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Chapter Text

Balloon boy

Prologue

So far he was having a shitty day.

It all started with waking up late with a grey furball (his cat to be exact. Dusty can be a pain in the ass sometimes. But he adores him anyway) over his mouth. He was sure he still had some cat fur stuck inside his throat and lungs…Curse him and his bad habit of sleeping with his open mouth…

Harry sighed as he kept walking along the sidewalk, just dying to get home. School was shit as usual. He managed to fall face first on the stairs twice while hurrying to his classes, thus becoming a laughing matter for the passerby’s and his best mate, Niall’s. The Irish lad had toppled over laughing like a madman instead of helping the tall lanky lad who was lying on the ground with a pout on his face.

He even managed to pour coffee over Eleanor’s new  dress at lunch and guess what the color of the dress was??

White.

So that’s why 17 year old Harry Styles hates his life.

He even embarrassed himself in cooking class! That class was his favorite! Who does that??!?!
At least he was almost home and the day just couldn’t get any more worse than it already is.

And as if just to prove him wrong, the sky of Holmes Chapel decided to leak.

GREAT….even the rain god’s hate me…Just great!

Shivering from the cold drops of water the lad wraps his coat around him tightly. As if it could save him from getting any wetter than he already is!

He had never been so happy to see his house, shinning with a warm glow with his bed and laptop inside it….And food.

Like a light in the end of the tunnel.

So Harry hurried. He walked as fast he could manage without slipping and got to the fences.

Just a little bit more. He thought.


He opened up the gate and just as he was passing the weird lemon tree (who plants a lemon tree on their front yard?? The Styles, that’s who) he stops in his tracks.

There is a blue balloon stuck on their tree.

Okay, normally he would’ve pass it by without as much of glancing at it but he was having a shitty day and well….just don’t judge him!

First of, it was a wonder that the balloon itself still hadn’t popped. It was on a lemon tree for goodness sake, with thorns and sharp leaves and stuff surrounding it. Tough little thing  it was. Standing all proud in the middle of the small branch. Harry couldn’t help but admire it.

So Harry decides to do the good did of the day and set the balloon free.

So he stands on his tiptoes and pulls the string out of the tree carefully.

Only then does he see the paper that was carefully tied with it.

A paper tied to a balloon.

Not the worst thing harry had discovered throughout the day. And who knows, maybe it could be the best thing that he could ever find.

Chapter Text

chapter one.

z

"you are crazy."

Zayn said giving Louis a bored look. By now he was used to this. The way the other lad would just come up with these crazy ideas that which had always turned out to be the ultimate reason for headaches for the raven haired lad. But did this ever stopped the tommo?? It certainly didn't cause he was the 'Disasta'-Masta' of Doncasta'! The devil! Tommo the evil witch...he had to live up to his reputation!

As if just to prove his point the shorter lad smiled brightly up at Zayn giving him shivers.

Zayn knows a losing battle when he sees one.

This was almost like a routine for them. Louis gets an idea( a very useless one that doesn't do any good, really ), he runs to Zayn for assistance, Zayn tries to get some sense into the lads brain but fails miserably and ends up assisting the lad anyway cause in the end of the day, Zayn is a good friend. A very very good friend. A best friend. Yea, he'd like to think that.

But as usual, he tries again to stop it.

"what if the person who ends up finding it is a serial killer?? Or an ax murder?? What will you do then??"

"Go Zi! You are thinking wayyyy too much! Even if it turns out to be, lets just say a serial killer, what was he gonna do about it?? He wouldn't even know me...!"

Louis huffs out.

"want if they find out...and track you down by your handwriting??? They sneak up on you and BAM! My one best friend will be no more...i cant have that you know! I need your brains so I can graduate this year!"

Zayn scowls.

" relax bro! This isn't a thriller movie. Its gonne be just for fun..i just wanna see if anyone even finds it or not...thats all....so will you help me??"

And this is the point where Louis takes out his award winning pout out of his bag. Legend says that no has ever been able to resist it and Zayn was just a normal 18 year old. So he was no exception. But no. He was gonna hold his ground this time. He is strong..

"I'll get you a picture of Liam in footie shorts from the locker room.!"

Louis winked and grinned at him devilishly. The man knew his game.

".......what will you need??"

"A blue balloon..."

And that's how Zayn had lost again.

...

"Now what??"

Zayn asked while leaning on a tree in the Tomlinson's backyard. Because of Louis's pout and intense blackmailing, Zayn had to walk around the town in search of a 'blue-but-not-so-blue-but-kinda-like-my-eyes' gas balloon. Who knew finding a gas balloon could be this hard??!!

That picture better be HD quality or Louis was gonna get it....

Now don't get him wrong. Zayn was not a pervert. He just appreciates Liam's legs....and thighs...and hands...and chest....and hair...god so soft...so smoot--

Okay maybe he just appreciates Liam altogether. I mean that's nothing wrong. Everyone does it...liam was just sculped by god himself. He had a kind heart and a generous smile and those puppy dog eyes...he was just perfect...and hot...and se--okay he needs to stop thinking!

So he just likes Liam. Only just a bit though. Its just that Liam has a pretty face and that kind heart to go with it and he is hot so...he makes a perfect model for Zayn's sketches...not that Liam knows of it...and he never will so..

He just needs Liam's picture so he could continue his portraits. Yea, that's it. Nothing more.

Al least that's what he is telling himself.

Zayn is brought back to life by Louis's loud voice booming with excitement.

"now all we gotta do is just tie this more up to the balloon and done!"

Louis I beaming. He is a five year old.

At least this was better than last time.

Zayn thinks as he remembers the event a week ago when Louis thought it will be funny to search Daron's house for weeds which they did find in the end...it was very adventures. Minus the part of them getting caught.

So Zayn just sighed and nodded.

Louis had been really secretive of the note. He refused to show what he had written on the paper saying 'its a surprise! Why if this balloon ends up in front of tour house Zi?? it wouldn't be a surprise anymore...'

So Zayn handed Louis the balloon and watched as the boy tie the note tightly...Zayn just hopes that its not an serial killer who ends up finding it...

"done!"

Louis grinned as he held up the balloon with his hand

"now??

"now, my Zendaya" Louis said while pulling his hand over Zayn's shoulder. "we, let it go..."

He said ahike lifting his hand out and slowly lets the blue balloon slip out from his tiny fingers...

And there it goes...to who knows where..

"isn't this exciting Zayn??"

Louis said with a dreamy smile on his face.

"Bro, I am just here for the picture."

"tosser......!"

L

to say he was rather excited would be an understatement.

Louis was literally bouncing on his feet since that idea had crawled into his mind. He wanted to get on with it as soon as possible.

See, Louis was different. He was never like the other kids of his age. There was always this glow, this aura that made him stand out from others, that made him different, in a good way of course. Let it be because of his cheeky way of talking, his sarcastic comebacks, his sunshine smile or just himself really, Louis was always the special one. Like the kind of person you meet at a party or at a coffee shop with friends and all though you don’t talk much, they still manage to make an impression on you. Someone who is just hard to forget.

So because of this, Louis had had his fair share of fame throughout primary and is still has managed to hold on to it in high school. But unlike the other cockblocking popular teens he was not a..well a cockblock. He was just him really. He didn’t give a damn what others thought of him and didn’t bother with what they had to say. He listened to his heart and all though it supplied him with weird ideas at weird times, it was right most of the time.

So no one was surprised when Louis had joined the footie team and took up drama alongside with it. No one questioned when he became the captain of the team and also took English Literature as a main subject. And no one minded when he was crowned the homecoming queen on winter formal and also came out as gay.

It was fair to say he was lucky.

So louis Tomlinson was rather happy to be who he was. He had average grades, a good school, good friends, a happy family and a friendly neighborhood and lived happily in a small town called Doncaster.

But the only problems were his ideas.

See, everyone adored Louis, but whenever he started to think….well things never ended well after it.
But this time it was different. If you ask anyone, this would be the most non-dangerous thing that came out of Louis Tomlinson’s mind and Louis himself would agree with it.
He doesn’t even know why this had come up to his mind. All he remembers was watching a sappy romantic movie with his sisters and BAM! Now he was tying a note to a balloon. Maybe it was the movie….

But Louis liked the thought of it. A stranger finding this balloon on their back or front yard or in a forest or in a beach…or even in a parking lot. And then they’ll see this note tied to it and will think who even does that..?? Maybe they’ll be having a bad day and maybe, just maybe Louis’s note could just brighten them up, make them smile…Yea, it was a sappy idea but who can blame him? Louis Tomlinson was a sap.

So now he could barely contain his excitement as he looked out of the window of their kitchen with a bored looking Zayn sitting on the counter.

“Dude stop staring out of the window like Father Christmas will arrive. It has only been five minutes…”

Zayn said while munching on his sandwich.

Okay, he was right. It has only been five minutes since Louis let that balloon go so there was no way he was getting anything this soon. I mean what was he expecting?? Another balloon flowing back to him?? That just does not happen…Maybe tomorrow?? God, waiting for things sucked! Louis was never a patient one.

What if his note was too cheeky?? What if the person who found it freaks out?? What if he sounded annoying??....okay Louis was getting worried now…What if they think he was creepy?? That would be mad…

He might have hid the note from Zayn cause honestly, that boy freaks out over everything and he was sure to throw in a sissy fit if he saw that Louis had wrote down his email on it…No, that wouldn’t be good either….But he wanted a respond and the only safe way to get one was via email…..okay maybe they could track down his house through the email but that’s out of point. The point is Louis wrote a note and now he was worried that he sounded creepy… But the only way to find out was to wait….God, Louis just hopes that they like pizzas..!

Chapter Text

 H 

Okay.

So there was a blue balloon floating around his bedroom and right now hr isn't sure what to do with it.. Is it even okay calling the thing 'it'??  Like isn't that offensive or something? Calling a balloon 'it' just because the thing is not a human??

Okay, Harry was thinking way to deep into this. He should stop.

Ohh, did he mention that there was a BLOODY NOTE tied to the balloon?? No, he probably didn't.

He doesn't even know why he brought the thing inside on the first place. And now it's just floating around the room with pride and a judgmental look (can a balloon even have that?!?! Its a goddamn BALLOON for crying out loud! He was going crazy.) on its face as if it's judging Harry.

He isn't liking this.

And he had tried. Tried to move his attention towards something else but his eyes and mind would just find it's way back to stare at the thing for dear life. Like a magnet.

No, it wasn't on the balloon where Harry's eyes were focused on. It was focused on the note. Like, who even ties a note to a balloon?? That's CRAZY!

He had tried to untie the thing from it but it was so drenched and harry didn't want to rip it up or something. So he left it to dry first. Which lead lead to this- him staring at the balloon as the thing stares back at him (it doesn't even have eyes! He really was going crazy!)

Every five minutes he would just get up from his bed and poke at the  thing to see if it had dried but turns out, drying takes a lot of time. Who knew?

So now his shitty day was turning into a restless one. He never liked waiting. So, he decided to call up the only ray of sunlight in his life.

" What do you want?? I am busy eating and its raining."

"Hello to you too Niall. My back is doing fine, thank you for asking."

He could practically hear Niall rolling his eyes at his response .

"yea yea... What do you want Hazza??"

"well uhh, I have a balloon in my room."

"And??"

"I uhh, I don't know what to do with it??"

Than came out as more of a question. Harry was seriously doubting his speaking skills.

"ohh god. It's just a stupid balloon mate. Just, pop it or something."

"I think its staring at me."

"it wha-- never mind."

"it is!! And and there is a even a note tied to it!!"

Harry whined.

"A not--then just read the damn note!"

"I can't! Its wet..."

"the leave it to dry...seriously Harry, where did you even find the thing??"

"outside, in the rain. So I thought.."

"of course you did. Well, I wanna see this staring balloon of yours. I'll be over after the rain stops. Then maybe we can pop that thing together. Get some food!"

"really?? Thanks mate but you just ate.?"

"so??"

Why did he even bothered asking.

"whatever. Just get here. See you soon."

"same to you too tosser. Don't die until I get there."

"twat!"

"you LOVE me!"

Well, now wasn't that a lovely conversation??

 N 

So far his day was going fine. He got to watch Harry fall at school today, he got to watch Harry pour soda down Eleanor's dress today (boy what a show that was!!), he got to watch harry blow up a blender in the cooking class (the sauce turned out quite well. It would've tasted better if he didn't have to eat it off of Harry's face).

So it was a good day. He enjoyed a good laugh and today was just it!

He did felt sorry for the lad at first but it was just too funny not laugh about. The deer in the headlights Harry is the best Harry.

The curly was like this since the start. Niall met him on elementary and had takes a liking towards him the second he offered Niall a granola bar. Since then they were the dream team. With Harry tripping over almost everything and Niall laughing at him before helping him up. That's how it always worked for them.

So when the curly had called him up in the middle of the rain to tell him the balloon story, Niall wasn't really that surprised. Trust Harry to find a lifeless balloon that stares at him.

So he continued eating and waited for the rain to stop. And when it did he put his snapback on and walked out of his house in his school cloths...he was to lazy to change and Harry had extra cloths if he felt it needed.

How could a balloon even stare at people?!?

*****

" so you saying that this thing is starting at you??"

Niall had blank look on his face as he eyed up the blue float-y thing as if it was a person.

Harry just nodded in return.

"I don't see it. Looks pretty normal to me."

Niall said after a second of pause and plopped himself onto Harry's bed.

Harry just sighed. He knew he was going crazy.

Niall walked closer to the balloon and poked at the soggy note that was tired to it.

"well the note is still soaked so, wanna watch a movie??"

Bless Niall. Hopefully this time Harry will be able to concentrate.

So they got on Netflix and scrolled through the movies before. Deciding om Big Hero Six (they liked animation. Sue them!) and hit play.

And the next two hours passed by in a blur. Harry soon found Niall  jumping out of Harry's bed to take a look at the note. And when he beamed up at the curly lad, he knew that it was finally dry.

Niall slowly untied the note and shoved it into Harry's hand.

 "you read it."

"wha--why me??"

"well obviously. You found the damn thing in the first place..now hurry up!! Wanna see what's inside!"

Harry gulped slowly before looking at the rolled paper in his hand. What if it was a suicide note?!?!?

Why will anyone tie there suicide note to a balloon!?! He needs to stop thinking.

Taking a deep breath the curly finally unrolled the note and took a look at it to find.  .  .  .  .

That it was smudged.

The words of the letter were smudged. Harry felt like crying. Like how unlucky was he?? He fell of the stairs today. Ruined El's dress, blew up the blender at cooking class, got drenched in the rain and now, when he could finally read the damn note, it turned out to be smudged.

He waited all day for this!! Harry Styles was the unluckiest duck of the day.

"its smudged."

He looked at Niall who was jumping on his toes with excitement.

"wha--!?!? NONSENSE!! LEEMEE SEE!!"

The blond snatched the note from the curly's hand and began to inspect it closely.

Harry was really upset. He expected  to read something like fuck you or die or I am commuting suicide or just a plane smiley face but what does he get?? A freaking smudged letter! Cruse the bloody rain!! Curse everything! He hates his li--

His thoughts were soon cut off by the growing smirk on Niall's lips as he eyed the letter in glee.

"Bingo! We have a winner!!"

Wha-what?!

"lemme see!!!"

He squealed as he watched Niall smiled break into a grin.

"well well well. Thank the lucks Haz cause I think we just found our balloon boy."

Niall said as he brought the letter close towards harry. He pointed at the corner of the page where in little smudged letters were written the words that made Harry smile wider than ever.

find me?? [email protected] xxx

Chapter Text

 L 

It has been a week.

It has been a week and he still didn’t get any reply from the founder of his balloon. He isn’t even sure if anyone even found it. Maybe it fall in the drain or something. Yea, maybe that’s the case. Or someone would’ve replied! He had been super polite and super cheese in the note for someone to ignore him.

He should’ve seen this coming honestly. There is a seventy percent chance that his balloon went unnoticed. It’s just a stupid balloon after all. Who has time for that?! Even kids these days don’t like balloons.

Louis feels disappointed.

He had been hoping for something for a week now but nothing came. Of course nothing came. This isn't a bloody movie!  He thought to himself.

So he has decided to just let it go. He is going to forget that he even did anything and move on like any other man who sends notes to strangers tied to a balloon.

Its a full proof plan. Unless, you have a friend like Zayn who has devoted his life to remind you about it every single second.

"Got anything today Lou??"

Zayn sing sang as he walked over to him in the hallway.

"Hello to you too Zayn I am doing fine. Thanks for asking."

Louis scowled at him. He hated Monday mornings and there is always Zayn to make it more worse.

"Now, now don't scowl at me..but seriously, got something??"

He said while wrapping an arm around Louis's shoulder as they walk to their English class together.

"No. I did not. Can you please stop asking about this??"

Louis said while gritting his teeth.

"Was just curious man."

Zayn shrugged.

"ohh piss of Malik. I know exactly where your curiosity lies. We have practice today. You will get your bloody picture by evening."

Louis said as he watched Zayn's ear turn pink.

Maybe today won't be bad after all.

****

His assumption was tragically proven wrong. Cause the rest of the day was quite boring.

Nothing happened, no one got suspended, no fights in the hallway, no heated arguments between the popular couple. Just nothing. Even practice was boring. He only received a tad bit of thrill while sneaking a picture of Liam in the locker room (the things he does for the twat named Zayn Malik. Where is his the best of all best friend award?!?!) and that's about it. At least the photo came out nice, all sweat and topless. Zayn should lick his shoes as a thank you...or buy him pizza. yea, a pizza will do.

He skips towards the school’s parking lot to see his raven hair mate already waiting for him in his car. Louis sometimes pities him honestly. The boy looks like a Greek god but whenever it comes to Liam he turns into a puppy, really. He can't even gain the courage to go up and talk the caramel hair lad, let alone flirt with him. Louis doesn't know what to do with this kid.

"Zayner!"

He says as he hops into the car beside Malik.

"tosser."

Zayn notes as he starts the car.

Louis fumbles through the radio as Zayn drives out of the lot. The live in the same neighborhood so it’s obvious for Zayn to give Louis a ride home every day.

After settling on a radio station that was blasting a song by the attic monkeys Louis looked towards Zayn with a smirk.

"just so you know, I have the topless bird in my pocket."

The car swings to the left as Louis watches Zayn's eyes go wide at his words and he lets out a laugh.

"shut up."

Is all Zayn says while keeping his eyes on the road.

 Z 

Louis is a twat. There is  no other way around it.

You know in movies the teenagers have these types of best friend who supports them and gives these nice encouraging speeches about how wonderful of a person they are and how lucky they are to have them and such? Well, Louis is no where near that. Zayn doesn't know just what he ever did to deserve this bloody tosser of a friend in his life.

If only he had known that the two year old boy he had met on the park all those years ago would turn into such a evil bastard. Zayn would've ran for the hills then. Ran and never look back even once...

But now its bloody too late and he is kinda stuck with him. So he stays quiet and drives his tosser of a friend home like any other eighteen year old would do. Zayn deserves a fucking award.

"just so you know, I have the topless bird in my pocket."

Zayn's eyes go wide at that. Shit.

He doesn't even notice until the car starts to drift off to the left and he curses and takes control again. He can here Louis's laugh from beside him. Tosser.

"Shut up."

He mumbles, his ears getting red.

He ignores Louis's insults as he drives into their neighbourhood. He knows enough to not react to them now. As much as Zayn would just love to throw Louis in the trash can now, he really needs that picture. His hands has been itching to start a new painting and this would be just perfect for it.

And maybe he just wants to see Liam shirtless but no one needs to know that.

"HOMEEE!!!! FINALY!!! you staying till dinner right??"

"yeap."

Zayn said while turning off the engine.

The both got out as Louis got out the keys to open the gate.

"today was such a boring DAYY!!! LIKE GOD!!! I fall asleep at biology today ya know! I swear mrs. Spenser hides a knife in her shoe!"

Louis said walking into the living room and popping himself on the couch.

"what??"

Zayn raised his eye brow as he walked into the kitchen to grab something to drink. When he walked back to the room with two cans of coke, Louis already started walking up to his own room. That boy is so bloody restless. Zayn silently followed him up and sunk down in his bed after entering the room.

“School sucks.”

He said while opening up the can and taking a swig.

“I know man, I know. I even have a test this Thursday on history. I don’t even know where my history book is. I am going to fail.”

Louis whined as he opened up his laptop on his bed.

“Good luck with that mate. If it helps, Mr. harper already hates you.”

Zayn shrugged.

“I KNOW!”

Louis whined again.

“Well, today at chemistry this girl who sits behind me--” he was cut off with Louis’s loud screech from his table

“ZAYNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!”

“WHAT?!?!”

He saw Louis jumping on his chair pointing on the screen with wide happy eyes an no bloody way.

“I GOT A REPLY ZAYN!!!!!!!!! SOMEONE FOUND MY BALLOON!!!!”

Bloody hell.