The New Roommate - Larry Stylinson AU

Chapter Nineteen - Easter Break.

[COULD BE TRIGGERING. I doubt it, but I would have felt so guilty if I didn't mention it.]

The weeks rolled by quickly yet again and suddenly the Easter holidays were upon them.

Louis wanted to stay with Harry like he had done at Christmas, but by this point his parents hadn't seen him in a few months and Louis knew his mum really wanted him home. He offered Harry to come with him, knowing his mother wouldn't mind. In fact, she would probably be overjoyed to have Harry stay with them, but Harry declined Louis' offer. He didn't want to interfere with a family holiday, especially when he had already ruined Louis' Christmas with his parents. Of course, he didn't tell Louis this. Instead, he said that he was planning on spending a lot of time working on his university application and that he would see Louis when he was back.

Harry swallowed the panic rising in his chest when he was saying his goodbyes. Niall, Zayn and Liam left in the morning, their own parents picking them up early. They all exchanged hugs and swift goodbyes with promises to call each other at least once during the two week holiday.

Louis told his parents the wrong pick-up times on purpose so he could spend a little longer with his boyfriend. He was worried about leaving Harry. Really worried. After all, this was the boy who couldn't sleep without having nightmares unless Louis was beside him. The boy who still found it hard to converse with people who weren't Louis, Liam, Niall or Zayn. The boy who was so fragile, anything could set him off, send him back into that shell of a broken boy. Louis just hoped that wouldn't happen while he was away.

He kept changing his mind, rushing over to his phone as his finger hovered over the button, ready to ring his dad and tell him not to come. But he knew he shouldn't. He really did need to spend some time with his parents. But mainly, Louis knew that the rest of the school year was going to go quickly. And in the autumn, Louis and Harry might very well attend different universities hundreds of miles away from each other. Perhaps they needed time apart, to find themselves, to know that they could make it work even if they weren't living together.

So that's why Louis found himself hugging Harry tightly as they stood in the attic room, feeling Harry's tears soak his thin t-shirt, the curly-haired boy's forehead resting on his shoulder despite Harry's recent growth spurt.

"I'll be back soon, baby, I promise." Louis' soothing words had the opposite of their desired effects. They just made Harry feel more guilty.

"I know," Harry sniffled. He forced his head up and shook out of Louis' grasp so he could take a small step back and look Louis in the eyes properly. "Have a wonderful Easter, Lou."

Louis pressed his lips to Harry's one last time, admiring how soft they were.

"Love you, Harry," the older boy whispered, before picking up his small suitcase and walking to the door before he could change his mind.

And then he walked out, leaving Harry alone with his tears.

***

Louis was surprised when he got back to his parent's house. He was normally grateful to be back 'home', back in his childhood bedroom a long four hour's drive away from the boarding school. But this time he wasn't. Every time he blinked a certain green eyed boy's face would flash in front of his eyelids and Louis knew it wasn't normal to miss someone so badly, after only a couple of hours of being away from each other.

He tried to busy himself with helping his mother cook dinner, watching football on the television with his father, running across the road to say hi to an old friend. But none of it really helped.

And worst of all, he couldn't even call Harry. All he wanted was to hear Harry's voice, to know that he was okay and that he wasn't finding it too hard on his own. But Harry didn't have a phone. And Louis had been planning on buying Harry one as surprise the weekend before he went away. But then Niall had roped him into a Playstation 4 competition against Jon and Sandy and Louis hadn't had the time to go into town.