Chapter Text
Head throbbing. Light’s too bright. Bed comfy.
These were the first thoughts Harry had when he began to come to. He’s trying to remember how he even got home, let alone upstairs to his room.
Probably Liam.
Harry Styles, 22 year old former track star, had to take an ‘early retirement’ after a pretty gruesome ACL injury during the Olympic Qualifiers when he was only 17 years old. He now finds himself attending UCLA and a member of the Kappa Sigma Delta-Nu chapter. Joining the fraternity was mostly to prevent him from pulling out his hair when he could no longer participate in track at the level he was used to. Harry loves and appreciates his frat brothers more than anything, but right now he wants to fucking murder Liam.
“If the place isn't on fire then there is no reason for you to be waking me up,” Harry mumbled once he recognized the sound of movement in his room.
“C’mon dude,” Liam said, rudely yanking the blanket off of his best friend, “you gotta get up.”
“Is it time for the Pi Phi party?”
“Didn’t you go to the KKG party last night?”
“Yeah, so I’ll need you to wake me up when it’s time to go to the Pi Phi party,” Harry said as he grabbed his pillow from under his head and covered his face with it to block out the annoying presence that is Liam Payne.
“Actually I’m waking you up to make sure you get to that meeting on time.”
Groaning, Harry removed the pillow, now finally– regretfully– awake. “That’s today?”
“Yes,” Liam said, tone matching his annoyed expression. “You made me promise you that I would wake you up, on time, and to not take no for an answer.”
“Are you sure I wasn’t talking about the Pi Phi party?”
That comment resulted in Harry on the floor, and Liam lowering his friend's mattress back onto its frame.
Finally dressed for the day in his Wednesday best (just a pair of nice jeans and a white sleeveless top,) Harry made his way into the kitchen to find something edible to cure his raging hangover. He didn't bat an eye when he saw Niall sitting on the counter next to the fridge chatting with some of Harry’s Kappa Sig brothers. “Hey Ni,” he greeted as he opened the fridge and grabbed a red Gatorade from the bottom shelf. “I know you don’t live here and everything, but if you’re always hanging around maybe you should start making yourself useful and help out around the place.”
“I’ll have you know Harold,” Niall smiled brightly as he stole the Gatorade from his friend, “that I brought you guys a shit ton of booze. Also my Playstation is still hooked up to your TV.”
Harry rolled his eyes, grabbing another Gatorade – yellow this time– before shutting the fridge. “Alright I guess you can stick around. Thanks for the booze.”
In lieu of a response, Niall just ruffled the mop of curls that sat on top of Harry’s head.
The thing about Harry is that even though he is in a fraternity with a pretty great group of guys, he only really has two friends. Niall Horan and Liam Payne. Liam actually was his Big when he first joined the frat, constantly looking out for him and making sure he’s got his head on straight. and Niall… Well, Niall was somewhat of a mystery to all who have met him– and enigma if you will. He sort of just showed up in Harry’s life one day and has yet to leave. Harry was quite content with only having them as his closest confidants.
When Harry was brand new to Kappa Sig, he didn't exactly know what he was getting himself into. Sure, he did his research and he made pros and cons about every fraternity on UCLA’s campus during rush week. Once he made his pledge to Kappa Sigma, he suddenly felt exactly how he did that day in the hospital when the doctors told him he may never compete again. He felt lost. This was a new step he was taking alone; that is until Liam took him under his wing, only to reveal himself as Harry’s Big. Granted, Liam would help just about any lost soul that he encounters, he’s just that good of a person. The amount of trust Harry has in Liam is phenomenal, so it was no question when he told his best friend everything . When Niall came and turned their duo into a trio, Harry felt the same level of trust with Niall as he did Liam. They’re the only two in his life that know everything about him, and in turn it made them a little bit overprotective of Harry, especially Liam.
“That is not what you’re wearing to your meeting,” Liam said when he walked into the kitchen, absolutely exasperated at the mere thought of Harry showing up wearing skinny jeans and a tank top. “Go change!”
“He told me to be casual,” Harry explained with a shrug, bringing up his drink to take a quick sip. “Is there anything wrong with what I’m wearing, Niall?”
“I think you look fine,” the non-frat brother said with a smile, slinging his arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Your first official day is next week, yeah? I don’t see anything wrong with showing a little bit of skin.”
“Thank you Nialler, this is why we keep you around.”
“Actually you guys keep me around for my Playstation.”
“What do you have going on today, Styles?” Tony, one of the frat boys talking to Niall, asked, cocking his head to the side to see what Liam was making a fuss about.
“Just some bullshit meeting,” Harry shrugged it off, hoping to play it cool. “It’s not a big deal, really.” He grabbed a banana off the counter and slipped on his Vans that were by the front door, not even bothering to put them on properly. Liam opened the door to lead the two of them out, and Harry mentally prepared himself for the upcoming lecture.
***
“I don’t know Z, I guess I’m just nervous about the start of the school year. Like I’m meeting my student teacher for the first time today after he canceled on me all summer break,” Louis said, adjusting his phone so that it was wedged between his ear and his shoulder, as he unlocked the door to his classroom. “Thankfully his classes don’t start until next week, so I don’t have to worry about starting off on the wrong foot– or giving him a bad write up.”
“Yeah you’ve always been one to give out bad grades,” Zayn chuckled on the other line, voice sounding afar so Louis could only assume he was doing one of two things: painting or smoking. “Give the kid a break, he’s only what? 19?”
“I resent that first comment, there are no bad grades in kindergarten. And he’s not a kid, he’s 22. Some hot-shot former athlete that moved out here to go to college and get a fresh start after an injury ruined his chances of participating in the Olympics a few years ago. “
“Someone’s done his research…Did you Google him?”
“Of course I Googled him! I’m not exaggerating when I say that when I opened up the file they gave me about him, a moth flew out. A moth! That only happens in cartoons, I hope you know!” Louis basically screamed into the receiver, propping the door open with his foot and grabbing his phone with one hand and he flicked on the light with the other. “Just one quick search of his name and I found everything— or at least almost everything— I needed to know on his Wikipedia page.”
“He has a Wikipedia page?! Send it to me! I wanna read about this kid,” Zayn squealed in delight, sounding way too excited about what could be Louis’ biggest downfall in his kindergarten teaching career.
“It’s not a lot,” Louis sighed as he walked over to his desk. “I basically told you everything covered in it.”
“Did it have a picture of him?”
“I mean, yeah, but they were all from like six years ago.”
“Is he cute?”
“Alright I’m hanging up now,” Louis said, ignoring his friend’s protests and swears that he was only teasing. Zayn did the absolute opposite of what Louis was hoping he would do, like be a good friend and ease his nerves. He dropped his phone on his desk and let his head fall into his hands. Abruptly hanging up on Zayn like that was not going to bode well in his favor.
Louis Tomlinson– or Mr. Louis to his students– has been teaching kindergarten for five years and it has been his absolute favorite thing in the world. Being the eldest of seven kids meant that he knew at a fairly young age (sometime in middle school) that he wanted to teach kindergarten, considering the first set of twins were born when he was only 12. His mother loved how hands on her oldest child was with all of the babies, starting as young as six years old. He just had a knack for being around kids, especially those between the ages of four and six.
It's just that now he has to deal with his first ever student teacher, and he doesn't even know where to begin. It’s kindergarten for crying out loud, there isn't much to do anyways. Louis considers it a successful day if no one tries to eat paste or try to shove a crayon up their nose. But now he has to take care of some college kid. He basically was just in college himself, how the hell is he supposed to mentor a college student? Ever since he was told about the arrangement, Louis swears there's been some sort of a mistake. There is no way he’s supposed to have a student teacher.
A quick rap at the door caused Louis to break out of whatever internal meltdown he was having. He quickly composed himself and got up from his desk to go greet the man on the other side.
Legs.
That was the first thing Louis noticed.
Long, toned, delicious legs.
The next thing Louis noticed was the obvious state his student teacher was in. “Oh my God, please tell me you aren’t hungover.”
“Uhm… I’m not hungover?” said the man– boy?-- stood in front of Louis, and God , his voice was deep.
“Right, sure. I’m Louis Tomlinson, the kids all call me Mr. Louis, you can call me whatever you want– as long as it's not ‘dick,’ ‘ass,’ ‘bastard,’ or any other swear word, especially if a student is within hearing distance.”
“Yeah, I’m Harry,” he greeted, holding out a hand for Louis to shake.
Louis smiled warmly, grasping the hand in a firm shake before allowing his student teacher to enter the classroom. He quietly observed Harry as he took in his surroundings, and Louis took quick note when he saw his gaze linger on the small pride flag that is displayed on his desk. “So this is where the magic happens,” he said with a chuckle, gesturing vaguely around the classroom. “I haven’t quite set your desk up yet. I wasn’t sure if you wanted your own, or where, or if you just wanted to share mine. Either way, you’ll have a spot to call your own and even decorate how you wish when you start next week.”
“Yeah, okay, sounds good.”
“You’re not very talkative, are you?”
“Ah… yeah, I mean I guess? My brothers all think I’m a weirdo because of it…”
“Oh you have brothers?” Louis doesn’t remember anything about brothers on the Wikipedia page, maybe something about a sister.
“My frat brothers.”
Louis kept his expression neutral, leaning against his desk. “That explains the hangover,” he chuckled, subtly removing his flag and hiding it behind his computer monitor. Better safe than sorry.
“Yeah– rush parties, they can get a little wild,” Harry chuckled, bringing a hand up to mess with his curls.
“I can imagine. Well, I’ll let you take a look around, get used to everything. I’m just going to…” Louis trailed off, pointing at his desk hoping Harry will get what he means. “Just some last minute stuff for tomorrow.”
“Yeah, yeah, do what you need to. I’m just going to explore.”
Louis smiled, pushing off his desk to walk around it and sit himself down in his chair, booting up his computer to begin his first day presentation.
***
It was all becoming surreal, this whole student teaching thing. Louis seemed nice enough, and Harry was glad to be working with someone closer to his age. The classroom was pretty neat– hip, trendy, youthful. It was very… Louis. Not that Harry knew much about the teacher anyways, but he could tell that Louis took pride in his job. Every little detail in the room has been carefully thought out and planned, and Harry was thoroughly impressed. There was something else that Louis took pride in that Harry had noticed, and the pang in his chest had yet to subside when Harry saw his mentor hide his flag.
Pride.
Harry couldn't believe that even mentioning his Greek Life status was enough to have Louis feel the need to try and hide that part of him. It was ridiculous. He has always known that most guys that join fraternities haven't quite caught up with the rest of the world in regards to open mindedness, he knew when he was just a pledge himself that by joining the frat, he too will be perceived in that way. It was all planned out of course, Harry knew what he was doing. He knew what people would think of him. What people are thinking of him. What Louis is currently thinking of him. He’s never really been one to leave a bad first impression on someone, but he fears that he left the worst possible one on Louis, the man that is supposed to help him figure out this whole teaching thing.
“Y’know, you don't have to hide it,” Harry said, looking over his shoulder back at Louis. The teacher just gave a hum in response, not looking up at the frat boy. “Your pride flag? It was the first thing I noticed when I walked in, and isn’t that what pride is all about? Not being ashamed? Anyways, it was nice meeting you Tomlinson, but I have to get going.”
“Wild frat party tonight?”
“Sorority actually,” Harry said with a wink.
After the meeting, Liam and Harry hit the gym, and the entire time they were there the older kept pestering his friend for the details; he just wanted to know if Harry got along with the teacher, and if he was excited about this next step in his schooling. Back at the frat house, Liam was basically following Harry around, demanding to know the details of Harry’s meeting with his new mentor. The taller green-eyed boy ignored him, grabbing a change of clothes before heading for the bathroom.
“Harry you can’t ignore me all day,” Liam groaned, leaning against the doorframe to prevent his friend from shutting the bathroom door behind him. “I just want to make sure things went well, that you’re feeling ready for it.”
“Okay well you can either join me in here where I’ll gladly tell you all the dirty details, or you can leave me alone and let me shower in peace,” Harry replied, sounding absolutely bored out of his mind, removing his shirt and looking back at Liam with an expression that matched his tone. “Take your pick.”
“Ugh fine!”
Harry smiled, taking a mental note that he won this round as he watched Liam leave the bathroom and enter his own bedroom. What he wasn’t expecting was for Liam to come back with a towel slung over his shoulder and a pair of boxers in his hand. “Woah, bro I was kidding,” Harry said, trying to close the door before his friend could enter the bathroom, but Liam was quick to stick his foot in between the door and the frame.
“Nope. Let’s get this over with, and I’ll have you know I am prepared to use water preservation as an excuse if anyone questions why we showered together.”
“Liam! I was joking! It was a joke! I don’t want to see you naked!”
“Oh? Worried you might like what you see?” Liam teased, using his boxers to whip Harry’s thigh.
“Please just let me shower in peace!” Harry exclaimed, trying to avoid Liam’s persistent boxer attacks. “You’re so annoying!”
“You’re annoying for not telling me what happened.”
“Nothing happened!”
“That’s bullshit! Something happened and you’re purposely not telling me.”
“Okay well what did you expect to happen? He’s not a jerk, he obviously cares about what he does, and he’s gay . Now if you can excuse me I would really like to shower now since I didn't get the opportunity at the gym.”
Liam was about to protest once more, but Harry quickly shut and locked the door before his friend got the chance to say anything. Harry knew revealing the sexuality of the teacher will be working with was a big mistake, but he needed to get Liam off of his back and this was the only way he could. He sent a quick text off to Niall asking if he wanted to go to the Pi Phi party, and he got a random string of emojis in response, which Harry assumed they translated into ‘ yea sure sounds good see you there.’
Harry let out a heavy sigh, turning on the shower and letting the steam fog up the small bathroom. It’s always been a little hard for him; opening up to people. Liam has known that for as long as he’s known Harry, but that won't stop him from pushing and pushing. Stripping out of his gym shorts and boxers, Harry stepped into the hot shower, hoping to finally wash off the events of today.
The party is in a few hours, and Harry wanted to be in the best possible mindset for it. He’s naturally a charmer, but he amplifies it when it comes to parties and other social events when he’s with his frat brothers. It’s the same way he was able to get through high school without having any close friends. Surface level friendships. He was already risking things by considering Niall and Liam his closest friends in a long time, letting them into his inner circle. Charm people, reel them in, but keep them at bay. That’s what he does day in and day out, he’s always on guard.
The pressure of the shower loosened his muscles up, helping him relax as he tossed his head back and allowed his curls to get soaked by the stream. He grabbed his shampoo, squirting out a nickel sized amount and lathered it through his chocolate colored curls, the smell of eucalyptus overpowering his senses. Once he washed the shampoo out of his hair, Harry applied his leave-in conditioner, saturating each curl before shutting the water off. He tousled his hair before he wrapped his towel around his waist. He applied a vitamin-c serum to his face, letting it soak in as he grabbed his pink toothbrush from the little cup on the sink. He was reaching for his toothpaste when he heard someone pounding on the door.
“For the love of God Harry,” Liam yelled from the other side, “I heard the shower turn off, please tell me you aren’t doing your Patrick Bateman shit!”
“Fuck off Liam!” Harry yelled back, making sure to have a pea sized dollop of toothpaste applied to the bristles. “I really don’t want to talk to you right now!”
“You can’t ignore me forever!”
“Fuck off Liam!”
The heavy bass reverberated in Harry’s chest as he laughed at something one of the Sigma Nu guys said. If he was being honest he didn't really hear what was said, nor did he care. He genuinely regrets joining Greek Life sometimes, but that thought only comes when he has the unfortunate pleasure of talking to anyone from Sigma Nu. He has nothing in common with these people, except for their love of alcohol and sports of course. Harry only joined Kappa Sigma to save himself from boredom since he couldn't participate in track anymore, but he failed to consider that meant interacting with the other fraternities on campus. He took a sip from his drink, some sort of vodka heavy concoction someone claimed was a martini (it wasn't,) when he noticed Niall chatting up some Delta Gamma and Kappa Kappa Gamma girls. Without even excusing himself from the group he was engaged with, Harry headed over to where his friend was, needing to complain to him about Liam.
“Sorry ladies,” Harry apologized once he reached the group of girls, slinging an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “But I need to steal this handsome devil from you. I promise to return him to you in one piece.” He shot the girls a wink, pulling Niall along with him as they headed towards a fairly empty hallway. Harry removed his hold on his friend, slumping against a wall with a groan.
“Rough day?” Niall asked, chuckling slightly when Harry downed the rest of what was in his red solo cup.
“Liam’s being annoying and I’m not as drunk as I want to be.”
“I had a feeling Liam was involved… He’s been sulking on the couch ever since I got here, shooting you his patented wounded puppy dog eyes.”
“He just kept asking me about today, since I met with the teacher I got placed with and everything,” Harry sighed, lolling his head to the side to look at Niall.
“Well you’re in luck,” Niall smiled, reaching into his front shirt pocket and pulling out a neatly rolled joint. “I had a sesh with my neighbor when you texted me about this party; he let me take one for the road.”
“Tell your neighbor I love him.”
Niall laughed in response, leading Harry with a quick nod of his head towards the back yard of the Pi Beta Phi house. Once they were settled on some plastic lawn chairs, Harry made grabby hands for the joint that Niall was currently lighting. He took a quick hit before passing it to the curly-haired frat boy. They lazily shared the joint between the two of them, and when it was halfway gone, Harry began to get into detail about why he thought Liam was being annoying.
“He just kept asking me how it went,” Harry confessed, passing the joint over to Niall. “Like he just would not take ‘it was fine,’ as an answer.”
“He just likes being kept in the loop,” Niall explained, exhaling the sweet smelling smoke. “You know how he gets.”
“Yeah I guess but like nothing happened. The only interesting thing that happened was that the guy has a rainbow flag on his desk. Like one of those tiny ones they hand out at events and shit.”
“He’s gay?”
“Pretty sure. He tried to hide it– the flag– when I told him I’m in a frat; y’know since all frat boys are riddled with toxic masculinity,” Harry said, and right on cue some guys just started yelling over beer pong or some shit.
“You sound like you want to get out of here,” Niall smiled tightly, snubbing out the rest of the joint on the table they were sitting at.
“Oh my God, can we please ? The Dodger game is still going on and the last thing I want to do is watch it with a bunch of guys that consume protein powder and pre-workout like it’s actual sustenance.”
The thing about Niall is that he doesn't ask questions. So when Harry instructed the Uber driver to take them to a sports bar in WeHO, he kept his mouth shut. He did however raise a brow inquisitively when he saw the crowd gathered at the bar, but he still refused to ask questions. Harry wanted to come here for a reason, and he’s going to do what he can to make sure his friend is comfortable.
“Are they playing the game?” was the only thing Niall asked, when they eventually took their seats at the bar.
“Yeah,” Harry said, pointing a finger at the screen behind his friend’s head.
“What the fuck is Kimbrel doing out!? You gotta be fucking kidding me! Roberts you idiot! You’re going to cost us the game!”
“Your friend,” the person standing next to Harry said with a lazy smile playing on their lips. “He doesn’t really come here often, does he?”
Harry shook his head, smirking coyly as he waved the bartender down. “This isn’t exactly his uh… scene .”
“What about you?”
The stranger roughly shoved Harry against the bathroom door, locking it as he pressed his lips firmly against the frat boys. Harry moaned into the kiss, running his fingers through the man’s wavy blonde hair. He really didn’t care about the game that was keeping Niall occupied.
This is it.
This right here was the real reason why he came to this bar tonight. Harry wasn’t necessarily looking to get laid tonight, but he really needed to let off some steam, and the many bars and clubs that littered West Hollywood were the safest places for him to do so. The man was quick to latch his teeth into Harry’s neck intending to leave many deep and dark marks there, and Harry was more than willing to allow it.