Louis is going to turn ten in a week and he doesn’t think about anything else but that. He’s on fourth grade and considers himself a man already – poor eluded boy. He thinks this year his birthday will be more special than the usual because he has a brother now, he’s going to spend the day in his house, so his grandfather is already in Doncaster, and the best of that is that Louis is going to introduce him to Harry. Louis wants to spend his birthday with Harry so maybe this year he’ll manage to do that.
Harry’s parents are at work when he goes to Louis’ house to eat Christmas’ cookies and drink hot chocolate. Louis introduces him to his grandfather with a wild grin in his face. Harry knew the old man already by how many times Louis talked about him so Harry makes his best not to keep looking at the floor when he shakes his hand with a warm smile on his lips, he knows how important this is for Louis.
Harry keeps looking in awe at Louis’ Christmas tree and tells his friend that it’s really big, shinning and beautiful. Louis tells him, proudly, that he helped decorating it and Harry tells him that he would love to decorate a Christmas tree one day. Louis would find weird that fact if he didn’t know Harry this well by now and wasn’t so used to the squeeze inside of him when Harry says things like this. But as always, Louis works with his mind to make something to cheer his friend up.
“Let’s make our own Christmas tree” He tells Harry and he is sure he never saw the boy looking at him with such green, widen, shining and full of life eyes. His lips form the most enormous grin Louis ever saw and he finally realises the two dimples little Harry makes in each cheek of his.
Louis asks his mother to give him the small Christmas tree he knows they have and some small decorations. Louis makes sure that his grandfather is up to help the two and Harry doesn’t seem bothered about that. It’s a small tree but enough for them to be occupied for half an hour, working hard so it can looks the best possible. As a result it’s full of colourful balls, laces and lights and Louis offers it to Harry saying that is going to be his Christmas’s present for him.
“But I don’t have anything for you” Harry says worried and holding the tree in his small hands
“It’s okay, you can be my Christmas present” Louis smiles and finds Harry’s cheeks turning red and maybe it’s because of the cold, he thinks. “So come to my birthday.”
Harry nods and for the second time that day, he smiles widely at his friend “I’m gonna try.” he doesn’t promise anything but Louis is sure that he’s going to make it, he is going to try his best.
~*~
“So beautiful Harry!” Louis says, standing in front of Harry and leaning his head forward to have a better look to what Harry is drawing on his so familiar black book. Harry jumps from the shock since he wasn’t expecting Louis to come back that sooner from his house with the blankets.
Harry tried his best to tell his friend that he was fine and it wasn’t that cold, but Louis didn’t believe it since his cheeks were flushed, his nose cold, his eyes weird and he was shaking. Louis wouldn’t guess – no one would – that Harry was that way because Louis kept leaning too close to his side, touching his cheeks to check if he really was okay, brushing Harry’s hair to the side with his soft fingertips when they would fall down in front of his eyes so he couldn’t see what he was doing on the paper.
Harry composes himself and offers him a small smile. He doesn’t close the book as soon as Louis appears since he was only drawing the Christmas tree Louis gave him. But it sure doesn’t look like the same tree because Louis knows that the real one isn’t that beautiful and with those amount of details. For a nine years old boy, Harry is a genius in art and Louis doesn’t even realise how proud of his friend he is.
