~sidemen oneshots~

Art show

School AU
//Platonic//
Word count: 1509

Harry loved art.
For the longest time he'd drawn anything that came to his head, whether it was on a canvas or in a maths book he wouldn't care.
It was like a release for him, a medium for him to take his endlessly buzzing thoughts out of his head and down on paper.

At lunch breaks, being the youngest with cat-like affection he often found himself clinging to someone's side and most recently with a pen in his hand. It had started a couple weeks back when the group realized Harry wasn't just taking art for the 'easy pass'.

-2 weeks ago-

Harry had been late getting out of geography, caught up in asking his teacher to confirm the fact he'd learned from a youtube video earlier that week, filled with curiosity. He was amazed to hear it was true and was looking forward to saying it to the first person he saw.

As he approached the picnic bench next to the big oak tree towards the back of the school his eyes lit up as he caught sight of his friends. A few look up and smile at their youngest friend. He slams his things on the table, a few papers flying about the table as he exclaims,
"Did you lot know Mexico City sinks 4-6 inches every year because it was built in a lake? Isn't that crazy? That's 36 inches so far, sure it doesn't seem like a lot at first but imagine knowing where you live is slowly sinking! Mental right?"
He sits down now, finally able to relax a little as he shares his fact, a few people seem interested while others smile at his antics. Just as he was about to answer Viks question on why they built the city on a lake in the first place he's cut off by Ethan holding up one of his papers.

"What's this bog?" The piece in question was a half drawn version of his final painting for art class. He suddenly feels embarrassed, a hot flush creeps up and makes itself known through the light blush on his cheeks.

He reaches for it, "nothing-" Ethan holds it higher out of his reach although there's no teasing nature in his tone when he examines it closer and says, "no this is really good. Did you draw this?" This peaks the others interests as everyone clambers over each other to see the drawing in question.

Harry quickly got up and snatched the paper out of his hand, shoving it roughly into the folder his lunch is resting on.
"Anyways what'd I miss?" He try's to change the subject.
"Why are you embarrassed? It's a good drawing," Simons warm smile gives Harry a weird feeling of pride in his chest.

"Ah thanks but it's really nothing," he scratches the back of his neck and looks down, willing the attention to be off of him.

"You would be sick at designing tattoos," This peaks his interest as he looks up at JJ.
"Do you think so?" He asks, "yeah definitely, can we see more of your stuff?"
They begin to talk about tattoos a bit more, Harry explaining that the profession is something he's definitely interested in.
JJ even offers to let him practice on his arm.
Harrys smile is so infectious that from that point on they decide that if Harry wanted to practice his designs on their hands or arms with a black felt tip pen then they'd let him.

And if Harry spent the rest of that lunch with JJ's arm slung around his shoulder as he drew twisted shapes on his hand then no one would say anything about it.

-Present day-

On this particular day Harry seemed more tired than usual. His usual bubbly personality was at a level 1 and he found himself curled into JJ's side without second thought as he got to the table.
Don't get him wrong, he had no problem cozying into the other guys but sometimes JJ was different, his larger build created a perfect frame for Harry's smaller build.

The group had obviously noticed something was up as when the youngest friend came to the table he didn't immediately greet them with a fact he'd spent all night thinking about that he couldn't put into the groupchat because, 'no Josh, telling you the sperm whale is the largest toothed Aquarian predator isn't necessarily a fact i like sharing through text!"

No, instead Harry made a bee-line for comfort. The group is quiet for a minute, assessing the situation. Finally after a long minute JJ speaks up, "everything alright Haz?" He mumbles it, clear enough for the group to hear but quiet enough to not make Harry feel as though he's a spectacle.
The youngest let's out a deep sigh and moves from the older mans side and rests his head on the table.
"M'fine, just tired." Simon goes to rub his back, offering the small act of comfort, greatly appreciated by Harry.
"Any reason?" Ethan questions.
A half-hearted shrug is seen from the boy before he looks up at a new voice.

"Harry!" A guy, Peter from his art class, is rushing up to the table.
Harrys eyes widen and as he goes to make a move to stand he realizes he's too late as the eager boy with a motormouth arrived at the table.
"I just wanted to say congrats! I would say I can't believe you won but considering what you made I mean come on! Of course you did! Also how long did that take you? Considering you started it yesterday I was literally blown away at- look at me I'm rambling now sorry, hi everyone I'm uh Peter," his awkward smile is confronted with a group of 6 confused guys and one very embarrassed one.
A beat of silence goes by before Harry says something, "thanks Pete, really I do appreciate it. I was shocked too, to be honest. I think part of it was exhaustion," he jokes, "I spent upwards of 11 hours on it yesterday, I didn't get to sleep until 6am," he chuckles, a tired smile adorned his features.
They tick-tack back and forth for another minute before Peter excuses himself, however not before dropping this bomb,
"Anyways I'll see you at the showcase, rooting for you man!"

Again it's quiet for a second and Harry finds himself trying to fill the gaps, "any news with anyone?"
This causes a quiet chuckle from the group, "considering everything we just heard I'd imagine you have some news to tell us?" Josh smiles.

"Oh yeah, that news," a nervous blush creeps it's way onto his cheeks once again.
"So basically there was this competition thing that we all had to enter in class and i sent in a commission and it won out of like 2000 entries or something I'm not too sure. But now my piece is being put into the gallery showcase of winners from other entries and being judged by like big artists or whatever," he trails off towards the end.
A huge cheer can be heard from the group as they all congratulate him on his big achievement.
"So when is it then?" Tobi smiles at him.
"Saturday evening but I completely understand that people have plans so don't worry at all about coming!" He's quick to defend himself.

"Unless you really don't want us there we wouldn't miss it for the world," Viks eyes are kind and understanding.

Harry bites the inside of his cheek.
"It's not that I don't want you there it's just that-" he tries to find the words, "it's just that it's really personal, the painting I mean. And I know you wouldn't but you all know how my brain works by now-" and oh they did, they know that he can be thriving with them, telling them all some weird fact about Cuban lions when all of a sudden he's hit with a wave of anxiety and stops talking for the rest of the day.
"I guess I'm just worried that you'll all think it's stupid or weird or something," he finishes.

An arm swings back around his shoulders and JJ hollers, "it's official then! The sidemen are making a debut at Harry's art show on Saturday night," he smiles at the group and looks at harry with softer eyes, "because this is important to you, and what's important to you is important to us, got it?" Harry nods, an excited grin clear on his features as he sinks into JJ's side.
"Thanks Jide," the words are quiet, almost a whisper, but they're filled with pure appreciation.

———————————————————————
a/n

hi, hope you liked that :) let me know if you have any requests or anything, most of my stuff will be Harry centric but I could definitely consider doing others if you have a prompt :)
have a great day <3
also side note, I wrote this because I missed Harry's fun facts lmao