Growing Pains- Larry stylinson

9

Louis 12

Harry 10

 "Mumma!" Louis yelled while digging through his messy cupboard.

 "Yea? Boobear?" Jay answered from the kitchen.

 "Do you know where my football is? Zayn and I were gonna go to the field to practice goalie,"

 "No boo, I actually don't, have you checked your room properly?"

 Louis huffed and sat on the floor. He was looking for a blue, a-little scratched up football. It was one of his most prized possessions. 

Why?

Because it was signed. 

Signed by the members of Doncaster Rovers. The feathered boy dreamed of becoming an absolute superstar at football. He would travel the world, influencing younger children just like he wa, and encourage them to contribute to football, or any other sport.

And it was the only thing He had left of his father who left only a few months ago. 

Louis' father served in the military, and was set off on a risky mission, and Louis didn't know how long it would be until He would get to see his father again. 

He needed his ball. It was half his personality.

Without the ball, he was just a body slumping around the town, with a flock of curly hair following him.

Speaking of curly hair, a knock on the bedroom door slid through.

 "Lou lou?" A smile grew slow.

 Louis sat up right, to hug Harry. A Harry hug was what he needed. Inhaling the fragrance of a sweet Harry was what he needed. 

 "Lou, what's wrong," Harry held Louis even tighter into grasp.

 "I-i think I might have lost my football,"

 "Your favourite one? No! You take that every where you go! That's impossible!"

 "I know! Do you think someone might have stolen it?"

 Harry's smile quickly faded. "No, couldn't be," he hid his face.

 Louis was in the corner of his room, bawling his blue eyes out, meanwhile, Harry,in the other side of the room, stood guilty and disappointed.

He stole Louis' football.

He knows that he shouldn't have, but he did have his own reasons. He cried over how bad he thought of himself as a friend. He hoped it would be plain old Louis, and he'd forget about the ball, if he never saw it. So, Harry hid it away. It was right under his bed, where it was far too dark to see without a torch.

But now, he felt a whole lot worse than what he started with.

Harry stole the ball owned by Louis because of how often he's been hanging with Zayn for. Every since he got gifted the ball, he had only been playing with Zayn. Harry felt left out. He knew that Louis and Zayn only actually bonded over football.

 "Louis, I..." Harry began speaking. 

 The tiny body curled up, and squeezed Louis into a hug.

 "It's ok, let's go look for something to do..." Reluctanly, he walked away to go help his mum with the dishes.

*************************

 "Come on boys, I want you to go outside and get some fresh air," Louis' mum told them.

 Stubbornly carrying their feet outside, they looked at each other annoyed.

 "Can we just go to your house for a while Harry? We can tell your mum that we were at the park when you were at mine, and when I go back, I can just say that we were at the park," Harry tilted his head, a little confused.

 "Lou lou, how about We have a sleepover, We haven't done that in a while right? " 

Louis cheered up at the idea. 

 "Yes Hazza! That's a great idea! Let's do that then!"

 ****************

By evening, they sat up in the treehouse in Harry's backyard and giggled over fish and chips.

"Louis, I'm a bit tired... Do you wanna go  inside?" Louis nodded, eyes droopy and crawled down the ladder.

****

There was a mini mattress laid beside Harry's bed. Louis snuck into the sleeping bag. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he needed to take a sip of water. He opened his capped drink bottle, and sipped. He stood up, and accidentally, the lid of the water bottle rolled right under Harry's bed.

Louis groaned, Harry was in the bathroom, and Louis needed the cap of the drink bottle. 

He slowly lowered his body, and began approaching under the bed. Harry needed a night light for when he wakes up at night. 

Using the light, Louis used the gleam to search for his lid, hand shovelling and touching things infront  of him. 

He felt the lid, but he also felt something else, something big, something...round, something like a ball, something like... 

Louis could recognize that touch everywhere. 

He pulled the item out.

It was his football. A little scratched, blue, and signed. 

On cue, Harry entered the room, and Louis was ready to pounce.

 "Did you steal my ball?" he expected an anhouse.

 "What?" Harry's voice cracked.

 "Harry, what is my football doing, hidden under your bed?" Louis tried to take deep breaths to calm himself.

 "Louis, it's not what you think, I just..." Harry ran out of words.

"You know how much this ball means to me!? I need this ball in my life Harry! Don't you get it!?" Harry was ashamed of himself, he hid his face and didn't look at Louis. 

 "Louis, it was just that... With that ball... You hung a lot with Zayn... And I'm not really good at football. I just felt left out... I needed your company!" Harry cried. Harry ran forward into Louis' arms, and Louis pushed him off.

 "That's not an excuse Harry. What you did was so mean," Tears welled up in both of the eyes of each boy.

 "Please Louis! It's just a ball!" Harry begged until he realized that he might have used the wrong phrasing.

 Louis shook his head left and right hard. "No, it's not Harry, you know what it is, and it is very important to me. Until you understand and apologize to me properly, I don't want to have a sleepover anymore at your house,"

 "Stop it Harry. I don't like it. That was very mean of 

"I'm sorry!" Harry went up to Louis to hug him tight.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore," Louis huffed, and sucked his way back to his house, leaving a soft curly Harry on the ground confused. 

 Did he lose his best friend ever that he had for years?