Chapter Text
WEDNESDAY - HARRY
“They said they’d rather their family record and take photos, Niall. Their families!” Harry huffs into his phone as he drags his luggage down the driveway.
“They fired their wedding photographer so their families could document it on cell phones?” Nialls asks, indignant as Harry.
“Cell phones and those point-and-shoot disposable cameras. I mean, I can’t lie, it sounds kind of charming but they could’ve given me a heads-up before I flew all the way to Jamaica for it. They said they’d reimburse my flight there but not back so now I’m out about £700. Y’know, instead of getting the money from the gig, I’m paying out of my own fucking pockets.” Harry shakes his head even though Niall can’t see him. He turns his key and unlocks the door.
“Well, maybe you can sell some stuff around the house to make it back,” Niall suggests. Harry walks in and drops his keys in the dish by the door. His roommate, Louis, stands from the couch and his eyes go wide. Harry waves at him, a silent greeting.
“Maybe. I don’t know, I don’t have much that I’m willing to let go of. You know how sentimental I am.”
“Harry! I thought you were gonna be gone for a week?” Louis walks around the couch and starts following Harry to the hall.
Harry moves the phone away from his face and tells him, “Gig got canceled.”
Louis steps in front of Harry, blocking his way in the hall.
“Oh, wow, really? Why- I mean, like, for what reason did they do that?” Harry frowns because typically Louis doesn’t really give a fuck about the details of Harry’s life. “Did someone get cold feet about the wedding? Was it dramatic?”
“Is that Louis?” Niall asks.
“Louis, I’m on the phone.” Harry huffs, trying to move around Louis to get to his room.
“Tell him Zayn said to pay up.” Niall cackles into the phone. Harry faintly hears Zayn shouting in the background. He can’t focus on the call with Louis trying to herd him away from his own room.
“Right. You should take that call in the kitchen, obviously. It’ll help you think.”
“Louis, I just got off a 10-hour flight. I want to go lie down in my bed and relax.” Harry pushes past Louis and opens his bedroom door.
The sight he’s met with is a muscular shirtless man, leaning over Harry’s bed, reaching into a suitcase. The man jumps back at Harry’s entrance and goes to cover his chest with whatever he grabbed from his suitcase. “Who are you?” The man asks.
Harry’s eyes widen, “Who…”
“So sorry, Liam! Lemme just- Sorry.” Louis pulls Harry back and closes the door.
Harry takes a deep breath, trying to ground himself. “Niall, I gotta go.” He hangs up the phone, grip tightening on his suitcase handle.
“Harry, I can explain.”
“Why is there a half-naked man in my room?”
Louis laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, “It’s a really funny story actually.”
Harry looks at him expectantly, waiting for the funny part.
“Sooooo, I maybe might’ve put your room on Airbnb for the week.”
“What?!” Harry’s eyes go wide again, “Louis, what the fuck?!”
“Shhhhh!” Louis motions towards Harry’s closed door. He grabs Harry’s arm and walks him back into the living room. “To be quite fair, you weren’t using it.”
“Oh my fucking god, I can’t believe-”
“Harry, listen. I know, I know. It was kind of shitty of me-”
“Kind of shitty?!”
“Okay, super shitty. I know. But I really needed the money. I lost a bet with Zayn- long story- and I wanted to make my money back. So I posted your room on Airbnb and Liam booked it!”
“He needs to leave. Now.” Harry snaps. “I’ve spent the past 24 hours on two international flights, I’m out £700 for the return flight with no gigs coming up, and my back is killing me. I just want to lie down in my own bed-”
“I’ll split the money with you!” Louis promises.
“Louis, I don’t want-”
“It’s £1,300. I’ll give you the lion’s share. £700 for the flight.”
Harry pauses.
Louis can clearly sense Harry’s hesitation, “And, c’mon, Harry, you wouldn’t want to kick poor Liam out on his own.” He makes a pouty face at Harry, playing to Harry’s weaknesses.
Before Harry can answer, Liam comes out of Harry’s room. At least he’s wearing a shirt now.
He waves awkwardly, “Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt.”
“No! You’re not interrupting at all. Mi casa es su casa,” Louis laughs awkwardly. Liam nods and walks over to Harry.
“Hi, I’m Liam.” He reaches a hand out for Harry to shake. Harry takes it and gives him his best smile, trying not to look as annoyed as he is.
“Harry.”
“Oh!” Liam nods as if he finally understands something. “I was wondering who Harry was. I saw your name on the mail but I thought Louis lived alone.”
“No, I live here too.”
“Right, I just assumed, since there’s only two rooms and one was being rented out… Are you guys, like, together?”
Harry nearly laughs and goes to protest but Louis beats him to it.
“Yep. The two of us. Boyfriends!” Louis agrees enthusiastically.
“Louis-”
“We share my- our- the other room. Obviously.” Louis looks at Harry, eyes begging him to play along.
Harry internally curses himself. This is a terrible, terrible idea. But he really needs the money… “Right, ‘cause we’re boyfriends.” He sings the last word to disguise the way his voice naturally lifts when he’s lying, hands doing unfortunate finger gun motions at Liam.
“Are you alright?” Liam asks, voice slightly concerned, “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m not homophobic. I’m actually bi myself. Well, not by myself, I meant bisexual. I myself am bisexual and- well, yeah, I am by myself too. Just got out of a relationship and that’s- Y’know what? You guys don’t want to hear about it.” Liam claps, “Well, I was just about to go for a run. But I’d love to buy you guys a drink tonight, as thanks.”
“Yeah, of course, that’d be great.” Louis nods.
“Alright, so I’ll see you guys tonight. It was nice meeting you, Harry.” Liam leaves, taking off into a slow jog down the driveway.
Harry turns to Louis and smacks his arm.
“Ouch! What the fuck Harold?!” Louis rubs his arm and then smacks Harry back.
“Boyfriends?!” Harry swears under his breath as he rubs his own arm. “We can’t even be alone together for more than five minutes without wanting to kill each other.” He smacks Louis’ arm again.
“Will you stop that?!” Louis smacks back. “It’s one week. Seven days of pretending to love each other and then we get paid and go back to normal.”
“Well, where do you propose I sleep?”
“In my bed, obviously.” Louis crosses his arms.
“Are you serious?!”
Louis rolls his eyes, “You know my bed’s more comfortable than yours. You said so yourself.”
“Louis,” Harry warns. “I am not sleeping in your bed.”
Louis does that thing with his eyebrows, jerks them up like he’s just won an argument, and smirks. “Probably for the best. I mean, we both know how that’ll end.”
“Louis,” Harry warns again, this time through gritted teeth.
“Wouldn’t want a repeat. Well, a three-peat if you will.”
“Louis! What happened to not talking about it?!” Harry whines.
Louis laughs, “I know, I know. But seriously, where else are you supposed to sleep?”
“The couch?”
“Right, and then what do we tell Liam when he sees you sleeping on the sofa instead of in bed with your loving boyfriend?” Louis bats his eyelashes, laying it on thick.
“I guess I can sleep on the floor in your room then.”
Louis gives him a look, “With your back? I guess that’s fine if you want to deal with the pain.”
It seems like no matter what Harry suggests, Louis has an excuse. Unfortunately, he’s right. If Harry sleeps on the floor his back will be killing him for longer than the week he’d have to share the bed. He’d rather not share a bed with Louis, not with their history. It’s not even really a history if he’s being honest. They hooked up once… okay, twice. You really can’t blame Harry. Louis walks around shirtless, for fucks sake, and Harry is only a man. Harry would be lying if he didn’t say Louis was beautiful. He’s gorgeous, honestly. His feathery hair, bright blue eyes, the stubble on his perfect jawline… Let’s call a spade a spade, Louis is hot drop-dead gorgeous. So really, Harry can’t be blamed.
The first time, he figured it would help. Louis gets him so wound up, drives him up the walls. He thought it would release some tension so they could be normal roommates who don’t rile each other up so easily. But then the next morning they were right back at it, arguing over something stupid probably. Harry doesn’t remember the details of the argument, just remembers yanking the blankets off Louis’ bed to cover himself and taking them with him to his room.
The second time, well… they were drunk. Absolutely wasted. That’s all there is to it. Nothing more. And they swore they’d never mention it ever again, so Louis is out of line for bringing it up now, especially if he’s trying to get Harry to help him.
“Listen, Harry,” Louis gives him a desperate look, dropping his teasing tone. “You were going to be gone Tuesday to Tuesday. Today’s Wednesday, which means we only have to do this for six days. Not even a full week, he leaves on Monday! You need the money, I need the money, Liam needs a place to stay. Really, we can avoid each other most of the time, just like we usually do. We just have to sleep in the same bed and act like we love each other if we happen to be in the same room together at the same time as Liam. Please, Harry?” Louis’ eyes are wide and begging. Harry has such a soft spot for Louis’ eyes.
Who said that?
Not him.
“Fine.”
“Yes!” Louis fist bumps the air.
“But we need rules.”
“Rules?”
“Yes, everyone knows you need rules if you’re going to pretend to date. That way no boundaries are crossed.”
“Right, everyone knows. Everyone meaning the characters in romcoms? Y’know, the ones who end up together anyway? Even though they’ve made rules. Right.” Louis gives him that stupid know-it-all look, the same one he gave Harry when they’d played Scrabble with Zayn and Niall.
“Sorry, H,” Niall said, holding his phone in his hand and nodding, “Google says ‘gonna’ is a valid Scrabble word. Louis gets the points.”
They don’t play Scrabble anymore.
“Those characters had no backbone. I’ve got an iron will.” Harry assures.
“Which is why I’ve had you twice before, right?” Louis smirks.
“Oh fuck off,” Harry rolls his eyes. If Louis keeps bringing it up, despite their agreement to never speak about it ever again, Harry’s going to blow a gasket. “Rule number 1, pillow wall.”
“Pillow wall?” Louis crosses his arms.
“A wall of pillows.” Harry motions an imaginary line between them, “Between us when we sleep.”
“You’re ridiculous. Fine.”
“Okay, number 2, no kissing, no touching, nothing.”
“C’mon, Harry. No one’s going to believe we’re together if I’m not allowed to touch you. I promise I won’t do anything inappropriate but an arm around the waist or shoulders or holding hands is fine, don’t you think?”
Harry considers it for a moment. He’d rather Louis not touch him at all, but he agrees that Liam might get suspicious if they can’t even be slightly physically affectionate with each other. “Alright, fine. But I stand by no kissing.”
“Deal.”
“Rule number 3, we spend the least amount of time together as possible. I’ll make up excuses to go to Niall’s or whatever. Minimize the time together, minimize the time pretending.”
“Fair enough.”
“Rule number 4-”
“Harry,” Louis lets out a petulant whine, “Isn’t this a bit excessive?”
“Rule number 4- well, it’s not really a rule but we need a backstory. How did we meet? Did we get together right away? Those kinds of details.”
“Lying is easiest when you stay as close to the truth as possible, so-”
“Rule 5, don’t call it lying,” Harry cringes, “It makes me feel like a little kid. Just call it pretending.”
“Right, because playing pretend is so grown up.” Louis quips. Harry shoots him a look, “Okay so, pretending is easier if we stick to the tru- reality.”
“Okay, so we met through Niall and Zayn. I needed a roommate to pay for rent-”
“And I needed a place to stay after my breakup with Marcus.” Louis nods. “Zayn and Niall gave me your number. I reached out and moved in.”
“Do we say we fell in love right away or…?”
“Um, how about… you fell in love with me right away, I held out?” Louis suggests.
Harry rolls his eyes, “You’re so fucking full of yourself, why didn’t you fall in love with me first?”
“Who’s to say I didn’t, hmm?” Louis snaps, “We can’t have both fallen in love right away because in order to stay close to the truth we can’t have gotten together right away.”
“Well, I think you should fall in love with me first. And I’m the one who held out.”
“That doesn’t make any sense! I had just gotten out of a break-up. You’re trying to tell me my heart was broken and I just saw you and got over it? You’re hot, Harold, but not that hot.”
“Not that hot?!” Harry repeats, offended, “I’ll have you know-” He stops, shaking his head to stop himself from getting angrier, “See, this is never going to work. We can’t even agree on a backstory.”
“No, no, no,” Louis starts begging again, “Please, Harry. It’s going to work. We just gotta sort this out. How about neither of us fell in love right away? That’s unrealistic anyways. Love at first sight isn’t real.”
Harry frowns, “You don’t believe in love at first sight?”
“It’s infatuation at first sight at the most. You can’t love someone without knowing them. To be loved is to be known,” Louis shrugs gently, head falling to look down at his feet. He looks soft and the words he’s saying are beautiful. To be loved is to be known. Harry’s taken aback by his sincerity. That is until Louis’ voice gets that awkward tone and he adds, “and all that jazz.”
Harry rolls his eyes. And all that jazz. This is why Louis drives him nuts. Harry starts to see him in a different light and then he says something stupid again. “So neither of us fell in love at first,” Harry says.
“Right, and to make it more believable, we should say we hated each other in the beginning. We can say we hated each other and then hooked up like we did-”
“Stop bringing it up!”
“I’m trying to make a realistic story, and these are things that happened in reality. So, we hooked up and then confessed our feelings to each other. Then we got together. There, easy. Just stick to the timeline.”
“Okay, so that would mean we’ve been together for…” Harry tries counting backward to the first time they hooked up.
“Eight months and two weeks.” Louis provides easily. Harry raises a brow at him and Louis shrugs, “Good at math.”
“Right, and we’ve been living together for almost a year.”
“Ten months and three weeks.”
“Louis, what the fuck? How are you doing this so fast?”
“Well, I moved in a week after Marcus and I split and I remember that date pretty clearly.”
Harry nods, “Right. Okay, so, the rules. Number 1?”
“Pillow fort.”
“Pillow wall , Louis.”
“Whatever.”
“Rule number 2?” Harry presses on.
“No kissing. Light touching allowed.”
“Rule 3?”
“Ummmm,” Louis squints his eyes, clearly searching his brain. Harry raises his eyebrows, urging Louis on. “Oh! Minimal time together!”
“4?”
“Stick to the backstory. Keep details as close to reality as possible.”
“And 5?”
“Don’t call it lying.” Louis rolls his eyes at that one. Harry ignores it.
“Good. Now, I’ve spent the past 24 hours flying and I desperately need to lie down. You,” Harry points his finger at Louis, “are going to stay out here or go out, I don’t care which. And I am going to go take a nap in your bed. Do not- I repeat- do not bother me unless the house is on fire.”
Harry doesn’t wait for a response. He grabs his suitcase and rolls it down the hall to Louis’ room, turning right instead of the usual left. He drops his suitcase onto the bed and opens it, rifling through to find his favorite pair of comfy pants.
As he changes, he surveys his surroundings. This is where he’ll sleep for the next week. Harry thinks he can count the number of times he’s seen this room since Louis moved in on one hand. In the absence of a hamper, Louis’ dirty clothes seem to be piled on the floor in the corner by the closet. Harry shakes his head.
Louis isn’t really a messy roommate. He leaves the occasional mess in the kitchen after poor cooking attempts but overall he cleans up after himself and keeps his messes to his room. Unfortunately, Harry’s going to have to share that room for a week.
There’s an insane amount of cups on Louis’ bedside table and Harry cringes. He puts his suitcase on the floor by the door and climbs into Louis’ bed.
Louis was right, his bed is far more comfortable than Harry’s. Harry already knew that but he’d sort of forgotten just how comfortable. The last time he was in it they weren’t exactly sleeping.
He shakes his head like an etch-a-sketch, trying to banish those thoughts from his brain. The only way he gets through this week is by keeping those thoughts- and anything even close to those thoughts- in a box in the deepest darkest part of his brain under lock and key with the key melted down into a useless piece of metal and buried in a graveyard.
He pulls the covers over his body and he’s out before he knows it.
===
“Harold, for fucks sake, get up.”
Harry groans, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Harry, seriously.” The blanket is yanked on a bit, falling off his shoulders.
He wiggles deeper under it in an attempt to restore his warmth and mumbles, “Is there a fire?”
“No, but-”
“Is someone dead?”
He hears Louis huff in annoyance, “No, no one is dead, Harry.”
“Then piss off.”
This time Louis yanks the blanket clean off of Harry. “You’ve been sleeping for four hours, if you don’t wake up you’ll never fall asleep tonight. Not to mention, Liam wants to go for drinks in an hour. Figured you’d want to get up to do your hair and whatnot.”
Harry groans but he stretches out. His t-shirt raises as he yawns and he pulls it back down. He sits up and glares at Louis.
Louis frowns, “What?”
“I’m so pissed at you.”
“What else is new,” Louis mumbles, rolling his eyes.
“I can’t believe I let you convince me to do this. Sorry, actually, I can’t believe you rented out my fucking bedroom in the first place.”
“Mate, come on, look at the bright side: you’re getting £700 out of this. Now, get up and shower. I’m not waiting on you in an hour when Liam is ready to leave.” Louis walks over to the wardrobe and drops his sweatpants.
“Louis!” Harry shrieks, covering his face with his hands, hopefully hiding his blush.
“What?” Louis asks, sounding completely oblivious to his near nudity.
“New rule! Number 6, fully clothed at all times!” He demands.
“Oh, come off it, Harold. You’ve seen it all before.”
Frankly, Harry doesn’t care if he’s seen it before, he doesn’t need to see it now. Last time he saw it- no, nope! In a box. Deepest darkest part of his mind. Melted the key. Buried in a graveyard.
He flinches when Louis’ hands grip his wrists, pulling them away from his face. “I’m fully dressed now. You can’t be serious. We’re not allowed to change in front of each other? Where am I supposed to get dressed?”
“I don’t know. The closet?” Harry suggests.
“Did you really just tell me to get in the closet?” Louis arches a brow at him, a tiny smirk playing at his lips. Harry rolls his eyes.
“Louis, you know what I mean.”
“Listen, you can get changed in the closet if you want. It’s my room, I’m changing out in the open.”
There’s a knock at the bedroom door and Louis calls out, “Yeah?”
“Hey guys, I found a bar online called ‘Johnny’s Place’ that’s only a ten-minute walk from here. Does that sound good to you guys?” Liam asks through the closed door.
“That’s our go-to place, actually. Sounds perfect!” Louis answers. “We’ll leave at six if that’s alright?”
“Great! I’ll leave you two to get ready.”
Harry hears Liam walk the few feet across the hall and into Harry’s bedroom, the door shutting with a familiar creek.
“Jeez, is the creek in my door really that loud?”
“Yep. I hear it every time.”
“Wow, sorry. That’s so annoying. I’ll try to fix it.”
Louis shrugs, “It’s fine. I actually quite like knowing when you’re on the move.” Harry isn’t sure what that means and he hardly has time to process it before Louis is ushering him to the shower. “Hurry up.”
Harry showers thoroughly, washing the air travel off of him. He gets dressed in the bathroom, not wanting to walk to or into Louis’ room with just a towel on. It takes him the usual amount of time to blow dry his hair and style it the way he likes. He’s not sure exactly how long though, because he realizes he doesn’t have his phone with him.
Once he feels ready, he takes a deep breath a walks back to Louis’ room. He enters without knocking and sees Louis standing just to the side of the door, not doing anything in particular.
“Hey, did I leave my phone in here?”
Louis nods, “Yep. On the bed. Niall called and I invited him out with us tonight. Texted Zayn, too.”
“You picked up my phone?” Of course, Louis would just pick up his phone. The same way he would just take it upon himself to rent out Harry’s room.
“Yeah, it was Niall.”
“Whatever.” Harry huffs, sliding his phone into the back pocket of his skinny jeans. It was just Niall. Niall is Louis’ friend too, so Harry can’t really complain that much. And if Niall and Zayn are coming it’ll probably be easier for Harry and Louis to spend less time together.
He walks out of the room and Liam greets him from the couch with a smile. “Ready to go?”
Harry nods. “Sorry if I took a while.”
Louis appears next to him and places a gentle hand on his back. “No longer than usual, love.” He grins and turns to Liam, “We’re all set.”
Harry tries not to shiver at the touch. Tries not to blush at the pet name. It’s easy not to considering he’s more shocked than anything. It’s such a complete turnaround from how he and Louis usually interact.
Louis’ hand pushes gently, guiding Harry towards the front door. Harry is finally able to breathe when Louis removes his hand, but freezes seconds later when that same hand reaches up and wraps Harry’s scarf around his neck for him. “Bundle up, baby. Cold out.”
Harry blinks, “Um, thanks.”
“Alright, you guys lead the way.” Liam chirps happily, completely oblivious to the way Harry’s brain is jumping hurdles.
It’s not even really cold enough for a scarf. It’s late September. It’s breezy out but his coat is plenty. The scarf was kind of unnecessary.
“Your neighborhood is beautiful, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Louis answers for Harry. Which, thank god, because Harry is really mentally preoccupied right now. “That’s all Haz here. I moved in much later.”
Haz… Louis has never called him that. Everyone calls him that. Louis never ever has. It’s always Harold or Harry. Now it's Haz and love?
“Oh, I assumed you guys bought the house together.”
“No, we actually don’t even own it. Renting it. Harry needed a roommate to cover the rent and I had just split from my last relationship and needed a place to stay. Our friends, the ones coming tonight, introduced us.” Louis smiles oh-so-sweetly and grabs Harry’s hand in his, swinging it between them.
Harry tries not to trip over his own feet.
The rest of the walk is filled with Louis telling Liam about Johnny’s Place and giving him local lore. The walk is only ten minutes but Harry feels like it lasts a lifetime.
Louis only finally lets go of his hand to open the door for them, “After you, love.”
Somehow, by some miracle, Zayn seems to have beaten them there despite living farther away. He waves them over to a booth in the corner nearest the bar.
“Liam, this is my best mate, Zayn.” Louis stands at the end of the table proudly, as if presenting a science project he spent years working on.
Zayn nods in acknowledgment, “Hey. Nice to meet you.” He starts to stand up to greet them but Liam stops him.
“No, no, don’t get up! You’re good.” He reaches out a hand for a shake and Zayn takes it, eyeing him up. Liam then sits himself down next to Zayn.
Harry curses under his breath. He’d hoped that Louis would sit there so they wouldn’t have to sit next to each other. Of course, Liam wouldn’t know that. Liam thinks he’s being nice, letting the couple sit together.
Louis slides into the booth first, letting Harry take the outside. Zayn sips on his drink, something bright red and fruity smelling.
“Ordered without us? Dickhead.” Louis tsks.
“You guys are always late.” Zayn shrugs, taking an obnoxiously loud sip just to annoy Louis.
“Where’s Niall?” Harry asks. “You two were together earlier when I called him.”
“He ditched me for a date.”
“A date that ended terribly!” Niall announces, popping up out of seemingly nowhere. He squishes himself next to Harry, effectively sandwiching him between Niall and Louis. “It was from that dating app I told you about, H. The one where it hides their faces until you match. Now, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that she hates potatoes. Absolutely swears them off. So that was going nowhere. I paid for her potato-less dinner, walked her to her car, and closed that door. Ridiculous. Who hates potatoes? They’re a staple of a good meal. You can eat potatoes with literally everything! Honestly, some people. You Liam?” Niall asks, finishing his monologue.
“Yeah, hi! You must be Niall.” Liam once again sticks his hand out for that trusty shake. Niall eyes him cautiously.
“How d’you feel about potatoes, Liam?”
“Love ‘em!”
Niall gives him a toothy grin and shakes his hand enthusiastically, “That’s what I like to hear. How d’you know these two?” Niall motions to Harry and Louis.
Harry feels his heart start racing.
“I’m staying in their spare room for the week. Airbnb.”
Fuck, they didn’t even think about what they were going to tell Niall and Zayn.
“Spare room?” Zayn mouths, frowning. Harry looks down at his lap, hands fidgeting. Louis gently bats at Harry’s hands under the table for him to stop.
“You guys are the ones who introduced them, right?”
“Ugh, yep, worst mistake of my life. They’re the worst together.” Niall groans.
Liam smiles and laughs lightly, “Totally. Louis called Harry half a dozen pet names on the way here. It was pretty adorable though.”
“Pet names?” Niall raises his brows. “Like… dickhead? That’s one of Louis’ favorites.”
Liam laughs, clearly thinking Niall is joking. It helps that Niall is laughing too. “But seriously, they seem really happy together.”
Zayn chokes on his drink. Niall’s eyes widen comically large. Liam is oblivious.
Louis’ arm swings around Harry’s shoulder, pulling him into his side. “Aw, thanks, Liam. We are a really happy couple!”
“Sorry, what?” Niall asks, holding back his laughter very poorly.
“Come on, Ni, don’t be an asshole. You know Haz and I are the cutest couple you’ve ever seen. Now, why are we having this convo without any drinks?”
“Oh, right,” Liam starts to stand, “First round’s on me.”
“Niall, go help him,” Louis demands.
“What?! Why me? I wanna know what’s-”
“You’re on the end! Poor Liam can’t carry all those drinks on his own.” Louis gives Niall a look. “I’ll take a Vodka Redbull and my love will have a Sex on the Beach. Thanks, mate.”
Niall follows Liam away from the table. Harry turns to face Louis, staring at him.
“What?”
“You ordered for me.”
“Oh, sorry. That was rude.” Louis removes his arm from Harry’s shoulders. “I was just trying to get Liam up and away.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s just…” Harry trails off, brows furrowing.
“What? Did I fuck up your order? That’s what you get every time. It’s your favorite. Did you want something else?”
Harry shakes his head. He scoots out of the booth. “I’m- I’m gonna go help with the, uh, the drinks.”
Harry’s mind is flooding, an ocean of thoughts, and riding on the biggest wave is that box. That stupid box full of stupid things.
No.
Harry catches up with Niall just as Liam is leaning over the bar to order their drinks. He’s just out of earshot.
“Harry! When the fuck did you and Louis get together and why didn’t you tell me?” Niall grabs his shoulders and shakes him a bit, “I need details mate, I’ve got anywhere between a fiver and £200 riding on this!”
“What?” Harry’s too dazed from his interaction with Louis to process what that means.
“Zayn and I have been betting on this for a while. I mean, before we even introduced you guys. We were like, yup those two will be perfect for each other. I’d sort of given up hope with all the fighting between you two but then there was the tension. I was waiting for the day you realized the only reason you two fight is because you’re both so stubborn. I just thought you’d come freaking out to me first but whatever-”
“Hey guys, a little help?” Liam calls them over. Harry grabs his and Louis’ drinks.
“I know what I’m doing, Zayn.” Louis snaps. Zayn and Louis seem to be talking about something pretty serious but they stop when they realize everyone’s back. Harry slides back in next to Louis and hands him his drink.
“Thanks, love.” Louis pats his leg and takes a long drink.
Zayn asks Liam why he’s in town but Harry doesn’t hear the answer. He’s too busy replaying the past hour in his mind.
Niall’s words.
Louis’ actions. Louis’ words. Louis’ hand still on his thigh.
He finishes his drink pretty quickly and excuses himself to go get another. He downs that one at the bar and gets one more to bring back to the table. Niall gets up to let Harry back into his spot.
“I’m just really grateful to Louis and Harry for letting me stay with them while I get everything sorted.”
“It’s no problem at all.” Louis grins. “That room just sits there collecting dust anyway.”
Niall shakes his head, “I’m still confused on when this-”
“Niall, that woman over there is checking you out.” Louis interrupts, nodding towards the bar. Louis is surprisingly good at this whole fake relationship thing.
“Hm?” Niall turns his head, “Which one?”
“Red shirt, black jeans.”
“I don’t know, mate. Not sure I’m ready for something new. Just had my heart broken.”
Zayn rolls his eyes, “Niall, it was one date.”
Niall shakes his head sadly, “She hated potatoes.”
“Just go. You keep saying how lonely you are.” Zayn urges.
“Alright but only because you’re so insistent, Zaynie.” Niall finishes off his drink and gets up. Harry moves over an inch, happy to have some more breathing room.
Zayn turns slightly towards Liam, “Yeah, he’s been single for a while now. It’s tough being single around these two disgusting lovebirds. They’re always fucking like rabbits.”
Harry chokes on his drink and coughs wildly. Louis pats his back to help.
“Well, when your boyfriend is this beautiful, it’s hard to keep your hands to yourself,” Louis says, shooting daggers at Zayn.
So Zayn knows. Zayn knows and is fucking with them. Great.
“Must be hard being single around them,” Liam nods, tilting his head the tiniest bit closer to Zayn, “Are you single, too?”
“Harry, a word?” Louis asks, motioning for them to get up. Harry gets out of the booth and follows Louis to the back area near the bathrooms. “You need to pull yourself together. You’re blowing this.”
“You told Zayn!”
“He’s not a moron, Harry. He interrogated me the second you got up. It doesn’t matter, we just need to convince Liam. And you’re fucking it up.”
“You heard what Zayn said! How was I supposed to react?!”
“Like a normal person who’s been in a relationship for almost nine months.”
“But we haven’t, Louis!” Harry nearly shouts, “We haven’t been in a relationship! We aren’t in a relationship. You seem to have forgotten that!”
“I haven’t forgotten anything.”
“You keep touching me and calling me names and remembering my favorite drink!”
Louis shrugs, “I’m just a good actor. Let’s just go back to the table before Liam gets suspicious.”
Harry gets another drink first.
===
The rest of the night is filled with Louis’ soft touches and ‘love’ and ‘darling’ and ‘Haz’ and too many fucking pet names. Harry is going to lose his mind.
When they stand up to go home, Harry almost falls. Blame it on the alcohol. Louis’ hand clutches Harry’s waist, supporting his body, and helping him balance.
Louis’ hand clutches Harry’s waist, supporting his body.
Louis’ hand clutches Harry’s waist.
Louis’ hand. Harry’s waist.
Blame it on the alcohol.
“Jesus, Harry, how much did you drink?”
“I donut know.”
Louis helps Harry with his jacket and wraps the scarf around his neck again. That damn scarf.
They say their goodbyes to Zayn and Niall outside of Johnny’s place.
Harry stumbles forward a few steps before Louis’ arm wraps around his waist.
Louis’ strong arm.
Louis has such nice arms.
The same arms that carried Harry to his bed and threw him down on top of it all those months ago.
Harry’s not supposed to be thinking about that. Something about a box and a key in the deepest darkest part of his mind.
They make it back to the house in what feels like 2 minutes but Harry knows that logically it had to be 10 minutes because that’s how long the walk always takes.
In the hallway to the bedrooms, Louis’ arm finally drops from Harry’s waist. Harry feels colder. His arm was so warm.
“Thanks so much for tonight, Liam,” Louis says, smiling happily. He’s just a bit buzzed. Nowhere near as drunk as Harry. Harry knows this. Louis had two drinks. Two-drink-Louis is all smiles. He’s also usually snarky and mean to Harry. Why isn’t he being mean right now?
“No problem at all, mate. Thanks for the room.” Liam chuckles lightly.
“Hey!” Harry perks up, taking a step towards Liam. “Thank you sooooo much, Liam. And if you want to flirt with Zayn that is totally okay just be really really nice to him.” Harry feels like Liam needs to know that. This is very important information.
“Alright, that’s enough of that. Let’s get you to bed.” Louis’ hands clap Harry’s shoulders. Liam’s face flushes red.
Red is Louis’ favorite color.
“Yes, it is, love. Good job.” Louis says, guiding Harry into their room. Louis’ room.
He said that out loud… Well done then, Harry. Louis calls over his shoulder, “Good night, Liam.”
“I know that because Louis is my boyfriend!” Harry shouts. He needs to make sure everyone knows why he knows that information. He needs Liam to know they’re boyfriends. “We sleep in the same bed and we have lots of sex!”
“Okayyy, time for bed for you, sir.” Louis chuckles, closing the door behind him.
Harry collapses face-first onto the bed and turns his head to watch Louis.
Louis takes his shirt off. Vaguely, in the back of his mind, Harry thinks there’s a rule about this.
Louis takes off his pants. He’s in nothing but his briefs. Cute little briefs for his cute little bum. Big bum.
Louis laughs, “Thank you, Harold.”
Fuck, he said that out loud again.
“Rule number 6!” Harry suddenly remembers, burying his face into the bed.
“Come on, Harry. You need to change.” Harry mumbles incoherently into the bed. “You can take your face out of the pillow, I’m fully dressed.”
Harry turns and faces Louis again. He’s still shirtless but has a pair of plaid pajama pants on. They’re too big for him and hang low on his hips, v-line beautifully accentuated.
“Fuck,” This time Harry knows he said it out loud. He buries his face again.
“Harry, at least change your pants. You don’t wanna sleep in skinny jeans.”
“You don’t know what I want.”
“Oh, I think I do.” Louis sounds snarky again. That’s the two-drink-Louis Harry knows.
“Fuck off.”
“Change.”
“You’re not the boss of me.”
“Y’know what, fine. You’re the one who’s going to be uncomfortable all night.” He hears Louis stomp around and the lights go out.
Harry’s out in seconds.