Playing House

8

To make Louis happy again, Harry put on Grease next. Soon, the boy next to him was giggling and singing along. Harry got invested too, and they goofed around the whole movie. When it ended, Louis jumped at him and started to tickle him. Harry laughed and squirmed and tried to get away.

When Louis finally stopped, he was laying half on top of him with his face above his. Their smiles died, and they were frozen. Something had changed. A knock on the door startled them. Louis threw himself on his back, and Harry sat up.
"Yeah?"

"Dinner is ready. I set a plate for you too, Louis." Anne said through the closed door.

"Hungry?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. I just have to call me mum and tell her I'm eating dinner here." Louis said.

A quick call later, they headed downstairs and joined Harry's mum and sister for dinner. Gemma wouldn't stop bugging Louis with questions, but he handled it well. The two of them did most of the talking. Was Gemma flirting with Louis? She was only a year older than him. Harry wanted to strangle her.

When dinner finally was over, he and Louis headed back to his room.
"She has a boyfriend, you know?" Harry almost growled.

"Who? Your sister?" Louis questioned, sounding confused.

"Yes, my sister. She's taken." Harry muttered.

Louis grabbed his arm and spun him around.
"I'm not interested in your sister, Harry. I was trying to be nice because I want your family to like me."

"Oh. Sorry. It's just... I've seen you in school. You know, when you talk to girls and..." Harry tried to explain.

"And what? I can't talk to girls?" Louis questioned and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Of course, you can! You can flirt with whoever you want, it's just that you similarly talked to my sister." Harry tried to explain.

"Maybe I'm not flirting with the girls at school, ever thought about that?" Louis replied, looking pissed.

Harry panicked. He had made Louis upset. Now, he would never want to hang out with him again.
"I'm sorry. I'm so stupid. I shouldn't..."

"Hey! No, Harry. You're not stupid. Don't say that. Come here. I'm fine. We're fine." Louis interrupted him and pulled him in for a hug.

Harry buried his face in the crook of Louis' neck and held back his tears.
"I'm sorry if I sounded harsh." Louis said.

"You didn't. I'm sorry, too." Harry mumbled.

Louis cradled his face and looked him in the eyes.
"Don't worry about it, love."

Harry blushed. He knew it was a British thing, calling people love. Nevertheless, it made his stomach turn into butterflies. Were they having a moment? Louis didn't let go of him, and he didn't take a step back. It felt like the time had stopped, and Harry held his breath. A screaming doll broke their moment. Louis smiled and let go of him.
"Hands down to the doll for destroying a perfect moment." He chuckled.

So they were having a moment? What kind of moment? Harry was afraid to come off as delusional if he even reflected on it as that kind of moment. Louis couldn't be into boys, right? Shouldn't he have a gaydar, and like, know? Even if Louis was into boys, he couldn't like him, right?
"Harry?"

Harry snapped out of his inner monologue.
"Sorry?"

"Can you get the bottle?" Louis asked.

"Of course." Harry said and hurried over to the diaper bag thrown in a corner.

He picked it up and found the bottle. It was empty. He headed to the bathroom to fill it with water and handed it over when he returned. He took a seat next to Louis on the bed and watched him feed the doll. He could totally imagine him doing that with a real baby in the future.
"You're staring." Louis pointed out.

"Sorry. I think you'll be a great dad someday." Harry blurted out.

"Because I know how to feed a doll?" Louis teased.

"Never mind." Harry pouted.

"I'm just teasing you. Thanks. I really hope so. Having a kid is a huge responsibility. You could like, really mess them up, you know what I mean? And if your partner is a deadbeat dad, like me dad, for example, then you're  trying to raise a child alone. I don't know how me mum did it, to be honest." Louis said.

"Well, you're not having a kid right now, right?" Harry wondered.

"Hell, no! I'm nowhere mature enough for that, and I'm single."
Louis snorted and laughed.

"Yeah, and you can like, not expect your future partner to be a bum and like, you said earlier you wanted to adopt and that's a whole process so you'll probably be with that person for a while before you have kids and I think you will know if your future partner wants to have kids or not and if they will be a good parent. Right?" Harry tried to argue.

"True." Louis smiled.

They changed the diaper together before they put the doll back in the basket. Louis threw himself on the bed again and lay on the side, supporting his head with his hand.
"The Notebook was great. I can't believe I hadn't seen it."

"All Nicholas Sparks stories are great." Harry said and lay down facing Louis.

"A director?" Louis wondered.

"An author." Harry corrected him.

"I guess we have a lot of movies to watch in the future then." Louis smiled.

They just lay there talking for hours until Louis had to get home.
"So you're coming to the game tomorrow to watch me play?" He asked.

"That's the assignment." Harry replied, but when he saw how disappointed Louis looked, he hurried to add "But I'm looking forward to seeing you play!"

"Good." Louis smiled.

Harry followed him to the front door. Louis hugged him goodbye.
"I had a great day. See you tomorrow then. Don't forget Darcy."

"What kind of doll father would I be if I forgot her?" Harry replied, and Louis giggled.

Harry stood in the doorway and waved him goodbye before he jumped from excitement back to his room. He might have a friend now.