part two
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louis taps his bare foot as he waits for the lift to get to his floor. he knows jesy is going to be teed off and jesy is kinda terrifying when she gets protective. the lift stops with its classic shady jolt and louis bolts out of it as soon as the doors are opened, apologizing to his neighbors as he runs by them.
he sighs in defeat when he reaches 7H. the door is cracked open and jesy only leaves the door cracked as a warning to louis that he's in for it when he gets home. "jes? i'm home!," louis shouts, dumping his heels on the table. maybe leigh-anne could fix them, she's a miracle worker with these things and those shoes were £250.
when he doesn't get a reply, he knows he's really in for it. with only three rooms to the whole flat, it's generally easy to find someone. he peeks in their conjoined bedroom with no luck, opens the bathroom to find it empty, and trudges into the living-room sadly, his head hung.
so here he finds her. britain's next top model paused on the tv. she's facing him with raised eyebrows and crossed arms. he sighs. she paused b.n.t.m.. "where have you been?," she says strictly. louis would be annoyed with her if he wasn't treated the way he is and if she didn't know the way that he's treated.
he plops down on the couch and smiles when jesy's shirt flows down around him. he really like this shirt. jesy's cough makes him look up guiltily. "i broke a heel. and a boy helped me up. i missed my bus because i was late, and now i'm here," he says, purposefully leaving out certain details.
it's like she can smell secrets. "details," she demands.
louis blushes a little and smiles and jesy's demeanor calms down knowing that he wasn't fallen victim of anything. "i accidentally knocked into a boy, his name's... okay! it was harry, and we fell. literally. my heel broke and my lipstick smeared. he, um, he fixed it for me. and he was gentle, he didn't grab at me like everyone else does. he - ha - he told me that he thinks i'm pretty and i ran off," louis says, twisting the material of his shirt between his fingers.
jesy squawks at him and slaps his arm. "you goon! a decent guy finally takes notice in you and you bolt? genius!," she scoffs, turning away from him and pressing play on the remote. louis chuckles quietly to himself and agrees with her, rubbing at his stinging arm.
he wants to say something else, maybe about the fact that he couldn't even stand the bloke 5 hours ago, but he doesn't. "i'm going to the room," he says instead, and jesy waves her hand in the air. louis scowls at her and goes back to their bedroom, immediately shuffling through his side of the wardrobe for some nightly wear. he's not going straight to bed, it's only five o'clock, but he's gonna sleep in whatever he changes into. "hey, jes, do you know where my killers shirt is - never mind, it's right here!," louis calls, taking off his blouse first.
he sighs in relief, removing the tight shirt he wore today. it's very pretty, but kind of uncomfortable to wear for extended amounts of time. he unties the flannel from his waist and throws it back onto the floor. he takes off his trousers next, with a minor struggle, and decides to go pant-less for tonight. it's nothing jesy isn't used to.
he puts the used clothes in the dirty basket (surprise!) and goes to the bathroom across from their room and takes his make-up wipe pouch, cleaning his face before going back into their room and climbing into his bed and under his covers, going on netflix automatically to watch supernatural, which is quickly becoming his religion.
he smiles as the awkward angel named castiel comes onto screen. he yawns and bunkers down in his blanket, happier than usual. it's because of harry, treating him as something human, which means a hell of a lot to some one treated like a stray animal.
he lays his head down and wakes up to jesy violently shaking him around. "wake... up! your morning class starts in fifteen minutes!," she says between shakes. louis' eyes widen once he's registered her words and she flies backwards as he springs up.
"i don't have time for a shower!," he groggily groans, shuffling past jesy, "'m borrowing some of your stuff" she nods like she doesn't care. she squawks at him as he starts stripping right there and she leaves the room as he throws on one of her form fitting t-shirts, plain black. he rolls on a pair of skinny jeans that lay on the floor and grabs his vans. he nicks one of her beanies while he's at it and whizzes by her, "no time for breakfast, no time for make up," he complains, putting a piece of gum in his mouth for the morning breath. "bye love!," he shouts, slamming the door after him.
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louis - for once - gets off the bus without hassle. nobody grabbed at his bottom, nobody touched his face, nobody did anything to him. he loads off at the uni with a happy step. on his way to his locker, he catches the glances and hears the murmurs, though he can't tell what they're saying. can they tell that these pants are unwashed?, he frets, looking down at the fabric of his jeans. he jumps when a hand lands on his shoulder and he half way expects something bad to happen. instead he turns around to face a confused calum, harry behind him. he's not looking at him. "um, yes?," he asks lightly.
"you look different, lou," calum says, furrowing his dark eyebrows. louis furrows his too, looking down at himself in confusion, putting the pieces together.
"i, um, i woke up too late to do my make-up and all of my preferred clothes are in the tumble," he explains, and harry looks up at him, his cheeks rosy. louis looks at his outfit (a the kooks band shirt paired with some absolutely shredded jeans). he swallows and smiles at him, waywardly hoping that he hasn't missed out on a great catch. "do you want to walk to class together?"
louis directed the question to harry, but calum jumps right on it, completely oblivious. "sure, mate. i think harry would love that," he smirks and louis' heart flutters. all that's gotta happen is for him to make a move, louis thinks happily, ecstatic to feel wanted by someone. he's never the one to initiate, he's found out very easily that that's not his virtue.
gesturing to his shirt, harry looks over at louis. "you know that lip stuff does not come out of clothes," he says as they make their way. louis' a little surprised by his bluntness, but he did call him pretty just yesterday. his eyes widen in panic.
"did some get on you when i fell? i'm so sorry - i'll buy you a new shir -"
"no, it's okay! it's okay. it's stained by a memory now. i like the stain, it's nice," he says and he huffs when calum slaps him over the head and mutters 'smooth'. he crosses his arms with his books over his chest and pouts, letting out a long, "heeeeey" louis giggles at him and he smiles again, opening the door for him when they get to the class. calum goes in first, though, and harry rolls his eyes at his best mate, smiling at louis as he goes through.
harry pales a little when he sees that cal took his seat from yesterday, he can't keep his cool with louis for the 90 minutes the class lasts! he doesn't even know if he has a chance, he's still chafed about 'jesy'. he, nonetheless, sits down beside louis and ignores calum's smirk. louis' eyes widen and he blushes darkly when his stomach proper growls at him. he looks over at the two boys in embarrassment. "kinda missed supper and breakie," he chuckles, pulling a sack of pretzels out of his binder, trying to open them as quietly as he can.
harry looks at him in concern. so far, he's changed his appearance and he's not eating. he can't help but worry for him, to ache to talk to him properly. he's just so tongue tied and very blunt and that's mortifying, especially if he has a boyfriend. "would you like to go to the café down the street with us during lunch hour?," harry asks hopefully and freezes as louis stops mid chew. he doesn't say anything for a moment, he just contemplates.
then he nods and smiles a little. "sure," he says, shrugging his shoulders, putting the pretzels up as the professor enters.
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though neither of them say it, both of them are counting down the minutes until lunch form. when he is released from the class right before it, louis stands up slowly, not wanting a repeat of yesterday. he slowly puts his books together as he waits for everyone to file out and he squeaks in surprise when he bumps into a person, again.
he looks up and swallows. this is definitely not harry or calum, it's one of the footballers, he has on his team jersey. "you look different today, tommo?," he says coyly. he's one of those sickeningly attractive guys, louis thinks his name is theo something. "finally get tired of playing dress up?," he smirks and louis' jaw sets.
"i'm not playing anything. and i didn't have enough time to get dressed this morning," louis says, bringing his books up to his hip. theo scoffs at louis' dismissive attitude and he steps in front of him as he tries to walk around him. "please let be get by," he says quietly, shutting his eyes as the jock touches his face. "please don't touch me," he whispers, backing into the lockers.
theo just smirks and steps forward until he is nearly pressed up against the smaller boy, and he yelps loudly when he is suddenly tore away. "he said to leave him alone," a familiar voice growls and louis opens his eyes, surprised to see the usually mild looking harry looking awfully angry.
"dude, chill," theo rolls his eyes and narrows his eyes cold at louis, who is cowering into himself. nothing much out of usual. harry catches that and steps in front of louis, who reaches forward to pull his fingers through the belt loop's of harry's jeans. harry keens into him a little in comfort.
"dude, no," harry scowls, pointing towards the end of the hallway. "you better be glad i stopped you before you did anything to him that you would definitely regret," harry says, standing rigid as theo takes a step forward, looking at him incredulously.
"dude! he's a freak! boys don't wear girl's -"
"theo! go!," harry spits and the shorter boy rolls his eyes and leaves, grumbling. harry ignores him and looks at louis with concern in his eyes. "are you okay?," he asks, and louis lets him cup his jaw and cheeks. he nods slowly and harry sighs in relief. "what he said isn't true, you know? you aren't a freak. you're lovely, and you are who you are. that is so brave. i wish i was as brave as you,"