Written In These Walls

by Shilohpeep

Summary:

Harry and Louis are childhood best friends. After getting a taste of each other right before they go to separate collages, when Harry returns home after 5 years, will their friendship be weird? Or will it be something more special than either of them dared to dream of?

One where Louis has a YouTube channel with a following, and Harry comes home after a long time apart. After getting excited about his friend’s success thus far, Harry offers new ideas to keep the explore page interesting.

Starts off a little awkward, but it gets better soon.

Sam and Colby aren’t in this fic but it is low key inspired by their friendship.

Chapter 1: History

Rediscovering the forgotten is never easy. Louis knew that when he started this, that there would be sad, evil, and scary cemeteries he'd find while exploring. He was prepared for it to get more intense and scary, when Harry suggested they start exploring new kinds of places together. Louis knew to expect to be horrified, upset, angry, scared, at the pasts of these old, abandoned places. What he wasn't expecting, was his own forgotten feelings to resurface.

When he and his childhood best friend, Harry, started visiting abandoned places, exploring them in the day and at night for their YouTube channel, they definitely didn't expect it to get so popular, especially so fast.

The channel that Louis had started on his own, years before his old friend returned to town, after going away to college, gained much more momentum, much quicker than it had when Louis was solo-exploring local cemeteries at night. Almost immediately, after they posted their first video together, the page started to gain a real following. And that was before they had real evidence of the afterlife to offer.

The pair had been as thick as thieves from the time they were in the 5th grade, until the end of high school. Harry was secretly devastated that they'd gotten into separate schools, over three hours away. While he went away to study Civil Engineering, Louis stayed closer to home and got a degree the fine arts, with a special focus on video production and photography.

Louis was also saddened to part ways with his bestie. Their prom night was one for the books, the pair deciding to go all out, knowing they'd soon be separated. They both brought their girlfriends at the time, posing with them for the pictures and pulling them for a dutiful dance, but they were worried about missing each other, and found themselves keeping mostly only each other's company that night.

They'd rented a limo, and gotten two hotel rooms next to each other. They hung out as a group, drinking too much wine and having a fantastic time. After they'd both had a quickie with their girls, the two men escaped them, to go share a cigarette outside by the pool.

"Just have a few more weeks of this. Then everything changes. Gonna miss you, man. Dunno what I'm going to do with all of my spare time" Louis said, a little drunk and feeling emotional.

"I'm sure you'll find someone to replace lil ol' me in no time" Harry replied, handing the cigarette back to the other boy. "I'm gonna miss you, too, Lou. Never had a friend quite like you" Harry told him sincerely.

Louis puffed on the smoke and his eyes ran over his friend's face and then physique. He quickly averted his gaze, ashing the cigarette, but Harry had noticed. When Louis looked up to see if he was going to continue speaking, the other man ran his fingers through his long, brown curls. He looked at his friend with a hint of curiosity.

It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, especially within the last year or two. Every once in a while, something Louis did, no matter how seemingly small, gave Harry the urge to kiss him. He wouldn't dare. There was no reason to jeopardize the friendship. He was leaving soon. Still, Louis looked back up at him and returned a bit of a fond, questioning glance.

Harry was drunk. Louis had looked so hot in his tux all night. There he was in front of him by the outdoor pool, though it was far too cold to take a dip. His bow tie was untied and hanging from his neck, in contrast with the bright white button up shirt. His cheeks were a little flushed and he bit his lip anxiously, but it made Harry's throat burn. Something inside of him compelled him to move closer and cup the other boy's chin. To his surprise, Louis leaned into the touch, closing his eyes, as if to savor the moment.

Louis wasn't shying away. He wasn't pushing him off or asking him what he was doing. When he opened his icy, blue eyes, the lustful intensity in them had made Harry's breath hitch. He decided in that moment to press his lips to Louis'. He was delighted that Louis not only kissed him back, but pulled him closer to himself by his waist.

Harry still remembered the kiss like it was yesterday. How they stayed like that, kissing gently, unsurely, but their tongues daring to peek out and explore each other's mouths. He can still see the surprised, smitten look on Louis' face, when they pulled away. They were positively cheesing at each other. Harry was fully intending to start kissing him again, but they were interrupted.

"Sorry guys, you can't be out here. No lifeguard on duty. Liability" the Hotel receptionist said, looking genuinely sorry to bother them.

The pair jumped apart a little and awkwardly made their way back inside. Harry wasn't sure at all what to do once they were outside of the rooms their girls were sleeping in.

"I uh...I had fun tonight" Harry told Louis, with a huge smirk in his eyes. He glanced at the older boys lips and watched as Louis flushed adorably.

"Me too Hazza. Was fun..." Louis replied, trying to play it a little cool, but unable to stifle the giggle that escaped him.

"There you are!" Rebecca yelled when the door to hers and Harry's room swung open. "I got sick, baby. Was looking for you" she said with her bottom lip pouting out. Louis watched Harry's smile fade just a little.

"Oh, sorry I wasn't here baby. You feeling okay now?" He asked, genuine concern in his voice. "Let's get you to bed. Night Lou. See you tomorrow" Harry said. Louis went to say bye, but the door slammed shut before he could open his mouth. He went inside and cuddled up to Jane, pretending she was Harry.

That was then, though. This was now. As much as both men enjoyed the encounter, they were too uncertain of each other in that way. Neither of them had dared to mention it for the remainder of the school year. There was a slight change in the way they looked at each other. It was still curious, but with a bit more caution than they needed, previous to their kiss.

Harry went away to school in the middle of that July. He and Louis had a short and sweet goodbye, neither of them wanting to admit this could be the end of their friendship, regardless of its potential. They knew they'd see each other over holidays. They were sure they'd hang out whenever they could.

Of course, it didn't happen like that. Once Harry left, he'd missed his friend and his girlfriend, but he had a lot going on at his new school. Being away from home was a lot to adapt to. It wasn't long before weeks had gone and he and Louis hadn't even texted. Then months would go by that even turned into years without seeing each other.

Harry even stayed in Ithaca for a year after he graduated, looking for work and splitting rent with his girl. He moved back home a few months later, after she dumped him for a SoundCloud rapper. Harry decided he wanted to put the whole college chapter behind him.

Louis had never left. Not for more than two weeks at a time. He'd stayed in their hometown and gone to the state college. He loved school and felt like he always had more to learn. He had done a lot of networking and his YouTube channel, and was proud that his idea of exploring cemeteries at night alone while explaining their history, had gotten a bit of a following. He heard Harry was coming home for good, when his old friend reached out at the beginning of summer. He couldn't wait to show the channel to his old friend, knowing he'd find the idea fascinating.

A year after Louis and Harry finished with their 4 year degrees, Harry was finally home, just in time for the Fourth of July. He hadn't seen Louis since the second semester of freshman year. The occasional text had been sent and a 'like' on a Facebook or instagram post from time to time wasn't uncommon, but other than that the pair had fallen completely out of touch.

Louis was thrilled when his former bestie told him that he'd gotten an apartment in town, and that he was moving in that weekend. The older man wondered why Harry was moving back to their home town. His parents moved about an hour away, not long after he left for school. Still, Louis wasn’t complaining at all, when Harry texted him, asking if he wanted to get burgers at their old spot once he was settled in. Louis didn't downplay how excited he was to see him in his response.

Neither boy had forgotten their kiss entirely, but since they hadn't spoken about it, it wasn't at the forefront of either of their minds. Neither of them would even consider bringing it up. Their friendship was way too important to them to rekindle. That was absolutely top priority for them both.

It was a bonus that Harry's new apartment was only a 5 minute walk from Louis'. They couldn't wait to see each other, and even though Harry requested to see him after he'd settled in, he texted Louis asking when he was free, right after unpacking all of his essentials, the majority of his belongings still in boxes scattered around the small, but nice apartment.

 

❧

"Hazza! Fucks' sake man. How long has it been?!" Louis yelled excitedly as he saw his friend round the corner outside of their old burger joint. On the outside, he appeared elated to be meeting up with an old friend. On the inside, he'd been punched in the gut with a million butterflies when he saw those familiar, green eyes.

"Tommo!" Harry shouted with the same enthusiasm. The pair naturally fell into a tender embrace. When they pulled away, Harry kept his hands on Louis arms for a second, as they took each other in. They both looked the same, but different. Harry still had long, luscious curls, but he was sporting a little bit of scruff. He was dressed in jeans and a dark blue button up, buttoned to his sternum. His jawline was more defined and he had a new confidence about him, that was lacking in high school.

Louis' hair was a little shorter than last time Harry saw him. He also seemed a bit more sure of himself, with more defined features as well. His high cheekbones were made more prominent by his own scruff, and he had tattoos that seemed to compliment Harry's, though before Harry had left, Louis always said he didn't want them.

"It's been what? 4 years? You look great, man!" Harry said once they'd processed that they were together again. It had to have been at least that. They saw each other over Christmas the year after high school, and once the summer they graduated, but they didn't get to hang out long and they were with other friends both of those times.

The pair went inside and had a burger and a couple of beers, effortlessly falling into conversation as if they were never apart for more than a few days. Harry told tales of frat parties and exploring the new places around him with a few friends. Louis caught Harry up to speed on all sorts of town gossip he'd missed. He told him all about his group of art school friends.

The older man had another bit of news that he was terrified to bring up. He knew his friend wouldn't react poorly, regardless of if he remembered what happened between them so long ago, but he didn't want to make things weird. Knowing that there was no hiding it, Louis decided to pull off the band aid.

"What else is new?" Harry asked, after the waitress dropped off their second beers. Louis watched the curly haired boy take a sip, then caught himself staring, as Harry's tongue peeked out between his lips to lick the thin, white layer of foam from the upper bow of his beautiful, pink mouth. He needed to stop staring. Harry was just so beautiful.

"Well ehm...there's something. Not a huge shock I'm sure, but I want you to know..." Louis began, suddenly dripping with anxiety. Harry's own anxiety spiked, but he had no clue why, as he waited patiently for his old friend to elaborate. "I'm uh. I'm gay. Kinda came out last year. Mom didn't care. Dads...adjusting. The best he can. Had a boyfriend for a bit, but he was kinda a dick. Had to shake that a few months ago" Louis explained.

Harry was pretty sure his mouth was still open in shock and he was desperately trying to pull his expression together. He wasn't upset at all. He was happy for his friend. He had plenty of gay friends at school. He'd even kissed his girlfriend's best friend's boyfriend on a dare one drunken night, not that he'd really felt anything.

He was happy for Louis and knew he needed to convey that. He couldn't get his lips to work for a moment. Louis was starting to shift worriedly, waiting for a response. Finally, Harry felt himself smile brightly, and watched Louis relax.

"A bit of a shock. Not exactly a huge one" Harry said lightly, breathing an awkward laugh. "Seriously though, I'm happy for you. Glad you came out. Glad you told me. Sorry your boyfriend was a dick. That sucks. My girl decided she had to shake me a few months ago. Found out she'd been fucking a SoundCloud rapper the whole time shortly after. They live together now" He continued, not sure where he was going with it. He felt flustered all of the sudden. Louis watched him, a little amused, as the other man turned red in front of his eyes. "Anyway. You deserve someone who's gonna treat you right. Glad you figured out he wasn't good for you" Harry added, looking nervously at his hands and signaling the waitress for another beer. Louis gestured to make it two.

"Thanks. It's awkward telling people. Not sure why. I appreciate you saying that" Louis replied kindly. "Sorry things didn't work out with her. She sounds like she sucked anyway. Ithaca SoundCloud rappers seldom make it big. She'll be paying his half of the rent, if she isn't already" he added lightly. "You deserve much better than that. I'm sure you'll find someone great" he decided to say, with a bit of a cheeky smirk that Harry couldn't help but smile back at, while he shook his head in wonder.

The pair finished their beers and headed back to Louis' apartment. He wanted to show Harry all of his equipment, and how well his YouTube channel was going. Harry was excited to see it, feeling a bit tipsy on the quick walk to the flat.

❧

"150K subscribers. Nice, Lou!" Harry said excitedly, looking over Louis' shoulder at his huge Mac screen. The desk was in the middle of his living room, across from the small couch and TV. There was a bunch of art on the walls and Harry felt strangely comfortable, like it was after school and they'd just gotten off the bus, and no time had passed at all. "This is great. You making any money yet? You definitely could be" he asked, wondering if Louis had considered it.

"Yeah. Not much. Get about $30 a video. More if it blows up and gets more views" Louis replied, happy with his friend's excited reaction. "I've been struggling to come up with new content. There are only so many cemeteries around, and I've done twenty locally. I even trekked into Vermont for a weekend and hit three in two days. I've actually lost some of my following because people are interested, but it's getting a little stale" he told Harry, wondering if he had any advice.

Harry's pointer finger tapped his lip and he hummed, making sparks fly through Louis' body, reminding him of their prom night kiss. He needed to stop. He needed to focus.

"Hmm. Well it's a creative idea for sure. Not surprised there's a following for it" Harry replied, taking the mouse that was still warm from Louis' hand, and scrolling through the countless videos. "Not surprised you're struggling for content, either. You've got quite a bit here. I imagine they all start to look the same after a while, at least to viewers. Even if the history is interesting, it isn't extremely engaging material. People must like looking at and listening to you" He added, then cleared his throat, thinking he'd said too much.

The comment made Louis flush, and he was grateful his friend was still looking over his shoulder, and couldn't see how happy his words made him. The smaller boy sighed and decided not to respond to that part, not wanting to make Harry uncomfortable.

"I'm open to suggestions. Might risk losing more followers if I switch it up, but I'm going to lose all of them if I don't do something entertaining. I'm frankly getting bored of the cemeteries myself. They all do look the same, and the history can very much sound the same, especially in the same areas. I've thought about going around the country, but I'm not sure what I'd do. If it'd just be the same as here, why waste the time and energy?" Louis thought out loud, sounding a little defeated.

"Well, maybe something similar. The concept is great. People like the history and exploration aspects. Maybe if you moved away from cemeteries a bit and did something more like...abandoned places, maybe? Maybe even some with cemeteries of their own, like a church! I kinda like that, actually" Harry replied. Louis' face lit up immediately at the idea.

"That could work for sure!" the smaller man replied excitedly. "Hmm. I can work with that. It'd definitely give me a wider range of areas to cover. I could do things from abandoned houses and offices, to hotels and churches. This is exciting, Harry! Good idea!" He continued raving, suddenly inspired. Harry beamed a huge smile, happy that his idea seemed to spark Louis' drive.

"Happy to help. You've got something here for sure. I think this will help you take off in a more clear direction. Not only will you have more content, but no real end in sight. There's no shortage of abandoned places in this country. Each of them has a history. I think you'll do something great with it" Harry responded. His friend looked over his shoulder, and locked his blue eyes onto Harry's excited, curious, emerald ones.

"I agree completely" Louis said, smiling brightly. He stood and walked over to his couch, breaking down some weed and rolling a joint, needing something to do to keep his mind off of Harry's lips. "I'm thinking I need something else, too. Not necessarily anything huge, but another element to what I'm doing. People like me, but listening to me drone on about the history of a place is likely how some people get to sleep at night" He chuckled. Harry went across the room and sat on the opposite end of the couch as his friend.

"I'm sure thats not true. You're passionate about it. It makes other people excited" Harry replied, unable to explain why his thoughts kept traveling back to sneaking glances of his friend's lean, toned body, in the locker room.

"I guess. Maybe I just need...someone else there. Someone to talk about it WITH me, instead of me just talking into my camera" Louis continued brainstorming, lighting the joint, then passing it to Harry. "Hey! You should come! Do a video with me. We'll talk about the history together, you'll bring some energy to it, not to mention some eye candy" he said, nudging Harry with his elbow.

Harry flushed at the compliment, and beamed an excited smile. He liked the idea a lot. It would be fun to hang out with his old friend, and possibly help him make some money doing it. He was definitely interested in trying, just to see how the idea took off.

"Oh, shh with the flattery" Harry teased, sticking out his tongue, but still blushing a bit. Louis giggled, and took the burning joint back from Harry. "But hell yeah! That sounds like fun. We should at least give it a shot. Hey is the Sherman house still accessible? If it isn't fenced off we could go do that. Would you want to do these videos in the dark, too? Might add an element of scariness, but will make it harder to see the building, obviously" he asked, getting a little excited to start.

Louis considered this for a moment as he puffed on the joint. The Sherman house was still standing, and it would be easy to get into. It wass in a relatively rural area. Louis was trying to picture the abandoned property. He knew it was fenced off, but couldn't imagine any other sort of security the place would have.

"What about like...evening? Do some exploring while it's still light, then talk more about the history together as the sun goes down?" Louis asked, hoping desperately Harry was game to start tonight. The enthusiasm his friend was radiating was contagious.

"I like that. Do you...do you need to do anything to like prepare? It's about 5 now. Doesn't get dark until around 9 this time of year, so we have some time..." Harry asked, fishing for an offer to go tonight. Louis smiled brightly and extinguished the joint in the ashtray.

"Not much. Look up some general history on the place, I'll make sure my camera is charged. You down to do this tonight?" He asked his friend, not downplaying how happy he was with the new idea.

"Hell yeah. Nothing else going on. I missed this. Us hanging out. It's nice to...see you" Harry replied, hesitating at the end, realizing he was a little buzzed, but deciding he didn't mind giving Louis a peek of where his head was at. The cheesy, brilliant smile Louis returned, told Harry that he wasn't riding outside of his lane.

"Me, too Haz. I don't think I realized how much I missed you until today. It almost feels like you never left. It's nice to see you, too..." Louis responded, not entirely understanding why the conversation was making him feel shy suddenly.

The pair giggled at their shared nostalgia and forgotten fondness of each other. While both men remembered what happened on prom night between them, in almost painful detail, neither would dare mention it. They caught up on other things while researching the abandoned house just a few miles outside of town that they'd both passed hundreds of times, not thinking much of it, aside from all of the scary stories the elementary aged kids would tell each other about it being haunted.

They left the apartment and got in Louis' Mazda for the short ride to the abandoned home.

——————

Chapter 2: Remember

"Hey guys! What's going on? Today I'm introducing some new, fun and exciting ideas for this channel. Here to help me is my childhood best friend, Harry!" Louis said into the camera with a little more enthusiasm than he had when he was alone. Harry was nervous, not used to being filmed, but he figured that he could at the very least match Louis' energy. He smiled and waved awkwardly, facing the lens, making Louis chuckle. "Harry here is the one who came up with the brilliant idea of touring abandoned places, which is a welcome change of pace, compared to the slow speed of me, alone, wandering aimlessly about cemeteries. You excited, Haz?" Louis added, giving Harry a bit more to work with.

"Yeah! Thanks for inviting me to tag along. What's up guys? Hope you don't mind me hanging out with you for a bit. We're going to get into the history of this huge, decrepit house behind us, which has scared the shit out of me since I was a kid! Come with us for a walk around inside first, while there's still some daylight" Harry stated, speaking clearly and excitedly into the camera, then looking at Louis for approval.

"See? Man is a natural. Let's take a walk around. As always, be sure to like and subscribe, because it gives me a semblance of a will to live. Be sure to comment down below, if you'd like to see more of Harry here, on future adventures" Louis said, then walked up to the camera that was stood on a tripod, several feet away from them. He took it off the device, but didn't stop recording. He faced the camera down, and he and Harry turned around and walked towards the creepy front doors of the huge estate.

"You're good. Better than me, honestly" Louis praised. Harry couldn't contain his smile. "They're going to love you. I'm surprised at how naturally that seemed to flow already. Think people might even enjoy some of our banter in between. I've gotten pretty good at editing, so I never stop recording while I'm filming, just in case I miss something. We're not necessarily looking for ghosts, I don't believe in that shit, but people claim to see them in the comments, and will ask for different shots of the same spots" he explained.

"You're sweet. I like this. I haven't had fun in ages" Harry said, still smiling, smitten from Louis' words. "I don't scare easily, but this place has always made the hairs stand on the back of my neck. Reading about old man Sherman surely won't help with that" He added, chuckling nervously.

The pair figured the front door would be locked, and were prepared to attempt several different entry points. They wanted to get a close up of the intricate ironwork on the otherwise wooden doors. Harry pushed on it, usure why he did so, and to their surprise, it swung open. They looked at each other and shrugged, deciding they'd prefer an easy route, especially for their first location.

The double doors were both open, leading to a foyer that directly faced a huge double staircase straight ahead. The old, glass chandelier still hung in the middle of the ceiling of the huge entrance, covered in cobwebs and dust. The place smelled awful. It was eerily silent, aside from the sound of distant dripping water.

"So, as you guys can see, the doors to this place were open, which we were not expecting. Definitely made our night a bit easier than we thought it would be! So, just some brief history on the place..." Louis began, as the pair walked inside, looking all around the tall, vaulted ceiling over their heads.

The craftsmanship of the place was unbelievable. The huge, wooden beams posted in squares along the wall above them, contained etchings that you could still see the details on, despite how dark it was, and how far from their eyes.

"This place was built in the early 1800's, making it one of the mansions of the gilded age. The home was originally occupied by Reginald Sherman, who lived here with his wife and her sister's family, until his death in the year 1847. The home stayed in his family until the early 1900s, when it was foreclosed upon during the great depression. Much of the Sherman's wealth was already gone, leaving Sherman's direct descendants out on their asses, unfortunately for them. The house sat unoccupied until the 1940's, when it was purchased by Mr. Freedman, who was a decorated general, after the end of WWII" Harry said as the two started wandering up the stairs.

Louis was beyond pleased with the way Harry was speaking, and his commitment to the accuracy and detail of the history of the home. He found his camera travelling to Harry's reaction of the vacant mansion that they were in, more often than the camera looked around. He found his friend's natural reaction was interesting enough, that it'd be worth panning to while he explained what they'd learned about the place.

"Freedman and his wife and children lived here until Freedman's death in the 80's. His wife and adult children moved to Florida to be with her family, leaving this place behind. It hasn't been occupied since their departure, unless of course you count the spirits that are said to roam these halls, the most famous of whom is Mr. Sherman, himself" Harry stated, then gestured to Louis to speak, offering to take the camera from him. Louis hadn't intended to, but he figured Harry getting footage of him speaking could have a similar effect as Harry's did.

"That's right. Said to still be here, waiting for unsuspecting trespassers, people have claimed to see the ghost of a man in a top hat, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Sherman ate a bullet after he'd gone insane. Many say that the insanity was directly caused by the evil that the home naturally harbors, scientists and medical professionals worldwide believe he actually lost his mind due to an untreated case of syphilis, which was not at all uncommon at the time. Friendly reminder to go get tested!" Louis said, winking into the camera.

The wink wasn't directed at Harry, and there was a lot going on around them, but Harry's stomach flipped and he couldn't explain why. He chalked it up to nerves and continued filming his friend, as they made their way through the first corridor at the top of the stairs.

"This wing is where most people claim to see the apparition. Down this hall should be the Master's bed and bathroom. Woah! The bed is still here. Looks cozy doesn't it, Lou?" Harry said, shocked by the state of the room.

The ceiling was overgrown with mold. The king-sized, four-poster bed had a big, ugly, brown and orange quilt, illuminated by the bright light of Louis' camera. The walls were red at one point, but looked closer to brown after years of neglect. There was also an old, wooden dresser and a single chair seemingly placed randomly in the middle of the room. Louis jumped with genuine fright when he panned the camera towards the dresser and saw two hooded figures, quickly realizing it was his and Harry's reflections in the mirror that wasn't initially visible.

"Yeah let's cuddle up on there. If we're lucky there's some syphilis left" Louis replied sarcastically flirting just a little, then playing it off as content. Smooth, he thought. Harry was grateful his flushed face wasn't illuminated by the camera.

"Let's do it. If there's no syphilis there's for sure some hepatitis C" Harry replied, giggling. Louis then DID pan the camera to Harry's face, likely not catching the pink color of his cheeks, with the washed-out light, but Louis noticed as the curly haired boy giggled again. Louis laughed awkwardly, letting his eyes linger on his friend's for a few extra seconds.

They moved on from the disgusting bathroom, which was at one point probably pretty nice, with it's claw-foot, iron tub and large curtainless shower, but was completely overgrown by mold and algae, the cobwebs had their own cobwebs, and it smelled even worse than the decay of the bedroom. They explored what they could of the abandoned building, goofing around and pointing out random objects to each other.

There wasn't much more that was accessible, the hallway that the master bedroom was in had a hard stop, where the floor had completely fallen through to the ground floor from wood rot. They were able to get into the old kitchen, but it was completely gutted. There was graffiti on the walls and Cheeto wrappers surrounded by beer cans, inside of where the countertops had been ripped off of the cabinets.

"Alright, that's about as much of the inside as it seems like we'll be able to show you safely. Before we get into the rest of the history on the place, we found it worth mentioning that we don't condone trespassing. We could absolutely get arrested for being here right now. So...don't be like us, right Haz?" Louis said into the camera, which was back on his tripod where they started the video, then looking to his friend, who was standing next to him, already watching him, with mirth in his eyes.

"That's right. We could have definitely gotten hurt in there, or come across some dangerous squatters, gotten bit by animals...the list goes on. So if you're not like Lou and I, who aren't afraid of getting arrested and jailed together, don't do it. Better hold onto the soap, Lou" Harry continued his friend's thought. Something about the adrenaline he'd gotten while they were wandering around inside, was causing him to want to be flirty to his gay friend.

Louis looked genuinely shocked and amused by the comment, his mouth falling open into an 'o' shape and then letting out a surprised laugh. Harry was the one to flush this time, hiding his face behind his long curls, hoping the camera couldn't see the shade of bright red, that he was sure he was now.

"Shit, someone call the cops on us right now" Louis said back, through a more controlled laugh, but flirting heavily himself. There was something intoxicating about what they'd just done. They seemingly became aware of how dangerous it likely was in retrospect, at the same time. "Alright well, while I'm picturing that, you can explain the rest of what we learned about the Sherman estate" Louis teased, looking at his friend again, who was clearly shocked and intrigued by the response.

Harry composed himself beautifully, however, and managed to dive right back into the history of the place with ease. Louis wasn't listening though, he was admiring how physically flawless his old friend was. As the other man talked, Louis could feel himself fonding way too hard while being filmed, but he couldn't avert his eyes. He realized he was smiling like a little girl, and managed to pull his expression together for the rest of Harry's part.

"Okay, that's all for today, guys. Thanks so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed me switching it up a bit. Again, don't forget to like and subscribe. Comment down below your thoughts, hopes, dreams, etc. Let us know what else you'd like to see us explore. Until next time..." Louis said, not bothering to contain his smile. He was on an indescribable high. Once he turned off the device, he looked at Harry to gauge his reaction.

"That was so fun, Lou!" Harry raved, clearly on a similar wave as Louis. "Seriously, though. I really hope this helps you out. Kinda hope people want me back. I wasn't expecting to like it so much..." He said, letting his voice trail off. Louis was right in front of him now, smiling up at him with adoration. Harry felt his throat get hot and his tummy explode with butterflies, like when he decided to embrace the thought of their kiss on prom night, rather than fight it.

"Course they'll want you back. You definitely added a new kinda...energy..." Louis replied, deciding to abandon caution and lay it on a little thick. Harry had kissed him first all those years ago. If he was going to reject him, he'd at least let him down easy, Louis thought. "Better hold onto the soap? Careful making such bold statements on the channel. Someone might just think you're serious..." He added in a sexy, teasing voice, a lustful smolder taking over his face completely. He bit his lip, and looked at Harry's brazenly.

Harry's throat was on fire again. Louis was flirting heavily now, appearing to have gotten a surge of confidence, which Harry had to admit he found oh, so sexy. He glanced at Louis' lips, then looked away quickly, nerves unexpectedly getting the better of him for a moment.

"What if I am?" Harry worked up the balls to ask. He licked his lips, as his mouth turned up into a smirk. He watched the smolder in Louis' eyes ignite into bright flames. Neither of them said anything or made a move for a few long, intense seconds. Harry didn't have the balls to do what he wanted to do. But he could do the next best thing, and bring it up. "I'm not sure what you remember. Was um, was a long time ago. We were fucked up. But I uh...never quite got prom out of my head" He decided to say, a little coyly, but with a twinkle in his eye.

A smitten smile crossed Louis' face for a second, then the roaring, lustful fire in his eyes returned. He remembered. He remembered everything.

"Yeah I remember. Kinda helped me figure some stuff out, really...so...thanks" the blue-eyed boy said with a quiet, but intent voice. He took two steps towards Harry, closing the space between them. Harry turned slightly, to face Louis completely now, letting him know he wanted him to. "Kinda wanna kiss you again, Haz. Would that be alright?" He asked, knowing the answer, and cupping Harry's chin, the way his friend had to him years before.

Harry leaned into the touch, nodding vigorously, before Louis finished speaking. He was looking directly at his mouth, until Louis closed his eyes and Harry followed his lead, meeting him halfway.

When their lips met, it was as though they were still outside of the hotel, standing in front of the pool. Both men moved more surely this time, each having gained experience and confidence since then. When Harry's tongue slipped into Louis' mouth, the taller boy let out a gentle moan from the back of his throat, and pulled Louis closer to him.

Louis leaned into him, and was delighted to feel Harry's semi-hard cock pressing into his own. They stayed like this for a minute, making out in front of the old, haunted house like a couple of teenagers. They were grinding against one another, while their mouths explored each other's. That was, until, they suddenly heard sirens and saw lights a few hundred feet away.

"Shit!" Harry yelled. The pair fell out of their embrace and the adrenaline that was still lingering in their bodies was amplified by a million.

"Let's go! Come on!" Louis yelled, pulling Harry along, towards the chain-link fence that they had jumped over to get in there. The pair ran as fast as they could, back to Louis' place, electing to abandon his car for the time being, which was parked two streets over. It was further away than they thought, but it would be silly to go back tonight. Harry told Louis he'd take him to his car in the morning, too scared to turn around. Louis was happy to agree, if it meant he could see Harry again tomorrow.

❧

 

When they finally arrived back at Louis' place, they caught their breath outside in the small back yard. No one had been chasing them for some time, they were sure, but they didn't feel safe until they were near somewhere that they could get inside.

"Jesus! We almost got busted. Could you imagine? After talking all that shit?!" Harry asked, laughing and still trying to catch his breath. Louis cracked up, too. He was on such an insane high. Once the two calmed down a little, Louis looked at Harry in awe. He bravely walked the several feet over to his friend, and gently pushed him against the brick wall on the outside of the apartment building, gauging Harry's reaction to the sudden move.

Harry looked at him with raw desire in his eyes. He didn't smile. The intent, curious look he gave his best friend was too full of emotion for that. He did, however, press his lips to Louis' this time. Their kiss picked up where it left off, but with more urgency than before, more yearning for something they didn't know they'd wanted desperately.

"So uh...you coming up?" Louis asked through a mischievous grin. Harry chuckled, blushing a little and nodding vigorously. He couldn't wait to get his hands on him.

—————

Notes:

Idk. Sorry for the cliffhanger but smut is coming. I have the next chapter ready but not sure where to go from there. Let me know if you’re feeling it

Chapter 3: Alternative

When they got upstairs, Harry pushed Louis up against the door he'd just closed, pinning his arms crossed over his head with one hand, and gripping his chin with the other. Louis was shocked, but delighted by the move. He felt himself let go completely, letting Harry take control if he wanted it. And he did, based on how urgently he was kissing his old friend.

"Fuck, Lou. Feel what you do to me" Harry whispered in his ear, taking the other man's hand and palming himself with it. He started kissing him again, and Louis unbuttoned Harry's jeans, with the one hand he'd let go of. The other hand that Harry had pinned, Louis put firmly on Harry's waist, while Harry worked to unfasten Louis' belt.

The pair started kissing feverishly again. Louis bucked his hips up into the touch, when Harry finally slid his hand into the waistband of his boxers, and wrapped his fingers around his leaking cock.

"Haz. Mmm. Feels so good, Harry, my god" Louis moaned. The taller man started pulling at Louis' shirt. Louis took it off and helped Harry with his own, unbuttoning it like they were going to run out of time.

"Get all of this off." Harry breathed hurriedly. "I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, but I want to see all of you, and I want to suck your dick, Lou" he added, his eyes already devouring what he could see of his best friend, while he removed the rest of his own clothes.

"Music to my fucking ears" Louis said. He removed his pants and boxers, his cock hitting his stomach with a slap. "Let me show you..." he said, taking in every inch that he could see of Harry's ripped, tattooed body in the living room, only lit by the streetlights on the floor below them, coming from the large bay window to their right. Harry was fucking hung, and Louis had thought about doing exactly this, since Harry had left him wanting on prom night.

Louis fell back against the wall that Harry just had him pressed to. He slid down, using it for support, until he got on his knees. Once he was on the floor, he guided Harry by his waist to trade spots with him, Harry welcomed the wall to lean on, as he watched his friend grab his aching dick gently at the base, lick it up and down slowly, and then take it all the way to the back of his throat effortlessly.

"Fuck! Mmm, Lou. Feels so good. Just like that, baby" Harry cried in a whiny, high-pitched voice that Louis had never heard before. He couldn't control the smirk that formed while his lips were gliding up and down Harry's shaft. Harry flushed, feeling horribly awkward about the pet name, but deciding to brush it off. This was far too incredible to ruin by over thinking. "Close, Lou" he moaned.

Louis stopped abruptly, making Harry whine in frustration. Louis' big, blue eyes stared up at Harry innocently, but also radiated the deep, dark desire that he was experiencing. He gently wiped some of the pre cum off of the sensitive tip of Harry's cock, and put his thumb in his mouth, making a confused and frustrated Harry whine again.

"Just wanted you like this for another few seconds, baby" Louis said, putting a teasing emphasis on baby. Harry laughed at himself and rolled his eyes, before sucking in a sharp breath through gritted teeth, when the smaller man took him down his throat again, and began blowing him at the same delightful pace he was just going at.

"You're so sexy, fuck. Gonna cum. Don't fucking stop" Harry growled. Louis had mirth in his eyes, but mercifully didn't stop this time, making Harry's orgasm the best of his life. He watched in awe as Louis swallowed what he gave him, and licked his lips sexily. "Get up here" the taller man commanded. Louis happily did as told.

Harry swung his friend around, pushing him against the wall again and pining his arms above his head like he had before, this time attacking his neck with playful nibbles and kisses while Harry caught his breath. He kissed Louis again and then got on his knees in front of him.

He teased Louis with kisses down his happy trail, then licked little circles in the sensitive skin next to his hips. Harry then looked up at Louis, and didn't break eye contact as he took his cock in his hand and licked it from base to tip, before taking the monster about 3/4ths of the way back. He decided not to push himself, and to instead get used to the new activity, by licking and sucking in new ways, enjoying figuring out what his friend responded to.

"Mmm fuck yeah, Harry. That's perfect" Louis praised, unable to fully wrap his head around how they'd gotten here. Harry was the one to take control. It had always been that way, long before they were aware of their interest of each other. Although Louis was a few months older, Harry was always the one who was so sure of himself and what he was doing. He couldn't believe that following his lead ended up with the pair blowing each other. He watched Harry closely as he found the perfect rhythm, the older boy guiding Harry's head to keep him at that exact pace. "Gonna cum for you, Harry. Fuck!" Louis moaned gutturally.

When Louis released inside Harry's mouth, he watched in wonder as his friend swallowed what he gave him, and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He then stood up and kissed Louis again. Once Louis had come down a little, they parted, and giggled at themselves when they finally made eye contact.

"That was about 5 years overdue then" Harry said, chuckling and reaching for his pants. They were both naked, basically, while still in Louis' doorway. Louis was on cloud nine. He couldn't remember ever feeling this good before.

"I mean, yeah. Guess it was. I uh...didn't think you remembered either. Wasn't gonna bring it up....but I'm glad you did" Louis replied a little nervously, now that they were on the other side of their orgasms, he wasn't entirely sure how to act. They both felt better with pants on, at least. "You wanna um...stay here?" He offered, making Harry beam a huge smile.

"Well, I've still got quite a bit of unpacking to do. Think I'll head home for now, just to get some stuff done. But I'm...kinda glad we had to ditch your car. What time do you usually get up? I'll be over to bring you to get it, if you still want..." Harry replied. He didn't want to sound like he didn't want to stay, because he desperately did. He put a bunch of stuff off, so he could hang with Louis that night. Plus he had to go home and watch some porn and take notes, in case Louis were interested in doing this again.

"That's cool. Probably going to edit and post this tonight, then. I could definitely use a ride back to it tomorrow. I'm going to be sore. Haven't run that far and fast since...well...ever" Louis responded through a laugh. He wasn't sure what to do, as his friend buttoned up his shirt. Should he hug him? Kiss him good-bye? Wave awkwardly from across the room?

Louis was delighted to find that he didn't have to decide. Taking the lead as always, Harry took a couple of steps towards his best friend and put his hand on his cheek. Louis looked up at him, trying to tone down his adoration. Harry looked at him with a serious curiosity. He was nearly frowning, his expression was so serious, before he leaned down to kiss Louis again. Louis put up no protest, and they both felt themselves ignite when their lips met.

Kissing was feeling more natural than it initially had, now that they were both sure the other wanted to. Louis was the one to slip his tongue into Harry's mouth, which was met with Harry's waiting one. They stayed like this for a few moments, getting more used to the unfamiliarity of kissing their best friend.

"Was uh...was really good to see you, Haz" Louis said, breathing a laugh. "Text me, yeah? I'll be up around 10" He added. Harry nodded and headed for the door, looking behind him on his way out.

"Thanks for asking me to do this. Been wanting to get out more" Harry said fondly. "Oh, and for the blowjob lesson. Been meaning to do that, too" he said with a wink. Before Louis could come up with a witty response, Harry left, closing the door behind him. This time when he shut the door, Louis felt a lot more satisfied than the last time the two parted from a kiss.

❧

When Harry brought Louis to his car the next day, he'd gotten quite a bit of unpacking and even some job searching done the night before. He was free for the day, and decided to ask Louis what he was up to.

"Nothing. I posted the video last night. Was actually going to start looking at other places to explore next. Probably read some comments, see what people liked and didn't like about it..." Louis replied, getting into his Mazda that the pair had abandoned last night, relieved to find it hadn't been towed. "Wanna come?" He asked in a flirty voice. Harry laughed a little awkwardly, but nodded. "Meet me back at mine then, baby" he added in the same teasing tone as yesterday.

He took off ahead of Harry, enjoying the view of the huge, cheesy smile the other man was beaming in his direction, in his rear view mirror.

The duo returned to Louis' place. For some reason, the daylight was not as easy of an environment as last night. Neither boy was uncomfortable, by any means, but they were both a little hesitant around each other, likely now each having the same anxieties about how they should act when they were together.

"Woah. Come here!" Louis said excitedly. "It's been up for 10 hours and has 220K views! Jesus, Haz. My followers literally doubled over night..." he continued, looking through some of the comments, unable to believe how much traction the video got so quickly.

"Holy shit, no way!" Harry replied, looking over Louis' shoulder. "What are people saying? Are we getting dragged for being like...disrespectful or having shit information or something?" He asked, also confused as to how their silly exploration received so much attention so easily.

Louis scrolled through some comments. There were very few off the top that were expressing distaste.

'Nice! We love Harry. Keep him around. Good idea, I love this kinda stuff!'

'That place haunted af''

'Iconic 👏🏻'

'Harry is fucking sexy unf'

'Louis loves Harry'

'I liked it! It's different but interesting. Maybe a church soon?'

'try to talk to mr. sherman. see if anything happens 👻'

'We all love Harry. Keep bringing him back 🥵'

'Come to my town next pls'

'Right up my alley. Loved the cemeteries, but this is exciting! Can't wait for more'

'love you Louis!!'

'The sexual tension is real lol 😏👥'

'🔥🔥❤️'

'Just kiss already'

'Meh, not really my thing. But points for originality'

'Louis I've watched your channel from the beginning! Pls react. Yaaassss Harry! ❤️'

'subscribed. curly is sooo hot'

'Wish I were between the two of them. That'd be the only way you'd get me near that building 💦'

'Obsessed. Keep going! Do an abandoned school or hospital or something! Love you, Lou!'

'Louis is such a bean! And his friend?! Sheesh. Hope to see more like this'

'too scary 🫣'

'That place was dope. Love the new ideas. Love Harry even more'

The comments went on and on like this. They were stunned. Louis looked back at Harry excitedly. He jumped out of his chair and stood in front of his friend.

"That's a pretty crazy response. Should we look for one to do tonight?" He asked Harry, who was feeling a similar rush to the one they'd experienced the night before, realizing the pair could have something here. Perhaps in more ways than one.

"I'm in. Let's look for some places. Kinda into the school or hospital idea" Harry replied. "Looks like we were a little obvious. People seem to think there might be something between us..." he added in a teasing tone. Louis flushed immediately but he giggled, giving Harry butterflies for some reason.

"Hmm. Wonder where they got that idea" Louis replied, flirting back. "So. Do you agree with them, Hazza? Or we calling last night a bro-job?" He asked. His tone had a teasing ring to it, but also a seriousness behind the question. He couldn't hide that he was desperate to know where Harry's head was at.

Harry laughed at the comment and ran a nervous hand through his curls. When he caught Louis' eyes, they had the same fiery intensity as they did last night, when they were outside.

"I think if strangers are calling us out in the dozens, they might be onto something..." he responded. He was intending to try to add something witty, but his voice trailed off as he glanced at Louis' lips and the shorter boy licked them, making them look oh, so plump and kissable.

"I'm sorry. I don't want us to be awkward with each other. I'm just not entirely sure how to act, I guess" Louis admitted cautiously. "Last thing I want to do is risk our friendship. I just...don't wanna make you uncomfortable, I guess" he added, scratching head nervously.

Harry chuckled and shifted a little where he stood. He couldn't take his eyes off of Louis. He'd gone home last night and after his job search, he watched hours of porn, and read some online forums. He knew what he wanted to do, but he didn't want to move too quickly.

"I'm not. Not uncomfortable, I mean." Harry replied. He gave his friend a reassuring grin, and leaned down to kiss him. Louis happily kissed him back, glad he wasn't putting his old friend in a weird position. "Dunno what this is. Doesn't feel too bad, though, does it? Let's not ruin it by overthinking. There are...a lot of things I want to do with you, Louis. I just don't want to rush into it. But starting to think I might be just like you..." he added, leaning in for another kiss, deciding not to wait for a response to that.

Their kiss deepened and Louis was getting drunk off of breathing in Harry's cologne. The shorter man pulled away and smiled up at Harry, his face giving away just how smitten he was. Harry returned the fond look, and glanced back at the computer. He was torn between suggesting they find a new place to look up, and ripping all of Louis' clothes off, and fucking him right here.

"Doesn't feel too bad at all" Louis replied. "And that's...very good to know. I agree. Let's take our time" he added, leaning up and giving Harry another quick peck, before sitting back down at the computer. "There's a stool in my bedroom by the window. Bring it out and we'll look up some places" he said, searching 'abandoned places near me' in the Google search bar.

The duo browsed forgotten places for hours, planning for future videos and deciding on another location for tonight. They also agreed to try to do two or three this weekend, as daily videos of this content probably weren't realistic. They decided they will post weekly updates and get ahead by a few weeks by doing as many as possible in a day, on days they had off together.

Louis wrote a list of places and ordered them strategically, writing down some of the history of each place and how far away from his apartment they were. There were several on the list so far that claimed to be haunted. Harry wanted to do one of them tonight. Louis agreed, and suggested they do an abandoned asylum he had read about, which was only 20 minutes away, tomorrow.

"Come here, Lou" Harry commanded gently when Louis came out of the bathroom. Louis happily complied, walking over to the couch in the living room where Harry was sitting. "If I don't get off before we go, I'm just going to be looking at you, wishing I could fuck you the whole time we're filming" Harry said in a sexy, deep, dominant voice, taking Louis by surprise. "Kinda wanna make that nice, though. Don't wanna rush through it. Just want a taste to hold me over..." He said, leaning in and kissing a lust-struck Louis.

"Mmm" Louis moaned softly when Harry started kissing his neck. The taller man put Louis' hand on his hardening dick, and Louis started running his palm up and down the outside of Harry's sweats, until he slipped his hand into the waistband, while unbuckling his own belt with his free one. "You could always...watch me jerk off, while you fuck my face..." he said in an overly innocent voice, making Harry's stomach flip with anticipation.

"Yeah. That sounds like an acceptable alternative to me..." Harry replied, standing up in front of the other boy and talking off his shirt. Louis' jaw dropped at the sight of his friend's body in the daylight. He was physically flawless. "Go ahead and start then. Don't cum" he commanded as he pulled at Louis' shirt, too. The taller man took his massive, uncut cock out of his sweats and started pulling his cock, while watching Louis start doing the same.

Louis brought his jeans and boxers down to his knees, and looked up curiously at Harry. He wasn't terribly surprised that the other man was so dominant, but he was a little surprised at how comfortable he felt, having never done this with a guy before. Still, Louis did as instructed without any fuss, biting his lip and watching what Harry's hand was doing intently.

"Fuck. Feels so good, daddy" Louis moaned, then instantly regretted it. His face turned bright red and he covered it with both hands, certain he'd ruined the mood. Even if Harry was gay, there was no way he was ready for all of THAT.

Harry's mouth fell open in surprise. He looked at the older man on the couch below him, who was dying of embarrassment. He couldn't help the awkward laugh that escaped him, but he then couldn't hide the scorching desire in his eyes, as soon as he wrapped his head around it. He couldn't let Louis suffer long. He definitely wasn't put off.

"Look at me" Harry said firmly, pulling Louis' hands away from his face, not overly gently. "Don't be shy. Open up, Princess. Suck daddy's cock" he growled, slapping the tip against his closed lips twice. Louis kept his eyes on Harry's, shaking his head in wonder when he did as he was told and opened his mouth. The smaller man started stroking himself vigorously, while Harry gently fucked his throat, grabbing ahold of his hair to hold his head in place, while pushing in as far as he could go before Louis gagged, then repeated the motion steadily.

Louis knew he wasn't going to last long. He let go of himself and put both of his hands on Harry's waist to steady himself. His friend's familiar scent was intoxicating to him. How dominant he was being was an absolute turn on. The fact that he didn't freak out about the daddy kink, but also seemingly knew about it, it drove Louis absolutely wild.

"Mmm there we go. Such a good boy" Harry moaned, letting Louis start blowing him at the pace he'd showed him he wanted. Louis basked in the praise. When the blue-eyed boy took the monster all of the way to the back of his sore, but relaxed throat, he kept him there, wanting Harry to see the sheer determination in his eyes as he choked himself to tears. He picked right back up at the same pace seconds later. "Fuck! Oh, yeah. Just like that. Don't stop. I'm gonna cum" He warned.

Harry moaned from his diaphragm through his climax, filling Louis' mouth with his cum. Louis swallowed every drop, then looked into Harry's eyes when he pulled away, leaning back on the couch and jerking off again to the sight of Harry coming down from his high in front of him. After just a few seconds of catching his breath, Harry got on his knees between his friend's legs.

"Ask daddy for what you want, baby. I want you to beg me" He said sexily. His green eyes were aflame with desire, looking into Louis' glossy, excited ones. Louis heard himself chuckle dryly. He wasn't serious, was he? Harry showed no signs of being anything but. His lustful expression was void of humor, as he kept eye contact, but swirled his thumb gently around Louis' tip, wetting it with sticky precum. Louis was becoming desperate, and he wanted to be a good boy.

"Please" Louis whined. "Please suck my dick, daddy. Please make me cum. I'll do anything you say. I'll be so good for you. Please" Louis begged shamelessly, in a needy voice. Harry's eyes darkened with more desire than he knew was possible. He didn't hesitate before licking Louis' aching cock from base to tip, circling the head tenderly and savoring every drop of delicious precum. He began to blow the other man steadily and with a ravenous appetite. "Gonna..." was all Louis could get out.

Then, he did. He tangled his fingers into Harry's curls as he reached his climax, watching his friend excitedly take what he was giving him. When Louis began to get sensitive, he pulled the other man off gently. Harry didn't swallow. What he did instead, would live in Louis' spank bank until the end of time. His friend stood, then straddled Louis where he sat breathlessly on the couch. When he pulled Louis in for a kiss, the older man thought he'd get hard again instantly if it weren't impossible.

Louis eagerly sat up for the incoming, sloppy kiss, and Harry pushed the warm, white liquid he'd just caught in the back of his throat, into the other boy's waiting mouth. They passed it between them for the entire time it took for Louis to fully catch his breath. He pulled away and swallowed after a few seconds, afraid he was going to lose some.

"That was...really fucking sexy" Louis couldn't help but say, when Harry eventually threw himself down on the couch next to him, making sure their thighs were still touching. He giggled giddily at his best friend, who was becoming more and more aware of his own fondness for the blue-eyed boy. "Think that'll hold you over?" He asked with a teasing voice, making Harry crack up too.

"You're really fucking sexy, Princess" Harry replied, putting a playful emphasis on 'Princess'. "And it should. For a few hours at least. But I should warn you..." he continued in a tone that made Louis shift in his seat with anxiety. "Don't know if I'll ever get enough..." he added, the teasing gone from his voice. Harry licked his lips and looked at Louis'. He wanted to talk about where they stood. He wanted to know if Louis felt the way he did, or if he wanted it to be more causal and friendly.

Harry had a feeling that Louis had a little thing for him, for quite a while before prom. Louis never had intentionally let on, but Harry had noticed the other man checking him out from time to time. He was sure Louis caught him, too, but could tell Louis was all but clueless about his curiosity. That's why Harry kissed him, to make it clear. He'd caught Louis stealing glances in the locker room more than once. Not just at Harry, but several of the guys in his grade.

Watching Louis' eyes betray him, was the thing that made Harry consider boys for the first time. The younger man remembered how he felt when he was in his soaked, white boxer-briefs, while the whole gym class was getting changed, after running on the cross country track. His friend was visibly unable to stop himself from looking at Harry up and down, while he stood there soaking wet in front of him. Harry couldn't explain why he was intrigued. He'd never looked at Louis that way, up until then at least.

Some of the guys had set up sprinklers for the last 100 feet or so, spitting cold water rapidly, and in every direction. Everyone who crossed the finish line ran through the gauntlet of freezing water, it was unavoidable. Harry found himself excited at the thought of Louis looking at him like that. While other boys might have been less receptive, Harry outwardly ignored what would have otherwise been an awkward moment. Internally, he was interested in the sensation that being desired by his male best friend gave him.

What Louis hadn't realized, was that Harry lingered at his locker for much longer than necessary, subtly waiting for Louis to change out of his own soaked clothes. He was also unaware that Harry found himself thinking of what he saw that day, when he was in bed that night.

Harry had just started dating Rebecca. He liked her. A lot. She was sweet and funny and smart, not to mention incredibly beautiful. Still, Harry found himself up until midnight that night thinking about his best friend, and the way he'd looked at him that day. Harry hadn't planned on kissing Louis at prom, but when the pair were outside, both having just had sex with a girl, Harry couldn't help but notice that Louis was giving him the same wanting look, as he had that day.

So, Harry was the one to make the first move, all that time ago. When they'd returned to their rooms and Rebecca interrupted them, he was annoyed. He felt terribly guilty for leaving his date, knowing she likely had a little too much to drink, since they'd had the same amount of wine. Still, he was pissed he couldn't hang out with Louis for longer. He was also blind with rage and jealousy the next morning, when he heard Jane moaning through the walls, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"Well, unless you're going away to school for another five years, you don't have to worry about that" Louis said, pulling Harry out of a deep thought. The neutrality of the response frustrated Harry. Louis was always the more talkative, emotional one. Harry was always the one to call the shots. To take the lead, and to make sensible decisions. Louis relied on that when they were younger, just as Harry relied on Louis for any kind of emotional support.

Louis used to call Harry on his shit. Harry used to let him, in a way he would never have let anyone else. When Harry was having problems at home, trouble getting along with his dad, problems with girls, problems within their group of friends, Louis was always there to offer advice, and occasionally put him in check. So Harry felt he should let Louis take the lead with the feelings aspect of whatever was going on between them.

"Would you miss me if I did?" Harry asked. Though he meant to sound flirty, there was an unmistakable edge to his voice. Louis definitely noticed. His brow furrowed, clearly unsure what to make of his friend's sudden mood change.

"Course I would, silly" Louis insisted, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. He couldn't though. He could never really hide anything from Harry. "Would you, though? I mean...you kinda went ghost. Stopped answering my texts. So after a while...I stopped texting. Thought you'd...moved on" he added, more bite in his own voice than he intended. He realized he was a little more hurt than he thought, by his friend ever leaving in the first place.

Harry's expression changed from demanding, to confused. He didn't remember it like that. He thought their conversations fizzled out rather mutually over time. He tried to remember the last time he'd even heard from Louis, before Harry reached out to tell him he was moving back home. Surely over a year.

"I don't...remember it like that?" Harry said out loud, coming out sounding like a question. "Thought we'd just naturally fell out of touch. Maybe I wasn't paying good enough attention..." he admitted. Louis shrugged.

"It's no biggie. Just...I did miss you. I'd miss you if you left again, yeah. So, don't, okay?" Louis said. He put a reassuring hand on Harry's knee and stood to start getting ready for their adventure tonight. Harry stood at the same time. He looked at his friend with seriousness.

"I missed you, Lou. Missed you a lot. Especially as a friend. But, after prom...I wasn't sure if I'd...freaked you out. Wanted to keep my distance so you didn't feel...pressured I guess. You seemed awfully into Jane the next morning. Thought you wanted me to know it. We could hear everything. So...I backed off. Think I thought you regretted kissing me back" Harry told him. He couldn't explain the prickling he felt in his eyes, as his cheeks got hot. He hadn't cried in years.

Louis' face fell. He had no clue Harry felt like that. He thought Harry had clung extra hard to Rebecca the next morning, if anything. He was shocked to see the traces of tears in Harry's eyes, before the curly-haired boy looked away, embarrassed.

"Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey..." Louis said, alarmed, reaching out to comfort Harry, who was now hiding behind his curls. "Never for a second, alright? I was so happy. I was nervous. Especially for what it meant for us as friends. But...I loved every second of it. Was maybe being a little petty the next morning" Louis admitted, though Harry still wouldn't meet his gaze. "Think it sucked a little when you closed the door. Not your fault. Not like I didn't know you had to go comfort Rebecca. Just...felt...abrupt I guess" he added, realizing it was true.

Harry peeked out from behind his curtain of curls to look at Louis confusedly. He never meant to hurt his friend's feelings. He just didn't want to seem obvious in front of their girlfriends at the time.

"Oh. Um. I guess that makes sense, looking back. Definitely didn't mean for it to come off that way" Harry replied, determined not to let his tears spill over. He hated that he was so sensitive. He hated it even more, that Louis knew that he was. "Well. I'm not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Guess we can leave it there, then" he said, shrugging. "I have to pee. Then you ready to hit the road?" He added, suddenly desperate to get off the subject.

Louis didn't fully understand why his friend got upset and didn't want him to see, but it'd been a long time since they'd seen each other. He knew how to call Harry on his shit, sure. He could tell when he was upset, hell he could FEEL when he was upset half of the time. Harry clearly didn't want to talk about it anymore, and Louis didn't feel close enough to his old friend to press in the way Harry was probably expecting him to. The difference was that this time, Louis' feelings were on the line too.

When Harry came out of the bathroom, the pair got Louis' gear ready. Harry offered to drive this time, and they agreed to get an early start so they could figure out a strategic place to park his truck. The vibe was suddenly a little more tense between them, and much less flirty.

—————————

Chapter 4: Boo

When they pulled up to the next huge, haunted estate on the agenda, they had a harder time than the last night, finding a way into the property. The chain-link fence around the house was only the first hurdle. Once they were over that, there was an inner cement fence that had a huge, iron gate in the middle, which was padlocked. Harry lifted Louis over the wall, and Louis straddled the 6 inches of concrete, to help pull Harry over.

"Thanks" Harry said. Louis couldn't tell if he was hypersensitive to the other man's tone, or if there really was still an edge to his voice. Worrying that Harry was on edge had always made Louis uneasy when they were younger. He was always afraid of making Harry mad. It wasn't that Harry would be overly cruel or anything, but he definitely had a temper on him. Louis hated getting yelled at, and Harry didn't yell often, but when he did, he didn't hold back.

It was for that reason that Louis started to withdraw a little. He didn't want to stop anything he and Harry were doing. He just didn't understand why his friend seemed to be freezing him out after their conversation. Was it because they gave each other head again, and Harry was having trouble coming to terms with what was going on between them?

It didn't seem to be the issue, but Louis couldn't be 100% sure. He wanted to ask, but that would require bringing it up, which Louis didn't want to do, out of fear of Harry shutting him out completely. So he decided to ask Harry where they should start. Harry sighed, but hummed while he thought, and looked at what he could see of the abandoned estate.

"I like the idea of the front of the house usually. But for this one, since there's a cemetery on the property, maybe we shoot it from there? Put that shot in the thumbnail? It should be over there, just behind the greenhouse. I couldn't tell from the online pics if we can get a portion of the house in the shot, but it looks like we could from here" Harry said. He seemed to be excited about his thought, but also looked like he was holding back all kinds of emotions that Louis couldn't identify.

"I like that. Good idea" Louis replied, looking up at Harry, making sure the fondness was apparent in his voice, hoping for some kindness in return. His anxiety wasn't quelled, when Harry smiled at him somewhat weakly and told Louis to follow him. The curly-haired boy picked up the bag of equipment Louis had been carrying, and walked towards the old, vine-covered green house.

Harry wasn't angry, was the thing. He was confused. Harry was sure he liked Louis as more than a friend. He thought he may have even been in love with him once upon a time, and was sure he could easily get there again. His problem was that he didn't know if Louis was on the same page in that regard. Sure, it was clear he was into fooling around the way they had been, but he couldn't help feel like his friend had been more awkward around him since his return, and all of the events that have followed.

Was Louis interested in something deeper? Was he just killing time, fooling around with his old friend, who turned out to be into guys too? Was he talking to anyone else? Fucking anyone else? The thought made Harry's blood boil. He decided he didn't want to know. He would just follow Louis' lead with the emotional stuff, as always. He'd definitely take the lead physically. At least they knew they were on the same page about that.

"Oh, cool. We can totally get the west wing in the shot, maybe even a portion of the front if we angle it just right" Harry said, handing Louis the bag of equipment without looking at him, distracting himself with his surroundings. The cemetery was only a small family plot, and it had ten visible headstones in the small, overgrown area. The website said there were thirteen people buried in there, but the graves were over one hundred years old. The pair were surprised that any of the headstones were left standing, let alone as preserved as they were.

"Nice" Louis said, trying to match Harry's energy. He busied himself with setting up the tripod. "You can start us off today. Let 'em know you'll be hanging around more. As long as that's what you want, that is" he added, not looking at his friend's reaction. His voice was harsh and cold. Harry definitely noticed, and Louis didn't dare look to see if he was going to respond to it.

Harry couldn't explain why he felt so hurt by the comment, but he sure did. He felt like Louis had switched up his mood completely from earlier. After Harry had said that he didn't know if he'd ever get enough of Louis, he felt their vibe took a solemn turn. Louis definitely didn't seem like he was angry at Harry, but he surely was more guarded than he thought the other boy would be.

Louis had said he wasn't freaked out that Harry had kissed him all those years ago. He was 'so happy', but worried for their friendship? Was that what he was trying to communicate now? That he just wanted to keep it casual?

Harry didn't have any experience with men. He did know stereotypes about gays and sex. That it definitely didn't always require as much...depth...as seemed to be expected in a hetero relationship. He was mostly worried about looking stupid, and inadvertently ruining the friendship, by alluding to feelings that might not be reciprocated.

So, was Louis comment just now, about starting off the video, meant to be taken as Louis didn't care if Harry stayed with the channel? Was he trying to give Harry an out? 'As long as that's what you want' Louis had just said. Harry had made it clear the night before that he'd hoped people wanted him back. Was Louis telling him that he was just placating him? Was he salty that the audience was SO receptive of Harry? The younger man didn't understand.

"Uh. That's alright. You should do the opening. It's your channel. You can let them know I'll be around more. As long as thats what you want..." Harry replied, trying to convey that he wanted to be around more often, but didn't know where Louis was at. The bite was gone from his voice, but he hardly sounded as enthusiastic as he had last night. Harry still wouldn't meet Louis' gaze, either, which Louis decided meant that he was bored, apathetic.

Louis was suddenly put off. Now Harry was freezing him out, AND he didn't seem to care whether or not he stayed part of this with him? What had happened in that short time, to cause such a dramatic change in mood? What happened between them today was Louis' favorite thing that had ever happened with another person. And now said person can't be bothered with him. Did he get the ick? Did he not want to mess around like that anymore? Was he struggling with fooling around with a dude?

"Okay then" Louis said with actual attitude now. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "If you don't want to be here, you don't have to, you know...everyone seems to love you. Love us together. But if you're like...over this...I don't want you to feel obligated..." he decided to add. Both boys were on edge. Harry didn't know what to make of that at all. Louis rarely ever had an attitude with him when they were younger. Still, Harry did want to be there. He wanted to desperately.

"Did I say I didn't want to be here? Said the opposite last night, didn't I?" Harry snapped back, his voice was cold and harsh, making Louis' stomach turn with anxiety. "But if you're over me being a part of this, by all means, let me know. I have no problem getting out of your hair" he added, softening his tone and expression only slightly. Harry was hurt. He didn't understand why Louis was acting like this. He'd never been snippy like this with him before, that he could remember.

Harry was also pissed because he was all but crying earlier, and he knew that Louis knew it. He'd stepped far out of his comfort zone when he expressed that he missed Louis, and that he didn't think his friend wanted anything to do with him sexually or romantically, after prom. Now Louis was being like this? Maybe he just didn't like him like that. Maybe now that he had a taste he was over it. Bored with Harry, perhaps jealous from the attention Harry was bringing his channel after just one video.

Louis didn't know how to respond to his old friend. They were losing daylight and they needed to get started. Harry did say he wanted to stay with the channel last night. But he was behaving awfully differently.

"Why would I be over you being a part of this? I just said everyone seems to love you. I'm having fun. Well I was, anyway. Not sure what pissed you off, but if you're staying, like I want you to, then come film this with me. Sun is going down" Louis replied after a few awkward seconds. Harry was frustrated. He decided to go stand next to Louis to film the opening. The pair were 6 feet apart and while they both managed to fake a smile, their change in energy was noticeable, compared to last night's recording.

"Hey everyone! Thanks for all of the love towards Harry and myself on our last video. We love you guys too. We're always looking through comments for suggestions, feedback, and most importantly, how you feel about how Harry and I get on. Since several of you had something to say about that, I've managed to bring him back with me for another episode. Your eyeballs can thank me by hitting 'like and subscribe' down below" Louis said into the camera, trying to sound jovial, but his change in demeanor from yesterday's video was apparent. "Wanna tell 'em about this cool place you found Hazza?" He added, trying to look more flirty than annoyed.

"Sure do. Thanks for all of the love guys. This channel wouldn't be what it already is, without Louis' amazing, original idea of exploring old cemeteries. So, we decided with this one, we'd bring some of the old back in, with the new" Harry said, attempting to sound as upbeat as possible. "We're currently standing in the family plot of the Chandlers. Behind us, is their estate, which hasn't been occupied for over 25 years. We're going to explore the grounds a bit, and try to take you guys inside with us. This place stuck out to me personally, because of its extensive history, and it’s wide range of reported paranormal activity, dating back over 150 years" he continued.

Although Louis wasn't sure what was going on with him and Harry, he still couldn't help but be touched by his friend's passion for their shared interest in this subject. He felt a small, adoring smile form when he saw the enthusiasm return in his friend's eyes, while explaining the history of the property.

"This gravesite of many of the Chandlers’, is said to have thirteen bodies buried under our feet. As you can see, there are only ten visible headstones, all dating as far back as 1875. While it could be considered remarkable that any of them are intact at all, legend has it, that the three daughters of Mr. Chandler never actually passed away with their family. Rumor has it that the three plotted the murder of their parents, and two little brothers, and the three young women faked their deaths" Harry continued, speaking into the camera, his enthusiasm picking up genuinely, as his interest in the subject was visible.

Louis tried to smooth out his adoring glance as Harry looked to him to continue, but he was unsuccessful. Harry caught how he was looking at him, and couldn't help but smile, since he knew he'd seen that look before countless times when they were younger. It was the look that made Harry first consider his friend that way.

"That's right. Attempts have been made to determine the exact number of bodies under our feet, without disturbing the final resting places, however the suspicion surrounding the sisters didn't arise until 40 years after the murders, when bank accounts in all three women's names mysteriously appeared in Brazil. This sparked an investigation, which at the time, was fruitless, as a judge denied the request to exhume any of the bodies" Louis explained, hoping he was remembering everything correctly.

Harry was half paying attention, half undressing Louis with his eyes. He caught himself thirsting, and pulled himself together, distracting himself by looking around at other potential outdoor areas on the property to explore.

"The Chandlers aren't the only spirits said to be lingering at the estate. In the 1930s, a pair of young twin girls died of Tuberculosis days apart from each other. Reports of apparitions of little girls in pigtails running through the halls go back decades. Explorers claim that after dark, giggling and coughing can be heard, mainly on the second floor" Louis added, looking back to Harry to continue, who was now looking a little more relaxed, and into the task at hand.

"Scary shit, innit? That's still not all though. In the 1960s, there was a reported home invasion, during which a mother and her adult son were shot and killed, because the intruders weren't expecting anyone to be home. The killers were arrested, and spent the rest of their lives in prison, but their victims are said to still be here, roaming the halls, waiting for unsuspecting YouTubers to walk in, for them to scare shitless. We're offering ourselves up for them as a means of communication to the mortal world. If any such spirits exist, we invite you to make yourselves known to us. Catch me hiding behind Louis, though, if any of them do" Harry said, speaking in the direction of the house.

"Hiding behind me?! You're the brave one!" Louis said in an overly playful voice. "If you're going to offer us up as a point of contact, I'd like to request the spirits direct their communication directly to Harold here, as I am likely to scream like a little bitch, at the first sign of anything paranormal. I wouldn't want to offend any spirits trying to make contact, nor would I want to subject our viewers to my cowardice. You'll have to take the reins on that, Haz, like you always have with anything remotely new or intimidating" Louis said, hoping Harry picked up on the playful seriousness of his tone.

Harry didn't quite know what to make of the comment. He suspected there was deeper meaning than just the exploration they were doing, but he didn't have time to think of what it could mean, as Louis looked to him to respond again. He decided to frustrate his friend instead, by throwing the ball back into his court.

"Well, not ALL things new or intimidating. Like this, for example, given you have experience exploring places like this for the benefit of viewers worldwide, there are some things you're better off being in control of" Harry said, looking directly at Louis for that part. He then turned to face the camera. "Since I am the one who called upon the spirits, I will still offer myself up as tribute. We should probably try to find a way inside while there is still some daylight. Like we said, let us know your thoughts in the comments" He stated, looking to his friend for his approval.

Louis had an unreadable expression. He looked a little confused, a little annoyed, and there was an almost melancholy vibe that fell over the pair. The older man walked towards the camera to disconnect it from the tripod and Harry stayed put, looking at Louis dubiously.

"That was....interesting. Let's try to pick the energy up just a smidge. Wouldn't want them thinking there's trouble in paradise already" Louis declared. Harry rolled his eyes, which Louis took as a kick in the teeth. "Or we can be awkward and distant through the whole video. Whatever" he sneered, starting to actually get upset. Harry sighed and flexed his jaw frustratedly.

"I'm not the one being awkward or distant. You're being...weird. Like seriously, I don't get it. This morning felt hot and heavy to me. I liked it. I'm not sure where the attitude came from, but I'm decidedly over it" Harry bit back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like I said, if you don't want me here, I'll go. If you want me here as just a friend exploring abandoned places with you, I'm here for it. If you wanna keep topping each other off, I'm also with that. If you want more than a fuck buddy, then I need you to take the lead, because I'm no good at this shit, and you know it" He added, softening his tone a little and allowing Louis to see the hurt in his eyes.

Louis was clearly caught off guard by the statement. He didn't understand, how Harry didn't understand, that him being this way with Louis was all the older boy ever wanted. Of course he wanted more than a fuck buddy. He'd probably marry Harry right here and now if he'd asked. When he looked into the curly-haired boy's green eyes, they looked like they could spill over with tears again. Louis definitely didn't want that, but the way Harry had been speaking to him all afternoon honestly had him on the brink of his own tears.

"What do YOU want, Harry? I feel like I've made myself pretty clear. I want you here. I want you to do this with me. I want to keep fooling around. I want you to fuck me. You said you wanted to take things slow and I whole-heartedly agree with that. We aren't 17 anymore. I dont know you like I used to. You need to tell me what it is that you're after here. Because I'm game to be a fuck buddy, but...I don't know how long I'll last, being like this with you...without catching real feelings" Louis told him sincerely.

Louis felt bad. Based on Harry's reaction to that, it was becoming more clear that they were just not communicating well right now. Harry looked flustered suddenly. Like he was put on the spot. Louis didn't mean to do that to him. He just didn't understand why Harry got so angry, and he wasn't used to soothing his old friend the way he used to.

Harry was also used to being soothed by Louis. Sure, Louis used to call him out, but he'd always do it gently, which was the only reason he lived to tell the tale. He didn't quite understand why Louis wasn't being as gentle with him as he used to be, until the last thing the other boy said. Then, Harry finally understood what the issue was.

"I um. I agree. I want all of those things. I...know you don't know me so well anymore. I really am sorry we fell out of touch. I missed you. I did" Harry said with passion now ringing in his voice, but it was also shaky and hoarse with nerves. "I do think we should go slow, get to know each other again. But I'm um. I'm also not sure how long I could go at this, without catching feelings. If that ship hasn't already sailed..." he continued, letting his voice trail off at the end, thinking he said WAY too much.

He stood there in the same spot awkwardly, with his hands in his pockets, looking embarrassed and vulnerable, his eyes focused on the grave, on the ground in front of him. Harry was not good at talking about his feelings, but he needed to understand where Louis' head was at, so he could prepare himself for what the other boy wanted either way. He wouldn't meet Louis' eyes while he waited for him to respond.

Louis got instant butterflies at the last thing Harry had said, and he almost wished the other man WAS looking at him, so he could see the involuntary, cheesy smile that formed on his face. He toned it down before speaking, but he kept traces of it as he walked up to the taller man.

"Is that all this is about?" Louis asked in a more upbeat, but soft, understanding voice. He was starting to get it, and when he was right in front of Harry, he pushed a strand of curls behind the other man's ear. Louis was a little frustrated that Harry still wouldn't look at him, but he decided that Harry had put himself out there in a way he knew he wasn't used to. He finally understood completely. He needed to take the lead on where they stood in an emotional sense. Louis could do that, he thought.

The blue-eyed boy put two fingers under Harry's chin, lifting it up and forcing him to meet his gaze. He'd never seen Harry look quite so shy, uncertain. He was used to his younger friend being the confident one, the cool, calm and collected one.

"Hey. Look at me" Louis commanded gently, when Harry's eyes stayed trained to the ground, despite Louis physically forcing his face up. Harry reluctantly met his gaze, after a few seconds. "Harry, I've always wanted you. I was always willing to be whatever you needed of me at the time. I guess I hadn't shaken the thought that you wouldn't want more than friendship, even if we were fooling around. I don't want to rush anything either. But...that ship that you're talking about, it sailed for me when you kissed me 5 years ago..." Louis revealed.

Harry's serious and embarrassed expression instantly morphed into a smile, which made his deep dimples form like crescent moons hovering above his perfect jawline. The skin by his eyes crinkled so much, they almost looked closed. He was thrilled to hear that, the confession made his heart start beating out of his chest.

"You mean that?" Harry asked bashfully, scrunching his nose, trying to tame his adoring smile. The taller man's stomach exploded with butterflies at the revelation, and his throat became thick with lust, when Louis licked his lips nervously.

"'Course. Thought you knew that. I think I've been like...trying to play it cool. Since I told you that I came out, I didn't want to overwhelm you...or make you uncomfortable or anything. Wasn't really sure where you were at with all of this. Wasn't going to demand feelings out of you, when you might not know how you feel yourself..." Louis replied, his own smile took over his face when Harry pressed his lips to his, then pulled away.

"I know how I feel" Harry declared seriously. "I'm sorry I stopped texting back. I hadn't realized. Maybe I was...scared...of this on some level? Like subconsciously. But I'm uh...I'm not anymore" he added with a smile in his voice. He pressed his lips back to Louis' and the pair made out like this in the cemetery, until they heard coyotes howling seconds later. There was a full moon tonight. The sky was still semi-blue. It was a little after 7pm in July. Still, they didn't have a lot of daylight left, the moon was glowing bright in the golden hour sky.

"That's...really good to know" Louis replied, cheesing like a fool. "We should um...get to it, yeah? But...in case it isn't clear, I want you here. In every way I can have you. We don't have to define it right now, but I'd like it if you spent the night tonight?" He asked cautiously. Harry's smile got brighter, and his eyes darkened with desire, at the thought of what the two might do if he were to sleep over.

"Sounds like fun. Let's do this" Harry said, throwing a more confident arm over his best friend's shoulder. They approached the huge house, but the front door was locked this time. They'd anticipated that, and had another idea of how to get in.

Many of the windows had bars on the outside, so even if you could break them, you wouldn't be able to get through. There was a courtyard on the first floor. If they could find an access point to the roof, they could try to get in from there.

The two men walked around to the side nearest to the greenhouse, and looked for anything that could give them a boost up, to the only small, one-story section of roof that the estate had, certain of their target. They ended up finding two large 10-gallon barrels, and stacking them on top of each other. Louis went first, then helped to pull Harry up. The barrels fell out from under him, but he managed to kick himself upwards at the last second, giving him enough momentum to use Louis' arm to pull himself up.

"Thanks" Harry said, now with a fond tone. "Woah. Looks like we weren't the only ones with this idea. Gnarly. What even is that?" He asked, looking down at the courtyard below. Louis held up the camera to zoom in on the kiddie pool on the ground below them, that was filled to the brim with water and algae. Surrounding it were dozens of beer cans, fast food wrappers, a couple of sleeping bags, and a bunch of other trash. It all looked like it'd been sitting here for a while, but it made Louis a little nervous.

"Do you think people are like...squatting here? Maybe this isn't a great idea. If we just had like...a knife, or pepper spray, or something...should we come back another night?" Louis asked. Harry looked like he was considering it only for a moment, then he decided against it.

The taller man dropped off of the roof, dangling from the edge by his fingertips, before dropping down into the terrifying and disgusting courtyard below. Louis was shocked, and admittedly turned on, by Harry's bravery.

"Hello? If there's anyone here, we come in peace! If the place is claimed, we'll fuck off. We're just filming a YouTube video, exploring abandoned places. We won't call the cops or anything, we're trespassing, too. Just tell us to leave and we're outta here…" Harry shouted into the estate cautiously, scanning the wide, overgrown, yellow, grassy area surrounding him. While they waited for a response, Louis noticed there were no windows on the walls leading inside. They'd all been broken long ago. The old, brick walls were lined with graffiti.

"You're crazy" Louis said through a laugh, shaking his head incredulously at his friend. "Here, catch" he said, handing Harry the camera. Louis dropped from the roof the same way Harry had, perhaps a little less gracefully. When he landed, he stumbled backwards and was stopped from falling, only by Harry's strong arm smoothly catching him by his waist. The taller man smirked as he helped Louis steady himself. "My hero" Louis giggled, missing Harry's warm touch the second he let go of him.

While Louis was very focused on the content they'd set out to get, he found himself distracted by everything Harry did. Simply asking if there was anyone living there who they might disturb? Speaking to them as people, offering information and explaining himself, as if it were the obvious response to the fear of running into who-knows-what-kind of folks, rather than sprinting the other direction at the first sign of such a possibility? Beyond attractive, Louis thought.

"Well, doesn't sound like anyone is squatting here right now. This shit has been here for ages. Woah! Look at the staircase" Harry said excitedly, looking all around, and zeroing in on one of the wide-open sections of the brick wall, where a huge window once stood.

Inside, they could see the bottom of the Grand Staircase, that was supposed to be the first thing people saw when they came in the front door. The interior of the house was dark, but illuminated by what little light was left outside, pouring through the broken windows.

The intricate carvings on the wood beams were even visible from where they were. The pair rushed to hop inside, Louis being sure to capture all of the courtyard that he could, before they were on the interior of the abandoned mansion. There was a few feet of open floor, almost like a platform, before a set of 4 stairs led down to the Grand Entryway. Once inside, both men were speechless.

"Wow. I'm surprised how much stuff is still here. It's so much different than the last one..." Louis said, looking up and around in awe, filming all around them. "Tell us more about the place, Haz?" He asked, positioning himself just right on the dirty, but shockingly well-preserved hardwood floor, a few feet in front of the huge staircase. He motioned with his hand for Harry to stand in the middle of it and speak into the camera. The symmetry looked awesome, and Harry looked absolutely incredible.

"Yep. So, after the murders in the early 60's, the place was vacant for about 10 years, but it was kept well-preserved by locals, with ties to the home, and an interest in keeping it around. Several more families came and went quickly, with little to no documentation of their short stay. When the home sold to a family of five, whose patriarch was heir to a franchise of department stores in 1976, things started to get weird. The new home owners only stayed for 6 months, later deserting the home and opting for somewhere out west where quote 'they couldn't find us' end quote" Harry said with a hint of humor in his voice.

"Several months later, the home was sold to another family, the Edgars. Mr. And Mrs. Edgar were a young couple who had recently welcomed triplets. They resided here with a live-in nanny to help out, as well as Mrs. Edgars' ailing grandmother. Legend tells us it was the grandmother who insisted that she saw two of the three babies, as if they were several years older, however they were sick, thin, and frail. She claimed this was a premonition of sorts and insisted on getting the triplets out of the home" Harry continued.

"Mr. And Mrs. Edgar chalked the old woman's experience up to a nightmare, and didn't take the warning seriously. The family stayed in the house for another year, despite both parents, and the nanny, getting spooked by other reported supernatural occurrences over time. They stayed until Mrs. Edgar lost her mind, and drowned the triplets in the second floor bathroom. Mr. Edgar came home to the horrific scene, and after discovering that his daughters were deceased, he ran for help, leaving his wife in the room full of their children's bodies" Harry kept talking about the history of the home like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"That's a reasonable reaction, I suppose" Louis said, his voice suddenly tense. The temperature had suddenly dropped in the abandoned home as the sun finally went down.

It was all but pitch black in the surrounding area, and the only significant source of light, was now Louis' camera. He couldn't explain the heaviness that had filled the room in the last few moments, but he could tell that it was a dark and complex energy.

"Mrs. Edgar's mother was napping, while her daughter killed her grandchildren. When she woke up to Mr. Edgar's screams for help, before his hasty departure, she had a terrible feeling. When the old woman made her way to the second floor, she saw all of the other females in the family, dead, neatly tucked into the bed together. The grandmother bolted out of the home in horror, running to the neighbor's house, who was a close friend of the family's. Wanna tell 'em what happened, Lou?" Harry asked his friend.

Louis wasn't scared, exactly, but he wasn't completely at ease. He couldn't help but feel an ominous presence in the air, in addition to the sudden chill he'd just experienced. They suddenly heard something right behind Louis, between him and the front door, which was hardly visible through the darkening room. It sounded as though a skateboard had rolled over the hardwood floor. Both men gasped, and Louis shot the camera, and only source of light, in the direction of the sound. Nothing was there, that hadn't been before.

"Um. What was that? Did you hear that?" Louis asked, his voice was more calm than he thought it'd be, but internally, he was terrified. He looked back at Harry, who was clearly a little shaken, himself. "Please tell me you heard it?" Louis asked again, clutching his chest. Harry nodded, but wasn't convinced it was anything spectacular.

"Yeah. Coulda been anything. Maybe a piece of siding, scraping against the brick wall outside or something" Harry said, trying to convince both himself, and Louis that it was nothing. Louis decided to focus more on Harry's surroundings behind him, rather than before, when he'd let himself get entirely enthralled in his best friend's beauty. When he looked at the turquoise wall behind him, Louis noticed there were several small paintings, and several mirrors still hanging above Harry's head.

Harry stood on the old, disgusting, brown runner that trailed down the middle of the once-elegant staircase. The wall behind him also had huge, dark squares on it, where other paintings, and the like, must have hung for some time. An old couch, more of the same colored carpeting leading up to the stairs, and a totally busted, nearly-demolished Grand Piano, were the only other items that were immediately identifiable in the entrance of the home.

"Alight. Fuck it, let's just get this over with" Louis said, trying to shake whatever that sound was, off. A huge gust of wind came in from the courtyard, bringing the foul smell that pooled in the enclosed area, with it. "The grandmother told the neighbors what she'd seen. The neighbors called authorities, and the tragic scene was discovered. Mr. Edgar was brought in for questioning, and was a person of interest for a brief amount of time, before it was declared a murder-suicide and the case was closed. An autopsy determined that Mrs. Edgar had taken a shit ton of Tylenol, and chased it with a fifth of vodka" Louis continued.

The older man was rattled, and he was sure it was obvious in his voice. Harry was still not quite as bothered, but he had to admit that it felt a lot different than when they had done this the previous night. There were three distinct knocks that came from somewhere in the room, but neither of them could tell from which direction. Harry shuddered, and his mind reached for any rational explanation, as he readied himself to continue.

"The home remained in Edgars' name, despite his refusal to return to the estate, until 1982. He managed to sell the property for nearly $500,000 under market value. The new owners immediately made renovations, primarily to the kitchen and the third floor. During the renovations, the family of six began dying one by one in horrific accidents, that I'm frankly officially too fucking terrified to get into right now. I'll leave some links in the description. Let's go up, Lou. We'll do upstairs, then kitchen, then dip?" Harry rushed through the rest, becoming increasingly alarmed.

Louis was about to agree, until the pair heard the sound coming from behind the blue-eyed boy again. The now unmistakeable sound of either a skateboard, or roller skates, gliding over a hardwood floor, came from the same spot as before. Louis shined the light in that direction again, and there was again, nothing there. Louis all but jumped out of his skin, when he heard the unmistakeable sound of little girls giggling, coming from Harry's right, but audibly up the second flight of stairs.

"What the fuck?! Fuck this! No way. No fucking way! LET'S GO!" Harry yelled, running down the half-flight of stairs, towards Louis. He grabbed hold of the other boy's arm, and Louis got whiplash from how hard and fast Harry was pulling him towards the front door.

Louis let himself follow Harry's lead with no fuss, horrified when they both realized that the door was padlocked from the inside. They couldn't get out. They were trapped, and they didn't know where to go.

"BOO!" the disembodied voice of a man shouted, right into the curly-haired man's ear. The sudden noise was plenty loud for Louis, and hopefully the camera, to hear. Chills went up Harry's spine, and he couldn't remember a time where he'd been more terrified.

"AHHH! HARRY!! WHAT THE FUCK?! I'M SO SCARED. I'M FREAKING OUT. WHAT DO WE DO?! WE'RE TRAPPED! WE CAN'T GET OUT!" Louis screamed, clinging roughly to his best friend's arm. Harry had yelled, too, when they heard the voice, but that scare was nothing compared to the ghoulish laugh that the pair heard echo between them in the same voice as the 'boo', right after Louis finished speaking. Harry was positive he'd never be able to un-hear it.

"Come on! Give me the light. Don't fucking let go of me, baby, please! Grab my hood and don't let go!" Harry shouted, running to the side of the estate opposite to the courtyard, that they had gained access from. Harry led them into what used to be the dining room, which then split off into a narrow hallway, with a bedroom on the left, and a huge ballroom on the right. Harry pulled Louis across the giant, empty room, praying he was right about where he was leading them.

To his relief, he was. At the far end of the over-sized dance hall, there was an archway that led to a small Butler's Kitchen. At the end of the small kitchen, there was a steel door, which was supposed to lead to a small outdoor patio, where staff would take smoke breaks. Harry pushed the long, metal beam that laid across the door, with everything he had in him.

The next thing Louis knew, he was laying flat on his back in the cool, dewy grass outside, looking up at the sky, which was now only lit by the full, white moon. It was nearly 9:30. They hadn't seen half of what they planned to, but neither of them even entertained the idea of returning inside the abso-fucking-lutely haunted house.

"Oh my god. Holy shit, Lou. Are you alright?!" Harry asked shakily, his face and voice full of genuine terror, as he helped his friend to his feet.

"I think so. Oh my god. Fuck this. We'll film the end when we get home. I'm not staying here another second. Please, Haz. I'm so scared" Louis declared, whining at the end.

"Sounds good. That was the scariest fucking thing I've ever heard in my life! Let's go!! I can't wait to watch it!" Harry replied excitedly, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He pulled Louis along with him, who dared to look behind him to get one last shot of the abandoned estate. His hairs stood on the back of his neck when he thought about the giggling, and the very real and clear 'boo' they'd heard.

They ran all of the way to Harry's truck, the fences between them and their ride were of no issue on the way back. They needed to get out of there and needed to go fast. Louis rolled his ankle, after hopping the chain-link fence, which led to the main road, but he couldn't even process that it hurt until, they finally reached the parked vehicle.

❧

When the doors slammed shut, and both men were securely inside the car, Harry started the engine, peeling out of there immediately. They drove in silence, trying to catch their breath, while they processed that they'd just experienced contact, from a plane of existence neither of them had really believed in until now.

"I can't fucking believe that happened. That place gave me the creeps for sure, but there's no explaining ANY of what happened at the end. That 'Boo" Lou?! Holy shit! Oh my fucking god. I'm still so scared" Harry said, his voice shaking with adrenaline, but also laughing in disbelief. They had just arrived at Louis' and were heading towards the back stairs, when Louis pushed the younger boy against the brick wall, like he had the night before.

"Don't leave me tonight, Haz. I'm so serious. I can't be alone after that. I'm so glad you were there. I think I would have died of terror if you didn't know where to go. Guess I'll stop giving you shit for looking at the blueprints" Louis demanded in a desperate voice, chuckling a little at the end.

When he looked into Harry's emerald eyes, they were full of terror, humor, and lust. Harry clearly needed to let some of those feelings out, and started laughing.

The laugh felt strange. It was bordering on a cackling sound of bewilderment, that Louis had never heard Harry make before. After the other man was doubled over in stitches, Louis started laughing too, perhaps needing to let some of his own emotions out, and he'd decided that it was this, or sobbing. When the pair finally calmed down from their incredulous laughing fit, Louis pressed his lips to Harry's.

Harry responded immediately, kissing the shorter boy back, then spinning him around, so Louis was against the wall. Harry picked him up under his thighs and kissed him with everything that he had in him. Passionate doesn't begin to describe the intensity of the kiss, as their tongues glided smoothly and hastily over each other's.

"I'm staying. I promise" Harry said breathlessly, putting Louis down and forcing himself to ignore both his, and the other man's, raging hard ons. "And damn straight you'll stop giving me shit for the blueprints. 'When in doubt, always know your way out' Haven't you seen Zombieland?" He laughed, quoting one of his favorite movies. Louis giggled and rolled his eyes, leading the way up the back stairs into his apartment.

————————

Chapter 5: Evidence

"I can't wait to watch that, but I can't wait to fuck you even more, Lou" Harry whined, the second the apartment door slammed behind them. Louis chuckled, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist from behind him. He pressed his head into Harry's back, breathing in his favorite scent in the world.

"I'm torn, too. I need to...take care of some things...regardless..." Louis said, breathing an awkward laugh, walking towards the bathroom. "Tell you what, you look through some of the comments from last night's video while I'm gone. Then, we'll reassess, okay?" Louis decided. Harry reluctantly agreed, taking a seat at the desk with the computer that he had no clue would change his life completely, this time yesterday.

While Louis was gone, Harry did busy himself with reading the comments they'd browsed earlier, realizing the amount of views had nearly tripled in the few hours they were gone.

'Ooh! Good idea! Harry's smile? Worth it alone 😘'

'Louis! I love this! Good job, dude. Can't wait for more'

'🥵🔥🔥'

'lololololl you guys are gonna get arrested i cant wait'

'You guys are as obsessed with each other, as I am with you 😏'

'It's different from what I signed up for but im here for it tbh'

'Ew! Syphilis?! Careful, I wouldn't drop the soap in front of Curly. Idc how hot he is. Looks like a walking Petrie Dish 🤢'

'that's so scary! I could never'

'You guys are funny 💀😂'

'maybe I'm dumb, but why do ppl think they like each other like THAT?'

'Sent this to my mom. She grew up down the road from there! Can't wait to see where you guys go next ❤️'

'Interesting. Love the history. Could do with less talking, but at least you guys are having fun'

'OMFG HARRY YASSS 💦💦👅'

'You guys look alike lol. This is dope, keep it up!'

'Maybe focus more on the history, and less on how badly you wanna dick each other down?'

'Hahaha looks like sad, lonely bitches from tumblr got bored of trying to force boy band members together in their minds 🐑🙄 they all moved over here'

'I love this! I really wanna see more haunted places! The older the residence, the more likely it is to have paranormal activity!'

'Great video! Follow me for makeup tips'

'They're not gay, y'all read too much into shit 🙄🤡'

'I'm obsessed. Please post more soon! 🥰'

'Is anyone else pissed at how Harry is looking at Lou? He's mine! Jkjkjk. I loved this, but the history stuff is snoozeville 🥱'

'You guys are soooo hot! You should just fuck in the middle of that house 😂'

'Did you even do real research? 😒'

'Childhood best friends? We all know what THAT means 😏😏😛'

'Boooorrrrrrinnnnnnggg!!!'

@liamp&bigZ

'Miss Lou on his own, but I'll stick around to see what's next 😕'

'Harry is a god among men. Take me, sir 🥹'

'You need to try to interact with the spirits! Bring an Ouija Board or something'

'Does the one with the blue eyes know that dimples is in love with him?'

'✨Awesome! I review old homes in big cities. Pls check out my page ✨'

'🔥'

'@abandonedandforgotten'

'Harry will you marry me?! 😍'

'Have you tried the estes method?!'

'Yuck. Y'all gay asf'

'I wanna see some ghosts! 👻👻'

'Look at this new dream team! I'm BEGGING for a hospital or an old mall'

'Louis!!! Come sit on my face!!! 👅💦'

'An hour an 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back, sigh'

'lol you guys are delulu. I went to high school with both of them and they both have girls to this day 🙄'

'My mom's maiden name is Sherman LOL. This was fun! Subscribed'

'Disrespectful, tbh 😾'

'We want more Harry! Sheeeeesh. Good for Lou'

'Patiently waiting for more (hitting the refresh button every 20 minutes)'

'😍🥰😍'

"Do they still love us?" Louis asked, coming out of the bathroom suddenly, ripping Harry out of the brutally loving and cruel world of unmoderated comments. He jumped just a little, realizing he was still absolutely terrified from their encounter tonight, but trying to keep his shit together, for Louis' sake.

"Depends who you ask, I guess" Harry replied, shrugging. Louis seemed to have calmed down quite a bit in the few minutes he was gone. Harry devoured his friend with his eyes, electing to forget about the insanity they'd witnessed, if only for a little while.

Louis breathed a laugh, guessing the new comments weren't vastly different than the ones he'd already read. He looked at Harry and bit his lip shyly, but sexily.

"Well, after what we've just been through, I realized that life is....fucking short. Too short not to tell...or show...someone how you really feel..." Louis said with hesitation, but also desire, apparent in his voice. Harry swallowed hard as Louis pranced up to him, swinging his hips in a way that drove Harry wild. "Wanted to show you what I wore all night, just for you, daddy..." the older boy whispered, straddling Harry's lap, who was now sitting up straight in Louis' large, comfortable, black computer chair.

Harry's breath hitched, his tongue just barely blocking saliva from being inhaled, as he saw what Louis was talking about. The blue-eyed boy had put Harry's hands on his hips once he sat in his lap, and lifted up his shirt. When he revealed what had been underneath his jeans the entire time they were exploring the haunted estate, Harry could have cum right there.

"No fucking way..." Harry growled, running his fingers over the black, lacy panties that were poking out of the jeans Louis was wearing, having been intentionally pulled up high onto the smaller man's hips. "You're going to listen to me very carefully now, understood?" Harry asked in a stern voice, that was deep and dominant, until it broke with lust, making Louis blush and giggle.

"Yes, daddy" Louis replied immediately. "I'll do anything you say. Just wanna make you happy..." He added in a sexy, but innocent voice. Harry breathed a laugh, pushed out of his chest by raw desire.

"You are going to take everything off but those, and you're going to go and lay in your bed" Harry ordered, unable to take his eyes off of the underwear that were insanely visible the second he ripped Louis' cotton halter top off of him. "You're going to put what we're going to need on your nightstand, and light the candle on your side of the bed while you wait for me, got it?" He added, watching Louis' reaction carefully.

Louis was so turned on that he worried he'd cum right there in Harry's lap, untouched. Still, he stood hastily, and nodded vigorously as he went to obey the command. While he knew Harry had to walk into the bedroom to access the good bathroom in the apartment (there was a half bath off the living room, but it was small and the toilet was crammed in there, making it so even Louis' shorter legs wouln't fit. without his knees kissing the wall in front of it), he was still absolutely terrified to be alone for a second.

"Okay, daddy" He heard himself reply. When he was almost in his room, he was delighted to see Harry watching him walk, but his heart jumped with fear, thinking about their ordeal earlier. "Um. Are you going to be long, daddy? I don't want to be disobedient, but...I'm actually really scared..." Louis asked, deciding to allow himself to be completely vulnerable, knowing that even though they'd witnessed something impossible together, Harry was still the one who was much further out of his element.

Harry had all but forgotten their terrifying encounter. When Louis brought it up, he momentarily spiraled, thinking about how wildly out of the realm of possibility their night actually was. His adrenaline spiked again, remembering how his instincts took over him, making him act on impulse. He couldn't help but smile when he remembered the surge of protectiveness that took over him when Louis had realized that they were trapped hours before.

His friend's panic was what had made Harry snap into control of himself, during the impossible situation. It forced him to grab onto his instinct to take care of Louis, and toss all regard for his own wellbeing to the side, until they were both safe.

"I won't be long, Princess. I'll even leave the door cracked, alright? I'm just a terrified, disembodied 'boo' away" Harry replied, laughing nervously. The topic had inadvertently put both men on edge, bringing the haunting they'd experienced that night to the forefront of their minds.

"Okay. Please hurry" Louis agreed, but not hiding the fear in his eyes as Harry retreated to the bathroom, leaving the door a little open, as promised. Louis did as Harry asked, and put the requested items on his nightstand in an accessible position, after lighting the Strawberry Lemonade scented candle. The older man removed his jeans and his socks, which were the only clothes he was still wearing, aside from the panties that he'd secretly been in all night, hoping to end up exactly here.

Louis busied himself with finding a slow, sexy playlist on his TV, letting the dim light wash over the room. He felt his heart rate pick up when he heard the hinges on the bathroom door squeak. Harry stood in the doorway in his boxers. When he saw Louis lying there looking all adorable and scared, in his panties, his mouth began to water.

"Who fucking knew, Lou? You're incredible" Harry said, taking mental pictures as he walked over to Louis slowly. "Tonight was absolutely insane. I can't begin to wrap my head around any of this. I've never wanted anything more than to be close to you right now" he added seriously, sitting on the bed next to Louis' feet. He ran his hand up his friend's thigh slowly. Louis shivered with delight, willing himself to forget about how freaked out he was, and lean into the attention Harry was giving him instead.

"I've always thought you were incredible, Harry" Louis said seriously. "Tonight especially. I mean, you're just so brave. I feel so safe with you. I always have. I want you, Haz. Want you to fuck me, please" he added, his voice breaking with desperation. Harry just started nodding vehemently, before crawling on top of the other man.

He started kissing Louis gently, sliding his hand inside of the panties and pulling out his huge, leaking cock. Harry removed his own from his boxers, and started stroking them together gently as they made out, their kiss picking up in intensity the longer it went on. After a few minutes like this, the younger man stood up and took off his boxers.

"Ass up, baby" he commanded. Louis complied easily, pushing his head into the bed and arching his back so Harry could easily slide his panties off. When he had the black lace in his hands, he pressed them to his nose and inhaled deeply, looking Louis in the eye and making the older boy moan without touching him, which made Harry giggle shyly, uncharacteristically. The pair laughed at themselves and each other, unsure how they ended up here, but beyond grateful that they did.

The younger man started working his way down Louis' torso with quick, wet kisses. Louis' cock twitched when Harry started kissing the sensitive skin by his hips, leaving a drop of precum on his stomach where the tip hit. Harry licked it up, then he grabbed his dick at the base and started licking in small strokes, not breaking eye contact when he finally took it to the back of his throat.

It made Louis absolutely weak when the taller man gagged himself and kept going, looking up at him with tears and determination in his eyes. The older man had never seen anything so sexy.

"Close. Fuck! Mmm" Louis moaned. "You're so fucking hot, Harry. You always have been. I've wanted this forever..." he said when Harry took his mouth off of him and pulled himself back up to his face. He kissed the older boy, then smiled down at him adorably, loving the look on his nervous face, illuminated only by the dim blue light that the tv was emitting from the music video playing in the background.

"Me, too. I've always thought about you, Lou. I never forgot you. I came- uh...well, I missed you" Harry replied, thinking better of what he was about to say. Louis looked at him suspiciously, letting him know he wasn't getting away with not expanding.

"What were you gonna say?" Louis asked, smirking knowingly. Harry laughed at himself and shook his head. "Come on. Please?" He insisted, batting his eyelashes and pouting out his lower lip. Harry sighed, but in a way that told Louis that he was getting what he wanted.

"Fine. Was gonna say...I came back here...for you. Since my family left the year after I did, I didn't come back for holidays anymore. It didn't really make sense to come another 45 minutes out of my way to see friends, when everyone always had their own plans during the times I could come back, so..." he replied, suddenly looking a lot more vulnerable. "I didn't want to live in Utica. I wanted to be...close to you again. In whatever way you wanted me. You were the first person I texted when I signed the lease" he confessed. Louis was so smitten he couldn't contain it, and didn't bother trying.

"I missed you so much Harry. I thought about you all the time. I was ready to be whatever you wanted from me. I was just so excited you were coming back. I'm so fucking glad you wanted it to be like this. I've always adored you" Louis replied, pushing some curls out of his best friend's face. Harry smiled sweetly and kissed him again and again.

"Roll over baby, on your stomach. Been dying to do this..." Harry whispered in Louis' ear, sending shivers down the smaller boy's spine. He coyly did as instructed, not bothering hiding the vulnerability that was apparent on his face. Harry carefully trailed gentle kisses down Louis' spine. He felt tense under Harry, lying with his face pressed into the mattress not realizing he was unintentionally squeezing his cheeks together, making it difficult for Harry to access where he wanted to be. "Relax, Princess. Daddy wants to see..." Harry said in a calm, soothing, but sexy voice.

The blue-eyed man couldn't help but smile again, keeping his face pressed into the mattress, but doing as he was told, and relaxing his body as much as possible. He gasped lustily when Harry parted his cheeks with both of his hands. He dared to peek under his elbow and look behind him, after several seconds went by without anything happening. He whimpered with desire and anticipation, when he saw Harry's emerald eyes trained to his hole.

"So beautiful, Princess. Everywhere" Harry said softly. He finally licked from the top of Louis' crack, past his hole, down as far as he could, then licked back up, stopping right where Louis was aching for him to be. "Want you to tell me what you need, baby. If I'm doing something wrong, or if I could be doing something better, alright? This is about you. I'm a fast learner. Don't spare my feelings" Harry said seriously.

"Okay. Thank you" Louis replied. He felt so flattered, so secure, by their sudden ability to communicate, that he wanted to show Harry that he trusted him. He put both elbows underneath him, so he was almost doing a plank on the bed, but he used that leverage to arch his back, giving Harry easier access, and a better view. "Fuck" Louis moaned gently, hardly audible with half of his face still pressed into the bed.

"So, so sexy, Lou. You always have been. I used to steal glances at this ass all the time" Harry told him, right before he started eating the other man out, like he'd been doing it his entire life. His tongue drew firm circles around Louis’ rim, before he pressed it inside him, working the ring of muscles open thoroughly. After a few minutes of this, he slid half a pointer finger inside with his tongue, making Louis hiss out a moan, and pull away.

"Oh! I'm sorry daddy. I'm too close. Feels too good" Louis laughed, looking back at his friend, who looked like he wanted to consume him. His wild curls were a mess, and he was wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, looking directly into Louis' eyes with raging desire clear in his darkening irises.

"Roll back over, angel" Harry commanded, slapping Louis' ass playfully. The other man was a little relieved to do as he was told, not that he wasn't loving every second of this. He sat up in anticipation when Harry started walking up to him on his knees, his patellas digging into the soft mattress. "Suck my dick, baby. Nice and slow for daddy" Harry ordered in a dominant, but kind voice. Louis was thrilled to do as told. The older man smirked a little, when Harry had to pull away after just a few seconds, getting close himself.

Harry playfully rolled his eyes, giggling giddily again. He grabbed the small bottle of lube and a condom from the night stand, and positioned himself between Louis legs, holding himself up over him as he looked into the familiar blue eyes, and kissed the boy he already knew he loved. He pressed a slick, steady finger halfway inside, loving the moan it forced out of Louis, when he stopped once all of the way inside, and felt the other man tighten and relax around him.

"Oh fuck, daddy. More. More please. I need more..." Louis begged after a few seconds of steady thrusting in and out. Harry carefully worked another inside him. Once Louis had adjusted to the two fingers scissoring him open, Harry crooked them, looking for what he was oh, so excited to find. It didn't take long. "MMM! Oh, fuck yeah, daddy" Louis whined. He jumped a little, and forced himself to solve a calculus problem in his head so he didn't cum from that alone. "Okay. I'm good. Just want you. Want your cock. Please" he whined.

"Yeah? You want my huge cock in this tight little asshole? Good fucking boy" Harry growled, lust momentarily taking over him. He lined himself up, and laid on top of Louis. "You ready, baby?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling nervous. He didn't want to hurt Louis and wasn't positive he trusted him to tell him if he was. Louis nodded and chuckled.

"I'm SO ready" Louis confirmed. "Just so you know...once I've adjusted, you can do what you want with me. You don't have to be like overly gentle or anything. I love this. How you're being. I just don't want you to overthink it. Not my...first...rodeo..." he added, his voice becoming more quiet and uncertain towards the end, when Harry's face fell into a scowl. He realized too late that might have hurt Louis' feelings, if he were in Harry's shoes, and offered an awkward grimace, letting Harry know that he knew what was wrong.

Harry didn't soften his expression. He started pushing inside of Louis slowly and steadily, looking right into his eyes. Louis was suddenly scared, but in a sexy way.

"Course. Shoulda figured you'd been throwing this slutty little tail all over the place while I was away" Harry said in a deep, angry voice. "Tell me, Princess. How many? How many other guys have been in MY fucking hole" he demanded. Louis' breath hitched in his throat. He was not expecting that question. He was sure he still looked terrified, until a mischievous smirk formed on his face. Harry was all the way in, and Louis hardly thought of the pain at all as he adjusted around the other man's enormous girth.

"Um...a...few" Louis said overly innocently, batting his eyelashes. Harry's expression was more firm than Louis had ever seen it. His green eyes were glowing with envy, but he also moaned from somewhere deep within, as Louis started pushing himself down onto him, telling him it was okay to move. Harry started thrusting slowly and gently, watching Louis' response closely, trying to figure out the pace he seemed to like the most.

"Tell me, now" Harry ordered again, his voice even colder than before. Louis let out his own whimpering moan, wrapping his legs around Harry's waist, letting him know that the slow, but relatively hard pace he'd fallen into was perfect. The smaller boy hesitated, but decided to be honest.

"22 or 23? Maybe 25-30? Some nights are a little blurry..." He admitted, wincing a little when he realized he didn't actually know the truth. Harry's jaw flexed and he chuckled dryly. Louis was trying to tone down his smug grin, but it was no use. "I've been such a slut, I know, daddy. Am I in trouble?" He asked, making his eyes look extra big. Harry chuckled humorlessly. He picked up his pace, making Louis whimper in approval.

"You think that's cute? Hmm? Whoring this little ass around? Never giving me a call, asking if I might want a turn?! Oh, that's such a bad boy. I'm not going to fuck you up right now, Princess. Even though it's far from your first time, I still want OUR first time together to be nice" Harry decided. "But you bet your ass you're in trouble. You're so fucking tight, Lou. My god!" He wailed, lust once again taking the wheel for a moment. "This ass is mine now. No one else's. All mine. Is that understood?!" He growled, looking at Louis with a scorching jealousy. Louis didn't think twice before nodding vigorously. He never wanted anyone else. This was so perfect.

"Mmm! Fuck, daddy. So good. Your cock is perfect. Don't want anyone else's. Just want you, Harry" Louis said, his voice getting serious at the end. "Fuck, yeah. Fuck me just like that, daddy. Hard and slow. God, I love it. Feels so good" Louis whined, squirming underneath Harry.

"Good boy. Mmm. You gonna cum for me, baby?" Harry asked with some urgency in his voice.

"Yes! Yes daddy. Please let me cum. I'm so close" Louis begged. Harry couldn't get over how sensual the other boy was underneath him. "Mmm so good. I've been so bad, daddy. Wanna cum just for you" he added, fucking himself down harder onto Harry's cock.

"Good. Good boy. Cum for daddy. Cum all over my cock. Right now" Harry demanded as he rapidly approached his own climax. Louis could tell Harry was getting close, and reached in between them, pulling his own dick thrice, then painting white lines all over his stomach, with a series of loud, untamed moans.

"Fuck! Fuck yeah. So good. Mmm cum for me daddy. Wanna make you feel so good..." Louis cried, breathing heavily, looking into Harry's eyes.

And the younger man did, grunting lowly but sexily through his orgasm, stopping abruptly when he began to get sensitive.

"Woah. That was incredible, Lou" Harry breathed, rolling over onto his side. "I guess you should be the first to know..." He continued, a twinge of humor in his voice. Louis looked at him expectedly. "I'm like...super fucking gay" He told the other boy, giggling. Louis laughed out loud and sat up a bit on one elbow, turning to face Harry and resting his head on his hand.

"Good to know" Louis said teasingly. He suddenly got a wave of anxiety, surprisingly not over their shared paranormal experience, but over what Harry had asked when he was fucking him. "I feel the need to...explain something. I just don't want it to like...give you the ick or...make you not want this anymore..." he said hesitantly, gauging Harry's reaction. Harry quirked an eyebrow, waiting for him to expand. When Louis didn't, Harry decided to speak.

"Hey. You can tell me anything, alright? I'm still Harry. No matter what you and I are, you can tell me anything. What is it?" He tried to assure, but also feeling a little uneasy at Louis' sudden shift in mood. Louis sighed, but knew he couldn't back out after making it sound so serious. He took a deep breath.

"I just uh...I didn't know...the answer to the question you asked. And the reason for that is...I was working as a stripper at the gay club downtown. I started there a few months after high school. Money was good. I was the closest thing to jailbait they had at the time. Ended up working the back of the house more than the front...I quit last year..." Louis confessed timidly, worried about how Harry would react. The curly-haired man's expression remained neutral.

Louis took another deep breath, deciding if that part didn't make him angry, the rest of what he wanted him to know about it wouldn't either.

"So um. Yeah. Not like I was forced into anything ever. They took good care of me. Security was great. I never got hurt, luckily. I just wanted to pay my way through school with no loans. I've only slept with 3 guys that I cared about in any way. The rest was....well...you know..." He added, grimacing towards the end.

Harry's neutral expression remained that way for a few more agonizing moments, while he processed. To Louis' relief, his eyes softened, and a smile formed, telling him he wasn't mad, at the very least.

"You don't owe me any explanations, Lou. I shouldn't have asked. None of my business, really" Harry replied, looking into Louis' deep, blue eyes. "I'm not judging you. Not at all, okay? I'm glad you felt comfortable opening up to me about that. I get it, too. You're young, hot. I'm sure you made bank. Why work at McDonald's or something when you can make twice as much in half the time? I'm not put off by it at all, baby. No sweat" He assured, stroking Louis' cheek with his thumb.

Louis clutched his chest overly-dramatically, laughing at himself. He kissed Harry sweetly, glad to not have that secret lingering in the back of his mind.

"Thanks for understanding. You're the best" Louis said, sitting up and stretching a bit. His stomach flipped with anxiety and excitement when he remembered the next item on their agenda. "I don't want to get scared again, but I'm dying to know if we can hear what we heard, on the video. Wanna rip off the band aid?" He asked. Harry looked like he'd forgotten about their terrifying ordeal too, the way his eyes got a little big. Still, he sat up and started nodding vehemently.

Louis pulled on a pair of sweatpants, handing Harry a pair in case he didn't want to sleep in the jeans he'd wore in the disgusting, old home. He took them gratefully.

❧

When the pair returned into the living room, Louis uploaded the video, and read through some of the comments he'd missed.

"Will you roll us a joint? Hopefully I don't get paranoid. I can still hear the fucking giggling" Louis said, scrolling through the comments. He chuckled every so often, while Harry opened the stash box on the coffee table and did as he was asked. "Alright, bring that over here. It's loaded" he said, clicking on the new video in his editing app. They had nearly an hour and 15 minutes of footage, but knew that what they wanted was within the last 20 minutes.

Harry anxiously puffed the joint while he waited for Louis to fast forward, passing it to the other boy after a few hits. Harry found himself thinking about what Louis just told him about his past. He wasn't lying when he said he wasn't put off. Still, the surge of protectiveness and possessiveness that ran through him, at the thought of other men paying to fuck his Louis, made his blood boil.

"Alright, here we go" Louis said, making the video full-screen on the huge monitor. Harry looked on excitedly. The camera was trained to him in the middle of the court yard, but from above, while Louis was still sitting on the roof. They watched carefully while Harry called out to potential squatters. Harry was trying to pay attention to the video, but he couldn't stop looking at Louis out of the corner of his eye.

When they got inside the estate on the screen, Harry forced his undivided attention back onto the video. He watched as he explained the history of the home, cringing at how his voice didn't sound like him. He gasped a little when he saw something, making Louis jump in his seat next to him.

"Trade spots with me" Harry commanded seriously. Louis looked at him confusedly, but did as he said. When Harry was seated in the big, comfy computer chair, he immediately opened the web browser, navigating to the site on which they'd found the details of the home. "Holy shit" He said quietly, but in disbelief.

"What? What is it?" Louis asked anxiously. Harry didn't say anything for a few moments, pulling the video back up, then minimizing the screen again and looking at the photo on the website.

"There" Harry pointed to the wall behind himself in the video. "How do you zoom in on this?" He asked hurriedly, like they were going to run out of time. Louis showed him how to zoom in on the video editor, then nearly shouted when he saw what Harry was looking at.

"What the fuck?!" He yelled, hairs standing on the back of his neck, as what he was seeing fully sunk in. "Go back to the photo" He demanded, but in a questioning voice.

On the website, in the large gallery of photos of the estate, there was a picture of the Grand Staircase. Paintings and mirrors hung in the spots where they'd noticed some of them missing on their adventure tonight.

The picture that was right above Harry's head in the video, had a man with thick rimmed, black glasses, wearing a bow tie, in the frame. It would have been easy to convince himself that it was a painting, just like the ones surrounding it, if only Harry hadn't been sure that it was a mirror, in the photo he'd seen earlier that day while researching the estate.

Harry clicked back and forth between their video, and the photo from the website. The mirror hanging on the wall was the same size, shape, and had the same gold frame, designed with 3 fine lines concaving the metal surrounding it.

There was no doubt in either man's mind. The man whose face is in the frame, wasn't really there. His translucent appearance was eerie, but not half as eerie as the fact that as the video played, he just stared down at the two men who were filming, watching.

"Harry..." Louis said, caution in his voice, but fear the more audible emotion. "Holy shit, Harry. Is that a...is that...?" Louis asked, unable to get the ridiculous word to come out of his mouth, despite all the evidence they'd seen tonight.

"Yeah. I think it is..." Harry responded. His voice didn't sound as scared. It was more absent, since he was now distracted by whatever he was typing in the search bar. "Louis, look at this. It is. There's no other explanation. It's him!" Harry shouted at the end, now becoming more alarmed. Louis looked at the page Harry had pulled up confusedly. When he saw the names George and Penelope McCandles in the search bar, his heart stopped.

In the middle of the page, the big, bold words of an old Newspaper article read:

Mother and Son Slain at Chandler Estate During Apparent Home Invasion. Suspects In Custody.

Below the large, bold font, there was a huge, old, black and white photo of the deceased, smiling happily together. George McCandles undoubtedly, inexplicably and impossibly, in the mirror above Harry's head.

"Oh my God, Lou!" Harry shouted, putting his hand on Louis' shoulder excitedly. "What...what do we do? Like...we should tell someone? Like this is concrete evidence, right?" Harry asked hopefully. Louis didn't look as excited, he even had some humor in his eyes.

"I mean...we can. I don't know who to report paranormal sightings to...but I know they're seldom taken seriously. I think the channel is the best way to get the word out. I mean...we didn't even go looking for it, but here it is. Let's keep watching. I want to know if we can hear it" Louis replied. Harry nodded in acknowledgement, knowing there was some truth to it.

A few seconds into watching Harry explaining the history, with the ghostly face still watching him intently, they heard the sound in the video. An invisible skateboard rolled behind Louis. It was super low, nearly inaudible, but undeniably there. Louis gripped Harry's thigh in fear. They elected to keep watching rather than rewind it to hear it again. When the camera panned to the direction of the noise, there was nothing there. They noticed when Louis faced Harry again, the face lingering above him was gone from the mirror.

After Harry in the video asked Louis if he was ready to head upstairs, clearly getting uneasy, the noise could be heard in the video again. They heard the knocks, then, the unmistakable, shrill. High pitched giggling could be heard almost as well on camera as they'd heard it in person. When Harry in the video started yelling and running towards Louis, the older man had stopped actively filming anything, and the camera was pointed at his feet.

"BOO!" The same terrifying voice they'd heard speak directly into Harry's ear could also be heard clearly, making both men jump again. They watched Louis lose his shit, and Harry lead them out of the haunted home. They watched to the end, unable to see anything else that they hadn't seen when they were there. Neither of them spoke for a few long seconds after the video ended. The air was thick with their shared bewilderment.

"I can't believe this. No one is going to believe this. No one is going to believe this video hasn't been fucked with, or that we didn't have someone with us..." Harry said, his eyes still locked on the last frame on the screen. Louis looked at his friend, snapping himself out of a disbelieving daze.

"You're right. They wont" Louis replied, knowing it was true. "Should we get it like authenticated before we edit it? Get a professional to attest to its validity?" He asked, then answered his own question and sighed. "I guess if people are going to be skeptical, they'll just say we bribed someone to authenticate it. We should just...post it. I'll edit it in the morning and we'll just see what people think. Maybe it's not as unbelievable as it feels. I don't..." he continued, letting his voice trail off, not knowing what he wanted to say.

Harry had to agree with him. People would believe what they wanted to believe. Maybe more people will believe them than they think. Harry wasn't honestly that concerned with whether people believed them or not. He was more concerned with whether Louis would still want to keep doing this.

"I agree. Think that would be a waste of time. People will believe what they want" Harry said, relighting the joint that had gone out. He was exhausted, but still far too amped to sleep. "So, we post the video tomorrow. What then? Do we...do we keep doing this? Do we stay on the schedule we made? I don't want to stop. As terrifying as it is...this is...this is the other side, Lou. This is what people have been trying to prove exists since the beginning of time..." He continued.

Louis looked at Harry thoughtfully, as if doing another video never even crossed his mind. He didn't want to stop, either. The night was terrifying, but he'd also never felt so alive. Spirits had decided to make themselves known to Louis and Harry. There was no explaining why, but given what they'd seen, he chose to believe they saw it for a reason.

"I don't want to stop. I want to stay on track. As scary as it is...I feel like I can do it. If you're with me. Think we need to think of some precautions. Someone to know where we are. Someone nearby who could help us in a pinch. But I don't want to stop. If anything I want to do more" Louis decided. Harry beamed a huge, bright, dimply smile. He leaned in and kissed Louis, the two of them sitting in the living room at the desk, shirtless.

"Sounds good to me. We'll think on that tomorrow. But, for now..." Harry said, pushing some hair out of Louis' eyes. "For now let's film the end, explaining what we saw, then head to bed. I'm exhausted, but I know I'm not going to be able to sleep yet" He continued, helping Louis up.

They decided to go back downstairs and film outside of their building against the brick wall. They both pulled on a hoodie, Harry kept the hood on in an attempt to hide his sex hair. When they got downstairs, Louis put the camera on the tripod, and told Harry to start the closing. He went and stood next to him, leaning against the faded-red brick wall.

"Guys. We had to come home to film the end. I'm surprised I'm even able to talk right now, I was screaming so much. Did you guys hear all of that?!" Harry asked into the camera. "I've never been so scared in my life. I NEVER thought we'd get any kind of contact, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have offered myself up like that. That 'BOO' was directly in my ear! We're sorry we had to cut the video short, but due to those insane unforeseen circumstances, we were clearly not prepared to continue" He added, sounding genuinely apologetic.

He looked to Louis to continue. Louis didn't know what to say, but figured they needed to mention what can be seen above Harry's head in the video.

"When we got home just now, we had to rewatch the footage, to be sure that you guys can hear what we heard. While the videos are edited in the interest of time, cutting out irrelevant shit, since we don't stop filming, we want to assure you that aside from some sound effects, which will always be identified on screen, and adding pictures of proof of the history, or relevant photos to the properties, we don't alter any of the video or audio. Everything you see and hear is what Harry and I heard tonight" Louis said.

He didn't want to discredit themselves by shedding any doubt on the authenticity of the video, and wanted to be transparent about what they would edit, and what they wouldn't. Harry seemed to approve of his explanation, and motioned for him to keep going.

"So, we invite you to rewind to the last few minutes, when Harry is on the stair case. This is what we saw when we got home, it made us shit bricks. Neither of us saw this at the time, but if you look right here, above Harry's head, you'll see a man in a photo, at first glance. But take a look at this photo of the same area. Notice anything different? That's right. The one directly above Harry isn't a photo at all. It's a mirror. And whose reflection is it in that mirror, as you were clever enough to figure out, Haz?" Louis asked, looking to his boyfriend and smiling.

Louis was speaking knowing he was going to edit a photo onto the screen of them explaining what they'd witnessed, so the viewers would know what and where to look for. Harry approved of the approach, and adopted it himself.

"That man down staring at me creepily, we were able to identify, as no other than Mr. George McCandles. When I mentioned the double murder during a home invasion in the 60's earlier, this is the man I was talking about, who was killed there with his mother. We are able to identify the apparition by use of this photo of the deceased, the newspaper dated March 21, 1962, two days after the slaying. Notice that after we hear what sounds almost like a skateboard in the background, the face disappears" Harry continued.

Louis felt himself shiver at the thought of those ghostly fucking giggles. He instinctively looked over his shoulder, still a bit freaked out. Harry caught it, and tried to stop himself from laughing, then scaring himself, thinking about how he felt air on his neck when something yelled in his ear. They were still more rattled than they realized, it was visible on their faces.

"Once the ghostly face is gone, you can hear what I heard, that made me decide to abort mission. I know you're probably all disappointed that we didn't go investigate, but I've seen way too many fucking horror movies. I know you guys would be watching this footage on the news after Louis and I were brutally murdered by twin girls with TB. So, I opted for life. Sorry to disappoint. We're going to take some more precautions next time we film so that we're more comfortable staying, if something like that were to happen again."

"When Louis understandably stops filming, as we try to get our shit together and leave, that 'BOO' you heard was aimed right into my ear. Thinking about it made me shudder just now. We're still a little freaked out, if you couldn't tell..." He explained, turning to Louis to continue.

"As I predicted earlier in the video, not knowing I was manifesting my destiny, I did, as promised, lose my absolute shit at all of the insane activity. The cackling was the cherry on top. Thankfully, Harry here, studies the blueprints of the locations we explore, or we'd still probably be in there, and I would have died of terror. Before tonight, I was not at all a believer in the supernatural. I explained that countless times while roaming cemeteries, where nothing like this has ever occurred" Louis added.

"We're not dumb. We know a lot of you are going to be skeptical. I don't blame you for that. But you can hear in our voices that everything that we were reacting to was authentic. Harry certainly wouldn't have openly mocked the deceased, challenging them to make themselves known, if he really believed in anything paranormal either. Isn't that right, baby?" Louis asked teasingly, biting his lip. Harry's huge smile took over his face, and he turned completely red.

"That is correct, baby" Harry flirted back, rolling his eyes at himself. "I have no explanation for that. Adrenaline? Attraction? Affection? Who can say? What I can say is that I am personally 100% convinced we had a paranormal experience tonight. I'd like it if you believed us, too. Like Lou said, we don't blame you if you don't. We hope you stick around with us and join us on more adventures, but if you don't like it, just scroll on. If you want to see more, be sure to like and subscribe, I just have to say it" Harry added, trying to get ahead of hateful comments.

"Also comment down below your thoughts, beliefs about what we saw tonight. Feel free to share some of your own paranormal experiences. We're always reading through them for ideas, suggestions, flattery, and bets on the nature of our relationship. We aren't sure what our next move is, but we are sure we want you there to witness it. I'm hoping the next place will be a little less...active. Until then, we love you guys! Stay safe" Louis concluded.

He powered down the camera and looked at Harry. The other man was staring at him already. He had an adoring gaze in his eyes and Louis walked up to kiss him.

"Ready for bed?" Louis asked, watching Harry fight off a yawn.

"Ready for bed." He confirmed, his puffy eyes still fighting off some adrenaline. He followed Louis back up the back stairs.

——————

Chapter 6: Romeo

"This was an...insane day. The best I've ever had, Lou" Harry said honestly, lying in bed, facing the blue-eyed boy. "Are you tired?" He asked a little shyly. Louis thought it was adorable. He shook his head no. In reality, the pair were exhausted, but they wouldn't be able to sleep for some time, both still amped with adrenaline.

"No. I'm not" Louis replied certainly. "Why do you ask?" He questioned with a smirk. Harry chuckled, but he looked almost more scared than he had all night.

"Was thinking about what you said, when we got home. About life being too short, to not tell and show someone how you feel..." Harry said, his voice shaking a little, lacing his fingers between Louis', gazing into his eyes. He leaned in and kissed the older man. "I um...I want you to fuck me, Lou. Wanna feel what it's like. Want you to show me..." He whispered into Louis' ear. Louis inhaled sharply and butterflies exploded in his stomach and dispersed throughout his body.

Louis started nodding rapidly, and kissed Harry softly, not wasting a second before climbing on top of him, straddling him. They made out slowly, passionately for a while before Louis looked into Harry's eyes.

"Are you sure?" Louis asked in a sexy voice, slipping his hand into the waistband of the sweats he'd leant the other man.

"Yes. I want it. I want you" Harry replied seriously, letting out a whimpering moan as Louis began stroking their cocks together.

Louis was fucking thrilled. He didn't think Harry would want this from him, especially so soon. He looked so vulnerable underneath Louis, a kind of innocence he'd never seen in his friend, suddenly written all over his face. It was precious. "I was planning to ask you. I came prepared..." He said shyly, giggling a little. "I've known how I feel about you for some time" Harry added, shifting back to a serious, but nervous expression.

Lust absolutely consumed Louis, knowing Harry knew he'd wanted this all day. Their little squabble earlier didn't mean anything at all. They were just not so used to each other anymore. He'd told him earlier he was still Harry, and it was true. He was still Harry. But he was an older, wiser, more mature Harry. Someone Louis could feel himself falling head over heels for as each second passed.

"I can't wait to fuck you, baby. Kinda wanna show you something, real quick. Two seconds?" Louis asked, feeling a little bad, but he also was rolling with the 'life is short' theme of the night. Harry looked a little confused, but eager to see. He smiled and nodded.

Louis didn't go anywhere. Instead, he threw the top of his body over the edge of the bed, pulling out a cardboard box from underneath, which contained all kinds of old things.

Buried under various sentimental items, there was an old, beat up, spiral notebook. He picked it up and handed it to Harry, who sat up, having not expected that to be it at all. There was a drawing of Louis' childhood home on the first page, then on the second page, a sketch of a movie theater. They were both quite good. The next one made Harry's heart skip a beat.

"Oh. Woah, Lou..." Harry said, beaming the sweetest, most smitten smile. He ran his fingers over the pencil drawing of himself at about 18 years old. His curls a bit shorter than they are now, his face a little more round, but he was smiling brightly. His dimples were prominent, and it looked exactly like him. Harry couldn't believe it. "This is amazing! These are so good!" Harry raved. Louis smiled back bashfully.

"Keep going" He said simply. And so Harry did. The next page was another full-page portrait of Harry, just as detailed, and perfect as the one before.

Harry flipped the page again, to see himself at the same age as the others, sitting on a couch and reading a book, then the next page, looking out at a lake, sitting on a tree branch. There were several more drawings, all of Harry, then one of him smiling with longing in his eyes in a tuxedo, then the next, with his arms around Rebecca, but looking longingly again at the viewer, which was the last one. Harry didn't know what to say.

"I've known how I felt about you for some time, too. Just wanted you to know. I'm happy that you trust me" Louis decided to say. Harry's smile grew wider, which didn't seem possible. Louis took the sketchbook from his friend's hands, and tossed it back into the box. He went right back to how they were, before he interrupted. The smaller man kissed Harry, rubbing their half-hard cocks back to life against each other, earning a soft, timid moan.

When Louis started trailing kisses down Harry's torso, Harry had to fully commit to letting go. He'd come this far, and he knew what he wanted. He relinquished control to Louis completely, deciding to let him know.

"Fuck yeah, daddy. Suck my dick, please" He whined as Louis took him into his mouth. The blue eyed boy's eyes got wide with disbelief and desire, an unfamiliar sensation that he couldn't identify taking over him. He started blowing Harry masterfully, savoring the moans the curly-haired man was letting slip by. "I'm close" he said, pulling Louis off gently.

"You're gonna be good, right? Gonna suck my cock like a good girl, baby?" Louis asked, smirking a little, sliding his sweats off completely and motioning for Harry to kick off his. Harry's breath hitched, and he was nodding vehemently before he even realized how fucking much it turned him on.

"Yes, daddy. Come here, please" he replied excitedly with big, sexy, innocent eyes. Louis sat up on his knees and walked on them up to his face, still straddling him. "Fuck my face, daddy" Harry said, looking up at Louis mischievously. Louis let out a soft moan before Harry even touched him. The younger man opened his mouth eagerly, and Louis did as Harry said, taking it a little easy on him and going at a slow, even pace, until he was close.

"So good for me. Such a good girl" Louis praised. Harry couldn't help but smile, wondering how he ever lived before, not knowing how much he loved all of this. Louis smirked devilishly at Harry, and he shimmied himself back down the boy's long, lean torso. Once he was between his legs again, he grabbed under each of his thighs. "Bend these, baby" he commanded gently. Harry momentarily looked hesitant, but decided to comply.

Louis dipped between his bent knees and softly kissed both of his inner thighs. He licked up and down his balls, then moved them to the side gently. Harry looked scared when Louis spread his legs even further apart.

Harry was trembling with nerves and anticipation. Louis' tongue explored the entire space above his hole, before circling the rim firmly. He felt Harry decide to relax and let go, once he pushed his tongue inside, and it forced out a high pitched, surprised moan. Louis loved how the other man was responding as he ate him out, eventually putting his hand on top of Louis' head to hold him in place.

"Oh, fuck. Mmm I'm close Lou. That feels so good..." Harry whined. Louis reluctantly pulled away, smiling up at his best friend, who laughed at himself, but still had a nervous look in his eyes. It made Louis ravenous with lust, invoking a sort of dominance the older boy had never experienced. Having Harry under him like this? So vulnerable and submissive? Louis never thought he'd see anything like it. He couldn't believe Harry wanted this from him, and he was elated to have the chance to be the one to guide Harry through something for once.

"You taste absolutely fucking incredible. Here. You try" Louis said, running a finger up Harry's crack, and dipping it a quarter of the way inside him. He brought the thumb up to Harry's mouth, and watched in awe as Harry took the finger to the back of his throat, circling around it smoothly with his tongue. Louis could have cum from the sight. Harry was being so sexy, so sensual. "Good girl, baby. Are you nervous?" Louis asked, pushing some curls out of Harry's eyes.

"A little. Um. I trust you through" Harry said honestly, his voice shaking. "Does it...does it hurt?" He asked, his eyes had an incredible, innocent, timid look. Louis smiled brightly and comfortingly.

"I won't lie, it does a bit. But that's kinda part of it. I'm gonna go so slow and gentle. Next time, you'll be begging for the pain. You just don't know what's on the other side yet" he assured. It seemed to calm Harry quite a bit. The younger boy smiled up at him with crinkles in his eyes and his dimples poking deeply into his cheeks. He nodded and leaned up for a kiss. Louis reached for the bottle on the night stand as his and Harry's lips mashed together sloppily. He slicked up a finger, and teased gentle circles around the ring of muscle, then pressed steadily inside, stopping halfway and feeling Harry flex and loosen around him.

Harry let out short, whimpering moans as Louis slowly opened him up, squirming underneath him while the older man scissored him open. After Harry stopped wincing from pain, Louis crooked his fingers.

"Oh! Oh fuck..."  Harry cried out, then laughed, looking at Louis incredulously. Louis couldn't hold back his own chuckle. He slowly worked in a third. "Okay. I want you, Lou. Fuck me, daddy. I'll be such a good girl for you" Harry whined. Louis hurriedly rolled on a condom, his leaking dick absolutely desperate for friction. He looked into Harry's eyes as he lined himself up.

"I'm so happy you came back. Don't go anywhere again, alright? I want to keep you this time" Louis said, smiling down at a nervous Harry.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm yours, Lou" Harry replied certainly, making Louis beam even brighter than he was. He began to press into Harry slowly and steadily, kissing him and nibbling his lip when he grunted, to distract him from the pain. Once he was all the way in, he gave Harry plenty of time to adjust around him. Once Harry started squirming underneath him, practically ready to start doing it himself, Louis started thrusting gently.

"Fuck! So tight, baby. Feels so good" Louis moaned, making Harry throw his head back from pleasure.

"Mmm! Oh, fuck yeah. Oh my god. I love it! Fuck, Lou" Harry whined, digging his nails into Louis' back, trying to pull him closer, even though it was impossible. The older man picked up his pace slightly.

"Yeah? You like that, Princess?" Louis asked breathlessly, smirking, but also completely overcome with lust. "You like getting fucked in the ass, hmm? Like it when daddy pounds this tight little hole?" He growled, tapping into a side of himself that he didn't know existed at all. Harry's eyes darkened with desire, he nodded vehemently.

"I do. Mmm! I love it! Harder, daddy. Faster, please!" Harry begged. Louis' mouth fell slack, looking at Harry completely unraveled beneath him. They were both getting sweaty, both a mess, and both absolutely mad for each other. Louis picked up his pace, trying to remember the last time he'd fucked anyone.

It'd been a long time and he wasn't used to working all these muscles anymore. Still, he was determined to make this perfect for Harry. He knew he wasn't lasting long, when he got into a new rhythm, and Harry wrapped his legs around the older man's back. The younger man had totally relinquished control, and Louis couldn't get enough of having Harry like this.

"Holy shit, it feels so good, Lou. I'm gonna cum!" Harry belted out, his orgasm sneaking up on him suddenly as the smaller man pounded his prostate.

"Good girl. Cum. Cum all over daddy's dick, baby. You're so fucking sexy, Harry. Fuck!" Louis said hurriedly, rapidly approaching his own climax. Harry's cock shot out what he had left in him, making a sticky mess between their stomachs. Louis was right behind him, watching Harry's face contort in ecstasy as he rode out his high. "Gonna fill you up, Princess" he moaned in a strained, high pitched voice. Harry was in awe at how suddenly Louis switched into the dominant role, decidedly loving every second of it.

Louis collapsed next to the curly-haired man. They didn't speak for a few moments, as they caught their breath, but they couldn't take their eyes off of each other.

"That was...fucking incredible. I don't know if I'll ever get enough." Harry said eventually. Louis beamed a bright smile, adoring Harry's wrecked-looking face.

"I'm really happy" Louis heard himself say, accidentally speaking a thought out loud, when he'd intended to say something else entirely. It made Harry cheese from ear to ear. Louis covered his face with his hands in exaggerated embarrassment, but laughed at himself. They were both completely intoxicated with oxytocin.

"I am, too, Lou. Was wondering if..." Harry responded, his smile fading slightly, and a more nervous expression took over his face. "Was wondering if you...wanted to be my.....boyfriend?" He asked cautiously, gauging Louis' reaction as he spoke. He was relieved to see that Louis didn't look freaked out at all, he looked elated.

"Yeah. I'd like that..." a smitten Louis replied. The pair kissed for what felt like hours, lazily and sloppily swapping spit, until Louis had to get up to pee. When he returned to bed, Harry went into the bathroom. Louis didn't bother getting dressed. He curled up, smiling to himself, until his boyfriend returned.

"Night, Louis" Harry whispered, wrapping his arms around the smaller man, cuddling him from behind.

"Night, Harry" Louis replied. Beyond content, the pair fell asleep together in seconds.

❧

"Of course! Thanks. I'll talk to him. Awesome. No, no, I don't think so" Harry heard Louis saying to someone on the phone in the living room as he peeled his sleepy eyes open. His ass was sore, but he'd never felt to so good. "Alright. Sounds good. I'll talk to you soon, then" Louis continued, as Harry forced himself to sit up.

Harry dragged himself into the bathroom and brushed his teeth, trying, then giving up, on taming his messy curls. When he went out to the living room, Louis was on the computer again, laser focused on something on the screen.

"Morning" Harry yawned, plopping himself down on Louis' couch. Louis forced his gaze off of the computer, to look at a very sleepy Harry. He couldn't believe the man he'd always wanted, asked him to be his boyfriend last night. He had news for Harry, and walked over to the couch to kiss his forehead.

"Morning, sunshine" Louis said, taking a seat next to the other man. "My channel manager called me this morning. I haven't ever talked to her on the phone. We have 800K subscribers, Harry" he told the other man, shaking his knee excitedly. The smaller man was on top of the world. He'd never dreamed his channel would get more than 100 subscribers, if that. He'd started doing the cemeteries mostly out of boredom, and kept it up when people responded positively.

"Wow! Are you serious?!" Harry asked, still trying to wake himself up. The news definitely helped in that regard. "You posted the other video?" He asked confusedly, thinking that the evidence must be getting around, for an increase in following of that size.

"No. I didn't. I was still editing it when she called. The first one has 1.5 million views, Harry" Louis squealed with excitement, realizing how big this could get id they keep at it. "I'm going to post it in a bit, Mindy just called a few minutes ago. As a member of the Paid Partnership Program, she thinks we'll start making real money. She said it might be time to start thinking about a production team, depending on how the next few weeks go, if it kinda plateaus, or if it keeps gaining momentum" he added. Harry was awake.

"That's...amazing!" Harry said, matching Louis' enthusiasm. "So what next? Like...do I have to do anything?" He asked, wondering how the hell YouTubers even really made money. Should he still look for a job? He figured Civil Engineering could wait, if it looked like they could make a living doing this.

"She told me to give you her number. You'll give her a call and she'll explain how it all works. Basically, you get paid more on views than subscribers, but subscribers equal views, obviously. She didn't give me much to go on just now, but from what I know, the kind of views that video is getting after just 24 hours? 4K a month in revenue, or so?" Louis said, knowing that Mindy was going to explain way better than he could even attempt to.

Harry nodded in acknowledgement. He was crazy excited, but he knew he should be getting home. He needed a shower desperately and he didn't want to overstay his welcome, not that it felt like Louis was pushing him out, by any means.

"Okay, cool. Can you text it to me? I should...I should head home for a bit. Um, do you still want to do that asylum tonight?" Harry asked. Louis' face fell. He didn't want Harry to go, but understood that he was probably getting sick of him. Harry had always been more introverted.

"Yeah, for sure" Louis replied, forcing his face back up into a smile. "I know you said you deleted socials, but she said it definitely wouldn't hurt to each have at least one, if not a couple. Interact with fans a bit, get them to post more of us. If we're lucky, those will get their own following and boost us even higher, getting us more money" Louis said, knowing Harry was going to roll his eyes before he did. "Come on. Make an instagram and a twitter or X, I mean. Post a selfie of this gorgeous face that I'm obsessed with every so often..." Louis said, pleading with a pouted bottom lip.

Harry rolled his eyes again, but also chuckled and conceded. He stood up to get ready to go. When Louis stood too, Harry wrapped his arms around the smaller man's shoulders, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Fine. We should probably make one for the channel, while we're at it. Like a joint account. Maybe think of a name or something. I'll be back around 5 so we can plan a bit before we go?" He asked. Louis nodded happily. It was almost noon. He could survive that long without Harry. He just didn't want to.

"Okay. Come back whenever. I'll text you when I post it" Louis said, looking up into the deep, beautiful emerald eyes he adored. He started to get anxious and he couldn't explain why.

"You alright?" Harry asked, seemingly picking up immediately on Louis' shift in mood. He picked up Louis' chin with two fingers, to assess his reaction.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just...oddly...nervous to be alone, I guess. After last night and all. No biggie, though. I'm a big boy" Louis explained as he realized what his problem was. Harry smiled weakly in empathy. He didn't particularly want to go either. He hadn't even considered it might feel a little freaky, until Louis mentioned it. Now he was worried he wasn't going to think about anything else the whole time he was gone.

"I'll be quick, alright? Just gonna shower, get changed. I don't really want to be alone too long either. Just didn't want you to get sick of me" He admitted. Louis rolled his eyes and shook his head. The pair kissed, and Harry left, trying to keep his mind off of ghosts, and letting last night's other events take over his thoughts on the short drive home.

❧

About an hour and a half after he left, Louis texted him to tell him the video was posted. Harry hurried to the channel to watch it himself. It'd been up for 3 minutes and almost had 500 views. That was promising, he thought.

Harry was impressed with Louis' editing skills. How he managed to keep relevant, entertaining parts in, and cut out stuff that would likely lose viewers' attention. He had just gotten off the phone with Mindy, who did do a better job at explaining the process for monetary gain on the platform. She suggested he make the instagram and X account, too. Louis' text interrupted him in the middle of signing up for both, which was a welcome distraction.

Not only did the text make Harry's heart skip a beat, at the sight of Louis' name popping up on the screen, but the words excited him as well. People were going to see their evidence of paranormal activity. A lot of people. He'd done a great job putting the end together, capturing good screenshots, then replaying the few minutes with the apparition hovering above him. Harry wondered if he'd believe it if he'd seen it like this, but didn't experience it himself. He decided most likely not, and sighed.

He smiled to himself at how awkward he and Louis had started at the beginning of the video yesterday, compared to how cute they were towards the end, especially after he'd fucked Louis.

He had fucked Louis, and it had been incredible. It was everything he never knew he was missing. Those pictures Louis showed him that he drew all that time ago? Harry realized how much Louis always liked him, and how clueless he was. He was so happy to be able to call him his boyfriend. He'd never considered being on the bottom end of things, the idea had always terrified him. He was so wooed by how perfect it was with Louis, he realized he couldn't wait to be with him again.

Mindy had also described in more detail the kind of help they wanted to start to get together. As the channel manager, she had no say with what the boys did with their social media accounts, but seemed to have some worthwhile advice.

She suggested looking into some agents and assistants. She was most insistent on them getting a cameraman, so both men could be on screen for the majority of the time. Then she added that other channels with similar content might start to reach out to do a collab, if the viewers started requesting it.

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about all of that. He thought the cameraman would be a good idea. One more person, making the natural chemistry flow through Harry and Louis much easier. He wondered if she'd told this to Louis, or if he was going to have to try to explain it. Harry decided to rip the band-aid off, and put up the two social media platforms he'd agreed to make. He put his handles in the description of the YouTube channel next to Louis'. Once he was done with those, he packed a bag, hoping Louis would want him to stay again.

"Hey. I'm coming back now. I watched it. It's great. You did so good with it. Already getting some attention..." Harry said, calling Louis as he was about to head out the door. Louis sounded relieved. "See you in a few" He said, hanging up after the other boy told him to hurry. He made sure he was in good shape to do any of the activities tonight, that they'd done last night, Harry was decidedly developing a preference. Once he was ready, he left the lonely, nearly empty apartment.

❧

"Thank God. I've been a bit of a mess since you left. I got scared again editing it. It's fucking insane, Haz" Louis whined when Harry came walking in the door. "Please tell me there are clothes in there because you want to spend the night again? If you don't, I don't think I'll sleep" Louis asked hopefully, noticing Harry's drawstring bag, when he stood to give him a kiss.

"Yeah. As long as that's alright. I wasn't exactly at ease being on my own, either" Harry replied, relieved that Louis wanted him to. "How's the video doing? I havent looked since you first posted it" He asked. Louis smirked.

"Take a look for yourself" He said, gesturing to the computer chair. Harry excitedly sat down.

"Woah. 22K views in 3 hours?! What is happening? I don't know much about this stuff, but that can't be easy to do..." Harry asked, scrolling through around 500 comments. His heart rate picked up at the nature of the majority of the responses.

'OMG! No way! I noticed the face before they pointed it out. You can tell it's real'

'Yooooo! Y'all got proof of the afterlife without even trying. Of course they'd make themselves known to Harry if he asked. Who wouldn't? 🤣🥰'

'wow'

'Does anyone else get the creeps from Harry? Guy is dripping with ug. His hair is soooo gross. You can tell he thinks he's the 💩 too'

'that place is insane! wow. wish u went through the rest of the house, but can't say I blame you, you deff would have died 💀'

'GODDAMN! ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS SHIT?! THERES A GHOST! IN THE MIRROR OVER CURLY! WHAT THE FUCK!?'

'We gotta make this go viral. They're the real deal. The last video they didn't ask the spirits to make themselves known. They did it as a joke tonight. It got results. I believe you, Harry and Louis! ❤️❤️ please do more places soon!'

'^^^ okay, but hear me out, maybe that's what they WANT us to think. So they could say they weren't even trying 😒'

'I know you guys saw ghosts and thats insane, but how the fuck IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT HOW HARRY INSTINCTIVLEY CALLED LOUIS BABY?! 🫠'

'Bullshit. I'll stick around cause you guys are hot and kinda funny, but sorry. Can't buy it 🙄'

'I screamed when Louis did ngl lmao! How scary guys. Please, please go back! Take whatever precautions necessary, but I need you to go back to that house!'

'I'm loving this. Finally something believable. I'm not 1000% convinced, ready to stick around and see what happens. I hope they go back there soon!! ❤️'

'follow my instagram for instant success tips ✨✨'

'From enemies to lovers by the end, eh? 😉'

'Please come do a video at the church up the road from me! It's haunted as fuck I've seen ghosts countless times just driving by. I'm in Colorado!'

'Harry daddy asf are you kidding?! How is Louis still breathing after he called him baby?! He saved his life. Knight in shining armor 🥰❤️'

'you guys can't seriously be buying this 🤣🤡'

'You can tell that place is haunted. I've had several paranormal experiences nothing caught on camera tho. Nice job 👍'

'Are they together? Like together, together? Anyone have their handles? Can't find curly anywhere'

'HARRY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE IS A GHOST BEHIND YOU! 😱'

'Yaaaassss! We love you Haz and Lou! Keep going places. Go back there, try again, please! Bring an ouija board!'

'Louisssss pls follow me back on insta! I love you! 😘'

'Ew Harry looks like the kinda guy who's room smells 🤢 i don't get why y'all like him'

'Subscribe to my channel i get you subscribers'

'I think Harry might be a medium. They responded almost directly to him! You guys should do a collab with @liamp&bigZ. They do ghost hunting, they've gotten some stuff. Nothing this concrete!'

'Louis' scream 😂 I'm dead 💀 but seriously, I'd have absolutely shat myself. Those giggles?! I don't think its fake at all'

'harry is so in love 🥰'

'^^ right?! They both are! 😍'

'Not me missing everything that happened because, like Harry, I can't stop looking at Louis 🤣'

'Lou looks freshly fucked when they film the end. they just had a life-altering experience, but can't stop smiling and giggling together? ObVioUSLy they're getting it on'

'You guys are so cool! I love these. Please keep them coming!'

'Fakkeeeeeee 🙄😾'

'Idk I wanna believe it, but it's A LOT. Some channels have been here for a decade doing this and have next to nothing. You got all of this without trying? 🧐'

'Harry is fucking rude. Louis is so sweet and you can tell he had an attitude the first half 😑 getting a little sick of his shit already'

'omg please marry me Louis 🥹😍'

'Noo! I wanted you to go back to cemeteries. I don't believe in this stuff either. Just hard to believe that you're not doing this for views 😭 I wish you guys the best but I can't anymore'

'Subscribe to my fitness channel to lose 15 pounds in one week!👟'

'Louis. Honey. Sorry, but this ain't it. You gotta get rid of dimples. You can't compete with that! 😍'

'🔥🤯'

'Harry!!! Do you have instagram?! Does anyone have a link to more of these two?!'

'I love, love, love this! I love the history. I love the banter between these goofballs. I love that that video is inexplicable and incredible. Rare to find such natural chemistry. Looking forward to more! 💓'

'Gay'

'harry looks like every gas station attendant ever'

'@liamp&bigZ 😱😱'

'Meh. Hard to say. I guess I'll stick around for another. It's the most believable thing I've seen in a while'

'Okay, I think they probably did see ghosts, but Harry's hair when they outside their place after? They went inside and fucked first, guaranteed. Look at Louis' smile 😏🍆'

'There's no way Curly doesn't have ties to the other side. Look at him! Made a deal with the devil he has! Get a haircut, you look like a chick'

'Louis please comment back i watch your channel from beginning. I like new videos, just a lot of talking ☹️ i don't understand your references...'

'Hahahaha! Harry was soooo brave until he heard the little girls. He was like 'i'mma leave' 😂'

'Go back! You have to go back! Bring @liamp&bigZ with you! They've never done this place, I dont think'

'u guys should just get married in the next video 💖'

'Nah this is edited asf sorry'

'^^ nah I don't think so. If this is fake, they're wasting their time on youtube. that performance would win an Oscar if it wasn't authentic'

'You guys should make an onlyfans 😏 i'd pay beaucoup bucks for that $$'

'I don't think they're quite on Liam and Zayn's level. They're amertumes. Liam and Z are the OGs!!'

'Don't stop making videos! Pls does anyone have Harrys X account?! I need more! 😇'

Harry was overall pleased with the response so far. More people seemed to believe them than not, and thats all they could really hope for. He looked over his shoulder at an amused Louis, who looked like he had mischief in his eyes.

"Well, they're better than I thought they would be. Not everyone believes us, but who honestly cares? We know what we saw. If other people wanna be skeptical that's fair. Some people are just nasty though..." he said, realizing he'd gotten a lot more hate this time, as well. He wished he could say some of the comments didn't sting. Still, for every negative, there seemed to be several positives.

"Agreed. The way the views are going up, the haters don't matter, baby. They'll be paying our bills in no time. I know it's not nice to read, but try not to let them get to you, okay?" Louis replied, rubbing Harry's shoulders.

"That's very true. Fuck 'em. We'll just focus on the positives. The fact that we have enough people already, to get so much hate, is remarkable, really" Harry responded.

"Too true, love" Louis agreed. "I uh...I kinda got an idea talking to Mindy. I'm not sure how you'll feel about it. It's just a thought, but it could be beneficial" he added cautiously. Harry wasn't at all comforted by the way Louis worded that. He looked at him expectedly. "Okay, um. I agree that we should hire a cameraman. I had someone in mind. Do you remember uh...Niall Horan? From school? Rambunctious, blonde, Irish kid?" Louis asked. Harry tried to think. Then he remembered.

"Yeah. He was in all of the plays, right? Marching band, too?" Harry asked. Louis nodded, a slight grimace forming on his face. Harry quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah thats him. We were in some classes together in college. He is pretty good with a camera, and he would be able to help with editing..." Louis continued. Harry gave him a skeptical look, but Louis didn't continue.

"Sounds fine to me. Why were you nervous to bring him up...?" Harry asked, confused. The look Louis gave him before he anxiously cleared his throat, told him what he wanted to know. Harry didn't mean to let his face fall into a scowl, but it sure did. "Oh. Gotcha. Um...well would I have anything to worry about? Like are there....feelings there?" He questioned, trying to smooth out his expression. He didn't want to come across as overly jealous, but internally his blood was boiling.

"No, no. Not at all. I like Niall. He and I had some fun. Went on a couple of dates. After a drunken night or two, we'd decided we were better off as friends. Last I heard from him he had a boyfriend for like over a year. You have nothing to worry about there" Louis assured, worried Harry might get the wrong idea. Niall didn't stand a chance against Harry in that regard. But he did quite enjoy his company as a friend.

"Okay. We can definitely give him a chance..." Harry replied, not wanting to be a dick about anything Louis did in his absence, but also worried that he'd want to kill Niall on sight at the thought of what the two of them had probably done. "What did you think about the collab idea? People kept mentioning the same page. Have you watched any of the videos from them? Liam and...big Z?" He asked, not wanting to dwell on the topic of Niall for too long right now.

"Yeah, I've seen their stuff. To be honest, I'm a little hesitant. Not about a collab overall, but I don't know. There's just something....fake...about their stuff. Or, unbelievable, I guess is a better word. I mean, granted so is ours, but we know what we saw. I just think we ought to be careful who we trust, especially this early on" Louis replied. Harry nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well, let me take a look. You can look at my instagram and twitter. Tell me about everything I fucked up" Harry said, handing Louis his phone. Louis internally swooned that he trusted him with it, but he didn't know why.

After about a half hour of skimming through videos of Liam and Big Z, Harry was pretty much of the same opinion as Louis. The two were big. They had nearly 16 million followers, which was beyond impressive. But throughout the course of the year that they blew up, the quality of their work had decreased dramatically. There was a point where it became apparent that they'd completely sold out, paid sponsorship ads taking up a good 45% of their hour long videos.

"I don't know. On one hand, amazing for views. On the other hand, they clearly started to stop caring about the channel as much as they care about the money. I don't....I don't want that to happen to us. I know we're going to need to get a team around us, especially if we aspire to be anywhere near as big as them. But I think it'd be smart to keep our circle small. A few people who we can trust" Harry declared. Louis whole-heartedly agreed.

"Yeah. I think thats a good idea. Mindy is cool. I don't want anyone else having a say in the channel. I agree we need someone to...manage everything overall. Especially judging by how quickly your instagram is blowing up" Louis said, handing Harry his phone back and winking. "Sufficed to say, I think those are going to be just fine" he teased.

Harry looked at him confusedly, then at his phone. In the hour his account had been up, he had 350 followers. He had no clue how it was possible.

"Look at your tagged photos. Fans of the channel will do a bunch of the work for us. One person found you, and posted your shit for everyone else to follow. The fact that you have such little activity on there, and few followers, so far is good. It keeps up your mysterious vibe, and makes you seem attainable. Even though...you'd better be anything but...." Louis told him, speaking slowly and sexily at the end, making Harry giggle.

Harry was impressed at how much Louis knew about this stuff. Harry hated all things social media throughout the entirety of college. He'd never paid much attention to any sort of influencers, and began to get a little nauseous at the thought of that ending up being what they were.

"Oh. Um. That's great" Harry said, still trying to digest everything that was happening to them. "I'm definitely anything but attainable. No worries there. I uh...kinda wanted to know if you think we should tell...people? Like about us. Should we open up our private life like that? We got a lot of love, sure, but also quite a bit of hate. I'd never want other people to be able to...ruin any of this for us" Harry asked cautiously.

Louis scratched the back of his neck anxiously. He'd somehow never considered either confirming or denying their increasing number of followers' suspicions. He had, however, taken a look at the Analytics from their channel, to see what demographics they were reaching.

"Well, I guess that is kind of a big decision. Here, come look" Louis said, gesturing to the computer. He took a seat in the big comfy chair, and Harry sat next to him on the stool. Louis scrolled to the Audience Analytics tab. "So, 61% of our subscribers are women. Most of them are here in the U.S. but we've managed to get some from the UK, Mexico, and Canada" Louis told him, pointing out percentages with the cursor.

Harry couldn't believe how big this already was. So many people had seen him and Louis exploring an abandoned estate, and more were tuning in to watch their paranormal experience, which was otherwise rather personal. He didn't like the idea of people knowing about him and Louis, given what he'd seen from the comments. Sure, a good majority of them seemed supportive, or thirsty, about them as a couple. There was still a percentage which was not so open-minded.

"Hmm. I think...I think based on the comments, we just...don't confirm or deny anything. I think the not knowing is some of the appeal to a lot of them. I think there is a portion who are clueless there's anything between you and I at all, and are just here for the advertised content. I think there are some people who could have so much hate in their heart, enough to take time out of their day to leave a negative, homophonic comment. If they're willing to do that, they'd likely be willing to do worse..." Harry said, thinking out loud.

Louis had to admit Harry had a point. He agreed that just not saying anything for now, is the best route. He had a feeling, however, that this wouldn't be avoidable forever, but he decided one big problem at a time.

"Agreed. I think we keep up the flirty banter, and let people make their own assumptions. I don't want to like...lie and say nothing is going on, but I don't want people to be able to get in the way of this. The less they know about our personal lives, the better. Especially the way they're already weighing in. It's not like any of these people are our friends, yet some already claim they know our business. Think I'll text Niall. See if he could use any work. There are probably some comments to read and stuff. Or you could do more research on the asylum for tonight. Then, I'm gonna suck your big dick, daddy" Louis said, licking a stripe up Harry's neck.

Louis plopped on the couch and texted his friend, while Harry took over the warm seat of the Mac. He decided he'd look through some more comments first, given he'd done a lot of research already, and the idea of reading about any more paranormal activity seemed terrifying right now.

As the curly-haired man scrolled, he huffed every so often. Each time he was either amused, or pissed off. There was no in between. He couldn't believe the audacity of some people. He'd never left a comment on anything in his adult life that he could remember, positive or negative. There were people who seemed to do only this and nothing else.

'Freeeakkkkyyyy!!! OMG I hated the cackling at the end. That BOO?! 👻 some of the best evidence I've seen. You can tell its not fake by the reactions alone'

'Woah! fuck that, fuck that, fuck that. u guys are so brave i woulda shit my pants immediately after i heard the skateboard'

'Harry!!! 😍🤤'

'The apparition is in a portal! Go look! I think this might have some truth to it tbh...'

'nice video! pls subscribe back'

'I'm so bored I could cry. It's so fake. But they're so hot 🤣😩'

'After following Louis so long, kinda hard to believe he'd fake something like this. It just doesn't seem like his style'

'🔥🤯😍'

'OMFG you HAVE to go back! Please! 🙏'

'They finally fucked lmao. So cute. Nothing like a little scare to get your blood pumping 😂😏'

'what's wrong with you? ^^ 😂 clearly they just been thru some shit. even if they together like that i doubt they just bumped uglies after seeing and hearing ghosts. y'all need jesus i swear 🤣

'Louis is SO CUTE! I mean so is harry, whatever, but LOUIS! 😅'

'Ewwww i hate boys this is why you all die young'

'I'm gonna go ahead and assume L dropped the soap immediately when they got home 😂😏🍆'

'guys this really feels real! like you can tell they DID NOT expect it AT ALL. I hope they go back!!'

'Louis....sigh. You should just...be the cameraman from now on. Pls just keep H on screen at all times'

'@liamp&bigZ!!! You guys should check this out! yall should team up, i bet it'd be funny af'

'Noooo! Don't go back guys it isn't worth it. You need to be safe! That was so scary. Idk how I'm gonna sleep 🫣'

'Harry pls spit in my mouth daddy'

'Curly is def a medium. He may act tough, but those spirits wanted to talk to him for a reason. He's at the very least an empath. Before there were any ghosts, he asked if there were squatters there? Like that's BALLS and trust in humanity 💖💖'

'💫follow my insta💫'

'Guys this has to be real. I believe it 💯 please post more soon!!'

'I wish it was just Louis still, tbh 😒 no offense harry, just seems like ur here to bring clout'

'Yooooo!! That was so fuckin cool!! Can't wait for more! @liamp&bigZ check them out!!!'

'I went to school with them they aren't gay you guys are so dumb. Keep it up H&L don't let the hate get to you ❤️ my name is Shanel u guys remember me?! whats your insta harry?! we used to have geography together!'

'Ghosts. Ghosts. GHOTST!! GHOSTSSS!!! Why is no one talking about the EVIDENCE of  THE AFTERLIFE?! WHY ISNT THIS ON THE NEWS WTF?!! 😳🫣'

'Wowowowowow. Can't wait to see where you guys go next! Please come to Maine! So many hauntings'

'I love harry so much hes so fucking hot just keeping his cool and getting them both out of there? swoon 😍'

'I wish they weren't cocksuckers this would be a great channel.'

'So disrespectful ^ if you're gonna hate just don't watch'

'👻👻👻'

'Fake af'

'Louis look like the kinda guy that forgot his inhaler and pissed his tighty whities 😂'

'Scaryyyyyy'

'Wish you guys went upstairs ugh. Pls go back i need to see more'

'Bet you wouldn't stay there over night 😏'

'Just kiss already'

'What the fuck did i just watch?! So Blair Witch....🫣'

'I'll go with yall i ain't scared'

'I just want to be between them tbh. Offer me up as a human sacrifice idc 😂😛'

'You just KNOW harry has a fuckin hog on him 😏🍆'

'So fucking scary! That face! Look how they didn't even acknowledge it. You can tell they had no clue until they got back. I'd have died right there if i heard that voice omfg i just wanna hug poor louis'

"How's it looking?" Louis asked, interrupting the addictive, adoring pain that the comments inflicted. Harry sighed and shrugged. He'd been looking through their comments, and other relevant searches for over two hours without looking up from the screen.

"All about the same. More people believe us than I thought would honestly. We're um...we're past a pretty big milestone, Lou..." Harry replied with a smile in his voice. Louis stood excitedly and bounced up to the computer. He gasped when he saw the number of views had surpassed 1.6M. And they had a whopping 1.1M subscribers. The video had been up for several hours, and seemed to gain the most traction in the last hour, leading Louis to believe this was just the beginning. He'd put both his and Harry's social media accounts in the channel description.

"I can't believe this, Harry. Holy shit. People are losing their minds over it already. Look at my instagram! I had 15K this morning..." Louis said, showing Harry his phone. Louis' instagram now had 51K followers. Harry whipped out his phone. He had 53K. He gasped, and just showed Louis the screen, hoping he wasn't upset.

"Holy shit, Haz. This is...massive...." Louis said incredulously, not seemingly bothered at all by the slight difference in followers. "It's getting a little late. I feel like maybe...should we take the night off? This is blowing up, H. I have a feeling everything is going to change soon. I want to be here right now. With you. No hurrying. No schedule. No ghosts..." Louis asked, giggling at the end.

It took all of a quarter of a second for Harry to decide. As much as he was excited to continue their adventures, he had to believe that Louis was probably right, and their time to be able to blow off doing any videos was limited. He intended to make the most of it.

"You got it, baby" Harry whispered, pushing some hairs out of Louis' eyes. He pressed his lips to the other boy's gently. "I wanna be with you. Like this. Well...not exactly like this..." He continued sexily, standing up. "We're wearing far too many clothes for my liking. Why don't you get undressed, Princess?" He said, pulling at the bottom of Louis' shirt. The smaller man threw his arms up immediately, allowing Harry to pull it off of him easily.

"Yes, daddy" Louis replied, taking off his jeans next. Harry let a quiet whimper escape him, and Louis smirked, when the taller man saw the red, lacy panties he was wearing. Harry's eyes darkened with desire. He dropped to his knees, still fully clad, and started nuzzling his face into the rough fabric, making Louis moan breathily. "Mmm...on second thought..." Louis said, suddenly in a deeper, harsher tone.

Harry looked up at him confusedly, then smirked, when he saw the dominant look forming in Louis' eyes. He supposed he'd pretty much handed him a condom and lube, the way he was desperately pushing his nose and lips against Louis' hard cock in the panties, not realizing he was whining and moaning, making the sight all the more sexy.

"Yeah. On second thought, Princess, you're going to get undressed. Strip. Now" Louis commanded, his eyes nothing but 100% serious, and overcome with lust. Harry's breath hitched, and he stood immediately. He took off his shirt, then pants. His cock bounced out of his boxers when he pulled them down, then looked back up at Louis for instruction.

Louis kicked off the panties. He picked them up, and handed them to the curly-haired man. Harry took them hesitantly, not positive that he was THIS gay. Louis quirked an impatient eyebrow, DARING Harry to ask him to do what he wanted him to do. Instead, Harry held them up in front of him, as if they were on, and looked at Louis for approval. The older man smirked and nodded. He started jerking off to the sight of Harry sliding on the women's lingerie.

"So...fucking...sexy, Princess..." Louis said, his eyes consuming every inch of Harry. He reluctantly let go of his dick, and pulled Harry into the bedroom with him. When he closed the door, he motioned for Harry to turn around with his pointer finger, spinning it in a small circle.

When Harry saw himself in the full-length mirror in the back of the bedroom door, a completely involuntary, genuine, dimply smile took over his face. He looked shocked at what he saw himself wearing, but also delighted. He tried to tone down his smile when he saw Louis watching his reaction closely and adoringly, but quickly gave up on it, even doing a little twirl in the mirror, checking himself out.

Louis could have cum at the sight. Harry looked so beautiful, so confident, running his hand through his long, luscious curls, watching his hips sway in the mirror in front of him. Louis loved how Harry was admiring his own throbbing hard cock poking out of the top. The older man watched fondly, as his boyfriend checked out his own ass in the pretty, skimpy garment.

"Do you like them, Princess?" Louis asked, touching himself again. Harry smiled at him bashfully and nodded. "Daddy wants to take your picture. Would that be alright? I'll keep them in my hidden" Louis asked, desperate to capture his boy like this forever. Harry looked like he was considering saying no, but then looked himself up and down in the mirror again. He bit his lip and nodded slowly, then vehemently.

"Yes, daddy. You can take pictures of whatever you want" He replied, deciding he loved the way he felt in the panties, and how Louis was looking at him.

"Such a good girl, baby. You love it, dont you? The attention? Love that I love to look at you like this?" Louis asked in a sexy voice, as he snapped pictures. Harry looked awkward, unsure of himself for the first few shots, then he decided to loosen up, and holy shit, did it make a difference.

"Yes, daddy. I do. I love how you look at me..." Harry responded honestly, posing sexily for Louis, in ways he'd never even thought of moving. Who was he?

Louis couldn't believe his eyes. He was astounded that Harry was not only letting him see him like this, but also so, totally into it, enough to let him capture it forever. The smaller man let Harry see the appreciation in his eyes for trusting him.

"So, so good to hear, darling" Louis said, tossing his phone to the side. "Are you going to be good for me, baby? Do whatever I say?" Louis growled, walking up to Harry, and grabbing his hips roughly.

"Yes, daddy" Harry whined without thinking twice. Louis kissed him with raw emotion, slowly and sweetly, just for a few moments.

"Good girl. Let's get these off for now, as unbelievably sexy as they are..." Louis said, sliding his hands into to the underwear and gently pulling them down Harry's long, thin legs. "I want you to bend over, baby. Bend over the bed and reach back, spread yourself open for me" Louis commanded gently. Harry's eyes got wide, and hesitation read all over his flushed face. Louis watched cockily and saw the moment he decided to obey.

"Like this, daddy?" Harry asked, doing exactly as instructed, then looking back at Louis overly-innocently, winking. He was visibly amused that he could tell that Louis didn't think he'd do it. Louis didn't say anything, not for a long, long few seconds. He didn't move or speak. He just stared at what Harry was doing for him.

"Just like that, angel..." Louis finally said, walking up to his boyfriend, who was bent over the edge of the bed, spreading his ass apart. Louis didn't stop walking until he reached Harry's face, which was pressed into the mattress. "Suck daddy's cock, baby" Louis commanded, now kneeling on the bed in front of the other man. Harry sat up on his elbows and took Louis' cock into one hand, and started blowing him perfectly. Louis had to pull away after a few seconds.

The older man grabbed the lube, and made his way back down to the other side of the bed, where Harry was waiting for him to be. He hadn't voluntarily parted his cheeks again, which Louis decided, just wouldn't do.

"I can't see my hole, Princess. Do you mind?" Louis asked tauntingly, an impatient ring to his voice. Harry gasped, grinding his leaking cock into the bed involuntary, as he reached back again and showed Louis what he was asking to see. "Good fucking girl. So, so sexy, baby. You love getting this tight little ass fucked, hmm? Who woulda thunk? Harry Styles, the broody, muscly, mysterious, badass, is a little bottom bitch boy. It's adorable, really" Louis continued to tease, running a finger up and down Harry's crack gently, over and over.

"Yes! Yes daddy. I love it. I love when you fuck my greedy little ass. I didn't think I would, but I love it. I love your cock inside of me, daddy. Please. I need it" Harry begged, looking at Louis' dick desperately.

Louis took a moment to fully appreciate how beautifully unraveled Harry was before him. He bent over and spit on his hole, before he started licking feverishly, fucking him with his whole tongue as the other man writhed beneath him. He slid a slick finger into the tight hole all at once, making Harry inhale sharply.

"Such a good girl. Mmm. So tight, baby..." Louis praised, kneading Harry's ass as he thrusted the finger in and out gently. He slowly opened the other man up, until he was begging for Louis to fuck him.

"Okay. Okay I'm ready. Please. Please fuck me daddy. Want you. Please" Harry cried out, making the sexiest face when he looked back at Louis. The older man hurriedly rolled on a condom and lined himself up.

"Daddy is gonna fuck you alright, Princess. Do you know your colors, babygirl?" He asked as he slid himself halfway inside.

"Yes! Yes, daddy. Green for go. Yellow for slow. Red hard stop. I'm so green. Fuck me up. I've been so, so bad" Harry whined, as Louis eased himself the rest of the way inside. Once he gave Harry long enough to adjust, that the younger man was pushing his ass back towards Louis in anticipation, he started thrusting hard and steady.

"Mhm. Gave me all that shit about whoring my slutty little tail around didn't you? Imagine girls needed to be pretty freaky, to hold your interest. I might have been the first inside this pretty, tight, pink hole, but I find it hard to believe you were celibate. How many? Don't lie" Louis demanded, keeping a rough, fast pace. Harry was moaning uncontrollably underneath him.

The curly-haired man dared to look back at Louis, who was absolutely railing him, and smirked mischievously. Louis looked at him expectantly, seething with jealousy.

"Just...a few, daddy" Harry said, blinking back at him innocently, still smirking. Louis felt his blood start to boil, as he fucked into the other man ruthlessly. His forehead was starting to prickle with sweat. He laid a hard SLAP down on Harry's ass-cheek. "OW! Fuck!" Harry whined, but also laughed once the initial shock wore off.

"Yeah. Think you're cute, hmm? Think you're oh, so sexy and mysterious, you can get away with anything?!" Louis growled, picking up his already furiously fast pace. "Tell me. Now. Where has MY perfect, huge cock been? HMM?! Probably in every pussy in a 50 mile radius of your school, no?" He asked again, his voice cold and harsh.

"I couldn't tell you with any honesty daddy. More than 30. Probably less than 50. Like you said, some nights were blurry..." Harry said honestly, whimpering from how brutal Louis was being, but also loving every second of it. "I was bad. I was an asshole. For a long time. I dated a girl for like a year, the one who dumped me. The rest were...parties or just girls who eyed me in class who I thought I could tolerate for a night or two. I was so slutty daddy. I'm sorry!" Harry whined.

Louis chuckled dryly. He wasn't actually mad about anything Harry did while he was away, obviously. But it sure was fun to get his jealousy out this way.

"Wow. That's....beyond slutty, baby. So sexy mmm" Louis said, panting like crazy, getting a little tired. "You are so, so fucking bad. I bet you hurt feelings, hmm?! Flashed that gorgeous, dimply smille around, making all of the little girlies fall in love without even speaking to them. Then what? You bring them back to your dorm for a quick fuck? Avoid them like the plague after? Didn't even think to capitalize off your service?!" He shouted, trying to keep his steady pace.

"Maybe hurt some feelings, daddy. I never like...lied. Or promised them anything. They were all just so willing, especially once they saw my huge daddy dick..." Harry said tauntingly. *Smack* "Ow! Ow! Thank you daddy! Fuck! I'm getting close" Harry cried, the pain and pleasure mixture being the closest thing to euphoria he'd personally experienced.

"Oh you are so fucking lucky I'm in a good fucking mood you little bitch. Next time you piss me off, you don't get to cum. You'll spend the night alone with your blue balls and warm memories of all of the college girls you fucked and then tossed to the side. Giving me shit for whoring around?! At least they knew what they were paying for. Wanna know what they called me there, baby? When daddy worked as a stripper?" Louis replied, asking with a smirk in his voice towards the end.

"Yes, daddy. I want to know. Thank you for letting me cum. I'm so close" Harry replied. He sounded tired, too. The arch in his back caved slightly, but he stuck it right back up.

"My stripper name was Romeo, but in the back, they started calling me 'Deepthroat'. Guess it kinda stuck" Louis said tauntingly. He moaned loudly when he watched Harry's jaw flex, and the younger boy let out a light growl. Louis laughed unsubtly at the reaction. "Oh, NOW you care, huh?! Left without a second thought about who I'd fuck when you were gone though, didn't you?! Didn't bother to come back to see who I was fucking. Couldn't be bothered to text back! Fuck. You. Harry! Fuck!!" Louis yelled gutturally.

The smaller man smacked Harry's ass two more times, not lightly. He then grabbed a fistful of Harry's hair and pulled his head back towards him, not meeting his eyes when Harry looked back at him, concerned.

"Cum. Cum for daddy baby, you're so fucking sexy, Harry. So perfect. Don't ever fucking leave me again! UNDERFUCKINGSTOOD?!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Harry was squirming and moaning unashamedly underneath him as Louis came inside the younger man violently.

"I'm sorry, daddy! I'm sorry! I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna cum for you!" Harry yelled out hurriedly. He then began moaning through his own climax, painting the white sheets underneath him.

——————

Notes:

I honestly don’t know where this is going but it’ll be cute and fluffy and smutty with a happy ending. Smut is coming. Probably gonna be a short one but let me know if you’re feeling it