Chapter Text
Nine a.m. is always the worst time of the day for Louis. When the sunlight stretches across his room and grazes its blinding presence into his bloodshot eyes, Louis sighs angrily. The sun should just go and fuck itself, he thinks, as his head feels like it’s splitting in two. He rolls over to hide away from the brightness invading his space, trying to stay within the darkness that is swiftly slipping away, when he looks over at the message flashing on his phone. Happy First Day of Classes Twats – Zayn xx. “Fuck,” Louis breathes, fuck, fuck, fuck.
* * * *
Two streets up and four blocks to the left, Harry pulls his backpack straps tighter as he exits the dorm building. His hands shake nervously as he heads towards his first uni class…ever. Freshman year and going to a school that’s far enough away from home means that Harry, for once, has the chance to figure out who he really is. The distance between him and Holmes Chapel leaves a tingling sensation coursing through his veins. For the first time in years, Harry feels free.
Walking through the lush grass of the quad, and heading towards his class, Harry eyes the historic buildings looking for Culkin Hall. It’s not like Harry has ever thought of himself as sheltered, but as he walks past peers with multi-colored hair, tattoos, piercings, and things he’s not even sure what to call, he can’t help but stare. When he passes two boys holding hands, he nearly falls to the floor. He’s never been somewhere where he was able to be completely himself, and for the first time in his entire life, people are being who they are and there’s no shame or judgment for it. With his adrenaline rising, he promises to himself that he is going to make the most out of his time here.
Psych 101 wasn’t a class Harry wanted to take, nor had any interest in taking. Unfortunately, his academic advisor said it was required, and so three days a week he will be stuck in this large lecture hall for an hour. Walking into the room, there are rows of seats that descend down towards a wall of whiteboards and a podium. Harry takes a seat all the way in the back next to a guy with a snapback hat on and big brown eyes. As Harry sits down next to him and pulls out his Mac to rest on the desk, he decides that his best way of making experiences is by also making friends, and turns to introduce himself to the boy.
“Hi, are you a freshman too?”
“Hey, yeah. The names Liam.”
Liam smiles charmingly while he reaches out his hand for Harry to shake. It’s a firm gesture that has Harry thinking Liam might be more muscular than he appears, but Harry smiles back anyways, mustering up all his courage to make a friend.
“Nice to meet you, ’M Harry.”
“Are you majoring in psych?”
The question causes Harry to relive his argument with his advisor and it makes him chuckle snarkily.
“No, fucking academic advisor made me take this class. What about you?”
Liam’s body relaxes at that.
“Same. Yeah, I thought mine was fucking around with me at first. Don’t know why they force us to take classes we don’t want to be in.”
“Exactly. As if we have the money to pay for all of this shit. I couldn’t believe how expensive these textbooks are.”
Liam shakes his head in agreement. Harry opens his lips to say something else right as the professor walks to the podium and begins discussing the syllabus and course expectations for the semester. Harry wasn’t going to tell anyone, but despite not wanting to be in Psych, he does honestly like to learn. If it isn’t for his academic scholarship, he wouldn’t even be able to attend uni right now, so he takes his class time very seriously. Thankfully, it seems Liam does too because he types up notes the whole hour. Guess it was a good choice sitting next to him, Harry notes.
When the class is over, Liam and Harry pack up their bags and nod their heads goodbye as they part ways. Harry has one more class today, but it’s not for another two hours. Instead of heading back to the dorm, he decides to head back to the quad to find a place to sit and enjoy the nice weather. Clearly, he’s not the only one with that idea, because when he makes it over there, there are tons of other students cluttering the lawn. His green eyes scan the area, finding a nice shaded spot under a large tree in the far corner, perfect. When he makes his way and pulls out his phone to scan through his notifications, a football flies over to him.
“Sorry mate! Can ya toss it back over here!”
Looking up, Harry finds a pair of blue eyes glancing back at him, and his breath hitches. The guy is gorgeous with his fringed lighter brown hair, sun-kissed skin, and insatiable smile. Harry’s face flushes when their eyes meet and he smiles back at the boy. Remembering why he’s looking at Harry, to begin with, Harry reaches around to grab the ball within his hands, throwing it back across the lawn to the attractive lad. He smiles again and waves, which Harry responds with a nod and then returns to his phone, praying to himself that he runs into that pretty face again.
* * * *
Louis catches the ball from the curly haired boy under the tree. After having it in his possession again, he drops it to the ground and kicks it over to Zayn, who stops it with his feet and kicks it back to Louis. Playing footie in the quad sounded like a good idea instead of going to class, but had Louis known it was going to be this crowded, he would have rather stayed home.
“So Louis, how bad’s the hangover today?”
Zayn chuckles after his comment, knowing fully well that Louis has a knack for getting belligerently drunk.
“Fuck off!”
The two friends continue kicking the ball back and forth as they have this conversation. Louis occasionally steals glances back at the boy in the shade.
“Don’t be pissy, you were the one passed out by twelve last night. I think that’s a record.”
“I always strive to be the best.”
“How long do you think it will be until you finally go to class this semester?”
“Never. I’m never going to go again.”
“Your uncle is going to be so mad at you.”
“Yeah, well he can kiss my arse.”
This time that Louis kicks the ball to Zayn, Zayn picks it up off the ground instead of kicking it back, signaling that he’s ending their fun. Louis walks over to him, even though he could play for a lot longer, and pulls out his phone to check his messages.
“Did you get Nick’s text?”
“Zayn, don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.”
“Well, it’s the first party of the year and he already wants to start targeting for pledges.”
“Nick is a fucking prick, and I’m never going to do his bidding.”
“He’s still going to ask you to charm them. We haven’t gotten a lot of recruits since our pledge class, you know we’re kinda desperate.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck. I’d like to see Nick try and ask me to do something.”
Zayn laughs as he puts his phone in his pocket and starts walking towards his class.
“Louis, I love you, but sometimes you’re a real shit.”
Louis shrugs his shoulders as he begins walking away to the frat house. Before he’s out of sight Louis glances back towards the tree in hopes of seeing the boy again, but unfortunately, the spots vacant.