Chapter Text
Louis first got the idea when he found out the woman he'd married was cheating on him. He was only 18, and she had a good bit of money, enough for a nicer apartment on the east side of town.
So when Louis filed for divorce, he went ahead and sued her for all of her money. It wasn't a huge amount, but Louis was able to get her flat. He sold everything in it and bought himself a new flat.
From there, the plan was made.
The thing is, is that Louis is quite a good actor. And he knows how rich people work. He knows what rich people want and he is smart enough to know how to get courts involved just right to be able to take all of their money.
Louis had grown up poor. His mum had been cheated on and dumped, so she had to try to fend for Louis and his million sisters. She'd saved up all her money to be able to send Louis to college, and he made her proud, earning his degree in Law. He's smart. He double majored in Law and psychology. He knows how people work. So he uses it to his advantage. At 24, he's been married four times and taken the money of all four. He sends most of it to his family, but he keeps a bit, getting himself by. He's good at what he does. And he doesn't have to worry about a job or anything. It's great. He's set.
Then he meets Harry.
"Harry Styles. Inherited his fathers business. They own those restaurants, Polec."
"You mean that chain of restaurants across the globe that are currently making more money than McDonald's?"
"Yep. That's the one. Harry's father died a few months ago. The kid's only 19. He's naive and well...easy to get, really. It'll be a piece of cake."
"What's he look like?"
Louis only has to wait twenty seconds before he gets a picture, and he purses his lips at the weird patterned shirt and the long hair on this boy.
"He's a millionaire and he dresses like a hipster." Louis deadpans, and Niall laughs from the other line.
"Yep. He's quite cute. But you aren't gay so you don't have to worry about that. He'll be the youngest, aye? Youngest you've had so far was 35. David, remember?"
Louis shudders with a cringe. Going through the gay sex to make the rich men trust him sucks, but it's always worth it. And David loved sex. God, it was horrible.
"Alright, cool. Text me where and I'll arrange a meeting."
Thank god for Niall, he's Louis' rich people finder. After they hang up, Louis looks back at the picture, and smirks. He already knows who he's going to be for this boy. He knows exactly what type of boys hipsters like. He stands up and walks to his computer, and starts to invent his next personality.
Harry Styles is attending a party in ten minutes, so obviously Louis has his name on the list. He knows people, of course.
He is behind the bar, holding a tray of little snacks, waiting for Harry to walk in. Louis' got on his suit that makes it obvious he is in a good place, but makes it known he doesn't have much money.
"He's just arrived. Will probably chat with the doorman before he heads up." Niall informs him via text. Louis bites his lip to make it red, and musses up his hair a bit, along with making his tie crooked. He wants to look like he's new to this. Like he doesn't know exactly how to act.
Five minutes later, Harry walks in. He's immediately surrounded by people talking animatedly to him. The boy doesn't look annoyed, just smiles and puts his large hands into his trousers. Awkward, then. Louis wants to laugh at how easy this will be.
Harry starts to walk towards the bar, probably to get a drink, so Louis makes his move. He waits behind the corner until he can hear Harry's deep voice talking to some other rich person, before he rounds the corner and runs right into Louis, causing the snacks to smack right into Louis' suit and his face.
Just as expected, the people start to mutter distastefully, and Louis' boss, who has no idea this was planned, comes up and starts to say to him lowly that Louis is fired. Harry stands in shock for a few moments, before he's holding out his big hands.
"Wait, no, don't fire him, it was my fault!" He says just loud enough that the surrounding people can hear him.
Louis' sharply biting his tongue, making tears come to his eyes, and Harry notices right away, leaning into Louis' bosses ear and whispering something quickly, before he grabs Louis' wrist and leads him away from the judgemental stare of the crowd.
He pulls Louis into the break room, where he helps him out of his suit jacket and tie, leaving him in his white undershirt.
Louis goes to the sink in the far corner and cleans off his face, before he wrings his hands together like he's nervous.
"I'm so sorry," he says, "this is my most paying job and I was so nervous...I-"
"No, hey, it's fine. It was me. I wasn't looking where I was going. I'll replace your suit. And you won't be fired."
Louis looks up at the boy from under his eyelashes, and bites his lip. Harry's eyes drop down to his lips. He's so easy.
"It was a shit suit anyways. Got it from a thrift shop." He says sadly, and Harry frowns, jumping on his feet a bit like he's trying to think harder.
"I love thrift shops. Here, Give me your number. Maybe we could go shop for a new suit sometime." Harry says, smiling until his dimples show, holding out his huge latest phone. Louis smiles his prettiest smile right back, adding on a blush just because. Harry's eyes are wide and dilated.
Louis' got him so quick.
"You know, after all we've been through I still don't know your last name." Harry says, and Louis raises an eyebrow at him over the rack of cheap clothes separating them.
"I've known you for less than two days." Louis says, and Harry chuckles, shrugging a bit.
"Mine's Styles." He says, and Louis stops, raising an eyebrow. He already knew this, but Harry doesn't know that he does.
"Harry Styles?" Louis says disbelievingly, "what're you, a rock star?"
Harry smiles down at where he's rifling through the shirts. He blushes a bit, too.
"Nah. I wanted to be when I was a kid, though." He says, then looks like he wishes he hadn't. So they are on the admitting childhood dreams level, then. Louis can so work with that.
"Well my last name is Peterson. I wanted to be an actor when I was a kid." It's only half true. Louis did want to be an actor when he was a kid. But he obviously can't tell any of the boys his real last names. Word would get out and nobody would trust him.
Harry nods slowly, lips in a cute pout as he focuses on the clothes. He pulls out a horrible shirt. A neon yellow with bright purple hippos smiling from the shirt. It's terrible. It's also a button down and Louis laughs.
"Doesn't suit you?" Harry asks, wiggling his eyebrows, and he's so goofy and fucking weird for a rich kid. For a normal kid, even. Louis finds that he isn't having to fake a laugh or a smile. Harry's goofy enough that he's making Louis laugh. But it makes Louis' job easier, so it's cool.
"Not for me, no." Louis chuckles, and Harry gives him a sly grin, before he rushes to the dressing room, hair bouncing like a hair commercial.
Louis shrugs and continues to look through the clothes, briefly thinking that he and Harry get on quite well. If they'd met on different circumstances, they'd probably be good mates. Louis lets the thought pass on with only a small feeling of disappointment. The money will be worth it in the end.
He's just thinking about how he's going to get Harry to invite him over, when the dressing room door opens and he steps out wearing the horrible shirt.
Louis barks out a laugh, and Harry just grins and strikes a pose.
"It fits you, actually." Louis says, and Harry smiles wider.
He keeps on the shirt and turns to a rack of suits.
"Here are the suits. We've got vintage, 80 year old, pink and white stripes."
Louis rolls his eyes and doesn't pay him any attention. Hipsters like to work for what they want. Even with the small things like conversation.
"This will definitely work for you." Harry says a few minutes later, and Louis sighs and looks, and is met with actually a nice suit, a dark deep blue with the tiniest hint of stripes.
"Without the bow tie, that might actually be nice." Louis says, tilting his head and walking closer. He steps closer than they've been yet, and let's their hands brush when he fingers at the suit lapels.
"Bow ties not your thing?" Harry asks, eyes fixed on Louis' lips. He licks them instinctively, and Harry's pupils grow.
"Yours, probably. Not mine, no. Should i try it on?" He asks, and Harry nods before he's even done asking, hand shifting to rest lightly on Louis' hip.
"Yeah." He breathes, and Louis knows the old lady at the counter is glaring at them, but it's all for the money.
Louis hums lightly and looks up at Harry under his eyelashes. The boy looks like he's about two seconds from kissing him, so Louis takes the suit and is sure to sway his hips when he walks away to the dressing room.
He tries to ignore the faint tingling all down his body where Harry was up against him.
"Thank you for the suit," Louis says, as they walk towards Harry's car, "I think I can walk home, though."
They had met up at a cafe, where they'd grabbed tea before walking to the thrift shop next door. Harry's car isn't black and sleek like all the other rich men. It's vintage and old, a light blue colour'd convertible. Louis couldn't say the name because he's not that into cars, but it's quite nice, and a lovely change from the others.
"No, I'll give you a lift. Consider it part two of my apology for getting you fired."
Louis smiles at him, not letting his confusion show. He was wrong about Harry. The boy isn't like a normal rich boy. He's very human.
"You don't have to keep apologising. I can easily get another job." Louis shrugs, and Harry just pokes out his lip in a pout until Louis rolls his eyes and gets into the passenger seat.
Louis punches his address into Harry's gps, the address to the home he only uses with the boys, because it's a small cottage out of town that gives him privacy when he wants to pretend.
Which is always.
It's silent for a while, just the wind blowing through their hair. It feels pretty nice for London, usually rainy and cold. Louis enjoys it, closing his eyes and relaxing back in the leather seat.
"I feel like I've known you for years. I've never gotten on with someone so quickly. In fact, I've never let anyone in my car so quickly. Shortest before you was two weeks."
Louis smiles. He wants to say he is used to that, because he is used to boys tripping over themselves to please Louis even seconds after knowing him, but he is too smart to say something like that. It would ruin all of his hard work.
"Well I can tell you're a people pleaser. Tried to keep me from getting fired before you'd even known my name." Louis says, and Harry blushes lightly, hands shifting on the steering wheel.
"I suppose I may be a bit of a people pleaser."
"You bought me a new suit to replace the one that could have been brand new with a single wash."
"Well, maybe a little more of a people pleaser."
"You paid forty more than the price of that suit because you knew the thrift shop wasn't getting much money."
Harry huffs with a deeper blush. Louis laughs, and has a weird want to poke Harry's dimple. He throws away the weird want without another thought.
"What about you? Are you a people pleaser?" Harry asks, changing the subject. Louis raises an eyebrow skeptically, and Harry just gives him a innocent look.
"Not that much. But i can definitely please someone when I want to." Louis says, spreading his legs in his seat and kicking one up to rest on the door.
Harry's hands are tight on the wheel. Louis smirks.
They get to the cottage, and Harry stares at it with heart eyes.
"It's so pretty." He murmurs, and Louis hums in agreement, sitting up and glancing at the house, the brick and the vines and the flowers. It's quite lonely inside alone, but Louis doesn't mention that.
"Thank you for the suit, Harry." He says, and leans over to kiss Harry's cheek, and the boy dimples under his lips.
Louis makes to get out, but Harry stops him with a hand on his wrist.
"Wait. Um, can we hang out again sometime? Sorry. You're just fun. And I haven't had fun since...um if you don't want to that's-"
Louis shushes him with a smile.
"Yeah we can hang out. You've still got my number. Give me a text sometime."
Harry sits in his car smiling stupidly even five minutes after Louis' gone inside. He knows this because he's watching the boy from the living room window.
"How's it going?"
Louis smiles down at his phone where he's looking at a picture of a pile of bananas Harry's sent him with a weird joke added onto it. Of course that's the first text the weirdo would send.
"Good. I've got him locked in." Louis answers Niall, who's on the other side of the couch typing quickly on an iPad. He owns half of London, so he's always busy.
'You're so weird.' Louis texts Harry back.
"You think he will be the type to propose after a month?" Niall asks, and they both remember James with a shudder. He was a creep. Took Louis and Niall months to make Louis disappear so James couldn't track him down. He wasn't even angry after Louis took all of his money. He was so obsessed with his arse he couldn't see anything else.
"I don't think so. He seems like a romantic. Will probably want candles or some shit. Probably a old fashioned guy," Louis sighs, "so how'd you know this one was gay?"
Niall laughs, shaking his head.
"I was hired by his dad before he died to delete a few pictures that could have ruined his business when Harry took over. It's not out there, but trust me, he's definitely gay."
Louis laughs, and looks down when he feels his phone buzz with an incoming text.
'Can I come over?'
Louis just typing out no, when,
'If you say no it's too late. I'm five minutes out. I bought movies and chocolate.'
"Shit, you gotta leave!" Louis jumps up, and Niall groans and stands up too, shutting his iPad.
"What're you on about? Is there a fire?" He asks boredly, and Louis shoves him towards the door, throwing his keys at him.
"Harry's five minutes away! He can't see you here or he will know somethings up-"
"I know, I know. Text me how I goes when he leaves." Niall says, giving him a short hug before rushing out of the door. Louis picks up the mess of blankets and pillows on the couch, folding everything right.
He exhales quietly when he's done, and then there's a knock on the door.
Louis makes sure he's not breathing heavily and opens the door, switching easily into this Louis mode.
Harry's wearing a beanie. It's quite cute, with a big fuzzy ball on the top. Louis smiles at him and ignores the fact that he's blushing. Whatever. It adds to the 'cute' factor of this Louis. He holds up two chocolate bars and a stack of movies.
"I thought it'd be fun to just chill out. Life is a big ball of stress and it's nice to just relax for a while. Unless you want to go out, like, to a pub or something-"
Louis rolls his eyes and pulls Harry in by the boy's wrist.
"Stop second guessing yourself. I'd love to relax. Why don't we add some wine to this?"
Harry grins widely and Louis gestures to the couch before he goes into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of wine. He plans to get Harry pleasantly drunk so he can get this moving faster with a kiss or ten.
"Did you have someone over?" Harry asks from the living room, and Louis gets a little nervous, carrying the wine and two glasses back to the living room, where Harry's looking down at Louis and Niall's empty tea mugs.
Well, shit.
"What? A man can't like tea?" Louis asks, pretending to be offended, and Harry's confusion turns to a smile.
"Like? Looks more like obsessed."
"Oi! I didn't have to let you hang out with me!" Louis says, and Harry just grins and presses play.
Harry's drunk. They'd gotten bored at Louis' lame little cottage and had driven over to Harry's large house. Like, large as in he's got like eighty bathrooms. He's got one room just for billiards. But anyways. Harry's drunk.
Louis' hardly the same, but he's nice and relaxed. He can't get too drunk, because then he might accidentally reveal that he is deceiving the boy. Harry won't stop smiling, and he's a cuddly drunk, just as Louis suspected. He's got his head in Louis' lap, purring while Louis scratches at his scalp.
"You're a oversized kitten." Louis observes, and Harry smiles, but it slowly fades, very slowly, until finally he's staring blankly into Louis' eyes, his own glassy and unfocused. He looks almost drugged.
"I miss my dad." He murmurs, and Louis' hand stills in the boy's hair when he starts to cry.
Louis panics a bit, because he's not used to the men showing so much emotion. Harry's got to be the most kindhearted, emotional boy he's met. He just wears his heart on his sleeve.
And Louis' got like eighty siblings, so his big brother instincts are kicking in and he's pulling Harry up to hug him before he even realises what he's doing. Harry doesn't oppose. He presses in close and holds back just as tightly. Louis combs his fingers through the boy's long curls, hushing him quietly.
"I just feel so alone. He was the only one I had after mum died." Harry whimpers, and Louis' stomach does this scary lurch, because he understands the feeling of losing a parent quite well. And he hasn't called his mum in years, even though he sends her money all the time.
"I know, love. I do." He doesn't know where the pet name came from, but he just rolls with it.
In the morning, Louis wakes up to a weight on his arm and his whole left side is half asleep.
He yawns and realises the weight is Harry, mouth open just slightly, eyebrows furrowed in his sleep like his dreams are as troubled as his emotions last night.
Louis exhales slowly and realises with a start that they are both fully clothed.
It's the first time Louis' had one of the men over and didn't fuck on the first night. In fact, the first time one has showed so much emotion.
Louis lies there and thinks about it all, about how Harry is changing the rules and the script every minute they are together. Nothing so far is going as planned other than that the boy slept over.
Harry finally starts to wake up, and since he's laying facing Louis on his large couch, Louis' eyes are the first thing he sees, and then he squeezes them closed and whimpers.
"I'm hungover." He says, voice somehow deeper than normal, pout on his pretty lips.
Louis chooses to ignore that he just thought that.
"You are." Louis murmurs, and Harry starts to sit up with a huff, and scans their current situation.
"Did we have sex?" He asks, and Louis grins and stretches out on the couch, switching back into Harry's Louis without a beat.
"Do you wish we had?" Louis asks, and Harry giggles with a blush, and is about to say something, but suddenly seems to remember last night, and he then looks embarrassed.
"Um. I'm sorry about...crying on you. That doesn't usually happen. I think it's a mix of the alcohol and the fact that you and I have gotten on quicker than anyone I know. Sleepover in under a week of knowing each other. Like wow." He seems to be rambling almost to himself, face getting redder as the seconds go by, and Louis hushes him and runs a hand up his back over his shirt.
"Hey, it's cool. I like that you can trust me." Louis days, and ha. Trust him. How ironic.
Harry smiles and stands up, rubbing cutely at his eyes with his fists and walking towards the kitchen.
"I'm gonna...medicine. You can borrow any of my stuff to get dressed or whatever." He says, waving a hand and leaving the room. Louis is definitely going to take that opportunity.
Harry's room is comfortable. It's got a really large bed in the centre of the room, along with a pretty vanity in the corner, and cute pictures framed in white hung around the room. Louis can definitely tell this is Harry's room. It's very him. He heads over to the boy's clothes and pulls out a white dress shirt. He grins as the perfect plan rushes to his mind.
"Louis? Did you get los-" Harry's voice chokes off when he sees him. Louis smiles his pretty coy smile at the boy and licks his lips.
He's laying on the bed stomach down, wearing nothing but Harry's white button down, with the arms of the shirt going over Louis' hands, and hardly any of the buttons done.
He knows he looks good, legs swinging in the air slowly, half of his bare bum covered up with the shirt.
Harry seems to be in shock for a good minute and a half, before he clears his throat and his voice is deeper than when he first woke up when he speaks.
"Louis, um, are you trying to-"
"Yes."
"So...you want me to-"
"Yes."
Harry nods slowly, then carefully walks further into the room, circling the bed until he's standing behind Louis, who blushes a bit because he's still not used to being looked at this intimately even after all this time. Louis waits patiently for Harry to do something, but Harry just stands there.
"Gonna touch me?" Louis asks, and Harry swallows thickly, looking away from Louis' arse and up to his face. He bites his lip nervously, before he starts to back up, and rushes out of the room.
Louis lies in shock for a few moments, before standing up and changing into a pair of the boy's sweats and a t shirt.
As he changes, he can't help but wonder if Harry isn't attracted to him. It seems to unreal of a thought. Louis has never had trouble getting boys. Ever. Something has to be wrong with Harry.
Louis walks down the hallway and to the living room, where Harry is standing stiffly, looking out of the window, shoulders so tense they are up to his ears, and he's shaking just slightly.
Louis suddenly gets a sick feeling, a feeling he's never had before. He walks up to Harry and places a gentle hand on the boy's back. Harry doesn't turn to him, just continues to tremble.
"D-did you feel like I was forcing you to do something you didn't want to do?" Louis murmurs, dread filling his insides. He may be an arsehole, and he may be deceiving this boy like he's done many times before, but he's not that much of a horrible person. He'd never force someone into sex. That's where he draws the line.
Harry looks down at his toes, and sniffles quietly. Louis, for the first time since he started doing this to people, feels a bit guilty.
"No. It wasn't you. You're..." He turns around and swallows thickly, "you're amazing. It's just...I'm not. Um. I haven't done anything like that in a few years. I um...I-"
"What happened?" Louis asks, and he may be a dick, but his brotherly instincts are always what get him. He rubs comforting hands up Harry's arms until he relaxes from his tense stance.
"There was this guy back in uni. He um, he moved into the flat next to me. He was nice at first, and was really sweet, but one day he broke into my flat and I told him no but he just--he wouldn't stop and he even got pictures and tried to ruin my career and...I found out later that he did it because my father and his father were enemies or something."
Louis remembers Niall telling him about how Harry's father had hired him to remove pictures so Harry wouldn't be exposed as gay. A sick feeling twists in his stomach as he remembers Niall's grin as he said Harry was definitely gay because of pictures. Did Niall know those were evidence of rape?
"We got the pictures removed but my dad was so angry. He didn't know I was gay and...he thought I was just fucking boys left and right-"
He cuts himself off and takes a deep breath.
"But anyways. The point is that you're gorgeous and so nice and I haven't met a really good genuine guy in a while and I know you'd never...but I still am not ready, is all." He wipes at his eyes, and Louis murmurs to him that it's okay, that they can stay friends for as long as they need to until Harry feels comfortable.
But as they hug, Louis can't get the guilt to leave his stomach, because he isn't genuine. And though he's done it so many times before, it's going to hurt to have to break Harry's heart.