WHAT REALLY MATTERS - LARRY STYLINSON FANFICTION

Hopes and Prejudices

Harry goes on his balcony and waves until he can't see them anymore. He quickly sends Niall a text message, telling him that he got the book. Harry also sends Louis one to tell him that his family has left. A few minutes later, Niall is standing in the hallway, his hands in his pockets. Harry motions for Niall to come inside and closes the door behind him. Niall keeps his hands in his pockets, and there's a small frown on his face.

"So . . . what's up with your mum? That was kind of weird, mate."

Harry shrugs. "I don't know." He bites his lip and goes over the events of the past few hours in his mind.

"It seemed like she thought we were together or something." Niall chuckles, but they taper off when Harry doesn't join in. He rubs a hand across his face and blows out a breath. "Haven't you told her about you and Louis yet?"

Harry blushes a little. "Um . . . no? She's a little funny about people who . . . um, look like Louis. And it's really none of her business anyway," Harry argues weakly. "If I told her about Louis, she'd probably freak out." His face burns hotter when Niall looks him in the eyes. Harry breaks eye contact and sits down on the bed, staring at the floor. "I don't know, Niall. I'm not sure how to tell her, if I'm honest. And I don't really know what we are."

"Then own up to that. Don't make excuses. I'm not saying you have to tell her about Louis, but you need to tell her that we're not a thing," Niall says, gesturing between the two of them. "I mean, we're good friends and I like you a lot, but that'd never happen in a million years." He laughs, and this time Harry laughs too. "Not that you're not great but . . . you've got the wrong parts, my friend."

Harry can't help but smile at his friend. It's small, but present. "I know, I know. I didn't mean for that to happen. I've never said anything like that to her before."

"I know I'm a great catch . . . I can't really blame her," Niall jokes, pulling another laugh out of Harry. "Is your sister single?" he says jokingly, wiggling his eyebrows. Harry groans and grabs one of the pillows off his bed and throws it at Niall. Niall catches it with a laugh and tosses back onto the bed.

"How about we forget the last two hours happened and play some video games?"

Harry lets out a relieved breath and nods so the two of them settle in and start playing, losing track of time. Later in the evening, the door swings open and Louis comes in. He kicks the door closed behind him and it startles Niall enough to drop his controller. "Jesus, you scared me!" Niall cries out, clutching his chest. A second later, the music plays. "Fuck, now I've lost the game because of you!"

"Don't care," Louis says flatly, tossing his bag next to the bed. "Aren't you in the wrong room anyway?"

Niall snorts. "Don't see your name on it anywhere," he fires back. Louis turns around and glares, hard enough to make Niall shrink back. But he doesn't say anything and walks past them. "Do you want to play too?" Niall calls back.

Louis doesn't even look at him. "No," he replies flatly, his voice indicating he's not very pleased about the situation. He smokes on the balcony then he walks over and ruffles Harry's hair once before sitting down next to him. Harry can feel how tense he is, but chooses not to mention it, not wanting to make it worse. Instead, he goes back to playing. "Had fun?" he asks, not looking away from the screen.

"It was okay," is all Harry says as he's concentrating on the game. As they keep playing, he feels Louis relax little by little. The boy reaches over and squeezes Louis' knee quickly. Harry looks at him, a little confused, but doesn't say anything. Eventually, Louis leans back on his hands, his arm just barely brushing Harry's. It's a small gesture, but it makes Harry's heart jump.

They finish the level they were playing on and Niall tosses the controller to the floor. "Well, I'm beat again," he states. "I've got so much homework to finish. I'll leave you two to it." Harry knows it's not true, he's just being nice. Niall gets up and brushes off his pants with his hands. "I'll see you tomorrow at uni. You owe me a coffee, by the way for not calling you out," he says with a wink. Harry knows he's talking about ditching lessons and winks at him. "That's what friends are for, I suppose," Harry answers. "You'll get you a coffee tomorrow, even two if you like, I promise."

"Deal," Niall smiles and leaves.

"What was that all about?" Louis asks when Niall has left. His voice is noticeably softer now.

Harry sighs and looks down at his hands that are folded in his lap. "While we were out at dinner, Niall happened to be in the pub and my mum . . . kind of . . . assumed Niall and I were . . . you know . . . ," he explains, gesticulating with his hands.

"Fucking?" Louis says with a smirk.

Harry jolts back, swatting Louis arm. "Louis!" he shrieks and flushes. "Stop it!"

Louis wraps his arm around Harry's shoulder, pulls him close for a second and chuckles. "Why Niall, though?" he asks seriously.

Harry shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe because I haven't told her about you," he answers. "It was really weird." His sentence tapers off and he bites his lip. Harry doesn't want to tell Louis what his mum said about him and his friends. "I think she misunderstood-," he fumbles, but before he can get his words out, the phone rings.

He gets up and answers it, watching Louis let his head fall back on the bed. "Hello?"

"Harry! Just wanted to tell you that we go home safely," she says, "it was so good to see you today. I enjoyed having dinner with you and your friend Niall," Anne says joyfully, putting emphasis on the word "friend".

It rankles Harry a little but he doesn't react. "Glad to hear you got home safely. I enjoyed it too. I always love seeing you and Gem," he says, a little bit dismissively.

She doesn't seem to notice and barrels on. "It was even better this time, considering we got to meet Niall finally. I was calling because I was wondering if you wanted to come home this weekend and bring him along? I know Robin would love to meet him as well, and you can show him the village and everything, what do you think?"

Harry winces. "Mum . . . it's . . . not like that. I don't like . . . Niall and I aren't . . . I'm not interested in Niall that way. He's just my friend, stop talking like we're getting married." Harry can feel himself getting more and more angrily although he didn't want to react to her allusions. He glances over to Louis who is sitting back up. He raises his eyebrows. "What the fuck?" he mouths at him with a hard frown. Harry waves his hand and motions for him to wait.

"Oh but . . . Harry, he seems so nice. And a much better influence than that Louis character."

"What?"

She huffs. "Well Harry, surely you've seen all those tattoo, piercings and stuff that's stuck in his body. You know people like him are always addicted to drugs and do bad things all the time. You're too sweet to be influenced by someone like that. All he wants to do is hurting you. If you-"

"Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Harry interrupts, nearly yelling at her. "You don't even know him, or what he's been through, or anything about him! If all you're going to do is insult my friend, whom I care a lot about, then this conversation is over mum!" he nearly shouts into the speaker.

"Harry sweetie, you're exaggerating!" his mum replies. "I just want what's best for you, and I want to keep you out of harm's way. You're still so young, and there's so much you don't know," she tries to placate him.

"No mum. There's so much you don't know, and you don't want to know," he grits out. With that, he hangs up and turns the phone off, tossing it to the floor. He takes a couple of deep breaths and clenches his fists hard at his side.

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