Chapter Text
He hadn’t seen him in person since the day they left high school.
Curly hair, dimpled smile, bright eyes - he hadn’t changed much since then. He was taller than he once was and older, the maturity settling well on his youthful features.
He was, in all essence, still Harry and Louis was struck with the memories of his school days spent lingering near the music rooms, desperate to hear his dulcet tones, and staring anonymously at the young boy.
In truth, he had never really forgotten.
Although they had not seen each other over the past five years, Harry had never left his mind. Louis had of course been in relationships but he had broken them all of pretty soon after they started, acutely aware of the fact that the person just wasn’t quite right.
They were never Harry.
Then came the X-Factor. Louis didn’t usually watch the show but during a Lads’ Night In, whilst Zayn was channel surfing, Louis caught sight of him standing in the line of people waiting for an audition.
“Zayn, stop here,” he said, a bit too loud in his excitement.
He could feel Zayn looking at him in confusion. Whereas Louis tended not to watch the programme, Zayn was an avid fan and had been the butt of many of Louis’ jokes because of this.
“Right, so now you want to watch it,” he muttered under his breath, throwing the remote onto the coffee table.
“Be grateful and watch the rest of the show.”
“Yes, sir,” Zayn saluted sarcastically.
Louis smile grew whenever Harry came into view in the background and when the interviewer focused on him, Louis knew that his audition could have gone one of two ways. Even so, despite the worries that he had gotten nervous and messed up the audition, Louis couldn’t hide his grin at the sight of those familiar dimples.
“Through or flop, do you think?” asked Zayn.
Louis turned to face his friend, “I’ve heard his voice plenty of times before and, if he doesn’t get through, I will have lost all faith in humanity.”
“You exaggerate everything,” Zayn laughed.
“Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
There was nothing to worry about though, as Harry flew through the audition with three ‘Yes’s and went on to place third in the competition, much to Louis’ delight.
The problem now was that Louis still hadn’t ever spoken to him.