As Louis predicted and albeit looked forward to, he strolled past that very same house with the very same doe-eyed little boy, still trying to make a buck, no doubt.
Unfortunately, the school had decided upon themslves that they'd missed enough school time yesterday and made them trudge their little tushies to the prison for a fun day of school activities! Yawn. Louis would rather watch Nick eat glue. The poor sap would probably do it, too, as he ate his sludgy glue like an appetizer.
Don't get Louis wrong, of course his friends were still his small circle of friends, but he knew they'd judged him for what he'd done just yesterday afternoon. For a bunch of moronic elementary school kids they sure had the brain capacity to hold a grudge.
Anyways, Louis held his favorite novel close as his teeth chattered from the harsh winter winds. Harry was visibly no better as he breathed into his tiny ungloved hands, which unfortunately made him appear even more adorable. That didn't stop the older from grimacing as he sauntered to him.
"Hey kid, can't you take a hint? It's freezing out here and I'll bet you haven't managed to sell a single cup of that tasteless pint since yesterday," he scolded him bitterly. It wasn't fair how the little boy still beheld a smile when it was so dreary outside.
"Good morning, sir. Would you care for a cup of delicious hot chocolate," he chirped. Louis groaned.
"I already know it tastes like tar, save the convincing for some knit-wit, ey?"
Jesus this kid was unreal. It made sense he wasn't that bright. Pretty things like him normally aren't the ones who graduated from Yale and went on to become doctors. Then again, he was only about 6, but that's beside the point.
The boy frowned and moved a curl out of his eyes. "I listened to what you told me yesterday. It hasn't work."
The 13 year old pitied him a bit, even though this was a stupid idea to begin with; selling a cup of hot chocolate in the frost-encrusted Winter as though it's the same logic as selling lemonade in the summer. Louis licked his arid lips, wondering how beautiful Harry would look during that warm time of year. Curls fully on display and not hidden under a frilly Bomber hat, cheeks a normal colorless hue, jewel eyes sparkling in the humid summer sun. Boy would that be a sight if Louis'd ever seen one.
Ok so Louis was pretty sure he was gay. No big deal, he supposes. He knew with his mother's ignorance she'd be fully against it, giving him a rather imbecilic rant on how he'd die from HIV and that. No matter. He'd cross that bridge when he'd get to it.
"Oh? Maybe because your hot chocolate isn't that attractive looking. Have you tried sweetening it up with some marsh-mellows or something?"
The same strand that Harry's brushed away had fallen back over his face only for him to remove it once more.
"I'd ask mum, but it's her happy hour at the moment. Maybe later when she's in a better mood."
Excuse me?
"Excuse me? Happy hour? You're too young to know about a happy hour. Hell, I'm too young to know about a happy hour."
The boy shrugged and rubbed his tiny hands together. It was then that Louis got a better look at his face.
"Is that- what happened to your face Harry?" The boy's cheek had a large, pink hand-print across it. Clearly a wound that had yet to be tended to. Harry put his head down in shame.
"I was being a bad, bad boy. I deserved to be punished."
Louis only could stand there and think of what he could have said or done to deserve such a literal slap to the face. Louis' mother did not believe in physical punishment towards her children nor would she ever have the audacity to raise a hand at Louis, so this territory was unfamiliar to him.
"Oh Harold...." he pitied.
"It's fine, I promise. Please let's not talk about it."
With much distaste, Louis felt it was best to nod and stay out of it.
"Thank you. Now I have to sell some cups to pay for my chistmas gift before mother gets even madder. I only have...um...how many days again...?" Madder wasn't even a word and to make it more infuriating, Harry began counting his fingers as if he were trying to do the math calculations.
"Harry it's the fifth. So using easy math, you can determine that it will only be 20 days until Christmas day!" Harry stepped back a bit from the tone. Louis didn't mean to be short, but that was preschool math and from what Louis could guess, Harry was not a preschooler. Speaking of which....
"Why are you not in school? At any rate, we should be going to the same school since Maddstown Elementary is the only other gradeschool within miles of here."
Harry didn't look up at him.
"I can't go to school because I'm not smart enough."
Excuse me?
"Who said you weren't smart enough?" Louis did think Harry wasn't the brightest star in the sky- his looks made up for it so don't worry- but he knew someone had to tell him this in order for him to believe such rubbish. He couldn't have possibly gotten the idea labeling himself. The boy was far too young to go through the insecurities stage.
He looked up at him through his long lashes. "Can't say. I don't wanna get punished. I have enough problems with mother as it is."
The silence that followed was discomforting to say the least, not that Louis didn't know how to diffuse it.
"Well I'll tell you that you're far from dumb." Louis didn't believe in people putting down others by questioning their intellect. That was one of his pet peeves. He would think that people were idiotic, but he'd never tell them that. He'd only fix the matter by subtly correcting them. Problem solved.
"But you just said I was stupid a little while ago!"
Poor simple-minded fool, Louis thought. Oh shit Harry was right about one thing. Louis did think he was dumb. He thought a lot of things were dumb. People especially.
"I think everyone is stupid, but with you it's different. You're just a cute little kid so you have an excuse. A free pass if you will." Harry didn't look less deterred from the explanation so Louis digressed. "You'll understand when you're older the bullshit that life will throw at you and the incompetence that comes right along with it."
Harry gasped. "You swore! You're not suppose to swear! Especially since you're pretty and stuff! Swearing is an ugly treat, my daddy says!"
Louis didn't know what to start with. The part when he got called pretty or how the little boy confused trait with treat!
"You um- I'm not pretty. I'm manly. Man of the house. I kinda make my own rules. So thanks for the compliment, but no thanks." The wind swayed him a bit and the iciness of it made his ears raw. Harry was no better, his nose Rudolf red and close to running, while his face blended with the snow on the ground.
Harry smiled warmly at him, as though Louis' words went in one ear and out the other (which Louis wouldn't be surprised if it did). The bright smile made Louis' face heat up and he couldn't for the life of him snap at Harry to stop gazing at him with those dazzlingly rare green eyes. It was like he was under some type of spell. There's that manipulation Harry has yet to use to his advantage.
"Ok, Harry I'll get you some darn marshmallows and I'll be sure to watch my darn language. All for you, you crafty son of a biscuit," Louis huffed, finally having the willpower to look away. Harry had to make it worse and reach out to stroke his face. "Why me, Lord?"
"Oh, did I make you mad, Louis? Your face is all red like when mommy gets angry and dizzy."
The touch was so spontaneous that it made Louis jump back a few inches.
"I- why did you have to- your mom is what?" Louis baffled, not sure where to start with this boy, as per usual. Harry always seemed to be the only person to stump him and give him some type of rare speech impediment. What's worse is that it almost physically hurt to pull away from such a dainty caress.
Trying again, Harry continued. "Nothing. Just when mommy drinks this stuff, she gets real mad."
Taking a breath, Louis took a second to process this. Great, another reason to come back and question the world and it's inhabitants. As if Louis didn't have enough to deal with. "I gotta go, but I'll be back tomorrow and I'll have some-" Louis was once again caught off by Harry's dimpled grin with his obnoxiously adoring face beaming at him like he offered him the fuckin- freaking sun.
Harry leaned over the stand. "Stuff?" his breath tickled Louis' nose.
"Yeah...stuff."
It's funny. Louis was smart enough to re-interpret quantum mechanics at a collegue's level, yet he's stood here taking to a boy who's twice as young as he is. But sure, let's top it all off with the boy having an abusive mother why don't we? This is the B.S. that Louis was talking about earlier. Life's B.S.