Scared (L.S)

twenty eight

[enjoy a long, happy chapter everyone :))))]

"Let's go!" Louis shouted excitedly from the bottom of the stairs. Harry sighed and descended the steps, his duffle bag dragging behind him. As tiring as he knew this drive would be, given Louis' apparent energy levels, he was just happy to see the boy so happy.

Harry reached the bottom of the steps where Louis was standing with one hand on each side of the railing. Harry tried to push past him but the older boy refused to budge.

"Lou, move, we've got to go," Harry whined, giving up and stepping back in defeat.

"Nu, uh," Louis tutted, a smile on his face, "You have to kiss me first."

Harry rolled his eyes but kissed the boy anyway, the intimacy of it kept away by the smiles on both of their faces.

Louis pulled away after a moment, taking the duffle bag from Harry and dashing to the front door, "Love you!" He called back as he ran out the door, keys jingling in his hand.

Harry laughed and slipped his shoes on, grabbing their bag of road trip snacks before closing and locking the door behind them.

---

Harry was quick to fall asleep once they were on the road, and he slept for about an hour straight before stirring and sitting up straighter.

"How far're we?" Harry asked quietly.

Louis spared a quick glance at the boy and reached his hand over to rub Harry's thigh for a moment, "Bout an hour still."

"Oh," Harry said, yawning, "'M gonna go back to sleep then."

"Actually baby," Louis said quickly, "I just wanted to ask you something."

Harry whined and Louis chuckled, "It'll be quick."

Harry sighed and nodded, reaching to take Louis' hand in his own and squeezing it lightly.

"Just... Gemma's friends and housemates and stuff are gonna be there and... Did you want to be, like, out to them?"

Louis squeezed Harry's hand again, waiting nervously for a response. He knew in the back of his head that Harry wanted to be out at school but it was Louis that was scared. Louis kind of thought of this as a trial-run-like situation, where they could be out without any real lasting consequences while in a safe "Gemma supervised" environment.

Harry still hadn't spoken so Louis squeezed the younger boy's hand again.

"I'd love to be out, Lou."

---

It took them two hours to drive to Liverpool and, even with their snacks, both boys were getting hungry for lunch by the time they pulled up in front of Gemma's house.

Gemma was in her third year at the uni and lived in a house with three of her mates. She was in all these clubs and on every team and while her GPA wasn't the best, she was doing what she loved and living the kind of life that Harry craved. Except, aside from Louis and maybe Jade he didn't even have any friends, which he saw as the first step to living a life like his sister.

"Harry!" Gemma shouted from the door when Harry stepped out onto her driveway. She immediately rushed forward and pulled Harry into a tight hug. "How was the drive?"

Harry shrugged, "Ask Lou, I slept most of the way."

"Hey Gemma," Louis greeted as he stepped back from the car, the single duffle bag that held both their clothes in his hand.

"Hi Lou, alright? How was the drive?"

Louis smiled and stepped to stand beside the siblings, "It was fine, not much traffic. Probably would've been better if this one didn't sleep the whole time." Louis reached up to ruffle Harry's hair, the younger boy allowing himself to be pulled into Louis' grasp.