A chance to love again

Chapter 1

"What are you waiting for? Let's go, let's go!" Louis snaps, finishing up the hem on one of the model's dresses. "We have 8 minutes until show time."

Louis Tomlinson is one of the most famous designers in the entire world, starting off when he was only 18, now 23. This is what he's good at, what he was meant for. It comes easily to him and he never wants to do anything else. It's fashion week in London and Louis needs all of his designs to be perfect. If that means he's a bit snippier than normal, well, they'll have to deal with it. This is absolutely crucial for his new fall line that he's been working so hard on. His spring and summer collections were a hit, and Louis wants this to go the same.

"Would you like tea, sir?" a young woman asks and Louis shakes his head, biting his lip in concentration with his glasses perched on his nose.

"No, no, thanks," Louis mutters. "Alright, darling, this looks amazing on you. You'll kill 'em out there."

The model smiles, stepping off the small pedestal and Louis walks around, making sure everything is perfect and the models are all ready. He always gets jitters before a big fashion show, even though he always knocks it out of the park. His line is always the most talked about and he knows that, but always has a fear of disappointing. After the show, though, he can't wait to curl up in bed back at his flat with his sketchbook, a cup of tea, and a good movie. He isn't one for partying after shows anymore. He's so exhausted by the time the whole thing is over that he can't be bothered. His friends try to pry him out all the time, find him a boyfriend, but Louis has given up on relationships for the time being. They aren't worth the heartache, he's decided.

The show is flawless, as always. The response he gets is so positive it makes Louis' stomach flutter happily. His models are gorgeous and stunning, both men and women, and Louis couldn't be more proud. His friends and coworkers ask him to go out for drinks with everyone and Louis declines politely. They're always trying to get him to go out with them, but he's just not into it. They tend to poke fun at him and call him an old man, but Louis shrugs them off.

When he gets to his flat, his first step is to make himself tea and change into his favorite jumper and sweatpants. He yawns as he seeps his tea bag into the hot water, walking into his bedroom and huddling underneath the white, fluffy duvet. He grabs his laptop from his nightstand, turning it on and flicking the television on; he's a multitasker, always has been. He can't only do one thing at once, he just doesn't focus well that way.

He logs in to twitter, scrolling casually through his mentions. There are some great compliments on the show and some tweeting pictures throughout the night. One tweet catches his eye, though, by Harry Styles. His tweet says Love the new fall line. @Louis_Tomlinson is my heroattached to a selfie of himself wearing one of Louis' newly designed jumpers for the fall and, okay, that hasn't even been put into stores yet, so he obviously knows someone. He clicks his profile and sees the blue verification check next to his name and quickly realizes this guy is a professional football player from the states and apparently plays for some team named the San Francisco 49ers.

Louis smirks, because now he's got American football players wearing his clothes. Don't they only wear their jerseys and sponsored sweatshirts from Nike and such? Why is Harry interested in Louis' prestigious clothing line?

He goes through his tweets and giggles. He's got some weird stuff on there; one tweet sounding suspiciously like someone swapped his toothpaste out for lube, another about how a bird pooped on him. He's strange, no doubt, but in a quirky, endearing cute way.

Louis notices this isn't the first time Harry has tweeted him. He's got loads of pictures of Louis' clothes, even ones of himself from the New York fashion week where Louis showed his winter line. Huh, he's been to his shows and he's a football player, out of all things. He's definitely strange, Louis reasons. Maybe he's too into stereotypes, but.

While looking through the pictures, Louis makes a mental note of how fit he is, and not only because he's a professional football player, although he does enjoy the shirtless locker room pictures that are posted. He's got a great head of curly hair and bright green eyes with plump lips that Louis wants to sink his teeth into. It's been a while since Louis' toyed with the idea of another man, but this guy is just absolute man candy.

He decides to have some fun with it and reply to Harry's tweet. He's clearly a fan and Louis has been neglecting him, so he might as well throw him a bone. He bites the inside of his cheek and types out That jumper isn't even out yet, Styles. What sort of magic do you have? Hope to meet you soon and find out your secrets x

Louis should feel ashamed when he shuts off the TV and googles more pictures of Harry, shoving a hand down his sweats and coming hotly to the thought of being fucked against the wall, Harry's strong arms holding him up. He feels zero shame, though, and falls asleep with sticky pants and a satisfied feeling throughout his body.
~
When Louis wakes up the next morning, he rolls over and feels his dick sticking to his sweat pants. He cringes, remembering his events of the night before. He shucks them off and runs a hot shower, jumping in and scrubbing himself clean. He tries very, very hard not to think about his favorite football player Harry Styles fucking him up against the shower walls, but he's only human, so.

After he towels himself off and throws on some clean clothes, he grabs his phone and scrolls through his twitter mentions again and isn't all that surprised that Harry answered him back.

Would absolutely love it if you came out to California to see a game. I'd even show you my collection I have going in my closet ;)

Louis smirks to himself, clicking on his profile and tapping the follow button, since Harry already follows him. He sees he also tweeted Louis Tomlinson just tweeted me. Might have just shit myself.

Louis giggles at that, completely intrigued by Harry. Meeting him would be interesting, and probably a lot of fun. Louis sits on the edge of his bed and finally gains the courage to DM the football star.

Might take up your offer to go to a game .x

He takes a deep breath, hoping it wasn't too forward of him. He looks at the time and realizes Harry is eight hours behind him, so it's nearly two in the morning for him. He sighs, annoyed at the fact that he's going to have to wait for a reply. He grabs his sketchpad and heads out to the balcony and starts to draw whatever comes to mind.

He ends up so entranced in his work he doesn't even realize he's hungry until his stomach grumbles angrily at him. Louis checks his phone and notices he's been out here for three hours. He's always been like this; able to fall into his work because he loves it so much and doesn't even notice the time passing. He stretches out his muscles and walks into the kitchen to make himself whatever he can find.

He wonders idly how Harry sleeps; if he sleeps on his stomach like Louis, or maybe sprawled across the bed, or maybe even in the fetal position. He wonders if Harry snores or if he gets chilly at night while he sleeps like Louis does. He wonders if he drools in his sleep and how messy his curls are in the morning. He wonders what his home looks like and if he lives alone. He wonders if he comes home to a girlfriend or boyfriend; comes home to kisses and cuddles and a warm bed with someone else in it.

He shakes off the thought and makes himself a quick lunch. A half hour later, he checks his phone and Harry has just replied. Louis' eyebrows furrow and he sees it's only 5:30 in the morning over there. What an ungodly hour to be awake. Maybe he's got insomnia or something, Louis thinks. Or maybe he just woke up and checked his phone and he'll be going back to sleep.

Monday night game this week? I'll take care of it, all you'll have to do is show up. Would love to meet you

Louis smiles to himself and laughs lightly. He thought he was being forward, but Harry is nearly jumping out of his skin to meet him, it seems. Before he can even get a reply in, he gets another DM.

By the way, I have no idea what your "x" means at the end of your messages. You British people are strange.

Louis bursts out laughing at that, covering his mouth. Completely dolt, he can tell already they'll get along great.

Just something we do when we write. Kind of like a kiss, I suppose. How exactly am I supposed to drop everything to come meet you?

Louis sends it back and regrets it instantly. He is an idiot. He will drop everything to meet this boy and he knows it.

I'll be there. Looking for a flight now x