Red thread of love

Catch me when i fall

A few seconds of awkward silence went by. Harry cleared his throat and sent a pleading gaze towards his mother.

"Good morning, darling!" Anne chirped. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard a lot about you from Harry," she said, extending her arms and going to give Louis a hug.

Harry knew his mother was pretty sure Louis had heard part of their conversation as well, but she didn't seem faced at all. As far as she was aware, Harry didn't hide his sexuality. Hell, he didn't even know why he lied to Louis in the first place. He wanted to facepalm himself for the embarrassing situation. Louis seemed to recover from the shock quickly and hugged back his mom, he was holding his jacket on one arm but he managed. Harry couldn't read exactly what was running through his mind. Louis shot a big bright smile to Anne after the hug.

"Likewise ma'am, Harry always speaks so highly about you," Louis turned his gaze to Harry. "Good morning, young Harold. You're a life saviour, thank you for the water and the painkillers you left on the nightstand," he smiled meekly.

"No problem, mate," Harry said, trying to appear confident, in the middle of his kitchen with his mother and Louis -only wearing his boxers-. He felt awkward as hell. Harry cleared his throat and signalled to his bedroom. "I'm just gonna put some pants on, be right back."

With that he sprinted to his room, put on a pair of grey joggers, a white tank top and tried to appease his mane opting for a beanie since sleeping on his wet hair had no repair, he also went to his bathroom real quick and brushed his teeth. When he got back to the kitchen, his mother and Louis were already placed on the kitchen table munching their breakfast. He walked quietly to try and hear what they were talking about.

"Yeah, mom is just in the middle of her second trimester, she's just really big because she's having twins," Harry heard Louis say.

"How lovely Louis, I guess you're very excited," Anne cooed.

"Yeah, I really love my siblings," Louis' voice was barely audible, like a whisper, and that made Harry want to see his expression. He felt butterflies in his stomach but rapidly shook himself out of it.

Harry decided that he had heard enough and just entered the room and took a seat. They ate while maintaining the conversation light, Anne was asking Louis about him, just the basics which Harry already knew. When they finished eating, Louis helped to clear the table and while Harry washed the dishes, Louis took a cloth and started drying duty.

"Harry, I will go and take a shower and then lay to rest a little longer. It was really nice to meet you, Louis," Anne said. ''And like the rest of the boys you're always welcome here," she gave him a kiss on the cheek and retreated to her bedroom.

The minutes ticked and the silence grew thick. Harry tried to maintain his hands occupied to avoid facing Louis. He could feel Louis gaze following his every move.

"Harry, I think the kitchen counter is clean enough," Louis said, and Harry realised he'd been cleaning the same spot for who knows how long.

Harry turned around and finally faced Louis. He tried his best not to squirm under the inspection of the older boy's blue eyes, he heard him sigh and when he thought that he was going to get questioned or judged what came out of Louis' mouth was. "I'm gonna head home okay? Mom needs me as much as possible,"

They started to walk towards the door and Harry felt bad. He didn't understand. Louis was usually pretty blunt and forward with him, the fact that he was clearly biting his tongue now didn't sit well with Harry. It felt like taking a step back on their relationship.

"Okay," Harry mumbled. "We can hang around later, yeah? I can even go to yours and help you,"

"Sure mate, I'll text you later," Louis answered. It sounded dismissive and Harry started to feel lost, he didn't get why Louis was acting this way. "Thank you for letting me stay here," he added, giving the younger boy a one-arm hug. And it was such a contrast to the hug he gave Harry in front of his house the other night, that it only confirmed Harry suspicions that something was wrong.