Love in a photograph

V

Harry loves law school. He adores it, even; it's everything he thought it would be, and it's nothing like working on the farm, which is maybe the best part. He's doing incredibly well in his classes, and he's learning so much, and he feels endlessly fortunate that this is his life now.

It's only been about a month, but he knows that this is what he was meant to do. He knows that he absolutely cannot mess up this opportunity, because he needs to be successful and to pay Gemma back eventually, to be able to help her like she's helping him. He will do everything in his power to make this work, to be the best at it, to be as successful as he can.

That being said, he's finding it hard lately to keep it up. He found his roommates a bit annoying when he first met them, but he always thought they would get better as time went on, or maybe Harry would just grow accustomed to it. It's nearly October now, though, and they're still as obnoxious as ever, and Harry's patience is wearing thin.

All three of them come from old money, are only in law school because it's what their fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers did. They're snobbish, and loud, and they don't take anything seriously, especially school, which Harry finds endlessly infuriating. He spends the majority of his time in the library studying, but when his roommates keep him up all night with their excessive noise and partying, there's not much he can do about it. He's asked them to keep it down, to please let him sleep, but they only ever tell him to loosen up and have a little fun.

To make matters worse, he hasn't been able to see Louis very much at all. He's been far too busy to go by the store and when he does have time, he only has just enough of it to get his groceries and then get back to studying. He's wearing down, exhausted and stressed and mostly over it by now, and he just wants the semester to end so that maybe he can find a new living situation.

He runs into Louis on a Saturday, when he stops by the store to pick up some groceries. He's been living on bread and butter for nearly a week now and he's afraid he may die soon if he doesn't get some more food in his diet, and seeing Louis is always a welcome bonus.

Louis must be able to see the exhaustion running deep into Harry's bones, because he frowns as soon as Harry lugs his things up to the checkout.

"You look terrible," Louis says, ringing up all of Harry's things.

"Thanks," Harry mutters, rubbing at his eye. "I'm hoping my room will still be empty when I get back, maybe I can get some real sleep for the first time this week."

"School's not going well?" Louis says, bagging up Harry's groceries.

"My classes are lovely," Harry says. "I really like that part. My roommates, on the other hand, are horrendous. They never let me sleep, they're messy and disgusting, and they don't take anything

seriously, and they're rude to me when I work up the courage to ask for some respect," he complains. "I just want to move out, but I'll have to wait until the end of the semester to find another dorm."

"That's awful," Louis frowns. "Come live with me instead." Harry looks up at him questioningly, and Louis shrugs. "I'm pretty quiet, but I'll be especially quiet if you're studying, and I'm not terribly neat, but I can work on it, and it might be fun to have someone around. You don't even have to pay rent, if you don't want to. Maybe you can just help me out at the store sometimes?" he offers.

Harry blinks, watching Louis closely for a long moment. "Louis, are- are you serious?"

"Absolutely," Louis says. "Give me a week to get everything ready for you, and you can move in next weekend."

"That would be amazing," Harry grins, reaching across the counter to grip Louis's arm. "Thank you, Louis, really."

"It's quite selfish of me, actually," Louis shrugs, blushing a little as he turns away. "I'm lonely, and have been looking for some help around here-"