Tempest || l.s. ✓

Chapter 5

"Woah, hello-" Louis jumped as Harry traipsed through the door. "God, where've you been? It's 5 am."

Harry's head snapped up, obviously not expecting to see anyone that early.

"Just down to the cliffs." He murmured, dropping his head back down.

"You okay?" Louis frowned.

"Yeah." He sighed, slipping into the kitchen and taking a bowl out of the cupboard. He poured cereal into it, adding the milk before slumping down at the table.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He stabbed at the cereal with his spoon.

"Do you want me to break in nextdoor and fetch the cats?"

Harry sniffled, burying his face in his hands.

"I'm going to go and steal the cats." Louis confirmed.

"Don't worry. I'll go upstairs." He croaked.

"Would you prefer it if I left you alone?" Louis asked, not wanting to but he hardly knew the man, and he wouldn't want a stranger hanging around when he was upset.

"Probably."

"Well I'll be either in the living room or behind the bar. Don't hesitate to come and find me if you need to."

Harry nodded, beginning to eat the cereal slowly as Louis walked out of the room, looking back in concern.

//

Harry changed into a pair of blue flare jeans with a red-orange knitted v-neck. He wiped beneath his eyes, making sure it didn't look like he had been crying too much before trudging downstairs.

"Hi."

"Hey." Louis looked up from whatever he was doing.

"Can I get a glass of wine please?"

"At 6 in the morning?"

"Yes."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"I won't get drunk or anything. Don't worry."

"It's still not a good idea."

"Look, I'm paying you for the drink, not to care." Harry sighed.

"Right, sorry." Louis grimaced, pouring out a glass and handing it to Harry.

Harry thanked him before taking the corner seat again.

"May I sit? I won't be too long."

"Yeah."

"If you feel like you need to go somewhere to escape, there's a nice little cove if you follow the path behind the inn. People don't really go there so it's a good place to go if you're not feeling great."

"Thank you." Harry spoke softly. "It's just a really shitty day I think."

"It's okay, you don't have to explain."

"Am I allowed to use the kitchen sometimes? To bake and stuff? It's okay if not. I just like to use it as an outlet."

"Of course, you can use it whenever you want."

"Thank you."

//

Harry took Louis's advice, venturing down to the cove. Thankfully it was low tide so he sat down on a boulder, pulling out his sketchbook. It wasn't often he was without it, that and his journal were a source of comfort for him.

He took out his watercolours, glancing up at the beach before starting to paint.

As he looked up again, a barking dog bounded across the beach, splashing in the waves.

He smiled slightly, placing his painting down as the dog ran up to him, panting happily as it stared at Harry.

Harry tentatively reached out a hand, stroking the top of his head, which thankfully wasn't wet. Because wet and sandy dog was not a nice smell.

"Hey, Bonnie!" A voice called, and Barbara appeared from around the corner. "Oh, hello again!" She waved at Harry as she approached.

"Hi." Harry waved back.

"Oh! Are you painting?"

"I am, yeah."

"That's lovely." She smiled. "Sorry about Bonnie, I hope she didn't shake over you."

"No, she didn't. It's okay, she's cute."

"She is, isn't she?" Barbara looked down. "Will I be seeing you at the café anytime soon?"

"Probably." Harry nodded, "your cafe is really nice."

"Thank you." She beamed, "anyway, how did you find this place? Most visitors don't know about it."

"Louis told me about it."

"He did?" Barbara raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah."

"Hm." She smiled.

Harry just looked confused.

"Sorry, it's just he doesn't like to share this place with visitors. He likes it to be somewhere quiet for the locals to go."

"Oh." Harry spoke in surprise. "I wasn't having a very good morning so that's probably why."

"Well, I better be going. Bonnie is getting impatient." She looked down at the dog who was stamping her feet.

"I'll see you around." Harry smiled, looking back down to his painting.

"Bye!" She called behind her as she began to walk off.

//

As Harry arrived back, he slipped in through the front door, placing his bag down on a kitchen stool and looking through the cupboards.

He was delighted to see that Louis had plenty of ingredients so he began to bake.

A few hours later Louis walked in, pausing as he looked around the kitchen. "Fuckin' hell, you really do like to bake."

Trays of cakes and tarts sat on every surface, and Harry was stood in the middle of the kitchen with flour and cocoa powder coating him.

Harry just smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I'll make sure everything is washed up. The surfaces are all clean."

"No, no. I'm fine with it as long as I can eat some."

"Help yourself. I can go and buy more stuff like flour and sugar if I've used too much up."

"No, it's fine." Louis shook his head. "What are these?"

"There's a label with each one."

Louis looked down, and sure enough, attached to little cocktail sticks were pieces of paper with tiny little curly writing.

"Your writing is like fairy writing." Louis observed. "It's well cute."

"Thanks." Harry blushed as he continued to ice the cake in front of him.

"Millionaire shortbread! Sick!" Louis explained, taking a plate and taking a piece. "And jam tarts! God, you're amazing. Brownies! Wait, what are you icing?"

"A chocolate cake."

"How often do you do mass bakes?" Louis asked as he took a bite of the millionaire shortbread, "god, this is so good."

"Um, it depends. If you ever want me to stop I will obviously. And I'll buy the ingredients."

"No, this is wonderful. You could sell some of this to some of the cafés you know, it's so so good."

"Thank you." Harry smiled down, the blush growing deeper.

"We could do with a baker like you on the island."

Harry just smiled, knowing he wouldn't be staying that long.