Too Young

One

Harry fidgeted nervously as he stood near some other contestants of the x-factor. He figured that he probably should've made a few friends by this point.

Week 4, and I'm still here

Harry thought reassuringly. He tried to push the negative thoughts out of his head, but couldn't help but frown. When he looked down at his hands his middle and ring finger were both bleeding. He frowned even deeper and blushed. He hadn't even noticed that he was picking at his fingers again.

It's a bad habit!

He heard his mom's voice in his head and smiled again. She went to get food and told Harry she would come right back, but Harry had insisted she went home and got some rest. She'd already so much for him, and he could tell how exhausted she was.

Harry absently stuck his fingers in his mouth for a moment to 'clean' the blood off them. He pulled them out quickly when he saw one of the contestants looking at him. He blushed and looked down at his feet.

It was Louis. A cute boy with brown hair and the most adorable smile. Harry silently scolded himself for thinking that. Louis was his competition, and either way, Louis wouldn't like Harry.

Lost in thought, Harry hadn't noticed that Louis walked up to him until he heard a cheery voice say, "Hey! I'm Louis. I think we've met before, but honestly it's quite hard to tell here. There're so many people."

"I'm Harry. Yeah, I saw your audition... it was really good," Harry replied. He put his hands behind his back in an attempt to hide the blood that was now running down his fingers.

"Thanks... Your hand alright?" Louis asked, having noticed the blood before Harry had hidden his hands. Harry blushed even deeper than before and gave a little smile at the concern in the older boy's voice.

"Y-yeah," Harry stuttered, but he didn't make any effort to show Louis his hands. He left his hands behind his back, curling them into balls so his blood didn't drip on the floor.

"Lemme see," Louis said, reaching out and grabbing Harry's arm. Harry was too surprised by the other boy's touch to pull away in time. When Louis brought his hand forward there was blood pooled in his palm and Harry tried pulling his hand back. Louis' grip got stronger and he said, "Common," before he pulled Harry to an empty hallway towards the back of the building.

"What happened?" Louis asked. Harry was still a little taken aback by the older boy's forwardness. Harry tried to create a good excuse, but his brain seemed to stop as Louis met his gaze and made eye contact. His eyes were full of curiosity and concern, no judgment.

"Nothing much... I just pick at my fingers when I'm nervous... it's gross, I'm sorry." Harry said. He looked back down at his feet again, not wanting to meet the other boy's gaze.

"Why're you apologizing? Trust me, there are some people who are much grosser. I have this one friend who.... Nevermind actually, it's quite gross, you don't want to hear about it." Louis said while grinning widely. Harry smiled back and tried to keep the pooling blood from spilling onto the ground. Louis, noticing Harry's discomfort said, "There's a restroom over here, we should get you cleaned up before you need to go on stage."

"You don't have to....I'm sure you're busy," Harry blushed again, but he couldn't help but smile when he saw Louis grinning at him.

"Please, if I spend another second with the mates over there I think I might die of boredom."

"But they're all so important to the x-factor. Aren't you delighted to talk to them?" Harry asked. He was becoming more comfortable around the other boy, and he couldn't help but smile at the thought of telling his mum he talked to someone on his own later that day.