Work Text:
When Harry decided to come to a gay club to see a drag performer with his friend Jane, he had not thought much of it, but little did he know he was in for the ride of a lifetime.
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Harry is newly out as a gay man and is ready to explore the community he has always been apart of without even realizing it. His whole life he had spent burying these feelings of being attracted to men due to the constant fear of rejection, but after reaching the age of 20 he was tired of living a lie, broke up with his girlfriend of three years and told his entire family.
Harry was one of the luckiest gay guys on the planet, because his announcement to his family was simply met with kisses, messages of support and, "We already knew Harry, we love you no matter what."
With such a weight off his shoulders, he told his closest friend Jane who is essentially the biggest lover of drag queens and supporting the gay community, and when she heard the news of Harry being gay she was not shocked but yet elated to finally be able to watch and converse with someone about 'RuPaul's Drag Race'.
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A month or so after Harry's coming out, he and Jane were lazed out on his brown suede couches in his apartment, Jane was under his duvet munching on kettle chips with her eyes glued to his TV screen which was playing reruns of Buffy.
Harry sat with a fleece blanket strewn around his hips, his MacBook planted firmly in his lap as he finished up some last minute work assignments for his boss at the law-firm he worked for.
As Jane munched on chips she was scrolling on her phone with a devious grin.
Harry sighed, knowing that Jane was currently dragging them into some plans for the night as she always did on Friday, last week it was a classic movie fest and the week before it was a carnival, so Harry felt he was just about prepared for any of her shenanigans. That is, until she told him exactly what she was up to.
Jane smiled at him widely before triumphantly announcing, "Well, Harry Edward Styles, I am pleased to tell you that tonight I booked us each a ticket to see our wonderful local drag queens perform tonight, my favorite being the main act, Clover Fields who is absolutely fucking gorgeous and talented as ever!"
Harry gulped audibly, "And does this event happen to be at the gay club in town?"
Jane simply nodded, knowing this would be Harry's first time ever being inside of a gay cub, rather than just gazing at one longingly across the street.
Harry flung his head back and sighed, as Jane just chuckled evilly and continued eating and watching Buffy. Harry was not fully prepared for the night he was about to have, so he pushed it to the back of his brain and resumed typing away at his work assignments.
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Harry and Jane finally dragged their butts off of his cozy couches and were on their way to the club to see the drag show, on their uber ride to the club Jane rattled on and on about the queens who would be attending the event, one in particular being Clover Fields.
Jane sensed his nervous energy and nudged his side and smiled, "Harry, you will have so much fun, I swear, they are all so lovely and sweet. And Clover is this cute Irish boy out of drag so maybe you can even score a date, eh?"
Harry just rolled his eyes at Jane and leaned his head against the window of the car, as he stared out at the city street all he could wonder was what he had gotten himself into, as Jane continued to rattle on about the drag queens and how cute they were.
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Before it felt like any time had passed at all, Jane and Harry had arrived and had managed to push their way to the front of the club right near the stage, although they were a bit late and the performance had already started.
As they had found a place to stand, on stage was a beautiful drag queen with big fluffed up blonde hair, bold winged eyeliner, pink lips, and vintage lingerie topped with a long faux fur coat.
Harry was absolutely transfixed by the beautiful human artwork in front of him, new to being an out gay man, he had never even heard of a drag queen until about a week ago, so to see one in person left his mouth agape and his eyes locked upon the female impersonator in front of him.
So many men around him were throwing dollars upon dollars at the performer. The drag queen began lip syncing to some high energy pop song, hitting every beat and spinning, splitting, and physicalizing every moment, they were most definitely a captivating performer.
"What is the name of this performer, is this the one you told me about earlier?", Harry shouted towards his friend, Jane, above the music throbbing through the speakers and bouncing off the walls of the small bar.
Jane was Harry's best friend, she had long black hair, a lip piercing, and magnificent green eyes; she was the first to accept Harry when he came out and has more knowledge of gay culture than Harry could ever culminate.
Jane smiled before shouting, "Yep, this is Clover Fields, she is Irish and amazing and fucking gorgeous, the one I told you about earlier!"
Harry quirked an eyebrow, "I don't remember, She, is um are they a- man, or female?"
Jane rolled her eyes and sighed, "Ugh, my dearest sheltered Harry I need to teach you about pronouns and being respectful. In drag, Clover Fields is referred to as she, but out of drag, they go by the pronoun of he, and they identify as a man."
Harry simply nodded, trying to remember and soak up everything Jane told him, he wanted to become as comfortable with the gay community, as he is apart of it, and he does not wanna say anything stupid unless it is in the comforting company of Jane.
Jane just chuckled as Harry tried to wrap his brain around all the drag queen rules and regulations. Jane pointed her attention back towards the stage, clearly immersed by the movements of the drag queen, Clover Fields.
Harry darted his eyes towards Clover Fields as well, the drag queen who had taken his attention from the very moment they were visible on the stage. She currently was twirling around to a song by Cher, gazing at the ceiling and smiling so widely as if she were gazing up at heavens gates, her eyes were lit with passion as she performed, her black winged eyeliner and blonde hair looked a bit messier as she spun herself around and fell into a split. She lifted her arms into the air as the song ended and the crowd erupted into cheers.
Clover reached for the microphone as she finished her performance, "Helloooooo, London how are you tonight?" her Irish voice croaked out
The crowd cheered and jumped, Jane shouted and smiled enthusiastically and threw a five dollar bill onto the stage.
Harry smiled at Clover, and felt his cheeks heat up due to the performers angelic, thick Irish accent.
Although Harry had no attraction to women, knowing there was a boy underneath the fake padding and silicone boobs and heavy makeup, set Harry's insides a flame, a talented and enthusiastic performer and an Irish boy, who most definitely is a super attractive male underneath the heavy makeup, was enticing.
"So everyone, I know what you are thinking, what is such a beautiful woman doing in such a gay club? Well lets just say, definitely not for the tips." Clover Fields grimaced holding up a crumpled dollar bill, "I better go back to cat fishing old men online into thinking I am a woman at this rate." She addressed the crowd with a joking, jovial manner.
The crowd immediately erupted into laughter at her ease of delivery and the act she imposed upon herself.
"Now I see some new faces in the crowd tonight, which is surprising considering how small the damn gay community is around here, so Curly, what's the story morning glory? Are you just a straight male looking to impress a girl or are you some new meat on the market?"
Clover Fields darted her eyes and gestured towards Harry. He quickly felt his face flush into a shade that could only be described as "tomato red". Harry was not sure if he needed a witty retort or only silence, he darted his eyes from Clover to Jane, and back to the crowd and did not find any answers in their gaze.
"Em, I uh, Am gay, yeah." Harry stumbled, nearly smacking his hand over his face in embarrassment.
Clover Fields chuckled (at Harry's misery and failure) and confidently and articulately stated,
"Well, well, as the old saying goes, beauty and brains... sometimes you have to pick only one, and Curly my dear, your beauty will fade, but dumb, truly is forever."
Harry felt his face go deep red as the crowd erupted into laughter at his expense, Jane gave him a pitiful and sorrowful side glance and a shrug as she stifled back her chuckles.
Harry looked around the room, looked back at Clover, and stormed out of the club in a move fueled out of not only embarrassment but also anger at being made out to be a fool in front of his entire local gay community, or in other words his entire line up of possible partners.
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Harry ended up sitting outside the club on the curb, he had a cigarette in his hand, a habit he knows he should quit, but when he is frustrated or embarrassed he feels the need to smoke even more urgent.
The frigid London air smacked his face and he felt his hands shake as they held the warm cigarette that he puffed on every few seconds. Jane had come after him after he had ran out of the club, but Harry insisted she go back inside to finish the show, he had simply had enough and would wait for her outside.
Although Jane assured Harry that "Clover Fields" i.e. "Niall Horan" (or so Jane says that is his name) is not on stage anymore, Harry told her he would feel more comfortable on his own.
Harry snorted spitefully, recalling Jane begging him to attend the drag show with her, stating Clover Fields was her favorite drag queen of all time and that she had started a petition to get her on RuPaul's Drag Race which is at 28,000 signatures.
Jane even said on the way to club that she had met Clover Fields out of drag, and that his name was Niall Horan, a sweet but loud Irish guy with wispy blonde hair and the cutest pink lips and cheeks. The way she had described him was captivating and made him even more excited, but instead he was met with a funny, beautiful performer who publicly embarrassed him for being a stuttering, nervous mess.
Harry continued to puff on his cigarette, until he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. Harry threw his cigarette to the black pavement and stomped out the flame with his steel toe boot. He turned, expecting Jane to be waiting for him, but instead he turned to see big blue eyes, pink lips, and a fluff of blonde hair. The man in front of him looked disheveled and adorned only a robe and sandals, and Harry immediately recognized them as the drag queen, Clover, who publicly embarrassed him about an hour beforehand.
The blonde boy did not have the same confidence that he had on stage though as Clover Fields, he looked nervous and sheepish and kept flickering his eyes down to his feet that were only barely clad in flip flops.
The boy coughed and then said, "Look, I am really sorry for calling you out back there on stage, I am a comedy queen and sometimes we say things to make people laugh and we just take it a step too far. I saw you storm out and realized I over stepped my boundaries and I want to sincerely apologize."
Harry wanted to stay angry at the boy, he really did, but he knew it was pointless, and his big blue eyes and thick Irish accent made it really hard to be negative, "S' okay, it was just m' first drag show, first time at a gay bar. So I was just a little embarrassed s'all."
The blonde boy looked devastated, "Your first time at a drag show or a gay bar, jeez, I really fucked up didn't I?", he scratched nervously at the nape of his neck and avoided eye contact with Harry.
Harry gulped nervously, not liking that the blonde boy in front of him, who was clearly so talented, was so upset by Harry's offense over a simple joke.
"No please, you didn't know, it really is okay, I am just glad you came to me to apologize, it was em, really, very sweet of you actually.", Harry stammered, making eye contact with the gorgeous irishman in front of him.
The irishman sighed in relief and smiled deviously, definitely gaining his confidence again, "So Curly, M' name is Niall, or as you may know me as Clover Field, the most fabulous drag queen in all of London who may or may not have given you the absolute worst first impression, maybe I can make it up to you with some drinks sometime, yanno, as Niall, not Clover."
Harry blushed and smiled, "Well Niall, the name is Harry, not Curly, and I would love some drinks with you, even if you are a right twat in drag."
Niall smiled and blushed a little, breaking his confidence and letting his vulnerability seep out. Before they could chat more Jane busted out of the bar, drink in hand, slurring and shouting at Harry to buy her fried food and to take her home.
Harry pulled Jane into his arms and waved his arm out to the nearest taxi, Niall smiled at him and waved, "Until next time, Curly."
Harry smiled as he ushered Jane into the cab, as his thoughts rushed with NiallNiallNiallNiallNiall.
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Later that night, when Jane sobered up, Harry and her sat on his suede couch next to one another watching season 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race (which they may or may not have watched the entire season in one night and Harry is totally obsessed to Jane's delight)
"M' gonna go get some chips from your kitchen Harry, want anything?", Jane smiled.
Harry nodded no as she sauntered off sleepily for food, as Jane was out of sight Harry pulled out his phone and clicked on the Facebook app, sitting in his friend requests were two requests, one from Clover Fields, and one from Niall Horan. Harry accepted both and felt his face go red with excitement.
Immediately a message popped up from Niall Horan, simply stating, "Hey Curly, drinks tomorrow at 9? This time I may or may not humiliate you. No promises. X."
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Harry pulled his duvet over his head in joy and to hide his blushing face from Jane, he is not quite sure what he has gotten himself into, but he doesn't thinks he minds, not one bit.
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