this chapter is so cute i cri

plus there's quite a bit of texting in the first part?

---

louis rolled onto his stomach with a loud groan. he was home alone and bored out of his mind. zayn had to work a double so he would be gone all day, leaving louis alone with the sound of the ceiling fan whirring in circles and the usual ding from his instagram notifications.

louis tossed his phone on his bed and sat up, rubbing his face. if there was one horrible way to die, this would be it. in silence, alone, with nothing to do.

he searched through his closet to find some clothes to change into after he opted for a shower. his apron fell off of the coat rack sitting by his closet and louis picked it up, pulling out the little folded piece of cardstock in one of the pockets.

it reminded him of the night harry and liam came to his diner, since harry was the one who gave him the tattoo and all. louis re-opened the note inside and chewed on the inside of his cheek. was the number liam wrote down really harry's? should he text it? would it be worth a shot?

louis picked his phone up and sent out a small text message, hoping it wasn't too much.

hi, it's louis (:

the smiley face? really? he thought to himself and he smacked himself with his phone. he was ignorant.

louis' phone vibrated against his skin moments later.

unknown: hi pretty thing! :D

louis couldn't help but blush as he sent another message back.

louis: this is harry, right? im not being pranked or anything ?

harry: it's me!

attached to the text was a selfie of liam and harry. liam had his hands covering his eyes but was peeking through his fingers and harry was just cheesing as big as he could.

louis: HI LADS

harry: HELLO HANDSOME

louis: you're making me blush, stop it ! 😩

harry: does anyone tell you how beautiful you are?

louis: zayn does

harry: well zayn sucks

louis kept sending replies about how he couldn't stop blushing and went ahead and took his shower to kill time. it was only about fifteen minutes but he mainly just liked to relax under the water.

he quickly changed his clothes to get out of the hot room and flopped back onto his bed to see if he had any new messages. luckily he had three.

harry: i don't want to seem weird

harry: but i think we should definitely hang out sometime

harry: you seem like a really cool person. sorry if it seems like im blowing you up, i just text like this XD

louis: omg aw you're such a sweetheart ! i would love to hang out !!

louis got a text from liam asking when he was free next and louis agreed to hanging out today since he had nothing better to do.

---

"hi!" louis smiles when liam walks toward him. they agreed upon meeting at the coffee shop down near the studio. louis paid for their things, ignoring both liam and harry's objections, and they got sent out just seconds before the boys showed up.

harry comes through the door and glares at liam, sitting away from the boy when he reached the table.

"what's wrong with harry?" louis asks, frowning.

"i raced him here and beat him," liam shrugs.

"but he's so...long," louis says.

"i may or may not have thrown a traffic cone in front of him?"

louis gasps. "liam! that's not nice!"

harry huffs. liam signed an apology to him but harry held his hand up, shaking his head.

"he's stubborn," liam rolls his eyes. louis chuckled and put his phone in his pocket. harry picks up his cocoa and clasps his cold hands around the mug, letting out a relaxed sigh and louis cooed at him.

"he's so child-like," he says.

liam takes a sip of his tea. "he really is. he's a grown boy."

"how old is he?" louis asks.

"nineteen, almost twenty."

louis tilts his head to the side and glances at the heavily tattooed lad sitting in front of him. harry peeks up through his lashes and waves at him, giving him a small grin as well.

louis tried his best to engage in a conversation with harry but his sign language wasn't too good. liam had to teach him some more things like cat, dog, and food types but he was getting the hang of it. it warmed his heart seeing harry's eyes light up when louis would begin to talk to him. it was so surreal, he really had someone else who learned to adjust to someone like him. most people he knew just didn't talk to him once they found out he was deaf, leaving him be and going to another person. with louis, this was different. a good different.

one of the employees came to see if they needed anything else and harry got another cocoa, giving him a few notes to pay for it.

"i think my favorite thing about harry is his heart," liam says out of the blue. "he's so kind to people. everyone takes advantage of him and it's not okay. he plays with my little brother all the time and logan now thinks we adopted him."

louis fawned, putting his hand on his chest. "that's so cute!"

harry turns to face them and takes liam's tea out of his hands, taking a sip and giving his friend an innocent grin when he handed it back.

"asshole," liam said to him.

harry shrugs and smiles at the boy who brings his cocoa to him. louis thanks him for it and takes it, giving it to his new friend.

"thank you," harry says to him. louis smiles and signs a shy 'you're welcome' before taking a drink of what he had.

"so what are you in uni for?" liam asked, now starting to sign what he says so harry can engage in this coversation.

"general education," louis says. "i wanna work with special ed students, actually. mentoring and stuff like that."

"that's nice," liam smiles and translates to harry what louis just said. it made harry's eyes light up as he remembered his teaching partner back in middle and high school. her name was miss abbey, who had a deaf daughter, and she was able to translate sign language like no other. she helped harry with so many things involving social activity, partial speech therapy (even though he didn't really talk) and tutoring. she stayed in every one of his classes to assist him and if it wasn't for her, he would have dropped out his sophomore year of high school when he hit his peak of mental illnesses.

harry has depression. it triggers his nightmares, he has severe anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder. as a child, he went through serious trauma that landed him where he was now -- deaf and heartbroken.

liam explained to louis that harry was considered an outcast in school just because he couldn't hear. although some of the girls would go around talking about how cute he was, harry avoided everyone at all costs if they didn't benefit him or his educational needs. liam taught him how to stand up in front of people and fight for himself when things went wrong, and if it also wasn't for him, harry probably wouldn't be around.

"random question," louis bites his lip. "do you guys get judged by your tattoos and piercings and stuff?"

liam shrugs and asks harry on his input.

"harry says yes and no," liam replied. "yes because there is so many, no because they're all badass."

"figures," louis chuckles. harry pushes his nose ring to where it was turned up between his nostrils and he yawned, hiding. his face when he caught louis staring at him.

"is he always this shy?" louis teases.

"actually, yes," the brown eyed lad frowns. "he's self conscious, always thinks people are thinking bad about him."

louis pouts and taps on harry's hand. the boy turned to face him and louis gave him a soft smile before attempting to say the typical 'don't be shy.'

harry shrugs and signs back, "it's hard."

louis faced liam and told him to tell harry not to be shy around him, that he wants to get to know him and be friends. so he repeats everything louis said to him and harry couldn't help but give a slow nod. he wasn't used to this.

"he will open up to you once he builds that trust," liam promises. "he's just scared, honestly. and i don't want to seem like a blabbermouth so please don't think that of me."

"not at all," louis shook his head. "no, i don't think that at all, liam. you're such a good friend to him and i can tell he trusts you with every fragment in him."

"we've been kicking since primary school," liam says. "before his accident, we were joined at the hip. then we drifted away for a bit but we're back now, and it's like we never split up to begin with."

louis nods and purses his lips. "what do you mean by 'accident'?"

liam frowns and stirs his tea. "he got in a wreck when he was younger. i'm not gonna say much more because that's what he should tell you. but just know he's not a big fan of cars, he would rather walk or skateboard anywhere he goes. and if you notice him twitching, come find me."

louis blinks, processing the new information and nods. "will do. thank you for telling me."

"not a problem, kid."

---

do you have any tattoos?

^ i have two so far!

thoughts on this chapter? lirry, lilo & larry bonding?

thank you for almost 1k reads 💛 only 4 chapters in and we're close to that mark! y'all are amazing and i love you all very very much.

i want to dedicate this fic to my vanilla bean, stilesftderek because she is literally the best person ever. i love u abbey, i hope you like that you're harry's old tutor & that you're my inspiration for this ❤ go give her some love! she has plenty of amazing fics out right now that deserve WAY more reads than they already have! vote all you can, spam her shit & follow her. you wont be disappointed!

ill try to update soon, dont give up on me!