|Chapter 16

With a final turn of the steering wheel, Harry pulled up into the driveway to his home. The porch light was turned on and a few of the windows had light illuminating through them. It was a two story family house, much bigger compared to Louis' home. He lived in a house that connected with his neighbors homes, and it got easily cramped with his mum, four sisters and himself living inside. But they managed okay.

To say Louis was shaking in his TOMS at that moment would be an understatement. The whole drive from the field to Harry's house, he had question after question, scenario after scenario running through his thoughts.

Will they like me? What if I'm too awkward? Were the jeans I stole from Niall actually too tight?

He was glad to already know they would accept him for being gay, since they accepted Harry of course. But the never ending line of ridiculous questions continued to pop up.

"It feel's nice to be home again." Harry said to no one in particular , a smile on his lips. He looked beside him to Louis, noticing the clear look of nerves in his features. "Lou?"

"What if they.. don't like me?" Louis spoke in a small voice, slowly facing Harry.

Harry reached over and placed a comforting hand on Louis' knee, looking the boy in the eye. "Don't be silly. They'll love you. They have no reason to not like anything about you." Harry smiled down at the boy. Louis nodded, a smile forming on his lips. "Okay. Let's go meet the fam."

The boys stepped out of the car, took out their bags and walked up the stairs to the porch. As Harry pressed the doorbell, Louis took in a deep breath.

Don't make a fool of yourself Tommo.

Seconds later the door was opened and a woman appeared behind it, a grin growing on her face when she recognised who it was.

"Harry! Baby!" She opened her arms out for a hug, Harry immediately doing so, wrapping the woman up in his arms.

"Hello mum!" Harry happily replied, holding his mother in a long embrace, loving the feeling of being in his mum's arms once again. He was a mummy's boy, leave him alone.

They pulled away from each other when Harry's dad walked into the room, a smile on his face. They came together in a hug as well, exchanging 'hello's.

Harry turned back to Louis, noticing him standing by himself a little awkwardly. He walked over to Louis' side, pressing a hand to the shorter boy's lower back. "Mum, dad, this is Louis. Louis, this is my mum Anne and dad Des."

Louis smiled nervously, holding his hand out to greet them. "It's nice to meet you." He shook Des' hand, but Anne just moved it away and gave a friendly hug to the boy, making him laugh.

"It's nice to finally meet you too. Harry has said a lot about you, if I do recall clearly." She joked, though it was true.

A small blush formed on Harry's pale cheeks, rolling his eyes like he had no idea what she was talking about. He may have spoken to his mum about Louis one time.. or three. For good reasons of course.. friendly reasons.

They moved out of the hug. "We're gonna go get Gem." Anne said, taking her husband's arm and taking him out of the room.

Louis returned to Harry's side. He gave a subtle nudge to to the taller boy's side, earning Harry's attention. Louis sent a shy smile. "You talk about me?" He asked quietly.

Harry shrugged. "All good things, I promise." He chuckled. Louis laughed along.

Suddenly, thumps were heard coming down the staircase, Harry's face lighting up at the sound. A girl with blonde hair skipped into the room with a massive grin.

"Little bro!" She ran up to Harry, wrapping him in a hug, Harry returning it. "I missed you H."

"I missed you too Gem." Harry gave her a little squeeze before pulling away. He was about to introduce Louis to her, but she beat him to it.

"So, is this the Louis that I've heard plenty about?" She smirked up at Harry after she did a once over of the older boy. "I'm Gemma. Don't know if Harry's mentioned me yet, but he's definitely mentioned you before." He leaned over and gave Louis a hug, a smirk still clear on her lips as she spoke silently over to Harry saying, "He's a cutie."

Harry tried to glare at her, but failed as a grin formed on his face in fondness of how true her words were.

Checking his watch, Harry noticed how late it was getting, which meant it was time for Louis' present. Once Gemma left the room, Harry turned to the smaller boy, seeing him starting to take his shoes off.

"Keep your shoes on. I still have to give you your present!"

Hearing those words, Louis sighed silently. He didn't want to fuss over his birthday. But a small pit of butterflies formed in his stomach at the thought of Harry remembering when his birthday was, even though he only ever wrote the date down on his audition sheet.

+

"Can you tell me now where you're taking me?" Louis whined, pouting slightly.

Harry glanced at Louis beside him in the car, raising a brow before looking back to the road. "I thought you didn't care much for your birthday present." He smirked.

Louis crossed his arms over his chest, huffing out a breath and looking out his window. "I-I don't... but you've gotten me interested now."

The younger boy laughed shortly, before pulling into a parking space and turning the car off. They were parked in front of a strip of random stores. It confused Louis as he looked around. There weren't any cafes or restaurants along the strip, so anything food related was out of the question. So what else did Harry have in mind?

"Now, I know it's not going to be that great of a gift. But I remember you telling me once about wanting to get one, but didn't want to get the first one by yourself." Harry said, unbuckling his seat belt. Louis still looked just as confused as before, but nodded in reply.

Harry got out the car and jogged to the other side, opening the door for the birthday boy. Such a gentleman.

The two started to walk down the pavement, glancing through the different shop windows. Soon they stood in front of the shop Harry was looking for, glancing up at the sign.

Louis' eyes widened in excitement, turning to smile brightly up at Harry. "I'm getting a tattoo?"

Harry nodded, returning the smile. "Yep! I thought that maybe I could be there with you for your first tattoo." He said, taking the boy's arm and walking with him into the store.

Soft music of the radio played to cut out the silence. Framed tattoo designs hung on the walls, Louis admiring the beautiful details they had. It was empty inside besides the heavily tattooed man that stood behind the front desk. Once the bell above the store door chimed, the man's head snapped up, a smile on his face as he recognized one of his regular customers.

"Harry! Long time, man." He said, coming around the desk to stand in front of the two boys.

"Yeah, it's been pretty busy recently." Harry chuckled. He looked to Louis. "Lou, this is Zander. He's usually the one to do my tattoos when I come here."

Zander held a hand out, Louis taking it in a shake. "Nice to meet you Lou."

"You too." He smiled shyly.

"So, who's getting the tattoo tonight?" Zander asked, clapping his hands together as he looked between the two boys.

"I-I am." Louis spoke quietly, trying not to show how nervous he was right now.

The man nodded. "First tatt, I'm guessing?" Louis nodded. "Great! Well, why don't you two head into that back room and I'll go set up what I need?" Zander smiled, gesturing to walk through the open door behind him.

The boy's did as they were told, walking through to the tattoo station. Louis took a seat on the large chair in the center of the room, and Harry pulled up a stool to sit by the shaky boy.

"Nervous?" Harry asked.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Yeah." The green-eyed boy chuckled.

Louis took a deep breath, rubbing his hand over the skin that will soon be inked. He knew what he wanted to get. He didn't know why he wanted it, but it just looked cool in his mind.

Seconds later, Zander was walking into the room, drawing pad in hand. "Okay Lou," He sat down in his stool, grabbing up a pencil to draw the tattoo design. "What were you thinking of getting?"

"Um, it's a little stupid but I wanted to get like, a stick man riding a skate board?" Louis easily put it. There wasn't much to it, but he thought it might turn out good.

After a minute or so, Zander was holding up his drawing pad, showing Louis what he suggested. "Something like this?"

"Yeah! I like it." Louis smiled wide. Harry beamed at the sight of Louis being so excited. He literally had a glow to him.

"Okay, let's get started."

Once Zander had the tracing of Louis' tattoo on the boy's forearm and the inked up needle in his hand, he got started. Louis' face scrunched up a little in pain, his left hand balling into a fist.

Harry noticed immediately how Louis tensed up a little. He looked down to the older boy's clenched hand. He reached up and covered the smaller hand with his much larger ones, holding it and brushing his thumbs over the boy's knuckles, trying to sooth him. When that did hardly anything to help, he, hesitantly, brought Louis' hand up to his lips and pressed a small kiss to each knuckle.

Louis snapped his head to Harry, seeing what he was doing. A blush formed over his cheeks and his heart sped up a little faster than usual, but surprisingly it did calm him down.

An hour later, the pain was all over. His arm was all wrapped up and they were ready to leave. With a final thank you and goodbye to Zander, Harry and Louis walked out of the store.

"Oh my god. I have a tattoo! Thank you so much Haz!" Louis exclaimed happily, wrapping his arms around the taller boy's waist, digging his face into Harry's coat covered chest.

Harry smiled fondly down at the boy, returning the embrace gladly. "You're welcome Lou."

+

After dinner and final good nights to the household, everyone headed to their rooms for sleep.

Harry opened the door to his childhood room, Louis following in behind him. Louis' eyes gazed around the room, noticing the small details that reminded him of Harry. A poster of The Script taped to the cream coloured wall, along with a collage of photographs stuck on another. There were journals on his desk and a cheap looking guitar in the corner. It was like this room was never touched ever since Harry was fifteen. Harry liked to keep it that way.

The boys set their bags down in the corner. Harry lied down on his small double bed, a small peaceful sigh escaping his lips. He felt right at home again.

Louis decided to take a small look around. Not to invade anything private that the boy may have, just a little looksy. Louis walked up to a shelf on the wall, glancing over the different trinkets and awards Harry had sitting there. He noticed a small pin board that had many movie and concert tickets pinned to it. One stood out to him, his brows rising in surprise.

"We went to the same 'The Script' concert." Louis pointed out, looking over at Harry with a grin.

"Really? I'm sure I would have noticed you there."

Louis brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Harry's face went from smiley to blank quickly, shaking his head and looking back down at the duvet. "Nothing." He muttered, pretending he didn't say anything.

Although still confused, Louis just shrugged it off and continued his little tour of the room. He walked over to Harry's desk, finding a couple of old homework sheets that Harry obviously didn't hand in, because who has time for homework when you're on X Factor? But as his eyes scanned the desktop further, his eyes caught sight of a photo frame. His grin dropped a little and he picked up the wooden frame.

It was an old photo of Harry and Kendall. Harry was wrapped up tightly in Kendall's arms with a massive grin, and Kendall was kissing the boy's cheek from behind him. Louis admits it was a cute photo, but it did ache at his heart. It made him wonder how long Harry and Kendall had actually been together.

Harry looked up at the older boy, seeing him staring down at the photo frame that he had kept on his desk for so long. It made him smile whenever he wasn't feeling to great when he was younger.

He stood up and walked over to Louis, smiling down at the photograph. Louis looked up as he felt Harry's body touch his side. He cleared his throat.

"H-How long have you two been together?" Louis tried to sound interested. He didn't even know why he asked. He'd rather not talk about Harry's boyfriend.

"About three and a half years." Harry carefully took the frame from Louis' hands, looking down at it himself. "We met during the X Factor live shows. My mum's friend brought him along one night and we met quickly after the show." He smiled a little at the memory.

Louis couldn't help but feel jealous. Kendall met Harry at X Factor and he didn't. Yet, Harry saw him first! If only he didn't freak out and leave at his audition, maybe Harry and Kendall wouldn't happen and it could be him and Harry.

Oh, what is he thinking? Harry wouldn't even take a second glance at nineteen year old him.

Louis' brow raised as he looked back at the photo. "Kendall looks much older than you." There was an obvious difference between Harry and Kendall. For example, Harry was clean baby faced while Kendall was looking much more manly. Beard and all.

Harry looked down at Louis nervously, a little worried. He didn't want Louis to think wrongly of him. "I was sixteen.. and he was twenty-two." Harry almost mumbled, placing the frame back down on the desk.

Louis was surprised at what Harry said. Sixteen and twenty-two? Louis wasn't judging Harry at all, but isn't sixteen a little young to be dating a twenty-two year old? Six year age gap.

He wanted to ask Harry about it, but the younger beat him too it.

"My parents and friends didn't mind that he was much older. Mum and dad trusted him with me and knew him well anyways. So, they didn't have a problem with it, really. And.. I trust him." Harry sighed.

He felt the slight awkwardness in the air as Louis didn't know how to reply, so he suggested that they got ready for bed. Everything seemed to go back to normal after that.

Once changed into pajamas, the two boys stood on either side of the double bed. Louis didn't know whether he was supposed to sleep in the bed or what.

"You can sleep in my bed. I'll just go get the pull out one." Harry smiled, being the kind one he was.

Just as he was about to walk out of his room, Louis spoke up in a quiet voice.

"I don't mind sharing.."

Harry looked back at the shorter boy in slight shock, but a small smile graced his lips. "If you want to. Sure." He walked back into the room, switching the lights off as he did and slipped into his side of the bed.

Louis was almost screaming inside. He was going to be sleeping with Harry! Well... not like that... sadly.

He slid into the other side of the double, resting his head down on the comfy pillows. Harry faced him, a slightly awkward look on his face.

"Uh," Harry then grabbed one of the spare pillows, placing it in between the two of them. "Just in case.." He mumbled.

He didn't find anything wrong with sharing the bed. He just didn't know if he could trust his sleeping self. He always found himself cuddling something in his sleep. He wouldn't want to make Louis feel weird if he was suddenly just cuddling him in the middle of the night.

"Y-Yeah."

"Good night, Lou."

"Night, Haz.."

+

An hour later, Louis was still awake. He had his phone gripped tightly in his fist, hiding it under the covers. He was pretending to sleep the whole time, until he was sure Harry was asleep next to him.

He pulled up his phone, unlocking it and tapping on the Twitter app.

He doesn't know why, but ever since he first read his hate comments on twitter, he's started reading them each night. Louis knows he shouldn't do it, and he doesn't want to. But he does care about what people think of him. If people didn't like something about him, he would normally stop or change that thing. 

Apparently changing his bright jeans to black skinny jeans wasn't enough.

"Now @louis_tomlinson is wearing black to try and cover his fat ass. HA!"

"Pretty sure I saw Niall wearing those clothes the other day. Did @louis_tomlinson get too FAT for his own?! lol"

"Wearing black won't cover up how much of a faggot you are!"

Louis bit his lower lip as he continued to scroll. He noticed some had a few pictures attached from the other day when Harry and him went out into the city. Some of the shots were kind of cute. Louis' favourite that he found was one where Harry had his arm around him. It made him smile for a moment, until he read the tweets above it.

"How the fuck can @Harry_Styles stand being with that faggot?!"

"If Harry spent any more time near Lewis he might turn gay himself."

"LOOK AT THIS PIC! Harry looks like he would rather kill himself than be walking around with that fuck!"

He kept reading...

"Freak!"

"Pretty boy!"

"Faggot!"

"Fuck off!"

"Kill yourself!"

He couldn't hold his tears in any longer. His bottom lip wobbled and his eyes turned red and glossy. Small whimpers escaped his lips and his body trembled.

He knew people in the fandom could be harsh... but he didn't realize they said all this.

What did he do to upset them?

He's only sang in front of them once, photographed a couple of times with the boys... he didn't understand.

"Lou..?" A deep, raspy voice said in concern.

Louis looked up to Harry who was looking down at him over the pillow between them. He could only see whatever his phone screen lit up. He quickly wiped at his eyes and tried to force a smile, though failed.

Harry took a glance down at the boy's phone, his brows furrowing in worry, but his eyes soft. "Don't listen to them, Lou."

Louis turned off his phone, hiding it away again. He sniffled a little, a few tears still falling. "B-But.. some of the points they're making are true-"

"No they're not." Harry said strongly, not believing what he was hearing. "Please, don't believe a word they're saying."

Louis still looked like he was about to break down, which he understood completely. Coming across hate can be hurtful, and this was the first time Louis was seeing them. Well, Harry thought it was the first time he had.

Not a second later, Harry removed the pillow between the two of them, shuffling over the bed to bring Louis into his arms, holding him tightly. He didn't hesitate this time, like in the tattoo parlor, to press a kiss to Louis' forehead. Harry knew it soothed the boy and calmed him down. He liked how he had that kind of affect on him, it also helped in times like this.

Louis could feel butterflies erupt in the pit of his tummy at the affection. He hid his face in Harry's chest, needing the boy close.

"Please.. please don't listen to them Lou.." Harry whispered, hoping the boy would listen to him.

It took a few seconds, but Louis replied. "O-Okay.."

Lies.

How could he not listen to them?

__________________________________________________________________

Hey Guys!

4.2K WHAA?! A bit of sad Louis at the end there... :( I don't like sad Louis.

QOTC: What do you think about Harry dating someone six years older than him? Especially when he starting dating Kendall at 16.

QOTD: What song are you obsessed with right now?

AOTD: I'm always listening to 'Wasn't Expecting That' or 'See You Again'

COMMENT/VOTE/FAN

Bye! chloe xx