“You know, Cloud could have dropped us at the dorms. You didn’t have to drive all the way down just to pick us up, Lou.” A light voice peeped up from the back seat, drawing Louis’ attention.
Louis smiled sweetly, his eyes flicking up to glance at his two younger cousins through the rear view mirror before they settled back on the road. Of course it was Sora that said it. Sora had always been the most selfless member of their family. Sometimes Louis suspects that he was stolen out of a convent. “Please. Cloud’s probably trying to avoid going on campus like the plague.”
Louis snickered softly in response to Sora’s twin brother, Roxas. “Hey, be nice.” He chastised teasingly, “Cloud is still your brother, even if he is a selfish idiot for not taking you to your first day at college because of an ex.” Cloud, Roxas and Sora’s older brother, had been asked to drive down to his home town to pick his brothers up for their first day of school. Cloud had, naturally, refused, feeding his mother a poorly thought up excuse related to sickness and not being able to get out of bed. Everyone knew that was a lie, though. Over the summer, Cloud’s high school sweetheart, Leon, had broken up with him for a girl in their grade named Aerith. Since then, Cloud had been coming up with any and every possible way to avoid going back to that school. He had even gone as far as trying to fake his own death. Granted, all he had done was smear ketchup across his white shirt and hold his breath for a second. He was mildly upset when no one had broken down beside him, begging him to come back.
“Besides,” Louis shook himself out of his memories, glancing back at his cousins again, “It’s not like I mind. I missed you guys!” he laughed lightly, feeling so happy at being near family again. He and his mother live pretty far away from any of their relatives, so he almost never gets to spend time with his cousins. He was over the moon in his freshman year when he found out he and Cloud were going to be around each other every day, but that had fallen through when Leon and Cloud broke up and the idiot blonde stayed as far away from the school as possible.
“We missed you too.” Roxas conceded, giving his older cousin a sly smirk. It was rare for him to smile, no matter how small or how devious, so if Louis’ car jerked forward slightly in response, no one had to know.
When they arrived on campus, Louis called his friend, Liam, to help him take his cousins’ bags and boxes down from the car. “Stop complaining.” He snapped at his best mate, rolling his eyes as Liam continued to groan. “They aren’t even that heavy!” he cried disapprovingly, carrying boxes out of the trunk of his black 4runner with ease.
“That’s because you’re carrying stuffed animals and school supplies.” Liam growled softly, dropping a box of books with Roxas’ name hastily scribbled into the cardboard onto the trolley their school, thankfully, provided for all students moving into the dorms. “Exactly. They aren’t that heavy.” Louis smirked, gingerly setting a box of Sora’s teddy bears down on top of the books before dodging a shoe thrown at his head.
Laughing to himself, he left the last three boxes to Liam before heading into the school’s main office, seeing Roxas and Sora waiting patiently for the secretary to give them their dorm assignments. He grinned and leaned across the desk, giving the indignant worker a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “Merryweather!” He cheered brightly, making a face as Merryweather grumbled under her breath. When she looked up at him, though, her eyes were nothing if not fond. “What, Louis.” She smirked through her cold appearance, showing that she did, indeed, have a heart.
Louis beckoned his cousins over, taking one under each of his arms. “Merryweather, I thought I would introduce you to my two cousins, Sora and Roxas Strife.” He introduced, gesturing to each of the small boys with a tilt of his head. “Boys, this is Merryweather. She’ll tell you to call her Mrs. Rider, but don’t listen to her.” He leaned in, his voice dropping into an overly conspicuous stage whisper, “It reminds her of how old she is.” He snickered, letting out a loud squawk when Merryweather whacked the back of his head, much like his mother would.
Straightening up, he smoothed out his shirt and gave Merryweather a cool, yet still teasing, glare. “I could have you fired for hitting a student. And a minor no less!” Louis cried, clutching his throat in faux distaste.
Merryweather snorted, shaking her head as she stood up to grab the papers she had been printing out for the twins. “Oh please.” She scoffed, handing the papers to Roxas and Sora after marking off in certain places that needed to be highlighted.
“Who’s forgetting how old they are now, Lou?” Roxas smirked, hip checking a flabbergasted Louis out of his way so that he could grab a pen from Merryweather’s standing pen rack. He signed his name on the dotted line under the “Student Signature” section before sliding the paper over to Sora. Their mother had faxed it over to Merryweather’s office, so the places to be filled in by a legal guardian were already filled in.
“I like them.” Merryweather approved, nodding her head once as she took the papers back from a giggling Sora. “You’re so much sweeter than your cousin.” She informed seriously, meeting their gaze with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous curl to her thin lips. She ignored Louis’ cries of betrayal as she printed out the next set of papers and handed them over to the boys as well. “These are everything you’ll need to survive your first year.” She told them, sighing when the door swung open and two more women floated gracefully into the office.
“Flora! Fauna!” Louis whined, “Merryweather is being mean to me, again.” He huffed, pouting and crossing his arms like a child when the two elder women simply stepped around him, giving each other good-natured eye rolls. “You must be Sora and Roxas. Louis could not stop talking our ears off about you, last school year.” Fauna greeted kindly, ruffling both boys’ hair like an auntie that hasn’t seen them in the longest time. Flora chuckled softly as she moved around the desk to sit behind it, “Stop frowning, Louis. You’ll give yourself wrinkles.” She taunted, ignoring Louis’ cry of, “Coming from you!? You’re like, a bajillion!”
“A bajillion is not a number, Louis.” Fauna sing-songed, taking her seat between Flora and Merryweather.
“As I was saying!” Merryweather interjected loudly, pushing her sisters away from their desk with surprising strength for an older woman. “These papers will help you navigate the schools. Your class schedules, maps of the campus grounds, basic rules and information, and anything else you may need are here.” She told them dramatically, emphasizing certain words to make it all seem much more important than it really is.
Fauna stepped around Merryweather, shoving her sister back carelessly. “These are your student IDs.” She informed, producing two gray plastic rectangles that had their names, grade, and the pictures they had taken earlier that summer printed across the school’s logo. “They act as identification, clearance passes, debit cards, and tickets. You’ll need them to enter the dorm buildings, buy food from the cafeteria or any of the restaurants, stores, and cafés on campus, check out books, and just about anything you might want to do. They come with lanyards, in case you wanted to use them, but most students just keep them in their wallets or in their phone cases.” She handed them both their IDs and the matching lanyards, little pieces of clear plastic for the cards to go in hanging off of the gray and blue fabric.
“You’re going to want to keep them on hand at all times.” Flore advised, pushing both of her sisters out of her way as she stepped closer to the desk. “Try not to forget them anywhere, or else you’d need to make a call to the office and have them sign you off for your things, which is always a hassle for you and for us.” She sighed, hinting that this particular thing happened more often than they would like. “If your mother doesn’t add more money into your cards, you won’t be able to purchase anything once you run out. You can always upload money onto the card from wherever you’re at, though, so it isn’t all that terrible.”
“Alright!” Louis interjected, feeling restless from being left out for so long. “They get it. If anything I can explain it later.” He promised, taking both of his cousins’ hands before making a quick exit, wanting a chance to show his cousins around the school grounds.
“Have a great first day!” The three sisters chorused just before the door shut behind the trio that just left the room.
“Oh, look.” Merryweather rolled her eyes, picking Louis’ ID up from where it was left, forgotten on their desk.
“Just give it a moment dear.” Fauna trilled, counting to three and throwing the ID at the door the second it opened.
A sheepish Louis gave them his most sugary sweet grin before blowing them all kisses, picking his ID up from the ground in front of him and heading out.
Flora sighed, hearing Liam screeching outside their door.
“Wait! Roxas don’t-“
A loud crash echoed down the hallways, cutting Liam off.
“For once, I didn’t do it!” The sisters heard Louis cry.
“Great. We’ve just received a second Louis.” Merryweather remarked, secretly excited for what the coming year would bring them.
“And this is your very own shitty dorm room!” Louis cheered, unlocking the door with his own ID, seeing as his auntie had given him full access to the twins’ dorm room. He breezed into the area, gesturing vaguely towards one empty corner when he heard a breathless Liam as where he should park the “very fucking heavy trolley”. The rooms, in actuality, weren’t all that terrible. The walls were painted a soft, almost white, blue. It was also very well furnished. While they did have the standard twin beds pushed onto opposite walls, they also had two matching, mahogany nightstands, as well as two matching dressers, two large closets, a small bathroom, and a little kitchen area. Rooms in their college are more like hotel suites than actual college dorms. “You’re so lucky you’re rich. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have a TV in your room.” Louis flopped down onto one of the beds after making his statement, effectively messing up the surprisingly soft sheets. He grabbed the remote and switched the TV on, arguing with Roxas over what they should while they let Liam and Sora unpack the boxes. They probably wouldn’t do a good job at it, anyways.
After a good few minutes of arguing, they compromised and set it to ABC Family, deciding that watching Mean Girls was good enough for both of them. Louis acted a few scenes out with Roxas, providing ample entertainment to their self appointed movers.
“Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant, while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet?” Louis demanded dramatically, glaring right into Liam’s big brown eyes. He rounded on a giggling Sora, aiming his vicious monologue at him next, “What’s so great about Caesar, hm?” he demanded wildly, “Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. Since when did it become okay for one person to become the boss of everybody, huh, because that’s not what Rome is about! We should totally just stab Caesar!” Louis screeched angrily, stomping his little foot once as he feigned getting worked up.
He glared right into Sora’s intensely blue eyes, standing over him threateningly. He waited for the scene to pass before laughing loudly, taking a bow as he received praises all around. “Thank you, thank you!” he laughed, flicking his fringe out of his face before his eyes lit up. He spared Liam an excited glance, nearly rising onto his toes as he got swept away by his newest idea.
Liam, having been Louis’ best friend for seven straight years, had learned by now what that look meant. “No.” he stated firmly, beating Louis to the point. “I know what you’re thinking Louis, and the answer is a final, resounding no.”
“So what’s the plan, again?” Liam sighed softly, watching as Louis and the twins bustled about, getting themselves all dressed up whilst Liam had just changed his shirt to a slightly less wrinkled one. The poor twins had become Louis’ victims of the night, although they didn’t seem too opposed to it. Perhaps Louis did this sort of thing regularly, back home. “We, my dear man, are going to make my cousins some friends.” He purred deviously, sounding very much like an animal on the prowl. He dug through his closet, thankful that he still had some clothes from when he was the same height as the twins. “Poor things. You’re practically dwarves.” He teased playfully, pulling a few pairs of jeans and a few shirts out from his closet. “Freshmen in college and still five foot five. Such a shame.” He cackled, tossing the piles of clothes onto his bed, as well as a pile for himself. He ignored Roxas’ icy glare and Sora’s adorable pout as he rummaged through the clothes, tossing aside everything he thought wouldn’t work on them. Eventually, he produced three outfits, one for each of them. “Luckily, good looks and big butts run in the family.” He smirked, handing the boys their individual outfits. “This will either get you lots of friends or lots of sex. Either way, you’ll be ringing your first year in with a bang, if you know what I mean.” He pinched Sora’s pink cheeks fondly. “You’re just so adorably innocent, aren’t you.” He cooed, turning the boys by their shoulders before pushing them off towards the bathrooms. Although they had grown close to Liam over the years, Louis highly doubted they would be completely comfortable with changing in front of the boy. Especially considering the room was practically radiating gay vibes. Well, technically Liam is straight and has a girlfriend, but Louis likes to argue that that is more of a technically than anything else.
Louis had carefully pieced their outfits together, preying on each of their shining physical attributes. Roxas’ lighter hair melded well with white, so he had given the blonde a pair of dark blue skinny jeans that hugged his body almost too tightly as well as a plain white shirt that clung to the younger boy’s chest like a second skin, making him see much more muscular than he really is. Louis had topped it off with a fitted black leather jacket, playing around with Roxas’ “bad boy” attitude. It cut off halfway down the boy’s torso, emphasizing the cute curve that dipped inward just before his narrow hips. He had also lent him a pair of black combat boots, thankful that small feet ran in the family as well.
Sora’s outfit almost mirrored his brother’s, except it was much softer, to compliment his innocent nature. He was dressed in dark blue skinny jeans that were a matching pair to his twin’s, as well as a navy blue blazer that hugged his slight body, a light gray v neck exposing Sora’s protruding collarbones deliciously. The outfit had been finished off with a pair of simple dark blue vans to match the jeans, and it fit very well on Sora.
Louis’ outfit was actually the tamest of the three. He was dressed in black skinny jeans and a red, white, and black quarter sleeve t-shirt with black and white classic vans. He dusted himself off, glancing at his two cousins.
“You two look positively scrumptious.” He complimented proudly. “If you weren’t my cousins…” he trailed off, leaving the room with a chuckle as he left his three blushing companions to stumble after him, trying to figure out if he had been serious or not.
House parties are a Traverse Town University tradition. Every time something good happens, someone hosts a house party to celebrate, whether it be the first day of school, the last day of school, winning a football game, or anything else you could think of. There was a party almost twice a month. Louis doesn’t come to all of them, of course, but he always makes the first and last day of school parties.
Louis had split up with the twins almost ten minutes into the party. The little things were probably being antisocial at the bar, or something, but Louis couldn’t really bring himself to care all that much. He had brought them to this party so that they would branch out and make friends of their own. He didn’t think it would be fair on them if he made all of their friends for them. Besides, he’s positive they’ll have swarms of followers, sooner or later. It takes time for the twins to break out of their shells, but once they do, they can’t be put back in. They had all been pretty popular in high school. Louis and the Strife brothers didn’t go to the same schools, seeing as they lived so far apart, but they did swap stories over the phone pretty often. Louis had been one of the most popular kids in his school, with Cloud being in the same position at his school. Roxas and Sora had followed in their footsteps once their brother graduated, establishing themselves in several different social circles. They had no shortage of friends. Sadly, most of them had chosen other colleges. The only ones coming to Traverse Town University wouldn’t be showing up until late enrollment, which isn’t until a few weeks from now.
After leaving the twins to their own devices, Louis had made his way to the dance floor with Liam, wanting to find a nice guy to dance with. Hopefully a nice guy with a drink Louis could steal. After a few minutes of dancing alone- well, as alone as he could be with Liam swaying awkwardly beside him- he felt a warm body slide up behind him. With a slightly relieved smirk, he waved Liam off, knowing that the boy would much rather wait in the car and call Sophia. Due to kidney problems, Liam couldn’t drink too much, anyways.
He waited for Liam to leave before pressing back into the body behind him languidly. “You’re hot, I just know it.” Louis mumbled, feeling the chest that was pressed to his back rumble softly as the boy behind him laughed. He reached back and took the pair of long arms hanging by the stranger’s sides and dragged him even closer, wrapping those long arms around his torso. He stood like that for a second, marveling in how warm and good it felt to stand in this unknown man’s arms. Louis shook his head once, shaking those thoughts away.
Thankfully, the boy did have a drink. Louis slipped it from the large hands pressed into his tummy and took a long gulp, feeling the alcohol burn its way down his throat. He had always been a bit of a lightweight, so he could feel himself unraveling slightly from the one drink alone. He downed the rest of the drink and tossed it into the dance floor, snickering when he heard a curse and a thump, which meant someone had probably tripped over it.
“I’m Louis.” He introduced softly, moving his hips slowly against the stranger’s, in time with the music pumping through the floorboards and walls of the house.
“Harry.” A low voice whispered against the shell of Louis’ ear, making the smaller boy jump slightly. He had no idea that Harry was that close. “Well, Harry…” he breathed softly, moving his hips against Harry’s a bit more forcefully as he felt Harry grow excited against his lower back. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you shouldn’t talk to strangers?” He teased, biting his lip to hold in a gasp when he felt Harry’s thin lips against the small patch of skin right between his ear and his jaw.
“W-Well damn…” he croaked, feeling his own pants begin to tighten slightly. “You certainly work fast, don’t you?” he chuckled softly, his knees feeling weak as he tried to keep up their dance while Harry kissed along his neck. “God, I feel like such a slut right now.” Louis laughed breathlessly, feeling Harry’s fingertips dig into his hips slightly in response. “Couldn’t help myself.” Harry mumbled against Louis’ skin in lieu of an apology.
“At least buy a guy a drink, first.” He teased playfully, holding back a cry of anguish when he felt Harry draw away. “Wait, I wasn’t serious!” he complained, spinning on his heel and coming face to face with a gorgeous, well, face. He could feel his cheeks heat up as his eyes scanned over Harry’s features and he couldn’t help mentally patting himself on the back because damn had he drawn in a beauty. He pouted softly when he realized that the beauty was laughing at him.
“Don’t.” he grumbled childishly, crossing his arms across his chest only to have them uncrossed and pinned to his sides. “Don’t frown, you’ll get wrinkles.” Harry warned in that sultry voice of his, echoing what Flora had said that morning. Louis allowed himself to get swept up in Harry’s presence for a moment before snapping back into reality, narrowing his eyes up at the taller boy. “Don’t antagonize me.” He warned, receiving a smirk from Harry.
“Or what? You’ll sprinkle pixie dust on me until I fly away?” Harry countered, insulting Louis’ height and masculinity all in one sentence. “Hey!” Louis whined softly, giving Harry a dark look. “If you don’t stop now, I might just not sleep with you tonight.” He huffed, knowing very well how big of a lie that is.
“Please. We both know that we’re fucking tonight.” Harry smirked confidently, sliding his hands- very big hands, mind you- from where they were resting on Louis’ elbows down to wrap them around Louis’ wrists. “But I can get you that drink, if you still want it.” He tempted, tugging Louis away from the dance floor and toward the bar. After taking a quick look-see around the room, Louis had come to the conclusion that his cousins were not there, and he could flirt as much as he wanted without being wary of getting teased by Roxas and Sora tomorrow morning. Taking a seat next to Harry on the plush bar stools and thanking heavens that the owner of the house was obviously rich and could afford a personal bar and bartender, he let himself get lost in alcohol.
“There is no way in hell you, Louis Tomlinson, are five foot nine inches tall.” Harry roared with laughter, finding Louis’ height outlandishly hilarious, for whatever reason.
“I am!” Louis whined drunkenly, his slurred protests just making Harry laugh harder. “You’re mean.” He huffed, crossing his arms and spinning his bar stool so that he was facing away from Harry. He felt the stool get dragged backwards and scrambled to avoid falling before he realized that it was just Harry pulling him closer. “What do you say we get out of here, huh?” he growled lowly into Louis’ skin as he nosed at the boy’s neck, his mood switching faster than a light.
Louis relaxed against Harry’s nose, his irritation seeping from his body easily as he let Harry help him up. He leaned onto the taller boy heavily as they made their way out of the den and out towards the foyer.
They were heading out the front door before Louis came crashing into a body, taking in the long silver hair and intense aqua eyes before mumbling a slurred apology, patting the boy’s chest before stumbling around him and his red haired friend, meeting Harry outside the house. “Where to?” he questioned, slipping under Harry’s arm as the ground tipped under him slightly, his disoriented mind playing tricks on him. “The dorms.” Harry informed, helping Louis into his car. Louis pulled out his phone and shot the twins a quick text telling them not to worry and to have fun and that Liam would be outside when they’re ready to leave. Thankfully, Harry was nowhere near as drunk as Louis and had made the very short drive to the dorm building with practiced ease. The two of them managed to stumble out of the car and up the steps to the dorm entrance before Harry lost it and pinned Louis against the glass of the door, kissing him passionately so that he could get his first taste of what he’d be getting once they made it to the dorm.
“Yours or mine?” Harry breathed, his hands pushing under Louis’ shirt. “Mine.” Louis choked, “My room mate won’t be home.” He promised, knowing Liam would be going to Sophia’s after he drops Sora and Roxas off at their dorm.
Harry hummed, pulling away so that he could fumble with the doorknob, his hands shaking with impatience. He cursed at himself under his breath until he got it open, stumbling inside with Louis. “Let’s get upstairs. I can’t wait to get started.” Louis panted hotly, hearing Harry’s almost desperate, “Yeah, me neither.”