"So can I?" Louis asked Anne nervously.
"It will be good for Harry. Maybe he'll have fun." Anne said, more like thought out loud.
"Is that a yes?" Louis was hopeful as ever. When Anne saw him being like this, she chucked and thought "why not?".
"Sure. But you'll have be back before ten." She instructed, a smile never leaving her face.
"Nine. I promise." Louis was ecstatic.
He was informed by Harry a few days back of how much the silent lad would love to go to an arcade once. He hadn't been there for years. He missed the games though and since Anne was never mostly around, neither did he have any friends, he couldn't go. Louis, being the charming man he was, thought of taking the boy to an arcade. And here he was asking permission from Harry's mum to allow him to take out Harry for the day.
"Lou, make sure he doesn't have one of his panic attacks. It's really hard to control and it's harder for him to handle it. He gets them when around a lot of people and in an arcade..." Anne trailed off knowing well enough that Louis understood perfectly.
"You don't have to worry about anything, Anne. Harry will be with me, I won't leave his side. And in all the five- almost six months I've been with him, we never got to go out, you know?"
Anne watched Louis speak and her eyes tried to find something in Louis' eyes. She was worried about her child, only son, not because he would be out with Louis but because she had her suspicions about Harry's feelings for the lad. Harry had never told her anything but the way he was always happy to have him around was new. She needed to know if they were true and she also needed a confirmation on Louis' intentions. She needed to look out for her son, it's what a mother does.
"And maybe Harry would enjoy himself. Plus I've been thinking about this since he told me about it three days ago. What do you say?" Louis crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping for a yes. He really wanted to take Harry out and have the sweet boy have fun.
"Okay. But you have to ask Harry too, you know?" Anne pointed her index finger at Louis, smiling once seeing Louis' eyes widen in excitement.
"Of course! Thank you so much!"
Anne chuckled. "Not a problem. Well now can I go to work?" She playfully asked. Yes, Louis stopped her at the door so Harry wouldn't be there when he asked.
"Yes." Louis smiled widely.
Anne's heels clacked along the porch as she headed to her car, sat in and drove away, waving a goodbye to Louis who still stood by the opened door, still smiling.
Great! Louis was so happy and relived that Anne allowed him. Now he had to ask Harry and hopefully he'll agree too.
He closed the door, locking it, and ran upstairs to Harry's room where he had sent him. He opened the door and saw the boy sat by his desk and was going through some notebook. Louis came from behind him quietly and was about to poke him when he saw what Harry was going through.
The notebook was a small photo album which had some beautiful shot pictures. Louis could only see the one of a sun rise, a zoomed one of two birds sitting on the tree branch and one of some fruits arranged beautifully in a small plater before Harry turned around. Louis saw Harry's eyes dilate for a second but he recovered quickly enough and coolly played it off. He casually slipped the album into an already opened draw and smiled at Louis who was taken aback by the reaction.
"What was that?" Louis asked.
"Just an album. What were you talking to mum about?" Harry quickly skipped the topic.
Louis didn't think much about the album and happily informed Harry about the plan.
"Really?" Harry's eyes widened and Louis could see the boy was excited about this.
"Yeah. What do you say? Later today? Then we'll have dinner out somewhere and I'll drop you back here. By that time, your mum will be back."
Harry couldn't think off anything. Louis was actually asking to spend a day out with him. With Harry. Louis wanted to spend a day out with Harry.
Louis waved his hand in front of Harry's eyes to get a reaction from him. Harry snapped out and Louis saw the pink tint on his pale cheeks before Harry nodded in agreement, with a large smile on his face.
~
Louis parked outside in the parking lot and looked at Harry from the driver's seat. He saw Harry eyeing the building to his left, outside the window. He knew the boy would be nervous. He could see Harry biting his bottom lip.
He poked Harry's shoulder three times before getting his attention.
"You'll be okay. I'll be with you, I promise. No need to be scared." Louis signed out with an assuring look that made Harry sure that Louis was telling the truth. He already knew that though. He knew Louis wouldn't let anything bad happen to him.
Harry smiled a small one to Louis and Louis signed. "Let's go in."
When they entered the noisy building, Louis thought Harry was lucky that he couldn't hear because the noise around was deafening. But he quickly got his mind out of the thought and grabbed Harry's hand before the boy got scared of the number of people there. Harry did flinch but once seeing it was Louis who touched him, he calmed down. He also tried to hide the blush growing on his cheek because this was the first time Louis had held his hand. Their hands did touch a lot, they had also hugged a lot but being out of the house, with only Louis, and having him hold his hand and leading him somewhere, he really liked the feeling. What he didn't know was that Louis saw his blush quite clearly. He liked it when Harry blushed.
Louis pulled out some money to buy the coins for the games and got two small pouches filled with them from the counter. He turned to Harry, grinning largely as he held the pouches up to his eye level. Harry shyly smiled back, rubbing his arm.
"What do you wanna do first?" Another benefit of Harry being deaf, they didn't have to scream over the loud noises to communicate.
"Whatever is fine." Seeing Harry's answer, Louis raised an eyebrow at him playfully and looked around until his eyes found something. He grabbed Harry's hand and led him towards the game. He made sure not many people touched Harry in anyway, he tried it with the best of his abilities.
Louis led Harry to the ski balls and Harry smiled, appreciating the decision. He loved this game. Putting two coins in two of the ski ball game stand, Louis challenged Harry. "Whoever wins, gets to select the next game. And whoever wins most of the games, dinner will be of his choice."
"Deal." Harry signed out before turning and picking up a ball and looking at Louis again, who now held a ball too. And the match started.
The aim was to roll the ball across the sloped platform and have it bounce off at the end and land in any of the numbered holes, the numbers being the points they'll get. Louis wet up first, landing the ball perfectly in a '20'. He smiled at Harry in a show-off kind of a manner and Harry playfully rolled his eyes at his.
When he tried his, he landed a '10'. Louis pouted at him, teasingly until Harry punched his upper arm. Louis laughed and tried again. He got a '60'. Showing off again, he acted as if he's dusting his shoulders off on Harry. When Harry had his next go, he landed a '90', ultimately getting higher than Louis.
When he looked at Louis, gleaming at his score, Louis signed. "Got lucky."
"Did not!" Harry laughed at Louis' playful acts. He loved when Louis acted like this. And Louis loved to hear the other boy laugh.
The game continued, having Harry win at the end. He raised his arms up in victory, laughing at Louis' shocked face. Inside, Louis was bouncing everywhere, seeing Harry smiling and laughing so much, not caring about the people around him. They collected the tickets they both rightfully earned and Louis asked Harry, "Where to next?"
Harry looked around and pointed at the air hockey table. Their evening went along, game after game, laughing and completely enjoying the moment. Louis really loved the time. He knew what the night was doing to him and he knew it well, making his feelings expand. He was still sad about how he couldn't ask Harry without any problem. He was terrified of his reaction and he wanted to have a good time.
He started to agree to the fact that he might like the boy as more than just friend and thinking about if Harry would want nothing more to do with him if he would confess his feelings really panged his heart. He had been feeling like this since almost the beginning but only understood it two months back. He wanted to ask Harry but the fear kept him silent.
Little did he know, his silence was hurting Harry more than he would've thought.
~
AN
Sooooo sorry for the late update D: I'm a bad person! I'm so sorry! My internet connection got cut and it was a hectic problem getting it back :(((( But this is fluffy larry and it's cute (I hope) so please spare me!! Hopefully mistakes aren't there :/
The rest of the date is in the next chapter so please tell me if you want more and I'll try to update asap! I love you all!! xx