Chapter One
songs to listen to when you're reading this chapter:
"We Are Going to Be Friends" by The White Stripes
"Two Pieces" by Demi Lovato
"Firefly" by Ed Sheeran
enjoy! :)
Warning: this story is going to have a bit of self harm in it so if you get triggered easily please be careful if you read it! Thank you .xx
also it keeps taking off all my italics! whenever I put italics on something, they just disappear! so if you see a sentence that's offset and has no punctuation or quotation marks, those should be in italics; those are Harry's thoughts! they'll be showing up occasionally throughout the story. so just imagine that they're in italics! thanks for understanding :)
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galaxy eyes.
resting his seven-year-old chin on the frosty glass pane, Harry stared half-lidded out of his half-open window with a half-smile on his face (as usual)
galaxy eyes. when is he coming out to see me?
yesterday Harry had met him. he and his family were moving into the twenty-years-vacant housenextdoor. they had sat close together on the porch until the fireflies appeared, exchanging secrets (he told Harry he had stolen a loaf of bread for a snack, Harry told him he had broken his mother's vase last week) over glasses of his mum's too-sugary lemonade; Harry had spilled half of his on his brand new jumper. the new boy had just giggled, and Harry knew they would be fast friends.
they had agreed to meet tonight on the Rooftop. it had been Harry's quiet place since the day he was strong enough to open his window, but he was willing to share. whenever Harry's window was open, he could easily step out of his room onto the tiny piece of slanted roof that connected with the housenextdoor's identical roof. it just so happened to be the roof connected to the window connected to the room where the new boy had just moved into. the Rooftop was made for best friends, Harry just knew it.
yesterday Harry had taken his hand and pulled him up the stairs to his bedroom and flung open the window. "See?" he had turned to grin at the new boy (the one with stars brimming his pupils, he noticed).
"so our rooftops are connected?" the boy had gasped, eyes wide.
Harry had nodded vigorously and stuck his head out into the July evening breeze. "uh huh, you can climb out your window and come into mine!" so you can come visit me anytime.
the boy had drawn his silhouette next to Harry's. "so I can come visit you anytime?"
Harry had just smiled and nodded slowly.
but tonight, the boy was nowhere to be found. Harry opened his window a bit more, careful not to let in any bugs, and slipped out onto the Rooftop.
is he awake? come on, I want to play!
he tiptoed across the roof (his mum was most likely asleep at this hour, arms curled around either forgotten memories or a lumpy pillow) and was just about to tap his tiny fingertips against the new boy's windowpane when the curtains were flung open and Harry saw stars.
"Hi," the boy whispered, "sorry I'm late, my mum was going on about how I have to get my school clothes bought for next year." he rolled his eyes and jumped out onto the roof, closing the window behind him.
"Already?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "But school doesn't start for two months!"
"Try telling her that. She plans things years in advance. She's, a....um...what's the word..."
"Overachiever?" Harry offered.
"Yeah, that. Thanks." The boy grinned and sat down on the gravelly Rooftop. Harry sat down across from him, and the boy tapped his socked toes against Harry's. "How do you know that word? I didn't learn it until this year." Harry remained silent, eyes closed. "You can't be the smart one, okay? I'm older. I'M the smart one." He raised his eyebrows and nodded once at Harry.
you can be anything you want. I'll do anything for you.
Harry must have been staring, because the boy tapped his toes a bit harder. "okay?" he asked, eyebrows still raised.
"okay," Harry whispered and blinked at the boy.
"good," the boy smiled and leaned closer to Harry. "by the way, I think that-" he jerked his head towards his window and cursed softly. "oh. my mum's calling me. I have to go."
without another touch, the boy grabbed his windowsill and pulled himself up and over into his bedroom, shaking tiny pieces of gravel off his socks. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. okay?"
"okay.."
"goodnight, Harry." he gently pressed his window shut, leaving it unlocked, and drew the curtains.
Harry was left alone in the sticky warmth of the summer night. he rested his back against his own window, thinking about the new boy with the galaxy eyes, and whispered, "goodnight, Louis."
