Work Text:
Harry remembers him. He remembers him well, in fact. So he doesn't exactly know what comes over him when his phone starts ringing at 5pm, flashing "NO CALLER ID".
"Hello? This is Harry." He answers politely, dragging the door to the flower-shop shut with one hand as he rests his phone on his shoulder, pressing his ear to the cold screen. It's really bloody cold outside, Harry realises. The chill lingering from a prolonged winter. He pulls his coat tighter around himself as the voice on the other end of the phone clears its throat.
"Uh, hi? It's the guy who stopped by your flower shop earlier, the one who bought those roses. Anyway, did you leave your number in the bouquet on purpose, or...?" Harry smirks to himself as he remembers the face. Rosey cheeks, crinkly blue eyes, blonde hair fading down into little fluffy brown tufts.
"Hhmm sorry, must have been the wrong bouquet." He laughs, a smirk quirking at his lips as he makes his way down the little side alley to his flat. The sky is clouding over above him and he's a mere 2 blocks from home when its started dropping fat drops of water down on him.
"Ah, I see. The wrong bouquet?" The voice says softly, so lovingly that Harry can almost hear the smile the blonde boy must have. He nods to himself before remembering that he's on the phone.
"Fuck, uh, yeah, oops, sorry. Ignore me. Wait don't. I... Yep, yeah wrong bouquet..." Harry offers as the voice lets out a loud cackle. Harry trips over his feet as he steps onto the footpath, catching himself with a soft "ooft" as he arrives at the door to his flat. Its small, its bright and its all his.
"Well... Who was the bouquet meant for, if it wasn't for me?" By now Harry is inside his flat, toeing off his shoes, with some difficulty, and sprawling himself across his bed as he begins to unbutton his shirt.
"No-one in particular!" Harry giggles in response, pushing his face into his pillow as blondey huffs. "I still don't know your name, by the way."
"Niall, I'm Niall."
"Well, Niall. Who were you buying flowers for?" Harry says slowly, voice dropping low a bit as he hears the rustle of flowers from Niall's end and by god he doesn't think he's talked to a stranger for this long since... Yeah, no, he's never talked to a stranger for this long before.
"M'self." Niall simply responds. Harry can't help the way his heart thumps a little bit more at that. The prospect that maybe, just maybe, there was another handsome lad out there in need of a date for Valentines Day, which ended in exactly.... 7 hours and 41 minutes by Harrys watch.
"Well then." Harry bluntly says, grinning into his blankets as Niall chuckles again, except now it sounds a lot less like he's laughing AT Harry and more like he's laughing WITH him.
"Well then." Niall agrees, Harry can practically see the cry-laughing emoji as Niall lets out what has to be the most heartening laugh Harry has ever heard. But, shit, if this Niall bloke is hot and laughs at anything then Harry is going to be having one hell of a night.
"Now, if I were to suggest that maybe, hypothetically, I put my number into a certain boys bouquet on a certain wonderful day of the year in the hopes of a date, what do you think said boy would say?" Harry began, fidgeting with the string of his pants, looping it around his finger as Niall hummed.
"Well, said boy might say yes if the number-giver would be happy to buy him a pint. I hear that's always one way to a mans heart." Niall divulges, bringing the roses up to his nose and taking a long sniff as he smiles sweetly.
"A pint? Yeah. Okay, well, number-giver was me and you're said boy so..." Harry explains, as though it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world. Niall mulls it over in his head. It was getting to be dark outside, the seemingly ever-present clouds bringing the nights on faster. But he couldn't really damn well say no when a pint was involved, that was wrong in any mans books. A free pint, at that.
"Harris, are you by any chance a hopeless romantic?" Niall guesses, fiddling with the card sitting on his coffee table.
"Harry, m'names Harry. Yes, yes I like to think I am. But I can't really be too hopeless if I've managed to pull, right?" Harry nods to himself, waiting patiently for Niall's response as he begins poking around his room for his good shoes, deciding not to change out of his black skinnies because they make his thighs look great.
"Awe, what other bloke have you managed to woo tonight, Harold." Niall teases, his speech coming out in a low drawl that had Harry's bladder flipping. Or maybe he just needs to pee.
"Very funny, Niall. Meet me at Sparex at 6:30?" Harry suggests, standing in front of his full length mirror and tugging his belt through the loops on his jeans. It was a lot harder than it, at first, looks. Especially when you're six feet tall and have the most glorious love-handles known to man.
"Sparex, very ritzy. Do you reckon we'll be able to get in if we just show up or do you already have a booking?" Niall ponders, playing with the leathery petals of his bouquet.
"I have a booking. Niall, do you think I'm stupid or something? Gosh!" Harry giggles, pulling a shirt out from under his bed. He sniffs it once, checks it for stains, decides he can hide that one mysterious white stain if he tucks his shirt into his trousers, pulls it on and buttons it up until only his nipples were free. You never know when they might come in handy; that was Harry's motto.
"Okay, make it 6:15 and we have a deal." Niall nods, standing up from his couch to pull some shoes on. "See you in, like, half an hour!" Niall practically yells, hanging up the phone before Harry could say goodbye.
Harry fish mouthes, holding the phone away from his face as he pouts.
***
In the space of half an hour Harry managed to trip over his own feet twice, whack his head on the doorframe once and attempted to put his phone in his coat pocket three times before realising it kept slipping out because there was a gaping hole at the bottom. It was a miracle he even made it to the restaurant.
"Harry?" A voice question as Harry leant up against a wall, tapping out a text to Niall. Harry started, bracing himself against the wall as a hand touched his shoulder.
"Oh, fuck. It's you." Harry laughed, doubling over to cough a bit as the cold air snaked down his throat. "Got a bit of asthma, sorry." He explained, scratching his jaw as Niall cocked his head.
"Poor lad, let's get inside then." Niall smirked, pushing open the glass doors to the left of Harry. He ushered Harry in, catching hold of his elbow and pointing up at the ceiling. Harry rocked back on his heels, digging his hands into his pockets are he glanced up at the mosaic on the roof. It was beautiful, with rich blue hues of the ocean and an image of a mermaid wrapped around a branch of seaweed.
"Ha! Boobs." Harry noted, pointing up as Niall giggled like a twelve year old stumbling upon porn for the first time.
"Styles?" A voice called. Niall looked over his shoulder as Harry turned around and was greeted with a moustache so thick it could out-do his step fathers. Harry nodded as the waiter eyed his tacky clothing, the faint flower-food stains on his black jeans, the frayed collar of his shirt and the black coat that kept slipping off his shoulders. "Follow me, and please, do up another button on your shirt." The waiter said, throwing his nose into the air as he grabbed two menus from a nearby bench and lead them into the main dining room.
"An impressive moustache, eh?" Niall grinned, holding onto Harry's elbow again as they weaved through tables.
Harry stroked his own non-existent facial thoughtfully.
"Been trying to grow mine for 21 years." He mumbled, turning to Niall as he heard what sounded like a pig being throttled. Turns out it was just Niall, throwing his head back and letting out a chortle as his grip on Harry tightened and everyone seated at the restaurant turned to glare at them. Harry felt small butterflies in his stomach as he blew out a small laugh and his mouth quirked up into a tiny smile. Okay, no, he needed to pee, fuck the butterflies.
"This... Is your table." The waiter sighed, throwing his hand off to the side in such a dismissive way that Harry was tempted to leave. "Please, try not to wreck anything." The waiter muttered, his lips twitching upwards as he crossed his hands behind his back and stomped off.
"Don't need to be so rude ." Harry tutted, sliding into his seat as Niall sat down in front of him, folding his hands in his lap. For the first time Harry got a proper look at the restaurant. Another mosaic coated the ceiling, this time of a herd of centaurs bowing down to some naked guy on top of a mountain. Huge glass windows dropped from top to bottom of the wall on their left, rimmed with gold and looking out at the gorgeous expanse of sea outside.
"I like the sea a lot." Niall stated, waving his hand off to the side before resting his elbow on the table and placing his chin in it, gnawing on his bottom lip. Harry nodded, nudging his foot under the table a bit.
"We're playing 20 questions." Harry gushed out suddenly, taking on a shit eating grin as Niall only cocked his eyebrow in response.
"Are you fucking 14, Harry?" Harry snorted softly, picking up his glass of water that a waiter had just brought around.
"No, Niall. I was 15 when that happened." It was at this point Niall had decided to grip onto his chair, eyebrows shooting to the top of forehead as he coughed.
"You were 15 when you lost your virginity?" He spluttered, going red in the face as Harry laughed, brushing the hair out of his eyes as the people at the table next to them inch farther away in their seats.
“Uh, I guess, yeah.” Harry giggled, tugging at the tablecloth as Niall avoided his eyes and grinned down at his shoes. “How old were you?” He asks, genuinely interested as Niall goes even redder; if that was possible.
“19.” Niall answers, smiling across the table at Harry. He nodded slowly. 19 was good, 19 was legal.
"Sorry about not getting you a pint beforehand." Harry croaked, his voice low so they didn't get any more complaints from the neighbouring tables. Niall shrugged, scratching his jaw in a way that was probably a lot more attractive than he thought it was.
"What?!" Niall exclaimed, smacking his hand down on the table as his other hand clutched his stomach. "I like you, you're crazy!"
"Wait! What?" Mimicked Harry, eyes going wide. He swept his hair back off his face as Niall giggled into his hands across the table.
"You spoke what you were thinking." He chortled, picking up his menu almost nonchalantly as Harry's lips twitched upwards into a smirk. Stupid brain, "Going too fast for his mouth to keep up" was one way his teacher had described it. Or was it the other way around...
"What the fuck are 'Moules'?" Harry squeaked. Niall glanced up at him, eyes crinkling as he kicked Harry under the table.
"Wanna get pizza?" Suggested Niall, pulling his phone out from his pocket and bringing up the number of what Harry realised was the local pizza place. He nodded quickly, pushing himself up from his chair just as a waiter was approaching them. Harry raised his hand politely, letting them know they were leaving as Niall blabbered some shit to the pizza place.
"Okay, so half an hour?" Niall nodded, locking his phone as they swiftly exited the restaurant.
"Half an hour is fine." Harry confirmed, wheezing a bit as he realised how stupid it had been to try and impress someone by taking them to a fancy restaurant.
"Time for a pint, lad!" Niall roared, shaking his fists in the air as they turned down a side street that Harry didn't recognise. "Bet you've never been down this shit-hole of a road before, eh?" Niall smiled, kicking at the ground as Harry shook his head. "Your hair is real nice, too. All kinda baby Tarzan. It's sick." Niall yakked on, reaching over to tug at Harry's hair as Harry's ears pricked up at the sound of music ahead.
"You should see it when I'm getting out of a pool." Harry agreed, Niall could only imagine. "Also, don't pull my hair if you don't want me to sport one." Harry warned, turning to face Niall with the most angelic look on his face.
"Picked up a kinky one on Valentines Day. All-fucking-right!" Niall teased. Leaning over to give Harry's hair one more sharp tug before he was running on ahead.
"Niall! Don't go to an Irish pub if it has a glowing shamrock sign. That's some kind of rule, isn't it?" Harry blabbered on as he caught his breath. Niall had run ahead for a good block or two, leaving Harry to fend for himself in the dark streets, having to protect himself against deadly pot plants and cobble stones.
"Oh shut up, I'm a part owner!" Niall cheered, throwing an arm around Harry's shoulders as he finally caught up. Harry was so chuffed with himself. Of all the people he could have pulled on Valentines Day, he pulled the glowing sun, the centre of the universe, the moon his earth orbit- "You're talking again!"
"Fuck." Harry muttered, picking at his fingernail as Niall steered them towards the bar.
"Ash! If a pizza guy comes to the door, it's for me." Niall advised the guy behind the bar, who in turn simply glared at him, rolling his eyes as Niall reached all the way across the bar and stroked his eyebrow. "You love me!"
"How much has he had to drink?" The boy, Ash, asked, leaning over and smiling at Harry.
"Nothi-" Harry started.
"Drunk off life , Ash." To which Ash simply nodded, going back to cleaning the glasses behind the bar. "Well, this is me pub! My baby. My one true joy." Niall sighed, throwing his arms out. Harry wasn't sure if Niall had popped some kind of magic mushroom in on the way here or if he really was just opening up a bit more, but he loved it.
"It's pretty busy, hey?" Nodded Harry, glancing around. Busy was an understatement, the place was packed with people, "the lone Irishmen", as Niall called them.
"Busy?! You should see it on Saint Patty's day!" Squealed Niall, wriggling in his seat as Ash slammed a pint down in front of him. "Ash always knows what I like."
"Yeah, he likes it up the a-" Ash began, before Niall was clambering over the bar and clapping a hand over his mouth. Harry's eyes crinkled shut as he began to laugh, dropping his head between his arms as Ash winked at him suggestively.
"Really? I'm more of a giver." Harry retorted simply, taking some fruity drink from Ash "the mind reading bar tender".
"A match made by God himself." To which they all laughed.
"Big spoon or little spoon?" Niall almost yelled, gripping onto his pint as Ash went off to tend to other patrons. Harry shrugged meekly, waving his hand in a noncommittal gesture.
"Little spoon, 'spose." At this point Niall was almost an exact replica of the heart eyes emoji.
"Fuck, I'll drink to that." He did, three times. Three pints in the space of six minutes. According to Niall it wasn't even a record.
"Why are you drinking that fruity trash? I want to get you drunk, Harold. That's how you find your mate! I may as well be dating a 14 year old girl if you're going to drink that shit!" Argued Niall a few minutes later as Harry sipped at his pink drink, raspberries floating on the surface. "Why do we even serve that here, anyway?"
Harry just shrugged, tapping the berries into his mouth as Niall curled his upper lip in mock disgust.
"Niall? Pizza's here, asshole." Ash sassed, sliding three pizza boxes across the bar to where he and Harry were sitting. As he retreated Harry turned to Niall, mouthing "Asshole?" at him as Niall just smiled like a two year old in trouble.
"He loves me, promise!" Niall reassured as he began to shovel pizza into his mouth. Harry picked a slice up delicately, holding it between his fingers as he bit into the tip. He glanced over at Niall who was... Staring at his lips. Rather intently at that.
"Stop staring at my lips, Niall! It's putting me off." Harry huffed, folding his pizza in half and shoving the whole slice into his mouth. Niall choked. Literally choked, so badly Harry had to whack his back until a slice of pepperoni came flying out.
"You have a really big mouth." Niall exclaimed after Harry stopped coughing his pizza, a line of spit hanging from his chin that Harry so politely wiped away. He nodded, chewing around his slice as Niall continued to stare at his mouth with glossy eyes.
"Can take it all the way to the back." Harry piped, sticking a slice of pizza in his mouth to demonstrate.
"Oh my god!" Ash squeaked out, turning on his heels before reaching back blindly and grabbing the bottle of vodka he had come to the end of the bar to get. Niall slapped his ass as he retreated, earning himself a scowl before Ash returned a minute later, slamming two more pints down on the bar bench.
"I, Niall James Horan, am going to get you, Harry Something Styles, so drunk you won't even remember you had to give me the heimlich." Insisted Niall as he lifted up his pint, chugging it down all at once before pushing the second one towards Harry. He took it between his hands, glancing down at it questioningly.
"I'm a lightweight Niall, if I drink this I probably won't even remember my name!" Harry protested, downing the drink anyway, if only to see the ecstatic look Niall gave him when he slammed the glass back down.
"Oh man, three lonely V Days and now I'm getting a really hot guy drunk in an Irish pub over pizza. My streak is broken!" Niall hollered, pulling his shirt up over his head, the tight fabric getting caught on his forehead.
"No, Niall! Down." Ash scolded, tugging his shirt down and going so far as to tuck the sides into his trousers as Niall pouted. Harry almost wet himself with laughter. He says almost because he managed to pull himself out and aim it at the urinal as he sprinted into the bathrooms, his bladder jiggling painfully with each step.
"I'm drunk!" Harry cheerily greeted as he ran back over to the bar, drying his hands off on his coat as Niall held his arms open, also sufficiently drunk at this point.
"When you said lightweight, you meant it!" Niall grunted as Harry clambered into his lap, perching precariously on the bar stool. Niall wrapped an arm around his back, tucking his legs up as Harry bounced up and down in his lap.
"The sun will come out, tomorrow!" Harry bellowed, giggling as Niall joined in. Soon enough they had the whole pub belting out Annie lyrics as drinks were thrust in front of Niall and Harry.
"Get me that funky raspberry drink, Ash!" Niall insisted, whooping as Ash began to shake the drink up.
"Martini, Niall. And this is your last one, you've had far too much."
"Martini, no weeny, mankini." Niall sing-songed, wiggling underneath Harry. Harry's eyebrows furrowed together.
"They're not the lyrics!" He laughed, pushing his face against Niall's so their noses were pushing together. "NYAK!" Harry squawked, blowing warm air into Niall's face and throwing his arms up. Unfortunately Harry's knuckles smacked against the underside of the bench, earning a loud screech in Niall's ear as Harry's lanky body leapt back in pain. He went careering off Niall's lap, landing with his neck craned against the bar, a hand hold onto Niall's forearm and his legs in a position he was sure was life threatening.
"Harry, no!" Ash warned, walking around the bar to help him as Niall too went toppling backwards, landing far more unceremoniously with his ass in Harry's face.
"Harry, yes!" He yelled back, smacking a loud kiss to Niall's bottom as he glanced around from the floor. By now pretty much everyone had gone home. The only ones left behind were weird old men and young girls in odd German outfits.
"Harry, yes!" Niall agreed, rolling over to sit on Harry's chest and blowing a kiss at Ash as he flicked him on the ear. "You love me! Say it!"
"I love you! But I need to lock up so fuck out." Ash replied, his lips pulling up into a smile as he bit his lip and ruffled Niall's hair fondly. "You're such a disappointment." He cooed as Niall nuzzled his hand.
"You had sex behind the bar once." Niall challenged back, pressing a kiss to Ash' palm. Ash hit him over the back of the head, kneeing him softly.
"Get out you pain in the asses. Nice meeting you, Harry!"
"Harry new year!" Harry said back, so surely it felt to everyone like that was the correct phrase to be saying. "Goodbye" was just too mainstream by now.
"Okay." Ash snorted as Niall rolled off Harry and tugged him up.
"Harry new year!" Niall repeated, twirling around Harry and highfiving the security guard as they headed out the back door. The air outside had gotten even colder in the last few hours and it had Niall huddling up to Harry for warmth. Anyway peering through the dark would have seen a four legged, four foot wide beast strolling through back streets.
"Best Valentines Day EVER!" Harry screamed, taking his coat off and wrapping it around Niall. Niall thanked him by biting his shoulders and pushing his hair out of his face. They walked the backstreets for a few minutes before winding up back at the sea.
"We are so going skinny dipping!" Niall whispered, already toeing off his shoes before Harry could argue.
"It's fucking three degrees, Niall. My dicks gonna look like a raisin if we go skinny dipping now!" Harry whisper yelled back, but he was pulling his shoes and socks off so his argument was invalid.
"Great! We can be raisins together!" Niall said as he pulled his shirt over his head and began to undo his jeans. Harry propped himself up against a rock, tugging off his black skinnies and beginning to unbutton the rest of his shirt as Niall glanced down at his crotch. "Fuck, you're packing!" He exclaimed excitedly, tugging his pants down and sprinting out into the water before any further comments could be made. "Fucking shit, dick it's cold!" Was all Harry heard from Niall before he too was pulling his pants down and streaming into the water. "Fucking shit, dick" was about the same response Harry gave.
"My little raisin does not appreciate this, Niall!" Harry squirmed, ducking under the water before surfacing and blowing water into Niall's face. Niall kicked out at him, ducking under and grabbing hold of his ankles as he spluttered and was tugged under.
"My little raisin is having the time of his life." Niall announced, accentuating that statement by standing out on the sand and waving his dick around.
"That's truly mesmerising, thankyou, Niall."
"Dinner and a show!" He called back, laying down on the beach, his hair now flat and sticking to his forehead. Harry clambered out of the freezing water, laying down next to Niall and stretching his arms out.
"Dinner and a show, indeed." Harry repeated, looking up at the sky as he sensed Niall shifting beside him. He looked over, seeing the stars and moon and entire galaxy reflected in Niall's eyes. It's something he thinks he could look at forever. The blue in his eyes matched the sea, matched the horizon, matched the night. But his light matched the sun. The ever present glow he had been giving off for the few hours Harry had known him, was a constant reminder that there are people in this world that we don't deserve.
"The world doesn't deserve you, Harry." Niall sighed, turning to look over at The boy who lay shivering beside him. "I've known you for about six hours and already you've made me laugh and cry and nearly die."
"Cry? I hope I haven't made you cry." Suddenly everything was a bit more sobering. Harry propped himself up, taking a proper look over at Niall to see that there really were tears in his eyes. "Hey! Don't cry, Niall! It's Valentines Day, even if you are spending it with some hopeless shithead you just met."
"But that's the thing , Harry! I have just met you and I already feel like you're this solid rock in my life. You're really nice and funny in the most fucked up way. You really do look like baby Tarzan when your hair is wet and I wouldn't MIND being your big spoon. I've never wanted to be big spoon so badly, Harry! Ever." Niall muttered. "Don't worry, it's stupid." He tugged at the hairs on his arm as Harry brushed a stray tear away with the least sandy of his fingers.
"Now you listen here mister raisin dick, you're the most radiant person I have ever fucking met. I like being around you, fuck Niall I really like being around you. Like you said, we just met and I've seen your dick and everything now, so there's no going back!" Harry yelled, flailing his arms about as Niall laughed, the noise catching in his throat to come out as a harsh sob. Harry pressed a kiss to his temple as he lay back down beside him in the sand, a hand coming down to gently stroke his hip in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.
"Thanks, Harry. You're pretty sick yourself, lad." Niall snorted, pressing a kiss to the corner of Harry's mouth as he continued tracing circles into his hip.
"You're very welcome, Prince Niall." Harry whispered, his fingers stilling as he scratched at the skin of his hip with his nails instead. And it was just a little bit perfect. The wind was freezing, the sky was cloudy except for the moon and the beach was empty, save for two bodies side by side down by the water. One boys hand on the others hip, tracing marks the blonde boy would feel for days afterwards.