Always, Forever (Larry)

Chapter Six

Harry awoke to a knocking at the front door. He had got back to London from LA two days prior and was still jet lagged. The impatience radiated from outside as a young man stood in the rain, soaked from head to toe. Harry half-heartedly gazed at his phone. 5 missed calls. Shit.

He dragged himself down the stairs, still in the process of wrapping a short blue dressing gown around his frame. Of course, the only clean one used to belong to Louis. His eye pressed up lightly against the spy hole of the door to reveal a squashed and abnormal image of a lad around Harry's age.

As he cracked open the door, the body collapsed into the room, tripping over the step in a rush to enter. At Harry's feet was a rather wet Irish boy, brunette hair straightened by the drops of water that slid aggressively down his face.

"Hey Jeffrey called. Said to check up on you..." Niall's thoughts were clearly interrupted as his coat was hanging halfway off his shoulders and his eyes frozen, confused, on Harry's attire. "...is that Louis's?!"

"Only one I could find." Harry mumbled, embarrassed. It was clear that Niall didn't believe him by the unimpressed look that drew itself across his face. He hung his coat on a nearby hook and Harry followed him to the living room, still half asleep.

Sat on the mantle piece above the electric fire was a glass jar. Niall had never noticed it before and was surprised to find that the end of his finger ended up looking like a grey cloud once swiped across the lid. Capturing Harry's expression in his eyes, Niall turned back to the jar and gently wiped away the dust around the side with his sleeve. Attached to the glass was a handwritten note on a sticky label. It read

100 reasons why I love you

Lou xx

"Have you looked at any of these recently?" Niall enquired, genuinely curious.

"No," Harry murmured, "it's not like they are true anymore anyway."

Niall looked hurt, not quite as much as Harry, but it still pained him to know that Harry constantly couldn't see it. Niall never knew Louis's reasons for abandoning Harry but he never believed anything he said. How could he when Louis said one thing with his mouth and another with his eyes. 

Niall was determined to prove him wrong, convince him somehow that Louis loved him. He knew the words had to come from Louis himself, after all, there was no way he was going to take Niall's word for it. Gesturing for Harry to sit down, Niall reached for the jar and abruptly popped the lid.

Niall plonked himself next to Harry on the sofa, extending out a firm arm attached to the side of the glass. The paper inside appeared fascinating, all different colours bursting from the lid, almost brightening the room. Louis, knowing Harry all too well, had obviously colour co-ordinated the reasons into categories. Neither boy currently sat in the room had a clue what corresponded to what anymore, not that it mattered.

Harry hesitantly lifted a shaking hand and plucked a single piece of paper from the jar. It was blue. Louis blue. Raising his chin slightly to meet eyes with Niall, he received a reassuring nod before slowly beginning to unfold the delicate paper, being careful to not rip it.

A momentary pause drifted over the two boys until Harry's vacant expression moulded into a smile. He laughed at what Louis had written, and it became clear to Harry that blue was things that he did to Louis that made him love him.

You can never take your eyes off me, can you Harold? I must be handsome ;)

Niall was desperate to know what the paper said. He reached over to the taller boy but wasn't quite quick enough as Harry's hand folded the paper back up and into the pocket of his dressing gown. That earned him a scowl from the Irish boy as he stuck his tongue out and reached for another shred of paper. This time green.

The way your curls intertwine perfectly with my fingers when you fall sleep innocently on my chest

A tear escaped the inside of Harry's eye as his smile beamed even brighter. For a moment, a small flicker of hope twinkled through his body and panged against his heart. He liked this feeling; he was loved. Maybe not now, but definitely then. Realising the power memories can hold, he reached for another white slip. Blushing, it joined it's friend in his pocket. Harry was relieved when he shot his eyes up to find Niall texting on his phone, paying zero attention. White definitely wasn't the innocent things Louis loved about Harry.