you're cold and I burn (on hold)

always been this way.”
Harry’s head tilts to the left, his eyes widening as he finally looks over at Louis. “Being an artist
isn’t childish, not by any means. You like pretty colors, you like flowers, you like scents <strong>and</strong>
there’s nothing wrong with that, Louis. It makes you who you are. I think it’s amazing.”
“How did you know, about the flowers?”
“Niall told me it was your favorite thing to paint, why?”
“Oh,” Louis blinks, “I must’ve missed that part of the conversation.”
“Well, don’t ever be ashamed of who you are, you’ll only wish you hadn’t.” Harry says <strong>and</strong> his
voice is soft <strong>and</strong> light, but at the same time its weighted down under a thous<strong>and</strong> pounds <strong>and</strong> it hits
Louis. It hits him that, yes, Harry is ashamed of who he was before he put on this front <strong>and</strong> tried
hiding behind it. Just as Louis is about to open his mouth to respond, there’s a loud knock at the
door that makes both Harry <strong>and</strong> Louis jump.
“That’s probably Niall.” Louis murmurs <strong>and</strong> Harry nods, pulling down a third cup. Louis’ half
annoyed that Niall interrupted the conversation, but he’s also the tiniest bit appreciative, because
Louis’ not sure exactly what was about to come out of his mouth after what Harry had said. All he
knows is that the small sentence made his heart drop to his shoes, leaking from the soles.
Louis swings open the door, welcoming Niall with a bright smile. He’s st<strong>and</strong>ing there with a bag,
phone charger in his h<strong>and</strong>, “Miss me, did’ya?”
“You wish.”
“Zayn called, wanted to make sure I got home okay, weird lad, he is.” Niall slips his shoes off,
flopping down on the couch, “Said something about you <strong>and</strong> Liam going to some dinner
tomorrow?”
“How did a call to make sure you got home okay turn into a conversation about my plans
tomorrow?” Louis rolls his eyes, avoids the question as he goes into the kitchen, grabbing the
heated mug of tea Harry had prepared.
“Well, he actually wanted to ask me if I had a suit. Liam had spoke to your dad, said dinner was a
go, but Liam knew you didn’t have one for the occasion, even though you told your dad that you
did.”
“I’ll get one, it’s not his business.”
Harry stops mid-sip from his mug, brows knit as he turns his attention to Louis. “Why’d you say
you did?” Harry asks, but its low enough to keep it just between he <strong>and</strong> Louis. “It’s nothing.”
Louis whispers back, accompanied by a nod from Harry.
“I’m gonna finish this in my room,” Harry says louder, “it was nice to see you again, Niall.” Harry
looks over to Louis, lowering his voice once more, “Goodnight, love.”
Louis wants to tell him to wait, to join them a little longer but his voice doesn’t seem to be
working for some reason. His eyes follow Harry to his room, letting out a small “G’night” that he
probably didn’t even hear.
And then it was just Louis <strong>and</strong> Niall. They both kind of linger in a silence while Niall checks his
phone, finger’s padding away at the screen as he types.