Archive of Our Own

Louis dug his fingers into his neck in an attempt to relieve the tension causing his headache, but to no avail. At this rate, the headache he had been battling all day was going to turn into a full blown migraine. Thankfully the other passenger near his window on the train had already drawn the blinds, so at least he wasn’t battling the rare showing of the sun on top of it all.

Another loud cheer followed by disappointed groans filled the carriage and Louis did his best to hold back his sigh. He wasn’t sure what exactly was going on back there, it looked to be a game of cards the young men were playing, but they were getting quite into it.

He didn’t want them to stop enjoying their game, but he would appreciate it if they would keep quiet as they agreed to do when they chose seats in the quiet carriage. Most times he didn’t care, but when his head was pounding it was a different matter.

Louis continued to massage his neck as best he could and wished he’d brought any kind of pain reliever. At least it was only another thirty minutes before they were to arrive back in Manchester. 

“No, no, no! You agreed! House rules this time! You can play on the draw two to add to the total someone has to draw at the end, but you can’t do that with draw four!”

It had been an hour of their noise that Louis had been dealing with, and for some reason the fact that these grown men were being this rowdy in the quiet carriage over a game of Uno was the breaking point for him. He stood up and turned around, making his way down to where the group of five were somehow gathered around a table.

Louis stopped at the table and cleared his throat, mouth open and ready to politely request they keep it down when the man who was sitting with his back to Louis turned. 

He couldn’t help it. He almost choked on air because he hadn’t expected the young man to be so stunningly gorgeous. Blinking a ridiculous number of times in an attempt to pull himself together, Louis coughed and spit out, “This is the quiet carriage.”

God, he was nearly forty and that was the best he could do in front of a set of pretty, green eyes?

Wincing, Louis tried again. “Sorry, it’s just, It has been a long day and I’m fighting a headache. I don’t want you to have to dampen your celebrations over what I’m sure is the most rousing series of games of Uno that have ever been played, but I would really appreciate it if you’d keep it down and respect the rules of the carriage.”

“Shit, we really are so sorry,” the pretty one said, the others quickly agreeing. 

Now that Louis really got a good look at them, they were all quite beautiful. What was this, some club for young, unfairly handsome men? 

“It was definitely mostly Marcos being so loud, but we’ll all make sure that he does better from here on out.” The pretty one was clearly teasing based on the smirk he wore and the spanish curses Marcos let out as he threw a card at the pretty one, but Louis also could tell that it had been the pretty one who had been yelling the most.

“Yes, well, you can blame the others all you want, but it was your voice I recognise from all the noise, so as long as you keep yourself quiet as well, that’s all I’m asking. Thank you.”

Shaking his head, Louis turned and walked back to his seat. He was so tired after this last minute trip to London, he started to wonder when exactly it was that he got old. He was only 39, but his body seemed to be reminding him daily that he wasn’t in his prime anymore, and he hated it.

“Wait!”

Louis closed his eyes and tried to paste on a smile before turning back around to the fit guy he’d just offended.

“Look,” Louis said, trying to hold off on pinching his nose in exhaustion, “I’m sorry if I was rude back there, I just wanted to—”

“No no, it was me being rude. I’m so sorry. I wanted to ask if you’d like a picture with me as an apology.”

“I… sure?” 

Louis was beyond confused. In what way was a photo with this guy an apology? Sure, he was beyond beautiful and his biceps had Louis fighting to figure out if he wanted to have them hold him down or if he just needed to go to the gym more because he envied them, but a photo?

“I can take that for you,” the woman who was sitting near Louis offered.

“Thank you,” Louis said, finally realising if he was going to get a photo with this guy, he’d have to give the woman his phone. He dug it out of his pocket and opened the camera, the pretty one sliding up beside him and wrapping his arm around Louis’ shoulders. If he was getting that familiar, he figured he should too so he didn’t look like an uptight wanker, so he wrapped his arm around the guy’s waist and felt his cheeks flush at how solid the pretty one’s entire body was. It felt like he was entirely muscle. 

“Here you are, I took several to be sure you got a good one.”

“Thank you so much,” the pretty one said. “And I really am sorry. We’ll make sure to keep it down for the rest of the way.”

Louis nodded at the pretty one who flashed him a smile, complete with dimples, and then he walked away.

Turning back to the woman, he realised she still had his phone. He took it back and glanced at the photos before locking it because the light made his headache worse. Ah. It had finally crossed the line into migraine status. Excellent. 

“Thank you for volunteering,” Louis said as he took his seat again.

“Of course. Didn’t want you forced to take a selfie with the likes of him.”

“Yeah,” Louis agreed before closing his eyes and effectively ending the conversation. God, everyone could see how out of Louis’ league that guy was. Besides, the guy was obviously young as well, probably a good fifteen years younger than him. There was no way he would be interested in Louis even if he did happen to like men.

Taking a deep breath, Louis focused on various meditation techniques that he found helped his headaches sometimes and filed that experience away as one of the more bizarre ones he’d had in his life before promptly forgetting it even happened.

*~~***~~*

“Dad, where’s your phone? You forgot to send me the flight confirmations and I need the information.”

Louis refocused on the paper in front of him. He’d started daydreaming again. How fucking embarrassing. He’d been having a hard time keeping his mind on some of the digitising of the plans that he and his team had drawn up for the client in London, so whenever that happened he had found that it was best for him to take a break and draw something completely unrelated.

For the past two weeks it just so happened to be a pair of green eyes and long, silky curls that he’d seen on the train back from London, and it was no different today.

Louis looked around his home office, trying to figure out if his phone was in there with him or if he’d left it somewhere else around the house.

“I’m not sure, hold on.”

Louis started picking up the various plans he had spread out on almost every surface, checking to see if his phone had slipped in between any of the layers before suddenly remembering it was in his pocket.

“Oh, I’ve got it,” Louis called out, pulling it from his pocket. “Are you sure I didn’t send it to you? I remember screenshotting it, but maybe I never got so far as texting it over.”

Alex came into his office, his hand already outstretched. “I’m sure. I triple checked my email and our chats, both the one that’s just us and the one with mum. It’s not there.”

“Sorry,” Louis said as he handed the phone over. “It’s probably going to be easier for you to find the screenshot. My emails are an even worse disaster than usual at the moment.”

“Yeah, alright.”

Louis turned back to his laptop to work as Alex flipped through his photos.

“Oh my god.”

“Hm?” Louis had just found where he’d left off with the project before, so he didn’t turn around, but Alex sounded shocked. Louis had no idea what exactly was on his phone, much less in his photos, that there was to be surprised about, but apparently there was something.

“Dad. You cannot be… how did you get a photo with Harry Styles?”

Louis scrunched up his face as he spun around to face his son. “Harry Styles? Like the footballer?”

“Like the footballer,” Alex said, disbelief covering his whole face. “Of course, the footballer! He’s only one of the best footballers in the world right now! And he plays for United. How do you not automatically know? I mean, there’s a photo of you with him in your bloody phone!”

“What are you even talking about,” Louis muttered as he snatched his phone back.

There on his screen was the photo of him and the gorgeous man from the train.

After staring at it for a moment, Louis pointed at the photo as he glanced up at his son, feeling incredibly unsure. “This is Harry Styles?”

Alex watched his face as if he was waiting for Louis to say he was just taking the mick, but Louis wasn’t. He was serious. As that fact sank in, Alex’s face dropped and he covered it with his hands.

“No, no, no, no, no,” he cried out before flinging his hands out in almost a rage. “You cannot be serious! You got a photo with the most famous footballer in England, and you didn’t even know it was happening?”

“I…” Louis was struggling for words, because honestly he didn’t have a single thing to say in his own defense.

“Dad. Oh my god, no. Dad, how the hell did this even happen?”

“I don’t know!” Louis argued, looking down at the photo again and remembering the details of that day clearly. “I had a migraine by the end of that train journey and the whole group of them were being rowdy in the quiet carriage. I was getting quite angry about it, so I politely asked them to keep it down seeing as that’s what we all paid for when we chose our seats.”

Alex had one hand on his hip and the other covering his mouth as he observed his father with wide eyes. “You did not.”

Louis made a face. “I did so, they were being incredibly rude with their arguments and cheering over a game of Uno.”

“How did all of this end up in a photo?”

“Well, Harry was rather nice about it, really. Like I said, I was quite upset and a bit flustered because he’s quite attractive—”

“Really didn’t need to hear you say that about him,” Alex interrupted. He moaned and his face crumpled in disgust. “Oh my god, you’ve just ruined United matches for me for the rest of time. How very dare you? I do not need to know who my dad finds attractive!”

“Oh get over it. I’ve been single for most of your life and I might be older, but I’m not dead,” Louis said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, he was teasing at first and I didn’t take it well, so after I gave them a tiny bit of a lecture and stormed off, he came after me to apologise for real and offered a photo. I wasn’t sure why he was offering such a thing, though it does make sense now. Bloody hell, I’ve got a photo with Harry Styles.”

“Wait, you said they. Was it other footballers? Who else was with him?”

“How do I know, I didn’t even know this one!”

Alex grabbed the phone back from Louis and was soon quizzing him on what felt like the entire United squad.

“Oh, that one! He’s familiar! He’s the one he was blaming for all the noise even though he was very obviously the one who couldn’t keep his voice down. Styles is a bit shouty, isn’t he?”

“You definitely met Harry Styles and Marcos Rojo,” Alex said quietly, turning the phone back around. “No one is ever going to believe me.”

Louis snorted. “Yeah, well you fly to Italy tomorrow to study abroad for your last year of Uni, so I’m not sure you need to worry about that so much. Especially if you can’t find the confirmation number you need.”

“God, yeah, right.” Alex paused for a moment before saying, “People in Italy probably would also think you’re crazy for not having recognised him, though. He really is one of the most easily recognisable footballers in the world.”

“Oh, get the information you need and let me be,” Louis said with a huff. “I’m your old man, since when did you think I was actually in the know about things most people consider to be common knowledge?”

“Since never,” Alex quipped before handing him back his phone. “Thanks, Dad. Gonna get back to packing.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Louis watched Alex rush from the room and he sighed. 

God. He was about to be gone for a year. He supposed it wouldn’t be all that different to having him down in Portsmouth. With that kind of distance between them, he saw his mother far more often during the school year than he did Louis, so Louis wasn’t going to be missing out that much in that way. It was more just knowing he was going to be that much further away should something bad happen… well. It was hard for him to think about.

Pushing his parental concern as well as his distraction away, Louis did his best to get back to work. After another three tries, he finally was able to really get down to business.

*~~***~~*

Louis couldn’t begin to understand what might have happened. His phone had been over halfway charged when he went to bed, so he should have had at least another day’s usage left before needing to plug it in again. Yet, here it was almost nine in the morning and his phone was dead. He was lucky it was a Saturday and he wasn’t expected at work.

Plugging it in, Louis climbed out of bed and began his morning routine of getting into his running clothes and brushing his teeth before checking. He was hoping it would charge fast enough to allow him to still be able to listen to music while he ran, but he would make do without if necessary.

When Louis came back into his room, though, his phone was vibrating nearly nonstop.

“The fuck?”

When Louis walked over, he saw it was Twitter. He had hundreds of notifications. He often forgot he even had the app, so having these kinds of notifications was beyond confusing. 

What was really annoying though was that so many notifications were popping up that he couldn’t get his phone to do anything except keep opening up Twitter.

“Don’t fucking want Twitter, just want to turn this shit off,” Louis mumbled before sighing and walking out of his room to Alex’s.

“Hey, can you help me? I think someone might have got hold of my Twitter account or something, because my notifications are going crazy and I don’t know what to do.” 

Alex opened the door and took Louis’ still vibrating phone before looking at it.

“I don’t understand what happened,” Louis continued, following Alex into his room. It looked like he had finished his packing and was ready to go, which was good because they needed to leave the house in a couple of hours to be sure he wouldn’t miss his flight. “I barely remember that I have that app. I only follow you and your mum as well as a couple of others, and I think you two are my only followers as well. I didn’t realize I even had notifications turned on for Twitter, you know?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, drawing the word out before looking up guiltily at Louis and wincing. “This is kinda my fault. But just to let you know, I’m turning off your notifications for now and I’m going to turn off your DMs. That should be all you need.”

“Wait, your fault? How is it your fault?” Louis asked once Alex had worked his magic and handed his phone back.

Louis quickly typed up a message, just something short, to say hello to his… holy shit. He now had over a thousand followers. All because of something Alex did? Louis shook his head and decided to not overthink it before posting the tweet then looked up at Alex who was steadfastly making his bed and ignoring Louis now.

Alex’s phone chimed and he picked it up before looking at Louis with a smirk.

“What?” Louis asked. “You were just ignoring me in order to avoid the question and now you’re acting coy?”

“No, I’m… Dad. You literally sent a tweet saying, and I quote, ‘Welcome to the boring and mostly inactive Twitter of an incredibly gay Manc, proud father, and lover of sunflowers.’ How else am I supposed to react?”

“Do you have me on notification?” Louis asked, chuckling. “Anyway. What else do all those new followers want? I still don’t know why they’re there. Will you just tell me what you did?”

Alex sighed and sat down on his bed. “It wasn’t anything I thought would actually go anywhere. I just posted your photo with Harry and told the story saying you didn’t even know who he and the other United players were, is all. I might have tagged you and Harry, which then had Harry following both of us and it went a bit viral after he replied. So. That… is probably what it is.”

Louis looked back down at his phone, nodding and then looking up at Alex. “You say viral, but what exactly does that mean?”

Alex ruffled up the back of his hair before brushing it back down and rubbing the back of his neck. It was a nervous tell he definitely got from Louis, and while he usually found it endearing, it was more reason to be concerned at this point.

“It kind of was a trending topic in the UK for a couple of hours last night.”

Louis’ eyebrows shot towards his hairline. “I was a trending topic?”

“You’re internet famous! Or at least you were. Congratulations?”

Louis snorted. “Yeah, alright. Uh… I mean. Thanks.” Louis looked around Alex’s room before focusing on Alex, who was already dressed and ready for his trip from the looks of it. “Well, you ready for Italy?”

“Dad,” Alex said, surprised smile on his face. “That’s it? You’re just going to change the subject?”

“Yeah, I don’t really have anything more to say about it. It’s nice, I guess, but those followers are going to forget about me as soon as they realise I really am never on there.”

Alex groaned and dropped his head in his hands. “No, okay we’re not changing the subject that quickly. You have to follow Harry back. At least show him you saw his tweet and like it or something.”

“What? Why? Is that proper Twitter etiquette then?” Louis opened up his phone once more and got into the Twitter app. They’d changed it again since the last time he’d used it, and it was incredibly confusing for him now. “I’ll go ahead and like his tweet to show him I saw it, but I don’t see the point in following a footballer who probably mostly tweets promo for his brands and shit I don’t care about.”

“He’s not like that, first of all. He’s well good and always doing charitable things. Between that and supporting his team, his Twitter is actually rarely focused on him so much as his causes.” Alex stood up and put his hand over Louis’ phone, forcing him to look up at his son. “Just follow him. You said it yourself, you’re hardly even on.”

“I just don’t see the point,” Louis said, dropping his arm even as he was on Harry’s Twitter page. He couldn’t find the reply to Alex even though Harry only had three tweets from the last two days. He was so lost. “I hate this app and would rather not spend much time there, so why should I follow him?”

“Because he followed you and he’s well famous!” Alex argued. “Plus I kind of have it set so that only people you follow can DM you, and what if he wants to talk to you?”

Louis scoffed. “Right. There’s no way he’d want to talk to me. I was a dick on the train. What about that would make him want to subject himself to more of it?”

Alex grabbed Louis’ phone out of his hand at that point and Louis presumed he hit follow. “There. Painless, right? You’re now following him like you should be.”

Louis rolled his eyes and snatched his phone back. “Just make sure you’re not forgetting something important like a charging cord. I’m going to see if I can fit in a short run before we have to leave, alright?”

“Sure.”

Louis turned around and wasn’t out the door yet when he got an alert from Twitter.

“Didn’t you say you turned off Twitter notifications?”

“Well, mostly. I set it so you’ll still get notifications from me and mum by having it only give updates on accounts you follow.”

Louis nodded and looked back at his phone to see what it was since it obviously wasn’t Alex, so was probably June replying to his ridiculous tweet earlier.

It wasn’t. It was a DM from Harry Styles.

“Oh my god.”

“What? Something wrong?” Alex rushed over and looked over Louis’ shoulder as he opened the DM.

@Harry_Styles: I really am very sorry about being so loud during that passionate round of Uno. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me. I’m hoping that’s what your follow means?

Alex was crowing in celebration as he hit Louis’ shoulder repeatedly. “I told you! I told you to follow him!”

“What the hell am I supposed to do now?” Louis asked, turning to him. “And why are you so excited about this?”

“You’re DMing the best footballer in the country! You, and I by extension, are now basically famous adjacent!”

Louis shook his head. “I’m leaving for real now.”

“Just talk to him, Dad!” Alex called after him. “He’s just a normal guy like you who happens to be really great at football!”

“You should remind yourself of that since you were the one who was just acting like I’d won the lottery.”

Alex’s cackles filled the hall and Louis shut his bedroom door behind him. It was closer to when he and Alex had to leave than he thought, so he supposed he wasn’t going to get a run in after all. 

Sitting down on his bed, he looked at Harry’s DM and considered his options. He didn’t really have anything to lose when it came to answering, right? Harry would likely let his reply go unanswered and that would be that. 

Louis typed up something snarky but friendly and then locked his phone and worked on pulling himself together to drop his son off for a flight that would take him a away for four months.

*~~***~~*

Louis should probably have more shame about the fact he was FaceTiming his son at near eleven on a Friday night, but he was freaking out a bit, so he would worry about that later. He just prayed that Alex wasn’t too busy with his new friends now that he’d been there a few weeks to answer a call from his dad.

“Hey,” Alex yelled as Louis saw lights flashing behind him. “Gimme a second, I’m going out on the balcony.”

Nodding and not bothering to say anything over the music that was coming through the speakers, Louis just continued to pace.

A door suddenly closed and while it wasn’t silent, it was a far cry better than it had been.

“Sorry to interrupt your night out,” Louis said, scratching his forehead as he brushed his hair to the side. 

“It’s alright. What’s going on? It’s pretty late at home as well, you know. You okay? Mum alright?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think she is. We don’t talk all the time, especially since she and Fred are in a bit of a honeymoon stage at the moment before the baby comes, but I think she’s fine.”

“Then—”

“I blocked Harry.”

Alex stared into the phone for a moment before he burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny, Alexander. It was an accident and I don’t fucking know how this damn app works, but it’s how we’ve been chatting and now I don’t know how to fix it!” Louis pulled at his hair again. He felt so stupid, but he really was concerned what Harry would think over the fact Louis fucking blocked him after he made a really horrible pun about the eggs he’d had for lunch. “It’s all your fault that I’m talking to him anyway, so help me fix this!”

“Dad, sorry. I just can’t…” Alex laughed a little bit more before coughing and pulling himself together. “Alright. Sorry. You’re still talking to Harry?”

Louis’ cheeks burned and he realised how close to the vest he’d been keeping this. No one knew about him chatting with Harry, though he’d mentioned the fact he was chatting with someone on Twitter to Liam, his best friend. He obviously wouldn’t tell just anyone that it was almost daily now that he chatted with Harry Styles, wonderkid of English football, but maybe telling someone would be good. It just felt big for some reason.

“Yeah. He’s a really great conversationalist, actually.”

“I’m sure,” Alex said, wagging his eyebrows.

Louis glared at him. “You literally told me I had ruined United matches for you because I thought he was attractive like a month ago, and now you want us to be flirting over Twitter?”

Alex shuddered then, saying, “Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think about that part again. Just was thinking about you finally getting interested in someone, but he’s probably not gay anyway, being a footballer and all.”

“Right,” Louis said, nodding forcefully. Their conversations were entirely innocent and friendly. He enjoyed them a lot, but his own attachment to their chats didn’t mean Harry felt the same. “Now, how the hell do I unblock him? He’s been sitting there, blocked accidentally, for almost twenty minutes.”

“Right.”

Alex talked him through, step by step, and soon Harry’s DM opened up again, allowing messages to be sent once more. Louis quickly typed out several apologies and thumbed back to his FaceTime. 

“Thank you so much,” Louis said, breathing deeply and feeling relieved after almost half an hour of panic. “I’m so glad I have you to help walk me through these things.”

Alex shook his head. “I really wish you didn’t, though.” And with a cackle, Alex hung up to go back to his friends.

Louis snorted and then returned to Twitter.

I was getting pretty concerned I’d offended your love of eggs with that one.
But maybe we should take this off Twitter, yeah?

Louis bit at the tough skin on the side of his thumb as he thought about it.

I do use texting regularly enough, there are far fewer ways I could fuck something up. Might be safer elsewhere.

Louis took a deep breath before typing out his number and then closing Twitter, waiting for Harry’s message. It came through Whatsapp soon enough.

Scissors: Heyyyyy it’s me

Louis accepted his message and saw his profile photo was set as some sort of clipart photo of a pair of scissors.

Louis: Why the hell is your username and all that to do with scissors??

Louis worked on adding Harry’s name into his phone, but he realised as he was typing in Styles that maybe.. He should add him as something else.

Scissors: Well, I don’t want my name on here to be my real name in case of a hack or accidentally messaging the wrong person, all that
Scissors: Since my middle name is Edward I went ahead and played off of that. Edward le›d to Edward Scissorhands, which I shortened to just scissors. And there ya have it!

Louis shook his head and completed Harry’s name in his contacts as Harry Scissorhands and then went back to reply. 

Louis: That is incredibly convoluted, but I do follow, so there’s that

Now that his panic was gone and they were set up in the far more safe WhatsApp which Louis hardly ever fucked up, Louis looked around him. He was in the kitchen and now he didn’t even know why. He was already in his super soft sleeping joggers and an old t-shirt, but he had been hoping to do something else before bed. What was it?

Sighing in frustration, Louis shook his head at himself and went to make a tea. Might as well get comfortable in bed with a cuppa and maybe watch a film whilst texting Harry. Honestly it sounded like a great evening.

Harry: Yeah, just been hacked a few too many times, so gotta be careful.

Louis: Ahh, the crazy life of a famous footballer

Louis smiled as he saw Harry was typing until the kettle switched off. Warm tea in hand, Louis made his way back upstairs and carefully got situated in bed so as not to get the scalding tea on himself or his newly washed duvet. Once he got settled and a film from his queue on Netflix pulled up, Louis picked up his phone and relaxed for the night.

Yes, truly not a bad Friday night at all.

*~~***~~*

Louis waited for Liam to arrive as he set out the curry he had ordered for them. They tried to make time to hang out every couple of weeks, but it had been awhile this time around. They’d both got busy with clients and Louis had tried to book a few more projects to distract himself from Alex being so far away. He’d gone a bit overboard, though, and the past month had swept by with only a handful of completed projects and probably a million exchanged texts with Harry to show for it.

Speaking of Harry, Louis’ phone buzzed in the kitchen, reminding him he’d left it in there and it was around the time Harry usually texted after practice. 

Louis paused when he had that thought. He and Harry had developed a routine over the past couple of months, and Louis loved it. He relied on Harry in a way he used to rely on June when they were dating. Oh, god, Louis had let it get too far, hadn’t he? He had allowed himself to start developing feelings and leaning on Harry emotionally in a way that Harry had never signed up for. This was not good. Harry was a world famous, top level football player and was absolutely not gay. Besides, they hadn’t even hung out in person. Their entire relationship, or lack of one depending on how he looked at it, had been through texting and Twitter after that first train incident. 

Right. Well. Now that he’d realised what he had started to do and what was happening, Louis would very easily be able to fix this. He would simply remind himself that Harry was not interested and make sure that he pulled back a bit so he wouldn’t make things more awkward than he probably already had.

Picking up his phone, Louis opened his chat with Harry and laughed at the photo Harry had sent of the line up of fancy, large vehicles in the car park for the practice fields. 

Louis: They compensating for something, you think? Also, that is far too much wealth gathered together at once. I can hardly stand to look at it.

Harry: Some definitely are. The others have enough going on, I rather think they’re bragging.

Louis chuckled a little and was about to respond when there was a knock on the front door. Locking his phone, he pocketed it and rushed. Liam usually let himself right in, so if he was knocking Louis probably forgot to unlock it for him.

“Payno!” Louis cheered as he opened the door.

“Hey!” Liam said, his smile so wide his eyes almost squinted shut. “It’s been so long, you forgot to leave the door open for me, eh?”

They hugged tightly and teased each other as Liam removed his shoes and jacket.

Louis’ phone had been vibrating the whole time, so Louis pulled out his phone and saw multiple messages from Harry.

Harry: But yeah, I saw that earlier and couldn’t help but chuckle that all of them were beside each other today
Harry: The car park is empty now since I had to stay late for a massage
Harry: Sometimes I rather like them, they are quite relaxing, but today’s was focused on my knee because it’s been twinging again, and those are fucking painful even if they do help in the end
Harry: I feel like I’d be a good masseuse. I’m quite good with my hands 😉

Louis stood there and stared at his phone as a possibility started to enter his mind.

“Li,” Louis said, interrupting whatever it was he was saying that Louis had horribly not been paying attention to because of Harry.

Thankfully Liam didn’t seem to mind, because he just hummed as he sat down h and began to look through the food options. As he grabbed a plate and began to dish some out for himself, Louis figured he should probably ask his question.  

“Do…” Louis paused, biting his lip. He felt crazy even thinking this could possibly be true, but he needed to know what Liam thought. “Do you think it’s possible for Harry to be gay?”

Liam started laughing, but it quickly died down to chuckles and then quiet when he realised Louis wasn’t joining in.

“Oh, you’re… you’re serious?”

Louis looked at Liam, confused. “Yeah, course I am.”

“Louis, mate, I thought we were both under the assumption he definitely was?” Liam chuckled a little. “I mean, hasn’t he been flirting with you the entire time?”

“What? Of course not!” Louis argued. “It’s only been friendly the entire time. Like if you and me were texting.”

Liam raised his brows as he ripped off a piece of naan and tossed it in his mouth. Once he’d finished, he tilted his head studying Louis. “Is it really, though? I mean, how often do you text?”

“Like, every day, pretty much.”

“We have never texted that much.”

“Yes we have,” Louis argued. “We texted so much in uni I distinctly remember getting a poor score on an exam because I’d been paying more attention to our conversation than I had been the lectures.”

“That’s different, though,” Liam said as he began to dish out some rice. “We were younger then. You’re both grown adults, and incredibly busy ones at that. I mean, the whole reason we haven’t been able to get together is because we were so busy. But you were still finding the time to chat with him that entire time? And him, even though United has been doing two matches a week most weeks?”

“That doesn’t mean that he’s been flirting with me.”

Liam set his plate down on the coffee table and snatched Louis’ phone off his lap.

“Hey,” Louis said, swiping for the phone, but Liam moved it out of his reach. “I’ve got it locked, you know.”

“As if I don’t know your passcode,” Liam said, rolling his eyes. 

And he did. Because Louis was predictable like that. Maybe he should consider changing his code.

Liam quickly thumbed it in and didn’t even have to scroll before he started reading and his cheeks immediately flamed pink as his eyes grew wide and he practically threw the phone back at Louis.

“What the fuck, you couldn’t have warned me?” Liam shuddered and winced. “God, now I’m seeing images of him trying to massage you, and I just didn’t ever need to think about those kinds of details when it comes to you. You’re like my brother, god.”

Louis looked at the messages again. He supposed they were pretty forward. But that was just Harry and his brand of humour, right?

“So, you think it’s a pretty solid option?” Louis asked slowly. “You think Harry’s gay?”

“For the love of god, yes. And I get it, he’s gay for you, you’re gay for him. I’m very happy for you and your fancy football husband. Now, can we please talk about something other than Harry? He was one aspect of your life I did know about. Let’s hear about Alex and how he’s doing in Italy.”

Louis locked his phone and set it aside. Liam really did deserve his full attention and Harry could wait. Especially after his conversation with Liam. He might need to reframe all of his experiences with Harry over the past couple of months after this. He wasn’t sure, though, so he still had to figure it out and just… decide what it meant. Or something.

But first, Liam.

*~~***~~*

“Louis?”

“Oh my god, I didn’t think you were actually going to answer.”

Louis was an idiot. He knew that well enough, but he legitimately thought that Harry would have his phone on silent because he would be asleep! That was the whole reason Louis had decided to call him on a whim around midnight on a Sunday. Louis should have already been in bed himself, but Harry absolutely should have been because United had a match tomorrow.

“Was having a hard time getting my brain to stop,” Harry said, his voice deep and raspy. God, it had been so long since Louis had heard him speak outside of an interview on the telly. “Everything alright? I’m glad to hear from you, for what it’s worth. I was worried I’d said something wrong when you hadn’t said anything for a few days. Wondered if maybe you’d accidentally blocked me on WhatsApp too.”

“Shut up, I’m not that bad. If I block you on WhatsApp, that’s on purpose. But I haven’t,” Louis said, smiling a little despite himself. “But yeah, everything’s alright. I just wanted to call because I have a question, and it’s quite personal, and I was hoping to hear it from you directly rather than having to read it, if that makes sense.”

“You want it to be from the mouth of Harry rather than the words of scissors, you mean?” 

Louis could hear the smile in his voice, and it made him smile. There was something incredibly intimate about talking on the phone to Harry after only texting for so long. He was almost embarrassed how affected he was by it.

“Yeah, basically,” Louis whispered.

“Well, go ahead and ask,” Harry said, also quiet. “I will say, though, that there are a lot of questions that I’d need to have you sign a contract before I can tell you the truth for a lot of reasons. And I hate that that’s how it is, but it’s true. Are you… I’m willing to do that, you know? Tell you. Talk to you about almost everything. I feel like I can trust you. But with my career and everything, it’s just what I have to do to make sure I’m protecting myself. Would you be alright with signing some paperwork in order for me to be able to answer you, if it’s one of those kinds of personal questions?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Oh my god, I’m so sorry that I didn’t even think to ask that earlier. You’ve trusted me with so much information and I should have realised…”

“No, it’s alright,” Harry hurried to say. “Of course you didn’t think about it, that’s not your life and I wish it wasn't mine, but it is. I just wanted to make sure you understand that I want to tell you whatever you want to know, but some things might need to happen before I can.”

“This is going to be one of those things, I can almost guarantee it,” Louis said with a sigh. 

“Well, go ahead and ask. Maybe I’ll surprise you.”

Louis licked his lips and rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t. Unless the answer was an easy no, Harry wouldn’t be answering him tonight.

“Again, this is incredibly personal, and I’m sorry for even asking, but I…” Louis trailed off before blurting out, “Are you gay?”

Harry remained quiet, and that in itself was either Harry trying to figure out how to let Louis down easily or figuring out how to confirm Louis’ assumptions without saying too much.

Clearing his throat, Harry asked, “Are you free tomorrow night?”

“Yes,” Louis answered quickly. It was slightly embarrassing how empty his social calendar was, but it was helping him out at this moment. “Well, I mean, I am after work. I have a late meeting with a client, but that shouldn’t go much past six.”

“Okay. Do you mind coming to my place? It’s easier on a match day than worrying who might see me somewhere new, and with the paperwork and things…”

Louis nodded to himself even though Harry would have no way of seeing him. “Yeah, of course. You want to send me your address, then? Or…” Louis didn’t really know what other option there might be, to be honest.

“Yeah, I’ll send it to you tomorrow, but would around seven be alright? I should be able to be home and ready by then.”

Louis nodded again before remembering Harry couldn’t see him. He did his best to clear his throat and answer verbally, but it was so hard. It was scary and for some reason this was making him feel incredibly vulnerable. It felt like everything was on the line for their relationship with this question and this was the point when everything could somehow change. He wasn’t sure if he was excited for that, or just incredibly fucking scared.

“Yeah, that’s perfect. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay.” There was a pause, and then Harry said, “Thanks for understanding, Lou.”

Warmth filled his chest hearing Harry say the nickname he’d been using with him for awhile now out loud. 

“Of course. Goodnight.”

*~~***~~*

The day both dragged and flew by, but Louis was incredibly glad that Harry had set seven as their meeting time because the meeting with his client ran over and even leaving straight from work, Louis was going to be a few minutes late.

Louis knew that it would be a large house, but he still wasn’t really prepared for the size of home that Harry had. It was rather intimidating having to park in front of it and knock on the door of a house that spoke of more wealth than Louis was used to dealing with outside of his work with clients.

Evenso, he did it and Harry was soon ushering him into a house that felt warm and homey once Louis entered. 

“Oh, your home is lovely,” Louis said as he looked around. It really was so fitting for everything he imagined Harry to be based off of their conversations. It was understated and pristine, somehow a perfect representation of the man Louis had come to know.

“Thank you,” Harry said, holding his hands out for Louis’ coat. “I know we haven’t really got together like this before, but can I hug you? If that’s not too weird.”

“Of course not,” Louis agreed. “It feels like we’ve known each other for much longer than we have.”

As soon as Harry had hung up Louis’ coat, he turned around and opened his arms. Louis smiled softly and walked into his embrace. Louis tried to follow Harry’s lead, and his arms were held fairly low and even with each other. It meant instead of trying for a more laddy-lad type hug with one arm over the shoulder and the other around the torso, the kind that often led to loud pats on the back, Louis wrapped both of his arms around Harry’s neck while he pulled Louis in by the waist. 

Just like the phone call the night before, a simple hug between them felt special and intimate after all the time they had spent getting to know each other without actually being in each other’s presence.

Louis tried not to let himself make it awkward by doing something he would later regret, like holding on for far too long or tucking his nose into Harry’s neck to see if he could figure out what aftershave he used, but it was hard. He ended up pulling away much sooner than he actually wanted to simply in an act of self preservation.

“So, I actually made some dinner if you’re interested.” Harry made his way down the hall, waving for Louis to follow behind him. 

His movements seemed almost jerky rather than smooth and confident like he had seemed on the train, but Louis didn’t know if it was because he was nervous or maybe Louis was just imagining things. Louis could absolutely be projecting here, because he was nearly bricking it. 

“It’s nothing special because my diet is quite strict, but I am allowed some simple salmon dishes with some veg that does taste pretty good, so I have that almost ready. We can sign the paperwork while it finishes so I can answer whatever questions you might have while we eat?”

“Yeah, that sounds amazing, and smells it too. Lunch was a long time ago. Which, hope you don’t mind the suit. I wasn’t able to stop at home to change because the meeting ran over.”

Harry gave him a once over that made Louis have even less doubt as to the answer Harry would give him once the paperwork was signed. Louis still didn’t know if Harry had actually been flirting with him, but the way he had just taken in Louis’ body made him feel like at the very least Harry definitely appreciated how he looked.

“Don’t mind at all. You’re very fit in a suit, but I knew that already since you were wearing one the first time we met as well.”

Louis flushed. He’d forgotten he had been headed home from a meeting with a client that day on the train. 

“Ah, well, don’t go thinking I dress like this all the time. Now you’ve already seen me at my best, it’s all downhill from here.”

Harry murmured something that sounded almost like, “I very much doubt that,” but Louis couldn’t be sure because Harry was checking on the fish in the oven when he said it.

“Okay, the food look good, and I have the paperwork over here.”

Louis looked at the paper sitting neatly on the island, and then turned to Harry. “I hope it wasn’t too much work for you to get this on a match day. I know how busy you are when… hang on. Wasn’t your match down in London this afternoon? You aren’t normally free until much later, especially when you’re not playing at home.”

“Yeah, my knee is flaring up, so I’ve been pulled from matches for a week or two until the physio gives me the okay to play again.” Harry shrugged, but Louis could tell it wasn’t something he really enjoyed talking about, which was fair enough. It must be a huge weight on him to not be able to play in matches. “I’m hoping I can at least go in as a sub after just a week off, but we’ll see. You can’t really rush recovery, as you can see now. I’m still dealing with the aftermath of my injury last season.”

“Yeah, sucks, but it does make sense.” Louis looked down at the contract and then winced. “Think you could summarise the important parts? I’m never going to be able to focus enough to read through this whole thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem.”

Harry walked Louis through it all and made sure to outline the things that were specifically outlined, some of which were ridiculous, but Harry rolled his eyes and said it had something to do with sponsorship deals. 

“You’re literally wearing Adidas right now,” Louis pointed out.

“Am I, though?” Harry asked, doing his best to look innocent. “I think I’m wearing Nike, just like my sponsorship agreement implies I always wear.”

Louis shook his head and then signed, initialed, and dated everywhere that was indicated.

“Alright, is there anything else?” he asked, looking up at Harry as he gathered the papers.

“Nope, that’s it. Pretty painless, I hope.”

“Oh, I’m not sure,” Louis teased, stretching his hand and pretending it hurt him. “All five of those signatures were likely enough to cause permanent damage to my hand.”

Harry gave Louis a smile and then looked at the timer. “We’ve still got about ten minutes before it’s done cooking. Want to sit down in the other room while we wait?”

Louis nodded and Harry showed him to another room that had a large, overstuffed couch.

“Oh my god, I think it might eat me alive,” Louis said as he sat down and felt like he got sucked right into the cushions. “This is amazing, but how do you ever get up?”

“I avoid it after a match because I basically don’t move if I sit down there, but also that was most of the appeal.”

“I understand.”

Once they both got settled, they got quiet and things were truly awkward with them for the first time. Louis pursed his lips and tried to figure out if he should keep the subject fairly surface level until dinner was ready or how exactly Harry wanted to go about it when Harry spoke. 

“Yeah, so, I’m gay.”

Louis looked over at him in surprise to see him with his eyes closed, lips sucked into his mouth.

“Meant to try to make that sound a bit more suave and all that, but it is what it is. It’s true no matter how I say it. I am gay.” 

Harry paused and looked like he was considering saying something else, but wasn’t sure about it. Louis waited for him to figure out if he wanted to continue or not, and it wasn’t long before he did. 

“Obviously I’m also in the closet publicly, not sure if I’ll ever be ready to come out before retirement, just so you know. And I know that’s a lot and it’s kind of heavy, so if that is something you don’t want to deal with in whatever way, that’s totally fine. I get it. It’s hard to be with someone when you can’t tell most people like you want to.”

“Yeah, that makes total sense,” Louis said, before everything Harry said started to click for him. It almost sounded like he was giving Louis an out because… was he implying he wanted something more with Louis? “Okay, another question.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“This is going to seem really silly and kind of self-centered, to be honest, so don’t laugh or anything, but see, your comment the other day was what made me finally realise you might be gay, and it was because it kind of seemed like maybe you were flirting with me? Not a question. It did. Seem like it.” Louis shook his head. His words were coming out all choppy because he was so embarrassed to be asking, but he really did need clarification so he could ensure his expectations were set appropriately. “Sorry, it’s just—”

Harry let out a strange honking noise that startled Louis before he erupted into full blown laughter. 

“I said not to laugh,” Louis said angrily, throwing a pillow at him. “Fuck. I knew the possibility was insanely low, but I had to make sure because I didn’t know if I was misreading it.”

“No, no, no,” Harry said, still laughing and grasping the pillow tightly. “I’m not laughing at the fact you thought that because oh my god, Lou. Yes. I was definitely flirting with you. I have been the whole time.” 

Louis blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t imagining it all. “Really? You were?”

“I’m not exactly subtle. Was that really the first time you noticed it?”

Cheeks flaming Louis scrunched his nose up. “Maybe. A little. It’s only because a friend of mine saw your comment about being good with your hands and he freaked out a little bit thinking I was showing him our sexts or something.” Louis paused. “Actually, come to think of it, Liam should probably sign an NDA too. He knows far too much.”

Harry smirked. “If he’s alright with it we can do that. I would like you to have someone you can talk to about it, you know?”

“Yeah, same.” Louis sighed, and then froze. “Wait. You were seriously flirting with me? This whole time?”

“Oh god, maybe I’m more subtle than I thought, but it really felt like I was putting myself out there entirely from the very beginning. I mean, I offered to take a photo with you as an apology on the train. I hoped it would be a way for me to find you again afterwards and learn more about you.”

Louis was completely overwhelmed. The timer went off, and Harry got up to get the food out, which was perfect, because Louis was having a hard time taking in everything.

Harry had been interested in him from the first time they met, just like Louis had been. It didn’t feel possible, but it was. Did that mean that maybe he was interested in something more between the two of them like Louis was? Louis’ heart was racing with the very possibility. He really had come to be at least a little bit in love with the man who was currently in the kitchen finishing up dinner. He clearly already knew about Alex as well, because it was through Alex that Harry had found Louis again after all and…

Oh shit. Alex. What would he think if he learned Louis and Harry were actually dating? He had seemed supportive, but that was when everything was still hypothetical, and they both thought that Harry was straight. They mostly just assumed he was straight because he was a professional footballer, though, and…

“How old are you?” Louis asked as Harry came back in with two plates in hand. 

Giving Louis a confused smile, Harry said, “This is usually the kind of thing people already know about me, or at the very least they google it. It’s nice to have you actually need to ask. I’m 28.” When Louis let out a surprised squeak, Harry narrowed his eyes. “Is… that a problem?”

“I mean, not really, but also yes, it kind of is.” Louis covered his mouth. Eleven years. Harry was eleven years younger than he was. “You’re closer in age to my son than you are to me. Far closer to him in age, actually.”

“I mean, I don’t see the issue here.”

“Eleven years, that’s the issue!” Louis cried, sounding somewhat hysterical now. He couldn’t help it, the evening had been a lot and there were a lot of things he was still processing at this point. “I’m 39. I’m turning 40 in December. God, I was doing so well with accepting that number, too, until I realised my fucking boyfriend was 28, oh my fucking god.”

Before Louis could find something else to freak out about, Harry scooted over so he was much closer than he had been before, and then he reached out and took Louis by the shoulders before pulling him in for an unexpected kiss.

Louis was tempted to keep arguing even with Harry’s lips on his, but he was quickly convinced that would be a bad idea and he reciprocated instead. God, there was something familiar and yet brilliantly exciting about kissing Harry for the first time. He kissed the way he did everything, with a sense of care and focus that Louis couldn’t help but admire, especially in the way that he flicked at Louis’ lips with his tongue made his toes curl and shivers roll up through his shoulders.

When Harry pulled back, Louis almost chased after him because he was already addicted, but he was able to stop before making too big a fool of himself. 

“Did you only do that to stop me from spiraling?” Louis asked, somewhat breathless.

“A little bit,” Harry admitted, smiling as he studied Louis’ lips before meeting his eyes again. “But also because I’m pretty sure you called me your boyfriend.”

“What? No I…” Louis thought back to it and realised he had. He’d called Harry his boyfriend. Louis scrunched his nose and did his best to will the blush down, but it wasn’t working. His entire face was probably pink at this point. “Well, fuck.”

Harry started chuckling, and seeing his dimples cave in while he looked at Louis so happily, Louis couldn’t really regret it. Eleven years between them or not, Harry drew him in in a way Louis had never experienced before.

“So, boyfriend,” Harry said with a wink, “what do you think about giving this a try and seeing if we can make it work?”

“I mean, I already called you my boyfriend without really even planning to, so I think that’s my answer, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but do you want to call me your boyfriend?” Harry asked, looking shy about it now.

Louis reached out and tipped Harry’s chin up so he would meet his eyes again. “Yeah. I think I really do.”

Harry blinked slowly before leaning in for another kiss.

Dinner ended up going cold and Harry had to reheat it, but Louis didn’t really mind because he also brought it up to Louis in bed, which was both the most lazy and wonderful experience Louis had ever had.

*~~***~~*

Hazza: Have you told him yet?

Louis put his phone on do not disturb and turned it upside down, tired of his boyfriend’s constant texting. He’d tell Alex when he was ready, and he was trying to be ready tonight, but he was nervous. For fuck’s sake, Harry needed to just let him do it because his constant check ins just made him more jumpy.

“You’re acting weird. What’s going on?” Alex asked as he dished himself some more rice. “I never realized how much I love curry until I realised how impossible it is to get a good one. I’ve been craving a vindaloo for weeks. Thanks, Dad.”

“Yeah, of course,” Louis said, smiling. “And I’m not acting weird. What do you mean?”

“You are, and you’re being weird with your phone, way more attached to it than you were before, and you can barely look at me. I don’t know, it’s just… weird.”

Louis swallowed harshly, messing with his utensils again before finally setting them down and looking at Alex. “Okay. Fine. Well, I’ve got something to tell you.”

Alex froze mid-bite and stared at Louis. “Is someone dying? You’re acting like someone is dying.”

“No, god. No, nothing like that. I think… well. I think it’s a good thing.” Scrunching his nose up as he picked up his fork and swirled his sauce around his place a bit, he said, “A very good thing.”

“You’re finally dating again, aren’t you?”

Louis looked up in surprise. “How’d you know?”

“That’s what’s different,” Alex said, leaning back in his chair, his arms folded. “You’re happier. Lighter, somehow. And that also probably explains why you’re being weird with your phone. It’s the guy.”

Louis sighed happily, smiling at Alex. “Yeah. It’s the guy.”

“Well that’s great,” Alex said, going back to focusing on his dinner. “Who is he? When do I get to meet him? Have you been going out for long?”

“Well, we’ve been seeing each other for almost two months now,” Louis said. 

It felt wonderful to have someone else he could admit this to. His pool of trusted people was unfortunately very small, and because of that he wasn’t able to talk about it much at all. 

Pushing forward to get to the real point of all of this, Louis added, “And I was kind of hoping you’d be alright with meeting him at my birthday gathering next week. He’s already met Lottie’s twins, so I went ahead and invited him.”

“How come they knew about him but I didn’t?” Alex asked, looking hurt. “I don’t even know what his name is or how you two met.”

“It wasn’t on purpose, I promise, love. And it only happened over the weekend. I forgot I told Lottie I’d watch the boys while she and Frank could do their Christmas shopping. They barged into the house and he was here… Lottie was more than surprised and a bit angry that she didn’t know about him.”

“I can imagine,” Alex said. “Well. alright. I mean, I do want him there for the family celebration. If you’re serious about him then he should be there. But can you at least tell me his name?”

Louis braced himself for his reaction. “It’s Harry Styles.”

“No it fucking is not,” Alex said, his face slowly morphing into one of surprise and then jubilation. “Oh my god, my new dad is gonna be Harry fucking Styles!”

“Oi, don’t say shit like that, god. Why do you have to go and make things weird? Your new dad. What the fuck. We’ve been dating for two months.” Louis shook his head and then dropped his fork. “New dad. He’ll get a laugh out of that, but honestly that’s just. No.”

“Do I really have to wait a week before I can meet him?” Alex asked. “It’s already been ages.”

“Yeah, it’s Christmas period, isn’t it? Think he’s got three matches this week. We had to plan the dinner for the one night he would be able to make it that Phoebe would be here for. But yeah, I’m not even seeing much of him at the moment. Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

Louis was about to pick up his phone to put Harry out of his misery when Alex spoke up again.

“Okay, seriously, though. I really am happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Louis said, smiling. “Me too.”

*~~***~~*

Louis would have been far more pleased if Alex hadn’t immediately gone up to Harry, given him a hug, and told him he was so happy to learn he was going to be his new daddy the first time they met. But he supposed that was just how things went sometimes.