Under Coloured Trees || Larry Stylinson

9

They've been playing for a while when Louis decides he needs a break because one, he hasn't played in so long, and two, he's feeling so much joy right now, but it's mixed with nostalgia and sadness, and it's so overwhelming his heart might explode. So he needs a break. He goes over to the little fire which is slowly becoming smaller and smaller. It reminds him of that dot he talked about earlier. The dot in people's eyes. The one that proves human bodies are not just an empty shell.

Harry's sitting there. He stopped playing a while before Louis did. Louis suspects it is because he sucks at football but, knowing Harry, maybe he just got tired of socializing or something.

Harry's looking at the fire with something shining in his eyes. It's not shining with a light that means he's happy or that he's seen something that he likes. His eyes shine with a dark light.

He looks up when he hears Louis grabbing a beer from Niall's portable miny fridge -as Louis said, Niall does take the drinking thing seriously-, and sits next to him, but making sure there's a fair distance between the two. Louis doesn't say anything. He doesn't want to ruin it. They haven't argued all day, he'd like to keep it that way. And this feels...nice. Yeah, it feels nice, not arguing with Harry. Now they've opted for just ignoring each other instead of fighting and Louis likes it better this way. So he won't say anything.

"You're pretty good at it" he hears a deep voice next to him and feels a pair of piercing green eyes on the side of his head.

He meets Harry's shiny gaze "Yeah, well, you suck"

But Louis is not a mean person and he would never say something like that seriously, not even to Harry, so he says it with a tiny, almost imperceptible smile playing on his lips and when he looks at Harry he knows the boy has noticed the amused glint flashing in Louis' eyes because he just looks down and grins lightly. It takes Harry a while to answer then.

"I'm sure you were some kind of football star or something in high school, right? Team captain or some shit"

Louis wasn't. He was never even on the team. He was planning on trying out, he was. Stan had spent the whole summer trying to convince him because Louis was sure he would never make it. But when he finally agreed to it after a lot of persuasion performed by not only Stan but also his mum and his sisters...well, let's just say by that time he was no longer wanted by the team...or by Stan for that matter, or by anyone. So he never tried out.

"No, I wasn't" Louis mutters shaking his head. He doesn't know why he's telling Harry this. He should just say "yes, I was a motherfucking star, the best one" and just leave it at that. It's not like they're ever going to get close enough for Harry to figure out the truth. But Louis finds himself not being able to just lie to him like that. Because Louis likes to be as honest as he can, even if Harry doesn't deserve it.

"How come?" When Louis looks at him, Harry has this curious look in his face. Louis opens his mouth to talk but then he notices something about the boy.

"Hey, wait a minute, why the fuck are you drinking?" he nods at the beer in Harry's hand which he hadn't seen before. It's not like when and where Harry decides to drink or not to drink is any of his business. But in the almost three months they've known each other they've gone out to bars several times, Harry usually dragged by Niall, Louis dragged by Zayn and Liam, and not once has Louis seen Harry grab a drink, at least not an alcoholic one.

Harry looks at the beer in his hands like he's forgotten it's there. "Oh, ermm... I- I just felt like it" he shrugs.

"But you never drink" Louis insists. He's never seen Harry this nervous. He knows something's up.

"I just never want to and now I do, okay? Leave me be just once, for fuck's sake!" he yells, defensive all of a sudden.

Louis stays quiet for a few seconds, his gaze drifting to the tiny fire again. He hears Harry take a deep breath, exhaling loudly.