Louis had skipped all his morning classes but ten minutes before the lunch bell was due, Louis got out of his car and walked to the classroom he knew Harry would be in. When the bell rang, he stood up straight, knowing that Harry would likely be one of the first students out the door, he always was.
"Harry!" He called, as soon as he saw him. Harry's eyes widened and a frown graced his face as he made eye contact with Louis.
"Why are you here?" Harry asked, pulling Louis to the side of the hallway.
Louis smiled at him, "You're so pretty."
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "What are you doing?"
Louis ignored him, instead taking his hand and intertwining their fingers.
Harry quickly tried to pull his hand away, a habit more than a desire, but Louis held on tightly.
"Louis?" Harry questioned.
"I want to," Louis said assuredly.
Harry couldn't hold back the small smile that adorned his face. "Are you sure?"
Louis let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding, "Yeah."
Harry let Louis lead him through the first floor and into the cafeteria, bringing Harry to the table where Louis always sat with his football buddies.
Louis sat down on the bench, pulling Harry down to sit next to him. The table was only half full, given that people were still making their way from their classes, but Louis proudly wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders and let his hand hang in the air. Harry leaned into him the slightest bit, taking a sandwich from his bag and offering half to Louis. Louis gladly took it given that he had been so devastated that morning, he had forgotten to pack himself any food.
Louis took a bite before glancing at the table, avoiding eye contact with everyone until his gaze landed on Stan and Jade. Jade smiled at him while Stan gave him a thumbs up. Louis just smiled back and tightened his grip on Harry's shoulders.
Louis was nervous. Really fucking nervous. No one had said anything yet but he had been building this moment up in his head for weeks, if not months. Each and every version his mind had come up with had ended in disaster.
But lunch went fine. Sure, no one said anything to Louis at all, except for Harry. In fact, with the exception of a few players, it seemed almost as though they were ignoring Louis. But with the way Harry kept turning his head to gaze at the older boy, Louis couldn't find himself to care.
When the warning bell rang, everyone scrambled from the table, Louis following Harry to his third period class like a puppy.
"Louis," Harry said while they waited by the door for the teacher.
"Yes, love," Louis replied sweetly.
Harry smiled and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Louis' cheek, "Thanks for doing this. I love you and it means the world to me."
"Love you too," Louis whispered back quietly before pulling Harry into his arms. The two boys held each other close even as the teacher unlocked the door and the halls cleared.
"You should go to class," Harry said, after a while.
"One more minute," Louis replied, finally feeling the sense of relief he had been craving for so many months.
And everything was perfect, for a few days at least. Sure, some of Louis' team seemed to be avoiding him, but he also started to do some avoiding too.
He had changed in the school bathrooms, rather than the locker rooms, whenever he had practice, and he didn't even change after practice, instead, he would wait outside, talking to Harry, until he had counted that every boy had left the room before locking up, as was his job as captain.
However, on the next Monday, the coach had noticed.
"Tomlinson!" He called as everyone left the field and headed to the locker room. Louis glanced up to the bleachers where Harry was sitting by himself, before walking up to his coach.
"Coach," Louis greeted, "What can I do for you?"
"Well I wanted to congratulate you," His coach explained.
"On what, sir?" Louis asked, although he was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about.
"Coming out is a really big deal, Louis, I'm proud of you."
"Thank you," Louis said, gratefully. Harry's mum had said the same thing but it still felt nice to hear it from someone who Louis considered to be a father figure.
"I have noticed some things, though." Louis nodded his head. "You haven't been using the locker rooms?"
"Uhm," Louis hesitated, "I just don't want to make anyone uncomfortable."
The coach frowned, "Why don't you tell your boyfriend he can head home? I'd like to talk to you in my office and it looks like it's going to rain soon."
"I'm his ride home," Louis explained, "But I'll just give him my car keys and he can head home, come get me later."
The coach frowned again but nodded, following Louis from a few feet behind to the bleachers.
Harry walked down to meet Louis when he saw his boyfriend heading over to him.
"Hi baby," Louis greeted, reaching over the short fence to take Harry's hand in his, "Coach needs to talk to me for a while so I'll give you my keys and you can drive yourself home?" Harry had gotten his provisional licence over the weekend.
"You sure, Lou? I can just wait for you," Harry said.
"No, no, I don't know how long it'll be, I can just walk later."
"I don't want you to have to walk, it's your car. I can walk home, don't worry."
"I will worry, if you're walking, looks like it might rain."
"Louis," Harry replied stubbornly, "Seriously sweetie, I'll be okay.
Louis hesitated before leaning up and pressing a soft kiss to Harry's cheek, "Alright, fine. Go home then, before it rains, I'll see you in a bit. Text me when you get home, yeah?"
"Alright," Harry agreed, before starting to walk off in the direction of the parking lot. "Love you," He called over his shoulder, making Louis smile before turning around to his coach, who was smiling at him.
"You've got a good one," He said.
Louis smiled and nodded, "He's the best."
Louis then followed his coach silently through the locker room, where he made sure to keep his eyes trained on the floor, and into the office, where he took a seat across from the coach.
The coach looked at Louis for a moment.
"So you wanted to talk about..." Louis trailed off.
"Why haven't you been changing in the locker room with everyone else?"
"Like I said before, I don't want to make any of the guys uncomfortable."
"Why would your presence make anyone uncomfortable?" Louis shrugged, not really knowing why. He could hear the guys slowly clearing out from the locker room and he prayed that no one could hear the conversation going on in the office.
"Has anyone given you any trouble?"
Louis shook his head. "I just don't want to start anything."
"Are you scared they'll hurt you? I can talk to the team. You shouldn't have to live in fear."
"It's really okay," Louis said after a moment, "I don't mind changing in the bathrooms."
"I mind though, Louis. No one on my team will be discriminated against or bullied. But also, as team captain, I need you in the thick of things, making sure that no one else is being bullied, and making sure that everyone acts as a team. No one will respect you as captain if you act like you're not a part of the team. This may not seem like a big deal now, but once we start playing games that count at the end of the month, it'll be important that they all listen to and respect you."
Louis frowned and reached down to play with the hem of his shirt, a habit he had picked up from Harry. "I get what you're saying, coach, but I'm really not worried about myself. I guess... Well, I know I can handle myself and handle anyone who gives me any problems. It's just... Harry... If someone were to hurt him," Louis paused, trying his best not to imagine Harry in any sort of pain, "I can't let Harry get hurt. And I can't always be there to protect him. So I just want to make sure that I do everything in my power to keep him safe, even if that means I have to step down from being captain. I understand if you want someone else to do it."
"You really love him." Louis nodded but avoided eye contact with the coach. "Tomlinson, I don't want anyone but you to be captain. You've done a great job both this year and last year, and you have every quality I want in a captain."
"But..." Louis said.
"No buts. I'm going to talk to the team, make it clear that bullying will not be tolerated, even if no one is doing anything at the moment. And then you are going to start using the locker rooms again. Okay?"
Louis nodded, "Is that all?"
"Just one more thing. I tried calling your house to have this conversation." Louis froze. "A young girl answered, I'm assuming it was your sister. But she said you didn't live there anymore?"
Louis tried to swallow past the lump in his throat but at that moment it felt impossible.
"Where are you living right now, Louis?"
Louis looked down, not wanting to talk about any of it.
"I just want to make sure you're okay, Louis."
Louis took in a deep breath before speaking, "I'm fine, I'm staying with Harry."
The coach sighed, "Is this a permanent situation? Why aren't you living at home?"
"Uhm... My mum kicked me out, when she found out about Harry... And his mum let me stay there. She's, uh, really supportive, she's great," Louis said quietly.
"You're okay then? I want to make sure that you have what you need. There are resources available to you and I can help you access them."
Louis smiled weakly, "Thanks, but I have everything I need. Harry and, uh, his mum are great, just great."
"What about your mother? Do you have plans to move back there? Would you like to look into emancipation? I can help you with that."
Louis shrugged, "I actually already turned eighteen so there's really no need. I'll live with Harry until I go off to uni in the fall."
"Do you have a plan for if something happens between you two?"
Louis frowned, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, "Harry and I are in it for the long haul, really." Louis met his coach's eyes and could see the concern in them. "Honestly, if something were to happen between Harry and I, I don't know how I would be able to go on. He's just... He's everything to me."
The coach nodded but still ripped a piece of paper from the notebook in front of him and quickly wrote something down before handing it to Louis. "Here's my personal cell, if you need something, please let me know. I just want to make sure that you are okay, Louis."
Louis nodded and took the paper, "Can I go now?
"Yes, just let me know if there's anything I can do to help you."
----
Mid week update!!
I wrote a lot last week and turns out this book is almost done.
There's maybe 10-12 chapters left
any predictions on what's gonna happen? I feel like no one's gonna expect what's coming