Crash | LarryStylinson University AU

Chapter 9

A/N: Final chapter! It's a long one, hope you enjoy it!

Louis did not scale down the pining at all. He was hopeless, a complete mess. At least it wasn’t awkward, surprisingly. Harry was as delightful as always, and incredibly charming. After exchanging phone numbers, finally, they fell into the easy banter they had established two weeks ago.

Louis was again incredibly enamoured by Harry, this time attempting to cover up his fondness of the younger boy with even more sarcasm than usual. Harry seemed to take to it well, laughing at Louis’ antics and egging him on.

They had a small lunch, knees bumping slightly on occasion, only for Louis to pull away at the contact. He didn’t want to make the same mistake he did earlier, and he didn’t want to be let down kindly. I’m sorry, I just don’t see you that way. Or, I’m sorry, I’m not even into guys. Oh, god. What if he was straight? Louis accelerated his eating, practically inhaling the chips they had chosen to share, in an effort to cover up his horror. Louis was an idiot. A complete idiot.

“Okay there, Lou?” Harry appeared amused by Louis’ rapid eating.

“Fine, absolutely fine,” Louis said between mouthfuls, barely coherent. He choked down what remained in his mouth, holding up a chip to gesture at Harry. “So, Harold, you haven’t told me much about your love life. Is there some pretty girl taking your fancy?”

Harry carefully dipped his chip in the aioli sauce, pausing to answer Louis’ question. Honestly, who even likes aioli? Tomato sauce was the way to go, used very generously, of course. Louis was definitely a tomato sauce man. They ordered both, allowing for double dipping by both parties. It worked quite well, Louis thought. “The last time I was in a relationship was about a year ago, but it didn’t work out so well.”

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking,” Louis said as he watched Harry bring the chip to his mouth. He accidently left a bit of aioli on the corner of his mouth and didn’t seem to notice. Louis would forget all his prejudice against the white dipping sauce if he was given the opportunity to lick it off those lips.

“He was into different things, and a lot older than me, I guess.” He. He. As in male. As in Harry is not straight. As in Harry is into guys. Okay, Louis was not freaking out. Nope. “We’re still quite good friends, and I think we’re a lot better like that. He’s a radio DJ now.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Louis could play it cool. Louis was so cool. Harry definitely would not be able to suspect that Louis was holding a literal fiesta inside his brain underneath his cool exterior. There were sombreros and even a mariachi band; a large bull thundering across the ground, the sound of its hooves mirroring the thump thump thump of Louis’ heart. Louis wasn’t entirely sure what a fiesta entailed but he was certain it was just as lively as the emotions running amok inside his head. Or maybe Harry did notice. Louis needed to recover, quick. He resorted to his old fallback, teasing Harry. “I’ve been waiting for you to notice the bit of sauce on the side of your mouth there, Harold, but I think it’s been well past the point of social embarrassment.”

Harry held Louis’ gaze as he wiped the sauce from his mouth, taking the time to suck it clean from his thumb. It was completely inappropriate, really, but Louis was not allowed to think about his new friend like that. Harry smiled mischievously as he went for another chip. “You’ve had some on your nose for the past five minutes, by the way.”

Louis quickly wiped his nose to see a small smear of red on his hand, then slammed his fists on the table dramatically. “I trusted you, you bastard!”

Harry started laughing hysterically, drawing the attention of nearby tables. At that point, it was probably best for them to leave the cafe. They quickly finished their chips, which was a struggle over their stifled giggles, and made their way to Louis’ top secret hideout, as Harry liked to call it.