Paradise Child Book 3 (Imprisoned in my Heart trilogy...Larry)

Chapter 9

“Come on, then, what’s up with you?”

“Hmm?” Harry looked blankly up from where he had been fiddling with a loose piece of thread on the hem of Louis’ shirt, and he stared up at Louis, who was looking down at him with a mixture of amusement and concern. Harry hadn’t realized, but he’d been systematically unpicking the seams of Louis’ shirt one by one. Blushing, he dropped the fabric and withdrew his destructive hands.

“You’re never this quiet unless there’s something bothering you. Out with it. Oh, and don’t think you can fob me off by pretending you’re subtly trying to get my clothes off, because when you want my clothes off you’re by no means subtle about it, and if that was really your motive then they’d be on the floor right now, so tell me what’s on your mind, and I want the full, unabridged version.”

Embarrassed at being caught out, Harry looked helplessly at the floor. He hadn’t realized that he’d been giving off such clear signs, but it was true; he had been quiet, and he had been distracted, and he hadbeen slowly ripping Louis’ shirt to shreds without paying any attention to what his hands were doing, and now he had no excuse and he was terrible at lying anyway. Making a play for time, he cleared his throat, tapped his foot on the floor, examined his fingernails and attempted to distract Louis for a few more moments while he came up with a satisfactory lie that Louis wouldn’t believe. Louis let him do it for a while, but eventually he made a grab for Harry’s twitching hands and held them still, stopping him from moving.

“Stop fidgeting, you fool, you’re making me nervous. It can’t be that bad.” Louis studied his face for a while. “How bad is it?” he asked anxiously.

“It isn’t. It’s nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, you won’t mind telling me what it is, will you?”

Harry obstinately pressed his lips together and Louis scrutinized his expression and then raised his eyebrows in response to the fiercely protective expression that had unfurled like a banner across Harry’s face.

“So it clearly is something. Harry, we promised not to lie to each other, remember? Or have you forgotten that? It might be nice if you trusted me; we are actually supposed to love each other.”

Horrified, Harry cried “Of course we love each other! Don’t say that! I love you,” he insisted fiercely.

“Then don’t keep things from me! Please, Harry, I can’t bear it. I’ll only be convinced that it’s worse than it actually is if you don’t tell me,” threatened Louis, but his expression was more desolate than anything else.

“It doesn’t matter,” Harry mumbled, “it’s stupid.”

“If it’s upsetting you, it most definitely does matter, and I’ll thank you to let me be the judge of whether it’s stupid or not. Now tell me, Harry. Please.”

Harry gazed at the floor and refused to allow himself to focus on it. He wouldn’t twitch, he wouldn’t blink, he wouldn’t breathe, because the tears were coming and he could feel his throat constricting and he was starting to shake and that horrible helpless miserable feeling was clenching in his stomach and making his vision blur and his hands became fists and he still couldn’t stop that stupid tidal wave of emotion that was slowly rising up his throat, choking him. Fiercely shaking his head, Harry bit his lip so hard he was surprised it didn’t bleed, and closed his eyes so that Louis’ expression couldn’t make him feel any worse.

Louis touched him, and that simple touch was almost enough to ruin him, to turn him into a crying, quivering mess of tears and stupid feelings that he should have been ignoring and that he had no reason to be having. It was only a careful touch on the elbow, where Harry’s arms were defensively folded across his chest, but Harry flinched like Louis had slapped him and instantly Louis backed off with his hands up in a wordless apology.