almost | larry stylinson au

two

After Louis had turned on his phone, it was like he didn't care that he was at a social event. It was a small get together, but there was drinking and fun! He was still with people. He was smiling and laughing at his phone. It wasn't just one conversation, he was switching between conversations every other second, like it was a race.

Harry didn't let this get to him and just talked to Niall like he always does.
    "Would you rather smell like shit without knowing it all the time, or constantly be smelling shit that no one else can?" Harry blurted randomly in the middle of their conversation. It took Harry a while to speak so when he said long sentences like this, everyone yawned jokingly and pretended to fall asleep.

    "I'd rather constantly smell shit, because you'd get used to it after a while." Beth noted, earning an obnoxious laugh from Louis. He wasn't laughing at her response though, he was laughing at his phone. Harry was beginning to get annoyed at this point.

    "It's getting late and my mum might wake in the middle of the night." Harry announced, buttoning his flannel a few more buttons. It was getting breezy outside because of how late it was.

As Harry hugged everyone in the room and said goodnight, he was glad he didn't drink as much as everyone else. The smell of beer was lingering in the air, but his mouth still tasted like mints. Harry nudged Louis with his boot as Louis sat on the ground staring at his screen.

    "Bye, goodnight." Louis responded without realizing who was leaving.

And Harry left, trying not to focus on how rude Louis was being. The walk home was short, only four blocks. Once he arrived, he didn't really feel like going inside right away, so he sat on the steps, staring at the grass and flowers.
    "Hey curly!"

Harry jolted his head up immediately. No one else called him curly.
    "Hey Lou." Harry muttered. He wanted to be mad at the boy for being a party pooper and ignoring him all night, but he just couldn't be snappy to Louis. He knew that Louis would be snappy right back.

    "I'm sorry for not talking much all night, should've left my phone off haha" Louis apologized, surprisingly. Louis has only apologized to Harry one other time, and that was the day they met. Usually Louis doesn't acknowledge issues like he should. Harry just shook his head, indicating that it was alright.
    "Can I still come over?" Louis wondered. Harry quickly stood and nodded, motioning for him to come inside. The breeze was picking up and the sky was a dark hazy blue grey. It was probably going to rain in the morning.
Harry and Louis slowly walked to Harry's room, careful to not slip and fall anywhere to wake Anne.

    "You just live with your mom?" Louis questioned, knowing Harry's told him before but it slipped his mind.
    "My step dad Robin just passed," Harry said softly, earning an apologetic look from Louis. He knew what it felt like to lose someone close to you, his mom had passed in december of last year. Harry knew that though. They sat on Harry's bed, Louis gawking at how clean and put together it all was.

He has a closet with a slide door mirror. Half of it was open, exposing his patterned, floral suits for when his mom goes and drags him to events, weddings, and dinners. There weren't many plain items in his wardrobe. Everything was bold. That's how Harry prefered to express himself, through his clothes and not his words. Behind his suits were his button downs and flannels. He was a simple guy, really.

There were several pictures of cacti framed along his walls. Louis laughed under his breath, but Harry caught it, a blush rising to his cheeks.

    "What's so funnyyy?" Harry dragged the word, sprawling himself out across his bed as Louis stood up, lightly brushing the tips of his fingers against the wooden frames.
    "You like cactuses, I see."
Harry glared at him, "Cacti."

    "No, it's cactuses."
Harry then pulled out his laptop to search the plural of Cactus.

    "It's not wrong!" Louis exclaimed, because google said it could be either or but is usually Cacti.    
    "But it's not right!" Harry facepalmed, laughing lightly.

Louis sat on the bed and pulled out his phone.

    "Oooh, nope." Harry tsked, and took the phone from him, turning it off and putting it on the bedside table. Louis frowned and Harry smiled his cupcake winning smile. Louis rolled his eyes.

    "Tell me about yourself, curly." Louis smirked, looking to Harry.
    "What do you wanna know?"
    "What's your favorite movie?" Harry thought for a minute, but he knew.
    "The Mortal Instruments-"
    "REALLY?" Louis shrieked happily, causing Harry's smile to widen and eyes to brighten. They went on for over an hour about how amazing The City of Bones was, and how upset they were that they weren't making a second movie. They made a tv show based off of it though, and Harry and Louis agreed to come over every monday and watch it together on netflix since it only aired there in the uk.

It was 6 am when Harry passed out listening to the mortal instruments soundtrack from 2013, Louis laughed seeing the drooling boy lying next to him. He got up, grabbed his phone, and looked towards Harry's desk for post-it notes and a pen. He found it and wrote, "You fell asleep, Curly. Text me when you wake! -L" then peeled it from the pad and stuck it on his nose, walking out of the room.

    "Harry?" Anne groggily called out.

"I'm Louis, Harry's friend! I live next door. We were up listening to music and he fell asleep, I was just going to let myself out." Louis politely walked towards the door.

     "That's alright darling! Are you sure you don't wanna stay and have some juice? Maybe some cereal?" Anne smiled, rubbing her eyes. Louis' heart fluttered.
      "If i'm not being a bother!" He smiled, walking over to where Anne was in the kitchen, pulling glasses out of the cupboard. "Harry's never had anyone but Niall over before..."
"Be a dear and get the juice out of the fridge for me." Anne sweetly asked. Louis was not used to adults or really anyone being nice to him. When he was in Harry's presence he was respected, he was treated well.

He got the orange juice out of the fridge and saw that it had no pulp. Setting it down on the countertop, he says "You guys are deprived ! No pulp ???" which earned a giggle from Anne.   

       "Harry doesn't like the way it feels in his mouth, so if I buy it, he won't drink juice." Louis' phone buzzed, and "curly" popped up on the screen. Harry was awake then. Louis whispered to Anne that they should prank him. They both got on opposite sides of his room door and waited for him to walk out, hearing shuffling.