Chapter Text
Meet and greet with Harry Styles.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Iris,
I hope this email finds you well!
It is with great pleasure that I wish to inform you that you’ve been selected as one of 20 lucky fans whom I would love to invite to a personal meet and greet. Afterwards, we’ll listen to my brand new record, Harry’s House, before it’s officially released to the public.
Kindly note that if you’re under 18 years of age, you’re required to be accompanied by your legal guardian.
Should you accept my invitation, please reply to this email, and information regarding the date, time and place will be sent to you!
I look forward to hearing from you!
All my love,
Harry
Louis sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose before focusing on his screen and rereading the email that stares at him, almost taunting him.
This has got to be some kind of joke, and as always, the joke has one person’s name written all over it.
“Zayn,” he calls, scowling at his laptop screen.
“Yeaaaaaah?” comes Zayn’s drawn-out reply from where he’s sitting right outside Louis’ office.
“Come here for a sec,” Louis tells him, printing the email that he knows for a fact he had no part in subscribing to. And neither did he enter any kind of competition for his daughter to win a fucking meet and greet with some popstar who probably can’t even hold a note.
Zayn smiles brightly when he appears in his doorway. “What’s up?” he asks, arching his brows as he walks up to him.
Louis focuses on his screen, waiting for Zayn to stop right in front of his desk before he retrieves the paper from his printer. He makes a show of looking at it, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline when holding out the paper for his assistant, also his best friend, to take.
“What’s this?” Zayn asks when reaching for it.
Louis snorts and leans back in his chair. “Funny that you should ask,” he notes, tilting his head when he continues. “Because here I was, hoping and praying that you could tell me.”
Zayn frowns while focusing on the document, a sly smile creeping to his lips after a few seconds. “She won?” he exclaims when looking up, seemingly too excited to pay mind to the schooled look of pure annoyance on Louis’ face.
“Care to explain how that came about?” Louis prompts then, his eyebrows still raised while challenging his best friend with an unimpressed look.
“How did what come about?” Zayn finally looks at him with pure confusion etched onto his features. “You know she likes Harry’s music.”
“Yeah, and I also know I didn’t enter my five-year-old daughter in a competition, or sign her up for a chance to win an intimate meet and greet with the bloke,” Louis tells him in no uncertain terms, leaning forward and snatching the paper from Zayn’s hand.
“Okay, fiiiiiine,” Zayn concedes, dragging the word. “That was me, I’m sorry. God forbid, I want my goddaughter to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience after everything she’s been through these last few years.”
Louis is rather taken aback by Zayn’s words of choice. To be fair, it feels like they’ve punched the air from his lungs. Has it conveniently slipped Zayn’s mind that whatever Iris went through, Louis had to endure as well?
Sure, Iris had lost her mother, someone she had known for only a few months after they had adopted her. Someone she barely even remembers now. Louis, on the other hand, had lost his mate, the person he shared his hopes and dreams with for the last twenty-eight years. The only person who had ruled his heart for as long as he could remember. The very same person who got ripped from their lives without warning one night, when some drunk cunt decided it would be a good idea to get behind the wheel of his car after a night out.
Sure, Iris’ life was tipped on its head, but so was Louis’. He had become a widower that night, nothing but a shadow after learning that the love of his life was no more. He had lost himself clinging to the memories of their life together, but also the hopes they shared for the future. Their future.
They weren’t soulmates, but Amanda Blake, or well, Mandy as Louis would later call her, was his mate. They were best friends turned high school sweethearts who couldn’t stand to be away from each other.
Louis was sure they’d be soulmates once they presented their secondary genders, but soon learned that the odds would be stacked against them when he turned out to be the only one between the two of them to present.
At first, they had thought Mandy might have just been a bit of a late bloomer, but as time went by and her Beta status remained unchanged, Louis had to make peace with the fact that some things were just out of his control.
Be that as it may, he had started taking suppressants after his first initial rut, then proceeded to propose to Mandy. A few months later, they said their vows to each other, and Louis felt content when he promised to love her forever, even though he knew a part of his soul would be dying without the love and affection from his fated other half. He had loved Mandy to a point where he had thought her love would be enough.
And in a way, it was. Louis never craved the love of his soulmate like some people had told him he would, and to be honest, after her passing, Mandy's love was the only thing he truly craved. His grief consumed him to the point where he felt like he was withering away.
Despite the pleas from his family and close friends, Louis omitted to take care of himself, quite frankly, doing the bare minimum to stay alive.
His official wake-up call came the day social services came knocking on his door, and after conducting their mandatory interviews, threatened to take Iris away.
Louis could not bear the thought of losing the one living thing he shared with Mandy as well. Although not their biological child, Iris was theirs. They had loved her like she was their own, and she had grown to love them in return.
He had promised to love and protect the little one, but somehow, while trying to navigate his own grief, he ended up breaking that promise.
Louis felt like he was about to lose his mind when he realised that if it wasn't for Lottie and her husband, Lewis, he wouldn't know what would have happened to Iris, because he sure as hell was not in a state to take care of her.
So after pleading and crying, Louis was given three months to get his life back on track and provide a suitable living space for the three-year-old pup.
He quickly realised, though, that that was not something he could do in a place where everything served as a painful reminder of all they had lost, and with that came the decision to move the headquarters of his fashion brand, 28 Clothing, to the heart of England - London.
It’s been two years since they moved here, and he celebrated his fortieth birthday late last year. He still misses Mandy terribly, but he has made a promise to himself to live life to the fullest in her memory. Not a day goes by that he does not think of her, and the memories that used to keep him up at night, bringing tears to his eyes, have now become reasons for him to smile.
Still, it sucks being left out of an equation he most certainly was a part of, so “Your goddaughter is doing fine,” he tells Zayn while setting the paper back down on his desk. “We both are,” he adds, arching his brows while fixing his friend with a pointed stare.
Zayn sighs, his features softening then. “Lou-” he starts saying, but Louis cuts him off.
“It’s whatever, mate,” he says, shrugging. “Just tell me when you do shit like this so I can stop you and won’t have to worry about having to reject invitations like this for my, and I repeat, five-year-old daughter.”
“I’m sorry,” Zayn immediately apologises and Louis knows he means it. He knows his friend had the best intentions; he always does. Iris is the bloody apple of his eye, and sure enough, as much as Louis had put everything into raising her these last two years, he’d be the first to say he wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of Zayn.
And sure, it’s a given that Iris would absolutely jump out of her skin to meet this Harry guy, but come on, what is a five-year-old going to do at a bloody listening party? One that Louis would have to accompany her to, mind you.
It’s a hard no, thank you very much.
“I should actually accept this invitation, and have you take her,” Louis jokes while hitting the reply button, not at all surprised by Zayn’s instant reply.
“You know I’d drop everything in a heartbeat to see a smile on my princess’ little face.”
Louis has absolutely no doubt that he would, and ends up rolling his eyes before turning his focus back to his screen when he starts typing.
RE: Meet and greet with Harry Styles.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Harry (or whoever is in charge of this email),
Thank you for the invitation, but I’m afraid we’ll have to decline.
My friend signed up my five-year-old daughter for this without my knowledge, and although she would be ecstatic to meet Harry, I don’t see her sitting still for long enough to listen to an entire album.
It would be best to invite someone who would appreciate it for the masterpiece which I’m sure it is.
Best regards,
Louis W. Tomlinson (MBA, DBA)
Chief Executive Officer
www.28clothing.com
“Wanna come over tonight?” he asks, looking up after hitting send.
Zayn grimaces, pulling his lips to the side. “I’ll have to pass, going on a date tonight.”
“Yeah?”
Zayn nods.
“Do I know them?”
“No. It’s a guy I met on Grindr,” Zayn informs, his eyebrows dancing on his forehead.
“Oh,” Louis presses his lips together, raising his brows. Zayn going on dates is nothing new, but he’s not normally this smug about it.
“Yup,” Zayn replies, popping the p. “Looks like a teddy bear, but his profile says he comes with a ten-inch surprise, so-”
“Oh my God,” Louis complains. “I did not need to know that.”
“Yeah,” Zayn concedes, shrugging while picking his fingernails. “But I just needed you to know that if I tell you tomorrow that I can’t walk properly, that’s most likely the reason, and I'd appreciate it if you did not expect too much from me.”
“Okay, Zayn,” Louis deadpans, shaking his head in quick succession to rid his imagination of the unwanted images Zayn had just prompted.
“So what are your plans then?” Zayn asks, but Louis focuses on the new email that appears in his inbox instead.
RE: Meet and greet with Harry Styles.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Louis,
Now that’s a real shame. I would have loved to meet young Iris, even if she didn’t stay for the listening party.
Would have also loved to meet the man behind what seems to be the best omega clothing range I’ve ever seen. Are those jumpers as soft as they look?
Wish you would reconsider :)
Yours sincerely,
Harry
“Helloooooo,” Zayn almost sings with his hands on his hips. “Why are you smiling like that?”
“No reason,” Louis tells him immediately, clicking out of the email when Zayn peeks around his screen.
Don’t ask him why he just did that. He’d have to lie if he were to be prompted for an immediate answer.
“What were you saying?” Louis asks, frowning when he looks up at his friend.
Zayn tilts his head, curiously eyeing him before finally speaking. “I said, what are your plans for the night?”
“Ummmm,” Louis presses his lips together, thinking. “Not sure,” he finally says. “Just dinner and a movie, I suppose.”
Zayn pouts. “She’ll love that.”
“Yeah,” Louis nods. “Perfect Friday night,” he adds, whipping his head around when Daisy comes storming into his office with a paper in her hand.
“Oh my God, Lou!” she exclaims, almost hyperventilating, and Louis is out of his chair and by her side in a matter of seconds.
“What?” he asks, his voice laced with concern. “What is it?”
“Rissie’s going to meet Harry Styles?” she states, but to Louis, it sounds like a question.
He frowns while pressing his lips together. “Where did you hear that?” he asks, unsure. As far as he can remember, he most definitely declined the invitation.
His answer comes by way of Daisy lifting the paper in her hand. “He just bought the entire Omega range.”
“What?” he exclaims incredulously, taking the paper she started flinging around.
“Well, I mean, not the entire range,” Daisy starts explaining. “But like one of every item.”
“Okay?” Louis frowns, still confused about how Harry buying items from their omega range led Daisy to think that Iris would meet him. “You’re not making any sense, Dais,” he tells her, shaking his head before turning his focus to the paper in his hand.
He scans the document, noting that one Harry Styles did in fact order every single item available in their omega range, and for some reason, his heart flutters when noticing everything is ordered in a size small.
He’s only ever seen the lad in the papers and on telly, but never would he have guessed that his frame would fit that particular size.
Be that as it may, Harry ordered these items, and right at the bottom, he reads the special delivery request: I’ll be meeting the CEO’s daughter on the 27th of April. I’d love it if he could bring these along, as I’m not sure when I’ll be home to accept delivery. Kind regards, Harry.
Louis snorts .
He’s a cheeky little thing, isn’t he?
“What’s it say?” Zayn chirps from right next to him, and Louis folds the paper when he leans over to take a peek.
“Nothing,” he replies before turning to Daisy. “Thanks, Dais, I’ll take care of this.”
“So it’s true?” his sister prompts, her eyebrows dancing on her forehead in a teasing manner.
Louis rolls his eyes at her then. “No,” Louis decides to tell her. “I declined his invitation like ten minutes ago.”
“You what?” she exclaims, eyes wide. “Lou, this is Harry Styles. Rissie loves him. Why would you decline?”
Louis frowns, pressing his lips together before turning around and heading back to his chair. “She loves his music. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know who he is.”
“She does, too,” Daisy tells him without hesitation. “She’s five, Lou. Not two,” she adds, smiling when Zayn nods in agreement.
“That’s what I told-”
“I know how old my daughter is, Dais,” Louis reminds her, cutting Zayn off before promptly ignoring the two of them. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some things to take care of,” he says, opening Harry’s email again and hitting the reply button.
RE: Meet and greet with Harry Styles.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Harry,
I suppose you thought I'd reconsider and give in, accepting your invitation, before the news of your purchase (and request) reached my desk?
I should tell you that I don't normally do personal deliveries, but given that the date of your little soiree is a week before Iris’ birthday, I reckon taking her to meet you would start off our celebration festivities on a rather high note.
I look forward to receiving the promised details.
Best regards,
Louis W. Tomlinson (MBA, DBA)
Chief Executive Officer
www.28clothing.com
“You’re smiling like that again,” Zayn notes, a teasing smile forming on his lips while folding his arms across his chest.
Louis feigns ignorance, schooling his face into a look of pure boredom when he lifts his head to look at his friend. “I'm not smiling like anything, and why are you still here?” he asks, sure that he had told them to excuse him before he replied to Harry.
“Why would I not be here?” Zayn counters, arching his brow in challenge. “What are you hiding, Lewis?”
“I don't know what you’re talking about,” Louis tells him, his tone matter-of-fact.
“You're not fooling anyone, you know,” Zayn informs him and his teasing smile turns smug.
"Good," Louis chirps, rolling his chair back and standing up. "Because I'm not trying to fool anyone," he adds, walking around his desk. "Now are you joining me for lunch?" he asks, making his way to the door.
Zayn bites his lips together, slowly shaking his head. "So I take it Rissie will be meeting him then?" he says, matching Louis' stride down the corridor.
Louis shrugs. "It's a week before her birthday, and if she does know him like both you and my sister claim, then that would surely be a great start to her birthday week, don't you think?" he reasons, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in his chest.
"Okayyyyy," Zayn replies, frowning. Louis figures it might be because he wasn't expecting him to give in that soon. "Do you need me to take her?"
"I'll be taking her," Louis tells him without hesitation, and smiles, hearing a soft chuckle coming from his friend.
"Are you going to try and get with him?"
"With whom?"
"Harry?"
Louis stops dead in his tracks then. "I tell you that I'm going to take my daughter to meet the person who, according to you, is her favourite artist, and you automatically think I want to get with him?" he asks, not doing much to hide his confusion.
"You were smiling like an idiot while replying to him," Zayn accuses, pointing a finger in Louis' direction.
Louis arches his brow. "Who said I was replying to him?" he wants to know, but his resolve to keep a straight face crumbles when Zayn only rolls his eyes.
"One would think after thirty-something years of friendship, you'd know that I'll know when you're trying to bluff, Lou."
"Oh, shut up," is Louis' only reply before he starts walking again.
"Whaaaaaat?" Zayn drags the word, giggling when he falls back into Louis' pace while they make they're way down to the cafe on the ground floor. "All I'm saying is he's a pretty omega, and I wouldn't blame you if you tried to, you know," he adds, a tiny smirk settling on his lips before he continues. "Maybe he'll write a song about your knot for his next album."
Louis sighs when pulling out a chair at their regular table before sitting down. "Why am I friends with you again?" he asks, pushing the menu back since he already knows what he wants.
He decides not to entertain Zayn in this conversation he's trying to start up. They've been over it. Louis is on suppressants, and he will stay on them. He has not had a rut in nearly twenty-two years and has absolutely no desire to go around knotting omegas just for the sake of it. When, or rather if, he someday meets his soulmate, the effects of his suppressants will wear off, and that will be the first omega to get his knot.
He wishes Zayn would stop with his shit-talking once and for all.
"You won’t survive without me," Zayn tells him, and Louis smiles, thinking to himself 'mission accomplished,' when Zayn completely changes the subject.
"Did you see Merriam posted online about finding her soulmate?"
"I did not," Louis tells him in all honesty. He's rarely online and Zayn knows it.
Zayn nods his head, almost like he expected Louis to say that. “Yeah, said it happened when she least expected it.”
Louis laughs then. “I mean, isn’t that how it normally happens?” he asks and looks up when the waiter appears next to them, ready to take their orders. “The usual for me, please,” he says and listens to Zayn telling the guy the same. When they’re alone again, he looks back at Zayn and continues. “If everyone knew who their soulmate was, it’d be boring, don’t you think?”
Zayn simply shrugs, and Louis doesn’t blame him. As a Beta, Zayn does not have to worry about finding his soulmate since the whole practice of it, finding one’s soulmate, is limited to alphas and omegas.
“What’s really boring is having to sit around and wait for the person you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with, to just show up.”
Louis snorts, rolling his eyes. “Just because I choose not to go around looking for mine, does not mean that’s what everyone else is doing, Zee.”
“Aren’t you at least a little restless about it? I mean, you’re forty already.”
Huffing out a low chuckle, Louis’ brows almost reach his hairline. “You say that like I’m standing with one foot in the grave. Forty is not that old, mate.”
“I know,” Zayn concedes. “And that’s not what I meant.”
“Pray tell me what you meant, dear friend,” Louis mocks, folding his hands on the table in front of him.
It’s Zayn rolling his eyes this time. “I don’t know, I just want you to be happy, I guess.”
“And what makes you think I’m not?”
Zayn shrugs. “No, that came out wrong. I know you are happy. You’ve got Ris and your family and friends, but I just think you could be happy to the max when you find your soulmate, you know.”
Louis watches him, a softness settling in his heart towards his friend. They’ve had this conversation numerous times before, and he knows Zayn means well, but “Not everyone is guaranteed to find their soulmate, Zee,” he tells him, not for the first time. “Lots of people go through life not having met their fated mate, it just is what it is.”
“Yeah, well, sue me for not wanting you to be one of those people,” Zayn replies, looking up and smiling at the waiter who brings them their drink orders.
“Freshly squeezed orange juice for you, Lou, and a mango smoothie for Zayn.”
“Thanks, mate,” Louis says, immediately taking a sip of his juice.
“Why don’t you just go out with me one night?” Zayn suggests. “Not in the sense of specifically going out to look for your soulmate, but just for fun, and if you happen to meet her while we’re out, then-”
“I’m not meeting my soulmate in some club or bar, thank you.”
“Well, you’re not going to church either, so where do you want to meet her?”
Louis grimaces. “I’ve told you countless times before that I’m not going out looking for my soulmate. Not in a club, or a bar, or a church. I’m not setting myself up for disappointment, Zayn,” he tells him, also not for the first time.
“I knoooooow,” Zayn whines, dragging the word. “But I just don’t want you to miss out on the good things in life just because-”
“My life is good as it is, Zee,” Louis reminds him, taking another sip of his orange juice. “Like I’ve told you a million times before, people destined to meet, will do so-”
“Apparently by chance, at exactly the right moment,” Zayn completes his sentence, cutting him off in the process.
“Exactly,” Louis chirps, although the quote causes his heart to clench. How his eighteen-year-old self had yearned for those words to be true for him and Mandy when they realised his love for her was never meant to be.
She had loved him deeply, though, and Louis knows she’d want him to be happy. It took him a while, but with the help of his therapist, he’s come to realise that if he were to meet the person he is fated to be with, she’d rejoice with him. She wouldn’t want him to pause his life indefinitely now that she is not here anymore.
So, with that being said, Louis is open to finding his true mate, but he’s not about to tip his entire life on it’s head to do so. He goes out with Iris often enough, to the park, the arcade, the mall. It gives them plenty of opportunities to meet. If it happens, good. Great even. If it doesn’t, then he’s content with their little family of two.
Louis gets drawn from his thoughts when his phone sounds, alerting him of an email, and he smiles when retrieving it from his pocket and sees who it is from.
RE: Meet and greet with Harry Styles.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Louis,
I'm afraid my plan was not so well thought out after all. You've caught me.
Be that as it may, I'm still very much excited to meet little Iris nonetheless.
The details are as follows:
Date: 27 April 2025
Time: 18:00
Venue: Russo Restaurant, Conference Room
Looking forward to my special delivery :)
Yours sincerely,
Harry
“Oh my God, you’re doing it again.”
Louis looks up, coming face to face with an amused smile tugging at the corners of Zayn's mouth. “Doing what?” he questions, arching his brows.
“Smiling like a bloody idiot. Who are you texting?”
“I'm not texting anyone,” Louis lies. Well, it’s only half a lie, because if he were to reply right now, it technically wouldn't be considered texting since it's an email, right?
“Is it him?” Zayn asks, a full smile stretching his lips.
“Who?” Louis knows who Zayn is referring to, and he also knows that Zayn knows him well enough to know that he knows. Yet here he is, still lying to the one person who knows him like the back of his hand. Or, well, trying to lie to him would be a more accurate description.
“Don't make me take your phone, Lewis. What did he say?”
Louis gives in then. It's no use trying to hide the truth from Zayn. “We're meeting him on the twenty-seventh.”
“You are?”
Louis rolls his eyes.
“Are you excited?”
“For my daughter?” Louis asks before lifting his glass. “Yes, Zayn, as a matter of fact, I'm very excited for her to meet him since you’ve convinced me that she actually knows who he is,” he tells him, and sips on his juice while locking his phone, pocketing the device at once.
Zayn simply stares at him then, and for a second, Louis feels like he might start squirming under the intensity of his gaze.
“So in a week, hmmm?” Zayn finally says.
“What?” Louis replies, feeling like he could facepalm himself as soon as the word leaves his mouth, because why is he acting like this?
Zayn leans back in his chair, a lazy yet knowing smile taking over his face. “Oh, you heard me just fine, Lou,” he says, his voice teasing while he folds his arms over his chest.
“Whatever,” Louis replies with a roll of his eyes. “Can we talk about something else now?”
Zayn's smile does not falter when he sits up straight again. “Sure,” he agrees, nodding. “Will you tell her?”
“Tell who what?”
“Rissie,” Zayn deadpans. “That she'll meet him?”
Louis frowns. “I thought we agreed on changing the subject.”
“And we are,” Zayn states, his teasing smile still ever present. “We're talking about whether or not you'll tell my lovely goddaughter that she'll meet the Harry Styles, and not about you blushing at the mere mention of his name.”
Louis snorts. “Oh, now I know you're talking shit, mate,” he tells him, accusingly pointing a finger at his best friend.
Louis knows he wasn't blushing. He simply doesn't blush. Zayn is just taking the piss. Louis would have been well aware if he was blushing, thank you very much.
Zayn rolls his eyes then, and Louis ignores the relieved feeling that washes over him of knowing that he saw right through his friend.
“Okay, but listen,” Zayn tells him, then, rubbing his hands together. “I'll stop talking about it for now, but I can't promise that we won't pick up this conversation over the next few days. This is exciting stuff. I'm excited for Rissie.”
Louis huffs out a laugh, refraining from telling Zayn that he has absolutely no interest in continuing that specific conversation at all.