Harry's POV:

It's the night of my date and I've never been so dressed up for something in my life. I have Blair to personally thank for the outfit, which consists of my only pair of unripped black skinnies, a buttoned shirt, and a black jacket that Blair insisted on buying me for colder evenings. 

It's not as fancy as the people I've seen dressed up in magazines but then again, neither am I, and I'm not about to show up for my first date ever as someone I'm not.

Because I've been in and out of foster homes, there's really never been much to dress up for in my life. The closest I've come to dressing up was wearing a suit that my ninth foster family - the Lloyd's - bought for me for a middle school dance. But unlike that time (where my gay ass was forced to dance with a random girl I didn't know from my class) I'm actually excited about the night to come.

I take a quick look in the mirror to make sure my hair looks alright and my shirt is as wrinkle-free as it'll get. None of the Huxley's know about my date plans, because I'm sticking with my cover story about going to the Tomlinson's for dinner and to introduce myself to his parents since I'm the new kid on the block.

According to the time on my phone, I've got about ten minutes before I should be parked in front of Louis' house, ready to pick him up before our 7:30 reservations at the restaurant. I'm armed with a pocketful of money because I don't own a wallet, and I'm practically bouncing off the walls from excitement.

Margo has been in her room all day, clearly not taking the breakup very well. I hear the occasional thing break as she throws it against the wall (dramatic much?) and I'm almost positive she's breaking picture frames or any memories she has of her and Louis.

As for me, I still have yet to collect those types of things and have special experiences with him. The only difference between me and her is that Louis might actually want to spend time with me. Here's to the future and all the memories that'll come with it.

With the car keys to the car Oliver lets me drive, I leave the house and drive over to Louis' place after taking time to pick a few flowers out from Blair's garden to bring him. 

Sorry, Blair, but small and love gestures for the boy I have a crush on is much more important than your prized roses and tulips.

When I arrive, I get out of the car with my flowers and ring his doorbell. I've never actually been inside because Louis and I mostly hang out at the Huxley's or on the footie pitch, but his house is very nice and much homier and more inviting than the one I'm staying in. 

But then again, maybe I'm biased because it's Louis' house we're talking about, after all.

The front door opens, and I find myself standing in front of Louis' parents. I gulp and give them as warm of a smile as I can, unsure of how much they know about me, or if they even know about this date at all.

On the day they broke the news to Louis that they had found surprise insurance fees and wanted him to keep dating Margo, he called me afterward and told me everything that happened in between broken sniffles and tears. 

So naturally, I have no idea how thrilled they are or are not with me taking their son on a date so soon. Especially if they're already mad he's broken up with her.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson, it's nice to meet you. I'm Harry from down the street. I moved in with the Huxley's about a month or so ago."

Louis' mum, Kaitlyn, returns the smile as she looks at the flowers in my hand. "It's nice to meet you too, Harry. We've heard a lot about you from Louis, he talks about you all the time. Ever since you moved in, actually."

"That's right. He's always telling us or his sisters about you, and it was only a matter of time until we met one another," Louis' dad, Levi, shakes my flower-free hand firmly with a thin but kind smile on his face. "Louis is upstairs and should be down any second now. Would you like to come inside?"

"Um, sure, thank you," I gingerly step inside of their house, the heels of my Chelsea boots loud against the tile floors. One of Louis' sisters, who I recognize as Lottie, walks down the stairs and grins when she sees me.

"Harry, hi! Oh my gosh, this is so exciting," She turns back and runs up the stairs, where I hear her shout for Louis to hurry up and come downstairs.

Soon enough, Louis is walking down the stairs looking absolutely and jaw-droppingly gorgeous and adorable all at the same time. His sisters all trail him and hug him good luck before they shove him towards me.

"Hi, Louis. You look amazing," I blush a deep shade of red, completely aware that his entire family has their eyes on us.

"As do you," He grins before turning around to wave bye to his sisters and to talk to his parents. "Mum, Dad."

His mum extends her arms to give him a hug. "We love you, Louis. No matter what. Have a wonderful time, okay?" I hear her whisper and he nods before pulling back from the hug.

Louis' dad brings him in for a small hug as well. "We're proud of you, son. Come home safe before midnight, and if you plan to stay out later just give us a call," Levi turns his attention to me, "Take good care of him for us," He smiles and sends Louis on his way out the door by my side.

When we finally walk outside and to my car, I exhale the breath I didn't even know I was holding in. Turns out I was a little more nervous to meet his parents than I realized, but I'm glad it seemed to go well and that his parents are both on board with this whole thing.

"These are for you," I hold out the flowers, and Louis blushes and takes them. "You really do look amazing, Lou. Absolutely incredible," He's got on a nice pair of trousers, a dress shirt, and suspenders, and the entire outfit suits him so well.

"The same can be said about you too," He motions at my clothes, "And I love the boots so much. Hopefully, my Vans aren't too casual for tonight,"

"I was trying to decide between this restaurant and an arcade downtown that happened to serve chicken fingers and milkshakes, so I really don't think you have to worry about being too casual around me," I laugh as we get in the car and drive to the restaurant using the GPS directions on my phone.

"Thank you for this, Haz. Really, this is amazing. And even though my parents were mad at first that I broke up with Margo yesterday even though they asked me not to, I sat down and talked to them about it and why I decided to anyway because I don't think they really understood what I was feeling and going through until now. So I'm not sure if you even were in the first place, but don't worry about them, they're okay with all of this."

"And if they weren't okay with it, what would've happened then?" I ask curiously, "It's not a trick question or anything, I'm just wondering,"

He cracks a smile. "I still would've said yes and gone on this date, because I'd be a fucking idiot not to go out with you. I might've just had to find a more sneaky way to get out without my parents seeing me, but my sisters definitely would've helped to smuggle me out. They're amazing like that,"

"I wish I had siblings like that," If you stop and think about it, I'm really forced to be my own support system because no one else is around long enough or consistently enough to be there and help me when I need it.

Well, besides Tommy because I text him when one or both of us are away at foster homes, but it's not the same. I can't help but wonder if I have a sibling or even multiple, but Claudia says she doesn't know and she can't get that type of information from the government.

I shake off my brief feeling of sadness because I'm looking forward to our dinner reservations way too much to ruin the mood with thoughts about any possible siblings or family I don't know about. The drive is short and we arrive five minutes before my reservation is scheduled.

I park the car and walk around the front hood to open the door for Louis, who gets out and takes my hand before walking inside. The restaurant smells deliciously of freshly cooked pasta dishes and garlic bread. We go up to the hostess booth where a friendly-looking blonde woman with a name tag that reads 'Jen' is standing.

"Welcome to 305 Italian. Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes, I do. It's a reservation for two under the name Harry Styles, for 7:30 tonight," I tell her, and she taps a few buttons on the tablet in front of her.

"Ah yes, here you are. If you could kindly follow me, I can show you two to your table," She picks up two menus and leads us to a small and round candle-lit table.

"Here are your menus, and a waiter will be out shortly to take your food and drink orders," She smiles and hands us large and rather fancy menus before returning to her position by the front entrance to greet the people that were in line behind us.

A minute or so later, a nicely dressed waiter who looks about the same age as Louis comes up to us with a glass bottle of water to fill our glasses with, and a notebook in his black apron pocket.

"My name is Juan Luis, and I'll be your server for tonight," He introduces himself as he pours us some water and leaves the bottle on the table in case we'd like to refill our glasses later tonight. "May I start you two gentlemen off with something to drink?"

"Hi, Juan Luis. May I have a Coke please?" Louis asks, and Juan Luis nods with a smile.

"And for you, sir?"

"Water is just fine for me."

He turns back to Louis momentarily. "I'll be back with your Coke in a minute while you two look over the menu, and then I can take your orders," He gives us an anxious laugh, and I can tell he's very tense for some reason.

Louis must notice too because he speaks up. "It's no rush, and thank you,"

Juan Luis looks relieved. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I normally work the kitchen but we were short-staffed today so this is my first time serving tables. But don't worry, I'll have the Coke out and be back to take orders very soon,"

"He seems nice," Louis observes once Juan Luis has walked away, "I had a server job last summer at a cafe downtown because I needed some pocket money, and take my word for it when I say it can be quite the nerve-wracking job,"

"It is? I've never been a waiter before or even had a job. Unless you count running a little lemonade stand with Tommy on the playground back at the agency when we were 8,"

"Yeah, it's a little intimidating because sometimes there's some really mean customers who give you shit about the smallest of things. On my first day working at this cafe, I must've had the worst luck because my first customer was this old cranky guy who wasn't content with anything I did,"

"What happened?"

"So I take this guy's order, right? It's just a cup of coffee and one of the croissants the cafe makes each morning, so it's nothing complicated. One of the baristas makes the coffee and puts everything on the tray for me to bring to him and I do. But a few minutes after he calls me over and starts complaining that the coffee was getting colder and not staying as hot as it was when I first gave it to him,"

"But that's so dumb? Of course, it's going to cool down some, that's how thermodynamics works,"

"Exactly. But this bloke must've skipped school a lot because he was pissed. When I told him that there wasn't much I could do for him, he started yelling at me and referring to himself in the third person, shouting 'Simon Cowell does NOT settle for warm and not hot coffee!' as if I knew who the fuck he was. Oh, and then he threw the coffee at me and stormed out of the cafe,"

"Actually?! Oh my god, that's awful. I'm so sorry, Lou,"

"It's alright, he was the worst customer I had that whole summer so at least they got better moving forward. But let me tell you, his coffee was plenty hot. On the day it happened, me and my burnt arm and chest could both agree that 'warm' was an understatement," He shrugs it off and smiles as Juan Luis returns to the table with a tall glass of Coke.

"Are you two ready to order?" Juan Luis asks, pulling out a pen and notebook.

Both of us had looked at the menu and picked out what we wanted to eat when we first sat down, and we nod. "May I please have the pasta carbonara?" I ask and he nods and writes it down.

"And I'll have the risotto, thank you," Louis hands both of our menus to Juan Luis, who promises the food will be out shortly and goes back into the kitchen.

After about twenty or so minutes, our food comes out and it's absolutely delicious so hats off to the chef because they're a wonderful cook. Louis and I talk about the upcoming party tomorrow, Louis' experiences with Margo because he's more than willing to spill all the gossip and shit he can about her to me, and discuss what my life has been like since moving in with the Huxley's.

Dinner goes by like the blink of an eye and before I know it, we're eating dessert and getting ready for the movies. There's a new Shawn Mendes documentary that was released a few days ago that Louis was talking about (thirsting over, more like, but I'm guilty of the same thing so I won't tease him over it) and it's showing tonight so we're going to see that together.

"Ready for the movies, Lou?" I ask when we finish eating and after I pay for dinner and leave a nice tip for Juan Luis for being such a nice and personable waiter.

He intertwines his fingers with mine as we walk out of the restaurant into the brisk night air. "With you, I'm ready for anything."

***

double update at 2 am woop woop 

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(speaking of MMB I'm currently re-writing the whole book and publishing a duplicate MMB book with all my edits and changes in it so i'd love it if you guys read it and commented!! you can find it under my profile!)