QUARTER-LIFE | HS

THURSDAY

"When I'm drivin' in my car, and that man comes on the radio," Harry murmurs along with the song playing on Danny's phone, sipping on the iced coffee Layla gave him as he waits for his Euro and World History study guides to finish printing. She couldn't wait with him because she promised her younger sister she'd ring her to help with a speech; Amanda Robinson is a first-year Economics student at Princeton.

"He's tellin' me more and more..."

"I didn't know you knew this one," Danny remarks without looking at Harry. This morning, he's under the table, trying to figure out what's wrong with his computer while Harry uses the printer in his office. He'd have his own if he didn't have to pay for it with his own money.

"Everyone knows this song," Harry tells him as he keeps bouncing his leg to the beat.

"Yeah," Danny starts, and peeks up from underneath just enough for the massive bun on his head and the freckles under his eyes to be visible. "But not everyone knows the Britney version."

With a wink, he's back under the desk.

"I can't get no..." Harry hums the rest of the lyrics as he greedily swallows his coffee.

"You're such a fucking queen, H."

"Would you rather I act like Niall and complain about it the whole time?" He proposes through a chuckle. "Oi, me head's gonna burst if y'keep this up, y'know. Put on somethin' with soul, a li'l Otis—anything that's not this godforsak-."

"Stop," Danny groans and pokes his head up again, eyes narrowed. "That was terrifying. Why are you so good at that?"

Harry loves all four of his uni-roommates-turned-brothers, but he has the biggest soft spot for Niall, the equally-blunt but much more energetic Irish kid he was assigned to live with when he started at uni. He'd had a good number of guy friends in his youth, but he never bared so much of himself with them as he did with Niall (because although those guys were present for many of his firsts, they never spoke about them).

Their bond grew out of that special fresher experience, the one where you're doing your best to speed up your maturation now that you're out of your parents' house but you're secretly terrified. The first time Harry cried over the pressure his father was putting on him to major in finance was atop Niall's bed at two in the morning after a day full of final exams; Niall held him tight the entire time, silently listening, and did so until they dozed off. He woke up cuddling the then-blonde boy, and felt in his heart that they were going to be friends for life.

Harry and Niall went on to share loads of other firsts: first uni party (and every one after that), first time kissing another guy (each other), first time traveling outside the UK, first pub brawl, first time starting a microwave fire, first time dropping acid...

They also shared the most significant firsts to date: first adult apartment, first time having sex (Niall's specifically, for which Harry—having passed out in the front seat of Liam's beat-up truck—was unfortunately present while Niall and Louise Birmingham fucked wildly in the truck's bed), first major relationships and first major heartbreaks, first pregnancy scares, first adult jobs, first car accidents, first time traveling outside of Europe, and their first actual adult apartment.

The list is immense, and so is Harry's love for his best mate—even when he burns dinner like he did last night. Harry was crying into Rhiannon's fur during the beginning montage in Up, and Niall had forgotten about the chicken on the stove to record it "for Gem and the lads".