Paris Changed Us

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/13305042.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/M, M/M
Fandom: One Direction (Band), Larry Stylinson - Fandom
Relationship: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Kendall Jenner/Harry Styles, Gigi
Hadid/Zayn Malik, Cheryl Cole/Liam Payne
Character: Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan,
Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Cheryl Cole, Gemma Styles, Lottie
Tomlinson, Félicité Tomlinson, Daisy Tomlinson, Phoebe Tomlinson,
Jay Tomlinson, Anne Cox, Original Characters
Additional Tags: harry is popular, Louis is Unpopular, Bullying, Nerd Louis, Alternate
Universe - School, secret friendship, Harry is dating Kendall, Louis is
new, Bottom Louis, Top Harry, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Oral Sex,
Rimming, Blow Jobs, Hot Sex, First Time, Virgin Louis, Making Out,
Making Love, First Kiss, Falling In Love, Love Triangles, Love
Confessions, Paris (City), School Trip, Harry doesn't like bullying Louis,
But his friends are arseholes and want to make him, Developing
Friendship, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Self-Harm, Self-Esteem
Issues, Depression, Sad Louis, Harry kinda cheats on Kendall lol,
Kendall and Gigi are British in this, Cocky Harry, Bicurious Harry,
Innocent Louis, Crazy Ex Kendall, Blackmail, Arguments, Police,
Coming Out, Relapse
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2018-01-08 Updated: 2022-05-23 Chapters: 68/? Words:
241927

Paris Changed Us
by DirtyLarryStylinson

Summary

Harry Styles has it all: his egotistical friends, a hot girlfriend, and ton of money equipped
with an incredible fashion sense; he's the sort of 18-year-old others dream of being.

And then there was Louis Tomlinson: shy, socially awkward and under-appreciated, from a
family not so economically stable; the kind of 18-year-old others would hate to be. His
gawky nature makes him a bullying target of Harry's group, the moment he joins their
school.

But when the school organises a trip to Paris, and Harry is placed in a hotel room with
Louis, what will happen when a friendship blossoms, maybe turning into something more?
How will Harry hide his secret liking towards Louis from his friends, and more specifically,
from his girlfriend of over two years?
Notes

So, this was a plot suggested to me by Lia, who commented it on another of my works -
thank you to Lia!

Prompt: "It's basically jock harry and nerd louis, -so cliche I know.
louis is very poor and his family is struggling, and harry is suuper rich and has a girlfriend
named kendallllllll. they go to paris, and harry and lou are roommates etc. harry and his
friends has basically never liked louis, neither has kendall. but in paris, louis and harry get
to know each other and suddenly they're friends. harry's friends start mocking him bc they
notice how close they've gotten and kendall gets suspicious etc. and harry tries proving
them wrong by doing shitty things towards louis."

Just a quick disclaimer: Louis has depression in this, which will likely progress throughout
the story into something more severe. If you are affected by this, apologies, this may not be
for you. Although I will always leave a warning note at the beginning of any chapter
containing any sensitive stuff!

Harry is quite caring in this story, but often cares a lot about what his friends think of him.
He and his friends are from very rich families, whereas Louis is from the opposite. Louis
becomes friends with Niall, who is quite alike to him.

Anyway, enough blabbering on, I hope you enjoy. I know it's a short chapter, sort of testing
it out. Thank you!
 1

Harry had never liked getting involved whenever his group of friends chose to pick on anybody
from their school. On the football field during P.E, when Zayn took a fully inflated football (which
was almost as inflated as his distended ego) and launched it at Niall Horan's head "for fun". Or
when Harry's girlfriend, Kendall, shouted degrading remarks at the quiet girls who sat at the front
of their classes. When Zayn's girlfriend, Gigi, had stuck her foot out in front of an oncoming
student as they left the classroom, sending them flying to the ground. The time Liam and his
girlfriend, Cheryl, hatched the nasty plan to pass discriminating notes around about somebody in
the room, for all to see. Harry deeply hated it. In fact, he wanted with all his heart to apologise
personally to all the people affected, but he knew it would make his friends judge him,
ridiculously.

He was in, what was classed as, the 'cool' group in Holmes Chapel Comprehensive. Everybody
looked up to the six of them, however nice or horrible they acted towards people, because they had
it all. They were three picture-perfect couples, massively handsome and beautiful, who were an
ultimate goal to just about anybody who laid eyes on them. They had the looks, the money, the
expensive clothes, the aura about them that purely screamed: we're better than you. Harry was
very happy with how he looked, equally so with his mates, hot girlfriend, and all the money in his
bank account, but he did often resent the people who didn't have to create a constant impression, a
facade.

It was Monday morning, early January, the first day back after a lengthy Christmas break, which
hadn't done wonders for Harry's kidneys, considering the sheer amount of alcohol he had
consumed within the space of two weeks at Zayn's big, spontaneous parties. He was still groggy-
eyed as he sat with his friends at their canteen table, reflecting his exhaustion with his lack of input
in their conversation.

"Literally, I had Cheryl screaming last night," Liam cockily boasted, so a light tinge of pink heated
up her cheeks in embarrassment. "Didn't I, babe?"

There was a flurry of laughter over everybody else, aside from a humiliated Cheryl and mentally
drained Harry. Zayn quickly caught on to how quiet he was being, giving him a hard nudge.

"What're you sulking about, Styles?" He pushed, with a hint of amusement behind his tone,
breaking Harry from his daze.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, I'm just a little tired." Harry reassured, fixing his fringe and sweeping it
properly across his forehead. He caught eyes with Kendall, who gave him a bright smile.

"Has he been fucking you too much, Kendall, that you wore him out?" Gigi giggled, wiggling her
eyebrows at her friend. Another thing Harry hated about his friends was their constant urge to want
to discuss their sex lives. Sure, one comment every now and again didn't hurt, but it had become
more of a daily occurrence by now.

"No, he hasn't fucked me in too long." Kendall pouted out her lower lip at Harry, a mischievous
glint in her eye.

Harry defensively shook his head, "I fucked you, like, five days ago!"

"Five days?" Zayn taunted. "That's long, man."

"I apologise, I'll try harder next time." Harry sassed, rolling his eyes. He could see Kendall
jumping to her feet in the corner of his eye, playfully running round the table to stand behind him.

She lowered her mouth to his ear from behind, hot breath lingering momentarily before she
whispered. "Will you fuck me again tonight?"

"Sure," Harry complied, turning his face suddenly to catch her lips against his. "Promise."

"Love you." She made a kissing gesture before hopping back over to her previous seat. Harry was
surprised not to hear any wooing from the other four, but when he glanced at them, he knew why.

Their eyes were fixed on Niall Horan, a quiet boy from their classes, who had just entered the
cafeteria with a shorter boy whom none of them recognised. Newbie. He was probably around 5
foot 7, hair a feathery and ruffled brown, swept across his forehead, dressed in a baggy hoodie and
skinny jeans. Harry could tell, even from such a distance, plus never having spoken to the guy, that
he was shy, based purely on the way he kept his gaze trained mostly on the floor.

"New guy," Liam sang, an ominous expression present, "And he's hanging out with Niall Horan, so
he'll definitely be one to mess with."

Harry's mouth pouted to the side as his stomach flooded with guilt. This boy, who was clearly here
on his first ever day at HCC, was so timid and sweet-looking that Harry felt hugely bad for
allowing his friends to pick fun at him. It didn't feel right at all.

"Leave the guy alone, he looks way too sensitive." He quietly defended, though it was heard by all
five individuals of his group.

"Sensitive?" Cheryl huffed out a sharp laugh, "That's exactly what we want him to be."

"Yeah, since when have you had a soft side, Haz?" Gigi asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Harry had always had a soft side, one he liked to think shone through more than the bad one, but
clearly his friends never picked up on his attempted benevolence.

"I dunno, just ignore me." He sighed, eyeing the shy, new boy again, who was across the canteen
being introduced to some of Niall Horan's 'uncool' group of friends. Harry sadly smiled to himself,
before ducking his head to hide it. Something about the boy stirred worry within him, a deep want
for him to be safe from people's meanness.

Once their lunch hour had finished, Harry had been forced to deal with Kendall playfully jumping
on his back and demanding a piggyback ride to their art class. He loved her, of course he did, and
he had for over two years, but her clingy nature could often be overwhelming whenever Harry
would rather be alone for a moment.

The six of them took their seats in the back row, the back row of all their classes practically
reserved for their likenesses, as the room began to fill with students. Harry spotted Niall Horan and
the new kid walk in amongst the crowd, noting some crystalline blue eyes on him at a closer
distance. He definitely looked very nice and approachable. Harry ripped his eyes away before he
started feeling guilty again.

Their art teacher, Mr Pembrook, staggered in a few minutes late, carrying about a thousand sheets
of paper and a cup of coffee, setting everything onto his desk before rushing out an apology for his
lateness. He didn't even have to bother anymore, he had never been on time. Mr Pembrook's eyes
scanned the class, clearly stopping when they landed on the newbie. A smile lit up his face.
"I see a new face," He cheerfully pointed out, "Why don't you stand up and introduce yourself,
young man?"

Harry could sense the way the boy tensed, for some reason, like standing up and speaking his
name to his new class was absolute hell on earth. He felt for him, he really did. The boy shakily
stood up, evidently extremely nervous, idly scratching his forearm over his hoodie sleeve as he
turned to face his new classmates.

"Umm, I... I'm Louis. Tomlinson." He stuttered out. "I'm from Doncaster."

He linked eyes with Harry at that moment, and Harry immediately smiled, a welcoming smile that
told him it was okay to be scared on his first day. Louis returned it, very subtly, before diverting
his gaze to look down.

Harry heard Zayn breathe out a laugh, and just knew a comment was coming next. "And I'm
guessing you're gay?"

The only real laughter came from the back row, minus Harry, whose eyebrows actually furrowed in
annoyance due to what his mate had meanly divulged. He tried to shoot a sorry look Louis' way,
but he had already defeatedly sat back down as the laughter gradually died down.

"That's not the sort of respectful conduct I like in my classroom, Mr Malik, is it?" Mr Pembrook
raised an eyebrow in heavy disapproval. "Another comment like that, and I'll be sending you
straight to the headteacher's office."

"How scary." Zayn sarcastically muttered under his breath, away from the earshot of their art
teacher, to his luck. Gigi, Kendall, Liam and Cheryl were still quietly chuckling away, evidently
having found the whole prejudicial situation funny, whereas Harry tried to concentrate on
scribbling down the title from the whiteboard into his notepad.

Something about Louis, his innocence and perceived friendliness, made Harry want to protect him.
But he knew he couldn't. His friends were always too relentless in their bullying, taking any chance
they could to get a laugh from everybody else. It was quite sickening, though Harry felt he had no
power over it. The bullying towards Louis had only just begun, he could feel that.

At the end of the day, when they were dismissed from their art class to head home, Liam violently
shoved past Louis as everybody left the classroom. Harry wanted to complain, wanted to stroke
Louis' arm in comfort where Liam had struck past him, but all he could do was attempt the sorry
look once again, which Louis saw this time but ignored.

Man, was this painful already.

 2
Chapter Notes

Just to clarify, I have nothing against the celebrities who are the bullies in this! It's
purely for this story.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It was bad enough having to drive both himself and Kendall to school every day through the 7:30
morning rush hour, so when she demanded they stop at Starbucks for a hot chocolate, Harry very
nearly snapped.

"Baaabe, I'm dying for a peppermint hot chocolate," She whined, tugging at the sleeve of his
favourite Saint Laurent jacket. "Just turn left here, there's a Starbucks down there."

"No, Kenny, we'll be late." Harry opposed, trying to keep his tone level and missing the turning
entirely, continuing down the busy road. He immediately heard a loud huff in protest, spotting in
the corner of his eye that Kendall had moodily propped her chin up on her palm.

"It's 'cause you don't love me." She muttered under her breath, so quietly that she thought Harry
wouldn't hear, but he did and was encouraged to roll his eyes.

"Of course I love you, babe, that's not determined by whether I buy you a peppermint hot chocolate
or not." Harry stated, an undertone of annoyance that he didn't let surface. She flailed an arm out in
protest.

"I don't know, it just seems as though we're drifting apart a little. Sometimes." She admitted,
picking absentmindedly at her nail to avoid looking Harry's way. "You know."

"How are we drifting apart? I thought things were going great between us at the moment." Harry
mumbled, turning into the school car park with just enough time to head into the school building.

Harry expertly veered his gleaming, grey Audi R8 into his usual parking space, in the corner
beneath the oak tree, before switching the engine off.

"Well, it's just..." Kendall heavily sighed, as they both unclipped their seatbelts and jumped out of
the car. "...I don't know."

"Last night meant nothing to you? I'd call that pretty close, if you ask me." Harry reminded,
holding the keys out behind him and pressing the button to lock his car, so its beeping noise
chimed out. He placed an arm loosely around Kendall's shoulder as they walked, pulling her in
closer to his side so that she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You just seemed a bit off last night, for some reason. Listen, just forget I even said anything." She
dismissed, as they entered the main building, out of the cold. Harry did just that, though throughout
their reflective silence to follow, he was contemplating what had been so 'off' about him last night;
personally he thought he had done a fantastic job with getting her off.

As they rounded the corner towards their registration classroom, somebody turning it towards them
collided harshly with Kendall, sending the other person's two folders flying to the floor.
It was Louis Tomlinson. Newbie.

"What the fuck!" Kendall loudly objected, hands spread in repugnance. "Be careful, for fuck's
sake!"

Louis, who was dressed in the same scruffy hoodie as yesterday, plus some blue jeans, looked
panicked, flushing slightly red with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, his tone backing this up. "I'm so sorry!" He hurriedly repeated, hands
holding his head either side in stress.

Harry found himself quickly kneeling to pick up Louis' two dropped folders, slipping some loose
sheets back inside of one before handing them over with a smile.

"It's okay, don't worry about it." He answered Louis' apologies for Kendall, as Louis shyly took the
folders back and tucked them awkwardly under his arm.

"Thanks." He mumbled with a smile, though he didn't hold the eye contact for long before looking
down at his feet once again. Kendall had her arms moodily folded, glaring at him like he was a
piece of dirt.

"Just watch it next time." She snarled. "And you're going the wrong way, anyway. Registration is
the way you were coming from, you..." She looked him up and down in disgust, "...weirdo."

The look on Louis' face broke Harry's heart: it was an expression where he was clearly trying to
hide his hurt with a smile, but it showed clearly in those eyes. He wandered back off in the
direction he had come from, without a further word or look.

"Honestly," Kendall breathed in annoyance, rolling her eyes, "Did you see how he's dressed? I
swear he had that hoodie on yesterday."

"Maybe he doesn't have enough clothes, Kendall." Harry maturely defended, keeping the volume
of his voice low even though Louis was long gone.

"Not my problem. And you shouldn't have helped him with picking up all that shit he dropped, it's
his problem." She gritted, as though being kind was outrageous.

"I was just being nice. You should always treat people with kindness." Harry reasoned. He tried to
ignore the fact that Kendall scoffed in response, clearly in a bad enough mood already. Harry
figured it was premenstrual syndrome.

Harry could tell that Louis was unsure about whether to trust him. Harry tried to smile at him
during their registration period, but Louis had just diverted his gaze to the tabletop. It was hardly
surprising, seeing as during this time, Harry was sat with the people who had thrown a scrunched
up paper ball with the word fag scrawled on it at him. The guy seemed lovely too, which made it
even worse. Harry spotted him smiling and chatting to those around him, staying positive despite
that obvious stain on the lower left side of his hoodie.

The first lesson of the day was English. Harry hated having this subject first, as it took a lot of
effort so early in the morning, what with the excessive reading, listening and writing required. He
and his friends, as usual, sat in the back row of the class, where they could observe the rest of the
room.

Their teacher was droning on about Parisian writers, something Harry had absolutely no care for.
His attention was on Liam and Cheryl, who were seductively whispering into each other's ears
from where they sat, and he knew they would probably have a little 'time out' at lunch in a discreet
location (they had in fact been caught fucking before in public, yet it never stopped them.)

Harry suddenly heard an uproar of excitement erupt around the room, jumping slightly and eyes
darting around to spot many smiling faces. Clearly he had been so zoned out that he had completely
missed what was so exciting. Even Zayn was celebrating, excitedly patting Gigi on the thigh.

"Can you believe it, Haz? This is going to be so romantic!" Kendall cooed, tilting her head to rest
on his shoulder with a dreamy look in her eye. Harry was still very addled.

"What will be?"

"You're always zoning out, you!" She giggled, her sudden cheerfulness a contrast from the earlier
distant act. "Paris, Harry!"

"Paris? What do you mean?"

"A school trip to Paris!" She expanded, pointing at the whiteboard, where their teacher was
scribbling down notes on the upcoming trip.

PARIS TRIP
January 15th - January 19th
Focus will be on French writers, with influences of the Parisian lifestyle to aid our
investigations.

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed in realisation. "Cool! That's only, like, two weeks away."

"Thirteen days, actually." Kendall smirked. "This is so exciting, I hope I can get a room with you!"

And as if on cue, their teacher crushed those dreams with his next announcement.

"So, the situation with who you'll be sharing rooms with, let me explain that now." He began,
immediately gaining everyone's attention. "You may not want to hear this, but I will be choosing
who you share a room with, based on who I pair you with for the projects. You will all be staying
in pairs."

Groans of displeasure were emitted around the room, immediately erasing the previous
exuberance, and Kendall sighed particularly loud. It wasn't surprising, considering both the factors
that it was a school trip and they would never be allowed to room with the opposite gender
anyway.

"Who are we going to be with?" Gigi impatiently asked, a question Harry had been wondering
since it was aired that they'd be partnered up.

"I will disclose that closer to the leaving date, as I need confirmation of who can go and who
cannot. The trip is going to cost £150 each, so some may not be able to afford that, we need to see."

Zayn exaggerated a cough, before loudly saying: "Louis."

Laughter hummed out around the room. Harry felt awful again. Obviously Louis' unruly hair and
slightly stained hoodie had been another opportunity to Zayn to pick on him again, calling him
poor. He had no idea what Louis' life was like at home, yet he chose to judge. Louis had responded
by trying to make light of it, faking a laugh along. It evidently hurt him though, that was clear as
day.
 As they were leaving the classroom at the end, Harry sort of eavesdropped on Louis' quiet
conversation with Niall, only because he was curious and was walking past anyway.

"I don't know if my mum can afford to pay for me," Louis mumbled, scratching the back of his
neck, "She's already got so much more to pay for with the money we have."

"Aww, man, I can lend you some for a while, if you like?" Niall offered, which made Harry want
to smile. That was all he heard, before he had followed his friends out of the classroom completely.

So Louis wasn't from a well-off family, that was confirmed. The boy seemed to have a lot on his
plate, and it made Harry sad.

He added Louis on Facebook that evening, after browsing for a while and coming across his
profile as a suggested friend.

His profile picture was of himself and a younger girl, who looked to be a sister.

The rest of his profile was pretty much private, no cover photo, no status updates, no personal
information (except a birthday, Christmas eve - harsh.) An hour later, and Harry still had no 'Louis
Tomlinson accepted your request' notification. He started thinking maybe Louis wouldn't accept
requests from those he wasn't close to, or he suspected weren't nice. As Harry was always sat with
his mates when they picked on Louis, it was clear why he'd think Harry was in on it.

Harry had honestly been tempted all day to send Louis a message, saying he would happily pay the
£150 for him to go to Paris, as that money was practically nothing to Harry, but obviously it would
be perceived as a massive gesture and Louis may not think it as being genuine. So he didn't.

Chapter End Notes

Chapters will definitely be getting longer and more interesting soon!

 3
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Louis still hadn't accepted Harry's Facebook friend request by morning, so he assumed it was
because he was never going to. It wasn't surprising whatsoever, especially seeing as whenever
Harry tried to smile apologetically at Louis after one of his mates made a degrading comment
towards him, Louis would pout his mouth to the side in disinterest and look the other way. He
envisioned Harry as being one of the tormentors, not the kind one on the side who wanted the
bullying to cease.

Harry tried not to make eye contact with Louis, as he strolled into their English class with Kendall
ten minutes late (because she had finally won him over on their Starbucks battle.) He did notice
how generally tired Louis looked though, dark circles under his eyes and a hazy focus on the
whiteboard. Today, instead of following his girlfriend (who was sipping obnoxiously loud from her
drink) to the back row, he leant in to quickly mutter something to her.

"I'm gonna sit further forward today, on my own, concentrate a bit more."

"Since when do you care about concentrating?" She whispered, eyebrows urged to raise. Harry
rolled his eyes in response, waving his hand to dismiss her to the back row. He sat on the empty
desk right behind where Louis sat with Niall, hoping this wouldn't start looking a bit creepy from
Louis' side of the spectrum.

They had been set an independent task to answer some questions in the textbook, so the room was
filled with discussions of people working together with those around them. Harry pulled out his
earphones, unravelling them from around his phone and plugging them in. But he didn't put any
music on, just wanted it to seem like he did.

He wanted to hear Louis and Niall talking again, without obviously eavesdropping. And he looked
totally innocent, sat there with his textbook open, looking as though he were reading but really
keeping an ear out.

"I'm really sorry about Paris, man," Niall sighed, sparking up the conversation with Louis right in
front of Harry's eyes. "It's really shit of me to offer to pay and then-"

"Mate, it's fine! It isn't your fault you don't have enough to lend me too, it was never your job to in
the first place. I'll just have to wait for another trip, one I can afford when I find a better job." Louis
reassured, his voice somehow remaining bright. Harry bet he didn't feel so bright on the inside, but
he masked it. It was heartbreaking, really.

"It's not fair, how there are rich as fuck people who can afford this easily, like Kendall, Zayn, Harr-
" Niall cut himself off when he recalled Harry had sat right behind them, discreetly twisting in his
seat to look at Harry (who was still looking at the textbook, pretending to be working) before
turning back to Louis again, "Like Kendall, Harry, all their group. He can't hear me, don't worry,
he's got earphones in."

Harry wanted to smirk and laugh at that, but he continued to listen.

"Oh, that one's called Harry, the one behind us?"

"Yeah, curly hair. Thinks he's the hottest guy on earth."

Harry wanted to scoff. But maybe what Niall had said was a little bit true.

"Well, I know nothing about them, but I can tell by their style and attitudes that they're all rich."
Louis quietly admitted. Harry's ears pricked up in interest. "You know what I mean? I'm not calling
them snobby, buuut..." He trailed off.

"You're not calling them snobby, but they are." Niall humoured him, before they both chuckled.

"Well, I don't know them personally, can't fully judge. But I don't like it when they all pick on
me."

The way Louis had phrased that final sentence, made Harry forget about how he had just been
called snobby. The way Louis said "they all pick on me", as though their group were all one person
who were responsible for one another's bad actions.

"Yeah, they're always like that." Niall groaned, and Harry could sense an eye roll.

He loved how he was listening in on this without their knowledge, getting an insight into what
Louis really thought of him and his friends. He was massively tempted to tap one of them on the
shoulder and mention how he wasn't really listening to music, but he was too sidetracked by feeling
awful for Louis still, how he couldn't go on the Paris trip. It must have been so crushing, feeling
like you're being cast aside due to not being financially 'good enough'.

The two of them fell silent for quite some time, getting some work done, so Harry decided to
actually put on some music and concentrate himself. Luckily, Zayn and the others weren't
harassing Louis today, which was typical as if they were, it would be proven that Harry wasn't
involved in it as he was sat away from them.

When everybody packed up for the end of the lesson, and Harry rejoined his mates (who taunted
him for being a 'nerd'), Liam stuck out his foot in front of Louis, who thankfully didn't fall
completely to the ground but did stumble rather ungracefully into Niall's back. Harry honestly
wanted to slap Liam on the arm for doing it, especially as Louis couldn't have been in a great mood
as it was.

Harry lingered slightly by the doorway, so Kendall tugged at his arm impatiently.

"Come on, hurry up! What are you hanging around for?" She hastened. "We've got to get to
maths."

"I've just got to ask Mr Grant about something." Harry improvised. "I'll catch up, don't wait around
for me."

"I'm sure those giraffe-like legs of yours will catch you up!" Gigi yelled from in the hallway,
urging Harry to lightly shake his head with a laugh. They left the classroom, and so did other
students, until the door clicked shut and Harry was left with Mr Grant, their English teacher. He
was neatly bunching together a stack of paper, glancing up with raised eyebrows to find that Harry
was still present.

"Harry! What can I do for you?"

Harry was kind of wondering what in the world he was doing, but there was no turning back now.
He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, leaning on one hip.

"Umm... it's about the Paris trip."

"Right. Did you want to pay for it? The payments are coming in fast, you'd be surprised!" Mr Grant
grinned, leaning on his desk with his hands casually clasped over his knees.

"Actually," Harry released a sharp breath, "I'd like to pay for myself and someone else."

"Oh? Kendall?" Mr grant guessed, a soft smile.

"Well, I don't doubt she'd like me to pay for her, but it's someone else." Harry informed him. "Uh,
it's Louis Tomlinson."

Mr Grant looked puzzled, bottom lip quirking up into the top one, forehead crinkling. "Louis
Tomlinson? I don't exactly form the impression that you and your friends like Louis."

"I never said that. I haven't ever been involved in any of their bullying towards him. But anyway,
that's besides the point. I overheard Louis and Niall Horan talking about how Louis would never be
able to afford the trip, how his mum needs that money to support their family, and... well, I thought
I could help."

"Harry, that's awfully kind of you!" Mr Grant beamed. "Are you sure? That would be £300 you'd
be paying, £450 if you pay for Kendall too."

"That's fine, honestly." Harry waved a hand, having to admit that he could be immodest at times
surrounding his wealth. "I don't mind. Look, I'll pay for Louis now, and for Kendall and I another
time."

Harry reached into his back pocket, pulling out his black leather wallet. He pulled out six 20s and
three 10s, counting aloud as he gathered it all up, stacking the notes together and handing them
over with a smile.

"Louis Tomlinson's money for the Paris trip." He concluded, handing over the money.

"This is a very lovely gesture, Harry. I'm sure he'll be very grateful when I let him know."

Harry raised a hand quickly. "Umm, just tell him an anonymous person paid it for him. I don't want
him feeling as though he has to feel bad and keep thanking me, you know."

"Okay, Harry. You're a very nice young man. You get to your next lesson now, won't you?" Mr
Grant dismissed him, slotting the money into an envelope and sealing it, scrawling Louis' full name
onto it.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, sir." Harry gave a little wave before leaving the classroom, unable to
stop a smile from radiating off his face.

The next morning, Harry still didn't have a friend request confirmation from Louis. Yeeeah, he
should just give up on checking for that, it wasn't going to happen. When he and his friends entered
their English class later that morning, he immediately came across Louis and Mr Grant having a
chat at the front of the room. And he managed to catch the moment Louis must have been
informed of his paid ticket, as his eyes widened slightly, eyebrows raising, eyes surveying the
room. Harry looked down just in time so as not to make eye contact, heading over to his friends
while trying to suppress his smile.

"What're you grinning about?" Cheryl nudged him. "Thinking about fucking Kendall?"

He wanted to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, obviously." He sarcastically remarked, with a downgraded version of an eye roll, nothing
too over the top. "Nah, I guess I'm just in an alright mood today."

He was ecstatic. He felt so emotionally accomplished for helping Louis, it made him feel good
about himself.

Kendall skipped over to him happily, and he realised she was fluttering her eyelashes a bit more
than usual.

"Hazzaaa?" She sang.

"What?"

"Mr Grant mentioned we have to get the trip money in by the end of this week, it's Wednesday
now so only a couple of days left. Could you pay mine too?"

Yeah, he was definitely expecting that. Kendall was certainly well-off financially, her parents both
working in the high-up law sector, yet she still made Harry pay for most things. She usually
claimed that it was his way of showing he really loved her.

"Yeah, sure." He sighed. "I'll pay it tomorrow."

"Thanks, baby." She purred, kissing his cheek.

When everybody got seated, Harry witnessed how happy Louis was when telling Niall about what
had happened. His eyes were so bright, replacing the usual lifelessness, a big smile on his face. It
was like a new Louis had stepped out, despite him still wearing the very dull, probably equally as
cheap, clothes. It warmed Harry's heart so much that he had to hold back a smile for the rest of the
lesson. God damn his emotions.

Harry was feeling rather risky on Thursday night, after a long shower during which he debated his
next move on the Facebook situation. For some peculiar reason, he felt very disheartened that
Louis hadn't accepted his friend request, even though maybe Louis didn't even use Facebook or
something, and he couldn't take it.

So he began typing out a message to him, knowing that this could make or break what Louis
thought of him in their lessons. He was well aware this could equal a whole lot of awkwardness,
especially if Louis read it and didn't reply, but he couldn't help himself anymore. He was cool and
popular enough not to be belittled if Louis didn't reply to him.

Harry Styles: Hi, it's Harry from class. Just wondering why you don't wanna accept my
request...?

He chewed nervously on his bottom lip, finger hovering challengingly over the enter button on his
keyboard. The message wasn't too confrontational, nor did it seem too needy, so what bad was
there in it? Maybe it would be a message Louis wouldn't see for years, when he'd finally remember
he had an account and log in.

So Harry hit send. Then he slammed his laptop lid shut, as though that could help the situation in
any way. Why did he care so much about what Louis thought of him? Sure, he was new and
everything, but he didn't have to have a positive opinion on Harry or anything. He just liked Louis,
thought he seemed like a nice guy.

He slowly opened the laptop lid about ten minutes later, feeling like he could only peek, typing in
 the password to unlock his laptop. And there was a new message waiting. From Louis, of course,
and Harry never wanted to read it. In fact, he wanted to prolong it for so long that he'd rather
somebody read it aloud at his funeral than have to look now. He decided to stop being a wimp.

Louis Tomlinson: Hi ? Uh i didn't accept it because i don't really know you that well ??

Well. If only he knew Harry had paid for his damn ticket to Paris, maybe he'd damn well know
him then.

Harry Styles: Well we're in the same class, does that not suffice?

This was stupid. He may have been coming across as a bit arrogant, he didn't know how Louis was
taking this.

Louis Tomlinson: Well i don't know. Are you and your friends wanting to ask me a load of
intrusive questions to take the piss out of me even more ?

Damn, he really did believe Harry was a part of the bullying. Now that he had put it that way, it did
seem like Harry and his friends would be crowded around one screen, sniggering and talking over
each other with suggestions on what to send him. But it was quite the opposite, just Harry, who
didn't have nasty intentions.

Harry Styles: I just wanted to be friends. Sorry man if it came across another way, it's just me
here, promise.

Louis Tomlinson: Why would you want to be friends with me ?

Harry frowned. It felt like his heart had been crushed a little, practically able to hear the disbelief in
Louis' voice: Why would you even want to be friends with me? It was truly heart-rending.

Harry Styles: Because you seem nice and I'm friends on here with everyone in our class. Sorry if I
upset you, have a nice evening Louis, sorry for the bother.

Louis didn't reply again, just read the message.

But a few minutes later, Harry got a notification to say that Louis accepted his friend request.

Chapter End Notes

Again, these are still the initial chapters helping to get into the story. Things will get
very interesting very soon, promise. :)
 4
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry, Kendall, Zayn, Gigi, Liam and Cheryl were lazily lounging around in Gigi's bedroom on
Saturday afternoon, after a Friday at school where Louis didn't turn up. It had been the first thing
Harry had noticed upon walking into their registration lesson: no Louis sat at the table with Niall
and the other two members of the "unpopular" group. And he hadn't been the only person who had
realised, judging on Liam's outburst of: "Maybe one of his mates fucked him so hard he can't walk,
so he's had to have the day off." It earned some laughter, and apparently that made getting a
lunchtime detention worth it.

Gigi and the girls were raking through her wardrobe, as she introduced them to her brand new
collection gifted to her by her father. The conversations within their group consisted primarily of
clothes, money, bullying, and sex: nothing more of less. Pretty sad, really.

"Oi, Louis faggot Tomlinson has a Facebook account!" Zayn called out from where he sat at Gigi's
Mac computer, looking back over his shoulder with a humored look. Great.

"Really?" Kendall abandoned the wardrobe for this conversation, meaning it was obviously more
important and interesting to her. Harry rolled his eyes when nobody was looking, because this was
just getting tiring now, the constant mistreatment towards Louis. Everybody but Harry crowded
around the computer as Zayn opened the profile. Immediately, snickers of laughter.

"Harry, why are you friends with him on here?" Cheryl cackled. Oh great, of course they could see
Louis' mutual friends with Zayn, Harry being one.

"Because I have everyone who's in our class." Harry truthfully told, with a simple shrug. "Why
does it matter?"

"Why does it matter?" Zayn scoffed, gawking at Harry. "Because one, he's friends with Niall
Horan. And two, he's a fucking faggot."

"So you're assuming he's gay? How do you know he's gay?" Why was Harry defending Louis now?
It wasn't exactly going to make his friends favour him.

"It's obvious he's gay, Haz. Stop backing him up." Kendall rolled her eyes. "Like when you picked
his folders up the other morning. There's no need for it."

Actually, there was no need for their mean nature towards him. But he knew what was coming
next, could sense the scheme that was being concocted.

"Harry, log into your account." Zayn commanded, logging out of his and rolling back on the swivel
chair to clear some space. "Come on, chop chop."

"Why?" Harry whined.

"Just do it!"

Harry rolled his eyes, trudging over to them and clicking each box to type in his email and
password before hitting enter, having no idea why he was even allowing them to do this.
"We're just going to send Louis a quick message from your account." Zayn smirked.

Oh no. They were going to see that Harry had already spoken to Louis, just Thursday night.

"Don't!" Harry protested, stealing the computer mouse back from Zayn's scheming grasp. "There's
no point, I don't want to be a part of it."

"Don't be such a killjoy." Liam dead-panned, yanking the mouse back and handing it to Zayn
again. Harry ran a hand nervously through his hair, stepping back as he found it'd be no use trying
to regain the mouse. Zayn clicked onto the message button on Louis' profile eyebrows raising in
interest when he saw a past conversation from just two nights ago.

He immediately burst out laughing.

"Harry, what the fuck! Why have you spoken to him?" Kendall erupted, both humoured and vexed.
"Asking why he won't accept your friend request!"

"Guys, just close it now." Harry protested, back on his feet to fight for the mouse again. Zayn
pulled it back again, laughter far from dying down.

"No! Not until we message this faggot. Again." He stifled a laugh, clicking on the box to start
typing. Harry suddenly felt an urgency of panic come over him.

"Zayn, no! Don't!"

"Why the fuck not? Why are you so bothered? It's about time you mess with him a little, you've
been holding back way too much." Zayn finally won the argument. He typed out a message, then
immediately hit send before Harry could read it.

Harry Styles: Hey Louis, if I pay you like 5 quid would you suck me off???

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Harry raged. "Zayn, that's not a joke! How is that making fun of
him? That's making me look like shit too!"

Zayn and the others were too busy laughing, though Kendall tried to hide it and placed a hand on
Harry's arm in comfort.

"Your dick is worth more than a fiver anyway, babe, don't let him get to you." She cooed. Harry
scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Can you say that it wasn't me, at least? This is stupid." He gritted.

"Why do you care so much?" Zayn asked, before the sound of a message coming through filled the
air. Fucking fantastic, he had replied.

Louis Tomlinson: Excuse me...?

He sounded absolutely repulsed. Great.

"Excuse me?" Liam mocked Louis' voice the best he could. "He's such a loser."

Harry felt awful. He wanted to apologise to Louis a million times over. He managed to steal the
mouse with just enough time to log out of his account, leaving Zayn unable to hack into it without
knowing the password.

"You killed our fun! Way to go, Harry." Gigi whined. Harry decided he wouldn't even bother to
verbally respond, hurriedly logging into his account on his phone instead to speedily reply to
Louis.

Harry Styles: Louis I am so sorry, Zayn put that. Apologies, I'd never be so rude.

Louis Tomlinson: Wow, aren't you a gentleman.

That response was absolutely soaked in sarcasm. God, he really did have some sass on him, quite
the contrast from how shy and withdrawn he seemed in person. Clearly he was fine with being
hidden behind screens.

Harry Styles: Look I know this scenario is shit, just take the apology. I didn't write it, Zayn did,
and maybe I am a "gentleman" for knowing I'd never put that.

He should have been expecting Louis to just read it and not reply, but it still gave him a rather
sinking feeling in his stomach. For some reason, he wanted a reply, even if it was another sarcastic
dig.

It was Monday the 8th of January: just a week before the Paris trip. Excitement levels had
increased in class, with everybody discussing which things they had purchased for the trip, or what
they expected Paris would be like. Harry wasn't very excited, to be frank. Sure, it was going to be a
nice trip away, obviously, but it wasn't something that made him unable to wait for it to come
around. He knew he would have Kendall clinging to him throughout for the maximum romance to
be obtained in the 'city of Love', and he couldn't really be bothered with that right now.

He wasn't looking forward to arriving at the school at five o'clock in the morning on the 15th, so
that their class could all board a coach to the airport together, because it meant he wouldn't be
sleeping during that time. And if he tried to catch up on sleep during either the coach ride or plane
journey itself, his friends would find some way to mess with him; whether it be a sharpie pen to the
face, or maybe even turning the volume of his music right up in his earphones. Something stupid.

Seeing Louis at school again, just two days after the Facebook incident, was awkward to say the
least - well, at least from Harry's point of view. Their brief eye contact had Harry cringing with
embarrassment on the inside, how he had seemingly degraded Louis over message when really it
had been Zayn. Louis didn't seem too bothered by it, perhaps used to the bullying and comments by
now. It was sad.

By the time it got round to their English lesson, Louis, Niall and their friends had already been
verbally harassed beyond belief by Harry's mates. They seemed to filter it out though, ignoring little
comments here and there by pretending not to notice them whatsoever.

About halfway through the lesson, Mr Grant cleared his throat to make an announcement.

"Right, so I'm happy to say I've received every single payment for the trip now, and everyone can
go." He smiled. "So I'm going to start sorting out who's going to be roomed with who."

"I'd like to go with Harry, please!" Kendall beamed. Harry felt sorry for her for not being
intelligible enough to remember that boys and girls couldn't share rooms on school trips.

"I'm afraid the room arrangements will be strictly one gender per room, Kendall. But we will all be
together during the day, these pairings will be just for sharing the hotel rooms and working on the
poetry project I'm going to set." Mr Grant explained.
Wow, Harry really could not be arsed with a poetry project. It was bad enough knowing he would
have to keep peppering Kendall with affection throughout the duration of the trip, so a project on
top of that was too much effort for him.

"What if we really can't stand who we're paired with?" Liam questioned. That was something
Harry wanted to know - if he was put with the weird kid, Christopher, he'd probably just
completely give up on his education.

"Then you'll have to learn to tolerate each other. You're all eighteen years old, not eight." Mr Grant
maturely disclosed. That was a pretty predictable answer, coming from someone like him. And if
he allowed anybody to request a room change, nobody would settle for who they were paired with
unless it was their friends, that was pretty inevitable.

Harry was looking forward to this trip even less now. He was just going to try to view it as a cheap
holiday, nothing more or less.

By Friday, Harry had all the essentials packed. He wasn't making too much of an extravagant effort
with his luggage, just necessities: clothes, general hygiene products, his camera, school English
books, stationery.

Even though Louis had been rather bitter and blunt with him through their exchange of past
messages, he still didn't regret having paid for his ticket. It was a friendly gesture, whether or not it
was anonymous, and it was aiding Louis' education too.

By Sunday night, Harry was so drained. He had been helping his mother host a dinner party all day
long, despite the fact he had an early start the next morning, and was still up at eleven that evening
making sure he had all his luggage ready to go. He would be picking Kendall up from her house at
quarter past four, knowing full well she probably wouldn't be dolled up and ready to be at school
by five if he wasn't there to speed things up a little.

He was feeling nervous about the pairing situation, even though he was never the type to become
apprehensive. He just didn't like the thought of an awkward four nights, Monday through to Friday,
sharing a hotel room with somebody in his class.

When his alarm clock came blaring into his bedroom at 03:45 early on Monday morning, he
wanted to haul his phone out the window. He smacked a hand lazily down all over the screen until
the horrible noise ceased, then groggily sat up before he could drift off again. He could barely
keep his eyes open, but managed to get ready to leave anyway. He had a quick shower, pretty cold,
to wake himself up properly, got dry and dressed, brushed his teeth, made sure he had his passport
and everything else important in his rucksack.

He loaded his suitcase into the boot of his car, after moving carefully through the house so as not
to wake his sleeping parents and sister, then locked up the house and drove to Kendall's house
while downing an energy drink with his free hand.

Surprisingly, she was pretty ready by the time he got there, around twenty past four. She looked
nowhere near as tired as Harry did, probably because she was so elated about going on this stupid
trip. They got to school by ten minutes to five, to find everybody else already gathered around with
their suitcases, by the side of a hefty coach.

Harry spotted Louis amongst the crowd, his brain inadvertently having wanted to scope him out
within the dense crowd. He looked very sleepy, hair messily ruffled into place, dressed in a baggy
hoodie and some jeans, smiling and laughing sleepily at whatever Niall was blabbering on about.
 Why was Harry staring at him? He was probably still on edge about the Facebook ordeal, how
awful he had felt about it.

"Right, please form an orderly line, so we can store your cases in the luggage compartment and
then I can tick you off the register as you step onto the vehicle," Mr Grant called out, hands caved
around his mouth for maximum volume. "Quick as possible, please. We have a half hour journey to
Manchester airport, then our flight departs at eight this morning."

One-by-one, students passed their suitcases to the coach driver, who loaded them into the
compartment, before boarding the coach. Harry sat with Kendall, Liam and Cheryl behind them,
Zayn and Gigi over the aisle on their left. Even though the journey to Manchester airport was only
half an hour, Harry managed to sleep during that time, his head on Kendall's shoulder, and soon
enough they were all checking into the airport.

They now had to hang about in the airport for two hours. This was going to be a long flight, even if
it was just an hour and a half. At least it could be an excuse for another sleep. And not think about
Louis again, hopefully.

Chapter End Notes

They'll find out roommates very soon.

 5
Chapter Notes

Apologies if typos are present.

This chapter shows them getting to their hotel rooms. Next one will be longer and
more detailed :)

Harry awoke with one loud, sharp snore as Kendall shook him awake, urging him to pull off his
headphones in a startled manner, to hear laughter from the classmates sat nearby on the landed
plane due to his outburst.

"W-Wha-"

"We're here, honey! Don't act so confused!" Kendall giggled, soothingly stroking his forearm.
"We're in Paris. We landed a couple of minutes ago."

Harry whined out a long groan of exhaustion, wanting nothing more than to sink back into the
semi-comfortable airplane chair and get lost in sleep again. Passengers practically fought their way
into the central aisle with their travel hand luggage, filing off the plane, and Harry felt as though
his legs could give way beneath him. It looked as though Louis had been sleeping again too, which
was very sweet. But Harry looked away quickly once he remembered how awkward things were,
with the Facebook messages and so on.

Mr Grant, as well as a small crusade of other English teachers who had come along, waited for
their class to gather with their travel bags.

"Okay, so once we've all picked up our suitcases, we will be travelling via the famous Metro to our
hotel." Mr Grant excitedly announced, over the hum of conversation from the students. He took a
quick register call, making sure everybody was present, before they moved on. "Please follow me,
stay together, please."

The process of waiting for their suitcases to roll around on the conveyor belt was a long one.
Celebrations from students once theirs came around, gradually filtering away to stand with those
who had retrieved theirs, until just Harry and a couple of girls stood waiting. Harry's seemed to be
taking forever, with all his friends already stood aside with theirs, and he could hear them laughing
at him from where he was leaning impatiently on one hip, eyes trained on the little, black curtain
that the suitcases came through. The two girls stood with him were struck lucky when their bags
came around, shyly smiling at Harry as they scooped up their suitcases and walked to join the
others (with a scathing glare from Kendall, who seemed to think no other girls could even look at
Harry.)

After another minute, Harry turned to his classmates and dramatically shrugged with a lopsided
smile, gaining a wave of laughter.

"Maybe they dropped my suitcase off the plane mid-flight." He called to them, and he saw Louis
laugh. He saw it, yet Louis tried to mask it by bowing his head slightly. Harry wanted to smirk at
that but he concentrated on looking for his bag, which took another couple of minutes to come
around, earning a cheer from his classmates.

It was a shame - he had sort of liked the attention on him for a while.

The ride on the Metro was a gruelling, dragged out fifty-minute period of sweaty bodies cramped
together, occasionally close to toppling over whenever the train stopped abruptly. Harry, for some
odd reason, had tried and failed to get somewhere close to Louis during the journey, and instead
ended up with Kendall pressed rather intimately against his front half. He wasn't complaining still.

They all piled off the train when they reached the ' Palais Royal Musee du Louvre' station, once
again grouping together in the busy station without getting in anybody's way. Harry was still dying
to know who he'd be sharing a room with, and at which hotel. And according to the nearby
conversations of other students, so were they.

"Now." Mr Grant began, gaining everybody's attention. "We are going to be staying at the
beautiful Grand Hôtel du Palais Royal hotel. Quite the mouthful, but it is incredibly five stars and
we managed to pull some strings and get a week here for everybody!"

There was an aura of awe over them. Harry himself had stayed in countless five star hotels in his
time, but obviously his classmates hadn't. He glanced Louis' way to spot him with raised eyebrows
and slightly wide eyes. Adorable.

"When we arrive, I will let you all know who you will be rooming with, don't you worry."

Oh thank God - finally. Harry had his fingers crossed for Zayn.

They took the short walk to the hotel they'd be staying at, which was grand in both height and
appearance. It was situated in a cobble-stoned plaza, a large building in a cream shade, with a black
set of doors and golden letters spelling out the hotel's prestigious name. Harry was in love with a
building.

The entrance hall had marble flooring, sofas and tables outlining it, a few expensive statues
positioned around the space. Harry felt like they had to be very careful, especially while lugging
their bulky suitcases through; Kendall, Gigi and Cheryl could probably knock a statue's head right
off with the extent of luggage they had brought along.

Once Mr Grant had checked them in, and had a velvet bag full of many room keys, he turned to
them all with a smile and retrieved a folded piece of paper from his pocket. The moment had
arrived, Harry was dreading it. He began reading names, cancelling people out. Harry found
himself biting on his lower lip in anticipation.

"Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid."

Well, that gave Harry hope, seeing as they'd been paired off together. Liam and Zayn hadn't been
roomed yet, but there were three of them, meaning one would sadly have to room with somebody
else. The crowd of those waiting to find out was decreasing fast, people standing aside with their
roommates, some happy and some clearly not. Cheryl had been paired with a quiet girl from their
class (who Harry felt rather bad for, as Cheryl didn't look impressed.)

Louis was still stood among the group of those waiting, but Harry highly doubted they'd be roomed
together, he just had a feeling they wouldn't.

"Liam Payne and Zayn Malik."

"What!" Harry exclaimed immediately, tutting in disappointment. Zayn and Liam seemed to find it
amusing, high fiving one another comically before joining everybody else. Today just wasn't
Harry's day, clearly.

"Harry Styles," Harry's ears perked up suddenly, glancing up at Mr Grant in anticipation, "And
Louis Tomlinson."

Harry felt his heart thud faster in his chest. Did he hear that right? Clearly he did, because his
friends were gasping out laughs of shock and amusement, while Louis, mouth slightly agape,
linked eyes with Harry briefly to display a look of utter bewilderment. Oh God, Harry really hadn't
expected this outcome.

"Come and collect your key, boys. You'll be room number 128."

Harry strutted forward and grabbed the key, twisting it in his hand as he retrieved his suitcase and
stood with everybody else. Louis followed suit, a frown present on his face. Harry could already
feel the tension, and they weren't even in the room alone yet.

Once it was time to head to their rooms and get settled, and Harry had been inflicted with ridiculing
from his friends over his pairing, he just wanted to disappear. Everybody piled into the two
elevators, which stopped on a few floors to let people off with their suitcases, and Harry was pretty
sure Louis had even gotten in the other lift to avoid him for as long as possible. He knew deep
down that this was all down to the Facebook messages and wished he could take them back.

He left the elevator on the right floor before Louis reached it, which gave him a head start to power
strut down the corridor to room 128, which was four doors from Kendall and Gigi's room. He
stuck the key in the lock, twisting it and opening the room. Immediately awe struck him as the
door swung open completely, revealing a large, bright, spacious room. Mr Grant had to have
known someone in the hotel branch to get these rooms, especially as they'd only paid £150 each
(£450 in Harry's case.)

Two single beds with pearly grey sheets were against the wall on the right, a sofa the same shade as
the sheets facing a large flat screen television on the other side of the room, and what seemed to be
an ensuite bathroom branched off to the left. The room looked like a boutique, something straight
out of a movie, and what topped it all off was a balcony dead ahead, past some white netted
curtains that floated lightly in the breeze. Harry couldn't believe they'd be staying here for a week,
and almost completely forgot who he had been roomed with for a moment, until Louis stumbled
into the room moments later with his heavy suitcase.

He and Harry made eye contact for a good two seconds, before Louis spoke the first words.

"Which bed do you want?" His voice was small and shy, refusing to make any further eye contact
as he spoke.

"Either." Harry shrugged, voice more loud and confident in the gorgeous room. "You choose."

"I really don't mind. You choose." Louis clarified. Harry realised that this was the first time he had
actually spoken to Louis in person - strange. He decided to be a bit playful with his response, a
smirk growing on his face.

"...You choose."

"Come on," Louis huffed out a forced laugh. "Just choose."

"Fine, I'll take this one." Harry pointed to the one further into the room, closer to the balcony,
hauling his suitcase up in one clean movement to rest on the made bed. He unzipped his suitcase,
beginning to transport clothes from it to his half of the large wardrobe, hanging some up and
folding some into the drawers below.

He wondered what Louis was busy doing, turning to see that he was sat on his bed with crossed
legs, doing nothing whatsoever but stare down at his hands, having not even opened his suitcase
yet.

"What's up?" Harry casually directed, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "You gonna unpack or
what?"

"I don't know." Louis mumbled, with a childish shrug, again refusing to meet Harry's gaze.

"What don't you know?" Harry asked, baffled. "Do you need help unpacking?"

"No, no, I just... I guess I just feel a little sick, that's all." Louis muttered, glancing up just briefly at
Harry before moving his eyeline to the balcony.

"I didn't think I was bad enough to make someone feel sick." Harry kidded, smirk back as he
continued unpacking his belongings. Louis sniffed out a forced laugh. "Really though?"

It seemed Louis had only become 'sick' when he was told he was set to share a room with Harry.
So was it the awkwardness? Did he just hate Harry that much internally that he wanted an excuse
to get away already? Was he homesick?

"It'll pass, I just sometimes feel a little dizzy, that's all." Louis briefly explained, rubbing his hands
down his face before getting slowly to his feet and placing his suitcase down on the floor so he
could zip it open and get unpacking.

Dizzy. Interesting. Maybe he really wasn't lying about feeling sick.

"So..." Harry began, trying to initiate casual chat. "Umm... I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything." Louis suggested. Well, that would be rather awkward, saying absolutely
nothing as they stayed in the room together.

"How long do we have to unpack?" Harry asked, having not been properly listening when Mr
Grant informed them.

"Well, sir said we're meeting back in the foyer at midday, and so we have an hour to relax." Louis
explained, strolling over to the wardrobe to put some clothes into his half.

Why did Harry find himself glancing down at Louis' bum as he was faced away? It just looked so
perky in his black jeans, so Harry decided that he looked to appreciate it rather than in a sexual
way. Yes. Luckily he wasn't caught appreciating Louis' arse.

"So, umm... how's life treating you?" Harry casually questioned, falling back onto his bed and
kicking off his Chelsea boots. He stretched his body out, well aware that one of his hips had been
exposed as the fabric of his t-shirt rode up. Louis turned to face him, eyes immediately raking
down his body before he seemed to become flustered and look away fast.

"It's okay, I guess." He shrugged, trying to preoccupy himself by raking through his travel bag, sat
on the edge of his own bed. "I don't even have to ask you."

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked, sitting up slightly in interest.

"I think you know why."

"Because I'm hella hot?" Harry joked. Louis shot him a slightly scolding look.

"And vain?"

"I was joking!" Harry exclaimed. "I'd never speak that highly of myself!"

But he did think it, to be very honest.

"Right," Louis nodded, "I was talking more about what I've heard about you." He looked like he
instantly regretted changing to this topic, quickly shaking his head. "Don't worry."

"No, tell me," Harry coaxed, eyebrows furrowed slightly. "What have you heard?"

"Maybe I'll tell you later." Louis shrugged. "Just... I don't know, rumours."

"Rumours," Harry crowed, lightly shaking his head, "I do get quite a few of those about me."

Louis didn't say anything more after that, which made things feel even more awkward. God knows
how they were supposed to get through the rest of the week.

Harry wanted to say something to address the Facebook conversation, but he didn't. It would
probably only make matters worse, so he stopped himself. But he couldn't help but think Louis
majorly disliked him, thinking he was an arrogant bully like his friends were. That was probably
why he was so tense; he was waiting for Harry's tormenting to begin, even though it never would.
Harry would never bully Louis, it just didn't feel right.

The rest of their time was spent in a remaining silence. Harry was making the most of the WiFi to
browse through his Facebook page as a distraction, while Louis was reading a book he had brought
along. Harry could bet this was how they would spend most of their time, completely antisocial,
refusing to converse. Harry wanted to talk to him, but he couldn't say anything without coming
across as being a complete dick, it seemed. It was in his nature to be a little playful in his dialogue
and mannerisms, but clearly Louis only saw it as arrogance and chose to ignore it.
 6
Chapter Notes

will fix any typos tomorrow.

Hope you enjoy.

During the remaining time of their "chill out" hour, Harry had stuck in his earphones to drown out
the unbearably awkward silence between he and Louis. Louis was quietly reading, completely
enthralled in the book, and it was too cute, and Harry was trying desperately not to be that weirdo
who watches people read. By the time he saw Louis slotting a bookmark between the pages and
setting the novel down onto his bedside table, Harry checked the time to see that it was five
minutes to twelve that afternoon. He was enjoying relaxing on his luxuriously comfortable bed,
with his music blasting into his ears, and Louis sat not too far away on his own bed. Sure, it was
hugely awkward if you took note of the tense silence, but calming all the same.

Harry pulled his earphones out and wrapped them around his phone, tucking it away into the
pocket of his jeans as he stood up.

"Time really flies, huh?" He chuckled

He glanced over at Louis, where he was rearranging the things on his bedside table. He didn't even
acknowledge that Harry spoken at all, nor did he look at him, and Harry knew that he had heard but
he had obviously chosen to ignore it. Perhaps he thought Harry was mocking him, as he apparently
always did with his friends.

"We better head down," Harry continued on anyway, even if he was talking to himself, "Everyone
will be going down there now."

This time, Louis hummed in agreement, a dull, lifeless hum that seemed forced out of politeness.
Harry headed to the door first, while Louis scooped up their room key from where Harry had
chucked it down onto their desk. Harry opened up the door and lingered outside, knowing he
wanted to wait for Louis, and Louis gave him a strange look as he shut the automatically locking
door.

"What?" Harry queried, the look confusing him.

"Just wondering why you're waiting for me." Louis mused with a raise of his eyebrows, sticking
the key into his front pocket as they began a slow stroll along the corridor.

"Because it's polite to." Harry informed him with a smile. "We are roommates, after all."

The door to Gigi and Kendall's room flew open as Harry and Louis walked past it, and Harry could
sense how much Louis tensed and immediately sped up, away from Harry. It upset Harry really,
how Louis felt he couldn't even be seen with Harry because he'd be an embarrassment to him.

Kendall immediately caught on, cackling out a laugh. "Were you walking with Louis, babe?"

"Yeah. So?" Harry defended, looking over at where Louis was stepping into the lift with a few
more students, the doors swiftly shutting.

"Why?" Gigi laughed, as she, Harry and Kendall approached the lift in the distance of the corridor.

"Because... he's my roommate." Harry slowly stated, confused as to why it was such a big deal.

"Whatever, I just don't want him turning you weird or anything." Kendall snorted, hooking her arm
around Harry's and gripping onto his muscular bicep. "Don't let his weirdness corrupt you, Haz."

Harry bit his tongue, knowing that if he didn't he would blurt out how Louis wasn't weird at all,
just misunderstood. Just because he was shy, it didn't make him weird.

While they were in the lift, heading down to the ground floor, the thought hit Harry that he would
also be working in a pair with Louis for their poetry project; it didn't just stop at roommates. He
kind of liked it, even though Louis acted so indifferent towards him, and Harry's friends hated the
guy. It just seemed a lot like Louis was a closed book, someone who you had to get to know before
really judging them by the way they come across.

He found himself fixing his hair in the mirror within the elevator, not wanting to look scruffy, and
saw Kendall's smirking reflection watching him.

"Making sure you look good for Louis?" She teased, poking him in the back. He tutted and rolled
his eyes, though he couldn't help but smirk. She herself was kidding, but for some reason Harry
really did want to look good for Louis (which was pointless, considering Louis was going to be
seeing him at his worst: in the morning.)

"Shut up," Harry muttered, nudging her in protest, "I'm looking good for you, of course."

"You don't even need to try." She purred, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and
bringing her nose right up against his.

"C'mon, guys, I'm right here." Gigi complained, hands up. "I'll get you back with Zayn. The PDA
is way too much right now."

Funny she was saying that, when all she seemed to do most of the time was talk about her sex life
with Zayn.

The lift opened into the foyer, to find that everybody but the three of them were already there,
waiting. Harry spotted Louis stood with Niall and Co., and it seemed as though they were probably
comforting him for his treacherous time spent alone with Harry Styles. For crying out loud. They
joined the others quickly, not wanting to stall any longer.

"Right, now that everybody is here and a bit more settled, we're going to head into the city for the
first stage of your projects," Mr Grant excitedly announced, rubbing his hands together as his eyes
observed them. "And I'd like you all to walk with whoever you're paired with while we're out and
about, no straying away."

Harry felt a little disheartened when he spotted Louis roll his eyes and heavily sigh. That wasn't a
nice feeling, seeing him react that way to being told that. It kind of hurt. He still walked over to
Louis though, ignoring his friends' mocking comments, not saying a single word. They all left the
hotel in their bunch, Harry with his hands stuffed in his pockets and head bowed.

The streets were buzzing with life at this time, cars and bikes speeding along the roads, so Mr
Grant had to speak a little louder over the general hum of Paris life.
"Okay, so we're going to head over to the famous Louvre museum first, about a three minute walk
from here," He called out, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder. He grinned, as he was
concocting a joke to tell. "Please feel free to hold your partner's hand if you want to feel safe
crossing the road."

There was a series of laughter, but clearly Harry and Louis both chose not to participate in it. They
began the short walk, Harry distracting himself by taking in the sights and sounds around him, a
stupid smile on his face. Paris was absolutely beautiful, just how he had imagined it to be.

"Nice, huh?" He asked Louis, deciding he'd make another attempt to chat to him, even though
Louis was so reluctant to even walk by his side.

"Yeah," Louis dreamily mused, clearly so infatuated by the city that he didn't mind speaking to
Harry, "It's incredible here."

"Ever been before now?" Harry questioned, and it was a ridiculous one at that - he knew Louis
hadn't.

"No, never left England," Louis said, with a short shrug, "So... this is different."

Harry smiled to himself when he remembered that he was responsible for Louis being there,
having paid for him. He was the reason Louis was smiling and chatty.

The inside of the Louvre was grand and golden, and Louis was very awestruck by it. Harry wasn't
too bothered really, it was just a building to him, but he enjoyed watching Louis' eyes light up
while taking in his surroundings. They had to take notes of what they could see around them
(Louis doing most of the jotting down, barely letting Harry even attempt to contribute), and analyse
a poem that had been written about the Louvre. Harry couldn't have been more bored with the
topic, but he didn't mind that Louis had completely taken control of the pen and paper, writing
down everything he could think.

Once they had completed that first task, and had all grabbed a bite to eat at a cute café on the street
(during which time they were luckily allowed to rejoin with their actual friends), it was coming up
to three o'clock in the afternoon. They were then all allowed to split up into their friends groups for
the rest of the day, to explore and get dinner later on, so Harry and his friends headed to the
Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre, which wasn't too far. They had been instructed to be back at
the hotel by eight o'clock, giving them a good five hours to chill.

"How is it working with the faggot?" Liam asked Harry, roughly ruffling his hair as the six of them
strolled through the shopping centre. Harry decided to stop himself from defending Louis again,
knowing that all it did was provoke even more teasing.

"It's fine. He just does all the work." Harry shrugged, rolling his eyes as the three girls headed into
a women's clothing shop, meaning they had no choice but to follow suit.

"Sounds good. Good luck sharing a room with him for four nights."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Harry mumbled, spotting a group of French girls checking him out from the
other side of the shop. He felt a bit cheeky, dropping them a swift wink behind Kendall's back, and
they all squealed and swooned before hurrying away.

"You fucking flirt," Liam chuckled in Harry's ear, "I'm surprised Kendall never catches you."

"It's not like I'd ever cheat on her, would I?" Harry stressed, once Kendall and the others were far
away enough not to hear. "It doesn't hurt to flirt a little, but I'd never actually jump into bed with
another girl behind her back."

"I know, man! Never said you would." Liam raised his hands in defence. "Just watch out, is all I'm
saying. You know how possessive over you that girl gets."

That was true. Harry liked the thrill of making people flustered, shooting someone a wink or a
sultry stare that went no further. But he would never cheat on his girlfriend, he loved her too much.

After hours of shopping, and eating at a very swanky, expensive French restaurant for dinner and
spending many, many euros, they headed back to the hotel at around ten to eight. It was dark out,
but they knew the general direction they had to take to get back. They were all coupled up, the
boys with their arms protectively and warmly around their girlfriends, and it didn't take too long to
reach the hotel again.

"Well, I guess it's goodbye again." Harry shrugged, when they were stood in the lift, turning
Kendall by her shoulders to face him and kissing her softly on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow,
sweetie. Sleep well."

"Text me."

"Okay."

They kissed again, their friends going through the same rituals with their partners, before Liam,
Zayn and Cheryl got off on one floor, Harry, Kendall and Gigi on the next. Harry waved one last
goodbye before strutting down to his room, knowing he would have to knock as Louis had their
one and only room key.

He knocked clearly, four times, before stuffing his hands in his pockets and waiting. The door
opened a moment later, Louis with an attempt of a smile.

"Hi." He greeted, letting Harry walk in behind him.

"Hey, you alright?" Harry casually asked, kicking the door shut with his foot behind him, strolling
in and throwing his wallet and phone down onto his bed from his pocket.

"Doing alright, yeah. I've been here quite a while, decided to just come back here and relax." Louis
blandly said, while sitting back on his bed with his book in hand now.

"Fair enough." Harry sighed, kicking off his trainers and placing them by his bedside table, before
pulling off his socks and launching them into the laundry basket provided by their desk.

He groaned low in his throat as he stretched his arms out above him, noticing that Louis' fingers
clenched tighter around his book upon hearing the noise. Well, he had always been told he sounded
hot when he groaned like that - by Kendall, obviously. But why was Louis reacting to it? Either he
found it hot, or Harry was being over-critical. But either way, Harry kinda liked it.

"I'm so tired but I'm going to have a quick shower." Harry informed, probably meant more for
himself than Louis.

"There's no lock on the bathroom door, by the way. Shower's nice and hot, though." Louis said
without looking up from his book, and Harry took into thought more the second part of that
sentence, as his mind was flooded with thoughts of Louis in the shower. For fuck's sake, he was
pretty sure his mind was playing tricks on him, mocking himself.
"Well don't come bursting in then." Harry smirked, loving how flustered that made Louis. Man, did
he love making people blush a little. He grabbed a fresh pair of underwear, his shampoo and
shower gel, before heading into the bathroom, which was bright and gleaming new. He shut the
door behind him and stripped down, hopping into the shower and staying in there for a good fifteen
minutes merely reflecting on their time in Paris so far.

Once he was done, he ruffled his hair with one of the fluffy complimentary towels, before
wrapping it around his waist and using the bathroom's hairdryer to properly dry his hair. He slipped
into the underwear and hung the towel to dry before confidently strolling out into the room.

Louis definitely struggled with where to keep his eyes, Harry saw him glance down ever-so-subtly
at his toned abs before distracting himself with his book again. Interesting. Well, Harry did have a
great body if he could say so himself, and he deserved it with the amount of working out he did.

Maybe Louis was looking so flustered because he was jealous - that was Harry's theory.
 7
Chapter Notes

Sorry, I have been very busy at the moment!!!

Here's an update for now. Will try and make them regular again!

Fixing any typos tomorrow morning xx

After seeing Harry half-naked following his confident, underwear-clad exit from the shower, Louis
seemed to have become more awkward and fidgety, almost as though he was trying too hard to act
casual about it. He had placed down his book and started rummaging in his bag by his bedside, and
Harry was trying so hard not to smirk at the effect he often had on people.

"You gonna start getting ready to sleep?" Harry questioned, lounging back on his own bed, his
half-bare body stretched across it with no shame.

"Yes." Louis piped up, without glancing up from where he retrieved his toothbrush and toothpaste
from his bag. Without a further word, and with no look at all, Louis wandered off into the
bathroom.

Harry listened with an amused smile to the sound of Louis brushing his teeth a moment later,
knowing full well that he and his half-naked body was the reason Louis had distracted himself
quickly. He didn't leave it there, retrieving his own toothbrush and toothpaste before inviting
himself into the bathroom to join Louis.

Louis, halfway through brushing his teeth, glanced up in the mirror at Harry walking in, blatantly
rolling his eyes and spitting excess toothpaste foam into the sink.

"You kind of just burst in... which is what you told me not to do." He stated, deadpan, looking
away from Harry's reflected self once again and concentrating on brushing his teeth.

"You're only brushing your teeth, it's not like you're naked in here." Harry teased, applying
toothpaste to his toothbrush and starting to brush his teeth too.

A silence of words commenced, just the sound of teeth-brushing, and he witnessed Louis using the
mirror, so briefly, to catch a glimpse at Harry's bare torso. It was so clearly deliberate that Harry
couldn't hold back a comment. He spat toothpaste into the sink before speaking.

"Do you wanna know my workout routine or something?"

"Excuse me?" Louis snapped, shooting Harry a bewildered look before rinsing the head of his
toothbrush under the tap.

"Don't worry, ignore what I said." Harry apologised instantly, once he had realised how defensive
Louis had gotten. He didn't want to start an argument now (or ever) with Louis, especially when
they had to share a hotel room.

"Okay." Louis turned timid once again, his sassy, defensive nature having simmered to a stop,
before he exited the bathroom and left Harry alone.

For some odd reason, Harry had felt bad the moment Louis had gotten too oversensitive about it,
when usually he had no trouble making people feel a little flustered. Obviously he felt different
about Louis, never wanting to particularly pick on him or negatively put him on the spot.

Louis had quickly changed into his pyjamas while Harry was finishing up brushing his teeth, and
was sat in his bed with his covers pulled up to his chest. Yes, he looked rather snug and adorable,
with a long-sleeved pyjama top tucked over his hands at the cuffs, but Harry concentrated on
switching out the main light so that just Louis' bedside lamp lit the space, before slipping into the
cool sheets of his bed. He shivered as they came into contact with his bare skin, and he leant over
to put his phone onto charge, making sure a 7am alarm was set, before lying down completely.

Louis was still sat up, hands folded on top of his bedsheets, staring into space.

"Are you going to sleep or what?" Harry asked, shaking Louis from his little daze.

"Oh, yeah, yeah." Louis mumbled, rather nervously slipping properly into his bed until he was
lying down.

Harry turned to face Louis' bed, looking squarely at him, while the latter looked very under
pressure by the stare. It may or may not have been Harry's incentive to get Louis to switch out his
lamp.

"I'm gonna turn this off now, yeah?" Louis offered, gesturing to the lamp.

"Go ahead." Harry softly smiled.

Louis leant over and clicked the lamp off, leaving the room in absolute darkness. Harry could hear
Louis properly settling down now, more comfortable now that he wasn't visible to Harry's scrutiny,
and a short silence followed. It was one of those awkward periods of silence where it was unsure
whether a formal "goodnight" was necessary. Harry wasn't ready to sleep yet, his eyes wide open,
so he decided to speak into the tense quiet.

"So... How's your home life?"

There was a little pause from Louis before he responded, voice thick with confusion.

"Why do you want to know about my home life?"

"Just curious." Harry innocently stated. "How is it?"

"Let me guess, your friends put you up to this? Creating a little laugh for tomorrow?"

"No, no!" Harry exclaimed quickly, feeling upset that Louis would think that. "Of course they
didn't! I just want to know, just me. Harry."

"Sorry for accusing you of that, I just have a hard time trusting people sometimes." Louis admitted.
Maybe he had been hurt before.

"Okay, well I'm just letting you know that I'm honest. Whatever you tell me, no matter what, it
stays between us."

There was a longer silence this time, and it was so extensive that Harry began to think Louis had
dismissed the conversation completely and gone to sleep, until he actually spoke.
"My home life is fine. Goodnight, Harry."

Well, that was sudden. Obviously that was his way of saying "no further questions, please." Harry
hadn't intended to make him so uncomfortable, he had simply been curious as to what Louis'
background was like. Now he felt kind of awful.

"Okay. Night, Louis."

Even though they said their goodnights, Harry stayed wide awake for what felt like hours. He was
tossing and turning, switching sides of his pillow, throwing his duvet cover off himself then on
again as his body continuously changed temperature. He was usually like this the first night
sleeping somewhere new, but it was still as frustrating as hell.

Just as he was finally settling down, body starting to feel more and more weightless as he drifted
off, he was sharply awoken by an abrupt sound. It was a breathy sob, one that was so sudden it was
probably suppressed at first, and Harry felt his stomach turn in upset. Louis.

The crying only seemed to be getting heavier, each breathy outburst as muffled as could be,
perhaps into a pillow, and Harry wanted to say something but bit his tongue, knowing Louis
wouldn't want him being awake to witness it.

The sobs gradually died down after a while, becoming less prominent in the silence. Louis was
crying himself to sleep.

Harry's phone alarm came blaring into their room at 7am sharp the next morning, earning irritated
groans from the both of them. Harry slapped his hand onto his phone screen several times,
attempting to swipe the alarm off, but eventually had to sit up completely, groggily, to shut it up.
He immediately flopped back down into a lying position, with an exhausted groan, surprised to see
that Louis was already up and out of bed.

Harry remembered last night, how Louis had been quietly crying to himself, and it made him feel
even more down about the day. He knew he couldn't say anything, he kept quiet.

"Why are you getting up already?" Harry groaned, his voice thick and raspy in his throat with
sleep. "We've got an hour, we don't have to be in the lobby until eight."

"I just like to be ready." Louis piped up, voice just as full of enervation as Harry's. He was picking
through his suitcase, retrieving clothing items for the day.

Harry rolled back onto his side, digging his face into his duvet cover in relaxation, and he suddenly
heard a gasp from Louis. He immediately whipped his head up, eyes slightly wide, to see what was
wrong.

"What?" He panicked, seeing Louis with a hand over his mouth.

"Harry, did you set your phone to the timezone in Paris?" He asked, eyebrows raised slightly.

Harry made a thinking face slightly, though he knew he hadn't, and didn't know the difference
between the timezones of England and Paris.

"...no."

"Then we're an hour behind!" Louis exclaimed. "Harry, we're meant to be in the lobby now!"
"Shit!" Harry yelled, ripping the cover off of himself and frantically unzipping his suitcase. "You
take the bathroom, I'll change in here!"

Louis nodded, panic struck on his face, and jogged into the bathroom with his armful of clothes.
Harry speedily changed from the underwear he had slept in, dressing as fast as he could into a plain
white t-shirt and black skinny jeans. His arms hurt from the effort of it, desperately ruffling his hair
into a tolerable state in the mirror, before he unplugged his phone and shot a text to Liam.

Harry: Liam! Accidentally forgot to set my phone's time to Paris, we are running so late omg tell
Mr Grant we are coming down asap!

Louis practically fell out the bathroom a moment later, throwing his discarded pyjamas into his
open suitcase and slipping into his trainers by the door.

"What's the time?" He breathlessly asked Harry, who unlocked his phone again to check.

"Seven minutes past."

"Not too late." Louis muttered, shrugging on his fur-lined denim jacket. "Come on. You got the
key?"

"Yeah, I got it." Harry stated, scooping up his backpack and stepping into his converse, squeezing
his feet into them without untying the laces. "Let's go."

They left their room, which automatically locked behind them, and half-walked half-jogged down
the hallway towards the lift. Once Harry had impatiently pressed the button several times, they
stepped inside and he dug in his bag.

"Gum? We didn't have time to brush our teeth." He offered to Louis, holding out the packet.

"Thank you, Harry." Louis appreciatively took a piece, popping it into his mouth before turning to
inspect himself in the mirror. Harry placed the chewing gum packet back into his bag before
watching Louis.

"My hair looks so bad." Louis said aloud, in no more than a whisper, more an outspoken thought
than something intended to be shared.

"It looks good, Louis. Ruffled hair is sexy, am I right?" Harry smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Louis instantly flushed slightly red in his cheeks, looking down at his feet with a breathy laugh.

"Not on me." He mumbled, even quieter than his first statement.

"Stop doubting yourself." Was Harry's response, knowing that he shouldn't go as far as blatantly
calling Louis sexy.

The ding of the elevator ceased their conversation any further, the doors parting to reveal their
entire class crowded in the lobby, waiting. Harry and Louis were met with comical, sarcastic
applause from everybody, which had Harry smugly grinning at the attention with a bow, while
Louis shyly smiled and headed towards his friends.

"Nice of you to join us, boys. Wrong timezone, Mr Payne informed me?" Mr Grant taunted, a
playful smile on his face.

"I'd call it fashionably late." Harry chuckled, before encasing Kendall in a quick hug and kissing
her on her forehead. "Morning, sweetheart."
"I missed you so much last night," Kendall whispered, tracing her fingers down his back. "More
than you'll ever know."

"I missed you more." Harry whispered back, as the group began following Mr Grant's lead out of
the hotel. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer, as the early morning winds
whipped past them all. Harry glanced over to look for Louis, just to see where he was, and was
surprised to see that Louis was already watching he and Kendall in their embrace.

"The fuck's he looking at?" Kendall tutted, looking disapprovingly in Louis' direction.

"He's not even looking." Harry lied for Louis. "Look how beautiful that building is!" He tried to
distract her, pointing up at a towering marble building across the busy road.

"Keep your eyes to yourself, Louis Tomlinson!" Kendall shouted out anyway, earning attention
from many other classmates, and Harry removed his arm from around her shoulder and sighed.

"Kenny, stop! He wasn't looking, just leave him alone!" He exclaimed, shocking himself, Kendall
and most other people listening. Zayn made a bewildered 'what-the-fuck' face to Kendall following
Harry's mild freak out, but it then got left behind and nobody mentioned it again.

But Harry did see Louis give him the smallest hint of a smile.

It was reasonably quiet between Harry and Louis later that day, as they simply voiced ideas
surrounding the history of the Arc de Triomph. Harry could tell how worn down Louis was,
especially after earlier, Kendall's snide comment towards him, even if it had been extinguished by
Harry.

"How are you feeling?" Harry decided to ask, knowing he and Louis were sat far enough from
Kendall and Co. to have a private conversation.

"I'm absolutely fine." Louis said, putting on a bright smile. "Why would I not be?"

Harry believed it was true from Louis' dazzling smile, but not from his eyes. His eyes were sad,
screaming the truth: he wasn't happy at all. Harry could tell.
 8
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

As much as Harry was really loving the whole Parisian vibe, the day ended up dragging on far
longer than he would have hoped. The dinner he and his friends had gone for wasn't great, Liam
and Cheryl had broken into an argument about how Liam had apparently been checking out a
group of French girls, and Harry was just tired.

During the walk back to the hotel, approaching eight o'clock, he wondered where Louis had gone
for dinner, seeing as he had a very limited budget. He didn't want to burst into their hotel room and
start questioning him on it, but he did wonder. Luckily, Louis was already back at their room
(seeing as he had the key at that point in time) and let Harry in when he came knocking.

"Sorry you have to keep getting up to let me in, we need another key." Harry blabbered on,
breathlessly from his quick trip down the hallway towards their room, shutting the door behind
himself and kicking off his Chelsea boots.

"They probably don't trust us with more than one." Louis lightly laughed, a nice but quite
ungenuine sound, before he returned to his spot on his bed to resume reading his book.

Harry hummed in thought, moving to his half of the room, where his clothes were still strewn
carelessly about from their chaotic attempt that morning to get ready on time. He started folding
everything up again and placing the items neatly back into his suitcase. He decided he would leave
showering until the morning, too worn out by then to bother, and remembered to change his
phone's time to the Paris timezone before he forgot again.

He then fell back onto his bed, tugging off his socks and throwing them into his open case before
staring up at the ceiling with his hands folded over his stomach.

"So..." He mused into the silence, a tendency of his, hearing Louis draw in and release a steady
breath.

"I'm just reading this, Harry."

"Put it down and talk to me." Harry challenged, a smirk present. "Come on."

"Why would you want to talk to me?" Louis scoffed, replacing the bookmark anyway before
setting the book down on his bedside table.

"You're my roommate," Harry practically sang, lively and upbeat, "And I want to talk to you
because you're nice."

"Right. I've already brushed my teeth and stuff so the bathroom is yours." Louis seemed to be
hinting that Harry should do so now, highlighting that he wasn't really in a mood for chitchat.

"Coolio." Harry cooed, immediately cringing himself out and wishing he hadn't said that. He
headed with his toiletries in the bathroom, finding himself fixing his hair in the mirror while he
brushed his teeth. Why did he even care? He was just going to bed soon anyway.

He washed his toothbrush clean, gave his face a quick wash, then returned to the main room to
pack his things away again. Now it was time to lounge around on his bed and try to look
preoccupied to avoid any awkwardness. Great.

He decided he would try to spark up a conversation again, seeing as Louis was currently sat staring
into space, and it made the situation so much more tense without any words.

"What are your hobbies?"

Louis looked over at him, an amused smile on his face.

"You're trying hard here, aren't you?" He teased.

Harry reciprocated the smirk. "Just trying to rid of the awkwardness, is all."

"I like reading, photography..."

"Me too! Photography, that is," Harry exclaimed excitedly, leaning over the side of his bed to
scoop up his camera case. "Brought this baby along especially."

"Nice, I've got the exact same camera." Louis noted, nodding his head towards his, which sat on
his bedside table.

"Good camera, right? Proper HD quality," Harry commented, removing his camera from its case
and switching it on, so its screen glowed to life. He pointed it straight at Louis, zooming in with an
amused grin.

"Nooo, Harry!" Louis protested, shielding his face away with his hands, though Harry did spot a
little smile on his face.

"Smile, Louis!" Harry mocked, before clicking a completely pointless photo of Louis hiding
himself from the camera. He then decided to put on a ridiculous French accent before continuing,
"You, Louis Tomlinson, are impossible to work with!"

Louis burst out into bright laughter, hands falling to his sides, so Harry took his opportunity to snap
a quick photo before Louis could even protest again.

"Harryyy!" Louis whined, though his eyes were still sparkling with delight. "Delete it now."

Harry was clicking onto his camera's gallery, and onto the photo he had just snapped, feeling like
his heart could explode due to how adorable Louis looked in that photo. His eyes were so bright,
his entire face glowing with happiness for just that brief moment, and Harry managed to capture it.

"Take a look at it. Promise you won't delete it?" Harry asked, looking Louis squarely in the eye for
confirmation.

"Promise. Show me." Louis muttered, taking the camera from Harry and peering down at the
screen. His face immediately contorted in disgust, shaking his head.

"I look horrible when I laugh, please delete it!" He begged, handing back the camera and refusing
to look at the photograph again. Harry was almost in utter shock; Louis looked rather handsome in
the photo.

"You don't, I promise!" Harry reassured. "But I will delete it if you really want me to."

"Please do." Louis sighed, getting properly into his bed and rolling over, so he was turned away
from Harry.
Okay?

"I'm deleting it." Harry said.

But he was lying: he kept the photo saved. It was too priceless to delete, and he could look at it
whenever he wanted to see Louis when he was genuinely happy.

Louis had drifted to sleep not too long after he had turned over to face away from Harry, most
likely worn out from the long day. Harry had stripped down to his boxers and settled into his bed
himself, but couldn't even come close to sleeping. All he could think about was why Louis was so
repulsed by an image of himself, how he refused to even look at it for too long, then completely
withdrawing himself from the topic. He was severely insecure, that was evident, but Harry had a
difficulty understanding why: he was an attractive guy, no fault to that.

It was only half past nine, suggesting why Harry couldn't sleep yet. He began to wonder whether
Louis was really asleep at all, or whether those rhythmic breaths he was projecting were false so
Harry would believe he was.

He was yet to tell Louis that it was in fact him who had paid for his trip for him, but was
wondering whether he really had to at all. It was nice to see that Louis was enjoying his time, it
made it so much more worth it.

Harry got the urge to want to speak to Louis all of a sudden. He wanted to say what was on his
mind, before he quite literally exploded.

"Louis." He whispered into the darkness, testing to see whether he got a response. He was met with
even more silence.

"Louis." He increased the volume slightly, a sharper whisper, but it was once again left
unanswered. Louis was asleep.

"I know this might be weird," Harry breathed a pathetic laugh to himself, "but I just wanted to say
that I want to understand you. I can tell you're not happy."

He left another silence, pointlessly, as though he really believed Louis would respond. He
obviously didn't.

"So... yeah. I'm sorry for trying to delve too deep into your private life, or whatever. I just want to
know you better. Good night." Harry finished, properly settling down and cradling his pillow by
his face, the insanity then kicking in that he had just ranted practically to himself. Maybe he really
was going crazy.

Harry managed to wake up before the alarm the next morning, at 6:37am, meaning he had enough
time to jump in the shower, brush his teeth and get dressed for the day before the clock even struck
7am. He perched himself on the edge of his bed and allowed himself to look at Louis, who was
facing him, sound asleep. He looked truly adorable, younger while he was asleep, and it was quite
the spectacle.

And of course, with his awful streak of bad luck, Louis' eyes managed to flutter open while Harry
was staring.

Immediately, Louis jumped into an upright position in utter shock from seeing a pair of eyes on
him, one hand on his heart and the other speedily fixing his unruly hair.

"Jesus, Harry!" He exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed. "You scared the life out of me!"

"I wasn't watching you sleep, I swear!" Harry was only making it worse for himself by acting so
defensive, but he didn't realise it. "Your eyes opened just as I looked at you!"

"Right, okay." Louis muttered, rubbing violently at his tired eyes before getting to his feet. He and
Harry didn't make any further eye contact, and the shorter boy strolled off into the bathroom with
his stuff.

That couldn't have been more awkward, for fuck's sake. Louis effectively thought Harry was a
creep now - great! It was just good he had been asleep last night and hadn't heard Harry's little
heart-to-heart, as that would have made things even worse...

...or maybe he had been awake, but was pretending to be asleep.

Whatever, Harry wasn't going to consider that now.

Today's task in their pairings was to continue the work they had done on the Arc de Triomph.
Harry really couldn't be bothered, not when it was chillingly cold out, and Kendall was clearly
talking about him with Gigi. Probably about how he had almost completely ignored all of his
friends in the lobby that morning, having not been in the mood to greet them.

"This is so boring." Harry breathed to Louis, keeping the volume of his voice low so that nearby
teachers didn't catch onto the complaint.

Louis hummed in agreement, making no effort to verbally respond.

"Why are you so shy?" Harry pushed, in a friendly way, so that Louis finally put down his pen and
stopped writing.

"Because I've always been shy, it's my personality." He piped up, sliding the sheet of paper over to
Harry so that he could take over writing.

"There's really no need to be around me, you should be comfortable by now." Harry soothed,
picking up where Louis had left off with the note-taking. "I'm not like my friends, you know?"

"Well, there are a few similarities." Louis muttered. "But let's not get into that now."

"Similarities in what way?" Harry snapped, not raising the volume of his voice too much. "I
defended you yesterday, in case you forgot."

"From your own girlfriend." Louis practically whispered. "Let's forget this now."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"Me too." Louis sighed.

A silence came over them. Harry hated how they had snapped at each other, as minor as it was, and
knew that it was all because of how Harry's friends were treating Louis.

Maybe he wouldn't really open up to Harry until he had his full, undeniable trust.
 Even when Harry wasn't with Louis, when he was out eating dinner with his friends or shopping in
their free time, he was definitely thinking about him. He was worried about him mainly, about how
he was really feeling on the inside, and wanted desperately to be able to read his thoughts like a
diary. It hurt how little he really knew about Louis.

Back in their room again that evening, Louis was trying to politely sort out the TV's antennae
above the screen, after Harry had complained about it glitching constantly. And for the love of
God, Harry couldn't keep his eyes away from Louis' bum. It looked so perky and nice in his jeans
as he was stretching up to fiddle with the signal, and Harry felt so bad for indecently checking him
out behind his back, but couldn't help it. He didn't consider himself into guys, just a lover of a nice
backside. Was it weird? Probably.

"Do you work out?" The question slipped out of Harry's mouth before he could stop it, as Louis
had finished with the antennae and turned to face him again, having not quite heard the question
properly due to having been so concentrated.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you work out. Do you?"

"Uh... no, not really," Louis nervously scratched the back of his neck, a shy smile playing on his
face as he sat back down on his bed, cross-legged. "Why?"

"You've just got a really gorgeous arse." And for crying out loud, Harry hadn't intended for the
word 'gorgeous' to be in that sentence -- how creepy did that sound now!

Louis' eyes had clearly widened slightly, a baffled look on his face. "Umm... gorgeous?"

"I meant well-defined." Harry corrected, using his hand to gesture a curved shape in the air. "You
know."

"I don't know why you were looking." Louis smirked - he actually smirked, was attempting to be a
bit playful - and Harry always liked a bit of a challenge. It was true though, why had he mentioned
it if he knew he'd just be admitting to staring at it?

"Maybe it's too good not to look at." Harry winked. Why did he have to wink? He was such a mess.
Louis instantly flushed red, shaking his head with a light laugh: his default move whenever he
showcased how timid he was.

"Oh my God," He breathed to himself, humorously, "Let's clear this up. No, I don't work out. I was
just... blessed, I guess." He giggled.

"Clearly." Harry smiled, a devious smile, linking eyes with Louis in powerful eye contact.

And for once, Louis allowed the eye contact to be held for a good six seconds before growing shy
and diverting his gaze elsewhere once again.

Chapter End Notes

GO ON LOUIS SON
 9

It had felt like a whole new layer of tension had fallen over them after Harry's comment on Louis'
bum. Harry had no clue why, but he absolutely loved how metaphorically thick the air felt now,
how just six seconds of intense eye contact had Louis completely flustered again.

Harry figured it was his love for making people go shy coming to surface again, it didn't mean he
wanted any advances to be made due to the tension - no, definitely not, he was straight and he loved
Kendall very much.

Harry managed to get some time in the bathroom before Louis today, having a shower and
brushing his teeth, all the necessities, and chose this time to actually wear the pyjamas he had
packed (because otherwise the tension would rise through the roof, and he didn't want Louis
getting too overwrought by it.)

"Wow, fully clothed today?" Louis noted, looking up from his book after he had heard Harry
leaving the bathroom.

"Thought I'd leave it to the imagination today," Harry chuckled, placing all of his toiletries into his
suitcase again, "I guess you could say I'm just cold."

"Right. Well, you could try getting into bed, that usually warms people up." Louis offered, but
Harry's mind didn't take reference to the thought of bedsheets and their ability to warm somebody
up, but instead to what people tend to do in bed.

"Oh, is that so?" He smirked, and Louis' brain was quick to calculate what he had said, seeing it
from Harry's perspective. He tutted in response, rolling his eyes with an amused smile before
disappearing with his washbag into the bathroom.

Harry still had to get a comment in there, it couldn't be helped.

He watched a few YouTube videos while Louis showered, lounging back lazily on his bed and
knowing that he'd regret having let his wet hair touch the sheets once he actually went to bed. He
heard the shower stop after a few minutes, finding himself sitting up against the headboard and
fixing his partially-dry fringe. Louis left after another few minutes, after brushing his teeth, dressed
in his long-sleeved pyjama top and bottoms. He looked adorable again.

"How was the shower?" Harry asked, keeping his eyes glued to his phone screen.

"Decent," Louis shrugged, "How good can a shower really be?"

"Depends who's in there with you." Harry smirked to himself, still not diverting his attention
upward, but he could sense Louis' displeased yet amused eye roll.

"Are there any bottles of water left in the fridge?" Louis asked, referencing to their mini fridge in
the corner of the room, and its contents which they had unanimously stocked at the start of the
week.

"Yeah, there are a few. Throw us one, will you?" Harry asked, making a grabbing gesture as Louis
knelt by the fridge and retrieved two fresh bottles. He threw one Harry's way, which was
successfully caught in his large hand. "Cheers, Tomlinson."

"No problem, Styles." Louis smiled to himself as he took a seat on his own bed, rummaging
through his washbag again. Harry heard the sound of him popping open a bottle of pills, tipping a
couple out before clasping it shut again.

"Over there popping pills, are we?" He teased, a smug smirk lighting up his face. Louis lifelessly
laughed, placing them into his mouth before washing them down with the soothingly cold water.

"Whatever."

Harry was going to ask what they were for, but he knew that would be way too intrusive, taking it
too far. He kept his big mouth shut, deciding to have a swig of his own water and continue
watching a video.

"Oh, by the way," Louis interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt, I was overhearing Mr Grant talking today
about extending the trip."

"What, really?" Harry exclaimed, forgetting about his video altogether and locking his phone.
"Well, it's hardly surprising, it's already Thursday tomorrow and we're nowhere near done on the
projects."

"Yeah, he was telling Mrs Bradley that he was negotiating with the hotel manager, that he's
managing to get some extra time here for a low cost again. Don't know how he does it." Louis
explained. Harry then realised just how chatty Louis was being, how he had said such a long
sentence with general confidence.

"Hey," Harry softly said, urging Louis to glance up at him, "You're getting more comfortable with
me."

Louis shrugged instantly, tilting his head to the side with a smile. "I guess so."

"I'm not such a monster, huh?" Harry mocked, raising an eyebrow.

"I still don't know what you say about me to your friends, so I still can't clarify." Louis admitted,
pouting his mouth to the side. "Or maybe that's my paranoia speaking for me again."

"It is, Louis." Harry dead-panned, moving to tuck his feet beneath his blankets and wriggle his way
into bed. "Let's sleep soon?"

"Yeah, there's an idea." Louis sighed, slipping into bed himself. "It would be nice to stay in Paris
longer."

"So you can spend more time with me?" Harry smirked, stretching an arm above himself in
relaxation as he lay back.

"No," Louis rolled his eyes, "Just because Paris is so beautiful."

"It is," Harry mused, with a growing smile, "Very, very beautiful."

"Turning the lamp off now, that alright?" Louis asked, his hand already clasped around the switch.

"Go ahead."

Louis clicked it off, leaving the room in darkness. There was a brief silence, but Harry opted to fill
it. He didn't want them to go to sleep just yet, he wanted some chitchat.

"So... are you dating anyone?"

He wished he could have seen Louis' reaction, because simply hearing the sudden intake of breath
was satisfying enough. There was some hesitation at first.

"No."

"You hesitated. Is there somebody you like?"

"Harry, quit it!" Louis whined, his tone coming across as playful rather than genuinely irritated.

"Is it a girl in our class?" Harry pushed, a smirk on his face in the pitch black.

"Stop."

"What's the first letter of her name?"

"I don't like any girls in our class." Louis giggled. Harry smiled at the sound.

"If you say so."

"How long have you been with Kendall?" Louis questioned, diverting the topic onto Harry now.

"Over two years now, nearly three." Harry informed him, smiling at the thought of Kendall
probably asleep as they spoke. "Yeah."

"Who asked who out?"

"I asked her." Harry admitted, recalling it, the moment: Kendall had been hinting at liking him for
months before, clearing not willing to crack and initiate a relationship herself, so Harry made that
move.

"Nice." Louis muttered, no emotion really present in his voice.

"Tell me about your last relationship then." Harry continued on, wanting to learn more about
Louis.

Louis breathed out a laugh, almost one which ridiculed himself.

"I haven't had one."

Harry was silent for a moment, considering what to say before he spoke.

"Well that's okay!" Harry assured. "We're still young, you'll find a lovely lady who loves you for
who you are."

"God dammit, Harry, I'm gay!" Louis blurted out all of a sudden, silencing Harry altogether. Harry
felt like his pulse had thickened suddenly, eyes widening slightly in the dark. He left the silence for
too long, so long that Louis felt ashamed. "That's why I can't find anyone. God, please don't tell
your friends..."

"Of course I won't." Harry whispered, unsure why his voice had come out at this volume. The
moment just felt too tender, and Louis was so vulnerable, that he didn't want to shatter it. "It's okay,
Louis, this doesn't change the way I see you."

"Okay." Louis piped up. "I'm sorry for saying it so angrily, it just gets frustrating when--"

"When people just assume you're straight, I understand." Harry finished the sentence for him,
wanting to reach over and pat his arm in sympathy.

"I'm going to sleep now."

"Okay, Louis. Sweet dreams."

Louis didn't respond again, and Harry was left in the dark in lingering disbelief that Louis had said
that. Man did that change everything, from Louis' flustered nature, to the way he had to try so hard
not to look at Harry's body after he left the shower. He had probably felt so trapped, Harry felt
awful for always putting Louis on the spot now.

Louis was gay. Wow.

Something woke Harry up in the middle of the night, more a feeling than a sound disturbance. His
eyes fluttered open, the space still pitch dark around him, and as his eyes and brain adjusted to
reality, it clicked: he had a fucking erection.

He breathed out a long, steady breath of annoyance, wiping his hands down his face in frustration.
This did sometimes happen to him, but right now was probably the worst of times.

"Louis?" He whispered, wanting to test whether he was awake. He was met with the soft, rhythmic
sound of Louis breathing in his sleep. Good.

As quickly as he could, Harry slid his hand into his pyjamas bottoms, wrapping his hand around
his rock-hard dick with a sharp intake of breath. He really should have headed off to the bathroom
to do this, but his bed was too comfortable and he didn't want to move. All he wanted was to text
Kendall and arrange a meet-up with her mouth, but his hand would have to suffice for now.

He began slowly working his hand over himself, bucking his hips up into the touch with each
movement, using his other hand to cup his balls. Without the intention, he released a sharp moan, it
coming out loud in the air, when it hadn't remained as a breath as he had hoped. He immediately bit
hard onto his lower lip, literally holding his breath as he pumped faster over his cock, flicking his
wrist in the perfect motion to have his head resting back against the headboard in bliss. He hadn't
gotten himself off in way too long.

"Oh fuck." He breathed out, voice coming out deep and scratchy in the room, louder than he would
have liked. He couldn't help it, it just felt so unusually good.

It didn't take long until he was close, maneuvering one of his pillows from beneath his head to bite
into as his hand moved so fast on his dick that his arm began to strain. As he came, it streaking out
all over his stomach, he tried but failed to conceal a long, loud groan of pleasure, and it filled the air
a bit too much. It was then followed by his frantic breathing as he came down, chest heaving,
stomach tensing, toes curling.

The room was eerily silent again, making him realise just how audible all of that had been. Shit, he
really should have gone to the bathroom, seeing as he had to move in there anyway to grab some
tissue and clean up the cum which was up his stomach.

He pulled his pyjama bottoms back up and stumbled through the pitch black towards the
bathroom, switching on the light and shutting himself in there, speedily cleaning everything up
with tissue and then flushed it away in the toilet. It felt like such a relief having had an orgasm,
making him feel more light, like he could easily fall back to sleep.

And as soon as he was in his bed again, he did.

Harry's alarm going off the next morning made him want to smash the damn phone up. He and
Louis made immediate eye contact as they lifted their heads from their pillows, and awkwardness
ensued. To Louis, probably caused by the fact that he had blurted out his sexuality last night, yet
Harry was just worried Louis had heard him getting himself off in the dead of night -- Harry was
really wondering now why he had decided on doing that.

"Morning." Harry broke the ice, before getting up. He sat up and stretched his arms above himself,
before getting to his feet.

"Morning." Louis bumbled out, his voice not even able to form proper sounds yet as he was still
that enthralled by sleep. His eyes were barely open, it was incredibly sweet.

"Tired." Harry mumbled, rubbing cutely at his eyes as he stood aimlessly in the middle of the
room.

"Did you not get enough sleep?"

Was that a hint that he had heard last night's events, or was Harry just being paranoid?

"No, couldn't sleep." Harry clarified anyway, smugly smiling at the memory. Strangely, something
within him loved the fact that he had made himself cum while sleeping so close to Louis, as
fucking creepy as that sounded. It was probably the fact that it was bound to have made Louis
flustered beyond belief, if he had heard it.

"Right. Better luck on that tonight," Louis wished, a small smile of his own present. "Oh, and
again, could you not mention what I told you last night to your friends?"

"Of course I won't, it wouldn't even cross my mind to!" Harry reassured, with a cool and calm
smile.

"Kendall's really lucky." Louis said all of a sudden, urging Harry's eyebrows to raise and for his
heart to start beating a little faster.

"Huh?"

"Kendall's lucky to have found somebody so kind, I mean. Someone who doesn't blurt out other
people's secrets."

Oh. Harry had taken that the wrong way.

"Thanks for saying that, Louis. Maybe you'll find somebody like me some day." Harry shot him a
wink. "I'm not saying that in, like, a cocky way."

"I know you're not." Louis chuckled. "But I hope I do too."

Harry wanted the very best for Louis. He always had.

 10
Chapter Notes

Sorry it's been over a week!

And sorry for any errors, if there are any. Hope this is decent enough.

Includes some very mild/sexual Hendall talk. Thought I'd warn ya ;)

Harry was in a very pensive state of mind for the duration of the day. When twelve o'clock that
afternoon came around, they all split up for lunch, and Harry's group ended up sat in Buttes-
Chaumont Park, lounging on the fields, about a half hour trip on the Metro. Louis and his friends
seemed to have the same idea, and were visible not too far away in the near distance, crowded
around a bench by the pretty water fountain.

Harry listened to every little thing Kendall said to him during lunch, observed the way she acted,
and wondered whether she really was lucky to have him. Was she grateful? Sometimes it didn't
seem it, what with the way she often bossed him around and convicted him of not loving her. She
liked to make him believe she was too good for him.

And he also watched Louis interacting with his friends, the way he threw a hand over his mouth
whenever he giggled, and kept that bright smile on his face even though he clearly wasn't very
happy on the inside. It broke Harry's heart to think about.

"Can we relocate? We're waaay too close to Niall Horan and the faggot brigade." Gigi snorted,
scooping up her Kate Spade handbag from where it sat by her on he grass.

"They're not doing anything wrong." Harry defended with a shrug, picking at the grass (which he
knew it was wrong to, considering how well-maintained it was.)

"Yeah, just ignore them." Zayn waved a hand, finally somebody taking Harry's side, so Gigi took
his word for it and dropped her expensive bag back down onto the freshly cut grass and rested back
on her palms again.

Harry wanted to smile in celebration. He glanced Louis' way in the distance again, and this time
they linked eyes, something Harry could sense even from so far away. He smiled, but Louis looked
away immediately and concentrated on his own friends again. Harry knew why it was; Louis was
worried about what he had confessed last night, worried that Harry had slipped up and told his
mates what he had uncovered. The fact that Louis was gay hadn't changed what Harry thought of
him, but had instead just made some other things clear.

When Harry thought back to last night again, what he had gotten up to while Louis was lying
nearby, it made him want to do it again. It was so bad, especially as he was imagining doing this
again while sat so close to his girlfriend, and he wasn't quite sure why he had found it so hot.
Maybe it was the fact that Louis had possibly heard. Despite that being a bit awkward. He actually
found himself feeling slightly excited about going to sleep that coming night, which was awful
really. He had to tend to his urges, right? Right. He was doing what any teenage boy had to do.
"Hazzaaa, stop daydreaming!" Kendall whined, clicking her fingers sharply in front of his face and
urging him to shake from his trance. Oops, of course he hadn't been lost in his thoughts while
reminiscing over last night's masturbation session, unbeknownst to a nearby Louis.

"Sorry! Just feeling a little tired." Harry chuckled. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Anal," Liam openly interjected, "You and Kendall ever done it?"

"Liam!" Kendall exclaimed in disgust, harshly slapping his arm to have him winching yet
humoured. The others erupted into laughter, while Harry was still a little confused by what was
going on.

"What?! That's what we were talking about!" Liam defended, still rubbing over his reddening arm.

"Yeah, well not about me and Harry, thank you very much." Kendall moodily snapped, folding her
arms over her chest.

"Because I bet you haven't done it." Zayn snorted, continuing on anyway. "Have you, Harry?
You're being very quiet."

"Leave it out if Kendall doesn't want to discuss it." Harry rolled his eyes, entertained by the whole
thing.

"It can feel alright, Kenny, if you use enough lube." Cheryl cut in, giggling as she nudged Kendall,
who groaned aloud in distaste.

"Come on, guys! When did this turn into making me embarrassed? Plus, Harry's dick is way too
big, it'd hurt too much."

"Exactly," Harry smugly defended, wiggling his eyebrows, "She wouldn't be able to handle this."

Liam leant in to whisper in Harry's ear suddenly, smugness within his tone. "It feels so good. Better
than pussy in a way."

Harry sniggered a laugh, earning a scolding look from Kendall.

"What are you two whispering about?" She hissed. "Why are you laughing?"

"No, it's nothing." Harry lied, a dazed laugh as he lazily rested back on one hand, the other raking
through his hair. Liam leant in once again, blatantly trying to piss Kendall off.

"If you can persuade her, you'll see what I mean. Damn it's tight."

Harry chuckled once again, before pushing Liam away when he realised this was only going to
spark up an argument with Kendall. It was true though, he had hinted before that he would like to
try anal with Kendall but she had swiftly turned it down. It was completely reasonable, considering
girls would reap no pleasure from it.

Kendall got her phone out suddenly, looking at Harry before looking down at the phone again, and
a moment later he got a text from her.

Kenny❤: Sorry for not wanting to do that with you...Xx

Harry shot her a look as though to say she shouldn't be apologising.

Harry: Why are you sorry?! It's fine! We do what keeps you comfortable babe. I love you .xx
Kendall made a kissy face at him before looking down at her phone to type again.

Kenny❤: Come here you Xx

Harry chuckled as he slid his phone away, before hurriedly crawling over to Kendall on the grass
and pushing her back softly. Their friends wooed as the two of them started making out, Kendall
gliding her hands beneath Harry's shirt to caress his soft back. Harry got tongue involved quickly,
slowly grinding down against her.

"Alright, guys, let's keep it PG!" Gigi giggled, urging Harry to smirk into the kiss and bite on
Kendall's lower lip as he pulled away. Kendall shot him a wink as he climbed away, and Harry
found himself looking Louis' way immediately after to find that he was already looking. Louis,
flustered and panicked, diverted his gaze away and pretended to be laughing at something a mate
of his was saying, but it was plain as day that he had just been watching Harry and Kendall's little
make-out session.

When Harry and Louis reunited after lunch to continue the project, things were very awkwardly
quiet. Harry knew that it was because Louis had witnessed the kiss earlier and had been caught
doing so, so he decided to change the topic completely to something that might lighten the situation
a bit.

"I haven't told them, by the way... you know." He informed him, while Louis was typing up notes
on his laptop that they could add into their project.

"Good." He absent-mindedly drawled out, not bothering to lift his eyes from the screen. Yeah, he
was clearly embarrassed about getting caught watching the kiss, but Harry didn't know why. He
would look himself if two people were making out on a field.

He decided that another thing hanging dense in the air was the fact that Louis could have possibly
heard what he was doing last night. He couldn't take it anymore, not knowing whether or not Louis
had, so he went ahead and continued on with an enquiry about it.

"Did you hear me last night?"

The question was immediately heavy in the air, and it urged Louis to look up suddenly and stop
typing. He looked quite confused, which was a good start.

"Hear you? No. Why, did you get up? Everything alright?" Louis guessed, going back to typing.
Okay, good. Harry was definitely going to play it off as that - Louis had been asleep, there was no
tension there (though it would have been pretty hot if he had heard.)

"Yeah, I got up to go to the bathroom and tripped over my stupid suitcase, was worried I had
woken you up." He lied, nervously scratching his neck.

Louis giggled, the sweetest of sounds, at Harry's negligence. "Silly you. Well no, you didn't wake
me."

Harry fondly smiled at his hands and shook his head. Man, he kind of felt a little bad about what he
had really done now... but it definitely wasn't going to stop him from doing it again, fuck no.

Harry had gotten an extra key for he and Louis' hotel room from the front desk, meaning he no
longer had to feel bad about knocking and making Louis get up to let him in. He had been so
distracted with his friends, hanging around in several local bars and having a laugh, that they hadn't
realised it had gone 10pm, over two hours past curfew.

They had all hurriedly left in a semi-drunken state, to giggle their way through the city back to their
hotel, praying that Mr Grant and the other teachers had already turned in for the night and wouldn't
notice their lateness. Luckily, this wish was granted, and they managed to pass unnoticed through
the lobby and into the lift, before parting ways once they reached their floors.

Harry strolled with Kendall and Gigi until they reached the girls' room, kissing Kendall goodnight
before continuing on to his own room. He twisted the key in his hand as he approached the door,
slotting it as quietly as possible into the lock in case Louis was sleeping, before opening the door.
Louis' bed was unoccupied, but the lamp beside it was on and dimly lit the room.

"Louis?" Harry casually called out, knocking on the bathroom door as he passed it, curious to know
what he was up to, where he was.

"Oh, I'm out on the balcony." Louis' voice came from where he had said, just past the sheer net
curtains on the other side of the room. Harry realised he himself hadn't even been on the balcony
yet, inviting himself to step past the curtain, into the area lit by an outside wall light.

He was immediately dazzled by the sight, the Eiffel Tower in view, its monstrous structure
outlined against the dark sky. And hundreds of lights from nearby buildings were glimmering like
stars, turning the entire scene into a picturesque, painting-like masterpiece. Louis was sat on one of
the white steel chairs, beside another chair and a small, matching table which held a flower in a
glass.

Louis didn't turn to acknowledge him completely, legs crossed with his hands locked around his
raised knee, staring out into the beautiful horizon.

"Wow." Harry sighed, finally voicing his awe over the view. "This is really something."

"Yeah." Louis breathed out a laugh, tilting his head aside with a small smile, as Harry slipped into
the other chair. "I've been sat here for about half an hour already."

"Well, don't deprive yourself of sleep, will you? It's gone ten o'clock now." Harry informed him,
after checking his phone to see that it was 22:27.

"I just don't want to sleep, because that means I'll wake up again tomorrow and it'll be one less day
here." Louis chuckled. "Even if Mr Grant has extended the trip, it's going to end at some point."

"True, but that's not to say you won't come back here in the future if you love it so much." Harry
reminded. He saw Louis pout his mouth to the side, thinking momentarily before responding.

"I'd never be able to afford it." He let out a stark laugh, still avoiding any eye contact. "I couldn't
even afford this trip, somebody actually anonymously paid for me."

He looked over at Harry at that instant, and they held the eye contact for a good five seconds,
neither saying a word, and Harry decided to give the slightest quirk upwards of his eyebrows.
Louis understood, his eyes flashing with realisation, mouth dropping agape.

"Nooo," He whispered in disbelief, unable to stop a smile spreading on his face, " Y-You?"

"Me." Harry shrugged, his own smile prominent, and Louis immediately sprang up from his seat
and threw himself into Harry's arms in a tight embrace. It shocked Harry, how sudden it was from
somebody as timid as Louis, but he immediately locked his arms around Louis and held him close.
Louis was so warm and he smelt so sweet, evidently having showered not too long ago, and it was
a very pleasant experience overall.

Louis awkwardly broke the hug a moment later, actually wiping away a tear as he returned to his
seat.

"Don't cry!" Harry exclaimed, rubbing Louis' shoulder in comfort. "Please don't cry!"

"I'm just really thankful. Thank you." Louis breathily sobbed, wiping away another tear with his
long sleeve. "I will repay you for it, that's so much money, Harry, I--"

"Ah, ah," Harry cut him off, raising a hand with an amused smirk. "Nope, you don't need to pay me
back, it's my little gift to you. It's enough that you're so grateful for it."

Louis was still in disbelief, holding either side of his head. "Just... why? Why did you pay for me?"

"Because I heard you telling Niall how you couldn't afford it. I wanted to help out." Harry softly
smiled. "So... I did."

"You're such a wonderful person, Harry, oh my goodness." Louis ran his hands down his face
while shaking his head, muffling another shocked laugh behind them. Harry was glad to finally
hear Louis realising that he was different to his friends.

"I know." He smirked. "Now, I don't want you to feel like you keep having to thank me, that's why
I kept it anonymous before. So let's leave it here, yeah? I was kind, you're thankful. You're here
now, you're in this moment, enjoy what's been brought to you."

"Yeah, thank you." Louis reciprocated the smile. "Should we get to bed now? It feels like I've been
sat out here forever, these lights are starting to make me a bit dizzy."

"Yes, we probably should, it's getting late." Harry stood up and stretched his arms overhead, before
leading them off the balcony and back into the warm room. Louis slid shut the balcony door and
latched it locked, before pulling the thick cream curtain across.

Harry headed into the bathroom to get ready for bed, changing into his pyjamas before deciding he
would shower in the morning, throwing his worn clothes into his suitcase carelessly. He slid into
his bed, Louis already snug in his own, and put his phone on charge.

"I'm really trying not to thank you again." Louis chuckled. Harry was urged to grin.

"You better not. Watch yourself, Tomlinson."

Louis giggled, that fucking giggle, before switching off the lamp and leaving the room in pitch-
black darkness once again.

"Night." Harry yawned, not having to bother to politely cover his mouth with his hand.

"Goodnight." Louis responded, before the room fell silent.

Harry lay there for what felt like hours, listening as Louis' breathing gradually became steadier and
more rhythmic, fiddling with his fingers in the darkness. Yeah, he was getting that urge again, the
awful idea to masturbate, which he couldn't suppress even if he tried. When he checked his phone,
he was surprised to see that he had already been lying there motionless for almost fifty minutes,
just reflecting on life and listening to Louis falling asleep.

He began loosely palming himself over the material of his pyjama bottoms, figuring if he really
wanted this right now then he'd get hard, finding himself rolling his hips up into his touch. It was
probably bad that he was doing this again, but it felt safe to as Louis sounded to be completely out
of it.

Harry sucked in a harsh breath through gritted teeth as he felt the first throb in his dick, the first
pique of arousal that had him shivering. He sped up the movements, gave himself more friction,
and soon found that he was using both the action of his hand and his hips to pick up a momentum
that had him completely hard before long.

He had done well with suppressing any major sounds, mere little whimpers which came from his
throat sounding, or sharp breaths through his nose, altogether leaving the room pretty quiet. It was
when he actually took his cock into his hand and started pumping when he couldn't help but
breathily moan aloud as his head fell back.

"Ohhh." He drawled out, thumbing at the slit and spreading the clear pre-cum down his length.
"Shit."

A sheen of sweat was beginning to coat his forehead, one he had to wipe away occasionally with
the back of his free hand, biting his bottom lip red as he flicked his wrist perfectly on his dick. It
was so perfect, felt so good, and had him close before long at all.

He wanted to think of Kendall while he came, about how her lips felt and tasted earlier, or her body
beneath his. He sped up the movements after a couple more minutes, figuring he should get to the
finale so he could sleep, wanking himself off faster while using his other hand to stroke tentatively
up his abs.

"Oh fuck," He lowly whispered as that hot ball of pleasure built up in the pit of his stomach,
spiralling his head into a frenzy. His toes curled, abdomen clenching, and he was coming.

And as he came, his stupid stupid mouth blurted out a loud, unmistakable whimper of "Louis",
followed by a long, high moan.

He immediately slapped a hand over his mouth, body still shuddering through his orgasm with a
series of sharp breaths along with his jolting body, eyes wide and shocked as to what the fuck he
had just said. He felt dizzy, unable to control his thoughts, trying to figure out whether he had
really just fucking blurted that out during his climax.

What the fuck? Why not 'Kendall'? Why the fuck had his foolish fucking mind conjured up 'Louis'
as being an appropriate fucking thing to quite literally moan out?

The worrying thing was that there no longer that loud, rhythmic breathing coming from Louis.
Unless Harry was being paranoid again.
 11
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry remained stock-still in the same position, eyes still wildly large due to what the fuck had just
happened. There was an awful burning dread in his mind that Louis was awake, that he had heard
everything, and this was highlighted by the fact that his breathing had suddenly stopped, almost
like it had caught in his throat in shock.

The room was so silent that it felt more like an eerie scream was penetrating it. Harry was confused
and covered in cum and too scared to move a single centimetre, terrified of breaking through the
quiet. Louis didn't say a word, if he was awake, although his breathing into the room now sounded
ever-so-slightly more shaky, like he was trying to steady it - if it wasn't Harry's paranoia kicking in
once again.

Harry was desperate to say a single word, maybe even clear his throat, but he was too afraid so he
remained quiet. In the silence, he moved the hand that wasn't streaked with cum to scoop up a
random piece of his clothing from the floor beside his bed, using it to wipe the hand that was. It
was a pretty gross move, something he wouldn't usually do, but getting up to run off to the
bathroom just seemed too drastic at a time like this.

He had moaned Louis' name out into the silent room. It wasn't even like it could have been
mistaken for something else; it was a clear, unrestrained whimper of the name of the boy lying in
the bed beside his own. What an absolute mess he had created, in the midst of his orgasm.

Once he had tossed down the dirtied t-shirt into where in the dark he guessed his suitcase was, he
squeezed his eyes shut and once again internally scolded himself, both for doing it in the first place
plus leaving it completely unsaid. The final word which had been uttered sensually into that room
that night had been: 'Louis.' Nothing more followed.

Harry had never awoken so abruptly to his alarm in his whole life, shooting into an upright position
the moment its chiming sound invaded his sleep. The dread in the pit of his stomach was
absolutely unbearable when he recovered from his memory what had happened last night, after
distinguishing that it wasn't a dream, and found himself glancing over at Louis' bed. The sheets
were tousled but unoccupied, an empty bed that looked to have been disturbed not too long ago.
Harry wanted to drift back into slumber and never wake up, anything so he didn't have to see Louis
and meet his eye.

This was ruined when Louis pulled back the balcony curtain, stepping in with a whoosh of cool air
and the sound of Paris life from outside, shutting the door firmly behind him. Harry was looking
down at his hands, unsure what to do with himself, then opted on keeping up the confident front he
had on. He lifted his head and met eyes with Louis, who was already looking at him.

"I-I got up early." Louis filled the silence, stating the obvious with a stutter. "Thought I'd sit out on
the balcony for a while, wake myself up properly." He wasn't looking Harry in the eye anymore,
he was gazing somewhere at the wall.

No mentions of last night, though - smooth; although addressing the very evident elephant in the
room didn't seem appropriate now, if they weren't going to be overwrought with any intense
awkwardness.
"Fair enough." Harry casually remarked, ruffling his hair a bit to tame it.

Louis moved into the room and grabbed his favourite book from his nightstand before once again
heading towards the balcony. He had probably realised just how tense things were, the gawky
cloud hanging over them, and decided to retreat once again. God, Harry felt like a perverted weirdo
for last night. He decided to grab his toiletries and clothes for the day and shower all the stress
away.

He stayed in there for a good twenty-five minutes, wondering how much of the damn water it
would take to drown himself, before switching off the water and jumping out to dry himself. He
dressed speedily, stepping into some black skinny jeans and tugging on a plain black t-shirt. Very
colourful. Reflected his mood.

When he left the bathroom, cradling an armful of all his belongings, Louis had returned to the room
and was idly scrolling through his phone on his bed. He seemed to have gotten the dressing and
showering part of his routine over with long before Harry had even woken up. He didn't look up at
all, and from what Harry guessed, he looked rather tense. Unless it was Harry's paranoia. Again.

It was Friday today, which would have been their last day there if Mr Grant hadn't extended their
stay. Harry didn't know whether he was ready to leave, considering how awkward things currently
were, but knew they'd still be staying there for a while longer to get their projects done. He didn't
speak to Louis again, not a single word, they just made the unanimous and completely non-verbal
decision to head down to the lobby when the time reached 07:55.

This was so bad. Harry completely regretted having a little wank session last night, figuring his
ridiculous and unprecedented decision to blurt out Louis' name may have been his karma for being
such a creep. He and Louis parted ways in the lobby with no words, Kendall embracing Harry
dramatically as he approached his group of friends.

"Baaabe!" She exclaimed in delight, after flinging her arms around him and pulling him in close, as
though they hadn't seen each other in months. "How's my handsome boy today? Did you sleep
well?"

No.

"Great thanks, Kenny. Did you?" Harry brightly lied, pressing a kiss to her forehead as they broke
the hug.

"Always badly without you there," She childishly pouted, "I miss having you with me."

"Am I not good enough company?" Gigi scoffed, playfully slapping Kendall on the arm. "I've
already told you I wouldn't mind snuggling with you when you're missing Haz. I miss Zayn too."

"Adorable." Harry chuckled, stroking Kendall's hair briefly before joining their other classmates to
head out of the hotel lobby, led by Mr Grant.

It was almost as though a miracle had been granted for Harry, as while everybody was walking, Mr
Grant mentioned that they were all allowed to sit with their friends for this first section of the
project instead of being confined to just their partners. That meant Harry could postpone the
awkwardness even more with Louis, until later on. Their destination today was an expanse of grass
close to the Eiffel Tower, where they all sat in their groups and were given the task to write their
own creative extract about their trip so far. Harry was pretty much fucked on that front, being an
awful writer.
Louis, on the other hand, was usually a brilliant writer. But today he was too zoned out to even
begin, staring somewhere in the distance. One of his friends, Christopher, who had short, curly
blonde hair and glasses, waved a hand in front of his face.

"Earth to Louis!" He yelled, shaking Louis from his daze immediately.

"Oh," Louis chuckled, lacking enthusiasm, "Sorry, were you talking to me?"

"Yes, he was, are you alright?" Charlie cut in, the sweetest of Louis' friends. He had a mop of dark
brown hair and hazel eyes, and he was the one Louis could confide in most. More than Niall, their
blonde, Irish friend who probably had no filter (though he was insanely shy.)

"I'm fine!" Louis exclaimed, putting on a smile and scooping up his pencil from where it rested on
his pad of paper, trying to start brainstorming ideas. He easily failed to do so.

"Well, you don't seem fine. You've been looking in the general direction of Harry Styles for the
last five minutes." Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Everything okay? Did he do something?"

Louis huffed out an emotionless laugh, but then shook his head swiftly, deciding he would leave
his thoughts unsaid. "No, no, he didn't."

"He totally did, Lou, we're not stupid. You're not usually this quiet, even if something completely
awful has happened!" Niall nudged him, trying to coax it out of him. "Please say, if something has
happened!"

Louis tensed, nervously scratching his arm. He glanced over at Harry, who was sat with his friends
around fifty feet from his own group, resting back casually on his hands with a bright smile at
whatever his friends had said. He looked completely in his own world, in a world where only his
friends existed.

"Nothing's happened." He shrugged, training his gaze on his paper once again and scribbling down
a title for his work.

"Oh, come on! You can't look over at him like that and expect us to believe nothing is up!"
Christopher vociferated, going out of his way to pry Louis' pencil from his fingers so he couldn't
distract himself.

"Hey! I'm trying to get an education here!" Louis giggled, trying to reach over Christopher to grab
the pencil in his extended arm.

"No! Not until you tell us why you're being so distant today."

Louis gave up trying to retrieve his pen and slapped his hands down onto his crossed legs in defeat.
He loudly sighed, shutting his eyes and shaking his head.

"It's... I don't know, it's something that's confusing me. You know when something happens, and it
feels like it could be some strange dream and you have no idea what's really happened?" He
explained, confusing himself. And judging by the perplexion on his three friends' faces, they felt
exactly the same.

"What do you mean, a dream?" Charlie furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened exactly?"

Louis felt his stomach tingle slightly at the memory but chose to concentrate, keep his mind
straight. He awkwardly laughed before continuing.
"Last night, must have been pretty late, I woke up and... Harry was, like..." He trailed off, not
knowing how to finish the sentence, but Niall had caught on and was thunderously laughing. So
loudly that the sound reached everybody, including Harry and his mates, so Zayn Malik chose to
mockingly laugh back in a stupid tone. Louis didn't even dare to look their way, because 1) Zayn
Malik terrified him, and 2) Harry was over there. He didn't want to meet eyes with him.

"Prick," Niall muttered, before forgetting Zayn and chuckling away more quietly now at Louis, "I
get you though, man. He was giving himself some love, yeah?"

Louis loudly groaned in distaste and rolled his eyes, while Christopher and Charlie cackled out
laughs.

"Yes, Niall, he was giving himself some love." Louis laughed, feeling that his cheeks had heated
up from the subject.

"No way! While you were lying in your bed next to his?!" Charlie gaped, having not even heard
the worst of it yet but being completely shocked nonetheless.

"Yeah," Louis scratched the back of his neck, "But that wasn't the part that made me feel like I was
dreaming."

"Did you see him doing it?" Christopher gasped, eyebrows raised.

"No! God no!" Louis blurted out, "It was pitch black."

"So... it was pitch black... did you hear him doing it?" Niall guessed, pointing an interrogative
finger at him. Louis hated this, hated being the centre of attention of his practically freshly new
friends.

"Yeah." Louis quickly piped out, before snatching his pen off of Christopher and starting to write
again.

"Hold on a sec!" Charlie whooped, grabbing Louis' wrist to stop him from scribbling down
nonsense. "You can't stop the story there! You heard it, what did you hear? Did he, like, moan?"

Louis put his hands over his face and groaned, feeling extremely embarrassed at this point.

"Yes, and--"

"And?" Niall excitedly asked, "And what?!"

"While he... I think while he came, he..."

"What did he do, moan out your name or something?" Christopher joked. Or so he thought he had.

The three of them laughed, but Louis stayed completely silent, lowering his hands from his face
with a half-flustered and half-stern gesture. They all stopped immediately, individually catching on,
adding up what Christopher had said to how Louis had reacted.

"You're fucking kidding!" Niall whispered, too shocked to speak any louder, eyes wide as saucers.
"No way! He did not!"

"Wait, are you serious?!" Charlie asked, bewildered, "Harry Styles doing that?!"

"Keep your voice down, will you!" Louis demanded, panicked as he glanced over at Harry, glad to
see he was just far away enough not to have heard his name being almost shouted. "But yes, I am
serious. That's if I wasn't completely imagining it."

"I doubt you'd imagine that," Christopher theorised, face full of thought as he picked at blades of
the immaculate grass beneath them. "But I'll bet it was a dare. Did you go to the bathroom or
something not long before it happened, so he knew you were awake?"

"This was the dead of night, I was breathing in a way that would make him think I was asleep! I
felt awkward him knowing I was awake, but I couldn't go back to sleep!" Louis explained, running
his hands down his face in stress.

"Holy shit, that's even worse! He though you were asleep? I was going to suggest his friends could
have dared him!" Christopher shook his head in disbelief. "Then I'm sorry to say, Louis, but I don't
think you were dreaming that."

Louis didn't really know what to think anymore. It had felt like last night was a complete haze, like
it wasn't humanly possibly for it to have happened, but here he was now in this stupid dilemma. His
heart was hammering in his chest just from discussing it with his close mates.

"Damn." Niall laughed. "I can't believe it!"

"Neither can I." Louis shrugged.

"He has a girlfriend too! Imagine if I went over there now and told Kendall. Priceless." Charlie
wiggled his eyebrows. "Not that I would."

"She would probably snap your neck." Louis chuckled. "She seems feisty. I feel bad for Harry
sometimes, the way she acts."

"Maybe he needed an escape last night, huh?" Niall winked at Louis. "And chose you."

"God." Louis pretended to heave. But he didn't know why he did.

The topic was gradually dropped, as the four of them concentrated on getting their writing started
before Mr Grant told them off, and after around fifteen minutes, Louis saw in the corner of his eye
that Mr Grant was chatting to Harry and his friends. Then after that, Harry nodded to whatever he
had said and stood up, before walking over to another group of students on the grass. Then he
moved on to another group. Clearly he was passing on a message from Mr Grant. And dear God
that meant he would be approaching Louis and his mates to relay on said message!

"Guys, don't take the piss." Louis barely even whispered, as Harry began strolling their way. Niall
stifled a loud laugh, but bit his bottom lip and tried to simmer down his reddening face of humour
as Harry reached them.

"Mr Grant told me to tell everyone that we will be moving locations in about five minutes." He
explained, in that deep, husky voice. Niall let out the smallest little laugh but disguised it as a
cough, before thanking Harry.

Louis hadn't looked up once the entire time, his face feeling hotter than the general sun from how
much it had heated up. Once Harry was gone, Louis was pestered once again.

"He wouldn't even look at you, Louis!" Charlie chuckled, "Do you think he feels guilty?"

"I don't know." Louis shrugged, trying to keep a smile from playing on his lips.

"He was literally making out with Kendall a few minutes ago, this is all so strange." Christopher
shrugged. "Good luck partnering up with him again later."

Gosh, Louis would rather jump into the Seine at this point.

Luckily, Harry managed to steer clear of Louis all day, because Mr Grant let them stay with their
friends for the remainder of the day. The closest call he had was having to go and individually
relay a message to each group of friends from Mr Grant, but that wasn't so bad because he managed
not to look at Louis at all.

He had a nice dinner with his friends, cuddling up to Kendall, and they had a couple of drinks at a
nearby bar before they all headed back to the hotel. He said good night to the girls as they went
into their room, before making his way down to his, unlocking the door and quietly stepping
inside.

The main lights were still on, and Harry kicked his boots off and glanced up to see Louis scrolling
through his phone, sat casually on his bed. He didn't look up to acknowledge him, nor did he say a
single word.

"Hello to you too." Harry chuckled, realising that it came out sounding more nervous than
intended. "What are you doing?"

Louis shrugged, not speaking a single word.

"Well okay then..."

"I'm not being moody, I was just reading something." Louis said, monotone, still not lifting his eyes
as Harry walked over to his own empty bed, slinging his backpack down.

"If you say so." He muttered. He felt Louis' eyes on him suddenly, looking his way to find his
verdict was right. "What?"

"Nothing, forget it. I'm just shy, we've been over this." Louis shrugged. But no, that wasn't it. The
tension between them was unbearable right now, so thick.

"This just feels very awkward." Harry shook his head, putting his phone on charge and sitting back
on his bed. He and Louis linked eyes at that point, and it was so clear that they both had the same
thing on their minds: Harry's actions last night.

"I'm sorry." Harry stated, after a few moments of silence.

"It's okay." Louis assured, before looking away once again. No more questions asked, no
judgements, just 'it's okay.'

"Do you want to come and sit out on the balcony with me for a while?" Harry suggested, pointing a
thumb out there. He wanted to resolve any awkwardness now, rather than being cooped up in that
room completely ignoring each other for the rest of the night.

Louis had massive doubts, but he agreed anyway.

"Sure, why not."

Harry smiled, scooping up his camera. "I'm going to take some shots of the lights from the
balcony, we could put them in the project."

"That's a good idea," Louis complimented, as he slid a thick coat on over his already thick hoodie,
before picking up his own camera and following Harry out onto the balcony.

The cool air hit them as Harry slid the balcony door open, and they stepped out to embrace the
night. The lights were as gleaming as ever, and there was the subtle buzz of running cars from
somewhere far below. Harry powered up his camera while Louis took a seat, standing right up
against the black metal-bar fencing around their balcony and squinting into the camera as he took
an artsy shot of the glaring lights.

Louis still felt tense, even more so now that it was freezing outside, but tried to mask it and clear
his mind.

"How did the photo come out?"

"Pretty good." Harry grinned, taking another look at it in his photo gallery. He then took a seat in
the other empty seat, crossing one of his long legs over the other as he examined the photo in
detail. He then went off it and back onto the camera itself, turning and shooting it Louis' way.

"Nope!" Louis exclaimed, shielding his face away with his hands. "Not again, come on."

"Just one, we can put it in the project!" Harry assured, a tempting smile. Louis loudly sighed,
dropping his hands to his sides in surrender.

"One."

"Smile!"

Louis did, with not too much enthusiasm, and the flash on Harry's camera unexpectedly came on
with it, causing Louis to squint and look away immediately.

"Just blind me, why don't you!" He giggled, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Jesus!"

"Sorry! I don't know why that came on! But it does look mega HD now." Harry informed as he
examined the photo, trying to hold back a fond smile. Louis just looked so lovely, the flash having
picked up the brilliant blue in his eyes, and his glowing tan.

"God, sounds dreadful." Louis chuckled, resting his head back against the wall.

"It's great!" Harry exclaimed, "It's going in the project."

"Whatever you say." Louis smugly smiled, lightly shaking his head.

It felt like the tension had lifted as they were just too busy having a joke around, which Harry very
much appreciated. He couldn't stand it any longer, feeling Louis was berating him.

Louis glanced down at his watch, before slipping into the room again. Harry clearly heard him
taking some pills, the rattle of the bottle evident, before he downed some water and made his way
back out again. Harry didn't ask. He didn't have his coat on anymore either, and it was probably
because the pressure of the situation had naturally heated up his body enough to withstand the
night air on the balcony.

"Beautiful out here, right?"

"Yeah," Louis mused, settling back down into his seat. "Very."

A silence ensued, Louis softly smiling to himself as his eyes surveyed the panorama of Parisian
beauty before them. Harry turned to look at Louis, unsure really of his reasoning why, maybe to
 remain confident and resolve any remaining tension. Louis slowly turned to look back at him once
he had caught on, his smile merging into an amused and confused expression when he saw Harry
looking. Louis' hair was slightly disheveled due to the light breeze, the eyelashes of his left eye
dusting his cheeks as he squinted against the wind, little nose wrinkled slightly with the effort, and
a small smile of perplexion playing on his face.

"What?" He giggled, shoulders bobbing slightly when he did.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, cutting himself off with a breathy laugh. Something
strange was happening inside him, like he was being intoxicated by the bliss of the beautiful, airy
night, and he lightly shook his head while still holding the eye contact. It was stupid, the feeling he
was getting, like he wasn't really in reality and this all felt too dreamy and joyful to be real.

"I just..."

"What is it?" Louis whined, louder, with an equally loud laugh, shaking his head to match Harry.

After a silence, before Harry could even hold back, which seemed to be a tendency of his at the
moment, he answered Louis' question. "I think I might be falling in love with you, and that scares
me."

His brain screamed at him, red sirens blaring in his head, what the fuck are you doing?! Why did
you say that?!

Louis' face had fallen incredibly fast, mouth agape and eyes wide, heart thudding harder than ever
before, before he jumped to his feet and hurried inside.

"What the fuck have I just done?" Harry whispered under his breath, still staring at the empty
space which Louis previously filled.

Chapter End Notes

Right. So i really don't want to be moving the story along too fast, if it seems that
way? And i hope this is still up to the standards of the prompt i was given, as im not
sure they were supposed to be this close idk.

Anyway, Harry is so confused and maybe Louis is a bit too sensitive for Harry to be
acting too careless?
 12
Chapter Notes

Sorry for being so bad at updating again :( it isn't that long and may not be great,
getting back into the story again xx

The moment Louis took off frantically back into their room, Harry too sprang up to quickly trail
him.

"Louis." He called out in an attempt to stop him, as Louis headed straight for the bathroom with his
head in his hands.

"No." Louis illogically wailed out, in no real way responding to what Harry had said, not daring to
look back over his shoulder as he stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door straight in
Harry's face.

"Damn." Harry breathed to himself, his heart stammering in his chest and head spinning.

He placed a hand pointlessly against the wood of the door, as if some sort of power would cause
Louis to open it. The door had no lock, Louis had no real security, but Harry wanted to give him
some space for a moment as they both worked out what the fuck had just happened. If anything,
the shakiness of his hand against the wood was probably almost enough to send the door flying
open; it was unusual for him to be shaking so much over anything, this being brought on by the
general terror of what he had divulged.

There was nothing he felt he could really say, considering he himself had no utter clue where his
spontaneously wild confession had surfaced from, probably somewhere in the deep depths of his
unconscious thoughts. He had to remember to breathe after ten seconds of not doing so.

Harry knew no matter how much he pleaded, whatever he said, Louis wouldn't happily open up the
door, so he knew he would have to go ahead and do it himself. He pressed his hand down onto the
cold, metal handle and pushed it down, very slowly peeling the door open until the fluorescent
lighting in there lit up the bedroom space.

Louis was sat on the floor with his back against the bath, his head hanging to hide his face and his
thumb rubbing idly over his closed left eye.

"Louis."

He murmured in response, an immature noise, and refused to look up.

"I'm sorry."

Louis muttered something under his breath, something Harry didn't hear as it was merely a
mumble.

"What?"

"You didn't mean it. Go to bed."

"You need to go to bed, Louis." Harry defended, perching on the closed toilet seat and locking his
hands over his knees. He was well aware he had swerved Louis' first statement, very well aware.
"Come on, get up. You can't hide in here all night."

"Watch me."

Harry deeply sighed, running his hands down his face in stress.

"I..." He trailed off with another sigh, trying to work out what to say here. He was confused and
conflicted and drunken from the lights out on the balcony. "I don't know what I'm doing, Louis, or
what I'm thinking. Please go to bed, we're both tired here."

To Harry's surprise, Louis stumbled to his feet, still lacking the eye contact, and walked straight
past him and out of the bathroom. Harry followed once again, switching off the bathroom light
behind him, watching as Louis started collecting together his toiletries to get ready for bed. The
sudden shift baffled Harry, who wanted nothing more than to take back what he had said. He was
so confused.

He realised how stern Louis looked, a neutral expression that told him nothing, though he had a
tinge of pink in his cheeks of most likely embarrassment or fluster.

"Are you angry at me?" Harry stupidly asked, playing with his watch as a distraction as Louis and
his armful of pyjamas and toiletries headed the bathroom's way once again.

"Of course not!" Louis' voice was soaked in sarcasm. It was understandable why, considering
Harry had effectively just told Louis he was falling in love with him and then taken it back by
saying he 'didn't know what he was thinking or doing.'

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry, Louis."

"About what?" Louis erupted, shocking Harry when he angrily dropped everything he was holding
to the floor and flailing his arms out. "About taking something like that so lightly?"

Harry was shell-shocked, only able to blink at what Louis was saying. God, he felt awful, hated the
side of his mind that added up his falling for Louis. He still had to work on that part.

"I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, there would be a lot wrong with you if you were falling in love with me."

And just like that, Louis returned to the bathroom in a distraught huff, leaving all of his things
discarded on the floor.

Harry, mouth slightly agape and body flooding with guilt, knew not to follow again. But he did
make the effort to pick up Louis' things for him and place them neatly back into his suitcase,
knowing it was the least he could do for causing this. He then returned to the balcony and grabbed
both their cameras, putting them safely back on their bedside tables before falling back onto his bed
with a heavy exhale.

He hated himself. So much. How could he do something so heartless? To tell somebody like Louis,
who seemed insecure enough as it is, that he's falling in love with him, to then take it back and
blame his jumbled-up thinking. It wasn't human.

He spent the next five minutes looking over the photos he had taken of Louis again on his camera -
the one of him in the act of laughing, eyes bright; or out on the balcony just ten minutes ago with a
real smile. He was dazzling. And Harry was scared.

Harry must have fallen asleep soon after, because before he knew it, his automatic alarm was
blaring into the room and shaking him awake. He groggily shut it off. He was still fully dressed,
his camera laying out of battery by his open hand on the bed, and the dread of last night hit him as
soon as reality had simmered into his head again.

Louis' bed was still as it had been last night, untouched, and the strip of light radiating from
beneath the bathroom door highlighted that he was in there and probably had been all night. Harry
achingly got to his feet, cursing that he hadn't brushed his teeth, showered or even bothered to
undress before drifting off.

He used his index finger to push open the bathroom door, which was already slightly ajar on its
hinges, and it quietly creaked open to reveal that Louis was curled up fast asleep on the cold
bathroom floor, just as fully dressed as Harry. Harry sadly smiled, cocking his head to the side,
feeling bad that his stupid actions had caused Louis to sleep like that as he had been too afraid to
reenter their room.

Harry entered the room properly and knelt down, shaking Louis awake very lightly. He knew he
had no other choice and had to face this like a man, instead of running off and pretending it wasn't
happening.

Louis groaned, a deep groan that probably consisted of pain acnknowlement and body stiffness,
and his eyes fluttered open. As soon as he spotted Harry, they flew open completely, and he
shrugged away from his touch.

"Morning." Harry greeted.

"No." Louis grunted, yet another illogical response. He pushed himself to his feet and childishly
budged past Harry, going into their room. Harry followed back out the bathroom.

He had never seen somebody move so fast, as Louis grabbed fresh clothes before going into the
bathroom again to get ready for the day. Harry found it best to leave him be.

Before Harry left the hotel room, as he had dressed into fresh clothes before Louis even left the
bathroom, he ripped a sheet of paper from his notepad and scribbled down a note .

Louis, you are wonderful. never think there would be something wrong with somebody to fall in
love with you .xx

He left it on Louis' bed, before exiting the room before he could change his mind.

Kendall literally ran into Harry's arms when she spotted him in the lobby. Louis saw, Harry knew
he did. He saw the way Harry kissed Kendall on the cheek and then twice on the lips. Harry
couldn't help that, he was in a relationship with her and Louis happened to witness their interaction.
And what made it worse was that he and Louis even made eye contact just after he had kissed
Kendall, like it was on purpose, like he was trying to rub it in Louis' face that this was all he
wanted.

Something inside of Harry last night must have been screaming at him the truth, that he in fact was
falling in love with Louis Tomlinson, but it was the side of his conscience that he was still trying to
work out. He had no clue what his mind was doing, quite honestly, but looking at Louis shouldn't
have impacted him the way it did.

"What's up today, Harry?" Kendall asked, as their entire group was making their way out of the
hotel building. "Why are you being so quiet?"

"Tired."

"Tired," Kendall crowed with a sigh, "You're always tired lately. Not surprised when you're having
to deal with Louis faggot Tomlinson every night, must be a fucking nightmare."

Harry clenched his fists but kept them by his sides, hidden. It was a reaction he hadn't even done
with his knowledge, his hands had done it instinctively the moment Kendall's insult had been aired.
Interesting. Confusing.

"It's not Louis, it's just me. I'm not getting to sleep early enough, I just lie there and stare at the
ceiling." Harry shrugged, snaking his hand down into hers and revelling their fingers together.

"I bet it's because you miss me." Kendall giggled. "And you can't stop thinking about it."

It was really quite the opposite.

"Yeah, babe, it must be." Harry lied, lifting her hand in his to kiss over the soft skin. "I miss you
whenever we're not together."

Louis pretended not to have seen Harry and Kendall's reaction this time, looking away hastily
amongst the crowd so as not to be seen, but Harry had caught him. He couldn't keep his eyes away,
which was understandable considering what Harry had said last night. Louis probably wanted to
storm over there and ruin their relationship simply by telling Kendall what Harry had said. It would
be so easy, although Kendall would never believe that her boyfriend had said something that wasn't
straight.

Harry, for the one hundredth time, was confused. He was so conflicted that he found himself
looking between Kendall and Louis throughout the day, trying to distinguish whether the feelings
were the same. He wanted to locate where in his brain his feelings for Louis had surfaced, because
for now he couldn't. He was still in the dark. He still felt awful.

He couldn't even look at Louis again, scared that if they met eyes, that subconscious part of his
mind would fall even deeper.
 13
Chapter Notes

I have been so terribly skeptical of writing this and also so busy, saw Harry on the 12th
an i guess seeing his sexy ass self in person made me want to continue this, along with
all the lovely comments. Thank you xx

See the end of the chapter for more notes

"What did he do this time?" Charlie sighed, the moment they were all sat in the park during
lunchtime, and he had gotten a proper look at his friend's distressed expression.

"He didn't do anything," Louis muttered, putting on a smile in an instant, "I'm just in one of those
moods where I sit here and stare into space, I dunno."

"Right," Charlie said, unconvinced, patting Louis' forearm, "It's really unfair that you've been
forced to room with him, why did Mr Grant think that would be a reasonable thing to do?"

"Don't know." Louis bluntly remarked.

Charlie leant closer, knowing full well that Niall and Christopher were listening in while doing
their work (even during their lunch hour) wasn't exactly helping the situation. He whispered to
Louis, keeping it between them.

"You can tell me if anything at all has happened, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I know." Louis quickly extinguished, shrugging away from Charlie. "I'm fine,
nothing's happened."

"I'm never going to believe that." Charlie frowned, deciding to continue with his own work, which
he too had to catch up on. Louis couldn't be bothered doing his, especially considering Harry was
doing nothing to contribute to it. He didn't deserve to have it all done for him.

Louis felt sick and generally just tired. He never thought he'd want to go home so badly, definitely
not back to his home, but right now it was all he wanted. He didn't even want to look in Harry's
direction, already able to sense that he was lounging around with his friends enjoying their
lunchtime at the other side of the park, a massive smile most likely on his smug face. What was
that stupid boy doing, being so cheerful when he had left Louis hanging completely on edge?

In reality, from Harry's point of view, he wasn't having such a great time as it seemed. He was
laughing along with his friends and resting his head on Kendall's shoulder, but all he could think
about was how horrible he had been towards Louis. It was eating him alive. His head was still a
swirling whirlwind of confused emotions that he couldn't quite comprehend. He couldn't bear to
look at Louis, he felt too awful to. And he knew that looking at him would make it worse,
especially while his head was resting on his girlfriend's shoulder. None of his friends noticed he
was acting distant, which was hardly surprising considering all their time was spent chatting about
the lack of sex since they had gotten to Paris. Lunch seemed to be dragging on for absolutely
forever, though when it was over it meant Harry would have to reunite with Louis; that was bound
to be tragic.
"I'm booored!" Cheryl wailed, flopping back against the low wall they were resting against. "This
is boring!"

Harry wanted to roll his eyes. He restrained it.

"I know, babe," Liam agreed, sighing, "Paris during lunch is actually boring now, we've done
everything, seen most places in the distance we're allowed to go."

"Then let's think of something fun to do!" Gigi concocted, a glint in her eye. "I can't be the only one
who's noticed Niall and the faggot brigade have decided to come to the same park as us again."

Oh God. Oh no.

"Why don't we walk up to that little temple place on top of the hill?" He desperately improvised,
beginning to scoop up his bag and jacket.

"But we did that, like, two days ago!" Kendall protested. "There's nothing to do up there."

"The view's pretty stunning up there." Harry shrugged, giving up and dropping his stuff onto the
grass again. He knew his friends would never agree, especially as two of them were already
obdurate on staying put where they were.

"Let's play a prank on Niall and them lot," Gigi whispered, keeping her voice at a low despite the
distance between two groups of friends. "It'll be hilarious. Let's make one of them cry."

"Yes!" Zayn exclaimed in excitement.

"Guys," Harry sighed, eyebrows furrowing, "Let's not. We will probably get into trouble."

"How scary," Liam sarcastically objected, "Who cares, man! I'm in."

Harry wanted to dig his face into his jacket and scream. He hated his friends, he hated them.

"So what's the plan?" Zayn whispered, and they formed a little huddle like a generic group of
secondary school bullies. Harry stayed out of it, instead deciding to pay attention to his phone
screen. He was desperate to message Louis on Facebook in warning, but 1) Louis never had WiFi,
he had mentioned that, and 2) he would be angry at Harry for not stopping it in the first place. He
didn't feel there was anything he could do at that point.

"Well, the scrunched up paper stuff always seems to work," Kendall snickered, "Tomlinson seems
the touchiest, let's get him."

"Don't, guys." Harry muttered.

"Come on, Harry! You should be all for this, seeing as you're the one having to room with him!"
She remarked. "We're doing it."

Liam had already torn a sheet of paper from his sketchbook, and was clicking his pen into action.
"What am I putting?"

"Nothing." Harry grumbled, reaching over to try and pull the paper away, but Liam held it away
from him with an amused smirk.

"Let me write it," Gigi requested, holding out her hands. Liam handed her the pen and paper, and
she leant against her scrapbook and scribbled something down, showing the others yet shielding it
from Harry's view before he could catch a glimpse.
"Don't be a bitch." Harry grunted.

"Don't call my girlfriend a bitch, you bitch." Zayn backfired, punching Harry on the arm. "Scrunch
it up and throw it, babe, go on."

"Let me read it!"

"Throw it, Gi!"

She did just that, managing to land it right by Louis' foot. Harry wanted to disintegrate; he didn't
know what the hell was written on that sheet, nor did he know how severe it was. He wanted to
sprint over there and grab it back before Louis opened it, but he seemed to be paralysed with fear
and stayed still, eyes wide and heart thudding.

Louis, with his friends watching in dismay, scooped up the piece of paper before looking in the
direction of Harry and his friends. Harry violently shook his head at him, mouthing "don't open it!"
over and over again, but it seemed to make Louis want to more. He unscrunched the sheet, his
friends trying to look over his shoulder, and he read the paper. First, he looked straight at Harry
again, in horror, then almost in an instant, he scrunched it back up, threw it to the ground, grabbed
his bag and stormed off away from everybody.

"What the fuck did that say?!" Harry exploded, shoving away his laughing friends and grabbing his
stuff. "You fucking idiots!"

He knew not to follow Louis immediately, knew he would be seething with anger and probably
crying, and his own three friends had run after him anyway. So he headed straight for the sheet of
paper, kneeling down and frantically unfolding it once again.

Harry told us ur a faggot

"No!" Harry breathed in shock. "Fuck!" He tore the paper in two, letting it drop into the grass,
before heading in the direction where Louis and his friends had gone: back to the hotel. He didn't
even look at his friends, not wanting to see their eyes glinting in humour.

Little did they know, it was one of the worst things they could have said; Harry hadn't said a thing
to them about Louis' sexuality, but Louis thought he had. He thought Harry had betrayed his trust.

When Harry reached the floor in the hotel of he and Louis' room, he immediately came across
Niall, Charlie and Christopher crowded around the closed door, knocking on it and calling through
it. The moment they saw Harry coming, their eyes widened and they backed away from the door.

"He won't open it." Charlie stated. Harry said nothing, retrieving his key from his pocket and
opening up the door swiftly, pushing it open.

"You guys better go in first." He maturely advised, knowing he wouldn't be the first person Louis
would want to see. The three of them nodded abruptly and moved into the room, while Harry
stayed in the hallway with a fast beating heart and intricately-listening ears.

The door slammed shut, and he couldn't hear anything on the other side of the door, just the
slightest murmur of conversation on the other side. He felt absolutely awful, heartbroken that Louis
thought something that hadn't even happened, and he was practically holding his breath until after a
few minutes the door finally opened.
It was Christopher. "I don't think he wants to see you." He said, rather timidly, as though he was
expecting Harry to throw a fit of rage or something. Harry just sighed instead, running a hand
through his hair.

"I know he doesn't, but I need to see him." Harry insisted.

"Why did you tell your friends that about him?" Niall was suddenly cutting in, popping his head out
from behind Christopher with an irritated expression. "You may think you're all big and rich and
popular but it doesn't mean you should--"

"I didn't say a thing!" Harry interrupted, hands raised in defence. "I wouldn't, they made it up!"

"Why would they specifically make up that you told them? Seems like a lie to me," Niall
grumbled, "You've always been a bully, you and your friends."

Harry had to take a step back and a deep breath to stop himself from getting too angry. He couldn't
even stress the fact that he hadn't ever bullied, because he had, on those stupid one-off occasions
where he had had a particularly bad day and wanted to join his friends in tormenting Niall.

"Look, I didn't say a word, that's my true word. If you don't believe me, fine, but you can't keep me
barricaded out of my own fucking room. I suggest you let me in." Okay, Harry may have been
mildly threatening them, because he knew how easily scared they usually were, and he was quickly
running out of patience. He didn't want to leave Louis upset and alone for too long. "And you
should leave too. I will sort it."

It seemed to work, as the three boys blocking the door seemed to back away slightly from their
previously vigilant position, allowing Harry to slip into the room straight past them. He glared at
them until he saw them leave completely. He had honestly wanted to punch one of them while he
passed, his frustrations towards them having almost surfaced and gotten the better of him, but he
suppressed it and got to what really mattered: Louis.

He was sat out on the balcony when Harry entered the room, the net curtains floating tenderly in
the breeze into the room. He wasn't facing Harry's way, instead having pulled one of the balcony
chairs right up to the barrier, sitting on it and resting his chin on his palms on the balcony's barrier
fence. Harry could feel how fast his heart was thudding in his chest, gulping down his nerves and
stopping at the threshold between hotel room and balcony.

"Hey." He softly called out, noticing Louis' body jolting in shock upon hearing Harry's voice,
instead of one of his friends'. He didn't move any more than that though, nor did he say a word,
causing Harry to deeply exhale. "Louis, I didn't tell them."

"Right." Louis sternly said, a slight shakiness to his voice from crying. But he didn't turn around,
just ducked his head even more so that his face was sunken into his folded arms. Harry's heart sank
just as much.

"I'm not lying, Louis, I didn't say a word." Harry promised, taking a couple of steps out onto the
balcony, rather warily.

"Well they're going to know now anyway, seeing as I stormed off." Louis mumbled against his
sleeves, voice cracking towards the end. "We're done talking, can I have some time alone. Please?"
Louis had struggled to speak the final word, trailing off as oncoming tears came again, followed by
a loud sniff and a gaspy, suppressed sob. Harry didn't hesitate to rush forwards, wrapping his arms
around Louis from behind, but was immediately pushed away. "No."
"Okay, I'm sorry." Harry apologised, hands raised in defence. "I just don't want you crying out here
on your own, it's not good. Can you at least come inside?"

He looked at Louis, at his rosy cheeks and eyes glossy with tears, which only made him shield his
face in embarrassment.

"Don't look at me."

"You're only crying, Louis, it's human." Harry took a seat in the other chair, a good distance from
Louis, crossing his legs to show he wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon. Louis had his sleeves
wrapped around his hands, covering most of his face with them, refusing to look anywhere but
straight ahead at the city ahead. "I want you to know that I'm not going to take what they did
lightly."

Louis hummed in disinterest, not even blinking as his crying had reduced down to an occasional
gaspy breath.

"I'm being serious, it was absolutely hideous what they did," Harry continued, looking at Louis
with intent, "In fact, I don't think I'm going to be hanging out with any of them anytime soon."

"Harry, I don't want you to feel bad for me." Louis sighed, finally wiping his eyes with his sleeve-
wrapped hands.

"What?"

"Don't feel bad for me."

"Why would you say that?" Harry queried, his full attention on Louis, eyebrows furrowed.

Louis heavily shrugged as though his shoulders weighed three times what they did. "Because
you're not like me. You're popular."

"I don't think our popularity ranking has anything to do with how we treat one another," Harry
dictated, "I'm not going to treat you like rubbish, I don't see you as being any different than I am."

"I think you should go back and join the others."

"No one for me to join." Harry shrugged. "I'm not going straight back to my shitty friends."

"Well, then you're popular enough to find somebody else." Louis mumbled, pulling at a stray
thread on the cuff of his hoodie. Then he muttered a further sentence under his breath, one Harry
didn't quite pick up on.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Louis," Harry interjected, an eyebrow raised, "Can you just tell me?"

"I said at least then you won't be here messing with my head." Louis muttered again, only slightly
louder than last time, and Harry only nodded in understanding. He had to understand what Louis
had to say and take it into mind, and it was obviously a reference towards Harry's spontaneous love
confession.

"I don't mean to do that."

"Well." Louis bluntly said, finishing the entire sentence there, shrugging before getting to his feet.
Harry followed closely behind, watching the shorter boy heading straight for the exit to their room.

"Louis, wait! I want to stay with you for the rest of lunch." Harry offered, running forwards to
catch the door as Louis dropped it behind him. Louis span around in the hallway, eyes still tinged
pink from crying.

"Well I don't want you to." And then he continued off down the corridor towards the lift, leaving a
sighing Harry with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He couldn't exactly blame Louis, considering
what had just happened - a public humiliation in front of everybody - and he no doubt just wanted
to return to his friends.

The only problem now was that Harry knew he would have to return to his friends too, as he didn't
want to spend lunch on his own, nor did he want to join another random group, as he often
intimidated people without intending to. He decided he would just give them all the silent
treatment for the rest of the day, and maybe stick in his headphones to drown them out. He felt
agonisingly bad for Louis, still.

Louis seemed alright for the rest of the time Harry saw him. He just refused to look the way of
Harry and his irritating friends (who had knowingly been getting the silent treatment for the past
couple of hours) and kept to himself. As usual, really. Harry's friends continuously called him a
spoiler of their fun, whenever he refused to answer their questions or rolled his eyes when one of
them stared at him, but he didn't give a shit. It was their fault for disrespecting Louis for their own
selfish gain.

Come dinnertime, Harry finally decided to split up from his friends, needing some space. He had
instead opted on a walk around the park, chatting to his sister for a while on the phone about a
gathering she was going to at her boyfriend's to pass some time, then sitting out on a bench and just
taking in the city around him. It was a nice time to reflect, seeing as he rarely spent much time
completely on his own. It was quite strange.

By the time it had reached curfew, and Harry had wasted a good hour or so walking around a cute
set-up market not too far from the hotel, he headed back. He didn't feel too much dread over the
thought of being alone with Louis again, despite the fact he had literally been rejected when he had
tried to spend time with Louis at lunch.

As usual, he found Louis lounging on his bed when he got back to the room, reading his book. He
looked up at Harry momentarily before continuing scanning along the words in the novel.

"Evening." Harry greeted, kicking off his trainers.

"Hi." Louis piped up, placing his book face-down on his bedside table.

"I, umm..." Harry cut himself off with a pathetic laugh, and he dug in his pocket to retrieve a cute
metal ornament of the Eiffel Tower that he had picked up at the market, with Louis in mind. "I got
this for you from this little marketplace I found, as a sorry for being a dick earlier."

Louis looked very surprised, as Harry placed the ornament down beside his book on the bedside
table.

"Harry, you didn't have to," Louis reasoned, "honestly."

"I wanted to." Harry shrugged, smiling softly at him. "I didn't spend dinner with my mates, decided
to go on my own."

"Actually, I was going to mention something to you," Louis informed him, after inspecting the
little ornament with an appreciative smile. "Kendall came up to me earlier, while you were gone."

"Oh no, what did she say?" Harry whined, eyebrows furrowed with worry, casually leaning himself
against the wall by Louis' bed.

"Nothing bad." Louis said, surprisingly. "She actually apologised on behalf of all of your friends
and told me you had nothing to do with it. She said you were trying to talk them out if it earlier and
that what they wrote was a lie."

"Wait... really?" Harry asked in disbelief. "She did that? Well, that is the truth, I'm just surprised
she actually approached you to say."

"I was just as surprised, believe me. But... I want to say sorry, Harry. I'm the one who didn't
believe you, it wasn't fair of me to do that." He held out the ornament towards Harry, as a way of
telling him to take it back.

"No, you keep it." Harry smiled. "It can be a souvenir for you, something to remember the trip
from. The damn thing was twelve euros, just appreciate its beauty."

Louis withdrew his hand again, smiling as he ran his finger over the little ridges of the miniature
statue.

"That means a lot to me, Harry. Thank you." He set it back down gently on his bedside table, and
Harry was just glad he had accepted the gift without trying to continually hand it back over. He
loved the thought that Louis could look at the ornament and smile whenever he was feeling down
back in England.

Harry walked round to his own bed, huffing out a deep breath as he sat down on the edge of it and
unclasped his expensive watch, placing it down before sitting back against his headboard, getting
his phone out for the first time since he had put it away after his phone call with Gemma, to see a
text from Kendall.

Kenny❤: Babe I said sorry to Louis from all of us and told him u were not involved. I know it
upset you because it was a lie and might have made things awkward between u and Louis. It was
agonising not having you with us over dinner, plz forgive us all soon, I love you xxx

Well, at least they had apologised. It still wasn't one bit okay that they had done it in the first place,
especially considering they picked on Louis enough. But seeing as he had accepted their apology,
being the kind boy he was, Harry decided he would too. For now.

Harry: Ok Kenny, thanks for apologising. Please just stop targeting sensitive people, or anybody
at all really, we are too old for that shit now. I'll see you soon. Love you too. H .xx

He locked his phone and put it on to charge, before turning to Louis, who was staring into space.

"What are you looking at?" Harry chuckled, snapping Louis from his daze.

"Oh," Louis laughed, "Just daydreaming."

"How about you get some sleep and dream for real?" Harry smirked, and Louis turned to him with
an amused expression. As usual, he couldn't hold the eye contact for long before looking down.
"Or you can just act all shy again. Why are you so shy, Louis?"
"You've already asked me that." Louis giggled, distracting himself by tracing patterns on his duvet
cover with his finger. "And I told you I've always been shy."

"Then it needs to change." Harry got to his feet, and Louis' eyes widened as he headed quickly
straight over to his bed and sat beside him on it. "Welcome to Harry's confidence classes."

"Oh." Louis chuckled, once again bowing his head timidly. Harry could sense how tense the poor
boy had become, just from being sat on a damn bed with him.

"Now, Louis Tomlinson, stage one is all in the way you talk," Harry explained, in a humorously
professional voice that had Louis restraining another giggle, "You've got to speak with more
confidence."

"I can't do that if I'm not confident as it is," Louis shrugged, "I've never been."

Harry noticed that Louis had shifted away slightly on the bed, clearly a bit flustered having Harry
sat there with him, which Harry found a little sweet (and maybe felt a bit cocky about too, making
someone that flustered.)

"The more you put on an act of being confident, the easier it'll get," Harry pacted, "That's a
promise. Worked a bit for me, I haven't always been confident."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh." Louis mumbled, still refusing to look at Harry properly.

"Second thing, Louis, is eye contact. I've realised that's something you can't ever deal with." Harry
pointed out. Louis shook his head with a laugh, eyes still cast down to his (maybe slightly
trembling) hands in his lap.

"Yeah, I can't. No matter how hard I try, I dunno why."

Harry reached forward and gently gripped beneath Louis' chin, angling his face upwards until they
met eyes. Louis had a nervous smile on his face, eyes darting around and unable to land anywhere.

"Eyes on mine, Louis. You've got to look at people when they talk to you if you want to boost your
confidence," Harry reminded, hand still beneath Louis' (very soft) chin.

"I just can't." Louis giggled, nibbling on his lower lip as his eyes found the left wall a lot more
interesting. "Physically."

"Look at me. I'll count you in, alright? And we will have a conversation with eye contact, not
constant staring eye contact, but normal. What humans do. Okay?"

"Okay." Louis breathed, mint tinged in his breath, "I'll try my hardest, no promises I'll succeed."

"That's better than nothing." Harry gently let go of Louis' chin, looking him in the eye. "Alright?"

"Yeah." Louis breathed out, eyes meeting Harry's for about two seconds before flitting away again.
"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay, baby steps." Harry laughed. "Try again."

Louis glanced at Harry again, keeping his gaze trained there for longer this time, before this time
 letting his head drop completely.

"I don't think so, Tomlinson," Harry smirked, once again grasping his chin. "Eyes on me."

Something seemed to change then, as their eyes met. Their seemingly innocent eye contact
suddenly didn't feel so normal, it felt more like the blues in Louis' eyes were drinking Harry in, like
a magnetic pull. And Louis didn't look away, at that moment he had been hit with a surge of
confidence and was staring just as deeply into Harry's eyes.

"Good." Harry barely whispered, letting his eyes glance between each of Louis', not breaking the
eye contact.

But then he broke it - because his eyeline flicked down to instead look at Louis' lips. And he didn't
know why, it was like he wasn't even controlling where he was looking, and he noted that Louis'
eyes had significantly widened and he had sucked in a sharp breath once he realised where Harry
was looking.

And then Harry stupidly, stupidly started leaning in, so quickly he couldn't control himself, while
Louis gasped even louder and started backing away on the bed.

"Harry..."

Harry immediately stopped, realising what he was about to do, completely backing off and getting
to his feet.

"Oh my God, Louis, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." He trailed off, running a hand through his
hair, heart thumping. "I'm sorry."

He hurried over to his bed, slipping into it fully-clothed, using the lightswitch between their beds to
flick off the main light. He had definitely panicked, stupidly rushing to get into the next day as if
the fact he had just come close to leaning in and kissing Louis could be forgotten.

But one thing was for sure: he could see how Louis thought he was messing with his mind.

Chapter End Notes

Sorry if this is majorly frustrating but I wanna show how Louis isn't ready at all for
ANYTHING, but it won't be long until things progress. ;)
Any little things you'd like to see happen, feel free to comment xx
 14
Chapter Notes

RIGHT LISTEN UP.

This chapter, it isn't nice. It isn't the worse it may become, but for Louis, not nice.
Again, I don't have anything against any of the "bullies", it's all fiction. And I know,
it's heartbreaking how Louis is in this, but it's all part of the narrative.

Love.

"I wasn't going to kiss you last night, just so you know." Was Harry's first sentence the next
morning, once his alarm had stirred them both from their sleep.

Louis stretched his arms out overhead, a strained groan as he took in what Harry had said.

"I don't blame you, I wouldn't either if I were you." He blandly said, the lack of any humour in his
expression showing that it was the truth rather than an attempted joke. "I don't know what's going
on with you, Harry, whether or not you'd even want to kiss me, but just stay with Kendall. You'd be
better off."

Louis, with his head bowed low, got up out of bed and collected his clothes for the day, heading
into the bathroom.

Oh.

God was Louis dangerously insecure. It wasn't even like a mild detest towards himself that most
people occupied in their lives at some stage, it was more of an incurable hatred, to the extent that
he didn't even want to be in his own body, it seemed. It was agonisingly sad, especially considering
he was lovely, inside and out.

Once Louis left the bathroom, brushing his feathery fringe properly across his forehead, it was
question time.

"Louis, are you happy with being you?"

"Harry, stop." Louis insisted, putting his things away with a huff.

"Just answer the question."

"I don't want to answer the question."

Harry sighed himself, placing his head back on the headboard of his bed, knowing he would have
to drag himself out of bed soon. He couldn't when he felt such overwhelming guilt in his stomach
over Louis hating himself so much.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"What's it like being you?" Louis asked all of a sudden, falling back onto his bed so his head hit his
headboard. Harry turned to him, cocking an eyebrow.
"Being me?" He slowly asked.

"Mhmm." Louis hummed, while keeping his eyes trained up to the ceiling. "Being you, Harry."

"I..." Harry had to think for a moment, mouth pouting in thought. "It's just like any other life, isn't
it?"

He heard Louis sniff out a laugh. "No, it isn't. When you get home from school, what do you like
to do?"

"Why are you asking me th-"

"Just answer it."

"Well," Harry shrugged, mind racing, "Usually I'll just go for a swim."

"You got a pool?"

"Yeah." Harry confirmed, thinking of his glorious 25-metre swimming pool in his back garden. He
often went swimming after school, found that it helped to unwind his tight, day-worn body and aid
his relaxation.

"I can't remember the last time I went swimming." Louis laughed, smiling to himself as though he
was recalling some distant memories involving swimming.

"What do you do?" Harry turned the tables, interested to know. He watched Louis' expression
change slightly, transforming into that of deep, deep thought, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"After school, I... I just like to imagine I'm going home to something like a swimming pool in my
garden." He shrugged, then he put on a smile. "Come on, get up, you're running late now."

Harry wanted the whole picture, but he obviously wasn't going to get it. Every little insight he got
from Louis' life, he built up, using each moment to craft the full picture. It was just hard to when
Louis was such a closed book. All he really knew about him was that he had at least one sister
(from his Facebook profile picture), he was insanely insecure and shy, and that he envisioned a
swimming pool waiting for him after school. Harry knew he would coax it all out of him at some
point, it'd just take some time. And trust.

Harry's friends didn't seem to spare Louis any scathing glances that morning, as they usually did,
and it was evidently because of how touchy Harry had gotten about it. And he noticed that they
picked on Niall instead, shouting insults after him for everybody to hear. He didn't seem to care
much, obviously numb to it by now.

All Louis could think about, stuck in a daydream, was whether Harry had really been leaning in to
kiss him last night. It was all in the way his face had changed, the softness in his eyes, the leisurely
flick of his eyeline to Louis' lips. But why in the word would someone like him want to kiss Louis?
It was insanity, Louis thought. He didn't see it possible in any way.

All of Louis' anxieties kicked in when he let his mind race too much. What if this was all some
sick joke on Harry's part; an experiment? What if his friends had dared him to test how far he
could terrorise Louis into thinking he liked him? Because it was all too much. Harry couldn't love
him, even if he had declared that (and taken it back). Louis felt so sick. He never believed anyone
would ever want him.
"I feel sick." He whispered, voice drained of any emotion, as he and his friends chilled out in the
park over lunch.

"What, Lou?"

"I feel sick." He repeated, louder and with slight aggression, so that Charlie raised his eyebrows in
surprise.

"Woah, sorry for making you angry," Charlie apologied, hands flailed in defence, "You feel sick in
what way?"

"I don't want to be here anymore."

"Lou, we don't have too long left here, you'll be home then." Niall chipped in.

"I don't want to be here anymore." Louis repeated, more breathlessly. His three friends exchanged
bewildered expressions.

"You alright, yeah?" Christopher slowly asked, gently placing his hand on Louis' shoulder.

Louis' breathing was only getting heavier, and all he could think about was Harry, and the way he
had led him on so far. He felt so sick.

"No," He panted out in response to Christopher, suddenly struck with the horror that he was in the
early stages of a panic attack, sat in the middle of the park with his classmates all around. "I-I can't
breathe."

"Shit!" Charlie panicked. "Panic attack, oh God, uh..." He didn't know what do to do, and neither
did Christopher or Niall, and all they could do was sit in fear as Louis gasped for breaths and tears
began falling.

Louis could only hear a blur. A dull echo of his friends calling their nearby teachers over, of other
students acknowledging what was going on, and he wanted to disappear. His throat was constricted,
and each attempt of a single inhale multiplied to two or three, limited exhales, like he was
drowning.

One of their female English teachers appeared in front of him, kneeling down with concern all
across her face, but he could barely hear her over the shrill ring that seemed to be rattling in his
brain.

From Harry's point of view, Liam was the one who spotted first that something was happening
with Louis Tomlinson.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Liam spat. "Louis Tomlinson, look at him."

The instant Harry heard the name, he span around to find what the hell was going on. And his heart
started racing as soon as he saw Louis, distressed and hyperventilating, with Mrs Bradley
desperately trying but failing to calm him down.

"Oh my God." Harry breathed, immediately hurrying over there. He knelt down right beside Mrs
Bradley, in front of Louis.

"Louis," He gently said, reaching out to hold his wrist, "It's okay, can you just listen to me? I know
you're scared. I want you to stop breathing through your mouth and focus on your nose, Louis, can
you try that?"
Harry hadn't even realised that his hand had slid to Louis' hand instead of his wrist, holding it
soothingly.

Louis, who was still breathing frantically, tried to do what Harry was telling him, chest heaving,
and by now their entire class had their attention on the situation, crowded round to watch, and it
was only making everything worse. Harry picked up on this.

"Can you all take a fucking step back? He's panicking here!" Harry stressfully yelled, a lot of
people complying already, and Mr Grant stepped in to help with that.

"Yes, everybody please go back to where you were sat before, and we will sort the situation out,
thank you."

"In through the nose, Louis, slowly," Harry softly instructed, noticing that Louis was a little bit
calmer than a few moments before, "Good."

Louis continued deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, as Harry was telling
him, and soon enough his breathing had stilled and only gaspy little breaths were happening now.

"Do you have any water?"

"I-In my bag," Louis breathed. Harry took the invitation to grab Louis' bag, unzipping it and
retrieving the half-finished bottle of water.

"Okay, little sips, we don't want you choking, baby." Harry cooed, wanting to kick himself once he
realised he had called Louis such a name, especially in front of teachers. "Sorry, been spending
way too much time with Kendall, I mean Louis."

Louis was clearly a bit taken aback by the accidental name, while the teachers with them seemed to
chuckle and see it as a plausible thing to happen.

"Little sips, that's it." Harry whispered, as Louis did just that. "Okay, that's good."

"Harry, you're definitely the hero of the day." Mr Grant congratulated, patting him appreciatively
on the back. "Well done! Are you okay now, Louis?"

He'd never be.

"Yeah," He panted, "Thank you, Harry." He put on a smile, before putting his bottle away. "I'm
okay now... you can let go of my hand."

"Oh-!" Harry chuckled, dropping Louis' hand, actually feeling his cheeks tinging red. "I'm glad I
could help, Louis. I'll talk to you later."

And just like that, Harry returned to his friends, who looked as though they had just witnessed a
murder.

"Umm... Harry, why did you do that? You held his fucking hand, you better go and sanitise." Zayn
spat. Yep - the hatred for Louis was back already, evidently.

"Don't be so rude, he was having a panic attack!" Harry defended. "No one was helping him, so I
stepped in. My sister's had them a lot, I knew what to do."

"He's probably going to masturbate over the thought of holding your hand tonight. That's probably
as far as he'll ever go with anyone." Kendall snickered, nudging Harry.
Harry said nothing further, shaking his head in disgust before walking away from his friends. He
didn't care that Kendall was shouting after him, apologising and trying to take it back, because he
was so sick of this. They treated Louis as though he meant nothing to anyone, like he was a
disgusting, worthless thing. He was far from it.

Harry spent the rest of his day alone.

Kenny❤: Harry why did you storm off again? It's getting really tiring now, you can't take a joke. I
love you, please text me back Xx

He didn't.

Later that evening, when curfew came around, Louis and his friends were heading back to the hotel
for the night. They had a reasonably good evening, despite the embarrassment occasionally
stabbing Louis in the self-esteem whenever he remembered the awful panic attack, which
everybody had witnessed. Dear God.

He still couldn't believe Harry had helped him, and held his hand, and... accidentally called him
baby. But little did he know, he was sort of what had caused the panic attack, after Louis had let his
brain bully him into believing Harry would never mean then things he had said. It had all become
too much for him all of a sudden, everything from the past few weeks hitting him at once.

When they entered the hotel lobby, Louis immediately noticed Kendall sat on one of the leather
sofas provided down there, scrolling on her phone. The moment she looked up and acknowledged
their group, she quickly stood up and slipped her phone away, putting on a smile.

"Louis! Can I talk to you? It's nothing bad." She grinned like the Cheshire cat, and Louis was
highly suspicious but intrigued all the same.

"Uh... sure?" He guessed, turning to his friends. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?"

"Alright, see you, man." Christopher called out, as he and Louis' two other friends headed for the
elevators. Kendall waited for them to be gone completely before turning back to Louis.

"What's this about?" Louis worriedly asked.

"Let's sit." Kendall insisted, nudging her head towards the sofa she had just been on. "Yes?"

"Sure."

They took a seat, all while Louis' heart was thudding and he tried not to become envious inside
when looking at Kendall's beauty.

"I know what you're doing." Kendall suddenly brought up, the topic of the moment, and Louis
lowered his eyebrows slowly.

"...What? What am I doing?"

"You faked that stupid panic attack earlier, right?" She accused, eyebrows raising starkly.

"Are you being serious?" Louis exclaimed in disbelief. "I don't know what you're talking about,
why would I do that?"

"To get close to somebody, maybe? Get someone's full attention?"

Louis couldn't believe his ears. He was shaking, he could feel that he was, and his heart felt like it
was close to exploding in his chest.

"W-Why would I do that? That's crazy!"

"Look, let's get real here," Kendall slowly said, facial expression neutral and tone challenging.
"Harry's hot as hell, you and I both know that. And it's obvious you like guys, don't even fucking
deny it. I'm just putting two and two together here."

Louis wanted to run away to get away from this. He was trembling and his shaky breathing was
coming back, not so intensely as earlier but still there, and he couldn't take Kendall's glaring.

"I don't like Harry like that," He insisted, voice wavering slightly, "I swear."

"Don't be like that, I can see right through you." Kendall spat. "Let me just sum this up for you real
quick, yes? Stay the fuck away from my man. I don't want you to even look at him, do you
understand me? Because he sure as hell won't want to look at you, do you fucking understand me?"

There was a lump in Louis' throat, a warning that tears were soon to follow, and he felt like if he
even uttered something as simple as as 'yes', that they'd come rushing. All he could do was nod,
praying his tears would hold back, and they did. But he was filled with such an intense hatred -- not
only toward Kendall, but himself too. She was so stupidly right, why would Harry want to look at
him? Hell, he'd probably prefer if Louis didn't even talk to him in their room.

"Good. Now do you want to know what Harry said about you to me, Louis? He told me that he'd
rather sleep on the streets than in that room with you. Said you look hideous in the morning, even
worse than right now, which it hurts me to even imagine."

"Just go away now." Louis barely whispered, terrified he would burst into tears, head now in his
hands.

Kendall had gotten to her feet, her eyebrows straight in anger and chest heaving slightly from her
outburst.

"Good. Now I'm going to text Harry and ask him to fuck me in your bathroom. Goodnight, bitch."
She sauntered off, towards the elevator, and Louis finally let the tears out. It was like a waterfall,
feeling so ridiculous that the staff member at the counter could see him, but he didn't know what to
do. He was so stuck. He hated himself.

He wanted to be Kendall, so much that it ached.

Kenny❤: Hey babe I'm in the mood ;) Can I come to your room???

Harry: No, you can most definitely not. Go to bed Kendall, hopefully one day you'll wake up a
better person.

Harry didn't even have any idea of the horrifying things Kendall had just disclosed to Louis, and
heaven forbid he ever found out.
 15
Chapter Notes

Casually 5,700+ words, as you do.

Oh, and you're welcome.

Spoiler: no, there isn't smut yet, but I won't leave you waiting too long ;)

I apologise for any typos.

Kenny❤: Hey babe I'm in the mood ;) Can I come to your room???

Harry: No, you can most definitely not. Go to bed Kendall, hopefully one day you'll wake up a
better person.

Yeah, he was pretty proud of that response. He could practically picture Kendall's reaction in his
head: loudly gasping, so that she caught Gigi's attention, before ranting to her that her boyfriend
was, quote: being a disrespectful little twat. He had been called that before by her. Maybe she even
cried a little; who knew. All Harry did know was that he felt rather gratified afterwards.

Once he had turned off his phone, wanting to get away from the inevitable onslaught of
argumentative messages back from Kendall, he entered reality again to realise that his watch's face
read 10:08 P.M. And Louis still wasn't back in their room. Curfew was almost ten minutes ago, he
highly doubted Louis would dare to surpass it.

He stood up, throwing his switched off phone back onto his bedsheets, and headed over to the
door. He still had his shoes and jacket on, having been too tired to bother changing that fact, and he
opened the door to their room and popped his head out.

Immediately, sparking his heart into worry, he saw somebody sat hunched over halfway down the
hallway, carelessly sat out on the floor at such a time, and he knew in an instant that it was Louis.

"Louis!" He called out, more of a harsh whisper so as not to disturb anyone in the expensive rooms
nearby, and Louis slowly looked up at him but didn't react other than that. "What are you doing?
Come in!"

Louis stood up, which surprised Harry, as he thought he would have to convince him, and he
headed over. He just looked drained, face pretty pale and eyes glassy, and he stopped once he
reached their doorway.

"Are you on your own?" His voice came out small and almost afraid, not even looking up from the
floor, so that Harry only just managed to hear what had been uttered.

"On my own? Yes. Why would anyone else be in here?" Harry asked, opening the door up wider,
and Louis entered the room with his head still low.

But he didn't reply again, just carried on to his bed, dropping his rucksack down onto it. Harry let
the door slam shut behind him, eyebrows slanted as he followed suit, perching on the edge of his
own bed.

"Louis, are you okay?"

Louis shrugged.

"Gosh, you're really unwell, aren't you? First the panic attack, what caused that? Do you know?"

You.

Louis shook his head, even though in his head he was screaming otherwise, and finally looked up
to meet eyes with Harry. His looked so empty. No glint. He didn't say anything.

"I think you just need some sleep." Harry softly said.

Louis wished that would cure everything. But he just nodded, putting on the fakest smile Harry had
ever witnessed before grabbing his stuff and heading into the bathroom. Little did Harry know why
Louis was being like this.

He waited until Louis was done in the bathroom, then he got ready for bed before slipping into the
sheets. Louis had already turned over to face the other way, his back to Harry.

"Good night." Harry gently said into the silence, hand clasping the switch on his lamp.

Louis didn't reply, so Harry just softly sighed before switching the room into pitch black darkness.

Louis was being more distant than usual, and Harry hated it. Sure, it wasn't uncommon of Louis,
but when he was pretty much blanking everything Harry said as they got ready the next morning,
plus refusing to reply, it was a bit too much.

"Louis, if there's anything you want to tell me..." Harry hinted, while tying up his shoelaces. Louis
didn't respond again, not verbally, just an indistinct shake of the head and no eye contact. "What's
happened? It may not be any of my business, but I'm worried."

Oh, it definitely was his business. He just didn't know that.

"It's time to go down." Was all Louis said, deadpan, scooping up his bag and opening the door.

"Okay." Harry softly said, catching the door behind Louis and following him out, hearing the door
click shut behind them. "Let's go."

God did he want to step forwards and just hug the hell out of Louis. It'd obviously be weird to,
though the thought did cross his mind, to embrace him and beg him to rant away what was making
him so distracted.

"Everybody must already be down there, we're a couple of minutes late," Harry realised, as they
reached the elevators, and Louis suddenly stopped still. "What?" Harry asked.

"You go down in the lift now, I'll... I'll catch up in a second, I've got to grab something." Louis
stammered, turning away to head back towards their room. Okay? Weird.

"What, do you not want to be seen with me or something?" Harry tried to joke, with a chuckle, but
little did he know it was pretty much the truth, after Kendall had almost banned Louis from being
too close to Harry (despite them sharing a room together.)
Louis didn't laugh at the joke, so Harry proceeded to enter the elevator alone, pressing the down
button. He admired himself in the mirror, instantly feeling deeply embarrassed that Louis had seen
him with a rather blatant toothpaste mark on the side of his mouth, which he speedily wiped away
whilst thinking 'thanks for telling me, Louis.' Kind of impossible for Louis to know if he never
looked at him, but still.

Everybody was waiting in the lobby when the doors slid open, Kendall sporting a very stern
expression indeed. Harry seemed to hold an intense eye contact with her momentarily, before
Kendall seemed to do a 'come here' gesture with a movement of her head. Harry wasn't very happy
to, remembering how stubborn she had been the day previously, but he headed her way. He
mentioned to an impatient Mr Grant that Louis was just grabbing something on his way, before he
reached Kendall. Their other mates, also stood in their little huddle, looked almost nervous to see
the two of them together again.

"Morning, babe," Kendall smiled, softly, "Can we forget about yesterday?"

Harry moodily shrugged, not wanting to just give in and agree, knowing how hacked off she had
been last night once he had turned her down.

"Don't be like that." Kendall sighed. Then the elevator doors slid open again, a flustered Louis
there, hating the attention on him, moving timidly over to his own friends.

"I'm not being like anything." He shrugged. Kendall, behind Harry's back, made a nagging gesture
to the others. Harry did see, but chose to ignore. She was being childish once again, clearly.

They had to board a Metro today in order to get to the 'Jardins des Tuileries', which was close to
the shopping centre Harry and his friends had been frequently visiting, and Harry decided to split
off with Zayn and Liam once they had all piled off the transport, instead of trudging along behind
Kendall and the girls. He was finally able to speak his mind (even if he was sick and tired with
each and every one of his 'friends.')

"She's acting really weird," He voiced, pouting his mouth aside, "Like, extra happy."

"I can tell, yeah." Liam agreed, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. Both Liam and Zayn
seemed to be acting a little bit gawky, like there was something Harry hadn't worked out yet.

"Not you two as well," Harry whined, rolling his eyes, "What's up with everyone today?"

Zayn was quick to interject, "Look, just try to patch things up with Kendall."

"So you're on her side now?" Harry cocked an eyebrow, as their class had reached a nearby seating
area and all began sitting around on benches or freshly cut grass. Kendall, Gigi and Cheryl sat on a
bench, getting out the text they had been given to analyse.

"Not saying that, I just think it's causing a lot of tension in the group, you know?" Liam offered,
getting his own text out of his backpack, "I don't know, go up behind her and hug her? Girls love
that shit."

Harry didn't really want to hug Kendall. But nor did he want her being eerily happy, when inside
she was seething and probably wanting to rip his hair out; quite a contrast.

"I don't know if I want to." He shrugged.

"C'mon, Haz! Even if you want to go on some stupid break with her, I don't know, at least it would
be fixing the tension, yeah?" Zayn nudged him, obviously trying to get him to get up again from
the grass (where he was already very comfortable, thank you very much.)

"For fuck's sake, why can't I just approach her and patch things up?" He groaned, acting like a
newly born giraffe taking its first steps as he pushed himself to his feet on his clumsily long legs.
The girls were too concentrated on reading the text and discussing it to have noticed Harry getting
to his feet.

"Because, Mr. Lover Boy, hugging her from behind will distract her from arguing again, right? If
you just walk up to her and start a dispute, I doubt that'd end well."

Well, that was pretty true. Harry really didn't want to patch things up completely, but he wanted to
be friends with Liam and Zayn, and that couldn't happen unless he and Kendall were at least
talking normally again.

"Okay, okay, fine." Harry grunted, rolling his eyes as he walked around behind all the students,
pretty much passing under everybody's radars (Louis included, who was cutely writing in his
notepad.)

Harry stopped behind the girls' bench, able to hear them now, and waited a moment before he'd go
in for the hug. He listened out, curious as to what they were discussing.

"How long were you sat there waiting?" Cheryl was asking, so Harry had no clue as to what they
were on about. Liam and Zayn were trying to usher Harry on to the hugging, but Harry gave them a
'one moment' gesture, continuing to listen.

"Not long at all. He wouldn't be back after curfew, would he? He's a nerd." Kendall snorted. Harry
felt his heart jump a little, his brain immediately putting 'he' and 'nerd' towards Louis. Paranoia?
Perhaps.

"And you told him what?" Gigi laughed. Harry felt like he was fucking sweating.

"I told him that Harry thinks he looks hideous in the morning," Kendall explained, amusement
laced in her tone, "And that he'd rather sleep on the streets than in that room with him."

The girls all began wildly laughing, and Harry's face had never been so overcome with shock. He
couldn't believe it, that she had told Louis that, and he had been sleeping in that room with him
without a single apology. He had no idea. He decided to break up their little laughing fit with one
line: a complete bombshell.

"I want to break up."

The three girls, all equally shocked, turned on the bench with wide eyes. Kendall immediately
looked a mixture of horrified and distraught, getting to her feet immediately and walking round the
bench to him.

"Babe..."

"No!" Harry exclaimed, shaking his wrist from her grip. "Don't touch me!"

Their classmates seemed to have had their attention well and truly caught by the commotion, all
turning to look, and the teachers had trusted them all to get on with the work while they all went to
get a coffee so they weren't around to sort it out.

"I didn't mean it, I was joking!"

Louis, who was sat with his eyebrows slightly furrowed, confused as to what was happening but
knowing deep down he was a part of it, turned to Christopher.

"Wait, what's happening?"

"Harry just broke up with Kendall!" He excitedly said, keeping his voice down, and Louis felt his
eyes widen, heart stammering.

"You were not fucking joking! I saw how upset he was last night, you lying bitch!" Harry yelled,
so that everybody whooped and called out excitedly at the curse, whereas Louis' heartrate went up
even more now that it had been clarified it was about him.

"Oh God." He breathed, ignoring his friends once they started asking what was the matter.

"Babe, I don't know how much I can apologise," Kendall's voice had raised to a higher pitch, on
the verge of tears, "Please don't break up with me, I'm begging you. Please."

Some classmates were discreetly laughing amongst themselves, finding the desperation in a bully
like Kendall's voice laughable, whereas others were ogling the scene in shock. Louis was a part of
the latter group.

"Already done, I'm afraid." Harry sassily interrupted her, Gigi and Cheryl arguing over him, trying
to get him to listen, and Zayn and Liam had hurried over to witness the drama in closer range.
Harry ignored them all and strolled back over to his bag, everybody's eyes on him but dipping
away once he looked up again to begin storming completely away.

Before he did leave, however, he stopped by Louis' group, kneeling down and looking Louis
straight in the eye, so the smaller boy almost felt his heart stop altogether.

"I'm so sorry," He whispered, eyes not leaving Louis' once. "What she told you was a bunch of lies,
and I'm sorry."

Before Louis could even respond, Harry had jumped back up to his feet and sped off away, before
the teachers could come back and catch him.

Louis actually considered following him, his head spinning and pulse thick, but he stayed instead.
He stayed while everybody's eyes were on him, Kendall was loudly calling him a faggot to her
friends, and his own friends were pestering him for answers.

Once he was away from everything, Harry wandered off to the park not too far from where his
class were, just to sit down and calm down. He was still breathing heavily due to the altercation.

Holy shit, he had actually just broken up with Kendall. He hadn't really expected he would, it just
happened so fast. But he was grateful.

He knew he would be in some trouble for leaving the group once the teachers returned and found
out, but he couldn't care less at this point. As long as he got on with his work quietly, which he did
manage to, though he still couldn't think straight and he felt so awful. For Louis.

The way he was looking back at him while he was apologising, his eyes confused and a bit dull,
Harry felt horrible. Louis had really spend the duration of last night thinking about Harry calling
him hideous. What a disgusting thing to betray someone into thinking.

During their little break, which was always at 9 o'clock that morning, Harry had headed back to
actually tell Mr Grant and the other teachers what had happened. They actually understood,
somehow, after Harry had proven he had been doing the work afterall. He tried to ignore Kendall's
absolutely putrid glare his way from across the crowd, acting completely indifferent to it... which
he was.

And the rest of the day went by so slowly. Selfishly, Liam and Zayn decided they'd rather go and
sit with their own girlfriend's, leaving Harry on his own for the next part, all the way up until
dinner time. Louis kept looking Harry's way, as though perhaps considering joining him, but he
stopped himself every time. Harry didn't care, he just slipped in his earphones to drown out his
guilt.

Once dinner time came around, Liam and Zayn were stupidly nudging Harry their way with their
heads, as though there was any chance in hell he would be joining the five of them, and he shook
his head at them. They didn't even bother to go with him, trailing off obediently behind the girls.
Kendall was crying again as they all walked away, being comforted by Gigi and Cheryl. It was her
own immature fault.

Harry turned back around to see Louis and his friends packing their things away, chatting amongst
themselves, and Harry's spontaneity suddenly kicked in. It was a stupid surge of confidence, as he
swiftly approached them, Louis' eyes visibly enlarging slightly.

"Louis, can I talk to you?"

"Uh... sure?" He slowly agreed, muttering to his friends for a moment before they nodded, and he
walked aside with Harry. "Don't feel like you have to apologise again."

"You're far too nice, Louis." Harry mentioned, smiling at him. "I was going to apologise again, yes,
but maybe in the form of a meal?"

Louis audibly sucked in a sharp exhale, having not been expecting that, furrowing his eyebrows in
confusion. "Umm... really?"

"Really."

"I don't know, Harry..."

"Why not? It's just a thank you, Louis, it's not like it's a date." Harry jokingly smirked, so Louis'
cheeks flushed red.

"I know, I know."

"Then yes?"

"Sure?"

"Okay." Harry breathed out a laugh.

Louis turned to his friends, waving at them suddenly as a way of telling them he was off
somewhere else, and they looked baffled but waved back anyway before heading the opposite way.

"Let's go," Harry grinned, as he and Louis headed off towards the restaurant and terrace area, West
of where they were. "There are some really lovely restaurants around here, and I feel it'd be
appropriate to take you to the one called Loulou, wouldn't it?"

"You really don't have to do this, you know, even if Loulou is a very appropriate choice," Louis
chuckled, cluthing the handle of his backpack tighter, "I accept the apology, it's not your fault."

"Then see it as a friendly gesture." Harry offered, as they crossed the semi-busy 7 P.M. road to the
row of restaurants. Louis had the sleeves of his denim jacket tucked over his hands, shyly keeping
his eyes trained on his feet as they walked and dodged their way through the busy streets.

"There it is," Harry smiled, watching Louis glance up in awe at the cream-bricked building, which
stretched out along into many windows and doors.

"Wow, that's a big building." He commented, and Harry could tell by his facial expression that he
was internally cursing himself for the stupidly blatant comment.

"Sure is." Harry grinned, as they approached its doors.

There was an outdoor seating area, but it was still a little chilly to sit out, so Harry made the
decision to enter the building. Louis was still seeming very awkward, which was pretty
understandable considering how spontaneous it all was.

They were met by a young French waiter at the door, who smiled welcomingly at them.

"Bonjour." He beamed.

Harry decided he would try out the minimal French he had learnt for the trip, desperate not to
embarrass himself in front of Louis or the native French man in front of them.

"Avez-vous... une place pour... deux personnes?" He attempted, in such a ridiculous accent that
Louis stifled a giggle to himself, and the man before them quirked his mouth into an entertained
smirk.

"English?" He offered, accent thick, and Harry ridiculed himself with a shake of the head and a
laugh.

"Yeah, I should have started with that." He shrugged, a timid smile.

"Table for two it is." The man chuckled. "I am Marc, I will be your waiter for this evening. Please
follow me."

They followed him through the tables, which were draped with white tablecloths, with navy blue
and white chairs and champagne glasses on top of the tables. He led them over to a two-seater table
by the window, allowing them both to slip into the seats. Louis had barely even looked Harry in the
eye yet, poor boy. Harry couldn't imagine being so shy.

"Your menus," Marc handed them a menu each, smiling particularly at Louis, "You are shy?"

Louis looked up with a hum of acknowledgment, before chuckling and shrugging.

"The answer to that is yes." Harry smiled. "He is incredibly shy."

"That is very cute. Okay, you have a look at the menus and I will be back in a moment to take the
orders."

Harry felt a seething jealousy when he heard the word 'cute' mentioned in that sentence. He didn't
know why, he just couldn't help it. And the way Marc smiled at Louis before walking away, so
that Louis blushed a little and looked away.

"Harry, I don't know what to choose, I feel so grateful that you're doing this."
"The waiter seems to want you to choose him." Harry snidely commented, yet keeping his tone
upbeat to hide it, glancing over to see the waiter chatting with a female waiter while looking briefly
Louis' way.

"I can guarantee he's just being nice." Louis bet.

"What do you want then, Lou Lou?" Harry smirked, referencing to the restaurant's name to have
Louis giggling.

"Whatever you're getting." He shrugged. "I'm not fussy."

"Don't be conscious about choosing something pricey, Louis, this is me apologising." Harry
reminded. "No, wait, I mean it's my friendly gesture."

"Right." Louis smiled. "I guess I just feel bad whenever someone does favours for me, I don't
know."

"Understandable," Harry shrugged, "Well, even though we're in Paris, I quite fancy just having a
pizza." He admitted, pointing to it on the page.

"Pizza is good. I like margherita." Louis agreed, finally linking eyes with Harry momentarily.

"Then margherita pizzas we will get. What about drinks? Do you drink champagne or anything?"
Harry asked. "Veuve Clicquot's only forty-five euros a bottle."

"Only," Louis whispered under his breath in disbelief, "Harry, I'll be honest, I've never even tried
champagne before."

"Oh? Well, here's your chance then. You want to?"

"Yeah, I guess so, I'm always up for trying new things." Louis shrugged.

And Harry would be lying if he didn't hold eye contact with Louis for a good few seconds after
that, but he doubted Louis' mind picked up on his final sentence as being a dirty-sounding one. Oh
well.

Marc came sauntering back over after a few minutes, obviously turning to Louis first. "Are you
ready to order... what is your name?"

Okay, why did he have to know his name? It didn't seem exactly professional, especially for a
restaurant like this.

"Louis." He said anyway, and Marc grinned.

"Very French name," He commented, "Is your French any better than your friend's?"

"Ha-Ha," Harry rolled his eyes with a laugh, while Louis shook his head.

"Not at all, if I'm honest. Yeah, I think we're ready?" He asked while looking Harry's way, even
though he knew they were. He probably wanted Harry to take over with the talking for now.

"Yeah, just two margherita pizzas and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot." Harry requested, and Marc
scrawled the order down before dotting a full stop at the end, tucking the pad and paper into his
apron pocket before collecting the menus.

"Thank you very much, it will be with you shortly." He winked at Louis. Winked. And Louis
immediately dipped his gaze down to his lap with a reddening face.

"Damn, he's into you!" Harry laughed. "Why don't you get his number?"

"Stop," Louis giggled, "I don't want to get his number."

"Don't be scared to explore dating, Louis, get yourself out there. He's cute, right?" Harry offered.

"Not my type."

"What is?"

"Your champagne." Marc cut them off, swiftly coming by with their bottle, the cork already
popped off. He poured some into each of their flutes, three quarters full, before setting it down
gently on the table. "Your food won't be long. Is there anything else you need?"

Harry rose an eyebrow at Louis jokingly, referencing to Marc's phone number, and Louis shot him
a playful 'don't you dare' look. Harry chose to lay off.

"No, thanks." He smiled. Marc wandered off again, leaving Louis with a lingering glance.

"Any girls in here you like the look of? Seeing as you're newly single." Louis asked, immediately
looking shocked at his own statement. "That wasn't a dig or anything, I'm so sorry, it's way too
soon."

"The breakup wasn't soon enough, if I'm honest. I was getting tired of her always making me feel
so small." Harry shrugged. "So don't feel bad for saying that. But no, no special girls catching my
eye. Now try your champagne."

Louis ended up liking the champagne, which surprised Harry. He had expected Louis to be too
'innocent' for it, like he would try some and his face would cutely scrunch up, but instead he took
tentative little sips throughout. Their pizza was delicious, Harry definitely needed it, and it was
very lovely having Louis sat opposite him the entire time looking so happy.

They even ended up getting dessert, after Harry continuously told Louis not to feel bad about the
price, and settled for some simple strawberries and cream as a light follow-up.

Louis had managed to get a splodge of cream on the side of his mouth, and Harry kept warning
himself not to do what he wanted to, but his stupid spontaneity had him doing it.

"You've got some cream on your cheek." He informed him, leaning forward to swipe it up with his
finger before leading it to Louis' mouth. He was even more surprised when Louis giggled before
opening his mouth, actually allowing Harry to place the blob of cream inside. And Louis even
sucked Harry's finger as he pulled it away, probably not intending it in any way to be sexual, but
Harry couldn't think straight.

"Aaanyway," He sang, retracting his arm, while Louis had gone slightly red (probably now aware
of how intimate that had actually been). "I'll ask for the bill."

He summoned Marc over, who wandered off to print the receipt, before returning with it laid on a
silver platter. He left again to allow them to look over the bill, Harry not letting Louis see it.

105,30€

He wasn't too fazed by that, though Louis wanted to see.

"Come on, I feel bad, how much is it?" Louis asked, nervously biting his lower lip. When Harry
didn't reply, busy getting his wallet from his back pocket, Louis got his own out and opened it. He
pulled out the only note in it, ten euros, and placed it down.

"Louis, no!" Harry whined, "You're not paying a thing."

"Yes I am! I feel awful, please let me." He frowned.

"Is that the only money you have?" Harry asked, eyeing the empty wallet on the table.

"I don't mind, Harry." That was a yes.

"In that case," Harry pulled out twenty euros from his own wallet, placing it together with Louis'
ten euros before handing it his way, "Have some more. And I'm paying the bill, don't even try to
contribute."

"Harry, don't do that," Louis shyly chuckled, pushing the money back his way, "I don't mind, I
want to help."

"Take the thirty, put it in your wallet, and let me pay." Harry humorously commanded, pointing to
the wallet. "Now."

Louis reluctantly agreed, though it was clear he didn't want to, placing the two notes into his wallet
before slipping it away again. "You're so kind."

"I sure am," Harry smirked, picking out 115,30 euros worth of money, not wanting to leave Marc
too much of a tip after flirting with Louis. For some reason. "Ready to go?"

Louis still looked awestruck by Harry's benevolence, nodding and standing up with him. Marc
thanked them on their way out, a rather sultry stare for Louis as they exited the building. It was
even darker outside now, approaching 9 o'clock that evening, and a little chillier than before.

"Thank you so much, Harry," Louis thanked him, once again, as they began a slow stroll.
"Honestly, you're so wonderfully nice."

"Don't mention it, Lou Lou, you deserve it." Harry smiled, patting him on the back.

"I'm going to keep thanking you." Louis chuckled. "It's just what I'm like."

Harry got an idea suddenly, his mind whirring as his eyes surveyed the city. "Do you know how
you could give me the biggest thank you?"

"How?" Louis asked, curious.

"Let me take you up the Eiffel Tower."

Louis seemed even further taken aback. "Harry, no! As wonderful as that would be, I was looking
online when we got here, it's twenty-five euros each!"

"And?"

"Harry."

"I don't mind. Let's do it, yeah? It's only a bus away." He nudged his head towards the bus stop.

"Which costs even more money."

"It's, like, two euros each, Louis, to bus. Come on." He placed a hand behind Louis' back to lead
him over to the bus stop, where a number 42 was already approaching.

They jumped on, and Harry paid their single fares before they got a seat. There was a group of loud
girls sat at the back, all of whom seemed to have acquired an immediate interest in Harry, one of
them calling out something in French, another whistling at him.

"You've got yourself a little fan club back there." Louis breathily chuckled, looking at his lap.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, completely oblivious.

"The girls at the back," Louis informed, "Did you not hear them?"

Harry shook his head, bottom lip jutted out slightly, and Louis raised his eyebrows.

"Must happen a lot then?"

"I guess so," Harry shrugged, "I just ignore it now."

"Must be nice, though, the attention?" Louis wondered, using his index finger to draw a pattern on
the bus window's condensation.

"It gets quite tedious, actually. Not very classy, is it?"

"That's true." Louis laughed.

The bus journey took about fifteen minutes, and they jumped off when they were near enough,
with the girls shouting French goodbyes to Harry and making kissy noises.

The tower looked humongous up close, as they hadn't been at the foot of it yet, and Louis was
craning his neck up to glance in awe at it.

"That's tall."

"It is," Harry chuckled, "It's kind of renowned for that, actually."

"Shut up." Louis giggled. Harry bought them both an adult ticket each, so that they could use the
lifts, and they joined the pretty short queue for a late evening.

It took them a good half an hour to get to the top, after queueing on the second floor for a while,
and being so high up shot adrenaline through Harry's veins. He and Louis walked out to the edge,
which was barricaded by metal caging bars, and he heard Louis suck in a breath of shock.

"Wow, we're so high up!" He breathed, gripping tighter onto the bars so that his fingers went
slightly white. "Look, you can see everything!"

He pointed out at the sea of city lights ahead of them, which seemed to stretch out for miles and
miles ahead, far more impressive than what they saw from their balcony.

"Isn't it beautiful? Wow." Harry softly said, smiling to himself. "I've always wanted to come up
here. I knew I'd never have gotten Kendall up here, she's terrified of heights."

Louis chuckled. "So I'm the replacement, am I?"

"You're far more adventurous. Thanks for letting me bring you up here, Lou Lou." Harry smirked.
"I feel like that name is going to stick," Louis giggled, "You're welcome, Harry. Thank you, for the
one millionth time, for bringing me up here. It's amazing."

They stood for a good ten minutes of silence, taking in the view and the light breeze of the night,
before Harry inhaled steadily, filling their silence.

"I hope you've enjoyed it here, Louis. Paris in general, I mean. You really do deserve it."

"What I don't deserve is somebody as lovely as you paying for my ticket, and everything today."
Louis dreamily mused, "I can't believe it."

Harry turned to him, looking squarely at him so that Louis had to hold the eye contact for once.
"You deserve the world, Louis. And if I could, I'd buy you one of those stars out there."

Louis shyly giggled, breaking the eye contact to look out over the horizon again. Harry had that
weird feeling stirring in his stomach again, the scarily spontaneous feeling.

He reached out and gripped Louis gently beneath the chin, turning his face towards his before
leaning in and catching their lips together. It was such a fast move, and it caught Louis by surprise
so much that he breathed in sharply through his nose, unable to fathom what was happening, before
wising up and kissing Harry back.

The kiss wasn't too deep, three or four soft strokes of their lips together (with Louis tasting of
strawberries and cream) and Harry's heart was racing so fast, so he couldn't even imagine what
state Louis' was in. Harry pulled away after that, with a tender stroke to Louis' face as he withdrew
his hand, before they both looked out over the horizon again, wide-eyed and flustered. Harry could
hear Louis' breathing in the air, one heavy breath every second, and could even see his hands
trembling as he brought them into his pockets.

No words were spoken for a solid minute, though Harry couldn't leave it any longer than that.
"Well that wasn't planned."

Louis breathily laughed, though he was still in too much shock for it to sound completely genuine.
"N-No."

"Was that... your first kiss?" Harry slowly asked, after it dawned on him that Louis had never even
had a partner before.

"Yeah." He whispered.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Louis assured, voice shaky. "Why did you...?"

"I don't know. It just felt right to."

Louis didn't say anything else in response, just kept his eyes trained out on the horizon, his
shoulders tensed up by his ears.

What was Harry even doing? He had just kissed Louis Tomlinson the same day he had broken up
with Kendall. He had done it with so little warning that it had even shocked himself. Was it selfish
to have done? Did he really deserve to be Louis' first kiss? Did he really want him?

His stupid brain needed to make up his mind, because right now he couldn't fight the swirling bliss
in his stomach.
 16
Chapter Notes

This chapter is kind of a mess, idk. Like it might be frustrating??? Just read it hahaha.
Sorry, still no smut yet.
-May have typos.

Also, for future reference, please make sure you've read all the tags properly. Thank
you :) .xx

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Louis had completely zoned out from the moment Harry broke the kiss. He was glassy-eyed and
vacant, staring off into the far distance once again. He had clearly flushed red, chest heaving a lot
faster than a few moments before, while Harry felt completely relaxed. There were no regrets
welling up inside of him, no fears, just a sense of calm.

"We should probably head back." Harry filled the quiet, which merely consisted of nearby visitors
of the Eiffel Tower, who had been too in awe of the view to have even seen Harry making his
move on Louis.

Louis tried to make a sound of agreement, a simple 'mhmm', though it came out as more of a
squeak, which had Harry secretly smirking at his feet as he led Louis towards the doors to the lifts.

Throughout the journey back on the bus and the Metro, Louis kept up the front-facing staring. He
didn't look up once to meet Harry's eyes, so Harry let him be and decided not to fill the agonising
silence. They reached their room again at ten past ten, Harry chucking his wallet, watch and phone
from his back pocket down onto his bed, before pulling off his t-shirt and launching it into the
laundry basket so that it drooped off the side.

Poor flustered Louis again, too innocent to be casual about something as simple as Harry's bare
abdomen, and obviously still shaken up about the kiss.

"Thanks for tonight. Again." He mumbled, so fast that it was almost inaudible. Harry pulled out his
pyjama top from where it was scrunched up under his pillow, smiling over at Louis so that they
finally had to meet eyes, before slipping the t-shirt on. His smile gradually became a smirk though,
realising he shouldn't let what happened just go unspoken, back on the tower.

"For kissing you, mainly?"

Louis choked out a breathy laugh, perching himself on the edge of his bed. "Well... I'm kind of just
wondering why you did that."

Harry unbuckled his belt to start removing his jeans, so that Louis distracted himself by getting his
phone out and scrolling aimlessly through it. He was so painfully awkward, bless him.

"I did it because I wanted to." Harry told the truth, kicking his skinny jeans off his legs, deciding to
just slip his pyjama bottoms over his underwear and change them in the morning, so as not to
literally be performing a full-frontal striptease for Louis.
"You wanted to kiss me?" Louis slowly asked, putting his phone down and looking over at Harry
with so much self-consciousness that it was painful to see. He looked in absolute disbelief that
anybody, especially somebody like Harry, would want to kiss him.

"Yes," Harry clarified, looking him dead in the eye, "I did."

Louis couldn't help but smile, just a flash of one that he couldn't restrain, before ducking his head
to hide it. Harry was urged to smile too.

"Thank you. I think I needed to hear that."

Harry's phone notification went off, but he ignored it. It was too tender of a moment to cut it off by
rudely getting his phone out.

"How was your first kiss then?" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Louis giggled and threw his head
back just a little, so adorably.

"It was wonderful, Harry." His eyes were sparkling, evidently.

"Feel free to leave me a review," Harry joked, smugly grinning to himself, "I've only gotten five
stars so far, one hundred percent of my clients would do it again."

"For goodness sake," Louis chuckled to himself at the joke, "I'm sure you've had your fair share of
kisses, though, right?"

Harry made a brief thinking face. "Not too many, actually. Maybe four people? Five?"

"That's a lot to me." Louis shrugged, his eyeline falling to his folded hands. There was a brief
silence before Harry responded.

"So shy." He breathed, smiling to himself.

"We've gone over this sooo many times," Louis humorously wailed out, still refusing to look up,
"Yes, I'm extremely shy, and no, I can't help it."

"Come and kiss me again." Harry blurted out, sat back against his headboard, arms flailing out in
spontaneity. "Let's get that confidence soaring."

"I definitely cannot do that." Louis whispered to himself, putting his hands cutely over his eyes as
he shook his head. "Oh God."

"Am I that repulsive?" Harry smirked, and he cockily stretched his lean body out along his bed,
arms casually laid above his head, knowing full well that he was far from repulsive. Louis could
barely look; it appeared as though he needed a bucket of cold water poured over his head, from
how red his cheeks had heated up.

"You're not repulsive."

"Oh?" Harry playfully asked. "Then why don't you want to come and kiss me again, Lou Lou? Bet
you'd kiss that waiter."

"Shut up about that waiter," Louis giggled, "I didn't like him one bit."

"And so you shouldn't, he's not the one who wined and dined you, then took you up the Eiffel
Tower," Harry smirked, "Now are you going to come and kiss me, or am I just going to have to
come to you?"
"Are you being serious or are you joking?" Louis questioned, clearly not entirely sure what was
currently going on. "I can't tell."

Harry swung his legs over the edge of his bed, pushing himself to his feet and stepping over to
Louis' bed, on which Louis was half sitting and half lying against his headboard. He crawled up
onto the bed, loving the progression of Louis' face erupting with surprise, moving until he was
holding himself right above Louis, but in such a way that their bodies weren't in contact.

He could hear Louis' shaky breathing, his body trembling, as if the room had plummeted into the
minus temperatures, and Harry brought down his mouth so that his lips grazed the shell of Louis'
ear.

"I'm being serious." He barely whispered, his voice low and gravelly in Louis' ear. "I think you
need to catch your breath back, Louis."

Louis audibly gulped, his head tilted aside slightly where Harry's mouth reached his ear. He could
only briefly nod, internally panicking, it seemed.

"How's the confidence feeling now?" Harry breathed, his voice tingling to Louis' ear. "Any better?"

"I..." Louis stuttered out, before sighing and suddenly pushing at Harry's chest, so he had no choice
but to climb back to his feet. "...Sorry."

"You don't want to kiss me again?" Harry sounded disheartened, eyebrows furrowed a little,
awkwardly scratching at his elbow as he stood beside Louis' bed.

"I just don't want it to be for no reason," Louis mumbled, "If that... makes sense?"

"Oh..." Harry tried to add it up, face contorting in a pensive manner. "Okay. I get you... like..."

"I feel like you are being very casual about everything. Not to fault you, it might just be what
you're like..." Louis trailed off with a blunt shrug. "And not that you should like me or anything,
I'm just confused."

"So am I." Harry sighed. "Sorry for confusing you. But can I just say, I'm far from casual... I was
with Kendall for almost three years, remember?"

"I know. Let's get ready to sleep."

"I want you to know that it meant something when I kissed you tonight," Harry specified, even
though it was a hard thing for him to say; he was still working himself out, even if the truth was
blatantly screaming at him. "And it wasn't for nothing."

"Get back to me when you work that out." Louis weakly smiled. Harry patted his duvet cover,
trying to locate where his phone was amongst the blanket mound on his bed, then when he had
found it he turned it off and set it on his bedside table before turning to head towards the bathroom.
"Harry, wait."

"Hmm?" Harry turned back in interest, quirking an eyebrow up.

"Did you borrow my phone charger earlier?"

Oh. Well, Harry wasn't expecting something so boring.

"Yeah, it's plugged in by my bed, sorry." He chuckled, finally entering the bathroom.
Louis finally had time to reflect on his own. He could still feel his heartbeat pulsing in his head,
body still hot all over from Harry's words in his ear, God, it was rare for him to feel like this. He
took a much needed breath and decided to grab his charger, as his phone battery (much like his
own energy) was almost completely drained.

He knelt on Harry's bed to reach over, but he immediately regretted it. Because he heard a crunch.
His heart practically jumped into his throat once his racing mind ran over what could have been the
source of that, and the crushing feeling once he realised Harry had thrown his Rolex watch down
onto his bed washed over Louis.

He didn't want to dare to lift that cover up, wanting instead to sprint full-speed out of the room, and
his breathing was already picking up. He had to look.

He lifted up the duvet cover and immediately threw his hands over his mouth in horror. The entire
face of the watch, the blue, silver and gold expensive ass watch, was completely cracked. To the
point where the markers on it were barely visible, and the hands were no longer moving.

"Oh no!" Louis muttered under his breath. "Oh God, oh God..."

He was completely panicking, frantically looking around the room as if something could solve it,
knowing his only options were to be truthful and tell Harry, or hide the evidence. Hell, he knew he
couldn't just hide it. But the thought of having to tell Harry that his literal baby prized possession
had been crushed... Louis couldn't think of anything worse, and all he could do at that moment was
hold the watch in his hands and sink to the floor by Harry's bed in choked sobs.

"Harry!" He cried out between sobs, and sharp, breathy inhales.

Harry practically fell out of the bathroom the moment he had been beckoned, face glistening,
evidently having been in the middle of washing it.

"Louis, what's wrong?" He stressed, unable to see the damage held in Louis' shaking hands. He
knelt down by his side, facial expression soft. "What's wrong, hey?"

"I am so sorry," Louis barely managed in a breath, "I-I crushed it."

"You what?" Harry gently asked, rubbing Louis' forearm softly. "What is it? You crushed
something?"

"I-It was on your bed, under the blankets, and I-I knelt over it to g-get my charger..."

"Louis, take a deep breath... you knelt on something of mine?" Harry slowly added it up.

"I'm sorry." Louis whispered, as he opened his hands, allowing Harry's eyes to take in the sight of
his splintered watch. They remained there for a good few seconds, while Louis was trembling and
struggling to catch his breath.

"My Rolex." Harry stated, gulping abruptly, trying to inform himself out loud what had happened,
getting his head around it.

"It's all my fault, I'm so sorry!" Louis wailed, placing the watch down in Harry's open palm. "Oh
my God, it's so expensive!"

Harry had received it as a 17th birthday present from his parents. It was a Rolex Submariner, and
he was well aware that his parents had spent around £9,900 on it. He ran a hand slowly down his
face in stress, running the pad of his thumb over the shattered face. He was absolutely distraught,
but could tell Louis was more so.

"It's okay," He said, trying to keep his voice steady, "It's just a thing, Louis. Things can be
replaced." He put on a smile, patting Louis on the arm.

"Expensive things can't be as easily." Louis whispered, followed by a hiccup-like breath, wiping
his tears with the backs of his hands.

"I left it there under the duvet, it was careless of me to do that. You didn't realise." Harry reassured,
fighting past his sinking heart.

"B-But I only knelt on it, it wouldn't have broken if I wasn't so fat." Louis breathed out the last
word, before letting his face fall into his hands.

"Louis." Harry interjected. "What did you say?"

"Nothing. I'm just sorry." Louis stumbled to his feet, catching himself on the edge of Harry's bed.
"When I get a job back in England, I'll pay the repairs."

"Please don't tell me you think you're fat." Harry begged, putting the broken watch back down on
his bed, getting to his feet too. "Seriously, Louis."

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay, but just know that you're not." Harry urged. "Truly, look at you!" He gestured to Louis'
body.

"Please stop looking at me. I'm sorry about your watch, just don't look at my body."

"Louis, your body is absolutely fine..."

"I'm very insecure," Louis flailed out his arms, "Okay?"

"Okay, it's just... you shouldn't be." Harry assured him. "I'm not just saying that, Louis, I mean it.
You're the only one who's thinking that negative stuff."

"I can't help it."

"Well, I'm sure some day you'll be convinced otherwise, you'll find somebody who wants to
explore and enjoy every inch of you." Harry maybe added that final part to get a reaction. And a
reaction he got, when Louis (for the one millionth time that evening) flushed red and huffed out a
shocked laugh.

"Are you done in the bathroom?" He rushed, the bathroom seeming to be his escape route, and
Harry smirked to himself.

"Not yet, but go ahead. I'll just sit in here and mourn over my watch."

"Don't," Louis frowned, a pour the frown, "I feel so fucking bad." Louis threw a hand over his
mouth the moment he swore, so innocently that it sparked at Harry's heart.

"Louis Tomlinson, did you just swear?!" He gasped. "Wow, that is not like you."

"I didn't mean to." He giggled. "I take that back. But I'm still so sorry." He stumbled off into the
bathroom, so Harry decided he would go and get his things afterwards.
The moment Louis shut the door, Harry released a long breath, holding the sides of his head as he
looked down at his watch. His heart had never been so glum.

"Fuck." He breathed, shutting his eyes. "My mum is going to kill me."

He scooped up the damaged watch and placed it gently on his bedside table, feeling so low that he
could actually throw a stupid funeral for the thing. He wished he hadn't left it on his bed, for fuck's
sake.

Harry woke up early the next morning and lay in bed in deep thought.

The most he could admit to himself as of now was that he liked making out with people... but not
just anyone. So... he liked the thought of kissing Louis. Passionately. That's all his ego would let
him admit for now, his dissolving straight side trying its best to cling on for dear life.

The memory of kissing Louis on the Eiffel Tower was very pleasant. He loved how shocked he had
been, the poor boy, the gasp he had emitted and the inevitable widening of his eyes. And his lips
had tasted so sweet and felt so soft. That was why Harry had wanted to kiss him again, back in their
room, and he loved the way Louis' breath had caught in his throat when he was underneath him,
almost touching but not quite.

Fuck. Harry loved Louis' innocence. Something about it was hot, he couldn't quite work that one
out. It was probably how in the past, he had only been with experienced people, like Kendall, and a
handful of other girls, but Louis was so pure and had to learn so much... that turned Harry on. He
couldn't lie about that.

"Can I be honest with you?" Louis suddenly asked into the room, while Harry was deep in thought
and fully convinced he was the only one awake. For some stupid, momentary fraction of time, he
thought Louis had read his mind.

"Go ahead."

"I don't believe you." Louis simply said. Harry was puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't believe that you wanted to kiss me the first time, let alone again. I don't believe that it
meant anything to you." Louis ranted, voice small. "This is all some big joke, isn't it? You've
planned all of this with your friends, to make me believe somebody actually likes me."

"That's crazy, Louis."

"I'm not stupid, I was thinking about it. You may have tried it on kissing me again yesterday,
whatever that was, but it probably means nothing to you to kiss someone. I struggle to believe it."

Harry gaped over at Louis, completely bewildered. But Louis looked completely stagnant and
convinced of his own new theory.

"You think I did all that yesterday as a joke? You think I broke up with my fucking girlfriend as
part of a big joke on you? Are you kidding me right now?" Harry scoffed. "I don't just kiss people,
Louis. It's a big thing for me."

Louis childishly shrugged, and Harry ran his hands in stress down his face. "Louis."
"There's always that second part of my conscience that likes to berate me." Louis softly continued,
voice even smaller and more insignificant than moments before. "You know? When things are
going right, unbelievably right, that horrible part takes over and comes up with a different story.
I'm sorry for saying those things."

Harry didn't know what to say. His mouth was slightly ajar, but he didn't know which words to
string together suitably. He pushed himself up to his feet and moved over to sit on the edge of
Louis' bed. Louis clearly tensed up once again, pulling his duvet cover further up to rest under his
arms, his long sleeves pulled anxiously over his hands.

"I'm so sorry that your mind thinks that way," Harry sadly smiled, scooping up one of Louis' hands
and stroking his thumb over the back. "But this isn't all some big joke, Louis. This is real. I broke
up with Kendall, and I kissed you on the same day. That's got to mean something, hasn't it?"

Louis briefly looked Harry in the eye, smiling lightly before nodding, looking down then at his
hand in Harry's.

"Yeah."

"Your hand is very soft." Harry smirked, so Louis started chuckling.

"Thank you." He brightly said. "Yours is very warm."

Harry smiled to himself, continuing to run his thumb over Louis' hand.

"You remember my first day at the school?" Louis questioned, a small smile on his face. "I was so
scared. And when I was made to stand up and introduce myself, Gosh, you should have felt how
fast my heart was racing. And I made eye contact with you, and you smiled at me..." Louis trailed
off with a widening grin. "And my first thought was that I had never seen anybody so attractive in
my whole life."

Harry raised his eyebrows, having not expected Louis to have been so open about that.

"Wow, thanks," He laughed, "That's nice of you to say."

"And I was immediately jealous of you, you know?" Louis quirked an eyebrow. "Wished I looked
like you. Still wish, actually."

"You're perfect as you are."

"I have too many imperfections to count." Louis sighed.

"So do I," Harry stated, "Everybody does to themselves."

"There is just a lot wrong with me. My mind. Even if I looked like you, flawless, my mind would
still tell me otherwise."

Flawless.

"I'm definitely not flawless. I've got four nipples, you know?" Harry decided to lighten the situation
up a bit, watching Louis' face scrunch up in amusement.

"Four?"

"Well, the lower two are smaller." Harry grabbed his t-shirt from behind his neck and confidently
pulled it off, throwing it back onto his own bed. Any excuse to remove his shirt was fine for him.
 He may have been a show-off sometimes. Maybe. "Hold on."

He gripped onto Louis' hand, leading it up to one of the lower buds. "Feel."

Louis did so, though he was more tense than ever, his finger tracing around the bud of the small
left nipple, located below the average-sized left one.

"Weird." Louis awed, while Harry practically held his breath, loving the feeling. Maybe he was
using this to his advantage a little, as he knew how sensitive they always were, loved it when
people touched them. "Uh... why am I doing this?"

"Because I have a fantastic body. Feel free to have a feel around while you're at it." Harry smirked,
knowing how good and toned his body was.

"Funny. You know, being sarcastic doesn't rid of the vanity." Louis snickered, retracting his hand.
He was refusing to even look at Harry's abs, probably trying to grip onto his self-control, as was
Harry. Louis decided to get up, stretching lazily, leaving Harry stupidly sat there on the bed,
topless and resting back on his palms.

Before Louis wandered into the bathroom, he actually allowed his eyes to deliberately look down
Harry's abdomen, smiling ever-so-subtly.

Well.

Harry was smiling to himself while Louis was in the bathroom, up until he remembered about his
watch. Fuck's sake.

Chapter End Notes

A heads up - i may rewrite this chapter. Idk if I'm happy with it??? Like I'm not sure
why, I didn't want to post it but kind of made myself
 17
Chapter Notes

kinda sexual tension in places

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Walking down to the hotel lobby the next morning had to be one of the most difficult things Harry
had ever done. It was nice having Louis by his side, sure, but all of their classmates knew about his
breakup with Kendall, and that was some tough shit to face.

Louis had reassured him in the lift on their way down that it was going to be fine, breakups
happened all the time, but not a lot of people held grudges as powerfully as Kendall did. Simply the
looks she gave, the way she would glower at him if ever he did anything wrong, were berating
enough, so he wasn't looking forward to today's backlash.

Luckily, Harry and Louis got down there before Kendall and Gigi were anywhere in sight, which
was relaxing, though Liam and Zayn gave Harry a side-glance that basically told him not to come
too close yet. It was either a warning or a rejection - he couldn't work out which.

"Uh... I'm going to go and stand with my friends. You can join us if you really want to?" Louis
offered with a tentative smile, nudging his head towards his group of friends, where Niall was
childishly chasing Charlie and Christopher around the lobby's sofas (much to the distaste of the
woman working behind the reception counter.)

Harry pouted his mouth to the side as he watched them, shaking his head lightly.

"Probably best I don't. I feel like they wouldn't be exactly happy with me joining you." Harry
admitted. "Especially Niall."

"Why Niall especially?" Louis asked, looking between Harry and him. "Niall's lovely, he won't
mind."

"I haven't always been lovely to him, though. You know, when my friends picked on him." Harry
reluctantly told him, feeling guilt welling up in his stomach. Niall hadn't deserved any of what he
and his friends had unleashed on him, not one bit.

"Oh." Louis bluntly said, and it was evident that there was some disappointment in his tone.
"Okay. What are you going to do, then?"

"Stand on my own, I guess." Harry shrugged, though he decided to put on a smile. "I don't mind."

"It won't be very nice for you to stay on your own all day, especially if Kendall and the others are
feeling a bit spiteful." Louis frowned. "Are you sure you don't want to see if Niall accepts you?"

"Honestly, Lou Lou, you go to your friends. I'm a tough guy, you know, I'll be fine." Harry
smirked. "Go on."

"I'll stay with you?" Louis suggested.

"No, you'll just get targeted then. Go to your friends and I'll see you when we pair up for the
project, okay?" Harry smiled. "It's fine, I'll be okay."

Louis slowly nodded, keeping the eye contact for a good few seconds before turning away to head
towards his friends, who had finally received a glare from the hotel worker that was intense enough
to stop their antics. Harry sighed as he fell back onto one of the leather sofas, which was too low
for him and had him bending his legs a bit too much, but it was better than being stood up on his
own when Kendall and Gigi came down.

He turned on his phone, for the first time since he had switched it off before going to the bathroom
last night, to find a stream of texts from Kendall, all sent with a good length of time between them.
Hardly surprising, but reading them hurt.

Kenny❤: Not being funny but you have made the biggest mistake of your life.

Kenny❤: I don't care anymore anyway.

Kenny❤: Why are you not fucking reply to me omg, you have always been so childish.

Kenny❤: Harry seriously

Kenny❤: Reply. Now.

Kenny❤: For fuck sake really!? You can't even type out one simple message back to me....so
ridiculous

Kenny❤: I only dated you because ur hot and you've got a big dick anyway. Don't ever look at me
again

Harry rolled his eyes at that one. It was typical of Kendall to suddenly express that maybe she
never even loved him anyway, and was just using him as some arm candy.

Kenny❤: Who the fuck am I kidding Harry please can we get back together, you are the best thing
that has happened to me :(

Kenny❤: I didn't mean what I said before, that I only dated you for those things babe I won't ever
find anybody like you again

Kenny❤: I'm sorry what I said to Louis, is that why you're mad at me?? It is isn't it. Why has that
put an end to our relationship? Just a friendly reminder that we were together almost 3 years, it
was hardly nothing.

Kenny❤: Forget it, I'll easily replace you. EASILY.

Harry locked his phone with a sigh, slipping it into his pocket just as the elevator doors slid open,
with Kendall and Gigi walking out amongst the group of students. Harry managed to divert his
gaze towards his feet just in time, getting his phone out once again to distract himself, and he could
practically feel her eyes on him.

"Look at him, sat on his own." Gigi snickered, and she had deliberately raised the volume of her
voice for the sake of making sure Harry heard, but he didn't react in any way.

"He deserves it." Kendall retorted. "Anyway, I'm going to be flirting the fuck out of some French
guys today. I'll easily find someone hotter than him."
Harry couldn't help but smirk to himself; yes - his smugness was telling himself that other guys
were rarely hotter than himself. She was just saying that in an unsuccessful attempt to get to him.

"What are you smiling at, dipshit?" Cheryl yelled over at him, a level of fury behind her tone.
Harry looked over at them, Kendall being the first one he made eye contact with, and he decided to
keep that smug smile on his face as he slowly shrugged.

"Do you find it funny that you broke up with Kendall or something?" Gigi spat. Liam and Zayn
seemed to be avoiding looking Harry's way, probably guilty yet obedient to the girls.

"I didn't say that." Harry called back, before once again peering at his phone again in indifference.
He could see in the corner of his eye that Gigi was strolling his way, rather angrily, and she ripped
his phone from his hands suddenly.

"Don't be such an ignorant prick. We are talking to you." She jeered.

"And I replied to you. Give me my fucking phone." Harry hissed, getting to his feet and trying to
reach behind Gigi's back, where she held his device. They were aware that all of their classmates
were watching now, the teachers just seeing it as stupid teenage drama, and Harry had never felt so
pissed off and stressed out in his life.

"Well, I just want to let you know that Kendall was way too good for you anyway." Gigi snorted,
before releasing her hand, sending Harry's phone crashing to the ground behind her before
returning to the others. There was an awed hush from the other classmates, while Harry's jaw
locked in an aggrieved manner as he looked down at his phone, which luckily hadn't graced too
much of a bad hit.

"Fucking bitch." He snapped under his breath, and as he knelt down to start scooping up his phone,
so did Louis, who had rushed over to help.

"That wasn't very nice." He quietly said, using his sleeve to wipe the screen of Harry's phone and
handing it to him.

"Thank you, Louis." Harry attempted a smile, though he did feel understandably disheartened. "No,
it wasn't nice."

Kendall was laughing particularly loud among Harry's ex-friends, looking his way deliberately and
dropping a sly wink that said: "that's right, baby, we're getting you back." Harry should have
guessed really, that bullies would even turn on their friends if they became enemies. Typical.

"She's laughing to mask the pain." Louis mentioned, piquing Harry's interest.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"She just lost somebody like you. She's laughing to hide how hurt she is." Louis voiced, with a
reassuring smile. "Take it as a compliment, anybody would be heartbroken."

Harry was a little surprised by Louis' kind and reasonably confident words. As Louis strolled back
over to his friends, he momentarily looked back at Harry over his shoulder with a smug grin. Wow,
he was really becoming more open. Harry loved it.

The day didn't get any better as it progressed, though they did pair up with their partners not too far
into it. Harry knew he was being exceptionally quiet as he scrawled down his notes.

"It's really unfair how they're treating you." Louis muttered, stopping his own note-taking and
putting his pen down. "It's hardly like it's your fault you guys had to break it off."

"I can just tell they're coming up with some big plan to embarrass me. They keep looking at me
and whispering, it's what they always do when they're planning something to humiliate someone."

"Are you worried?" Louis softly questioned. It was clear how sincere he was being, how much he
really cared.

"No." Harry said. "I don't really give a shit. But I'm wondering whether I should be wary."

"Try not to think about it too much, it'll just make you feel even worse. Just know you're the better
person and move on." Louis smiled. Harry really wanted to hug him, but he instead opted for a
simple pat to his arm as a thank you. Louis was such a godsend ray of sunshine at a time like this.

"Okay, everyone!" Mr Grant called out, getting everybody's attention. "As we've been here for
quite a while now, we will be moving locations once we've finished in a minute."

"That'll be easy for Harry, he's used to finishing in a minute." Kendall riposted, earning immediate
thunderous stifled laughter from their classmates at the underlying sexual reference. Harry shut his
eyes and exhaled slowly. What a liar she was.

"At least I can go a few days without sex, they've got therapy for that, you know?" Harry hit back
at her, and an even louder uproar sounded. Kendall looked horrified that she had been dissed so
much.

"Alright, that's enough! I don't know what's happened between you two exactly, but I'm not going
to have it distracting everybody else! No more, please." Mr Grant demanded. "We're moving now,
everybody pack away your things."

"Good comeback." Louis whispered with a chuckle, as they packed away their stuff into their bags
and got to their feet, brushing off strands of grass from their legs.

"My comeback was actually true," Harry rolled his eyes, "She's just a liar who wants attention."

They began walking amongst the crowd, Harry and Louis staying as far from Kendall and Co. as
physically possible.

"Yeah, you seem like you'd be able to last longer than a minute." Louis mused, then immediately
wanted to slap himself. "That was quite weird of me to say."

Harry stifled a laugh. "Wow, Lou Lou, I appreciate it. What a compliment."

Probably the most provocative thing Louis had ever said, really. Again, Harry liked it.

"Do you know how I can tell, actually?" Louis decided he'd be a bit risky, liven things up a bit, and
Harry was intrigued.

"What? How?"

Louis couldn't even look up, knowing he had dug himself too far into this one now.

"That night you moaned something that sounded a lot like my name. Seemed to go on longer than
a minute to me."

Harry flushed red, which was a rare occasion for him. He wasn't expecting that topic to ever
resurface, yet here it was, lingering in the air as they all headed to their next location.
"Uh..." He scratched the back of his neck idly, "I don't know what night you're talking about."

"Right," Louis smugly added, "But you've gone quite red."

"You're acting rather confident today. It's usually me making you blush." Harry smirked.

"I guess I'm still wondering about it too much, why it happened." Louis shrugged, a sheepish smile
present on his face.

"Wish I knew. You must have been on my mind, huh?" Harry whispered lowly. Louis' cheeks were
finally tinging pink again. "There's that blush I missed."

"Yeah, you win." Louis practically squeaked out, pretty shocked.

"Always." Harry chuckled. "But anyway, you got an honest answer. Happy?"

"Yes."

This time it was Cheryl's turn to call over to Harry, just before they all boarded the Metro, after
they had all been observing Harry and Louis chatting from afar.

"Dating Louis now, Harry? Damn, what a downgrade." She shot at him, to the amusement of
everybody but Harry and Louis. Kendall's eyes were sparkling due to how thankful she was that her
friends were helping her get her own back.

"Actually, it would be a massive upgrade." Harry complacently smiled. It caused even more of an
uproar, so that once again Mr Grant had to step in.

"Right, no more of this! You two, I don't want you anywhere near each other," He pointed between
Harry and Kendall, "Unless you're going to fix whatever immature thing has happened between
you both."

"Believe me, we're not going to be fixing anything." Harry expressed, with a satisfied grin. Kendall
looked slightly heartbroken at that, an emotion she probably didn't want to show, and Harry
couldn't care less. She deserved it at this point. She would never find anyone as good as him, while
all Harry could do from there on was upgrade.

Harry was feeling even more generous today with his money, and decided to take Louis and his
three friends to a nice diner for dinner. Niall was clearly reluctant yet thankful, agreeing once
Harry flashed a friendly smile at him.

There was minimal talking throughout, mainly Louis and his friends amonst themselves, but Harry
didn't mind; he quite enjoyed listening to them, it was intriguing. Especially the way Niall, Charlie
and Christopher were clearly trying to converge to Harry's level of coolness, looking his way
whenever they said something they deemed funny to see if he laughed. He did every time to please
them.

On the way back to the hotel that evening, Harry was feeling rather chipper considering the
constant battles between he and Kendall all day. The cool, calm air was aiding his good mood.

"I feel okay." He said aloud, to Louis, who was beside him while the other three walked slightly
ahead along the lamp-lit streets.
 "Good. Again, thanks for being so lovely and generous tonight. I know my friends think a lot more
of you now." Louis giggled.

"Oh, I see how it is," Harry smirked, "As soon as the wallet comes out, it's all fondness and love."

"Shut up, I didn't mean that." Louis playfully slapped his arm. "Anyway, about this whole Kendall
thing. Why don't you get with another girl in the class? Seeing as you're single and everything."

He seemed to like mentioning Harry getting with other people. Interesting. A test? Maybe.

"That'd hardly work for a few reasons. One, Kendall would bully said girl to death. Two, I don't
like any girls in our class. And three, I'm pretty sure all the girls like me, but are intimidated by
me."

"Wow, you think they're all in love with you?" Louis asked in amusement. "Even more modesty
from Harry Styles."

"Oh come on, they all get so shy around me. Have you not seen it?" Harry quirked an eyebrow.

Louis hesitated. "Well, I guess so. So no girls in our class."

"Nope. No girls."

"What if you pulled a real surprise out the bag and got with Mr Grant?" Louis giggled. "That'd be
sure to impact Kendall."

"Don't! I'm pretty sure Mr Grant is a bit of a creep with me sometimes, looking at my legs or
touching my arm." Harry shuddered.

"Oh, so somebody else is in love with you now?" Louis interjected. "Seems like the whole world
is."

"You're in the world." Harry cut in, so abruptly that it caught Louis off-guard and all he could do
was let out a shocked laugh.

"I don't know," Louis softly smiled, "Maybe it's easy for you, having people literally falling to their
knees for you."

"You want to fall to your knees for me now? That's quite fascinating imagery." Harry winked. That
was enough to spiral Louis' head into a frenzy, heart thumping and hands lightly shaking simply
from the implied sexual topic.

"Okay, that's enough now."

"Right." Harry smirked. "It'll all get too much otherwise." He let his hand fall down to Louis' bum,
skimming it so faintly (yet wanting to touch it so much more) before retracting his hand once he
gotten the hitch of breath from Louis he had been looking for. Perfect.

That night before once they had turned the lights out, Louis googled: 'Do I like him?'

Chapter End Notes

louis is definitely getting more confident, but he's always going to be an innocent little
buttercup at the end of the day ;)
 18
Chapter Notes

Hi guys. Let me start by saying I'm not going to sugar-coat this: this chapter involves
the suicide attempt that I've been trying to sort of stress in the tags of this story. I know
it's a horrible thing, but it's just a step in the story that I have to pass through in order
to reach the sunnier storylines to come.

IF you are not comfortable with reading it, and please be honest with yourselves (I
know people who wouldn't be), then only read up to the part where Louis has read the
letter he's given.

Sorry for this dramatic note, I just know that it's very important to warn people if
anything touchy draws into the storyline. Thank you xx

See the end of the chapter for more notes

If the quizzes Louis took until 1A.M. were anything to go by, he apparently liked Harry. One even
told him to "make a move"; ha, as if he would ever be so poised.

Wait, did he like Harry? Sure, Harry was a mega attractive guy, but did it go further than that? He
was also very kind... generous... sweet... thoughtful... funny... okay, maybe Louis liked him a
teensy bit, but not enough to distinguish it as being a solid crush. Possibly.

After taking the ridiculous quizzes for so long, his mind was fuzzy, with his phone having been far
too dazzlingly bright against the stark-black room, and he had to heavily blink a few times once his
phone had been returned to his nightstand in order to rid of the unpleasant speckles dancing in his
vision. His mind was whirring far too much to comprehend sleep, and he hated the thought that
Harry's alarm would be going off in 6 hours. Resting seemed too out of reach at that point.

He couldn't stop thinking about the things Harry had said and done yesterday; the way he had
ended up skimming his hand over his bum was an absolute deal breaker in terms of Louis keeping
a level head - way too deliberate. And the thought that Harry may have possibly liked him too sent
shivers through him. He wanted to stop telling himself such negative things, killing off any
optimism he had managed before, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

He ended up drifting to sleep around twenty past one, though he woke up several times during the
night to toss and turn endlessly.

"Kendall, can you stop leaving your clothes all over the bathroom?" Gigi called out from said
room. "We do have a laundry basket out there, you know?"

Kendall rolled her eyes from where she was sat, bare feet kicked up on the plush, posh tuffet in
front of their sofa, browsing through the rather limited array of television channels.

"Give me a break, I'm emotionally unstable." She snapped back, finally giving up on finding a
suitable channel and switching the TV off altogether before slamming the remote down. "How
long until we have to go down?"
"Well, it's half seven, so half an hour. Have you even started getting ready yet?"

"What's the point?" Kendall huffed. "I'm not exactly dressing up for anyone anymore, am I?"

"Then dress up for me, baby girl. I'll be your secret lesbian lover." Gigi winked at her as she
sauntered out the bathroom, dropping her makeup bag down onto her bed.

"Mmm, now we're talking." Kendall giggled, standing up and wrapping Gigi in a tight hug.
"Thanks for supporting me, Gi."

"It's what friends are for, babe."

Kendall broke the hug, deeply sighing as she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her pyjama
bottoms.

"It's just," She huffed out a deep breath, "I want revenge on Harry, you know? I don't just want him
to get away with this."

"Kenny, revenge only works right in movies. Just forgive and forget, okay? You'll find somebody
else." Gigi maturely assured, folding up her discarded pyjamas and tucking them beneath her
pillow.

"You know me, I'm not just going to forget about all this. I don't know if you've noticed, but Harry
meant-- means a lot to me. Yeah, he still does. And it pisses me off that Louis faggot Tomlinson
was practically the reason for our breakup, you know?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have lied to Louis' face about Harry, that didn't exactly help." Gigi
reminded. "You're not completely innocent, are you?"

"You're supposed to be backing me up here!" Kendall exploded. "Come the fuck on, Gigi, we're
best friends, for Christ's sake!"

"I am backing you up, by trying to convince you that revenge won't work well! It never does!"
Gigi exclaimed.

"Then I'm going to have to do this on my own. Hell, maybe I'll even get Zayn and Liam to help,"
Kendall indifferently shrugged, "And if you're really my friend, maybe you'll help too."

Gigi slowly nodded, face straight. "I don't know, Kendall. Just let me think about it."

"Thank you." Kendall sighed, putting on her bra beneath her pyjama t-shirt. "I was thinking maybe
involving Louis again. He's vulnerable. Plus, I can't exactly let him off scot-free, can I?"

"I'm not even going to try to fault you anymore," Gigi rolled her eyes, "Just do what you want, and
know you might pay the consequences."

"Happily." She sneered.

Harry was set to hang out with Louis and his friends again today, seeing as he had exchanged a sit-
down meal for their trust and hospitality. As he and Louis strolled out the lift, he noticed the three
boys waiting nudging each other frantically to inform one another of the arrival.

"Hi, Harry!" Christopher brightly greeted. "And hi, Louis!"

Louis wanted to roll his eyes, Christopher wanted to act so cool for Harry but it came across more
as a little bit... creepy?

"Hi, mate, you alright?" Harry casually greeted, hands in the front pockets of his black skinny jeans
and backpack slung over one shoulder. It was quite the contrast to Christopher, who was wearing
his large backpack over both shoulders, hands clutching the handles.

"Yeah, mate, you?" Christopher enthusiastically replied, eyes lighting up. God, it was sweet how
he took Harry's nonchalant use of 'mate' almost as a friendship initiation, but Louis had never been
so embarrassed about his friends in his entire life. It didn't sound right when Christopher used the
'mate' in return, it sounded very forced, nearly robotic.

"I'm doing good, thanks." Harry smiled. It was clear he was playing along for Christopher's sake, to
make him happy.

When the elevator doors slid open moments later, Harry's entire ex-friend group strolled out as if
they owned the place, looking as though a CGI explosion should have been superimposed behind
them or something. Was that how they had always looked even when Harry was with them? Wow,
he never wanted it to look that dramatic. They barely even spared Harry and his new little group a
glance, strangely, moving to stand in another spot in the lobby. Okay, maybe they really had learnt
to get over what had happened.

Once they all moved out, today only venturing out to a very nearby café plaza, Niall, Christopher
and Charlie walked slightly ahead of Harry and Louis once again.

"Sorry about my embarrassing friends. Well, I say friends, I mean Christopher. He seems to idolise
you." Louis groaned.

Harry chuckled, "It's fine, seriously. I can tell how different you are to them, I'll let him have his
fun. I'm just more concerned about why Kendall and that lot are acting like I don't exist today."

"Remember what I mentioned yesterday: masking the pain. Not acknowledging you makes her feel
like she's moving on and getting her own back." Louis theorised. "Now you can get on peacefully."

"Finally." Harry sighed.

Harry, Louis and the other three boys chose a table in a corner of the café their class chose to
populate for the first section of today's work, Kendall and her posse of arrogance sitting the far
side over, thankfully, and everybody got on with their work. Quite inevitably, it didn't take long
until Christopher was the one filling the silence on their table.

"Harry, can I ask you something?"

Harry drew in a steady breath, finishing up scribbling down a title on his page in order to put his
pen down and give Christopher his full attention.

"Go ahead."

Louis was practically holding his breath for him, don't say something stupid, you idiot.

"How many times did you, like," He childishly stifled a laugh, "have sex with Kendall?"

Louis loudly exhaled, letting his head fall forwards to slam onto his open notepad. He had had
enough.

Harry was taken aback yet amused, eyebrows crinkling in intrigue. "Umm... I never counted."
"Bit of a weird question, man." Niall chipped in, pretty much to Louis' rescue (and maybe Harry's
too.)

"How is it? We're mates now, aren't we, Harry?"

"Of course." Harry lightly laughed. "I don't mind any level of questions."

"Did you ever sleep with any other girls in our class?" Christopher immediately fired at him, as
though he had a big, long list of questions ready to ask.

Harry thought for a moment, while Louis couldn't help but feel a little jealous when anything
concerned Harry's sex life was mentioned.

"Uh, I slept with Lily Greenwood at a house party... and hooked up with Caitlyn Brooker for a
while. And that girl Marie, don't know her surname." Harry confessed, rather calmly.

Yeah, Louis hated this. His head remained on his folded arms throughout, silently grieving.

"Wow," Christopher mused, and to be honest, Niall and Charlie looked just as in awe, "So many
hot girls."

Louis had never heard any of his friends refer to a girl as 'hot' before. They usually stuck to the
innocent words, maybe 'cute' was the worst they could do usually.

"I guess so." Harry shrugged, a complacent smile on his face.

"Ever done anything with any guys?" Christopher snickered. Yeah, Louis kind of felt his stomach
dip a little bit there, glad that his face was hidden in the safe little burrow his folded arms created.
Why on earth was Christopher doing this?

"Is that a hookup invitation, Christopher?" Harry jokingly wiggled his eyebrows.

"Well, that's up to you, Harry."

"I was kidding." Harry chuckled.

"So was I." Christopher said, very quickly. Louis had to admit, that was kind of funny.

"Right." Harry laughed. "No, nothing with guys... actually, I think I kissed a guy once, though."

Louis' mouth curled up into a smile where his face was hidden from view, by now his friends
probably sure he had fallen asleep like that or something, and he knew Harry was referencing to
their Eiffel Tower kiss pretty blatantly. When Louis' friends exploded with frantic, excited
questions as to who, Harry laughed and told them he was kidding.

Christopher removed his glasses and popped them on the tabletop. "Hey, Harry, do you think I'd be
more likely to get with a hot girl like Caitlyn Brooker if I started wearing contact lenses? I reckon I
look hotter without the glasses."

Oh God, Louis had finally lifted his head and regretted it once he noticed the way Christopher was
trying to make a 'sexy' squint happen.

Harry snickered. "Keep them, man, girls dig guys with glasses as old-looking as yours. Kendall
sometimes gave me a pair just like yours to put on while I fucked her."

"Really?"
"No."

"Oh." Christopher piped, putting the glasses back on. Louis wanted to cry with laughter when he
linked eyes with Harry, who too looked close to bursting into tearful chuckles. Christopher was
clearly fun to mess with.

Louis finally got the urge to look the way of Kendall and Co., to find that they were chatting rather
suspiciously amongst themselves, giving Harry in particular little glances. Harry followed Louis'
gaze to the table, where Kendall raised her hand to wave in a ridiculously sickly sweet way that
mocked him. Harry scowled in response.

"I just want to know what they're going to do." He stated, monotone, mainly to Louis but letting the
three confused others in on it too.

"They're probably wanting you to worry, Harry, I doubt they'll do anything." Louis bet. "Anyway,
you're too strong to get hurt by whatever they may have planned to say or do."

"Well, I'd hope so." Harry sighed.

Little did he know, maybe he wouldn't be their primary target. They wanted somebody more
vulnerable.

"Christopher," Kendall harshly whispered, as Christopher passed by her on the field during the
time everybody should have been working. "Come here."

He had innocently been trying to cross over to the toilets, and the moment Kendall had seen him
getting to his feet to do so, she had gone in for 'the kill.'

"Why would I?" He shyly remarked, and he kept walking, blushing due to somebody like her
actually acknowledging him in such close proximity without it being to bully. Kendall jogged to
catch up with him, her burgundy Puma Suedes dampening in the rain-speckled grass, placing a
steady hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, can you just listen to me for a second? I know we're from contrasting groups, yeah, but
there's something important I really need to talk to you about." Kendall explained. Christopher
didn't see through her act, an act that had been completely crafted by her and her spite, with the
help of her friends, his caring side falling for the puppy eyes she was displaying.

"About what? I'm confused."

"It involves Louis and my ex, Harry," Kendall stated the names slowly, as if she was speaking to a
four-year-old. "Can I tell you something?"

"I don't want to be a part of any drama." Christopher frantically shook his hands in denial. "Sorry."

"If you agree to listen to what I have to say and play a part in it, I'll make out with you." Kendall
tempted. All part of the plan; she and the rest of the group had been observing the way Christopher
gushed whenever girls were near him. They knew his weaknesses.

His eyes had widened considerably, mouth a little bit ajar.

"W-What, really?"

"You down?"
"Yes! Oh my goodness, of course! As long as Harry doesn't give me a funeral." Christopher
worried, nervously looking Harry's way to see that he, Louis, Niall and Charlie were too busy
crowded around a textbook to notice the suspicious event unfolding

"I'm not with him anymore, am I? And anyway, he won't know a thing. How about we sneak off
behind that toilet block, huh?" She suggested, pointing to the brick building not too far from them.
Christopher nodded enthusiastically, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Yes! I am all for that!"

Christopher was far too excited to notice the sly wink Kendall dropped to Liam, Cheryl, Gigi and
Zayn, as she walked with him towards the directed building. The moment they were behind it, and
out of sight, Kendall shoved Christopher (a little bit roughly) against the wall.

"Ever made out with someone hot?" She smugly asked, a cocky smile stretched across her face.

"I've never made out with anyone." He sweetly admitted, gulping and wiping a layer of sweat away
from his hairline. "I-"

Kendall cut him off by starting the conditional make out, and the poor guy was trying his hardest
but failing to kiss back properly, making it a sickly messy kiss, but Kendall was doing what she had
to do. She reached into her back pocket as the kiss continued, grabbing a scrunched up piece of
paper and stuffing it into Christopher's palm as she broke the kiss (and tried not to heave, as a string
of his spit was attached to her bottom lip.)

She wiped at her lip with the back of her hand. "You're not to look at what's on this piece of paper,
but you're going to give it to Louis." She sternly instructed, though Christopher was still glassy-
eyed and panting from his first make out with a hot girl.

"Yes, of course!" He nodded, stuffing it into his front pocket. "A-And I'm saying it's from you?"

"Of course you're not," She snickered, "You're saying it's from Harry. You see, Harry gave that to
me a while ago and was always begging me to pass it on to Louis. I figured it would be best if one
of his friends did, especially seeing as Harry and I are done now."

"Okay, I've got it! So I'm not allowed to read this, but I'm giving it to Louis and telling him it's
from Harry," Christopher breathlessly reiterated, "Okay."

"Good boy. Don't give it to Louis in front of Harry, it won't be as special then. Don't tell Harry
you're doing it just yet either, he will learn that, it's from him after all. Oh! And just tell him that
Harry told you to, don't mention me at all." Kendall smiled very widely. "Thanks for the kiss,
Chrissy. It was very good."

He gaped. "As good as Harry's were?"

"Hurry on back to your friends now, go on. Thank you." She interjected, ushering him away
hastily.

"Got it!" He winked at her a little over-confidently, thinking he was really in for a shot right now,
before jogging away.

Kendall shuddered and spat into the grass as soon as he left.

By dinner, Louis felt completely relaxed. He had been lounging on the field all day, despite it
being pretty damp with rain, and getting a lot of work done, and he felt a lot more comfortable with
Harry now. Though not completely; never completely.

"You guys hungry at all?" Harry questioned the four of them. Christopher was nervously playing
with the ball of paper in his pocket, waiting until he had Louis alone.

"Not really. Just tired." Louis yawned, stretching slightly.

"Yeah, lunch was enough for me." Niall agreed. "How about we just head back to the hotel and sit
at that bar just off the lobby?"

"Good idea, actually!" Harry pointed out. "I've been thinking of seeing what that's like. Everyone
up for that?"

They all agreed and started making their way back towards the hotel. Louis was taking in the light
breeze, shutting his eyes softly whenever there was a long, straight path in front of them to walk,
listening to the sounds of Paris around them. Harry patted his shoulder with a smile.

They got to the hotel pretty quickly, having not been too far away today, to find the bar semi-busy,
even with a (nice) group of their classmates in there who waved welcomingly at them. Though, as
everyone seemed to be rather wary of him, they didn't quite direct it at Harry.

Harry got them all a soft drink and they sat on a high table on stools in the corner. Christopher was
still fumbling with the paper ball, and had been for so long that the paper had softened, and
couldn't wait much longer after just a few sips of Schweppes lemonade.

"Louis, can I chat with you in the bathroom really quickly? It's... something about my family." He
blurted out, so Louis glanced up quickly with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, uh... okay, come on." He jumped down from the stool and followed Christopher, the others
a little suspicious but nothing too dramatic, and Christopher pushed open the door to the men's
bathroom and led Louis inside.

"Listen, I have something for you. This is probably going to sound very confusing, but Harry
wanted me to give this to you, it's from him. You can stand in here and read it, I'll let you have
your privacy, but come back out when you're done, yes?" Christopher rushed. Louis' heart was
thudding heavier than ever before, taking the balled up paper with shaking hands.

"O-Okay, why couldn't he give this to me?" He worried. "What does it say?"

"That's for you to know, it's your letter from him." Christopher shrugged, patting Louis on the
shoulder before slipping out of the bathroom.

Louis could only hear his breathing in the room, and the faint tune of the 1950s French love song
playing back in the lobby, as he unscrunched that piece of paper with explosive curiosity. He
swallowed as he began reading the scrawled writing (which he had no idea really belonged to
Zayn.)

❝Louis. Hello. I know you are confused right now but please read this carefully. I wanted one of
your friends to give you this because otherwise I would feel even worse than I already do. In simple
words, I want you to know that I'm sick of you. I'm sick of the way you look at me, I'm sick of
looking at you, I'm sick of pretending I'm not bothered by your blatant crush on me.....for fuck sake
why am I being so nice here? Just stop being such a freak towards me. Maybe it would help if you
were more attractive, but sadly you are not. At all. Inside or out. All you are is a poor, ugly
wannabe cool guy who knows he will be the lowest of the low at the end of the day. Don't fault me
for finally putting into words what I've been wanting to say this entire time. I may have been nice to
you, but know that these words are the truth.
Yours sincerely, Harry.❞

Louis couldn't breathe. He had dropped the piece of paper so that it fluttered to the tiled flooring,
and he hadn't even noticed until now that tears were rolling down his face and he was shaking so
much that he didn't even feel human. He sprinted from the bathroom, heading straight across the
lobby and towards the lifts.

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Harry brightly replied to whatever Charlie had said, before spotting
Louis in the corner of his eye, immediately hopping down from his stool. "Louis?"

Christopher was watching in shock, as were Niall and Charlie, as Louis violently hit the button for
the lift to open, and he got in and shut it right before Harry could get to the closing doors.

"Shit, what's going on?" He yelled out, slamming his hands on the doors. The reception staff were
calling over to him, their accents too thick for him to distinguish, and he began pressing the button
just as frantically as Louis until the vacant lift by it opened.

Harry's chest heaved as the lift raised to their floor, holding the sides of his head in terror as he tried
to conjure up what in fuck's name was going on. The moment the doors slid open, he skidded out
of them and sprinted down the hallway, where the door to he and Louis' room had just slammed
shut, and he fumbled in his pocket for his room key and slotted it angrily into the keyhole.

"Louis!" He shouted as he opened up the door, it slamming shut behind him, and he looked around
desperately. The moment he felt his heart practically jump into his throat was the moment he saw
Louis' silhouette out on the balcony. He was stood the other side of the balcony fencing, his back
pressed against it and hands locked around the barrier behind him.

"Oh my God," Harry breathed in horror, heading for the balcony and putting out his hands slowly
even though Louis' back was to him. "Louis..."

Louis was so shaken up, breathy sobs and trembling hands gripping not enough onto the fence
behind him. One tiny slip or wrong footing, and he'd be gone. He didn't even look back at Harry.

"Go away!" He yelled out, voice broken. "Go!"

Harry tried to steady his breathing, knowing he would have to move very slowly and carefully at a
time like this.

"Please, Louis," His voice cracked as tears broke through his attempted calmness, "Please, take my
hand, step back over the barrier, you're scaring me."

"The letter," Louis managed, voice carrying in the wind, "Your letter Christopher gave to me."

"What letter?"

"YOUR FUCKING LETTER!" Louis screamed, "I READ IT! I'M FUCKING DONE, HARRY.
DONE!"

"I didn't write a letter!" Harry assured. "Take my hand, Louis." He shook said hand a little, which
he had extended out towards Louis.
 "No..." Louis' voice had become small again, "No, no, no." He was frantically shaking his head,
refusing to even look down at the city far below.

"I promise you, Louis, I don't know what's going on but you need to take my hand right now!"
Harry commanded. "Come on back over here and we can talk." He extended his hand out even
more, tentatively.

"I'm done talking. I'm done with everything." Louis breathed, only just loudly enough for Harry's
ears to pick up on. "Let me jump."

"No!" Harry yelled out, voice croaky in the midst of his heavy sobbing. "You jump and I'll be right
behind you, please don't."

Louis looked back over his shoulder then, at the sobbing mess behind him, Harry's cheeks angrily
red and full-on ugly sobbing, body shaking.

"Louis." He wailed out, as they held eye contact. "Please don't. I didn't write it. I didn't write the
letter."

"I've had enough."

"I know you might have," Harry assured, trying to catch his breath, "I want to help you. Take my
hand."

"No."

"Louis, take my hand!"

"No!"

Louis turned back towards the city skyline in front of him, shaking even more, fingers whitening
with the strain of holding himself up. Harry knew he had to take evasive action, things weren't
going anywhere.

In one swift move, while he prayed to God in his head it would succeed, he rushed forwards and
scooped Louis up, pulling him back over he barrier, and they both collapsed on the balcony floor in
a sobbing heap. Immediately, Louis dug his face into Harry for safety, crying into his arm.

"I'm sorry." He brokenly whined. "I'm sorry."

"You're okay, you're safe." Harry soothed, kissing his head. "You're alive, Louis."

"I'm sorry." He shakily stated, once again.

They stayed like that for a long time, Louis unstably crying into Harry's arm, Harry stroking his
back and whispering soothing things to him, and it was only once things had calmed down that it
really hit him.

What fucking letter had Louis read?

Chapter End Notes

Poor daffodil Louis. DON'T BE MAD AT ME OMG :( he is okay and soft Harry is
looking after him.
 19
Chapter Notes

Got a pretty long one for you;) (that's what Harry will be saying to Louis in a future
chapter wooo xox)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It was 8 o'clock by the time the tears had finally dried, and Louis had reformed to gaspy little
breaths every few seconds into the silence. Harry lifted his head to look at Louis, whose face was
still dug into his bicep, and softly stroked his thumb over Louis' forearm, which was limply lying
across his stomach.

"Should we head inside now?" Harry was surprised by how gentle his voice could be in such an
uncompromising situation, and it came out as if he was talking to a newborn baby or a tiny puppy.

Louis sharply sniffed before nodding, finally lifting his face so that Harry saw it again for the first
time since he had looked back over his shoulder out on the other side of that balcony. He had a red
mark down one cheek, showing just how roughly he had had it pressed against Harry's arm for
comfort, and his eyes were glossy with tears and bloodshot red. His eyeline shot down again.

Harry shifted into a sitting position, jumping up to his feet and holding his hand out for Louis, who
took it and stumbled to his feet, brushing off his jeans. Harry placed a hand on Louis' shoulder and
led him inside, firmly sliding the balcony door shut behind them so they were securely in their
warm room again.

"Let's sit," Harry sighed, "We need to talk a little, don't we?"

Louis nodded once again - which seemed to be all he could do now- with his facial expression
neutral, and they sat on the sofa, Louis kicking off his trainers and drawing his feet up in front of
him. There was a short silence while Harry carefully chose how to fill it next, and Louis wasn't
even close to doing so.

Harry drew in a deep breath. "You mentioned a letter that Christopher gave to you."

As if on cue, there was a clear, distinctive knock on their door. Harry kept his eyes on Louis for a
few seconds as he got to his feet.

"Stay sat right here, okay?"

Louis nodded, still staring off into the space in front of him. Harry strolled over to the door of their
room, looking back twice over his shoulder at Louis on the way, before opening up the door. Stood
there was Niall, Charlie at his side, and the instant Harry spotted Christopher awkwardly hanging
further back down the hallway, he tried to angrily get to him, grunting in annoyance when Niall
and Charlie held him back. Christopher took off in a sprint down the hallway towards the lifts,
startled, before instead disappearing through the door that led to the staircase.

"Fucking prick! I'm going to beat the shit out of you!" Harry shouted after him, and Charlie harshly
hushed him, hands splayed out to calm him down.
"Is Louis okay? What's happened?" He frantically asked Harry. "We found this on the bathroom
floor in the lobby, Christopher gave it to him, didn't he?"

Charlie held up the disheveled letter, and Harry didn't verbally respond, he instead ripped it from
Charlie's hands, looked back again to check on Louis (who was still sat in the same position)
before hurriedly reading it.

His face gradually scrunched up in pure vexation the more words he took in, mouth dropping open
in disbelief and fury, throwing the letter to the ground.

"That's Zayn's fucking handwriting." He seethed, holding the sides of his face and taking a deep
breath. "Why did Christopher have this?"

"We don't know anything! Christopher wouldn't talk!" Niall exclaimed. "Louis is okay, yes?"

"He's recovering now." Harry lowered the volume of his voice majorly. "He tried to jump off the
balcony after he ran up here."

"What?! We need to see him!" Charlie tried to fight past Harry, who was barricading them from
entering the room, but Harry didn't allow it.

"I think he's better off with as little company as possible now, he's still very shaken up. Hasn't said
a word yet since I got him down." Harry apprised, with an apologetic shrug. "Can you please keep
that letter and don't throw it away?"

"Okay. We will check in later. Please take care of him." Niall nodded, kneeling down to scoop up
the letter, and Harry hummed before gently shutting the door behind him.

He turned back to Louis and walked over, returning to his seat beside him, looking at the side of
Louis' face as he continued to stare forwards.

"Zayn wrote that letter." He gently informed him. "They were probably all in on it. And I apologise
from the bottom of my heart, Louis. They must have somehow convinced Christopher to give it to
you."

Louis didn't react, just a few steady blinks, and Harry softly sighed.

"I know you're not going to want to say much right now, but if I ask you some simple questions,
could you give me some simple answers?" Harry asked, keeping his tone very tender.

"Okay." Louis piped up, finally moving his gaze to look down at his folded hands.

"Did Christopher tell you who gave him that letter?"

"He just said you." Louis mumbled, voice small.

"Right. And he didn't say very much at all?"

"No. Said you wanted me to have it."

"Okay." Harry slowly nodded, trying to burn down the anger inside him towards everybody
responsible for doing this to Louis. "I know that my old friends had a huge part to play in this. This
is their revenge, what they've been planning."

Louis hazily nodded again.

"I'm going to give that letter to Mr Grant and explain to him everything that's happened." Harry
explained. "But I won't tell him about what just happened out on the balcony, if you don't want me
to."

"Don't."

"Okay." Harry nodded. "But I'll tell him how much it upset you."

There was yet another silence, with Louis picking at a thread on one of the plush cushions as a
distraction.

"What would you like to do? I think you should probably get some rest, clear your head." Harry
suggested, and Louis finally turned to him, linking eyes.

"I want to talk to you."

Harry quirked up his eyebrows in surprise, having expected Louis to get straight to bed and not say
a word.

"You want to? What about?"

"About me."

"About you?" Harry gently expanded. "I hardly know anything about you."

"Exactly." Louis blandly said. "I think it'll take my mind off what just happened."

"Then chat away, and I'll sit here and listen for as long as it takes." Harry assured, with a smile. "I'd
love to know more about you."

"I have four younger sisters, no brothers," Louis' voice was very broken and small as he began
explaining, picking at the thread again as he spoke. "I have to look after them a lot because my
mum's always working, sometimes six days a week... you've guessed this by now, we're pretty
poor."

Harry made a sound of acknowledgment to show he was listening, and Louis continued.

"My dad died a year back, a bad accident at work, so that sort of slashed our income and we
struggle a lot to get by now."

"I'm so sorry," Harry breathed.

"Don't be, it's okay." Louis smiled slightly, reassuringly, though he still lacked any brightness in
his tone. "And my mum, me and my sisters moved from Doncaster, into a smaller home where we
are now, more affordable, you know. We've never been a wealthy family anyway, even when my
dad was with us."

"What was Doncaster like?" Harry mused, thankful that Louis was at least a little talkative again,
and that opening up about his life was probably a way unleashing all that he had bottled up.

"Well, more of a city than Holmes Chapel, a lot louder. I prefer the quiet." He softly smiled.

"What about the school? What was that like?"

"I got insanely bullied," Louis shook his head and shut his eyes, "Every day, just by more people.
Didn't really have any friends. I kind of thought a new school would change things. I was wrong."
He tugged his sleeves over his hands and balled them up.

Harry felt an even more intense want to scream in the faces of Kendall and the others until his
throat went raw. But right now, all he could do was comfort Louis and listen to what he had to say.

"God," He whispered, "That's rough. I can't see why people would want to bully you and wouldn't
want to be your friend, you're probably the loveliest person I've ever met."

Louis blushed a little and smiled to himself. "Thank you, Harry."

"I mean that, you know," Harry spontaneously scooped up one of Louis' hands, holding it in his,
"What that letter said? Bullshit. I love looking at you, I love you looking at me," His mouth curled
up into a grin, "And if you have got a blatant, little crush on me, I love that too."

Louis nervously bit on his lower lip.

"What?" Harry smirked.

"I don't know."

"Of course you know, what is it?" Harry chuckled.

"Am I dreaming?"

"What?"

"Am I?" Louis reiterated. "Am I alive?"

"Yes," Harry nodded, "Why are you asking that?"

"This doesn't feel real." Louis shrugged. "I feel too numb, I don't know."

Harry squeezed Louis' hand. "You feel that?"

"Mhmm."

"It's real."

Louis hesitated.

"I just usually wouldn't open up to anybody, I guess. Obviously I'm feeling particularly sensitive,
you know? This feels like some weird dream." Louis sniffed, gently tugging his hand from Harry's
grip. Harry had felt how much it had been sweating, he was nervous just from their hands being
connected.

"It must feel so surreal, yeah. But I think you benefited from opening up a little, right?" Harry
justified, smiling warmly at him. "It's good to know more about you, it was so agonising never
knowing why you're so withdrawn."

Louis simply hummed in response, showcasing that exact withdrawal by staring blankly ahead of
them both.

"Right, bedtime now." Harry commanded, like a parent of a schoolchild on a Sunday evening.
"That's enough staring into space, you need to refuel."

"You're right." Louis uttered, getting to his feet rather shakily, probably still dwelling in his dream-
like state. "I haven't brushed my teeth."

"Oh well, one night without will be fine. I want to stay in the room with you, and you need to go to
bed right now." Harry softly encouraged, blocking the bathroom door. "Come on."

Louis wailed a little in protest, but did as he was told, heading towards his bed, where the sheets
were still tousled from that morning, as it wasn't a cleaning day for the hotel workers.

"I have to get changed, though."

"Get changed, then--" Harry decided he needed to correct himself mid-sentence, once it dawned on
him how devastatingly insecure Louis was. "--Umm... I'll turn around, then, okay?"

"Mhmm."

Harry sat on his bed, facing the wall by its side so that Louis had his privacy, pulling out his phone
to scroll through it so that he wasn't pointlessly sat there waiting.

"I'll tell you when I'm done."

"Okay, Louis."

Louis almost had a girlish frame of mind, the need for bodily privacy, as usually boys were so open
about stripping down bare in front of each other, yet Harry didn't really mind. Louis was pretty
fragile, he really needed a self-esteem boost.

Harry scrolled through his Instagram, the sounds of Louis pulling off clothing behind him and
replacing the garments with his pyjamas, and for some reason Harry felt a hot flush in his chest. He
had pushed all of his emotions way too far this evening, he needed to rest his head.

"Done."

Harry got to his feet again when he heard that word, after a minute or so, turning back to smile at
Louis, who was back in the comfort of his pyjamas. He had his sleeves wrapped protectively
around his hands, sitting cross-legged on the unmade bed.

"Bedtime, mister," Harry joked, a little smirk playing on his face, "Before I lose my patience."

Louis gave a half-hearted laugh, just a sharp exhale from the nose, which would have been more
enthusiastic without the awful events from tonight, and he slid into the sheets properly.

"Nice and cosy?"

"A bit cold," Louis admitted, "Hope I warm up soon."

"Bet you want me in there with you, don't you?" Harry jokingly offered.

"What?" Louis asked, for some reason sounding a little bit offended, having not taken it so lightly,
and Harry's heart started hammering.

"To warm you up, I mean... forget it." He defeatedly laughed, an awkward laugh that screamed 'I
suck', and Louis nodded with a ridiculously fabricated smile before rolling over in his bed so that
he faced the other way.

Oh God, Harry was always doing things like this, putting himself in these situations. Just when
things got better, and brightened up a little, he burned it all down again. His stupid 'flirtatious
banter', as people often labeled it.

Louis drifted off pretty quickly, having been too physically and emotionally worn out to stay
awake any longer, and Harry knew he was in for a long night of pretty much keeping an eye on
Louis. Even though it was a very low percentage chance (if Harry's knowledge from the school
psychology classes was deemed correct) that Louis would want to attempt anything drastic again to
put himself at risk, he wanted to be there, awake, in case Louis woke up scared and needed
someone.

He spent most of his night lying on his bed, still fully clothed, angrily reminiscing about what
people had actually done to Louis. It didn't feel real yet, as Louis had already expressed, and Harry
had never felt such an extreme level of internal rage in his entire life. It was so bad that he even
hated himself from having been involved with Kendall and her group in any way in the past. He
wished desperately that he could detach from their association, untangle their conjoined
relationship roots and pretend it was never real.

In the end, he must have received about two hours sleep, having been too exhausted around the
4AM mark to keep his eyes from drooping shut, but when he woke up just after six o'clock, before
the alarm even had, Louis was still in the exact same sleeping position, sound asleep.

Harry took the last peaceful hour he had to take a power shower, which jolted his tired body awake,
and he dressed into fresh clothes from their freshly laundered pile before it had even reached half
past six. He didn't know how he was going to get through the day himself, but particularly how
Louis was going to. It was no doubt he'd be in no sane position to be able to face seeing anybody
today except for Harry. Though maybe Harry would even get too much for him, who knows? It
was Harry's aim today to make Louis happy again, even if it was temporary for now, and get him
talking again.

Once the alarm blared out, when Harry had passed the final sliver of time on YouTube in his
headphones, Louis quite literally jumped from his sleep, shoulders jolting up stiffly. In confusion,
he squinted to look back at Harry over his shoulder. The way his eyes managed to immediately lose
their initial morning sparkle once the second of bliss had passed, when it dawned on him what
happened yesterday, was heartbreaking. He immediately dropped his face back into his plush
pillow, groaning deeply.

"Rise and shine." Harry decided he would be bright and perky, which would perhaps encourage
Louis to do the same.

Louis murmured into the pillow in response, so Harry chuckled lightly.

"Right, so I was thinking I could send Niall a message this morning, asking him to let Mr Grant
know you're not feeling well and that I'm staying with you today." Harry stated, deciding that
would be best, instead of tackling Kendall and the others like he so wanted to. That could wait for
now, Louis had to recover fully first.

"You don't have to stay with me, I'll just bring your mood down." Louis grunted, voice etched with
exhaustion despite his very lengthy night's sleep.

"Actually, I'm staying with you to bring your mood up." Harry beamed, getting to his feet. "I'm not
going to have you sleeping all day, it'll make you feel even shitter."

"But I like sleeping."

"So do I, it didn't seem to visit me last night, and here I am being Mr. Happy Positive, just for
you." Harry grinned. "So the least you can do for me is get up and come watch TV with me or
something?"

"Can you shut the curtains to the balcony?"

Harry immediately stood up to do so, tugging the net curtains shut before sliding onto the sofa.

"Up you get, sunshine. Go brush those teeth." Harry urged. "While I message Niall and then try to
find a channel that isn't in French."

"Okay." Louis smiled, finally one which seemed more genuine than last night, grabbing his
washbag and an armful of fresh clothes before wandering off sleepily into the bathroom.

Harry shot a quick Facebook message to Niall, who had been online luckily just two minutes ago:
Hi Niall, could you mention to Mr Grant that I'm staying with Louis today and that he's not feeling
up for coming outside today?? He is feeling a little better this morning btw, let Charlie know too.
See you soon, H .xx

Was it a little weird that he signed it off with kisses? Probably. He was just feeling rather tender, he
doubted Niall would care.

Harry saw that Kendall was also online, as he still had her as a Facebook friend, and he clenched
his jaw a little. He was so close to typing out a painfully long message, full of swear words, insults
and criticisms, but he stopped himself and decided to save it for now. It would be much better, for
now, to simply show Kendall that he saw staying with Louis all day instead.

Louis left the bathroom not too long later wearing a scruffy-looking hoodie and blue skinny jeans,
when Harry had put his phone away and found the channel playing Family Guy once again, and
Louis sat the other side of the sofa, curling up against the armrest.

"They're going to tell Mr Grant that we're staying here today, it's all good." Harry informed him.
"We could maybe do a bit of work here, Niall will probably send through what we have to do."

"Yeah, okay." Louis hazily agreed, resting his chin on his palm while his eyes stayed glued to the
television screen.

"Should we talk or... just watch?"

"Why have the TV on if we're going to talk?" Louis countered, though the tiniest smile crossed his
face to show that he wasn't trying to argue.

"I dunno, background noise? Fills awkward silences." Harry laughed. "I feel like there may be a
few of those."

"There's nothing else to talk about, that's why."

"There are endless things," Harry disagreed, grabbing the remote to turn down the volume of the
programme just slightly, then returning it to the coffee table. He scrambled through the options,
opting for a pretty bleak one. "Who's your celebrity crush?"

"So out of these endless things, you choose that?" Louis giggled, a light sound, like icing sugar.
Harry had missed that, he hoped his gawky self would cheer Louis up in no time.

"It's my opening question, come on!"

"I don't have one."

"Bullshit," Harry playfully interjected, "Everybody does."

"I don't really have crushes." Louis shrugged. That was a lie, if his online love quizzes were
anything to prove that otherwise. He apparently had a crush on Harry, God dammit, and he wanted
to blush so hard right now.

"So you've never seen somebody and thought 'fuck, I wanna see them naked'?" Harry nudged him,
and Louis put his face in his hands.

"I don't think like that."

"Yes you dooo!" Harry contradicted. "Stop denying it!"

"Is this your way of cheering me up, by tormenting me?" Louis chuckled.

"Well, you are smiling." Harry pointed out. He knew this topic was working to take Louis' mind
off of things, because he was always too flustered to think of anything else. "All I wanted to know
was whether you think about fucking your celebrity crushes. Do you not have any libido, Lou
Lou?"

"Define libido."

"Sex drive." Harry wiggled his eyebrows.

"Well... I don't know?" Louis trailed off, looking puzzled with himself.

"Everybody does, it's only human."

"Then is there any point in asking?" Louis raised an eyebrow, smugly. Well.

"I'm always curious to know whether really innocent people like you think about sex." Harry
shrugged.

"Right, right, that's enough, you're corrupting me." Louis giggled. "I won't listen to your filth."

"Gosh, you really are innocent, aren't you?"

"I'd say modest, but whatever floats your boat." Louis shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "I
wasn't raised like you, with your cool-boy lifestyle."

"You say that as if I was sleeping with girls in the womb," Harry chuckled, "I didn't lose my
virginity until I was fifteen, I'll have you know."

"Because that is so old," Louis sarcastically exclaimed, "When I was fifteen, nobody even wanted
to talk to me, let alone sleep with me. Still the same now, actually."

"How do you know that? You can't read people's minds," Harry playfully added, "Maybe half the
people in our class think of you sexually."

"Ha! That's funny, Harry."

"What? I'm just saying, you never know." Harry shrugged with a smile, drumming his hands on his
knees in an upbeat tune. "It's all fun, being young."
"Most I've ever done is kiss someone," Louis rose an eyebrow, "And I think you might know
something about that."

"I feel honoured," He smirked, "It was basically equal to if I'd have given you your first real
orgasm, anyway, I'm that good of a kisser."

Louis' eyes widened, that wonderful flustered look that came over him, and he always found
something to distract himself with right away. This time, it was getting up to grab a bottle of water
from the mini fridge. The simple fact that he practically always ran away expressed just how much
of an impact Harry's words had on him.

"You feeling okay? Cooling off?" Harry smirked, as Louis chugged down almost half the bottle in
a few mouthfuls.

"I'm fine," He breathed, after catching his breath back from the excessive drinking, "I was just
thirsty."

"Okay."

They held eye contact for a few seconds, before Harry burst into laughter from the slightly jokingly
disapproving look Louis was giving him, a look that said: 'Stop it, you know what you're doing to
me, and I'm too socially awkward to know how to react.'

"You really like to make me blush." Louis broke the silence, doing just that while looking absent-
mindedly at the water bottle in his hands. "But I guess that's my fault, I'm too awkward."

"And I'm too good at causing it, dear Louis." Harry smirked, getting to his feet all of a sudden.

He instinctively looked at his wrist to find the time, remembered his beloved Rolex was shattered
and so his wrist was bare, then proceeded to calmly check the time on the television instead. It was
five minutes to eight, and he knew their fellow classmates would all be making their way down to
the lobby. He had a burning passion to storm down there and make a scene. It wouldn't die down,
feeling like simply pushing it aside and letting Niall tell me Grant just wouldn't suffice. Louis must
have noted Harry's calculating gesture.

"What?"

"Just thinking," Harry mumbled, staring into space as he did, "I want to go down there and confront
everyone involved last night."

"I'm grateful that you're supporting me, Harry, I really am, but that would be a lot of people to take
on. You know how harsh they all are, you were in their group. There's Kendall, Zayn, Liam, Gigi
and Cheryl, could you really voice what you have to say to all of them?" Louis ranted, probably
one of the longest statements he had ever made.

"That's true," Harry admitted, "Though I couldn't care less. I can handle them, they're nothing but a
bunch of loud-mouthed pussies at the end of the day, believe me." He rolled his eyes.

"Then... what are you going to do? Really think about this." Louis had an edge of warning to his
voice, like he was trying to say without actually saying what Harry should do.

"I want to do it. But I don't want you sat up here alone." Harry worked out, sitting back down.

"I'll be okay, Harry. How's this then - I'll call my mum while you're down there?" He offered. "If
you're worried about me being alone."
"Yes! Please do." Harry urged, watching as Louis pulled out his phone and scrolled through his
very minimal list of contacts. While he was distracted doing so, Harry's over-thinking mind caused
him to lock the balcony door with the little silver key in the dish on their desk. Louis didn't even
notice.

"Okay, I'll be back very soon. And I'll pay any charge for oversea calls." He winked as he parted,
as Louis smiled in a flustered manner while the phone was to his ear, the call going through.

Harry slipped from the room, the door clicking shut behind him, and immediately his stomach
lurched in disgust. Kendall and Gigi had just left their own room, just down from Harry's, having
not even acknowledged him yet. He had never felt such rage inside him, fists balled and jaw
clenched.

"Kendall." His voice came out stern, scolding, and she jumped upon hearing it. She and Gigi span
round dramatically to face him, their freshly styled hair flicking over their shoulders.

"Oh! Hey, babes!" Kendall mockingly greeted, equipped with a sickly flirtatious wave. "How are
you feeling?"

"How about you drop the stupid fucking act and start explaining." Harry demanded, while heading
their way angrily, and Kendall's expression clearly changed from comedic to concerned in a split
second.

"Woah, calm down!" Gigi defended, coming to Kendall's rescue with raised hands. "There's no
need to be so feisty, Tiger."

"Are you kidding me? That fucking letter; you want to tell me that's not something to be mad
about?!" He raged, containing his full-frontal fury by keeping his arms by his sides.

"Oh, that stupid prank? You're seriously worked up about that?" Kendall rolled her eyes, her smile
back and shining. "Then you've got some growing up to do, Harry."

"You never thought about how that could impact Louis, did you? How fucking selfish, oh my
God." He breathed in outrage. "And to forge it from me and get Louis' own fucking friend to pass
it on? What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"You sure seem to care about Louis." Gigi accused, though it was very true. "You always have, I
can fucking tell. You never played along with our banter, it's like you've always had some creepy
crush on him or something."

They both started shrieking with laughter, while Harry shut his eyes and exhaled slowly through
his nose.

"What a fucking crime that is, not wanting to bully a boy who's done nothing wrong, and is very
clearly sensitive." He rolled his eyes. "You two are pieces of shit, you know that? Kendall, I am so
ashamed to have been associated with you in any way, I wish I could take back the last almost
three years that I wasted with you. You should be fucking ashamed, both of you. Tell Zayn, Liam
and Cheryl, whoever was involved, that they're all just as shitty as you, and that I hope you're all
fucking happy with yourselves for upsetting me and Louis. Got what you wanted? See how I
fucking care. Mr Grant will soon know when he sees the letter."

He took a deep breath once he was finished, noticing that he had said all the right things in his
defence. Kendall looked very hurt, hopefully from the comment he had made about wanting to
take back the time he had wasted with her, while Gigi looked a little panicked.

"Don't give him that letter, you fucking snitch." She hissed.

"Oh no, you called me a snitch? My feelings are hurt." Harry sarcastically wailed, before once
again rolling his eyes and scowling. "He's getting the letter. Now fuck off, both of you, I'm staying
in my room all day with Louis."

Kendall looked pissed off at that, shaking her head furiously.

"Fine, I don't give a shit! Give Mr Grant that stupid letter, and stay with that faggot Louis all day!"
She roared, looking ready to rip her (or maybe Harry's) hair out. "I'm the best you'll ever have,
motherfucker, I hope that haunts you!"

"Whatever." Harry snorted, sporting a smirk. "Like it'll be hard to find someone nicer than you, all
it would take is about thirty seconds."

As he strolled back over to his room, head held high, there was an array of shouts back at him from
the two girls.

"Fuck you! She's better than anyone a lowlife piece of shit like you will ever get!"

"Those three years weren't a fucking waste, they're the best years you'll ever have!"

"You know what? You're not even hot! Look at you!"

"Yes I am." Harry muttered under his breath, a smug smile, as he unlocked the door again and
slipped inside, it clicking shut behind him.

Louis was still on the phone, smiling up at Harry when he saw that he had returned.

"Okay, mum, that's great! Tell Daisy that her big brother is very proud of her," He beamed into the
phone, humming along to her response a few times, before deciding to cut things short there.
"Anyway, mum, I better go. We have to go down to the lobby now... alright... okay, yeah, see you
soon... I love you too, goodbye."

He pressed the button to end the call, placing his phone down onto the coffee table, and he and
Harry spoke a sentence each at the same time. Louis asked, "How did things go?", while Harry
asked, "Aww, you're proud of your little sister?"

Then it was the awkward exchange of 'you go's, and Harry managed to resolve it by quickly
answering what Louis had asked.

"It went fine, proud of what I said. Kendall and Gigi were in the hallway so they met my wrath,"
He smirked, "Still want to kick Zayn and Liam's arses, probably Christopher's too, actually. Now,
you go."

"Well I'm glad that went well," Louis praised, as Harry sat down again. "Yeah, I'm proud of her.
She won her ballet competition, she's been practicing for so long."

"That's great! Daisy, did you say it was? How old is she?"

"She's six, so's my sister Phoebe, they're twins." He told him, a look of pride on his face, and utter
love. "Then there's Lottie who's eleven and Felicite who's nine."

"Lovely," Harry smiled, "I bet they're wonderful. I wish I had a younger sister. Mine is twenty-two
 soon."

"Wish mine were older," Louis giggled, "Although they're very sweet, of course, just a handful at
times."

There was a bit of silence after Harry had simply hummed in consideration, as his mind was still
poring over what he had said to Kendall and Gigi in the hallway, happy with it yet never any less
angry at them. He felt Louis' hand caressing his forearm suddenly, a surprising thing, and looked
down at where he was touching him tenderly.

"Thank you for supporting me." Louis softly credited, his fingers still ghosting softly up Harry
forearm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. He was pretty shocked Louis would be confident
enough to do anything more than simply talk.

"That's okay." He smiled, placing his hand over Louis' moving one. "Always will, Lou Lou."

"I'm so thankful I met you." Louis barely whispered.

Harry beamed at him, clasping Louis' hand in his instead of simply having it rested on top.

"I'm thankful I met you too, Louis."

And Harry would have kissed Louis again, if the shy boy hadn't withdrew completely and gotten
up to go and take his pills. A couple more than usual.

Chapter End Notes

God I think we all need some smut to happen soon, I will make to happen @ some
point I promise x
 20
Chapter Summary

By the way, thought I would just mention how I envision Harry and Louis looking in
the story. Sorry for the annoying sizes of the photos, I just gave up lol

Harry:
Louis:
 Nice thought, huh. You're welcome.

Chapter Notes

Bit of a random update time but here ya go

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Louis had become very engaged in an episode of Family Guy soon after, so when a message came
through from Niall outlining what they had to do for their project today, Harry decided he would
step in and do it himself.

He got his textbook, notepad and pencil case from his backpack and sat at the desk to the left of
their balcony door, the chair heavy and expensive beneath him, difficult to pull in so he could get
his lanky legs comfortably beneath the desk. He did get rather distracted with preening his hair in
the mirror attached to the desk in front of him, realising that he cared a lot about how he looked in
front of Louis, and got rather infuriated by a stray curl which had dried sticking up slightly after his
shower.

"Your hair's fine, Harry." Louis commented, a slight smugness in his tone, and Harry made eye
contact with him in the reflection of the mirror, seeing Louis still curled up on the sofa in the
background of his vision.
"It's pissing me off," Harry rolled his eyes, giving up and letting the stupid thing spring back up,
"Wish my hair was straight."

"I like your hair, it's different. Curly hair is nice." Was Louis complimenting him? That was rather
confident of him to do.

"Thanks, Lou Lou." Harry smirked, finally getting to work. As he began, though, Louis was a bit of
a distraction by getting up to wander across the room, heading to his own little suitcase near his
bed. Harry couldn't help but watch in the mirror's reflection, as Louis was rummaging through it.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, while scrawling out a title for today's section of the work.

"I feel gross in this hoodie," Louis muttered, "It's so old and tatty, have you seen my lighter blue
jumper?"

"Look who's the hypocrite now, I thought it didn't matter what we looked like right now? You
telling me to stop fussing with my hair," Harry smugly commented, continuing on with the work,
"Put something of mine on if you want, I don't mind."

"I'm not going to steal your clothes," Louis chuckled, "I'll find something."

He had already made quite the mess by his suitcase, the contents strewn out around him as he
searched for one specific garment. Harry playfully sighed, slamming down his pen and pushing
back the chair, heading straight for his own suitcase. He unzipped it, opening up the lid and having
a look at his own clothes.

"What do you like? I've got a red Ralph Lauren piece? That would look good on you." He offered,
holding up the folded polo shirt. "And don't refuse, please, I want to help."

Louis defeatedly laughed, turning to face Harry, standing up from his previous kneeling position.
"I appreciate it, Harry. Is it... long sleeved?"

Harry hesitated, as though his mind was configuring what had been said, so stirred up with possible
thoughts about why Louis would want long sleeves, that he couldn't even remember for a moment
what the style of a basic polo shirt is.

"Oh, no, it's short sleeved," He cleared his throat, abandoning the shirt immediately. "What about a
Jack Wills jumper? It's grey." He offered next, opting for that instead.
"Are you sure you don't mind?" Louis reiterated, nervously holding his sleeve-wrapped hands up
by his chin.

"Of course not!" Harry waved a hand, chucking the jumper his way. "Keep it, actually."

Louis looked taken aback, mouth forming an 'o' as if he was about to speak but didn't quite know
what to say, as he held the soft, ribbed jumper in his hands.

"Keep it?" He piped up, eyebrows raised a little. "This is a Jack Wills jumper, Harry."

"I know, it never really suited me anyway, it'd look better on you." Harry shrugged. It had cost him
just under seventy pounds, which wasn't much for a nice jumper to him, however to Louis it was a
prized possession.

"I-- thank you so much, you're definitely sure?"

"Yes!" Harry chuckled. "It's yours! Go put it on."

Harry could tell Louis wanted to hug him but was just too shy, so he instead smiled gratefully
before wandering off into the bathroom. The deep fulfilment Harry got whenever he did something
for Louis was so lovely, that he knew he'd have to keep doing it. He was always so wonderfully
grateful for whatever Harry offered him.

He left the bathroom a few moments later, absolutely cocooned in the jumper. It was clearly way
too big, tailored more for Harry's taller, broader build, and its sleeves fell down past his hands
slightly.

"It looks so adorable!" Harry cooed, unable to stop himself. "Oh my goodness, it's definitely more
your type of thing!"
"I'm not three, Harry." Louis smirked, wrapping the sleeves round his hands, which seemed
habitual for him. He could smell Harry's alluring scent on the jumper and he had never felt so at
peace.

"You're as cute as a three-year-old!" Harry delightfully exclaimed, before realising he was most
likely embarrassing Louis, plus stalling the continuance of their project work even further. He was
struck with a plan suddenly. "Look, here's an idea: I'll do a bit more of our work, then I'll take you
shopping and buy you more nice jumpers."

"Woah, woah..." Louis interjected, hands splayed out in defence. "One, I'll help with the project.
And two, you're not spending any more money on me! You've been more than kind to me, Harry. I
mean, this jumper is enough!"

"I want to buy you more. So I will." Harry smirked, adamant. "We will go at, like, eleven; in an
hour. Hopefully no one from class will see us out then."

"Please, don't spend anything more on me. I really appreciate it, it's just--"

Harry cut him off, "If you appreciate it, then I'll do it. I don't mind one bit, Louis, you deserve
some nice, new clothes."

Louis shook his head in disbelief, with a dazed smile. "You're too nice."

"You're welcome," Harry sang, "Now sit down and watch TV, I've almost finished this anyway."
He lied, returning to the desk. Louis, in a playful huff, sat back down on the sofa, wrapped up
warmly in that jumper.

It was a hell of a lot of writing, but Harry managed to do the whole day's work for their project
before the time hit eleven. He had that feeling of satisfaction again, from letting Louis lounge on
the sofa and get away with not doing the work, and maybe he was a bit too nice.

They dressed in their coats, slipped into their shoes, and left the hotel room just after eleven. Louis
had been very quiet, probably because he would whine about Harry being too nice if he opened his
mouth again, and stayed pretty quiet throughout the journey, just listening to what Harry was
saying and humming in agreement or acknowledgment occasionally.

They travelled to the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre via a bus, arriving before half eleven
that morning. It was swamped with customers at this time of day, so that Harry found himself
protectively walking behind Louis, hands planted firmly on his shoulders to guide him through as
they wound their way through the dense mob of shoppers. He could finally stand by Louis' side
again once they'd found an opening of clear space.

"They've got a Tommy Hilfiger, look!" Harry pointed out. "Everything in there will suit you! I can
already see things from here and we haven't even gone in."

"You're definitely not buying me everything in there," Louis giggled, "If you really feel the need to
buy me something, one jumper will do."

"At least three," Harry contradicted, veering into Tommy Hilfiger so that Louis had no choice but
to follow. "That one immediately catches my eye as something that would suit you."

Harry was pointing at the green and blue block hoodie hung up to the right of the entrance,
heading over to it and raking through the sizes.
"Size small?" He smirked.

"More like size extra large." Louis rolled his eyes in self hatred.

"Louis."

Harry scooped up the size small, holding it up against Louis. "That'll be perfect for you."

"How much is it, Harry?"

Harry already had it slung over his forearm, the start of a collection, and hadn't even acknowledged
the price. He picked inside for the price tag, peering at the label.

"A hundred and fourteen euros."

"Bloody hell," Louis breathed, "That's so much."

"Maybe, but you're worth that." Harry softly smiled. "Any others that catch your eye?"

"That one's enough."

"Nope." Harry sang, playfully popping the 'p', continuing on looking anyway.

Clearly one didn't turn out enough for Harry at all, because he ended up picking up two more
jumpers for Louis on top of the first.
By the time they got to the till with the three jumpers hung over Harry's arm, the total came to
358€.
Louis gasped as the total was read out. "You are kidding me!" He whispered to Harry. "I'm putting
two of them back."

"No!" Harry gently gripped his wrist, stopping him from doing so. "Honestly, let me do this, I want
to buy them for you."

The woman at the till had a stupidly big smile on her face at the scene, passing Harry the card
reader once he had held up his card, so that he could swipe it through. The three jumpers were
neatly folded and slotted into a bag, which Harry let Louis hold so that he could flaunt it off as they
walked around.

Harry was trying to drag Louis into Lacoste twenty minutes later, after wandering around for a
while, but found it impossible when Louis literally dragged his heels before sitting on a bench,
refusing to let Harry spend any more money on him. Bless him.

"Three is more than enough, Harry. I could never thank you enough, honestly." Louis mused, as
they watched shoppers pass by their bench. "I'm speechless."

"Well you're not, because you're talking." Harry smirked.

"Shut up," Louis giggled, slapping Harry playfully on the arm. "You know what I mean. Thank
you, Harry, from the bottom of my heart."

"You're very welcome, Lou Lou. They'll all look so good on you." Harry complimented. "Now,
should we just grab some sandwiches from that little shop on the corner and head back to the
room? We can't really risk being seen by anyone."

"Yeah, let's."

Later on, when it came to around one o'clock that afternoon, there was a knock on their door. Louis
was still dressed in Harry's jumper, which he had slipped back into once he had tried on his new
three, and looked back over his shoulder at the door once he had heard the knock.

"You go." He quickly mumbled to Harry, rather nervously.

Harry nodded before strolling over to the door. He swung it open to reveal Christopher. Anger
sizzled in his veins, an instant want to knock Christopher out in one punch to the ground, but
Christopher had held out his hands as a way of saying 'don't hurt me, don't hurt me, just listen.'

Harry was clenching his fists so hard by his sides that his fingernails were drawing a little bit of
blood in his palms, and he had taken a few steps back and steadied his breathing.

"What?" He hissed in greeting, watching Christopher visibly gulp down his fear.

"I-I wanted to come and apologise. I heard what happened." His voice was squeakier than usual,
highlighting his fear.

"Well, that's too bad." Harry growled, and began shutting the door when Christopher stopped it
with his foot.

"Wait, wait, please!" He begged. "Louis is one of my best friends and I did something bad, let me
apologise... please?"
"Oh, and what a brilliant best mate you are!" Harry sarcastically exclaimed, scoffing. "How did it
not cross through your thick skull that what you did was shitty? I can't even understand that."

"Because... well... can I just come in and talk to you both?" He begged, eyes full of apologies.

"Let me just do this." Harry spat, before stepping forwards and punching Christopher as hard as he
could in the stomach. He doubled over in pain, a loud cry leaving his mouth, eyes clenched shut
and glasses almost sliding off his face.

"My Gosh, oww!" He loudly groaned in anguish, voice cracking in close tears, "Maybe I deserved
that, you're v-very strong."

Harry smugly shook off the hand he had used to do the damage, before turning around to look at
Louis, whose eyes were very wide from having witnessed that little bit of protective violence.

"Can he come in, Louis? Or should I just beat the shit out of him over here?" Harry breathed in
rage, but Louis' wide and innocent eyes looked fast between the two of them, too nice of a person
to choose the latter option.

"Let him come in." He piped up.

Harry turned back to Christopher, who was still clutching his stomach, upright now, terror lit up on
his face as he stared back at Harry.

"In." Harry demanded, opening the door up wider, reluctantly allowing Christopher into the room
before shutting the door behind him. Louis turned the desk chair to face the room and sat down in
it, swallowing thick in his throat, hands in lap. Christopher awkwardly hovered in the middle of the
room, and Harry perched his lean body against the back of the sofa, arms folded to maximise the
visibility of his biceps to Christopher: a little warning.

"Louis," Christopher began, rubbing at his eye with the back of his hand as though he was fighting
back tears from the pain in his stomach, "I'm sorry about what happened. I never would have
wanted that to happen."

Louis lightly shook his head, shutting his eyes. "What had you even expected to happen? You're
given a letter by people known to bully, told not to read it, and give it to me."

Harry hummed in agreement, idly picking at his nail.

"I-I don't know! It's... it's a weird story really, why I did it." He tripped over his words, eyes darting
to look at Harry warily.

"Why did you?" Harry interrogated, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

"You'll punch me again." Christopher fretted, shuffling on his feet and wringing his hands together.

"I won't, Louis wants you to explain. Just talk." Harry stated, monotonous, eyes like daggers
stabbing into Christopher's face.

"It was Kendall!" He explained hurriedly, Harry sighing and rolling his eyes as he took in the
information. "She... she made out with me behind the-the toilet block in the park, it was so good..."
He stopped the hazy reminiscing once he registered the anger on Harry's face, going back on track
again. "And she told me that you gave her that letter, Harry! Said you wanted Louis to have it but
you were too scared to pass it on!"
"So... you didn't realise you were being tricked?" Louis grilled.

"No! I had no idea, I swear! And I am so sorry, Louis, it never crossed my mind that something
bad would come out of it." He apologised again, looking at Harry for his approval, but he was too
busy staring off into space, face contorted in lividity.

"Okay. Thanks for the explanation, you can go now." Louis dismissed, drawing his socked feet up
in front of him and hugging his knees, and Christopher scrambled towards the door immediately
once he received Harry's scathing glare.

"Sorry." He muttered once more, before softly shutting the door on his way out.

Harry groaned aloud in distaste, pushing himself properly to his feet. "Kendall made out with him
to bribe him? Dunno who I feel more sorry for."

Louis giggled, his chin resting between his arched knees. "Me neither. Thank you for defending
me again, Harry. With the punch... that had to hurt like hell."

"Any time, sugar." Harry winked, so that Louis playfully rolled his eyes with a giggle. "How are
you feeling now?"

"I'm feeling good," Louis nodded, smiling lightly. "Thanks to you."

"I'm all about making people feel good." Harry smirked. For once, something changed behind
Louis' eyes, a little glint filling them.

"Yeah?" He asked, a little smile on his face. Wow, he was playing along with it, Harry had gone
hot all over.

"Fuck yeah," He purred, loving the way Louis flushed red just a little, "I could make you feel
amazing."

Louis was saved from the tension when his phone started ringing in his pocket, breaking their
powerful eye contact as he got his phone out with shaking hands. He swiped to answer, face still
red, refusing to even look at Harry.

"Hi, Mum."

Harry smirked to himself, knowing he had already done enough. His body was pulsing with
arousal, he realised, as he got up to hurry to the bathroom while Louis continued his upbeat phone
call with his mum.

Harry locked himself in there and had a quick wank, leant against the sink, and Louis didn't even
know. Or hopefully he did hear the stifled groan Harry let out from in there as he came all over his
hand. When Harry left the bathroom a couple of minutes later, after cleaning himself up, Louis had
finished the phone call and was still sat in the same seat, one eyebrow quirked up as he looked at
Harry.

"What?" Harry chuckled.

"I'm pretty sure my mum overheard you getting yourself off in there." Louis giggled, and it
surprised Harry how forward he had been with that, so that he was taken aback a little by it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," He playfully shrugged, falling back onto his bed, hands
folded over his stomach. "I wasn't doing such a thing."
 "Right," Louis sang, unconvinced, smiling stupidly to himself, "Whatever you say."

Harry squinted over at him sexily, a smirk stretched across his face, and Louis stared back with not
so much confidence. Man, Harry was getting a lot of feelings in his stomach.

Chapter End Notes

Right, question: SHOULD it build up to smut by end of next chapter??? After harry
has had a bit of a "chat" with zayn and liam. because idk! next chapter or a later one
for smut?
 21

"You hungry?" Harry queried, looking up from his phone screen to Louis, who was busy reading
his book.

Louis hesitated for a moment, his eyes scanning along a final sentence before slotting in the
bookmark and glancing upwards.

"Hungry? No, not at all. What's the time?"

Again, Harry went to check his wrist, to then remember his watch wasn't there. He could have
sworn he sensed Louis wince with guilt, and look away, being the cause of the dear watch's
demise. Harry counted on the time on his phone screen to inform him instead.

"Just coming up to half past six."

"Wow, I wouldn't have guessed it was that late already! I must have been too distracted by reading
for so long." Louis giggled, placing his book on his bedside table protectively. He seemed to love
that book, it sure looked rather tatty around the edges.

"That book's a bit beaten up," He noted, smiling coyly, "God, how long is it taking you to read it?"

"This is my..." He made a thinking face, delving into his memory. "...fourth time reading it, I
think."

Harry looked baffled. "Fourth?! I can't even read a book once without getting bored! That takes
some endurance, surely."

Louis shrugged absent-mindedly. "Not really, I enjoy it more every time. Sometimes notice things I
missed before."

"Anyway, Nerd," Harry changed the topic with a smirk, getting to his feet and heading the way of
their door before slipping his feet into his trainers, "I'm not hungry either, but I do need to head
out."

He unlocked his phone and shot Niall a quick message, too busy typing it out to acknowledge that
Louis was questioning where he was heading off to.

Harry Styles: Hi Niall, you guys on dinner break now? Could you and Charlie (and Christopher if
he really fucking needs to) head up here and keep Louis company for a while? .xx

"Harry, answer me. Where are you goooing?" Louis playfully whined.

"Oh, sorry, don't you worry about that." Harry waved a hand, his phone pinging in his hand
meanwhile.

Niall Horan: Oh hi harry yh sure. We are walking back to hotel now anyway so will be a couple of
minutes

Harry Styles: Cool cool thanks. You don't happen to know where Kendall and that lot went, do
you? .xx

"Fine, don't tell me where then." Louis huffed, picking up his book again to continue reading,
rather than appearing too needy. He wanted a distraction.

"Okay, I won't," Harry laughed, "But your mates are coming up here now to keep you company in
my absence."

Niall Horan: Uhhhh why??? Thought u werent involved with that lot now...?? But anyway i heard
them talking about buying a load of alcohol and hanging out in the park :/

Yeah - that definitely sounded a lot like them.

Harry Styles: Okay, thanks. And don't worry, I'm not involved with them, just want a little talk is
all .xx

He slipped away his phone for the final time, getting his coat on and opening their door just in time
for Niall, Charlie and (stupid) Christopher to be strolling down the hallway towards him. The way
Harry made eye contact with Christopher was like a Western standoff, but he tried to relax once he
remembered how apologetic Christopher had really been earlier. And he definitely wouldn't do
anything more to upset Louis, not after the punch he had received just hours ago.

"I won't be gone long," Harry called to them in greeting, "Feel free to sit on my bed, Niall or
Charlie. And no going through my stuff." He sent them a playful wink after that.

They all looked a little bit panicked, as if they believed Harry would really think of them as
thieves, before they lightened up once they registered the sarcastic wink. Harry sauntered off
coolly down the corridor, knowing the three of them were watching him as though they really did
idolise him, and he got into the lift once he reached it and the doors slid shut behind him.

The only information he had about where Kendall and the others supposedly were was: "the park".
If this was still even their plan, they'd be in the park closest to the hotel, most likely, so he headed
that way. He was feeling self-assured enough to be doing this alone, knowing scaring Kendall and
Gigi in the corridor and asking them to pass on the message to Liam and Zayn wasn't enough,
knowing he had to do this face to face.

All he had to do once he had entered the park was listen out, because he could already hear the
upbeat laughter and chatting of distinctively British voices. The alcohol part of their plan was
aiding that, clearly making them more rowdy and excited already, despite it having only been ten
minutes since the start of their free time. He could soon see their little group, which he would have
once been a part of, and the five of them were sitting on two benches opposite each other in the
terraced area of the park, to the right. There weren't many people about, a couple or small family
passing by Harry occasionally as he made his way over.

Zayn was the first to notice him, setting his beer bottle down by the foot of the bench and getting
to his feet with a smug smile.

"Look who's decided to join us!" He childishly called out, urging the others to follow his eyeline
and land on Harry, who had his hands awkwardly stuck in his pockets, long legs crossed at the
ankle as he stood there, once he was around fifteen feet away. Kendall had a stupid grin on her face
while looking at him.

"Come crawling back already, huh?" Cheryl was already slurring her words. She had probably
chugged an entire bottle; she had a tendency of doing that. "Knew you'd miss Kendall too much.
Finally realise she's the best you'll ever have?"

"Actually," Harry put on a sickly sweet smile, "I came here to have a little chat." He lacked a bright
tone, so that they knew exactly what I meant.

"Ooh, look at you, being so brave! One against five." Gigi cackled. "I never thought you'd be the
one to stray away, Harry. Thought you were one of the chillest, to be honest."

"I just want to know whose idea it was to write that letter," Harry demanded, "Because I know it
was in your handwriting, Zayn."

"God, you're still banging on about that? It was my idea, babycakes," Kendall giggled, "What are
you going to do about it?"

The others laughed, a mocking wave of it, as if they were trying to persuade Harry to do something
even with Kendall being the opposite gender. They knew Harry far too well; he'd never hurt a girl.

"I'm not looking to do something about it, seems a lot like you're trying to start a fight," He rolled
his eyes, "That always was a tendency of yours, wasn't it? Unnecessary fights."

The others stuttered out laughter again, clearly enjoying observing their little argument, and
Kendall stubbornly crossed her arms. Gigi stepped in then, to her best friend's defence.

"It's in the past now, that stupid letter. Why has it gotten to you so much? You must really care
what Louis thinks of you. We knew you would, that's why we wrote it." She snickered, scooping
up Zayn's beer bottle and taking a long swig. "Now I'd say you leave right now."

"I'm not leaving." He adamantly shrugged. "Why should I leave?"

"Or Liam will knock you the fuck out," Cheryl chirped up, tugging on her boyfriend's sleeve.
"Won't you, babe?"

Liam nodded obediently, linking eyes powerfully with Harry. All Harry could think about was how
long he and Liam had been friends for; going to each other's houses when they were just five being
his oldest memory. He felt so sick looking at him now, the way he was conforming to whatever
Cheryl asked him to do.

"Will he now?" He finally responded, quirking an eyebrow up. "Interesting. Though it would make
him pretty immature, seeing as I only came here to get a proper explanation, and tell you all to
grow the fuck up. Kind of correlates now, how childish you all are."

"We're not the ones stropping about a poxy, little letter!" Kendall raged. "I think that makes you
the immature one, darling."

"You can think that if you want, people tell themselves lies all the time." Harry widely smiled,
maybe a bit too bitterly, and immediately had Gigi storming forwards and poking a finger
accusingly into his chest.

"Listen, you piece of shit. I really do suggest you leave right now, or Zayn and Liam will take turns
beating the living daylights out of your sorry arse." She hissed. Harry's smile remained, retaining
the eye contact.

"Still fucking grinning to himself. Beat the shit out of him, guys, please." Cheryl rolled her eyes,
nudging her head his way as if Liam and Zayn were trained to wait for her command, like dogs.

"Yeah, guys, come on!" Harry encouraged, holding his long arms out by his sides. "Come and beat
the shit out of me, then! We've only been friends for, what... fourteen years?"
Zayn's jaw tensed, something changing in his eyes as he looked at Harry. Liam seemed to be
reacting the same way, a sense of guilt coming over him, and they didn't even take another step
towards Harry. They just looked down at their feet, refusing to do as they had been told.

"Seriously?" Kendall snapped. "And I thought Harry was a bad fucking boyfriend."

"I was never a bad boyfriend," He spat, "I did everything for you. I'd like to see you name one
fucking thing I did wrong."

She seemed to not know how to respond hastily, having to think for a moment. Her mouth opened
to reply, but then she hesitated and shut it again in defeat.

"Point made," Harry practically sang in victory, "I'm going to leave now. But may I just say, Liam,
Zayn, learn to fucking stand up for yourselves. You're being controlled."

"How dare you accuse Gigi and Cheryl of that!" Kendall exploded, spiked with anger so easily at
this point. She seemed to be going insane. She took it all too far when she grabbed an empty beer
bottle from the ground, smashing it over the top of the bench so that its edges were jagged, before
heading at a dangerous pace towards Harry whilst muttering under her breath. The other four had
to jump in to pull her back, reality striking them that this was going way too far, Liam managing to
knock the bottle from her hand so that it shattered completely to the cobblestones.

She began crying as a result, hands gripping the sides of her face, and she slowly looked up at
Harry, makeup beginning to bleed down from her eyes.

"I miss you!" She sobbed, grabbing handfuls of her hair. "So much, Harry!"

Harry simply rolled his eyes and walked away from them all. He knew if was the best thing he
could do, and he felt a huge sense of triumph from doing it - he left Kendall a sobbing mess, the
others trying to console her, as he walked away with a big smile.

It was seven o'clock when Harry returned to his room. The sound of him inserting the key into the
slot and opening the door so quickly must have jolted Louis' friends in fear, because they were
hurriedly scrambling away from Harry's suitcase when he entered the room, and the sound of the
shower running in the bathroom indicated why Louis wasn't in the room.

"What are you doing?" Harry inculpated, eyebrows slowly furrowing, while Charlie, Niall and
Christopher had red faces.

"Niall wanted to see what clothes you have!" Charlie accused, jabbing a finger into Niall's
shoulder.

"No, it was you!" Niall argued, and Harry put out his hands in a downward pushing motion to
attempt to calm them down.

"Okay, okay, I don't mind you looking... as long as you didn't take anything."

"Course not!" Christopher defended. "We wouldn't! Pat us down if you want!"

"I believe you," Harry rolled his eyes, before nudging his head towards the bathroom, "How long's
he been in there?"

"About five minutes." Charlie informed, perching himself on the edge of Louis' bed. "Should be
out soon."
"Why's there a pack of condoms in your bag?" Niall snickered, clearly unable to leave it
unanswered, and Harry chuckled to himself and waved a hand.

"Oh, because I packed them while Kendall and I were still dating, didn't I?" He dismissed it. "But
thanks, I do appreciate the bag search."

"They're size large, as well." Christopher had to take it too far, a smug smile on his face, then he
immediately got rid of it when he noticed Harry's glare. "Sorry, I'm kidding, I didn't look."

"Lucky guess then." Harry breathed to himself, slipping from his shoes and jacket, returning them
to their homes. "You guys can go now, by the way."

They didn't hesitate at all to, considering how awkward things had gotten, saying their goodbyes
and receiving Harry's thanks for staying with Louis, before slipping out of the room. Harry sighed
to himself, kneeling by his suitcase and refolding all his clothes, which the three boys had had the
audacity to actually unfold and have a nosy look at, slotting the box of condoms back into the side
pocket. Louis really did have some weird friends.

A few minutes after the shower water had stopped running, Louis emerged from the bathroom,
already in his pyjamas. His hair was towel-dried and ruffled, and when he saw that Harry was in
the room now instead of his friends, he clearly hurried to fix the unruly strands.

"Oh, hi!" He greeted. "You're back!"

"I sure am. Returned to your mates rifling through my stuff."

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! That's so embarrassing!" Louis apologised, hands over his mouth.
"I had no idea they were doing that!"

"It's okay, don't apologise! It's not your fault they're so weird." Harry brightly laughed. Louis
smiled in response, putting his shower stuff away in his own suitcase before sitting on the edge of
his bed to check his phone, which was plugged in by it.

"Anti-social." Harry smirked. Louis looked up quickly, locking his phone.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be. I'm just trying to keep tabs on my family, my sister Lottie is on a
bowling date with a boy from her class." He giggled.

"A date? Didn't you say she's eleven?" Harry asked, a grin stretching onto his face.

"Yeah, nice of you for remembering, Harry. She's getting into the dating game early, clearly."
Louis smiled to himself. "My mum and the boy's mum are there too, and it'll be past 8PM now in
England, so I doubt they'll be there much longer anyway."

Harry hummed to himself in thought, finding it very cute to imagine a little girl version of Louis on
a bowling date. He realised he wanted to take Louis bowling. Wow.

"Anyway," Louis sighed, stretching his arms out above him and yawning, "What now?"

"Dunno."

Harry shrugged, looking down at Louis to see a piece of thread stuck to the hip of his pyjama top.
He decided he'd reach down and grab it, to get it off, but Louis let out a startled laugh and shifted
away a little.
"What?" Harry laughed, "I'm getting that piece of thread!"

"I'm just really ticklish, I thought you were trying to get me." Louis shook his head, as if he thought
himself stupid for even thinking that. Harry, however, couldn't help but smirk.

"You definitely shouldn't have told me that."

"Oh no." Louis breathed, a playful glint in his eye, and then Harry pounced. He tickled at Louis'
sides, the small boy on his back, squirming and giggling so adorably that Harry never wanted to
stop, so he didn't. Louis' hips felt so soft as Harry tickled away, Louis trying to prise Harry's hands
away while shrieking with laughter, and Harry brought his hands up to tickle Louis beneath the
chin then, so that he was shaking his head frantically and trying to bat Harry's hands away.

"St-Stop!" He brightly laughed. "You monster!"

"I'll never stop!" Harry exclaimed, smile beaming. "Not until you tap out!"

"Okay!" Louis called out, tapping the mattress desperately. "Stop!"

Harry ceased the tickling, standing upright and lifting his hands above his head in victory. "I am
victorious! I hold the title of champion tickler!" He called out. Louis clearly had a very amused
glint in his eye, and looked as though he really wanted to continue this, which was very confident
for him. He managed it anyway, suddenly springing to his feet, grabbing Harry by his slim waist
and pulling him down onto the bed. Harry landed on his back and Louis began his revenge.

"Nooo!" Harry cried out, loudly laughing as Louis tickled at his waist. "Louis!"

"See how you like it, Styles!" Louis giggled, and Harry was wriggling from side to side and
attempting to flail his legs up in defence, but Louis had him pinned down. Harry had never laughed
so much in his entire life, the chesty, full laughs that are unstoppable.

"Do you surrender?" Louis asked, an entertained look in his eyes. "Or are you going to withstand
more?"

"I surrender, I surrender!" Harry chuckled, tapping the bed over and over again with his palm. "I've
had enough!"

Louis laughed as he stopped the tickling. Then they both realised that Louis was straddling Harry's
hips, having seen this as the best approach for maximum tickling, and they both looked down at
where they were connected while panting from the previous struggle.

"You comfy there?" Harry smirked, and Louis flushed red in an instant. He was about to shuffle off
of Harry, trembling all of a sudden, but Harry got a grip of his wrist before he could, stopping him
from moving. "Why don't you stay?"

"I'm literally on you." Louis nervously laughed, deciding to sit up instead of having his hands
pressed to Harry's chest for balance. It seemed to appear even more intimate, Louis sat on Harry's
upper thighs, and Harry couldn't help but smirk to himself.

"Looks like you're riding me now, maybe that's worse, Louis." He was saying it for effect, and this
he got.

Louis literally covered his flustered face with his slightly shaky hands, shaking his head.

"Oh God." He groaned.

"Can you not cover your face, please? I kind of like the view of it from here." Harry smiled to
himself.

"Why?" Louis giggled, removing his hands. His bottom lip was quivering just slightly, showcasing
how nervous he was, along with the trembles of his hands.

"Just don't," Harry shrugged, "You've... got a nice chin."

"I feel as though this is a very strange scenario, and maybe I should move now." He snickered,
once again attempting to swing his leg up to move off of Harry, but once again he was clamped
into place by Harry, this time with two hands holding down his thighs.

"Wait, can we make out?" Harry spontaneously asked. Louis sucked in a gasp, eyebrows raised.

"Make out?" He crowed, followed by a stark, breathy laugh. "What?"

"Please?"

"God, this can't be real," Louis shook his head, laughing lightly to himself, "First I'm straddling
you, and then you're asking me to make out with you."

"Exactly." Harry smirked. "Fuck, Louis, please?"

"You really mean it?"

Harry knew this was getting nowhere: Louis was just going to keep questioning it. So he took the
step of gently gripping the back of Louis' head, pulling it downwards so that their lips met. Louis
allowed himself to fall forwards onto Harry, hands planted by his head on the pillow, and the make
out began. Their lips brushed together experimentally slow, finding their rhythm, and Harry's heart
was drumming violently fast in his chest, the taste of Louis' lips and his fresh scent tantalising his
senses, his head an absolute throbbing mess.

As the kiss progressed, his hands were still awkwardly by his sides. He decided he would test
where he could place them, how comfortable Louis was, lifting his hands and placing them very
gently on Louis' hips. Louis made no effort to shift them, still happily kissing Harry rather
passionately, so Harry decided he would have a bit of a feel, squeezing Louis' hips lightly over his
t-shirt and sliding his hands up and down his sides.

He didn't want the kiss to end yet, so he decided he would swipe his tongue over the seam of Louis'
mouth, so that he opened it up and allowed Harry's tongue inside. Their tongues slid together as
they kissed, which urged Harry to smirk into it, sucking lightly on Louis' tongue and biting on his
lower lip into the kiss. His skin was burning hot all over.

He was maybe a little too risky when he slid his hands up onto Louis' back, trailing them
downwards, aiming to get them on that gorgeous bum, only managing to get to the curve in Louis'
lower back before the smaller boy broke the kiss with a smug smile, reaching back to brush Harry's
hands away.

"Nuh-uh."

"Worth a try." Harry smirked, before once again attaching their mouths. It was a slightly faster
pace now, a little bit more desperate, and Harry realised Louis had his hands still planted on the
mattress. He broke the kiss momentarily again, bringing his mouth up to Louis' ear, kissing just
beneath it before whispering.
"You can touch me, you know?"

Louis timidly shrugged, tilting his head to the side with a breathy giggle. "I'm shy, you know?" He
contradicted.

Then he was climbing off of Harry, much to his dismay, getting shakily to his feet. His lips were
pink and glossy and pretty and Harry never wanted to look away from them.

"Wow," Harry heavily exhaled, wiping a layer of perspiration from his forehead as he still lay back
on Louis' bed, "That was pretty nice, right?"

"Very nice. Thank you." Louis shyly granted, and Harry nodded with a cheeky wink.

"Literally, any time." He breathed a laugh. "I think you may be shaking a bit there, Louis."

"Just a little." He giggled.

"Adorable." Harry smiled. "Glad I could be your first make-out partner."

Louis playfully rolled his eyes, kneeling by his suitcase to get his toothbrush and toothpaste, to get
ready for bed already.

"Was it really that bad you're already looking to get rid of the taste?" Harry playfully asked, as
Louis headed off towards the bathroom. Louis looked back over his shoulder, with a little grin.

"No, I'm just too shy to be in here now." And with that, he entered the bathroom, the door clicking
shut behind him.

Harry was still lightly panting, raking a hand through his hair slowly as he shook his head in
disbelief.

Well that happened.

 22
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Louis had been in the bathroom a good five minutes, prolonging the brushing of his teeth for so
long, to preoccupy himself, that his teeth must have been overly clean. Harry absolutely loved it,
the little things Louis did to distract his mind whenever he got too flustered about something - and
thought Harry had no clue. He really did.

Harry had a stupid smile on his face as he stared up at the ceiling (probably looking like a
complete maniac). Simply reminiscing about the sweet taste of Louis' mouth, and the way the
innocently clueless boy was discovering how to make out as he went along, urged Harry to grin
unstoppably. But then the grin slowly faded once he listened to what his mind was screaming at
him: Harry, you idiot, you're going to have to talk to Louis now. Properly. Seriously.

Not only would they have to discuss what the kissing really meant, but also why the hell Harry had
gone along with it; he had wanted to make out with Louis into the early hours of the morning, so
surely his sexuality needed addressing, pronto. That was pretty daunting.

Louis left the bathroom while Harry was mid-thought, shutting the door softly behind him and
placing his things back into his suitcase. Harry sat up a little against the headboard, legs arched in
front of him and hands folded on his stomach. He was then aware that he was still on Louis' bed,
having not made the effort to shift to his own yet, but Louis was too timid to mention it.

"Took your time brushing your teeth, didn't you?" He smugly asked.

"Yeah, I sometimes get a bit distracted, don't realise how long I'm brushing them for." Louis lightly
laughed, awkwardly standing by the side of his bed, back practically right against the wall due to
the distance he was creating between them, and he distracted himself by straightening up his book
on his bedside table. Harry decided he'd save him some awkwardness by moving himself.

"Oh, sorry, I've kind of stolen your bed." He acted as though he'd just realised, swinging his legs
over the edge and stepping the three or so steps over to his own bed, resuming the same lying
position. "All yours again."

"Thank you." Louis giggled, sitting on the edge of his bed, facing Harry, nervously ruffling his hair
into place. It was clear he knew they had to have a talk too, considering he wasn't slipping into bed
and changing the subject.

"So, Mr Tomlinson," Harry cleared his throat theatrically, and Louis giggled again, "We just made
out."

"We did."

Harry deeply sighed, running his hands through his hair as the seriousness of this really hit him. He
had to give up the playful act and really put things straight.

"Look, you must be quite confused," Harry began, "About how I was with Kendall, pretty
seriously, and I used to talk about flirting with other girls and about all the hookups I've had... and
then I go ahead and kiss you."

"Yeah, it's pretty confusing."

"Well, I need to start being honest with myself, don't I?" He shrugged. "I'm obviously at least bi-
curious."

That was enough to make Louis' cheeks redden, he was that pure. Poor guy.

"You must be, at least, y-yeah."

"But I also loved Kendall, so I've still got that side to me..."

"I want to know why you kissed me." Louis finally unleashed his leading thought, even if his voice
did waver a little bit. "Was it just to experiment? Because, you know, I like guys?"

"God, I don't know," Harry lightly shook his head, "I'm always such a mess when it comes to
confessing things to myself. But I think the fact that I wanted to keep on kissing you says
something."

Louis raised his eyebrows a little, tilting his head aside. "You did?"

Harry made a hum of agreement.

"Wow. Okay."

"Don't always sound so in disbelief that somebody would want to. You're very kissable." Harry
assured him, with a little smile.

Louis shook his head a little bit, "It's something I think I'll always struggle to believe, someone like
you wanting to kiss me."

"There it is again!" Harry exclaimed. "Saying someone like me as if I'm a superhuman! Louis, I'm
exactly like you, there's no superiority."

"You're really hot, though." Louis blurted out, then looked like he regretted it as he blushed down
at his lap with a shaky laugh. A smirk stretched onto Harry's face.

"Why, thank you. You're not so bad yourself." He purred.

"Right," Louis abruptly changed the subject, sick and tired of denying that he was attractive, "So
I'm going to take this whole situation as you needing more time to figure yourself out."

"I guess that's right," Harry shrugged, "And don't forget the part where I said I wanted to keep
kissing you."

"Oh, I definitely won't." Louis breathed, almost in disbelief. He was probably going to be awake
early that morning thinking over it. He did slip into bed then, tucking the covers neatly over
himself.

"Do you think you'll join the class again tomorrow?" Harry asked. When he rolled his lips together
he could still faintly taste Louis' sweet taste.

"Yeah, I will. We've got to catch up a bit." Louis reminded. "I'll be okay."

"Good, okay. And I'll always defend you, you know that, right?"

"Thank you."

Harry nodded, getting to his feet. "Now I'm going to go and brush my teeth. Probably not for as
long as you, I don't want to get rid of the taste of your mouth."

Louis stifled out a shocked little laugh, "Do mouths really taste of anything?"

"Yours is sweet, and I like it a lot." Harry smugly sang, smacking his lips together, and Louis
flushed red again. Harry headed off into the bathroom with his toiletries, heavily laughing at yet
another successful attempt to make Louis blush.

Louis wore Harry's Jack Wills jumper the next day, despite having three perfectly new ones as
options to wear too, and he really did look adorable in it. The fact that it was Harry's size meant that
Louis' little frame was practically being swallowed by the garment, with the long sleeves past his
hands, so that he could ball up the fabric as he wished in his little hands. Harry needed to stop
thinking so much.

Harry really wished he had filmed their exit from the elevator into the lobby, because the looks on
his ex-girlfriend and ex-friends' faces were priceless when they laid eyes on what Louis was
wearing.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kendall angrily gaped, eyes glued to Louis as he and Harry headed
over to Charlie, Niall and Christopher. "That's Harry's fucking jumper!"

"Sure is." Cheryl mused, eyebrows raised as she scanned over the jumper from afar.

"Harry must have given it to him to wear." Liam stated the absolute obvious, so that Zayn rolled
his eyes at him.

"No fucking shit, Sherlock!" He glanced back over at Louis. "I'm actually a little bit speechless."

"So am I." Kendall shook her head in disbelief, mouth forming a straight line with internal fury.
"I've worn that fucking jumper before, this is ridiculous! Why's that faggot got it on?"

"Hey, maybe they're dating." Gigi joked with a smirk, nudging Kendall, who scoffed.

"Don't say that."

"You don't have the right to dictate Harry's actions anymore, remember? You're not with him now."
Zayn continued to tease Kendall, who looked ready to start a full-on fight with him at that point.

"I know I'm not!" She defensively crossed her arms. "I just... maybe I still like him."

Gigi rolled her eyes, flinging an arm over her best friend and pulling her close. "Kenny, you can get
over him easily. He would be completely downgrading if he went for somebody as trampy as Louis
Tomlinson after breaking up with you."

Liam and Zayn had lost interest quickly, busy having their own conversation about Paris Saint-
Germain's latest game.

"Thanks, Gi." Kendall sniffed, burying her face into Gigi's neck, continuing to mumble against the
skin. "It just feels like he's doing this on purpose, to get to me, you know?"

"Well if he is," Cheryl broke in, tucking a strand of Kendall's hair behind her ear, "then you're not
going to let it get to you. Show him you don't care, like the strong girl you are."

"Do you think he's done anything with him?" Kendall suddenly gasped, breaking from Gigi's grip
and covering her own mouth in shock.
"What do you mean?" Gigi cackled.

"What if he's fucked him or something? They-they're in that hotel room together, alone, all night!
It's just--"

"Girl, calm down!" Cheryl shook her by the shoulders. "Why on earth would he fuck Louis
Tomlinson? Use your common sense! Think about how hot Harry is."

Kendall shot her a possessive look after that final comment, despite Harry not even being hers
anymore. Cheryl rolled her eyes and added, "you know what I mean."

"But still." Kendall sighed, continuing on as everybody started following Mr Grant out of the hotel.
"What if they've at least kissed? Or, I don't know, given each other handjobs?"

"No more now, stop over-thinking!" Gigi advised, guiding Kendall by her waist. "Harry would
never go gay, we know him."

"Okay, okay." Kendall gave in, finally. "Whatever you say."

Harry and his new little gang all settled by the trees on the field during their break, later that
morning. Clearly the fact that Louis had controversially chosen to wear Harry's old jumper was
good, because it shifted the attention from the events from the previous few days, and Louis didn't
feel like he was being judged about the 'letter situation.'

It was clear, during their break, that Kendall was blatantly trying to emotionally get to Harry. After
chatting amongst her friends, schemingly, she headed over to Harry and Co., making awkward eye
contact with her ex, before kneeling down next to Christopher and bringing her mouth to his ear.
Harry and Louis, especially, watched in disbelief as she whispered to him, and she did it at such a
purposely high volume that she had clearly wanted the others to overhear.

"You look really hot, you wanna fuck me in the same place we made out?"

Christopher's eyes had widened extremely, fingers gripping into the grass, and Harry was shooting
a look of hatred her way, eyebrows furrowed and mouth pouted to the side. He quickly removed
said look though, once he realised he shouldn't have been reacting that way, and instead smirked.

"Go on, Christopher!" He chanted, clapping his hands, "Go fuck her! Take that chance! But I must
warn you, it isn't amazing."

Kendall wasn't expecting this reaction, evidently, huffing loudly and moving away from
Christopher a little. She looked straight at Harry, tilting her head to the side, then let her eyes flick
over to Louis, who nervously blinked back, waiting for a degrading comment.

Kendall managed to refrain from making one though, instead smiling softly at Louis, but in such a
fake way.

"Nice jumper, Louis, where'd you get it?" She questioned, her voice sickly sweet and dripping
sarcasm. Louis fumbled with his hands, looking desperately at Harry, who gave him a reassured
nod to tell the truth.

"It's... it was Harry's."

Kendall looked back at her ex-boyfriend, nodding slowly, eyes scanning down Harry's body,
drinking it in.

Harry glared back, looking her up and down too, but in disgust rather than remaining lust. Kendall
jumped back up to her feet, brushing grass strands from her skinny jeans. "Well, it looks good,
babe. The jumper."

"Oh! Thank--"

"I'm kidding, it looks ridiculous," She rolled her eyes, wickedly laughing to herself, "Anything
looks atrocious on you, though."

Harry got to his feet suddenly, confrontationally, so that Niall and Charlie were on his tail to grip
onto his arms and pull him back down to the ground.

"Don't be so fucking nasty!" Harry spat. They once again had the attention of their other
classmates, who looked over from where they sat around the grassy area. "It looks better on him
than it ever did on you."

Louis was picking fast at strands of grass now, not even daring to glance up and look Kendall in
the eye, and she was shaking her head, her fists balling up. She couldn't restrain herself any longer
from strutting forwards and slapping Harry round the face, so a harsh sound was emitted, before
storming away from their group.

The others winced, Louis quick to kneel beside Harry and check he was alright.

"Ouch! Are you okay?" He gasped, his hand resting on Harry's forearm. That was enough to make
Harry smile through the tingle of pain in his cheek, giving it a little rub for now.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He chuckled. "But seriously, Louis, the jumper looks amazing on you. Funny
how jealous Kendall is, because she knows it's true too."

Louis withdrew his hands after a moment, smiling to himself and sitting back again. Harry took this
situation as another win for himself, in his ongoing battle against Kendall. She may have gotten a
slap in, but that comment had hurt her.

At one o'clock, when they were dismissed for lunch, Harry and Louis decided they'd head back to
their room instead of hanging about around the city. Harry really just wanted to lounge on the sofa,
and the shop-bought sandwiches they had picked up on their way back were good enough for now.

"I can't believe Kendall was trying to lure Christopher in again, just to get to you." Louis chuckled,
picking the crusts off of his sandwiches and returning them to the cardboard container.

"I don't care about that, what pisses me off is what she said to you!" Harry voiced, "Saying you
make things look atrocious, when really you could be a Jack Wills model."

"I wouldn't go as far as saying that, but thank you, Harry. I really appreciate it."

"Anytime. You only deserve the best." Harry smiled. There was a temporary silence, neither of
them knowing how to fill it, until Harry laughed to himself.

"What?" Louis giggled.

"Remember how much you hated me when we were first paired together?"

Louis lightly shook his head, as if to say don't even remind me.
"I wasn't too keen, was I? I thought you were like your friends."

"Would my friends make out with you?" Harry smirked.

"I don't think they would, no." Louis laughed, getting to his feet from the sofa and wiping the
crumbs from his hands. "Should I actually put this TV on?"

Harry's eyes darted to look at Louis' bum when he was facing away, standing on his tiptoes to reach
the on button on top of the television, and his bottom lip caught between his teeth. He had
genuinely never seen such a nice arse on anybody before, and it even jiggled ever-so-slightly as
Louis landed back on his heels again once he had turned the TV on. Harry had to breathe rather
steadily through pursed lips, so that Louis turned to look at him with a quizzical look.

"What? You sound like you're going into labour." He giggled, raising an eyebrow, grabbing the
remote from the coffee table and sitting back down on the other far side of the sofa.

Harry mischievously smiled to himself. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just happy it was you who switched
the telly on."

Louis slowly furrowed his eyebrows, cocking his head aside. "What do you mean? I'm so
confused."

"I just had a nice view, that's all." Harry impishly shrugged.

"I swear to God, if you're on about my bum again..." Louis playfully threatened, and Harry nibbled
on his lower lip again.

"When am I not talking about it?" He purred. "It's too good not to talk about."

"It's not that great!" Louis argued, with a giggle. "Just like... any other bum."

"It really isn't, trust me." Harry simpered, as Louis began browsing the channels using the remote
control. "Would you understand what I meant if I said you're definitely a bottom?"

Louis gasped out a surprised laugh, slamming down the remote in false annoyance.

"Of course I do!" He chuckled. "My Gosh, you're being very open today."

The tinge of pink had returned in his cheeks, just how Harry liked it. He decided to take it a little
further, that bubbling feeling in his stomach trying to scream at him that he was so fucking sexually
attracted to Louis, and he leant in to whisper lowly in his ear.

"I bet your gorgeous arse would shake with each hit if someone fucked you hard enough."

"Oh fuck." Louis involuntarily breathed in response, voice flooded with arousal and eyes fluttering
shut, before they widened comically a moment later once he realised how he had reacted. He
stifled out a laugh and shuffled away from Harry in embarrassment.

"Wow, I kind of wasn't expecting that reaction!" Harry smirked. "But wouldn't have wanted
anything different. That's really hot, Louis."

"Stop now." Louis sternly added, pointing a finger at Harry, but couldn't help a little smile breaking
through.

"Or you'll get turned on?"

 "No, you'll get a slap. Again." He raised his eyebrows smugly after the final word, a reminder of
Kendall's slap earlier, and Harry defeatedly laughed and shook his head.

"You got me there."

"Now watch the TV."

Harry did so, but couldn't help the light chuckle he let out. Nor could he help the absolutely
inordinate lust spiking in his veins.

What he had said had really turned Louis on, and that was something too hot for Harry to
currently handle.

Chapter End Notes

fook

god save the queen

 23
Chapter Notes

Thanks for waiting, big love.

Typos edited tomorrow, it's currently approaching 3am.

Over 10,500 words for you. x

Somehow, the two of them managed to push their way to the end of their lunch break, despite the
thick sexual tension hanging over them. Harry had spent the remainder of this time with a mind
crammed full of Louis, Louis, Louis. He also may have caught a few glances at Louis without him
knowing, but that was strictly confidential.

In the elevator, on their way down to the lobby, all Harry could think about was Louis' reaction to
the very risqué comment he had heard. It was totally unprecedented, nothing he had intended to let
out, and it turned Harry on beyond belief. Louis was fixing his fringe in the mirrored wall of the
elevator, and he glanced at Harry in it to see him already staring.

"What are you looking at?" Louis snorted, though he was clearly a little pink in the cheeks.

Harry simply shook his head in response, partnered with a shrug, but his condescending grin said
otherwise. Louis stared longingly back at Harry's reflected face for a few moments, until the ding
signalling the doors sliding open happened to cut the moment short. The little glint Louis had in his
eye practically screamed: You can't stop thinking about what you said upstairs, can you?

They met back with their class, so that Kendall once again decided she would spend such time with
her eyes glued to Harry. And it stayed this way for the remainder of their task; almost any time
Harry looked her way, she was looking his. He tried to ignore it, knowing he had won earlier
despite having received a sharp slap to the face, and got on with his work. At this rate, he was
going to be the topic of Kendall's final poem, because she wasn't taking in any of the landmarks
that Mr Grant was pointing out to them all, or taking any beneficial notes.

After a good, solid forty-five minutes of trailing after Mr Grant, everybody was growing tired, and
Harry personally couldn't stand the strain he was getting in his left leg from the excessive walking.
They all took a break in the cobblestone plaza in the centre of the city, Harry and his four mates
opting for a long bench.

"Fuck, my leg's aching." Harry winced, leaning down, straightening his leg and pulling the toe of
his Chelsea boot towards him to stretch his calf muscle.

"Imagine how mine are feeling then, look how short they are." Louis commented, holding his legs
out in front of him. Harry put his out too, noting that, yes, there was a large difference in leg length
there.

He heard a snicker of a laugh, glancing up fast to find that it had come from Kendall. She was
whispering amongst her friends, intentionally making sure Harry was looking, and they too were
joining in with her thrum of giggles. He simply rolled his eyes, deciding to be the bigger person,
and instead turned to his mates again.

"You guys enjoying our walk, then? Leg pain aside."

But before any of them could even respond, Gigi was yelling over with her own input.

"Harry, babe, I don't think anyone wants to talk to you."

There was a humoured reaction from their classmates, but Harry just tensed his jaw and didn't even
spare her a glance. This was all getting very tiring, their petty little actions, and quite frankly he
was going to get slowly more and more mad about them. Luckily, Mr Grant was clearing his throat
to gain everyone's attention before anything could continue.

"Right, ladies and gentlemen, so as you're aware, we were lucky enough to have stayed an
extended amount of time. But, we cannot stay forever. We will be returning to England on
Tuesday, which will be the 30th, I believe."

There was a general hum of disappointment. Harry felt his heart sink - for him, he was more upset
that he wouldn't be sharing a room with Louis for much longer. It was already Saturday the 27th,
which meant three more days remained. But, as he had recently realised, his nineteenth birthday
was only five days away. He kind of wanted to be home with his family for that. He wasn't sure his
new friends even knew when his birthday was, but it was sure to be hell at school, because it was
set to be on a Thursday, and his ex-friends definitely knew when it was.

They had three days to make the most of Paris. Harry had done most of the things on his mental
bucket list, he had even gone up the Eiffel Tower, so it didn't seem like he was missing anything.
Time was sure to be of the essence now as the clock ticked, so he was just going to embrace the
rest of his time there.

"I never want to leave," Louis pouted, kicking a large rock by his feet, "But I am starting to miss
my family."

"Me too," Harry shrugged, "It won't be so bad returning home."

He knew he was returning to a better reality in England than Louis was, but hey, at least they were
friends now. It was probably what he had always wanted, but couldn't quite work out. Louis didn't
end up replying to Harry's final sentence, just started a conversation with Charlie. Harry,
meanwhile, glanced over at Kendall to find her looking his way. She was frowning, but it was in
disappointment rather than in disgust: she was reflecting on the fact that she was returning to
England without him being hers.

It was a pretty bleak afternoon, considering they all knew their time in Paris was now very limited,
but after a dinner at a semi-cheap diner, Harry and his friends decided they'd just get a drink at the
hotel's bar again. It was around nine o'clock in the evening by then, and the bar was nice and lively
for a Saturday night, every table pretty much occupied.

"Look at you guys, on the lemonades again." Harry smirked at the four of them, while he sipped at
his beer, all seated around a table on high stools. "You sure you don't want something a bit more
fun to drink?"

"This'll do for me." Louis chuckled, sipping at his drink, a smirk rising onto his face. "I'll only
drink alcohol if it's the most expensive of champagnes."
Harry shook his head with a laugh, taking another sip of his beverage. He knew that Louis had
been making a little comment about the champagne they had drank when they visited the
restaurant a few nights back.

"I'm sure you will, Louis. Anyway, has everyone done everything they've wanted to while we were
here?" Harry queried, eyes surveying his four mates.

"I was hoping to have become king of France." Charlie chuckled, despite it being quite an unfunny
joke. "Pretty sure I've done all I needed to, it's been great."

Harry made an effort to laugh anyway at Charlie's joke, and he did make his eyes sparkle so it was
worth it. He did like to humour people, whether or not the joke being told was really something to
laugh at.

"And I was hoping to have gotten myself a girlfriend." Christopher wiggled his eyebrows jokingly.
"But didn't manage that."

Somehow even less funny. Harry wanted to say 'keep dreaming' but knew it would sound taunting.
He decided not to comment on it.

"Louis?" Harry asked, so that Louis glanced up from twirling the ice in his drink with his straw.
"What's been your highlight?"

He shrugged but spoke anyway. "Don't know. My stupidity on the balcony overrides anything
good that's happened. Makes me sound stubborn to say that, I know..."

"Oh, Lou, it's understandable that would come to mind," Niall chipped in, "But don't associate
Paris with it. Everyone has dark points in their lives."

Harry felt awful. Here everyone was joking around, and Louis couldn't stop thinking about what he
had almost done. It must have been a very detrimental thought to be stuck with, the flashbacks of a
skyline ahead of him, blurred by panicked tears.

"Yeah, think of all the positives. You went up the Eiffel tower, right? And other things." Harry shot
him a bit of a look, an eyebrow raise, something that the other three didn't pick up on. Yes, he was
referencing to both the times they had kissed - one being just last night. Louis got that.

"True," Louis put on a small smile, "I just can't help it, you know? It makes me feel ungrateful,
seeing as you've spent so much time and money on me, Harry. Not to be a downer on the mood or
anything."

"You've got to think outside the box, make a big memory that will be too priceless not to put first."
Charlie intelligently offered.

Harry nodded with a hum of agreement, "He's right. Go rob a bank or something."

Louis giggled. "Right, that'd be a good memory, but only if I succeeded."

Louis' brighter mood meant that soon enough, they had dropped the topic. Clearly it wasn't
something that brought much happiness to Louis to think about, and there wasn't really much else
to say other than 'try not to think about it.' They finished their drinks by ten, having savoured them,
then unanimously decided that the bar was getting a little too rowdy for their liking (well, Harry
didn't mind, but the others seemed not to like the way people were being so upbeat.)

"Off to our rooms now, then?" Harry asked, as they were stood aimlessly in the hotel lobby now,
unsure what to do with themselves.

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty tired, actually," Niall admitted, stretching his arms out overhead, "I'm
gonna head up. But don't wait up if you guys want to head back out."

"Think I'll head up too, I want a shower and I miss my pyjamas." Louis sweetly giggled. "What are
you going to do, Harry? Stay out a little longer if you want."

"I'll come up too." He agreed, as he didn't get the vibe Charlie and Christopher would be much fun
to hang out with alone.

They all piled into an elevator and travelled to their rooms, saying their good night's as they left.
Harry and Louis' room was the furthest up in the hotel, meaning they were last in the lift. Harry
was drumming his nails against the golden metal railing he was holding, looking quite deeply at
Louis, whose gaze was to the floor. Harry tilted his head aside as he stared.

"Cheer up, buttercup." He smiled, watching Louis quickly lift his head up once he had heard it. He
smiled a little in response, but nothing else was said before they reached their floor.

They strolled in silence down the hallway to their door, Louis with his arms wrapped tightly around
himself. Harry unlocked their door when they reached it, and they closed it behind them and shook
off their shoes by the entrance.

"Gonna take a quick shower." Louis informed, crowding an armful of his shower supplies and his
pyjamas before heading towards the bathroom. "I won't be long."

He softly shut the door behind him. All Harry wanted to do was follow him the fuck in there, his
mind still clouded with that thought, but he instead opted for sitting in front of the television and
watching the music channel. The tasteless music videos were pretty draining, but it was a good
way of passing some time. He didn't want to sleep yet, especially seeing as it was one of their last
nights, and Louis was leaving the shower after ten minutes.

Harry was lying across the sofa, his long legs dangling off the far armrest and his arm lazily
draped over his forehead, and Louis stifled a laugh.

"Made yourself comfortable there?" He giggled, and Harry squinted up at him with an amused
look.

"Just a little bit."

Louis' hair looked fluffy from his shower, towel-dried and a little bit messy, and his pyjamas never
failed to make him look utterly adorable. He returned his things back to his suitcase before
approaching the sofa.

"Shift over, lanky." He teased, nudging Harry's legs with his knee, and Harry got up reluctantly
with a groan to free the space beside him.

"You smell nice." Harry complimented, noting the fruity smell in the air.

"Why, thank you." Louis chuckled. "Shower gel did its job properly then."

Harry grinned, facing Louis' way with his head propped up against his palm. Louis was keeping his
eyes on the television screen, but it was clear he could feel the gaze.

"You're staring at me again." He smiled a little, keeping his eyes on the screen still, and Harry kept
on looking with no shame.

"Your hair just looks really soft, is all."

Louis did look his way now, but just to playfully roll his eyes.

"Again, thank you, Harry."

They carried on watching the television, a rather provocative music video in which a dancer rubbed
herself back against a man, and Louis seemed to want to distract the situation by speaking again.

"You seem to be handling your breakup well, by the way. Not that I'm one to judge how you really
feel, but that's how it seems from my side." He theorised, picking absent-mindedly at his nail.
Harry turned to him, shrugging heavily.

"Guess you're right there. I'm just more bothered by the shit they're giving me now, you know? It's
like-"

"Did you love Kendall?" Louis cut him off, before he seemed to come to again and widen his eyes
once he realised what he had said. "Oh God, that's a pretty personal question. I didn't mean that..."

"Don't worry about it," Harry shrugged, "I'm okay with it."

It did strike him quite a lot though. It was like a flashback, movie-style filmroll was playing in his
mind suddenly, his past with Kendall, and he had an immediate answer. It hadn't even taken much
for him to determine it.

"Yes, I did."

"Oh." Louis piped up. There was definitely some dismay in his tone, jealousy perhaps. Harry
decided he would fix that.

"But... there's a difference between loving someone, and being in love with someone, if that makes
any sense. You know, you can love a friend, or a family member, but being in love is a whole other
story. I just wasn't in love with Kendall, ever."

Louis breathed out a long, steady breath through slightly pursed lips, rubbing at his eye with the
pad of his thumb. "Well."

"Well, what?" Harry gently asked, folding his legs in front of himself on the sofa.

"No, it's nothing." Louis dismissed, waving a hand carelessly, but Harry wasn't going to believe
that.

"No, Louis, really. What is it? Just say."

"On the balcony that one time..." Louis trailed off, shaking his head with uncertainty. "No,
honestly, forget I said anything."

"When I told you I was falling in love with you?"

A thick silence fell over them. Louis was grasping his left hand so hard that it paled a little, and he
couldn't even look Harry's way.

"Yeah. W-Why did you say that, then?" He stuttered out, his voice wavering. He sounded
vulnerable, as if he was ready to be completely let down, or to be told it had been some stupid joke,
or to have it reiterated to him that it never meant anything.

Harry hesitated, wiping his hands slowly down his face. His brain instantly screamed a clear
answer at him, something that was slowly being worked out every time he looked at Louis. Harry
found love to be a very, very powerful thing and he could no longer fight it. He looked up at Louis
a few moments later, completely defenceless.

"Because I meant it."

"You..."

"I'm in love with you."

He was in love with him.

Louis practically came close to choking on air. Harry had never seen such shock in his eyes, even
since when he first aired this (with maximum uncertainty on the balcony that one time) yet he
liked it. And, God dammit, it seemed true by now. Harry had thought he was straight just two
weeks ago, wouldn't have even dreamt he'd feel anything more than platonic towards another male,
but here he was feeling perfectly at peace. He was in love with Louis, and all this time he was
working that out.

"You... you're in love with me? Now?" Louis stammered out, finally able to look Harry's way, who
was softly smiling.

"Yes."

"Why?" Louis whispered, but Harry heard it loud and clear.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why would you love me?"

"I don't know how it happened, Louis, only God knows, but I know that when I look at you," He
cut himself off with a breathy laugh and a huge smile, "My goodness, you do things to my head."

Louis couldn't help but smile too, having found Harry's contagious, and had to cover it with the
back of his hand as it was so broad.

"Sorry, it's just..."

"No one's ever been in love with you before?" Harry guessed. "That's absolutely insane to me,
you're so lovely. It's a pleasure to be your first."

Louis blushed, placing his head in his hands. "You're so sweet."

"Is that all you think of me, Tomlinson?" Harry chuckled. "I'm just sweet? Is that your way of
letting me down easy?"

"Of course not," Louis playfully rolled his eyes, "I think you're wonderful."

Harry shuffled closer on the sofa, Louis giggling, his back against the arm rest so he was facing
Harry's way, legs crossed in front of him.

"What are you doing?" He giggled.

"Just getting a closer smell of that lovely shower gel." Harry innocently proclaimed, and he knelt
by Louis' side and nuzzled his face beneath his chin, much to Louis' surprise.

"Wow." He breathed out, followed by a shaky laugh. "That's a very close smell you're getting."

"Or maybe this is my way of initiating another make-out." Harry hummed playfully, skimming his
lips just slightly over Louis' neck, receiving a quiet gasp.

"All you had to do was ask." Louis shrugged, and before they even knew it, Harry's lips were on
his. Harry brought his hand up to rest on Louis' left cheek, caressing the skin with his thumb as
their lips softly pressed together again and again. They slid down into a lying position, and Harry
was holding his body over Louis', leaving that proximity between them, kneeling either side of his
legs to separate their bodies.

Louis was kissing back very gently, his lips soft and tasting so sweet, and the pace was intimate
and unhurried. They were giving each other all the time in the world, tender little strokes of the
lips, and Harry decided it would be an appropriate moment to bring his hand up to gently rake
through Louis' feathery hair instead. He could have sworn he felt Louis smile into the kiss and it
had him smiling too (perhaps with a tad more smugness.) Louis was still sure on keeping his hands
firmly by his sides, unsure whatsoever on what to do with them, which Harry would forever find
adorable.

He broke the kiss temporarily, looking deep in Louis' eyes, and slowly smiled. "You're a really
great kisser."

"So are you." Louis shakily whispered back, putting on a smile, but his lips seemed to be wavering
a little with nerves, eyes diverting frantically around Harry's face.

"It's okay, you tell me what you're thinking." Harry urged, brushing a strand of hair from Louis'
pretty blue eyes. He thought Louis probably needed to voice his doubts, his want to keep his
distance and leave it at a make-out again, but when he heard quite the opposite, he was shocked.

"Do you want this to go further?" Louis asked, voice monotone and lacking any clues as to what he
was thinking. Harry's eyebrows were urged to raise, heart thumping a little bit faster.

"Further? What do you mean, Louis?"

"You know what I mean. More than making out." His voice was small, insecure, like he was
terrified to the core but knew he needed to be saying this.

Harry hadn't really been faced with this yet, the general question of things going further. Sure, his
head span at the thought, and he felt dizzy to think this was something that could really happen, but
he was feeling very confused. His mind was cloudy, thoughts shooting through his mind, but the
one that struck him most was the one that told him that, yes, he did want it to go further. He had
already expressed that he was in love, for crying out loud, how much more did he have to convince
himself?

"That's your call, Louis. I want you to be comfortable." Harry eased. "You tell me what you're
thinking."

"Well, I guess I'm just scared."

"Why are you scared, darling?"

Louis shrugged, but he answered anyway. "Well, I really want this to go further. I trust you, I really
do, but we'd have to take things really slowly."

"That's very understandable, Louis, seeing as you've never done anything like this before." Harry
soothed him, brushing his fingertips tenderly up his forearm. "I trust you too, and I'm glad you trust
me."

He was caught off guard when he felt Louis' fingers curling beneath the hem of his t-shirt all of a
sudden, just teasing a little at the fabric.

"Can you take this off?"

Harry raised an eyebrow, a cocky side smile present. "You want me to?"

"Yeah. I think it'll ease the situation a bit, you know?" Louis had a little smile on his face, almost
like he was just making an excuse to see Harry's body, but Harry was all for it.

He knelt over Louis fully, gripping the material of his t-shirt behind his neck and tugging it up and
off his body. His hair fell messily into his eyes, toned abdomen now on display, and he saw Louis
thickly gulp as he glanced over the abs.

"Wow, uh... so you work out a lot?" Louis questioned, tripping over his own words, and Harry
wanted to chuckle at his flustered nature but at the same time knew it wasn't the right time to. His
hands were clasped behind his back to give Louis the full view, a cocky smile present, and he
loved the captivated look in Louis' eyes.

"Yeah, I work out quite a bit," Harry muttered, voice low, reaching forward and scooping up Louis'
hand, "And hard work pays off."

He traced Louis' hand over his abs slowly, biting his lip as he did, watching the fascination in
Louis' eyes as he allowed his fingertips to be guided.

"Wow," Louis breathed, followed by a sharp laugh. Harry dropped his hand from Louis' leaving
him to freely feel himself, and he traced tenderly over the dips in Harry's abs, completely
captivated.

"Can I kiss you again, or are you going to be feeling forever?" Harry smirked, and Louis glanced
up at him with a humoured yet flustered look.

"Of course you can." He giggled.

"Great. Now how about we move to somewhere more comfortable?" Harry whispered, seeing
Louis' eyes light up a bit. He nodded in agreement, and they rushed to stand up (Louis rather
shakily) before hurrying over to Harry's bed, which was nearest. Louis returned to a position on his
back, and Harry got into a half press-up position above Louis again to continue their kiss.

It was a little bit more frantic now, their mouths moving together faster, Harry sliding his tongue
into Louis' mouth, but he still knelt to keep their bottom halves apart. The difference this time was
that his hot torso was pressed against Louis' clothed one, radiating body heat through, and he could
even feel Louis' hammering heartbeat against his chest. He loved it, the rush he was feeling
through his veins, and he rested one hand on the pillow by Louis' head and the other on his hip.

He broke the kiss once again, his heart skipping a beat upon hearing the breathy whine of
discontent that Louis let out, and instead began trailing the kisses towards Louis' jawline. Louis
tilted his head aside, eyes fluttering closed and mouth falling ajar, as Harry peppered little kisses
along his jawbone, and Louis tilted his chin upward without even thinking to give him more
access.

"Mmm, your skin's so soft." Harry hummed against it, as he pressed another kiss just below Louis'
ear, before bringing the lobe between his teeth, gently nibbling on it. Louis sighed out a breath, and
Harry brought his mouth up to whisper into his ear, his voice low and seeping with lust. "I'd love
to explore more of that soft skin."

"Fuck," Louis breathed out, fingernails digging into the sheets beneath him, urging Harry to smirk.
He sat back on his heels again, so that he could see Louis fully again.

"Your call now, okay?" Harry's tone turned to a caring one all of a sudden, tracing a finger along
Louis' t-shirt's hemline. "Can I take this off, or do you not want me to? You say what you think."

Louis did seem ever-so-slightly hesitant for a moment, a split second of consideration, but then he
surprised Harry by sitting up and nodding.

"You can take it off."

"Yeah?" Harry clarified, raising his eyebrows. He was kind of expecting Louis to back out last
second, become insecure and back away, but he didn't.

Louis looked him in the eye with so much trust, and a small smile, and although it held doubt, it
also reflected just how into this he was. He trusted Harry so much, and that was something he
would never take for granted.

Louis lifted his arms and Harry clasped the bottom of his pyjama shirt, pulling it up and off his
head before throwing it down to the floor by his bed. Louis sat back against the headboard again,
hands lying rather protectively over his stomach. Harry noticed three or four scars on Louis' left
forearm, semi-healed, and his heart almost broke in two. He had gotten an inkling that Louis would
have them, but it hurt to see, and he only kept his eye on them for a split second so as not to make
him insecure.

He had a natural tan glow to his skin, and it all looked so soft, and Harry didn't know why he was
covering that gorgeous tummy up.

"Fuck, you're perfect." Was Harry's first verbal outburst, with a disbelieving shake of his head.
Louis seemed to blush a little, and he lightly shook his head in disagreement. "Of course you are.
Let's see that lovely tummy, Louis."

Louis giggled as Harry gently pried his arms aside, once again shaking his head, feeling so lucky.
His skin was hot all over from just looking at Louis' exposed torso. He reached out, coming so
close to touching, before he had to physically stop himself and remember boundaries.

"Can I touch?" He asked, so fast that it was almost jumbled into one single word, and Louis giggled
once again. He was lying down again, so stiffly, hands lying by his sides.

"If you want to."

"You don't even understand how much." Harry breathed out a chuckle. Before he did though, he
gripped onto Louis' arms gently and moved them upward, so they were resting by his head on the
pillow. "That's better."

He could properly see those hips now, the way they curved out a little after the waist, and he
started by getting his hands on them. He slid them down Louis' sides, from beside his chest all the
way down to his trouserline, all while breathing profanities under his breath.
"You are breathtaking." He barely whispered, his left hand squeezing appreciatively at one hip
while his right hand slid up to glide over that wonderful stomach. He was so soft all over, his skin
so beautifully untouched, and Harry felt truly blissful. This was heaven.

"I wouldn't say breathtaking," Louis begged to differ, voice wavering a little.

"Oh, I would." Harry argued, with a smile. "I want to kiss all over you."

"Oh my goodness." Louis seemed to shy away a bit with that flustered smile, turning his face to the
side to hide it against his shoulder, and that only made Harry's heart jump once again. Louis was so
fucking innocent, it was incredible.

"Can I?" Harry continued, and his bottom lip caught between his teeth seductively. Louis' gaze shot
down to look at the way Harry's plump bottom lip turned a cherry red between his teeth, and he
was hazily nodding, completely enticed.

"Y-Yeah."

Harry smirked, knowing he was doing a great job at making Louis hot and bothered, running his
hand up Louis' torso again. This time, he traced the pad of his thumb very lightly over Louis' right
nipple, earning a little gasp. His smirk remained, while Louis' mouth was ajar slightly.

"Sensitive?" Harry purred, voice coming out deep and syrupy, and Louis nodded quickly.

"Very." He breathed out.

"That's so hot." Harry breathed, before positioning his body further down the bed a little, wasting
no time in lowering his head and pressing a kiss to the centre of Louis' chest.

"I could do this forever, you know?" He whispered, another kiss just to the left of the last. "Kiss all
over you."

Louis' stomach was rising and falling fast as he audibly tried to catch his breath back, fingers
gripping into the pillowcase, and Harry trailed the wet, open-mouthed kisses all over his stomach.
He held onto Louis' waist as he did, holding him still (as he had begun writhing slightly) and his
kisses were pressed to just about every free inch of Louis' stomach.

Harry would be lying if he said he didn't feel himself hardening already. Just that hot ball of energy
occupying the pit of his stomach, lust making home in every cell of his being, and he brought his
mouth up to Louis' nipple once again. He simply allowed his plump bottom lip to tease over the
bud of the nipple, and the quietest, breathy whimper from Louis made his head spin. That was
exactly what he had wanted to hear: the sounds of content that soft voice could make.

"You like that, huh?" He whispered, bringing his tongue out to circle around the nipple. Louis'
head fell back against the pillow, mouth parting and a sharp breath leaving his lips.

"Y-Yeah." He breathed out, voice shaky.

Harry let his tongue move slightly faster, teasing at the nipple, and the way Louis was squirming
was enough gratification for him. God, he was getting so hard so fast, and the tightness of both his
underwear and jeans was not something he appreciated at that point in time. But he kept on licking
lightly over Louis' nipple, brushing over the other one gently with his other hand, until Louis
looked like he could never stop writhing. Harry stopped finally, climbing back up again until he
was hovering over Louis again, bringing his mouth down to his ear again.
"You're making me so hard, Louis."

"Oh, God." Louis breathed out in bliss, eyes still shut.

"I don't think I've ever been turned on so quickly in my whole life." Harry admitted in a purr,
licking up the shell of Louis' ear.

"Don't think I've ever been this turned on in my life ever." Was his response, followed by a
breathless laugh, and it had Harry smirking. He was turning Louis on, that was what he wanted to
hear.

"Do you mind if I get out of these horrendous jeans?" Harry chuckled, and Louis shook his head
straight away.

"N-Not at all." He was so flustered, unsure where to look for long, Harry's sultry stare proving just
a bit too much right now.

Harry was fully hard by now, and it was straining against his underwear. He climbed onto the bed
beside Louis, quickly bringing his hands down to undo his belt, long fingers fumbling clumsily
with the buckle. Louis' heart was thumping so hard watching Harry undoing it, whipping the belt
out and throwing it to the floor, before tackling the button and unzipping the stubborn jeans. He
lifted his bottom half up off the bed as he slid the jeans down, kicking them off his feet, and Louis'
eyes were immediately on the bulge that was straining against the black fabric of Harry's Calvin
Kleins.

"Oh my fucking God." Louis cursed in whisper, sitting up against the headboard once more. He
was clearly hard too, it was visible in his pyjamas bottoms (and Harry found that so fucking hot)
but for now Louis couldn't look away from Harry's bulge, his face reddening. "That's..."

"Big. Yeah, I've been told." Harry breathed out a laugh, while Louis shakily wiped a layer of sweat
from his forehead. He seemed to be trembling all over, Harry noted in that moment, so he softly
placed a hand over Louis', his thumb gliding softly over the skin.

"You okay, yeah?"

"Yeah," Louis nodded, "Lie down, Harry."

Harry smirked to himself, sprawling himself out along the bed, head propped up against a plump
pillow. He lifted his hands and tucked them behind his head, as a way to say he was completely
Louis' now for the taking, and Louis seemed nervous but he moved and positioned himself so that
he was sat on Harry's thighs.

"Little surge of confidence?" Harry raised an eyebrow smugly, and Louis giggled.

"I guess you could say that." Louis smiled, tilting his head to the side. The innocent sparkle in his
eyes was just wonderful, the aura to him that screamed his purity. But he was finally finding his
confidence, getting comfortable with Harry, and he slid his palms all the way up Harry's abdomen.

"There we go," Harry persuaded under his breath, running a hand through his curls, "You've learnt
how to touch me all by yourself."

Louis giggled, running his hands over the dips and curves of Harry's abs and then back again, eyes
occasionally glancing down to take in that bulge again. He still seemed rather flustered by it. Harry
had been told many times in the past that he was very well-endowed, so it wasn't any wonder why
Louis couldn't stop staring.
After a very good feeling session from Louis, in which he had skimmed his fingertips all around
Harry's hot torso, he sat back on Harry's thighs and laughed to himself as he put his face in his
hands.

Harry couldn't help but chuckle along, "What?"

"Sorry, I just get all giggly sometimes when I find someone massively attractive. You're so hot, it's
just a bit surreal."

"So are you, Louis." Harry softly reminded, reaching forward and scooping up Louis' hand in his.
"And I have no idea how you fail to see that."

Louis stubbornly shrugged. "I guess it's what I've always thought."

He held Louis' left hand with one hand and used his other hand to gently skim his fingers up Louis'
forearm, over those scars, tenderly caressing the skin, while smiling softly at Louis.

"I honestly cannot stress how perfect you are, Louis."

Louis grinned to himself, and in one move climbed up so that he was straddling Harry completely,
and Harry gasped having not expected it. The sudden pressure he had on his dick made it twitch a
little, and he wrapped his arms round the back of Louis' neck and pulled him close, attaching their
lips. Harry was well aware that his lower region was pressed against Louis', and it turned him on
insanely to feel how hard Louis was too. Harry kissed him so deeply, running his hands through
Louis' hair at the back of his head, resisting the massive urge to grind his hips up against Louis'.
But it seemed Louis was already onto that, very subtly shifting around on top of Harry yet knowing
exactly what he was doing. Harry breathed heavily into the kiss at the little bit of friction, before
smirking into it, biting down on Louis' lip as they broke the kiss once again.

"You've got to stop teasing me like that." Harry whispered, brushing a strand of hair from Louis'
face. Louis giggled, shrugging heavily.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Do you want my dick, Louis?"

Louis' rate of breathing dipped, Harry heard it, and an awestruck look came onto his face.

"Y-Yeah." He stammered, gulping and nervously laughing once again.

"Then how about we get out of the rest of these clothes? They're pretty tight, aren't they?" Harry
lowly asked, eyes shooting down to take in Louis' visible erection straining against his pyjama
bottoms, and a devious sort of smile stretched onto Louis' face.

"You first."

Harry laughed to himself, watching as Louis climbed off him and on the bed beside him. Harry
lifted his arms above him again, giving Louis a little nudge downwards of his head.

"You can do the honours, if you'd like."

Louis grew a bit shy, hiding his face for a few seconds, but then he fought the timidness and
thought he would do what was being suggested to him. He shifted himself so that he was sat
between Harry's long legs, which parted a little to give Louis some room, and he hooked his fingers
beneath the waistband of Harry's underwear and pulled it down in one swift movement. Harry's
cock sprang free, lying thick and long against his abs, and Louis looked completely struck with
awe over it.

"Wow," He breathed, while Harry bit his lip and smirked at Louis' reaction. He was blushing
again.

"Don't go all shy on me." Harry chuckled, tucking one hand behind his head and casually taking his
dick into the other, wanking himself off a few times, and Louis watched with his mouth agape
slightly, swallowing thickly in his throat once again. "You alright?" Harry purred.

"Just, that... that's really hot." Louis stuttered out, in a breathy tone, and Harry's smirk only grew.

"You like it when I touch myself?" Harry asked, voice a low drawl.

"So much."

Harry deeply laughed, continuing to lightly jerk himself off, relieving the pressure in his dick a
little, but he couldn't stop looking at Louis while he did it. The way Louis was intensely watching,
eyes glowing with arousal.

"You want to touch me?" Harry invited, moving his hand off himself. Louis nodded, reaching out
and wrapping his smaller hand around Harry's cock. Harry couldn't suppress a deep groan from
sounding in his throat, one that had Louis grinning to himself, as he began moving his hand up and
down Harry's shaft.

"So big." He mumbled, watching his hand curiously, flicking his wrist to get the best rhythm
going.

"Feels really good." Harry breathed back in return, subtly bucking up his hips into the touch. God,
he needed more than just Louis' hand on him. "Take everything off, Louis." He urged, nudging his
head to Louis' pyjama bottoms.

Louis nodded, removing his hand momentarily from Harry's dick while he shifted his trousers off,
kicking them to the ground, and Harry hummed out a moan of appreciation at Louis being
completely naked. He was so hard, his dick standing against his stomach, a pretty pink at the tip,
and his thighs just looked marvellous, so thick and wonderful.

"Yeah, I was right about you being perfect." Harry smiled. "Do you mind if I jerk you off as well?"

"Of course not," Louis giggled, "But do you want to?"

"Of course I do." Harry gripped Louis' dick into his hand, feeling it hot and full in his palm,
wrapping his long fingers around it and working his hand up and down. It was his first time
touching another guy's dick, but there was something good about it, he couldn't quite explain it.
Just nice to have something in his hand.

"Oh wow." Louis whispered, eyes shutting. "Gosh, that feels amazing."

Harry sped up the movement just a little, while biting on his lip, all to watch Louis' head tip back
and an open-mouthed moan to leave his lips.

"There we go." Harry purred, and he didn't even think of his spontaneity before he rolled onto his
stomach in front of Louis and experimentally traced his tongue around the head. Louis gasped and
didn't quite know where to put his hands, opting on planting one in Harry's curls, as Harry held
Louis' dick up against his stomach and licked a stripe up the underside. Louis seemed to be holding
his breath in pleasure, eyes clenched shut as Harry lowered his head and took the tip of Louis' dick
into his mouth, bobbing his head a little to have a small moan sounding in the back of Louis' throat,
his hand tightening in Harry's hair.

"I want to suck yours, Harry." Louis whispered suddenly, voice a little gravelly. "Please."

"Fuck, you do what you want, baby." Harry breathed. He was well aware he hadn't seen Louis'
wonderful arse unclothed yet, but right now he was just fine with waiting if it meant he could get a
blowjob.

Harry shuffled back into a lying position on his back, so his long, lean body was sprawled out
along the bed, and Louis climbed back between his legs, sitting back on his heels, and wasted
absolutely no time in grabbing Harry's dick once again. He jerked it off a couple of times before
dipping his head down and encasing the top half in his mouth, hollowing out his cheeks.

Harry breathed out a groan, running a hand through his hair again while the other lay on his
stomach. Louis began bobbing his head up and down, only able to manage half of Harry's dick in
his mouth to avoid choking on it.

"That's so fucking hot," Harry mumbled, moving his hand down to rake through Louis' hair.
"Mmm, look at me."

Louis glanced up, that fucking innocence, as he held Harry's dick in his hand and slapped it against
his tongue a couple of times. Harry was pretty speechless at that, it was too hot to even react to
with anything other than a sharp moan. Louis held that powerful eye contact as he took Harry's
cock back into his mouth, twisting his head as he continued to bob it up and down, his hollowed
cheeks and pink lips looking utterly lovely.

"You're good at that, you know?"

Louis' response was a small moan around Harry's dick, which was so fucking hot, and Harry
brushed Louis' hair from his face once again.

"I wanna make you feel good too, Louis."

Louis lifted his mouth from Harry's dick with a pop, jacking it off once again as he smiled up at
him.

"Do you now?"

"Don't get all cocky with me, Tomlinson. Yes, I do," Harry smirked, brushing Louis' hand away
and taking his dick back into his own. "Can you lie on your stomach for me?"

Louis giggled and complied almost immediately, climbing up the bed and lying down on his
stomach, and Harry had to suck in a sharp breath when he saw Louis' bum. It was so fucking round
and firm and big and Harry was lost for words for a good ten seconds.

"Oh my fucking..." He trailed off, shaking his head slowly in disbelief, inviting himself to bring his
hand down and squeeze one of the cheeks in his hand. "God, Louis."

He abandoned his dick again for the time being, with Louis' bum currently what deserved all of his
attention, and he planted a hand on either cheek and had a good grab. The way it seemed to wobble
so much in his hands, yet was so firm, was so perfect. He decided he would spread Louis' bum,
revealing his tight, pink hole, and he moaned aloud at the sight.

"That's so perfect, Louis. You're so perfect." Harry reiterated under his breath, shuffling into a
kneeling position in front of Louis' bum. He parted it once again and this time let a string of spit
drop from his mouth, landing over Louis' hole to have him gasping.

"Yeah." Harry breathed, using the tip of his index finger to spread the spit around, so that Louis
gasped and turned his head to the side on his folded arms. Harry smirked to himself, leaning
downwards slowly so that his hot breath fanned out over Louis' hole, giving absolutely no more of
a warning before licking a long, thick stripe all the way over it.

Louis released a high-pitched whimper, one that went straight to Harry's dick, as Harry began
twirling his tongue slowly around his hole.

"That feels so good," Louis whined out, his voice high with bliss, so that Harry cockily smirked as
he held Louis' gorgeous bum either side, kneading it with his hands as he completely went in with
his tongue, lapping faster at Louis' entrance and sucking lightly on the rim. "Fuck yes."

Harry continued to work his tongue around, sliding it inside just slightly, as much as he could
without hurting Louis, and as he pulled back after a moment, he didn't even think before leaving a
rough spank on Louis' bum. He had always done it with Kendall in the past, so he hadn't even asked
whether that's what Louis was into, but judging by the sharp moan that left Louis' mouth, it was all
good.

"You like that?"

"Yeah," Louis' voice transformed halfway through into a moan, biting down on his forearm as
Harry lay another slap to his arse.

"Fuck yeah, you're so dirty." Harry breathed, before returning to lapping at his hole once again. He
prodded his tongue in once again, pushing it in and out slowly, and it had Louis pushing his bum
back slightly. He loved Harry's tongue inside him, even if it was just the very tip. "You like that
inside you?"

"Put a finger inside me."

Harry's mind went hazy with so much lust that he swore he couldn't even see for a few seconds.

"Fuck, are you sure?"

"Please."

"Let me grab some lube, yeah?" Harry asked, jumping to his feet.

"You have lube with you?" Louis giggled, cutely kicking his feet up into the air behind him.

"It's travel sized." Harry wiggled his eyebrows, and Louis playfully rolled his eyes, but bit his lip as
that arousal still sat heavily in his stomach.

Harry opened the lube up with a click, repositioning himself between Louis' legs once again,
pushing the right cheek aside to spread his arse once again.

"You want this, yeah?"

"Yes." Louis urged. "Please, Harry." That innocence was there again in his voice then, the way he
whined out his words with a sense of desperation, and Harry couldn't ever dream of denying him
anything when he spoke like that.

"Okay, baby. I want you to take deep breaths because it's going to hurt a little, okay?"

"Okay."

Harry squeezed a good amount of lube onto his right middle finger, before closing the lube and
dropping it onto the bed. He pressed the tip of his finger against Louis' entrance and massaged it
around it, getting him used to the feeling a little.

"Can you just kneel a bit for me, stick your bum up?" Harry instructed, patting the side of Louis'
thigh. Louis complied immediately, tucking his knees beneath himself with his face still on his
folded forearms on the bed, and fuck did he look great like that. "There we go. Deep breath for
me?"

Louis sucked in a deep breath, body rising a little, and Harry pressed the tip of his finger in. Louis
hummed out a moan of discomfort.

"I know, baby, it's going to hurt a little." Harry soothed, using his free hand to caress over Louis'
side. "Keep breathing deep for me."

He pushed it further into the tightness, which forever constricted around his finger as he twisted it a
little, slowly edging it in more and more.

"I-It hurts." Louis managed to gasp.

"Do you want me to stop? Just say the word."

"No, please carry on."

"Okay, Louis."

Harry waited a while for Louis to adjust, twisting the single finger around a bit to get him used to
it, before he finally started moving it out and then back in, very slowly. Louis exhaled through
pursed lips, releasing shallow breaths, but he did manage to speak.

"Another one, I-I want two."

"I don't want you to overdo it, Lou..."

"Two please, Harry. I want two."

"If you're sure, darling." Harry clarified, using his free hand to grab the lube once again, flicking
open the lid and pouring even more lube over where his lone finger was still working in and out.
He squeezed in his index finger alongside it, hearing a strained groan from Louis, as he bit into his
forearm once again.

"The stretch feels kinda good, but f-fuck-- it hurts." Louis stammered, gulping to soothe his dry
throat.

"You'll get used to it, Lou Lou." Harry smirked, the two fingers completely in together, and he
attempted to move them both outward, stretching against the tight walls.

"Ouch, that's so tight," Louis breathed out a laugh, "You can move them."
Harry very slowly moved them both outward, then back in again, twisting them and scissoring
them outward as he went, and Louis was moaning all the while.

"That's definitely feeling better now," Louis purred, breathing in through gritted teeth.

"Fuck yeah." Harry swore, the thought of his fingers being inside Louis making him feel hot all
over.

"Feels so good inside me," Louis whispered, making Harry's dick throb.

"You like that inside you?" He purred, speeding up the movement a little to have Louis whining in
the back of his throat.

"Something else would feel even better."

Louis glanced back over his shoulder and they linked eyes then, so intimately that Harry got
shivers, and he raised his eyebrows a bit.

"You... want--"

"I want you to fuck me, Harry."

Okay, that was the hottest thing Harry had ever heard, especially in that beautifully sweet voice of
Louis', which was a little rough from the arousal. He stared at Louis carefully, though he still
worked his fingers in and out at a steady pace.

"You do?"

"Please," was Louis' rather incoherent response, and Harry was speedily nodding, slowly removing
his two fingers from Louis.

"I mean, if you're sure, baby."

"I'm so sure, please. It felt so good, your fingers inside me, I need more."

Harry took his dick in his hand, giving it a couple of pumps while looking Louis' face all over.

"Okay. I'll grab a condom, alright?"

"Please." Louis once again uttered, having rolled onto his back again, pumping fast at his own dick
as Harry stumbled back over to his suitcase, grabbing a condom from the pack he had (and was so
glad he had brought.) He turned to look at Louis over on the bed, his cheeks pink, lips glossy and
bitten red and ajar, fist moving fast over his dick, and he just looked so fucking perfect.

Harry climbed back onto the bed, ripping open the condom.

"You sure?" He once again reiterated, and Louis giggled and rolled his eyes.

"More sure than I've ever been."

"You don't mind me being your first?"

Louis shuffled into a comfortable position lying back against a pillow, twirling his hair around a
finger while smiling over at Harry.

"Of course I don't. I'm grateful that you want to be."

Harry rolled the condom onto his cock, with Louis watching with intrigue, and then reached for the
lube, pouring lots over his dick.

"Okay, I want you to relax. Are you comfy?"

"Yeah." Louis smiled, parting his legs a little. Harry climbed over him, Louis' legs either side of
Harry's knees, and he used the excess of the lube on his hand to spread onto Louis' entrance.

He leant forward so that his forehead was pressed against Louis', looking deep into his eyes. "You
ready, baby?"

"Yeah."

Harry nudged the head of his dick against Louis' hole experimentally, just prodding it against it and
moving it around slightly, and Louis bit hard on his lower lip as he felt it pressing in. Harry held his
breath to suppress a groan, pushing himself in at a very leisurely pace, hearing a sharp wince from
Louis, his eyebrows scrunching together.

"You okay?" Harry breathed when he was halfway in, a strain to his voice.

"Keep going." Louis piped out, quickly so that his voice didn't crack, so Harry complied and
carried on pushing inside. Once he was all the way in, skin touching Louis', he finally released an
open-mouthed moan.

"So tight." He purred, swallowing. "You feel so good, Louis, fuck."

"Your dick is huge," Louis gasped out, eyebrows still slanted inward. "Stretching me open so
much."

Harry smirked to himself, moving his face up off Louis' so that he could see him more. Their eyes
darted all around each other's faces, taking in every little detail, as Harry very slowly drew back his
hips, the friction of Louis' walls tight against his cock.

"It hurts." Louis choked out, "But don't stop."

"You look so beautiful, Louis." Harry commented, smiling as he sank his dick back inside halfway,
Louis breathing in sharply as he did. "So, so beautiful."

"Doubt it." Louis smirked, and Harry reciprocated the smirk as he pushed the rest of the way in in
one swift push, so that Louis gasped and choked out a moan.

"Yes, you really do." He purred, drawing his hips back outwards again. "How's that feeling?"

"A little painful, b-but good." Louis whispered, gulping in his dry throat. " Keep moving, please,
it's nice."

Harry slowly bit down on his lower lip as he began a rhythm in and out, slow and steady, and Louis
watched the lip bite once again, eyes flicking from Harry's lips to his eyes. Harry smirked and
brought his head forwards to kiss Louis once on the lips, while he continued sliding his cock in and
then out, one hand stabilising himself on the bed and the other holding Louis on the hip.

Louis' head fell back onto the pillow, sucking in a deep gasp and shutting his eyes as Harry sped up
just a little bit more, as they both got more into it and the pain started to decrease a little bit for
Louis. It was still there, but it was starting to feel like a good sort of pain as the pleasure trickled in.
"Yeah, you love that dick deep inside you," Harry purred into Louis' ear, hot breath tickling at his
ear. "Don't you?"

"Feels so good," Louis breathed, at half the volume, once again moving his head forwards and
catching Harry's lips against his. This time it was more prolonged, a few strokes to the lips, and as
Harry sped up significantly, rolling his hips forwards, Louis moaned into the kiss.

"Ohhh, shit." He whimpered out, Harry's forehead against his. "Y-Yeah."

Harry got Louis' lower lip between his teeth, playfully tugging on it as he continued sliding into
him, and Louis loved it. He brought his hands up to hold onto Harry's shoulders, fingernails
digging in harder as Harry kept the fast rhythm going.

"Please," Louis didn't even know what he was begging for anymore, but he found himself pleading
again, and it earned Harry's cocky smile again.

"Please what?" He lowly asked, moving his face to mouth at Louis' jaw with wet kisses.

"Please keep fucking me."

"Until you cum, Louis."

Louis choked out a moan at that, biting helplessly on his lower lip as Harry continued to nip at his
neck. Harry changed the angle a little, moving his hips in small circles to have Louis gasping once
again.

"Oh God yeah." He breathed, cutting himself off with another whimper. "You're so good at fucking
me, Harry."

"And you're so good at taking it," Harry grunted, voice so deep and drawled out with lust. "And
looking fucking amazing while you do."

"I wanna ride you."

Harry didn't need any more convincing than that. He didn't even pull out, just managed to flip
Louis over while still inside him, so that Louis was riding him, catching his balance quickly by
planting his hands against Harry's broad chest.

"There we go," Harry smirked, moving his hands to rest behind his head, "You look so good up
there. I want to watch you forever, baby."

Louis began rocking himself on Harry's dick, moving his hips around to get every angle, and Harry
shook his head in disbelief over how fucking hot Louis looked doing that.

"You're an angel, Louis."

Louis' mouth was hanging open slightly, eyebrows raised a little, letting out little gasps and whines
as he continued to move so beautifully back and forth on Harry's cock. Harry reached up and
cupped the back of Louis' head, bringing it downwards so they could make out again, and Louis
fell forwards a little against Harry. Harry took over again, arching his legs against the bed and
moving his hips upwards, thrusting in and out of Louis once again to have him mumbling a moan
against his lips. Both Louis shuffling his hips back and forth, plus Harry fucking up into Louis, had
them both moaning hotly into each other's mouths.

When the kiss broke again, Louis buried his face in the sweaty crook of Harry's neck, nuzzling his
nose against his skin, as Harry lifted his hips off the bed and rotated them to get every angle one
again. Louis reached down and began pumping his dick along with the thrusts, leaving a lingering
kiss to Harry's neck as he did, before pulling back again to look in his eyes. Harry felt inclined to
once again call Louis perfect, or compliment how gorgeous he looked with his lips all bitten like
that, but he knew he would just hear another denial.

Still fucking up into Louis, his eyes surveyed the room, and they stopped when they landed on the
desk. With a mirror.

"Little change of location okay with you?" He breathed, stopping the thrusts and brushing hair
from Louis' face.

"Do what you want with me." Louis giggled. Harry liked the sound of that. He shuffled to the edge
of the bed with Louis in his lap, then pulled out of him as he scooped him up in one, holding him
beneath his thighs. He set Louis down on the floor in front of the desk, bending him over it so that
his stomach came into cold contact with the wood.

"You're going to watch yourself get fucked. Want you to see how beautiful you look." Harry
purred, tangling a hand in Louis' hair and gently angling his face upwards until he was looking at
himself in that reflected surface.

"Harr--" Louis was about to playfully complain, air his doubts, but before he could Harry was
pressing back into him and his mouth dropped open to cut himself off with a loud moan.

"Yes?" Harry playfully asked, thrusting into Louis at a rather staggering pace. Louis could barely
even breathe it felt so good, let alone respond. He was shakily moaning, sobbing almost, his sweet
moans absolute music to Harry's ears and urging him to smirk and groan deeply to himself.

"Look at yourself, Louis."

Louis did, glancing up momentarily at himself. It was giving Harry a fantastic view too, Louis'
eyebrows furrowed, eyes half-closed, mouth wide open and trembling as he moaned.

"Don't you look incredible?"

He found Louis nodding, frantically, linking eyes with him in the mirror. Harry bit his lower lip
and his cocky smirk was back.

"About time you realised it." He purred, one hand gripping Louis' shoulder as he began one rough
thrust every couple of seconds, Louis choking out a whimpery sob with each one, the other hand
squeezing Louis' soft waist. He then brought that hand down to smack roughly over Louis' bum,
earning a pleased gasp.

As Harry changed the pace once again, speeding up so that the sharp sound of skin on skin became
even louder, Louis let out one long whine that wavered slightly with each thrust. His bum was
shaking with each thrust, a concept that had Harry smirking. Louis' left hand came up desperately
to find something to grab onto, but it only slid down the mirror with a squeak, leaving a streaky
hand mark all the way down it.

Harry smirked, flicking his hair to the side using a shake of his head, still watching Louis closely in
the mirror. He felt close, that tingling in his stomach, but he wanted to make sure Louis came too.
He reached forwards in front of Louis and grabbed his cock in his hand, pumping at it with each
thrust so that Louis was crying out with pleasure.

"Oh my God, I'm so close..." He whined, eyes fluttering shut. "I'm gonna cum."
"Watch yourself cum, Louis."

Louis obediently complied, eyes opening once again to look over his face in the mirror. It
gradually scrunched up more and more as he came closer to orgasm, and he glanced up at Harry's
face in the mirror when he was right on edge.

"I'm cumming." He breathed out, right before he did. His stomach tensed, toes curling against the
floor, head falling forwards onto the desk as he let out a long, high moan. He was shaking all over,
sobbing into his arm.

That view was all Harry needed. He pulled out of Louis and tore off the condom, needing only two
jerks of his dick before he was cumming too, of course letting out a blissful outburst of Louis'
name, pouring streaks of cum all over Louis' bum. His body jerked forward a few times, trembling
moans leaving his mouth before they turned to gaspy breathing.

There was a quiet in the room then, but two lots of shaky breathing, and Harry tenderly stroked his
fingertips over Louis' side.

"Holy shit," Harry breathed out, though it was barely audible through the roughness in his voice,
and rawness of his throat. "You're amazing."

Louis was still seemingly speechless, shaking a little even still, and it had Harry smirking cockily.

"Oh yeah, first proper orgasm?"

Louis nodded against his arm, followed by a breathy laugh.

"Yeah." He whispered.

"Good?"

"I thought my reaction would have told you that answer." Louis managed, and Harry chuckled to
himself and patted the side of Louis' arse.

"Just a little," He sarcastically responded, launching the soiled condom into the bin by the desk.
"Let's get cleaned up?" He began heading to the bathroom for tissues, but Louis caught his wrist
before he did, having turned around on shaky legs.

"Hey, Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"I think I might have a big Paris memory now." He had a lopsided smile on his face, and Harry
couldn't help but replicate it.

"You definitely do, baby."

He leant forwards and pressed a kiss to Louis' lips, before finally turning towards the bathroom
once again.

All in all, he couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

 24

Louis had become very drowsy and sleepy following his rather substantial orgasm, so once they
had cleared up the mess they'd made, they both slipped into Harry's bed. Together. But before
doing so, they had put just their underwear back on, as Harry knew it would be quite intense on
Louis' part to go straight to sleeping completely naked together. And he gave Louis space, didn't
get too close just yet, wanted him to have time to adjust.

Harry barely slept. His sleep pattern that night constantly fluctuated, as he found himself lying
awake either smiling to himself, or in a period of deep contemplation. Louis slept throughout,
curled up in his little ball of (slightly less?) innocence. He definitely still looked far too adorable to
be anything less than innocent, despite the filthy things he had said and done. He looked so at
peace, hands nestled beneath his chin and lips a little more pouty, and Harry couldn't stop thinking,
'I'm really fucking lucky. This guy's an angel.'

Unsurprisingly, following a very unsteady sleep, he woke up before their alarm had even sounded.
It was around ten minutes to seven. His heart had skipped a beat as soon as he had gathered his
hazy thoughts, and memories from last night had poured in. Shit. He turned his face to the right on
the pillow, Louis' sleeping body facing the opposite way to him, and bit back a smile. He had been
restraining himself from touching Louis all night, so he couldn't help it any longer.

He shuffled in closer, wrapping his arms softly around Louis' waist from behind, feeling him jump
a little from the sudden contact. Harry nuzzled his face up to Louis' ear, lips grazing lightly over it.

"Morning, gorgeous." He grumbled out, voice thick with sleep, and Louis thoroughly shivered.

"Hi." He piped up, with a nervous laugh. His body had gone stiff a little, probably as he gradually
came to terms with what they had done last night, but he moved his head aside a little to allow
Harry more room to bury his face in.

"How are you feeling?" Harry murmured against the hot skin of Louis' neck. He felt Louis densely
shiver yet again.

"Surreal."

Harry smiled against him, leaving a soft kiss to the skin and letting his eyes lull shut once again.
He felt so peaceful there, with the hot heat radiating from Louis' exposed back, and how velvety his
skin felt against him. He brushed his fingers tenderly over Louis' waist, completely embracing the
moment, and they stayed that way, snoozing in a comfortable silence until the alarm finally did its
job at seven. They both jolted in surprise upon hearing it, despite the inevitability, and Harry swung
his long arm round to his bedside table to swipe it off.

Louis was already sitting up, reluctantly brushing Harry away and getting to his feet. Rather
painfully. His face contorted in discomfort as he walked a couple of steps, and Harry stifled a
laugh.

"Sorry." He apologised, cockily, knowing he was the reason for the burning ache in Louis' bum.

Louis' response was a light-hearted roll of the eyes, a blush present in those cheeks again, as he
strolled to his own nightstand to grab his phone. He seemed to have his arms wrapped around his
middle again, but Harry figured it was more out of comfort than insecurity. He perched on the end
of his bed and scrolled through his phone, seeming to be straining a little not to look at Harry, who
was lying on his side, facing Louis, chin propped up on his palm. Louis was still insanely flustered,
Harry's eyes on him proving difficult, but in a good way when you took note of the subtle smile on
Louis' face.

"I say we sleep in for another ten or fifteen minutes," Harry smirked, stretching his arms overhead
as he lazily rolled onto his back, with a strained, sleepy groan. "We've got an hour until we need to
be in the lobby, let's take it slow today."

"Seems like I'll have to take my walking slow today." Louis' mouth curved up a little more on one
side, but he still couldn't meet Harry's eye yet, his blurry morning self having to adjust more first
before seeing Harry's hotness for too long.

"Again, sorry," Harry chuckled, "Can't help how big I am."

Louis shook his head with a breathy laugh, finally meeting eyes with Harry. The eye contact
seemed far more powerful than usual, something there this morning that was lacking yesterday
morning. It was their closeness; how intimate they had been. The fact that they had been physically
linked together had really influenced it emotionally too, that was already clear. But Louis' timid
nature couldn't be shifted, though Harry still kind of loved that.

"But no, can't really lie in today, Charlie's just texted me asking if I can go to his room and help
him on the latest chapter of the project before we go to the lobby. I'm guessing he doesn't want to
get into trouble with Mr. Grant for not doing it." Louis explained, but Harry was too busy
wandering his eyes all over Louis' face with a stupid smile on his face. "What?" Louis giggled.

"I'm just thinking about last night. How perfect you are." Was Harry's response, having barely even
registered what had been said. Louis smiled so big to himself that he even dipped his head to hide
it.

"So are you." He gushed, placing his phone down again and grabbing his toothbrush and
toothpaste from his washbag, wandering off into the bathroom. A few moments later, the sound of
brushing teeth, while Harry dozed on the bed, still in that same position with his head propped up
slightly.

"Did you even take in what I said a moment ago?" Louis called from the bathroom, in between
brushing.

"Uh, you need to help Niall with his project, or something." Harry carelessly said, smiling to
himself.

"I need to help Charlie." Louis corrected. Harry could practically hear a smile back just from
Louis' tone. "Then I'll meet you in the lobby at eight."

"How could you leave me the morning after? Is this no more than a one-night-stand to you?" Harry
jokingly grieved, hearing Louis stifle out a laugh, done with brushing his teeth now and instead
getting dressed.

"You're funny, Styles."

Harry's eyes were dropping shut again as he grinned to himself in response, but he shot awake
again with the sound of Louis dipping into the room again and putting his stuff away. Harry
absolutely loved how he caught a little bit of strain on Louis' face, a slight wrinkle between the
brows with each step. He had caused that, but he didn't feel too bad because he could tell Louis
liked the reminder.
Louis was shrugging on his denim jacket now over one of his Tommy Hilfiger jumpers, so that the
hood stylishly sat over the top, and recklessly pushed his feet into his done-up Vans.

"So I'll see you at eight." Louis waved, a glint in his eye that showcased he was loving trying to act
normal, when really both their brains were crammed with memories and desires.

"Later, sexy."

Louis giggled as he waved once again, slipping his phone in his pocket, slinging his backpack over
his shoulder and leaving their room. Harry was left in the room with his own thoughts. He reached
over and grabbed his phone to see that it was now twenty minutes past seven, and he decided he
needed to stop being so lazy by lounging around because otherwise he would drift off to sleep
again, and miss the 8AM curfew. That wouldn't be too good.

He managed to get up, smirking at the mess of strewn clothes on the floor by the bed, head filled
with memories of taking all of those off. And Louis'. He was going to find it hard to function today,
what with his reoccurring thoughts of Louis' soft skin and sweet moans. He opened up the balcony
doors to let in some fresh morning air, the sounds of early Paris life filling the room from far below
on the street. He then scooped up Louis' pyjamas from off the floor, placing them under his pillow,
and stuffed his own clothes into his suitcase, leaving the floor nice and tidy once again.

He headed to the bathroom and jumped in the shower, deciding he would brush his teeth in there to
leave more time for lazing in front of the television for a while, leaning out the shower to spit the
excess foam into the sink when he needed to. When he was finished, he switched off the shower,
dried off, and slipped into black skinnies and a plain white t-shirt, throwing the towel on top of the
laundry basket and his toothbrush into his suitcase. His brain was flicking through the vivid
evocation of Louis' stares last night, the way they were looking so longingly into each other's eyes,
foreheads pressed completely together.

Just as he had switched on the television and settled onto the sofa, at about twenty-five minutes to,
there was a quick knock at the door. Louis had been in such a hurry, it was no wonder he'd have
left his key in the room. Harry, with his stupidly long legs, jumped over the back of the sofa and
strolled over to the door.

He swung open the door, "Not like you to forget your--"

He cut off immediately once he registered that it wasn't Louis stood at the door, but Kendall. She
was dressed up well for such an early time, wearing black, ripped skinny jeans, along with a shirt
Harry had always said was his favourite on her: a slightly plunging red crop top with a silver zip up
the front. She smiled widely at him, arms folded, while Harry scowled. He began to swing the door
shut in her face immediately, but she was quick to stick out her foot, propping it open.

"Wait."

"Why? I have nothing to say to you, Kendall." Harry sternly reminded, body stiff and defensive,
hands balled. Kendall was wearing a despairing pout, the sort of face she would put on back when
they were dating and she was about to beg him to buy her something pricey. It seemed to be on her
face this time as a means of attempted attraction, perhaps, paired with the smoldering eyes.

"At the airport, I put my YSL lipstick in your bag, in case you've forgotten. I need it back, dipshit."
She put on a fiercely sweet smile, head tilting to the side. That was true, she had slipped it into
Harry's travel bag just before they had gone through customs, after applying a layer. It was a bright
red one, that's all he remembered.
"Then wait there, and I'll get the stupid thing." Harry rolled his eyes, turning back into the room,
but Kendall wasn't taking that hint. She instead followed him into the room before the door had
swung shut, taking an invitation that was never even offered to her, nosily glancing around as she
followed him in, hands stuffed in her back pockets.

"What the fuck are you doing? Get out!" Harry snapped, pointing back at the door. "I'm not joking,
Kendall."

"Where's your lovely roommate?" Kendall bitterly asked, ignoring Harry's command, seeming not
to care too much that he wasn't even attempting to look for her lipstick. Harry felt anger spike in his
veins at her sarcasm-soaked question. But God was he glad he had cleared up he and Louis' clothes
from off the floor, because Kendall's intrusively wandering eyes would have glanced over them,
had they still been on the ground.

"He's gone to help Charlie with the project. Don't see why you care, anyway. Now leave the room
and I'll get the damn lipstick, I didn't invite you in here."

"Isn't he a sweetheart, helping his friend?" She cooed, making no advances towards the door. "But
it's only polite to invite visitors in, Harry, anyway. We're hardly strangers."

"Well, I'd rather we act like we are." Harry snapped, arms folded defensively, eyebrows furrowed.

Kendall smiled mischievously to herself, eyes wandering down to take in the way Harry's biceps
protruded slightly due to how they were pressed against him. Harry cleared his throat.

"Kendall, I'm not messing around, stop your bullshit. I'll tell Mr. Grant you came in here if you
don't leave." He threatened, but she just chuckled to herself and took a step in closer, eyes
narrowing and smile broadening.

"Your arms always look so good." She lifted her hand and skimmed her fingertips up his forearm,
and he shrugged away harshly.

"Stop. And leave."

She took another step towards him, body just centimetres from his. He could feel her body heat.

"Make me." She whispered. Harry stepped back all the while, widening the distance between them
once again, jaw locked in annoyance, shaking his head in disgust.

"Don't be like this."

"You're the one who needs to lighten up, silly." She giggled, reaching out and playfully shoving
him at the shoulder. "I'm just messing around, I thought you were the one who loved doing that
too."

"Leave." Harry raised his voice a little, the extent of what he could do to show his lividity, and
Kendall rose her eyebrows a little, scoffing.

"Jesus, there's no need to get so stressy, babes. Maybe you just need a good, old-fashioned de-
stressing session." She had dropped her tone just a little, suggestively, and Harry shook his head
violently.

"I never want to be near you again. Leave my room. Now."

"My lipstick, Harr-"

"I don't give a shit. Go."

Kendall, gaping at him in disrespect, lightly shook her head.

"You're such a prick. I expect you to send me the fucking money for that lipstick, you low-life
bastard."

As she finished the sentence, her eyes had trailed off somewhere else in the room, and they seemed
fixated there. Harry twisted his body to the left to glance over at what she was so fixated on,
stopping when he realised: the smeary hand mark down the length of the mirror attached to the
desk. His blood ran cold for a moment, just a split second, before he snapped out of it and realised
he couldn't let his guard down. Was he just being paranoid? Surely Kendall wouldn't have seen that
mark and worked anything out? But why would she look at it? Was Harry going crazy?

"What?" He hissed, looking back her way to see her looking at him, then back at the mark once
again while lightly shaking her head.

"Nothing."

Okay, nothing. Harry could have sworn he felt himself trembling a bit, which was so unusual for
him, so he crossed his arms behind his back to hide it, nervously nibbling his lower lip.

"Bye, Kendall." He hinted. She looked him over once more, though the seduction was gone and she
had just a neutral expression on her face now, before she headed to the door, leaving without a
further word, not even another mention of her beloved lipstick.

Harry exhaled very heavily once he was alone again, running a hand through his hair.

Harry managed to pull himself together and make his way down to the lobby by eight, backpack
over one shoulder, hair probably very messy as he hadn't bothered to style it at all once it had dried
from his shower. The first person he linked eyes with was Louis, as though they were just drawn to
each other, like nobody else was even there. Louis smiled, a shy smile, before looking back at their
other friends as Harry approached.

"Morning, guys." He greeted, but his eyes were latched onto Louis again, who had a smug glint in
his eye.

"You look awful, mate," Christopher openly snorted, "Which I thought was impossible for you.
Clearly not."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that, Christopher. Give me a break, it's a Sunday morning."

"Rough night?" Niall guessed. Harry's eyeline shot straight up to Louis once again, a little smile on
his face and a raise of the eyebrows.

"Yeah, you could say that."

Louis giggled to himself, but it went unnoticed by anyone but Harry. Harry never wanted to look
away from Louis, because when he looked at him, (other than being startlingly beautiful) he
brought back wonderfully hot memories of last night. But if he did stare at him then his body
would react too, and that wasn't great seeing as he was on a school trip. He strayed his eyes away,
looking around the lobby and immediately noticing that Kendall was staring at him. Her gaze was
calculating, eyebrows furrowed just a little, and Harry didn't look back at her for long whatsoever
before glancing away again. He didn't like what he saw, the way she was so pensive, it made him
feel hugely unnerved.

The day felt rather depressing, what with the thought that tomorrow, Monday, was the final full
day. But Harry looked at Louis whenever he felt sorrowful about it and that spark of excitement
raced through him with ease. All he could think about was being close to him again, making love
to him again, over and over.

They had their moments of connection throughout the day. They'd find themselves linking eyes
during a group discussion and bursting into bright laughter, with no reasoning or explanation, just
the pure bliss of seeing each other. Or they'd glance up to see the other already looking. Harry felt
so at peace whenever he looked at Louis, completely lost in those blue eyes.

Gigi flicked through an Elle magazine with her manicured fingernails, legs sprawled out on the bed
in front of her, not even paying much attention to a rather stressed Kendall, who was sitting on her
own bed fiddling with her fingers. They were on their lunch break, which seemed to be dragging,
and Kendall's mind couldn't stop whirring.

"Gi?" She asked.

Gigi hummed to showcase her attention, eyes still skimming around the pages.

"Have you ever seen Titanic?"

Gigi's eyes darted up, eyebrows lowering with an amused smile on her face. She placed down her
magazine, rolling onto her stomach.

"About a million times. Why?" She queried, curious, her full attention caught now.

"Well, you know I went to get my lipstick?"

"From Harry. Yes?"

"And I didn't even get it back, he was a prick about it, but that's besides the point. I went into their
room, his and Louis', and the mirror..." She trailed off, shaking her head as though deep down she
knew it was crazy. "...had this hand mark all the way down it, you know?"

"Like... the car in Titanic. Is that the link you're making?"

"Yes!" Kendall exclaimed, pointing at her excitedly as she had guessed it spot on. "Just like the
hand print on the car window!"

"That's a sex scene, Kenny. What are you even saying?" Gigi giggled, practically showcasing in
that how pathetic and unnecessary Kendall's investigation was.

"Well, it just worried me seeing it. I mean, why would there be a hand print down the mirror like
that? It wasn't even just a print, but a smear, like a hand trailed down it. Like the car window."
Kendall went on, adding it all up in her head, cogs churning within.

"Oh my God, Kenny," Gigi sighed, with a sharp laugh, "You can't be serious. You're saying..."

"What if they had sex? Harry and Louis? Like, you know how weirdly close they've been, and it's
so fucking obvious Louis is gay, it all-"
"Stop right there." Gigi cut her off, lifting a hand. "You're being obsessive again, girl. I think what
you're saying is ridiculous."

"It totally isn't! You can't tell me you've never been fucked against a desk. It totally could have
happened."

Gigi shrugged cockily, her way of confirming what Kendall had said, but she stood her guard
anyway.

"Look. I'm sure there's nothing happening between them, you're being irrational. Why would Harry
ever get with another guy? You and I both know how much of a ladies' man he is, there's no
denying it. Please stop obsessing, it's unhealthy."

Kendall slowly nodded as she took in what Gigi was saying. And it was true. She knew what Harry
had been like, the way he would stare at other girls even when he was with her, sometimes even
wink at them, and she would cry on Gigi's shoulder about it later on. She didn't think he had
changed his ways, didn't know he had.

"Thanks, Gi. But I do miss my lipstick."

Gigi playfully shrugged, "Then get it back yourself."

Kendall whipped her head over to look at her, her own smile present. "What do you mean?"

"We both know he's not giving that back to you. So maybe you'll just have to take matters into your
own hands and do it yourself." Gigi shrugged, smirking.

"Get a key to his room from the lobby?" Kendall brightly asked. "You think it'd work?"

Gigi raised her hands defensively. "You do what you think is best."

That was a yes. And Kendall was all for it, feeling less gloomy about the Harry and Louis
situation. She realised that perhaps she was being delusional for thinking something sexual would
happen between them, but what she did know was that she wanted her lipstick back, and she wasn't
going to have Harry stop her.

Even if she did just want it back to spite him, never letting him have one up on her.
 25
Chapter Notes

Includes more smut later because I couldn't help myself sorry

Not too much goes on but it's a cute chapter that turns hot. You'll see lol give it a read
x

Next chapter will include Kendall's shenanigans.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It was their second to last night in Paris, so they didn't want to make it a boring one. Unlike in
England, where the nightlife seemed to be more like nightdeath on a Sunday evening, Paris was
pretty alive. Harry and his mates had gone for a very unpretentious meal in Burger King, skipping
anything fancy for the evening, and were on their stroll through the city afterwards when Harry
suggested they stay out.

"Let's not head back yet!" Harry brightly offered to the four of them, nudging Louis on the arm,
who was closest to him. He saw Louis grin to himself in the corner of his eye, just from that simple
skin contact.

"And where do you suggest we go, Mr. Excitement?" Louis mocked, a smirk on his face, which
had Harry reciprocating one and rolling his eyes. The three others didn't even catch on to their
blatant flirting, considering it as being friendly banter.

"Anywhere but back to the hotel. Why, are you tired?" Harry teased back, looking at Louis in the
dim light of the lampposts lining the streets around them as they walked.

Louis mimed the word "sore", with a cute, self-pitying smile. Harry simply winked, his way of
cockily apologising. Damn, those hot memories were pouring into his brain again, and he loved it.

"Are you suggesting we go to a club or something?" Niall cut in, reminding Harry and Louis that
other humans did exist after all.

"I don't know, Niall," Harry smugly smiled, "Are you suggesting that?"

Charlie looked quite nervous by their proposition, tugging at his sleeve awkwardly. "You guys
serious?"

"Why not? It's one of our last nights, and Paris is supposed to be good for its nightlife." Harry
shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to come, but it would be fun if we did all go."

"Hmm, I dunno," Christopher chipped in, "I'm kinda with Charlie here, we've never been
clubbing."

"Then make today your first time! Drinks on me all night!" Harry persuaded, having stopped now
in full consideration and excitement, so that the others had no choice but to stop too.

"All night?" Charlie sounded tempted. "You sure?"

"A hundred percent. You all in?"

"I'll go." Louis immediately opted, with a smile.

"Fine, let's do it," Christopher rolled his eyes with a laugh, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his
nose. "Why the heck not?"

Harry subtly laughed to himself at the diversion of the swear word, just happy that everyone was
agreeing.

"Cool! There's a club under ten minutes from the hotel. VIP Room, I think it's called." Harry
informed, having remembered it from googling it before they'd even left England. It was back
when he imagined he and Kendall would be going there together, but now here he was going with
his three nerdy friends and giggly little Louis.

They made the walk there, during which time Harry was tracing his fingertips tenderly up Louis'
forearm, which went completely unnoticed to anybody else but the two of them. When they
arrived, there was a queue, which was moving fast anyway as people were checked for ID at the
doors before flooding inside. The bass boomed from the inside, seeming to shake the pavement,
and the colourful storbe lights sparked out from the open doors at the entrance.

Harry was first in, handing over his driving licence as ID, waiting for them to check it before they
handed it back and let him in. He waited for the others, Louis first, then Niall, Christopher, Charlie.

"You should have seen the look he just gave me," Christopher yelled over the deafening thunder of
music. "Probably surprised someone like me wants to go into a club."

"I got the same look," Charlie shouted back, voice barely visible over the drum and bass
soundtrack. "Though he let you in without a second glance, Harry."

"Because I'm a cool kid," Harry joked, with a smirk, before realising it may have sounded arrogant.
"Not saying you guys aren't."

Louis rolled his eyes playfully at Harry, face barely visible, only when a ray of light passed over
his face as they headed into the corner of the club. It was absolutely packed with people, the dance
floor full of dancing, grinding teenagers. The bar was probably even worse, people desperate to get
served even more alcohol than they needed. Most of them already looked drunk off their faces.

"I'll head to the bar. What am I getting?" Harry excitedly asked, as his friends all hopped up onto
bar stools around a high table, in an area a tad quieter than the rest. Harry was looking at Louis
once again, simply because he loved looking at him. And he loved the tension between them, the
unshakeable, underlying sexual lust. Damn it, Louis was so sexy, effortlessly.

"Lemo--"

"Don't you dare say lemonade," Harry warned, cutting Niall off, "We're in a nightclub, man!"

"I was going to ask for the same," Louis giggled, and Harry's eyes landed on him with a smirk.

"Nope, we're getting you on the shots, mister." He looked Louis up and down a little, again away
from the eyes of their other friends. "I want to see you drunk. I feel like you'll go all giggly."

Louis giggled simply at that, urging Harry's heart to flutter. He was so adorable, a healthy mix
between adorable and sexy. Yes.
"I want to try shots!" Christopher suddenly yelled, so that Harry looked around in embarrassment
in case anyone had managed to hear over the too-loud music. They hadn't, luckily, and were
probably not paying much attention anyway to a little group of British boys.

"I'll get us all two Jager bombs each. Yes?" Harry offered. "They're more subtle for a first shot."

"Go for it." Louis shrugged, smugly grinning. Harry shot him a similar smug look before heading
away, his tall, slim build managing to slip through the tightly compact bodies.

He wrestled his way to the bar after a good five minutes, and he ordered a tray of ten of the shots.
He then wondered how the hell he was meant to get them back to the group without spilling them
all over everyone on his way, so he made the most of his height and long arms by holding the tray
overhead, getting back to them in no time.

"Wow, great work," Charlie chuckled, "I would have spilt them everywhere."

Harry set the tray down, hopping up onto the free stool by Louis.

"You guys ready?"

"Yes!" Louis enthusiastically exclaimed, and Harry felt his heart practically explode.

They all grabbed one, and Harry counted them in, before they all lifted one shot and downed it. It
was nothing to Harry, mostly tasting of Red Bull, and Louis took it well too, however Charlie,
Christopher and Niall spluttered into their hands.

"You guys handle your drink well," Harry sarcastically muttered, laughing, "Dread to think how
you'll deal with the vodka shots we're gonna have."

"Vodka?!" Christopher exclaimed, waving his hands out warily. "God no, I've only smelt the stuff
and it makes me feel dizzy."

"Lightweight. Louis took it well, didn't you-" He had to stop himself from calling Louis 'babe' in
front of the others, patting him on the back as a distraction, and Louis immodestly nodded.

"Yeah, I'm up for vodka later!"

"You little rebel, Lou!" Niall cackled, "What's gotten into you?"

Harry. Literally. Louis had taken a very drastic turn and seemed to have become more fun since
last night. It was nice, like he was being more open now.

"Dunno," Louis shrugged, scooping up his second Jager bomb, "Maybe I'm just feeling more alive
tonight."

He downed his second one, and Harry raised an eyebrow proudly. That was insanely hot to him,
how Louis was drinking without any persuasion. He was a bad boy tonight, but definitely nothing
compared to last night. No way.

Harry downed his second shot too, wanting to keep up with Louis (who would probably get drunk
quicker later on, seeing as Harry was so used to drinking as it is.) The others reluctantly took their
second shots too, still wincing at the taste but not quite so badly.

"I like the feeling in my tummy, it's all warm," Charlie smiled. They were so innocent, it was pretty
cute. Perhaps Harry was corrupting them all. Oops?
"There's more where that came from," Harry wiggled his eyebrows. "Who wants to try some other
shots? What do you guys like?"

"I like cherry flavoured things," Louis offered, and Harry's stomach flipped a little. Why did
everything Louis say turn him on? For fuck's sake.

"Cherry shots everyone?" Harry offered. They seemed to shrug rather than agree, but Harry took it
as a yes anyway, leaving to head for the bar once again. He picked up five cherry shots and five
vodka shots, maybe a bit of a cheeky move, before cautiously weaving through the crowds one
again.

He popped the tray down on the table, smiling at his mates.

"Drink up, guys."

He was pretty surprised when Louis immediately grabbed a cherry shot and downed it in one
without any sign of a face scrunch, placing the shot glass back onto the tabletop. As the others
tipped back their shots too, Harry's eyes surveyed the nightclub around him. He could just feel a
pair of eyes on him. And there were many pairs, many French girls having noticed him and giving
him little side glances, but he stopped when his eyes landed on a very recognisable face. Kendall.
She was stood across the dance floor, barely visible in the dim lighting, but Harry recognised her.
She was staring, so Harry quickly looked the way of his mates again, not giving her any more
glances.

Trying to push aside the debilitating thoughts of Kendall in his room earlier, he made eye contact
with her once again across the club as he downed his vodka shot. It was kind of his rebellion, his
way of showing her how much of a good time he was having without her, watching as she folded
her arms and sauntered off (probably to her friends to gossip about him.)

Harry didn't mention to Louis that he had spotted her. He still felt bad for not having even
mentioned her being in their room that morning, but he pushed that thought aside as the vodka
burned through his system, making him feel lighter already.

Louis had soon had his vodka shot too, face adorably contorting as he did, shaking his head to rid
of the shiver.

"Wow, that's strong."

Harry smirked, throwing back his cherry shot, putting the glass down onto the tray.

"Sure is."

Just fifteen minutes later, having not even purchased any more drinks for them, Christopher was
drunk off his face. He was swaying a little in his chair, somehow already pissed despite their few
drinks, chuckling to himself at just about anything anybody said.

"How's he already drunk?" Harry laughed in Louis' ear.

"I'm feeling it, not going to lie," Louis hazily admitted, smiling broadly and resting his head on
Harry's shoulder. "Because we never drunk. I mean drink."

Harry widely smirked. "Tripping over your words too? You'll be out of control before we know it."

"Maybe that's a good thing." Louis mumbled, shrugging playfully, and God Harry was feeling hot
all over again.
Within the next five minutes, Christopher had wandered off elsewhere in the club, probably in
search of some females to harass, and a tipsy Charlie was following him to keep an eye on him.
Niall seemed to be dozing off a little, sitting with his back rested to the wall behind him, eyes
lulling shut.

"Stay here, Lou, okay? Gonna get us another drink." Harry advised, patting Louis on the arm
before heading off again towards the bar again.

He yelled to the bartender over the music for four vodka shots, holding four fingers up in case he
was misheard, head spinning a little and bass causing his temples to throb. He paid before heading
back over to Louis, who seemed to just be sat there giggling to himself.

"What are you giggling about?" Harry smirked, noting now that Louis seemed pretty out of it, a
large grin on his face and his eyes a little droopy.

"Thinking about you. I liiike you." Louis sweetly giggled again, cutely hiding his face. "More
vod." He shortened the word vodka drunkenly, causing Harry to stifle a laugh.

"Here's your vod." He slid a shot Louis' way, watching as he took it immediately and tipped it
back, before smacking down the glass and reaching for his second. Harry gripped his hand before
he could.

"Take it slower, babe."

"No," Louis pried Harry's hand away and grabbing it, laughing rather manically as he downed it
and set the glass down. "I l-love it."

Harry downed a shot, smirking at him.

"You do?"

"But not as much as I love your dick." Louis heavily slurred, causing Harry to gasp a little and let
out a sharp laugh.

"Man, you're more open when you're drunk. Fuck."

Harry was feeling it a little more now, the room around him seeming to become more liquid, the
lights merging and the bass hitting his head very hard. He could hear Niall snoring over the music
from where he was leaning against the wall on his stool, knowing he would probably fall off that
soon, and he could hear Louis giggling. He took his second shot, pushing aside the tray of many
empty shot glasses, holding the side of his head and groaning softly.

He tried to say "Louis", but it came out as more of a drawl, and confusion struck him as he realised
that he didn't know whether two minutes or an hour had just passed. He rested his head on the
tabletop, and he seemed to doze off momentarily, unsure of how long, not knowing how his drink
had hit him harder than any other time back in the UK. Perhaps alcohol in France was stronger,
who knows. But he usually never stopped drinking until he had no clue what he was really doing,
and right now seemed to be that point, as the room seemed to be moving around him even with his
forehead to the table.

He felt a hand clasp onto his shoulder suddenly, and his mind immediately told him Louis. He
glanced up with a stupid smile and glazed over eyes, finding that Louis was gone and Kendall was
stood by him instead, holding his shoulder.

"Kenny." He slurred, eyes lulling shut. "Where is Lou?"

"He wandered off, darling," she smiled widely. Harry's eyes wandered down her figure, without an
intention to, taking in the tight dress, before he shut his eyes tightly and shook his head.

"Drunk."

"Yes, you are," Kendall chuckled, "But don't worry, you're safe. You always get like this, silly,
then you forget what you've done the next day."

Harry's response was a rather over the top laugh, head tipping back a little. "Y-Yeah."

"Have you got the key to your room, Harry?" Kendall schemingly asked, head tilting to the side
and a smile on her face. "Can I have it?"

"I have my key, responsible... I'm a responsible adult." Harry tripped over his words, slurring
dramatically. He dug in his pocket, getting his key out. "Here you go."

He slapped it into her hand before stumbling to his feet, almost falling completely over before she
stabilised him with a giggle.

"My, my, Hazza! You're very drunk. You're not going to remember giving me your key tomorrow,
are you?"

Harry hazily shook his head, then nodded, then shook his head again. He had no clue what he was
doing.

"You gonna be okay if I go now?" She softly asked.

"Don't go, please. Stay with me."

Kendall raised an eyebrow, biting down on her lower lip, which was painted a pale pink.

"No?" She asked, hope tinged in her voice, before it was immediately shattered once some ounce
of maturity and sense in Harry shone through.

"Go away." He slurred, lightly pushing at her shoulder. "Bye bye."

Kendall scoffed, rolling her eyes as she dramatically turned away, strutting back over to her friends
while Harry started prodding childishly at a sleeping Niall's shoulder.

Gigi was smirking at Kendall, sipping tentatively from her Pina Colada.

"All done?"

"Like taking candy from a baby," Kendall snorted, waving the key in Gigi's view. "I'll grab my
lipstick tomorrow during our break. You'll just have to text me and make sure you update me on
where the two of them are, while I'm in there."

"No prob." Gigi nodded, lifting her drink as a hint for a cheers. Kendall lifted her Long Island Iced
Tea and clinked the glass against Gigi's in celebration.

Harry had somehow managed to find Louis, his head having cleared just a little, enough to be able
to navigate around the club but still not enough to walk or talk normally. Louis had been with
Christopher and Charlie at the other side of the club, all swaying drunkenly to the music, and Harry
grabbed Louis by the shoulders and began guiding him away.
Before he did, he drunkenly slurred to a rather sober Charlie to "Keep eye Niall. Sleeping."

He led Louis towards the exit, both stumbling drunkenly, managing to weave their way through the
crowds before they finally left into the cool city air. Louis was brightly giggling, arm linked with
Harry's, swaying and close to stumbling to the floor, and Harry was joining in with the laughing fit,
his mind just coherent enough to remember the general route back to their hotel.

"Y-You're so funny!" Louis slurred, despite no joke even being made. "I love that you're fun.
Funny."

"You're sexy," Harry challenged, laughing lowly, before sharply hicupping, using a nearby tree to
stabilise them both as they nearly tipped over once again.

"You are." Louis giggled, biting his lower lip.

Once they reached their hotel, Louis pointed up at the building and said "hotel", as if he was
helping in any way. They managed to get their way through the lobby and into the lift, catching
themselves against the golden railing bars surrounding it.

"Kiss me." Louis slurred, looking Harry over hungrily. "Hard."

Harry certainly wasn't going to deny him of that. He began a make out, holding Louis against the
mirrored wall behind them, one hand on his hip. The kiss was very sloppy, two drunk, alcohol-
hinted mouths trying to move together, and soon enough the doors had opened with a ding that
stung Harry's ears somehow.

They broke the kiss and literally sprinted across the corridor, holding hands, and Louis fell halfway
so that Harry had to loudly laugh and scoop him up to his feet, throwing his head back as if it was
the funniest thing he had ever seen. It probably was, actually.

Harry felt his pocket for his key, not even thinking twice when he didn't feel it and reached for
Louis' pocket instead, earning a pleased little laugh from him as he patted around, retrieving the
key and shoving it into the keyhole. They threw open the door, bringing the key in with them and
slamming the door behind them.

"Need shower," Louis immediately stammered, kicking off his shoes and throwing his phone
towards his bed but missing completely, so that it hit the wall before crashing to the ground. Harry
found that a bit too funny too, snickering to himself. Louis threw open the bathroom door, pulling
his jumper off over his head, and Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Mmm, nice." He commented, wiggling his eyebrows, and Louis giggled and drunkenly put his
hands over his eyes, as if he was shy all of a sudden. Just in his jeans, Louis switched on the
shower, beginning to unbutton his jeans, and Harry laughed lowly again, deviously, perhaps.

"Get those clothes off." Harry mumbled, almost falling over as he leant down and grabbed Louis'
Tommy Hilfiger jumper, throwing it over his shoulder somewhere into the room.

Louis giggled as he discarded the rest of his clothes, completely nude, socks still on, getting into
the shower. Even through his drunkenness, which even seemed to pause looking at Louis naked
again, Harry was in awe. He caught himself against the doorframe, grinning to himself as he
watched the water cascade down Louis' tanned skin.

"It's warm," Louis slurred, head resting against the wall, so that his hair stayed dry and he had
some footing. He began washing his body, Harry watching keenly, head spinning. Harry's sober
side seemed to be attempting an appearance, the side that screamed 'holy fuck, Louis is naked in
the shower in front of you.'

"You're stunning." He stammered, smiling to himself. "Could watch for years."

Louis giggled, somehow having managed to open his shower gel and lather it onto himself.

"You fuck me again?"

"Hmm?" Harry immediately perked up, even in his drunk facade. "Fuck you?"

"Yeeeah," Louis drawled out, the shower stream washing the bubbles from his skin. "Again."

"Get out shower," Harry slurred, "Come here. Want to see your arse."

Louis giggled, switching off the shower and stepping out. He stumbled against the towel rack,
sending it falling to the tiled floor, and he was dripping water everywhere but he looked wonderful.
Half his hair was damp, the half that had been under the stream, and the other half was a complete
mess.

Harry ripped his own t-shirt off, throwing it backwards, before looking down and realising that he
was already hard. It was a tendency of his to get hard when he was drunk, and that was an
embarrassing fact at parties. He stepped out his jeans and underwear, dick already bobbing up
against his stomach, watching Louis glance down at it and bite his lip.

"Mmm." He hummed, causing Harry to grin.

"H-How about you let me appreciate your bum," Harry stammered, "So much I want to do."

They ended up on the floor, in a heap of hot, making out bodies, and Harry pushed Louis down so
that he was lying on his stomach, moaning aloud as he looked over that bum once again. He shook
his head lightly, head spinning, taking one side in either hand and squeezing roughly. Louis was
shifting around on his stomach, giggling constantly, but the moment Harry spread his arse and
dipped his head down to messily lap at his hole in a drunken state, the giggle turned to a whimper.

Harry could barely control his tongue, but it made for more of a thorough licking. He was groaning
deeply to himself, lapping very fast against Louis' hole, shaking his head to get every inch. He
slapped very roughly at Louis' arse as he continued eating him out sloppily, sticking his tongue
inside a little in a rhythmic motion.

"Y-Yeah," Louis couldn't even whine one word without stammering it, his head spinning, head
resting on his forearms and body squirming in pleasure.

Harry lifted his head, moaning deep in his throat as he laid another slap down onto Louis' arse,
earning a sharp moan. Harry sucked on his index finger, biting on his lower lip as he pressed it into
Louis, to get a breathless gasp in response.

Louis hummed out a moan, as Harry pressed the finger in completely before proceeding to move it
in and out at a medium pace, twisting his finger and smirking to himself.

"Sexy." He commented, barely able to pronounce the word properly, moving his finger faster
before gathering some spit in his mouth, dropping it down beside where he worked his finger in
and out before pressing his middle finger in too.

"Fuck me," Louis whined, his drunkenness meaning he hadn't even pronounced the 'ck' in 'fuck',
looking back at Harry over his shoulder with hooded eyes. "Harry."
Harry withdrew his fingers, stumbling to his feet and catching himself on the sink, heading into the
room on wobbly legs, managing to retrieve lube and a condom from his bag before heading back.
He moaned aloud to find that Louis had his gorgeous bum raised off the ground a little, cheek
planted against his arms on the floor, swaying a little.

"Sexy." Harry said once again, it seeming to be his drunk word for the evening, but it was certainly
very fitting. He ripped open a condom and rolled it onto his dick, opening the lube and squirting
most of it onto his dick but a lot missing and landing on the floor instead.

Harry fell to his knees once again, which really should have hurt but he barely felt a thing, slapping
his dick against Louis' arse. Louis was giggling again, shaking his bum a little as an incentive for
Harry to hurry up. Harry pressed into Louis, so that the smaller boy fell down completely to the
floor from his previous slightly kneeling position, body completely against the cold floor. Harry's
cock slid in with ease with help from the lube, and Louis choked out a moan as Harry immediately
began moving in and out of him. Harry gripped Louis' fleshy hip, squeezing at it, as he began
pounding in and out of Louis.

"Ohhh," Louis slurred out a long moan, head against the bare floor, "Yeeeah."

"Fuck yes," Harry bit his lower lip, smirking as he watched his dick sliding in and out, hips
meeting Louis' bum to have it shaking with each thrust. "So fucking sexy."

"Feels real good," Louis whined out, grinding slowly against the floor along with the thrusts.

Harry smirked, gripping Louis by the hips and moving his lower half up slightly so that his bum
was raised. Harry was kneeling, moving his hands to rest up behind his head as he continued the
rhythmic thrusting in and out.

"Move back on it," He commanded softly, stopping his thrusts gradually to have Louis desperately
whimpering. He began moving his bum back on Harry's dick, something hotter than anything
Harry had ever seen before, the way Louis was grinding his arse back in a circular motion to have
them both moaning. Harry began moving again along with Louis, so that the slapping of skin filled
the room.

"There we go," Harry stuttered out, voice low and breathy, "Like that."

He thrusted a bit faster, reaching for Louis' wrists, holding them both and pulling them back gently
as he continued to pound into him, so that Louis slid to the ground again completely, face against
the floor.

Harry rotated his hips, biting his lip, before letting go of Louis' wrists again and pulling out of him
quickly, before flipping him onto his back. He loved being able to see Louis, the mix of
drunkenness and pure ecstasy on his face as Harry pressed into him once again, all while grabbing
Louis' dick and giving it a few pumps. As he moved in and out of him, watching Louis' eyebrows
raise more and more with each movement, mouth hanging open, Louis reached his shaky hands up
to trail along Harry's torso, feeling appreciatively over it, before ghosting them upwards over
Harry's hot skin to tenderly feel over his face, looking in awe.

"B-Beautiful," he moaned out, fingertips brushing over Harry's lower lip. "You're beau--"

Harry cut him off by changing the angle of his thrusts, brushing over a sensitive spot inside Louis
that had him loudly moaning, eyes shutting as he threw his head back, hands sliding down Harry's
face and shoulders again, gradually until they were by Louis' sides and he was gripping the bath
mat by his left side.
 Harry continued fucking into him at that same angle, each time hitting against that wonderful spot,
and Louis was sobbing in drunken bliss with each hit, which seemed to be getting more powerful as
Harry slammed his hips forwards harder, with a rough slap of skin on skin.

Before either of them even knew it, Louis was crying out, eyes rolling back until they were closed,
back arching off the ground as he came completely untouched all over his stomach. He was
shaking all over, tightening around Harry's cock, so that Harry only had to pull out and rip off the
condom before grunting deeply and cumming all over Louis' stomach, joining the cum already
there.

Harry fell beside Louis on the ground, head somehow spinning even more now, body shaking and
breathing uneven. Soon after that, they both fell asleep in a heap on the floor, no words uttered
except a final slurred sentence from Harry.

"You're so sexy."

Chapter End Notes

drunk Harry is an idiot btw -_- but oh well Louis got some d
 26
Chapter Notes

Typos maybe?? Sorry x

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Anyone would imagine waking up in the city of Paris to be pure bliss, but Harry was met with a
deep ache in his lower back, and unforgivingly cold marble tiling beneath his bare body. He had a
towel draped over himself, one which he had most likely drunkenly grabbed in the night from
where the towel rack laid on the floor. He kind of remembered Louis stumbling into that last night,
which explained why it was where it was.

Louis had a thin towel over himself too, one so flimsy that he may as well have not bothered. He
was in a sleeping position that had Harry imagining the pain the poor boy was going to be in when
he woke up, what with how his back was twisted. Harry's head was throbbing with a light pain, but
it was nothing compared to the hangovers he had experienced the morning after one of Zayn's
crazy parties.

It then dawned on him that it was a good thing he had actually woken up, as they definitely hadn't
set an alarm. He leant over for his jeans, which were strewn by the bathroom door, tugging them
his way and retrieving his phone. Luckily, it was only 7:40, meaning at least they had twenty
minutes before they had to be in the lobby for their final full day.

Harry couldn't remember much from last night, it was pretty hazy, but he did recall something
about using the word 'sexy' a lot, and maybe watching Louis shower. Yes, that definitely happened.
Fuck, he was kind of pissed off that he had been too drunk to fully appreciate that in the moment.

He smiled fondly to himself when he turned to look at Louis, who was still pouty and sound asleep.
He had to wake him up, which was pure evil, but it had to be done seeing as they'd hate to miss
their final day. And they'd get in trouble, on the other hand.

"Louis," His voice came out very croaky, so that he had to clear his achingly dry throat and try
again, "Lou."

Carefully, he shook Louis by the arm, rocked him just a little, and a deep little groan sounded in
Louis' throat.

"Come on, Louis," Harry chuckled, "It's gone half seven, we've got to get up."

Louis groaned once again and started to massage his left temple, where discomfort had struck once
he had come to his senses. His eyes peeled open, and they focused on Harry for a couple of
moments, but they then widened as he realised what his hangover immediately had in stall for him:
He was seconds away from throwing up. He crawled speedily to the toilet, throwing open the lid
and emptying his stomach into it.

"Nice greeting, lovely reaction to my face." Harry rolled his eyes playfully, "Let it all out, Lou. Bet
that's a hard-core hangover you've got."
Louis couldn't reply, too busy retching, as Harry stroked his back gently. All Louis could do was
nod in agreement, hands gripping the sides of the toilet as he dry-heaved.

"You got it all out?" Harry softly asked, patting his back.

"This is so embarrassing." Louis grumbled out, voice rough.

"It's a pretty normal reaction to getting drunk off your face, babe." Harry chuckled, brushing Louis'
hair from his eyes as it had fallen, tousled, into them. "Do you remember a single thing, darling?"

Louis went to speak, but then he was croaking out the words "oh no" before he once again had to
throw up. Harry sadly smiled, partly because it was pretty funny that they hadn't thought through
the outcome of their actions last night, but also he knew he had to be considerate and caring. Louis
had never had a hangover before, and this seemed to be the worst one could get.

"Oh, Lou," Harry sighed, "This is what the consequences are."

"No, I don't remember a thing," Louis groaned out, clearing his throat, "Last thing I can remember
is walking to a nightclub, then nothing."

Louis was finally done with disgorging last night's alcohol from his system, sitting back on his
heels and shakily breathing in, eyes shut.

"You alright?" Harry queried gently.

Louis hazily nodded, eyes fluttering open to land on Harry, before attempting a smile.

"Think I need a shower."

A smirk stretched onto Harry's face upon hearing this, and the more his mind really whirred and
concentrated on putting together the blurry pieces of last night, the more he remembered of it.
Louis had stripped off and gotten into the shower in front of him.

"No need, you had one last night." He wiggled his eyebrows, watching as Louis insecurely
wrapped a bath towel around his naked body and stood up (as if Harry wasn't used to seeing him
yet, after everything.) "Why cover up, Lou?"

Louis looked at him carefully, eyebrows furrowing suddenly, taking in the first statement Harry
had made but not the follow-up question.

"Wait, what do you mean I showered last night? How did I manage to shower when I was drunk?"
He had a hint of amusement in his tone. "Shit, what did I do?"

"Pretty sure I remember you taking everything off in front of me, except those," He pointed at
Louis' socks, which were still all he was wearing other than the towel draped over him, "and just
got into the shower, right in front of me."

"Gosh," Louis groaned, running a hand down his face, "I'm that type of drunk person."

"Then we fucked." Harry nonchalantly shrugged. And although Louis must have known that, what
with them waking up together, naked, on the floor, he still looked a little taken aback.

"Oh. Wow." He moved the towel in his view and glanced down at his stomach, nose wrinkling up.
"There is dry cum all over me."

Harry cackled out a laugh. "Oh dear. Some of that is mine, I believe."
"Nice to know," Louis playfully rolled his eyes, grabbing his flannel from by the sink, folding the
towel round his hips and daubing the flannel with water before wiping his abdomen clean again.

Harry got to his feet, openly naked and less insecure than Louis had been, wandering off into their
room to get dressed. He heard Louis continuing their conversation from in the bathroom.

"Do you remember everything, then?"

Harry stepped into some clean underwear, before raking through his half of their wardrobe, hearing
Louis gargling with mouthwash.

"Not everything, no. Nothing from in the club, I just remember us getting back to the room. You
fell over in the hallway." He snorted, recalling a bleak memory of Louis toppling to the ground in
the hotel hallway.

"Explains why my ankle hurts," Louis chuckled, entering the room again while ruffling his messy
hair into a more pleasant state. "Was the sex good?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow at Louis, with a look that said of fucking course it was. He turned back to
the wardrobe again as he spoke, still trying to make up his mind.

"Course it was, baby. You were wild." He snickered, finally pulling a Versace jumper from its
hanger. Louis was already dressed when he turned around, putting on a fresh pair of socks while he
tilted his head aside at Harry in curiosity.

"I was wild? Christ, do I want to ask why?"

"It was insanely hot, Louis. The way you were so confident with yourself, like you should be, and
the way you moved your body on me." Harry shook his head, with a smile. "I can't remember it
massively clear, but I know it was super hot."

Louis gushed, hands covering his face. "Wow, I can't actually imagine being like that."

"But it is possible for you to be," Harry quirked an eyebrow, "Just remember that you can be
comfortable with me now, I've seen your gorgeous body and I love everything about you."

"This has turned very soppy," Louis giggled, "But thank you, Harry. I hope I can naturally be
confident like that some day. It'll just take time."

Harry nodded in understanding, finally stepping into his pair of black jeans. "Of course, baby. How
are we doing on time?"

"Where's my phone?" Louis thought aloud, glancing around the room. He groaned loudly when he
spotted it, on the floor by his bed, from where he had carelessly launched it in his drunken state. He
scooped it up to find it with a shattered screen. "Fantastic."

"Oh no," Harry winced, "Think you might have thrown that."

"At least it's turning on," Louis sighed, watching the screen flicker to life when he pressed down
the power button, however the splintered screen made it distorted to his view.

"I'll pay to get that fixed, Lou, when we're back in England." Harry casually said, slipping his
phone into his back pocket. "We have five minutes."

He ignored Louis insisting he pay himself, and they spent the rest of said time tidying up a little
round the room, returning their clothes to their cases. Before they left the room altogether, Harry
eyed the streak down the mirror, and immediately remembered Kendall's visit to their room. He
decided to leave it unsaid to Louis, knowing it would only stress him out. They exited their room.

---

It was their last full day in Paris, so Harry didn't feel too great. Obviously his hangover didn't help
with that either, but he felt generally down. Kendall's staring was pissing him off more than usual,
and today it seemed to be done in even more of a smug manner than usual; she would have a glint
in her eye whenever Harry caught her staring. He figured it to be her way of flirting, seeing as she
was clearly still very keen on him, so he did nothing more than scowl.

It took until lunchtime for Harry to finally realise he had 'lost' his room key. Sadly, his drunken
mind couldn't add up anything from when he was in the nightclub, meaning he had no clue Kendall
had taken it from him. She had completely manipulated him. Louis kept on reassuring Harry that it
would turn up somehow, and that he wouldn't be in too much trouble with Mr Grant, but it still
worried him that he believed it could be anywhere by now.

Kendall, meanwhile, was openly fumbling with the key in her pocket, a devious smile on her face
as she and her friends observed Harry from afar taking everything out of his backpack to search for
it.

"He's dumb as shit," She sneered to Gigi and Cheryl, who were both in on the plan, "When should I
go get my lipstick?"

"Well, now is probably your best shot," Cheryl guessed, "Me and Gi will stay here and keep an
eye. We'll text you if they even look like they're leaving this area in any way."

"Great, thanks guys," She breathed through pursed lips, steadily, "This is pretty nerve wracking,
actually. But I want my lipstick. Might just take one of Harry's jumpers too, just as a little
souvenir."

"You deserve it, Kenny, seeing as he was the one who dumped you. He's a dick." Gigi persuaded,
eyeing Harry as if he was dirt. He had given up on looking for his room key, and was now idly
chatting among his friends and scrolling through his phone.

"Okay, wish me luck." Kendall whispered, jumping up off the bench, handbag over her shoulder,
heading away as her two mates called their best wishes after her. Nobody seemed to even suspect
she was heading off, nor did they care if they did, and as the park they were all in for lunch was
relatively close to the hotel, it only took her five minutes at the pace of a brisk walk.

She took the elevator up once she reached the hotel, making a kissy gesture to herself in the mirror
to check her beige-nude lipstick was still intact, before reaching the correct floor and heading
straight for their room, which was 128, as the key stated. Despite knowing for a fact that Harry and
Louis were sat in the park, she still creaked open the door at a very slow pace, heart thudding,
obviously finding the room completely empty. It was pretty tidy, but not massively so, and it felt
weird as she stepped in and allowed the door to swing shut behind her.

It was immediately clear whose bed was whose, as the one furthest into the room, closer to the
balcony, had Harry's expensive clothing loitered all over it. The hand mark was still smeared down
the mirror, Harry clearly having not cared enough to have actually cleaned it, so Kendall snapped a
quick photo on her phone, just thinking it would be amusing to show her mates.

She glanced on the floor beside Harry's bed, finding his travel hand luggage bag, which was
 exactly what she had needed.

"Bingo." She breathed to herself, scooping it up and fishing her hand into it. She immediately felt
her lipstick in the pocket where she had left it, rolling her eyes at just how easy this had been. She
stuffed her make-up item into her pocket, carelessly dropping Harry's bag back down, despite his
other things being inside. She couldn't really care less about his possessions.

When she thought of turning back to the door and leaving, it felt like a complete waste of her time.
She wasn't going to get this opportunity again, being free to have a good snoop around, so she
quickly checked her phone to update herself on Harry and Louis' whereabouts.

Gi❤: They are still just sat there kenny don't worry about rushing. Will let u know if it changes xxx

Okay -- perfect. She still had time, even though she didn't exactly know why she needed it. She
figured she would have a look through Harry's suitcase, try to find her favourite hoodie of his,
which was a plain black one with Saint Laurent stitched in small white text on the front. She
recalled that it had cost him around £500, but she really did not care. She wanted it.

She crouched by his suitcase, immediately finding her favourite hoodie resting on top of
everything else. That didn't take too much effort, it was as though Harry knew she was on her way
round to take it. She lifted the garment up to her nose, deeply inhaling his wondrous scent, eyes
fluttering closed. It brought back so many memories, that smell; from cold winter nights cuddled
up to him; to their fun little outings round their local shopping centre, where she rested her head on
his shoulder; or when they were having sex and her face was buried in his shoulder, inhaling that
gorgeous scent he had, the aftershave he always wore. It made her feel deeply sad, so the spite
within her had her stuffing the hoodie into her handbag, before casually fixing her hair.

She was about to shut the suitcase and get back to her feet and head out of the room, when
something caught her eye. Nestled in some clothes in Harry's case, pretty out in the open, was a
box of condoms. But this was the box of condoms that Harry had bought when Kendall was with
him, and they had both specifically said they would take them to Paris and 'see how many they
could get through.' It was a box of ten and they used none... yet the box was torn open at the top.

"What the..." Kendall tipped the box upside down into her palm, the packaged condoms falling out,
and she did a quick count as she popped them back into the box. There were eight. Eight out of ten
of them. Two were gone. "Nooo, you have got to be kidding me."

She counted them yet again, pointlessly, angrily stuffing the box back into his case and pushing
herself to her feet. She grabbed onto her hair in stress, feeling close to ripping it out at this point, as
she eyed the mirror mark again.

"No way," She disbelievingly whispered to herself, shutting her eyes, "No way has he fucked him.
No way."

She kicked the lid of Harry's suitcase back down, scooping up her handbag and storming towards
the door. Before she left, she launched Harry's room key back onto his bed, groaning out loud in
distaste as her mind whirred over what the fuck was going on. She left the room with a slam of the
door, deciding she would put Harry's (now her) hoodie into her own room as she passed. Before
she left her room, though, to return to the park, she punched the shit out of the sofa in her and Gigi's
room, while shrieking out a scream of rage.

Chapter End Notes

Next chapter I might include some more jealous Harry, with a French guy who's
interested in Louis - as suggested by Lottie in the comments of the last chapter - thanks
x

Sorry if this wasn't amazing tonight or could have done with more detail, and sorry for
the prolonged update, I was in Paris!! Pretty ironic. More drama to come xx

(You may have noticed I added a "Crazy Ex Kendall" tag. I'm thinking maybe of
incorporating that in full swing later on. How crazy do you guys think she should get?)
 27
Chapter Notes

Decided on another little update

See the end of the chapter for more notes

"What's she sulking about?" Charlie muttered to their group, as Kendall was flouncing on over to
their class again in the park, evidently having been away somewhere.

Harry recognised the look on her face; the mouth contorted to the side, eyes fiery and fixated. She
was pissed off about something. That gave him some satisfaction, seeing as he had lost all respect
for her, yet that niggling thought in his mind meant he was curious as to what had made her like
that. In the past, she would put on that sort of facade if Harry had stayed out late one night without
an explanation, or if he had looked at another girl for too long - it was her silent tantrum.

Harry's mates seemed to be looking at him for an answer to Charlie's voiced inquisitiveness,
knowing that he was the one whose brain was familiar with Kendall's actions and behaviours. He
simply shrugged though, nose wrinkling up.

"Don't look at me," He nervously laughed, "It's her life now, nothing to do with me."

Almost just as he said that, and as they had fallen silent just as Kendall passed their group, her
vicious gaze fell onto Harry, shooting laser-like hatred his way for a good few seconds, before she
continued the saunter over to her group.

Niall stifled a laugh. "You sure it's nothing to do with you?"

Louis looked like he felt bad for Harry, as he was always under this treatment by Kendall, and he
tilted his head to the side like a small puppy when he met eyes with Harry, lower lip pouting out.
He was acting more quiet today, definitely as a result of his hangover, but he never failed to
communicate non-verbally with Harry. Their eye contact spoke louder than words.

"Nothing I know of." Harry rolled his eyes. "She's just trying to make me feel bad again for
breaking up with her. Don't think I ever will."

Louis bit back a smile, and Harry saw it.

Meanwhile, as Kendall rejoined with Gigi and Cheryl, she was completely silent. Her scowl
remained, drowning in her self-pity.

"What's wrong, babe?" Gigi softly asked, putting an arm round her. "Did you not find your
lipstick?"

"I found it," Kendall piped up, "But also..." She trailed off, deeply sighing. "Just don't worry, let's
discuss this later. I don't want to ruin my last day here by dwelling on it."

"Okay, hun, you tell us later if you want to." Cheryl cooed, though she and Gigi severely wanted to
know what had made Kendall so pissed off. They were dying to know, but they knew she would
say when she was ready.
"Can I just say, Kenny, I'm sure whatever it is, you're overthinking it." Gigi convinced, with a sad
smile. "Your mind is coming up with these crazy ideas, but I'm sure it's far from the truth."

"Whatever. Let's drop it." She snapped, shrugging Gigi away. "God."

She stormed away, heading to stand with Zayn and Liam instead, leaving Gigi and Cheryl to talk
about her behind her back.

As the evening began to draw in, Mr Grant declared them free time for the remainder of the day, as
all that was left for their projects was to be commenced back in class, in England. Harry felt rather
upset that it was so near to going home, but he did miss his mum, dad and sister. And his car. And
his pool.

They were trying to decide what to do with their evening. Louis still claimed to be feeling a little
bit woozy, with a feeling of sickness lingering in his stomach (despite having taken medicine for
it), so an idea of a fancy meal was pretty much out the window. Harry and his little group were
stood around aimlessly at the edge of a busy street by 8PM, so he knew he had to see what
everyone wanted with their evening.

"Well, what does everyone want to do?" He aired, over the hum of life around them.

"Sleep," Christopher chuckled, "I know that's depressing, but I'm exhausted. Want to catch up on
sleep before the flight, really."

Harry hummed in thought, turning to Louis.

"Lou?"

"Anything!" Louis brightly offered, before his face changed a little in humorous thought. "Umm...
except for going out drinking again."

Harry laughed at his little reminisce of last night, nodding in understanding.

"Understood. Charlie? Niall?"

"To be honest, we wanted to go drinking again!" Niall cackled, "Guessing you guys don't want to
tag along?"

"No way," Louis giggled, "My head is still aching. Harry, wanna just go somewhere for soft
drinks? How about somewhere near the hotel?"

"Yeah, I'm up for that." He turned to Niall and Charlie. "Have fun getting drunk again."

"Have fun being boring!" Niall called, as he and Charlie headed away, down the busy street.
Christopher had already wandered off, unbeknownst to anyone, leaving Harry and Louis standing
there.

Louis had a little smile playing on his face, shyly scuffing the toe of his trainer against the
pavement, finally raising his eyeline to look Harry in the eye.

"Well, hello there." Harry purred, causing Louis to stifle a laugh. "Can I take you for a few drinks,
gorgeous?"

Louis giggled even louder, head tipping back a little, amused by their little act.
"Of course you can, handsome. As long as you promise me Lemonade and Pepsi."

"I'll see what I can do. Let's go." Harry grinned, placing a hand on Louis' lower back to start
guiding him in the direction of their hotel, so they could browse the bars nearby.

The streets were pretty busy, what with everybody else making their way round in little groups,
many of the nearby restaurants occupied. There was such a romantic aura to the area they were in,
with some customers of nearby restaurants sat at tables just on the street, and nearby an accordion
player was making a living, busking. Harry so badly wanted to pull Louis in close to him, feel his
warmth, but he knew they just weren't there yet. They hadn't even discussed what was happening
with them yet. Plus there was the fact their classmates could be anywhere nearby, to observe their
intimately close behaviour.

They came across a nice looking bar about a five minute walk from their hotel, called Le Grand
Salon du Nolinski. It was quite small and cosy looking, with teal-coloured sofas and candles
around, yet was just busy enough to have an atmosphere. Harry grabbed them both a lemonade at
the bar, and they sat in the corner, on two plush armchairs facing each other. The gentle music
tinging the air was just right for the room.

"Pretty nice in here, huh?" Harry smiled, sipping through his straw.

"Yeah, I really like it. This is more my scene."

"I can see why. You're more gentle." Harry theorised. "I like that about you."

There was a small silence as they sipped from their drinks and generally drank in the atmosphere
around them. Louis looked so sweet, with his feathery fringe in his eyes, which were scanning the
room curiously. He had such delicate facial features; a button nose and bright eyes, yet his sharp
cheekbones contrasted perfectly with it. If perfection was personified, Harry was staring right at it.
Maybe he thought it from the start. The candle on the table formed a golden glow on his face,
shadowed on his cheekbones, and made his eyes sparkle as they looked up to meet Harry's.

"You look so lovely in this light." He had to comment on it, and it was worth it when Louis shyly
smiled and dipped his gaze down.

"You look lovely in any light." He challenged, gaze still at his lap, a little grin stretching onto his
face.

Harry chuckled. "Well you look lovely in no light."

"That doesn't even make sense," Louis brightly giggled, "But I appreciate it."

They just stared at each other for a few moments, what felt like completely intimate and unrushed
eye contact. There was no awkwardness, no pull to look away, just scanning over each other's
faces. As they did, Louis spoke.

"What's happening with us now, Harry?"

It was the dealbreaker question. They had both been waiting for it to be raised, knowing it would
have to be at some point, and Louis had been the one brave enough to do so. It made Harry's heart
thump significantly faster, as he knew he was about to do some admitting. Sure, he had slept with
Louis twice, but speaking about their relationship advancing was rather scary.

"Well, I really fucking like you." Harry huffed out a laugh, almost in disbelief at how much he
really did like Louis, who was smiling having heard that.
"And I like you too. But what does that mean?" Louis was practically pleading with that tone,
begging Harry to give him a straight answer.

Harry knew the answer already. He had for a while, since they first got closer.

"Well, we're dating. I guess? If you want that?" He shrugged, smiling smugly. An unstoppable
smile broke onto Louis' face, one which reached each corner of his face, urging those adorable
little crinkles to form by his eyes. It ripped Harry's heart to shreds in all the greatest ways.

Louis went to speak but cut himself off with a breathy laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Uh... really? You want to date me?"

"Of course I do." Harry urged, reaching forward and placing a hand over Louis' on the tabletop.
"Nothing I want more. I've been waiting for someone more like you, Lou Lou."

"Sorry, I get so emotional," Louis breathed out through pursed lips, frantically fanning at his face
with his free hand. "You don't understand how much you saying that means to me. I didn't think I'd
ever get a boyfriend, let alone you."

"It's been agony not being able to touch you or be close to you while we're around everyone,"
Harry frowned, rubbing his thumb over Louis' soft hand, which he still had beneath his. "And I'm
excited about this, Louis. When we return to England, and we can meet up and spend even more
time together."

Louis was still grinning, still hazily shaking his head. "And I'm definitely not dreaming?"

"You're not dreaming," Harry clarified, smirking. "This is all real."

"I wanna kiss you so bad." Louis had lowered the volume of his voice significantly, as if the rest of
their conversation wasn't intimate enough, and he was driving Harry crazy with the way he was
nibbling idly on his lower lip. Harry had never wanted to kiss someone so badly in that moment,
but he knew it was a huge risk.

"We will kiss all we want later, baby."

"I know," Louis pouted, "I think keeping us a secret is the best idea. Imagine the bullying
otherwise. I know we shouldn't care about it, but it would be horrendous, especially for you."

"We'll adjust some day. But it's our little secret for now," Harry winked, "Our little love affair."

Louis giggled, tilting his head to the side. "Sounds pretty sweet."

Another tranquil silence fell over them as they sipped at their drinks once again, surveying the bar.
Harry had moved his hand off of Louis', so that he could hold his glass with one hand and guide his
straw to his mouth with the other. Once he had finished his drink, he was met with the ugly
slurping of him trying to drink every last bit. Louis seemed to have finished his too, pointlessly
stirring the ice around in his (with the little smile still on his lips.)

"I'll grab us both a Pepsi?" Harry offered, pushing back his armchair as if he was about to get up
again.

"I'll go." Louis offered. "I haven't paid for anything yet."

"Fine, you can go," Harry gave in, "Buuut, take this." He slid his bank card Louis' way across the
table, so that Louis had to playfully roll his eyes and give in.

"Fine. Two Pepsis."

"Thanks, Sugar." Harry smirked, getting a pretty nice view of Louis from behind as he wandered
towards the Oakwood bar not too far away. God, he was so hot, Harry struggled to believe he
hadn't ever had a boyfriend before.

Harry pulled out his phone, idly scrolling through his social media as he waited. He continuously
kept finding himself grinning insanely to himself as he waited, probably looking like a complete
and utter maniac, but he couldn't help it. He was dating Louis: pure, gentle, giggly Louis. Fuck,
that felt good to think about.

He glanced up to look the way of the bar, ready to observe him from afar, when he saw him
chatting to another guy. It wasn't flirtatious in any way, nothing but friendly looking conversation,
yet the jealousy swarming Harry's veins was indescribable. The man was around five foot eleven,
dressed in a navy blue shirt and straight black jeans. Harry just didn't like it, and he knew Louis
wasn't doing it out of spite, he was just being polite and chatting away.

Harry found himself getting to his feet, strolling his way over there, putting on a sickeningly sweet
smile. The stranger seemed to give him a good up-and-down look, almost as though he was sizing
up his competition, and he seemed to back off just slightly.

"Lou, babe, you ordered the drinks?" Harry brightly asked, clasping an arm around him, and the
other man was immediately apologising, speaking English, though he had a strong French accent.

"Oh! I'm sorry, very sorry, I thought you were single!" He exclaimed to Louis, so that the envy
within Harry grew forever stronger. It was proof that this man had approached Louis simply to
pick him up, probably grab his number.

"Yeah, no." Harry bitterly said, resting his head on Louis' shoulder. "He's all mine."

Louis had flushed red completely, as two people were effectively fighting over him. He definitely
never thought he'd experience that in his lifetime.

"Well, allow me to buy you both a drink! It will be as a sorry." The man shrugged, head cocking to
the side, but Harry was speedily shaking his head.

"No, you don't have to do that."

The man turned to Louis once again, and Harry hated the way he seemed to skim his eyes down
Louis' body briefly, smiling a little.

"Hmm, you are being quiet. Maybe you do like me more. You want a drink, Lou?" He used the
name he had heard Harry use, and Harry immediately sprang into anger, letting go of Louis and
having to physically restrain his hands by his sides, fists balled.

"I suggest you fuck off, mate, unless you wanna wake up in hospital." He hissed, watching the man
back off altogether, with his hands raised in defence.

"Okay, okay! There is no need to be like this," The man nervously laughed, beginning to turn
away. "I will leave, if that's what you want."

"Unless you want me to help you with that." Harry seethed, teeth gritted.
 "Harry." Louis very gently scolded, tugging at his sleeve, so that Harry finally stopped, and the
stranger was scampering away out of the bar. There was a silence for a few moments, before Harry
deeply exhaled.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Louis assured, "I shouldn't have replied to him when he started speaking to me."

Harry turned to him, brushing a strand of hair from his blue eyes, smiling genuinely.

"Mine." He simply stated, before tapping Louis on the end of that cute nose, grinning to himself.

Louis giggled. "Yours."

---

They had a good, slow make-out session on the sofa once they had returned to their room, and they
were in bed by 11PM. Louis had opted immediately for his own bed, so Harry figured it was
probably as a mean of adjustment. With everything he had heard today, Harry clarifying that they
were dating, he just needed to properly wrap his head around the idea.

When Harry had come across his room key on his bed, he didn't think anything of it. As they had
spent last night on the bathroom floor, and had been too groggy that morning to have paid too
much attention, he assumed that he just hadn't clocked onto it, and that drunk him had thrown it
down there on Sunday night. He didn't notice his missing hoodie just yet, but that was because he
hadn't re-packed his case yet and checked he had everything. Their flight was to be at midday the
next day, meaning they had to still be in the lobby at 8AM, to get the two metros required to get to
the airport a couple hours before the flight. Harry had set his alarm for half past 6 to give him a
little more time.

He drifted off fast, as they decided on not speaking into the silence, and he dreamt of the sweet
taste of Louis' lips.

Chapter End Notes

"and when i sleep im gonna dream of how you

t a s t e d . . ."

Sorry if it wasn't too interesting, will get good when they're in England xx
 28
Chapter Notes

Just to state again, I mention later in the chapter about Kendall's parents and sisters
(Kylie, Kim, Kourtney, Khloe) being nasty people. I actually know nothing about
them, I don't follow them, and it is all for fiction so I am in no way bad-mouthing
anyone in reality. It's all for the story. Also, Kendall's dad still identifies as a male in
this, mentioning that to save any confusion when you read!!

Thanks xx

When Harry awoke to his 06:30 alarm, he also awoke to Louis in his bed beside him, with his arm
curled around Harry's bicep. Harry sniffed out a laugh, watching Louis stiffly coming out of his
sleep, eyebrows furrowing as he stirred around and his eyelids fluttered open.

"Decided to sneak into my bed, did you?" Harry teased, his morning voice gorgeously thick and
low. It always made Louis shiver, even more so today, considering he was still adjusting to reality.

"I got cold," He croaked out an excuse, "And your bed looked warmer."

"Right. Totally believe you." Harry snickered, rubbing Louis' forearm softly before untangling
himself from his grasp, knowing he had to get up before his exhaustion got the best of him. "I
better get everything packed up."

He got to his feet, his pyjamas thermal enough to keep his skin from erupting in goosebumps.
Louis groaned sleepily in response, eyes lulling shut once again as he basked in the wonderful
smell of Harry on the sheets.

"Come on, sleepyhead, no time to lie around today." Harry urged, sharply clapping his hands so
that Louis' eyes mechanically snapped open again.

He pushed himself up to rest on his elbows, morning hair somehow managing to be a sexy
catastrophe, and eyes barely open as he watched Harry messily folding his clothes before lodging
them into his suitcase.

"I don't want to leave today." Louis grunted, itching idly at his eye with the pad of his thumb.

"Are you not missing your family?" Harry hummed, moving to the wardrobe to pull his clothes off
the hangers within it. "You seem pretty family-orientated to me."

"Of course I am, yeah," Louis reasoned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, getting to his
feet with some strain, "I just love being here."

"Me too," Harry frowned, shrugging. "Return one day, maybe?"

"Hopefully." Louis gently smiled, still sat in the same position. "You've just made me realise how
much I really do miss my family."

"See? You're a family man. I'm sure they're missing their Lou Lou." Harry smirked, placing his
broken Rolex carefully into its box, trying to refrain from any further damage, as if it could really
be rescued. He knew he'd just have to buy a new one, probably before his parents suspected.

"I kind of wonder how they've coped without the man of the house," Louis giggled, "I hope they've
done okay. Though my mum wouldn't want to make me feel bad by telling me if they hadn't."

"They'll be grateful to have you back, for sure. They're very lucky to have you, Louis." Harry
reminded.

He used both palms to push down on the clothes in his suitcase, desperate to make more room.
Louis chuckled as he watched, entertained by Harry's attempts to neatly do the job. Harry then
wandered into the bathroom and retrieved all his stuff, deciding he would be nice and get Louis'
things too, placing them on his bed for him.

"Thanks, Harry."

"No problem. Right, I'm just trying to think if I've packed everything," Harry packed away his
toiletries, then made a clicking noise with his mouth as he glanced around the room in pensive
thought, before he stopped and tilted his head aside. "Ah! Have you seen my YSL hoodie? It's
black, got some white writing on the front."

"Don't think I have," Louis shook his head, finally standing up and strolling to the other side of his
own bed, scooping up his own clothes to look beneath them, and getting to his knees to glance
under both beds. "Can't see a black hoodie anywhere."

"Well shit, I've lost that," Harry stressed, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh... how much was it?"

"I don't even want to remind myself," Harry nervously bit his lower lip. "I'm sure I brought it here,
unless I'm going insane. I have no idea where else it would be."

"Exactly, maybe you didn't bring it? I'm sure you'll find it at home, Harry." Louis reassured,
beginning to carelessly cram his stuff into his suitcase.

"I hope so." Harry sighed, pushing the lid of his case down as he used his free hand to zip it up.
"Well, that's me packed."

Harry offered his help to Louis in packing his case, but Louis insisted he was fine doing it himself,
so Harry jumped in the shower before getting dressed. They were both packed and ready for the
day by ten minutes to eight, and they spent the remainder of their time out on the balcony, taking in
the view of the city as it woke up. It was their last chance to appreciate it from afar, and Louis
seemed very upset about that, so Harry clamped a hand round his shoulder as he led him back
inside.

It was pretty much a fight for the elevators down to the corridor today, as everybody had to
transport their suitcases and hand luggage down too. Harry and Louis waited for an empty lift,
entering it and placing their suitcases by them. Before they could press the button to close the
doors, however, having zero control over it, Kendall and Gigi suddenly strolled on in with their
crammed cases and designer travel bags. Harry felt himself hold his breath, a strain in his mind to
stare straight at the floor and avoid all possible eye contact, and Kendall reached over with a
perfectly manicured hand to press the button, so that the doors slid shut.

Gigi was smugly grinning to herself, body swaying absent-mindedly, nudging Kendall playfully,
who was already glaring right at Harry. Louis was giving off general vibes of restlessness, fingers
gripping tightly on to the metal railing behind him. Kendall cleared her throat into the silence as
the lift descended, and Harry felt inclined to look up at her, linking eyes.

"What?" He snapped, controversially filling the silence, and Kendall scoffed loudly.

"Don't use that tone on me, you knob." Kendall retorted, eyeing Harry up and down in disgust --
though he got the hint that it was her way of checking him out while doing so. He shifted
awkwardly on his feet, turning his body away slightly.

"What tone? You're stood there clearing your throat at me, I was asking what the hell you wanted."

Ding. The elevator doors slid open as the lift had reached the ground floor, and Louis was the first
to nervously hurry out, lugging his case along behind him. Harry so badly wanted to pull it for
him, along with his own, to help him and his dainty, fragile self out, but he refrained because he
knew he'd get another comment from Kendall and Co. about it.

As Gigi passed by Harry, she roughly shoved past him with her shoulder, all while smugly hissing:
"Don't pick fights with my bestie next time." Wow, Harry felt sooo threatened by that.

Not.

"God, they're a handful." Louis piped up, sitting by Harry on a sofa at the edge of the lobby. "I'm
sorry I was silent, I should have defended you in there."

"Don't be silly, Lou, I'd never expect you to. They're just being immature, I can handle it. I
appreciate your concern, though." Harry softly smiled, having to strain himself so that he didn't pat
Louis firmly on the leg.

Mr Grant was soon done with sorting out checking out at the reception, and everyone handed in
their keys, waiting for them all to be formally counted off before they were all free to go. They all
gave their courteous 'Merci's and 'Merci beaucoup's as they passed the receptionist desk, though
Kendall and her ungrateful squad of mates stayed silent. Harry hated to think that there was a time
when he was associated with them, though even when he was, he knew he always would have said
thank you. It was general manners, not rocket science.

Passing through Paris, towards the Metro station, was a pretty miserable moment. Harry hated
seeing the upset on Louis' face, the downcast glances and pensive thinking as his mind hummed
over the fact that maybe he'd never even return in his lifetime. Harry patted him on the shoulder as
a non-verbal sorry. Kendall saw and seemed not to like it, despite it being a nonchalant shoulder
slap, and scowled once more.

The Metro station was terribly busy, considering it was a Tuesday morning in Paris and everybody
was rushing around with briefcases, in formal attire. Clearly they hadn't thought about how rush
hour would be. Harry and Louis stood at the edge of the train once they had all boarded, holding a
bar behind them, luckily quite far from Kendall.

"It's been pretty incredible," Louis sighed, finally able to relax following their rush to jump onto the
train on time. "Thanks for making it even better, Harry."

"I could definitely say the same for you, Darlin'." Harry smirked, having lowered the volume of his
voice so their conversation stayed private. Louis giggled and shuffled on his feet, gripping tighter
onto the railing as the Metro screeched to a halt at the next stop.

They had to go three stops altogether on this train, then pile off again and change to another, and
then it was a good forty minutes to the airport itself, which was the final stop. It was pretty busy,
though luckily their Metro to Charles de Gaulle airport was a bigger one, considering it was so
popular. Harry had managed to grab he and Louis a seat, but their entire class had taken up an
entire coach of the Metro with their large suitcases.

Once at the airport, it was coming up to half past nine, leaving a good two and a half hours until
take off. Louis had said he was going to visit a shop in the airport, and when Harry and his mates
opted to come with, Louis insisted they stay with all the cases and he would be back soon. Harry
told him to keep his phone on loud and stay safe, wondering what he was really playing at, but
thought he would let him do what he wanted to do.

Harry was sat on the floor of the busy airport, long legs arched in front of him as he played Candy
Crush on Niall's phone. He had all the suitcases on his left, and Niall, Charlie and Christopher were
sat on a bench right by them. Most of their classmates had gone to browse the shops, and Mr Grant
had told them to be back by half 10 at the latest, just to be safe.

He could hear Kendall cackling out her laugh nearby with her mates, and was well aware she was
trying extra hard to project it, so that he heard. His indifference was too strong though, as his eyes
remained on the screen, and that felt good. He wasn't planning on moving his eyes off that screen,
as he was far too involved in the game now (despite never having thought he'd stoop so low with
such a game.)

"Harry, we're gonna pop into that newsagents and grab some stuff for the flight, you okay
watching the bags?" Charlie called over to him, stood up with the two others.

"You'll practically get robbed, mate, with the prices here. But whatever floats your boat, I've got
the bags." Harry replied, eyes still on the screen, determined to show Kendall and Co. that he didn't
care enough about them to look away from that screen.

His remaining three mates wandered off, leaving Harry alone with the quiet Candy Crush sound
effects coming from the phone. Little did he know, Kendall had been plotting something. It wasn't
too major, just something she knew would shake things up a bit, and his little act of keeping his
eyes on the phone screen played a good part in her ploy.

She walked over from behind where Harry was sat, so that he couldn't even sense her there, and
headed straight for Louis' travel bag. She had made sure to spot it on him earlier, so she knew for
sure that it was his, and then went in for the kill.

Into his bag, she slotted Harry's black YSL jumper.

---

Harry hadn't even suspected a thing, only bringing himself back into reality once his mates had
returned, including Louis, and the time had reached half past 10. Louis had something slotted in the
large pocket of his hoodie, evidently, but hadn't shown what. Clearly he had bought something.

They managed to drag out the rest of the time before their flight, making sure everything was
sorted out and everybody had their tickets in hand. Harry, last minute, had desperately begged a
random boy in their class to swap tickets with him, as this random boy was seated with Louis on
the plane, and Harry was still set to be sat with Kendall. Luckily it worked, and after some more
swapping around, Harry was sat with Louis and Kendall was sat with Gigi. When they finally sat
on the airplane, Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a stress. Hate airports."

"Me too, and I've only been to this one," Louis giggled, head resting back on the headrest. "You
don't mind if I put my earphones in, do you? It just helps to calm me down on the plane."

"Of course not," Harry chuckled, "You do that if it relaxes you, Lou."

Louis smiled and unzipped his backpack, opening it up and immediately furrowing his eyebrows
when he came across a black garment of clothing on top of everything in there.

"Wait, is that..." Harry reached over and pulled out the item, which appeared to be none other than
his 'missing hoodie'. "My... hoodie." He slowly pieced it together. "Louis?"

"What the hell?" Louis breathed, cluelessly gawping at Harry. "Harry, I have no idea why that's in
here!"

Harry was still quite speechless, staring at his hoodie as though it was suddenly going to transform
into something else.

"How did that get in your bag? Why didn't you tell me you had it?"

"I didn't know it was in there!" Louis pleaded, voice seeming to break a little halfway through, like
he was close to tears. "Harry, I swear!"

"I'm so confused," Harry leisurely shook his head, dropping it into his lap, "I don't know how else
it would have gotten into your bag."

He saw a tear slide down Louis' face, and a sniff as he shakily whispered, "I swear it wasn't me. I
promise you, Harry, with all my heart."

Harry quickly sprang into his caring mode, reaching over to wipe the tear away, smiling sadly at
him. "I believe you, Louis, please don't cry! Don't cry. I'm just baffled."

Louis was quietly sobbing, chest heaving up and down as he struggled on a breath, and Harry
delicately stroked his forearm out of everyone's sights.

"This has Kendall written all over it," He whispered to Louis, continuing to stroke up his arm. "But
I have no clue how she got this hoodie. Maybe she took it without me knowing when we were
travelling to Paris and I was still with her, I have no clue. But I'm so angry at her for doing it."

Louis was gradually calming down from his tearful episode, wiping away the wetness beneath his
eyes with his sleeves, occasionally gasping in little breaths. Harry looked over to where he knew
Kendall to be sitting, but she already had her pink sleep mask on over her eyes, which had the word
princess on the front in cursive golden glitter font. He rolled his eyes dramatically, turning to Louis
again.

"I'm so sorry for making you cry," He apologised, "That's the last thing I wanted to do. I knew you
wouldn't do something like take my stuff, Louis. I was just confused. And I still am confused as to
how she snuck this into your bag. It must have been when I was minding the stuff on my own."

"It's okay. Hopefully you work it out." Louis piped up, voice small, and Harry took Louis' hand in
his momentarily, stroking over the skin, before remembering they were on a public flight with their
school and giving it up immediately.

The rest of the flight was pretty silent, though Harry's intense hatred for Kendall had somehow
multiplied. How could she be so spiteful? Especially towards somebody as sweet as Louis. She
knew that he wasn't well-off money-wise, wanted to pick on that fact by framing him for taking
Harry's expensive hoodie. How sickening of her.

Well, Harry wasn't going to take it. He was never going to take it.

---

With time zones taken into consideration, with the flight being an hour long and England being an
hour behind France's time zone, it was confusingly still twelve o'clock in the afternoon when they
landed in Manchester. It wasn't so much of a hassle going through customs now, considering it was
entering their home country again, and after bathroom breaks they were out the airport and waiting
for the coach by ten minutes past one.

Harry would not stop glaring at Kendall. It seemed she was getting a taste of her own medicine,
seeing as it was roles reversed this time, however he did receive a middle finger gesture from
Cheryl. He couldn't care less really, he needed to get across the fact that he knew she had been
behind it.

Once the coach had turned up, they all formed a line to pass their luggage to the driver for him to
load it all into the undercarriage of the coach. The journey back to Holmes Chapel took a bearable
forty-five minutes, meaning they were there by two o'clock that afternoon.

"Fiiinally back in England!" Harry exclaimed, once he and his mates had retrieved their suitcases
from the driver as he passed them all out. Everybody formed a huddle again, as Mr Grant beamed
at them all.

"We've all made it back in one piece! I want to thank you all for behaving well on the trip, and I
hope you all had a great time. You'll be happy to hear that you're free to go now, and I'll see you all
tomorrow in class."

Everybody called out their goodbyes, all happy to finally be getting away, and the crowd started to
disperse as people headed to either their own cars in the car park, or their waiting parents. Charlie,
Niall and Christopher seemed to head to all their cars without even sparing farewells, leaving Harry
and Louis stood with their suitcases.

"How are you getting home?" Harry asked, curious.

"My mum said to call her when we're here," Louis explained, "Which I better do now."

He pulled out his phone, and Harry was quick to cut him off.

"Spare her the journey, Lou. I'll drop you home." Harry smiled, nudging his head in the direction of
his car. "If you want?"

Louis looked rather hesitant. Harry immediately got an inkling that perhaps it was because Louis
didn't want Harry to see his home. Unless that was Harry's paranoia. But Louis seemed to give in,
as if he had internally convinced himself, eagerly nodding with a bright smile.

"That would be great, Harry, thanks. That's very thoughtful of you."

"It's no bother, just send her a text saying it's sorted." He grinned, and they began pulling their
cases in the direction of Harry's Audi R8, which was still intact where he had parked it by the oak
tree.

Louis was immediately in awe of the vehicle, eyebrows raising and mouth gaping a little. "Nice
ride."
"I missed her," Harry smirked, patting the roof appreciatively, "Her name's Stella."

"You've named your car?" Louis snorted, nibbling in amusement on his lower lip. "Can't say I'm
surprised."

"Suits her though, right?" Harry chuckled, retrieving his car keys from in his bag and unlocking his
car, opening up the boot. His strong biceps meant he lifted Louis' suitcase without any strain into
the boot, followed by his own beside it, before closing it once again, and they both jumped into the
front.

"Smells nice," Louis complimented, "With your strawberry air freshener."

He giggled, reaching forward and flicking the air freshener in question, which was hanging from
the rearview mirror.

"God, I know, I'm such a girl." Harry cackled, plugging in his seatbelt, waiting for Louis to do so
too before twisting the keys in the engine. It roared to life.

He reversed out, careful to check in the mirror to make sure he wasn't going to flatten any of his
classmates (though he would have been pretty chuffed if it was Kendall or anyone of her kind) and
then sped off towards the exit of the car park. He always loved the way his classmates gaped at his
car as it sped past them. In particular this time, he adored how Kendall was one of those outside his
car, stood there waiting like an idiot, most likely for her mum to come and pick her up as usually
Harry was her ride.

He even put up his middle finger to the window as he passed her, mockingly beeping his horn, and
Louis was chuckling away.

"Her face!" He exclaimed in delight. "She looked so annoyed!"

"Good," Harry snapped, smiling devilishly, "Now where am I dropping you, Lou Lou?"

"Moreton drive. House number 12." Louis directed, and Harry nodded.

"Yeah, think I know that road, got it." He nodded, cranking the radio up a little as he drove.

He made sure to put his foot down as they reached a long stretch of road with very few cars on,
loving the way he heard Louis' breath hitch in the best way as the car's speed went from forty to
seventy in a split-second. It was nowhere near his car's extent, but he knew he couldn't overdo it
too much. The hum of the roaring engine was enough for now to have Louis grinning to himself
and gripping the seat beneath him.

"What's the fastest you've ever done?" Louis queried, eyes sparkling in curiosity as he turned to
Harry, whose gaze was focused on the road.

"Did one-hundred-and-seventy once. Only once though, and that was on the motorway when it was
clear." He admitted.

"Wow!" Louis explained, brightly laughing. "That's fast!"

"Very." Harry bit back a grin from how sweet he found Louis' inquisitive nature, indicating left as
they came to the correct turning. He had been down the road numerous times, and Louis directed
him to the correct house.

It was a small house, plain on the exterior, with a red Vauxhall parked outside. There was a
welcoming hanging flower basket by the porch, though, with pale blue and white flowers inside.

"Thanks for the lift, Harry, I really appreciate it." Louis smiled, once Harry had pulled up to the
side of the road. They both jumped out, and Harry lugged Louis' case from the boot, setting it
down for him.

"You alright getting that to the door?" He asked, used to helping Kendall with just about any
simple task.

"I think I can handle it. Thanks, Harry. I'll see you tomorrow." Louis waved, turning towards his
house, and Harry pulled him into a hug before jumping back into his car and waving once more,
speeding away down the road.

He was happy to think he had returned to England with Louis. He had left with Kendall and
returned with Louis. Maaajor improvement.

---

Harry entered his house, setting his suitcase in the large hallway, and was immediately bombarded
by his sister, Gemma, sprinting down the stairs.

"Harry!" She greeted, almost knocking him over in their embrace. "You're home!"

"I am indeed, finally." Harry heartily chuckled, rubbing her back lovingly. "I've missed you all so
much."

"It's been so quiet without you." Gemma admitted. Harry broke the hug, smiling appreciatively at
his sister before she returned upstairs and Harry headed into the living room, where his mother was
sat in front of the television. His dad was still at work, so he'd have to wait until later to see him,
but she grinned at him and opened her arms as an invitation.

Harry ran into them, kneeling on the couch as he embraced with her, sitting by her side once they
had broken it.

"How was it, honey?" His mum, Anne, brightly asked, rubbing her hands together excitedly.
"Everything the same as last time?"

Well, it had been pure drama, but he couldn't exactly tell her that.

"It was amazing. It's a beautiful city, as always." He gushed.

"Great. How's Kendall? Did you drop her home?"

Oh. Oh shit. He hadn't thought through the part where he actually had to tell his mum about the
breakup. This was bound to go pretty badly, he could feel it, and when he awkwardly pouted his
mouth to the side, she picked up on it.

"What? What is it?" She pushed, sitting up more, eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Umm..." Harry nervously breathed out a laugh, breaking their eye contact and staring at the
fireplace instead. "I broke up with her."

"Harry Edward Styles!" Anne angrily exclaimed, eyebrows furrowing forevermore in fury. "You
what?"

He hated this. She didn't even ask him why, didn't give him a chance to explain himself. He knew
she was only angry because she thought he and Kendall were a picture perfect couple. Kendall was
a pretty rich girl from a rich family, plus her family were good friends of Harry's mum's.

"I broke up with her, mum, I think I worded that simply enough."

His mum placed her head in her hands for a few moments, before gathering herself and glaring at
him in disappointment once again.

"Why, Harry?! You two have been together almost three years now, you can't just break things
off!" She raged.

"I learned who she really is. That's the only way to word it."

"Oh, don't be silly, Kendall is a lovely girl! What on earth do you expect me to tell Kris when I see
her at yoga, Harry?! Kendall is probably heartbroken!" Anne spat.

For goodness sake, reputation was clearly something his mother cared about. Kris Jenner was
Kendall's mum, and she was pretty much just as stuck up as her daughter. She was very good
friends with Harry's mum, so no doubt Anne was stressing about this, but Harry really didn't care.
He was so glad to be away.

Not only was Kendall's mum a handful, but her dad, Bruce, wasn't exactly lovely either; never
welcoming to Harry in the past when he was round visiting Kendall; always so cold and indifferent.
And then along with Kendall came her four sisters. Harry had never met a set of siblings with so
much drama, and they never even held back from flirting with him in front of Kendall in the past. It
was ridiculous. He knew he'd have all four of Kendall's sisters on his arse once they found out he
had dumped her. There was Kylie, the youngest of Kendall's sisters, who was 17. She was a
huuuge flirt around Harry, always giving him looks, and always seemed to be looking for attention.
Then there was Khloé who was 30. She always seemed to be putting Harry on the spot, asking
personal questions whenever he had been at their house. Kim, 31, had always been sexually
advancing towards Harry too, and had even made a very clear advance once when drunk at her
birthday party, and her hand had ended up in his jeans, paired with a sultry whisper in his ear to
follow her upstairs. He didn't. Finally, Kourtney, who was 35. She was the one who was always
jokingly threatening Harry to be good to Kendall. That was sure to come to life now that he had
actually dumped her. He was genuinely quite scared.

"Would you stop staring into space and talk to me? It's rude to be aloof, Harry." Anne clicked her
fingers in front of his face, so that he snapped back into reality and realised he had left her previous
statement unanswered.

"Mum, I'm going to be honest. I don't know what you should say to Kris, nor do I really care. My
choice to break up with Kendall should have absolutely nothing to do with you or her family, so
please just hear me out? I'm going to go upstairs now, and I'm going to talk to you more about this
when you're in a more understanding mood, because right now you're clearly more invested in your
friendship with Kris than the feelings of your own son."

And with that, Harry pushed himself to his feet and stormed out of the room. He felt so angry, it
was seething inside of him, as he thumped his suitcase up the stairs. How could she react like that?
She had no idea what Kendall had really been like to him, and the more he thought about it, the
more he realised just how awful his relationship had been. Constant arguments, Kendall belittling
him when he didn't do what she wanted, Kendall's family putting him down and treating him
badly... he wondered how he had even coped for nearly 3 years. What a waste.

His smile only returned when he thought of Louis. It brought a sort of light to his mind, a
peacefulness. He was so fucking happy, to an extent he had never felt with Kendall. Maybe this
whole time, he had been waiting for Louis, after enduring hell from Kendall.

Louis was the calm at the end of the storm.

 29
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Even though he missed Paris dearly, Harry had to admit that it was pretty heavenly waking up in
his own bed again, after so long. There was something about it, that sense of comfort, that had him
smiling in the morning despite having been rudely awoken by his mum banging on his door at ten
past seven. He had slept through his alarm, which wasn't like him. He knew that by the simple fact
that his mother hadn't entered his room to wake him up, that she was still holding a grudge
following their little discussion yesterday, the bombshell Harry had dropped on her. They hadn't
spoken anything else of it... in fact, they hadn't spoken at all. Harry had been hanging out in his
room for the rest of his day, keeping to himself, getting on with unpacking his suitcase and settling
back into his bedroom again.

He hadn't messaged Louis for the rest of the evening either, figuring that they both needed a bit of
personal time while they recovered from the trip back, but for some reason that worried Harry. It
felt almost awkward, the thought of messaging Louis first, but he knew he would get over that.
They were comfortable enough with each other in person.

Today was Wednesday the 31st of January, meaning that tomorrow was Harry's birthday. Yippee -
fucking not. He wasn't one bit looking forward to it, knowing that it was bound to be a pretty shit
day. For one, he had school, which was enough to ruin anyone's day in general, and on top of that
was the fact that his ex-friends were bound to pick on the fact that it was his special day tomorrow.
It was strange, because Harry hadn't even mentioned to Louis that tomorrow was his nineteenth,
and he was even beginning to question whether his own parents and sister remembered. Nobody
seemed to have been mentioning it to him, so he was just going to wait and see. At this rate, he no
longer cared if people forgot, he kind of wanted it to fly by so it was over.

He left for school pretty late, only left himself five minutes to drive there, park his car and get to
his class, so he was understandably around five minutes late. It felt like his first ever day at
secondary school again, what with the nerves surfacing in his stomach as he strolled to his
registration class. He shouldn't have been worried, knowing he had Louis, Niall, Charlie and
Christopher to sit with, but it was just going to be pure hell walking in.

Pulling himself together when he got to the classroom door, he figured his best bet was to be casual
and confident. He swung open the door, backpack coolly hung off one shoulder and hair a mess but
in a good way. Immediately, he felt their eyes on him, especially Kendall's, and some stifled laughs
from them as he strolled carelessly to the free seat by Louis. He finally received a genuine smile
when he looked at that gorgeous face.

Their registration teacher, Mrs Davis, looked very disgruntled by Harry's late, apology-less entry
into the classroom, however she continued taking the register to see who was in. Luckily, as
Harry's surname began with S, which was later in the alphabet, he could still answer to his name
and was effectively marked on time.

"Harry?" Mrs Davis called out, not even bothering to glance up from her computer screen. As his
name had been read out, Gigi had loudly made a gagging sound, ridiculing him, but Harry rolled
his eyes and raised his hand anyway.

"Here, miss."
Cheryl snorted, before loudly calling out: "We all wish you weren't."

No one but the table of bullies laughed, unsurprisingly. Louis patted Harry on his leg beneath the
table.

"Don't listen to them." He whispered, almost too quiet for Harry to have heard, but it was there. He
smiled appreciatively, but it hadn't exactly helped. It was hard to just ignore a group who were
constantly berating you.

After a further few minutes, the register had been taken and Mrs Davis dismissed them all to walk
to their first lesson. Harry was fast out of there with his mates, before Kendall and her group could
stroll out from the back of the classroom, and they were heading to their maths lesson. He wanted
to curse aloud once he realised he was sat with Kendall in the seating plan, so he'd have to
convince their maths teacher, Mr Bradley, that he had to sit elsewhere. They all walked in complete
silence, the uproar of laughter not too far behind of Kendall and her mates being far too boisterous
for a Wednesday morning, and Harry had honestly never felt so drained.

They reached the maths block of the school, walking to classroom 4 and strolling inside. A few of
their classmates were already getting seated inside, and Mr Bradley was stood at the front, writing
a few notes up on the whiteboard. Everyone was taking to the usual seating plan, as it was how it
had always been, and as the class was completely full, there wasn't even a spare table Harry could
go and sit at alone. He was set to be sat with Kendall, so he immediately headed to the front while
everyone else got seated.

"Uh, Sir?" He greeted, once he was stood by his teacher, who stopped the note-taking abruptly
once he realised he was needed.

"Morning, Harry. Everything okay?" He smiled. Good start: he was always pretty perky, even in
the morning.

"Well, not exactly," Harry nervously laughed, catching a glimpse in the corner of his eye that
Kendall was sitting in her usual seat, an empty seat beside her that usually would be Harry's.
"Some problems with Kendall, basically. I need to move seats."

Mr Bradley's mouth formed a line, eyebrows furrowing a little as his eyes flicked from Harry to
Kendall (who was watching with a seemingly smug look), before once again setting on Harry.

"What, you expect me to just move the whole seating plan around because you've had a falling
out?"

The whole class was in the room now and were seated, and Harry was well aware that his
conversation with his teacher was not completely private. It wasn't even as though they were
talking loudly, it was just pretty obvious everyone knew why he was talking to him.

Harry was a little taken aback by Mr Bradley's snappy comeback, nervously biting his lower lip.

"Umm, I... well kind of?" He tried, tilting his head aside with a pleading look in his eyes. He
lowered his voice to a whisper. "It's pretty bad, Sir, not something I'd class as a falling out. We
broke up."

"Go and sit down, Harry. You need to grow up." Mr Bradley stated, deadpan, and he hadn't even
lowered the volume of his voice to match Harry's, so everyone had heard him. Zayn cackled out a
laugh, one soaked with mockery, and Harry was so close to storming out.

"Please." He found himself begging, still sticking to that quiet tone, and Mr Bradley angrily
pointed in the direction of the seat beside Kendall.

"Sit down, Harry. Now."

More people seemed to be laughing now, ridiculing him once again, whereas Louis was frowning
and drowning in his guilt. He felt so bad for Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes in rage, surprised that didn't get him kicked out the class, trudging over
angrily to his seat beside Kendall, pulling out the chair and moodily dropping himself down into it,
throwing his backpack beneath the table.

"Thank you, Harry." Mr Bradley appreciatively praised.

Harry loudly scooted his chair as far as possible in the opposite direction of Kendall, but the metal
leg of the desk only let him do it to an extent. He was well aware of how childish he was being, but
it was well worth it, because Kendall had been smiling to herself ever since she entered that room.

"Someone's in a mood." She muttered under her breath, voice tinged with smugness, and Harry
wanted to throttle her.

"Shut the fuck up." He whispered back, furiously, resting his chin on the back of his hand.

Kendall had absolutely slathered herself in perfume today, and it was practically asphyxiating
Harry whenever he tried to breath. She had gone a little too overboard with that. It gave Harry
chills when he recognised the scent as being one he had bought her for her last birthday, though.

He was scribbling down a title into his notebook, once he had finally bothered to get that and a pen
from his bag, but kept hearing Kendall breathily chuckling to herself. It was getting on his nerves,
the way she was doing it so deliberately. He ignored it, continuing to take notes as Mr Bradley
blabbered on and on about simultaneous equations. A few minutes in, when their teacher was busy
sketching a diagram onto the whiteboard, Kendall filled the silence by whispering to Harry.

"How did you find Paris?"

"Don't talk to me." Harry snapped back immediately, too keeping his voice low so as not to disrupt
the atmosphere of the room.

"No need to be moody, I'm just wondering how you found it." She scoffed. The humour in her tone
contradicted what she said; she had clearly just wanted to get a reaction from him.

"You're trying to irritate me. I don't want to talk to you, so don't talk to me." He grunted, doing an
awful sketch of what Mr Bradley had drawn, in his black biro pen.

She surprisingly did leave him alone for a while after that, deciding to concentrate on her work for
a while, but further into the lesson, the classroom got a bit louder as people began working
collaboratively on a task they had been set. Kendall used this as her chance to make sarcastic
chitchat once again.

"Good thing you found your YSL hoodie yesterday, huh? I can't believe Louis would steal from
you." Her voice was soaked in sarcasm, and Harry actually had to grip fistfuls of his jumper
beneath the table in order to restrain his anger. How she could so blatantly say something, was
completely beyond him.

"You're a complete bitch. How the fuck did you get my hoodie anyway?" He demanded, dropping
his pen and impatiently awaiting her response.
Anger seethed in his veins when she tapped the side of her nose: her way of mockingly saying it
was none of his business.

"Fucking tell me," He grilled, "How did you get it?"

"Well," Kendall took a deep breath, placing her own pen down too, "This is actually something I've
been meaning to discuss with you."

"What is? Cut the shit, Kendall."

"You got very drunk, remember that?" She began. She still had some amusement in her tone,
however it was gradually verging on the more serious side of the spectrum. "And you gave me a
key to your room. I didn't even have to beg. I wanted to get my lipstick back off you, considering
you decided to be a dick and keep it from me."

"Wait..." Harry huffed. "So you broke into our room?"

"I didn't break in. You gave me a key."

"Which you took from me when I was drunk and unable to stop myself from giving you a key."
Harry reasoned, eyebrows furrowed and jaw locked in vexation. "And, what, you decided to just
nick one of my hoodies while you were at it?"

"Thought I was gonna keep it for myself at first. But that's beside the point, prick. I just want you
to explain to me why you went to Paris with a full pack of condoms, didn't sleep with me once, and
somehow used two."

She dropped the leading question. Harry felt like his heart had entered his throat the moment she
had finished speaking, a cold chill running through him. Oh God, this whole time she had known
that two condoms had been missing, had probably been adding it all up.

"Why the fuck were you going through my stuff?" He angrily diverted. "That's my private stuff,
Kendall. You shouldn't have even been in the room in the first place!"

"Stop changing the fucking subject!" Kendall hissed. "Start explaining."

"I..." Harry deeply sighed, knowing he couldn't tell the truth right now. He had to protect Louis,
and maybe himself for the time being. "I... brought girls back to the room."

He hated that this was the first excuse to leave his mouth, knew it was the last thing he had wanted
to say, but it was too late to take it back now. It was hanging in the air now, waiting for Kendall to
respond to. Her mouth was hanging open a little, in shock and maybe jealousy.

"Umm, what the fuck? Two girls at once?"

"No, on different nights." He thought he was saving it, making it more modest, but maybe in fact it
was worse that he was saying it was on different nights. He was telling her, effectively, that he had
fucked two girls, both on different nights, in his hotel room.

"Oh my God, you're so disgusting!" Kendall spat, letting out a laugh of disbelief. "You broke up
with me then fucked two French girls! You make me feel so sick, Harry, you piece of shit."

Harry felt that, bad. Because he knew that it was completely against anything he believed in,
sleeping uncommitted with complete strangers he'd only just met, and here he was being put down
by Kendall.
He didn't even verbally respond, even though Kendall went on to berate him more and more. He
felt a lump in his throat but knew he couldn't cry in class, so he held his breath and distracted
himself once again by taking more notes (things he had already written, but was rewriting to pass
the time.)

Kendall didn't stop for the rest of the lesson, making snide little comments.

---

They had English class straight after maths, and Harry had never felt less like something. It felt
almost as if his stomach had tightened due to how generally furious he was inside, in absolute
disbelief that Kendall had literally broken into his room and snooped through his stuff, yet he was
the one being ruthlessly teased by her about sleeping around. Which was a lie in itself.

Mr Grant welcomed them all inside, and Harry was so grateful to remember that there was no
seating plan in this class, basically just a free-for-all where people could get whatever seats they
wanted.

Harry sat by Louis, not even saying a word as he did so, getting his pencil case out and resting his
chin on his palm once again.

"You alright?" Louis softly asked, as everyone continued to get settled, and Mr Grant was sorting
out some kind of PowerPoint presentation on the projector.

"No. It's a long story. Explain later." He blandly shortened it, not even sparing Louis a glance. He
wasn't mad at him, of course he wasn't, but he just didn't want to talk to him while he was feeling
so moody. He didn't want it seeming like Louis was the one he was annoyed at, and Louis seemed
to get the hint that he wanted silence.

Today they just had to write up the conclusion of their projects, but Harry could barely concentrate.
All that was running through his head, was a very violent list of ways he could hurt Kendall (not
that he'd ever hurt a girl, but he could dream of hurting her.) He realised that he was writing rather
violently, what with how hard he was pressing with his pen, so Louis once again asked what was
wrong, more pleadingly this time.

Harry explained the situation, all of it. How Kendall had manipulated drunk him into giving her the
key, how she had broken into their room, and how he had made up the excuse when confronted
about the missing condoms. Louis was just as shocked as Harry that Kendall had been looking
round in their room without their knowledge, but he praised Harry for his fast thinking when he
came up with the excuse of 'two girls.'

"It's a shit excuse," Harry rolled his eyes, "I hate that I said that."

"It's better than admitting the truth, though, right? I'm sure that would have been bigger news to
her." Louis soothed. "Don't worry, she'll get over it in the end."

Harry glanced Kendall's way, seeing that she had seemed to sense his gaze and was very fast
glancing up, hatred flaming behind her eyes. She looked from Harry to Mr Grant, and a little smile
seemed to stretch onto her face. He could see what she was plotting: telling Mr Grant what she now
knew. Harry very subtly shook his head, a don't you dare sort of look, but it only seemed to
broaden Kendall's grin.

With her eyes remaining on Harry, Kendall raised her hand. It stuck out like black on a white
background, her hand raised like that, and Harry held his breath when Mr Grant took notice, while
Louis' mouth was open in disbelief.

"Yes, Kendall?" Mr Grant asked, and everyone's attention was on her.

"Well, Sir, I just have to tell you something that I found out just today, about someone in our class
when we went on our trip." Her tone was so childish, so girly and taunting, and Mr Grant looked
puzzled.

"Okay, Kendall, why don't you come to my desk and tell me in private, so that it isn't in front of
everybody else?" He suggested, and Kendall shot back a smug look at Harry before pushing out
her chair, sauntering confidently to the front with a shake of her hips. Harry wanted to shoot a
tranquilizer dart into her neck, quite honestly, watching her every move in sheer anger.

He saw her nattering away to Mr Grant a moment later, saw his eyes fall onto him momentarily,
and wanted to disappear.

"Is she seriously telling him?" Louis gawped. "What an absolute bitch!"

And that was coming from pure, little Louis.

A moment later, Kendall sat back down, dropping Harry a sly wink as she did, and Mr Grant was
getting to his feet and looking right Harry's way.

"Harry Styles, come outside with me. Now, please." He commanded, voice cold and unforgiving,
and Harry tensed. Everyone's eyes were on him, people twisted round in their seats to stare, and he
wanted to run out of that room and never, ever return again.

Kendall and her mates were snickering laughs among themselves, as Harry pushed himself to his
feet, storming out of the room with a face full of pure resentment. Mr Grant followed closely
behind, shutting the door, and Harry leant moodily against the wall of the corridor, his arms folded.

The classroom the other side of the door was deathly silent, Harry couldn't hear a thing, well aware
his classmates were doing so in order to obtain maximum gossip as they eavesdropped on the
conversation outside. And Mr Grant didn't even hold back with the volume of his tone, the pure
vexation, and Louis cringed at how loud it was from inside the classroom.

"Harry Styles, I am appalled." Mr Grant began, absolutely enraged, staring Harry right in the face.
"I'd like to remind you that a school trip has specific rules and guidelines you must follow, and this
does include a very clear restriction on sex. And bringing not one, but two, of the local girls back to
the hotel your class are staying at to fuck them is not what I call acceptable!"

Harry was shocked when Mr Grant used the word 'fuck' opposed to something deemed more
school-friendly, knowing that this must have been a very, very bad situation for that word to have
slipped out. From Louis' point of view, the entire class had erupted in little gasps following what
Mr Grant had just shared, Kendall and Co. stifling laughs, and everyone was just in sheer disbelief
over what they were hearing.

"Sorry." Harry muttered, voice a mix of annoyed and embarrassed, even such a quiet mutter loud
and clear through the closed door. He despised playing along with this, but he was just out of
energy by now. He knew he wasn't even feeling up to saying Kendall was lying, knowing he just
had to take this telling off to make it all more believable.

"It doesn't seem like you are. Next time, would you actually use your brain to do your thinking,
instead of another part of yourself. Go back inside now, Harry."
The light laughter, which had erupted from inside the classroom, ceased as soon as Harry pushed
the door handle down and barged back into the room. The only people who hadn't been laughing
along before had been Harry's friends, plus any girls in the room who had a crush on Harry and
were simply jealous of what they were hearing, jealous of these mystery French girls. Which was
quite a gathering of girls in his class, pretty much. Harry had a fan club, you could say. Everyone
went back to pretending to do their work, as if they all hadn't overheard that entire telling off, but
Harry could feel the stares as he returned to his seat. He could hear Kendall and her friends
cracking up, finding the situation absolutely hilarious.

Louis frowned at Harry in a sorry way, as the latter threw himself back down into his chair,
immediately placing his head down on the top of his desk.

"Are you okay?" Louis whispered, nudging his leg against Harry's, who was heavily sighing into
his folded arms beneath his face in response.

"Please stop asking me that."

"I'm sorry." Louis apologised, voice full of such concern and calmness. He got the sense that Harry
didn't want to engage with him any more as of now, so he stayed quiet afterwards, getting on with
his writing.

Harry didn't do so until Mr Grant snapped at him to, so he finally lifted his head from his arms,
sensing many pairs of eyes on him once again, pushing himself to start writing. He was so terribly
embarrassed, it was unexplainable. Everyone in that room now thought of him as being a sleazy
dick who fucked random girls. Nice.

As everyone got on with their writing, Kendall couldn't help herself any longer. She faked a loud
cough into her hand, following it quickly with: "Harry's a manwhore."

The class erupted into fits of crazed laughter, having been waiting for any opportunity to do so, and
the only ones not laughing were Harry and his mates. Christopher looked confused, like he wanted
to laugh but also noted Harry's annoyance, so he stayed silent and looked annoyed too.

"That's enough!" Mr Grant yelled. "No more of that."

The laughter died down, Kendall's table of mates being the last to stop, and Harry had his eyes
screwed shut, breathing in and out deeply. He was trying to stop himself from quite literally
marching straight on over to Kendall and ripping the hair from her head, managing to calm himself
down after a few moments.

The teasing continued for the rest of the day, and wasn't even just from Kendall and her group.
Even people who were once scared of Harry were getting involved, when Harry kicked a football
particularly hard in P.E and a boy called Alex had called out, "Do you think he fucked those French
girls as hard as he kicked that ball?"

Everyone had laughed. Harry had shot Alex a glare, which had him silencing immediately from his
proud laughter. How dare he disrespect someone like Harry?

Throughout their history class, the final class of the day, Harry continuously heard frequent calling
outs of words such as "manwhore", "womaniser" and "slut" coming from Kendall and Co.'s
direction, like each of them were taking it in turns to find the best insult to hurl. Louis tried his best
to be supportive throughout the rest of the day, but even someone as sunshine happy as him
 couldn't cheer Harry up. Niall, Charlie and Christopher were just too confused to even contribute in
any way, or speak to Harry. All he could do was take the insults and wait for the day to end.

Yeeeah, he wasn't very hyped for his birthday tomorrow.

Still.
It was going to be pure hell.

Chapter End Notes

Poor Harry :(

If you're wondering, yeah, Louis does feel really awful. But Harry can't take back now
what he told Kendall, and feels too defeated to even try to tell people it's not the truth.
 30
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry managed to fight his undying urge to physically strangle one of his ex-friends as the school
day drew to an end. He reminded himself that they were simply immature, unable to refrain from
making comments merely for a laugh. Kendall was jealous and Harry was glad of that, really,
considering all the shit she had put he and Louis through.

He decided he would drop Louis at home again after school, to give his hard-working mum a
break, and found himself coming to realise that this was probably going to become routinely from
now on: him giving Louis lifts home from school. It definitely beat running Kendall to and from
school every day, having to play the waiting game every morning as she approached his car to
reveal whether or not she was in a bad mood again (which she would then seemingly blame him
for.)

"It's been a pretty tough day for you." Louis spoke into the silence of the car, awkwardly drumming
his fingertips on the seat beneath him. He had probably said this in order to test how Harry was
feeling now.

"Yeah, it's been shit. But at the end of the day, I guess I'm just getting a taste of how most of our
class feel, seeing as they're all victims of the bullying." Harry shrugged, keeping his eyes on the
road. "And like when you first joined the class. They were awful to you."

Louis carelessly shrugged. "Didn't let that get to me too much."

"And I hate that you must have thought I was involved," Harry brought up, mind racing through his
memories of Louis' first week at HCC. "Because I was associated with them, you know?"

"I always had a feeling you weren't involved. The way you used to always smile at me." Louis
himself smiled at that, Harry saw it in the corner of his eye. "I knew you were the nice one. I just
had to build up my trust."

"You know on our first day in the hotel room?"

Louis hummed in agreement. "Yeah?"

"I remember you saying you'd heard rumours about me, but you never said what they were. What
were they?" Harry wondered, as they pulled up onto Louis' street.

"Oh," Louis drew in a deep breath, "I don't want to say now. I brought that up when I did because I
thought I didn't like you."

"Just say. As I said then, I do get a lot of rumours about myself," Harry casually shrugged, parking
the car at the side of the road outside Louis' house. "It won't bother me. I just want to know what
you first found out about me, what people's first opinions would be."

"I was just told that you slept around." Louis shrugged.

"That can't be it," Harry contradicted, "There's got to be more to it than that, loads of people sleep
around."
He could tell Louis was trying to downsize it, that he felt too bad to say what he had been told
when he first joined.

"It's no big deal, Harry. I know the real you now."

"Just tell me, please? I just want to know."

Louis heavily sighed, finally turning to Harry. "Someone told me you'd slept with every girl in the
class. Plus... our music teacher."

"Miss Bridges? What the fuck? Who told you that? Of course I haven't, Louis. And every girl,
that's crazy!"

"I know you haven't, Harry, calm down!" Louis giggled. "I won't say who, it's no one we're friends
with now anyway."

"I hate how people always hear that shit about me. People only make it up because they don't like
me." Harry frowned. Louis reached over and patted him encouragingly on the leg.

"Harry, I like you. Obviously," He smirked a little, "and it's unfair that people have to say those
things. They clearly don't know the real you, because you're an angel at heart."

Harry placed his hand on top of Louis', which was still on his leg. "Thank you, baby," He sang.

"Why did they say Miss Bridges, anyway?" Louis chuckled. "She must be in her early thirties."

"Oh, that," Harry laughed, "There was this whole incident where she touched my thigh when she
was talking to me. A bit like you're doing now, maybe just a little higher up."

"Oh." Louis piped, with a stark laugh. "Wow. So I guess people saw."

"She didn't mean anything by it, she never struck me as someone who liked me, I think she was
just trying to be kind. And you get my humour, right? I started jokingly telling everyone I got her
number. My joke wasn't taken as one, and - well - everyone thought I was sleeping with her.
Including Kendall, at one point."

Louis shook his head disapprovingly. "It's so unfair, you're such a sweetheart yet everyone thinks
of you as some..."

"Manwhore?" Harry completed the sentence, with a heartbreakingly sad smile.

It shattered Louis' heart for a second, seeing in that one attempted smile just how much it upset
Harry, everyone thinking so lowly of him. He moved his hand up and grabbed onto Harry's hand in
one, squeezing it.

"Harry, I really appreciate you taking the rap for everything, with Kendall finding those condoms. I
know the real you, okay?"

Harry smiled, squeezing Louis' hand back. "Thanks, Lou." He leant forward and gave Louis a kiss
on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Louis nodded, finally slipping his hand from Harry's and opening up the passenger side door. "See
you."

He jumped out, slamming the door behind him, and waved at Harry once more before heading up
the path towards his house. Harry exhaled heavily once he was alone with his thoughts again.
---

As Harry entered his house, he made his presence known with a rather monumental slam of the
front door. He kicked off his Chelsea boots and threw his jacket onto a peg, in no mood to be
anything less than negligent today. His dad (well, step-dad, in real terms), Robin, strolled from the
living room a moment or two later. He had a wide grin on his face, as he hadn't yet seen Harry
since he arrived home from the Paris trip, having been on a night work shift the previous evening.

"Alright, mate?" Robin greeted, patting Harry firmly on the back. "How was the trip?"

"Decent," Harry shrugged, pulling Robin into a proper hug instead. He pulled away after a few
moments, lowering the volume of his voice while nudging his head towards the living room door,
where he knew his mum would inevitably be. "Guessing she's dished out all my drama to you?"

Robin rolled his eyes. "What, your breakup? Of course she has, it's all she's been blabbering on
about."

"That doesn't surprise me at all. I haven't spoken to her since she found out last night, she just
started slating me for it, I know she only cares because of Kris, though." Harry explained, running
a hand through his hair in stress. They had both headed to sit on the plush bench by the shoe rack,
which was further from the living room door, once it had dawned on them both that this was
becoming a real heart-to-heart - Harry's second in the last half an hour.

"Yeah, I figured that, too." Robin shrugged, an almost sorry sort of smile on his face. Harry was
tracing his finger around the ripped knee of his jeans as a distraction, fringe of curls falling over his
eyes. "I never liked the girl, you know?"

It urged Harry to look up the moment he heard this, cocking his head to the side. "Who, Kendall?"

Robin nodded. "Yes, Kendall. I got the vibe from day one that she wasn't a good match for you.
Always seemed to me like she only cared for your looks."

Well, Harry had found that to be pretty true, what with the backlash Kendall had given after the
breakup. She had said numerous times that she was only with him for his looks, and the size of
something he wasn't going to discuss with his step-dad.

"Wow, really?" Harry breathed, "You have always read people well."

"Mmm," Robin hummed in agreement, "You're a humble young man, Harry. You've got looks
other boys would kill for, yet you're still a gentleman, still don't want to lead anybody on. Most
guys would take advantage of it, get with as many girls as they could, but you're different to that."

Harry had heard way too much about that lately. The whole "manwhore" theme had been very
prominent today.

Harry softly smiled, patting Robin appreciatively on the arm. "Thank you. That means a lot to
hear."

He always had tried to be a gentleman. Sure, he had been involved in his fair share of hookups in
the past, a few girls from his class, but he had always considered the girls' feelings afterwards,
never wanted to act as though they didn't exist or anything. And hearing Robin putting that into
words was something he had needed.

"No problem, mate." Robin got up using a push from his knees with some strain. "You do what
makes you happy, Harry. I don't care what, I'll always be in your corner." He gave Harry one last
reassuring nod before wandering back into the living room.

Harry was left with a calm smile on his face. It seemed his day was getting a little better, despite
the evening drawing near, but it didn't rid of the fact that tomorrow was his birthday. He dreaded
the thought.

He headed upstairs, figuring he would let his mum come to him if she was ready to talk to him
again. His room was tidy, just how he had left it, and he found himself really admiring his space as
he slung down his bag and fell back stiffly onto his swivel desk chair.

He didn't need all of this -- that was his first thought. Perhaps it had struck him so hard after
dropping Louis home, to his small, semi-detatched house, which was probably even smaller on the
inside. Someone lovely like Louis, whose family was probably equally so, should have had a house
as big as Harry's. Even Harry's room was too big, and he didn't spend enough time in it, really.

His large, king-sized bed in the centre of the room, straight ahead from the door, layered with
Egyptian cotton sheets; his oak-crafted wardrobe, crafted to fit perfectly in the wall to the right, full
of expensive, designer clothes; his large, flat-screen television left of his bedroom door, with two
games consoles on the artsy glass coffee table beneath it; the latest Apple Mac computer in front of
him, on his desk, with its double-screen layout; and the large floor-to-ceiling windows either side
of his bed, giving the perfect view of their spacious garden, and his beloved swimming pool.

Why the hell did he need all of this?

He had a photo board above his computer, crammed full of pinned Polaroids and photographs he
had taken over the last few school years. Many had Kendall in, plus his other old friends, and it
made his stomach twist in disgust. Without hesitation, he stood up and ripped them all down, one-
by-one, any photograph containing those five wretched people, until they were all in the bin by his
desk. There were only seven photos left, pinned to that board, which were either family photos or
artistic photos Harry had taken himself. His ex-friends had been such a huge part of his life, and
now they meant nothing anymore.

Harry decided to take a nap. His mind was too crammed with bullshit, he just wanted it to be
another day, even if he was dreading tomorrow.

---

He awoke sharply to the sound of a Facebook messenger notification coming from his phone. It
was dark now, and Harry was fully dressed and confused. He patted groggily around the mattress
for his phone, which he found next to him, squinting against the painful brightness of his phone
screen as he unlocked it. It was exactly midnight.

Louis Tomlinson: Happy birthday Sunshine ;) xx

Harry's mouth curled into a large grin. Louis knew! He definitely hadn't expected that, considering
nobody had been mentioning it at all. And he had waited until bang-on midnight to message him.

Harry Styles: You little angel. Thank you, Louis, it means so much that you know!!! .xx

Louis was typing immediately.

Louis Tomlinson: Of course I know !! I'm good like that hehe. Not gonna lie though, I'm
practically falling asleep xx

Just when Harry thought the situation couldn't get any more adorable. Louis had been fighting to
stay awake for this, and it made Harry's heart ache.

Harry Styles: Oh my god you are so precious. Get some beauty sleep, little one!!! Not that you
need it ;) .xx

Louis Tomlinson: You've definitely had more than enough of yours. Good night Harry, I will see
you tomorrow !! Xxx

Harry Styles: Night gorgeous, love you .xx

Louis didn't reply again.

---

Harry felt like shit the next day. It was nothing like when he was younger, when he would be up
bright and early and would be bounding into his parents' room for attention, it was just dull now.
He got up like every other day, took a shower, brushed his teeth, got dressed and packed his
backpack.

He headed downstairs ten minutes before he was set to leave, entering the large, marble-tiled
kitchen. His mother was preparing breakfast, for Robin, probably, moving about the room and
opening cupboards, a frying pan sizzling away on the hob. Robin was sat on a stool at the kitchen
island in the centre of the room, reading the morning paper.

"Morning, Harry." Anne greeted, barely even glancing up, busy laying some bacon into the pan.

"Morning," Robin crowed, displaying a casual smile Harry's way.

Had they actually forgotten?

"Hi," Harry piped up, grabbing a glass from the cupboard, opening the fridge and retrieving a
carton of orange juice. He poured a glass, body feeling a little more stiff than usual.

"Do you have time for breakfast, if I make you some?" Anne offered, and Harry shook his head as
he drank his drink with one hand and returned the carton to the fridge with the other, nudging the
fridge door shut with his hip.

"No. Thanks."

"Okay," Anne hummed, her eyes idly now on the television on the wall.

"I'm gonna leave a little early," Harry muttered, putting his backpack over one shoulder. "Bye."

"Bye, mate, have a good day." Robin called, as Harry headed quickly towards the exit of the room.
His jaw was locked in annoyance as he slid his Chelsea boots on, leaving the house with a slam of
the door.

He may have been thinking he wouldn't have cared if people forgot, but maybe deep down he
hadn't really meant it. How could they really forget? It was pretty ridiculous. Even Louis knew, and
he had no reason to know, seeing as nobody had told him.

This day was already falling apart.

---

As soon as Harry and Louis had met behind the school that morning, in a spot Harry knew they
wouldn't be seen at (behind the maths block, in a field-type area), as nobody went there so early,
Louis had run up to him and encased him in a huge hug.

"Happy birthday!" He exclaimed, swaying side to side a little as they embraced.

"Thank you, honey," Harry chuckled, kissing Louis on the head before they broke the hug, "I'm so
happy you knew."

"I may or may not have checked your Facebook when I first joined the school." Louis shrugged, a
coy smile playing on his face. "Maybe I had a crush?"

Harry playfully rolled his eyes. "I don't care how you found out, it's just nice of you to remember.
At least someone did."

Louis tilted his head aside, a confused look on his face, eyebrows cutely furrowed. "What do you
mean by that?"

"My parents, I think they forgot," Harry shrugged. "Acted like it was a normal day this morning,
didn't say a thing about it."

"God, really?" Louis gasped. "I'm so sorry, Harry, do you really think they have?"

"I don't know, probably," Harry shrugged, "But I'm glad you didn't."

"Oh!" Louis seemed to have remembered something all of a sudden, shrugging off his backpack
and opening it. He got out a box-shaped wrapped present. "Here you go. For you."

"Louis!" Harry wailed. "No! You didn't have to, I'm not taking that from you."

"Take it!" Louis giggled, shaking his hand eagerly. "Please!"

Harry lightly chuckled to himself, playfully shaking his head as he took the gift from Louis. He put
on a stupidly suspicious face as he felt the object, a grin on his face.

"What is it?"

"Why would I tell you? Open it and see." Louis laughed. "It may not be amazing, but I just wanted
to get you something."

Harry ripped off the wrapping paper, throwing it into the bin beside them, and his eyes widened at
the blue box in his hands.

Tommy Hilfiger.

"Louis, no!" Harry gasped. "Are you crazy? You can't be serious!"

"Open it." Louis smiled.

Harry opened up the box to see a beautiful watch.

He ran his fingertips over the face in awe, shaking his head.

"Louis, how much was this? Why did you get me something so expensive?"

"Well, because one, I broke your watch. And two, you bought me three Tommy Hilfiger jumpers!
 This is the least I can do for your birthday."

"I'm so close to crying right now," Harry appreciatively said, "How did you afford this? These
things are around a hundred and fifty."

He was speechless. It was a beautiful watch, similar colours to his Rolex, and he probably actually
liked it even more than the Rolex. But he couldn't take this from Louis.

"I got it at the airport, there was a little Tommy Hilfiger shop there. And I have a savings account,
don't worry, I--"

"You got this from your savings?!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm sending you the money, Louis, that is
not fair on you."

"It's your birthday, and I want you to accept the watch." Louis assured. "Harry, you have done so
much for me. You literally saved my life too, in case you don't remember. I'm a completely
different person than I was before that trip, and it's all because of you. You've made me..."

He trailed off, sniffing sharply as tears came. Harry was quick to pull him into a hug with his free
arm.

"You've made me want to be alive." Louis weakly finished, voice shaking, and Harry felt a rawness
in his throat too as he fought back tears. He buried his face into Louis' shoulder lovingly, inhaling
his sweet scent.

"Baby," He gently said, "I'm so happy to hear that."

"So please take the watch," Louis wiped his tears with his sleeves as they broke the hug. "I don't
care if you don't even wear it, it can collect dust on your desk for all I care, I just wanted to get you
it."

"I'm going to wear it every day," Harry said, voice full of confidence. He carefully got the watch
from its cushioned bed in the box, slipping the container into his bag before putting the watch on,
admiring it in the early morning sunshine. "I love it so much, Louis. And every time I look at it, I'll
think of my little Tommy Hilfiger model."

"Who?"

"You, silly," Harry smirked. "I'll think of you."

He cupped Louis' face with his hands, smiling at him before pressing a few kisses all around his
face, while Louis giggled, the final kiss right on his lips, twice.

"Thank you, Lou Lou."

"That's okay." Louis shyly smiled, face still in Harry's palms.

"God, you're so beautiful."

"Let's get to class," Louis gushed, giggling as he shook from Harry's grasp. "Come on."

Harry cockily smiled, nodding in agreement before following Louis back towards the main part of
the school campus.

Chapter End Notes

Chapter End Notes

Hmmmm have they actually forgotten? :O

 31
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Their sweet present exchange meant that they ended up missing registration period, and they
instead had to sign in at main reception so the school knew they weren't absent. At least that meant
one less room to be in with Kendall and Co. Harry felt his palms begin to sweat a little when he
remembered that they had maths first today, and in maths he was still sat by Kendall. This was
when he really did wish they had gone to registration period, just so he would have gotten it out the
way.

Louis offered to go in first, as their entire class was already in there and seated, and it was a very
confident move for him and very considerate. Harry's body was stiff as he moved into the room
behind Louis, going for his cool and collected approach, head held high. He could feel the stares,
so intensely. They received a look from Mr Bradley that was soaked in disapproval, despite them
literally being just three minutes late, and they headed to their seats.

Today, Kendall was wearing one of Harry's old hoodies, one she had stolen from him in the past.
She was also wearing a large, smug grin that made Harry seeth. He said nothing as he sat beside
her, only able to smell the slathering of perfume she was wearing (again, a perfume he had bought
her for her last birthday.)

"Happy birthday." She lowly wished, eyebrows raised smugly. He could tell she was hurting really,
probably devastated that she couldn't spend it with him. He loved it.

He didn't reply though, acted as though her phrase had sounded no more than a rush of air,
proceeding to get a pen and notebook from his bag.

"Happy birthday." She repeated, a little more aggressively, so that Harry slammed a palm onto the
table in pure anger.

"Okay! Thank you!" He exclaimed, looking up at Mr Bradley to find him already scowling his
way.

"Harry Styles, respectful conduct in my classroom, please. I don't appreciate you slamming the
tables."

"What, like he slammed those French girls?" Zayn snickered from the back of the room, into the
quiet, and Liam stifled a long, exaggerated laugh.

"God, give him a break." Came Louis' voice suddenly. Harry thought he had imagined it at first,
thought it was a figment of his imagination, but it wasn't. Louis really had said it, and Harry was
holding his breath during the moments that followed, terrified of what was going to be said. To his
complete and utter surprise, he got an apology. Perhaps it was sarcastic, but it didn't really sound
so.

"Sorry, Harry," Zayn said, "Happy birthday, mate."

Even if it was genuine, Harry didn't care. It didn't erase the fact that Zayn had, moments before,
made yet another comment about the 'imaginary' French girls. He was done with that, and he was
most certainly done with Zayn. But considering the awkward silence, he responded, bluntly.
"Thanks."

A few people around the room crowed their 'Happy Birthday's to him too, which he thanked them
all for, while Mr Bradley stood at the front of the room looking very impatient indeed.

"Right, okay, happy birthday, Harry. Now can I get on with the lesson?" Mr Bradley cut in,
abruptly, "Or will there be any more interruptions?"

Silence. The lesson finally commenced, and as it did, Louis glanced over Harry's way with a
supportive smile. Harry dropped a secret wink as his way of saying thank you, still unable to
believe Louis had been brave enough to defend him against Zayn. He could only imagine how fast
Louis' heart must have been thudding when he said it.

Harry began note-taking, and the class got a bit more talkative a little while in, when they had been
set a task to do. Kendall obviously had to use it as a chance to chat away again, as if Harry cared.

"I'd already bought your birthday present before we even went to Paris," She claimed, not looking
up from her neatly cursive handwriting. "But didn't exactly expect your rude arse to dump me."

"Good for you." He muttered under his breath, continuing to jot down notes himself.

"You're so rude," Kendall sneered. "I actually woke up this morning considering giving you the
present anyway, you know that? Clearly I made the correct decision by not."

"I'm hardly rude, you're the one who's been consistently rude to me, Kendall. Keep the fucking
present, I couldn't care less. It's not like we're friends now."

"I miss you." She barely whispered, so quietly that perhaps she hadn't even intended to said it at all,
maybe it just slipped out. Harry left it lingering in the air though, knowing it would be best not to
respond to. He already knew it anyway, how much she missed him, simply from the looks she
always gave him. And her outfit and perfume choice were a bit of a dead giveaway too, as it
basically screamed 'Harry.'

She stayed silent after that. Harry knew she was being pensive, probably reminiscing of their past
little rendezvous and adventures, and he was quite frankly glad that she was hurting. She deserved
that right now considering the things she had done.

All Harry was thinking about, throughout his work, was kissing Louis. Hell yeah.

---

Whether or not Zayn's decision to wish Harry a Happy Birthday had been authentic or not, his
kindness clearly didn't last. All throughout their Biology lesson, Kendall and her group threw
things at him. The objects gradually ranged in size, starting with scrunched up pieces of paper, and
it got to the point where Liam had thrown an entire textbook at his head halfway through the lesson
before they all ducked their heads in thunderous, suppressed laughter. Harry felt a lump in his
throat then, like tears were welling behind his eyes, which was so unusual for him: it was very rare
that he cried. This was just getting a bit too much. Louis was by his side, constantly whispering
soothing things, but it wasn't enough.

The teacher angrily sent them all out of the classroom for their conduct, and as they passed by
Harry's desk, Gigi pushed all of his things onto the floor when their teacher had gone back to typing
on her computer, all while muttering a sarcastic 'oops!'

"Good one, Gi." Cheryl snickered. "Where all his stuff belongs."
It had gone too far now for Harry, the tears finally brimming in his eyes, and he grabbed his
backpack from beneath the desk, chair scraping loudly on the floor as he pushed it back and
stormed out of the room, before his ex-friends had gotten anywhere near the exit. The lump caught
in his throat had finally lost its strain as Harry choked on a sob, wiping away a tear with the back of
his hand as he sped along the corridor.

He felt absolutely ridiculous for having stormed out in tears, fully hoping nobody had seen him
actually crying. He was heading straight for the same place he and Louis had been that morning,
the field tucked away behind the maths block, and although it wasn't far from where his class was,
it was certainly away from them. No one would suspect he was there. Well, but one.

He collapsed on the floor by the brick wall of the building, bag carelessly strewn down next to
him, head in his hands as he shakily cried into them. All his emotions seemed to have escalated far
too much in one burst, and he just couldn't take it anymore; he was pretty much a wreck. It only
took about two minutes for Louis to be hurrying over, with Harry's belongings in his arms, the ones
that had been pushed horribly to the ground.

"Oh dear," Louis sadly said, placing Harry's belongings gently on top of Harry's backpack before
sitting by his side, wrapping him in a hug from the side, "It's okay, Harry."

Harry was sobbing rather aggressively into Louis' shoulder, the type of sobbing that was so heavy,
it resulted in him heavily coughing to follow and needing a sharp pat on the back from Louis. He
was so embarrassed, the way he was gripping so hard onto Louis' arms - probably leaving marks on
his skin through the material - and the way he kept choking on sobs so babyishly. Louis was
stroking his hair tenderly, Harry's face against his shoulder.

"Let it out," Louis gently soothed, "I think everything just hit you at once, didn't it?"

Harry simply nodded against his shoulder, continuing to breathily sob. He didn't want to lift his
head because he knew how much of an ugly mess he'd look.

"I know how it feels to sit in a classroom and try not to cry, when you're feeling awful," Louis
softly continued, once he got the inkling that Harry wasn't exactly up for doing it himself. "You get
that lump in your throat, don't you? And you feel like you can't say anything, otherwise it'll all
come crashing down. I know how that feels, but it's okay to cry. It's healthy, rather than bottling it
up."

"I'm sorry." Harry croaked out, clearing his throat and sniffing as he lifted his head. "It's just rare
for me, crying. Never really know how to handle it."

"Maybe you need to cry a bit more often, Harry," Louis sounded concerned, "I know guys are
supposed to cry less than girls, and all that, but it does help to take the load off."

"I've realised I'm an ugly crier too." Harry sniffed again, wiping his nose carelessly on his sleeve.

"It's not possible for you to be ugly ever!" Louis exclaimed in disbelief. "Even now I'd love to look
like you. And I still love looking at you, too."

Harry huffed out a laugh, a dimple prominent in his cheek as he couldn't hold back a smile at that.
"Thank you, babe. I love looking at you too, and I'd happily swap looks."

"What, so you could see what it'd be like to date yourself?" Louis smugly asked, raising an
eyebrow. "Because I don't see any other incentives to your proposition."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Course not, I'd just like to look like you."
They linked eyes for a few moments, before Harry remembered how flushed red his face must
have been, and how generally bad he must have looked at that moment in time. He ducked his head
again, heavily sighing.

"This has gone really far now, the Kendall situation," He dead-panned, "I'm annoyed at myself for
storming out in tears. For fuck's sake, it makes me look so weak to them."

"Well, you did the right thing, I reckon. At least now they know how upset you really are. If you'd
have gotten angry instead, they probably would have retaliated twice as hard, and that wouldn't
have ended well at all." Louis theorised, rubbing him gently on the forearm. "I'm so sorry this had
to happen to you on your birthday, it's so shit. They're ruining everything for you."

Harry shrugged, negligently. "Oh well, you're the only good thing this day's brought to me so far."

"What about Christopher's ridiculous attempt to use slang when wishing you a happy birthday?"
Louis giggled upon remembering it.

God, they had been walking to Biology when Christopher had dropped a: Happy birthday, bro! I
hope you have a peng day." In short form, Harry appreciated Charlie and Niall's more modest,
normal wishings.

"Don't even remind me," Harry shuddered through the cringe, "He really thinks it works, doesn't
he?"

"It's quite sweet, he wants to be just like you." Louis fondly smiled. "That must be flattering,
surely?"

"I guess so. I'll let him have his fun." Harry chuckled, reaching forwards and grabbing his things,
unzipping his backpack and returning them to it. "Thanks for grabbing my stuff."

"That's no problem." Louis smiled. "What do you want to do, then? I doubt you want to go back to
Biology."

"What were the class saying when I stormed out?" Harry suddenly worried, not even taking what
Louis had said into account.

"They didn't say anything, Harry."

"They definitely did, what was it? They must have been talking amongst themselves." Harry
frowned. "Can you tell me?"

"Just heard little mutters, people asking each other if you were crying," Louis shrugged it off, "And
that you never cry. It's not that big of a deal."

"I'm so embarrassed." Harry groaned, stumbling to his feet, with a hand on the brick wall for
leverage. He helped pull Louis to his feet too, and they brushed the grass from their jeans.

"Again, Harry, it isn't a big deal. I've stormed off before," Louis shrugged, "People forget about it.
They don't really care anyway, they're just interested in the drama."

"Oh, and to answer your question before, I don't know what to do now. I'm definitely not going
back in that room, I'd probably end up knocking someone out." Harry seethed, maybe with a tad
humour. "You can go back if you want, I'm just going to take a walk."

"I'll come with you, then."

Harry looked at him as if he was mad, cocking an eyebrow.

"You'd skip the rest of the lesson?"

"Yeah, why not?" He shrugged. "I've got my stuff too, I kind of had a feeling we wouldn't go
back."

"You naughty boy!" Harry chuckled. "Skipping class!"

"We're hardly skipping it, I think he knows we're not coming back." Louis giggled.

"True."

They ended up on a light stroll round the school field. On their stroll Harry reminded Louis that he
still wanted to pay to get Louis' phone screen fixed for him, following Louis drunkenly throwing it
at the wall, and once again got a refusal (he was definitely going to pay for it for him.) They also
chatted about how the weather was still freezing, but they didn't go into the Kendall situation
again. Harry needed a break from that.

The time passed by far too quickly, and soon it was time for their next lesson, which was music.
Harry was dreading it hugely, because one, obviously Kendall and Co. plus his class were going to
be there to deal with, and two, Mrs Bridges, their teacher, was back off her leave. He always got
teased about her, ever since she had placed that hand on his thigh, and today he really couldn't be
bothered with it.

He walked in with Louis, and they sat with Niall, Charlie and Christopher to the side of the room.
Mrs Bridges wasn't in the room yet, luckily, but their entire class was. Everyone was staring at
Harry, he was well aware of that, but tried not to think of it. Then stupid Christopher decided to
loudly talk into the room.

"Were you crying earlier, Harry?"

Harry literally clenched his eyes shut in irritation, internally face-palming and huffing out a sigh.

"Thanks for that, Christopher." He sarcastically replied. He could hear Gigi's laugh from the back
of the room, but he turned their way briefly to see that Kendall looked rather upset; probably for
having actually made Harry cry. She knew how little he usually let his emotions show.

Mrs Bridges entered the classroom a few moments later and Harry literally held his breath, just
waiting for the first comment. It came in the form of Liam calling out Harry's name, before
covering it with a sharp, fake cough. Laughter fanned out from round the room, while Harry rolled
his eyes, and Louis remembered now the rumours about Harry and this woman (who seemed to be
rolling her eyes playfully with a smile. Perhaps she even thought Harry had a crush on her because
of the comments.)

"Good afternoon, everyone." She greeted, smiling welcomingly. "How's everyone doing?"

"Miss, it's Harry's birthday!" Cheryl yelled out, with a snort of a laugh. "He's one year closer to you
now."

She seemed to take it light-heartedly once again, turning in Harry's direction with a grin. "Happy
birthday, Harry."

"Thanks." He bluntly said, distracting himself by getting out his pen.

She started the lesson, droning on about song-writing, while Harry doodled aimlessly in his
notebook. Louis pushed his leg against Harry's beneath the table to get his attention.

"What?" Harry whispered.

"Do you actually like her?" His voice had some doubt in it, insecurity almost, that had Harry
scoffing out a quiet laugh.

"No! Of course I don't, Louis, why would I?"

"Oh. Okay. I just worried, that's all."

"Definitely nothing to worry about there." Harry smiled, keeping the volume of his voice low. "I'd
choose you over anyone."

"Can anyone give me an answer? Harry?" Mrs Bridges called on him suddenly. She was always
selecting him out of everyone, so often, and it only made everything else so much worse.

"He's too busy imagining something else, Miss," Zayn called out. "Which I can't mention."

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Harry admitted, ignoring Zayn. "What was the question?"

"She asked if you want to go out sometime." Gigi added, spitefully.

"Okay, that's enough." Mrs Bridges sternly added, scowling the way of Gigi's table. She turned
back to Harry, patiently. "My question was, what would you write a song about, if you had to
choose a base subject?"

Louis' crystal blue eyes; his petal-soft lips; his button nose; his little ears; his slender neck, his
lovely tummy; his slightly squidgy and massively kissable hips; that beautiful bum of his...

"Umm..." Harry hesitated, before shrugging hopelessly. "Dunno."

"I know what he would write one about!" Liam chipped in, a mischievous smirk on his face that
Harry wanted to slap off. He dreaded what Liam was about to say. "He'd write a song about
fucking you against your desk, Miss."

The class gasped out shocked laughs, Louis' mouth dropped open in disgust, Harry didn't quite
know what to do, and Mrs Bridges had never looked so outraged in her life.

"Liam Payne, get the hell out of this classroom, right now!" She almost screamed, pointing
furiously towards the door. "I am absolutely speechless, your conduct is just appalling!"

Harry slammed his head forwards onto his folded arms on his desk, groaning in full-on
embarrassment as the laughter barely died down. He could hear Louis muttering something about
how gross Liam was, and how in disbelief he was that he had actually said something that bad. It
had been as worse as the commentary had ever gotten, having gone one step too far this time
around.

"He didn't mean that," Charlie defended quickly, coming to Harry's aid, "Liam's just making up
stupid lies."

"Okay, Charlie, thank you. And to anyone else who wants to start making inappropriate comments,
I suggest you leave now, because I'm not going to tolerate that in my classroom."

Harry looked up to immediately lock eyes with her, wanting to shoot himself, but she smiled
reassuringly as a way of saying she knew it was all a lie. She went back to teaching shortly after,
before going outside to have a mini argument with Liam. Louis kept going on and on about how
weird it was that they were so open like that with teachers just for a joke. It was true: Harry would
never dream of saying something so grossly wild. His birthday was turning to literal shit at this
point.

---

Mother: Can you drive to the shop after school and get a few things we've run out of?? Bread,
butter, milk, orange juice, toothpaste. xxx

Harry rolled his eyes as the text came through, as he and Louis walked to his car in the car park,
once they'd finally made it to three o'clock.

"What?" Louis queried, craning his neck over to get a look.

"Oh, just my mum saying she wants me to grab some stuff from the shop," He rolled his eyes, "I'm
so tired, I think I just want to sleep now."

"Aww, I'm sorry it's been such a bad day for you." Louis frowned, as they jumped into Harry's car.
"I would offer to go somewhere with you, but my sister Felicite has this play on tonight at her
school, I..." He trailed off, as if he was changing his mind suddenly. "I can stay with you instead if
you'd prefer? I mean, it is your birthday."

"No, Lou, it's okay. You go see your sister's play, I'll be alright at home. I'll probably get some
sleep, to be honest."

"Oh. Okay."

He started the engine, so it roared to life, barely even checking the space around the car was clear
before backing out of the space and zooming out of the car park. He was probably driving a bit
faster than usual too, feeling a little more reckless after such a god-awful day, but he managed to do
so in a safe manner. He didn't want little Louis in any danger. He got him home pretty fast, parking
up in the usual spot.

"What time is your sister's play?" He smiled, deciding the silence during the ride had been too
extensive for his liking. Louis returned the smile as he unplugged his seatbelt.

"Four until six," He giggled, "It better be worth my time."

"I'm sure it will be." Harry chuckled, leaning in to kiss Louis. They exchanged about six lingering
kisses before Louis opened up the door.

"Call me tonight?" He offered. "If you're not asleep that is."

"I will. Talk later, sexy." Harry winked. Louis playfully rolled his eyes.

"Bye, Harry."

"I love you, Louis."

Louis smiled, nodded and turned towards his house, beginning the walk up the path. All while
Harry once again over-thought to himself, throughout his drive home, why Louis hadn't said he
loved him back. Again.
Chapter End Notes

So yeah, more to come in the next chapter surrounding how Harry's evening goes HA!
Sorry if this was a bit shit, I guess it was a bit filler-y? And btw yes I know Harry
needs to speak to the head teacher or something about his ex friends behaviour!!:)

And people think Harry is a manwh*re (God I hate that word) I know, he will surely
fix that in the future though xx
 32
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry's supposedly 'quick pop to the shops' ended up dragging on for about an hour. His mum just
kept texting him extra things: Can you find this very specific foundation shade for your sister? Oh,
and your father's asking if you'll pick up his golf clubs from the sports shop, they're ready for
collection. He was completely and utterly drained by the time he was done, and for some reason he
hadn't even suspected a thing, as to why his family were trying to keep him away for so long.

He pulled up into the driveway, trying to hold the bag full of his dad's golf clubs under one arm,
the bag of shopping in his hand, while his free hand jammed his key into the lock, opening up the
door. The instant he did, he almost experienced a genuine heart attack as around fifty voices
screamed "surprise!" at him.

He stumbled back a little, out the door again, a hand on his chest and wide smile on his face as his
eyes surveyed the many people crowded in his house's hallway.

"Oh my God!" He chuckled, setting the golf clubs against the wall by the door. "What's with all
this?"

His mum rushed forwards, encasing him in a tight hug before taking the carrier bag of shopping off
of him.

"Your surprise party, honey! Why else would I have made you get all this?" She laughed, holding
up the bag. "It was awful having to pretend we'd forgotten, love. We never would. Everyone's here,
Harry! Go and have a mingle."

She wandered off into the kitchen, and Harry was wrapped in many hugs as people came forwards
to wish him happy birthday, some he couldn't even remember; a lot of them were commenting on
how tall and handsome he was getting, suggesting he hadn't seen them in a while. They all moved
into the living room, where there was food laid out on the table, many cards and presents on
another makeshift one, and music playing on the flat-screen television above the fireplace as
everybody settled into groups to start chatting.

"Look at you!" An auntie of his was greeting him suddenly, pulling him into a rather awkward hug.
He knew she was from his mum's side, her sister, but they never spoke and he had no idea what to
really say in response.

"Hi! It's been a while." He opted for, patting her on the back in the hug. She pulled away, holding
him by the upper arms with a smile.

"Gosh, you look so much like Anne."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Harry chuckled, grinning widely. She finally let go of her hold on
him, tucking her hands casually into her back pockets.

"Is your girlfriend coming? What's her name again... Kendall?"

He wanted to wince. It dawned on him then that pretty much everybody in the room was going to
be asking about Kendall, how she was and everything, and he had no clue how to resolve that.
"Oh, uh..." He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "We broke up, actually."

"Oh no!" She covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry for bringing it up! That's my bad, Harry, darling.
Ignore me."

"No, it's honestly fine," He smiled, "It was kinda my decision to break things off."

"Well, whatever is going on, I just hope you're happy with whatever the outcome is, Harry. You do
what makes you happy." She patted his arm, raising her glass of champagne in a friendly manner
before wandering off to chat with other groups of people.

Harry was having a deep conversation with someone who claimed to be a second cousin of his, ten
minutes later, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Robin, with a casual smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, mate. Quick word?"

Harry smiled appreciatively at his cousin before asking to be excused, which he happily granted.
Harry moved slightly aside in the grand living room, where Robin had a quick chat with him, not
having to keep his voice low due to the upbeat music and general hum of conversation.

"Just a heads up, your mum's invited Kris. And I'm sure she will bring all the girls. I did try to stop
her, Harry, I really did, but she insisted on it." He frowned, "They'll probably be here soon. I'm
sorry."

"Are you kidding me?" Harry groaned, putting his head in his hands for a couple of moments.
"Really? She knows how upset I am about it, how could she do that?"

"I know, mate. I just thought I'd let you know, maybe you can manage to avoid them," He
shrugged, patting Harry's back. "Hopefully she doesn't bring Kendall."

As if on cue, Anne was wandering into the living room, chatting brightly with Kris, who was
dressed up a little too much in an expensive-looking black and white number. And behind her,
what Harry had hugely dreaded, were Kris' five daughters. They were all dolled up - Kendall
especially, who was wearing a red dress which was tight fitting at the top and flowy round the skirt.
Harry wanted to retch, and found himself dipping his gaze back to Robin in an instant, desperate
for a distraction.

"For fuck's sake," He muttered to him, "I'm so annoyed at mum for this."

He glanced the way of Kendall and her sisters again, to find them already glaring his way. It was
such a penetrating glare, metaphorical daggers shooting his way, as they headed past him towards
the other side of the room. But as Kendall had then diverted her gaze away again, Kim dropped a
wink Harry's way and he was pretty sure he got an up-and-down look from Kylie.

"Charming," Robin muttered, "Her sisters are just as lovely, evidently." There was so much
sarcasm in his tone and Harry loved it.

"Too right." He rolled his eyes. "They're just going to be over there glaring at me all evening."

"Don't let it ruin your party, Harry, you can distract yourself by chatting with people again." He
offered. "Grab a beer and forget about them, eh?"

He was right. If Harry was going to show Kendall he didn't care, in his own fucking home on his
fucking birthday, then he had to lighten up. He grabbed a beer bottle from the arrangement of
drinks on the dining table, cracking it open with the bottle opener and taking a well-deserved swig.
He could definitely sense Kendall and her sisters talking about him, looking his way and watching
his every move, but he distracted himself by starting a conversation with his grandfather.

For the most part, Kendall and her sisters stayed put in their little corner, chatting amongst
themselves and helping themselves to food and drinks. How dare they stand there in Harry's house,
on Harry's birthday, eating and drinking Harry's food and drinks? It was laughable really. Harry
even ended up making eye contact with Kris as they passed each other in the room, and she
scowled at him. Literally scowled, paired with an up-and-down look of utter disapproval. It was a
look that screamed: 'why the fuck did you dump my daughter, you low-life bastard?' but without
words.

When the time reached quarter to six, after over an hour and a half of mingling and pretending to
know people, Harry's mum wanted to make an announcement.

"Could I have everybody's attention, please?" She called, while clinking a spoon against her
champagne glass, so that the room fell silent and everybody turned to face her. "I'd like to thank
everybody for coming today, it's turned out to be a lovely evening. And, obviously, I'd like to once
again wish my gorgeous son a very happy nineteenth birthday."

There was an uproar of applause and people calling out their happy birthdays again, somebody
loudly whistling from the back of the room, and Harry smiled appreciatively.

"And, just one last thing, Harry. Someone just wants to say a few words."

In the corner of Harry's eye, he could see the red blur of Kendall's dress as she headed up to stand
by Anne. His heart immediately began thudding faster against his ribcage, feeling like the blood
drained from his face, as she linked eyes with him and smiled. His face remained completely
straight, eyebrows furrowed a little. He was so deeply embarrassed already, before she even spoke.

"Harry," She began, softly, so falsely soft. "I just want to start by saying that I'm sorry for
everything that's happened. As most people in this room will know, you and I dated for a very
significant amount of time, almost three years, and since we broke up, I..." She deeply inhaled, "I
haven't had one happy moment in my life."

There were affectionate cooes around the room, people finding this utterly heartwarming, and in all
honesty Harry wanted to throw up. How could she be so two faced?

"I wanted to ask for another chance." She finished, before shyly looking down at her feet.
Instantly, everyone turned to look right at Harry, all wearing optimistic smiles, and he felt his face
reddening in humiliation. His eyes frantically took in all the faces, shaking his head quickly as his
chest heaved up and down.

"I mean... no. No, Kendall." He spoke up, voice sure and steady. "You've treated me like complete
shit, why would I give you any more chances?"

"Harry!" Anne scolded from across the room. Everybody was in absolute shock as they stared at
him, mouths hanging open and eyes wide. The most prominent were probably Kris'; she looked
pretty much ready to strangle him.

"No, mum, I don't care. What, you think having an audience is going to change things? If only you
were able to see how Kendall and my old, so-called friends are treating me now, you wouldn't
believe it. Kendall isn't the sweetheart you think, are you?" He shot her way, eyebrows raised.

"We don't... we don't bully you, babe, you're seeing it all wrong!" She wailed, and Harry rolled his
eyes.

"Don't call me babe. You lost that right. I appreciate everybody coming, I really do," He addressed
them all, "But I'm afraid I'll have to be going now before I literally lose my mind."

He moved through the crowd towards the exit of the living room, everybody parting ways to let
him through, and he shook from his mother's firm, furious grip on his shoulder and managed to get
out of the house before she could scold him for it.

He had known he had to leave, because the anger had been bubbling up and he didn't want to cause
any form of violent scene. Plus, there was no one there to even take his violence out on, and he
sure as hell didn't want to start heavily swearing at Kendall in front of her family and his. He
would just have to get his violent revenge another day.

He was keeping up a very brisk, very angry walk towards the local park, mind stirring with
absolute disbelief when he thought about how his mum could do something like that to humiliate
him so much. Had she really just expected that to fix everything? Sure, it's what she wanted, but
clearly she wasn't concerned about his happiness. She just wanted things to be easy again, and that
was ridiculous.

He reached the park fast with his long legs, falling back onto the nearest bench and tipping his head
back a little in a loud sigh, one which had been building up since Kendall and her family had
arrived. It was ridiculous that, even at home, Kendall had the power to ruin his birthday. Fucking
ridiculous.

It was ten minutes past six, his gorgeous watch from Louis told him.

Louis.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened up a text, shooting it to Louis fast. But he didn't
even make it about himself, because his first thought had been that it was gone six o'clock, and
Louis' sister's play must have just finished.

Harry: How was the play? .xx

It took a couple of minutes for him to get a reply, and had him smiling as he wrapped his jacket
tighter around himself.

Louis: Pretty amateur ;) thought you said you were tired. Did you have a nap? Xx

Harry: I bet it was brilliant!! About me, well it's such a long story. Turns out my parents did
remember my birthday and threw this stupid party, loads of people were there. Including Kendall
and her family. She made this stupid speech in front of everyone about missing me and she asked
for another chance and I kind of freaked out and rejected her in front of everyone and then stormed
out and now I'm sat in the park .xx

Wow, that was a mouthful. But typing it all kind of lifted the weight off his shoulders a little, but
his chest was still heaving in annoyance, especially from recalling it all again. His mother had been
crazy. Louis took a little longer to reply this time, understandably.

Louis: Oh my goodness ! That sounds awful Harry that she had to ruin the party by doing all that :
( I'm sorry to hear. You shouldn't be sat in the park on your own, it's your birthday :( xx

Harry: I'll survive babe. Just cooling off you know? But will need to be here quite a while now
because I'm sure my mum hates me, God:/ .xx

Louis: Do you want to come over ? Xx

Louis' reply had come through so fast that it was almost as though he had been considering sending
it the whole time, but had only just managed to convince himself. Harry's eyebrows raised a little, a
smile making its way onto his face.

Harry: Really? .xx

Louis: Definitely xx

Harry: Right now? .xx

Louis: If you want to. We just got back from the play but I'm sure my mum will be more than happy
if you come round ! xx

Harry: Thank you so much baby. I'll see you soon? .xx

He patted his jacket pocket, so thankful to feel his car keys in there, jumping up from the bench
and making his way back towards his house again. He was smiling so big (mainly because he
knew he would see Louis again now) and it was unstoppable. Once at his house, he quickly jumped
in his car, starting the engine and reversing from the drive unnoticed, speeding off away. The drive
there was a quick one, and he had cranked up the radio to stop his mind from wondering back onto
the event in his house, and soon enough he was pulling up into Louis' driveway, behind the red car
already there. He quickly got his phone out before he made the move to leave his car, texting Louis
again.

Harry: I'm parked up. Can I knock? .xx

Louis: On my way down xx

Harry jumped out of his car, slamming the door shut and locking it behind him before slipping his
keys away once again. The house was so cute from the outside, it looked simple but very homely,
and the red door swung open as Harry approached to reveal Louis.

"Hi," He greeted, immediately wrapping Harry in a very tight hug. He smelt very sweet, and
slightly of fresh air, suggesting he hadn't been home for too long since they travelled back from his
sister's play.

"Hey." Harry mumbled against his shoulder. "Your mum knows I'm coming round, right?"

"Yeah, I told her. She's very happy with it, Harry, don't feel awkward."

He opened up the front door, holding it for Harry.

"Come in."

He continued holding the door, allowing Harry in behind him. The house smelt of vanilla and
Harry liked that. The hallway they were stood in was pretty small, a stairway leading upwards on
the right, a small, square kitchen on the left, and a closed door straight ahead, which opened as
Harry placed his Chelsea boots neatly by the other pairs by the front door.

A very beautiful brunette woman walked in, and she definitely had Louis' gorgeous eyes and
delicate facial features -- very evidently his mother. She smiled welcomingly at him, looking him
over.

"Hi! I'm Jay, Louis' mum." She greeted, and Harry immediately stuck out a gentlemanly hand.

"Lovely to meet you, Jay. I'm Harry." He beamed. She shook his hand gratefully, looking rather
proud that Louis had such polite friend. Or so she thought he was just a friend.

"And you, Harry. My, you're very handsome, aren't you?" She complimented.

Harry chuckled, "Thank you very much, I appreciate it."

The door she had entered from opened once again, and two little girls ran out giggling, but they
stopped in their tracks immediately once they had spotted Harry, shyly hiding behind their mother.
They were clearly twins, as Louis had mentioned before.

"Don't be shy, girls," Jay laughed, "This is Louis' friend. Say hello."

Harry knelt down so that he was their height, less intimidating perhaps, and smiled warmly. "Hi,
I'm Harry. What are your names?"

Louis was smiling so crazily big, having to hide it occasionally by holding his hand in front of his
mouth. This was all so perfect to him.

One of the twins stepped forwards a little, though she was still clinging to her mother's leg in
natural shyness.

"I'm Phoebe," She sweetly greeted. "Hi, Harry."

"Nice to meet you, phoebe. And what's your sister's name?"

He already knew their names, had memorised that one was Phoebe and the other was Daisy, but
was doing this to make them less shy. The other girl became more confident suddenly, seeing as
her sister had managed it.

"And I'm Daisy! Hi, Harry!" She giggled. "We're twins."

"You do look very alike," Harry chuckled, standing up once again and smiling down at them. Jay
was smiling so brightly at Harry, head tilted aside fondly.

"Are you boys going to head upstairs, then? I won't embarrass you for any longer, Louis." Jay
laughed. Louis playfully rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you wanna head up?" He asked Harry, who shrugged and nodded at the same time.

"Sure."

Harry gave a little nod to Jay and the twins before moving to follow Louis up the carpeted stairs.
He took notice of the sweet family photos on the wall up the stairs, many of a young Louis that had
him fondly scrunching up his nose. Louis opened up the second door on the right, welcoming
Harry in behind him.

"And this is my tiny room." He introduced, as Harry shut the door behind them. It was a sweet,
little room, box-shaped, light-carpeted with pale blue walls, with a single bed against the wall
ahead, a wardrobe opposite the bed, a desk with some belongings neatly on it with a desk chair, and
a small television on top of a chest of drawers.
"I like it," He smiled, "I like more compact rooms, they're a lot comfier."

"I personally hate this room," Louis giggled, sitting down on his bed, "There's no space in here,
and nothing to do. But I guess it's my little getaway place when I need some peace and quiet."

Harry sat down on the white-sheeted bed too, pulling up his feet and crossing his legs in front of
him.

"Well, am I invading your little getaway place, then?" Harry smirked. "I can leave if you really
want me to."

"Of course not. You are my getaway." He shrugged. "God, that was so cheesy."

"No, it was very sweet," Harry admitted, having felt his heart flutter a little upon hearing that.
"You're mine too, Lou Lou."

He lay a hand on Louis' leg, smiling coyly at him.

"What?" Louis giggled.

"Can we make out a little?"

"There's no lock on this door, and my family have a tendency of bursting in." Louis warned, though
a smile was finding his face. "But I kind of really want to make out."

"Then let loose a little. Be a bit risky." Harry smirked, and he was climbing over Louis, straddling
him, urging that giggle to ring out once again. They were lying back on Louis' bed, almost nose-to-
nose, so Harry closed the gap by connecting their lips.

The kiss was slow and sensual, their lips softly stroking together, and Louis found himself pushing
his hands under the material of Harry's t-shirt, skimming down his back. Harry moaned lowly in his
throat in appreciation into the kiss as he gripped onto Louis' soft hip beneath his t-shirt, embracing
the lovely skin, biting on Louis' lower lip and playfully tugging it between his teeth. Louis
breathily laughed, before they once again continued their make-out.

Harry couldn't help but grind his hips down against Louis', so the smaller boy released a sharp,
shaky breath against his lips, before bringing them to his ear.

"No, Harry." He giggled, such a mischievous giggle.

Harry huffed out a chuckle, gently grasping Louis beneath the chin to angle their faces together
once again, making out a little faster now. Harry began rocking his hips against Louis' again, so
they both quietly moaned into each other's mouths, hands still wandering around each other's hot
torsos. Harry broke the kiss to begin mouthing hotly at Louis' neck, licking up it before leaving a
wet kiss by his jaw, then returned to kissing him once again, continuing the make-out frantically
and fast.

As it continued, though, the door suddenly opened, Jay halfway through saying a sentence about
whether Harry wanted to stay for dinner, and they literally heard her loudly gasp as she cut herself
off, and Harry scrambled off of Louis.

"I'm so sorry!" Jay exclaimed. "Oh, I should have knocked! I'll leave you both to it." She hurriedly
left the room, and Harry turned to Louis to see him with his mouth massively agape and eyes wide.

"Nooo!" Louis whined, though he couldn't help but follow it with a long, strained laugh. Harry was
 quick to join in, bending over slightly with the effort of laughing particularly hard, patting Louis
firmly on the knee.

"Oh dear, Lou, your first time getting caught. Guess you're not as innocent as she suspected." He
cackled. "God, that's so awkward, I introduce myself so well and five minutes later she walks in on
me on top of you."

Louis tipped his head back with a bright laugh, though his cheeks were tinted a dark pink. "Oh
God, I am never going to live this down."

"Sorry, kind of my fault for seducing you." He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Totally your fault. I'm pinning all the blame on you." Louis joked. "Well, I'm definitely not
feeling up to making out anymore."

"Shame," Harry chuckled. "Don't feel awkward, Louis, we're adults, really."

"True. It's just the last thing I wanted to happen, her walking in." He breathed out a laugh, nibbling
his bottom lip. "How about some TV?"

"Sounds reasonable."

Trust Harry to manage to do something like this on his first time meeting Louis' mum. He was just
thankful that she had been so lovely about, evidently insanely shocked, but okay with it
nonetheless. Harry just knew he would have a difficult time looking her in the eye later on. Hell yes
he would.

Chapter End Notes

So I'm starting to think of some ideas for later in the story and some are pretty crazy
but could be entertaining. One in particular I'm not sure about but it could make for a
good storyline I guess? Just craziness.
 33
Chapter Notes

Tbh idk if this storyline later in this chapter will even work or whether people will
even think it's suitable I don't know!! Let's see I guess :$

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry could tell Louis was tense for the next couple of hours they spent together, and it was
understandable seeing as he was shocked his mum had barged in on them. It wasn't too big of a
deal for Harry; his mother had once burst into his room to find him lying in bed, though Kendall
was very clearly under the blanket doing things to Harry that they hadn't exactly wanted to be made
public. That did take him a while to live down, he couldn't look his mother in the eye for a good
week.

He wanted to wince when he unlocked his phone, finally, finding seventeen missed calls from his
mother, along with a furious crusade of many texts, highlighting things such as: Kendall is in tears
Harry!! How could you embarrass her like that! and I'm not happy with you, regardless of whether
it's your birthday. He knew he would have to head home soon, otherwise he would be prolonging
it, and Anne would most likely get even more angry at him.

Louis led Harry down the stairs once he had mentioned he better go, and as soon as they reached
the hallway and Harry was slipping his Chelsea boots back on, Jay walked out of the living room
with a smile. Harry felt his heart rate increase, the awkwardness setting in, unsure whether it was a
situation in which he should apologise for what she had walked in on. But then again, he knew he
didn't have to, and it would be silly to.

"Are you off, Harry?" She asked, noting the fact that his shoes were on and the two boys were
lingering by the front door. He was glad there were no further mentions of what had happened,
though maybe addressing the 'elephant in the room' would have been better.

"Uh, yeah," Harry nervously chuckled, something he rarely did. "Thanks so much for having me."

He stuck out a thankful hand again, looking for a handshake, but was surprised when Jay stepped
forwards and encased him in a hospitable hug instead. Harry was taken aback but hugely grateful
all the same, as he loved hugs and found them a good way to become emotionally closer to
someone, appreciatively rubbing her back.

"It's fine, Harry. You're welcome any time. It was lovely to meet you." She honoured his
thankfulness. They broke the hug, smiling at each other. Harry still felt a tad awkward, but the hug
had helped to reduce it a little.

Louis mimed 'sorry' to Harry when his mum wasn't looking, an apology for her spontaneous hug,
but Harry shrugged with a smile as though to say it was no big deal - he liked hugs. Louis opened
up the front door, the light in the hallway enough to light up the driveway to Harry's car, which was
parked just behind Jay's.

"Is that your lovely car, Harry?" Jay questioned with intrigue, nudging her head out the door
towards Harry's pearly grey Audi R8.
"Oh, yeah, it is." He casually commented, trying to refrain from both being immodest and
mentioning that his car was called Stella.

He could tell how surprised she was by how good of a car he had, how wealthy he must have been.
She was still gawping at the car a little, and he could have sworn she quickly glanced down at his
shoes, as if she was scoping out whether they too were pricey. He didn't mind, he pretended not to
see.

"Nice car you've got. Anyway, darling, drive safe. See you again, hopefully." She gave one last
bright smile before wandering off into the kitchen, the door shutting softly behind her.

"Sorry, she can be a bit nosy," Louis whispered quietly, rolling his eyes. "Hope your birthday was
tolerable in the end."

"You made it better." Harry smirked, tracing his index finger up Louis' wrist. "I'll see you
tomorrow. Thanks for everything today."

"It's no problem, you deserved a good day, and I'm sorry you didn't get that entirely."

"I'll have plenty more birthdays, and they'll only get better and better every year if I have you."
Harry winked, stepping out the door. "Bye, baby." He called over his shoulder, urging Louis to
smile sheepishly.

"Night, Harry."

He watched Harry until he had jumped into his car and slammed the driver side door shut, then he
waved once more before closing the front door. Then his stupidly broad grin was back, the grin
that often made an appearance when he was alone after seeing Harry. It was the grin of utter
disbelief that he had gotten so lucky, like he was in some dumb teenage romance movie and was
realising he was the luckiest idiot alive.

His mum left the kitchen to find him smiling to himself with his back pressed to the front door, and
her eyebrows raised massively in smugness while he flushed red. There was a moment of silence,
and then Jay filled it.

"Are you seeing each other, Louis?"

Louis immediately shrugged, shyly, though there was a playful smile on his face that contradicted
it.

"Maybe?"

"I heard him call you 'baby' then," She wiggled her eyebrows, and Louis groaned aloud in
embarrassment.

"You were listening in?"

"Just making sure everything's okay!" She chuckled. "And it definitely seems to be." She wiggled
her eyebrows once again, obviously hinting at what she had walked in on upstairs, and Louis
couldn't help but stifle an awkward laugh and shake his head.

"Okay, mum, thanks for being concerned. Everything is all good. Now I'm going to head to bed."
He turned to the staircase climbed up the first two steps before she stopped him.

"Louis."
"Mhmm?" He hummed, turning to glance down at her again.

She put on a half smile, one that perhaps hinted a tad sadness, before continuing. "I want you
happy again."

He deeply inhaled, holding it for a moment before releasing it sharply. "I know. So do I, mum."

He didn't let her say anything else because they'd already been over this countless times. There was
nothing left to be said, so he continued the walk back up to his room, his retreat, and hoped the
wonderful scent of Harry's aftershave still lingered in the air.

---

As it had been a little over two hours since Harry had fleed his party, everybody was
understandably gone when he pulled his car up onto the drive and peeled open the front door as
quietly as humanly possible. It seemed to be loud enough, though, for someone to have heard and
exit the kitchen. His heart stammered for a moment, but there was an element of relief when he
saw that it was Robin, rather than his mum.

He pouted his mouth to the side in greeting, his way of giving an apology that he wasn't sure was
needed to Robin, kicking off his boots carelessly.

"I suggest you go upstairs, mate, before your mum hears you. She's on the phone with your
grandmother in the living room." He whispered, nudging his head towards the living room door.

"Probably chatting to her even more about how much of a disappointment I am." Harry huffed.
"Thanks for the warning. To be honest with you, I think I'm just going to head to bed, I just want
this day to be over now."

He patted Robin appreciatively on the back before proceeding to jog up the stairs to his room. He
made sure to shut his door soundlessly, as much as he had wanted to shake the house with a
monstrous slam of his door, and he laid back on his bed. His room was cold and too spacious, more
space than he needed for himself. He found himself wishing he was cooped up in Louis' little room
with him, squeezed into that tiny single bed next to him.

He carefully unclasped his lovely, new watch, setting it down on his bedside table, putting his
phone on to charge and deciding he wasn't going to even bother brushing his teeth. He turned off
the main light using the switch right by his bed, thankful that he had been lazy enough in the past
to request a switch so near to his bed. He felt completely drained, his body heavy as he lay there.
He knew it wouldn't be long before he fell asleep, as the day had just completely withdrawn all of
his stamina and he wanted to see the sun again just to know his birthday was over.

He rolled onto his side in the pitch black, drawing his knees up into a fetal position like a child, his
hands tucked in comfort beneath his chin, and he just closed his eyes tightly and thought of Louis.
It meant he was falling asleep in around thirty minutes, fully clothed.

---

As he had fallen asleep so stupidly early, a good few hours earlier than he usually would, it meant
he found himself waking up in the dead of night. He reached over and grabbed his phone from his
nightstand, groggily squinting against the bright screen as he unlocked his phone.

03:34.

He groaned aloud in irritation, already feeling too awake to drift back to sleep, and decided he
would just sit up with a pillow against his bed's headboard, scrolling through his social media. He
felt so alone, his house so eerily silent, trying to find company in the ridiculously tedious videos
appearing on his Facebook timeline. He was halfway through a stupid D.I.Y tutorial ten minutes
later, when a message popped through at the top of his screen, one which he actually had to
double-take as he thought he had misread who it was from.

Louis: Are you awake ? If not then don't worry, you'll see this tomorrow and obviously then you'll
be awake, yeah I'm rambling, just let me know if you're awake ! xx

Harry sniffed out a laugh to himself, immediately tapping onto the text conversation and thumbing
out a speedy response.

Harry: Yes I'm awake!! Why Lou, everything okay? .xx

It took a minute to get a response, during which time Harry was quite literally staring at his phone
screen. He didn't exactly have anything better to be doing, and it was comforting to know that
Louis was awake too.

Louis: I feel stupid saying this Harry but I'm so horny right now and it's preventing me from
sleeping :/ xx

Harry raised his eyebrows and found himself sitting up more against his headboard, heart thumping
a little faster and a smirk curling onto his face as he replied.

Harry: Oh fuck, really? ;) .xx

There was definitely something insanely hot about that, because he really did still see Louis as
innocent, despite having drunkenly fucked him (for the second time) just four days ago. That was
far too long, actually.

Louis: Hugely :( xx

Harry: What are you wearing? Wait can I call you?? .xx

He had an urge to want to call Louis. He wanted to hear his voice, as his blood seemed to be
running hotter beneath his skin as time went on and thoughts formed in his head.

Louis: Just underwear. Idk Harry, these walls are so thin and everyone is asleep but I really want
to hear you xx

Harry felt himself shudder at the thought that innocent, little Louis was awake in the dead of night,
wearing only his boxers, feeling incredibly horny. God, that was doing things to his mind.

Harry: Then you'll have to speak quietly, won't you? ;) Call me, sugar hehehe .xx

He chuckled breathily to himself, waiting only a few moments before his phone was buzzing in his
hand, Louis' name across the screen. He didn't hesitate to swipe answer, pressing the phone to his
ear.

"Hey, gorgeous." He knew how hot his voice sounded when it was deep, and seeing as he hadn't
spoken in a few hours, it was in its prime. He definitely heard Louis' breath hitch.

"Your voice sounds so hot," Louis breathed out, voice high and so full of arousal that it made Harry
shiver. "Holy fuck."
Harry chuckled deeply, biting idly on his lower lip. "Do you want to tell me what you're thinking
about, Louis? What's made you so horny?"

He could hear Louis' breath trembling a little bit each time he breathed in, showing just how much
lust he currently had locked within him.

"Thinking about you." He barely even whispered, so that Harry only just picked up on it and felt
his stomach dip massively, because that was so fucking hot.

"Are you touching yourself, Louis?"

The mere thought of that caused goosebumps to surface all over Harry, so when Louis confirmed
it, he felt like he could go into overdrive.

"A little bit, yeah." Louis breathed out a laugh.

Harry held his phone between his cheek and shoulder as he quickly fumbled to unbuckle his belt
and shimmy his jeans off and onto the floor.

"What are you doing to yourself?" He deeply asked, voice soaked in arousal, quickly pulling his t-
shirt off and throwing that down too, leaving him in just his underwear. It was fair game now.

"Touching myself over my underwear." Louis whispered, but it was loud enough. It went straight
to Harry's dick, quite frankly, the thought of Louis holding his phone in one hand and palming
himself with the other. Fuck, that was hot. He listened carefully, able to make out the sound of
Louis' shaky breathing.

"Mmmm," He hummed, completely turned on already, "Does that feel good, baby?"

Louis shuddered out a breathy moan, "Yeah."

"Better if I was touching you, maybe?" Harry smirked to himself.

"Fuck yeah, would be so much better." Louis whispered.

"Well, seeing as I'm not there," Harry shrugged, even though Louis couldn't see him, rolling his
hand over his own crotch, "Maybe you'll just have to take my advice on what you should do."

"Yeah," Louis rushed out, one of his default phrases at a time like this, "Tell me."

Harry rolled his hips up against his hand, biting on his lip to hold back a groan. "Well, take your
underwear off, baby. Completely naked."

"Okay." Louis breathed, then Harry could hear the sounds of Louis shuffling on his bedsheets,
ridding himself off the underwear. "They're gone."

He was completely naked, and Harry was envious he wasn't there to see it. It was a sight that he
missed.

"I think you should finger yourself, Louis." Harry admitted, the thought hotter than anything his
disheveled brain had conjured up so far. "You wanna finger yourself? Because I know you love
having something inside you."

He heard a little whine from Louis, the effect of what Harry had said, a whine of agreement.

"Y-Yeah. I don't have lube." Louis whispered.

"Suck on your fingers." Harry instructed, once again haunted by the red-hot image of that in his
mind. "That'll be fine."

"How do you want me lying?" He could hear a ring of smugness to Louis' voice, as if the boy
knew what effect this would have on Harry by acting so submissive.

"Hmm, just on your back, baby. Get comfy, spread those gorgeous thighs."

"Okay," Louis breathed out a giggle, voice with a rough edge to it. The thought of Louis' thighs at
that moment in time, and the undying urge he had to leave love bites all over them, had him
shamefully hard already. He could hear Louis humming out a moan and knew he was sucking on
his fingers, and it was so unfair because he wanted to see that.

"Get them nice and wet," Harry muttered, voice a low drawl that even made himself shudder.
"Good boy."

"So fucking horny." Louis breathed out, voice high and whiney.

"I know, baby, so am I." Harry purred, untucking his cock from his underwear and pumping at it.
"Are your fingers ready?"

"Mhmm."

"Fuck, baby. Put one inside yourself."

He heard Louis breathe in sharply through gritted teeth, before releasing the breath in a shaky
moan, and knew that he had done as instructed. Harry pumped a little faster at his dick, smirking to
himself at the thought of Louis.

"You done it?"

"Uh-huh." Louis could barely mutter out. "Can I add another?"

"Of course you can, baby. You do what makes you feel good." Harry purred, flicking his wrist a
little more as he jerked himself off.

Louis released a harsh breath, followed by a little whimper, evidently having inserted a second
finger alongside the first.

"Fuck yeah, baby." Harry groaned, "You fucking finger yourself, tell me how it feels."

"Mmm, it feels so good," Louis whimpered out, pumping his fingers in and out of himself at a
moderate pace. "Still so tight."

"Oh my God, I fucking want you." Harry breathed out, his arousal making it impossible to speak
any louder. "I can imagine how you look, Louis. So good fucking yourself like that."

Louis hummed out an involuntary moan, loving the feeling of the pleasant pressure in his stomach
with each thrust of his fingers. "I wish you were here."

"I wish I was, so I could watch you doing that," Harry deeply purred, "Or maybe so you could sit
on my face, either would work just fine."

Louis moaned very loudly all of a sudden, both at what Harry had said, plus the fact that he had
hooked his fingers inside himself and found an incredible angle.
"Oh God, I-I have to be quiet, Harry." He panicked in whisper, though he continued pumping his
fingers in and out because it felt far too good to stop.

"Because otherwise your family will know how naughty you're being?" Harry teased, voice low.
The thought was unbearably hot: Louis, in his little room, legs spread and fingering himself while
trying his hardest to keep quiet. The thought itself, plus the little grunts and sharp breaths Louis
continued to release into the phone, had Harry's hand speeding up ever-faster on his dick.

"I meant what I said before, you know," He deeply informed, tasting blood due to how harshly he
was biting his lower lip between sentences. "I'd love for you to sit on my face."

"I want to so much," Louis whined out, voice strained as it was so high with pleasure. "Would be so
hot, your tongue always feels so fucking good."

Louis curved his fingers inside himself, back arching slightly off the bed as they brushed over a
very sensitive spot.

"Fuck!" He choked out, followed by a long moan from somewhere in his throat.

"I love listening to you," Harry persuaded, "How high and soft your voice goes, and how you can't
even control the noises you're making."

Louis moaned aloud once again, this time coming out as more of a sob as his fingers continued to
massage over the special area he seemed to have sourced. He gripped his hard dick with his other
hand, phone on his pillow and face tilted to the side so his ear was pressed to it. Harry cupped his
balls in one hand and continued stroking his dick with the other, phone between his shoulder and
cheek once again, stomach rising and falling fast. They just listened to each other, their heavy
breaths and content little sounds, some coming out sharper into their phones' speakers.

Harry's stomach was straining from holding his breath, releasing little groans that escaped, and felt
himself getting close already. He could hear Louis' whimpery little whines, and knew he certainly
wasn't far behind.

"I-I think I'm gonna cum soon," Louis managed, voice remaining high.

"You and me both, Darling," Harry grunted. "Fuck, Louis, keep fucking yourself."

"Harry." Louis whined out.

"Yeah, baby?" Harry smirked, nibbling his lower lip, trying to slow down his movements over his
cock, edging himself a little. His hips were stammering, desperately on edge.

"This whole time I've been thinking about the way you slap my arse while you fuck me, it turns me
on so much," Louis whined out, voice a high whimper, and it was all too much for Harry.

"I'm coming." He quickly piped out, voice strained. Harry's body shuddered as he came all up his
stomach, and he heard Louis cry out particularly loud as he too came, their stammered out moans
mixing through the speakers, before just the sound of heavy breathing was prominent.

Harry's eyes were shut, lips pouty and ajar, swallowing to coat his dry throat. "Oh, holy shit."

"Oh my God, Harry, I was so loud!" Louis panted. "I've just realised how quiet my house is!"

"Don't worry, baby, I'm sure they're all asleep anyway." Harry reassured. "Fuck, that was hot."
"So hot," Louis breathed, "Thanks for being awake."

"Thanks for being horny." Harry chuckled, grabbing a tissue from the box on his bedside table and
wiping his stomach clean before sliding into a lying position, phone on the pillow beneath his
cheek.

"I'm so tired." Louis breathed out. "That felt so good, it's drained my energy."

"So am I. The thought of you fingering yourself is a wonderful one," Harry smirked to himself,
"And making yourself cum. Hell yes."

Louis giggled, with half the effort as usual, due to his deep exhaustion. "It was a new experience, I
guess. Feels better when you do it."

"I'm sure it does, baby," He cockily agreed. He could hear Louis' breathing getting heavier, deeper,
each one a little louder, and knew he was moments from falling asleep.

"I love you so much, Louis Tomlinson." Harry barely whispered, voice soft.

But Louis was already asleep.

---

Harry's phone was still pressed to his ear when he woke up, so when his alarm went off, it was
startlingly loud. He turned it off fast, eyes widening to see that he must have fallen asleep on the
phone, because the call was still going and had been for three hours and twelve minutes. He knew
the sound of his alarm blaring out must have woken Louis too, from his side, so he quickly swiped
it off and sat up achingly.

He managed to get himself out of bed, putting on some clothes for the day and heading out of his
bedroom towards the bathroom. Gemma left hers at the same time, immediately turning up her
nose at him.

"Back with Kendall, then, are you?"

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows, watching his older sister roll her eyes.

"Harry, next time you want to get yourself off in the dead of night on the phone, remember that my
room is next door to yours." She snapped. Harry smacked a hand over his mouth.

"Sorry, Gem!" He snickered, "Oh my God, I've probably scarred you, I'm so sorry."

"Damn right, you have!"

"Did you... hear what I was saying?" He worried that his sister had heard 'Louis', but realised how
strange his question had sounded.

"No, nothing particularly. Your weird kinks are safe with you, you idiot." She rolled her eyes again
before trotting off downstairs. Harry wanted to throw himself down said stairs, as he was so
painfully embarrassed, but just decided to be grateful that she hadn't heard Louis' name. Their
secret remained secret.

---

Harry and Louis met in their usual spot behind the maths block that morning. Harry couldn't hide
his radiating smile as Louis turned the corner, a smile that held so much smugness, giving him a
little nod in greeting.

"Morning, Sexy," Harry purred, "How you feeling today?"

"Tired." Louis piped up, rubbing his eye with the pad of his thumb. "It's a good thing my phone has
unlimited minutes for calls. Oh, and your alarm woke me up too, and I'd forgotten to set one, so
thanks."

Harry chuckled and snaked his arms around Louis' waist, pulling him in closer so that their torsos
met.

"That's okay, baby. Thank you for being so gorgeous."

Louis giggled lowly in his chest, and Harry's eyes flicked down to his lips before moving in and
attaching them. The kiss was a moderate pace, Louis moving up his small hand to cup Harry's
cheek, Harry resting his on Louis' waist, thumbs brushing the area over his jumper. All Harry could
think about was how hot Louis had been last night, how high his voice had been, kissing him
harder. They had to stop themselves when it had been a minute, remembering they were in school.
They were panting a little, glossy-lipped and satisfied.

"I felt so paranoid this morning, felt like my mum was acting different. I have a feeling she heard
me last night, and I hate it." Louis nervously bit his lip, and the two of them wiped their mouths dry
again before beginning the walk to registration.

"I doubt it, Lou, she was probably fast asleep. And even so, you're old enough, and she shouldn't
care what you're doing in your private life."

"I know, I'm just paranoid about it." Louis shrugged. "Can't help it."

They got to their registration class a few minutes later. Kendall wasn't there; there was a spare seat
which she would usually occupy. Weird. Well, Harry pretty much knew it was his fault, seeing as
he had completely rejected her in front of a room full of people yesterday. Oops? It was a weight
off his shoulders anyway; she may have just been running late, perhaps, but it was better than her
staring him down as he entered the room.

During their walk from registration to their science class, Harry's phone buzzed in his pocket. He
pulled it out casually as they strolled along, he and his little group of mates, but he had to stop dead
in his tracks as his eyes took in what he saw on the screen. Louis caught on first that he had
stopped, stopping himself and turning back, and one-by-one their mates did too.

"What's up?" Louis queried. "Harry?"

On Harry's screen was an email. It was from an account which had its name set as 'Anonymous
Sender', and the email address itself was a mix of random letters and numbers. Harry reread the
message again, just in case his eyes were deceiving him somehow, to find that they weren't. The
first thing he saw was a photograph. It was of he and Louis, kissing. Today. Somebody had taken it
today, from afar, zoomed in so that you could clearly see that it was Harry and Louis. And beneath
the photo, it read:

Hello Harry!
As you can see, I have this very wonderful photo of you and Louis Tomlinson. I'm very happy about
this, but you shouldn't be. I'm going to make this short and simple for you: if you don't do what I
say, whatever I say to you, then this photo will be shared throughout the school. You will not find
out who this is either. I will remain anonymous. Reply to show that you agree (and I suggest you
 do). Thank you, Lovely.

-Anonymous Sender. XXXX

Chapter End Notes

?????.

What do you think they will ask of him?

And btw as I'll explain in a later chapter, they're really not ready to 'come out' together
yet
 34
Chapter Notes

Idk if this idea will particularly work to be honest???

See the end of the chapter for more notes

"Guys, we'll catch up, keep walking." Louis urged Charlie, Christopher and Niall, as their attention
had too been caught by Harry's sudden shock.

They reluctantly did so, more intrigued by the drama, and Louis turned back to Harry, who was
reading the email for what must have been the fourth time.

"What is it? Harry, you're worrying me." Louis stressed, once they were alone, and the hallways
had cleared as students had left to venture to their next lessons.

"An email." Harry blandly shortened, while his eyes skimmed its key phrases once again: 'Lovely
photo of you and Louis Tomlinson', 'if you don't do what I say, whatever I say to you, then this
photo will be shared throughout the school', 'I will remain anonymous.'

"From?" Louis pushed, both impatience and concern setting in.

"I don't know." Harry lightly shook his head, only now removing his eyes from the screen to link
them with Louis'. "It's anonymous."

Louis furrowed his eyebrows, moving closer to Harry and trying to get a look at the screen. He
didn't get a read of the small text, but he did immediately spot the photo of he and Harry kissing
that was attached in the email.

"Is that... from this morning? What the hell!" He was baffled, heart thumping a little faster. "Who
would send you that? What did they say?"

Harry groaned aloud as he once again reread the message, as if something was going change about
it, shaking his head, dumbfounded.

"It's some shit about me doing whatever they say, otherwise they'll share that photo round the
school." Harry defeatedly explained. He literally heard Louis' breath hitch a little from what he was
hearing.

"W-Wait, they can't share that photo, Harry! There has to be another way. Who would do this?"
Louis whined, breathing ragged. It wasn't difficult for something to panic Louis, so only God knew
how fast his blood must have been pumping from the new information.

"Well, I've got a group of people in mind." Harry rolled his eyes. "I mean, who else would do it,
other than Kendall and that group?" Harry theorised, massaging his left temple, where tension had
built up.

"It depends. What are these things they're going to want you to do? Surely you'll be able to figure
out what kind of person would do this by what they're making you do." Louis frowned, starkly
shrugging. "What are you going to do? This is awful."
Harry glanced around, lowering the volume of his voice despite there being absolutely nobody in
sight whatsoever. "I'm just not ready to be outed. I'm still coming to terms with everything myself,
I'm not particularly happy with someone spreading it around for their own personal gain, from that
stupid photo. I need more time, and I'm sure you do too, before we're both ready." Harry spilled his
heart, looking Louis deeply in the eye. "What do you think?"

"So, you're saying... you're going to go along with this game?" Louis hesitated, looking pensive but
not irritated by Harry's evident decision. "I mean, of course I'm not ready either, but you don't
know what they're going to make you do yet. You don't have to do that, Harry."

"What other choice is there?" Harry sighed. "I can always refuse once they tell me, and at least
then I can say I tried. I'd rather completely humiliate myself with these stupid tasks than have you
pushed out of your comfort zone. I care about you, you've been through a lot, and for now I want
you to keep hidden what you want hidden."

Louis sadly smiled. "You don't have to do that."

"But I want to. For you. I'm going to reply, and see what they want me to do. If it's completely
ridiculous, then I'll back out. Okay? But I'm strong, Lou, I don't care how much they humiliate
me." Harry attempted a reassuring smile, but it wavered a little. Louis no more than nodded, and
Harry typed out his response to the email.

Fine. I fucking agree with your shitty proposition. But if you do anything to hurt Louis, or try to
make me, then there will be trouble.

"And now we wait." He sternly declared, sighing as he put away his phone. They began a light
stroll, though they were both significantly tense and Harry didn't particularly want to go to their
science class now. Anybody in that room could have been behind the texts.

They ended up skipping the lesson. They definitely shouldn't have, but the email had been a pretty
big downer on their day. There was a reflective silence over them, as they instead sat on a bench
just outside the school grounds, as Harry's mind whirred away. His instincts purely screamed
"Kendall" at him, because who else would bother? Well - actually - many girls in their class would
jump at the opportunity to talk to Harry, whether it be anonymously by email. There were endless
culprits, yet his mind wouldn't stop stressing Kendall's name.

"Lou," Harry inhaled sharply, filling the silence as they both idly watched an old man walking a
small dog along the pavement across the street. "I don't want you to think, like... I don't want you
to think I'm ashamed of people seeing that picture."

He saw Louis turn to look at him in the corner of his eye, but he himself didn't turn to link eyes.

"I know that, Harry. You're just not ready to come out, and that's completely acceptable, you're still
working yourself out too. And besides, I don't think I'm ready for that either, everyone knowing."
Louis admitted, scuffing his foot over the pavement beneath the bench.

For some reason, Harry's brain jumped back to the few times he had told Louis he loved him, to get
nothing in response. Maybe he was completely overlooking it, but he couldn't deny the fact that it
hurt a little. All he needed in response was an I love you, too.

"Do you l-" He was on the brink of asking it, 'do you love me?', but he stopped himself sensibly.
He knew it was a bad question to fire so suddenly, and especially at quite a tender time. He played
it off wisely. "Do you think this anonymous person will even reply soon?"
Louis didn't suspect Harry's jumpy question as being anything suspicious, going on to answer it
calmly.

"I'm not too sure, maybe they'll even take a while to."

Harry hummed in agreement, taking his phone from his pocket. He was pretty surprised to see an
email notification there, already waiting, which had arrived just two minutes ago.

"Oh. Well, they did reply."

"Saying what?" Louis rushed, shuffling closer to Harry on the bench to get a look. Harry tapped
onto the email, drawing in a deep breath and holding it as he and Louis read the message together,
in silence:

Hello, Harry.

Good boy, I knew you'd agree. You're probably wondering what I want from you in return, yes?
Well I'm going to sum it up pretty clearly for you, Mr. Styles: you're a very handsome boy. I guess
you could say I admire you, you're rather spectacular to look at. My compliments to your parents.
Am I being sarcastic? Yes? No? Am I trying to throw you off who this really is? Yes? No?

Anyway, Harry, just keep in mind what I mentioned above: you're a very handsome boy. You could
say that's my incentive for doing this. You fascinate me.

-Anonymous Sender. XXXX

"This is some bullshit right here." Harry sneered. "What the fuck are they talking about? What are
they trying to imply?"

Louis hesitated, as if he didn't want to answer. "What do you think they're implying, Harry? They're
mentioning you're a handsome guy, do you reckon photos of some form?"

"Oh." Harry piped. "Maybe... probably."

"That's sort of made this more difficult to determine who would be doing this." Louis ran his hands
over his face, groaning slightly. "So many girls in our class have crushes on you, Harry, it could be
any of them. Think how many of them would want to use this as a chance to get pics from you."

"Well, I don't know, would they?" Harry modestly asked.

"Of course they would! For all we know, this could even be a stupid group of them all wanting to
see pictures from you. I'm pretty certain you've got a bloody fan-club in our class as it is, of course
they'd want to see you naked." There was sheer envy in Louis' tone, a seething jealousy that they
wanted to see Harry's body. It wasn't for their eyes, they didn't deserve to see it.

"I don't know what to do." Harry practically whispered, the weight of all this dawning on him
suddenly. "It's such a sleazy thing to do, if they are going to ask me for those sorts of photos. But
think of it like this: it would mean we save the right to come out in our own time. We wouldn't be
forced by that picture they took of us."

"And what if they spread the photos of you naked around?" Louis added, eyebrows slanted. "They
could circulate around the school, right?"

"It seems shit me saying this, but I just wouldn't let that bother me. Sure, it would be awful, but I'd
rather that than the photo of me and you getting out. As I said before, Lou, I want you comfortable.
 And besides, I doubt they would even share pictures of me if I was complying in the first place."
Harry rambled away, shrugging as if he was careless to this. He really wasn't, he had so much
weighing on his shoulders right now.

"You're so caring." Louis softly smiled. "Really, you don't have to do this."

"I do. I can see how scared you are, Lou, that the photo could be spread. I know how you need
time to adjust to things, I've learnt that, and I know for a fact that we need to wait far longer before
anyone else knows about us. I'm not happy to do this, course not, but I'll do it so we can be happy."

They didn't even feel it was their place to lean in and have another little kiss, because they felt
completely exposed. It was like they were being watched from now on, all eyes on them, and they
didn't yet know when it would stop. Harry didn't know who to suspect anymore.

---

Harry's house was empty when he arrived home that evening. He and Louis had ended up skipping
the entire day, grabbing lunch from a nearby supermarket and hanging around in the park for the
duration of the school day. Neither of them had felt physically or emotionally able to walk into
their lessons that day, knowing that somebody in the room could potentially be the sender of the
anonymous emails.

Harry was glad to have the house to himself for the time being, considering he still hadn't even
come face-to-face with his mother since he had stormed out of his surprise party. He still didn't
feel strong enough to face her almighty wrath: she was sure to give him a good telling off. Maybe
her fury would ware off the longer he left it.

He made himself a smoothie, making the most of the free, spacious kitchen and their pricey
blender, pouring the purple-red concoction into a tall glass and taking it up to his room. He cranked
on some indie style music and sat down on his bed, sipping the smoothie and setting it down on a
coaster on his nightstand.

He hadn't replied earlier to the long message response from the anonymous sender, as he had been
stuck on what exactly he was meant to say. It wasn't particularly as though a thank you was in
order, for the compliment he had received from them. But nor did he know how to straight-up ask
whether it was photos they were implying. This seemed to be answered for him at around 4PM,
though, when an email popped through on his phone. He reluctantly tapped onto it, foolishly
feeling his heart hammering harder once he had seen it.

Hello, Harry.

Hope you're enjoying being home for now, if that's where you are. First task, let's warm you up. I
want you to find a mirror and take a topless photo in it for me. Face in the photo please. You have
five minutes. Tick tock.

-Anonymous Sender. XXXX

Chapter End Notes

Is it okay like this?? I do have an idea in mind of who's sending them too btw hahaha
 35
Chapter Notes

Hi all! So here is the update. Thank you all so much for the encouraging comments,
I'm feeling really hyped about the story again and am excited to continue it.

If you need a refresher, I'd suggest perhaps re-reading chapters 33 and 34, but it should
be fine :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry scowled down at his phone, re-reading the email response a few more times, as though doing
so would somehow encrypt who was behind its words. Although a topless photo seemed like a
pretty tame start compared to what he had expected of the sender, it still injected him with severe
doubt. Even if it was just a plain topless photo, it was just the start.

Seeing as the anonymous sender was threatening a mere five minutes, Harry made sure to send a
speedy text Louis' way.

Harry: Got a reply. They want a topless photo and I have 5 minutes. Little bit stuck right now :/
.xx

He got a reply from Louis within the same minute, luckily, as he must have already been on his
phone.

Louis: Well kind of what we expected, right ? Umm ... well I was doing some thinking, and I
reckon you should ask for some sort of compromise xx

Harry tilted his head aside in curiosity, tapping out a quick response.

Harry: I don't know what that could be, they seem pretty adamant on photos .xx

Louis: I say, send the topless photo. Then say that's all they're getting, other than some sort of fair
compromise. A topless photo is fine Harry, anyone can see you topless without it being intimate,
but it can't go further than that xx

Harry nodded to himself, aware that he was running out of the duration of the ridiculous time limit
he had been set. He jumped up to his feet, whipping off his t-shirt, the friction of the fabric messing
up his hair, so that it sat unruly on his head. He swiped onto his camera on his phone, stepping in
front of his full-length mirror, standing at an angle in which his face was visible at the top of the
frame, and his lean, toned torso and biceps. He left his face very stern, irritated almost, mouth
pouted aside slightly and eyebrows furrowed a little. He wanted to show how unhappy he was
about the whole situation.

He snapped a photo, heading back onto his bed and inspecting it momentarily before taking a deep,
steady breath. It wasnt like it was anything intimate, as Louis had said; it was the sort of photo
somebody cocky would happily post on social media, anyway. He attached it to an email response
to the anonymous sender, with about a minute and a half to spare to write out a message along with
it:
There. But let me just say, I'm not sending any more photos, that's all you're getting. I'd like to ask
for a compromise instead, nothing weird. And nothing that will hurt Louis. You said in a previous
email that I fascinate you, but what do you really want from me?

He sent it without even reading over what he had drafted, heading straight back onto his texts with
Louis.

Harry: I sent it Lou. And believe me, they're not getting any more photos out of me. Just got to
wait now and see what they say, what compromise they want. I'm sorry about all of this .xx

Louis: Don't be sorry, it's by no means your fault. Tell me when they reply xx

Harry picked up his smoothie, which was barely even cold anymore, taking a swig of it to cool
himself down. His eyes were glued to the notification bar at the top of his phone screen, achingly
awaiting the email icon to pop up along it. He watched it for a good few minutes. Then he set his
glass back down, and as he did, that icon came on through. He was practically holding his breath as
he tapped onto it, eyes beginning to scan its contents.

Wow, Harry, just wow. I knew you'd have a spectacular body, it's just how I expected it, so toned
and manly. I'm not sure why you look so sulky in the photo, are you not proud of your body? You
should be. Just a shame you won't allow me any more insights.

So, a compromise is what you want. Let me just mention, I was hoping to work my way up to asking
of a video from you, if I'm being wholly honest. It's all I can think about whenever I look at you,
darling. But if you're not going to allow me that, then I just don't know what to ask.

-Anonymous Sender. XXXX

Harry shook his head in disgust. This person seemed pretty set on their desires - a video of him -
and he wasn't sure he would be able to sway their thoughts. It was pretty disturbing that someone in
his life thought of him in that way whenever they looked at him. And they hadn't even left a
suggestion of what fitting compromise came to a head, so he knew he would have to step in.

I'm not sending any more photos, or any videos. Definitely not. I would appreciate it if you made
another suggestion.

He hit send, nibbling on his lower lip in stress. Another response came pretty fast.

Okay. I'm feeling fair Harry. I'm going to take some time to think over what I'd like as a
compromise, so you can relax... for now. I don't want you stressing anyway. Take care, I will be in
touch soon.
-Anonymous Sender. XXXX

That was both unnerving and relieving at the same time. Sure, for now he had the assurance that he
wasn't currently being pressured into anything, and this stranger was taking a compromise into
consideration, but it was also very eerie that they would be thinking over what else they could
want. And Harry had money, he was willing to even give that so long as he and Louis were left at
peace.

Harry relaxed a little on his bed, unable to find the motivation to even slip his t-shirt back on, and
he phoned Louis. He just wanted to speak and vent it all out, rather than thumb out a lengthy text
message.

After a few rings, Louis picked up. He sounded breathless, as though he had run to answer when he
saw Harry's name on the screen. Cute.

"Hello, everything alright?"

"Hey, Lou," Harry sighed, "Well, I'm kind of, but also kind of not. They agreed to a compromise,
but they're gonna think it over. No idea when they'll get back to me."

Louis hummed in thought, though an edge to his hum hinted concern. "At least they're considering
it, I guess. This is so stupid, you shouldn't have to be doing this. What did they say after you sent
the photo?"

Harry took the phone away from his ear, putting the call on loud speaker and minimising it,
tapping onto his texts. He read the text out word for word, before taking the phone off loud speaker
once he had and returning it to his ear.

"Interesting," Louis added up, "Notice how whoever it is says your body is just how they expected
it to be. Means it's someone who's never seen you shirtless."

That was very true. Harry had before had a strong inclination that Kendall or one of his old friends
could have been involved, but not now.

"Yeah, I didn't think of that. Anyway, I'm going to drop the topic for now, it's sort of stressing me
out." Harry admitted.

"I'm sorry! I wouldn't have continued talking about it if--"

"Don't worry, Louis." Harry cut him off.

There was a short silence, quite an awkward and tense one, so Harry's mind raced quickly to fill it
with his first thought.

"Did your mum mention walking in on us making out?"

Louis snickered a laugh, a wave of embarrassment flowing through him upon remembering
yesterday's dilemma.

"A little," He laughed, "God, I've never been so embarrassed in my whole life."

"I can't believe that was my first time meeting her too, what a great first impression." Harry
mocked, rolling onto his stomach on his bed, his phone wedged between his face and shoulder.

"My sisters keep saying they miss you. The twins, that is, you haven't met the other two yet. Only
met you yesterday for about two minutes and they're already obsessed with you." Louis sweetly
giggled.

Harry felt his heart flutter over how utterly adorable that was, Louis' little twin sisters saying they
miss him already. He had barely even spoken to them either.

"That's so sweet!" Harry cooed, "Tell them Harry misses them, too."

"I will." Louis smiled to himself. He too was lounging back on his bed, feet swaying idly behind
him. "I'm so glad tomorrow's Saturday, that week absolutely dragged."

"You're telling me," Harry rolled his eyes, "So much shit happened this week, it's ridiculous. Now
there's this shitty email thing, and I'm yet to see Kendall back at school after fucking rejecting her
in front of everyone at my surprise party."
"Try not to over-think that, Harry. It's not going to help anything, just enjoy the coming weekend
for now." Louis soothingly advised. "Got anything planned?"

"Usually go shopping with my family on a Saturday, but still haven't even spoken to my mum since
I stormed out," Harry sighed, a dread filling him while thinking through the fact he was yet to even
see his mother. "So will probably be the same, except the silent treatment from her."

"That sounds shit, I hope you two manage to make up. Where do you go shopping, in the city
centre? My family and I go there every Saturday, too."

"Yeah!" Harry beamed. "Maybe I'll see you round, Tomlinson."

Louis giggled, and then Harry could hear the other side that a faint voice was calling Louis' name
in the background.

"Oh, my mum's calling me down, I'm gonna have to go. I'll text you in a bit." Louis rushed, the
sound of him shuffling to his feet.

"You better," Harry chuckled, "Okay, Lou, chat later. And maybe see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, hopefully!"

"Bye, Louis."

"Bye."

---

Harry crept from his room around twenty minutes later, after re-dressing in his t-shirt, and softly
shut the door. He stood on the landing, just listening out, able to hear chatter coming from the
living room downstairs.

His mum, Robin, Gemma. The three of them could be heard down there, which Harry saw as a
better chance than just his mum alone. He knew he had to face her at some point, he couldn't keep
hiding away. And besides, he still had a ton of presents and cards on the table in there that he really
wanted to open.

He opted for the casual strut down the stairs, confidently strolling into the living room, where the
three of them were seated on the plush sofas. They all stared at him as he walked in and took a seat
on the corner. His mother's grudge-fuelled stare bored into him.

"Have you got anything to say to me, Harry?" She broke the ice, grabbing the television remote and
pausing the programme that was on. There it was.

"Thanks for my surprise party." He muttered, trying his hardest to plaster on a smile that looked as
little mocking as possible. Gemma sniffed out a quiet laugh at the way her brother dodged the real
bullet of their mother's question.

"Harry," Robin scolded, softly, knowing he couldn't be in Harry's corner all the time, "You know
what your mother means."

"I have nothing to be sorry for."

Anne scoffed, splaying her hands out hopelessly. "I went to the effort of helping Kendall build up
the courage to speak in front of everyone, Harry. She was so nervous, and you completely tore her
down. She couldn't even go into school today, she was so upset."

Oh - that was why she was absent. A bit immature, if you ask Harry.

Gemma muttered something under her breath then, something nobody caught, and Anne whipped
her head around to catch it again. "What was that, Gem?"

"I said, I never liked Kendall."

Wow, now both his sister and father had admitted that. It was crazy that it was something they had
always kept a secret, and now that they knew there was no chance in hell Harry was getting back
with her, it was all coming to surface. Very interesting indeed.

Anne seemed a bit taken aback, unsure really of how to respond. Robin seemed to have cast his
vision down to the floor, so as not to give his cards away and admit that he felt the same dislike.

"Kendall is a lovely girl. Yes, she could sometimes be a bit of a drama queen--"

"All the time!" Harry breathed out a sharp laugh. "If only you had known the real her!"

"How would you feel if Kendall was saying all of this to her family, Harry? Not very happy, I
suppose." Anne countered.

"Mum, she inevitably is, probably as we speak." Harry snorted. "Only difference is she'd be the
lying one."

Anne didn't say anything else on the matter, so evidently Harry believed he had won the minor
dispute. She instead brought up tomorrow.

"We're going to the city centre tomorrow, all of us. And I have to pass on a book I'm reading to
Kris while I'm there, so I don't want to hear any complaints from you, Harry."

Harry groaned aloud and rolled his eyes. "I'll go elsewhere, then. She'll probably stab me."

"No, you will be a grown man and face her, and be kind. You wouldn't believe it, after your party
she wouldn't stop mentioning to me how inhospitable you had been towards her, she says you even
scowled." Anne shook her head in disappointment. Wow, okay... it definitely hadn't been the other
way round. Simply playing back Kris' death glare towards him in his memory was enough to make
him shudder.

"Sure, okay." Was all he responded with, knowing he would be pretty much forced to stand there
with his family and Kris tomorrow during their book exchange, just to keep up his mum's crystal
clean reputation. That was bound to be fun.

"I don't want dinner," He announced, getting to his feet and heading to the living room door, "I'll be
ready for ten tomorrow."

"Thank you, Harry." Robin smiled. Harry gave one back before leaving the room, heading back
upstairs.

All he could think about was either the Kendall situation, or the anonymous email one. The latter
was weighing on him more, considering somebody out there was thinking through a compromise.
He was hoping they'd be nice enough to make it a fair one, but he had a heavy doubt in the back of
his mind that they wouldn't be. He would just have to pray it all worked out, that he and Louis were
finally left alone.
 And that Kendall and her clan of drama queens would just piss off, really.

Chapter End Notes

So I have some ideas on the email situation. And don't worry btw, nothing goes too far
with it!! It's just a pretty interesting twist.

Frequent updates to come xx

 36

Harry managed to fall asleep fully clothed again, though luckily his phone alarm still went off at
seven on Saturday morning, as it did every school day. He had no idea why the stupid thing had
decided to set itself for a Saturday morning, but at least it had him out of bed, showered and
dressed by half nine (due to a lengthy period of lazy, unnecessary lounging in bed until about
eight.)

He found he had made a tad more of an effort than he usually did for a Saturday shopping outing,
having run some hair gel through his curls to prop the fringe up a little, stylishly swaying the rest to
the side. That was about the extent of what he deemed as 'making an effort' though, as other than
that he went with the designer t-shirt and skinny jeans - the usual.

He shot Louis a morning text, which was one of his main priorities.

He was sat on the cushioned seat in the downstairs hallway by ten to ten, slipping a pair of brown
suede Chelsea boots on, and could hear Gemma trotting down the stairs. First he was hit with the
cloud of mixed perfumes she liked to slather on, before he actually saw her. She looked pretty nice,
dressed in a floral Gucci dress she had gotten for her latest birthday, a couple months back, and
some plain black pumps.

"You look nice, Gem." He complimented, offering a smile. She beamed at him, laughing and
giving a little twirl, so the skirt of her dress fanned out.

"Thanks. I feel nice."

"Makes one of us." Harry muttered, though he hadn't really wanted her to hear. He didn't exactly
crave attention when he was feeling down, but it was too late as she had already picked up on it.
She huffed out a sigh, taking a seat by her little brother.

"You wanna talk about anything?" She offered, voice lined with concern. "I'm here to listen, if you
do."

The funny thing was, Harry's mind immediately fixated on Louis. It should have really been on
Kendall and his old friends, or even the awful email situation, but it wasn't. It went to Louis, and he
instantly wanted to go on about him for hours, everything he loved about him, but he disguised
even the mere idea of that by shrugging to his sister.

"Not really. But thank you."

Gemma looked Harry in the eye, reading him on a deeper level, head tilting aside.

"I know you, Harry. Even if you did want to talk, you'd say you didn't. You need to get out of that
mindset."

Harry tried to lighten the mood, sniffing out a laugh. "I'm an Aquarius, what do you expect?"

Gemma rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a humoured laugh.

"Idiot." She snickered. "Oh, I meant to ask, are you still friends with Zayn and Liam? Considering
they're both dating Kendall's best friends, aren't they?"

Harry sighed once again, for probably the one hundredth time that week. He simply shook his
head.

"Really? You guys have been mates since the start of primary school, Harry! Has someone as
irrelevant as Kendall really gotten in the way of that?" A smirk curled onto her face following the
use of 'irrelevant', and Harry mirrored it. He loved how Gemma was being open about her dislike
towards Kendall now.

"It's not really that simple. They're being dicks towards me too, taking the girls' sides. I'm clearly
too mature to care, in comparison to them." Harry credited himself, and Gemma sternly nodded in
agreement.

"I'd agree with that, you've always been the most grounded one." She smiled. "Who are you, like...
hanging out with, then?"

She had said it slowly, as though she didn't want to offend him in case he had no one at all. That
was when a smile came onto his face that he just couldn't help, having to look away a little.

"What?" She giggled. "What are you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing. I just made some better friends, is all." He downsized it, when really he wanted to
scream Louis' name in her face, followed by crazed laughter.

"Nice! How many?"

Robin had come into the hallway during their conversation, slipping his trainers on, not really
paying too much attention. Harry's heart-to-heart with his sister had actually deterred his brain
from the thought of interacting with their mother again, for a while. It was nice - he rarely spoke to
Gem enough.

"Four," Harry informed, "Charlie, Christopher, Niall and Louis."

Gemma nodded along, humming in thought. "Interesting, names that sound like they belong to nice
people. What're they like?"

One of them was particularly beautiful, but that wasn't something Harry was going to tell his sister,
who was a million percent certain he was straight. In fact, he probably couldn't seem any more
straight to anybody who knew him, from his home or school life. They could hear Anne on the
phone in the living room then, and Robin went in there too, suggesting they probably had quite a
lot more time before they actually left the house.

"Different to my old friends. A little more... nerdy, I guess." He laughed. Gemma massively raised
her eyebrows, with a mocking smile.

"Harry Styles hanging out with nerds? I don't think the world's ready!" She taunted, and Harry
pushed at her arm in playful protest.

"Shut up," He chuckled, "You know I don't discriminate."

"Maybe you can rebound on Kendall by getting with one of those creepy girls from your class who
like you," She tittered, "You seem to have a few nerdy ones after you. It's all in the Styles genes."

Well, he was sort of going for someone a little nerdier than before. That was going to stay
undisclosed, though.

"Awesome idea," Harry joked, "Maybe I could rotate, date a new one every week."
"There'd be enough of them to last you a few years, I think." Gemma laughed. "Mum's called you a
little charmer since you were about five, you know? Always wooing the girls in primary school."

Harry barked out a loud laugh. "Really! I didn't know that."

Gemma rolled her eyes again with a breathy laugh. "Yeah. So many girls out there would be
grateful for you, H, don't let Kendall bring you down."

Harry forced a smile, then immediately bowed his head and dropped the smile. Gemma noticed it.

"What?"

"No, nothing." He quickly convinced, putting on a smile that was less fabricated.

Gemma nodded in agreement, though she was giving Harry that deep look again. The 'you're not
alright, are you?' look; one which told him non-verbally that she knew something was up with him.
Maybe she would one day add up that whenever he became like that, it was right after Gemma
mentioning his next girlfriend.

Though, of course: he was straight as a fucking ruler.

---

Harry didn't talk to his Mother once again. He and Gemma just trudged along behind she and
Robin, led into many different shops. They were in the designer outlet of the shopping centre for
hours, though, which Louis would surely never go to with his family. Harry was dying to run into
them. Except maybe without his own family present, for now. They had been wandering around
for two hours by then, the time approaching half 12, and although Harry's boots were gorgeous,
they weren't too comfortable.

Anne clearly thought it would be a good idea not to even mention her insistent interaction with Kris
again, hoping he had forgotten. And actually, he had. So when they turned a corner to find Kris
with her entire family, Harry felt like his heart fell into his stomach. Not only was it Kris, ready
with an unwelcoming up-and-down look for him, but also Kendall, her father, plus her four bratty
sisters. Harry shifted nervously on his feet, under the sharp gazes of every single member of
Kendall's family.

Anne started a conversation with Kris, a book in her hands, while Robin thought it polite to spark
one up with Kendall's father. Kendall and her sisters were even giving Gemma dirty looks,
scrutinising her, which angered Harry. Kendall pissed him off most, looking Gemma up and down
in disgust, before her eyes flicked to Harry once again.

"Don't look at my sister like that." He snapped, voice full of suppressed fury.

"Don't worry, Harry." Gemma whispered, but he shook his head.

"She wasn't." Kourtney bit back, face twisted in repugnance.

"I was just wondering whether your sister knows what her baby brother is really like." Kendall
mocked, a snide grin on her face.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Give it a break."

The adults had caught onto the argument now.

"Harry, don't." Anne warned.

"I didn't start it." He muttered.

"You're an arsehole, Harry," Kendall suddenly erupted, shocking just about everyone. "You broke
up with me, then fucked two random fucking French girls in Paris. You're hardly the Golden boy
your family thinks you are, are you?"

Harry's family looked at him in pure shock, even Gemma, and all Harry could do was shoot a sorry
look back. And then he simply took off away from everyone, but before he did, he said one last
thing.

"I don't miss you, Kendall. Not one bit."

---

Gemma: You ok?? Where r u???

He was sitting on a bench by the water fountain, the other side of the shopping centre, in the
outdoor area. Pigeons were pecking around on the tiles at his feet, and watching them had been his
entertainment for the past fifteen minutes. He ignored Gemma's text message, because he was just
dwelling over the fact that Louis hadn't even gotten back to him yet. He had sent a good morning
hours ago, to get no response. He always over-thought things, so he was immediately wondering
what he had done wrong.

A few minutes later, he got a little pick-me-up in the form of Christopher passing by the bench with
his family. His parents looked just as socially awkward as he was, and he had two older sisters
trailing along with him who didn't seem too confident either. Once Christopher had excitedly
introduced Harry as his new friend, his sisters jaws evidently dropped a little when they had
become confident enough to look at him. It may have sounded a bit ridiculous, but Harry was sort
of sick and tired of the constant female attention. The initial reaction he got from most females was
shock or attraction. It was still sweet, though, and he shot a charming smile their way.

"This is Harry, he's one of my best mates, aren't you?" Christopher had introduced.

"Yeah," Harry chuckled, smiling at Christopher's parents, too. They seemed charmed by him
already (and he was beginning to understand why that had been his nickname since he was 5.)

"Lovely to meet you, Harry." His Mother grinned. "I'm Julie, this is Michael."

Christopher's father waved and smiled very awkwardly.

"And Christopher's sisters, Grace and Bella."

They giggled shyly and smiled at him. Harry shot a friendly wink back - he felt he couldn't help it.
It was just in greeting, the girls were definitely pretty far from his type, to say the least. Harry was
starting to regret even sparking up a conversation now, as non-judgemental as he was. He was
definitely far too nice to just stop talking now.

"Nice to meet you all." He beamed.

"Mum," Christopher turned to Julie suddenly, "Could Harry come round for dinner tonight?"

Oh. Oh God. Now Harry liked Christopher, of course he did, but in a way it got a bit creepy
sometimes the way that he seemed to idolise Harry. He looked up to him in such an obvious way
that it wasn't even sweet at times, it went a bit too far. All he could do now was modestly smile
though, as Julie turned to him.

"Would you like to, Harry? You're more than welcome to."

Harry found himself praying that something would come up and save him, or that Christopher
would suddenly mention inviting the other guys too, but he didn't. At least it would be some time
away from his family if he did go, though, as after Kendall's ridiculous (and actually very untrue)
bombshell, they were probably still wrapping their heads around it.

"I'd love to, thanks for the offer." He took it, though in his head he knew he was in for a fucking
atrocious evening. He already felt awkward enough just stood in a public space with Christopher's
family, let alone having to be sat around a dinner table with them.

Christopher looked delighted, and his sisters equally so, amongst themselves. Harry would just
have to see this as some bonding time with Christopher, considering he always felt so tense around
him.

"Great! Chris will text you the address. We usually eat around six, is that okay for you?" Julie
asked.

"Perfect," Harry nodded, "See you at ten to."

"You're free to come shopping with us now, instead of sitting here alone?" Christopher suggested,
and now Harry had to come up with a plan. He didn't want to join their fucking family for good,
which he might as well have if he spent hours on end with them.

"Oh, my, uh," He pointed a thumb behind his shoulder, "My family are meeting me here soon. But
thanks for the offer."

"No problem. We'll see you later, Harry."

He was met with a chorus of goodbyes as Christopher and his family made their way away,
heading away in their huddle. God, what had Harry let himself in for?

He grabbed his phone from his pocket once again, delighted to see that Louis had finally replied.

Louis: Hi Harry ! So sorry I haven't been replying, only just charged my phone up in a cafe. You in
the centre today ? xx

He speedily responded.

Harry: Yeah where are you? .xx

Louis: In Boots with my family but can come meet if u want ? Where are you ? xx

Harry: Water fountain in the outdoor plaza .xx

Louis: On my way xx

Harry saw him a moment later, his distinctive self visible against the crowds. He looked adorable,
dressed in a hoodie a couple sizes too big, hands balled up in the sleeves. He smiled so wide when
he spotted Harry, slipping onto the bench next to him.

"Hey."
"Hi, you okay?" Harry smiled.

"Better now," He huffed out a laugh. "Why are you sat here on your own? Where's your family?"

Harry quickly rolled his eyes. "Just had a bit of drama with Kendall and her family, got away from
it. Nothing major."

"Sorry to hear." Louis shrugged.

"Ran into Christopher a second ago too, he's invited me round for dinner tonight." Harry left his
tone neutral, until he for a reaction from Louis. This came in the form of a stifled laugh.

"Wow, you said yeah?"

"So?" Harry smirked defensively, "He's my bestie, in case you haven't been able to tell."

"His family are… interesting, to say the least."

Harry cocked an eyebrow. "In what way?"

"All vegetarian. And their house is all religious. Definitely your scene, don't worry." He
sarcastically added, with a giggle.

"Oh God!" Harry cackled. "Wish me luck. Still, probably better than going back to my house. My
family found out rather ungracefully about the fake French girls drama."

"Shit. Yeah, I'd steer clear for a while."

Harry turned to look at Louis, whose sparkling blue eyes were surveying the area around them. He
looked so bright and bubbly today. He turned to meet Harry's eye, a little smile rising on his face.

"What are you staring at, Styles?"

"I really wanna kiss you. But our creepy fucking email watcher could be lurking around."

"True," Louis sighed, "Hope you're not too stressed about that."

Harry shrugged, "Not at the moment. They don't seem too much of a threat to me, to be honest.
And anyway, they're still thinking over a compromise."

"Let's not think about it until they do." Louis concluded. "But, hey, I really wanna kiss you, too."

Harry sadly smiled, chastely patting Louis on the leg. "We'll have to restrain ourselves for now."

"You wouldn't come along to Christopher's too, would you?" He begged suddenly, once it dawned
on him again what he had agreed to. "It's going to be dreadful."

"His parents are weird, they have a one guest policy. I tried to go with Charlie once, they said only
one of us was allowed in." Louis snickered. Harry furrowed his eyebrows.

"Wow. Fantastic."

"You'll be fine. I've managed it before."

Louis' phone started ringing in his pocket suddenly, so he apologised quickly to Harry before
digging his device out and answering it.
"Hi, Mum… yeah… okay. Yeah, I'm sat with Harry in the plaza… no… yeah, okay. See you
soon." He hung up afterwards, tucking his phone away once again. "I'm so sorry, Harry, I have to
go. We're going to visit my grandmother. I would suggest you come along, but she gets very
confused, it might--"

"You don't have to explain yourself, Lou." Harry put on a smile. "I'll see you when I see you."

Louis nodded, getting to his feet. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you more."

"Good luck with your dinner date." Louis snorted, giving Harry a wave.

"I've still got to take you on another one of those some time." Harry called after him, shooting him
a wink when Louis looked back over his shoulder.

"I'd love that."

And then Louis was gone, disappearing into the crowd, leaving Harry alone once again.

---

After a bit of retail therapy on his own, Harry ended up getting the bus home at about half past
three, arriving back home by just gone four. He had avoided his family, which seemed to be
routinely at the moment, and put away the new articles of clothing he had purchased for himself.
He had been formulating ridiculous excuses in his head all day, things he wanted to text
Christopher so he could get out of going, but he knew he would have to just man up at the end of
the day and take the invitation.

He was even hoping Christopher would forget to even text him the address, but that wonderful
message popped onto Harry's screen at ten minutes past five, just as he had almost grasped the
hope of getting out of going. Great.

He shot back a casual 'cool, see you later :)' before groaning aloud to himself. He wished he had
backed out of it sooner, really. He didn't bother changing his outfit, hardly seeing it as a massively
formal affair, but made the effort at half past five to spritz on some of his favourite Tom Ford
aftershave.

He didn't even say farewell to his family, leaving with a slam of the door, just his phone and car
keys in hand. He jumped into his car, tapping Christopher's address into his Sat Nav before
speeding off with a roar of his engine. He got there in seven minutes flat, arriving at quarter to,
parking along the side of the road opposite their house. He sat in his car for the next five minutes,
mentally gathering himself, before finally heading to the door at ten to.

He took a deep breath and knocked a few times, before stuffing his hands in his jeans' pockets and
rocking back on his heels. He saw a shadowy silhouette through the stained glass, before the door
was opened. Christopher stood there, pushing up his glasses and beaming at Harry.

"Harry! Hi!"

"Hey," He nodded, putting on a smile.

"Come in, come in," Christopher rushed, holding open the door. "Shoes off by the door, if that's
okay?"
Harry stepped in, thanking him and shutting the door behind him. He slipped off his boots, and
Christopher watched in intrigue.

"What size shoe are you?"

Harry opened his mouth to talk, laughing awkwardly instead, eyebrows furrowing. "Size 11."

"That's big."

Harry nodded, not even making eye contact, following Christopher as he led him into what
appeared to be the kitchen. Harry finally got a good look around the house. It smelt damp
everywhere, and the walls were painted a mustard yellow. Not very flattering, really. The kitchen
was small and stocky, and Christopher's Mother stood at the oven, stirring something in a pan,
while his father chopped some carrots.

"Hello, Harry," Michael greeted, dressed in a grey checked shirt and muted green, baggy trousers.
"Looking very dapper."

"Oh," Harry laughed nervously, "Thank you, Sir."

"Would you like a drink? Sparkling water? Prune juice?" Julie offered, rolling her sleeves up,
smiling at him. She wore a dress which looked almost medieval, a headband holding back her grey
hair.

Oh God, both those drinks sounded utterly putrid to Harry.

"Uh, I'll just have some tap water, if that's okay?"

"No problem." She fetched a glass from the cupboard and drew a glass full of water for him,
handing it over. He wasn't even thirsty but took it gratefully.

"Thank you."

"Do you like stew, Harry?"

Probably not their vegetarian stuff, but he knew he had to be polite.

"I'm not fussy." He smiled.

"Oh, great! It's goat's cheese, mushrooms and spinach."

Oh fuck. Oh no. Harry had never had as big a distaste for something as he did for goat's cheese.

"Sounds lovely."

Christopher led him through into what looked to be a living room slash dining room. The walls
were a khaki green, and they seemed to be a family for stashing collectibles. Harry and his stupidly
clumsy long legs almost completely tripped over some of the clutter on the floor, barely holding
onto his glass of water. Grace and Bella, Christopher's sisters, were perched on a cluttered sofa.
They had dressed up, seemingly, wearing dresses opposed to their earlier casual attire. They turned
a little shy when they spotted Harry was there, stopping their conversation instantly.

Harry took a seat by Christopher at the dining table, taking another tentative sip at his water as a bit
of a silence filler.

"Guys, look how cool Harry's t-shirt is. It's a designer one, isn't it, Harry?" Christopher asked his
sisters, who gawked at Harry's t-shirt like it was in a museum.

"It's nice." They said in unison, then giggled together. Okay.

"Oh, thanks." He smiled. There was an awkward silence, a very prolonged one, making Harry feel
very grateful when Christopher's parents strolled in. Michael had a stack of plates and a handful of
a load of cutlery, while Julie wore oven gloves and held the stew pot. Everybody sat around the
table, Christopher's sisters opposite the boys, and Christopher's parents sat either head of the table.

Julie began serving up the stew, and Harry felt sick to his stomach. He never liked judging what
families chose to eat, nor did he judge those who wanted to be vegetarian, he was all for that, but
this shit just looked utterly revolting.

"How much would you like, Harry?"

"Uh, just a little for now, thank you."

Julie smiled and nodded, before proceeding to scoop the largest fucking amount Harry had ever
seen. Fun. She passed it over, and he thanked her and set it in front of himself, accepting the cutlery
she handed over too. They all started eating around Harry, seemingly enjoying it, so he took a very
reluctant first taste. He was almost sick in an instant, quite literally, as the taste of the goat's cheese
filled his senses. He decided he would just hold his breath.

Christopher was the first to fill the silence.

"Oh, Mum, you know Kendall Jenner, the girl I kissed at school?" Christopher asked, "Harry dated
her."

Harry literally choked a little on his food, proceeding to cough sharply a few times, so that Julie
reached over and patted him on the back.

"Go easy on that, Harry! I know it's delicious, but inhaling food is dangerous." She bellowed out a
laugh.

"Yes, Christopher told us all about her. Pretty girl, from photos he's shown us." Michael grinned.

What-- what the fuck?

"Oh. Yeah." He awkwardly chuckled. "She is."

He didn't fucking need this now. It was bad enough being here, before having to talk about his ex.
And the fact that Christopher had told his entire family he had kissed her (as her spiteful incentive),
and even shown them photos! Poor boy… poor fucking boy. He had Christopher's sisters staring
him down too from across the table. He felt extremely uncomfortable.

"How long were you with her?" Julie went on. What the hell?

"Few years." Harry muttered, trying to stay blunt, hoping they would get the hint. They clearly
didn't though.

"And I presume you didn't have sex before marriage, yes?" Michael dropped in. Harry was close to
choking once again, eyes widening. He couldn't help but huff out a laugh, thinking it was a joke,
though he looked up to meet Michael's very serious gaze.

"Oh, uh… yeah, we…" He trailed off, realising how strange this was, laughing breathlessly to
himself due to the ridiculous situation.

"Did you know that it is a sin?" Julie interjected, eyebrows raised. "Stated in Hebrews 13:4:
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the
adulterer and all the sexually immoral."

There was another thick silence, Harry absolutely baffled. He really could not believe this, it
seemed like one huge joke. Man, would it be funny to tell Louis later, though.

"Oh. Never really looked… into it, myself… the bible stuff." He mumbled.

The topic was dropped. Harry should have known how religious they'd be, he had seen a few
crucifixes on the walls but hadn't really taken note. They went on to talk about other matters, and
Harry stayed silent unless asked anything. Due to the general awkwardness of the situation, he
ended up managing to force down a good three quarters of the meal. He felt purely sick.

"Did you enjoy that, Harry?" Julie smiled.

"Very much, thank you." He said, as she gathered up all the plates.

"Can me and Harry leave the table, Mum?"

"Yes, you may."

Harry followed suit as Christopher got up from the table.

"Wanna come to my room, Harry?"

"Sure." He shrugged. He really just wanted to fucking go home now, when would the torment end?

He followed Christopher from the living room, entering the hallway again, and climbing up the
stained, carpeted stairs.

"I love having you round, it's so cool!" Christopher called over his shoulder. "You should come
round more often."

He was going to come round as little as humanly possible.

They entered Christopher's room, which smelt weird. It was dark, the only real light inside
radiating from inside what looked to be a lizard tank. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and there
was a large poster of Jesus above his bed. He hadn't known Christopher to be religious, but now his
name made more sense, maybe.

"Feel free to take a seat."

Harry thanked him and perched himself gawkily on the edge of the bed, minding the utter mess
atop of it.

"So," Christopher chuckled, "What do you want to talk about?"

Harry laughed and shrugged. "Don't mind."

"You know, I think you're my best friend out of everyone." Christopher largely grinned. "Am I
yours, too?"

"I never choose favourites." Harry quickly said. He was beginning to feel weirdly uncomfortable
again, crossing his legs.

"Oh." Christopher smiled blissfully anyway. "I bet your mum's pretty."

This just wasn't normal.

"Yeah, she is." He chuckled. He didn't even recognise his own laugh, it was that forced and
awkward.

"Is having sex difficult?"

"Christopher, I'm finding this all a bit… weird." Harry admitted, immediately. "The questions…
you know."

"Oh… really?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, I'm just curious, that's all. I bet you've got a six pack, too." He looked Harry in the eye,
smiling to himself.

Harry froze. He felt his breath catch in his throat momentarily, brain scanning back over those
words. It was a stupid idea, it really was, but the fact Christopher had brought up Harry's six pack a
day after he had sent an anonymous emailer a topless photo, was just very strange to him. And the
way Christopher was looking at him.

The emails, they had said you fascinate me. He clearly infatuated Christopher in some way… was
he looking too far into this? His heart was drumming fast, throat dry, looking quickly between
Christopher's eyes.

"Christopher…?" He slowly asked. "Is… is it you?"

He tilted his head to the side, lip jutting out. "Is what me?"

"The emails." He hastily dropped, face stern. "Are you behind them?"

"What emails?"

"The ones I've been receiving. If it's you, you'll know what I'm talking about." He held eye contact
with him for a steady five seconds.

"I don't know what emails you're referring to."

Harry took a steady breath, breaking eyes with him and running a hand through his hair.

"Are you being completely honest with me, Christopher? Because sometimes, I don't know… It's
like you've got a weird crush on me, or something." Maybe he hadn't meant to word it that way, but
it just slipped out. Christopher sprang to his feet, eyes wild.

"A crush!" He erupted. "That would be a sin, Harry!"

"Okay, mate, calm down. It was just a joke." He attempted to calm him, gesturing with his hands.

"I don't know what hecking emails you're talking about, and I do not have a crush on you!"

Okay, maybe Harry had gotten this all wrong. Shit.

"Okay, I apologise, man. I'm really sorry."

Christopher took a seat again beside Harry, muttering to himself. "You're a very handsome guy.
But I'm not allowed to crush. And I don't know what you're talking about with some emails."

The way he said 'I'm not allowed to crush' meant maybe he would if he could. Harry was going to
pretend he hadn't heard that.

"Okay. Sorry, I'm just very paranoid at the moment."

"So you do have a six pack?"

Harry sighed. "Look, thanks for everything today, mate. I think I'm going to actually head home
now, it's getting pretty late."

"B-But it's only ten to eight." Christopher pouted. "You should stay the night."

Hell no.

"I really should be going. But thanks for the offer." He put on a complacent smile, getting up to his
feet. "Would you walk me down?"

"Yes."

There was a tense silence as he did so. Harry fucking hated himself for doing that, putting
Christopher on the spot. It had just made so much sense; the fascination, the fact Christopher hadn't
seen him topless; the way he brought up Harry's six pack. Now he felt like a complete tool.

Harry thanked the parents for having him round, greeted with the usual 'going already?'s. He
managed to be out of there by eight, all while remaining calm and polite.

Fucking hell, he hoped this wouldn't make school awkward. At least that was one less person on
the suspect list.
 37
Chapter Notes

This chapter's kinda full of a load of random stuff lol

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry ended up sleeping in his car that evening. The entire encounter with Christopher and his
family had drained him, evidently, and despite it being only eight o'clock at night, he had realised
that his eyelids had begun to feel rather heavy. General common sense had kicked in, adding up
that driving a car while on the verge of drifting off to sleep wasn't a great idea, and he had fallen
asleep pretty much as soon as he had tucked his car into a lay-by.

His back was stiff when he woke up, considering all he had made an effort to do was clamber into
the back seat and lie across that. His lanky body crammed into that space meant his legs weren't in
their best state either, having lain them in a strange folded position.

It was ten minutes past eleven when he peered over at the time on his car's dashboard, meaning he
had endured a rather hefty sleep of fifteen hours. Nice. Sundays were meant to be for lazing
around, anyway, so he let himself off.

He grabbed his phone, which had fallen into the footwell beneath the seats, to find it with a
critically low battery and several text messages. One from Louis, some from his Mum. Louis' had
been sent that morning, whereas a flow of texts from his Mother had ranged all the way from last
night up until ten minutes ago.

Louis: How'd it go with Christopher? ;) xx

Harry sniffed out a laugh, ignoring it for now to check his Mum's texts.

Mum: Where are you Harry?

Mum: We may not be on the best of terms currently, but I need to know where you are. Text me
please.
Mum: Reply please we're worried.
Mum: Harry.
Mum: Harry I'm worried sick.

Oops?

He immediately decided he should call her; despite barely even talking at the moment, he knew he
had to contact her as soon as possible to avoid her worrying herself to death.

She picked up after 3 rings, sounding frantic.

"What on earth are you playing at, Harry?!" She seethed, so that Harry had to hold his phone away
slightly from his still-adjusting ears. He screwed his eyes shut but chose not to sigh, knowing that
would only make matters worse.

"I stayed at a friend's house. Sorry, I should have told you." He didn't want to say he slept in his
car, he was pretty embarrassed about that. Plus, he knew she would somehow turn that into another
of her angry points: you're hardly safe from harm sleeping in your car, anyone could break in, blah
blah blah.

"Whose house? I'd like to know next time, Harry, seeing as none of us saw you since you stormed
off yesterday. I'd like to talk to you about that, by the way."

Oh, great. She was probably going to lecture him about what Kendall had told him, about the two
French girls. Which was a lie in itself.

"My mate, Christopher's." He decided to answer to only the first part of what she had said,
knowing it wasn't the time to get into anything else. He still barely even felt awake.

Would he even consider Christopher a mate? He felt deeply embarrassed to even think about that,
seeing as he now knew what his family were like. Christopher had hardly helped to make him feel
less awkward, and the ending to the evening hadn't made it any better; Harry had practically ended
up fully accusing him of being behind the dumb emails.

"Okay, Harry. I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Bye."

She hung up the phone, and that was when Harry's phone switched off, its screen flashing to black.
He had forgotten it was on the verge of dying, though he was glad it hadn't done so during the call,
because his mum would have inevitably blamed him for hanging up on her.

He felt guilty that he hadn't replied to Louis, who had only wanted to know about the experience
with Christopher, and he knew he definitely didn't want to head home yet to retrieve his charger
because he adamantly wanted to avoid a discussion with his mum just yet.

He got the sudden idea to spontaneously drive to Louis' house and knock on the door. Sure, it
might be a little awkward and maybe Louis wouldn't even be there, but it wasn't even exactly like
he could text him and let him know he was coming. What harm really was there? Louis' family
seemed to like him, and they hadn't even known him long.

Harry jumped out of his car, slamming the door shut and stretching his legs, which ached. He hated
that he hadn't even changed his clothes, but headed to the passenger side and got a can of deodorant
that he kept in there. He sprayed it under his arms and a little around his torso, also grabbing some
gum to freshen his breath, then got into the driver's seat and checked his hair in the mirror on the
sun visor. It was a bit of a mess, but admittedly a sexy one, so he left it like that.

He cranked up the radio and drove towards Louis' road, the entire time wondering whether this was
a shitty idea or not. He was parked up on the road opposite Louis' house just under ten minutes
later, watching Louis' house from afar. Anyone who spotted him would think he was a complete
creep, maybe even a stalker, so he decided he would stop being ridiculous and would head up to
the door.

This felt weird. It felt like it made their relationship really official, because he was still unsure how
far they had really gotten.

He rang the doorbell, sticking his hands awkwardly in his pockets. His heart was absolutely
thudding, regardless of how generally confident he was, as he saw a silhouette head towards the
door. It opened a moment later, and Louis' mum, Jay, absolutely beamed at him.

"Harry, hello!" She grinned, opening up the door immediately for him. "Come in, Darling!"
He loved her enthusiasm. He could tell how much she adored him and he felt so welcomed by that,
it meant he couldn't hold back a bright smile either.

"Thank you," He politely accepted, stepping inside and sliding his shoes off. "It's a bit random me
showing up, I do apologise. Louis doesn't even know."

"Oh, well I'm sure he certainly won't mind. He should be home in a little while, he walked the
twins to the park this morning and told me they're heading back soon." She smiled. "You could
stick around for a drink, or I won't feel offended if you want to head off."

"No, no, I'd love a drink if you're making one." He smiled, figuring spending time with Louis'
mum alone would be nice. She smiled broadly and led him into the kitchen, and he politely
followed.

"What would you like, my love?"

"I'd love a cup of tea, thank you so much." He gratefully accepted, leaning on the counter in their
small kitchen. She put the kettle on after filling it with water, before leaning on the opposite
counter and smiling at him once again.

"You're a very polite young man, Harry. You dress lovely, too, I assume you're from a very good
family."

He could just tell that was her way of asking whether his family is rich, but in a way in which she
was complimenting him, too. He didn't mind, he could tell she was being genuine and was just a
little curious about his background.

"Yeah, well I know it's always nice to be polite." He grinned. "We live over near the West side of
Doncaster."

"Wow! Pricey houses on the West, if I'm assuming correctly," She raised her eyebrows, "You've
got a lovely car, too. But you deserve the wealthy lifestyle, because you've got the million dollar
personality to go with it!"

Harry brightly chuckled, shaking his head in amusement at her compliment. "Thank you so much,
Jay, that means a lot."

The kettle finished boiling, and Jay grabbed a couple of cups from the cupboard and popped a
teabag in each.

"Milk? Sugar?"

"One sugar and a bit of milk. Thank you."

She did as requested, giving it a stir and removing the teabag, handing it to Harry and taking her
own cup, too. She led Harry into the living room, and they sat on the plush sofa in the lounge,
where the television was quietly playing.

"So, Harry, I don't know if it's really my place to ask, and don't feel pressured to answer," She
began, "But I'm just curious, are you and Louis just friends, or…?"

Oh. Well, that was pretty up front. Harry was unaware that Jay had already asked Louis, who had
practically said they were "seeing each other", so perhaps she wanted to see if they were on the
same page. Maybe her motherly instinct had kicked in and she was making sure he wasn't just
going to use Louis, as nice as she found him.
"We're dating." He immediately informed. He hadn't even hesitated, hadn't stopped to think it over,
it just came out so naturally. Her reaction was to lift her eyebrows and smile widely.

"Oh, that's great! That's so lovely to hear, Harry." She was absolutely beaming, which Harry loved
to see. "Not that I'm the one to judge, and I know it's not always obvious, but when we met I would
have had absolutely no clue you're into boys!"

Hell, he didn't know he was either until he met Louis. He knew he would be getting that a fuck-
load in the future, people claiming he looked completely straight, but figured he would have to get
used to it. That was, if and when he was comfortable enough to even come out, Christ.

"Yeah, that's understandable. I only really worked that out recently for myself. Pretty sure I'm bi, if
anything." He felt completely and utterly comfortable discussing this with her, it was like he had
known her for years. He wished it would be this easy with his own mum, but he knew there would
be a little more difficulty getting her to understand his choices in the future. He was dreading that.

"I bet you get a lot of female attention, too. It's great that you're seeing my lovely Louis, he's
always just been so shy when it comes to relationships." She admitted. "He's always deserved one,
obviously, he's just been too nervous to really initiate one."

That really stirred Harry's heart. Louis was so very sweet, so caring and funny and gorgeous, but
too timid to actually go for anyone. He was glad he hadn't though, because now Louis was all his.
He decided he would say that.

"Well, I'm glad of that, because now I managed to get him." He chuckled.

Jay chuckled along, smiling and nodding.

"Yes, I can tell he's very fond of you. Does your mum know about you and Lou?"

Oh… he hadn't really thought this one through. Here he was, chatting to Louis' mum like two
women in a coffee shop, yet he hadn't even mentioned having a friend called Louis to his own
mother yet, let alone that he was into guys, too - sheesh.

"Well, she still doesn't actually know I'm not straight," He confided, taking a deep breath, "I don't
think she would take it too well at the moment, it's a bit of a long story. I wasn't exactly expecting
to fall in love with a guy, then Louis came along."

Jay fondly grinned once again, a smile that pretty much hadn't left, especially upon hearing that
final sentence.

"My advice to you, Harry, is to take your time. Don't feel like you need to rush into telling her
anything, you wait until you're comfortable, because otherwise you'll regret it. I promise she will
love you regardless of who you love."

Harry reciprocated her caring smile and gratefully nodded. "Thank you."

The sound of the front door opening and some voices in the hallway cut their moment short. Harry
could hear Louis' voice, as well as the two twins. The living room door opened a moment later, and
Louis froze completely in his tracks when he spotted Harry sat with his mum, a huge grin instantly
plastering onto his face.

"Hi!" He giggled, heading over and sitting by Harry's side, and they gave each other a quick hug.
"How long have you been here?"
"Like, twenty minutes," Harry laughed, gesturing his half finished cup of tea, "Your mum made
me a cup of tea and we've been gossiping about you."

Jay laughed brightly at Harry's joke, lightly shaking her head. "Harry's been lovely company, Lou.
You're very lucky."

"I know." Louis clarified, eyes bright as he looked Harry over. The twins came bounding in a
moment later, heading straight for Harry when they spotted him.

"Harry!"

They both hugged either of his legs, urging him to chuckle and ruffle their hair.

"Hi guys, you alright?" He beamed, "I heard you've been to the park."

"Louis took us! But he wouldn't come on the climbing frame, he just sat on the bench because he's
boring." Daisy complained, prodding Louis on the leg.

Louis snickered a laugh and rolled his eyes. "Wow, sorry about that. I was cold and tired."

"You would have come on the climbing frame, wouldn't you, Harry?"

"Of course I would have!" Harry claimed, smirking coyly at Louis. "Because I'm not boring."

"Shut it, you." Louis playfully added.

"Don't tell Harry to shut up!" Phoebe defended Harry from her brother, sweetly. "He's my favourite
now."

Louis pretended to gasp, holding a hand to his chest. "I am offended, I'm your big brother!"

"Daisy, let's play barbies!" Phoebe immediately changed the subject, as children did, grabbing her
sister's hand and running out of the room with her, enthusiastically.

"They love you a lot, Harry!" Jay exclaimed, happily. "They're usually so shy around new people,
but clearly they've taken to you very easily."

"They're lovely girls, I'm glad." Harry smiled, finishing off the last of his tea. "Thank you so much
for the tea, I appreciate it."

"Any time, Darling, it's been a pleasure spending time with you."

Harry offered to take both his and Jay's empty cups to the kitchen, once again thanking her, before
heading upstairs with Louis.

---

Louis completely lost it over Harry's story about Christopher's house, as they sat cross-legged on
his bed. Harry hadn't exactly mentioned the part yet where he literally accused Christopher of
having made the email account, but he did go over just about everything else.

"Oh my God, I can't believe they tried to grill you about sex before marriage!" Louis cackled,
clutching adorably at his knee. "They were nowhere near as bad as that when I went round, fucking
hell, they probably saw you as a bad influence on him."

That was probably true, actually… Harry could often be labelled a bad influence.
"It was the most awkward meal of my life. His sisters gave me the creeps, too. I don't know, the
whole family has something off about them." Harry admitted, feeling himself shudder at the
memory of the taste of that putrid food. He didn't even know how he had managed to get through
it, quite honestly.

"Oh, any more emails?" Louis suddenly brought up. Harry hadn't actually checked recently, as he
had turned off his email notifications in an attempt to not think about it, in the meantime, so his
heart jumped a little when he realised he actually hadn't.

"Shit, no, I'll check now." He pulled out his phone, tapping onto his emails, ignoring the few spam
ones he had waiting and a few offers from companies and all that normal stuff, finding a new email
waiting that had arrived early that morning.

It was headlined:

What are your limits?

Harry sighed as he tapped onto it, letting Louis know that there was in fact one waiting. He cleared
his throat comically, before reading it aloud.

Harry. Sorry it took me a couple days to get back to you. I realised that I want nothing more than
to spend some time with you, and that would be my wish. Nothing weird, just us, alone. Away from
everybody. Whatever happens, happens, because I've realised perhaps you're a little bit of a ladies'
man, even if you do like boys, too. I feel you would know how to treat a lady. I'll give you another
couple of days to think it over.

-Anonymous Sender XXXX

Harry finished reading, looking up at Louis with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well, firstly, no fucking way am I spending time with whoever this is. What the fuck do they
mean, whatever happens, happens? I'm not fucking about with this anymore."

"And secondly, now we know it's a female." Louis finished Harry's presumption for him, having
noted that from the email's line: I feel you would know how to treat a lady.

"Exactly," Harry nodded, "I guess that's something. Unless, of course, they're lying to hide their
identity more."

"But they want to meet and spend time alone, so surely they know they'll have to come clean at
some point." Louis shrugged. "This is so ridiculous. Who would do this?"

Harry still thought Kendall. But also his allegations regarding Christopher still seemed prominent,
though he knew deep down it wasn't him, and he was being ridiculous himself.

He had another "couple of days". But he needed more than that, he needed forever. No way in hell
was he going to spend time alone with whoever this was, he wouldn't wish it on anyone. He knew it
would just be a case of waiting to see what came of it.

---

When Monday morning rolled around, Harry was ultimately drained of energy. There were so
many aspects of his upcoming day which he was dreading: seeing Christopher after that awkward
encounter; Kendall and Co. glaring him down all day; and, of course, the deep-set worry he still
had over the email situation.
Louis insisted on getting a lift from his mum that morning, and even after Harry offering many
times to pick Louis up on his way, it was turned down, because apparently Louis' mum was
dropping his sisters off at their nearby school, anyway. So Harry parked up his car, well aware he
had cut it pretty fine with timing, and was already a few minutes late for registration period. He
couldn't care less, casually locking his car with a beep behind himself and strolling leisurely
towards the correct building.

Despite the heavy weight on his shoulders, he was still feeling pretty confident overall. He wasn't
going to let anything bring his week down, he knew he was stronger than that.

Halfway through their registration teacher's announcements to the class, Harry made a pretty
riotous entrance, the door slamming against the wall as he made his way in. His classmates found it
pretty funny, laughing amongst themselves, although Kendall and her table of knobheads were
already snickering at Harry - merely because they wanted to humiliate him. They failed to.

Louis was smiling dazzlingly at him as he approached, which was adorable. Charlie looked half
asleep, Niall was scribbling in his notebook in boredom, and Christopher was just staring at Harry:
pretty expressionless. Harry offered him an awkward nod in greeting, which Chrisother returned,
equally monotonous.

None of them greeted each other verbally, because their teacher was already glaring Harry down
due to how disruptive he had been.

Harry pretended to listen, but his eyes found themselves diverting over to where he could feel some
on him. It was Kendall, unsurprisingly, and she was smirking at him. She raised her eyebrows, fast
and mockingly, which made Harry's stomach lurch. He scowled back, as the suspicion trickled into
his gut once again: was the email account her doing? Because unless he was being paranoid once
again, she seemed pretty smug about something.

Registration period ended pretty quickly, nothing in particular catching Harry's attention in the
morning announcements, and they were dismissed to their first lesson, which was music. The arts
building was the furthest away from registration, meaning they all had to make the walk there.
Harry's mates were chatting amongst themselves, pretty upbeat, but Harry couldn't take his eyes off
Kendall, who was laughing brightly with Cheryl and Gigi.

Spontaneity got the best of him, and he found himself carrying out what he had wanted to do since
the email scenario first surfaced.

"Guys, I'll meet you in class." He muttered, before taking off a bit faster, right in Kendall's
direction.

Gigi seemed to have spotted him approaching, as she was frantically tapping Kendall's shoulder
and nudging her head in his direction. The three girls turned his way as he reached them, but he
didn't even stop for a second.

"Kendall, walk with me. Don't ask questions." He bluntly commanded, before walking a little
ahead.

He heard Kendall jogging slightly, catching him up, walking beside him with quite a distance
between them (kept by Harry, mainly.)

"What do you want?" She snapped. "And, fucking hell, slow down a bit!"

"Why are you acting so fucking smug all the time?" He dropped the question, not even sparing her
a glance. "Genuine answers, please."

"What is this, a fucking police investigation? If by 'smug' you mean happy, then how am I meant to
answer that? I'm just happy." She sneered. Harry rolled his eyes, openly.

"You know something. I know you do, and don't try to deny it. What are you trying to get out of
it?"

He could see their classmates watching their interaction, muttering to each other, probably thinking
Harry and Kendall were going to make up. Fuck no, Harry knew that he'd sooner become King of
England before that shit happened.

"Huh?" Kendall was dumbfounded, grabbing rather harshly onto Harry's sleeve and ceasing him in
walking. Classmates passed by them as they came to a stop, Louis sparing a worried look Harry's
way but continuing to walk, Kendall's friends stifling laughs but also carrying on their way. "Harry,
what are you on about?"

"I think you know." Harry finally looked into the eyes of the girl he once called his, though his
stomach span with hatred and he wondered how he was ever happy with her.

Her eyebrows furrowed even further, "I don't get you, at all. I don't know shit, what am I supposed
to know?"

"The fucking emails, Kendall. Just start talking, even if it's not you specifically, I know it's
someone in your group." Harry accused. Wow, his second accusation in the span of about twelve
hours. Nice.

She still looked lost, mouth hanging open and face contorted.

"Emails?"

"Yes, I'm not stupid, Kendall."

"What's happened to you? I think you're going mad, Harry, will you tell me what fucking emails
you're talking about?"

"Forget it." Harry rolled his eyes, scoffing. "So, just to clarify, you're telling me you've got nothing
to do with the emails? I appreciate honesty."

"Yes!" Kendall exploded. "I don't have anything to do with them, I don't even know what you're on
about. None of us are part of that shit, I'm trying to move on here."

"Maybe stop staring at me and smirking at me in class, then." Harry mumbled, moodily, before
strolling off, leaving Kendall behind.

He ran his hands down his face in stress, unsure what to think anymore.

---

Louis had managed to save himself and Harry the two seats in the back corner, in their music class.
He even got up and let Harry have the inside seat, by the wall. Harry was thankful for that, because
he was sick of the comments people were always giving about him and Mrs Bridges, and although
they didn't stop completely when he was sat further back, he was just a little less centre-stage. The
comments probably would have been less of an occurrence every lesson, if Mrs Bridges even
bothered to extinguish them and tell the students to stop. She just ignored them most of the time,
which was probably her way of being mature in the situation.

They were learning about the origins of different music genres today, enough to send Harry to
sleep, and he had already handled a few comments about himself and their teacher already.

Louis leaned in, whispering to him. "I'm guessing you asked Kendall about the account. And I'm
also guessing she knew nothing about it."

"Right and right." Harry rolled his eyes. "It's really stressing me out, who the fuck is it?"

"Don't let it get to you, Haz. Just realise how immature they're being, whoever it is, we'll be fine."
He patted Harry's thigh.

He went to move his hand back up, but Harry put his own hand over Louis' beneath the table,
leaving it on his leg.

"Don't. I like your hand on me." He smirked. Louis tipped his head back in a small laugh, glad that
the front of their table wasn't open, as all the tables were covered all the way around with wood.

"Do you now?" Louis giggled, eyes observing the room, everybody else facing the front. Only Mrs
bridges faced their way, but was too busy going through a slideshow and concentrating on the
lesson.

"A lot." Harry wiggled his eyebrows. "But, maybe a little higher up."

He guided Louis' hand up, to rest on Harry's crotch, and Louis breathed out a shocked laugh.

"We're sat in class, Harry!" He whispered, but made no effort to wriggle his hand away.

"Sat at the back of the room, with complete cover." Harry shrugged, smirk remaining, keeping the
volume of his voice between the two of them only. "Don't you like a bit of a thrill, Lou Lou?"

Louis had gone a little red, nibbling nervously on his bottom lip. "I-I don't know about this, Harry."

"I mean, I have been feeling pretty stressed. A helping hand might help." His voice was low and
seductive, though still not reaching anyone else's ears, and he could tell he was changing Louis'
mind easily.

"This is so naughty." Louis snickered, his innocence shining through, beginning to slowly palm
Harry over his crotch. Harry released his grip from over Louis' hand, knowing he could handle it
from there, and bit his lower lip as he kept his eyes scanning around the room, just in case. Nobody
was paying them any attention.

"Bit more pressure, Lou." He breathed out, and Louis complied, rolling the heel of his palm in
slow, circular motions over it. Harry slowly exhaled, filtering through slightly pursed lips, trying to
suppress a cocky smile. He could feel himself hardening just a little already, realising it was
probably both from the thrill of what they were doing, plus the fact he had run too late that morning
to have a quick wank before he got out of bed.

He loved how Louis was pretending to be listening so intently to what Mrs Bridges was saying,
watching on with his free hand rested on the tabletop, while beneath the table he continued
massaging Harry's rather prominent bulge through his jeans.

"I can feel how hard you're getting." Louis whispered to him, biting on his lip in apparent arousal.
Harry was lifting his hips up just a little, not so that it was obvious, but just in a desperate attempt
to increase the friction he was getting from Louis.

"Fuck, hold on," Harry muttered under his breath, and Louis removed his hand momentarily,
allowing Harry to unbuckle his belt as quietly as humanly possible, long fingers fumbling to
unbutton his stubborn jeans and slowly pull down the zip.

They still didn't have anyone's attention on them, Mrs Bridges still chatting away to keep
everyone's gazes to the front of the room.

Harry breathed in slowly through gritted teeth as he got his cock out beneath the table, just taking it
out the top of his jeans, and had to admit now how strange this maybe was. But he loved it all the
same, the way Louis momentarily flicked his gaze down, before looking towards the front again
with a slight smile. He reached over once again, out of sight beneath the table, and took Harry's
dick in his hand.

Harry held his breath as Louis began slowly working his hand over his length, flicking his wrist in
the perfect motion, so that Harry's stomach stirred with lust. He released his held breath, steadily,
through his nose.

Mrs Bridges glanced towards the back then, suddenly, and Louis froze in place, moving his hand
away just in time. Harry's dick was fully out beneath the table, but nobody knew that.

"Harry, who would you say your favourite composer is?"

Everybody turned around then, and despite the literal wooden covering of the front of the table,
Harry felt rather exposed. Zayn stifled a laugh across the room.

"Trust her to ask Harry again."

Harry rolled his eyes at Zayn's comment, going on to answer what he had been asked.

"Uh…" His voice came out a little raspy, urging him to clear his throat. "Not my kind of music,
really. But I'll just say Beethoven."

"Wonderful choice," Mrs Bridges smiled, giving him a little nod. "I'd suggest Moonlight Sonata by
Beethoven, then, but I can assure you've already heard that one."

She moved on then, not even bothering to ask anybody else and moving onto the next slide. Right,
just making the comments worse, for future reference.

Louis was immediately wrapping his hand around Harry's cock again, this time proceeding to jerk
him off at a steadier pace. Harry breathed a little deeper, having to try hard to completely control it,
so as not to sound too noticeable to anybody. He thrust up lightly into Louis' fist, only lifting his
hips a little bit from his chair, craving more.

Louis wanked him off for a while, nibbling his lip again in concentration, basking in the way
Harry's breath kept hitching as he fought to keep it steady once again. Harry knew it wasn't going
to take him long today before he came, because the general naughtiness of the situation was
making him feel hot all over already, just the thought that nobody knew what was happening at the
back of the room.

A couple minutes later, he was close. He grabbed Louis' wrist just as a forewarning, clenching onto
it tightly, and saw Louis grin to himself in the corner of his eye. He could probably feel how much
Harry was throbbing in his hand, dangerously on edge, stomach tightening and untightening and
breathing getting heavier.
"I'm gonna cum," He barely whispered, for Louis' ears only, "Fuck."

He hadn't exactly thought this through, but Louis wasn't stopping the action, jerking Harry off even
faster. Harry's eyes fluttered shut, breathing reaching its peak and mouth falling open. He
shuddered a little and then he was cumming, and God knows his cum was streaking all over the
underside of the table. As he came, he couldn't hold in a strained whimper from coming out very
loudly and suddenly into the otherwise silent classroom.

Still handling the shake of his orgasm, Louis' hand gone now, he cleverly made a bang on the table
with his hand just as everybody turned to face him in shock, setting up an excuse.

He had carried out the moan into one of discomfort, thinking on his feet, "Fuck, I hit my elbow!"
though his classmates burst into an uproar of laughter.

Harry had gone very red, he could feel it, and was sweating a little and still sort of riding out the
last of his orgasm, but nobody seemed to know. To them, it just looked like he had pretended to hit
his elbow to get some attention. That was better than them knowing the truth, anyway.

"Alright, back to the lesson." Mrs Bridges urged everybody, clapping her hands. Harry avoided eye
contact with her, feeling like literally dying. Louis was having a complete laughing fit, silently,
clutching his stomach with his eyes screwed shut.

"Shut up, Tomlinson," Harry breathed, smirking to himself.

"Feel less stressed now, or more?" Louis giggled, quietly, patting Harry's leg. "Put your dick away,
you dirty boy, before someone sees."

Harry did, doing his jeans and belt back up silently, grabbing a tissue or two from his bag and
trying his best to daub beneath the table without even looking. He probably got most of it cleaned
up. Probably.

---

"By the way, you know that quiet girl in our class, Emily?" Louis asked Harry at lunch, as they
both queued up in the cafeteria.

"Yeah?"

"She totally watched you cum earlier. Pretty sure she knew, she watched your eyes close and
everything."

"What!" Harry barked out a laugh. "Why didn't you tell me before?!"

"She won't tell anyone, don't worry." Louis giggled. "Though she probably wishes she videoed it."

"Oh, shut up." Harry smirked. "It felt so good, the situation was just very difficult. Thanks though,
Lou."

"Anytime. That's definitely the naughtiest thing I've ever done."

"Gosh, I'm corrupting you so much. Where's pure, little Louis gone?"

"Devil Louis is holding him hostage." Louis wiggled his eyebrows, and Harry playfully shoved
him.

"Shut up, you idiot. My little devil."

Harry's phone buzzed in his pocket, so he pulled it out. He had turned the notifications back on for
his emails once he had remembered to earlier, so when he spotted that it was of course an email
from the anonymous account, his heart skipped an ominous beat.

"Fuck sake, it's the account."

Did you orgasm earlier in class Harry? ;)

-Anonymous Sender XXXX

"It's someone in our class." He immediately said, showing the message to Louis. "It's Kendall. I
fucking know it is, it's got to be!"

"Maybe you weren't so slick earlier. I think I agree, either her or one of your creepy fangirls."

Harry breathed in slowly, holding it for a second before releasing it.

"I'm still leaning more towards Kendall. I know whoever it is has been putting things to make it
sound like someone new, but that's probably just to throw me off. It's her. One hundred percent."

"Then what now?" Louis asked. "Reply saying you know it's her?"

"God, I don't know." Harry sighed. "I'm so stuck. I guess it's quite reassuring having an inkling, but
I still don't know how to go about it."

He tapped on the reply button anyway, drafting a response while Louis ordered some food as they
had reached the counter. Harry had ultimately lost his appetite.

What is it that you want. Spell it out for me again. You said spend time alone, why?? Nothing's
going to happen. Please just give it up.

Harry.

He trailed Louis to the table where their friends were sat, and Harry's eyes remained on his phone
screen as he slipped into a seat between Louis and Niall.

"My parents were saying how much they like you, Harry," Christopher suddenly spoke up, talking
with a mouth full of pasta, disgustingly. "And that you're very welcome to come round again
whenever you want."

"Thank you, I appreciate that." Harry lied, in almost complete disinterest as his eyes remained
trained on his email inbox. One popped through while Christopher was blabbering on about how
Harry should stay the night next time, and although it was against Harry's nature to be rude and
ignore somebody who was talking to him, he tapped straight onto the new email in an instant and
skimmed his eyes over it.

I'd really love to see more photos of you, but I know that's out of the question now. The next best
thing would just be to spend some time alone with you, as I said earlier. You seem like a kind and
handsome guy.

-Anonymous Sender XXXX

Well, at least he knew for sure it wasn't Christopher now, considering he was busy cramming
forkfuls of pasta into his mouth as the fresh email had popped through. Harry's brain was still
screaming Kendall at him.
 This is Kendall. Isn't it.

Harry.

And he simply didn't get another response.

Chapter End Notes

Don't worry, email situation won't go far lol.

Sorry if this was a bit of a cHAoTiC chapter

 38
Chapter Notes

sorry if there are typos!!!!!

im falling asleep and will fix any as soon as im awake looool

this is the type of harry in this story if you're wondering

YEEEET

And Lou
See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry's paranoia seemed to have reached its peak following the emails during lunchtime. He now
knew, for certain, that it was somebody in his class, and it was spiralling his head into an absolute
frenzy. He wasn't even so bothered that somebody quite literally knew how he looked when he
came - seeing as they had literally said that straight up - because all he wanted was to get to the
bottom of this.

Their final class of the day was maths, which of course, Harry had to endure sitting by Kendall in.
He moodily staggered into the room, throwing down his bag beneath the table and falling into his
seat before Kendall had even arrived. They had turned up a few minutes early, because Harry had
been restless the entire length of their lunch break, not wanting to stand in one place for too long.
He felt like he was being watched, constantly, and it put him on edge.

Kendall walked in with the rest of the crowd at 2pm, and it was pretty obvious she was trying to
look sexy as she passed by the front of the desk to get to her side, swaying her hips a little. Harry
was over seeing her in a sexy way, she just came across as plain annoying nowadays. He didn't
even bat an eyelid, scribbling down the date in his notepad.

"How's your detective work going?" She snickered, mockingly, pulling her floral pencil case from
her expensive bag.

"Shut up." He sneered back.

"Really, though, have you found out who's doing it?"

"You haven't even asked much about it, which you would do if you weren't involved." He
criticised, his brain constantly adding things up.

"Give it a rest. Jesus, I've got nothing to do with whatever you're blabbering on about." She rolled
her eyes. "I was just asking. That's all."

He ignored her, deciding to try and concentrate on the lesson, rather than playing a detective game.
Concentration was hard, though, and he almost managed to the end of the lesson, listening and
writing, before he sensed some eyes on him. Four pairs, to be exact, belonging to the table of the
"unpopular girls" across the room. Emily, the girl Louis claimed had seen him literally orgasm
earlier, was a part of that group, along with three other girls Harry admittedly hadn't even learnt the
names of - they were in his brain somewhere. They were all pretty bleak looking (Harry didn't like
the word 'ugly'), and were just a small remainder of the girls in the class who seemed to drool over
Harry.

They all giggled amongst themselves when they were caught staring, turning away immediately to
face the front, one of them even going red (Harry remembered her name as Grace. Maybe.)

"Got a little fan club over there." Kendall snorted. "None of them will ever get to date you, though.
Poor, sad girls, they'll only get to fantasize about what's under your clothes."

"Stop being so weird," Harry snapped, "God, leave people alone. At least they'll never get dumped
by me, either."
Ooh. Kendall seemed to cut right past the blatant dig.

"They could be behind your little email scandal," Kendall offered, an edge of smugness to her tone,
"Just an observation. What did the emails say, sexual things?"

Harry swallowed dryly in his throat, eyes remaining on the girls, who were excitedly discussing
things together. He kept his eyes there, before slowly dragging them back to Kendall.

"None of your business."

But it did make him think. Yeah, Louis had mentioned Emily literally catching him cumming in
class, watching him do it, and the first email following that had mentioned it.

Suspicious? A little.

"But it is making you think." Kendall raised an eyebrow.

"Or maybe you're just trying to deter the attention away from yourself. Just an observation." Harry
mocked, rolling his eyes. "Stop talking to me, please."

"Whatever." She scoffed.

He glanced back over towards Emily and her friends as the lesson drew to a close, and they were
once again looking his way. They panicked a little again when they saw that they had been caught,
and Harry acted quickly and mimed "what?" Though he hadn't done it in a confrontational way,
more a soft and confused one.

The girls' eyes widened considering Harry's clarification of acknowledgment, and Emily quickly
shook her head, shyly, as if to say it was nothing, before they all turned away once again. Students
began packing up as class had drawn to an end, but instead of going to join Louis and the others,
Harry quickly tailed Emily and her friends. He caught up to them in the hallway, as other pupils
dispersed towards the school's exit doors to head home.

"Uh, Emily. Hey." He called out, and saw her visibly tense before turning his way. Her friends
stayed by her side, all blinking up at him like lost sheep. Simply hearing him say her name had
made her frozen still.

"Y-Yeah? Hi." She stammered out, scratching her forearm nervously. Her friends looked like they
were restraining bursting out into giggles.

"Do you mind if I talk to you alone?" He glanced up at her friends, as a little hint, and their eyes
widened a little and they couldn't hold back their giggles. They shuffled away, disappearing around
a corner, though Harry could guarantee they were lurking around it and listening out. Fucking hell,
they probably thought Harry was about to ask Emily out, it seemed like that.

"What's up?" Emily timidly asked, barely able to retain eye contact. She was a sweet girl, kind-
looking, though her appearance was rather unkempt. Her eyebrows were pretty unruly, though that
couldn't be helped, and her hair was puffy and tied back in a bun, and she was petite in size. He
suddenly remembered she had helped him in English class once. Nice girl.

"Umm," He huffed out a breathy laugh, "Do you… do you find me attractive?" Probably not a
good way to lead into it, considering it had previously seemed a lot like a date was on the cards.
He heard a shriek of laughter around the corner, well aware his assumption had been correct that
her friends were eavesdropping.
She flushed very red, looking at the lockers to her left to avoid looking at him. He could have
sworn he saw her trembling, and she didn't seem to be close to conjuring up a response. He decided
to re-word his opening statement.

"Sorry, I worded that a bit weirdly." He rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. "I just wanted to ask
about something that's been happening with me. Uh, do you know anything about some emails?"

"Sorry." She breathed out, before turning away and completely hurrying away. Harry raised his
eyebrows, watching her completely disappear around the corner her friends had, hearing an uproar
of giggles before the sound faded as they must have been walking away.

Okay? What did that even mean? Was she apologising? What the hell?

Harry stood there for a good twenty seconds, brain throwing concepts together, before he was cut
off by a door shutting, followed by Louis' voice.

"Harry, what on earth are you stood there for?" There was humour in Louis' tone. "I stopped
behind to talk to Mr Bradley, I thought you'd be gone by now."

"I'm confused." Harry mused, still staring into space where Emily had disappeared. "I… I don't
know if it's Emily, or not."

"Let's walk and talk, come on, everyone's gone." Louis suggested, and they did. "Do you mind
dropping me home? Sorry, I just realised my mum can't today."

"Yeah, that's fine," Harry mumbled, but he was still pretty shocked by how abruptly Emily had
excused herself and completely left. "I want to talk this through with you. Do you have time to sit
in the park with me?"

"Uh… yeah, sure." Louis smiled, with a shrug. "You're really thinking right now, I'm confused."

They reached Harry's car in the car park a few minutes later, it being one of the only remaining
ones, and they jumped in. Harry didn't even put the radio on, just drove them in silence towards
their local park. He could sense Louis glancing at him a few times, but he didn't meet his eye. He
was too busy both thinking, plus trying to concentrate on driving.

He pulled his car onto the side of the road by the park's entrance, and they jumped out, walking
over the crunching pebbles and through the gates. It wasn't busy, considering it was late afternoon
on a Monday, and not even remotely warm, and Harry stopped and sat on a bench, so Louis joined
him with his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. It was cold beneath them, but neither of them
complained, Harry just stared forwards.

"Talk, then," Louis chuckled, lightening the mood a little. "Why do you think it could be Emily?"

"She was staring at me in class, with her mates, just laughing. And looking away whenever I
spotted them." He explained. "Then I confronted Emily after class, well, not even confronted, just
simply asked her if she knows anything about some emails."

"And?"

"And she just said sorry and literally rushed away to her friends." Harry shook his head, lightly.
"Was… that her admitting it? I really don't know what to think, Lou."

Louis hummed in thought, looking out into the distance, where a woman was walking a dog along
the path lined with the skeletons of fir trees.
"Well, that's pretty suspicious." He shrugged. "But she is a pretty shy girl, isn't she? And you're
pretty hot, if I can say so myself." He smirked.

Harry sniffed out a laugh, patting Louis on the thigh. "So are you, Lou. I see what you're getting at,
though."

"Yeah, maybe she couldn't even bare talking to you alone, had to make an escape?" Louis
chuckled. "I know from experience, Harry, from early on in knowing you, talking to you alone was
excruciatingly hard. A lot of people find you attractive, she might have just gotten a little bit of
stage fright."

"Stage fright," Harry crowed, with an amused laugh. "I guess. But then again, she could have
easily said no, she doesn't know anything about them, and then left? She just said sorry and walked
off."

"You're overworking your pretty little head," Louis tinkered a laugh, "We'll just have to get more
clues, I guess, and keep her as a potential person. She definitely saw you cum, anyway."

Harry saw him smirking, turning to catch it in full view. He reciprocated it.

"What're you smirking at, Tomlinson?"

"Just the fact you pretended you'd hit your elbow," He cackled, "It was so obvious."

"You don't think people knew, do you?" Harry wailed, embarrassment setting in. "I thought it was
a pretty good improvisation!"

"Whatever you say, I reckon you played it off well. No one seemed to spare too much of a look."
Louis said. "You came pretty hard, though. You're welcome."

"Thanks," Harry playfully rolled his eyes. "Maybe your turn, next time."

"Never!" Louis exclaimed, "I am bad at being quiet, that definitely would not work!"

"Yes, you are. It's hot. So I wouldn't ever be able to fuck you in one of our houses while our
families are in?"

Louis turned a little timid again, it never took much.

"Doubt it, unless you literally want them to know."

"You haven't even been to my house yet," Harry observed, "Maybe some time soon."

"I'd love to see your fancy-schmancy house." Louis teased. "Or is it more of a castle?"

"Shut up. It's not that grand."

"Bet it is," Louis smirked, "Your highness. I remember your love for your swimming pool, your
after-school swims. What a scandalous love affair."

That seemed like years ago now, their awkwardly tense conversations in their hotel room about
what their lives were like at home. It never would have occurred to them that their relationship
would end up with classroom handjobs and talking in parks after school - no way.

"Yes, I'm in a committed relationship with my beautiful swimming pool. What else would a pool
filter be for?"
"Gross!" Louis snorted, slapping him lightly on the arm. "I don't want to hear about it!"

"It's obviously a joke," Harry cackled, "I've never fucked my pool."

"Yeah, I'd hope not!" Louis shook his head, still lightly laughing to himself. "You're an idiot, you
know that?"

"Kendall told me that enough times."

Louis sighed, the conversation having suddenly verged on sad. He rubbed Harry's leg, lovingly, but
not so much that anyone watching would view it as anything more than friendly.

"She treated you like shit, fucking hell. Sorry about all that."

"It's not your problem, I don't know why you're apologising."

Louis stuffed his hands back into his pockets, shoulders up by his ears in an attempt to stay warm
as the chill in the wind nipped at his neck.

"She will never get another boyfriend like you. And it's funny how she's probably realising that as
we speak. Stupid girl." Louis smiled at him. "Every day I wonder how someone like me got so
lucky. Literally everyone in our class wants you."

"Don't be dramatic, only a few." Harry laughed, though deep down he was aware it was more than
a few. "And I'm the lucky one, Lou. You're all I've ever wanted in a partner, you know? And it's
crazy how fast it all happened, right?"

"Yup. I guess you could say Paris changed us, right?"

"Hell yes it did," Harry grinned. "It's not the city of love for nothing."

"I want to put my head on your shoulder."

"I want you to, as well. One day, Louis, you can do that openly."

He was begging for that day to come around quickly.

---

Harry had dropped Louis home not too long after, as they had both gotten too cold to be sat on a
park bench. Before Louis had gone in, they'd had a quick make out, because that was long awaited.
Harry parked up and slammed his way into his house, kicking off his Chelseas by the door. His
mother, having heard his very announced arrival, strolled from the living room with her arms
folded.

"Afternoon, Harry." She greeted, monotonously.

"No time to talk now, Mum, I have to get a shower." He lied, heading for the stairs. She stopped
him in his tracks.

"Kendall said you slept with some girls in Paris." She dropped the leading statement, and he wanted
so badly to roll his eyes but didn't dare. He ran his fingers over the banister as a distraction,
shrugging but going on to answer it anyway.

"She was lying."

 "Well, I'd hope she was, Harry. Because I didn't raise you like that, did I? You don't break up with
somebody and then go and sleep with other people in the same week."

This was so painfully awkward. She must have really thought lowly of him right now, ridiculously,
having believed Kendall. Well - Kendall thought she had been telling the truth - but little did she
know, it was all a big lie to cover up the smaller picture. He deeply exhaled and nodded.

"I know, Mum. You know I'm not like that."

They linked eyes, and for the first time in a few days, she gave him a genuine smile. It was kind of
a sad one, like a non-verbal apology for how many arguments they'd had lately, but that was left
unspoken.

"You deserve love, Harry." She spoke, after a short silence. "I'm sorry I've been so hard on you, I
know it mustn't be easy going through a breakup like that, seeing as you were together so long. I'd
just like you to know that Robin and I support you, and we wouldn't want to see you upset. Sorry
for trying to force Kendall back onto you, that was unfair of me."

Harry slowly nodded, taking in all that she had said. He had really needed to hear that, after the
tough time he'd had since arriving back in England. It was nice to hear she was finally taking his
side again.

"Thank you." Was all he could muster, before he disappeared upstairs.

And he decided to have a shower after all, to ease the tension in his muscles. The general strain of
the day had gotten to him, evidently, and he liked to think of a shower as literally washing some of
those worries down the drain. Nothing could wash away his worry surrounding the emails, though;
that was constantly on his mind.

He had so much crammed into his brain, so many crazy ideas. On one hand he couldn't let go of
his Kendall suspicions, because he knew she not only wanted to mess with him, she also couldn't
get over him. He knew she would be behind this purely so she could reach that side of him again,
all while pretending it was all for a laugh with her mates. And then there was that strange Emily
encounter: why had she sped off so suddenly? As Louis had mentioned, she may have simply
become flustered. But that didn't explain the fact that she hadn't even denied knowing something
about those emails.

He knew time was running out, and he would soon have to make a decision on what to do about
this. He had been given a couple of days, meaning tomorrow, Tuesday, was really the final chance
he had to come up with a good response. There were so many other potential people who could be
behind the email, as all he had done was whittle it down to those in his class… but so many girls in
his class liked him.

He just knew he wasn't going to meet up alone with whoever this was. He didn't want to get torn to
pieces.

Chapter End Notes

itll get more interesting again soon, promise.

i liked reading your guesses btw as to whos emailing harry ;) thanks for the comments
xx

anything anyone would like to see in the story? as in small plot ideas, i like involving
things people wanna see ○
 39
Chapter Notes

Let's get this story continued.

Waking up on Tuesday morning, Harry's first thought upon achieving full consciousness was that
today he would have to get back to the anonymous sender about a potential compromise. Then he
thought about Louis, as usual, before once again his mind wandered to the email incident again.

He headed to school, knowing fully well he was about half an hour late already, and whipped his
car into a parking space. He hopped out, pressing his car keys so his car beeped, securing it. And
seeing as luck hadn't exactly been on his side lately, his eyes followed the sound of another car
door slamming shut to see Kendall had just jumped out of her mum's car in the drop-off zone.

He sped up his pace significantly, acting as though he hadn't even seen her, hands stuffed in his
pockets. But he couldn't exactly ignore her greeting being bellowed, in her irritatingly shrill voice.

"Hey, stranger!" Her voice constantly had that mocking tone locked in it, a tone which berated
Harry's wishes to be far away from her. "Wait up!"

Harry dropped the main entrance door on Kendall as he passed through, jolting a little when he felt
her hand curl around his shoulder, urging him to stop. He heavily sighed, as they stood in the
centre of the corridor, turning to her with splayed hands.

"What? What do you want?" He huffed, hatred written in his eyes.

Her lips curled into a playful smirk. "An update on your email scandal."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Kendall, how many fucking times do I have to tell you? It's none of your
business. You're suspiciously intrigued."

"Sorry for caring about my past boyfriend's life! I want you to catch this weirdo too, you know."
She scoffed.

"Maybe take the hint with the word 'past'. My business is not yours anymore, that's over." He
turned away from her again, proceeding towards their class, which was still quite a while away.
She continued to pursue him.

"Did you speak to that weird Emily girl? She's always gawking over you whenever I look her way."
Kendall commented, and if she had taken the hint Harry still didn't want to talk, then she clearly
didn't give two shits about it.

Harry still couldn't convince himself to believe Kendall wasn't a part of this. She seemed insistent
on blaming someone else, yet wanted to keep her nosy face buried in all the drama. She was still a
major suspect, whatever she said to deter it.

"I spoke to her, yeah. Don't think it's her." He tested. It was a lie, he thought the possibility of it
being Emily or her mates was pretty large, but he wanted to see what Kendall's next plan of action
was.
"One of the other weird girls in our class, then. There seems to be plenty of them, have you
narrowed it down at all? Could it be anyone in the school?"

"It's someone in the class," He bluntly remarked. "That's all I'm saying. I'm sick of talking to you
now, please leave me alone."

They had reached the classroom door now, yet students were all pouring out of it the moment they
did. The register obviously didn't take too long to take, so they'd missed it. Harry's eyes scanned the
wave of people, half of him searching for a suspicious pair of eyes looking back, and the other half
always on the lookout for Louis. Zayn and Liam gave Harry a scathing up-and-down, which as
usual was enough to hurt Harry deep down, while remembering the fact they were once the best
mates he could have ever asked for. He decided to be the bigger man, giving them both an
awkward smile and nod. It probably pissed them off even more when he was hospitable back.

Emily and her mates passed by Harry, glancing his way before erupting into their giggles and
bowing their heads. It was infuriating to Harry, being completely in the dark about whether their
laughter was because they were behind it, or they were just flustered by him in general (especially
after his one-on-one with Emily.)

Louis and his mates appeared at the back of the crowd, and Louis' face lit up once he spotted
Harry.

"Hey, Harry!" Christopher greeted, as if he always had to be the first to say it. Bless him, he had
mentioned to Harry at his house that he saw Harry as his best friend out of them all.

"Hi," He coolly greeted back, but his eyes were on Louis mainly. "Louis, quick word?"

He and Louis wandered ahead a little, as they all made their way to their biology class, so Harry
had the chance to vent a little.

"Today's the day I've got to tell this anonymous bastard what the compromise is," He began,
scratching the back of his head, warily. "And I still have no clue what I want to say to them."

"I was doing some thinking, actually, about who it could be in general. Do you not think Emily and
her friends seem a little too shy to be behind it? I can't imagine any of them would be brave enough
to want to spend individual time with you." Louis expressed, his eyes trained on Emily and her
friends, who were quite far ahead in their class' hoard.

"That's a good point, they're all a little too socially awkward. This has to be someone brave." Harry
theorised, and just as he said this, Kendall and all of his ex-friends came into view on their left, all
of them staring a little too smugly at him.

"Heard you've got a stalker," Gigi voiced, her tone sickly sweet and dripping with hatred, "Can't
see who on earth would want nudes from you."

Surprising just about everyone, Niall's voice suddenly cut in from behind them, having heard
Gigi's dig at Harry.

"Shut up, Gigi, you've probably always wanted nudes from him."

In an instant, Zayn, in a rage over what Niall said about his girlfriend, turned to Niall and grabbed
him by his neck, slamming him against the lockers. The classmates all around them gasped at the
sight, stopping in their tracks to take in the scene.

Harry did not hesitate to step in, storming over and shoving Zayn as hard as he possibly could. It
sent Zayn stumbling backwards to the floor, looking up at Harry with a mix of pure shock and
hatred. Harry met him halfway on the hatred part, paired with a look that said 'don't you fucking
mess with my friends.' Gigi was quick to kneel at his side, acting as though he had been shot.

"You piece of shit," Zayn spat at Harry, glancing around him at everyone's eyes on him, "What the
fuck are you all looking at?!"

"Not a nice feeling, is it?" Harry was smiling, feeling completely accomplished, "Leave my friends
alone."

He then linked eyes with Kendall, who didn't really have much of an expression. Her arms were
folded, leant on one hip as she stared back. Harry broke the eye contact, figuring he had conveyed
enough hatred towards their group for the time being.

"Are you okay, Niall?" He worried, turning to Niall to see him with a red, flustered face, rubbing at
his neck where Zayn's hand had clasped it.

"Yeah," Niall breathed, still a little overwhelmed.

"Okay. Let's go, guys." He smiled to his mates, collectively, walking in their group away from the
scene.

"Watch your fucking back, Styles!" Zayn yelled after them, which simply urged Harry to smirk in
amusement.

Once they had turned the corner and were out of eye and earshot, Louis spoke up.

"Bloody hell, Harry, that was brave."

"Not as brave as Niall was for sticking up for me in the first place," Harry mentioned, patting Niall
very appreciatively on the back, "Cheers, buddy."

"Don't mention it," Niall smiled, "You may have said things to me in the past on a bad day, but I've
always been able to tell you're different from all of them. You're proving that more to me every
day."

Harry was glad to have heard that, glad Niall forgave him. He had found just the right group of
friends, and he was so grateful.

---

Instead of incessantly listening to their teacher in biology as Harry should have been, he was too
busy staring at an empty email response to the sender, wondering what on earth he was meant to
say. He could feel Kendall and Co.'s glares occasionally, but he simply found it funny they had
nothing better to do.

He could feel Louis looking over his shoulder, glancing up at him to confirm this.

"What are you thinking?" Louis whispered, eyes remaining on their teacher to assure she wasn't
paying attention.

"I'm not too sure. Either I meet up with whoever this is, and see what they want, or I somehow
think up some other compromise." Harry thought aloud. "I can't stop assuming it's Kendall."

"Send a test email now, and watch her. If you get a response and can see she didn't use her phone,
you'll know it's someone else in the class. And if they don't reply at all, she can still be a possible
candidate." Louis suggested. "Just send an email asking if they can suggest another compromise?"

"That's a shout, actually. I'll send a quick one." Harry whispered, thumbing out a fast email, hitting
send without even thinking. "Watch her."

It read: Hi, about that compromise. I can't think of anything to suggest, but not really set on
meeting. What could you possibly get out of meeting alone with me, which would make all this
blackmailing worth it? -Harry.

They had to watch Kendall discreetly, so as not to both be sat there blatantly staring, to see she was
busy taking notes in her obnoxious glittery pen as she listened to their teacher. A response didn't
come for the time being, though the two of them continued cautiously watching her for the next
few minutes.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, once their teacher had set them the task of working
collaboratively from a textbook, Kendall became inquisitive with Gigi.

"Gi?"

"Hmm?" Gigi mumbled in acknowledgment, flicking with her manicured nails to the specified page
in the book.

"You never… did want to see Harry naked, did you?"

Gigi turned to her with a scathing look. "What! No!"

"Even before I was with him?"

"No, Kenny, why the hell would you even have to ask me that? I love Zayn, I would never."

"You would never… because you're with Zayn? So if you hadn't been, you might've even made a
move?" Kendall stressed.

Cheryl chipped in suddenly. "Kenny, you are way too cautious! You're not even with Harry
anymore, stop thinking like that about him."

"Harry's an attractive guy, obviously," Gigi admitted, "But no, my thoughts never wandered further
than that. He was yours."

"He still is mine." Kendall sadly stated. Her two friends turned to her rapidly.

"No, Kenny. He's not. Not anymore."

"I just can't wrap my head around the fact he isn't. Sorry."

Cheryl patted her calmly on the back, grabbing Kendall's full attention. "I bet. You'll get over
him."

Kendall looked up at Harry, to see him looking back. He quickly looked away once she clocked
him.

"I keep seeing him staring at me," She mentioned, something in her heart fluttering with hope. "Do
you think he still feels things for me?"

"Who knows? It is hard to get over someone, especially after being with them so long." Cheryl
shrugged, before quickly adding, "But don't get your hopes up, Kenny."

"Already too late for that."

Harry was still keeping a close eye, having to look away fast at one point, after she had caught him
looking. Fuck, she probably even thought he still liked looking at her. He glanced down at his
phone screen, stomach turning when he spotted that a new email had actually popped through. In
the time he had watched Kendall interacting with Cheryl and showing no signs of looking at her
phone.

"Lou." He mumbled, nudging him and cutting off his conversation with Charlie. "New email, and I
didn't see her on her phone. Must be someone else in here."

They both scanned over the new email in silence, taking it in.

Hi Harry, thrilled to hear from you again. Well, the thought of merely being alone in your presence
makes me feel excited, and that is why I chose that as a compromise to the video I initially wanted
(would have been nice to see you touch yourself, but I know that's off the cards.) So if you're still
up for a little meeting, just say the word.

-Anonymous sender XXXX

"Fucking hell," Harry groaned, "They're still insistent on meeting."

"I don't see any other way out of this. How bad could it really be if you do meet them?"

"That's what I'm starting to think. I could even report them afterwards, once I know who they are."
Harry sighed. "My life has gone to absolute shit at the moment. Minus you being in it, of course."

"You have been through a hell of a lot." Louis thoughtfully patted his leg under the desk. "But
you've dealt with it all so well. I'm proud of you for that."

"Thanks, Lou. Just glad you're in it."

Harry ended up replying again, mentioning he wanted to know the conditions of meeting. And
then, for the rest of class, his mind was buzzing surrounding who the hell this person could be.
And what they really wanted from him.
 40
Chapter Notes

So the song mentioned later on is obviously a harry song. And yeah violin will find a
way into it too alongside the piano that's actually in it haha.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Options seemed to be running low as the end of the school day drew nearer. Now that it had been
physically proven Kendall didn't have any involvement with the emails, it was one less suspect,
though it had been where Harry's suspicions were strongest.

Emily and her friends were still within that bracket, though. And as much as Harry didn't want it to
be true, he still had a weird feeling about Christopher, too. He wanted to work out who this person
was before there was even a chance he had to meet alone with them.

Later on in the day, their final lesson was music. As they walked to said lesson, Harry and Louis
discussed their thoughts again.

"So you reckon there's still a possibility it's Emily's group?" Louis asked, although he was cautious
nobody around them was listening in.

"Honestly, yeah. It was just a little bit too suspicious, the way she ran off like that." Harry decided.
"The annoying thing is that I'll never be able to work out whether they're acting suspiciously
around me, or whether they're just… flustered."

"Hmm…" Louis withdrew for a moment in thought, their walk becoming reflective. "Well, you
need to gain their trust a little more, maybe you could even join their group in music class? I
remember Miss Bridges saying something about us splitting into groups of five to produce some
songs."

"Do you really think they'd take me in? What would I do, just waltz over and infiltrate their
group?" Harry chuckled. Louis smiled in amusement, sniffing out a laugh.

"I guess so. You're confident, I reckon you could pull it off."

They reached the classroom door, catching it as a few of their classmates had just passed through
it. And of course, Harry didn't particularly enjoy this specific lesson, considering everyone's
constant joking around about he and their teacher. But today he was hoping to concentrate
primarily on gaining Emily and her friends' trust.

He took a seat with his friends for now, as their class got settled in. He didn't even spare a glance
towards Kendall and Co., but he definitely felt the ray of pure detest shot his way by Zayn and
Gigi. He happily ignored it.

There was the usual wave of coughs of Harry's name as Miss Bridges made her way in, but at this
point he was way too used to that. The moment she had taken the register and established
everybody was here, she began blabbering on immediately about things Harry didn't have much of
a care for. He did like music, but he didn't find their teacher engaging enough (and certainly not to
the degree his classmates joked he did.)

He couldn't help his eyes from wandering over to Emily's group, who intently listened to what their
teacher was saying at the front of the room, and kept his eyes trained there.

One of Emily's friends, a petite brunette girl named Amber, must have felt Harry's stare, as she
looked his way and they linked eyes. Harry decided he would hold the eye contact and smile, a
closed-mouthed, warm smile, which evidently stirred up Amber's emotions and she briefly smiled
back, then shot her eyes away in a fluster. He wanted them all to relax around him, so that he could
speak to them and get an honest reaction, one he knew wasn't brought out due to their nervousness.

Once Mrs Bridges had mentioned what Louis earlier had, everybody working in groups of five on
their own independent songs, she granted everybody some practical time to get up and go in groups
to use the practice rooms. Harry took his chance. He hadn't even told Louis or the others he was
leaving, but figured Louis would obviously realise once he saw. He was heading straight for
Emily's group, the two other girls he believed were called Grace and Chloe, pretty much joining
their awkward huddle in the corner of the room.

"Hi," He greeted, smiling coolly. They all looked sheepishly at him, wide-eyed and probably a
little confused as to why he was approaching their group again. "Do you guys mind if I work with
you? I could be your fifth member."

They all exchanged looks, shyly, and it looked as though a giggle outburst was imminent if they
couldn't hold their nerve.

"Why do you want to work with us?" Amber spoke up, and Harry was almost certain he had never
even heard her voice before.

Harry shrugged, "I like working with new groups. What have we been asked to do? I wasn't really
listening."

Amber smiled to herself at the ground. Oh bloody hell, she probably thought he meant he had been
too distracted with staring at her to have properly concentrated on the lesson.

"We have to make a two-minute song piece. I-I think." Grace stumbled over her own words,
nervously pushing up her glasses.

"Ah, got it. How about we go and grab a practice room and get started?" He grinned, confidently
beginning to lead his group to the classroom's exit, which lead to a series of practice rooms outside
it.

He couldn't help but link eyes with Kendall as he led the socially awkward girls to the door, and
she shot him a look of sheer bewilderment once she spotted whom he had opted to work with. She
nudged Gigi and the others, who all looked Harry's way and burst into laughter. He really did not
care, luckily; in fact, he hoped it somehow made Kendall jealous.

He could hear Emily and her friends nattering quietly to one another, probably discussing their
surprise that someone as hot as Harry had openly chosen to join their group. He opened up the
second practice room along, the first already occupied by another group, and they all trotted in
behind him. The soundproof room meant it was completely silent in there, to the extent that a
dropped pin would sound more like a pair of cymbals being crashed together.

Harry awkwardly cleared his throat, as the four girls blinked nervously at him. He perched himself
on the piano chair, accidentally pressing his elbow against the keys so that it blurted out an ugly
tune. The girls giggled, and Harry was glad his clumsy self had done something to break the
deafening silence.

Gain their confidence, Harry. Maybe they'll open up. Make them less nervous.

He realised nobody was going to talk first unless he initiated it. "What genre are we thinking?"

They all exchanged looks one again, as if non-verbally persuading one another to speak up.

Chloe was the one to do so, the girl with the fiery ginger hair tied back in a tight ponytail.

"Something easy, I guess. We just need a basic tune, a few instruments."

"Anyone handy with any instruments?" Harry quirked an eyebrow. "I can just about handle a
triangle."

The girls laughed once again.

"I'm good at piano, I take classes," Emily mentioned, "And Grace is amazing at violin. We could
create a basic tune with those, couldn't we?"

"Yeah," Harry hummed, though he was mainly focusing on how to ask again about the emails. "I
convince myself every time I shower that I can sing, I wouldn't mind giving that a go? Maybe us
three could sing, even?" He offered, gesturing to Amber and Chloe.

The girls seemed to be a little apprehensive, but they agreed. Harry really could not be bothered
with this, he couldn't care less, really, but he had to get these girls to stop being so flustered around
him. The four girls excitedly started drafting out some lyrics, sat in a circle on the floor around a
notepad, while Harry distractedly wandered around the room. He grabbed his phone and shot
Louis a quick text message.

Harry: Bloody hell this is awkward. Keep wondering how this is even gonna work, how can I just
drop the question in again? .xx

The reply was almost immediate.

Louis: Don't worry too much about it, we have a few lessons working on these songs so you've got
time with them every time we have music. You'll find a way to ask at some point xx

Harry sighed and slipped his phone away, sitting down on the floor too, awkwardly folding his
long legs in front of him. He needed to at least pretend to be involved, even if it meant sitting and
listening to their ideas. They were mentioning writing a sappy, sad breakup song, which he knew in
an instant would probably provoke Kendall to think he had written it on purpose for her once it
came to performing it. For fuck's sake.

"What do you think of these lyrics so far, Harry?" Grace shyly asked, scooting the notepad his
way. He scooped it up and read the two sentences scrawled down in it.

I'm in my bed, and you're not here. And there's no one to blame but the drink and my wandering
hands.

Fucking hell, they were getting deep in this one already.

"I like it," He admitted, noting that the lyrics were actually very good so far, considering they'd
only been discussing it for a few minutes now. "Is it gonna be sort of melancholic?"
"We thought that would work best." Emily nodded. "We just need to think of a tune."

In an instant, Harry's brain had already constructed a tune those lyrics could be sung in. And so he
sang it along, straight away, in said tune. The four girls looked utterly stunned by his voice.

"W-Wow. Okay, you can definitely sing." Emily blushed, unable to look at him. "That tune works
amazingly."

Harry did a comical bow. "I've got a good ear for music, sometimes."

Emily stood up and headed to the piano, sitting at it. She began playing a light tune, something she
believed would fit, pausing and tweaking it a few times until she found something which sufficed.
Harry hummed the tune along, nodding.

"Yeah, yeah, that's good," He said, "We're actually getting somewhere."

And as if on cue, there was a knock on their practice room door. Harry jumped up to open it up.
Kendall was stood there, urging a deep sigh to leave his lips.

"Yes?" He snapped. Her eyes scanned the girls behind him, her lips curling up into a smirk.

"You and your girlfriends have to come back to the classroom now. Miss Bridges told me to get
everyone back, practice time is over."

The girls were laughing quietly to themselves behind Harry again at Kendall's reference to them,
although Harry merely rolled his eyes.

"Okay." He bluntly replied, shutting the door in her face. "I fucking hate her, so much." He
grumbled to the girls, not even thinking through the fact that he was unloading his ex-relationship
problems onto these shy, awkward girls.

"Really?" Chloe piped up, anyway. "It's crazy how fast you can dislike someone once you have
nothing to do with them anymore."

"Let's go back," Harry changed the subject, putting on a smile, "Think we will get more practice
time next lesson. I'm glad we're all comfortable with each other now. And trust each other."

He let his eyes scan over them individually once he said that, knowing fully well it probably just
looked stupid, but he had said it just in case they were behind the emails. They all did look a little
baffled, but smiled nevertheless. As soon as they were back in the classroom, Harry took off back
to Louis and the others, which seemed a long time coming. He couldn't stand being alone with such
a quiet group for such a long time.

Louis stifled a laugh, "Looks like you left a lasting impression on them."

Harry glanced back at the girls to see them absolutely freaking out, it seemed, to one another about
him. Wow, they did manage to suppress that pretty well while they were all alone together.

"Just got to gain their trust, you know? And we have quite a good song coming together, I'll have
you know. Yours truly is one of the singers."

"Are you, now?" Louis snickered. "Turns out I am too, in my group. Me and Niall."

"Cute. Can't wait to see you perform it."

"I'd rather not. I think I'll have to call in sick on performance day, I can't sing in front of everyone."
"I bet you can," Harry bet, patting his thigh discreetly, "Trust me."

Louis shrugged. "Maybe."

The day finally drew to a well-deserved end, after Miss Bridges had seemed to have gone on and
on for the remaining time for far too long, and they were all dismissed. Zayn very violently barged
past Harry on his way out of the room, so much so that Harry almost stumbled into the wall, before
glaring back at Harry with a sort of 'this is war' death stare. Harry simply rolled his eyes back -
Zayn really didn't scare him. He had seen the boy in a fucking face mask, for goodness sake, he
had experienced his soppiest sides when they were once best mates.

They began the stroll to the car park, where Harry got a sudden idea. "Hey, Lou, wanna come to
my house today? You haven't been round yet, it's only fair."

"Oh, really?" Louis perked up. "That would be great, Harry, I've got nothing on this evening."

"You've got nothing on this evening?" Harry smirked, keeping the volume of his voice low,
making an innuendo out of it. "Sounds even better to me."

Louis flushed red. "Fucking hell, you love pulling those lines out the bag."

"You always set me up for them." Harry sniffed out a laugh.

Once they reached his Audi, they sent a wave their friends' way, and jumped into Harry's car.
Louis sent his mum a text mentioning where he would be, and then they were making the drive
there.

"I'm expecting a castle," Louis joked, "With a butler. And a gardener. Oh, and maybe a grand
fountain out front."

"You're fucking hilarious," Harry sarcastically responded, grinning to himself. "It's just a house,
Lou. No bloody gardeners, or whatever."

They pulled up at his house around ten minutes later, Harry veering the vehicle onto the pebbled
drive. Louis was already ogling the house in awe.

"Big house, though."

"Yeah, it's decent," Harry shrugged, as they jumped out. "Does the job."

Louis chuckled, following Harry to the front door. Harry opened it up, a pleasant smell of
expensive air freshener hitting their senses as he did.

"Hey, Mum!" He called out, wiping his boots on the doormat inside. Louis did the same, stepping
rather timidly into the house. "I've got a mate round!"

"A mate." Louis whispered, giggling to himself. Harry smirked at him.

"We're in here, Harry." Robin's voice sounded from the living room. Louis looked a little nervous
now, though he followed Harry towards the open living room door across the hallway.

Harry's mum paused the television as Harry strolled in. Gemma was sat in there too, meaning
Harry's entire family. Great.

"Uh… this is Louis."

Louis followed Harry in, shyly, smiling sweetly at them with a small wave. "Hi."

Anne seemed to beam welcomingly at him instantly, noting how sweet his face was and how timid
he appeared.

"Lovely to meet you, Louis. I'm Harry's mum, Anne. And this is Robin, and Harry's sister,
Gemma."

Gemma smiled at Louis, and he returned it.

"Lovely to meet you all, too."

"You wouldn't believe how relieved I am to see someone who doesn't scream 'bad influence',"
Robin chuckled, "You look like a very nice young man, unlike that bloody Zayn. And Liam, in
fact."

"Alright, dad," Harry laughed, brightly, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, Louis is very different to them.
Refreshingly different."

Louis bit back a grin that was too large.

"Yeah, those two don't seem very nice," He mentioned, looking at Harry and smiling. "Harry's too
nice to be friends with guys like them."

"Exactly." Robin smiled. "I expect you're probably done with us examining you, you can head up
to Harry's room if you want." He smiled.

"Thank you." Louis giggled, very sweetly, which put smiles on Anne and Gemma's faces.

And Harry led him out of the room again, across the hallway and to the cream-carpeted stairs.

"Introductions over with." Harry laughed. "Not too bad, was it?"

"By no means, they're all lovely!" Louis said. "And so is your house, gosh."

Harry smiled, escorting Louis into his bedroom.

"Excuse the mess." He rolled his eyes, shutting the door behind them before wandering over and
kicking all of the clothes on his floor to the edge of the room. Louis giggled.

"It's hardly messy, I'm too busy admiring the size of it." He awed, eyes taking the entire room in.
"You're so lucky. And look at that view, the pool!"

"Not too shabby, huh?" Harry smiled, falling back to sit on his large, plush bed. He patted it by his
side, so Louis joined him, kicking off his trainers and drawing his feet up to sit cross-legged.

"So," Louis began, "You said something about still being suspicious about Christopher, too? Do
you think it could still be him?"

"There's a possibility, I think." Harry shrugged. "With the way it went at his house, he had gotten
too worked up for me to even continue asking further questions, y'know? I just can't accept it not
being him until I've looked into it a little more."

"You know what that means though, right?" Louis cocked an eyebrow. "You're going to probably
have to return to his house. And their one-guest policy still stands, so alone again."
 "Do you think?" Harry sighed. "I'm not sure how I could go about it. Maybe I'd even have to stay
the night, heaven forbid, and try and snoop on his computer while he's asleep. Then again, that's
risky, though."

"Very risky. But he's mentioned before that he's a very heavy sleeper; he wears this weird sleeping
mask, I think it's meant to prevent his asthma playing up in the night."

"Oh." Harry hummed. "So maybe that's my only option. Jesus, what has my life come to? Snooping
on someone's bloody computer while they're asleep."

"I reckon that'll help you establish if it's him, though, right? And he'd happily have you round
again, as he's said before."

"True. Though his parents didn't seem to take to me too much." He chuckled. God, the flashbacks
he was getting. The goats cheese, the 'sex before marriage is a sin' lecture, the talks of Kendall;
could he even survive another visit there? He'd probably go mad. Or drive Christopher's family
mad, either way.

The two of them spent the next ten minutes discussing random topics, deciding to steer away from
the emails shit for now. And of course, as usual, they did both end up getting horny.

And maybe ended up making out a little. Okay, a lot. And maybe Louis had ended up riding Harry
just five minutes later, Harry sat against the headboard and Louis rocking back and forth on his
dick. It wasn't too easy keeping Louis quiet, and he mainly had to keep his moans muffled against
Harry's bare shoulder, but it was better than nothing.

It was so unplanned and so hot that they both didn't take very long at all to cum, breathing heavily
into each other's mouths as they did.

And for a while, Harry had forgotten about all the bullshit going on in his life. And equally, he had
also forgotten about how loudly his bed often creaked (and he had received complaints before from
an annoyed Gemma, but they weren't really thinking that through right now.)

Hopefully their passionate moment had stayed private.

Chapter End Notes

Could be funny at Christopher's house again.

 41
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"Well that was fucking hot." Harry panted, once their intimate session had ended, and Louis had
buried his face into the sweaty crook of Harry's neck.

"Very." Louis giggled, planting a kiss on the glistening skin. "I love being on top of you."

"God, I love you being on top of me."

"You sure we were quiet enough? Your bed wasn't too quiet." Louis chuckled, finally clambering
off of Harry so they could properly cool off.

"Yeah, they're all downstairs anyway." Harry waved a hand, dismissing it. "I reckon we're safe for
now."

He grabbed a tissue and cleaned them both off, then chucked it into his bin and put the same
clothes back on as before, figuring he'd shower later on. Louis dressed again too, and they chilled
for a while, watching the flatscreen TV on the wall adjacent to Harry's bed. A little while later,
Louis checked his phone.

"For fuck's sake," Louis sighed, capturing Harry's attention, "I have a text off my mum, apparently
my gran's not in a very good way. I'm really sorry, Harry, I'm gonna have to go. My mum's coming
to get me on their way there."

Harry remembered Louis had mentioned his grandmother before, something about her dementia.
He frowned, rubbing Louis soothingly on the back.

"Sorry to hear that, baby, you go and see her. I hope she's alright." He kissed Louis' cheek, and He
gave his address so Louis could send it to his mum. "Text me later, if you're feeling alright to."

"I will." Louis confirmed, getting to his feet. He smirked. "Thanks for showing me your living
quarters, I am impressed."

Harry playfully rolled his eyes, grinning, "Whatever. I'll see you out."

Louis thanked Harry's parents for having him, briefly as his mum had just pulled up, before he was
giving Harry a quick hug and rushing out the door. Harry sent Louis and his family off with a wave
(including two of Louis' sisters whom he hadn't met yet) and he headed back inside.

He wandered back up to his room, sitting on his bed again to continue the boring television
programme that was still playing. There was a quick knock on his bedroom door a moment later,
and for some reason at first he thought it could be Louis, then thought it was stupid to even
consider.

"Yeah?" He called out, granting whoever it was entry. The door opened and Gemma popped her
head in, giving him a smile that looked a little bit too genuine.

"What?" Harry bluntly asked.

"Can I come in?"

"Mhmm."

She entered his room and softly shut the door behind him, and he paused the television programme
as his sister took a seat on his bed beside him.

"He seems nice." She smiled. "Nice guy."

"And you've come up here to tell me that he seems nice?" Harry confirmed, cocking an eyebrow.
"What's really up?"

She simply shrugged, her eyes wandering over to Harry's wall, where photos of himself, Kendall
and their friends were once scattered all over it. It was now practically bare.

"Seems like you're doing alright moving on from her." She gestured by nudging her head to where
the photos once were.

"Yeah, that ship has sailed." Harry chuckled, awkwardly drumming his hands on his knees.

"You seen anyone else who's caught your eye?" She inquired, quirking an eyebrow. "Anyone in
your class or anything?"

"No," Harry laughed, shrugging. "Why have you come in here to ask me that?"

"I'm your sister, I wonder about these things. It'd be nice to see you finding someone who's… more
wholesome, you know? No one like Kendall again, if you can help it."

"Oh, believe me, I will never be with someone like her again. I know my worth now, and she was
not up to standard." Harry rolled his eyes.

Gemma paused a little, humming and nodding. "So your breakup doesn't hurt you at all? Nothing
about it?"

He would be lying if he said it didn't hurt at all; being with someone for as long as he was with
Kendall inevitably took a toll on anyone once it was over, but it was more of a companionship
aspect which he missed at first. He didn't miss her, didn't miss loving her.

"At first, maybe a little. The change part of it, spending so much time with somebody and then
cutting all ties immediately, that felt quite weird. But now I don't really feel anything at all." He
tried to put it into words, playing with some loose thread on the edge of his duvet.

Gemma patted him on the back, sympathetically. "Well, as you know, I've had plenty of
relationships gone wrong. Kendall was your first proper relationship, before that it wasn't very
serious regarding girls, was it?"

Harry shook his head, knowing she was referring to the number of girls he had hooked up with
prior to dating Kendall. Gemma would often see girls for a day and then never again, knowing the
reason behind that, though never judging her brother for it. He was just young and curious.

As if Gemma had read his mind, she continued relevant to his thoughts, "It's okay to… be curious,
you know? You're nineteen, you've got so much time to work everything out. It's a great age, really,
for finding out who you really are."

Harry's stomach had dropped a little. He had a terrible feeling Gemma knew something, though he
thought it pretty much a stupid passing thought. He was simply overthinking it - she was probably
making reference to the hook-up part, frequent but fast relations with girls.
"I know," He shrugged, "And that's what I'm doing, I feel pretty comfortable with who I am." He
scooped up a fresh bottle of water from his bedside table and took a long sip. As he did, Gemma
continued.

"It's just, I…" She took a very deep breath in before continuing, "I know it's none of my business, I
don't want you to feel like I'm interrogating you or judging you, but…" She cut herself off with a
breathy laugh. "I just could have sworn I heard some… interesting noises coming from up here not
too long ago, Harry."

He choked a little on the mouthful of water he had taken in, disguising it as a genuine case of the
liquid going down the wrong way, spluttering a bit into his hand.

"What?" He tried to look baffled. "What noises? What do you mean?" His heart was racing, feeling
a sweat coming on.

Gemma took yet another deep breath, knowing that this was such a difficult discussion, looking a
little awkward. "Harry, I don't want to embarrass you. I'm just… very confused, and, honestly, a
little shocked if…" She trailed off, frantically shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry, I
really am."

"What are you implying, though?"

"I'm not looking to offend you here, Haz, it just sounded like something was going on up here not
too long ago, something friends don't do. And I know that you had Louis round."

Harry was trying hard to level his breathing, taking another sip of water to soothe his dry throat. He
didn't really know what to say, not having mentally constructed a plan whenever the inevitable
outcome of admitting who he really was came around. He couldn't even look her in the eye, feeling
a tremble coming on in his hands as he placed his water bottle down.

"Harry, please say something. I didn't mean to-"

"Just go away, Gemma," Was all he could manage, still unable to look at her.

She looked baffled, "Come on, Harry, don't be like that. I didn't come in here to put you on the
spot, I just want you to know that you can talk to me. What I heard was pretty unmistakable."

"Leave." He sternly commanded, pointing to the door, finally linking eyes yet knowing how weak
he must have looked, behind the eyes.

"Harry, I-"

"LEAVE!" He yelled all of a sudden, voice cracking as he did and tears threatening to spill.
Gemma had gasped and scrambled to her feet, apologetically blinking over at him.

"Okay, I'm leaving, I'm going. I'm sorry. I won't mention this to anyone. Sorry." She tripped over
her words, and hurried out of the room as the first tear fell, cascading down Harry's cheek.

Fuck.

---

Harry had pretty much spent the remainder of the previous evening staring up at his ceiling, after
having latched his door locked to completely isolate himself. His discussion with Gemma wouldn't
stop circulating in his head, taunting him. It was so frustrating, the fact he was so happy with Louis
but was going to find this so fucking difficult to let anybody else in on. Nobody expected him to be
into guys - it was what he had to face in such a prejudicial world.

The next morning he had left the house swiftly, avoiding his family completely, forever paranoid
that Gemma had mentioned it to them. He trusted her deep down but a cloud of doubt still hung
over his head.

He tried hard at school to forget that conversation with his sister, and his minor freakout, deciding
it would be best not to tell Louis about it. He was distracted enough by his mates for now, as they
all sat on some benches outside during their break.

The whole 'going to Christopher's house' thing was obviously still on the cards, too, so it was still
something he had to arrange. He didn't want to get Christopher's hopes up too much that the two of
them were the bestest of friends, or even that he enjoyed his last visit there, so this was going to be
a hard conversation when it came around.

"Zayn still seems to be giving you the evils, Harry," Charlie mentioned in their huddle, nudging his
head very subtly in the direction of Zayn and his group.

Harry fully turned his head, not giving a shit how obvious he was being, linking eyes across the
field immediately with Zayn. The pure repugnance radiating from Zayn's stare was almost painful;
he sure knew how to (attempt to) scare someone.

"I don't care," Harry rolled his eyes, as he turned back to his mates, "He's just trying to scare me.
Which he doesn't."

"He's just jealous of you, Harry!" Christopher exclaimed, grinning crookedly at him. "You're ten
times more attractive and you're so sweet."

Harry no longer liked the compliments from Christopher, struggled to even find humour in them.
He was always on edge knowing someone was behind those emails.

"Cheers, buddy," He lightly laughed, "I don't think it's jealousy, more a general urge to kill me off.
He hates getting embarrassed in front of people, it puts his bad-boy reputation down."

Louis scoffed, "If he thinks being a complete and utter prick and a bully makes him a bad-boy, I
feel bad for him for being so stupid."

"Yeah, that's the truth." Harry shrugged. "They're all nasty people. It's refreshing being away from
all of that, honestly."

Harry decided he would work himself into getting invited to Christopher's house now, seeing as a
reflective silence had fallen over them all now. It was a Wednesday night, the middle of the school
week, but the sooner he could get this over with the better. He shot a quick, secret wink Louis'
way, as if to tell him he was planning something, before filling the silence.

"I'm in a bit of a dilemma today, guys."

"What's that?" Niall asked. "Everything alright?"

"Just problems at home, arguments. So that means I'm sleeping in my car again, I can't be in that
house tonight." He lied. He could tell Louis was biting back a smile, knowing what Harry was
doing in order to get himself into Christopher's house.

"Oh dear!" Charlie exclaimed. "You can't sleep in your car, Harry, that's not safe."
"Crash at my place!" Christopher immediately offered, his eyes lighting up at the prospect. Harry
was glad he was the first to suggest it, as if the others had too, it would have been hard eliminating
them all for Christopher.

"Are you sure, man? It's no problem if not, it's just-"

"By all means! I'd be delighted for you to stay the night, Harry, it will be so cool!"

He was so genuinely ecstatic about it that Harry perhaps even felt a little bit bad. He was doing this
simply to do a bit of investigative work, yet to Christopher it was the greatest fucking thing in the
world.

"Ah, thank you so much, Christopher, honestly." Harry tried his best to look relieved, when really
he was the sheer opposite. "Mind if I come round about 7ish? I've got some other things I need to
sort out first."

He was stalling this on purpose. He didn't think he would physically survive if he had to go there
straight from school, an extra four hours, plus overnight. He was dreading this as it is.

"Coolio, looking forward to it, buddy!"

Harry linked eyes with Louis then, who stifled a quick laugh, disguising it with a cough.

Fucking hell, Harry was in for a tough night.

---

Harry received another email from the anonymous sender during the school day. It was just a brief
message, though Harry had to admit it did relieve him. Only a little bit, though.

Hi Harry, you've got a week until I decide how I want to meet with you. That is all, so you're not to
tell anybody about the emails in the meantime. And remember, I am observing you.

-Anonymous sender XXXX

---

No amount of mental training could prepare Harry for another visit to Christopher's house. And
this time he had to sleep over; Jesus Christ, he was beginning to consider he wouldn't make it out
alive. But as half past 6 that evening rolled along, and Harry was once again locked away in his
bedroom, a message from Christopher popped up on his phone screen.

Christopher: I am so FREAKING excited for you to stay over man!!!! We could stay up so late
and watch movies :))))

Harry did feel a little bit bad, deep down. He didn't even used to know this kid's name before Louis
came around, let alone did he want to have a fucking sleepover with him. Christopher's enthusiasm
was nothing less than creepy, when Harry thought about it too much. He hadn't even bothered
replying to the message, instead deciding he would pack an overnight bag. He threw in clothes for
school the next day, seeing as tomorrow was Thursday, along with other essentials, and by quarter
to seven was feeling pretty nauseous overall. He really did not want to bloody go.

He very quickly called to his mum that he was staying the night at a mate's, still cautious Gemma
had unveiled what she had heard, but knowing all the same that she wouldn't have done. And he
threw his overnight bag into the footwell of the passenger side of his car, starting the engine and
beginning the drive to Christopher's house. The drive went way too quickly for his liking, and soon
he was parked up by the curb outside the house. Fucking hell, even looking at it made him feel
sick.

He sighed as he hauled his bag and his exhausted body from his vehicle, slamming the door shut
and locking it behind himself. He strolled up to the door, opting for confidence rather than dread,
and knocked steadily on one of the glass panes. He watched as the silhouette of an excited figure
bounced towards the door, having to quickly release a steady breath before the door was practically
ripped open.

It was Christopher, of course.

"Harry!" He exclaimed, and Harry couldn't help but gasp a little as he was pulled into an
uncomfortably tight hug. "Come in, come in!"

He gathered himself mentally, before stepping up into the house and politely shutting the door
behind himself. He slid his expensive boots off, using his foot to move them aside where other
pairs were scattered. He realised he hadn't even said a word yet, feeling a little too caught off guard
by that fucking hug.

"D'ya want a drink?" Christopher rushed, smiling largely.

"I'm alright."

"Come on, I'll get you a drink."

"Alright then," Harry quietly muttered under his breath, following Christopher through the musty
smelling house towards where he remembered the kitchen to be.

He leant against the counter, crossing his legs at the ankle and folding his arms as he watched
Christopher searching for two glasses.

"I could even mix us up one of my mum's classic smoothies if you want! They're delicious and
completely vegetarian."

Harry couldn't think of a reason why a smoothie wouldn't be vegetarian, and he also couldn't think
of consuming anything worse right now to accompany the nausea in his stomach.

"Water will do for me, thanks anyway."

"Yeah. Water sounds good." He drew two glassfuls of tap water, passing one Harry's way. Harry
wasn't even thirsty, but the awkward tension in the room had him gulping that beverage down
faster than anything.

Christopher collected their glasses in and held them upside down over the sink, dripping the water
residue out, before putting them straight back into the cupboard. What. The. Fuck. Harry decided
not to comment on the fact his mouth had been on that and it was now back in their family's
cupboard. He couldn't help but densely shudder.

"My sisters are in, but my mum and dad are at their friends' house. They'll be home later. So I'm in
charge for now!" Christopher cackled, leading Harry back out the kitchen and through the dining
room, into the living room. "What should we do?"

"I… I don't mind, Christopher." Harry shrugged.

"Well, let's go to my room and put a movie on." He suggested. Harry didn't mind that suggestion so
much, as it passed the time by watching a movie. As long as he didn't have to be too close to
Christopher, things seemed okay for now.

"Yeah, there's an idea."

He followed Christopher back into the hallway and up the creepy stairs. There were crucifixes
scattered here, there and everywhere on the walls, once again emphasising their intensity in their
faith. Harry was glad Christopher's parents weren't around yet, remembering how little they
seemed to like him last time.

"Sorry about the mess." Christopher apologised, and fuck he better have meant that because the
place was a fucking tip. Piles of clothes were still strewn about, as Harry had kind of remembered
from last time, and God did he feel sorry for that poor lizard in the tank in the corner. Fuck knows
what the poor thing had seen.

"It's not a problem," Harry shrugged, longing to be back in his crystal clean, fresh bedroom again.
"...nice poster."

He was talking about that Jesus poster, and was obviously joking, not being religious himself, but
Christopher peered up at it with pride.

"It's the best highlight of my room, I think."

"Where should I sit?" Harry queried. And it was a genuine question, as the only chair he saw in the
room had a dirty dinner plate perched on top of a pile of clothes on it.

"Right here," Christopher offered, sitting on his bed and patting by himself. "Don't be shy, best
mate."

Oh, fucking hell. Harry was already close to backing out, so fucking close, but he managed to bite
his tongue and perch himself awkwardly on the edge of the uncomfortable single bed, placing his
overnight bag on the windowsill (as it seemed like the clearest place in the whole room.) He
realised how stiff his body was, thinking how ridiculous it was that they were in the same group of
friends yet he felt so generally tense around this boy.

His eyes scanned the floor in the silence, as Christopher messed around with the television remote
trying to find the correct setting for DVDs, wanting to physically gag when he spotted a sock that
was definitely, definitely stale-looking with a very certain purpose to it. He actually had to throw a
hand over his mouth suddenly, deeply thinking he was about to throw up, but managed to restrain
it. And luckily Christopher hadn't seen, as he had now stood up and was busy browsing the
alignment of DVDs on a shelf by the television.

Harry wanted to die right now. Truly. Could this actually get any worse?

His eyes continued scanning around, searching for some sort of device. His eyes latched onto a
laptop on the cluttered desk on the other side of the room, knowing that was where he wanted to
look tonight for any sign of a clue. He'd also have to take a look at Christopher's phone too, all
while he slept. Bit creepy, but he had no other choice.

"I'll put Pirates of the Caribbean on," He concluded, putting the disc into the DVD player. Bloody
hell.

"Sure."
The movie started playing after Christopher used the remote to skip forward, before hopping back
over the rubbish on his floor and taking a seat by Harry again. Harry subtly moved away a little.

"You know, my parents said you're a bad influence." Christopher suddenly dropped on him,
without any warning.

"Oh." Harry hummed out. "Did they?"

"Said you're too much of a bad boy to be my friend. I told them I don't care, that you're my best
friend." Christopher triumphantly expressed. "I think you're cool. They're just being annoying."

Harry actually found that outrageously funny - he could imagine that Christopher's parents
expressed their distaste the moment Harry had left their house when he had been for dinner.
Fucking hell, he knew they hadn't liked him one bit.

Christopher concentrated on watching the movie, the two of them awkwardly sat on the long edge
of the bed, Harry's hands clasped on his knees. He managed to subtly pull out his phone, as
Christopher was so distracted by the film, finding a text message from Louis.

Louis: You dead yet? ;) xx

Harry sniffed out a very quiet laugh, typing out a quick response.

Harry: Louis there is a cum sock on his fucking floor. I want to fucking disappear, we're sat in his
filthy room watching pirates of the fucking Caribbean :( .xx

He pretended to watch the movie for a moment, feeling his phone buzz again a moment later.

Louis: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

He rolled his eyes playfully and locked his phone, deciding to concentrate on the movie again,
which featured a scene with Kiera Knightley.

"Kendall is much prettier than her, isn't she, Harry."

"Please don't talk about Kendall." He quickly snapped back.

"Why not?" Christopher obliviously asked. Harry wanted to scream and rip his own hair out.

"Because she's my ex, Christopher. Don't talk about her."

"Oh. Okay."

Harry breathed steadily through his nose, thankful that Christopher finally shut up for a while after
that, probably traumatised that he had upset his "best friend."

The fact that this movie was two and a fucking half hours long wasn't doing wonders for Harry's
back, as they were just sat stark upright on the edge of the bed, but Harry did manage to immerse
himself in the plot a little bit, and they managed to get through about an hour's worth of movie
before Christopher's door flew open.

It was one of his sisters - Grace or Bella, Harry didn't know the difference - and upon latching her
eyes onto Harry, they widened massively.

"Oh, uh…" She became nervous suddenly, "I… don't worry, Chris." And she swiftly moved out of
the room again. Weird.
"She's such a loser," Christopher taunted, as though he wasn't even more of a loser. "She always
barges in here."

Poor girl, Harry hoped never on anything she couldn't unsee.

They received another distraction as the film was pretty much drawing to an end, coming up to half
past nine, and by this time Harry's back was aching and he was so drained. The front door
downstairs slammed shut, and a voice came calling upstairs.

"Christopher?" It was his mum's, "Is a friend here?"

"Yes, mum!" Christopher yelled, far too loud, so Harry covered the ear closest to him. "It's Harry!"

Harry audibly heard Christopher's dad groan in distaste to Christopher's mum downstairs, finding it
too funny to be disheartened by.

The credits were soon rolling up the screen, and Harry had to stand up to stretch his back out.
Christopher watched him do it.

"Brilliant film, isn't it?" Christopher grinned.

"Yeah. It was good."

"It's already half nine, time sure does fly!" Christopher chuckled. "And it's a school night too, let's
keep in mind!"

Fucking hell, yeah. As if sleeping here wasn't bad enough, there was the pure delight of school to
look forward to in the morning. Great.

"Yeah, that's true. I'm already feeling tired." Harry lied. Really he just wanted to get this night out
the way with and hurry into tomorrow, needing to get his night time investigation out of the way
too.

"Me too, buddy. Bedtime by ten, I think."

Thank God. Harry was simply tired from the draining situation, knowing he could definitely get
some sleep once he had scoped out the room. Well, maybe he wouldn't sleep at all in this dirty
room.

"I'm going to brush my teeth and stuff, where's your bathroom?" Harry asked, grabbing his
overnight bag from the windowsill.

"Oh, right across from my room."

Harry went to head to the door, before he was stopped.

"Oh, wait, don't get changed in there."

"...why?"

"My dad installed a camera in there, he's trying to figure out who had stashed some cigarettes in
there. I'm convinced it was Bella. So don't change or my parents will see it."

Okay, what the actual fuck? This was completely and utterly ridiculous now, what kind of parents
installed video cameras in a fucking family bathroom? It may have been protectiveness pushed to
the extreme, but Harry was actually stunned by how strange that was. That was where they all
showered and used the toilet. Harry would have to hold his wee in, not particularly wanting to flash
Christopher's parents.

"Are you joking?"

"No."

Harry deeply sighed, rubbing his temples. "Right, uh… I'll be back shortly." Harry opted on
bringing his entire bag, not trusting it in that room, heading out of the room and into the small,
box-shaped bathroom.

He couldn't seem to see a camera. Perhaps it was hidden. Fucking hell. He brushed his teeth faster
than the speed of light, knowing it wasn't for anywhere near as long as it should have been but not
wanting to stay in that bathroom for long.

He unlocked the bathroom once finished, ready to head back to Christopher's room and almost
pissed himself (literally so close to, considering he was bursting) when he found Christopher's dad
standing there with folded arms.

"Oh, hi." He nervously greeted, noting the unwelcome glare he was receiving in return. Bloody
hell.

"Listen," His dad couldn't sound threatening if he tried, Harry could probably knock his lights out
in one punch. "I don't want you corrupting my Christopher, okay? I just want to make that clear.
None of it. No talk of alcohol, swearing, partying, sex, and certainly no word about drugs."

"I don't do drugs, sir." Harry was so close to laughing but managed to contain it.

"But I can assure you're familiar with the rest of that list. I know what guys like you are like." His
father sneered. Harry really could not believe this, not one bit. He tried to see it all as more factors
to add to the story he was going to tell to Louis.

"None of that, I promise." Harry urged. "We're just going to sleep now."

"And no masturbation is allowed in this house. Do I make myself clear?"

Harry could not stop himself from laughing this time, it just came rushing out, a sharp and loud
laugh at the complete rubbish coming out of this man's mouth.

"Is something funny?" He snapped, face scrunched up in detest. "I don't think anything is."

"Nothing at all. I just thought of a funny joke Christopher told me earlier. But no wanking, got it."
He decided to throw that word in to humour himself a little more. Christopher's dad sighed heavily
but sternly nodded, patting Harry awkwardly on the arm before heading off downstairs. Harry
hurried back into Christopher's room, not knowing he would ever be grateful to be back in there.

Christopher had just finished feeding some dried insects to his lizard, replacing the tank's lid and
turning to Harry with a sly smile.

"Did you get the masturbation talk?"

What the fuck.

"Uh, yeah. Bit weird." He admitted, placing his bag back on the windowsill.

"Yeah, I don't get his problem," Christopher shrugged. "I don't mind if you do that here, Harry."
"Don't be--" Harry took a deep breath, deciding not to blatantly call Christopher weird now, it
would probably cause him to have a breakdown. "Well I'm not going to."

"You can sleep on my bed," Christopher offered, "I'll clear some space on the floor for me."

Harry was really struggling to decide which he would prefer. But one look at that cum sock had
him glad he got the bed.

"Thanks."

Christopher kicked a load of clutter to the side, as Harry perched back on the bed. He then realised
that he was going to have to get changed in here. Oh, Jesus Christ (no pun intended.)

"Are you… going to go and brush your teeth?" He asked, needing to find a chance to undress
privately.

"I brushed them before you even arrived. The mint upsets my tummy if I brush my teeth too close
to bed."

Of fucking course.

"Could you… I'm feeling a little thirsty, would you mind going and grabbing me another glass of
water?"

He didn't want another glass of water now that he'd seen what Christopher had done with a glass,
but it was just all he had been able to think of at the time.

"Of course, mate! Can't have you dehydrated!" Christopher bounced to his feet, and Harry grabbed
his bag immediately to give himself enough time to change. "I'll be back, with a fresh glass!"

He slipped out of the room, and Harry practically stumbled over himself to pull a looser top and
tracksuit bottoms from his bag, pulling his t-shirt off before kicking off his stubbornly skintight
jeans.

And for once, he believed Jesus was perhaps watching over him when he decided not to remove
his underwear at least. Because a moment later Christopher came bursting back into the room, not
even ten seconds after leaving. And Harry stood absolutely still in just his underwear. This was one
of the worst outcomes he could have imagined. Christopher's eyes raked down his body, so Harry
held his night clothes awkwardly in front of himself.

"Sorry. I was just going to ask if you wanted ice?"

Harry shuddered out a shocked breath, heart still racing from the sudden intrusion.

"No. No, thanks."

And Christopher looked on for another beat longer before leaving the room again. Harry raced to
slip on the clothing, shaking his head in absolute disbelief. This night could not be going any
worse, seriously. He was convinced that Christopher had some sort of creepy fascination with him
now, even if it was leaning more towards the 'wanting to be him' side of the spectrum. It was
fucking weird either way.

Harry packed away his clothes and zipped his bag back up again, sitting on the bed with his phone
in his hand, drawing his legs up in front of himself in complete disturb. He hated this.
 Christopher entered again a moment later, handing a glass of water to Harry. Harry took it, taking a
very small sip before placing it beside his bag on the windowsill.

"Sorry about bursting in like that. Not weird though, seeing as we're mates."

"Yeah." Was all Harry had the strength to utter. "Let's head to sleep soon."

Christopher openly changed in front of Harry, so that the latter awkwardly browsed his phone
instead, sending Louis another quick text.

Harry: He just completely burst in on me changing!!!! I was in my underwear I wanna disappear

twice as badly .xx

Louis: Omg how are you surviving, you poor thing ! Make it through the night, you'll be fine xx

"Right, let's get some shut-eye." Christopher grinned, having constructed a makeshift bed for
himself in amongst the wreckage.

Bloody hell.

"Yeah."

He didn't want to get into this bed, no way. But he knew he had to. He was cold and had to at least
pretend to sleep. Christopher switched on a cartoon-patterned lamp and turned the main light off,
slipping into his floor bed, so Harry lifted the cover on the bed and got into that. The covers smelt
weird and Harry was holding his breath as he rested his head back.

Christopher then wheeled over some sort of machine contraption with a mask attached. Louis had
mentioned that.

"Gotta put my sleep mask on. And I hope you don't mind, I can't sleep in the dark, it scares me."

Probably all the better for Harry, so he could make sure Christopher was sound asleep before
snooping. He could see Christopher's phone on the floor beside him.

"No problem." Harry stiffly said, unable to get comfortable in this bed.

"Great." Christopher said, slipping the mask onto his face and clicking the machine on, which
buzzed lightly. "Good night, bestie."

"Night." Harry shot back, rapidly.

The room fell quiet, except for that irritating humming and whirring coming from the machine
attached to Christopher's face.

This was going to be a long night. And there was a lot Harry still had to investigate.

Chapter End Notes

Next chapter will feature Harry's search, and more :) yup, I know Christopher and his
family are weird hahaha.
 42
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

It felt like hours passed as Harry lay there, completely still. And the fact that there was a lamp
illuminating the room made him all the more tense, as he knew he was completely visible to
Christopher if he were to glance up at him. He had his eyes clasped shut, fists balled and his entire
body stiff, needing to at least look like he was attempting to sleep.

The sound of the machine aiding Christopher's breathing was beginning to piss Harry off quite a lot
already, but what was helpful about it was the fact that he could hear the breathing in a more
emphasised way: they were getting slower and deeper, as time went on. Christopher was falling
asleep. Thank fuck.

After what felt like hours, but had in fact only been half an hour, Harry braved opening his eyes.
He peeled them open slowly, letting them adjust to the brightness of the lamp in the corner, which
lit up the Jesus poster on the wall. He subtly turned his head while keeping it planted to the pillow
beneath it, his eyes landing on Christopher. His eyes were completely shut, chest rising and falling
steadily.

He was asleep. But Harry wanted to test this anyway.

"Mate?" He knew using a word like that would have Christopher's attention immediately if he was
awake, whether or not he was pretending to be asleep, but Harry was met with silence (and more
whirring from the stupid machine.)

Harry had remembered Louis mentioning that Christopher is a heavy sleeper, especially with that
mask on, but he still felt way too scared to move a single centimetre. It felt intrusive, getting up in
somebody's bedroom while they were asleep -- before proceeding to look through their personal
bloody devices.

So he left it longer. He patted around for his phone, knowing it was somewhere on the duvet,
grabbing it and unlocking it. It was twenty minutes to eleven. And there was a text from Louis
waiting for him, from fifteen minutes ago.

Louis: How's it going? He asleep yet?? Xx

Harry glanced at Christopher again, finding him in the same position as before: on his back, sound
asleep.

Harry: he's asleep. I just can't bring myself to get up. I feel too scared to move yet .xx

Louis: Trust me Hazza, that kid is the heaviest sleeper I've ever met, we were all trying to wake
him up at Niall's once and he wouldn't budge! You'll be fine! Xx

Harry nodded even though Louis couldn't see him, glad Louis was there for some moral support
over text. He had to just get this over with. And if in the unlikely event that Christopher did
suddenly wake up, Harry would have to say something stupid like he had put his phone down
somewhere before they went to bed and was trying to find it.
So he sat up in one quick but quiet motion, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. The
cluttered floor was going to be a challenge to manoeuvre around, he realised very quickly, seeing as
he couldn't even see any floor amongst it. He managed to get to his feet in a small space he found,
all while keeping his eyes trained on sleeping Christopher.

His eyes latched onto the laptop on the desk in the corner again, and he made that his aim for now.
He picked up his lanky legs and toed around the junk on the floor like a clumsy newborn deer,
managing somehow to make it over to the desk. He scooped up the laptop, checking once more on
Christopher, before getting back onto the bed with one big step.

He took a steady breath and lay on his stomach, opening up the absolutely battered laptop and
watching the screen flash on. The wallpaper on the screen was Christopher and his family, all
stood smiling together in front of the local church. It would be a sweet photo if the family weren't
so generally abnormal.

The next thing he noticed was a password bar. Fuck, he maybe should have anticipated that. He
drummed his fingertips on the laptop's edge in thought, his eyes scanning the room as he nibbled
his lower lip. His gaze latched onto the large poster, and he drew in a deep breath as he typed in his
first guess.

Jesus

It was incorrect.

I love Jesus

Incorrect again.

Jesus loves me

Once again, incorrect.

Harry sighed, shutting his eyes momentarily in stress, eyeing Christopher once more just to be
sure, before his eyes continued scanning the space. They fell next onto the lizard tank at the other
end of the room. He squinted a little, able to make out that there was a label on it saying 'Wilbert'.
Bloody hell, who calls a lizard Wilbert?

Wilbert

It too was incorrect.

Harry was really starting to lose hope now, knowing deep down that this was going to prove
impossible. This password could be anything at all, with any other numbers or characters or
uppercase letters. He tried the next thing that came to his mind. And this, this was a joke.

Harry

It opened. And so did Harry's mouth in pure shock. What! Was this for real? It took him a moment
to get past the surprise of how this was even real right now.

He checked on Christopher - still asleep.

Why on earth would he have Harry's fucking name as his laptop password? Of all the things in the
world, that is what he went for.
The same photo as before was the laptop's background again, and it was scattered with many
different icons. He scoured through them all looking for an email app, clicking straight onto the
Gmail app once he spotted it. As it loaded up, he checked once again on Christopher, who still
slept.

It finished loading, coming onto a packed email account with various different emails. He checked
the sidebar for the email address, seeing that it was just Christopher's personal one. There weren't
any other additional email accounts on it, giving no evidence that Christopher was at all behind
this.

Harry deeply sighed, closing the Gmail app and thinking for a moment. Well, he had sent that
topless photo to the anonymous sender. So maybe, if it was on here, it would be in the photos
section of the laptop.

He clicked on the applications and opened up the laptop's gallery. There were various folders.

Family

Church

Paris

Wilbert/pets

Bible camp

Harry

Harry's breath caught in his throat upon spotting the bottom folder. Could this be it? Was he
finding out who was behind these emails, once and for all?

He double clicked the Harry folder, nervously biting his bottom lip as he waited for it to load.
There were around eleven photos in it. Harry clicked the first one, so it enlarged, using the right
arrow key to tap through them. The first three were profile pictures from Harry's Facebook profile,
the third of which was one of him and Zayn. It urged Harry to scrunch his eyebrows up in
confusion.
What the hell? Okay, this was looking really fucking weird now. Who has Facebook profile
pictures of one of their so-called "best mates" in a dedicated computer folder? Not a normal person.

The next four looked to be photos that had been taken of Harry when he hadn't been looking,
which made his stomach drop. Had Christopher been photographing him at school when he didn't
know?
The third one he knew exactly when it had been taken, in Paris, as he recognised his outfit and the
background. But he hadn't given consent to have his photo taken, nor did he know it had been:
The fourth of these photos was one of him with Kendall, looking like it was as they were leaving
school in Harry's car. Harry noted how unhappy they looked generally, but still knew it must have
been taken quite a while back, maybe even before Louis had joined the school.

The final four, while Harry was expecting the topless photo he had sent the anonymous email
sender, weren't exactly what he was thinking. They appeared to be more photos from Harry's social
media, maybe his Instagram account this time… except they had Christopher's head merged onto
his body. Harry felt a deep chill run through him.

Did Christopher want to be him? There was no doubt he found Harry ultra cool and attractive, a bit
creepily so, but this just confirmed even further that he was also envious.

Harry simply couldn't believe what he was seeing, though that was all that was contained in that
folder. He took photos of the screen on his phone, on each and every photo in that album. And he
even skimmed through the other photo albums, just to be completely sure, but there was nothing
else suspicious. Though he did take a photo of the laptop screen after finding a particularly sweet
photo of Louis in the Paris folder.

Christopher was still asleep, luckily. Harry shut the laptop down, shutting the screen gently, before
toeing back over to the desk and placing it exactly where had found it in amongst the wreckage.

He didn't see any point in checking Christopher's phone too, seeing as everything on that computer
seemed to have come from it anyway. He didn't exactly feel at ease after seeing those photos of
himself, but he was pretty certain now that Christopher wasn't the sender of the emails. He was just
a strange, jealous admirer of Harry's.

He flopped back onto the bed, which felt even more uncomfortable than before somehow, knowing
he now had to sleep for the remaining eight or so hours before the morning. He badly wanted to
make an escape now, quietly leave and speed home in his car, but he knew it would be rude. He'd
simply have to wait it out until he eventually fell asleep.

And he couldn't help but continually shudder throughout, each time he thought about the photos on
Christopher's laptop. But after squeezing his eyes shut and trying so hard to clear his brain, he did
manage to somehow find sleep.

---

Harry woke up with a jump as a shrill ringing filled his ears, shooting upright with a thudding
heart. His stomach dropped once he came to reality and remembered he was at Christopher's, in his
weird smelling bed, and the boy in question was ripping his breathing mask off, shutting the alarm
clock off before turning to Harry with a radiant grin.

"Morning, mate!"

Harry really fucking wanted to mention the photos, had a burning desire to, but he shook the
thought and realised he shouldn't. Maybe Christopher just wasn't fully right in the head, Harry
didn't want to upset him.

"Morning." He grumbled, his morning voice prominent. Christopher smiled in a lopsided way upon
hearing it.

"Did you sleep well? I sure did, knowing my bestie was here."

Harry coughed into the back of his hand, clearing his throat and trying to internally fight the cringe
he was currently experiencing.

"I slept okay."

"Good to hear, buddy." Christopher stretched his arms overhead. "Well, we better get dressed and
ready for school, huh?"

Harry grabbed his overnight bag quickly, getting to his feet.

"Yeah, I'll take the bathroom." He said, assertively. Because he was now pretty fucking sure there
was no camera, and it had been a lie. An excuse. And even if there was, he was fully prepared to
give Christopher's family a strip show on it as long as he didn't have to show any skin to him again.

"Oh. Okay." Christopher muttered. No further mention of a camera - interesting.

Harry hurried across the hallway, clasping the door handle as it opened, and one of Christopher's
sisters was leaving, flustered and embarrassed to be in her pyjamas when she saw him. He smiled
awkwardly, taking the bathroom and locking himself in. He dressed quickly, brushed his teeth and
shook his hair into an acceptable enough state in the mirror.
Christopher was dressed too when he returned, packing a few things into his rucksack.

"Looking good, mate!" He complimented Harry.

"What classes do we have today?" He changed the subject, slinging his overnight bag and rucksack
over one shoulder as he scooped up his phone. He was ready to leave this hellhole.

"Uh… English, sports, maths. Maybe music later."

Great, Harry had Kendall sat by him in maths, then music with Emily and her bloody mates. At
least in English and sports class he could stay with Louis, and maybe even avoid Christopher a
little while he recovered from what he knew.

"We should probably head off, it's later than I thought. I'll give you a lift in." Harry offered, not
even sparing a second glance.

"Really? In your awesome car!"

"Let's go." He once again diverted the topic, leading Christopher out of his own bedroom.

"How fast can your car go?" Christopher excitedly asked from behind him, as they journeyed down
the stairs. Harry rolled his eyes and sighed, as Christopher couldn't see him. His morning
grogginess was getting the best of him, as usual.

"Not sure. Fast, I guess."

Christopher went to find his parents to say goodbye, and Harry called out an insincere "thanks for
having me" before going and waiting in the car. While waiting for Christopher, windscreen wipers
running as it had begun to drizzle, he text Louis.

Harry: This is a fucking nightmare. It's not him. But saw other things that unsettled me .xx

Louis: Wow really ?? Tell me all soon. Just leaving now, meet u at English xx

Harry locked his phone and slipped it in his pocket as Christopher opened the passenger door and
got in. His eyes wandered the interior with glee, as Harry started the engine and began their
journey.

The weather was God-awful and dreary, like Harry's mood, so Christopher sitting there being all
Mr. Happy and asking annoying questions wasn't too fitting.

"I bet Kendall liked your car a lot."

Harry reached for the radio button, cranking it on to instead drown out Christopher's words
altogether. He must have taken the hint, because he didn't say anything else the entire journey.

Harry walked a tiny bit ahead of him as they hurried to English, because he couldn't help but
generally feel more embarrassed about being his friend now. He pushed his way into the
classroom, everyone's eyes on him, Christopher practically falling into the room trying to keep up
right behind him.

"Harry, you look awful." Gigi mockingly cackled at him across the room, as he took a seat by
Louis.

"Tell me something I don't know." He snapped back, choosing to mock himself too as it was
nothing Gigi could really build upon. And it worked, because she didn't say anything else.

"You okay?" Louis whispered, as Mr Grant had continued with the lesson. Christopher had sat with
Charlie and Niall on the table over from them, finally giving Harry some space.

"Rough night."

"Gosh, I can tell. So you're sure it's not him?" Louis quietly inquired.

"Pretty certain, yeah. He's just weird, Lou, honestly. I feel quite uncomfortable around him now."

"Why, what exactly did you find?"

Harry went on to tell him everything. The so-called camera; Christopher's hateful father's speech;
the messy room; the laptop password; the photos -- everything. And he managed to divulge it all
without grabbing anyone else's attention, including Mr Grant's.

"I don't know what to say!" Louis shook his head, speechless. "For one, there's no bloody camera,
not that I've been informed. And he photoshopped his head onto you! That's… so strange."

"I'm going to try not to think about that night for the rest of my life. I fully wish I could unlive it."
Harry groaned. "It was about a hundred times worse than I was expecting."

"One less person off the list, at least." Louis patted Harry's thigh beneath the table.

That was true. But it still didn't deter Harry's feelings of dread. It wasn't Kendall or Christopher,
and they were getting closer to having no clue at all who it was. He didn't mention it any further to
Louis, still trying to deal with it internally, when Mr Grant just had to go and make things worse.

"We're going to be doing some creative writing today about our days yesterday. Who can tell me
something fun they did yesterday?"

Harry just knew what was coming, he could sense it. He saw Christopher's hand shoot up in the
corner of his eye. Great. A few others put their hands up too, including Kendall, who is the one Mr
Grant picked on.

"Kendall?"

She obnoxiously cleared her throat, attempting to sound sultry and sweet. "I went on a date."

Harry wanted to loudly stifle a laugh. Did she think she was making him jealous or something? He
could feel her eyes on him, so he didn't even spare a glance her way, pretending to be writing
nonsense in his notepad instead.

"Lovely, you could write a good piece on that, even if it didn't go so well." Mr Grant smiled.
"Hmm, let's see. Christopher?"

Of course.

"Well, last night me and Harry had a sleepover!"

Oh fuck. For fuck's sake. The classroom erupted in laughter, everybody's eyes on Harry. Kendall
and Co.'s laughs seemed the most prominent in the room, their entire group pointing at him and
unable to breathe from laughter. Funny, very funny.

"Bloody weird way to word it." Louis muttered to Harry, whose face had reddened with
embarrassment.

He already knew today was going to be shitty.

---

It was in their sports lesson when things really turned to shit.

Harry had been keeping a low profile, managing to avoid Christopher and Kendall and Co. for the
rest of their English lesson, plus on the walk to sports class. Today their class was just doing
general fitness, meaning their teacher, Mr Howard, had set up "stations" around the gym with
different workouts in each.

"I'm going to split you all into groups of three, and each group will occupy one of the ten stations.
We will rotate after two minutes."

Harry shut his eyes as their names were read out. Louis was put with Niall and another random guy
from their class, so there went Harry's hopes and dreams.

"Right, uh, let's have Liam, Zayn, Harry."

Fuck. He probably thought he was doing them all a massive favour, thinking they were still
friends, but really it was quite the opposite. Gigi, Kendall and Cheryl were put together, so he
assumed it was their teacher attempting to be nice. Harry didn't even look at his two ex-friends.

Once everyone was put into groups, Mr Howard put each group on a station. Harry's group got sit-
ups. Pretty easy, although Harry was fit enough to find any of these stations easy.

"Alright, everyone, get ready." Mr Howard announced, and Harry got into a lying position pretty
far from Liam and Zayn, who appeared to be finding the grouping situation rather funny between
themselves. "And go."

Harry started the sit-ups, well aware Liam and Zayn were the competitive type and immediately
started going full throttle. Fuck's sake. He decided not to look at them. He watched Louis in the
corner of his eye as he continued the exercise, seeing that his group were on the boxing station,
where Niall was holding some pads and Louis and the other boy were playfully striking them while
chuckling away. Harry longed to be in their group.

"Tired yet, Hazza?" Liam snarled, using the nickname mockingly.

"Of being near you two? Yes. Of the exercise? No."

"Ooh, look at little Harry, fighting back." Zayn sang to Liam, a little breathlessly from the sit-ups.
Harry continued to ignore them.

He could sense Kendall and the girls trying to look sexy across the room while they did lunges, but
Harry just wanted to laugh at them.

"Staring at Kendall's arse? Regret breaking up with her already, don't you?" Zayn taunted.

Harry ignored them, as Mr Howard blew his whistle. "Everyone move clockwise, please, to the
next station."

It was push-ups this time: Harry's expertise. Mr Howard blew the whistle after everybody was
ready, and Harry effortlessly began the press-ups. He felt Louis watching him do them, just a
general gaze from his direction, which urged him to smirk to himself. He could hear Liam's
breathing pretty steadily as he already grew tired. Amateurs. Ha.

Zayn paused after around twenty push-ups to briefly rest on his knees, Harry saw it, urging him to
smirk again while continuing his own. Nobody saw the smirk, considering his face was angled
down. He kept strong throughout, noting Liam's occasional pause and deep breathing too.

"Nice work, Harry. Very strong form." Mr Howard complimented, urging Harry's smirk to
privately grow. He loved it.

He finally blew the whistle, so Harry pushed himself to his feet, clapping his hands together to dust
them off. He made eye contact with Zayn, who very deeply glared back. Harry bitterly smiled.

"Right, rotate again, please." Mr Howard called.

Harry glanced at what they had next: boxing. Meaning teamwork. Fuck.

He waited for Liam and Zayn to do whatever first, and Liam leant down and scooped up the focus
pads. He threw them at Harry's chest, so they fell to the floor in front of him.

"You do pads."

Harry huffed in a steady breath, trying to remain mature, scooping up the focus pads and sliding
them onto his hands. When Mr Howard had blown the whistle, Harry held the pads out, his heavy
gaze on Zayn, who stepped forward with balled fists ready.

"You sure you can handle a hit?" Zayn mocked, before throwing a harsh bunch to the left focus
pad. Harry took it just fine.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He snapped back. He knew to push back slightly as the pad was struck, in
order for the pad to absorb the hit.

"You just seem a little weaker lately." Liam cut in, taking Zayn's place. He jabbed and hooked the
pads, very harshly, so Harry had to alter his stance in order to remain balanced.

"Interesting you say that, when I was the only one just now to do consistent push-ups." Harry
smugly commented. "But it seems like you want to forget about that already."

Liam struck the pads once again, so violently that Harry stumbled back, a ridiculed laugh fanning
from his mouth.

He shook the pads off and threw them at Zayn.

"My go."

Zayn cocked an eyebrow, slipping them on. "Come on then."

Harry immediately went in as hard as he could, jabbing the pads and causing Zayn's arms to jolt
back.

"Feeling feisty, are we? Who hurt you, Styles?" Zayn spat.

"Nobody. But I hurt you a little when I shoved you over in the hallway, right?"

Zayn threw the focus pads off and completely went for Harry, punching him forcefully in the face.
There were gasps from their classmates as they caught on, especially Louis, who threw his hands
over his mouth in panic. Harry struck Zayn back hard across the jaw as Mr Howard speedily
intervened, his face contorted in fury.

"Boys! BOYS! NO!" He raged, prying them apart and stepping between them, a hand placed
steadily on either of the boy's chests to keep them apart.

Harry was absolutely furious. "You fucking arsehole!" He shouted at Zayn. "Don't you dare
fucking touch me!"

"Okay, let's calm down now. You both got a punch in, grow up now."

"I'm going to beat the shit out of you, Harry, you just wait. And Liam will fucking help me." Zayn
seethed, shaking Mr Howard's hand away.

"Both of you, detention this lunchtime. No excuses. Now Harry, swap places with…" Mr Howard's
eyes scanned the room. "Brian."

Thank fucking God - Brian was the guy who had been working with Louis and Niall! Harry
nodded and looked Zayn and Liam up and down once more in anger before swapping with Brian,
who didn't seem to care.

"Let's keep this going. Everyone move on again."

"Fucking hell, what happened there?" Louis whispered, concern sitting heavily in his tone.

"Just Zayn being immature, really. He always has to overreact, you've experienced that, Niall." He
mentioned, and Niall nodded with raised eyebrows.

"I definitely have." Niall sighed. "He's a complete arse."

"I'm not going to that detention, either. Zayn started it." Harry shook his head in disagreement.

They decided to get on with the rest of the class, all while laser-like looks were exchanged between
Harry, Liam and Zayn throughout.

---

By music class, Harry had run out of mental stamina. He had strayed away from Louis and the
others between sports class and music class as he had to drop his assignment in to their chemistry
teacher, so he alone was late for music.

He wandered into the music classroom eight minutes late, to find the room empty and Mrs Bridges
sat at her computer. She turned to Harry and widely grinned.

"Sorry I'm late." He breathed, breathless from having rushed so much to be as on time as possible.
"Everyone in practice rooms?"

"Yes, Harry, they're all in the practice rooms."

"Ah, cool." He nodded, dipping out of the room once again and heading for the practice rooms.

He could see through the small rectangular windows on the doors who was in each room, finding
Emily and her friends in the fourth one along today. He knocked a few times, and he saw Amber
jump up to let him in.

"Harry. Hi." She nervously greeted, letting him in. They were sitting in a circle on the floor, around
a sheet of paper again, which seemed to be pretty full at the moment.

"You written some more?" He asked, shutting the door behind himself and lowering himself into a
cross-legged position in their huddle.

"We actually added to it outside of school a little, if you don't mind," Emily mentioned, sliding the
sheet his way. "Just a draft now, let us know if there's anything we should change."

His eyes scanned the words, noting that they had added to the first verse and started the second. It
now read:

I'm in my bed, and you're not here. And there's no one to blame but the drink and my wandering
hands. Forget what I said, it's not what I meant. And I can't take it back, I can't unpack the
baggage you left.

"Guys, this is awesome." He complimented, smiling at the four of them. "Are you going with the
tune I came up with last time, or something else?"

"We've definitely stuck with that tune," Chloe chirped up, "We really liked it. We just have to work
on a chorus now. We thought we would let you have an input on that."

Harry read the first verse once again, inhaling steadily as his brain mulled over what he could add
to this song. He grabbed a pencil from the floor, just in case it didn't go to plan, and repositioned
himself so that he was lying on his stomach with the paper in front of him. He began spontaneously
writing, the girls watching on and exchanging flustered looks over his general presence.

What am I now? What am I now? What if I'm someone I don't want around? I'm falling again, I'm
falling again, I'm falling.

What if I'm down? What if I'm out? What if I'm someone you won't talk about? I'm falling again,
I'm falling again, I'm falling.

"Sorry, that just seemed to flow for me. Have a read, it might not match what you guys were
thinking for the song." He passed the sheet back over. "Not sure about a tune either for that part."

"I like it." Emily grinned. "Like, really like it, actually!"

The other girls agreed, and Harry smiled proudly.

"That's awesome."

The girls went back to drafting again, discussing amongst themselves, and Harry let his eyes scan
over each of them inquisitively. He sat upright once again, arching his knees in front of himself and
hugging them up to his chest.

"Can I ask…" He trailed off as he didn't really know how to word what he was going to say, but the
four girls were eyeing him curiously now, having stopped writing.

"Hmm?"

Harry deeply inhaled. "I just… I wanted to ask you all something. Do you promise to tell me the
truth if I do?"

The girls exchanged baffled looks, but responded anyway.

"Sure," Grace shrugged, "What is it?"

 "I tried to ask Emily this, I just," He laughed to himself and ran his hands down his face. "I just feel
stupid even having to ask."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, don't worry for now. Let's continue this, sorry." He waved a hand, dismissing the matter.

"Uh… okay." Chloe shrugged, looking confused but they all continued on with the work.

For fuck's sake, why did he have to make it so damn awkward? He let them get on with coming up
with a tune for the chorus he had created, scrolling through his Instagram on his phone to pass a bit
of time.

A little while later, he was surprised when Emily spoke up once again.

"Harry, when you spoke to me in the hallway, that's what you're referring to?"

His head shot up, making immediate eye contact with her and putting his phone away.

"Oh. Yeah, yeah that's what I meant."

"I remember you mentioning some emails, is that what you're trying to ask us about?"

Harry slowly nodded, feeling completely defeated at this point. He just wanted to bloody know
once and for all.

"Yeah. I just want the truth, that's all."

"From the bottom of my heart, I don't know anything about any emails. Do you girls?" Emily asked
the others, who all shook their heads honestly. "What is it that's happening, someone's been
harassing you?"

"It's not that big of a deal," (it was), "I'm dealing with it. So it's nothing to do with any of you?"

"No, we promise." Amber held a hand to her heart. "None of us."

"Jesus," Harry whispered, rubbing aggressively at his cheeks in stress. "Okay. Thank you for being
honest. I'm just really running out of options here, you know? Thanks, guys for letting me know."

Well fuck. Who on Earth was it?! Not Kendall, not Christopher, and now Harry had gotten himself
stuck in a group with these girls to discover it wasn't even them! But it had to be somebody in their
class. Maybe someone he hadn't even spoken to, but how the hell was he meant to rifle anybody
else out? It was hopeless.

He was completely tired of everything school had to offer.

Chapter End Notes

He's running out of hoooope

all will be revealed soon don't you worry lol:)

do you like the use of photos btw??
 43

As he had already firmly specified, Harry didn't bother attending the detention Mr Howard had
given to him. He wondered if Zayn had. Maybe. He had instead been savouring the time he had
with Louis during lunch, seeing as their final lesson of the day was maths and he was going to have
to withstand Kendall next to him for an hour.

Harry still hadn't really looked Christopher in the eye again since they'd gotten to school, still
mentally scarred by every aspect of staying at his house. Niall, Christopher and Charlie were
playing some sort of childish game as they all sat on the field, in which they had to guess which
hand a leaf was hidden in behind somebody’s back. Harry and Louis didn’t get involved with that.
Harry turned to look lovingly at Louis, whose eyes were calmly looking over the field at members
of the school spread all over it.

“What’s on your mind?” Harry inquired. Their conversation was between just the two of them, and
Harry lived for moments like these.

“Nothing much,” Louis leisurely shrugged, turning to smile at him. “Mostly thinking about you.
Again. How lucky I am.”

“I want to kiss you, so badly.” Harry barely whispered, voice full of sheer passion, which made
Louis’ stomach tingle. “It hurts how much I want to right now.”

“Gosh, me too.” Louis frowned, sighing. “Imagine the uproar, I’m pretty sure everyone from our
class is on this field somewhere.”

“I know that I’ll be ready for that soon, you know? I’m sure of it.” Harry clarified, assertively. “I
won’t care what they think.”

“Do you really mean that? Be honest with yourself.” Louis worried. “Don’t rush into anything.
You’ve got to be sure, whenever you’re ready.”

“I don’t care what they think, Lou.” He repeated.

“You’re not exactly on great terms with Zayn, nor Liam. That needs to clear up a little before
anything is made public. Do you think so?”

That was true. God, Harry was certain the two of them were homophobic, what with the comments
they had often made about Louis when he first joined. They had always made Harry furious, even
more so now that he was with Louis.

“Yeah. Maybe.” He agreed with Louis.

His eyes scanned the field then, coming across where Kendall and Co. were sitting on the grass
beneath the trees. Zayn wasn’t there.

“I think Zayn’s actually gone to that detention,” He noted, pretty surprised. “I really didn’t think he
would.”

“He probably knew you wouldn’t, and thinks going to it makes him look like the better man to Mr
Howard.” Louis rolled his eyes, picking boredly at the grass. “Kendall’s staring at you, by the
way.”
“When is she not?” Harry scoffed at the ridiculous girl, glancing over and staring back across the
field. “She never stops.”

Meanwhile, from Kendall’s point of view, butterflies erupted in her stomach as Harry looked her
way.

“He’s looking at me again, Gi.” She dreamily told her friend. “Look!”

Gigi harshly nudged her from her daze, “Kenny, stop! You’re deluding yourself.”

“Am not,” She argued, “He’s looking at me. Again. Why are you trying to argue with that?”

Gigi grabbed her gently by the chin, turning her face away from him.

“Stop, I’m being serious.”

“Fine,” She spat, “I’m sitting with him for an hour next lesson anyways.”

“I meant to ask, by the way, why didn’t you tell me about your date?!” She suddenly gawped, as it
dawned on her. “In English, when Mr Grant asked what we did yesterday, and you said you went
on a date!”

“I lied, silly. Wanted to make Harry jealous.” She snickered. Gigi’s jaw practically dropped.

“Kendall, for fuck’s sake, girl! You made up some elaborate lie to try and make him jealous?"

"I don't see why you're so surprised by that, you've seen him staring at me. He still wants me."
Kendall argued, moodily holding her arms in a huff. "In fact, he's talking to Louis about me as we
speak. They both keep staring."

"You need to watch the way you're thinking. Maybe you're just seeing what you want to see." Gigi
warned.

"I'm seeing what is true. You'll see, Gi. He misses me more than ever."

Harry dragged his eyes away from Kendall in disgust, scoffing to himself. "Jesus, she's staring at
me like she's trying to put me under a spell."

"Maybe she's been practising spells in her room, trying to get you back." Louis snorted. "I wouldn't
put it past her."

"Neither would I, I don't think. Gosh, what did I see in her? I definitely only dated her because we
were the single ones in the group."

"That makes sense, to be honest," Louis sighed, "Maybe a sort of pressure thing."

Harry always got the vibe that Louis was deeply jealous whenever he thought about how Harry had
dated Kendall for a long time. He had a right to be jealous really, especially as he was with Harry
now, but definitely had nothing to worry about.

Harry only had eyes for him now.

---

Harry physically braced himself as he entered their maths lesson: the final class of the day. Kendall
was already setting her pencil case on the desk in front of her, clearly having seen him coming into
the room in the corner of her eye but trying to pretend she hadn't. Harry drew in a steady breath and
took a seat, his seat as far from hers as possible once again, and pulled out the pen he had lodged in
the side pocket of his backpack.

He could practically sense the coy smile playing on Kendall's face, and her general aura of
smugness. Their teacher was writing up some notes on the board to start the lesson as everyone
settled down, so Harry decided to pull his notepad out and copy them down.

It only took precisely twelve seconds until Kendall was muttering something to him.

"I can't believe you slept over Christopher's house. That is priceless."

Harry's hand tensed around his pen, but he completely ignored her and kept his eyes trained on the
whiteboard. She continued on anyway.

"Did you share secrets? Tell ghost stories?"

"Shut up." Harry snarled, quietly. He knew he shouldn't have said anything at all, that it would
only provoke her, but he couldn't keep it in.

"Zayn said you didn't turn up to the detention. And that Mr Howard did realise, and you're gonna
be in trouble when he sees you."

"Do you think I care? I didn't start that stupid fight. Zayn threw the first punch."

"He said you provoked him."

"He was taunting me all lesson, he taunts me all the fucking time! He deserved that detention, I
didn't." Harry spat, then realising he had been writing so harshly on the page that it had torn a little.
His pent up anger towards Kendall and the talks of Zayn had clearly riled him up a little too much.
"Just drop it."

"I'm sorry." Kendall sincerely apologised, but Harry never believed her.

They went on in silence for a while, learning a new module and actually getting a lot done despite
Harry's despising being in Kendall's general vicinity. Harry glanced Louis' way, catching him
already looking, and shot a side smirk his way that had Louis silently giggling and looking down.
His eyes then shot over to find Liam watching him. Closely, with a hateful glare. And he was
suddenly paranoid Liam had seen his smirk towards Louis. But even so, it had probably looked
pretty platonic, like two friends communicating silently across the room.

Harry shrugged heavily at Liam with furrowed brows, a non-verbal 'the fuck are you looking at?'
which urged Liam to reciprocate the angry shrug and turn away stubbornly.

"God, it's crazy you used to be so close to Liam, and now you're complete enemies. And don't get
me started on Zayn again." Kendall had decided to open her mouth again, making Harry want to
groan aloud in frustration.

"Things change." He simply added.

"Do you not… miss it?" Kendall inquired, slowly. "Hanging out with all of us?"
"No." He very quickly interjected, not sparing her a glance.

"Seriously? Not even a tiny bit?"

"No." He repeated.

"You've succumbed to hanging out with people like Christopher. I can't believe you're happy with
that. I mean, think about how cool people used to think you were when you were still in our group.
Now you're just hanging out with the losers."

"I don't miss you. Face it." He concluded. He could practically feel the blow it struck her with, just
sensed the upset radiating from her.

"You know you do." She muttered under her breath. Harry had heard but he didn't respond,
knowing her statement had been far too stupid to even need a response. Of course he didn't miss
her, she barely even crossed his mind anymore: only when paired with anger.

He tried to concentrate on the lesson again, but couldn’t help the paranoia stirring in his gut again
when his mind whipped back around to the whole email situation. And the situation of Kendall and
Co. hating him. And, ultimately, he and Louis: their happiness.

---

Harry was very quick to pack his belongings away the moment the lesson dragged it out to the end.
He was well aware he accidentally elbowed Kendall’s pencil case onto the floor while he had
scrambled to grab his own things, urging her to obnoxiously scoff.

“Mind out, idiot. Pick it up.” She commanded, pointing at it as classmates passed by, making their
way to the exit.

“You.” He argued, attempting to pass her and head to the door, where he could see Louis and their
friends stood outside. He was moodily stopped by Kendall, though, who had shoved him to a stop
by his chest.

“I said pick it up.”

Harry deeply sighed, but decided to play the good guy. He figured that perhaps Kendall even
wanted a bit of conflict, because it meant she was keeping him hanging around for longer. He leant
down and scooped it up, pressing it into her open palm.

“There.”

“Thanks, babes.”

Harry rolled his eyes and proceeded towards the door, leaving the room swiftly. Louis, Niall,
Charlie and Christopher were waiting for him, but there were also Kendall’s friends huddled
waiting for her. There was a loud, stifled laugh from one of them when Harry passed, but he
ignored it.

“Off for another sleepover at Christopher’s?” Liam yelled out as their group moved away. Harry
ignored them, clenching his jaw in annoyance. He quickly became aware that Kendall and Co.
were following their route, not too far behind.

“Ignore them, Harry. We had an awesome time!” Christopher exclaimed, loudly enough for the
other group to hear. And Harry so badly wanted to slap him for that.
“God, you’re all losers.” Zayn cackled after them. “It’s unbelievable. I bet you’re all going back to
Harry’s for a gay sesh.”

“I want to punch his fucking lights out this time,” Harry muttered, only loud enough for his friends.
“Guys, I’m so sorry about them.”

“It’s okay, we’re not taking anything personally.” Charlie assured.

“Didn’t attend that detention earlier, did you?” came Zayn’s mocking call once again, “Mr Howard
noticed, so you’re in even bigger trouble now.”

“As if I care.” Harry quietly spoke aloud to his friends once again, just wanting to reach the car
park so he could take off in his expensive car. He sped up significantly, his friends catching on and
matching the brisker walk.

The group behind them continued their taunting calls, but Harry and his friends ignored them all
and had instead started their own conversation regarding something else, so soon enough they
reached the car park, and Harry and Louis separated from their other mates in order to head to
Harry’s car.

“Have an unsafe journey!” Liam bellowed, urging their group to laugh.

“And remember, Styles: this is war now. You should not have punched me today.”

“Go cry about it.” Harry spat, as he and Louis jumped into his car. And he sped off past them, his
engine heartily roaring.

---

Harry dropped Louis home, after a quick make-out session in his car outside Louis' house, before
Harry arrived home himself. And then he sat in his car, on the drive, for a further ten minutes once
he realised he still hadn't seen his sister again since she confronted him about what she had heard in
his room. Fuck.

He knew she hadn't aimed to be confrontational, she had merely been informing him that she was
supportive and was there if he needed to talk. But he wasn't ready to talk.

He rubbed his hands down his face in stress, before pushing himself to man up and head inside. He
kicked off his boots and threw his car keys into the porcelain bowl by the front door.

"Is that you, Harry?" Anne called from the kitchen.

"Yeah." He bluntly responded, but didn't head in there to make his arrival visual. Instead, he
headed up the stairs, seeking the solace of his bedroom.

And, to his very unfortunate luck, Gemma was leaving her bedroom as he stepped up the final step.
They linked eyes, and Gemma put on an awkward smile.

"You alright?" She greeted, trying to sound upbeat. But Harry could tell she was tense, probably
feeling bad for having put him on the spot so much in his room.

"Yeah." A second use of the blunt word, as Harry stepped around his sister.

"Harry, hold on." She tried to stop him, as he reached his door.

"Not now, Gem. Sorry." And he stepped into his bedroom and pressed the door firmly shut behind
him. Then he stayed in that position, hand against the door, with his eyes shut for a further ten
seconds, chest lightly rising and falling as he attempted to relax.

Jesus, he had no clue how he was going to properly face his sister. The fact he knew she had heard
him and Louis going at it was bad enough, so for her to have physically ventured up to his bedroom
to inform him that she had, was potentially even worse.

Harry flopped back onto his bed (which his mum must have made for him during the day because
he was far too groggy to that morning) and pulled his socks off, then his jeans. And he put some
more comfortable tracksuit bottoms on and clicked the remote to put his television on, just a bit of
background noise while he aimlessly browsed his phone.

A message popped up at the top of his screen, from Louis, so that name was a reason to smile
immediately.

Louis I meant to ask, have you not heard anything else from the email person?? xx

Harry: No. Their last message was telling me I had a week until they decide how they wanna meet
me. P.s. thinking about our makeout ;)) .xx

Harry smirked as he sent the message. Because he was indeed always thinking about Louis, so his
thoughts at this current moment were clouded with remembering the feeling of Louis' soft hip and
the light brushes of his lips while they made out about ten minutes ago.

Louis: oh gives us a bit of time though to try and get to the bottom of it then, though I'm running
out of ideas. I'm thinking about it too, you're an amazing kisser xx

Harry bit his lip and smiled to himself. He loved how playful Louis really was at heart, he
definitely never would have guessed it when they first met.

While Harry was beginning to thumb out his response to Louis, something more about their little
kiss in the car, an Instagram notification popped up.

@gigihadid liked your post.

His eyebrows crumpled significantly. He instinctively took a screenshot, before tapping very
quickly onto the notification to see that, in fact, Gigi had liked a photo of his. He screenshotted that
too, on his notification tab. It was a very old photo of his, from somewhere at the start of his feed.
But when he clicked on the photo and refreshed its likes, her name wasn't there. She had speedily
unliked it.

So Harry quickly came to realise it was because she hadn't meant to like it, it had been an
accident… meaning she had gotten home from school and decided to start stalking Harry's page,
way back towards the beginning.

Weird…

He reloaded his notifications again and again, just in case it reappeared, but it didn't. It had
definitely been an accident on her behalf.

Then came the pang of suspicion in Harry's stomach, a sizzling air of sudden shock coming over
him. What if Gigi was behind the email account? What if she did have some weird crush on him,
and that's why she was stalking his page? Or, on the other hand, she was stalking the page for
Kendall, who didn't want to do it herself.
All in all, Harry wasn't just going to let this slide. No way. He decided he was going to message
Gigi directly. He didn't even hesitate, knowing he had to let her know that he had seen the
notification, and that she wasn't slick at all by unliking the post and hoping he hadn't seen.

He got her profile up, wanting to roll his eyes when looking over her pictures: most of them being
straight-faced golden hour selfies, but others of her recent Starbucks purchases and cringey selfies
with Zayn. He tapped onto the message option, realising that the last time they had spoken had
been years ago, and it was Gigi trying to convince him to ask Kendall out. Wow, he wished he had
never even listened to the pressure.

He spontaneously typed a message, trying not to think twice about it.

@harrystyles: …why did you just like my post from years ago..?

And then he sent it, locked his phone and threw it down onto his covers, seemingly more scared
than he had anticipated. He was suddenly feeling very worried about this, some inkling in his gut
telling him this was suspicious. But he was maybe overthinking it, like every other suspicion he
had had so far.

He fought the fear in his gut and grabbed his phone again a few minutes later, to see that she had in
fact replied.

@gigihadid: Ummmm why are you messaging me???? :/

Harry wanted to reply with a load of laughing face emojis, considering Gigi had both dodged the
question and not thought about why he was messaging.

@harrystyles: I'm messaging you because I'm asking you why you liked my photo from years ago
Gigi. Why.

She read it immediately, and then she was typing.

@gigihadid: I didn't like ur post wtf are you talking about???

Oh wow. She was playing that game. Good thing Harry had a screenshot. He dropped the
screenshots into the chat, both the one that had popped up at the top of his screen, and the one in
his notification tab. Gigi read the chat and was typing once again.

@gigihadid: Ohh okkkk do you know how psychotic you look??? Delete them harry, grow up.

Harry's lips curled up into a smirk, knowing that he had her now. She couldn't deny literal
screenshots.

@harrystyles: I just want to know why you're way back on my Instagram feed looking at my old
posts.

@harrystyles: U got something to… tell me?

Gigi was typing immediately.

@gigihadid: Wtf are you talking about??? No I don't have anything to tell ur loser ass, my phone
was in my pocket so I must have gone on your profile by accident you idiot.

Oh, Jesus, this girl really was something else. So she wanted him to believe that, while in her
pocket, her phone had opened Harry's profile, scrolled to the start and accidentally liked an old
photo of his. Bullshit.

@harrystyles: That seems like bullshit to me, but okay..?

@gigihadid: I'm telling Zayn right now that ur messaging me. I don't want to talk to you harry
leave me alone!!

"You're fucking kidding me." Harry grumbled to himself, groaning aloud in annoyance.

@harrystyles: Are you being serious! I just messaged you to ask you why you're liking MY posts,
and you're gonna switch it on me and cry to Zayn??!

She replied a moment later.

@gigihadid: ooops, too late sorry. Told him. He's probably gonna kill you?? Don't message me
again. Oh and I'm telling Kendall too.

And then she blocked him. Point blank. Harry knew he was in some deep shit now, but it wasn't
going to stop him from getting to the bottom of these emails. And he wasn't scared of Zayn.
 44
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry was a little bit lost for words as he stared at his phone screen, which displayed the message
that Gigi's account no longer existed (AKA, she had blocked him.) The fact she had been so
defensive when he had confronted her, instead of expressing it as an easily done accident, was
insanely suspicious.

He messaged Louis and told him what had happened, and was immediately met with Louis'
response of: "Wait do you think it could be her?? xx"

And Harry just wasn't sure anymore. He thought back to all the things that had been said so far,
and all the times he had tried to catch people out. Like in Biology class, when he had been keeping
a close eye on Kendall to see if she went on her phone to reply to an email; he had been way too
focused on Kendall, who had been talking to Cheryl, to have even considered Gigi.

Harry: I'm really not sure but it's definitely really suspicious… just want this whole thing to be
over .xx

As he hit send, he got another notification at the top of his phone. This time, a message on
Instagram. From Zayn. He rolled his eyes and tapped on the notification, opening up his chat with
Zayn.

@Zayn: Would you care to explain to me why you're messaging my girlfriend.

He didn't even bother to reply. Because God knows Gigi had already gone on and on to Zayn about
how Harry had messaged her, unprovoked, with no mentions of the fact she had been snooping on
his page. He put down his phone and took a deep breath, watching the television on his wall in
boredom, not really taking in what was going on because he just couldn't still his mind.

His phone buzzed in his hand again moments later, and while he hoped it was Louis texting him, he
unlocked his device to find that Zayn had added another message.

@Zayn: Fucking ignoring me now?? I'd like to remind u that you've pissed me off enough already,
so messing my girl has taken it too fuckin far

@Zayn: *messaging

Harry, once again, didn't reply. In a way, he hoped it would anger Zayn more, and he knew that
replying would be what Zayn wanted so that he could start another silly argument. Harry was way
too exhausted for that now, he wanted to relax a little this evening.

His sole focus then became Louis, as another text message had popped through from him.

Louis: Again, don't overthink this. We'll get clarity soon enough :) xx

That was true. It wasn't like sitting round accusing everyone was going to do much, and perhaps it
really would take waiting until this all blew over and it naturally came to light. Whoever this was
knew about him and Louis, and had photos, but right now it seemed like the whole world hated
Harry so he wasn't going to dwell on it too much.
Harry: I've just had Zayn messaging me and trying to start another stupid argument too. But I
won't think about it any more tonight Lou. In fact I'm gonna take a nap because I am completely
drained .xx

Louis: It seems like you need one darling. Sweet dreams gorgeous, and we will talk when you
regain consciousness haha xx

And with a smile, Harry set down his phone, used the remote to turn his television's volume down,
and curled up on his made bed for some sleep.

---

His intended "power nap" became more of a three hour one, because he jolted awake, groggy and
confused, at seven to the sound of his mum shouting up the stairs.

"Harry, come and have your dinner, love."

Harry groaned and rubbed his eyes, straining to push himself into a sitting position. His television
was still quietly playing into his room, on some sort of home restoration programme, so he patted
around on his duvet cover for his remote control and switched it off.

That nap honestly made him feel worse than he did before. Not very effective.

He grabbed his phone and shot a quick text to Louis.

Harry: I am alive btw. Only just woken up!! .xx

And then he left his room and jogged down the stairs, heading into the kitchen where his mum was
serving up a pasta meal into four bowls. Gemma stood idly watching the small television mounted
to the wall in there, which showed the same television show that had been on in Harry's room, and
her eyes found him as he entered the room. He avoided eye contact at all costs, knowing they were
both thinking the same thing: about Gemma confronting him yesterday.

"Been napping, Harry?" Robin laughed, having emerged from the door behind Harry, ruffling his
hair. "I was starting to think you'd died up there."

Harry cleared his throat, "Yeah, got a good few hours. I feel shit now, though."

"Here you go, love." Anne grinned, passing Harry a bowl of pasta and a fork. "You can sit on the
sofa if you're careful."

"Thanks, Mum." Harry smiled, heading to the living room and taking a seat at one end of the sofa,
arching his knees so he could balance the bowl clumsily between his knees and chest. The other
three came in a moment later, all with a tray to eat from, which Harry probably should have
considered.

His mum put on the television, and Harry could feel Gemma's eyes on him again as they all began
eating.

"How was school, Harry?" Anne asked over the television.

"It was okay." He shrugged.

"And you're still not talking to Kendall, I presume."

He wished she wouldn't mention Kendall anymore. Because not only does the sheer thought of her
anger him, but it also brought up his romantic life, and Gemma had a little bit more of an insight
into that after hearing Louis in Harry's room.

"Not at all," Harry bluntly put it, eating his meal with his eyes glued to the TV screen, "Done with
her. Their whole group, actually."

"Your new friend seems much nicer anyway. I suppose all the other boys you're friends with now
are as nice as Louis." Robin mentioned. Gemma was watching Harry closely again.

"Yeah, they are all nice."

Harry's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out quickly to see a reply from Louis.

Louis: Not that you need any more beauty sleep xx

He couldn't help but largely grin as he slid his phone away. Gemma saw that as well.

There was no more conversation as they all finished their meals during the next ten minutes or so,
Harry trying to keep engaged with the boring television programme so as not to feel the
awkwardness with his sister. The moment he was finished, he stood up and headed to the kitchen,
opening up the dishwasher and slotting his bowl and cutlery into it.

He then slotted the living room door back open with his foot and popped his head in.

"Thanks for the food, Mum--"

As he finished that sentence, there was a rather loud disruption coming from the other side of the
front door. It was a grand smashing noise, followed immediately with the sound of a car alarm…
Harry and his family members froze for a moment.

"What the-- is that one of ours?" Robin asked in panic, eyebrows furrowed, and his family
members set their bowls aside and all jumped up so they could rush to the front door.

Harry threw the front door open and his stomach immediately dropped once he spotted his
gorgeous grey Audi R8 to be the one with its lights flashing along with the blaring alarm. He then
spotted the windscreen and his heart dropped even more: it had been completely shattered, the
entire thing. To the extent that glass had fallen into the car.

"Oh my Gosh! What in the world?!" Anne exclaimed, as Gemma scrambled to grab Harry's car
keys from the bowl by the door, pressing the button and stopping the ear-piercing alarm.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Harry raged, hands holding either side of his head as he
stormed over to his car. "My fucking car!"

He was well aware some of their neighbours were glancing from their windows at the commotion,
one couple even emerging from their home opposite to see if everything was okay, so Anne gave
them a hospitable thumbs up (despite nothing being okay) and they awkwardly smiled and
disappeared into their home again.

"Wait, what's that?" Robin queried, equally angry as he strolled over and ripped a note off the
window, that was taped to the other side of the vehicle. "Harry, it says: 'what you get for
messaging my girl.'"

"It was fucking Zayn!" Harry gasped in disbelief, placing his head in defeat in his hands on the top
of his car. "I can't believe this. This can't be happening."

"You messaged Gigi?" Gemma questioned, looking a little baffled. "What's going on, Harry?"

"No, it's not what it sounds like." Harry sighed, completely deflated at this point. "I was messaging
her for another reason, and she twisted my words when she told Zayn. I am absolutely fuming right
now."

"As you should be! This is major vandalism, Harry, and the police should be informed!" Anne told,
"He came onto our property and smashed your car! And it wasn't bloody cheap, either!"

"I know. I'll get it sorted." Harry grumbled. "Go inside, guys."

"You make sure not to let this slide!" Robin assured, "This isn't fucking on. I have every right to go
to Zayn's house right now and give him a talking to!"

"It's fine. I've got it under control." Harry was obviously lying. This wasn't under control, in fact,
the underlying anger welling up in his veins was building up more and more by the second, but he
had no clue what to do about that.

His three family members, all giving one last glance to the car and sympathetic smile to Harry,
headed inside, shutting the door.

Harry still had his hands gripping his hair in stress, panting a little before shutting his eyes and
deeply groaning. He dropped his hands to his sides in defeat, before patting his pocket for his
phone.

He stood back a little and snapped a picture of his shattered car windscreen. He didn't hesitate to
head onto Facebook, tapping onto the option to create a new status update, attaching the photo
before writing something to go along with it:

So it seems like some people still haven't managed to grow up. Just heard my car alarm going off
and have come outside to see that Zayn Malik like the little coward he is has smashed up my car
before running away. Cannot believe it honestly, poor immature boy.

He tapped upload instantly, sighing deeply before putting away his phone. The fact that the glass
had even fallen through and was coating the dashboard and front seats of his car put him in even
more of a rage.

He was kind of a little stuck on what to do now, but he definitely felt some gratification for having
specifically tagged Zayn in the shaming post. He deserved for people to see how ridiculous he was.
He took one last look at his car and stormed back inside, throwing his keys down again and
thumping up the stairs. He could hear his family members calling him, but ignored them as he
entered his room, slamming the door and flinging himself down onto his bed once again.

His phone was beeping and pinging in his pocket, notifications flooding in on the Facebook post,
but he was a little frozen on what to even do now, lying on his back with his hands folded on his
stomach. It wasn't until his phone started ringing that he paid specific attention, pulling it out to see
Louis' name on the screen. He swiped to answer it, pressing it to his ear and shallowly sighing.

"Hey."

"What the hell is going on, Harry?" Louis stressed. "Zayn smashed your car up?!"

"Yeah, I'm kind of still in shock. I was just with my family and heard it happen outside."
"Jesus, he's pathetic." Louis scoffed. "Why did he do it? How did you know it was him?"

Harry was glad to have already told Louis earlier about Gigi's snooping, it definitely made an
explanation easier.

"Well, about the notification from Gigi earlier. Long story short, she ended up blocking me and
telling Zayn I was in her messages, as I said, he messaged me. He left a note on the car telling me
it's what I get for messaging his girl."

There was a brief silence as Louis took in what had been said, before he responded. "Oh… fuck,
you have to report him, Harry. And Gigi definitely acted majorly suspicious. So do you think she
has something to do with the-"

"Emails, yeah, I do reckon it could be about those, after thinking more about it." Harry
unintentionally cut him off. "I mean, either that, or she was snooping for Kendall."

"Definitely something is going on. So many people are commenting on your post, Harry, have you
looked?"

"I'm not going to bother. I just wanted people to know how pathetic he is." Harry shrugged to
himself. "I haven't even done anything to sort my car out. I don't know what to do."

He wiped his free hand down his face and groaned again.

"Well, you're best off calling the garage in the city centre. They can get it sorted for you." Louis
advised. "Sorry this had to happen, Harry. It's been non-stop bullshit with that group."

"I'll give the garage a call. Sorry if I seem a little blunt, it's just-"

"You're stressed. You don't have to explain yourself, love. Give the garage a call and I'll speak to
you later." Louis softly said. It calmed Harry immediately, hearing that soothing tone, and he was
glad Louis had called him.

"I will. Speak to you later, Lou. Bye."

"Bye."

Harry hung up the call, and got onto Googling the contact information of the local garage.

---

Harry had given up all hope by the time he had contacted the garage, to be told they couldn't get
someone to his house to see to his car until tomorrow morning at 8am. It meant he was going to
arrive to school a little late but he just didn't care anymore, nothing could really get any worse
anyway. He had texted Louis all evening to calm himself down, and turned his notifications off for
Facebook because, quite frankly, he didn't even want to see the photo of his car again because it
upset him.

He woke up to his 7:30am alarm the next morning with his hair still damp from his late night
shower, meaning it was an unruly mess, and jumped up immediately to get dressed. One thought of
his destroyed car had him raring to go, he wanted it fixed as soon as possible.

He was dressed, teeth brushed and toast eaten, by eight, meaning he was pacing stressfully in the
hallway as he waited for a knock at the door. He got one moments later, opening it to greet a
middle aged man in uniform.
"Good to meet you, buddy," The man greeted, shaking Harry's hand. "In unfortunate
circumstances, I've seen the car."

Harry lightly chuckled and stepped outside with the man, whose name badge said Steve, shutting
the front door behind him. There was a tow truck parked on the side of the street, with another man
sitting in the driver seat.

"Yeah, it's not very pretty."

"Gorgeous car, too," Steve complimented, "Vengeful attack of the ex-girlfriend?"

Harry heartily chuckled. "Ex-best friend, believe it or not. He's a knob."

"He bloody well seems to be, windscreen took a nasty hit, it's completely fallen through there."
Steve commented, peering into the car at the glass littering the interior. "Can probably get it all
repaired in about an hour, another hour to get all the glass out. So does 10 sound good for me to
drop it back round?"

"I've got to head to school, but my mum will be in." Harry opened the front door again, grabbing
his car keys and passing them to Steve. The other man jumped down from the tow truck and
started hooking the back of Harry's car up to it.

"Cool, buddy. Payment details and everything will be emailed to you once we return the car. You'll
have one week to make full payment."

"Thank you very much, guys, I appreciate it." Harry gave a little wave as Steve headed over to the
truck with a thumbs up.

Harry entered his house once again, shutting the door. Maybe he could even get to school for half
eight, but first his mum would have to make an appearance to give him a lift. He hadn't needed to
get a lift for years, it felt quite humiliating now, quite honestly.

---

Harry hopped out his mum's car, averting eye contact with the pupils spilling from numerous other
cars in the car park, and kept his head down as he headed for the school building. He didn't know
how he had managed to make it on time, but he wasn't complaining. He could feel the stares from
classmates as he headed through the hallway, everyone having to have seen his Facebook update,
but frequent stares seemed to be a thing lately.

"Harry!"

Fuck, it was fucking Zayn's voice from somewhere. And it sounded cold, stern. Harry glanced
round quickly, but continued walking anyway.

"Harry!" Zayn repeated, a little angrier than before. Harry sighed and stopped in his tracks, turning
in reasonable surprise to find Zayn. Just Zayn, not the others as he usually would.

Harry pointed a threatening finger at him. "Step away from me, Zayn, or I will hurt you so fucking
bad."

"It wasn't me, you fucking idiot." Zayn spat. "Do you really think I'd do that? You may have
messaged Gigi, but I know for a fact my messages scared you enough."

"Then who the fuck was it, Zayn? Do enlighten me, please." Harry snarled. "You think I'm stupid,
you're only denying it because I posted about it online."

"It. Wasn't. Me." Zayn slowly and seriously stated. "I didn't touch your fucking car, I'm telling you
that from the bottom of my heart."

Harry looked at him squarely, eyes fixated and cold. "It wasn't, huh?"

"No. It wasn't."

Harry was a little lost for words on that one. If Zayn was serious, and it really wasn't him, then who
would do it?

"Okay. I'm not saying I believe you, but okay." Harry angrily said. "I still hate you, regardless. And
you don't have proof that it wasn't you."

"I know that it wasn't, and that's enough for me." And with that, Zayn dramatically turned on his
heel and headed off towards class.

Well, Jesus.

---

In music class, later that day, Cheryl was making a racket on the piano, trying to conjure up a tune,
while Kendall scrolled through her phone in their practice room. Zayn and Liam hadn't even
bothered to show up, saying something about wanting a smoking session behind the bike sheds
instead, but the girls opted on turning up to class anyway.

"Gosh, I can't believe Harry would think Zayn would do something like that!" Gigi exclaimed,
going over Harry's Facebook post once again on her own device. "It's completely ridiculous."

"I just can't believe Harry messaged you." There was an edge of rage to Kendall's tone, anger
towards her friend, it seemed. Gigi whipped her head to look at her.

"Why are you mad at me? He messaged me, I didn't start it." Gigi rolled her eyes.

"Guys." Cheryl warned, not wanting an argument to break out. It went unheard.

"Well, there has to be a reason he messaged you! I bet you've been giving him looks. He still looks
at me all the time, I don't know why he'd bother with you." Kendall said.

Gigi made an offended sound, "What's that supposed to mean? You're deluded, Kendall, you must
be going insane if you think he's still into you."

"He does still like me."

"Guys, please don't." Cheryl attempted once again.

"She fucking started it!" Gigi exploded. "It's not my fault her ex is trying to get with me!"

"He fucking isn't, get over yourself! He'd sooner date Christopher than you." Kendall snorted.
"And anyway, he isn't going to message you again, after the note warning him."

"What note?" Gigi snapped.

Kendall hesitated, "There was a… note taped to Harry's car in the photo he posted."
"There is not, I'm on the picture now!" Gigi gasped. "Kendall… did you…"

"Just drop it now."

"You smashed up his car?" Cheryl jumped in, once she too had caught onto what was happening.
"How else would you know about a note?"

"I just assumed there would be a note." Kendall childishly shrugged. "How else would Harry have
known who had done it?"

"You did this to stop him from messaging me, didn't you?" Gigi exclaimed. "Kendall, are you
fucking crazy? That is vandalism! You know how much that car costs!"

"Look," Kendall sighed, hands out in defence, "I wasn't thinking straight. And the moment you told
me that he was messaging you, Gi, I just didn't know how to react, I-"

"So you headed over to his home and smashed his car's entire windscreen?!" Cheryl queried in
bewilderment. "God, Kenny, I thought you still liked him!"

"I do! And he still likes me! Look, he cannot know. Please, guys." Kendall begged, hands clasped
together now in plea. "He would never give me another chance, I'm begging you."

"Zayn already told him it wasn't him, it's only a matter of time until he considers you an option.
You've got to face the consequences of your own actions, Kendall, it was such a reckless thing to
do!" Gigi reasoned. "I'm in shock, honestly."

"Sorry."

"It's Harry you should be saying that too. And Zayn, you completely shamed him online!" Gigi
spat. "My poor boy, he's so embarrassed about it."

Kendall lowered her head in shame, saying no more. And that's how it remained for the remainder
of the lesson for them: in a tense quiet.

Harry, meanwhile, was spending the lesson with his group once again, and they seemed to be
getting somewhere good with their song. Writing music seemed to get Harry's mind off of other
matters, specifically Zayn and the car situation at the moment.

"This is apparently our last lesson working on this," Chloe informed, "We're performing them next
lesson, which is Thursday."

"What, seriously? Good thing we're getting somewhere then. I'm glad it's only two minutes we
have to create."

"It's definitely coming together nicely." Emily smiled. "I'd say it's pretty much finished, actually.
It's just about getting it right next lesson, this is worth quite a lot of our grade."

Harry's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see that it was a text from Louis.

Louis: Harry…me and Charlie were just walking past Kendall's practice room to go and get some
more paper and their door was open a little. Heard their discussion…I have to tell you something
xx

Harry's eyebrows crumpled.

 Harry: What is it lou??? .xx

"You look concerned, everything okay?" Amber questioned, and Harry glanced up to find their
eyes on him.

"Yeah, yeah, it's okay." He lied, though he had a crawling curiosity and dread filling his veins.
"Sorry, I am listening."

"We were just saying we think it would be best if you sing the song on your own. A male voice
would fit it best," Grace announced, "And Emily would be on piano. That's all we need, really?"

"You think so? God, I've never sung alone before, especially in school. I think we should keep it as
three singers."

"If you're not up for it, of course we could still sing too. You just have a great voice which
deserves to be heard." Emily assured.

"Let's stick to the three of us. But I do appreciate the compliment, too." He grinned, earning their
pleased smiles and general agreements, before returning to his phone, which had buzzed again.

Louis: It was Kendall. She smashed your car, I just heard her arguing about it with Gigi and
Cheryl xx

"Oh, fucking hell." Harry sighed to himself, before waving a hand at the girls. "It's nothing, sorry.
Just another bit of fucking drama in my life."

They stayed sheepish and silent.

Harry: Oh my God I should have suspected something. Probably to get me to stop messaging
Gigi, wow she really is a psycho. Thanks for finding that out for me Louis .xx

This was all getting even more twisted as time went on. If only he could find out about the
anonymous sender so quickly.

Chapter End Notes

Psycho kendall ignite

 45
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"God, what should I do now that I know it was Kendall?" Harry stressed, as he and Louis strolled
the school field after their music lesson, heading to English. "She probably thinks she's completely
gotten away with it!"

He and Louis were glancing in the corner of their eyes at Kendall, Gigi and Cheryl, who were
strutting in their trio not too far from them, too making their way to English.

"It's a hard one. But while you're still suspicious of Gigi, I think it would be good to hang back
from their group for now, if that makes sense." Louis suggested. "While we observe Gigi a little
more."

"Despite how much he's done to me, how angry he's made me feel, I feel awful for thinking it's
Zayn." Harry shook his head lightly. "I just hate how gratified Kendall must have felt when she had
seen I'd shamed Zayn in that post."

Harry pulled out his phone, trying not to trip over his own clumsy feet as they continued to walk,
tapping onto his Facebook and swiftly deleting the car post. He couldn't even look at it any longer
knowing Zayn hadn't been involved at all, he felt a little stupid for believing it now.

"That's understandable, you can probably somehow feel some compassion for Zayn, more so than
you do for Kendall."

That was true: Harry did still feel an element of compassion for Zayn. He in no way forgave him
for any of his actions, nor did he condone any of them, but his general respect for both Zayn and
Liam hadn't completely diminished. It was because he knew, deep down, that they were being
controlled; Kendall held a grudge against Harry, so Gigi and Cheryl (her best friends) pushed their
boyfriends into playing along with it. That was Harry's theory.

"You're deep in thought." Louis noted, bringing Harry back to reality, with a little giggle, as they
neared the school building.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. It's nothing really, I was just thinking about my car." He lied, not wanting to
bring Zayn and Liam up. He shouldn't have been feeling any sort of positive vibes towards those
two, he was meant to be angry. He just didn't know how to be fully livid at the two boys he was
best friends with for countless years.

"You'll be reunited with your car later on," Louis chuckled, "Don't you worry."

Kendall and her friends purposefully dropped the door to the school building on Harry and Louis
when they had noticed they were behind them, urging Harry to roll his eyes and come very
painfully close to making a snappy comment at Kendall about the car windscreen situation. He
wanted her to know what he knew, but he held back on that front for now.

"Very mature." He spat, managing to catch the door and hold it for Louis. Gigi spun round swiftly
and gave Harry a sly smile, urging Harry to wrinkle up his nose in disgust until she turned away.

"There's definitely something going on with her," Louis whispered, for Harry's ears only. "The way
she just looked at you like that, behind Kendall's back too."
"I know. Unless she's just playing around with it, she knows I'm suspicious so she's trying to make
me feel more agitated? I don't know." Harry sighed. "But I'm gonna keep a close eye."

---

Zayn and Liam made a loud, late entry into the English classroom twelve minutes into the lesson,
looking pretty remorseless and ignoring Mr Grant's hugely disappointed glare. Zayn was too busy
latching his eyes onto Harry, in a powerfully hateful stare. Harry kept his gaze pretty soft as he
stared back, leaving it emotionless. Zayn maybe had the right to be mad at him, considering he had
blamed him for something he had, in fact, been framed for.

"He doesn't know that it was Kendall," Louis scoffed quietly to Harry, "That's the worst part, he's
completely fine with her."

"He could do with knowing. Maybe Gigi will tell him, who knows." Harry shrugged.

"Gigi's staring." Louis had spotted it in the corner of his eye, but his eye line remained on the
whiteboard, where Mr Grant was scrawling notes about deixis. "Right at you."

Harry turned his head quickly in their table's direction, linking eyes immediately with Gigi. This
time, she dropped a subtle wink, before smiling and concentrating on the whiteboard once again.
Harry furrowed his eyebrows, keeping his eyes on Gigi for a moment. He then flicked them over to
look at Zayn, who was already looking dead at him.

Zayn mimed, "The fuck are you looking at?"

Oh, right. Harry's eyes had been directly on Zayn's girlfriend. For fuck's sake, that didn't exactly
help Zayn's interpretation of Harry's messages to Gigi.

He decided to gesture down to his phone, pulling it from his pocket, his way of telling Zayn to get
his out too. He didn't exactly want to be texting Zayn, he knew he should have been ignoring their
group altogether, but he couldn't carry on with Zayn thinking he had some sort of infatuation with
his girlfriend.

He opened his texts to Zayn, his last ones being back at the start of the Paris trip, and quickly typed
out a message while seeing Zayn whip out his device too.

Harry: Don't show Gigi this. I wasn't staring at her because I like her. We need to talk Zayn.

He hit send, seeing that it had been read immediately, and Zayn must have been on the chat. They
linked eyes across the room again, intrigue and maybe disarray in Zayn's eyes, before he looked at
his phone to respond. It came through a moment later.

Zayn: About? I don't really want to be talking to someone who thinks I vandalised their car….

Harry was quick on his response, well aware Louis had caught on to their speedy texting exchange.

Harry: I know that it wasn't you. We will discuss that part some other time maybe, but for now I
want to talk about Gigi.

Zayn: What about her?? I trust her, what are you trying to say???

His defensiveness wasn't going to help at all. If he wasn't even willing to accept that Gigi was
maybe being unfaithful to him, how was Harry ever going to get across the fact he knew something
was up with her? It was ultimately going to be impossible.
Harry: It's something we need to talk about really. And about the Instagram messages.

Zayn: Nothing needs discussing here. Stay away from all of us. And if I see your eyes on my girl
again, you best believe your car won't be the thing needing fixing.

He saw Zayn angrily stuff his phone away. Harry sighed and decided he would merely give up for
now. He would have to show Zayn the screenshots of Gigi some other way.

His phone buzzed again moments later, and he pulled it out to instead see a text message from his
mother.

Mum: Car came back not long ago, looks lovely and they've washed it too. Robin went down to the
police station and filed a report, just wanted you to know. Contacted your insurance company too.
See you later honey xxx

Well. Seeing as Harry now knew who it was, that would hopefully be of help. But with no
evidence against Kendall, it was going to be pretty difficult to convict her.

"My mum's filed a police report," He mentioned quietly to Louis, "I'm glad of it. I think I just felt
too angry and stuck to do it myself."

"I hope they find out it was her," Louis rolled his eyes, "She deserves at least a nasty fine."

"She definitely does," Harry rolled his eyes, returning to his phone to draft a reply.

"Harry, would you like to give me your phone?" Mr Grant demanded all of a sudden, urging Harry
to jolt to attention and look up to see his teacher heading his way with an open palm. "Seeing as all
I've seen this lesson is you staring at it."

Harry ignored the snickering from Kendall and Co. and defeatedly locked his device and handed it
to his teacher, who put it into the drawer of his desk before slamming it shut. Harry decided to stop
sulking and maybe get on with some work, but Louis was immediately there to distract him.

"Someone's a bad boy," Louis whispered, a flirtatiously taunting undertone, "On your phone all
lesson."

"Shut it." Harry smirked, voice low as he scribbled down some notes. "You're the naughty one,
you gave me a handjob in class."

Louis chuckled lightly to himself. "You've corrupted me, this is all down to you."

"I love that I've corrupted you," Harry bit his lip, speaking very quietly, despite their classmates
around them now discussing, in pairs, a concept Mr Grant had given them. "So glad we got roomed
together."

"I'm thankful my mum chose this city for us, and this school for me." Louis reminisced. "And that
you paid for me, for Paris. That's probably why Mr Grant put us together."

"I'm just Mr. Generous." Harry grinned. "In fact, would you let Mr. Generous take you out for
dinner tonight? Little date night?"

Louis raised an eyebrow, a smirk stretching onto his quizzical face. "I'd like that, Harry. But just to
let you know, I don't sleep with someone on the first date."

Harry, almost forgetting they were sat in class, leant in, lips almost gracing Louis' ear to whisper
lowly into it, "Good thing it's not our first date, then."

Louis densely shivered with a giggle, while Harry realised how close he had gotten and swiftly
pulled back. He almost instinctively looked in the direction of Kendall and her friends, seeing
Liam's eyes on them. It was just yesterday that he had seen Harry and Louis smiling at each other
in maths. He knew he was overthinking things, seeing as Liam wasn't looking for long.

"Sorry, still get paranoid. You're too irresistible to be around." Harry smiled at Louis, "But I can't
wait until I can do that openly to you."

"Neither can I." Louis gave a small smile. "I kinda like the secretive side of it, though."

"See, it's when you say things like that, it turns me on." Harry snickered, as he attempted to do
some work at the same time. It at least looked like he and Louis were discussing the topic Mr
Grant had given them. "It's like you're enjoying the risk of it all, the part of getting caught."

"Maybe I do enjoy it," Louis shrugged, teasingly, "How nobody knows we're talking to each other
like this right now."

"Fuck, I like it too. But I'll like it even more when they all know you're mine, and only mine."
Harry added, smirking. "That'll be a pretty great day."

"You really mean it, about the date tonight?" Louis reiterated, a shy smile.

"Of course I do. I want you in a shirt, all dressed up for me." Harry dropped a sly wink his way.
"And I'll pick you up at seven."

"Wow, you are serious. I can't wait, Harry." Louis massively grinned. "I'll be ready for then."

---

The simple sight of Harry's freshly mended car sat on the drive, when his mum had dropped him
home, was almost the best sight Harry had seen that day - after Louis, of course.

"Oh, thank God!" Harry exclaimed in relief, running his hand along the fresh windscreen. "And
they've made it all clean too, I'm so relieved."

"Yeah, they did a good job," Anne smiled, as she led Harry into the house and they removed their
shoes. "I had a call from the police station, they said they will be checking CCTV cameras in the
area, or see if any of our neighbours saw anything. You can tell them you think it was Zayn when
they speak to you."

Harry froze when he became aware his mum didn't know what he knew. He knew he couldn't just
leave it untold: he knew who did it.

"Uh…" He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Actually, it… it wasn't Zayn."

Anne turned to look at him, eyebrows furrowed. "No? How do you know?"

"Because it was Kendall, Mum."

Anne looked utterly shell-shocked, seeming to become frozen in place. There was a brief pause
before she responded.

"Kendall? Harry, why would Kendall do that to your car? Are you just saying that because you're
angry at her?"
"Not at all. Louis heard her talking about it with Gigi and Cheryl," He informed, "And it makes
sense, the reasoning behind it. Look, it's too much to go over now, but it just adds up."

"I just don't see how Kendall could do such a thing, she's such a lovely g-"

"Mum, please just don't. You know how I feel about her now."

"Should I say something to Kris? This is quite a big accusation to make before proper evidence,
Harry."

"Louis heard them discussing it. Privately. I trust Louis."

And with that, Harry went upstairs. He heard his mum saying something along the lines of "I'm not
saying you don't," before he shut himself into his bedroom.

---

At twenty minutes to seven, Harry, with his hair freshly washed, shot a text to Louis. He was well
aware he was cutting it short with time, but he was often one who was able to get ready at a deadly
quick pace.

Harry: I hope you're getting ready for our fancy date Lou Lou ;) .xx

Harry was flicking through his closet, pulling out a white button-up with pale blue stripes, deciding
he would pair that with his faded grey skinny jeans. He pulled his t-shirt off and threw it carelessly
onto his bed, as his phone notification went off.

Louis: White button-up okay for you Styles?;) Xx

Harry smirked to himself, sniffing out a laugh as he thumbed out a response with his own shirt
draped over his forearm.

Harry: Seems we will be matching then, gorgeous. Have a feeling I might have a few more buttons
undone on mine though .xx

Louis: Not gonna hear me complaining xx

Harry, smiling like an idiot, put down his phone and decided to actually get dressed. He did up just
half the buttons on his shirt, meaning the top section of his chest was exposed. He put on his
crucifix necklace to compliment the patch of skin showing.

By the time he had run his hair dryer through his hair and gelled his fringe up at the front, it was
ten minutes to seven. He jumped into his skinny jeans and some fresh socks, just enough time to
spritz on his favourite Tom Ford aftershave, before grabbing his phone and wallet and leaving his
room.
He had made a reservation at a nice restaurant in the city centre for 7:15, so had a good amount of
time to get to Louis' and drive them there.

He was sliding on his Chelsea boots in the hallway, sitting on the bottom step of the staircase,
when Gemma strolled out of the living room carrying her laptop.

She raised her eyebrows when she saw him. "Wit-woo, Harry, you look nice!"

"Thanks." He chuckled, standing up and grabbing his coat. "Just off for dinner."

"Where?" She queried, then cut herself off with a gasp, holding a hand over her heart with an
adored smile. "Wait! Are you going with-"
"See you later, Gem." He tried to casually say, grabbing his car keys, but couldn't help a
mischievous grin from erupting onto his face.

"You are!" Gemma cooed, "Aww, Harry, are you really going with him? Please tell me you are!"

"Keep your voice down a little," Harry whispered suddenly, using a hand motion to urge it, "Bye,
Gemma." He put more emphasis on it this time, smiling sweetly at her, and opened the front door.

"Treat him like a king!" She called after him, in a whisper-shout, dropping him a wink, and Harry
playfully rolled his eyes and slammed the door behind him.

Fuck, well she pretty much knew everything now. It was funny how she just caught onto things
and they never even had to have that formal, sit-down chat about it. It was part of their sibling
telepathy, maybe.

He hopped in his car, switched on the radio and drove to Louis', arriving at three minutes to seven.
Perfect.

He felt somewhat nervous heading up to Louis' door, knowing he definitely shouldn't be, but liked
it nonetheless. He felt like this was a first date, even though it wasn't. Maybe it was the formality of
the situation.

He knocked three times on the front door, and a moment later, Louis answered. His hair looked
lovely and fluffy, and the white shirt he wore, buttoned up to the top, showed off his lovely figure.
He looked wonderful.
Louis smiled shyly at Harry, looking him up and down appreciatively. "Hey."

"My God, you look sexy." Harry lowly greeted him.

He noticed very quickly that Louis' eyes widened, and he opened the door further to show that his
mum was standing behind him in the hallway. She wore an amused smile.

"Hello, Harry." She heartily chuckled.

"Oh, Jesus, I'm sorry," He snorted, reddening slightly in his cheeks. "I didn't realise you were
there, Mrs. Tomlinson."

"Jay," She corrected, grinning at him as she stepped forward and pulled him into a hug. He gladly
hugged her back. "And don't worry, Love, don't be embarrassed. You look lovely. Smell lovely,
too."

Louis had his hands in his pockets, awkwardly, but was smiling largely at their friendly interaction.
It was clearly his lack of romantic experience that led to his awkwardness in a situation like this.

"Thank you, Jay." He beamed, turning to Louis. "You ready to head off?"

"Yeah." Louis agreed, giving his mum a quick hug. "See you later."

"Have a lovely time, boys. As long as you get my Louis home by ten at the latest." She smiled
playfully at Harry, who chuckled in return.

"Of course. Goodbye, Jay."

She waved them off, before shutting the door, and they jumped into Harry's car and shut the doors.

"My God, you look sexy." Louis mocked Harry's previous outburst, throwing his head back in a
laugh.

"Shut up, you. I didn't realise she was standing literally right behind you." Harry cackled, starting
his car and they plugged in their seatbelts. "I was only telling the utmost truth, anyway. You look
delectable."

"Delectable?" Louis giggled. "Throwing the fancy adjectives at me now?"

Harry smirked, "Exactly. Only the fanciest words can describe such a being."

"Well, I can't even put into words how good you look, Harry. I mean, I'm still quite speechless.
You make me look dressed down."

"You can never look dressed down with a face like yours." Harry softly smiled. "Honestly, you
look gorgeous, Lou."

"You're too nice. Where are we off to?"

"Nice Italian restaurant in the city centre, thought it looked fancy enough for you."

Louis giggled, "Oh? You think it'll be up to my standards?"

"We will have to see."

"As long as I'm sitting across from you, wherever I am, I'm more than happy." Louis softly added.
"I'm very grateful you're taking me out."

"It's been a while since our little restaurant outing in Paris. You deserve it." Harry patted Louis'
knee, giving it a squeeze before returning his hand to the wheel.
"Nice to see your car's mended. It's so clean, they did a great job." Louis complimented.

"Yeah, I'm glad to have 'er back."

There was a silence for the rest of the drive there, but Harry knew it was a calm and reflective one.
He had been thinking over their time in Paris and how thankful he was that they had gotten where
they are now, and he reckoned Louis was thinking the exact same.

They pulled into the car park of Harry's chosen restaurant, and Harry switched off the engine.

"Exactly quarter past, perfect." He smiled to himself, as they wandered to the doors, thanking a
couple in front of them who held it for them.

The interior of the restaurant was dimly lit, with an artsy atmosphere and rustic furniture. It was
pretty full, making Harry glad he had booked.

Once they got served and seated, and Harry quickly realised he was driving and therefore couldn't
drink, he ordered himself a sparkling water and Louis opted for an elderflower drink. The waiter
nodded, noting it down, smiling and heading away.

"How can you drink sparkling water?" Louis giggled. "It tastes strange to me."

"It's lovely when it's ice cold and you're thirsty." Harry defended, with a cheeky smile. "You and
your elderflower pressé can quiet down."

"Sparkling water must be a posh person's drink," Louis' giggle remained persistent, "Only you
upper-class folk would know about the joys of it."

"Maybe you should try some when I get it."

"Make me." Louis slyly grinned, urging Harry's eyebrows to raise.

"Wow, you're rather flirtatious this evening."

"Am I?" Louis held the eye contact with him, a smile playing on his face.

The waiter had headed back over, cutting the little moment short.

"Sparkling water?"

Harry raised his hand, almost in defeat following Louis' teasing, and the man placed it in front of
him, then Louis' drink in front of him.

"Are you ready to order?"

"Oh, not yet," Harry mentioned, "Sorry, can you give us a few?"

"Yes, of course." The man grinned, walking away from the table once again.

Louis grabbed a menu, evidently trying to hold back another side-smile, while Harry did the same
and didn't bother restraining his own.

"I'm thinking carbonara." Louis noted.

"I like the sound of the lasagna. Think I'll get that." Harry loved how there was an evident tension
between them but they were playing it off as nothing.
Their waiter returned moments later, taking their orders before leaving them in peace once again.
Louis was glancing around the restaurant, a cute, intrigued look in his eye, and Harry couldn't help
but admire him. He decided he would bring Gemma up, after realising he hadn't yet.

"So… my sister has kind of caught onto us." He worded it that way, seeing how Louis would react.

"Really?" Louis quirked an eyebrow, though he looked very relaxed about it. "How do you know?"

"When you were at mine, and we had that quickie. Yeeeah, she kind of told me afterwards that she
heard. Wanted me to know she supported me, and all that."

"Wait, she must have heard me!" Louis was slightly red in the face. "Oh, God, that's so
embarrassing. I was trying to be quiet!"

"Kind of hard to be quiet when I'm fucking you so good." Harry added, smugly, and Louis released
a methodical breath.

"You're being very rowdy for a Wednesday."

"Well, it is hump day." Harry chuckled at his own awful joke, while Louis playfully rolled his
eyes.

"Good one." He sarcastically commented. "So are you okay with Gemma knowing? Do your
parents know?"

"No, my parents are none the wiser. I'm just not sure how I feel about Gem knowing. I mean,
obviously I want everybody to know, I'm so proud of being with you. But it just feels weird
discussing it with her at the moment, especially after she heard us."

"Heard me." Louis corrected, giggling. "And maybe the sound of your bed gave it away too."

"Jesus, yeah, I don't know how I thought we'd get away with that one."

Louis drew in a steady breath, likely lustfully reminiscing about their last sex session at Harry's,
while Harry stared squarely at him with a lopsided grin. He just loved looking at Louis: admiring
him. The way his eager crystal blue eyes took in what was happening around them, nibbling lightly
on his lower lip and playing with the corner of the napkin his cutlery rested on. He was truly
amazing to look at, and looked absolutely incredible tonight, his hair perfect.

"You are just spectacular." Harry made his thoughts form, an air of awe in his tone. Louis' eyes
flicked over to him, and his lips curled into a flattered smile.

"Were you watching me?" He giggled.

"Just admiring." Harry sniffed out a laugh. "As I always do."

They held eye contact, deeply yet so passionately. Memories seemed to flood back in Harry's mind,
memories of meeting Louis, of gaining his trust and completely falling for him. He truly loved
Louis. And he was struck once again with the degrading thought that Louis had never said he loved
him back. It wasn't that Harry was exactly offended, he knew this was Louis' first relationship ever,
but maybe just a little bit disheartened. He decided to fill the quiet, just noises from the general
restaurant and chatter surrounding tables present before.

"Can I ask you something, Louis?"

Louis looked as though he was panicking a little, probably wondering what Harry could possibly
want to ask, eyebrows furrowing a little. "Uh, yeah, of course. What about?"

"I'm not looking to ruin the atmosphere here or put you on the spot, I'm having a great time tonight
and honestly just wanted to know something."

"I'm having a great time too. Well, what is it?" Louis was softly smiling, reassuring Harry that this
hopefully wouldn't put too much of a damper on their evening.

"Do you love me?" He came straight out with it, no further hesitations. Then he continued quickly
once Louis' face became unreadable. "Please don't feel the need to answer, it was just on my mind,
I-"

"I understand, it's okay." Louis laughed, seemingly nervously. "And it's fine that you're asking, I
understand that too. It's just…" He trailed off, cutting himself off with a deep breath, "I don't
know."

"You don't… don't know?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, please, Harry. And it's not going to ruin the evening. I just… I find
it hard expressing how I feel sometimes. It's almost as though I don't know what love really is, if
that makes sense."

Harry hummed in interest. He felt completely understanding, almost sympathetic that Louis had
previously had such low self esteem that he hadn't even known how it was to love someone.

"If you had to put it into words. Your feelings for me." Harry asked, curiously. "What would you
say?"

Louis shyly smiled to himself, lowering his gaze to his lap. "Well, when I wake up every morning,
you're the first thing I think of. When I'm with my family, alone, at school, I'm always thinking of
you. And when I see your face, I…" He trailed off, dreamily almost, eyeline raising and setting on
Harry's face, his eyes sparkling. "I get goosebumps. It… it feels like I'm flying, as ridiculous as
that sounds. Like no one else exists and it's only me and you, and I could just stare into your eyes
forever."

The simple wording of what Louis had said made Harry shiver with so much love, biting back a
massive grin so much that he swore he almost tasted blood.

"God, Lou, you're gonna make me cry!" He breathed, actually feeling a lump forming in his throat,
smirking cheekily, "Sounds like you're pretty head-over-heels for me."

Louis giggled once again, nodding enthusiastically. "Oh, I definitely am. It keeps me up at night
sometimes."

The waiter appeared suddenly, urging Harry to lightly jump. "Your meals! Sorry, didn't mean to
give you a fright." He chuckled.

"It's not a problem," Harry laughed, accepting his meal and Louis being handed his. "Thank you
very much."

"You're very welcome. Enjoy."

The waiter headed off again, while Harry and Louis started their meals.
"So, you can detect how you feel. Maybe it's down to being able to express it openly. You can be
open with me, Louis, you don't have to feel insecure about that." Harry mentioned, once he had
finished his mouthful.

"I know I will. I want to. You should know how amazing you are, how much you've literally
changed my life. I'm working on it, I promise."

"I appreciate it. And you take as long as you need, I know it can be hard putting it into words for
the first time." Harry smiled. "Just know that I love you. A lot. And I know that I just find it easier
to express. I'm glad we had this discussion."

A weight had truly been lifted from Harry's shoulders. His tendency to over-analyse situations
meant that he had previously second-guessed Louis' lack of a love confession, he had even
wondered whether Louis was regretting being with him, but now he knew the truth: forming the
sentence "I love you" wasn't easy for Louis. And that was okay, because Harry already knew that
Louis did love him, he could see that when he looked at him. It would just take time for that to be
verbalised.

They both shared an ice cream sundae for dessert, both too full from their main courses to have
their own separate desserts, and Harry tipped 20% and paid the bill at the end before they left.
Louis had still tried to sneak in £10 of his own, Harry knowing that was probably all Louis
currently had, but his attempt had been denied by Harry once again: Harry was treating him. Again.
He completely deserved it.

"You're too good to me." Louis complimented, as they jumped in Harry's car again, shivering a
little from the biting night air, as it was now coming up to half past 8.

"You're too good for this world, Louis." Harry smiled, starting the engine. "Stay the night?"

"My mum wanted me home by ten," Louis smirked, jokingly.

"Well, ask her? Please, Louis, I'd love you round mine tonight."

Harry was well aware that would mean his own mum knowing Louis was staying over, but she
would merely see it as a friend staying the night; nothing suspicious.

"I'm sure she will be fine with it. We would have to stop at mine anyway so I can grab some stuff
for school tomorrow."

"Of course," Harry grinned, patting Louis on the knee and twisting the keys in the ignition with his
other hand. "The urge to wake up next to you tomorrow is incredibly strong."

He sped pretty much the whole way to Louis', well aware he was breaking the law, and Louis'
mum was, of course, fine with Louis staying the night at Harry's. She thanked Harry for being such
a gentleman to Louis while Louis stuffed some essentials and clothing for tomorrow into his
backpack, before Harry and Louis wished her a good night and left once again.

"Am I just showing up unannounced here?" Louis chuckled, nervously, once Harry had parked his
car on his own pebbled driveway ten minutes later.

"It's fine," He waved a hand, "They're fine with stuff like this, I used to bring people round
whenever I liked."

Harry unlocked his front door, allowing Louis in behind him as they both removed their shoes and
shut the door behind them. Gemma, having heard the door and probably eager to hear what Harry
had to say, popped out from the living room. She obviously hadn't expected to see Louis stood
timidly by Harry's side, clutching his backpack handle nervously, but she smiled very welcomingly
when she had spotted him.

"Hi, Louis!" She beamed, "You guys alright?"

She was seemingly struggling with whether to mention their date, and whether it went well. She
didn't want to put them on the spot, so she dodged it.

"Hi, yeah, very well." Louis quietly said, smiling.

Gemma seemed to adore him, which Harry loved. It was Louis' gentle nature, it drew people in:
people couldn't dislike him (unless they were friends with Kendall.) Harry then had to hold a laugh
in once he realised that the reason Louis may have really been so shy was because he knew that
Gemma had heard him last time he was there, in Harry's room. Bless him, no wonder his cheeks
were tinged with a rosy pink.

"Good. You staying over, Louis?" Gemma queried, and Anne then emerged from the living room
too, probably having heard, her motherly instincts kicking in.

"Hello, Louis, are you staying the night, love? Do you want the spare room?"

There was evidently some tension then, what with Harry, Louis and Gemma knowing that wouldn't
be necessary. Harry thought on his feet, saying the first thing he could think of.

"Nah, I'll sleep on the floor, Louis can have my bed. No point him staying over if he's in another
room." He shrugged. It seemed to convince Anne enough.

"Okay, as long as you don't make Louis sleep on the floor." Anne warned, wanting Louis to be
completely comfortable. Oh, she definitely didn't have to worry about that one.

"Of course I won't." He urged.

Gemma smiled coyly to herself, bowing her head to hide it. She knew completely what was going
on, and couldn't get over how adorable it was. She had hated Kendall, so seeing her brother, who
she used to view as the straightest guy in the world, with someone as lovely as Louis, was just
brilliant.

"You both look nice, where have you been?" Anne then questioned, warmly.

"Out for dinner with our mates." Harry answered swiftly once again. "For Charlie's birthday." Yet
another lie. He so wished he could tell her the truth, that he had dined Louis once again, but knew
that it would take time to get to that.

"Ah, okay. Anyway, I'll stop pestering you now." She grinned, chuckling to herself. "If you need
anything at all, Louis, give me a shout."

"Thank you very much, I'll be sure to." Louis warmly smiled.

Anne reciprocated it before wandering off into the living room again. Gemma left them with a bit
of a cheekier smile, before following her mum into the other room.

"God, always a stream of questions." Harry whispered to Louis, laughing lightly. "Sorry about that,
let's head up."
 "It's no worry, Harry. They're both very kind." Louis noted. "So lovely."

Harry sighed as he opened up his bedroom door, allowing Louis in behind him. "Sorry about the
mess." He apologised, as Louis shut the door behind them.

"Once again, there is no mess." Louis giggled, placing his backpack down on Harry's desk. "I love
the smell of your room, smells like your aftershave."

"I smell even more like my aftershave." Harry grinned, stepping over to Louis and placing his
hands softly on his hips, bringing his face in and kissing Louis gently.

Louis smiled into the kiss, his hands gripping Harry's biceps. They then slid up and over his chest,
where it was exposed in his shirt, and he gripped gently onto Harry's necklace, urging Harry to
smirk into the kiss. He broke the mini make-out, resting his forehead against Louis'.

"God, you're so hot." He barely whispered, his words barely there, they were that quiet, and Louis
rolled his lips together in order to suppress his smile from growing ever-bigger.

"Thank you for taking me out."

"Any time. Literally." Harry lifted his head up, brushing a strand of tousled hair from Louis' face.
"Gorgeous."

Chapter End Notes

Next chapter will feature more about the email situation, of course. It will come to
light veeery soon who's behind it, don't worry.

What do you wanna see at the start of the next chapter? Fluff? Smut? More stuff just
at school?

Thank you, hope you're all staying safe and relatively sane xx
 46
Chapter Notes

Contains a taaad of smut and some draaama

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It seemed as though Louis was a little nervous staying at Harry's for the first time, fidgeting a little
as he sat cross-legged on the bed, observing Harry as he sorted some of the things out on his shelf.
Harry ultimately found it adorable, Louis still sitting nervously in his shirt and jeans, but he of
course wanted him to be comfortable.

"You okay?" Harry cooed, smiling over at him. "You gonna get into your pyjamas?"

Louis lazily smiled, "I'm fine, just haven't slept anywhere besides my house since Paris." He
sniffed out a laugh.

"You're too cute. Think of this as your second home," Harry smiled, "Get into your pyjamas and
get comfy. I'm gonna go and grab some water. You want some?"

"As long as it's not sparkling." Louis smirked.

Harry chuckled heartily, and left Louis with a lingering glance of love before leaving the room. He
jogged down the stairs, and headed into the kitchen, where, of course, Gemma seemed to be. She
was buttering a slice of toasted bread, looking over her shoulder and grinning at Harry as he
retrieved two glasses from the cupboard.

"How was it tonight?" She queried. Harry knew she had been dying to know, but was only getting
the chance now. "Or are you still reluctant to discuss it with your big sister?"

"It was nice." Harry shrugged, nonchalantly, turning on the tap and drawing two glasses full of
cold water. "Nice food. Had lasagna."

"I'm inquiring more about the company you had this evening," Gemma was smiling smugly, while
Harry bowed his head with a smile, holding the glasses. "I'm still just really, like…"

"Shocked?" Harry offered, tilting his head aside a little, lacking the full eye contact still.
"Disappointed?"

"Not at all disappointed, Harry. Don't ever think that." Gemma tutted. "It was just rather
unexpected, finding all of this out so quickly. But overall, I'm just proud of you, for finding
somebody so lovely, who seems to actually care about you."

That was an indefinite dig at Kendall, and Harry loved it. He loved knowing that his sister hated
Kendall too, and that she adored Louis.

"Thanks, Gem." Was his response, his go-to whenever he wasn't quite ready to reply with
something more sincere. He gave her one last genuine smile before awkwardly using his elbow to
clumsily open the kitchen door, heading back upstairs.
He quite dramatically kicked his door open, having to do so as both hands were preoccupied,
terrifying Louis, who was innocently scrolling on his phone, sat in the same position except with
his pyjamas on now.

"Jesus, I wanted a glass of water, not a heart attack." Louis cackled, hand still over his heart and
chest lightly bobbing. "Thank you, Harry."

Harry smiled cockily and handed over one of the glasses, which Louis tentatively sipped at, while
Harry took a couple of large gulps of his own before placing it on the bedside table.

There was a moment of quiet, just the sound of Louis placing his glass down on the bedside table
on his side, before Harry spoke.

"Wish we didn't have school tomorrow. I'm getting really tired of it all now," He sighed, "I really
want to talk to Zayn about Gigi."

"It's difficult knowing whether or not you should. But if she's causing trouble for you and being
unfaithful to him, maybe he ought to know." Louis shrugged. "Don't let everything at school get to
you, school is such a short part of our lives, it'll all be worth it once it's over."

God, that was so true. In a few years, Harry would look back on his school years in hysterics once
he realised how little it all really meant. The only part that really meant something was meeting
Louis, and he was hoping that would show for itself in years to come - not that he had truly had
time to reflect on that yet.

"Wanna go on a drive?" He asked, spontaneously, like a hyperactive puppy. "Just drive off
somewhere for a bit, look at the stars maybe?"

Louis raised an eyebrow in amusement, gesturing down to his pyjamas. "Seems like I'm not very
dressed for that occasion."

"I'm still in this," Harry chuckled, gesturing down to his shirt and jeans, "Who cares? It's twenty
past nine at night, and it's dark. No one will see us."

"You're being serious?" Louis giggled, and Harry knew he was all for it too because he had swung
his legs over the side of the bed as though he was up for going.

"Absolutely. Who cares if we have to be up early tomorrow? I wanna go see the stars."

"You're way too cute." Louis grinned, getting to his feet completely. "And what are you planning
on telling your mum?"

"I'll tell her, I don't know, that we're going on a drive. Why would I need to lie?" Harry shrugged.
"She won't even bat an eyelid, trust me."

"I haven't even got a coat," Louis noted, and Harry was quick to grab one of his padded jackets
from the back of his bedroom door, throwing it his way.

"Now you do."

Louis shook his head whilst laughing, shrugging the coat on over his pyjamas. "This is crazy."

"Nothing wrong with a little late-night adventure." Harry defended, nudging his head towards the
door while grabbing his phone. "Let's go?"
They headed down the stairs, Louis understandingly feeling a little bit ridiculous wearing his
pyjamas with a coat over the top, while Harry still wore his shirt and jeans, grabbing his coat from
in the hallway once they reached it. They stepped into their shoes, and Harry called out to whoever
was around.

"We're going for a drive!"

"What?" Came Anne's muffled voice from within the living room, urging Harry to sigh and realise
this may have looked a little more suspicious than he had anticipated.

"I'm feeling a little sick, I think my food was maybe undercooked. We're just going on a drive with
the windows down, clear my head a little."

Louis smiled at Harry, a sly little smile, which Harry returned.

"Oh dear. Okay, Harry, don't be too long, will you?"

"Okay." Harry bluntly responded, grabbing his keys by the door and ushering Louis out.

"Where exactly are we headed?" Louis queried, five minutes later, as they had jumped into Harry's
car and Harry had been driving them away somewhere.

"That nice park, on the road by the church," Harry offered, running a hand through his hair, "It's
the place I can think of with the least lampposts. Can probably see the stars better there."

"Nice call."

Another few minutes later, Harry pulled the car up on the side of the road, once they had reached
the gates to the park. He shut his car off, shooting a smirk at Louis, as they jumped out. Harry's
smirk remained, urging Louis to tilt his head aside and chuckle.

"What?"

"Last one to the benches by the lake loses!" Harry exclaimed, all of a sudden, before completely
taking off in a sprint.

"What!" Louis cackled, immediately sprinting and trying his best to catch up, their laughter ringing
through the quiet night. "Unfair, you had a head start!"

"Complain all you want," Harry breathlessly called back, over his shoulder, "If it really meant that
much to you, you'll catch me up!"

Louis, contagiously laughing, used all of his energy to catch up, only behind Harry by a mere
stride. They sprinted through an opening of trees, veering right, minding their step as they went,
then onto the field behind. The benches and lake were in sight beneath the yellow lights of the
lamp posts lining the area, and the two were still laughing away heartily, out of breath but enjoying
this way too much to stop now. As they reached the "finish line" Louis grabbed Harry by the
sleeve of his coat, spinning him round in an attempt to throw him off, but it instead resulted in the
two of them toppling onto the grass.
Louis giggled as they squirmed around, Harry attempting to pin him down while Louis playfully
fought him off, managing to turn things around so that he was on top of Harry.

"I won," Harry chuckled, a devious edge to his voice, "Meaning you're the loser. Now you have to
kiss me."

"That's definitely not a loss to me. I'm glad I lost." Louis smiled mischievously.

Louis, straddling Harry, lowered his face so that their lips softly attached. Harry brought a hand up
to gently cradle the side of Louis' face, their lips moving at a slow pace, the grass soft beneath
Harry and the only sound around them from the subtle nighttime buzzing of insects and very
distant cars.

Harry moaned appreciatively against Louis' lips as he slid a hand onto Louis' hip, beneath his coat
and pyjama t-shirt, caressing the soft skin beneath his thumb. Louis broke the kiss, licking his lips,
before smiling rather deviously

"What?" Harry smirked.

"I have no underwear on under these."

Harry gasped out a laugh, biting on his lower lip. "Damn, Lou, talk about teasing."

"Just thought I'd let you know."

Harry lifted his head a little from the grass, glancing around them quickly. Evidently, and
unsurprisingly, there wasn't another single person in sight. Which was pretty normal, considering
they were lying on a back-field on a Wednesday night at half past nine at night. He then planted
his attention on Louis again, whose eyes were scanning over Harry's entire face, taking in every
detail at such a close distance.

"You know, there's no one around," Harry said slowly, an edge of devilry to his tone, mouth
curling into a smirk, "And you have no underwear on, so d'you not think it would be a waste for us
not to do something?"

Louis raised his eyebrows, unable to hide a similar expression to Harry's. "Hmm, maybe you're
right. But are you sure it's… safe to do anything here?"

Harry brought his hand down to Louis' crotch, firmly palming over it to have a gasp escaping his
lips.

"I think we're pretty safe, Lou." Harry assured, continuing to palm Louis, feeling him twitch a little
at the sensation. "God, I love that you have nothing on under those."

"Feels good." Louis breathed out, bucking his hips upward into Harry's touch. Harry continued,
reaching his head up to burrow into the crook of Louis' neck, mouthing at it.

"I can feel you getting hard." He hotly whispered against the skin, causing Louis to shiver. "That's
so hot."

Louis gulped in order to suppress a moan, though one quickly sounded within a heavy exhale.

"You don't have to be quiet, Lou, no one's around." Harry practically sang, his tone teasing as he
dipped his hand into Louis' pyjama bottoms. He took Louis' dick into his hand, feeling it hot and
lightly throbbing in his touch as he continued to harden. Louis gasped at the touch.
"Your hand's cold." He giggled.

Harry grinned, and he jerked him off slowly, so that a whimper hummed from the back of Louis'
throat, and Harry bit his lower lip once again until it went white between his teeth.

"You like that?" Harry asked, voice low, loving giving Louis pleasure. It was one of his favourite
pastimes, admittedly.

"Yeah," Louis breathily laughed. He was completely hard from the stroking now, which only made
Harry more smug.

"Lie on your back."

Louis compiled, breathing shaky as he clambered off of Harry and lay on his back, the outline of
his dick visible and straining against the material. Harry smiled to himself and positioned himself
at Louis' feet, kneeling, spreading Louis' legs and allowing himself to lay between them.

Louis giggled as he looked down at Harry, who reached into Louis' pyjama bottoms and pulled his
dick out completely now, wrapping his hand around it once again as he held the eye contact with
Louis.

Louis seemed to be desperately moving hips up a little, craving more, so Harry decided to grant
that by dipping his head down and giving one small, quick lick to the tip of Louis' cock.

"Ohh, please," Louis barely whispered, eyes fluttering shut, and that gorgeously soft voice was all
Harry needed to hear. He traced his tongue with a little more pressure around the tip, before
lowering his head and taking Louis' dick into his mouth.

Louis locked a hand into Harry's messy, previously styled hair, tugging a little as Harry began
lightly moving his head up and down, hollowing out his cheeks.

"Fuuuck," Louis whispered, voice thick with arousal, eyes opening and latching onto Harry, "You
look so hot, oh my gosh."

Harry's eyeline moved up to lock eyes with Louis again as he continued to suck him off, his left
hand coming up to jack the bottom half of Louis' dick off as his mouth worked on the rest. They
held the eye contact as Harry continued on, twisting his head a little to have Louis breathing out a
long moan.

Harry slowly released Louis' dick from his pursed lips with a pop, still jacking him off and panting
a little now, lips glossy.

"Never thought I'd ever suck a dick, but fuck I love sucking yours." He breathily admitted, grinning
up at him, before once again resuming the sucking.

"You're pretty good at it," Louis sighed a laugh in disbelief, "And you look amazing doing it."

Harry groaned in his throat, continuing the blowjob, his free hand coming up to glide under Louis'
t-shirt and over his soft stomach, leaving it there as he lifted his mouth from his cock once again,
running the head along his wet lower lip. Louis smiled sweetly, placing his hand over the outline
where Harry's hand was beneath his t-shirt.

"So hot." Louis said in disbelief once again, squeezing Harry's hand through the material. "It's
unbelievable, fuck."
Harry went to carry on, to lower is head once again, when he and Louis suddenly became
hyperaware of a new sound: the sound of laughter, female laughter, getting closer, paired with male
laughter -- and light conversation.

"Shit!" Harry breathed out, and Louis pulled up his pyjama bottoms, but they did not have enough
time to do anything more before the two people the laughter and voices had come from had moved
closer, and were staring right at them.

Cheryl. Cheryl, intimately holding the arm and cuddled up against a man who was most certainly
not Liam.

The silence in the air was deafening. Harry felt like he couldn't breathe, heart racing yet his
breathing had almost completely stopped. He was well aware he was lying on his stomach, in front
of Louis, who had only had enough time to (luckily) tuck his dick away and prop himself back on
his hands, sitting upward a little.

And Harry wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, feeling he needed to due to the wetness
around it, but very fast realising that it made the obvious somehow even more blatant.

The guy Cheryl was with, Harry recognised from school. He was a year below them, and Cheryl
had instinctively let go of his arm and stepped away from him the moment her eyes had set on
Harry. The boy's eyes were nervously on the floor, probably knowing full well he and Cheryl were
meant to be keeping whatever this was a secret.

The silence must have lasted a heavy five seconds, before Cheryl was the one to fill it.

"Umm… what the actual fuck are you doing, Harry?" She sounded utterly shocked, yet added a
ridiculing laugh to what she had said. Harry had scrambled up to his feet, using the bench by him
as leverage, while Louis seemed completely frozen in place, crossing his legs to hide his hard-on
and remaining seated on the grass in shock.

"I could-- I could ask the... same about you." Harry tripped over his words, clearing his throat to rid
of its rasp. He lacked the confidence in his tone, knowing he had been well and truly caught here.
He was absolutely terrified.

Cheryl was still slightly shaking her head, eyes flicking between Harry and Louis, mouth agape.

"You're…" She seemed to be unable to find the words, letting out another laugh of shock. "What
the fuck are you... I…"

"You're cheating on Liam?" Harry beat her to it, pointing out her flaw before she could put his into
words, feeling a flood of guilt wash over him. How long had she been doing this?

Cheryl drew in a deep breath, looking the boy beside her over very quickly, in fluster, before
eyeing Harry once again.

"Harry," She took a very deep breath, "I don't know what to say to you right now."

"Because you're guilty?" Harry pushed. Louis and the boy by Cheryl's side had their eyes cast to
the floor, too terrified evidently to say a single word, while Cheryl scoffed at what Harry had said.
"You're sucking Louis Tomlinson's dick in a park, Harry, don't you point the finger at me."

"I'm not cheating on somebody!" Harry raged, eyes wild and angry. "How long have you been
doing this?"

"How long have you?" She bit back, furiously, and Harry knew it would just be a back and forth
argument, seeing one another as being in the wrong.

"I have every right to tell Liam, you know that?" Harry warned. The boy beside Cheryl looked
completely terrified, probably aware of how scary someone like Liam was, especially if he heard
about this.

"And I could tell everyone at school that you're a faggot." Cheryl cursed.

"Don't say that word," Harry gritted, angrily.

"God, imagine Kendall knowing. Poor girl, she always had her suspicions about you two.
Especially in Pari-- wait, that's it, isn't it! You started this gay shit in Paris!"

"Cheryl, just shut the fuck up." Harry snapped. "My life is none of your business."

"Have you two had sex?!" She gawped, barking out a laugh.

"Have you two?" Harry once again reversed it onto her. Touche.

Cheryl deeply sighed, stroppily slapping her hands against her sides.

"Look. This is how this is going to go," She looked at Louis as well then, who blinked up at her in
pure fright. "You don't tell anyone about me and Andrew. Anyone. And I won't tell anyone about
your gross little gay antics. Are we clear here?"

Harry now knew the name of the guy she was cheating with. Helpful.

"Yes, okay." He sighed, rolling his eyes. He knew he had to protect Louis and himself.

"Promise?" Cheryl made sure.

"Promise. Do you?"

"Yes." Cheryl snapped, and Andrew nodded in agreement too. "Louis?" She spat.

"Promise." He piped up, shyly, barely even able to maintain eye contact with her.

"I need to go, and get these images out of my head," Cheryl dramatically shuddered, turning sassily
on her heel, grabbing onto Andrew's arm once again without shame now as they stormed off.

Harry and Louis watched them moving away until they were completely out of sight, and a tough
silence ensued.

"Fuck." Harry filled it. "Fuck!"

"Just our luck," Louis stressed, running his hands down his face, "God, this is a nightmare."

"I know how much she wants Liam in her life," Harry tried to reassure them both, "How much she
would hate to lose him. She could never sacrifice me telling him she's cheating, never."
"I can't believe she knows." Louis whispered, in disbelief. "She knows about us."

"Not everything. For all she knows, I don't know, this could have been a casual sort of thing. Either
way, we can't have her telling anyone. They can't know yet."

"That's two potential sources for outing us, then," Louis placed his head in his hands, "It'll happen
one way or another. All the odds are against us at the moment."

"We will make this work. Have faith, Lou, trust me."

Harry didn't even trust himself at this point.

---

Harry had driven them home in a reflective and tense silence, and they had gotten ready for bed
rather quickly the moment they were back, too shocked and, as a result, zapped of energy now to
stay awake.

Harry took a long time to fall asleep, tossing and turning throughout the night despite having Louis
sleeping soundly beside him. He felt as though his head could implode at any second due to the
new fresh dose of stress unleashed on him.

Waking up beside Louis was a treat until he remembered last night's events. He tried to stay sweet
and positive, but throughout getting ready for school and transporting them there, he couldn't help
the heavy burden on his soul.

They had maths first today, which Harry never thought he could dread more. Sitting by Kendall
was bad enough, without the debilitating thought that Cheryl had caved in on the promise and told
her what she had seen. Harry and Louis had skipped the registration period, heading straight to
maths instead, where their class were grouped outside waiting to be let in.

Harry's eyes fell straight onto Cheryl, who was intensely staring back. She was stood very close to
Liam, his arm snaking around her back and holding her in close by the waist. Harry felt sick
knowing what she was doing behind Liam's back.

Gigi gave Harry a look similar to the previous couple of days, a little side-eyed stare, but nothing
Harry could detect as abnormal. He knew Cheryl hadn't told anybody, because if she had then he
would already be facing the backlash of it from Kendall's group.

They were let into the classroom a moment later by Mr Bradley, who looked unkempt for the
morning, and Harry made sure to get into the room first and sit in his seat before Kendall could
saunter in and do it first. She always shook her hips in an attempt to look sexy, and it drove Harry
crazy but in all the wrong ways: he just found her awful now.

"Morning, Handsome." Was Kendall's very upfront greeting as she slid into the chair beside him,
"Looking good."

"Why even say that?" He sighed.

"Because you do."

Harry rolled his eyes, their classmates around them settling into their respective seats, hoping
Kendall wouldn't say any more. Of course, she did.
 "Are you ready for the performances tomorrow in music?" She inquired, trying to sound bright and
interesting. "With your weird group of nerdy girls?"

He didn't respond, mainly because he was panicking a little on the inside; he had forgotten about
the stupid performance tomorrow. He would have to sing in front of everyone, just to add a pinch
more stress to what he was already going through. Fabulous.

"Ignore me, then." Kendall huffed. And he did, once again, ignore her.

He allowed his eyes to wander the room as Mr Bradley began teaching, searching for anything,
knowing somebody was looking. And it was Cheryl, of course, staring square at him. Harry left his
expression cold, so it was impossible to detect how he was feeling, while Cheryl gave the exact
same.

It was their non-verbal pact: remember the promise. Don't tell anyone.

But, oh, Harry wanted to tell Liam. He wanted him to know more than anything, along with Zayn,
that their girlfriends were a couple of good-for-nothing traitors lacking loyalty.

Chapter End Notes

So damn.

Next chapter will include their music performances at some point and some more
development on the email sitch.

Will Harry be loyal to Liam and Zayn again some day? Hmm.

Thank you xx
 47
Chapter Notes

Double update tonight as an apology for my lack of updates once again - sorry!
Chapters 47 & 48 xx

Harry still continued to keep a significant distance from Christopher, following his past discoveries
at Christopher's house regarding his sliiight infatuation with him. He couldn't exactly leave their
group altogether just because Christopher was in it, but nor did he particularly feel like confronting
him now and admitting to snooping on his computer. So he just kept a bit of a distance, such as
when they were all sat on the field at lunchtime later that day.

Louis had been tense all day, and Harry knew it was because of Cheryl having caught them out just
the night before in the park, knowing Louis was worried to death about Harry's ex-friends
potentially hearing about it and giving them hell for it. He was far too sensitive for that. Said group
was sat on the grass across the field from them, all messing around together and laughing
thunderously - far louder than anybody else around.

"Look at Cheryl," Louis stressed, for Harry's ears only, as Niall, Charlie and Christopher seemed
preoccupied with another of their stupid games. "She's acting way too clingy with Liam today."

And she definitely was. Harry turned his entire face their way to look, still not caring if any of them
clocked on and saw him staring, to see that Cheryl was sitting on Liam's lap, facing him with her
legs wrapped intimately around him, tracing his lower lip with her finger.

"It makes me so sick," Harry grumbled, "I know Liam hasn't exactly been good to me lately, but to
see her acting like that while she's cheating behind his back makes my skin crawl."

"And then there's Kendall," Louis sighed, as their eyes shifted to her (Louis' more discreetly, as he
was always worried about getting caught). She was picking daisies, a pile of them resting on her
thigh, and took out her phone, taking a pouty selfie with one of the poor flowers. "She smashes
your car up, blames it on Zayn, and this whole time he doesn't even know she's guilty. He's still
fine with being around her, completely oblivious."

Harry rolled his eyes merely from watching Kendall for a few moments. "I can't believe I dated her
for so long, I genuinely can't understand it. I feel embarrassed. And Gigi, liking my photos, staring
at me behind Zayn's back!"

As if on cue, with Louis looking away as fast as lightning, Gigi turned her face in Harry's direction,
linking eyes with him. She smiled a slow, coy smile, dropping a hasty wink which urged Harry to
scrunch up his nose in disgust. He so badly wanted to stick up his middle finger, but knew she
would probably go crying to Zayn and tell him Harry did it unprovoked.

"She just winked at me again. Seriously, the disloyalty of the three of those girls, it's insane," Harry
scoffed, shifting his entire body on the grass so he wasn't even facing their group. "Something
inside me makes me feel really bad for Liam and Zayn. Even though they're pricks."

"They seem too obedient to the girls to ever even consider them being anything but amazing. I
doubt Liam would even believe you if you told him about Cheryl and that guy."

"Anyway, I want to change the subject," Harry waved a hand. "The music performance tomorrow.
Are you still singing in that?"

"Nooo, no, no, no." Louis adamantly wailed, shaking his head profusely. "Niall is. I couldn't do it, I
know I'd freak out."

"My shy Lou." Harry cooed. "It would be a pretty big thing, I understand why you'd be scared. But
I do want you to sing to me sometime."

"That's somehow even more frightening." Louis chuckled, nervously.

"Oh? Why?" Harry cackled. "I'm not that scary, I'd hope."

"I just wouldn't want to embarrass myself in front of you."

"I bet you've got a lovely voice, Lou. I'd love to hear it." Harry softly smiled. "I'm singing in my
group, and to be honest I have no clue why I'm bothering. Emily and her friends are sort of
counting on me to sing, me and two of them are meant to be together."

"I bet you're not scared, though." Louis smiled.

"Sort of, actually. I feel like Zayn and the others might laugh at me. But oh well, I'll do it anyway."

"Well, I'm assuming you can sing?" Louis giggled. "I can just sense you have a nice voice, seeing
as your speaking voice is so nice. I wouldn't worry if I were you."

"I'll try not to think about it for now."

There was some movement on the grass behind them, the sound of Zayn and his group all getting
to their feet, ready to shift locations. Harry glanced back over his shoulder at them, and they
obviously caught on.

"What are you staring at, Harry? It's none of your business what we're doing." Cheryl snapped, a
hand on her hip.

"I can look where I want to, I didn't realise my eyes were restricted to just one place." Harry passed
back. Louis nudged his knee into Harry's leg.

"Just don't say anything." Louis advised, in a whisper. But Harry didn't care - he was going to
defend himself.

"We don't want you staring at us." Kendall stepped in. "So don't."

"God, Kendall, maybe you should take your own advice and stop staring at me throughout the
entire Damn day, then!" Harry spat.

Liam stepped in, but to Harry's surprise, it was to stop the girls from taking it further rather than
stepping in, to their defence.

"Stop now, Kendall. Let's go." Liam maturely disputed, a calm hand raised.

Kendall, Cheryl and Gigi all scoffed, almost in unison, and dramatically strutted off past Harry and
Louis, leading Liam and Zayn along behind them. Harry's eyes met Zayn's as he passed, but Zayn's
expression stayed stern and he averted his gaze downwards. Liam, however, linked eyes with
Harry, and he actually smiled. It was the smallest and quickest it could have been, but it was
genuine nevertheless. Harry returned it right before Liam looked away and they continued to
follow the girls.

"Liam's acting different lately," Louis noted, "Especially today. It's like he's starting to see how
manipulative the girls are."

"It'll take a while longer until Zayn does, though. I think he still hates me for accusing him of
destroying my car, even though I know now it was Kendall. I still want to tell him."

"Maybe you'll get to soon, who knows?" Louis assured. "Anyway, maybe we should get going to
our next lesson soon."

---

After their Biology lesson, which had been the final one of the day, Harry and Louis were sitting in
the former's car as they were about to leave to go home.

"Stay at mine again tonight?" Harry asked, with a mix between a smile and a smirk. He reversed
his car out, glancing at Louis as he looked over his shoulder.

"I'm sure that could be arranged," Louis giggled, "I'd have to grab some stuff from mine."

"Like what?"

"Toothbrush."

"We have some new ones spare."

"Deodorant."

"Borrow some."

"Clothes for tomorrow."

"Borrow some." Harry chuckled.

"Pyjamas?"

"You're not going to be needing them." Harry smirked, urging Louis to stifle a laugh.

Harry veered the car out of the car park, speeding particularly fast past Kendall, who seemed to be
walking home today, his engine roaring. She stuck her middle finger up, Harry saw it in his
rearview mirror.

"I don't know what's funnier, Kendall sticking up her middle finger, or you thinking I'm sleeping
naked in your house." Louis chuckled.

"Why would you not?" Harry grinned. "No one would know."

"Imagine that for some reason your mum had to barge in, that would be a little hard to explain."

"I'll lock the door." Harry waved a hand, casually.

"Then she would wonder why it's locked, that would probably be even worse!" Louis laughed.
"Don't stress, Lou, she didn't come in last night anyway. It'll be fine."

They pulled into Harry's driveway ten minutes later, the stones crunching beneath the wheels, and
Harry turned off the engine and they jumped out.

"I'm home," Harry yelled, as he opened the door and flicked his boots off by the door. "Louis is
with me."

"Hi, boys," Anne called from the living room. "There's plenty of food and drinks in the fridge if
you want anything."

"Thanks, Mum." Harry called back, playfully rolling his eyes at Louis. "You want anything?"

"I'm okay for now." Louis giggled, kicking his trainers off.

"Let's head up." Harry did exactly that, leading Louis up the stairs and into his bedroom. He kicked
a small pile of clothes to the edge of the room, shutting the door behind them.

But almost immediately, there was a knock on the door.

Louis shot Harry a look which said: "I told you someone would want to come in."

Harry smiled and sighed, opening the bedroom door as he stood in the entrance.

"Yes, Gemma?"

She stood smiling in the doorway.

"I just wanted to say hello, don't act so offended." She laughed, prying Harry out of the way so that
she could step into the room. "Hi, Louis!"

"Hello," He warmly greeted, standing timidly in the centre of Harry's room.

She glanced cautiously behind her, into the hallway, as though she was checking no one was there
before continuing. "I just wanted you to know, that I know something's going on between you
guys, and that I huuugely support you both. You're so lovely, Louis, I'm so happy for you both."

Harry was a little embarrassed, but pleased nevertheless that the silence had sort of been broken
now: it was a known fact that Gemma knew they were together, and that she was fully supportive.

"Thank you so much, that does mean a lot," Louis smiled, gratefully. "My mum sort of knows too."

Harry stifled a laugh at that. "Yeeeah."

"Did she…?" Gemma caught on, grinning.

"We were kissing. And she came in." Louis stepped in to say, noting Harry still felt a little bit
awkward admitting fully that he had kissed a boy.

"Oh, Goodness! Well, that's one way to find out." She brightly laughed. "Anyway, I'd leave it a
while longer, Harry, until you tell mum and Robin."

"Yeah, I'm still sort of getting comfortable and everything with people knowing. But I will
definitely tell them both when it's right to." He smiled, brushing his fingers up Louis' forearm.

"Good idea. Well, I'm done embarrassing you both, I'll leave you to it. Nice to see you again,
Louis."

"And you, too. Thank you for understanding and everything." Louis thanked her once again.

Gemma warmly smiled with a nod, before turning and leaving the room, closing the door behind
her.

"Sorry about her," Harry rolled his eyes. "She's always like that, she used to always come in when
Kendall was here. Except Kendall was never exactly very friendly towards her when she did, to be
honest."

"Gemma's lovely, it's not a problem. As long as she never barges in, like my mum did." Louis
snorted. "That could have been a lot worse than kissing."

"Like what?" A smirk stretched onto Harry's face.

"No," Louis playfully scolded, pointing a finger at Harry, "Naughty Harry. Not now."

Harry stifled a laugh. "Okay, I'll suppress myself for the time being. But it'll be… hard." He added
the final word mischievously, urging Louis to jokingly scoff and roll his eyes.

"Gosh, your sex drive is impeccable. You could go any time, any place." Louis bit his lip to hide a
large grin.

"What can I say? You've cast your spell on me, Lou Lou."

---

Harry had locked his bedroom door overnight, and luckily hadn't received any suspicions from his
mum or Robin about it. Waking up with the fresh smell of Louis' hair was tremendous, Louis' head
nuzzled into his neck, and as his alarm went off Louis tiredly stirred awake.

"Morning." Harry greeted, his voice thick with sleep, and Louis always seemed to shudder at the
sound.

"Hello there." He sleepily responded, squinting up at him. "What a delightful morning view."

"I could certainly say the same thing." Harry sincerely smiled, softly brushing Louis' disheveled
fringe from his eyes.

"You ready to sing today?" Louis smirked. Harry actually felt the nerves stirring in his stomach
upon hearing Harry mention the singing. He hadn't really been thinking about it since they had
spoken about it on the field.

"God, I haven't given it much more thought. I guess it's best I don't think about it until I just do it."

Even though he would have Amber and Chloe singing alongside him, while Emily was on piano
and Grace the violin, he did feel like a lot was resting on his shoulders. And he wasn't looking
forward to singing in front of Zayn and his group, he felt a little silly.

Later on that day, during their first allocated break time, they headed to the canteen due to Niall's
intense cravings. And he seemed to have passed the idea onto Louis too, as he was cutely
mentioning to Harry how much he wanted one, too.
"Hold on," Harry dug in his pocket, sneaking Louis a £2 coin to cover the cost, but doing so
without Niall seeing so that he didn't complain (not that he would anyway.)

"No, I'll get it myself!" Louis tried to hand the money back, as they passed by the toilet blocks, just
down from the canteen doors, which Harry pointed a thumb at.

"I'm just gonna go have a wee."

"I'll come with you?" Louis urged, making it sound more like a question so as to mask the obvious
clinginess.

"I'll come, too!" Christopher insisted. Oh, God no!

"It's okay, you guys head in, a queue will be forming soon. I'll only be a couple minutes, I'll catch
you up." Harry smiled, and Niall, Charlie and Christopher immediately agreed and headed for the
canteen doors. Louis was more reluctant, clearly wanting to stay with Harry for as long as humanly
possible, any day possible, before he caved and followed the others to the canteen.

Harry smiled fondly as Louis jogged lightly to catch up with their other friends, before making his
way into the empty men's toilets. He had a quick wee, before rinsing his hands under the tap and
drying them on his jeans. Just as he was checking his hair in the mirror, he heard the voices of
Zayn and Liam heading for the door. And his sudden lack of confidence meant he stupidly shot
into one of the cubicles and locked himself in, perching on the closed toilet seat and drawing his
feet up just as the door opened.

Why did he get himself in these stupid predicaments?

"God, she's hard work." Came Zayn's voice into the room, and by the sounds of it the two of them
were only going into the bathroom for some time out and a quick vain glance in the mirror.

"Yeah, she does seem pretty stubborn," Liam agreed, "But then again, you've still managed to be
with her quite a few years."

They were talking about Gigi, then. And Harry was holding his breath, biting his lower lip and
feeling his pulse in his ears. He knew that the slightest sound would give him away, seeing as Zayn
and Liam hadn't even seemed to notice somebody in the cubicle.

"Do you think I'm overreacting? Be honest with me." Zayn pressed, urging Harry's curiosity to stir.
"Or would you be a bit angry, too?"

"Well, if I'd caught Cheryl doing that, maybe." Liam admitted. Little did he know what Cheryl was
really up to.

But doing what, anyway? Harry was dying to know, eavesdropping at what seemed to be the
perfect moment.

"I just really struggle to believe she's got a thing for him. Especially seeing as he's her best friend's
ex, for Christ sake!"

Shit. Shit. Shit. Harry himself was the reason, surprise surprise. He had tensed where he sat, his
legs straining now from keeping them off the ground, just in case one of them decided to peer
under and recognised his boots.

He continued to listen, adamant to know more now.

"Maybe you're looking too far into it. How many were there?" Liam questioned.

How many what?

"Seven. Who has seven photos of their boyfriend's best mate on their phone! All from his
Instagram!" Zayn stressed.

Harry had to take a moment to process that entire sentence. Because firstly, why the fuck did Gigi
have photos from his Instagram on her phone? And secondly, Zayn's wording. He had referenced
Harry as being his best friend, still. Not his ex-best mate, his "best mate". Harry couldn't help but
feel quite happy about that, despite their hardships.

"You said you didn't really give her much time to explain. Just… definitely don't mention this to
Kendall. It will break her, and I wouldn't be surprised if she murdered Gigi. You know how in love
with him Kendall still is."

Harry wanted to gag; Kendall was still in love with him. Why couldn't she just move on? Harry had
moved on so much that any thought of that girl made him sick now. Quite literally.

"I won't," Zayn sighed, "Maybe Harry was right, then. When he said he caught Gigi liking his
photos. I didn't believe him. I'll keep a close eye on Gigi's phone from now on, there are probably
even more things I didn't see."

"He must have been, yeah. I do feel kind of bad for him sometimes." Liam admitted. But Zayn
immediately seemed to switch back, as though he wanted to stop himself from giving in.

"I don't. It's his loss, deciding to just leave us behind for Louis and those losers. His childhood
friends clearly meant nothing to him."

Harry wanted so badly to burst out and ask how Zayn could be so inconsiderate saying that: Zayn
and Liam were the ones who trailed along after their girlfriends and gave Harry the cold shoulder.
All he had done himself was move on from Kendall.

"I guess you're right." Liam said. "We have Gigi and Cheryl, he has Louis Tomlinson. Clearly
we're winning here."

OH, REALLY? Little did they know how much Louis had changed Harry's life, for the better. He
was all he needed.

"Imagine if it turned out he was fucking Louis." Liam stifled a laugh. Harry's heart started
frantically racing, his blood going cold and his breathing suddenly a lot more difficult to keep to a
minimum.

"Nah, Harry's not gay," Zayn said, very surely. "Can't say the same for Louis."

Harry pouted his mouth to the side in concern. Of course, everybody thought he was completely
straight. And that scared him whenever he thought about the prospect of coming out.

"Fuck's sake, Cheryl's texting me. They're in the canteen, she's saying to hurry up." Liam changed
the subject, equally to Harry's relief and his dismay. He had wanted to hear more about everything,
about their secret views on different things and what was happening in their group.

"We better go, then. And we've got that stupid music performance next lesson." That was the final
sentence Harry heard, as the two boys had headed out of the bathroom.
 48
Chapter Notes

Make sure to read chapter 47 if you haven't as I uploaded that one as well as this
chapter tonight - just in case you were brought straight to this one xx

Harry felt the nerves again as everybody entered music class, and he joined up with Emily and the
others, who were flustered as ever.

"Hi, Harry." She greeted. "You ready to sing today?"

He really wasn't.

"Yeah, I'll give it a go." He smiled. "And I'm assuming you two are still singing with me?" He
gestured to Amber and Chloe. They exchanged daunted looks.

"Well, actually, I'm feeling really scared. I'm not so sure I'll be able to do it." Chloe admitted, and
Amber nodded frantically.

"Yeah, me too. There are so many people in the class."

Harry let a rather humourless laugh out, slightly shaking his head. "So, I… I'm singing alone?
Guys, trust me, you'll do fine if you sing too! I'll be there singing too, there will be three of us. You
both sing really well."

They looked a bit worried by Harry's slight annoyance. He had the right to be annoyed really,
considering they were attempting to back out so suddenly

"It's just we thought, you're so confident, you'd have no problem singing alone! We might just
panic and freeze… but we will still give it a go."

"It'll be fine," Harry put on a hospitable smile, "We will be okay. I'll be there to keep it going if you
do have to stop."

"You're so sweet. Thanks, Harry." Amber said.

Miss Bridges entered the room, so that it gradually silenced, the five groups of five dotted around
the room.

"Morning. I'm assuming you're all ready for your performances today?" She greeted, setting down
a mug on her desk as she took a seat at it.

"Harry wants his group to go first, miss. He wants to impress you." Zayn responded, mockingly, a
grin prominent.

Funny how he had no clue that Harry had heard him still referring to him as his "best mate" just 15
minutes ago. Clearly Zayn wasn't up for being completely tender to him just yet. A wave of
laughter had been provoked from the majority of the rest of the class, minus a select few, and Mrs
Bridges ignored the remark as usual.
"Okay, I'd like one person from each group to raise their hand, so I can take the names of your
songs." Mrs Bridges stated, scooping up a pen and a notepad.

He turned to the girls in his group, as hands shot up around the room, and whispered, "Wait, did we
say ours was 'Falling'?"

"Yeah."

Harry stuck his hand up, knowing nobody else was going to take the initiative, and wanted to roll
his eyes once he saw Kendall's hand obnoxiously raised.

"Kendall's group?"

"Ours is called 'Baby I Need You'," She soppily announced. And then her eyes fell onto Harry. Oh
God, if this song was about him he was going to dry-heave.

"Lovely name! And Niall's group?"

"Uh, Slow Hands." He announced, shyly. Sounded interesting.

Zayn snorted. "What does that even mean?"

Harry sighed, deeply, and Miss Bridges looked annoyed.

"Nice name, Niall, don't listen to Zayn."

She asked the two other groups before Harry's, before finally coming to him, most likely leaving
his until last to contradict Zayn's earlier comment.

"Harry's group?"

"Falling." He confidently stated. Liam stifled a laugh, urging Harry to roll his eyes and refrain from
saying something.

"Lovely. Okay, so I have the five names. And I'm going to ask Kendall's group to go first, seeing as
Zayn and Liam decided to pick fun at other groups' names."

"Oh, well done, guys!" Kendall sarcastically scoffed, but they all got to their feet anyway, heading
to the front. Zayn sat at the piano - Harry had always known Zayn to be quite a good pianist -
while Liam sort of sat at the edge and the three girls stood in the centre.

Throughout their performance, Kendall's eyes skimmed over Harry, who quite honestly couldn't
wait to get away: only Cheryl had a voice that wasn't half-bad, but Kendall and Gigi could
definitely do with some practice. Kendall had always asked Harry when they were together
whether he liked her voice, and he had obviously had to lie and say it was nice. He had never sung
in front of anybody himself, though, knowing the judgemental nature of his mates in general.

The soppiness and desperation behind the lyrics was just utterly ridiculous. It was absolutely clear
that Kendall had been in charge of writing them, aiming them squarely at Harry, which made him
uncomfortable. Liam had done some of the backing vocals, but didn't contribute all that much.
Harry knew Zayn and Liam could both sing really well, having heard them during their car rides,
but he had never participated.

Once it was over, the class applauded politely, and Miss Bridges smiled at the group.

"Very good," She praised, "You can all take a seat."

Kendall gave Harry an up-and-down look as she passed him by.

"That seemed rather aimed at you. Not to be one to judge." Grace whispered to Harry, rather
confidently for her, and Harry hummed in agreement.

"Yeah, I gathered that, too." He quietly responded.

Miss Bridges called up another group next, a group Harry wasn't mates with, who took to the front
of the room and started their song a couple of moments later. It was pretty shit; definitely no one
very talented there.

Harry felt a pair of eyes on him, glancing over to Kendall's group. It was Gigi this time, who
wiggled her eyebrows at him, causing him to mouth, "what?"

She mouthed "nothing" back at him, and looked away. He just didn't understand this, not one bit.

The group was finished shortly after, and Harry joined the rest of the room in clapping for them.
He was quite relieved when the other group he didn't really know anyone from were summoned up
to perform, leaving only his group and Louis'. He glanced Louis' way, fondly, to see him nibbling
his lip nervously. The thought of standing up in front of their class with his group was probably
eating away at his insides, what with the anxiety he was experiencing. Harry so badly wanted to
rush over there and lock him in a comforting embrace.

As the group began performing, some violin prominent and even a drum, Harry dug in his pencil
case, retrieving an old pencil he never used. He lightly threw it at Louis to grab his attention, so it
bounced off his arm and urged him to whip his head in Harry's direction immediately.

"You okay?" Harry mimed.

Louis nodded.

"You sure?"

Louis shook his head, with a lopsided smile.

"You'll be okay." Harry mouthed then. "What are you doing in your group?"

Louis couldn't quite read the final sentence Harry had asked, cutely furrowing his eyebrows and
tilting his head to the side. Harry sniffed out an adored laugh.

"Miss, Harry's not paying attention." Zayn sharply whispered into the room, causing a few quiet
laughs on top of the performance, and she hushed him with a finger without a word. He shut up.

Once the performance was over, everybody once again applauded.

"Amazing, guys. And well done for continuing despite distractions." Miss Bridges praised.

"Yeah, Harry." Zayn snidely said.

"I was talking more about you, Zayn. Right, let's have Niall's group." Miss Bridges moved along.

Harry could just sense the way Louis tensed; it was the same sort of tense Louis had displayed
when it had been his first ever day and was asked to stand and introduce himself. Harry at least
wanted to squeeze Louis' hand as he walked by, but all he could do was offer a reassuring smile
instead. At least Louis had seen that.
Niall scooped up an acoustic guitar that was resting against the wall, and Louis perched awkwardly
on the edge of the desk. Charlie sat at the piano, and Christopher and the other random kid who
had joined their group both had a small drum each. Interesting, maybe Louis was going to sing after
all.

They started, with Niall singing the first verse, and honestly he was pretty fucking good. Very
good, actually. And his guitar playing was spectacular too, Harry wouldn't have guessed by
looking at him that it would be a talent of his. It all sounded really good put together, and on the
chorus Louis even joined in with the singing, a higher tone, harmonising perfectly with Niall.

Harry's mouth had dropped open a little after hearing Louis sing. He had such a wonderful voice,
so sweet and unique, and evidently others in the room were surprised by how lovely it was. Zayn
and Liam seemed to be watching and listening in intrigue the moment Louis had joined in.

Once it was over, after Louis had been literally looking at the floor the entire time, they were given
the loudest applause so far. Harry was so happy to even see Zayn and Liam clapping politely,
rather than shouting something stupid or refusing to applaud them.

"Amazing, boys, well done! Louis and Niall, lovely voices!"

"Thanks." Louis shyly smiled, before being the first to lead the group back to their seats. Harry
gently grabbed Louis' wrist as he passed, in the least romantic-looking way possible.

"You are amazing!" He said it pretty quietly, even though it didn't sound too lovey-dovey, and let
go of Louis once he had mentioned it. "And you, Niall. Your voices sounded great."

"Thank you." Niall nodded, with an appreciative grin.

"Did you like my drumming, Harry?" Christopher asked, but luckily Harry didn't have to answer
because Miss Bridges had called his group to the front. Emily set herself up at the piano, Grace
grabbing her violin, and Harry stood with Amber and Chloe against the wall.

"What a group!" Liam mockingly called out.

"Shut the fuck up." Harry said, softly, with a sickly sweet smile. Someone stifled a laugh from the
other side of the room - Harry was pretty sure it was actually Louis.

Emily gave everyone in their group a quick nod, before she started the song off on the piano, the
tune they had decided on all those lessons ago. They had decided previously that Amber and Chloe
would sing the verses together, Harry the chorus and the final line. Just so they could feel more
confident singing together, and they didn't think they could pull off the final line. Harry didn't
know if he even could, but he was going to find out soon.

Amber and Chloe sang the first verse together. Their voices were pretty average, in tune enough,
with Amber a little more out of tune but good enough, and it was bearable.

And Harry decided to shut his eyes as his part came, the chorus, pretending the pupils in front of
him weren't there as he sang. Once the first chorus was over, he let his eyes open. They fell on
Louis immediately, whose mouth was wide. He smirked at Louis in response, as Amber and Chloe
started the next verse. He then accidentally let his gaze fall onto Kendall, who was staring intently,
and her expression melted into one of adoration. Fuck no, she probably thought he looked on
purpose.

He did the next chorus with his eyes open this time, a little more confident and able to face
everyone, knowing he was about to reach that stupid longer note they had decided to put into it.
When he got to it, he took a deep breath and prayed for the best. "And I get the feeling that you'll
never need me agaaain…"

Somehow he pulled it off. Holy shit he pulled it off. He noticed quite a few raised eyebrows,
particularly Louis'. He knew there was meant to be one final chorus to their song, but he gestured to
Emily to wrap it up there, which she luckily caught onto and managed to fade the piano out, Grace
tagging along with the violin, until the song came to a solemn close. The applause was amazing,
though Harry noticed Gigi and Cheryl didn't bother at all.

"Wow!" Miss Bridges exclaimed. "Just tremendous! Well done, guys. Harry, you nailed that note."

"Thanks." He modestly pressed his palms together, before they all returned to their seats. Louis
was gawking over at Harry still in amazement, so Harry shot him a very speedy little wink. The rest
of the room was filled with speedy chatter, as Miss Bridges had momentarily left the room to go
and aid another teacher.

Over on the other side of the room, Kendall was frozen in place. She tugged demandingly on
Gigi's sleeve, though she was unable to move much.

"Gi… I'm pretty fucking certain that song was about me." She gasped, finally turning to her best
friend. "Did you hear those lyrics? It was literally a breakup song!"

"Oh, Kenny…"

"You can't tell me it wasn't! Cheryl," She got her involved next, "Was that, or was that not, a
breakup song?"

"Well, yeah… but one of the girls in his group could have come up with the concept." Cheryl
shrugged. Because she was the one who knew the truth of who Harry was really involved with
now, due to their secret pact.

"No, I doubt it. He looked straight at me during it. I literally got butterflies."

"Stop going on about this. If he really wanted you back, he would show a bit more effort, wouldn't
he?" Cheryl snapped, dying to just tell her the truth of the matter but knowing it would end in Harry
exposing her secret to Liam too. "Forget him, Kenny."

Kendall deeply sighed, picking at her nail. "Whatever. You'll see when he comes crawling back to
me."

Cheryl and Gigi exchanged worried looks.

---

"You amaze me."

"You amaze me."

"Yooou amaze me."

"No, YOU amaze me!"

Harry and Louis had been in a "you amaze me" standoff later on in the day, during lunch, in their
own world once again. They had been referring, of course, to one another's amazing vocals earlier
in their performances.
"Lou, your voice is so unique and so special. I can't believe you almost backed out, I'm so proud of
you for performing." Harry stroked his arm, away from anybody else's attention.

"Are you kidding me? Did you hear yourself?! Especially that incredible ending note, Harry, your
voice is just… beautiful." Louis breathed the final word. "Honestly."

"Okay, let's settle on this: we're both fucking amazing singers. And we should both be very proud
of ourselves." Harry smirked. "But especially you."

Louis playfully rolled his eyes. "Okay. You got it."

---

Zayn and his group all sat in Liam's bedroom later that evening. Kendall was painting her nails,
while Liam and Zayn drank beers whilst perched on Liam's bed, and Cheryl and Gigi idly went on
their phones.

"Do you guys miss Harry hanging out with us?" Kendall asked into the quiet, just the sound of
music playing on a speaker in the background. No further voices filled the space. "Well? Are you
all just going to ignore me?"

"I mean, he used to be cool. But it was just because he was dating you, and mates from Li and
Zayn. I was never exactly close with him."

"Liam? Zayn?"

"Why does it matter?" Zayn scoffed. "Stop dwelling on the past. He's moved on to shittier friends."

Kendall stubbornly sighed, screwing the lid on the nail varnish bottle and placing it in her handbag.
"God, you're all so moody about him. I'm going to get a drink."

She got to her feet, shaking her hands to dry her nails as she headed for the door. The two girls
habitually got up to follow her downstairs, and Gigi left her phone on the carpet. Pretty stupidly,
seeing as Zayn had already lectured her on it before.

The moment they had left and could be heard going down the stairs towards Liam's kitchen, Zayn
sprang to his feet and grabbed Gigi's device.

"You're really checking again already?" Liam asked, with a chuckle. "Man, you really don't trust
her now. Didn't she delete the photos you found?"

"I hadn't looked through them all earlier, there was more than one folder. She only deleted the ones
I found." Zayn said, putting in her password, glad to see she hadn't changed it yet. "And no, I don't
really trust her now."

He tapped onto her photos while Liam rapped casually to the song playing. Zayn tapped onto photo
folders. One with friends, another with family, another with photographic scenery. And the final
one was just her screenshots. He tapped that folder, hoping to feel reassured that it was the final
folder and that he hadn't found anything.

But scanning his eyes down, he saw the fifth most recent photo. A shirtless photo of Harry stood at
his mirror. In Gigi's screenshots photo album.

"I'm gonna kill him." He seethed, slamming her phone down so hard it probably came close to
smashing. "I am going to fucking kill him!"
 49
Chapter Notes

Little bit of smut towards the end too. Because I wanted to, idk hahaha

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry had gone back to Louis' house with him after school, and they were both sat with Louis' mum
and one of Louis' sisters, Lottie, in the living room. He could feel Lottie's eyes on him, analysing
him while he was watching the television screen, but he didn't mind too much. He could tell it was
just her way of working out what he was like and getting used to him.

Louis' mum was on her laptop, evidently doing something relatively important as her eyes hadn't
left it. A moment later, this became audibly clear.

"Shit." She suddenly cursed, not usually the type to, from her demeanor. Everybody's eyes fell onto
her, Louis' face contorting in concern.

"What's up?" He worriedly queried, "Mum?"

Jay wiped her forehead in stress, deeply sighing. "My bills have come in two weeks earlier than I
thought, and they're a lot more than I thought they'd be. Shit, I'm five-hundred and twenty-seven
pounds short if I want enough left over for everything else."

"I'll pay it." Harry hadn't even given it any thought; the sentence had left his mouth practically the
moment Jay's sentence had finished. The three of them turned to him in bewilderment.

"Harry, Love, don't be ridiculous! I would never expect you to!" Jay exclaimed in pure disbelief.

"I want to." Harry insisted. "Please?"

"Harry," Louis breathed out a disbelieving laugh, "You're insane. That's a lot of money."

"I don't care. I want to help. I've got nothing better to spend it on anyway, I'd rather cover this."

Jay was slightly shaking her head, eyes latched onto Harry in sheer awe. "Harry, I'm not letting you
pay that! Never. They're my bills to pay, you don't have to-"

"Please?" Harry gently asked. "Let me do this? You've been lovely enough to welcome me into
your home and into Louis' life. It's the least I can do."

Jay's eyes dipped down to the screen, hiding her face a little, maybe in shame, then returned her
gaze to Harry.

"Harry, you don't have to. Seriously. Think about this, it's a lot of money."

"I've already thought about it." He smiled. "Where do I put my card details?"

He hopped to his feet and perched himself beside Jay, who was still in pure shock. Lottie linked
eyes with Louis, her mouth agape and eyebrows raised, while all Louis could do was smile
proudly. He loved Harry so much.

Jay ended up crying and giving Harry the tightest hug he had ever received, showering his face
with kisses which he honestly found extremely adorable. She was such a warm and amazing lady,
and Harry remembered way back in Paris when Louis mentioned his mum worked two jobs. He
was so, so happy to help.

---

"Zayn, slow down!" Liam called out in panic, gripping the base of the passenger seat of Zayn's car
as it was flung around a corner at 50mph. "You need to calm down."

He had run after Zayn after he had stormed out of the house, straight past the three girls and into
his car. He hadn't even stopped to say a word to Gigi: his only aim now was getting to Harry
Styles.

"I need to calm the fuck down?! Harry's been sending shirtless photos to my fucking girlfriend and
you think I should be all calm and peaceful, Liam, huh?" He raged, sharply turning another corner.

"It's just a shirtless photo. She's seen him without one before." Liam was trying to justify what
they'd seen, but he knew deep down it was no use. Something shady was going on.

"Fuck knows what else he's sent her! She might have sent him photos too… God! Stop trying to
protect him, this is too fucking far. Too fucking personal. He's going to pay for it."

Liam worriedly nibbled his lower lip as Zayn whipped the car onto the driveway of Harry's
family's property, his entire car at an angle, switching off the engine and immediately getting out.
Liam scrambled to keep up.

"Zayn, his car's not even here. I don't think involving his family is very-"

Zayn thudded loudly on the door, followed by a showering of rings on the doorbell, continuing
then to keep angrily thumping his fist on the wood. The door ripped open a moment later to reveal
Robin and Anne, both highly concerned, with Gemma hovering in the hallway somewhere behind
them.

"What on Earth are you doing, Zayn?!" Robin demanded. Liam was standing further back, looking
a little bit sorry for Zayn's actions.

"Where is he?" Zayn angrily asked, trying to crane his neck over them to try and spot Harry. "Tell
him to get the fuck out here."

"What is going on?! You better start talking, Zayn Malik, how dare you approach our house like
this!" Anne seethed.

"Harry's been sending fucking naked photos to my girlfriend." Zayn gritted.

"Shirtless, not naked." Liam desperately corrected from behind him. "Zayn, you're completely
overreacting."

"Harry wouldn't do that!" Gemma exclaimed from behind her parents, so that they stepped aside
slightly to allow her a gap. "You really think he'd want to get with Gigi? He's had enough bloody
trouble with Kendall!"
"The photo was on her phone," Zayn was talking slowly now, as if attempting to suppress himself
from going overboard. "Where is he? Now."

"He's not here. Stop being a dick and leave him alone!" Gemma scoffed. "You're such an arsehole,
Zayn, seriously."

"Where is he then, hmm? I want to settle this with him, he's going to have to be a man about it."
Zayn snapped. "Nobody messages my fucking girlfriend and gets away with it."

"You hurt him, young man, and you're dead!" Robin threatened as Zayn stormed off once again,
towards his car with Liam in tow. "I mean that! Don't go near him!"

Zayn started the engine the moment they were both in the car again, not even giving Liam a chance
to fully close the passenger door before he recklessly reversed his way out of the driveway, before
taking off again with the wheels of his car leaving black marks on the road from the skid.

"Where are we even going, Zayn? This is ridiculous." Liam rolled his eyes. "Where are you
expecting to find him?"

"Where does Louis Tomlinson live? I bet he's there." Zayn spat.

"How would I know?"

"Phone Harry. Now." Zayn snarled. "Quickly."

"No! I'm not going to talk to him, Zayn, this is so stupid."

"DO IT, OR I DRIVE THIS FUCKING CAR INTO THE RIVER." Zayn excessively raised his
tone all of a sudden, urging Liam to come to his senses and realise just how serious this actually
was. Zayn was not messing around - Liam had no doubt this car could be airborne and heading
straight for the water if he didn't comply soon, what with Zayn's rage.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket, so desperately fast that he dropped it into the footwell and
had to scoop it up.

"Hurry up! I can't just drive around endlessly!"

"Okay! I'm calling him!" Liam yelled, doing just that. A smiley, playful photo of he and Harry lit
up his screen as the call began forwarding, a photo that had been taken of them together close to
last Christmas, just last year.

(A.N. https://yarryleestyles.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/wpid-harry-styles-liam-liam-payne-
one-direction-favim-com-3007601.jpg if photo doesn't load)

It stirred a sad feeling in his gut that it had all come to this; they all used to be so close, so happy.

"Put it on speaker." Zayn demanded. Liam pressed the loudspeaker button, so the sound of the call
going through echoed into the car. It went through to Harry's automated voicemail after a few
rings, urging Zayn to groan in anger.

"The coward. Try again. Until he picks up."

Liam screwed his eyes shut as the call started going through again. It went to voicemail once again,
as Zayn brought the car into the car park which branched off the large park near the city centre.

"Again!" He shouted, once he had stopped in a space and switched off the engine.

"God, stop! You're stressing me out." Liam breathed, running his free hand down his face. Zayn
reached over and ripped Liam's phone from his reluctant grip, pressing the call button again
himself. "For fuck's sake, Zayn!"

Just Zayn's steady, angry breathing and the call tone filled the car. This was joined a few moments
later by Harry's voice, as he had finally picked up after a few rings.

"What? Liam, why are you calling me?" He demanded, sounding a little impatient, but also
confused.

"It's me, you bastard. Get to the fucking park right now." He snapped.

"What?" Harry sounded utterly baffled. "Zayn? What's up?"

"Don't sound so fucking lost. Meet me at the park. Don't bring anyone. Get a move on." Before
Harry could respond to that, Zayn hung up, slapping the phone back into Liam's hand. He then got
his own phone out, calling Gigi. She picked up straight away.

"Zayn, where the hell are you! Why did you both leave so quickly?" She worried.

"Gigi, come to the park. Don't bring Kendall or Cheryl. Just hurry. Please. Now."

"I-"

Once again, Zayn cut the call short, inhaling deeply and shutting his eyes.

"Zayn…" Liam attempted. Zayn held up a hand to silence him, the other hand pinching the bridge
of his own nose in stress.

"Don't say anything, please."

On Harry's end of the story, he had just stepped into the hallway at Louis' house to confusedly take
the call from Liam. And now he was slightly shaking and his heart was stammering because he had
no clue why Zayn sounded so impatiently angry, or what this could be about. He knew that it likely
involved Gigi in some way.

He popped his head into the living room, where Louis looked a little concerned Harry had stepped
out so quickly after watching the first two calls go through.

"I'm gonna, uh, have to go. Mum wants me home." He lied. But although he hated lying, he knew
it was better than worrying them out even more by mentioning he had received a furious phone call
summoning him to the park immediately.

"Oh, okay, Darling." Jay softly smiled. "Feel free to come back any time, of course. Don't even
bother knocking next time, just come in, you're completely welcome. Thanks again for what you
did for us."

"Thank you." He grinned. "I'll see you all again soon. I'll text you, Lou."

Louis still looked concerned when meeting Harry's eyes, but Harry gave the most reassuring smile
he could and hoped that would suffice for now. He said a final goodbye before exiting the house so
he could jump into his car. He drove, music-less, to the assigned park and whipped his Audi into
one of the many free spaces as the engine gave a final roar. He spotted Zayn, Liam and Gigi
standing by two other cars, deeply sighing as he turned off his car, took his keys out and slammed
the door on his way out.

"Why's Harry here? Zayn," Gigi whined, tugging her boyfriend's sleeve like a child. Zayn shrugged
her away.

"Yeah, the fuck's going on?" Harry demanded, as he stopped a couple of metres from them. "What
do you want?"

"Why don't you start explaining?" Zayn was eerily calm, looking between Harry and Gigi. "Both of
you. Start talking."

"What are you talking about?" Gigi scoffed. "What do you think's happening? Explain what?"

"You think I'm stupid, don't you!" Zayn spat. "I know something's going on between you two, you
might as well just admit it now. Harry, talk."

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about," Harry held his open palms up, completely
defenceless. "I don't know what you've seen, Zayn, or what you're insinuating."

"First I found several photos from your Instagram on Gigi's phone. Didn't I, Gi?" Zayn asked,
sickly sweet, a deep-set hint of sourness.

"Fine! I was sending them to Kendall!" Gigi defended herself, looking a little embarrassed when
Harry's eyes fell onto her. "She was worried she would accidentally like one of his photos if she
snooped on his account herself. Which I did at one point, I accidentally liked one, Harry even
noticed that."

Oh. Still not very believable, but what she had said did seem quite understandable.

"Bullshit," Zayn spat. "That's such a lame excuse, bringing Kendall into it."

"You can ask her yourself! She specifically asked me to go on his profile and screenshot some
photos to send to her. That's her problem, not mine." Gigi scoffed. Harry was definitely going to be
putting his social media profiles on private now.

"Zayn, you're probably overreacting. Again." Liam spoke up, but Zayn ignored him and turned to
Harry, looking him up and down in disgust.

"That's where it gets interesting, though."

"What are you talking about?" Harry rolled his eyes. "Just say whatever you want, stop stalling. I
have an evening to be getting on with."

"Why did you send Gigi a photo?" Zayn demanded, storming forward and jabbing his finger into
Harry's chest.

Harry slapped his hand away. "What are you talking about? What have you gone and lied about
now, Gigi?"

"Nothing! If you'd just let me-"

"Would you kindly explain, Harry, why there is a shirtless mirror selfie of you on my girlfriend's
fucking phone?" Zayn dropped the leading question.

Harry's world crumbled down a little then as realisation began to strike. His breath caught in his
throat, heart stilling for a mere second, eyes falling onto Gigi.

"W-What?" He stammered, eyebrows furrowing.

Gigi piped up, "Wait, let me exp-"

"There's nothing to explain. Nothing to justify. I saw what I saw." Zayn sternly cut her off. "Even
Liam saw it."

Liam nodded, awkwardly, when Harry linked eyes with him. And then Harry's eyes were back on
Gigi in disbelief, shaking his head.

"Gigi… why do you have that photo? What the… what the fuck?"

"You know why!" Zayn yelled.

"Zayn, if you'd just shut up for a second then we could maybe work this out!" Harry raged,
suddenly unable to contain his anger.

"You expect me to remain calm about this! Harry, my girlfriend is cheating on me with you!" Zayn
roared. And then he and Harry were yelling back and forth, inaudible over one another's sheer
volume, with Liam stressfully watching on. This went on for a solid ten seconds, before they got a
little too close, so Gigi stepped in by finally managing to raise her voice enough.

"LET ME EXPLAIN!" She screamed all of a sudden, sick and tired of this, standing bravely
between them. "Honestly! I can't get a fucking word in!"

There was a brief silence, Harry with his fists balled, furious with both Zayn and Gigi. Mainly Gigi,
in all honesty, because if his calculations were correct, that was the photo he had sent the
anonymous emailer. And she had it.

"Go ahead." He calmly proceeded, indifferently waving a hand, needing nothing more now than to
hear what she had to say, yet knowing he had to calm down in order to do so.

Gigi inhaled steadily. "Zayn, I would never be unfaithful to you. What you saw, and Harry, what
you think this is, it's not my doing. Zayn, what you saw was sent from Harry to an anonymous
emailer, the one you've heard about. And Harry, that anonymous emailer is not me."

"What?" Harry and Zayn asked in baffled unison.

"Wait, those emails Harry's been receiving…?" Zayn slowly queried.

"Yes. And it's not me." Gigi sounded close to tears. "No offence, Harry, but you're not my type-"

"So why do you keep smiling at me so weirdly? And even winking at me in class?" Harry dropped
the bombshell, feeling Zayn tense in rage once again.

"What?" Zayn gritted.

"Because," Gigi enthusiastically began, "I wanted you to wonder why I was doing it, so you'd
approach me and ask about it. I wanted to explain what I saw, but I knew getting you to talk to me
would be a challenge."
Harry's eyebrows slowly furrowed, mouth slightly ajar. "What did you see?"

"It's pretty shocking, I don't know if I should-?"

"What did you see?" Harry repeated, desperately. "Please, Gigi? I need to know this. It's been
killing me, all of this."

Gigi placed her head in her hands for just a second, then dropped them to her sides so they slapped
against her legs.

"I saw who's really doing it."

"Yes, who!" Harry pushed.

"It's Miss Bridges! She sent the emails." Gigi finalised.

Harry completely froze, his mind hazing over and his head shaking. He couldn't quite process what
he was hearing. Miss Bridges? Their music teacher? Why? What? How was that possible?

Liam had stifled a laugh, even Zayn close to bursting into laughter despite having just been in an
absolute rage just moments back, and Gigi glared at them in order to shut them up.

"Miss Bridges." Harry said, quietly, in shock. "Tell me. Tell me how you know. Are you…
certain? I don't get how… or why?"

"Because she thinks you're sexy. Or easy. Or both." Zayn mocked, urging Liam to laugh just as
tauntingly.

"Guys, shut up." Gigi rolled her eyes. "Well, Harry. I'm certain. I had to go back to her classroom
after school a couple weeks back, to drop off some work. She wasn't in there." Gigi began. "But her
computer was on. And I was stupid and nosy and the screen was just right there. And I clicked onto
her emails, I don't know why. And that photo of you was the first thing I saw on the screen when
they opened onto an email. And I just knew it was something to do with this, the anonymous
emails you were getting. I emailed myself the photo, screenshot it and then deleted it on her side.
That's why it's on my phone as a screenshot. It's proof."

Harry was still trying to mentally process what he was hearing. There was a heavy silence as he did
just that, staring at his feet as he pieced together every little snippet of information he had just
received. He mentioned the most important thing first, the thing that worried him.

"Did you read any of the emails between us?"

"No, I didn't have time and I didn't care enough anyway. Look, I may hate you Harry, so much by
the way, but I wanted you to know about this. And now you do." Gigi admitted.

"God, it's so fucking funny," Zayn was laughing once again, Liam close once again to joining in.
"Our fucking teacher anonymously messaging you just to try and get nudes. We all knew she was
into you."

"You're making this so much harder for me, Zayn, I'd appreciate it if you just shut up now." Harry
gritted. "I don't know what to do."

"How did she even convince you to send that photo? Wait, did you send any more?!" Liam cut in
then, curious, and Harry wanted to slap both him and Zayn very forcefully.
"No, that's all I sent, for Christ sake. She blackmailed me into sending it and even wanted me to
meet up with her. You don't have to know any more." He couldn't go too in depth about what that
blackmail had revolved around, because that would end in an immediate, accidental outing of he
and Louis' relationship. He couldn't have that just yet.

"Blackmailed with what?"

"I'm going home." Harry said, lifelessly. "Leave me alone."

He turned on his heel and began strolling with a heavy heart towards his car, unlocking it.

"Harry, wait!" Came Zayn's call.

Harry deeply sighed, turning towards him. Zayn suddenly wore a far more mature expression, as
though he had finally come to his senses and realised how much of a dick he had been this entire
time.

"Look, sorry for overreacting so much and trying to blame you for something you didn't do. And
we won't tell anybody what we know, if that'll help."

Harry didn't respond at all, though. He had nothing left to say to them, scoffing heavily and turning
his car's way once again and clambering in before setting off.

---

Harry sat in his car, on his driveway, for a good half an hour when he had driven himself home.
He had his phone in hand, heart still beating pretty unevenly, scrolling through the past emails he
had received from who he now knew (if he believed Gigi) was Miss Bridges.

A lot of it just made sense: she took the photo of them on school grounds, likely when she was
walking around the campus during registration period. They mentioned that Harry was attractive
and "fascinated them" (it sometimes seemed like she enjoyed the comments from classmates),
someone who had never seen him topless, saw him when he orgasmed in class one time - music
class.

He put his phone away with a deep sigh and immediately changed his mind on where he wanted to
be: he wanted to go back to Louis'. So he drove back there, despite having only been there under an
hour ago, and parked up where he had been before. Even though Jay had previously told him, after
his very generous money-giving gesture, that he could enter their house whenever he pleased
without knocking, he still knocked anyway.

Louis answered, a mix of surprise and happiness coming over him upon seeing Harry standing
there.

"Harry! You're back!" He lightly chuckled. "Did… your mum not want you back home?"

He then noted Harry's deep inhale, ushering him inside.

"You okay? Come in, let's talk." He gently guided Harry in with a hand behind his back, shutting
the door behind him. "Let's go to my room."

They did, and Harry sat on Louis' bed with his head in his hands, still having not even spoken.
Louis stood worriedly in the centre of the room, hands clasped behind his back.

"What's happened, then? You're worrying me."

"It's Miss Bridges." Harry informed, suddenly. "The emails."

"What?" Louis gasped, taking a quick seat close to Harry on the edge of the bed. "How do you
know?"

"Gigi. She saw it on her computer. That's why she's been acting so suspicious towards me lately."
Harry shrugged. "And now… I don't know what the hell to do."

"Wait, did Gigi see-"

"She didn't see any of the other emails," Harry relieved him, "She still doesn't know. She just saw
the shirtless photo, so she knew they were the emails to me."

"Well fuck," Louis breathed, "What do you think we should do?"

Harry adored Louis for that: what should we do? He wasn't just leaving Harry in this alone
because they were emails to him, he was going to help him work all of this out, no matter how long
it took.

"No clue." Harry said. "But I feel really uncomfortable knowing it's her. She wanted to ask me for
videos!" He scrunched his nose up in disgust.

"And she didn't get any. It'll be alright, Harry. How about… telling the headteacher?"

"They wouldn't believe me," Harry fanned out a laugh. "Of course they wouldn't, this is crazy! And
although I do want to believe it's her, so this is finally solved, I don't have solid evidence that it is."

"Well, you could try and talk to her about it after class? It might change her outlook, knowing that
you know it's her. Just try asking her about it?" Louis tried. "She might give up and leave you
alone, rather than risking losing her job if you tell the headteacher."

"That probably is the best thing." Harry admitted, laying his head on Louis' shoulder, who patted
his thigh soothingly.

"We have music tomorrow, don't we? See how you feel in the lesson, and then maybe you'll feel
confident enough to ask her about it at the end, just to confirm or debunk what Gigi told you."

"Yeah. Thanks, Lou." Harry smiled, turning to him.

"It's okay." Louis whispered, as they linked eyes. Harry's mouth stretched into a smirk as his eyes
scanned all around Louis' beautiful face.

"What?" Louis breathed a giggle.

"You look gorgeous. You do always, there's just something about you today in particular.
Stunning."

Louis shyly dipped his head, and Harry scooped it back up with a thumb beneath his chin.

"Kiss me."

Louis smirked and leant in, attaching his lips softly to Harry's, opting for a sweeter and slower
kiss, but made a cute sound of shock in the back of his throat as Harry scooped him up during the
kiss so Louis was straddling him. And he kissed Louis rougher, squeezing on his thighs through his
jeans as he lay them both back against the headboard. Harry grazed his hands up and under Louis'
t-shirt, ghosting his fingertips gently over the hot skin, as Louis yanked at the hem of Harry's shirt.
Harry momentarily pulled away from the kiss, taking his own t-shirt off as Louis removed his, and
they continued to kiss. Harry appreciatively gripped Louis' soft hips, urging him to sigh quietly
into the kiss. Harry smiled mischievously as he kissed along Louis' face to his jaw, along it and
onto his neck. Louis moved his head aside while softly chuckling at the ticklish feeling of Harry
peppering kisses around his neckline.

"You smell good." Harry hummed, breathing in the fresh scent as he buried his face into the crook
of Louis' neck.

"Showered when you left." Louis breathed out, the rough edge to his voice audible proof that
Harry was doing a lot to him right now.

"You can't even go a second without being next to me whenever possible," Harry smirked, "Had to
wait until I left to shower, just so you could spend the rest of your time with me."

Louis giggled. "You got me there."

Harry initiated the continual of their kiss, roughly once again, both hands coming back to grip
Louis' arse through his jeans. Louis raked his hands through Harry's hair, bringing their bodies as
close as physically possible so their bare torsos pressed together.

Harry leant to whisper in Louis' ear, "You wanna do something?"

Louis bit his lip with a mischievous smile, but looked doubtful. " I don't know if that's a good idea
right now."

"Remember when I said I want you to sit on my face." Harry lowly whispered, and he heard Louis'
breath hitch. "From that gasp, I'd say you do."

"My mum's home." Louis whispered, matching the hushed tone.

"Give me your phone." Harry spoke at a normal tone again, knowing otherwise he would get too
far into this, especially if Louis was going to back out now from the fear of his mum bursting in
again.

"Why?" Louis giggled, handing it over anyway.

Harry smirked to himself as he did what he thought was best: texting Louis' mum from Louis'
phone.

Louis: Mum, Harry came back round if you didn't hear. Don't come in my room for like 20
minutes?? Love you xxx

"Harry!" Louis quietly exclaimed when he got his phone back, throwing his head back in a bright
laugh. "Why!"

"Honesty is the best policy. Put your phone down and come here." He smirked, making a grabbing
gesture at Louis, who gave in and put his phone down on his bedside table.

They were quick to get back to making out, Harry getting on top of Louis once again. Louis began
grinding his hips down a little, causing Harry to smirk into the kiss and place his hands on Louis'
bum once again. He then brought his hands round to Louis' front again, fumbling with the button
on his jeans. Louis, while the kiss continued, undid the button himself before clumsily removing his
jeans and throwing them on the floor.
"Lovely," Harry mumbled against Louis' lips, as he slid his hands into Louis' boxers behind him.
"Love your arse so much."

"I know you do." Louis giggled. "I love that you love it."

Harry grabbed Louis' bum fully, hands in his underwear, groaning in his throat. "God, you fucking
turn me on." He deeply said.

"I love your hands on me," Louis smiled, "All over me."

"Even though your mum knows what you're doing right now." Harry softly chuckled, their faces
very close once again.

"Don't remind me," Louis giggled. "Let's get on with it."

Harry speedily reattached his lips to Louis' neck and began trailing wet kisses all around his
throat, one hand planted in his hair behind his head and the other still gripping his arse. He pulled
Louis' hair to angle his head up and expose his neck, attaching his mouth to the side of it and
sucking on the skin. Louis was too distracted with screwing shut his eyes in bliss and letting out a
heavy sigh of bliss, to realise Harry was leaving a pretty heavy mark on his neck.

Once he was finished, and happy with the red mark he had left, he scooped Louis up completely
and put him gently on his back. He leant down and peppered fast, wet kisses all over Louis'
stomach, noting that he was already hard from the frantic kissing. Harry, panting, both pulled
Louis' underwear off and lifted his legs so fast that Louis gasped and giggled. Harry began
rimming Louis straight away, the smaller boy's bottom half literally off the bed as Harry held him
up, and his breath caught in his throat as Harry messily licked over his hole.

"Oh, fuck." Louis whispered, volume low, eyes shut. "I love you doing that."

Harry hummed out a moan in agreement, smiling to himself as he licked all the way up and over
Louis' dick, to the head and back down to his hole again. Louis released a moan of bliss, one hand
in Harry's hair and the other planted on the mattress for added stability.

Harry then roughly gripped Louis' thighs and flipped them both over, so he was on his back, and
he pulled Louis up so that he was quite literally sat on his face. Louis gasped out a moan, thighs
shaking as they held him up, hands gripping the headboard for balance as Harry continued on
eating him out. Louis grabbed his dick and started jerking off along with it, head tipping back and
eyes shut as he released a breathy moan

Harry pushed Louis' hand from his dick and replaced it with his own, panting as he brought his
face up and looked Louis intensely in the eye.

"Fuck, this is hot. You look so good up there." He lowly breathed, flicking his wrist as he wanked
Louis off. Louis' breath hitched once again as Harry licked over his hole once again, prodding his
tongue in slightly as he continued jerking him off along with it. It went on for a good few minutes,
Harry loving every second and the small, sweet noises Louis was producing.

"Just like that. I'm close already." Louis barely managed, eyes still clenched shut and chest rising
and falling fast.

"Really?" Harry cockily asked, before continuing on again.

"Y-Yeah." Louis whispered in ecstasy.

 Harry sped up the movements of his tongue against Louis, along with his hand on Louis' cock,
hearing Louis' breathing speed up. One of Louis' hands planted in Harry's curls, the other still on
the headboard as his knuckles whitened with the grip.

"I'm gonna cum. Already." Louis lightly giggled. "Shit, I didn't think it'd be that quick."

"I'm just that good." Harry smugly commented, smirking up at him as he began wanking him off
faster.

He felt Louis twitch in his hand, his legs shaking as he came over Harry's hand. He had moaned
pretty loudly, it echoing off the walls a little, looking so pretty as his eyes fluttered shut and his
mouth hung open a little.

Harry smiled in gratification, biting his lower lip as he brought his hand up to Louis' mouth. Louis
licked his own cum off, urging Harry to sniff out a smug laugh.

"Good boy. So hot."

Louis collapsed on the bed beside Harry, who was wiping some spit from the side of his mouth,
patting Louis on the arm.

"You were pretty loud then, Lou Lou."

"Oh God, was I?" Louis gasped. "I didn't even notice, it felt like I left the planet for a couple of
seconds then."

Harry grinned at him. "Don't worry, the text was self explanatory enough."

"Fuck, that's so embarrasing." Louis laughed, still slightly breathless. "Thanks for doing that. That
was amazing."

"I loved doing it. Any time." Harry kissed Louis on the forehead.

It at least made him forget about the situation at hand for the time being. But he knew that was
something he was going to have to confront head-on tomorrow. And it didn't help that Zayn, Liam
and Gigi all knew too, and that the two guys seemed to find it funny what they knew.

Harry was just going to have to handle this the best way he could: by completely winging it.

Chapter End Notes

Harry confronting in the next chapter (very soon)

I'll edit any mistakes I missed asap!!

 50
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

They hung out in Louis' room for the rest of the evening, following their little sexual episode they'd
had. Harry knew Louis wasn't leaving his room on purpose, flustered that his mum knew exactly
what had gone down considering the blatant text Harry had sent her from his phone. It was better
than her bursting in on something much worse than just them kissing.

Harry headed home as it got to half past ten that evening. It wasn't that he didn't want to stay the
night at Louis', he just figured it would be best to head home and clear his head on his own for a
while. All he could think about, all his mind played over, was the fact that he would have to
potentially confront one of his teachers over some strange emails. That was no reality any student
should have had to tolerate, yet the world seemed to love throwing problems his way.

He parked up and entered his house, kicking off his boots and entering the living room, where all
three of his family members were watching a movie. Anne immediately pressed pause once they
had acknowledged him, all gawking at him in concern.

"What's going on, Harry? Zayn came round earlier, he was absolutely furious and was looking for
you!" Robin explained. "What's that all about?"

"Oh," Harry huffed out a lifeless laugh, "I didn't realise he'd come here first. Sorry if that worried
you guys."

"You haven't answered why he was here. Why was he so angry?" Gemma pushed. "I've never seen
him like that, in all the time you were mates. He said something about… you sending photos?"

Harry didn't really know what to say now. He thought he could just play this off and never tell any
of them about anything, but he hadn't been aware Zayn had involved them himself by turning up
unprecedented.

"He said that? It was all a big misunderstanding in the end, believe me." Harry waved a hand. "He
didn't hurt me, I didn't hurt him. We talked about it."

"...Okay." Anne slowly said, though her brows were furrowed and she looked very unconvinced. "I
trust you would tell me if anything more serious was happening?"

"Of course, don't stress about it. Everything's cool." He shrugged. "I'm gonna head up for a
shower."

Gemma had her eyes trained on him, very intensely. She knew about his involvement with Louis,
so hearing something shirtless about photos to Gigi was no doubt baffling her. He decided on
leaving her with a soft smile, as reassuring as he could muster, before he left the room and gently
shut the door.

---

Harry arrived at school the next morning, having agreed to meet Louis in the car park. He pulled
into his usual space, spotting Louis stood beneath the tree. Harry jumped out, locking his car, then
noting that Louis had his left hand awkwardly propped on the side of his neck.
It took Harry a moment to work it out, then he stifled a gasped laugh. "Oh dear, did I leave that bad
of a mark?"

Louis glanced around, making sure nobody was watching, before moving his hand. The mark was
smack bang in the central left side of his neck, a vivid rosy colouring, clear as day. Harry slapped a
hand over his mouth, muffling his laughter.

"I really didn't think school through when I was giving you that, I'm sorry!"

"My mum noticed it, I could see her eyes on it but she didn't say anything," Louis chuckled, "So I
went to check the mirror before I left, and bam, I saw it."

They began strolling towards the school building, Louis' hand still resting on the left of his neck to
cover the mark, and Harry was trying hard to restrain his laughter.

"I don't really know what to suggest with that one. You can't exactly walk around with your hand
on your neck all day, you'll get an arm strain. And it'll probably be obvious anyway." Harry said,
biting back a smug grin.

"I'll get people asking who it's from, I just know I will." Louis sounded a little stressed by that,
which did make Harry feel bad, but giving it to him last night and watching the way his eyes had
fluttered shut was completely worth it.

"Just don't think about it, keep your head down as much as you can and nobody will even notice it."
Harry reassuringly smiled.

But the moment they had gotten to their registration period, Niall pointed at Louis' neck and began
thunderously laughing.

"Who gave you that, Louis?!" He cackled.

"Shut up," Louis lightly laughed, flushing red and covering the mark up once again, "It's nothing."

"He's not telling me, either," Harry played it off, smirking at Louis, "It must be a secret lover of
his."

Louis tried hard to restrain a smug smile of his own at that. Harry saw Kendall and her group
heading over to join the huddle of students waiting outside the classroom in the corner of his eye,
turning to look at them. Kendall gave him a quick, sultry up-and-down glance, before attempting a
smile. But Harry was too busy moving his sights to Liam and Zayn. They were muttering amongst
themselves, and then in unison looked Harry's way. Once they spotted him already looking, Zayn
looked away immediately, whereas Liam gave Harry an awkward, straight-mouthed nod in
greeting. Harry returned it briefly.

He could tell they had been talking about his situation together, probably laughing about it and
finding it completely and utterly hilarious, but he didn't care anymore. At least Liam had shown the
slightest dose of compassion.

As their teacher arrived, letting them in, Harry linked eyes with Cheryl. She glanced at Louis, at his
temporarily exposed neck, and then back at Harry. She obviously knew he had been the cause of
that mark, and her stagnant expression was rather threatening to Harry - maybe it was a warning.
Maybe she had seen Harry and Liam become mildly friendly once again, and so she felt she had to
remind him about their compromise - the secret.

Harry had so much on his plate, and trying to balance it all just seemed to be becoming impossible.
All he could do now was wait for everything to unfold naturally.

---

The day played out far too slowly for Harry's liking. He knew that fourth lesson, before lunch, was
music, and that lingering thought remained with him throughout the previous lessons. He had tried
to distract himself throughout, laughing at Louis occasionally as he continued to attempt to hide his
love bite, and conversing with Charlie throughout Chemistry to take his mind off of things, but
there was nothing at all he could do as they were all making their way to music class.

"You'll be okay," Louis muttered to him, as they trekked across the school field, taking a shortcut
to the arts block. "Just see how it goes."

"I shouldn't even have to be doing this," Harry groaned, "This is so ridiculous. "

"I know, it's so stupid. But hopefully this will all be solved sometime soon, and we can start
concentrating on better things." Louis smiled. "I've noticed Liam being more friendly towards
you."

"Yeah, me too," Harry commented, glancing Liam's way, as he and his friends walked quite far
ahead over the field. "But Zayn isn't, he won't even look at me squarely. Maybe he's embarrassed
for over exaggerating so much about the photo of me on Gigi's phone."

"Time will tell." Louis shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they'll even come to their senses and dump
those girls one day. Liam certainly should, with what we know about Cheryl."

They arrived in the music building, making their way upstairs, and into the classroom. Harry stiffly
sat in his chair, Louis beside him, and their three other friends on Louis' other side. Miss Bridges
wasn't even in the room yet, and Harry was praying to some miracle that maybe they had a supply
teacher today instead.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket as the rest of the class got settled. He pulled it out, surprised to
see that it was a text from Liam.

Liam: Look, I know we aren't exactly on good terms. But good luck wiv miss bridges … whatever
you decide to do on it.

Harry's eyes flicked up to look Liam's way, seeing that he was already looking. Harry mouthed
'thank you', but this time didn't get any form of a response: Liam just put away his phone and
looked away.

The classroom door opened a moment later, and Miss Bridges, of course, walked in with a few
folders, placing them down on her desk. Harry found himself lowering his gaze to the tabletop,
anything to avoid eye contact, and realised how hot his blood was running all of a sudden. He
realised that he was, in fact, terrified.

"Afternoon, everyone," She greeted, writing up a title on the whiteboard. "How are we all?"

Harry still kept his eyeline to the table, feeling far too tense to even risk meeting her eye, ultimately
just insanely uncomfortable as his brain began to rerun all of the strange things she had emailed
him.

"Everything okay, Harry?" She asked all of a sudden, over the general buzz of conversation in the
room, which ceased once he had been brought up. There was the usual snicker from a few, even
Zayn joined in with ridiculing him with his laughter, and Harry finally had to look up.
His heart was thudding a little harder, though the smile on Miss Bridges' face as she looked at him
held no glimpse of any secret deceit, just general teacher-ly compassion: he would have had no
clue it was her, had he worked it out on his own.

"Yeah." He bluntly responded, allowing his gaze to fall onto the whiteboard then instead of
sustaining the eye contact.

"Good, okay." She nodded, and then began with the lesson.

Louis nudged his leg against Harry's in a sympathetic sort of way, his silent support, and Harry
nudged back as a thank you gesture.

Most of the lesson, Harry could hear quiet discussion coming from Liam and Zayn's direction, and
more than once he felt their gaze on him, but decided not to look their way. He did all he could to
concentrate on the lesson, knowing he shouldn't let anything get in the way of his education.

The lesson began drawing to a close as lunchtime drew nearer, and the room became a little
rowdier as concentration was lost and everyone was growing in need of a break.

"Right, guys, get your stuff packed away. Thank you for your hard work today." Miss Bridges
announced, urging everybody to immediately comply and pack their things away.

"You still gonna hang back and talk to her?" Louis whispered to Harry, as they both slung their
bags on their shoulders.

"Yeah. I won't let myself change my mind." Harry said, set on his plan now. "I'll catch you guys
up. Canteen?"

"Yeah, we'll be there. Are you sure you don't want me to wait right outside?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks, Lou. You go and get some food, yeah? Tell the other guys I'm working on
some coursework."

Students had started to pour out of the classroom, happily making their way to lunch. Kendall and
Co. had already left, probably eager to get to wherever they could be their most obnoxious and
disrupt those around them. Louis gave Harry one last smile of reassurance before he and their three
friends left the room. The last few people left too, and Harry momentarily lingered by the door,
tempted to his core to just leave too, but he knew he had to do this.

He firmly pressed the door to the classroom shut, until it clicked, and stood facing it a moment as
he collected his thoughts. The room was eerily silent, just the sound of Miss Bridges collecting a
few sheets of paper together. Harry took a deep breath and span around to face the room again,
immediately linking eyes with her. Her eyebrows were raised slightly, but other than that there was
no detectable emotion written on her face.

"Everything okay, Harry?" She asked, in a voice so professional and kind that he really was
beginning to have doubts now: what if Gigi had done this as some big prank, and really it wasn't
Miss Bridges all along? It was just impossible to tell without bringing it up. Harry just had no idea
how to even go about doing that.

"...no." He simply mumbled, his voice small and almost insecure, but with an edge of seriousness.
"Not really."

"Is… everything alright? Is there something you'd like to discuss?" She compassionately asked,
perching herself on the edge of one of the desks.
Harry's doubts continued to spiral. If this was her doing, she really wasn't letting down her
professional guard. Maybe she was even hoping he would even give up on believing she would do
such a thing.

Harry linked eyes with her, deeply, in a calculating manner. His eyebrows were furrowed a little,
rubbing his slightly sweaty palms together.

"I…" He trailed off in another deep inhale. "I don't know how to even say it."

Miss Bridges didn't respond then, which perhaps she would have, had she been innocent. She
would have immediately queried what was wrong, what he was finding so hard to say, and she
would comfort him and tell him to take his time. But she didn't - she just looked blankly at him.

"Oh, God," Harry groaned, running a hand down his face. "I just want to know if… you know why
I'm here."

"I haven't a clue, Harry," She said, though her tone just sounded off.

And again, a teacher would be dealing with this differently if they were consistently professional.

"I think you might." He tried. He knew it was risky to say, he had to have some form of
assuredness that she was guilty.

Her response was the slightest widen of her eyes, her chest rising a little more. And that was when
Harry just knew. He knew it was her, knew her reaction was the furthest thing from innocent. She
didn't say anything, but Harry saw her gulp. Her current behaviour was not what a teacher should
have been expressing.

"I'm going to ask you again." Harry pressed, walking a little bit closer, standing in the centre of the
room. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"Go to lunch, Harry. You shouldn't be here now unless you're catching up on work."

Harry fanned out a shocked laugh, tilting his head aside in disbelief.

"It's you, isn't it?" He questioned, a tone of bafflement.

Miss Bridges didn't respond directly, instead continued to tidy things away around the room.

"As I said, Harry, please make your way out of the classroom and get to lunch." She said, a little
more sternly now.

"No." Harry persisted, shaking his head angrily. "I know it's you."

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" Her voice had suddenly taken on a new tone, one which made
Harry's skin crawl. It had that smug sort of ring to it, like the way the emails were worded. And he
had to suck in an extra sharp breath in order to process what was happening.

"What the fuck do you want from me? Why me?" Harry exclaimed, barely able to look at her. "Do
you understand how messed up this is?"

"I know it is. And that's why I chose to be anonymous to begin with."

He couldn't even believe these words were coming from a teacher's mouth. He paced the room a
little, stressfully running a hand through his hair.
"Why did you want me alone? We're alone now, why was that so important to you?" He raged,
though he was trying to keep a level head so as to gain as many answers as possible from her.

"I don't think it's appropriate to discuss that in a school setting, Harry." She was smiling at him
then, a coy little smile that made Harry want to gag. "That topless photo you sent, that was all I
needed for my decision."

"That's- that's just disgusting, I can't believe this is even happening!" He spat. "I know it's you
now, you need to stop this stupid shit immediately."

"And I still have the photo of you and Louis Tomlinson. I know it's rather unprofessional of me,
Harry, but some things just call for drastic measures." She shrugged.

"What do you want? What are you even thinking is going to happen?" He snarled, shaking his head
still in disbelief. "Because I'm sure whatever idea you've got, it's never going to be a reality."

Miss Bridges lowered the volume of her voice then, eyes fixed on him. "I want you to sleep with
me. Just one night, a complete secret between you and I. It's not asking for too much, is it?"

"Oh my God!" Harry gasped, having finally heard those words leave his teacher's mouth. "I don't
even know what to say to you right now!"

"One night, and I delete any trace of that photo. It's gone. And we move on, I don't bother you
again. You can come to my house, I live alo-"

"Fucking stop." Harry held up a furious hand. "I'm happily in a relationship. I'm not interested in
you, nor am I ever going to consent to any of this shit."

"I don't know what else you expect to happen, Harry," She sighed, "We've gotten ourselves into a
bit of a mess now, haven't we? I have every student in this school's email address, and phone
numbers, on record. Everybody is so easily accessible. Just one photo."

Harry really hadn't expected to cry, wasn't the type to, but he suddenly sniffled loudly as some tears
welled in his eyes. But the woman before him showed no compassion; it was all an act, as a
teacher. She was cold and stern.

"Just please," He begged in whisper then, changing his tone, "I-I don't want this, I just want a
normal life, I d-don't understand why you have to do this."

"One night." She repeated, each word slow and exaggerated. "That's all! Gosh, I bet you've slept
with countless girls, Harry, it's not going to be much different with a woman. Better, even!"

Harry rose his voice all of a sudden, tears streaming from his eyes and voice breaking as he did, "I
DON'T WANT TO SLEEP WITH YOU!"

It had echoed off the walls, and Miss Bridges looked in a state of utter panic. But before she could
even say any more, the classroom door opened. The headteacher, Mr Daniels, entered the room, his
face a contortion of complete and utter disbelief and fury. Harry had never felt so relieved, his tears
turning into those of relief.

"What is going on, here?" He asked, in a calm manner, yet his gaze was that of rage. Miss Bridges
had never looked so panicked, shaky breathing and wide eyes.

"Hold on, Phillip," She said to him, clearly on first-name basis as they were both staff, "You've
heard wrong, I'm sure."
"You haven't," Harry sniffed, trying to regain his breath as his sobs became softer. "She's
blackmailing me."

"I am in no way blackmailing you, Harry. I was just trying to have a calm discussion, and you-"

"From what I heard," Mr Daniels cut her off, "Something about Harry sleeping with you. And he is
in a state, poor boy."

"He's being overdramatic! Trying to blackmail me into giving him better grades!"

"Oh, don't!" Harry exclaimed. "Check her computer! Her phone!"

Miss Bridges gaze fell onto her mobile, which was sat on her desk, and she once again looked
majorly panicked.

"What will I find?" He queried, massively concerned. "Do you mind telling me, Harry?"

Harry linked eyes with Miss Bridges once again, whose eyes seemed to just be empty now. Like
she was coming to terms with being caught. As she should.

"Emails." Harry stated, eyes still locked onto the deceitful woman. "Lots and lots of emails."

---

Mr Daniels had Miss Bridges escorted away immediately, with help from the Assistant
Headteacher, who took her to a different area for questioning and to apparently wait for "law
enforcement." Harry, still shaken up, was patted on the shoulder by Mr Daniels.

"I'm sorry this has happened to you, Harry. It's a really scary thing, when somebody manipulates
your trust."

Harry was still a little too taken back to even respond, so Mr Daniels continued on. "Let's take a
stroll and talk about it, alright? I just need to ask you some questions."

"Okay." Harry piped up, as they left the classroom finally and began walking idly. Harry
appreciated how he was keeping him relaxed about it, knowing how scary a moment like that must
have been for him.

"So, I was already told about most of what's been happening," Mr Daniels announced, which urged
Harry to quirk an eyebrow.

"What? How?"

"Right before I came into the classroom, Louis Tomlinson had come to my office to find me. He
said I should go to the classroom and linger outside, in case something were to happen. And it's a
good thing I did. I told him to head on back to lunch."

Harry huffed out a proud laugh. Of course Louis wouldn't just let him face that situation alone,
instead he went out of his way to go and find the very head of the entire school.

"Wait, so you know... everything?" He slowly asked. "He told you about the blackmail?"

"In as much detail as he could in such a small frame of time. I don't want you to feel embarrassed
by the image she's said to have, you and Louis. No judgements from me, Harry." Mr Daniels
calmly explained. That relieved Harry instantly, though he did feel a little flustered still.
Mr Daniels continued to ask questions, covering just about everything he could. Harry showed him
the emails from his own phone, every single one. Mr Daniels was wildly disgusted that she had
even managed to blackmail him into sending the shirtless photo. And the raunchy emails she had
composed, caused him to practically shudder. Once they had finally gone over every single
possible angle, every question and concern, lunchtime was drawing to a close. They were standing
at the edge of the car park, having wandered that far, where a few students were dotted around in
the neighbouring areas enjoying their lunchtime.

"Okay, Harry." Mr Daniels finalised. "Again, I am so gravely sorry for this happening. I want you
to know that we have all the necessary evidence now to look into this in detail. That photo of you
and Louis Tomlinson will be wiped from Miss Bridges' devices, you don't have to worry about that
anymore."

"Thank you, so much." Harry deeply thanked him, sticking out a hand, which Mr Daniels
appreciatively shook.

"If you ever need any additional support, about this, or relationship support, please do not hesitate
to let me know. We are here for you, okay?" Mr Daniels smiled.

"Thank you. Again." Harry nodded, returning the smile.

"Oh, and one last thing," Mr Daniels mentioned, right before turning away, "I am obliged to
contact your parents or guardians regarding this."

Harry felt a lump form in his throat. He lightly shook his head, holding his breath momentarily.

"Th-they don't know… the photo..." He hinted.

"Ah…" Mr Daniels piped up, looking a little lost. "Well, it is policy that we let your parents know
every honest detail, Harry. And as that was what she used to blackmail you and start all this-"

"Is there no other way?" Harry was almost pleading. "It's just, I don't think- I'm not ready for that
yet. I want to be, I'm just not."

"That's where the situation becomes very difficult, Harry." He lightly shook his head. "In events as
serious as this, it is essential that your parents know everything. Even if we avoided it, they would
wonder what the blackmail revolved around, and we would not be in a position to be dishonest."

"Oh, fuck." Harry exhaled, knowing he had most definitely earned the right to swear in front of a
teacher today. "So there's… no way?"

"You'd have some time, before we informed them. We still have to run an investigation, which
may take a while to come to a head."

"But, ultimately…"

"They'll have to know. That photo is currently being stored as evidence, that's the only form of that
photo that is left, but it is an essential piece of information in this investigation."

"Okay." Harry said. But it was far from okay, he just knew he couldn't exactly say any more to
change the outcome.

"As I said, be in contact if you need support in this, alright? I'll send you very frequent emails about
all of this, detailing where they are in the investigations, and you can have some time for all of this
to sink in."
 "Thank you." Harry said, numbly, in the middle of walking away. He was done with this for the
day, feeling completely drained. And now, on top of that, feeling helpless.

In short form, he was going to need to build up the courage to come out to his parents. Either that,
or they'd learn it the hard way.

Chapter End Notes

Ooh snap.

I found it so hard writing Miss Bridges' dialogue because I find it so hard to imagine a
teacher being like that!!

Anyway, it's up to harry now to work out what to do (with help from louis, of course)

Anything you'd like to see happen? Xx

 51
Chapter Notes

Idk much about the police and compensation etc but let's leave that to fiction for the
story!! Haha:)

Also, thanks for the lovely comments, as always :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Their final lesson of the day was Maths, and quite honestly Harry just wanted to jump in his car
and take off home after all the drama he had encountered. He hadn't bothered trying to track down
his group of mates to walk with them to class, seeing as his chat with Mr Daniels had ended up
finishing just minutes before said class was starting. Because of this, he ended up a few minutes
late after a power-walk across the campus, entering the full classroom, but luckily Mr Bradley
wasn't even there yet and the room was lively with chatter.

He didn't take his seat yet, spotting Kendall obnoxiously tapping at her phone with her manicured
nails, instead continuing over to Louis. He knelt in front of Louis' desk, urging him to stop his
conversation with Charlie once he realised Harry had turned up.

"Dare I ask?" Louis asked in concern, as Charlie had moved his attention to Niall instead and so his
conversation with Harry was private.

Harry rolled his eyes with a huff, "Long story short, she's been detained and they're questioning
her. I also wanted to thank you for telling Mr Daniels to listen in; I have no clue what I would have
done if he hadn't shown up."

"You didn't really think I'd leave you in it alone, did you?" Louis softly smiled. "Well, it's been
quite the drama. But I'm so glad they've got her, Harry! It must be a weight off your shoulders, for
sure."

"Well," Harry sighed, "Not exactly."

He was thinking about his parents, how they would inevitably have to know sooner or later what
the blackmail had entailed.

"Oh?" Louis asked. "What's up?"

Before Harry could go into any details, Mr Bradley was strolling into the room, silencing
everybody's conversations.

"Afternoon. Seat please, Harry." He bellowed out.

"Talk later." He quickly muttered, patting the table before standing upright again and reluctantly
heading to the dreaded seat beside his ex-girlfriend.

She smiled up at him, but he was too drained to even look her in the eye. He huffed as he took a
seat, hauling his backpack beneath the table after pulling a pen and his notepad from it.

"Long day?" She smugly asked.

"Yeah." Harry sighed out, saying no more as he looked on at what Mr Bradley was scrawling on
the whiteboard.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"No, Kendall."

"You sure? You look really down, I know the look."

"I'm sure."

"What's it about?"

Harry deeply sighed, not verbally responding.

"Family? Friends? Me?"

"Why would it be about you?" Harry scoffed, still avoiding eye contact. "Maybe having to sit with
you could have done it."

Kendall made an offended noise, and surprisingly didn't say anything else. He knew he had
offended her, and he was glad about that, as it got her to shut up.

Partway into the lesson, as Mr Bradley was going over a theory, there was a steady knock on the
classroom door.

"Yes, please come in," Mr Bradley called out.

The door opened, and Harry felt his heart leap just a tad to see two police officers step into the
room. They looked friendly, smiling welcomingly, as their eyes surveyed the room. Their eyes
found him before they even asked for him, and embarrassment struck him once he realised they
probably recognised him from the shirtless selfie he had sent Miss Bridges. Great.

"Harry Styles?" They asked it questioningly anyway, likely in case they were somehow wrong, and
Harry defenselessly raised his hand.

He could just feel everybody's shocked eyes on him, hear their intrigued muttering, but he decided
to ignore it as he stood up.

"Leave your stuff, it'll only be a couple minutes." One of the officers smiled.

Harry nodded, awkwardly tucking his chair in behind himself. He made accidental eye contact with
many of his classmates on his way out, hating the way they were gawking up at him like a zoo
animal. He slipped from the room with the men, shutting the door behind himself.

They stepped away from the classroom door, and one of the men spoke.

"Hi, Harry. I'm D.C. Anthony, and this is D.C. Jones. We are covering the case you're currently
involved with, sorry to take you out of class so soon."

"Hi." He piped up. "It's okay."

"We just wanted to let you know that we have been reviewing the devices we have detained from
your teacher for the past hour or so, and we have already made a formal arrest. She is currently at
the station. Obviously, we still need to run a trial and everything, so we just need to run over
something. Are you in a state to talk more about this today?"

"Better to now, really, while it's fresh." Harry shrugged. "It's been a pretty bad day, but I want to
get as much covered today as possible."

"Right, okay," D.C. Jones spoke up. "As you know, we need to run a case and do a very in depth
investigation surrounding Miss Bridges and the allegations. So we wanted to let you know that we
are doing a press release, maybe as soon as tomorrow morning. This will mean releasing the story
to major broadcasting companies, online and on the television."

Harry panicked a little, it was obvious on his face, but was quickly relieved as D.C. Jones
continued.

"Don't worry, you will be kept anonymous, as will the blackmail information. The reason we need
to do this is to get her name out there, just in case any of her past students want to step forward.
Not that we really think there are any, it's just policy."

"Right," Harry said, voice small. "Do I… need to sign anything?"

"Yes, precisely," D.C. Anthony continued, pulling a sheet from a black file he carried, followed by
a pen. He rested the paper on the file and passed them, along with the pen, to him. "Please read
over the agreement, and tick the box and sign if you agree."

He really didn't want to agree, deep down, because despite him being anonymous, his classmates
had just seen him leave the room with two police officers. And the rumours in the past surrounding
himself and Miss Bridges would immediately come to mind. But he knew it was best to comply,
just in case he was helping anybody else, and hoped it would just speed the process of the case up a
little.

He skimmed it over, ticked the box and signed on the line, before handing the items back.

"Thank you, Harry. Another thing to add, to lighten your mood a little. We are still looking over
everything, but we are certain you will be entitled to some money for the harm this may have done
to your wellbeing, as you're classed as a vulnerable person, a student, and she is an authority
figure."

"Oh, really?" Harry asked, having not really expected that.

"From what we have calculated over the past hour, you're going to get just under six and a half
thousand pounds from the government."

Harry's mouth dropped open a little. When he was told a sum of money, he was expecting maybe a
couple hundred at most, but nothing like this!

"Wow, why so much?" He gasped.

"As this is a student and teacher case, which involved both blackmail plus eliciting photos from a
student, under these circumstances you are owed this to make up for any unnecessary strain you
were put under. This case made us both so angry, what she did, you very much deserve that
money." D.C. Anthony smiled.

"Th-Thank you," Harry shook his head in disbelief, "That's some good news, at least."
"Indeed. So you will likely receive a cheque in the next couple of days. And we will keep you
updated via email about the next steps in the case." D.C. Jones explained. "You can head back to
class now, Harry. Sorry for pulling you out so suddenly, I'm sure you've had enough for today."

"Thanks again," Harry said, sticking out his hand, which they shook in turn. "Have a good
afternoon."

"You too, Harry."

Harry bid them farewell, slipping back into the classroom, ignoring the eyes on him once again as
he headed to his seat again and sat back in it. He could feel Kendall's nosy gaze boring into the
side of his face, and felt her leg press up against his for attention.

"What?" Harry sighed, having to scoot away a little after Kendall had decided to leave her thigh
pressed against his. He tried to concentrate on catching up with the lesson again, scrambling to pull
open his notepad.

"What do you think?" She asked, voice quiet so as not to disrupt the class. "What was that all
about? What's going on?"

"It's literally none of your business," He rolled his eyes, "So don't worry."

"Ooh, someone's in trooouble," She mockingly sang, "What did you do?"

"Nothing, Kendall."

"So two police officers thought they'd come in and grab you for no rea-"

"Seriously, just shut up. I'm sick of hearing your voice." He cut her off.

And she stayed quiet for the rest of the lesson. He hoped he deeply hurt her feelings.

Harry waited for Louis outside the classroom at the end of class, considering he had managed to
leave the room first, noting the countless glances he was receiving from his classmates. They were
likely all dying to know why on earth the police had temporarily escorted him from the room
during a lesson.

Louis finally managed to leave the room, amongst the huddle of students, and very close behind
him was Liam and Zayn. Louis made his way to stand by Harry's side, the two of them about to set
off, when Zayn decided to speak up, with a mocking laugh.

"Look, everyone," He called out, pointing at Louis' neck, "Louis Tomlinson has a love bite."

There was a wave of laughter as everybody caught on and stared at Louis, whose face flushed red
and he brought his hand up to rest on his neck once again.

"Shut up, Zayn." Harry rolled his eyes. "Get a life."

"I'm just wondering who the hell would want to give him one." Zayn snickered, and Harry noticed
everyone in his group except Liam was laughing.

"Let's go," Liam said, sternly, "I can't be bothered with this today."

Zayn seemed to listen to Liam, but passed by Louis and gave him a taunting up-and-down stare,
eyeing the love bite before finally wandering away with their group. Harry was happy Liam had
stepped in, plus a little surprised, really. It just added to the list of positive things Liam had done
lately.

"God, I'm so embarrassed," Louis breathed out, as he and Harry had made their getaway and began
their walk towards the car park. "Everyone looked at me! And laughed!"

"I'm sorry, I feel really bad for giving you such an obvious mark. It's my fault. They were only
laughing because he put you on the spot, don't take it to heart, baby."

"No more love bites." Louis lightly chuckled.

"Maybe only places people won't see, then. Like the insides of your thighs." Harry smirked, still
facing forward as they walked, but hearing Louis fan out a deep breath.

"Don't do this now." He giggled.

"Sorry." Harry grinned.

---

"So," Louis began, with a deep breath, "They're going to have to know?"

Harry had driven the two of them to a cafe straight from school, where they decided to have a
deeper chat about today's circumstances. He had bought them both a hot chocolate, and they sat in
a cosy corner on plush armchairs.

"Basically." Harry sighed. "And they're also doing a press release tomorrow, exposing her. Not me,
I'll be anonymous, but I bet people in class will add it up after seeing me leave with the officers
earlier."

"Don't think too much about that part, they can think what they want." He soothingly reminded.
"And the part with your parents having to know, that will just work itself out. Sure, you may have
to tell them eventually, but please don't get stressed about it."

"I am stressed." Harry clarified. "I mean, my parents are reasonable enough, it's just I know my
mum's always had this idea of having the perfect family and the perfect life. That's why she was so
distraught when Kendall and I broke up - she probably felt like she was falling behind from
families like Kris Jenner's. God knows what she would think if she knew her golden boy son was
into guys too."

He had put into words his exact worries at that moment, though they had previously been locked
away somewhere hidden. Louis and his compassion had helped to uncover them, and now Harry
had his head in his hands and was close to tears.

"Hey," Louis gently said, nudging his leg into Harry's beneath the table in comfort, "That does
make sense. But she will grow to adapt to it, Harry, because you're her son. And she loves you.
She's managed to get over your breakup by now, right?"

"Barely," Harry sighed, "She still brings Kendall up, or asks if we talk at all."

"At the end of the day, your sister is accepting. Your dad seems like he will be, too, you're always
telling me he's in your corner whatever the circumstances."

"Yeah, you're right." Harry softly smiled, nudging Louis' leg back, playfully. "And I've got you.
And that's got to be enough for me."

He wanted to mention the sum of money he was said to be getting, the compensation for his
troubles, however he felt inclined not to. He didn't want to say yet, because he knew exactly where
that money was going: to Louis and his family.

---

Harry barely slept that night. He tossed and turned, too hot one moment and kicking his duvet off,
wide awake the next. It was at least Friday as the morning drew in, and he got up after his alarm
had rung out, despite having been awake anyway as it did.

He had a quick shower, blow dried his hair and got dressed, all while trying to keep his mind clear
of the current matters at hand. He eyed the plaque mounted on the wall of the hallway as he
crossed back to his room, which seemed particularly relevant now, reading: "Family isn’t always
blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are.
The ones who would do anything to see you smile & who love you no matter what." He deeply
sighed at that.

He headed downstairs at ten to eight, a good ten minutes to eat some toast before he had to leave,
popping some bread in the toaster. He could hear the television on in the living room, his parents
and Gemma likely in there as they ate their breakfast. He heard his phone notification go off a
moment later, as his toast popped up and he buttered it. He glanced at the screen as he did,
surprised to see Liam's name once again on the screen.

Liam: I'm assuming she was caught if the news is anything to go by!!! Best wishes harry.

Harry gasped a little as he dropped the butter knife on the board, heading out of the kitchen and
into the living room, where he just managed to catch the start of the broadcast as it aired on the
news channel his family had playing on the screen. He perched on the edge of the sofa as it began.

"In other news, a music teacher at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, in Cheshire, was
arrested yesterday following accusations of blackmail and anonymously eliciting pornographic
images from a student, who has been kept anonymous for his privacy. Thirty-six year old, Lindsey
Bridges, is currently on trial, after a heated conversation between herself and the nineteen-year-
old male was caught by the principal of the school."

An image of Miss Bridges was displayed on the screen as her history as a teacher was read out, and
Harry felt the shock from each of his family members.

"She's your teacher isn't she, Harry?" Anne spoke up, mouth hanging open a little.

"Yeah." He shrugged.

"Well, you don't seem very shocked," Gemma chuckled, "Did people in your class know about
this?"

"Not too sure." He shrugged for a second time.

He headed out to the kitchen and grabbed his toast, hoping to just head to his car and eat it in there,
but he was called back to the living room by his mum. He sighed and entered the room once again,
idly eating his toast.

"Why are you acting so indifferent?" Anne asked, in disappointment. "This is a huge scandal,
Harry, I'd think you'd be a bit more sympathetic towards your classmate."
The TV continued in the background, "This photograph has been released from Middlewich Police
Station, which is said to have been sent to Miss Bridges from the student following a threat of
blackmail from Bridges. The face of the student is again blurred due to privacy concerns."

Harry's stomach jumped upon seeing none other than his shirtless photograph, with his face
blurred, but so clearly him, and although the background too was pixelated, it was so clearly his
house and his abdomen.

Anne loudly gasped. "Harry Styles! That's you!"

His sister and father were equally shocked, though they remained silent.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Harry exclaimed at the television, angrily slapping his free hand
down at his side. "They said it would be anonymous!"

"I guess their idea of making it anonymous is just blurring the face." Gemma quietly added, but
this was overshadowed by Anne's sheer rage.

"I can't believe this! Don't tell me you slept with that woman!"

"No!" Harry raged, with a disbelieving laugh. "You really think I'd sleep with her? Shows what
you think of your own son!"

"Okay, let's calm down." Robin attempted, to no avail.

"It's non-stop drama with you, Harry! You break up with poor Kendall, fall out with all your old
best friends, have your car smashed up, Zayn angrily turn up at our house, and now this!" Anne
furiously continued.

"Mum, he was blackmailed! How is this his fault?" Gemma stood up for her younger brother. "And
those other things only happened because his old group of friends consists of complete arseholes!"

"Thank you, Gemma." Harry defeatedly said.

"Well, this wouldn't have happened if Harry didn't flirt with every woman he meets! I certainly
didn't raise him that way, but it's all he ever does!" Anne finalised. And that crushed Harry, made
his chest physically hurt.

He shook his head lightly, chest heaving. He wanted to say something, tell her how much she had
hurt him, but he couldn't even form a sentence. He stormed from the room, completely binning his
breakfast before grabbing his bag and keys and leaving the house with a monstrous slam of the
door.

Huffing in anger, he jumped into his car, slamming his fist on the steering wheel once he was shut
in the car alone. And he was crying again, for the second time in two days, trying to steady his
breathing. He grabbed his phone from his pocket, as he heavily breathed, seeing texts lining it.

Louis: ...you seen the news? They used the photo! Wtf! Xx

Liam: Guessin you've seen it by now??

Kendall: WTF is happening!!! Thats why the police took you out yesterday OMG!!

Harry, in a rage, rolled down his car's window and threw his phone as hard as he possibly could at
the side of his house. It completely shattered and switched off as it hit the ground, the smash to the
bricks having been so powerful that the phone had stopped working altogether, but he really didn't
care. The front door to the house opened a moment later, and Gemma emerged, holding up a hand
as though to tell Harry to wait, but he cranked his car into reverse and veered out of the driveway,
leaving his sister to scoop up his obliterated phone and defeatedly head back indoors.

Harry wasn't going to school - no way. He couldn't imagine anywhere worse to go in the mood he
was in, especially with all of those people. He was aware Louis would be on his way to school by
now, likely expecting Harry to turn up too, and maybe Harry could have told him otherwise had he
been a bit more mature about his phone. He didn't even have one now.

He drove around endlessly for a good half an hour, in silence, his shaky sobs and breathing filling
the car space. He just had no idea what to do, where to go, as both home and school were off limits
right now. He felt completely stuck.

But as he got sick of his endless driving, knowing it would get him nowhere eventually, he found
himself pulling into the drive of the Tomlinsons' house. Louis' mum's car was in the driveway,
evidently home from dropping Louis and his sisters at school, so Harry didn't even think twice
before switching off his car and jumping out.

He walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell, aware that he probably looked a mess; hair
messy, eyes bloodshot and watery, face generally emotionless as he had cried the entire drive
around town.

The door opened a moment later, Jay's smiley self immediately switching to heavy concern once
she spotted Harry.

"Harry! What's up, Darling?" She queried, with heartfelt eyes.

"I just needed someone. I'm sorry, I didn't know where to go, and I didn't want to go to school."

"Of course! Come in, Honey." She ushered him inside, and he took the invitation and stepped in,
toeing off his boots by the door.

"Let's have a sit, Darling." She gently said, leading him into the living room and onto the sofa. The
TV was softly playing in the background, but it was luckily a programme other than the news. "I'm
going to guess this is about what I saw on the news, and what Louis told me."

"My mum hates me," Harry breathed out in response, voice broken, "She thinks I'm… this
womaniser. Blamed me for everything, said it's because I flirt too much."

Jay encased him in a tight hug, rubbing his back. "Oh, Darling, I'm sure she was just shocked by
the news. And maybe she just didn't believe something like this would happen in reality, I can
assure she doesn't hate you."

"The police said they have to run through everything with her. She knows now, but they also have
to go over why the blackmail has happened, the photo of me and Louis, did you-?"

"Louis told me everything, yes. He's worried about you, you know? Does he know you're here?"

"I smashed my phone up, I got angry."

"I'll text him and let him know," Jay assured, smiling at him. "You watch some TV and calm down
a little, Honey. You're absolutely welcome to stay here, whenever you want, I'm more than happy."

"Thank you so much. I felt so stuck."

 "I'm glad you came here, Harry. It seems like you were too angry and reckless to go elsewhere, if
you smashed your phone!" She was on her phone, tapping at the screen. "There, I've texted Louis
and told him about your phone and that you're here."

"Thank you. For everything, I don't know where else I would have gone."

"You're welcome. Have you eaten?"

And she ended up making him a lovely breakfast, considering he hadn't had time to have any
before storming out of his house earlier. He felt completely at peace with Jay, already considering
her as a second mum, and knew she was a blessing to have in his life. Just like Louis, she was just
far too lovely for the likes of this world. A true wonder.

He sat with her a couple of hours later, after washing up the dishes for her that his food had been
on (despite her saying she would do it), and he decided he would bring up the case to her again,
knowing she had avoided doing so in case Harry was too fragile to speak about it.

"I can't believe they used my photo." He shook his head. "People are going to know now! My ex-
girlfriend and ex-friend did!"

"They're people you were close to, Darling, I can assure not many will work it out. This will all
blow over soon, and you can move on from it. You must have signed an anonymous form for the
press release, but that states they can use photographs as long as they're censored."

"I should have read it more clearly," Harry rolled his eyes. "Thank you for calming me down, and
for the food. I think all I needed was a sit down and a talk with somebody like you."

"It'll be coming up to break time at school soon. Do you think you ought to drive up there and just
meet Louis somewhere? He's worried, he texted me to say so." Jay suggested, head tilted aside.
"Take him out of school if you need to, I don't mind him having the rest of the day out if he's
helping you to feel better. It's Friday anyway, you'll have the weekend to recover too."

"I probably should, yeah." Harry nodded, getting to his feet. "Thank you. For, like, the tenth time."

Jay joined him on her feet and wrapped him in another hug. "It's never a problem, Harry. You
come to me whenever you're feeling down, I'll always be here to take care of you."

Harry could have cried at that. He gave her a heart-warmed smile. "I will. Thank you. Tell Louis
I'll pick him up from the main school entrance in ten minutes?"

"I will, Love." She smiled, and she saw him to the door. He put his shoes back on, giving her one
final hug before heading for his car.

Nothing could put into words how wonderful that lady was. And she had a son who proved it ran in
the family.

Chapter End Notes

I know anne is upset at the moment:( she will warm up to everything soon xx
Harry picks lou up in the next chapter, and takes him out somewhere nice to clear his
mind
 52
Chapter Notes

Thank you again for all of the sweet comments on chapter 51 - I read and appreciated
each one and I am so glad so many of you are enjoying the story

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry parked up at the school's entrance, his general glum mood lightening moderately once he
spotted Louis heading over to the passenger side of his car. He looked as though he was trying his
best to look bright and welcoming, though the concern on his face could not be masked.

"Hey." There was sadness in his tone as he greeted Harry and jumped into his car, shutting the
door behind himself. He definitely didn't know what to say, waiting to see how Harry was acting.

"Hi." Harry sadly smiled. Seeing Louis meant he was smiling, even though he had never quite felt
so shit. "Thanks for leaving school for me."

He started the car and pulled out into the road, despite having no clue where they were going.

"Don't be silly! I've been worrying about you all morning, of course I'd do anything to try and
cheer you up. My mum said you smashed your phone, Harry." Louis had a scolding side to his tone
during the last sentence, but verging on worried. "Where did you break it? How?"

"I got angry and threw it at the side of my house. I'm an idiot, I know. My sister took it inside, I
think. I wasn't thinking straight, I completely destroyed the stupid thing." Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll
get a new one. Your mum has been an absolute angel to me this morning, Louis. I have no clue
what I would have done without her."

"I'm glad you went to my house. That way my mum could update me, too. Had no clue where you
were or what state you were in before she told me." Louis reached over and patted Harry's knee.

"Sorry for worrying you, I should have thought it through more before acting so irrationally."

"I'm just glad you're safe and well, Harry. Where are we going, by the way?"

"No clue," Harry fanned out a laugh. "Where should we go? I mean, your company is comforting
enough, but we might as well head somewhere."

"Why don't we go for a milkshake, or something? City centre?"

"On it." Harry noted, taking the turning at the roundabout which headed in that direction. There
was a short silence, so Harry reached forward and quietly switched on the radio, somehow feeling a
little bit awkward despite this being Louis, who he was most comfortable with. He knew it was
because they hadn't yet addressed the news situation at all.

Louis seemed to read his mind moments later. "I'm assuming you don't really want to talk about
what's happened." He figured, though he had still asked it in an inquisitive way, in case.

"I'm not too sure. It's sitting somewhere in my mind, I just haven't fully processed everything yet.
Be honest with me, Lou, were people at school talking about it?"

"...Yeah. They were." He truthfully told, with a careful tone. "But that's kind of expected, isn't it?"

"They were saying that they know the student in the story is me?" He queried, pushing the
question just a little, needing to know. "Or were they just talking about it in general?"

"They all kind of figured out that it was you, I'm guessing from the police officers coming into
class yesterday," Louis said, "Although I don't think you have much to worry about, Harry; most
people in our class were saying about how disgusting Miss Bridges was to blackmail you into
sending any photos. They're on your side."

"Most of the class? Who wasn't?"

"Well, Kendall… but you'd have guessed that. She was just saying she always thought something
had been going on with you and Miss Bridges, blah-de-blah, but Liam actually stepped in and told
her to shut up and said that it wasn't your fault. He defended you again. Shut her up, for sure."

Wow. Again - and even though Harry hadn't been in the room to witness it. What was happening to
Liam? Was he finally realising he missed his friendship with Harry? Maybe he was growing
sympathetic towards him, considering everything he was going through lately?

"Oh. That's nice of him. What did Zayn say?"

"Stop pushing to get answers that might hurt you. You shouldn't care what they think, Haz." Louis
calmly reassured.

"I just want to know, please, Lou?"

"Zayn was just immature and laughed about it. Expected of him, though, right? He's a twat."

"I wouldn't have expected any less." Harry rolled his eyes, pulling into the multi-story car park in
the city centre. "I'm just happy Liam defended me again. Surprised too."

"He seems like the one who's growing softer, for sure. Zayn is more set in his ways, he cares more
about his reputation. He thinks he's some sexy bad-boy that every girl wants and every guy is
scared of." Louis examined.

That was true - very true.

"Too right."

Harry veered into a parking space, and they both jumped out. Harry locked the car behind them,
and they began strolling through the car park - pretty empty for a Friday mid-morning. Harry
glanced around quickly, and he then reached down and grabbed Louis' hand, taking it into his own
and intertwining their fingers. Louis seemed to gasp a little but giggled, gladly gripping Harry's
hand tightly.

"What are you doing?" He asked, a little shocked, but grinning widely. "I mean, I want to hold your
hand too, but we're in public."

"I just want to know how it feels, to do this freely. Just while we're in the car park. No one's around
right now." Harry smiled to himself, squeezing Louis' hand. "God, I can't wait until we can do this
openly. Your hand is so soft, I love it."
Louis squeezed Harry's hand back. "I know. Soon, hopefully."

They continued the gesture stepping into the elevator up to the shopping plaza, and on the way up,
but then instinctively dropped each other's hands the moment the elevator doors slid open and they
were facing the general public for good now. Harry wished that, just for now, they were in their
own little bubble and didn't have to care about being seen. He wanted to pull Louis in by the waist
and hold him close as they walked, or to turn his face altogether and kiss him in front of
everybody, but he knew it wasn't a great time to. He already had enough drama going on at that
moment in time.

They made their way to the milkshake parlor on the top floor of the indoor shopping centre, and
Harry ordered them both their desired milkshake flavours. They sat in a booth which was against
the glass windows at the edge of the shop, able to observe the passersby outside.

"You look really good today." Harry observed the way Louis' hair looked a bit more tousled than
usual.

"I'm sure I look no different than usual." Louis shrugged, a small smile.

"I rest my case: really good, then." Harry grinned, before sipping at his milkshake. "Can I take you
bowling after this?"

"I'd like that." Louis giggled. "A lot. Where'd you randomly get that idea?"

"Well there's that bowling alley in the centre. And I'm going to be honest, remember in Paris when
you said your sister Lottie was on a bowling date, and you were getting updates?"

"Yeah?"

"I realised then that I really wanted to take you bowling. The fiery urge to do so has built up since
then."

"Well, that day has finally come. I am pretty awful at bowling though, but it's the thought that
counts." Louis laughed. The sun was shining in through the window, lighting up the blue hues in
his eyes and casting a warm glow over his face. The people in view walking by the window
seemed to fade away, as did those on nearby tables, as he looked at him.

"God, your smile is so..." Harry trailed off and shook his head in disbelief, a dazed smile. "The way
the sun just hit you, just incredible. I could look at you forever."

Louis' smile turned shy then, and he dipped his head slightly. Harry leant forwards and tilted Louis'
head back up.

"Hey, keep looking at me." He urged, his tone gentle. "Honestly, you captivate me."

"Do I now?" Louis grinned. "Well, I've got to say, you've got some rather captivating traits of your
own, Mr. Styles."

Harry sniffed out a laugh, deciding he would shake from his staring and drink his milkshake before
he did something silly like threw all caution to the wind and kissed Louis in front of everyone. Not
today.

Louis' phone pinged in his pocket a moment later, in their reflective silence, and Harry could tell
Louis wanted to look at it but didn't want to appear rude. Harry's eyes flicked from Louis' pocket to
his face.
"Check it if you want, I don't mind." He nudged his head to the pocket.

Louis took another sip of his milkshake before digging in his pocket and unlocking his phone. He
raised his eyebrows a little bit.

"Oh, it's a message request on Facebook from your sister," He mentioned, tapping at his phone.
"She's asking if I'm with you. She seems worried, Harry, did you not tell your family anything?"

"No, I kinda just took off. My mum got on my nerves, I couldn't stand hanging around to tell
anyone where I was going. I didn't know where I was going, anyway." He explained. "Tell her I'm
fine, still pretty pissed off, but you've helped to lighten my mood drastically."

Louis typed away, his long eyelashes looking lovely as he looked down at his screen, and read
aloud what he had said a moment later. "I said: 'Hi Gemma, yeah, Harry is with me, don't worry.
He is still pretty annoyed about everything but he's calmed down a lot. You can reach him through
me for now'."

"Yeah, that's good. Thanks, Lou." Harry said. "I do feel quite bad for leaving Gemma in the dark,
she's often always on my side."

"I just find it sweet that she automatically knew I'd be with you, I bet I'm the first one she even
thought to contact." Louis giggled. His phone went off once again on the tabletop, and Louis
glanced down at it.

"She's asking if I can have you call her, using my phone?" Louis asked. "Up to you?"

"Ask her why."

"I don't want to just ask why," Louis laughed, "She'll think I'm being all demanding."

"Say: he said he will talk to you if he knows why," Harry opted, with a short shrug. "Because it's
true."

"Okay," Louis nodded, and he put just that. She responded a moment later, and Louis' eyebrows
raised very significantly once again.

"Harry, she's saying the police have finally gotten clear CCTV footage of your car vandalism!"

"What!" Harry gasped, scrambling to sit up straighter and pointing to Louis' phone. "Call her! I'll
talk to her!"

Finally some positive news revolving around police cases. Louis pressed the little phone icon at the
top of the Facebook conversation, and passed the device to Harry. Gemma responded a moment
later.

"Hi. Are you alright now, Harry?" She greeted him, but he was set on getting information
immediately.

"Did they capture Kendall in it?" He hurried, "In the CCTV? How did they let you know?"

"They called Mum, because she was the one who reported the vandalism in the first place. Yes,
Harry, they said they have got a crystal-clear clip of somebody, smashing up your car. Our
neighbours two doors down had the camera."

Harry shut his eyes and threw his head back in relief, a smile finding his face. "I can't believe it! I
never thought they'd find anything to prove it, I sort of started giving up on it."

Louis was smiling too, having caught on to the conversation despite only hearing Harry's side of it.

"Kendall, plus a golf club, was the only proof they needed. Plus the fact they literally caught her in
the act on video." Gemma laughed. "They want to take you with them when they go to her house
and prosecute her, apparently to identify completely that it's her, and that you know her, and the
story, etc."

"I'll happily go for that reason. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she realises she's been
caught!" Harry chuckled. "Thanks for letting me know, Gem. How's mum taken the news?"

"She keeps denying the fact that it's Kendall, you know how much she admires that stupid girl.
Says she won't believe it at all until she sees the video, but from what the police have said, a tall
female with long, dark hair is in the video. Fits the bill of Kendall Jenner to me."

"Yeah, and she literally admitted it to her mates. Mum needs to learn once and for all that Kendall
is a real piece of work after all." Harry sighed. "Anyway, Gem, not sure when I'll see you. Sorry
for storming out on you earlier."

"That's okay. I've sent your phone to be repaired, by the way."

"You didn't have to. I'll send the repair costs, thank you." Harry smiled at Louis, just out of habit,
who smiled back.

"Mum hasn't said anything else." Gemma mentioned. "It was so unfair of her to blame you for
something that wasn't your fault."

"I know." Harry sighed. "I feel like she hates me lately, I don't know."

"She doesn't hate you, don't be silly. Anyway, Harry, I'll see you when I see you, then." Gemma
said. "Take care of yourself. Bye."

"Bye."

He ended the call and handed Louis' phone back with a victorious smile.

"Kendall's been caught. Finally."

"Oh, good! That's great. Maybe even Zayn can know the truth now, seeing as she framed him
before and he still has no clue it was her!" Louis mentioned. "It seems like those girls are getting
what they deserve, finally."

"Cheryl and Kendall, yeah. I respect that Gigi helped me with the whole Miss Bridges thing,
finding out that it was her, but I still hate that girl with a passion. I know Zayn deserves better; he
was never half as horrible before he was with her, believe it or not!"

"Oh, so she sort of made him that way?" Louis queried. "What was he like before?"

Harry finished his milkshake, obnoxiously slurping through the straw to get the final remains,
before continuing. "He was really sweet. Funny, laid back, really chill and really nice. Artsy too, an
amazing artist, he stopped doing his art because she wanted all of his time, 24/7, so he just gave it
up."

"Gosh, that's really sad. And I'm starting to see Liam's sweet side too. It sounds like they used to be
more like you, though you never let Kendall change you because-"

"Because I was never in love with her, exactly. She had no impact on me as a person. In fact, I
think we clashed a lot because I wasn't her idea of the perfect bad-boy who everybody was scared
of. That's what Gigi and Cheryl turned Zayn and Liam into." Harry explained. He was sort of
working all of this out as it left his mouth, having never vividly thought about it much before.

He was so glad he hadn't let Kendall change him. And he was hoping, maybe someday, that Zayn
and Liam would become their old selves once again.

---

They made their way into the bowling alley as the time approached midday. Harry paid once again,
ignoring Louis' usual attempts to split the money, and they were sent to lane four.

"Ready to lose, Tomlinson?" Harry smirked, standing at the touchpad and tapping in their names.

"Don't," Louis fanned out a laugh, "I will lose. I'm atrocious, honestly."

"Good thing I've put myself to go first, then. Watch and learn, Lou Lou." His smirk remained as he
scooped up a large bowling ball, Louis perching on the wooden bench to watch.

He stepped forward to bowl, immediately getting a strike.

"See! I'm going to look like an idiot, I'll have one point at the end." Louis giggled, as Harry headed
back and playfully ruffled his hair.

"You'll do great, Lou. Just have a go this time on your own, and if you're as bad as you say you are,
I'll help you on your next. Deal?"

"Deal." Louis sighed, with a little smile. He got up and scooped up a medium ball, stepping up to
bowl. Harry was honestly too busy staring at his arse to watch where the ball had gone, but looked
up a moment later to see it had slid into the gutter.

Harry couldn't help but loudly stifle a laugh. "Oh, Lou, it could just be a bad first shot."

"Yeah, yeah, stop trying to make me feel better." Louis rolled his eyes lightheartedly. "You got a
strike on your first go!"

Harry stepped up to bowl once again, grabbing the same ball as before and taking his shot. He
knocked down nine pins this time, missing the final one on his second shot.

He shrugged at Louis as he headed back over. "Looks like I just had a lucky first shot."

"I'm gonna need some guidance this time." Louis had a little smile playing on his face. "Some
professional coaching from the pro himself."

Harry mischievously grinned and joined Louis, with his medium bowling ball, at the foot of their
lane. The bowling alley in general wasn't too packed, just a few other groups in the other lanes but
nobody they knew, and everybody was paying attention to their own games anyway.

"Right, so you want to focus on those lines up the centre of the alley," Harry mentioned, pointing
at them, "Don't look at the pins, it'll put you off. And keep your arm straight," He came up right
behind Louis, as if not caring for just a moment, and completely wrapped his arms around him
from behind in order to help him get his stance right. "Right leg back, that's it. And you're going to
swing," he held Louis' right arm with the ball in and helped him practice swinging it, "And as you
let go, you want to step forwards one step to add some power."

"You're standing close." Louis whispered, "Like, really close."

Harry was aware of that, he was completely pressed up to Louis' back side as he had been helping
him perfect his stance and aim.

"Yeah, I know." He said, rather proudly. "No one cares, Lou, they're all concentrating on their own
games. I love doing this in public."

"You're acting really brave today, I love it." Louis smiled, Harry could sense it.

Harry took it a step further, burying his face into the side of Louis' neck from behind, pressing two
hot kisses to it.

"Take your shot, baby." He lowly said, feeling Louis shiver. And then he was leaving their close
proximity to stand back and observe, though Louis was now a little flustered so maybe that didn't
help his chances.

He did everything Harry had told him to, each step, with a cute little step forward as he took his
shot, this time managing to knock down an impressive eight pins.

"There we go!" Harry exclaimed, raising both hands so Louis double high-fived him as headed
back. "See, that method works!"

"It sure seems to, going from a gutter ball to eight pins." Louis giggled. "Maybe I would have
gotten a strike if you hadn't distracted me by kissing my neck."

"I couldn't resist, I love kissing your neck." Harry shrugged, smugly.

Louis knocked the final two pins down, impressively. And then Harry took his go again, this time
only managing to knock down three.

"Wow! What's happened?" Louis snorted. "Mr. Professional!"

"Give me a break, I was distracted thinking about kissing your neck." Harry smirked.

They continued their game on, to the point Louis even managed to get a strike on his final shot.
And Louis even ended up winning the game by seven points, shocked when he realised and the
screen declared him a winner.

"No way! You must have let me win?" He giggled, as they headed away from their lane and
towards the building's exit.

"Not at all," Harry shrugged, "You just improved a lot throughout! You're really good, Lou."

"I can't stop thinking about how close you got to me in front of everyone. And you kissed my
neck!" Louis chuckled. "And earlier, the hand holding as well."

"I just like having our turn at acting like an actual couple in public. It's not fair we should hide it
all the time, is it?" Harry smiled. "Besides, nobody in the bowling alley even cared, which feels
nice. We were just another couple to them, no weird stares or anything."

"I like that thought, too. Some complete freedom for just a moment, it's nice. I just want more."
Louis frowned, as they idly strolled through the indoor shopping centre.
"Yeah, me too. Soon - as I always say. Are you hungry, by the way? It's almost one o'clock now,
we could grab some food?"

"Yeah, I've got a tenner on me." Louis agreed. Harry shot him a smirk.

"I'll pay."

"You always pay!" He playfully whined. "I don't mind paying for myself for once."

"I'll pay." Harry added more emphasis this time. "Cute diner on the rooftop terrace?"

"Sounds nice, I've never been there. But I'm paying for myself."

"Oh, you can try, but you may find you're unsuccessful." Harry once again smugly smiled, as they
headed for the escalators up to the rooftop terrace.

They headed through the light crowds and into the cute diner on the upper left side, which is
somewhere Harry and his friends often used to occupy a lot after school. Harry was much happier
with it being Louis by his side this time.

A friendly waitress who Harry recognised from his many times before seated them, and Harry let
Louis have the booth facing the direction of the entrance, while he himself sat on the padded metal
chair opposite. They had a look at the menus, although Harry already knew he was going to order
his usual chicken burger, so he used the time to watch Louis decide what he wanted instead.

"Club sandwich. That's six pounds ninety-nine, so I can use the other three pounds I have left for
my drink." He was smirking a little, clearly still insistent on paying for himself, but Harry wasn't
having any of that.

"Save your tenner, Lou." He smiled. "Oh, waitress is coming back over.

She reached their table and they gave their orders, which she scribbled down before heading away
and leaving them in peace once again.

"This place is nice." Louis smiled. "Why here?"

"I kind of want to rewrite my memories here, turn them into memories with you. God, I even asked
Kendall out while we were all in here when we started dating; that sort of memory has got to go.
Just memories of us now."

"Yeah, probably best to forget about all of that."

The waitress brought their drinks over a few moments later, and they went on to drink them in a
reflective silence as they observed the space around them - Louis looking over the rest of the diner
while Harry's eyes scoured the posters on the walls behind Louis. Harry enjoyed being able to be in
a comfortable silence with Louis. Whenever he had tried it with Kendall, while out at a restaurant,
for example, she would get in a huff and ask why he was being distant with her, and then she
would be the one who became distant instead. They were never compatible.

It wasn't too long until their food was brought over, and they started eating. They played a stupid,
cute game beneath the table while they ate, where they lightly kicked each other's feet and tried to
dodge each other's kicks, their idea of silent flirtation, and again didn't even need to exchange
words as they ate. Louis only managed half of his sandwich and most of his chips before he was
full up and pushing his plate to the side a little. Harry, meanwhile, had managed to completely
finish his entire meal within that time.
"You full already?" He chuckled, noting Louis' expression of discomfort from having eaten too
much. "I had a big breakfast your mum made me earlier, too!"

"I just don't have as much of an appetite as I thought, evidently," Louis sniffed out a laugh and
smiled, before taking a sip of his drink. "You want the rest?"

"Nah, I'm done too." Harry waved a hand, wiping the side of his mouth with a napkin.

Louis' eyes looked around the diner again, sweetly, and they stopped and fixated on the door a
moment later, and he rolled them discreetly to Harry only.

"Just our luck, Zayn and Liam just walked in. They were at school!" He whispered.

"Seriously?" Harry sighed, though he didn't make the gesture of dramatically turning around and
staring at them, knowing he wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible. "They often leave a lot at
lunch and then bunk the rest of the day off, believe me. I used to stay and go to class, they'd always
call me boring. Is it just Liam and Zayn?"

"Yeah. They've seen me, I can feel it. I'm not looking at them." Louis pretended he was speaking
casually with Harry, not making any faces that gave away the fact he had spotted them. "You've got
to be kidding me, the waitress is bringing them this way, that table next to us."

"Fuck's sake, she probably remembers us all being mates when we used to come here." Harry
barely whispered, before they were both seated at the table just a metre and a half from Harry and
Louis.

The waitress left the tableside to give them time to look over the menu, Harry's heart racing a little
now, and that's when Zayn decided to be the first to speak up.

"Look, Li, it's Miss Bridges' sex slave." He mocked, smirking at Harry, then his eyes fell onto
Louis. "And his sex slave. You guys on a little date?"

"Shut up, Zayn." Harry sneered, with minimal eye contact, just a heavy glare.

"I'll get my usual, I think." Liam said to Zayn as he pointed to it on the menu, evidently trying to
steer the tense conversation elsewhere, but Zayn's sights were still set on making Harry and Louis
squirm.

"Aww, little Louis even left school to come and save his boyfriend! Something's got to be going on
there, nobody just drops everything and leaves school."

"Good friends do. But maybe you would have forgotten about that a long time ago." Harry taunted,
in a clever tone, this time not even making eye contact.

Zayn breathed out an amused laugh, and the waitress luckily came over then to take their orders.

"I'll ask for the bill in a second." Harry whispered to Louis, who was sadly shaking a little bit, and
Louis nodded in agreement. Harry tried to start quiet, lighthearted conversation with Louis and just
Louis, but the moment Liam and Zayn had ordered and the waitress had wandered away once
again, Zayn was on it again, unsurprisingly.

"I've got to say, Harry, the saturation of my TV screen this morning really complimented your abs."

Harry ignored him and gestured for the bill to the waitress as she had just brought over Liam and
Zayn's drinks, and she smiled and nodded and headed away to print it.
 Zayn continued, "Everyone at school was saying they know it's you, they might as well have left
your face uncensored."

"Stop, Zayn, I think he gets it." Liam rolled his eyes, sipping at his Coke.

"I don't think he does though, Liam." Zayn smirked. "Because he's choosing to be a coward and not
say a word. And Louis is sitting there like a deer in the headlights, as usual."

The waitress placed down the bill on their table before heading off again, and Harry got out his
wallet and pulled a twenty pound note out, considering the total for the food was just under sixteen
pounds and he wanted to leave a tip. He rested it on the bill tray and he and Louis got up.

"He's even paid it all, like a good boyfriend. What kind of friend just pays their mate off all the
time? Or is it because Louis is poor?"

"One more word, and I'll smash your fucking teeth in." Harry seethed, while pointing at Zayn in a
rage, though quiet enough not to disturb anybody else.

Then he was leading Louis away, Zayn having actually looked a little scared, maybe, wider eyes
and raised eyebrows.

And the last thing he heard was Liam saying: "come on, Zayn, that was all so uncalled for."

Chapter End Notes

What do you guys think about Harry acting a little more open in public with Lou?

What do you think should happen in upcoming chapters?? Xx

 53
Chapter Notes

Not packed with a ton of events, but a bit of positivity nonetheless:)

P.s. happy birthday liam for today even though it's the end of the 29th here in uk:((

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Luckily, Gemma had been sweet enough to run out to Harry's car on the driveway of their house to
pass off a bag of his stuff to him that evening, so he could temporarily avoid seeing his parents
again and could stay at Louis' instead. She had given Louis a lively greeting, as he had been in the
passenger seat, and didn't mention anything about the news stories to Harry, knowing how
disgruntled it made him.

Harry and Louis were sitting on Louis' bed later that evening, around eight, casually chatting and
going on their phones. Harry scrolled down Facebook to see that somebody had shared a news
article revolving around the Miss Bridges case. He rolled his eyes, locking his phone and putting it
down.

"Another article?" Louis guessed, patting his leg. "It's going to be like that for a little while. Try not
to think about it too much."

"It's just how everyone knows it's me. And God knows how long it'll be until these stupid articles
stop surfacing; surely somebody would have stepped forward by now, had they had any problems
with Miss Bridges in the past."

"Take your mind off it, Harry. Just think about this instead: Kendall's finally going to get caught
for what she did to your car!" Louis reminded him, "Imagine how satisfying that will be."

"I would love to tell Zayn myself that it was Kendall who framed him, before he potentially finds
out when she's fined. But not now that he's being a complete dick to me, I'd rather him never find
out." He rolled his eyes.

"He's definitely being a lot worse recently. But maybe that's partly because he thinks you thought
he would really do that to your car? It can't be anything else much, he doesn't think you're involved
with Gigi or anything anymore." Louis suggested, with a thoughtful shrug.

Maybe that was true. What more did Zayn have to be angry about, when it was really put into
perspective? He knew now that Harry wasn't messing around with Gigi, nor did he really give a shit
whether or not Harry and Kendall were on bad terms. Even Liam was seeing the bright side again.
The only real reason Zayn could be so annoyed and acting so dickish lately must have been
because of how Harry shamed him online about the vandalised car. It just had to be. Perhaps he
even thought that Harry still assumed it was him who had done it.

"I think I should talk to Zayn alone." Harry sighed. "I mean, it would be really fucking awkward,
but I think without you and Liam there I could maybe even get some sense out of him and he
would be less confrontational."
"Really? You'd want to do that?" Louis looked a little bit surprised. "Even after how horrible he
was just earlier?"

"Look, I know the real Zayn. I know that he can often act angry and sometimes even aggressive
towards someone, when deep down he's actually just upset. He might be upset that we're on bad
terms, or that I've blamed him for the car, so he's taking it out on me by being a prick." He
theorised.

"And would you tell him about Kendall being the actual vandal?" Louis asked. "Would he believe
you if you did?"

"I really don't know, I guess he would just have to take my word for it. There's no real reason I'd
like and tell him it was Kendall, he'll likely find out sooner or later."

"Are you sure it wouldn't be better if he brought Liam along? Maybe he'd talk some sense into
him." Louis offered, but Harry was immediately shaking his head.

"No, Zayn would just want to show off then and intimidate me. I'd rather just me and him."

"When? Tomorrow's Saturday, maybe see if he's around at some point? Better sooner than later."

Harry sighed, nodding in agreement, "Yeah, you're right. I do feel a little nervous, honestly. And
maybe still a bit of an idiot, considering I fell for Kendall's stupid ploy in the first place."

He scooped his phone back up and unlocked it, tapping onto his Instagram and his messages.

"Well, here goes nothing," He shrugged, clicking on his conversation with Zayn, their last words
exchanged having been an argument, and he thumbed out a quick message without overthinking it.

@HarryStyles: Okay Zayn, Hi. I know you hate me at the moment but I really need to meet with
you (tomorrow??) and talk a few things over. Please respond maturely, this is quite important.
Thank you.

He pressed send after a quick read aloud to Louis, then locked his phone again and rubbed his
hands together.

"I'm actually really nervous."

"Just think, this is the guy you were best friends with since you were tiny. He's not scary, maybe
just upset." Louis reassured.

Harry's phone pinged a couple of minutes later, and he unlocked it to read Zayn's response.

@Zayn: Wait is it actually serious???

"He's asking if it's serious. I think he's going to definitely consider meeting me, I just know it's
going to be ridiculously awkward when we do." Harry rolled his eyes. "I just hope he's mature
about this."

@HarryStyles: Just a few things I want to talk over and clear up. Are you free tomorrow?

Zayn read it immediately this time, evidently on the chat and waiting for Harry's responses, and he
was then typing.

@Zayn: Oh right…..I am free tomorrow until like 7, I'm throwing a party from then. I don't
particularly want to meet up with you harry tbh. But if it's apparently important then…..ok???
When & where??

"He's agreeing. He's being a dick, but he's agreeing to meet so that's enough for me. And he had to
go and slip in the fact he's throwing a party tomorrow night, probably wants to make me jealous
that I'm not invited." He explained to Louis, once again rolling his eyes.

"It's good he will meet you. Maybe you can completely change his opinion of you once again, and
make him see how spiteful Kendall really is." Louis said.

@HarryStyles: Well I can meet any time. You tell me.

He wasn't going to be completely lovely to Zayn just yet, wanting him to get a taste of his own
medicine surrounding how he was treating people.

@Zayn: Come to my house at 12.

Harry scoffed. "He wants me to go to his house."

"That won't be too bad, maybe he will even feel more comfortable there and consider more what
you have to say?" Louis suggested. That did sound pretty liable.

"Okay, I'll just agree."

@HarryStyles: Fine okay. See you tomorrow at 12.

Zayn read that message and chose not to say any more, which didn't really surprise Harry at all.

Well, now that was sorted. And Harry was sort of terrified knowing he was going to be alone in a
room with Zayn for pretty much the first time since they fell out. But at the end of the day, he just
had so much he had to tell him.

---

Harry left Louis' at half past 11 the next morning, so he could stop by a petrol station on the way to
Zayn's and fill up his car with enough time to get there on time. He was parked at the side of the
road opposite Zayn's at two minutes past twelve, deciding he should just man up and go and knock.

He did just that, checking both ways before crossing the road and stepping up to Zayn's front door.
Zayn's parents' car wasn't on the drive, which made him slightly relieved as he had no clue what
encountering them would be like now, considering the sudden rivalry. It had been quite a while
since he had last been here, but the lingering familiarity he still had helped aid his nerves. He
pressed the doorbell and stepped back, hands in his pockets.

The door opened, and there stood Cheryl. Harry deeply sighed, eyes shutting.

"You're here for Zayn, right?" She coyly smiled.

"Yes, just Zayn." Harry spat. "Where is he?"

"In the living room. With Kendall, Gigi and Liam." Her stark smile stayed on her face.

"Oh, is your secret boyfriend not here too, then?" Harry decided to bite back, quietly.

"Is yours not?" She scolded, eyes searching behind him for any sign of Louis. "Seems not. Don't
try anything stupid, I have the dirt on you, too."
"I won't, can you just get Zayn out here? I'm not coming in if you're all in there." Harry demanded.

As if on cue, Zayn wandered into the hallway from the living room, smirking at Harry.

"Good afternoon, Styles. Lovely of you to show up."

"I said I wanted to talk, Zayn. What's all this shit."

"You didn't specify you wanted to talk alone," Zayn faked a look of offence, hand to his chest.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry! I never meant to put you on the spot like this."

Kendall and Gigi strutted out into the hallway then, with Kendall shrieking with laughter at
something Gigi had said. Her eyes then fell onto Harry, looking him slowly up and down.

"Why are you here? Looking for Miss Bridges?" She cackled. "I can't believe your shirtless body is
all over the news, I bet the weird girls in our class are all over that."

"I'm here to talk to Zayn. Not to listen to your bullshit, Kendall." He snarled. "This is ridiculous, I
should have known nobody here has the decency to be mature."

Liam popped his head out from the living room then, in the process of asking what's going on, then
spotting Harry stood in the doorway with everybody else surrounding him.

"Oh. Hi, Harry." He awkwardly greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come here to have a decent conversation with Zayn, but it seems like he doesn't even
possess the dignity to do that." Harry rolled his eyes. "So forget it."

He turned to walk away, hearing the girls' obnoxious giggling again, and heard the door slam
behind him as he walked down the path. He felt so deeply angry and let down, having had so much
he had wanted to say and yet not able to say anything at all.

He had just reached his car and unlocked it, opening the door and about to jump in when he heard
the door to Zayn's house slam shut again, and was surprised to turn around and see Liam heading
up the path.

"Hey, Harry! Hold on!" He called out, holding up a hand.

Harry, confused, shut his car door once again and waited for Liam to cross the road and reach him.

"What's up?"

"You wanted to talk about something. I know it might involve Zayn and not me, I just wanted to
give you the chance to tell me anything you would have told him. It must have been frustrating
coming all the way here to get nothing out of it." Liam vocalised. Harry was shocked, to say the
least, by yet another example of Liam's blossoming maturity.

"Uh, that would actually be really great." Harry managed a smile. "Thank you, Li. Would you not
mind?"

"Not at all. Maybe I can pass the message on to Zayn. He would be more likely to listen to me, no
offence."

"No, I get that. Well… wanna take a seat in my car, and chat?" Harry pointed a thumb to his
vehicle, and Liam nodded.
"Yeah, let's do that."

All that was running through Harry's mind as he and Liam jumped into his car was the situation
with Cheryl being a cheat. He was being so sweet to him lately, so understanding, and knowing
what Harry did without saying a word of it was killing him.

He turned the radio on at a low volume to fill any awkward silences that may arise once they had
climbed in and sat down, but overall he felt very comfortable being alone with Liam again.

"Umm…" Harry fanned out a ridiculed laugh. "So, I basically wanted to speak to Zayn, mainly
about my car. You know, when it was vandalised?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm not surprised you thought it was him, considering how angry he often gets." Liam
rolled his eyes. "Gets on my nerves sometimes too, the way he overreacts so much."

"Well, actually, I wanted to tell him that I know now who it really was."

He felt Liam look at him from the side. "Really? Who?"

"It was Kendall, Liam. The police even caught her on tape, they informed me yesterday. She
completely framed Zayn, made a fake note and everything." Harry explained it all, knowing it was
better saying as much as he could in one go rather than bit-by-bit.

"Oh, wow!" Liam gasped, evidently a little shocked. "Seriously? She would do that?"

He was clearly surprised she would even do something so snide, obviously still viewing those silly
girls as innocent and good-as-gold. They were far from it, especially Cheryl.

"She did do it. They're going to question her soon, they want me to go along too. I wanted Zayn to
know that I know the truth now, that I'm sorry for believing he would do it, and that Kendall
completely manipulated him behind his back." Harry said.

He finally forced himself to look Liam in the eye. "Those girls aren't as perfect as they try to make
you believe, let me just tell you that."

Liam furrowed his eyebrows a little, slowly nodding as he looked back at Harry, but then he was
shaking his head instead and looking forward once again.

"Kendall may not be, maybe Gigi too, but I love Cheryl. She is perfect, she's perfect for me."

Harry was practically holding his breath. He knew he had to bite his tongue and hold back from
telling him everything he knew just yet, what with Cheryl knowing something so big about him
too, but he was absolutely dying here. It felt like the ultimate betrayal - Liam was being so nice and
giving Harry somebody to talk to, yet Harry was withholding something huge.

"I'm glad you're happy with her, Liam." He opted for that for now, trying to fight from feeling too
guilty.

"Sorry about everything happening to you lately, Harry. The news stories and everything, it all
keeps getting thrown on you. And I'm also sorry for how Zayn acted in the diner yesterday, his
behaviour was ridiculous."

"I think he's just upset," Harry chose, "You don't have to apologise for him, I know what he's like
by now. I think he ought to know about the vandalism thing, Kendall being the real culprit, but he
shouldn't say anything to her until the police have dealt with it."
"I'll tell him. And I'll tell him not to say anything yet, I'll say Kendall might get out of paying a bad
fine if she has time to think of an excuse for doing it." Liam nodded, assuredly.

"Thank you, Liam, seriously. I really appreciate you being more open again with me recently, I felt
so helpless before, and really upset that we've been friends for so long and-"

"I really miss you, you know." Liam cut him off. "Really, really miss you. I miss hanging out, miss
being mates more than anything. It upsets me that all of this is happening. I know I was a prick
towards you at first, for quite a while, but really I just hated the situation and was angry it had even
gotten like that. I'm really sorry, Harry, for anything I've done to upset you."

There was a brief silence as Harry took it all in, feeling a warm buzz envelop his stomach from
Liam's sweet words. He couldn't cry though, knowing he would feel like an idiot, so he swallowed
the lump threatening to form in his throat and replied.

"I miss you too, man."

Liam leant over then and wrapped Harry in the tightest embrace they had ever shared, awkward in
the car seats but loving nevertheless. And Harry hugged him back just as tightly, appreciatively
rubbing his back.

"You can hate me," Liam said, as they eventually broke the hug, "Because you never did anything
wrong. You just broke up with Kendall and she was never good for you. I shouldn't have neglected
you like that, not after so many years. Just know that I don't hate you, I never did."

"I don't hate you either, Li, don't be silly." Harry lightly chuckled, playfully slapping his arm. "I
don't hate Zayn, either. Hate is such a strong emotion. I do believe he hates me, though."

"Believe me, he doesn't." Liam mentioned. "He talks about you. A lot. Brings up old memories,
says he always wonders what you're doing, whether you still go to the places we all used to hang
out - things like that."

"Oh. Really?"

"All the time. I think he's just putting up a front." Liam said. "He wants to be the tough one. He's
really not."

He turned to Harry and smiled then, and for once in a long time, Harry truly felt like they were
mates again. The desire to tell him about Cheryl arose once again, spiralling through his head,
causing him to sigh heavily and shut his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Liam sincerely asked.

"I just…" Harry exhaled through pursed lips. "I'm really stuck right now."

"What about? I'll support you with anything, you know? You've been through a lot lately, I'll
listen."

"It's not really to do with me," Harry slowly began, then shook his head, "Well, it's partly to do with
me. It's just a really fucked up situation."

"What's going on, Harry?" Liam asked, genuine concern hanging in his tone. "Everything okay?
What else are you involved with?"

"I can't say yet. About anything. Just please know that I want to. And I would if I could."
He just knew he couldn't say yet. If he did, then obviously Liam would want to immediately
confront Cheryl about the cheating and he would be completely heartbroken. But because of the
situation, and what Cheryl knew, he couldn't allow Liam to say anything to Cheryl yet in fear of
her outing him and Louis. It would just be unfair to tell Liam at such a bad time, and expect him to
feel his mouth shut while his heart shattered.

"I'm so confused." Liam shook his head, looking baffled. "You'd say what?"

"Look, thanks for talking to me today, Li. It means a hell of a lot that you did this, it felt good to
get the whole car thing off my chest and that you'll pass it on to Zayn." Harry changed the subject,
swiftly. "I'll see you at school, I guess. Forget I said anything about the other thing. Sorry."

"Okay." Liam nodded anyway, attempting a smile. "I'm glad we're on the same page again, Harry.
I'll work on Zayn for you, okay?"

"Thanks," Harry lightly laughed. "See you around. Enjoy Zayn's party tonight."

"I'll try, if I don't spend the whole time drunk." Liam rolled his eyes. "Bye, Harry."

And then he was climbing out of the car, slamming the door shut behind himself, sending Harry
off with a final wave.

Now Harry felt half good and half bad. He felt good they had made up again, ecstatically happy, in
fact, but just God-awful that he couldn't say anything about Cheryl being a cheat. He was dying to
tell him, knowing it would crush him but that he was better off knowing and finding somebody
more worth his time.

Harry was still stuck. He just hoped certain things would solve themselves as time went on.

---

Harry was absolutely dreading school, when Monday eventually came around again. He had spent
the entire weekend at Louis', still not ready to face his Mum just yet, and they pulled up to school
on time and sat in the car for a few minutes prior.

"You'll be fine," Louis reassured, "People have probably forgotten about the news thing by now."

"It's only been three days since it aired, and it's still circulating. They definitely haven't forgotten."
He frowned.

"Just keep your head up, Haz. I'll be by your side all day, all you've got to do is ignore the
comments if anybody brings it up. Don't let anybody know that it even affects you."

"I do at least feel a little better knowing Liam and I are on good terms again. That makes today feel
a little bit easier. Especially if he's told Zayn about Kendall and the car."

They got out of the car and headed for the main school building. Harry already felt eyes on him, he
tried to convince himself at first that he was being paranoid, but it was too many people to be his
paranoia.

"Ignore the staring." Louis quietly said, as they entered the building. "It'll be like this for the first
day, no one will care by tomorrow."

"What do we have first today?"

"Maths, I think."

"Great," Harry scoffed, "An hour next to Kendall."

"Maybe you could shake her up a little," Louis giggled, "Tell her police have gotten footage of a
potential culprit, and want to look over the footage with you."

"I think I'm definitely going to have to do that." Harry chuckled. "She will probably piss herself."

Harry couldn't help but notice the general hum of conversation that erupted once he and Louis
entered registration class, everyone's eyes on him, but he did exactly as Louis advised and kept his
head high.

He locked eyes briefly with Liam across the room and they smiled at one another. Zayn, on the
other hand, didn't even look up from the tabletop this time. Harry assumed Liam had told him
about Kendall's scheme, and he didn't know what to make of Harry yet. He decided he would give
Zayn time to think it over and wouldn't keep on staring at him during lessons.

As they entered maths class after the walk there, following their registration period, Mr Bradley
gave Harry a sympathetic smile. He figured all of the teachers had been made aware of the Miss
Bridges situation and had therefore been urged to treat Harry with the utmost sincerity. He didn't
really care about all of that.

Harry took his usual seat, there before Kendall was today, and got a pen out from his bag. She
came clacking over in her heeled boots moments later, taking a seat with a smirk radiating on her
face.

"Everyone keeps talking about you. They literally all know that it's you who was talking to Miss
Bridges online." She snidely commented, setting down her floral pencil case.

"It doesn't bother me." He shrugged, as the rest of the classroom got settled.

"What, you like being seen as a manwhore?"

"I'm not one. And I just don't care what anybody thinks of me, anyway. They can think what they
want."

He knew this was the best approach when dealing with Kendall: indifference. If he acted like he
didn't care one bit about what was going on, then she had nothing to really go off.

Mr Bradley had started the lesson, so Kendall continued more quietly now, leaning in a little, to
Harry's distaste.

"Why are you so positive about all this? It's such an embarrassing thing, I would be dying if I were
in your shoes."

He decided that now would be the perfect time to drop a little comment, as Louis had cheekily
suggested he did. He made sure Mr Bradley was distracted with writing on the whiteboard, before
continuing.

"I'm actually feeling positive about something else. The police contacted me on Friday, said they
have managed to get some footage of the person who vandalised my car. It isn't too clear but
they're going to go over it with me soon."

He heard her breath hitch, quite literally hitch. And she shifted slightly in her chair, without even
 intending to look so conspicuous. Harry was smirking to himself, hiding it with his hand, which he
rested his chin on.

"O-Oh. I thought they'd have given up on all of that by now." She stammered.

"No, they're luckily still looking into it. I can't wait to eventually find out who actually did it, it's
all that's been on my mind: whether it really was Zayn." He mockingly added. He knew how much
this must have been killing her, her inner panic probably erupting within her as she realised there
was literally nothing she could do now.

"What's going to-- will the person who did it have to pay a fine, or…?"

"No clue. But they reckon it was a male," He tried to trick her just a little into thinking she was free
here, "So I'm still on Zayn's case. But don't tell him I said so."

"Oh, I won't! Yeah, I bet it was him. He is the type to do that." She quickly added. Silly girl, she
had no clue that she had in fact been caught in the crystal clear footage caught on a neighbour's
CCTV.

"I guess time will tell."

It sure managed to make her shut up for the rest of the lesson, to Harry's joy. He knew that she was
worried now, but also relieved that Harry had said they police suspected a man.

Silly, oblivious girl. She was finally going to get what was coming to her. And eventually, so
would Cheryl.

Chapter End Notes

More drama to come, for suuuure (to benefit larry, rather than adding more stress) xx
 54
Chapter Notes

Kinda filler-y??

But cute too:(

More soon!!

Sorry if there are typos

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Following maths class, and Harry's snide comment to Kendall to scare her about the car scandal,
the rest of the day rolled by very slowly. Harry heard constant chattering about the news situation,
little whispers as he passed by with his friends in the corridors, but at this point of the day he had
learnt to ignore it.

They were making their way to sports class next, and Harry knew he had been acting quiet, but he
also knew that his mates understood why without him having to explain.

In class, Harry noticed Zayn's constant glances. It was clearly due to Liam having spoken to him,
and having told him everything about the car and how Kendall was actually guilty. And, come to
think of it, Harry hadn't seen Zayn interact with Kendall at all today: maybe because he was mad at
her, but knew he couldn't confront her about framing him yet. Harry even attempted to hold eye
contact during the lesson, just to get any indication of how Zayn was feeling, but received a blank
stare back in response. Not very surprising.

It was when they were leaving the lesson, after an hour of table tennis, when things were a little
more interesting. Harry and his group were just leaving the boys' locker room, ready to go to break,
when Zayn spoke up.

"Tomlinson. Walk with me."

They were all equally confused, but more so Louis and Harry themselves. Louis looked desperately
at Harry, clearly in terror, but didn't want to go against Zayn. Harry gave Louis a gentle nudge, so
the timid boy sped up a little to match Zayn's stride. Louis struggled slightly to catch up, but was
strolling along with Zayn alone moments later.

"Everything okay?" Louis spoke up, his voice small as the two of them kept on walking.

"Pass a message on to Harry for me," Zayn's tone was lacking, not giving anything away. "Is that
okay?"

"Uh… okay?" Louis nervously said, immediately wary it could be about something aggressive.
"What is it?"

"Tell him I forgive him for thinking it was me who vandalised his car. But, I still don't want to be
his friend. Like, ever again. I would rather have no friends than be his friend again. That's all, you
can go and tell him." And then he was speeding off alone to join the rest of his own mates.
Louis, confused and a little disheartened for Harry, turned to head back to his group. Harry looked
at him eagerly as he returned, head cocking to the side as if waiting to hear what had happened.
They all began walking, Niall, Charlie and Christopher giving the two of them a moment.

"He, uh, he forgives you for thinking it was him who damaged your car." Louis began.

Harry looked relieved at that. "Oh, good! I'm so glad he does, I knew that was creating a massive
grudge between u-"

"But," Louis abruptly interrupted him, looking sorry, "He said he never wants to be friends with
you again. I'm sorry to pass that on, it's just what he said, and he told me to tell you."

"Oh." Harry frowned. "Well, that's a bit shit, I wonder why he's so reluctant to ever give me a
chance again. Liam has, why can't he?"

"My bet would be because of Gigi. She's the closest with Kendall, and even if he now knows
Kendall framed him, he can't get rid of the fact that she's Gigi's best friend." Louis shrugged. "It
seems like he knows Gigi would be mad at him if he became friends with you again, seeing as
Kendall's so heartbroken."

"Maybe you're right. I just wish he knew how brainwashed she's made him." Harry sighed. "In
some ways I wish we had never met those girls. But I can't influence his decision."

"He's the one missing out." Louis gently brushed his hand over Harry's. "Maybe Liam will
convince him in the end."

"I'd rather it be Zayn's decision himself. You know, that he actually wants to be my mate again, not
just because Liam told him he should."

"Of course. Maybe he will change his own mind. But for now, just focus on the fact that he's
forgiven you for blaming him about your car." Louis smiled.

That was all Harry really had to go by at the moment.

---

Harry brought Louis back to his house after school, because he thought it would be best to have
him there as a distraction, seeing as he hadn't seen his parents yet since they found out about the
news story. He avoided his parents mainly, a brief and blunt hello as they passed in the hallway,
and Louis gave his most friendly greeting as usual. Then they made their way up to Harry's room,
shutting the door to Harry's relief.

"I still can't believe what my mum said about me," Harry stressed, throwing his backpack down.
"That I flirt with every woman I meet. My own mum saying that."

"She must have just been angry, don't be too hurt about it. That's not the real you, we both know
that."

"It would just be nice if she would respect me." Harry huffed and sat on the edge of his bed,
opening his arms as a gesture for a hug. Louis placed his bag down too before sitting beside Harry
and hugging him tightly.

"There's not one thing I'd change about you." Louis softly said, while they continued their embrace.
"Nothing at all."
"Says the one who's literally perfect," Harry broke the hug to playfully grab by the waist and push
him back onto the bed, getting on top of him. "Suspiciously perfect. You're not some other life form
disguised as a human, are you?"

Louis giggled beneath him. "Maybe you are."

"If I am, I'd say I'm a pretty good kisser for an alien." He smirked, and Louis giggled once again as
Harry lowered his head and attached their lips gently.

They kissed slowly, tenderly, for a few moments. Harry was dwelling over how perfect Louis
really was, astounded that he probably still didn't think so. The fact he may still hate himself sent
pain racing through Harry's heart. And those scars he had seen on Louis' arm a few times... but
hadn't ever asked about. It had never been addressed. And Harry hadn't thought much about that
recently, until now.

He broke the kiss softly, smiling at Louis, who lay below him so beautifully.

"Lou?" He asked, voice almost a whisper.

"Mmm?"

Harry hesitated briefly, rolling off of Louis so they lay side by side. He figured it might be too
much to interrogate something so personal while literally on top of him and effectively trapping
him. Harry turned to Louis as they lay, so Louis did too, looking a little bit concerned by Harry's
hesitation.

"I want to address something. But I'm not sure if you do," He put it carefully, "So if you don't, just
say."

"Is it… about me?" Louis guessed. And by the sound of it, he was already aware of what this was
about.

"Again, if you don't want to talk about it, don't. But it's just about your mental health. And-"

"My arms?" Louis guessed. But his tone was healthy, not insecure or offended.

"If you're comfortable with that. I'm sorry if I've put you on the spot."

"No, of course not. I knew this sort of had to be addressed, seeing as we're so close in every other
aspect." Louis attempted a smile, but it was clear this was difficult for him at the same time. "I
know your first question might be whether… I've done it recently?"

Harry didn't verbally respond, because honestly he was just too scared to say anything and just
wanted Louis to tell him as soon as possible. So he just nodded in agreement to show that this was
his worry.

"I haven't done it once since we became close. Since before Paris, really. So… I've been clean the
whole time I've known you closely."

"Oh, thank God." Harry breathed, placing his forehead against Louis' momentarily, "I'm so glad to
hear that, Lou. And I'm glad you weren't offended that I asked."

"Of course not. Thank you, by the way. I never got to thank you for that enough, changing my
mental state completely." Louis brushed his fingers tenderly up Harry's side.
"You don't need to thank me." Harry said. "And I'm guessing in Paris, those pills you kept taking,"

"Yeah, antidepressants. I'm finally off them too, I didn't need them for much longer after Paris
either." Louis genuinely smiled. "You've completely cured me."

"It's all I want, you to be happy. Since I first saw you, it's like I had this burning desire to make
sure nobody messed with you, and that you could be happy." Harry admitted, remembering even
Louis' first day at school, wanting him to just be left alone and at peace. "Maybe I could even sense
it, I don't know. You looked a little bit broken to me, I can sometimes pick up on it with people."

"You're so caring." Louis brushed some hair from Harry's eyes, gazing into them. "I always got the
vibe from you that you're different, so lovely and genuine. I was broken, you're right. I never
thought anybody would be able to fix me. I felt hopeless. I didn't think there would ever be
somebody out there for me."

"And you've only gone and found me." Harry smirked, holding their eye contact. "I had been
waiting for you, always."

"I love you, Harry." The soft words had left Louis' mouth before Harry had time to process it.
Harry's heart had begun pounding, a sharp breath leaving his lips as a large grin found his face.

"Oh, Louis, I love you too." He breathed, bringing him in close and burying his face in his neck.

"I love you." Louis emphasised once again against the hot skin of Harry's neck. "So much." His
voice had cracked on the final two words, so Harry only held him tighter.

"Don't cry!" He softly laughed, rubbing his back as they lay close. "Louis!"

"I'm sorry, it's just all hit me really suddenly." Louis wavered. "And I'm sorry it took me so long to
say that."

"I understand, you don't need to apologise." Harry assured him. "I definitely wasn't expecting that,
but it's the best shock."

"Gosh, I now know what love feels like. That is powerful, it just came out, I hadn't planned that."
He giggled, wiping a tear as they parted ways a little. "But it's so true."

"I'm glad we had this talk." Harry said. "And that you're happy now, and that you love me."

"I'm glad too. I feel a lot lighter now, having said all of that."

Gemma's voice came from somewhere downstairs then. "Harry!"

Harry sighed and reluctantly sat up, as did Louis. "Sorry to cut the moment short, but my sister
clearly wants me." He chuckled.

He got up off the bed and walked to his door, opening it.

"Yeah?" He called out, awaiting a response.

"The police just called!"

"Oh, shit." Harry muttered to himself, before calling back out to her. "What for? What did they
say?"
He could hear Gemma jogging up the stairs. Louis awkwardly sat more upright on the bed, just as
Gemma reached the room and invited herself in.

"Hey, Louis."

"Hi." He smiled.

She turned back to Harry. "The policeman said he tried to contact you, but obviously your phone's
broken so he called Mum to give the message, she had him on loud speaker. He said him and his
colleague have just been to Kendall's and that she was fined four-thousand pounds for smashing
your windscreen and given a warning."

"Wow!" Harry laughed brightly. "I am so relieved to hear that."

"Yup. And I bet it gained a lot of attention from people in the street, police standing at their door.
So some people at your school might have even seen." She cackled.

"Even better! How did Mum react when the police said?"

"She was in disbelief! Finally she must have realised Kendall is an absolute diva." Gemma rolled
her eyes. "You might be getting an apology from Mum soon, about not believing you on so many
fronts."

"I would have loved to have seen Kendall's face when she realised she was caught," Harry said,
"I'm guessing they didn't bring me along in case another argument broke out, or something."

"Yeah, he did mention that it was to avoid potential confrontation. But it's great to know she was
well and truly caught." Gemma smiled.

"Thanks for letting me know, Gem." Harry nodded.

"No problem. Have fun seeing her at school and being able to poke fun at her now." Gemma
giggled, before waving kindly at Louis and heading away once again.

Harry shut the door once again and smiled widely at Louis.

"Another success."

"She finally got what was always coming to her. Oh, and speaking of you still not having your
phone," Louis began, getting his own out and tapping around on it a little, "That guy, Brian, in our
class is having a party Friday. And invited literally anyone in our class. In case you were
interested."

"Why, are you?" Harry smirked, knowing Louis wasn't the type.

"I'm way too shy," Louis chuckled, "Just thought you might want to."

"On my own?" Harry snorted, "I do want to go, just not alone. I especially want to go now that I
have the upper hand on Kendall and her entire group, pretty much. So come with me?"

"I'm not sure," Louis shrugged, "I'm bad with parties, you remember that nightclub in Paris."

"I especially remember after that nightclub in Paris." Harry wiggled his eyebrows. Louis giggled
and rolled his eyes.

"Look, maybe. I'm not agreeing yet, I'll just see how I feel when Friday comes around. It might be
 nice if everyone else in our class is going, and if we can convince the other boys to go, too. So I
will see."

"Oh, we're totally going," Harry smirked, "It'll be great fun. And I think it will help me forget
about that stupid news situation, too."

"True. Okay, I'll think it over." Louis shrugged. "Because I love you."

"See how effortless that is to say now? I love it." Harry smiled. "I'm going to love it every time I
hear it. I love you, too. Indescribably."

They kissed again then. And Harry, for once in a while, felt completely weightless again. He loved
Louis so much.

Chapter End Notes

So next chapter will be the party and a few more events too!! Because yes, Louis will
go for harry. :)

Have a couple more things planned to start tying other parts together xx
 55
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Harry felt miraculously lighter when they went to school the next day. A Tuesday had never felt
easier: knowing Louis had finally verbally expressed his love, as well as knowing Kendall had
been caught and fined for the car vandalism. He walked into school with his head held high, Louis
by his side. All that was really missing was a bit of hand-holding, but they could hold off for a tad
longer.

Harry held powerful eye contact with Kendall as she and her group entered English class five
minutes late. She looked half angry and half defeated. Maybe a little bit humiliated. Good. Harry
sent a snide smirk her way, urging her to shoot her gaze away quickly.

"She looks guilty as hell. I bet she's so embarrassed she's been caught." Louis snorted, having
witnessed the interaction.

"Zayn's still walking with her, though. So you were probably right in saying wherever Gigi goes, he
goes." Harry rolled his eyes, turning to face the front of the classroom. "Imagine someone framing
you for literal vandalism, and just forgiving them because they're your partner's friend.
Ridiculous."

Mr Grant hadn't yet entered the room, suggesting why Kendall and Co. had so brazenly come in
late.

"Hey, Harry," Cheryl mockingly called over, "Are you and your loser mates going to Brian's party
on Friday? Doubt he'll even let any of you in."

Harry could easily bite back with a comment suggesting maybe Brian wouldn't want a cheat at his
party, but he held back. Brian, however, did respond.

"Everyone's invited, Cheryl. I'm not going to turn anyone away."

Harry turned and shot an appreciative smile at Brian, who returned it. Nice guy.

Harry briefly glanced at Liam then, just to see how he had reacted to his so-called "perfect"
girlfriend being so mean to Harry, but he wasn't even looking up from his phone. Harry shook it off
and decided to let it go, but then Cheryl decided she would take it further.

"Maybe Harry will bring Miss Bridges along."

There was an audible wince around the room, stifled or gasped laughs as people couldn't believe
Cheryl would be so up front, bringing something so severe up. Harry clenched his jaw, trying hard
to suppress a major backlash.

"You're funny, Cheryl." He opted for, knowing it was hardly an argument, but was better than
starting a full on war.

"I can't believe you slept with a teacher. Well, I can, because it's you. Who else isn't surprised that
Harry Styles was fucking Miss Bridges?" She addressed the entire class, who all sat there in
silence. "Nobody's surprised, I'm sure?"
"Cheryl, that's enough." Liam muttered, but the quiet classroom meant everyone heard anyway.
"He hasn't done anything, leave him alone."

"As a matter of fact, Cheryl, I wasn't fucking her. So please get your facts straight before you attack
me for nothing." Harry said, calmly.

"Oh, you think I need to get my facts straight?" She was clearly playing on the word "straight" in
her response, a very slight emphasis on the final word, which luckily nobody else picked up on.
Harry couldn't let this go further.

"Cheryl, seriously, be quiet now. I'm sick of hearing it." Then came Zayn's voice.

Harry was positively shocked, and as usual, Zayn's voice had been enough to silence the entire
class and end the argument altogether. There was a rather eerie silence then, until Mr Grant finally
turned up to break it.

Gosh, why was Cheryl being so damn bitchy today? Harry figured that she was scared. Kendall
had been exposed for the car vandalism, so maybe she would be next for cheating on Liam. She
had to remain in control, so she felt the only way to do that was to berate Harry in public.

Harry was very pleased Zayn had come to his rescue, though. Even if he didn't want to be his mate
anymore.

---

Harry was called to the headteacher's office at lunch, to go over some stupid procedural stuff, like
whether he was settling back into a school setting okay after the blackmail, and whether he needed
any additional support. It was all good, him being supported, but he didn't particularly want to miss
his lunch break for it.

Louis and the other three had headed over to the canteen, Louis admittedly feeling a little bit lost
without Harry, and they got some food from the counter before sitting at a free table at the edge of
the room. The image in itself of Kendall and Cheryl, at a table the other side of the hall, was
enough to make Louis shudder with hatred. He couldn't stand the way they were treating Harry,
especially Cheryl in English class; it was completely unnecessary.

His gaze was broken from their group's table when he saw Charlie and Niall clearly nudging each
other over something. It was clear they were both spurring each other on to say something to Louis,
yet they were all too shy. Christopher seemed too content with picking at his pasta to notice much.

"What?" Louis chuckled, eyeing the other two. "What are you hiding from me?"

"Me and Charlie were just discussing something earlier on." Niall shrugged, idly picking the crusts
from his sandwich. "And… thought we would address it."

Charlie stifled a playful laugh, urging Louis' eyebrows to furrow.

"What!" He laughed. "What were you discussing? About me?"

Christopher clearly wasn't in on it, looking as confused as Louis.

"We agreed that you and Harry are definitely the closest mates in the group," Charlie brought up,
"That's all."

"Me and Harry are pretty close too, guys," Christopher interjected, "He's been to my house twice."
Louis wanted to laugh in his face. Harry was terrified of the poor boy.

"How many times has he been to yours, Lou? Or you to his?" Charlie interrogated.

"Why does that matter?" Louis defended, though he had a little grin on his face. "What are you
saying?"

"Well, we know that you're into guys…" Niall hinted.

Louis' heart started pounding. Shit, they were well and truly onto him and Harry.

"What are you saying!" Louis chuckled away.

"You know what," Charlie wiggled his eyebrows. "Harry's an attractive guy, we know you think
that. And you guys are so close, you especially were in Paris, since then."

"Harry isn't gay, guys," Christopher interrupted, "I know he isn't."

Wow, clearly not, though.

"He doesn't seem it, no," Niall shook his head, though he did look conflicted. "Anyway, Lou, we
just wanted to know whether you think Harry could like guys? Or, actually, whether anything is
happening between you!"

Louis was a little bit stuck here. He could feel that he was blushing, urging Charlie to gasp and
enthusiastically pat the table.

"Something's going on, isn't it!" He chanted. "Is it?!"

Louis shushed him, cheeks still hot. "Be quiet. Look, I don't know what I should exactly say."

"Harry's… gay?" Christopher gasped. His eyebrows were raised, and he was clearly very intrigued
by that. God, maybe he should have been left out of this conversation.

"I'm not saying anything." Louis shrugged, though he was smirking. "No, though, he isn't gay."

"He's bi! Oh, for sure he is! We've seen the way you two look at each other, and how much he
cares about you!" Niall cooed. "Has he told you he likes you?"

They were a little far behind on that one.

"I'm not going to say any more yet," Louis shrugged, blush still very much prominent. "But I'm
glad to see you're so invested in our friendship."

"Friendship," Charlie used finger quotations, with a smirk. "Okay, Lou, whatever you say."

"I can't believe Harry likes guys," Christopher muttered under his breath. "He convicted me of
being attracted to him when he was at my house. Maybe he was trying it on with me, too!"

"No, Christopher, he wasn't." Louis bluntly said, knowing he had to cut his delusions off, pronto.
"Don't worry."

Christopher definitely looked disheartened, but nodded in agreement anyway.

"Just know, we would massively support you two," Niall assured, "Harry should know that too. If
there is something going on… which there definitely is."
"As I said, I'm not saying any more." Louis smugly finalised. "So let's move on."

He did like his friends knowing. He liked the teasing, them knowing he liked Harry and pushing
for answers, but knew he should realistically wait until Harry was with him before saying anything
official to their mates. They pretty much knew though, just not formally.

Louis couldn't wait until they were aware of everything.

---

By Friday, a few days later, Harry finally had his repaired phone back, thanks to Gemma having
sent it off for him. Back at school, Louis knew his mates would eventually make it obvious to
Harry that they knew something about him and Louis. Louis had decided not to mention it himself,
but their mates definitely gave it away; just little knowing looks when they were together, or
giggles when Harry asked to speak to Louis alone for a second. So walking to drama class Friday
afternoon, Harry was the one who actually addressed it.

"What are you guys smiling about?" He asked, though he was smiling himself, too.

"Who said we were smiling at anything?" Charlie deviously asked, heavily shrugging. "Maybe
you're being paranoid."

"It's pretty much whenever I look at Louis. What is it?" He chuckled.

Louis was smiling at the ground in secret.

"It just seems like you're both very close." Niall cut in, "And we were wondering whether you've
kissed!"

He and Charlie chuckled innocently then, while Harry grinned in amusement. He gave Louis a coy
smile, before dropping a controversial response.

"We've fucked, is that such headline news?"

They all gasped in response - even Louis hadn't been expecting that. Niall and Charlie looked
utterly shocked, whereas Christopher had entered a staring, dream-like state.

"What!" Niall exclaimed. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah, we're dating." Harry was very casual about this, which Louis was glad about. He had been
worried he would act all standoffish and refuse to admit it, but he had definitely done the absolute
opposite.

"Aww!" Charlie cooed. "That's so sweet! How long for!"

"Around a month now." Louis smiled to himself. "It kind of started in Paris, though, us getting
closer."

"So… no one else knows, I'm guessing?" Niall said.

"No one at all, no one at school. So it's a secret for now." Harry mentioned. "Especially to Kendall
and those lot."

"My lips are sealed! Because I'm a good mate." Christopher exclaimed. "I won't tell anyone,
Harry!"
"Thanks, Christopher." Harry laughed.

"Yeah, we won't tell anyone. Gosh, no offence, Harry, but I wouldn't have tho-"

"You wouldn't have thought I was into guys. I get that," Harry chuckled. "That's fine, though.
Thank you guys for being so understanding. I wasn't expecting to tell you all today, but I'm glad
we could!"

They lingered outside the drama classroom, considering they were a little early and nobody else
had turned up yet.

"Are you going to Brian's party tonight?" Charlie mentioned then, mainly to Harry, seeing as he
was the most confident in the group. "We were maybe wanting to go, but only if you do."

"I've been trying to convince Louis to go," Harry smiled, playfully nudging the boy in question,
"But he hasn't given me an answer yet. I think it'll be fun."

"I guess I wouldn't mind if we all went," Louis shrugged, "As long as we stick together."

"So that's a yes?" Harry grinned.

"Yeah, sure." Louis giggled.

"Awesome. I think it's about time we all go somewhere upbeat again, it's definitely been a while
since that nightclub in Paris now." Harry said. "We could all meet and bus to Brian's tonight, the
invite says he lives near the city centre."

"Cool. It starts at eight." Niall mentioned.

"Let's all meet on the eight o'clock bus so we get there at about half past. Don't want to be
awkwardly early." Harry organised. "Sound good to everyone?"

"My parents will be angry if I stay out late." Christopher cautiously said. "How long will the party
be on for?"

Harry sniffed out a laugh. "House parties don't really have curfews. Could be eleven, could be four
in the morning."

"Gosh! Maybe I should stay home." Christopher stressed. "My parents keep giving me lectures
telling me to stay away from you, Harry."

Harry laughed it off, as did Louis from beside him.

"Well, you could be boring and stay home," Harry said, " Or, you could lie and tell them you're
staying at Charlie's, or something."

"I can't lie."

"Then be boring." Harry smirked. "Your choice. There won't be a chance they'll find out where you
actually are."

"Okay. I'm going to be cool like Harry Styles, and lie to my parents!" Christopher insisted.

God, Harry really was corrupting the poor fella.

---
Harry was ready by five to eight, dressed casually in jeans and a plain t-shirt. He spritzed on his
favourite aftershave, grabbed his phone and wallet, and left his bedroom. He had been managing to
avoid talking to his mum properly since she had snapped at him following the news article, but as
he slipped his chelsea boots and jacket on by the door, she appeared from in the kitchen, eyeing
him.

"Where are you going?" Her voice was quite cold, emphasising that she was still equally as
annoyed with her son as he was with her.

"Party." He bluntly said, avoiding eye contact.

"Whose?"

"Guy in my class."

"When will you be back?"

"Dunno. I'll bring a key." He said, opening up the front door.

"Don't bring any girls home."

And with that, he angrily slammed the door as he left, without a further goodbye. A very heartfelt
send-off from his mother - not.

He walked briskly to the bus stop around the corner from his home, wrapping his jacket around
himself as he rounded a corner and the wind hit him. He joined the other couple of people standing
at the bus stop, having arrived just on time as the eight o'clock bus came over the hill. He waited
his turn, paying and boarding, finding that Niall and Christopher were already on and sat towards
the back, as the bus had passed by their houses earlier than his.

"Hey, Guys." He greeted, swinging into the empty seats just over from theirs.

"Hey. Trust you to live in the posh part," Niall laughed, "Nice houses round here." He was wearing
a nice polo shirt and some jeans.

"They're decent." Harry shrugged, smiling. "First house party for you guys?"

"I'm nervous!" Christopher expressed, dressed in a tacky checkered shirt and beige trousers. "What
do we do?"

Yeah, maybe Harry was a little embarrassed to be turning up with Christopher.

"Just go in and chill. Have some drinks." Harry shrugged, as the bus pulled up to the next stop, and
Louis and Charlie hopped on together.

Louis looked adorable, despite wearing a casual graphic jumper and black jeans. As they got on,
Charlie took the seat behind Harry, rather than the one beside him, which was sweet considering he
must have known Harry would be saving it for Louis.

"Hi." Harry smiled in greeting, though his eyes were mainly on Louis, as always. Charlie chatted
with Niall, leaving Harry and Louis alone.

"Hey," Louis breathed as he took a seat, firmly patting Harry's leg. "You smell lovely."

"Thank you." Harry smirked. "You look lovely. As usual."

"Kinda nervous." Louis breathed a laugh. "But I like that we're all going in together."

"You'll be fine," He reassured, "Nobody really pays attention to people outside their own social
groups. We'll have some drinks and have fun."

It didn't take long until Harry recognised the name of the stop, having Googled it earlier, so he
pressed the bell once the stop was announced. The five of them jumped off, thanking the driver in
turn, and it didn't take a genius to know which house was hosting: throbbing bass rang out from the
house two from the end, and a few people were chilling on the brick wall outside with drinks.

"Harry, you're going in first." Charlie persuaded, giving him a little nudge forward as they headed
up the path to the front door.

Harry smirked to himself, knowing he was pretty much the leader of this group, and headed
straight in (as another group had just done the same). The house was packed, just from the sight of
the hallway, where many people lingered with drinks and shouted conversations to one another
over the loud music.

"It's so loud!" Louis yelled, instinctively gripping Harry's bicep as he led the five of them through
the crowds.

"Yeah, I'll get us to the kitchen!" Harry responded, noting that the room at the end of the hall was
what he was looking for.

He slipped into the spacious kitchen, not as crowded but still full of plenty of people raiding the
drinks fridge or playing stupid drinking games at the dining table. Harry invited himself to the
fridge, house party etiquette, grabbing himself a beer.

"They've even got lemonade, for you lightweights." Harry smirked at his mates, who stepped up to
grab drinks too. Louis copied Harry and got the exact same drink, Charlie and Christopher both
opted for a can or lemonade, and Niall chose a Smirnoff ice.

"Right, let's check out the living room, see if there's anywhere to stand." Harry thought aloud,
bringing his mates straight through into the living room, which led off from the kitchen. There was
a flashing lights projector in the centre, the television showing some music videos, and the music
blaring even louder in here from speakers either side of the room.

Harry had clearly spotted Kendall and Co. standing in their group by the fireplace, but didn't even
spare more than a passing glance. He and his mates chose an empty space at the edge of the room,
pretty packed in and getting pushed slightly by nearby classmates trying to drunkenly dance.

"I keep getting pushed!" Christopher complained. "Why can't we just go and find somewhere to sit
upstairs?"

Harry stifled a laugh. "Because upstairs is where people has sex."

"Oh!" Charlie cackled. "Let's avoid that, then."

Harry had gotten drunk once at one of Zayn's parties and had sex with Kendall, with the door wide
open in a packed house, on Zayn's parents' bed. Luckily they never found out about that. It made
him sick thinking that now, though he would feel quite exhilarated if it were he and Louis now.

"Kendall's staring at you." Louis muttered to Harry, barely audible over the music. "And she's
dressed up so much too."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not even going to look at her. She can stare all she wants, it's not going
to change anything."

"It's so shit what Zayn said, about not wanting to be your mate again. I'm sorry again, for having to
pass on that message." Louis apologised, sipping at his beer.

"Oh, it's fine. Zayn's immature, I wouldn't expect anything less from him."

Harry noticed a few guys snorting something on the coffee quite close to them, feeling the need to
step away just a little and nudge Louis too, feeling protective. He wanted Louis to be protected
from things like drugs.

The party went on a little, Harry occasionally popping back to the fridge to pick up drinks for him
and his mates. He even persuaded Charlie and Christopher to get off the soft drinks and have some
ciders. But this did mean Christopher was getting tipsy by half nine and trying to chat up a few
uninterested girls from another class. Harry pretended at that moment that he wasn't there with him.

By ten, Louis seemed very comfortable, having had a good few alcoholic beverages by then. He
was swaying coolly to the music, like everybody else, and chatting upbeat to random people who
came to mingle. It was nice seeing him so confident, how he should always be in himself. Harry
heard an uproar of a cheer and noticed Zayn and Liam were involved in a drinking game with a
few other boys across the living room. Kendall, Gigi and Cheryl chatting amongst themselves and
probably judging every other female in the room. Charlie and Niall had mentioned they were
heading into the garden to get some fresh air, though they weren't going to get much of that with
the smokers, and Christopher was off harassing some more females elsewhere, probably.

"I like it here," Louis said, with a dabbled slur to his tone which made him sound so cute. "And
that our mates know we are together, I-I like that too."

"Yeah?" Harry smirked.

"Yeah. You told them straight up that we've fucked," Louis slurred, with a sweet giggle. "I couldn't
believe that."

Harry coyly shrugged. "Thought there's no better way to admit it than to drop a bombshell."

"I wish we could make out. I wanna make out drunk with you again." Louis laughed, a bright laugh
which was evidently intensified by his drunkenness.

"Me too, Lou. We will go back to one of our houses later." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Louis threw his head back and once again over-the-top laughed in response.

A little while later, Kendall obviously tried her best to pass by very close to Harry, despite having
plenty of room to manoeuvre a little more modestly, but he once again completely blanked her and
focused on watching two people having a chugging contest. Half past eleven o'clock, time flowing
very quickly in a drunken state, was the point people started wandering from their groups as they
were too drunk to care anymore. Louis said he was going to head to the garden to chill out with the
other three, as they had been sitting out there for quite a while now, and Harry agreed and
mentioned he was going to go and grab another drink before he would join them.

He opened the fridge, too drunk to be phased by the couple heavily making out beside him, and
another girl heavily sobbing and being consoled by her friends at the other side of the kitchen. He
used a bottle opener to open a vodka and coke, leaning against the counter as he took a sip. He saw
someone wander in and open the fridge, turning his head slightly to see that it was Zayn, on his
own. He was clearly very drunk, swaying a little, and he shut the fridge and opened a beer he had
retrieved. He leant on the counter opposite Harry, the two of them far too drunk to note the
supposed rivalry between them.

"How's it going, Hazza?" Zayn asked, casually, and noting the heavy slur to his voice, he was very
fucking drunk. And that was the only reason he was even talking to Harry.

"Great." Harry replied, taking a long swig of his drink. "You?"

"Great." Zayn crowed. "Fucking smashed out of my face, so that's why I'm great."

He sharply hiccuped, urging Harry to sniff out a laugh.

"Yeah, I can tell."

He looked up to find Zayn looking deeply at him. He linked eyes, and found Zayn's gaze
intensifying. And then he just looked angry suddenly, eyebrows furrowing, looking Harry up and
down in disgust.

"Don't fucking talk to me. I don't wanna be your friend." Zayn spat, drunkenly, placing his beer
down and standing upright from the counter. He completely toppled to the side, very close to
losing his balance altogether (and very close to hitting his head on the corner of the counter as he
did, too), so Harry reached forward and caught Zayn so he regained his balance.

"Careful, mate. You've overdone it." Harry warned, despite being drunk himself. "Don't drink
anymore. Go get some fresh air."

"I'll drink what I fucking want." Zayn gritted, scooping his beer up once again and taking a few
gulps.

"Just be careful. You could have hit your head and really badly injured yourself."

Zayn downed the remainder of the bottle, placing the glass bottle on the countertop once again.

"I wish I did."

"Don't say that, Zayn."

"I'll say what I want. And, as I said, I'll drink what I want." Zayn completely stumbled into the
counter by the fridge, having to catch himself for a moment, and he opened the fridge once again
and reached for another drink. Harry gently grabbed his wrist.

"Mate, I'm being serious now. No more."

"Get off!" Zayn yelled, "Don't touch me!"

"You can't even stand, Zayn, it'd be stupid to drink more. Please listen to me."

Zayn ripped Harry's own drink from his hand, looking him dead in the eye as he downed the rest of
it, slamming the bottle down.

"Consider me st-stupid then." He stuttered out. He stumbled back against a space of wall by the
counters then, managing to catch himself on it, though his eyes rolled back and his head lulled
against the wall.

"Right, we need to get you sat down." Harry said. He had managed to sober up a slight bit just
 from Zayn's stupid actions. He placed an arm around Zayn's waist, him being completely
unresponsive now with his eyes shut, and guided the heavy, falling boy to an empty seat on a sofa
in the living room. "God, where are your mates? Where's Gigi?"

He couldn't spot any of them in amongst the crowd, which had gotten so rowdy that it was all
becoming too much for even a party-goer like Harry. He sat beside Zayn, who had almost
completely zoned out from drunkenness. Zayn allowed his head to fall onto Harry's shoulder. Harry
patted his leg and allowed himself to be a pillow.

"You're alright, mate." He reassured.

Out in the garden, Louis got up off the brick wall, with a slight stumble but quickly composing
himself.

"I'm going to find a toilet." He said, holding his head as he headed back into the house. The music
was painful now and he could no longer think very straight. He headed for the hallway, seeing
straight away that there was a toilet, but the door was open and somebody was throwing up in
there. Nice.

He headed for the staircase and stepped carefully up each one, a couple making out on the stairs,
the upstairs hallway not so crowded and just a few people sitting with some drinks. Louis tested a
couple of doors to find the bathroom, knowing this wasn't a brilliant idea deep down, though his
drunken side had taken over any logic. He found an empty bedroom first - no. Another bedroom
with a group doing drugs on the bed - no. And he was counting on his third try, the third of four
doors, to be the bathroom, but upon opening the door - no. It wasn't at all.

On the bed, in the centre of the room, was Gigi. Very blatantly having sex with a guy from another
class. Not Zayn.

Chapter End Notes

Sooo yeah :((( not nice I know

Also, when this story is over, any ideas what another one i write should be about? I've
always wanted to give a teacher student story a go. Maybe teacher Harry.
 56
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Upon Louis' brain making the connection of what he had just burst in on, he felt as though his heart
came close to leaping from his throat as he emitted a gasp. He saw everything, and he had no clue
what to do with the shock he experienced.

"Shit! Sorry!" He had exclaimed in panic. And the worst part was, Gigi didn't look panicked or
embarrassed by being caught, she merely tipped her head back with a laugh and made no efforts to
resolve the situation, or to fully stop.

Louis had never left a room so quickly in his life. The whole interaction must have only lasted five
seconds, but the awkwardness Louis was experiencing was likely to last a lot longer. He fought the
horrible feeling in his stomach and reminded himself that his bladder was practically burning from
needing a wee so badly, trying the fourth and final door which was luckily an empty bathroom.

He relieved himself, before washing his hands and catching himself on the edge of the sink. It was
now that he realised just how drunk he was, the room spinning lightly and his appearance
unkempt, pink-cheeked and exhausted. He left the bathroom, holding the side of his head once
again. As he headed for the staircase, the dreaded door opened, and Gigi drunkenly stumbled out.
She was fixing the bottom of her dress, evidently having just pulled it back on.

They linked eyes, but Louis was heading down the stairs before anything could be said. He
avoided the couple still making out on the stairs, managing to manoeuvre through the hordes of
drunk, dancing people in the ground floor hallway. He was looking for Harry's tall, distinguishable
build somewhere in the crowd, having had enough of the drunk feeling now and needing to maybe
vent to Harry about what he had seen too.

He dipped into the living room, spotting Harry on the sofa at the other side, Zayn sitting (well,
sleeping) beside him with his head on Harry's shoulder.

"Fuck." Louis whispered, knowing he couldn't exactly go and explain what he had seen now while
Zayn was sitting right there, whether he was conscious or not. It just didn't feel right.

He decided to head back to his friends instead, hoping a little more fresh air with his mates outside
might do him good.

Harry, on the other hand, had no choice but to stay in the overheated, loud, crowded living room,
considering he couldn't just shrug Zayn off and leave him there in his state.

He managed to use his free hand to pull his phone from his pocket, noting how blurry the screen
was to him which emphasised his previous alcohol consumption, and tapped onto his texts to shoot
one Liam's way.

Harry: Wherw are yiu?? Zatn is sleepinf on me

He hit send and rested his device on the arm of the sofa, sighing to himself. He saw Gigi enter the
room in the corner of his eye, holding a handheld mirror and applying a fresh layer of lipstick. He
made eye contact with her, and then her eyes flicked to her passed-out boyfriend, and she simply
rolled her eyes, Kendall emerging from the kitchen to grab her by the hand and pull her towards the
fridge for even more drinking.

"Lovely girls." Harry sarcastically breathed to himself.

His phone lit up beside him, displaying a text from Liam.

Liam: Just gone upstairs with Cheryl. You're pretty drunk mate from the typos!! Is Gigi not
around?

Harry gave up on the thought of Liam coming and assisting in Zayn's care, seeing as he was more
interested in going upstairs with his cheating girlfriend. He knew that his last resort was to wake
Zayn up, because he couldn't sit here all night; Zayn would probably be out until morning.

"Zayn." He firmly said, gently shaking him. Zayn groaned in response, hazily, but didn't stir.
"Zayn." Harry repeated.

"What?" Zayn groaned, sounding extremely groggy, and his eyes were still closed.

"Come on, man, you have to go home. I'll call you a taxi." Harry offered. He could hear how
jumbled his own speech was, a weird airy pressure in his head.

Zayn's eyes opened then, and he lifted his head up finally and turned to look at Harry. He then
brightly laughed, still completely out of it.

"Fuck me, I forgot I was here." He slurred.

"Time to go home," Harry instructed, "You've had way too much to drink."

"Just ten more minutes of dozing." Zayn said, his head tipping back to rest on the back of the sofa.

Harry deeply sighed, seeing that his phone had lit up once again, this time a text from Louis.

Louis: Really drynk and charliw is really out of it so callwd a taxi and going to his houaw sorry
love you see yuutomorrow xxxxxx

He couldn't be mad at Louis for leaving without him, he wanted Louis to go and get some rest if he
was drunk, and if Charlie was out of it too then it was for the best. He decided to just call a taxi
himself, for himself and Zayn, and they said it would be there in five minutes. He really wanted to
go and get one with Louis and Charlie, but knew he'd better make sure Zayn was okay.

"Taxi's coming in five minutes, Zayn." He loudly told him, seeing Zayn jump from sleep a little.

"Huh?"

"Taxi. Five minutes, so we better be up and standing outside."

"Are you drunk?" Zayn mumbled.

"Very." Harry sighed. "Yet I'm willing to help you. So please cooperate."

"I'm sorry for being such a dick to you." Zayn heavily slurred, eyes lulling shut. "All the time."

"Come on." Harry ignored the drunkenly insincere apology and shakily got up, hauling Zayn up
too by the arm. He managed to stumble towards the exit of the house all while guiding an even
shakier Zayn behind him, until they were standing outside at the end of the path.
"Where's Gigi?" Zayn mumbled. "Harry?"

"She didn't seem very concerned, wandered off earlier when she saw the state you're in." Harry
decided to be honest. "She'll be okay, she's with Kendall."

The taxi pulled up then, and Harry confirmed his name before helping Zayn in and getting in
behind him.

"Where to?" The driver asked. And Harry really did try and think of where Zayn lived, tried his
hardest to conjure up a route or address, but in his drunken state it proved impossible. So he instead
instinctively gave his own address, it being all he could think of. Zayn would have to crash there.

The ride was smooth (luckily, as Zayn probably would have thrown up if not), and Harry paid the
driver before getting out, jogging round to Zayn's side and helping him out before thanking the
driver and shutting the door. He hauled Zayn up the path and to the door, fishing in his pocket for
his key and quietly opening the door.

"Can you hold yourself up?" Harry asked, the strain of Zayn's entire body weight on him proving
too much now.

"Yeah." Zayn barely muttered. He was clearly somewhere else, mentally.

Harry quietly shut the front door, loosely guiding Zayn up the stairs so he didn't go tumbling down
them. He entered his room and let Zayn in behind him. Zayn's instincts seemed to kick in then, his
drunken self remembering having been there before, and he sat on the edge of Harry's bed and
kicked his shoes off.

Then, he simply collapsed backwards onto the bed, sprawled out across half of it. He was asleep
almost instantly. Harry rolled his eyes, kicking off his boots and removing his watch, placing his
phone on his bedside table before taking the other half of the bed and lying back on it.

He managed to fall asleep very, very quickly.

---

It was nice waking up naturally on Saturday morning, no early morning alarm for school or his
mum thumping on the door to get him up. But once the hangover struck in his head and he noted
the fact Zayn was sleeping on the bed beside him, that defeated the peaceful element quite
drastically. Fuck, his drunk self really hadn't thought through how awkward it would be waking up
sober and having to handle Zayn, who already hated him as it is.

He swung his legs over the edge of his bed, knowing sleeping in his jeans had probably left fabric
indents in his legs, groggily reaching for his phone. It was eleven twenty, and he already had a text
from Louis from half an hour ago.

Louis: Morning, I feel like shit hahaha, how did you get home??xx

His eyes flicked to Zayn, seeing that he was still deeply sleeping.

Harry: Morning. Take some paracetamol babe. I got a taxi with Zayn and he's sleeping in my
room currently so this is gonna be awkward .xx

He wondered how to go about this. It would probably be best to leave him to sleep, but then again
he was the kind of guy who could sleep until the evening if he was left to it, and Harry wanted to
get the awkwardness over with, pronto. Zayn was an especially moody person when anybody woke
him, but Harry knew he would have to.

"Zayn." He tried saying, steadily, despite knowing Zayn was the heaviest sleeper ever and it would
take more than a spoken word.

He leant over and gently nudged Zayn's shoulder, but Zayn merely groaned and rolled onto his
side, still fast asleep. Harry sighed, gripping Zayn gently on the shoulder and shaking him a little
harder.

"Zayn, mate. It's Harry, you're at my house. In case you're confused."

Zayn shot up into a sitting position upon realising what had been said, his hair a mess and sticking
up at the front, eyes barely open.

"Why the fuck am I here?" He croaked out, voice full of exhaustion. "Ah, my fucking head kills."

"We shared a taxi, I couldn't remember your address while I was drunk." Harry confessed, standing
awkwardly at the edge of the bed now.

Zayn shut his eyes and deeply exhaled, moving his feet (on which he still wore shoes) to the edge
of the bed and wiping his hands down his tired face.

"Why didn't I just go with Liam." He moodily said. "Plus, you didn't exactly have to wake me, I'm
exhausted. What's the time?"

"It's nearly half eleven. And Liam was too busy fucking Cheryl to notice that you were completely
off your face." Harry explained, equally moody, considering Zayn wasn't being too friendly about
the fact Harry had literally taken care of him last night.

Zayn's eyes were curiously scanning around Harry's room, as if he was trying to see whether
anything had changed in the couple of months they hadn't been friends. They stopped on the wall
to the right, which used to have an array of photos of their group on.

"Nice that you've thrown away all the old photos." He passive-aggressively commented.

"Says the one who doesn't even want to be mates anymore. Why do you care if you don't like me?"
Harry snidely returned.

Zayn seemed to struggle to find a response, swiftly changing the subject as he patted his pockets.

"Where's my phone?"

"Dunno." Harry bluntly said.

Zayn found his device on the floor, leaning down to scoop it up. He attempted to unlock it, rolling
his eyes to see that it was dead, so this wasn't possible.

"Fuck's sake. Can I borrow a charger?"

Harry wanted to literally facepalm. Zayn thought being a moody prick was fine, though wanted to
hang around to charge up his phone with Harry's charger.

"It's plugged in by the bed." Was Harry's yes, as he pointed to it. "But don't you want to get going?
Seeing as you don't want to associate with me anymore."

Zayn rolled his eyes as he plugged in his phone. "I can't exactly walk home with no battery.
Anything could happen."

"Like what?" Harry laughed out a ridiculed laugh. "You're not exactly the softest of people, I think
you'd be fine. And besides, I'm not sure my mum would be happy with you being here after you
stormed over to my house when you accused me of cheating with Gigi."

"Do I give a fuck? I need to charge my phone." Zayn snapped. "That doesn't mean I want to be
your mate, nor does it mean I'm looking for an invitation."

"You're such an arsehole." Harry said beneath his breath, as he opened up his wardrobe.

"What was that?"

"I said you're an arsehole." Harry loudly proclaimed, pulling a new pair of jeans off a hanger
harshly, so the hanger snapped. "Getting Louis to deliver a message to me, too cowardly to do it
yourself."

"Cowardly?" Zayn huffed out a mocking laugh, getting to his feet and storming over to Harry,
getting right in his face in a rage. "You think this is cowardly, huh? You think I won't knock you
clean out just because I'm in your house?"

"There's no need to get aggressive." Harry spat.

Zayn shoved Harry a little at the chest. "You think you're so perfect," another shove, "that you're
this sweet guy, not like me and the others," another shove, "when really I'd hate to be like you.
You're nothing like me, and I'm glad of that!" An extra hard shove.

Harry caught himself against the wall, jaw tensing in anger, but restraining himself from physically
retaliating, using his words instead.

"You've changed!" He exclaimed. "Remember how you used to be? Now you're so arrogant, so
horrible to everyone for no reason! You're a bully, everyone's scared of you, Zayn!"

"I know." Zayn's voice had cracked on the second word, and in an instant he had broken down into
tears, shocking Harry. He had swiftly turned away as the first tear fell, his balled fist against his
mouth, squeezing his hand hard as if to stop himself from showing emotion.

"Zayn, are you crying?" He softly asked. Not in a taunting way, but gently. Caring.

"No." Zayn piped out, back still to Harry, though it was very clear in just that one word that he was.
Zayn never cried, it was something even Harry had rarely seen in their many, many years of
friendship. This was serious.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for getting angry." Harry placed a hand on Zayn's shoulder, but it was harshly
shrugged away.

Zayn didn't look at him, moving to rip his phone off charge and head straight for the door. Harry
saw him wipe a tear with the back of his hand, but he decided he would just let him walk away, he
didn't want to be seen in tears.

A moment later, he heard the front door close. And he drew in a very deep breath, taking in what
had just happened.

---
Harry and Louis decided to go for a "hangover lunch", and Harry had picked him up from Charlie's
at one o'clock, and took them to a little café on the high street. They ordered their food, sitting in
the corner, and Harry and Louis both deeply exhaled in unison, before laughing at that.

"What's your sigh about?" Louis giggled.

"Zayn. And yours?"

"Gigi." Louis admitted, nervously nibbling his lower lip. Harry furrowed his eyebrows, seeming to
immediately forget Zayn for a moment.

"Gigi? What about her?"

"Gosh, it's a long story. Kind of." Louis rolled his eyes. "And I don't know how it's going to affect
things. But at the party, I went upstairs to find a toilet…"

"Bad move at house parties." Harry laughed.

"Yeah, I discovered that when I walked in on her having sex with this random guy!" Louis had
lowered the volume of his voice and leant over the table a little.

Harry's face erupted in shock. "Wait, what? Are you serious? Are you sure you couldn't have
imagined it had happened when you were drunk?"

"Nope, it happened. And I'm scarred," Louis breathed a laugh, "So, yeah. It's a bit shit for Zayn.
What's he done to annoy you?"

"God, I can't believe she's done that. And with Zayn, it was this morning after waking him up. We
could have had a really bad fight. We argued and he was shoving me, luckily I wasn't physical
back. But basically he ended up breaking down in tears after I'd told him how much of a bully he's
become." He explained, taking a deep breath to follow. "Then he just left my house really quickly, I
couldn't even question it."

"I feel kind of bad for Zayn now." Louis admitted. "It sounds like he's really putting on a front,
probably to keep Gigi around. And he has no clue she's cheating."

"He went from angry to sad so fast. He's always used anger to mask sadness though, it's just rare to
see him cry. It hurt me, to be honest." Harry frowned, as the waitress appeared with their toasties,
and they thanked her before she walked away.

They started eating, a moment's silence before Louis continued. "I wonder if Gigi will say anything
to me at school, try to silence me or something. Or whether she even remembers me walking in,
she was pretty drunk."

"I was sitting in the living room with Zayn and saw her come in and completely ignore him. I bet
she had just finished with the guy upstairs." Harry frowned. "That's both of them being cheated on
now. Hell, I was probably cheated on too, looking at how those girls are."

"I can't see why anybody would cheat on you." Louis rectified. "And besides, you're better off
without her."

"Definitely, if that's with you." Harry smiled.

Yeah, Harry was just fine with how things had turned out, with smiley Louis sitting across from
him. Things were perfect on the relationship front.
---

"God, I really don't want to go in. Our table is right behind Gigi and Zayn's too." Louis groaned, as
he and Harry reached the physics classroom door on Monday morning. "I have no clue whether she
will say anything."

"Just act like nothing's happened now, unless she explicitly lets you know that she remembers.
Come on." Harry opened up the classroom door, holding it open for Louis to come in behind him.

They moved through the room, which was filling with students, and Harry kept his gaze down until
he and Louis were sitting in their seats. He was then able to look at Zayn, because he was sitting
behind him, so he wouldn't see anyway.

He was retrieving his notepad and a pencil from his bag, while Gigi was busy gossiping with
Cheryl. Harry watched as Zayn opened the notepad, which already had a few light sketches in. He
had always been amazing at drawing and art generally, and the sketches Harry could see were
amazingly detailed. One of a rose with water droplets on the petals, and another of a snake. He
began lightly shading the snake one, and then Gigi was turning to him and eyeing it.

"What are you doing?" Harry heard her ask Zayn.

"Drawing." Zayn said.

"That's dumb." Gigi snickered. "Put it away, babe. Drawing is for girls."

Harry wanted to interject and tell Gigi how wrong she was, how Zayn could do what he wanted.
But he kept his mouth shut, and Zayn shut the notepad and slid it back into his backpack, as the
teacher came into the room.

"Wow." Louis breathed in disbelief, having evidently seen it too.

"Yeah, how lovely of her." Harry quietly responded, only loud enough for Louis' ears. "Zayn didn't
even retaliate. I reckon he's just emotionally drained at the moment."

A little while into the lesson, the part where general chitchat was allowed as everybody discussed
the topic, Gigi dramatically turned in her chair, her hair flicking over her shoulder. She blatantly
stared at Louis, a wide smile on her face.

"Hi, Louis!" She greeted, waving dramatically.

Louis furrowed his eyebrows in response, with a sarcastically low energy wave back, and a bland
"hi."

She then let the look linger for a moment, before turning away once again to converse with Cheryl
and Kendall once again.

"Yeah, she remembers." Louis breathed to Harry, who hummed in agreement.

"Definitely. I don't know why she's acting so upbeat." He rolled his eyes. "It's like she's proud she
did it and is showing off, as Zayn's sat right there."

"Maybe. It's horrible." Louis sighed.

Harry caught Liam looking at him in the corner of his eye ten minutes or so later, linking eyes with
 him. And Liam gestured to his phone, so Harry caught on and got his out to see he had a text from
him.

Liam: Do u know what's up wiv Zayn?? Hes been quiet all day and really not himself.

Even Liam had caught on. Was Zayn suddenly acting glum following what happened at Harry's
place? Perhaps he had experienced an emotional shift once it dawned on him that what Harry had
said was true.

Harry: We argued Saturday after he stayed at mine. He ended up crying. It's not like him:/

Liam: Shit seriously??? Wow something must have really gotten to him….was it a bad argument?

Harry: Pretty bad I guess. Though it's been bad for ages sadly.

Liam turned and sadly smiled at Harry, and that was the end of their conversation.

At the end of the lesson, as everyone packed up and started to leave, Harry made eye contact with
Zayn. It was for a mere three seconds, but the sadness in Zayn's eyes was unshakeable. His bad boy
facade was beginning to crack.

Chapter End Notes

There probably isn't a whole lot of this fic left now :( I don't have a specific chapter
number it will end on, but there are a couple more things to cover. Including them
coming out: which, to relieve some of you, they will do themselves, against the odds!

It's been my favourite fic to write EVER

Thanks for the lovely comments. Xxx

Ps what do you think will happen with zayn and gigi in coming chapters
 57
Chapter Notes

Pretty big

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Walking to their music lesson towards the end of the day, through the corridors, Harry spotted a
couple, a boy and girl from a couple years below them, standing near the lockers. They were
closely embracing one another, a few light kisses, smiling largely. Harry sighed as they continued
walking, and Louis was already frowning in understanding as he turned to him.

"I know." Louis sympathised. "It would be so nice to freely do that."

"I think I'm ready, you know?" Harry verbalised, causing Louis to turn to him dramatically, as they
left the main school building to head towards the arts block. "Really? What do you mean?"

"I'm dying to come out. For people to just know already." Harry admitted. "I mean, what is there to
lose? I'm ready to show you off and for people to know we're together."

"Are you not worried about people being funny about it? Gossiping?"

"As if I haven't had enough of that lately, Lou," Harry lightly rolled his eyes, "Nothing can live up
to how shit the situation has been with Miss Bridges. And besides, I'd be happy with them
knowing, I wouldn't care if they talked."

"We've got to think of some sort of strategy first, the best way to go about it. Not too dramatic, I
think." Louis thought aloud. "And anyway, would you want to tell your parents first?"

Shit, Harry hadn't exactly thought of that. His mum seemed to be mad at him about everything
lately, so would it really be best to say something soon? She was the sort of parent who wanted the
traditional life: a son with a future wife and kids. Grandchildren. Harry was pretty stuck there.

"I don't know how to even begin explaining it to my mum," He confessed, just as they reached the
arts building and entered. "But I think it would be best if my parents knew before anyone at school.
It feels like that's the way it should be. And I know I'll have Gemma on my side, too."

They entered the music classroom, where everybody else was getting settled down. It was their
first music lesson since the Miss Bridges scandal, as the classes had been temporarily suspended
while they found a replacement teacher. Harry and Louis sat in their seats too, as a tall, slender man
in his fifties came in. A lot better than a flirtatious middle-aged teacher, for sure.

Harry was praying to God the incident with Miss Bridges wasn't brought up, as he already had
some of his classmates eyeing him and whispering amongst themselves, but this is exactly what the
man ended up addressing.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Mr. Larkins, your new music teacher." He greeted. "I will be the
replacement for Miss Bridges, I understand there was a bit of a mishap with a student from another
class."
Cheryl (not so kindly) chipped in. "It was this class. It was Harry Styles." And then she pointed at
him, with a sickeningly innocent smile.

Harry shot her a hateful glare, while Mr Larkins was very quick to apologise.

"Oh, I do apologise. Let's move on." He swiftly changed the subject, a few snickers of laughter
around the room from it being brought up once again, and Harry wanted to literally disintegrate.
Louis soothingly patted his leg beneath the table.

"Right, so your next project is to analyse a song of your choice lyrically, and you'll be working in
pairs for this." Mr Larkins continued. Harry smiled to himself, very ready to claim Louis as his
partner, when Mr Larkins continued. "I've assigned you partners already, as I've decided to go with
a theme of one girl and one boy per pair."

Oh great, so no chance in hell he could be coincidentally assigned with Louis anyway. Harry rolled
his eyes as names were read off. When it got to Louis' name, it was evident it was a day of bad
luck.

"Louis Tomlinson and… is it pronounced Gigi?"

"Yeah." Gigi moodily snapped, rolling her eyes. Louis had tensed a little by Harry's side. Harry was
luckily put with a sweet girl from their class whom he had never really spoken to, but he felt for
Louis, he really did.

"You'll be okay." He whispered to him. "Maybe she will mention it, and you can see what she
wants to do about it? Maybe she doesn't even care."

"It's going to be so awkward," Louis groaned, as students began getting to their feet to pair up and
head to the practice rooms. "Wish me luck. I'll see you soon."

Harry met with the shy girl he had been paired with, who couldn't really look at him, while Louis
sheepishly wandered over to Gigi. She was idly checking her nails, boredly looking up at him as he
reached her.

"Let's go, then." She heavily sighed, putting Louis down a little. Not such a nice reaction to having
to work with him. He trailed awkwardly after her, noting that poor Niall had been paired with
Kendall and was heading off with her.

Gigi pushed open a practice room, entering it and letting the heavy door fall on Louis and hit his
shoulder, which he pretended didn't hurt as he stepped in and shut it behind himself. Gigi flung
herself down onto the piano chair, peering up at Louis, who nervously leant against the wall. She
was looking at him differently now, interrogatively, it seemed.

"Let's cut the bullshit. You walked in on me on Friday night." She immediately brought it up,
which had been Louis' fear.

"Uh… yeah, I'm sorry. I did say sorry at the time, I don't know if you heard--"

"You're not going to tell Zayn, are you?" She cut him off, looking him squarely in the eye. "You're
far too sweet of a person, I can tell."

"Uh, I…"

"Have you told Harry?" She pushed. "I bet you have, haven't you?"
"No." Louis lies, even though it wasn't like him to do so. "I haven't told anybody."

"Somehow I don't believe you. You and Harry are super close, you must have said something." She
quizzed.

"No," Louis repeated. "I haven't said a word."

"Don't tell Zayn. Please." She firmly added. "We're happy together, we don't need this ruining
anything. I was so drunk I barely remember what I even did."

"Yet you remember me walking in." Louis muttered under his breath. He never would have
thought he would be brave enough, but now it was out in the open and Gigi had heard it.

"Don't tell him." She put strong emphasis on each word, making no effort to deny what Louis had
said. "Do you understand?"

It wasn't like she had anything to hold against him like Cheryl did. No blackmail, no bribe to keep
his lips sealed. But he nodded anyway, knowing it was best to comply for now.

"Okay. I won't say anything."

"Okay." Gigi sighed, and they finally began the boring work for the next hour before they could
finally go home.

---

"I really want to tell Zayn." Harry admitted.

He was driving Louis home after school, using it as an opportunity to go over everything.

"It would be good if he knew. It's just, Gigi believed me when I said I haven't told a single person,
especially you." Louis explained again, even though he had gone over it previously. "If he found
out in any way, she'd know it was me who said it."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to put you in that situation. It was the way she spoke to Zayn earlier that
irritated me, calling his artwork dumb and saying it was for girls. She slated him for a talent of
his." Harry lightly shook his head in disagreement. "She should support him."

They soon pulled up to Louis' house, where Harry switched off the engine and stuck his lower lip
out in a humorous sulk.

"Are you sure you can't come to my house for a while?"

"I wish I could," Louis frowned, patting his thigh. "I'm helping my mum sort the house out a little,
Daisy and Phoebe's ballet teacher is coming over for dinner."

"Can I help in any way?" Harry asked. Louis softly smiled, reaching over and stroking his thumb
over Harry's cheek.

"You're so sweet. But we'll be okay, Harry, you go home and relax. I'll text you."

"Okay." Harry agreed, and they leant in and kissed a few times, before Louis unplugged his
seatbelt and got out of the car.

"Hey," Louis softly said, "I love you."

"I love you too." Harry widely grinned. "Catch you later, sexy."

Louis sniffed out a laugh and slammed the door shut. Harry made sure he got into his house fine
before driving off with two farewell beeps of his horn.

He was pulling onto his drive not too long later, switching his engine off and heading inside. He
kicked off his shoes by the door and headed straight upstairs, knowing his mum probably didn't
want to see him, considering she still hadn't addressed the situation in which she got mad and Harry
stormed out.

He fell back onto his bed with an exhale, casually scrolling on his phone and checking his social
media for the day. Not too long later, there was a light knock at his door, and he was surprised to
hear his mum's voice on the other side.

"Harry, can I come in?"

"Yeah." He responded, sliding his phone into his pocket and sitting up as his mum opened the door
and came in, shutting it behind herself.

"A letter came for you, by the way. I haven't looked at it, don't worry." She handed it to him, and
he thanked her.

Just from her stance, and the way she perched herself on the edge of the bed, he could tell she
wasn't just here to give him a letter he could have picked up himself.

She deeply sighed. "I wanted to talk about the little disagreement we had not long ago."

'Disagreement' was an interesting way to word it. Because from Harry's point of view, it was more
of a matter of her ripping into him for something beyond his control.

"Right." He bluntly said.

"Don't be like that," She sighed, "You should be able to understand why I was upset."

"Okay, I get that it's not exactly a common occurrence for your son to be on the news for
something like that, but that didn't mean you had to express how much of a womaniser you think I
am." Harry aired the main thing that had been on his mind: the fact his mum thought that was of
him. "Even when I left for the party on Friday, you told me not to bring any girls home, as if you
just expected that of me."

His mum looked a little taken aback, though guilty all the same.

"I'm sorry if that offended you. But you know that I know you best, and that you are a bit of a
ladies' man." Anne admitted. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What exactly?" Harry snapped. "You really don't know me if you think that's the real me."

"I've found someone for you, Harry." Anne announced, putting on a smile. "A lovely girl whose
Mum I met at yoga. I showed her a photo of you and she thinks you're very attractive. She's a pretty
girl too, as pretty as Kendall."

Harry hugely winced on the inside at his mother's words. Well, shit. He knew she would eventually
do this, find somebody equal to Kendall for him, so as not to tarnish her own reputation. She
wanted her perfect son to have a perfect little relationship with a perfect girl.
"Mum." He sighed, shutting his eyes. "Why would you set me up without even mentioning it?"

"She's a wonderful girl, Harry! A blonde, this time. And she plays the violin too in the city
orchestra. She's very bright, too." Anne beamed just thinking about the girl. "You would look
amazing together. And it would mean you're focused on a committed relationship again."

Harry ran a hand down his face in stress, breathing out a laugh which lacked any humour
whatsoever.

"Mum, I don't know what to tell you."

"That you'll take her out sometime soon? She doesn't live too far away, you could take her into
town and get to know her." Anne suggested, looking hopeful.

"No, you don't understand." He groaned, eyes clenched shut.

"What don't I understand? You've told me plenty of times how over Kendall you are now, is it not
time to move on and build something new?"

"I'm already in a relationship." He blurted out, before he could even stop it. It was what he knew he
had to say, otherwise his mother would persist and persist until he went on a date with this other
girl.

Anne furrowed her eyebrows, head tilting aside in bafflement. "What? Since when? Why haven't
you mentioned her?"

Her. This was going to be hard.

"It's a lot harder than you think."

"How can it be? If you're seeing someone, it's pretty easy to tell your family about it. Is she from
school?" Anne quizzed.

"I can't say anything."

"Why? Don't be childish, Harry. Is it serious?"

"It's very serious. But you wouldn't understand."

"Why ever not? It's just a relationship, Harry. Who is she?"

Harry's head fell back onto his headboard, a shaky breath leaving his lips and his eyes shutting. "I
can't say."

"It's not a girl who's with somebody else is it?" Anne gasped in disappointment. "Gigi? Was Zayn
worried for a reason."

"No, it's not Gigi!" Harry argued, offended she would think he would do that. "It's not somebody in
a relationship. I wouldn't do that."

"Then why can't you say? Is it a girl with a bad reputation, or something?"

"No, you wouldn't get it."

"Why not? This is getting silly now, Harry, I don't see why you can't just tell me."
 "It's too hard to."

"I'm your mother, it shouldn't be hard at all. You told me about you and Kendall very early on, and
that didn't seem very difficult for you."

"Because it was easy admitting to that." Harry groaned. "You really wouldn't get this, Mum. Trust
me."

"Why wouldn't I get it? From what I'm gathering, this must be a girl you're embarrassed to admit to
dating."

"It's not that I'm embarrassed," Harry sighed, "Look, forget I said anything."

"How can I just forget? You're in a serious relationship and you don't even want to tell me the girl's
name!"

"It's not a girl." Harry barely whispered, so quiet that she hadn't even heard.

"What? Speak up, Harry, I can't hear you."

"It's not a girl!" He exclaimed, his frustration getting the best of him. "Okay?!"

There was a heavy silence as she gaped at him, Harry's shaky breathing and fast racing heard.
Anne's eyebrows furrowed slightly, mouth ajar.

"What?" She asked in a quiet voice. A shocked one.

"Sorry." He said, though it lacked real sincerity.

Anne got to her feet, her eyes still trained in disappointment on her son, before she finally ripped
them away and turned to leave his room. With a very hard slam of the door.

Harry had a lump in his throat.

Chapter End Notes

More to come. Sorry if you're upset about Anne's reaction but she is mostly shocked.

Might update twice tonight!! And we will see Anne's reaction in full
 58
Chapter Notes

Update #2 of the evening;)

So read chapter 57 before this, if you haven't already!! As ive updated twice tonight
xx

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry sharply sniffed, the lump in his throat transforming into a stifled sob as he heard his mum
angrily thumping down the stairs and into the living room. Distant exclamations from downstairs
made Harry aware that she was immediately telling Robin what she had just been told, and it was
inaudible but he knew she did not sound happy.

He felt a tear slide down his face, breathing erratic as he grabbed his phone and instinctively
started calling Louis. It went through to voicemail, which made Harry remember then that he was
likely busy helping his mum, as he said he would be. He sighed and gave up on the call, leaving a
text message instead as he continued to softly sob.

Harry: I ended up telling my mum and she hates me

He hit send and put his phone back down, rolling onto his stomach on his bed and sticking his face
in his pillow. He was trying to control his breathing, as it was so shaky, inhaling and exhaling
slowly. He didn't want to cry over this, he knew he hadn't done anything wrong, yet again.

A few moments later, light knocking on his door. He didn't respond, continuing to steady his
breathing as his face stayed buried in his pillow. The knock repeated, and he heard Robin's voice.

"Harry, mate?" He sounded very concerned, a gentle tone. "Can I come in?"

He clenched his eyes shut harder as his breathing techniques had failed, and his eyes felt hot as
more tears seeped out. He didn't say anything, knowing that if he even tried then his voice would
crack and he would feel stupid.

"H?" Robin persisted, knocking quietly once again. "If you don't say anything, I'm going to take
that as a yes to come in?"

Harry didn't know what he wanted, whether he wanted him to come in, but the tone of Robin's
voice did comfort him. So he stayed silent, granting Robin's wish to come in. He gently pushed the
door open, Harry heard from his face-down position, and shut it behind himself as he came in. He
heard Robin sigh, more of a sad sigh to see Harry so upset, and then he felt the weight of Robin
sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Your mum told me." He began, sounding a little awkward, like he had never had to deal with
something like this before. "Is what she said true?"

Harry stayed silent of words, simply crying a little bit heavier, digging his face further into the
pillow. Robin patted his back.
"Look," Robin said, "it's rare to see you in a state like this. I can tell it's really hurt you, how she
reacted."

Harry nodded against the pillow, which Robin saw and took a mental note of.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Harry: I support you no matter what. What you've told her
doesn't bother me." He softly explained. "Like when you ended things with Kendall. Whatever
makes you happy, mate, I'm all for it."

"Thank you." Harry shakily muffled against the pillow, barely audible.

"Are you going to look at me? Come on, silly." Robin laughed, ruffling Harry's hair.

Harry lifelessly sniffed out a laugh and sat up, revealing his pink-cheeked face and tearful eyes. He
was immediately wrapped in a hug by Robin, which he lovingly reciprocated.

"Thank you." He repeated once again, from the bottom of his heart. "So much. I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't apologise. You've not done anything wrong, I'm not viewing you any differently than I
did before." Robin assured, as they broke the hug and Harry looked down at his slightly trembling
hands. He was never like this, so worked up.

"Mum hates me." He quietly said, voice full of sadness.

"She doesn't hate you. Remember when you broke up with Kendall, and it took her a while to
adjust," He reminded, "It's just like that again. You know what your mum's like, she has this idea
set out of what she wants your life to look like, so anything that steps outside of that is bound to
upset her."

"Yeah, you're right." Harry agreed, sighing and wiping his eyes with his sleeves.

"Does Gem know? She's out with friends at the moment."

"Yeah, she knows." Harry confessed. "She found out a while back."

He certainly wasn't going to unearth how Gemma had found out, because that would be rather
awkward, to say the least.

"Who's the boy then?" Robin asked, smiling. "I hope he's making you very happy, mate."

"Louis. And he makes me extremely happy." Harry smiled the moment the name left his lips, and
Robin's eyebrows rose.

"Ah! We've met Louis a couple of times, haven't we? He's a lovely guy, Harry, I'm very glad to
hear you're happy." He patted Harry's shoulder. "I'll let you know if your mum calms down, and I'll
talk to her. Tell her how happy you seem with Louis."

"Thank you so much, Robin. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"No problem. Whatever makes you happy, buddy, is my priority." He said, standing up and
grinning. "Take a rest or something, chill out. I'm a text away, I'll be downstairs."

"Thank you." Harry once again said, maybe for the one millionth time, it seemed. And Robin left
him with a smile, exiting his bedroom and heading off downstairs.

Well then, that was half good and half bad. At least it wasn't all bad.
He had finally got his breathing steady and calmed down, thanks to Robin. He sat back against his
headboard, his eyes falling onto the letter his mum had given him when she had come into the
room. He scooped it in and slid his thumb beneath the seal, ripping it open and sliding the paper
out from within. He raised his eyebrows to see that it was a cheque from the government, and he
had quite honestly forgotten he was even going to get it.

Six thousand four hundred and seventy pounds.

Wow. He looked it over for a moment, before grabbing a pen from his backpack. He flipped over
the cheque, writing on the back.

PAY TO LOUIS WILLIAM TOMLINSON

Before signing underneath, completely endorsing the cheque to Louis. He wanted Louis to cash that
cheque in, all of it, and have it for his family. He did not even hesitate. He slid it into his backpack
and planned on giving it to Louis tomorrow.

Speaking of Louis, a text message came in from him right as Harry looked at his phone.

Louis: What??? Are you okay:( xx

Harry tapped out a response.

Harry: Robin calmed me down. I didn't plan to tell my mum so soon, she was talking about having
found this girl for me to date and wasn't taking no for an answer so I ended up blurting it out .xx

Louis: Better sooner than later as now she will begin to gradually adjust to it. I'm sorry if she
reacted badly, I'm glad Robin calmed you down xx

He was so lucky to have Robin. He probably would have still been blubbering like a baby, had
Robin not been around to console him. He couldn't ask for a better parental figure.

---

Harry had avoided his mother for the rest of the evening and into the next morning. He had jumped
in the shower, dried off and gotten ready before leaving for school all without being spotted. He
was going to pick Louis up today, and he arrived five minutes earlier than intended, parking up,
grabbing his bag and getting out. He headed up to the door and rang the doorbell, and Jay answered
with a cup of tea in her hand.

"Harry, Love," She beamed, but she had a bit of a sad tone to her voice. "Louis told me how brave
you were, coming out to your mum. And that she didn't take it too well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Oh, that's fine, she will have to face it at some point." Harry waved a hand, completely under-
playing just how upset he was deep down. "I just wanted to drop something off to you, before me
and Louis leave."

"Oh?" Jay asked, a little confused as Harry shook off his backpack and pulled out the cheque. He
smiled and handed it to her. "Just a little bit of money I've recently acquired. I wanted your family
to have it, I've written an endorsement on the back so Louis can cash it in."

Jay's eyes widened as she slowly took it from him and read over it.

"No." She said, firmly, attempting to hand it back. "That's not just a little bit of money, it's over six
thousand pounds, Harry!"
"I want you to have it. Truth be told, I don't need it." He insisted, refusing to take it back. "Please."

"You already paid so much towards our bills recently, that hasn't been forgotten! I can't take this
from you. Is this what you got from the incident at school?"

"Please take it. I'm not going to use it, I want you to have it." Harry said, skirting around the
question on what it was for. "It'll help you guys out."

"You're an angel." Jay breathed out, in pure disbelief. "I'm never going to stop thanking you for
how lovely you've been to our family, Harry."

"You're very welcome." Harry grinned. Jay pulled into a tight hug, and he appreciatively rubbed
her back. As the embrace broke, his eyes flicked up behind her in the hallway to see Louis coming
out of the kitchen. He smiled widely when he spotted Harry and headed over, bag on his shoulder,
and it turned into more of a baffled look when he spotted what his mum was holding.

"What's that?" He inquired.

"Harry's just given our family all of his compensation money for the school incident." Jay
informed him. "Almost six and a half thousand pounds."

"Harry!" Louis gasped out, lightly shaking his head. "That's so much money."

"I know. So put it to good use." He smirked, his way of verbalising that he wasn't going to accept it
back. "Are you ready to go?"

Louis was still staring at him in disbelief. "My goodness, you're ridiculously generous. Yeah, I'm
ready."

"Thank you, Harry. A million times. I will repay you, I promise." Jay called after them, and Harry
turned over his shoulder with a cheeky grin.

"Louis is my repayment."

She laughed brightly, waving the two of them off and heading indoors.

"I can't believe you and your loveliness." Louis expressed, as they hopped into Harry's car. "You
had the hardest day ever yesterday too, coming out to your mum and her taking it badly, yet you're
still generous enough to give all of that money."

"No more mentions of the money," He smirked, starting the engine. "You're all very welcome. End
of discussion."

Louis giggled and placed his hand on Harry's, which was on the gearstick, stroking over the skin as
Harry pulled out into the road.

Later on at school, during lunch time, Harry analysed Zayn from across the school canteen. He
was still being tremendously reserved, nothing like himself. His mates were all upbeat and
enjoying their conversation, but Zayn just looked mentally exhausted. Harry had definitely
provoked it after their argument on Saturday morning, that was clear. But he was still trying to
figure out whether or not that was a good thing.

Harry spotted Liam looking his way. Then Liam was making a gesture, as if to ask if he could
come over to Harry, and Harry nodded, seeing as his own mates were occupied having their own
conversation anyway. Liam stood up and headed over, Kendall and Co. eyeing him in a
judgemental manner for doing so, but Liam didn't care. He leant in to say something to Harry.

"Can we go and chat?" He asked, nudging his head towards the exit of the canteen. Harry glanced
at his friends, who didn't seem too phased by Liam being stood by their table.

"Yeah." Harry agreed, scooting his chair back and grabbing his bag, ready to leave. "Guys, I'll
meet you before English class."

"Okay, see you later." Louis smiled at him. It was evident he didn't want Harry to go, yet was all
for it if it meant he was potentially mending things with Liam.

Harry casually waved to his mates as he headed to the exit of the room. He could hear calls from
Kendall's table, feminine voices, likely asking Liam what he was doing walking off with Harry, but
Liam just ignored them for now.

"What's up?" Harry quizzed, as they strolled the corridor.

"Well, firstly, it's Zayn. He's still strangely quiet, he's barely even said a word to me, and I
definitely haven't done anything wrong." He worried. "It's like he's this completely different
person. He's all introspective and shit."

"Maybe he's undergoing a positive change," Harry suggested, "Realising how much of a dick he's
become. Because you've obviously still got your nice side, wanting to be my mate again. Zayn's
just won't show, but I know it's still in there."

"Yeah, you might be right. He's been doing some more drawing too, especially when he's extra
quiet. I think it calms him down. Gigi doesn't like him doing it though." Liam noted.

"I have no idea why," Harry rolled his eyes, as they both took a seat on a bench by the outdoor
water fountain. "He's just drawing, it's great for somebody to be talented and creatively expressive.
She should find that attractive."

"Yeah, too right." Liam exhaled and stretched his arms out overhead and his legs in front of him at
the same time, before relaxing. "There was another thing I wanted to go over, as well. I would ask
Zayn about it, but he's going through something now so I know I wouldn't get the most valuable
opinion."

"Yeah, what is it?" Harry asked. He was all ears.

"Well, we're all heading for our twenties now," Liam began, "And soon enough school will be over
and everyone will be on the road to growing up properly and going their separate ways. And I've
been with Cheryl for so many years now, and I've been dwelling over that for a little while."

Harry had no clue which way this was going, but he was hoping with everything in him that
somehow Liam would miraculously decide that he wanted his relationship with Cheryl to end when
school did, leaving it there and leaving himself open for future relationships. He would have
crossed his fingers for this, had it not been so obvious if he did.

"Yeah, you've definitely been together a long time. So what are you thinking?"

"It sounds stupid," Liam breathed out a chuckle, "But I was just thinking… should I propose to her
soon? I mean, I think we're pretty perfect for each other, and she's so sweet and so loyal to me. I
think she's the girl I want to marry, and I think we've been together long enough to know."
 Shiiit. Harry wanted to curse at the top of his lungs and dive into the water fountain to avoid
confronting this. What in the world was he meant to say? He was really being put on the spot now.
Liam had literally mentioned that he thought Cheryl was loyal - he had no idea what the truth was.

"Umm…" He trailed off in thought, scratching the back of his neck even though it wasn't itching.
"I really don't know what to say to that."

"Why not?" Liam asked, sounding curious. "Do you not think she would say yes?"

What the hell was he supposed to do here? If he blurted out now that Cheryl was cheating, and
therefore he shouldn't propose, then he would storm right in there in an emotional state to question
her. And she would immediately know that Harry had told her. And she would tell everybody
about him and Louis. But nor could he condone Liam proposing. He couldn't see a best mate
committing to someone who was a dirty cheat.

"It's not that I don't think she'd say yes," Harry drew in a deep breath, "Just… are you sure you're
ready for marriage? It's a big thing, Li. I know a lot of couples do it young, but you really need to
think this over."

"I have been for a while. I think it would be a good call. But from your advice, what would you say
I should do?"

He had such a deep set, burning urge to tell him everything, from seeing Cheryl and the Andrew
cheater guy in the park, to the blackmail she was holding over him. But he knew he couldn't just
yet. As much as he wanted to rescue his mate from his crashing relationship.

"I'd say wait a little longer." Was the advice he gave. It was all he could really say. "People change
after they leave school, maybe the Cheryl you've learnt is going to end up being completely
different to who she will end up being. You might regret committing so early if she's not who you
think."

"She is who I think she is." Liam giggled, seeming to have found Harry's wording funny. "But,
okay. Maybe I should hold off just a little bit longer, until I can maybe drop Cheryl some hints
about my plans, see how she reacts."

"Good call, mate." Harry smiled. "You never know what the future holds."

Hopefully it held a breakup between the two, because he couldn't stand knowing his mate was
being mistreated behind his back. He couldn't let Liam propose, he'd have to do anything in his
power to stop it before he himself was ready to come out, and he could enlighten Liam on what
was really going on. Sure, it was going to be hard to do so, and he did feel a little selfish knowing
he was holding off from saying anything purely so he wouldn't be outed, but he just needed time.

In time, he wanted to rescue Liam and Zayn. They truly deserved better. And for them to be the
guys they used to be, the guys Harry first became best mates with.

Chapter End Notes

I'm going to start tying the loose ends of the story up real soon as it eventually comes
to a close.
What is liam thinking :O
 59
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Once Harry had rejoined his mates and they were walking to their final lesson, maths, he
immediately informed Louis what he and Liam had discussed.

"He's on about proposing to Cheryl," He stressed, "And asked for my opinion, I had no clue what
to say! I feel so bad hiding it from him but all I could do for now was suggest he waits a little
longer before deciding."

Louis exhaled through pursed lips, "That's a really tough one. But you said the best thing you could
have, given the circumstances. Hopefully it's not too long until he can know the truth."

"And Zayn, about Gigi. Although there's nothing actually stopping us from telling him, no
blackmail behind it." Harry commented. "Except I'm not supposed to know anyway, and I wouldn't
put it on you to be the one to tell him on your own. I don't think he's in the mental space to know
now, anyway."

"The time will come," Louis sighed. "Gosh, we really do get ourselves into some drama."

"The world does that for us, it's hard to dodge it at this point." Harry rolled his eyes. "I don't want to
sit next to Kendall for an hour now. Nor do I want to go home after the lesson and see my mum,
I'm dreading that."

"You'll survive both, trust me." Louis lovingly patted his arm, as they reached the maths classroom,
catching the door behind Niall. "Speak to you at the end."

"I love you." Harry smirked, the classroom loud enough and his volume low enough to go
unnoticed, yet Louis still cutely widened his eyes and glanced around to make sure nobody had
seen.

"I love you too." He secretly mouthed, before leaving Harry with a hauntingly loving look and
turning away to head to his seat.

Harry was smiling to himself like an idiot as he took a seat, right as Kendall did too beside him. It
wasn't as painful sitting here today, because he could immediately sense how awkward she was;
they hadn't sat together yet since she had to pay the fine for vandalising his car. He loved how he
would usually receive a cocky greeting, but today she was silent as she got her notepad and pencil
case from her handbag.

"Nothing today?" He decided to fill the silence, the bustle of the classroom gradually dying down
as everyone got settled. He knew he had the right to be the mocking one today.

"What do you mean?" She spat.

"Well, usually I'd get some obnoxious greeting from you. It's lacking today."

"I don't want to talk to you, is that not allowed?"

Harry sniffed out a laugh. "I wonder why."

"It's not my fault you're still obsessed with me and want a conversation." She snorted.

Harry laughed aloud in disbelief. "Says the one who's always staring and whispering about me. I'm
not playing your games, Kendall, we both know we haven't addressed the elephant in the room
yet."

"I have loads of money, that stupid fine was nothing to me."

"It's not the money part, it's the fact that you got caught."

Mr Bradley had come in and started the lesson Meanwhile, yet Harry's dispute with Kendall had
gone unnoticed.

"It was worth it to smash up your stupid car." She rolled her eyes. "And it probably cost a ton to fix,
too."

"I have loads of money, so it was nothing to me." He snidely repeated what she had previously
said, with a smirk. "The difference is, getting it fixed wasn't a criminal offence. You're literally a
psycho."

"I'm a psycho, huh?" She had suddenly raised her voice exceptionally, so everybody turned to eye
them both. "Would you like me to show you psycho!"

"Uh, Kendall!" Mr Bradley angrily addressed. "Less of that. Is there a problem?"

"Harry is being a dick. But that's not out of the ordinary." She retorted.

"Sir, can you please move her?" Harry asked, with utmost plea. "I'm trying my best to concentrate,
and she's threatening to go psycho on me."

A few of their classmates laughed, and Mr Bradley gave in, sighing and pointing at Liam's desk.

"Kendall, move next to Liam. Zayn, come and sit next to Harry. Quickly, please, we're losing
lesson time."

Well shit. Great. Harry badly wanted to speak up and ask that it's the other way around - he sits
with Liam instead and Kendall sits with Zayn - but he knew announcing this in front of everybody
would be too awkward. So he simply surrendered and stayed silent, as Kendall loudly huffed and
picked up her belongings, skidding her chair back behind herself and sassily stomping over to sit
with Liam.

And Zayn, lifelessly, once again, with a hint of moodiness, threw his bag beneath the table and put
his notepad down, sitting beside Harry. Harry felt a little disheartened when Zayn scooted as far
away from him as possible, propping his chin on his hand, with an indifferent expression.

"Right," Mr Bradley continued. "I want you to flick to page 112 in the textbooks and discuss the
topic with the person you're sitting next to."

Oh, fucking great! It was a good thing he didn't have to do so with Kendall, because he probably
would have ended up flipping the table, but moody Zayn wasn't any better. The hatred just radiated
off of him.

Everybody got going with their discussions, and Harry rather nervously scooped up the book,
fumbling to turn to page 112. Zayn seemed more interested in picking the chipping wood off the
edge of the desk.
"Umm," Harry awkwardly began, placing the book down on the tabletop between them and
clearing his throat. "It's about Argand diagrams."

"I don't care, I don't want to talk to you."

Harry deeply sighed. "We've been asked to discuss it, it's not like I'm trying to talk about maths
with you for fun."

Zayn moodily shrugged.

"Okay, what's up?" Harry changed the subject then, palms slapping the table, knowing that it was
personal but he couldn't help himself from bringing something up. "Why have you been acting so
weird?"

"Let's not get into this again. You know I nearly punched you last time." Zayn warned, snatching
the textbook his way and attempting to read it.

"Is it because I made you realise the truth? Is that why you're acting like this now?" Harry pushed.
"I'm not looking to make you angry, I just don't like seeing you like this."

"I don't want to talk about it. Let's do some work." Zayn finalised, rather calmly. Harry let out a
short sigh and nodded.

"Okay, mate."

And he was relieved to hear nothing more from Zayn, no complaints on being called mate. Harry
knew one thing for sure: Zayn had to know about Gigi. Whether he had to tell him himself, or not.

---

"I need to tell him, Lou." Harry explained later on, as they sat in Louis' bedroom, on his little single
bed, and Harry had brought Zayn up. "About Gigi. We need to think of a way."

"I'm the only one who's meant to know," Louis reminded, "So how would that work?"

Harry sighed, opening up his arms as a gesture to tell Louis to crawl into them. Louis did, laying
himself back against Harry, so he could hold Louis close from behind.

"I think it would be best to just tell him when I'm there too. I know that you're worried Gigi will
know you told him yourself." Harry stated. "You have a certain look when you're worried." He
stroked Louis' hair.

"I don't want to tell him, even if you're there too." Louis stressed. "Zayn scares me."

"Then I'll say." Harry opted. "But there is always the fact Gigi will find out you told me."

"What if she hurts me?" Louis' voice was small, scared, and Harry held him even tighter.

"God, she wouldn't dare, Lou Lou. I just think it would be best if Zayn knew, and he could start to
understand how shitty she is. And maybe he would even want to completely be my mate again, like
Liam. Then we would have the two of them on our side."

That did sound very good.

"And with Cheryl, what's the plan there? She's got something to actually hold over us, and I don't
want her outing us, we deserve to do that ourselves."
"I know, baby." Harry soothed, continuing to stroke Louis' feathery hair. "I think I'm ready to let
everybody know. My parents know; I know I haven't exactly addressed it properly with my mum
yet, but Robin was understanding." Harry explained. "I really do think I'll be ready for this."

"So, what, you want to come out to everybody soon?" Louis asked, "How would we even do it?"

"That'll come to us." Harry breathed. "For now, let's focus on working Zayn out, because I think
having him and Liam on our side would be great. Not that we couldn't do it without them, it might
just be…"

"More reassuring." Louis completed the sentence for him, before craning his neck up so he could
kiss Harry on the lips. "I get you."

"I'm going to try to message Zayn sometime soon, just tell him there's something I'd like to talk to
him about. There's obviously every chance he will refuse to meet and talk again, but it's worth a
try."

"And then what?" Louis asked, the worry still present in his tone. "We just tell him? There must be
more to it."

"I'm not sure there is." Harry shrugged. "We make sure we're ready, maybe you could come over
for dinner at my place sometime when my mum's calmed down, and get properly acquainted with
them knowing about us," He began, smiling softly. "Then once we're sure we're ready, we tell
Zayn about Gigi, see how he reacts. And if my wish comes true that he comes to his senses and
forgives me entirely, realises Gigi is bad for him, maybe we could start by telling him and Liam."

"The whole plan makes me very nervous." Louis admitted, nuzzling the side of his face against
Harry's bicep for comfort. "The part about coming to your house, especially. I feel like your mum's
going to be mad at me."

"Lou, no!" Harry soothed him, holding him closer. "Don't think like that! She's met you before and
she loves you! It's just getting used to me not being straight that she needs to get her head around."

"Are you sure she won't hate me?" Louis stressed, sweetly. "I can't stand the thought of it, anybody
disliking me. It just brings back my old mindset I used to constantly have, thinking everybody
hates me."

"Nobody hates you. You're perfect, darling." Harry planted a kiss on the top of Louis' head. "You
don't have a thing to worry about. If anybody dislikes you, it's because they have problems with
themselves. You're flawless. So pure."

"The thought of telling Liam and Zayn too, Gosh, that's scary." He changed the subject, probably
because Harry called him flawless and he didn't entirely believe that.

"Yeah, I'm shit-scared for that. But I know them at heart, they're understanding guys. I just hope
Zayn can come around and stop being a dick, that needs to happen before anything further." Harry
explained.

"You really ought to go home and see your mum." Louis reminded him then, nudging his head to
the clock on the other side of his small room, which displayed that it was coming up to seven in the
evening. "Not that I'm trying to get rid of you, it might just be best."

"You're probably right. I just love being here with you." Harry leant over and tilted Louis' head
aside to pepper small kisses on his neck.
Louis giggled, moving his head aside even more to give more room, "Now you're just coming up
with distractions."

"But I love creating distractions with you." Harry grinned, kissing as far down Louis' neck from
behind as he could, before nuzzling his nose against Louis' cheek. He heard Louis' breath quiver.
"Can we fuck before I go?" He muffled against Louis' skin.

Louis sniffed out a laugh, shifting to turn his body around and straddling Harry. "I'd like that."

And they did. It was a quickie, of sorts, but it was intimate. Louis lay on his back, just their top
halves clothed, and Harry fucked him slowly and sped up only towards the end. It ended with a few
tender kisses, and whispered love exchanges, before they cleaned themselves up and got himself
dressed and ready to leave by quarter to eight.

"Well, thank you for that. I certainly feel a lot less stressed now." Harry smirked, slinging his
backpack over his shoulder.

"Thank you for fucking me so good." Louis smiled, innocently, and Harry's stomach flipped in
arousal.

"God, it's when you say things like that," He exhaled through pursed lips. "So hot, yet so innocent.
I'm going to leave, or I'll end up fucking you until tomorrow."

Louis giggled. "In all seriousness, good luck talking to your mum. I'm sure it will be okay, she's
had twenty four hours to think things through."

"I hope so. I'll talk to you later, Lou."

He was pulling up on his drive by eight o'clock, as his exchange of kisses and goodbyes with Louis
lasted a good five minutes in itself. He entered the house as loudly as usual, seeing no need to be
sneaking in and running up to his room as usual. He toed off his boots by the door, chucking his
bag down and heading into the living room. Anne was sitting on the sofa, watching the television,
and she paused it once she had acknowledged that he had entered.

"Hi." He filled the quiet, putting a lot of emphasis on such a simple word. He perched on the arm
of the armchair, specifically attempting to make eye contact with his mum, who seemed to be able
to hold it in return.

"Hi, Harry." She responded, with a smile that seemed half mild and half contradicting.

"I don't want you to hate me." He decided to dive right into it, mouth pouted a little bit in despair.
"I really don't."

"I don't hate you, darling." Her voice had softened upon seeing how genuinely upset he was. "It
just came as a big shock. I didn't really know how to react."

"I really do love him, Mum." He commented, a sad smile on his face. "So much."

"Is that where you've been this evening, at his house?"

"Yeah."

"Does his mum know?"

 "She knew before you. She kind of walked in on us… kissing." It was weird saying that to his
mum, but it kind of just came out.

He definitely saw the briefest flash of disgust on his mum's face, or maybe it was just her feeling
uncomfortable, a slight nose wrinkle, but then she had pushed it aside quickly and smiled softly.

"Okay. And how did she take it?"

"She's fine with it." He explained. "Happy for us."

"I'm sorry I overreacted." She apologised. Hearing her say sorry was often rare, so it was strange, to
say the least. "I see now how it must have upset you. I should have considered your feelings more,
darling."

"I don't care if it takes you a while to adjust," He said, "I just wanted to know that you don't hate
me."

"Come here." She soothed, opening her arms, and Harry hurried into them like a baby and hugged
her tightly. "I'd never hate you. You're my baby, I care about you and your happiness."

"Thank you." He whispered.

"If he makes you happy, then I can adjust to that. He seems like a lovely boy, I'm sorry I didn't give
it a chance at first."

"He's so lovely. I'm sorry about everything I've put you through this year, mum. Really sorry." He
mumbled against her shoulder. "I'm sorry if I'm a bad son."

"You're not, honey! None of it's your fault, I'm sorry if you thought that way. I'd never want you to
think that." She whispered, sounding close to tears. "You're perfect as you are. I want you to be
happy."

"I've made Louis so happy, Mum." He softly said. "You should have seen him when he joined the
school, he was so different. So reclusive."

"I'm happy to hear that my lovely boy has changed someone's life. It's like you to do that, I'm proud
of you." She planted a kiss on his forehead. "Just give me some time to get used to it, love. The
changes."

"I will." He finally got up, feeling a little weight off his shoulders. "I'll give you time."

That was one less stress, though he could still feel a lot of tensions there. She was evidently a little
put off by the thought of Harry and another boy, but knew she had to warm to it, for her son's sake.

Now it was just down to getting her used to Louis, then maybe even telling Zayn about Gigi.
Hopefully things wouldn't fall apart along the way.

Chapter End Notes

Not too long now. A few more events to go over

P.s. sorry if I'm unable to fulfil some plot requests, I just have to make sure they fit the
story well and are realistic with what's happening xx
 60
Chapter Notes

Of course I had to post on the 28th

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Zayn was just as distant the next day, sitting on the school field with his group, not too far from
Harry and his mates. He hated observing Gigi interacting with him; she seemed to enjoy annoying
him. It was clear Zayn was just trying to chill out and enjoy the light morning breeze, however Gigi
continually threw handfuls of grass at him, trying to be playful, or trying to jump on his back. He
could tell by Zayn's face, though, that he was just too drained to retaliate so he just took it.

Their class later made their way into English class, in which, once again, Zayn appeared very
detached and aloof.

"God, something really needs to be done." Harry expressed to Louis, after discreetly looking Zayn's
way. "He looks completely drained, he's obviously not happy."

"Well, do you think it would help him in any way to tell him he's being cheated on?" Louis quietly
asked. "I mean, what if it makes him even worse? We don't know the real reason why he's acting
like this. It might not be related to his friends at all."

"I think it would benefit him to realise he deserves better. Maybe it will take telling him for him to
wise up and distance from those girls." He rolled his eyes. "It's just going to be difficult, while
Liam's still head-over-heels for Cheryl."

"What would be the best way to tell Zayn?" Louis pondered.

"To his face, I guess. Maybe see if we can convince him to meet somewhere. Maybe the diner."
Harry suggested.

"I really don't think it's a good idea for me to be there too. You were close with him, he might feel
uncomfortable or mad if I'm there sharing the news too." Louis stressed.

Maybe he was right, actually. Perhaps Zayn would feel a little humiliated with two people telling
him he was being cheated on. Maybe it would be best if it was just Harry - but in all honesty, he
was nervous telling him alone.

"You're probably right." He agreed. "I'd be so nervous saying, I'd feel so horrible."

"Just think of the positives: he would be better off knowing." Louis reminded him. "He deserves
better. She's nasty to him."

"Yeah. Well, I'm not sure when to tell him. The sooner the better, but I'm just nervous. He might
just refuse to talk to me alone again."

"It's worth a try, isn't it? I reckon you've got more a chance persuading him now than you did while
he was more argumentative and standoffish." Louis shrugged.
"I'll try and talk to him at lunch, see if he's willing to meet me at the diner after school. God knows
what he's going to say, he wouldn't give me a chance to talk last time when I tried telling him about
Kendall."

"You'll be fine. You were best friends once, that never completely goes away." Louis smiled,
comfortingly. "If it'll help, I'll go into a shop near the diner so I'm nearby, we can meet after. If he
agrees to go."

"I reckon that would be reassuring, yeah. Thanks, Lou."

Come lunchtime, Harry realised how much of a challenge it was going to be to get Zayn to talk to
him. He departed from his own group once he spotted Zayn and Liam seating themselves at a table
in the canteen, the girls still at the counter ordering food, so he took his chance, approaching the
table.

"Harry, you alright, mate?" Liam asked in a friendly tone, once he had acknowledged his presence
at the side of their table.

"Yeah, uh," He scratched the back of his neck once he met Zayn's cold gaze. "Zayn, I was just
wondering if I could have a catch-up with you after school. Maybe go to the park."

He decided on the park rather than his previous idea of the diner, because it would be extra
awkward sitting over a table and talking things over face to face. He would much rather talk while
walking, and maybe he could tell Louis he didn't have to come and hang around nearby.

He tried his best to convey in his gaze that there was something else he wanted to say but couldn't
because he didn't want Liam getting worried. It was just slightly wider eyes and eyebrows subtly
higher, and somehow Zayn picked up on it.

"If… you want?" He sounded almost uncomfortable, like he wanted Harry to know how much he
really did not want to go there with him. "When? For how long?"

"Straight after school maybe, I could drive us there. It wouldn't be too long, just a little chat?" He
once again gave that look, the one which showcased that there was an underlying thing he needed
to say, and he could tell Zayn was intelligent enough to understand it by looking at him.

"Okay." Zayn shrugged. "Not for long though."

"Okay. I'll meet you after art."

Zayn nodded indifferently before continuing to chat to Liam, indicating that he was cutting the
discussion off there. Harry flashed a farewell smile to Liam before wandering awkwardly back to
his friends.

"How'd it go?" Louis asked, once Harry had sat back down beside him.

"I ended up suggesting the park instead," He said, "I think it would be less tense if we walked
around the park and talked, instead of sitting in the diner. So you can stay at home, Lou, I think I'll
be okay."

"Are you sure?" Louis persisted. "I can find somewhere to wait?"

"I wouldn't expect you to, it might be cold out and I don't know how long it will take. I will call
you afterwards."

"I'm assuming he's agreed then. Did he seem happy enough to go?"

"Not exactly happy," Harry sighed, "But at least he agreed. I'll just have to see if I can pluck up the
courage to actually tell him about Gigi."

"I think once you're settled and get talking with him, you'll feel comfortable again." Louis
reassured him, comfortingly rubbing his leg beneath the table, which urged Niall to smirk as he had
spotted it, nudging his head to the tabletop.

"Something naughty going on there?" He cackled.

"Niall!" Louis brightly laughed, lifting his hand with reddening cheeks. "No it is not!"

Charlie and Niall laughed away, Harry playfully rolling his eyes, while Christopher once again
didn't know how to react and laughed awkwardly.

This was going to be a long day.

---

Each minute closer to the end of art class they got, Harry felt more nervous. He loved how perhaps
having art last was a good thing, because Zayn looked so relaxed and in his zone painting away at
his canvas. They had been told to paint what they felt. Zayn's canvas was covered in dark colours -
blacks and dark greens - and he had painted a locked door at the side of the canvas. Harry wanted
to know what it meant, but knew Zayn's artistic mind was a complex place.

Louis was working on a brighter piece, with pale colours, but at the top he had slathered on black
paint. Harry furrowed his brows, putting his own brush in the pot and standing beside Louis.

"What's that part about?" He queried, pointing at the black top of Louis' canvas.

"Oh," Louis looked a little caught off guard. "Nothing, just… worry, I guess."

"About anything in particular?" Harry asked, sympathetically.

"No, it's nothing. Nothing specific." Louis rushed. Harry knew that he was lying, but he didn't want
to push it in the middle of school and upset Louis, so he just softly smiled.

"I like it. Very artsy."

"Thank you," Louis giggled, "You're the reason for all the bright colours."

Well, that was the sweetest thing ever.

And, Jesus Christ, Harry eyed Kendall's canvas from across the room to see that she had painted
the half-nude body of a Male which looked disturbingly like his, even with hair like his. He
pretended he hadn't seen that and continued working on his pretty boring piece - which was black
and white.

At the end of the lesson, they all placed their half-finished pieces on the drying racks, and their
teacher dismissed them as it had dragged it out to three o'clock, finally. Zayn looked very at peace,
following an hour of artistic expression, walking a little ahead of his friends. Just outside the
classroom, he kissed Gigi goodbye. Maybe their final ever kiss, who knows. And then he was
looking around until his eyes latched onto Harry, who had just wished his mates a goodbye before
they had headed off towards the car park's direction.

Zayn approached Harry, a bland nod in greeting to each other, and they began walking together in
an agonising silence, with just the sounds of nearby students upbeat and glad to be going home.
Harry was expecting Zayn to start shooting questions at him, ask what all of this is about, but it
was just silence. They reached Harry's car five minutes later, both jumping in, and plugged their
seat belts in. Harry switched on the radio quietly and started his car, joining the queue of cars
waiting to leave the exit.

The silence was becoming unbearable - they hadn't even said a word to each other since lunchtime.
So Harry decided he would fill it.

"Sorry this is such short notice."

"It's fine." Zayn bluntly responded, making no effort to continue the conversation and resolve the
quiet.

"I don't want this to be awkward," He sighed, as the queue finally got moving and he was able to
exit the car park, "I'm trying my best, you know?"

"Trying to do what? I've already voiced how I feel." Zayn said, emotionless. "I have no idea what
this could even be about."

Harry steadied his breathing, deciding he would stay quiet again until they reached the park. There
was no point in arguing already, Zayn was too stubborn to ever win against. They were rolling into
the park's car park not too long later, and Harry parked up and switched the engine off.

"Come on, then." He casually said, unplugging his seat belt and jumping out, stuffing his keys in
his pocket. Zayn followed suit, slamming the door rather loudly, and Harry made an effort to walk
beside him as they walked through the park's entrance.

Zayn pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket, removing one and sticking the end
in his mouth, lighting it and putting the things away again.

"So," Harry cleared his throat, as they began strolling along the path, "I just wanted to… go over
some things."

The park was quite packed with life, mothers pushing prams and children playing in the
playground or kicking footballs around on the expanses of grass. Zayn exhaled a cloud of smoke,
holding his cigarette between finger and thumb.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Harry said. "But I'm not exactly sure I'll be able to air everything I want to say."

"I'm all ears." Zayn bluntly said, though it was clear it was in a sarcastic way; he couldn't care less
what he was about to hear. Or so he thought.

"This is quite serious, Zayn. I don't want you to think I'd just drag you here for nothing. So if you
want me to attempt to tell you, I'd like to know if you really care."

Zayn turned to him then, and they linked eyes. Zayn furrowed his eyebrows, taking another drag
on his cigarette.

"It's serious?" He queried, though still maybe a bit disinterested until he knew the real reason.
"How serious?"

"It's… oh God," Harry whispered the final part in stress as the nerves really built up now. He really
didn't want to be the one to say this. "Zayn, I really don't know how to say it."

"Is it about you or me?" Zayn seemed a little more engaged now that he saw how anxious Harry
was getting.

"Wait, let's sit, sorry." Harry breathed, pointing at a bench as they came up to it. They took a seat,
and Zayn continued to smoke his cigarette, maybe deeper drags of it now that he realised this was
perhaps quite serious.

"It's regarding you, really." He gently said, looking Zayn in the eye. Zayn's gaze diverted between
Harry's eyes, a tad anger on his face, which was a way of him masking his worry, Harry knew.

"What about me? What don't you know how to say?"

"At the party," Harry's voice was small now, tone careful, "When we were downstairs. I doubt you
even remember now, you were so drunk. Louis went upstairs, he was looking for a toilet, and--"

"No." Zayn cut him off, standing up and shaking his head, unable to even look at Harry. "You're
going to say something about Gigi, Louis walking in on something. I…" He trailed off as he drew
in an unsteady breath, dropping his cigarette and pressing it into the ground with the heel of his
trainer. "Don't. I don't want to hear it."

"Zayn." Harry calmly said, standing up too, holding a comforting hand out, "Sit down, come on."

"I don't want to fucking hear it." Zayn seethed, pointing at Harry. "She wouldn't. She didn't do
anything. He's lying. He didn't see anything."

"I'm sorry, Zayn. He's not lying."

"Tell me the story, then." Zayn was suddenly scarily happy, though his tone didn't match the anger
on his face. "What did Louis fucking Tomlinson walk in on? Huh?"

"Zayn, please calm down. I'm trying to tell you this calmly."

"Then tell me!" Zayn reprimanded. "Tell me the story! Please, enlighten me!"

"He walked in on Gigi having sex with another guy, Zayn. I don't know how to put that more
simply, and I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you."

"Fuck!" Zayn yelled all of a sudden, as he kicked the metal leg of the bench. It gained the attention
of nearby families and passersby, urging Harry to hurriedly calm Zayn down.

"I'm sorry, Zayn. Please, don't react angrily here, there are families."

"What did you expect?" Zayn breathed in disbelief. "I'm told my girlfriend is fucking another guy,
do you expect me to be fine with that? That fucking bitch!"

"Okay," Harry soothed him, placing a hand on Zayn's arm.

"Get the fuck off me." Zayn snarled, shaking violently from Harry's grip. "Don't touch me."

He held the sides of his head and then rubbed his palms down his face, before shaking his head.
"Who's the guy?" He angrily asked then, as it had suddenly crossed his mind. "I'll kill him, and
that's not a joke."

"Louis was too drunk to even notice who it was, all he knew was that it was Gigi with a guy who
wasn't you. She probably didn't even know the guy, she was drunk too." Harry explained,
pleadingly.

"I'm leaving." Zayn finalised, in a rage, turning back the way they came and storming off.

"Zayn! Zayn, hold on!" Harry called after him, jogging to catch up. "Let me drive you. I'm sorry
about everything I've just told you, I felt you should know."

"Yeah, that's really lightened my mood, Harry, thanks!" Zayn sarcastically spat, waving Harry off.
"I'll walk. Leave me the fuck alone. Fucking run me over on your way out, would you."

"Don't be silly, Zayn, I care about you, I don't want you walking on your own when you're this
angry. I'll walk you back then come back for my car, if you won't get in."

"God, just leave me alone!" Zayn yelled, as they had reached the car park once again, and Zayn
had finally turned to face him. "What do you want? You told me, what more is there to say?"

"I want to make sure you're alright. It's quite a big thing I've just told you."

Zayn crouched down to the ground then, putting his head into his hands. Harry knew he was
crying, he could tell because his hands were trembling.

"Why would she do that?" His voice came out small, though it had broken as the tears came, and
Harry rushed to crouch by Zayn and pull him into an embrace. Zayn didn't push him off or
retaliate, instead he let himself completely hit the ground, falling into Harry and beginning to sob.
It was the heaviest Harry had ever seen him cry, as it was rare to in any instance, and it sounded
like he was even having trouble breathing from how hard he wailed. Harry's heart was broken for
him.

"I'm sorry, mate," Harry comforted him, stroking his arm. This was the real Zayn now, the old
Zayn. "It's okay. I'm sorry."

Zayn gripped Harry's jacket as he cried harder, and Harry awkwardly smiled at the people passing
them and giving Zayn a confused look.

"Come on, let's go to my car, out of public a little bit." Harry softly suggested. Zayn finally agreed,
allowing Harry to help him to his feet.

Zayn bowed his head as they walked to Harry's car, and Harry walked close beside him for
comfort. They reached his car again moments later, and clambered in. Zayn slammed his head
forwards onto his folded arms on the dashboard, and Harry patted his back.

"I know the pain you must be feeling," Harry empathised, "Like you don't want to trust anybody
ever again. I know it hurts, mate."

"It fucking hurts so bad." Zayn sobbed, and slammed his balled fist particularly hard on the
dashboard of Harry's beloved car, which Harry let him off for because he was in a lot of pain.
Hearing Zayn in this state was enough to make Harry want to cry too.

"What are you thinking?" Harry calmly asked.

"That she's a fucking slut!" Zayn snapped.

"Okay," Harry breathed out a lighthearted laugh, "I mean for yourself. What are you thinking about
everything?"

"Why am I not good enough?" Zayn asked, lifting his head then and his tearful face meeting
Harry's gaze. "What did I do to her? I gave her everything, why wasn't I enough?"

"You are enough, Zayn. It's nothing you did, it's all her." Harry soothed him. "It's her mistake
doing something horrible like that."

"I want to go home now." Zayn said, softly now, eerily soft. "Please."

"Okay." Harry agreed, starting the engine and getting them out of that car park.

Zayn didn't say much else as Harry drove him home. He occasionally sniffled, head propped on his
hand and gaze trained out the window on his right. He probably felt humiliated that Harry knew he
had been cheated on and had seen him react in such a state.

Harry pulled up to Zayn's about seven minutes later, switching the engine off and turning to him.
Zayn was trying to unclip his seatbelt, swearing under his breath when he struggled to do so,
before managing to do it and grabbing his backpack from the footwell.

"You gonna be okay?" Harry asked, concerned.

"No." Zayn stated, opening the car door. "You won't see me at school."

"Zayn." Harry sighed. "Don't talk like that."

"Don't talk like what?" Zayn flailed his hands out, lifelessly. "I've had enough, man. This is all so
shit."

"Wait." Harry pleaded, gently grabbing Zayn's wrist. "I don't want you to talk like that."

"Let me go inside, Harry." Zayn rolled his eyes, shaking his arm from his grip.

"Please remember, Zayn: you can do so much better than her." Harry said to him, looking him
directly in the eye. "You're sweet, I know how kind you can really be. And you're talented, hot,"

Zayn sniffed out a laugh, smiling at how Harry had called him hot. Perhaps the first genuine smile
he had displayed in a long, long time.

"There's that gorgeous smile!" Harry exclaimed in a theatrical tone, grinning. "Text me tonight,
okay? Throughout the day. Or call me. Rant to me for hours, I don't care. Alright?"

"Yeah, okay." Zayn said, with a complacent smile once again. "I'm gonna go sleep it off."

"Text me and Li, we could all go out somewhere? Go for drinks, or something?"

"Whatever." Zayn muttered, getting out of the car, leaving back in momentarily. "Thanks. For
telling me. Even though it's shitty news. And I don't really know what to do or how to feel now."

"You had to know." Harry shrugged, tapping his steering wheel. He badly wanted to bring up how
he had to break the same news to Liam, though he knew he couldn't do that just yet. "It's up to you
what you do. I can't dictate what you do, but I'd strongly advise you do break it off with her now. I
know you might feel like pushing it aside and just hoping it doesn't happen again."
 "I'll see." Zayn pouted his lips to the side. "I'll call Liam later, but right now I'm going to nap."

"Okay. See you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Zayn sighed. "Fuck knows what I'm going to do tomorrow, but I'll be there."

"Come hang out with me and my mates?" Harry offered, even though he already knew the answer.

"Fuck no." Zayn retorted in disgust, before finally slamming the car door shut. A lovely farewell.
Harry waited until Zayn had walked up his path and into his house before he finally drove away.

Fuck. He had no clue how he had even mustered up the courage to tell Zayn all of that. He now
knew - fuck! He knew he had been cheated on. And he didn't exactly take it very well; in all
honesty Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Zayn had rolled his eyes and shrugged off Gigi's
disloyal behaviour.

But he knew, and that was all that mattered. Next up was sorting his own life out a little bit more.

Chapter End Notes

Don't worry, Zayn will be safe and won't do anything to harm himself or anything like
that in case anyone worried, he's just freaking out.

Do you think he will forgive Gigi?:/

Or not?:)

Also added a new tag:( to make the plot slightly realistic but maybe sad
 61
Chapter Notes

Maybe some sensitive words in this

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Louis had been trying to settle and watch some television with his family after school, but he
couldn't settle as he was stressed about how Harry's talk with Zayn was going. He knew it clearly
looked like he wasn't paying much attention to the screen, staring blankly at it while a different
narrative altogether projected in his head: he had several reasons to be worried.

"You alright, Lou?" Jay queried, lovingly patting her son's leg to coax him from his daydream.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He smiled. "I didn't get much sleep tonight, I've been zoning out all day." A
lie, but he would rather that than to outpour all of his worries onto his mother and burden her.

"Go and take a nap, sweetie. You need to recharge." She urged him. "I'll tell you what happens in
this episode later, I doubt you'll miss much."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Sorry, mum, I'll spend some time with you later." Louis apologised, as
he got to his feet.

"Don't be sorry, you need some rest. I understand." She smiled. "I'll see you in a while, when you
come back down."

Louis headed upstairs, despite not really being very tired at all. He just knew he wanted to be ready
for when Harry updated him on how the talk with Zayn had gone. He decided to read one of his
favourite books, even though he continually had to reread sections he hadn't fully taken in because
he was too busy overthinking.

Around ten minutes later, his phone started ringing. He scrambled to grab it from amongst his
duvet, the screen flashing Harry's name, and hurriedly swiped to accept it, holding it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Lou." Harry greeted, his tone unreadable. His voice always made Louis smile anyway

"How's it going?" Louis questioned, nibbling his lower lip. "Did you tell him?"

Harry slowly sighed, not a very positive sound. "Yeah, I told him. He didn't take it very well."

Louis felt a weight in his chest, a sadness.

"Really? What do you mean?"

"He kind of broke down in the middle of the park, started making some really negative comments
that had me worried, to be honest." Harry explained. "I convinced him to go inside and sleep it off,
but I hated what he was saying."
Louis felt a lump form in his throat. What did Harry mean by that? Negative comments?

"Negative comments?" He breathed. "What do you mean?"

Harry hesitated, Louis could practically hear him contemplating what to say.

"Uh, you can probably guess. Just some morbid stuff, he was just freaking out." Harry said.

Louis drew in a deep breath, running his free hand through his hair. He waited a moment until he
could tell he could speak without his voice cracking, before he continued.

"Stuff about himself? Is he alright?"

"As I said, he's sleeping it off, Lou. And he said he will call Liam soon too. But, yes, bad stuff
about himself."

Louis held his breath, once again composing himself.

"That… doesn't seem like him."

"Are you okay, Louis?" Harry suddenly queried. Shit, perhaps he had picked up on the slightest
waver in Louis' tone.

"Yeah," Louis lied. "What are you doing now, then?"

"You're not okay, I can tell you're trying not to cry. I know you, Lou, don't change the subject."
Harry contradicted, but not in an argumentative way, more a caring one.

Louis felt the tears forming then, and so he panicked and hung up the phone without a second
thought. He didn't know what to do in the moment; he felt so silly that he was going to cry, he
didn't want Harry to hear him, even though he had seen it before, and worse. His phone instantly
started ringing again, obviously Harry attempting to call him back, but he panicked once again and
rejected it. He didn't want to worry Harry or make him think something drastic was happening, but
he just had no idea what to do and continually rejected it twice more after that. He didn't want to
cry.

Harry: Louis..pick up .xx

His eyes flicked over the text as it flashed onto his screen, swallowing painfully in his sore throat,
which constricted as he fought to hold the tears back.

He locked his phone and held it tightly in his hand as a tear fell. He felt like an idiot, like an
attention seeker. Harry probably thought he was doing this to cause some drama and get him to feel
sorry for him.

There wasn't another response for five minutes, so Louis knew why that was: Harry was driving to
him. He knew that it was probably best Harry did come round, he knew he would, but that would
mean he would see Louis in tears if he didn't pull himself together. Not too long later, the doorbell
rang through the house, urging Louis to spring up in a panic and dry his tears with his sleeves,
taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to cease any further tears from escaping.

He heard his mum answer the door. "Harry! Hi, honey." She said from downstairs.

Fuck. Louis looked in the mirror on the wall by his door, ruffling his hair into an acceptable state
as he heard the front door close, Jay having invited Harry inside.
"Yeah, just head up, he's in his room." Jay had warmly told Harry from downstairs, before
wandering back into the living room.

Louis stood nervously wringing his hands together, in the centre of his small room, hearing Harry
coming up the stairs. He had no idea what to do with himself so he just stayed put where he stood.

Harry didn't even knock on his door, simply came straight in, shutting the door behind himself,
before heading straight for Louis, opening his arms.

"Come here, baby." He softly said, concern written on his face as he pulled Louis into a tight hug.

Louis fought so hard to contain his tears, but the moment his body touched Harry's, he was sobbing
again. Harry held him tighter.

"What is it? You're worrying me, Lou." Harry said, one hand planted in the back of Louis' hair and
the other rubbing his back. "Don't cry, love."

"I'm an idiot." Louis barely managed through tears, burying his face in the comfort of Harry's
chest.

"What?" Harry queried. "What are you talking about? You're not an idiot, Louis. Why are you
saying that?"

"For crying. I-I'm sorry."

Harry softly tutted, kissing Louis on the top of the head. "Cry all you want, darling, there's nothing
wrong with it. You're not an idiot for crying."

Louis gripped tighter onto him.

"Look at me." Harry gently instructed, running a hand through Louis' hair.

Louis gasped in breaths, not wanting to lift his head up and look at Harry, as pretty as he was. But
he had been asked to, so he looked up at him, meeting his eyes, and Harry frowned and used his
thumbs to wipe Louis' tears.

"Baby," He sadly cooed, "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know." Louis sighed, his gaze dipping down again. "Sorry."

"I feel like you do know." Harry smiled, attempting to cheer him up, but Louis wouldn't even look
up again.

"It's my fault." Louis said, very quietly. But Harry had been listening carefully, and had picked up
on it.

"What's your fault?" He asked, concerned. "Louis?"

Louis began crying once again, so Harry took him into his arms once again.

"Louis, what's your fault? You haven't done anything wrong." He soothed.

"Zayn," Louis shakily said, gasping out sobs. "It's my fault."

"What?" Harry was genuinely confused, Louis could hear it in his tone. "What do you mean?"
"If I hadn't walked in on it, and told you what I saw…" He trailed off as the crying got heavier.

"Lou, none of this is your fault!" Harry reassured him. "Why would you think that?"

"If I had kept my stupid mouth shut, then Zayn wouldn't be feeling like he literally hates himself.
It's my fault!" Louis wailed. "I'm the reason he knows!"

It was true: Louis felt completely at blame here. He was the reason Zayn was making those
comments.

"Oh my gosh, Louis, don't blame yourself for this!" Harry gasped, gripping gently onto the sides of
his face, thumbs caressing his cheeks. "It's good that Zayn knows! Even if you hadn't walked in on
it, that wouldn't change the fact that Gigi has cheated on him."

"I'm sorry for overreacting again." Louis sadly added, wiping a stray tear. "I always do, I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising, Lou, seriously. If anything ever worries or upsets you, I want to know about it.
You'll never be overreacting." Harry assured, planting a lingering kiss to Louis' lips.

"Okay. Thank you for being so amazing." Louis attempted a smile. He really was grateful for
Harry, constantly amazed by how incredibly caring he was. He did not hesitate to drive straight
there to comfort him and make sure he was alright.

"Now, I can hang around for a while. Wanna watch some movies?" Harry grinned. "Have a
cuddle?"

"You soppy thing." Louis sniffled, having finally calmed down. "I'd love that. You look really
handsome, by the way."

Louis still managed to get flustered by Harry. His hair was a little messy, as he hadn't been home
yet so the breeze from his walk in the park with Zayn had ruffled it up. He was just an absolute
spectacle, Louis couldn't believe he was real sometimes.

"You look really handsome too, Louis," He sniffed out a laugh, "You're the most handsome guy I
know. I mean that."

Louis somehow didn't believe that.

"Thank you." He giggled anyway.

And after all Harry had said, all his efforts to reassure him, Louis couldn't help but to continue
blaming himself for Zayn's breakdown in the park.

---

Harry couldn't help but constantly worry about Zayn and the whole situation with Gigi. He himself
had texted Liam before he went to bed, asking if Zayn had been in touch, and had been reassured to
hear that he had and that they had talked things out a little on the phone. It must have come to a
shock for Liam too, not expecting Gigi to do such a thing.

Harry got ready for the school the next morning, while contemplating what he thought Zayn was
going to do today. He wouldn't be all too shocked if Zayn didn't turn up altogether, really. He
picked Louis up on his way to school, watching him walk down the path from his house, looking
adorable dressed in his jeans and one of his Tommy Hilfiger jumpers from Paris. God, was he
lucky to have him. So beautiful.
The first thing he said upon opening the passenger side door and jumping in, was: "Gigi's gonna
kill me! She'll know it was me who told Zayn she cheated!"

"Oh, baby, don't stress!" He reassured, as he pulled the car out into the road and began the drive to
school. "I have no idea how Zayn's going to go about it. But either way, Gigi will be far too
concerned with him to worry about how he found out."

"I hope so."

When they had arrived at school and jumped out the car, Harry noticed that Louis was keeping his
gaze trained solely to the ground, and he looked rather zoned out. He was clearly nervous and
overthinking every possibility in his head. Harry patted his arm in reassurance as they headed
towards their registration room.

As they strolled the corridor towards the classroom, classmates grouped outside waiting for their
registration teacher, Harry craned his neck up in order to attempt to see who was present. He could
see Gigi, Kendall and Cheryl standing together at the edge, but no sign of Zayn or Liam. Gigi
looked pretty normal, chatting as lively as she usually would with the other girls, which showed she
obviously wasn't aware of the events at hand just yet.

Harry and Louis joined the horde, and Harry strategically stood close enough to listen into the girls'
conversation without looking obvious or intrusive.

"He hasn't replied to any of the texts, no," Gigi was telling her friends, "No goodnight text last
night, no good morning… and he still won't reply now."

Okay, so that proved that Zayn definitely hadn't mentioned anything, not even hinted. Harry had no
clue how this was going to go.

"Don't worry about it too much. Harry used to take hours to reply to me when we were dating."
Kendall expressed, clearly not wanting Harry to hear, and he felt her eyes burning into him a
moment later. "Are you listening to us, Harry?"

Harry whipped his head in their direction, lower lip jutted out.

"Huh? I heard my name?"

"You were literally just eavesdropping, it's so obvious." Cheryl rolled her eyes at him. "What do
you want? Trying to get Kendall's attention again?"

"I thought we were over comments like that." Harry blandly said. "After I expressed how
uninterested I am."

"Where's Zayn?" Gigi changed the subject, eyes on Harry. "You were with him yesterday, after
school."

"No idea." Harry half-lied, because he really didn't know where Zayn was, but he knew why he
wasn't here.

"I bet you do." Gigi scoffed. "Even Liam won't tell Cheryl. Can you text Zayn?"

"No." Harry said, simply, beginning to turn away once again.

"You're so selfish. He could be in trouble, or anything!" Kendall cut in. "You've always been
selfish."
"Let's not start that again. He's probably skiving with Liam, don't overreact." He finally did turn
away, engaging himself in his own friends' conversation, practically sensing the hateful whispers
of the girls from behind him.

"Where the fuck is our teacher?" Niall chuckled, surveying the corridor, which was empty.

"No idea. I say we leave in a second, our first period teacher can mark us here." Harry said. "I'm
not standing here for too long."

Then, there was a loud bang, the sound of a door hitting the wall from being pushed open too
violently. Everybody turned to the noise source, the entrance door just down the corridor, to see
Zayn angrily heading towards them. Liam was jogging behind him, looking as though he wanted to
stop whatever was going on, and Harry's heart had practically leapt into his throat.

Before Gigi could even say anything, the crowd of students had parted ways to let the furious boy
through, and he stood a metre from Gigi - an image of absolute rage.

"Zayn, what the hell!" Gigi exclaimed, with a shocked laugh. "What are you doing? Why are you
so angry?"

"You think it's okay to fucking cheat on me, do you? Fuck another guy at that party?" He seethed,
fists balled. Shit. Shiiit.

Gigi's mouth had dropped open, pure astonishment across her face as she desperately thought what
to do. She could barely even look him in the eye, her gaze wandering somewhere behind him.

"Zayn…"

"Do you realise how you've made me feel?" Zayn grumbled. "Empty, Gigi. Fucking empty."

"Let me talk, baby,"

"No! Don't fucking call me that," He spat, "We're done, Gigi. You're dumped. Hope it was worth it
for a bit of dick, you slut."

There was a wave of gasps as Zayn turned on his heel and sped off away again, the anger radiating
from him, Liam once again jogging after him and calling his name. Gigi had immediately erupted
into tears, loud and stupidly dramatic tears, as if this wasn't all her fault. And then the worst case
scenario happened, because as her friends consoled her, her eyes found Louis in the crowd.

"You fucking bastard, Louis Tomlinson!" She screamed at him, pointing an angry finger.

"Gigi, stop!" Harry demanded, getting between her and Louis.

"He's going to kill himself, Louis! And whose fault will that be! Shouldn't have fucking told him,
should you!" She raged.

Harry experienced so many emotions: mainly anger, at what Gigi had said. But on top of that, a
serious guilt that he had convinced Louis to let him tell Zayn.

"Don't say that!" Harry scoffed. "You're a horrible girl, Gigi. I suggest you go and cry it off to your
stupid friends somewhere else, instead of blaming other people for what you've done. I told Zayn."

He linked eyes with Cheryl, whose gaze was harsh. It was clear why: she had also cheated, Harry
knew, yet it hadn't been said. There was a reason for that, as they both had secrets. Gigi stormed
off with her friends in tow, Kendall harshly pushing past Harry as they did. Every other student
was in shock, whispering amongst their groups, and Harry turned to Louis to find him staring
blankly ahead of himself.

"Louis..."

"It's my fault." Louis whispered, still staring, not blinking. "He's going to hurt himself."

"He isn't, she's just saying that to mess with you." Harry quietly assured him, secretly grazing his
finger up Louis' arm. "Please don't take it to heart, she's shifting the blame off herself."

"Yeah." Louis hazily agreed, but Harry could tell he was just saying it, he didn't agree at all.

"Louis, you're not taking it seriously, are you? You did nothing wrong."

"I'm just… I'm just." Louis sighed, and then he put on a smile. It was so sudden that it shocked
Harry, made him feel very uneasy. "I know I did nothing wrong."

Harry didn't believe that for one second; he knew when Louis was faking a smile.

"I know you don't really think that." Harry added, voice serious. "But please know that it's true.
You've helped to free Zayn from her."

Louis nodded, but there was still something glassy about his gaze. He barely blinked.

"Yeah." He repeated once again, equally as monotonous as before.

---

Harry worried more about Louis throughout the day than he did about Zayn. He knew how much
words affected Louis, how fragile and sensitive he could be, so for Gigi to have said something so
harsh to him was just unacceptable. He reassured Louis as the day went on, continually reminding
him that nothing that had happened was his fault.

Zayn and Liam had returned to the following lessons leading up to lunch, but not the girls. Zayn
hadn't been engaging at all in the classes, staring down at his hands on the tabletop. Harry had
attempted to give him a smile but just got a blank stare in response.

Louis did seem to perk up a little towards lunch, having been assured enough throughout the
previous lessons, enough to softly smile and listen as their mates spoke. They all headed for the
canteen at lunchtime, sitting at a table, and Harry spotted that Gigi, Kendall and Cheryl were
sitting at another table across the hall. They hadn't gone home like he had previously assumed.
Gigi glared at Harry across the hall, then at Louis, before looking away. She looked as though she
had been crying for hours. Probably had.

Harry whispered to Louis to ignore her, before feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He scooped
it out to see a text from Liam.

Liam: So me and Zayn are coming to the canteen. But Cheryl is demanding I go and sit with her
and the girls and Zayn has said I should so there's no chance they come and sit with him for
whatever reason…..so he will be on his own. Maybe you could see if he wants to sit with you???

It was sad that Liam still felt obliged to sit with the girls. The tie between him and Cheryl still had
to be cut; he had no idea that he too was being cheated on, and that was sad. Harry had to tell him
next, somehow. At some point.
Harry: Okay, I guess I could try mate. See you soon.

He put his phone away and basically just waited. He played a game of footsie under the table with
Louis to keep his spirits up too. And before long, Liam and Zayn had walked in and headed for the
queue. Gigi was staring at him from across the hall, pure sadness on her face, and then she was
crying again, Harry could see. Stupid girl.

"She's crying as if she's the one who's been cheated on." Charlie observed. "Silly girl, probably
thinks it will get him back."

That was true. Emotional manipulation, perhaps. It wasn't going to work on somebody like Zayn.

Not too long later, Liam and Zayn had paid for their things and turned to face the room. Liam
whispered something to Zayn and patted him on the back before they gave each other a nod
(Zayn's a little more lifeless) and Liam headed over to the three girls and sat beside Cheryl.

Zayn, with just a bottle of water he had purchased, looked for a table. Harry had a spare seat on his
other side, but that seat was also next to Christopher. It was worth a shot though, anyway. Harry
got to his feet and headed over to Zayn, who looked a little lost. It had been a long time since he
had been on his own.

"Hey, mate, wanna come sit at my table?" Harry asked, friendly. He knew Zayn still didn't exactly
favour him, but it was better than sitting alone.

Zayn's eyes fell onto Harry's table, where Christopher and Charlie were having a race at who could
drink their drinks faster, and he loudly scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I'd rather fucking not." He snarled.

"Well, the offer stands. It's that, or you sit alone." Harry offered, hands splayed out. "Your call."

Zayn loudly groaned as he opted to follow Harry to his table, taking his offer. And he shamelessly
took Harry's previous seat, so that he was sitting beside Louis rather than Christopher. Harry took
the seat between Zayn and Christopher, looking up to see that his friends had immediately silenced
and stopped their silly games the moment they had acknowledged Zayn's terrifying presence.
Charlie and Niall even stared at him, rather wide-eyed.

"Don't look at me." Zayn angrily snapped at them, urging them to look away in an instant and
pretend the rest of the room was more interesting. Bless them, they were completely and utterly
scared of Zayn.

"Dare I ask how you're feeling?" Harry sighed, hearing a humourless laugh from Zayn.

"Yeah, don't."

"You'll find somebody miles better, mate," Harry told him, even though he knew Zayn didn't want
this right now. "It doesn't feel like it right now, but--"

"Please, for the love of God, be quiet." Zayn pleaded, in annoyance.

"Alright, I'm sorry." Harry said, accepting the mistake. "I'll shut up."

Zayn let his head fall forward onto the table, on his folded arms, which Harry understood. He
didn't want to be gawked at like an animal by the others on the table, he just wanted to act like he
wasn't there. Poor guy.
 Louis and Harry exchanged worried looks for him. Well, one thing was for sure: Zayn didn't gel
well with Harry's mates. He was too cool. And maybe a bit too scary too.

Chapter End Notes

Zayn will be alright

 62
Chapter Notes

Trigger warning: return to Louis' dark state:(

Apologies - it's not too long tonight but will update again soon!!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It hadn't been the most comfortable of lunches, to say the least, and Harry had been relieved when
it had drawn to a close. He had withstood a glum Zayn staring at his phone and refusing to engage
or even look up; Gigi's audible tears from across the canteen as a teacher tried to console her and
ask what had happened; and his poor Lou, going into a deep, distant trance whenever he looked at
Zayn. God, at least it was Thursday today, and they only had tomorrow to go until the weekend.

The moment they had left the canteen and headed for their final lesson, Zayn had sped off to walk a
different route on his own. Not surprising, though Harry couldn't help but feel disheartened that
Zayn just wasn't giving him any chances whatsoever.

And it turned out, Zayn and Gigi ended up skipping the final lesson of the day, although Liam and
Cheryl attended. Evidently, Kendall had bunked it off to stay with a grieving Gigi, while Zayn,
once again, wished to be alone and likely headed home. Harry felt very bad for that boy - he was
hurting so much.

Harry drove Louis home after school. He had been keeping a close eye on him in their last class,
noting that he was definitely still withholding how he was truly feeling about today, about Gigi's
comment to him regarding Zayn. And simply the way he had watched Zayn moping, and then
proceeded to go into a trance: he was feeling guilty.

Harry had parked up outside Louis' house, noticing the speed at which Louis unplugged his seatbelt
and grabbed his backpack.

"In a rush?" Harry asked, head tilted aside, a little confused.

"Huh?" Louis hummed, putting on a smile. "No, I'm not. Sorry if it seemed like that."

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to look around some shops, actually. I know we're here now, but it
just came to mind," Harry offered, drumming his hand on his steering wheel. "Do you want to?"

He immediately read Louis' face as a "no." Just the way he pouted his mouth to one side, quickly
and almost not noticeably.

"I would," He began, with a sorry smile, "But I don't really feel like shopping now."

"It's more about spending time with you, really." Harry shrugged. "Or I could come in? Not that
I'm inviting myself in, just-"

"I kind of want to be alone." Louis cut him off, not intentionally, but more like it was something he
had to get off his chest. "It's not you, it's just that I need to relax a little, recuperate on my own, I
feel extra tired today."

"Lou," Harry began, scooping up Louis' hand in his own and looking him deep in the eye, "Are you
still thinking about what Gigi said to you earlier? Be honest with me."

"What did she say to me?" He tried to act baffled, like he had really forgotten. "All I remember is
her crying."

"Lou." He repeated, with more of a brash undertone, but not overdoing it. "I know you do know
what she said, it only happened today."

"It didn't affect me. I'm just…" He trailed off with a shrug, gently removing his hand from Harry's
grip as he did. "I'm in need of some time alone. I'm sorry, please don't take it personally."

"No, I understand. Everybody needs some time on their own sometimes." He justified. "Can you
call me later? When you feel like talking again?"

"Of course." Louis smiled, and he leant in and initiated a few soft kisses between them, before
grabbing his backpack for good now and climbing out of the car. "Sorry again. Talk to you later."

"Okay. Bye, Lou."

Louis smiled again in response, using that as his reply to Harry's farewell. Harry watched him go
up the path to his house and go inside, before driving away. He did feel a little uneasy that Louis
was feeling the need to be alone, and didn't even want to relax with him. Though he didn't blame
him for it, he had been through a lot today.

Harry hesitated in the spot he was parked in for a good few minutes, overthinking everything,
before he knew what he had to do and unplugged his seatbelt and switched the car off completely.
He took his keys and got out, shutting the door and heading up the path to Louis' house. He gently
knocked on the glass of the front door, and a moment later, it was answered by two of Louis'
sisters. The oldest, Lottie, who Harry remembered was eleven years old, and Felicite, the second
oldest, aged nine. They shyly smiled at him. He found it adorable that they had answered the door
together.

"Hi, guys," Harry smiled, "We haven't spoken properly before, have we? I'm Harry."

"I'm Lottie. You're Louis' boyfriend, aren't you?" She sweetly asked, looking behind herself into
the house. "Should I get him?"

It was sweet that she already knew they were dating and seemed very comfortable with him for
such a young person.

"Yes, I am. Actually, I just want to pass a message on," He said, the volume of his voice low,
"Could you both keep an eye on your big brother for me? Make sure he's happy?"

"Yes!" Felicite brightly said. "Of course we can. Can't we, Lotts?"

"Yeah." Lottie agreed, with a content smile.

"Thank you both. That's all I wanted to say, you don't have to tell Louis I was here, just keep an
eye." He grinned. "Thank you, sweethearts. I'll see you another time."

"We will try our best. Goodbye, Harry."

Harry waved them off and headed off down the path, hearing the door close behind him. He felt a
lot lighter now; he couldn't have just driven off without having done something, at least. But he did
still feel uneasy. He would just have to look forward to Louis' phone call later.

---

Harry spent his evening trying to sort out the clothes in his wardrobe, after deciding he should be
productive this evening rather than lazing around watching TV in his room as he usually would.
There was the constant lingering worry of Louis in his mind, hoping he was getting some much-
needed rest in the meantime. He would have loved to be cuddling him and napping with him, but
knew he needed space.

He decided to give himself a break after an hour and a half of sorting. He had managed to put aside
twelve items of clothing that he no longer even wore, setting aside two jumpers that he was going
to give to Louis because he knew how adorable he would look in them. He checked his phone,
falling back onto his bed. It had been on full volume, and hadn't rung at all, but he still hoped
somehow he would have a text from Louis. Not yet. Hopefully he was resting.

On Facebook, the first post he saw on his timeline was Zayn changing his relationship status from
in a relationship with Gigi Hadid to single. Good on him - he was establishing that straight away.
There was no going back for Gigi, she was now single and despairing, like Kendall. They both
deserved it, and Cheryl was next.

Kendall had commented on it - a middle finger emoji - which was just funny to Harry. She really
thought commenting that would hurt Zayn, he probably just found her attempt at scaring him
hilarious.

He scrolled through his timeline a little more to see that Gigi had updated her profile picture to a
glitzy looking selfie, one she probably thought would win Zayn back. Harry unfriended Gigi,
Kendall and Cheryl while he was at it, wondering why he still even had them as friends on there.

It eventually got to seven o'clock that evening, and Harry hadn't received a call from Louis yet. He
didn't want to worry, he wanted Louis to be getting some rest, but he couldn't help it. He knew
Gigi's comments had affected Louis. But he hoped he was perhaps spending time with his sisters,
considering they had been so insistent on doing so after Harry mentioned it to them. Maybe he had
even taken them to the park or something, all four of them.

He tried to settle down and watch some Netflix, wanted to leave it a little while longer and allow
Louis space, but he found himself constructing a text to him by twenty past seven. He went with
something simple, nothing pushy.

Harry: Hey Lou, how you feeling? Do you think you'd be up to staying at mine tonight? It's fine if
not. I love you .xx

He sighed as he hit send. Louis had specified that he wanted to be alone, but did he mean for the
rest of the day? Or just for a few hours? Because Harry already missed him and wanted nothing
more than to cuddle with him later that night.

He didn't end up getting a response until 9 that evening, before which Harry continually stressed
and worried why he hadn't replied yet.

Louis: Sorry Harry I'm just going to go to bed xx

It made Harry's stomach drop in sadness. No 'I love you', nothing saying he would have loved to
stay at Harry's had he not felt the way he did. No phone call. Just a text saying he's going to bed, at
9. Harry was quick to get back to him, shamelessly seconds after he had received it.

Harry: I'm worried about you Louis. Please don't just go to bed yet, you said you would call me xx

Louis: I don't really know what I'd say to you xx

Why not?

Harry: What are you talking about baby? .xx

Louis: I don't know

No kisses now.

Harry: What made you feel like this? It's ever since Gigi said what she did, I don't want you being
upset Lou .xx

Louis: It's just how I feel anyway. I'm sorry

Harry: Can I come round? Please? .xx

Louis: I don't want you to

Harry: Don't be like that, I want to cheer you up .xx

Louis: I don't know if that's possible

Harry: Right, I'm coming round. I'll be there in 10 minutes .xx

Louis: Thank you

He knew that Louis had wanted him to come round all along, but had just been stubborn and
difficult about it. He knew by now the signs that Louis showed when he needed him. He threw
some fresh clothes into a backpack, and other essentials, and left the house as soon as physically
possible. He drove straight there, not even bothering to put any music on, and managed to be on his
doorstep at the time he had said.

Harry had knocked three times, and Louis was the one to answer. He looked utterly disheveled,
like he had been crying for the entire time he had been alone, his hair an unruly mess. Harry
shouldn't have ever left him on his own.

He didn't say anything to Louis, just walked in and kicked off his boots, before shutting the door
behind them and pulling him into a tight hug. Louis hugged him back so tightly, his fingernails
actually digging into Harry's back.

"Where's your mum? Sisters?"

"At my grandmother's." Louis said, his voice sounding broken. "I kind of lied to them and told
them I was going to video call you. Sorry."

"You shouldn't be on your own when you're feeling down, Lou. Let's go upstairs." Harry urged,
guiding Louis to the staircase by his lower back.

They went up to Louis' bedroom, in which the curtains were drawn shut. He had been sat in the
dark all evening, on his own. Harry felt awful, he should never have relied on others to watch out
for Louis. He threw his backpack down and pulled Louis down onto the bed with him, in a lying
embrace.

"I would have never left you if I'd have known you would be completely alone," Harry mumbled
against Louis' neck, breathing in his sweet scent. "What have you been doing, Lou?"

"Sleeping, mainly."

"For how long? It looks like you've been crying, too." Harry held him tighter. "Be honest with me.
What made you feel like that?"

"Nothing." Louis mumbled.

"Baby," Harry attempted a smile, pulling back so he could see Louis, lying so they were facing,
"It's obviously not nothing."

"Let's just lay for a while. I feel peaceful when you're here." Louis softly said. "I love looking at
you."

Harry sniffed out a gentle laugh, brushing Louis' feathery fringe from his face.

"I love looking at you too, Lou."

His eyes scanned around the beautiful plains of Louis' face, saddened by the dark circles beneath
his eyes and how bloodshot his eyes were from crying.

"You're so stunning." Harry whispered, in awe always by Louis.

Louis shyly smiled and couldn't hold eye contact for long.

"My shy Lou," Harry cooed, grinning, "Always so shy."

"I used to love it when you called me shy, in Paris, when we didn't know each other very well. I
always had a weird feeling you were a little bit curious about me." Louis admitted, smiling. "And
turns out I was right."

"I think you picked up on my curiosity before I even did." Harry chucked. "I'm certainly glad I'm
exploring my curiosities now."

Louis giggled, though it didn't have the bright ring it usually did. Harry reached out to softly brush
his finger up the arm of Louis' jumper, tenderly, but he noticed that Louis very quickly pulled his
arm back. It was almost instinctive, like he hadn't intended to be so obvious, but the way he had
done it the moment Harry had touched it had Harry's eyebrows furrowing.

He linked eyes with Louis, powerfully, concerned, then let his eyes flick to Louis' clothed arm,
then back at his face. Louis stared back in an almost guilty manner, eyes dull. Harry drew in a
steady breath.

"Lou…"

Louis looked away, shamefully, his temporary happiness having already faded.

"Let me see."

"No." Louis said, voice small, sitting up and shuffling away a little. Harry sat up too, placing his
 hand on Louis' shoulder.

"Louis, please."

"I'm sorry." Louis' voice broke, and Harry's heart basically shattered, as that was confirmation
enough to what he assumed was going on.

"Lift your sleeve. Just show me." Harry's voice was soft, not demanding. "Please, baby."

Louis reluctantly placed his left forearm out, not looking up, and Harry gently took it and rolled
Louis' sleeve up. His awful suspicions were confirmed: Louis had harmed himself again. Harry
didn't say a word, quite frankly he didn't know what to say; ultimately he froze of words, but his
instinct was to pull Louis in close and breathe in his sweet scent.

"Baby." Was all he could manage, then Louis sniffled as the tears began. Harry held him tighter.
"It's okay."

"Are you angry with me?" Louis gasped out through tears.

"Of course I'm not," Harry mumbled against Louis' hair, fighting from crying too, "I'm not angry,
baby. I'm just worried, why did you--?"

"I just get mad at myself." Louis muttered, tone quiet, wiping a tear.

"If this is because of what Gigi said, I'm going to go crazy at her." Harry seethed suddenly. "Was it
that, Louis?"

"Just in general," Louis sighed, turning away from Harry. "It's not you. It's me. I'm sorry."

"Louis, nothing is your fault." Harry urged, gently placing a hand on Louis' hip from behind.
"Please know that. I'm not angry at you, you're not to blame for anything. I love you."

Louis turned to Harry then and practically melted into his arms, sobbing profusely now and
gripping hard onto him. Harry held him. He would hold him for as long as necessary, for days on
end if he had to. There was a deep set despair in Harry's heart knowing the reality of Louis'
condition: he had fallen back into that dark place again.

For now on, he didn't ever want to leave him alone again. And he would defend him from
anything.

Chapter End Notes

So yeah:( the reality of bad mental health is that it can quickly return after a while.

Also, side note: I was reading some comments. How would everyone feel about Harry
being bottom in a smut section of a chapter?? Wondering if I should incorporate that
xx
 63
Chapter Notes

SORRY MY UPDATES HAVE BEEN SO SO BAD I'M SORRY I'M SO

INCONSISTENT

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Harry had the heaviest of hearts following his discovery of Louis' fresh scars. He was trying hard
not to blame himself, as there was definitely something within himself that thought he was at fault.
He made Louis happy after Paris, he stopped him feeling that hatred towards himself, so was it
really his fault that Louis turned back?

He stayed the night at Louis'. Louis hadn't said much following the sad revelation; he had just laid
still and allowed himself to be embraced. Waking up to a Friday was reasonably refreshing, one
more day until the weekend, and a couple of days' escape from school. Harry didn't really know
what to say to Louis as they got ready, and headed out to Harry's car.

But as they jumped in, Harry hesitated before starting the engine. He turned to Louis, whose eyes
were trained solely out the windscreen ahead.

"I love you." Harry said, his tone steady. "And I'm not mad at you."

Louis nodded a little, though he didn't say anything. Harry knew that it could have been for one of
two reasons: either Louis was mad at himself, or he thought Harry was lying to make him feel
better - and he was really mad after all.

"Don't stress about facing Gigi, babe," Harry assured him, as he started the engine and began
reversing out of the drive, "She's just bitter because she got dumped."

"I still feel like it's my fault. She said Zayn's going to…" Louis trailed off, blankly shaking his
head.

"Lou, don't take anything that girl said seriously. She's deceiving, those girls all are. She's trying to
manipulate you, I assure you Zayn will be fine. I know how strong he is." Harry reassured, a
comforting hand clasped on Louis' knee and the other steering the car.

"What happens now, though?" Louis asked, voice still emotionless. "Zayn's away from Gigi, sure,
but what about us? Where do we go now?"

"That's the hard part, baby." Harry sighed. "I'm not sure. I guess at this point, things just need to
fall into place and happen naturally, regarding us."

"I'm sorry. Again."

"Stop," Harry abruptly said, with a calm edge to it, "Stop being sorry, you can't control what you
do when your emotions are erratic."

"It's nothing you did." Louis said then, which did put Harry at a bit more ease, even though he
already knew that.
"Okay, Louis. Just know that you'll get through this again. We will. School can be a real shit storm,
but we will get through it. We will get out of it happy."

---

Harry felt like a mother protecting her child as he and Louis walked into class. He wished he could
literally shield him, from Gigi's dagger-like gaze from the back of the history classroom.

"Ignore her." Harry barely whispered, just loud enough for Louis' ears. "She will get over herself at
some point, she just wants someone else to blame."

Gigi did look away, eventually, as Harry and Louis took their seats. Harry looked over to see that
Zayn was sitting alone, on a desk at the other side of the room, scrolling on his phone beneath the
table. He did feel a little bad for him, as usually he would be bantering with his mates at the back of
the room. It was his decision to completely ignore Harry's friendly smile, anyway.

Their teacher began the lesson, evidently not caring that Zayn continued to look at his phone; some
teachers were indifferent to that sort of thing. Harry was practically holding his breath, praying that
an early-morning, groggy Gigi didn't make any snide comments to Louis. She seemed to stay pretty
quiet. Probably sulking because Zayn was present.

They got on with a task in their textbooks. Harry felt a deep sadness to glance over and see Zayn
reading his textbook alone, taking notes. It was strange for someone so generally intimidating to
look so vulnerable and lonesome. He took his own phone out, deciding he would shoot him a quick
text. He wasn't expecting much of a response really, just wanted to offer some moral support.

Harry: You ok mate??

He saw Zayn's phone flash up on the tabletop, catching his eye. He glanced at it, then over at
Harry. He ignored the text, continuing to take notes instead. Maybe that was an incentive for Harry
to give up and leave him alone, but he didn't take it. He added another message on.

Harry: Stop pretending to hate me ;)

He hit send. Zayn's eyes found his phone screen again, and Harry saw it: the smallest, quickest
little flash of a smile on Zayn's face. It urged Harry to grin himself, as he hadn't managed to make
Zayn smile in quite a while now. It was a good feeling.

Zayn didn't reply though, but it was enough to have gotten a smile. At least it was one worry
slightly diminished - now there was only his sad, little Lou, and Liam thinking of proposing to a
girl who was cheating and in a blackmail deal with Harry. Quite a lot to take on.

Following their history lesson, as students began to leave, filtering into the centre aisle of the
classroom to head to the door, Louis had his first confrontation of the day. It came in the form of
not Gigi, but Cheryl defending Gigi. She barged past Louis very hard, sending him stumbling a
little bit forward.

"Hey," Harry angrily called out, stopping Cheryl in her tracks, cackling away as usual. "Stop being
a bitch, Cheryl."

"What are you going to do about it?" Cheryl hissed, cockily.

"Cheryl, just don't." Liam then interjected, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder to turn her away
from the altercation. He mouthed a sorry to Louis, despite it being Cheryl who should have been
doing so. And then Liam was leaving the room with Cheryl, Kendall and Gigi.
"Are you okay?" Harry instantly asked Louis, in a whisper, as they headed to their next lesson.
"Did she hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Louis smiled, "I like that Liam defended me."

"Yeah, Cheryl should have been the one apologising, though. And it's a shame Liam always ends
up following them." Harry sighed. "Zayn smiled at one of my texts during the lesson."

"Really?" Louis grinned. "Maybe he will end up warming up to you again. He's probably
beginning to feel lonely now, spending all day alone."

"The thing is, he definitely won't come and join our group. It's because of Christopher, probably,
and he's always had something against Niall, too. It would damage his reputation to be seen with
them." Harry rolled his eyes. "I wonder how he'd deal with just hanging out with you and me."

"He scares me, I'm not going to lie." Louis nervously chuckled. "I don't think I could even look him
in the eye, let alone talk to him directly."

"A lot of people are scared of him. Did you used to be scared of me, though?" Harry smirked,
hearing Louis sniff out a laugh.

"Well, yeah… but that was mainly because I found you ridiculously hot."

Harry threw his head back a little with a laugh. "And you're scared of Zayn because of his overall
aura? Or do you find him ridiculously hot, too?" He teased.

"He's attractive, sure, but miles below your hotness." Louis giggled. "He's just scary in general."

"Maybe I'll ask him if he wants to meet up with me alone," Harry thought aloud, "If Lou Lou is too
scared."

"Shut up," Louis giggled again, the sweetest sound, "You go and meet your scary mate, then, I'll
retreat to our scarily loser-like mates while you do so, where I belong."

Harry playfully nudged him. "Shut up, you're definitely not as much of a loser as Christopher. I
think I'll ask him to come with me to the diner after school."

"If he doesn't reject you again." Louis smirked.

"God, you're a savage today." Harry chuckled. "It's worth a try, though. I did make him smile,
maybe that's a good start."

"Yeah, it's worth an ask." Louis smiled.

Now Harry was the one feeling scared of Zayn. Maybe he was more scared of the rejection part
than Zayn himself, but that's besides the point. He would just have to see how Zayn reacted.

---

Zayn had spent lunchtime alone again late that day. Harry had seen him in the canteen, grabbing
himself a bottle of water, no food, before heading straight for the door; he hadn't even looked up
from the floor, meaning Harry didn't even get the chance to make eye contact. Come the end of the
day, Harry knew his only chance now was to catch Zayn in the car park, because he had headed
away far too quickly after the lesson for Harry to be able to catch him and ask.

Louis had mentioned that his Mum could pick him up, meaning Harry was open now to pursue
Zayn. He said a quick goodbye to his own mates in the car park, quickly mentioning to Louis that
he would call him later, before spotting Zayn making his way to the exit on foot. Clearly he was
going to walk home again, even though it was a pretty long walk to his place from school. This
meant he had the opportunity of starting a conversation with Zayn by offering him a lift.

"Zayn!" He called out, jogging to catch up just as Zayn had reached the main exit. Zayn span on
his feet, lifeless as usual, one hand clasping the backpack handle over his shoulder.

"What?"

"I was going to ask if you wanna hang out? Maybe the diner?" Harry decided to go straight in with
the question, instead of messing about offering a lift first and then moving onto the question.

He saw Zayn slowly inhale, then exhale at the same pace. He clearly didn't want to, he'd probably
rather go home and sleep, but it was Friday after all so he had the next couple of days to do that.

"Sure." He flailed a hand in defeat, seemingly too emotionless at this point to say no. "You
driving?"

"Yeah." Harry pointed a thumb over to his car, and they both started heading over to it. Harry
unlocked it and they got inside. Harry awkwardly fiddled with the radio and got the local station on
to fill the silence, before starting the car and heading out of the car park.

"You hungry? I noticed you didn't eat at lunch." Harry filled the silence. And then realised how
weird that seemed, that he was watching Zayn in the canteen and noticed his lack of food as he left.

"Yeah, I forgot my card, only had a pound for a drink. That sounds like an excuse, I'll send you
money for the diner." Zayn said.

"No, I got it. It's on me." Harry smiled. "You're going through a tough time, let me treat you."

"You don't have to, mate."

Mate. Perhaps he was just being courteous because Harry was offering to pay for him, and he still
didn't see him as a mate at all.

"It's not a problem." He concluded. He was going to try and be extra nice to Zayn, considering
Zayn had no choice but to do so back if he was being treated to a meal.

They got to the city centre in around twelve minutes and Harry parked up in the car park. The
journey there hadn't been full of conversation, just some light talk of the projects they were
undergoing in chemistry class, or what they were going to do over the weekend.

They made their way up to the top floor, where their usual diner was, and got seated in the semi-
busy facility the moment they had headed in. Harry shook off his coat when they had sat down and
ordered their drinks.

"Pretty busy." He once again filled the silence, noticing that Zayn was browsing the menu even
though he knew it by heart and always ordered the same anyway. He felt awkward, evidently.

"Yeah."

The waitress headed over a few minutes later with their drinks, taking their orders before heading
away again and leaving them with a silence hanging over them once again. Harry cleared his
throat, before realising that doing so only emphasised how tense he was feeling. His prime reason
for bringing Zayn here was to try to mend their friendship somehow, even just a little bit more, but
things were proving difficult so far.

"How's things?" He asked then, despite knowing that Zayn had been having a pretty shitty time as
of lately.

"Shit," He confirmed, sniffing out a laugh, "Literally have no mates."

Harry wanted to chip in with a cheerful 'I'm your mate!' but ultimately knew it probably wasn't the
best thing to say right now.

"That'll pass," He opted for instead, taking a tentative sip of his Pepsi, "School is such a short time
of our lives, you'll find people to fill in those missing pieces in the future."

Zayn hummed, with not so much emotion, too sipping at his beverage. His eyes were surveying the
diner around them, doing all he could to avoid eye contact with Harry.

"Is there no chance you'd want to spend more time with me at school? Surely that's better than
hanging out alone, even if you do dislike me." Harry brought up. Zayn did link eyes then, before
rolling them.

"You wouldn't catch me dead hanging out with your mates." He snapped. "...no offence."

"None taken," Harry sighed a laugh, "I already know your opinions on Niall. Charlie's like him,
and Christopher-"

"The kid's fucked up. A fucking weirdo." Zayn retorted. "I don't know why you ever stooped to
their level, to be honest, mate."

Harry wanted to go off on a tangent about how Louis was different to his mates, cooler and not a
weirdo, but he knew it would look suspicious to defend Louis so much in every single aspect. So
he dimmed it down a bit instead.

"I only really hang out with them because I became mates with Louis in Paris. Niall and Charlie
aren't so bad, when you get to know them. I think they just seem to idolise people like you and
me."

"Like you and me?" Zayn snorted, finding amusement in Harry's wording. "What constitutes you
and me?"

"You know what I mean," Harry playfully rolled his eyes, waving a hand. "Just… seen by people
as a bit… cooler?"

"Right," Zayn had a smile playing on his lips. "You're admitting that you're cooler than them. Still
have a bit of that ego."

Harry knew he could have relented a lot to what Zayn had said, but that would only put a strain on
their relationship once again and probably cause harsher words to be said. He took a sip from his
drink to give himself a moment to rethink.

"I wouldn't call it my own ego if it's what other people see." He chose wisely. "I'm not calling
myself cooler than them, just what I know our classmates think."

Their food was brought to the table a couple of minutes later, another excuse for a moment's
distraction from their tense discussion, before the waitress once again left them alone.
"Fuck knows when I'm going to move on," Zayn said, shovelling a couple of chips into his mouth.
"I can't imagine loving anyone else anymore. Seems hopeless to me now."

"You're still in early days. Before you met Gigi, you probably had no idea you'd love somebody
like you loved her. Somebody new will come along eventually." Harry theorised.

"What about you?" Zayn asked, provoking Harry's heart to start beating a tad faster.

"What about me?" He stalled, taking a bite from his sandwich.

"Found a new girl to fuck?" Zayn crudely asked. "Surely you have. You've at least been on a date
with someone."

"No," Harry liked, with a stark shrug. "What makes you think I would have already?"

"'Cause you're a stud, Styles. Come on, spill, you've been split from Kendall for months now."

"So?" He chucked, "I'm not seeing anyone!"

Zayn leant in slightly, squinting his eyes as they analysed Harry's face. Then his lips quirked into a
smirk.

"You're lying."

"I'm not!" Harry defended, even though saying this was taking his lying a step further. He could
feel his cheeks heating up.

"You definitely are," Zayn smirked, leaning back once again and continuing to eat his food. "I
know you, I know when you're lying. Who is it? Who are you seeing? You can tell me."

"Why do you care so much?" Harry laughed.

"You're the one trying to mend our friendship! So tell me your secrets, Harry!" Zayn's smugness
remained.

"Well, I'm not seeing anyone. Believe what you want." Harry shrugged.

Zayn's smile only seemed to get more mischievous, dropping the food from his hand back onto his
plate and dusting his hands together, before sticking out his open palm.

"Let me see your phone, then. Your texts."

Harry's heart jumped evermore. He felt like he was profusely sweating, but someone on the inside,
his skin burning hot.

"No," He chuckled, continuing to eat his food. "You could just trust me instead."

"If you're so adamant that you're single and you're not seeing anyone, you'd let me see. We always
used to go on each other's phones, man, we shared our passwords. Why so different now?" Zayn
laughed.

"Because." Harry shrugged, ending it there. He was glad when Zayn dropped it too, continuing to
eat and changing the subject.

"I'll be honest with you, Harry. I wouldn't mind hanging out with you more, just don't assume we're
mates again. And I'm not coming anywhere near you while you're with that group of losers at
 school."

"So… what you're saying is that you're only going to be using me for my company? You want to
hang out with me, but you don't want to be friends?" Harry cocked an eyebrow, confusion welling
within him. "That doesn't really make any sense."

"Look, I just don't know." Zayn shrugged, finishing off his food and wiping his hands on a napkin.
"I don't know anything at the moment. But I appreciate the food, and that you're being so nice to
me."

"Okay…" Harry hesitated. "So let's hang out more. At school, even, I'll come and hang out alone
with you sometime. But in return, you have to start being nice back. No sarcasm, no mind games,
just be nice."

"Deal." Zayn shrugged. "Wanna head off soon?"

"Sure." Harry sighed. He got the waitress' attention and asked for the bill, paying it and leaving a
tip on the little black tray, before he and Zayn made their way out of the diner.

Harry was surprised when Zayn didn't immediately request to go home straight away. They
strolled through the shopping centre a little, taking in the atmosphere and not saying much to one
another. Harry didn't know whether today had been a success or not, considering Zayn was still
being a little bit bitter and refusing to be fully compliant as a friend again.

They got to the water fountain in the outdoor plaza, and Zayn took a seat on the bench, so Harry
followed suit. Harry still got that mischievous aura off Zayn, like he was never completely serious
or relaxed, sitting beside him with a little smile. Harry was eyeing a group of skateboarders doing
tricks on the other side of the plaza, trying to distract himself so as not to absorb the awkward
tension between Zayn and him.

"What's the time?" Zayn queried then.

Harry went to check his wrist, then remembering he had left his watch at Louis' that morning. He
dug in his front pocket, pulling out his phone.

"Quarter past fo--"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Zayn had grabbed Harry's phone with a loud laugh,
before beginning to sprint off across the plaza. Harry's heart practically leapt into his throat.

Zayn could not see his messages. Not yet.

Chapter End Notes

Yeah.
 64
Chapter Notes

Hi.

I know it had been a long time, 16 months to be exact, and I want to deeply apologise
for that. My mind sort of wandered away from writing for a while because so much
has been happening, and I'm perhaps not as involved in the fandom as I once was, so
the story wasn't something on my to-do list.

But I've been remembering how many of you loved it and wrote comments saying so,
the kudos and reads this has received, and knew it couldn't be left unfinished. It's not
even like there is much left to happen in the story.

I understand that so many of you probably gave up on this a long time ago, or equally
so have completely forgotten the general narrative and little details, so I'm sorry and I
don't expect you to have to reread everything.

On overview of recent events that happened in recent chapters:

•Louis walked in on Gigi and a random guy at a house party, meaning she was
cheating on Zayn.
•Harry ended up telling Zayn, urging Zayn to go on to dump Gigi in class. Zayn's
general mood worsened and he was alone a lot at school.
•Harry's relationship with Liam is mending, but he's yet to tell Liam that Cheryl is
cheating on him, because Cheryl is threatening to tell people about H&L.
•Louis sadly relapsed and harmed himself again, after Gigi blamed him for her
breakup with Zayn.
•And finally, in the previous chapter, Harry took Zayn to the diner. Zayn was prying,
wanting to find out who Harry was texting lately and if he was speaking to any new
girls. Ended up taking Harry's phone and running away. That's where it ended.

Again, I'm so sorry for the inconsistency, I know I'm bad enough at updating as it is.
I'm going to finish this story now. Thank you for your patience, if you do decide to
complete it.

:)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The moment Zayn had taken off running with Harry's phone, Harry had instinctively scrambled to
sprint after him.

"Zayn!" He called out, his voice echoing off of the buildings either side of the cobblestoned path.

He could hear Zayn's laugh ringing out in the air, a flock of pigeons urged to flee in panic as he ran
by, before he disappeared through the glass double doors to his left, leading into the indoor area of
the shopping centre.

"Fucking hell." Harry whispered in exasperation, keeping up the pace to catch up, heading quickly
through the same set of doors as he reached them.

He glanced around before him, eyes surveying the area. There were countless shop entrances
inside, left and right, all possible routes Zayn could have taken. And ahead, a set of escalators,
leading to a second floor with yet more shops on the floor above. Harry knew he would just have to
go somewhere and hope it was the right gamble, so he headed for the escalators, with the
assumption that Zayn wouldn't want to trap himself in somewhere like a shop.

He hopped up the steps of the escalator, hands holding onto the handrails either side, and looked
all around himself once again when he reached the next level. Again, he couldn't seem to spot
Zayn anywhere, just swarms of strangers going about their shopping trips.

Harry's mind was racing, along with his heart, as he mulled over the possibilities of what Zayn
would find if he snooped on that phone. The texts to Louis; Harry was sure Louis had been the past
person he had contacted. It would be instantly obvious, upon reading any of those.

Harry gave the area one last scope over, using his height to his advantage to look over the crowds,
but ultimately realised it was probably pointless. Zayn could have gone any way within sight, and
could have still been running, so it felt pointless to pursue. Plus, there would be no way to contact
Zayn to get his phone back… considering Zayn had his phone.

Harry released a heavy sigh as he sat back on an empty bench close to the escalator, wiping his
forehead with the back of his hand. God, he was sweating profusely, and it was definitely more
from the stress than the spout of running he had just undertaken. He had already given up -
pathetic, really. But there was not much more that could be done, considering Zayn was
completely out of sight and could be anywhere.

It wasn't even like he could do anything at all, except sit there and perhaps wait until he spotted
Zayn again. He felt like a bit of an idiot, sitting there and sulking like a child, not even able to
aimlessly scroll on his phone to make him look less lonely.

Was this really it? Was Zayn really going to find out this way about him and Louis? This was
definitely not how he wanted it to play out. Harry exhaled in exasperation, wanting nothing more
than to call Louis and rant to him.

He regretted everything now, going out with Zayn in the first place. Zayn probably saw this as no
more than a lighthearted prank, considering it was in his nature to act like this with his mates, not
something as severe as it really was. Harry was truly terrified, as he continued to cautiously glance
around as he kept an eye out for him.

After a mere five minutes of waiting - which Harry could tell due to the large metal clock on a
metal pillar in the centre of the space - he couldn't take it any longer. He got to his feet and decided
he would have to go looking for Zayn, because clearly they weren't going to run into each other
again if he just sat around.

He decided he would head to the right, where there seemed to be a longer stretch of path towards
other shops, seeing that as a realistic path Zayn could have taken. He set off that way, continuing
to glance thoroughly around himself as he went, his eyes meeting unfamiliar faces. Zayn clearly
hadn't thought through the fact that there would be no way to contact Harry, if they did lose each
other - which was inevitable, considering Zayn was literally aiming to get away.

He ended up reaching the doors to the car park, deciding that if Zayn had been using his brain
enough, perhaps he would go and wait by Harry's car seeing as it was his only way home. Harry
headed to the floor 3, where he remembered to have parked, spotting Zayn in the distance, leaning
casually on the side of the car.

Harry's heart started drumming against his chest once again as he approached Zayn, unable to form
any words. Zayn was holding Harry's phone, but it appeared to be locked, and he wasn't looking at
it.

He gave Harry a casual nod in greeting, with a quick flash of a smile. He then waved Harry's
phone, before holding it out towards him.

"Forgot your password, mate." He chuckled, as he handed it back to Harry. "So all of that was for
nothing."

Although Harry felt an instant wave of relief, there was something strange in Zayn's tone that
meant he didn't fully believe him. It was the way he had completely lost the smugness he had
expressed when he first took the phone and started running, now trying to act calm and collected as
he continued to casually lean against Harry's car.

"Oh." Harry piped up, struggling to look up and meet Zayn's eye. "Pointless running, then." He
tried to laugh, but it just sounded dry and false.

Zayn shrugged, quickly, sniffing out a laugh. "Yeah. Tired myself out for nothing."

"Teaches you not to take other people's things, then." Harry once again tried but failed to laugh
naturally. "Should we head out?"

"Yeah, yeah, probably." Zayn muttered, keeping the cool nature about him, waiting for Harry to
press the unlock button on his car before jumping into the passenger seat and shutting the door.

Harry took a slow, deep breath in and then out while walking around to the driver's side, jumping in
and shutting his door. They buckled up in silence and Harry started the engine, making sure the
radio came on and rescued them both from the quiet.

"Thanks for the food." Zayn thankfully filled the silence, as they pulled out of the parking space
and headed for the exit ramp. "It was nice going back to that diner with you."

"You're welcome, man. It was nice." Harry plastered on a closed-mouth smile, even though Zayn
was looking ahead. "I thought it would be nice to get you out, seeing as you've not exactly had the
best last few days."

Zayn didn't say anything in response to that, deciding to watch the journey ahead of him instead, as
the car veered its way down the final ramp and out of the car park. Harry awkwardly drummed his
hands on the steering wheel along to the song playing, unable to shake the tense atmosphere that
had fallen over them.

Something definitely wasn't right here, it was too quick for Zayn to go from being so outgoing and
cheerful, to more quiet and reflective. Harry's paranoia? Perhaps, but it just seemed strange.

They stayed quiet the whole way back to Zayn's house, the radio being the only silence-filler, and
there were many situations Harry wanted to pointlessly fill the silence but didn't. He pulled up onto
Zayn's driveway, pulling the handbrake and switching off the engine.

"Right, that's me." Zayn smiled, scooping up his backpack from the footwell and unclipping his
seatbelt. "Thanks again, man. And sorry for making you run."

Harry laughed a little more authentically now, though the nagging doubt remained in the back of
his mind.

"I forgive you. Think I burned a few calories from the meal."

"Oh, me too." Zayn chuckled, opening the door and jumping out. He leant back down quickly. "I'll
see you around."

"Yeah, see you." Harry waved.

Zayn patted the top of the car before shutting the door and heading towards his house. Harry was
quick to start his engine and back out of the drive, heading off down the road.

Fuck. Fuck. He hated this. Hated not knowing whether he was overthinking things. What if Zayn
really had forgotten his phone's password? They had been away from each other for quite some
time, maybe it had just faded from Zayn's mind. But then again, they had been friends for so long
in the past and Harry had always had the same password, even on phones in the past.

Zayn had to have known it. It was almost inevitable he couldn't have forgotten it, it must have been
engraved into his brain by now. Maybe he had snooped and then felt like he didn't know how to
accept what he had seen, so he had pretended he hadn't.

Harry had to know. He hadn't even gotten two blocks from Zayn's before he pulled over into a lay-
by, switching off his engine. He pulled out his phone and unlocked it. It immediately displayed his
homescreen, which was expected. He tapped on the tabs button, his most recent tabs fanning open
on the screen.

His fears were justified. The most recent app opened, first on the list, was his text conversation
with Louis.

"Fuck." Harry whispered, head falling back onto the headrest. "God, Zayn."

He racked his mind, concluding that the last app he had opened himself definitely hadn't been his
texts to Louis, it had been the website for the diner to check the price of something on the menu.

Zayn had definitely been the one to open that text conversation.

Harry tapped onto it, so it opened up. And, fuck, the texts were scrolled a little way up, meaning
Zayn had curiously gone backwards in their conversation to read.

And the text from Harry to Louis on the screen wasn't too hard to understand, back from the
morning after the house party:
"Harry: Morning. Take some paracetamol babe. I got a taxi with Zayn and he's sleeping in my
room currently so this is gonna be awkward .xx"

Not only had he called Louis babe, plus added two kisses on the end, but he had also mentioned
the awkwardness of Zayn being at his house. For crying out loud.

So, Zayn knew. He completely knew, yet had pretended he didn't. Why didn't he say anything?
Clearly it had bothered him in some way, because it had completely thrown his mood off and he
had turned so quiet.

He shut his eyes momentarily, dread pooling in his stomach, and pulled out his phone. He was
about to phone Louis himself, surprised when he saw that Louis started calling him at that moment.
He swiped it to answer, putting the phone to his ear.
 "Hey." He sighed.

"Hey, sorry, are you still with Zayn? I don't want to disrupt, if you are." Louis said.

"No, no, I…" Harry trailed off, shutting his eyes and rubbing his eyelid with his thumb. "I just
dropped him home."

"Everything okay, Harry?" Louis asked, slowly. "You sound completely worn out."

Harry huffed out a laugh, even though it wasn't a real one and nothing about this was funny.
"Yeah. Sorry, yeah, everything's fine, Lou. I think I'm just tired from the week."

"Are you sure? You sound completely drained." Louis detected. "Did you two fall out again, or
something?"

"No, no, we didn't. I promise." He pacted. Because it was true, they hadn't fallen out, effectively.

"Do you promise you're alri-"

"Are you alright?" Harry interrupted, his mind falling onto Louis' wellbeing instead. "I never like
leaving you on your own, I would have come over if I hadn't gone out with Zayn."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Louis said, and it sounded completely honest. "Watched a film with Lottie."

Harry smiled. "That's good. Can I come over in an hour or so?"

"I'd love you to." He could hear the smile in Louis' voice. "I'll see you in a little while, Harry. I love
you."

Harry smiled largely at that. "I love you too, baby. Bye."

"Bye bye."

Harry sighed and put down his phone. He had to get to the bottom of all of this, before he worried
Louis with the details. That burden was his to carry, for now.

Chapter End Notes

Not a long chapter, I know. But this is likely the length the rest of them will be. It will
likely end with chapter 70.

Thank you.
 65
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Once he had finally arrived home, Harry was sitting on his bed, stuck in a deep debate: text Zayn,
or leave it. The situation was still fresh and could be addressed promptly if Harry were to text him
simply asking if he had indeed lied about forgetting the phone's password. But that also meant a
hell of a lot of awkwardness, too.

Coming out to Zayn and Liam was obviously a big box to check on Harry's to-do list, seeing as
they had been in his life from a very young age and had been his closest friends that whole time
(well, up until their falling out in Paris.) But it was the way Zayn had found out that was not so
ideal - snooping on Harry's phone and accidentally stumbling upon it instead. It must have come as
a shock to Zayn, as he had initially intended to find girls' names in Harry's flirtatious texts, not
Louis Tomlinson's.

After a couple of minutes of internal back-and-forth, he decided that he would leave it and avoid
texting Zayn. All it would do is cause him to spiral into some anxious frenzy while he awaited a
response, so he went against that idea. He would just have to accept the fact that it was now an
unspoken fact between him and Zayn, and not a small fact, at that.

---

Later that evening, Harry was glad to find himself crammed in Louis' single bed with him. It was a
ridiculously small space for them both to be in, but Harry couldn't complain when Louis' leg was
over him and they were receiving maximum warmth and comfort from one another.

For some reason, he had decided to hold off from mentioning the Zayn situation to Louis. It was
almost as if it was that big of a burden, that he didn't even want to talk about it because it only
causes more woret to surface. He couldn't stop replaying the car ride home in his head - Zayn's
pensive state and lack of conversation. What was he thinking about what he had seen?

Louis looked away from the television screen, which was playing a film, to glance up at Harry.
Harry had dropped his thoughtful look in enough time, smiling at Louis when they linked eyes,
causing Louis to reciprocate it.

Louis turned his attention back to the screen once again, before it seemed he suddenly remembered
something and he was turning back to Harry.

"Oh yeah, I was going to mention. I'm kind of terrified of the idea, but did you still want me to
come over to your house soon to spend time with you and your family, now that they all know
we're together?" He voiced. "If your mum has had enough time to come to terms with it all."

"Of course I do," Harry smiled, planting a kiss on his forehead, "That would be lovely, Lou. They
would all love to meet you again."

"I don't know why the thought scares me so much, they're all lovely. I think it's the whole formal
dinner thing." Louis admitted.

"Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be for dinner. You could just come over and we could all have
drinks, or something casual like that? I'm sure that would be less pressure than all of us sitting
around a dinner table." Harry smiled. "How does that sound?"
"That sounds a little better, yeah. I think I'd definitely be more at ease."

"Well, how about tomorrow evening? It's Saturday, so my family will be around." Harry shrugged.
"Might as well bite the bullet and get it over with, huh?"

Louis chuckled, "You're making it sound like a form of torture."

"You know what I mean," Harry playfully rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to text my mum and
suggest it?"

Louis hesitated, but more in a joking manner than anything else, before smiling and nodding.
"Yeah, go on."

Harry snaked his hand down and lifted himself up a little to retrieve his phone from his back
pocket, typing with one hand (the other trapped somewhere beneath Louis) and shooting a text his
mum's way.

Harry: Can Louis come over tomorrow eve? Could all have some drinks and stuff :) .xx

"Imagine if she said no." Louis kidded.

"Don't be silly." Harry giggled, right as a response came through from his mum.

Mum: Of course, Darling. That would be nice. Could you pick some drinks up before you come
over tmrw? Xox

Harry: Yeah that's fine, thanks Mum .xx

"Easy as that." Harry grinned, dropping his phone onto the duvet that was covering them.

Harry was rather nervous for Louis to meet his family again now that they knew about their
relationship. Gemma obviously knew and had for a while, so all was well with her, but it would
inevitably feel a little bit tense with his mum. He knew Robin would be chilled out about it.

His main responsibility now was just to reassure Louis.

Oh - and to worry about the situation with Zayn.

---

They had arranged to get to Harry's for about 7pm the next evening, so they could have dinner at
Louis' and then go to the shop beforehand.

Harry had reassured Louis for a good twenty minutes that it didn't matter what he wore, and smart
attire wasn't necessary for a casual thing like this. He had ended up reiterating enough times that
jeans and a hoodie were fine, that it was finally drilled into Louis' brain and he accepted it.

Harry had half been expecting some sort of communication from Zayn all day, but wasn't surprised
when he got nothing.

They left Louis' at around 6:30pm and headed to the Tesco on the way to Harry's to grab a range of
drinks. They headed into the shop together, the urge to hold hands as strong as always, which they
restrained. Harry grabbed a basket as they went in, and they headed straight towards where the
drinks were located.

"You feeling alright?" Harry smirked at Louis as they walked.

"Yeah," Louis smiled, though he didn't sound wholly certain. "I'm fine."

"As long as you're sure," Harry sang, playfully, as they turned into the aisle with the alcoholic
drinks in.

And the moment they did, Harry's heart practically leapt into his mouth, because halfway down the
aisle, browsing the selection of beers, was Zayn and Liam.

A whispered "fuck" ripped from Harry's mouth in an instant, and he initially wanted to turn around
and dart away before they were spotted. But it was too late, as they were heading into the aisle too
quickly to make a casual getaway. He instead stopped at the top of the aisle, pretending to browse
the range of drinks before him.

Louis looked a little apprehensive to see them, but also picked up on Harry acting the same.

"What's up? I thought you were on good terms with them both now." Louis figured, looking
confused. "Did it not… go well with Zayn?"

Harry subtly glanced the way of Zayn and Liam, who still hadn't noticed them, too busy searching
for the perfect beer. It wasn't too late to make a subtle escape, yet Harry felt it would be far too
obvious if they did now.

"It's fine, just still a little tense. Do you want to head to the soft drinks, see if there's anything you
can find there? I'll find you in a few minutes." Harry suggested. "It's not that I don't want to be seen
with you, I just don't want you caught up in the awkwardness, because Liam will probably come
over and talk to me if he sees me."

"That's probably a good idea," Louis laughed, taking the basket that Harry offered to him, "Just text
me and we'll find each other."

Harry hastily nodded, and Louis headed out of the aisle, unnoticed. Harry had been telling the truth
when he said why he wanted Louis to head away, knowing how tense it would be for the poor boy,
but it was probably an added bonus that Zayn wouldn't see them together so soon as he was likely
still processing what he had seen on Harry's phone.

Harry decided he would man up and actually approach Zayn and Liam. He wouldn't have done so
if it was just Zayn, but Liam was sort of a saving grace here.

"Hey." He confidently addressed the two of them when he reached them.

He noticed immediately that Zayn did a double take, and then kind of just tensed.

"Hey, mate." Liam greeted, happy as usual.

And then, in an instant, Zayn pulled out his phone and so obviously began to pretend.

"Oops, gotta take this." He said, before proceeding to bring the device to his ear, heading off the
opposite way down the aisle.

To "talk" on his phone. The phone which wasn't even ringing, however he somehow knew to take
it from his pocket to "answer it." Harry immediately felt disheartened. Zayn wanted to avoid
talking to him.

"Weird," Liam commented, with an entertained laugh, "Didn't you two meet up yesterday? What
happened?"
Harry drew in a deep breath. "Uh, yeah, we did. It went okay, maybe a bit quiet at times, I…" He
trailed off, shutting his eyes for a split second before opening them and linking gazes with Liam.
"Liam, has Zayn mentioned anything to you?"

Liam looked like a confused puppy straight away, eyebrows furrowing and head tilting to the side,
a small smile on his face. "That's a pretty open question, man. He's probably mentioned a lot to me
lately."

Harry laughed, rolling his eyes. "Anything… about me?" He tested.

"Not that I can think of," Liam shook his head, "Do you mean after you two met up?"

"Yeah."

"Nope. Why, is there something I should know?"

"Well," Harry breathed out a laugh, "Uhh… no. Well, I don't know."

"You're confusing me." Liam admitted, before checking his watch and turning back to selection of
beer, scooping up a crate and tucking it under his arm. "Look, we gotta get going, I've told Zayn he
can come over to mine because he's still upset over Gigi and everything."

"Oh, yeah, I won't keep you." Harry smiled. "But, about what I said: Zayn hasn't said anything?
Seemed off?"

"Only just now, pretending he was taking a call." Liam laughed. Okay - even he had noticed the
fakery in that. "I won't mention that we spoke about it, if you don't want me to. And I won't pry and
try to get an answer out of him."

"Thanks, man. It's nothing big, just a stupid little thing that I thought he was acting funny about."
Harry lied, because it was, in fact, a very big thing. "Maybe it's nothing."

"Maybe." Liam smiled. "Anyway, see you at school, I guess."

"Yeah." Harry gave a casual wave, and Liam headed off in the direction Zayn had gone.

Well fuck. FUCK. Did Zayn hate him or something? Why the hell would he just take off like that,
making up some lame excuse to avoid interacting with Harry?

Was he not accepting of what he found out? Struggling to adjust? Just straight-up confused?

Whatever it was, it made Harry's heart sink. He wished he had never met up with Zayn alone.

---

Harry had picked up a few bottles of alcohol that looked nice, eventually meeting with Louis
again, who had some soft drinks in the basket. They reached a self-checkout till and Harry began
scanning.

"How did that go, then? I saw Zayn walk past me, but he didn't see me." Louis informed.

"Was he on the phone?" Harry pried, continuing to scan their items.

"No," Louis said, after thinking for a moment, "He was just sort of aimlessly wandering."

Harry sighed, pulling his wallet from his back pocket and pressing the touchscreen for the card
 option.

"Oh. He pretended to be on the phone to get out of talking to me." He admitted, putting on a laugh
as he scanned his card. "Maybe he feels like he's spent too much time with me, for his liking."

"I'm sure it's nothing major, love," Louis reassured, as they bagged their items. "He probably wants
to keep some sort of distance from you, because his guard is too high and he doesn't want you to
win him back so easily."

Maybe that was even partly true, as well. Perhaps it wasn't all down to what Zayn had seen on
Harry's phone, but was also, as Louis had said, Zayn wanting to keep that distance between them.
He had always been the stubborn type, and so he could have realised overnight that he was
warming up to Harry too much too quickly. That's what Harry hoped, anyway.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

They headed out of the shop and back to Harry's car. Harry's mind just couldn't stop racing about
the situation.

It was reassuring that Zayn hadn't mentioned it to Liam. That proved that he was probably
currently internalising what he had seen and wasn't repulsed by it, or anything equally as awful. If
he had been, he probably would have been straight on the phone to Liam to gossip about it.

Harry knew that Zayn was a good person deep down, beneath that bad-boy persona. It would just
take some time for that to show again.

Chapter End Notes

Next chapter will be H&L going to Harry's house. :)

 66
Chapter Notes

Thank you so much for all of your lovely comments! They mean a lot to me. And
thank you for your patience, waiting for my stupid self to finally update *facepalm*

I'll be sad once this fic is over, I've enjoyed writing it so much and seeing things
unfold. A few more chapters to go!

"Ready?" Harry asked Louis, with a cheeky grin.

They were sitting in Harry's car, parked on the drive of Harry's house, and had been for a good few
minutes. Louis was visibly nervous, wringing his hands together and avoiding eye contact with
Harry as his mind raced.

"I think so."

Harry sniffed out a laugh, reaching over and patting Louis on the leg.

"At least you've met them all before, yeah? It's not like this is the first time. Just the first time
they're meeting you as my boyfriend."

Louis looked at Harry then, and finally a smile broke through. He unclipped his seatbelt, Harry's
cue to do the same, and they jumped out the car. Louis shifted on the pebbles beneath his feet,
while Harry retrieved the shopping bag of drinks from the back seat of the car, nudging the door
shut with his hip.

"Come on then, Lou Lou." He smiled encouragingly, approaching the front door and opening it.

They both stepped inside, kicking off their shoes, and hanging up their coats. The sound of the
television playing was audible in the living room, indicating that they were all likely in there
already. Harry approached the living room door and stepped inside.

Anne, Robin and Gemma looked up, greeting him with smiles. Anne was sitting curled up beside
Robin on the sofa to the right, Gemma comfortably seated on an armchair beside it.

"Hey." Harry greeted, stepping into the room, and Louis trailed sheepishly in behind him.

Gemma's face always seemed to break into a fond expression whenever she saw Louis, as if her
internal dialogue was literally: 'awww!'

"Hey, guys." Robin greeted, greeting the two of them with a nod and a smile. "How are you both?"

Harry took a seat on the free sofa at the left of the room, placing the carrier bag by his feet, and
Louis was quick to join him on it. Harry noticed how tense Louis was, and how he sat quite a
distance away than he would if they were alone.

"Good, thank you." Louis said, though there was a slight nervous shake to his voice. "How are
you?"
"Yeah, I'm good, buddy." Robin smiled.

Harry could feel the tension. It was bound to happen, considering his parents weren't exactly
completely used to the thought of their son being with a guy; it was probably something they never
would have deemed possible.

"What have you guys been up to?" Anne queried, her gaze lingering on Louis for longer than it did
Harry. The gaze was warm and open, nothing calculating or judgemental about it.

Harry decided he would take a little bit of attention off of Louis, relieve him of it a little, and
mention his trip out with Zayn. As much as it pained him to bring that guy up at the moment, what
with the awful new realisation that Zayn was acting out weirdly at the moment and avoiding him.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, I went for food with Zayn after school yesterday. Just wanted to try and
patch things up with him, you know?" He mentioned. He noticed that his mum turned her nose up
a bit at the mention of Zayn; he was definitely in her bad books lately.

"You're really bothering with him again? Hasn't he been a bit of a pain, as of late?" Anne reminded
him.

She was probably referencing the car situation, even though everybody now knew it had turned out
to be Kendall. Oh - or maybe she was actually reminiscing on the time Zayn came banging on their
door and demanding to know where Harry is, when he thought he had been messaging Gigi. Good
times.

"He has, to be honest. But I've known him for so many years, and we never had any problems
before Gigi came into his life." Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Oh, and by the way, they broke up."

"What!" Gemma chipped in, eyes wide as she sat upright in her seat. "They've been together, like,
forever!"

Louis was laughing to himself, quietly, entertained by the reaction. Anne and Robin looked equally
as shocked and intrigued.

"Yeah. She cheated on him." Harry informed.

"That bitch!" Gemma whispered to herself, ferociously. "Poor Zayn. How's he taking it?"

"Not very well. Kind of went through a phase of looking pensive and murderous." Harry chuckled.
"He will get through it."

"Oh, bless him. Maybe his character will improve once again then, who knows." Anne said, before
turning her attention to Louis once again. "What's your opinion on Zayn, Louis?"

Louis felt all eyes on him again. It was inevitable this was going to happen, seeing as he had come
round to socialise with everybody, and he seemed to have become more comfortable after being sat
in there for a few minutes.

"Well…" Louis thought for a moment, making brief eye contact with Harry before turning to the
others again. "Bit of an arsehole, right?"

Everybody laughed, humorously. It was a nice wave of laughter, laughing with Louis, delightfully
honoured by him.

"But he could definitely redeem himself!" Louis laughed along, "Besides, I first came to know of
him while he was with Gigi, I'm not sure what he was like before that."

"He definitely is a bit of an arsehole though, I'd agree with that." Robin chuckled, an amused
sparkle in his eye.

"Hey, Louis, you wouldn't give me a hand in serving up some drinks, would you?" Anne asked
then, nudging her head at the bag by Harry's feet, before smiling at Louis.

Harry knew that Louis had probably internally panicked at that. Even though Anne was the
sweetest woman ever, and hadn't stopped smiling the moment they'd arrived.

"Yeah, of course!" Louis happily obliged, picking the bag up and following Anne out of the room
to head to the kitchen. The moment the door shut, Gemma giggled.

"Ooh, she's going to be interrogating him in there!" She joked, with a bright smile.

"Poor guy," Harry laughed, "She did the exact same thing with Kendall. I definitely have more
faith in Louis to make a good first impression."

"He's a lovely guy, Harry." Robin commented, with an honest nod. "Really lovely. Laid back,
smiley. Good for you."

"Thank you." Harry said, completely heartfelt. "That means a lot. He really is lovely."

In the kitchen, Anne was pouring gin into two gin glasses for herself and Gemma, and Louis had
undertaken the job of topping them up with lemonade.

"Has anyone ever told you, you have the sweetest laugh, Louis." Anne complimented, with a warm
smile. "The contagious type, indeed."

"Oh, thank you!" Louis said, unintentionally giggling in response, making Anne smile again. "I
used to be quite self-conscious of my laugh, so I'm glad you think so."

"Keep laughing and smiling, always. Harry's quite funny, I can bet he's always making you laugh."
Anne fondly mentioned, retrieving the crate of beer cans from the bag. "Beer?"

"I'll go with a Coke, for now, I'm not very big on drinking." Louis admitted, despite beer being a
strong drink, yet remembering his awful vomiting spells in Paris.

"That's a very good trait to have, Louis. You're giving me many, many reasons to like you!" Anne
grinned, leaning casually against the kitchen counter. "So, what was your first impression of my
Harry? How did you meet?"

Louis sniffed out a laugh to himself. He tried to avoid the thoughts of when he used to associate
Harry with the bullies, and instead focused on his sole initial opinion of Harry.

"That he's just gorgeous. I had to introduce myself to the class, and I was really nervous. And
Harry gave me such a friendly smile when we made eye contact."

"Very sweet," Anne smiled, "He's a kind soul, he probably noticed you were nervous."

"He definitely did. It made me feel at ease, immediately." Louis admitted, remembering exactly
how that smile made him feel. Both butterflies and relief, mixed up in one.

"You're a real breath of fresh air, Louis, I hope you know that." Anne truthfully imposed, looking
squarely at Louis with a calm gaze. "The exact temperament of a person I wanted Harry to be with.
I think I…" She trailed off, holding up a hand. "Sorry, you probably don't want me mentioning
Kendall."

"No, no, I don't mind." Louis said, truthfully, because he really didn't. He knew how much Harry
loved him, it didn't change anything for Kendall's name to be brought up.

"Well, with Kendall, I think I had my head in the clouds a little bit. Thought they were a match
made in heaven because that's what I wanted them to be. I'm friends with Kendall's mum, so it just
felt convenient, you know?"

"I understand, yeah," Louis nodded along, "Not wanting to give up on it, but keeping on pushing
because it was never quite… what you wanted it to be?"

"Oh, exactly. I was unfair on poor Harry when they'd broken up, I can see that now. That girl wasn't
as lovely as I once thought." Anne sighed. "But anyway, that's besides the point. That image I had
in mind, the perfect partner for my son… that's what you have brought, Louis. Your energy, it's
wonderful. I can't thank you enough."

Louis, never usually the confident type, initiated a hug. Anne gratefully accepted it, taking Louis
into her arms and hugging him tightly. It was a hug of pure love, no awkwardness there, and Louis
had never felt so at peace with somebody he barely really knew yet.

"Stay lovely, Louis, won't you?" Anne softly said, during their hug.

"I'll try my hardest." Louis giggled, as they broke the hug.

Anne smiled. "Anyway, they'll all be wondering where their drinks are!"

---

The rest of the evening was relaxed and delightful. They drank, chatted, laughed, told stories and
got to know Louis. Louis was bubbly and engaged with everybody, completely relaxed, and Harry
couldn't help but to sit back and observe throughout the evening at his gorgeous boy, confidently
addressing his family, opening up to them.

It couldn't have gone more perfectly than it did - it was exactly how Harry had hoped it would be.
The clock eventually drew out to 11PM, as they were all calmly watching television together, and
one-by-one people agreed to call it a night.

"Thanks for tonight, guys," Robin said, as he stood up and stretched his arms overhead. "It's been
lovely chatting to you, Louis. You'll have to come and spend some time with us all again soon."

Another good sign that no one could get enough of Louis and his lovely presence.

"I'd love to." Louis smiled. "Thanks for having me."

"Are you staying over, Louis? I'm sure you could borrow some things off Harry if need be, and we
have some new toothbrushes in the cupboard." Anne invited, with a smile.

Another good sign, that she had gotten over the fact that her son was sharing a bed with a boy. She
had definitely connected with Louis on a deeper level, no longer caring about his gender.

"That would be great, thank you."

"If you need anything, just knock on our door." Anne said. "Good night."
She headed out with Robin, who waved goodnight in his departure. Gemma said her farewells too,
thanking Louis for coming over before disappearing from the living room to go up to bed.

"Aaand breathe." Harry chuckled, grinning largely at Louis. "Oh, Lou, they love you!"

"I'm so relieved. Gosh, they're all so sweet." Louis cooed. "All made me feel so comfortable. You
have a wonderful family around you, Harry."

"And a rather sexy boyfriend." Harry smirked, bringing Louis in by the hips so their abdomens
were pressed together, his arms around Louis' waist and Louis' around the back of his neck.

And, of course, Anne had to come in then, and Harry should have spotted that she had left her
phone on the coffee table.

She lightly laughed to herself after spotting their embrace, and the way they had jumped apart
when she had entered the room.

"Don't mind me!" She smiled, fondly. "Didn't mean to interrupt!"

And then she had dipped back out of the room and headed back upstairs.

"God," Harry giggled, "At least it wasn't as bad as your mum walking in on us making out on your
bed."

"Please don't remind me," Louis put his face in his hands and groaned, "Literally five minutes after
I introduced you to her, too. With no warning beforehand that we were even romantically involved
in any way."

"Funny to look back on, though. Weird to know my mum's completely chill about this now. But a
good weird, of course. I think you easily swayed her with your charm."

"What can I say?" Louis giggled. "Anyway, let's head up?"

"Yeah, before we go any further and end up on the living room floor for anyone to walk in on."
Harry joked, earning a laugh from Louis.

Well, at least his family was fully accepting. Which was a difference from Zayn, perhaps. Harry
still had no clue what was going on with that one, but he would have to ride it out and see how it
unfolded.

School wasn't going to be very fun, come Monday.

 67
Chapter Notes

Damn just realised this has over 100,000 reads now thanks for reading!!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

By the time Monday did fly around, Harry didn't really know how to feel.

He didn't want the situation with Zayn to put a damper on everything that was going good in his
life, but he couldn't help but feel it as a massive burden to carry.

Louis spending time with his family had gone wonderfully, better than ever, so there was a spark of
joy lit within Harry whenever he reminisced on that. But then reminders of the situation with Zayn
came along to put out that spark.

Harry drove himself and Louis to school Monday morning, the radio playing a bright tune into the
car to try to coax any sort of positivity from Harry, and Louis hummed along idly as they went.

"You okay?" He decided to ask Harry, lovingly placing a hand on his knee.

"Yeah." Harry said, quickly, eyes remaining on the road ahead.

"You're thinking about Zayn again, aren't you?" Louis figured, giving Harry's knee a light squeeze
before retracting his hand. "I'm sure you're just overthinking things, babe. There would be no
reason for him to act off with you, unless he's just trying to keep up his stubbornness."

The fact Louis had no idea what went down in the shopping centre, made Harry feel a little bit
guilty. But at the same time, he didn't really want Louis to know that Zayn had taken Harry's phone
and seen their text messages. Because if Zayn acted weird and standoffish at school, he didn't want
Louis thinking it was something for him to worry about, just something Harry was dealing with.

"Yeah, I'm probably just overthinking it. He's just being a twat, as usual." Harry dismissed it, as
they turned into the car park of their school.

They parked up in Harry's usual spot and jumped out the car, heading towards the school building.

"How are you, though? Feeling good today?" Harry asked Louis, as they strolled through the doors
into the main school building.

"I'm feeling really good today, actually." Louis smiled to himself. "Really positive. I just don't want
to see you sad."

"I'm fine, Lou!" Harry lied, voice bright. "Don't worry about me. I'm just being a drama queen."

Louis chuckled to himself and didn't delve into the topic any further, which worked well for Harry.
They reached the room where their resignation class was held, walking into the room just as the
clock reached half past eight.

In the corner of Harry's eye, he could see that Zayn was in school today, sitting in his usual seat
across the room. But Harry let his eyes stay fixed on his destination: his own seat. He felt a little
bit tense that Zayn was seeing him and Louis together, the first time since he had unintentionally
uncovered the truth. He didn't let it bother him that he could feel Zayn's eyes on him from across
the room.

Harry sat in his chair beside Louis' and let his eyes casually survey the room. Their teacher wasn't
present yet, so the class was still unruly and he could look around without seeming weird,
remaining inconspicuous.

Harry gathered from his fleeting glance, that Zayn was casually talking to Liam. He looked his
moody self, to be honest, dressed rather scruffily compared to what he would usually adorn. Clearly
the effects of the breakup were still burning through his system; he looked as though he hadn't
slept for months.

Harry looked Gigi's way. She had her chin propped up on her hand, eyes glassy and empty, staring
forwards at nothing in particular. He wanted to laugh, but knew it wasn't exactly the right time to
right now.

"What the fuck are you looking at, Harry?" Came Kendall's voice. She was sitting beside Gigi, and
Harry glanced her way to find her eyes boring into him like knives.

"Nothing." He said, with a loose shrug. "What are you looking at?"

Kendall loudly scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. Harry then looked Zayn's way once again, to find
him already staring back. The moment they locked eyes, Zayn looked away, so quickly that it
almost seemed rehearsed. He decided he would shrug it off, smiling at Liam, who smiled back,
before shifting his attention away from them for now.

God, he was meant to have broken away from that entire group, but was still at their mercy. He
appreciated Liam, among all of the chaos.

Throughout the day, things just kept happening to further prove Zayn was distancing himself from
Harry without a word. In their English class, Zayn had refused Mr Grant's request to hand out
people's work - probably to avoid interacting with both Harry and that awful group of girls. In
Biology, Harry had actually attempted to smile at Zayn, just quickly, but was met with a blank
expression and an escaping gaze. And just about every instance of eye contact, intentional or
accidental, ended with Zayn looking away at the speed of light.

At lunchtime, sitting in the cafeteria, Harry had decided to have a little bit of a vent to Louis.

"I just don't get why he's doing it!" Harry maybe half-lied, because he knew why Zayn was doing
it, however he didn't know why his reaction had to be like this.

"He's just an arsehole, Harry. If he's still acting like that towards you, he clearly isn't very open to
the prospect of being your friend again." Louis advised. "If he was, he would be friendly with you
and would make an effort to engage, not do everything in his power to avoid you."

Was Zayn really homophobic? Despite the awful comments he had made in the past, criticising
others and jokingly calling them gay, Harry just really did not think Zayn could act this way with
him. They had known one another for so long, surely Zayn would be a little more understanding…
right?
"I'm just taking it personally because of how close I was with him, I think. I don't think anyone can
just cut someone off like that, so easily. It just doesn't seem right." Harry shook his head in
distaste. "I don't want to just let him get away with it, without telling me why he's doing it."

Harry glanced over across the cafeteria, where Zayn was sitting with his friends. He seemed rather
sprightly, joking around with Liam while playing some silly handsy tabletop game, yet his attitude
with Harry was just completely off.

"I mean, you could confront him about it," Louis chipped in, after watching Harry watch Zayn in
silence. "But that could worsen things. Even though he hasn't really got the right to be treating you
like he is."

"He loves being confrontational, so he would just love for me to confront him about this." Harry
rolled his eyes, feeling comfort when he instead set his eyes on his lovely Louis. "But I don't see
what more I can do, other than to just ask him what his problem is."

"Just be careful if you do." Louis warned, lovingly nudging his leg against Harry's beneath the
table. "Put things carefully to him, you know? Don't sound aggressive. Not that I think you would."

In the corner of Harry's eye, he could see movement from Zayn's way. Zayn had gotten to his feet,
though he left his backpack by his vacant seat, and started heading alone away from the table and
towards the cafeteria's exit. This meant he was likely going to the bathroom, considering nobody
was joining him and he had left his belongings.

"I'll be back shortly." Harry rushed, getting to his feet and leaving his own belongings too. He had
to take this chance. "I'll be fine."

"I know you will. Go and chase him, you stalker." Louis giggled.

Harry sniffed out a laugh before heading on the same path Zayn had taken, probably just twenty
steps or so behind. This felt rather strange, really, pursuing him the second he got the chance. He
didn't even have a plan of action in mind, no words formed in his mind to speak, but he found
himself heading after Zayn.

As Zayn headed into the bathroom, Harry decided he would wait outside for a moment, until
maybe he heard the sound of taps running once Zayn had finished in the bathroom, considering the
toilet didn't have a closed door, just a wall to section the room off. He wasn't sure whether he
wanted it to look like an accident, him wandering into the toilets not even realising Zayn would be
there, but knew all that would lead to is Zayn rushing away awkwardly once more.

His mind turned over possible events that could take place, heart racing, up until he heard the
squeak of a tap being turned on inside the bathroom. He didn't let himself back out, and his legs
seemed to separate from any actions of his brain as he strolled confidently into the bathroom.

Zayn was washing his hands, as expected, and he immediately glanced up in the reflection of the
mirror and made eye contact with Harry. Intensely.

"Hi." Harry said. He didn't even recognise how his own voice sounded, in that moment, as it
echoed off the bathroom walls.

Zayn held the eye contact in the mirror as he switched off the tap and shook the water from his
hands, turning on his feet as he wiped the rest of the water on the front of his jeans.

"What is it?" Zayn snapped a little bit, voice quick and abrupt. He was still managing to hold eye
contact, but the intensity of it perhaps expressed his false confidence.
"All I said was 'hi', so clearly you know something's up." Harry shrugged, folding his arms and
leaning casually against the wall. "Nobody greets someone with 'what is it?'"

"Just having a bad day, that's all."

"You looked happy enough in the cafeteria just now." Harry interrogated.

"So, what, you're spying on me now?" Zayn rolled his eyes, mirroring the way Harry's arms were
folded. "I don't get what you're doing here, Harry."

"I think we both know." Harry stated, sternly. "Don't we? Something needs to be said."

"This is such bullshit. I'm tired of your drama, Harry."

"I thought we had a nice time the other day, Zayn. We had a good laugh, didn't we? Then suddenly
you go all cold on me, the whole drive home, and now you're ignoring me at school. Do you think
I'd just be fine with that?"

"What do you think this is about? Please, enlighten me." Zayn flailed out an arm, before slapping it
against his leg. "Do you not think I could just want a bit of distance for now?"

"I know that's not it." Harry shook his head. "Come on, man."

"Then what is it? What do you think it is?"

Harry left a moment of silence, and he was ashamed to be the one to break their eye contact as his
gaze dropped to the floor. He was trying to conjure up some form of a suitable sentence, though all
he ended up able to muster were two words.

"My phone."

He heard Zayn inhale, rather sharply, almost as though he wasn't expecting Harry to drop the
bombshell so quickly. The two of them were equally struggling to make any eye contact now, as
Zayn attempted a response.

"Your phone– are you just, uh, mad I ran with it?"

"You know what I'm getting at. You took it to look at my texts, that's what you had been joking
about."

"I'm done with this." Zayn said, quickly, before attempting to head to the exit, which Harry blocked
him from doing.

"Zayn, please. This is killing me." He pleaded. "What did you see on my phone? What texts?"

Zayn deeply sighed and took a step back once more, before turning his back to Harry so he could
run his hands down his face slowly.

"Zayn." Harry persisted, once a ten second gap of silence had been left.

Zayn turned back to him then, rather abruptly, as though he was throwing all cares to the wind and
finally saying what was on his mind.

And this is what he did, after some silence, as he spoke just three words which shook Harry to his
core.
"Are you gay?"

He had asked it so quickly, and with so much emphasis, that it was obviously a question which had
been playing on his mind, which he was dying to have answered. Of course it would be up to Zayn
to be so closed minded, to think the only option would be for Harry to be fully gay.

"N-No," Harry really hadn't intended to stutter, his nerves had definitely just gotten the best of him.
"I'm not gay, Zayn."

"But… you're into guys?"

Harry hesitated, despite knowing his answer was obvious. "Yes."

"Jesus fucking Christ." Zayn whispered under his breath.

"What was that?" Harry snapped.

"No, it's just…" Zayn shook his head in further disbelief. "Wooow."

"You're going to be a complete dick about this, aren't you?" Harry hissed, rolling his eyes. "Come
on, Zayn."

"Do you fancy me? Do you think I'm hot?" Zayn said then, do suddenly, arms out by his sides.
"Seeing as you like guys? I'm attractive, I bet you do."

"Don't be so ridiculous, Zayn, of course I don't fucking fancy you." Harry said, in a strained
whisper as he became aware they were in a public space. "Don't be an arsehole, I'm not just
attracted to anyone."

"Louis Tomlinson, though, Harry. Come the fuck on, out of anyone."

"Zayn..."

"He's a fucking loser! And he was enough to turn you?!"

Harry pointed at him in anger. "Say one more bad thing about Louis, and I swear to God." He
seethed, jaw clenched, fist balled.

Zayn seemed to change a little then, upon seeing Harry's defensiveness towards Louis. It was
almost like Zayn's eyes softened, a trickle of understanding encapsulating him. He left a moment of
silence once more, as his eyes raced around Harry's face, interrogatively.

"Damn. You really love him, don't you?"

Zayn had said it in an almost spaced out tone, in such an understanding yet slightly confused way -
confused in the aspect that he couldn't understand how a man could love another. But he was
trying to understand it, Harry could tell.

"Yes." He said, with complete certainty, as he looked squarely at Zayn, letting down his guard
completely. "I really do."

All he could do now was be honest. This was one of his childhood best friends, for crying out loud,
he should have even able to disclose anything to him. They had been through every single life
experience together so far, so why stop now? Why have secrets?

Zayn stuck one hand in his front pocket, head tilted to the side as he looked back at Harry.
 "Look, uh," He scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, "Mate, give me a day. Is that
okay? This is… this is a lot for me, I just need to process it."

'Mate.' That was a positive sign, at least.

"I understand that. I'll give you some space, I'm sorry for coming in here and forcing this all on
you. I just couldn't stand the thought that you might hate me." Harry admitted, with a sad glaze
over his eyes.

Zayn linked eyes once more. "I don't hate you. Look, I'll speak to you another time. Excuse me."

And with that, allowing no more words to fill their conversation, Zayn passed by Harry and headed
out of the bathroom, leaving Harry standing in bewilderment.

Chapter End Notes

Sorry if this seemed short. Just sorting a few areas of the plot out, and this is a pretty
big thing so wanted to give it its own chapter. More to come on Zayn's reaction (plus
Liam's in the future )
 68
Chapter Notes

Updateupdateupdateupdate sorrysorrysorrysorry

Harry hadn't realised that he was shaking until he began to walk out of the bathroom. He couldn't
quite believe that Zayn knew, it seemed like one of the biggest milestones he had surpassed so far
in his journey with Louis. He knew he had to give Zayn time to adjust and turn the idea over in his
head, that was to be expected, and was overall mainly happy that he had disclosed it to him.

He took a look at his watch to find that there was only ten minutes left of their lunch period, and so
decided it would be a bit pointless to make his way all the way back to the cafeteria when Louis
and their friends would be leaving there soon anyway to make their way to their final lesson of the
day: maths.

To be honest, Harry could do with just ten minutes alone, just to gather his shaky thoughts and
catch his breath a little from the experience he had just had. He text Louis, telling him he would
meet them all at their next lesson, and began the walk alone.

As he did, he mulled over the mental checklist he had compiled in his head, of things he wanted
himself and Louis to overcome in their relationship. They had told their parents, Harry's sister, their
friends, and now Zayn. It was quite the handful of important people in their lives, though to be
truly happy, Harry knew he wanted everybody to know and to have no care in the world about that
fact. He was proud to call Louis his, he just knew that judgements from others would always affect
him, seeing as he was viewed as quite the ladies' man in his school.

He made his way out of the main school corridors and towards the maths building, when he
spotted somebody who caught his eye: Andrew. Being the Andrew who was secretly seeing
Cheryl, behind Liam's back. The Andrew who, unbeknownst to Liam and anybody else, had caused
a blackmail pact between himself, Cheryl, Harry and Louis. If Harry and Louis didn't tell of
Cheryl's cheating ploy, Cheryl and Andrew didn't tell of Harry and Louis' relationship. A real nasty
situation. Harry was slowly working his and Louis' way out of their side of the blackmail.

Andrew was alone, a satchel bag hanging loosely on one shoulder, and an overfilled folder
clutched clumsily beneath his arm. Harry hadn't noticed he had completely stopped in his tracks to
eye Andrew, until the year-younger boy sheepishly glanced up to see Harry and too stopped frozen.
There weren't too many people around them, nobody to hear anything suspicious, so Harry decided
he would say something.

"Hi. Andrew, isn't it?" His voice carried confidently through the air, as he had hoped.

He wanted to appear the stronger of the two, considering the situation between them. And although
he had a natural resentment towards Andrew and would love no more than to knock those stupid
glasses of his face, considering what he was doing with Cheryl behind Liam's back, he decided he
would stay civil. He had to behave himself until he had sorted his situation out with Louis and
could risk it getting out.

"Yeah, Andrew. You're Harry. Styles. I know you. And remember you."
"I bet you do. Good friends with Liam Payne, and I'm sure you know who he is." Harry slyly
dropped. He saw Andrew visibly gulp.

"Okay." Andrew's response really made no sense, and did nothing other than express how nervous
he was. Harry was succeeding in being maybe slightly intimidating.

"Tell me, Andrew, are you still messing around with her?" Harry dug for answers, leaning casually
on one hip, hands in pockets.

"I need to get to my next lesson, I don't have time to talk." Andrew waved a hand, putting his head
down and beginning to walk.

"Come on now, you have time to answer me." Harry pressed a hand to Andrew's chest to stop him
as he tried to pass, in a gentle way, nothing aggressive. "I deserve to know, considering what I
could do with the information."

"I also have information on you." Andrew muttered.

"Are you saying that to me, or the ground?" Harry cockily asked, considering Andrew had been too
scared to even say it to his face.

"Very funny. But, if you really have to know, then yes. I'm still seeing Cheryl. I love her, and she
loves me."

"Liam also loves her. So, as you can understand, that makes things very tricky." Harry shrugged.
"Can't say the same for her, though, if she would willingly cheat on him with someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Andrew had a challenging tone all of a sudden, as though he was ready to
defend himself, but his strong facade melted like butter the moment he glanced up and met eyes
with Harry. "Whatever. You know what we've all agreed, you keep our secret and we keep yours.
So you should probably keep this quiet, unless you're ready for everybody to know what we
know."

Harry smiled a little, maybe still a little bit cocky, and lightly shrugged. "That's the pact, huh. I
know. You'd hate for Liam to know. I would too, if I were you."

"I need to go." Andrew pushed his shoulder into Harry to get him out the way, and God did Harry
want to retaliate, but bit his tongue and stayed put. He let Andrew walk away, realising he had
probably scared him enough for now. Just a sprinkle of intimidation here and there never hurt
anybody.

"Harry Styles," Came a strict voice, from towards the school building, "Did I just witness you
picking on Andrew Miller? He's a year below you, young man, you should absolutely know
better."

Harry glanced over at the plump man, a teacher whom he had never even been taught by, or even
seen around, yet his name was somehow known.

"No, sir. Just friendly banter." Harry waved a hand, with a charming smile.

The teacher rolled his eyes, before heading away somewhere.

"But thanks for telling me his surname." Harry muttered under his breath, as he continued on
towards the maths building. He had previously done some snooping, even looking on Cheryl's
friends list on Facebook, despite the fact that even somebody like her wasn't stupid enough to have
him as a friend. Andrew Miller - got it.

There were three minutes until the start of their final lesson, by the time Harry had reached their
maths classroom. It seemed everybody had beat him there, seeing as he had taken the scenic route
to clear his mind (plus stopped off to intimidate Andrew on the way) but at least he was on time.

He instantly locked eyes with Zayn, who gave Harry a blunt nod in greeting, and a straight-lipped
smile. Nothing more, though Harry wasn't expectant of more. His eyes then flitted to Liam, who
gave him a smile and a wave. Zayn likely hadn't mentioned what he knew to Liam, which was
good. He obviously respected that it was Harry's news to share, and he would tell Liam himself in
good time.

Harry approached Louis and their friends, who were lively and chatty for the afternoon. They all
beamed at him as he approached, especially Louis. It was as though Harry could feel Zayn's eyes
on them from across the way, probably mainly curiosity as to how Harry and Louis acted together
in a public space, and Harry decided he wouldn't look Zayn's way to acknowledge the stare.

"You wanted a little time alone, huh?" Niall asked Harry. "Not that I blame you, we can all be
pretty annoying."

"Yeah, it's been a bit of a hectic lunch hour." Harry declared, before exhaling through pursed lips.
He dropped the volume of his voice, and considering his friends knew about him and Louis now,
he decided he would say. "I had a bit of a heart to heart with Zayn. But let's not get into that now,
okay?"

"Okay, man." Charlie patted Harry's arm, just as their teacher, Mr Bradley, was approaching to
unlock their classroom door.

"Wait, what?" Louis whispered to Harry, as everyone else's attention had turned to heading into the
classroom. "Did… did you tell him?"

"Yes. But don't stress, please? I'll explain all later, I promise." Harry reassured him. "Everything is
okay. Good terms… I think?"

Louis worriedly bit his lip, but nodded anyway, having good faith in his boyfriend.

They headed into the classroom, Harry's awful seat beside Kendall ready and waiting for him, as
always. He decided he would just zone out this lesson, take whatever bullshit Kendall wanted to
throw his way, and count down the sixty gruelling minutes until they could go home.

---

"So… he's not mad?" Louis slowly asked.

The two of them were sitting in a café in the city centre after school. Harry had gone over it all with
him, every detail he had previously held back, and everything that had happened in the bathroom.
From Zayn running off with his phone, all the way to the bathroom confession. It felt good to have
disclosed it all to him, and to share the relief of Zayn finally knowing. Harry could tell Louis fully
trusted him when he said that Zayn would warm to the idea eventually. Hopefully.

"Nope, he's not mad. I mean, he was maybe a bit weirded out at first over the thought of me being
into guys, but that's maybe expected as he has known me for so long." Harry explained, before
taking a sip from his drink. "Not to worry, Lou Lou."

Louis smiled at the nickname, as always, before continuing. "What more did he say about it?"
"He just wants space, more than anything. A day or two to adjust to it, you know? Which I
completely get, he can't just be immediately comfortable with it."

"Yeah, for sure." Louis agreed. "But I'm glad. And I'm very proud of you for telling him, Harry,
even if you were sure he'd already found out by seeing your phone. That's such a huge thing, you
had no clue how he would react." Louis nudged his leg against Harry's beneath the table in
comfort.

"It's a huge weight off my shoulders. But I'm sorry for not chatting to you about it first, I-"

"Don't apologise!" Louis cut him off. "He's your childhood best friend, it was your call completely.
You know I'm happy for people to know, I just want you to be comfortable with your friends
knowing. So I'm glad you were able to tell him."

"Me too." Harry exhaled.

"What's next, then? Not that I'm saying we need to push for action, but what's the next thing you
feel we should do?" Louis queried, curiously.

"I'd like to tell Liam, of course," Harry said, "Though I'd like more to tell Liam about what Cheryl
is doing behind his back. He has a right to know that, though the circumstances are hard."

"Yeah, that's where it's complicated." Louis rolled his eyes. "Knowing that if you tell Liam, he'll
want to react to Cheryl. But then she will know you told him, and will leak our relationship to,
well… everyone."

"Yup." Harry sang, popping his lips together on the 'p'. "It's all one vicious circle."

"And you don't think there's any way Liam would simply dump Cheryl without telling her he
knows about the cheating?" Louis tried, though he sounded hopeless in himself.

"No, definitely not. I mean, firstly, of course he's going to want to express to her that he knows
she's cheating and have a go at her for that. And secondly, she would probably put two and two
together, and work out that he's probably dumped her because he knows. Then she would know I
must have told him."

"True." Louis sighed. "Then I guess it's working out how we want to go about this. When we are
ready for everyone to know, there's nothing to lose. Cheryl won't have that power over us
anymore."

"Letting everyone know before she can would be more ideal. Doing it ourselves, instead of having
it told in the worst way, from her mouth."

"So…" Louis began, with no real knowing how to continue.

"So I think I want people to know." Harry stated. He sounded sure, completely sure. "Everyone. I
don't care anymore. I'm proud to be with you, what I was scared about previously was people
judging me individually. But I've been judged a stupid amount in the last few months alone, I really
don't care anymore."

"Gosh." Louis breathed, steadying his breathing. "If you're sure. I think I'm ready too, it's just going
to take a real leap."

"Of course." Harry smiled at him, placing a hand over Louis' on the tabletop. "Little gestures will
say a lot. We don't have to do some big, extravagant announcement, or anything like that. People
can see what they see, and choose to make of it what they please. I'll tell Liam first, of course, he
deserves to know before everybody else does. But once he knows, I really don't see what there is to
lose."

Louis smiled tenderly at him. "Me too."

"Then is that how this is going to go? We just say 'fuck it', and start living how we should be?"
Harry tilted his head aside, with a soppy smile.

"I believe so." Louis giggled.

Wow. Even having this discussion with Louis, how they were going to go about things, was a huge
thing for them both. But as Harry had stated to Louis: he was ready for this now. Ready for
everyone to know, ready to deflect any judgements and let them bounce straight off of him.

He was ready to love Louis, shamelessly.

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