Solace

Chapter Sixteen

Louis played with the sleeves of his sweater, the sleeves of it a little too big on his tad too small frame. With Harry's arms firmly around his waist, he felt secure but scared because being in such a position made his stomach flip. He didn't have an idea of where the two of them stood, if Harry even liked him or if it was all a stupid game that everyone but him got to enjoy. Were they friends, mates, or what? It was killing Louis, not knowing was eating his insides out.

He thought about it while they sat in comfortable silence, cuddled up into one another (well, Harry was doing all the cuddling but he did not mind) and it was then that Louis realised Harry had been here for him, slowly but surely erasing Louis' need to cause himself pain, erasing the need to draw lines on the surface of his wrists. The itch wasn't there anymore, the craving was put to sleep for the time being.

Louis felt a small shuffle behind him, and his head was lifted by Harry just a little bit. Harry looked at his watch around his left wrist and murmured quietly into Louis' feathery hair, "Lou, it's quite late," Louis blinked, not realising how long they had been sat on his bed doing nothing, "Are you hungry?"

He shook his head no, because the position in which they were in was not worth spoiling, he wanted to lay against Harry forever and a big longer because it was that nice.

"Don't lie to me, Lou," he warned softly, breathing steady and although Louis had no idea how Harry knew he was lying, he sighed.

"Are you hungry?" Harry repeated himself quietly, his fingers tracing patterns on top of Louis' bicep, sending chills down Louis' spine.

In response, he signed, "A little," not wanting to spoil this comfortable situation. Sure, he could do with some food, but Harry's presence was enough to fulfill his hunger in the most non sexual way possible.

Harry yawned, a baby dinosaur noise escaping his lips, he covered his mouth with the back of his hand and placed his arm safely back around Louis as if to say 'I've got you' to make the older lad feel more secure and comfortable in Harry's presence, the need to gain Louis' trust higher than ever before.

"Do you want to go down to the cafeteria and grab some dinner?" Harry's voice faintly filled the room. He felt Louis' small body shake along with his head, answering almost immediately. Louis really didn't want to be around other people at the very moment, he wanted to enjoy the dimpled fucker's presence. He didn't want for other people to interrupt their bubble or to ruin whatever was between them at the very moment.

"You have to eat, Lou," Harry prompted, fingertips still tracing patterns on Louis, the slightest touch sending the butterflies in Louis' stomach crazy.

Louis untangled himself from Harry's safety grip and sat on the bed, his legs crossed, face faintly red, facing Harry, a small smile playing upon the younger boy's lips. Louis instantly felt guilty, knowing that he was stopping his company from eating; Harry might've been hungry after all. He bit his lip, knowing that Harry might hate him. He looked up from his eyelashes, to see Harry ruffling his apple scented hair to get rid of the strands which were in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Louis signed once Harry looked up and Harry's heart fluttered like the wings of a butterfly because Louis was stepping out of his comfort zone; even if this was one of the first times where he chose to sign something to Harry rather than write, it made Harry all warm and fuzzy at heart and he was glad that he read the book his mum gave him about sign language. It felt wonderful and he felt so proud, so damn proud of Louis and he just wanted to pepper his whole face with light kisses to show his feelings, to show Louis how much he meant to Harry.

Just as Harry stepped out of his daydream, he realised what Louis had signed and bought his face to mere centimeters away from Louis' and grabbed hold of his hands, drawing circles on the back of Louis' small hands with his thumbs, a comforting gesture which meant so much to both of them, as if it was signifying something which they had blossoming between the two.