Harry was daydreaming about Louis while he sat in his history class. He was mindlessly chewing on the end of his pen, staring intently out of the window on his left. Nothing that had been said by their teacher so far, throughout the duration of thirty-five minutes, had sunken into his mind yet because there was no space for it to fill. It was already crammed with Louis. Harry really wanted to be crammed with Louis, literally. Jesus Christ.
"Harry, what's the answer?" He was suddenly called on by their ancient teacher, Mrs Marshall, sparking him back into reality. And then came the most embarrassing, possibly tragic moment of his whole life. He blurted out the only thing that was on his mind.
"Louis."
It was such a hurried and frantic statement that he was hoping his classmates couldn't comprehend what he had said, however the immediate uproar of laughter contradicted this. They had heard him loud and clear. Harry's eyes shot over in Liam's direction, to find him with an extremely puzzled expression, his eyebrows impossibly low in confusion. For crying out loud, Harry wanted to disappear.
"Alright, settle down!" Mrs Marshall clamoured, using a hand to gesture her command for the noise level to drop. "Clearly Harry needs to learn how to concentrate."
Damn right.
Liam had only just taken his quizzical eyes off of Harry, after a good half a minute of looking at him, and Harry knew he would probably receive a questioning later. And as normal, Niall was showcasing his 'silent laugh' from across the room, right at Harry. Harry's cheeks were burning. He had never experienced something so comically embarrassing in his life; he didn't think it was possible to blurt out something he was thinking about. But it showed how powerful his thoughts about Louis were. It was just annoying that Liam was there to hear it.
And, not to anybody's surprise, Liam did interrogate Harry, as they sat around the canteen table.
"Why did you blurt my brother's name out in history?" He had a little smile, nothing too serious. Harry began forking lettuce into his mouth faster, a nervous acceleration of consumption, avoiding Liam's eyes as he desperately tried to think of an excuse.
"I forgot his name, was just trying to remember it. I guess it came to me right as Mrs Marshall asked me a question." He satired, instantly wanting to kick himself. What a foolish, slightly harsh excuse! Forgetting somebody's name wasn't nice. Harry always tried to be nice, he lived to be nice.
"You're so mean!" Niall erupted into laughter, a sound that never lacked in any of their conversations. "How did you forget his name? You idiot."
"Yeah, harsh!" Liam taunted. "Wait until I tell him! Maybe it will make him less cocky."
NO! This had really backfired, Harry didn't want Liam to actually tell him! And it would be particularly embarrassing if he told him that Harry had blurted it out instead of the answer to a historical, educational question! Fuck.
"Dooon't!" Harry whined, tugging at Liam's sleeve. "That's just meeean!"
"It's what you deserve, for treating Louis like a nameless piece of... nothing," Liam smirked, "Although that is pretty much what he is."
He certainly wasn't. He was more a hot piece of eye candy, but that had to stay strictly confidential, forever in the confinements of Harry's mind.
"It's fun to terrorise you, Harry, because you get so annoyed." Niall snickered, taking a bite from his Kitkat bar, without snapping the two fingers apart first. What a genuine monster.
"You're both horrible to me," Harry put on a pout, "I've learnt to live with it by now."
Harry was hoping with all of his heart that Liam wouldn't bring up the name-blurting incident. But if he did, and Harry was present to receive the embarrassment firsthand, then at least it would mean they would have been invited round. Once again. For Harry's... forth, fifth time? He had lost count by now. He just knew that being friends with Liam could sometimes be a blessing. Sometimes.
Liam, believe it or not, did decide to invite Harry and Niall round after school. It seemed that now they had been to Liam's house a few times, and knew what to expect (in terms of Louis), that it was their preferred hangout spot. Harry didn't mind that one bit. Plus, he hadn't seen Louis after they had spammed each other with Facebook likes. He loved that it was their secret, unspoken little thing.
Louis' friend Zayn was there too, when Liam led his mates into the kitchen - bonus. It seemed as though they had walked in on the two 20-year-olds being rather childish, trying to see who could throw the most pieces of cereal into a glass from across the kitchen. Harry found himself smiling at their infantile mannerisms.
"Oh, don't mind us," Louis mused, squinting with one eye as he aimed the piece of cereal, before launching it. It successfully landed in the glass, with a delightful tinkle sound. "Get in!" Louis yelled in celebration, loudly high-fiving Zayn.
Why in the world was Liam's mum or dad never home? Harry hadn't even met them yet, and it seemed Louis was left in charge most of the time. This wasn't good, not at all, despite him being twenty years old. Harry liked the fact that Louis had a young soul, it was quite attractive. Better than him being all boring and mature.
"Can you move? You're in my shot." Zayn snapped, when Liam had stepped between him and the glass so he could open the curtains at the side of the room, letting in a stream of light. Liam rolled his eyes at Zayn.
"Can you move? You're in my home." He sassed, grabbing the glass and tipping it upside down above the bin, so the contents rained into it. Harry and Niall laughed quietly at their friend.
"Boring!" Louis mocked, crossing his arms and jumping up onto the bar stool near the table. "You need to learn to lighten up a bit, little brother."
His eyes finally found Harry, after having been off him for a good two minutes, but the look was very brief. Sadly. Louis could pretend not to look, but he couldn't pretend he hadn't liked five of Harry's pictures - BOOM.
"Oh, Louis, Harry forgot your name."
There it was, Liam had remembered the iconic line. Ha ha, very funny. Harry shook his head, lightly laughing and looking down. "No I didn't."
"What?" Louis asked, quite baffled. There wasn't much humour in his tone, expressing that maybe he was quite hurt by it?
"Nothing, it's--"
"He told us that he couldn't remember your name and only remembered after thinking all throughout our history lesson." Niall cut him off, sneering smugly at Harry. "Isn't that right, H?"
Louis' eyes fell onto Harry. There was intrigue behind his eyes, as usual when he looked at Harry, but evidently some disappointment there too. Was he really that bothered that Harry had 'apparently' forgotten his name?
Harry didn't even know how to reply, so he just repeated the exact same gesture of laughing nervously to himself. Zayn was the first to laugh seriously, a sharp laugh.
"Well, I think it's safe to say Eleanor knows your name, Louis, yeah?" Zayn dropped a wink at his friend, before slouching over the kitchen counter and childishly reenacting one of Louis and Eleanor's sex scenes. "Uh, uh, uh, Louis! Fuck me, Louis!" He put on a high, girly moan, dramatically jolting his body forwards a few times, before cackling wildly to himself and slapping Louis on the back.
Harry felt he had gone red, because he had. Niall laughed along with Zayn, Liam looked more than embarrassed, and Louis shut his eyes and breathed out a laugh.
"You're an idiot, Zayn," He chuckled, punching him on the arm. "But completely right. My name is all she can think about when I'm fucking her."
Why did Louis then look straight at Harry? Holy shit, he couldn't take this, the thought of Louis in bed was something he tried to graphically imagine whenever he was lost in thought, and it turned him on to the point of no return. Louis most likely saw the flustered look on Harry's face, a smirk rising on his own.
"Who are you fucking then, Harry?" He grilled, biting on his lower lip slightly, so that Harry literally wanted to die there and then. Fuck this. Fuck it.
"His hand." Niall commented, before everybody but Harry burst into loud laughter. God, this couldn't have been any worse, he wanted nothing more than to sprint out the front door and never return. Louis' gaze was too compelling.
"You're sooo funny!" He sarcastically muttered, rolling his eyes. (But it was true, what Niall had said, because Harry was a sexually frustrated boy who really, really needed to stop thinking about Louis. 24/7.) "No I don't."
"He's way too innocent for that," Louis cut in. 'Innocent', once again! It was used by him far too often for it to be a mistake. He knew exactly what he was doing.
"Innocent." Zayn repeated, humorously, crowing what Louis had just said.
"Maybe you just don't know me." Harry shrugged, smiling slightly. He was trying his hardest to boost his self confidence once again, fed up with people always using him for a laugh.
"Yeah! Harry's pretty wild!" Niall joked. "Sometimes he even uses his left hand!"
Then came the laughter again, everybody but Harry, who let out an annoyed groan but couldn't restrain the smile from Niall's ridiculous commentary. But then Zayn had to step it up a level, making Harry feel a little bit too uncomfortable.
"What, does he finger himself with his left hand?"
Harry's mouth dropped open, sucking in a gasp, while Niall stuttered out a shocked laugh and slapped a hand over his mouth at Zayn's comment. Louis had stopped laughing altogether, with the slightest, playful smile on his face, chest slightly bobbing in a silent laugh. His eyes had seemed to darken, just slightly, and Harry hated this. That was probably one of the worst things Zayn could have said, with Harry being gay, and nobody quite knew how to react. Harry decided to respond first, trying to make light of the situation.
"Yeah, obviously."
He was relieved when the laughter continued, that he had saved the awfully awkward moment slightly, but Louis was still watching him closely. It was a look that Harry couldn't quite work out, but he got a slight turned on vibe. Had what Zayn said turned him on? Holy shit, what if it had turned him on? Harry felt speechless, unable to even look back at Louis, scratching his arm nervously. But they were wrong - really. Harry had never even tried fingering himself, although it was a curious thought he often had. Was just wanking ever enough? Especially with the recurring thoughts of Louis.
"Come on, that's enough of that. Let's go upstairs," Liam broke up the banter, pushing Harry's shoulder to lead him out of the kitchen door. "Come on."
Louis' eyes finally left Harry, as he no longer had a choice, Harry leaving the room with his friends.
Shit. Again.
"I'm sorry about Louis and Zayn, Hazza, it's not fair of them to pick on you like they were." Liam apologised, a bit later on, while he was running his finger over the spines of all of his Xbox games. "They're always doing that, saying stupid things, to me most of the time."
"I don't let things like that bother me, don't worry." Harry shrugged. But he did. Things like that bothered him a lot, especially when Louis Tomlinson had been around to hear the comment -- and proceeded to look rather turned on.
Liam pulled out the brand new Fifa 18, before strolling over to his television and tapping on the button which opened the disc tray.
"Good." He mumbled in response to Harry, placing the disc into the console before closing the slot again. He collected two Xbox controllers from his desk, then bent down to search underneath the desk. "Where's my third one?"
"Don't ask me," Niall retorted, continuing to scroll through his phone, casually lounging across Liam's bed. Liam rolled his eyes at Niall's mediocrity. Then he groaned aloud in annoyance suddenly, shutting his eyes and tipping his head back.
"Louis has it, I let him borrow it yesterday because he's a fucking tosser and managed to break his." He realised. "Could one of you just go and grab it while I clean this disc?"
NO. Harry definitely wasn't going to hurry to volunteer himself. It had been bad enough being in Louis and Zayn's presence in the kitchen, let alone going out of his way to knock on Louis' bedroom door. No way in hell was he going to do that!
"I'm watching thiiis!" Niall droned, his eyes glued to his phone screen. "So I vote Harry."
"Fuck off," Harry protested, "I don't want to. Why can't you, Liam?"
"Because he'd never give it to me, just because he hates me. If you ask, he will probably give it to you." Liam explained, delicately cleaning the disc with the inside of his t-shirt. "Please, Harry? I'll let you have first pick on teams when we play."
Tempting. Very tempting.
"Fine," Harry gave in. "Which room? And what do I say?"
"The room to the left of mine. Just say 'Liam wants his controller back'." He blandly instructed, not sparing Harry a glance. Harry nodded, proceeding to swiftly leave Liam's bedroom.
Why in the world had he agreed to this? For fuck's sake, it was a habit of his to get himself into stupidly awkward situations. That was plain obvious by now. He stopped outside Louis' door, bracing himself. He could subtly hear chatter from the other side, unmistakeably the voices of Louis and Zayn, and he really wanted to turn back and run into Liam's room. But then again, all he was doing was asking for something that belonged to Liam. How bad could it be?
He clearly knocked, three times. A moment of silence arose, before Louis spoke up.
"Come in."
Harry pushed down the doorhandle, opening the door into the room. It was pretty obvious they had been smoking in there, with the obvious hint of heavy cigarette smoke lingering in the air. Louis' room wasn't too messy, but not tidy either. The curtains were closed, leaving the room pretty much dark, and Zayn was lying on his stomach on Louis' bed while Louis span idly on his swivel chair. A smile, quite a welcoming one, was on Louis' face when he saw Harry there.
"What can I do for you, Harry?"
So, so much.
"Umm..." Harry was stuttering already. Fuck his anxious self. "Liam was wondering whether he could have his Xbox controller back?" He decided on a polite request, knowing if he had used Liam's rude suggestion of 'Liam wants his controller back' then he would come across as disrespectful. He never wanted that.
Louis stood up, with an over-perfected groan, folding his arms as he looked Harry over.
"And what will I get out of it?"
Good God, Harry's mind exploded with so many filthy things he could give Louis in return for that controller. His cheeks tinged pink, trying to hold back a flustered smile.
"I... I don't know."
"Maybe you could finger yourself and let Louis watch." Zayn broke in, with a stark laugh. Harry shut his eyes that time, breathing out a laugh mixed with a sigh, while Louis... looked quite turned on. Again. Holy shit.
"Very funny," He sassed, "Could I have the controller?"
Louis strolled over to his desk, which was completely full of clutter, and picked the controller up from amongst the rubbish. He waved it around at Harry, a smirk present.
"This controller?"
"That... seems to be the controller." He clarified, unable to hide the little smile that broke through. "Could I have it, please?"
"You really want it that bad?" His voice did that agonising thing where it dropped a tone, becoming low and alluring, and Harry felt like he could literally cum in his underwear if this went on any longer. God, he wanted it. Not the controller, however, but something else that Louis had to offer.
"Really bad." Harry matched Louis' previous tone, provoking the older male to raise his eyebrows suddenly in surprise. Maybe arousal. Harry loved the impact he had.
"Woah." Zayn chuckled. "He wants it really bad, Louis. You better give it to him."
Louis held out the controller. "Yes, I will give him the controller now, but I'll give a little something else to him later."
Fuck me. GOD, Louis.
Harry was red again, he just knew it, what with the heat prickling the skin on his face. He took the controller from Louis, who seemed a little bit too reluctant to let it go, holding the contact with Harry for a good five seconds.
"There you go, little Hazza."
"Thank you." He smiled, so glad to feel that stupid lump of plastic in his grasp. He could finally scamper away back to Liam's room.
"Anytime, babycakes." Louis winked, blatantly WINKED, before turning away from Harry to return to his seat.
Harry practically did the 100m sprint back into Liam's room, overwrought with sexual tension.