Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/1403446. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: F/M, M/M, Multi Fandom: One_Direction_(Band) Relationship: Harry_Styles/Louis_Tomlinson, Harry_and_Louis, Perrie_Edwards/Zayn_Malik, Liam_Payne/Danielle_Peazer Character: Harry_Styles, Louis_Tomlinson, Anne_Cox, Jay_Tomlinson, Daisy_Tomlinson, Phoebe_Tomlinson, Lottie_Tomlinson, The_Tomlinson_Family, Gemma_Styles, Liam_Payne, Zayn_Malik, Danielle_Peazer, Perrie_Edwards, Eleanor_Calder Additional Tags: larry_stylinson_-_Freeform Stats: Published: 2014-04-02 Chapters: 1/? Words: 2512 ****** The One That Almost Got Away ****** by akepley8 Summary It has been three years since the One Direction boys placed third in the X-Factor, and broke up shortly after. The real break up though was between devastated Harry Styles, and his thought to be caring boyfriend Louis Tomlinson. Harry has never felt more hurt in his life, but after countless therapy visits and a new found admission slip to Liberty university, Harry is ready to start over. Starting over might be quite difficult though, when he is placed in a dorm room with the one and only boy who caused trouble in the first place. Harry stared out the glossy window of his mother’s car as they rolled up the gravel driveway. Tall concrete buildings stood like statues around him, that would soon contain hundreds of students ready to learn. Harry wondered if one of them would be where he sat tomorrow, maybe making new fr--- *Smack*   Harry peeled his face from the dash and groaned “Mum, what'd you do that for?”   Anne chuckled, “Sorry darling, i couldn’t see where the curb ended so.. well… i guess we found out didn’t we!” she tried to cover up the redness growing in her face by spinning around and jerking the door open. Harry had the mirror down, inspecting the red mark on his face that would probably end up a bruise by the morning.   “Come on now Harold Styles” She shouted “You think your old Mum is going to carry all your bags in do ya?”   Regrettably, Harry clambered out of the car, gangly legs flying everywhere. Though at least he had grown out of his baby fat and sporadic Curls. Come to think about it, what hadn’t harry grown out of… The X-Factor days sure didn’t leave him well enough off. “Ugh, the X-Factor days…” Harry grumbled as he reached the back hatch to help his mum with the bags.   It had been so long since Harry had thought of the terror that became of the Band after the X-Factor. He had tried to push those memories out of his head the best he could, they were some of the most awful he had ever endured in his life. Not only had he lost 4 of the best friends in the world, but he had lost his first love.   “HARRY!” Anne shouted as she gripped his shoulders tightly. Harry gasp “What Mum, what? What do you want?” She let her arms fall limp and stared him in the eyes “ Hon, you were spacing out… is everything alright? Are you sure you want to do this? We can turn around right now i swe-”   Harry put his hand against her mouth to silence her ramble “I’m fine mum, just got a lot on my mind is all. I’ll be alright. Lets just get these bags inside ok?”   She nodded, and locked the car as they headed in the one direction they were meant to go in.   -------   The big banner that spread across the heavy wooden doors read “ Liberty University Dormitory Check in”.   Inside was more magnificent than Harry could have ever dreamt of… pssh, not that Harry ever dreamt of this day or anything. That would be nonsense, something a girl would do, and Harry was certainly not girly.   The beautiful Cherry wood floors they walked upon were as slick as glass, and they seemed to spread out for hundreds of meters. Two large staircases bordered the Left and right walls, which jointly lead up to a magnificent library and lounge area loft. Behind the big marble check in desk that stood in front of Harry and Anne, sat tons of students lounging about. Some read, some chatted, and many texted away on their smart phones… but what else could be expected really? The whole place just gave off a warm vibe, with walls painted a warm tan that was comforting.   “Harry Styles” Anne spoke to the expressionless old lady at the receptionist desk. She nodded harshly and shuffled through her papers, her nimble old fingers working as hard as they could… which was not exactly hard enough.   “Aha!” the old lady proclaimed “Mr. Harry Styles, first year i see. Looking to major in business and Finance.” Harry nodded and reached out his hand to collect the envelope she slid out to him. “Now Mr.Styles, in here you will find your I.D. card, room key, and Dormitory rule manual. First years are typically on Level one, considering we ascend floors with the grade level one is in. Your I.D card has your I.D. number, floor number, and room number on it so you can find your way. got it? any questions?”   Harry and Anne remained speechless and simply nodded, as she was quite possibly the grumpiest old Lady Harry had ever met.   Harry sure wasn’t going to stay any longer and listen to the grumpy old lady ramble, so he moved right along in hopes his mother would follow. She did of course, so he lead the way to the back stair room and was reaching awkwardly out to open the door when Anne stopped him.   “Don’t you think you should take a look at your level number first dummy?” she teased.   Harry on the other hand, wasn’t particularly in the mood for jokes and snatched his I.D card out of the envelope. Harry Styles I.D #: 24122202 Room #: 2202 Level: 3   …. level three? But… Harry was only a first year, why would he be on the third floor? “Mum, I think there’s been a mistake… it says i’m on Level three, but ‘m only a first year.” Anne pried the card out of his hands to have a look herself “hmm…” she mumbled “Maybe it was just a mistake, go run it back to Mrs. Grumpy arse and ask her.”   Harry retrieved the card once again and took the trek back to the front desk. When he arrived, the lady’s expression still had not changed a bit. Surprising though really?   “Uhm, excuse me” Harry began as she looked up at him “i think there has been a mistake, it says here i’m on level three, when i’m only a first year. Why is that?” He finished and handed her the card. She immediately went back to rustling through her many files until her fingers stopped abruptly and she peered into her basket.   “Ah yes, Mr. Styles. You ended up being a room replacement for last years dropout. We saw your records and figured you would do fine being with upperclassmen, and considering your last names are so close together… well we just went ahead and put you two together” she explained.   wait… names? Harry thought to himself.   “Erm, well i guess that’s fine… but what do you mean our names are close together?” Harry questioned, maybe he knew his roommate? That would of course be helpful, on top of him being an upper classmen and all. Psh...Not that Harry needed and Upper classmen to get around or anything.   She didn’t reply, but instead let out a large sigh and went back to her files. What a grump, take your panties out of your arse. Harry thought.   “Tomlinson.” She spat, looking up at him.   “TOMLINSON?” Harry repeated. He felt his heart sink to his toes, this couldn’t be true. Absolutely, positively could not be true.   “I don’t think I stuttered Mr. Styles, now please step out of the way as there has formed a line because of your prolonged attendance.”   With his mind stuck on the thought of the horror that could possibly await him in his room, harry simply stumbled out of the way. His thoughts were all over the place, and he had absolutely no idea what to think. Maybe this isn’t even Louis, maybe this is just some other Tomlinson. Harry tried to comfort himself out of this situation, it was one of his many charming qualities.   “There are hundreds of Tomlinsons in the UK, what are the odds that i’m roomed with the exact one that i despise?” He whispered to himself. This was his first day at Uni, and he couldn’t let the prospects of something that was a slim to none chance get him down.   This is just another Tomlinson.   Harry decided to leave out the information to his mother that his whole semester was quite possibly already in ruins, and instead just explain the flooring situation.   “So you’re gonna be with the big guys huh? Haha mah boy already growin’ up” She giggled and pinched his cheeks. “Muuuuuuum” Harry groaned and jerked away, but he was going to miss her. He had always been a momma’s boy, whether or not he would ever admit it.   ---------   They ascended up the back hall spiral staircases, as they had decided against the elevator. The line had stretched a few meters long, and Harry had slim to no patients left to put into the elevator wait. Luckily the staircase was completely empty aside from them, lazy bastards.   The staircase very much so resembled that of the ones in Harry Potter, which made things even better because….. Harry Potter.   Harry Styles.                      Get it?                             Harry.   Aside from punny staircase irony, the dorm floor was really the sight to see. It genuinely looked as if it were straight from a castle, but more or less a more…. modern castle.   The floor was glossy finished Cherry, and the polished white ceiling stood at least 6 Meters high. The wooden room doors lined the hall on each side, but with enough space in between each one to show that the rooms were quite spacious. Probably huge, could have a bad ass party in these. Harry thought to himself. “Are you even lookin’ for your room Harry? 2202.” Anne spoke as she scanned the Hallway for his room. Harry spotted it on the very end of the Hallway to the right though, and pointed.   “There mum. Your eyes are failin’ you already i see. Hah, old woman.” He joked and nudged her shoulder playfully.   “Watchhhh yourself Harold, I’m sure i could still take you in a fight any day!” She stopped and lifted her leg to do a kicking motion, along with a “hi-ya!” that attracted way to many eyes than it should have.   “Mom. stop. right. now.” He growled at her in between laughs “I came here to get away from your embarrassing habits, not be smothered with them even more!” Although Harry couldn’t help from letting out one of his wild laughs.   He seemed to have forgotten all about his could be disaster of a roommate until he reached his door, and saw the two golden name plates.   One etched with “Tomlinson”, and the other left blank, waiting for Harry’s name to soon occupy it’s spot.   Harry took out his room key and slid it into the lock, but hesitated on opening the door. He instead turned to his mom, in hopes that he could get her to leave before he had to go on. “Well, i guess this is it. Thank you for everything mum, and when i say everything you know i mean it.” She looked up at him with the glimmer of a tear in her eyes “You know how proud I am of you Harry, and no matter what I always will be. Ever since you were a baby i knew you would grow up to do amazing things, and i couldn’t have been more right. You’re not mah baby anymore though, so i want you to go out there and make good choices ok? I Love you Harry”   He wrapped his gangly arms around her in a hug and whispered “Hey none of this sappy nonsense ok? I promise to call often, and I love you so much.”   She pulled away with a smile and handed over his bags “Call me as soon as you get settled ok? Bye Love.” With that she turned around and headed back down the hallway. She didn’t turn around though, and Harry didn’t blame her, because if she did it would just be a tearfest.   Harry was the one really afraid to turn around though, because in less than minutes all hell could break loose at Liberty University.   There was no other current option of escape though (he would have to figure that out later), so he slowly turned the lock and pushed the door open.   Harry was sure the whole school could hear his heart hit the floor.   Louis.   He looked different though, much much different. He had grown slightly taller, and emphasis on the slightly. His hair had a nice wave to it and was in a shorter, more messy fringe than his prior straight locks. Tattoos inched up his right arm of little mindless doodles, which with a personality like Louis’ was to be expected. His wardrobe also caught Harry off guard as well, as he wore above the knee denim shorts that were quite tight. And to accompany that, he wore a white v- neck Tee with the print design “Queen’s Surf” on it. Hmmmm.   Without hesitation though, Louis walked straight up to Harry and stuck out his petite but masculine hand.   “Hey there mate, i’m Louis! I’m guessing you’re my new roomie correct?”   Wait…. What?   Was he playing some type of joke? Because Harry wasn’t in the mood for playing at all.   Harry didn’t bother taking his hand, but instead walked straight past him and laid his bags near the empty bed. “I know your name” Harry growled, probably a tad bit more maliciously that he should have. Louis dropped his hand to his side and turned to face him “Oh! Did Mrs.Dew already tell you? What a grump she is i swear, this morning sh--”   Harry cut him off “Louis what are you doing right now? You know who i am, why are you playing ignorant?’   Louis’ deep blue eyes looked taken aback, and he fumbled for words “uhm… I’m sorry I’m afraid i don’t know your name yet lad. Ya see we only just met and you never introduced yourself soo….”   Is he being serious right now? Harry thought, does he really not recognize me?   Harry surely didn’t look all that different. Of course he had grown a good few inches since he had seen Louis last, as well as gained quite a bit of muscle. He had begun to wear his hair in a messy quiff rather than in his curly fringe, and had taken on a few tattoos…..   Maybe he really didn’t recognize harry?   Harry decided to take a different approach and softened his glare “Harry. My name is Harry Styles.”   Louis eyes grew as wide as the golf balls Harry played with on weekends, and he let out a small gasp “Harry Styles? The Harry Styles from… from…. Harry is it really you? It can’t be, there is no way. Stop playing games with me, you’ve only just arrived so please tell me your real name and we can start off on the right foot.”   Harry just simply turned around and began opening the clothes drawers provided at the foot of his bed, to unpack his things. “Louis, I’m not going to argue with you about who I am and who I’m not. This is the Harry Styles, the one you mentally crushed on the last day of the x-factor and never spoke to again all those years ago. Ring a bell?” He could feel his face heating up as he spun around to seek Louis’ response, but instead all he saw was Louis’ white Vans trailing away and the door slamming. Like that, Louis faked out of the situation. Once again. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!