More Than a Best Friend

Chapter Six

The night came and passed, Harry didn’t sleep. No, he stared out of his bedroom window that overlooked Louis’ house. It must’ve been an hour and he was still standing there, razor in reach, his mind debating what to do. Maybe he was reading into things way too much, maybe Louis didn’t even need to mention the first reaction. And maybe he really did expect Louis to confess as well, and maybe Louis just wasn’t ready, and it wasn’t his place to expect that from him, really.

But Harry was a mess. This boy… This boy he was in love with. It was way passed just casual liking or less than casual, he was in love with him. And he, he just, regardless of what Liam said, he didn’t show anything. And Harry expected him to. Well, truly, it was all Liam’s fault, or so Harry chose to look at it eventually. The lad could’ve kept his mouth shut, and Harry could just torture himself in silence, knowing the older boy was going to be there for him, and he was going to be there for the older boy. And now, the older boy, Louis, knows. And it seems like he has no idea what to do with the information he’d gotten.

And that tore Harry apart strong enough to preoccupy his mind for the night, for the rest of the week even. So when his mobile phone rang, Harry jumped. Literally.

Without even checking the caller ID, he answered. He kind of even knew whose voice he’ll hear on the other side.

“Was at the kitchen, saw you on the window. I’m sorry. I –”, Louis then sighed, taking in a deep breath afterwards. “I wanted to tell you something for a while, as well, and I didn’t know how. And I kept worrying how you’ll react, and then you told me, and then I wanted to take the stake out of my ass and stop acting like a prick, not telling my best friend, but then somehow I couldn’t and I –”

Harry knew the next words, and despite that, the pause Louis made killed him with suspension. He wasn’t going to find out anything new, but it was a big step towards whatever he wanted to do later on.

“I’m gay.”

Harry smiled, an incredibly wide, joyful grin that made his eyes squeeze shut and the dimples to pop out on his cheeks.

“Harry?”, the voice on the other line called his name, and he was still distracted by smiling and processing that Louis stepped up and told him, as well. And that was that step Harry needed to happen so he could try and be happy.

For the entire call, Harry didn’t mutter a single word. He let out a sigh of relief. “Glad you’ve taken out the stake out of your ass, it’s a nice ass.”

“Fucking idiot.”, Louis muttered into the phone

“You love me.”, Harry’s voice nearly sang back to Louis. And this felt like the old times. Like all other worries were put aside, except each other. And they were in their own little world of smiles and glances, at first hand friendly, and on the second thought, meaningful and leading up to something not entirely clear to neither of them.

“Yes”, Louis replied, sighed and waited a second. “I love you.”, it seemed like one of those things where a person confessed something, partially jokingly, knowing the other person has no idea how much they actually mean it.

Or Harry was just reading into things too much again.

~

The next few days went quiet for Harry and Louis, it seemed almost as if they’ve returned to normal, the normal from way back before Louis moved away. And somehow it felt strange and right at the same time. They were planning on going to a party with Niall and Zayn this weekend. They were planning, actually, they weren’t planning anything, they just took it as it came. And it seemed to fit both boys. They found it comfortable and much more relaxing than worrying about when or how to pull through the next step or however they chose to call it. Because, really, those weren’t exactly steps, they were little movement forward. And really, every time it seemed more as one step forward, two steps back, so they chose this was truly the best way.