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Harry looked at the Polaroid in his hand. It showed a sleepy eyed boy with feathered hair who smiled serenely at the camera. Harry allowed himself a small satisfied smile at the memory of a good night past before throwing the photo in a shoe box overflowing with other similar Polaroid’s.
Harry didn’t spare the box another glace as he shrugged on his coat and headed out the door.
~~
“Harry! Tell us what happened last night! Did you get with that Louis guy from the bar?” A dark haired, dark eyed boy called out to Harry as he stepped in to Caruso.
“Zayn, why do you encourage this?” The boy’s doe eyed companion exclaimed before Harry had the chance to reply.
Harry chuckled at the greeting he received from his friends. “Well hello to you too boys. Zayn, if you must know, I did get with Louis and he was good.” Harry said with a wink. “And Liam, you know why Zayn asks, he like to live vicariously through me, especially since he can’t join me on my adventures anymore.”
Liam blushed and looked apologetically at Zayn who simply shrugged and slung an arm around Liam. Harry watched the exchanged fondly whilst signalling a passing waitress. He paused, raking his eyes over her, before smiling sweetly at the poor girl. “Hey babe, can I please get a bloody mary and a calamari salad. Thanks a million.” The waitress could only manage a squeak and a nod in reply.
Harry turned his attention back to his friends only to find Liam shaking his head slightly.
“Must you do that to everyone who you find even mildly attractive?”
Zayn laughed “Liam, its Harry! You should know by now that Harry can’t help himself, its second nature to him to attempt to get with anyone worth looking at.”
Liam only grunted in reply, all too aware of Harry’s ways. Harry smiled softly at Liam, trying to appease his friend, but Liam’s sad, disappointed gaze, made Harry feel like he was about to drown in guilt.
The 3 boys soon fell in to easy chatter as their food arrived and they enjoyed their lunches. But as the meal wound down, their conversation soon turned to their evening plans.
“Harry, you got someone already lined up for tonight or are you just gonna pull when we’re there?” Zayn questioned, his eyes shining eagerly.
“Nah I don’t have anyone; I’ll probably pick someone up at the bar like last night.”
“Harry,” Liam interjected “You know you can’t keep picking up different people night after night. One day you’ll stumble across the one for you and you’ll accidentally let them go.” Liam’s eyes drilled in to Harry’s as he spoke, hoping Harry would finally listen to him.
Harry nodded solemnly, but then Zayn caught his eye and the two boys burst in to laughter.
“Ugh, I don’t know why I even try with you two!” Liam stood up, “And on that note I’m going to have to leave you. Unlike some people, I’ve got to go to work.”
“Bye Liam! Don’t worry, I know you’re the one for me!” Zayn yelled gleefully at Liam’s retreating figure.
“Bye! We’ll still see you tonight yeh?” Harry called after his friend
“Regretfully yes I you will, but only because I have to look after the two of you” Liam called over his shoulder, waving at this friends one last time before leaving the restaurant.
~~
A bored Zayn watched as Harry once again emptied out his entire closet. Once every single item of his closet were strewn across his bed and floor Zayn pounced and got his hands on Harry’s dark blue fitted shirt.
“Stolen!” Zayn yelled, before disappearing in to the bathroom.
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his curls, “Zayn, why do you always steal my clothes?!” he whined
Zayn’s voice was muffled when he replied “One, cos your clothes are nice and two, they look really good on me! And before you go all Liam on me, no I cannot buy my own clothes; I don’t need to anyway, not when all of you guys have such nice clothes in your closets.”
Harry could do nothing but laugh at Zayn’s odd logic. “Fine, whatever, I’ll just pretend I understand what ever goes on in that head of yours. Just hurry up and help me pick out my outfit already, it can’t take you that long to put a shirt on.”
Zayn stepped out of the bathroom and Harry sighed at the sight of his friend. As usual Zayn looked perfect; with the sleeves rolled up and shirt unbuttoned over his black ribbed singlet, the stolen blue shirt looked better on him than it ever did on Harry.
“Oh that’s entirely not fair, that shirt looks so much better on you!”
Zayn smirked at his friend “I told you your clothes look good on me. Come, let’s find you something decent to wear too. I was thinking you should go with you purple shirt, the one with the white detailing on the cuffs and button line and your tight black jeans, the ones that make your arse look good.”
“Umm Zayn, are you sure Liam would approve of your ogling at my arse?…” Harry teased.
“Ahh shut up! You asked for my help.” Zayn punched Harry on the arm “Just go put your clothes on”
Harry chuckled as he searched through the pile for the clothes Zayn had described. “Are you talking about the light purple shirt?”
“Yes, the lavender-ish coloured one. You’ve gotta fold up the cuffs a little though, so the white undersides show.”
“Yes mum. You’re so fussy!!” Harry threw at Zayn, before he escaped to the bathroom to change.
“It’s all about the details man, all about the details!” Zayn yelled after his friend.
~~~~
Liam was standing outside tonight’s choice of club, which happened to be a rather non-descript bricked building dimly glowing an odd blue hue. It had the words ‘The Lounge’ written in gaudy red lights across the front of the building. Liam had his shoulders hunched up to his ears as he paced outside the club. He spotted the two hurrying figures of Zayn and Harry coming toward him, he removed a hand from his pocket to wave them over.
“Man I have to stop letting you two get ready together! It takes you twice as long!”
“Hello to you too Liam.” Harry laughed in greeting, whilst Zayn simply went up to him and planted a wet, sloppy kiss on Liam’s check.
“Love you too babe!” Zayn chose to say “Let’s go inside and have some fun shall we?”
Upon entering Caruso, Harry was immediately accosted by the familiar sights and sounds of a club. He smiled to himself as he felt the bass reverberating through his ribcage till his heart seemed to take on the same beat of the songs. He loved how it seemed to become part of him, like the club was claiming him as part of itself. He even loved the crowd, the push and pull of sweaty bodies against his in the low dim lighting; he loved how it made him feel like he was part of a larger, undulating, writhing organism, like he never had to be alone again. Walking through the crowds, he felt the excitement stirring in his chest, his next conquest was waiting for him out there, part of the dancing mass, just waiting for him to pluck them out and charm them in to oblivion and he could not wait to dive in and find them. As Zayn lead him to the bar, he scanned the crowd, taking in and disregarding the sweaty, overly made up girls and the many boys whose outfits screamed ‘take me home with your tonight’. Harry could not decide if he wanted to take home a pretty girl who would wrap herself around him and scream his name, or a hot boy who would give him as good as he got.
Harry’s inner musings were interrupted by Zayn, who tapped his arm and asked. “Dude, what you wanna drink? First round’s on me”
Harry looked to the bar for a moment, wondering what to start the night off with, “Jaeger bomb thanks Zee.” He said to Zayn with a smile.
Zayn nodded and turned back to give the bartender their order “Hey mate, can I grab a Jaeger bomb, a bourbon and coke and an OJ with half a shot of vodka. Thanks”
“Hey!” Liam said indignantly, grabbing Zayn’s arm “Why did you ask for alcohol in my drink?”
Zayn chuckled “Come on, live a little. It’s only half a shot babe.”
Harry tuned out Zayn and Liam’s bickering, eyes roaming the parade of different people in front of him. Finding nothing that seemed to catch his eye, he was about to turn back to Zayn and Liam when a rough, foreignly accented voice caught his attention. He turned his head toward the left to find the source, he saw a boy with oddly fluffed dirty blonde hair standing by the bar talking to the bartender.
“Mate, can I get a pint of Guinness, a shot of Johnny gold and a pint of Heineken?” The boy smiled cheekily as he finished up his order. Feeling Harry’s questioning gaze, he turned toward him and raised his eyebrows.
Harry shot the boy his trademarked sexy smirk, one that had gotten him countless Polaroids, but the blonde simply grinned in reply and turned his attention back to returning bartender. With a small frown, Harry decided to turn his attention back to Zayn and Liam. Curiousness sparked through his veins, he needed to know why his smirk didn’t seem to affect the other boy. The only thought on his mind as he mechanically picked up his drink and followed his friends further in to the club, was the way boy the boy’s eyes twinkled and danced with mirth and mystery.
~~
A few rounds of drinks later, Harry was still preoccupied by the boy from the bar. He kept reappearing throughout the night as if he knew just how much he was riling Harry up by doing so. He would appear next to Harry, smile in his direction and flit off again, before Harry could even attempt to flirt with him, leaving Harry confused and frustrated. It got so bad the Liam and Zayn soon noticed Harry’s distractedness.
“Harry, mate, have you found the model for your next Polaroid?” Zayn asked “It’s all good if you want to cut the night short so you can have a good fuck, Liam and I will be just fine on our own here.” Zayn finished by throwing his arm around Liam.
Liam rolled his eyes at Zayn “I think what Zayn is trying to say is don’t have to worry about us if you want to leave, we won’t hold it against you.” Liam rephrased, refusing to directly acknowledge Harry’s ‘nightly activities’.
“Thanks guys, but why do I have the feeling that this is you two attempting subtly get some alone time?” Harry chuckled looking between Zayn and Liam. “But don’t worry, I think I may have found someone that’ll occupy my time.”
Harry quickly exited the booth, leaving Zayn and Liam to their own devices, eager to start his search for the mysterious blonde that had caught his eye.
It was getting to the point in the night when everything was becoming a hot, steamy, mess and everything blended in to a blur of writhing bodies and gyrating hips, most definitely not the atmosphere in which to find someone. But thankfully, Harry had some experience at this, from what he saw, the blonde liked his drinks, so he knew his best bet was to head toward the bar. Even if the blonde wasn’t there, Harry was always up for another drink. With a smirk on his face, Harry started toward the bar, bracing himself as he had to cross the dance floor to get there. The fringes were the easiest, where the crowd was the thinnest, where the flailing dancers had not quite intertwined quite so tightly yet. With practiced ease, Harry weaved his way between flailing limbs and sweaty bodies, making his way across the dancing mass. The strobe lights were flashing in bursts across the dance floor, leaving Harry only with disjointed flashes and snap shots of grinding couples and grinning faces that made his head reel as he made his way across toward the bar. By the time he finally made it to the other side of the dance floor, he was slightly disorientated but his head wasn’t spinning yet. It was definitely time for another drink he thought to himself, his quest for the mysterious blonde taking a back seat for a moment.
Harry signalled the bartender, a gorgeous, lean man with golden skin and hazel eyes, nodding his head in greeting “Jaeger bomb please, thanks babe.” Harry ordered with a wink.
The bartender merely rolled his eyes at Harry’s attempts and soon placed a short glass neatly on a small black napkin in front of Harry.
Harry nodded his thanks before downing the drink in one large gulp.
“A bit eager there are we?” A slightly familiar Irish brogue teased, close to his ear.
Harry spun around, choking on the last vestiges of his drink. Standing right there in front of him was the very thing he’d been searching for, with a knowing smile on his face.
“Hey!” Harry exclaimed “I’ve been looking for you.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Harry mentally gapped at himself, what was he doing? His words were normally more calculated, he never said something that amateur.
“Oh, is that so?” The blonde boy said, smiling coyly.
It took all of Harry’s self control not to run away and hide in embarrassment, instead he just nodded mutely.
“Well in that case, nice to meet you. I’m Niall.” A large, genuine smile over took Niall’s features as he held his hand out to Harry.
“Uhh” Harry had not expected an introduction after he had essentially admitted to being a stalker. “Hi, I’m Harry.” He said, taking Niall’s hand and shaking it.
Harry was sick of coming off as an amateur, so he decided to go with an old faithful opening. “So, Niall, how about I buy you a drink?” he said, gazing up at Niall through lowered eyes and biting his lower lip for effect.
It seemed to have the desired effect as Harry could see Niall slowly raking his gaze over him and licking his lip making Harry feel over exposed and undeniably turned on. Abruptly Niall flicked up his eyes to meet Harry’s and smirked before replying with a simple “No.”
Harry raised his eyebrows, determined to win this game, “No? Are you sure about that? Cos you’ll be missing out on all this.” Harry said, gesturing down his body. “And trust me” Harry leaned in as if telling a secret, a smirk on his lips “you don’t wanna be missing out on this.”
Niall giggled, actually giggled at Harry’s words, leaving Harry confused, people normally couldn’t resist him, especially if he was laying it on.
“Well,” Niall reasoned, voice contemplative “we can’t have me missing out on all that.” He gestured lazily at Harry’s body “can we?”
Without giving Harry a chance to react, Niall turned to the bar and signalled the same bartender that had served Harry before. “Hey babe, can I get another? It’s on him” Niall ordered, nodding in Harry’s direction.
“Can I get I CC and dry too? Thanks.” Harry called out, realising, with a doubt that he’d been on the back foot with Niall the entire night. It was weird and slightly overwhelming, but yet quite exhilarating, it was a challenge and Harry was determined to master it.
Harry grabbed his drink from the counter, long fingers slipping slightly on the condensated glass. He gave Niall a sidelong glance as he downed half his drink in one gulp. He noticed that Niall seemed preoccupied with the napkin the bar tender had placed his drink on. Putting down his drink, Harry looked over to see what had Niall smirking to himself.
“Hey, Niall, what you got there?” Harry asked.
Niall looked up at Harry and quickly pocketed the napkin. “Oh nothing.” He said innocently as he picked up his drink.
As Niall put the napkin in his pocket, Harry caught a glimpse of the 9 black digits that stood out against the stark white of the napkin, but chose not to say anything about it, instead choosing to lean back against the bar. Niall had turned to face Harry, innocently sipping on his drink and humming along to the song playing over the speakers. Harry smiled, enjoying the way Niall’s skinny dark wash jeans clung to his thighs and how they sat perfectly low on his hips. He was also inexplicably like the fact that Niall managed to make a grandpa cardigan look sexy, no man should be able to look good in one of those, heck Harry didn’t even look good in one. God, not to mention his face, cute nose, right smattering of freckles, twinkling blue eyes, everything Harry found attractive was staring back at him. Niall was definitely the one he was taking home tonight.
“So Harry, wanna dance?” Niall interrupted Harry’s musings, catching him off guard once again.
Harry was expecting to exchange some polite conversation, maybe have another drink or two, flirt up a storm, cast his spell of Niall, then drag him home for the night. But dancing? That wasn’t part of Harry’s plan or repertoire, but if Niall wanted to dance, why not.
“Sure, babe, lead the way.” Harry answered, finishing up the last of his drink.
“Mate, I was just joking with you.” Niall let out the most raucous and uninhibited laugh Harry had ever heard and he loved how carefree it sounded. “Honestly, if you’re not comfortable with dancing, it’s ok. You don’t really like the dancing type, but I was curious to see how far you’d go.” Niall ended with a cheeky grin.
“For you babe, I’d go all the way.” Harry said, hoping his words would finally have the desired effect.
“All the way huh? Are you propositioning me?” Niall stepped closer to Harry, his eye’s growing dark as he placed a hand on Harry’s forearm.
Harry smirked, finally feeling like things were going as planned “Do you want me to be propositioning you?” he said, matching Niall’s gaze, hoping his voice as steady as he needed it to be.
Niall stepped back and made a show of giving Harry a once over, before resting his gaze on Harry’s crotch. “Yeh I think I’d like it if you were propositioning me.” Niall finally said, his accent making his words sound teasing and playful.
Now this was more like it Harry thought to himself, he finally had Niall playing his game, instead of his own.
“Ok, so how about we call this a proposition and grab another drink before catching a cab back to my place?” He asked.
“Hmmm and when we get back to your place what will be doing?”
Harry couldn’t believe it, just when he thought he was the one calling the shots, Niall switched up the game and was once again making Harry work for it.
“Well, that’s entirely up to you babe. I can show you the time of your life if you wanted, or you could show up. It’s all up to you.”
For the briefest second Harry saw an odd mix of emotion flit across Niall’s face, something like vulnerability mixed with hesitation and guilt. Normally, Harry would be celebrating internally; these were emotions he’d normally work with. He knew just what to say and do to make the person malleable putty in his hands. But something, call it experience, call it a gut feeling, call it the look in Niall’s eyes, told him his smooth words and suggestive touches wouldn’t work on Niall’s brand of emotions. So instead of pouncing like he normally would, he stepped back and waited for Niall to make the next move.
As the silence between them stretched, doubt began to creep in to Harry’s mind. Had he somehow managed to read the signals that wrong? What if Niall hadn’t really been in to him, what if the other boy was just having some fun. Had he met another player who had just played him? Harry glanced over at Niall, he surely couldn’t have got it that wrong, there was that something akin to want in Niall’s eyes, Harry was sure of that. The night more or less followed the correct formula, they had caught each other’s eye, they flirted a bit, they had a drink, they had been playing the game, though a different version to what Harry was used to, but it was still the same game Harry played every night. Now it was time to close and though Niall hadn’t really been following Harry’s rules, Harry was sure Niall was still playing.
“Niall,” Harry decided he was going to go for it. “You’re gorgeous, the best looking bloke in this club. I’d love to spend the night with you. I’m going to be honest, I’m not looking for anything serious, just a good time and from the looks of things, you’re looking for the same thing as I am, especially considering you accepted that guy’s number with me standing right there. So what do you say, come back to mine and we’ll have our fun.”
Niall gazed at him silently, his face unreadable, before he shifted his eyes slightly, gaze moving just over Harry’s shoulder. Harry resisted the urge to turn around to see who or what Niall was looking at, missing the feathered haired boy gesturing at Niall to look at Harry properly.
With a defeated sigh, Niall shifted his eyes back to Harry’s and said the words Harry had been hoping to hear, “Yeh sure, I’m up for some fun tonight. Let’s skip the drinks and head straight to yours.”
Harry smiled triumphantly as he grabbed Niall’s hand and led him out of the club. That was easier than he thought it would be.
~~
Light filtered through Harry’s curtains, bathing him in soft, warm light. He stretched lazily, enjoying the slightly burn in his muscles as he stretched across the entirety of his bed. Wait, Harry bolted up right, this wasn’t right, he shouldn’t be able to stretch across the bed, there should be another body there blocking him. Harry hadn’t woken up alone, in a cold bed for a long time.
Harry groaned, confused and somewhat hung over. He swung his legs of the bed and ran a hand through his curls, messing them up. He automatically reached for his Polaroid camera but was interrupted when he spotted something different on his bedside table. Someone had left a glass of water and a couple of panadol out for him. Silently thanking the kind soul that did that, Harry swallowed down the painkillers and followed them with the water with practised ease. Bits and pieces of the previous night were slowing coming back to Harry, he remembered a mysterious and seriously hot blonde boy, Niall. Niall! Harry suddenly realise what had felt off when Harry woke up, Niall should have been there, in his bed, next to him, but he wasn’t. Harry quickly stood and pulled on a discarded pair of sweatpants and headed out of his room to find the missing boy.
Harry walked through his entire flat and did not find Niall, or any evidence that he’d even been in the flat. Stumped, Harry sank on to one of his bar stools next to the kitchen counter and rested his elbows on the counter top trying to sort out the confused mess that were his thoughts. He was beginning to think to think he might have imaged the previous night’s events, it wouldn’t be a first, but he was much more drunk and very very high the last time that had happened and he was pretty sure he didn’t smoke any weed the night before. There was the possibility that Niall had taken off in the night was there, but no one had ever snuck out on him before, at least not without Harry managing to snap a Polaroid of them. But his ‘guests’ were normally quite enamoured with him, so much so, that they happily stayed the night, expecting cute cuddles and a shared breakfast, things Harry never gave. There was a ghost of a moment that haunted Harry’s memory, for some reason he remembers waking slightly as Niall was leaving his room and groggily asking, almost begging the other boy to stay. Harry struggled with the memory, most of him wanting to put it down to drunken dreaming and not reality because it didn’t seem like something he would do at all. But there was a tiny portion of his brain that yelled at him that it did indeed happen, he remembers, with unbelievable clarity, the look of shame and regret that passed across Niall’s face as he whispered his sincere apologies and shushed Harry back to sleep. Shrugging himself out of his thoughts, Harry shuffled off the stool and headed to his bathroom, knowing a nice hot shower would help clear the fog in his head.
As the warm, soothing water rained down on Harry’s broad shoulders, a realisation struck him with sudden clarity, why was he bothered with Niall’s absence? His disappearing act saved Harry the awkward ‘no we aren’t going to have breakfast, yes I’m technically kicking you out’ speech he always had to give in the mornings. It was better this way, he convinced himself, they both got what they wanted and there was nothing more to it. Harry hummed happily, his mind much clearer and his thoughts free. A faint buzzing from his room interrupted his humming. Cursing, Harry quickly shut off the water and threw a towel around his waist before rushing in to his room to check his phone. His screen showed that he’d received a picture message; curious Harry opened the message, his breath hitching when he saw the contents. The first picture showed Niall and another boy with feathered hair that looked very familiar, Louis was his name if Harry remembered correctly, the boy Harry had brought home the other night. Louis was grinning widely at the camera, whilst Niall just stared down the lens with a faraway look in his eyes. Louis was holding a Polaroid in his hand, a Polaroid, which upon closer inspection was a picture of Harry stark naked, face down and spread-eagled on his bed. Harry felt numb as he scrolled down, finding a text caption that was sent along with the pictures.
Hi Harry, Louis here, I dont know if you’ll even remember me, but I remember you. You know, I never really understood why you keep these tokens, but now I think I understand the appeal. Haha I take it you’ve met my cousin Niall? I know you’ll definitely remember him! Guess what Harry, you’ve been played!