crack the shutters. | larry & niam.

Chapter 8 - Lost father.

Louis entered the school, looking around the hallway to find Harry. He let out a sigh as he realized Harry was not there. Why was this boy so hard to understand? Louis always thought girls were weird, but Harry surpassed everything Louis had ever seen.

"Looking for your special friend?" Louis flinched, and turned around. Zayn was looking at Louis. "I.. yeah, actually, I am.", Louis said.

Zayn let out a light laugh, and walked to his locker with Louis by his side. "You like trouble, kid, don't you?" Louis shrugged, and leaned at the next locker, looking Zayn checking himself out in the mirror he placed on his locker door. "Probably, I can't remember when Harry has ever caused me trouble, so." Zayn raised an eyebrow, and turned around, facing Louis, and gently pushed his shoulder against the locker, causing Louis to whine out in pain. Zayn smiled at Louis. "I don't think I need to say anything, right?" 

Louis rolled his eyes. "Whatever, it's my choice." Zayn closed his locker. "I never said it wasn't mate." 

Louis opened his mouth to say something, but closed it right after. Niall walked up to them, his hands shoved into his pockets, and looked at his friends. "What were you talking about?" Zayn turned around, and smiled at Niall. "Louis and his weird obsession with Styles." Louis rolled his eyes, deciding to not respond to what Zayn said. 

"Holy shit, Niall, you look like shit!", Louis said, widening his eyes. Niall raised his eyebrows. "Uhm.. thank you? Wasn't there a nicer way to tell me, though?" 

Louis shook his head. "No, like, the bags under your eyes, and holy shit, you're even paler than you already are, what happened?" Niall got nervous, and swallowed, hoping they wouldn't notice.

"I had a rough night, didn't slept well.", he said, his voice sounding more confident than Niall was.

Louis raised his eyebrows, and looked at Niall suspiciously. "You're sure? You've been weird for a few days now." Niall nodded. "And you know that you can tell us anything, right? We won't judge you." 

Niall nodded. "I'm fine, really." Louis nodded, still not believing Niall.

~

Louis was walking home, kicking a rock forward with his feet when he spotted a familiar looking person a few metres away. He ran up to him, and looked at him. "Where were you today?" Louis looked at Harry. This was the first time he'd seen Harry this day, he seemed to have disappeared the entire day.

"Not where you've been, obviously.", Harry answered, not making the attempt to look at Louis.

"No, shit, tell me more.", Louis said, rolling his eyes. "I asked you were you've been, not were you haven't been, so?" 

Harry let out an annoyed sigh. "Hiding. Freaks do things like this." 

Louis looked at Harry, both of his eyebrows raised. "I still don't believe you're crazy." Harry smiled a bit. "You're a burdock." Louis smiled too. "I know I am, but don't you like it?" Harry shrugged. "Kinda. You're the first person my age I had a proper conversation with in months, and you don't want to run away to gossip about what I say, so.. Kind of, yes."

Louis' smile went wider. "I knew you couldn't resist my charme.", he laughed, joyfully winking at Harry. Harry looked at Louis for the first time today. "Don't get cocky." Louis shrugged. "I guess we'll see each other tomorrow.", Harry said before he turned into the driveway of his house without saying anymore words.

Louis smiled and walked home, he finally got the answer he wanted: It was useful to talk to Harry, he liked it. And in some strange way, this made Louis happier than ever.

~

Niall sat at home, two of his pills lying in front of him on the table. He looked at the clock which was hanging above the doorframe. His aunt would come back from Ireland any moment, and she would notice Nialls lack of medication. He grabbed the pills, put them into his mouth and swallowed them, drinking water afterwards. 

He closed the bottle as he heard the front door open. He jumped up, and walked to the door, and met his aunt who was taking off her coat at the time Niall entered the hallway. 

Laura, his aunt, smiled as she saw Niall, and pulled her nephew into a hug. "Niall, I've missed you so much!" Niall laughed, and his aunt let go of him, and walked into the kitchen, grabbing herself a glass a water. "What were you doing in Ireland anway?", Niall asked, following his aunt. 

Laura sighed. "Your father showed up and wants to have your custody." Nialls eyes widened. "W-What? Why didn't you tell me? I mean.." Niall took a deep breath to calm himself down. "You mean my father, who has never even called or visited me as long as I can remember, applied to have my custody now?! How long do you know?!"

Laura nodded and let out a sigh. "I don't know what he's thinking.. I've known for about a week, the letter arrived last monday, asking me to fly to Dublin to attend for court. I didn't tell you because you seemed to be weird the last days and I was afraid to put you down even more. I was worried, okay?", she said, looking into Nialls eyes.

Niall pulled his aunt into a hug, trying to calm her down. "It's okay.." He let go of her. "Do I have to go back to Ireland now?" Laura looked at him. "To be honest, I don't know yet. The court decides this on December 15th, which would be in about a month." 

Niall sighed and sat down on a chair. "So I have to go a month with worrying that I probably have to leave my friends, my life, leave you behind to go to Ireland to live with a man who never ever cared about me, a man that I've never met before?"

Laura nodded sadly. Niall buried his face into his hands. "Shit."