Part Four

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by jessnightmare

by jessnightmare

Days and days pass, until it's weeks since Harry and Louis have become inseparable. And Harry hangs out with all of them, too - Louis and Niall and Liam. Louis wants more with Harry, but he knows he can't push because he's still not sure what's going on in Harry's curly head and Harry is fragile and Louis really doesn't want to mess up the friendship they've formed so quickly.

At this moment they were - all four of them - sitting in the cafe and chatting animatedly about the recent game of football that had gone on in the weekend. Harry was even contributing to the coversation here and there and Louis was smiling because Harry looked happy and that was an incredibly good thing.

Once Liam and Niall had gotten over the shock that Louis had invited Harry to hang out with them, they had accepted Harry very quickly and made efforts to include him in anything the three did. Louis didn't know what it was, but he could tell Harry was becoming something more to Louis very quickly, and, well, Louis was slightly afraid. He was pretty sure Harry was into guys like he was, but he wasn't sure and he wouldn't be sure until he saw evidence.

"He missed an open goal!"

Louis was tugged back to the conversation at hand to see Niall looking irritated and Liam on the verge of bursting out laughing. Harry was even smiling, just watching them near yell at eachother. "He's still a good player!" Niall argued, getting far too wound up.

It was a good thing the waitress came over when she did, because this conversation was getting very loud and Louis really didn't want to cause a scene and he'd found out a week ago that Harry jumped at loud noises, and Louis didn't want that to happen.

"Have you ordered yet?" The waitress asked, smiling at the four of them. Her name was Sarah, and she was in one of Louis' classes.

Louis looked at Harry first, surprised to see him go pale at the mention of food. Louis was concerned, but he didn't voice it and instead said something else. "Do you want anything, Harry?" He asked quietly, observing the boy carefully.

Harry shook his head, looking down at his hands, which were covered by the long sleeves of his over-sized jersey. Louis frowned slightly, remembering that in all the two and a half weeks he'd known Harry he'd never seen the boy eat and that worried Louis quite a bit if he was honest.

Louis didn't want to confront Harry about it then and there, so he simply ordered a sandwich to go, because he needed to talk to Harry somewhere private because what if Harry was sick? But then, maybe he just didn't like eating in front of people or he always ate in his room and was never hungry when he was around Louis - which was quite alot. Louis tried to reassure himself that it was one of the latter things, because Louis felt a protectiveness over Harry and he really wanted Harry to be okay.

When the sandwich came, Louis stood, smiling at Liam and Niall. "Harry and I've gotta study for a test we have coming up. See you later?" Louis asked, glancing down at Harry to see him frowning up at him.

Liam and Niall simply nodded, too ingrossed in their conversation again to look up and see if anything was wrong but that was okay because Louis didn't want to embarress Harry if there really was something to be worried about.

So Harry and Louis walked back to Harry's room without any interuptions, but the walk was silent and Harry kept his head down low and his green eyes on the ground as if he knew what Louis was going to ask when they got to Harry's room.

Louis finished his sandwich on the way, so when they got to Harry's room there was nothing to distract them from the inevitable conversation and even Zayn wasn't there. Louis and Harry sat down on Harry's bed, and of course, Harry tried to evade the conversation right away.

"So the test - "

But Louis cut him off, because there wasn't a test and Harry knew what he was going to ask and Harry was trying to escape it, which only concerned Louis more. "Harry...Why don't you eat?" Louis asked softly, so not to scare Harry.

Harry looked away, not blushing, and Louis' heart absolutely shattered to see tears forming in Harry's beautiful green eyes. Louis stayed silent, waiting for Harry to speak, but then Harry's lip quivered and Louis couldn't stay away from the broken boy so he edged towards him on the bed and wrapped his arms around Harry's fragile, skinny, shaking form.

And Louis was near horrified to find that he could distinguish each bone under the jersey when he hugged Harry tightly. And then he wasn't hugging to tightly because he was afraid that he could break Harry if he was too rough.

And Harry was full on sobbing then, pressing his face into the crook of Louis' neck and Louis could feel this broken boy's tears seepign through the thin fabric of Louis' t-shirt. Louis knew then that he would try and help Harry, because he was skinny and fragile and crying on Louis' shoulder.

"I-I'm so s-s-sorry." Harry managed to get past his tears and his wobbling jaw as he pulled back from Louis and looked anywhere but Louis' eyes.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, love." Louis replied extremely quietly, because Louis was afraid that he himself would start crying, and that wouldn't help the situation at all. But Louis was hurting because Harry was hurting and Louis was tied to this boy and just wanted him to be happy.

Harry looked at Louis through teary eyes, biting his lip as if to stop himself from crying and he was shivering so Louis pulled him close again and wrapped his arms around the boy who curled into Louis' side and they just fit so perfectly. Louis didn't know what to do what he thought that maybe, just maybe, he could definetely be falling for Harry.