When Niall came back after drama class a few days later, the room was silent except for a few stifled sniffles from behind the closed curtain on the bottom bunk that used to be almost unoccupied just a few weeks ago. That the curtains of Harry's bunk were closed was not a rare occasion anymore. It seemed like it quickly got too much for Harry to handle the outer world so he closed himself off.

Niall was thankful that the room was empty except for Harry for once. He had meant to talk to the boy for a while now. Carefully, he opened the curtain an bit and slid behind Harry, spooning him. It was just how Niall had comforted him the last time after the younger boy had ran out after insulting Eleanor. That time, Harry had fallen asleep like this.

This time, Niall wanted to talk to the crying boy, though. "Harry?" He whispered into the silence. He waited a few seconds before repeating. "Harry... talk to me, love."

At that, Harry turned around and buried his face in Niall's chest. "Why does it hurt so much, Ni?"

Niall stroked his hair as he thought about an answer. "Well, he's your best friend, right?"

Harry was silent for a few seconds. "I don't know. It's like I'm not even... there."

"Haz." Niall whispered. "Louis is going through a rough time. I'm sure you're gonna be the same in a few weeks."

"Rough time?" Harry snapped, pushing Niall away a bit and turning away again. "He's having the time of his life with his girlfriend."

For a second, Niall wondered how this one word could drip with so much different negative emotions. Then he asked, even though he already knew the answer, "Harry... Why does it bother you so much that he has a girlfriend?"

Harry was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Can't you see how it's ruining our rela-... friendship? He's not even looking at me when she's there. And even when she's not there, it's like she's creating a barrier between us."

"But it's not only that, isn't it?" Niall said carefully.

There was a tense silence. "What else should there be?" Harry snapped, still not turning around to face Niall, who carefully cuddled him close again. If he learned one thing from being room mates with Louis and Harry for the past years, it was that Harry was a touchy person and trusted more easily when receiving physical comfort.

"You know there's nothing wrong with being gay, right?" He said carefully, but apparently not carefully enough, because Harry sat up straight in the bed, glaring down at Niall.

"How dare you to assume that. Of course it is wrong. Everyone said that. Zayn, Zayn's father, the football team, the basketball team, Liam-"

"When did Liam say that?" Niall asked.

"Well..." Harry hesitated, then threw his arms up in exasperation. "I don't know, but he finds it weird, I know that."

Niall sat up too, facing the other boy. "Harry, listen. I know what some people here said. I know Louis got some harsh treatment after he was rumoured to be gay. But I read all about it, okay? And I talked to Liam about it. And my mum. And my brother. There's nothing wrong with being gay. The people here just were never confronted with it. That's why they think it's weird."

Harry frowned. "But it's not normal. Gay people are weak."

"That," Niall said seriously, "Is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Sexuality has nothing to do with strength. Gay people are the same as all people, just with another preference who they love. They have another type, if you want to say so."

Harry's expression was completely perplexed. He had never heard someone speak of gay people this... neutrally.

"So..." Harry tried to understand, "So what if... if hypothetically, I mean, not that I want to but I mean hypothetically, if I wanted to kiss Lo- I mean, another boy...that would not be completely disgusting?"

Niall smiled softly, petting his arm comfortingly. "No, absolutely not. I mean, from what I read, there is a huge community out there who are all, well, gay, lesbians, or bisexual."

"Bisexual?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah, they don't really care about the gender. They love who they want." Niall explained.

"And people are okay with it?" Harry checked.

"Yeah, well. Of course there are still people who don't like them, but they, well, they live in the stone age. We're in the 21 Century. We can be gay and proud, if we want." Niall grinned. He read so much about this community that he had somehow grown to love it.

Harry's thoughtful look changed into a mixture of sad and annoyed when they heard the door open and voices filling the room.

"I'm just saying." Leigh-Anne said. "Just because we're girls doesn't mean it's the only things we think about."

"But you talk about your appearance a whole lot." Liam said.

"How does my hair look? Does this nail polish suit my outfit? Do you think this colour fits to my-"

"Okay, okay." Eleanor interrupted Louis' mocking. "But we do not always talk about it."

"You do." Liam said.

"Maybe because it's a whole lot work covering Eleanor's ugliness." Harry snapped from behind the curtain.

"Harry." Niall hissed warningly, opening the curtains to make them visible to the rest of the room, but Harry ignored the blonde.

"Besides, there's not much else that fits into that small brain." He flopped on his back and glared up to the top bunk defiantly.

"Not all girls are like that though. My sisters-" Louis stopped in mid sentence when he noticed all the girls glaring at him. "What?"

There was a tense silence for a few seconds before Jesy asked in disbelief, "You're just going to ignore the awful things Harry said to your girlfriend?"

Louis looked confused and overwhelmed. He obviously did not have the same ideas how to react when someone insulted your girlfriend. "Umm..."

"Umm?" Eleanor looked at him with demanding raised eyebrows. Then she huffed when Louis said nothing else, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the door. Presumingly to talk. Or snog, Harry thought bitterly, frowning after them.

Not even two seconds later, Zayn came into the room. He froze when he noticed the tense silence but then just shrugged and climbed onto his top bunk with some books and foulders to do some homework.

Sometimes Harry forgot that he lived in their room too. Since the basketball team beat Louis up, he was barely around and none of the boys minded since he had done nothing to gain their forgiveness. It was like he thought Louis deserved it. Harry was still furious about it. He always tried to see the best in people, but he refused to do that with Zayn.

"Well, we'll leave then." Jesy said. "We still have some homework to do."

Niall and Liam just hummed, watching the girls walk out and the door falling shut. Then their gazes fell in a motionless Harry who was still laying on his back and staring at the top bunk.

"They put really much pressure on Louis, don't you think?" Liam interrupted the silence, referring to the girls.

Niall just hummed in agreement, but Harry sat up abruptly and started to rant angrily. "Really damn much pressure. Like, what are they expecting. Louis to just turn his back on me and agree with everything those stupid girls say? Especially Eleanor, this stupid witch! Like she knows anything about Louis. And Louis. Don't even get me started on him. How can he be so blind? All that stupid girl is doing is tearing us apart. Louis barely does anything with us anymore. She steals my Boo from us. How can she-"

"Why is she bothering you so much?" Zayn interrupted, his tone almost sounding bored, "She's just excited to have a boyfriend, as is he to have such a stunning girlfriend. To be honest, I think it's good that you guys get some time separated."

Harry stood up and strode up to Zayn, who blinked down on him from his bunk bed. "You think it's good, yeah? And who are you to judge what's good for our friendship and what's not? You stupid piece of shit! You just let the whole basketball team have its way with him. It's not him that's weak. It's you, you fucking twit. You couldn't even stand up for your friend."

"He wasn't my friend." Zayn said. "As long as I wasn't sure he wasn't a fag."

"Don't say that word." It was Niall this time. He stood up and laid an arm around his friend who seemed to be mad at the whole world right now. "And there is nothing wrong with being gay."

Zayn's eyebrows looked like they would disappear in his hairline. "What crawled up your ass? Also a fag?"

"I told you, don't say that word." Niall glared. "And maybe you should inform yourself about stuff before judging it." He grabbed Liam and Harry's arm and stomped out of the room, pulling the boys with him.

"Well," Liam said as they waked down the hallway and outside. "That was dramatic." They exchanged glances before bursting out into laughter.

Maybe Harry did not need just Louis, the curly haired thought to himself. Maybe he could also have other friends.