So lets cross the lines we lost

Chapter 3

"It's too fucking bright out here, and that noise is distracting."

Harry cocks his head to the side. "Noise... you mean like, birds? The sound of wind blowing through the trees? The outside world...?"

Louis glances up at the beams of sun peaking through the leaves of the tree they're sitting under, completely isolated from the rest of the campus, green eyes looking at him, Harrys legs outstretched next to him, and yes, it's all very distracting.

Harry had sent him a text earlier this morning to meet on the quad, and Louis just thought that meant that they'd be heading to a study room from there, or the library even. But no, Louis doesn't know why on earth he would be so foolish as to think the world would actually play in his favour, because of course Harry wanted to study on the grass instead, and much to Louis' dismay, he didn't have much of a choice.

"Yes. All of the above." He states plainly.

Harry narrows his eyes. "I like it, it's nice," he says, leaning back on his hands, biceps pulsing slightly as he dips his head back, closing his eyes and breathing deep.

Louis pokes him in the thigh with a pen. "Hey. We didn't come to sunbathe."

Harry sighs, prolonged, and then sits up properly. "You're really no fun."

"I gathered that." Louis says, unbothered.

Harry bites down on his lip in focus as he runs his pen across the paper, still leaning back in a lazy position. He's in another loose band shirt, it's faded almost beyond recognition and the sleeves are gone completely leaving two gaping holes where they used to be, giving Louis a, frankly unnecessary, view of the slight indication of his ribs almost all the way down to his hips, and the tattoos decorating the skin there.

Louis chews on the inside of his cheek and looks away.

It's been about as much of a joy working with Harry as Louis had expected. Though, there's been less gore and destruction like he was picturing in his head. Liam was thrilled to say the least when he found out they were working together, even if it's just for some pointless paper. Though he did worry about not being there for damage control, which Louis was upset about too, there'd be no chance of anything happening again (again) if there's someone else with them. He supposes a public space does imply that nothing is going to happen.

"Hey. We didn't come here to stare into stare into space," Harry says in a mocking tone, Louis almost – almost jumps at the sound of his voice, eyes snapping to him again. He's grinning. Louis wants to punch him.

"I was thinking." Louis states defensively.

Harrys face lights up with fake interest and he rolls over onto his stomach, propping his head up on his elbows and resting his chin on his fists. "Whatcha thinking about?"

Louis stares at him flatly. "The theory of relativity, solipsism, the multiverse,"

Harry seems unbothered by the jibe. "Didn't know there was so much going on up there," he says, obvious sarcasm in his tone.

"Yeah, well, at least one of us has the mental capacity to finish this," Louis mutters.

The next hour passes with Louis filling up a page in his textbook and short conversations with Harry actually relating to their work, it's productive. Good. Harry can actually be timely and on to it when he wants to be. That's good to know. For study reasons. Very good.

They had just finalized the outline for their project proposal when Harry snaps his book shut, letting out a relaxed sigh. "I think I'm done for the day."

Louis nods, feeling similarly, and he slides his books into his bag. "Got work soon anyway,"

"Library? That's by the music room's right? I wanted to drop in on Niall." Harry says casually, paying more attention to whatever is on his phone than Louis' response.