Work Text:
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
Louis was late. Again. He hated that shit. His foot hurt like hell. Maybe it was broken. He hated Nick Grimshaw. It was not his fault that he had curves like a girl, was tinier than everyone else in his year, loved drama class and had never received a grad below an A. Louis did not think that this made him a nerd and he definitely did not think that this was a reason to beat him up on a daily base.
He kept his head down and his books pressed to his chest while rushing down the corridor as fast as his foot allowed. The first class of the day was biology for him and it was always so embarrassing to walk in when the lesson had already started. Maybe he should just not go; it wasn’t as if the teacher (or anyone else) would notice.
Yeah, maybe he should just go home again. He did not want another beating, his ribs and his foot hurt enough already as it was. He knew that staying at school would bring him a few more hits and insults after school and preferably also his food thrown into the toilet at lunch. So, yes, probably it would be the best idea to just leave now.
It was then that he ran into something hard which sent him flying to the ground, his glasses slipping off his face and landing somewhere on the floor.
Great, he probably just managed to break his glasses. He was most certainly not going to that lesson. Besides, his foot hurt even more now, having managed to somehow twist while Louis fell. He squinted trying to see what he had run into.
“Ohmygod!” He whispered, eyes widening in panic. The body that hovered above him was at least 6 foot tall, with broad shoulders and biceps as big as Louis’ thighs. He knew what this meant. If someone at the bottom of the social food chain annoys someone who is clearly at the very top of said chain, he is going to pay and Louis really did not need any more bruises added to the wonderful collection Nick had given him throughout the week.
So he scrambled up, not even looking for his glasses because that would cost him time that he needed to get away. He probably didn’t stand a chance against this bloke with his long and muscly legs anyway but it was the only chance he had.
He bolted towards the end of the corridor from where he had come. If he could make it to the art classroom he would be safe because Zayn was always there the first hour of the day.
Zayn was the kind of guy to turn boys gay and have girls swarming him. Therefore, it was a very logic and smart move to go where Zayn was because nobody would hurt Louis when he was with his older brother.
Louis darted around the corner and into the classroom, sending a shockwave of pain up his leg. However, the only problem was that his brother was nowhere to be seen or heard. Louis stood in the empty art classroom and suddenly remembered that his protector was sick today.
He also realised that he had just run into a dead end. He heard footsteps coming closer quickly and if he left the room again, he would literally run into the guy again.
Thus, he did the only thing that he could think of: He opened one of the cabinets which to his luck was practically empty (it was already small enough as it was, only about one meter wide and one meter high) and climbed in, closing the door behind himself.
He had not been one second too early in doing this: As soon as he had settled, he heard the door of the classroom open. His heart was racing in his chest, his hands were sweaty and he was holding back tears. He could not take another hit, his whole foot was throbbing and as he pulled up his trousers a little bit, he saw how blue, red and swollen his ankle looked even though there was not much light.
Happy days.
The footsteps were getting closer. NONONONONONON PLEASE NO Louis chanted in his mind. He stopped breathing, trying to stay as quiet as possible. He hoped the other guy would leave soon, because it was not comfortable at all. Nope. He had to try and get his foot in a position that hurt less, but he couldn’t afford moving.
Suddenly, the footsteps stopped. Louis was frozen in his cabinet and waited. He was pretty sure the guy could hear his heartbeat and was just trying to rile Louis up only to rip open the cabinet door after five minutes and beat him up properly.
The silence seemed to last for an eternity. Louis wasn’t sure if the other had left and he just wanted to take off his shoe. It hurt so bad. He was contemplating moving his foot despite not knowing if the lad was still there, when suddenly the door to the cabinet was opened and a very surprised “oh” was to be heard.
A figure crouched down but Louis couldn’t see who it was without his glasses and now he was going to receive some more bruises. “Please, please, please don’t hurt me!” Louis whispered.
It was then that a warm voice said: “Why would I hurt you Louis? And what are you doing in here love, this cannot be good for your back. You need to come out of that cabinet so I can take out the tape from behind you and fix your glasses, alright love?”
Oh my god. It was HARRY STYLES!! Louis had the biggest crush on Harry basically since kindergarten but they had never really talked even though he was Zayn’s best friend. Louis had only ever watched him from afar, observing how he had changed from an awkward, gangly teen to a well-built, sexy man who was obviously way out of Louis' league.
Maybe this was even worse than having a bully find him. He had no clue how to behave around Harry and he really did not want Harry to see him in this state.
“I – uh - I – yeah – fine. I’m fine yeah. Uh, I’m just gonna…” Louis stuttered, pulling himself out of the cabinet, standing up and in his embarrassment completely forgetting about his ankle, he fell right back to the floor because it hurt so much.
Well – he would have fallen back to the floor had Harry not caught him around the waist and sat him onto a cabinet. “Woah love, you okay? Wait, let me just fix your glasses…” Louis saw Harrys head disappear in the cabinet, coming back up seconds later and putting Louis’ glasses on his nose. No, Louis DID NOT blush.
“Did you hurt yourself when we ran into each other? I’m sorry I should have watched where I was going, I really should have paid more attention. Sorry about your glasses, I’ll pay for the new ones, promise… Wait! Why did you think I was going to hurt you"
“’t’s nothing really.” Louis mumbled. “’m fine."
“Love you don’t seem fine at all, running off after I basically ran you over like a bulldozer and now you can’t even stand!” Harry said, stepping between Louis’ legs. “It was Nick and his gang, wasn’t it? Zayn told me they torture you all the time. I swear had I seen them I would have ripped off their dicks one by one.”
“Uh” Louis said eloquently, distracted by Harry’s body between his thighs and the close proximity of their faces.
“Come on darling, tell me what’s the matter!” Harry said, leaning in even closer.
Louis thoughts were a scramble of darlingdarling, he called me darling and ohmygod his lips he is so close shit he is so pretty, and Harry’s face was coming closer and closer until:
“AGH!” Louis all but screamed when Harry’s thigh brushed against his foot. Immediately, tears started leaking out of his eyes. They were tears of pain but also of frustration. He had been SO close to being kissed by his long time crush and he just had to ruin it. Now it was probably never going to happen because now Harry probably found him embarrassing, crying like a baby.
Harry however flinched away, scared that he had gone too far but then he saw Louis’ pained grimace and rushed to have a look at his ankle.
“I’m sorry, love, I think it’s broken. I’ll have to take it to the hospital, alright?” He whispered into Louis’ ear soothingly. The younger lad just kept sobbing into his shoulder, as Harry lifted him up by his thighs, wrapping them around his waist to carry him to his car.
Louis couldn't stop crying because he knew that Harry would never want to look at him again because he was such a baby and on top of that also really heavy and fat.
Harry wasn’t having any of the crying and when he set him down in the car seat, he said: “Come on darling, you’re going to be okay. Do you need anything else?"
Louis shook his head, not wanting to make an even bigger arse of himself and Harry smiled. “I think you do need something else. Let me kiss it better, yeah? That’ll help until we get to the hospital."
Louis watched with wide eyes as Harry went down, towards the swollen ankle, half excided for his lips on his skin and half scared that it was going to hurt and he was going to kick Harry in the face as a reaction.
So you cannot really blame him for letting out a really embarrassing girly squeak when suddenly, said face reappeared in front of his own and Harry’s lips were placed on his mouth instead of his ankle.
It wasn’t the way you’d imagine you first kiss to be, Louis to shocked to even react but his lips tingled and warmth was running through him and it was over too soon.
“I’m sorry” Harry drawled. “I should have asked. I should’ve known you don’t like me because otherwise you would have talked to me when I came over to see Zayn. But you’re just so beautiful and I hate to see you cry and I’ve always liked you and I’m sorry for taking advantage of your situation like that. And I don't even know if you're gay. Oh my god, you like girls don't you? And I just made a complete fool of myself. Can we just forget I did that? I’ll just take you to the hospital. I'm so sorry. God I'm such an idiot!"
Louis thought he probably wanted to ramble on, but he cut him off with another kiss. He was kind of insecure because he had never kissed anyone before and he could not imagine that Harry thought it was good but his brain was not connected to his heart and his heart was not worried at all. Yeah, his heart would gladly kiss Harry forever, because the tingling of his lips and the butterflies in his stomach were the best thing he had ever felt.
Finally, he pulled away to get some air. (That’s probably kind of embarrassing, Harry is so fit and in the swimming team and he cannot even kiss for a minute without having an asthma attack or something, but well)
“I like you too. I was just scared to talk to you because I always stutter and do dumb things and I'm so bloody awkward and you're kinda extremely gorgeous and sexy and strong I'm just really plain and boring with a fat arse. I figured you wouldn't want to be associated with the gay nerd who cannot even stand up for himself. And also their best friend's younger brother is not necessarily the person people go for.”
“Oh.” Harry said, a huge grin lighting up his face. “But you're not plain and boring, you are so fascinating and you know so much stuff so who cares if you aren't all muscles I like how your body is soft, it makes me want to hold you forever! And concerning that "fat arse" as you named it, I may have once, while I was drunk, let your brother know how hot I find it and that I want to touch it. He didn't talk to me for a week. Speaking of Zayn, he’s going to kill me for corrupting his baby brother and making him my boyfriend. But actually, I’m not going to hurt you, so maybe he’s not going to be as angry. SHIT, now I’m just assuming, do you even want to be my boyfriend?"
Louis was inwardly laughing. Oh, how the tables have turned, suddenly Harry is the one who is nervous. “I’d love to be your boyfriend Harry. And I really don’t want to ruin the moment, but my foot is dying.”
~~~
“Hello queer!” Nick sneered at Louis. “Miss me? Bet you thought of me the whole weekend because of the little reminder I gave you!” He gestured to Louis’ cast.
“So how about a repetition of Friday’s events? You’ve still got one foot that’s not in a cast yet, after all!”
“How about you leave my boyfriend alone and fuck off? Because as I see it, you have a whole body without casts and I am willing to change that if you as much as look at him again, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
Nick turned around, ready to laugh at whoever was protecting the nerd but backed down immediately when he saw that it was Harry Styles from the swimming team.
Nick practically shrank under the swimmer’s angry glare and took a step back, knowing that messing with Harry or someone under Harry’s protection would end badly. So he just stood there, laughed at by the whole swimming team, watching Harry take Louis’ hand and lead him outside to the carpark.
So in the end, everyone got what they deserved. Nick was finally silenced and shamed and Louis got a tall, sexy, protective boyfriend.
And Harry? Well, Harry deems himself the luckiest out of the three of them. Because he finally got the boy he thought he could never have. He was allowed to take him home and sit on his bed and look at him while he studied. He was allowed to stare fondly as Louis charmed his mum and he was the one to wrap himself around Louis completely when they cuddled.
And finally, finally, Harry found someone who would be his big spoon at night, even though he was much smaller than him.