Journal | L.S

Chapter Five

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Harry sent is mum away after three days. He thought that since he was living on his own now, he shouldn't be needing his mother to coddle him like a child any more. It was the hardest thing that he had done, Anne was his comfort blanket and always knew the right thing to do and say, but he needed to learn to cope on his own. 

He still followed her home so he could bury Shakespeare in the back garden, Louis even came too, after Harry declared that he wanted his neighbour there too, and who was Louis to deny him. 

Harry was still bundled in his sheets like a cocoon a week later. Not even Anne could get him out of bed, but Louis assured her that he would look after him when he could. He had had a very long talk with the woman the day after she arrived. She knocked on his door to thank him for calling her, and it ended with her explaining everything and Louis understood everything so much better now. 

How could he be so daft? All the signs were there, and he has a cousin on the spectrum, but in his defence, he never really sees him, maybe at family weddings or something like that, but that's it. 

"Hey Harry." Louis let himself into the younger lad's apartment. Anne had made spare keys and given one to Louis after the man had promised her to look after him when she wasn't able to. He popped his head into Harry's bedroom to make sure he was still there before proceeding to make a cuppa for the boy. 

Louis nearly jumped a foot in the air when he heard the shuffle of feet behind him and a low raspy voice speak. "Did you know Reindeers like to eat bananas?" The boy sniffled. "I just read it on my phone. See." He shoved the device in Louis' face, almost making the man lash out at him but he held himself back. 

"You're out of bed." Louis stated, stirring a quarter of a teaspoon of sugar into the boy's tea, just how he liked it. Harry had made sure to point out that he had never had a tea that tasted so bad when the man had put a teaspoon of sugar in it the first time he made tea for the boy. "Did you get out of bed to tell me that?" The man chuckled, handing the cup to Harry. 

"No. Just thought it was funny." Harry took the cup and moved towards the sofa, still wrapped up in his duvet. "Thought they just liked hay and stuff like that. I like bananas too." 

Louis just chuckled as he shook his head, taking a seat next to the boy on the small sofa. "Don't you have to go to work?" The man wondered. It had been over a week and Harry had not left his apartment. 

"They said to come back when I was ready." Harry shrugged, "M'not ready." He pouted, "I don't want to go outside." 

"That's okay. We'll work on it." Louis nodded, wondering when or if the therapist would show up eventually. He didn't want the boy to become stuck in his own home. "How about we just watch something? A movie?" 

"Yeah." Harry nodded. "The short films are in the box over there." He pointed to a small box that sat right under the TV. When they watched a movie last time, Louis pointed out how he liked short films. 

"Oh, no that's fine. We can watch a full length one." The older assured, feeling kinda bad about the last time he had watched a movie with the lad. "Love them too." He smiled, getting himself comfortable again on the sofa. 

"C-can you..." Harry started but looked away when Louis' head turned to look at him, not feeling brave enough which was odd, usually his brain had no filter, and he had no trouble speaking his mind. 

"Well..." Louis urged, poking the boy's cheek, making him pout and cover away. "Spit it out." The man chuckled. 

"Can you, hold me." The boy looked down, or at anything that wasn't Louis. His insides felt weird.