“Hey lovebirds,” Liam slipped into Harry’s room and nudged the door closed with his hip. “I’ve bought supplies.”
“Yay!” Niall bounced over and grabbed the paint cans that dangled from Liam’s fingers, planting a sloppy kiss on the taller boy’s cheek before scurrying back to his boyfriend. Harry happily accepted the paint can Niall dumped into his arms and Liam rolled his eyes before flopping down on the mattress in the middle of the room. The art studio – formally Harry’s bedroom – was a mess of paint splatters, shredded paper, and discarded chunks of clay, but the two boys giggling in the corner were happy and that’s all Liam really cared about. As long as Harry was happy, he was happy.
“What do you think Liam?” Niall turned to him with a grin. “Is pink Harry’s color or what?”
Liam glanced up from his phone to see his best friend smirking at him, his bare torso streaked with hot pink handprints. Liam just laughed and shook his head slightly as Niall got up on his tip-toes, pressing his lips to Harry’s and cupping the other boy’s cheek. When they pulled away a few seconds later there was a new handprint on Harry’s face, left behind by the still wet paint on Niall’s palm.
“I’m heading over to Louis’,” Liam climbed to his feet, figuring his friends could use a bit of privacy. In the two weeks since they had become official they had spent not only every minute with each other, but with Liam as well. The ten minutes it had taken Liam to walk to the hardware store and get new paint was probably the longest the two boys had spent in each other’s company without the brown eyed boy around. And Liam was pretty sure they had spent it with Harry’s mum.
Liam knew it was because Harry was afraid that if left alone with his crush he would screw things up but Liam was sure he could handle it. “Have fun lads, but keep those paint covered hands above the waist,” he teased as his hand gripped the door knob.
“No,” Harry gasped, lunging forward to stop him.
“No? Fine, below the waist fondling is all right but I don’t want to hear about it.” Liam knew what his friend really meant, but he was hoping Harry would catch the message he was trying to convey with his eyes and not do anything embarrassing in front of Niall.
“No you can’t go,” Harry pulled his hand off the door and led him back to the mattress, shoving Liam down as he glared at him. “You have to stay with us.”
“Sorry Har,” Liam stood again and ruffled the younger boy’s hair. “I promised Lou. You’ll be fine.”
“But what if I mess up?” Harry’s voice was low and broken as he followed Liam to the door. “What if I don’t know what to say when you’re not around, or don’t know what to do, or do something wrong? Or what if he just decides he doesn’t like me anymore?” The panic in Harry’s words matched that in his green eyes. “Please Liam.”
“Harry,” Liam gave his friend a quick hug. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it. Just paint.”
And then Liam was gone.
Harry stayed there, frozen as the door swung shut, leaving him alone with Niall for the first time since that night at the movies. His wide eyes were practically burning a hole in the wood, as if the answers to all his problems were gouged somewhere in the deep grain of the door.
“Harry? Everything all right?” Niall wasn’t stupid, he could sense the mood change in the room. When Liam left every ounce of fun had been sucked out of the small space and replaced with Harry’s nearly palpable panic. The boy who had been giggling happily seconds before was now a rigid statue. Niall could hear Harry taking deep breaths to calm himself and couldn’t help but smile a bit at how nervous his boyfriend was. Niall found Harry’s quirky personality absolutely adorable, but it hurt just a tad to know that the other boy still didn’t trust himself around Niall. He wondered what it would take before Harry would truly believe what Niall said, that he liked Harry for who he was and that wasn’t changing anytime soon.
