2
Harry paced around in front of the cafe waiting for Louis to get there.
"Ok Harry, it's ok, you both looked like complete and proper idiots, it can only get better," Harry mumbled to himself as he turned to pace back.
"We both looked like idiots? Pretty sure I looked worse than you babes." Louis chuckled and Harry felt his cheeks redden.
"Oh god, you heard all that? I'm sorry I didn't see you there that's totally awkward random," Harry rambled as he made his way over to Louis, but before he could get there he tripped over the uneven pavement and fell directly into Louis's arms.
"Well, at least I fell for you in one way." Harry laughed before slamming his eyes shut, "I cannot believe I just said that. I shouldn't be allowed to speak. Ever."
Louis laughed in response gripping Harry's biceps tightly to steady them both.
There was an uncomfortable silence before Louis cleared his throat, "Right, so tea? Coffee?"
Harry nodded, holding the door open for Louis.
He may be a bumbling idiot, but he was a bumbling idiot with manners. His mother raised him well.
After an intense look at the menu, Harry decided a mocha with extra whipped cream was the way to go, it was raining and it sounded like the best way to warm up both physically and emotionally.
Louis ordered himself a tea and they found a table with a nice view of the park across the street, it was autumn and the trees were just starting to change color, creating a beautiful rainbow of reds, oranges, and yellows scattered haphazardly across the trees.
They sat in further uncomfortable silence before Harry heard their names being called. In an effort to be chivalrous he ran over to the counter to pick up their drinks and carefully made his way back to their table.
He didn't realize the chairs were secured to the floor and tripped over the foot of the chair as he tried to sit down, but was luckily able to save himself and the tea and mocha from spilling, preventing further embarrassment.
"Nice" Harry remarked to himself with a smile as he steadied himself at the table, taking a long victory gulp of his mocha.
Unfortunately in his celebration, Harry had forgotten that he had just ordered a hot drink, which resulted in him scorching his tongue and spitting mocha out everywhere.
Not all over himself, no the universe hated him too much for that, instead, he was faced with a surprisingly calm, but soggy nonetheless, Louis.
"Oh my God, Louis, I'm so sorry, I didn't - I forgot that I ordered a hot - I'm a fucking idiot Lou, I'm sorry." Harry rushed feeling all the blood in his body rush to his face.
"Haz, don't worry about it yeah? I have 6 younger siblings, I'm used to things being spit up on me. Let's just call it even for the high-fiving incident yesterday ok?" Louis laughed shaking excess mocha off his hands.
The rest of the cafe "date" went by rather uneventfully, they discussed their majors - both psychology - and other interests they shared, which aside from singing, playing guitar, and a little bit of piano, seemed to be few and far between.
Their awkwardness remained but was lessened by the fact that they both had grown used to the perpetual cringe that followed them around, what didn't change was their lack of spark, their lack of chemistry, Harry was confident in the fact that he and Louis could still be great friends, but not "dramatic love declaration and kissing in the rain" kind of soulmates. That just wasn't in the cards for them.
The boys walked to abnormal psych together playfully bumping into one another along the way. It was silent, but it wasn't as awkward or uncomfortable as before, just two friends who didn't feel the need to occupy every empty space with mindless rambles about the weather just to make the other feel comfortable.
If Harry had learned anything from his short relationship with Louis it was that trying to be comfortable would do the exact opposite.
✗ ✗ ✗
Abnormal psychology went by rather quickly and uneventfully. Apart from the part where the professor asked them to pair up to research different treatment plans for different disorders.
Harry practically jumped at the chance to work with Louis, at least he knew him, and didn't have to worry about being awkward around someone else.
Being awkward around Louis was second nature.
The two boys were assigned to research and come up with a list of potential treatment plans for someone with OCD.
Unfortunately, neither boy had a particularly large knowledge of the disorder so they decided some initial research was required. They figured the library was the best place to start, they had several copies of the DMS-5 which would allow both boys to work on their project together. If there was anything Harry hated it was group work where he was the one doing all the work. They agreed to meet outside of Louis's two o'clock class, where Harry was now, to head to the library together.
"Ready Hazza?" Louis asked breaking Harry from his train of thought.
"Yeah...yeah, I'm thinking we should go to the second floor? It'll be quiet enough to focus, but not so quiet that us talking will disrupt people?" Harry suggested, suddenly very afraid he was being too pushy.
Louis just shrugged, "works for me, I have to run back to my room, but I'll meet you there yeah?" Louis yelled over his shoulder running off in the opposite direction.
✗ ✗ ✗
Harry had been waiting in the library for Louis for twenty minutes. Disappointed in himself for letting Louis run off, he cracked open one of the books from the large stack he had collected and began to take notes.
Five or so minutes later he saw a very disoriented and confused Louis, now dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie. They made eye contact and Louis's posture noticeably relaxed.
When Louis made it to the table by the window, which in Harry's opinion had the best view of the campus, he sighed as he dropped his backpack and another small shopping bag on the table.
"Hey, I'm so glad you're here. I hate group projects I always end up doing all the work...Not that I thought that you would flake but I get worried, been burned before." Louis blushed afraid he had offended Harry, whereas Harry just nodded in understand and waved off his inadvertent accusation.
"Anyway, sorry it took so long, I had to convince Liam to let me take the fluffy blanket from the couch, nearly had to wrestle him for it, apparently they're watching a film tonight that requires comfort, I don't know..."
Harry raised his eyebrows at Louis as he dumped the contents of the shopping bag onto the table.
"Now my dear Harold, studying is best done in comfort, so I brought you said fluffy blanket, stole some sweatpants from Niall too in case you want to change, and all the snacks I could carry."
Harry looked down at the table, and tried to hide his smile, Louis was sweet and caring and would be a great boyfriend. Too bad he still didn't feel anything for the shorter boy.
"So I have some fruit snacks, crisps...cereal apparently, umm some jerky..." Louis grabbed the snacks from the table as he continued the list.
"Actually, I don't eat meat sorry," Harry whispered.
"So no jerky then." Louis deadpanned with a serious expression as he threw the jerky over his shoulder.
Harry couldn't help but laugh at his efforts.
"CUPCAKES!" Harry squealed as he looked at the table.
Louis just laughed as he handed the snack and blanket over to Harry packing away the rest. "Just ask if you want more, yeah?"
Harry nodded grabbing both items from Louis with a soft smile.
Louis quickly got up from the table, receiving a questioning look from Harry, "If I came home without jerky and Niall found out it was because I left it on the floor of the library as a joke, he'd kill me," Harry just shook his head and rolled his eyes playfully as Louis returned from retrieving the discarded jerky.
The boys dug into their research, only taking breaks to awkwardly glance at each other.
✗ ✗ ✗
Harry watched students come and go through the library doors as he and Louis worked on their project, after hours of being in the library his eyelids began to droop and he had to fight himself to keep them open until he couldn't do it anymore.
"Psst, Haz, what do you say we call it a night? We've been here for hours and you fell asleep on me about 15 minutes ago." Louis whispered like he was trying to not actually wake the sleepy younger boy.
"Yeah, we got good work done today I'm ready to go to bed." Harry yawned, standing up too fast, resulting in him tumbling over.
"Woah there, where do you live? I'll walk back." Louis caught Harry from falling over careful to steady the boy on his feet.
"Wellington Hall," Harry sighed yawning again.
"Haz, that's all the way across campus, you can just come back to mine? You already know Liam, Zayn, and Niall so no uncomfortable introductions." Louis offered, sounding more like a question than an actual offer.
"Yeah, ok. That sounds...ok." Harry mumbled in reply barely above a whisper.
The two stumbled back to Louis's suite, Harry relying heavily on Louis to keep him upright.
Eventually, after many stumbles and countless apologies to Louis, they made it back to his suite, Harry falling through the door when Louis unlocked it, unfortunately, Niall, Liam, and Zayn were all in the shared living room watching their film. Their heads all snapped to the side and watched in shock as Harry tumbled to the floor.
If that wasn't bad enough, Harry reached for Louis to try to stop his fall, which only resulted in the shorter boy being pulled to the ground on top of Harry, both landed on the floor with a thud, tangled together in a mess of limbs.
"Well, I'm glad to see you two have found your spark, but please Louis, wait until no one is home to climb on top of Harry." Niall remarked turning his attention back to the TV.
Louis threw his shoe at Niall while Harry felt his entire body go scarlet. He was glad he was already friends with the boys, he was certain he would have died of embarrassment if this was his first impression with his soulmates' friends.
Liam and Zayn rushed over to Louis and Harry, helping them up from the ground.
"Thank yo- are you watching Moana? Scoot over, I want to watch!" Harry squealed shoving Niall off the couch to make room for himself, still burritoed up in the blanket Louis had taken for him.
Louis laughed "Moana was the film that required extra comfort Li?"
"Shut it Tommo, the grandma dies and becomes a stingray and it makes me EMOTIONAL, ok?" Niall yelled, now curled up under the blanket with Harry.
Louis watched his soulmate get so excited over a children's film, intently starring at the screen as if it was happening live and in front of him. Louis had to admit Harry was endearing.
"So Harry, you spending the night here? Do I need to sleep on the couch?" Niall joked shoving Harry's shoulder.
"No, definitely not. It's not like that. Like at all. In any way. Not even a little —"
Louis cut him off, with an awkward smile, "Harold. He gets it."
"Oh yeah," Harry scrunched his nose in worry.
"Right, well, ready for bed Harry?" Louis asked desperate to get out of the living room as quickly as possible.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Harry smiled back waving to the boys as he followed Louis to his room.
✗ ✗ ✗
So Louis hadn't exactly thought this through.
Harry was sleeping in his bed, which would've been fine if the bed wasn't so small that their sides were pressed together.
"Sorry Harry, I guess I really didn't think this one through." Louis pinched his eyes shut, wiggling around trying to make space between him and Harry, while simultaneously wishing he could be anywhere else.
"Don't worry about it Lou, we're soulmates I mean we should be comfortable with this at some point right?" Harry sighed.
Louis hummed in response.
"Hey are those glow stars?" Harry asked trying to break the tension that seemed to permanently live between the two.
"Yeah, stuck them up there myself," Louis replied.
"Nice, nice," Harry mumbled, clearly this was not the conversation starter he had thought it would be.
"Well anyway, goodnight Harry."
A few minutes went by in silence, both boys staring at the ceiling.
"Lou?" Harry asked.
"What's up?"
"Can we watch a rom-com?" Harry begged, desperate to get out of Louis's bed.
"Let's. Please." Louis responded already throwing the duvet off himself.
"Race ya" Harry raised his eyebrows and launched himself towards Louis's door.
Somehow, even with a couple of stumbles, Harry made it to the TV first, deeming himself the winner and the decider of the film.
"LOUIS! YOU HAVE MARIO KART?" Harry whispered yelled, careful to not wake the other boys.
"Of course we do Harry, we have taste." Louis rolled his eye in mock offense.
"Can we play Lou? Please?" Harry asked batting his eyelashes.
Louis let out a brief laugh before quickly dropping his smile, "I will destroy you Styles."
"Why am I not surprised you chose Bowser." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Ok keep talking Toadette." Louis smacked Harry's arm.
✗ ✗ ✗
"Wanna smack talk Toadette again?" Harry poked Louis's cheek as he giggled after yet another victory.
"Best 21 out of 40." Louis huffed throwing his remote to the side, crossing his arms into his chest as he sat back on the couch to sulk.
"Face it, Louis, I'm just better." Harry booped Louis's nose in triumph.
Suddenly Harry's face dropped as if he had to tell Louis a vital secret. "Can we make a fort and sleep out here?"
"Harold, that is the best idea I have ever heard."
✗ ✗ ✗
An hour later they were laying in a carefully constructed fort, with a wall of pillows in-between them that they both agreed was vital to the structural integrity.
It had nothing to do with the fact that neither of them wanted to repeat the uncomfortable interaction that occurred in Louis's room.
"Want to watch Friends?" Harry asked, head peeking over his side of the pillow barrier.
"The answer to that question will always be yes," Louis replied seriously.
"I'm going to be honest and I'm sorry if it hurts our friendship," Harry said as if he was delivering Louis life-altering news and not just his opinion on a TV show that had been off the air for nearly twenty years.
"I -" Harry looked around suspiciously, "I don't think Ross and Rachel were that great together. Don't get me wrong I love love, but I feel like at the very least Rachel should have stayed on the plane and had Ross follow her to Paris? She had this amazing character progression and then just threw it all away for a guy. Which completely goes against why she had the character development in the first place." Harry ranted on, clearly outraged by the decisions made by the Warner Brothers production team.
"Haz? You're completely right. Outrageous decision, truly. Do you know what scares me about Friends? Imagine if that were real life. Like if you didn't know your soulmate when you met them. I can't imagine how stressful life would be," Louis replied.
"But like, even though so much fucked up shit happened Ross and Rachel are clearly soulmates, and Joey and Phoebe are soulmates in a platonic way. Like Phoebe and Joey complement each other better than Ross and Rachel do, and they're not even together. I know we joked about it, but maybe there's truth in that." Harry looked earnest and vulnerable.
And for god sake, Louis needed to throw him a bone.
"So, we're not Ross and Rachel, but we're Phoebe and Joey?" Louis clarified with ease.
"Yeah, does that...are you disappointed?" Harry twiddled with his thumbs looking down in defeat.
"No, well, no only if I'm Joey because you are totally more Phoebe than me, the whole artsy, 'I can wear anything and still look stylish' thing," Louis shrugged.
"Oh, of course, I'm too vegetarian to be Joey, that's all you," Harry laughed turning his attention back to the screen.
"Is this the episode when they wonder what would've been different if Phoebe took the Wall Street job, and Monica hadn't lost weight, and all of that? That one is my favorite," Harry smiled.
"Yeah, it is. Why is it your favorite?" Louis spoke through a yawn, eyelids getting heavier and heavier.
"Because, it shows that sometimes things are out of control, and are going to happen regardless of our decisions. Sometimes I worry about that ya know? Like if I make a wrong decision it will ruin my entire future? I don't know...it's silly but it's reassuring to know some things are going to happen regardless," Harry trailed off, noticing Louis's eyes were closed and his breathing had evened out.
Harry built the pillow wall up higher, just to be sure, before letting sleep overtake him too.