Prisoner

Five

Louis does some reading on therapy, on prison therapy more specifically. Most of it he already knew, but there were a few good tips he wants to keep in mind. He has to be careful now. Harry won't trust him if he's not.

He feels bad for what happened, what he said was harsh and probably really hurt Harry. Louis regrets it but also thinks maybe it was necessary. He feels sympathetic for Harry, he really does, he doesn't like the idea of him being hurt. He doesn't like the idea of anyone being hurt.

By the time the next day rolls around, Louis feels a little better about going. He thinks that everything will work out if it's meant to work out, and he really thinks it all will.

His dad gave him his own key card/ID, so Louis decides to just drive himself to the prison. His dad isn't working today and Louis has an idea that might help him convince Harry he's sorry, so before he leaves he grabs a ziplock baggy while making sure he's wearing his puffy winter coat that has pockets on the inside, the weather happens to be on his side today.

When Louis gets to the prison, he goes through the metal detector, and gets patted down.

"You wanna leave your coat out here, Louis?" Brian, the guard who Louis' learned is friends with his dad, asks.

"Oh no, I'm really cold actually. Is it okay if I bring it?"

"No strings?"

"No strings," Louis confirms.

"Sure thing, kiddo," Brian says, before letting Louis walk down to the gate. He makes his way to the office, signs in, and lets the lady know he's ready for Harry. He then goes to the room and waits for a guard to bring him.

He can feel himself becoming anxious, not so sure if he'll be able to hide it from Harry. He doesn't want Harry to think he's scared or feels threatened. He tries to calm himself down by counting his breaths and tapping his fingers, but he feels like it only makes it worse so he sits still and waits.

The door is finally opened and Harry and a guard that Louis hasn't met yet, walk through. Harry's facial expressions show that he's tired, that he clearly just wants to be left alone today. However, the universe does not care, and he's locked to the loop by the guard anyway. Then they're left alone.

Louis takes a breath and quietly sighs, going over his words one more time in his head. "Harry, I'm sorry about last time," he says, feeling like an apology is due. "I shouldn't of said what I said."

Harry doesn't say anything, he doesn't even look at Louis.

"I want you to trust me, I don't want you to think I'm trying to make you feel bad about yourself or that I don't respect you as much as I would respect anyone else."

Harry continues to stay quiet and Louis gets worried that maybe Harry's shut down. That he went too far and now Harry won't even talk to him at all.

"I don't look at you any differently than I do everyone else, I don-"

"Just stop," Harry finally says. It's quiet and there's no force to his voice. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

Louis looks at Harry who still hasn't made eye contact. His heart breaks for him, if he could take back what happened he would. "I-I don't want you to shut down."

Harry doesn't respond.

"Harry please," Louis says, not knowing if he'd be able to forgive himself if Harry stopped talking to him all together. If he ruined everything before it even started.

"Louis, it's fine. I'm not shutting down. I'm just not in the mood, okay?"

Louis takes a breath, he doesn't know what to do or say. "Okay, yeah sure. Um, do-do they watch the cameras—do you know?"