me, him, and the moon (larry au)

chapter six: louis

Louis was admittedly flustered by his incident in the bathroom with Harry. Louis was also embarrassed about his reaction to the sudden gesture, being that he did not resist the kiss. He climbed the stairs to his bedroom, consciously deciding that it would be best to keep distance between himself and the boy. Harry was barely grasping onto the idea of it all at that point and adding a schoolboy crush into the situation wasn't going to make it any easier. But on the other hand, Louis couldn't keep his mind off of the salty sweet taste of Harry's lips. 

He climbed the stairs to his room to dress in something clean. Louis put on sweatpants and a hoodie before going to find Niall. He wanted his outfit to seem low maintenance to show Harry that he wasn't trying too hard. It was continuously difficult to dismiss the thought of him in his mind. The world did not revolve around Harry, and Louis needed to remind himself of that. 

The back door remained open as Louis passed it. Liam and Harry sat on the steps with their backs to the doorway. Harry seemed heated about something. Although something told him not to, he waited quietly in the hallway for a minute to eavesdrop. 

"You know, moving in might be a good idea," Liam shrugged. "This all is a lot less scary when you're surrounded with people just like you."

"I wish it was that easy," Harry replied.

"Well, why can't it be? It's only as difficult as you make it."

Harry and Louis living under the same roof could quite likely end up in many additional situations much like the one that had happened twenty minutes prior. Much to his dismay, Louis did not feel upset about that. If he was going to keep Harry out of his mind, he was going to need to have better control of himself. The first step in that direction was going to find Niall instead of snooping into Liam and Harry's private conversation.

Niall sat with Gianna and Victoria in front of their aging television. None of them paid any attention as Louis approached, so he cleared his throat loudly. They all looked up. 

"Niall," Louis said. "A word please."

Gianna and Victoria made noises alike to the ones your classmates would if you were sent to the principal's office. Louis rolled his eyes and let Niall exit into the foyer before he followed behind. 

"I'm not in trouble, right?" Niall looked worried, Gianna and Victoria sure knew how to spook the gullible boy. 

"Oh, come on. Of course not," Louis groaned. "I don't know what to do about Harry coming into our house like this."

"Well, he doesn't have many other options, does he?" Niall cocked an eyebrow. "He's not a bad guy, he's very kind actually."

"I'm not as much worried about him as I am about me," Louis said, making his friend look confused. "Look, he just kissed me in the bathroom."

Niall giggled a bit, obviously in a state of shock. "First I've heard of you having feelings for anyone! Nice one, mate."

"Um, not nice one?" Louis talked with his hands to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. "This is Liam's first beta and he needs to be the one to deal with this. I'm practically a senior citizen in this place and I need him to be prepared to take over for when I go."

"Louis, you're twenty-five, you've got loads of time left." 

"With our lifestyle? Fat chance," he rolled his eyes at his friend. "Just promise me you'll keep a look-out so I don't do anything stupid?"

Niall had never seen Louis like this before, it was intriguing. "Okay, okay, but only until he gets settled in! Once things are back to normal, this is your job."

Having an ally in the situation made Louis feel better. Just because he was the oldest in the pack didn't mean that he was the wisest. Sure, when it came to anything and everything related to what he was, he was unstoppable. But his actions around guys that he found attractive were a completely different story. 

The next person Louis needed to speak with was Zayn. If Harry was going to be able to function normally in the house, he was going to need more than just Liam to lean on. He discovered Zayn upstairs in his room next door to Liam's. 

Liam and Zayn historically had an interesting chemistry. Everyone could tell that something was going on between them, but no one knew exactly what. They were practically joined at the hip most times when they were together at home and they constantly stayed the night in each other's rooms. Liam had never come off to anyone in the pack as gay, so it would have been unexpected if he came out. If any romance was going on, it was secret at the moment. Zayn was lying on his stomach and scrolling through his Instagram feed. 

"Hey, I need to ask you a favor," Louis began, shutting the door behind him. He knew that Liam and Harry were still most likely in the backyard talking, but he didn't want to risk anything.

"Yes?" Zayn looked a bit annoyed at the disruption. Louis thought it silly because all he was doing was sitting alone in the quiet.

"It seems like you and Harry have a lot in common," Louis said. "He's new to this lifestyle. He is going to need someone to watch his back, someone who isn't Liam."

"Why? What's wrong with Liam?" Zayn asked carefully. 

Louis shook his head and dismissed his question, "Nothing is wrong with Liam at all. Harry is just going to need a strong team of people to stand behind him. It's not every day that you get turned into a werewolf."

"I like going to the record store," Zayn shrugged. "Maybe I'll start popping in more."

Louis nodded in agreement with the plan. "You know, it's also likely that he will be moving in soon."

"Well, good thing we have about a billion empty rooms in this house," the mysterious and dark haired boy continued to focus his energy on his phone, rolling onto his back. He took a moment as if he was thinking of something and then turned back to Louis. "I haven't seen you this focused on 'building a community bond' here in awhile."

"What do you mean?" Louis asked defensively. 

"You really seem to see something special in Harry." Was it really that obvious?

Louis sneered and rejected Zayn's idea, "He is a nice person and I pity his situation. He deserves a new start." Zayn just rolled his eyes and continued isolating. 

Although he was doing his best to act like Harry didn't have him bothered, it was sure apparent to everyone else what was truly going on.