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Louis really, really, really hated going clubbing. He hated the smoke, the sweaty strangers grinding against him, trying to grope him, and the drunks who spilt their drinks down his carefully thought-out outfits - which is why he said no when his best friend begged him to go out.
“Please, please, please,” Harry had whined.
“No.” It wasn’t that Louis didn’t love Harry - anyone with eyes could see that he did - he just refused to be subjected to that kind of environment.
“... But, Louis, I haven’t gotten laid in ages and I need a wingman,” Harry said. Harry widened his eyes and pouted.
Louis looked away from Harry in an effort to avoid eye contact. “The puppy-dog eyes don’t work on me anymore, Harold,” he lied. “Why don’t you ask Grimmy? You’re always going on about how he goes to the best places.”
Harry’s eyes lit up at the suggestion and he rushed out of the room, presumably to call Nick, with a quick 'Lou, you’re a genius,' over his shoulder.
Louis settled down on the couch, tea in hand, satisfied that he’d dodged a bullet. He grabbed the remote and started flicking through channels It had been a while since he’d had a night to himself and he just wanted to put his feet up and watch bad Saturday night TV. He stopped at a reality show that looked suitably horrifying for his viewing needs and sat up, ready to yell at the contestants whenever they did anything stupid. He’d just started to enjoy hurling insults at the screen when Harry walked back into the room, his shoulders slumped and wearing an expression that Louis could only describe as forlorn.
Harry sat down next to Louis and put his head on his shoulder. “Nick won’t come out,” Harry said.
Louis put his arm around Harry and asked, “Did he say why?”
“Lex isn’t feeling well and Nick doesn’t want to leave him alone,” Harry mumbled into Louis’ jumper.
Louis stroked Harry’s hair. “Can’t he get someone to stay with Lex while you go out?”
Harry looked up at him, eyes dancing. “Yes! Louis, you are the best! I’ll call Nick now and tell him you’ll look after Lex.”
“I...what? I didn’t mean me! I just meant, you know, someone. God, Harry, Nick doesn’t even like me,” Louis stammered.
Harry grinned. “But you’re so good at taking care of people, animals love you and you always take such good care of me. Also, Nick likes you; I don’t know why you think he doesn’t.”
“Harry Styles, you can’t just flatter people into doing what you want them to,” Louis said, but the room was empty and he was already getting up in search of his shoes.
An hour later, a disgruntled Louis was stood – with Harry - in front of Nick Grimshaw’s front door, waiting for him to answer. Nick opened the door and Louis couldn’t help but sigh. Of course Nick looked good – with his impossibly long legs in tight black jeans and a simple white shirt revealing just the right amount of chest hair and then his hair, his stupid, perfectly quiffed hair that Louis definitely didn’t want to run his fingers through. Louis was not pleased. He really wished that he hadn’t decided to wear comfy track pants and an old t-shirt. If only Nick wasn’t so attractive – and funny, not to mention charming, Louis’ traitorous brain supplied – then he’d actually be able to remember why he disliked him so much.
“Harold, are you ready to go out on pull?” Nick teased.
Harry only rolled his eyes as he hugged Nick.
“And, Louis, looking lovely as ever,” Nick greeted him.
Louis could only gape. He didn’t know how but Nick always seemed to pick up on the one thing he wasn’t wholly confident about.
Louis pushed past Nick without deigning to reply. He found Lex on Nick’s couch and settled on the floor in front of the sick dog, making cooing noises as his hand stroked the soft fur.
Nick cleared his throat and said, “Make yourself at home. Feel free to have whatever’s in the kitchen.”
Louis smiled at him. “Thanks, mate.”
Nick blinked. He’d never been on the receiving end of a Louis-Tomlinson-smile before (and lord knows, he’s tried to make the younger man smile) and it felt just as amazing as he’d imagined.
“Text me if you need anything. Thank you so much for doing this,” Nick said.
Louis waved at him. “Go, have fun. We’ll be fine,” he said not taking his eyes off of the dog.
“Oh, just so you know, he refuses to let anyone on the couch with him,” Nick added before leaving.
They hadn’t been gone an hour yet when Louis’ phone buzzed. He looked at the screen and rolled his eyes when Nick’s name flashed at him. He opened the message and read:
How is Lex? – N
Louis typed a quick reply before going to back to stroking Lex and watching TV:
Lex is fine. Have fun.
Louis was dozing off when his phone buzzed again:
Is everything still okay? – N
Louis sent back:
Yes, we’re fine. Go look after my puppy while I look after yours.
An hour later after Louis had finally convinced Lex to let Louis sit next to him, his phone buzzed again. “Oh for god’s sake,” he mumbled as he read the message.
Harry is dancing like an idiot – N
You want to know about the dog, don’t you?
...yeah – N
LEX IS FINE AND I AM TURNING MY PHONE OFF.
When Nick arrived home, he found a boy and a dog cuddling on his couch. He wanted nothing more than to join them but while the dog was his, sadly, the boy wasn’t. Louis’ hair had fallen onto his forehead and Nick resisted the urge to stroke it out of his face. He put his hand on Louis’ shoulder and shook him gently.
Louis sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. It took him a moment to realise that Harry wasn’t with Nick. “Where’s Haz?”
“I am an excellent wingman.” Nick grinned and said, “If you ever need help in that department then give me a call.”
Louis rolled his eyes and said, “Lex was fine, he only sneezed a few times.”
Louis got his things together, petted Lex and said, “Well, goodnight.”
Nick walked him to the door and asked, “Wait, how did you get him to share the couch with you?”
Louis laughed and patted Nick’s arm before saying, “Patience, young Grimshaw.” Then he was gone.
Two days later, Nick was sitting on the couch with Lex curled up at his feet, not really paying attention to the TV – he was really only waiting for the Great British Bake-off to start. Without warning, Lex padded over to the TV set and started whining. Nick looked around to see what had upset the dog and, not finding anything, he turned his attention to the screen where he saw the smiling faces of Louis Tomlinson and the rest of One Direction. It was one of the thousands of interviews the band had done and Louis was answering some question and making the female interviewer giggle.
“Great, my dog is a One Direction fan,” Nick muttered as he grabbed his phone and typed a message to Louis.
WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY DOG, TOMLINSON? –N
Louis’ reply was almost instant:
What? I haven’t done anything, is Lex okay?
Nick quickly explained what had happened and that Lex was much better. When he saw Louis’ response, he rolled his eyes.
Obviously, like everyone with good taste he likes me more than he likes you. Clever dog xx
Nick turned the TV off and said, “traitor” when Lex put his head on Nick’s lap.
The sight that greeted Nick the next day when he got home from work was a confusing one. He found Harry and Louis waiting for him. Harry was busy with his phone, which was nothing new really, but Louis was the reason Nick was confused. He seemed to be talking, quite animatedly, to Nick’s front door.
Nick paid the cabbie and walked toward the two boys.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Louis bounded over to Nick as soon as he spotted him and grinned.
“Lex and I have decided that we’re going on a picnic. All of us. You should probably make up a basket.”
Nick groaned and rubbed his hand down his face. He couldn’t figure out when this had become his life.
Half an hour later, after Nick had made sandwiches (Louis badgering him the entire time; Why are you taking so long? Did you cut the crusts off? Don’t forget to pack something to drink) and had found an old blanket for them to sit on, Nick found himself watching Harry and Louis chasing Lex around the park as they tried to teach him to play fetch.
They only joined him once they were both out of breathe and claimed starvation. Nick pushed the basket towards them and said, “you know he’s never going to learn to fetch, right?”
Louis shook his head sadly. “Oh, Nicholas, ye of little faith. I trained Harry well enough, didn’t I?”
Harry looked like he was about to protest but changed his mind at the last minute and flopped onto his back, raising his arms and legs in the air and sticking his tongue out.
Louis crawled over to Harry and tickled his belly, causing the curly-haired boy to scream with laughter. Their sandwiches lay forgotten.
Nick watched them and couldn’t help but be amazed at how relaxed they were around each other, how simple their friendship was. Nick watched as Louis threw his head back and laughed, his hands finding new places to tickle as Harry tried to fight him off.
Nick crawled over to where they were - Louis was now straddling Harry – and helped Louis by holding Harry’s arms.
Louis grinned up at Nick who, without thinking, leaned forward and kissed Louis’ mouth. The kiss was soft, tentative and broken before Louis could respond.
“Guys, no. Not on top of me,” Harry whined and tried to push them away.
Nick stood and helped Louis up. As soon as he was free, Harry ran off to play with Lex, tactfully leaving the other two to talk.
“You’re really fucking annoying. You know that, right?” Nick wanted to kick himself but it was like his mouth and brain had had an argument and he couldn’t get the words he wanted out.
Louis glared at him, his blue eyes narrowing. “If that’s your idea of a declaration, Grimshaw, then I’m leaving.”
“No, wait,” Nick said. “You’re really annoying; you don’t laugh at my jokes or reciprocate when I try to flirt with you and you’re only talking to me now because you’ve grown attached to my dog but I like
you anyway.”
“Well, you’re obnoxious, your jokes are awful and to top it off you’re a filthy hipster, but seeing you with Lex made me think that you’re not as terrible as I thought you were,” Louis said.
“Thank you, darling,” Nick drawled before tugging on Louis shirt bringing him closer. Nick leaned down and covered Louis’ mouth with his own.
Which was exactly where they both wanted to be.