"I'm gonna get some snacks" Zayn announces, getting up from his seat and sliding the compartment door open. "Want anything?" He directs his gaze towards Louis specifically, one eyebrow quirking up. "Tea?"
"Yes please" Louis smiles, feet planted on Ashton's thighs. "No sugar and a bit-"
"I'm not fucking Starbucks"
Louis shuts his mouth and nods, understanding but Zayn already closed the door again. Louis laughs at him and looks out of the window since Liam is reading some magazine and Ashton is watching a Netflix show he downloaded on his phone for the train ride.
They're going to start their last year today, just reunited on the train a few hours ago which involved a lot of shouting and people around them stopped to look at them.
He hasn't seen Harry so far, but he caught a glimpse of Niall and Nick somewhere. Harry was no where to be seen and both of the other boys seemed to be waiting for him, not talking to each other but both on their phones.
There are a few things that happened in the years since Louis met these guys.
First and most important, Zayn, Ashton and Liam are his best friends and he does close to nothing without them, nowadays. They have gotten into incredibly much trouble in their first year, just like Mrs Wilson said they shouldn't. That's how the four of them have built up some sort of pranksters reputation within the first months already and most people try to stay on their nice side, because it makes life and education easier.
If you ever snitch on or insult the guys of room 28, you fucked up.
Which leads Louis to the next change.
Nick Grimshit.
A pain in the ass.
After snitching on them right the first day, they started some kind of war which is actually mostly one sided since Nick doesn't have friends like them that are okay with breaking some rules. Well, Niall doesn't care but he's not that close with Nick, that is just Harry.
Harry is Nick's only friend and Louis has no idea why he's friends with him in the first place. He could do so much better, not only as a friend because while Harry is only friends with him, Nick is very obviously and pathetically in love with Harry.
Which leads Louis to the next topic he would like to address.
Harry.
And their love. Their both-sided, mutual, hot, tension filled love.
As in, Louis has asked Harry out almost every day and Harry rejected every time. At first, he did so politely, sometimes even trying to find reasons why he doesn't have time for Louis, but after some time it started to be just a simple "no" every single time.
Of course, to build up the tension. To make it less boring. It would be boring if he just agreed.
Louis is convinced sooner or later he will agree and it will be fire, in a good way. He is so creative with the pickup lines and some day when they celebrate Christmas with their families together, Harry will tell him how impressed he was each time.
And the last thing is that Louis and Ashton made it into the footie team almost immediately after the start of the school year and now Louis is captain, got the message a few days before he and Zayn headed to the station.
Playing footie, pulling pranks with his best friends, annoying Nick and of course respectfully (sometimes verbally) admiring Harry are his favourite activities.
All in all, it has been some really good years and Louis is very looking forward to next one, the one they're just on the way into, because now they're not first years anymore and people will take them more seriously. Maybe they can finally make their names something that will stay, such as some kind of legends in the halls of the school, told by whispers and rumours that get crazier every day, even when they left school long ago. That's exactly what Louis wants.
That moment, Zayn reenters the compartment and hands Louis his tea, of course no sugar and a bit milk. He always acts tough and sharp but on the inside he's a little baby and he loves Louis and knows every single bit about him.
Louis smiles sweetly and mouths him a kiss which Zayn returns immediately, flopping down next to Liam and leaning against him, he takes a bite off his chocolate bar and leans his head on Liam's shoulder to join his reading.
Oh, that's another thing. Zayn and Liam have bonded right immediately just as much as Ashton and Louis have, just that with Ash and Louis it's because they're literally almost the exact same person, with Liam and Zayn it's because they're so different. They're both quieter than the other two boys, but Zayn is quiet because he's constantly annoyed by everyone and everything and Liam is quiet because he enjoys spotlight the least of all of them and always stays a bit behind.
But in reality, he comes up with the most prank plans, the quiet evil mastermind out of the group, which everyone who looks at them from the outside would suspect to be Louis or Ashton. It's Liam and that's sort of their secret weapon, Louis is sure.
The rest of the train ride is calm, just the four of them and tea and snacks, chatting and talking shit about Nick. Liam gives Zayn a back massage and Ashton and Louis play football with the wrapper of the snickers bar for a few seconds until they realise it's not an amazing kind of ball and they don't have enough room for that in the small compartment.
Louis eventually falls into a light sleep with his head in Ashton's lap, the other boy stroking his hair softly while he continues watching his Netflix show.
That is, until he hits him with Liam's magazine to get him to wake up again and tell him that they've arrived and need to leave the train. Louis groans as he sits up, rubbing his eyes and stretching his limbs even if he was only asleep for a few minutes. He yawns dramatically and Zayn smiles at him, handing him his jacket and taking both of their backpacks.
Ashton and Liam talk about greek statues (Louis has no idea how they started on that topic) as they leave the train, stepping onto the pavement of the station nearest to the school. It's not some fucking Hogwarts shit, so they don't have a train that brings all of the students there at the start of the school year sadly and everyone has to get there on their own. After last year where each of the boys were accompanied by one or both of their parents, they decided to take the train together and walk the last few minutes through the small village.
The landscape surrounding the big building of the school is mostly forest and long grasslands and the nearest village is about a twenty minute walk away. They are allowed to go there on the weekends, to get some tea in a cafe or even go shopping in the small mall.
"So Lima" Ashton says as they all mostly get away from the crowd of people on the platform who now want to get onto the train in order to not cause any trouble. "We're all shit at this inner GPS system so you'll have to get us out of this train station"
"Of course" Liam sighs, but he's smiling and they all link arms in order to not lose each other in the crowd of busy people.
It's warm, not too warm since they're still in fucking England, but a comfortable, only T shirt temperature and the birds are chirping and Louis smiles at that, he loves summer.
The four of them just make their way towards the main hall with the shops and tourist information centres, as Zayn seems to spot something or rather someone in the crowd and comes to an abrupt halt.
Liam walks into Zayn at that since he didn't look where he was going and Zayn stumbles at the impact, Liam catching him with his hands on his waist from behind.
Louis and Ashton both eye the incident and Ashton sends Louis a pointed look, eyebrows almost touching his hairline but they don't comment on it.
"Anyway" Zayn says and Liam takes his hands away as he's sure Zayn caught his balance again. "Why I stopped"
They all turn their heads back to the front at the change of topic and Louis tries to spot a familiar face in the mass of people, someone Zayn could have recognised.
Ashton suddenly gasps and moves behind Louis, so does Zayn and eventually Liam as he seems to have found that person in the crowd as well.
"Why are we hiding behind me now?"
"We're just ready to catch you in case you faint" Liam says and Louis grimaces, turning his head around to look at his friends.
"Why should I faint?"
Ashton groans and takes Louis' chin into his hand, placing his own head on his shoulder to get a similar angle. He slowly moves Louis' head and eventually lifts his arm to point at someone. Louis tries to find what he means but he honestly doesn't see anyone he knows here.
"What the fuck are you guys trying to show me can't you just tell m-" He stops short, breath cutting off for a second. "Holy fucking hell"
He immediately feels six hands on his back and arms, even though it's ridiculous. He would never fucking faint.
But his jaw is still practically on the floor and he feels a bit dizzy. Okay, maybe they have a point.
Because there is Harry.
Niall is right next to him, eating chicken nuggets out of a small box as they stand in front of one of these displays that announce the next trains.
It's not that, seeing Harry here isn't exactly surprising. It's just the way he looks, that has Louis almost fucking drooling.
He looks different like, totally different. Louis doesn't know what he did it's not the usual "come back after four-week vacation and look different". It's not like he got glasses or got rid of glasses or suddenly became more muscular. He didn't grow his hair out of cut it off in a buzz cut or anything, but it looks different.
What had been a mop of curls that hadn't been able to be controlled on his head, making him look like a fucking giant baby, so cute and pretty Louis had died every time he looked at him, is now... different. Louis can't even describe what happened. They're not curlier to less curly, that's not it. They're a bit shorter at the side and somehow swapped over Harry's forehead but somehow also not quite. Louis doesn't find words for it except fucking hot.
It's hot.
Combined with the fact that Harry someone apparently managed to make a full face transformation over the holidays is too much for Louis. His bone structure is amazing, now less hidden by his baby face. He looks older. His eyes look greener. He looks just three hundred percent more beautiful.
It's almost as if that's not Harry anymore, or at least it's a different Harry. But then the next second, the old Harry is completely back as he starts laughing at something Niall has said with a mouth full of chicken wings, as far as Louis can tell from the distance. His dimples are so deep and the crinkles of his eyes make his face look just the way Louis knows it.
Ashton eventually chuckles and they push Louis forward to get walking again because they're still in the main hall of the train station and need to get to the school soon.
Louis bats Ashton's hands off of him but keeps his eyes on Harry, who turns to Niall now, talking to him.
Oh god, there had been so many times Louis wished to be in Niall's position over the last year. Niall knows everything. Harry is so incredibly close with him, they probably pulled all nighters and just talked the whole time. Harry probably opened up to him about everything. Niall knows about Harry's past, his wishes for the future and he knows his favourite food, favourite colour and what his dream job is, he knows about crushes and maybe past time girlfriends or boyfriends. Long story short, Niall knows everything Louis wants to know about Harry. Louis wants to be the person Harry tells all this, he wants to be the person he trusts with stuff like that.
Don't get him wrong, Louis isn't jealous of Niall or anything. He's rather happy that it's him, that Harry chose him to be this person for him and not fucking Nick or some shit like that. But there's still a part of him that wishes Harry hadn't rejected him on their first day or maybe he hadn't even asked him out then, so that they could have had a chance to be close. Because every time Louis tries to make contact, to try to build something like the fundaments of a friendship, Harry pushes him away because he thinks Louis only wants to go out with him. And well he does so Harry's not that wrong with that.
Suddenly Louis realises that they are right in front of Niall and Harry, his bastard friends just used his state of being deep in thoughts and practically pushed him over to the two.
Niall sees them first, or maybe Harry already saw them but chose to ignore their presence.
"Hi lads, haven't seen you guys in like a hundred years" He exclaims with a loud, excited voice.
"Damn Nialler, you look good for your age" Ashton says and does a weird handshake with Niall.
The blonde then claps Zayn and Liam on the back as a greeting. He's good with all of them but keeps his distance from Louis, probably because of Harry.
Louis isn't mad at him for that, it would be weird for all involved people if he was like best friends with Louis. Especially because he's also close with Nick (mostly through Harry and not because he wants to) and Nick absolutely despises Louis and that's mutual. The two once had to team up for a project in art class and got along very well so Louis knows Niall is definitely a nice guy and he thinks when he's dating Harry in near future, they will be good friends.
Harry only greets the four of them with a tight smile and a small nod, then looks at Niall with a face that's probably supposed to say "Why didn't we run when we had the chance now we need to walk to the school with all of them" And Louis seriously can't blame him, they can be a bit much. But that's the whole point.
They eventually make it out of the train station as a group of six and Harry trails behind as he gets a call from someone, Louis assumes it's his mother.
He doesn't listen to the conversation, of course he doesn't. He wouldn't be able to if he wanted over the strong sound of the wind and how quiet Harry is talking.
But he glances back once right when Harry hangs up and puts his phone back into his pocket, so he quickly leaves the conversation between Niall and Ashton in which he didn't really participate in anyway and slows down his steps to be on Harry's level.
He doesn't smile at him as a greeting or anything nice, but neither does he roll his eyes or walk faster to catch up with the other boys. He just stays at that speed of walking, apparently not bothered that much that he's now kind of alone with Louis and will probably, most likely, have to talk to him.
"Hello Harry"
"Hi Louis"
"How are you?"
Harry just shrugs, looking at the ground.
"I'm doing great as well, thanks" Louis says and waits for Harry to snap at him or to just give any answer, but it never comes.
"That's amazing Louis that makes me so happy, listen it's amazing weather today isn't it?" He answers himself instead and makes his voice a bit deeper as well.
Harry sends him an annoyed side glance but continues to stay silent.
"Yes I think so too, we should go for a walk later today, just you and me"
He smiles as he once again imitates an answer Harry doesn't give. "Oh what a great idea, Louis, you're so amazing and romantic and gorg-"
"Don't you need to talk about football with Ashton or something?" Harry interrupts him. His tone is still soft though, not snappy.
"But I want to talk to you"
Harry just huffs and starts kicking a rock in front of him. He always kicks it a few feet away and then they slowly catch up with it and he kicks it again. Louis follows that motion wordlessly for a while, both of them just walking next to each other.
"Did I tell you already how fucking great you look with your new haircut?"
"No"
"You look fucking great with your new haircut"
"Thanks"
"I'm serious" Louis says and walks faster, then turns around to walk backwards in front of Harry to see his whole face instead of just his side profile. "Don't you know anything of being humble? Your hair and your eyes, your fucking jawline... You're so tall and gorgeous and you literally walk around like that, why are you doing this?" Louis tuts in disapproval. "Literally be humble for once Harold"
Harry looks up to meet his gaze and he's not smiling but his eyes look like he's close to it.
"Do you want to explain the texts I got over the holidays?" Harry changes the subject suddenly and Louis' mind is blank for a moment, trying to think which texts Harry means.
Oh yeah, probably the few he sent in the middle of the night. Sometimes also late evening. Actually he sent them at every time of the day and doesn't have an excuse of being tired or something like that.
"Oh right, sorry it was autocorrect"
Harry just eyes him for a really long time before pulling his phone out of the pocket of his Levis jeans and unlocking it, scrolling through chats for a moment. "Your autocorrect wrote 'you're so fucking hot, run me over with a truck please'?"
Louis chews on the inside of his cheek, squinting his eyes at Harry, still walking backwards to face him. "Yes."
Harry scoffs but Louis is convinced that it's actually only to cover up his laugh. He speeds up his steps all of a sudden and turns his head as he walks past Louis and catches up with Niall. Which he does because he doesn't want Louis to see his smile. Probably. The chances for that to be true are like ninety-nine percent. Or forty, Louis has no idea.
"So it's a picnic date later today?" He says after him and Harry just shakes his head without turning around again.
Louis sighs and walks towards Zayn and Liam who are talking about advanced English class, nothing Louis has interest in, so he interrupts the conversation with a dramatic sigh.
"What's wrong?" Liam asks, making room for Louis to walk between the two.
"Everything"
"Because Harry said no?" Zayn asks and puts an arm around Louis' shoulder as they slowly near the school building.
"No, because it's raining" Louis scoffs. "Of course because of Harry"
They finally enter the school and get into their rooms first to drop off their bags they had with them, not bothered to actually unpack them before heading back off to lunch in the lunch hall.
They sit down in the middle of the long table, the others originally wanted to get into the back to throw food at other students without being seen by the teachers, but Louis might have dragged them over to the middle of it, because he saw a certain blond dyed head sit down there, and where Niall is is also Harry.
So he drags his friends over there and makes it look unplanned, like the smooth guy he is. "Oh Harry, didn't see you there"
Harry just answers with a tight smile, probably forcing an eye roll down as he crosses his arms on the surface of the table and leans onto them.
Nick sits down next to Harry, of fucking course, so Louis decides to sit down on his other side, while Ashton sits down next to him and Liam and Zayn next to Niall, who immediately starts talking to them enthusiastically.
Nick looks at the encounter with furrowed brows and tight eyes. Louis knows that he absolutely hates how close Niall is with them because the more friendly he gets, the more Harry also spends time with them because that's how Harry and Niall work. And Niall has been close with Ashton right from the start because they both like Nando's. On a spiritual level. Like a religion or something, Louis can't keep up.
He originally thought it would pull Harry, Niall and Nick apart, that Niall is friends with Nick's worst nightmares, but apparently Harry holds them together. Louis has overheard some conversations or even fights about the problem at first but it somehow suddenly stopped and stayed like it was from the beginning.
As Louis sits down, Harry sends him an annoyed look but doesn't say anything further, just like he does most of the times. Doesn't quite push Louis away from him but ignores him and doesn't acknowledge his existence much. Which is okay, totally fine.
"What the fuck is he doing here" Nick greets Louis with a sharp side glance. Even if it's always Ashton, Zayn, Liam and Louis who pull pranks on him and annoy him from time to time, he has the most hate towards Louis and he expresses it.
It's probably because Louis is in love with Harry and Nick is also in love with Harry and Harry knows that. He apparently hasn't shown any interest in Nick either so far because, well, because they're not dating.
So Nick seems to see Louis as a threat.
"God I hate him" Louis says loudly to Zayn, talking across the table.
Liam, Zayn, Ashton and surprisingly even Niall let out chuckles at that, while Harry calmly starts eating the food in front of him without commenting on the situation.
"I can hear you, you know that?" Nick spits.
"Grimshit, please" Louis says, turning towards him and speaking over Harry. "I'm having a private conversation with Zayn"
"What the fuck is your problem?"
Louis pretends to think for a moment, pursing his lips and staring at the wall opposite him.
"I think I'm too pretty, not sure though"
Nick rolls his eyes with a huff and grabs his plate, getting up from the table. "Harry?" Is all he says in a questioning tone and Harry seems to snap out of thoughts he's probably been lost in in order to ignore their fight.
"Where is he going?" Niall asks as they watch Nick walk away.
"Hell?" Louis answers and turns around as well to look at his retreating figure.
Zayn, Ashton and Liam laugh but Harry gets up as well. Louis pretends to be surprised with a fake gasp. "Oh you meant right now?"
His thoughts are proven correctly as Nick sits down on the far end of the long table, just across the hall from them and Harry follows shortly.
Louis sighs and they get back to eating, finishing lunch, with Niall staying with them.
"I don't want to hear his fucking whining right now" He explains shortly in a quick break of stuffing food into his mouth.
"But you're friends with him" Liam says and Niall sends him a weird look, one eye brow quirked up as if to say "Seriously?"
"Look at the situation. I haven't seen him for weeks and I'm already so done with him after a few minutes. I don't think we're friends"
"Well he definitely thinks so" Zayn comments, looking at where Nick and Harry sit, Nick waving for Niall to come after them and Harry trying to mouth something that neither of the five can make out.
"Well he's wrong then" Niall just shrugs, swallowing the last bit that had been on his plate. "Anyone up for a bit of hanging out in your room so I can get away from him?"
All of them easily agree and they get up as they're all finished eating, walking towards the door together. As they walk past Harry and Nick, they both stare at Niall as if he's just made friends with the enemy, but he just shrugs.
Louis stops in front of Harry and looks down at where he sits on the long bench. "You can always tag around with us if you miss him, love"
Harry glares up at him and Nick places his hand on his shoulder to turn him back around before he can answer.
Louis arms drop to his sides as he watches Harry relax under his touch because it's so unfair. Nick is a literal asshole and Louis should be Harry's comfort. He can tolerate it when it's Niall but not fucking Grimshit.
"I know two men who can build you back up" Zayn says and he pulls him along through the hallway towards their room with the others.
"Ben and Jerry?" Louis asks hopefully.
Zayn nods, opening the door. "Ben and Jerry."