larry- one shots

your rainbow will come smiling through

On the morning of Harry's first day of his last year of school, he cooks breakfast with all the lights off. Eggs, bacon, sausages, rye toast. It's better with the darkness and the soft light coming in from the windows. They're open, the breeze ruffling the curtains; Harry can feel it on his skin. It's relaxing, calming, quiet. It's what Harry needs to start a new school year.

"What the fuck is that?"

Harry doesn't even turn around. He knew the rye toast was going to cause a meltdown, but it was his chosen rebellion of the morning. The bacon, he muses, should surely make up for it.

It doesn't, of course, and Harry spends the morning of his first day of his last year of school getting screamed at.

It's fine. He barely even hears it anymore.

When he shoulders his bag and leaves the house thirty minutes later, it's to a chorus of insults and don't forget you have the night shift tonight, as if he could. It's been his life for the last four years. He's pretty sure Dave only gave him a day or two off after his mum died before he was scheduled for another gruelling shift.

He managed it, though. He did his schoolwork on the counter in between serving customers and studied his eyeballs off during his ten minute breaks. He graduated, he got into school, he makes some money. It isn't all terrible.

Except for when it is. Like this morning.

Harry's car starts, surprisingly, because he was definitely expecting it not to. It feels like that type of day. His drive is uneventful, the ringing in his ears reaching a crescendo that dies instantly when he pulls up to Liam's house. He's already standing there, a concerned look overtaking his welcoming smile.

"You look haggard," is his opening remark as he slides into Harry's car. Haggard, while totally an insult towards Harry, would be an accurate adjective for his car. It was his mum's, before, and she had gifted it to him merely a month before the accident. It might be old, almost broken and definitely haggard, but it's Harry's. Only Harry's, and he loves it.

"Thanks," Harry says. "It's always love from you."

"Hey," Liam says, affronted. He actually turns completely in his seat to look at Harry. "I do love you. The most." Harry knows it wasn't Liam's intent to make the car ride deep and meaningful, but that's just how Liam is.

"I know, Li," Harry says. "I love you too." Liam nods, once and firmly, before turning straight in his seat.

"How was it this morning?" he asks, nonchalantly, except that Liam has never been nonchalant in his entire life.

"The usual," Harry replies. Liam makes a noise in his throat, kind of like a scoff but it sounds sad. When he takes a breath, Harry knows exactly what he's going to say. He's been saying it for four years.

"You know," Liam says in a voice that sounds like he knows Harry knows, "you can come stay with us. You know mum wouldn't mind. Hell, she wants you to." Harry's heart tightens at that, as it always does, at the idea of having a mum again, or something close to it, but he just clears his throat. He glances at Liam and gives him a smile.

"I know," he says. He does. "But you know I have to stay with Dave until I finish school. He'll fire me if I leave and I need that job."

"You hate that job, Harry!" Liam's voice raises, a little bit, more than usual, and Harry grips the steering wheel tighter. They're almost at school and then they'll part ways and Harry, despite loving Liam like a brother since they met when they were five, almost can't wait. He needs the silence sometimes.