painless ➸ larry

five

*chapter five;

"At the clinic today—Oh my.. What happened in here?" Anne stops her statement as she walks into Harry's room. Green paint appears in splatters on the walls, the floor, the windows, and the ceiling. Harry is sitting in a bean bag chair he had dragged into his room after he and Louis were done painting. 

"Lou and I painted." Harry smiles, observing the room. "I like it this way."

"Are you sure? At least get the paint off the floor and windows." Anne suggests.

"I like the floor," Harry looks at the footprints from Louis and himself stepping in the wet paint. "but, I'll scrub the windows, for you." 

With that, Harry goes down the stairs to get some cleaning solution, and he scrubs the paint off the windows. Then, he and his mother move a mattress and a desk into his room. 

"You're quite fond of him, aren't you?" Anne asks Harry as they go back downstairs to get Harry's dresser. Anne doesn't even have to say 'Louis' for Harry to know who she's talking about.

"Mum.." Harry whines. Anne doesn't say anything else, she just smiles to herself. 

Meanwhile, down the street, Louis is yet again being scolded by his mother. 

"Louis, why are your hands so red?" Jay asks as she picks up her son's hand with her own.

"I had to get the paint off my hands, Mum."

"You can't scrub off layers of skin like this, Louis!" 

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I was." Louis says quietly as he looks at his lap. 

"I'm not mad, just be more careful, okay?"

"Okay." Louis feels like a puppy that had just peed on the carpet, or something, and he doesn't like it. So, he goes back to his room. That's what he gets, he supposes, for socializing with his mother. That's why he likes the internet better. They can't scold him for not being careful. (Well, maybe they could, but that would be extremely lame.)

After an hour of mindless scrolling down his Twitter and Tumblr feeds, Louis' phone rings. He picks it up and the caller ID reads Harry. See what Louis means when he says Harry doesn't know how to leave him alone?

"Hello?"

"Hi, Lou! I just wanted to talk."

"Harry, it's only been, like, two hours. What is there to talk about?" Louis replies, picking up a pen and some paper and doodling while he speaks. 

"Hmm. Well, I'm keeping my room the way we left it, with the paint splatters everywhere. My mum made me wipe the windows, but that's all."

"We could do my room some time, yeah?" Louis says as he looks at the baby blue shade of his wall. He doesn't really like the color baby blue, and it's always annoyed him a bit.

"Yeah, that'd be fun." Harry says. Louis is just about to reply when Harry speaks again. "I need to ask you something."

"If it's about my disorder-"

"No, it's not. Sorry if this is really blunt. I just need to know." Harry pauses. "Are you gay?" Harry says, abruptly, taking Louis aback. 

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Louis says slowly.

"I wanted to know, you know, for future references. Well, bye, Lou!" Harry says it all so fast there's no place for Louis to reply. Then, Harry hangs up, before Louis can even say goodbye. Louis sits in his room, with his eyebrows furrowed, just thinking: what the fuck just happened?

★

The next morning, Louis is woken up by his mother. 

"Harry's here." She says. 

"Um, tell him I have to change and I'll be out in a second, I guess." Louis responds groggily, slowly sitting up and getting onto his feet. He walks over to his dresser and pulls out a random tank top, tossing it over his head and then pulling on a pair of black skinny jeans. He brushes his hand through his hair for good measure before going out to see Harry.

"What the hell are you wearing in your hair?" Louis says when he sees Harry in his living room. 

"It's a—well, a scarf-like headband thing." Harry says. "My curls get in my eyes."

"You're a dork." Louis teases, smiling, before following Harry. "Where're we going?" 

"I was thinking we should go for a walk."

"Don't we everyday?" 

"Well, yeah. So, why should today be any different?" Harry shrugs, starting down the sidewalk. Louis walks next to him, their fingers brushing momentarily before Louis jerks away. (Not as subtly as he wishes.) 

"So, what was that about on the phone, yesterday?" Louis questions. 

"Well, I thought—well, now I know that you have a boyfriend and I just—I wanted to know." Harry says, but he's a bit fidgety. 

"Wait, what? I don't have a boyfriend." Louis arches an eyebrow. 

"I just thought—'cause you're so cute—um, I mean 'cause you've lived here for awhile so I figured that you'd have a boyfriend.." Harry stutters, looking away because he's blushing. He didn't mean to call Louis cute to his face, that was supposed to be kept in his thoughts. 

"No, I don't have a boyfriend, Harry." Louis says, smiling to himself. Harry's cute when he's being awkward. "I suppose you like guys too, then?" Louis asks, but he's too concentrated on Harry's face to see that one of his shoes is untied, and so he trips over his own feet, basically.

"Yeah—Lou!" Harry rushes to Louis' aid, picking him up off the ground. "You're pretty clumsy, aren't you?" Harry asks as he brushes dirt off the front of Louis' shirt. 

"Yeah." Louis says. "Let's keep walking, yeah?"

"Louis, you don't want to walk right after probably twisting your ankle, do you? Plus, you hit your face." Harry brings his hand up to Louis' cheek and softly presses on the shallow cuts from the gravelly sidewalk. "Does that hurt?" He asks as he presses a little harder.

"Harry.." Louis sighs. "You want to know what's wrong with me?"

"Well, you just fell down, so I already know." Harry says as if it's obvious.

"No, like, the reason I have to go to the doctor every day."

"Oh, uh, sure—yeah."

"Okay, have you ever heard of congenital insensitivity to pain?"

★

ok so i don't really know what this story is yet like i have it all planned out but idk??

do you guys like it??

i suppose the rising action starts next chapter so yeah ok im awkward bye