a/n: louis' sisters are all younger than he is, but right around the same age (for reference)

Louis' POV:

So, turns out Lottie was right. I might not need a lot of help planning a little party for Harry, but I could surely use a hand. The twins agreed to come with me to the mall today to get everything we needed since the party is now only three days away.

Besides football and hanging out with my friends or my sisters, there's not a whole bunch to do at my house. Things are still a little tense between my parents and me right now, but it'll blow over soon enough. We've never gone more than a week or two without speaking to one another and I'm not nearly as upset as I was a few days ago now that I know what I'm going to do. Hasta la vista, Margo.

I've spent the last day or two making sure I know what food to order and from where so it'll come on time, learned how to bake a cake for Harry (after setting the smoke alarm off twice during my four failed cake-baking attempts), and trying to answer all the party planning questions the twins keep hurling my way.

"Does the party have a theme?" Daisy asks as we walk through the crowded mall in search of things they claim are more than necessary for a good party. I thought some paper plates and fruit punch were adequate, but clearly, I have some learning to do.

"Um, I think? It's birthday-themed," I answer and Phoebe frowns.

"That's not a theme, that's the cause for celebration. Daisy's asking if there is a theme to the party in general. Like is it football-themed, for example?"

"Oh, no, it's not. Should it be? I haven't been to a themed birthday party since Zayn's eighth birthday party when he was super into space and astronauts,"

Daisy shrugs passively. "I mean, it doesn't have to have a theme, I suppose. You could always pick some colors instead so everything at least matches. What's Harry's favorite color?"

"Blue, any shade of blue," He says he likes my eye color the best, but that just goes to show how cheesy and cliche we both are because his eyes are my favorite shade of green. We're just two hopeless romantics if you will.

"Blue's a good choice. There's tons of stuff we could find that's blue. And as one of the two people here with good taste in decorations," Phoebe motions at herself, then at Daisy, "We'll find a complementary color too. Trust us, it'll look better."

"Ooh, Phoebe, gold would be so pretty with navy blue or any dark-ish blue color. Let's do that," Daisy says excitedly as they tug me into the Party City store.

The twins abandon me at the front of the store as they walk swiftly towards the party decorations. They've always been the ones to plan any sort of family reunions or parties and get-togethers for the house, and have quite the impressive reputation so I'll leave them alone and let them do their thing.

I stroll the party favor aisle of the store, not even sure what I'm looking at. Who in their right mind needs stuffed banana party favors, and what the hell would you do with one? I don't even have a present for Harry yet, but none of the things here seem fitting for the party.

I have a feeling that a 'pin the tutu on the ballerina' kids game wouldn't strike his fancy, so I keep walking until I bump into the twins again. The store is big, and I find them fifteen minutes later towards the back wall, their arms stacked high with a plethora of blue and gold items.

"Here, Louis, take some," Daily unloads a shit ton of things in my arms before I have time to react. I soon find myself holding (and trying not to drop) a variety of blue balloons, blue and gold paper streamers, gold glitter, a pack of dark blue candles, and two sleeves of plastic cups.

"How are we even going to pay for all of this stuff?" I ask, interrupting Phoebe and Daisy who have various packs of colored napkins in their hands. Either I'm a terrible party planner for thinking white napkins are sufficient, or they're going above and beyond, and a bit out of my price range. Unemployment doesn't pay well, go figure.

Phoebe rolls her eyes and they put down the napkins, ushering me to the checkout counter. "Don't worry about it, big brother. We're not going to help you throw a party for your alleged guy crush and make you pay for it all on your own. Me and Daisy can spot you some money, don't worry."

Daisy nods and smiles and I thank them both as we check out. I don't even question the 'guy crush' part of Phoebe's proposal, because even though I don't know how they figured it out, it's useless protesting when I know it's true.

"Ok, so now I just need to find something to give Harry as a present," I tell them as we ride the escalator up to the second level of the mall.

"What does Harry like? Any ideas of what you want to get him?" Daisy asks, pointing out different stores we could go into.

I shake my head no to the stores she's pointing to, instead heading in the direction of the jewelry place a few storefronts down. "He wears these two silver rings and I never see him without them on, so I thought it might be cool to get him a third,"

"Aww, that's so cute!" Daisy gushes, "But you don't know his ring size?"

"No, I don't. Maybe I'll wait on the ring until I know the size, so it fits for sure."

She nods. "That's a good idea. Any other ideas on what to do for his birthday?"

"Yeah, I had one other idea but it might be a bit too expensive,"

"Well, at least tell us the idea," Phoebe prompts, and Daisy nods. "We can surely help out, you've done so much for us and the family that small favors like this are the least we can do."

I make a mental note that I owe them one as I explain to them my idea for Harry's present. "I thought about getting him a Polaroid camera. I've seen his bedroom back at the Huxley's and it's rather barren and simple. I thought maybe he'd like to have something to capture memories and pictures that he could hang up or bring with him if he ever has to change foster families,"

"Lou, that's such a good idea, why didn't we think of that?" Daisy exclaims and we change directions to head towards the electronics store where they have Polaroid cameras in every color under the sun.

✰ ✰ ✰

With an authentic black and white-colored Polaroid camera in one bag, and party decorations in the other, I follow the twins to the food court and sit down at one of the tables.

"Thanks again for spotting me a bit of money. I owe you big time,"

Phoebe shrugs and smiles. "Don't worry about paying us back, at least not until you have some sort of disposable income,"

"Yeah, don't sweat it," Daisy grins, "But you at least have to tell us more about Harry now that we helped. We heard you talking to Lotts about him, so don't keep us out of the loop. What's going on between you two?"

I sigh, not expecting to tell everyone in my family about my feelings for Harry so soon, but I suppose if the twins really did just help me get all of this stuff for his birthday then I owe it to them to be somewhat transparent. "I mean, what do you want to know?"

"Well for starters, you like him, right?" I nod my head 'yes' and they both smile.

"You have to let us meet him sometime, Lou. Introduce us so we can say hi," Phoebe insists, "Okay, next question. Have you two done anything romantic yet? Because I know you're still with Margo but you know we hate that girl with passion. She's such a brat,"

I stifle a laugh, not wanting to sound overly rude. "Brat is an understatement. And yeah, I kissed Harry when we first hung out and-"

"Woah, Louis, you've kissed him already?" Daisy elbows me playfully in the side, "Look at you go, making moves and being all flirty like that. Tell us more,"

"That's about all there is to tell, really. I mean, we kissed a few times but nothing much since I still haven't broken up with Margo yet. But afterward, he said he was going to ask me on a date and I'm really excited if he does,"

"On the off chance he doesn't, are you going to ask him on a date instead?"

I hadn't thought about that. Technically I'm the older one so I suppose that means I should be asking Harry, but - as proven by the fact that I'm buying him a present three days before his birthday - I'm clearly not good at thinking ahead.

"Maybe, but what if he says no?"

"Oh for fucks sake, Louis. Woman up and ask him if he doesn't ask you first," Phoebe rolls her eyes like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "If he didn't push you away when you tried to kiss him the first time, or anytime after that, I'm sure he'd be interested in a little romantic gesture coming from you,"

"Speaking of gestures, if you ever sleep with him, be safe!" Daisy - the queen of subtlety when surrounded by a shopping mall full of people - pipes up as she rummages through one of the shopping bags they acquired while I was in the electronics store.

She throws two small boxes at me before she and Phoebe begin to crack up. I look down at the packages on my lap and my cheeks feel hot. "You guys did not just buy blue and gold condoms for me," I hiss, quickly stuffing them back in the bag.

"Oh, but we did," Daisy snorts as she dies of laughter. I don't know if there's anything more embarrassing than having your little sisters throw latex condoms at you in the middle of a food court and telling you to have safe sex with the boy down the street. But then again, here we are.

I get up and take the bags I was carrying with me, doing my best to ignore my hysterically laughing sisters, who are currently drawing in uncomfortable amounts of attention from onlookers. "You guys are just such-"

"Protective, amazing, and perfect little sisters? Yeah, we know,"

"I was going to say a pain in the ass," I grumble with a small smile, "I'm not very hungry and I'm going to head home. Unless you two idiots want to walk home because you're too young to drive, I suggest you come with me."

"Fine, we're coming," They calm their laughter and grab the remaining bags before following me to the mall exit.

"This is going to be such a fun party," They tell me excitedly as we search for our car in the parking lot.

"No thanks to the condoms you bought," I groan.

Phoebe pouts and crosses her arms. "Ungrateful bastard, we even got the extra-large size just for you, even though you've got some real small dick energy,"

I speed up my walking, unable to comprehend just how embarrassing these two are when I go out with them in public. "You two are getting way too comfortable talking about me and my sex life,"

"We're just trying to help you to have one," Daisy points out and they go into their second fit of laughter for the day. I aggressively turn around and flip them off with a dramatic sigh.

Despite not wanting the twins meddling with these types of personal matters, I need all the good luck I can get. Being gay and stuck in a relationship with a girl for over two years doesn't leave much (or any) room for experimentation with guys, so I might as well be a virgin. Watching porn to try and figure out what to do and all that shit like any curious teenager can only get a person so far.

Deep down, I hope Harry can be my first... and maybe even my only.

***

It's 1:15 am and I should be going to bed but instead I'm writing about blue and gold condoms. what the actual fuck am I doing with my life :D

Thoughts or comments?

VOTE if you're excited about Harry's birthday party! who's pov do you hope it's in?