HL Fic of the Month

＊ A u g u s t ＊

You Can't Change The Rolling Tide

by LiveLaughLoveLarry / @loveislarryislove

Louis lives on a tiny island off the coast of England and runs a sailboat touring company. When Niall is sidelined for the summer after his knee surgery, Louis needs a temporary new partner. Who better to fill that role than Harry, recently returned to the island after five years away? Louis is pretty sure there are plenty of better options. They don't get along until they do. Harry is bent over a thick book when Louis crawls into the tent. “Some light reading before bed?” he asks, his voice light. Harry looks up. “Hmm? Oh, uh, I guess.” He holds up the book to show the cover: a guide to the plants and animals of the area. Louis owns several himself, but doesn’t recognize this one – perhaps a new edition? “Trying to learn something I don’t know?” he says. He means to say it teasingly, but it comes out almost sharp, and Harry stills. Guilt settles in Louis’ stomach, replacing the knot of insecurity and competitiveness that had sparked there moments earlier. “I don’t know about that,” Harry says. “I just find it interesting. And I figure this is a good time to learn as much as I can. I’ve learned a lot from you these past weeks.”

Hi, anon! Thanks so much for your kind words! Here are some fics that fit what you're looking for!

Snow In Love by @lululawrence

Harry and Louis are best friends and have been for basically as long as they can remember. For the first time since middle school, they are both single for the holidays leaving them with the brilliant idea to take each other as their dates to work events. To make things easier they will pretend like they’re dating. But then they learn something funny.

People thought they were already dating. Weird.

An advent fic featuring childhood friends, fake dating turned actual dating, really horrible secret keeping, and a winter weather surprise.

After All This Time by lovelarry10 / @chloehl10

“Look, I’m sorry. I just… we reckon you and Harry would be so good together. You just, I dunno, complete each other somehow? In a way that we all don’t. Sometimes, we watch the two of you and it’s like Harry and Louis against the world, like we could all disappear and you’d both be just fine as long you have each other.”

“Shit. God, I’m sorry, Li, we don’t mean to-”

“No! No, Lou, I’m not looking for an apology or whatever. I just… I wish you’d both see how good you’d be together. It’s nice, to watch you both actually, how easy things are between you. You cuddle, and touch each other, but at the same time, you can just sit in silence with each other, and it’s enough. I’d like to find that, someday, that’s all.”

Louis and Harry have been best friends since a fateful meeting on the Hogwarts Express seven years ago. With their time at Hogwarts coming to an end, their friends are determined to make them see that perhaps they've always destined to be more than just friends.

Prompted into reliving some of their most vivid moments at Hogwarts, Louis and Harry come to a startling realisation... that just maybe, after all this time, they're meant to be each others. Always.

spoon time by shiptattou / @wecantalktomorrow

There was nothing going on between them outside of the normal bro-pal-laddy-dude things every other set of best friends did. All sets of best friends did things like this. You know, hanging out every day, staying up late, and chatting until the wee hours which usually ended up as a sleepover and bed-sharing. There is nothing going on between them.