Piano Lessons

1.9

"I'm so exhausted," Louis whined, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on his hand.

"We've only been shopping for-" Liam held up his watch, checking the time- "Two hours."

"Only two hours?!" Louis mocked, angrily sipping his iced caramel frappé.

"Lou... Maybe you should make up with Harry. These whole two days have been hell because you've had a stick up your arse-"

"At least it isn't a dick, you cunt," Louis hissed, knitting his eyebrows together.

"Well, obviously, I'm not the gay one," Liam snapped back, face reddening in anger.

"You're such a- Is that Ashton? Ashton!" Louis jumped up, rushing towards the man, needing comfort.

Ashton was in Earth Bound, a neat little hippie store with knickknacks galore and cool, homemade jewelry.

Ashton didn't like coming to the mall, so it was a little surprising to see him there. Louis was normally the only person able to convince Ashton to come inside the shopping center.

"Ash!"

Ashton whipped around, widening his eyes when he saw Louis.

"Hey, Lou."

"Ash, what are you doing-"

"Do you think he'll like that last one, Ashton?"

Louis backed up as Harry appeared behind Ashton. Harry was looking down at his cell phone, eyebrows knitted in deep thought.

"Hey, Harry," Ashton said in an awkwardly high voice. "Look who's here."

Harry glanced up and nearly dropped his phone. "Um, hey."

"Hi."

The three stood there awkwardly until a panting Liam showed up, holding two Starbucks drinks.

"Lou, you can't run off- Oh. Hi, Harry. Hi, Ashton."

"Liam," Harry greeted, eyes focused on Louis.

"So, this just became awkward," Ashton mumbled.

"It was already awkward, wasn't it? Are you two here together?" Louis asked, clearly jealous.

"Yeah... Ashton and I are friends now."

"You decided that after we got into an arguement?!"

"Calm down, kitten, I was his friend a few days before the appointment-"

Louis put his hands over his ears, rather like a child, and squeezed his eyes shut. Harry sighed. Liam rolled his eyes, not in the mood for Louis's childish antics. He didn't have a free hand so he glanced at Ashton, who took the things out of Liam's hand. Liam hooked his large hands around Louis's thin wrists.

Harry stepped forward, gripping Liam's arm. "Don't touch him."

"He's my best friend, you knocker, why don't you go-"

"Is there a problem here?" A beefy security guard asked, stepping in front of the boys. Stupid mall cops.

"There's no problem," Ashton rushed. Louis blinked his eyes open, backing into Harry as habit. Without thinking, Harry hooked an arm around Louis's tiny waist.

Louis relaxed instantly.

"We're fine," Harry spoke, eyes flickering to Liam for a split second. "No problem, sir."

The guard nodded and stepped away, still watching the group.

"Let's go, Harry," Ashton mumbled, tapping Harry's elbow. Harry nodded, pressed a long kiss to Louis's forehead, and left.

~~~

Louis sat on the piano stool, helping Sarah, his last student before Harry, and let out a sigh as his clock ticked towards six.

"Lou, does this one go next?" Sarah asked, placing a hesitant finger on a key.

"Yeah, yeah," Louis mumbled, watching the clock still.

"Alright, does this sound good?" There was a loud jumble of keys.

"Real good," Louis muttered, nodding.

"Okay... Well, I have to go. Mummy's taking me for icecream!" Sarah squealed, standing. She kissed Louis's cheek and left.

Ten minutes of Louis shuffling papers and tapping keys and Harry still wasn't there. Was he not coming?

Finally, the door opened and a clumsy giraffe boy stumbled in, cheeks pink from the harsh wind. A beanie was on his head, holding together the floppy mess of curls.

"Sorry, Lou, I had to walk. Ash- Uh, a friend has my car."

"Why does he have your car?"

"He is one of my friends and, as his friend, I lent him my car while his is in the shop. I like to walk and I wasn't going to make him walk all the way to Uni in the cold. I would do the same for you or any of your friends. I'm just nice, Louis," Harry defended.

"Alright," Louis snapped, losing all thought of apologizing.

"Besides... I was carrying something," Harry mumbled, setting down an unmistakably large, flat parcel. "Open it."

Louis glanced up and back to the package before slowly ripping it open. He gasped a little, letting a tiny finger trace the cold glass.

"Oh, Harry. It's so pretty," Louis whispered.

"That's why I was in Earth Bound," Harry admitted shyly, scratching his neck.

"It's very... Wow, Harry, it must've been expensive."

Harry shrugged. "Actually, I was shopping for inscents, and I saw this... It was so pretty, Louis, I had to get it for you."

Louis smiled. The pretty mosaic piece formed a piano, beautiful and shining. Sort of like Louis's eyes.

"You bought it even after I was shit to you?"

Harry smiled, linking their hands together. "I love you, kitten, and nothing will change that. Let's try again, yeah? Again, and again, and again. I'll do anything for you, and I'm now completely in love with the idea of a baby Louis running around," Harry insisted, kissing Louis's nose.

"I'm really excited, too," Louis whispered.

"Can I take you for dinner tonight?"

"Please."

~~~

Awh.

QOTC: how do you think Louis's going to take the newfound friendship between Ashton and Harry?

PQOTC: do you like Johnny Depp??

MA: god he's so sexy I can't even describe to you how much I just want him to... Ugh I want to ravish him. He's such an amazing actor, he really is! He plays all of Tim Burton's characters with perfection.

Xx