The day after Andrew had shown up and surprised Harry, he took him to meet Florence who was surprisingly not impressed.
She pulled him aside, leaving Andrew with Niall. "What about Louis?" She hissed.
"What about Louis? He doesn't even like me like that."
"Well, showing up with your ex-boyfriend or ex-husband or whatever is going to be really awkward considering he doesn't even know you're gay."
"I don't want them to meet. Besides, Andrew is only here for a few days before he's leaving."
"Are you gonna leave with him though?" Florence crossed her arms, clearly mad for some reason.
"No way. I'm staying here where it's quiet." He looked over to Andrew who was sitting next to Niall, not even paying attention to Harry.
"Harry, you told me yourself that you two were toxic together." Florence now looked concerned.
"Oh calm down, I was sixteen when I last saw him which was nearly three years ago. I just want to spend some time with him before I probably never see him again."
"Don't tell me to calm down." The volume of her voice went up a bit.
"But you need to."
"No, I do not. You need to get over this silly little infatuation and get over him. Stop romanticising this."
"I am over him. But you know, old feelings bubbling up now. I didn't invite him here."
Florence hesitated. "Is he the one who beat you up?"
"What? No! He would never! Apparently it was Ray."
"I'm gonna kill that bastard right after I kill Andrew."
"That's lovely, darling, it really is. But I'm gonna leave you and go have some mind-blowing sex for the next few days, and I'll see you again when he leaves." Harry winked at her and walked over to Andrew.
He grabbed his hand and said goodbye to Niall before leaving the house and following Andrew back to his hotel.
(ok and that's a wrap on andrew, bye bff)
***
After a hazy few days in Andrew's hotel room, Harry made his way back to his own house and slept in his cold bed, feeling content and bittersweet that he now had closure on their relationship and that it was finally over.
He spent the next few days alone, writing songs and reading his poetry books, leaving his room every now and again to make himself a sandwich or talk to his mum. Gemma wasn't there half the time because apparently, she was going out with some guy and wouldn't tell Harry who.
Louis had come by a few days after Harry got back, staring at the healing bruises on his face for a few minutes, before walking away and watching something on the tv.
"So, uh, Ni, when are they doing the time capsule thing?" Louis asked. "I wanna come and see."
Niall looked at Harry and then Louis and laughed loudly. "Y-You, you, you want to come to something that involves school? That involves this place?"
"Yeah? I dunno." Louis shrugged and handed Niall his meal. "It'll give me something to do."
Niall laughed again. "All you do is paint, drink, and hang out with Harry."
Louis shrugged again. "Spending time with my friends."
"Nope."
"What do you want from me?" Louis put his apron on the hook, placing his name tag in his pocket and grabbing his bag.
"Nothing." Niall put his hands up in surrender. "Just curious."
"Good. Can we drop this now?" Louis sat down beside Harry and dropped his head into his arms.
Niall raised his eyebrows at Harry just as Florence gently set down a strawberry milkshake in front of Louis, tapping the straws against his arms, making him look up.
Louis grabbed the curly straw.
Harry stared at the back of his hands were balled up on the counter, focusing solely on the trippy song that was playing over the speakers.
'Something bad is 'bout to happen to me
I don't know what, but I feel it coming
Might be so sad, might leave my nose running
I just hope she don't wanna leave me
Don't you give me up, please don't give up
On me, I belong, with you, and only you, baby
Only you, my girl, only you, babe
Only you, darling, only you, babe.'
He could distantly hear people talking and moving around him, but he couldn't take what seemed to be his undying attention off of the back of his trembling hands.
'Something bad is 'bout to happen to me
Why I feel this way I don't know maybe
I think of her so much it drives me crazy
I just don't want her to leave me
Don't you give me up, please don't give up
On me, I belong with you, and only you, baby
Only you, my girl, only you, babe
Only you, darling, only you, babe.'
He flinched harshly when a cold hand was placed on his wrist, yet he still kept on staring and listening to the hypnotic bass that seemed to only get louder in his ears.
'What if she's fine?
It's my mind that's wrong
And I just let bad thoughts
Linger for far too long
What if she's fine?
It's my mind that's wrong
And I just let bad thoughts
Linger for far too long.'
His vision blurred and his head spun like how it felt when he was on a good nicotine high; though this was an unpleasant dizziness that made his stomach churn.
"Harry." Someone said, their voice echoing in his head.
"Is he alright?" Someone else spoke.
"I'm sure he's fine. I'm gonna take him home-"
"I need to go." Harry blinked out of his trancelike state and stood up, holding onto the backs of the chairs as he stumbled out of the building.
He swayed down the busy street, pressing the heels of his hands into his temples to try and stop his head from tilting so he didn't fall. Yet he ended up almost falling over as he swayed sideways into an alley further down the road. He collapsed onto his side and rolled onto his back, feeling his stomach churn and his head spin.
"Harry-"
"No."
"Harry, get up."
"I can't."
"You need to."
"No."
"No, seriously, there are rats."
Harry sighed and let himself be pulled to his feet. He opened his eyes and looked at Louis whose eyes were wide with worry.
"You should go." Harry pushed himself off of Louis and continued to walk out of the alley.
"What happened?" Louis asked, following Harry down the street.
"Nothing. I just-"
"Harry, let's just get you ho-"
"No." Harry snapped and stopped walking, his shoulders and neck tensing. "D-Don't say that word."
"Alright, fine."
The two went silent until Harry scoffed and walked off, ignoring the bile rising up his throat.
***
Harry went back to work a few days after, the swelling and bruising having gone down some in the past week. During one of his shifts, Anthony spotted Ray walking into the pub dressed in his conspicuous metal toed shoes and black outfit, so Anthony went over and punched him in the nose before shoving him outside, none of the other staff members batting an eye.
A week before Harry's birthday, he went back into his unhealthy mindset where he locked himself in his room with no sunlight; just a bottle of sleeping pills and water.
Anne had entered his room on his actual birthday with french toast and a candle stuck through the top. She sang him happy birthday quietly in the stillness of the dark room and they both smiled as he blew out the candle.
She placed her hand on the side of his head and placed a lingering kiss on his forehead before pulling back and smiling sheepishly at him.
"Are you okay?" She whispered.
Harry shook his head. "I don't know."
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
"Not really, no."
Anne nodded glumly. "Louis came by a few days ago, again the day after, and yesterday."
"Not today?"
"He's in the living room."
Harry nodded and poked his foot out of his warm bedsheets.
"Come say hello. You need to leave this room, it smells like feet." Anne stood up and opened his blinds and window, Harry cowering under his thin sheet against the harsh light.
She then grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills and left the room, leaving Harry with his face smushed into the pillow.
He left his room a few minutes later after showering and putting on some clean clothes, and walked into the kitchen, seeing Anne in the kitchen cracking eggs into a bowl.
"Where's Lou?" He asked and stood beside her.
"He's just run off to get some flour," Anne replied as she washed her hands.
She turned around and leant against the bench, tilting her head to the side and pursing her lips.
"You like him, don't you?" She asked.
"Who? Louis? He's my best mate, of course I like him." Harry deflected.
"No, darling, no. You like him as more than a friend, I can tell." She stepped closer to him and ran her hands through his wet fringe.
"I don't-"
"I can tell because you look at him like he holds the sun in the palms of his hands."
"Mum-"
"Don't say anything," She placed her polished finger over his lips. "I'll know. Gemma and your two friends who came by the other week will also know."
Harry stared at her for a minute and opened his mouth to speak, when the front door opened and Louis came stumbling in.
"Oh, you're up." His eyebrows shot up in surprise, yet he smiled.
"I am up, yes," Harry responded.
Louis nodded awkwardly. "I got you flowers." He pulled a bouquet of white and blue lilacs from behind his back and held them out. "Happy birthday."
"Thank you."
Harry watched as Louis walked towards the kitchen, sitting down on one of the stools whilst placing the bouquet and shopping bag on the bench.
Somewhere from behind him, Harry could hear Anne getting a vase from the cabinet. "They're lovely, thank you." She grinned at Louis and kissed his temple.
Anne left the two of them so Harry continued to cook himself pancakes as Louis read a gardening magazine, biting the skin around his thumb; everything was silent except for the sizzling from the stove, the occasional sniff or throat clearing, and Louis turning the pages of the magazine.
Just as Harry had finished the last batch of pancakes, Louis decided to speak. "Are you wearing my shirt?" Harry looked up at Louis who was looking down the hallway.
Harry turned to face the hallway, seeing a confused Gemma peering down at the orange 'I'd love to fellate George Harrison' shirt she was wearing.
"Harry, Gemma's wearing your shirt," Louis whined.
Harry ignored him and handed him a plate of pancakes, sliding the maple syrup bottle over to him. "Eat." He instructed.
"Ok, mom." Louis snarked back in an accent as Gemma sat beside him.
Harry rolled his eyes and handed Gemma her plate of food before getting one for himself.
They all ate in relative silence. Louis was still flicking through the magazine as he ate, Gemma was reading a poetry book she had borrowed from Harry that she had to study for one of her classes, and Harry was staring at the pretty bouquet that was placed next to a support beam on the bench.
Harry finished his breakfast first so he washed his plate before heading back to his room to sleep until his door opened up again and Louis came in.
"Can I stay here?" He asked shyly.
"You don't have to ask, I've told you that." Harry turned onto his side and faced the wall.
He could hear Louis shuffling around behind him, most likely pulling on one of Harry's large hoodies.
"You took my pillow," Louis stated as he sat down.
"Yeah," Harry admitted. "I know."
"That's alright." Louis sighed and laid down behind him. "I'll just take your pillow then."
Again, there was silence; even as Louis' delicate finger traced lightly over Harry's back, though his touch disappeared as quickly as it came.
***
"Why the fuck are Tweedledee and Tweedledum sitting on my couch?" Harry called out from the hallway, staring at two preteen girls sitting on the couch.
Craig then came jogging through the front door in a hideous blueish-grey Adidas tracksuit. "These are my beautiful daughters." He grinned.
Harry looked back at the two girls who were ogling at him, looking disgustingly like their father.
"Why?"
"I brought them down to visit."
"No." Harry crossed his arms, leaning against the wall.
"Yes." Craig placed his hands on his hips, his sweat patches prominent.
"You look like a wanker, no."
"Yes. They're my daughters and I brought them here."
"No."
Craig scoffed. "Yes, Harry."
"No. Get my name out of your mouth."
Louis then decided that it was a fantastic time to exit Harry's room with a towel hung low around his waist.
The two girls looked between the two, seeming undecided on who they wanted to settle their eyes on.
"Yes." Craig sighed impatiently.
"No." Harry mocked him.
"What are you two tossers whining about?" Louis whispered.
"Abra and Cadabra over there on the couch," Harry whispered back.
Louis leant forward and winked at the girls before turning back to Harry. "They're sitting in my spot." He hissed. "I vote no."
"Oh come on." Craig laughed. "They're my daughters, they're staying."
"No." Louis crossed his arms, his towel slipping.
Harry quickly reached down and awkwardly pulled his towel up before it slipped even lower, and adjusted it on his hips.
"Thanks, love." Louis grinned at him. "No." He turned back to Craig before either could answer.
Harry smiled awkwardly and walked back into his room to shower, leaving Louis and Craig to argue the same two words back and forth because Louis is a stubborn bastard who will not back down from an argument.
***
That same night of February 2nd, Anne forced Harry out of the house and basically dragged him out to a restaurant for her and Craig's anniversary dinner with Gemma and his weird daughters.
So Harry was sat in between Chimi and Changa for five hours as Craig gushed about them endlessly and how they were academic fucking scholars at their school.
"What's your Instagram?" Glitter asked.
"Yeah, what is it? We can follow you." Sparkle piped up.
"Oh, sure. My username is DavidBeckham. One word." Harry deadpanned and continued to send creepy pick-up lines to a weirded out Niall as Mary-Kate and Ashley sighed in frustration.
"So, Harry." Craig set his cutlery down somewhat quietly. "How's school?"
"Oh, schools great." Harry smiled before Anne could intervene. "In music class, we're learning how to play the drums, but I don't know why we need to learn how to hit shit with sticks to make sounds when I fuck someone with my stick and get them to make better sounds." He laughed. "It completely baffles me."
Anne sighed in frustration and pinched her nose bridge whilst Gemma laughed quietly into her shoulder, and Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkly blushed and giggled.
"Don't be a smartass, Harry." Anne frowned. "This is a family dinner, please control your vulgar language and your sexual jokes."
"A family dinner? Then where the fuck is my father? Oh, that's right, he's fucking dead because of you two." Harry grinned. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to find a church and light a fucking candle because of his death which oh so conveniently happened six years ago today."
He stood up and threw his napkin down onto his untouched meal. "Did you forget that he died today? Because it seems like you forgot that I'm allergic to shellfish yet you ordered me shellfish whilst I was giving some random guy a blow job in the bathroom."
"Harry, sit down." Anne sighed.
"Razzle, Dazzle, hope I never see you two again. Gemma, see you back at the house after Luke and Leia have finished fucking like rabbits. Goodbye." He saluted them and walked quickly out of the overpriced restaurant.
He shoved his hands into his coat pockets and strolled down the brightly lit street towards the church which was on the next street over. He passed a few familiar faces, some of them smiling and saying hi, but Harry kept his pissed off look resting on his face as he walked.
He quickly found himself standing outside the polished church, staring up at the cross on the roof.
"Fucking shit." He whispered to himself and walked up the stairs and into the dimly lit building.
He walked down the aisle, ignoring all the old people sitting in the pews, and stepped up to the table of candles. He stared at the candles, some lit and some not, and rolled his eyes.
"Dad, you fucking asshole." He pulled out his lighter, shaking his head. "You killed yourself which made me start killing myself and you brought that fucking knob Clark here. I wouldn't be on my way to die at twenty-one if it weren't for you, you fucking cockhead." He flicked his lighter on and lit a candle.
"Well said."
"Fuck off." Harry laughed and turned around, looking at Louis who sat in the front row.
"Go on then, light another. For yourself, yeah?"
Harry rolled his eyes again and lit another candle.
"Oh, and light one for me too."
"That's not how this works, Lou."
"Well if you go, I'll go. Together, yeah?"
Harry's smile was small, but it was there. Yet he lit another candle and sat down beside Louis who sent him a dazzling grin.
"What's wrong?"
Harry shrugged. "Mum's a bitch because she ordered me shellfish."
"You can't eat shellfish, though."
"Exactly," Harry mumbled, nodding solemnly. "She forgot dad died and decided to order me shellfish in compensation, probably hoping to get rid of me too."
Louis shook his head and leant back into the bench.
"I need to get out of here." Harry held his head in his hands.
"Soon." Louis squeezed his shoulder.
***
Harry opened his eyes slowly, looking at the Johnny Depp poster above him. He lolled his head over to look at Florence who was sleeping beside him on her stomach.
"Wanna swap bodies?" He whispered.
"No." She sighed tiredly. "Penises are cumbersome."
"But I have a nice one."
"I know you do, Harold." She checked her phone before putting it back down. "You know, if I gave you a hickey, it would totally make Louis jealous." She stated randomly.
"I don't know. That sounds kind of weird."
"What's weird about one friend sucking on another friends neck?" She frowned and sat up.
"Well when you put it that way, it doesn't sound that weird at all," Harry said sarcastically.
"Yeah, it's not." She continued. "I gave Claire a hickey to make Ray jealous and it totally did."
Harry stared at her. "I'm not letting you give me a hickey, that's fucking weird." He laughed as his phone rang.
"It's not weird."
Harry didn't check the caller ID as he picked it up, already assuming that it was Louis calling that early in the morning.
"Yeah, what?" He said into the phone.
"Oh, Harry, surprised you picked up." Barf, never mind, not Louis. "Before you hang up on me, I need to ask a favour."
"No."
"Can you watch the girls for the day? Your mum and I are going out."
"No, they're fucking weird little paedophile children."
Craig sighed, seeming to be his default reaction when it came to Harry. "I'll give you twenty bucks an hour."
Harry hesitated, actually considering the offer. "You're going to make me babysit your kids? I'm on drugs."
"I just need you to hang around the house for a few hours and make sure they don't make a mess."
"I have better things to do than watch your creepy children."
"Come back for round four, babe," Florence said in a lustful tone whilst also keeping a straight face pointed at her phone screen.
Craig went silent as Harry stifled a laugh into his hand. "Oh.. I-I thought.."
"You thought what?" Harry grinned.
"I thought you.. swung the other way?"
"What? You thought I liked to sleep with men?" He laughed loudly. "God, you really are a dickhead. How dare you assume such things about me."
"I-I'm so sorry, Harry." Craig gasped.
Niall then walked into the room with a big grin and a bag of doughnuts and tea.
"Niall, come to join Harry and I for another round?" Florence held out her arms.
Niall set the food down on the table and jumped on the bed. "As ready as I'll ever be. Harry you sexy minx, looking so good, even after what we did." He slapped Harry's bum, making him squirm away.
"I'll let you go now, Harry," Craig said quickly and hung up.
Harry's phone rang again and this time it was actually Louis.
"What?"
"I'm fucking bored, let's go out."
"It's eleven o'clock. I'm tired."
"Get off your butt and come back to your house."
"So you can do what? Help me torch all of Carl's clothes and hang his children from the ceiling?"
"The first part, yeah. Don't know how the cops would feel about murder though."
"Fine. I'll be there soon." Harry hung up and jumped out of the bed, taking his tea and the bag of doughnuts, leaving Florence and Niall to make out by themselves.
He waved goodbye to Toby and Rose who were eating in the kitchen and left their house before making his way to the junkyard to hop on the train back to his own house.
***
"Woah, woah, slow down there, Bon Jovi." Louis held up the dripping mop in his hands as Harry came jogging into the house. "Slippery when wet."
"Why are you mopping?" Harry toed off his Converse and set his keys down in the bowl.
"Because no one else will." Louis continued to mop the scuffed kitchen tiles.
"Fair enough." Harry walked over to the counter and sat on the far stool.
"My chair," Louis stated.
"Yeah, I can tell by the imprint of your tiny fucking ass I'm sitting on."
"Haha, funny." Louis rolled his eyes. "You don't know shit about my ass which is about ten times bigger than yours."
It was now Harry's turn to roll his eyes and pull out his pack of cigarettes, only to have it snatched away. "Hey!"
"No smoking in the house." Louis sprayed something smelling like lavenders in his face.
"You're so annoying." He snatched his carton back and walked outside.
He ignored Freckles and Speckles who were sunbathing on the grass wearing the tiniest bikinis possible, and lit himself a cigarette and stared at the shapes in the clouds.
The door soon slid open and then closed behind him, Louis' arms then snaked around his shoulders in a makeshift hug before stealing the cigarette from in between his fingers.
"Thing One and Thing Two over there do realise that they're way underage and that we would never get with them, right?" Louis chuckled.
Harry glanced over to where the two girls were lounging in indecent positions, sending the two boys keen looks from the grass.
"Gross." Harry looked away, cringing.
"Yeah," Louis whispered and sat down in front of him. "You coming to that dumb thing tomorrow?"
"The time capsule? Why not. Anything to get me away from Jack and Jill."
"Alright, well, we'll leave here at like one, and the thing apparently starts at four. So we'll get lunch and get high before we go."
"Oh my god, are you two seriously not married yet?" Gemma's voice spoke up.
"What do you mean."
"Oh, let's go on a date before we go on another date!" She mimicked Louis in a high pitched voice. "Yeah, and after that, we can go on another date and then maybe another and then we'll go and fuck in our secret fucking spot!" She then mimicked Harry's deep voice.
"You're so fucking weird." Harry flicked his cigarette to the ground and Louis stomped it out.
Gemma motioned dramatically to the gesture. "Also like, if you're going to wear the least possible clothes, you might wanna have an ass and some tits." She gestured to the girls who were still laying on the grass, this time on their stomachs. "Like, c'mon. Fucking twelvie skanks." She shook her head and walked back inside.