habit » stylinson au

5: silence

The day rolled around when the new student arrived, but Louis didn't see them until they walked into his English class, and Louis was quite mesmerized.

He's read numerous of poems about beautiful people, read how their beauty was captured in words and inked down into eternity. He could quote quite a few poems about green eyes and full red lips, pretty curls and the most angelic face humanity has ever seen.

But Louis has learned that looks are deceiving. So he pushed his wild thoughts that were a mess of deep forests and sunsets on a summer night to the back of his head and held his breath when the new boy sat down next to him.

He could hear the other students mumbling something about a disease, but the boy turned to look at him and flashed him a smile. "Hi" he said. Only kind people can smile like that. And kind people don't lie. Do they?

Louis blinked. "Hi?"

"I'm Harry."

Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry. It fit so well. Louis' fingers itched to write, the pen in his hand ready to write the prettiest and yet most melancholic words, ready to create a new world with the help of Louis' thoughts. It's sad to think that his pen was his best friend. It just never seemed to run out of ink. People run out of things all the time.

"I know" Louis replied and so desperately tried to look away, but these green eyes were holding him in place and forced him to walk deeper and deeper into the forest. Louis could feel himself getting lost. He tried to figure out if that kind of being lost was so bad. He could get drunk on Harry. He already felt addicted. Fuck.

Harry laughed quietly, his eyes glistening with something that Louis couldn't pinpoint. It looked like eternal and genuine happiness, but at the same time it seemed to be just a temporary feeling of happiness. So much pain hidden behind all of this fakeness. Was Harry fake?

Louis couldn't laugh with him. He was too used to people lying to him and getting hurt in the process of the other person realizing that Louis wasn't worth it. Or whatever it was. People just stopped giving their kindess to him, and instead treated him with cruelty.

"You okay?" Harry asked.

Fake, fake, fake. It had to be fake.

Louis didn't even bother to give him any kind of smile and turned away from him, staring down at his paper. It was better this way. He should keep his head down for the rest of his life and keep his words close to him. His own thoughts wouldn't lie to him.

Harry stopped bothering him then, simply turned away from Louis a few minutes after he asked him if he was okay. No attention, no kindness. Coldness. Louis shuddered. They were both better off this way.

The day just seemed to drag on and on, every minute feeling like a whole hour and everything hurt his heart. Everyone was just so loud, making noise after noise. Louis hid in the bathroom all the way through lunch to just get away from it all.

When he sat down in his usual seat in the far back of the classroom in maths class, Harry walked in just seconds after. And he sat down right next to Louis.

He held his breath and kept his gaze on the table, not allowing himself to do anything stupid. "Hi," Harry said and Louis said nothing. "I don't mind if you don't say anything back. We can just sit in silence, if you want."

So, if you are too tired to speak, sit next to me, because I, too, am fluent in silence. Louis swallowed the quote and closed his eyes instead. Harry said it for him instead.

In a quiet and soft voice, he said, "So, if you are too tired to speak, sit next to me, because I, too, am fluent in silence." "R. Arnold," Louis replied without meaning to, fighting the urge to grab his bag and flee out of this classroom where every corner echoed their words.

"You know–" "You, too."

They sat in silence. It was enough.

guess who suddendly updates a chapter that's only 700 words long after a year of silence? it's me. i'm not surprised if no one is gonna read this lmao. if anyone is reading this though (hi) i hope you have a lovely day/night <33