Harry's over Louis' house the next morning. Mia on the short couch on her phone, while Harry chats with his mum and plays Mario Cart with Carolyn. "Is Uni scary? Like the change from high school to living on your own?" he asks, not able to pay attention to the game. He glances at the staircase every so often, not sure when Louis will come down.

"Not really, no. It's surely a big change, but it's not so much scary as it is relieving. You get away from a lot of annoying and awful people. Learn how to get along on your own," she scrolls through Twitter, not even looking up at him.

"That's nerve racking," he mumbles to himself, "all your friends go all over the place. You loose people," he frowns.

Mia looks up from her phone, looking at the boy with pity for his feelings, "It'll be okay. Sure, you may loose people, but you gain people too. You kinda learn who's really there for you, and you'll get those people who stick by you. Don't worry," she nudges his back with her foot, and it's kind of a weird gesture, since that's all she can reach, but Harry appreciates it.

Carolyn beats him in the game, and he sighs, letting his hands fall in his lap. Someone sits down next to him. Harry looks up, smiling. "Hey."

Louis breaks a piece of his bagel off, "Hi," he says, then turns towards his sisters, "Pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît laisser?" (Can you please leave?) he asks them. Mia gives him a look, to which he returns one of his own. The two girls leave the room, and go out into the kitchen instead. Thankfully for Louis, their kitchen is closed off from the living area.

"Why here early?" Louis asks. His hair is a mess, parts of it sticking out in different directions.

Harry shrugs, "Wanted to check up on you," he cocks his head. The bruise on Louis' face is dark and ugly looking, and Harry wants to just hug him because technically it was his fault that it happened.

"Check what?"

Harry sets the gaming set to the side, "Well... when I took you home you were really freaked out. I heard Mia tell Carolyn that you thought it was 'him," he says, "who did you think it was?" he doesn't know how Louis will react, if it's something he even has he business or questioning, which he knows he doesn't.

Louis looks confused, but after a moment realizes what he means. He frowns, and looks away, "Can not tell friends," he mumbles, "Blake hit me, and I... think back," he bites the inside of his lip.

"Flashback?" Harry asks.

Louis shrugs, "Thought it was dad. Dad hit me many, and I came to America," he purses his lips.

Harry doesn't get it at first, but when he does his heart sinks. He wants to throw up. The fact that the boy he's looking at, that seems to have so much confidence, was beaten. The reason he came to a whole other continent with a different language was because of one cruel man. Harry can't even begin to imagine what his life was like, or if this so called dad did the same thing to the other family members.

"I'm sorry," Harry says softly.

Louis nods, "Thank you... uh... did not hit Mia and Carolyn and Mum. No one know. Me because I am gay. Did no like," his English gets rough, his throat dry and his thoughts starting to run.

Harry scoots closer, and takes ahold of Louis' hands, "Hey," he doesn't know what to say. So instead, he just nods.

Louis' lower lip trembles, and he takes in a shaky breath to stop himself. Harry just smoothes his hair back, and gently moves his head to look at him. "It's okay," he says, "you're okay now."

Louis wipes his eyes and looks away from him. After a moment he stands, and reaches his hand out for Harry, who gladly takes it and follows him to his room. It's plain, as Louis hasn't put the effort into decorating any of it, but neither of them care.

"Close," he mumbles, gently touching the boy's temple next to his eye. Harry does as he's told.

Louis closes the curtains of his room, then the door, and then turns the lights off, leaving only the small dim lamp on. The light still shines lowly through the curtains. He goes back to stand in front of Harry, and after a minute of hesitating and heart pounding he slowly takes his shirt off, and grabs a blanket to cover himself.

"I... open," he says.

Harry has to blink to get used to the new darkness of the room, but when he does he furrows his eyebrows. He stays silent though, unsure what to say, or if he should say anything in the first place.

He takes that as a no when Louis moves closer to him and turns around. It takes him a while, but eventually he lets the blanket droop a bit. Just enough.

Harry gasps. Louis squeezes his eyes shut.

Big fat lines. Both red and faded white. He doesn't know what exactly it is, what it's from, but when putting together the pieces he gets an idea.

"Don't touch," Louis murmurs, "please," he whispers, and then lets the blanket fall so that his whole back is exposed. Showing off the scars that mark up most areas of his back.

Harry reaches out, only to retract his hand and cover his mouth. His eyes are watery. He blinks it away.

"This doesn't change anything," he says then cringes, because fuck, he wishes he went another way with that, "I still care about you," he lightly picks up Louis' hand, which causes the boy to turn to face him.

"Thank you," his lip is wobbly. Harry doesn't see it.

He cocks his head, and a moment later cups Louis' face and kisses him. Louis surely takes it by surprise, and tries to kiss back, but only ends up pulling away and crumpling. His face contorts, and he lets out a strangled cry.

Harry's eyes are wide. Did he do that? Did he not want to kiss him? Bad moment?

Louis takes a step forward towards Harry, and lets his head crush into his chest and arms go around the taller boys torso, "Thank you," he repeats.

He does it hesitantly, but brings the blanket back over the boy's shoulders to hug him back. Louis' cries die down a bit, and eventually calms down and lets himself be rocked back and forth by Harry, who is freaking out on the inside over what just happened.

Louis pulls away a bit, his hands letting go of their grip on Harry's tshirt, and pushes his hair back, "You wanna watch a film?" Harry asks.

Louis nods, "Yeah, I... okay," he sighs. He puts on his sweater, and Harry follows him downstairs to the living room, where they both crouch down in front of the television set to look through movies.

Harry smirks, "Moana?"

Louis chuckles, "Okay. Carolyn got that other day," he says, standing up. He takes the cd from Harry and puts it in, grabbing the remote and pressing play when the main menu pops up.

He goes to join Harry on the sofa, but instead catches him talking to his mum, and although they're not far, with Louis' poor English he can't make out what they're saying.

Harry catches Louis' eye and suppresses his smile, "Maman, puis-je le faire revenir?" (Mum, can I get him back?) Louis calls. His mother looks over, a wide smile on her face. She turns to say one last thing to Harry before the boy nods and makes his way back over.

Louis stands there, holding his hands in front of him and biting the inside of his cheek, "Wait," he says quietly. Harry raises his eyebrows, expression going soft, but Louis hesitates.

"Lou," he says, taking a step towards him. But Louis steps back, his hands against Harry's chest nervously. He squeezes his eyes shut, sighing, but then cups Harry's face and kisses him.

Harry makes a sound of surprise, but doesn't waste any time returning the affection, wrapping his arm around the boy's waist and gently pulling him closer. His free hand hovers over his back. Louis pulls away, pushing a strand of hair behind Harry's ear. "Can touch," he says, "does not hurt."

Harry nods, pressing his hand against his back. He smiles at the way the French boys neck reddens. "Can we do this now? Is this a thing?" he smirks.

Louis lets out a small laugh, pursing his lips. Harry wraps his arms around the boy, kissing the side of his head and lifting him off the ground a bit. Louis laughs, squirming out of his grip with a grin on his face.