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It’s a Friday night, and there are loads of house parties going on right now. The diners are filled and the drive-ins are packed, yet Harry is sitting on his hideous yet homey orange couch in his basement, as usual.
“All I’m saying, man,” Ed pauses, taking a swig of Niall’s beer (who carelessly flips him off in response). “is that the Ramones have nothing over Zeppelin.”
“Yeah, s’the truth, mate,” Niall says with a stupid shrug.
“And all I’m saying,” Harry pauses in a mocking way, propping his feet up on the coffee table that’s much too uncluttered for Harry’s liking. “is that you’re completely wrong, and the Ramones are absolute legends.”
“I’m more of a Jackson 5 fan, to be completely honest,” Zayn comments absently, combing his fingers through Liam’s curly mess of hair while Liam keeps his eyes pasted on the Rubix cube as he sits contently on the ground between Zayn’s legs. “But if I had to pick, I’d go with Zeppelin.”
“I’m with Zayn,” Liam mumbles quietly, as if he’s actually paying attention to a thing they’re saying.
“Oh please – you don’t even listen to Zeppelin!” Harry throws the pillow he’s clutching over at Zayn. “You just listen to stupid disco crap.”
“Whatever! Robert Plant has that hair that’s just so…” Zayn shudders dramatically and pulls the corners of his mouth up in a smirk. “Sorry, babe. Truth hurts.”
Harry scoffs at the four and whips his head over at the stairs when he hears footsteps, instinctively hiding his beer behind his back. There have been far too many times where he’s nearly been caught with a beer in his hands, and he’d rather not risk having an hour long lecture.
“S’just me,” a familiar voice calls, and Harry automatically registers the bubbly tone as Louis.
“Lou! Settle a debate for us,” Harry proposes, smiling a little too widely at Louis as he plops down on the couch beside Harry. “Ramones or Zeppelin?”
Louis bites on his bottom lip in deep thought, staring at Harry with a focused look (and it doesn’t make Harry’s cheeks heat up at all). “Ramones, definitely.”
“Hah!” Harry raises his finger up at the other four, who simultaneously roll their eyes. “I’m disregarding Liam and Zayn’s vote because they’re not musically qualified to have one, and I’m adding a bonus vote for the Ramones because Louis counts as two people.”
“Did you just call me fat, tosser?” Louis elbows Harry’s side, but he’s got a bright grin stretching across his face.
“No, he’s just in love with you.” Ed smiles wickedly and crushes his empty beer can, throwing (and missing) at the trash can.
“No,” Harry and Louis quickly say, and they both awkwardly look opposite directions.
“It’s just that Lou’s taste in music doesn’t suck. So yeah, he’s more qualified, I guess.” Harry’s voice cracks slightly at the end, and he mentally scolds himself for not playing things off smoother.
“Thanks,” Louis says with a hint of a smile.
“Bo-ring,” Niall announces, tossing a new can of beer towards Ed. “Oh, hey, check this out.”
The five watch as Niall excitedly shuffles through his bag and pulls something out.
“A Playboy magazine?” Zayn snorts. “Ground-breaking. Never seen one of those before.”
“Oh, shut up,” Niall kicks at Zayn’s kneecap, and Liam glares at him disapprovingly (though he does seem rather interested in the magazine). “It’s a special holiday edition. Got the last one in stock.”
“Let me guess the one you wanked over.” Ed snatches the magazine and flips through it, occasionally raising his eyebrows in interest. He finally stops on one and smirks, showing off the St. Patrick’s Day page, which features a tall brunette dressed in a skimpy shamrock dress that is too low and too high in just the right places. “Oi, look at me, lads! I’m Niall, wanking me lucky charms over St. Patty’s! I love dem Shamrocks! Oi!”
Harry is usually the one to stand up for Niall when they tease him – considering the fact that he was the one who welcomed Niall to the group when he moved all the way from Ireland – but he really couldn’t resist laughing along with the others. Especially when Louis was clutching onto Harry’s arm for dear life, practically tearing up.
“Look who’s talking.” Niall brightly grins with a challenging look in his eyes, yanking on Ed’s hair.
“I see how it is,” Ed shakes his head. “Always picking on the ginger, aren’t ya?”
By now, Liam’s attention is directed towards the magazine, and his eyes go wide for a second. Then he arches his back and starts laughing.
“Look at New Year’s Eve,” Liam instructs through laughs, throwing the magazine across to Ed.
Ed sighs and squints his eyes for a moment before joining in on the laughter. “Styles, this totally looks like your sister.”
“What?! Shut u-”
“Ha, yeah! ‘Cept she doesn’t have that cute little birthmark on her arm like Gemma,” Niall says with a grin, but that quickly turns into a frightened frown. “I mean. What.”
The five look at each other and at Niall warily, but Ed is quick to disrupt the silence.
“S’okay, Styles. We’re just joking,” Ed says, handing the magazine back to Niall. “Gemma’s got bigger tits.”
The five (excluding Harry, obviously) burst out into another fit of laughter (Harry takes this a sign that he needs new friends).
“The lot of you can get bent,” Harry mutters, getting up and shuffling over to where the record player is because, yeah, he’d rather not hear them talk about how fit his sister is (and they do that quite often – including Zayn and Liam, who are dating for Chrissakes). He puts on a Ramones record in spite of the other four’s protests. He then reaches over to the shelf of useless knick-knacks for his tin Star Wars lunch box.
The idea originally came from Louis, the genius. Originally, Harry kept his pot hidden in his underwear drawer upstairs in his room, which was, like, such an obvious place. He decided it was time to relocate when his mum almost found it while doing some laundry a week ago.
“Gentlemen,” Harry announces as he joins the circle again, hopping over the couch and barely missing Zayn’s lap. “I believe it’s that time.”
“I’m telling you, man,” Ed drags out, his eyes blinking slowly. “We really should start a band.”
Zayn, who is now sitting on Liam’s lap, giggles ridiculously while nodding, connecting his lips with Liam to exchange smoke (it’s a trademark move that they do every time, and Harry still isn’t used to the grossness of it).
“I’m in! We’ll be the two leprechaun guitar players,” Niall says loudly before laughing at himself.
“I’ll be the piano player!” Louis says excitedly, mimicking pressing down on keys before passing his joint to Harry with a grin (they always share just so that they don’t run out. It’s completely platonic). “And Harry can be our lead singer!”
Harry beams fondly at Louis as he inhales, nodding happily. “Completely brilliant.”
Zayn clears his throat and nods over at himself and Liam.
“You two can be my back-up dancers.” Louis squawks with laughter and grabs the joint from Harry, lightly brushing fingertips with him (and Harry may or may not have felt his heart beat a little faster. Who knows).
“What should we be called?” Louis asks before bringing the joint up to his lips ever-so-slowly.
They stare at each other blankly, shrugging and shaking their heads at one another.
“Well,” Liam chirps up. “We’re all, like, connected under nature, right?”
“Yeah?” Ed says, as if Liam is actually getting to a point. “And?”
“Okay, so we’re all, like, together and free and stuff,” Liam rambles, blinking quickly. “And we’re all Mother Nature’s children, living under the sun and-”
“Get to the point,” Niall says with an irritated grunt, throwing an empty beer can at Liam’s torso.
“That was the point, man,” Liam says with a defensive tone.
Niall sighs and shakes his head, muttering, “Idiot.”
“Wait, I think Li’s getting somewhere…” Louis trails off, thinking for a second. “We’re all, like, living life according to destiny and fate and stuff, yeah?” he muses, and the five nod in agreement. “So we’re all headed the same way. The same road. The same path…”
Harry listens to Louis continue on with other stupid renditions of “the same way”, but it doesn’t matter because Louis’ voice is just so nice and Harry would listen to that over the Ramones any day.
“… the same direction. The sa-”
“Direction! One direction!” Harry shouts, clapping his hands together and smiling widely.
Louis’ face lights up and he nods anxiously. “That’s exactly what I was thinking!”
“Get a room,” Zayn says, a devilish smirk appearing on his lips.
Normally, Harry would’ve probably blushed bright red and come up with a quick comeback. But he’s much too happy to care now, so he just laughs loudly and bumps heads with Louis, who happily does the same.
“We should wear costumes!” Liam says, idly brushing his fingers through Zayn’s hair, which prompts Zayn to slap Liam’s hand away sternly.
“Yeah! Let’s dress up as Star Wars characters!” Harry says, and though he’s really caught up in this band stuff, he notes the way that Louis is leaning into Harry’s chest comfortably.
“I wanna be that furry bear dude!” Niall points his finger at Chewbacca on the lunch box, showing off his teeth and growling.
“I get to be Luke Skywalker, obviously,” Harry says, and he doesn’t miss the small giggle that escapes Louis’ lips.
“More like… like…” Liam ponders for a moment, tapping his fingers against his chin. “More like Luke Skyfucker! Because you’re a fucker!”
The five stare at each other with confused faces, and Ed is the first one to burst out laughing.
“Not bad, Payne!” Ed claps a hand on Liam’s back, and Liam smiles proudly. “Not bad at all!”
“Can I be Princess Leia?” Louis asks, wiggling his eyebrows at Harry.
“Yeah, definitely!” Harry replies quickly like it’s the most obvious answer (because it kinda is).
“Instead of Princess Leia,” Niall starts, holding a finger up and chuckling to himself. “Y-you can be, ha, Princess Louis! Get it? Leia? Louis?”
The group bursts into more laughter, and Louis is clapping his hands loudly.
“Brilliant! You’re brilliant!” Louis says between breaths. “You’re my favorite Irish man!”
“And you’re my favorite… boyfriend of Harry’s!”
Louis clutches his stomach and laughs loudly, kicking his feet and hiding his face in Harry’s shoulder. And no matter how many times Louis’ ever done that, Harry probably won’t ever get used to it because, yeah, this is nice.
++
Harry is playing pass-the -beer-can-until-someone-drops-it with Niall and Liam while Zayn and Louis sit on each side of Ed, explaining why Saturday Night Fever is going to end up a classic movie.
“Disco and Travolta,” Ed scours. “The enemy.”
Louis gasps and digs his elbow into Ed’s side. “I can understand the disco hate, but you do not diss Travolta.”
“Yeah!” Zayn pouts, furrowing his eyebrows for a moment. “Wait – what’s wrong with disco?”
Ed and Louis both throw their heads back and groan loudly, preparing themselves to lecture Zayn.
“So,” Niall says quiet enough so he doesn’t disturb the lesson, but loud enough for Harry to hear. “How are things going with Lou?”
Harry glances back at Louis before narrowing his eyes at Niall, whispering, “Why does everyone think there’s something going on between us? We’re just friends.”
Niall chuckles and tosses the can over to Liam. “Why do you keep denying that you have a crush on him?”
“I don’t.”
“You kind of do,” Liam says with an innocent smile, tossing the can to Harry. “S’a bit obvious.”
Harry runs his fingers through his hair, tossing the can back to Niall with his other hand. He really doesn’t have a crush on Louis. He just likes him a lot. And he probably wouldn’t mind dating him or kissing him a bit. But calling it a “crush” just seems so 13-year-old girl.
“You like him, then,” Niall compromises, tossing the can back to Liam. “And you should act on it quick before that Nick guy does.”
“Nick from the diner?” Harry scowls. “He’s such a tool. What does he even want with Louis?”
“I reckon it’s the bum,” Liam says with a cheeky wink, handing the can to Harry and patting his shoulder with his other hand. “Might wanna snag that up before you lose the chance, y’know?”
“Styles,” Ed interrupts, throwing a pillow at Harry’s head to get his attention. “Tell your boyfriend that Travolta isn’t, and will neverbe, cool. Also, be a doll and get me a beer.”
Harry rolls his eyes and disregards the boyfriend comment because he’ll probably only make matters worse. “There’s nothing wrong with Travolta,” he assures, mostly to Louis, as he hands Ed the beer in his hands.
“See, you’re always taking sides wit-” Ed cuts himself off when he opens the beer because, well, there’s beer spraying everywhere. Niall and Liam are laughing uncontrollably, high-fiving each other sloppily before practically collapsing over each other on the floor.
“Oh! We probably should’ve warned you!” Harry sucks in his cheeks to refrain from laughing, but it’s kind of hard since Ed is soaked in beer and has a pissed off expression. Kind of like an angry leprechaun. “We were, uh, throwing that around. It might be a little carbonated. Sorry.”
Ed throws the (almost) empty beer can at Harry and shakes his hair so that beer flies in all directions. “Styles,” he says slowly. “Go get open that stupid lunchbox of yours before I strangle your stupid neck.”
“Right,” Harry says with a small smile, getting up to retrieve the tin box.
It doesn’t take long for Ed to forget the whole thing, and he’s actually laughing his ass about it.
“Man, that was a good one,” Ed says fondly, and Harry notes that Ed will appreciate literally anything stupid if he’s stoned. “You guys got me real good.”
“Yeah,” Liam smirks, passing his joint to Zayn. “You’re kind of an idiot.”
The group goes silent for a moment, staring at Ed for a reaction. He exhales smoke and smiles brightly, nodding. “That I am, Payne. That I am.”
The six remain quiet for a few moments, letting the sounds of “Rockaway Beach” fill the room.
“Y’know what we should do?” Zayn inquires, look around. “We should all go on a date! But, like, a double-date. With more than double!”
“Yeah! We can watch Saturday Night Fever next week and… and bring dates!” Liam adds in with an excited expression. He glances over at Zayn and ruffles his hair a bit. “Can you be my date?”
“Okay!” Zayn replies happily, connecting their lips briefly. Harry rolls his eyes and makes a show out of taking a sip from his beer. “But what about Ed?”
“Hm?” Ed hums, looking up and pausing for a second. “Oh, yeah! Sounds great! That Travolta fellow… man, he’s gonna go far.”
Zayn squeals with delight and bumps shoulders with Louis.
“I’ll bring that one cute green girl from the library.” Niall pauses to think. “Erm, Annie… Amanda…”
“Amy Green?” Louis asks, laughing shortly before taking a drag.
“Yeah! That’s the one!”
“I call dibs on Gemma!” Ed raises his hand up, smiling toothily at Harry.
“Why would you want that?” Harry immediately regrets asking because now Ed is babbling about all the reasons why Gemma is so perfect for him.
“Who are you going to bring?” Louis whispers into Harry’s ear, and it practically makes Harry have a heart attack because since when was he sitting this close to Louis?
“Um, dunno,” Harry shrugs, clearing his throat.
“Hm,” Louis says with a small smile, leaning back against the couch.
The two remain sitting close to one another and, well, Harry isn’t complaining one bit.
++
“So, Gemma,” Ed says coolly, leaning against the washing machine (Harry kind of hates that it’s conveniently located in the basement).
“Out of my way, creep,” Gemma orders, barely even glancing at Ed. She pulls her clothes out one by one out of the dryer, and Harry is positively sure that she’s deliberately washing only her underwear when he has friends over.
“Ah, c’mon doll-”
“Don’t call me that.” Gemma points a finger at Ed, which has got a skimpy g-string hooked onto it. Classy.
“Isn’t it time for you to go,” Harry says blankly, flipping through the channels boredly.
“Aw, is wittle Harry embarrassed by his big sister?” Gemma pouts her bottom lip out and throws a pair of Star Wars boxers at the couch. “Keep your geek underwear out of the washer when I’m washing my clothes.”
Gemma tromps upstairs, and Harry is careful to wait until she’s all the way up to mutter, “Bitch.”
“She’s wonderful,” Ed says with a content sigh, plopping down on his chair.
“Shove off,” Harry throws the remote at Ed’s shoulder.
“Hey now, that’s no way to treat your future brother-in-law, now is it?” Ed grins dumbly and high-fives with Niall.
“Oi, you’re sick,” Louis comments with a small smile, kicking Ed’s shin.
“Aw, boyfriends defending each other,” Ed smiles. “Cute.”
Louis rolls his eyes, but doesn’t argue. He still has a smile on his face, but he keeps his eyes pasted on the screen. Harry’s sure it doesn’t mean anything.
After a minute or so, the show comes to an end and they all sigh boredly.
“You reckon it’s time, yet?” Harry asks.
Niall smirks and nods. “It’s always time.”
“There’s going to be turtle doves at our wedding,” Ed says fondly after taking a drag. “And they’ll be painted blue, just like her eyes.”
“Her eyes are green, dolt,” Louis says with a small chuckle, handing the joint to Harry, who just moves it between his fingers.
“I’d like to think more of a hazel-ish color,” Harry muses. “I’ve got the green eyes.”
“Yeah,” Louis agrees with a small smile, connecting their eyes for a moment or two.
“Oh, quit shoving your green eyes in everyone’s faces,” Zayn pouts, and Liam is quick to peck his lips quickly.
“Your eyes are just as lovely,” Liam assures warmly.
“Get a room,” Harry mocks with an accomplished grin.
Zayn and Liam exchange a look, and before anyone can say anything, they’re skipping together over to the room – well, more like oversized closet – by the record player.
“Shit, not again,” Niall mutters before taking a deep drag. “I don’t think I’ve recovered from the last time they did that.”
“Oh, Liam, right there. Yeah, uh, yeah,” Ed mocks in a high tone, laughing at himself and puffing out a perfect circle. “Pathetic, those two.”
“Totally,” Harry mumbles, passing the joint back to Louis. It’s practically burnt out already, but he doesn’t want to stop “accidentally” brushing fingertips.
Niall snorts and rolls his eyes. “Like you two are any better.”
Ed barks with laughter and nods vigorously. “I’m gonna stare at Louis all day and pretend I don’t like him! Wee!”
“Hey,” Harry says defensively, but he lets a giggle slip past his lips, because that’s pretty damn accurate. “That’s pretty damn accurate.”
Now, Harry does this thing where he kind of just says things before thinking them through properly. It’s, like, ten times worse when he’s stoned… so, this is a little embarrassing.
“Is it, now?” Louis asks with a small smirk.
Harry widens his eyes a bit before laughing and bumping shoulders with Louis, hoping maybe he can pass it off as his stoned self talking. “I think I can hear Zayn.”
And as if on cue, Zayn actually starts making noises from the room/closet, distracting the other three, and for once, Harry is thankful that they choose the room/closet to bang in.
“That’s so sick,” Niall says, but he’s laughing happily and taking a sip of his beer.
It’s 2 in the morning when Harry hears a small knock on his window. Normally, he would’ve whipped out his bat and beat the shit out of whatever it was. But this knock was so familiar that he could only smile in response and rush to open it up.
“Forget something in the basement, I’m guessing?” Harry said with a small grin, his voice slightly raspy from sleep.
“No,” Louis laughs shortly, climbing in and straightening himself out. “I just couldn’t really sleep.”
Harry sticks his bottom lip out and plops back onto his bed. “What’s on your mind, Princess Louis?”
Louis snorts and joins Harry, punching his shoulder lightly. “You remembered that.”
“Of course! I’ve got a quite a good memory, thank you very much.”
“Then you probably remember what you said today.”
Fuck. He walked right into that one, didn’t he.
“Er- I,” Harry scratches the back of his neck. “No, I can’t say I do. Sorry.”
Louis smirks and shakes his head. “You’ve always been a shit liar, y’know.”
“Honest, I don’t remember what I said,” Harry says with his voice slightly cracking, and he knows he’s just proving Louis’ point right now.
“Did you mean it?” Louis asks with small half-smile. “You like me?”
Harry swallows and sucks in his cheeks. He shrugs and lies on his back. “Well, I mean, you’re one of my best mates. ‘Course I like you.”
“Oh, cut the crap. You know what I mean.”
“Well, I haven’t really… I don’t like…”
“You’re not gay,” Louis finishes, and Harry is quick to sit back up and shake his head quickly.
“I never said that!” Harry says, but fuck, now everything is obvious. “I mean, I never said I am, but…”
“I know what you mean,” Louis says reluctantly. “Like… the boys are always teasing us about being in love and whatever, and y’know, we brush it off. It’s all a laugh. But today, you said… well, yeah. I don’t know.”
Great – now Harry’s ruined everything. “Honestly, I didn’t mean it.”
“So you don’t like me.”
“I never said that!” Wow, Harry is really bad at thinking things through before talking.
“You kind of just did,” Louis says, and his tone is so weird, and Harry’s not sure if it’s anger, or sadness, or something in between.
They both sigh with frustrated faces, looking off in opposite directions.
“I mean,” Harry says after some silence. “Yeah. Why not.”
“Why not?” Louis repeats.
“Yeah,” Harry confirms. “I mean, you’ve got a good taste in music. You’re funny. You’re charming. You’re not exactly ugly.”
They both laugh quietly and awkwardly glance at each other, and it just registers to Harry that he basically just admitted to having a crush on Louis.
“Well, thanks,” Louis says with a crinkly eyed smile.
They kind of just stay like that for a while; occasionally making eye contact and exchanging smiles.
“So that’s what kept you up all night? You just couldn’t get me out of your mind?” Harry is joking, of course, but part of him is sort of craving for the answer.
“I never said that!” Louis mocks, and the two laugh together again, falling onto their backs against the bed.
Harry sighs and rolls to his side, facing Louis and poking his shoulder to get his attention. “Does this make things weird? Like, between us?” he asks quietly.
“Of course not!” Louis assures, poking Harry back. “We’re alright.”
“Okay,” Harry says, rolling back onto his back. “Good.”
Silence hangs over them, and Harry is stuck with so many questions about them, and it’s sort of eating him up, and he’d much rather be arguing with Ed about Zeppelin right now.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Louis.”
Louis grins and sits up, poking Harry’s belly so that he sits up too.
“I want you to ask me,” Louis says.
Harry bites the inside of his cheek and hesitates for a moment because teases are no fun.
“Do you li-”
“Ah, ah!” Louis waves his hands around. “Ask me formally.”
Harry tilts his head back and groans, rolling his eyes freely and looking back at Louis. “Do you, Princess Louis, like me, Luke Skywalker?”
Louis slaps Harry’s shoulder and uses his other hand to cover his mouth because, oops, there are sort of people sleeping in the rooms next door.
“You idiot,” Louis says quietly, but he’s grinning that crinkly eyed grin again. He clears his throat and sits up straight. “I, Princess Louis, do indeed like you, Luke Skyfucker. And I swear to God, Harry, if you make a stupid Star Wars joke, I’ll-”
“I guess the force is with me,” Harry says with a small smirk, and being quiet is sort of a lost cause now because they’re both laughing and throwing pillows at each other (Harry doesn’t really know how that happened, but okay).
“You geek,” Louis says between laughs. “Such a geek! I can’t believe you said that!”
“But you lik-”
“What is going on in he- Louis?” Gemma is standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her shirt. One that Harry distinctly recognizes.
“What shirt are you wearing?” Harry asks cautiously, watching as Gemma squirms uncomfortably and crosses her arms tighter.
“This old thing? Oh, dunno. It’s a friend’s,” she says quickly. “Well, goodnight.”
“Gemma,” Harry says calmly. “You’re wearing a Zeppelin shirt.”
“I-I’m… I got it from…”
“Ed!” Harry calls out loudly, yet quiet enough so his parents don’t wake up. A familiar ginger head pops in from the side, and Louis starts laughing again.
“You and Louis, huh?” Ed says with a shit-eating grin. “S’about time.”
Harry’s eyes go back and forth from Gemma to Ed, and he’d probably go up and punch Ed in the gut if it wasn’t two in the fucking morning.
“I’ll deal with you two later,” Harry mumbles, falling onto his back.
“Ditto,” Ed says with his toothy smile still pasted on, hooking an arm around Gemma’s waist. Harry would vomit right then and there, but Louis’ right next to him and, well, yeah. “Nightie night, love birds.”
++
This Friday night, unlike many of the others, is actually spent outside of the basement. At the drive-in. Watching Saturday Night Fever.
Although it did take a while to convince Ed, he’s sitting stubbornly on the hood beside Amy and Niall and an armful of snacks. Zayn and Liam are sitting inside the car for the sake of not ruining everyone else’s movie experience.
As for Louis and Harry… well, there wasn’t really anymore room in the car, so they’re sitting on a dirty picnic blanket on the ground. But it doesn’t really matter because nothing really matters to Harry when he’s around Louis.
“Thanks for making me your date,” Louis says with a crinkly-eyed smile.
“Yeah, well,” Harry shrugs. “My first-choice didn’t show up, so…”
“Prick.”
“I think the correct term you’re looking for is fucker. Luke Skyfucker.”
Louis laughs and pushes Harry onto his back, attaching their lips hastily. And although it’s not their first kiss, it’s still a bit awkwardly placed and uncoordinated. But Harry figures that they’ll have plenty of time to perfect it. Definitely.
And, yeah, everything’s alright.