Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Saturday 7

"Oh for God's sake Harry, why did you put those shoes on?! I told you to bin them!" Louis heard Anne exclaim as he entered the piano room after fetching a quick snack from the café in the middle of his and Harry's piano time. Harry was sat on the edge of the stool, knees pulled up to his chest but his feet dangling off the side of the seat. Anne was stood to the side of him, glaring down at the wrecked trainers that were on Harry's feet, a hand clutching the roots of her hair in somewhat slight anguish.Harry's hands instantly reached down to cover the broken shoes in defence, hiding the scuffed material. The sole that flopped down sorrowfully was held in place by Harry's fingers - those long, thin fingers that would feel so-Louis shook his head inwardly, pushing those thoughts out of his mind and focusing on the verbally one-sided but -evident to Louis- two-sided, argument between the two people in front of him. Harry's glare spoke louder than Anne's words, his green eyes flicking from his weathered shoes to Anne's figure, as if translating the fact that he didn't approve of her, well, disapproval."Louis! Louis, Louis, Louis," Anne muttered. "Will you please tell Harry that he needs some new shoes? They're horrendous!"Louis chuckled lightly, plonking himself down on the floor in front of the stool Harry was sat at and crossing his legs. "Well I mean...they aren't in the best condition, I guess," he said tactfully.Harry's eyes turned innocently wide, looking almost hurt. Louis couldn't stand the expression; it was tugging on his heart too much that he instantly corrected himself. "But if he can still walk in them, then it's alright.""He can barely walk in them! And- no Harry, don't pretend you can, because you trip up all the time in them- what, no! I see you tripping up! I see you with my own eyes! And no, don't say I need glasses because I really don't," Anne ranted, interrupting the start of Harry's protests. "We're going shoe shopping after this, I'm not taking no for an answer Mister!"Louis watched in amusement as Harry rolled his eyes dramatically at Anne, his hands scrambling to find a pen and paper before scribbling out a word in large capital letters:GEMMAIt was as if a light bulb of remembrance when off in Anne's brain and she suddenly remembered whatever it was that had to do with Gemma."Oh gosh, Gemma! I totally forgot! Our girly time for the month! Damn, going shopping will really mess things up..." She murmured thoughtfully. Harry's expression wasn't overly joyful, as per usual, but Louis could spot the hint of smugness over the decease of the argument. As much as Louis wanted to side with Harry, Anne's troubled expression was more extreme. She looked as if she were having an internal battle with herself, trying to decide on how to resolve the situation."Well... maybe I could take Harry out shoe shopping?" Louis said, his tone questioning and unsure.Anne's head whipped around- more like down as he was sprawled on the floor- to Louis, her eyes lighting up. "You would do that?!" she exclaimed with hope."Yeh, I don't mind," Louis shrugged nonchalantly."You really don't have to, Louis; don't feel obliged to if you don't actually want to.""No, seriously, I really don't mind. It'll be nice to spend some more time with Haz," Louis said sweetly, a blush lighting up his cheeks. He was unaware to the glow that flushed on Harry's cheeks also, the discreet compliment and use of his new nickname attacking Harry's calm exterior.Anne looked as if she were about to burst with joy after Louis spoke, and Louis wasn't sure why. Her perfect smile spread across her face; her eyes creased at the corners. Her hands lay fanning out under her jaw, a look of somewhat awe mixed in with the happiness. Her eyes flickered between Harry and Louis, searching out Harry's lack of reaction and the ease in which Louis spoke his words with a relaxed manner."What? Do I have something on my face?" Louis asked awkwardly as Anne locked onto him with her eyes."Haz?" she said questionably.Louis flushed scarlet pink instantly and he ducked his head to hide his embarrassment. "Sorry, it just keeps slipping out," he winced."No no, don't apologise! It's adorable!" Anne said with a grin. Her hand reached over to Harry's curls and ruffled them playfully, but the mood dropped as he edged the seat further away from her soon after the action, a frown etched on his features.Anne cleared her throat awkwardly, dismissing the thick tension in the air. Maybe it was from the unwanted physical contact on Harry's part, or maybe the fact he was embarrassed by the action in front of Louis. After all, the ruffling of his hair from his mother didn't really pronounce 'grown up'."Are you sure you're alright with this Louis?" she questioned again."Anne, I'm totally sure! Go and have your girly time with Gemma, leave me and Harry to our boy time!""I suppose so; I need to stop fussing around!" Anne chuckled. "Right then, I best be off. Just give me a buzz when you're finished, yeh? You've got each other's numbers just in case you get lost or anything, so make sure you use them, alright Harry? Good, so I'll see you when I see you then!" Anne said efficiently, sneaking a glance at her watch at times.After an awkward hug with Harry and a more comfortable hug with Louis, Anne scuffled out of the room. Louis watched as her slender frame drew out of sight before turning back to his partner for the day. As he looked over at him, he noticed Harry scribbling on the piece of paper that previously had 'GEMMA' written on, the writing visible through the sheet.

Boy time? Really?Harry wrote, a suspicious eyebrow raised above his emerald eyes.

"Yes! What's wrong with that?!" Louis exclaimed in offence.

Boy time?Harry reiterated on the paper, scratching his pen over the word 'boy' dominantly. A smirk lined at his lips lightly, just a small purse of the plump pinks that showed the emotion."What do you mean, 'boy time'?" Louis asked, gesturing with inverted commas and stressing how Harry wrote the words.

I don't mean to offend you, but you aren't really the most masculine of men are you, really? And boy time is more supposed to be like manly stuff...not shopping.Louis mock glared at Harry but he couldn't restrain the bubble of laughter that popped through his lips. "I guess that's true, but still! We're both boys, so therefore we're having boy time! Don't use my campness against me! I'll have you know, it's a skill to be so feminine as me!"

Yes, feminine, not masculine: i.e. girl not boy. Boy time is watching football with beers and pizza in your boxers, basically pigging out. Not shopping."Well we can do that if you want to do the definition of 'boy time' to live up to it," Louis suggested sensibly.

No thanks, I think my Mum would kill me if I didn't get any new shoes and she caught me drinking, so it's really a no go 'time' to be honest.Louis looked at the statement, considering the words. Fair enough; he understood the shoes statement, but the drinking? Had Harry never drank before?"Wait...you don't drink?" he asked curiously.

Nope. Never. Why, what's so bad about that?Louis stared a little dumbfounded at Harry; he'd never honestly drank? "No, there's nothing bad about it. I've just never heard of anyone at your age who hadn't drank anything...I guess it was just the way of life in Doncaster though; it's different in different places, I guess. If you don't mind me asking, is it that you don't want to, or that you aren't allowed to?"Harry hesitated in contemplation.

Well...I guess it's a bit of both. My mum kind of mollycoddled me through life, so she's always gone on about how bad it is to drink so young and how it's illegal and stuff, so she's kind of drilled it into me. I mean, I wouldn't pass up on an offer of a drink, but I wouldn't out rightly go and get one, y'know what I mean?"I understand what you mean. I think it's a good attitude you have there. You have morals that I wish I'd had at your age- Shit, is that the time? We really need to get going, Haz, before the shops shut, come on!" Louis started off gently, but his words heightened with expression as he noticed the time on his phone and he jumped up instantly, grabbing Harry's wrist and pulling him out of the room.

They'd been searching through the shops for over an hour and had no success. Everything Louis pointed out was either too fancy, or too plain; he ostensibly couldn't do anything in the middle, always the extremist.Louis had to admit, those fluorescent green, pink and yellow knee-high trainers - which were supposedly for men, although the colour scheme really wouldn't fit with the normal jean colour of males Louis thought - which he pointed out were only for his amusement. Watching Harry try to break it to Louis gently, whose acting skills outwitted themselves as he made a very convincing act of really liking them, that they 'just aren't really my type' was utterly hilarious, especially when Louis almost nearly got him to try them on but his facade cracked and his loud laugh boomed through the shop. Harry had blushed ferociously as all eyes turned to them, and although Louis' laugh was like music to his ears, the attention was vastly unwanted and he scampered out of the shop as fast as lightning.Louis clapped a hand on his back in an apology, steering him away from the shop of unusual shoes and to a more reputable store with less obscure and unique designs. The blush slowly faded from Harry's cheeks, even though Louis wished it'd stay longer because it was truly endearing.They trundled into another shop later on, tired and disheartened by the lack of success. Workers were placed around the shop, evidently worn out from their hard day's work and wishing the end of their shift would just finish already. There were a couple customers browsing the shelves, picking up potential shoes but placing them down as they spotted another pair which looked basically the same. Louis and Harry wandered around, skimming over the rows of shoes which weren't suitable.Louis gasped as his eyes roamed the shop and landed on a familiar stall. Muttering a quick 'I'm just over there' to Harry, he rushed over to the TOMS shelves, his fingers tracing the new patterns in awe.Meanwhile, Harry scanned the Converse stack, nodding inwardly in approval of the simple designs which weren't too plain, but not too eccentric. His eyes spotted a pair of classic white, lo Converse which were simple enough not to stand out dramatically. He picked the pair up, swivelling them around in his hands and looking at them intricately.Suddenly, a gruff voice sounded from in front of him, shocking him to a slight jump. "Can I help you, mate?" the scruffy man said roughly.The worker was rather unkempt, his hair scruffy and overgrown stubble that was in between nice stubble, and well, a feeble beard lined his jaw. Harry's eyes scoped him out, looking at his messy attire in which his jeans were ripped at the knees and his shoes were in an even worse-a state than Harry's. His stomach protruded from the bottom of his top, the sliver of skin hairy and disgusting. Harry's nose crumpled up at the sight.Forgetting that the man could see his obvious 'checking out' - not in that way, obviously - and that the guy had spoken, Harry realised he hadn't heard anything the man had said."Look, jus tell me the size you want and I'll get it for you," the man said grumpily.Harry stared at him, unsure on what to do. His eyes were wide and panicked. He could feel his heart pumping in his chest ten to the dozen. His lungs were heaving as his mind circled around in confusion and lack of understanding of what to do.Contract. Relax. Contract. Relax. Contract. Relax.He kept breathing heavily in short breaths."Hello? Is anyone there?" the man mocked, pretending to knock on an imaginary door in front of Harry.Harry's eyes flickered around the wall behind the man, tracing an outline around the man's figure.Harry's lips were pursed together tightly, not moving."Wow. What the fuck is wrong with you man? All I'm trying to do is help!" the man's voice raised at Harry's lack of communication.Harry wanted him to leave.He wanted him to walk away and let Harry run out the shop, all the way back home.He didn't know what to do. The man was demanding answers, not letting the subject drop, and nobody was there to help him."What, are you some kind of freak who can't speak or something?" The man nearly shouted. It was more the cruel look on his face that was the loudest, not the volume.It scared Harry.Too much.Discarding the drop of his heart as the man spoke the words 'freak' to him, the word which he was starting to let drift away now Louis was making him feel more accepted than he ever had, Harry didn't know what to do.Suddenly, a hand touched his shoulder and Harry bounced from it. His head shot to the right in shock, eyes wild and blaring with fear. The fire was distinguished though as soon as he saw Louis stood there, feeling a little more at ease with the fact it wasn't someone else ready to ambush him."What the hell is going on here?" Louis asked sternly to the man."The lad isn't fucking talking!" the man exclaimed, his grotty face scrunching up in distaste. His stumpy fingers pointed at Harry accusingly, and immediately Louis moved to stand in front of Harry. His arms hung behind him, holding Harry's body behind his directly, protecting him."And?! What has that got to do with you?!" Louis cried back."I'm offering him help and he isn't taking it! It's fucking rude!" the man shouted back."No, what I think is rude is how you're treating him! You're the one being a dick, not him!" Louis face was colouring up, a red of anger spreading across his skin as he heated up with fury."How the hell am I being a dick to him? He's the one ignoring me!" the man retorted with annoyance."He isn't ignoring you! If he was ignoring you, he wouldn't even be here right now because he would've walked out of this shop! Do you have no sense in that tiny brain of yours?!""Well he isn't replying to me and that's as good as ignoring!"Harry wanted to scream. He wanted to scream for them to stop."It's not his fucking fault he can't reply! He didn't choose to be mute! He didn't choose to not be able to speak!" Louis bellowed loudly, the sound echoing in the silent shop. "He doesn't want it to come across as ignoring, but sometimes it just does because he just doesn't understand. But that doesn't make him a freak or a weirdo, it makes him real. It makes him more of a man than you'll ever be because he has feelings. Unlike you, he actually cares about people. You don't give two shits whether you hurt someone or whether you scare them; it's all in a day's work for you, isn't it?! Shouting at young boys and freaking them out until they break, I bet you love it! You're a sick bastard!"Louis' loud rant came to a halt, his breaths panting out hotly. His face was bright red, a frown drawn on his face. His arms were still locked around Harry's waist, a tight clench gripped around him so he didn't move, so he didn't get hurt.As the man stood in silent shock, dull eyes wide in astonishment; Louis sent him one last dirty glare before unlatching his arms from Harry and grasping his wrist. He stomped out the shop angrily, ignoring the stares from the other customers and workers. He kept marching until he left the shopping centre and got out into the fresh air. He slumped down by the side of the building, not caring about the cigarette butts he must've been sitting on. He breathed in deeply and let the cool breeze enter his lungs and slowly rid him of the rage he felt. His eyes were shut tightly, blocking out any sight that would distract him from calming his emotions.After a few minutes, he heard material slide down the wall. He cracked his eyes open and slightly turned his head to the side to spot Harry sitting awkwardly by his side."I'm sorry," Louis croaked. "I didn't mean to, I just got so angry at him and-"Harry's arm lifted slowly, hesitantly and tentatively. It raised above Louis' head and curled around his shoulder. His body was pulled in to the warmth of Harry's. His head lay on Harry's beating chest.Louis needn't have said anymore apology, because he knew he was forgiven.He loved the feeling he had being in Harry's arms. Yes, it was slightly awkward and not fully open and relaxed, but it was something. It was warm, comforting and everything he had imagined, maybe even more. It was strong. Strong and wholesome. But still gentle and soft at the same time. Harry's heat beat fast, Louis realised. He liked it.