Shy Side

five

Harry is on his way to lunch the next day when someone slams into him. A tall boy running through the hall with his other friend. He doesn't mean to, but when he pushes past Harry and accidentally sends him slamming against the wall, he doesn't even turn to say sorry.

The side of his head hits the lockers, and he holds it in pain as he stumbles to find his footing and trips to the ground. There are too many people in the hall to even notice him, so instead he just waits fearfully on the floor against the wall for the halls to clear before standing up and slowly making his way to the library.

He walks towards his table when he hears a familiar voice. He finds Louis standing talking with a friend in one of the book isles and smiles to himself while sitting down. He glances up at Louis every few seconds until they meet eyes. Harry looks down right away, but then Louis is already making his way over. He drops his bag on the ground and sits across from Harry.

"Hi," he says.

"Hi," Harry's voice is quiet.

"How are you?" Louis asks, but then frowns. He reaches up and gently lifts the curls from the boys head. Harry closes his eyes for a few seconds before realizing that he means no harm. A small cut is on his forehead. "What happened?"

Harry shrugs, "I uh, my head... locker," he shakes his head to force the curls in front of the small wound.

"Did you hit your head on the locker door?"

Harry reaches up, lightly tapping it, "No, I uhm. Someone ran. Bumped me into it," he bites the inside of his cheek.

"Oh," Louis nods, "you should probably get a bandage on it. Looks like it's bleeding," he tells Harry, unaware that the event occurred not even ten minutes ago and that Harry feels a bit nauseous because of it.

"Uh, it's, I'm okay," he mumbles.

Louis doesn't want to push it, but if it keeps bleeding then it'll drip down his forehead, which would be worse. He pulls a tissue from the little packet in his bag. "Here. At least hold this against it, okay? Don't want it bleeding too much."

Harry holds it against the cut gently, a bit embarrassed that he's got a tissue on his face. Louis doesn't think anymore of it, and instead purses his lips to keep his smile in. "How are you?" he already asked when Harry first came in, but never got the answer.

"I'm okay," Harry murmurs, "uh... y-your uh, the cafe was good," he says, "a-and your company, of course," he bites hard on his lip, a nervous habit.

"I'm glad," Louis smiles, "I had a good time with you, Harry. We can do it again sometime if you'd like," he raises his eyebrows, hoping so bad that Harry agree's with him.

And he does, with a small nod and a little smile, "Okay," he murmurs, "whenever you'd like," he hugs himself.

Louis goes to talk again but is interrupted by a few guys that come up to their table. He sees them walking up behind Louis, and gasps when one takes him in a headlock, laughing. "Tommo! Ditching us for the library now!"

Louis smiles, curling out of his hold and swatting him away. The three squeeze in around the small table, making Harry sink in on himself uncomfortably. He wants to get up and leave, but if he does then they'd all look at him and make it worse.

After a bit of conversation, Louis meets Harry's eyes. He gives a warming smile. "This is Harry," he says. The boys look at him, giving nods of acknowledgement. Though as much as Louis thinks it's nice to introduce them, it makes Harry antsy.

"Uhm, I..." he looks down at his things.

Louis' face falls, "Uh, hey, we were working on a project. So we should probably get back to it," he tells his friends. They don't think anymore of it, and leave the library without a fight.

"I'm sorry," Louis says when they get out of hearing range.

Harry purses his lips, but then looks at Louis, "It's okay," he says, and he's not sure if it really is or not, but he doesn't want Louis to ever feel guilty, so it's perfectly okay.

Louis suppresses his smile. His eyes crinkle on the corners, and he looks down.

"Do your... do you not sit with your friends because of me?" Harry asks, shoulders tensing.

Louis' smile changes, but doesn't fade, "Yeah, why?"

Harry's mouth fishes open and closed, "I-I, that's not good!"

Louis frowns, "What do you mean? I like hanging out with you, Harry," he says.

Harry wipes his face, "B-But you're... you're ditching your, uhm, friends," he swallows, clearly distressed.

And, okay, because now Louis understands what he means, "That's... they know I'm here. They're okay with me not eating lunch with them, a lot of them just try doing work and such anyway," he tells him, then moves to sit next to the boy, "I really like you, Harry," he can feel his heart pounding against his chest, that might be really nerve wracking, so you don't have to say anything back, but I just wanted you to know," he feels like his hands are sweating. He rubs them against his thighs.

You would have to be blind to miss the way Harry reddens. He cups his hands together in his lap. "Okay," it comes out under his breath, but Louis hears it, and smiles.

"Okay," he purses his lips, "do you want to go to your locker so you don't get caught up in the crowd?" he asks.

Harry nods, and after gathering their things and throwing out their trash, Louis takes him to his locker. He stays close while they walk. He can't help but want to hold Harry's hand, soft and bigger than his own, but he needs to give the boy his space. Invading it could ruin what he's already built up so far with him, and god, if he messes that up he doesn't know what he'd do with himself.

So they walk. Shoulders just barely brushing, keeping the comfortable silence just because they can. And because Harry feels good around Louis. He feels comfortable, which means something to him. That he's managed to let Louis in and not freak himself out yet. He just hopes it can continue.

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TA DA IM NOT DEAD EVERYONE JUST WRITERS BLOCK BUT LOOKY HERE BC I POSTED!!! IM OMW TO SOUTH CAROLINA FOR VACATION BUT I'LL STILL BE UPDATING!!! LOVE YOU ALL XX.