Broken Souls l.s.

Chapter 7: Harry

"Your mum," Louis asks, looking up at me. I glance over at him, nodding. "She's been missing," he gently asks, entwining his fingers with mine underneath the table.

"She's been missing since I was sixteen, I explain. He nods, gently.

"How'd you find out," Liam asked, confusion clear in his face. It was still just a theory, but someone who had apparently known our mum when Gem and I were little had recognized her and told her all about what our mum had been up to. She'd left most of the details out, but had mentioned Liverpool and we'd agreed that's where we wanted to go next.

"Someone who knew mum when Gemma and I were young suggested we check out Liverpool. Apparently, they're convinced she's living there," I explain.

"Come back to bed," Louis sleepily mumbles, reaching out for me as I pull a shirt over my bare torso. I glance back at him where he's sleepily cuddling further into the blankets trying to regain some heat. "You were my human heater," he complained.

"Sorry, button," I apologize, sitting back down on the bed for a moment. "You know I have to leave to go be a captain rather than your human heater, yes," I ask when he snuggles back against me, seeking out my heat. He nodded, subtly but noticeably.

"Harry," he groaned, "please stay," he asked, peeping his head out of the blankets so his gorgeous blue eyes were boring into my own.

"I can't, button," I remind him.

"Can I come with you then," he asks, wrapping his arms around my torso, presumably to trap me with him, not that I minded, and glanced up at me.

"Button, you'll get very cold," I point out.

"I'll be cold either way," he argues. "Besides, I'd rather be cold and be with you over being cold and alone." And if I didn't melt at his words, then everyone should be worried.

"Alright, but you're putting an extra coat on," I tell him. He eagerly nods, releasing me and jumping up to get dressed. He rushes around the room for a few minutes before he returns to me fully dressed and is holding onto one of my many coats. We'd planned on getting him one when we stopped in Liverpool because the boy was always freezing and stealing my coats, not that I minded. Afterall, he looked absolutely adorable in my coat.

"Happy," he asked, slipping the coat on.

"Very," I tell him, grabbing a lighter jacket, pulling it on, and taking his hand. His hand was indeed very cold and he quickly moved his body closer to mine in order to gain as much as he possibly could have.

"I'm cold," he complained nearly an hour later. He was sitting by my feet, glancing around as the cold hair blew the hair out of his face every so often. Or rather, he was sitting on my feet. He insisted he wanted to keep my feet warm, but I was sure it was more of a need to be touching me in some way.

"I told you that you would be," I remind him, steering slightly to the left as we got closer and closer to the doc in Liverpool. I really needed to train someone to do this so I could stay in my warm bed with a cuddly boy instead.

"And I wanted to be around you," he reminds me, looking up at me as I look down at him.

"I know, button," I tell him.

"Why button," he curiously asks.

"Because it suits you," I pause, pulling him to his feet so I could look him in the eyes. "You're cute and small like a button, but also have this harder external shell that's hard to break through. And if someone ever tried to hurt you, it would be like inhaling a button. You would kill them. That's why I call you button," I explain. "Plus you like to push everyone's buttons." His face brightened a tad. "And for the record, I'd gladly inhale you," I whisper gently into his ear. His face was now tomato red.

"I-uhm-er," he mumbled, as I moved back to the helm to continue to steer towards the doc. The sun was just begging to rise. His eyes found the rising sun in the sky and he seemed awestruck with the beauty of it. "Wow," he muttered, watching the sky turn from a dark blue to a fusion of pinks and oranges. "It's absolutely gorgeous," he added on. He glanced over at me while I sharply turned the wheel, in an attempt to turn into the dock and doc the ship. "Kind of like you. It's this subtle kind of beauty that when you sit down and admire it, you can't help but be in awe. You're like this little ball of sunshine, but nobody sees the sun in you unless you let them. You should let people see your sunshine. It really suits you.