Archive of Our Own

March 2006

It was the first Saturday of spring in Telford, New Jersey, and that could only mean one thing: the boys were in the park playing baseball.

It was a tradition: the group of eleven fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds always brought their baseball helmets, cleats, bats and other equipment to Veteran’s Park approximately a quarter mile from all of their houses to play nine innings of ‘America’s favorite sport.’

At the moment, it was the bottom of the ninth and Harry and Louis’ team was in the field – Harry being the pitcher, and Louis being the catcher, of course.

Harry stood on the mound and shook his head once, waiting for Louis to give the right signals for the pitch he was about to throw. When Louis held down one finger, Harry nodded. Louis held down two fingers and Harry nodded again.

Louis winked, telling Harry that he knew what to expect.

Harry wound up and threw the ball right into Louis’ waiting glove. Fast ball, inside. Charlie, the boy who was up to bat, didn’t even swing.

“Strike!” Louis called out.

Charlie sighed and took a step back, getting in a few practice swings.

That was the second strike. One more and the game would be over.

Louis threw the ball to Harry, who caught it with ease. He got into position again, as did Louis, who squatted down and held his throwing hand next to his inner thigh.

Louis held down two fingers and Harry quickly nodded. Louis winked again, waiting for Harry’s curveball.

Harry grinned as he prepared to throw the ball. His curveballs were pretty legendary.

However, Harry’s smile must have given it away, because when Harry pitched the ball, Charlie hit it, sending it all the way back toward left field. Fortunately, Luke was there, and the kid had the strongest arm out of all of them.

“Run!” Ben, Jeff, Mike, Vince and Kyle shouted from the dugout.

“Get it! Let’s go!” Aaron yelled from his spot in right field.

Greg, who was close to first, moved toward second, since he knew Charlie would at least score a double.  

Charlie was fast, though, so when Luke picked up the ball, he flung it straight toward the pitcher’s mound, where Harry caught it.

Harry turned and saw Charlie rounding third, so he threw the ball right to Louis, who was waiting for it.

Louis had a near perfect record of getting people out when they approached him at home plate and he had the ball, so Charlie immediately retreated, running back to third.

“Tommo!” Harry shouted, holding up his glove, sprinting toward third.

Louis quickly sent it toward Harry, who caught it and stepped onto the plate.

Now Charlie was stuck in between them, and had to decide what to do. He shook his head and turned around, running for home plate again.

Harry took a few steps forward and tossed the ball to Louis, who caught it and braced himself for Charlie to come barreling into him.

However, Charlie headed the opposite way, back for third. Harry was ready for the ball as Louis threw it back to him. Once Harry had the ball, Charlie ran as fast as he could toward home, hoping to get past Louis.

But Harry had been anticipating that, and almost immediately after he got it back, he tossed the ball back to Louis.

Louis caught the ball and dug his feet in, holding tightly onto the baseball as Charlie crashed into him.

The two of them went down to the ground, and once he knew which way was up, Louis raised his glove victoriously.

“Yes!” Harry cheered. “Game!”

“Yeah!” Louis, Luke and the rest of their team yelled.

Charlie shook his head as he pushed himself up to his feet.

“Next time, Tommo,” he promised, “I’m knocking that ball out of your hand.”

Louis just laughed as he stood up, as well. “You wish, Hunter.”

“Awesome play, Tommo,” Ben said as he and Jeff ran over to home plate.

“As always,” Jeff agreed.

The rest of the group made their way over, as well, wanting to congratulate each other on a job well done.

“Now, now, boys…” Louis held his hands up. “It just takes a bit of practice. Keep trying and one day, you might be half as good as me.”

They all laughed, as Louis was being ‘modest.’

“Tommo, come on,” Harry said. “You know that none of us will ever be as good as you.”

“Eh, I don’t know, Styles. You’re pretty up there. That’s why they call us ‘The Dream Team,’ after all.”

Aaron snorted. “Literally nobody but you guys call yourselves that.”

“Don’t rain on my parade, Callaway.”

“Yo, I hate to cut this party short, but my mom told me to be home early,” Luke cut in. “My aunt and uncle are coming over for dinner and I have to look ‘presentable.’”

“It’ll take until next spring to get you presentable, man,” Harry told him.

Luke just flipped him off.

Harry laughed. “All right, well since Lukey has to get presentable, let’s head out.”

The group gathered up their equipment, making sure they had everything before leaving the field. There was already a group of younger, overexcited kids waiting to take their spot.

Louis, Harry, Luke, Charlie and Aaron headed out of the east exit of the park, while the rest of the boys went out the west.

“My dad bought him and me Phillies tickets for the home opener,” Aaron told the rest of the group. “And they’re giving away free hats to everyone in attendance, too.”

“You have like, thirty hats already,” Luke pointed out.

“Yeah, but this one will say ‘Opening Day 2006’ on it.”

Harry shook his head. “I guess that’s better than Louis’ collection of rally towels.”

“What?” Louis asked. “You can never have too many rally towels.”

“Louis, you only have two hands,” Charlie said.

The others laughed.

“Yeah, and four sisters,” Louis replied. “I mean, God help me if one of them doesn’t have a towel in each hand when the games get really intense.”

“You coming to school with red Sharpie lipstick again?” Luke asked, trying not to laugh too loudly as he remembered the time Lottie only had one towel while the other three had two, and Louis refused to give her one of his.

Louis grimaced. “Probably. Maybe worse.”

When the group reached Turner Street, Harry and Louis turned left down it, while the other boys kept going straight.

“We need to get Phillies tickets,” Louis said. “We didn’t go to enough last season.”

Harry wasn’t sure how true that was. “How many games did we go to?”

“I don’t know. Like, six?”

Harry laughed. “And six wasn’t enough?”

“Of course not, Styles. Keep up.”

“Sorry. I’ll try harder.”

They reached Harry’s house then. Harry started walking up the driveway and Louis called out, “You coming over for dinner tomorrow? Mom’s making lasagna.”

“You know I’ll be there, Tommo. Come on; that’s my favorite.”

“Hey, just making sure. Wouldn’t want you to make any other plans or something.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Get out of here.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Louis crossed the street, passing the corner house and walking into the tan one next to it.

Harry walked into his own house, and as he shut the door, he wondered if Robin would consider getting them Phillies tickets.

September 2016

Harry was three hours and thirty-four minutes into his first day of teaching at Wilson Park Elementary School when he realized that he already had a favorite student.

It was recess time, and Harry was on his first round of playground duty. He stood with three other teachers in a loose semi-circle as they shared stories of the funny things their students had already said or done that day.

Harry was listening to another teacher, Perrie, tell a story of asking one of her students to tell her something that he liked – apparently, he’d blurted out ‘I like fire trucks’ simply because they heard a siren going off in the distance – when the aforementioned favorite student came hurrying toward him, his shoulder-length blonde hair getting blown around by the wind as he moved.

“Mr. Styles! Look what I found!”

“Oh, boy! Ernest, what’s that?” Harry asked while simultaneously taking a step back.

The boy had a green, squiggly worm crawling up his arm, and Ernest looked like he couldn’t be any happier. However, for Harry, wiggly, squirmy things made him a bit squeamish.

“It’s a green caterpillar! Look!” Ernest held up his arm as close to Harry’s face as he could reach. “I found him in the grass over there! Isn’t he cool?”

“Yup, that’s awesome, Ernest!”

Harry acted enthusiastic, but could hear the other teachers – Perrie, Leigh-Anne, the art teacher and Rob, a third grade teacher – stifling their laughter behind him.

“Why don’t you show Miss Edwards?”

“No, that’s okay,” Perrie quickly said. “I can see it from here.”

Harry smirked. “Aww, come on, Miss Edwards. Don’t you want to see what Ernest found?”

“No, thank you!”

“Ms. Edwards, look how many legs it has!” Ernest yelled, turning his attention toward Perrie.

“Ernest, you know who would like to see that? Doris!”

Perrie was talking about one of her students, who also happened to be Ernest’s twin sister.

“Doris?” Ernest asked. “Have you met her? She hates bugs! But listen, this is so cool…”

Ernest then went into an entire monologue, telling Perrie everything he knew about the bug.

Perrie’s distraction attempt had failed. She shot Harry the dirtiest of looks before pretending to act excited about Ernest’s discovery.

Now that Ernest was distracted, Harry took a look around the playground. It was still hot for early September. The temperatures were supposed to hit ninety degrees by Friday, and although the school was air-conditioned, Harry wasn’t looking forward to it.

But so far, Harry loved his new job. The kids were great, his room looked awesome and his coworkers had been very warm and friendly. Most of all, Harry just loved being home.

Harry was born and raised in the area, but had spent the last decade in Seattle, after his stepdad Robin got transferred there for a new job.

Moving sucked. He was sixteen at the time and only a day into his junior year of high school when he got the news. Needless to say, he hadn’t been happy.

But he went, and, sure, he made new friends, but nothing in Seattle compared to his childhood in New Jersey.

He took in a deep breath, and could almost smell the smog coming from Philadelphia. It felt good to be home.

---

Harry walked into his apartment later that night and dropped his bag to the floor. He immediately walked over to his couch and flopped down face first on it. He took a deep breath and exhaled, letting out a long groan as he did so.

Harry was exhausted. He couldn’t remember the first day of school last year being so tiring, although he hadn’t still been unpacking the day before, either.

He turned on his side and looked at all of the boxes he still had to go through. He knew that he had to get it all done this week, because on Monday, the real lessons had to start, as opposed to teaching his students about the rules and routines in the room like he did today and would also do tomorrow.

Harry hated that everything had been so rushed, but he wasn’t about to turn down an offer to teach in a school just twenty minutes from Telford, his hometown.

In the last three years since graduating from college with his master’s degree, Harry had been bounced around a lot looking for a permanent job. He spent the first year subbing in a ton of districts all throughout the state of Washington. Toward the end of the year, he started to wonder if he would ever find something full-time, so he began applying to get his teaching license in other states, namely, Oregon, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, telling himself that he could always relocate.

The second year after graduation landed him a long-term position covering a maternity leave in a first grade class. And last year, he’d gotten his own room: teaching fourth grade, full-time. He had been thrilled to finally have something, and had gone all out setting up his room and getting it organized just the way he wanted it.

And then May rolled around, and due to budget cuts, Harry and two other teachers were laid off.

Apparently ‘last hired, first fired’ was still in effect, even in 2016.

Since he was out of a job, Harry started applying everywhere for a new one, even deciding to put his multiple teaching licenses to use by applying to schools back east. His sister Gemma was in New York, so, at the very least, he’d finally be on the same coast as her for the first time in ten years.

When it came right down to it, he’d be willing to move across the country if it meant he’d have his own classroom again.

After a very long summer and beginning the process to be a substitute teacher again, Harry got a job offer. It was in Glassboro, New Jersey, near where Harry had grown up.

Unfortunately, the call had come about three weeks before the year started, which gave him a very limited amount time to pack up his stuff, find an apartment, see his new school and set up his room.

Luckily, he was a professional, so his classroom looked fantastic. His apartment, on the other hand, looked like the place where abandoned storage units go to die.

There were boxes everywhere, and Harry hadn't realized he had this much stuff. Besides his clothes, the only things he’d managed to unpack were his silverware, sheets, a few pots and pans and pillows. He’d bought toiletries and paper plates and cups from Target the night he got his key from the landlord, but hadn’t had the time to get through much else.

Staring at all of the boxes made him think of the last time he moved, when Robin was transferred. Of course, Harry and his mom had to go with him. Gemma was going into her second year at NYU at the time, so she was the lucky one that got to stay on campus during the school year, which meant that Harry had to face a completely new environment for the first time in his life totally on his own. It hadn’t been pretty.

September 2006

Harry quickly shut the door behind him, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’ll be okay. I’ll be fine,” he muttered to himself.

That was a lie. He wasn’t going to be okay.

He slowly opened his eyes to look at his new room and immediately wanted to go to bed and wake up back at home. This ‘bedroom’ – if you could even call it that since it looked more like an art gallery than anything else – had hardwood floors, white walls and huge windows that looked out over some body of water that Harry would have to research the name of.

Gone were his tan carpet and navy blue walls. Gone were the million posters he had hanging up everywhere. Gone was the crack in the window from when Louis had thrown a baseball at Harry’s head and he’d ducked at the last minute.

Everything was just… gone. And Harry was freaking out. He’d grown up in his old house, had moved in with his mom, dad and Gemma when he was only a few months old. Everything about his childhood and young adulthood was left in that house and Harry didn’t like it at all.

He heard a beep and it startled him so badly he dropped his phone, which had been in his hand. And then he remembered it was his ringtone.

He took another deep breath and picked his cell up, seeing ‘1 New Message!’ flash across the small outside screen. He flipped it open to see that it was Louis who texted him.

Louis: u there yet

Harry walked over to the window, hoping that maybe the spectacular view that his mom promised would cheer him up.

It didn’t.

Harry: yeh. this place is sick

Louis: whats it look like

Harry: hang on

Harry faced the room, snapped a grainy picture and sent it. He only had to wait a minute before Louis responded.

Louis: dude wtf that’s nicer than my whole house

Harry: lmao it’s not that nice

Louis: no for real it is

Harry sighed. Sure, this place was nice, but it didn’t have anything from home.

Louis: lottie said ur playing jail break when u come home

Harry: lol. she’s on

Louis: yeh they miss u already

Harry: already?

Louis: yup

Harry: miss them 2

Harry closed his phone and slid it in his back pocket. The girls weren’t the only Tomlinsons he missed.

September 2016

Harry really needed to unpack. He told himself that on Friday night as he walked into the pizza shop down the street from his apartment. It was his second pizza this week, as he’d been eating it nearly every night for dinner. He could just open all of his boxes and search for the rest of his cooking equipment, but by the time he got home, took a shower and made sure everything for the next day at school was prepared, he was just too tired.

So, pizza it was. God, he hadn’t eaten this much of it since he was a teenager.

“Hi, picking up a pizza for Styles,” he said to the skinny teenage girl behind the counter. With a glance at her nametag, he learned that her name was Daisy.

“Okay, let me go check on it,” she replied. She turned around and leaned through the open archway that led to the kitchen.

She asked about his pizza, and Harry heard another voice in the back quickly answer her, saying something about “bubbling cheese.”

Daisy came back and said, “Should be another minute or two, if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll just, wait over there?” he told her, pointing over his shoulder at an empty booth in the corner.

Daisy nodded. “Okay. Sorry about that.”

“Nah, not a problem. Just let me know when it’s ready.”

Harry took a seat and pulled out his phone so it looked like he had something to do, even though he really didn’t.

He scrolled through his contacts a few times, making a mental note to call his mom and let her know how the first two days of school had gone.

Anne had been very upset that she and Harry wouldn’t be living in the same household for the first time in Harry’s life, and Harry was still adjusting to living fully on his own. Even when he went to college, he went to a school close enough that he could commute.

Now, he was really and truly an adult, something he still had to process.

As he opened another app, he heard the voice of someone coming out of the bathroom.

“All right, I’ll see you later, D,” the voice – a male’s – said, walking by the counter.

“Okay. Bye, Lou. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

There was something familiar about that voice. The girl had called him Lou, but that didn’t mean… it couldn’t be…

“Louis?” Harry whispered to himself. He looked up and saw the man he’d just heard speak walking out of the restaurant. Harry couldn’t see the man’s face, and could only see that he was wearing a black T-shirt with a gray beanie covering his hair.

Harry shook his head. Nah, it couldn’t be Louis. There was no way he still lived in the area. When they were in high school, Louis always talked about leaving the state as soon as he could. He didn’t know where he was going, but it would be somewhere.

“Anywhere but here,” he would always say.

Although, now that Harry thought about it, one of Louis’ younger sisters was named Daisy. So, that could have been Louis.

“Styles! Pizza’s up!”

Harry remembered that was his name, so he slid his phone in the back pocket of his jeans and returned to the counter.

“Thank you,” he said, watching Daisy’s face closely. He couldn’t really remember what she looked like, as she had only been about eight the last time he saw her.

“You’re welcome,” she replied. When Harry didn’t say anything else, she followed up with, “Is there something else I can help you with?”

“No, um… Sorry, you just look like someone I used to know.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, well with that shirt on, you look like you could be my dad, so I doubt that.”

Harry took a step back before looking at his outfit. What was wrong with it?

“There’s nothing wrong with my shirt,” he said.

Daisy plastered a fake smile on her face. “Well, the customer’s always right. Have a nice night.”

Pouting, Harry took his pizza and left the restaurant. With the amount of sass in that conversation, Harry was absolutely convinced that was Louis’ sister.

Which brought on the question: why had Louis stayed local all these years?

March 2006

Louis closed one eye and threw another dart at the map on his wall.

“Where did it land?” he asked lazily, not wanting to get up from the spot on his bed.

Harry, who was sitting at the desk next to the map, craned his neck to read, “Bulgaria.”

“Bulgaria?” Louis asked. “What’s there to do in Bulgaria?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. Find Viktor Krum? See if he’s still in love with Hermione?”

“Oh, please. You know he is. You saw what she looked like at the Yule Ball.”

“Good point. So yeah; find Krum, and then figure out what the hell else there is to do there.”

Louis nodded. “Okay, then. Bulgaria, it is.”

Louis reached under his bed and pulled out a lined, yellow notepad and a pen and scribbled ‘Bulgaria’ at the bottom of the list he’d already started compiling. A few months ago, over winter break, Louis decided that when he graduated high school, he was going to become a world traveler. Once a week, he threw a dart at his map, and wherever it landed became another place he would visit. His list already had eight countries on it, and Harry didn’t know when this list would actually end.

“Is your travel plan still in effect?” Harry asked.

“Yup: graduate, take a year off, see everywhere I possibly can. It’s going to be great.”

Harry smiled. Louis had always been the more ambitious one of the two.

“Is your travel plan still in effect?” Louis wondered.

“What trav–” Harry sighed. “Tommo…”

“What? Just asking a question.”

“Dude, you know I can’t go with you. By the time you graduate, I’ll be done my first year of college.”

“So?”

“I’ll be in school! I can’t just stop going so I can go all around the world on a college kid’s budget.”

“Styles, you’ve wanted to be a teacher since you were old enough to carry your stuffed animals into the living room to teach them lessons. Taking one year off from school isn’t going to affect your plans any. You’ll still be a teacher; you’ll just have world experience under your belt.”

Harry laughed. “World experience? What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know. Someone said it on The Amazing Race last week. But come on, Styles!”

“Tommo, yeah, right. Even if I wanted to go, you know my mom would never let me. It’s bad enough Gemma’s in New York for school, you really think she’ll let me go across the ocean?”

Louis shrugged. “It’s not like you would be alone. You’d be with me, your best friend in the whole world.”

“While that is true, you know that what I said about my mom is, too. She would never let me go.”

Louis sighed. “Fine. Stay here, be boring, never experience life. See if I care.”

Harry rolled his eyes and went back to the math problems he had been trying to solve earlier, trying to squash the feelings of jealousy of his best friend actually going on a crazy adventure without him.

September 2016

Harry made it almost four full days before having to deal with a sick kid. Ernest came walking into the room on Tuesday morning with some of the other students, and though he looked okay, Harry still thought he was a bit off.

“Ernest, are you all right?” Harry asked him when the other students sat on the carpet for Morning Meeting.

Ernest nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Okay… if you start to feel sick, you let me know, all right?”

“Okay.”

It wasn’t until an hour before lunch that Harry took action.

The students were working on a social studies project, where they were preparing a flipbook that told the differences between kinds of communities. As Harry walked around the room, he noticed that Ernest didn’t seem to be able to hold his scissors correctly.

Harry knelt down by his desk and whispered, “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

“Yeah, I’m just hot,” Ernest said.

At Ernest’s words, Harry felt his forehead. He gasped. “Ernest, you’re burning up. I’m sending you to the nurse.”

He went to his desk to pull out his pad of hall passes. He quickly wrote one up for Ernest to go to the nurse and signed his name at the bottom.

“Go right to Ms. Smith’s office, okay?” Harry told Ernest quietly.

The boy just nodded, took the pass and walked slowly out of the room.

Harry continued on with the class, but he didn’t relax until Sophia, the nurse, called down to his room about fifteen minutes later.

“Hey, Harry,” she spoke into the phone. “Ernest will be fine; he just has a fever.”

“Oh, good.” Harry sighed. “Is he able to go home?”

“Yeah, I called his emergency contacts. His parents can’t leave work, but his older brother is on the way in.”

“Okay. I’ll stop in after I drop off the rest of the kids in the cafeteria, if that’s all right?”

“Of course it is. I’ll see you soon, then.”

“Yup. Thanks.”

Harry hung up the phone and checked the time. There was still a half hour before he had to get his kids ready to walk down to the cafeteria, and it looked like everyone was just about done.

“Okay,” he called out, “who can tell me something about an urban community?”

---

When it was finally time for lunch, the students packed up their desks. If they had a lunch box, they grabbed it from their cubby and got in line. When all eighteen of them were ready, Harry led them down to the cafeteria. He took them to his class’ lunch tables and once they were settled, he left the room and headed toward the front office to check on Ernest.

Harry entered the office and saw a man waiting by the front desk. Both secretaries were on the phone, and kept shooting the man apologetic glances, probably sorry they couldn’t help him at that very moment. As the door swung shut, the man dropped his keys. Harry watched as he bent down to pick them up.

Harry tried not to stare, but he was only human. He couldn’t resist watching the perfectly round ass as it was practically shoved right in his face, and, well, Harry wouldn’t mind that exact scenario happening one night in his apartment, sans clothes.

Harry shook his head, remembering where he was – his place of work – and got it together.

But as he walked toward Sophia’s office, he couldn’t help but realize that he knew that ass. He hadn’t seen it for ten years now, but he’d recognize it anywhere.

He turned around and saw that the man was now standing up, and, as if on cue, he looked over at Harry.

And in that split second of eye contact, Harry knew he was right about who this man was.

“Louis?” he asked, still not quite believing it.

Louis blinked. “Harry? Wh– what are you doing here?”

“I work here,” Harry said. Then he bit his lip. It had sounded a lot less defensive in his head.

“Oh.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Um, I’m picking up my brother. The nurse called and said he was sick.”

Harry felt like he was going to be sick. “Wait, Ernest is your brother? Since when do you have a brother?”

“Since about seven years ago, I guess. Uh, my parents split up um, I guess like, six months after you moved? Yeah, and my mom met Dan and had the twins and, uh… here we are.”

“Wow… you have a younger brother. And a younger sister, too. That’s awesome.”

“Yeah.” Louis stood up a bit straighter. “Wait, how do you know Ernest?”

“I’m his teacher.”

“You’re his what?” Louis exclaimed.

He suddenly looked a bit pale. Harry wondered if he might be getting sick, too.

“Yeah, I’m his teacher. He’s in my class. Are you okay? You look like you might pass out.”

“No, I’m fine, I just… I didn’t know you moved back.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Um, recently, though. It was all very sudden.”

“I see,” Louis said.

The two of them stood there in awkward silence. Harry desperately wished someone would come in the office or that another phone would ring or something. He’d never felt so uncomfortable around another human being in his entire life.

And this was someone who used to be his best friend. But it had been ten years. Clearly, a lot had changed since then.

“Um, does Ms. Smith know you’re here?” Harry asked.

“Who?”

“The nurse.”

“Oh. Soph, right.” Louis shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“I’ll go get her for you.”

Thankful for an excuse to leave, Harry walked behind the desk and into Sophia’s office.

He saw Ernest lying still on the nurse’s bed, with a cold compress on his forehead. His eyes were shut, but Harry didn’t think he was asleep yet.

Harry saw Sophia at her desk, typing up something. When she was done, she looked over at him with a perfect eyebrow raised.

“Ernest’s brother is here for him,” Harry whispered.

Sophia nodded with relief and went over to get the boy up.

“Ernest,” she spoke quietly. “Sweetie, wake up. Louis’ here.”

Ernest slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Louis?”

Sophia smiled. “Yeah; he’s here to take you home. Come on.”

Ernest sat up as quickly as he could. He took Sophia’s hand and she led him out of the room. Harry followed closely behind.

“Hey, Ern,” Louis greeted softly watching the three of them come back into the office.

Ernest didn’t say anything, and just walked over to his brother, who picked him up. “Hey, Soph.”

“Hey, babe. So, he has a hundred-and-two degree fever,” Sophia whispered to Louis. “You’ll want to get him home, keep him hydrated, maybe give him a warm bath. Just try to cool him down, okay?”

Louis nodded before softly kissing his little brother on the side of his head, which was currently hiding in the crook of Louis’ neck.

“Thank you for your help,” he said.

“Of course. You’re welcome,” Sophia told him. “Ernest, feel better.”

Ernest weakly moved his head, but didn’t say anything to her.

Louis turned around, and probably would’ve left the office without acknowledging Harry again if Ernest didn’t lift his head up and say, “Bye, Mr. Styles.”

Harry waved. “Bye, buddy. Feel better.”

Louis glanced over his shoulder toward Harry. He didn’t say anything, just simply tilted his head before carrying his brother out of the office.

“They’re a nice family,” Sophia told Harry, as if he didn’t already know that.

“Yeah,” Harry said simply. “They seem like it.”

June 2005

“Wave your towels!” Louis yelled. “Come on! We need this!”

Louis was with Harry and his entire family in his living room, watching the Phillies game on TV.

Harry stood up next to Louis and started waving his rally towels, one in each hand. The Phillies were currently tied with the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the bottom of the ninth inning with only one out and two people on base. All they needed was one run and they would win the game.

David Bell was up to bat. He’d just hit a foul ball, and was preparing to swing again.

“ Wave your towels !” Louis said to his family. His dad and four younger sisters all started waving them – all of them with one towel in each hand – while his mom shook them lightly. She was eager for the game to be over so she could go to bed.

“Come on, Bell,” Harry shouted, as if the man could hear him through the television.

Bell took his stance and stared down the pitcher, waiting for the ball.

Everyone in the room kept waving their towels, watching as the pitcher, Matt Wise, wound up and hurled the ball down the line.

Harry recognized the fastball, and if he did, then maybe Bell did, too.

“Oh, my God!” Louis yelled out as Bell connected with the ball, sending it flying toward left field.

“And it’s gone!” screamed the announcer over the TV. Harry and the entire Tomlinson family erupted into cheers as Bell ran the bases, bringing Endy Chavez, Chase Utley and himself home to score. The three-run homer meant that the Phillies won 5-2.

“Yay!” Daisy and Phoebe squealed, getting up onto the couch and starting to jump up and down.

“Girls, get down!” Jay scolded, trying to get the girls off the furniture.

“So we get pancakes in the morning, right?” Fizzy asked, since Mark usually made pancakes the morning after a Phillies win.

“Yes, you’ll get your pancakes.” Mark wasn’t too concerned with that, at the moment. He was more excited over his team’s victory.

“I want chocolate chips in mine,” Lottie said, placing her order already.

“Yes, yes, fine,” Mark told them.

“Bed time, then!” Jay announced, looking more toward Daisy and Phoebe. It was a Friday night, so she wasn’t as worried about Louis, Lottie or Fizzy getting to bed just yet. The twins, however, who were only seven, needed to sleep soon; otherwise, they would be extremely grumpy in the morning.

“Mom,” they whined.

“No,” she said. “Absolutely not. Upstairs.”

Pouting, Daisy and Phoebe gave their rally towels back to Louis and started up the steps.

“Harry, will you be staying over?” Jay asked as she followed her girls. “We have bananas, so we can slice some up and add them to your pancakes just how you like it.”

“Sure,” Harry said. “That’s cool.”

“Okay. I’ll call your mom and let her know.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Mark stretched his back out. “I think I’m up to bed, too,” he told them. “I’ll see you kids in the morning.”

“Night, Dad,” Louis, Lottie and Fizzy said.

Mark gave them each a kiss on the head and ruffled Harry’s hair.

“Stop,” Harry complained. “I’m growing it out.”

Mark chuckled. “Growing it out, huh? Well all right, then. I haven’t seen those curls in full force since you were in, I’d say fifth grade.”

“Yeah, well they’re making a comeback.”

“Well I apologize for messing up your hair. Can’t wait to see the curls return.”

“Thank you.”

Mark just shook his head and went upstairs.

“All right, so what do you say?” Louis asked as he stood up. “Popcorn and a movie?”

“Harry Potter!” Fizzy immediately suggested.

“Again?”

Ever since they’d gotten the Goblet of Fire DVD two weeks ago, any time the idea of watching a movie was brought up, Fizzy immediately suggested it.

It wasn’t like Louis had a problem with the movies, but there were other DVDs in the house.

“Please, Louis?” Fizzy asked, giving him her best sad face.

“Yeah, please, Louis?” Harry echoed, pouting at his friend.

“Stop it,” Louis said, shoving Harry’s shoulder.

Harry just laughed at Louis’ reaction and said, “Come on, Tommo. You act like you’re actually going to win against your sisters.”

Louis sighed. “Lottie, what do you think?”

“I think that the popcorn could’ve been done by now if you just stopped trying to fight something you weren’t going to win,” Lottie immediately replied.

Louis frowned. When had his sister gotten so well spoken?

“Fine,” he said. “Get the DVD ready.”

Harry stood up and went over to the television, knowing by now that if he was at the Tomlinson house, Lottie and Fizzy would just sit around until Harry did whatever Louis asked one of them to do.

“Thanks, Harry,” they said in unison.

He just smiled. “Yeah. You’re welcome, girls.”

September 2016

Harry really needed to get a life. That’s what he told himself as he ran through his neighborhood on Saturday at nearly seven at night.

What kind of person in their mid-twenties went running on a Saturday night because they had nothing better to do?

Whoever that person was, Harry was it. Everything was officially unpacked, and he didn’t have much grading to do since it was so early in the year. He’d already called his mom and texted Gemma about how everything was going. Since all of that was taken care of, he had gotten bored.

So, he decided to go for a run. He also decided to reach out to some of his coworkers on Monday and find out what they did for fun around here, and if he could possibly join them. He needed to make friends somehow.

He turned the corner and approached a bar with an outdoor patio. Based on the balloons tied to the railing and the music playing loudly from the speakers, it looked like there was a party happening on the deck. He glanced over as he jogged past, and who else would be there, but Louis?

While the party of twenty or so people was happening across the patio, Louis was leaning against the rail with his back toward the street, so he didn’t see Harry right away. He held a beer in one hand and was quickly texting on his phone in the other.

Harry debated just running past without saying anything, maybe just ducking his head and acting like he didn’t notice Louis standing there by himself instead of in the middle of a celebration.

But, as luck would have it, or maybe just because the universe really wanted to fuck his day up, Louis looked over and stared right at Harry.

Of fucking course.

Harry held up a hand in an awkward wave as he slowed down. Louis turned around and leaned forward, resting his arms against the railing that separated them.

“Hey,” Harry said, trying to catch his breath.

“Hey. So, you run?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Started a few years ago, I guess. I needed something to relieve stress during college, and then I just kept up with it.”

“Couldn’t you just have sex like everyone else?”

Harry’s eyebrows shot up. He hadn’t been expecting that response. It was clear that Louis hadn’t had any plans of saying that out loud, either, if the sudden flush to his cheeks and long swig of his beer held any indication.

“Um…” Harry stammered, needing a subject change. “What’s going on back there?”

“It’s uh, my friend’s birthday. Well, it was a few days ago, but we’re celebrating today.”

“Oh, cool. Sounds fun. Anyone I know?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. It’s a work friend, so…”

“Oh. Got it.”

“Yeah.”

“Lou, come on!” A blonde man stepped away from the rest of the crowd, but stopped short when he saw Louis talking to Harry.

“Yeah, here I come,” Louis called back.

The blonde nodded, but kept the two of them in his sight as he returned to everyone else.

“Well, I should, um, get back,” Louis said.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t let me keep you.”

“Okay. Um, I’ll see you around?”

Louis gave a slight smile and slowly started walking away.

Harry frowned. This just felt wrong. He shouldn’t be this unsure around Louis, the kid he’d grown up with who he’d known the longest in life besides his own biological family. Harry wasn’t okay with feeling this way, so he decided to try and fix it.

“Tommo,” Harry blurted out.

Louis stopped walking and turned back around.

“What are you doing tomorrow? Like, in the afternoon?”

“Um…” Louis said. “Nothing, I don’t think. Why?”

“Do you want to get together? Like, just get coffee or something and catch up?”

“Uh…”

“Louis, come on,” a man about their age with brown hair and a goatee called over, “we’re singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in a second.”

“Yeah, Liam; I’m coming,” Louis said. “Give me one more minute?”

Liam nodded and gave Harry a once-over before going back to his table.

Louis looked back to Harry and took a quick breath. “Yeah. Let’s meet up.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Louis typed in the code to his phone and passed it over to Harry. “Here. Put your number in.”

Harry quickly typed in his contact information, checking it over before saving it.

“I’ll text you in the morning and we’ll figure out a time and stuff,” Louis promised.

“Sounds good. Well, get back to your friends. The blonde one’s looking a bit antsy.”

Louis shrugged. “That’s Niall. He’s the birthday boy, but he’ll be okay for a second.”

Harry laughed. “Well you really shouldn’t keep him waiting. I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Harry took a few steps back before continuing his run. Even though he could feel Louis’ eyes on his retreating form with every step he took, he stopped himself from looking back.

---

Louis walked back to his friends hoping to avoid their interrogation. That was silly of him.

Niall grabbed his left arm and Liam took his right. Together, they turned him around, pulling him away from the group again.

“Who was that?” Liam whispered immediately.

“Nobody,” Louis said.

Niall rolled his eyes. “Please. He was a nobody who you seemed to know. And one that you looked ready to jump and fuck.”

“Niall!” Louis hissed.

“Tell us who that was, then.”

“Fine. It was Harry. From high school.”

“Harry?” Niall repeated. “Am I supposed to know–?”

Liam’s gasp interrupted him. “Wait. That was Harry? The one who moved?”

“Yeah,” Louis answered.

“Harry, the one who you–?”

“Yes. Whatever you’re about to finish that sentence with, the answer is ‘yes.’”

Liam sighed. “Wow.”

Niall’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God! That Harry?”

“Yes!” Louis said. “Way to be late to the party. Now shut up.”

“I didn’t know he moved back.”

“Yeah, it was all very recent, according to him.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Liam wondered. “That you… you know…”

“No,” Louis immediately said. “Well, maybe. I don’t know. He asked me out for tomorrow.”

“He what?” Niall and Liam exclaimed.

Louis shushed them. “Shut up! It’s not like a date. I think he just wants to catch up. We haven’t seen each other in a while.”

“Exactly!” Liam said. “So why wouldn’t you tell him?”

“I haven’t decided if I will or not, so just leave me alone!”

Niall held his hands up. “Okay, okay. It’s your decision; we’ll let you make it.”

Louis sighed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Niall said. “He was hot, by the way.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Niall!”

“What? Just because he’s yours doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate. I have eyes, you know.”

“He’s not mine,” Louis told him.

“Not yet.” Niall winked.

Louis just rolled his eyes.

---

Harry sighed, feeling the other man slip his tongue into Harry’s mouth.

Harry rolled them down so they were horizontal, and that Harry was on top. He moved his hands all around the other man’s body, feeling curves and soft skin. He ground his hips down, causing both of them to let out low moans.

Harry moved down to the man’s neck, planning to leave a mark dark enough that neither one of them would soon forget this.

Harry woke up harder than he’d ever been in his life.

What the fuck, he thought to himself. He was twenty-six, entirely too old to be having wet dreams about nameless strangers. He tried to think about what the other guy had even looked like, but he couldn’t picture his face.

Harry sighed. It was still the middle of the night, which meant that he still had time to sleep. He rolled onto his side and tried to ignore his crotch, hoping this was the last time this happened.

---

Harry looked up when he heard the door to Dunkin Donuts open on Sunday afternoon, sitting up straighter when he saw that it was Louis walking in.

For some reason, he felt the need to raise his hand to catch Louis’ attention, even though the place was nearly empty, with just two other occupied tables.

Either way, Louis shot Harry a small smile and made his way over to the table.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t changed your DD order in ten years,” Louis said, eyeing up Harry’s medium iced mocha latte and chocolate frosted doughnut.

“What? I know what I like.”

“Yeah, but… it’s been ten years, man.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah? Are you going to get a blueberry iced tea and a bagel with strawberry cream cheese?”

Louis frowned. “No.” He turned away and got in line to place his order. Harry had no doubt that he was going to get exactly that.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Harry couldn’t hide his smug grin.

“Whatever,” Louis told him. He parroted Harry’s earlier words back to him. “‘I know what I like.’”

“I guess.”

Louis sat down and unwrapped his bagel, pulling the two pieces apart and smoothing out his cream cheese with his finger. When he was done, he wiped it off with one of the napkins in his bag.

Then there was just silence.

Neither of the men spoke, and if it wasn’t for the sound of a phone ringing in the back and someone taking an order for a customer in the drive-thru, it would’ve been quieter than a morgue.

“So…” Louis started.

“So…” Harry said back. He didn’t know why he felt so awkward sitting here with Louis. For God’s sake, the man had been his best friend since they were in day care. So what if they had been separated for the last decade? It didn’t mean anything had to change.

“Uh, what’s up? What’s new?” Harry asked.

“Um, well, I have two new younger siblings, and I still live with my mom, actually, but Niall and I are talking about maybe finding a place somewhere. So, that’s cool. What about you? Besides you moving back to good old Jersey.”

Harry chuckled. “Yeah, it was a very last minute job offer and I couldn’t refuse. I mean, I get my own classroom, the school’s close to Telford, and, uh, the whole job thing wasn’t really working out that well back in Washington.”

“What happened?” Louis wondered in a genuinely curious, non-judgmental tone.

“Budget cuts,” Harry said easily. “Plain and simple. Which sucks, but, I mean, I can’t get mad at the district for it. Luckily, I got the call to teach out here, so I packed up my stuff, found an apartment I could tolerate for the year and got on the first plane out. And here I am.”

“Here you are. I knew you’d be a teacher. It was too deep in your head for you to be anything else.”

“Yeah, I guess. Well, what about you, big traveler? You fill up your passport with how many places you’ve been so far?”

Louis pressed his lips together and looked down at his bagel. “Um, no… no. I haven’t gone anywhere, actually.”

“You haven’t?” Harry asked, a little bit in shock. Louis had been determined to see the world. “What happened?”

“Um, just, uh… lost my inspiration, I guess.” Louis cleared his throat. “Plus, did you know that traveling is like, sort of expensive?”

Harry pretended to gasp. “No! You don’t say!”

“Shut up,” Louis said, starting to laugh. “Yeah, it just wasn’t in the cards.”

“So what did you do instead?”

“Went to college, earned myself a fancy degree in Event Planning and Public Relations.”

“Oh, yeah? Where’d you go?”

Based on the look on Louis’ face, Harry knew he’d asked the wrong question for the second time in about two minutes.

“I went to Farrington,” Louis answered, referring to Farrington University, the state school about five minutes away from where they sat at that very moment.

“You went to Farrington?” Harry could hear the amazement in his voice, and he hoped it didn’t come off as disapproval. It’s just, Louis had always talked about traveling and seeing the world, and saying that when he did go to college, it would be in some far away school, definitely not Farrington, the place where most of their graduating high school class wound up at some point in their college career.

The idea that Louis went to Farrington instead of going somewhere – anywhere – had definitely thrown Harry for a loop. It wasn’t disappointment or anything, just, surprise.

The corner of Louis’ mouth rose in a slight smile, but it seemed fake, pretty much forced.

“Yup,” he said. “Yeah, went right after high school. They gave me a scholarship, though. So, that was cool. But it all worked out in the end. I work there now.”

“You do? That’s awesome. What’s the job?”

“I’m the Social Events Coordinator,” Louis answered happily. “So, I’m in charge of planning all of the fun stuff on and off campus – concerts, parties, trips. I want to organize a day in New York where we can see a Broadway show, actually. I’m hoping it works out for next month, but we’ll see.”

“Louis, that’s awesome. That sounds like it was made for you. I bet you’re so good at that.”

“Thank you. Yeah, it was never what I planned, but I really like it. And I have a really flexible schedule, too. Like, I’m on campus almost every day, but I’m only required to have weekly meetings with the Dean to update him on anything big, and we have a campus meeting on Thursday nights where I meet with students to hear their ideas for what they want to happen, and they help me get the word out with advertising and stuff. They’re mostly Event Planning majors, so it’s good experience for them, too. Plus, since I’m so close, I’m usually available to help my mom out with anything she needs.”

“Like picking up a sick brother on a Tuesday afternoon?”

“Exactly,” Louis said. “It works out for everyone.”

“That’s so great, Louis. I’m glad to hear that everything worked out for you.”

“Yeah, same for you. I mean, look at you. You have your own classroom, teaching second grade. The kids love you. I mean, Ernie never shuts up about you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Honestly, I think he likes that his teacher’s hair is as long as his.”

Harry let out a loud laugh. “Yeah, he’s a good kid. Reminds me a lot of you when we were kids, actually. I don’t know why I didn’t see the resemblance sooner.”

“Well, we haven’t seen each other for a while; it’s understandable.”

“Good point.”

The table got quiet again as they both took a sip from their cups, which had started to leave large condensation puddles on the table.

Harry couldn’t remember why he was so nervous. He and Louis were best friends. Of course the conversation would pick up right where it left off once they were reunited, as if they had never been separated.

“So what else?” Louis finally asked. “Anything else to report? New friends? Girlfriend?”

Oh. Right. The last time they had seen each other, Harry had been straight. Well that had certainly changed.

“Um. Well… no girlfriend.”

Harry was sure to emphasize the ‘girl’ in that sentence, hoping it wouldn’t be a problem for Louis that he was very much not-straight. He didn’t think it would be, as the Louis he had known had always been very open-minded. But still, it had been ten years. A lot could’ve changed since then.

“Oh. Oh.”

Louis quickly understood what Harry was trying to tell him.

“Yeah,” Harry said. “But, um, no. Totally single.”

“Okay.”

Harry nodded and hoped to change the subject. “Uh, so, friends? Do you still talk to anybody from our old group?”

“Yeah. Um, I hang out with Charlie and Aaron sometimes and I still see Luke from time to time. But, I mostly hang out with Niall and Liam, who you sort of met yesterday, and our other friend Sophia. Well, I guess you know her as Ms. Smith.”

“You’re friends with Sophia?”

“Yeah. Small world, huh?”

“You can say that again.” Harry let a moment pass before saying, “I missed this. Us hanging out.”

Louis licked his lips and pulled the bottom one between his teeth. He watched Harry for a second, like he was contemplating something.

“Yeah, me, too,” he finally said. “It’s good to have you back, Styles.”
“Good to be home, Tommo.”

Louis grinned. He glanced at his watch and frowned. “I, uh, actually have to go. I have to help my mom get ready for dinner.”

“You guys still do Sunday night dinners?” Harry remembered Louis and his family would eat together every Sunday when they were growing up. Harry had been to a solid number of them, of course, but it was a tradition for the Tomlinson household, a way for the large amount of them to actually see and talk to each other.

“Of course,” Louis replied. “Now more than ever. Lottie moved out; she lives with her boyfriend Tommy. He’s a cool guy. But can you believe it? She moved out before me.”

“Has she no shame?”

“Apparently not.”

Louis stood up, putting his uneaten bagel back in the wrapper and wiping the table off with his napkin.

“Well, this was good,” he said. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around?”

“Definitely. Hopefully for more reasons like this and for less like you picking up a sick sibling.”

“Yeah, that was weird. Ernie never gets sick.”

Harry shrugged. “He’s a kid. It happens.”

“Don’t I know it. All right, let me get out of here. My mom will have a fit if I’m late.”

“Yeah, I remember. You could tell her you killed a man and she wouldn’t bat an eye, but if you’re late for dinner…”

“Exactly. I don’t want to finish that thought. Okay. I’ll uh, talk to you later?”

“Sure will.”

Louis gave him a quick smile and headed out the door.

Harry wasn’t ready to leave quite yet, still surprised at what he’d found out about his old friend.

Apparently, Louis, the most ambitious, determined kid Harry knew, had become one of the kids in their high school who Louis most wanted to avoid: the one who stays in town their whole life and never leaves.

Harry wondered what happened, and briefly allowed himself to wonder if he had had any part in it.

May 2006

“Tommo!” Harry yelled out through the crowded hallway. Louis was standing at his locker, about to slam the door shut, but before he did, he turned toward Harry’s voice, the only one he could pick up anywhere, anytime.

“Styles!” Louis called back. “What’s up, man?”

“You going home?”

“Yeah. You heading out, too?”

“Yeah. Walk with me. Come on; before the guys catch up.”

Louis shrugged and closed his locker, pulling a strap of his book bag onto one shoulder.

The two of them walked out of the school and headed for home. Despite Harry’s excitement inside the building, he was surprisingly quiet as they walked.

“So what gives?” Louis asked. “What was so important?”

Harry looked over his shoulder, as if they were on a secret spy mission, before pulling a folded-up sheet of paper out of the back pocket of his jeans.

“Here,” he said, passing it over to Louis.

Louis took the paper and opened it up to see that it was a list.

He began to read, “Mexico City; Rio de Janeiro; Sofia; Budapest; Athens; Madrid; Beijing… Styles, what is this?”

“That, my friend, is a list of places that have surprisingly cooler weather in June, meaning that if we went there say, after you graduated high school, we wouldn’t be sweating out our own body weight.”

Louis stopped in his tracks and stared at his oldest friend. “We?”

“Yeah. We. I figured that by the time June 2009 rolls around, I’ll be done my first year of college, and you’ll have just graduated. I’ll have time during the summer since I won’t be in school and might be able to do some traveling with you. It won’t be forever or even for that long, but I can still go with you for a while.”

“You’re serious?” Louis asked, having a little trouble believing that this was really happening.

“Of course I’m serious. You know I don’t half-ass anything.”

“Yeah, I know that, but… what the hell changed your mind?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. Just thinking, I guess.”

“Wow, that must’ve been difficult for you.”

Harry punched Louis in the shoulder. “Fuck you, man. Come on; I’m being real, here.”

“Okay.” Louis cleared his throat and wiped any trace of a smile off his face. “Okay. Real.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Anyway… it’s just that, I’ll probably wind up just going to Farrington or something for school, and for teaching, there’s not a lot of opportunities to go abroad unless I wanted to be like, an English teacher in another country. Although, even then, I’d probably have to learn a second language. Plus, teachers make shit money, so it’s not like I could fully afford to go anywhere even after I get a real job. This could be my one true chance to actually go anywhere, so… why not?”

“So you’re coming?” Louis asked. “Like, really?”

“Yeah, man. I’m coming.”

“Yes!” Louis cheered, punching his fist up.

Harry grinned. “I know. I’m excited, too.”

The two of them started walking again.

“So, did you tell your mom yet?” Louis wondered.

“No, but I figured I would just go out for some milk one day and just not come back for a while.”

Louis started laughing. “Yeah, that won’t be suspicious at all.”

“Of course not. She probably won’t even notice that I’m gone.”

September 2016

Harry looked at the clock in his classroom again. It was Back to School Night, and in just a few minutes, he would get a small crowd of parents coming into his room so he could tell them exactly what he would be teaching their children this year.

He checked his presentation again. It was a PowerPoint, and was being projected on the SmartBoard he had at the front of the room. It was simply titled ‘Welcome to Second Grade!’

Harry nodded once and went to push in a student’s chair that wasn’t all the way under its desk.

“Knock, knock!”

Harry looked over his shoulder to see Perrie leaning against the open door frame.

“Hey, so before I forget, we have a little tradition around here,” she said.

“What’s that?”

“Well, on the last Friday of September, we go out for drinks, just as a way to say, ‘Yay! We made it through the first month!’ You’re more than welcome to join if you’re free. It’ll be me, Sophia and Jade for sure. Rebecca and Leigh-Anne will most likely go, and Jesy may or may not show up. Rob, Shawn and Dan should be going, too, so it won’t be you with all women.”

Harry shrugged. “Even if it was, it wouldn’t matter. But yeah, definitely. Count me in.”

“Oh, yay! Cool. Yeah, we’ll meet up around 9,” Perrie said. “We usually go to this little place about ten minutes from here. It’s called Cullen’s Pub; I don’t know if you know it.”

Harry nodded. He had heard of the place, but had never been there.

“No, I know it. That sounds great; I’ll be there.”

“Awesome. I think you’ll have fun.”

She leaned back and looked down the hallway. Then she grinned. “And here they come. Good luck.”

“Thanks. You, too.”

She winked and hurried a few doors down to her own classroom.

Harry stood up straight and took a final glance around. Everything was set up as best as it could be. On each desk was a folder for the families to take home. It contained an overview of his presentation, a list of the year’s goals he had planned for the students, a sample copy of the reading log they would be using and his contact information.

Also on the desk was a simple piece of lined paper with a picture frame border around it, the purpose of this being for the parents to write a kind letter to their child. Harry hoped all of the families took advantage of that.

The room looked great, he already knew. Besides, there was nothing else he could do. He had families literally just outside his door.

Satisfied, he stood by the reading table he had situated toward the front of the room.

As soon as he was in position, a woman and her husband walked in.

“Hi, I’m Harry Styles,” he said, introducing himself.

For the next few minutes, different families entered the room. Harry shook everyone’s hand, wanting each person to feel welcome. Some parents started to write a letter for their child and Harry wanted to be sure to give them a few extra minutes to finish.

Once the hallways were empty, Harry launched into his presentation. As he spoke, he watched the faces of the families to make sure they were listening and to also gauge their reactions to what he had to say.

While he discussed math problems and behavior charts and gave even more details about the new monthly homework grids they were trying this year, he started to feel more comfortable. The parents in front of him all looked interested and a few looked excited as he talked about the subject matter.

Harry wrapped up twenty minutes later, just as the bell rang.

“And if you have any questions, feel free to send me an email,” he said. “I check it whenever I get a free moment so you’re likely to get a response within a few hours. You can also call the school, and if I’m available, the secretary can patch you through. My email and extension are in the folder for you. I think that’s it for me, so if you would like to talk, I’m available now while we switch groups around.”

Back to School Night was broken up into several parts. After the welcome speech from the Superintendent, Principal, PTA President and a few other important people, there were three twenty-minute sessions where parents could meet with teachers. It was designed that way for parents who may have multiple children in the school, allowing families to – hopefully – meet all of their children’s teachers. This was only the first session, so Harry had at least another forty-five minutes until he was done.

“If you haven’t finished your letter to your child, please take a few minutes now to complete that and leave it on the desk when you’re done.”

“Mr. Styles?” one father asked, walking up to him.

Harry looked over at the man, remembering that his daughter was Hailey, a girl with long, blonde hair who wasn’t that fond of reading.

“Yes, Mr. Bauer?”

“I just wanted to ask about the reading logs.”

Figures, Harry thought to himself.

“Well, I know Hailey’s supposed to read for fifteen minutes each night, but I wanted to know if she reads for twenty minutes one night, can she carry those extra five minutes over to another night?”

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. So that’s where Hailey got her lack of enthusiasm.

“Well, Mr. Bauer, the goal is to make reading as much of a habit as we can, so I do require reading four out of five nights a week and encourage it one night over the weekend. It’s only fifteen minutes, so you can count it in the morning or at night before bed. As long as Hailey is reading something independently.”

As Mr. Bauer opened his mouth and started to give another ridiculous excuse, the new families walking in for the second session caught Harry’s attention. And he probably shouldn’t have been surprised by a certain family member walking in and looking around the room.

Louis found Ernest’s desk almost immediately. He sat down, and started looking through his little brother’s desk with a mischievous look on his face.

“Mr. Styles? What do you think?”

Harry shook his head. “Sorry, Mr. Bauer. Um… listen, we can talk more about this later, but I do need to prepare for my next session. Email me tomorrow and we can set up a time to talk more in-depth about this, okay? But for right now, please continue having Hailey read for fifteen minutes a night.”

Harry stuck out his hand and sighed with silent relief when Mr. Bauer shook it, seemingly without malice.

Harry shot him a smile and walked away, greeting each parent before reaching Ernest’s desk.

“What are you doing?” he asked, kneeling down next to where Louis was sitting.

“I was trying to mess up Ernie’s desk but it just looks so nice that I didn’t have the heart,” Louis answered. “So, I resorted to just looking through everything to see what the kid really does all day.”

“Well, Ernest is one of my best students. So, I’m sorry to say that you won’t find anything incriminating in there.”

“Oh.” Louis pouted. “Well that’s lame.”

Harry shrugged. “Just because he’s your brother doesn’t mean he drives his teacher up the wall, Tommo.”

“Again. Lame.”

Harry snorted. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Mom had to work and Dan’s away on business. So, that left only one option.”

“What a good older brother.”

“I know,” Louis said.

“And so modest, too.”

“Of course, Styles. ‘Modest’ is my middle name. You know that.”

“I do. So I take it you went to Doris’ class first? Should I even ask if you already knew Perrie?”

“Yeah, she’s a good friend, too. She’s part of my inner circle, if you will.”

Harry nodded. “Got it. All right, well let me get up and be professional or something.”

“Go get ‘em, Styles. Living the dream.”

Harry smirked and rose to his feet.

“Hello everyone; my name is Mr. Styles,” he said as he restarted his presentation. “We’ll be starting in just a minute. Right now, please note the lined paper on your child’s desk. That is for you to write a letter to your child if you would like. When you’re done, just leave it on the desk.”

For some reason, Harry felt more nervous this time. The crowd was a bit smaller and he’d already talked about everything once before, but he could feel his hands getting clammier and his heart racing just a bit more.

When he began to speak, he could hear his voice wavering, even though he knew exactly what he wanted to say and how he wanted to explain everything. He did the same things that he did for the first presentation. He observed the faces of the few families that were in the room and saw that they all were listening intently to what he was saying.

But then he got to Louis’ face and he understood why he felt different this time. The look in Louis’ eyes made Harry’s heart skip a beat, but not for the same reasons as other people who experience the same feeling. 

See, Harry didn't see undying love in Louis' eyes, but rather, a whole lot of pride, like he couldn’t believe how far Harry had come since the last time they were together. More than that, it was like Louis was admiring Harry where he stood at the front of the class, simply because he was giving a presentation and talking about science experiments.

And it made Harry feel, well, a little uneasy. Because Louis actually knew Harry and knew how much he’d wanted to be a teacher ever since they were kids. And now Louis was going to see every step that Harry made as a teacher, since his little brother was in Harry’s class. What if he did something stupid? What if he taught a bad lesson? What if Ernest went home and complained about him?

It would suck if any child went home with anything negative to say about him, but it would be a lot more personal coming from Ernest, whose family really knew Harry inside and out.

Thanks to his train of thought, Harry could feel his heart start pounding. Fortunately for him, the bell rang again before it could get any worse.

“Please finish the letter on your desk for your child,” Harry announced. “If you need to speak with me about something, please remember you can email or call the school. Or, we can speak now about setting up a meeting at a time that might be more convenient.”

Luckily for him, he didn’t have any parents like Mr. Bauer this session, just ones who wanted to say that they thought Harry was doing well so far and that they were excited to see their child grow.

One by one, other family members left the room until only Louis was left. He was scribbling something down on Ernest’s letter, and comically had the tip of his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth.

“Keep it appropriate, Tommo,” Harry said.

Louis shook his head. “Nah. Never.”

Harry smiled and went to restart his presentation one more time.

“Hey, do you have an extra one of these?” Louis asked. “If I do one for Ernie but not for D, she’ll never speak to me again.”

“Oh, good point.” Harry went to his desk and pulled a blank copy out of the black bin that sat in the corner. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

Louis took the paper from Harry as he read through his letter to Ernest one more time.

“You’re not gonna read this, are you?” Louis asked.

“Only if the children show me tomorrow.”

Louis nodded and quickly scribbled something on the top of the letter.

“There. Done,” Louis said just as a few more parents came in for the last session.

“Are you sure you’re all set? Any more conspiracies or rules you want to write down for him?”

“No, that should be all.” Louis grinned. “This will be fun, Styles: having you teach my brother.”

“Don’t teach him any of your pranks. Save that for next year.”

Louis thought it over. “We’ll see about that one.”

“Such a good friend.”

“The best. Come on, now.”

“Mm-hmm. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Mr. Styles.”

Louis headed out, presumably to return to Perrie’s classroom so he could write his letter for Doris.

Once he was gone, Harry shook his head, but could at least agree with what Louis had said. It would be fun teaching Ernest, especially if he got to at least see Louis on a somewhat consistent basis.

As another parent walked into the room, he remembered that he just had one more session to get through. He turned his professionalism back on and said, “Hi. I’m Mr. Styles.”

---

On Sunday, Harry was walking one last lap around Target, making sure he had everything that he needed. As he approached the end of the aisle he was in, a little redhead girl went dashing past him, but stopped when she saw who he was.

“Oh. Hi, Mr. Styles.”

“Doris, hello,” Harry greeted happily. “Who are you here with?”

“Just my mom and Ernie,” Doris answered. “They’re, um… somewhere. I think.”

Just then, Harry heard, “Doris, who are you talking to?”

Harry froze, because of course, he knew that voice. It belonged to someone who had been a second mother to him for a solid portion of his life.

“Ernest’s teacher!” Doris called out. “It’s not a stranger, Mom. I know I can’t talk to them.”

“Ernie’s teacher? Well finally, I can meet–”

Jay came around the corner and when she saw that it was Harry standing there with his cart, she cut herself off immediately.

It was like time stood still as they stared at each other, neither one of them able to believe who they were standing with.

“Harry?” she asked quietly.

He nodded. “Hi, Jay.”

“Oh, my God!” She immediately stepped out from behind her cart and spread her arms wide for a hug.

“It’s so good to see you,” she told him as he moved into her arms and squeezed tightly.

“It’s good to see you, too,” Harry said.

“Mom, why are you hugging my teacher?” Ernie asked, coming up beside them.

“Because I know Mr. Styles– oh, my God. Styles. I should’ve made that connection a long time ago.”

Harry laughed. “It’s okay. It’s been a while.”

“It has been,” Jay agreed. “What, like ten years?”

Harry nodded. “Yup.”

“I’m so glad you moved back. How’s your mom? And Robin and Gemma?”

“They’re all good. Mom and Robin are still over in Seattle, and Gemma stayed in New York after she graduated from NYU. We’re trying to find a weekend for her to come down so I can finally get to see her in person. She’s been so busy, you know.”

“Absolutely. And you’re teaching now? I always knew you would.”

“Thank you. And yes, I am. It was an offer that I just couldn’t turn down, you know? I’ve missed it here and missed everyone, so, here I am.”

“That’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you. Well look at you! More twins? Good ones, too.”

Jay laughed. “They have their moments, I guess.”

“Hey!” Doris and Ernest protested from where they stood on either side of their mother.

“I still love you, though,” Jay said. “But, um, everyone is good. Lottie’s moved out and Louis’ planning on moving out soon.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that to me.”

“You saw him?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, we, uh, met at school when he had to come pick up Ernest when he got sick and then we met up at Dunkin Donuts one day. And he saw me at Back to School Night.”

Jay frowned. “Hmm.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just, Louis didn’t mention any of that, not even that you were Ernie’s teacher.”

“Oh?”

“No.”

“Oh, well…” Harry started, struggling to come up with a valid reason for that. “I’m sure it just slipped his mind.”

“Yeah, it must have. You know how flighty he can be sometimes. He must get that from his father.”

Harry chuckled. “I guess so.”

“Oh, I’m being so rude. What are you doing tonight?”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, we’re having Sunday night dinner. We haven’t stopped doing that, you know.”

“Oh, of course. I forgot it was Sunday.”

Jay smiled. “Yes, you should come over. You can see the girls. You won’t believe how much older they’ve gotten since you last saw them. And you can meet Dan and we can all catch up. I won’t be able to make the lasagna for you, I’m afraid, but the food will still be good. What do you say?”

Harry smiled right back at her. As much as he wanted to say yes, simply because he’d missed his other family, he didn’t know if Louis would be comfortable with having him there, especially since he hadn’t felt it necessary to tell his mother that Harry was back in town, and Ernest’s teacher.

“I’m afraid I can’t, Jay,” Harry sadly told her. “I have something else to take care of today.”

No, he didn’t.

Jay pouted. “Oh. Okay. Well, does Louis have your number, still? I’ll have him text you and we’ll find a better day for you to come by, okay? I’m telling you, the girls would love to see you.”

“Okay. That sounds great.”

“Perfect. Okay, let me get these two home. I’m sure they’re bored out of their minds, listening to grown-ups talk.”

If they were, they weren’t showing it. Both of the twins were playing a game where they saw who could reach the higher item on the shelf in the body wash aisle. So far, it sounded like Doris was winning, and Ernest wasn’t that happy about it.

“Of course. I’ll talk to you later,” Harry said.

“You better.” Jay pulled him into a quick hug and whispered to him, “It’s good to have you back.”

Harry gave her one more quick squeeze before releasing her.

Jay smiled at him one more time before wheeling her cart over to get her kids.

Harry watched them go, and the whole time, he wondered what he had done to Louis to offend him. He must have done something, because why else would Louis not tell his mother that Harry had come back to town?

He shook his head and started pushing his cart toward the register. Just another question to add to his list about what Louis had gotten up to the last ten years.

---

The following Friday night, Harry walked into the pub looking for anyone who was supposed to already be there. It was a long, rectangular room with hardwood floors, dark walls, dim lights and a large bar right in the middle.

Immediately, he spotted Perrie’s bright blonde hair in a booth in the back right corner of the room. Judging by how loud they were and how much their hands were waving through the air, he guessed they might have been a drink or two in already.

Great. He would have to play catch up.

Taking one last look at his outfit, he made his way over to the group and slid in, right on the end.

“Harry!” everyone easily greeted him.

“You made it!” Perrie squealed. “Guess you found the place all right?”

“Yeah, wasn’t too hard,” Harry told her. “Just plugged it into my phone and it brought me right here.”

He looked around the table to see that almost everyone that Perrie had mentioned last week was in attendance.

He was seated next to Jade, the music teacher, and Perrie was just on the other side of her. Sophia and Shawn, the gym teacher, were across from him. Leigh-Anne and Rob were in the middle.

“What are we drinking?” Harry asked, rubbing his hands together.

“Three dollar beer, that’s what,” Shawn answered right away.

Jade held her bottle up. “And this is my second, so you may want to catch up.”

Harry laughed. So he’d been right. They were already a bit ahead of him.

Just then, a waitress came up to their table. “Hi, I’m Ashley and I’ll be taking care of you tonight. Can I start you off with anything?”

Harry couldn’t help but notice that she was leaning forward just a little bit, like she wanted to show off her low-cut black T-shirt.

“Yeah, um,” Harry said while leaning slightly back. “Do you have Angry Orchard?”

“On tap, sure.”

“Yeah, give me one of those, please.”

“Sure, coming right up.”

“Oh, maybe we’ll get faster service, then,” Leigh-Anne said once Ashley walked away.

“What do you mean?” Harry wondered.

She raised one eyebrow, giving him a ‘Really?’ expression.

“Oh. Right. Well if that’s the case, she’s barking up the wrong tree for that.”

Everyone at the table let out quiet laughs at Ashley’s ineffective ‘gaydar.’

“So how’s the first month been, Harry?” Shawn asked him.

“It’s been good,” Harry answered. “The kids have been surprisingly well-behaved, even though I’m new. But I’m just getting used to being home again.”

“Did you grow up here?” Jade asked.

“I grew up close by, in Telford.”

“Oh, my boyfriend lives there! His name’s Charlie Hunter; maybe you know him.”

“You’re kidding! What a small world; we grew up together.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Harry told her. “We actually used to play baseball together a lot – us and a group of other guys.”

“That’s so funny! I’ll have to ask him later about you, see if I can get any embarrassing stories.”

Harry laughed. “Don’t worry; he’ll be able to tell you a few.”

Ashley came back with his drink then. “Here you go: one Angry Orchard.”

“Thank you,” Harry said. He lifted himself up a bit to pull his wallet out of his back pocket.

“Oh, Harry, we have a tab here,” Sophia told him. “We’ll sort that all out at the end of the night.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, really.”

“It’s fine,” Perrie said. “Plus, you’re the new guy. You won’t be paying for all of your drinks, anyway.”

Harry nodded and slowly put his wallet away. “Okay, then. Thank you.” He turned to Ashley, who still hadn’t left their table, and said, “And thank you.”

“My pleasure. Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Can I get another one, please?” Leigh-Anne called across the table, holding up her empty bottle.

Ashley gave her a dirty look before nodding and walking away.

Harry stifled his laughter while the rest of the table wasn’t so discreet.

Over the next hour or so, Harry eventually caught up to where everyone else was on the drunk scale. He had a nice buzz going on, and could feel the pleasant warmth behind his cheeks.

It was then that his evening got a little shaken up.

“Well look who we have here.”

Harry looked up and saw Louis’ blonde friend – Niall, if he remembered correctly – standing in front of their table with a huge grin on his face.

“Soph, Pez, what the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

“It’s our first outing of the year,” Sophia told him. “Celebrating the first month and all that. Oh, this is Harry, by the way. It’s his first night out with us.”

Niall’s gaze slid over to Harry. He gave him a quick once-over before saying, “Yeah… yeah. Harry. Nice to meet you.”

He held out a hand, which Harry easily shook.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

“Niall, did you find a tab– oh, hey.”

This time, Louis’ friend Liam was coming over to them, no doubt trying to figure out where Niall had gone.

“Liam! Hey!” Perrie greeted cheerfully. The others around the table all said ‘Hello’ or tipped their drinks toward Liam. Harry was a bit surprised to see that Sophia had gotten quiet at Liam’s appearance. He made a note to ask her about that later.

“Hey, guys,” Liam said. “Hey, Soph.”

Sophia smiled. “Hi, Liam.”

Liam was quiet for a moment before turning his attention to Harry. “Um, Harry, right? I remember you.”

Harry slowly nodded. “Uh, yeah. That’s me. Yeah, I saw you at this one’s,” he pointed at Niall, “birthday party, what? A week or two ago?”

“Yeah, yeah. That was me. Yeah, we’re here with Louis, actually. He’s here. Just so you know.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Um. Okay? Yeah, I figured that he might be here if you two were.”

Harry looked back toward the table. By now, most of his coworkers had started their own side conversations. Only Perrie and Sophia were still paying attention to the newcomers.

“Do you want to see him?” Liam asked excitedly.

Harry looked back at him. “What?”

“Louis. Do you want to see him?”

“You probably want to see him,” Niall said. “Don’t you? We’ll get him for you.”

“Um, I guess–”

Niall and Liam turned around and, at the same time, yelled, “Louis!”

“Louis!” Niall called. “Come over here!”

“Lou, come here!” Liam shouted across the bar.

“Will you two shut up?” Perrie asked. “You’re the most embarrassing friends on the planet.”

“You idiots!” Louis scolded, finally coming over after hearing his name called. “You can’t just leave me when I have my back turned and trying to find a table. I turned around and didn’t see you and I’ve been wandering around for five minu– Harry! Hey!”

Louis noticed Harry sitting at the table in front of him toward the end of his rant and suddenly he was at a loss for words.

Harry smiled. “Hey, Tommo.”

“Hey,” Louis said back. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Um, hey.”

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Louis put his hands on his hips. “Um, what are– what are you doing here?”

“Uh, apparently, it’s a tradition? The teachers go out on the last Friday of September to celebrate finishing the first month.”

“Right. Because you know Perrie and Sophia, which is why you’re all out together.”

“Yup. Um, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, just hanging out,” Louis answered. “You know, just having a night out with a few beers.”

“Got it. Well, cool. It was good to see you.”

“Yeah. You, too. Oh! Um, my mom told me she saw you at Target the other day.”

“Yeah, she was with the twins,” Harry told him. “Well, the younger twins, I mean. I can’t just say ‘the twins’ any more, can I?”

Louis laughed. “No, you can’t. And they all take great offense if you try to act like there’s only one set of twins in the family now.”

“Oh, of course they do.”

“And, she also said you’re invited for dinner whenever you want to come by. If you want to, of course.”

“I do,” Harry said. “Want to come for dinner, that is. If it’s okay with you.”

“Sure it’s okay,” Louis replied after a slight hesitation. “No, you should definitely come. It’ll be good for you to see Lottie and Fizzy. And Daisy and Phoebe. They all look way different from when you last saw them.”

“Well, I think I saw Daisy at the pizza place near my house a few weeks ago. Based on that, I’m sure they all look different.”

Louis nodded. “They do. You know… they really missed you. When you, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. I missed them, too.” Harry sighed. “Missed a lot of things.”

Louis bit his lower lip and looked away.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Harry heard Sophia mutter.

Before he could ask her what the matter was, Perrie was asking Louis, Liam and Niall, “Did you boys want to join us?”

Louis said, “No, thank you,” at the same time that Liam and Niall said, “Oh, absolutely.”

Louis glared at his friends and said, “This is a work thing. We wouldn’t want to interrupt.”

“Nonsense,” Sophia said. “We can make room.”

“No, it’s fine,” Louis insisted. “You know, I think I see a table freeing up over there. Liam, Niall, come on.”

He grabbed his friends’ arms and pulled them away from Harry, Sophia, Perrie and the rest of their table.

“Bye!” Louis called over his shoulder.

Perrie cleared her throat and announced to the table, “I’m going to the bathroom. Soph, you have to go, too, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. Harry, come on.”

Harry didn’t understand. “Why me?”

“Because we’re going to the bathroom, and you’re going with us.”

Harry stood up and moved out of the booth, but he was still confused at what was going on. “You know I can’t go in with you, right?”

“Shut up,” Sophia said, sliding out. “Come on.”

Sophia grabbed one arm and Perrie took the other, and the two of them took him to the outside patio.

“Okay, spill,” Perrie said once they were out of the building.

Harry looked between them. “Spill about what?”

“What’s going on with you and Louis?” Sophia asked.

Harry didn’t know what they were talking about. “What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “I mean that the two of you seem very close for people who, as far as I knew, have only met twice. What gives?”

“Nothing gives.”

“Harry…” Perrie said in a threatening tone.

He sighed. “Fine. Louis and I grew up together. We were friends when we were younger, but then I moved away and then we just lost touch. Nothing big.”

“And let me guess! You were hopelessly in love with him growing up and you didn’t get the chance to tell him before you moved. So you spent the last however long pining after him and wondering what he’s been up to and thinking about the last conversation you had with him. But now’s your chance to tell him how you feel and you’re scared. I’m right, aren’t I?”

Sophia cooed. “That’s so cute. It’s like a romantic comedy come to life right in front of our eyes.”

Harry snorted. “Uh, sorry to shatter your dreams, but that’s not at all true.”

Perrie pouted. “Oh. Well that’s lame.”

“Sorry. I mean, we were best friends and that was it. There was never anything going on between us.”

“Oh…” Sophia said. “I get it. It was a ‘trapped in the closet situation,’ wasn’t it? God, that’s awful.”

“What? No!” Harry didn’t get what they were trying to say, but there was no way he was in love with Louis, past or present.

“Uh-huh.” Perrie winked. “Sure.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” Harry said. “I’m serious when I say that we were never like that. We hung out a lot, but there were never any feelings there. He was just my best friend. Besides, we were both straight, so, definitely no ‘trapped in the closet’ situations.”

Sophia stared at him for a second before starting with, “Not to be that person, but you were straight when you were a teenager, right? And now you’re not?”

“Yeah…”

“So, you’ve figured yourself out now? You know who you really are and how you really feel?”

“Yes! What’s your point?”

“Well, how do you know Louis hasn’t done the same thing?”

This conversation wasn’t really doing anything to make Harry any less confused about what exactly Sophia and Perrie were getting at.

“You mean, how do I know Louis hasn’t come out?” Harry asked.

Perrie nodded. “It’s a possibility, you know. I mean, you haven’t seen him in a while. How long has it been?”

“Ten years,” Harry answered.

“Wow, ten years. Anything can happen in ten years.”

“Yeah, I guess, but I mean–”

“Your face got a lot happier just now,” Sophia observed. “Judging by the bright look in your eyes, I’m thinking that the possibility of Louis being gay is one that you want to believe in.”

“You girls are crazy,” Harry said. “Wait, Sophia, you’re friends with him. Is he gay?”

Sophia shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you want him to be?”

“I asked you first.”

“And I’m not answering your question until you answer mine. Do you want Louis to be gay?”

“Why is that relevant at all?”

“Because if you want him to be gay, then that means–”

Perrie started singing the rest of Sophia’s sentence. “You think he’s gorgeous! You want to date him! You want to kiss him! You want to love him!”

“Are you really singing Miss Congeniality to me right now?” Harry asked while rubbing at his temples.

“Maybe. Is that a problem?”

Sophia rolled her eyes. “Harry, last chance: do you want Louis to be gay? Answer the question.”

“I will not.” Harry refused to be blackmailed.

Sophia shrugged again. “Then I guess I’m not telling you anything. Come on, Pez. Let’s go get a shot of something.”

“You’re the most evil people I know,” Harry said.

“Evil, huh?” Perrie asked. “You know what that means? Tequila!”

Perrie grabbed Sophia’s hand and pulled her back inside.

Harry just shook his head, unable to wrap his head around what had just happened. So there was a chance that Louis had come out of the closet, too. It wouldn’t surprise Harry at all; the two of them were extremely alike. But that didn’t mean that Harry wanted to date Louis or anything. He was just curious. And the fact that Sophia wouldn’t give up the information was just annoying.

That was all.

Harry took a deep breath before going back inside. He went straight to the bar to get a new drink, and luckily enough, there was an open spot right in front of him.

As he approached, none other than Louis walked up and took the space.

Harry cleared his throat. “I was going to stand there.”

Louis turned around, one eyebrow raised. “Oh, sorry, Styles. But, you see, I need to stand in a good spot so that the bartender can see me. Sometimes, if there are too many people around or the beer taps are in front of me, nobody knows I’m trying to order.”

“Oh, is there a reason for that?” Harry asked with a smirk. He stood up just a bit taller.

“Don’t make me say it.”

Harry just chuckled, knowing that Louis had always hated talking about his height. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“I can order something for you, though,” Louis offered. “If you’d like. You know, as an apology for standing here when you wanted to.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, Tommo. It’s fine.”

“Can I get you gentlem– oh, wait. Louis, it’s you. Not a gentleman.”

Louis grinned. “Haha, Jess. Very funny. You know, you’re supposed to be nice to your paying customers. I don’t know if anybody told you.”

Jess shrugged. “Louis, you tip me two dollars on every drink you order, and have ever since the first day you walked into this bar like, three years ago.”

Jess leaned her forearms on the bar as she spoke, teasing Louis right to his face.

“Well maybe that ends now. Maybe I’ll only tip you a dollar tonight.”

Jess pretended to gasp. “Oh, no! Will you hand me a twenty before you leave because you feel guilty about not tipping enough throughout the night?”

“That was one time!”

Jess started laughing. “Hey, one time is all it takes, you know.”

“Jesus, here we go. Can I get my beer now?”

“Of course you can. One Corona coming up.”

“Oh!” Louis slapped down on the bar, as if he was just remembering that he wasn’t alone. “And my friend here, he’ll have…”

He trailed off, waiting for Harry to say what it was he wanted to drink.

“Uh, Angry Orchard, please?”

Louis raised an eyebrow as Jess walked away to get their drinks. “Wouldn’t have taken you for an Angry Orchard man. I was thinking maybe Heineken.”

Harry wrinkled his nose. “Nah. Definitely not. It’s fall; I like apple-y beer.”

“I guess so.”

Louis looked up at the television just above the bar. Then he shook his head. “Pitiful.”

Harry glanced up and saw highlights playing from the Phillies-Mets game earlier that night.

“They lost again, huh?” Harry asked, even though the final score of 5-1 in favor of the Mets was flashing at the bottom of the screen.

Louis just shook his head, and didn’t say anything.

“Here’s your drinks, boys,” Jess said, placing one bottle and a full cup in front of Louis.

Louis pulled out his wallet, despite Harry’s protests that he would pay for his own.

“I have to apologize for taking your spot, remember?”

He handed Jess a twenty-dollar bill and said to keep four dollars for herself.

“Oh, look,” Jess joked, “two dollars for every drink you order. Damn, I’m good.”

“Just bring me the right change!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Harry watched every second of their exchange. They were clearly very familiar with each other; Jess had mentioned something about three years.

“Did you hear Ryan Howard’s done?”

Louis’ question made Harry realize that he had been staring.

“Wait, what?” he asked.

“Howard. His contract’s up after this season, and Phillies aren’t renewing it. He’s done.”

“What? You’re kidding, right? Is anybody from the old team still there anymore?”

Louis shook his head. “Nope. Chooch just left. Utley’s gone; Jimmy’s gone. Everybody else left years ago. Howard was the only one; now the Dream Team is no more.”

“The Dream Team, huh?” Harry smiled. “Thought we were the Dream Team?”

Louis thought it over for a minute. “Yeah, Styles. Of course we were. But I’m talking about the World Series Dream Team. It’s all newbies now. I barely know the roster anymore.”

Harry tried not to dwell too much on the ‘were’ that Louis used. For some reason, he thought he would’ve heard Louis speak in the present tense.

“Anyway, his last game’s on Sunday,” Louis continued. “Hopefully he’ll hit something. It’ll be nice to be there for it.”

“You got tickets to the game?”

Louis took a sip of his beer. Then he nodded. “Yeah, we’re going over. Hopefully it doesn’t rain, though. They’re calling for it this whole weekend because of this hurricane.”

“Is it actually going to be as bad as they’re calling for, though?” Harry asked. “I mean, we live in Jersey. When do we ever get affected by hurricanes?”

“You clearly weren’t here for Sandy a few years back. It pretty much destroyed Wildwood and everywhere else down the shore. People were without power for days, maybe a week? I can’t remember. It was a bad storm. So, people are just being cautious, that’s all.”

Harry just nodded. Living in Seattle, he hadn’t suffered from any natural disasters – hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes or anything else. He had of course heard about Sandy, but hearing about it and experiencing it are two extremely different things.

“Maybe I’ll watch the game,” Harry said. “I’ve been slacking on my baseball watching the last few years.”

“Well, it’s all right. Now that you’re back where you belong, you can start to catch up. Maybe next season, you can even go to one.”

Harry chuckled. “Yeah. Maybe I can.”

Louis smiled at him. “Well, uh, I should get back to Niall and Liam. They’re just lost without me, you know.”

Harry grinned. “Modest as always, Tommo.”

“You know it. I’ll see you around.”

“See you. And thanks for the beer.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Louis tipped his bottle toward Harry before walking off to return to his table.

Harry took a swig of his own drink, and, with one last glance at the television above the bar, went back to his friends, too.

October 2016

Harry spent most of his Saturday in his sweatpants. Just as Louis had told him, it had been cold and rainy all day – nothing that actually motivated Harry to leave the apartment. He did take a quick shower around noon, though, so there was that.

But most of the time, he went over lesson plans, making sure that the ones for the coming week were completed, and also starting on the ones for the following week.

It wasn’t until after dinner that he made any contact with the outside world.

His phone screen lit up and he picked it up to see a new text from Louis.

Louis: what are you doing tomorrow?

Harry: Just prepping lesson plans probably. What’s up?

Louis: okay well I suddenly have an extra ticket to the game tomorrow afternoon if you’re interested. starts at 3:05, but we’ll tailgate before, so we’re leaving from my house around 12:30.

Louis: it’s me, liam and niall. luke was supposed to go with us, actually, but he had to bail.

Harry read the texts again, honestly feeling surprised. He didn’t think that he and Louis were on that good of terms to be hanging out at a baseball game. Add that to tailgating, and that was a guaranteed six hours together, longer if the game went into extra innings or if there was heavy traffic.

Louis: and just in case you forgot, it’s the last game of the season. not that it matters. we’re 70-91 so it’s not exactly a race to the world series.

Harry snorted back a laugh. It was true. His team hadn’t been doing that well over the last few years.

Although, he hadn’t seen the Phillies since he and Louis went the summer before he left. He’d been to a few Mariners games while he lived on the west coast, but it just wasn’t the same. It could be fun to go to a game, and since tomorrow’s was the last one of the season, he wouldn’t have the chance to see another one for about six months.

But, he would have to spend the entire day with Louis, and like he already said, he wasn’t sure if they were on that level again yet. Although, maybe after hanging out last night, they were getting there?

Louis: and it’s howard’s last game, too

Louis: and i really don’t want to waste this ticket so…

Harry: I’m in.

As soon as he hit ‘Send’ Harry wanted to get that message back. Fuck, what was he thinking?

He got a response from Louis within seconds, and he was almost afraid to read it.

Louis: fuck yes! okay so my house at 12:30 tomorrow. bring alcohol. we’ll stop at wawa on the way there for food.

Harry: Sounds great!

No, it didn’t. Harry could already feel the anxiety kicking in.

Louis: oh shit. do you still remember where my house is?

Harry rolled his eyes. As if he could forget; he’d spent nearly half his childhood in that house.

Harry: Of course. Don’t worry. I’ll see you at 12:30.

Louis just sent back a thumbs-up emoji.

Harry dropped his phone down to the couch and sighed. He was nervous; he didn’t know if he had enough to talk about with Louis for the entire day tomorrow. He also didn’t know if he had enough to talk to Niall and Liam about, either. The two of them had seemed like cool guys last night, but Harry liked anybody once he had a few beers in his system.

Harry settled into his seat and tried to return to what he was doing, but it was no use.

Before he could work himself up into too much of a frenzy, his phone screen lit up again. It read, ‘Louis Tomlinson has added you a friend!’

Harry raised an eyebrow. He swiped across the screen and loaded up his Facebook before easily hitting ‘Accept.’

Once he did that, the obvious choice was to look through Louis’ profile and see what he’d been up to recently.

He scrolled through Louis’ page and didn’t find much. Apparently, Louis didn’t like to post any statuses; he just checked in to a lot of places. There was the bar last night, and he also tagged Liam and Niall as being there, too. Harry made a mental note to stalk their profiles later.

Louis had also checked in to a club last weekend as well as a diner right after. Over the last month, Louis had gone to a few different restaurants, Dave and Busters in Philly and the Statue of Liberty. At least he was traveling a little bit, even if it wasn’t around the world.

Next, Harry looked at Louis’ profile pictures. The current one had Louis standing with two girls, one on each side of him, and they were all smirking at the camera. One girl was blonde and the other was brunette. There was something about them, but Harry couldn’t figure out what it was; they just looked very familiar. The next profile picture showed Louis wearing a backwards baseball cap. He was sticking his tongue out and pointing to Niall, who stood next to him. The one after that showed Louis kneeling next to Doris and Ernest, who were both smiling. They were all dressed up, so Harry thought that there must have been some special occasion.

Harry continued scrolling through Louis’ pictures, finding different ones of Louis with friends and family, some showing Louis at different levels of inebriation. A few of them had some of their childhood friends in them, like Luke and Charlie.

Overall, it seemed like life was working out for Louis, which brought a smile to Harry’s face.

Harry scrolled up to the top and clicked on the ‘About’ section. The first tab told him that Louis still lived in Telford, which he knew, and that he studied at Farrington University and now worked there, which Harry also knew.

He took his time looking through the other parts, until he got to the one he wanted to read most: Contact and Basic Info. He quickly scrolled down to read what Louis had answered and was happy that Louis had responded to the question he needed answered. There, on the screen, read, ‘Interested In: Men.’

Well, that takes care of that, Harry thought to himself. Louis was gay. Definitely gay. It said so on Facebook. That had to mean it was true.

Harry rolled his eyes at his own logic and closed the tab, not wanting – or needing – to look at anything else.

So Louis liked men, and at some point over the last ten years, he’d come out to his family and friends.

Harry wondered how it had gone, although, knowing Jay, it had probably been fine telling his family. And Telford was a pretty liberal town. Harry was sure that there hadn’t been a problem with any of their neighbors, either.

Either way, Louis was out – Harry ignored the fluttering in his chest when he thought that – and Harry was happy for him. He just wouldn’t tell Sophia and Perrie that he knew about Louis’ sexuality. They would just tease him for some reason. Harry was just glad to have his question answered. That was all.

Honestly.

---

Harry Styles accepted your friend request.

Louis immediately slid right across his phone screen, re-opening Facebook. He was brought to Harry’s profile and started scrolling down.

Louis was disappointed to see that there wasn’t much to Harry’s Facebook. There were a few people that had Harry tagged in statuses. He assumed they were Seattle people since he had no idea who they were. There was the occasional status from Harry about how he was still getting used to seeing the sun so often and how he successfully finished setting up his apartment. But besides that, there wasn’t much to go on.

Louis went back up to the top and started looking through Harry’s pictures, starting with his current default photo. It was from last night, and had Harry, Perrie and Sophia standing closely together, all smiling widely. The next one must have been from Seattle, because it was more of an artsy shot. Harry’s back was to the camera, and in the background was a cloudy sky over a lake. Louis thought it looked awesome, but wished he could see Harry’s face in it.

The profile picture after that was, well… Louis was left a little breathless, to be honest. It was tagged in California, so Louis guessed it might’ve been a vacation. Harry was standing with his mom and stepdad on a beach, and Harry was shirtless. His impressive abs were on full display and Louis would’ve given anything to just be able to run his fingers over them. And maybe lick them a little. Plus, Harry had a lot of tattoos. They were scattered all over his chest and arms; there was even one on his belly. Louis’ eyes strolled down the photo, and his attention was grabbed by a hint of a tattoo peeking out from under the top of his swim trunks.

Louis zoomed in on the picture, trying to see what it might be. As he did, the phone was ripped from his hand.

“Hey!”

He turned around and saw Fizzy standing behind the couch, tapping at his phone.

“Ooh! Who’s this?” she asked.

“Fizzy, give me the phone back,” Louis said.

She continued messing with the screen. “Who’s Harry Styles? That name sounds really familiar.”

“Fizzy…” Louis stood up, preparing to run after his sister. “Give it back.”

“That’s going to bother me. Who’s Harry Styles?”

“Fizzy!” Louis lunged across the back of the couch, but Fizzy stepped away too quickly. Then she started walking to the side.

“Lottie! Come here!”

“Fuck,” Louis swore under his breath, because of course, Lottie had come over to visit tonight.

“Yeah?” Lottie asked, walking into the room.

“Who’s Harry Styles?” Fizzy asked. “I can’t place the name.”

Lottie tapped her chin as she thought it over. “I can’t remember. But yeah, I know it from somewhere.”

Just then, Louis charged at Fizzy, but she was faster than him again. She screeched and threw the phone to Lottie.

“Ooh,” Lottie teased. “Whoever it is, it’s someone you don’t want us to know about. So who is? Potential love interest? Oh, please say yes! It’s been so long.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Louis grumbled.

“It’s been at least since spring,” Fizzy said. “That was like, six months ago. You haven’t mentioned anybody in forever.”

“Who cares? I’m fine.”

Lottie shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“My God, you’re the worst sisters in the world.”

“Are we now?” Fizzy grinned.

Louis didn’t like it when Fizzy grinned.

“How about this?” She winked at Lottie, and the two of them yelled out, “Mom!”

Louis sighed and sat down on the couch. He knew when to admit defeat.

Jay came rushing in. “The twins are going to bed soon! What is all this yelling for?”

“Mom, who’s Harry Styles?” Lottie asked.

“Yeah, we know the name but can’t remember why,” Fizzy added.

Louis hid his face in the couch cushions and let out a loud, long groan.

“Louis, be quiet,” Jay scolded. “But you remember Harry! He was Louis’ friend growing up – the one who was always here. He lived across the street.”

“The one who moved!” Lottie suddenly remembered. “With the curly hair! He was cute. I liked him.”

“Oh, yeah,” Fizzy said. “He always used to let us play jailbreak with you guys. I liked him, too. He would pretend he didn’t see us when we hid under the deck.”

“Can I die now?” Louis muttered.

“Hush!” Jay told him. “Girls, why are you asking about Harry?”

“Louis was looking at this picture of him,” Lottie answered, showing Jay the phone.

Louis sighed. Now he could die.

“Oh, my,” Jay said. “Well, Harry has certainly grown up.”

“Please, can I go to my room?” Louis begged.

“Louis tried to tell us he didn’t like this guy, but he clearly does,” Fizzy told their mom.

“No, I don’t!”

“So why were you zoomed in on his crotch?” Lottie asked.

Jay gagged. “Don’t need to hear this.”

Louis sat up and tried to defend himself. “Because I thought I saw a tattoo and I wanted to see what it was!”

“He has tattoos all over his chest and his arms!” Fizzy started laughing. “And you pick the tiny, maybe mark of a tattoo coming out of his swim trunks to zoom in on. Okay, Lou.”

“Louis, don’t be embarrassed of your little crush. I mean, to be honest, it wouldn’t be that surprising if you and Harry wound up together,” Jay said.

“I don’t have a crush on– wait, why wouldn’t it be surprising?” Louis wanted to know.

“Because the two of you were always in each other’s pockets growing up. You were always together and did everything together. The day you told me he was moving was probably only the third or fourth time I’d ever seen you cry in your entire life at that point. Plus, we already know the family, so the wedding would be a breeze to plan.”

“Now we’re talking about a wedding?”

“Does he like men?” Fizzy asked Lottie.

“I don’t know.” Lottie shrugged. “Let’s find out.”

Louis sighed again as Lottie scrolled through Harry’s page.

“Interested in men,” she read out loud.

All three of them looked right at Louis.

“That doesn’t change anything,” Louis insisted.

“Sure, it doesn’t.”

“Well, I already told him that he’s invited over for dinner,” Jay reminded Louis. “So stop drooling, get him on the phone and bring him over. It’ll be good to really talk to him again.”

“Yes, Mom,” Louis said obediently. “Can I go now?”

“Sure. I think we’ve done enough teasing for tonight.”

“Thank you.”

Louis got up and got his phone from Lottie, who reluctantly gave it back after Jay made her.

Louis went up to his room and shut the door behind him. He lay down on his bed and let out a deep breath.

So, he and Harry were Facebook friends now. And he was interested in men. Of course, Louis already knew that after their meet-up at Dunkin Donuts, but, if Harry was anything like Louis – and he was – then Harry had probably gone through Louis’ page, too. Which meant that Harry now knew that Louis was gay, too.

It would be very interesting to spend the day together tomorrow. With all the alcohol in his system, Louis hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid.
---

Harry felt wet warmth all around his cock. He was flat on his back and looked down at the man giving him the best blowjob he’d ever felt.

“Yeah, baby,” he moaned. “Just like that.”

The other man looked up at him. Blue eyes met Harry’s green ones, and winked before closing completely.

The man went back to sucking Harry off, swirling his tongue as he moved back down. Harry dropped his head back, feeling like he was going to come soon.

Then he heard whispered, “Where’s your lube?”

Harry woke up with his hand around his dick. He groaned as he realized what was happening.

Not again, he thought to himself. With his free hand, he checked his phone to see that it was nearly five in the morning.

He still had a few hours until he had to be up. Sighing, he figured he might as well finish.

Harry shut his eyes and pictured those perfect lips from the dream wrapped around his cock. He moved his hand back and forth, stroking his thumb across the tip when he reached it. He thrusted his hips forward a bit, too, wanting to finish quickly so he could go back to bed and hopefully forget that he was still having dreams about hooking up with random guys.

He knew it wouldn’t take much longer as he felt the amount of precum leaking from his cock, so he moved just a bit faster, chasing his orgasm, alone, in his dark bedroom.

A few thrusts later, Harry was spilling out over his hand. He let his hips move on their own as he caught his breath.

When he was done, he got up so he could wipe himself off and change his boxers. Once again, he hoped this would be the last time for this.

---

“Niall, you need some help with that?” Louis called over to his friend, who was struggling to put together the ladder ball racks.

“No, I can do it,” Niall grunted, trying to put one of the poles in the right spot. It was his second attempt, but he insisted he knew what he was doing.

While he did that, Louis, Harry and Liam sat in folding chairs in the parking space behind Louis’ car. Each of them had a beer in his hand and they were surrounded by hyped up Phillies fans who were ready for today’s game. It was cloudy outside with a chance of rain, but it wasn’t doing anything to dampen anybody’s spirits.

“So, Harry,” Liam started, “since we’re going to be here for a while–”

“I heard that!” Niall yelled.

“–tell us, what was Louis like growing up?”

“Careful with that answer,” Louis warned. “Don’t forget, I’m driving you home.”

“Oh, well in that case,” Harry said, laughing, “Tommo was the best. Perfect angel. Everyone loved him and he was such a role model. I still aspire to be just like him.”

“Well said.”

Harry took a sip of his beer. “In all seriousness, though, because I’m sure you didn’t believe that answer–”

Liam shook his head. “I didn’t.”

“Tommo was cool, honestly. He had a lot of plans for himself and was always pretty ambitious. He knew exactly where he wanted to be and did what he could to get there. But he was a little bit of a troublemaker. I mean, he liked pulling pranks and got sent to see the principal a few times, but it was never anything bad.”

“Oi, Styles, you act so innocent,” Louis cut in. “Don’t pretend like you weren’t the one egging me on, saying, ‘Come on, Tommo, it’ll be funny.’”

“You were the one who always put whoopee cushions on the teachers’ chairs,” Harry said.

“And who gave it to me?” Louis exclaimed. “You were the one who won the whoopee cushion at Chuck E. Cheese in that crane game. Don’t act like you didn’t play a role in this.”

By now, Harry was laughing too hard to defend himself. He definitely had been the main person to give Louis ideas for the next prank.

“Okay, okay, I guess you can blame me for some of it,” Harry finally said.

“Sure. Some of it,” Louis muttered.

“God, remember when Morton finally confiscated it in seventh grade?” Harry asked, referring to their middle school principal.

“What a sad day. There was a dark cloud over school when that happened.”

“Did you ever get it back?”

Louis shook his head. “Nah, I think Morton threw it out or burned it or buried it six feet under or something. Never saw it again.”

“What a tragedy. Some people just don’t understand good, harmless fun.”

“Oh!” Niall called out.

Louis, Harry and Liam looked at him, wondering what could possibly be the matter.

“What’s wrong, Niall?” Louis asked.

“I forgot the bottom part,” Niall quietly admitted.

“What?”

“The bottom part of this thing, the one that holds it up. It must’ve fallen out of the box or something.”

“So there’s no way to make that rack stand up?” Liam asked. “That’s what you’re saying? That we can’t play the game?”

“Yeah…”

Harry nodded. “Niall, come have a beer.”

“Okay.”

Niall abandoned the half-assembled plastic pieces and sat down in the empty chair next to Liam. Louis grabbed a beer from their cooler and passed it down.

“So, Harry,” Niall started to say as he opened his can, “are you seeing anybody?”

Harry, who had been drinking his own beer, started choking.

“What?” he asked between coughs.

“Are you seeing anybody?” Niall repeated. “Just curious. You’re part of the friend group now, so I feel like I should know some more about you.”

“Um, okay. Uh, no, I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Ah, so we’re four single guys here, then?” Niall looked at the others. “Although, one of us could change that if he would get his head out of his ass, stop being scared and say something. I mean, it’s been a long time; it’s not like he’ll get rejected.”

Louis glared at Niall, wishing he could mentally make his friend stop talking.

“Isn’t that right?” Niall asked. He glanced over at Louis for just a second before his gaze shifted. “Liam?”

Liam froze. “What?”

Niall turned back to Harry. “I need your help with this one. Liam here won’t admit that he likes Sophia, and also refuses to see that she likes him.”
Harry nodded. “Yeah, I kind of sensed that the other night.”

“You did?” Liam, Niall and Louis all asked.

“Yeah, sort of. I mean, Soph was perfectly talkative all night, and then when Liam showed up, she got quiet. What’s the deal with you two, anyway?”

“Nothing!” Liam insisted. “We’re just friends.”

“Friends that have made out,” Louis whispered to Harry.

“Twice,” Niall added.

Liam groaned. “Shut up, guys.”

“Why don’t you just ask her out?” Harry asked. “I mean, there’s definite feelings there.”

“Because he’s afraid,” Louis told him. “They’ve been friends for a long time and he doesn’t want to mess up the relationship if they try dating and it doesn’t work out. Even though we all tell him it will work out!”

“Gee, Louis, does that situation sound familiar?” Liam asked, giving Louis a pointed look.

Louis scowled and took a sip of his beer.

“Why? Are you having relationship issues, too?” Harry wondered.

“No!” Louis said.

Harry raised an eyebrow, not believing that for a second.

The four of them were quiet for a moment as they all took a sip of their drink.

“So…” Niall cleared his throat. “We can probably head into the stadium now.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Liam quickly agreed.

The two of them finished off their beer and threw their cans into the plastic bag they’d saved for their trash.

Harry watched them clean up and waited until Louis got up to do the same. As the four of them put their chairs in Louis’ trunk, Harry knew that, once again, Louis was keeping something from him. And he wished he just knew what it was.

---

The game was relatively uneventful for the first half. By the top of the fifth, the score was 1-0 in favor of the Phillies, but the crowd was getting a bit restless.

“I need a hot dog,” Niall said, shifting around in his seat. He didn’t see any vendors, so he added, “I might have to get up and go to the stands.”

“I’ll go with you,” Liam told him. “I haven’t seen the beer guy in a while and I just ran out.”

“Okay.” Niall glanced over at Louis and Harry, who were both watching the game. “We’ll be back. Need anything?”

They both shook their heads, and Liam and Niall got up, leaving them alone.

Harry cleared his throat and looked over to Louis. He watched as Louis drank some more of his beer, his second one while in the park. But it wasn’t that that worried Harry. What made him take notice was Louis’ free hand, which was quickly tapping at his inner thigh.

Harry had known that habit for years. Louis was nervous, but Harry couldn’t figure out why.

“Are you okay?” he asked before he could think too much about it.

Louis furrowed his brow and turned his head toward Harry. “Yeah. Why?”

“You’re tapping.”

Louis glanced down at his lap and moved his hand to the armrest. “I’m fine.”

“You sure? I know you. Something’s up.”

“You don’t know everything about me, Harry,” Louis snapped.

Harry scoffed. “Maybe not anymore, but I know a lot. Don’t get defensive.”

“I’m not defensive.”

Harry stared at Louis, silently challenging him to stick to that story.

Louis bit his lower lip and stared right back. They sat that way as the game went on in front of them and the crowd continued moving around them.

Finally, Louis sighed and looked away. “Um, can I tell you something?”

“You know you can.”

Louis snorted. “Yeah.”

Harry waited, knowing that Louis would talk when he was ready.

“I mean, part of me is saying that I shouldn’t even tell you this, but the other part of me…”

“What, Louis?”

Louis looked over his shoulder, making sure that Niall and Liam weren’t on their way back. Then he took a long sip of his beer, for courage, probably, and started speaking.

“So, it was after you moved, and I kind of had this big revelation about myself. Um, and it was mostly because of you, to be honest.”

“Because of me?” Harry asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, um, you know, I was sixteen and everything was crazy. Like, my parents were getting divorced and my sisters were confused and upset all the time. And you were my best friend, but you weren’t there, and I wished that you were. It wasn’t as easy to talk to the other guys about stuff and we’d lost touch, so it was just really hard… um, and it was then that I started figuring myself out, too.”

Harry held his breath. He had an idea of what Louis was going to say next. He didn’t think it would happen in the middle of a packed stadium surrounded by thousands of strangers, though.

“I just kept thinking about you and how much I missed you and um, well… I’ll start with this, I guess. I realized that I–”

“Damn, would you believe there was a line for fucking hot dogs?” Niall asked, sitting back down in his seat.

No! Harry thought to himself. Of all the luck, his had to have been the worst. Harry wasn’t an aggressive person by any means, but he’d never wanted to tell someone to fuck off more than in that moment.

Louis looked away from Harry and stared straight ahead, acting as if he’d been watching the game.

Harry sighed. It looked like his conversation with Louis was over for now.

“Uh, no,” Harry said. “Can’t believe it.”

September 2006

Harry knew that if he ignored Louis’ texts for long enough that Louis would eventually track Harry down.

It was dark out; the streetlights had just come on. He was sitting on the pitchers’ mound when he heard his best friend coming up behind him. Harry didn’t even have to look; he would know those footsteps anywhere.

“What the hell, Styles?” Harry heard behind him. “You know we always go to the mall together after the first day of school and you were nowhere to be found. I kept texting you and you didn’t answer. What gives?”

Harry didn’t say anything. He just sat there, waiting for Louis to sit down next to him, which he did, about ten seconds later.

“Hello?” Louis asked loudly. “Anybody home?”

“We’re moving,” Harry whispered.

“Huh?”

Harry cleared his throat. “We’re moving.”

Louis stilled. “Moving?”
Harry nodded.

“Moving where?” Louis asked.

“Seattle…”

Louis scratched at the back of his neck. “I’m sorry; did you just say Seattle?”

Harry had promised himself he wasn’t going to cry when he told Louis the news. But he could already feel the tears welling up.

He sniffed and wiped at both eyes, hoping it would help.

It didn’t.

“Harry, did you say Seattle?”

“Yes, Louis! Yes!” Harry cried. “Robin’s getting transferred for his job and we have to go. Like, soon.”

“How soon?”

“Our flight is on the 23rd.”

“Of September?” Louis exclaimed.

Harry nodded again.

“Harry, that’s in like, two weeks.”

“I know, Louis.”

“But we had plans!” Louis said, getting louder. “We were going to travel together after I graduated and you were supposed to give me advice on how to get through college and you were supposed to still… be here!”

“I know!” Harry yelled, his voice wavering. “I know, Louis. Trust me; I know.”

Harry sniffled again, not bothering to touch his eyes, which were red and extra watery by now.

Louis’ eyes weren’t that dry anymore, either. He took a deep breath. “When did you find out?”

“At dinner,” Harry answered. “Apparently, that was the best time to tell me. Everything’s been taken care of already, too. We have an apartment, and my mom’s been looking into schools to transfer me to. She found a great one. Isn’t that exciting?”

Harry’s voice was absolutely dripping with sarcasm. Louis didn’t even know what to say in response to it. He was shocked. Harry had always lived across the street from him, ever since they were in diapers. Louis couldn’t remember a time when Harry wasn’t fifty steps away. And now, he would be thousands of miles away.

“God,” Harry sighed. “Everything I know is here. This park, school, our friends. You. And now I have to leave everything because Robin got a new fucking job.”

“Move in with us,” Louis suddenly suggested.

Harry snorted. “What?”

“Move in to our house. I mean, there’s already five kids; I’m sure my mom won’t notice one more.”

“I don’t think it works that way, Louis. Not when I’m still sixteen.”

“Are you going to go to college out there, too?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, Gemma’s at NYU. She just started her second year. It’s not like they’re going to make her stop going there just because we’re on the West Coast. Maybe I can go to school out here, too.”

Louis nodded once, listening to Harry’s answer, but not feeling at all comforted by it.

They sat there in silence for a while, like they were afraid to break the delicate moment between them.

“What about me?” Louis asked quietly – so quietly Harry wasn’t completely sure Louis had even spoken at all.

“You’re still my best friend,” Harry finally said, deciding that the statement was relevant regardless of whether Louis had said anything or not.

“Yeah, but this place sucks; you know that. There’s nothing to fucking do here. I won’t even be able to play baseball right without you here. God, who am I going to have pitch to me? Charlie?”

Harry chuckled at that. It was true; Charlie was a terrible pitcher.

“Maybe I’ll buy you one of those pitching machines before I go,” Harry said. “That would finally make the teams even, anyway, now that there will be ten of you guys.”

“You know you can’t be replaced, Harry. We’re the fucking Dream Team.”

Harry nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“That’s not gonna change, right?” Louis asked, a bit nervous to hear the answer.

Harry turned to look Louis straight in the eyes. “You bet your ass it won’t.”

Louis nodded once and looked down at his lap.

Harry sighed and stared down at his sneakers, feeling determined to make sure that he followed through with statement.

October 2016

Harry got out of his car on Saturday and looked around. He wasn’t sure where exactly to go, so he decided to follow the few other people headed toward the large fruit stand near the main road.

It was Wilson Park’s annual Fall Festival, and it was being held at Turner’s Farm a few miles away. There were hayrides, a corn maze and pumpkin picking, as well as face painting and games for the kids. He was supposed to meet Perrie there, and Louis was also bringing Doris and Ernest.

Ever since the Phillies game, he and Louis had been talking a lot more. They usually texted during the day, and had the occasional phone call where they talked about whatever topic they could think of.

The only thing they didn’t talk about was whatever Louis had been trying to confess at the game before Niall returned. Louis hadn’t tried to bring it up again since then, and Harry hadn’t tried to make him.

Harry supposed it was just one of those things he would never get an answer to.

As he approached the stand, Harry felt his phone go off.

Perrie: I see you!

Harry looked up and saw Perrie standing near the register. He grinned and walked over to her.

“I was starting to think you ditched me,” Perrie said.

“Me? Never! I was just looking for a spot to park. It’s crazy here.”

“Yeah, well it’s not reserved for just us, you know. There are actual customers here that are just enjoying the farm.”

Harry nodded. “Got it. Have you seen Louis? He’s coming, too.”

Perrie smirked. “Oh, is he?”

“Shut up. He’s bringing the twins with him.”

“Right. Sure he is.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “He is. It’s for the school, after all. I told him I would just see him here.”

“So I guess this means I can’t act too crazy?” Perrie asked. “Since one of my own students will definitely be here.”

“Yeah, because you were going to get crazy anyway.”

“Well, I wish I had the option.”

Harry chuckled. “Okay, then. Do we buy tickets?”

“Yeah, tickets for the hayride are twelve dollars and the corn maze is five.”

“Twelve dollars for a hayride? That’s a little much.”

“Well, the trailer takes you to the pumpkin patch a mile away, so you get to pick your own pumpkin,” Perrie explained. “Then, when it brings you back, you get free apple cider and a cider doughnut.”

“Oh. Well that works, then.”

Perrie and Harry got in line and bought their tickets. The entire time, Harry looked around for Louis.

“Will you relax?” Perrie asked. “He’ll be here.”

“Yeah, but I want to make sure he gets his tickets for everything. He’s not the most organized person, you know.”

“No, I don’t know at all. I’ve never met Louis before, nor do I know what he’s like. Please enlighten me.”

“You’re being mean,” Harry said.

Perrie laughed. “No, I’m not. I love this crush you’ve got going on; don’t worry.”

“I wish people would stop saying that.”

Harry got out of line once he had his tickets.

“Stop saying what?” Perrie asked, pocketing her change and stepping out of line, too.

“That I have a crush on Louis. We’re just friends. Always have been.”

They walked away from the stand, back outside toward the main field. There were already children running around, with some in line to get their faces painted. The tractor pulling the trailers for the hayride would be back soon, and people were already waiting for it.

“Uh-huh. You know you don’t actually have to convince me of anything, right?”

“Apparently I do, since you seem to think I like Louis. And I don’t even understand why. I mean, he was my best friend for sixteen years. For ten years, he wasn’t. Now we’re becoming friends again and everyone seems to think that just because we have a history and are forming a relationship again that means that we’re secret star-crossed lovers or something. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Okay. Defensive…”

Before Harry could protest again, he saw Ernest running up to him.

“Hey, Mr. Styles! Hi, Miss Edwards!”

“Ernest, hi!” Harry greeted happily.

Doris came running up right after.

“There’s my favorite redhead!” Perrie said. “I knew you wouldn’t let your brother come here without you.”

“Yeah, right,” Doris scoffed. “They both know better than to do that.”

Harry and Perrie laughed.

“No, it’s fine, guys,” Louis said, coming up after them. “Ditch me after I drove you here. It’s fine.”

“We told you our teachers were here,” Ernest told him. “I mean, you saw where we were going.”

“Still, it would’ve been nice if you two would’ve waited for me.”

“Aww, Tommo, don’t be mad that they like us better,” Harry teased. “I mean, Miss Edwards and I are pretty awesome teachers.”

Louis glared at him. “You’re not helping.”

Harry shrugged. “I didn’t intend to.”

“Thanks, Styles.”

“Any time, Tommo.”

“Can we go get our pumpkins?” Doris asked impatiently.

“I just want my doughnut,” Ernest said.

“Yeah, they’re definitely related to you,” Harry joked to Louis.

“Haven’t heard that before.” Louis looked around. “Do I buy tickets over there?”

“Yeah, in that stand right there,” Perrie told him. “Harry, why don’t you show him? I’ll stay here with the kids.”

Not really having much choice in the matter, Harry could only say, “Sure. Let’s go.”

As they walked away, Harry shot Perrie a dirty look.

She just puckered up her lips and blew him a kiss before turning to listen to what Doris was saying to her.

“It’s starting to feel like fall,” Louis said, glancing around.

Harry just nodded, silently agreeing with him. There was a chill in the air, but it wasn’t cold yet. Leaves had begun changing colors, but there were a few green ones still hanging on. It was cloudy out, but it didn’t look like it was going to rain today. It was weather that Harry was familiar with after living in Seattle for so long. He was looking forward to the spring and summer, when the weather would actually change significantly.

“Have you ever gone pumpkin picking?” Louis asked suddenly when they were in line.

Harry shook his head. “No, actually. You’ll have to help me pick out the perfect one.”

Louis laughed. “There’s not really a science to it. Just get one that looks easy to decorate.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

“I didn’t think about decorating it.”

“What?” Louis gasped. “Styles, you’re doing it all wrong! You can’t get a pumpkin and then do nothing with it. What, were you going to just let it sit on your counter until Thanksgiving?”

“Uh, no?”

Louis shook his head. “That’s terrible.”

“Well I’ve never carved a pumpkin before. I mean, we never did when we were younger.”

“Yeah, even though all of my sisters begged us to help.”

“Annoying little shits, weren’t we?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. Were.”

Louis was up next, so he bought tickets for himself and the twins.

As he got out of line, he nervously glanced at Harry. “Listen, um, my mom’s been bugging me for you to come over for dinner, so, why don’t you come by tomorrow? We’ll carve our pumpkins and then we can eat.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Seriously, it’s pure harassment with how many times she asks me when you’re coming over. You’d probably be doing me a favor. And you’ll carve your pumpkin. Maybe I can convince her to make lasagna.”
“Well, I do love your mom’s lasagna,” Harry said.

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Come on. What do you say?”

“Well, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Of course it’s not. We both know my mom loved you more than me.”
“Not true.”

Louis rolled his eyes and started walking away. “Sure.”

The two of them headed back toward Perrie and the twins. The tractor was just parking, so Harry suggested getting on for the next hayride.

A few minutes later, once the first group was down, Perrie got onto the trailer, followed by the twins, then Louis and Harry.

They sat near the back, and Harry struggled to get comfortable. His legs were too long to stretch out without tripping someone. But his jeans were a bit restrictive, making it tough for him to sit Indian-style.

“Here,” Louis offered. “Take my bale of hay. I’ll sit on the floor.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Styles, come on. You’re too tall to be sitting on the floor.”

“Compromise?” Harry asked. “I’ll share it with you.”

“Styles, we’re adults. We’re not sharing hay to sit on.”

“Lou, just move over,” Ernest ordered. “Mr. Styles has a bad back, so you have to let him have the hay.”

“I’m trying to!” Louis insisted. “But he’s being stubborn. Wait, why am I arguing about this with you? You’re seven. And wait, Styles, your back is still giving you trouble?”

He asked the last question much more gently, knowing that Harry’s back had been a problem area since he got hit with a baseball when they were kids.

Harry shrugged. “Sometimes. I do a lot of yoga and that helps a lot, but still.”

Louis sighed. “All right. Come on.”

He moved over and patted the empty spot next to him on the bale of hay where he was sitting.

Harry grinned and got up. He squeezed himself next to Louis just as the tractor started moving.

“Why does Ernie know about your bad back?” Louis wondered.

“He’s an observant kid. He always notices whenever I rub it if I’ve been sitting for too long. One day he just asked me why I do that, so I told him.”

Louis nodded.

“Hey, D, Ernie,” Louis called over to his younger siblings.

They looked up at him, breaking away from their conversation with Perrie.

“Would it be okay if Mr. Styles came over tomorrow for dinner? And we can carve our pumpkins?”

Ernest’s face lit up. “Really? Yeah, that would be cool!”

Doris smiled and nodded. “Mr. Styles, you’ll love our mom’s cooking. She’s really good.”

Harry and Louis grinned.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be great, Doris,” Harry said.

Perrie shook her head as she watched them.

“Shut up,” Harry and Louis said at the same time. They looked at each other in confusion, wondering why the other had said that.

“What?” Perrie asked. “I didn’t say a thing.”

Just then, the tractor went over a bump in the trail, causing Harry to fall to the side a bit. He fell right into Louis, and if there had been any space between them before, now there definitely wasn’t.

The two of them stared down at where their thighs touched before glancing back up at each other.

Harry smiled first and Louis quickly smiled back before looking away. But he couldn’t hide the blush on his face.

A few minutes later, they reached the pumpkin patch. Doris and Ernest excitedly ran off the trailer in search of a pumpkin. Perrie followed closely behind them, while Louis and Harry took their time getting down.

“Remember, there’s not a method to picking a pumpkin,” Louis reminded Harry. “Just get one that looks good.”

“Yeah, no pressure,” Harry mumbled.

“You’ll be fine. If you need help, one of the twins can always give you pointers.”

Harry nodded. “Okay.”

The two of them parted ways in order to search the field.

After a few minutes, Harry felt like he was going cross-eyed. All of the pumpkins looked the same, and he knew that he should just grab a random one and be done with it.

“Mr. Styles, I found the perfect pumpkin for you!”

Harry turned around and saw Doris hurrying up to him holding a pumpkin in her arms.

“Look at this one!” she said. “It’s tall, just like you.”

Harry smiled and took the pumpkin from her. “Thank you, Doris. You know, I was having some trouble deciding which one to get.”

“You’re welcome. Louis always takes forever to pick out his, too.”

Of course he did. Harry looked around and saw Louis walking around the field, as if this was a life or death decision.

“Well, did you find one for yourself yet?” Harry asked.

“No. But it’s okay. I’ll know the right one when I see it.”

“Would you mind if I went with you? I need some tips on pumpkin picking so I can find one next year.”

“Sure!” Doris bounced away and Harry followed her.
“See, you have to make sure that there aren’t any bruises on the pumpkin when you pick it up,” Doris instructed, pointing out one that looked a bit soft on the bottom. “Those ones won’t hold any designs that you carve into them.”

“Got it,” Harry said, nodding along.

“It should be a little round, but it can’t be too round, because those ones are usually not that tall, and then it can be hard to make a good design in the pumpkin without it looking squished.”

Louis lied, Harry thought to himself. There is a science to this.

“I like this one,” Doris told him. She picked up a pumpkin that was almost as wide as it was tall. It had a bit of a rectangular shape, and, like she said, it would be easy to make a good design on the front of it.

She nodded. “Yeah. I like this one. I think I’m done.”

“Well thank you, Doris. I think I learned a lot today.”

“You’re welcome. I mean, you and Miss Edwards teach us all the time. We can teach you some stuff, too.”

“I think you’re completely right,” Harry agreed.

They headed back toward the tractor, where Perrie and Ernest were already waiting.

“How’d you do?” Perrie asked.

“Doris was a great help,” Harry answered. “Not only did she find me a perfect pumpkin, but she told me what to look for so I can do it myself next year.”

“Well that was very nice of you, Doris. You know, Mr. Styles can be a bit helpless sometimes.”

“I resent that.”
Perrie shrugged. “Okay. We did pretty well, too; didn’t we Ernest?”

Ernest grinned. “Yeah. I can’t wait to carve it tomorrow. My mom said she would actually let me try to carve it myself. Louis will be with me, but still.”

“Oh, that’ll be a sight to see,” Harry said.

“Wait! You can help me with the carving tomorrow!”

“Not fair!” Doris protested. “I found him his pumpkin! He should be my partner tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but he’s my teacher.”

“So?”

“So, Mr. Styles will carve pumpkins with me.”

“What? Nobody wants to carve pumpkins with me?” Louis asked, walking up with a pumpkin in his hands. “I’m hurt. Really.”

“It’s just because I’m a new person,” Harry whispered. “It’s not personal.”

“No, it’s fine. I hate carving pumpkins.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Is that because you’re bad at it?”

Louis snorted. “Quite the opposite. I’m the best at carving pumpkins. These two just hold me back.”

“Hey!” Doris and Ernest whined.

“Nah, you’re probably not good at carving. It’s okay, Tommo. Just admit it.”

“Those sound like fighting words, Styles. We making this interesting?”

“I think we are.” Harry grinned.

“What’s the wager?”

“Whoever decorates the best pumpkin gets bragging rights for the rest of the year–”

“Of course.”

“–and the loser buys the winner tickets to the Phillies home opener next year.”

Louis nodded slowly. “Will you still be living here next year?”

The question wasn’t rude or challenging in any way. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Louis asked it with a touch of uncertainty, and if Harry listened hard enough, he could hear the hurt in Louis’ voice that meant that he still wasn’t over Harry moving away ten years ago.

Harry nodded. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Louis licked his lips. “Then you got yourself a deal.”

He stuck his hand out, and Harry easily shook it.

“Let’s see what you got, Styles.”

May 2007

Harry stared at the screen of his cell phone, trying to decide what to say first. He’d woken up that morning intending to text Louis something – anything – since they hadn’t spoken in nearly two weeks.

Six months ago, there would’ve been no explanation for it, for why Harry wasn’t keeping Louis updated on his life. But now, it was starting to become the norm.

Harry had been living in Seattle for eight months now, and his junior year would be over in a few weeks. But during that time, he and Louis had drifted slowly apart. It wasn’t either of their faults, but they were both so busy. Harry was getting ready for college and studying for and taking the SATs, while making new friends and trying to get involved in a school where all of the cliques had already been established.

And Louis, well… Harry wasn’t sure what Louis was up to. Whenever they did talk, Louis didn’t offer many details. He always just said everything was fine.

Harry didn’t really believe that, but he knew Louis wouldn’t tell him anything unless he really wanted to.

The problem was that Harry wanted Louis to tell him what was going on in his life because Harry had a lot to tell Louis. Like, how he thought he might want to go to college on the west coast, or that he was probably gay, which he’d realized thanks to the kiss he’d shared with Julian, the senior in his Advanced Biology class.

Harry wasn’t sure which one of those would be the bigger surprise, and it looked like he wouldn’t know because whenever he tried to type out a message to Louis, he chickened out and erased the whole thing.

And that’s exactly what was going to happen today, too. With a sigh, Harry flipped his phone shut. He could always try again tomorrow.

October 2016

Harry drove his cock into the man on his knees in front of him. Both of them let out a long moan when Harry hit the other man’s prostate, and it only made him move faster.

“Fuck, Harry,” the man gasped. He fisted his hands in the sheets and held on so tightly that the veins popped in his arms.

Harry draped himself over the other man and started kissing down his neck as he thrusted back and forth the slightest bit faster.

“Oh, God! Harry, please!”

Harry’s orgasm was building. It wouldn’t be much longer.

A minute later, Harry bit down on the man’s neck, feeling himself about to burst. He pulled off just long enough to moan, “Fuck. Louis!”

Harry’s eyes shot open and he sat straight up in bed. The front of his boxers were wet and sticky and he felt more relaxed than he had in a long time.

But that was slowly changing.

The man in his dreams had been Louis this whole time? Harry started rubbing at the side of his head in disbelief. There was no way he actually had feelings for Louis. That was his best friend, the guy he’d been through everything with.

Having a few wet dreams about him didn’t equate to actual feelings. Did it?
Harry shook his head. Of course it didn’t. He checked the time on his phone and saw that it was almost four in the morning. He got up to change his clothes, trying – and failing – to ignore the fluttering in his stomach when he thought about the fact that he would be seeing Louis in about twelve hours.

It didn’t mean anything.

It didn’t.

---

That afternoon, Harry pulled up outside of Louis’ house. He took a deep breath because he would actually be going inside today, unlike last weekend for the Phillies game, when they simply met out front before getting into Louis’ car.

He wondered if it would feel the same, if he would be quick to remember the memories that he had formed inside of that house. He wondered if the wooden archway connecting the kitchen and dining room still had all of the height measurements of the Tomlinson children carved into it or if Louis’ room still got that awful draft in the winter.

There was only one way to find out.

He grabbed his pumpkin from the passenger seat and got out of his car. Walking up to the front door, all he could think of were the times when he and Louis would draw with chalk in the driveway when they were kids, or when they would chase Louis’ sisters around the yard with water balloons in the summer.

He rang the doorbell and waited patiently, putting on his best smile when someone opened the door.

It was Daisy, Harry was pretty sure. She looked just like the girl who had helped him at the pizza shop.

“Weird Feather Shirt Guy?” she asked, looking the slightest bit nervous.

“No, no! I’m Harry, your brother’s friend? I’m supposed to come over today?”

Daisy kept staring at him, until she finally called over her shoulder, “Mom!”

Harry froze. He didn’t know if he should keep talking or just wait for Jay to get there.

“She’s not here! She went to the store. What’s wrong?”

Another brunette girl who looked similar to Daisy came to the door.

Harry recognized her as one of the girls from Louis’ Facebook picture, and he realized it was probably one of his sisters. And if he wasn’t mistaken, it was Fizzy.

“Harry?” Fizzy asked. “Hi! You probably don’t remember me, do you?”

“Of course I do,” Harry said. “How could I forget someone with a name like Fizzy?”

She laughed. “Come on in. Daisy, you remember Louis’ friend from when they were kids, don’t you? It’s Harry.”

Daisy looked skeptical, but still stepped back so Harry could enter the house. “I guess.”

“Louis’ out back with the younger twins,” Fizzy continued as if everything was perfectly normal. “Do you remember how to get there?”

Harry nodded. It had been a while, but he still remembered that the kitchen was straight ahead, and there was a sliding glass door that led to the deck.

As he walked away, he heard Daisy and Fizzy muttering. He tried not to let it get him nervous.

The house looked exactly the same. The sliding wooden door that opened to the linen closet was still the slightest bit off its hinges, the hardwood floor still creaked with every other step and there were still pictures hanging on every space in the hallway, although most of them had been updated over the years.

The kitchen was bright and had most of the windows open. Harry looked to the right, into the dining room, and saw that the fine china still sat in a cabinet.

He opened the glass door and stepped outside. He saw Louis sitting in the grass with Ernest and Doris. They were on a large blanket and had a lot of towels and trash bags around them. Behind Louis was a tray that looked like it belonged in a horror movie. It held several different knives, all of them with sharp blades, as well as metal measuring cups and some kind of other tool that looked like it might be for scraping.

Harry shut the door and walked out onto the deck. He only made it down the first step before Ernest spotted him.

“Mr. Styles!” he yelled. “You made it!”

“Of course I did, Ernest,” Harry said. “I would never miss this.”

He sat down in the open space between Louis and Ernest and put his pumpkin in front of him.

“Now, are you ready to teach me something today?”

“Definitely,” Doris told him excitedly. “You don’t mind getting those clothes dirty, do you?”

He looked down at his black jeans and hoodie. “No, I think I’ll be okay.”

“Okay, good!”

Harry looked over at Louis, who had been totally silent since he arrived, only to find Louis already staring at him.

Harry smiled. “Hey,” he said softly.

Louis smiled back and looked back toward the pumpkins.

Now that the moment was over, Harry asked Doris, “Okay, so what do we do?”

“First we have to get all of the pumpkin seeds out,” Louis said as he opened up a trash bag. “You might want to push your sleeves up.”

Louis grabbed a knife from the knife tray and grabbed Doris’ pumpkin. He turned it over and started carving a hole in the bottom.

“Aren’t you supposed to cut out the top?” Harry asked, watching him work.

Louis shook his head. “Nah. It’s easier this way.”

“Yeah, Louis learned last year that if you cut it from the bottom then more of the guts come out at once,” Ernest said. “We don’t have to dig as much.”

Harry nodded and watched Louis’ technique – a simple back and forth motion with the knife while it was tilted on an angle.

When Louis had gone all the way around, he simply popped out the bottom piece of the pumpkin. As he pulled it out, he brought a ton of pumpkin seeds and other mush with it.

“There you go, D,” Louis said. “Get the rest out.”

Doris took her pumpkin and happily shoved her hand in to get any more remaining seeds.

Louis took Ernest’s pumpkin next and repeated the process. Harry felt brave enough to try it on his pumpkin, so he asked Louis for a knife.

“Careful,” Louis told him as he handed one over. “The blade is pretty sharp.”

“I think I’ll be okay,” Harry said.

“Okay. Just don’t forget the time your mom tried to teach you how to make stir fry and you wound up going to the emergency room for stitches.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “That was one time and I was like, fifteen.”

“Just saying. You haven’t changed much over the years. I would hate for that to be one thing that’s the same, too.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Harry tilted his knife the way Louis had and sliced it through the pumpkin. He moved the blade back and forth as he made a large circle at the bottom. He could feel the twins watching him as he worked and he prayed to whatever God was listening that he wouldn’t mess up.

It took him a bit longer than it had taken Louis, but he finally finished. He took his time popping out the base and tried not to wrinkle his nose up too much when he saw the stringy bits come out with it.

By now, Louis had just about finished cutting the bottom off his own pumpkin. Doris and Ernest were scraping out the inside of theirs. They were throwing whatever they didn’t need into the trash bag, leaving their hands looking orange and gross.

“I’m almost done,” Ernest said. He was using the tool Harry didn’t have a name for to even out the inside of the pumpkin and using a metal measuring cup to scoop it all away.

Doris threw another chunk of seeds into the trash bag. “Me, too.”

Harry was impressed with their technique. He was also a little embarrassed that seven-year-olds were better at carving than he was. Feeling more determined now, he put his hand back into his pumpkin and pulled out more seeds.

Once Ernest finished his pumpkin, he helped Harry smooth out the inside of his. He scraped off the uneven parts and dumped anything he didn’t need into the trash bag.

Doris helped Louis with his pumpkin, although he was nearly done anyway.

About ten minutes after they first started, all four of them were finished. Louis pulled a pack of baby wipes out from under the blanket he was sitting on and gave each of them a wipe to clean their hands.

“Now that the gross part is over, we have to decide what to carve in the pumpkin,” Doris said after throwing her wipe in the trash bag. “Me and Ernie use a dry erase marker first because we can wipe it off if it gets messed up. Then we go over it with a Sharpie when we’re happy with it. Louis usually uses thumb tacks but that takes too long for me.”

“Thumb tacks?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, it’s like, if you print out a picture from the computer and you want to carve that into your pumpkin, you hold the picture against the pumpkin and then use thumb tacks to poke holes in like, the outside of it,” Ernest instructed.

“Yeah, and then you sort of connect the dots when you’re carving the pumpkin to make it work,” Louis finished. Then he winked at Harry. “It’s not for a beginner.”

“You can just do something easy if you’re new at this,” Ernest whispered to him.

“No, it’s okay,” Harry assured him. “I already have an idea of what to do.”

“Oh, you came prepared, Styles?” Louis teased. “I’m shaking in my pants.”

“Yeah, yeah. Pass me a thumb tack.”

Harry pulled a piece of paper from the back pocket of his jeans. He’d spent far too long on the computer last night trying to find something good to carve. He figured Louis wasn’t going to be some kind artistic genius with this, so he went simple. It still made a statement, though.

Harry started poking holes in his pumpkin along the outline of his design. He wasn’t sure exactly how far apart they should be, so he asked Louis before he kept going.

“Like, an inch,” Louis answered without taking his eyes away from his work. “As long as you can see where they are and you can make a straight line to each one, then you’re good.”

Harry nodded and decided he could make the holes a little farther apart.

The four of them worked quietly, with Louis and Harry shielding their pumpkins from each other.

Ernest and Doris finished first, as they’d gone with simple designs of big eyes, a triangle nose and a large grin. After showing both Harry and Louis their pumpkins, they started tracing their designs with a Sharpie.

“Done!” Doris said triumphantly.

“Yes!” Ernest cheered. “Finished!”

Louis sighed and put down his equipment. Reaching to the tray again, he grabbed two small, serrated knives.

“Okay, I know Mom said you could carve your pumpkins yourselves, but she also told me that if I get nervous, I can take these knives from you,” Louis told them. “So you two need to be careful with these. Take your time and go slowly. Also, watch your fingers and make sure they don’t get too close to the blade. Okay?”

Doris and Ernest were impatiently nodding their heads. Harry knew they probably weren’t even listening to Louis’ instructions because of how excited they were, but he wasn’t going to point that out.

“I mean it,” Louis said. “Be careful.”

He slowly passed one knife to each of his siblings and sat perfectly still, watching as they prepared to work.

Harry paused what he was doing, too, just to make sure that both Doris and Ernest were okay.

Ernest started cutting almost immediately, putting his knife on one of the lines of his pumpkin’s eyes and moving the blade back and forth.

Doris was more cautious. She made sure that her pumpkin was on even ground and that her free hand had a firm grip before starting to cut. She also moved her knife more slowly than Ernest.

After the two kids seemed to get the hang of it, Louis and Harry returned to their own pumpkins, although their eyes never left the twins for more than a few seconds.

“This is easy,” Ernest said.

“Yeah, once you find your rhythm, it’s not so bad,” Harry agreed. “Just watch what you’re doing, Ern.”

“Yes, Mr. Styles.”

Harry grinned and looked up at him. “Hey, Ern, I’ll make you a deal.”

Ernest stopped what he was doing and looked up. “Yeah?”

“How about, when we’re not at school, you can call me Harry? If you want to, of course.”

“Really?” Ernest asked, not being able to believe his good luck. “Are you serious?”

Harry nodded. “Sure am.”

“No fair!” Doris protested. “Wait, can I call you Harry, too?”

“Of course you can. Wouldn’t be right if one twin could do it, but not the other.”

“Yes!” Ernest cheered. “Dylan’s going to be so mad.”

Dylan was another student in Harry’s class. He was also Ernest’s on-again/off-again best friend. Harry guessed they were off right now.

“Why’s that?” Harry asked.

“Because he thinks you like him better. Clearly he’s wrong.”

“Well it’s not that I like you better, it’s just that I see you outside of class more. Like right now. Dylan’s not here, is he?”

“No. Are you going to be around a lot now? Like to hang out and stuff?”

“Uhh…” Harry looked to Louis, not sure what to say. That was sort of up to Louis, whether he wanted to keep hanging out with him. Harry thought it would be a yes, but he wasn’t sure. Louis, unfortunately, looked as dumbfounded as he did. The question was sort of unexpected.

“Um, probably, Ernie,” Louis eventually said. Under his breath, Harry was pretty sure Louis also whispered, “Hopefully.”

“Cool.”

Then Ernie went back to carving his pumpkin, as if that entire conversation had been totally normal.

“Yeah, cool,” Harry repeated. He looked back at Louis, who was now focused again on his pumpkin. If he had looked more closely, he would’ve noticed the slight blush on Louis’ cheeks.

The four of them continued working on their pumpkins, and Harry and Louis soon finished using their thumbtacks and picked up their knives. Once the twins finished carving their pumpkins, they wiped their hands off again. They sat for about another minute, watching Harry and Louis work. Then they asked, “Can we be done?”

Louis laughed. “Yeah, go ahead. We’ll be in soon.”

The two of them nodded and got up, hurrying inside of the house.

“Just you and me now, Tommo,” Harry said.

“Just you and me. Watch your pumpkin, Styles. Wouldn’t want you to mess up.”

Harry snorted. “Please. I’ve got the hang of this now. You’re in trouble.”

“Uh-huh. We’ll see about that.”

Harry moved his spot on the blanket so that he was across from Louis instead of next to him. Then he continued carving.

The two of them worked in silence, focusing on not making a single mistake on their pumpkins while also sneaking secret glances at each other.

Just when Harry thought he was taking too long, Louis said that he was done.

“What? Already?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. I’m finished. Come on, Styles. Pick up the pace.”

“I’m almost done. Don’t be impatient.”

“Have you met me?” Louis asked. “I’m a bit hurt that you think I’m anything besides impatient.”

Harry shushed him instead of forming an actual response.

Louis lay back in the grass, staring up at the darkening sky.

“Does this remind you of that time your mom went through the pumpkin phase when we were kids?”

Harry gasped. “I almost forgot that. God, every week she tried a new pumpkin recipe: pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cream cheese –”

“That cream cheese was actually pretty good, though.”

“It was, but so unnecessary. I swear I hate the color orange now because of that.”

Louis laughed. “Come on. She was just trying to get into the fall spirit.”

“So buy me a cider doughnut and rake the leaves into a giant pile so I can jump in,” Harry said. “But don’t flood my body with pumpkin food. It’s overkill.”

Louis shrugged. “I don’t know. I like pumpkin. And she taught me a lot of great recipes, too.”

“I like pumpkin too, just, in moderation. And my mom didn’t know what moderation meant back then.”

Louis was quiet. He definitely couldn’t argue with that one.

Another few minutes passed before Harry declared that he was finished.

“Okay, so let’s see what we have,” Louis said.

“You first.”

“Fine.”

Louis picked up his pumpkin and turned it around, showing Harry that he had carved a Phillies logo into it.

Harry grinned when he saw it. “Nice. What made you pick that?”

Louis shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, when I thought about carving pumpkins with you, this was one of the first things I thought of. So I carved it.”

“You– you thought of me when you needed an idea for your pumpkin?”

“Of course. I mean, that’s one of my strongest memories with you: baseball. I love baseball. Plus, there’s that other reason.”

“What other reason?” Harry asked.

“You’re going to be buying me Phillies tickets today.”

Oh.

Harry shoved Louis’ shoulder while Louis laughed. Apparently, that was the funniest thing ever.

“Anyway…” Harry started. “I guess that’s a good reason.”

“Of course it is. So what did you carve?”

Harry hesitated before slowly turning around his pumpkin. The truth was, he’d been thinking a bit about Louis when he was trying to pick his design, too.

When Louis saw it, he stared for a while.

“Lou?” Harry asked when he still hadn’t said anything.

“Um, what made you pick a heart-eyes emoji for your pumpkin?”

Harry shrugged, not wanting to say the truth. “It seemed like the easiest one to carve.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They sat silently for another moment before Harry cleared his throat and asked, “So who wins?”

“I like yours,” Louis admitted.

“Well, I like yours.”

“So it’s a tie?”

“Guess so,” Harry said. “So, you buy my ticket and I buy yours?”

Louis nodded. “Okay. That works for me. You better not buy me a cheap seat.”

Harry grinned. “You know I like sitting in the infield.”

“So do I. Maybe I’ll buy the seat next to yours.”

“Whoa, sitting together? That would be like a dream come true.”

“Boys! Dinner!” a man’s voice called from inside the house.

“Oh, you’ll finally get to meet Dan.”

Harry’s eyes widened. Now he was nervous; he’d completely forgotten that he would have to meet Louis’ stepdad.

“What’s the matter?” Louis asked, noticing Harry’s scared expression.

“Nothing. Just, um…”

“What?”

“How do I look?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Do I look okay?” Harry wanted to know.

“I mean, you have pumpkin guts on your hoodie and some seeds on your jeans, but besides that you look fine.”

“Louis!”

“What? What’s the big–? Wait. Are you afraid to meet my stepdad?”

“What if he doesn’t like me?” Harry asked.

Louis snorted. “You’re serious right now? You’re nervous?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, the rest of your family likes me. For God’s sake, I just told your youngest siblings they can call me by my first name outside of school.”

“That was really cool of you, by the way,” Louis said.

“Thanks.”

“Harry, relax. Clearly, all of my family already likes you. They like you, I like you, so Dan will like you.”

Harry sighed. He hated meeting his boyfriend’s family.

Except, wait. Louis wasn’t his boyfriend. Just his friend. That was it.

Those damn dreams of his had him all confused.

“What now?” Louis asked. “You look even more scared.”

“I’m not scared, just a little mixed up. Um, come on. Let’s go.”

“Okay… we should bring the pumpkins inside, though. Everything else we can leave on the deck.”

Harry nodded and grabbed his and Ernest’s pumpkin. Louis picked up his and Doris’ pumpkin and then led the way inside.

Louis put the pumpkins on the counter near the sink and Harry did the same. They returned outside to grab their tools. Louis spread them out on the deck so they wouldn’t bring all of the seeds and everything inside.

“I’ll hose them off tomorrow,” Louis said. He took another look at Harry, who hadn’t seemed to calm down any.

“I’m fine,” Harry insisted.

“All right. Let’s go clean up.”

The two of them went inside to the kitchen sink. They washed their hands and used damp paper towels to wipe pumpkin off their clothes. When they looked mostly clean, they headed into the dining room.

Everyone was broken off into their own conversations while they waited. Harry saw that there were two open seats left and they were right next to each other.

“So you’re Harry.”

Harry looked toward the head of the table and saw a man with dark blonde hair and blue eyes smiling at him.

“That’s me.” Harry walked over to him and shook his hand. “You must be Dan.”

“That I am. Nice to meet you. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about you from Jay and Ernie. And Louis, of course.”

“Hopefully they’re not all embarrassing. Maybe there were a few good ones in there.”

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Dan said. “They didn’t make you look too bad.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“Well I’m glad you could make it. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

Jay stood up from her seat. “Since we’re all here now, I’ll grab the lasagna.”

Harry grinned, feeling better now that he’d not only met Dan, but his favorite meal was also on the way.

He was surprised that Louis had stayed standing while he had been talking to Dan. When Harry got to one of the open seats, Louis pulled it out for him and gestured for him to take it.

Harry smiled at Louis and sat down. Louis took the last remaining chair for himself and the two of them unfolded their napkins and placed them in their laps.

“Okay, and here’s what you’ve all been waiting for,” Jay announced, walking into the room. She held a large pan in her hands and Harry could see the steam still coming off the top.

She placed it in the center of the table and Harry could see that it was the lasagna that, yes, he’d definitely been waiting for. He looked around the table, and instantly felt like he’d been transported ten years in the past. The people that he’d used to know as his second family were all there, with the addition of Doris, Ernest and Dan, as well as a man a few years younger than him with dark brown hair that he assumed was Lottie’s boyfriend Tommy.

Suddenly, he couldn’t remember why he was so nervous anymore. Even though he’d been away for a while, he was still with family.

“So, Harry,” Dan started saying while everyone served themselves, “Louis said that you always wanted to be a teacher.”

Harry nodded. “Yes, sir. Ever since I could write on a chalkboard, I was making up lessons for my sister’s stuffed animals.”

“Gemma’s stuffed animals?” Louis whispered under his breath.

Harry glared at him. “Fine. My stuffed animals. Shut up.”

Louis smirked but didn’t say anything else.

“Anyway, I went to school out in Washington and got my teaching degree and my master’s, too. After that, I started job hunting, one thing led to another and here I am.”

“What made you want to come back?” Dan asked.

“A lot of reasons,” Harry answered. “Mostly because I got laid off from the position that I had last school year and I figured I could always use a change. So I applied just on a whim, and by some crazy twist of fate, I got an interview and got hired. It’s nice to be back, though. I’ve missed a lot of things about this place and about this area that I’d kind of forgotten about.”

“Like what?” Fizzy asked.

“Well, simple stuff like the changing weather and taking the train into Philly. I mean, it’s easy to go to different cities in Washington but always needing an umbrella got old, real fast.”

“So it really does always rain over there?” Phoebe wondered.
“Pretty much. Yeah. You go through rain boots like once a year.”

Jay shook her head. “That’s horrible. I think I would get depressed living with all of that.”

“Some people do,” Harry admitted. “It can be rough with constant rain and clouds, but the city isn’t all terrible, you know. But I really missed the people here and all of the memories I’d already formed. It’s tough making new friends when you’re in high school.”

“How’s your mom doing?” Jay asked.

“She’s really good. Uh, her and Robin just celebrated their fifteenth wedding anniversary.”

“Oh, wonderful!”

“Yeah, they actually spent the weekend at a B&B to celebrate. My mom sent me a bunch of pictures of the room and the views they had. I’ll have to show you later.”

“Oh, please do.”

“What about Gemma?” Lottie asked. “She was always the cool older sibling I never got to have.”

Louis paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. He lowered it and said, “Um, I’m sitting right here.”

“Yeah.” Lottie smiled. “Anyway, what’s Gemma doing?”

Harry couldn’t hold his smile at the pout on Louis’ face. To try and make him feel better, he reached down under the table and gave Louis’ knee a quick squeeze.

If he didn’t immediately remove it, that was nobody else’s business.

“Gemma actually works for Sephora. She does Merchandising, so she sort of decides what’s going to be popular now and what trends people should follow. Then she comes up with a plan on how to do that.”

“Really?” Lottie asked. “Interesting…”

“Why’s that?”

“Lottie went to school for Cosmetology,” Jay said, filling Harry in. “She’s especially good with makeup. She always does the girls’ makeup for their dances and things.”

“I want to have my own line one day,” Lottie told him. “Maybe like, matching nail polish and lip sticks, that sort of thing.”

“Maybe I can see if Gemma can do something about that,” Harry said. “Even if it’s just finding out how to start that process. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

Lottie squealed. “Thank you! That would be so cool!”

Harry smiled and looked down at his plate. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Louis beaming at him. He glanced over just long enough for Louis to wink.

The rest of the meal passed by just like that, with the family asking Harry questions and Harry asking them right back. Harry found out a lot about Louis’ siblings and what they had done over the last ten years.

Besides Lottie going to school and moving out, Fizzy had gotten arrested at an Anti-Donald Trump rally a few months ago and Daisy and Phoebe had both graduated high school in June. Now they both studied at colleges in Philly.

Harry knew plenty about Ernest and Doris, as he saw them everyday.

“Hey, Harry,” Ernest called out over the noise of the table.

Jay shot him a look, not knowing that Harry gave him permission to call him that.

“It’s okay,” Harry said to her. “I told him he could.”

She seemed to relax a bit after that, because she nodded at Ernest to continue.

“What was Louis like when he was younger?” Ernest asked.

Harry laughed. It seemed like everyone wanted to know the answer to that question.

“Well…” he started. “Louis definitely had a personality. He was funny and loud and a bit crazy.”

“He’s like that now,” Doris said.

Everyone at the table started laughing, especially Louis.

“Yes, he definitely is like that now,” Harry agreed. “But he was even more so when we were your age. I think he’s calmed down a little since then.”

“You’re not with him at night time, though,” Ernest said. “When he reads us stories, he makes all kinds of weird voices and acts out the book. Sometimes he jumps up and down on our beds, too.”

“You love when I do that!” Louis protested. “Don’t lie.”

Ernest shrugged and Doris started giggling.

“Anyway, um, your brother was really cool. He always came up with fun ideas of what to do and we got hurt a few times, but never anything big.”

“What did you do?” Doris asked.

“Well, we, uh…” Harry cut himself short when he realized that, as Ernest’s teacher, he probably shouldn’t tell him about the time he and Louis pulled the fire alarm to get out of running the mile in middle school gym. He also shouldn’t tell the story of when he and Louis broke a window in the music room after accidentally hitting a baseball through it. They’d cut class that day. Plus, Harry was pretty sure that was the time Louis got a concussion after running into a dumpster. And the story of when Louis’ iPod was stolen wouldn’t be great to share, either. Harry found out it was Steve, another boy at their school who was always an asshole, and immediately beat him up and got the iPod back.

The principal hadn’t been pleased. Neither had their moms.

As Harry struggled to come up with a response, he shared a look with Jay, as she was most likely having the same thoughts that he was.

“Um, you know what? He was just awesome. We don’t have to go into details.”

“Yes, Mr. Styles,” Jay said. “Let’s not go into that.”

Fortunately, Doris and Ernest didn’t ask any more questions about Louis as a kid, meaning Harry could breathe a bit easier. It wouldn’t bode well for him as a professional to give his friend’s brother and sister ideas about how to act up, especially not when Ernest was in Harry’s class.

“We were such shitheads, weren’t we?” Louis whispered.

“The absolute fucking worst,” Harry muttered.

After dinner, Harry tried to help clean up, but Jay just wouldn’t let him.

“No, Harry, get out!” she said.

“Jay, let me help. Come on.”

“No. You’re the guest here and you haven’t seen everyone in a while so go out there and be social. Go. Go.”

Dan chuckled. “Harry, come on. You know you’re not going to win.”

Harry looked at Jay one more time, and she just pointed toward the door.

With no other choice, Harry walked out of the kitchen, intending to go into the living room where everyone was watching television.

He peered in and saw Fizzy, Ernest and Daisy huddled up on the couch. Phoebe was sprawled across the loveseat while Lottie and Tommy were on the floor with Doris in between them.

He didn’t see Louis anywhere, and was about to ask Lottie if she knew where he was when he heard a whispered, “Hey!” behind him.

He turned around to see Louis halfway down the stairs.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked.

“Getting our equipment.” Louis held up a black duffel bag and as it moved, Harry could hear a clink inside of it.

“What is that?”

“Come on!” Louis hissed. He came down the rest of the stairs and held the door open. “Let’s go.”

Harry had forgotten just how bossy these Tomlinsons were. Not having a choice for the second time in less than two minutes, Harry walked outside and waited for Louis to tell him where they were going.

He expected Louis to get into his car but was surprised again when Louis started walking down the sidewalk.

“Where are we going?” Harry wondered as they walked.

“Come on. We’re in Telford. It’s nice out. You know where we’re going.”

Of course.

“You think anyone’s already there?” Harry asked.

“Only one way to find out.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, both anticipating returning to their old stomping grounds.

When they arrived, there were a few families at the large playground, and four guys playing a game of basketball at the courts. But the baseball field was totally deserted.

Once they saw that, Harry and Louis giddily ran over, wanting to claim their spot.

“Man, it feels great being back here,” Harry said. He took his place on the pitcher’s mound, and hunched forward like he was getting ready to throw a fastball.

“Hey, Styles!”

Harry turned just as a baseball flew at his face. He caught it in his hand, happy that Louis hadn’t used his full strength to throw it.

“Want to have a catch?” Louis asked, pulling another baseball and two mitts out of the duffel bag.

“Is that the glove I used to borrow from you when I couldn’t find mine?”

Louis nodded. “It’ll probably be a bit snug, what with your giant monkey hands and all, but it’s the best I got right now.”

“Ha ha. Let me have it.”

Louis tossed Harry the glove and he squeezed it onto his hand.

“I’ll make it work,” Harry said. “Come on. Go get ready.”

Louis grinned and went over to home plate. He knelt down and started making signals with his fingers.

“Which one is that?”

“Isn’t it a curveball?”

“Two fingers? I thought that was a fast ball.”

Louis shook his head. “Nah, pretty sure two fingers meant curveball.”

Harry shrugged. “I guess. It’s been a while.”

Harry rolled the ball a few times between his fingertips before getting into position. He watched Louis’ glove as he wound up and his gaze went up to Louis’ eyes, which were full of focus, as he released.

Louis watched the ball come toward him and moved his glove just a little to the side so he could catch it.

“Strike!” Harry called out to the imaginary hitter.

“You and those curveballs.”

“I still got it. I didn’t think that was going to get to you, to be honest.”

“Nah, it’s like riding a bike. It comes back to you.”

“Guess so. Let’s do that again.”

They spent some time pitching and catching until Harry’s arm started to get tired.

They sat down on the pitcher’s mound while he stretched it.

“So how’s the apartment search going?” Harry asked.

“It’s fine, I guess,” Louis answered. “I mean, we haven’t been looking all that hard, to be honest. Like, we’re both fine where we are, since we love our families, and it hasn’t gotten to the point where we absolutely have to be out, you know what I mean? I really like having extra money to finish paying off student loans, too.”

Harry nodded. “No, I get it. It’s tough moving out, too. Like, you’re really an adult once you move out. You have to do your own grocery shopping and you’re responsible for getting every bill paid on time. And, if you come home from work and don’t feel like cooking, there isn’t someone else there who can do it.”

“No, definitely. It’s going to be hard to get used to all of that quiet, too. Like, my whole life, I’ve lived in a full house. I went from having four sisters to six siblings and I’m just used to it being loud. Having just one roommate is going to be a little unsettling.”

“It’s even weirder going from here to a city,” Harry said. “Like, when I moved to Seattle? Yeah, when I still lived here, I walked to school and we always walked here and to our friends’ houses, but we still needed a car. We couldn’t go everywhere on foot. But in Seattle, I only needed a car to drive back and forth to college. Besides that, I never would’ve learned to drive.”

“Did you like Seattle?” Louis asked tentatively. “Like, more than here?”

Harry was shaking his head before Louis even finished his question.

“Nah. Not a chance. I mean, it definitely had its perks. Like, there was this bar near my school that was notorious for not carding anyone when they bought alcohol. So, I would go there with some people after class and we’d just get a few beers. This was when I was still a freshman or sophomore, too.”

“Nice.”

“Plus, there was just so much more to do there. Like, there was always a festival or party to go to, and I feel like I was never at home, even when I was still in high school. And people were just like, cooler out there. Like, they were so different and always had cool backgrounds and awesome stories to share.”

Louis nodded. “No, I get it.”

And Harry should’ve just left it there. He’d made his point plenty clear and, to him, it was obvious that he still preferred Telford.

But there was something that made him keep going. Maybe it was the sad look on Louis’ face or knowing that Louis was now comparing himself to the people that Harry knew in Seattle.

No, it was definitely that.

“But Seattle didn’t have a lot of things,” Harry continued. “Like, it’s expensive and it literally rained all the time. Like, the stereotypes about it are completely accurate. Plus, people don’t know what to do when it snows, so I saw at least one accident every single time we got any. And you can get a ticket for jaywalking. It’s like, fifty bucks.”

Louis laughed. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. People get tickets for jaywalking, which, I know you’re not supposed to do, but seriously? It’s ridiculous.”

“I thought the cops around here were crazy…”

Harry took a deep breath before saying the last part of his speech.

“But that’s not all. Seattle didn’t have my house and it didn’t have your house across the street from me and didn’t have you. And the guys, of course.”

Louis had completely stilled, listening to what Harry had to say.

“Right. Yeah. The other guys.”

He cleared his throat before looking over at Harry.

Harry had his gaze focused on the pitcher’s mound, where their hands lay next to each other.

“Um…” Louis started to say.

Harry’s eyes drifted up to Louis’, and Louis could feel himself starting to lean in.

A sudden cheer from the playground startled them apart. They looked over to see a young child moving across the monkey bars.

“Guess he made it to one end,” Harry said.

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Harry turned back to Louis.

“Wait, come on.” Louis jumped up and went to home plate.

Harry chuckled. “Now what?”

“We saw that you still had it, now it’s my turn.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Throw me a ball,” Louis said.

Harry grabbed one from behind him and tossed it over.

“Now go to third base and charge at me,” Louis instructed.

Oh. Now Harry understood.

With slight difficulty, Harry rose to his feet. “I’m getting too old for this,” he joked.

“You’re not even a year older than me. Shut up.”

Harry shrugged and put one foot on the base.

“Okay. Come on.”

Harry bent his knees and charged straight at Louis. In the old days, Louis would either go down with the person running at him or would manage to stay up while the runner went down. He would have to see what happened today.

He ran straight into Louis, and both of them wobbled, but managed to stay on their feet.

“Nice try, Styles,” Louis said.

“Hang on. I’m going again.”

Harry returned to third base. He warmed up a little more, shrugging his shoulders and rolling his neck. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet and got ready to run for a second time.

“Bring it, Styles.”

Harry licked his lips and steadied his breath. Then he started running again. This time, when they collided, both of them went down to the ground, but Louis managed to catch himself on one of his elbows.

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Almost.”

“Third time’s the charm?” Harry stood up.

“Yeah, or three strikes and you’re out,” Louis mumbled.

Harry went back to the base and this time, he was totally ready. Louis got into position, squatting down just a few inches. He held the ball tightly in his hand and prepared himself.

Harry took off running, keeping his eyes focused on Louis. He pumped his arms, fully intending on hitting him full speed.

But then, when he was halfway between the bases, he thought he saw Louis relax his stance, just a little. He spread his arms out, like he was getting ready to catch Harry when he came at him.

Harry didn’t have enough time to process all of this and adjust his speed, so this time, when they crashed into each other, both of them went down to the ground.

“Shit!” Louis swore, having the wind knocked out of him. His head rested on the ground beneath him and it felt like he would never breathe right again.

“Did I get home safe?” Harry rasped, coughing a few times.

“Nope.” Louis pulled his hand out from between them. He still had the ball. “You’re out, Styles.”

“Whatever. I still knocked your ass to the ground.”

Louis smirked. “Maybe I let you do that.”

“And why would you do that?”

Louis opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but he quickly closed it. “Um…”

Louis picked his head up and looked down, and it was then that Harry realized the position they were in.

They had landed completely horizontally, with Harry partially on top of Louis. He had one thigh in between Louis’ and an arm draped across Louis’ chest. Even with clothes on, it looked pretty intimate, to say the least.

“We should, um…”

Harry’s words were lost when he made eye contact with Louis, whose blue eyes were shining so brightly that Harry felt his breath knocked out of him for the second time that night.

“Louis,” Harry asked slowly, “did you let me crash into you?”

Louis licked his lips, but didn’t respond to the question. He kept staring at Harry, who definitely wasn’t looking away.

Slowly, and without breaking eye contact, Harry moved his head up so that it was closer to Louis’. The two of them were in their own bubble; the rest of the world didn’t exist as they continued moving in toward the other. When their faces were mere centimeters apart, Harry rested his forehead down against Louis’, and it was Louis who finally brought their lips together.

Louis’ kiss was rough, Harry noticed immediately, almost like he was taking the chance before it escaped him. Louis’ lips pressed firmly against Harry’s, moving slowly with them.

Harry rolled his body so that he could prop himself up on one elbow. He let his other hand cup Louis’ cheek as they kissed, stroking his thumb across the soft skin as well as the stubble starting to come in along Louis’ jawline. He breathed in deeply and tilted his head a little more to the side.

Louis parted his lips and once Harry did the same, Louis slipped his tongue in. Harry sighed, letting Louis massage their tongues together.

He felt Louis run his hand along Harry’s side a few times before sliding his hand under the bottom of his sweatshirt. He moved his hand across Harry’s back, scratching lightly as he brought his hand higher.

Harry got a chill and pulled back, lowering his lips to Louis’ neck, leaving a few kisses behind.

“Harry,” Louis whispered.

Harry brought his lips back up to Louis’, joining them for another kiss. They shared a few more pecks before finally parting for good.

As Harry caught his breath, the realization of where he was came back to him.

A gust of wind came by them and he shivered.

He looked around, fully expecting to see people nearby watching them, but fortunately, it seemed like they’d gone unnoticed.

“Harry.”

He jumped, but relaxed when he remembered that it was only Louis beneath him.

“Um… oh, my God. I have to go.”

“What?” Louis asked, confused.

Harry jumped up. “Shit. Oh, my God. Louis, we’re best friends, or, we were, and now we’re friends again, and I teach your brother and this is not what I expected to happen.”

“Harry, calm down.”

“I can’t, I just–”

“What do you need?” Louis asked, starting to get nervous.

“I just have to go,” Harry decided. He looked at Louis and said, “I’ll talk to you later.”

Louis nodded once, but the look on his face told Harry he didn’t agree at all with Harry’s choice.

Having nothing else to say, Harry turned around and headed for Louis’ house so he could get his car.

He didn’t look back.

---

The next day, Harry stood at the door to his classroom, welcoming everyone back from the weekend. He was alarmed when Ernest came up to him looking upset.

“Mr. Styles, why didn’t you say goodbye when you left yesterday?” he asked.

Harry knelt down so that, hopefully, nobody else would hear. “Um, Ernest, I’m really sorry. I just, um, didn’t feel that well. I didn’t mean to leave without saying goodbye, I promise.”

“Oh. It’s okay. Well, was Louis sick, too?”

Harry furrowed his brow. “I don’t think so. Why?”

“Well, when he came back from wherever you guys went, he just went upstairs to his room. Like, he didn’t talk to us or read me a bedtime story like he usually does. It was weird.”

Harry could feel his heart clenching up. Shit.

“Oh, um, I think maybe he wasn’t feeling well, either. He’ll be okay soon, though, Ernest.”

“Okay.”

“Why don’t you go unpack your book bag?” Harry suggested.

Ernest nodded and went into the room.

Harry let out a deep breath and stood back up.

This was already getting messy. He needed to get his shit together, now.

---

“I think I like Louis,” Harry said on Thursday.

He sat in the nurse’s office with an ice pack on his forehead. His head had been killing him all day, so he was spending his lunch break with Sophia.

“Yeah… and?” she asked. “Why are you acting like this is new information?”

“Because it is to me! Like, I haven’t spoken to him all week and I just feel like, off. Like something’s missing.”

“Haven’t Perrie and I been telling you this? It’s about time you caught up.”

“Sorry.”

“Listen, I’m sure that if you talk to him, everything will go back to normal. Look at what happened when you moved back. Sure, it was weird at first, because you hadn’t seen each other in so long, but you got back to sort of normal. You went to the Phillies game together, you’re Facebook friends, you hung out all day at the Fall Festival. For God’s sake, you carved pumpkins with him and his younger siblings. That’s so grossly domestic. So if you have an adult conversation, then the weirdness should stop and you two can finally begin dating.”

“How do you know he likes me back?”

Sophia stared at him for about ten seconds before grabbing her cell phone out of her desk.

“Who are you texting?” he asked.

“Shut up,” she replied. She put her phone back. “For someone who’s so smart, you’re not very bright.”

“Um, thanks? For the first part, I mean.”

“You’re welcome.”

Twenty seconds later, Perrie came bursting in.

“Louis likes you, nerd,” she told Harry. “Now go make out with him or something.”

Harry groaned and readjusted his ice pack. “You make it sound so easy.”

Sophia rolled her eyes. “Because it is. You already kissed him, why can’t you do it again?”

“How did you find that out?” Harry wanted to know.

“Liam. Duh.”

“How did Liam find out?”

“Clearly Louis told him,” Perrie said. “For someone who teaches second graders, you’re not very–”

“Bright, I know,” Harry finished.

Perrie shrugged. “You said it, not me.”

“So what do I do now?” Harry asked. “Since you two seem to be all-knowing and have all the answers.”

“Talk to him!” Perrie and Sophia said at the same time.

“Harry, you two are like, soul mates or something,” Perrie added. “Like, of all the teaching jobs you could’ve gotten, you accepted one where one of your students would be Louis’ brother? What are the chances of that?”

“God, Ernie. It’s so tricky with him in the picture. Like, can I teach my boyfriend’s brother? Is there a law against that?”

“So now he’s your boyfriend?” Sophia smirked.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, it means that,” Perrie started singing, “you want to date him, you want to love him, you want to kiss him, you want to marry him!”

“Please stop,” Harry pleaded.

“Harry, please go talk to him,” Sophia said. “I can promise you he’s in as bad shape as you are.”

“How do you know?”

“Niall,” Perrie cut in. “You seem to forget that people talk around here, especially when it concerns friends.”

Harry sighed. “Thanks, I guess.”

Perrie smiled. “You’re welcome. Now, I’m going to go finish my lunch. If you need help realizing anything else or need help planning a grand declaration of your love for Louis, let me know.”

She got up and left the office and Sophia asked him, “So, what’s next?”

That was a very good question, but Harry didn’t have an exact answer yet. He just knew that whatever he planned on doing, it needed to be sooner, rather than later.

---

On Friday night, Harry was exhausted. The whole situation with Louis had been all he could think about all day, and he was just thankful that he didn’t actually blurt out something about Louis’ tongue while the health teacher was instructing the kids on dental hygiene.

He walked into his apartment and dropped his bag on the table. At the moment, he couldn’t decide if he wanted to go to bed, eat a huge dinner or finish off the six pack in the fridge.

He scratched at his side and decided that before he did anything, he needed to change.

He went into his room and pulled boxers, sweatpants and a T-shirt from his dresser and dropped the clothing on his bed. As he stripped off his old clothes and put them in the hamper, he heard someone knocking loudly on his door.

“Coming!” he yelled toward the living room.

He pulled on the T-shirt and was annoyed that the knocking only seemed to get louder. He grabbed the sweatpants and put them on, deciding that whoever was trying to come in would have to deal with him going commando.

He hurried down the hallway and pulled open his front door, finding Louis standing there with his hand raised like he was about to knock again.

“Hey,” Harry said.

“Hey. Um, sorry for the knocking. I wanted to make sure you heard me.”

“Pretty sure the whole building heard you.”

Louis blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. How did you know where I live?”

“Soph told me.”

Of course.

“Yeah, apparently she has access to employee files so she can be aware of allergies and stuff like that, so…”

“So she served as your informant. Nice.”

“Shit, you’re not mad, are you? I’m sorry, I didn’t even think–”

“Louis, I promise it’s okay. Do you want to come in? We should talk.”

“Yeah.”

Louis slowly walked over the threshold. He didn’t move more than another few steps.

Harry closed the door and looked him over. Louis looked as nervous as Harry felt at that moment. Although, according to Perrie and Sophia, Harry had no reason to be nervous.

Harry walked over to the couch and sat down. He figured he might as well be comfortable for this.

“Louis, sit down. Please.”

Louis nodded and sat on the opposite side of the couch.

“Um, so…”

“Look, Harry, can I just… can I be serious about something for a minute?”

Harry sat up a bit straighter. “Yeah. Of course you can.”

“Okay. Um, so… I’m gay. Have been for a while. Well, no, I guess I always have been, but I just figured it out a while ago.”

“When did you figure it out?”

“Um, maybe like a year after you left? I don’t know. But you were the only person I wanted to tell, and you weren’t there, and, by then we’d sort of stopped talking, so…”

“You could’ve called me,” Harry said. “I know we didn’t talk, but that was huge. You could’ve told me.”

Louis scoffed. “And said what? ‘Hey, I just jerked off to the thought of your face, so I think I’m probably gay and I might like you?’”

“What?”

Louis started stuttering. “Uh... shit. That's, um... no! That's not what I meant to say. At all. I, um, didn’t want to tell you that.”

“You got off by thinking of me?” Harry asked.

Louis shook his head. “No. Fuck you.”

“Louis…”

Louis looked down at his hands, avoiding Harry’s gaze.

“Lou.” Harry leaned over, trying to look Louis in the eye. “Lou, tell me.”

Louis took a deep breath and peeked up at Harry before slowly, shyly nodding.

“Holy shit,” Harry gasped.

“God!” Louis stood up and started walking away from Harry. “I’m fucking twenty-five and I just admitted to having a crush on a boy. Shit, this is so embarrassing.”

“No, Louis…”

“I’m sorry!” Louis cried. “Okay? I mean, I was sixteen and having a sexuality crisis, and you were the only person I wanted to tell, but you weren't there, so I missed you and just wanted you to give me a big hug and tell me that it would be okay. Then that started me thinking about you and your stupid face and your dumb hair and your big-ass hands and then, I got a little excited, if you catch my drift, and I just...”

“Holy shit!”

“Harry, I’m sorry! Please don’t think it’s weird, I–”

“Do you still feel that way now?” Harry wanted – no, needed – to know.

“I– what?”

Harry stood up. “Louis…”

“Harry, don’t– don’t do this.”

Harry started walking closer to Louis, who responded by taking steps back, trying to put space in between them.

“Louis,” Harry spoke, as he continued moving forward, “Do you still feel that way now?”

“Um...”Louis stammered. “Well, I don't– um...”

Louis’ back hit the wall behind him and he stood up as tall as he could.

Harry came toe-to-toe with Louis. Placing one hand on either side of Louis’ head, he slightly leaned forward. “Louis?”

Louis took a deep, shaky breath. “Well, I don't think you ever really forget the first person you jerk off to.”

Harry nodded and slowly exhaled. “I’m going to kiss you now. Stop me if you don’t want me to.”

Louis stayed perfectly still, watching as Harry ducked his head just a little, bringing his face a bit closer to Louis’. He licked his lips, leaving them slightly parted, just waiting for the feeling of Harry’s mouth against his own.

The two of them were so quiet in that moment that the only sound in the room was their rough, staggered breathing. Neither one of them dared to do anything else; they barely even blinked.

When Harry’s face was mere centimeters from Louis’, he looked down to Louis’ lips once more, making sure that this was completely okay.

Apparently, it was, because Louis was the one who closed the gap, leaning his face up just enough so that their lips brushed against each other.

Immediately, Harry felt a warm electricity buzzing through his veins. He didn’t give Louis a chance to pull all the way back before chasing his lips again, this time, in a real kiss, one where their lips moved so smoothly and roughly against each other that they were soon left breathless and gasping for air.

Harry pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against Louis’. He stared deeply into his eyes as he caught his breath.

“Hi,” Louis said quietly.

“Hi,” Harry replied. He took another step forward, somehow getting even closer to Louis and eliminating any possible space there had been between them. As he kissed Louis again, Harry brought his hands up to cup his face. Louis wrapped his arms around Harry, fisting his hands into the back of his shirt.

Harry parted his lips and Louis did the same before slipping his tongue into Harry’s mouth.

Harry moaned when he felt Louis’ tongue licking against his. They lazily made out for a few minutes, until Harry decided that it just wasn’t enough anymore. He took a step back, reluctantly pulling away from Louis, just long enough to take his shirt off. He tugged his sweatpants down, remembering a second too late that he hadn’t been wearing underwear.

When he stood back up, he kicked his pants to the side. Then he looked up at Louis, and if he hadn’t been so turned on, he would’ve laughed at the look on his face.

“What?” Harry asked.

Louis’ wide eyes shifted from Harry’s cock to his face.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just… you’re kind of huge.”

Harry grinned. “You’ve seen it before. We showered next to each other after gym class all the time.”

“Yeah, well, you fucking grew, okay?”

Harry grabbed at the hem of Louis’ T-shirt and pulled it over his head. “Well in that case, you probably grew, too.”

“Maybe,” Louis muttered.

Harry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his bare chest. “Let’s see, then.”

Louis stood up straighter, never one to back down from a challenge. He unbuckled his belt and yanked his jeans down. Then he pulled down his briefs and kicked everything away.

Harry raised an eyebrow at how thick Louis had gotten. He bet it would feel nice and heavy in his mouth.

“My eyes are up here,” Louis sassed.

“Yeah, and my bedroom’s back this way,” Harry replied. “Come on.”

He grabbed Louis’ hand and pulled him to the room down the hallway. He shut the door behind them and slowly walked Louis over to the bed.

“So this is your room, huh?” Louis asked.

“Yup. What do you think?”

“I think your room back in Telford was better.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Definitely,” Louis said.

“Well, I disagree. You know why?”

“Why?”

Harry got right in Louis’ face before saying, “My room in Telford didn’t have you naked in it.”

Without another word, Harry pushed Louis down onto the bed and sank down to his knees. Not giving Louis a chance to get comfortable, he took Louis’ cock in between his lips.

Louis’ giggles from falling onto the bed quickly turned into moans. “Oh, that’s good.”

Harry just hummed, moving down Louis’ dick, swirling his tongue. Harry didn’t know how to describe the taste, but he knew that he liked it.

Harry kept bobbing his head, bringing himself a little further each time he sank down. He brought his head up and suckled at the tip for just a moment before quickly moving back down.

Before his jaw started to get stiff, Harry pulled all the way off. He put a hand under each of Louis’ knees and pushed them up, exposing Louis even more. Then, he licked across Louis’ hole.

Louis gasped loudly, not expecting that to happen. “Oh, fuck.”

Harry did it again, licking at the sensitive skin. If he liked the taste of Louis’ cock, this taste was even better. It was much more Louis.

He started sucking at Louis’ hole, pointing the tip of his tongue and starting to lightly push in.

“Harry,” Louis cried out.

His arms shot out to the sides, and his hands fisted in the bed covers.

Driven by the noises Louis was making, Harry buried his face between his cheeks, making loud slurping sounds as he lapped his tongue across Louis’ puckered skin. He bit down gently near Louis’ hole, making Louis arch his back.

“Harry, oh my God!” Louis clapped a hand over his mouth, trying to stifle himself, but it was no use. He was far too loud for that.

Harry pushed his tongue farther into Louis and curled it before pulling his head back. He started poking his tongue in and out of Louis’ ass, which made Louis moan louder and louder until he screamed.

“Harry, fuck me!” he yelled. “Please! Come on!”

Harry wiped off his mouth, which was covered in his own spit, and asked, “Can you come twice in a night?”

Louis groaned at the thought. “I don’t– I don’t know. I guess.”

“Good.”

Then Harry dove back in. He sucked at Louis’ hole, flicking his tongue over the spot a few times before reaching a hand up to Louis’ cock. He wrapped his fingers around it and started stroking up and down.

“Harry, God, it’s too much! Holy shit.”

Harry pulled back just long enough to say, “If you want me to stop, just tell me.”

“No fucking way!” Louis yelled. “God, don’t stop.”

“Okay.”

Harry kept jerking Louis off, twisting his wrist when he got to the tip, and returned his tongue to where it had been before he was so rudely interrupted.

Louis whimpered, unable to even form full words anymore. He reached a hand down to grab onto Harry’s hair and pulled, bringing Harry’s face further between his cheeks.

Harry kept sucking and licking until Louis finally said, “I’m coming! Shit!”

Sure enough, Harry felt his hand being coated in white, hot liquid.

He slowed his strokes, and licked once more, feeling Louis’ thighs shaking around his head.

“Fuck you, Styles.”

“Bet you want to.”

Louis laughed as put his feet back on the bed, but kept his legs spread apart. “Maybe. You have stuff?”

Harry scoffed as he stood up. “Of course. Hang on. Let me clean up.”

“No need,” Louis said before grabbing Harry’s hand and licking all of the cum off it.

Harry watched in amazement as Louis’ tongue glided across Harry’s skin, lapping everything up and leaving his hand perfectly clean.

“Fuck,” he whispered.

Louis winked. “About that stuff…”

“Yeah. Yeah, right.”

Harry walked over to the top shelf of his dresser. He reached in and pulled out a bottle of lube and a condom before returning to the bed.

He quickly tore open the condom wrapper and rolled it over his cock before opening the lube. He coated three fingers and stepped closer to Louis. He easily slid one finger in.

Louis sighed as he relaxed. He put one hand on each knee and shut his eyes, feeling Harry’s finger prod around inside of him.

Harry soon slipped in a second finger, as Louis had been plenty stretched out just from Harry’s tongue. He flexed his wrist, shifting his fingers around and scissoring them apart.

Louis helped with the process, swiveling his hips in small circles as Harry prepped him. He waited for Harry to curl his fingers in hopes of finding Louis’ prostate, but that moment surprisingly never came.

Instead, Harry just added a third finger, making sure that Louis was as loose as he could be.

“I’m so ready,” Louis said, once it seemed like Harry might add a fourth.

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. And I know you are, too. So let’s go.”

“Impatient, are we?” Harry teased.

“You already know I am. I really haven’t changed that much in ten years.”

“Yeah, you really haven’t.”

Harry slowly pulled his fingers out and wiped them on Louis’ skin. “On your hands and knees,” he commanded.

While he waited for Louis to get into position, Harry poured lube over his covered cock. Louis dropped down to his forearms and pushed his ass out farther.

He gave it a quick wiggle as Harry put his hands on Louis’ hips.

Harry laughed. “Keep still.”

“Make me.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. He lightly massaged the skin on Louis’ cheeks before raising his right hand and bringing it down quickly across the right side of his ass.

Louis gasped. “Harry!”

“You said ‘make me.’ What did you think I was going to do?”

“I didn’t see you as a spanker, Styles. But I like it.”

“Yeah?” Wanting to keep it even, Harry slapped Louis across his left cheek, too.

Louis moaned this time. “God, that’s good.”

“Yeah?” Harry asked, lining his cock up with Louis’ hole. “What about this? Is this good, too?”

He started pushing in and he heard Louis’ breath hitch.

“Oh, that feels amazing.”

Harry kept moving his hips forward, feeling his dick slide further in. Harry thought he loosened Louis up, but it didn’t seem like it. Louis was still so tight, and the pressure felt amazing.

“Oh…” Once Harry was fully in, he dropped down to his hands and draped himself across Louis’ back. He licked a small patch of skin near Louis’ ear before sucking it between his teeth. He needed to do something while he waited for Louis to get used to the stretch between his legs.

Louis moaned again. Harry shifted his hips just slightly, not wanting to move too quickly.

“You feel amazing,” Louis whispered.

“So do you. Christ.”

Louis smirked and bit his lower lip. “You can move now. In fact, I think you really should.”

Harry nodded and kissed the spot on Louis’ neck he’d been sucking on. There would be a nice mark there in the morning.

Harry lifted himself up and leaned back on his shins. He pulled out just a bit and pushed back in.

“That’s perfect, babe,” Louis praised.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, just like that.”

Harry pulled out again, this time a little farther, before sliding back in. He watched as Louis’ hole sucked his cock in every time he moved forward, like Harry was meant to be there. It was mesmerizing, how their bodies were already so accustomed to each other.

Harry kept pulling out, just a bit more each time, until he was almost all the way out. Then he slammed back in.

“Oh!” Louis cried out. “Oh, do that again.”

Harry repeated his movement, sliding out and in very quickly. He leaned his body forward, supporting himself on his hands. Before long, he was pounding away at Louis’ ass, the only sound in the room being their heavy breathing and skin slapping against skin.

With one particularly rough thrust, Louis let out a long wail. Harry knew he’d finally found Louis’ prostate. He aimed his dick toward that spot. He couldn’t hold back his smile when Louis fell forward, unable to support himself any longer. His face was pressed into the blanket while his hands lay on either side of his head.

Louis couldn’t do anything but take it, groaning in pleasure as Harry continued.

“God, you fuck me so good,” Louis said. “Oh, I’m gonna come.”

“Not yet. Turn over.”

Harry pulled out slowly and placed his feet on the floor, waiting for Louis.

“What?” Louis whined. “Are you kidding? No! Come on!”

Harry grinned. He returned his hands to the bed, hovering over the bed. He whispered into Louis’ ear, “It’ll be worth it; I promise.”

Louis reached a hand up and wove his fingers into Harry’s hair. He yanked – hard – and threatened, “It fucking better be.”

Harry winced at his hair being pulled, but it only spurred him on even more.

“Oh, baby; it will be. Now come on.”

“Fine.”

Louis flipped over onto his back and Harry pressed his cock right back into his hole.

“Oh, God,” Louis whispered, feeling himself being filled up again.

Harry didn’t move right away, though. He was debating something in his head, and he knew he only had a minute to decide what to do before Louis called him out on it.

Not wanting to give Louis a chance to get impatient, Harry asked, “Can I try something?”

All Louis could do was nod. Feeling Harry’s cock filling him up again was almost too much. He just felt so full that he wasn’t sure if he could even speak.

“Okay. Hang on.”

Louis wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck, expecting Harry to start pounding away. But to his surprise, Harry snaked an arm around Louis’ waist and stood up.

Louis gasped, gripping onto Harry’s shoulders as Harry started walking away from the bed. Harry pressed Louis up against the wall, holding him there securely.

Harry’s cock was still up his ass, and as he got situated, Louis could feel the tip slide across his prostate.

Louis cried out at the sensation, his legs tightening even more as he seized up, his hole clenching down on Harry’s dick.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis moaned. “Oh, my God.”

Harry thrusted up slowly, checking that the angle was right. “You ready?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, and kept moving in and out of Louis, watching his face as he did.

Louis looked beautiful, just as Harry thought he would be. His face was flushed and he was chewing on his bottom lip as he moaned. His eyelids were squeezed shut, but fluttered slightly with every thrust of Harry’s hips. On one particularly rough jab, Louis’ mouth dropped open, his lips forming a perfect ‘O.’

Harry couldn’t resist leaning in and biting down on Louis’ bottom lip. He nibbled lightly on the skin before taking it between his teeth and pulling slightly back a little.

Louis groaned, opening his eyes and staring at Harry.

As soon as Harry released his lip, Louis lunged forward, jostling Harry’s cock just a bit. He whimpered as he pressed open-mouthed kisses to Harry’s neck.

Harry slowed his hips until he was just barely moving. Louis took the chance to kiss Harry, parting his lips after just a moment. Harry slipped his tongue in and Louis sucked greedily on it, letting out a slow sigh.

Harry leaned forward more as he trailed one hand down Louis’ side. He took hold of Louis’ knee and hitched it up a bit higher around his waist. Then he started moving his hips a little faster.

Louis moaned and hid his face in the crook of Harry’s neck.

“Harry…” he mumbled.

“Yeah?”

“Fuck me.”

He bit down on Harry’s collarbone then, as if that would show how serious he was.

Harry couldn’t help but smile. He wrapped his arm around Louis’ waist and held on tightly. He gently kissed the side of Louis’ head before pulling almost all the way out of Louis and quickly pushing back in.

Louis whimpered. “Again. Please.”

“You got it, baby.”

Harry repeated his movement, sliding in and out as fast as he could while still keeping Louis up. He paused for just a second to slip his right arm under Louis’ right knee. He pushed it up, spreading Louis’ legs farther apart. Then he started moving again.

Louis threw his head back. “Oh… my God! Fuck, Harry. Shit.”

Harry ducked his head and bit down on the skin at the base of Louis’ throat. Louis hissed, but didn’t move away.

“Louis…” Harry moaned.

“I’m gonna come. God, don’t stop.”

Harry kept his pace up and pressed his lips to Louis’. Louis whimpered again, and it only took a few more thrusts before he came between them.

He was so overcome that he bit down on Harry’s lip so hard he wouldn’t have been surprised if he drew blood.

Harry gasped and suddenly, he was coming, too. He could feel the condom filling up deep inside Louis and Louis’ hole clenching around him.

“Holy shit,” he whispered.

When he was sure he was done, he slowly pulled out and lowered Louis to the ground.

“You might have to carry me to the bed,” Louis said.

“Yeah? You just love being in my arms, don’t you?”

Louis smiled. “Well, yeah. That, and I think you fucked the energy out of me.”

Harry smiled back. Then he leaned down and softly kissed Louis on the lips.

Louis placed his hands on Harry’s bare chest and tilted his head up into the kiss. They stood there for another minute, getting one last taste of each other before leaving their perfect spot.

Suddenly, Harry pulled back and bent down, sweeping Louis up into his arms, bridal-style.

Louis giggled as Harry returned him to the bed, gently placing him down. Harry turned away, finally pulling the condom off. He tied it up and walked across the hall to the bathroom to throw it out.

He returned with a wet, warm washcloth. Louis was still in the same spot, on his back with his feet dangling off the edge of the bed.

Wordlessly, Harry wiped off Louis’ stomach and chest. “Do you want to shower in the morning?” he asked.

Louis nodded.

“We should probably talk about this, too, huh?”

Louis nodded again. “In the morning.”

He held his arms open and Harry didn’t hesitate to straddle Louis’ waist before falling into them.

Louis puckered his lips for a kiss and Harry met them happily.

After a moment, he moved his face down to nuzzle against Louis’ neck.

“I missed you,” Louis admitted quietly.

Harry nodded and shifted to look into Louis’ eyes. “I missed you, too.”

He kissed the tip of Louis’ nose, getting a giggle from the other man.

“Come on.”

Harry sat up and started to pull the covers back. Louis pushed himself up to the top of the bed and slipped under the blankets.

Harry lay down on his back and Louis rested his head on Harry’s chest.

They were asleep in minutes.

---

Harry woke up the next morning to the feeling of light touches on his skin. As he opened his eyes, he realized that Louis was tracing the outline of the filled-in heart tattoo on his left arm.

He watched Louis, who hadn’t yet discovered that Harry was awake. Louis’ hair was messy, ruffled by sleep, and his eyes looked a bit puffy around the edges. He was blinking very slowly, like he’d also just woken up, and his lips were slightly parted as his fingers danced across Harry’s arm.

He looked beautiful, and Harry was mad at himself for taking so long to realize that the man of his dreams had been right in front of him all along.

Overwhelmed by the realization, Harry surged forward. Louis was caught off-guard by Harry’s sudden movement, but still managed to kiss Harry back as Harry’s lips captured his own.

The kiss was gentle and slow, and wasn’t intended to lead to anything. Not that it mattered. When they pulled away from each other, both men were left breathless.

“Good morning,” Louis whispered.

“Good morning. How’d you sleep?”

“Really well. You’re really warm, did you know that?”

“I’ve heard that before,” Harry said. After a quiet moment, he added, “We should talk.”

Louis shook his head.

“Louis…”

“I don’t want to.”

Harry laughed. “We have to. A lot happened last night and I just– I want to know we’re on the same page with this. And there’s still a lot we don’t know about each other and a lot we have to catch up on, so let’s just do it.”

“We already did it,” Louis said, trying to divert Harry’s attention.

“Don’t try to distract me.”

Damn.

“Okay, let’s start easy,” Harry suggested. “How about this? What was your big, gay revelation?”

“My what?”

“You know, when you first realized you liked guys? Also, when you got off to the thought of me.”

Louis groaned and pulled the blanket up over his face. “Shut up,” he said, his voice muffled by the covers.

Harry laughed. “Come on, Lou. We really should just get this conversation over with. Do you want me to start?”

“No.”

Louis peeked out from under the comforter. “I’ll go. Just because you’ll keep bringing it up for the rest of eternity if I don’t.”

“You’re not wrong.”

Louis rolled his eyes and changed positions, propping himself up on one elbow. “Okay, so, big, gay revelation?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, so, like I said before, it was about six months after you left that my parents split,” Louis said. “And apparently, it had been building up, but like, none of us knew it, because, I mean, they were our parents. Like, they weren’t supposed to fight or get mad at each other for longer than a night. Nothing was supposed to happen to them, you know? But, my dad moved out after they told us; he got an apartment nearby, so we still saw him on weekends. But my sisters just didn’t get it. It was probably because they were just so young; Lottie was only twelve when it happened, so it was easy to understand. Anyway, one of them was always upset and asking why Dad was mad at Mom or if Dad still wanted to talk to us, and it was a lot to deal with. I kind of stopped talking to a lot of people around then, too.”

Harry thought back to the conversations he and Louis had had back then. He remembered Louis always giving one-word answers whenever Harry asked him a question. Then they went about two weeks without saying anything and Harry didn’t know what to do next. So, he just stopped trying.

Fast forward to now, when Harry saw that he should’ve kept trying. His best friend had been hurting, and it probably seemed like Harry didn’t care.

Louis cleared his throat before continuing. “And then it was summertime, and I went to the pool at my dad’s apartment complex. Well, there was this older guy there and he was just lounging, not even doing anything especially interesting. But he was wearing these dark swim trunks and his chest was all wet, so I guess he’d just gone swimming. But I saw him and I swear, I went from six to midnight real quick.”

Harry snorted. “I haven’t heard that expression in a long time.”

“Yeah, well… That’s exactly what happened. I jumped in the pool and cooled off, so everything was okay, but I couldn’t shake that feeling. For a while, whenever I saw a hot guy, I would think about what it would be like to hug him or run my fingers through his hair or kiss him. And, um, remember Dylan Rutherford? He was the runner, kind of lanky?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, he was in your grade, right?”

“Right,” Louis said. “Well, on the first day of school, I saw him and he’d had a growth spurt or something because he had some more muscles. It wasn’t anything extreme, but you could tell he looked different than he had and, well, he sort of reminded me of you. Like, you two had similar body frames and were around the same height and then I started thinking about you and what you were up to. And, well, you know the rest.”

Harry smiled. “You got yourself off thinking about my beautiful face and realized you probably liked guys?”

“Yeah. That. But I couldn’t just call you and tell you, so I kept that to myself. Well, until I met Niall and Liam.”

“Wait, they knew?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah, we were hanging out one night and I got pretty drunk. Of course. Well, according to Liam, we were talking about first loves for some reason, and apparently, I said that you were mine.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “Love? Wait, do you–?”

“No, no! I don’t now,” Louis rushed out. “It’s just that, back when I was sixteen, I thought jerking off to someone meant ‘love.’ But no, those feelings went away really quickly once we stopped talking. So no, I don’t love you now, since we’re not at that stage yet.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Yeah. Um, that’s not to say that I couldn’t, but not right now. No.”

“Got it.” Harry smiled. “I could too, you know. One day.”

Louis grinned and the two of them moved forward, sharing a quick kiss.

“Anyway,” Louis said, once they parted, “I told them all about you and how we were best friends but you moved and we stopped talking. But I also said you were the one who made me fully realize I liked guys. So when they found out you moved back, they were a little cautious, but very excited for what it could all mean.”

“Yeah, I feel like they were eyeing me up when we all saw each other at the pub,” Harry told him.

“I believe that. They’re sort of protective like that. Well anyway, that was my big realization. That’s pretty much what I wanted to tell you at the Phillies game, too.”

“And then Niall showed up.”

“Yeah. Fucking leprechaun. So, that’s it. Your turn.”

Harry took a deep breath. “Well, it was right before my junior year ended. We hadn’t been talking all that much, although now I realize that the divorce probably took up a lot of your thoughts; so, I get it. But, I wanted to call you and tell you about this guy in my Bio class that I kissed. It was during school and I went to the bathroom. Well, he was already in there and we started talking. Five minutes later, I’m pulling him into the stall and he’s got his tongue down my throat. Not my classiest move.”

“Probably not, H.”

“Luckily, we didn’t get caught. We hung out a few times after that, but once he graduated, I didn’t really see him anymore. And, I wanted to tell you but…”

“Man, we really fucked things up, didn’t we?” Louis asked seriously.

“Sort of. Yeah, we did.”

Louis sighed.

“Can I ask you something, though?”

“Sure.”

Harry took a deep breath before quickly asking, “Why didn’t you do any of the traveling you were supposed to do?”

Louis hesitated. “Um, what?”

“Traveling. When I left, you wanted to see the world and get out of town as quickly as you could. What changed?”

“Harry, let’s not talk about this now.”

“Was it because of me?”

Louis bit his lip.

“That’s what I thought,” Harry sighed.

“Harry, come on. Don’t do that to yourself. There were a lot of reasons for why I stayed home.”

“Do you blame me for that?”

Louis frowned. “Why would I blame you for that?”

“I don’t know. Because we had plans and I fucked them all up?”

“Of course not! I’ll admit that was a big reason: once you said that you were going to travel with me, I think I built it up a lot more in my head and got really excited about it. I thought maybe you would change your mind and we’d wind up being abroad for a lot longer than the time you first promised. So yeah, having you move away dulled the excitement a bit, but it was still there. But I meant what I said before. Traveling is expensive and it’s so hard to plan that far in advance. But the main reason I didn’t leave was my family. My mom had the twins a few months before I graduated and it just wasn’t the right time for me to be going off for weeks at a time. She had told me that she would lend me some money to help out with expenses, but I obviously couldn’t take it from her then. So I put the travel plans on hold and decided that when the time was right, I would actually go somewhere. Trust me, it wasn’t all about you. Bit conceited of you to think that, isn’t it?”

Harry blushed. “Sorry.”

“I’m just teasing, babe.”

Harry perked up a bit at Louis saying ‘babe.’

“But I guess it’s not totally unreasonable for you to think that way,” Louis said. “I mean, my mom said it best: we were always together and did everything the same way and felt the same way about things. Hell, we even realized we were gay within like, a few months of each other.”

“I still feel guilty.”

“Harry…”

“I can’t help it; I’m sorry. Just, you couldn’t wait to get out of town and see places and you just, didn’t.”

“It’s not too late, you know,” Louis said. “I’m not dying. I can still go anywhere I want when I want to.”

“Alone?”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Maybe. Why do you ask?”

“Well, we are adults now. I could probably go with you. You know, in June once the school year’s over.”

“Oh, could you now?”

“I could. I mean, I actually have money now. Do you?”

“I might have some in the bank. And by the time we actually went anywhere, I would have more.”

“Do you still have that list that I wrote for you?” Harry wondered.

“Oh, from ten years ago? Yeah, it’s still taped to my wall.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Of course not!” Louis laughed. “But I’m sure we could create a new list. Do you have a passport?”

“I do.”

“Then there’s really nothing holding us back then, is there?”

Harry grinned. “Wait, are we really doing this?”

“I don’t think we have a choice, H. We’ve been waiting ten years for this. I think this summer will be the perfect time to go.”

“I’ll start looking up places for us to go.”

“And I’ll start shopping for swim trunks,” Louis said. “I’m thinking somewhere tropical.”

“I’ll get right on that.”

“You better. Now that I’ve seen you naked, I don’t think I want you to ever put clothes on again.”

“I might scar my students for life,” Harry told him. “And, you know, your brother.”

“Not when you’re teaching, nerd. Just when you’re with me.”

“And will that be often?”

“I really hope so.”

Harry smiled and pulled Louis in for another kiss. As their lips moved together, all Harry could think about was how he really hoped so, too.

June 2017

It was early. Way too early for Louis to be awake, yet here he was, sitting in the airport terminal surrounded by people who had energy like it was six at night, not in the morning.

Louis took a deep breath, getting more comfortable in his seat. He had his head on Harry’s shoulder, who was snuggling him close.

“They’re going to call us soon,” Harry whispered to Louis before kissing him on top of the head.

“Good. I can take a nap.”

Harry chuckled. “Well, with the layover, it’ll take us almost eleven hours to get to Barcelona, so you’ll have plenty of time.”

Louis nodded.

Harry felt like he was going to fall asleep soon, too. He tried to keep himself awake by people watching, but the most interesting person around was a four-year-old who was bouncing up and down by the windows, watching other planes take off.

Harry loved children, but even that got boring really quickly.

He looked around at the other people in the terminal and made eye contact with a middle-aged woman sitting in the row across from him.

She was watching Harry and Louis closely, so Harry smiled at her.

She smiled back and asked, “Honeymoon?”

Harry’s eyes widened and Louis shifted around at the question.

“Wait, what?” Louis mumbled.

“Are you two on your honeymoon?” she repeated. “You have that sort of ‘Just Married’ glow.”

“Oh, no,” Harry said. “No, um, we’ve only been together about eight months now. This is just a trip that we’ve been waiting years for.”

“Oh, okay. What made you pick Barcelona?”

“The weather,” Louis told her. He smiled and looked up at Harry. “That and we’ve just always wanted to go. It’s sort of a bucket list, I guess.”

“We’re staying in Barcelona for a few days then going over to Madrid,” Harry said. “And we’re ending the trip in Tenerife. We’ll be gone for two weeks.”

“Wow.” The woman looked impressed. “That sounds wonderful. You two must be some serious world travelers.”

Louis bit his lower lip. “Well, we wanted to be, but, you know… life just sort of got in the way. But we’re making up for it. We’ve got a whole list of places to go.”

“Yeah, this is just this year’s trip,” Harry said. “Next year, we’re going to Bulgaria.”

“Oh, wow,” the woman gasped. “Bulgaria? What’s over there?”

Louis looked up at Harry and smiled. “Not sure, to be honest. But we’re going to find out.”