Young & Beautiful

He finds Harry staring down at his hands in his lap, shoulders hunched and small, but Louis only
keeps staring until Harry finally looks up.
And it’s such a clear gaze that meets Louis, so open and green and glinting under moonbeams,
that he takes a sharp intake of breath. It’s not a kind or happy or sweet gaze—hell, it’s not even
gentle. It’s just honest. It’s Harry looking back at him, walls removed and replaced with the
fragility of openness, and it’s so alien and blatant and real, it’s as if Louis were staring at Harry
naked.
Harry doesn’t blink, but Louis, feeling a million things fighting against his skull and ribcage, feels
himself erupting into a soft smile, sending it into Harry, pelting him with it, before giving a short,
respectful nod.
Harry’s eyes flit a bit in surprise and something else, then Louis turns around, slowly walking
towards his flat.
He can’t help but feel that something has altered, something has changed between him and Harry,
and, as he steps through the gates and admits himself into the walls of the ancient school, Louis
thinks that, maybe, having Harry Styles as a friend wouldn’t be so bad.
Chapter End Notes
So, in case you're wondering what the hell kind of flower I was talking about that
Harry loves, it's called a "Bat Flower" and it's absolutely terrifying and I don't quite
know how it made its way in this story but, meh. There it is.
Thank you for all the sweet and lovely words I get from you beautiful people! I love
you all. Sincerely. Love.
ALSO. As you may know, I tag my inspiration pics for this pic as "this is inspiring
me" on my tumblrrrr, but I've recently become even more of a finicky weirdo and
tagged my ALL TIME ACCURATE pics n gifs under "Young & Beautiful."
(mizzwilde.tumblr/tagged/young-&-beautiful) Basically, under that very elitist tag, I
have all my EXACT images of who these boys are. So, there's some nice useless
time wasting for you. :)
The song for this chapter is called "Orphans of the Storm" and I wrote this while
listening to it on repeat and HOLY SHIT GUYS because this song is perfect for this
story, and, yes, especially this chapter. I particularly envision it when they're driving
outside in the evening, the wind whipping through their hair, etc. I also envision it
when they're flitting through the gloomy shadows of the house. Here it is, because
I'm that adamant for you to hear it. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Tv2Xvzqqy_o
Thank you all for reading this long, dribbly, insane mess of a story. You're precious
to me.