Brave Love (Larry Stylinson)

five

They got quite a few judgemental looks at the restaurant but Harry refused to ditch the bear. It made Louis feel warm inside, not to mention strangely proud, that Harry liked it so much he didn't want to leave it in the car.

The hostess asked if they wanted an extra chair for their "friend" in a tone of voice that was laced with poorly-veiled sarcasm and insult. Harry glared at her and responded with a terse but polite, "No, thank you."

The food was good but the portion sizes were ridiculously small. Definitely not worth the exorbitant prices. And the candle in the center of the table wasn't even lit.

"Lou, no-" Harry was trying to stop him from whipping out his lighter in the middle of such a fancy establishment.

Louis didn't listen to him and pulled it out anyway, using the little flame to light the candle. The small, warm glow made all the difference; suddenly it actually felt ambient. "There. I know you like it so don't even try to yell at me."

Harry giggled and rested his chin on his palm, staring across the table at Louis. "So, tell me about yourself," he joked, as if they were on an awkward first date.

"Shut up," Louis laughed, kicking his foot under the table.

Harry squawked loud enough that almost everyone at the surrounding tables looked over at him. His cheeks immediately turned bright red and he covered his face in his hands. The teddy bear was still sitting on his lap, where it remained for the entire meal. "Oh my god..."

"Now would be a good time for you to propose," Louis suggested, teasing. "You've already made a fool of yourself."

"You're insane."

"C'mon, H, live a little. Be spontaneous."

"I hate you," Harry muttered, before setting the bear on his chair and slipping down to one knee.

Louis wasn't expecting Harry to actually do it, so he felt an equal mix of surprised, pleased, and proud. He gasped loudly in the hopes of catching the attention of some of the people who worked here, and covered his mouth with his palm, eyes wide.

"Louis," Harry started, and then seemed to backtrack to "Sweetheart." Then he dove into a ridiculous, incoherent rant about how much he "loved" Louis and wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. It turned sillier and sillier as he rambled on in his stupidly slow, deep voice and Louis was in tears trying to keep himself from laughing.

"Sugar Cookie, Pooh Bear, my little grumpy Gummy Bear," Harry addressed him, the pet names making absolutely no sense. He struggled to come up with another one and hesitated for a long time. "My sweetest snuggliest little... Idaho Spud..."

"What the fuck-"

Harry sucked in a deep breath to cut him off and blurted, "Will you marry me?"

It was surprisingly concise after all the nonsense. Louis nodded behind his hand, aware they had an audience. The tears of laughter hopefully looked sincere from a casual onlooker's perspective.

Harry grinned manically at him and grabbed his left hand. The realization that he had no ring to give him dawned on them a the same time. Louis gestured frantically at the plastic blue ring on Harry's pinky, the one from the vending machine last night, but Harry surprised him by removing one of his actual rings.

He slipped the rose ring on Louis' finger. Louis knew it was his favorite because he talked about it all the time. There was a little caterpillar on the inside, one he'd named Louise, which Louis took as an insult because it was so close to his own name.

Harry pulled him in a hug to seal the deal and kissed his cheek before going back to sit in his own chair. The sound of scattered, half-hearted applause rang through the room and when he looked around he saw most people either looked confused, disgusted, or completely unaware. But the couple at the table right next to theirs looked completely ecstatic. They called the server over and told her what just happened.

"Complimentary champagne to celebrate?"

"That sounds lovely, thank you," Harry gushed, looking over at Louis as if he were asking for confirmation from his fiance. "And maybe... something sweet?"

The server nodded and departed, and Louis gaped after her. He couldn't believe that actually worked. When he looked back over at Harry, his expression was morphed between smugness and amusement.

The rose ring felt heavy around Louis' finger, the metal still warm from Harry's skin. He was such a schemer. Louis was in love with him.

That was a big thought to have.

"You're insane," Louis hissed, but he was grinning too. "Literally no one asked for you to be so over-the-top."

"It worked, didn't it?"

"I can't believe you," he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at the ring. Harry just shrugged and resituated the teddy bear on his lap.

A few minutes later, the server returned with expensive champagne and a big slice of chocolate cake decorated with strawberries for them to share. Harry tried to feed him pieces of cake to keep up the act but Louis smacked his hand out of the way and ended up getting chocolate all over the fancy white table cloth.

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