The five people stood half in the small dorm room and out in the tiny hallway leading up to it, all of them shell shocked. Everyone knew how Ronnie was, if they said what was really on their minds it was not going to be pretty. So instead they all talked with their eyes warning each other about the devil standing with them.
"Well Strawberry Shortcake is my cousin, I'm Razzy Cassie. You know like raspberries!"
Ronnie rolled her eyes in annoyance while everyone else tried their best to keep their laughs from bubbling out.
"I like what you did to the place, it's very elegant."
"Yeah I know."
Ronnie, who had already had enough of her new roommate and her boyfriend, turned to who she hated most in the room. Her ex-boyfriend linked hand in hand with his new boyfriend.
"I hope you all aren't expecting to hangout here. It is a girl only floor, although you two might qualify for that. The blonde will be left all alone."
If Harry had not already gripped his boyfriends' hand as tight as could, Niall jump in between the two exes', and Cassie pulled Ronnie to the opposite side of the room there was no telling what would have happened.
"Louis, look at me. Look at me, not her. She is not worth it; people like her do not change. She is going to do anything just to make you angry and she will keep doing it if it gets her a reaction. You are so much better than she is. Let the universe take care of her, she'll get the consequences to her bitchiness."
"And think of it this way, you two would be the world's bossiest bitches of all time. Even as females she would never compare to you."
It was the perfect balance of sensibleness from Harry to make Louis think rationally while Niall made it easy to release some of the tension by making him laugh. While the boys had now, somewhat, calmed down the girls were just getting started.
"What the fuck was that?"
"Oh, seriously like you don't know."
"Look here little miss Prissy we aren't stuck in the eighteenth century, learn to grow up. People are different and that perfectly fine, you do not have a right to diminish them because you refuse to be a decent human being."
"Oh yeah because dumping somebody right before the last semester of senior year is a decent thing to do to another human being."
"Yes, because you are a bitch! You had absolutely no respect for someone who was always there for you. You held him back. He is now with someone who loves the living hell out of him. That is what he deserves, not someone who treated him how you did."
"Oh, please I have men lining up waiting to become my new boyfriend. I am a lovely girlfriend."
"Look they may not be able to hit you, but I am a hair spread away from slapping you across the face if you keep whatever the hell this is up."
"Aw I'm so scared."
"Have fun being a bitch."
"Guys I think we are done here, let's leave so she can call daddy Satan."
Nobody needed to be told twice, in four seconds flat the group had left the small dorm room accompanied by a swift slam of the door. Instead of waiting for the elevator they went down the staircase, so they did not have to take a chance and possibly see Ronnie, or worse, her and her Prada wearing gang.
The blast of bright, golden, light, and warm wind was like resetting everything that had just happened. Well as much as it could. The words still stung and the harsh reality that people still had a problem with anything other than what is taught to be right was mind boggling to everyone.
"I don't know who in the universe decided this was going to be a good idea."
"I didn't think World War Three was in the cards so soon."
"At least it shouldn't take six years to defeat her, I think if you spray her with a water bottle she'll surrender easily enough."
"That or she'll melt. Either or I am fine with."
While Niall and Cassie walked to the car Harry and Louis stayed quite a bit behind them. Louis was still fuming but knew better then to act out, not only would he end up regretting it, but it would also not fix the problem.
It was times like this that made Harry extraordinarily happy that he and Louis had been best friends for so long before everything, he knew exactly what to do when his boyfriend was not okay. He knew when to take and step back and let him think or when he just needed to be wrapped up in a hug. Right now, he needed a mixture of both.
"Don't worry Lou, London is filled with plenty of amazing and accepting people. Pretty soon you'll know a whole football team and play all day long."
"As long as you are there too."
"Oh, I will be, but I'll be on the bench. I'll break every bone in my body if I actually try to kick the ball."
"Well maybe I'll have to teach you then huh."
"Maybe. Or maybe you want to stay alive so you can see my face."
"I think I can manage both."
"Challenge accepted then."
Niall and Cassie were already waiting in the car by the time the two boyfriends arrived. As soon as everyone was buckled up it was time for another not so fun adventure. Maneuvering university streets packed with thousands of students who did not bother to pay any attention, not to mention that neither of the four people knew where they were going.
While Niall tried to not kill anybody as he backed out of his parking spot Cassie was attempting to be on the lookout for any surprise running students or rolling carts because that was their luck today. And it would not be much of a surprise if Ronnie were secretly stalking them and threw something out the window to hit their car. Meanwhile in the back Harry was trying to google a way to London Metro that did not take an eternity to drive. Traffic was really something they were going to have to get used too.
Louis was taking his time to try and forget every negative word that just kept replaying in his head. He knew people were not perfect, he knew there was rotten apples in the world, he knew that sometimes people were just meant to break and challenge you. But this was on the whole 'another level. It was times like this that made him feel so extraordinarily tiny, and it is in those times he wishes he could talk to the one person he could not. His dad.
---
Moving Niall into his university dorm was extraordinarily simple, well besides the forty-five minutes it took to get there, find parking, and check in. But Niall's dorm was on the first floor right next to the side entrance of the building meaning he and his friends did not have to wait in line to use the lifts, which easily saved a few hours, and they didn't have to walk through the main entrance which was crowded with others checking in, waiting in lines, and looking at the building accommodations and the universities lay out.
The only downfall was that London Metro didn't provide any sort of moving bins or dollies to help move multiple boxes or the heavy ones, so instead the group moved like revolving doors from the car to the sidewalk to the building to the actual dorm then turned around the make the trip back only to repeat it.
Niall really did seem to have kings luck with him because it was quickly discovered that his roommate had decided to switch universities only two days ago, leaving him with an entire room to himself for not only one but both semesters.
When the quartet arrived at the Royal College Harry was absolutely buzzing with excitement, he could almost feel his veins pumping with adrenaline. Unfortunately, all it took was a small look to his left for his heart to sink faster than the titanic.
Louis's face was facing the window, but his sad reflection was staring at Harry, testing him. The normally high cheekbones were not attached to a smile but a near frown instead. Dull. That is what his eyes were. If a stranger were to stare him in the eyes, they would think it would be impossible for Louis to have iridescent blue eyes when they were so dark and murky; even with the sunlight shining against them. The skin around his eyes laid completely smooth, not even a faint outline of the normally wrinkled skin.
Normally people would be happy about that, but Harry, it nearly broke him.
Not only was it completely noticeable to him that Louis was slowly breaking down, but it broke him that something else was up besides what Ronnie had said. He just knew it in his gut. But he also knew he would have to wait until they were alone to address the problem or else, he could risk making Louis even more upset and uncomfortable.
Sitting up in the front seat Niall and Cassie could also feel the odd tension flowing in the back seats. Since neither of them knew Louis the way Harry did, they unanimously decided to try and stay neutral. So, in turn the radio was turned up and the windows halfway down allowing the warm fresh air to fill the car.
--
"Are you absolutely sure you guys don't want any help?"
"Yes, Cas I'm sure. Lou and I aren't strangers who are going to fight about where the spoons and forks go."
"Bu- "
"No. I am about to give Niall permission to pick you up and carry you out of this building."
"You wouldn't dare..."
"Well quit wasting your time here and hang with him instead!"
"You are like every cool hip dad in the movies, aren't you?"
"Cas you can't just go around exposing my secrets like that!"
"Okay, okay I'll keep my mouth shut."
The two laughed as Harry pulled her into a hug, as they began to separate Cassie whispered in his ear.
"Just let me know if he's okay, you know we're always a call away."
"Thanks, I will."
As Cassie made her way to Louis to give him a hug it was Niall's turn to be embraced by Harry and Louis as well. When the couple finally made their way out of the fourth-floor dormitory, they waved but only to one person, not two. When they were out of sight Harry shut the door quietly and turned around, taking in the sea of gray bins sprawled out in the small studio style room.
On the opposite side of the room a large shelf stretched from one end of the wall to the other directly in front of the window resembling the look of a city coffee shop. Leaning on the high standing shelf Louis was staring blankly out the window at the stunning view, Royal Colleges study courtyard, ahead.
"We're actually here."
"Uh huh."
Harry walked his way over to his boyfriend until he was standing almost directly behind him. He did not move or speak at first, instead hoping that his presence would help ease Louis. And it did, but not as much as he hoped it would.
"I can't believe we get to see this every day."
"Yeah."
It was then that Harry reached for Louis' limp hand and swiftly moved in front of him blocking light coming in from the window.
"Lou?"
He did not respond, instead moving his eyes from the corner of the room down to the ground near his feet.
"Babe you're not invisible. Not to me. I can tell you aren't okay."
When the tiny hand he was holding began to softly shake Harry dropped it and instead leaned forward draping his arms back around Louis, pulling him into a deep hug. Louis stayed stiff, his arms laying limp at his sides and eyes dazed forward.
Then it clicked. He was with the person he loved, surrounded by him. He was wrapped in warmth, strength, and love. Finally he allowed his trainload of thoughts to come to a screeching halt and dissolve as much as possible and melted into Harry's chest, burying his head until he could hear the steady pattern of his heart beating while bringing his arms to wrap around his boyfriends lower back.
Harry let out a sigh of relief and slightly tightened his grip to pull his favorite person even closer to him. He also allowed his head to drop just slightly, enough to lay his head on top of the fluffy, neatly overgrown hair beneath. It was when both boys could feel their heartbeat in sync that time stopped. They were no longer two people, but one. The electricity running through their bodies connected them in a way that was completely indescribable.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"The judgement. How do you not care what anybody thinks or what they say about you? How do you not begin to believe the things they say every day?"
Every muscle in Harry's body had to help keep his heart from shattering and falling into an empty abyss and keep air flowing in and out of his lungs. He loosened his grip and took half a step back; his hands resting on Louis' shoulders.
"Because I believe in me, I believe in you, but most importantly I believe in us. Nobody but you and I know what is between us. They do not know what either of us have been through, they do not know the heartbreak we have been through. They don't know the way you giggle under your breath when you correctly predicted what was going to happen or how you style your hair in a quiff when you want to seem like a tough guy or that even though you are sarcastic and sometimes a little brash, you have one the most understanding and caring hearts that have ever walked on this planet. They can judge all they want, say it's wrong or disgusting but they don't see anything other then two guys, they don't see what's in our hearts."
"I-you. I don't know how you do it."
"Huh?"
"Be so wise. Be so caring, so observant, so just everything. Everything I need to hear, you always know what to say, what to do, anything and everything you just seem to know."
"I read a lot of books."
Louis laughed and playfully punched harry in the shoulder.
"Ow!"
"Oi, shut it you've got enough muscle there. You didn't feel a thing!"
"Just so you know, it's now illegal to not laugh or smile at least once an hour unless you are asleep."
"Oh really? And why is that?"
"Because that's about how long I can go until I go into withdrawal."
Consequently, after trying to fight it Louis's lips spread into a tight-lipped smile while his cheeks matched the color of roses on valentine's day.
"Thank you Haz."
"Anytime. It is why I am here. Love it or hate it, I'm always going to know when something is up and I'm not just going to let you go through anything alone."
"I love you."
"I love you too."