painless ➸ larry

twelve

*chapter twelve;

"To ask, I need to ask.. um, Louis?." Harry mumbles the first part to himself, and speaks up in the last. He's walking Louis home from his appointment, like he does everyday.

"What?" Louis smiles, looking up at the younger boy.

"I was wondering—like, it's totally okay if you don't want to, just—um, like,"

"Get on with it." Louis nudges Harry's shoulder, fully expecting what comes next.

"Would you go on a date with me? Like, a proper date." Harry asks bashfully, looking Louis in the eye.

"Of course." Louis replies, standing up on his tip-toes to give Harry a little kiss on the tip of his nose.

Harry just blushes harder than he already had been. "I'll pick you up tomorrow, at five?" Harry suggests.

"Sounds great." Louis responds as the pair walks up to his house. He says goodbye before heading inside, to see his mother sitting at the kitchen table, paperwork laid out in front of her. Louis knows it's for him, it always is.

Louis feels like such a burden sometimes. He doesn't think he's worth all the work his mother puts in for him, or all the money she spends on him. Louis isn't suicidal, really, but sometimes he just thinks the world would be a better place if he wasn't there. There wouldn't be this freaky boy who doesn't feel pain just hanging around everyone. Don't get him wrong, Louis really loves life. He's glad he was born. He, just, doesn't know if everyone else is.

"Oh, hey Lou! How'd your appointment go?" Jay smiles.

"It was fine. Anne is starting me on that Naxo-whatever drug in two days." Louis replies.

"Have you gone pee yet today?" Jay asks and Louis blushes. That's right, he can't feel when he has to pee, either. It's quite embarrassing. What if his bladder just exploded one day? That would be embarrassing, but not painful. At least, not for Louis.

"Yes." He replies, scurrying off to his room. As he sits down on his bed, his phone goes off in his pocket.

From Harry:
Wear something medium fancy tomorrow, please. :)

Medium fancy? Louis scrunches his eyebrows and texts back what he was just thinking.

From Harry:
A tshirt and nice jeans would be great. :)

Louis smiles at the little smiley face and texts back an 'okay', picking on a black tshirt with the words 'love will tear us apart' written on it, and a pair of black skinnies. He thinks that the term Harry was looking for is 'casual'. It—a tshirt and jeans—doesn't seem medium fancy to Louis. He supposes that it's between a suit and pajamas.

Shrugging it off, Louis sees someone walking up to his house. This guy, he isn't built like Harry, and he's definitely walking up to Louis' house. Before his mum can get to the door, Louis answers it.

"Hi! I'm Nick." The guy introduces himself, sticking his hand out to Louis. Louis shakes it cautiously. "I just wanted to introduce myself. You know, I've been living down the street for five years now, and I've never said a word to you. I figured it was about time."

"Uh, alright." Louis replies, prying his hand out of Nick's when Nick won't let go.

"So, can I come in?" Nick asks as he peeks past Louis and into his house.

"Sure, yeah. Okay." Louis replies awkwardly, smiling at his mother as he and Nick walk past.

Jay doesn't say anything, she's just happy that Louis is making new friends. Before Harry, he just had two. One, named Zayn, left for university the past year. He still calls sometimes, but apparently his art major classes and girlfriend Perrie keep him pretty busy. Louis doesn't mind, he figures that if he were at uni he wouldn't think about calling home all the time. And Liam, who's a pretty good friend. Like, he's there for Louis when he's needed.

"So, you're friends with Harry? I'm friends with Harry, too. Y'know, he's in my English class. We sit right next to each other." Nick babbles. "He's really smart, yeah? His hair is cool, too."

Louis is just kind of listening to Nick talk about HarryHarryHarry awkwardly, thinking about how creepy this kid is.

"Are you obsessed with him?" Louis interrupts as Nick started to talk about Harry's height.

"What? No, no way. He's just fascinating, is all." Nick replies. "So, what are you two? Friends, more than friends?"

"Friends." Louis responds, surprised Nick actually left room for Louis to talk.

Louis thinks he might have heard Nick sigh an "Oh, good." but, he's not sure.

"So, enough about Harry, then." Nick says and Louis relieved. He'd rather not listen to Nick obsess over Louis'... friend? romantic interest? "Do you have any siblings? I have two, Andy and Jane, and they are both at uni right now. I get lonely at home, y'know? That's part of the reason why I came over."

"Part of the reason?" Louis asks aloud, though he didn't mean to.

"Yeah, the other part is that I was kicked out of the house for sneaking a bottle of vodka into my room. I came over to meet you and for some hospitality." Nick lies, but Louis doesn't know he's lying.

"Oh. So, when are you allowed back home?"

"Who knows, my mum will probably let me back in the house at any time. It's my dad I have to worry about." Nick says, the lying coming naturally to him. "I'll just go back home in an hour or so, I'm sure my pop won't mind it."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, yeah. When Andy was in high school he was quite the troublemaker. I couldn't really do anything that would top what he used to do." Nick says.

Louis is actually quite annoyed by Nick; his obsession with Harry, his rambling and not letting Louis talk, and his all about me attitude all contribute. Louis does feel kind of bad for the guy, though. With a personality like his, does he have any friends?

"...so then, we had to call the cops..." Nick says, continuing a story that Louis had stopped listening to a few minutes ago.

Then, like the lifesaver she is, Jay comes to Louis' room.

"It's getting late, and dark. I think it's time for your friend to leave, hun." Jay says, referring to Nick as his friend. Ha, yeah, right.

"Okay," Nick responds. "Bye, Lou!"

Louis winces at the use of the nickname, that is just for Harry and his mum. Not Nick, no.

"Bye." Louis says back, looking at his mum as if to say thank you, and then flopping onto his mattress, thinking about how tomorrow might go.

★

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