Under Coloured Trees || Larry Stylinson

10

Christmas break has started and Louis loves this time of the year. Even if it sucks at home because he hasn't had a proper Christmas in years, he loves it. He likes the spirit. He likes to walk down the street after it's snowed, and see the lights and the people with their scarves and gloves and hats and fuzzy, big coats. He likes to be able to tell when those scarves and gloves have been knitted by a sweet grandma or by a starving little boy in a sweatshop from a third world country, because that way you can tell the difference among the people you see walking around like they're all one and the same when they're really not. 

He likes to see everyone going in and out of shops with dozens of bags in their hands that they're going to hide somewhere in the house until the morning of the 25th, and that their kids will probably find before that.

He loves Christmas trees and Christmas movies and hell, maybe even Christmas carols.

He likes to see all the children outside mesmerized by the snow. He likes to see that happy glow in their eyes that means that Christmas time has already begun. He likes to think that he once had that big dot of light in his eyes too.

But above all, he likes Christmas because it seems to give people a reason to be nicer to each other. That's why he feels like Christmas should not only be a holiday, but a state of mind as well.

Niall, Liam and Zayn are going to their hometown to see their families and spend their break there. He assumes that's what Harry's going to do as well.

And Louis... Well, Louis has been able to rent a crappy motel in Doncaster for a few nights because he promised Lottie he'd go see them. Well, technically, he didn't promise Lottie. He tried to get out of it and say they could Skype. But then Lottie pulled a genius card. The twins card.

Phoebe and Daisy called saying they were expecting him for Christmas. With their little voices and little hands clutching the phone that Louis could just picture so vividly. And Louis didn't know what to say to that so he just agreed. Obviously he couldn't cancel after that. Damn you, Lottie.

So, as he leans his head against the window of the bus while Stereophonics blasts through his earphones, he thinks about everything that's happened to him in the last four months. About all the new things he's had the pleasure to learn, about the good, interesting new people he has met, and even the ones who weren't that good and interesting at the beginning.

Harry and Louis have been able to work through their differences. Louis likes to think of it as progress. He doesn't know what it is in Harry's head. But the kid doesn't bother him half of what he used to now.

They don't fight anymore. At least not major fights. They used to have a lot of those. But now they try their hardest to avoid it and it shows, because they just treat each other politely when they're with the other three. They can easily hold a trivial conversation, even though it's still a little forced.

But when they're alone at the bookshop is when Louis feels the most comfortable with the other boy. He feels like it's mutual, because Harry talks a little bit more about himself when they're there. Louis doesn't know why, but it's like he's seeing tiny glimpses of the real Harry. Of the Harry neither Louis nor anyone else is allowed to see. Of his hobbies and his passions. Of what he likes and doesn't like. He is not sure if the younger boy is conscious of this. But, even if he would never admit it, Louis feels kind of privileged. Like he's the only one who sees this part of Harry. The part that talks about music with Louis, the part that discusses books with him, the part that is so passionate about acting and films and that shows itself when the boy makes references to cult classics they both like to watch.

They never talk about that day under Louis' blue tree because they both know it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean they've become friends all of a sudden. Louis is the first to know that kind of thing takes time. One can't just agree to be friends with someone else one day and then be soulmates the next. Not that Louis wants to be best friends with Harry. He just finds the boy interesting. He's smarter than Louis initially thought. He has had the opportunity to see that for himself now that they can talk to each other without feeling the uncontainable impulse to launch towards each other's throats.