Harry closes his eyes and inhales deeply, clearing his mind just like his mother had taught him to when he was little. The voices filling his mind slowly fade away until they are nothing but mumbled whispers, unnoticeable unless he were to lose focus or tune into them. His focus always became rather flimsy when he was nervous.
Why is he nervous? Well you'd be nervous too if the guy you've been harbouring a small (read: enormous) crush on for a couple months agreed to a date with you. Niall Horan is the definition of too good to be true. He is smart, funny, likeable, outgoing, friendly, easygoing and undeniably hot. In other words, deadly. Harry's one true weakness (well, besides Green Tea frappuccino's from Starbucks, but those don't count). Everything Harry isn't. Don't get him wrong, Harry is definitely friendly and easygoing (the latter comes from years of being best friends with Louis 'I-Change-My-Mind-Last-Minute-Without-Fail' Tomlinson). But Louis would say that how funny he is is rather debatable, and that he's only smart on good days.
So on account of his rather concise nature on pub nights, Harry was pleasantly surprised that Niall had agreed to this date. He most assuredly could have taken a moment to find out if Niall was into him in a much less risky way, but he made a conscious decision to refrain from taking any curious glimpses into Niall's thoughts when they are around each other. Judging by his nerves and lack of control at this moment in time though, he got the feeling he wouldn't be able to keep this resolve sound tonight.
"Are you planning on going out like that?" Louis' voice cuts into the slowly rising volume inside Harry's mind. Harry opens an eye and squints up at Louis, and then opens his other eye as well to peruse his outfit choice. He was wearing his standard black skinny jeans and a pair of his brown boots, and one of his favourite patterned button ups (though in Harry's case it is a button down, on account of the fact that it's always unbuttoned down to his navel).
"Yes?" Louis rolls his eyes.
"You dress like you're from the '60s, mate." Harry pouts at Louis until the older man cracks a wry grin.
"At least you don't wear bell bottoms." He concedes, earning a grin from Harry. The grin droops though as the doorbell rings and Harry's nerves skyrocket, resulting in a noisy surge of unintelligible voices bouncing around in his head. He must space out for a moment because it takes a sharp "Harry!" from Louis before he finds himself back on the sofa in their flat.
"Are you going to get the door?" Harry nods, not trusting his voice as a lump of nerves settle themselves in his throat. He stands up and takes a shaky breath, quieting the clamour of unknown thoughts still circling around his head and starts for the door.
"Don't zone out on Niall. I know how you get when you're nervous..." Louis advises as he heads for the kitchen and Harry reaches the door. He pulls it open to see a smiling Niall.
"Hey, Harry. Ready to go?"
"Yep," Is all Harry can manage as he steps out of the door and shuts it behind him. Harry tries his hardest not to space out on Niall as he chatters away about the funny old man and group of strange teenagers he had served at the pub last night. He usually loves hearing Niall's stories about working at the pub, but the press of strange voices in his mind and the focus it is taking to suppress them somewhat is distracting.
"Harry?" Niall's voice calls his attention back though and Harry curses himself when he realizes that he had once again missed what Niall had been saying.
"Sorry, I've got a lot in- on my mind." He apologizes sincerely. Niall smiles exemptively and nods.
"You disappear into your own universe sometimes. It's... endearing." Niall says softly, eyes shining. Harry feels his face heating up and it doesn't help any when his flustered mind catches the word 'cute' flitting through Niall's mind. They reach the cinema and Harry is proud to say that he manages to focus on the film and not catch any other snippets of Niall's thoughts for the next hour and a half.
