Work Text:
Tuesday
Harry liked simple things.
He liked vanilla yoghurt with chunks of strawberry or the kind he bought at this little place where the yoghurt was thick and the fruit was plenty. He liked mojitos and scotch, lime and sodas. He liked music that made him feel and meeting people that had stories to tell.
He liked to listen.
And because of that. He liked to watch.
His favourite spot at the coffee shop Zayn worked at was right in the corner. Harry was inconspicuous observing the crowd while looking over his iced mocha in the summer, hot chocolate with a shot of espresso in the winter. He always sat at the back in his lectures, setup his laptop so he could see over the top but most of his face was hidden. He liked the quiet. Liked how when he sat still long enough, people would forget he was there and the real listening could begin.
It's how he figured out just who made Zayn smile just by looking at red apples or the night Harry made them all vegetarian pizza just to prove to Louis it was delicious. Harry'd never seen someone look so blissful while near nursing a bag of tomatos. He noticed the way Zayn would blush and concentrate on his fingers or a loose thread in his jeans when Louis would complain about having nowhere to store his beer with all the "green" in the fridge. That kind of stopped after awhile once Harry introduced Zayn to Perrie who actually lived across the hall from them and cooked at a little vegan eaterie close by. She took all the excess that Zayn and Louis (well - more Zayn and Harry) didn't eat and gave them free meals whenever they dropped by.
Harry noticed things.
He noticed things and he knew when to be quiet and say nothing so the other person would say it all. Be it through physical tics or quiet sighs - Harry heard what they weren't saying, weren't ready to say. Sometimes, he'd offer advice and sometimes he'd be the sounding board that they needed to finally figure out whatever their problem was on their own. He'd done it for Zayn that night. Somehow everyone had ended up at his and none of them had to work the next day (well - Liam had a PT session with two ladies at the gyms pool but that required more them staring at him and him ordering them about) so drinking sort of happened. They'd started in on the red that he and Li had had the night before with dinner and then that ran out and Louis wanted to drink more. Liam offered to walk down to the off license a few streets over and Louis went with him leaving Zayn and Harry alone. Alone with a baggie of weed that Zayn produced with a slow smile because Liam wasn't big on them smoking up and even though Louis was indifferent - it just meant they had more for themselves.
They sat in Harry's room, crowded together at the edge of his bed that was pushed up against the small window, giggling as Harry prepped the green and Zayn sacrificed his cigarette to the mix. It was nice this. Smoking up with Zayn was how they bonded in the begining - Harry being Louis' something and Zayn being a little bit more than just Louis' flatmate. It was a friendship built on the ability to enjoy silence together - an escape from the constant noise that Louis was. So they sat and they passed the smoke between them and listened to a city night coming to life. Ten minutes passed and then another five and each time Harry looked over at Zayn he was twitching a little - he looked like he had something to say but didn't know how to say it so Harry didn't push. He smoked and he watched the cars on the street and he waited for Zayn to find the words.
"Fuck, Haz," Zayn said, voice soft but loud in their relative silence, "I think I'm in love?"
He finished like it was a question and Harry didn't know what to answer so he just took the smoke from Zayns fingertips, breathed in deep and counted to ten and then another til his lungs were about to burst.
"No. You're right. I am. I totally am," Zayn said with a laugh, shrugging his shoulders and smiling so wide and so honest Harry didn't have anything else to add but a smile himself as he breathed out.
"He hasn't a clue though. Probably thinks I'm involved with Lou," Zayn said with a sigh, brow furrowing. Harry held his hand out to Zayn but he wasn't looking, just staring out the window. He raised a brow and took another hit. He wasn't worried about Zayn and Louis. Zayn wasn't into Louis at all - Harry knew that. He knew Louis wasn't like that either. He had Harry, and. And.
"He's just so," Zayn made this weird strangled noise but he was smiling again so Harry assumed he was alright. "He's just, you know?" Zayn asked, looking at Harry like he held all the answers and Harry grinned all slow because wherever Zayn got the stuff it was good - great even.
"Louis met him the other day. He was feeding me honey from his finger, Haz." Zayn chuckled and Harry saw a faint pink cover his cheeks. "Louis reckons he likes me back. Said he looked right jealous when Louis had to bloody interupt, kissed my cheek and all the bugger,"
Harry was holding in the smoke but pouted a little and nodded in agreeance. Louis was a bit of a menace when it came to personal space with Zayn - with all of them really - except when Liam was around. Which. Well. No, he wasn't ready to think on that yet. Not yet.
"I should tell him, shouldn't I? Tell him that Louis is just a mate and I actually like him instead? That's a thing I should do."
Zayn looked so utterly serious, so determined when he plucked the smoke from Harry's fingertips even though there was near to nothing left. He took a tiny drag out of it but stamped it out quick, sitting back on his heels and looked at Harry.
"Now?" Harry said, voice rough from the smoke and from being quiet so long.
Zayn licked at his lips, eyes already red rimmed from the smoke and glassy from the wine (he and Zayn drank most of it - probably why Liam offered to go get more).
"Now. Yeah. Now," Zayn said, releasing this long breath as if he held it while waiting for Harry to agree one way or another. Not that Harry had actually agreed to anything at all, but that really didn't matter. He slid off the bed, paused at the door to look back at Harry and he was the happiest Harry had ever seen him. Happy and scared but mostly happy.
"I don't even know where he lives or anything but, I just feel like. If I don't go and try now," he ended with a shrug. "I have his number - it was on the honey jar. Tell Louis not to come home, just in case."
Harry nodded and Zayn flashed him a grin, his tongue tucked up behind his teeth in a smile that Harry knew was a proper one. Harry heard Zayn fiddling with his boots while he rolled another joint and then the front door closed as he leaned back out toward the window, lighting up.
He was happy for Zayn. Zayn, who as far as Harry could work out - had been pining after the his vege lad for quite some time. It was funny how sometimes you just needed that quiet, that hush for a moment to figure out exactly what it was you wanted. To see the bigger picture and not just look at the pieces scattered all around.
He looked down at the street and watched the people pass. He saw Zayn walk out, hand at his ear and the other out, calling a passing taxi to a halt. He watched some more until at the corner under a street light he can make out a couple who have stopped. One is bigger than the other - not much - but enough for it to be noticeable. They were too far away or Harry's eyesight was a bit shit with how much he smoked so he couldn't really make them out. They looked like they were talking. Their hands between them, not moving, just there. One must have said something that made the other laugh, head thrown back and Harry imagined that he could hear the sound.
This was what he liked the most. Watching lovers in love and all that came with feeling like that. He liked the little insignificant moments of one doing the sugar while the other poured the milk. Like a wriggle of toes on the sofa ending with a pair of feet in your lap. Like how a look would let the other know that you needed a bit of a hug. That fingertips held to the side and back just enough would have the other move their own hand forward, find spaces meant to fill and like that - its more than enough.
He watched as the taller one took the bag from the smaller, wrapped an arm around their shoulder and pulled them in. He watched as their steps aligned, heads bent toward each other as they walked on.
He watched until an ambulance passed and it took his interest for the few seconds of flashing lights and sound. When he looked back, the couple was gone.
Minutes later, he heard voices in the hall, heard the lock and then the voices were louder so Harry got up, grinning because his two favorite people were home.
It was only as he walked into the hall and saw them in the entry that he realised what he'd not been seeing all along.
Liam was laughing, unravelling the ridiculous scarf that Louis insisted on wearing while Louis was taking off the coat that Liam lent him. Louis nimble fingers made quick work of the buttons on Liam's own coat, while Liam ended up stuck trying to get his own scarf off. Louis called him something - a word too soft and fond for Harry to pick up - and ended up pulling the wool up and over Liam's head. The expression on his face was one Harry'd seen a few times before - but it was only now he realised it's never been aimed at him. He looked. He looked at Liam like he was something precious as he tucked Liam's wild curls behind his ear. Louis had his bottom lip tucked in under his teeth as Liam stood still and let Louis do what he wanted. Liam's own hand came out to rest just on the curve of Louis' waist as he stumbled a little, reaching up a bit too high.
They laughed after a second - a second where Harry couldn't remember what breathing was - and then Louis was looking anywhere but at Liam, picking up the bag of clinking bottles as he called out to Harry and then a Zayn he hadn't realised was gone. He disapeared into the kitchen, a slight sway to his walk. Harry's eyes didn't follow - they were too stuck on Liam and the way Liam looked lost and sad and his beautiful brown eyes were so full of longing it actually made Harry's heart hurt.
He blinked and swallowed and it were as if his entire body had shifted into this place, this space where everything finally made sense and Harry never even knew that anything was wrong. But it was. There has been this thing revealed to him now - a thing that Liam and Louis might not even have realised, but Harry had seen it and it couldn't be undone. There were no take backsies here.
Just Harry and Louis and Liam. Missing puzzle pieces needing to be found