getting by - larry stylinson

chapter 7

Harry's lying on his bed, wallowing in his self-pity when his phone buzzes obnoxiously from underneath him, interrupting his heart-rendering thoughts. Oh for fucks sake, piss off. Let me be depressed in peace. 

He pulls his phone from under his back and blinks once, twice, three times at the notification on his screen. 'louis-t28 wants to be your friend!' Harry swipes up onto SnapChat, pressing accept. Almost immediately, Louis bitmoji pops up, indicating him typing. 

Louis: Hey curly.

Harry: uh hi what's up

Louis: Come out?

Harry smiles to himself. That's ironic. 

Harry: where r u

Louis: Outside your door.

Harry jumps out of bed and opens his door, finding himself almost knocking over a grinning Louis. The smaller boy runs over to the couch, sinking into it and beckons for Harry to sit next to him. The taller boy hesitates, then follows Louis over and collapses onto the couch next to him. They sit in silence for a few minutes before Louis speaks up.

 "So. Tell me Harry, you're gay yeah?" Harry blushes at the question and nods, looking away. Louis gently grabs Harry's chin and turns his head back to face him. "Hey, no need to hide your pretty face. I'm gay too, Niall must have told you that." 

Harry shakes his head. "I, er, no. No he failed to mention that little detail." I'm gonna fucking kill him for that. 

Louis turns to fully face Harry, crossing his legs and resting his hands in his lap, blue eyes gazing up into Harry's green.  "So. You're gay. I'm gay." Harry blushes and laughs, and Louis pretends to be offended. "What? That's good information to note Harold. You never know when it might be useful." Harry shrugs. 

"Guess so. Does everyone here know you're gay?" Louis nods.

"Yeah, when I first moved in I had a, well, a boyfriend and he used to pick me up and drop me off, so everyone kinda found out that way. Not everyone here is very welcoming to that sort of stuff though... especially not a certain tattooed lad." Harry nods and fidgets with his fingers in his lap. "Yeah, figured." 

Louis looks down at Harry's long fingers intertwining themselves, almost as though the curly haired boy is stressed. He reaches out and gently grasps Harry's left hand with his, then looking up at Harry and seeing no objection to this, Louis takes Harry's right hand in his as well.  Harry looks down at their hands and blushes as Louis squeezes his hands lightly. 

"You okay curly?" Harry nods and squeezes Louis' hands back. "Yeah, I'm okay." Louis smiles and leans in slowly, closing his eyes. Harry's stomach lurches as he realises what's happening, but he too leans in, closer and closer until a door bangs open and the boys break apart as though they have been electrocuted. 

"Hamish, I'd stay away from Lewis if I was you. It could be contagious." Harry looks up at Zayn inquisitively, feeling Louis tense up beside him. "You know, the gayness." He spits out the word as though it is truly a disease, and Harry looks down at his lap, his hands now feeling cold and empty. 

"Fuck off Zayn. And his name is Harry, not Hamish." Louis spits out. Zayn rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah whatever. You're sitting very close to him Lewis. You'd better watch out Henry or you'll catch the gayness." He tilts his head, peering at the two boys. "Actually, he looks gay already to be honest."

Louis flips Zayn the middle finger, and shifts away from Harry, glancing at him apologetically. "You're a real fucker Zayn, I hope you know that." 

A door to the left opens, and a boy and girl enter the room giggling, the boy in a beanie and sweats and the girl in jeans and a jacket. They stop short upon seeing the three boys, and both newcomers roll their eyes. "Zayn, are you giving those two trouble?" Zayn rolls his eyes back and opens the fridge. "Me? Nah, would never." 

The boy walks over and stands directly behind Zayn, leaning around him to reach into the fridge. Zayn appears to almost... smile? As he swats the boy's hand away Harry stares at them, taking in the encounter. Weird. 

He's brought back to his senses when a hand waves just in front of his face, startling him. "Hey, are you new?" Harry looks up at the blonde-haired girl, noticing she too has blue eyes. They're nowhere near as beautiful as Louis' though. Nothing is. 

Harry shakes himself from his thoughts and nods up at the slim girl. She's tall for a girl, looks like she's almost as tall as himself and definitely taller than Louis. I like short people though... 

"Nice to meet you, I'm Taylor. Taylor Swift." Harry forces a smile and reaches a hand out for her to shake. "Harry. Harry Styles." The girl giggles and Harry hears Louis sigh. He can practically feel the smaller boy rolling his eyes beside him. 

"That's a nice name. Styles..." Taylor's voice trails off and Louis clears his throat. "Shouldn't you be loving it up with Jake Kill-then-fall or whatever?" This time it's Taylor's turn to roll her eyes, and Harry glances past her at Zayn and the other boy, who are now playing rock-paper-scissors. So weird. 

Taylor scowls at Louis, smiles at Harry, then...winks? Harry frowns as Taylor turns around, walking towards the other boys. "Jakeyyyy." The three of them exit the room together, and Harry turns to look at Louis. "Erm," he says. 

There's a frown etched on Louis face, his forehead wrinkling slightly. "She fucking likes you. She's got a boyfriend you know, that beanie-clad knob." Harry smiles. "Relax, I'm gay. She's got no chance." 

Louis half-smiles, then the door opens again, but this time a more welcome face graces their presence. "Hey Niall!" Harry grins at the Irish lad and beckons him over. The blonde boy grins back and saunters over, grabbing a bag of crisps from the kitchen counter en route.

"Hey, was that Tay Tay and Jakey I saw walking out just then?" 

"Yeah, I don't know why the East kids can't just stay in their own wing." Louis grumbles and Niall shrugs, plopping himself onto the armchair opposite them. "Eh, having Jake in here isn't too bad, keeps Zayn in check. Just haven't seen them in a few days, that's all." 

Louis shrugs again and pulls out his phone. "Antisocial much?" Niall remarks, munching on his crisps but Louis ignores him. A few seconds later Harry's phone buzzes with a chat from Louis. 

Louis: I can't believe we got interrupted like that. 

Harry: ikr. worst timing fr :(

Louis: I should have known, nobody ever gets any alone time in this place unless they're in their room. 

"You guys, I am here you know. Care to acknowledge that?" Harry laughs at Niall's statement and puts his phone down on the couch. "Sorry Niall, sorry. How was your day?" 

"Yeah, was alright, I saw that girl I told you about, from school? We got paired for a project in Geography, which thank fuck because I ain't know the first thing about Geography but she's super smart. I think she might-" Louis stands up as Niall talks and ambles out of the room in the direction of his bedroom, to which Niall rolls his eyes. 

"Honestly, so antisocial that boy. He's always in his room..." The blonde tips the remainder of his crisps into his mouth and stands, smiling at Harry. He's clearly forgotten about his school crush already, as he wanders out of the room leaving Harry alone to pull out his phone to a notification on his lock screen.

Louis: Come into my room tonight yeah? We can continue from where we left off... ;)

Harry's stomach flips as he reads the message over and over. Louis...

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