Chapter Text
“Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson,” Harry kept his gaze trained on his desk, not daring to look up as the teacher called out the pairs for their assignment. He knew who Louis Tomlinson was; the most popular boy in school, as well as the captain of the football team. Harry also knew that this boy was incredibly attractive, as it seemed that everyone had a crush on him, and he also knew that this boy hated him.
That is, him hating him wasn’t new. Harry knew that everyone in this school hated him, causing him to have no friends, and he liked it that way. He also knew that this was his fault. He was the one that had refused to talk to anyone for the past two years of high school and now that they were in the senior years of high school, no one cared to make new friends, or even speak to the weird kid who talked to himself and never took out his earbuds.
“Hi,” A voice pulled Harry from his thoughts, and he looked up to see Louis Tomlinson looking down at him, illuminated by the harsh lighting of the ceiling. Louis Tomlinson looked like an angel to Harry. His feathery brown hair, outlined with a glow, his smile which extended to his bright blue eyes and greeted Harry, with probably the most welcoming expression the younger boy had ever received. It was safe to say that along with the rest of the school, Harry had a crush on Louis Tomlinson. “Harry, right? I think we’re partners?”
Harry gave a slight nod of his head, slipping his hand into the pocket of his hoodie to turn down his music a bit, one earbud dangling along his left side, the other stuck firmly in his ear.
“Great!” Louis said, almost too excited as he slipped into the seat in front of Harry, which no one ever sat at, sitting backwards to face the younger boy. “Any ideas on what you want to do for this?”
Harry panicked for a moment, he hadn’t listened to anything the teacher had said, hell, he didn’t even know what class this was. Louis seemed to notice the frantic look hidden in the boy’s green eyes and reached over to Harry’s desk, pulling the handout away from the younger boy and reading it quickly in his head.
“So, we’ve got to do some sort of creative presentation on something to do with the catcher in the rye,” Louis said, glancing up at Harry for just a second. Right, this is English class, Harry thought as Louis continued speaking, “I thought maybe we could do some sort of interview type thing? One of us could ask Holden a variety of questions and then the other could be Holden and I don’t know, umm…”
Louis trailed off and looked back up at Harry. The problem was that every time Louis looked at Harry, Harry’s mind went blank, his only thoughts being of the pretty boy that was staring at him. The two boys stared at each other for a few moments before Harry could no longer stand the eye contact and glanced back at his desk.
“How about we work on this after school? We can go to your’s or my house, or-or the library or something?” Louis suggested, stuttering slightly. Harry, confused by the older boy’s nervousness, shakily nodded his head before speaking for the first time in this entire conversation.
“Sure,” Louis glanced up at the deep voice of the boy, shocked by the sound of his voice. To be fair, no one in that school had heard Harry speak more than a few words, let alone Louis Tomlinson, who was way too busy with football and being the most popular boy in school to pay attention to or even notice a boy like Harry.
Harry lived the life of a loner and he liked it.
Harry watched as Louis snapped out of the daze he had been in and a smile replaced the dopey look that had been on the older boy’s face just moments ago. “Great, give me your number, I’ll text you and we can figure everything out.”
Harry nodded and took the shiny new iPhone from Louis’ outstretched hand, typing in his number before handing back the phone. Harry’s mind drifted to the old, beaten Samsung in his pocket and couldn’t help but feel ashamed.
“Harry?” Just as Harry looked up at the sound of his name, he saw a flash and, as his eyes adjusted back to normal lighting, he saw that Louis was holding up his phone, having just snapped a picture of the younger lad.
Harry’s brows furrowed and Louis just gave him a smile as bright as the sun, “For your contact picture.”
With that said, the bell rang and Harry watched as Louis took the few steps back to his desk, grabbing his bag. Harry packed up his own stuff as well, keeping his head down as he stood up and pulled his heavy backpack onto his shoulder. As Harry made his way to the door, after the majority of other students had left, he was pulled back by a gentle hand on his elbow.
“Don’t worry,” Louis said, picking up his phone and motioning with it, “You look cute.” With that, Louis winked at Harry, sending a weird feeling right to the pit of Harry’s stomach as the older boy pranced out of the room.
It was when Harry was sitting in the library at lunch that the first text came through to his phone. Harry always ate lunch in the library, among the shelves bursting with books. He didn’t have any friends and the cafeteria was filled with loud noises and weird smells. Harry could eat outside, and sometimes he did, but given that this was England, it was fairly cold outside for most of the year. Too cold for Harry to spend an hour outside every day.
So he ate in the library. The librarian knew him by name and the other students who were regulars in eating there knew to stay away from where he liked to sit, which was the back corner, surrounded by the astronomy books. Not that Harry particularly liked astronomy or space or anything, he just liked being surrounded on all sides so that no one could sneak up on him and this was the only section of the library that allowed that.
Harry had just sat down and was choosing a new playlist when he received Louis’ first texts.
Louis: hi it’s Louis, i tried finding you between classes but couldn’t, when do you wanna go study
And
Louis: i was thinking we could go to your house ? i have lots of sisters so my house is pretty crowded and loud
Harry: that’s fine
Louis: great ! Meet me in the parking lot at the bell ? I can drive us
Harry: okay.
Louis: *animal gif*
Harry couldn’t help but wonder if this was what it was like to have friends. Sure he had his sister but they never really texted or sent each other any funny pictures or videos. As much as Harry liked his life as a loner, he kind of liked Louis and the energy he emitted. It was just so positive.
Harry was immediately out the door of his chemistry class as the bell rang. He hadn’t seen Louis since English as they didn’t share any other classes, given that Louis was in the year above him, and Harry tried to minimize his time in the hallways between classes. Avoiding human contact was one of his main goals in life.
Harry quickly made his way to the back doors of the school, where all the students parked. Although the day had begun quite cold, the warm September sun had warmed the air through the afternoon so Harry deemed it appropriate to wait just outside the doors, leaning against the wall, where he would be in plain sight should Louis exit the school looking for him.
As Harry’s mind drifted through random thoughts, he caught sight of Louis exiting the school and immediately looking around for Harry. Harry pulled himself away from the wall and gave Louis the smallest wave, before reaching into his pocket, turning down his music and swiftly pulling out one of his earbuds so he could hear the other boy.
“Harry,” Louis greeted, a smile rising to his face
“Hi,” Harry replied quietly.
“You ready to go?” Louis asked. Harry nodded and followed as Louis took the front, leading him to a small grey car sitting at the edge of the parking lot.
Louis opened the passenger door and motions for Harry to enter it, closing it behind him before making his way to the driver’s seat.
“I know it’s not much, definitely not as fancy as some of the other guys on the team, but it’s mine,” Louis said with a smile, turning towards Harry to speak before starting the car and slowly pulling out of the parking lot.
“It was actually my grandfather’s but I got it when he passed away a couple of years ago. I couldn’t drive it until a few months ago when I got my license but my parents just had left it sitting in the garage, ready for me.” Louis turned to look at Harry as they approached the stop sign just off of school property.
“So, uh, where d’you live?” Louis asked with a chuckle, causing a light blush to paint Harry’s cheeks. Obviously, Louis didn’t know where he lived, how could he have been so stupid.
“Sorry, this way.” Harry gave short, one-word directions as they drove the ten minutes through the suburbs until they approached Harry’s house.
Harry’s house was small, yes, but it was the right size for just Anne and Harry. It was also all they could afford, but Harry wasn’t embarrassed by it or anything. The two kept good care of it and were proud of the way the garden had bloomed all summer and the clean white railings of the porch.
“You have a nice house,” Louis mentioned as they exited his car. Harry just nodded and shrugged as he led Louis to the front door and unlocked it with the key from his pocket, pushing it open and letting Louis enter first.
The two boys slipped off their shoes and Louis stared at Harry for a moment before awkwardly saying, “You don’t speak much.”
Harry blushed as a dark feeling came over his chest. He had never spoken much, not since he was a kid.
“Hey,” Harry looked up. “It just means we’re meant to be best friends, ‘cause I can never stop talking.”
This brought a smile to Harry’s face and he looked down again before placing a hand on Louis’ elbow and leading him into the kitchen, sitting down at the kitchen table and pulling his notes from his bag, Louis following suit.
The two boys worked on their project for a couple of hours, Louis doing most of the talking, until around six o’clock when Harry’s mother came home.
“Harry?” Anne called as she entered the house, causing both boys to look up from their work. Moments later Harry’s mum appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.
“Oh,” She said, “And who’s this?”
Harry looked at Louis as he stood from his seat and walked to Anne, offering her his hand. “‘m Louis, Harry’s friend from school. We’re just working on a project for class.”
Anne shook Louis’ hand but looked past him to Harry, cocking an eyebrow at her son. Harry just shrugged, not knowing what to say. Anne sighed at her son, “Alright, well I’ve got to get started on dinner, why don’t you two head up to your room Harry? Oh and Louis, would you like to stay for dinner?”
“Actually, ma’am I’ve best go home for dinner, my mum’s waiting for me.”
Anne nodded and left the doorway, leaving just Harry and Louis in the room.
“You have to go home now?” Harry asked. He was disappointed, he actually enjoyed Louis’ company quite a bit.
And almost as if Louis could read his mind, the older boy quickly walked over and sat back down next to Harry. “Don’t worry, I’ll come over again tomorrow if that’s alright with you?”
Harry just nodded and started clearing their stuff off the table, handing Louis his stuff to put in his own backpack while Harry did the same. Once the table was cleared, the two boys stood and Louis pulled his backpack onto his shoulder, following Harry to the door.
Harry stood leaning against the wall as Louis slipped on his shoes. Louis straightened back up and the two boys stood there for a moment, staring at each other.
“Bye,” Harry said, giving a slight wave to Louis.
The older boy frowned, “I don’t get a hug?”
The dopey smile that immediately formed on Harry’s face warmed Louis’ heart. Harry shrugged and stepped forward with his arms out in the slightest. Louis pulled him in and rested his head in the younger boy’s neck for a moment before pulling away, pressing a kiss to the side of Harry’s head, right where his hair met his temple, as he did so.
This small kiss immediately brought a flush of red to Harry’s face and a hoard of butterflies to his stomach.
Louis looked back at the blushing boy and gave him a knowing smile before stepping out of the house, closing the door behind him and heading home.