Brave Love (Larry Stylinson)

three

Harry went to work with Louis the next day. It was strange because they'd never done this before. Sure, sometimes he would drop by to say hi and help him organize the shelves or watch Louis read to a group of little kids, but he had never actually stayed for his entire shift from start to finish.

They walked together because the bookstore was just down the street from their apartment. Almost all the storefronts they passed were decorated for Valentine's Day, much like their apartment. There were flowers and chocolates and various types of jewelry being advertised. Louis wondered what Harry thought of it and if it made him sad. If it made him feel like something was missing, like it did with Louis.

Harry still seemed a little down which was to be expected. They stayed up into the early hours of the morning, curled up on the couch, discussing how Harry could possibly break the news to Juliette that her husband was a scumbag cheat and a liar. Before going to bed they hugged for a long time and Harry cried about how lucky he felt to have Louis as a friend. A kind, supportive friend.

Louis was sick of being friendzoned. He hated the term because people tended to use it when they were ignoring the signs of someone politely denying them, but in this case it was exactly what was happening. He knew it was unintentional and that Harry probably had no idea Louis had a huge ass crush on him, but still, it was getting to him.

Louis loved being Harry's best friend. It was a privilege. It was an honor. It was something special, something he cherished. But it also meant being up close and personal with all of Harry's intensely loving relationships, the ones Harry threw himself into wholeheartedly. It made Louis ache to witness how much and how strongly Harry loved.

He was like that with everything. So, so passionate. Perhaps it was the main reason why Louis was obsessed with him in a way he shouldn't be obsessed with a friend. But he just couldn't help it. No matter how hard he tried to get over it, to get over him, it never happened. It never worked.

Louis was destined to be single forever. He had turned that declaration into a joke with his friends who knew him as a serial sleeper or whatever label they wanted to give him for only having one-night stands and never actually trying a relationship. He hadn't been in a real relationship since high school and that hardly counted as real at all. Harry made fun of him for this exact reason a million times and Louis always laughed it off as if he didn't want an actual relationship.

Singleness was fun and liberating but it had become old to Louis a long time ago. He was a hopeless romantic and he always loved the idea of falling in love and spending the rest of his life with someone. He would be such a good boyfriend, and someday a good husband, if only he could find someone who made him feel the same enthusiasm and love he felt when he was with Harry. But everyone else paled in comparison.

The point was, Harry was sad in the morning and Louis didn't know how to fix it. Harry was no longer wearing his "breakup clothes." He was wearing normal-people breakup clothes. Joggers and a big gray hoodie that swallowed him right up. A beanie too. His eyes were tired, with darkness beneath them which looked like bruises. He smelled like lavender. Louis looked it up once and learned that the scent of lavender was used to mitigate feelings of sadness.

That was how Louis knew this breakup was different. There was no resilience, no optimism. Usually Harry would be bubbling about meeting someone new and falling in love again. But he was only quiet.

After they entered the bookstore and Louis clocked in for his shift, Harry curled up on an armchair by the window and closed his eyes. Louis wanted to go over there and cheer him up but he figured Harry needed some space, not to mention some peace and quiet. Bookstores were good for that. So Louis turned away from him and busied himself by putting the new arrivals in their rightful destinations.

It wasn't until the last hour of Louis' shift that Harry came over to help him.

"I'm done being sad," he announced loftily, taking the book from Louis' hands and placing it where Louis was struggling to reach on the top shelf. Louis realized Harry was still wearing the ring he gave him last night, among all of the other rings he rarely removed. The blue plastic stood out against the rest. He wore it on his pinky because it was a child's ring and too small to fit on any other finger.

"Thanks," Louis muttered, kind of peeved whenever Harry showed off how the few inches of height difference between them actually made a difference, even though Louis claimed it didn't. "And that's good, I'm glad."

"What're we doing after this?"

"Whatever you want. This is unofficial Celebrate Harry Day, remember? We decided that last night."

"Right." Harry looked over at Louis with a resolute expression on his face, but it slipped into a smirk. "Well, I wanna do the things I planned to do with David. Some of them, I mean. The applicable ones."

"Like?"

"Movie, dinner, theater. Maybe dessert if we're feeling crazy."

"Which movie?"

"I dunno, we were just gonna make out and mess around in the back row so it didn't matter. Is there one you want to see?"

Louis squinted at the book in his hand. As hard as he tried to focus on reading the title, he couldn't get past the thought of David's hands all over Harry in the back of a movie theater. Gross.

"Eh, we should just go to a random one. Spontaneity and all that. Or maybe something scary. Like a horror movie."

"You hate horror movies." He was right.

"Whatever. Like I said, it's Harry Day. You call the shots."

"Cool."

Louis shrugged and went back to shelving books. To be honest, he thought Harry's agenda was kind of boring, but that was probably because most of his original plans involved sexy times which obviously didn't apply here. He kind of wondered about the extent of Harry's Valentine's Day schedule, wondered what would be in store for him if he were Harry's boyfriend instead of stupid fucking David who mucked it up by being married . What an idiot.

It was stupid of Louis to let his mind wander down that rabbit hole because it never ended well. Mostly it just made him sad. And besides, he knew it was wrong to think about his best friend dressing up in elaborate lingerie all for him. Yeah, that was really not okay.

"Lou, are you alright?"

"Wha- Oh." He realized he had been holding a handful of books for at least two minutes, just staring down at them and not making any move to put them away. He used the corner of one to poke Harry in the tummy before getting back to work. "Yeah, I'm fine."

♡