SILENCE AND SOUND | LARRY AU

01 | BRAVE NEW WORLD

A/N. TEXT IN ITALICS AND UNDERLINED ARE HARRY/LOUIS' THOUGHTS. TEXT IN JUST ITALICS ARE CONVERSATION VIA SIGN LANGUAGE.

SILENCE AND SOUND | CHAPTER 01

Harry clapped his hands as the group of players running behind him came to a stop and plopped down on the grass. He smiled slowly, knowing for a fact that even though they're tired right now, they'd be thanking him for the long practice sessions as the season progressed. If the team kept practicing like this, they had a very good chance of winning the season, but more importantly, they were bound to be able to beat the Stallions.

The name struck a string of anger in Harry's heart, but he managed to tone it down for the time being as he plopped down on the grass along with his team.

"I don't know why I voted in your favour when coach was selecting captain. You overwork us to death, mate. It's not fair."

Niall groaned and Harry simply laughed, shuffling toward him to help him shake off the pain on his right leg.

"We're gonna have to push more if we want to beat the Stallions." Liam said before Harry could say anything else and Harry looked back at his boyfriend with a grateful look on his face.

"Exactly. I'm not letting that asshole win and boast in our faces again this season." Harry said, frowning as the barely-contained anger started bubbling to the surface and making his mind go back to all the things that went down last season. Zayn had once been Harry's best friend. They had grown up together, for God's sake. Before, of course, the latter turned into a complete asshole and forced Harry away from him with all he could do and abandoned him.

"Harry, love, stop thinking so much." Liam said with a light tap on his shoulder, making Harry snap out of the reverie in the past. "We'll beat them, don't think too much over it, okay?"

He said, making Harry smile and stand up as they walked off the field and hit the showers. Liam had always been a supporter. A back-bone. Even when Harry was doing something wrong, Liam would always sit him down and show him how what he was doing was wrong. He never chastised the younger boy and told him how completely disappointed in him he was.

"Li, there's only one shower free."

"You go ahead, then. You need to wash off that anger, anyway. I'll wait with Matt until then when he comes out." he said, referring to his twin.

"Or, we could avoid the additional waste of water and just get it over with." Harry said, with a shadow of the beloved and oh-so-sexy grin on his face.

"Just go." Liam said, pushing him away and Harry emitted a dry chuckle, trying to ignore the pang of hurt.

He still loves you, Harry. He's just not up for sex right now.

Harry's subconscious made him see the glass half-full, or at least tried to. Shaking off the weird gut feeling, he stepped into the shower and as Liam had put it earlier, washed the anger away as the slightly harsh drops of water hit his smooth, pale skin and made his brown, curly locks stick to his forehead. The action proved to be quite effective. Simple, but effective.

**

Harry groaned in relief as the school bell rang, marking the end of the day. Another weekend gone. Harry absolutely hated Saturdays. Just hated them. It was because on Saturday, he had no football practice and hence, Harry had nothing to look forward to.

"Harry, a word?" his English teacher and the school's Drama teacher, Mr Knight, stopped him just as he was about to leave the classroom, and Harry held back a groan. That'd be disrespectful.