In Too Deep (Dancing With The Shadows)

six

"I didn't know you had a trampoline," Harry says as a way of greeting when he shows up at the back door.

Louis rubs at a tired eye, leaning against the doorframe. He's been up for a while, but last night's restlessness from his whirring thoughts kept his sleep light, every tick of the clock kept him from falling any further into sleep.

He's wearing nothing but a pair of white shorts that reach his knees. His hair is all tousled. There's no point denying that he had a huge hissy fit this morning over the way that it didn't sit the way he wanted to, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, just wanting to rip the bloody strands from his scalp.

He drinks in Harry's features. The sun really does wonders in highlighting his jaw and giving him caramel streaks in his curly hair. Curly wurly, that's what his hair reminds Louis of, a curly wurly.

"And a hello to you too, Harry," Louis says lightly, smiling up at him. He thumps his temple onto the door.

"Sorry, hello." Harry points behind him. "You have a trampoline."

Louis shakes his head, turning and leaving the door wide open so Harry can let himself in, wandering into the kitchen where there's a blender propped up on the marble counters.

"You comin', Curly?" Louis hollers when Harry doesn't follow.

Harry hesitantly steps foot into the kitchen, looking around the place with wondrous eyes.

Louis goes to the freezer and grabs the bag of ice, kicking the freezer door closed with his foot. He trots back over toward the blender, drumming his fingers against the counter in thought.

"Where did you find the trampoline anyway? I forgot we had it, and last time I saw it was in the workshop under dust," Louis says, not looking beside him to where Harry is standing awkwardly.

Harry scratches up his arm slowly. "Um... well, I was on a walk and saw the workshop shutter open and a door inside with a sign saying honey bees at work. I was curious."

"You were nosey," Louis states.

Harry turns crimson, biting his bottom lip and nodding tentatively. "Yeah," he replies quietly. "Sorry."

Louis waves him off. "Don't be, nothing here is explicitly out of bounds. You're allowed to roam anywhere, as long as you don't get lost. And that bee cave was my grandma's."

"There wasn't any honey," Harry says with a frown.

Louis smiles softly, the clanking of the ice hitting the plastic blender sounding. "She was the only one trained in beekeeping. So when she died, we gave up the bees altogether. They were sold to local beekeepers. Sometimes when I see a honeybee, I believe it could be one of her old hive's."

Harry nods along, listening. "Well, I saw the tractor as well, and I went to just sit on it because the child in me needed to. I've always wanted to go on a tractor." Harry looks extremely shy and small, shoulders scrunched to his neck as if he's tredding on rocky ground.

Louis just wants to pinch his waist that is being hugged by his yellow top. He wishes he was the one hugging Harry.

Sigh. Damn his tiny tiny crush on the guy from when his sisters brought his image into Louis' world forever.

"Did you go on the tractor?" Louis ponders.

Harry shakes his head. "I didn't want to touch anything that could've, like, make it explode or anything. But then I saw the trampoline parts in the corner."

Louis hums, clicking the switch to the blender on. "Yeah, we used to use the trampoline to star gaze when we were kids," he says. "The light pollution here isn't as bad, so we get to see more stars than in the cities."