Chapter Text
“Gemma, I'm hungry, ” Harry very nearly whined as he followed three paces behind his sister. He knew it probably wasn't going to help, but he needed to vocalize it anyway. On the off-chance that Gemma would actually deviate from their plan.
As predicted, Gemma ignored him. Her delicate hands gripped the map as she glanced around. “This way,” she said, looking up at the cobblestone road in front of them. She glanced back at her younger brother who wore a pout on his face. It was as though he was five years old and not eighteen. “Come on.”
She started walking and though Harry's stomach was growing profusely, he followed behind her. He didn't have much of a choice, really. It was do what Gemma told him to or be completely deserted on the streets of Italy.
Not that Gemma would actually leave him behind, as much as she threatened that Harry had to keep up with her. But he knew well enough not to piss his sister off. Especially when it was going to be just the two of them for the next six months.
They turned down a street that Harry never would have found if not for Gemma leading the way. She walked confidently in front of him, her long strawberry blonde hair bouncing a little bit with her steps. “We'll drop our things off at the hostel,” she said, looking back at him as they walked. “Then we'll go eat. I promise.”
Harry nodded. He knew that was the plan all along and it was nice of Gemma to acknowledge it. But it wasn't like it was stopping his stomach from eating itself.
“It should be just up here,” she said, stopping and glancing around.
Harry glanced around as well, but he wasn't actually looking. Gemma was the one running the show here.
“Oh!” she exclaimed with light laughter, grabbing Harry's hand. “This is it!”
Harry looked up as he followed Gemma into the small building. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. The building was obviously centuries old – but on the inside it looked incredibly modern. There was a common area right near the entrance and –
“Welcome!” they were greeted almost instantly by a short blonde boy with a wide smile.
Harry raised his eyebrow. His stomach growled again. He'd probably be enjoying this a lot more if he just had some food in his stomach. For the thousandth time that afternoon he regretted not finishing the meal that had been provided on the aeroplane.
“Hi,” Gemma said, a grin equally as big spreading across her face. “Do you work here?”
“No,” Another boy said, coming up behind the blonde boy. “That's just Niall. He greets everyone like that.”
The boy called Niall looked at the two of them and shrugged. He was still smiling with his hands in his pockets as he rolled on the balls of his feet to his ankles.
The other boy flipped through the book he had in his hands.
“Styles,” Gemma said, looking at him. “Harry and Gemma.”
“Oh right,” the boy said nodding as he kept looking down at the book. “The brother and sister from England. Well, nice to meet you, I'm Liam, and I've been working here for a few months.”
Harry and Gemma each nodded a polite hello, even though Harry's mind was still on their potential snack as well as this beaming blonde boy in front of him. Because who was actually that friendly that he'd greet any person that walked into the hostel he was staying at?
“Where in England are you from, then? I'm from Wolverhampton myself,” Liam said.
“Cheshire, Holmes Chapel actually,” Gemma said easily, smiling and looking at both Liam and then Niall.
Harry had to try as hard as he could to not roll his eyes because they'd only been here about two minutes and Gemma was already flirting with every boy they'd met. Literally.
“Oooh, Cheshire,” Liam teased, putting on a mock northern accent.
Niall raised his eyebrow as he looked at Gemma and Harry, then over to Liam. “Cheshire?” he asked.
Liam rolled his eyes. “Wants to be a world traveller, this one, but doesn't know the first thing about England besides London,” he laughed.
Niall scoffed, but didn't lose the light on his face. “That's not true!”
“It is,” Liam insisted, nodding his head. “Name one place in England besides London or Manchester.”
“Cheshire,” Niall smirked. Harry couldn't help but snort at the boy's wit.
Liam just shook his head. “Come on,” he said to Gemma and Harry. “I'll show you to your room.”
* * *
They didn't actually do any formal sightseeing, but that was okay. There was a lot of time for that and all they had the energy for that day was just walking around and immersing themselves in the culture. Which took up a lot of energy as it was, so they ended up strolling back into the hostel at 9pm.
It wasn't as empty as they'd thought it would be. Quite the opposite. The boys they recognised as Niall and Liam were sitting on a sofa in the common area, along with a couple other girls they had yet to meet.
“Hey, you're back,” Niall said, looking up at them as they walked past. “Do you two want a pint? Or I suppose I can make a coffee, if you like. Well, Liam can,” he laughed, slapping his friend on the back.
It was only for a split second, but Harry didn't miss how Niall's hand lingered until he slid it back into his lap.
Gemma glanced at Harry, who shrugged. Though he really wouldn't mind sitting around with the other people in their hostel, he was also tired as hell after a long day and sort of just wanted to go to sleep.
So Gemma just shook her head. “It's been a really long day, I think we're just going to go to sleep.”
Niall nodded at them with a slight look of disappointment on his face. Harry smiled at him as he and Gemma walked by, causing Niall's face to light up a little more as they made eye contact. Harry blushed a bit before he and Gemma disappeared into the stairwell on the way up to their room.
“Nice place, isn't it?” Gemma asked, peering out the window once they'd both changed into their night clothes.
“Uh, yeah,” Harry said, scrolling through his twitter feed. It was quite boring, but he was tired and there wasn't much else to do short of fall asleep. Which he couldn't quite do with Gemma still up and keen on having a chat. “The bed's pretty comfy.”
“Not the hostel,” Gemma said, laughing. “Rome. Italy. To think this is only the first place we've been. The first day even.”
Harry nodded. It was true – they still had months ahead of them and they'd only scratched the surface.
“But the hostel's nice too,” Gemma said, walking over to her bed and laying down on it. “Everyone here is so nice.”
Harry nodded again. They had been nice so far – lots of the people there were around their age and when he and Gemma had come back from exploring they were all just sitting in the common room chilling out together. They probably would have sat with them as well, but again, knackered.
Gemma rolled over onto her stomach and looked across the room at Harry. “And that blonde one – Niall, was it? Absolutely gorgeous,” she grinned.
“He's gay, Gemma,” Harry said without even thinking about it. Because really, it should have been completely obvious.
“Really?” Gemma challenged, cocking her head to the side a little. “And how would you know?”
Harry paused because he wasn't about to out himself to Gemma. Not when he hadn't even told their Mum yet, and that was the last way he needed for their trip to begin. “I dunno,” he said slowly, looking back down at his phone as though not to make eye contact with her. “He just keeps making eyes at Liam.”
But Gemma just rolled her eyes. “You'll find subtext in anything, won't you?” she laughed, flicking off the lamp beside her bed. “Go to sleep, Hazza. It's been a long day.”
She definitely wasn't wrong about that. And their adventure was only just beginning. “Yeah,” Harry yawned, crawling underneath the covers. “Good night.”