i am SO sorry it has taken me forever to update! ive been struggling with school and work on top of having time to work on my art plus wattpad. here's a fluffy chapter to make up for it!

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once louis saved up enough tip money after paying his phone bill, he showed up at the shop ready to get another tattoo. plus, it has been a while since he last saw liam and the curly headed cutie named harry, and louis missed them. he would text them all the time but all three of their schedules had been so packed with work and school lately that they hadn't had any free time to just relax and be kids. growing up and adulting really does suck.

the bell rang as the door opened and liam looked up from his book. he had a pair of thick black glasses perched on his nose and he took them off once he saw louis shaking snow out of his hair and on the hardwood floor.

"hello, mate!" he smiles. "what brought you here?"

louis holds up his skateboard. "this."

liam rolls his eyes and puts his book down. "smartass."

louis hums and places his board beside the door before coming up to the counter. "is there free time to do a tat?"

liam looked through the schedule book and tsks. "maybe i can squeeze you in," he teases. "yeah, we have about three hours before our next tattoo appointment. piercings are walk-ins, so i never really do anything but sit here."

"nice to know," louis hums. liam directs him to where harry was and the small boy walks towards the room, seeing harry sitting at a black desk with papers scattered on it. he was drawing, with his lip tucked between his teeth in concentration. louis hasn't known him long but he could definitely say that he found him attractive.

louis almost knocked on the doorway to announce his arrival but then he smacked himself in the head. harry can't hear. so he grabbed a loose piece of paper that was near him and wadded it up, throwing it at harry and giggled when it hit him in the back of the head.

harry turned with a pout, expecting to see liam but his frown changed into a grin as he picked up the paper wad and tossed it back at louis. he invited him in, pulling up a chair beside him and louis sat down, looking at the drawings before him in awe. harry was so talented. there were pages upon pages of drawings consisting of insects, skulls, crosses and even a nautical set.

he shyly poked harry's arm, not wanting to distract him but he pointed down towards the papers with an encouraging smile on his face. harry blushed but glanced down at the pages, nodding. he was proud of his work but not many people compliment him on it.

"what are you wanting done?" liam asks as he pokes his head into the room.

louis hums and taps his chin, turning to face the lad. "something small, i dunno. there's this little smiley face i have always done as a kid and it's just part of me now, maybe i can get him to do that?"

"go for it," liam shrugs. "i'll be out here if you need me."

louis gives him a salute and harry puts his freshly drawn on paper in the stack beside louis. louis could tell the boy had spent his day doing nothing but doodling and he wondered how he could sit for so long without going stir crazy. maybe that was just the hyperactive downside of him, he always had to be moving or fidgeting.

harry finished drawing for good and slumped down in his chair, tilting his head back. he let out a light sigh as he relaxed for a few moments before getting up and turning to louis. he waves at him again and louis grinned, giving harry a wave in return.

harry reached over and grabbed a blank sheet of paper, picking up his pencil as well and began to scribble on it. louis watched until the page and writing utensil were passed to him and he picked up the sheet, skimming over it.

what do you want, bugger?

harry gives louis an cheeky grin when the boy narrows his eyes playfully at him. he points the pencil at him, tsking as he went and wrote his reply down, passing the paper back.

a tattoo, if you're up for it :)

harry pretended to be stuck in thought as he tapped his chin and returned to writing on the piece of paper before him.

but i dont like you that much

l: yes you do!!

h: keep telling yourself that, pretty boy

louis scoffs and pushes his leg with his foot. harry covered his mouth as he laughed and asked what louis wanted tattooed on him, so louis drew out the smiley face on the bottom corner of their conversation paper and harry gets everything set up. he pulls black gloves over his hands, cleans the area and transfers the small image onto the side of louis' wrist, asking him on their conversation sheet if that was an okay alignment and louis tells him to go ahead and do whatever he thought was best. he was a professional after all.

louis looks around the room as harry begins to work on his piece. harry's certification was hanging up by the door, tucked in a large picture frame that was hung beside a picture of a young boy and a young girl sitting on a park bench.

he squinted to hopefully get a better look at it and recognized the boy's face. he had chubby cheeks, bright green eyes and sandy blonde hair, smiling as wide as he could with a little gap between his front teeth. the girl standing behind him with her arms wrapped around his neck looked like him, but maybe a few years younger. the boy was harry, maybe the girl was his sister?

in no time, harry had the smiley face done and wrapped up. louis pouted that time went by too fast, he wanted it to last longer so he could sit and be with harry but then he realized the next appointment wasn't for two more hours.

harry takes a picture of the fresh tattoo for his portfolio after making sure louis was okay with it. he goes ahead and takes a snapshot of louis' deer tattoo as well, downloading the pictures to his laptop to print out later on.

louis goes to get his wallet out of his pocket and harry puts his hand on top of his, shaking his head. his long brown hair swayed across his face and louis quirked an eyebrow.

"free," harry says. louis insists on paying him for it but harry took his wallet and stuffed it in his desk, leaving louis stumped with an even bigger pout and curled up in the big chair he was seated in. the artist lad winks at him and louis had to look away. he couldn't fight the heat rising to his face but maybe breaking the eye contact between them would reduce it some.

harry snorts and rests his arms on the desk, noticing the shade of pink louis' face had turned. he didn't think he could do that. honestly he was just playing with him but louis was cute when he got bashful.

the blue eyed boy cleared his throat and grabbed their sheet of paper, flipping it and scribbling some things on it before he gave it to harry.

can you atleast take a tip? :(

harry sighs, unable to fight him anymore and louis puts the wad of money in the tip jar on his table after he retrieved his wallet from the desk. louis gives him an innocent grin (which harry rolled his eyes to (mainly because louis was just so cute)) and sits back down in his seat.

harry takes in how soft and comfortable louis looked. his vans were nearly untied, his sweats hung low against his hips and his jumper swallowed him whole. he had a beanie tucked over his wispy hair and his nose was still a tad bit red from being outside. he had his knees curled up to his chest and a pair of thick black glasses resting against his nose. the boy looked warm, and harry wanted his warmth radiated onto him.

louis peered down at the wrapped tattoo on his arm and smiled softly. he loved his x-eyed smiley faces, it was just something he did forever and now he will always have it with him. maybe it was because he liked nirvana during his emo phase, maybe it was because he used to doodle nonstop, he doesn't know but whatever it is, he likes it.

harry tugged at his lip ring in concentration, eyeing louis like art. louis caught his gaze, making eye contact with him and gave him a shy smile. he didn't feel awkward or embarrassed, he liked harry. he enjoyed his company and thought he was a great guy, so why bother being nervous if someone like him was staring?

being the overprotective friend he was, liam poked his head in the room. "everything alright in here?" he asks, smirking at harry.

louis nods with a quiet "mhm" and puts his phone in his lap. "look at my tattoo!" he says excitedly, holding up his arm. "'s kinda wrapped right now but it's so cool. harry took a picture of it, ask him if he can show you."

liam nods and asks to see the picture, which harry shows him, and his mate compliments his work. it made harry happy inside. he loved it, liam loved it, but most importantly louis loved it more. like he told harry, it was a piece of him.

once harry's next appointment walked in the door, louis went to the front counter. he stayed and chatted with liam for a bit before saying his goodbyes because he had to go back to his dorm and "study." by study, he meant take the best nap ever and spend the rest of his night binge-watching netflix with zayn when he got off. nobody had to know that, though.

since harry's client was near the mirror checking out his tattoo progress, louis popped in and gave harry a shy poke on his shoulder.

"i'm leaving," he says.

harry pouts but stands and offers a hug. louis happily accepted it, smiling when the lad gave him a gentle squeeze.

"bye, harry," louis signs.

"later," harry replies and louis left after saying goodbye and goodnight to liam again.

when louis got back to his dorm, he stuck his skateboard by the front door and squeaked when he saw zayn coming around the corner.

"i thought you were working late," louis pouted.

"are you sad that i'm home early?" zayn scoffs. "you're fake."

louis giggled and pulled off his jumper carefully, adjusting the tee shirt that was below it. "i got another tattoo."

"nice," zayn hums and sits on the sofa. louis sits next to him, propping his feet on zayn's legs and shows him his wrist.

"oh, i remember when you used to put that beside your name on everything!" zayn cooed. "it's so crisp, it's really good."

"harry did it for me," louis smiled, swatting zayn in the chest when his friend began to make kissy noises.

"louis and his little friend," zayn teases. "you just went to him because you like him."

"no," louis defends, "i went to him because he's a good tattoo artist."

zayn quirks an eyebrow.

louis rolls his eyes. "okay, maybe i did."

his dormmate chuckled and grabbed the remote, turning the telly on and went to the netflix app. since zayn got home early, louis tossed out the idea of a nap because he wanted to spend time with his best friend. even though they work and live together, louis wasn't louis without zayn and zayn wasn't zayn without louis. they were two peas in a pod, brothers for life.

in the middle of the new ted bundy tapes they were watching, louis' phone lit up with a notification. he quickly grabbed his cell and unlocked it, lighting up when he saw it was a message from harry.

harry: i hope you made it home alright :)

harry: and it was good seeing you today! x

"lover boy?" zayn teases and peeks over louis' shoulder. "and he sent you a kiss! oh shit!"

"shut up!" louis groaned and elbowed him, pushing him off.

louis: i did, ive been watching netflix with zayn! the ted bundy tapes are wicked !!

harry: i have been wanting to watch them, is it worth it?

louis: Y E S

"what's he saying now?"

"you really need to get a life," louis grumbled. zayn barked out a laugh and pressed play for the next part, sinking back into his spot.

harry: well good

harry: so i was wondering

harry: im actually really nervous to ask you this

louis: whut

harry: uh

harry: would you like to go out with me this weekend? maybe to a game or dinner? 😌

louis drops his phone in his lap in surprise. zayn looks over and down at the screen, then back at louis.

"oh snap."

"oh snap is right," louis whispered.

"what are you gonna say?!"

"back off, bugger!" louis shrieks when zayn snatches his phone from him. "give me it!"

zayn laughed and held the phone in the air, causing louis to huff and crawl on his knees on top of the boy and grab it. zayn pulled him back down and didn't let go until he replied back to harry, just so he could pick on him for the rest of the night.

louis let out a deep breath, trying his best to not blush but the red shade on his cheeks wouldn't fade as he typed his response.

louis: i would love to 😄

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don't think that this is going too fast. this MIGHT be a short story (up to twenty chapters (because i write such short chapters, roughly around 2k words a piece)) so things will go on and on and on. (:

we are so close to 2k reads and im absolutely screaming. this fic is so so so cute & that was my goal, to make it as adorable as possible!

where should they go?

i hope this does make up for the lack of updates, please vote and comment what you would like to see next!!