“So what’s the big emergency?” Liam tugged off his tie as he dropped down next to Harry on a bench in the younger boy’s favorite park. He had left his family party early after receiving a voicemail from Harry claiming he needed to see Liam right that second.
Harry glanced up at him with wide eyes, “Niall.”
“Niall? What about Niall?”
Harry tugged one of his curls, “I did what you said.”
“You did what I…” recognition dawned on Liam’s face. “Oh you asked him out.”
Harry nodded quickly and Liam saw a flush of happiness on his cheeks, “Now what do I do?”
“When’s the date?”
“Tonight,” Harry nibbled his bottom lip.
“Where are you going?”
“The movies.”
“Dinner first?” Liam wondered.
Harry paled, “No I just said movies. Should we go to dinner? Did I mess it up already?”
“Calm down,” Liam laughed at his best friend and threw an arm around his shoulder. “You didn’t mess anything up. Besides, Niall really likes you. I don’t think it matters where you take him.”
“I made him a present.”
“A present?” Liam furrowed his eyebrows. “On the first date?”
Harry was too distracted to reply as he dug around in his bag, finally coming up with what he was looking for. He handed the thick piece of paper over to Liam and the older boy studied it quickly. It was an intricate sketch of Niall’s eyes. Even though it was done in black and white, Harry had somehow managed to capture both the color and the absolute aliveness of Niall’s eyes with his charcoal. It was stunning.
“Is that weird?” Harry took the paper back from Liam and carefully reinserted it into his sketchbook before continuing the conversation. “Drawing him something?”
“I think he’ll like it,” Liam replied honestly. “Now as for the rest of the date…”
-
Harry tried to remember what Liam had told him as he smoothed his curls over his forehead. At least he looked all right. Liam had helped him pick out his outfit; dark jeans, a Ramones shirt, and white Converse.
He paced back and forth on the sidewalk outside the movie theater, a muttered sentence tumbling from his lips so he wouldn’t forget. “When he shows up, tell him he looks nice.”
“Harry!”
The green eyed boy glanced up to see Niall coming at him from across the parking lot, his smile vibrant under the street lights. Harry waved slightly, just a small twitch of the wrist, and waited for the blonde to approach him.
“Hi,” Niall gave him a brief hug.
“Y-you look nice,” Harry mumbled when they pulled apart, his eyes on Niall’s feet. He hadn’t actually seen what Niall was wearing but he didn’t think it mattered much. Niall always looked cute.
“Thanks Harry,” a small hand fit inside his larger one and Harry was glad Niall had decided to take control. He would have just messed things up. “You ready to go in?”
Harry nodded and followed his date into the lobby of the movie theater. “I’m sorry about not taking you out to dinner first, I didn’t really think about it.”
