clean » larry stylinson

[04]

the boy's eyes trickle over the smaller details, trying to take it all in.

the art covering the flat's walls was the first thing too capture louis' attention. no hint of white was left visible, not of course counting the touches that had too come from a spray bottle. though the graffiti was seemingly random the bursts of life seemed almost to form a disjointed story. one that made little sense to louis yet his gaze couldn't be stripped away.

the hopeless romantic inside of him couldn't help but smirk when he realised that the silhouettes of super-heroes found circling the door-frame mirrored the ones that were appearing daily in his kitchen. magnets connected to scribbled-on-napkins were beginning to shroud his fridge's entirety. and the more their kitchen was decorated, the brighter the beam on liam's face became.

the overwhelming fear constricting his chest was slowly loosening as he felt his mind drift into the coloured paint.

only a handful of people graced the typical party scene: the occasional chip packet lying around and a low techno beat from someone's phone echoing across the floor. nothing he couldn't handle.

rewind a few minutes, and louis was a fidgeting mess; shuffling from foot to foot while he waited (not-so-patiently) for liam to grow enough balls to actually knock on the foreign flat's door instead of standing outside rethinking his life choices.

after it had been confirmed for the twelfth time that the number on the handle matched the one saved to liam's imessage, louis had given up and pounded his fist on the wood.

an interesting parallel considering liam had threatened to steal his wi-fi modem had he not joined him at this gathering. (considering it was louis' apartment he found the whole threat rather unjust)

upon entrance somebody louis had never so much as seen before tackled the two of them into a large, but rather violently enthusiastic hug. his tall friend let out a small and rather unmanly squeal at this, louis coming to figure that liam too didn't know the identity of the blond cuddling into them.

he'd made sure to clear his throat extra loudly as he gave the young man a few pats on his back to acknowledge him.

as the stranger pulled away it was fairly evident by the boy's drunken giggles that the host had no shortage of alcohol.

once he arrived at the door, an equally drunk zayn had made introductions. thankfully sparing them of a hug and settling instead for a friendly shake of the hand. the perky irish boy, identified as niall, had continued to lean over zayn's shoulder, laughing hysterically over something that had happened before they'd arrived.

conversation began; discussion made about how they've caught a glance of louis once or twice before at the café but had no idea he was friends with liam-

they rambled on about something else too, pointing over to a smaller brunette and mentioning something about a video game but louis was much too focused on making sure that he's wiped his shoes clean... properly clean on the doormat to actually listen.

he'd just pressed his lips into a smile and nodded along while they walk off, hoping that his eyes didn't give away that he hadn't actually caught most of that.

soon a red cup filled with some sort of ghastly looking fizzy liquid was shoved into his hand before niall hopped over to where zayn had liam seated and was already talking his ear off.

louis at this point was still waiting by the door.

it's not as though he was simple. he knew that he should probably go and join them, be social and all of that seeing that he'd only been here a few minutes; but his sheer lack of experience held him back.