Red Brick Heart

2

Harry stays a little bit drunk all afternoon, making a giant lasagne in the kitchen for the nine of them to share (still no sign of the mystery resident in room 492). Niall brought his XBOX so they have a few rounds of FIFA, everyone milling between each other's rooms as parents disappear and they inspect what they've got: everyone agrees that Perrie's room is the nicest because it has a skylight, and that Zayn's is the worst after he opens his cupboard to find someone's taken a giant chunk out of the wall and there's a cold breeze blowing in through it. The shared bathroom isn't even too bad: there are two showers and three toilets, and much to Harry's surprise there's even a bath modestly tucked around a corner: it's stained a bit yellow and there's no shower curtain to protect any would-be bathers from the prying eyes of their flatmates, but it's decent. Liveable. He and Perrie are just inspecting the temperature of the water when there's a crow of laughter from the other side of the room, and they walk out to find Niall, Jesy and Liam crowded around a small paper sign pinned to the wall.

"Oh my fucking God," Niall says, face beet-red, as he puts on a commanding voice and reads out, "Dear Students, Due to an ongoing series of plumbing issues in this building we would politely ask students to refrain from masturbating in the showers as this has been the cause of several blockages in the pipes over the last few months. We understand the desire for privacy but when it comes at the inconvenience of other students it unfortunately must be clamped down upon. Thank you for your cooperation, the University of Manchester Student Halls Administration."

"Well there goes my plans for this evening," Jesy says, shaking with laughter, and Harry meets Zayn's gaze across the bathroom and they both burst out laughing.

It's funny how quickly they feel like friends – how they latch onto each other because they've got no choice, going over the same conversation topics, which is school, mostly, what A Levels everyone did and what they did over summer. It turns out Liam and Zayn took gap years – Liam to go travelling and Zayn because he, in his own words, "absolutely fucked up first time, had to get my head screwed on before I was ready for round two." Harry doesn't even think about Louis, and it's only when it's half past five, the lasagne is cooking in the oven and he's gone back to his room to get changed – Niall put his hands in the flour and left two big handprints on his hoodie – that he remembers he's there. He's sitting on the bed, legs crossed and scrolling through his phone, and Harry almost jumps at the sight of him.

"Oh. Sorry. Didn't realise you came back."

"Oh, hi." Louis smiles, but it's only fleeting. "I've got some bad news for you, mate."

Harry frowns, pulling off his hoodie and fishing in his drawers for a new one. "Like what?"

"They gave my room in that house to someone else when I didn't turn up," he says, with a sigh. "So I might be here a bit longer than planned."

"How much longer?" Harry asks, pulling a black cable-knit jumper over his head.

"Until someone drops out and I can have their room, I think."

Harry pulls down the jumper, smoothing it out, and tries to read Louis's expression; he's staring at him, eyebrows slightly raised, as if he expects Harry to challenge him, to tell him to get out of his room and not come back. Actually, Harry just nods.

"All right. Doesn't bother me. When are they bringing my bed?"

"In a bit, I think. They said within the hour when I was leaving the halls office."

"How long have you been here?"

Louis shrugs. "Ten minutes?"

"You should've come into the kitchen, we're all in there. Well. Apart from Mystery Dave."