Kind Forest Eyes

Chapter nine

A knock is echoed by the wooden door at the entrance of Louis' room and he softly moves his head upwards to see who's there, careful to not wake Harry who is sleeping as he spoons him.

He's met by two pairs of brown eyes and he raises his eyebrows in question instead of speaking.

"I'm sorry to disturb, Lou," Liam says with a small whisper. "But dinner is ready."

Louis knows that he has to wake up the boy who's snoring in his arms and he's dreading it. He has enjoyed watching him sleep and loved admiring his beauty for a long time, so he doesn't want to end that.

He knows he has to though. Harry deserves a good meal and so does Louis.

He gives a small nod to Liam and Zayn to let them know that they're both coming downstairs for dinner any minute. It doesn't take long before the door closes and they're in private again. Louis now finally dares to wake his friend up, before not wanting to risk exposing Harry's fragile body to Zayn and Liam.

"Haz..." He whispers softly, moving his hand toward Harry's hair to caress his curls. "It's time to get up. Dinner is ready."

Harry slowly stirs, letting out a small moan. It does some things to Louis' member, but he ignores it. Harry is his main priority now.

So he simply continues running his hand through the younger boy's hair until his eyes finally flutter open. He retracts his hand but immediately puts it back on top of Harry's head when the latter whines softly at the loss of the touch.

A small smile appears on Louis' face, loving how cuddly and adorable Harry is. He, however, knows that they do have to head down for dinner at some point, especially if they don't want anyone entering the room again.

And Louis definitely doesn't want that. It was hard enough for Harry to trust Louis about the abuse, so he doesn't want more people involved than actually necessary.

Louis, therefore, ends up saying, his voice rumbling lowly, "Haz, we really do have to get up."

This makes the younger boy groan but comply, rolling on his back before stretching out his sore muscles. The pain makes him wince and Louis quickly decides to stand up to hand him his clothes. "I'll let you change. I'm just going to put the ointment away, but we probably should apply some again after dinner."

Harry nods slowly, still slightly consumed by sleep, before standing up and starting to change. Louis blushes as he perceives Harry's almost naked body again and he quickly turns around to head toward the bathroom.

After he has put the cream back on the shelf where it belongs, he moves back toward his bedroom and is relieved to see Harry fully covered again.

He moves his feet forward until he's stood in front of the boy and he holds out his hand with a questioning glance. Harry smiles brightly in return and doesn't hesitate to accept the hand and this way they both walk downstairs towards the dining table hand in hand.

Patrick and Kat's eyebrows shoot up but they don't comment on the handholding and merely continue eating. Patrick points toward the two empty chairs after he has swallowed his bite. "You can both sit there. There's plenty for all of us, so take as much as you would like."

"It smells amazing, Pat," Harry tells Louis' adoptive father politely, taking a seat while doing so. His voice shakes slightly, partly because of the fact that he just slept, but mainly because of the traumatic events from earlier.

The older man grins. "Thanks, Harry, that's really nice of you. I hope you'll like it."

"Oh, I'm sure we will." Louis chuckles. "You're a great cook, Pat."