“The rain will stop, the night will end, and the hurt will fade. Hope is never so lost that it can’t be found.” –Mandy Hale
Harry had no idea where that sudden burst of confidence had come from and he would be lying if he said he didn’t like it. Around him, no one knew how to respond. They had tormented, teased, taunted, bullied this boy for so long and to have him scream in their faces was something entirely new to them. Who would stand the fuck up for themselves if they were Harry Styles? No one would, because that would only lead to more bullying; or so they thought.
“Now you leave me alone, you hear?! I don’t fucking care who you think you are! I’m not going to let you walk over me anymore. Fuck off!” Harry shouted, carelessly throwing the middle finger around. It wasn’t like him to do this kind of thing, but he was set off when one of them insulted Louis. Harry was protective over the people he cared about and Louis was no exception.
“Harry?” Harry spun around to find his boyfriend running across the sidewalk towards him.
Harry wondered why his boyfriend had a fearful expression on his face, he had this. He had this situation under control. “Louis!” He said overjoyed. Louis wrapped his arms around Harry and buried his head into Harry’s shoulder tightly, not letting Harry move.
“Are you okay?” he asked. Suspiciously, he looked behind Harry at the boys who were still shocked. “What did you do to him?” he snarled.
“N-nothing,” one of them stuttered out.
“Better have been nothing,” he muttered. Harry pulled apart from Harry and shook Louis’ body with buzzed energy.
“They really didn’t do anything, Louis! I told them to fuck off! I did it!” Louis smiled bright, a sense of pride surrounding him.
“Did you?” Louis’ eyes flickered behind the younger boy where the crowd still stayed, not moving in fear of being the other end of Louis’ wrath.
“Of course, Lou! I can’t wait to tell you all about it!” Harry prattled on and on about how amazing he was and how he took care of himself. And slowly, Louis moved away from the crowd and pulled Harry along with him towards his car.
“And they were saying mean things about you! I didn’t like it and no one should be able to say mean things about you, so I decided to tell them off,” Harry said, nuzzling into Louis’ hair as they hugged near Louis’ car. “I’d never let anyone get away with being rude to you or insulting you, ever.”
Harry let go of Louis and got into the car, moving his bag to his lap. As Louis turned the engine on, Harry went through different music stations until he found one that he listened to—his favourite one. It wasn’t much, mostly Harry’s odd taste in music, according to his sister, but it was his favourite and he wanted to share that with Louis.
When Harry thought about it, he realized that truly there wasn’t much that Louis knew about him. He knew that he suffered from self-harm, some form of depression and maybe in a way suicidal thoughts, but it wasn’t anything more than that. Harry had started to let himself believe it when Louis would stay with him and reassure him that things were okay and he liked believing it. And because Louis was now a part of Harry’s life that Harry didn’t want to get rid of, it was time that Louis started to get to know the real Harry; the Harry who liked really odd music, tacos and singing in front of his mirror when he was feeling very at ease.
The Harry he was before.
“What song is this?” Louis asked, quickly glancing at Harry.
“Oh, it’s one of my favourite songs; it’s called Your Bones by Of Monsters and Men. I don’t know if you’d like it or not but this station is one of my favourites. You don’t mind, right?” Harry snuck a look at Louis and when he found that Louis was looking at him (it was a red light, all is safe), he blushed.
“Yeah, I like it. It’s cute.” Louis smiled and turned to face the road as the light turned green.
Harry happily stared out his window, grinning with a slight red highlighting his cheeks. He read the name of a familiar street and asked Louis if they could drop by his house. Sure, Louis and Harry were … something but his mom hadn’t ever met Louis and she was still a bit hesitant. She was curious about Louis and now, Harry was sure that he was ready for the Take Your Boyfriend to Meet the Parents stage of all this.
“You want me to come in, or just drop you off and pick you up later?” Louis asked.
“Come in, please?” Harry hoped Louis would say yes but he could sense the hesitancy in Louis’ eyes. When Louis chirped out a “sure”, Harry was ecstatic. He couldn’t wait for his mom to meet Louis.
Harry unlocked the door with his key and walked in, dropping his bag at the side of the couch. Taking Louis’ hand, he led him to the kitchen. He could hear the sound of the shower upstairs and figured that his mom was probably taking a shower. He opened the fridge and pulled out two cans of orange juice. He handed one to Louis and sat down on one of the high chairs.
Louis moved in between Harry’s legs and put his forehead against Harry’s. Both closed their eyes and softly kissed. It wasn’t something utterly romantic or adorable—though many people would contradict that—it was more of a comfort thing. That one little brush of lips held a small promise that neither will leave. They were there for each other for however long that they existed.
They broke apart and Harry started to talk about how the unexciting part of his day went. Louis listened with genuine interest, either wanting to listen or just be mesmerized with the way Harry’s lips moved. Probably the second one.
After a while, the sound of a woman gently calling out, “Harry?” rang out and Harry jumped up. He walked over to the stairs and he told his mom that he was downstairs and that Louis was over. Anne ran down the stairs faster than anyone in the Olympics.
“Louis’ here?” She asked, mildly excited.
“Yeah, he wanted to meet you and I really wanted him to meet you!” Harry led his mom to Louis, who stood up and went over to shake her hand. Anne speculated Louis for a second before she took Louis’ hand and smiled very brightly.
“Hi Louis, I’m Anne!” She hugged Harry to her side. “Harry never stops talking about you these days. Sometimes I feel like his music is replaced by you.”
“Really? Well, I better feel pretty freaking special since Haz is basically addicted to his music, isn’t he?” Anne nodded, giggling a bit behind her hand.
A few hours found themselves on the couch, laughing and drinking tea while sharing really funny stories of things Harry had done. Harry had a constant blush that never went away. Anne had started to talk about things Harry and Zayn had done when they were younger. Louis laughed through all of it, constantly nudging Harry’s stomach.
When the tea ran out, Harry jumped up at the chance to escape from this teasing trauma, leaving Louis and Anne alone.
“So, Harry tells me you guys met at a coffee shop? That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” Louis nodded, a bit confused. He, then, figured out that Harry must not have told her that he was going to see a therapist and that Louis, himself, was the therapist. “Gemma wants to meet someone in a bookstore. She’s such a romantic, you know? I wish she could find someone just like you! You’re so sweet.”
Louis smiled and kindly replied back whatever he thought was effective at that point. He didn’t want to seem selfish but the truth was the only thing that was running through his mind was that Harry didn’t tell his mom the truth. And he wanted Harry to. He felt like it was something that would make him and Harry would feel better if they didn’t have much to hide.
On the car ride to Louis’, Louis brought it up. At first, he was hesitant but then he figured “why the heck not?!”
“So, Harry, your mom thinks that we met at a coffee shop, why is that?” The direct approach was the best, right?
“Oh.”
Louis glanced at Harry from the corner of his eyes and found his boyfriend biting his lips and looking downcast at his jeans. He lifted his free hand off of his lap and put it on Harry’s knee. “You don’t have to tell me, sweetheart, but I want to know. I’m not mad, promise.”
“I-I just didn’t really want her to know that I was going through … things. It would make her feel bad and I-I ju-just wanted her to be okay. And not know about it. If she doesn’t know, it’s better.” Louis could hear Harry’s voice crack, so he pulled over to the side and let Harry cry into his arms. He knew that that was one thing that Harry truly needed.
“It’s okay, Harry, but I’d like it if we tell your mom some time, yeah?” Harry nodded into Louis’ chest.
“Harry!” Niall squealed when Harry walked in behind Louis into the apartment. “How are you?!” Niall jumped over and ran to him, hugging the life out of him.
“I’m great! Why are you so jumpy?” Harry chuckled.
“I have great news for you, but first, I just want to ask if you brought me food? Did you? Because I kinda sent Louis a bazillion texts asking him to grab some Chinese home but then I thought that he probably didn’t. But did he?” Niall looked around Harry and Louis and his face fell when he realized that neither carried a bit of dinner.
“Nah, no one wanted to buy anything for you, Niall. In my defense, I forgot that you texted me. I was talking to Anne, Harry’s mom, and I kinda didn’t want to be rude and check the text.” Louis passed by Niall, dragging Harry by interlocking their fingers, and ruffled Niall’s hair as he passed.
“What’s the news, buddy?” Harry asked, sitting down on the couch next to Louis.
“I heard that you had some trouble finding a job? Well, I know that you’re a hardworking student and I know that you’re trustworthy so I decided to find you a job. And where I work, there was an opening and I applied and you got it. Is that okay?”
Harry didn’t know how to respond. He grinned before jumping on Niall and hugging him, whispering “thank you” over and over again.
He finally had a job.
His life was finally working out.
I am so insanely sorry for the really late update but I have been so busy. I hope this makes up for it. I love you guys so much and thank you for the 100 000 + reads and over 550 fans. You guys are the best.
-Lyn [Amy is somewhere nearby]