WARNINGS FOR THE CHAPTER: Mention of limits, mention of kneeling, morning wood. Nothing triggering should be in this chapter. Just a lot of cute fluff XD
Louis quite frankly felt like crying, but he knew it wouldn't be right for him to do so. There was no reason as to why Harry would one hundred percent trust him, after all. It made sense for him to want Nick. Just when he was about to sadly offer that he would go to Liam and Zayn's house, Harry spoke up again.
"I would like to stay here," Harry repeated slowly, "with Louis. All three of us."
Louis stared at him for a few seconds, confused.
Harry bit his lip at the silence. "Is that allowed?"
There was a small silence for a moment. "Well," Nick began slowly, "With my past Foster subs, I've done a bit of a mix — sometimes I let the sub stay with me until he or she feels comfortable enough to leave, or I allow the Dom and sub to move on together without my help. I've never exactly lived with both the Dom and sub together. I'm not a hundred percent sure how it'll work, but we can definitely give it a try. Why don't we go drop by the ADS building first thing tomorrow? How does that sound to you, Louis?"
"Sounds great," Louis responded. What else could he say?
"There's a spare guest bedroom for you to sleep in," Nick added.
Louis thanked the other Dom with a smile. Hopefully the unspoken tension between them would disappear soon.
"I'm hungry," Harry complained. "I want to cuddle and watch a movie with a bag of crisps!" He pouted.
"Crisps aren't a very good dinner," Nick chuckled, flashing a quick look at Louis. "How does grilled chicken and salad sound to you?"
"Sounds fine." Louis gave the thumbs-up.
Harry, on the other hand, said meaningfully, "Make sure you put kale in the salad."
Nick laughed. "Kale salad, just for you, sweetheart." He pecked a quick kiss on Harry's cheek, then grimaced when he saw Louis bristle. "Sorry, force of habit," he mouthed silently behind Harry's back, before heading off to the kitchen.
"Do you need help?" Harry called after him.
"No, I'm good," Nick called over his shoulder.
Harry was left with Louis in the living room. He gave a small smile, not knowing what to say. Louis couldn't blame him; he didn't either.
"Want to talk?" he said awkwardly, then cursed himself for sounding so boring.
"Of course," Harry agreed easily, ever the sweet sub. "What do you want to talk about? Our limits, some sexual things?" He wiggled his eyebrows confidently.
Louis chuckled. "Maybe we should leave that discussion for later," he advised fondly. "We don't want to rush into things, right?"
Harry pouted but reluctantly agreed with the Dom with a nod.
"How about you tell me about your favourite hobbies?" the Dom easily suggested, trying to hit up a casual, sweet conversation. Not everything had to be about BDSM, after all. Sometimes it was nice to just talk about normal things.
They hit up an easy conversation, much to Louis' relief, and dinner was soon ready with Nick's talented cooking skills. Louis chuckled when Pig tried to beg Nick for scraps of the food, finding her adorable. "She's so cute," he laughed.
"Not as cute as me!" Harry exclaimed, dimples popping out.
"You are cute," Nick laughed. "C'mon, Haz, Louis, sit."
Dinner passed by relatively quickly and smoothly, in Louis' opinion. It seemed that Nick felt slightly apologetic about what he had said before, pulling Louis aside after playfully shoving a protesting Harry to wash the dishes. "Look, Louis, I'm sorry about what I said earlier," the Foster Dom said quietly, making sure that Harry couldn't hear. "It was rude and impolite of me."
"It's alright, I understand," Louis waved the other Dom off.
"I do get attached to my Foster subs at times, when it's not professional for me to do so," Nick admitted. "It gains experience for me when dealing with subs, which is why I thought it would be a good idea to become a Foster Dom. I can't help but get attached at times, though."
"I understand," Louis replied.
"I care for the boy, and I'm sure you do too." Nick smiled before pulling away from the other Dom to clear off the table.
Louis watched the Dom pass the rest of the dirty plates to a teasingly pouting Harry. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.
It was definitely a good place to start, for sure.
Harry brushed his curls, grimacing a little at the small little knots, and padded over to Nick's king-sized bed. He climbed into bed beside the Dom, pressing his cold feet against the Dom's legs as he always did.
Nick chuckled. "Hi, babe."
"Hi," Harry said shyly, dimpling.
Nick smiled at him fondly, before it faded away. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine," Harry responded. "It's nice having Lou back."
"Mmm." Nick made a thoughtful sound. "Perhaps you should go see him," he suggested.
"See him?" Harry blinked. "I already did. I wished him goodnight."
Nick sighed and turned to his side, facing Harry and playing with his curls. "Harry," he said softly. "You need to start bonding with Louis again."
Harry frowned.
"He's your Dom; I'm not," Nick reminded. "I'm your Foster Dom."
"Same thing," Harry muttered, even though he knew it wasn't.
"No, it's not the same thing," Nick disagreed. "As your Foster Dom, I take care of you and I help the bond in between you and your actual Dom grow. There's a special bond that only a Dom and a sub can have, no one else. You two need to start working on that." Nick sighed and pecked his cheek. "How about you sleep with him tonight?"
Harry pouted slightly, playing with the covers. "But … I like sleeping with you."
Nick smiled sadly. "I know, babe, so do I. It's going to be hard for both of us, suddenly switching everything we've grown accustomed to. Especially for you. Subs take it harder than Doms do, since you crave order and a regular schedule."
"Do I have to?" Harry sighed.
Nick frowned. "Babes, if you really don't want to, it's fine. You can safeword or tell me no right now, and this discussion will end. But although it's my job as your Foster Dom to help try and develop that bond, you also need to play a part in it. You need to try and form that bond again. It won't form without any effort."
Harry remained silent for a few moments before biting his lip and saying, "Okay. I'll give it a try."
Nick smiled. "Good lad. You're a good boy."
"I know I am." Harry kissed the Foster Dom on the cheek and whispered, "G'night."
"Night, Harry. Have a good sleep. And if you can't sleep, you're always welcome to come back here."
Harry smiled and nodded before slipping out of the bed, closing the door behind him. As he padded to Louis' bedroom — the guest bedroom — he fell deep into thought. What Nick had said was correct. He had to start forming that bond with Louis again. And nothing was stopping him; he really did want to. It was just hard.
Everything keeps changing in my life, Harry thought slightly resentfully. Why couldn't he just have a normal life? Why did everything have to be so hard?
He blinked, realizing that he had been standing outside of the guest bedroom and staring at the plain, white door for minutes. He took a deep breath and reached out, then knocked twice.
There was a small pause before Louis replied. "Come in!"
Harry opened the door and peeked in before stepping inside. "Hi," he said bashfully.
Louis, who had been sitting on the bed in his boxers, broke into a smile. "Hazza," he greeted. "Do you need something?"
You, Harry thought silently, but the reply that came out of his mouth was, "I was wondering if I could sleep with you." There was a small pause and Harry began to panic, wondering if Louis didn't want that. "Of course, we don't have to if you don't want to," he added hastily. "I just thought—"
"I don't mind," Louis interrupted, eyes softening at the obviously nervous sub in front of him. "Come here." He patted the spot on the bed next to him.
Harry smiled and climbed onto the bed. "Thought you might not want to," he said shyly.
Louis chuckled. "No, I do. I just wasn't expecting you to want to sleep together."
"I do," Harry assured. "And Nick highly suggests it, too. To begin rebuilding our bond and all that."
"You don't have to do this, Haz," Louis said quietly, reaching out and brushing Harry's cheek tenderly with a finger. "You can go ahead and sleep with Nick. I won't mind, or take it personally."
Harry knew that he could agree with Louis, and go right on ahead back to Nick. But Nick's words rang in his head — nothing would progress between them if he didn't try. Besides, it was just Louis. "Louis, I want to," he said firmly. "Now shut up."
Louis' lips quirked up into a smile and he murmured huskily, "Don't think that's how you speak to your Dom properly."
Harry's breathing hitched and his heart jumped. He swallowed and hoarsely replied, "It is when your Dom is being stupid."
Louis chuckled. "You're sassy." The skin next to his eyes crinkled as he smiled.
Harry struggled to get his breathing back under control as Louis watched on in amusement.
"You're so adorable," Louis laughed. He grasped the covers and pulled them up, covering both his and Harry's body. He shifted a little and asked, "Would you feel more comfortable if I put clothes on?"
"No, it's okay," Harry replied after a moment's thought. Louis shirtless wasn't anything new, of course. They had slept like this every night before. He figured it was just Louis checking to make sure that he was comfortable with everything, and that reassured him.
He mustered up some confidence and cuddled into Louis. The Dom made a delighted but surprised sound. "Forgot how much of a cuddler my Hazza is," he chuckled.
"Your cuddler," Harry mumbled, resting his head on Louis' chest and hearing the steady heartbeat of the Dom. "Missed you."
"So did I."
"You know," Harry said, breaking off his sentence to let out a yawn. He heard Louis chuckle fondly, and smiled. "We're probably going to wake up tomorrow morning all tangled up."
"I can't wait until we get to start our mornings together," Louis commented with a small smile. "Properly, I mean." He sighed, a bit wistfully.
"How would it start?"
Louis blinked, not understanding the question. "What?"
"How would our morning start, if it was just us?" Harry repeated, a tad impatiently.
Louis smiled gently. "Well," he said with a chuckle. "The day would start everyday with me getting to look at your beautiful face."
Harry groaned. "Louis!" he complained.
Louis grinned cheekily. "Oh, alright," he laughed. "It would start with us washing up, and perhaps a morning shower occasionally. Then you would kneel at my side for a bit while I sit there and admire your beauty, running my fingers through your damp curls — I've got a bit of a thing for that, just to let you know."
Harry let out a giggle at the not-so-subtle hint.
"Very manly," Louis teased with a chuckle. "Then perhaps I'd choose your clothes for the day. Only the best for my little princess. Then we'd do any other activities required by us that day."
"Sounds like just about heaven," Harry teased good-naturedly.
Louis smiled. "It definitely will be like it," he agreed. "It's getting late. We should sleep if we want to wake up early tomorrow."
"Well, who said I wanted to wake up early tomorrow?" Harry stuck his tongue out cheekily. "But if you say so. Since you're my Dom and all."
"Yeah, I am." Louis smiled and reached over to switch the lamp off. "Good night, Hazza."
"Good night," Harry murmured.
He shifted and turned and tossed for a bit until he couldn't help it, cuddling against Louis on his side. There was a small pause. Then, Harry felt an arm wrap around his stomach, and Louis spooned him from the side.
Harry smiled and let his eyes fall shut, falling asleep to the feeling of Louis' fingers running gently through his curls.
When Harry woke up, he squinted blearily at the clock on the nightstand. It was eight in the morning. He let out a small groan, shifting and ready to go back to sleep when he felt it .
Louis' morning wood was pressing against his bum.
Harry bit his lip, unsure of what to do. He opted for waking the Dom up. "Louis," he whispered. "Lou."
The Dom woke up, making a small noise, obviously confused. "Hmm?" He yawned and stretched, a few bones cracking at the movement.
"You're, um …" Harry was unable to finish his sentence, just biting his lip even more.
Louis seemed to come to his senses, and realized the situation they were in. He rolled away from Harry, stretching again. Then he redirected his gaze to Harry and groaned, "Don't do that. You're a right tease."
"What?" Harry frowned, confused, before flushing when he realized. "Oh, sorry. It's a habit." He released his bottom lip from his teeth.
"You're too beautiful, Harry Styles," Louis complained good-naturedly. "Making me wake up hard, hm? Is that gonna happen every morning because of you?" he teased.
"Not my fault!" Harry spluttered. "I don't control your dick." He then swallowed hard when Louis pulled the covers off, seeing the Dom only in boxers — tight boxers. "I could, uh, take care of it for you?" Harry licked his lips, looking up at Louis through his lashes. "I can be good. Let me please you." He didn't know where this was coming from, but he definitely did know that he was desperate to be praised, to be called a good boy. He needed to please his Dom right now.
He reached his hands out, making a move to pull Louis' boxers down, when the Dom smacked his hands lightly. Harry pouted, drawing back, slightly hurt. "I can please you," he pouted pitifully.
Louis sighed, looking at him. "You will please me," the Dom agreed. "Eventually, you will. But it isn't right for anything to happen now. We've barely gotten back together, Haz. I'm not going to rush this and mess things up like I did before."
Harry dropped his eyes. "Yeah, okay," he said quietly.
Louis reached out and held Harry's face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs lightly on Harry's cheeks. "It's all for the better," he promised.
"I get it," Harry replied. "Can I … can you at least …" He flushed and broke off.
"Hmm? What do you need, babe?" Louis asked with a fond chuckle.
"Kiss me," Harry whispered. "I want you to kiss me. Please, Lou. Need you to kiss me. Please." He was desperately craving touches from his Dom.
Louis drew closer, and their lips brushed against each other, developing into a deep, soft kiss dominated by Louis. They broke apart, both breathing heavily. Louis brushed his thumb on Harry's lower lip. "You're beautiful. My beautiful boy." The blue-eyed Dom kissed him one more time before pulling away and heading off to the bathroom to take a shower.
Harry stared after him dazedly.
Louis came out of the shower fifteen minutes later, looking alert and and happy. He chuckled when he saw Harry still sitting there with his bed hair. He laughed and said, "Get up, Hazza."
"Don't want to," Harry pouted, though he got out of bed. He brushed his teeth and washed up, tousling his curls before walking out of the loo when satisfied with his appearance. He was surprised and absolutely delighted to see a shirt, jeans, and a pair of socks on the bed. He turned around and grinned at Louis. "You picked out my clothes for me?" he said with a squeal.
Louis' lips quirked upwards. "Yes, Harry, I did. You seem happy with my decision to do so."
"Immensely happy," Harry agreed, stripping off his pyjamas and picking up the clothes. He changed into them, beaming over the fact that Louis had chosen his clothes for him. He looked at himself in the mirror.
He was dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, gray socks, and a pink shirt with white polka dots. The grin wouldn't leave his face.
"I'm definitely going to have to do that everyday if you're so happy with it now," Louis mentioned as he opened the bedroom door. "I think Nick already has breakfast ready."
"Oooh, bacon!" Harry grinned at the smell, bounding down the stairs.
He saw Nick, and barrelled into the Dom with a giggle.
"Oof!" The Dom staggered back, the breath leaving his chest, and laughed. "Good morning, sunshine. Someone's happy today. Did you have a good sleep?" He pecked Harry on the cheek.
"It was wonderful." Harry beamed.
"See? I was right," Nick teased, ruffling Harry's hair. He passed Harry a plate, asking, "And how was sleeping with Louis?"
"Great, actually," Harry responded. "Did miss you, though. Missed my Nicky cuddles." He giggled.
Nick hummed. "I'm sure Louis cuddles made up for it."
Louis appeared in the kitchen. "Breakfast smells good," he mentioned.
"Thanks." Nick smiled.
Harry sat himself down at the table, Nick sitting down next to him and resuming in eating his own plate of food. Louis sat down across from Harry, digging in immediately and making small noises of appreciation as he ate.
"Amazing, Nick," he commented.
"Thanks," Nick replied with a grin. He swallowed his mouthful and said, "So, I was thinking that we could go to the ADS building after we finish our meal. The earlier we go, the less busier it is."
"You don't have to go to work?" Harry asked.
"Nope," Nick responded. "It's a valid reason to not be able to go to the radio today. I've already discussed it with everyone."
Harry hummed in response.
The trio finished breakfast soon enough and Harry patted Pig's head. "Bye, Piggy," he said, planting a kiss to the dog's head. "See you later."
The dog whined in complaint at being left alone, but watched as they left the house.
As Harry got into the car, he couldn't help but dread what would happen next. Would the three of them be able to stay in the same house for a period of time? If they weren't, Harry wasn't sure what to do. He needed both Nick and Louis, not just one of them.
"Good, Hazza?" Louis smiled at him.
"Yeah, fine," Harry responded with a tight smile. "Just a bit nervous, I guess."
"Don't be," Nick said as he pulled out of the driveway. "Everything will work out in the end."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Hopefully."