Do You Realize? |l.s.|

XIX

It's freezing out, the snow falling as we're walking. There's just barely a layer of snow sticking to the ground as me and Harry step out from my house's walkway and onto the path to school. We've both got coats on, and hats, as we breathe hot air into our hands in attempt to warm them up.

"Fuck, it's freezing out here," I curse.

"It's supposed to snow up to two inches by the time it hits lunch," he informs me, causing me to grow excited for later today when I get out of school and get the chance to play in the snow.

"Really?" I ask hopefully.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you like the snow?" he chuckles.

"Who doesn't," I say obviously as we continue walking. School goes slowly, and by the time I'm out, I'm practically skipping home, excited to play in the snow for the first time in like, a year.

"Someone's excited," Harry laughs, walking calmly a little further back as I walk extremely quick.

"Hurry the fuck up, or I'm leaving you," I say, and he speeds up as I slow down slightly, despite what I literally just said. "Are you not excited? It's the first actual snow of the year."

"You sure you like snow?" he asks.

"Wha-" before I can even ask what he means, he shoves me and I topple over, landing face first in the snow. The cold immediately burns, the wind blowing against my snow-covered face, causing it to feel frozen. "You're gonna regret that, fucking tosser!" I yell, standing up quickly with my books in my hand and a snowball in the other, despite how cold it feels in my palm.

"Shit," his eyes widen as he tries to get away from my but I shove the snow down the back of his shirt, and he curses as he freaks out, causing my to laugh so hard I can hardly breathe, and he can't help but laugh after a while.

"Revenge is so fucking sweet," I laugh. We make it all the way home after chasing each other with snowballs, and by the time we make it, our cheeks our flushed from the old and we're shivering, but we don't care. We put our school bags and books down on the porch under the covering before we immediately run out, making big snow forts and piling snowball after snowball behind it. An hour later, we're covered in snow, laying next to each other as our limbs feel like they've frozen off, laughing breathlessly. "I won," I state.

"The hell you did, I knocked down your fort," he argues.

"What kind of snowball fight are you playing, Styles?" I ask him. "I hit you more!"

"Absolutely not, you've got it all wrong," he says in frustration before we hear the door of the house open. We lift our heads to look up and see Niall standing there, a smirk on his face.

"Found 'em, Zee!" Liam and Zayn show up behind him, looking at us like we're absolutely insane.

"Are you mad? You've been out here all this time in nothing but coats? Your hands are probably gonna have to get amputated, idiots!" he yells. We make our way inside, the heat burning against our cold skin. He changes and showers in Zayn's room as I do the same in my own, and after half an hour we're warm and drinking hot chocolate as the rest of the boys decide what kind of food they want to order in.

"You two are insane," Liam says. "What were you thinking? You could've gotten frostbite, throwing snowballs with no gloves on," he scolds.

"Sorry dad," I roll my eyes, causing Harry and Niall to chuckle while Zayn and Liam don't look so impressed.

"What the hell do you see in him, anyways?" Zayn asks Harry, referring to me. "He's my little brother, why are you such close friends with him?"

"You're just mad that someone's realized how cool I am compared to you," I say matter-of-factly. 

"You're delusional," he says.

"Agree to disagree," I finally say.

"Can you guys ever get along?" Niall asks me.

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever come over here without you two having at least one fight," Harry agrees.

"What else are brother's supposed to do?" Zayn asks, and I hum in agreement.

"Whatever, you're both immature shits," Liam shakes his head.

"Fuck off, Payno," I say. I've given all of these boys nicknames, it's just something I do naturally, and they've learned not to question it. "At least we know how to have fun."

"You're such a child," he mumbles.

"A child whose better friends with Harry than you," I argue.

"I honestly couldn't disagree with you on that if I tried," he sighs, and I smile because he's right, there's no arguing me and Harry are close, and in the back of my mind, I can only hope we get closer.