Archive of Our Own

“I’d love to.”

Harry was convinced he was hearing things. There was no way Louis Tomlinson had just agreed to go out with him.

“Um…” Harry blinked quickly a few times, trying to wake up from his dream, but no, this was very much real life and now he probably looked like he had a nervous tick or something. “What?”

Louis smiled. “I said I’d love to go out with you on Friday.”

“Really?” Harry asked. “I mean, um,” he said the next part a little lower, “you know it would be like a date, right? With me?”

Louis’ smile grew even bigger. “Yeah… Yeah, I was kind of hoping it would be.”

“OK,” Harry said excitedly. “OK, yeah. So, Friday?”

“Friday. You still have my number from study group, right?”

“Yeah, I do. Um, I’ll text you?”

“Sounds good.”

“Cool. Um, I’ll see you.”

“See you,” Louis said.

Harry stood up from Louis’ table in the dining hall and made his way over to his own, where his friends Niall and Liam were already sitting.

“So what happened?” they both asked eagerly.

“He said ‘yes,’” Harry answered, still in disbelief.

“Yes!” Niall cheered at the same time that Liam said, “I knew he would.”

Harry smiled widely and snuck a glance over his shoulder. Louis was reading something on his phone and taking the occasional bite of the pizza and fries he’d gotten for lunch.

Harry could still remember the first time he saw Louis. It was freshman orientation back in August, and the sight of him had basically taken Harry’s breath away.

He was sitting with some people at a table across the room, and it had actually been Louis’ loud laugh that had captured Harry’s attention first. When he looked around to see where the noise was coming from, his eyes landed on Louis, and Harry had been in love ever since.

Well, not love, but a very appropriate infatuation. He wasn’t obsessed, no matter what Liam and Niall said.

And then, in Harry’s first ever college class - Psychology 101, because of course it was - Harry saw Louis again. He was sitting toward the back of the lecture hall, twirling his pen in his hand.

Harry worked up the nerve to actually sit next to him. He also said ‘hello,’ surprising himself. Usually when it came to cute guys, Harry clammed up and could barely even remember his own name. But for Louis, it looked like he could.

As the semester went on, Harry, Louis and a few other people formed a study group so they could all pass the class. It was taught by the actual head of the Psychology department who thought the freshmen students were up to doing upper level work at eight o'clock in the morning three days a week.

They weren’t.

So twice a week, their group would meet in the library and go over notes and reteach themselves the material. It worked, since they all passed, and Harry had never been more relieved.

However, once the class was over, Harry no longer had a steady reason to see Louis. Sure, he saw him around campus, and they always made quick conversation when they saw each other, but it wasn’t the same.

And then a few days ago, Niall had basically dared him to ask Louis out before spring break, which was next week. Harry was never one to back down from a dare, which was the reason he’d run around Niall’s residence hall naked. Multiple times.

But now, it looked like a dare would actually work out in his favor, you know, as long as he didn’t say or do anything embarrassing during the date.

For anybody but Harry, that would probably be no problem, but since it was him… the nerves were officially starting to kick in.

“Harry, you OK?” Liam asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Harry answered a little too quickly.

“Don’t be nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.”

Niall and Liam grinned.

“Sure you’re not,” Niall said.

---

On Friday, Harry got back from class to find his mom and step-dad just getting ready to leave. They were going away for the weekend to celebrate some anniversary of theirs. It wasn’t their wedding anniversary, though, since that was in June. Harry thought it was the anniversary of when they first met. They celebrated a lot of anniversaries, and Harry honestly couldn’t always keep up.

“Be good, look after your brother and no parties,” Anne was telling his sister Gemma.

“I know, Mom, I know,” Gemma said.

“And don’t touch my car,” Robin added, as if it was something that needed to be said.

“I know.”

Robin didn’t seem satisfied with that, though, as he looked straight at Harry. “No car,” he repeated.

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, giving a salute for added effect. Robin’s car, a red BMW Z4, was his absolute pride and joy. He’d gotten it just a few months ago, and had only driven it a handful of times. It was more for impressing his clients at work, when he really needed to sell his success, that sort of thing. Harry had been warned from day one to not touch the car. He was pretty sure Robin didn’t even want him breathing in the car’s direction for fear of contaminating the paint job.

Robin rolled his eyes at Harry’s remark, but still smiled at him.

“You two drive safe,” Gemma said, clearly wanting them to get a move on.

“Will do,” Anne replied. “We have our phones, you know the inn’s number and address in case of any emergencies, right?”

“Yes,” Harry and Gemma told her.

“Don’t be afraid to call. We’ll come home right away if anything happens.”

Robin stood just behind her, shaking his head at the both of them, clearly saying, ‘Do not call us for anything.’

“We’ll be fine, Mom,” Harry said. “We’re both adults here.”

“Barely,” Gemma muttered under her breath about her nineteen-year-old brother.

“You two go and have fun,” Harry continued, ignoring his older sister. “We’ll see you on Sunday when you come back.”

“OK. Love you both.”

Anne and Robin gave them each a hug, and then they were finally off. Harry heard the engine of his mom’s SUV start up, and a few minutes later, they pulled out of the garage, into the street, and away from them for the rest of the weekend.

“OK, well I’m gonna finish getting ready then I’m going over to Michal’s for the weekend,” Gemma said once the car was out of sight.

“Ooh, spending the weekend with the boyfriend? Scandalous,” Harry teased.

Gemma snorted. “You’re such a nerd. Have fun with Louis tonight. Do you know what you’re wearing?”

“Black jeans and a striped button down shirt.”

“Black boots?”

“Yes.”

“Hair down?” Gemma asked.

“Yes again.”

“OK.” Gemma nodded slowly. “I approve.”

“You didn’t even see the shirt I’m thinking of.”

“No need. I approve of it. Plus, I kind of have to go.”

Harry grinned. “Yeah, go. Tell Michal I said ‘hello.’”

“Will do.”

Gemma headed upstairs to her room. Harry checked his watch. It was just after 1, so he had six hours until he had to meet Louis for dinner. They were going to Cucina’s, a small Italian restaurant the next town over. It was one of Harry’s favorite places to eat, so he hoped Louis would like it for their date.

Liam and Niall were supposed to come over around 5:30 to make sure Harry looked OK and to attempt to help him calm his nerves, so in the meantime, Harry decided a nap was in order. If nothing else, it would help pass the time.

---

“You look fine,” Liam insisted later that night. “Stop playing with the collar.”

“I don’t know,” Harry said. “I think this outfit just looked better in my head.”

“No, Liam’s actually right for once,” Niall told him.

“Hey!” Liam protested.

“You look great,” Niall continued. “Not too formal or stuffy. The hair looks fantastic. You’re set.”

“OK.”

“Oh, wait, there is one thing wrong.”

“What?”

Niall quickly reached over and undid the top two buttons on Harry’s shirt.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked, backing away from Niall.

“There. Now it’s perfect.”

Harry just stared at him for a moment. “You’re weird.”

“You still invited me over tonight.”

“No I didn’t. You two invited yourselves.”

“That’s a lie!” Niall said.

“It’s really not, though,” Liam said. “I mean, we did kind of invite ourselves.”

“Well of course we did! Harry finally asked Louis out, and after months of hearing Harry’s endless poetry about his ‘cerulean blue eyes’ and ‘caramel, fluffy hair’ and ‘gorgeous tanned skin’ I wanted to make sure this date went well.”

“Pretty sure I’ve never used any of those combinations of words in my life,” Harry said with a pout.

“Trust me, you have.”

Harry’s phone vibrated on his bed. “Whatever,” he said, hoping to end the conversation.

“You know I’m right.”

Harry rolled his eyes as he picked up his phone. It was a message from Louis.

Louis: hey! So sorry to do this, I know it’s super annoying, but my mom’s car wouldn’t start so she had to take my car to go to work. Is there any way you could pick me up tonight? If not, it’s cool, I can uber over to the restaurant!

Louis: god i’m such a pain i’m sorry

“Louis needs me to pick him up,” Harry said after reading the message.

“Oh, that’s good,” Liam replied. “You’ll get more alone time with him.”

“Uh, no that’s not good,” Niall said.

“Why not?” Harry asked.

“What car are you going to pick him up in?”

“Mine?”

“Yours?” Niall asked. “The black pickup truck that’s been on its last legs since you got it?”

“It’s not that bad!” Harry protested. “It runs fine.”

“Harry, it turns off when you drive!”

Well, yeah, that part was true. Every now and then, his manual transmission truck would actually turn off while in motion. It didn’t matter where he was, either. He could be driving to school in a 25 miles per hour zone or going down the highway at 70. Harry had gotten used to slamming his foot down on the clutch and turning the key to restart the engine and had actually gotten so good that most people didn’t even notice.

But still, for obvious reasons, it was a bit of a death trap.

“You’re not picking him up in that thing,” Niall said.

“So what do I do? Having him Uber is kind of lame for a first date. Gemma’s not here, my mom has her car, and Robin’s truck is in the shop right now.”

“I mean, there is another car in the garage.”

“No!” Harry immediately said. “Niall, no way in hell am I taking Robin’s BMW. He’ll murder me if anything happens to it.”

Niall shrugged. “So don’t let anything happen to it.”

“I have to side with Harry here, Ni,” Liam said. “Taking the BMW is risky.”

“I’ll actually die. No. I’ll let him know to Uber there.”

“And make him pay an extra like, fifty bucks round trip just to see you?”

“Wow, making me feel really loved and adding a simultaneous guilt trip. Thanks, Niall.”

“You know what I mean,” Niall said.

“Then I’ll just pick him up in the truck.”

“Look, Harry, clearly Liam and I have no concern for our lives, since we continue to ride in that car accident waiting to happen, but what if Louis does? Do you really want to freak him out like that on the first date? At least let him get to know you a bit better before you scare the actual shit out of him.”

Harry sighed. “This is a bad idea.”

“A really bad idea,” Liam agreed.

“But you’re doing it, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, because you’re an awful friend and a bad influence.”

“Yeah, keep saying that when you show up at Louis’ place in a fucking BMW.”

---

As the garage door rolled up just under an hour later, Harry, Liam and Niall stared at Robin’s car. It seemed shinier and more expensive just then, but that could’ve just been because Harry was about to do something he knew he really shouldn’t.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Harry said.

“Me either,” Liam muttered.

“Shut up, Liam,” Niall said. “Harry, you’ll be fine. You know where the restaurant is, you know it’ll be safe and Robin won’t even know what happened. Gemma’s not here to tell and we won’t tell, either.”

Harry nodded. “I know. Still, though…”

The three of them stood there for another moment.

“Well I better get going,” Harry finally said.

“Yeah, wouldn’t want to keep Louis waiting,” Liam said.

“Yeah.”

Harry unlocked the car, and, with a deep breath, opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat. It had a soft, black leather interior with a push-to-start transmission. It was a warm night, so he thought about putting the top down, but decided against it. He didn’t want to push his luck more than he already was.

He started the car and rolled down the windows. He took note of how the seats and mirrors were adjusted before changing them. Hopefully he would be able to get them back to how Robin had it so he wouldn’t get caught.

“You good, Harry?” Liam asked.

“Yeah, I’m good!” Harry called out the window. To himself, he muttered, “here goes nothing.”

He put the car in Drive before backing slowly out of the garage. When he was in the driveway, he paused long enough to say goodbye to his friends.

“Good luck tonight,” Niall said.

“Thanks. And thanks for helping me get ready.”

“You got it,” Liam told him. “Now get going!”

“OK, OK!” Harry smiled in excitement despite the feeling of dread hanging over his head. He pushed the button on the key ring to close the garage door before pulling out of the driveway and off to get Louis.

---

Louis was sitting on his porch when Harry pulled up to his house. He could actually see Louis’ eyes widen in surprise at the car, and right then, Harry knew this would all be worth it.

“Is this your car?” Louis asked as Harry got out.

“Do you like it?” Harry asked instead.

“Do I like it?” Louis ran down his porch steps and over to the car. “Holy shit, it's a BMW. And the color is so pretty, just… wow.”

“Not as pretty as you are,” Harry said quietly.

“Smooth,” Louis said.

Guess it wasn’t as quiet as Harry thought it was.

He blushed. “I thought so.”

Louis smiled. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Harry walked around the car and opened the passenger door.

“And a gentleman,” Louis said. “How refreshing.”

“At your service, sir,” Harry joked. He went back around the car and got in.

“Thanks for picking me up,” Louis said after he buckled his seat belt.

“You’re welcome. It really wasn’t a problem; you don’t live far.”

“Still, I know how annoying it can be to have to change plans to get someone. I have to stop what I’m doing to pick up my sisters from school or from their friends’ houses all the time.”

“You have sisters?” Harry asked. He started backing out of Louis’ driveway.

“Five,” Louis answered. “And one brother.”

“That’s so cool. I always wanted more siblings; I only have one sister, and she’s older.”

“Nah, you’re the lucky one. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my siblings, but sometimes I just wish the house was a little… quieter. There’s always someone around, and someone’s playing music or watching a movie, and someone can’t find their favorite sweatshirt, but it turns out someone else borrowed it and never put it back, and someone really wanted pudding after dinner, but someone else ate the last cup, and one sister doesn’t understand the homework and another sister does understand it but won’t help the other one, so then they start arguing… should I go on?”

Harry shook his head slowly. “Yeah, maybe not.”

Louis chuckled. “Thought so. But like I said, I love them all. They’re all fun when they’re not yelling at each other and threatening to flush their favorite makeup down the toilet.”

“They say that?”

“Sometimes. Then my mom gets involved because she doesn’t want to pay a plumber to fix the pipes.”

Harry laughed. “At least she shows some concern.”

“Yeah, more than I do.”

For the rest of the ten-minute drive, the two of them made small talk, discussing their love for their university and excitement for spring break.

“I’ve passed this place so many times before, but have never gone in,” Louis said as they pulled into the parking lot.

“Oh, you’ll love it,” Harry told him. “Their garlic bread is the best, and there are so many good pasta dishes. I almost never get the same thing two times in a row, because I just want to try all of them.”

“Ooh, awesome garlic bread and even more awesome pasta? I’m sold.”

Harry just smiled and they got out of the car. As they walked to the door, Harry wondered if it would be too soon to hold Louis’ hand. But his worries immediately disappeared when Louis reached over and took hold.

And that’s when Harry knew this was going to be a wonderful date.

---

The next morning, Harry woke up with a smile on his face. His date with Louis had gone so well, better than he could even believe. The conversation flowed easily and Harry was pretty sure at least one of them had a smile on his face for the entire night. They were at the restaurant for hours, just talking about everything and anything. When they finally left, Harry took Louis home and walked him to the front door. It had seemed like Louis wouldn’t mind a good-night kiss, but Harry psyched himself out and just kissed him on the cheek instead.

He was still mad at himself for that, but Louis had told Harry to text him the next day, so at least it didn’t totally ruin everything.

Harry reached under his pillow, where he usually kept his phone, so he could text Liam and Niall about last night. But he didn’t feel anything. He looked on the floor in case it fell during the night, but he didn’t see it there, either.

He pulled himself out of bed to find his jeans and checked the pockets. It wasn’t there either.

Harry frowned. Maybe he’d left it in the car? Good thing he thought about it now. A phone in the car would be a dead giveaway that he’d taken it.

Harry went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed Robin’s keyring from the hook by the door connecting the house to the garage.

He walked through the door and over to the car, unlocking it. He opened the driver’s door and looked on the floor. He checked under the seat, too, but didn’t see it. Hoping it just slid to the other side, Harry closed the door and went to the passenger door. He opened it, and sure enough, his cell was under the seat.

He breathed a sigh of relief and shut the door.

And then his blood ran cold.

There, near the bottom of the door, was a long, thin scratch.

“No, no, no,” Harry whispered to himself. He ran his hands up the side of his face, and his fingers wove into his hair. “What the fuck?”

He looked around the garage for anything that could have made the scratch, but there wasn’t anything close enough that would’ve done the damage. He thought back over the night, wondering if he had hit anything and simply hadn’t noticed.

And then he remembered. When he had dropped Louis off at his house, there had been a slightly overgrown bush at the start of his driveway. He must’ve pulled in too closely, and a branch from it had rubbed up against the door.

“Holy shit,” Harry said. He ran his fingers over the scratch. It wasn’t deep, just a surface scratch. But Robin was absolutely going to see it.

Harry thought about his options. He could come clean, and admit to Robin what he’d done and pay to get the paint fixed. He could blame Gemma, but that wouldn’t work because Gemma could talk her way out of literally anything. And since she actually didn’t do it, it wouldn’t take long for his parents to figure out it was him. He could say the house got broken into, but unless he wanted to make the car and some other valuables actually disappear, that wouldn’t be believable, either. He could act like he didn’t know what Robin was talking about, but he was such a bad liar, that definitely wouldn’t work.

There was, of course, the last option. He could try to fix it himself. He knew paint jobs were expensive, though, and if he took money out of his savings account to pay for it, his mom would notice immediately. Plus, there was the chance of taking it to a shop and it not being done in time. He didn’t know how long it took for paint jobs to be done, but he figured it would take longer than a couple of hours.

Unless…

Harry ran back into the house and into Gemma’s room. He checked her nail polish collection, which he knew was extensive.

Unfortunately, though, there was only one shade of red - which actually blew his mind since Gemma loved the color so much - and it was too bright. If he used that color to cover the scratch, it would probably draw more attention to it.

Harry checked his watch. It was just after ten. Target was open by now.

He hurried to his room and threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth and washed his face. After putting on some deodorant, he put on a pair of shoes, grabbed his things and headed out the door.

“Don’t crap out on me today,” Harry muttered to his truck as he started it. He backed out of his driveway and headed for the store, which was only a few minutes away.

When he got to the parking lot, he pulled into the first spot he found.

Harry sprinted into the building and straight for the nail polish. When he got there, he had to pause. There were a lot of brands, and he didn’t know the first thing about which one would be long lasting enough to cover up the scratch hopefully for...ever.

He figured the only real way to do this would be to find any reds that would actually match the car. He never realized there were so many shades of a single color.

He started at one end of the aisle and made his way through the brands, picking up all of the reds.

Some were too dark, some were too light and others looked like they might work, but had glitter in the paint so he had to put them back. Finally, he had the choice narrowed down to four bottles. And then on one of the bottles, he noticed it was labeled as a ‘gel’ polish.

“What’s the difference?” Harry asked himself. Gel? Wasn’t it all nail polish? Would the gel last longer? Was it thicker? Would it stand out more?

And what about the other bottles? The Essie and OPI brands were more expensive than the Sinful Colors and Sally Hansen. Did that make a difference, too?

Harry let out a long groan. He was starting to get annoyed.

“Harry?”

And then he stilled. This can’t be happening, he thought to himself.

He slowly turned and saw Louis standing at the other end of the aisle, holding a shopping basket. It was still empty, so he must’ve just gotten there.

“Hey,” Harry said slowly. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Louis smiled at him. “Good to see you again.”

“Yeah, um, didn’t think it’d be so soon, but um, it’s good to see you.”

“What do you have there?” Louis asked after a moment of silence between them.

“What?” Harry looked down at his hands, suddenly remembering what he was doing. “Oh. Um…”

“Do you paint your nails? That’s cool.”

“No, no, no, I don’t, um, well I mean, sometimes I do, yeah. That’s good that you’re cool with it.”

Louis just shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I think it looks cool, anyway. My sisters paint their nails a lot, and I may or may not end up as their guinea pig to see how different shades will look.”

“No!” Harry laughed. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s so much fun.”

“I’m sure it is. But um, no, the nail polish actually isn’t for me. It might be for the car?”

“The car?” Louis asked. “The BMW from last night?”

“Yeah…”

“Oh. Did you scratch it or something?”

“Yeah, and if I don’t fix it, I might actually die.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Harry took a deep breath. “OK, so, the car isn’t mine, it’s actually my step-dad’s, and he loves that car more than anything. And I sort of borrowed it without his permission because you needed a ride, and that’s not your fault, but like, I was going to pick you up in my truck, but it’s an awful truck, and you probably would’ve ran away screaming if I got to your house with it, but I didn’t want to make you take an Uber, because it would’ve cost extra money, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a ton of money to just spend on whatever I want. So I took the car because stupid Niall suggested it and I don’t know why I let him get in my head like that, I guess just because I really wanted to impress you because I’ve really liked you for a while and I didn’t want to blow it by showing up in a literal death trap of a truck and I know I sound like an idiot right now and haven’t taken a breath in a while, but I hope you’ll still talk to me after this because I really like you a lot.”

Harry exhaled the little oxygen he still had left and watched Louis closely.

When Louis opened his mouth to speak, Harry was sure he would say something along the lines of, ‘Wow, you’re a huge loser. Please never talk to me again.’

“You need a top coat,” Louis said instead.

“What?”

“A top coat,” Louis repeated. “It seals in the color and prevents chipping. If you put paint on top of the scratch, it won’t last too long. Rain will wash it away easily, and if anything rubs up against the paint, it’ll come off. The top coat will help it stay.”

Louis walked right by Harry to a section of Sally Hansen products. He picked up a bottle and passed it over to Harry.

“Here,” he said, “this one should work. It’s just a simple top coat, nothing extra.”

“OK. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And I think this one,” he tapped the second bottle in Harry’s hand, “will match the color the best.”

Harry nodded.

“You know, I could help you with the colors if you want,” Louis suggested.

Harry looked up in surprise. “Really? You’d do that?”

“Sure. I only stopped over here to get some stuff for my mom, but it’s not important. If I’m a little late, it’ll be fine.”

“OK. Yeah, OK. Let’s go, then.”

Harry and Louis went up to the self-checkout lane. Harry bought all of the polishes, just in case. As he paid for them, Louis put his basket under the counter.

“Thanks for doing this,” Harry said as they walked out of the store.

“You’re welcome. I’m parked over there, so just text me your address and I’ll meet you there.”

“OK. See you in a few.”

Harry texted as he walked to his truck, and as he hopped in the driver’s seat, Harry wondered if this could be considered a second date.

---

“So before we just paint over the scratch with the polish you picked out, should we maybe test all of the colors first?” Harry asked Louis when they were both back at the house.

“Probably. Just to make sure it really does match the best.”

“OK. Um, maybe we can do like, little dots near the bottom so he won’t notice?”

“And we can spread them out, so it’s not just a bunch of dots in one spot,” Louis suggested.

“I’ll take two and you take two?”

“Deal.”

They each took two bottles and went to different sides of the car to test the polish.

Harry knelt down by the driver’s side and opened the first bottle. With the brush, he put a small dot near the bottom of the car. He opened the second bottle and put a small dot at the front of the car, where the metal curved around the tire. He blew lightly on the dots so they would dry faster and he could see how they would look.

“OK, I’m done,” Louis said.

“Me, too. One of them is already a little too light.”

“Yeah, one of mine is too dark.”

Harry got up and went to see Louis’ paint colors. Louis pointed at the one that was too dark and Harry agreed.

While they sat next to the car waiting for the other dots to dry, Louis said, “You know, I’ve got my car here. If you wanted to go for like, ice cream or something after this, I think we could actually consider this a second date.”

Harry didn’t know if it was possible for his heart to soar, but in that moment, that was exactly what was happening.

“Really? You really want to do a second date with me?”

“Of course!” Louis said, smiling. “The fact that you risked certain death by taking your step-dad’s car just to impress me…”

Harry laughed. “Yeah, I’m a real brainiac, huh?”

“I mean, you are pretty smart. You were really helpful in our study group for Psych. And you’re sweet, and funny and you’re decent to look at, I guess.”

“Yeah?” Harry asked.

Louis reached out and gave one of Harry’s curls a light tug. “Yeah.”

Harry licked his lips, and when he saw Louis’ eyes track the movement, he started to lean in.

Louis let go of Harry’s hair and put his hand on the ground to support himself as he leaned in, too.

When their lips met, Harry was instantly brought back to last night, when he had been too nervous to go for a real kiss. This was the kiss they should’ve had. It was slow and smooth, and Harry was loving how soft Louis’ lips felt against his.

Too soon, the kiss was over, but both boys were smiling as they pulled away.

“Yeah, we can definitely go for ice cream after this,” Harry said.

Louis started laughing. “Good. I’m glad.”

“Should we check the polish?” Harry asked.

“Probably.”

The other polish that Louis tried out looked really close, so Harry got up to check his second one.

“I think yours will be the best bet,” Harry said.

“OK. You want to do the honors?” Louis picked up the polish and held it out.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Harry took the bottle from Louis and sat down next to the car. He twisted off the cap and, very slowly, started to paint over the scratch. He painted in long, even strokes, and in less than a minute, the mark was completely covered.

“Shit, did I do it?” Harry asked.

“I think you did. So let’s let it dry and we’ll see how it looks.”

“OK. I’m glad you’re an expert on nail polish.”

“Thank my sisters for it, I guess,” Louis said.

“Trust me, I do. Do they use you as a guinea pig for any other kinds of makeup?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “How much time do you have?” he joked.

“That much, huh?

“Yeah. Mostly eyeshadow and blush. Luckily they have really good makeup remover, so it doesn’t bother me.”

“You’re a really good brother.”

“I try.”

After another minute, Louis checked the polish on the car and saw that it was dry, so Harry put on another coat.

“So once this is dry, we’ll put the top coat over top of it and then we’ll be done,” Louis said.

Harry sighed. “Good. And hopefully he’ll never notice. Or if he does, hopefully I’ll be moved out of the house by then.”

Louis laughed. “Maybe. Fingers crossed for you.”

“Thanks. I appreciate the thought.”

“Did you still want to get ice cream when we’re done?”

“Definitely.”

“Cool. You know, they say you can tell a lot about a person based on what ice cream flavor they like.”

“Really?” Harry asked. “Who said that?”

“Uh… I don’t remember, actually.”

“Oh, OK. So it’s a real legit source.”

Louis snorted. “Of course it is. So tell me, what ice cream will you get today?”

Harry glanced down at the polish still in his hand before saying, “Red velvet?”

Louis stared for a minute before shaking his head. “Oh, my God. You’re a huge nerd.”

Harry started laughing. “Yeah, but I’m a nerd that gets to do this.”

He leaned in and kissed Louis again, and since he could actually feel Louis smiling against his lips, he knew it was a welcome action.

---

Things were good for almost a month. And then one day, when Louis was over, they heard yelling from the garage.

“What happened to my car?” Robin bellowed. “Harry!”

Louis took Harry’s hand in his own and gave it a tight squeeze.

With a sigh, Harry stood up and led him and Louis to the garage so they could face this problem the same way they attempted to fix it: together.