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The first birthday Louis attends, is Harry's 7th birthday. The Tomlinson's had just moved in to the house next to Harry's a week before, and Anne and Jay had become friends immediately. So obviously Anne had invited Jay and her son, Lewis or something, to come to Harry's small party. When Harry opens the door, the first thing he sees is a boy just a few inches taller than him with bright blue eyes and caramel-coloured hair.
“I'm Louis, are you the birthday boy?” he asks. Harry nods and shuffles around on his feet. He thought the boy was a bit loud and, honestly, a little bit intimidating. Louis smiles at him and hands him a present. “This is from my Mum. She must like you. Happy birthday!” he says before walking past him and greeting Harry's mum and sister. Jay bends down and ruffles Harry's hair, saying “Happy birthday, Harry,” and walking past him as well.
When it's time for cake, Louis sings the loudest, and cheers most when Harry blows out all the candles at once. And later, when Harry opens the present Louis and Jay gave him, – a little radio-controlled car –, Louis explains how to use it and promises to come by every day to play with it with him. Harry thinks that maybe Louis isn't as intimidating as he thought.
*
On Harry's 8th birthday, Louis is knocking on his door at 10 in the morning. He hadn't broken his promise and the two boys had become great friends.
“Happy birthdaaaaay!” Louis yells, throwing his arms around the younger boy and squeezing him tight. Harry giggles and thanks him. And just like last year, Jay bends down and ruffles his curls, saying, “Happy Birthday, Harry.” The three walk inside and Louis and Harry immediately go and sit in their corner of the room, chatting and laughing like they've known each other for years.
Anne brings in the birthday cake and Louis belts out the happy-birthday-song, swaying from side to side and knocking his right shoulder against Harry's left one every few seconds. The younger boy blows the candles out and Louis claps, gasping when Harry grabs a bit of cake and pushes it into his face. He starts tickling Harry and soon they're both rolling on the floor laughing.
And later, when Jay says it's time to leave and Louis' cuddled up into Harry's chest, Harry hopes that Louis will be with him next year as well, and the year after, and all the years after that.
*
It's Harry's 9th Birthday, and really, he shouldn't be surprised when Louis is knocking on his bedroom door at 8.30 in the morning. “Happy Birthday my wonderful, curly Hazza! Get out of bed, we have birthday cake to eat and presents to play with!” he says, pulling Harry out of bed. Harry laughs and whispers a “thanks, Boobear,” just to wind him up. Louis rolls his eyes and nudges the curly boy's right arm with his elbow, pretending he's annoyed.
(Secretly, he thinks Harry's pretty adorable when he calls him Boobear, or when he smiles, or when he breathes, but that's something that confuses Louis if he thinks about it for too long, so he tends to ignore those thoughts.)
The two boys walk downstairs and have breakfast, - cookies and ice cream, because it's his birthday and Louis comes up with the idea, so how can Harry possibly say no? - , and when Anne walks into the living room at ten o'clock, she finds the boys snuggled under a blanket watching a Disney movie.
A few hours later, Jay turns up with Harry's present and apologizes to Anne, saying, “I didn't even realize he was here until I went to wake him up at ten,” and Anne laughs and says it's fine. Louis grabs the present and then gives it to Harry with a small smile on his face. Harry unwraps it and gives Louis a big hug before yelling, “Mum! Louis got me that action-man I wanted!”
And really, when Louis sees his smile and the way his eyes light up, he thinks that running around all the shops in town, and even making his mum drive him to a shopping centre an hour away just to buy that one present Harry had been talking about for weeks, was totally worth it.
*
When Harry turns 10, it's his most important birthday so far because 10 is double figures. And double figures meant he was grown up now, just like Louis. So when Louis knocks on the door later that day, Harry flings it open and throws his arms around Louis' neck.
“Happy 10th birthday, Haz,” Louis says, his voice muffled by Harry's curls in his mouth.
“Double figures, Lou. Double. Figures,” he says excitedly. Louis chuckles and pulls back, cupping Harry's chin and looking at his face.
“You definitely look older,” he says after a few seconds. Harry's face breaks out into a grin.
“Really?”
“Really really.”
Harry just smiles and entwines their fingers, dragging him inside and into the living room.
“Happy birthday, Harry!” Jay yells after him. Harry looks back and grins, saying “thanks mama Tommo!” , a nickname he had given her about two years ago. She winks and walks into the kitchen to say hi to Anne. The mothers talk for a while, and after a while Louis and Harry hear their names. So they sneak up to the kitchen door and pretend they're secret spies or something, listening to what they have to say.
“They really do love each other, don't they?” Jay says, and the two boys both get red cheeks.
“It's adorable, Jay, I've never seen two boys their age so close!” Anne gushes, and Harry feels his face heat up even more. Louis squeezes his arm softly and gives him a small smile. Harry smiles back and suddenly their mothers are walking out, saying how they're pretty bad spies if they get caught that easily.
Later, when they've sung and it's time to blow the candles, Louis whispers, “make a wish, Harry,” into the younger boy's ear.
Harry bites on his bottom lip and thinks for a minute, before blowing the candles. They clap and Louis asks what he wished for.
“If I tell you it won't come true!” Harry tells him, smirking. Louis rolls his eyes playfully and then takes a bite of Harry's piece of cake. Little did Louis know, that Harry's wish was 'I wish Louis will never leave me'
*
Harry's 11, and he feels great. 11 is his lucky number, so this ought to be a wonderful year, right? Next year he'd be going to secondary school, the same school as Louis, and they'd be able to walk to school together, and sit together during their breaks. It was going to be amazing, Harry could feel it.
“11 already, Harold? You're getting rather old,” Louis says as he walks in that day. He wraps his arms around Harry's waist from behind and nuzzles his face into Harry's neck. Harry chuckles – and anyone who says he was giggling is lying – and squeezes Louis' hands.
“Hey Louis,” he says softly.
“Hey yourself, birthday boy,” the older lad smirks. He unwraps his arms from Harry's waist and grabs a cupcake from god knows where. “I tried making you a cake but... the kitchen was broken,” he says sheepishly, a faint blush staining his cheeks.
“The kitchen was.. broken?”
“Yeah. Like, the flour kept jumping out of the bowl, and all of the eggs jumped out of my hands. And don't even get me started on that damned oven,” he says. Harry smiles and happily accepts the cupcake.
“Thanks Boo,” he says, squeezing his hand affectionately.
Luckily Anne knew Louis' cake probably wouldn't work out, and so she walks into the living room a few hours later with a birthday cake from the bakery. Harry, Gemma, Louis, and their mothers sit around the table and sing happy birthday, Louis keeping an arm around Harry’s waist at all times.
“.. happy birthday dear Hazzaaa, happy birthday to you!”
Harry closes his eyes for a moment and makes a wish, blowing all of the candles out at once.
I wish Louis will be at my party again next year
“What'dya wih foh?” Louis mumbles through a mouth full of cake.
“I wished you'd be at my party again next year,” Harry tells him. Louis swallows and then gives Harry a small smile, a smile his mother likes to tease him with. She calls it the 'smitten-smile'. Louis always goes red and tells her it's not like that, but she never listens.
Louis ruffles his friend's curls and pretends he doesn't have a fluttering feeling in his stomach.
*
Harry’s wish doesn't come true.
On Harry’s 12th birthday Louis has to stay home because he's grounded. Last week someone at school had called Harry slow, so Louis punched him. The boy got a black eye and Louis got detention.
Luckily Harry’s new friends can come. Niall is an Irish lad with bleached blonde hair and a boisterous laugh. They sit next to each other in class all the time. Liam and Zayn are in Louis' year, but with Harry and Louis being inseparable, the five quickly became friends. It was a bit weird at first, going from having one best friend to four, but Harry liked the change.
The boys arrive at about two o'clock, each with small presents. They all wish him a happy birthday and give him a quick hug. They also all say hi to his mother, and Harry pretends he doesn't notice the way their eyes linger for a moment too long. They all play with Harry’s new videogames and joke around, but it's not the same without Louis.
“It's really a shame he couldn't come, isn't it?” Liam says. Harry sighs and nods.
“Are you two dating?” Niall blurts out. Harry’s head whips up and he stares at Niall in horror.
“W-what? Dating? Me and Louis?”
“Yeah, you two seem really close ya know, so-”
“No, Niall, we're not, I mean, no!” Harry stutters. The three boys give him a weird look but then just leave it and go back to their videogame.
Anne then comes out with a birthday cake and they all sing happy birthday, and Harry misses the loud voice that would sing 'Hazza' instead of 'Harry' and the arm that should be around his waist right now. He closes his eyes and wishes that next year will be better, and then blows out the candles.
After a while the boys leave, and Harry thanks them for coming and says he'll see them at school Monday. He watches tv for a while but then just goes upstairs, says he's having an early night. He lies down and closes his eyes, when suddenly he hears someone tapping on his window. He shoots out of bed and turns the light on. He looks around and grabs the nearest weapon he can find – a hairbrush. He walks towards his curtains slowly and opens them.
“Louis?! What the hell are you doing here?” he yells after having opened the window. Louis clamps his hand over Harry’s mouth and looks around.
“Sssh Harry. I'm still grounded.”
“Why are you in a tree?”
“I had to sneak out, so I climbed out of my bedroom window, onto this tree, and voilà, here I am!” he says proudly.
“Louis.. you could have hurt yourself.”
“You didn't really think I wouldn't come to see you on your birthday, did you?” he smiles. Harry shakes his head in unbelief as Louis climbs into his bedroom and then jumps on Harry, making them both fall onto the floor.
“Happy birthday, my dearest, curliest Hazza,” the older boy whispers, squeezing his arms around Harry’s neck just a little tighter. Harry curls his arms around Louis' waist and sighs.
“Thank you, my funniest, nicest Lou,” he whispers back, only half teasing.
And when Anne walks in the next morning, she finds them in the exact same position. She doesn't wake them up though. She just looks at them for a minute, happy that Harry had found someone he loves so much, and then closes the door again.
*
“Strike! Ha!” Zayn yells, pumping his fist into the air triumphantly. Liam groans and Louis whispers a comment only they would understand into Harry’s ear, making him laugh.
It was Harry’s 13th birthday, and Anne had suggested she take them all bowling. So here they were. Harry was losing, but he didn't mind. He was having a great time. Louis was getting very competitive and Zayn happened to be a brilliant bowler. Niall was stealing everybody's chips and Liam was just trying to make sure they didn't break the bowling alley.
“Harry, it's your turn,” Liam tells him. Harry stands up and grabs a bright red ball. He puts three fingers in and pulls his arm back-
“No, no, no, no, no- stop. You're doing it all wrong, young Harold. How do you expect to win if you're bowling like that?” Louis says. He walks over and stands behind Harry. “You angle your hand like this, you see,” he says, twisting Harry’s hand a little, “and then you take a step forward and swing, it's quite simple.”
Harry rolls his eyes slightly and swings the ball. Everybody gasps as the ball knocks down all of the pins. Harry turns around and throws his arms up.
“Lou! We did it!” he yells.
“That bloody-” Zayn murmurs, getting cut off by Louis whooping and throwing his arms around Harry’s neck.
“You did it, Haz. I helped, so really it's all thanks to me, but you did it,” Louis teases, his lips brushing against Harry’s neck.
And it's because Harry’s a young, teenage boy with hormones, the younger boy tells himself, that a shiver runs down his spine when Louis' hot breath hits his neck.
“Y'alright, Harry?” Louis whispers. Harry just nods.
“Yeah. Cold. It's cold,” he says. Louis pouts, like the adorable little shit he is, and then takes off his jacket and gives it to Harry.
“Don't want the birthday boy to be cold, do we now?” he smiles. So harry smiles back and puts the jacket on, and tries not to be too obvious when he takes a deep sniff every few seconds. It just smells nice; like strawberries, and cologne, and Louis.
Anne arranges that the people that work at the bowling alley come in with a cake after they've finished, so when Zayn knocks over all the pins, yells, “I won! I won! Liam, I won!”, the boys let Zayn dance around for a minute before sitting down. Everyone starts singing, and Louis rests his head on Harry’s shoulder, murmuring the song into Harry’s neck.
Harry thinks he doesn't really have a wish this year, because everything's perfectly fine as it is. That's when he sees Zayn staring at Liam with a look he can only describe as love, and Harry thinks, I wish Liam realises he loves Zayn as much as Zayn loves him, and blows the candles out.
And later when he sees Liam give Zayn a tight hug before they both go their separate ways, he just knows he wished for the right thing.
*
“It's time to get up because it's yo birthday, we gonna party like it's yo birthday,” Louis sings into Harry’s ear. It was Harry’s 14th birthday, so what better way to wake him up than with Louis' brilliant vocals? Harry moans and aims to hit what he hopes are Louis' balls. When he hears the older boy groan a second later, he smirks with satisfaction.
“Morning Lou.. when did you get here?” Harry asks when he's woken up a bit more. Louis sits on the edge of Harry’s bed and runs his hand through his curls. Harry leans into the touch and sighs happily.
“Only a few minutes ago. Don't think I made your mum very happy, knocking on the door and waking her up at 8.30 in the morning,” he says. Harry chuckles and stands up slowly. Louis stands up as well and Harry grins at the height difference.
Harry had grown over the last year. He had grown a lot. He was a few inches taller than Louis now, even though he was two year's younger.
“C'mere,” Louis says and opens his arms. Harry walks straight into them and nuzzles his face into Louis' warm neck. “Happy birthday, handsome,” Louis whispers, and Harry gets that feeling again, that feeling where he just wants to hold Louis close and never let go. Instead of doing that, he presses a soft kiss to Louis' neck.
Louis sighs at that, and for a second Harry wonders if Louis might have the same feelings as he does. But he quickly pushes that thought away, because it's just ridiculous. Of course Louis didn't feel things for Harry. Harry was his younger, sillier friend. Harry pulls back quickly, and just hopes Louis doesn't notice the pink colour on his cheeks.
Around 12 o'clock the boys show up, and they all go up to Harry’s room to play on the Playstation he got for his birthday (his mum only bought it because Louis convinced her after weeks of saying things like 'it would make him so happy!' and 'don't you want your only son to feel loved?', but Harry didn't know that).
“So, I heard that Taylor girl has the hots for you,” Niall says as he nudges Harry. He stifles a groan and shrugs slightly.
“Who's Taylor?” Louis asks, frowning.
“This girl in our class. Blonde, likes singing and playing guitar?” Niall says. Louis just frowns again.
“Do you like her, Haz?” Louis then asks, looking at his friend with big, indifferent eyes. Harry just shrugs again and bites on his bottom lip.
“She's alright. Nice.. eyes..?” he tries. Niall nods and Louis looks down.
“Oh,” he mutters.
“Yeah,” Harry whispers.
And suddenly the air is so tense and awkward that even Zayn, who had been fully concentrated on the game and wasn't listening to the conversation, looks away from the screen and raises his eyebrows, looking at his four friends.
“Well. Um..” Liam says.
Anne then knocks on the door and tells them the birthday cake is on the table, and they all sigh in relief and walk downstairs.
The boys sing, and Louis doesn't wrap his arm around Harry’s waist. He doesn't even say 'Hazza' instead of 'Harry'. And Harry knows it's stupid, but he feels guilty and horrible and so bad, and he doesn't even know what he did wrong.
“..Happy birthday to yoooouuuu,” they sing in unison, and Harry thinks, I wish Louis' not mad at me, because that's all he's really wishing for at the moment. He blows out all of the candles and gives everyone a small smile.
They all have their cake and talk for a while, until it's time for them to go home. Louis' the last one to leave. Harry grabs his wrist and pulls him outside.
“Louis, what's wrong?” he asks. Louis smiles at him, but it doesn't really reach his eyes. Harry’s seen this smile before. He puts on this smile when he's trying to be brave but is actually really terrified, and he used to always smile like this when he fell and scraped his knee. But he isn't scared right now, and his knees look fine, so Harry frowns.
“It's nothing, love.”
“Lou, c'mon, you know you can't lie to me,” Harry says. Louis just looks down again and stares at his TOMS. So Harry puts his arms around Louis and presses a small kiss to his cheek. Louis' mouth opens slightly in surprise and Harry pulls back to give him a small smile.
“You're not mad at me, are you?” he asks softly. Louis smiles, real this time, and pulls his friend into a hug.
“Of course not, Harry. I could never be mad at you,” he says, and the words make Harry’s heart melt – even though he would never admit that, because he's a fourteen-year-old boy, for God's sake, not some small girl talking about her first crush –.
So Louis texts his mum that he's staying at Harry’s for another hour or so, and they go upstairs and cuddle on Harry’s bed, watching Love, Actually (“That's girly, Haz.” “No it's not, shut up!”)
*
When Harry wakes up on his 15th birthday, he can barely contain his excitement. It had been a while since Louis, Niall, Liam, Zayn and himself had hung out, because Louis was always with Hannah – something Harry would rather not talk about – Niall also had a new girlfriend, and Liam and Zayn were often going to the cinema and restaurants together, claiming that, “No, it's not a date, it's just two friends going out for dinner and having a nice time.” They weren't fooling anybody, though.
So he puts on his new skinny jeans, and a white, low v-neck shirt that Louis says makes him look delicious, and spends extra time in front of the mirror shaking his hair a hundred times before settling on how it looked anyway.
He walks downstairs and his mum whistles. “You look gorgeous, baby. Happy birthday, come here and give your old mum a hug,” she smiles. He complies and Anne sighs. “Soon you'll be moving out and I'll have no annoying teenager eating all the food all the time and making the whole house look like a mess any more,” she sighs. Harry laughs.
“I'll visit. And you can always get a dog and call him Harold II, it sounds posh and the dog will probably make the house look like a mess as well,” he teases. His mother slaps him on the arm softly and pushes him away.
“Oh, great idea Harry, I'll just go and adopt one now,” she says sarcastically. Harry chuckles and walks into the living room. He falls onto the couch and pulls his phone out of his pocket. He decided to send Louis a message.
Loueeeeh where r u im lonely and its my bday :(
He gets a text back only a minute later, saying,
put the kettle on, im on my way x
And then a second later another one,
and stop being such a little baby! :)
Harry smiles fondly and stands up to turn the kettle on, and sends back,
im not a baby :(
He immediately gets back,
yes you are. its cute tho so dont worry xxx
About five minutes later there's a knock on the door, so Harry goes and open it. Louis stands on his tiptoes and puts his hands on Harry’s shoulders. He gives him a big, sloppy kiss on his left cheek and then grins.
“I must say, you look absolutely dashing,” Louis tells him, his eyes slowly raking down Harry’s body, taking in every single detail. Harry smiles.
“Thanks Lou,” he says, before leaning forward and giving him a kiss on the cheek, because they do that now. They're friendly kisses. Really.
They walk inside and Harry makes Louis some tea, just the way he likes it, before they sit inside, snuggled up on the sofa.
“So what did you do with Hannah yesterday?” Harry asks. Louis pulls at one of Harry’s curls softly and watches it spring back into place.
“Oh, you know. We went out. We had lunch. I broke up with her,” Louis says like it's the most normal thing in the world. Harry drops his nearly empty teacup onto the sofa and curses – his mum was going to kill him if the stain didn't come out.
“What do you mean, you broke up with her?” he asks. Louis just shrugs.
“It just felt like the right thing to do.”
“You should have told me. I would have come over and we could have eaten buckets of ice-cream together and watch Grease,” Harry says softly, feeling sorry for his friend and guilty because he's secretly quite happy.
“We only do that when one of us is sad, though,” Louis says. Harry frowns.
“You weren't sad?”
“No.. not at all actually.”
Harry raises his eyebrows slightly.
“Oh. That's. That's good!” he says. Louis smiles and shrugs slightly.
“Yeah.”
The doorbell then rings and Anne opens it, letting three young boys in.
“Hello, Anne. Your hair's looking lovely today,” Niall smirks cheekily and Anne rolls her eyes.
“Hi boys, Harry and Louis are in the living room,” she tells them. They nod and walk inside.
“Harreeeh! Happy birthday!” Liam yells, jumping on top of him. Zayn and Niall soon follow and Harry groans.
“You lot should go on a diet, Jesus Christ,” he whimpers, trying to push them off.
“Hey, get off my boy!” Louis yells, helping Harry push them off. They all end up on the floor, fighting and pushing and laughing.
After a minute Louis somehow ends up straddling Harry, and they both go quiet. Louis stares at Harry and Harry stares at Louis and everything is just HarryLouisHarryLouis.
Suddenly Louis presses his lips against Harry’s and Liam, Niall and Zayn go quiet. Louis presses softly, and Harry presses back, and Harry thinks, oh. Because that feeling he had hasn't gone, no, it's gotten stronger, and Harry feels like he's going to burst with feelings.
After a second Louis pulls back and just stares at him with red cheeks.
“About bloody time!” Niall says, and the three boys start whooping and cheering. Louis laughs and gives Harry another quick peck before climbing off of him and helping him up.
“How long did it take you, 8 years?” Zayn teases, and Harry just grins.
“Cake time!” Anne calls out from the kitchen. The five boys walk into the kitchen, and Anne laughs when she sees all the red cheeks.
“Were you having fun?” she asks as she lights the candles.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Louis says devilishly, and Harry blushes again. They all start singing and Louis wraps both arms around Harry’s waist, clinging to him like an octopus. When they're done, Harry thinks of a wish.
I wish nothing changes, because everything is perfect as it is.
He blows out the candles and Louis gives him another peck on the lips, and Anne just goes 'oh', because really, she had been expecting this to happen since Harry’s 8th birthday. Harry just smiles because everything is so easy with Louis.
While they eat the cake, they talk about Harry’s wish.
“I can't tell you, otherwise it won't come true!” he says, just like he did years ago. “Remember when I told Louis that my wish was that he would be at my party again next year, and the opposite happened? No way, not taking the risk again,” Harry tells them.
“Did you wish about me again?” Louis asks.
“I think nearly all of my wishes have been about you. Except for that one about Liam and Zayn getting together,” Harry says, and Liam chokes on his piece of cake.
“You wished what?!” Zayn asks, softly slapping his friend's back, and they all start laughing.
The day passes quickly, and before they know it, it's time to go home.
“Hey, Lou,” Harry says before he leaves. Louis smiles.
“Yeah, love?”
“Today was..,” Harry trails off, and Louis understands, because Louis always understands.
“Yeah. It was,” he grins. “So anyway, Haz, would you do me the honour of becoming my boyfriend?” Louis asks easily, entwining their fingers and swaying their hands slowly.
“I- yeah. Yes, of course,” Harry says before attacking Lou- his boyfriend.
Boyfriend. Boy. Friend. Boyfriend. Hell yeah, Harry thinks.
They snog against Harry’s front door for a while before Anne walks out and goes, “My God, um, yeah, Harry, dinner's on the table. Um, Hi, Louis, I thought you were gone, uhh..,” and then slowly retreats and closes the door again.
Louis smirks and slaps Harry’s arse once before saying, “I'll text you later, babe!”, and leaving.
At dinner, Harry wants the ground to open up and swallow him.
“So, you and Louis, huh?” his mum says.
“Uh. Yeah.”
“Since when?”
“Today, actually.”
“You've learned about protection and STD's at school, haven't you?”
“Oh my God, mum-”
“And you shouldn't let Louis pressure you into doing anything you're not ready for yet only because he's older, alright?”
“Mum. I'm. Um. I'm going upstairs.”
“You haven't even finished your dinner!”
“Bye, mum!”
And later, when Harry’s in bed, thinking about what was definitely his best birthday so far, he gets a single text from Louis.
sleep well, my lovely, beautiful, hot Hazzzza xxxx <3 p.s. i think im in love with you
*
When Harry and Louis come back from their trip to Leeds on Harry’s 16th birthday, Anne pretends not to notice how they both waddle inside with ruffled hair and big love bites on their necks and collarbones.
“Have a good time?” she asks as they sit down for tea.
“It was brilliant,” the boys say in unison, before looking at each other and giggling.
Harry was still sore, but wow, that was probably the best weekend of his life. They have their tea and Louis says he better go home. So Harry walks him to the door.
“Happy birthday, love,” Louis whispers. He presses a sweet kiss to Harry’s lips and then pulls back slowly, looking into the boy's eyes.
“I love you,” Harry whispers. Louis' face breaks into a fond smile.
“I love you too. Now go get some sleep, or have a bath. Might help the pain down there,” he says cheekily, pinching Harry’s arse and walking away.
*
On Harry’s 17th birthday, Harry and Louis are both busy packing their stuff and labelling boxes.
“Still can't believe you two are moving in together. I feel sorry for your neighbours already,” Niall says as they sit down at the kitchen table. Louis flips him off and the boys laugh. Anne then walks in with a big birthday cake with lit candles on top.
“Muuuum, I'm 17, not 7,” Harry whines.
“Shut up and be happy I made your mum buy you a birthday cake, Styles,” Louis tells him.
“You-”
“Happy birthday to yoouu,” they all start singing. Harry just smiles and shakes his head, letting them sing their song. At the end, Liam tells Harry to make his wish.
“I don't.. I don't have anything to with for. My life's pretty perfect at the moment,” he tells them. They all 'aaaw' and Niall murmurs, “cheesy little bastard.”
So Harry blows the candles out without wishing for anything and Louis presses a kiss to his cheek. After they've all had a slice of cake, Liam clears his throat.
“Um, so Zayn and I have something to tell you. We're.. we're dating?” he says, his voice going up at the end like it's a question. Louis drops his fork.
“Wow, really? I would have never guessed! What about you guys?!” he says sarcastically, looking at Niall and Harry. They both shake their heads with wide eyes.
“Never. Woah. That explains all the dates that 'weren't actually real dates' and hickeys on your necks all the time!” Niall says.
“Oh fuck off, twats,” Zayn says, wrapping an arm around Liam's waist.
They all talk for a while, joking about all the times Zayn and Liam had basically already told them they were dating, like that time Zayn went “I'm going to my boyfr- Liam's house” and that time they were found grinding at Niall's party.
The day passes quickly, and soon they're all leaving, telling Harry they'll text him later.
“Happy birthday, Harry,” Louis says as he's putting his coat on. He grabs his scarf and wraps it around Harry, pulling him closer until they're chest to chest. “I love you. Now go and finish packing your endless amount of t-shirts with band names on them that nobody's ever heard of,” he says, giving him a kiss.
Harry just laughs and rolls his eyes.
And in that moment, Harry thinks of what would've happened if Louis hadn't come to his birthday party ten years ago. How different his life would have been, if the boy with blue eyes and a little fringe hadn't knocked on his door and given him a present.
Harry smiles and watches his boyfriend put his shoes on and open the door.
“Lou!”
“Yeah?”
“I love you. Really. A lot.”
Louis smiles. “I know. I've always known.”