Work Text:
Harry shifted the heavy Property Law textbook sitting on his lap. He had three chapters to read before class tomorrow, but he was having trouble concentrating on the small print. After a few hours stuck at the small desk in his bedroom, he’d moved his study session to a bench in the park across the road. He was hoping that a change of scenery and some fresh air would help his productivity, but he wasn’t sure that it was working. He’d read the same page a few times now and it still wasn’t sinking into his brain.
“Um, excuse me?”
Startled by the noise, Harry looked up from his textbook to see a boy standing in front of him, dressed in soft looking grey joggers and a white t-shirt.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” the boy said, looking hesitant.
“It’s okay,” Harry said, marking his spot and closing the book. He was always willing to make time to speak to cute boys – and this one was Cute with a capital C.
“How can I help you?”
“I was just over there with my friends,” the boy said, pointing to a group of three guys in the distance, huddled around a football. “And I, uh, I saw you sitting here, and I wondered if you’d let me draw you?”
Oh. The boy held up a worn-looking sketchbook, doodles all over the front cover. He must have been an art major, then, Harry had seen people carrying books like that around campus.
Harry bit his lip, considering.
The boy was lit up by the sun shining behind him, making it seem like he was glowing. With scruffy hair and sharp cheekbones, he was gorgeous.
“I promise I won’t disturb your reading or anything, I’ll just sit here and draw,” he said earnestly.
“Yeah, okay,” Harry agreed. Why not?
“Great! That’s great,” the boy said, looking more confident now. He stuck his hand out for Harry to shake.
“I’m Louis.”
“Harry,” he said, “nice to meet you.”
The two smiled at each other for a few seconds in silence, before Harry cleared his throat and Louis seemed to snap to attention.
“Okay, so I’ll just sit over here and draw, that okay?”
Harry nodded, and watched as Louis sat down and got himself organised. He produced a pen from his back pocket, and opened the sketchbook in his hands to a clean page.
*
Harry managed to read for fifteen minutes before he found his mind wandering again. He put his book down, leaning back against the park bench. He looked over at Louis, who seemed to be concentrating hard on the page in front of him, frowning slightly as he moved his pen. Harry watched as he tilted his head to the side consideringly, then flicked his eyes back up to look at him. When he saw Harry watching him, he smiled.
“Almost done, Curly,” he said. “I must say, you make an excellent model.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, what with that hair, and your whole…” he gestured vaguely, “face situation.”
“Erm, thanks, I think?” Harry laughed.
“That was definitely a compliment,” Louis said with a cheeky wink, making Harry blush and look back down at his book to try and hide his face.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Louis said. “I promised I wouldn’t distract you from your reading, and here I am doing exactly that.”
“No, really, it’s okay. I could use a break,” Harry said, shutting his book to show he meant it.
“So you’re going to be a lawyer then?” Louis asked, gesturing with his pen to the thick textbook still on Harry’s lap.
“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Harry said. “If I can make it through this Property Law class, that is.”
Louis laughed. “I don’t envy you, mate,” he said. “Have you always wanted to do law?”
Harry nodded. “My mum’s a lawyer, and ever since I was little I always wanted to follow in her footsteps.”
“Wow. My mum’s a nurse but I could never do that.”
“It’s just always been a part of my life,” Harry explained. “My older sister Gemma is a lawyer too, she finished law school two years ago and she works in London now. When we were kids, we used to play ‘pretend court’ together.”
“That’s so cute!”
“What about you, do you want to be an artist?” Harry asked.
“Teacher, actually.”
“An art teacher?”
“Something like that,” Louis said, smiling down at his drawing.
*
Half an hour had passed before Louis capped his pen with a flourish.
“I’m finished!” he proclaimed.
“Can I see?” Harry asked.
Louis shuffled over, passing Harry the open sketchbook.
“Oh,” said Harry. “It’s…interesting.” And to be honest, that was an overstatement. Harry wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t a stick figure. And not even a particularly well drawn one, either. Stick-figure Harry had crudely drawn curly hair, and the lines that made up his arms and legs were completely different sizes.
“It’s unique.” Awful.
“Creative!” he added. Terrible.
“You think so?” Louis asked hopefully. “Thanks, I guess two years of art school have really paid off.”
Two years? Harry was horrified. What on earth were they teaching them, if this was the best that Louis could do?
Nodding in what he hoped was a sincere manner, Harry looked back down at the drawing and tried to think of something else nice to say about it. No matter how bad the drawing was, he didn’t want to hurt Louis’ feelings when he had worked so hard on it.
Louis suddenly burst out laughing. “I’m kidding, Harry, I know it’s awful.”
“No, it’s not awful…” Harry protested half-heartedly.
“You’re way too nice,” Louis said. “To tell you the truth, I’m not even an art major. This is my friend Zayn’s sketchbook. See?” He flipped through the pages, showing drawings that were clearly done by somebody else, fine pencil sketches and intricate designs. “I….I just wanted an excuse to talk to you. I saw you sitting over here, so I borrowed Zayn’s art supplies…” He trailed off sheepishly.
“Oh my god,” said Harry.
“I’m really sorry for lying to you,” Louis said, suddenly looking stricken, “I understand if you’re angry or creeped out or - ”
“No,” Harry interrupted, “I’m not mad. I’m just really relieved that you’re not really studying art. That is literally the worst portrait I’ve ever seen.”
“Oi!” said Louis with a surprised laugh. “I feel like I should be offended but I’m too self-aware of my own artistic abilities for that.”
He took the sketchbook back from Harry, tearing out the page and folding it in half.
“What are you doing?” Harry asked.
“I’m throwing it out,” Louis said. “As you so graciously pointed out, this isn’t exactly high-quality and I don’t think Zayn would appreciate it being in his sketchbook.”
“I said that it was awful, not that I didn’t want it,” Harry said, holding out his hand.
“Really?” Louis asked, looking skeptical.
“Yeah, it’s not every day a cute boy draws a picture of me in a park because he’s too shy to just come up and talk to me,” Harry said with a cheeky grin.
“Oh, cute, huh?” Louis said. “In that case…” He pulled out his pen again, unfolding the drawing in his hand. “Everyone knows an artist has to sign his work.” He bent over, scribbling something quickly, then folded up the piece of paper again and handed it to Harry.
“Louis!” The shout came from the group of Louis’ friends in the distance, holding up their football and waving.
Louis sighed. “I’ve got to go. Nice meeting you, Curly.” He winked at Harry, and then he was gone, leaving Harry sitting alone on his park bench in a state of shock. What had just happened?
He unfolded the piece of paper, smoothing out the creases. Right next to stick-figure-Harry’s head there was a big loopy signature punctuated with a smiley face and a string of digits. It’s not every day a cute boy in the park lets you draw him. Call me?
Harry read the message, grinning from ear to ear, and pulled out his phone.