[Thursday, December 7th 2017]

Harry hugs his books close to his chest, looking down as he walks. He dreads having to take the bus home, even more so having to go home and come up with another excuse for his mum as to why he isn't at the music shop like always.

Even with his earbuds in, the low rumble of an engine makes him snap his head up. His stomach as well as his heart drops, because that is so Louis at his school on his motorcycle in December.

Harry looks around. He vaguely knows Lottie, but he swears he had just seen her get into her friends car. He pulls a bud from his ear as Louis waves to him. He walks up with his hands in his pockets, small frame swaddled in his jacket. Even the one tattoo on his neck is hidden by a scarf.

"Um, Lottie already left." Harry jerks a thumb behind him.

Louis bites his lip. "I know. I came for you. Thought you'd like a ride on the bike?... If that's okay, I mean." He shrugs, and looks down. "I've missed ya, Haz."

"Yeah." Harry mumbles. And he should be trying to move on, he really should. Not that he'd been succeeding at it in the past few days, but at least he was trying. "Um... Wanna go to yours?" Because Louis isn't working today. And why does Harry know that? Because he's infatuated and they've been together every Thursday for the past few months.

Louis smiles at that and climbs on.

❊ ❊ ❊ ❊

Louis glances up over his textbook, subtly watching Harry sketch in his notepad. Louis' Maths notepad. He looks back at his own worksheet when Harry looks up, and after a few seconds looks back again.

Harry's still looking at him, though, hands still and pencil in his lap instead of his hands. Louis bites the inside of his cheek. "Um..." He sighs. "I can't do this. Wanna go to the cafe?" He nods his head towards the door.

It's like Harry lets out a breath. "Yes." He jumps up, grabbing his jacket and slipping it on. Louis grabs his jumper and pulls a beanie over his head. It's freezing outside, but walking only a block down isn't too bad. Especially since he sticks against Harry's side.

Louis almost speaks up, but Harry beats him to it. "How are your classes going?" He asks. "I know Italian was beating you up."

"È così male." Louis groans, smiling a bit when Harry giggles in response.

"Better than I could do." Harry looks down as he walks, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Louis frowns again, and when they reach the corner of the street just ahead of the cafe he stops. "Um, hey, I'm really sorry if I made you feel like you couldn't still come to me and be around me." He purses his lips. "I never meant to make you feel unwelcome."

Harry scrunches his nose, looking away and down. "We-We don't- you don't have to talk about that." He shakes his head. "I just made a stupid mistake, is all."

"No, Harry, no. You didn't make a mistake-"

"No, it-it was stupid to assume you'd be with someone my age. I should have never-"

Louis reaches up for his neck, kissing him and cutting him off. Harry's surprised by it no doubt, but he kisses back none the less and digs his fingers into the ends of Louis' scarf where they fall against his chest.

As much as he'd like to kiss Louis over and over, Harry's the one to pull away. "I don't want things to change, Lou." He mumbles.

Louis furrows his brows. He moves his hands to Harry's cheeks. "Not even a good change?" He asks. "This could be a good change." He rubs his thumb against Harry's cheek, skin soft and pale.

"I know." Harry murmurs. He looks down at his feet, his forehead just leaning against Louis'. "But I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

That makes Louis' chest clench. He doesn't know whether to be sad that Harry's potentially rejecting him or endeared that he cares for him. "I won't get into any trouble. I promise."

He can see Harry's lips quirk up a bit. He huffs a laugh, and looks up at Louis. "Alright, fine," he says and pecks Louis' lips. "But we're not telling people. At least not my parents and sister. My friend wouldn't care about you being older anyways."

"Yeah?" Louis smiles. "I'll tell my mum eventually. Just... not yet, anyhow." Harry sticks his hands back into his pockets, and lets Louis lead him into the cafe.

[Friday, December 8th 2017]

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Harry opens the back door to grab his bag from the backseat.

"Yeah- hey wait." Louis nearly trips out of his car to get to Harry's side. "Do you wanna go see the new Thor movie tomorrow?"

Harry grins. "Ragnarok? Yes. Niall's going too, I'm guessing?" He slings his bag around his shoulder. "He's a sucker for Marvel."

Louis purses his lips. "Uhm." He pauses for a second, like he can't think of what to say. "I was thinking just you and me?" He can feel his face heating up, especially when the younger boy tries hiding a shy grin.

Harry bites his cheek and hugs his arms against his chest. "Are... Are you asking me out?"

Louis cocks his head. "As long as yesterday wasn't a dream?"

Harry rolls his eyes and hits Louis' arm. "Shut up, I've still never been asked on a date before." He bites his lip. "You're the first."

Louis scrunches his nose. "Whether I'm asking you out depends on what your answer is."

Harry smiles to himself. His curls get blown around with the breeze, his cheeks and ears red from the wind. He steps forward to kiss Louis' cheek, and heads up the lawn. He glances back at Louis halfway up, and giggles as he turns back towards the house. "See you tomorrow!" He winks.

He presses his back against the door when he gets inside. He just winked at Louis. He couldn't get any more typical.

"Who's truck was that?" Harry jumps away from the door, peering into the TV room. He looks out the window, but Louis is already gone. He's just happy she didn't see what he looked like.

"Just a friend." He drops his bag and kicks off his shoes.

"I find that hard to believe." Gemma crosses her arms curiously. The face she gives her younger brother makes him huff in annoyance.

"He is." He lies. "And even if he wasn't there's nothin you could do about it." He puts up a defense and sits down on the couch.

His sister sneers. "Hey, I never said I was going to." Harry's shoulders slouch. "But if I could ask... how old is he?" She seems hesitant, but sighs when her brother rolls his eyes. "Harry." She deadpans.

"Why does it matter?" He chews harshly on his lip.

She shakes her head. "I'm not gonna judge you, if that's what you're thinking. I'm just wondering." She leans back. "But if he's way older than me then we're going to have a problem." Harry cracks a smile.

"That'd be gross." He leans over to grab a blanket on the other side of the couch and tucks his legs under. "He's turning twenty this month," he says. He pretends to be looking off at something, like he's not nervous that Gemma could get mad. He sees the face that she pulls, too, but as soon as she catches him looking she wipes it away.

"Four years? How do you know him? I don't mean to sound rude but what's the reason someone older is going for a teenager?" She slouches.

"I said we're not dating!" Harry pouts. "What's not to like in me anyways?"

"Harry, you know what I mean."

He lets out a dramatic sigh. "Yeah, I know, but it doesn't mean I share the same view. He's a really good friend of mine." He bangs his head against the cushion a few times. "We hang out all the time." He stares down at his lap.

It takes a moment, but Gemma eventually joins Harry's side. "If you trust him I've got no problem, but if anything starts looking bad or anything, tell me, okay?"

Harry rolls his eyes. "I know. You're treating me like a baby, jeez." He whines when his sister rolls on top of him. "Stop! Oh my god, you're so annoying!" He pushes and kicks his feet.

"That's my job! I'm your big sister!"

Harry groans. "No! Idiot!" Gemma ruffles his hair. "Mum! Tell her to stop!" He screams.

"Gem, leave your brother alone!" Anne calls from upstairs, obviously not interested in their fight.

Harry lightly pushes her to the other end of the couch. He runs and locks the door to his room when he reaches it, then collapses into bed.