Perfect now (Larry Stylinson AU)

Chapter 5

     Weeks passed on and autumn was coming to an end, leaving its place to a cold and moody winter. Harry and Louis only had three weeks left of detention but, strangely enough, they had became used to each other's presence in the library. Both of them knew that, coming back home right after school without having to go through detention and arguing would be a relief but, still, would feel strangely odd. That Tuesday, Harry had not seen Louis all day and, when he got to detention, he found the library empty. He knew he should not be complaining, given he hated Louis more than anything walking on Earth but, still, not having Louis there felt oddly wrong. He got the photos he had taken through the weekend out and began thinking about how he should organize them in his album and what feelings they expressed. However, he felt as though something was missing. Every artist would have a muse, something or someone to inspire their work and help them convey feelings. Harry did not have that. He had never experienced any specific strong feeling. His life had always been casually ordinary. His family was filled with great people, he had amazing friends and loved what he was doing. He had taken amazing pictures, that was beside the point, but none actually conveyed anything. He needed to find his muse and quickly, his application having to be sent at the soonest. As he was drowned in his thoughts, he did not even notice he had been staring all along at Louis' usual seat. It was like he could see him making airplanes out of paper and throwing it around the room while Harry was working which would always irritate him the most but make him smile at the same time. He could see Louis' furrowed eyebrows as he did not understand something, pulling on his feathery hair. Harry smiled at the sight but, soon, got control of his thoughts again. What was happening ? Why would he miss the person's he hated the most presence ? That made no sense and, without a second thought, Harry ran through his pictures one last time, writing a few new ideas on a separate sheet of paper.

The next day, when Louis came back to detention, he sat down and Harry took no notice of it, at least he tried to. However, Louis seemed to have decided otherwise and said :

« I was not feeling too well yesterday.
- Whatever, I almost did not notice.
- Almost ?
- Yes, almost. The atmosphere was lighter. I almost enjoyed it.
- Right. »

And, just like that, both of them closed up again and the room was left silent. However, that silence was nothing near awkward or heavy. It was comforting, almost feeling familiar, given that they had been sitting together in the same room every day for a while now. They studied separately until they heard screaming in the street. Harry turned to the window and Louis stood up, only to realize that two girls were giggling, recording themselves awkwardly dancing to some lame music. They exchanged an accomplice look and chuckled lightly before realizing what had just happened and getting serious again, pretending nothing had just happened. Did they just laugh together ? That could not be it. They had simply laughed separately but about the same thing. That was different and they both thought of it that way. By the end of detention, they had not exchanged any look or words, for the matter. The only noise breaking the silence in the room would be small coughs and the honking of cars outside. They did not even sent a glance to one another when the bell rang but Louis definitely saw Nick waiting outside the gates for Harry. He wondered where they were at but knew that Nick was quite secretive. He hated to admit it but they looked good together, though he still hated Harry as much as he used to. But something had changed, the sight of him during detention was not as unbearable as it once was and, hearing his voice during class was not so annoying anymore. He knew they would never be friends but it did not feel like they were still enemies. A loud car honk brought him back to earth and he turned around to see Simon standing inside of a black car. He walked up to him and leaned on the window :

« Why are you here ? Louis asked.
- Because your mother asked me to.
- I know that's not true.
- Well, it is. Get inside, I'll drive you back home. »