Chapter Text
Louis was a right mess.
His hair was sticking up in different directions and plastered to his forehead while he was sweating through his jumper from running around so much. He wasn’t complaining, though. Louis’ best mate, Eleanor Calder, or El, as they all liked calling her, was making him laugh till he couldn’t breathe. The two of them were at a local funfair a few blocks from their shared flat, which they’d moved into together about three weeks ago.
“You look like a mad person,” she laughed, pointing to his hair. “There’s also some candy floss in your hair. Hold on.” She stilled Louis and set him upright so she could take out the pieces of candy floss that had gotten stuck in there.
“How’d it get stuck in my hair?” Louis asked, still wheezing from laughing so much.
“I don’t know, Louis,” she replied, picking out little pieces of blue from his hair. “You took it on that last ride?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I was eating it and then I stopped ‘cause your ugly mug was screaming so loud.” He laughed thinking about it again.
“That one was proper scary,” she said, giggling nonetheless. “I think I got most of it out. You might need to shower, though, when you get home.”
Louis shrugged, running his hand through his sticky, knotted hair. God knows how his fringe was holding up. El and he managed to go on all the rides at this fair at least twice and the air was sticky hot, making them sweaty and sticky as well, but neither of them cared. Although, they did bump into a few fit boys and El kept walking away from them, making Louis run after while laughing.
“Where to next?” he asked her, once they’d both settled down.
“The Ferris wheel,” she said. “We haven’t gone on that yet.”
“That’s where all the couples are going,” Louis pointed out.
“We can be a little romantic,” she insisted, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the line.
Louis laughed. “Alright, alright. Let’s get some sausages after because I’ve been eyeing the truck since we’ve gotten here.”
“Sausages from a truck are quite ghastly,” she remarked once they’d gotten on the long line.
“It’s delicious.”
“You enjoy McDonalds, so I’m not surprised.”
Louis barked out a laugh and threw his head back. El hated McDonald’s for some ungodly reason whereas he loved it. It’s McDonalds -- who didn’t love it? So, every few days, El would Facebook him articles regarding accidents that happened to customers who ate there. Just last week she sent him an article about a woman who got an STD after getting a chicken sandwich there because one of the employees jerked off on it. It made Louis laugh for a day straight.
“Do you wanna see the vines I took of us on all the rides?” Louis asked her after.
She nodded, grinning and stepping closer as Louis unlocked his phone and pulled up his vine app. He didn’t have many followers and he didn’t think he’d get any either. The only things he posted were stupid vines of El and him doing mundane things. These new vines of them on all the rides were epic because they looked nuts, screaming their heads off and laughing from sheer fear.
As they were watching and laughing over them, someone approached the line behind the two. “Eleanor?”
They both looked up and Louis noticed a guy with a girl close beside him. He was somewhere near Louis’ height with a headful of Ginger hair and a friendly smile. The girl beside him was a bit on the tall side with short, choppy, blond hair.
El’s eyes widened and she grinned, closing the gap between them and giving him a hug. Louis hung back, letting them greet each other, and stared down at his phone awkwardly.
“Ed,” El cooed, pulling back, still smiling. “How are you?”
“Good, good,” he grinned. “Just out, spending the day with Taylor.”
“Hi Taylor,” El said, moving away from Ed and hugging the girl. She hugged back, grinning.
“You look amazing!” Taylor beamed. “Did you get a haircut or something?”
“Yes,” El nodded. “Trying the blond look for a bit. Was a risk.”
“No,” Taylor shook her head dismissing her comment. “You look amazing.”
Louis was so busy watching Taylor and El talk, he didn’t notice Ed turn to him. “Hey,” he said, smiling at Louis. “I’m Ed.”
Louis smiled back. “I’m Louis.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ed said, extending his hand and shaking hands with him.
El turned back to them and smiled. “Introduced yourselves?” she asked. Louis nodded and she stood beside him again. “Ed, this is my flat mate. The one I was telling you and the others about a few weeks ago.”
Ed’s eyes widened in recognition and he grinned wider. “Right. You’re the infamous Louis Tomlinson that El keeps talking about. Heard loads about all the adventures you two have and now I finally get to meet you.”
Louis blushed slightly and gave El a nudge. “I’m wondering whether any of the stuff she’s told you is embarrassing or not.”
Ed laughed. “It was funny, don’t worry.”
“And I’m Taylor,” his girlfriend said, walking forward and smiling brightly at Louis. “Nice to meet you. None of these losers bothered to introduce us.”
Louis laughed. “No matter. Nice to meet you, though. I’m Louis.”
She smiled at them and leaned against Ed, who wrapped his arm around her narrow waist. She was a bit taller than him, but they made it work. They were a really cute couple. “Anyway, you two enjoying the funfair?”
“Yeah,” El nodded. “Been here for a few hours and we’ve gone through all the rides except this one. Louis kept avoiding it saying that it was for couples.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Ed shook his head. “Niall and Liam have gone on this at least three times together, looking well impressed with themselves.”
El laughed and grinned, excitedly. “Are they here?”
Ed nodded. “Zayn and Harry, too. They’re somewhere in this mix. I’m sure you’ll find them. We only got here a half an hour ago.”
“I have to see them,” El said. “I think it’s time I introduced you all to Louis, anyway. He’s started at Imperial just this term.” She turned to look at him with a smile. “They all go to Imperial with me, too.”
“Oh, nice,” Louis said. “It’s a good school. Much better than my last.”
“Where did you transfer from?” Taylor asked.
“Kings College,” he replied.
“Do you like it at Imperial so far?” Ed asked after that.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “But, I’m kind of looking forward to graduating, really. It’s senior year and I just want to be done with school.”
Before the conversation could continue, the gates opened for the next batch of people to get on the ride. “We’ll see you guys later then?” El asked, looking at Ed and Taylor and they nodded giving her a smile.
El and Louis got on a carriage and the guy conducting the ride pulled down the bar to hold them in and the ride moved them up to let in Ed and Taylor. Once everyone was put in, they closed up the gate and the ride started. Louis turned to El with a smile. “They were nice.”
“Yeah, Ed’s a gem and Taylor is so nice,” she said. “Their relationship makes me so jealous.”
“Why’s that?”
“They’re sickeningly perfect for each other. They’ve been dating for a while and they both play guitar and write songs for each other. I know Ed more, though. I met him, like, my sophomore year at uni. His mates and him are all a part of some frat. Theta Chi, I think, and they also play football so they’re pretty well known on campus. You’d have met them, anyway. They’re really hot.”
“And you’re, like, friends with them?” Louis asked her.
She nodded. “I only know them because of some composition class I took sophomore year with his friend Liam, who I’ll introduce you to. He and I started talking and then he introduced me to Ed and the others.” She grinned for a second as the ride stopped with them all the way on top. “It’s weird because I actually knew Harry first.”
“Harry?” Louis asked her.
“Yeah, he’s one of them. Really cool guy and he’s in more than half of my classes because he’s also a law major like me. I’ve known him since freshman year and we didn’t talk. Kinda liked him a little, too.”
“Oh,” Louis drawled out, smirking. “Are they single?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Not sure about Harry, though. I never got the nerve to ask him, but I’ve creeped around his Facebook a little and I think he might be in a relationship.”
“It’s alright,” he said. “Three out of five.”
El laughed and they turned to look out at the view in front of them, enjoying the rest of the ride. Once it was over, they got off and started out towards the sausage truck after Louis whined for the last thirty seconds of the ride, threatening to break El’s shower caddy if she didn’t come with.
However, it was another queue they had to wait in, because El spotted someone and smiled, bringing Louis over. “Hi boys,” she smirked, looking at two boys who were stood on the line. Louis peered over her shoulder and wondered if they were friends of Ed that they were just talking about. They were fit, after all. One of them had brown hair on the sides but a quiff that was bleached blonde. The other had on a beanie that read HYPE.
“Eleanor!” the bleached blonde one grinned, grabbing her and giving her a hug so tight, she was lifted off the ground. He put her down and smiled, rumpling up her hair, affectionately.
Beanie boy grinned at her, too, and gave her a hug before she turned back to Louis. “This is Louis,” she said. “Louis, this is Niall and Liam. Friends of Ed.”
“You saw Ed?” Niall asked.
El nodded. “Louis and I bumped into him and Taylor at the Ferris wheel queue.”
“Well, if you see him again, you tell him he owes me ten quid for the bloody game he kept playing, trying to win Taylor a fucking bear,” Niall said.
Liam smacked him on the chest. “You tell him. It’s not like you live far. Plus, it was your fault. We all know he’s bloody useless when it comes to any game.” With that, he turned to smile at Louis. “Hi, sorry about this one. I’m Liam.”
“Louis,” he smiled. “And it’s alright.”
“You’re the flat mate, right?” Niall asked.
Louis nodded. “We just moved in about three weeks ago.”
“How’s that going then? Planning to rip each others hairs out soon?” Niall said with a laugh.
El and Louis looked at each other and shook their heads. They loved each other way too much. “Quite the contrary, Horan,” El quipped. “Louis and I are doing great.”
“You say that now,” Niall said. “But wait a few more weeks and then you’ll want to kill each other.”
Louis frowned. “Wow. Who do you live with?”
Liam smacked Niall on the chest again and shook his head. “He’s only taking the piss. He lives with Harry, and Ed and Zayn and I are down the hall, but he’s just as much of a nuisance as the rest of us. Plus, he lucked out with Harry, considering Harry cooks and cleans. Zayn trashes our place and Ed smokes weed inside. Really, Niall, you have nothing to complain about.”
“Harry gets up every morning at the arse crack of dawn to go fucking running, waking me up as he goes. It’s the bloody worst, Li,” Niall complained back.
“Oh my god, Louis,” El said, suddenly turning to look at him. “Their living arrangements are so cute. They’re like the show Friends. Liam, Zayn, and Ed live in one flat. And Harry and Niall right across the hall.”
Louis’ eyes widened as he looked back at the boys. “No way,” he grinned. “That’s the dream.” Louis turned back to E. “Why don’t we have more friends so we can do something like that?”
“It’s because nobody likes us,” she pouted.
“I wish we were more charming.”
“Too bad we’re just arseholes.”
They started to laugh again at their own joke annoyingly so and turned back to the boys who looked at them in amusement. The queue moved up again and soon it was their turn. Niall ended up buying Louis his as well and the group walked together towards the drinks section. There were a few trucks stood about, handing out pints to people of age, and they settled down near a table with their food.
“Zayn and Harry are getting drinks,” Liam explained. “They’ll be here in a bit.”
El nodded as Louis stood next to Niall to finish his sausage. It was quiet while the two ate and Liam and El chatted about some professor that Louis didn’t know. A while after, two guys approached them, holding two pints each. Louis looked at them closely and his eyes immediately squared in on the one with the fedora.
Now, most people found that unattractive, but Louis for some reason found it rather cute. He was good on the face, too. He had little brown curls peeking out from underneath the fedora and cute, big eyes. The other boy was almost too good looking? So much so that Louis didn’t know how long he could stare at him before his self esteem pummelled down below that he couldn’t find it.
“Didn’t know we’d have company,” the self esteem killer said, setting down the drinks before giving El a big hug. “Otherwise we’d have gotten more.”
“We bumped into them on the sausages queue,” Niall said. While El was hugging fedora boy, self esteem killer looked at Louis and smiled.
“Hey,” he said.
Oh, Christ. “Hi, I’m Louis,” Louis said, giving him a composed smile, trying to keep his cool.
“Zayn,” he smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
Louis was suddenly so fucking glad he transferred because Kings College had the worst guys -- looks and personality wise -- and clearly Imperial had all the gold.
El looked over at Louis then, pulling away from Fedora boy. “Oh, that’s my flatmate, Louis. Louis, this is Harry.”
Fedora boy—Harry—turned to look at Louis and smiled. It was unfair, really. He had a dimple and the most endearing face Louis’d ever seen.
“Hii,” he said, drawing the word out.
“Hi,” Louis replied, smiling back.
El laughed. “I didn’t think I’d be introducing Louis to all of Theta Chi today, but guess it had to be done at some point.”
“You go to Imperial, too?” Harry asked.
Louis nodded. “Just transferred for my last year.”
“So, you don’t know anyone besides El and now us?” Niall wanted to know.
“No, not really,” Louis replied. “I mean I’ve talked to a few kids in some of my classes, but that’s it. I’ve kinda been up El’s arse since I started, being needy and all that, begging her to have lunch with me everyday.”
“Well, now you’ve got us,” Liam said with a smile. “Speaking of which, I’m still hungry and that sausage was shit.”
“I told you!” El yelled, looking at Louis. He shot her a look with a mouthful of sausage, which in fact was quite awful, but he was starving.
“We should get something to eat before going home,” Zayn said. “We’ve got nothing at home.”
“Well, I don’t know about you guys,” Harry started to say. “But Liam and I cooked last night.”
“What did you make?” Zayn asked with a bored expression. “Ramen cup noodles? Because, I’ll tell you Harold, that’s hardly cooking. You’ve been skimping on the cooking, lately.”
Harry looked sour, which made Louis laugh, as he said, “Well, it’s more cooking than you ever do, Zayn.”
Zayn shoved him with his shoulder, laughing. “Where’s Ed?” he asked.
“El and Louis bumped into him and Taylor by the Ferris wheel last,” Liam told him. “Reckon we go get them and go out for pizza.”
“Sounds good,” Zayn agreed.
Liam looked over at El and Louis. “You guys will be joining, I hope?”
Louis looked to El and she nodded her head. “We’ve only got bread and peanut butter at home,” she said to Louis quietly. She turned to Liam and smiled. “We’d love to.”
“Sweet,” Niall said, suddenly slinging an arm around Louis. “I’ve got so much to ask you about Kings. I’ve got mates going there and I almost went there meself, actually.”
They all started walking towards the Ferris wheel as Louis answered Niall. “It’s an alright school. I made a few friends there and the parties were alright, but I just hated it.”
“Why’d you hate it?” Harry asked, coming up beside them and joining the conversation.
“The professors were not good,” Louis said. “And I think I only had like three friends because everyone else was vapid.”
Niall laughed. “Do you, by chance, know Craig Barnaby?”
Louis laughed, nodding his head. “That tosser threw up on me at a party once,” Louis told him.
Niall let out a loud laugh, throwing his head back. “Good ol’ Craig. Still such a bastard.” They eventually found Ed and Taylor by the gates and all started walking towards the nearest pizza place. Niall and Louis talked the entire way as he asked Louis about several people he knows who goes to that school. Weirdly enough, Louis knew more than half of them for someone who only had, like, three real friends once leaving.
“So, why didn’t you end up going there?” Louis asked him. “You mentioned you were going to, but then didn’t.”
“Right,” Niall said. “They didn’t give me a scholarship for Music Tech, which is my major, and I’m not well endowed enough in the money department to pay my way through uni. Imperial offered me a pretty hefty scholarship and I couldn’t be happier by choosing that school. I’ve made lifelong friends, thanks to this place.”
Louis smiled. “That’s nice,” he said. “They say that in uni, you meet the friends you’ll have for the rest of your life. I don’t agree with that entirely because I haven’t felt that way about friends since college. Uni has been alright, but who knows if I’ll keep in touch with anyone I’ve known for the past three years in Kings.”
“What about El?” Niall asked, looking over at her. She was walking ahead with Zayn and Liam, talking about something. Ed and Taylor were still hand in hand, while Harry walked beside them smiling about something. “You two are roommates and you seem great together.”
“El and I’ve got a funny story,” Louis said, smiling over at her. She turned when she heard him say her name.
“Talking shit about me?” she asked, laughing.
“Yeah,” Louis nodded. “Ton of it.”
“He actually just told me how bad your morning breath is,” Niall played along. “Invest in some toothpaste, El. In the meantime, I’ll get you the mints and gum.”
Louis laughed as she flipped them the bird. “Fuck you both,” she laughed. They’d arrived at the pizza place and piled in, searching for the biggest table. The place was nearly empty, except for one guy sitting alone with his phone out by the window.
They found a big booth to fit them all and Louis slid in beside El with Liam on his other side and Harry and Niall right across from him. They discussed how many and what kind of pies they should get for at least five minutes before Zayn made the executive decision of getting two large cheese ones.
“So, how did you guys all meet?” Louis asked. “El said you’re in a frat.”
“Yeah,” Zayn nodded. “But Liam and Harry went to college together. Then we all got to know each other in uni. We didn’t join the frat until halfway through sophomore year.”
“Do you like it?” Louis asked.
“Do we like it?” Niall asked, grinning, red cheeked and so happy. “We fucking love it. The parties are mental. Especially the ones our frat throws. You guys have to come to a few. Taylor always comes.”
“It’s true,” Taylor nodded, sipping from her Sprite can. “It’s really fun. You two should definitely come. The themes are always creative.”
“In fact,” Niall said. “Why don’t you come to the mixer we’re throwing. It’s for the frat, but it’ll be in my and Harry’s flat.”
El looked at Louis and nodded her head slowly, trying to figure out whether he wanted to go or not. “I mean, it couldn’t hurt?” Louis said. He looked back to Niall. “When is it?”
“This weekend,” Niall said. “Here give me your phone, I’ll put my number in and text myself so I have yours. I’ll text you the details.” Louis pulled his phone out from his jeans pocket and handed it over to him.
While Niall typed in his information, Harry and Liam turned to El and Louis. “What about you two?” Liam asked.
“How did you meet?” Harry asked.
“You mentioned it was a funny story,” Niall added, looking up while fishing his phone out of his jeans pocket.
El and Louis smiled at each other before turning back to them. “I transferred to Louis’s college for sixth form and everyone already knew each other. I was such a loner and I would always see Louis with his friends. He was popular, mind you, and always did theater productions, which I found so cool and wanted to be his friend so bad.”
“She always says that,” Louis cried, laughing. “She says she always wanted to be my friend, but she never approached me. I didn’t know, so I never approached her, either. Plus she hung out with some really sketchy people that I didn’t like so I didn’t want to bother.”
“That’s only because you didn’t want to be my friend!” El yelled, throwing her arms up in the air.
“You never approached me!” Louis argued back.
“That’s because you were intimidating and you were a little emo. It scared me,” she said.
“I went through a phase,” Louis told her. “But I was not scary.”
“You scared me and you didn’t want to be my friend.”
“I didn’t even know you wanted to be my friend. We had one class together and I barely showed up.”
“Because you hated me!” El laughed.
Louis was laughing, too, because they always did this whenever they talked about their past. Argued back and forth about how they didn’t used to be friends.
“I didn’t hate you. I was indifferent.”
“Wait,” Niall said. They turned back to him and the others and noticed them all staring, completely amused and watching them bicker. “How did you become friends then?”
“Oh,” Louis said. “It happened after we graduated sixth form. After freshmen year of uni, we bumped into each other at a mutual friend’s party and just started talking and it’s never been the same since.”
“I love you two,” Taylor giggled. “Watching you talk is like watching a TV show or something.”
El laughed. “It’s not the first time someone has said that to us, believe me.”
“But yeah, we get along so well and we have the best friendship so I’m happy to be living with her and now going to the same uni,” Louis smiled, nudging El with his shoulder. She giggled and put her arm around him. “It’s funny because her mum was quite wary about her living with a guy, until she found out I’m gay.”
“There’s a truth,” El agreed. “But, I get to live out most girl’s dreams of living with a gay best friend.”
Harry laughed. “I knew a girl in college who solely wanted to be my friend because I liked boys, but didn’t understand that I didn’t have a preference of gender, so it wasn’t as quirky as she was making it out to be.”
“Oh, that’s awful,” Louis grimaced before laughing.
The conversation continued to flow between them until the pizza pies came out. They all piled their plates each with at least two slices and dug in. Louis was trying to lick the cheese off his finger when Harry decided to ask him his major.
“Um,” Louis mumbled, putting down his pizza and trying to dab his mouth with his napkin to get rid of the oil. “I’m a computer science and business major. El mentioned you do law with her.”
“Yeah, Harry smiled. “It’s pretty interesting. Can’t say I’m looking forward to law school though.”
“We can do it, Harry,” El smiled at him. “You’re brilliant.”
“Yeah, only because I’ll cheat off you,” he replied, cheekily. El looked shocked and a little taken aback. Louis laughed, turning to the others.
“What about the rest of you?” he said, chewing on another bite. “I know Niall’s Music Tech.”
“I’m doing art,” Zayn said.
“Music,” Ed answered.
“He’s also a singer,” Taylor cooed. “You should hear.”
Louis smiled. “I heard you are, too. Do you study music, too?”
She shook her head. “I’m an English Lit major,” she replied.
“I’m doing engineering,” Liam said slowly. “But, I should just say that I’m rubbish at it.”
“It’s true,” Niall smirked. “He somehow manages to pass, though. Every term his parents pop champagne in honor of him not being kicked out due to being a moron.”
Liam glared at him and pulled his earlobe, making Niall yelp. “That’s because I play football and the team is only winning every season because of me since I’m captain.”
Niall laughed haughtily after that. “Right, but who is co-captain, Liam?”
“You are, but I play better,” Liam argued.
“You can keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep better at night, but I think everyone in this room knows I’m best. Including that lonely lad sat by the window.”
Zayn, Ed, and Taylor watched them in amusement. Harry, on the other hand, looked bored. “You’re both good, now shut up,” he said.
“Harry here sucks,” Liam said, turning to Louis and away from Niall. “He might be the worst player.”
“Excuse me, Liam,” Harry said, affronted. “Please don’t talk about me like I’m not right here.”
“While Liam is right,” Niall started to say after giving Harry a look. “I can vouch for Harold and say that while he is rubbish, he has improved.”
“How’d he make the team then?” El asked.
“He’s our friend,” Niall said, as if it was obvious. “So is Ed, but he’s actually good. We had to drag Zayn to try outs. He wouldn’t even run the laps. He fucking took out a fag and blew smoke in my face. Bastard.”
Zayn shrugged, grinning cheekily while Louis turned to Niall, looking slightly bothered. “You made all your friends join the team. That’s illegal, I think. It’s called nepotism.”
“No,” Niall argued back. “It’s called favoritism.”
“It’s still an ism,” Louis argued.
“You two are quoting Full House, I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Liam pointed out, grabbing his third slice.
“If this is not friendship in the making, I don’t know what is,” Harry remarked, smiling at everyone. Louis smiled back because yeah, that’s what it was. Friendship in the making.
