this is a filler with a slight twinge of "oh word?" so there's a lot of dialogue, a lot of what the fuck is wrong with these people, and my writer's block. here you go. good morning, afternoon, evening, and/or night. thank you for 12k. i love you oh so very much.

—-

his birthday was absolutely wicked.

harry claimed the scratch marks all over his body (all. over. his neck, back, ribs, chest, stomach, hips, arms, there was even a gnarly clawing down his jaw somehow) were from a vicious, wild bunny rabbit. he declined louis' offer to go get checked for rabies by protesting that the bunny was cute, he'll live, and proceeded to take very good care of said vicious, wild bunny rabbit with birthday morning sex.

harry made him breakfast in bed. his parents called him to wish him a happy birthday and his mum even sent him a picture of shark wearing a party hat just for his big day. niall, zayn and liam broke into harry's house yelling at the top of their lungs that it was louis' birthday and he better 'get fucking ready for the best day of his life' — as a matter of fact, it almost was. at least one of the best days this year.

they had all went out to lunch and treated louis to a shopping spree, louis opened presents at the apartment, and at the club he got shitfaced to the point he didn't remember walking out with $6,300. according to liam, he was so out of it that he did his own personal stage performance at his very own birthday party and everyone just...kinda went nuts. he did shots with crew, with customers, even conned mitch into doing some with him.

there was a very brief memory, though, of him throwing his guts up because he mixed his liquors like a bafoon (he hates dark liquor but $50 is $50 and he did say he wanted to get trashed as a usual birthday tradition) and telling mitch he had nice hair. that was about it for him.

definitely cheers to 24.

christmas was good, minus his severe hangover. he almost didn't want to get out of bed that morning because his whole body hurt. his insides felt like they were going to become his outsides if he moved even a centimeter. after being coaxed into a shower and a light breakfast, he sat in the living room with harry, zayn, niall and liam as they all traded presents around. wrapping paper, tissue paper, and gift bags flooded the living room and it took about an hour and a half to clean everything up. new shoes, new outfits, makeup, decorations, gift cards, they're all definitely spoiled.

emma got her stocking, as promised, filled with treats, toys, and new collars for whenever harry felt like changing her style up a bit. mitch dropped off christmas presents to the group of them as well, much to louis' surprise. he's an asshole but he gives good gifts.

it's getting closer to the end of the year and he has yet to recieve his email from the headmaster of his school to see if he passed this semester. he's tried hard, he's done his work as much as he could plus some extra credit, he really can't afford to retake these classes twice. his stomach has been in knots thinking about it. if he fails, he might as well just go ahead and drop out. it's not worth it.

if he passes, though, he'll do cartwheels. that means he can take his next round of courses and be one step closer to his degree. which involves more essays, more lectures, and hopefully more cool professors.

"i think," harry's voice rumbles against louis' lower half of his back, as he nuzzles his face against him. louis was laid on his tummy on the bed watching emma entertain herself with a piece of paper. "that i just wanna lay in bed with you all day every day for the rest of my life."

"yeah?" louis grins and turns his head to look back at him. "you're a good cuddle buddy, i wouldn't complain."

harry grins and rests his cheek right on the swell of his bum, facing emma to watch her as well. he keeps his arms bracketed around louis' thighs as he used his ass for a pillow. it was nice, honestly. very squishy and comfy.

he's utterly obsessed with louis. not in a possessive or overwhelming sense, but he just likes to sit and admire the boy. sometimes trace his fingertips over the minimal amount of tattoos he has, spread tiny kisses along his tummy and thighs where he knows he lacks confidence most, and just cuddle the shit out of him. he deserves it. louis deserves to know how gorgeous and lively, also lovely, he is. he could teach a twelve hour lecture about the freckles on louis' nose.

it makes louis' stomach twist into almost undoable knots just how affectionate and gentle harry is with him. there's times harry just holds onto him so lightly as if he were a fragile piece of glass that could shatter with too harsh of a grasp, and it makes his eyes water. the times harry sits there and compliments the silliest things about him — "your hair is softer than usual today", "your socks are cute" — make him want to shove his face into a pillow and scream. harry is so good to him, and for what?

"you should get a tattoo right here," harry pokes his nose against louis' tailbone.

"a tramp stamp?"

"get my name. or," harry slides his hands up and pushes his thumbs into the dimples at the bottom of his spine. "my thumbs. right here. cause y'know-" he sits up on his knees and grips the boy's hips, pulling him onto his knees and pulls louis' clothed ass against him. louis squeals into laughter as harry mimicked fucking him from behind. he learned that morning that it was louis' favorite position (so they did it, of course.)

"you're fucking crazy."

"you went back on your word about our bet. i think you owe me just this once."

"i did not go back on my word," louis gasps, "i just...miscommunicated, my intentions weren't clear."

"uh huh," harry pushes him back down to continue cuddling with his butt. "whatever you say."

louis grins into the pillow his head was on and drapes his arm over the bed, tapping the bottom of the frame to catch the cat's attention. emma hops over to him and nuzzles her head under his palm until he reaches down to scoop her up and place her under his arm by his side.

"i loves you, little one," he tells her in a soft tone, "my favorite girl ever."

emma mews against him and he beams. "is that so?" he asks her, "tell your dad."

the cat meows a little louder and louis giggles. "harold, emma said she loves me."

harry hums in response and pins himself on his hands above louis' back. "she sure does." he leans down to press a kiss to the back of louis' head before rolling over. "she might as well be your cat, i just house her."

louis protests with a pout, "she is ours."

"she doesn't even pay attention to me," harry argues. he holds his hand out to emma and tries to pet her but the cat hisses at him. "see? she hates me."

"do you give her treats when you come in the door?"

"...no."

"start doing that. 's a total game changer."

harry sighs. "you've ruined her."

—-

"allegiance university, this is daniel speaking."

"hello," he swirled around in his office chair as he picks at a loose string in his jeans. "i'm calling on behalf of one of your students, louis tomlinson? he said he hasn't recieved his report card nor his edited transcript and he's just wanting to make sure he's good to go for his next semester."

there's minor shuffling on the other line and the young man on the phone says, "just a moment."

"sure."

"do you have louis' student identification code?"

"i do," he reads off the top of louis' college admission letter with his id number that he recieved from zayn and says, "could this have been a general mix up between his old address and new?"

zayn was just as worried as louis was about this, so he told him "give me his shit and i'll chew their asses the right way." and, well...here they are.

"very possible...oh, i think i see the issue. so, in our database we do not have a louis tomlinson. under that student number, we do have a louis w. montana. address listed at 534 locust drive in los angeles, california."

nodding his head, he says, "that's him."

"alright. i believe the mix up occured because names do not match so they held off on sending out his transcript to reduce the risk of exposing private information, even with his valid student id code. would you like for me to go ahead and change any information on his account?"

"please, if you don't mind. his last name, tomlinson. t-o-m-l-i-n-s-o-n."

"got it. would that be all?"

"i'd like to go ahead and pay the rest of his tuition in full, too."

there's silence on the other line aside from small taps of the keyboard. "his remaining balance is $53,000 without his financial aid."

"that's alright, i can pay it. can i pay with my card or do i need to mail in a check or money order?"

"due to the high balance at once, check or momey order would be preferred. what's the name so i know who to put it with?"

"mitch rowland," he says into his mobile and gives his card information off the top of his head.

harry opens the door to the office and pokes his head inside, so the man at the desk holds his hand up before he can say anything. harry leans against the doorway and cocks his head to the side in curiosity.

"alright. yes; that's perfect. thank you so much. mhm. okay, bye."

mitch tosses his phone onto his desk and gives his friend a weary look. "i think we got a problem."

—-

"are you sure you're ready?" mitch eyes louis suspiciously.

"for the last time, mitch, yes," louis groans. "i'll bartend for as long as you need me to but i'm sick of waiting."

the boss sighs and motions toward the door, giving louis the silent cue to clock in, and the boy nearly tripped as he ran out of the office. he clocks in behind the front counter and meets dominic at the bar, tag teaming with him since he was alone tonight.

"look at you," the fellow bartender grins. "good to see you in one piece, mate."

louis grins and raises the vodka bottle in his hand as a salute before be pours a row of shots for the duo of girls waiting at the bar. he came as soon as the club opened so he could try and get in, and here he is. harry's doing runs with niall all night so his choices were either be bored at harry's house or bored at the apartment.

fuck that. he's fine, he can do everything he used to do, but he just has to take baby steps instead of going head-on into things. changing the sodas may be an issue for a bit but everything else will be breezy. plus it's sunday, so they'll close at two. he'll get 4 hours of straight physical activity in, probably go home and take a nap until harry comes back anyways.

zayn comes by the bar around midnight for a water and he hands louis an envelope. "it came in last night," he said. "was gonna bring it to you after work today but here you is."

"here i is," louis plucks the envelope from his friend's fingertips. he opens it slowly and unfolds the three pieces of paper stuffed inside. he rakes his eyes over the fine print on the first page, over his report card on the second, and transcript additions on the third.

throwing his arms up in victory, he shouts, "i'm a sophomore, bitches!"

"that's what i'm fucking talkin' about!" zayn smacks the bartop as dominic yells his own cheers to him. "dom, one time for the one time. please, with us!"

"with us!" louis' eyes light up. "just one, 'cause mitch will kick our asses if he finds out."

dominic glances between both of the boys before grabbing three shot glasses. "who's mitch? never heard of him."

zayn chuckles as dominic passes their glasses to them with a teasing grin. they clink their glasses together and down their celebration shot and louis gags at the burning in his chest before chasing it with his lemonade.

the night goes by rather quickly, much to his dismay, because he was having fun and was in a great mood knowing he doesn't have to worry about repeating classes for the second time. his next round of classes wouldn't start until late january, so he has the next few weeks to take the time off and actually relax aside from work.

he brags to the boss about passing his classes and mitch congratulated him by sharing his joint with him. liam gave him a fist bump and told him he was proud of him. when he went back to harry's and told emma, the cat took it upon herself to use the envelope holding louis' paperwork as a toy.

harry comes home about fifteen minutes after he arrived and tilts his head to the side when he sees the cat walking around with the envelope in her mouth. "alright then," he murmured before meeting the giddy boy sitting on the couch. he dips down to give him a kiss. "what's got you so happy?"

louis grabs his papers from the coffee table and waves them in his face. "i passed."

harry breaks into a wide smile and reads over his report. "what did i tell you?" he pulls louis up and wraps his arm around his shoulders, walking him into the kitchen. "i wasn't even stressing it 'cause i already knew you were going to."

he takes one of the spare magnets on his fridge and sticks louis' documents onto it. "boom. putting my boy's work on display."

the proud smile on louis' face refuses to disappear as harry turns to face him.

"little genius," harry croons and kisses his forehead. "i'm so, so proud of you, sweetheart."

louis lets out a tiny squeal as he flings his arms around harry's middle, squeezing him tight. "thank you, thank you," he rambles. "you and zayn have been my number one supporters and motivations, i couldn't have done this without you two."

"nonsense," harry hums, but he smiles anyways, "you just needed that little push. i think this calls for drinks."

"most places are closed by now."

"and i have an entire liquor cabinet that needs to be ransacked. invite everyone over. we're celebrating your smart self!"

louis grabs harry's face and presses a multitude of kisses to the man's lips, squealing into giggles when his boyfriend picked him up and spun them in a circle.

"wait," harry puts him down when he remembers seeing extra numbers and courses on louis' paperwork. he flips through the pages again and pulls out his new transcript. "lou, you took 9 classes at once?"

he never told harry, but his "extra credit" tasks were his classes that he needed for his actual degree. so on top of taking and passing general studies involving english, mathematics and his psychology introduction classes, he managed to pass 3 of his accelerated psychology courses on the side. it took a lot of begging, but it worked.

"uh," louis fishmouths, "yeah."

harry smacks his head against the fridge. "you numpty, that's why you've been stressing yourself out."

"i wanted to catch up," louis shrugs. "i failed the first time because of mylo. i finished english and math when we first moved here so i did my new courses in place of it. since it's online, i was able to get it done faster."

"oh, honey," harry kisses the top of his head, empathic. "your poor, poor big brain."

"is fried, yes," the small man confirms. "but now i can avoid staring at a laptop for three weeks."

louis is already buzzed on his second glass of wine by the time the boys come over with their own share of alcohol. niall, who looked very unamused, had a blanket curled around his shoulders while he shot daggers into the side of liam's head with his bloodshot eyes.

"liam ruined his high," zayn rolls his eyes.

"well that's no fun," louis frowns at the grouchy boy. "nialler, you want a kiss? will that make you feel better?"

niall purses his lips in thought and nods, so louis climbs over the couch to smooch his cheek obnoxiously loud and sit on his lap.

"i apologized," liam pouts.

"you called him grape boy," zayn scoffs.

"he made fun of my sunglasses!"

"who the fuck wears sunglasses at three in the morning, liam?"

liam pulls his shades out of his hoodie pocket and puts them on, sinking into harry's loveseat. "i do."

niall drowned the minor argument out by getting lost in louis' hair, massaging his fingertips into his friend's scalp. louis offers him the rest of his glass, so he takes it and sips on it slowly.

"i wanted to go to school," niall mumbles to him. "wish i could."

"why can't you?"

niall's lips quirk into a small frown and he shrugs. "all the colleges i applied to rejected me because of my felony, so i guess i'm just fucked."

louis offers another kiss to his cheek. "i'll pay you to do some of my schoolwork so you can say you have college experience."

"see, this is why i love you," niall ruffles his hair. louis smiles as niall encases him underneath his blanket and proposes a friendly cuddle. niall gives the best hugs, and apparently he's a good cuddler too according to zayn.

nobody can top harry's cuddles, though. for some reason they make louis feel floaty yet grounded at the same time. zayn's cuddles are more consoling, like another warm body to lie next to, and niall is just very gentle, like a little baby.

emma makes her grand appearance by prancing down the stairs and jumping off of the last three before climbing onto the couch behind zayn's head. she meows loudly to get everyone's attention. the five of them greet her with a soft 'hi, emma', and zayn lets out a sigh.

"she's just like lou," he grumbles. "always gotta make their presences known."

louis pouts. "i try not to. i hate being the center of attention."

all four men look at louis with raised eyebrows. a mirrored expression lies on each of their faces. louis adverts his gaze to some picture frame harry has on the wall.

"that is the shittiest lie you have ever told, and we have been friends for almost a decade," zayn scoffs. he hands louis his bottle of whiskey. "take a shot, liar."

"you know i hate dark liquor."

"punishment for trying to fool us. now suffer."

louis glares at zayn before he takes a swig out of the bottle, face scrunching as he struggles to swallow it. he wants to spit it out on zayn's lap but the hand that clamps over his mouth is a barrier. he swallows the nasty tasting alcohol, almost tearing up at the thought of zayn being a total twat and moves his head back away from his best friend's hand.

"fuck you for that," he grimaced and hands his whiskey back to him, grabbing the bottle of cola zayn brought with him. he gets off of niall and wiggles in beside harry as he chases his shot. "keep zayn out of arm's reach from me. he's dangerous."

"you think he's not gonna bypass me?" harry's eyes widen. "look at him. he could manhandle the both of us if he wanted to."

"he's good at that," niall mumbles from under his blanket shield. liam blinks at him in a sort of surprise. zayn only slouches in the couch with a smirk hidden behind the lip of his bottle.

louis groans and hides his face in his partner's shoulder. "you guys really make me consider actually finding a therapist."

harry laughs as he pulls louis' knees over his lap and holds onto one of them. "oh, hush. you know you love them, lou."

"that's debatable."

"hey!"

louis giggles from his spot and peeks up at the other two boys. "i do love you guys, you just make me want to go play in traffic."

"remember when we played chicken in the middle of vegas?" zayn pipes. "and then you-"

"do not finish that sentence," louis gasps. louis' bad days + zayn's bad ideas = jail. never again will he play real life frogger, because zayn got arrested for public intoxication while they were having fun running between oncoming vehicles for an hour and a half.

"okay," niall wiggles out of his blanket. "keep your secrets, but i wanna play a game. i'm not drunk, but i wanna know more about louis. so, lou," he grins devilishly.

"oh god," liam groans.

niall puts two hands up. "never have i ever."

"yes!" zayn throws his arms in the air. "lou is so fucked."

"i'm not that bad..." louis mutters, but he sighs and lifts his hands anyways.

once all five agree to participate, niall starts off light.

"never have i ever spent the night in jail."

all five drop a finger.

"never have i ever gotten away with a serious crime."

all five down another. selling or being in possesion of drugs, mainly.

"never have i ever..." zayn smirks as he looks louis in the eyes. "pissed my pants in front of a cop."

louis' jaw drops. "eat shit," he drops a finger.

"as i was saying," the other boy hums, "the night we played chicken in vegas, i got arrested and louis pissed himself. liam, your turn."

"you told the cop you would give him and his wife a kiss if he let you go," louis blushes hard, "he said he was a fucking widow."

harry muffles a snort. "that's awful."

liam shakes his head at the information. "never have i ever gave out a fake name."

"lame," louis yawns but drops a finger, as do harry and liam.

"never have i ever been caught having sex in the locker room at inferno, then got caught having sex again the same night in the parking lot."

niall gasps as liam's face pales, but the two of them drop a finger at harry's spillage.

"i feel like this is just a game of targeting," louis eyes the men suspiciously. "fine. never have i ever broke into my highschool the night before graduation and spray painted 'mr. dodges sucks cock like a champ' across the gym floor."

"there's no hate like christian love," zayn sings as he proudly drops a finger. "biggest hypocrite i have ever met. our gym teacher had a sex tape with another guy and it got leaked. fucker got what he deserved after the shit he put us through."

louis grabs zayn's disgusting whiskey and takes another drink. "cheers to that."

harry wins the game because everyone else forfeited when it really became a game of targeting and not a fair never have i ever. louis had zayn in a headlock on the floor for telling everyone he kissed a girl, cried, went home and puked, then dropped out of that school to enroll into one across the district.

"i was fifteen!" he repeated for the third time.

"she was the hottest girl in our grade and she chose you!" zayn said through gasps of belly laughter.

harry and niall were doubled over in laughter while they continued to bicker. zayn managed to get released from louis' deathly grasp and dramatically gasp for air, holding onto the coffee table, while joining in on the other two's laughter.

"and that," zayn sighs happily, "was the day i knew. he came out about a week after that."

"oh, lou," harry gives the boy a fond grin. "don't feel bad. liam screamed the first time he saw boobs in real life."

a pillow is thrown at his head by a very embarrassed liam.

after louis calms down from his zayn-strangling, he climbs onto harry's lap and curls up in a tiny ball against him. "why do we allow ourselves to have these people in our daily lives?" he asks him.

"'cause they're entertaining," harry kisses the top of his head. "niall keeps me on my toes with his weird facts he stores in his brain. speaking of..." he furrows his eyebrows then looks at the lilac haired boy. "i didn't get my fact today, ni. now you owe me two."

niall shrugs. "avocados are a fruit. australia is wider than the moon."

"what?"

"mhm. did you know the heart of a shrimp is located in its head?"

louis gives harry a blank stare. "this is what you call entertaining?"

"this," liam motions to niall, "is unmedicated adhd."

"you have adhd?" louis glances at niall, who nods. "huh. makes sense."

"makes a lot of sense," niall nods again. "i'm on meds, i just have a tendency to forget to take them."

harry and zayn both point at louis. "him too," they say.

louis gives them each a forehead flick for that. he has been taking his meds, damn it. even harry keeps an alarm on his phone now just to make sure louis gets his daily dosage.

harry lights a cigarette and holds it to louis' mouth. "hang onto that real quick." he pulls louis' phone out of his pocket and takes a group picture of the five of them before making emma join another round, so the six of them are captured together.

niall and louis do shots of regular vodka, louis going without a chaser and niall sucking down half of his lemonade bottle. then harry and louis do a shot together, and it goes in a circle from there.

harry's phone rings in his pocket so he pats louis' legs to tell him to get up. "it's mitch. he was supposed to call me tonight." he grabs his phone and gives louis a kiss as a promise for a quick return before he dips off into the kitchen to answer his call. when mitch discussed what he heard on the phone, he had to take a moment to process the information.

louis montana...the idea makes him nauseas.

"hey. find anything?"

"i did," mitch sounds concerned. really, really concerned. "haz...unless i'm seeing shit, i think they're married."

—-

ayo?????

how have you beeeeeen?!

so we learned a teeny tiny bit about everyone this chapter. thoughts on that?

lou's a smart boy!! he's getting closer to his degree! what do you think he's gonna do with it once he graduates?

what do you think niall got charged with?

...married?

update will be soon ❤️‍🔥