The Disaster That Is Hair

Liam chuckled at the embarrassment on Louis' face, figuring he should stop teasing the boy for a while. He did seem sensitive to teasing. Though it was kind of amusing for him. He grinned when Louis spelled the sand away from his clothing, patting Louis on the back.

"Well I'm thankful for it. Usually I just don't bother. My dad was never that bothered about the state I came home in. I think my mum was a bit more picky about it, but we men could clear it up before she notices really. So long as things are left as they were found she'd be happy."

When they were walking, Louis caught him by surprise at the statement about knowing little about him. Liam found himself shrugging, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I dunno, really. I don't know that much about you I guess, other than things Dom's said. I know your favourite colour's blue. And you like the beach. You're half French and like, some absurd fraction of Veela. How am I doing?"

Louis' eyes widened a bit at all the things Liam seemed to know about him. "Dom knows my favourite colour is blue?" he asked, slightly surprised. He was even more surprised about the fact that his sister would even bring this up with her friend. "All the other things are true too," he added, still slightly baffled. He tried to find things in his mind of what he knew about Liam, trying to remember things Dom had told him. He didn't want to look stupid.

"I think Dom said you have two dogs," he said hesitatingly, he didn't like dogs very much, especially large ones. They frightened him. A lot. They scared the crap out of him even.

"Look, the restaurant," Louis then said, spotting the familiar building. He curled his hand around the man's wrist again, without thinking, and dragged him along, getting excited now it was so close. "Uhm, do you like seafood by the way? It's their specialty, but they have other things too!"

Liam laughed at the surprise on Louis' face. "No, she doesn't. You wear a lot of blue, so I just kind of guessed. Then again, I wear a lot of grey, but red's my favourite colour. It's a bit too bold for me though. Like, strawberry red kind of thing. Not sure how good it would look on me, in all honesty."

He grinned when Louis mentioned his two dogs. "I sure do. German shepherds, Kai and Ash. They're pretty big," and he loved them to pieces. "Do you have any pets? You should come see my dogs, they're beautiful. They need lots of walking like."

He looked up as Louis pointed out the restaurant, chuckling as a hand curled round his wrist again. He hesitated at the mention of seafood, trying his best to keep his smile on his face. "Err, seafood? Yeah, sure," what? Why was he agreeing to this? "It's not bad. I don't eat it often, you know, so I'm not an expert or anything..." man he hated seafood. Except cod. But that was entirely different. "What kind of seafood?"

Louis tilted his head to the side as he eyed Liam. "No red wouldn't suit you at all, it'd made you look pale and it wouldn't suit your eyes," he blurted then, feeling his cheeks heat up again. Merlin he was just awful at having a normal conversation. "I mean, uhm well, accents of red would work. But you know, not a lot," he stammered.

Louis gratefully latched onto the new subject. He tried to not let his fear show on his face when Liam told him he had to come visit his dogs sometime. His pretty big dogs. Louis disliked dogs. No he was terrified of them. But for some reason he found himself nodding. "I have a cat, she's named Evangeline, but I just call her Eva for short," he answered.

Louis let out a relieved sigh when Liam said he liked seafood and he bounced happily. "Well they have a bazillion different kinds of fish, and lobster and shrimps and uhm, probably more," he said, they nearly reached the door now. "And the chips are to die for!" Except that chips were fattening. But Louis didn't eat them often. Just once in a while.

Liam chuckled, patting Louis on the back. "Clearly I just need you to organise the colours of my wardrobe. I never know what's going on. Grey seemed pretty safe. You suit blue though. I think," he figured that was kind of helping the conversation?

He was pleased when Louis nodded in agreement at seeing his dogs, blissfully oblivious to the fact that it wasn't an overenthusiastic nod. He liked it when people came and saw his dogs, it often meant he had company walking them. And he was incredibly proud. "That's a pretty name for a cat, is she a good pet? I always wondered how easy it was to look after cats."

"Great," surely he wasn't so picky he wouldn't be able to find something to eat. "Awesome. Shrimp. Yeah," but the boy was being so enthusiastic about this that it was kind of infectious. "I do like chips. Lots and lots of chips."

"Grey is good," Louis mumbled, hooking his thumbs into the loops of his trousers. He wanted to stuff them in his pockets, but it wouldn't actually fit. "And thank you. I always thought it was a pity I wasn't in Ravenclaw, because I prefer blue over red. But I'm not very smart so I doubt I would've liked it there. And I quite liked Gryffindor," he blurted, smiling a bit.

Louis panicked slightly, now he actually had to go see those dogs. He hoped they would just, not like him. And stay away. Maybe he'd just hide behind Liam. He wouldn't really mind that, hiding behind Liam. Louis supposed Liam was very fit to hide behind, he figured. "It's not very hard to look after her, I guess. I dislike the hairs though, and I don't really like cleaning her litter, but it has to be done," he told Liam.

"Wonderful!" Louis said then, realizing he still had hold of Liam's wrist he quickly dropped it and opened the door. "Come on, let's go in. Do you have any preference on where we sit? Then you have to ask the waiter," he said.

Louis hummed as he imagined Louis in the blue and bronze. "You would've looked good in a Ravenclaw uniform. Though smart or not, Gryffindor is clearly the better house," he said with a grin and a wink. "I most certainly liked Gryffindor. Then again, I like red."

He listened as Louis explained looking after a cat. "All animals need a bit of tiring cleaning. I'm quite lucky, Ash doesn't shed much hair. I'm glad I don't have a litter tray to finish though," he added with a grin. "Does she use it often, or does she go outside a lot, and use the neighbour's gardens?"

As Louis dropped his hand, Liam automatically brought it to run through his hair. The waiter came over to them before he could answer Louis, and he asked for a table near the window, so they could look out at the beach. He really did like beaches.

He wasn't sure if he liked the look of the menu though. "What do you usually have?"

Louis refused to blush at the little compliment, even if his cheeks wanted to. It was just a casual sharing of information, it wasn't even a real compliment. Nothing to blush about. "Gryffindor is the best house, yes," he grinned. "But don't let Domi hear you, cos she'll make sure you die a painful death," he added.

"Eva doesn't go outside, she's a bit of an high maintenance cat," Louis said. She didn't, she didn't do much more as curling up on warm surfaces or followed him around the house. She was a good cat. "Cleaning it is easier now I'm allowed to do magic outside school though," he admitted.

Louis followed the waiter and Liam to the table by the window they were given and took one glance at the menu before deciding to order what he always ordered. "The lobster, it's amazing," he said with a wide grin. "Do you see something you like?" he asked, suddenly worried that he hadn't been paying enough attention to Liam. What if he didn't like anything on the menu.

Liam laughed, fully agreeing that he shouldn't let Dom hear him say Gryffindor was the best house. He had before. It hadn't been pretty. Though it had been pretty amusing. "I'd really rather not die a painful death, if I could help it. Especially not by your sister's hands."

"Ugh, cleaning a litter tray by hand, that sounds like torture," Liam said with a grimace. "I don't know how you managed. At least she doesn't go outside much."

When they were sat down and looking at the menu, Liam searched for something that sounded appealing. He wasn't sure he could. As Louis said the lobster was good, he gave a rueful smile, closing the menu and hoping that what he was about to say would at least make Louis happy, seeing as he really wanted to smack himself for it. "I'll take your word for it and get the lobster then."

Louis chuckled. "Yeah, Domi can be quite vicious. You don't want to get on her bad side if you like living," he said, playing with the cutlery that was already laid out for them on the table. "She's very convinced that Slytherin rules all," he added.

What Louis decided not to mention was that when he was still supposed to clean the litter tray by hand, he'd steal one of his sister's wands, and use that to vanish the cat droppings in there while no one was looking. Who could blame him, he really disliked touching the things, they were extremely gross and filled with germs.

Louis positively beamed as Liam said he'd take the lobster as well, he waited for the waiter, gave them their orders and then turned back to Liam. "Have you had lobster before?" he asked curiously, putting down the cutlery and leaning his chin on his hands.

Liam shook his head at the question of whether or not he'd had lobster before. He didn't think he'd had many sea foods at all, due to the fact he didn't like them. Merlin, he should've just said he didn't eat sea food. Or actually looked at the menu and tried to find steak or something. He liked steak. Everywhere did steak. And chips.

"No, I've not had lobster before. I - er - I don't eat sea food that often? I like red meat far too much, you know, and it's good to have food that I can share with the dogs if I don't manage to finish it," though it was a cold day in hell when Liam Finnigan didn't finish a meal. Though he had a feeling that meant today would be a cold day in hell.

Timeskip

Louis stepped back outside, feeling pleasantly full and entertained. He'd never imagined he would have such a good time with his sister's best friend. Part of him wanted to steal him, decide Liam was now his friend and no longer Domi's, but he could never do that. And Liam would most likely not want to either. Louis grinned and walked back onto the beach before turning around and looking at Liam.

"I hope you liked it," he asked, slightly worried. He didn't want him to be the only that enjoyed himself, that would make him feel awful. But he had really enjoyed himself. He found Liam funny, and entertaining. The man was really easy to talk to, he didn't even need to put in an effort. And he made Louis feel like he actually cared about what he had to say, which was quite nice.

"And I hope you liked the first time you ate lobster as well, I'd hate it if I ruined dinner for you," he added, bouncing back and forth on the heel of his feet.

He was never eating lobster again. It felt so...so slimy. And strong. So very, very strong. He was surprised he managed to eat it all. Though at least it wasn't salmon or something. That had a really nasty texture. He couldn't stand that. Lobster was edible at least. Strong, but edible. It may have been slimy, but at least it was soft. He smiled as Louis turned to look at him, trying not to let it show on his face that he was a tiny bit digusted.

"Yeah, it wasn't bad," Liam lied, not wanting to ruin the evening by admitting at this point that he didn't like seafood. It was a little late for that. "I've never been adventurous enough to try lobster I guess, so it was interesting to try it. It's quite strong," now that wasn't a lie.

"You didn't ruin dinner, don't worry about it. Even if I didn't like it, at least I was in good company," he said, throwing an arm over Louis' shoulder and forcing the boy to continue walking down the beach with him. "Shall I be a good date and take you home now?" he asked in a teasing tone. "Couldn't leave the dark beauty to walk home on his own," Liam said, looking back at Louis' hair. It really wasn't that bad.

Louis beamed happily. "It is strong, but it's nice!" he said with a grin, falling into step beside Liam. "I'm really glad you liked it, I was afraid you wouldn't like seafood because there are enough people that don't," he added, running his hand through his hair. "And you are a Gryffindor, they're meant to be brave, brave enough to try some lobster!" the dark haired boy added, still grinning.

An arm dropped over his shoulder, and Louis could feel his cheeks heat up slightly. His eyes went slightly wide when Liam said date. "D-date?" he nearly choked out, unable to stop himself from doing so.

His cheeks went even redder at the next comment about his hair. Liam called him a beauty. Even if it probably had been a joke, the other man called him a beauty. Louis could nearly feel the blush spreading to his neck and ears, and hoped that the other man wouldn't notice.

Liam gave what he hoped wasn't as nervous of a laugh as it felt like. "Yeah, seafood is either something you love or you hate I think, from what I've seen with some people. And there ain't nothing I'm not willing to try, mostly," he agreed. "Still helps to have moral support though, right?"

He bit down on his lip to try stop himself laughing too much. Really, the little Weasley was just adorable. Though when the boy got even redder he found it very, very hard to keep it in. He ruffled the dark hair he'd commented on, deciding it was probably best not to mention the fact that Louis was red in the face. Probably wasn't something he'd want attention drawing to.

"Shall I take that as a 'yes please take me home'?" Liam asked. "I do still want to say hi to your sister, if she's back yet. When do you think we're far enough away to apparate?"