Italics - Louis Tomlinson

"What?"

Louis tore his gaze from the trees passing by them and just stared at Harry's side profile.

His perfectly sharp jaw was clenched like he was not really ready for the answer. Like he wouldn't care to think of anything if what he speculated turned out to be true. And Louis was scared because of that.

"Not always. There are good days", Louis said, looking out of the window again.

"Harry," Louis stopped him from speaking any further while glaring at him. "You must know better than anyone that he doesn't have a mother."

Harry froze for a moment before closing his eyes and cursing himself,

Louis knew that Harry was angry. He understood that but Harry really should know how to control it.

Louis had an idea of how Nate and Harry knew each other. Of course, they were rivals in everything they did but their families were close. Nate's father was Harry's godfather and sad to say, he favoured Harry more than his own son. So however much Nate bullied him, he could not help but feel sorry for the insecure guy inside the bullying everyone saw.

, Harry spoke, making Louis look at him again.

"You do?"

"Impressive", Louis said and looked out again, his eyes twitching a little.

It was pathetic but he really was sorry for the guy. And he didn't know whether to feel blessed or scared that Harry read him like an open book.

"I won't."

"Where are you taking me anyway? We're pretty much far from home."

"So you're slowly letting me in your secrets?" Louis couldn't help but ask.

He was curious after the dinner, after all.

Harry sighed,

Louis looked at the boy beside him. 'What could be that he was not willing to tell me?'

Louis decided to keep silent after that, not meaning to make him think unpleasant thoughts now. After exactly five minutes, Harry stopped the care in front of a large tree overlooking the bank of river Don.

It was evening, the rays of the setting sun fell gently on the water giving it a magnificent orange glow. It was beautiful and pleasant.

"How did you find this place?" Louis asked when they got out of the car and faced the calming scene in front of them.

he smiled nostalgically.

"When was the last time you came here?"

Louis looked at Harry when he felt the weight of those words. Harry was looking at him with a myriad of emotions making Louis' heart beat a little too widely, a bit too loudly.

Harry smiled and fully turned towards him, taking both of his hands in his. It felt cold but warm at the same time for Louis.

Louis' eyes widened at what he heard. Harry heard him telling he liked Harry? He got embarrassed but the shock overcame it.

"Y-You heard what?" Louis decided to ask anyway even though he knew what he meant. It seemed like Harry had so much to tell him than just that he heard her that night.

he paused and looked down for a while before looking up at Louis with eyes so beautiful, twinkling with a sea of emotions.

Louis sucked in a shaky breath as his words pierced through his heart one by one. Was Harry going to say what he thought he would?

"That you would end up like your father", Louis finished for him.

Harry looked up at him, his face heartbreaking that a tear fell down of Louis' eyes.

"Harry, you have to know that you are not your father. You will never be your father. You are different than him", Louis comforted him. He didn't know how much those words meant Harry because they were coming from Louis.

"That night, I didn't welcome you inside because I was ready to accept your faults. I welcomed you because I was worried for you. About you. That you would have to be alone on the cold night. Everyone has faults. No one can deny that. Not even you. And accepting faults is the job of a person who loves you unconditionally. Maybe I haven't reached the point where I love you so much to accept your imperfections. But I know that I like you so much that I will reach that point slowly. One at a time."

A tear rolled down Harry's cheek. Louis smiled softly smiled up to him and wiped it away, gently caressing his cheek.

"Do you like me?"

Louis' heart skipped a beat and he wavered a little but he held his composure and smiled at the curly haired boy in front of him. He decided to remind that beautiful soul a few things he's tending to forget.

"Do you believe in me?"

"Then believe me when I say this. You will never, ever, become like your father. He's a person who doesn't care and is missing out on a wonderful wife who loves him and an amazing son who wants him to get better. But you care. You care about your family a lot. You have a trait which he doesn't have so don't ever compare yourself to a person you will never become, okay?"

Louis sniffed as his eyes filled with tears for the guy who blamed himself so much. The quirky, always smiling guy who loved talking absolute rubbish during midnight calls, broke down in front of him and it broke his heart. But not everyone had perfect stories even when they looked so perfect.

, Harry said, leaning his head on Louis' shoulder.

Louis sighed shakily and hugged him tightly.

"Hmm", he hummed, caressing Harry curly hair gently, telling him that he would be there as long as he wanted him to.

Maybe there will be so many times when Harry would blame himself whenever he saw his father at home. There will be so many times when he would doubt himself again. There will be times when he would believe what he thought. But he knew that Louis would be there. Louis would be there, bringing him to the right track again. Louis was his pill to sanity and Harry would believe him then.

Louis knew the boy in front of him will have so many imperfections, so many doubtful thoughts and so many insecurities. But he also knew that those will be the reason for him to be there to make Harry believe otherwise. That he was a totally different person no matter what he thought.

Fate was a funny thing. Just a few digits wrong and it brought Harry to the one who was so precious, so very supportive and so very convincing. And it brought Louis to the one who he would give his heart to one day. Maybe he didn't love him yet. But he knew he could love him.

Maybe be not now. But definitely. Someday.

"Never. I'll look after you."

# to be continued #

a/n:

this is the longest one so far. thoughts?

Finally, they together admitted it to each other!