what about us | l.s.

prologue

I love you. Three words. Eight letters. A phrase said in a split second that could change everything. Often a reason for forgiveness, for second chances.

The last time Louis Tomlinson said, " I love you" was to his mother. He was seven years old and his father had just left them. That was when he began questioning love. His parents exchanged the expression like it was nothing, and soon after it was just Louis and the broken pieces of his mother.

Louis realized that the phrase meant nothing. He understood the difference between 'I love you' and 'Love you'. He distanced himself from love, never forming a proper relationship with anyone.

Until he met Harry. Harry was a 17-year-old disaster. He was clumsy and awkward, but he flourished under attention. While Louis avoided the spotlight, Harry sought it out like a moth to a flame.

The two boys were very different, but they were subconsciously drawn to each other. It began with small conversations during science and grew into late-night phone calls that got them both in trouble.

Louis felt himself growing attached to the lanky boy, and he couldn't pull himself away. He tried, but none of his usual methods were working. Harry was persistent, not letting Louis slip away so easily.

Louis fell in love with the boy. It was quick, and it broke Louis, someone that deprived himself of love and affection. He was captivated by everything Harry did, and the two boys grew even closer than before. They spent all of their free time together, looking at the stars, savouring the calm. They vowed to stay together until their dying days, a strong promise from two teenage boys. But they kept it, and it lasted all of two years. The best two years of Louis' life.

Then Harry slipped away.