almost | larry stylinson au

one

Louis Tomlinson, the boy of almosts.

"What song were you humming in there?" Harry questioned Louis, earning a smile.
"How to Save a Life by The Fray." Harry nodded on, remembering to download that to his phone later on. "Can I have your number?" Louis asked Harry, causing Harry's heart to thump out of his chest and Niall to secretly raise his brows at Harry.

And he gave him his number, indeed.

//two months later//

Harry was sound asleep, and drops of sweat were trickling down the side of his face. He had forgotten to turn on his bedside fan before he fell asleep.

Bang. Bang.
Bang. Bang. Bang.

Harry jumped out of bed, and frantically turned on his fan. He rubbed his eyes thinking the loud bangs were just a figment of his imagination.

Bang.

Someone's fist against his window. He scurried towards it as his heart began to race. It could be a murderer. It could be a rapist. It could be a murdering rapist. He pulled open his curtains and looked outside.

"H!" Zayn happily screeched. Harry rubbed his tired eyes and reached for his phone on the bedside table to see the time.
"Zayn, it's twelve in the morning. What's the emergency?" Harry smiled lightly at his dark haired friend. He was quite beautiful, but he's seen prettier.

"Party. Liam's house. Right now. Few friends." Zayn trailed on. Harry scratched the back of his neck. Parties were never his cup of tea. He would rather sleep and listen to his playlists.

"Zayn.. I don't really-"
"Louis is there." Zayn stopped him from making the worst decision he could have made.

Just like that, Harry ran to his front door, letting Zayn in his house to help him get dressed.
They settled on a perfect pair of ripped jeans and a slightly unbuttoned dress flannel. Harry slipped on his black and brown boots that he wore constantly. His hair was being extra curly on this day, so he put a thick bandana on, holding it back.

They walked to the party knowing they would be drinking. They always drink.

Walking into the familiar home of Liam Payne, Harry somehow felt stuck. He was stuck. Gum was stuck to the bottom of his shoe. The imbalance threw him off, sending him into the nearest wall.
"Curly has arrived!!" Louis' soft voice echoed through the big house. There really wasn't many people there. Liam, was on the couch with Niall. Each of them a beer in hand. Louis was sitting on the floor by the fireplace with Ed. A brown haired girl from Harry's psychology class was sitting on the loveseat talking to a girl with blonde hair.

Harry smiled at Louis from across the room as sat down on the stairs, took his shoe off, and scraped the gum from underneath it.

Louis watched Harry as he scraped the unforgiving gum off his shoe. He felt bad that Harry had to do this whilst he just got here. Louis stood up, and sat down next to where Harry was on the stairs. Harry hadn't realized he was there until Louis poked his belly causing him to yelp and jump to the side.
"Aw, i'm sorry curly." Louis softly spoke in a mocking tone. Harry felt an almost immediate blush rush to his pale cheeks.
"'S okay. What time did this party start anyways?" Harry's thick accent dragged his words on farther past the lips.
"Around 10, I tried to call you but Liam took my phone and wouldn't give it back." Louis answered his question, only to leave Harry with more. Why wouldn't Liam let Louis call him? "So do you wanna go into the bedroom and make out?" Louis asked. Harry dropped the plastic knife he was using to scrape the gum and stared at him.
"What?" Harry nervously choked out.
"I said, do you wanna go on the balcony and look out at the stars?" Louis laughed, wondering how the boy didn't hear him the first time. He was right in front of him. Harry blinked a numerous amount of times before nodding and putting his now clean boot back on.

They walked towards the balcony, passing everyone on the way. Zayn gave Harry a wink that he prayed Louis didn't see. But he did.

Louis kept his smile to himself, knowing Harry wasn't looking. Harry was staring towards the ground. He could never meet Louis' eyes. "Look at all these stars, Harold!" Louis shrieked. Harry grinned, one of the biggest grins anyone's ever seen. It was an adorable thing really. Watching Louis yell while pointing out at the stars. He was one of them.
"How many nights do you think it would take?" Harry asked, not explaining further, as if Louis knew what he was talking about.
"Take to do what, Harold?"
"Count the stars, Lou." Louis' heart always did spins when Harry called him that. Lou. It was simple, but effective.
"Infinity. I think it would take infinity nights to count all of these beautiful stars!" Louis exclaimed, throwing his arms out. Harry smiled, and looked at him. His back was towards Harry. This was when he admired him the most. "Would you count them with me?" Louis turned to Harry, his long lashes pressing hard against his eyelids. His beautiful blue eyes were open so wide.
"Of course." This made Louis smile. Everything Harry did made Louis smile. Louis loved being loved. Having a friend like Harry, with the unconditional amount of friendly love he gave.

"Better get your sleeping bag!" Louis shrugged. Harry laughed. "I'm serious curly. I know you keep one here." Harry contemplated if he really wanted to stay out here and count the stars. It was really nice out but he didn't want to get bitten by any mosquitoes or murdered by rapists.

Harry just blinked and did something spontaneous. He was a normal guy, but Louis wasn't. And if Harry wanted him, he'd have to do things he'd never normally do. "Do you wanna just come to mine after we party for a bit?"

"Of course, curly! Do you live far?" Louis questioned him, walking towards the balcony door.
"Not very far. Maybe like four roads down?" Harry stated. Louis stopped in his tracks.
"You live on Bermuda Street?" Louis stared, waiting for an answer. He was giddy like a kid on christmas.
"Yeah, what' bout you?" Harry responded, confused by the way that Louis was reacting.
They couldn't possibly live near each other. Harry's mind raced about how often he'd be able to see Louis' glowing blue eyes.

"My house number is 27." Louis stated. Harry's heart dropped, in a good way. When it dropped it didn't shatter.
"My house number is 28."

//

They talked about neighbor stories and how they haven't seen each other before. Zayn, Niall, Ed and Beth joined them on the balcony, drinking and playing odd party games.
"Louis! Lottie just texted me and said that Derek called her looking for you." Beth said to Louis, interrupting his conversation with Harry about dog breeds. Harrys eyebrows furrowed. Who's Derek?

"Tell Lottie to tell him to just call me, not her." Louis sighed.
"She said your phone is going to voicemail, dumbass." Beth scoffed, in a friendly way. Harry didn't know her well, but Harry knew friendly assholeism.

"Oh." Louis was dumbfounded but laughed it off, pulling out his phone and tried to turn it on. The screen showed the white background and black apple as it started up.Derek was one of Louis' hoes. Although Derek knew Louis' game. A fling, a compliment, a self-esteem booster.

Harry didn't know the game, but he was already playing.