're so taken by your own bum. It's ridiculous" Louis laughed at him, almost lying on the table with his back. "But we could definitely do something more harmless next for our next outing".

"Any ideas?" Harry finished up his cleaning quickly, glancing at the clock to make sure he wouldn't forget about the bread.

"We could go out to eat this time, less of a chance to get easily distracted before we could even start cooking" Louis wiggled his eyebrows at him, reminding them of their shenanigans from last time. "Or we could go to the cinema if you don't feel like talking".

"Isn't that an excuse for tweenies to make out in the dark the entire time?" Harry thought back to his concerns about this being too much like a meaningless first crush.

"You're heavily mistaken, Harold. If I go to the cinema, I'm gonna watch the movie I paid for. Any distractions get eliminated" Louis told him way too seriously. "You've been warned".

"Noted" Harry felt stupid for even being worried in the first place. Louis was too special and way too willing to make this work for him to question this so often. "How about something a bit more special but casual at the same time?".

"Like what?" Louis checked intrigued.

Turning the oven off, Harry took the bread out to let it cool off for a moment. "A pub in one of our villages outside of town".

For a moment, it was deadly silent but then Louis spoke up. "Is that even allowed?".

A part of him wanted to laugh at his ridiculous question but he sounded so concerned and adorable that Harry could never laugh at him for anything. He was being so damn careful and open-minded with this whole thing, that it warmed Harry's heart.

"It's completely fine to take friends or family with us" Harry let him know casually. "Or dates, for that matter. It's fine".

"So, you'd want to take me there?" Louis sounded flabbergasted.

"Why wouldn't I?" Harry flicked his hand casually to make sure the bread was covered up and wouldn't dry out over night while approaching Louis again, stopping in between his legs. "You know now, so there's no reason not to go there one day, if you'd like".

"I'd love to" Louis beamed at him happily. "Oh, before I forget. I considered baking something for Maria's birthday. You know, do something for her for a change but I'm not sure if I can pull this off alone. You're my teacher. What do you think?".

With his heart going mental in his chest, Harry cupped Louis' face, rubbing his thumbs over his cheeks affectionately. "I think it's a wonderful idea and I'd be happy to help however I can".

"Really?" Louis' eyes were definitely sparkling. Like stars.

"Of course, Lou" Harry kissed him softly.

Sighing out a happy sigh, Louis wrapped his dangling legs around Harry' waist, pulling him in closer. "Kiss me properly".

"So demanding" Harry murmured before obeying easily.

Their kiss turned filthy pretty quickly and Harry could feel his dick begging for some kind of attention in mere minutes. Letting his hands wander down onto Louis' thighs, Harry hoisted him up to make them stand and get out of here. With one more flick of his wrist without dropping Louis, he opened a portal that lead them right into his bedroom. He couldn't remember if he had ever opened a portal for this but he didn't care right now.

Breaking away from the kiss for a second to take in the change of scene, Louis chuckled at the ridiculousness. "Handy".

"Pretty much" Harry dropped him onto his bed, kicking off his shoes and Louis was doing the same before waving him over.

Aroused already, Harry crawled onto to his bed to hover over Louis and kiss him again, addicted to his lips. Feeling sweaty in seconds, he got rid of his sweater and felt Louis' eyes on him immediately, taking him in. A bit hesitantly, Louis sat up to get rid of his own hoodie, revealing the tattoos he had mentioned before. The one on his chest looked inviting, so Harry leaned over to suck on Louis' collarbones until he had left a Hickey behind.

"That's so hot" Harry admired the tattoo for a moment longer.

"Definitely" Louis touched his chest tentatively, making him shiver at the fleeting touch. "Damn, you're beautiful".

"So are you" Harry looked into his eyes again emotionally.

Blushing in an instant, Louis did something he didn't expect. With so much sexy confidence radiating off of him, Louis turned them around and pushed Harry onto his back, hovering over him now. Not giving him a moment to process this, he was on him again, snogging the life out of him and Harry wasn't complaining. Definitely not. He was loving this. Louis was so hot.

While Louis was kissing him, he roamed with his right hand over his chest until he had reached his pants, stopping at the zipper. Feeling the hesitation immediately, Harry just buckled his hips up to show him it was okay to proceed. He wanted Louis to take his pants off. He was okay with whatever Louis wanted to do. He came off as a man on a mission and Harry was intrigued.

A bit clumsily, Louis opened his pants and pushed them down his legs, leaving him only in his boxers. Locking eyes with him, he nodded at Louis to give him permission and show him that this was completely fine. With slightly shaking hands, Louis took off his boxers and bared him completely. When Louis was only staring at him fully naked, he squirmed at the burning gaze. He felt vulnerable but not necessarily in a bad way. Just in a way.

"Do you need lube or any ...?" Harry wanted to ask him when he was still kinda frozen in his spot but then Louis moved.

"I'd love to suck you off" Louis rushed out, hovering right over his half-hard dick. "Is that ... okay?".

"More than" Harry groaned out way too eager. And he knew this was a big deal to Louis but it didn't have to be. It would be the first blowjob he'd ever give to anyone and Harry knew that and felt honoured to be the one he wanted to do this with but he didn't want him to be overly nervous or afraid. It wasn't needed.

"Okay" Louis stuttered out, swallowing visibly nervous.

"Please, relax, Lou. It's gonna be alright" Harry reached out, carding his hand through Louis' messy fringe. "Don't stress".

"But it's you and I want it to be good for you" Louis frowned anyway, glancing down at his exposed dick.

"It will be because it's you, Baby" Harry reassured him, the new petname slipping out against his will. "I'm gonna love it".

Nodding to himself, Louis got a bit more comfortable between his legs before simply going for it. While Harry lay back down on his back, Louis got his first experimental lick in, sending a wave of arousal through Harry's entire body. This would be good.

Before Harry could really register it, Louis took his tip into his mouth carefully, hollowing his cheeks just right. The wet heat engulfing him made him feel so extremely good and it didn't feel like someone giving their first blowjob. Louis was watchful of his teeth and never took it too far or too fast too soon, almost as if he knew what he was doing. Only the slight hesitation here and there reminded Harry of this being his first time giving head. He had definitely thought about this a lot because he was prepared. It was something, that was for sure. It felt amazing. Mind-blowing.

"Lou, I'm close" Harry warned him when he felt the familiar heat pooling in the pit of his stomach. "Gonna come".

Hearing that, Louis picked up his pace and sucked harder than before, pushing him over the edge in seconds. He came so hard down Louis' throat that he swore he was seeing stars. Catching his breath after coming down from his high, Harry glanced down and saw that Louis had swallowed his entire load and that almost made him hard again. He was otherworldly. Definitely.

"Fuck" Harry panted breathlessly. "Shit, that was ...".

"Okay?" Louis sounded insecure again, biting his bottom lip.

"More than okay. Amazing, Lou" Harry had to let him know that he did fine and had nothing to worry about but then his gaze dropped to Louis'pants. "Hard?".

"Understatement of the century" Louis chuckled red-cheeked.

"Better get rid of your pants then and come over here" Harry grinned dirtily at him, wanting to get him off just as good.

Prettily blushing some more, Louis stood up to get out of his pants as quickly as possible. Fully naked Louis was a forbidden sight and Harry felt privileged to witness it. To be the first and only person to see Louis like this. It made him feel possessive and he didn't know that feeling. It felt primal and caveman-like.

"How close are you?" Harry needed to know before deciding on how to get him off the best. "Close or close close?".

"Definitely close close. I loved sucking you off" Louis admitted bluntly, licking his lips obscenely. He should be illegal.

"Then get over here" Harry patted his chest in an invitation, guessing that a quick suck would get him off the fastest and in the most satisfying way. "Fuck my mouth until you come".

His words almost made Louis stumble on his way over, hovering over his chest fully naked. "How do you want it?".

Grabbinghis dainty waist, Harry guided Louis into the perfect position and opened his mouth for him. Completely overwhelmed, Louis pushed inside and moaned as soon as Harry flicked his tongue over his leaking tip. Tapping his bum lightly, Louis got the message and started to move his hips, thrusting into him slowly. Combined with Harry's licking, Louis orgasmed pretty quickly and Harry swallowed his cum as good as possible without choking on it in this position. With a heaving chest, Louis climbed off of his chest and lay down next to him, looking satisfied.

"Good?" Harry cuddled up to Louis' sweaty chest.

"Fantastic" Louis panted out, wrapping an arm around him.

"Likewise" Harry felt like purring again. Coco wasn't a good influence for him. He was turning into her. "Now I'm hungry".

"You're the wizard. Conjure up something" Louis chuckled into his hair, pressing kisses onto his head.

"We could also just stand up and go to the fridge. I have some cake in there and Coco might want some food as well" Harry traced shapes onto Louis' naked chest.

"A few more minutes" Louis tightened his grip on his waist.

"As many as you want" Harry sighed out contently.

For a solid five minutes, they stayed cuddled up on his bed but then Coco started meowing and they stood up to feed her. Getting dressed, Harry walked into his kitchen to fetch her food and some cake for them. Handing a cuddly-looking Louis a plate, Harry frowned at Coco, who wasn't touching her food but kept pacing around restlessly, almost as if she was sensing something.

Surveying his flat in suspicion, Harry could spot some light sparkles appearing in the middle of his living room, alarming Louis now. While Coco went over to Louis' side, Harry stared at the sparkles until it was crystal clear that someone was teleporting themselves into his flat. Squinting against the bright light, Harry blinked in shock when he saw Phil standing in his flat.

"Phil?" Harry asked dumbly, making Louis tense up behind his ex-husband and Coco hiss at the intruder loudly.

"Uh, still not keen on people, mh?" Phil chuckled at Coco's usual reaction but visibly frowned when he saw Louis petting her like it was nothing and maybe Louis looked the tiniest bit smug about it.

"What are you doing here? You can't just appear out of ...".

"I wanted to see you" Phil answered simply.

"I could've had guests over who didn't know about magic. Ever heard of a bell?" Harry felt his throat closing up the longer Louis was looking at him like this over Phil's shoulder. Defeated.

"But nothing bad happened, right?" Phil stated the obvious, to his horror turning around to Louis. "You knew, right?".

"I did" Louis confirmed in a hoarse voice.

"See? Everything's fine, H" Phil faced him again. "But maybe you can introduce us, mh?".

And that's really the last thing he wanted but he blurted out the lie before he could think it through. "This is my friend Louis and this is Phil, my ex-husband".

At the word friend, Louis' entire face fell and his posture showed how much that introduction had hurt him, his body stiff and tense. But Harry couldn't and wouldn't take it back. Not before he knew why Phil was actually here. And Coco's intense glare wasn't going to make him admit to his instinctive lie. Definitely not.

"Nice to meet you" Phil reached out to shake Louis' hand and wonderful Louis was polite enough to reciprocate. "It's always a pleasure to meet my Harry's friends".

"What do you want, Phil?" Harry felt the icy tension between him and Louis deep in his bones, so he needed to make Phil talk and bring some light into this. "Why are you here?".

Glancing at Louis for a moment, Phil stepped closer to him before shaking his entire world. "I wanna talk to you. I think we made a terrible mistake years ago".

"What are you s ...?".

"I want you back, H" Phil made his heart stop with these words. "Please, let us talk about this. I still love you, never stopped".

Unable to process what was happening, Harry was only staring at him with big eyes. Distantly, he registered some quick movement before he heard Louis' hurt voice. "I better leave you to that. Shouldn't be here for that reunion. Good luck. Bye".

And with that, he sat Coco down, who had let Louis carry her until he had reached the front door. With his shoes in hand, Louis sent him one last longing look before he left, the door falling into its lock the only sound in the flat. That look on Louis' face would haunt him all night. He just knew it.

"Did I do something? He sounded sad" Phil questioned puzzled and Harry wasn't ready to answer truthfully. Maybe never.

"He was but it's not your fault. His um ... his father recently died and although they weren't close, he's pretty beaten up over it. I tried to cheer him up for a while, didn't work though" Harry lied so easily that it shocked him. He has never been much of a liar.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" Phil frowned at that compassionately. "He didn't have to leave. We could have ...".

"But he's gone now and won't come back" Harry felt ready to snap although he was the only one to blame in this scenario. "Can we .. .What did you mean with we made a terrible mistake?".

"It's like I said. I never stopped loving you and the last few years without you have been so weird. I was so used to you being there and it felt wrong to be separated. I tried to get used to it but I can't and I don't think we actually should. Maybe our divorce was a bit too rushed. We could've worked through our issues ...".

"How?" Harry had to stop him right there. "We've both been prioritising our work and I don't think it would be any different now. I love my bakery and won't give it up and I don't want you to give up your position at the restaurant. None of us would be happy with it in the long run. We'd resent each other".

"We don't have to give up anything. Maybe just cut some hours and organise our schedules better. It could work if we wanted it to work, H" Phil sounded so sure, as if he had thought about any detail that could come between them again.

"I don't ... I wanted a family with you and you knew that the whole time. You made it sound like you could change your mind but you never did, which is fine, but I won't stop wanting ...".

"But I changed my mind, H" Phil was out to give him a heart attack. That was for sure. "I want that family with you. I wanna give you that family ...".

"But you don't want kids, Phil" Harry reminded him weakly.

"You do and I want what you want. For you. I wanna make you happy like I promised I would in our vows" Phil told him sweetly. "If we gave this another chance, we could make it work. Fix what was broken and rebuild our marriage. Isn't that what you always wanted? A happily ever after with your first love?".

"Yeah, I did want that" Harry felt transported back to the year they've met. "We've both dreamt of that".

"And we had it. Why did we ever throw it away over work issues and kids?" Phil took a hold of his hand tenderly.

"Because that weren't small issues and we ... we said we fell out of love and ...".

"Did we though?" Phil intertwined their fingers. "My love never vanished and we could fall in love again, don't you think?".

Retreating his hand, Harry put some distance between them. "I'm not sure. I don't know if we could. It's been years".

"But you still love me, right?" Phil hooked hopefully.

"I'll always love you, Phil" Harry admitted easily. "But that doesn't mean we could definitely fall in love again".

"I'm sure we can. Are you willing to give us a second chance?" he asked him optimistically, his eyes pleading.

"I don't know. I need time to think. I need to be sure before I make any kind of decision" Harry couldn't say what he wanted.

"You get all the time you need, Love" Phil smiled at him. Hearing that petname again felt strange, especially after today. "Text me whenever you're ready to talk".

In the blink of an eye, Phil was gone as fast as he had shown up and it fell silent in his flat. Coco was still sitting by the door, looking at him questioningly but Harry felt just as lost as his cat. He had not expected to ever hear from Phil again, let alone ask him to take him back and rekindle their marriage after four years.

Deep inside, he had hoped and waited for this moment for years but now it was too much to handle. Now there was Louis. But was the attraction between them worth rejecting his ex-husband? Was Louis more important to him than his first love? Judging by his defeated look earlier and his quick exit, Louis didn't expect him to even think about choosing him. Maybe he had a point.

"Fuck, what am I supposed to do?".