we'll play hide and seek to turn this around (give me love like never before)

Chapter 5

He's alone in the cafeteria again, picking at his freshly washed t-shirt that smells like green apples and strawberries, and it has absolutely nothing to do with a curly haired boy. It was just what he was feeling at the moment.

Anyway, he's alone and annoyed, because he doesn't like being alone. It makes him feel anxious and edgy and like he looks stupid, which is stupid, because it's not like he's in high school anymore, a lot of people are sitting alone.

But all of that rushes away when he sees a certain gentle boy stumble as gracefully as someone can make tripping look through the doors. The boy looks around, seemingly anxious, and Louis immediately waves him over. When their eyes meet, Harry smiles shyly and nods, making his way to Louis in his trackies and cotton sweater. Louis thinks he looks very warm and cuddly, and all Louis finds himself wanting to do is to wrap his arms around the boy and spoon him hot cocoa.

"Hey mate, how've you been?" Louis asks softly, moving so he's facing Harry at the round table.

Harry smiles up at him from where he's pulling out his bottle of strawberry milk, fingers poking out from his sweater paws, and Louis sees that they're still painted purple. "I'm alright, how about you?"

Louis props his head up on his hand and pretends like he's stroking a fake beard, face scrunched up in thought. "Well," he says,  "I washed my clothes. So that's that, I suppose."

Harry giggles next to him, his eyes bright.

"No, seriously, you should smell me, c'mon."

Louis' pushing his shirt sleeve toward Harry, and Harry laughs, but smells anyway, humming out, "Apples?"

"Green," Louis nods, adding, "oh, and strawberries."

"Fits you." Harry says between sips of his strawberry milk.

"That's what I tho-" Louis' interrupted by a loud bang, and Harry's entire face contorts in fear. He shrinks back into his chair, eyes wide. It looks as if he is trying to melt into the plastic, completely disappear until he is nothing more than a placemat for dirty feet.

Louis see's it all, too. He sees the way Harry just falls into himself, shrinks into his anxiety, and it's like watching a star collapse in on itself in collateral. Absolutely nothing. No flash of light, no seeping life into miraculous beauty. Just - nothing.

It takes a lot to look away, but Louis does, to see that it is Niall who slammed his tray down and scared Harry.

"I just don't see why I was the last to hear about this!" He's saying it to Liam and Zayn who are wrapped around each other behind him, rolling their eyes and muttering different things to him.

Louis turns back to Harry, whose pink cheeks are now a dull white and his lovely fingers are now wringing around one another nervously. Louis feels himself furrowing his eyebrows, filling to the brim with confusion

"Are you alrigh-" he starts to whisper, but Liam interrupts.

"Who's this, Lou?"

They are now all sitting around the table, Liam and Zayn squished up next together with their fingers entwined under the table. Niall takes advantage of the extra space and spreads his legs out wide.

Above all, they are all staring at Harry like he is the plague, or at least that's how it feels. Louis feels a disgusting itch under his skin, an itch that is making him want to yell at the others and tell them to stop staring, because something is wrong with Harry, and even though he barely knows the boy he still cares about him, can sense how uncomfortable he is and wants to make it better.

Instead of whacking his mates upside the head though, he opts for gently grazing his thumb over Harry's knuckles, feeling it dip between each gap of a knuckle, pressing comfort into each slot. Harry flinches from the unexpected touch, but then sinks into it like a shipwrecked boat. Louis says, "This is the lovely Harry, lads."

He looks to Harry, and says more gently, "And Harry, this is Niall, Liam, and Zayn." He points to each of them as he introduces them, and Harry nods, giving timid smiles.

"Nice to meet you, mate." Niall holds out his hand to shake Harry's, but Louis is instantly standing up and interrupting the greeting, because he knows Niall will see the nail polish, and he knows he will ask about it, and he can just see it - he can see Niall and Liam arguing over it, and human rights, and gender roles, and which world leader is the best, and why you should use mint cough drops opposed to fruity ones.

(He barely knows the boy, yet he has such a strong urge to protect him.)

"Sorry to leave so suddenly, but Harry and I have to get to Astronomy early today to work on our project," he gestures to Harry, who nods slowly with lines stuck between his eyebrows, standing up warily. Louis is gathering his belongings beside him, quickly stuffing them into his bag.

Zayn and Liam throw him abashed looks as well, glancing between Harry and Louis. Harry bites his lip, quickly mumbling out a soft goodbye.

Once they are out of the double doors of the cafeteria, Harry stops walking. Louis notices faster than he should, and quickly turns to him nonplussed, watching as the boy picks at his sleeves. "Do you not- like- want me to meet your friends?"

And for fucks sake. "Harry, shit. No, it's not that at all, I promise. Fuck. That's how it came off, wasn't it?"

Harry looks at him confused, and Louis continues, "You just looked so scared back there and I didn't know why, and like, my friends are really straight-forward about things," Louis pauses, "and loud, and annoying, and I just, fuck." Louis shakes his head and huffs out. He brushes his fingers through his fringe as the other one rests on his hip. "How about you stop by my flat tonight, alright? Zayn lives there and I'm sure Liam will be there. I can get Niall to come over or something. Then you can properly meet them, and I know they'll love you, and yeah. Please? " Louis throws him a desperate look that falls between a pout, confusion, and self-hatred.

Because Louis, god, Louis knows that this thing with Harry isn't going to just end when their project does. He knows that he's already in deep with the boy, knows that he wants to keep him in his life.

"Um," Harry swallows awkwardly, "alright."

Louis texts the lads, telling them that Harry is coming over and he wants them to be there to meet him properly, and that they need to be nice because he's really sensitive. Then he sends a second message, telling them that he likes to wear nail polish and not to question it.

When they're in astronomy cutting out shapes for their project, Louis forces himself to ask.

"Harry?"

Harry hums in response.

"Why were you so scared earlier?"

Harry doesn't speak for a while. He just keeps cutting out stars and chewing at his lip, and Louis' almost sure he sees blood from how hard the boy is biting into it, but he's patient for an answer.

"I just don't like loud things," he finally says.

Louis feels it's only half the truth, but he nods anyway. "Okay."

(When Harry arrives at Louis' flat, the lads are all playing video games with beers in hand, and Harry gives them shy smiles. Niall immediately jumps up, wrapping his arms around Harry, "Good to meet'ya mate," it's loud and Louis sees Harry flinch and carefully hug him back. "Also," Niall whispers, so Louis doesn't hear, "I think Louis here really likes ya', 'never seen him like he was today."

Harry flushes, looking up to Louis with bright eyes as Niall pulls away. There is a prominent feeling of his heart stuttering, and they've only known each other a few days all together.

The other boys give him handshakes, introducing themselves again. Harry gives them gentle 'hello's' and soft smiles as Louis watches him carefully. When Niall hands Harry a drink and sees his fingernails, he smiles and says "Wow mate, your nails look sick, not even my mum paints 'er nails that good and she's been doin' it forever, I swear. She always gets it all over 'er skin, and don't even mention how bad the right hand looks. God."

Niall shoots Louis a smile and Louis thanks God for Niall, he does, because Harry's beaming so bright Louis thinks he might go blind.

He sits back, beer in hand, and tries not to think about how much he already likes the sweet boy.)