They were ROOMMATES

10

Harry is all caution as he perches on the arm of the couch. He's honestly feeling totally of his depths here. A vulnerable Louis is a foreign Louis as far as Harry is concerned. And as much as he'd love to just scoop the older boy up and get to the bottom of whatever's causing him pain, he also knows it's not that simple.

He's all too aware of the fragility of this budding 'something-ship' of theirs, and is in no position to fuck it up by trying to make Louis open up too soon only to be shut back out.

As much as it hurts to think about, it wasn't long ago when Louis hated him.

Louis let's out a gut-wrenching sob that makes his heart do seven consecutive backflips, and he knows he has to do something.

"Lou, what can I do?" he asks, and immediately feels stupid. He wishes he was better at this, that he automatically knew what would be comforting. Louis always knows how to handle Harry when he's upset, it feels almost unfair.

And then there's this sudden guilt tugging at his conscience, because he knows he's putting his own emotional needs first right now, not Louis'. He feels he should be wrapping Louis in a warm hug and urging him to speak so that he can fix this, but he's too terrified.

The problem is, Harry finally has someone. He doesn't have his family in his life. He doesn't have any real friends to speak of. And he always just smiles anyways, wanting to be a light in this world, but it hurts because for the past few years his efforts have always been rejected. His own parents rejected him, all because of the gender he's attracted to. Nobody needed him when he desperately needed literally anyone, and now...

He has someone, and he's so so scared to lose that by making Louis feel cornered. He has Louis, that blued eyed mystery of a boy, who buys him pop tarts and smiles just because Harry is smiling, who despite his 10 foot walls defended with sarcasm and carefully crafted indifference, actually cares about boring little Harry.

"Lou, please tell me what's wrong," Harry begs, his heart breaking a little more with every sob Louis let's out.

"I can't!" he cries, and all of Harry's previous reserves fly out the window. He moves naturally to close the gap between him and Louis, wrapping his arms around him. To his surprise, Louis does not object and falls into Harry's arms, breath shuttering as he cries.

Niall unexpectedly bursts into the room. "Some random dude just sent me a picture of Louis' penis!" His phone screen lights up with another incoming text alert. "Holy shit, there's a video..."

"Don't even think about watching it," Harry warns, instinctively tightening his embrace around Louis, who is currently crying hysterically with his face hidden in Harry's chest.

Suddenly Liam comes in uninvited too, turning first to Niall. "What the hell? We were mid conversation and you just got up and left the room."

"There's a problem." He hands Liam the phone. "Look at this."

"Nobody's allowed to fucking look at it!" Louis wails, voice strained and panicked.

Niall and Liam haven't even really stepped foot into the room yet, but Harry really doesn't want them here, because Louis is clearly too distraught to be made fun of right now, and he's familiar with their work. "I think it's time for you lads to go," he says, trying to hide his anger at them and really at this whole situation.

"But we haven't even-"

"Out."

They don't argue this time. Harry waits till he hears the door shut behind them before speaking. "Lou, you could have just told me. I would have helped you."

It's easier to understand Louis now, as his crying has calmed down a bit, but he still looks defeated, now sitting slouched beside Harry on the couch. "I thought you might be disgusted by me. I thought you might never want to see me again."

"You're not disgusting, and I'm not going anywhere," Harry insists, then adds, "I'm honestly still a bit confused as to what's going on." So some jerk sent some x-rated images and videos of Louis to Niall. It's bizarre and perhaps a bit embarrassing, but it could be a lot worse (something Harry is empathetic enough not to point out right now), instead settling for "If it helps, Niall didn't watch it. He's not gonna watch it, Lou."

"But everyone else is going to," he mutters in frustration. "How am I supposed to show my face around campus."

This doesn't make any sense to Harry. He rests a gentle hand on the older boy's shoulder. "Niall won't show anyone. I'm positive."

"He didn't just send it to Niall, you idiot! He sent it to everyone!"