Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Harry woke to the sun softly lighting his bedroom, and he promptly rolled into his husband’s warm body, smiling and burrowing his neck into Louis’ shoulder.

“You're energized,” Louis says, his voice still heavy with sleep.

“Let’s go somewhere today,” Harry murmurs into Louis’ ear, and his husband hums an mm-hmm in response.

“How about that escape room nearby?” Louis asks, turning around so Harry can see his beautiful eyes.

Harry’s eyebrows raise in surprise, “You didn’t strike me as the puzzle type, Mr. Tomlinson,” he teases.

Louis mocks offense. “Well, I happen to like spending time with my husband, Mr. Styles.”

Harry giggles and climbs out of bed, despite Louis’ attempts to pull him back into his arms.

They get ready for the day (after Harry gives in and watches some old episodes of Friends in bed), and when Louis suggests a phone-free day to ignore the inevitable avalanche of posts about their legendary Instagram post, Harry agrees.

They eat a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon, which is a bit odd, since Harry remembers being almost out of eggs, but he’s not complaining.

Louis slips his phone in his bag (“For emergencies!” He insists, swearing he won’t pull it out until Harry gives in.) along with his Polaroid camera his sister gifted to him a few weeks ago, and according to Harry’s watch, they leave the house to drive to the escape room at around 10:30 am.

Harry stares out the window of the passenger seat, watching as the town near their California home slips by. It’s only about a fifteen minute drive to the nearest city, which Harry likes. Peaceful, but not boring.

The escape room Louis had in mind was just there in the town, titled Charlie’s Puzzle Rooms.

Harry strolls into the building, greeting the man at the front desk with a smile.

“Hello there, are you Charlie?” Harry asks, glancing around the room. There’s a board on the wall across from the door listing the rooms and pricing, and there are three doors leading out. Well, four if you include the bathroom.

“Yeah, I am,” Charlie answers slowly.

“We’ll take your finest escape room, sir!” Harry says brightly as Louis settles by his side.

Charlie opens his mouth, looking both amused and a bit puzzled, but Louis interrupts him and points at the board.

“We’ll have the Sherlock Holmes themed one.” Louis says quickly, reaching for his wallet.

Harry frowns. “Why not the wizard themed one?”

Louis answers with a bit of hesitation. “Er… Zayn and I came here and did the wizard while you were in Italy a few months back.”

The story checks out, but Harry did notice Charlie’s raised eyebrows as he and Louis enter the escape room.

The rules are this: solve puzzles to find three of Sherlock’s special keys within 90 minutes to enter the safe in the middle of the room and defeat Moriarty.

Harry gets into character immediately, “Well, Watson, I say we start with the writing on the wall over there.”

Louis scoffs. “Why am I Watson?”

Harry smiles cheekily, not answering.

The 90 minutes passes in a flash, and after Louis figures out the clue with the book titles spelling out BAKER STREET, it’s simple.

Harry insists on taking a picture in front of the sign that says “Congratulations, Detective!” with Louis’ Polaroid camera.

As Harry and Louis leave the building, Harry suggests they go to the park and walk around a bit, and Louis accepts.

They walk in silence, though it doesn't feel awkward in the slightest. That’s the great thing about marrying someone you love. You could do anything together, even nothing.

And nothing is exactly what they do, until they eventually drive back home.

Louis stops at the store on the way back and picks up salmon and a serving of broccoli for roasting. Harry suggests they pick up some things for breakfast but Louis insists on only getting what they need for the night.

“Today was such a cliché day,” Harry comments thoughtfully as they head to check-out.

“What do you mean?” Louis asks, glancing at a row of cakes.

“Well,” Harry responds. “We woke up, had a cliché breakfast, went on a cliché date to the escape room, and then went on an even more cliché date to the park. What’s next, a long walk on the beach?”

Louis laughs. “How about we settle for a cliché dessert?” He says, pointing to some brownie mix, which Harry happily agrees to.

When they arrive home, Harry begins cooking the salmon as Louis queues up a “surprise movie”.

They curl up to watch The Princess Bride (“hadn't thought of this movie in ages” Harry murmurs as Louis nods).

Harry prods Louis and mutters along with the most iconic dialogue, and puts on his best accent while saying “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

“Alright, husband, let’s bake some brownies!” Harry announces, and Louis slyly says “As you wish,” Bake might actually be a strong word, considering the fact that they just mixed the brownie mix and put it in the oven.

There’s about 45 minutes until the brownies are done, and when Harry and Louis are finished occupying that time, to put it politely, they eat a brownie each.

Harry insists they save the rest in the fridge, and Louis doesn’t try hard to argue, though he looks deep in thought.

Eventually, they slip into bed, and Harry reads another chapter of his Sherlock Holmes novel as Louis does the crossword on his phone. When they're done, Harry pulls Louis into a cuddle as he finally drifts off to sleep.

Louis stares at his sleeping husband. If only he could stay here a second longer. But if he lets himself, he’ll fall asleep for sure.

He slides out of bed and heads to the kitchen. It’s almost routine at this point.

He throws away the brownies. He doesn’t even know why suggested making brownies. Just another thing to be thrown away.

Louis walks to the dresser at the side of the room and opens the bottom drawer, pulling out a photo album.

Louis reaches into his day bag and pulls out the Polaroid they’d taken that day. He writes 1/12. Went to the escape room today and walked around the park. Harry loved it.

He puts the album back in the dresser, closes it, and goes back to the room.

Phones next. Louis goes to settings, date and time, and sets the date to what he always sets the date to. September 24. Then he grabs Harry’s book, goes back ten pages to the previous chapter, and sets the bookmark.

As much as he wants to get back into bed, as it’s almost 11, he has a commitment to honor.

Louis calls Zayn, and he picks up on the first ring.

“Happy fucking birthday Zaynie,” Louis says, hoping he doesn’t sound as tired as he feels.

Louis hears Zayn chuckle on the other end of the line.

“Almost didn’t expect to hear from you today,” Zayn responds.

“Yeah, well, me and Harry went to the escape room again,” Louis says, sitting down at the kitchen table, “And I’m sure he’d give a happy birthday too if he could.”

“Thanks for the vinyl case, by the way. Really nice gift.” Louis had picked it out online and had it shipped to him. He wished he could have wrapped it, but Harry would definitely have questions about that.

After Louis listens to Zayn regale him with details of his birthday, it gets quiet again.

When Louis keeps silent, Zayn says “Tell Harry I said hi, okay? And… you know.”

Louis nods to himself and lets out a soft “heh”. He knows.

“Love you, Zayn,” Louis says softly, and Zayn mutters “love you too” before Louis hangs up.

He gets into bed and Harry subconsciously drags Louis back into his arms.

Louis thinks as he falls asleep, if he has to live the same day every day with anybody, it would certainly be Harry.

Chapter Text

The days pass just as they have since the real September 24. During the day, Harry lives in blissful ignorance to the reality of his situation. At night, Louis resets.

Anterograde amnesia. Harry’s memories aren't saved while he sleeps. Every day is September 24 to him. He even can’t remember the car accident that gave him amnesia. It’s probably better that way.

One day, Louis suggests the zoo in the city. It’s one of those fancy California zoos, so even though Louis and Harry were there just last month there will be plenty for Louis to see.

Harry is just as excited about seeing the animals as he was the first time, and when Louis teases him, he simply teases back “It’s important to be childlike sometimes, dear husband.”

As Harry reads out an informational sign on elephants, a small voice pipes up behind them.

“Um, Harry Styles?” Oh, a fan. They run into them once in a while, but less since the accident, when they became so private.

Harry turns around and sees a ten year old girl looking at him shyly as her mother stands behind her.

“That’s me. Would you like a photo, sweetie?” Harry responds. The girl nods happily, and Louis offers to take it for them.

“No, you're his husband, you should be in the photo too!” The girl insists as her mom pulls out her phone.

After they take a photo, Harry starts making small talk with the girl—apparently named Sheila—and her mom.

“Shouldn’t you be in school? It’s 11am on a Wednesday, after all,” Harry says playfully.

Louis feels his blood run cold.

“No it’s not, it’s a Saturday!” Sheila says, laughing as her mom looks confused, raising the phone in her hands to capture Harry’s face.

“I think you’ve got your days mixed up, sweethea—”

Louis' hand tightens around Harry’s arm. “Babe, we should go.”

Harry frowns, but Louis gives him a “please don’t argue” look.

On the drive back from the zoo, Louis catches Harry glancing at Louis briefly. Has he been doing that the whole ride?

The rumbling of the car on the road reminds him of the day of the accident. They’d been driving to the city for a last-minute meeting with their co-songwriters when a stoplight glitched.

Their light was green. So was the light to the left. They were T-boned and taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Louis made it out with just a broken leg, but Harry had brain damage and had to be sent to a brain injury clinic until the doctors understood his condition.

After just a week, it was obvious. Anterograde amnesia. His memory reset every time he slept.

After it was determined there were no other issues, Harry’s doctor, Dr. Thomas, asked Louis if he wanted to take him home or leave him at the clinic. Louis had insisted on taking him home before Dr. Thomas even finished his sentence.

After that, Louis kept him happy every day by just pretending it was September 24.

“Louis, what happened back there?” Harry asks hesitantly, pulling Louis out of his flashback.

“I don’t know,” Louis lies, and Harry lets out a sigh.

“That woman had a phone, she was filming us, we had to leave.” Louis continues, and then cringes, realizing that came off as super controlling.

Harry doesn’t answer, just gazes out the window for the rest of the drive.

Harry doesn’t talk to him a lot when they get home. The hours pass in a blur. Louis can’t help but think that he’s glad Harry’s going to forget about this tomorrow. Then his stomach hurts.

When they climb into bed, Louis gives his best apology, despite knowing that Harry won’t care about any of this tomorrow.

Harry meets Louis’ gaze.

“I love you, Louis.” Harry says, and Louis holds him as he falls asleep.

Just when Louis is almost finished resetting the house, he gets a text from Lottie.

You ought to see this.

There’s a link to a TikTok, and when Louis clicks on it, he recognizes the zoo he and Harry were at.

It’s Sheila’s mom’s video. And it’s got 670K likes.

She even filmed when Louis dragged Harry away.

Louis looks through the comments.

Why did Harry think today was Wednesday?

Omg Larry sighting for the first time since they came out!!!! 😍😍😍

The way Louis grabbed his arm was really weird…

Louis flopped onto the couch. This was not good.

His phone buzzed with another text. He expected it to be from Lottie again, but it was from Zayn.

Hey, I’m sending you a demo right now. Tell me your thoughts.

As Louis listens to the demo (not Zayn’s best work, but a solid beat and good lyrics), he thinks about his own music.

He’d love to continue making music, but Harry is his first priority, always. Niall had said if Louis wrote any good songs he wanted Niall to sing, he’d be happy to, but Louis doesn’t know if he wants that.

Music problems can wait. Harry needs him.

Louis eventually slides into bed next to his sleeping husband and thinks maybe it’d be best if he lost his memories of today too.

The video goes even more viral. Every time Louis thinks he and Harry have gotten less famous, he is proved wrong. People are freaking out, calling Louis crazy, calling Harry crazy, saying they’ve been deprived of Larry content since mid-September (big surprise, Louis can’t help but think resentfully).

Louis finds all this out while making (and burning) lunch for him and Harry. Today Louis had said he was tired from the meetings last week (a believable excuse, since they had meetings on September 20 and 22) and Harry had agreed to take it easy.

For the first time, Louis thinks that he is actually quite lucky the accident happened on such a convenient day.

When Louis looks up from an article recounting the sighting at the zoo, he notices his tortilla is on fire.

Harry rushes in to put it out, and plucks Louis’ phone out of his hand.

“I thought we agreed it was a no phone day!” Harry lectures after the fire is safely smothered.

“I’m sorry, babe,” Louis says, looking at his husband.

Harry just lets out a tsk tsk and puts Louis’ phone in a drawer.

When the day is done, Louis lying awake and stroking Harry’s hair, and thinking about what he’s going to do.

Worst case scenario, people think they’re weird.

Or the doctors decide Harry can’t function in real life enough and they take him back to the clinic because they saw the video.

Louis eventually falls asleep, and has nightmares of losing Harry all night long.

Chapter Text

As Harry wakes up, he instinctively reaches out his hand to wrap himself around his husband, but finds his bed empty.

He stretches out of bed and wanders into the kitchen, finding his husband scrolling on his phone at the table.

“Hey, babe, doomscrolling so early?” Harry says it playfully, but Louis startles.

“Oh. Hey, babe. Morning.” Louis says, getting up to give Harry a kiss and putting down his phone.

“What’re the people saying about Larry Stylinson?” Harry asks, sliding into the chair across from Louis.

Louis looks at his phone and pushes it into a drawer.

“Not anything that needs to be dealt with today,” Louis says, looking at Harry with a forced smile.

Harry’s expression falters but he grabs Louis’ hand.

“Hey, how about we go do something today? Something… easy.” Harry says softly, stroking Louis’ hand.

“Yeah, let’s go out to the town,” Louis says, looking happier. “We can look at the cute shops!”

“And buy some trinkets for around the house!” Harry is grinning now.

They get ready for the day—Louis puts the keys in the ignition and Harry slides into the passenger seat, putting down his bag.

Louis drives them into town, and Harry stares at him the entire ride. He’d love to say it’s because of how gorgeous he looks (he does) but Harry is worried. Louis is acting weird.

His hands are gripping the steering wheel and he keeps looking at Harry, smiling, but there’s something on the edge of his smile he can’t put his finger on.

They pull into a parking space and pay the meter, then walk down to the stores. The first one Harry drags Louis into is an antique shop run by a woman who was probably there when the antiques were shiny.

The main thing that catches Harry’s eye is a compass from World War Two.

“Look, I could put your picture here and whenever you're away I could gaze at it and pretend that you’re my gay lover away at war!” Harry says, and puts on his best longing face, which has Louis laughing so hard he almost knocks over an antique flower vase.

Harry ends up buying the compass, and he catches Louis looking at him as he makes small talk with the owner.

After a short while in a clothing store with ADORABLE Frog and Toad T-Shirts, they head to lunch at a café.

“See, this is why I picked this town,” Harry says, gesturing around the patio they're sitting on. “The cute shops, the cute cafés…” Harry continues as he peruses the menu.

“The cute singers that move here with their husbands?” Louis jokes, smirking, and Harry blushes as the waitress walks up.

“What can I get for you guys today?” The waitress asks, smiling.

“Can I have an egg and cheese bagel please?” Louis asks politely, handing back his menu like the angel he is.

Harry orders a nice breakfast burrito, and he and Louis discuss whether or not having two five hour energy drinks would give you ten hours of energy, five hours of super energy, or just a heart attack.

Eventually the waitress comes with their food, and places their lunch in front of them.

“Enjoy your food,” she says, smiling. “And happy birthday, Mr. Styles!”

Happy birthday?

Before Harry can correct her, she’s rushing away to the building.

“How weird she thought it was my birthday!” Harry comments, looking at Louis.

But Louis is staring at his bagel, trying to avoid Harry’s eyes as he says “Yeah.”

They finish lunch and Harry heads into a bookstore, Louis trailing behind.

Harry knows he can't buy every pretty looking book he lays eyes on, but he appreciates a good bookstore, and this is an adorable shop, with little plants on windowsills and the shelves with clear tree-like wood patterns. It’s cozy.

“It would be so nice to grab a cup of tea and curl up with a book here,” Louis murmurs, picking one up and running his finger down the spine.

They do spend a while there, admiring the books and they have a little tea corner with a sign that says DO NOT DRINK TEA WHILE READING THE BOOKS UNLESS THEY ARE PURCHASED. Talk about a plan ruiner. But Harry makes them some chai and they sit on the cute sofas.

They leave around 2 PM and pass by a grocery store as they walk. They don’t enter, but a box of croissants catches Harry’s eye in the window.

Best by: Feb 11.

That’s impossible. Croissants don’t last that long.

But Louis is glancing back at him, so Harry rushes forward to catch up.

They end up stopping to watch a middle school football game. They cheer for both of the teams, because why not?

Right before the game ends, Louis has an idea and runs into the grocery store to buy sliced watermelon for the teams.

As Harry sits and watches a dad argue with the ref, a blonde high schooler leans over.

“Are you Harry Styles?” She asks, her eyes glittering with excitement.

“Someone’s got to be!” Harry says, his go-to response when someone asks if he’s him.

“And that must be your husband, Louis Tomlinson,” she says, her voice speeding up out of excitement.

Harry doesn’t answer, but he beams, and it’s clearly infectious.

The girl stares at where Louis walked into the store. “He’s like if a ray of sunshine wished to be human,” she says, and Harry laughs.

“What’s your name?” He asks, and she tells him—Abby—as they continue to make small talk.

Suddenly, a dark-haired girl from Abby’s other side also leans over to talk to her.

“I don’t know how I feel about his husband. Remember that video? The one that went viral?” She whispers, but Harry can hear it.

“What video?” Harry asks, his eyes darting between them. Abby’s friend pulls her phone out and shows him a TikTok video.

“This never happened,” Harry says under his breath, but it’s clearly them, and it’s clearly real.

He doesn’t realize his hands are shaking until Louis sits back down next to him and whispers “Are you okay?”

Harry pushes Abby’s phone back into her hands and tries to rationalize the situation. But they haven’t even been in the town long enough to go to the zoo.

“The game ended! Let’s go give the coaches the watermelon!” Louis says abruptly, getting up.

The coaches are grateful for the snack, or more specifically, that it keeps the sweaty, grumpy kids occupied.

As Harry and Louis walk away, Louis grabs Harry’s hand.

“You okay?” He asks, and Harry doesn’t know what to say.

What could he say? I feel like I’m on the Truman Show? I think we somehow traveled to an alternate universe? No way, Louis would think he’s crazy.

“I’m fine,” he says, and Louis squeezes his hand in response.

As they near their car, Harry hears someone approach them.

“Are you guys Larry Stylinson?” It’s a teenage boy, and he’s excitedly fidgeting with his phone.

“Oh my God, Larry Stylinson?” Louis says loudly, doing an exaggerated whip of his head to look behind them as Harry laughs.

“Would you like a photo?” Harry asks, still giggling.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” the boy responds, handing his phone to his dad nearby, who snaps a photo (Louis does put bunny ears on the kid, but hey, now that kid can say Louis Tomlinson gave him bunny ears in a photo).

“Alright, Georges, say bye, your recital starts in half an hour.” The dad says gruffly.

“Bye, happy birthday, Harry!” Georges says, and Harry can’t even say anything, he’s too stunned.

That's it. Once is weird. Twice is a coincidence. But factor in the croissants and the video? And the fact that Louis’ been acting weird all day? That’s a fucking pattern.

Harry walks to the car in front of them. It has a ticket. He can vaguely hear Louis saying his name but when he sees that ticket, he goes deaf for a moment.

Parking Violation

Unpaid Meter

02/01/2026

February 1st. His birthday.

He slams the ticket back onto the car. He doesn’t even notice his hands shaking until Louis holds them.

“Let’s talk in the car, okay?” He says softly.

Amnesia. Like, soap opera level amnesia. They're driving now. Louis had offered to drive him to the brain clinic in the city to talk to his doctor.

Harry’s done the math. More than four months Louis has spent lying to Harry. He’s not mad, but he’s confused. Louis had to know he couldn’t keep this up forever. He has to move on with his life eventually.

Harry can still barely comprehend the fact that he can’t remember months of things that have happened to him.

Louis leads him to Dr. Thomas’ office, and she seems surprised to see him, but agrees to give him another brain scan so they can check if there's been any changes.

“I don’t see any improvement,” Dr. Thomas says ruefully. “Your temporal lobe was severely damaged in the accident, and this scar tissue here is preventing your short-term memories from becoming long-term memories while you sleep.”

Harry nods. Louis had explained his condition already, but it was so different hearing a doctor say it.

“In conclusion, your condition is stable, but likely permanent. I’m sorry.” Dr. Thomas continues, frowning.

She probably has to deliver news like this all the time. Harry will have to hear this news so many times.

When Dr. Thomas leaves, Harry grabs Louis’ hand.

“Let’s go home,” he whispers.

Harry is sitting across from Louis on their bed, and both of them are silent.

He’s made a decision. It’s going to be hard for Louis to hear, but it has to happen.

“You need to take me back to the clinic tomorrow,” Harry says, his voice quivering.

“Okay,” Louis says, his voice uncharacteristically weak. “We can do that. If you… want to know every day, we can figure out—”

“No,” Harry says. “That’s not what I mean. They… didn’t you see? They had people living there. People who needed more help.”

Louis is softly shaking his head, but Harry continues.

“You need to get back to your life, Lou, I’m holding you back and—”

“You are my life, Harry!” Louis says desperately. “I can’t, please—”

“Just…” Harry knows Louis doesn’t like it but it’s the best thing for him.

“Remind me about it in the morning and we’ll talk more,” Harry says softly as Louis sits down on the bed and puts his head in his hands.

“Okay,” Louis says, his voice muffled by his hands.

“Can you promise you’re going to tell me?” Harry asks, his voice shaking.

“I promise,” Louis says, so softly Harry can barely hear him.

Harry wraps his arms around Louis and pulls them both onto the bed. Louis pulls the blanket over them and Harry pushes his face into Louis’ pajama shirt, praying for sleep to take him so he can lose his memories of the day. It’s been such an exhausting day, Harry’s surprised he’s not passed out already.

Eventually, he falls asleep, thinking of nothing but Louis’ arm wrapping around him.