Archive of Our Own

‘Louis? Are you done with the dishes?’

‘Yeah, just about. You okay?’

‘Yeah, just... I’m ready for bed. Join me after your shower?’

‘’Course. Be with you in fifteen.’

Louis finished rinsing the sauté pan and dried his hands and didn’t sigh.

The damp air in the bathroom smelled of Seth’s shampoo. Louis did his ablutions by rote - toilet, shower, teeth. His towel smelled like Seth’s body wash. He wiped the steam off the mirror and used their electric toothbrush while he gazed at his own reflection.

The bedside lights were on in their bedroom down the hall. Louis dropped his used towel in the washing basket and went to the wardrobe to pick out a clean pair of boxers to sleep in. Behind him, a page rustled as it was turned.

‘Did you wash your hair?’

‘Yeah.’ Louis straightened up, elastic snapping against his waist.

‘Good. It still smells of that frying oil in here,’ Seth said. ‘We’re going to have to air out the whole house.’

‘I left the kitchen window open a crack.’

‘Thanks.’

Louis slid under the covers on his side with a breath of relief. The bedclothes smelled like washing powder, fabric softener, Seth’s cologne.

There was the quiet thump of Seth’s book being set aside, and the rustle of the sheets.

‘I prepped in the shower,’ Seth said, voice a little muffled into the pillow. His face was turned away. ‘I’m ready.’

Louis’s stomach clenched. ‘Okay.’

He rolled over and looked at his fiancé - the towel-dried tousle of his red-brown hair against the white pillowcase; the freckled, sun-warmed skin of the nape of his neck; the flexing muscle of his broad shoulders; the little anatomical heart tattoo with Louis’s name wreathed around it on his bicep, where Seth’s arms were folded over his head.

‘I love you,’ Louis murmured, sliding his hand under the warm sheets to the small of Seth’s back.

Seth hummed. ‘You too.’

Louis didn’t sigh.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’ Seth twisted his neck to retort, a bit sharp with impatience. ‘It’s fine, Lou. Keep going.’

‘You just yawned, babe.’

‘I’m tired! I’ve been up for eighteen hours. I’m sorry, alright? It’s involuntary. I don’t give you a hard time if you fart in your sleep. I don’t want you to stop.’

‘Christ.’ Louis wondered if he was supposed to laugh. Maybe three years ago he would’ve. He rested on his elbows for a few moments, breathing a little heavy, and then went back to the measured, steady rhythm he’d been keeping before.

He didn’t sigh.

Against the pillow, Seth’s little huffs and breathy sounds were a little stifled and hard to make out. Less audible than the quiet slap of skin meeting skin, or the occasional slurping wet noise of their bodies connecting.

‘Are you close?’ Seth asked.

Louis closed his eyes a little tighter. ‘Are you?’ he said, after a few more moments.

‘Yeah, of course. It feels good. I’m just tired.’

‘I know.’

‘You know that’s not the point, anyway. You have to come, if I can’t manage it tonight, it’s not the end of the world.’

‘I know.’

‘Lou- Why have you stopped?’

‘More lube.’

‘For God’s sake, I’m going to need a second shower at this rate.’

‘I don’t want to chafe you.’

‘Fine.’

There was a squelch as Louis pumped some more Sliquid from the bottle, and then a few sticky, sloppy noises as he stirred it around in his palm to warm it and then rubbed it over his cock. Seth still grunted as wet fingers stroked around his hole.

It was dusky pink in the dim bedside glow, shiny with lube. A dusting of red-gold curls around it, wet-dark and glossy. Objectively gorgeous. Just waiting to be filled.

Louis breathed through his nose and pushed himself back inside Seth’s tight heat.

‘You’re so fucking beautiful,’ he murmured, trailing a slow kiss over the nape of Seth’s neck, nosing against the buzzed short hair of his undercut.

Seth hummed, hips pushing back a little.

With a few more thrusts and a husky groan, Louis buried himself inside and pressed his forehead into the crook of Seth’s shoulder. Sweat-tacky skin stuck to his.

‘Yes,’ Seth sighed.

Louis slipped a hand under Seth’s hip where it was pressed to the mattress, searching.

‘Ugh, don’t.’ Seth squirmed slightly, and Louis retracted his offer. ‘Not right now. I didn’t put a towel down. I’m too tired to change the sheets.’

‘Okay.’

They stayed there for a few more moments. Seth shifted slightly.

‘Are you finished?’

Louis straightened up and didn’t sigh. ‘Yeah.’

‘Okay. Pass me a couple of tissues, my balls are soaked.’

‘I’ll get it.’

He pulled out carefully, just slow enough to watch the way his lover’s body held his shape for a few moments after. There was white visible, a little spilling over Seth’s perineum as his body failed to close up fast enough to keep it all inside.

If they’d locked, Seth’s body would be like a vice, difficult for even Louis to escape, holding it all inside. Safe. Warm. Where he- it- belonged.

That hadn’t happened in a while.

Louis didn’t mention it, just mopped it up with the rest of the lube. Seth hated waste. No need to bring it up.

‘You can turn over,’ he said quietly, tossing the tissues into the waste bin.

‘Ugh.’ Seth shifted and slithered around onto his back with a grunt and a grimace, already pulling at the sheet to cover up.

His cock was barely hard. Louis glimpsed it for a moment before it disappeared under the white coverlet. He didn’t comment, just finished dabbing his own crotch dry and then lay back on his own side of the bed.

Six months ago, he’d probably have offered to go under the sheets and suck Seth off, but lately he’d stopped bothering to ask.

Seth reached out and turned off his light.

For a moment or two, Louis lay and looked at the shadowy ceiling. Then he flipped the switch on his side as well.

Their room was pretty dark, but not pitch black. Traces from the streetlamps outside filtered through and around their curtains. On the road beyond, there was the sound of a car passing, and its headlights made an arc across the bedroom wall before moving on.

‘You didn’t knot.’

Louis paused. ‘I can’t control it. Sorry.’

‘I know you can’t. It’s been four weeks since the last time it happened, though.’

You’ve hardly got wet for it in the last three months, Louis didn’t point out. I can’t remember the last time that wasn’t heat when you came on my cock.

‘Sorry.’ He watched the patterns of tree-shadows dancing on the ceiling.

‘I mean, I know it’s random, but it used to happen at least once or twice a week. Every three or four times we fucked.’

Louis didn’t answer.

‘You’re still getting it up,’ Seth pressed.

You’re not.

‘I’m attracted to you.’ Louis said instead. ‘I love you. It just... hasn’t been very spontaneous, while we’ve been doing this.’

‘Spontaneous,’ Seth repeated.

‘It feels a bit mechanical.’

‘We have to fuck if we’re going to get pregnant, Lou.’

‘I know that.’

‘What would you rather? Should I turn up at the building site in the middle of the day and let you fuck me behind the portaloos?’ Seth’s voice was hard.

The fucked up part was that Louis’s stomach swooped at the words. His cock was supposed to be spent, but it still managed a twitch under the sheets.

‘I’m not saying that,’ he said levelly. ‘It’s not a criticism. I’m just saying I’m having a hard time getting...’

‘What?’

‘I guess my body and my head aren’t totally synced up.’

‘So what’s the problem? Your body, or your head?’

‘I don’t know.’

I feel like a tool to you.

The words sent hairline cracks spearing and glittering across the equilibrium of Louis’s thoughts. He boxed them up and buried them in a dark corner with all the others, where they couldn’t cause any more damage.

There was a long pause.

‘I have to sleep. We’ll talk about it tomorrow,’ Seth said, rolling onto his side with a rustle. Louis felt the covers tug. ‘Maybe you should see a consultant. We can talk to Fatimah.’

‘Goodnight,’ Louis said.

‘Goodnight.’

‘Jesus, lighten the fuck up,’ Mathers laughed, clapping Louis on the back. ‘Why the long face, Lou?’

‘Needs to get laid,’ Wallis opined around his cigarette, chuckling. ‘His maj not bending over for you lately, mate?’

The others laughed.

Louis blew air through his teeth, not wrinkling his nose as the smoke wafted across the dirt to prickle his nostrils. ‘Just fuckin’ tired,’ he said.

‘Wait’ll you have kids,’ Ken grunted, gaunt faced, taking a pull on his own smoke. ‘’Don’t know what tired means until you’ve got a screaming brat or two keeping you up all night.’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ Mathers laughed him off, in between bites of his steak and cheese pie. ‘Save your war stories, not everyone’s as stupid as you, Kenneth. Anyway, fags don’t have to worry about that shit, right Lou?’

There was a chorus of scoffs, laughs, and whistles as the rest of the lads made faces at him. Jimmy threw a chock he’d been messing about with, and it landed in Mathers’ pie. The uproar increased tenfold as Mathers flew out of his folding chair and he and Jimmy started getting into it.

Lou stuffed the last of his sandwich in his mouth and washed it down with the dregs of his flask of coffee. He checked his phone idly, squinting in the sunshine, and then typed out a message as the rest of the team started goading the boys towards a fistfight.

Thanks for lunch. Good sandwiches. >

‘You know what you need?’ He put his phone aside as Dennis clapped Louis’s shoulder and gave it a familiar squeeze. ‘A drink.’

Louis grimaced. ‘Probably.’

‘It’s Friday. How about Charlie’s after we knock off?’

‘Charlie’s?’ Wallis perked up, and the others started to chime in.

Dennis laughed, patting Louis one more time and then heading for the staff unit with a wave. ‘Yeah, yeah, all of you pricks can tag along if you want.’

‘Can’t. Hannah’s got her crystal yoga bullshit at five, I’m on puke-catcher duty,’ Ken grunted, and the others booed him.

Louis checked his phone again.

< No problem. Will put more of that half rye on the shopping list

Home late tonight. Staff do down the pub. Sorry. >

Seth started typing immediately, so Lou paused, shoving the scraps of his lunch back into his bag while he waited.

< OK. How late? I tested this morning, no go.

Not sure. Sorry. Tomorrow AM? I’ll make you breakfast in bed >

< Not if you’re out late getting pissed you won’t.

I’m working tomorrow, Joel asked me to come in at 8 to help with prep for mon

Never mind, we can skip a day.

Try not to wake me up when you come in.

Sleep on the couch if it’s after midnight. I need to rest.

OK >

‘Man, why do all you dumb pricks even bother with relationships? None of you get any pussy,’ Mathers was laughing over his pint, half sliding out of his seat.

‘Or arse,’ Jimmy put in wryly.

‘Pussy, arse, same thing,’ Mathers scoffed.

‘Spoken like a man whose girlfriend’s never given him a go at the backdoor,’ Jimmy retorted.

‘Fuck you, I’ve done tonnes of anal!’

‘Jesus Christ,’ Louis muttered into his beer. He slugged the last of it and stood up, heading for the bar.

Nobody noticed him leave, or they’d have yelled at him to order another round. Not that anyone needed it at this stage of the night.

He checked his phone. 11:49. No new messages.

The dance floor at Charlie’s was packed with the Friday night crowd, live music blaring from the speakers around the stage. Smelled like spilled beer, the lingering smoke on people’s clothes, and a couple of hundred different fragrances and colognes. Enough to give anyone a headache. Louis didn’t linger.

‘What can I get you, love?’ the older woman tending bar shouted when she got to him.

‘Whiskey,’ he called back, leaning closer to be heard. ‘Double, no ice.’

‘James alright?’

‘Yeah. Thanks.’

She got to work, speaking to one of the other staff as she passed. Louis let his gaze wander while he waited.

There was a guy watching him from the corner of the bar. It wasn’t that subtle. He was leaning there, both elbows on the bartop, his gaze solidly on Louis. His mouth curled into a smile when Louis looked back.

Louis looked away.

The lady came back with his whiskey, and he paid his tab before he headed back to the table.

‘Hey.’ The man had a nice smile - secretive, though. Teasing, almost. His eyes twinkled when Louis looked up at him in the mirror.

‘Hi.’

‘What’s your name?’

‘Louis.’

‘Cute. I’m Taylor.’

Louis finished washing his hands and shook off the drips, brushing his knuckles dry on his jeans as he turned to face Taylor across the echoing bathroom. The music from up front rang through the ducts. It was almost as loud in here as out there, even with nobody else around.

Taylor sauntered closer.

Slim. Medium build, lanky, and maybe a little taller than Louis, but not by much. A golden-brown complexion, and artfully ruffled waves of chestnut hair. He was wearing skinny jeans, though, and a black leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. There was some kind of crop-top underneath.

His wrists chinked and glittered as he moved from the weight of slim metal bangles wrapped around them.

He moved all the way to the sink beside Louis and ran the tap a moment, wetting his fingers. Then he combed them through his hair, patting droplets onto the back of his neck with a sigh.

He met Louis’s gaze in the mirror again, lip curling up at the corner.

‘Hm. Enjoying the view, Louis?’

‘Yeah.’

Taylor turned around and leant against the counter, bangles clattering. His gaze trailed slowly over Louis, top to bottom.

‘Lucky me,’ Taylor murmured, and pushed off the counter again, stepping close.

Louis didn’t stop him as Taylor reached up and ran his long fingers over Louis’s buzzcut, over the back of his skull, to curl around the nape of his neck. He didn’t flinch at the cool press of the bangles against his skin, or the hand that came to rest on his chest, warm through the thin layer of his t-shirt.

‘You’re lovely,’ Taylor murmured, tilting his head to brush his nose against Louis’s cheek.

Louis breathed out. And Taylor kissed him.

‘What do you do, lovely man?’ Taylor whispered to him, still smiling against his mouth, as he eased Louis into taking a slow step back.

‘Joinery. Construction.’ Louis took a quick breath through his nose. The loos were a hellscape - piss all over the tiles, overtones of shit and vomit emanating from the stalls, foul fake citrus and bleach from some poor fool’s vain attempts at cleaning up. Everything sour and unpleasant. But Taylor’s scent flooded over him like a balm, washing all that away.

Warm. Spiced, fragrant, comforting - could be cologne, could be just himself. A little bit flowery, like some kind of hair product. A little bit like sex.

They were still moving steadily away from the sinks. Louis stumbled slightly, but Taylor steadied him easily.

‘Ooh. I like a man who knows how to handle wood,’ Taylor chuckled, and Louis snorted quietly. ‘You any good at nailing, baby?’

‘I know how to screw,’ Louis said dryly.

Taylor’s delighted laugh echoed off the ceiling. ‘Fuck yeah,’ he purred.

Louis’s heel bumped against something that rattled, and then his shoulders met the corner of the closest toilet stall. He breathed deep again. All he could smell was Taylor.

‘’Want to drill me, sweetpea?’ Taylor asked against his mouth. ‘Please say yes. I’ve been looking at these fucking godlike arms of yours all night, I want you to hold me against the wall and fuck my goddamn brains out.’

Louis’s breath shook, and he leant his head back, knocking against the shoddy stall so he could look the man in the eye. Taylor was smiling at him. He had a slight shimmer of glitter on his cheeks, Louis noticed, and his lashes were dark and slightly clumped with mascara.

He smelled like heaven.

‘If you stop making fucking puns-’ Louis said, half a smile ticking onto his face in answer, ‘-Yeah.’

Taylor threw his head back and laughed.

The stall was a fraction less disgusting inside than the smell had implied. There was no visible filth on the toilet, at least, and miraculously enough it had a seat, and a lid. The floor looked kind of damp and stained in a way that advised no further examination, but there was even toilet paper still hanging in the dispenser.

‘C’mere,’ Taylor purred, flipping the latch shut and pulling Louis in.

Louis kissed back.

Taylor was warm in his arms, lithe and hungry and real. He kissed with a languid ferocity, like he had all the time in the world and was going to make the most of every drop. His mouth tasted of something sticky-sweet and potent, and he smelled like a hot summer night.

‘One sec, let me get these off, they’re basically painted on so I won’t make you deal with that,’ Taylor laughed against Louis’s lips.

Louis rested his forearms on the cold blockwork wall on either side of Taylor’s head as Taylor quickly peeled off his jacket and hung it on the back of the door. Then Louis dropped his gaze to follow Taylor’s between them as Taylor unbuckled his belt and shimmied his dark-wash jeans down over his barely-there hips with a clatter of bangles. The trail of dark hair that ran from his navel down under the hem drew Louis’s eye magnetically, as did the flash of bright colour that appeared below.

Little briefs, practically a thong by the looks of them, a ruby red that shone glossy like satin even in the poor lighting of the pub bathroom. Barely containing Taylor’s dick, by the looks of it. A darkly flushed head was peeking out from the waistband, pre-soaked and twitching prettily under Louis’s gaze.

‘’Think you can hold me up and fuck me, handsome, or you want me from behind?’ Taylor purred against Louis’s ear.

‘I can hold you.’

Taylor laughed. ‘I bet you can. Go on, then. Prove it.’

Louis kissed him, quick and sharp, and ran his hands down Taylor’s waist.

‘Go ahead, you can touch,’ Taylor murmured.

Louis cupped Taylor’s arse. Bare, not a scrap of fabric covering all that warm skin and taut muscle.

‘Got stuff?’ Louis rasped.

‘’Course.’ Taylor fumbled with his coat and pulled something out of an inside pocket, holding it up between his fingers. Condom packet. He grinned when Louis met his gaze. ‘’Don’t need lube,’ he murmured, brushing his lips to Louis’s and then pulling back to watch him with something razor sharp behind his eyes. ‘I’m O.’

Louis paused.

‘Problem?’ Taylor asked, raising one eyebrow.

‘No.’ Louis stroked Taylor’s hip with his thumb. ‘I’m alpha. Is that okay?’

Taylor’s eyes glittered. ‘Are you, now? Aren’t you precious. I have no problem with that. Going to let me see your cock, then, Alpha?’

‘Don’t call me that.’

Taylor laughed, and Louis kissed him quickly.

‘I don’t like it. Don’t,’ he warned.

‘Okay. I won’t.’

‘Good. Yeah, you can take my cock out if you want.’

‘I was hoping to put it in, actually,’ Taylor smirked, but his hands were already on Louis’s belt. Louis huffed and kissed him harder.

Taylor’s hands were slender and clever and gentle, peeling down Louis’s boxer briefs and tucking the hem under his balls, stroking his stiff length and sliding the pre-lubed rubber over him in one smooth motion. He kissed back the whole time, never losing his place or his coordination. Well practised.

Louis traced his fingers between Taylor’s cheeks while he worked, finding the slim elastic strip of his underwear and hooking it aside. Where it ran between his knuckles, it was wet.

There was a quiet gasp against his ear when Louis slipped a finger down to stroke over Taylor’s hole.

Dripping.

‘Yeah,’ Taylor breathed.

‘Okay if I fold you in half, or you wanna take these all the way off?’ Louis tugged at the waistband of Taylor’s jeans, still pulled tight around his leanly muscled thighs.

Taylor laughed raggedly. ‘Whatever you think you can handle, big guy. I’ve been fucked in weirder positions, I promise you.’

‘Good.’

Taylor yelped and cackled as Louis swept him up and slung Taylor’s legs over his shoulders. His thighs were trapped together by the jeans, and his stomach muscles flexed as he gasped for air and clutched at Louis’s neck, but with his back and shoulders pressed against the wall, he was light enough to hold. His eyes glittered as he twined his ankles together behind Louis’s head, and he pulled Louis in with both hands, bangles jingling, cupping his jaw as they kissed.

‘Jesus fuck, you’re sexy. Fuck me ‘til I’m drooling, pet, I wanna be legless in the morning.’

‘Anything you want.’

The thong pushed aside easily, stretched taut around the firm muscle of Taylor’s arsecheek, and his wet hole opened with a squishing, squelching little sound around three of Louis’s fingers. He could hear it, even over the music from the bar on the other side of the wall. Taylor’s breathy little gasps, too, as Louis fucked his fingers in and out of him a few times.

‘I promise you, I don’t need fucking prep right now, I’m fucking gagging for your dick, gorgeous,’ Taylor rasped against his ear. ‘Put it in me right the fuck now, or I’m going to lose it.’

Louis put it in.

The scent of running slick. The wet gasps against Louis’s cheek, the slap of their skin, the squish squish of his hole giving around Louis’s cock. The occasional squeak of Louis’s soles against the tiled floor as he shifted positions.

‘Guh, ohfuck, yes, fuck, more-’ Taylor’s voice was guttural and raw from use, long fingers twisting and trembling in Louis’s hair, bracelets clinking and catching at Louis’s neck. ‘There, there, right there- fuckyes-’

Louis had his face pressed into the warm, sweaty crook of Taylor’s shoulder, mouthing at his skin. The little black crop-top didn’t cover much, so there was nothing to stop him licking at Taylor’s collarbone, his adam’s apple. The light rasp of very fine stubble sandpapered Louis’s tongue. He bit at Taylor’s jaw, a growl rumbling low in his chest.

‘Jesus fucking yes, more, guhhh, Lou- Louis- baby, princess, you fucking handsome gorgeous prince of a stud, I want to fucking live on your cock, holy fuck-’

Louis laughed roughly against Taylor’s neck. ‘Fuck,’ he breathed, and snapped his hips harder.

‘-shitting fucking bloody fucking Christ yes, right there, don’t stop, gohhhd yes right there-’

‘’Want you,’ Louis mouthed against Taylor’s skin, eyes tight shut. ‘Fuck.’

There was the bang and rattle of the bathroom door being shoved open. Louis froze, whole body going tense, and his hand moved from Taylor’s shoulder over his mouth at lightning speed. Taylor’s back arched and he flexed in Louis’s arms, breathing wild and fierce over his knuckles, but neither of them made another sound.

There were laughing voices on the other side of the thin toilet stall. Drunk. The sound of zippers being undone, piss tinkling haphazardly across porcelain.

Taylor twisted his head back and forth until Louis moved his hand, and Louis turned his head so they could look at each other as they waited, listening to slurred conversation, the sound of zips being done up again, the splash of water.

A hand dryer revved, noisy over the music.

‘God, you’re gorgeous,’ Taylor breathed, eyes sparkling.

Louis smothered a growl against Taylor’s silently laughing lips.

His cock was throbbing, so fucking hard he was light-headed. He wanted to feel Taylor’s, but all that was pressed against him were those glorious thighs. Needed somewhere else for something like that. Somewhere to spread him out and touch him all over. A bed. A couch. Fuck, the back seat of his car would do.

The door banged shut, and Taylor hissed against Louis’s mouth, rocking and rolling his hips as much as he was physically able.

‘Fuck,’ Louis growled, and there was a loud, hungry schlorp as he pulled out of Taylor enough to fuck back into him.

Both of them made strangled sounds.

Shouldn’t have been that hard to pull out. Shouldn’t have felt that gut-punchingly, head-spinningly good.

‘Fuck,’ Louis said again, but this time with his teeth clenched. ‘Shit. I didn’t- I didn’t feel it. I’m so sorry, it’s been fucking ages since I’ve popped one, I didn’t notice, or I would’ve never-’

‘No, no, baby, it’s fine, it’s good,’ Taylor was half laughing and half panting as he clung to Louis’s neck. He pulled Louis into a messy kiss with a metallic clatter. ‘It’s good. Fuck, you weren’t even lying, that’s incredible.’ He laughed again, sharp and delighted. ‘I haven’t had a knot in me in fucking forever. You want to? We can. Jesus fuck, I want it.’

‘Fuck.’ Louis’s head span. ‘’You sure? Is this- We can’t. Not here. You’d break your fucking spine, and I can’t hold you up that long.’

‘No, yeah, let’s- Let me down, we can- Yes, c’mon, sit, put the seat down- Fuck yes, god, look at you, holy fuck I want it so bad.’

They fumbled, both of them staggering and stiff as Louis gingerly got Taylor back onto his unsteady feet, and then they were rearranging, the toilet seat dropping shut with a loud clatter as Taylor flipped it and then shoved Louis down. He was hauling his jeans down as he did so, grabbing Louis’s shoulder for balance, yanking his trousers off viciously and flinging them onto the side of the stall with his bangles crashing, and then he was in Louis’s lap, straddling Louis’s splayed thighs in an instant. Their mouths met again in a clash of teeth and hot breath and tongues.

‘Fuck, put it back, get it back in me, Jesus,’ Taylor demanded, swaying as he tried to lift himself up.

Louis grabbed him by the thighs and steadied him, grunting as Taylor reached behind himself and gripped Louis’s cock to guide it back in. Long fingers traced the already swelling shape of his knot. Close to full already.

‘Might not fit,’ Louis warned with a grunt.

Taylor just laughed, cheeks dark and hair wild as he threw his head back and sank all the way onto Louis’s cock.

The knot caught at his rim. Held a moment as Louis sucked in a raw breath. Then it popped inside with a lush, squishy sort of sound that echoed off the walls and made Louis’s ears ring.

Taylor gripped Louis’s knees like a vice and arched back in his lap. His dick, flushed dark and poking out from the elastic of his underwear, kicked visibly as Louis stared at it and, after a beat, spurted milky spunk halfway up Taylor’s flexing stomach. Louis hadn’t even had a chance to reach for it.

Taylor’s eyes were closed, and there was a shocked, blissful sort of look all over his face. His mouth hung open. After a few shivery moments of hush, he let out a low, lingering moan.

‘Christ, you’re fucking stunning.’ Louis’s voice cracked a bit.

Taylor’s open mouth turned up just a fraction at the corner, and he took another couple of long, shuddering breaths.

‘Okay. I’m going to need you to pull me up, because my arms are going to give out in a second and I’m going to break my spine or my skull or both,’ Taylor said conversationally.

‘Jesus.’ Louis scrabbled to haul him in, and Taylor laughed and sighed and wrapped his apparently jelly-like arms loosely around Louis’s neck, capturing his mouth in a lazy, luxurious kiss.

‘Wow,’ Taylor murmured after a while, smiling against Louis’s mouth. ‘That was a very nice surprise.’

‘You seriously don’t mind?’ Louis was a little hoarse.

Taylor snorted. ‘Did me being a greedy little bitch not give you a clue?’

‘Hey. Don’t say that.’

Taylor’s eyes sparkled as he laughed, and he petted Louis’s buzzcut. ‘Aww. You’re fucking adorable, aren’t you? Yes, lovely, I am very, very pleased you popped for me. It’s a fucking honour and a privilege, babydoll. Now kiss me and enjoy it, yeah?’

Louis did.

A phone rang.

Louis nearly cracked his head on the wall at the unexpected volume in such close quarters. Taylor swore, groping around behind him. It took Louis a couple of seconds to process that the sound was coming from Taylor’s leather jacket, and then he helped, leaning them closer so Taylor could reach.

‘Fuck, shit, bollocks,’ Taylor was growling as he yanked the whole thing off the hook on the door, making the cubicle rattle. His coat flopped in between them, a zip scraping at Louis’s arm, and then Taylor managed to haul the phone free, and grimaced at whatever he saw on the screen. ‘Fuck,’ he said again, emphatic, and then answered it.

Louis sat frozen, watching Taylor’s face.

‘-you okay-?’ Taylor was asking, running his fingers through his hair and pushing it back from his forehead. His gaze had gone distant, his eyes fixed on something in the corner of the stall, over Louis’s shoulder. ‘-Yeah, I know- No, I’m- No. I’m a bit busy right now, can it wait-? Shit.’

There was the muffled sound of the other person speaking. Louis could almost make out some of the words, but it was hard to parse over the thumping of the beat through the wall and the pounding of his own pulse in his ears.

‘Fuck, okay. Fine. I can be there in- I don’t know, half an hour? -No, fuck you, I said I’m busy, that’s the best you’re going to g- No, I’m not fucking tied up right now, you asshat, don’t be such a bitch about it, you can handle him until I get there. Jesus. Fine. Yeah. Love you too. Be there as soon as I can.’

There was a moment where Taylor’s face was lit by the eerie blue-white glow of his phone screen as he hung up and typed a message, fingers flying. Then he turned it off and dropped his hand into his lap, meeting Louis’s gaze.

‘I’m really sorry.’ Taylor grimaced, running his palm over Louis’s short hair again, thumb rubbing behind his ear. ‘I have to get going. You’ve gone down a fair bit, haven’t you? Can you try pulling out?’

‘Yeah. It’s fine. You okay?’

‘Yeah, nothing to worry about. Saving a friend from himself.’ Taylor rolled his eyes. ‘Fuck- Hold the condom, yeah? Don’t let it come off.’

‘Got it.’

Taylor lifted himself gingerly up, one hand on Louis’s shoulder and the other against the wall. He groaned, heartfelt, as their bodies put up resistance and then finally the lock gave. Louis slipped out of him with a squelch, still half hard.

‘God, that was fucking amazing,’ Taylor laughed breathlessly, levering himself to his feet. He grabbed a couple of handfuls of toilet paper from the dispenser and wiped between his cheeks quickly, dropping them, used, onto the floor, and then grabbed his jeans. Louis watched him, a little blank, as Taylor muttered curses and fumbled his way back into his trousers, taking off one shoe and then the other so he could shimmy back into them. Harder to put back on than they had been to rip off, apparently.

Bouncing up and down a couple of times on his heels, Taylor buttoned himself up and then cast Louis a rakish grin.

‘Fuck, you’re delicious. Wanna take you home and keep you in my pocket, precious, so you can give me that lovely fat cock any time I want it,’ Taylor purred, leaning in with one knee on the toilet seat between Louis’s thighs and cupping his cheek, giving him a warm, affectionate kiss. ‘Sorry to cut this short. I fucking loved it. Gonna be feeling you all day tomorrow, babes, so delicious. Get home safe, okay? Sweet dreams.’

‘You too,’ Louis said, and watched Taylor sling his jacket over his shoulder and flip the latch on the stall door.

Then he was gone, and the door swung shut behind him.

Louis breathed out.

About three minutes later, Louis pulled off the dripping condom, reaching to mop up the mess with a handful of toilet paper, and then felt something weird. He looked down.

The latex was split all the way down one side.

‘...Fuck.’