Prompt: Louis and Harry sharing a soft smile across the room

And of course I went overboard and made up a whole royalty AU
Note: Harry is genderfluid in this fic, he prefers being called Duchess and I'm NOT promoting heteronormativity.

Title from mirrorball by Taylor Swift
Words: 1.1K
Hope you enjoy it!

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Of course Harry had insisted that Louis shouldn't see his costume.

"Harry, for the love of god, we're married!" He'd insisted. "And moreover, the Duke and the Duchess should greet the guests together!"
"Well, your highness," He'd grumbled, "traditions of the masquerade state that partners cannot see eachother without a mask till midnight. And it'll be like our first dance, and I planned so much. C'mon Lou, it'll be fun!" He had countered him. With a pout.

And Louis had no choice.

He dismissed the servants with a wave of his hand, walking towards the rack to get his overcoat. He grumbled about how heavy it was. But Harry would appreciate it, he thought, as he fixed his boutonnière.

With the strike of the clock he knew it was time, and he made his way to the balcony.

Guests looked pleased and engaged, over three thousand invitees dressed in their finest suits and gowns, identities masked as they chatted and sipped on their drinks.

He looked around for one particular person, maybe carefully braided curls, slightly hunched shoulders, long legs but an overall elegant posture. But no avail.

He made his way down discreetly, adjusting his mask.

"Ello mate." Louis slapped Zayn on his back as a greeting.
"Fucking hell mate, you don't just do that!"
Louis snorted, picking a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter.
"Where's H?"
"He's told me he's not meeting me till the midnight dance."
It was Zayn's turn to snort.
"Aren't you two married?"
"Well Sir Zayn Malik, some of us like to please our spouses and fulfill their wishes. He's been so excited, it's our first time hosting as a proper married couple, Duke and Duchess and all, he's planned this whole 60s' themed masquerade situation and worked so hard on it, and y'know I didn't want to disappoint him."
"You're so gone for him mate."

Louis didn't even bother denying. He would do anything for Harry.

"Your highness." A servant scurried over to him, interrupting his conversation with Zayn. "Her highness Charlotte has requested you to meet her at the bar."
"I'll be there. Thank you."

"Still feels weird when they call you 'your highness'." Zayn mumbled. "And calling Lottie Charlotte."
"So much for being royalty."

After a a quick chat with Liam, meeting a few guests and checking if anything was required, he finally made his way to meet Lottie.

"Louis! Jesus where were you? It's been an hour!"
"Well Lottie, we're hosting the party, so we gotta check up on the guests and meet people y'know."
"Where's Haz?"
"Was about to ask you that. He said he's not meeting me till the midnight dance, I dunno what he's wearing, haven't seen him around."
"Anyway,"

Lottie went on and on about something Louis didn't bother to pay much attention to. He glanced around the room as far as he could see, looking for Harry in the humongous crowd.

Just as he was about to give up, his eyes fell on a flowy white robe. He couldn't see the person, just the end of their robe, until the group of three blocking his viewed moved away.

Louis' breath hitched.

There he was, dressed in white and silver. His trousers flared, plain white. His blouse too, was white, stitched with silver thread. A lone pearl pendant rested on his chest, mirroring Louis' own. A very dramatic bejewelled mask hid his face, one end curving in the shape of a crescent moon. His robe stole the show, white embedded with more jewels. Long silver threads with beads hung from one end of the sleeve to another, glimmering under the chandelier light, looking like wings. His hair was parted to the side, french braids on the sides, the rest tumbling over his shoulders. A billowy and glimmery daydream.

A complete contrast to Louis' outfit, which consisted of a plain white shirt, a black waistcoat, all made of the finest wool and lined with gold, topped off with a deep, rich black velvet coat, once again, with gold patterns. His mask golden on one end flared, imitating flames, encrusted with jewels. Simple, yet bold, hugging his figure tight unlike Harry's.

His lips quirked up in a soft smile as he raised his glass towards Harry. Harry reciprocated, tipping his own glass towards him after he'd excused himself from the guest he was attending. Their gaze lingered on eachother, despite the people moving in between them.

People moved from groups to line up as the music began to play. Louis put his glass aside, Harry mirroring him, as he made his way towards him. His grin got wider when he stopped in front of Harry, bowing. Harry reciprocated, picking the ends of his robe and lifting them before crossing his ankles and tipping his head. Gently, Louis picked his left hand, Harry giving it a squeeze.

"If it isn't the Duchess herself.' He teased. Harry smirked. "'M lady." He drawled exaggeratedly, Harry rolling his eyes and laughing. As the musicians finished their warm-up, and the actual track for the dance began to play, Louis stepped in front of him.

"May I have this dance?" He repeated, like the first time they'd met.
"You may." Harry replied giddily as Louis brushed his lips against his knuckles, leaving a firmer kiss to his wedding ring, before pulling them towards the centre of the dance floor.

The violins began to play a familiar tune as everyone took their positions in pairs. One, two, three, four, five beats and with hands behind their back, they began to slowly circle around eachother.

Harry picked one end of his robe with his left hand as Louis took his right as they moved around eachother. Louis positioned his free hand behind his back as they stepped beside eachother, intertwined hands never separating as they imitated their first Boulanger with eachother at eighteen. For a clumsy person, Harry danced with quite the grace- spinning around Louis, billowy light robes brushing against his firm darker ones. Despite his slightly smaller build, Louis was deceivingly strong, his grip on Harry's waist tight as they performed their steps in sync. Like two opposite halves of a whole, like one's reflection in the mirror, like the sun and the moon.

With the music getting faster, signifying it was reaching its end, they moved closer than ever. Louis moved his hand behind Harry's head, slowly untying his mask. Harry reached out to do the same with Louis'.

"This mask is meanteth not just to encave mine own visage," Harry mumbled under his breath as he undid the first knot. Louis smiled.
"behind 't lies mine own heart. " Louis said as he undid Harry's.
"tangle thy fing'rs in the strings of mineth and taketh 't hence,"
"f'r with this façade off,"

The masks came off, the music stopped and they stepped aside, facing eachother with broad grins. They dropped their masks to the floor and took eachothers hands.

They said at the same time as they leaned forward to kiss eachother, reciting together-

"Thee owneth mine own heart."