Chapter Text

Harry's POV

On a somewhat quiet Sunday evening, Harry finds himself standing in his kitchen, preparing to make his favourite homemade pizza. He made a double batch of dough earlier in the morning so that he has have enough dough left over to make pizza again another night and left it to rise while doing some cleaning. He has one of his and his mums favourite bands, ABBA, playing through his Bluetooth speaker. As his favourite song Chiquitita starts playing, he begins singing along softly, swaying his hips and shoulders, the slow melody quietly building as the chorus approaches. He opens the fridge and pulls out all of his favourite toppings and places them on the kitchen counter in front of the line of bowls he uses to hold the chopped ingredients in, before selecting his best kitchen knife and getting to work.

About halfway through his chopping he hears the sound of his neighbour's smoke alarm going off...AGAIN! It's the third time this month. He puts the knife down and makes his way to his front door to take a peek into the hallway. He doesn't see anyone but can smell the faint hint of smoke. There is only one place the smell could be coming from, and he knows who the culprit is.

He walks casually to the end of the hallway to grab the fire extinguisher - the same one he retrieved last time - then walks back and knocks on his neighbours door. Flat 28. He's been here before. Already twice this month in fact. There's no answer, but he hears swearing and cursing coming from inside - just another Sunday then.

He knocks again, but there's still no answer and he begins to worry. So he lifts the extinguisher from down at his side, raises it up towards his shoulder, lines up the heavy metal base and is about to use it as a battering ram just as the door opens. In front of him stands his neighbour Louis. A man two years younger than him and slightly shorter - not that Louis will admit it. He's dressed in a pair of black shorts and a black t-shirt with a comical cartoon character with bulging heart eyes that reminds him of the old Looney Toons cartoons he and his sister used watch when they were little. His hair is sticking up in all different directions looking like he has just gotten out of the shower and he is simply staring at Harry with the longest lashes Harry has ever seen on a man, framing the bluest eyes.

Harry has gotten to know his neighbour quite well since he moved in to the building about three months ago, and Harry's feelings towards him seem to grow with every interaction. Harry thinks he's in heaven, looking at an angel. A dishevelled angel with wild hair and a potty mouth, but still an angel.

Harry still feels a little concerned until Louis looks up at him with a guilty expression, not panic or worry, just guilt and that's all Harry needs to confirm that his suspicions are correct. So, Harry simply beams his biggest smile at Louis, with his teeth and dimples on full display because he has been here before. He knows the game Louis is playing. But Louis doesn't know he knows. So he just keeps playing along, standing there, grinning at the little bundle of chaos from across the hall and waits patiently to be invited in.

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Chapter Text

Louis' POV

It's Monday, just after lunch and Louis is on his way to work at the pub when he notices a removal van pull up outside his block of flats. He remembers his neighbours from across the hall moved out about two weeks ago, and it has been so quiet since. The old neighbours used to bang on his door if he so much as sneezed, so the last two weeks have been bliss. No one to complain about his music being too loud, or his mates coming over and staying till late to play a bit of FIFA or knock back a few drinks, and definitely no one to scowl in judgement when he comes home in the early hours of the morning with a fit lad in tow. He hopes the new neighbour is young. Yeah, and hopefully friendly, but not too friendly because he doesn't need any more friends. Between attending University and working part time, he doesn't have the time or energy to fit anyone else into his life. Especially new neighbours.

He continues on his short walk to the pub, thinking about who his new neighbour could be when his phone rings in his pocket.

“Oli, alright lad?” Louis greets his childhood friend.

“Yeah, mate. What are you up to?” Oli replies.

“Just picked up a shift to cover the bar for Ed until about half eight,” Louis says, rounding the last corner and crossing the road.

"Oh, right. Mind if I meet you and we can grab dinner after you finish?” Oli asks.

“Sure mate, see you then.” Louis waits for Oli to finish the call and pockets his phone again, looking forward to meeting up with his best mate later that night.

Arriving at the pub, Louis greets his co-worker Bebe who is clearing tables as he dumps his bag in his locker in the back office, grabs his apron and makes his way to the bar ready to start his shift.

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“Lewis!” Oli shouts as he enters the bar a little after 8pm. He is greeted with an “Oi Oi!” from Louis as he finishes up serving a customer.

When Louis' was younger, he didn't like his name. He thought it sounded like some posh butlers name, so he preferred most of his childhood friends to call him Lewis, still spelt Louis, but pronounced Lewis. Now that he's older, he has embraced his name and only Oli still calls him Lewis.

“So, how's your week been lad?” Louis asks, wiping down the bar top and pouring a beer for his best mate.

“Can't complain mate, can't complain,” Oli replies, taking a swig of the beer Louis has placed in front of him. "What about you?"

"Wish I could say the same," Louis replies, already showing signs of frustration. "I've gotta work out who my new neighbour is. Saw a removal van pull up this afternoon as I was leaving for my shift. It better not be some old fart who's going to complain every time I play music or have people over. The last neighbours were so annoying. Always knocking on my door, asking me to be quiet when all I was doing is having a bit of fun."

"Oh, come on mate, surely it wasn't that bad," Oli replies, taking another swig of his beer. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"I hope you're right, because if the new ones piss me off like the last ones did, I might have to think about moving, and I can't afford to move," Louis says, a small whine escaping with the last few words.

"Well, you never know mate. Maybe you'll be blessed with a fit lad moving in," Oli says in an attempt to bring Louis out of his mood.

"Yeah, right. Cause we all know how blessed I am when it comes to fit lads," Louis jokes, rolling his eyes. "Here," he says, dropping the menu on the bar in front of Oli. "Take a look and let me know what you want to eat and I'll let the kitchen kn

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

A few days later as Louis arrives home from his Wednesday Psychology class, he's unlocking the door to his flat when he hears some music coming from across the hall. He pauses, trying to identify the tune, when he hears the chorus and instantly recognises ‘The Chain’, a Fleetwood Mac song.

Great, the new neighbour is most likely some aging boomer, reminiscing over their long lost youth, he thinks to himself, pushing his front door open with a grunt and closing it loudly behind him with frustration. 

And why does he know that song? Because his Nan used to play it every time he would stay with her when he was younger. The last thing he needs is another elderly neighbour busting his balls about his non-existent noise. Although, based on the volume of the music, maybe they're deaf and won't even hear him at all.

Later that day, after a failed attempt at making a ham and cheese toastie, Louis hears footsteps and movement in the hallway outside his flat. Thinking it might be the new neighbour he quickly goes to his front door and has a peek through the peep-hole. He catches the back of a tall male disappearing into the flat across the hall and spots a knitted grandpa style vest and sensible trousers.

"Great," Louis says out loud despite being home on his own. "That's fucking perfect. Another old codger who's going to complain about everything I do." With that he turns around, stalks back into the living room and grabs his cigarettes off the coffee table before walking out to his small balcony and throwing himself onto the outdoor chair like a petulant child.

Lighting up he pulls his phone out and dials Oli's number.

When the call connects, he immediately begins to offload his frustrations.

"Thank fuck you picked up," Louis says, sounding angry. "I was right. The new neighbour is an old guy."

"Well, hello to you too," Oli answers sarcastically, which is met with a disgruntled "humph" from Louis. 

"How do you know, mate?" Oli asks, quite used to the abrupt nature of Louis' calls when he's pissed of about something or other.

"Just saw him go into this flat. Stupid fucking knitted vest and sensible trousers pulled up to his armpits. Who the fuck dresses like that, hmm? Old fucking codgers, that's who," Louis spits out, really pissed off with the world and not afraid to let Oli know about it.

Oli lets him rant for a few minutes to get his frustrations out before changing the subject and taking about when he'll be over next to challenge Louis a game of FIFA.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

The next few days follow much the same pattern. Louis hears various old songs coming from the new neighbour's flat as he comes and goes for work or Uni. Some he recognises as songs his grandparents wound listen to when he would visit or stay with them when he was a child, others he doesn't recognise, but are distinctly songs released decades ago.

Everything points towards his new neighbour being an elderly guy, and he's just waiting for the knock on his door and the complaints to start.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

Friday afternoon rolls around and he's sat playing FIFA, waiting for his mates to come over to watch Friday night football when he hears the door across the hallway open.

Hoping to finally get a good look at his new neighbour, Louis races to the door and once again peers out through the peep-hole.

He's surprised to see a fit guy, probably only a year or two older than himself leave the flat across the hall. Short dark hair with a bit of curl and broad shoulders, wearing a long sleeved blue jacket, some obscenely short red shorts with the most beautiful legs he's ever seen on a man, trainers and carrying a tote bag over one shoulder.

Great, he thinks. Why couldn't this have been the guy who moved in? This is obviously the grandson of the old guy and Louis wonders how often he visits his poor old Grandad.

Maybe he could befriend the Grandad and get to know his grandson. Yeah, he thinks, that might just work. If he befriends the Grandad, maybe he won't complain so much if Louis makes some noise - especially if his own grandson is the one helping to make the noise. He'll have to talk with Oli and Stan, and see if they have any helpful ideas how he can make Grandad his new best friend.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

The next morning Louis is relaxing on his balcony having a smoke and nursing his hangover from the night before when there's a knock at his door. He extinguishes the cigarette, pads inside and over to his front door and peers through the peep-hole when he sees the fit guy from the night before. The grandson of the new neighbour. He steps back and immediately takes a quick look in the mirror by the front door.

Fuck!

He looks like a fucking hedgehog! His hair is a mess, going in 369 different directions and he is wearing the same t- shirt that he threw on when he woke up - the one he wore last night that has pizza sauce stains from when he and Stan got into a food fight during half time in last night's football game. He doesn't want to open the door to a fit guy looking like he does, but hearing the man knock again, Louis decides to throw caution to the wind and opens the door.

"Umm, hello," Louis says, peering around the corner of his partly opened door, trying to conceal the pizza stains.

"Oh, you are home," the man says with a huge grin on his face, dimples the size of craters. "Hi, I'm Harry."

"Hi Harry," Louis says, creeping out from behind the door and facing Harry, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to cover the organic artwork of his pizza sauce stains. "Nice to meet you, I'm Louis. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I just moved in across the hall and wanted to introduce myself," Harry says, still smiling. "It's so nice to finally meet you Louis. I think we've missed each other a few times in the last week, but between moving in, unpacking and working my own photography business, I've hardly had a minute to spare. But, here, I made you something."

Louis is silent for a moment, staring at Harry while trying to make sense of the situation.

"Do… um, do you live here with your grandfather?" Louis asks, feeling confused.

"My grandfather?" Harry asks, also confused. "No. I live by myself. Why?"

"Oh, I thought…" Louis stammers. "I thought I'd seen an older guy a few times. You know, knitted vests, high waisted trousers, Fleetwood Mac songs playing loudly. You know what I mean?" Louis grins.

"Oh," Harry says blushing and letting out a chuckle. "No, that was all me, sorry. Some people say I can be a little eccentric in my clothing and music choices. I just think it's good to dress however the mood takes me when I wake up each day. Sometimes it's band t-shirts or knitted vests, other times, like today, it's a t-shirt with baby animals and cherubs on it," Harry says, shrugging his shoulders, and touching the necklace of large pink beads around his neck, but still smiling.

Louis doesn't think he's ever met someone with such a sunny disposition before, and while it kind of scares him, he finds it refreshing. He knows he should say something, but his words are simply not wording at the present time. He continues to stare until Harry speaks again, interrupting his thoughts.

"But um, I brought you these, I hope you like chocolate brownies?" he says, handing a plate to Louis. "I made them myself," Harry says, clearly proud of his achievement if the grin and dimples are anything to go by.

Louis feels his eyes fill up a little, and something catch in his throat. It's between quite some time since someone has made him chocolate brownies. "Um, yeah, I do. They're my favourite actually. Thanks."

Harry continues to smile as Louis accepts the plate of brownies.

"I thought, considering we're the only ones at this end of the hall, we should at least get to know each other," Harry says, still smiling.

"Sure," Louis says. "That makes a lot of sense. And thanks for these," he says selecting a brownie from the plate and taking a tiny bite. "These are delicious."

"Thanks, it's a family recipe," Harry says.

"Yeah, they're the best ones," Louis replies, thinking of his mum. "Do, ah… do you want to come in for a cup of tea?" Louis asks, finally remembering his manners.

"Oh no," Harry says, smiling. "But thank you for the invitation. I'm actually on my way out to a photography job right now. I've got a lovely couple who want me to take some family shots of them and their fur babies. Wanted to get in early for their annual Christmas card photo shoot. Perhaps another time?"

"Oh, yeah," Louis says, feeling a little disappointed that Harry is disappearing so soon. "Sure, another time then. That would be great."

"It would," Harry says with a shy grin, the slightest blush beginning to creep up his cheeks. "I look forward to it."

Louis nods, smiling, not being able to take his eyes off his new neighbour with the necklace and pretty smile.

"But I really do have to run," Harry says, stepping away from the door. "Eric and Peter do not like to be kept waiting," he says with a grimace. "Bye Lou."

"Okay, bye Harry," he says, not really knowing what else to say, and with that Harry is off. Louis takes a moment to watch Harry walk down the hallway, turning at the top of the stairs to give Louis a quick little wave of his fingers before disappearing. Louis steps back inside his flat and closes the door.

He immediately calls Oli.

"Oi, lad," he says excitedly as Oli picks up the call. "You know how I thought an old guy had moved in across the hall? Well, turns out it was actually the young fit guy I'd seen, just dressed as a grandpa."

"Well, that certainly makes for an interesting turn of events," Oli says with a chuckle.

"Yeah, you could say that. He ah… he even brought me a plate of home-made chocolate brownie's," Louis chuckles. "So apparently he can cook too. Maybe it's a sign?" Louis wonders.

"Maybe it is," Oli says reflectively. "How do they taste?"

Louis is quiet for a moment before answering. "Yeah, really good actually. Almost as good as my mums."

"That's good to hear lad, they were always the best," Oli says. They're both quiet for a moment before Oli jumps back into the conversation to distract his friend. "Who knows, maybe he can teach you a few things," he jokes. "Anything's got to be better than the shit you end up making and trying to pass off as food."

"Oi," Louis says, feeling affronted. "It's not that bad."

"It's not that good either," Oli chuckles.

Choosing to ignore his friend, Louis continues, "Anyway, I think I want to get to know this guy Harry better, but to be fair, I think I'll be punching above my weight with him," Louis laughs.

"Ah, don't sell your self short. Just because you think he's out of your league, doesn't mean he thinks he is," Oli tries to reassure his friend.

"Yeah, maybe," Louis considers for a moment.

"D'you think he's into guys?" Oli asks.

"Well, unless I'm losing my touch, I'm guessing the baking, combined with wearing a t-shirt with baby animals and those pudgy little cupid-cherub things on it and a necklace with large pink beads was sort of a give away," Louis chuckles. "And he seemed excited to be on his way to take family photos of clients named Eric and Peter with their fur babies. So, you tell me lad, am I reading the signs right?"

"Ah, you might be right mate," Oli chuckles in agreement.

"Oh, and I think he was flirting with me," Louis adds with a chuckle.

"You know, you could have led with that," Oli laughs through the phone.

"Anyway, I've gotta eat some more of these brownies. See you later, lad."

"Yeah mate, see you on Wednesday for FIFA. And good luck."

After ending the call, Louis wonders if he should do something for Harry? To welcome him to the building. Louis knows he's a shit cook, and doesn't want to embarrass himself, but maybe he could buy him some chocolates or something. That's not too weird, is it?

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

A few days later Louis calls into Tesco after Uni and walks down the chocolate aisle, trying to decide what to buy for Harry. There are so many to choose from but he finally settles on a box of Cadbury Roses chocolates. He makes his way to the cashier and purchases them before heading home.

On the walk back home, he finds himself second guessing the chocolates. His mind swinging from feeling like it was a stupid idea, then to thinking a box of chocolates isn't enough. As he is turning the last corner onto his street, he spots a rogue flower poking up over the top of a neighbouring fence. In a moment of what can only be described as sheer brilliance, he reaches over and breaks off the flower. He's not sure what type it is, but it looks like a sunflower and it reminds him of Harry's smile.

He arrives home a few minutes later and he feels both nervous and excited as he walks up the stairs to their floor. He goes straight to Harry's door and knocks. He can hear some movement inside and then footsteps approaching the door.

"Oh," Harry greets him, surprised. "Hi Lou, it's so good to see you again."

"Oh, um yeah, hi Harry. It's good to see you too. I um, wanted to thank you for the brownies you made me, but I'm a really shit cook. Didn't want to poison you or anything, so I got you these," he says holding out the chocolates to Harry.

Harry stares at him for a moment, and he begins to feel self conscious, afraid he has fucked up. Maybe Harry isn't into guys after all. Or maybe he thinks Louis isn't good enough for him. Then the sound of Harry's voice brings Louis back to the present.

"Oh, Louis, how did you know? I love these chocolates, thank you," Harry beams at him. "You didn't have to but this is really so kind of you. Would you like to come in."

"Thanks, but, um, I don't want to disturb you," Louis says, nervously shuffling his feet. "And besides, I've got some studying to do before a test tomorrow anyway."

"Oh, okay," Harry says, his smile disappearing and sounding disappointed. "Well, maybe another time then?"

"Yeah um, anyway, I just wanted to give you those," he says, feeling really self conscious and out of his depth, before he continues. "To say thank you, you know. For the brownies."

Fucking hell. Kill me now!

He can't believe how pathetic he is being and starts to turn away towards his own door to escape when he looks down and remembers something.

The flower.

"Oh, and this is for you... too," Louis says, holding out the single flower that might be a sunflower, to Harry. "To say welcome to the building. I saw it on the way home, and well, thought you might like it," Louis says, a little shy.

Harry reaches out to take the flower, smiling and their fingers gently brush against each other. It feels like electricity surges through Louis' body at the touch, so he pulls his hand away quickly, not wanting to embarrass himself any more than he already has in front of Harry. He decides retreat is the best option, so he says a quick goodbye, turns and hurries into his flat, hearing Harry call out "Good luck on your test tomorrow," as he closes the door behind him.

Fuck, he's doomed!

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The more often Louis bumps into Harry, the more he wants to see him. Over the following weeks they pass each other in the hallway, one coming as the other is going. They share a wave one day when Harry walks past the pub where Louis works while Louis is outside collecting empty glasses, and even when Harry's racing out the door, in his rush to see clients, he still manages to give Louis either a grin or a wave. Sometimes both. And every time Louis sees him, he falls a little deeper.

He needs to get to know Harry better, to spend more time with him without being too obvious.

After a week of brainstorming, Louis decides his new mission in life is to make Harry fall for him. He starts out by creating ways for them to bump into each other, casually of course, because he doesn't want Harry to get suspicious.

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Operation: Get to know Harry

Louis has begun his sleuthing by watching and jotting down the times Harry leaves and arrives home from work. He gets home early on Wednesdays, which is perfect because Louis has morning classes that day, and uses Wednesday afternoons for studying so he doesn't have work either. This gives him the perfect opportunity to stage a totally organic run in with Harry. He just needs to work out what it will be. After throwing out a couple of ideas as being too cliché, he finally lands on the classic arriving at the building at the same time option.

So, knowing Harry usually arrives home a little after 3pm, Louis patiently waits downstairs in the foyer at the letterboxes. He positions himself so he can see Harry approach once he has parked his car, and begins his walk towards the building.

He has timed it perfectly. He's been waiting for only a few minutes when Harry appears, dressed in a pair of loose trousers and a button up, a messenger bag slung across his body.

He's humming to himself as he approaches the letterboxes, and looks up with a dimpled grin when he sees Louis.

“Ah, the elusive Tomlinson. Haven't seen you in a few days. How have you been Lou?” he asks, searching through his satchel for his letterboxes keys.

“Haz, what a surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you home this early,” Louis says, feigning surprise as he turns from his letterbox to greet his neighbour.

And yes, they're at the stage of nicknames now.

“I take Wednesday afternoon's off from the studio,” he explains, reaching out to unlock his box. “It allows me time to go over the photo shoots I’ve done over the past couple of days, and prepare and plan what I need for the rest of the week. What about you?” Harry asks, closing the letterbox door. “No classes this afternoon?”

“Oh yeah, I um, I don't have classes Wednesday afternoons. I usually use this time to catch up on any assignments or to study,” he says, reaching in to retrieve the mail he placed in there before Harry arrived, then locking it back up again.

They both start towards the stairs, walking side by side up to the second floor. As they approach their respective flats, Louis begins panicking, not wanting his time with his gorgeous neighbour to be over, but not really knowing what else to say. He mutters something stupid about the weather, Harry chuckles, and they both say goodbye.

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It's mid morning on a Sunday, the sky is dark and it's been pouring rain since he woke up. Louis is beside himself with wanting to see Harry again. His class ran late on Friday so he missed seeing him before his afternoon run, and Harry was out all day yesterday, probably doing a wedding shoot based on the suit and tie he saw Harry wearing as he disappeared down the stairs carrying various camera bags. He's been wracking his brain in an effort to find a reason to knock on Harry's door, but can't for the life of him think of one. Just as he's considering throwing himself on the floor dramatically to mimic a tantrum that he witnessed one of his youngest sibling perform when things don't go their way, his phone rings and he sees the caller is his sister Lottie.

“Hey darling, how are you,” he says, full of affection after picking up his phone and accepting the call.

“I'm alright you stinker, how are you?” his younger sister asks. “How's London and Uni?”

“Hey, that's enough of that! Show some respect for your elders, yeah!” he replies with a laugh. “Uni is alright. Getting through things, you know how it is. What about you? How's school going, how are the girls and the babies?”

“Yeah, all good here. School is a bit stressful, you know, final year and all that. The girls are good. Fizzy is starting to want to go out at night and on the weekends, but Dad said she is still a bit young. Maybe once she turns 16 and shows a little bit more maturity he'll think about it. Phoebe and Daisy are starting to become difficult, you know, puberty and all.”

Louis feels for them, they are all still reeling from losing their mum just over a year ago. He took some time off from Uni to go back to Doncaster in the final stages of his mum's illness, and stayed for a while to help support his dad, sisters and brother after she passed away.

Now he's back at Uni and doing his best to catch up even though he's a bit behind. He can't make it back to Doncaster to see his family as often as he would like, but keeps in regular contact with his Dad Mark, and his grandparents. He has always had a really close relationship with his grandparents. He and his mum lived with them until he was about five, when she married his Dad, Mark. Mark adopted him and then not long after, his sister Lottie was born, then Fizzy. A few years later the twins Daisy and Phoebe were born, and about 3 years ago the youngest twins, Doris and Ernie were born. Then his mum got sick.

His Nan and Grandad still play a huge part in his and his family's lives. They were always really close, but since his mum passed away, they really stepped in and helped fill the role as parents as well, giving as much help and support as they can to his Dad and siblings. They would all be lost without them.

He talks with them on the phone whenever he can, and calls his Dad as well, providing support for him as much he can from a couple of hours away. He catches the train home for holidays, and always spends Christmas back home. He could never miss that.

“Yeah, he's probably right Lotts. Remember how you were a couple of years ago, when you were Fizzy's age?” Louis thinks back to his beautiful sister, so carefree before their mum got sick. “Can you really blame him for being cautious?” he asks.

“Not at all. I agree with him. They all need to grow up a bit first,” she laughs, way more mature than her 18 years. “Anyway, I just wanted to call and see how my big brother is.”

“What are you up to today Lotts?” Louis asks, wanting to hear the latest.

“Oh nothing much. Me and Fizz are going to do some baking, but we didn't have enough eggs, so Dads popped down to the supermarket to get some. Decided to make mum's chocolate brownie recipe so the girls have some snacks for after school this week.”

The mention of his mums chocolate brownies has him reminiscing. Growing up, his mums chocolate brownies were legendary. Almost had a cult following from his mates growing up. Everyone wanted some of Jay Tomlinsons chocolate brownies. It started as his Nan's recipe, then his mum tweaked it a bit and now it's the recipe they use today. Chocolate brownies always remind him of his mum. He'd race home from school, throw his bag down and tumble into the kitchen and find his mum getting two plates out so they could have their after school snack together. So many thoughts and feelings were shared over snacks at their kitchen table. He misses her every day. But he loves that the memories and tradition of his mums brownies are still around with Lottie taking over now.

"Um, that's great that you're cooking for the girls - it's good that they don't miss out, that they still get to experience that, even thought it's not quite the same," he says, reflectively.

They continue chatting until their dad returns home with the eggs and Lottie announces she has to go.

"It was good to hear from you Lotts, thanks for calling," he says, always enjoying unexpected phone calls from his sister. "I'll speak to you soon, yeah? Love to you and everyone.”

“Yeah you too Lou-bear. Bye,” Lottie replies.

“Bye, love,” he says, disconnecting the call.

After the call with his sister, he's left with what he thinks is a brilliant idea of what he can do next in his plan of wooing his gorgeously hot neighbour, and making him fall in love with him. He'll borrow something... an egg, maybe? But he doesn't know how to cook it without ruining it. That doesnt really matter though, does it?  Even if all he does is borrow it and ends up giving it back to Harry in a day or two. That way he'll get to see him twice! And it all starts with an egg!

He heads to his bedroom in search of the least smelly hoodie he can find, although considering he stores most of his clothes in his ‘floor' robe, they all smell much the same at this point. Finding one that fits the bill, he pulls off his stained hoodie that is decorated with remnants of his dinner from 3 nights ago, and fits the ‘clean’ one over his body. The trackies will have to do, because it's Sunday, he's a student, and all his other trackies are even dirtier. Maybe he should think about doing some washing? That's a thought for another day.

Now he is dressed in somewhat fresher clothes than he started out in earlier that morning, he makes his way to the bathroom, messes with his hair for a minute or two till it looks adequately tousled, feathering the hair across his forehead until he is satisfied, then walks out of his flat and knocks on Harry's door.

Knock, knock, knock.

There is no answer, but Louis can hear Harry singing along to a song that he thinks might be by Shania Twain. He is about to knock again, but decides to wait a moment. Listening to Harry sing along, he imagines him dancing around with a broom, cleaning up all of those dust bunnies. Or maybe he has his feather duster in hand and is spinning around the room, singing into it like a microphone, dancing up a storm. He hears the song end so knocks for a second time and only has to wait for a few moments before Harry opens the door. He's greeted with the kindest green eyes and what is becoming his favourite smile of all time. Being focused on Harry's eyes and smile, it takes Louis a moment to notice what Harry is wearing. The angel standing in front of him is wearing an apron.

An actual apron!!

With frills and flowers and cute little bees.

Louis shakes his head to get rid of the overwhelming emotions that are flooding his body and finally notices that Harry looks flustered, his face is flushed, he has a smear of something on his left cheek and a wayward curl swaying delicately above his right eye. He looks adorable and Louis wants to get down on one knee right then and there and ask this beautiful human to marry him.

But he doesn't of course, because that would be totally awkward and definitely way too early in their relationship. He should wait till they've been on at least one date first.

"Hey Lou, what are you up to?" Harry greets him, still smiling. "I'm just doing a bit of cleaning."

"I can see that, Haz," Louis replies, still in awe of Harry's presence. "Um, I was wondering if you had an egg to spare?"

"Of course I do," Harry says, stepping back from the door and making space for Louis. "Come on in, but don't mind the mess, I'm only half way though."

Louis accepts Harry's invitation and takes a step inside. Harry's flat faces the street, so has a great view of the nearby park, and plenty of natural light filtering in.

"Are you busy Lou, want a cup of tea?" Harry asks, with softness in his voice.

"Yeah Haz, that would be nice," Louis replies, thankful Harry isn't too busy to spend some time with him.

They chat while Harry gets the tea ready and they finally make themselves comfortable on the sofa. Louis still can't get over how stunning Harry looks, even if he is dressed in an apron and his house cleaning clothes.

They spend the next hour or so chatting and getting to know each other. Louis shares details about his job at the bar and the Psychology course he's studying at Uni, while Harry shares what he loves most about being a photographer and how he got started.

They're so engrossed in their chat that they don't realise the time until Louis stomach begins to grumble, so Harry invites him to stay for lunch and warms up some soup he'd cooked the day before.

Over delicious soup and warm toast, they continue getting to know each other, sharing details of their childhoods growing up in the north of England. Louis shares some of his family history, what it's like being the eldest of seven children from a family who are all back in Doncaster, losing his mum the year before and how he and his family are managing. Louis also mentions his love of his mums chocolate brownies and Harry is delighted he was able to bring some of those memories back for Louis.

Harry shares what it was like growing up in the large village of Holmes Chapel, working at the local bakery as a teenager, and being the youngest of two siblings who's mum remarried a wonderful man named Robin six years earlier.

They learn that they both spent time in Manchester as teens and frequented the same places, albeit a couple of years apart. By the time they eventually say goodbye, the egg has been long forgotten and Louis busies himself getting ready for his shift at the bar later that afternoon.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

Still trying to find ways to interact with Harry, Louis asks Oli for some ideas when he comes over to play FIFA the following Friday night. Louis gives Oli a quick run down of all the way's he's effectively tricked Harry in to spending time with him and for the most part, Oli seems impressed.

"You're doing a good job mate. I don't know if I could have come up with that many different scenarios if it was someone I was keen on," Oli says, leaning over and grabbing another handful of crisps from the bowel on the table.

"Yeah, well, you've not met Harry. He's fit and I need him to be into me Oli, he just has to be," Louis whines to his best mate. "And, I figure the best way for that to happen is for him to spend time with me."

"Yeah, either that or he'll get to know what you're really like and decide its best to simply move," Oli says, laughing.

Without saying a word, Louis leans over and twists Oli's nipple, as a squeak escapes Oli's lips. Louis thinks Oli would have learnt his lesson by now after being best mates with him for as long as he has, but apparently not.

They continue playing FIFA for another ten minutes or so when there is a knock at Louis' front door. Pausing the game and throwing the controller down on the sofa, he walks over to the front door, takes a look through the peep hole to check who's knocking and discovers Harry standing there. He must have been to the gym or something, or maybe out running because he's wearing a cap, another pair of short shorts, this time in a deep green colour with splits at the side, and a white singlet with some Adidas trainers.

Opening the door he greets Harry. "Hi Haz, been for a run"?" Louis asks.

"Hi Lou," Harry pants, breathing heavily. "Yeah, just wanted to give you this letter. The postie must have put it in my box again by mistake. Hopefully it's nothing important," Harry says, handing Louis the envelope that is addressed to him.

"Oh, fuck, not again!" Louis exclaims. "Thanks Haz. I'll speak with the post office, see if we can sort it out."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the say goodbye and Louis closes his front door. He returns to the living room and sits back down next to Oli, throwing the envelope on the coffee table for later.

Oli looks from Louis to the envelope and back again then asks, "That was your fit neighbour, wasn't it? Returning your mail?"

"Ah, yeah, it was." Louis replies, not looking at Oli, focusing on the frozen TV screen with the game currently paused.

"Why did he have your mail Lewis?" Oli asks.

"Well Oliver, if you must know, it's because it was in his letterbox," Louis says, trying to keep a straight face.

"How did it get there? Did you put it in his letterbox so he had a reason to knock on your door? So you could force him to see you again?" Oli asks, not realising how close to the truth he is getting.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about Oli," Louis says, feigning both innocence and ignorance at the same time.

"Come on lad, pick up the controller. Time for you to lose again," Louis says, smirking to himself.

Over the next couple of weeks, Louis' mail seems to magically appear in Harry's letterbox no fewer that 7 more times and Harry being the kind and caring neighbour that he is, returns them promptly. Louis often invites Harry in for a cup of tea, which he accepts and they get to know each other a little better. One time Harry turns up with letters and a plate of freshly baked sweet biscuits. Another time Louis even manages to convince Harry to play a game or two of FIFA. Louis thanks him every single time, and promises he will speak to the post office about it. He always makes sure not to include any of his bills when putting his mail in Harry's letterbox though, just in case.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

The Burning Begins

Louis is a terrible cook. No scratch that. He's an atrocious cook. He's one of those people who could burn water, and he knows he's one of those people because he has actually done that. Ruined a saucepan simply because he wanted some instant noodles. The fact he's not a great cook doesn't bother him too much though. There are plenty of options for takeaway meals nearby, but sometimes he wants to feel a bit independent. So, in an effort to improve his cooking skills, he decides to watch some basic cooking videos. They all seem too involved, and all way above his skill level until he finds a guy on YouTube wearing a red Adidas t-shirt making a fish finger butty. The guy says that he used to make them for him and his brother after school when he was fourteen years old. It looks delicious and Louis knows he just has to try it. I mean, how hard can it be if this guy managed it when he was only fourteen?

He switches the oven on to heat up, gets the ingredients out, and opens the kitchen drawer to locate his foil, then realises he used the last of it earlier that day. So he places the four frozen fish fingers and one frozen potato waffle directly on the oven tray and places them in the oven to cook for twenty minutes. While they're cooking, he grabs a cucumber and a vegetable peeler and begins peeling strips off the cucumber. The slices don't look anything like the ones on the video, and he can't work out why. He's doing it the way the guy in the video does it, but it's still not working - it must be the peeler's fault because it certainly isn't him... much. He realises his execution is not really the best, but he manages to slice off a few decent strips and places them in a bowl. He then sprinkles the slices of cucumber with some salt and adds some sauce. Next he prepares his bread, buttering it generously - the more butter the better in his opinion. Next comes the tomatoes. He places the first one on the board and begins slicing, but it doesn't take long for him to realise he really isn't good at this. It ends up a proper car crash. After butchering a couple of tomatoes, he starts to notice there's a theme - his attempts at chopping, peeling, slicing, it's not great to be fair.

He manages to salvage only a couple of slices, but sets to building his sandwich. He doesn't have any coleslaw like the guy in the video, so he just mixes some tomato sauce and mayonnaise together and spreads it on one slice off the buttered bread. He's all about the flavour - presentation for him is secondary. He adds the butchered tomato slices, and then notices the faint smell of smoke. He turns around and opens the oven door to check the fish fingers and potato waffle only to discover smoke as it begins wafting out of the oven, setting off the smoke alarm.

He begins to panic and doesn't know what to do so races out of his flat and across the hall and begins frantically knocking on Harry's door.

Fortunately Harry is home and answers the door quickly.

"Haz, come quick, it's burning!" Louis exclaims.

"Oh my god Louis! What's happened? Are you ok? What's burning?" Harry asks, obviously worried.

"I was cooking my tea and then there was smoke coming out of my oven. I don't know what to do Haz, what should I do?" Louis says, clearly panicked 

"Are there any flames?" Harry asks.

"Not that I can see," Louis replies, still flustered but thankful for Harry's calm demeanour.

"Okay," Harry says. "You go and open the door to your balcony to let some of the smoke out, and I'll get the fire extinguisher. Just incase."

"Oh, fuck Haz," Louis says, panic starting to creep in again at the thought of needing a fire extinguisher.

"Come on, it's okay Lou," Harry says calmly, placing a hand on Louis arm to ground him. "Well be alright."

Louis nods at Harry, then quickly runs back inside his flat to open the door to his balcony as Harry sets off down the hall to retrieve the fire extinguisher. Harry bursts into Louis' kitchen ready to put out any flames, and when he opens Louis oven, he is instead met with some slightly charred fish fingers and a sad looking potato waffle.

"Thank fuck it wasn't serious Haz," Louis says, looking at the remnants of what was to be his tea.

"I know Lou, but you really should be careful. Maybe set a timer, and double check the temperature is set to the right number," Harry suggests.

"I will Haz, thank you. I'm sorry to do that to you, when it was just a little bit of charring," Louis says, feeling a bit embarrassed for making such a fuss over some charred food.

"It's okay Lou, really," Harry reassures him. "Honestly, I'd rather you come to me for help if you're unsure what to do. Will you be alright now?" Harry asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Louis confirms. "I'll try again and keep a better eye on it this time."

"That sounds like a solid plan Lou," Harry chuckles.

Louis thanks Harry for his help and apologises once again for disturbing his night, then goes back into the kitchen to see what can be salvaged for his tea.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

It's Saturday afternoon and it's been 3 days since Louis has seen or spoken to Harry. It's killing him, it really is. He can't sleep, he can't concentrate in class, he gets orders wrong at the bar and he thinks about him. All. The. Time!

Harry won't let go of his hold on Louis' mind.

He has to see him, but how?

He goes out onto the balcony and lights up a cigarette. He always does his best thinking while smoking. He runs though all the things he's done so far to interact with Harry but draws a blank. He's beginning to think he won't be able to come up with anything new when he hears laughter and some talking coming from down below where a family with young kids is walking past.

That's it! The kids at the other end of the hallway! 

Kids like playing tricks on neighbours - maybe he can do something with that.

He calls Oli and shares his idea. Oli proceeds to tell him it's a terrible idea, but Louis knows better and he decides to go ahead with it anyway.

Determined that it will definitely work, he peeks out through his peep-hole to check that no one is in the hallway, then quietly opens his door, reaches across and does a sharp knock knock knock on Harry's door, then steps back inside his flat, closing his door gently behind him. 

He takes another look through his peep-hole just as Harry opens his front door. Today he's dressed in a pair of worn light denim jeans, along with a faded Rolling Stones band t-shirt that has definitely seen better days. Harry looks confused, takes a step out into the hallway and looks around but he can't see anyone. He shrugs and goes back inside, closing the door behind him.

Louis chuckles to himself. This is going to be so much fun.

He waits a few moments then takes a quick peek through the peep-hole, checking that no one is around. Seeing that the hallway is still clear, he quietly opens his door and gently steps across the hall to stand in front of Harry's door again. He can hear Harry's voice from inside, obviously talking to someone, but only Harry's voice. Deciding he must be on the phone, Louis gives another knock knock knock and rushes back into his flat as quickly and as quietly as he can manage, before gently closing the door behind him.

As soon as he is safely back inside, Louis peers through the peep-hole again just in time to see Harry open his door, his phone still up to his ear, but standing there in confusion when he is greeted with an empty hallway yet again. He pokes his head out to see if anyone is there but finds no one. Puzzled, he steps back inside his flat and closes the door, starting up his conversation again.

He saw Harry, but it wasn't enough, so two minutes later he finds himself, quietly opening his door, stepping into the hallway once again and knocking on his neighbours door.

Again, Louis is safe back in his flat, eye against the peep-hole when Harry opens his door, his phone still to his ear, looking into an empty hallway. This time Harry speaks.

“Yeah, I don't know mate. Still no one here,” he hears Harry say.

Then there's a pause.

“Yeah, maybe you're right. It's probably some kids playing a prank. It's strange that I didn't hear any footsteps though, or any giggling…”

Louis only heard half of the exchange as Harry closed his door, going back to the conversation with whoever is on the other end of the call.

Louis lets out a quiet giggle, not feeling at all guilty for what he's doing. Seeing Harry and hearing his voice again was just what he needed, but he hasn't had his fill just yet, so he decides to try one last time.

Opening his door and pausing, not able to hear any sounds or movement from Harry's flat, Louis once again steps across the hallway, has his hand raised, about to knock for the last time when the door suddenly opens and he is face to face with a somewhat annoyed looking Harry.

They stand there for a few heartbeats looking at each other, neither of them saying anything, when Louis notices the phone in Harry's hand, still up to his ear.

“I'm ah… I think I need to call you back Niall,” Harry says, looking at Louis with an unreadable expression.

Again, there's silence from Harry as he listens to the response from Niall, whoever that is.

“Yeah, I may have found someone who can help,” Harry says calmly, still looking at Louis. “Bye mate.”

Harry's eyes are locked on Louis' face as he pockets his phone. The expression written all over his face tells Louis he is both grumpy and confused, but his furrowed brows and the steely look in his eyes make him look so hot!

Shit!

“Hi Louis. Was there, ah… something I can help you with,“ Harry asks, one eyebrow raised.

Shit, shit, fuck. Harry has used his full name!

“I, um. Hi Haz… well, I… did you, ah… did you hear some knocking? I thought I heard some knocking,” Louis asks, the words tumbling from his mouth, finally thinking of something to say as a flush creeps up his face from being caught out. "Just thought I should check it out."

Folding his arms across his chest, and leaning against his door jamb, Harry seems to take a moment to assess the situation before he answers. “Yes, Louis, I did hear some knocking. Three times in fact. But when I opened my door, there was no one there,” Harry says, his eyes narrowing. “You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you Lou?”

"Um no. W-what do you mean?" Louis asks nervously, trying not to stammer too much for fear of giving himself away.

"Well, each time I opened my door, no one was there. And now, here you are. About to knock on my door," Harry says, smirking. "It seems awfully like a coincidence don't you think?"

"Um, no Haz. I… I wouldn't know anything about that. Must be the kids, you know, the ones at the other end of the hallway," Louis rushes out, trying so hard to sound believable, but not convinced that it's working.

"Hmmm," Harry replies, obviously not convinced.

"Anyway, now that I have you, ah... how have you been?" Louis asks. Despite them only making small talk, it ends up being the highlight of Louis' day. He just hopes Harry doesn't ask too many questions about the kids who Louis has blamed the knocking on - Harry doesn't need to know they actually moved out a week ago.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

It's Thursday night the following week and Louis has called in to his local Tesco to grab a few basics after a busy week and a full day at Uni. He grabs a box of cereal and packet of crisps, then makes his way to the dairy cabinet to pick up some milk after using the last of it at breakfast that morning. As he grabs the milk and puts it in his basket, he sees a familiar figure standing a little further away in front of the cheese cabinet, basket on the ground, hip popped and the fingers of his right hand pulling at his bottom lip, deep in thought.

"Hey neighbour," Louis says sidling up next to Harry.

"Oh, Lou, what a lovely surprise," Harry says, a huge grin on his face. "You here to grab something for tea too?"

"Nah, just grabbing a few breakfast things. Got tea waiting at home for me. What about you though?" Louis asks, taking a peak into Harry's basket.

"Oh, just making some spaghetti, though I can't decide on which cheese I feel like tonight, Parmesan, Pecorino or something different?"

"What do you usually use?" Louis asks, hoping he can help.

"Oh, um, I usually use Parmesan or Pecorino, which I've got at home, but tonight I thought I'd try adding some crumbled Ricotta on top instead," Harry says, picking up the firm Ricotta and turning it over in his hand, studying the label.

"Well, if you can't decide right now, why don't you get the Ricotta and think about it while you cook. Maybe it will become clearer."

"Thanks Lou. Sometimes a different perspective can be really helpful." Harry thanks him. "I've never used Ricotta on spaghetti before, but I saw it online on one of those cooking blogs. I just hope it tastes alright."

Seeing this as an opportunity to impress Harry, Louis digs deep to come up with something witty, but all he comes up with is, “I know this probably sounds really cheesy, but I bet your cooking tastes really grate.”

Harry's head snaps around quickly to look at Louis. "Did you just try to make a cheese pun?" Harry asks, trying to stifle a smirk.

"What do you mean try, Harold?" Louis asks with mock indignance. "I, in fact did!"

"No Louis, that joke was not grate. And you were right, it was cheesy! Feta have another try,” Harry replies with a straight face and a glint of mischief in his eye.

"Oh my god, that was terrible," Louis replies, unable to hold back a chuckle.

"Are you sure? I thought it was brie-lliant," Harry says, now beginning to giggle, his dimples on full display.

"Really Haz?" Louis asks, a pitying expression on his face while trying not to smirk.

"Yeah, I've got heaps more," he says, looking giddy with excitement. "Do you wanna hear a really cheesy one Lou? No? Okay, never mind, it's probably not that Gouda anyway."

"Oh, Harry," Louis says, rolling his eyes.

"OK, I'll stop," Harry shoots back. "That should set your mind at cheese."

Louis looks at Harry and cocks and eyebrow, clearly not impressed.

"Okay, okay," Harry says, raising both his hands in mock surrender. "But just one last one Lou? Please?" he begs.

"Nope, I've heard enough, I'm walking away now," Louis says, as he turns and walks towards the registers, shaking his head. It's taking every ounce of self control he possesses not to turn back around. But he has a chuckle when he hears Harry call out his final goodbye.

"Thank you. I'm so grate-ful for your help," Harry calls out, chuckling now. "I guess I'll talk to you later Lou. I'm sorry you've Gouda go!"

So, Harry thinks he's a comedian - just one more reason to find him endearing.

Later that night

Still chuckling over Harry's ridiculously cheesy jokes, Louis turns his oven on to warm up so he can re-heat his tea. He starts rummaging through his fridge and finds the left over pizza from when the lads were over two nights ago. Yes! That will do nicely he thinks.

He would normally set the timer for about fifteen minutes, and use the lower heat setting, but he's tired and hungry tonight so he sets the temperature higher and decides he'll just cook it for less time.

Feeling like a cigarette he wanders out to his balcony, closing the door behind him to keep the insects out. He sits down just as his phone lights up with a call from Stan.

"Alright lad," Louis greets Stan before they spend the next ten minutes or so talking about Stan's girlfriend troubles, trying to work out a way to solve it when Louis suddenly hears a piercing sound coming from inside his flat.

"Fuck Stan, my smoke alarm is going off," he says, standing and turning around to look inside. "There's smoke coming from my oven and my flat is filling with smoke. I gotta go," he says hanging up the call.

As Louis opens the door to his balcony, he can hear someone banging on his front door. Panicking, he runs straight to the front door and opens it, finding Harry standing there with a fire extinguisher in hand.

'Lou," Harry says, barging past him and into the flat. "Are you OK? Where's the fire?

Louis is still in a bit of shock and beginning to cough now as Harry races to the kitchen, Louis close on his heels.

"Fuck Lou, what are you cooking?" Harry asks, turning off the oven. "Go make sure the  balcony door is open to let the smoke out, and turn on the extractor fan." Louis does as Harry suggested while Harry gets the fire extinguisher ready as he opens the oven door. The moment the oven door is open, more smoke comes billowing out, stinging their eyes and making it hard to see and breathe. There aren't any flames coming out of the oven, thankfully, so Harry puts the fire extinguisher down on the floor, grabs a hand towel and removes the burnt pizza slices and the tray from the oven before tossing the slices in the sink and turning on the tap, drenching them in water to stop them from smoking further.

After they each grab a hand towel and wave them frantically above their heads near the smoke alarm in an effort to make it stop making the ear piercing noise, it eventually stops and Louis and Harry can finally take a breath. Most of the smoke has already exited through the balcony door, but it still smells quite bad.

"So, charcoal pizza slices for tea tonight?" Harry asks, crinkling his nose a little at the smell.

"Yeah, well, not anymore," Louis says, standing with his hands on his hips, looking around his flat.

Harry looks at Louis and says "Come on Lou, I always cook extra when I make spaghetti, come and eat with me."

"If you're sure Haz, that would be great," Louis says, with a relieved grin. "But only on one condition"

"Whats that Lou?" Harry asks.

"No more cheesy cheese jokes."

With a twinkle in his eye, Harry replies, "What do you mean? My cheesy puns are Gouda! You should always brie-lieve in the power of a good cheese joke!"

Louis shakes his head and grins at Harry, those adorable dimples on display again. "Come on Haz, show me this delicious spaghetti."

So with that, they make their way over to Harry's flat and share a meal, with Harry regaling Louis with more barely tolerable cheesy cheese jokes.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

It's Sunday afternoon a week later and Louis is bored. Harry has been away on a photography assignment for four days this past week and Louis has missed him. He arrived back late yesterday and Louis has been itching to see him. He has gone over all of the possible scenarios and can't think of a single one that would work properly without Harry figuring it out. He sits down on his balcony and calls Oli - poor long suffering Oli - and demands Oli help him come up to with another plan.

"Oli. Alright lad?" Louis asks as Oli answers the call.

"Yeah Lewis, what's happening? Has the curly one succumbed to your charms yet?" Oli asks chuckling.

"No, he hasn't. Its been nearly 3 months now, and I'm running out of ideas," Louis says exacerbated.

"Ah, lad, so no proposal on the horizon yet then?" Oli says, not holding anything back and laughing now.

"Oh, fuck off," Louis says, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag. "Gotta get him to fall for me first."

"Right." Louis hears Oli let out a deep breath before continuing. "So, what's the plan this time?" Oli asks, sounding resigned but still fully committed to the cause.

"I don't fucking know, do I? If I did, I'd be doing it instead of calling you," Louis laughs.

"Alright lad. Calm down," Oli replies without skipping a beat. Having been exposed to a lifetime of Louis' snarkiness, he knows Oli never takes him too seriously. "So, what's the latest?"

"Well, he got home yesterday after being away for four days…" Louis begins, but is cut off by Oli.

"I know, you didn't stop yapping about it the whole time he was gone," Oli chuckles.

"Oi, I just want to spend some time with him. You know, hang out in his flat again maybe. But how can I get him to invite me over?" Louis wonders, taking another drag of his cigarette, then exhaling, letting the smoke drift away as he thinks.

"Maybe you could hurt yourself and he'd have to look after you?" Oli suggests. "You know, cut your finger trying to cook or something so he has to patch you up? You could play doctor and patient," Oli says chuckling.

Louis chooses to ignore that last comment.

"No, because that could mean a visit to the hospital, and I don't want that," Louis says, dismissing the suggestion.

"How about asking for his help with something," Oli suggests.

And that gives Louis an idea.

"Oh, I know! I could lock myself out of my flat," Louis suggests, feeling a plan forming. "That way no one gets hurt and he will have to take pity on me and invite me to stay in his flat till I can get back into mine."

"But then how will you get back in?" Oli asks. "How can you make it look legit?"

Taking another long drag on his cigarette, Louis considers Oli's question.

"Oh, I know," Oli says. "Yyou can say that I've got a spare key but I can't get there till after tea because I'm visiting friends and have to drive back," Oli continues, sounding quite proud of himself.

"That could work, only there's a major flaw in your plan lad. You don't have any other friends," Louis chuckles. "Me and Stan are the only ones who will put up with you."

There's silence in the other end of the phone before Oli replies, "Do you want my help or not?"

"Yeah, you're right," Louis apologises. "Sorry lad."

"So, we can do that, but I don't actually have a key," Oli reminds him.

"Oh, I know." Louis says, a plan forming. "I'll leave it under the door mat. Grab it before you come and knock on Harry's door."

"OK," Oli says, getting on board with the plan. "What time you want me to come by?"

"Ah, maybe 8.30?" Louis replies, thinking that should be a long enough time to spend with Harry.

"Okay, call me once you're at Harry's to make it look real," Oli says.

"Okay lad. Talk soon. And thanks." And with that Louis hangs up the call and makes his way to his bedroom to check his wardrobe for a suitable outfit before jumping in the shower. It's important to be clean and fresh before wooing his future husband.

Once showered, he makes his way back to his bedroom and dresses. He's chosen a pair of ripped medium blue denim jeans and a fluffy beige knitted jumper with a skeleton image knitted into the back of it. He fixes his hair in that flyaway messy way that he likes, using his fingers to feather the fringe across his forehead. Once he's satisfied, he pockets his phone, puts his shoes on and looks through the peep-hole to check the hallway is clear. Seeing no one there, he opens his door and listens for movement from Harry's flat. He can hear music playing and Harry's voice singing along, so he puts the spare key under the mat for Oli, and closes his door, ensuring it's locked.

Once the door is closed he lets out a dramatic "Noooooo," ensuring it's loud enough to get Harry's attention and bangs on his own front door, hopeful it doesn't take Harry too long to come out to investigate the noise.

He is quiet for a moment and hears Harry's music turn off. He takes that as a positive sign and shouts out once more for dramatic effect. At that moment Harry's door opens and Louis comes face to face with the cute neighbour from across the hall, brows furrowed and expression concerned.

"Lou, whats wrong? Was that you shouting?" Harry asks.

"Oh Haz, I'm so glad you're home. I've um, locked myself out of my flat and can't get back in," Louis says in a rush, feigning urgency. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Oh Lou, I'm so sorry. Does anyone have a spare key?" Harry asks, the caring and helpful angel that he is.

"Oh shit, yeah. My mate Oli has a key. Let me call him," Louis says, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"Oli, yeah it's me. Are you at home right now, because I've locked myself out of my flat and need you to bring the spare key over," he says, hoping his acting skills from drama classes at school don't fail him.

"Oh Lewis, sorry mate, but I'm visiting with friends. Won't be back till later tonight," he hears Oli say, sarcasm clearly evident in his voice.

"Oh, really? And you can't come back sooner?" Louis asks, looking over at Harry.

"No Lewis, unfortunately I can't. These new imaginary friends treat me way better than you do and don't force me to help them with ridiculous pranks so they can get into some random lads pants," Oli says extremely sarcastically. Louis chooses to ignore him.

"Oh, um… okay, let me just check with Harry," Louis responds, hoping he sounds convincing to Harry.

"Harry," Louis says, using his sweetest voice. "Oli says he's visiting friends and is a couple of hours away. He says he won't be back till around half eight tonight."

"That's OK Lou," Harry says grinning. "You can hang out with me at my place till your friend gets here if you like."

"Really? But I don't want to intrude," Louis says.

"Oh don't be silly," Harry reassures him. "We can have dinner together. I'll cook us something delicious, or we can order something. It'll be fun."

"Well, if you're sure Harry," Louis says, still offering Harry a way to back out.

"Of course I'm sure. Tell Oli to come when ever he can. We can entertain ourselves for a few hours till he gets back," Harry says confidentially.

Focusing back on the call with Oli, Louis tells him he'll stay and have dinner with Harry, and Oli agrees to come as soon as he can, or maybe sometime tomorrow.

Louis laughs at that, thanks Oli and ends the call.

"This is so kind of you Haz, thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you as my neighbour," and Louis knows he means every word.

"Well, lucky for you, we won't have to find out too soon," Harry says placing an arm around Louis' shoulders and directing him into his flat.

They decide to order some Indian take away and enjoy sharing some Chicken Tikka Masala and Lamb Rogan Josh, along with rice and naan bread. They spend the rest of the evening chatting and watching some TV, Harry talking Louis into watching an episode or two of Friends until they hear a knock at Harry's door.

"Oh, that must be Oli," Louis says, beginning to rise from his seat next to Harry on the sofa.

"It's ok Lou, let me get it. You stay here," Harry says placing a hand on Louis knee as he goes to answer the front door.

Louis has a little internal freak out at the touch, but manages to reign it in quickly enough before Harry notices.

"Oh, you must be Oli, it's so nice to meet you. I'm Harry, Lou's neighbour," Louis hears Harry say. "Come on in," Harry continues, stepping aside and inviting Oli in.

"Oh, good to meet you Harry. I'm sorry I couldn't get here any earlier. I hope this one wasn't too much trouble?" Oli asks, tilting his head in Louis' direction and grinning.

"Oi! I'm not a kid you know. I don't need you to thank the grown-up for babysitting me," Louis says indignantly.

"It's ok Oli, he was no bother, really," Harry says chuckling. "He was well behaved and ate up all his dinner like the good boy he is."

"Fuck, not you too Haz," Louis groans, feeling like his best mate and his crush are ganging up on him.

Harry and Oli laugh and banter back and forth before Louis finally cuts them off.

"All right you two, enough of that. Thanks again Haz, you really are the best neighbour," Louis says, grabbing Oli by the arm and beginning to drag him towards the front door.

"Don't mention it Lou. It was no trouble at all," Harry replies, looking fondly at Louis. "I was glad of the company, honestly."

They say their goodbyes and Oli hands over the spare key to Louis' flat. Louis opens the door and they go inside, both kicking their shoes off before Oli helps himself to a beer from the fridge, grabbing a second one for Louis.

"So, was it worth all the fuss mate?" Oli asks, taking a sip of beer.

"Fuck yeah Oli," Louis says and then begins to tell Oli all about his evening spent with Harry.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

Chapter Text

Louis' POV

Louis has had a hard day at work. Ed had to go out of town so Louis picked up his lunchtime shift at the bar.

It all started when the child of one of the customers who had come in for the family lunch hour threw up on his shoes at the beginning of his shift, then after his shift he had to walk home and got caught in a rain shower because not only did he miss his bus, he also left his umbrella in his locker at work. He's damp, exhausted and lonely so after trudging up the stairs, unlocking his door and removing his shoes, he wades over to his bathroom, leaving wet sock prints on the floor before undressing and leaving his clothes in a puddle near the bath. He then jumps in the shower to warm up.

The water is so warm and comforting after being out in the rain, so he stands under the water for a while and his mind begins to drift to Harry.

Harry has been busy with work and they haven't crossed paths in over a week. He misses him. Misses the chocolate brown curls and the way they frame his gorgeous face. Misses his clear green eyes and the way they hold so much warmth when they meet his own. Misses his beautiful smile and plush strawberry tinted lips, and that cheeky little tongue that sneaks out of the corner of his mouth to lick those pillowy lips when he doesn't think Louis is watching.

He gets out of the shower and dresses, throwing on the only clean clothes he has, despite them not being quite warm enough - some black shorts and one of his favourite t-shirts, a black one with a cartoon character with bulging heart eyes and Hopeless Romantic written across the back.

He walks out to the kitchen and decides he just needs a glimpse of Harry, anything to satisfy his need, but he can't keep accidentally running into him, so he needs to do the next best thing, and create another reason for Harry to show up. He knows Harry is home, he can hear ABBA playing from across the hall, it's a song he kind of recognises, but doesn't quite know the name of it. The name sounds like that Indian curry they had last week, Chicken Tikka, or something like that. Anyway, that's not important. He's trying to decide what sort of chaos he can unleash right now so he can see Harry again. Before long, a brilliant idea pops into his head. Harry came running when he burnt the fish fingers the other week, and when he burnt the left over pizza, so maybe he could do that again?

Louis knows it's not sustainable, and surely Harry will think Louis is crazy if he ever found out all the things he's been doing to try and spend time with Harry. To spend enough time together so that Harry will fall for him. But he doesn't know what else to do, so he decides to burn something again, and this time it has to work.

He turns the oven on high and while it's heating up, he pulls the frozen Pepperoni pizza from the freezer, discards the plastic wrapper and the box, places the pizza on a round oven tray and slides it on to the top shelf of the oven. It should only take about twenty five minutes he thinks before it starts to smoke, so he grabs his phone, and noticing that the rain has eased, he wanders out onto the balcony, lights a cigarette and calls Oli.

Looking at his watch, he can see its been about twenty minutes. He looks over his shoulder and can see smoke starting to fill the kitchen. He says a quick goodbye to Oli just as the smoke alarm goes off. It should only take a minute or two before Harry begins knocking on his door, so he cracks open the balcony door just a little so he can hear when Harry knocks.

He times it perfectly because right on cue, he hears Harry frantically knocking on his door. Louis walks casually towards the kitchen. Picking up a tea towel, he opens the over door and retrieves the oven tray with the charred pizza and places it on the cooktop. He makes sure to let out a "fucking hell" and a "shit, what am I gonna do for tea now" for authenticity and heads towards the front door, then opens it to find Harry standing there, looking concerned, and again holding a fire extinguisher. This time its raised, it looks like he was about to knock Louis' door down with it.

Fucking hell!

Maybe he has taken this too far?

It's at this point Louis begins to feel pangs of guilt creeping in and his expression drops. Perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to burn his pizza on purpose, because Harry is obviously worried about him, and it doesn't feel good knowing that his behaviour has Harry worrying. While he's trying to come to terms with that, a huge grin suddenly appears on Harry's face, with his teeth and dimples on full display. Now Louis is confused and he doesn't know what this means, but he's committed now so has to follow this charade through to the end.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~

Harry's POV

“Oh, Haz. Thank fuck you're here!” Louis says as he turns to lead Harry into the kitchen - the scene of the crime. The scene of what Harry suspects will be yet another one of Louis' cooking disasters.

Harry chuckles to himself when he spots Hopeless Romantic written across the back of Louis' t-shirt and can't help but admire the pert and perfectly rounded arse walking in front of him in those snug fitting black shorts. He'd follow that arse anywhere! And those legs! Well, what Harry wouldn't give to have them wrapped around his…

No. These thoughts have to stop. It's not right to be thinking of his neighbour that way.

Pure thoughts Harry, only pure thoughts.

“So, Lou," Harry manages to finally say after having to consciously remember to use his words. "What was on tonight's menu?"

“Ah, pizza… again?” Louis replies, shrugging and using the tea towel to fan the smoke away and out through the door to his small balcony. Again, this is not the first time Harry has seen him do this.

“What happened? Did you have the oven up too high again, leave it in too long?” Harry asks, peering over Louis' shoulder to get a glimpse of the pizza in question - another round of charcoal straight from the depths of the inferno also known as Louis' oven.

“I, ah…I don't know what happened Haz. One minute I was out on the balcony on the phone and the next thing I know, there's smoke coming out of the oven again,” Louis says, still fanning the smoke away and still looking a tad guilty.

"Hmmm, how long do you think you were on the phone Lou?" Harry asks, interested to see where today's adventure was leading them.

“Oh, I don't know. I… ah… I think my Nan called," Louis says, scratching his head. "Yeah… Nan called just after I put it in, then we were talking, when, ah… when my Grandad left to go to the pub,” Louis says, still looking a bit guilty, “and then um… then I had a chat with him when he got back, so it couldn’t have been that long. Yeah, that's sounds about right," Louis finishes his explanation, a confident and proud expression on his face.

“Lou!" Harry exclaims, putting the fire extinguisher down on the kitchen floor beside the kitchen counter. "You've told me how long your Grandad takes when he runs into his mates at the pub, pizzas only need about twenty minutes.”

“Oh, right. Didn’t know that to be fair,” Louis says. “Lucky you were home then Haz," he continues as a smug grin begins to form, his lips pursuing together, forming a 'v'.

Harry knows that smug look. He's been witness to it more times than he cares to remember. So Harry simply looks at him, his head cocked to the side, trying to weigh up Louis answer. He can tell that Louis isn't being truthful and is considering if it's finally time to call him out on it. Taking in a deep breath and then exhaling, he decides it is time.

"We can't keep doing this Lou," Harry says, sending a worried look Louis' way. "I'm worried that you'll really hurt yourself one of these days."

Louis' expression changes at Harry's words. Instead of looking smug and confident, he now looks embarrassed and unsure, like he's been caught in a lie. And that's because he has been. He and Harry both know it.

"How on earth did we get here Lou?" Harry's asks, running his fingers through his hair in exacerbation.

"I don't fucking know Haz. It's all my fault," Louis says, looking down, reluctant to meet Harry's gaze. "I'm sorry."

And sadly, Harry knows it's not all on Louis. He's equally to blame.

"No Lou, it's not all on you, I'm also to blame," Harry says, knowing it to be the truth.

"What?" Louis asks, looking up now. "How can me burning a fucking pizza be your fault?"

"Well, yes you're right. Technically, you did burn the pizza, but it's my fault that I let it get this far." Harry looks at Louis and sighs.

This has gone on long enough and it's starting to get dangerous now, and Harry knows is time to put a stop to it, but in order to do that, he's going to have to confess and be honest with Louis, finally tell him how he really feels. But before he can do that, Louis interrupts him.

"No Haz, you're wrong. It is my fault. This was all me. I did this and I need to tell you something," Louis says, looking very serious now, and very guilty. "I… well, I kinda have a crush on you Haz, since you moved in, and... and I wanted to get to know you but didn't know how to do it," Louis takes a breath and Harry waits patiently for him to continue.  "Please don't be mad at me, but I, um… I made up reasons to spend time with you. Bumping into you, putting my letters in your letterbox, locking myself out, burning things, it was all me. Well, the first two times I burnt my tea were both accidents to be fair, but this time it was on purpose. I did all those things because I wanted to see you. I know it sounds stupid, but I thought if we spent enough time together, maybe you'd like me as much as I like you," Louis finally finishes. He hangs his head and his shoulders slump in what Harry recognises as his defeated stance. 

"Yeah, I um... kind of figured that out Lou," Harry says with a slight chuckle, starting to feel a bit guilty himself now.

"You did, oh my god Haz," Louis says, his head wiping back up to look at Harry in amazement. "When did you realise? How long have you known?" he asks, clearly embarrassed and starting to panic, now finding out that Harry knew.

Harry chuckles.

"Look, lets sit down Lou, let me explain," Harry says as he gestures over towards Louis' sofa.

They both take a seat before he continues.

"Well Lou, I had my suspicions, but they were confirmed after that time you kept knocking on my door and blamed it on the kids down the hall," Harry explains.

"Oh," Louis says, having the decency to look ashamed. "But how… how did you know?"

"Because, dear sweet Louis," he was going to enjoy this, "I knew they'd moved out the week before… because I helped them carry the boxes," Harry says, watching Louis' face drop.

"Oh," Louis says, clearly contemplating his next words. "But, um... why didn't you say anything to me?"

"Well, to be honest, it was fun," Harry chuckles.

"Fun? Yeah right," Louis says, scoffing and throwing one hand up in a dismissive gesture. "It's soooo much fun watching me make an absolute idiot of myself."

"No Lou, that's not what I meant," Harry says, speaking calmly, trying to reassure him. "I meant that watching you come up with all these ideas, just so we can bump into each other or hang out together, it was kind of, I don't know... flattering I guess." Harry can feel a blush start to creep up his face and he hopes Louis doesn't notice because he would feel mortified if he did. "And… well, I was sort of grateful that you were looking for ways for us to spend time together… it meant I didn't have to try and find ways. And, it was kind of cute," Harry finishes, trying to hide a giggle behind his hand.

"You thought it was cute? Why would you think it was cute Haz?" Louis asks, sounding shocked.

"Well, if we're being honest, I've kind of had a crush on you too since that first day. The day I brought the brownie's over," Harry replies, convinced that his whole face and neck are red and splotchy by now.

"You have a crush on me?" Louis asks. "But why Haz, why would you have a crush on me?" Louis asks, sounding surprised. "You've got a career and responsibilities, you're sensible and have it all worked out. A proper adult, you know. Where as I'm just immature and chaotic and people have told me before that I'm too much. I didn't think you'd ever think of me like that. Thought you were out of my my league," Louis says, dropping his head to avoid eye contact.

Harry can't believe what he just heard. 

"Out of your league? Me?" Harry says, incredulously, his voice a little higher than usual. "Lou, I thought you'd never be interested in me. I'm older than you, boring, a bit awkward and a homebody who dresses like a grandpa sometimes." Harry and Louis both chuckle a bit at that. "What's there to be interested in? And besides, you're energetic, spontaneous, so much fun to be around, and you always bring sunshine to my days," he says, feeling that blush creeping in again.  "And you're definitely not too much for me Lou… I like the chaos. It's kind of exciting," Harry says, feeling a little shy.

"So what does this mean Haz?" Louis asks, smiling, but still unsure of their next steps.

"Well, maybe we can start by being honest with each other and stop tip-toeing around our feelings," Harry says as Louis nods his head in agreement. "Maybe we could spend some time together, maybe go on a date? See how that feels and take it from there!"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Louis replies, smiling. "Where should we go?"

"I don't know Lou… but we've got plenty of time to work that out," Harry says, standing up from the sofa. "But for now, lets go over to my place. It's less smokey over there and I'll show you how easy it is too make home made pizza, and how to cook it without it burning."

"Okay Haz, lets go make some pizza," Louis says, also standing. "But on one condition."

"Of course," Harry says, knowing full well that he is going to find it hard to say no to anything Louis asks for. "What's that Lou?"

"I'll help as long as you promise I don't have to touch the oven, because I can assure you dear Harold, that would only lead to disaster!"

They both laugh as they walk towards Louis' front door, but then Louis says he needs to duck back inside for a minute. Harry has no idea what Louis could possibly be doing,  but waits for him, then they make their way to Harry's flat.

Harry already has the pizza dough prepared so he shows Louis how to make the bases, and Louis helps by cutting up the ingredients for the top of the pizza. He does a terrible job, but Harry doesn't mind, because if he's lucky, he'll have plenty of time to teach Louis how to cook.

Later that night, after pizza, beers and some honest conversation, Louis shows Harry the photo he has just sent to Oli and Stan, showing them the abomination that started out as a frozen pizza.

They both have a good laugh and settle in to watch some more episodes of Friends as they plan where they want to go on their first date.

~~~💫💫💫🍕💫💫💫~~~