He and Niall are having a kick around at the school's football pitch. Harry has a doctor's appointment at the moment and playing a friendly game sounded better than sitting at home waiting for him to be done. The moment the appointment was through though Louis would be making his way to Harry's house to see him.
"I just don't know if I feel the same Ni. I've never felt it before so how am I meant to know it's the real thing?" He explains to Niall what Harry told him the other day as they're kicking the ball around. Louis knows he probably shouldn't have told Niall before talking to Harry but he was too confused. He needed his best friend's advice.
"I guess that's a big part of love. Never knowing but knowing it's out there." Louis ducks when the ball nearly gets him in the face. "Sorry mate." Louis waves him off before going to the ball. "I like Harry. I really do it's just, I don't know if I love him." "Didn't you say you've never felt this way about anyone before?" Niall traps the ball when it's kicked back to him. "Well yeah." "Maybe that thing you've never felt before is love?" Louis thinks for a moment. "I-I'm not sure Ni."
"Listen, I think you should talk to Harry about this." Louis opens his mouth to say something but Niall speaks first, "I know you weren't meant to hear what Harry said but obviously it's something you have to talk about." "What do I say then? 'Listen I know you love me but I don't know if I feel it back.'?"
Niall sighs, "Okay maybe you should just wait." "Yeah." Louis chuckles and takes the ball back, "I'm just going to see what happens. Harry didn't say it directly to me yet so I've got time to think about it until he does." "And Lou even if he does he'll understand if you don't say it back. Harry's sweet and obviously he's crazy about you. If you explain it to him then he'll understand."
Louis nods. Harry isn't one to judge people or look badly on them. He may be discouraged but he wouldn't be upset at Louis for not saying it back. "Thanks Ni. I knew I could talk to you. Even though you're like a brick when it comes to this stuff." "'A brick'?" "Shut up." He laughs before kicking the ball back to him. "I'm going to uni to study medicine but apparently I'm a brick when it comes to human emotion." "Shut up!" Louis repeats as he repeatedly punches Niall on the arm. Niall runs away with the ball laughing at Louis' expense. They continue with their game, Louis feeling a lot better about his current situation with Harry.
*
Harry doesn't go home right away. How can he go home when Louis' birthday is in three days and he hasn't gotten him a gift yet? Not to mention Christmas is in four. Anne drops him off at Liam's house who is already waiting on the pavement for his friend. "Hi Liam." Anne says happily through the car window when she comes to a stop. "Hi Anne are you well?" "I am, Harry had a good check up." She indicated to her son who was in the passenger seat, "Thank you for taking him to get his Christmas gifts. I have to get back to work." Liam waved her off, "I have to do a bit of shopping for my family as well."
"Liam, are you done talking to my mum like a forty year old?" Harry joked from the other side of the car. "Ha-ha. Funny Hazz. It'll be ever funnier when I guide you into the woman's toilets." Harry held his tongue making Anne snicker. "Have fun you two." She says as Harry gets out in a huff. He stays put until Liam guides him away from the car for Anne to pull away from the curb. "So what's Louis doing today?" Liam asks as he helps Harry over to his car. "Why do you assume I know what Louis is doing?" Harry sasses. They get in the car and Liam snorts, "Since when are you the sassy one? I think Louis is rubbing off on you." "Shut up." Harry laughs as he finally finds his seatbelt.
"And that kid is attached to your hip. It would be odd if you didn't know what he was doing honestly." He starts the car and Harry hesitates before admitting, "He's playing football with Niall." "Ah ha!" Liam shouted triumphantly earning a whack from Harry but he missed and got the driver's seat instead. "Damn it." Harry mutters leaving Liam to snicker at him.
*
"There are exits on either sides of us Hazz but there are a few tables and chairs scattered around so be careful not to trip over anything." Liam explains a little while later as they're just sitting down for some lunch. Harry nodded, more at ease that he knows what his surroundings are like now. Liam has been trying to help him find the perfect birthday gift for Louis but Harry's mind is a blank honestly. He knows Louis isn't even expecting anything but Harry wanted to make his birthday special.
"I can tell you're overthinking it." Liam says after watching Harry just play with his chips. "I am. I just want to get him something special you know?" "You want something that says 'Hey I like you and you mean a lot to me, happy birthday'." "Exactly." "And not something that says, 'I'm so stupidly head over heels in love with you'." Liam sipped his hot chocolate with a cheeky look even though Harry could't see him. Harry's eyes went wide and he had a small heart attack, trying to process what Liam has just said. He hasn't told anyone.
"H-How-?" Harry stutters with a dry mouth but Liam cuts him off, "Please Harry. I see you everyday, all day. I've become a set of eyes for you. Just the way you are around him, the way you talk to him, and even the way you look at him and that's saying a lot considering you can't even see the boy. You're just different. You're happier and it's like your whole world stands still when he touches you or talks to you. It's like nothing else matters when he's by your side." Harry smiled goofily. Everything Liam was saying was completely true.
"Zayn can see it too." Liam continued, "You'd have to be blind to not-shit. Sorry. Sorry. If that's not putting my foot in my mouth then I don't know what is." Harry waved him off, "It's a figure of speech." He was far too happy to care about anything else at the moment. He was sure he loved Louis and now having his friend know felt like a huge weight had been lifted off him.
"Why didn't you say anything before?" Harry asked after a moment. "Because I wasn't completely sure and I didn't want to say shit like that until I knew. You freaking out of a little present confirmed it. That and all day it's been 'Louis, Louis, Louis'." Harry laughed with a hand over his mouth in embarrassment.
"I swear! Even when we're talking about something so far from Louis you just-" "I get it!" Harry laughed again and went to whack him but he missed again and spilt over his hot chocolate. Liam jumped up to stop it from getting on his jeans. "What?" Harry asked, "What happened?" "You need to stop trying to hit me because you just fuck it up every time." Liam snickered, "You spilt the hot chocolate."
"Shit I'm so sorry." "It's alright Hazz. You don't have to get up, it's not dripping on your side. Will you be okay here for a moment while I get more napkins?" "Yeah I'll be fine. You already told me what the room looks like." "Be right back." Liam assured and gave Harry's shoulder a comforting squeeze before going to look for more napkins. Harry sat back, somewhat enjoying the smell of the hot chocolate that was spread over the table. He always finds a way to make a mess of things. That was another frustrating thing about the blindness. He always had to be careful in fear of doing something dumb like this.
Just then he felt something press onto his lips, unmistakably another person's lips. He jumped back and raised his fist to punch the person but they captured his wrist to stop him. "This would've been the second time you've hit me for kissing you." Harry hears Louis' voice. "Louis!" He said excitedly and stood up, immediately engulfing him in a hug that left the older lad stumbling. "Hi Love." Louis chuckled, "Excited to see me?" "Figuratively, yes." Considering Harry can't actually see him. "Smart ass." Louis sasses back and the two pull away.
"Stop kissing me like that! I don't want to keep hitting you." Harry jokingly yells. "What do you want me to do? Announce through a megaphone every time I'm about to kiss you?" "No, but a little warning would be nice." "I was trying to be cute and romantic." "That's about as cute and romantic as a peeping tom."
"Hey, you have let me watch you get changed so I think you've missed out on the peeping tom jokes." Harry opened his mouth to fight back but he couldn't come up with anything. He knew Louis won their banter when he brought up the fact that he let Louis watch him get changed. "Shut up." Wass all he came up with making Louis laugh loudly.
"What happened here?" Louis asked as he helped Harry find his seat again. He pulled up a third chair since the other was covering in the hot chocolate. Harry knew he was talking about the mess he made. "I um, I kind of spilt hot chocolate." "Smooth." He says sarcastically which pinching Harry's cheek. Harry slaps his hand away playfully. "I thought you were playing football with Niall?" "We were but we finished and I went home and showered and went to see you but your mum said you've gone out with Liam. I was going to wait but I um, I missed you too much." Harry blushed slightly. Yup. He was definitely in love with this boy.
"Where's Liam?" Harry was about to answer but Louis spoke again, "Never mind there he is. Hey Li." "Hey Lou." Harry heard Liam's voice followed by the ruffling of paper he guessed were the napkins. "Cleaning up Harold's messes I see." Louis teased as he helped. "Always." Liam teased Harry as well. "Why're you guys attacking me?" Harry pouted making Louis kiss him to make him happy again. Anything to make his Harry happy. Even though he couldn't see Harry still managed to look at Louis like he was his whole world. That was exactly the case in Harry's opinion. He was just so in love with the boy sat right next to him.
Louis could see the difference now too. Before he just waved Harry's attachment off as what he believed to be; purely platonic. But now that he knows about Harry's feelings he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. Harry definitely looks at him in a more 'I love you' way. He gripped onto Louis' arm, smiling happily once he was in contact with him.
Yeah. Harry definitely loves him. Louis thought. And yeah, Louis is an idiot for not seeing it before, but an even bigger idiot for still not knowing how he felt. He felt like it should be simple but the whole concept of love had always been confusing to him. Harry could be an exception to that though.