date; [started- 5/16/21 - published- 5/19/21]
{summary; louis works at a vinyl record store when a curly haired lad stumbles in}
no pov
The mid afternoon hustle of the city, with its blaring horns, loud talkers and walkers, as well as police sirens woke the curly head lad up.
A 23-year-old harry with a mop of brown curls, hazy green eyes, and prominent dimples rolled onto the chestnut wood floor from his pink and purple themed queen sized bed.
The thud caused a blonde overly excited man to march in and stand over harry as he adjusts to the ache in his back.
"good afternoon sleeping beauty." niall chirps while shoving bacon into his mouth.
"for gods sake niall, j-just give me a second." Harry stretches and then sits up, being an inch away from niall's sunshine expression, he quickly scoots back.
"sooo, harold my boy, i'm going to need a favor out of you."
Niall has been harry's roommate for quite some time, like two years, they have been friends for even longer.
Niall is one year older than harry, his blue eyes shine brightly in the sunlight and his dyed blonde hair, a little bit dead but still styled nicely.
"you don't even let me wake up you wanker." harry yawns while using the bed to help him stand up, his knees cracking in the process.
"what are you an old man?" niall chuckles while harry stares at him darkly.
"fine, when you finish getting ready mr. grumpy pants, come downstairs and i'll tell you what i need." Niall ruffles harry's bed head and skips out of the room.
Harry rolls his eyes fondly before walking over to the en-suite bathroom, it's small but a bargain considering he works as a baker and niall is still getting his degree in psychology.
Grabbing the pink toothbrush first, and putting way too much toothpaste on, he begins to brush his teeth, tasting gross mint as soon as he wakes up.
He walks back out into his room when he sees something on the bed, it's an already made outfit and he must say it's quite posh.
It's a blue suit with a frilly white undershirt, it also has some beach blue striped cuffs.
The pants are the same shade of blue, they seem to be somewhat high waisted, just as he likes.
The blue color is quite gorgeous, it's not a sky blue yet it's not a navy or ocean blue, harry doesn't know how to quite describe it.
He looks back at the bed to see a sticky note.
'you need to wear this harold to my favor'
to? meaning he has to go somewhere.
He walks back into the bathroom and starts the shower, waiting for the steam to arise, he steps in.
The grim and sweat of yesterday rinses off and swirls down into the drain, the strawberry body wash following suit.
He steps out, almost slipping but catching himself on the sink.
he grabs a soft pink towel, the fibers soft and long. He wraps his lower half before walking out and examining the suit again.
the color is just nothing he's ever seen before, the shade of blue is something he wants all around his house, every single piece of clothing to have this blue incorporated.
He drops the towel and begins dressing, somewhat wondering how niall could ever afford this but he's not going to question it.
He fluffs his hair up and he looks the best he ever has.
It's not his typical sweatpants and hoodie, not his typical messy curls, he looks like a celebrity.
Niall walks in and drops his plate, causing a loud crashing to be heard in the doorway.
Harry quickly turns around and sees nialls mouth agape.
"you look better than what i thought you would." Niall says while running his eyes up and down.
"why thank you kind sir, i do appreciate the suit, it fits like a charm." Harry smiles and helps niall pick up the plate pieces.
"anyways mate, so i need to you to attend this professional meeting for my class" his eyes widen.
"why can't you go? considering you are the one who is taking the course." Harry whines.
"because, the professor is mad at me and told me to make someone else go, so he won't ask you any questions." Niall smiles and harry rubs his temples.
"plus if you do this, i'll give $50, there's a vinyl record store on the way back and i know how much you love those." Niall pushed the money into the younger lads hands.
"thanks... i guess?" Niall throws the keys swiftly to harry who waves nervously and walks out the front door.
He gets in the old beat up car from 2005, they both share it but thankfully the bakery is right down the street so harry doesn't mind walking.
Niall sends a quick text of the directions, the university being about 20 minutes away.
He turns on the radio onto some random 80's station, humming along while whizzing through green stoplights.
Once he arrives at the tall brick building, green moss growing on the sides he knows he's at the right place.
He used to go here, studied engineering for awhile until he decided he wasn't into that field and opening up his own bakery someday would be a dream.
He gets out of the car and fixes the stunning suit, walking in with his beat up white vans on.
Harry quickly finds a seat with the name tag 'Niall Horan' at the table, also there is the professor, an old man with a big white beard, like santa claus.
There's also a young girl, she's wearing a long black dress that matches her curly black hair. Another boy who is wearing thick framed glasses, and finally a lady with a clipboard, probably to evaluate.
Harry gulps in his seat.
"hey, you aren't niall." someone finally acknowledging his presence.
"uhm.. i.. was told by h-him to come here." the black haired girl smiles.
"well my name is cassidy, that's professor smith, that's eric, and that lady is here to take notes on our discussion."
"discussion?"
"hopefully you know stuff about psychology , this meeting will give us the opportunity to earn another scholarship to help pay for second semester." she smiles and turns to talk with Eric.
I quickly pull out my phone, almost knocking over my glass of sparkling water.
harry to niall; the fuck man, this meeting is about scholarships, i don't know anything about psychology.
niall; the professor said there wouldn't be any educational questions, shit.
harry; not sure what you want me to do, i can try?
niall; no, it's fine, you can leave, don't want you embarrassed
harry; do you want me to return your $50? :(
niall; no haz, you still earned the vinyls haha
harry; you really are the best nialler
niall; i know
Harry waves nicely to the other people at the table and excuses himself, running out faster than he can ever imagine.
He runs to the car quickly hopping in, the anxiety finally pushing out into the air.
He starts the car and starts driving back home, keeping his eyes out for a vinyl store, he isn't expecting like a huge store or anything.
He knows he found it with the shitty light up sign that's flashing 'Vince's Vinyls.'
Small would be a compliment, the store on the outside is tiny and squished between two other stores of equal size.
It's a burgundy brick, some cracked some not, either way vince must be 100 years old because the shop is ancient looking.
he opens the door, the chime echoing throughout the entire store, it's decorated with fake green leaves and fairy lights.
Harry's mildly surprised, not expecting such an aesthetic interior.
He begins looking through their wide variety, they have new pop like Britney Spears, The Weekend, Ariana Grande but they also have older music like Micheal Jackson, Prince, and TuPac.
He begins looking in the older section, his fingers fumble through the beat up vinyl covers, used vinyls tend to be cheaper than brand new ones.
"find what you are looking for curly?" Harry jumps back in shock, dropping a 1976 Stevie Wonder vinyl, the record shattering when it hits the concrete floor.
"oh my- i'm so sorry." He quickly bends down not paying attention to the person who startled him, he tries cleaning up frantically when the other person places their hand upon his wrist.
"hey, it's alright, kinda my fault.. didn't mean to scare ya." Harry finally looks up, the man has a light scruff, feathery caramel brown hair, and blue eyes, it reminds him of his suit.
The man stands up and reaches a hand out, harry gladly taking this knight in shining armors hand.
"what's your name curly?" he smiles, his teeth almost bleach white.
"your future husband.." he says immediately gasping and covering his mouth.
"shit didn't mean to say that out loud." He facepalms himself lightly while the blue eyed man chuckles.
"nice to to meet you future husband, i'm louis." he smiles while harry removes his hand and looks at him to get another good look.
"m' harry." he says quietly but he knows louis heard.
"so uhm.. how much do i owe you for the vinyl?"
"nothing." louis walks back over to the counter. Harry following behind him.
"i have to pay some sort of fine, i mean there is literally a sign that says 'you break it you buy it' on the register." Louis immediately ducks under the counter and grabs a sticky note.
He grabs a black Bic pen and begins scribbling some words down. Harry waits in an interested and confused manner.
"you know you have the same name as my favorite artist.." i say while he continues writing.
he looks slightly up to indicate he's listening.
"his name is louis tomlinson, nobody knows what he looks like though, he's kept it secret for awhile." I hear louis cough a bit but as i'm about to ask him what's wrong he places the sticky note next to the break it you buy it sign.
'pretty boys and future husbands are the only exception'
"because i'm your future husband?" harry says while laughing.
"and you're pretty..." louis adds on shyly.
A couple minutes of silence pass, harry picking out a few vinyls.
"all set?" Louis asks while ringing the items up, he nods his head.
"total will be $45.87" Harry hands louis the money and takes the plastic bag from him that's full of his records.
"you can stop by whenever curly." Louis smiles and watches as he walks out the door, harry's grin wide.
*3 days later*
It's not even been that long and niall is fed up, he's tired of harry talking about this louis guy from the vinyl store.
How much louis reminds him of his favorite artist; louis tomlinson
and how as soon as harry got home he was frantically googling names of blue shades.
"harold, i can call the designer and ask for the name if you would like?" Niall asks while harry looks over with a glint in his eyes.
"you tell me that now, fuck you niall but please." he pouts his lip out and niall laughs.
He rushes over to the couch and watches as niall dials the number.
"hello, this is Alfonso, how may i help you?"
"hi Alfonso, this is niall, was just wondering about that suit i purchased like 4 days ago."
"ah yes, was it perfect?"
"it really was! but i was just wondering what shade of blue you used."
"well, i spent a long time researching rare shade colors, trying to find the perfect blue, the shade name is called louis blue."
"thank you so much, i'll be sure to purchase from you again."
"sooo? what's the shade name?" harry asks after niall hangs up.
"it said it was louis blue.."
"louis?!"
"yes you weirdo, you have such a massive crush on that boy."
"no i don't.." harry mutters.
"bullshit, as soon as you came home that night you didn't even care about the vinyls you bought, you just started talking about this mystery boy." Harry flips him off before slipping his sneakers on.
"where are you going?"
"the vinyl shop." Niall smirks as harry rolls his eyes.
"you almost forgot the keys you horny monster."
"NIALL!" he grabs the keys and rushes outside.
The drive is fairly short, around 10 minutes as he travels through the mansion area of town he arrives at the shop.
He opens the door and hears the wonderful chime.
"welcome to- CURLY!" louis immediately walks over.
"hi louis, i was just going to buy some more vinyls." He smiles and watches as louis' eyes light up.
"well, i remember you telling me that you liked Louis Tomlinson... so just follow me." Harry follows louis over to the register, the sticky note still being there.
"i managed to get his vinyl, has his new songs and everything." Harry's mouth falls opens and he almost screams.
"HOLY- he hasn't even released a vinyl version, how did you get this?" harry looks from the vinyl into louis' eyes.
"oh.. pulled some strings?" he says nervously.
"YOU KNOW LOUIS TOMLINSON?!" harry jumps up and down and louis chuckles.
"you could say that.." harry being so excited about this he rushes over and hugs louis who smiles so wide after the curly boy pulls back.
He begins roaming around the store picking up some other vinyls, paying no attention to louis who writes on a different sticky note.
'ask management to order a vinyl of first album'
After 15 minutes harry walks over to the counter and places down a huge stack of vinyls.
"you might be our best customer curly." louis laughs while ringing them up.
"total comes to $120" Harry eyes go wide as he takes out his debit card, hoping that his paycheck came through.
He swipes his card in the machine, louis taps on the computer and looks back.
"try again, it uhm didn't go through." harry's panics as he swipes his card again.
"uhm, do you maybe have a different card."
"i'm sorry no- i'll go put these back." harry says sadly but without any hesitation, louis grabs his wrist and turns the card reader around, pulling out his own card and swiping it.
The purchase successfully going through.
"louis-" harry begins to say before being cut off.
"it's not a problem love."
"not to be rude but.. you work in this small store, you probably make less than me." Louis laughs and ushers a confused harry out the door.
"see you next time curly." louis says between laughs.
Harry gets in the car and drives home, somewhat confused why he was laughing so much.
"NIALL IM BACK!"
"did y'all have sex yet?" niall walks into the living room from the kitchen, holding a box of goldfish.
"what? we aren't even dating, i don't even have his number."
"you didn't deny that you wanted to have sex with him." niall smirks as he kicks his feet up on my lap.
"he paid for my vinyls.."
"so he's a sugar daddy? get some harold."
"niall, i swear, he literally works in a vinyl store he isn't rich, but he has connections to louis tomlinson, he got me his vinyl even though he's never released one." Niall stares at harry with a knowing look.
"maybe he's louis tomlinson." harry laughs loudly and pushes nialls feet off of him, he stands up and begins walking to his bedroom.
"doubt it."
Niall quickly hops onto twitter and searches 'Louis Tomlinson'
a verified yet faceless account pops up, when he clicks it, he sees he tweeted 15 minutes ago.
'boys with curly hair are superior'
niall to harry; he's louis tomlinson, look at his tweet.
harry; you're so funny, i saw it but that's just a general statement, louis is openly gay, the louis at the store is most definitely straight.
niall; he literally called you a pretty boy, he's louis tomlinson.
harry just turns his phone off after that, it could be a possibility but then again why would louis tomlinson work at a vinyl store.
*2 days later*
"how did you get a vinyl for his first album?" harry asks when louis presents it to him.
"just contacted some people." Harry kisses louis cheek sweetly causing both boys to blush.
"i'm sorry- i shouldn't have.."
"it's fine love, i don't mind."
Harry wasn't here to buy any vinyls, he just wanted to talk to louis.
"what's your favorite song off his recent album?"
"probably defenceless, i love the emotion behind it, plus the composition is a masterpiece."
Harry nods his head in agreement, "mine is habit, i can tell he wrote that about someone special, imagine being someone's habit." louis smiles sweetly, he wrote that song about a boy who accidentally peed on him, he didn't get a chance to catch the boys name.
He remembers it being forever ago, and he's been trying to find him ever since, there was an immediate connection between them.
"louis?"
louis is shaken out of his thoughts as harry pokes his cheeks.
"stop being cheeky."
"well, you were zoning out."
(a/n pretend louis has two albums out)
"sorry, just thinking."
"mhm." harry replies as he stares at louis' eyes.
"what's your favorite color?"
"red, what's yours?"
"louis blue." louis chuckles lightly.
"i see you have a thing for the name 'louis'"
"it's more of a thing for you." harry mumbles but louis heard, he pretends he didn't though.
"well bye louis, see you soon."
louis waves goodbye to him.
~
Harry's been laying in his bed for about 30 minutes when he gets a notification that louis tweeted.
He quickly clicks on it.
'did you guys know there's a shade of blue named after me?'
harry without really thinking about the context of his conversation and the tweet, replies;
'it's actually my favorite color, it's absolutely gorgeous.'
Not even a second later, he gets another notification saying 'louis tomlinson replied to your tweet.'
"NIALL FUCK OMG-"
Niall comes running into the room concerned.
"LOUIS TOMLINSON REPLIED TO ME ON TWITTER."
Every night niall had to hear about the vinyl trip harry took but with this mystery at his foot he doesn't mind, he looks at the tweet, remembering what harry said about telling louis his favorite color.
harry reads the reply out;
'thanks darling, what's your favorite song off the album?"
"OMG NIALL HES INITIATING A CONVERSATION!!" harry slaps nialls arm repeatedly.
"calm down curly." niall chuckles.
'it's habit.'
another notification popped up.
'love that one, mines defenceless.'
he goes to twitter trending and sees his name trending with louis'
he opens it and sees people talking about how lucky he is to have louis have a full conversation with him, people already creating ship names.
all he did was reply to a fan?
harry's turns his phone off contently and shoos niall out of his room.
*the next day*
He goes to the vinyl store, this time not seeing louis, he frowns but then the older man approaches him.
"my other employee told me to give you this."
This must be vince.
"thank you." harry heads out and opens the slip of paper.
'call me when you get this; xxx-xxx-xxxx'
Harry immediately grabs his phone and dials the number, hearing it ring twice.
"hello?" harry can hear louis' voice with his strong accent in the other end.
"hi.. it's harry."
"hi future husband, can you stop by this address for me?" Harr begins to nod but then remembers he's talking to louis on the phone and he has his number, maybe he is freaking out a bit.
"sure! do you need me to bring anything."
"just your pretty self, darling." harry blushes at the name and after a long session of "no you hang up first"
He's driving while looking at google maps.
He pulls in front of a large mansion, and he's not quite sure if he put the address in right however after intense switching between screens, he concludes this should be correct.
He knocks in the door, his and nialls car looking out of place compared to the mercedes and ferrari.
He knocks on the door and waits for it to open, a small older woman answers the door.
"uhm.. hi, i'm here to see a louis?" Louis hears the person and quickly walks to the doorway.
"thanks martha, you can take a break." she thanks him and harry stands in shock.
"you can close your mouth curly."
"this is your house?" louis nods his head and steps aside so harry can walk inside.
"do you own like a company or something?" louis chuckles and grabs his phone, motioning for harry to sit next to him.
He holds his phone out and takes a cute selfie of them.
He opens the twitter app and tweets something, harry a bit clueless as to why louis won't answer his questions.
Harry's phone buzzes and he sees a new tweet.
It's the picture of them on the louis tomlinson account; the photo is captioned;
'face reveal with my future husband' harry immediately looks over and sees louis' smug smile.
"you're louis tomlinson?" louis nods his head.
"i didn't tell you because i try to avoid the flash of cameras , that's why i'm basically a faceless celebrity, but i want to be out in the public that way people can see how happy i am with you."
"i- i don't even know what to say."
"don't say anything then." louis whispers and leans in to press his lips against Harry's.
It takes a minute for everything to process; that vinyl store louis is louis tomlinson, that he exposed his face so he could be with harry, that he's literally kissing him.
The last thing sends an alarm to his head to bring him back to reality and just as louis is about to pull away and apologize, harry kisses back.
Harry can feel louis grin. After pulling away, harry grabs his phone and texts niall.
"you were right." he gets a bunch of 'hahaha' as replies.
"so curly, will you go out with me? i'll take you to a nice dinner, buy you the best wine.."
"actually..i was thinking we grab some McDonald's and some cheap milkshakes and head to the vinyl store to eat?"
"anything you want darling." Louis replies.
harry opens his phone to see twitter going crazy after the face reveal and possibility of a new love interest.
~
"look louis i'm a walrus" harry turns to show the two fries he stuck in his gums.
"you are an absolute dork." louis laughs, his smile huge.
harry eats the fries and watches as louis eats, everything he does is majestic.
Louis plops his finger in the whipped cream that's on top of chocolate milkshake.
He quickly bops harry's nose with it, harry scrunching it adorably afterwards.
"heyyy." harry whines while louis laughs again.
He leans forward and kisses harry's nose, effectively getting the whipped cream off.
"you are so sappy." harry says while smiling.
"really? i didn't know." harry chuckles at his response.
"you know harold, you are a lot different compared to past people i have dated, they always wanted big and glamorous things yet here we are eating rubbish Mcdonald's in a small vinyl store."
"i like you for you." harry says shyly, he stands up and grabs a random vinyl and puts it on.
"wanna dance?" louis nods and they begin slow dancing.
"whoops sorry didn't mean to step on your foot." harry apologizes.
"it's fine you clumsy flamingo."
"this reminds me of that time i accidentally peed on that guy when i was 16."
Louis stops them and harry looks sad thinking he said something bad.
"that was you?"
"wait- i peed on you?" harry says shocked.
"i spent ages looking for the person that did that, i wrote habit about them."
"so i was your habit without even knowing it?"
"crazy how life works." louis chuckles as he kisses harry's cheek.
"crazy how soulmate shit works" they both laugh and hug each other closer.
• authors note •
ngl this is pretty cute idk, sorry it went by so fast, i'm terrible at making long stories haha