out loud | larry boyxboy

louis and niall are sprawled across the lush, green lawn behind niall's house. their hair slightly matted with sweat and their eyes shut as the sun beats down on them. the football they had used discarded across the garden by a shrub, and slight smiles across their faces. a few darker clouds are floating above, but no rain falls and people next door can be heard laughing and chatting. the shorter of the two, louis, sighs to himself; content.

"i'm not sure, lou, but i think i'm gay," niall mumbles out, "i mean i can't be certain, but i think i checked out ashton in the changing rooms," louis furrows his brows, niall is the most classic straight lad he knows. not even dave franco could swing the blonde the other way,

"what?" he almost laughs, scrunching his face up in a tick, "you either checked him out, or you didn't."

"help me, man!" he exclaims, "you're gay, tell me what to do," the brunette's eyes pop open, blue flashed with fear and shock,

"no i'm not," louis flushes red and stammers over his words, hands tangling together in anxiety as he snorts. "why would you think that?"

"calm down, lou," niall coaxes, smiling gently and sitting himself up on the thin grass. "i just assumed, doesn't bother me if you are or not. i just through that you and harry had-"

"harry? what? i am in fact straight, niall." he all but shouts, standing with a huff and glaring at the blonde below him, "boobs are what i live for, gotta love me some breasts," he tries, voice breaking part way through, crooking his head to the side and squeaking to himself,

"lou, breathe." the blonde nods along when louis slows his breathing, "you can tell me if youre gay, or straight i couldn't care less. i wont tell anyone, you know that,"

"yeah, but-" louis mutters to himself thinking back to when he and niall were fourteen, and things were surprisingly just as difficult for him.

niall climbs into the sleeping bag, a grin present on his red lips as he turns to face his best friend,

"who would've guessed that year ten camp would be such a hoot?" he exclaims, to which louis nods sleepily, his feathery hair slightly overgrown and falling into his eyes, "i don't know if you heard, but harley kissed me behind the canoes earlier!"

"cool" louis smiles gently, "she has nice eyes," he murmurs to himself, wriggling about in his sleeping bag with his tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth.

"she might do, great rack on 'er, though. damn." niall grazes out lazily, with a grin on his lips and his hands fiddling with the zip on his bright blue sleeping bag.

"it's not all about the boobs, ni." louis chuckled out, questioning himself on the simple trivia of how hadn't he noticed that harley had big breasts, or paid any mind to her figure; that niall had gone on about with josh for several lunchtimes.

"sure," the blonde snorted.

//

louis heaves a sigh, slamming the front door behind him and listening to the rattle of the letter box as it shakes from the force. the cold wind from outside has drifted in as he drags himself through the front door, mindful not to drop a muddy football boot or sweaty jumper as he did so, knowing it would only cause complaints from his mother and jacob and yet another reason for charlotte to turn his half-sisters against him.

the padded sounds of footsteps on the floor above him makes him smile slightly, knowing that the girls had probably just raided their mother's makeup draws and were preparing some sort of fake spa and massage clinic to run for the night. but he isn't in the mood for joining in with their childish antics today, he has far too much coursework to get on with and seeing as he got a c on his spanish test today, some revision was in need, too.

his mother pokes her head round the doorway of the kitchen, smiling at the boy with crinkled eyes and a dark red apron covering her work uniform.

"hi, lou," she nods at his muddy boots, "chuck 'em in the sink, if you please." he smiles in return and shuffles through the thin hallway to the sink by the washing machine and tumble dryer, dropping his luminous football boots into the silver dip in the counter and running his now free hand through his dirty hair. he needs a shower.

"i'm going to shower, mum!" he calls out, scurrying up the stairs with his dark blue jumper and his school bag hanging off one arm and his toes curling and tapping against the corners of the steps as he goes. the pain of stubbing the little things almost calming as he ticks by letting out numerous long 'eep' noises and shaking his head like a dog would it's fur after a bath.

he always finds showers calming. they're nice, he would always tell his dad, i like the sound and how easy it is to get distracted, he always explained after every shower each evening. his mum doesn't know he thinks that, it is information that she doesn't care to know, unlike his dad. mark would've wanted to hear all about what he and niall got up to after school and help quiz him on his spanish vocab, just like they did in year seven and eight. until he moved over to cheshire, where everything still doesn't feel quite right. not quite home.

the water beats against the back of his neck as he stares at the tiled flooring. the floral scent of his sister's bubble baths and conditioners filling the bathroom as he hums to himself. he uses the shower gel he always buys for himself, as his mum always gets the wrong one. louis likes to have the same one his dad always used so that his clothes have a slight hint of his dad's signature scent clinging to them; it calms him far more than anything else he could imagine. he scrubs through his hair with some citrus shampoo and conditioner and spends the shortest time letting his thoughts linger as he draws squiggles against the fogged up door with his fingers before scrubbing down his body with the musky shower gel and leaving the small shower.

"is it really so hard to take some clothes into the bathroom with you?" charlotte huffs out loudly as her brother passes by her doorway in a dark grey towel,

"well i could go without the towel, so be grateful." he mutters to her, cocking his head to the side with a grunt. she flips him off and he threatens to tell mum, so she shuts up and trots away to complain to felicity. he dresses himself in his favourite black and grey pair of joggers and a blue sweat shirt with some sort of logo printed in white across the chest before shoving his towel in the basket outside his doorway and falling onto his bed.

//

that night the moon rises high, and harry spends for too long staring at his computer screen. the soft sound of ed snoring in the next room is an oddly nice symphony to accompany his slideshow of photos from the moors, it's on repeat for at least an hour and he can't stop thinking about louis. and, of course he already knows, he's in far too deep now.

//

from: niall

to: louis

u goin to donny this weekend?

from: louis

to: niall

yh. y?

from: niall

to: louis

mind if i join ? got tickets to the game !!

to: niall

from: louis

sick!! only if we can visit dad & my family 2

from: niall

to: louis

of course , i've missed your donny fam

from: louis

to: niall

they probably missed u 2, irish charm n all

from: niall

to: louis

u kno it !!!

---

An:  Sorry this has taken forever to be uploaded, I usually like to be a chapter ahead but nothing I'm writing at the moment is working so I've put this up earlier than I'd like to.

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: What is the relationship between Niall and Louis like?

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