Scared (L.S)

five

 You could say that everything between Louis and Harry returned to normal after that. However, considering the two had only really known each other for 24 hours, they didn't really have a normal. So, rather than returning to normal, they got to know each other.

Harry was still insecure and perhaps a bit too trusting, and Louis was still charming yet in denial of a certain glaring aspect of their relationship. Therefore, it was under the guise of working on their English assignment that the two began to hang out every day. Sure, some days Louis had to go right home to babysit, and some days Harry had to help his mum run errands, but the two boys still found a way to get closer, oh, and to finish their project.

Their week went well.

----

Thursday: two days after the Harry incident

"Harry." Silence.

"Harry." Silence.

"Harry."

"What?" Harry snapped, turning to face the older boy that had been trying to get his attention for at least 5 minutes. They were sitting at Harry's kitchen table after school working on their English project and, to say the least, Harry as stressed.

You see, their project was due on Monday and Louis wouldn't do any work. Sure, at first Louis was a good partner, and in theory, he had good ideas. But as they became friends, Louis began to slack off and he seemed to have a hard time focusing on actually getting the work done, always wanting to just talk to Harry.

"Nevermind, then..." Louis trailed off, turning away from Harry.

"Lou, I'm sorry," Harry whined, reaching over to put his hand on top of Louis'.

Louis just turned around, laughing, pulling his hand out from under Harry's but only to wrap his arm around his shoulder. "No, I'm sorry, you're right, we need to get this done."

Harry just nodded his head, his entire body feeling weird, almost tingly, from the extremely direct physical contact with Louis.

"So what do you think the carousel represented for Holden?" Harry asked.

Louis just groaned and let his head fall forward to rest on the table, making Harry giggle.

----

Friday

The next day the boys found themselves laughing quietly together in English class. Enough so to get them both kicked out of the classroom, their teacher not wanting to deal with the noise. So the two boys sat next to each other in the stairwell next to their class, backs resting against the wall.

Now it really wasn't their fault that they were being loud as they were practicing their presentation, which, unfortunately, resulted in Harry laughing a lot. He couldn't help it, Louis was a really funny interviewer.

However, now that they weren't in the classroom, they had fallen into silence. Sure, Harry never spoke too much, but with the way that Louis had the younger boy's hand in his, playing with his fingers, Harry couldn't focus on anything but breathing and the pounding in his heart.

The two were both sitting with their legs drawn up to their chests, and Harry was leaning his head on Louis' shoulder. "H," Louis said quietly.

"Hmmm?" Harry hummed in response, not really wanting to break the comfortable silence they were sitting in.

"I have a question for you..." Louis said quietly and Harry just nodded his head slightly to acknowledge the older boy's statement. "Your dad?"

Harry swallowed and took a deep breath. He didn't like talking about his dad. "He's, uh, not around really."