By The Hillside

Chapter 22

"Stable cleaning day, lover boy," were the words that awoke Louis that following morning, together with a pillow thrown at his face. Ah, romance!

"Harry, what the fuck!" groaned Louis, pushing the pillow off him. He looked at Harry who was standing by the bathroom door, already fully dressed in... overalls. That was a new look. Not that Louis was bothered by it—especially since Harry was not wearing a shirt underneath.

Harry grinned. He threw himself upon the bed and landed half on top of Louis. "I'm waking you up. Today is a loooong day."

Louis gave him an unimpressed look. "What time is it?"

"Six."

"Harry!"

"I warned you we would be getting up early. So much to do. The stable looks like something from the fifties—"

"I like it."

"Well, I want to pep it up."

Louis raised an eyebrow at him. "Pep?"

"Yeah, have a problem?"

Louis chuckled. "Nah, I don't."

Harry hid his face in the duvet. "Anyway, you need to get up!"

"You're lying on top of me."

"Oh, right. Excellent point." Harry rolled off Louis. "Now get up."

"Have I mentioned how hot those overalls are?"

"Louis."

"Right, right." Louis pushed the duvet off himself, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. His bare feet touched the cool flooring, making a shiver run down his spine. He was about to stand up but then felt something wrap around him from behind. Something warm.

"Hi there," Harry said, his chin resting on Louis' shoulder.

"I thought I was supposed to get up," chuckled Louis.

Harry shrugged, holding Louis closer. "I'm not quite ready to let go of you yet."

Oh, how Louis loved him.

His cheeks burned red, and he had to bite back a smile. "Shut up, you're making me blush."

"That was my intention," Harry said, placing a chaste kiss on Louis' cheek. "I love making you blush."

"I said shut up," laughed Louis, pushing against Harry. "I might actually explode."

"Can't have that, can we?"

"Well, if we did I wouldn't have to return to London." Louis tried to make it sound funny, but it sounded wrong even to his own ears.

Harry's grip on him loosened, and the man retracted himself from Louis' body. "We should get to work."

Louis sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." He looked at Harry over his shoulder.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's okay. It just... makes me sad. But that's not your fault."

"I'm still sorry."

"Hey." Harry grasped his hand, intertwining their fingers. "There's no need to ever apologise to me, okay? Especially about things you have no control over."

Louis smiled softly at him. "Thank you, Haz. I..." He trailed off. "Let's get to the stable, we will figure out the rest later.

* * *

They went to the stable to feed the horses and then returned inside to eat their own breakfast, but after that, they returned to the old building and let all the horses out into the field. By then Zayn, Jacob, and Niall had all showed up for work, and they began the work of cleaning the stable.