Scars [Book 1]✅

Twenty-four

"Harry, Louis' here," Anne smiled and patted Louis' back before leaving. Harry stiffened, and struggled terribly to hide his arm behind his back casually as he turned around. Though Louis just tilted his head, and smiled softly.

"Harry, let me see," he cooed, and Harry gave in, biting hard on the inside of his cheek as he let Louis take his arm into his hands. Louis would've cringed at the amount of scars scattered on his arm, but instead he was actually proud, because he didn't see anything new except for a small cut on the boys wrist, so small it looked like a little scratch. "It's-"

"I'm sorry," Harry interrupted, "I-I didn't want to do it, b-but I hadn't taken my m-medicine yesterday and I-I tried to block out the voices, b-but once I got home they got r-really bad and I didn't w-want to but I couldn't take it. I tried n-not to, I did, I p-promise," he apologized.

Louis grinned at this, and took the younger boy,s face in his hands, "I was going to say it's so small. Harry, that's good. You tried to fight it and you only made one tiny cut instead of a bunch. That's amazing, I'm proud of you," he told him, and connected their lips for a short kiss.

"Really?" Harry mumbled against his boyfriend's lips, and smiled when Louis nodded.

"Yea really," Louis chuckled, running his thumb along Harry's cheek, "you're strong, babe," he smiled, making Harry blush madly at the use of the name, "you like me calling you that?" Louis giggled.

"Uh, yeah," Harry muttered, and then slightly smiled, making the first move to press his lips to the other boys'.

Louis liked that, and sighed with content, kissing back softly. He moved his hand to the back of Harry's neck, pulling him close while the younger boy just kept his hands on Louis' waist. Harry took a small step forward, though it was enough to lightly lean Louis against the wall. And Harry thought that he had done something wrong, because Louis pulled away, breaking the kiss and leaning his forehead against his boyfriend's.

"I want to take you on a date," he said quietly, and then smiled, and Harry felt something right in his chest, that made him grin.

"Okay," he whispered, not trusting his voice.

Louis giggled, and nodded slightly, pressing a peck to Harry's lips, "Good, I'll pick you up tonight at eight, I have to go do some planning to do," he responded with a playful wink, and kissed Harry's cheek before slipping out of the room. Meanwhile, Harry just stood there, with the goofiest grin on his lips that he could manage.

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Louis had planned something that he believed his boyfriend would hopefully really like. He had a quick conversation with Anne, and had a long one with Niall. Once he got back home he almost panicked, because he had no clue what to do. He was Harry's first boyfriend after all, and this was Harry's first date. So he wanted to make it something really cool and memorable.

As promised Louis picked up Harry at eight o'clock. He knocked on the door with a smile on his face, and an even bigger one when Harry opened the door. He was dressed warm, wearing black skinnies and nice black button up jacket, a scarf wrapped around his neck and his tattered boots making him seem a bit taller than he already was. His curls peeked out from the beanie on his head, and he stood with a smile on his face.

"You look lovely," Louis complimented, and reached out to grab ahold of his hand. Harry's cheeks reddened, and he closed the door behind him before joining Louis' side.

"You look very nice yourself," he retorted, fluttering his eyes shut for a moment when Louis tilted his head up and pecked his lips. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Louis smirked up at him, "That's for me to know and you to find out. Now climb in, love," he said, and they disconnected their hands to get into the car, only to latch them back together across the console.

It didn't take long to arrive at the destination, fifteen minutes at the maximum. And when they finally did get there, Louis made Harry stay in the car while he rushed around to his side in order to open it for him. "A little bird told me you liked ice skating," Louis said quietly, making Harry gasp when he saw the frozen lake. It had a small food stand, picnic tables and a few bonfires scattered in places. People were all around, some on the ice and some sitting around the fires, smiling and laughing and pushing their hands out towards the flame to keep warm. There was lights strung everywhere, lighting tree to tree. They were the kind that were small and light, and twinkled on and off from time to time, like stars often do. They made Harry want to look into Louis' eyes to see the way they reflected off of his gorgeous eyes. There were small paper lanterns hanging from the trees that hung over the ice, and Harry just admired the place. Everything. From the crackling fires to the people skating around and having a good time. Even though there were other people there, it didn't mean it was overly crowded. It was perfect.

Harry mimicked his thoughts, "It's perfect," he muttered, and turned to Louis, hugging him tightly. The older boy chuckled, and hugged back happily, digging his face into the taller boy's scarf.

"Let's go get our skates," he grinned, pulling his boyfriend along to the rental booth. "Your mum told me that you used to ice skate a lot," he commented.

"Yea, I used to go all the time with Gemma and my dad, since my mum always said she couldn't skate. She was really just afraid of falling though," he chuckled, "I haven't been skating in nearly two or three years though, but thank you," he blushed, and smiled sheepishly when Louis kissed his jaw.

❊ ❊ ❊ ❊

"Don't worry, you won't fall!" Harry laughed, and reached out to grab Louis' hands. He laughed along with the curly haired boy, who pulled him to his chest, their hands connected and dangling at their sides.

"Can I trust you?" Louis smiled, tilting his head to the side.

Harry's silly smile turned into a genuine one, "Of course, I won't let you fall," he said seriously, and the two just stood there on the ice for a minute, staring at each other before Harry moved backwards, pulling the older boy along with him. Louis giggled, and skated the best as he could by his boyfriend's side. And he was extremely happy. Because, besides the fact that this date had been going perfectly, Harry looked comfortable. But not comfortable-comfortable, like happy-comfortable. And confident-comfortable. And Louis had noticed that confidence before, in the parking lot of the hospital, when they were walking out in the freezing cold and he wasn't shivering or chattering, but instead walking around like he could have handled anything at the moment. It was exactly like that again, and the blue eyed boy had no clue why. He didn't know why this boy somehow had gained confidence in the cold or snow or, why this boy was so hesitant about anything and everything except for when he was outside in the arctic weather, where he was probably the only one who wasn't or didn't look cold to the bones.

"Harry," he started, and Harry then looked at him, and raised his eyebrows, "how come, you're so much more confident in the cold?" Louis asked, to which the other boy sighed, and looked longingly at him.

Harry looked up, and admired the lights in the trees, surrounding everyone, "When my dad was still around he used to tell me that 'snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood'. It was a quote by Andy Goldsworthy. My dad never really explained it much, so whenever I asked him about the meaning to it he would just tell me to just let it sink in," he told Louis, and chuckled, "I had a good childhood with my dad, and just a good one in general. It was my favorite time, you know, being free to be childish and goof without having to worry about who would judge you. I like that. I don't like being judged. I just want to remember those times when I was a kid, and my dad always told me that quote so I just... I don't know. I never ended up understanding the quote, even now. But I just know I've liked the cold and snow ever since," he finished, looking down to hide his face in his curls.

Louis smiled, and tilted Harry's chin up, "That's wonderful, love," he said, and kissed him. And yeah, Harry thought, smiling to himself, this is the best date ever.