blurred murmurs (larry oneshots)

soulmates (1469 words)

song inspo: wonderland by taylor swift and idk you yet by alexander23

no tw for now but lemme know if you think i should put one :)

...

louis had been constantly surrounded by people since as long as he could remember. wherever he went, there was always a little sibling or a friend following. in the case of his siblings, it's understandable because he has had a large role in raising them. in the case of his friends, it's because of his dominant personality. nevertheless, he still got sick of it at times. sometimes, like at this moment, things would get overwhelming.

he was currently at his friend stan's house where a party was being held. the bass was deafening and the strobe lights did nothing to soothe the pounding in his head. his baseball tee suddenly felt too tight and his jeans clung to his every curve. every minute or so, someone would bump into him roughly and he would nudge them right back. he had no tolerance for that kind of stuff. his light brown hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat and his blue eyes flashed intimidatingly under the weird lighting. the ache in his head is what led him out the back door and into the moonlit garden. he took a seat on the side of the planter, placing his head in his hands. he saw the familiar words inked onto his bicep: "we'll be alright".

his soulmate tattoo was a large source of comfort for him. he was grateful it wasn't something like "hey", because that would make finding his soulmate very difficult. he focused on the soft leaves tickling the bottom of his spine where his shirt had lifted and the rough edge of the wooden planter on his thighs, trying to ground himself.

before he got the chance to stabilize himself, he heard a twig snapped and abruptly turned his body to face the direction the noise had come from.

...

harry had been constantly alone since he could remember. it wasn't that he didn't have family or friends, he had a very loving mother and sister and an irish best friend. it was more that he never felt he truly belonged anywhere. he never did the right things or spoke the right words. he tripped over his feet and took up too much space. his mom loved him because she had to. his sister loved him because she had known him since he was a little boy, when he knew the right things to do and the right words to speak. somewhere along the way he lost that talent and he managed to also lose sight of himself. he could still see his past self reflected in gemma's eyes. he could sense the dwindling hope she had for the boy he once was to make an appearance.

his best friend, niall, had a lot of other friends. harry had niall. it wasn't that the irish boy forgot about him or even just neglected him sometimes, he was a great friend. he just was harry's only friend, and it would be nice to have someone who focused entirely on harry.

with his inevitable habit of solitude, it's no surprise that harry found himself standing alone in a garden. niall had dragged him along to some party and he had tried desperately to dissuade his friend's efforts but niall would not relent. the amount of people packed into the party became suffocating after a couple minutes and harry fled out the back door. he shivered a little, as he was only wearing black skinny jeans and a button down shirt, with the first two buttons left undone to look casual. it was a soft, silky material, but did nothing to protect from the autumn chill. leaves crunched beneath his boots as he made his way to a bench around the corner. he sighed, sitting down and running his hands through his shoulder-length brunette curls.

a couple minutes later, he heard the back door slam open and soft scuffling getting closer to him. his first instinct was to sneak away to avoid an awkward interaction but he figured he might as well just stay put because the shuffling had stopped and harry was still out of sight of the stranger. car headlights shined brightly on him as a car passed by on the road. it briefly illuminated harry's wrist and the phrase "no amount of words will ever be enough" was made visible. the words tumbled around in harry's head. he had seen them many times before, his soulmate tattoo was not something he took lightly. supposedly these were the first words his soulmate would ever say to him, which seems pretty heavy for a first encounter.

harry sighed, pushing off the bench and stepping quietly around the corner. he wanted to find niall and demand he drive harry home. his foot slipped and stepped on a twig and wow, this was awkward.
a boy, who looked about harry's age, spun around at the loud noise. the boy's eyes were widened in alarm but quickly reduced to a normal size when he realized that the tall, demure boy was not a threat.

harry furrowed his eyebrows, slowly approaching and joining the boy on the planter. it was almost as if he was being pulled to the smaller boy, an unmistakable sense of comfort and warmth radiating from him. he seemed to be going through a lot of emotions right now so harry just sat next to him silently, in fear of saying the wrong thing.

the door opened and light assaulted the two boys' eyes. they both blinked, adjusting to the brightness and focused on the blond boy standing before them.

"harry, please come socialize. i want you to meet my friends." niall pleaded with the brunette.

harry pursed his lips and shook his head slowly. his feet made circular motions in the dirt to calm him.

"you don't even have to talk that much, just please make an effort."

harry felt his eyes start to water at this. he did make an effort. he made an effort every day to act normally, but it never seemed to work. harry, always a stubborn person, shook his head again, this time with more conviction.

niall sighed and trudged back into the house, shutting the door softly behind him. louis peered over at the boy beside him. when niall left, apparently all of harry's assertiveness apparently went with him. harry kind of crumpled, making himself as small as possible.

louis placed his hand on harry's knee and turned his body to fully face him. he nudged the other boy to get him to look up. it worked and harry glanced up at him, looking sad and dejected.

"no amount of words will ever be enough." louis looked at him like he genuinely cared. harry doubted he actually did, but the genuine look in louis' blue eyes comforted him. a sense of realization spread through harry's body and his eyes widened. his knee was suddenly burning where louis was touching it and he moved his gaze to fixate on the other boy's slender fingers curving over his kneecap.  "it's okay to not want to talk to other people. sometimes i feel like talking to other people is all i do. it's better to save your words for someone who will really appreciate them."

harry was in disbelief. here he was, in a beautiful garden at midnight, sitting next to a beautiful boy, who had his hand on harry's knee, and was probably his soulmate. there were so many butterflies in his stomach that it was nauseating. harry cleared his throat but the churning in his stomach was relentless and prevented him from speaking. he just nodded and hoped the other boy would understand.

"you're doing it the right way i think. if you never lay your cards out on the table, they can't be at risk, you'll never have to fold. sometimes it feels like i fold a million times a day. i guess you probably feel pretty lonely sometimes though, always sticking to yourself. i've noticed you before, by the way, this is not all just a snap judgement. you're in my math class."

harry nodded again, feeling very stupid but unable to vocalize his thoughts.

"i guess it's sucks either way." the boy sighed and stared at the ground, not at all deterred by harry's lack of words. he didn't expect words.

"we'll be alright" harry whispered. it was so quiet that if louis wasn't sitting right next to harry, he wouldn't have heard it. but he did, and he smiled.

louis reached over and clasped their hands, his palms immediately warming harry's cold fingers. he interlaced them and smiled softly. "yeah, we will be."