The House Across The Street • L.S.

10.

Harry sighed as he tip toed up the steps of his porch. His eyes glancing at the small window next to the front door, taking a deep breath in when he realizes the light is on. He quickly pulls out his phone to check the time before opening the door.

1:25am.

Harry closed his eyes tight, mentally preparing himself for what could happen as soon as he opens the door. His foster parents were strict about returning to the house before ten, and Harry was well over curfew. He knew this, and he knew they wouldn't take it lightly. He contemplated turning around and running back to Louis' house, but the thought quickly left his brain when the door swung open.

"Harry." His eyes slowly peaked up from the ground to see his foster father, Ben, staring at him with his arms crossed. "Are you deaf?" Ben scolded.

"N-no, sir" Harry gulped as he forced himself to look up at his foster father. He knew it would only be worse if he made him any more mad. "I apologize for coming home late, I know I broke the rules. There are no excuses, sir" Harry added, hoping Ben would give him some grace.

Ben scoffed, taking a single step backwards and opening the door wider so Harry could walk into the house. Harry held his breath as he took a few steps forward, carefully walking past Ben and mumbling a soft "thank you" before running into his room as quickly as he could.

Ben was temperamental, but above that, he was lazy. He was capable of beating Harry into the ground, and he had in the past, but he was also capable of not caring enough to put in the energy to punish Harry. Harry never knew which version of his foster father he would get, and he hated risking it. He felt it was easier to obey then it was to disobey and hope for the best, not when he knew what Ben was capable of.

Harry took off his oversized jacket, revealing the promiscuous outfit he had worn specifically for Louis. Harry knew it was bad to tempt an older man, but he didn't care. He liked Louis, he felt happy with Louis, he felt seen with Louis, and most of all, he felt safe with Louis. Something Harry hasn't felt in what feels like forever. Even though he was legal and Louis couldn't get in trouble, Harry knew that Louis would take some convincing. He was too good of a guy to prey on someone like Harry.

Harry softly smiled at his outfit, he felt very pretty today, and he hoped Louis agreed. He slipped off his clothes and slid into an oversized blue hoodie that reminded him of Louis' eyes. The smile on his face grew thinking of Louis' eyes. He could look at them forever, and he wanted them to look at him forever. Harry didn't know if Louis was gay, but he knew the older one had a soft spot for him, and that was enough to keep Harry hopeful.

He tiptoed out of his room and into the bathroom, which luckily, was right next door to his room so he almost always went unnoticed. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, put on some skincare he had managed to steal from his local Sephora, and tiptoed back out of the bathroom. He felt good, happy, content.

-

Louis pulled back into his driveway which was behind his house, but he had a backdoor that made it easy to get inside. He rarely used the front door, only to answer the door for Harry or to sit on his porch and smoke. He unlocked his back door and stepped into his house, bending down to pet Kitty and tell her hi. The cat had already scratched the shit out of Louis' couch, but he didn't seem to care enough to be mad. Kitty reminded him of Harry, which made Louis smile.

He swiftly poured a cup of kibble into Kitty's bowl and refilled her pink water bowl, which didn't go with Louis' overall decor vibe. If you could even call it decor. Louis had random vinyls hung on his wall, a few random pictures his mom had sent with him, and that's pretty much it. That is, until Harry started coming around. Now, Louis has two baby pink cat bowls on his kitchen floor, a pink pillow on his couch with the word "princess" written across the front (harry liked to cuddle a pillow while he watches TV, so Louis picked the pillow up at a local store and Harry practically jumped up and down at the site of it), and a little vase with some roses on his kitchen counter. Harry said everyone, even "boring boys who love to swear", should have flowers on their kitchen counter. Louis just liked seeing Harry happy, so he doesn't argue.

Louis couldn't help but think back on the house he had just dropped his Harry off at, he hated judging, but the house was a wreck. He could tell Harry was embarrassed by it, so he didn't say anything. He decided to open up his laptop and google the address, finding the names of his foster parents, and stalking them on Facebook. They had no pictures of the curly haired boy, no mentions of him either. Just photos of the husband and wife at various vacation spots. Peru, Boston, Ireland, Paris, the list goes on. Louis wondered why Harry had never told him that he was so well traveled, and he also wondered why Harry wasn't included in any photos. He chalked it up to Harry not wanting his pictures on Facebook, and closed his laptop.

Louis seemed to constantly think about Harry, his Harry. Sure, Harry was legal, but Louis wanted more than anything to just comfort Harry, hold him, make him feel loved and safe. He would never hurt the boy, at least not intentionally. Louis had been reflecting on his sexuality as well, he wasn't sure how to label himself, or even if a label is all that important. He knew he had been attracted to primarily females, but he remembers having crushes on some very pretty boys growing up as well. He didn't date all too much, and mostly just had a few hook ups here and there.

One thing Louis knew for sure, he liked Harry. He didn't care whether that made him gay, bisexual, pansexual, whatever. He just knew he wanted to be around the boy as much as he could.

He wanted to protect his Harry.