Just a heads up in case any info gets messed up: Harry's 16 turning 17 & Louis' 20 turning 21. 4 year age difference.

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[Sunday, November 25th 2017]

Time goes by. Harry still crushes on Louis.

It's been just two months since Harry met Louis in the beginning of September. They've stayed consistent with Louis driving him home. Except it's gotten so much colder, making it time for Louis to park away his motorbike inside and switch it for his pickup. The wind made it a horrible ride, so it was worth the switch.

It's also gotten to the point where Harry's mum has found out about him being friends with Louis. She wasn't quite happy about it at first, but when she drops him off at the store a couple days after Thanksgiving, she sizes up the older boy to approve that he's okay to be around.

"Hey, Har!" Louis smiles when seeing Harry walk into the store. Except a frown takes place of Harry's usual smile. Nerves instantly go through him, especially when seeing his mum walking in right behind him. She murmurs something into her sons ear, and he sighs, walking and stopping in front of Louis. He mouths a 'sorry' to him. The older man knows better than to give him a hug like he usually would, and instead smiles at the woman with him. He doesn't know what to say, but before he can even think something up Harry takes over.

"Uh, Mum, this is Louis. Louis, this is my mum." And god, does he sound uncomfortable. Louis can hear it in his voice.

"Hi, Mrs. Styles, nice to meet you," he says, reaching out to shake the woman's hand. She nods, adding a fake little smile.

"I uh, had found out about you and Harry hanging out a lot and you driving him home."

"Wanted to see if I was responsible and mature and a good influence?" He guesses. She nods. "No shame in that, I understand, Mrs. Styles. I'm not uh, I don't look like I'd be someone you can trust, with the tattoo's and all." He forces a laugh. "But I understand. And even if me saying so doesn't help, I am responsible. I grew up helping my mum take care of my four younger sisters, still babysit them all the time. I helped Harry out when he got hurt and when these two punks were picking on him... uhm, I run my own store." He smiles nervously.

Mrs. Styles purses her lips. "Do you do drugs?" she asks.

Louis nearly chokes on his own spit. "God no, I-I let myself be peer pressured into trying a cigarette when I was seventeen, but I haven't done anything since." He lies. He'd been smoking weed since he was sixteen and quit just last year.

"Okay, what school did you go to? Did you go through to Uni?" she asks.

Instantly Louis wants to groan, because he didn't even finish his secondary schooling. "Same school as Harry. I was only a little troublemaker, and got bullied a little bit, so I didn't stay there much at the end of the year. I did studying at home to pass, and I'm at Uni now. Um, my uncle owned this place... now it's kind of mine, I guess." He scratches the back of his neck.

Harry furrows his eyebrows. "You never told me you were bullied." He coos. "That's something serious, Lou."

Louis shrugs, blushing a bit. "I mean, it was only from this one group of guys. Nothing but name calling and shoving. People have had it worse than me, so I can't whine and complain."

The three of them talk for another few minutes before Mrs. Styles leaves the store. She doesn't particularly like Louis, but she finally trusts him to a reasonable point. However it doesn't mean she approves of Harry's crush on him, or Louis' crush right back, not that she even knows. That's something that Harry's kept a secret from everyone but Liam and his girlfriend Sophia. Both are still a year older than Harry. After her and Liam had gotten together he had made friends with her and realized that she was in two of his classes. Or really the other way around since he's just in a higher class.

Once she's out the door Harry turns back to face Louis. "Hi." Harry smiles at him, pulling his hands from his pockets and letting them fall at his sides.

Louis laughs. "Hi." He responds. "How're ya?"

Harry sighs. "Good. I feel bad about that whole thing with my mum though. It was unexpected."

Louis nods, his lips pursed. "Just a tad." He agrees. "What's in the folder?" he asks.

Harry pulls out the folder he's got tucked under his arm. "These are a lot of my drawings. My teacher wanted a finished sketch." He shrugs.

Louis smiles. "How bout it then, can I see em?" he asks. Harry gives a nervous smile, but opens up the folder and takes a bunch of the drawings out. He spreads them out on the counter. Louis stands straight and greets two new people who come into the store before focusing his attention back on Harry. He examines the drawings, an impressed look on his face at the amazing talent the boy has.

"These are amazing." He breathes. "Har, these are incredible." He smiles.

Harry grins, his cheeks flushing a bit. "Thank you." He murmurs. Though his stomach drops when Louis goes to the next one and finds a small finished painting that should be in his other folder. Not his school folder. "Uhm, I..." He trails off, cupping his cheeks. "That's not supposed to be in there... sorry." He whispers.

Louis' only smiling though, and shakes his head. "When did you do this one?" He asks, excited that he's been painted.

Harry blushes embarrassed. "Uh, about a week ago." He cringes at himself. "I was taking pictures when we were at the cafe.
Your hair's all faded brown now, and I-I didn't know what all of the tattoo's were so..." He purses his lips.

"It's an innocent me." Louis is grinning when he looks at Harry. "This is stunning. Thank you." He tells him.

Harry nods. He also contemplates kissing Louis' cheek just for the sake of it, but decides against it. It isn't the right time.

[Monday, November 26th 2017]

Apparently the next day is the right time. Harry climbes into his truck, sighing and rubbing his hands together. "So fucking cold outside." He breathes.

Louis giggles. "I've noticed. Turn the heat up." He gestures to the buttons as he drives off. Harry cranks the heat and sighs in content. "Too cold to ride the motorcycle."

Harry nods. "But you're still gonna pick me up? I like spending time with you."

Louis tries not to smile as big as he does, looking over at the younger boy. "Course. Although the deal is broken since I've given up on the piano, you keep me quite entertained, so I might just have to keep ya." He jokes. Harry just blushes. He has to go out that day for his aunts birthday, so he isn't able to hang around like usual.

Louis stops in front of his house, and Harry unbuckles. "I'll see you tomorrow?" He smiles. "Have fun alone for once." He teases, giggling when Louis rolls his eyes, and makes the small decision to peck Louis' cheek, not staying to watch as the mans face flushed before he flees the car. Because if Louis doesn't like it then he'd be embarrassed.

Except he does like it. A lot.

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WOAH I ACTUALLY UPDATED THIS ONE IKIK I actually had this chapter written for so long I just had to finish the first part with the painting which was easy sO YAY BUT THIS WILL STILL BE SLOW UPDATES PROBABLY SO JUST BE PATIENT.