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Reunion

A L.S. Novel

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1
The Phone Call

Year 2020, England.

It was a not surprisingly cold afternoon in England as Louis was

walking with his bodyguard along the streets of Doncaster. He had
recently gotten off tour in America and had decided to take a break and
come back home to visit his family whom he had not seen in a good
few months.

Of course, he knew as soon as his album had dropped last year he would
be hit with amazing support from his fans and be thrown into a busy
schedule that consisted of interviews, tour dates and PR work, but he
still couldn’t get over the fact that he had to leave his family alone yet
again for months on end while he travelled the world to perform.

He wasn’t complaining though.

He knew his sacrifices not only helped himself, but his family too. He
wouldn’t change a thing he has done since 2010 (disregarding the one
time he called a pap a fucking looser, oops).

He could only thank whatever god there was out there for giving him
this life. To actually be placed into the biggest boy band in the world is
insane to think about, and be able to join a stage with his amazingly
talented band mates sometimes made Louis feel like he didn’t belong
there, but grateful none the less.

Speaking of one direction, Louis pauses as he heard his ringer go off

from the back pocket of his Ellesse sweat pants.

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He took his phone into his hand and frowned at the display of his screen
showing Simon was calling.

Louis was confused. Simon hadn’t called him since his time as an X
factor judge ended, he was only hoping it wasn’t another call to inform
him of a stupid PR stunt that was going to take place. Honestly, Simon
needed to get a grip on what century he was currently living in and
realize that sexuality doesn’t define a person, Louis thought.

He hesitated for a moment before answering the call, quick to hear

Simons serious tone. Oh god.

“Hello Louis”

“Simon, what do I owe you the pleasure on this fine, sunny day in
Doncaster” Louis sarcastically replied.

“Louis I’ve been in the UK for long enough now to know sun doesn’t
exist here, stop playing around, I have something important to discuss
with you”

Louis rolled his eyes at that. Of course Simon fucking Cowell had to
ruin his mood in less than a minute.

“On a scale of one to ten how serious is this, I’m kind of busy right
now”

He wasn’t. He just really, really didn’t want to deal with Simons bull
shit.

“Ten, so you better drop whatever plans you’re doing and sit
comfortably for this one”

“Yeh sure, I will just casually sit my ass on the freezing cold pavement
and catch hypothermia while you blabber on about irrelevant shit, how
about that for comfortable ey?”

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“Does getting the band back together sound irrelevant to you?” Simon
replies with a bored tone.

This made Louis stop walking all together, confusing his body guard
enough for him to ask why he’s gone so pale.

This couldn’t be happening.

His initial thought was Harry.

The boy, or man now, who he hasn’t spoken to in a year or two, the
man who he once loved with all his heart, was also in the band. The
band that was apparently getting back together. Shit.

He can’t face him again. Not after what happened, not after Harry had
clearly stated he wanted nothing to do with him ever again. This just
couldn’t be happening.

“Hey, you still there, Louis?”

Louis took a deep breath.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. Could you maybe repeat that again?” He asked,
as though his mind was surely just playing tricks on him, they wouldn’t
be getting back together this soon, right?

“The band is getting back together, it’s been far too long, the hiatus was
only meant to be 18 or so months, this reunion is way overdue. I’m
surprised you guys even have a fandom anymore”

“Yeah, yeah, umm right. C-can I call you back maybe, in like 15
minutes?”

“I guess so, but you’d better Tomlinson, if not I’m calling you, you need
to know the details, we haven’t exactly got long to sort all this out”
Simon replies, clearly annoyed with Louis’ lack of communication.

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“Yeh whatever, will do” Louis then hung up the phone and
contemplated changing his identity and running off to join the circus
instead, he thought he’d make a pretty good showman.

“You alright?” His bodyguard asked him, noticing his spaced out look.

“Yeah lets just go back home, I need to sit down for a bit” he replied
while reaching out for his cigarette pack, needing something to calm his
nerves.

————————————————————————

15 minutes later

Louis sat down on his sofa, glad that his family were out for the day so
he could ring Simon back without hassle. He took his phone and dialed
the number.

“Wow, you actually called back, good for you Tomlinson” Simon
smugly answered.

Louis didn’t think his eyes could roll back this far into his head but
apparently he was wrong. He could practically see his brain shutting
down, it must be as done with Simons shit as he was.

“For once can you maybe not insult me after every single thing I do,
now get on with it, I’d rather get this talk over with so I can drown my
sorrows away with alcohol”

“Sorrows? You should be pleased with this news, I thought you enjoyed
being in the band?” Simon questioned, clearly confused with Louis’
lack of enthusiasm.

“Of course I enjoyed being in the band, without it I would be no one, I

just didn’t enjoy” Louis stopped before he could admit his worries to
Simon about his and Harry’s past.

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It seems he knew anyway.

“Didn’t enjoy the tragic ending of your love with Harry, or shall I say
Hazza?”

Louis could practically hear the smirk on Simons face, how fucking
dare he mess with his head about his past relationship. The only reason
it ended badly was because of this man who was currently mocking
their love for one another. If it weren’t for him he would probably still
be with Harry, would probably be married by now too if it hadn’t been
ruined.

“I’m warning you Simon, I swear to god—

“What?” Simon chuckled. “What are you honestly going to do

Tomlinson, I could ruin your career with a snap of my fingers so it
wouldn’t be wise to threaten me now would it?”

Louis was fuming by this point, if he could expose Simon for all the
shit he put not only him and Harry through, but the rest of the boys too,
he would. But sadly, Simon was right, he held the power over them and
has since 2010, he could ruin them if any one of them stepped out of
line, it’s as if they’re all puppets tied to his string, he can make them do
and say what he wants. If only he could cut that string.

“Just get on with it already” Louis bit his tongue in order to restrain
himself from saying anything and everything on his mind.

“As I said earlier, there isn’t much time to get things sorted as this is on
such short notice, I’d say we have about a month or so—

“A MONTH!?” Louis exclaimed, short bloody notice? How is he ever

going to get his shit together in just a month to be ready for what’s
coming? He had to be joking.

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“Yes Louis, nice to know you have ears. Now if you would kindly not
interrupt me I can tell you what’s going to happen and why” Simon
pauses before continuing.

“The fans have waited long enough for the reunion and with the rumors
of you getting back together in 2020, we thought why not make this”
rumor “a reality. Of course you all might have important plans ahead
revolving around your solo careers, however, management and I
believe this is more important if you want to stay relevant in the
industry.”

“Hold on a sec. You’re basically telling me right now that we didn’t

make it big enough as solo artists? Sorry Si but in my opinion we all
did pretty good for ourselves, taking into account all the awards we’ve
been wining on our own, and not to mention the success I had after the
X factor last year, Jesus, I was a better judge than you” Louis slyly
replies, if Simon is going to talk shit about his career then he may as
well do the same to him.

“Not better than David Walliams though, I believe he got the title of
best judge?”

“Oh what, your lover boy? Not surprised you would stick up for him,
how’s that going ey Simon?” Sorry but, he walked right into that one.

“There’s only one fag between me and you Tomlinson and I think we
will find you’re the one who likes it up the ass”

By this point Louis seriously needed this call to end before he insults
Simon and throws his phone against the nearest wall. This man needed
a brain to mouth filter.

“Don’t ever use that word towards me or anyone again, do you even
realize how offensive that is? You’re taking the piss out of a person’s
sexuality, a thing they can’t exactly change in case you didn’t notice.
People of this community are braver than you’ll ever be just for being

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themselves, I would too if management actually let me come out for
god sake”

“It’s for your own good, if you came out your reputation would be
ruined, do you honestly think people would listen to your music if they
knew every love song you’ve ever written were for a man? You’d be a
joke to the industry”

“No Simon I don’t believe that, that’s just you and your old fashioned
ways. We’re in 2020, grow the fuck up already” Louis says, slowly
losing his temper. This man was intolerable.

“I don’t need to listen to your immature comments when I could be

telling you the rest of the details. Now where was I, oh yeh, we think
it’s best for you to have the reunion as soon as possible to stay relevant,
if we don’t do this now you’ll have no fans to come back to in the
future.” He paused before continuing.

“First of all we are going to give a few hints on social media to slowly
get the fans excited, this way they will be ready for the date that the
tickets will drop for your made in the A.M tour which will be worldwide
and the first concert will be streamed live on television.”

Louis nodded along even though Simon couldn’t see him, giving him a
few “mhms” in between.

“While on tour obviously you will be singing your albums songs,

however you will also each individually be singing your solo songs one
at a time, you can pick any song you’d like to perform while the rest of
the boys sit at the back of the stage, they could also sing one of your
songs with you and vice versa”

“Secondly, all of you will be starring in a second carpool karaoke with

James Corden where he will pick you all up individually, while in the
car he will be asking questions about the upcoming tour and again you
will sing each other’s songs as well as your own. This will take place
before your tour and will be your first ever appearance as a band

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together for the fans, we actually got this idea from them on social
media begging management and James himself to set it up, genius
really”

“Oh how original” Louis sarcastically cuts in.

Simon rolled his eyes and chose to ignore the comment.

“You will be doing promo and interviews before the tour as well with
people such as Allan Carr and Jimmy Fallon, probably play a few of
them silly games here and there while on their shows as per usual”
Simon scoffed.

“This is all we know so far, you will need to get in touch with
management so they can let you know specific dates and when you and
the boys will be meeting up for the first time, apart from that do you
have any questions?”

“Did they all agree to this” Louis quickly asks, he’s been dying to find
out if they had, dying to find out if one of the boys had in particular.

“Yes they have, you’re actually the last person I’ve spoken to about the
matter. I knew you’d be the most problematic so I saved you till the end
to prepare myself for your snarky comments”

Louis was honestly about to crush his phone with how tightly he was
holding it, he just wanted to know one more thing before he could end
this fucking call.

“Did— did he agree?” he didn’t even need to say his name for Simon
to know who he was talking about. What with their past and all.

“Yes surprisingly he did, quite a different man now though, sure he puts
on his act while on tour but jeez you must have messed him up big time”
Simon replies dramatically.

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Louis was confused, yes he messed up, yes Harry has every right to be
angry with him, but messed him up? What does that even mean?

“W-what do you mean by that?”

“Sounded so cold, like, no emotion whatsoever, the call only lasted

about 5 minutes, he just said ok and then hung up, quite different from
the bubbly lad I used to know”

This made Louis’ heart break. If what he was hearing was true it was
all his fault. He knew he should have tried contacting him. But he also
respected his wishes to not speak to him ever again. He couldn’t blame
him for hating him so much, but he didn’t want to have this much of an
effect on the tall lad with curly hair and green eyes, although he
wouldn’t even know if he looked that way anymore as he stayed far
away from any news or pictures of him, he couldn’t bear to look at the
person who he had caused so much pain.

“Is he okay?” Louis timidly asked.

“Far from it, he doesn’t even speak to any of the other lads any more,
or so I’ve heard, anyway if that’s everything then I’m going to end this
call, it’s gone on far too long for my liking, goodbye Tomlinson and
don’t forget to contact management”

With that he ended the call and left Louis to stare at his living room
wall for the next 20 minutes, guilt flooding his mind.

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 2
Catching Up

By the time Louis had finally snapped out of his daze, the front door
swung open and in came his sister fizzy.

“Louis mate, what are you doing? Inspecting the walls?” Fizz said
sarcastically. Only worsening his mood.

“Not in the mood right now fizz” Louis replies monotonously.

“Jeez who’s put a stick up your ass, oh wait, you’d probably like that
wouldn’t you” she says with a smirk, winking at him so he knows she’s
only joking.

He can’t help but crack a smile at that, even if it’s small. He really can
rely on his siblings to cheer him up, no matter how down he is feeling.

“I think I would pass on that one, wouldn’t want splinters” he plays

along with her little joke and she chuckles before taking out a pack of
cigarettes.

“You look like you need a smoke, come on” with that she walked back
out the door she just came from leaving Louis once again alone in the
living room.

He quickly follows Fizz outside and closes the door behind him, she
lights one up for herself then hands the lighter and pack to Louis,
leaning against the brick wall lining their street.

He checks for no paparazzi before lighting up his own and inhaling the
poisonous chemicals into his lungs without a second thought. The
nicotine quickly spreads throughout his body, giving him a buzz he
didn’t realize he needed.

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He knew he shouldn’t be smoking with a long line of cancer related
deaths in his family, but when you’re constantly followed by people
and never have a second to be completely care free, it comes in handy
to relieve the stress building up inside him.

After a moment fizzy speaks up again.

“So, what was that about in there?” She asks cautiously.

“Nothing, I’m probably just making a big deal out of nothing to be

honest” he lies, Louis knows it’s a big deal, he has things with
management to sort out in such short time and then there’s Harry to
worry about. His stress levels are over the roof by this point and he
didn’t need to deal with this while on his “break”. When will work ever
end?

“Louis, I know you better than anyone and I can see when your stressed
out about something. Maybe if you tell me I can help you out, or at least
help you calm down about it” she says softly, it reminds him too much
of his mother when she gets like this, she has the exact same caring
nature as her and it brings back both good and bad memories.

With a heavy sigh he decides to tell her, what’s the worst she could say?

“I had a call from Simon today” is all he could come out with.

“Okay… and?” She pushes him to continue. “Is it another PR stunt

again, is that what’s worrying you.

“No, nothing like that, it’s much bigger than that actually”

“Come on then spill, we haven’t got all day Lou” she says, not in an
annoyed tone, more playful than anything.

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“He wants a one direction reunion” he finally gets out the words, it feels
quite good saying it actually, knowing he won’t be able to tell many
people just yet.

“Oh wow that’s great, about tim—

“In a month” Louis quickly interrupts her, not wanting her to make it
seem like the greatest thing to grace the earth.

Fizzy looks shocked, eyes bulging, mouth agape, Louis almost shut it
for her until she spoke up again.

“A MONTH? Louis I— how can they expect you to be ready for this in
a month, don’t u have plans for your own career or something, Simon
can’t just spring this on you out of nowhere” she exclaimed, clearly
irritated with the lack of planning going into this.

“It’s already been decided Fizz, all the lads have agreed and I know if I
refused I’d have my head chopped off by Simon, I would just be letting
down the band if I said no. There’s nothing I can do about it” he
explained with a bored expression.

“But a month Lou? What are they thinking? How the f*ck is a month
long enough to plan a whole damn reunion?”

“I don’t know, just calm down alright your giving me a headache, I’m
worried about it as it is. They have it all planned out already, all I need
to do is call management to sort out a few details and go with the flow
I guess.”

Truthfully, he had no idea what was going to happen after his call with
management, which was going to take place either today or tomorrow
depending on if he felt up to it. He thought he might as well just get it
over with though.

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“Okay I’m sorry, your right, I didn’t mean to react so drastically but
still I can’t believe they’re making you do this on such short notice. The
other lads agreed then? Did h—

“Yes, all off the lads agreed” he cut her off, not wanting to hear his
name.

“Look if you don’t want to talk about… that, then it’s fine but I’m here
you know, we could even have a girly night and talk about boy drama”
she tried to lighten the mood and it worked, yet again Louis cracked a
smile at his sister.

“Thank you, it really means a lot, I’m just confused honestly, Simon
mentioned that he has completely changed, and I quote” you’ve messed
him up big time “is what he told me, I don’t understand how he agreed
so easily if he was really that messed up by what went down between
us, isn’t he supposed to hate my guts? I thought he never wanted to see
me again?”

Fizzy pondered this for a while, clearly just as confused as Louis is.

“I’m honestly not sure, maybe this is him giving you a second chance,
or maybe he just knew not to argue with Simon, could have gone either
way” she finally said with a shrug of her shoulders, taking another drag
from her cigarette.

“Yeah I guess you’re right, hopefully not the latter, I don’t want to be
around him if he doesn’t want me there” he said sadly.

Fizzy pulled him into a soft hug, dropping her cigarette onto the floor,
and spoke into his ear,

“It will all be fine big bro, don’t worry yourself, I’m sure Simons just
talking a load of crap with the whole” messed up “sh*t to try and
intimidate you”

“Yeah, I hope so”

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Boy was she wrong.

————————————————————————

Incoming Group FaceTime call: Liam Payne, Niall Horan

Although Louis is very much still in contact with Liam and Niall he
can’t for the life of him bring himself to answer the damn call.

It’s not like he hasn’t spoken to them in ages, with being on X factor
with Liam and having a birthday FaceTime call with Niall, he just really
doesn’t want to talk about anything reunion related until he can get his
sh*t together and, come on, it’s obviously gonna be the topic of their
next conversation.

As much as he doesn’t want to answer he realizes he needs to get this

chat over with and is also slightly interested on their thoughts about it.

He finally brings himself to answer the call on the third ring, they can
be so insistent sometimes.

Louis is instantly greeted by a smiling Liam and Niall, waving

enthusiastically.

“Tommo!” Niall shouts down the mic, not doing Louis any favors for
his headache.

“Alright Nialler, Liam” he replies with a grin.

“How you doing then, back in Donny?” Liam asks.

“Yeh yeh, just visiting my family, been a good few months since I last
saw them, what with being on tour n’ sh*t, been a bit hectic you know”
he explains.

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“Yeh I get what you mean, been the same for us, hey, why’d it take you
so long to bloody answer? You can’t keep us waiting like that Tommo,
we thought u we’re ignoring us for a second” Niall exclaims, pouting
like a child that had been refused a cookie.

“Yeh” he laughed nervously “ignoring, haha, what a thought, how

could I ever” Louis tried and fails miserably to cover up the fact that
yes, he had in fact been ignoring them.

“You little sh*t, u we’re ignoring us weren’t you” Niall says.

“Why though” Liam adds on, looking confused. Louis would never
intentionally ignore them, only if he was working or in the middle of
recording, he was always one for chatting being the loud Donny boy he
is.

“You seriously don’t know? I would have thought you’d bring up the
reunion by now lads”

“Yeh we were obviously going to talk to you about that of course but
why don’t you want to talk about it? For one, I’m extremely excited
about it, it’s about time Simon realized we needed this reunion” Liam
said, still confused as ever.

Did they seriously not know why he’s not up for the reunion? After
everything that went down between him and Harry he would expect
them to realize his reason for not exactly being ecstatic about the news.
Were they even there for the whole breakup ordeal or did he just
imagine that?

“Have you heard from Harry?” Is all he replied with, not wanting to go
into details about his worry of meeting him after all this time.

A look of realization crossed both their faces and they simultaneously

“oohed” and clicked their tongues, not knowing what to say or who
should speak up first. They kind of just sat there and looked at one
another.

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Finally Liam spoke up, knowing the blue eyed Irish man over there
wasn’t going to help this situation what’s so ever.

“Had a hunch that was your reasoning for lack of enthusiasm but I
didn’t want to mention it in case, well, you know, anyway. I uh, I have
spoken to him actually, was about a month back though so I’m not sure
what his opinion is on the reunion” he awkwardly says.

“Yeh? And what did he say last time you spoke? Did he mention me?”
Louis spoke quickly, having so many unanswered questions he was
dying to ask, as he knew he couldn’t ask Simon.

“We mostly just talked about his tour, it had great success did u know
that? Won best tour of the year for multiple outlets. Niall went to one
of his shows I think” Liam questioned.

A bright smile graced Niall’s face at the mention of the concert.

“Yeh oh my god it was so good, his new songs are unreal, has such
emotion in them, I didn’t realize he could write like that until after the
split, the one direction split I mean… not-uh, never mind, it was great.
Danced around the stage like a lunatic, I came out of it with a sore jaw
from laughing so hard”

Niall was full on rambling by this point, but Louis didn’t miss his little
slip up with the “split” thing, that hit him hard, in a way he thinks Niall
did mean his and Harrys split and not the bands, otherwise he wouldn’t
have gave it a second thought. He also realized if his songs were written
more emotionally after the split, there was a good chance a song or two
in his album were about him and their relationship, which he hadn’t
listened to by the way.

He was dragged out of his thoughts by Liam once again speaking up.

“Wait, so your saying he seemed fine while on stage?” He questioned

Niall.

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“Yeah, why? Was he not supposed to be?”

“I— I’m not so sure actually, when I spoke to him he seemed a bit— I
don’t know, off? Like, he wasn’t as bubbly and charismatic as usual.
Had like zero emotion—

“Sh*t, Simon was telling the truth” Louis cut in abruptly, causing Liam
to pause his explanation.

“What do you mean, what has Simon said?” Niall asked.

“Apparently I” messed him up “as Simon put it, said the exact same
thing Liam just did, the no emotion thing, apparently he agreed to the
reunion with nothing more than an ok and then he hung up, I’m not
sure, I thought he was just trying to intimidate me like Fizz said” Louis
explained, with a worried face yet again, this call really wasn’t
reassuring him like he had expected.

“Surely he’s just going through something, I’m sure it’s nothing to
worry about, I mean if he’s fine on stage then what’s there to worry
about, if it’s too much of a problem Lou just try avoid him until we have
to perform” Niall said.

“Oh yeh sure Niall, I can just avoid a band mate who I will be constantly
around and sharing a tour bus with, may as well just get an invisibility
cloak while I’m at it eh Nialler?”

He knows he shouldn’t be taking this out on Niall and he was only

trying to help but this was seriously the worst day of his life, nothing
seems to be reassuring him that this will all be ok. Everything so far has
pointed in the direction of being a complete disaster.

“Didn’t think about that, sorry mate” Niall mumbled.

“No I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take it out on you I just— what am I
going to do, I f*cked up big time” Louis said sadly.

19
Liam finally cuts in again after silently watching the whole
conversation.

“It can’t be that bad I’m sure of it, just get sh*t sorted with management
and then you can relax until further notice, now go get some sleep you
look like you need it” he instructs, and Louis can’t deny that order, it
sound like the most perfect thing he’s heard all day.

“Alright see you lads, have a good one” Louis replies and with that he’s
hung up the call and headed straight for bed.

20
3
Packed Bags

The next day.

Louis woke up at 7:00 to the loud sound of his phone ringing.

He groaned before sitting up in his bed and taking his phone from the
bed side table, which only caused him to groan once again after seeing
the display on his phone screen.

Management calling.

Why on earth would they ring so damn early? Of course he was

expecting a call as he hadn’t yet found the will to ring them himself as
Simon ordered him to, but really? At 7am? You’ve got to be kidding,
he thought.

He answered the call on the fourth ring and brought the phone to his
ear, speaking in a hushed tone as to not wake up his siblings.

“Hello” He groggily answered.

“Louis, this is Sarah calling from management, I’d like to speak with
you about upcoming events and the next step of the reunion” she said
in a very professional tone, too professional for his liking.

“Yeh alright, could have rang at a later time though don’t you think”
Louis huffed.

“There’s no time for this Louis, if you want to catch your plane on time
we had to ring you as soon as possible”

21
“Wait. What? Plane? What do you mean plane?” He asked, more
confused than ever.

They can’t be serious, short notice must be a thing of theirs, he never

seemed to know what the f*ck was going on until last minute.

“Yes Louis, a plane, you know, the aircraft that takes you to different
countries, thought you would know what one was by now” she replied
sarcastically.

Louis has really had enough of this. He finds out all his plans with no
time to spare and when he then questions it, he gets talked to like a
f*cking two year old. Of course he’s going to be confused, one minute
he’s sleeping in his warm comfy bed and the next he’s been told he’s
being flown off to some unknown location like a bloody zoo animal.

“Seriously not in the mood for your witty comments right now Sarah,
you’ve woken me up at this ungodly hour to tell me I’m apparently
getting on a plane to go somewhere, get on with it then” he spoke with
a harsh tone, trying to get his point across that he won’t be dealing with
any more bullsh*t today.

“Right, yeh sorry about that, anyway, you are flying out to Hollywood
this evening as you have a meeting with management over there to
discuss the carpool karaoke situation with James Corden which will
also take place in Hollywood. Once you land you will be escorted to
your hotel where you will get ready for a meal with Simon and the other
four lads—

“Wait wait wait, four? Zayn’s joining the band again? Since when?” He
asked with utter disbelief.

“They didn’t tell you? After he didn’t get the reaction he wanted from
his last album he decided it’s about time he returned to one direction,
said he wasn’t feeling the solo career or something, so when he heard
the news of the reunion he jumped at the idea” Sarah explained.

22
“Jesus, are there any more surprises you want to tell me or am I just
going to be left in the dark for the majority of this reunion?” Louis
questioned.

“No I think your all up to date now, so just to be clear, have everything
packed and ready to go by 6pm sharp, you will be picked up by your
bodyguard to be taken to the airport where your jet will be ready to go.
When you’ve landed in Hollywood you will be taken to the Mondrian
hotel, as you will arrive in the Us around 12pm their time, a meal has
been set for 6pm at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant so you still have
enough time to get settled in. You will meet Simon and the rest of the
lads there to talk about the reunion. Please be on your best behavior
Louis as there’s no doubt that paps will be there and you’re in the public
eye we don’t want another re run of you insulting them all do we?” She
pleaded.

She knows that if Louis gets into any more sh*t it’s in her hands as
she’s the one who’s informed him of what’s going to happen, his bad
behavior could result in her being fired if it went badly, she almost did
after last time.

“Yeh yeh whatever, sorry but that pap had it coming, wouldn’t get out
my f*cking face, never mind pushing the fans out of the way, hey also,
why will there be paps there if this whole ordeal is meant to be
discreet?” He asks.

If he’d been specifically told not to tell any fans about the reunion, why
would Simon let the paps give it away, it makes no sense.

“As Simon already told you, we are going to drop a few hints to the
fans before the tickets go on sale for the tour, that way they will be more
likely to buy them quicker, so the paps have been tipped off to be there
so the fans will speculate you all being together for the first time in god
knows how long” she explained.

Not that bad of an idea actually, as much as he hates to say it, Simon
really knows what he’s doing when it comes to promo.

23
“Alright then, how long will I be staying in Hollywood?”

“I’d say about two weeks depending on when your shooting the carpool
karaoke, after you’ve done that your free to go wherever until further
notice, I’d recommend spending some time with the lads to familiarize
yourself with what they’ve got going on in their careers and updates on
their personal life seeming as you will be spending a few months with
them all day every day on tour” she advices.

Great. There’s no way he’s getting away from Harry f*cking Styles now
is there? Guess he’ll just have to endure it, he thought.

“Ok if that’s everything I’m going to pack and spend the rest of my day
with the girls, they’re going to be heartbroken to know I’m leaving
again” Louis said sadly.

“I understand and I’m sorry about that, but your career comes first and
without it you wouldn’t even be able to care for them the way you do”

“Your wrong, family always comes first, no matter what”

With that he hung up the phone and dragged himself out of bed.

————————————————————————

Later that day, 5:55pm

After a long day of packing and messing around with his siblings, it was
time to go to the airport.

“But Louis you’ve only been back for a week, why do you have to leave
again?” Daisy questioned with a pleading look on her face.

“Yeh, your always flying off to some other f*cking country—

“Hey watch your mouth” he told phoebe.

24
“Oh please, the only reason I know these words is because of you, what
did you expect after years of swearing around me as a toddler” she
sassily replied.

“Touché” Louis said, putting on an accent that made Pheebs giggle.

“Look I know your sad I’m leaving again but it’s required from
management, how do you think you get all them designer outfits
without my job ey?”

Louis loves spoiling his sisters, always buying them the next big thing.
Some people would say they’re spoiled, but they know that they’re
extremely lucky to have the life they do and they most definitely don’t
take it for granted, so that’s the reason he’s happy to splurge on them
every now and again. They deserve it.

“Fairs” is all they reply with. Although they do miss their brother, they
know they wouldn’t have the life they do if it weren’t for him and his
sacrifices, so they put on a strong face and make sure to FaceTime him
every chance they get.

With that Louis hugs his sister and steps out the door to be greeted by
his body guard.

“Got everything sorted then?” He asks.

“Yeh, lets get this sh*t over with” he replies, causing the larger man to
chuckle and throw his suitcase and bag into the boot of the car.

Once settled in the car and music is blasting through the speakers, they
set off for the airport.

————————————————————————

“Louis Louis over here”

25
“Louis where are you heading to?”

“Louis can I take a photo”

“Smile for the camera Louis!”

Flashes blinded him as he stepped out of the expensive looking car. He

quickly grabbed his shades and slipped them over his eyes to block out
the camera flashes.

Screaming girls and persistent paps were all he could hear as he tried
making his way through the crowd to get to the entrance of the airport,
using his bodyguard as a shield.

“Everyone out of the way, let us through, we haven’t got time for
pictures or questions” Louis’ guard shouted, causing a few respectful
fans to step back, however it still made no difference, it was always a
nightmare trying to navigate through an airport, today was no
exception.

“Louis is it true one direction are reuniting?” One of the paps shouted,
causing Louis head to snap up in shock, how does news spread this fast?
No one should know anything about this, not yet anyway.

The comment caused a frenzy between the screaming girls as this was
most likely the first they had heard of the news, only adding to the
struggle of getting to his jet on time.

“One direction are getting back together?”

“I bet it’s fake news”

“First I’ve heard of it”

Great, now Louis would be getting an earful from Simon about

“spreading the rumor” even though he had no part in this.

26
After a few more shoves and pulls and a little help from airport security,
Louis had finally made it to the entrance of his £20 million jet.

As he slumped onto the small bed at the back of the jet he realized how
worth it it was buying the aircraft, no way could he spend 8 hours on a
public plane after all that back there.

Another pro of having a jet was his access to WiFi, meaning he won’t
be completely bored for 8 hours spent alone in the sky.

He took out his phone and was instantly hit with thousands of
notifications from Twitter, he noticed #onedirectionreunion was
already trending worldwide at number one. Well, he’s f*cked, he
thought to himself with an eye roll.

He debated tweeting to deny the rumors but decided against it, knowing
he would just be adding fuel to the fire and would most likely end up in
even more deep sh*t than before.

Another thing he noticed while scrolling through Twitter was many fans
were pointing out a certain man was already out and about at the same
destination he was currently flying to.

Harry Styles.

Since when did he leave his location on? Probably got told to by
management to keep the rumors circulating.

Before he could click the hashtag that would lead him to many, many
photos of Harry in Hollywood he quickly shut off his phone, knowing
he would just make himself more nervous about finally meeting him
again if he did.

Instead he curled up in a ball and fell to sleep, hoping he would wake

up and already be at his destination.

————————————————————————

27
Hollywood.

Louis woke up to his bodyguard tapping him on the shoulder

repeatedly.

“Louis were here, come on we need to go, get your stuff and meet me
outside the jet” he ordered, causing Louis to groan and rub his sleep
deprived eyes.

Louis stood up out of bed and grabbed his phone and bag before
stepping out of the jet and climbing down to the floor.

Once outside he was hit by a wave of heat coming from the burning sun
of America, he once again had to grab his shades and slip them over his
eyes, this time though for a different reason.

He prayed that there would be no paps when he stepped into the airport,
and today was his lucky day apparently, as there were none in sight. He
only had to deal with a few fans coming to shyly ask for pictures and
the occasional hug, but this was no problem.

After checking through security he was escorted to his shiny black taxi
and was driven to the hotel.

He had been inside this hotel many times before but it still amazed him
every time he returned.

The place was huge and decorated with extravagant furniture and had a
pool to die for, it was surrounded by deck chairs and sofas and even had
a fire pit to the side of it, creating a warm feeling when taking a
midnight dip as he had done many times with the lads in the past, even
though it was against the hotels policy.

He had so many memories in this place, it was the bands go to place to

stay while in Hollywood and he always felt content returning back here.

28
“Are the other lads staying in this hotel too?” Louis asked his
bodyguard while at check in.

“Yeh I think so, you won’t be seeing them till later tonight though when
you attend the meal, everyone will be too busy getting sorted to come
play chit chat so don’t get any ideas Tommo” he said with a knowing
look. He had encountered Louis and the lads getting up to no good too
many times before to trust him with them here. They were in their 20s
but still acted like 5 year olds.

“Yeh yeh whatever, wasn’t planning on it anyway, I need some me time

you know?” Louis sassed.

“Sure mate, you do you, unless that gets me into trouble, in that case
just don’t”

Louis rolled his eyes at that with a smirk playing on his lips.

Then it hit him.

Harry was also staying in this hotel.

He was in the same building as his ex.

Oh god.

Hopefully he doesn’t run into him before necessary, Louis thought.

“You are in room 203 on floor 7, here is your room card and WiFi
password, if you need any assistance please let a member of staff know
using the phone situated in your room, I hope you have a great stay Mr.
Tomlinson” the lady at the front desk explained with a smile, at least
she wasn’t the type to try and get in his pants like so many other staff
members had done in the past, some people can be so unprofessional.

29
He nodded and thanked her before taking the elevator up to floor 7
where he quickly found his room without trouble, perks of being here
so many times before.

The room was huge and brightly lit up from the sun beaming through
the windows that lined the opposite wall to the door. His view was
amazing, silhouettes of skyscrapers could be seen in the distance with
the blue sky being its wall paper. He had a king sized bed with drapes
around it hanging from the ceiling and a wall of mirrors opposite it.

The bathroom was no exception to its extravagance, his en suite had

marble walls and surfaces, contrasting with the black tile floors. A walk
in shower could be seen in the far corner next to the double sink and
mirror, which also had cabinets lining each side of it. To top it off there
was a large bath tub right in front of yet again more windows, it was
something you would see on tumblr.

Of course there was also a toilet, and, I mean, there isn’t much to say
about it really, it’s a bloody toilet. Nothing fancy.

Before he left the bathroom he took a look in the mirror and was stunned
at how rough he looked. His hair was disheveled and he had dark bags
sinking from his sea blue eyes, he also had a bit of scruff growing which
he didn’t actually mind to much, just needed a bit of a clean up really.

He seriously had some work to do if he wanted to look presentable in

front of his band mates. In front of Harry. He needed to make a good
first impression if he wanted this to go smoothly.

After leaving the bathroom he checked the time and realized he had
roughly about three hours before the meal, giving him enough time to
unpack and get ready. He’s glad he had taken his time on the plane to
get some well needed rest, otherwise he would probably pass out from
exhaustion in the middle of eating. Now that would be embarrassing.

As he was about to start unpacking he got a notification from his phone,

it was Liam.

30
Liam: hey mate, u in the hotel now?

Louis: yeh, just got to my room actually, gonna get unpacked and ready
for the meal, what about you?

Liam: I got here yesterday afternoon so I’m already sorted, I guess I’ll
let you get to it then, see you at the restaurant.

Louis: yeh, will do :)

He then set his phone on to the bedside table to charge and unpacked
his clothes and other belongings.

Once that was done he got showered and walked back into his room in
just a towel, hanging lowly on his waist, to pick out his outfit for the
evening.

He decided on smart but casual, a pair or black skinny jeans, a band tee
and his favorite denim jacket, paired with some black vans.

He sprayed himself with some cologne and tried his best to make his
hair look somewhat decent, putting in some product and giving himself
a quiff. He finally smoothed out his stubble so it didn’t look too ratty
and that was him ready for the night.

He thought he actually looked pretty decent. Much better than he did a

few hours ago anyway so he’ll take it. He just hoped his ass didn’t look
too big in his tightly fitted jeans. Ugh, the struggle of having curves, he
said to himself.

Harry once said he had a great figure, but Louis guesses he had to say
that, what with them being in a relationship and all. He did get quite
insecure of his feminine body at times, but instead chose to embrace it,
why the f*ck not, it’s not like he can change it. Plus the fans seemed
weirdly infatuated with his behind, constantly complimenting him on
social media, so he guessed it wasn’t all that bad.

31
He sat back down on his large bed and checked the time, 5:30, he knew
any minute now he would get a knock on the door telling him it was
time to leave and he would have to face the man he had supposedly
“messed up”

He was dreading it.

32
 4
The Meal: Part 1

Louis was right, just a second later there was a knock at his room door,
indicating it was time to get going.

He grabbed his wallet and phone and made his way out to greet his body
guard once again.

They were escorted to the restaurant by a chauffeur in a sleek black

Bentley with tinted windows so nobody could see inside the luxurious
car. To say Louis was nervous was an understatement.

In just a few minutes he would be making his way inside Gordon

Ramsay’s restaurant and come face to face with his ex boyfriend whom
he had not seen nor spoken to in about 4 years.

What would he look like? Is his hair still long? Has he grown taller? (he
hoped not, he was already a giraffe towering over his small body)

There were so many unanswered questions running through Louis mind

that he didn’t even notice the car come to a stop.

“We’re here, you may want to brace yourself, there’s a sh*t ton of paps
out there” his body guard said before climbing out the car and making
his way round to open Louis’ door.

As soon as the door swung open there were flashes yet again blinding
his eyes as he gained a sense of de-ja-vu. It was like a repeat of the
airport, only less fans and more cameras.

“Are you meeting the rest of one d tonight?”

“We saw Liam Payne and Zayn Malik walk inside just a second ago!”

33
“Where’s Styles at?”

So he’s not here yet then, Louis pondered. Maybe he won’t show up?
He didn’t know whether to be ecstatic at the thought or disappointed.

He finally made it inside and was instantly greeted by staff members

who took his jacket and showed him the way to his table.

As he neared his seat, which was situated right by the window, he saw
A large circular table with Liam, Zayn, Niall, James and Simon all sat
around it, only noticing Louis when he was right up in front of them.

“Finally Louis, took you long enough mate” Niall spoke up first, what
a nice way to be greeted Louis thought with an eye roll.

“Can’t look this good without time and preparation Nialler, you should
take a tip or two from me” he said with a smirk as he sat down and made
himself comfortable.

Niall scoffed, “You wish Tommo”.

“To be honest we’re not surprised your late, we are however surprised
that you got here before Harold, it’s not like him to be tardy” James
interrupted, Louis was thinking the same thing to be honest, and it
seems as if the others were thinking it as well as they all nodded in
agreement.

“Where, um, where is he anyway, is he not coming?” Louis shyly asked,

gaining knowing glances from Liam and Zayn.

“He should be here any mi—

Simon was cut off from the sound of shouting outside and from where
they were sat they could see flashes begin to go off and a similar car to
Louis’ pulled up along the sidewalk.

34
“Here he is” Simon stated, as though everyone else was blind to what
was going on outside.

None of them had seen Harry properly except Niall in the 4 years since
the split, so every single one of them stared outside the window, eager
to see the man step outside the car. None of them were as eager as Louis
though.

And it finally happened.

The chauffeur turned to Harrys car door and slowly opened it, revealing
the man in question bit by bit.

The first thing Louis could see was his hair. Harry had apparently
decided not to grow his hair out again since Dunkirk and was now
sporting the same hairstyle as he did back in 2013.

Harry has his face turned away from the window so the second thing
Louis noticed was his outfit, his long legs were fitted into black, ripped
skinny jeans that hugged his skin like paint, his busk shoulders filled
out his silk black shirt that was unbuttoned almost half way down,
exposing his soft tanned skin that was littered with black ink. On top of
that, he is wearing a long waist coat that, guess what, was also black.
The only asset of his outfit that wasn’t black were his suede tan boots,
similar to the ones he used to wear back in one direction.

He wished he could see his face, his wish was granted.

Harry turned for the paparazzi and while doing so Louis caught a glance
of his face.

He was beautiful.

He hasn’t changed much but he looked more mature, more manly, his
jaw was sharper than ever before, Louis thought he would cut himself
by touching it. His emerald green eyes shone and sparkles in the light,
looking like a Forrest with the sun light piercing through the branches

35
overhead. His lips were a bubblegum pink and just as plump as they
were years ago, Louis is surprised he isn’t wearing lipstick, that’s how
pink they are.

However, he was shocked at the expression on his face. Hard and cold,
not like the Harry he used to know who was always smiling, god he
wanted to see them dimples. But he couldn’t, as Harrys face was
emotionless. He looked bored of the situation, Louis could tell Harry
didn’t want to be here just as much as he didn’t.

The paps were having a field day, as Harry rarely makes appearances
in the public with the exception of his tour and travelling to the studio,
they would surely make big bucks from a single picture of him, even if
it were blurry. None of the lads including himself got this big of a
reaction as him, compared to this moment right now, you would think
they are merely friends of some big superstar and don’t have successful
careers of their own.

After what seemed like an hour of gaping Louis turned his attention
back to the people he was sat with, only to see the same expression on
their faces as he had before.

“Since when did he get so popular?” Simon asked, clearly shocked at

the amount of attention Harry had gotten compared to the other lads.

“He made it quite big with his solo career, I mean, he was always the
favorite in the band, you know with the whole ’perfect pop star’ sh*t”
Zayn explained.

“That and the fact that he barely appears in public any more” James
stated with a shrug.

Louis just sat there silently, knowing he was the cause of his attitude
change, if he could take it all back he would, but sadly, he can’t.

36
Just as Liam was about to comment on it the whole restaurant went
silent. The only thing you could hear were the clinks of boots against
the tile floors.

Everyone turned their heads to the direction of the noise and saw Harry
walk into the room with his eyes glued to his phone, looking unbothered
by the entire room staring at him.

Louis thought the entire situation was way too dramatic just for a man
walking into the room, but he guessed that everyone was so enamored
by him because of the fact that he was barely ever seen, and, I mean
come on, if you were an average person having a meal at a restaurant
and Harry f*cking Styles walked into the room, of course you would
look up and stare, unless you’re a weirdo who has no idea who the
handsome man is.

When Harry reaches them he threw his phone onto the table, not caring
if it cracked or not. He then took the last seat available next to Zayn and
Simon, and the seat just so happened to be opposite Louis, great.

Harry leaned back in his chair and threw his cigarette pack onto the
table just like he had done with his phone, he then crossed his arms and
looked around the room.

“Let’s get this sh*t over with then” he finally spoke, still with no
emotion on his handsome face.

He still hadn’t looked at any of them, just stared out the window. Until
nobody had started talking, so he snapped his head back to the front and
looked at each one of them, stopping slightly on Louis before moving
onto Simon.

“Well then? Are you going to f*cking start this conversation or just sit
here and stare at me, honestly take a picture it would last longer” he
said in a huff, clearly losing his patience.

37
Simon coughed and finally said something, saving the rest of the group
from having to come up with a conversation starter.

“Uh— shall we order drinks then?” He said awkwardly.

At that Harry put his hand up to signal for the waitress to come and take
their orders, not a second later a young girl around the age of 20 came
up beside Harrys chair.

“Good evening, my name is Charlotte, I will be your waitress for the

evening, what can I get you” she said in a polite tone.

For the first time all night Harry put a wide, cheeky smile on his face,
though everyone could tell it was just for show, like a mask he put on
for the public.

“Pretty name for a pretty girl Charlotte, how are you love” Harry replied
in a sweetly fake voice.

Louis awkwardly looked away from the situation in front of him, as he

turned his head to look at the lads he got pitiful glances back from them,
they understand how he must be feeling right now. His ex is sat in front
of him shamelessly flirting with the waitress, not giving a damn if Louis
was sat across from him or not.

Louis could feel his heart shatter in his chest, however he felt like he
had no right to feel this way in the first place, he was the one who broke
Harrys heart in the beginning, this was practically karma for his bad
decisions.

“Can we get a few drinks to begin with babe” Harry said in a flirtatious
tone, smirking at her. He then put his hand on her lower back as a term
of endearment.

This made Louis feel sick to his stomach.

38
He watched as Harrys hand moved in circles along the girls back, the
girl just standing there and embracing it making heart eyes at him.

Louis gripped the arms of his chair so tightly that his knuckles turned
white, it didn’t go unnoticed by Simon, who smirked behind his hand,
clearly amused by Harrys behavior.

Simon loves any circumstance that made Louis uncomfortable and put
him in a bad mood, so to him this was the highlight of his day.

“Yeh no problem, what drinks can I get you” she replied.

That sentence should have been towards everyone at the table, however
her eyes were focused on Harry’s, never taking her attention away from
the man.

“I’ll have a jack and coke, thanks babe”

As he called her the little nickname he turned his head straight forward
and stared at Louis with a smirk on his face, Louis was guessing this
was his way of telling Louis he was over him.

“Why don’t you tell this beautiful girl here what you’re having Louis”
Harry said, never breaking eye contact with Louis.

The tension in the atmosphere round the table could be cut with a knife,
everyone was on edge due to Harrys compulsive behavior. They had
heard he had changed, but they didn’t realize it would be this drastic.

Louis cleared his throat and put on a straight face, Louis was
determined to show Harry he wasn’t affected by his little games, even
if inside he was slowly breaking.

“Vodka coke” Louis finally got out, he wasn’t going to be polite to this
girl, even if she hadn’t particularly done anything wrong.

39
She pulled a face at his rude demeanor but wrote down his order none
the less. She then moved on to take everyone else’s order before
walking away.

For a few seconds there was awkward silence before Liam spoke up.

“Sorry mate but what the fuck was that?”

Liam spoke in a harsh tone towards Harry, clearly p*ssed that he had
ruined the mood not even half an hour in. Of course he understood
Harry had every right to be angry with Louis, but this was just uncalled
for. He’s not only ruining Louis mood but everyone at the table too with
the exception of Simon because, well, it’s Simon.

“Just a friendly conversation Liam, what’s the harm in talking to a

pretty girl” he said innocently, Although he wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Cut it with the bullshit I can see what you’re doing” Liam replies, on
the verge of losing his temper.

Harry sighed dramatically and leaned forward to rest his head on his
hands against the table.

“And what exactly is it that I’m doing Liam?” He cockily asked, tilting
his head to the side while staring him in the eyes.

“You’re taking the p*ss is what you’re doing, your attitude stinks and
you’re not being fair to Lou or any of us sat round this table”

Louis wanted to kiss Liam right now (not literally, Zayn would kill him)
he could always count on him to take his side and be there for him when
he was clearly feeling down. Liam was the type of friend that could
instantly tell his exact emotions, and he was glad to have a friend like
that by his side.

Harry turned to face Louis at the mention of his name, but still looked
unfazed by Liam’s little speech. For just a second Louis thought he saw

40
a spark of guilt in his eyes, however it quickly vanished as soon as Louis
made eye contact with him.

“Louis has no right to care, it was his f*cking fault in the first place, if
he wants to go cry about it it’s fine by me” he said coldly, causing the
lads and James to gasp, shocked at how he was talking to the boy he
once loved.

Louis just sat there, and kept a straight face, like he had been doing for
the majority of the night.

41
5
The Meal: Part 2

After the harsh insult from Harry, Louis decided to ignore him for the
rest of the night as best he can.

It really did hurt. He already has to live with the guilt of the pain he put
Harry through that day so many years ago, the memory still as clear as
day to him.

But now he has Harry bashing him for it at every chance he gets, making
snarky comments every two minutes and using the waitress as a toy to
gain jealousy. What happened to not objectifying women?

The man sat across from him right now is not his Harry. His Harry is
kind and compassionate, treating people with kindness all day every
day no matter who the person may be. His Harry doesn’t smoke, or
drink and doesn’t purposely try to disrupt an event, in this case the meal.

No this Harry is different, and it’s all his fault. If only he hadn’t listened
to Simon and management, they could have been happy.

“So, Harry, become quite the sensation since the break I believe” James
says, breaking Louis’ train of thought.

Harry shrugged before replying. “I guess so, what can I say? They love
the music. Had a lot to get off my chest while writing, a lot of the bad
sh*t came in handy” His little dig there was obviously directed to Louis.

“I see, I really liked sweet creature by the way, beautiful song” James
said with a knowing smirk.

42
Louis was confused, seeming as he hadn’t listened to Harrys album he
had no idea what song James was referring to and was pretty useless in
this conversation.

Harry gripped his knife and fork tighter at that comment, pausing mid
bite of his food.

“Did you now” is all he said, not thanking the man for the compliment.

Weirdly, Harry glances up at Louis, for the first time without a glare or
cocky smirk, he looked worried, scared almost. But why? Is all that
Louis could think. Louis just sends him and James a confused glance at
which Harry seems to relax, like he’s come to a realization.

Louis looks towards the other lads to see they had all stopped eating
and we’re now sending knowing looks towards one another. This just
confuses Louis further. What is going on?

“Yes, however I have to know, who’s the song about Harry?” James
dares to ask.

In a second Harry has thrown his knife and fork back onto his plate and
stands abruptly from the table, he turns and walks away towards the
bathroom but not without sending a deathly glare towards James. The
look even sent shivers down Louis spine so he can only imagine how
James is feeling.

“Okay what the f*ck was that about” Louis exclaimed, having a feeling
that everyone at the table knew something he didn’t.

“Louis, have you listened to any of Harrys solo material?” Niall

questioned.

“Course I haven’t, how could I after everything that happened?” He

replies, earning an exasperated sigh from him in return.

43
“Look we don’t know for sure but we think one or two of his songs
were written about you Lou” Liam carefully says.

Louis was stunned into silence. Just-what? Harry’s written songs about
him? He thought he didn’t want anything to do with him yet there he
goes, writing songs about him? This makes no sense.

“Great, I’m guessing he took a tip from Taylor and wrote a break up
song then, can’t wait to listen to that face to face on tour” he says
dramatically.

“No Lou, you don’t understand, they were love songs, like I don’t
know, saying he missed what you had” Liam explained.

Okay what the f*ck? Well, this just keeps getting better and better.

“Even his fans could tell the song was written about you, however I
wanted to be sure as he would never tell me under normal
circumstances, so I wanted to see his reaction in front of you, I mean
he’s a good actor but not good enough to hide his feelings in front of
you—

“Seems like a pretty damn good actor to me, one minute he’s a total
pr*ck and the next he’s apparently wrote me love songs” Louis cut
James off, still in shock.

“It’s pretty obvious this whole bad ass act is just to mask his hurt Louis,
I don’t blame him either” Zayn said.

“Either way his reaction just then proved my point, he’s definitely still
got some feelings in there” James confirmed, digging back into his meal
just as Harry returned from the bathroom.

“You quite finished then?” Harry asked James as he sat down.

“Was only a question Harold no need to get so defensive” James replies,

causing Harry to huff and ignore his comment.

44
“So, are we actually going to discuss what we came here for or am I
wasting my time on chit chat?” Harry asked, directing it more towards
Simon than the lads.

“Oh, Yeh your right, got too caught up in this obvious tension but never
mind, we can discuss it now” Simon sassily replies, not taking any of
Harrys bullsh*t.

“Get on with it then” is all he said in return.

“Right then. As you all know the first proper reveal to the fans will be
on James’ carpool karaoke, which we will start filming in about a week
ish, that is if everything is sorted with his crew and our own. You all
know how the carpool goes so I doubt I need to explain that, unless you
have any questions of the matter?”

Simon looked at each of them expectantly until nobody spoke up.

“Good, glad to know you lot don’t have amnesia” he sarcastically said,
gaining a few eye rolls from the lads.

“After this we will be filming a Tour promo video which should be

ready on time to release to the public about three days later—

“What are we doing for the video?” Harry rudely cut in.

“If you let me speak I would explain it Harold” Simon replied, making
Harry scoff and sip his jack and coke.

“The video will probably consist of a few old throwback videos of you
guys with a voice recording over layering it, we will have Ben helping
us produce the video and direct it so if you have any questions on that
before the shoot is suggest you give him a ring.” Everyone nodded their
heads in understanding.

45
“Once the promo video is out tickets will go on sale two weeks later,
that way we have time for you to do interviews on talk shows such as
Allan Carr, Jimmy Fallon, Jonathan Ross and of course James” with
that James cheekily winked at the lads and they all returned him a
chuckle, with the exception of Harry who just sat there unaffected.

“Once tour has started your set to begin with the UK leg, followed by
Europe and ending with America. In total you should be doing
anywhere between 80 to 130 shows but I’d have to double check that
one. As this is the made in the A.M tour you will of course be singing
the songs from that album but we’ve decided it would be best if you
also took turns in singing your own solo material, give it a bit of variety
seeming as this has to be your biggest tour yet to make a statement
comeback. How you chose to perform your solo material is entirely up
to you, whether you want to have the boys back you up or completely
sing it on your own is fine as long as you let each other know your plans
beforehand” Simon explained.

Well, this is new, Louis thought to himself. They don’t normally get
this much freedom during tour, so to be able to make their own
decisions for once is incredible.

“Can we pick which of our own songs we would like to sing?” Zayn
asked.

“Yes, like I said, that part is entirely up to you” he replied, making the
boys sigh with relief.

“Choreography and run throughs should be the same as always—

“Please no dancing, I don’t think I could last” Louis quickly exclaimed,

god he hated dancing, by the look on Zayn’s face he could see he
agreed.

“You’ll have no luck with that one having Payno and Haz on stage with
you” Niall said, looking quite amused.

46
“You two dance now?” Louis asked, shocked to say the least.

“It’s called stage presence Louis, ever heard of it? Don’t exactly want
to bore the crowd now do you?” Harry smugly replies.

Louis didn’t answer him, he simply rolled his eyes and decided to not
ask the d*ck anymore questions for the night.

“Don’t start again” Liam warned, thinking Harry had finally quit it with
the snarky comments, clearly he was wrong.

“Whatever” is all Harry said back with a huff.

“If your both quite done could I finish telling you what the f*ck is going
to happen or are you going to continue squabbling like five year olds
all night?” Simon said, clearly not happy with the bands behavior
tonight.

When everyone was silent he continued.

“With a reunion you obviously have to bring out another album,

otherwise what’s the point? So in between tour and interviews I want
you all noting down lyrics and song ideas that we can then put together
to start making your album once you get off tour, your schedules will
be too hectic to try record anything in the hotel rooms like you had
previously done with the last album so we think it’s best to hold it off
for a bit until everything has calmed down. Other than that, that should
be everything you need to know so far, if you need anything or have
any questions let management know as they’re the ones with all the
answers, if anything comes up they will contact you to let you know.
For now just do what you please until we start filming the carpool”
Simon finally finished off.

Jesus that was a lot of information at once, Louis didn’t know how he
would keep up with it all.

47
Harry then abruptly stood up, his chair making a screeching noise
against the expensive flooring.

“Thank f*ck that’s over, I’ll be heading off then” Harry said causing
yet again another scene in the incredibly busy restaurant.

He grabbed his cigarette pack and phone before throwing $1000 onto
the table like it was nothing.

“This should cover the cost of my meal, have a nice night ladies”

And with that he was out the door into the now dark streets of
California, ready to be whisked off to the hotel in his matte black
Bentley.

Everyone at the table just sat there in silence for a moment to try process
what had just happened, until James spoke up.

“Good luck dealing with that on tour” is all he said before he said a
quick goodnight to everyone and left the table just like Harry had done
a few minutes ago.

“What is his problem? like he has seriously changed” Niall questioned.

“We know what his problem is, the real question is how do we solve it”
Liam answered nonchalantly.

Louis shrunk further into his seat at that, once again swallowed up by
guilt. His band mates shouldn’t have to deal with this when it was his
doing. He pitied them really.

Louis only hoped Harry would come to his senses quick, or this tour is
without a doubt going to be a nightmare.

48
 6
Pool Troubles

Back at the hotel:

Louis walked back inside the hotel lobby followed by Zayn, Liam and
Niall, laughing about something Louis didn’t really care for.

If he’s being honest he’s not really in the mood for laughing right now,
let’s just say a certain curly headed lad has significantly ruined his
night.

He hadn’t known what to expect but it certainly wasn’t that. Harry

really has changed, and not for the better.

Just as Louis was about to head for his room he was stopped by Niall
tugging on his arm, spinning him around to face him.

“Tommooo, where are you going? The nights still young!” Niall
exclaimed, taking Louis aback for a minute before he quickly
recovered.

“I think I’m just gonna call it a night, have a good time though, you
enjoy yourself mate” he said before once again trying to leave for his
room.

“Oh no you don’t” Niall said, pulling him back, Louis sighed and
looked at him expectantly.

“I know you better than you think Tommo, and if you really believe I’m
going to let you mope about just because of some guy being a dick
you’ve got another thing coming” he said sternly. God he loved Niall.

“But—

49
“No buts! How would you feel about sneaking out to the pool like good
old times ey? Could even get the fire-pit going” he suggested with a
wink.

How could he say no to that.

“Ugh fine, at least let me go change into some swim shorts first” he
accepted with a groan.

Honestly this man could get him to do anything, even after all this time
of not seeing each other, guess times don’t change, at least for some
people.

“Yeah sure, I’ll get the lads and then meet you at the pool entrance in
five?” He said with a grin.

Louis just hoped that by “the lads” he meant the four of them, not
including Harry. He doesn’t think he could face him after what went
down in the restaurant.

“Alright” and with that Louis waved him off and turned into the
elevator.

When Louis arrived back in his room he went straight over to his
wardrobe and found his black swim shorts. He stripped and then threw
them on before leaving his phone on charge and heading back into the
hallway carrying a towel.

When he reached the entrance of the outdoor pool he saw that the lads
were already there waiting for him, and thankfully Harry was nowhere
to be seen.

“Alright, lets do this shit” Louis said, walking towards them.

50
Niall smirked before taking the key to the door that he had snagged
from reception. He was about to unlock it when he realized it was
already open.

“That’s weird, they always lock this door” Niall said, confusion written
all over his face.

They all just shrugged and swung open the door, however they stopped
before walking further in.

Louis was confused as he couldn’t see over their shoulders to know why
they weren’t just walking in. Was it security? The manager? Pool
cleaner? Louis has no fucking clue.

“Fucking move then jeez” he said before pushing past them and out into
the evening heat of LA. What he saw had him shocked.

Sat there against the edge of the pool, was Harry. Accompanied by two
beautiful girls wearing bikinis, one on either side of him.

Harry was alternating between the two, making out with them one at a
time, seemingly oblivious to the lads watching the scene take place.
That was until Liam awkwardly coughed, taking his attention away
from the girls and to them instead.

Louis just stood there unmoving as Harry took a second to look him up
and down, very aware of his little clothing. This caused Louis to place
his towel in front of his body, feeling yet again insecure of his feminine
figure especially in front of Harry.

“Didn’t realize you’d be showing up lads, I’m kinda busy here don’t
you think” he said cockily, a smirk growing on his face.

“Too bad, you can take this to your room, not in a public pool” Liam
stated matter of factly.

51
“Not exactly public at night, hence the locked door” he said with a
shrug.

“Maybe you should have remembered to lock it again once you came
in, especially when you damn well know we always come here during
the night at this hotel” Liam retorted, starting to get pissed off.

“You have a key don’t you?” Harry asked, gesturing to the object in
Niall’s hand.

“Yeh, why?” Niall questioned.

“So you would have came in either way, no point in locking it. Now
can you kindly fuck off so I can get back to my girls here” Harry said
with no emotion what so ever.

“I thought you were gay anyway?” Zayn asked him, ignoring the rude
comment.

“I swing both ways, Lou should know that better than anyone” he
replied.

Harrys eyes were cold but he had a smirk on his face, making it hard to
tell whether that was supposed to be playful or another dig.

“Fucking give it a rest would you, by this point your just being childish
Harry, drop the act for gods sake” Louis said, finally snapping.

Harry raised an eyebrow and turned around in the pool to grab a

cigarette, lighting it up and turning back to the boys while taking a drag.

“Since when do you smoke anyway?” Louis asked.

“Why do you care? You smoke so you’re not one to judge” he said,
letting out the smoke from his lungs and into the air.

“But you were so against it” Louis said.

52
“Things change” is all he replied.

“Whatever, were staying here whether you like it or not, if your so

bothered by our presence take this to your room” Niall said, making it
clear Harry would not ruin their night.

Harry didn’t reply, instead he threw his cigarette into the pool and
pulled himself up out of the water using the edge. Once out he helped
the girls up and put his arms around their shoulders, walking them
towards the exit.

If Louis said he didn’t take a quick look at his abs and v line then he
was definitely a liar.

“Eyes up here Lou” he whispered in his ear before walking past him
and back into the hotel.

Louis’ breath hitched and it took all of him not to shout at Harry to not
take them girls to his room. But it wasn’t his place to, he did fuck over
their relationship after all.

Louis was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a loud splash and
saw a soaking wet Niall break the surface of the water.

“You lot coming in then or what?” He shouted, and burst into a fit of
giggles.

They all chuckled before joining Niall in the heated pool, and Louis
tried to forget the green eyed man for the rest of the night.

53
 7
Shopping Trip

The next day:

Louis had woken up about an hour ago and it was now 10:45am. He
was currently sat in the hotel restaurant with Liam, Niall and Zayn
having a breakfast that consisted of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup.

“Have we got anything planned today?” Louis asked the lads before
stuffing his face with another mouthful of bacon.

“Not sure, guess we just have to wait for management to let us know
where to be and what to do, so unless any of you have had a call then
we have the day for ourselves” Liam shrugged.

The rest of them shook their heads no as they hadn’t been called as of
yet.

“Fancy going shopping today then? Haven’t had a chance to update my

wardrobe for about a month so I’m in need of a shopping spree” Zayn
asked, clearly excited at the thought of new clothes.

“Yeah sure, we’ll have to let our bodyguards know though, you know
how bloody hectic it can get while out and about in a busy city” Louis
accepted.

“Course. I will ring them now and go get ready, meet here in about half
an hour?” Zayn replied.

“Wow. Half an hour Zayn, used to take you half a day to even get your
hair sorted” Louis sarcastically stated.

54
Zayn just rolled his eyes and waved them off before leaving for his
room once again.

Shortly after Zayn’s leave they all departed to get ready, agreeing to
meet up just as Zayn had said.

When Louis arrived at his room he decided to wear a black band tee
with black skinny jeans and a beanie, paired with his vans and a pair of
sunglasses as he knew paps would surely be out and about in la.

He decided not to do anything with his hair as it would just be covered

by the beanie anyway, so he grabbed his wallet and phone before
heading out the door once again.

On his way to reception he decided to check his Twitter and noticed

management had been dropping hints of the reunion on the one
direction twitter account. Already? Really? Typical, Louis thought. It
had only been three days and they were already hyping the fans up, only
to make them wait about another month for the tour to kick off.

He had numerous tweets linked to him asking if it were true and a few
had even noticed which hotel he was currently staying in. His fans may
as well be the FBI at this point. He didn’t even have his location on!

He shook his head before pocketing his phone and looked up to greet
the lads again. However his smile fell when Harry was stood there
waiting with them.

“Took you long enough” Harry said, irritating Louis even more.

“And your here because?” Louis retorted, crossing his arms and pulling
the best bitch face he could muster.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I’m part of the band too, if
your so bothered don’t come, it’s your choice” he stated matter of
factly.

55
Louis huffed out a quick fine before pushing the hotel door open and
quickly walking out, the lads following behind him.

However this was a bad move on his part because as soon as he stepped
out he was greeted by multiply fans screaming in his face and flashes
going off.

He was pulled back by the neck of his shirt roughly and dragged back
inside the hotel just before he was mauled by the fans. He turned to see
Harry was the one that had pulled him back in.

“Uhh, thanks, for that, I guess” he muttered.

Harry didn’t reply and instead rolled his eyes before turning back
around and calling someone on his phone.

A second later body guards had marched over to them, Louis realized
Harry must have called them.

“What happened?” Paul, their body guard asked, relieved to see they
were ok, he would be fired if anything had happened to them.

“Louis here almost got himself mauled by the fans, Harry had to drag
him back inside” Niall told him, gaining a nod in reply.

“Cheers Harry, Simon would have had my head if anything happened

to him” Paul thanked. He then turned to Louis.

“You, however, what were you thinking walking out there, did you not
notice the screaming girls?” He sternly said, pointing in Louis’s face.

“No— I just, I was distracted ok?” He stuttered out, he wasn’t even sure
why he was so nervous to be honest, Paul was just… intimidating when
up close.

“Well don’t be, that could have ended badly” he replied, not amused
what so ever.

56
Louis just nodded and looked down at his shoes, feeling utterly stupid,
how could he just walk out there, he should know the risks by now, he
thought sadly.

Zayn came over and patted him on the back, taking Louis’ attention
back to the real world. He squeezed his shoulder in a reassuring way
which made Louis feel significantly better about his mistake.

“Right, we will clear the way and only come out when we give the clear
okay?” Paul told them.

They knew not to disagree with him so they nodded and watched as he
made his way out the door, shouting at the fans to make way for them.

Louis did feel bad for them, he knew they probably only wanted a photo
or signature, and how could he blame them when it was all over Twitter
that they were at this hotel, anyone in the area would show up after
seeing it.

Once it was clear to go, they made their way outside one by one, into
the eyes of the public for the first time as a band after the hiatus.

Many questions were screamed at each of them but only one stood out
to Louis.

“Harry are you back with Kendall Jenner?!” One fan screamed, causing
Louis’ head to shoot up, confused.

Harry didn’t reply to the question, causing Louis to wonder if it were

true or not as he hadn’t even heard of the rumor since he didn’t go
anywhere near news of Harry for the past 4 years.

Louis frowned and got into the car waiting for them, he was sat next to
Niall and Zayn while Harry was sat upfront and Liam was in the far
back.

57
“Your with Kendall again?” Zayn asked Harry, Louis mentally thanked
him, now he could get answers without having to ask himself.

“Not exactly” is all he replied, great, so much for getting answers.

“What does that even mean?” Liam asked.

“It means what it means, I took her out, paps caught us, assumed we
were dating again and then the whole world was speculating. Nothing
new for me” he explained.

Although Harry had no emotion written on his face the lads could see
how much this bothered him. He was always the one who was made out
as a player in the band. The ’womanizer’ as they called it, when really
he had only loved one person before in his life. And that person was a
man, that person was Louis.

The lads felt sorry for him, they knew how much it affected Harry but
no matter what they said they couldn’t comfort him on the matter, so
with that they all dropped the subject and sat in silence for the rest of
the ride.

Louis was conflicted though. On one hand he felt bad for how Harry
was portrayed by the media, on the other hand, after witnessing Harry
last night with them girls, maybe he was only adding to the problem,
there for it was his fault. Saying that, he knew that wasn’t the real Harry,
only an act. But still, Louis didn’t know what to think any more.

When they arrived at the city center they all got out and were
surrounded by their body guards, directing them to the shops they
wished to go in.

The shopping trip was actually all right… until they got to the Gucci
store.

This was of course by Harrys request. As they have to stick together

that meant going into every shop each of them wanted to go in.

58
At first Louis had no objection going into the expensive shop, seeming
as he wanted to buy a new Gucci hoodie himself. However half an hour
later they were still stood in that very same shop, waiting whist Harry
tried on at least 10 different Gucci suits all tailored to fit him perfectly.

Apparently Harry has called the shop in advance to get the suits ready,
knowing he would be visiting whilst in LA. Louis had only just found
out that Harry knew the head of designers at Gucci personally as he had
previously appeared in a Gucci campaign two years ago, which Louis
still needed to take a look at as he was intrigued to say the least.

Why does anyone even need that many suits? Louis thought
begrudgingly. While waiting Louis decided to look at some suits
himself, may as well when he clearly wasn’t getting out of this store
anytime soon.

Only one of them caught his eye. It was slim fitted and entirely black.
It had some Gucci detailing at the cuffs and bottoms of the trousers that
gave it a nice touch. He really liked it. But he didn’t think he could pull
it off.

His mind drifted off to his feminine figure again, thinking about how
his ass would look too big in the fitted pants, about how his tummy
might show, how it wouldn’t fit his personality. He had so many
insecurities holding him back from even trying the suit on, he didn’t
want to make a fool of himself.

“Try it on” someone whispered into Louis ear, startling him out of his
thoughts.

He quickly spun around only to see Harry stood there wearing a black
suit with white pinstripes patterned all over it, completed with a white
tank top with the words “treat people with kindness” embroider into the
fabric.

59
Louis will admit. It looked hot. Like, really hot, it took a second for him
to get his shit together and speak.

“No, it wouldn’t suit me” is all he managed to get out, looking down in
embarrassment.

“You like it don’t you?” Harry asked, tilting Louis’ face up to meet his
own.

“I— I uh— yeh, I guess” Louis replies, struggling to get the words out
with Harry being this close.

“Then try it on, you’ll never know until you see yourself in it” is all he
said back before turning and heading over to the worker to discuss
payment plans and any more details he wanted added onto his suits.

Louis hesitated for a minute before grabbing the suit and heading to the
changing rooms.

On his way he got stopped by Niall.

“Mate that would look sick on you, could wear it to award shows n shit”
Niall said over enthusiastically.

“Yeh I could, if I’m even buying it, it probably won’t suit me anyway”
he said with a frown.

“Don’t put yourself down, your gonna look amazing wearing that” he
reassured, gaining a smile from Louis.

Once he had changed into the suit he looked at himself in the mirror,
picking out all his flaws. He was just about to take it off and leave it
sitting there but was stopped by Niall shouting him out of the dressing
room.

“Loueh! Get your ass out here and show me how you look!” He
exclaimed.

60
Louis groaned but walked out into the main room slowly. He didn’t
dare look up at the lads, terrified of their reactions, he was sure they
would just laugh and tell him he looked ridiculous.

When he heard nothing he looked up, seeing all four of the lads looking
shocked, mouths hanging open in awe.

“I think you just turned me gay” Niall said.

There was a moment of silence before they all burst out laughing.

Once they had calmed down Louis tugged at the sleeves of his suit and
waited for the verdict.

“You seriously need to buy that, it looks so good on you Lou, there’s
no way you’re leaving it here. If you don’t buy it I will buy it for you
whether you like it or not” Liam said.

“I don’t know, don’t you think it’s too tight, my figure just doesn’t suit
it” he replied.

The boys all frowned, they knew how insecure Louis could get at times
but they could never reassure him enough for him to feel good about
himself. The only person that could make him realize his beauty was
Harry. So that’s why when Louis looked away they nudged the tall man
with an expectant look in their eyes.

He seemed reluctant at first, not wanting to compliment the man that

had caused him so much pain, but he finally gave up his act just for a
second. He didn’t like the idea of Louis being insecure more than he
didn’t like the idea of being kind to the man. So that’s why he huffed
and finally spoke up.

“You look great Lou, you should buy it” he said, and looked Louis in
the eyes before walking away to pay for his suits.

61
Louis was shocked. He knew him and Harry weren’t on good terms at
the moment so for the man to compliment him on how he looked was a
massive improvement.

What was it with the mood swing though? One minute he was hating
his guts and making out with multiple girls just to spite him and the next
he was telling him he looked great. Was he bipolar or something?

He left the negative thoughts behind and decided to purchase the suit,
it may come in handy for events in the future anyway so he may as well.

That day Harry ended up walking out of Gucci with 11 huge bags which
were a struggle for the body guards to carry back to the car and Louis
was left more confused than ever.

62
 8
Back In The Studio

A few days later:

The lads were currently on their way to the studio as they had had a call
early this morning from management letting them know that they
needed to start compiling song ideas into a file for when they start
recording the album.

Louis found it a little strange that they were getting ideas together this
early on however he understood that making an album was a long
process. Plus they do have a tight schedule with tour and everything, so
he happily got out of bed (or rather got dragged out of bed by Niall, but
no one had to know that) and made his way to the studio.

When they reached the studio they all sat down on sofas and chairs with
notepads and sheets of music ready to begin the lyrical process. To be
honest, Louis didn’t have much to offer as he had only just got back
from tour himself and had used most of his time creating music for his
solo career, but if it came down to it Louis could contribute his solo
material to the band.

Sat with them was their music producer who had worked with them on
their last two albums, so the lads found it easy to communicate their
ideas with him and discuss melodies along with what message they
wanted to portray to the fans. He understood them in and out and was
very successful with his job.

“Nice to see you again lads, been a while hasn’t it?” Julian said cheerily.

“Yeh you too” Liam replied smiling.

63
“So let’s get started then, firstly, have any of you got any completed
songs because they’re always easier to work with at first than snippets
of song ideas” He asked them, turning his serious mode on.

The boys shook their head apart from Harry, who looked like he was
contemplating saying something.

“Harry?” Julian asked, clearly he could see the cogs spinning inside
Harrys head just as much as Louis could.

“Umm, I do have one song, it’s uh, it’s quite personal though” he said,
the boys could tell he was uncomfortable sharing the song, indicating it
was probably quite deep, maybe a Ballard?

“Look I know it’s always a struggle performing deep songs in front of

a group of people, but think about it, we all know how good of a song
writer you are, I could see that when listening to you solo album, so if
this song turns out to be great it could end up on the album, the fans
could connect with it” Julian stated matter of factly.

The boys all nodded while Harry just sat there chewing his nail and
looking into space.

“Come on Harry, you know we’re not going to judge you, I bet it’s
going to be an amazing song just because it’s you who’ve written it”
Zayn said reassuringly.

Harry sighed but stood up and made his way to the piano.

“Fine, it’s called if I could fly” he said before sitting down and taking
a second to compose himself.

The lads and Julian all sat upright, ready to hear the song. For Louis,
this would be the first time hearing him sing for about four years now,
he needed to prepare himself.

64
Harry started playing and a soft melodic tune filled the room, it was
slow which meant this was in fact going to be rather emotional.

“If I could fly, I’d be coming right back home to you” Harry sang, his
voice was soft and angelic and even just from the first line it was so
emotional.

“I think I might, give up everything just ask me to”

Louis listened closely to his voice, taking in every word and trying to
figure out what it meant. He knew it was a love song, of course, but
little did he know it was dedicated to him.

“Pay attention I hope that you listen”

Oh, Louis was listening alright.

“Cause I let my guard down. Right now I’m completely defenseless”

Louis looked around to see that everyone’s eyes were trained on Harry,
not moving a single muscle, just taking in what he sang and letting the
emotion flow through them.

“For your eyes only, I’ll show you my heart, for when your lonely, and
forget who you are, I’m missing half of me, when we’re apart, and now
you know me, for your eyes only”

Harry sung the chorus with such passion it vibrated through the room,
the words washing over them like waves. He had his eyes closed while
singing and furrowed eyebrows atop of them, showing it was painful
for him to show such emotions.

Right now Harry was vulnerable. He couldn’t hide behind his tough
facade and he couldn’t mask his face from showing emotions. This song
brought out his feelings in ways nothing else could, and although it was
heartbreaking, it’s was nice to see Harry expressing himself after such
a long time.

65
“I’ve got scars”

Louis head snapped at this, he didn’t know if it were metaphorically or

the truth but he only hoped it wasn’t the latter, how could he be in this
much pain?

“Even though they can’t always be seen. And pain gets hard, but now
you here and I don’t feel a thing”

Louis once again looked over at the lads and saw that Liam was actually
crying, teardrops falling down his cheeks slowly, not caring if they
dripped onto his shirt. Jesus of this is what it did to a band mate what
would it do to the fans?

Harry opened his eyes and looked at Louis before singing again.

“Pay attention I hope that you listen, cause I let my guard down, right
now I’m completely defenseless” he sang, locking eyes with Louis.

For the first time in ages Louis saw actual, raw emotion in Harrys eyes,
it was at that moment he realized the song was meant for him, and this
is why Harry was so hesitant to play it.

Harry was conveying a message to Louis. He was serenading him, and

Louis felt like he was the only person in the room at that moment. He
didn’t know when this song was written or if the lyrics still applied now,
but he didn’t care, as he knew that this is what Harry once felt for him,
may even still feel for him now. But he had fucked it all up, he had a
chance and he blew it, and it is still to this day the biggest mistake of
his life.

There’s only one thing Louis regrets most, and it’s breaking Harry
Styles’ heart.

Harry sang through the chorus once again, still singing with so much
passion that Louis was finding it hard to hold back his tears.

66
“I hope that you don’t run from me” he sang softly, eyes glazed over
but not letting any tears fall.

And that’s what broke it for Louis. He finally let his first tear roll down
his cheek because he realized he had done the one thing Harry didn’t
want him to. He had ran from him.

Harry must have written this while they were still in a relationship, he
must have written down that one line while they were still together.
Harry has hoped Louis wouldn’t run, but Louis still ran. And if Louis
was feeling guilty before, it was nothing compared to what he felt now.

Harry sang the last lyric and his hands came to a stop, resting on the
piano keys as he sat in silence, staring at the studio wall.

Nobody spoke. Not even Julian. They just looked at Harry

sympathetically, but also in awe at his writing skills.

Liam and Louis both wiped their tears and took a deep breath when
Harry turned to look at them all. His emotions had once again been
wiped off his face almost as if he hadn’t just performed the song most
dear to his heart.

When everyone had finally gotten their sense back the lads suddenly
looked at Louis with a knowing look in their eyes. They must know the
song was written for him and that Harry and just poured out his
emotions right in front of them, telling them and Louis exactly what he
felt at the time, might even feel that way now.

The tension was broken by Julian though as he spoke up.

“Wow Harry, that was uh, that was incredible. This definitely needs to
go on the next album”

“No” Harry replied sternly.

67
“No? What do you mean no, that’s one of the best songs I’ve ever heard,
there’s so much emotion in it, the fans would love it” he said
desperately.

“No means no” he stated.

“But Haz just— Niall started only to be cut off by Harry.

“If I didn’t even wanna share it with you lot why do you think I would
want to share it with the fans?” He said, voice getting louder out of
frustration.

“Look just think about it, you don’t have to decide any time soon” Liam
said softly, trying to calm him down.

Harry didn’t answer. Instead he abruptly stood up, grabbed his things
and left the studio, slamming the door shut behind himself.

68
 9.
Clubbing

Later that day:

“Get changed now we’re going out”

Is the first thing Louis heard when answering his call from Niall. After
the drama earlier on at the studio Louis instantly went back to bed when
returning to his hotel room. Niall has just woken him up from his well
deserved nap. Dickhead.

“What? Now? Seriously Niall” he groaned.

“We need to go find Harry before management do. People have spotted
him entering a club down town and we’re not supposed to be out
clubbing this close to the reunion date, if he’s fucked we all are for not
being ’responsible’”

“Fuck sake, what’s he doing out clubbing anyways” he sighed.

“Not sure but we need to find him quickly before he does something
stupid. Meet me at reception in five” and with that Niall hung up the
phone.

Louis threw his phone on the bed and stared up at the ceiling for a
minute before dragging himself out of bed to get changed.

There’s no doubt he would have to stay low key if they were sneaking
out without their body guards. And for that reason he chose to wear all
black with an Adidas hat to complete the outfit and hopefully disclose
his face as much as possible.

He then grabbed his phone and wallet and made his way to meet Niall.

69
“Right lets get going. Pull your hood up so nobody suspects it’s us”
Niall said once he spotted Louis.

He complied and they headed out for the club.

“Which club is he at anyway?” Louis asked.

“Warwick. Fans spotted him entering around an hour ago, I found out
on Twitter. Apparently he looked out of it and met some guy outside
before going in, not sure who though” he explained.

“Thought you needed to be on the guest list to get in there?” Louis

replied, confused.

“He’s Harry Styles. Any club would let him in” is all he said before
turning the corner where the club was located.

As they tried getting past security they were stopped at last minute. Did
they not know who they are?

“Names” the large security guard said sternly.

“Fuck sake” Louis huffed before taking down his hood and taking off
his hat, looking into the man’s eyes as if challenging him.

A look of realization crossed the man’s face and he stepped out of the
way, gesturing for the lads to go inside.

This caused a few people who had been waiting a long time in line to
complain, pissed off that they were let in so easily within a matter of
seconds.

Louis and Niall took no notice though, immediately walking past the
guards and into the dark club.

70
They were suddenly hit with the loud sound of music vibrating through
their ears and flashing lights going off everywhere they looked. They
could smell alcohol and weed all throughout the club and it honestly
felt suffocating.

Sure, Louis loves going to clubs often, however after not being to one
in so long he wasn’t used to it. The last real big club he had been to was
for his birthday two years ago, that one was wild. It was a bdsm club
his friends had rented out for him, insisting it would be a laugh, and it
was, however it had all ended up online the next morning and to say
Louis was embarrassed was an understatement.

Louis and Niall got stopped countless times while navigating their way
through the club, people noticing the A list celebrities everywhere they
went. It took them about half an hour before they even noticed Harry.

They found him sat in the VIP section. The area was even darker than
the rest of the club, only dimly lit with red LED lights scattered along
the red walls. There were black leather couches in the corner of the
room facing the glass tables that had various drugs and beverages sat
upon it. Curtains framed the entry way, making sure outsiders couldn’t
see the pleasures of the celebrity life.

They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Harry snorting up a
line of cocaine with a bunch of people they had never seen in their life.
Louis’ breath hitched when he saw the action. This was so out of
character for him, he is supposed to be against drugs, and alcohol for
that matter. But here he was, fucked out of his mind on the substance
and drinking straight vodka.

When Harry looked up again, rubbing the remains from his nose, he
had to do a double take that he was actually seeing his two band mates
stood there watching him. Not knowing if he was imagining it from the
effects of the drugs or if they really were there.

71
Niall walked over to the table and wiped off the substance harshly onto
the once pristine flooring, making Harry and his group of ’friends’
protest at his action.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Harry slurred out, getting
up in Niall’s face.

“I think you should be asking yourself that mate, doing coke? Really?
What the fuck has gotten into you?” Niall exclaimed back.

“None of your fucking business, get out now” Harry shouted

dismissively.

“If we’re going you are too, come on your coming with us” Niall
demanded.

“Like fuck I am” he replied with a scoff.

“That wasn’t a question, get your ass up now and come back to the
hotel” Niall argued.

Harry ignored him, instead deciding to neck the remains of vodka in his
bottle, not even cringing at the taste.

Niall grabbed the bottle out of his hand which caused Harry to roll his
eyes.

“Can you just leave me the fuck alone, I don’t need a fucking baby
sitter!” He screamed at Niall, once again slurring his words due to his
intoxication.

“From what I can see you do, your bloody ruining yourself Harry, and
for what? Not wanting your song on a damn album?” Niall questioned
incredulously.

“You know nothing about me so stop acting like you fucking do, you
have no idea what I’m feeling or why I’m doing this so don’t even act

72
like you give a shit when we all know you don’t” Harry exclaimed, not
realizing he had just shared a bit too much than he had wished to if he
were sober.

“Give it a rest, of course we give a shit but you wouldn’t know that
because your too busy drinking away your fucking problems rather than
talking” with that Niall walked back out the room but not before giving
Louis a knowing look.

“Sort him out” is all he said when he walked past Louis.

Louis took a deep breath and slowly moved towards the intoxicated
man.

“Haz just—

“Don’t fucking call me that. You have no right to use that name. Only
friends call me that” he said, cutting Louis off.

“Okay, Harry, come on just come back to the hotel, you know we’re all
gonna get shit because of this” Louis pleaded.

“I’m not doing anything you ask me of. You don’t deserve to give me
orders” he declined without looking him in the eye.

“I understand that but just please do me a favor and come back with us”

Harry laughed loudly at this. Scaring Louis with how manic it sounded.
He was laughing hysterically, laughing at Louis.

Once he calmed down he wiped his eyes and continued talking.

“Do you a favor. Yeh, no can do” he said dismissively, scoffing at the
mere thought of it.

Louis was trying to stay calm but having just been laughed at, his
patience was wearing thin.

73
“Fine. Don’t do it for me but do it for the other lads. I know your only
doing this because of me in the first place but don’t let them take the
fucking fall for it. They’ve done nothing but be kind to you and I’m not
surprised Niall just acted that way with you. Stop treating your friends
like shit because you don’t like me. Do you even realize how much shit
they’re going to get from management all because of you coming out
tonight, just so you could drown yourself in alcohol and take drugs.
Drugs Harry! I thought you were better than this” Louis ranted, needing
to get the matter off his chest.

Harry sat there and looked at him for a moment. Eyes wide and dilated
due to the drugs.

“Why did you leave me” Harry finally said in a sad tone.

Louis was taken back by his statement. Shocked as this was the first
time Harry had mentioned the ordeal.

“I— what?” Louis stuttered out.

“Why did you leave me?” Harry repeated.

And then it hit Louis that his boldness was due to the drugs and alcohol
in his system. Harry probably wouldn’t even remember this
conversation in the morning.

“You know why Haz” he said, slipping the nickname in once again out
of habit, however this time Harry didn’t protest.

“All for that bitch” he said angrily.

“You know that wasn’t down to me Harry” he replied sadly, never

leaving his eyes.

“There could have been another option, you know there could” he said
with a hiccup at the end.

74
“The other option would have sacrificed our careers. Your career” He
replied.

“So you cared more about our careers than our relationship?” He
scoffed, breaking their eye contact.

“You know it wasn’t like that. Look, I’m not having this conversation
with you while we’re in a busy club and your intoxicated. Just come
back to the hotel and we can discuss this another day, okay?” He once
again pleaded with him, not wanting to talk about their breakup
amongst a group of people he didn’t even know.

“Harryyy, come have a joint with us babe” a girl with red hair said in a
needy tone, she was clearly just as drunk as the rest of them.

Harry hesitated for a moment before standing and grabbing his coat,
pulling it on and walking out of the room.

Louis followed behind him, thinking how Harry had basically just
chosen him over the other people he was with a second ago.

Niall has been long gone so it left him to try and get Harry home safe
without being noticed by any fans. Great.

He grabbed Harry by the arm just as he was about to leave the club,
spinning him around to face him, only noticing afterwards how close
they were, standing chest to chest with Harry looking down at him
expectantly.

Louis coughed awkwardly before pulling off his hat and handing it to
Harry.

“So umm, so you don’t get noticed” Louis said, gesturing to the hat.

Harry hesitated before pulling it on, nodding at him in thanks before

once again turning and walking out the door.

75
Louis pulled his hood up and followed him out onto the streets of LA,
quickening his pace so he could walk besides the man.

Harry was swaying side to side as he walked, stumbling while trying to

get his balance. Louis sighed and wrapped an arm around his waist,
stabilizing him enough to walk properly. This gained a confused look
from Harry and he was about to pull away when Louis gave him a stern
look which told him to stay put.

Harry just rolled his eyes and turned forward to continue walking,
ignoring the burning feeling of Louis’ arm around his waist.

When they reached the hotel Louis directed Harry to the elevator,
knowing he wouldn’t be able to arrive at his room in once piece without
some assistance, he ignored the strange looks they were getting from
the hotel staff and stepped inside.

“What floor are you on?” He asked Harry.

He took a second to think before replying “7” which confused Louis

even more.

“We’re on the same floor? How come I’ve never seen you up there?”
He asked.

Harry just shrugged and leaned against the mirrored wall, looking at the
ceiling.

They stood in awkward silence as the floor numbers increased on their

way up, until they heard a ping indicating they were there.

With Harrys help they finally made it to his room, Louis had to reach
for Harrys room key in his back pocket as he was incapable of doing so
himself.

76
Louis’ eyes widened at the state of the room. It was a mess. The curtains
were hanging on by a thread, the bed was unmade and it’s once white
sheets were now dirty. Clothes were scattered around the room
randomly and on the floor were at least 20 empty beer bottles. Cigarette
stubs were laying on the bedside table, leaving a smoke smell lingering
inside the room, it was shocking. Harry has always been the domestic
one in the relationship, always cleaning up for himself, but this was the
complete opposite.

Harry shrugged past Louis at the doorway, walking over to his bed and
peeling off his shirt uncoordinatedly. He then took off his skinny jeans
and left his boxers on, slumping down onto the bed and laying there
miserably.

“You can leave now” Harry said, not turning to look at him.

“Look at the state of this room” Louis said, moving to clear up the beer
bottles and folding his clothing nicely. “How can you live like this?”
He questioned.

“You should know. I used to be the one cleaning up for you” is all he
replied back, hand moving to drag down his face in exhaustion.

Louis just ignored him and continued to clean up the room, removing
the cigarettes and ash tray from his table and putting it into a bin bag.

“You don’t need to” Harry spoke up, finally looking him in the eyes.

“I want to” Louis stated, pausing for a second to look at Harry.

They shared a moment of silence, just taking in one another’s

appearances, not speaking a word. Louis was the first to break the
contact, continuing to clean up the mess and ignoring the feeling of
being stared at by Harry as he moved around the large room.

77
Louis was putting clothes back into the wardrobe but froze when he felt
a breath on the back of his neck. He slowly turned around to meet
Harrys gaze and he realized just how close they were once again.

“What?” Louis breathed out when Harry didn’t move to do anything

Just for a second it seemed like Harry had moved impossibly closer, but
just as quick as he appeared, he moved backwards.

“Thank you, you can leave now” Harry said, looking Louis in the eyes
once again before turning around and getting back into bed.

Louis stood there and watched him but finally huffed and walked out
of the room, frustrated that their almost moment was ruined.

78
 10
Confessions

The next morning:

“Why did you decide to come back anyways?” Louis asked Zayn while
they were eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

Louis had joined the lads, not including Harry who probably had a
raging hangover, for breakfast this morning after he had received a text
from Niall asking him to join them. Niall seemed like he was in a much
better mood compared to last night after his argument with Harry,
which was good as Louis doesn’t think he could handle a moody Niall
early in the morning.

“What do you mean why? I’m part of the band” Zayn replies
sheepishly.

“Don’t act dumb, you know why I’m asking” Louis replies sternly.

“This is about the interviews isn’t it?” He clarified.

Louis nodded looking at him pointedly.

“You know as well as I do that I didn’t mean any of the shit I said”
Zayn said with a sigh.

“So you didn’t mean it when you said you were never friends with any
of us and never even spoke to us while in the band?” Louis said, using
quotation marks to emphasize the shit they had read about Zayn in the
media over the last few years.

“Of course I didn’t mean that. When I left Simon just wanted to make
it as dramatic as possible, as per usual, management said that if I said

79
all this shit to interviewers then it would get media attention, meaning
myself and my music would get more attention in the process as the
fans would be more aware of me if I was in the headlines 24/7” he said
sadly.

Louis just looked at Zayn sympathetically. He honestly didn’t know

what management or Simon for that matter were thinking half the time.
Who were they to say that Zayn couldn’t get attention for his music
without some drama. Zayn could have made it just as big without all
the unnecessary comments towards the band, all that did was make him
look worse, he’s surprised Zayn didn’t lose fans rather than gain them.

“I understand mate. We know how management can get at times, we

love you just the same” Liam said, rubbing Zayn on the back before
realizing what he was doing and pulling away with a blush.

Zayn may not have noticed the gesture, but Louis sure did, he also
caught the embarrassed look that formed on his face afterwards.

Louis looked at Liam pointedly when Zayn turned back to his meal,
raising his eyebrows with a smirk.

“What” Liam mouthed back, but Louis said nothing in return, just
winking at him instead.

Louis’ smirk fell when he heard the chair beside him scrape the wood
flooring, he whipped his head up quickly to see Harry joining them at
the table, and Louis only hoped that the pills he was holding were
nothing more than paracetamol. He didn’t know what to expect from
Harry anymore.

Liam and Zayn smiled at Harry when he sat down, not knowing what
had happened the night before. Louis and Niall just looked away
awkwardly, not saying a word to the man.

Harry poured himself a glass of water that was sat on the table and used
it to help swallow the pills.

80
Louis had expected Harry to walk over with a plate full of hangover
food like he used to when he had been out the night before, however he
just sat there not speaking a word to them, probably still a bit out of it
from all the drugs he had taken previously.

As if he had read his mind, Liam spoke up.

“Aren’t you hungry Haz?” He asked, confusion written on his face.

Harry snapped his head up, probably not doing his obvious headache
any favors as he groaned and rubbed his forehead.

“No” is all he replied, however everyone could hear his stomach

rumbling.

Liam looked confusedly at the rest of the boys, but shrugging it off a
second later.

The tension at the table could be cut with a knife. It was only a matter
of time before Liam and Zayn caught on and started asking questions.

“Okay what’s happened?” Zayn asked the three of them, setting down
his knife and fork.

“Nothing, why?” Louis replied.

“Oh don’t bullshit me Lou, the tension in here is killing me” he said.

“You haven’t checked twitter yet?” Is all Niall said.

Zayn raised his eyebrows at Niall before pulling out his phone and
going straight to the app. It was easy to tell that he knew the truth now,
as his eyes widened and his head shot up to glare at them all.

“The fuck were you doing at a club?” He exclaimed, once again, doing
no justice for Harrys headache.

81
“Keep the fucking noise down” Harry said harshly, closing his eyes and
rubbing his temples.

“No I won’t just keep the noise down, you guys aren’t even meant to
be out before the reunion, what were you thinking? If management find
out I swear to—

“They won’t, that’s the whole reason we followed Harry out anyway,
so we could save your arses from getting shit from Simon” Niall said
with a huff.

“Okay whatever, but why were you out in the first place?” Liam
questioned.

“We saw that Harry had gone out so we followed him there and brought
him back to the hotel” Louis explained.

“Okay so why was Harry out?” Zayn asked, giving an expectant look
towards Harry.

Harry opened his eyes again, looking guiltily at the boys. He knew he
had fucked up, but after the events at the studio he needed something to
take the edge off.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you” Harry replies nonchalantly.

“If it involves us then yes Harry, I think you do mate” Liam said,
starting to get annoyed at the lack of answers.

“I just needed to let off some steam I guess” he said rolling his eyes and
looking down at the table.

“Just don’t do it again for gods sake” Zayn said going back to his meal.

“Fine I won’t, but don’t fucking boss me around” Harry said angrily.

82
“Whatever” is all Zayn replied, Scoffing at Harrys attitude.

When it went silent Harrys stomach started rumbling again, catching

Louis’ attention. However Harry did nothing about it, instead just
drinking more water.

It was weird for Louis to see him like this, Harry had always been such
a big food lover, always cooking new meals and getting takeaways with
him to eat in front of the tv while gogglebox was playing.

He assumed his lack of motivation to eat was due to feeling sick after
how much alcohol he had consumed, but he still needed to eat
something. So that’s why Louis pushed his own plate over to Harrys
line of vision.

Harry looked up at Louis with a confused expression. Louis raised an

eyebrow and nodded down to the food, encouraging him to eat
something.

Louis was not expecting the reaction he got though.

Harry shook his head and abruptly stood up, walking out of the
restaurant and heading for his room.

He really needed to stop leaving all the time, is all that Louis thought
as he stared at Harrys retreating back.

83
 11
Fighting Back

Two days later:

“We need to get the lights”

“Different viewpoints on the cameras please”

“Meeting at different locations”

Chatter sounded around the studios meeting room, producers and

camera men running about everywhere.

The large table that the lads, Simon, pr team and James were sitting at
had paper scatted all over it, coffee and tea sat in mugs going cold.

“Each if you will be taken to different locations in about half an hour

where James will come and pick you up from” one of the ladies from
management told them as they listened closely.

“You are to act surprised when called to get in the car, you’re not
supposed to know the other lads will be there” she continued.

“But the fans have already seen us out together?” Liam said with a
confused expression.

“They may have seen you out together but that doesn’t mean you ’knew
anything about this’” she said with quotation marks to emphasize her
point.

They all nodded in understanding. Louis was finding it hard to

concentrate on it all, not used to all the havoc and so many people telling
him where to go and what to do, he had become accustomed to doing

84
things on his own accord while being a solo act. It was all a bit much
for him, and by the looks on the lads faces, they were feeling the same
way.

“Can you repeat that?” Niall asked, rubbing his forehead, snapping
Louis back to the real world.

“Niall concentrate for gods sake, this is important— hey don’t move
that, what the fuck are you doing?!” Another member of the team
shouted, running off to see to the problem.

Louis sighed and sat back in his chair, resting his head against the palm
of his hand.

“Right I’ll go over it one more time, fucking listen up I won’t be

repeating myself” a man said from the far side of the table.

The way management treat them had obviously not changed after so
many years. Cursing at them willy nilly, ridiculing them, bossing them
around. It was tiring and often made them feel insecure about their
apparent ’lack of knowledge’ and ’inability to follow commands’

“In a moment, you will go for hair and makeup in the dressing rooms,
you will then be taken to separate locations that neither of you know of.
When you arrive you are to wait for a call letting you know when James
is about to arrive and pick you up, when you enter the car you are to act
surprised at the sight of the other lads, unless you’re the first to be
picked up, in that case it will be you Zayn” he explained, earning a nod
from Zayn.

“You should have all memorized the script and playlist by now so there
shouldn’t be a problem with knowing what’s coming up next. Just be
yourselves in the car and remember to be presentable for the fans, this
is your first impression to them after the hiatus so if you want your fans
to stick around you need to pry into them. You know by now what they
want to hear from you so take that into consideration when answering
questions” he said sternly.

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Louis rolled his eyes at this. Once again it was all just a fucking game
to them. A way to make quick cash and make it into the headlines. They
don’t actually give a shit what the fans want, all they care about is
having five presentable lads to sing a few songs and make them feel
better about themselves.

What about what they want? Louis only wants one thing, to be himself,
and he can’t even do that. Them not allowing him to come out is making
it near impossible to be who he is so how can they even fucking ask
him to do that when they’re taking his personality away from him.

“You will be dropped off at the studio at the end of the video where you
will meet us back in here to make sure everything is in check and we
don’t need to do any more re takes” He finalized.

The lads nodded and were about to head off to hair and makeup but got
stopped by James.

“Is there anything I need to steer clear from? Any topics I shouldn’t
bring up?” He asked their management team, at this the woman from
earlier on spoke up again.

“Not much, mostly just anything to do with their two relationships” she
said, gesturing to Louis and Harry at which they pulled confused faces.

Sure they were relieved to hear they wouldn’t need to answer any more
stupid questions about recent ’crushes’ and relationships, but why just
them? Why not the rest of the lads?

“Okay? But why just them?” James said, almost as if he had read Louis’
mind.

“We don’t want them silly Larry Stylinson rumors starting up again,
that was a bloody nightmare. Thankfully they’re not together anymore
anyway, they got rid of that problem theirselves” she scoffed, rolling
her eyes at the mere thought of their relationship.

86
Louis and Harry were fuming at this. It was there fucking fault they
broke up in the first place, all due to their little scheme that they hadn’t
known of.

Louis looked at Harry to see him harshly gripping the arms of his chair
and his jaw was clenching, eyes burning holes into the woman’s head.
If looks could kill, Harry would be a murderer by now.

“I think you should choose your fucking words wisely next time you
bring up our past” Harry seethed out.

All the lads were mentally pleading Harry to not cause a scene, but their
pleads were not met.

“Oh please, what you too had was merely a fling. You’ve both seemed
to get over it fine enough” she laughed out.

Harry stood from his chair forcefully, getting up in her face, towering
over the woman who now had a look of fear in her eyes.

“Harry—

“Wanna say that again bitch?” He spat at her.

“Harr—

“I’d have a good reason to have you fucking fired on the spot so I’d
watch your mouth if I were you” he said in a menacing tone, not
breaking eye contact with the frightened woman for one second.

“HARRY!” Louis shouted this time, causing the entire room to go dead
silent. You could probably hear a pin drop it was so quiet.

Harry turned to look at him, eyes wild and vein prominent along his
neck and forehead. Louis hadn’t seen him this angry since that day so
many years ago.

87
Harry shook his head at Louis, letting a laugh of unbelief escape his
lips.

“I know our relationship meant nothing to you, but I would have half
expected you to stick up for your sorry self” he said to Louis, a
disappointed look in his eyes.

“I— Haz—

“You know, after all the shit you put me through, I would have thought
you’d at least be proud of what we had, even if it didn’t mean much to
you—

“You know what it meant to me, what you meant to me!” Louis
exclaimed in a hurry, cutting Harry off in the process.

“Really? Cuz you threw it away just fine after one drink” he said
incredulously, shaking his head again.

The whole room was watching the scene, looking on guiltily because
everyone in here, apart from the lads and James, had contributed to their
demise. They had all been in on Simons crude plan and watched their
relationship fall to pieces, laughing on silently.

Louis fell silent at what Harry said, half guilty and half disbelieving as
it wasn’t entirely his fault in the first place. He loved-loves Harry, and
what happened hadn’t changed his feelings for the man.

“I know these dickheads had something to do with it, of course I know

that, but I still thought you would have had some fucking self control”
he said monotonously, before leaving the room, slamming the door
behind him.

“Fuck sake” Louis whispered to himself.

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Of course this had to turn into a shit show. Of course he couldn’t have
one day of normality. And now, now Louis will have to endure a whole
day of filming with a moody Harry.

Simon coughed to break the silence and Louis sat back down in his
chair.

“Could have done with some popcorn to be honest” Simon said with a
laugh.

The lads all shook their heads in disbelief at Simons behavior. Louis
just stared at his shoes and tried to contain himself, not wanting to let
Simon get the better of him.

“Your all a disgrace to the industry you know that?” Zayn spit out.

“What?” Simon replied, a scowl forming on his face.

“You heard me. How you just treat them two just then was a disgrace.
Your all disgusting humans and I don’t even want to look at you. Do
you seriously believe that’s any way to treat two people? Two people
who all they’ve ever asked for was acceptance, and you threw the exact
opposite back in their faces” he said matter of factly.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Without us you’d be

nothing, we’re doing what’s best for you and you’ll thank me in the
future” Simon said with a scoff.

“No, no Simon that’s where your wrong. If we got up and left right now,
you would have nothing. We all know we’re your biggest source of
income, that’s the only reason you wanted this reunion in the first place.
We all did just fine with our solo careers, without you we still made
millions and had a fan base just as big as this one, we did that without
you. So you carry on treating us like shit mate, but just watch how it
comes back to bite you in the ass at the end” Zayn said finally, getting
up and leaving the room to go find Harry.

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Louis looked at Liam and Niall and saw them nod at him to the door,
indicating that they should also leave.

All three of them stood up and walked to the door, Louis turning to say
one last thing before walking out.

“We will be waiting for hair and makeup in the dressing rooms, come
find us when you’ve got your shit together”

And with that, Louis walked away feeling proud of himself and his
boys.

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 12
Dressing Rooms

Louis, Niall, And Liam walked into the dressing room to find Harry sat
on the sofa with Zayn comforting him, softly rubbing him on the
shoulders and whispering encouragements to him.

Harry had his head in his hands leaning over his knees, however he
looked up with bloodshot eyes upon hearing the dressing room door
open and close again.

Louis looked sympathetically at Harry, wishing the man wasn’t in the

state he currently was in, all because of management, and, well, Louis.

Harry looked away and stood up, walking over to the vanity mirror and
sitting down in the chair in front of it, nobody had spoken a word as of
yet.

That was until the hair and makeup crew came bursting through the
doors.

“Long time no see” Louise squealed as she came in, carrying a bag no
doubt full of hair products.

“Hey Lou” Liam replied, walking over to embrace her in a hug.

“Oi, your allowed in here but these aren’t if they haven’t got their shit
together as I said before” Louis said with a pointed look, making the
rest of the crew pause their actions.

“They listen to me now anyways, isn’t that right?” She questioned her
hair and makeup team, gaining nods in reply.

91
“So, you see, if you lot give them any shit while in here, you will answer
to me as a result, you got that?” She said, quirking an eyebrow at them
all.

Again they nodded and hurried off to set up items and clothes around
the room, ready for Lou to get started with.

“Cheers Lou” Louis said, pulling the woman into a hug just as Liam
had a few minutes ago.

“No problem. Now, lets get started shall we? We don’t have long so
chop chop, while I do Harold’s hair, you guys go get changed and then
we will swap over yeh?” She explained.

“Well, your bossy instincts certainly haven’t changed have they now?”
Zayn said with a smirk.

“Oh shush, without my so called ’bossy instincts’ you lot wouldn’t have
a clue what to do and you certainly wouldn’t have that bed head sorted
out” she said, posing with her hand resting on her hip in a sassy stature.

“I hate to say this but she’s right” Niall butted in, gaining a smirk from
Louise.

“You coming to do my hair or what?” Harry called from the vanity in

an annoyed tone.

Louise pulled a face, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion at the other

lads.

“Bad day, don’t take it to heart” Liam said before clapping her on the
back and walking over to get his outfit.

“Right right, I’m coming Haz, no need to get your knickers in a twist
ey” she said teasingly while making her way over to the man.

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Harry rolled his eyes in a huff but had to restrain himself from smiling
at the woman, she always did know how to make him laugh.

“What we doing today then?” She asked Harry, combing her fingers
through his short quiff.

“Aren’t you supposed to tell me?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Nah, if you want something specific I can do it but I always like to ask
first” she replied with a smile.

Harry thought for a second before shrugging.

“Surprise me” is all he said before sitting back in his chair comfortably
and letting her get to work.

Over at the other end of the room, the lads were getting their outfits
chosen to suit their current style.

Liam has chosen a pair of grey patterned trousers that had a chain detail,
with a black t shirt and a leather jacket. He finished it off with some
black leather boots from Armani and some glasses.

Zayn was wearing a red floral shirt with a pair of grey striped trousers
and brown leather boots, showing off his tattooed chest and arms as the
buttons had been left undone most of the way, he may as well have been
shirtless.

Niall was wearing a white polo tucked into dark grey trousers, finished
off with some black shoes. The look may have been simple but he
pulled it off effortlessly.

Then came Louis’ turn to get his outfit. After a long time of decision
making he went with a black sweater, a pair of denim jeans and white
sneakers. He looked impeccable in the clothes, especially after so long
of wearing sweats and hoodies.

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“Looking sharp lads” Niall said with a grin on his face.

“Oh please Nialler, I haven’t even got my hair done yet, don’t flatter
me” Louis said back sarcastically.

“Yeh yeh whatever, you know better than I do that your fans wouldn’t
give a shit whether you had a bed head or not, it suits you really” he
said, ruffling the man’s feathery locks.

“Oi! Off, off” he exclaimed, pulling back from the menacing boy.

Niall just laughed in his face and turned to sit on the chair, waiting to
get his hair styled.

Louis turned around only to see Liam and Zayn standing extremely
close, messing with one another’s collars with a find look in their eyes.

Louis knew they had a thing back in 2012 but it was short lived, not
wanting to admit their feelings for one another. He only hoped that what
he was seeing now was the beginning of something new, something
better, maybe this time it would work out. It didn’t take a genius to see
they were attracted to each other, even if they were too proud to admit
it out loud.

“Get a bloody room” Louis said while brushing past them to sit on the
sofa.

Liam and Zayn rolled their eyes at Louis’ remark, stepping further away
from each other awkwardly.

“We’ve said the same to you plenty of times in the past Lou, and on
much worse circumstances, don’t think your one to talk ey?” Zayn shot
back, but Louis just ignored the two, grabbing his cigarette pack and
lighting one up, making sure the window was open.

Just after his second drag the cigarette was harshly pulled from his grip
and he looked up to see Harry stood in front of him, taking a drag of the

94
cig himself before putting it out on the ash tray and walking away to get
his outfit.

“What the fuck was that for?” He shouted to the man’s retreating back.

“As much as I myself smoke now, I’m still against doing so indoors”
he said with a bored tone, looking through the variety of clothes on his
rack.

“The fucking window was open!” Louis argued, gesturing to the

window.

“I don’t give a shit. Smoke inside again and your cigs are getting
flushed” he shot back, not even sparing him a glance.

Louis scoffed and quietly said “whatever” before he was called to have
his hair and makeup done.

Louis sat in the chair at the vanity while Louise combed and gelled his
hair into a short quiff before having it sprayed down with hairspray,
making sure it had a tight hold.

“Please don’t say I need any of that shit on my face again” he groaned,
looking at all the makeup products payed out on the table.

“I’m afraid so, although you won’t be needing much as your skin is in
almost perfect shape right now. Just gonna contour them fine
cheekbones a bit and conceal your under eye, then you should be good
to go” she explained, grabbing the products as Louis rolled his eyes
with a sigh.

Once he was done he went back over to the other lads, now noticing
Harry was fully dressed and presentable.

He was wearing an all black outfit from the fitted trousers to the blazer.
It was a slim fit and looked amazing on his tall figure. He had a couple

95
rings on his slender fingers and had black boots on his feet. Louis was
in awe.

Harry looked at Louis questioningly when he saw the man gaping at

him, his jaw hanging off its hinges, eyes wide.

When Louis realized he had been staring a little too long a blush coated
his powdered cheeks and he coughed a little, scratching the back of his
neck before turning away from Harrys amused face.

Just as Harry was about to say something the lads were ushered out of
the room and separated from one another, off to be taken to their
locations to wait for James.

Louis was taken by his body guard Paul to a discreet location away from
the eyes of the public so he could wait in peace.

It only took about five minutes before he got the call from their
executive producer letting him know James would be arriving in about
a minute.

Louis took a deep breath as he saw the black Range Rover turning
around the corner and heading his way. He put on his acting mode,
ready to act surprised at the sight of the lads and watched as the car
came to a stop, the window rolling down slowly.

“Mr. Tomlinson your taxi has arrived” James called from inside the car,
Zayn’s face coming into view.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Louis replied fakely, before
climbing into the car.

96
 13
Sweet Creature

“What the fuck are you doing here” Louis exclaimed in ’shock’, trying
to remember the script he was given to learn for the beginning of the
carpool.

“Louis you know I need help getting to work, come on, climb in and
help me with directions yeh?” James said in a sarcastic tone, winking
at Louis.

Louis huffed out a sigh but climbed into the back of the car next to
Zayn.

“Yeh, got that, but what’s Zayn doing here? Not to be rude mate, long
time no see” he said with a smirk.

Inside, Louis was cringing from the fucking lines he was having to say.
Whoever wrote this bullshit clearly knew nothing about him.

“Don’t be nosey Lou, we’ve got a few stops to make and then we’re off
for the studio” he said, and Louis pulled a fake confused face.

They slowly stopped the car and in came Niall, cheery as always and
hugging the lads.

“Alright James, lads” he nodded at them.

This routine played out another two times, first with Liam and then
Harry, who was currently seating himself in the front next to James.
Poor Liam and to sit in the far back behind everyone but it’s fair play
when Harry is a giant.

97
This time though, Louis didn’t need to pretend to be confused. He had
a look of disbelief written across his face at seeing a somewhat normal,
happy looking Harry.

He didn’t have a scowl stretched on his lips and he wasn’t making witty
comments every two seconds. He wasn’t smoking out the car window
or sitting quietly as other people talked. No he was the Harry Louis had
met in 2010, happy, charismatic, loving Harry.

And It saddened Louis that this was all just an act. He would only get
to witness this type of Harry while in public, and he wouldn’t get this
persona to himself for a very long time.

It’s as if as soon as the cameras came on, a switch was flipped in the
man’s brain, making him shut down his moody personality, and on
came his happy one.

Harry has a wide smile on his face, dimples out and everything. He
turned to wave at the lads first before stretching across and smacking a
kiss right on James’ cheek.

If Louis said he wasn’t jealous he would be lying, but no one had to

know that.

“Harold, already trying to get in my pants I see, you cheeky boy” James
said with a wink, smirking to himself and Harry.

Harry let out a breathy laugh and shrugged it off.

“Still haven’t had that chat with your wife yet so I’m saving that for
later darling” Harry replied smugly, causing the boys to groan but a
smile crept on their faces none the less.

“Get a damn room already” Niall called from the back, smiling at the
two.

Louis just sat there with a fake smile plastered on his face.

98
“Alright alright, lets get on with this then shall we? I wonder what
we’ve got playing” he said as he fiddled with the control panel at the
front of the car.

The sound of ’end of the day’ began ringing through the car, Louis
smiles knowing this was one of the songs he really wanted playing in
their last carpool but never got to sing.

Harry sat back, resting his arm against the car door and looking out the
window, preparing to sing his first verse.

“I told her that I loved her, was not sure if she heard, the roof was pretty
windy and she didn’t say a word, party dying downstairs, had nothing
left to do, just me, her and, the moon”

Harry sang beautifully and the lads and James were in awe of how
gracefully he carried out the notes, singing so casually as if it took
nothing to produce such sounds.

“I set you on fire babe, and down cake the lightning on me, love can be
frightening for sure” Niall sang loudly, interrupting the peacefulness if
the song, but keeping the beat up and bringing a lightness to the relaxed
song.

“1, 2, 3, 4” Harry called through the car, expected by the lads as he does
most of the countdowns.

“All I know at the end of the day, is you want what you want, and you
say what you say, and you’ll follow your heart even though it’ll break,
sometimes”

All of them sand loudly, clapping their hands to the beat and making
gestures along with the lyrics. James was clearly trying to impress,
singing as loud as he could and hitting the notes correctly but maybe
just overdoing it a bit.

99
When the first song came to an end, the lads took a deep breath, only
then did it hit them that this was the first time they had sung as a group
in about 4 years.

The energy in the car was ecstatic and everyone had a smile on their
face. It was nice to do something like this every once in a while, it may
still be work, technically, however it was a fun moment to create and
film, just spending time with each other and singing without a care.

“So boys, hiatus is finally over!” James shouted, all the lads hyped up
and cheered at the statement.

“What have you got planned then, you know with tour and interviews,
a new album maybe?” He asked inquisitively.

“Well we don’t actually know how much we’re allowed to reveal just
yet and to be honest we don’t know much ourselves. But yeh we’ll be
going on tour in maybe a month and a half, something like that?” Liam
explained, questioning the last part but gaining a nod from the boys
indicating he was correct with his time estimate.

“We’ve got interviews for the next few weeks and considering a new
album, we’re currently just compiling our own lyrics together into a file
to use after tour as we won’t have time to record until afterwards, what
with it being a tight schedule and all” he carried on, James nodding
along the way.

“Jesus your gonna be busy then. Don’t forget to send me my tickets for
your concert in LA. If you fail to do so I’m afraid I’m going to have to
either ban you from the show or make you play spill your guts, your
choice boys” he said with a pointed look.

Harry and Niall laughed, pulling a face at the mere thought of spill you
guts. They seriously didn’t want to eat a cow tongue. Ew.

“Don’t worry babe you’ll get your tickets” Harry said cheekily with a
wink, causing James to ruffle his hair, messing it up in the process.

100
“Lou’s gonna Kill me, look at my hair” he said with a fake pout,
pointing to his hair and looking like a little puppy.

“She’ll get over it” is all James said before turning on another song. It
happened to be one of Harry’s.

As the sound of sweet creature softly blared through the speakers, all
the boys held their breaths, knowing Louis hadn’t yet heard the song.

Harry turned to scowl at James but quickly recovered when realizing

the cameras were still on. There was no way of getting out of this. He
was going to have to sing a song, that he’d wrote about Louis, in this
car, with Louis right behind him. Shit.

James looked expectantly at Harry who in return rolled his eyes and
sang the first verse of the song, nobody backing him up or harmonizing,
just leaving the man to sing his solo material.

“Sweet creature, had another talk about where it’s going wrong” Harry
sung softly, again looking out the window, not daring to meet anyone’s
eyes.

While James was smirking over at Harry, the other lads had turned to
see Louis’ reaction, watching carefully as he let the lyrics sink in.

From that first sentence, Louis couldn’t really tell it was about him,
only having an inkling about it from the way the boys were staring at
him and how him and Harry had had talks about ’where it’s going
wrong’ with their relationship in the past.

“And were still young, I always think about you and how we don’t
speak enough”

Still, nothing. Louis had no clue this song was for him, until.

101
“And oh, we started, two hearts in one home, it’s hard when we argue,
we’re both stubborn I know”

It clicked. Two hearts in one home could only mean one thing. Him and
Harry began on their own, in their new home, where their romance
started to bloom. The song was for him.

Louis’ head snapped up, trying to get a glimpse of Harrys face to

confirm or deny his suspicions. But when Harry refused to meet his
eyes, he knew he was right.

Louis was gaping at the thought of Harry still caring so much about
him, enough to write multiple songs for him. Now he didn’t know what
to expect when they got on tour and sung their solo material, would
there be any more songs he needed to know about. Louis really should
listen to his album, he thought to himself.

“But oh, sweet creature, sweet creature, where ever I go, you’ll bring
me home. Sweet creature, sweet creature, when I run out of road, you’ll
bring me home”

Louis was Harrys sweet creature, and he always would be.

102
 14
Carpool Karaoke

“Beautiful song Harold” James said with a fond look once the song
came to an end.

Harry didn’t reply, just stared out the window with a spaced out look.

The boys didn’t say anything, just waited for some sort of explanation
or background story.

“The last time I heard that song in person was when you did the carpool
solo, you remember that?” He asked Harry.

“Yeah” he quickly realized where he was and snapped out of his funk,
“made me sing the whole first verse solo” he said with a smirk.

“You bet I did, anyway, Zayn, chosen to return then?” He said, looking
over his shoulder at the model like man.

“Couldn’t expect me to stay away forever now could you?” He said

winking at the lads who gave him a smile in return.

“Well I don’t know, I didn’t really know what to expect when you left,
what with all the interviews and such” he stated with a pointed look,
brows raising.

Zayn scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, looking apologetic.

“Already had this chat, they know it was mainly just for publicity—

“Mainly?” Liam said in a questioning tone.

“You know what I mean” he said shrugging lightly, unbothered.

103
“I’ll never get my chance now, you’ve stolen my position in the band
Zayn, how un loyal of you” James said in a fake frustrated tone.

“Don’t worry mate, you can be a backup dancer” Niall said with a
snicker.

“Don’t you mock my moves Horan, at least I know more routines

besides the inbetweeners dance”

“Oi, that dance is genius, like you could do any better” Louis
challenged.

“You want a battle Tomlinson?” James said teasingly.

“It’s on” Louis replied smugly, high giving Zayn.

A minute later the intro to Stockholm syndrome played out through the
car.

“Who’s that shadow holding me hostage I’ve been here for days, who’s
this whisper telling me that I’m never gonna get away” Harry sung
melodically, starting off the song.

“I know they’ll be coming to find me soon, but I fear I’m getting used
to, being held by you” Zayn sang for the first time being in the car,
reminding the lads of the old days where the band was a five, not a four.

When the chorus hit, everyone in the car decided to belt out the lyrics,
dancing around in their seats and having a laugh.

“Oh, baby look what you’ve done to me, oh, baby look what you’ve
done now, baby I’ll never leave if you keep holding me this way”

They all screamed “ohohoh” in between the choruses, bringing their

hands around their mouths to emphasize the sound.

104
“Oh, baby look what you’ve done to me, baby you’ve got me tied down,
baby I’ll never leave if you keep holding me this way”

Then came Louis’ solo, he coughed before singing out the notes.

“Who’s this man that’s holding your hand and talking bout your eyes,
use to sing about being free but now he’s changed his mind”

As Louis voice hit Harrys eardrums he smiled a little, missing the way
he used to sing for him when not in the public, they were the good times,
but no matter how many times he thought about the good moments, the
bad ones always ruined it, so with that thought, Harry bit his lip to
prevent his smile and instead focused on Niall’s solo.

“I know they’ll be coming to find me soon, but my Stockholm

syndrome is in the room. Yeh I fell for you” Niall sang smoothly, not
missing a beat.

That was a mistake, Harry thought to himself. By focusing on Niall’s

voice, he focused on the lyrics, and by focusing on the lyrics, he realized
how hard he had fallen for Lou, and how he resented himself for it.

He wishes he could rid himself of his feelings, but no matter how hard
he tried, no matter how many people he hooked up with, and no matter
how much he drank away his thoughts, they always came running back
to him.

He couldn’t escape the hold Louis had on him, it was like he was locked
into a room, screaming to be let out, but only Louis had the key. And
he would never open it. They key wouldn’t fit. But breaking the lock
was the only other option, and Harry didn’t have the strength to break
this lock, to free himself from the damn room, he would have to endure
it.

By enduring it, he meant filling the room full of distractions. First was
the substances. Alcohol, drugs, cigarettes. Second was the people, many
of whom he wouldn’t remember the names of the next morning. Thirdly

105
was himself. By creating this certain persona for himself it distracted
him from his real self. He couldn’t focus on one person and the other,
so he ultimately chooses the person he has become now, he’d rather live
a lifestyle of isolation than a lifestyle of pain.

He was suddenly brought out of his dark thoughts when James tapped
him on the shoulder. He realized he had been thinking for so long that
the song had finished, leaving silence in the car.

“You alright Haz?” James asked the man.

“Yeh, I think I just need a drink” he replied.

“I hope you don’t mean alcohol Harold, a drunk carpool isn’t the best
of ideas, although it would actually bring in a lot of views” he said with
a smirk, making Harry laugh.

“There’s a Starbucks right over there” he pointed over the road. “Think
we could stop by for a second?” He asked.

“Sure, however, who’s going inside to get the drinks? We don’t want a
frenzy, we’ve still got to get back to the studio, you're meant to be
helping me find my way remember” he said with a smug look.

“Well Lou is the only one that can remember all of our orders correctly
and Harry— well he has big enough hands to carry all the drinks back,
why don’t use two go in while we stay here?” Liam said from the back.

Harry sighed in exasperation, silently cursing Liam for his stupid ideas.

Louis pulled a face, unsure if that was the best idea considering the
’relationship’, if he can even call it that, that him and Harry have right
now. Just a simple trip to Starbucks could end in blood shed.

“I guess I don’t mind. It’s up to Harry though” Louis said as James

parked the car.

106
Suddenly Harry got out of the car, pulling on his shades and waiting for
Louis to join him.

“Wish me luck” Louis said while rolling his eyes.

A camera man had followed them as expected, so when the two walked
over to the shop, he followed behind, tracking their every move.
Luckily there was also their body guard, Paul, with them standing a
little further behind as to not get in shot of the camera.

They both knew they couldn’t act out while being filmed, so they kept
their usual posture up in order to not raise any suspicions.

When they walked into the shop they obviously got a few stares from
teens sat having their drinks, two even came up to ask for a photo, being
a little braver than the rest of the fans who just not so secretly filmed
the encounter from afar. They were thankful that they hadn’t caused
havoc while simply buying a few drinks, it was quite surprising really.

When they got to the counter they could tell the server knew who they
were but kept up a professional role in front of them, knowing she could
get fired if she didn’t do her job properly.

“Hello what can I get you?” She asked politely.

Harry ordered first, already knowing what he wanted.

“Can I get a plain black coffee please” he replied with a smile.

Ugh how basic, Louis thought to himself.

Louis gave the rest of the order, being that he was the only one to
remember every single persons favorite off by heart. What can he say,
he’s observant.

107
For himself he ordered an iced caramel latte, he couldn’t deal with hot
drinks while out in LA, he’s not used to the temperature out here and
by getting a normal coffee would only add to his problem.

After giving the order they waited by the pick up place, hopefully by
knowing who they are they might actually spell their names right unlike
so many other people. Honestly who spells Alesha as ’Aleashia’?

“Larry Stylinson?” A man behind the counter called out, causing

multiple heads to turn including Louis and Harrys.

They hesitantly stepped up to the counter to collect their drinks, double

checking this wasn’t just some prank set up by a customer, but never
the less they found their correct order with the name “Larry Stylinson”
written on each cup. How on earth were they meant to explain this to
the lads?

Louis looked over and saw the girl who served them grinning behind
her hand, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

If Louis wasn’t so shocked right now he may have actually laughed at

the situation.

On one hand both the lads thought it was a little funny, on the other they
thought it was rude as they had basically just been called out on in front
of their own fans.

“Thanks” Harry muttered before walking out with his head hung low,
Louis trailing after him.

“They’re definitely gonna have to cut that part out” Louis said referring
to the cameras.

Harry shook his head “maybe they’ll keep it in just to mock us,
wouldn’t be a first” Harry sighed.

108
Louis understood what he meant. As much as management didn’t want
the Larry rumors circulating again, they like to mess with the two of
them even more. So the probability of them keeping that little moment
in the final cut just to spite them, was very high.

When they reached the car they seated themselves back in, careful not
to spill the drinks all over.

Harry handed out the cups and instantly gained a confused look in
return.

“Really?” Niall said, confused.

“Larry Stylinson?” Liam stated.

“You didn’t seriously call that yourselves did you?” Zayn said in
disbelief.

“Of course we bloody didn’t, the server thought it would be funny to

embarrass us in front of all the fans by calling us out” Harry stated with
a huff, taking a sip of his drink.

“Bit of a bitchy move to be honest, but you have to admit it’s a little
funny” James said with a chuckle. “Wish I could have seen your faces”

“Don’t worry you probably will, I’m sure management will want that
part to stay in” Louis said with an eye roll.

“Yeh I guess so” James said as he started the car back up again.

“Was it hectic in there?” He asked them.

“Surprisingly no, only two girls came for a photo and the rest just
watched, they really don’t know how to film discreetly” Harry said with
a small smirk.

109
“I bet they caught the whole Larry incident on camera then, even if it
doesn’t make it to the final cut it’s probably on the internet by now”
Niall stayed, snickering.

“Give it a rest” Louis called out, but unable to keep the smile from
gracing his face.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough” Liam said over their shoulders.

And by then, they were pulling up to the entrance of the studio, James
waving them off with a thank you as they exited the car.

110
 15
Old Memories

The next day:

Sure enough, the Larry conspiracy had returned, not that it had ever
really gone away.

Thousands upon thousands of people had re tweeted and shared the

video caught by one of the fans from inside Starbucks yesterday, and
both Louis and Harry had a swarm of notifications regarding the
situation.

Management were not happy. They had called a meeting for this
afternoon and only Louis and Harry were allowed to attend. Louis
thought it was a bit drastic, like really? A whole damn meeting just
because some random person called them their ship name? Pathetic.

So that’s why Louis and Harry we’re now situated in a huge office being
stared at by 9 members of the team as well as Simon. Wasn’t this going
to be fun.

“I’m assuming you know why your here” Simon said in a strict tone.

“Yup, don’t really see the need for a whole meeting though, you making
a big deal out of nothing” Louis sassily replied, Harry had to hide his
smirk.

“Cut it with the attitude. We clearly said yesterday we didn’t want these
stupid rumors starting up again, so why don’t you explain to us why
you thought it was a good idea for the two of you to be seen alone in a
public place?” Simon asked sternly.

111
“Technically we weren’t alone. Paul and the camera guy were right
behind us” Louis corrected with a faux smile covering his face.

“Just answer the damn question and stop wasting our time” A member
of management cut in, taking over Simons roll.

“We wanted drinks, Liam suggested it was best for us two to go inside
as Louis can remember all the orders and I can carry the drinks back,
some girl serving us thought it would be funny to write our ship name
on the cup, and when the guy called it out it gained everyone else’s
attention. Not exactly our fault here is it?” Harry explained in an
angered tone, frustrated with taking the blame 24/7.

“Did you not use your common fucking sense and think about the
consequences of going in there together?” Another woman from
management said.

“Oh for fuck sake, back off will you? We’ve explained ourselves, which
we shouldn’t have had to do in the first place, and even when there’s
clearly no fault in our actions you find a way to pin it on us anyway!
Have you ever stepped back to notice the bloody rumors never went
away? They’ve been believing this since 2010, no matter how many
stunts you pull or how distant you try make us, they’re going to carry
on believing this whether you like it or not” Louis huffed out, sticking
up not only for himself but for Harry too.

No matter how bad of terms they were on, he wouldn’t let someone talk
shit to Harrys face.

Everyone was silent in the room after his little rant, clearly not
expecting such words to come out of his mouth, and definitely not
expecting every word to be the truth.

Harry looked around and saw a few people trying to come up with some
witty comment to prove Louis wrong, mouths opening and closing like
fish out of water, but still, no one spoke up.

112
They had been told and they couldn’t think up a single thing to
contradict his statement with. Harry and Louis just sat back and
smirked, knowing they had finally won a disagreement with
management.

“Whatever, your free to go, don’t let this happen again” The head lady
of management announced, breaking the silence in the room.

Louis and Harry both swiftly got up out of their chairs, exiting through
the main door and were driven back to the hotel.

The next day:

Today the lads had to get up bright and early as they had a shoot with
Ben for their tour promo video.

They didn’t know what to expect as Simon had only briefly mentioned
what would be happening at that meal a few weeks back. All Louis
knew was there would be a lot of voice over recording and old
memories.

Louis chose to wear a casual white hoodie with some mustard yellow
trackies and white sneakers. He thought he may as well be comfy for
the time being until he is inevitably told to wear a certain outfit.

Louis made his way downstairs to see the lads already waiting for him.
Late again, well done Tommo.

“Took your time” Niall said with a smirk.

“Fuck off you looser” He replied back.

The ride to the filming studio was short and they had been told they
were meeting Ben and his camera crew at the location, once they got
there they would be told what they were going to need to do and what
lines to read.

113
“Long time no see lads” Ben exclaimed, greeting them all with a hug
and a pat on their backs.

“Same to you” Liam replied.

“Alright we don’t have much time so we need to get started, we can chit
chat more later on” he informed them, gaining nods in return.

“So the plan is, we take a song from your last album that you don’t yet
have a video for and use the chorus, we find old videos and pictures of
you from each year leading up to the split and recreate them, the old
video or picture will be shown next to your recreated one with the song
playing over the top, so it’s sort of like a mini music video but not
really” he explained briefly.

“Sounds wicked” Louis said brightly, loving the idea already.

However, they weren’t looking forward to the old outfits they are surely
going to have to wear. Just the thought of his old read jeans makes Louis
shiver.

“Great, so we’ve got the first photo ready if you’d like to go and change
into your outfits, We called Louise here to help, she’s just over there”
he said gesturing to the far corner of the room which had countless racks
of clothing standing amongst her.

Lou spotted the boys immediately and called them over, waving at them
excitedly.

“Oh my god this is so fun, I get to see you in your old outfits again!”
She exclaimed happily, making the realization hit the boys and causing
them to groan.

“Don’t remind us” Zayn said with a sigh.

114
“Oh come on it can’t be that bad, here are your outfits, go change in
them rooms to your left and meet back out here when you’re done” she
said excitedly.

The boys were handed their individual outfits and walked into the room
she had pointed out, it happened to be a changing room that you would
normally find in a school gym, with benches lining the walls and
showers opposite them.

Louis took a glance at his outfit and immediately groaned, rolling his
eyes as he was reluctant to put the awful garments on.

“That bad huh?” Niall said to him with a chuckle.

“Don’t even get me started. Honestly what was I thinking? A cardigan?

Really? Why didn’t you guys tell me my fashion sense was so bad?”
Louis exclaimed, cringing at the thought of his old wardrobe.

“To be honest we all had shit fashion sense back then, none of us could
have given you any good advice” Niall replied back with a shrug.

“I hope Harry finds a way to travel back in time so he can knock some
of his fashion sense into me” Liam stated, causing the green eyes man
to huff out a small laugh.

Harry seemed to be in a slightly better mood today, although he was

still quite reserved, not speaking much. It confused Louis and he wanted
to know why the sudden change in behavior but decided against it, not
wanting to cause any drama before the shoot.

When Louis was finally dressed he found himself wearing his outfit
from the first ever photo the band had taken together.

He wore black baggy pants rolled at the ankles, a grey t shirt, a

white/light grey cardigan and a dark grey scarf, paired with a red beanie
and some toms. All he could think was how disgraceful he looked, and
he wore this on auditions day too?! What was he thinking.

115
He glanced over to see the other lads had changed into their outfits as
well.

First he saw Zayn, who was wearing denim jeans and a grey sweater,
not as bad as it could have been to be honest.

Next was Niall, he had on a white and blue shirt covered by a black
sweater and a pair of blue baggy jeans.

Then there was Liam, with probably the most decent outfit out of the
five. He wore a grey t shirt with a lighter shirt unbuttoned all the way
over the top of it and a pair of jeans again.

The last person Louis laid eyes on was Harry, and he was hit with their
old memories from X factor all at once at the sight of him.

Harry wore a green polo shirt and a grey cardigan, with some dark jeans
and lastly a grey beanie perched on top of his head.

Harry turned and caught Louis staring, but instead of lashing out with
witty comments, he mirrored Louis, gazing at him with a fond look in
his eyes, remembering all the memories they shared while they used to
look this way.

They used to look this way when fans hadn’t noticed their change, when
Simon was nicer, when management didn’t want to ruin them, when
stunts weren’t pulled every few days, when they could hug, hold hands,
whisper sweet nothings into each other’s ears while on stage. When
they were happy.

It almost felt like if they were to look like they did back then, it could
be like it was back then. Louis wanted to believe that 100%, but he
couldn’t. Because deep down he knew nothing would be the same, and
a few outfit changes couldn’t fix what was broken.

116
With a sad look they both turned and left the room, following behind
the rest of the lads to join Lou again.

“Jesus Christ! You all look so different” she said with a look of fond
mixed with disbelief.

“You look like babies awwww” she carried on with a chuckle.

“Stoppp” Louis said, covering his face and turning to try and get away,
but Lou stopped him by grabbing his arm and turning him to face her.

“Don’t be embarrassed hun, if you can’t face me like that how will you
react when this is posted for the fans ey?” She said pointedly.

“You just had to say that didn’t you?” He replied back with a huff.

“Oi, Get over here we need to take the picture!” Ben shouted from the
other side of the room where they were setting up equipment.

They saw that the back drop had been set up to look like the same exact
stairs they had taken the original photo on, giving them all a sense of
nostalgia.

“Wait!” Lou called just as they were about to get ready for the photo.

She came running over holding some form of stickers, shaped into
rectangles. Louis quickly realized it was their X factor numbers that
they would need to stick into their shirts.

“You remember your numbers right, cause I honestly have no idea

who’s is for who” she said with a nervous look.

“Course we do” Zayn replies, taking the stickers and handing them out
to the boys for them to place on their shirts.

117
“Alright, Louis, Liam and Niall I need you sat on the steps behind Harry
and Zayn. Harry you’re sat in front of Louis and Zayn your sat in front
of Niall. Liam your back middle” Ben instructed.

The lads organized themselves how they had been told and then had a
last chance to look at the original photo to make sure they were pulling
the correct faces and their posture was correct.

“Alright 5,4,3,2,1 and smile” Ben said to them from behind the camera.

They had to repeat this at least 10 times, just to be sure they had gotten
the correct photo. Once they were finished they all stood up straight and
stretched, it was not comfortable staying in the same position for more
than necessary.

“Okay great, I think we got it, now go change again we’ve got this photo
to take next”

And then he pulled out a picture to show them, a picture which

consisted of them leaning against one another. Yeh, wasn’t gonna be
awkward at all.

118
 16
Jealousy

The lads were currently back inside the changing room, getting ready
for their next photo.

Louis was dreading putting this outfit on after so many years. He

thought it was horrendous. The turquoise pants were a drastic change
from his now toned down outfits and they seriously didn’t contrast well
with his dark, navy blue sweater.

At least he wasn’t the only one wearing such bold choices of color
though. He turned to his right and saw Zayn wearing bright red jeans
and a brown sweater. Louis was thankful that he didn’t have to go back
to his statement red jeans, instead that task was passed over to his friend
here.

The other lads weren’t having such luck with their clothes either. Liam,
once again, had the most decent outfit out of all of them, simple dark
jeans and a black hoodie, Louis envied him.

Niall was sporting navy blue trousers with an orange and grey sweater,
again, not a great choice.

Then there was Harry. He was wearing brown baggy trousers, similar
to the color in which Zayn’s sweater was, with a black sweater on his
top half. Honestly what was with the fucking sweaters back then?

It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair.

Even wearing a god awful outfit like that, he could still pull it off, even
more so now that he is fully grown and can fill out the baggy clothing.

119
But what did he expect. It was bloody Harry Styles, the man could wear
anything.

“I can’t believe they’re making us wear this shit” Zayn groaned while
looking at himself in the mirror.

“Tell me about it” Louis scoffed while pulling on a pair of toms.

“Not fair, why does Liam get a decent outfit?” Niall huffed out in a
whiny tone.

“Because clearly I was the only one with fashion sense back then” he
said with a grin.

“Yeh but now Harrys taken that title, sorry mate” Zayn said with a wink.

Harry shook his head slightly and continued to fold his previous outfit
up ready for Louise to sort out.

Once they were all ready they headed back out and over to Ben, who
was currently having his team sort out the back drop just as he wanted
it. It was simple really, just a white background.

“Alright go stand in front of the camera, we’re going to show you the
photo again so you can arrange yourselves into the right order” Ben
instructed and the lads nodded in understanding and did as they were
told.

The pose was actually a lot more difficult than expected.

In the original photo, the order went Liam, Niall, Louis, Zayn and lastly
Harry, which was fine because back then there wasn’t much height
difference. They were all roughly the same height when this picture was
taken, where as now, we’ve got one giant, one midget and the rest in
between.

120
It was a nightmare trying to get the proportions right. It made no sense
for Harry to be the last person in their sloped line, being that he was
now the tallest by a good few inches and had to try and crouch down
while leaning against Zayn. But it made perfect sense back then, and
there was nothing they could do about it.

How were they supposed to know Harry was going to have a fucking
growth spurt worthy of the BFG.

“Ben, mate, this clearly isn’t working” Louis said to the persistent man,
tired of trying to hold this pose for such a long time.

“It can work and it will. In order to make Louis look taller, Zayn you’re
going to have to crouch down a little more against him” he instructed.

Zayn did as he was told but it immediately got awkward as Zayn was
basically pressing his ass right into Louis’ crotch.

Louis widened his eyes at the new position, hoping Zayn didn’t move
about too much as it would be mortifying if he got off on such a small
touch. He wouldn’t be surprised if he did either as he hadn’t slept with
anyone in so long that he now couldn’t remember the last time he had.

“Perfect hold that pose right there would you” Ben said, going back to
taking camera shots.

“Hold on, Niall move your hand a bit further up Louis’ waist, it should
be just under his arm, like your holding him up” He told Niall, pointing
to what he meant in the photo.

Niall placed his hands in the correct position, making Ben hum in
approval and make his way back to the camera once again.

“Harry you’re going to need to smile” Ben said sternly, gaining the
attention of the lads, moving their heads to see the monitor as best they
could, only to see Harry with a clenched jaw and dark eyes.

121
It caught Louis off guard a bit, seeing Harry so irritated and almost
angry looking, at what though?

Harry forced a wide smile on his face, dimples showing and white teeth
glistening in the harsh spotlights. It would look natural to anyone
behind a screen, however Louis saw how his eyes didn’t have that same
sparkle in them that they normally would.

“Louis arch you back a little more would you? Lean further into—

“He’s doing fine, get on with it” Harry spat out, cutting Ben off from
his explanation and that same irritated look washed over his face again.

What the fuck? Louis thought, giving a disbelieving look towards Harry
through the monitor, which he saw but turned his head away once again.

Louis didn’t know what had gotten into him, he thought that today
Harry had his mood swings under control, he was completely fine this
morning. It was as if something had just snapped inside of him, but
Louis didn’t know what provoked it.

“Harry he’s just doing his job—

“I don’t give a shit, get this over with or I’m leaving” Harry said sternly,
stopping Liam mid sentence.

Not only was his behavior strange in general, but more so considering
it was towards Ben.

Ben and Harry has been really close for a lot of years now, Harry has
even stayed at his house for a couple months when he had no where to
stay, so him lashing out at Ben like that for no reason was shocking and
uncalled for.

Ben furrowed his eyebrows but instead of commenting on his rude

remark, he complied with Harrys request and once again started taking
the pictures.

122
“Okay I think I got it” Ben announced, making the lads sigh in relief
and stretch out of their uncomfortable position.

For the next hour or so they took about four or so more photos,
progressing through their years as a band, and thankfully as they went
along their outfit decisions seemed to gradually get better.

“The last thing we need to do before you can leave is a quick voice
recording of you all, you’re not saying too much so it shouldn’t take
very long” Ben told them after a 10 minute break in which Harry, Louis
and Zayn went out for a smoke while Liam and Niall updated Twitter.

They all agreed and headed over to their recording studio which was
situated across from the building they were currently in.

The studio was dark, only dimly lit with LED lights and small wall
lights, the only decently lit up part of the room was the recording booth.

In front of the recording booth were many screens displaying countless

tracks and sound effects, which could all be controlled by the huge
surface area covered in buttons and switches, it looked like a huge DJ
deck.

There were couches and chairs around the room and musical
instruments such as guitars, drums and even a grand piano were dotted
about amongst them.

They all took a seat and were handed a script which wasn’t even that
long, just as Ben had mentioned, it was only about a page and each of
the lads had about 1 line to say at most.

“We’ve got five microphones set up in there so the process will be

quicker, you can all get in there at once and we will record it maybe 3
times depending on if you mess up or not” Ben told them, gesturing for
them to go ahead inside the room and get ready to record their
voiceovers.

123
Ben hit record and put a thumb up to indicate that they can start when
ready.

“We’ve kept you waiting long enough” Liam started off.

“And We apologies for the amount of time we’ve been gone” Niall said
right after.

“Our unfinished tasks need to be met” Louis spoke.

“This time as a five and not a four” Zayn carried on.

“We hope to be seeing you all on tour” Harry finally said before they
all joined in for the last line.

“Because were one direction, and we’re back”

124
 17
The Late Late Show

“One direction reunion is here”

“Are one direction finally getting back together?”

“Hints have been circulating the bands twitter for a few weeks now”

“The band have now been seen on James Corden's carpool karaoke”

“A tour promo video just dropped last night”

“The rumors are in fact true”

This is all the lads have heard ever since the two videos dropped online.
Media outlets and news channels have been eating up the news and now
it’s the only thing the world is talking about.

Management are getting calls left and right from interviewers and
journalists who want their questions answered and now the lads have
packed schedules.

Tonight they’re set to be featured on James’ Late Late show as it would

only make sense for the man to interview them first. Then they are
meant to show up on Ellen and jimmy Fallon’s shows before flying
back to the UK for interviews with Jonathan Ross and Allan Carr.

Currently, the lads were on their way to the studio for preparations
before the interview. They needed to get their hair and makeup done as
well as their outfits, they had to learn timings for when they were
coming on and going off and they needed to be briefed on what subjects
may come up.

125
They were also expecting some sort of game to occur during the show
but they hadn’t been told what it was yet, Louis only hoped it wasn’t
anything to do with touching or eating.

“I swear to god if he makes us do that fucking dance battle” Louis

murmured to himself and the lads while sat in the car.

“It’s your own fault for challenging him, he’s not going to back out
now” Niall said with a smirk.

“Either way use lot are doing it with me, no way am I dancing solo”
Louis reminded them with a huff.

“Yeh yeh whatever, thought the dance battles normally happen with
Allan Carr though” Liam said with a confused expression.

“Hopefully he won’t want a rematch either then” Louis said with a

bored expression.

Once they had arrived they were instantly directed into the large
building through the back entrance and led to meet James in the
backstage area.

It was about two hours or so before James had to begin his show so the
crew were frantically setting up lights and cameras, making sure
everything was in order.

When they saw the man, they greeted him with a hug before sitting
down on the couches in the main dressing room where James would
brief them on what to do and where to go.

“Okay so the first section will be standard interview circumstances and

it will begin at about 7pm ish, you’ll be coming on right after the
Kardashian’s—

“The Kardashian’s are here?” Zayn said with a shocked expression,

turning to take a quick look in Harrys direction.

126
“Oh no one told you? Their new season of keeping up is starting like
next week so they have a half hour segment” he explained.

“Who exactly will be here?” Harry asked cautiously.

“Kim, Kylie, Courtney, Kris and Kendall” he said with a knowing smirk
in the man’s direction.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes, not wanting to bump into the woman
tonight. They’re of course on good terms, he likes her, but he didn’t
want any unnecessary attention from the media speculating about them
again when 1. she has a boyfriend now and 2. Just because they’re on
the same show on the same night doesn’t mean they’re instantly
hooking up again.

Louis was clenching his fists at the news, not wanting to have to see
Harrys “ex” with him tonight. He knows it was only for publicity, but
the thought of having to see the two interact right in front of him made
him sick. It brought back old memories of how mentally draining it was
having to pretend he was fine with the two being an “item”, seeing it all
over social media every two seconds and just wanting to be able to call
Harry his in front of the world.

But now, now Louis didn’t even have the right to feel that way. Harry
wasn’t his, he couldn’t tell the world that even if he wanted to. So if
Harry were to pursue anything more with Kendall, he would just have
to endure it.

“Don’t worry, you probably won’t be seeing much of her anyway, I’m
sure they’ll have somewhere fancy to go right after their interview so
you wouldn’t have the chance to catch up even if you wanted to” James
said in a reassuring tone.

“Thank fuck for that” Harry breathes out, which was a shock to the lads
and James as they were supposedly good friends now.

127
“Did we miss something?” Zayn asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“You missed nothing. I just don’t want to give the fans the wrong idea,
they’ll see Kendall being interviewed, then me, and they’ll make
assumptions by putting two and two together” he explained with a tired
expression.

“Sorry mate” Liam said, patting him on the back.

“Whatever, continue James” he said, changing the subject swiftly.

“Okay as I was saying, your first section starts at about 7pm and will
end at 7:20 for a 10 minute break. When you return we will do the more
fun side of the interview, probably play some sort of game or two and
that should take another 20 minutes until the end of the take. If you want
you can stay here to watch the rest of the show from backstage but it’s
up to you, if not you can leave and I wish you all the luck with tour and
all that” He said with a bright smile.

“Cheers mate, but what game we playing?” Louis asked suspiciously.

An evil like smirk spread across James’ face which could only mean
one thing.

“Spill your guts” he announced, causing them all to groan.

“Oh for fuck sake I’ve already played this! Can’t I sit out?” Niall said
with a pleading look.

“Nope, I wanted to play this with you guys because we’ve never done
it with so many people, it will be hilarious turning you lot against each
other in it” He said with a chuckle.

“I fucking knew you were gonna make us play this” Louis said with a
sigh.

128
“Wow good for you Lou, you must be psychic” James sarcastically
replied.

“Fuck off” he spat back but had a small smile playing on his lips.

He didn’t realize the way Harrys eyes darkened at the nickname.

“Alright I’ll leave you to get ready, I’ve got to start the show in about
an hour and a half so I can’t stay to chat, see you later” he said before
waving them out the room.

They were then ushered to their own dressing room by one of the crew
members and the team got to work.

Each of them were sat at vanity’s next to each other lining the far wall,
hair and makeup products were displayed in front of them and they were
practically being treat like royalty.

They were asked what drinks they wanted and had them served to them,
they were offered magazines to read and even had a small buffet just
for them.

Louis pulled out his phone and plugged it into the adaptor on the vanity
mirror, sitting back in his chair while the lady got to work on his hair.
It wasn’t Louise working on him today as she was busy helping Harry,
instead it was one of Lou’s trainees who had been invited to do some
practice work on the lads, and she was surprisingly good.

She was talkative but not in the annoying way and knew how to portray
Louis’ hair just how he wanted it, a quiff laying perfectly on top of his
head. She then moved onto makeup and thankfully didn’t use too much
product, just concealing his under eye and any blemishes on his near
perfect skin. She added some powder so he wouldn’t be shining in the
studio lights and then combed and gelled his brows, to finish it off she
added the tiniest amount of mascara to his already long lashes and
spritzed his face with setting spray.

129
“All done” she said with a smile.

“Wait, your only a beginner?” Louis asked incredulously.

“Uh, yeh why? Did I do bad?” She asked in a worried tone.

“Course you didn’t darling, Lou might have a competitor here” he said
with a wink, reassuring the young girl.

“Oi I heard that Tomlinson” Louise shouted over to him with a scoff.

This gained the lads attention, including Harry. Who turned to look over
at the two and his eyes lingered on Louis’ face, a lust filled gaze
washing over him, however Louis didn’t notice it.

Damn that makeup artist is good, Harry thought to himself, in awe of

how good Louis looks tonight.

He was angry that he couldn’t stop himself from wanting Louis, he

wished he was ugly, it would have made it 10x easier.

10 minutes later and the lads were all dressed to perfection, ready to go
out for their interview any moment now.

Louis was wearing an all black outfit, some skinny jeans, a t shirt and a
black unbuttoned shirt to layer over the top, paired with some black
vans.

To no one’s surprise, Harry was wearing another Gucci suit, this one
being black and white in a checkered pattern. It fit his figure perfectly
and made him look more mature than he really was.

Liam wore black jeans with a cream colored t shirt and a jean jacket in
the same color, the sleeves ended just below his elbow, showing off his
ink covered skin.

130
Niall has on a pair of denim jeans with a white band tee, paired with
some black boots. It was much more simple compared to the other lads
but worked well with his style.

And lastly, Zayn was wearing an all black outfit much like Louis’, a
black button up shirt with the word truth in white was resting on his
slender frame, contrasting to the slightly more baggy trousers and high
top trainers.

They all waited at the top of the stairs, ready for their cue to go on stage
when James announced them, and then it was time.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like you all to give a warm welcome to an
immensely talented band that we’ve all been waiting for to return. Here
in the studio we have one direction!” James shouted as the audience
erupted into cheers, clapping for them as they entered the room one by
one.

The lads waved to the audience and smiled brightly, missing the
reaction they got as a band. It felt nostalgic coming back here as a five
and not as solo artists, Louis hadn’t realized until now how much he
missed being a part of the band.

When they reached James they hugged him before sitting down on the
sofa comfortably, taking a sip of their drinks that were ready for them
on the coffee table.

“Good to see you again lads, even though we literally filmed together
not even a week ago” James greeted them.

“Yeh you too” A few of the lads replied.

“So, I’ve already asked you a lot about tour and stuff like that in the
carpool karaoke, so a lot of these questions will mainly focus on you
individually” he said with a smirk.

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“Oh god” Louis huffed out, gaining a laugh from the audience as he sat
up properly in his chair.

“Now look, I know you hate these questions but you can’t blame me,
we haven’t heard a whole lot from you in the past few years, not as a
band anyway. So what’s going on in your love lives right now, you still
single, new boo?” He said teasingly, making them huff out a laugh and
roll their eyes.

Louis had to think for a second about this one. His relationships were
complicated right now, he was still talking to Eleanor quite often but he
wouldn’t consider them an item anymore, he’s only seen with her for
PR stunts and publicity, it’s never really genuine.

But he didn’t know whether saying he was single would end up in

management screaming in his face or not, but fuck it, he thought, if he
hadn’t been told what to say, he may as well say the truth.

“Niall?” James asked.

“Single as a Pringle” he replied with a grin.

“Zayn?”

“I’m actually back with Gigi right now yeh” he replied with a fond look
in his eyes.

“Really, how’d that happen?” James asked in interest.

“I don’t know really, we just got back in touch and hung out for a while,
sorted our shit out— wait can I swear on here?” He suddenly asked, a
worried look on his face.

“Not really but we’ll just beep it out” James said nonchalantly.

“Thank fuck” he said in relief and once again caused the audience to
laugh at his use of the words anyway.

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“Uh so yeh, sorted it out and we’re back on good terms now” he said
with a nod.

“Well yeh I would hope so, be a bit awkward if your dating someone
you’re not on good terms with wouldn’t it?” James replied.

“Very awkward” Harry butted in, knowing all too well how it felt to
“date” someone he didn’t like.

He then realized he shouldn’t have said that when he noticed the pointed
looks he was getting from James and the lads.

“Anyway, Harold” James said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes?” Harry said hesitantly, knowing this was going in a bad direction.

“Any relationships? You’ve been papped with a lot of girls these past
few years, well done though, they seemed about your age” he said
smugly.

“Fuck sake” Harry groaned out with a half hearted smile, the audience
laughing at his reaction.

“Well then?” James pushed.

“They’re just friends” he replied with a shrug.

“Even Kiko? You were seen a lot with her last year, Japanese outlets
were going mad for it, or so I heard”

“Again, just a friend. We were actually filming an episode of queer eye,

she was there because she works with the show and as I was in Japan
that Year making my second album, she contacted me asking if I’d be
a guest on the show” he explained, gaining a look of understanding
from James and the audience.

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“I assume they asked you to be on the show because of all the rainbows
on tour then?” James asked with a small chuckle.

Harry laughed back and nodded his head.

“Yeah I guess so, probably thought I was some gay icon or something”
he said sarcastically.

“Yeh you did seem to love the sparkles” James said back.

“Might as well go into drag at this point” Harry said with a shrug,
winking at James.

“Stick with the nail polish mate, you can’t do makeup for shit” Zayn
said causing the lads to laugh as Harry uttered out a “heyyy”.

“Alright let’s get back on track, Liam, single?”

“Yeh, I still talk back and forth with Cheryl though, what with the baby
an all” he replied.

“Oh yeh, how’s the little lad doing then, must’ve gotten a lot bigger by
now” James asked, smiling at Liam.

“He’s doing great. He’s a funny kid, I have to watch my language

around him though or he’ll just repeat me for the next week. Cheryl’s
always on my back about that” Liam laughed, and you could see the
adoration in his eyes for his son, just talking about bear made his eyes
light up like it was Christmas Eve.

“They do take after their parents” James replied with a smile, before
turning to Louis. “” You back with el or Brianna then? “He changed the
subject, finally asking the dreaded question.

Louis hesitated for a moment before answering, not meeting his eyes.

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“No, it’s kind of been on and off lately, we still talk though, we’re mates
at least” he said, referring to Eleanor.

Louis saw Harry glance at him out of the corner of his eye, a small,
barely there smile playing on his lips, but it quickly vanished when
Harry knew he had been caught.

“Okay that’s all we have for now, but don’t worry we will be back with
spill your guts or fill your guts here with one direction after the break”
James called loudly into the camera and audience before they were
notified they could go for their break.

Louis turned to tell James he was going for a quick smoke and by the
time he had turned back around he saw that Harry had already left.
Louis shrugged and ignored it, asking Zayn if he wanted to come with
but he politely declined.

Louis walked through the long hallways, making left and right turns
until he got to the back exit of the building.

He had opened the door and was just about to step out when he heard
two people talking. He quickly realized it was Harry, and Kendall.

“You realize I’m gay right?” He heard Harry say in a hushed tone.

Harry was leaning against the wall, Kendall right in front of him, a little
too close to just be friendly, she had her hand tracing the material of
Harrys suit up his arm and had a seductive look on her face.

“No Haz, your bi, you’ve never had a problem taking me home before”
she stated matter of factly.

Hardy removed her hand from his arm and stood up properly, towering
over her even though she was nearly the same height being a model and
all.

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“What don’t you understand by no?” Harry said with a stern voice,
clearly irritated by now.

“Oh come on, you’re not seriously saying no because of that twink your
so in love with?” She said with a mock tone.

“Call him a fucking twink one more time” he warned with his fists
clenched.

Louis was confused. Twink? In love? He was starting to worry that

Harry really had moved on.

She smirked before saying, “I think your little twink is watching us right
now”

With that she pounced on Harry, smashing their lips together in a

sudden kiss, it took a second to realize what was happening before
Harry pushed the girl off him harshly, eye wild with hatred.

“What do you fucking mean he’s watch—

Louis coughed slightly, drawing the fuming man’s attention towards

him. Harry looked shocked, seeing Louis stood there looking smaller
than ever.

“Lou” Harry said softly, not wanting the man to have seen that.

As much as he hated Louis, or thought he hated Louis, he didn’t like

him seeing him out of control. After being so vulnerable to the man
years prior, he liked holding the control in front of him so he didn’t
appear weak ever again.

“I’ll leave you too it, call me” Kendall said before pressing a kiss to
Harrys cheek and sauntering off back inside the building.

Harry said nothing, and instead slumped against the wall, looking up to
the dark sky and breathing in deeply, trying to calm himself down.

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Louis hesitantly stepped fully outside, grabbing his cigarette packet
before walking over to Harry and offering him one.

“Thanks” Harry said, taking one and lighting it up.

Louis lit his and leant against the wall just as Harry had done. It took
him a while to get his thoughts in order before breaking the silence.

“So what was all that about?” Louis said, while trying not to anger the
man again.

“Nothing” is all he replied, gaining a sigh from Louis.

“I know you hate me but—

“I don’t hate you” Harry interrupted, shocking Louis.

“What?” Louis asked in disbelief.

“I may not particularly like you, but, I don’t hate you either. I couldn’t
ever hate you, even after all the shit you put me through” he said, still
not meeting his eyes.

“I’m sorry” Louis said shortly, not knowing what else to say.

“It doesn’t matter now” Harry replied.

“Well, I was gonna say, you know you can still talk to me right. We
may not be on the best of terms right now, I know that, but we used to
tell each other everything. That shouldn’t change just because of how
things ended” Louis said sadly, turning to try and get Harrys attention.

Harry finally looked at him.

“You broke my heart, you know that right?” He said with a broken
voice.

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Louis nodded with glassy eyes.

“And things can’t ever just go back to normal. I’ve changed Lou, and
not for the better, I’m too messed up for you now anyway, you shouldn’t
have to deal with my mood swings 24/7, you might have messed me
up, but I’m not going to let you go down the same path” he breathed
out quietly, never breaking eye contact.

“You’re not messed up” Louis said, slowly bringing his hand up to
touch the man’s soft face.

“You may think so, but to me your just the same old Hazza, only with
a bit more attitude” he said with a small smile, making Harry huff out
a quiet laugh.

“I just don’t see how this could work again” Harry said sadly.

“Just try, please. I’ll do better, I promise I’ll never let you down again”
Louis pleaded desperately.

“Okay” Harry replied, bringing the small man into a bone crushing hug.

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 18
Spill Your Guts

Louis and Harry walked back through the studio with shy smiles on
their faces, both in much better moods after what had just occurred,
well, minus the whole Kendall part.

They didn’t speak, knowing they only had about a minute before they
were meant to Be joining the lads and James back on set, so they rushed
past staff and studio workers in order to make it back on time.

They got there with barely any time to spare, having flushed faces and
heavy breathing, to the lads it would have looked a lot like something
else.

“Louis where the fuck have you— oh, and uh, Harry?” Liam stumbled
over his words, confused as to why two people who supposedly hate
each other with a passion, would be returning from god knows where
with smiles painted across their faces.

“What? Don’t recognize me Lima, I’m offended” Harry said in a

teasing tone, confusing the man even more.

“Okay what the fuck did I miss?” He asked with a pointed look.

“All in good time Liam, we’ve got a game to play” Louis replied with
a smirk, clapping Liam on the back and walking towards James, Harry
following closely behind.

Liam huffed out a sigh but shrugged it off, making a mental note to ask
them about it later.

When all the lads and James were ready, sat at the spill your guts table,
the camera man signaled for them to begin.

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“Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to spill your guts or fill your guts
with one direction!” He announced loudly to the camera and audience,
who screamed with excitement in retaliation.

“Alright Niall I know you’ve played the game before, sorry about that,
but I’m going to explain this for anyone who has never seen or played
this before just to be clear on how it works” James explained, gaining
nods from everyone.

“As there are so many of us playing tonight, we’re separating into teams
of three, myself, Louis and Zayn on one team and Harry, Liam and Niall
on the other. You will take it in turns asking someone from the opposing
team a question, if said person refuses to answer they have to eat the
item of food you have given them, if they answer they are clear, you
understand?” James asked.

They all nodded and said yes before James continued. He proceeded to
list off all the items on the table, each being more disgusting than the
other and gaining disgusted reactions from the audience each time.

“Alright let’s take a look at what we have on the table. A salmon

smoothie, beef tongue, bird saliva, herring rollmop, a scorpion, a fish
head, hot sauce and finally, bull penis”

They all groaned at the horrific foods in front of them, if they could
even be classed as food, and gagged at just the thought of eating any of
it.

“Oh and I forgot to mention, if one of you doesn’t answer a question,

all three of you must eat the food given to you” he said with a smirk.

This caused them to groan even louder. They were just thinking what
have they gotten themselves into.

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“Okay, Niall, seeming as you’ve played this before why don’t you go
first, ask a question” James said, gesturing to the pile of question cards
besides him.

Niall picked it up, showing it to the lads before they all gave knowing
glances.

“He’s so gonna do it” Liam said with a smug look.

“I hope you have an appetite James” Harry said with a chuckle, causing
Louis to bite his lip in fondness.

“What shall we give them?” Niall asked.

“How about, fish head” Liam suggested, causing James, Louis and
Zayn to protest.

“Alright, James, list from worst to best, the singing capabilities of one
direction” Niall said with a smirk, the audience laughing and “oooh”
ing at the question.

James sat there with his jaw hanging wide open, a smile itching its way
onto his face.

“I can’t answer that!” He said loudly.

“Answer or eat, your choice, although I would like to know” Harry said
to the man, smirking.

“Whoever wrote this one, is cruel, just— cruel, you’re asking me to rate
the lads best to worst on their singing, right in front of them, messed up
I’m telling you” James said shaking his head.

“We won’t be offended” Zayn said to him encouragingly.

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“Your saying that now” he replied with a sigh, picking up the portion
of fish head on the cocktail stick, the lads following his actions
hesitantly.

“Bon appetité lads” he said before all three of them chucked back a
piece of the disgusting food.

Instantly they grabbed their trash cans and spat out the contents of their
mouths, making gagging noises while the other three sat looking
amused at the sight.

“That was the worst fucking fish I’ve eaten in my life, won’t ever go to
the chippy again” Louis said before taking a sip of his water.

They all shook their heads with a laugh and continued the game.

“Zayn, would you like to do the honors?” James asked.

“Love to” he replied, picking up a question and showing the other two
just as Niall had done before.

They all smirked and turned to look at Liam, causing the man’s smile
to drop and mutter an “oh god” under his breath.

Zayn day forward in his chair, making eye contact with Liam who was
sat opposite him.

He then moved the table round to the beef tongue, leaving it in place
opposite the man.

“Liam. Who is your least favorite sibling of any of the members of one
direction?”

Liam raised his eyebrows at this, This was beyond mean.

“The fuck? That’s so mean!” He said, waving his arms out to the side.

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“Sucks for you, answer or eat?” Zayn replied simply.

“Fuck it” is all he said before chomping down on a large part of the
tongue, chewing it with a grimace on his face.

Harry and Niall soon followed suit, eating a considerably smaller

portion than Liam had, spitting it out just after a few chews.

“I can’t believe I just had that thing in my mouth, look at this shit!”
Niall said, turning the tongue over to see the mold like, yellow
substance coating the bottom of it. The audience gagged and felt pity
for the boys.

It was then Harrys turn to ask a question, this one being for Louis.

Harry pulled a funny looking face at the question before showing it to

the boys sat next to him.

He slowly turned the table until it landed on the bull penis, making
Louis quirk an eyebrow at the man sat across from him.

“Lou”

“Haz”

“Rumor has it, you enjoy spending time at BDSM clubs on nights out
with your pals. True or False?” Harry smirked, and instantly a deep
blush spread through Louis’ cheeks.

Louis coughed to clear his throat whilst the rest of the lads, including
James, tried desperately not to laugh. They knew the answer, and it was
no secret to the public that he had been to a few of the taboo clubs in
the past; though that knowledge didn’t help at all with answering.

Not wanting to eat the disgusting food in front of him, he decided he

could work his way around the question without it seeming too obvious.
“I mean, I’ve been to a few in the past, pretty sure It got leaked on social

143
media at one point. But honestly my mates just dragged me there. We
were drunk and it seemed like a funny thing to do. Made a pretty good
night out of it to be honest” he said with a chuckle.

Harry looked at him with skeptical eyes, and if the cameras were off
and there wasn’t a studio full of people, Louis would have told him to
fuck right off.

“Okay, not quite the answer but we’ll take it” James said with a grin,
turning to Niall.

“Alright, Nialler, you’re up mate” he said before peering at the question

and turning the table until bird saliva landed in front of him.

“Niall, who would you rather take out on a date, your ex Ellie Goulding,
or Shawn Mendes?” He said with a playful look on his face.

Niall turned bright red at this, playing with his fingernails while
contemplating his answer.

“Well, for a start, I’m very much straight, not that there’s anything
wrong with being gay” he said with a chuckle. “But I think going on a
date with an ex that I’ve barely talked to in a very long time would just
be too awkward, so I’d go with Mendes” he answered, gaining knowing
looks from his band mates.

“What?!” He exclaimed.

“Nothing nothing, don’t get wound up mate, we know your part of the
Mendes army” Louis said, gaining a laugh from the audience once
again.

“Liam, ask away” James said finally.

He picked up his card and eyed it over, before looking at the man.

144
He then rotated the table as it had been done many times before and put
hot sauce in front of him.

“Zayn, it’s it true your thinking of proposing to Gigi?” He asked, voice

wavering slightly.

Zayn looked up to meet his eyes and saw the slightest bit of hurt glazing
over them, he swallowed thickly before downing the shot of hot sauce
and immediately regretting his decision. He spat it out into the bucket
and grabbed a glass of milk, practically drowning himself in it.

His mouth was burning ferociously, but he would rather go through the
pain of his mouth being lit on fire than admit that in front of Liam.

“Fucking hell, is that liquid fire or some shit?” He said breathlessly.

“Carolina reaper hot sauce. Your welcome” James replied while

laughing, patting the man on the back.

By this point it seemed everyone had forgotten about the whole team
eating rule, everyone just wanted to get it over with, not caring if the
others ate with them or not.

“Alright, final question of the night!” James announced, picking up his

question.

When he read it he quickly made sure Louis and Zayn couldn’t see the
card, instead turning the table so that the bull penis was now in front of
Harry.

James smirked.

“Harold. True or false. Is Larry Stylinson real, or was it ever real?” He

finally said, using pauses for dramatic effect.

Louis whipped his head up so fast he thought he had snapped his neck,
first looking incredulously at James and then turning his attention to the

145
brunette opposite him, their eyes meeting for a moment, unsure what to
do in this situation.

“Quite ironic really. You basically asking if I’m gay while giving me a
bulls penis to eat” Harry said causing the studio to erupt in a fit of
laughter at the realization.

He looked at Louis once more before eating the item, not wanting to
basically come out just because of some silly game. His coming out
needed to mean something, he wouldn’t throw the moment away by
refusing to eat something.

He spat it out shaking his head, the room still not dying down from fans
screaming.

“You can’t even eat that shit if you tried, chewy as fuck mate” Harry
said with a small laugh.

Louis looked relieved at Harrys choice, thinking that if they hadn’t sort
of made up earlier on then Harry would have most likely outed him
himself on national television.

“Okay big round of applause for our guests tonight, one direction!”
James shouted, standing up from his chair and gesturing for the lads to
come up front with him.

“Don’t forget to support their upcoming events and music, that’s all we
have for tonight, I’ve been your host James Corden and goodnight!”

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 19
Deals

“No”

“Louis you can’t just refuse”

“No”

“It’s in the contract”

“Does it look like I give a shit?”

Louis was currently arguing with management. Surprise surprise.

Turns out, all these Larry questions, which the two lads had no control
of, had made themselves known to modest. And of course, the ’only’
solution was a PR fucking stunt. Again.

“You’re doing this whether you like it or not” the head of management
stated.

Louis suddenly looked around frantically, checking his pockets in

search of something.

“I can’t— seem to— fuck I can’t find it!” He exclaimed dramatically.

“Can’t find what?” Another lady from the PR team asked, clearly
confused.

“The will to live” Louis said with a bored look, causing the lads who
were also in the room to chuckle at the disbelieving looks on
managements faces.

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“Louis fucking grow up will you. This is your job, you singed the
contract, you agreed to all of this, don’t like it then good luck finding a
company that would take on your talentless ass” said the head of
management once again speaking up.

Louis and the lads had their mouths hanging open in shock, that was
low, even for them.

“Fine I fucking quit then, have a nice life, asshole” he huffed before
storming out the room.

It was only then that management knew they had fucked up, big time.

“You realize what you just did will harm your company more than it
will the band, you do know that right?” Zayn said with a smug look.

Anyone else would expect the lads to be panicked right now, hysterical
about one of their band members just ’quitting’ the band. But no, they
know Louis would never do something so selfish that could put his best
mates careers at risk as well as his own.

What Louis just did was genius.

By ’quitting’ the band, modest would have no other option but to meet
the lads needs in order to get him back, because without Louis there
was simply no one direction, and vice versa with the other boys. If they
lost the band all because of a stupid PR stunt, they may as well throw
millions of pounds in the bin.

Now of course there’s always the problem with contracts, however,

they all know that within them contracts if one person decided to leave
then they can do so freely, their only sacrifice would be a few hours of
meetings and signatures. They know this well enough after Zayn went
through it.

Everyone in the management team were looking around at each other

nervously, deciding silently who to blame.

148
“For fuck sake Richard!” A woman with a high pitched, screechy voice
exclaimed.

“What?” He replied loudly, arms flailing about everywhere.

“You just had to open your mouth again didn’t you?” She said with a
disapproving look.

“He needs to learn how to follow orders! He’s tied to a fucking contract,
it’s the only way to control him” he said sternly.

The lads just sat there with smug looks on their faces, watching
management slowly fall apart. They ought to thank Louis.

“There must be another solution rather than just doing PR stunts all the
time, they’re getting old now and don’t seem to be helping anyway” she
said, they boys agreeing with her.

“Well what do you suggest then” he said with a huff, not liking being
disagreed with as it doesn’t happen often.

“Ignore it”

“What! You can’t be serious? That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard in
my life” He exclaimed, eyes wild, shaking his head.

“Think about it, the fans may have their little conspiracy’s, however we
still have the control over whether they do or don’t come out. Even
when the fans believe in it they still haven’t left the fandom, so why
bother trying to conceal it? At this point we’re just putting time and
money into hiding something that doesn’t need to be hidden, they’re
not even a couple anymore” she explained.

Thank god someone in this damn company has a brain.

“I second that” Zayn said

149
“Third” continued Liam.

“Me too” Niall said

Harry didn’t reply, he watched with piercing eyes towards Richard,

waiting for the verdict.

Richard ran his hands over his face and sighed, turning to look at his
coworkers for their opinion. A few gave him nods and others just gave
him a pointed look.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this— Fine”

“Thank fuck” Harry breathed out.

“But”

“Spoke to soon” Harry then said sadly, slouching further into his chair.

“We try this for a month. Do whatever the fuck you two want with each
other, act like you would have before management came in. However
obviously no over the top PDA, such as kissing, holding hands etc.
Once the moth is up, if we haven’t had any bad reactions you two can
carry on and we will completely drop the PR stunts, if there is a bad
reaction we go back to them. Is that a deal?” He said finally.

“Deal, can I go tell Lou?” Harry asked, ready to get up and walk out the
door.

“Sure whatever”

With that Harry bolted out of the room, practically sprinting to tell
Louis the good news, or, kind of good depending on how this ended.

Meanwhile back in the meeting room, the lads were sat there confused.

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They still didn’t know anything about Louis and Harrys small heart to
heart the other night, to their knowledge they should still be at each
other’s throats and Harry should still be a moody playboy. But no, it’s
all changed within 24 hours and they knew nothing about it.

————————————————————————

After a few text messages Harry made his way to Louis’ hotel room,
ready to tell him what management had said.

Harry watched as Louis opened the door, he appeared fresh out of the
shower, with damp hair splayed across his forehead and wearing only a
pair of sweats. He gulped and pried his eyes away from Louis’ ink
covered chest, looking him in the eyes before he gestured for him to
come in.

“Sorry, just had a shower, what did management say then?” Louis asked
while pulling a t shirt over his head, making it a lot easier for Harry to
speak to the man.

“Well, I should be thanking you really” Harry replied as Louis turned

around once more to look at him, eyebrow raised.

“Why? I could have easily just ruined your career just then, I was being
stupid and reckless” he huffed out, taking a seat on the bed and patting
the spot next to him, allowing Harry to come sit by him.

Harry sat down and shook his head.

“No Lou, you just got us out of stunts for a month, possibly for the rest
of our careers if this goes right” he said with a dimpled smile.

“What? What are you talking about? They said that?” Louis stumbles
out, shocked that what he said actually worked.

“Yeh, Jess from management basically confronted Richard, said that

they’re wasting time and money on the stunts when they’re getting

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nothing from it in the end, she’s the one that suggested we drop the
stunts actually, so then Richard agreed and said we have a one month
trial to see how this works, if it goes well it will be permanent, if there’s
a bad reaction from the fans, which I know there won’t, we have to go
back to how it was before, which sucks I know but I’m sure this will all
go smoothly” Harry explained, Louis nodding along the way.

By the end of it Louis was grinning so wide, eyes sparkling with a light
in them he hadn’t seen in years, they almost felt free, almost being that
they still can’t come out.

Suddenly Louis’ smile disappeared, causing Harry to frown along with

him.

“Hey, what’s up? Aren’t you happy?” Harry asked softly.

“Course I am, I just— what are we?” Louis asked suddenly. Harrys eyes
widened, he hadn’t thought about this at all yet.

“I— Uh, I’m not, really sure” he replied awkwardly, scratching his
neck.

“We need to talk about this, about what happened” Louis said sternly,
pleadingly.

“I know I just— I’m still not completely over what you did back then,
but you asked me to try, so I’m willing to do that as long as you don’t
break your promise” he said stiffly.

“I’d never break a promise to you again. But, when you say try?” Louis
trailed off.

“I mean we start from the beginning. I’m not just going to jump back
into a relationship with you right here right now, I need time to adjust
to this. Let’s just say we’re friends” he said with a small smile, putting
his hand out in front of Louis to shake on it.

152
Instead, Louis grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a huge hug,
wrapping his arms around the man like a teddy bear, never wanting to
let go.

After getting over the slight shock, Harry chuckled into Louis neck,
smile wide, nuzzling his face into his shoulder while closing his eyes.

Eventually they pulled apart, looking at each other for a moment before
shyly looking away again.

“We have some catching up to do” Louis said with a laugh, breaking
the silence.

“We sure do. Your gonna have to show me some of your solo stuff, I
couldn’t bring myself to listen to it during the hiatus” Harry replied with
a sheepish look.

“Oh my god neither, I felt too ashamed” Louis blurted out, eyes
crinkling as he smiled.

“We can do a sort of music swap then, you listen to mine and I’ll listen
to yours, although, you’ve already heard some of mine” he said.

“Guess mine is more of a surprise then” Louis retorted cheekily.

“We’ll see about that on tour” Harry replied with a wink.

“Wait, what?” Louis asked the man.

“Just you wait Tommo” he said with a smirk, before standing and
walking back out of the room.

Louis sat there wondering what on Earth he had planned.

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20
Disguises

Flashback:

“How could you to this to me?” Harry exclaimed as he threw open the
dressing room door, only to be met with the confused eyes of his band
members and the entire hair and makeup team.

He didn’t care though. He didn’t care if these people watched Him

break down. He didn’t care if they heard the truth. He needed to
confront Louis and he was going to do it now.

“Haz, please” Louis began, a look of realization crossing his face, but
he was cut off by Harry.

“No Louis, you know what you fucking did, how could you?” He once
again asked, tears streaming down his face.

“I— I didn’t mean to I swear Haz just listen to me” he pleaded.

“Don’t even dare call me that name after what you’ve done” he said,
shaking his head.

“Haz— Harry, come one lets just talk about this in private” Louis asked
softly, giving Harry a stern look while grabbing his arm and attempting
to pull him out the door.

Harry quickly snapped his arm back as if he had just been burned.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You don’t tell me when and
where I talk” he scoffed, throwing a disbelieving look towards the man.

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“What? You think I’m gonna do what you tell me to after you willingly
fucked the girl you apparently can’t stand? The girl who our
relationship has been tied to and brought down by for the past four
years? Your fucking crazy” He exclaimed, more tears pouring out of
his eyes like a waterfall.

Many of the people in the room gasped at that, being the first time they
had heard the news. Some even turned a disappointed look towards
Louis, who cowered down in shame at his actions.

“Please, Haz— don’t” Louis stuttered our, choking on his words

through the tears threatening to fall.

“I’m so fucking done. We, are done” Harry said finally, walking out the
room, slamming the door, and leaving a broken Louis behind.

End of flashback

Harry bolted upright in his bed, breathing heavily with tears in his eyes.

He still couldn’t escape from that damn memory.

It was haunting him, no matter how hard he tried to move on, to forget
about the incident, he always had this moment lingering in the back of
his mind.

Harry took a deep breath and sighed, running his hands through his hair
before standing to go get a glass of water from the small kitchen in his
hotel suite.

He downed the water and stood there for a moment thinking about what
mess he was in.

He wanted to forgive Louis so badly, wanted to move on from the past,

but with everything that happened he doesn’t know how he will find the
strength to be able to completely forgive the man with blue eyes.

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A month ago he would never dream of forgiving Louis, of being even
civil with him. But after spending weeks with him, he realized that by
holding this grudge, he was preventing himself from a happy life.

He knew he could only be truly happy with Louis, even after what he
had done, so that’s why he decided to let down his walls a bit.

It would take time, that’s for sure. But he was willing to put the effort
back into their relationship if it meant he could live a somewhat normal,
happy life. With Louis.

————————————————————————

The next day:

Today the lads had their interview with Ellen.

This would be their second to last interview before they flew back to
the UK to begin their interviews in their home country.

However, Louis knew one thing the other lads didn’t.

Technically, he wouldn’t be attending the interview. Elio would.

He would be portraying a character named Elio Parker and while the

other lads would be sitting through an interview, he would be watching
on from the audience.

Ellen has personally called him early this morning asking him to come
in to the studio so he could be disguised by a makeup artist using special
effects makeup.

His job was easy. He would simply sit and watch until he was caught.

Ellen would be discreetly throwing hints at the boys to do with Louis’

character and they would have to try find him by the end of the show.
If they find him, everyone in the audience would get some sort of prize,

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if not, well, Ellen would probably give them something anyways
knowing her. But they didn’t need to know that.

So, with that, Louis declined the lads offer at getting breakfast with
them and instead headed over to the studio with Paul.

“Alright Ellen” Louis greeted upon seeing the Niall look alike. Their
similarities were freakishly accurate.

“Louis, nice to see you again. Okay, no time to talk. This is your
makeup artist, her name is Lauren Mychal, she goes by the name Glam
and Gore on YouTube and she’s very good at what she does. Sooo, I
will leave you with her to get started and come find me when you’re
finished” She explained before walking away again.

“Ok, what do you have planned for me then?” Louis asked with a smile,
taking a seat at the vanity.

He was a little intimidated by all the prosthetics and equipment

displayed in front of him but ignored it, he has been through this process
before.

“I was thinking some sort of fat, old man look. You can wear a fat suit
under your clothes and I will give you a double chin, the lot. How about
that?” She said with a small chuckle, ready to make the handsome man
look unrecognizable.

“Sounds good, I’m ready when you are” He said with a shrug.

She began with a bald cap, which already made him look completely
different but this was only the start.

She then covered his eyebrows completely using glue, concealer and
powder, making him look like some sort of alien having no hair at all.

This process followed through with adding on the double chin made
from liquid latex and a beard that had countless grey hairs with in it.

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The same colored hair got placed on top of the bald cap, leaving a bald
patch in the middle. His fake eyebrows were bushy and dark but were
somewhat covered by his glasses perched on top of his nose. The last
few steps were just finishing touches, adding the makeup on to appear
older, she drew on wrinkles and blemishes to look like ageing skin and
then they were on to the final part. The fat suit.

This was surprisingly the hardest part as Louis had to stretch in

unimaginable ways just to get the fucking thing on. It was made 10
times harder when they had to be careful that they didn’t obscure the
makeup while pulling it over his head.

By the time they were finished Louis didn’t even recognize himself. He
actually laughed at his reflection the first time seeing his full look.
There was no way the lads would find him in the crowd.

“Holy shit, this is amazing” he said with a snicker.

“Your welcome” she said proudly, looking at Louis as if he was her

best piece of work yet.

“Seriously, this is amazing. You do what? YouTube?” He asked,

bewildered that this girl hadn’t gotten her big chance yet. She should be
working on movie sets.

“Yeh, that’s how I started out. I’ve gotten a pretty large following on
there now anyways so it’s not so bad” she said with a smile.

“You should be working on movie sets or some shit” he said, voicing

his thoughts.

“Well, I do what I can” she replied modestly.

“Let’s go find Ellen, wonder if she’ll recognize me” he said with a

mischievous glint in his eyes.

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Louis walked through the backstage area and out into the open area of
the studio where the stage was, he saw Ellen talking to a set manager
and just as he was about to tap her on the shoulder, she turned around,
eyes wide.

“Why’s there a homeless man in the studio” she called out after a
moment of silence.

“Oh my god, Ellen I love you!” Louis exclaimed in a different voice,

pretending to be a fan.

She just stood there and stared at him for a moment, then a smirk etched
its way onto her lips.

“Tomlinson, I know it’s you” she said in a bored tone.

“Damn it” Louis seethed out, causing the woman to laugh.

“When this was my idea in the first place and I knew you were gonna
be having your makeup done, of course I’m going to know it’s you
when a weird homeless man walks into the studio” she explained,
giving Louis some hope that the lads still won’t know it’s him.

“Guess your right” he huffed out.

“To be honest though, if I didn’t know the plan I would never have
guessed that this was you” she said, gesturing to Louis’ appearance.

“Yeh, she did a good job didn’t she, make sure you pay her right” he
said with a smug look.

“You’re the millionaire, you can pay!” She said with her arms up.

“Ellen”

“What?”

159
“You’re a millionaire too” he said with his hands on his hips, eyebrow
quirked.

“Whatever”

And with that she walked away, leaving Louis to prepare for the show.

————————————————————————

“Ladies and gentlemen here tonight we have a special guest, it’s one
direction” she announced, causing the audience to scream.

Louis decided if he’s gonna look the part, he may as well act the part.

He quickly stood up from his chair as the lads were walking on stage,
clapping loudly. He then brought his hands to his mouth and shouted.

“Oh my god! One direction! I love youu, be my baby daddy!”

Yeh, he regretted that one.

The lads took notice of him but thought nothing of it, laughing slightly
and rising their eyebrows at one another as if to say ’who the fuck is
this dude’.

Ellen winked at him before Louis took his seat once again, thinking up
all the ways he could embarrass the lads tonight.

He held all the power and there’s nothing they could do about it.

“Welcome back boys, long time since you were last here” Ellen said,
beginning the interview.

“Yeh, good to see you again” Harry replied, being the closest one to
her.

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“I think you’re missing a band member though” she said with raised
eyebrows, faking a confused look.

“Uhh, yeah, about that. We have no clue where Louis is” Niall
answered, scratching the back of his neck.

The audience chuckled, completely oblivious to the fact that he was sat
amongst them.

Louis turned to the person next to him, it was a girl, probably about 18
or 19, and she seemed to be a fan. He smirked before leaning close to
the girl and whispering to her.

“Louis isn’t here” he said, causing her to snap her head towards him
with a weird look on her face, eyebrows furrowed.

“Uhh, Yeh. And?” She said, wondering why this strange man was
talking to her.

“He’s a smol bean, he’s in my back pocket” he said with a wink and
then turned back to the show.

Louis wasn’t supposed to notice how the girl moved a sufficient amount
of space away from him after that.

Louis knows he’s small, he really does. But he wouldn’t admit that
without his costume. So why not do it now?

It seemed that the boys were now on a different topic than him, he didn’t
know what they were on about, probably tour, but he did catch the hint
that Ellen dropped.

“You know what my favorite memory is of you guys?” Ellen asked with
a smug look.

“What?” Zayn replied.

161
“When you all got put into special effects makeup and went around
London in them ridiculous outfits” she said with a laugh, playing a
small clip of the video on the screen behind her.

Louis smiled at the video, missing the old times like that.

The boys laughed at their appearances on screen, shaking their heads in

amusement.

“Yeh that was a good day. Took forever getting all that removed
though” Liam said with a grimace.

“Oh really? Does anyone here in the audience know how long it takes?”
Ellen asked the crowd.

Louis then spoke up again, feeling confident that he wouldn’t get

caught.

“An hour or more, depends on how many prosthetics your wearing” he

said in his thick, fake accent.

For a second he thought the boys were looking at him weirdly, he

thought he had been caught. Harry was especially taking a good long
look at him, even when the other lads had turned away. But he soon
shrugged it off and turned back to Ellen.

“Thanks for that” Ellen told Louis, who nodded in response.

The girl besides him was now also looking at him suspiciously, with
piercing eyes looking over his facial features, but like the other lads,
she turned her attention back to the show.

After a while of more and more hints the lads didn’t seem to be catching
on at all. So, Ellen stepped it up a notch.

“Okay now we’re going to play a small game where you will be
blindfolded and have to guess what object your feeling. If you would

162
just like to pop these on” She explained, handing them each a blindfold
which they pulled over their eyes.

Ellen started out easy, a box was placed in front of them containing a
kiwi. Ironic huh.

They took it in turns feeling the object, scared at first until they realized
it wasn’t some terrifying insect or disgusting rotten food, never mind
something rude.

They all guessed right but really it was Liam who guessed it right first,
so they boys could just thank him if they originally didn’t know the
answer.

“Okay just a moment, we’re bringing out the next object just in a
second” she said with a smirk.

Ellen then shushed the audience and gestures for Louis to come down
stage as quietly as he could.

He tiptoed down the stairs and when he reached the stage he turned and
winked at the audience. It seemed some people may have clicked onto
who he really was as a stunned looks crossed their faces.

“Okay this one is quite a bit bigger so it isn’t in a box this time, I will
guide you to it, make sure you get a real good feel of this one” she said,
trying hard not to laugh.

She took Niall’s hand and guided him over to Louis. He hesitantly
poked Louis artificial tummy and immediately drew his hand back.

“Ew what on earth was that” he said with disgust.

The audience as well as Louis burst out laughing, he quickly had to

cover his mouth in order for them not to hear his little slip up.

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“Come on, you barely touched it” Ellen provoked, pushing Niall into
him.

“Okay this is definitely a person” he then said, reaching up to feel his

bald patch.

Louis was trying so hard not to laugh, covering his mouth as Niall
stepped away, clearly having enough of this one.

“Any ideas?” Ellen asked.

“Felt like a person to me but I have no idea who” he said, not taking his
blindfold off as she had instructed.

The same thing happened with Zayn and Liam, both going a little
further with the exploration, prodding at his fake nose and chin, but they
still couldn’t work out who he was.

It was then Harrys turn.

Ellen brought the tall man over to him, Harry put his hands on Louis’
much now wider shoulders and moved up to feel his face.

“Yeh it’s a person, but, is there something on their face or what? It feels
mushy” he said with a pout of confusion.

“Why don’t you find out” Ellen said, egging him on.

He then picked at his fake chin, the makeup molding into his fingers
and a small piece even falling off. He immediately drew back his hand,
terrified at what he had just done.

“Ew what the fuck! What is this shit? Botched plastic surgery?” He
exclaimed, wiping his hands on his trousers.

Louis couldn’t help but laugh at that, which was a mistake as Harrys
head snapped up and he peeled his blind fold off immediately.

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“Wait a second” Harry said timidly, he looked at Louis for a second
before once again moving his hands towards his face, picking at the
makeup that was peeling on his chin.

The audience watched with wide eyes as Harry peeled off what he could
of the makeup. He then went for it and pulled back the bald cap,
revealing a mound of soft, feathery brown hair.

He knew it was Louis.

“Louis what the fuck” Harry exclaimed with a laugh, bringing his hand
to his chest as if to check his heartbeat.

“Alright Hazza” He said with a smirk. He now also didn’t have to worry
about slipping up on nicknames as they had a new contract for the
month.

“Jesus you scared me, I thought I had just peeled off a random persons
skin” he said, pulling Louis into a hug and laughing into his shoulder.

“Well technically you did, you peeled off Elio’s skin” Louis said
sarcastically, gaining a head shake from Harry.

“All right, with that you can thank Harry as your all now getting gift
cards to apple!” Ellen shouted to the audience, the crew bringing out a
display of what they would be receiving.

The crowd cheered and Louis returned to the lads, having a successful
prank if he did say so himself.

165
21
Lip Syncing

The lads had to be prepared for tonight. When taking part in something
against one another, they got very competitive.

On the tonight show, they needed to prepare a song that they would lip
sync in front of the audience and a special guest will be judging who
wins.

Louis was sure that everyone would be going all out with their
performances, especially Harry.

If anyone of them wanted to even stand a chance against the man with
the green eyes they would have to pull off a miracle seeming as he is
known to put on a show.

So, Louis had his outfit and stage all finalized to perfection for later
on in the show tonight, hoping he can impress this unknown guest.

But that was for later. Right now Louis and the lads were heading to the
spa for a facial and back massage as this would be their last chance to
use the luxurious treatment before heading back to the UK.

“Don’t let me go into the sauna again, last time I did it was a nightmare”
Niall told the lads as they were heading to the hotels spa.

“Why, what happened?” Liam asked.

“There were two vent type things in the sauna where the heat comes
out, one of them was turned on and the other was off, I happened to put
my hand directly over the hot one, got a scar n’ everything” he
explained, showing the patch of skin on his hand that was scarred.

166
“Why the fuck would you put your hand over it in the first place?” Louis
asked.

“I’m not even sure myself to be honest, I think someone else in there
said about it being off so I stupidly tested it out” he said with a shrug,
finally reaching the spa.

When they walked in they were instantly hit with the smell of lavender
and roses, women were setting up the treatment and one of which came
over to greet them.

“Hello, I’m assuming I for the private treatment today?” She asked with
a warm smile on her face, keeping things professional.

“Yeh, just the facial and massage” Zayn told her.

She nodded “right this way” she said, telling them to follow her through
to the changing rooms.

“You can change in here, you are to wear your boxers and nothing else
if that’s okay, there are also towels you can bring through in case you
need them and over to the right there are cabinets for leaving your
belongings in, please just come back out where I showed you and we
will get straight on with it” she said, gaining nods from the lads before
walking back outside, giving them some privacy.

“Think they just wanna see us half naked?” Harry said with a smirk.

“Your ego is too big for your own good Styles” Louis retorted in a
playful tone, beginning to strip off his t shirt.

“You love it really” He said with a wink, removing his shirt as Louis
had just done.

They realize they had probably been staring at each other’s bodies for
too long to be counted as platonic so they quickly looked elsewhere and
continued stripping.

167
Once they were all ready they walked back out to the main area and
were directed to take a seat in the comfy arm chairs while they had their
facial masks applicated.

“You look fucking ridiculous, Harry said to Louis, who had a green
mushy substance spread across his entire face.

“You realize you look just the same as me right now, Jesus your even
more of a frog with a green face mask on” Louis retorted, gaining a
laugh from the lads who were sat besides him.

“Heyyy” He said with a faux pout, Louis returning a fond look.

“Joking babe, you look like shrek” he said with a wink, the lads gave
an even louder laugh, startling the workers.

“Well then I Fiona” he said with a sly look.

Louis was actually thankful for the mask now, it covered the blush
creeping up onto his cheeks. He looked forward shyly at the words that
came from Harry, not knowing how to reply.

“Jesus get a room” Niall called from the end of the row of seats, Liam
and Zayn humming in agreement.

“Shut up” Louis said in embarrassment, Harry just laughed and closed
his eyes once again.

After 15 minutes the masks were removed and they were taken to
another set of chairs but this time for massages.

They laid down on their fronts with their faces fitting snugly into the
holes, Louis found it slightly uncomfortable but decided it would be
worth it while getting the actual massage.

168
“We’re just going to apply some oil now, it may be a little cold at first”
One of the workers said, snapping the lid open of what Louis could only
assume to be the oil.

“Yeh that’s fine— holy shit that’s cold” Louis exclaimed, not at all
ready for the substance to be poured onto his back, even with the
warning.

“Sorry sorry” the woman said in between chuckles.

Louis could hear hisses coming from either side of him so he guessed
they had just had the oil put onto their backs as well, he wished he could
see their reactions but sadly he was confined to the chair.

At first the massage was uncomfortable, his joints and muscles being
sore and aching when pressure was applied to them, but after a while
the pain turned to pleasure and he could feel himself relaxing.

“Fuck that feels good” he groaned out as the woman rubbed out a
trapped nerve from his shoulder and neck.

“Yeah? I’m glad you like it” she replied, continuing with the same thing
on the other shoulder, all the while gaining more groans from Louis.

“Mind keeping it down?” Harry harshly spoke up from besides him,

causing Louis to open his eyes and furrow his brows.

“What?” He asked, confused at the tone in his voice.

“I said keep it down, don’t wanna hear you practically moaning right
besides me” he explained.

Then it hit Louis. Was he— jealous?

“I think someone is getting a bit jealous over here” Louis said in a

teasing manner.

169
“No. I’m sure no one else would want to hear you moaning and
groaning while getting a massage” he retorted.

“No but you’d want to hear it in another way wouldn’t you” He shot
back, shocked that the words had even fallen out of his mouth.

Harry practically choked on his spit, not expecting such a dirty

innuendo to come out of the lads mouth.

“Fuck me” Harry sighed out, closing his eyes.

“Well, if your offering” he said in a suggestive tone.

“God damn it Louis” Liam exclaimed from the seat on the other side of
him.

Louis just laughed at all their reactions, he had missed annoying them
to death with him and Harrys relationship, and now that he could finally
continue doing it, he would take any chance he got.

“Alright alright, later” Louis finalized, by now Harry didn’t know if

he was breathing or not.

“Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, here with one direction were
playing lip sync battle!” Jimmy Fallon announced, causing them to
cheer in excitement.

“Okay so each of the lads and myself have a song picked out and none
of us know what song that may be. We are going to take it in turns lip
syncing the song with props and outfits or whatever else they have
planned and it’s our special guests job to choose a winner at the end”
Jimmy explained.

“So with that, tonight’s special guest is none other than Ed Sheeran!”
He exclaimed, Ed walking on to the stage and greeting the boys with
big hugs.
170
Ed took a seat at the side of the stage where the band were set up and
got ready to watch the performances.

“Okay I will go first. The song I’ve chosen is hey ya, by OutKast”

The boys took their seats besides Ed as the beat started up, Jimmy
preparing for his performance.

An old looking microphone was brought on stage and Jimmy was

wearing a green shirt with a patterned tie to mimic the music video.

“1,2,3,4 My baby don’t mess around because she loves me so and this
I know for sho” He began ’singing’ stepping around the stage and
pulling the microphone stand with him.

Louis looked over to see Harry syncing the words along with him, he
knew this was one of Harry’s favorite songs so he’s not surprised to see
the man bopping his head and clapping along with the audience.

“But does she really wanna, but can’t stand to see me walk out the door”

The audience clapped three times when Jimmy did.

“Don’t try to fight the feeling cause the thought alone is killing me right
now. Thank god for mom and dad for sticking to together cuz we don’t
know how”

Clap, clap, clap.

“Heyyyy yahhh, heyyy yahhhh”

Clap, clap, clap.

“Heyyyy yahhh, heyyy yahhhh”

171
Harry moved his hands to either side of his head shaking them while
moving back and forth, he then tuned to Louis.

“I feel like he does this right?” He said, gesturing to his hand movement.

“Yeh sure” Louis said laughing, but joining in on the action none the
less.

Soon enough Jimmy had finished his solo and the crowd erupted into
cheers.

“Alright, Liam is up next, let’s see if you can do any better” he said,
challenging the man.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a sec I’m gonna go change” he said, rushing off
back stage.

Liam walked back out on stage a few minutes later wearing baggy blue
jeans and an oversized white t shirt, paired with some sneakers.

“Alright, my song is the real slim shady by Eminem” he announced,

getting an excited response from the audience.

The music began and Liam walked over to the lads.

“Can I have your attention please, will the real slim shady please stand
up” he synced in their faces.

He then turned towards the audience.

“I repeat, will the real slim shady please stand up” he announced, a few
people in the back actually standing up, thinking they were funny.

“We’re gonna have a problem here” Liam mouthed , sighing and

running a hand over his face.

172
“Yall act like you’ve never seen I white person before, jaws on the floor
like Pam and tommy just burst in the door, and started whooping her
ass worse than before, they first were divorced, throwing her over
furniture” he said, moving along in front of the audience and getting
into their faces, moving his arms about as if he were a proper rapper.

“Now it’s the return of the, ah wait, no wait, you’re kidding. He didn’t
just say what I think he did, did he? And Dr Dre said, nothing you idiot
Dr Dre’s dead, he’s locked in my basement” Liam continued, gesturing
behind him at the mention of a basement.

After another verse it finally got to the chorus. Suddenly a whole crowd
of people burst through the doors and stood behind Liam, each were
dressed the exact same, blue jeans and a white t shirt, Liam practically
blended in with them all.

“Now I’m slim shady, the real slim shady, all you other slim shady’s
are just imitating, so won’t the real slim shady please stand up, please
stand up, please stand up”

Liam and the actors were jumping around everywhere, interacting with
the audience and by the end of it, they were all on their feet, dancing
along as if it were a real rap concert.

The lads were laughing at the whole ordeal, thinking it looked crazy
from where they were sat. But they joined in none the less, singing the
words loudly and putting their arms in the air.

The song finally came to an end and Liam was exhausted by the end of
it, huffing as he took his seat once again.

“Alright that was a great performance, now we have Niall. I’m guessing
your gonna go get changed quickly?” Jimmy asked, pointing to the back
stage area.

“Yeh, I’ll be one minute”

173
As soon as Niall returned everyone knew what song he was performing.

He was only wearing cycling shorts and his face was painted in nude
toned shapes as well as reds and greens, Louis honestly doesn’t know
how they got it painted so quick, he would have had to had a whole
team do the makeup.

As expected, Niall announced that he would be performing somebody

that I used to know by gotye.

He stood up against a set wall that blended him into the colors and
began cunning the first verse, he then went onto the chorus after a long
instrumental.

“But you didn’t have to cut me off. Made out like it never happened and
that we were nothing, and I don’t even need your love, but your treat
me like a stranger and that feels so rough”

All the while singing the song, Niall was putting all the emotions into
his face, mimicking the way the man did it in the video. It looked
amazing on the large screen on the far side of the stage as the camera
had a close up of Niall, it looked like the actual music video.

“Oh my god, Niall that was incredible”

“Cheers” is all he said before sitting down, trying hard not to rub any
body paint on anyone.

“Okay next up is Zayn, off you go”

“Alright” He said, walking behind set.

Zayn walked back out wearing some sort of white, silk jumpsuit and a
shoulder length wig.

“Oh look, it’s Harry!” Louis called out.

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The audience all burst out into laughter and Harry smacked Louis on
his thigh, but he couldn’t help the small smile that graced his face.

“The song I have chosen is bohemian rhapsody by Queen” Zayn

announced before taking a seat at the grand piano and pretending to
play seeming as he wasn’t the best in real life. It was a lip syncing battle
after all.

“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape
from reality. Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see” He synced,
gaining a positive reaction from the crowd being that almost everyone
loved queen.

When it got to the more upbeat part of the song, Zayn stood up from his
stool, grabbed a microphone and began moving across the stage just as
Freddie would have done.

“I see a little silhouette of a man, finalized e Scaramouche, will you

do the fandango. Thunder bolts and lightning, very very frightening
me” He said dramatically.

This was right up Harrys street, being a big fan of rock bands such as
queen, he thought Zayn was doing a great job.

Zayn finished the song and it was finally Louis’ turn, he went back stage
and found his outfit, an all white one to be exact.

He wore a white oversized t shirt with white sweat pants and white nike
sneakers.

He walked back out to face the audience and he saw that Harry gave
him an encouraging nod, making him smile back.

“The song I’ve chosen is when the party’s over by Billie Eilish” he
announced before sitting down at a table, the lights dimmed all but one
very bright white one pointing directly at him.

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He was sat in front of a completely white background and in front of
him on a desk laid a single cup filled to the brim with a black liquid.

The music began to ring through the room, Billie's sweet harmonies
humming through everyone’s ears.

“Don’t you know I’m no good for you” Louis started off syncing.

He sat and stared at the glass while moving his lips to the words, not
tearing his eyes away.

“I’ve learned to lose you can afford to. Tore my shirt to stop you
bleeding” he then tugged at the hem of his white shirt, just like she did
in the music video.

“But nothin every stops you leaving”

Louis then slowly started to reach for the glass.

“Quiet when I’m coming home and I’m on my own. I could lie say I
like it like that like it like that” he paused for a second, before bringing
the glass towards his mouth.

Louis couldn’t see, too focused on his acting, but Harry, the lads,
Jimmy, Ed, The band and the audience were all captivated by his
performance so far. Staring in awe at his actions, this was a side nobody
had ever seen in Louis, even if it was just acting.

“I could lie say I like it like that like it like that. Don’t you know too
much already”

Louis finished his drink after downing the entire contents, gagging a
little on the last of it before composing himself.

He wiped his mouth from the black substance with the back of his hand
and continued to gaze into space as the song continued.

176
“Call me friend but keep me closer, call me back”

At the words call me back Louis moves in a way that looked like his
neck was breaking, gaining some gasps from the audience and causing
the lads and Jimmy to cringe.

“And I’ll call you when the party’s over”

With that last word Louis snapped his head up to stare directly into the
camera, the video captured now being displayed on screen, looking
eerie and disturbing.

“Quiet when I’m coming home and I’m on my own”

With that, a black, ink type substance started pouring from Louis eyes,
or from the tunes behind him but they didn’t need to know that.

More gasps were heard from people in the room, all staring with wide
eyes at Louis on the screen.

“And I could lie say I like it like that like it like that”

Louis said, emotion pouring from his face when silently speaking the
words.

The ink was running all over by now, his once pristine white clothes
becoming a dull, dark color.

He finished the song and the lights came up once again, the audience
cheering louder than ever before and Louis smiled while wiping the
black liquid from his eyes.

He went to take his seat once again and got pats on the back from his
band mates and Ed.

“Shit Lou you can really act” Harry exclaimed.

177
“Didn’t do my production for Greece for nothing” he said cheekily.

Harry then had to rush off to get changed for his performance, coming
back only a second later wearing only colored cycle shorts and nothing
else, just like Niall.

Another thing that was similar about what Harrys performance was the
set up, it was the same as Louis only with a black background and no
table, just a stool.

“The song I’ve chosen is big girls cry by Sia” he said before sitting
down on the stood and the lights dimming completely down, only a
spotlight on his upper body and face.

As the music began Harry stared into the camera, an intense look
cemented into his face, It sent shivers down Louis spine as he watched
him on the large screen.

“Tough girl, in the fast lane, no time for love, no time for hate”

Harry didn’t sync the song, instead he practically recreated the music
video.

As the lyrics played out he did a series of actions, it almost looked like
Did didn’t have control over his own hands and it was an obscure thing
to watch.

He was grabbing and pulling at his face, moving his head to the side
and pulling his lips out, all the while making weird facial expressions.

“I’m at home, on my own, check my phone, nothing though, act busy,

order in, pay tv, it’s agony”

Harry started out slow, following his hand movements with his eyes as
they drifted away from him, but then suddenly snapping back and
slapping himself over the face countless times, it did seem like agony.

178
“I may cry ruining my makeup, wash away all the things you’ve taken,
and I don’t care if I don’t look pretty, big girls cry when their hearts are
breaking”

While the chorus was playing Harry did nothing but stare into the
camera once again before seeming to snap out of his trance and
pinching himself everywhere on his face. He seriously was going all in
for this challenge, Louis thought, as it looked so painful.

The verses were repeated and Harry did just as he had done before,
weird hand movements which consisted of a lot of face grabbing and
slapping.

When the chorus hit for the second time another set of hands came up
from behind Harry and ran over his facial features, working with the
man to do certain movements and crest expressions.

You couldn’t see who was behind Harry as the back drop was
completely black so all you could see were two hands protruding from
the darkness.

The song finally ended and the lights came up once again, Harry stood
up and took a small bow before walking over to the lads.

“How on earth did you learn a whole Maddie Ziegler dance with in one
night?” Zayn asked in disbelief.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out” Harry said with a smirk,
turning back to Jimmy as he was called over.

“Okay, Ed now needs to choose the winner” Jimmy announced.

Ed stepped forward ready to give his choice.

“Okay, I’m gonna day it now, it was extremely tough making a

decision, you were all incredible. But, I’m gonna have to say Louis just

179
because of the acting skills, Harry you were a close runner up though”
He finalized.

Louis jumped up in victory and the lads congratulated him.

Hardy laughed at Louis’ excitement and pulled him in for a hug.

“Well done babe” he whispered in his ear before kissing his cheek and
walking away.

180
 22
Accidental

“Do you honestly think it’s a good idea to go to a club when we’ve got
a flight tomorrow?” Liam questioned in a worried tone.

The lads were in a taxi on their way to a club to celebrate the end of
promo in the US, tomorrow they would be packing their things and
heading off to the UK for more interviews and the UK leg of tour.

“Looks like daddy directioner has returned” Louis said cheekily,

gaining a laugh from the other lads.

Liam smacked him on the back of his head at the comment.

“Hey what the fuck was that for?” Louis exclaimed, rubbing his sore
head.

“You know why, but seriously, we’ve got a long flight ahead of us.

“Don’t worry babe we’ll be fine, we can just sleep the entire flight”
Zayn reassured him.

“Yeh, like use two will be sleeping” Niall snickered.

The two lads blushed and looked away from each other, having not yet
discussed what they were.

They pulled up outside the club not a minute later and paid the driver
before jumping out the car.

When they got to the entrance the bouncer knew exactly who they were
and let them inside without hassle, however they didn’t realize all the
fans taking pictures from afar.

181
The place was crowded, bodies everywhere dancing to the pounding
music. The air was thick with humidity and the smell of alcohol and
weed lingered in their noses, confirmed by the amount of people sharing
joints and taking hits from bongs, it made Louis realize how long it had
been since he last got a buzz.

“We’ve got a booth booked out in the back” Harry shouted over the
music, gesturing for the lads to follow him through the dimly lit room.

Louis was glad they had a booth as he could see people starting to
recognize them already, having their phones out and recording. It would
have only been a matter of time before they were mobbed.

Once they got themselves situated in the booth a young woman wearing
very little clothing came inside and asked them what drinks they
wanted, getting special treatment as they were famous.

They each ordered their own individual drinks before Louis called out
for 10 tequila shots to be brought as well, two each. He wanted to get
absolutely pissed tonight before they went back to work in the UK.

“What songs have you decided to play from your own albums on tour?”
Liam asked while they waited for their drinks.

“Not sure yet, I’ve got a few in mind though. Probably slow hands, on
the loose, this town and flicker, I’d probably do more once it’s got going
a bit though” he explained with a smile.

“Same I’m not sure either, maybe pillow talk, like I would, dusk till
dawn— although With that one I was thinking we could pull some
strings and get Sia to perform it with me one night” He explained.

“Yeh that would be sick” Louis replied.

“What about you then?” Zayn asked.

182
“Um, two of us, definitely, miss you, just hold on, you know just the
main ones I think” he replied.

Zayn was about to speak once again when the waitress walked back into
the room with their drinks, she sat them all on the table and then pulled
what she thought was a flirtatious look towards the boys.

“Anything else I can get you?” She asked in a sultry voice.

They all visibly cringed at her pathetic attempts at getting in their pants,
giving each other weirded out looks.

“Nah were good” Louis said with a laugh.

She pulled a face at this and decided to run her hands along Harrys arm.

“You sure?” She said once again.

Louis gritted his teeth, trying to bite his tongue. She was obviously
using Harry as a way to piss Louis off after the rejection not a second
before.

“Oh, sorry babe, I didn’t realize you were audibly impaired, I said were
good” He said in a sarcastic tone, raising his voice as if she was death.

The lads snickered at him, one for his humor and two because he was
quite obviously jealous.

The girl pulled a face and huffed before storming out the room, pulling
a tantrum like a fucking four year old.

“Jesus, desperate much?” Louis muttered.

“Awe Lou, I’m sensing jealousy over here” Harry teased with a smirk
on his face.

“I am not!” He spluttered out, taking offence.

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“Sure, Whatever you say Love” he said, shaking his head.

“Harry Edward Styles, I am not jealous over some slut!” He said, hands
flailing about.

“Oof, slut shaming are we? Thought you knew better?” Harry said with
a tsk, but Louis knew he was kidding.

“Whatever, you were all thinking it” He said with a pout, downing one
of his shots from the table.

“That is not how you down a tequila shot Tommo and you know it”
Niall exclaimed, changing the subject.

“Well where’s the fucking salt!” He retorted, looking around the room.

“Ugh Fine I’ll go get some, back in a few” Niall said with a sigh before
standing up and leaving their booth.

While waiting, Louis got a joint from Zayn and lit it up, the smell of
marijuana filling the room as Louis took a drag.

Suddenly Harrys hand was in his face, taking the joint from his lips and
taking a drag himself, earning a confused glance from Louis.

“What?” Harry said while laughing.

“Oh so you smoke weed now too?” Louis questioned, bewildered at all
the new surprises coming from the man.

“Only occasionally, there’s a lot you don’t know about me now Lou”
he said with a wink.

“Like what” Louis asked curiously, playing his small game.

184
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out” he said with a smirk
pulling at his lips.

“Well then, I can’t wait to find out” He said before taking the joint back
and placing it between his lips once again. He then passed it to Zayn
who followed their actions.

By the time Niall had returned all three of the lads were high as fuck,
talking about nonsense lazily as they sipped their beverages.

“Jesus I leave for two minutes and your already high, I don’t even
wanna think about what you’ll be like an hour from now” Niall said,
shaking his head.

“Don’t worry mate I’m fine, just tipsy” Liam said, having not had any
of the weed.

“Thank fuck for that—

“Let’s do body shots!” Louis suddenly exclaimed, grabbing the salt

from Niall excitedly.

“And who exactly will be taking part in this then?” Harry said with
raised eyebrows.

“Anyone who wants to babe” he said, getting up close to his face. “You
want to take part?” He whispered, lips grazing his cheek making Harry
shiver.

“I don’t think I have a choice” Harry replied, already unbuttoning his

shirt.

Once it was off he laid himself back down onto the sofa and Louis
wasted no time straddling his lap.

185
The boys watched on with wide eyes as Louis licked a spot on Harrys
neck before applying salt on the wet area. He then placed a piece of
lime in between his lips and he was ready.

Louis licked off the salt from Harrys neck before slurping up the tequila
from his stomach, finishing off by taking the lime from his lips in a
teasingly slow manor, driving Harry crazy.

“Done!” Louis said happily, as if that was the most normal thing he had
done all night.

He turned to look at the other lads who were gaping at him in shock.

“What?” He said, tilting his head like a confused puppy.

“Okay that went from 0-100 real quick” Liam said with a smirk.

Harry sat up and pulled his shirt back on, wiping the remains of salt that
were still lingering on his neck.

“It’s not a big deal” Harry slurred our, clearly a bit tipsy already.

“Yeah see, we used to do that all the time! You guys should be used to
it by now” Louis said, pulling Harry closer to him so he could play with
his hair while resting his head on his shoulder.

“Whatever you say” Zayn said with a shrug, downing another shot, this
time vodka.

“I’m gonna go dance, wanna come?” Louis asked Harry with hopeful
eyes.

“Sure” he replied, taking Louis hand and dragging him out into the
dance floor.

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They were now surrounded by the public, anyone could see them, but
they didn’t care. Getting too lost in the music to even notice anything
else going on.

The song got changed to ’high for this’ by the weekend and the lights
in the club got turned to a deep red shade, making Louis decide this
would be a great time to pull out some dance moves.

“You don’t know, what’s in store. But you know, what you need for”
the weekend sung out through the speakers.

Louis put his arms around Harrys neck and swayed to the rhythm of the
song, putting his head into the crook of the taller man’s neck.

“Close your eyes, lay yourself beside me”

Louis turned around, grinding his hips into Harry, moving up and down
sensually.

“Hold tight, for this ride, we don’t need no protection, come along, we
don’t need attention”

Harry grabbed Louis hips and spun him back around, staring into his
eyes.

“Open your hand” the chorus began.

Harry crashed his lips against Louis’, earning a squeak from the boy in
surprise but he quickly realized what was happening, returning the kiss
passionately.

“Take a glass, don’t be scared, I’m right here”

Louis felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins, missing the way
Harrys lips fit perfectly with his own.

“Even though, you don’t know”

187
Harrys hands trailed down Louis’ body, desperate to grasp anything of
the smaller boy that he could, Louis felt like a drug to him, he couldn’t
stop.

“Trust me girl, you wanna be, high for this”

And the song fit so perfectly. They were high, they were also drunk, but
in their hazy minds none of that mattered.

And apparently, the girls across the room taking pictures and videos
didn’t matter either. Or so they thought.

188
 23
Stress

Louis groaned and rubbed his head as he fluttered open his eyes to see
the bright light seeping through the window.

He stared up at the ceiling trying hard to remember the events from the
previous night but nothing was coming to his mind.

That was until he looked around the room.

With bleary eyes he took in his surroundings. Just the Gucci loafers was
an indication that this was most definitely not his room.

Louis sat up abruptly which he immensely regretted as a pounding pain

shot through his skull. After a minute or so when the pain dulled he
rubbed his eyes and slowly turned his head to the other side of the bed.

“What the fuck” he exclaimed loudly, pushing himself backwards and

falling out of the bed with a thud.

“Shit, Lou, are you alright? What are you doing on the floor?” Harry
suddenly spoke, leaning over the side of the bed to get a good look at
the small man crouched on the floor rubbing his back.

“Wait— Harry, we— we didn’t, Uh—

“No we never slept together, or, technically we did but I promise you,
it was just sleeping” Harry said with a smirk.

“Thank fuck” Louis sighed out, balancing himself with the edge of the
bed as he stood up.

“I’m gonna try not to take offence to that” Harry said sarcastically.

189
“No I didn’t— I didn’t mean it like that” Louis stuttered out, rubbing
his temples in stress.

“What exactly did you mean then?” Harry asked with a pointed look.

“I don’t know, I just— I feel like if we had gone that far off a drunken
whim then you might have changed your mind about me, about us”
Louis explained shyly, holding himself tightly.

Harry sighed and got out of bed, making his way round to Louis and
standing in front of him, it was only then that Louis noticed he was
shirtless.

“Eyes up here love” Harry cheekily said, causing Louis to snap his eyes
back up to the man’s green ones.

“Listen. Even if we had, it wouldn’t change my opinion on you or our

’relationship’ if you want to call it that. After all, it takes two people to
fuck so it would have been my fault too” He explained, Louis blushing
at his last sentence.

Louis looked down to the floor again, not knowing whether to believe
him or not.

Harry delicately put his finger under Louis chin and brought his head
back up to look at him again before cupping his cheeks and staring at
him with a reassuring look.

“I promise you it wouldn’t have made a difference, although I am glad

we didn’t, I would rather our first time after all the shit that happened
to be meaningful” He said with a fond look.

Louis couldn’t believe he had caused this amazing, beautiful person so

much pain. Harry didn’t have a bad bone in his body and he wished he
had realized that sooner.

190
“Me too” Louis said softly, leaning up to press a small kiss on the taller
man’s lips which he reciprocated quickly.

Their blissful moment was cut short when Louis phone began to ring
from the bedside table.

He detached his lips from Harrys and gave him an apologetic look
before turning and grabbing his phone. It was Niall calling.

“Hey mate—

“Louis, where the fuck are you” Niall exclaimed in a panicked tone
down the phone.

“With Harry, why?” Louis said, regretting those words as soon as they
left his mouth.

“Seriously?” Niall asked excitedly.

“Uh, Yeh” Louis shyly replied.

“Oh my god tell me ev— wait no. Mate you better cut the morning sex
short cause we’ve got a plane to catch in half an hour” He said, back to
his panicked tone.

Louis eyes widened comically, realization hitting him that they were
meant to be off to the UK today.

“Shit! Niall why didn’t you ring sooner?” He shouted down the phone.

“How the fuck was I meant to know you’d be shagging Styles at 7am?”
He said with a small laugh.

“I am not shagging him Niall! Fuck— anyway I’ve got to go, I’ll meet
you in a bit” Louis shockingly replied, ending the call and throwing it
onto the bed.

191
He grasped his hair in his hands and mumbled “fuck, shit, fuck” over
and over.

“Babe chill what’s up?” Harry asked, embracing the man once again.

“Harry we don’t have time for this, were meant to be getting on our
plane in half an hour” Louis replied, arms flailing around everywhere.

Now it was Harrys turn to panic.

“Shit, We’re gonna be late!” Harry exclaimed, pulling a similar face to

Louis’.

Harry races around his room, grabbing his belongings and throwing
them into a suit case.

“Louis, sorry love but you’d better go get your stuff” Harry said to
Louis who was just standing there watching him.

“Oh, oh yeh your right, sorry, I’ll just, Uh, Yeh— bye” he replied
awkwardly before running out the room and leaving Harry to chuckle.

————————————————————————

After running around grabbing his stuff, Louis finally made it to

reception with a stuffed suitcase, disheveled hair and odd socks.

Harry had a similar look when Louis noticed him chatting with the lads.

As soon as they saw Louis approaching they grabbed their suitcases

from the floor and rushed out of the hotel with their body guards
surrounding them.

They all made it into the car and were finally heading for the airport,
probably speeding well over the limit to try and catch their flight on
time.

192
“I told you it wasn’t a good idea to go clubbing the night before our
flight” Liam said with a huff.

The rest of the lads rolled their eyes in annoyance, neither one of them
in the mood for witty comments early in the morning.

“Ooh I’m Liam Payne and I’m always right, blah blah blah, give it a
rest” Louis said sarcastically, pulling a strict face to imitate Liam.

“Fuck off” Liam replied, looking out the window just as they were
nearing the entrance of the airport.

Their bodyguards clambered out of the car behind them and opened
their doors, shielding them from the fans and paparazzi outside.

Why the fuck are people waiting around outside an airport anyways?
Don’t they have a damn plane to catch? Louis thought grudgingly.

“Move out of the way, there’s no time for pictures” Paul shouted to the
fans and paps, pushing his way through the crowd with the lads in tow.

Harry, being late, the rush, the fans, the paps, the crowd, shoving,
pushing, screaming, flashes. It was all getting too much for Louis. He
was stressed to the max, and this next phone call wasn’t going to help
either.

Just as Louis had gotten past the crowd his phone started ringing from
his back pocket. He stopped to take his phone and answer before Paul
shouted for him to keep up, knowing they might be late.

So instead Louis rushed to keep up with them and answered the phone
while speeding around the airport.

“Hello?” Louis breathed out.

193
“What, the fuck, we’re you thinking?” Simon screamed down the phone
making Louis wince and pull the phone away from his ear for a
moment.

“What are you talking about?” Louis rushed out, worried for what was
about to be said.

“You know what I’m fucking talking about you fag! We had an
agreement, you and Harry have both signed contracts agreeing to this.
You seriously couldn’t just keep it in your—

“Simon what the fuck are you talking about!” Louis screamed, cutting
off the man and gaining shocked looks from the lads and Paul.

“Some girls were at the same club as you lot last night, do you happen
to remember shoving your tongue down Harrys throat? Yeh, well now
it’s all over the fucking internet and there’s no way to shut down the
rumors! It’s clear as day that it’s you two idiots making out on that
video. The media is going mad for it, what were you bloody thinking?”
Simon shouted down the phone, infuriating Louis further.

“Wait— What? What video? We didn’t even see anyone taking videos”
Louis rushed out, looking at Harry pointedly.

“Yeh you know why? Because you were two busy getting off with your
little boy toy to notice the things going on around you!” Simon said in
a huff.

Louis was trying to stay calm, brushing past people and rushing to keep
up with the lads to not miss their flight while Simon was lashing out on
him.

“Look, Simon can I just ring you later, we’re kind of in a rush right
now” Louis said breathlessly.

“No you can not! We’re talking about this now Louis William T—

194
Louis ended the call.

He shoved his phone back into his pocket but not before turning it on
silent. Harry gave him a confused look in which Louis gave one back,
saying he would explain it later.

When they had finally made it to the jet they climbed on breathlessly,
sweat forming on their heads and panting like a bunch of dogs.

They each slumped down onto luxurious chairs, not bothering to move
their belongings to compartments.

“Fucking hell” Zayn sighed out, looking dazed from the rush.

“Tell me about it” Harry said back.

“What was all that about” Niall asked Louis, making the lads turn to
him expectantly.

“Just, give me a moment to calm down. I’ll tell you all in a bit ok” Louis
said, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the window.

“Sure” Harry said, planting a kiss onto his forehead and the other lads
nodding.

————————————————————————

Louis woke up an hour later to the sound of chatter amongst the lads.

He checked his phone for the time and realized he still had another 6
hours before they landed. Great.

“Hey Lou” Harry said softly from besides him, making Louis realize he
had been sleeping in his arms the entire time.

“Hey” He said with a small smile.

195
“Feeling better?” He asked the sleepy man, knowing that earlier on he
was pretty much close to having a panic attack.

“Yeh thanks. Think it all just got too much” he replied, rubbing his eyes
with sweater paws, making Harry coo at the sight.

“Wow, Tommo’s not dead” Niall exclaimed from opposite the two
cuddling men.

“Good observation there Nialler, who are you? Fucking Sherlock?”

Louis sarcastically replied.

“Yup, Tommos definitely back” He said with an eye roll.

Louis looked over to see Zayn sat on Liam’s lap, giving fond looks to
one another and talking in hushed voices.

“What’s with them two?” Louis asked Harry with eyebrows raised.

“They’re diving into their ’platonic’ relationship” he said with a side

look.

“Platonic my ass, they look more in love with each other than Niall is
with food” He said, causing Harry to snicker.

“I’m right here!” Niall said, waving his hand in Louis’ face.

“Uh, anyway, what was that phone call about back in the airport?”
Harry asked, gaining everyone’s attention.

Louis sighed, sitting up straighter and telling them what Simon said.

“So yeh, apparently some girls took a video of us making out at the club
and it’s gone viral” Louis finished.

“Have you checked your socials yet?” Liam asked.

196
“No, not yet, hold on a sec” he said, reaching for his phone and looking
through Instagram and Twitter.

Sure enough, the video was everywhere. He had twice as many

notifications than he normally did, most talking about the subject at
hand. The thing he noticed though, was that the majority of the reaction
was positive, people saying how they knew it from the start. Hell, even
some celebrities were congratulating him on ’coming out’ and they
were happy for them. Louis sighed, he didn’t come out, and now he
won’t be able to on his own accord.

“Yup, it’s everywhere” Louis huffed out, a pout forming on his lips.

“Let me see” Harry said, taking the phone off Louis.

Harry scrolled through for a while, Louis resting his head against his
shoulder and the rest of the lads waiting for the man to say something.

“This is amazing” Harry said in awe, eyes wide and smile forming on
his face.

“Harry— no, no it’s not, we’re all gonna get fired for disobeying the
contract and we’re—

“Lou, stop. Think about it, the contract says that this is just a trail to see
what the public’s reaction would be. Simon clearly said if we get a
negative reaction then, and only then, will we go back to how we used
to. But this isn’t a negative reaction babe, it’s almost completely
positive. We haven’t broken the contract” Harry explained, excitement
laced in his voice.

“But, he said no kissing in public” Louis pressed, clearly still worried.

“At the end of the day Simon is only worried about us getting a negative
reaction, which we haven’t. So really everything should be fine with
him” Harry said beaming.

197
Louis finally gave in and smiled wide and bright, kissing Harry
affectionately on the lips and nuzzling his head into his neck.

“Ew, cute, but ew” Zayn said with a smirk.

“Like you can talk” Harry retorted, gesturing to the way Zayn was
perched on Liam’s lap.

Zayn blushes and scooted off his lap, earning a pout from Liam, but not
a second later he was holding his hand tightly in his own.

“It’s all gonna be alright” Harry whispered into Louis ear, drifting off
into a peaceful sleep.

198
 24
Broken Contract

London:

After a long flight, the lads had finally made it back to the UK, London
to be specific.

They had all agreed that they’d rather spend their time living in Harry
and Louis’ old house than in a hotel for the next month or so before
flying out again, wanting to be comfy and relaxed during what they
knew would be a hectic period.

Which was fine, there were definitely enough rooms and it was
spacious, with all the necessities they needed. So with that, they arrived
at the large house and walked inside.

“Just as I remember” Louis stated, looking around the entrance of the

house in awe.

“Yeh, not much has changed really. I don’t spend too much time here
if I’m honest” Harry explained, sitting his suitcase by the bottom of the
grand staircase.

“I thought you sold this place?” Liam asked as he walked through the
doorway, luggage in hand.

“Nah, I was going to but decided against it, too many memories” he
said with a small glance towards Louis who blushed in return.

“Yeh yeh, we get it, you and Louis fucked in every room, ’memories’”
Niall sarcastically said, gaining snickers from Liam and Zayn and
scowls from Louis and Harry.

199
“Watch it” Louis said playfully, nudging Niall away and causing him
to drop his suitcase.

“Oi!” Niall exclaimed, grabbing his case with a huff and glaring at the
blue eyed boy.

“Don’t act like you didn’t deserve it” Harry called with a shrug, hanging
his coat on the stand by the door.

“Whatever, what room am I in anyways?” He asked.

“Well there’s four bedrooms, nines the master, so two of us will have
to share but other than that you can take any room” Harry explained.

“Wait. Who’s sharing then?” Zayn asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“Well it’s not gonna be me. You’re the two couples in the house, sort it
yourself, I’m off” Niall said cheekily before racing up the stairs with
his suitcase in tow.

The four lads sighed and looked at one another expectantly, waiting for
someone to volunteer.

“Someone’s gotta fucking share then” Louis said, breaking the silence.

“Don’t look at us” Liam said, eyebrows raised.

“Oh come on, you two used to bloody live here alone and share the
same bed practically every night. What’s the problem now?” Zayn
asked.

“Well, Uh, we still haven’t, exactly like, made up properly yet” Harry
awkwardly explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Bullshit, you were all over each other on the plane so don’t give me
that shit” Zayn accused with a smirk.

200
“Ugh Fine, we’ll share, at least we’ve got the best bedroom” Louis said
with a shrug, grabbing his stuff and walking up the stairs knowing
exactly where to go.

Harry stood and watched him leave, realizing he had no choice but to
spend a month in the same room with Louis every night.

“You owe me” Harry stated in a huff.

“We’re doing you a favor mate” Liam said smugly, winking for
emphasis.

Harry just shook his head and followed Louis up the stairs, walking to
the master bedroom.

When he reached the room he found Louis laying on the bed, arms
covering his face and luggage open on the floor, as if he’d already given
up on unpacking.

Harry fondly smiled at the man who hadn’t yet realized he was in the
room.

He smirked and crept around the other side of the bed, being as quiet as
he could.

When he reached Louis, he finally attacked him with tickles. Under the
arms, across his stomach, his hips, all the while Louis was squirming
and giggling like a teenager.

“Ha-Harry, S-stopp, p-please please ha-z st-op! You, you kno-w h-how
t-ticklish I get” He stuttered out in between laughter, trying but failing
to shield himself away from the taller man.

“What’s the magic word?” Harry said, continuing to tickle him to death.

“I-I d-don’t kn-knoww” He replied as best he could.

201
“Too bad then” Harry whispered back.

Louis managed to trip Harry over by kicking his legs, making him
tumble onto the bed alongside Louis who was quick to straddle Harrys
hips in attempt to trap him.

Harry struggles for a moment but finally gave up, laying slack under
Louis body and breathing heavily, smile stretched on his face with
dimples popping out.

Louis was in a similar state but above the man. He poked Harrys dimple
like he used to before the hiatus and giggled when Harry moved his face
away.

“Hey what’s all the noise abo— woah okay! I’ll just leave you to it
then” They heard Niall shout from the doorway, his retreating figure
mumbling something along the lines of “can’t keep it in their pants for
two seconds”

“Shit” Louis said with a blush, hiding his face in his arm and slumping
against Harrys body who embraced him in a tight hug while laying
down.

“Yeh, he’s never gonna let that go is he?” Harry questioned with a
chuckle.

“Doubt it” Louis replied, his voice muffled by Harrys t shirt.

Suddenly a loud ringtone echoed through the room and Harry groaned
before delicately removing Louis from his chest and grabbing his
phone.

“Hello?” Harry answered.

“It’s Simon” Simon replied.

202
Harry rolled his eyes and put the phone on speaker, knowing Louis
should hear this.

“What do you want?” Harry asked in an irritated tone, not surprised that
this man ruined their fun.

“You and Louis need to attend a meeting in an hour—

“No what the fuck, we’ve only just got here!” Louis interrupted him,
not caring if he was being rude.

“I don’t want any excuses, maybe you should have thought about this
before you went and Kissed your boyfriend in public” Simon snarkily
replied.

Louis just huffed and didn’t reply, knowing there was no way out of
this.

“You know where to go, be there in an hour” Simon finalized before

ending the call, leaving them in a once again irritated mood.

————————————————————————

“As you know, a group of girls who took videos of Harry and Louis at
the club posted said videos and now they’ve become viral. The girls
have apparently been long time ’Larry shippers’ and that is why they
posted the material without a second thought. There is no way to cover
up this act as one, it’s clearly the both of you in the video, two, there
isn’t a way we could have edited it for it to be fake, and three, it’s too
big now to have taken down as multiple people have shared and re
uploaded the video countless times” their head of management in
London explained in a frustrated tone.

Louis and Harry were practically mirroring one another. Slumped into
their chairs with a bored expression and not a care in the world.

203
They knew what had happened, they didn’t need briefing over it
hundreds of times by different people. It’s not like the story will
magically change and everything will be back to normal, this was just
a waste of time.

“So, why did you do it?” Simon asked them.

“We were drunk! Like proper wasted. We had no clue what we were
doing so don’t give us all this shit for it” Louis exclaimed, Harry
grabbing his hand in comfort.

“It clearly states in the contract that—

“Fuck the contract!” Louis shouted, outraged.

“What he means to say is that we technically didn’t break the contract”

Harry explained in a much calmer voice, knowing that Louis temper
will just get them into deeper shit than they already were.

“How So?” Another member of management asked.

“Sure, you said no kissing in public, we did break that, sorry not sorry.
But tell me, what’s this whole thing about at the end of the day?” Harry
asked, sitting straighter in his chair.

“To see the reaction of the public to your, behavior” Simon replied, not
sure where Harry was going with this.

“Correct. And have you seen the public’s reaction yet?” He asked
smugly.

Most people from the team remained silent where as others nodded their
heads, making Harry beam.

“And what reaction was that then?” Harry asked, eyebrows raised and
head tilted.

204
Louis smirked, catching onto what he was doing.

Nobody replied. The room was silent and thick with tension, Harry
knew he was right, he had proved them wrong once again.

“Hmm? Nobody want to state the obvious?” Harry sarcastically asked,

egging them on.

“Harry you don’t know what you’re taking about” Simon butted in, not
liking being wrong.

“Oh, do I not? So what I’ve been reading online for the past day has
been bullshit has it? The fans have been nothing but supportive, the odd
few negative comments are only coming from people that are jealous.
Hell, we’re even getting celebrities congratulating us on ’coming out’
what does that tell you then?” Harry ranted, desperately trying to get
his point across.

Louis squeezed his hand, looking at him proudly for sticking up for
them for once.

“It’s not good for our numbers, we can’t let this continue” Simon said
angrily.

“No, You’re just a homophobic prick who can’t let anyone but himself
be happy! You can’t do this, you’re the one breaking the contract! What
happened to if it goes well we can come out properly?” Louis
questioned, sick of the way he was being treated in this industry.

“We’re in charge, I made the contract and if I want to change it I can

do so. You are not to interact intimately anymore and that’s final”

Harry and Louis couldn’t disagree, even if they wanted to.

205
25
Given Up

Flashback:

There were so many posts. So many comments. So many opinions.

Harry couldn’t believe it.

Louis and Eleanor. Eleanor and Louis. Together. They were together.
Not for PR, not for some sick, twisted stunt like usual. This was real.

Tears pricked Harrys eyes and his chest tightened, like a weight was
being placed on top of him, crushing his bones and shattering his heart
in the process.

The pain was unbearable.

’Louis and Eleanor spotted at cirque le soir club in London tonight

looking cosy’

’Eleanor Calder and Louis Tomlinson spotted tonight in a heated make

out session’

’The long time couple left the club hand in hand’

Harry read and read and read. He read these comments and media
outlets for what seemed like hours, desperately trying to find some sort
of closure that this wasn’t real, that it was just some mind trick playing
on his insecurities.

But it wasn’t a trick, he knew they hadn’t had any PR stunts planned
for months, this was very much Louis’ doing.

206
Harry let out a pained sob and threw his phone harshly at the wall, the
sound of shattering glass echoing through the room.

He gripped his hair in his hands and tugged at the soft locks until it felt
as if he were going to pull it out. His face was red with anger and
sadness and tears were streaming down his face.

Harry felt utterly betrayed by the person he loved most in this world, he
felt played and humiliated.

He vowed not to let anyone into his broken heart again.

End of flashback

Harry sat up abruptly from his bed, panting with tears brimming his
eyes.

Why wouldn’t these fucking memories just go away, he thought to

himself.

He rubbed his hands across his face in exhaustion and pondered his
decisions.

In this dark room he had no escape from his thoughts and this lead him
to question whether his relationship with Louis had any hope.

He loved the man, he knew he did. He loved his feathery hair and his
breathtaking blue eyes. He loved his wide smile and his obnoxious
laugh. He loved his small stomach and his petite legs. He loved his
chavy Doncaster accent which could be transformed into a soft, melodic
tune when he sang. But it seemed like the world was against them.

Management hated the mere thought of them together, and did anything
in their power to keep them apart. Harry doesn’t think he could take the
rest of his life with Louis being set between boundaries. Simon has
made his decision and there was nothing they could do about it.

207
As much as Harry loved Louis, he realized he can’t live his life in
secrecy anymore. And to be with the man, well, that was the cost.

On top of that, Harry still had his doubts about Louis’ feelings towards
him. He still hadn’t gotten over the fact that he was cheated and played
by the man, and with these insecurities their relationship just simply
wouldn’t work out.

So with these negative thoughts running through his head, Harry took a
look at the beautiful man next to him and slumped back onto his bed.
He cried himself to sleep, knowing what he had to do.

————————————————————————

Louis’ pov:

Louis woke up the next morning in a shit mood.

He looked over and saw that Harry was nowhere to be found, just a cold
empty space on the mattress with no traces of the man.

After what he had been told yesterday by Simon he was left in anger
and frustration. He only wanted one thing and that was Harry, but
apparently he couldn’t have that.

Now, despite the contract, he was going to have to go back to how it

used to be. PR stunt after PR stunt, hiding his sexuality constantly and
putting a strain on his and Harrys relationship.

The past few months had been great, he had just gotten Harry to come
round and they were slowly building their relationship up again, only
for it to come crashing down once again by Simon.

But he was still hopeful. He and Harry had pushed through all of
managements shit for years and he was sure they could do it again. So
with that, he put a smile on his face and got out of bed, throwing on

208
some clothes before making his way downstairs to the kitchen where he
could hear chatter emitting from.

“Morning Lou” Niall said, sitting at the island counter in the kitchen,
munching on a full English breakfast.

Louis was glad they were staying in their old house, it was much more
relaxed than it would have been in a hotel and they had much more
freedom to just roam about doing whatever they wanted.

“Morning” Louis replied with a groggy voice, still not fully awake.

Louis furrowed his eyebrows when he looked around the room, Where
was Harry?

“Hey, where’s Harry?” Louis questioned the lads, who looked up at him
and shrugged.

“Not sure, haven’t seen him all morning, we thought he was with you”
Liam replied nonchalantly.

“Oh” is all Louis muttered out in return, more confused than ever.

He tried not to think negatively about his whereabouts and instead set
to make a cup of tea, putting on the kettle and grabbing a teabag.

Once he was done he sat at the island with the rest of the lads and filled
his plate with food from in front of him, bacon, eggs, sausage, beans
and toast.

“What was that meeting about the other day?” Zayn asked Louis with a
pointed look.

The question caught Louis off guard, realizing he never got the chance
to explain the situation to them yesterday as he was in too much of a
bad mood to do anything but sleep.

209
“The usual, management being dickheads” he replied vaguely, not
really wanting to go into detail.

“What did they do this time then?” Niall asked further, pressing for
answers.

Louis sighed and took a sip of his hot drink before answering.

“Management want me and Harry to go back to how we used to be, you

know, like PR stunts and shit, all because of a fucking kiss” Louis
explained with a huff, mumbling the last part.

“What the fuck, why? I thought you made a new contract?” Liam asked,
shocked.

“Yeh that’s what I bloody thought. Turns out Simons just as much of a
prick as he used to be. You know how he is, if something doesn’t go his
way he can just change it all with a snap of his fingers” Louis replied,
rolling his eyes at the thought of the man.

“That’s shit, I’m sorry Lou” Zayn said sympathetically, knowing how
much this situation brought the two of them down last time.

“Not your fault is it. It’s fine anyway, I’m sure we can just push through
it like we used to” Louis said with a shrug, his voice feigning interest.

“Yeh but it doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t have to push
through their shit in the first place. The way they treat you two is
disgusting, we should have changed management when we had the
chance” Niall said, stabbing at his food and eating it harshly.

“Nothing we can do about to now is there” Louis replied sadly.

“But what if there is?” Liam said, looking like he was thinking deeply.

“What do you mean?” Louis said with his eyebrows furrowed.

210
“Well we’ve said this a million times now. Management would never
drop us because we’re their biggest source of income. Why not see how
far you can push it?” He explained.

“And how do you know that for sure?” Louis pondered.

“Come on, its Simon for gods sake. The man only gives a shit about
money” Zayn said with a small laugh, catching onto what Liam was
suggesting.

“So you saying we break the contract? Do whatever we want?” Louis

asked with an incredulous look on his face.

“Well, what have you got to lose?” Niall asked.

“My career? Your careers? I can’t fuck this up for all of us just because
I want to show some PDA” Louis replied, shocked that they were even
suggesting this.

“We trust you, we know that if it felt like it were going too far you
would stop. We know for a fact that you wouldn’t risk our futures and
that why we think you should do it” Liam said with a reassuring smile.

Louis thought about it for a second, weighing up the pros and cons in
his head and deciding to just talk to Harry about it, see what he thinks.

“I’ll speak to Harry, well, if I knew where he fucking was” Louis said
finally, looking around the room once again in search for the tall man.

“Speak to me about what?” An all too familiar voice spoke up from the
doorway.

Louis turned to see a sweaty looking Harry stood in the entrance, he

must have been on a run.

“Just an idea we’ve had about this management situation” Louis

replied.

211
Harry furrowed his eyebrows and walked over to the sink, filling a glass
with water and chugging down the contents quickly.

“What about it” Harry said once he finished his drink, placing the glass
in the sink. He turned around to face Louis while resting his upper body
against the counter, waiting with an expectant look on his face.

“The lads suggested we just break the contract” Louis said with a shrug.

“What the fuck, we can’t just break our contract, they’re drop us the
second we disobeyed them” Harry exclaimed, his face contorting into
a look of disbelief.

“Yes we can, they care more about the money than they do about us”
Louis said softly, standing up to make his way over to the man.

Louis places his hands onto his hips and stretched up to give Harry a
kiss, but was suddenly denied the gesture and nudged away from him.

Ouch, Louis thought. He looked at Harry with a confused look, one

filled with hurt. What was up with him?

“What?” Louis asked in a sad tone.

“We can’t break the contract” Is all Harry replied with, not commenting
on how he just rejected Louis out of nowhere.

“Why not, they think it’s a good idea” Louis said, gesturing to the lads
who all nodded their heads, trying to convince the man.

“I don’t give a shit, clearly they don’t know what they’re getting
themselves into” Harry said harshly, rolling his eyes as if they were the
most stupid people on earth.

“Harry if you just listen—

212
“No, I’m not going to listen to your pathetic excuse of a plan, I’m not
risking their careers for a silly relationship that wouldn’t work anyway”
Harry spat out, making Louis and the boys gaze at him in shock and
hurt. But nobody hurt more than Louis at that moment.

“Haz—

“I’m going for a shower” Harry stated, shoving past Louis and making
his way out of the room.

Louis stood there with his mouth agape. His eyes pricked with tears that
were threatening to fall as he stared at the door Harry walked out of.

A hand on his back broke Louis from his thoughts, he turned around to
see Niall offering him a hug which he immediately took advantage of,
slumping his weight onto the man and burrowing his face into his neck
as he held back tears.

213
 26
Explanations

“What the fuck was that?” Zayn exclaimed, barging into Harrys room
without knocking.

Which was a small mistake, as Harry was currently getting changed.

“Mate what the fuck, get out!” Harry shouted, grabbing a towel to cover
himself.

“No, I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’ve just left Louis crying
his eyes out in Niall’s arms” Zayn said sternly, disappointment written
across his face.

Harrys heart dropped a little at that. Louis was crying? He didn’t realize
how harsh he was until it was laid out in front of him. But at the same
time he has to think about himself now, he can’t get hurt again. So he
once again put a bored look into his face and ignored the man in his
room.

“Are you fucking listening to me?” Zayn said frustratingly, more pissed
off than ever.

“Yeh, I just don’t care” Harry replied with a shrug.

Zayn shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. He’s had enough of Harrys
mood swings, one minute he’s all hugs and kisses with Louis and the
next he’s cold and resigned for absolutely no reason. It wasn’t fair on
the blue eyed boy and Zayn wasn’t going to let this continue without an
explanation.

Zayn strides over to Harry and in one quick movement, he drew his arm
back and slapped the man right across his face, leaving a nasty red mark

214
which was quickly covered by Harrys hand, gripping his cheek with a
pained expression.

“What the fuck was that for!” Harry exclaimed, now looking angry as
he towered over Zayn.

Zayn didn’t let him intimidate him, he knew Harry wouldn’t hurt him,
he couldn’t hurt a fly, not physically anyway. Mentally though, he’s
been pretty good at that lately.

“You know what that was for and you know that you deserved it. Now
are you going to fucking talk to me or be a stubborn little shit?” Zayn
said with a slight smirk.

Harry sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get out of this, he turned

around and went to get changed in the bathroom before joining Zayn
on the bed, sitting down hesitantly.

After a moment, Zayn still hadn’t spoke, Harry furrowed his eyebrows
and looked up from where he was fiddling with the bed sheets, giving
him a pointed look.

“Well? Aren’t you going to talk or am I just wasting my time here?”

Harry asked harshly.

“I’m waiting for you to tell me what that was downstairs” Zayn simply
replied, gesturing for Harry to answer his question.

“It was nothing” Harry said in a small voice, hesitant to tell the truth.

“Bullshit. I’m not doing this if you’re going to lie to me Harry, I can
read you like an open book so there’s no point in telling excuses, I’ll
ask you again. What was that downstairs?” Zayn said sternly, a
frustrated look on his face.

Harry sighed and rubbed his hands across his face tiredly, deciding to
just tell him, he may as well.

215
“There’s just no use” Harry started off vaguely.

“No use in what?” Zayn asked, confused.

“Me and Lou, there’s no use, no hope for us. It seems like every time
we get back on track, something gets in the way” Harry explained sadly.

“What’s getting in the way?, you two always pushed through

everything back in the day” Zayn quizzed.

“Management” Zayn hummed in agreement, knowing they were a

cause. “And myself” Harry added on, making Zayn turn to him
expectantly, wanting to know what exactly he meant.

“What do you mean?” He asked Harry, not understanding how he was

a problem.

“I still have my doubts about Louis. I was fine at first, but recently I
keep having these dreams— no memories, I don’t fucking know, I just
keep remembering what happened, you know— that day. And I can’t
get my head around the fact that he could just be using me again, I can’t
fully let myself believe that he really cares. And it’s stupid, I know that,
but I can’t do anything about it. It’s like in the back of my head I have
this voice telling me that he’s going to cheat, he’s going to leave me
again. I can’t be hurt again Zayn” Harry rushed out, tears brimming his
eyes while Zayn listened with sympathy.

Zayn quickly drew Harry into his lap, hugging the taller man and
stroking his hair comfortingly.

“Listen to me Haz. I know that coming from me you’re going to have a

hard time believing this, but Louis fucking loves you. Like, really loves
you. I’ve never in my life seen someone more in love than Louis looks
with you. I sometimes look over at him and when you don’t realize it
he’s giving you this look, like a fond stare or some shit, I don’t know
but it’s cute” Harry laughed at this in disbelief.

216
“And I know that you love him too, I can see it in your face, your body
language. I would hate to see you throw this away because of your
doubts, your very lucky to actually find love and a connection to
someone who returns it, because a lot of people never find what you
have with Lou. When you’re not with him, your both miserable, the last
time it almost destroyed you Haz and I don’t want a repeat of that. This
voice of yours, telling you all the negatives of your relationship, when
you hear it I want you to tell it to fuck off, because at the end of the day
you and Lou can make it through anything. You proved that to me a
long time ago” Zayn rambled, the encouraging words sinking into
Harrys brain.

“So, what I suggest you do now is talk to him. Just sit down somewhere
and talk it out, tell him what you’ve told me, otherwise it’s never going
to work” Zayn said pointedly.

“But what if he laughs at me Zayn, what if he thinks I’m being ridicu—

“What did I say about telling the voice to fuck off?” Zayn interrupted,
knowing this was just Harrys subconscious talking.

“Fuck off voice” Harry said quietly.

“Louder” Zayn pushed.

“Fuck off voice” Harry said a little louder, laughing as he did so.

“Louder” Zayn repeated, sitting up with Harry.

“Fuck off voice!” Harry screamed at the top of his lungs, breaking out
into another fit of laughter with Zayn and they tumbled about the bed.

Suddenly Liam burst through the door, looking panicked, but when he
saw the two lads he sighed in relief, leaning against the doorframe.

217
“Jesus I thought something had happened” Liam said with a huff,
rolling his eyes.

“Nah, Harrys just screaming at the voice in his head to fuck off” Zayn
explained with a smirk, gaining a weird look from Liam.

“You know, when you put it like that I seem like a mad man” Harry
said once he had stopped laughing.

“Tell me about it” Liam said, shaking his head before walking back out
the door.

After a moment of silence Zayn spoke up again.

“You know what you need to do. Go talk to your man”

————————————————————————

It took Harry until late in the evening that day to grow the balls to talk
to Louis.

He was terrified. He didn’t know what to expect from the smaller man
and he honestly didn’t want to find out. But he knew he had to do this,
once this was over they can start figuring out how to get around the
Management situation.

So with a small pep talk he walked downstairs to the living room where
the lads were sat in the dark watching a movie.

He saw Louis cuddled up in a blanket in the corner of the couch, looking

small and fragile. The sight was adorable and Harry cooed.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zayn gesture to him to take Louis
upstairs so they could talk in private. Harry nodded his head and slowly
walked over to the beautiful man.

218
Louis didn’t realize Harry was behind him and jumped when he felt a
tap on his shoulder. Louis looked up with a confused look and Harry
noticed his red puffy eyes, cringing at the thought of being the cause.

Harry grabbed his hand and nodded upwards, tugging at Louis to follow
him, which after a moment he did, groaning as he sat up from his sleepy
state on the couch.

They left the room without speaking a word to one another and climbed
the stairs, reaching their room and closing the door.

Harry turned around to face Louis again and saw the man with a look
that mixed between anger and confusion, expectantly waiting for Harry
to explain why he dragged him up here.

“Lou—

“If you’ve just brought me up here so you can shout and reject me again
then don’t bother, I’m not dealing with that shit again” Louis
interrupted, his sassy side making an appearance.

“That’s not my intentions, I promise” Harry said reassuringly.

“Then what do you want?” Louis asked.

“I just want to talk, and I know I don’t deserve you to listen to me, but
you need to hear me out” Harry pleaded when Louis scoffed and shook
his head.

“Oh well do explain Harry, you tell me why you suddenly threw a fit at
me this morning” Louis exclaimed, anger laced into his voice.

Harry sighed and thought about how to approach this, he knew Louis
would be pissed off but not to this extent, it was even more difficult
when Louis started being sarcastic.

219
“Lou just listen to me and I’ll explain everything, please” He asked in
a tired voice.

Louis hesitated for a moment before muttering out a “fine” and sitting
himself into the bed, Harry following his actions.

“I think it all just got a bit too much for me yesterday” Harry started
off, not really knowing how to begin.

“How so?” Louis asked with a bored expression.

“I— I don’t know, I just— fuck” Harry stuttered out, running his hands
through his hair in frustration.

Louis noticed his distress and reluctantly grabbed his hand, running his
thumb in circles to calm him down.

Even though he was pissed off with Harry right now, he couldn’t stand
to see him so stressed out.

“Just go from the beginning” Louis said softly, waiting patiently for
Harry to begin again.

Harry let out a shaky breath, biting his lips before he tried again.

“I know I’ve probably been really confusing lately, I get that, and it’s
entirely my fault, but I do have my reasons” he began.

“I said I wanted to try again with you, you promised you wouldn’t let
me down and I believed you, still do, and I do want to try make this
work. But I feel like every time we make progress, something comes
up that gets in the way. After the meeting with management yesterday,
I freaked out over it. I started thinking that if they made you do a stunt
with Eleanor again, I would probably lose it and get paranoid, you
know, after the whole cheating thing” Harry said, picking at his black
nail polish.

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Louis just let Harry explain, humming along when needed, he could
talk after.

“And I thought that if that were the case, I would just end up ruining
our relationship over jealousy anyway. So like, what’s the point? And I
know it’s stupid, I know I’m thinking irrationally, but I can’t help it”
Harry explained.

“It’s not stupid love, I get what you’re saying” Louis said reassuringly,
making Harry sigh in relief, giving him the confidence to carry on.

“Then there’s the dreams I keep getting” Harry stated, making Louis
frown in confusion once again.

“What are your dreams about?” Louis asked hesitantly.

“They’re kind of like flashbacks, I guess, of the day I found out you
cheated on me. And the breakup. And I guess they’re just adding to the
problem of my inner conflict. During the day I feel completely at ease
with our relationship, and then night comes and I feel insecure, I worry
that you’re going to leave me again” Harry said sadly.

“You don’t trust me?” Louis asked, slightly hurt. But then again Harry
has every right not to trust him.

“I trust you as much as I can. It’s difficult. I mean, how can I ever fully
trust you again after what you did? And if I ever do, it’s going to take
time that’s for sure” Harry explained.

“I understand. But I’m still confused as to why you freaked out on me

this morning” Louis asked.

“Ever since we broke up, I’ve just developed this sort of strategy, if
you’d like to call it that. If I act like I don’t care, if I act like the tougher
person, I can’t get hurt, because I hurt others first” Harry suddenly
chuckled darkly. “Yeh, makes me sound like a shit person, I know”

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Louis looked sadly at Harry, he was so insecure and broken on the
inside but covered it up with this facade in order to not feel any more
pain, all because of himself. He did this to Harry and he’ll never forgive
himself for it.

“No, you’re not a shit person, you’re the complete opposite. Your just
a man with the kindest heart that got broken by some idiot who clearly
didn’t know what he was thinking” Louis said with a small smile,
brushing the knotted hair from Harrys face.

Harry let out a small chuckle.

“Yeh, he was a dick, don’t know what I saw in him” Harry said
sarcastically, looking Louis in the eyes, blue meeting green.

“Oi” Louis lightly slapped Harrys arm.

“I’m joking. Maybe” Harry said out in a mere whisper, but Louis still
caught it, and instead of taking offence, he smiled fondly at the man and
rested his head against his shoulder.

“Haz” Louis said after a moment of silence.

“Yeh Lou?” Hardy asked.

“Please don’t do this again. If your worried about something come and
talk to me, you don’t need to use this act anymore, it doesn’t suit you, I
love the dorky boy from 2010. And even though it’s sometimes hot, I
don’t like tough Harry” Louis said in a small voice, muffled by Harrys
shoulder.

Harry laughed at this, hugging the boy closer.

“I promise”

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27
Chatty Man

Currently the boys were backstage at the chatty man show with Alan
Carr, waiting patiently to be called on set.

They always loved having interviews with Alan, it was chilled out and
the man himself was hilarious, never afraid to say what was on his mind.

Of course though, they were expecting some questions related to their

love lives, as usual, and Alan wasn’t afraid to push these particular
questions to the limit, wanting all the answers.

These questions also happened to mainly be directed towards Harry,

and he wasn’t so excited about this part.

Each time he was on this show he was made out to be a womanizer, and
after a while it got frustrating. He knew it wasn’t any sort of dig from
Alan, the man was doing his job after all, but he was dreading it.

But on the other hand, it was Harry and Louis’ gateway to begin their
plan.

Yesterday, they had sat down with the rest of the lads and decided the
only way around the contract with management was to simply ignore
it, act like they did in the early days of one direction. So this interview
was like some sort of test, a test to see what the reaction would be from
both the fans and their management team.

They had thought it would be best to start off slow, nothing too
dramatic, but something that the fans would defiantly notice and maybe
stir up some more rumors.

Hopefully it wouldn’t all go to shit.

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“Alright, you’re on in five minutes, I don’t want any trouble from you
two” Their management lead said sternly, gesturing towards Louis and
Harry.

“You know what to do” she said before walking away, the two lads
knew exactly what she was referring to.

They had been told that if any sort of relationship related question were
to come up they were to hint at occurrences with other women, such as
Eleanor and Kendall as the two ladies had been noted of this
beforehand.

Yeh, like that was going to happen, Louis thought to himself.

“Welcome back, later on we have Ariana Grande joining us for an

exclusive performance but for now we have the five boys who don’t
know how long 18 months really is, it’s One direction!” Alan called
from his seat on stage, standing up to greet the boys with hugs.

Time to begin their plan. First step, seating arrangements.

They’re not supposed to sit together, as instructed by management, but

why should they listen to that? It should be considered platonic to sit
next to your band mate during an interview, totally platonic.

“Alright alright take a seat boys” Alan gushed in his thick accent.

Louis was the last to take a seat, and he knew there was definitely room
for him if the boys were to move up a little, but no one had to know
that.

“Move up a little, can’t leave our little Louis standing can we?” Alan
said jokingly, earning a laugh from the audience and a glare from Louis.

“Hey I’m big!” Louis exclaimed, Harry giving him a fond stare in
return.

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Harry then looked at him knowingly, tapping his lap slightly so that
management wouldn’t notice but the cameras would catch it.

“It’s alright Mate, I’ll take a seat right here” Louis said with a smirk
before sitting himself down onto Harry’s lap, the taller man sneaking
his arm around his waist protectively.

From the corner of his eye, Louis could see the woman from
management glaring at him, frantically waving her arms as if to say
move over now. But Louis ignored her.

“Jesus Louis when did you get so submissive?” Alan asked teasingly,
raising his eyebrows and winking at the boy who blushed slightly.

“It comes naturally Alan” Louis replied in a nonchalant tone, shrugging

it off.

“Ok well you two don’t shag on the sofa, it was expensive alright, you’d
be getting the stains out” Alan said sarcastically, the audience laughing.

At that comment the two boys instantly pretended to be in a heated

make out session, turning their faces away from the audience, so much
for starting out slow then huh?

“Calm down calm down” Alan said, standing to pry the boys off one
another, he then pushed Louis so that he was sat next to Harry and not
on top of him, tightly fitting in between him and Liam.

“Stay there” Alan said sternly, pointing his finger in Louis’ face, who
in return laughed at him.

“Okay would anyone like any drinks, snacks?” Alan asked, moving
back to his seat and presenting them with various beverages.

“Oh my god it’s hooch!” Niall exclaimed, remembering the drink from
years ago when they were on the show.

225
“Yeh, got it especially for you my little leprechaun” Alan said in a high
pitched tone, another round of laughter emitting through the studio.

Alan passed five bottles of hooch down to them, along with glasses if
they needed them, before sitting back comfortably and proceeding with
the interview.

“Now, like I said earlier on, what happened to this 18 months bullshit
then? Did you get lost or something? Kidnapped? I was honestly just
about to file a case with the police for a missing band” Alan began,
gaining nods of understanding from the audience.

The boys looked awkwardly to one another, waiting for someone to

answer, Louis finally did.

“I think we just kind of estimated the time wrong I guess, we really did
think it wouldn’t be too long but in the end we were having such success
with our own individual careers that each of us had multiple projects
with music and shows that needed to get done before we could fully put
our attention back into the band” he explained.

“Why now then?” Alan pressed.

“Simon was getting a little impatient, which is understandable. Your

know in the back of our heads it was always there, we knew we had
pushed way over our time and the fans wanted this reunion just as much
as we did” This time Liam answered, the lads nodding in agreement.

“Oh I see, I was thinking you’d never get back together at one point, I
actually cried myself to sleep thinking I bought a bigger couch for
nothing” Alan said dramatically.

“Yeh wouldn’t that be awful” Harry said sarcastically with a laugh.

“I’ve heard you’ve got a tour planned and maybe an album, you just
finished with the American Promo didn’t you?” Alan asked.

226
“Yes we actually just got here a few days ago, as much as we love
America it feels good to be back in England” Zayn replied.

“You don’t have to play it cool Zayn, I know you just missed me” Alan
said with a wink, making Zayn shake his head in amusement.

“How’s James Corden then? I still haven’t got an apology for not being
invited to that bloody wedding” He continued, rolling his eyes and
leaning his head on his hand with raised eyebrows.

“Still holding a grudge then?” Louis said with a smirk.

“Excuse me Louis, it’s alright for you, you were invited. Me and Zayn
here had to scroll through all the updates about it on twitter while you
were having the time of your life, it’s tragic really” He said with a fake
hurt expression.

“Fair enough” Louis replied.

“How’s your love lives going then? Still single or have you been
snatched up?” Alan questioned, the boys mentally groaning.

Liam, Zayn and Niall explained their situations before it landed on

Louis and Harry, thinking how to go about this.

“Harry, there were some rumors about you and Kendall again after you
were both at the same interview in America, we’ve got some pictures
here that were taken outside the studio” he said before said images were
displayed on the tv screen behind them, one of Kendall getting far too
close to Harry for Louis to be clenching his jaw tightly.

“You looked a bit cosy there don’t you think?” Alan pointed out,
looking expectantly at the man.

227
“Not really no, we’re just friends that were catching up while we had
the chance” Harry stated, dismissing the fact that he was meant to be
encouraging the rumor.

“I expected a more exciting story if I’m being honest, ’Harry Styles and
Kendall Jenner reunite as a power couple’, could even throw Taylor in
the mix and spice it up a little” Alan said in a disappointed but joking
tone.

“No sorry, strictly platonic there” Harry said with a chuckle.

“Louis?” Alan asked, turning to the man.

“Well I thought I was married to Hazza here but I think we’ll be getting
a divorce now” Louis said, making a sassy face and turning away from
Harry, crossing his arms over his chest to act annoyed.

“You wouldn’t dare” Harry exclaimed, gasping and pulling Louis’ back
into his chest, holding him tightly while the man giggled. The audience
laughed and cooed at them while the lads smirked at their behavior.

“Um excuse me. A wedding? Another bloody wedding I didn’t get

invited to! That’s it I’m off” Alan said in a shocked tone, standing up
and walking towards the set exit, waving his hand dismissively while
the audience laughed. He then flipped a middle finger at them over his
back before turning around once again and making his way back to his
seat.

“Do we have beef or something?” He said as he took a seat, the lads

laughing at him.

“No don’t worry, you can come to our renewed vows ceremony after
tour” Louis said sarcastically, winking at him.

“Oh thank god for that, and hey, maybe you can even get me tickets for
tour as an apology” He said pointedly.

228
“Yeh sure” Harry replied, leaning his head against Louis shoulder.

“Okay were going to take a break but once we’re back we’re having
another dance off, I mean you’ve got to have upped your game by now,
I know how Harry gets on stage, I’ve seen your tour all over social
media” Alan said, pointing a finger at the man who raised his arms in a
shrug.

Once they had gone back stage the shouting commenced, ruining their
moods once again.

“What the fuck are you doing out there? Simon will kill me for not
keeping you under control!” Their manager shouted in their faces,
flailing her arms around as she spoke.

“We can do what we want, we’re not teenagers anymore, we’re adults
who can make our own decisions” Louis said sternly, rolling his eyes
at the woman.

“You’re in the business and you have a contract. Do you think this is
some sort of game? Just wait till your careers go down the drain when
Simon drops you, then it won’t be a laughing matter will it?” She said,
hands placed on her hips.

“He won’t drop us, we know this for a fact so everything your saying is
bullshit and we will continue what we’re doing no matter what you say”
Harry replied, Louis nodding his head in agreement.

“You’re making a mistake here” she said frustratingly.

“If we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into we wouldn’t

even consider doing this. If we really knew it would affect ours and the
other lads careers we would drop the act, but I’m 99% sure that all these
fucking threats are empty, so say what you want, it won’t make a
difference” Louis barked back at her, grabbing Harrys hand and making
their way back on set.

229
“We’re back with one direction! To finish the interview off we’re going
to have one of our traditional dance battles, but let’s face it, they can’t
dance for shit and I win every time so don’t be surprised when they
lose” Alan said sassily, making the lads glare at him.

“Our guest judge is none other than miss Ariana Grande, who will also
be joining us later on after the break” Alan announced, the whole studio
erupting into cheers.

Ariana then walked on set wearing an all white, silk outfit, with baggy
styled heeled boots and her hair in her signature high pony tail.

She walked over to quickly greet the boys before taking a seat to watch
the performance.

“This time I’m going to be going first, hit the music!” Alan called out
before taking his starting position and beginning his dance.

He did numerous moves and actions that correlated with the lyrics,
swinging his arms around and moving to the beat, he made it funny to
watch as he made different facial expressions to the audience and the
boys who laughed on while watching, it looked like some sort of Sia
music video.

Once he finished he was panting and went to grab a drink of water,

chugging it down before turning to the boys and getting up in their
faces, trying to intimidate them but he had no effect.

Ariana was giggling to herself after his performance, smiling wide and
clapping for him as a well done.

“Beat that bitches” Alan said sassily, sashaying away from them.

The music began once more and they began doing their usual moves
that consisted of arm and leg thrusts, grasping the air and bopping their
heads.

230
Even doing the most simple moves they were uncoordinated and lacked
style, but they pulled it off never the less, that was until they ran out of
ideas.

“Freestyle” Louis shouted to them when none of them knew what to do.

Harry started jumping around energetically, looking like a crazy person

as he moved about the set, punching the air when the bass beats
dropped. He then walked up to Alan and started lip syncing the words
in his face before turning and slowly walking towards Louis, gesturing
with his hand for him to come closer.

Louis walked up to him with a smirk and the locked hands, jumping
around the room to the music like they were teenagers all over again,
laughing loudly as they did so.

They twirled each other around with their fingers interlocked and they
were so close their chests were grazing up against one another, the
crowd noticing and shouting a range of ’oos’.

Behind them the boys had stopped dancing all together, just standing
and watching Louis and Harry interact with smirks etched onto their
faces, glancing at one another with knowing looks.

Management looked more furious than ever, red faced and knuckles
white with how hard they were balling them up. It was a funny sight to
the lads.

Louis and Harry felt like the only people in the room despite the
cheering from the crowd and loud music pounding through their ear
drums, but they eventually had to stop when the music got turned off
completely and the clapping began from around them.

They broke away from one another grinning and laughing, hands still
laced together as they made their way back to stand with the boys to
wait for the verdict.

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Ariana stood up and walked between Alan and the boys, ready to
announce the winner.

“This was a hard decision as you all did so well, but the winner is…
One direction!” She said loudly, congratulating them while Alan stood
with his mouth open in shock.

“Grande get off my stage now” Alan said in a mock angry voice,
pointing to the exit.

“Look who did shit now Alan?” Louis said, cocking his head to the side
with his arms crossed.

“It was just an off day for me, I have a cold okay” Alan replied,
coughing for affect.

“Yeh Whatever” Harry said with a smirk.

The lads hugged each other with huge smiles gracing their faces and
this may just be one of their best interviews yet.

Now Louis and Harry just had to wait for the reactions that were yet to
come.

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 28
Lazy Day

“What did you do over the break?”

“Hmm?”

“Like, during the hiatus, with your solo career and that, what did you
do?” Louis explained.

Louis and Harry were laying in their king sized bed, their shirtless
bodies covered in silk white covers and their heads leaning against one
another.

They had nothing planned for the day as they had just done an interview
the day prior, so they decided to just have a lazy day to catch up with
one another. They definitely needed it.

“Well, I went to Jamaica to record my debut album in 2017, produced

it with Jeff Bhasker and Kid harpoon, it was actually really relaxing,
even though I was technically working. It was like, I could go off
somewhere that I wouldn’t be recognized for a while, and just focus
entirely on the music. I loved it” Harry replied, smiling at the memory.

“Really? That sounds amazing, I wish I had done that when I recorded
my album, half the time I was cooped up in a studio cause the weather
was too shit to write outdoors” Louis said with a grimace.

“Yeah, doesn’t sound too pleasant” Harry said with a laugh, his chest
vibrating against Louis cheek as he rested his head upon it.

“What was it like there?” Louis quizzed, wanting to go there himself.

233
“Beautiful. It was so chilled out, I could take my time with writing the
music and go enjoy myself at the same time. I went Scuba diving a few
times, and surfing. The water is so clear there you wouldn’t believe it”
Harry said with a smile, rubbing his hands through Louis’ hair.

“We should go there after tour, if we have time” Louis said, looking up
to Harry with hopeful eyes which Harry cooed at.

“Of course we will, promise” Harry agreed, sticking his pinky finger
out for Louis to hook his round, doing a little shake before letting go
with grins across their faces.

“Well then, continue, what other adventures did you go on?” Louis said
dramatically.

“I went on tour shortly after releasing the music, sold out msg on my
own—

“Shit, really?” Louis said in shock, this was huge.

“Yeh, shocked me too. I even re-created that picture from when we

went there as a band, you know, the one of me with my arms out” Harry
confirmed with a small chuckle, grabbing his phone from the bedside
table and showing Louis the picture from his Instagram.

“What the fuck that’s amazing Haz” Louis said with a toothy grin and
wide eyes, pecking Harry on the cheek quickly in a way of saying
congrats.

“Thank you. Anyway, then I modelled for Gucci, which you already
know—

“Yeh how did that come about anyways?” Louis asked with furrowed
eyebrows.

“Think they just clicked on that I liked their designs, after wearing their
suits for so long they offered me a sponsorship modelling shoot. I did a

234
video for them and I had to buy fish and chips, I looked like I was
wearing Pj’s” He explained with a small giggle, Louis laughing along
with him, he would definitely be looking that up later.

“Then I hosted the met gala in 2019 with lady gaga and serena
Williams, again wearing Gucci. I swear I got a million tags in clothing
that year on what I should wear to it, it was ridiculous” Harry continued.

“Like what?” Louis asked, intrigued.

“Jesus you don’t even want to know. One person tagged me in a gold
Gucci thong and said they bet I owned it” He answered with a disgusted
face.

“… you do own it don’t you” Louis said with a straight face, eyebrow
raised as if to say ’you can’t lie to me’.

“—maybe” Harry replied shyly, smiling but covering his face with his
hands.

“Fucking hell, you may as well buy the brand at this point, you own
everything they sell!” Louis exclaimed, throwing his arms down onto
the bed sheets.

“Heyyy, I donated my rainbow Gucci loafers so technically I don’t

anymore, wait, that reminds me, I need to order another pair of those”
Harry said with a thoughtful look, causing Louis to roll his eyes and
shake his head fondly.

“Jesus, anything else?” Louis asked, faking impatience.

“Recorded my second album in Tokyo, whilst there I was featured in

an episode of queer eye which was fun, I met the cast and went out for
drinks and stuff with them. When I got back to the UK the album was
ready to be released and so it did, it got great reactions and I was meant
to be going on tour this year for it but then the reunion came up and
now here I am” Harry finished, looking down at Louis.

235
“Wow, you did a lot then. I’m guessing that’s not everything though”
Louis said with his head tilted like a confused puppy.

“No, course not, there were stuff in between, Like awards and promo
but that was the main shit” Harry stated with a smirk.

“I really need to hear your album” Louis said, reaching to grab his
phone but before he could Harry snapped him back into his chest,
tutting into his hair.

“Nope, your gonna hear it on tour where I can give you a few surprises”
Harry said smugly.

“Ugh, I can’t wait for tour, that’s ages away. I want to hear it now”
Louis groaned, pouting.

“Too bad. Anyway, what did you do during Hiatus?” Harry asked,
changing the subject.

“Honestly, not much, well, not in the public eye anyway. I was working
a lot on the music but it didn’t get released until mid last year, the album
I mean. Everyone probably thought I was being lazy or some shit”
Louis huffed.

“I bet they didn’t. Your fans are understanding, they would have known
you’d be working your ass of for them, don’t put yourself down” Harry
said soothingly, stroking his arm.

“Yeh, I know, I’m just being over dramatic I guess. I think I was just a
bit too much of a perfectionist when making the album, that’s why it
took so long to release. I felt like if it wasn’t up to my own standards of
what I would listen to then nobody would like it, so I spend a lot of time
writing and re-writing, and re-writing again, which was weird actually
cause I was so used to getting a new album out practically every year
with one direction. It was nice to have a bit of freedom to do everything
on my own accord” Louis explained, Harry nodding when needed.

236
“Yeh I get what you mean. With the band, making music is usually
quite hectic, What with all the demands from management, but when
you’re on your own you can make more decisions and take your time,
it almost made me want to stay solo to be honest” Harry admitted.

“But then I thought how much I missed you guys and how devastated
the fans would be if we didn’t return, I realized it wasn’t even a choice
anymore, it was a duty of sorts. Our responsibility is to do make career
choices based on what would make them happy as well as ourselves,
and if they are happy having us as a five, then I’m happy to comply”
Harry continued, Louis smiling away at the heart felt words leaving his
mouth in deep whispers.

“Your so kind, you know that right?” Louis told him, looking up into
his eyes.

“I’d hope so” Harry replied, holding his gaze for a moment before
asking another question.

“So, What did you do then?” He asked Louis.

“Well, Uh, you know, my mum—

Louis didn’t like talking about this topic, his voice beginning to crack
at the mere thought of mentioning it.

“Shh, miss out that part if you want babe” Harry comforted, rubbing
Louis’ back in circles to calm him down. Louis took a deep breath
before continuing.

“Yeh, well um, just hold on got released, but you came to see that, even
if it was just because of publicity” Louis said sadly, thinking about how
if he didn’t have to, Harry most likely wouldn’t have showed up.

Harry felt guilty, hearing the sadness in Louis’ voice when his spoke
them words made him clench his jaw tight and inhale deeply.

237
“You know I would have still came to that performance right? Even if
we were on the worst possible terms I would still support you through
loss, I didn’t turn into that much of a prick” Harry reassured, hugging
the man tighter.

“Yeh I guess. Okay let’s move on, I don’t wanna talk about that—

“That’s fine, but if you do want to talk about it I’m always here, even
if I wasn’t before” Harry said softly, Louis giving a nod and a squeeze
in return.

“I did a collab with Bebe Rexha, back to you, we actually filmed the
music video in Doncaster. I was dressed like a right little chav with my
matching tracksuit, but you know, that’s me anyways” Louis said with
a chuckle, Harry nodding in agreement.

“Yeh, I can see that” Harry said cheekily, earning a small smack from
Louis on the arm.

“Oi, don’t diss my style, at least I don’t own golden Gucci thongs”
Louis retorted smugly.

“You got me there, but in my defense, they make my ass look good in
jumpsuits so I’ll take it” Harry argued with a shrug.

“Yeh yeh whatever. Okay so I also realized two other singles, miss you,
which I also did a video for, you need to watch that one by the way—

“Why?” Harry interrupted.

“You’ll see” Is all Louis replied, winking for emphasis.

“I’ll do it later”

“Alright. I did the X factor And then my latest single was Two of us, I
wrote it for my mum, I’m the most proud of that song above all the rest

238
I think. Just because it has so much more meaning than anything else
I’ve ever written, it felt like a proper goodbye to her, a way to tell her
what I was feeling indirectly” Louis explained with a sad smile.

“I actually listened to that one. I mean, how could I not? I loved your
mum, she was so kind” Harry said with a sigh.

“Yeh, she was. That’s why I put so much effort into not only the song
but the promo. We even had this hotspot thing around the world where
you had to go find them to unlock part of a video, it was really cool.
The fans even went into places like water fountains and mountains just
to unlock them, it was crazy” Louis said excitedly, eyes brightening
once again.

“That’s so creative, did you think of that?” Harry asked.

“Well it wasn’t all me, worked on it with my team” Louis corrected.

“Still, I’m proud of you” Harry said, kissing his forehead and making
Louis blush.

For a while, silence filled the room as the two men listened to one
another breathing, taking in the relaxed atmosphere and wishing they
would never have to leave this moment of pure bliss.

“I really fucking missed you” Louis said, breaking the silence.

“I missed you too, so much” Harry replied with a smile.

And for the rest of the day they were in and out of sleep, talking about
everything and nothing, taking the time to relax until it was back to their
busy schedule.

One more interview and tour would kick off.

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 29
Rules

Flashback:

“You pick Eleanor up, go to the club and start to gradually get more
cosy with each other. We will make sure the paps are there to catch it
all and the pictures should be up by tomorrow” Management told Louis,
who was sat alone, without Harry. Which was weird because normally
they get called out for PR meetings together, so they both know what’s
about to happen.

“Okay and how far should I take it?” Louis asked with a bored tone.

“Make out with her, get a bit touchy, then take her home afterwards so
it looks sketchy” The woman explained sternly making Louis grimace
at the thought of even doing this.

“Does Harry know about this?” Louis asked, knowing he wouldn’t do

this without his permission.

“Of course, we already told him about it this morning, he’s fine with it,
not like he has a choice anyway” Simon said, hiding his smirk beneath
his hand.

“Okay then, I’m off” Louis replied with a nod, standing up and walking
out the door.

“This should do the trick” Simon said when The door had closed.

“He’ll have no idea. There’s no way they’re staying together after this”
The woman from before added on with a dark chuckle.

240
“Shame, Harry will be so heartbroken” Simon said sarcastically,
laughing with his peers, knowing their plan would be successful.

End of flashback.

“But Hazza, I can’t be arsed getting up” Louis groaned into the taller
man’s shoulder.

“Sorry, we have to, we have the interview today” Harry replied with an
apologetic smile, playing with Louis’ hair.

“Fuck sake, I miss not having a busy schedule” Louis whined.

“Well, that’s the price you have to pay to have the life we do. Now get
up, I’m going for a shower” Harry replied before jumping out of bed
and disappearing off into the bathroom.

Louis sighed and stared at the ceiling for a moment, deciding to grab
his phone and check his socials.

He scrolled through twitter and Instagram and realized the reactions

from that kissing video hadn’t died down yet, it was still all he could
see on his timeline and he actually loved it.

He could faintly hear the shower running and Harry singing some
unknown song echoing around the room, Louis smiled at the sound and
listened for another moment trying to make out the lyrics, but he soon
gave up and drifted his attention back to his phone.

He realized he hadn’t posted anything since he found out about the

reunion, being too busy to even think about social media. His fans were
practically begging him to post, let them know what he was doing other
than the obvious, that being the reunion.

He clicked the post icon on his Instagram and scrolled through his
camera roll, looking for a decent photo to post and stopped when he
found the perfect one.

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It was an old throwback photo from the early days of one direction. He
grinned at the photo, snickering at the outfit choices but then grimaced
at his own, what on Earth was he thinking, he thought to himself.

He then proceeded to tag the lads in the picture and wrote out a caption,
“missed these lot. Ready to kick off tour” he then posted the photo and
watched as the comments and likes flooded in within a second.

He replied to a few funny comments, ones that stood out to him and not
long after, Harry was walking back into the room in nothing but a towel
hung loosely around his waist.

“Sprite surprise, Harry Styles is naked” Louis said sarcastically with a

smirk.

“Shut up, you love it” Harry said cheekily while looking for something
to wear.

“That I do Harold. That I do. Now, I’m going for a shower and when
I’m out I expect breakfast to be ready for me, chop chop” Louis said
loudly while getting out of bed, patting Harry twice on the arm while
he passed him, only to have his hand caught and his body pulled back
into the man.

“Now why would I do that then?” Harry asked, his face inches away
from Louis’.

“Because You like me better than the rest of the lads?” Louis retorted
questioningly.

“That’s true, don’t tell them, but still, what do I get out of this?” Harry
asked, his arm tightening around Louis.

Louis hesitated before reaching up on his tiptoes to place a soft kiss on

Harrys lips, a wave of excitement flooding through his veins as they
molded together like a perfect jigsaw puzzle.

242
After a while they disconnected their lips and Harry smiled down at
Louis, staring into his bright blue eyes.

“Go on, get a shower. I’ll be waiting downstairs for you” Harry said,
moving Louis’ hair from his face before putting on some clothes and
walking out of the room to go make breakfast.

Louis smiled to himself for the billionth time this morning, feeling
content with how everything had turned out so far.

He walked to the bathroom and set the shower running, hot steam filling
the large room, covering the mirror in a sheet of mist.

After stripping off he walked into the huge shower, the walls covered
in a dark slated stone, contrasting with the whiteness of the marble walls
and floor on the rest of the bathroom.

Like Harry had done, he began singing melodically to himself whilst

rubbing shampoo into his locks and using Harrys strawberry scented
shower gel to lather his body in.

He realized that if he spent too long in the shower his food might go
cold so he quickly turned off the water and jumped out of the shower,
rubbing his body down with a fresh towel and walking into the bedroom
to pick out his outfit for the day.

He went with black skinny jeans and a dark grey jumper, casual and
comfy until he has to change into a more professional attire for the
interview.

Once finished he walked down the huge staircase and neared the
kitchen where he could hear faint chatter emitting from.

The smell of bacon and eggs hit his nostrils, making his tummy rumble,
only now realizing how hungry he really was.

243
“Took your time” Niall said once he had made an appearance in the
doorway.

“Shut up, it takes time looking this good” he said gesturing to himself,
when in reality he wasn’t wearing anything special and he hadn’t put
much effort in.

Harry walked over and passed a plate full of food to Louis, kissing his
temple quickly before walking back to the food, making his own plate
up.

“Thanks Haz” Louis said while sitting down at the kitchen island.

“S’ alright” he replied, soon enough sitting down with the rest of the
lads and digging into his own breakfast.

“Where did you two disappear off to yesterday then?” Liam asked,
easing his eyebrows with a smirk.

“Just spend the day in bed” Louis said casually, not realizing how that
may have sounded.

“Did you now?” Zayn said with a smirk, his tone teasing.

“Oh my go— not like that you creep!” Louis spluttered out, blushing as
he did so.

“What? You are a couple aren’t you?” Zayn asked, confused.

“Not exactly” Harry replied.

“What does that mean?” Liam pushed.

“It means we’re not official, yet” Harry stated, Louis’ mind stuck on
that ’yet’.

“Well get on with it then, what’s stopping you?” Niall asked.

244
“We need to build our trust up again. Or I mean, I do. No offence Lou”
Harry said hesitantly, which Louis nodded in understanding. “I guess
we’ve still got some things to talk about” Harry added on, knowing they
hadn’t gone over all the details of what actually happened yet, he still
wanted answers from the blue eyed man.

“Yeh I guess so, oh and have you heard from Simon yet?” Liam asked,
the thought suddenly hitting him.

“Surprisingly no, I would have thought he’d called by now, after that
interview with Alan” Louis said with a smirk.

“That’s weird. I assumed he had bitten your heads off and that’s why
you went into hiding yesterday” Zayn said with a breathy laugh, the
other lads joining in.

“Nope, but I’m still waiting for it. I’m sure he or management will say
something today, probably try to split us up on the show or some shit
like that” Harry said with a huff.

“Don’t worry about it too much, just do what you always do, ignore
them” Liam said reassuringly.

“Thanks mate” Louis replied.

“By the way, I hope you don’t mind but I called Helen up to see if she
would be our tour photographer this year and she agreed, she took all
my photos during tour and she’s really great, I think you’ll love her”
Harry told them excitedly.

“Shit really? That’s great, I saw the photos on your Instagram, they
were so fucking good I wanted to get her on my tour” Niall said giddily.

“You should have asked her, I’m sure she would have taken them”
Harry replied with a shrug.

245
“I thought she was too busy with you and Shawn, he showed me the
photos she took of him when we went out in America” Niall explained.

“Yeh she told me about that, didn’t you collab with him?” Hardy asked.

“Yeh he’s such a good singer, proper nice guy as well” Niall said with
a smile.

“You may as well marry him Niall, swear he’s the only person you hung
about with last year” Louis said cheekily.

“Well I’m sorry Louis, not everyone wants to go to a kinky bdsm club
every night with a huge group of people” Niall retorted, making the lads
snicker at him.

“Your still into that then?” Harry said with a smirk, tilting his head
towards Louis.

“Hey! No sex talk at the table” Liam said sternly.

“Sorry mum” Louis replied with a grin.

Suddenly the ring of someone’s phone began to chime through the

room, Harry picking it up a second later. He decided to put it on speaker
as it was management, knowing the rest of the lads should hear this.

“Hello” Harry said, the rest of the lads going silent.

“A car will be picking you and the lads up in about an hour to take you
to the studios for the interview, make sure you're all ready to leave
straight away” Sarah from management told them in a bored but stern
tone.

“Okay, anything else?” Harry asked wearily.

“Oh yeh, Simon is coming to the studios today seeming as you

continuously disobey the management team while on set, he wants to

246
speak with you after the show and if there’s any funny business tonight
then there will be consequences” she said, no remorse what so ever in
her tone.

Harry shot his head up to look at the lads who returned his shocked
look, this had never happened before.

“Fine” Harry sighed out and ended the call.

“Well shit” Niall said in a small voice.

“How the fuck do we get around this one then?” Louis said in
annoyance.

“It’s like he wants to fucking babysit us” Harry added on, rolling his
eyes.

“Let’s just worry about this later, we can deal with it when we’re at the
studios. Right now we need to go get ready before we get into shit for
being late” Liam said wisely, the lads nodding their heads in agreement,
knowing that if they were late they’re be in even more shit than what’s
to come.

Everyone took their plates to the sink for Harry and Louis to clean up
whilst the rest of them got ready, seeming as they were already dressed.

“I’m so done with this shit” Louis mumbled while drying the plates that
Harry passed to him.

“Me too, I wish it wasn’t so fucking difficult” Harry replied,

understanding how Louis was feeling.

“We just need to push through it. Whatever Simon says today, ignore
it. You and I both know he won’t do shit and we’ve gone over this a
million times by now” Louis reassured, looking at Harry with a sad
smile.

247
For a while they continued cleaning up in silence, enjoying the moment
of calmness. But Harry soon broke the silence.

“What I said earlier on, about not trusting you. Please don’t take it to
heart, I just— I don’t know, I don’t want to hurt you but I also want to
keep it straight with you. I am trying, for us, but like I said, it’s gonna
take time for me to build up that relationship we had before everything
happened” Harry explained, fumbling on his sentences and desperately
trying not to hurt Louis’ feelings.

“I understand, take your time love” Louis said softly.

“Can I ask you a question?” Harry asked in a small voice.

“Anything” Louis replied.

“Like, I don’t want to have this whole conversation now because I feel
like it should be done properly, but, why did you do it?” He asked,
desperate to know the answer to the question he’s been asking himself
for years now.

“Well, I didn’t want to, obviously, but you know how persistent
management can be, it was just supposed to be a PR stunt—

“Wait, What?” Harry suddenly exclaimed, his head shooting up to look

at Louis with his mouth hung open.

“Uh, it was a PR stunt? Why are you so shocked, it’s not like you didn’t
know. Wait, did you?” Louis asked, realization hitting him straight in
the face.

“Like hell did I know! Seriously, it was a PR stunt? You’re not messing
with me right now?, I swear to god—

“No Haz, I’m not kidding, they told me that you knew about it?” Louis
interrupted, anger surging through him.

248
“What the actual fuck? So all of them years hating you was for bloody
nothing then?” Harry said, wiping his we hands with a towel before
throwing it onto the surface in anger.

“Well, I mean, technically no, I still ended up getting piss drunk and
sleeping with her, but I swear it was meant to be a PR stunt and it meant
nothing to me” Louis said guiltily, knowing there was no point in lying
to him.

Harry sighed deeply, rubbing his hands across his face, not knowing
how to respond to this. All them years he thought it was purely Louis’
decision, when in reality it was just another sick set up by Simon. He
needed to have a proper conversation with Louis now more than ever,
but it would have to wait, they were going to be late.

“I swear I’m so sorry Haz—

“Shh, I’m not mad, well I am, but mostly at Simon, not you. Look we’ll
talk more about this later, right now we need to get ready” Harry said,
cutting Louis off from his apologies.

Harry smiled at Louis and took his hand, dragging him upstairs so they
could grab their stuff to take to the interview.

Upstairs the lads were rushing about getting ready, Niall running past
them without a shirt apparently looking for something whilst Liam was
running out of the bathroom. Zayn must be off doing his hair, as usual.

“10 fucking minutes and we’re leaving!” Niall shouted breathlessly.

“Yeh yeh we know, hurry the fuck up then” Louis shouted back,
laughing at the man.

10 minutes later and they were all just about ready to leave, grabbing
their coats and putting their shoes on before walking out the door and
jumping into the car that was waiting for them just as management had
said it would be.

249
It took them about 15 minutes to arrive at the studio and when they did
a large group of paps were waiting for them, cameras at the ready.

“Can’t you pull round the back, I can’t be arsed dealing with the paps
right now” Zayn asked their chauffeur who was about to stop right in
front of them.

“No can do sorry, management instructed me to let them see you” The
man replied, making the lads huff in annoyance.

“But we don’t have bodyguards?” Liam said in confusion.

“Paul is waiting for you out there, don’t worry he will be right here in
a moment”

And just as he said, Paul opened the car doors to greet them, the lads
put smiles on their faces and stepped out of the car, flashes blinding
them.

“Alright alright, step back, we don’t have time for this!” Paul shouted
to the paparazzi, some of them moving whilst some more rudely stayed
put, desperately trying to get the best shots.

“Harry, Louis are the dating rumors true?”

“Is there some kind of relationship going on?”

Some of the paps shouted, the boys ignoring the usual questions.
However one of them caught their attention.

“Look it’s Harry and Louis, the fags of one direction”

The lads shot their heads up in the direction the statement came from,
trying to find the culprit who said such cruel words.

250
“Like your living any better you fucking looser” Louis shouted into the
crowd, only stirring up more questions and pictures.

“Come on Louis just leave it” Harry said, grabbing his arm and
dragging him into the studio entrance, finally away from all the
shouting.

“The fucking nerve of some people, I should go out there now and tell
him exactly what I think—

“No, you shouldn’t. We’d just end up in even more shit and the media
would have a field day” Harry said sternly.

“How are you reacting so calmly to this? It’s fucking ridiculous!” Louis
retorted, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Of course I’m angry, I’m just choosing not to let it get to me because
I know it wouldn’t help our situation anyway” Harry said calmly,
grabbing Louis’ face in his hands and looking into his eyes.

“Just calm down okay, he’s irrelevant” Harry said with a small smile,
Louis nodding reluctantly before Harry pecked his lips, pulling away to
follow the rest of the lads to the dressing rooms.

They walked inside and weren’t surprised to see Louise waiting for
them, hair and makeup products set out on the vanity tables and her
team chatting amongst one another quietly.

“Alright no time to talk sit down so we can get started” Louise said
sternly, pointing to the chairs and turning away dismissively.

“So much for a warm welcome ey?” Louis said sarcastically, taking a
seat next to Harry.

“Hello Louis, have a nice day? Are you excited? Do you want tea or
coffee? How about a foot massage to go with it?” Louise said, sarcasm
laced in her voice as she rolled her eyes.

251
“Alright alright, a hello would have been fine but now that you’ve
mentioned it, a foot massage would be great thanks” Louis said with a
smirk, propping his feet up onto the vanity table and in the process
knocking over her equipment.

“Oi, get your disgusting feet off my surfaces! You’re not in your pig
stye of a room anymore” She retorted, pushing his legs off.

“I’ll have you know my room is spotless thank you very much” He
exclaimed.

“Lou, sorry babe but don’t try kid yourself here” Harry said with a grin,
causing Louis to smack his shoulder.

“It’s your room too!” He said back, arms thrown to the side.

“Oh so your sharing rooms again, how couply of you” Louise teased,
taking her comb and parting Louis hair to begin styling it.

“Shut up” Louis said with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest with
a pout forming on his lips.

After a while their hair was styled to perfection and their faces were
powdered, now all that’s left to do was pick an outfit.

“Why don’t you wear that suit you bought?” Harry asked Louis,
walking up behind him.

“The Gucci one?” Louis asked, turning to face him.

“Yeh, you would look great in it” Harry encouraged.

“Isn’t it too fancy just for a talk show thought?” Louis asked, unsure.

“Lou, look at what I wear every interview, that suit is nothing over the
top compared to me” He replied with a chuckle.

252
“Yeh but that’s you, I’m just the chavy one who wears trackies and t
shirts, not thousand pound suits” Louis said with his eyebrow quirked
upwards, hands on his hips.

“And? That doesn’t mean you can’t show up to a talk show rocking a
thousand pound Gucci suit. Change doesn’t hurt and the way you look
in it makes up for it anyways” Harry said, kissing his temple before
walking away to get changed.

Louis contemplated it for a moment before deciding to at least try it on

again.

Why not? Fuck it he muttered to himself before grabbing the suit off its
hanger and changing into it.

Once it was on he turned to look into the mirror. Hmm, actually not too
bad, he thought.

“Bitch you better be telling me your wearing that” Niall exclaimed,

making Louis jump.

“It’s not too over the top is it?” He asked shyly.

“Fuck no, you look just as good in it now as you did the first time you
tried it on. If you don’t wear it I swear to god I will go home tonight
and burn all your Adidas clothing” he said sternly.

“You wouldn’t” Louis said, eyes squinted.

“Oh I would, now go out and wear the damn suit” He said, patting him
on the back and dragging him over to the rest of the boys.

“Told you you’d look good” Harry said when he saw him, placing his
hand on his lower back.

“Yeh Whatever” Louis mumbled back, fighting back a smile.

253
“Hello lads” an all too familiar but not pleasant voice sounded from the
doorway.

“Simon” Liam nodded.

“Glad your all ready to go on, you’ve got five minutes. Louis, Harry, a
word please” He said, gesturing for them to follow him out the room.

They sighed but complied, following the man out of the room and into
a quiet hallway.

“What is it?” Louis asked harshly.

“No need for attitude, I just thought I’d fill you in on what’s going to
happen if there’s any more shenanigans like the other day” he said with
a smirk.

“Get on with it then” Harry said through gritted teeth.

“As you know, you have two years left on this contract” he began, the
lads humming in agreement.

“I know for a fact that your planning on leaving Syco when the contracts
up, don’t even try to deny it. However, if I hear any more shit from you
two, then the contract is going to be prolonged for another two years on
top of the time you already have” he explained, making the boys faces
drop in shock.

“You can’t fucking do that! We’ve signed it, that’s the whole point in a
contract, it stays the same as said in the details until the times up!” Louis
exclaimed, anger boiling up inside him.

“Maybe if you read the contract better you’d see that head of
management can change it how they wish, said person being me. If after
this you decide to ignore the demands I will change it to a further five

254
years being added on, you want to change it? Take it up with your
lawyers, but I doubt it will do any good” Simon said with a chuckle.

“Fine, we fucking will” Louis said before grabbing Harrys hand and
walking off, but we’re once again stopped by Simon.

“Oh and Louis” he called out.

“What?” He said, seething.

“Nice suit” he smirked before walking away.

Louis looked down in embarrassment, wishing he hadn’t put the

fucking thing on.

“Don’t you dare fucking listen to him, you heard everyone in there, you
look amazing” Harry said soothingly, knowing how insecure Louis gets
with his looks.

“It doesn’t fucking matter, I know I look like shit, you don’t need to
lie” he said frustratingly.

“Lou, when would I ever lie to you?” Harry asked, hurt lacing his tone.

“You wouldn’t, but it’s not like I’m going to listen to myself, let me
just go change and then we can go on the show” Louis replied, but just
as he was about to tear the clothing off they were called onto set, only
having about a minute to get out there.

“Look at me Louis” Harry said sternly, gently lifting his chin upwards.

“You look great and about what Simon said, we will get our lawyers
onto this, I’ve had enough of his shit now. The only way to get out of
this is legally, we just need to get through this then we can call them
when we’re home” Harry said determinedly, speaking the truth with
every word.

255
“I’m so fucking lucky to have you” Louis said quietly, kissing him
before they rushed off to set.

256
30
Disaster Interview

“Lovely to have you back boys, this time thankfully as a five and not a
four, hello Zayn” Jonathan greeted the lads as they took a seat on the
large sofa, Harry and Louis putting on faux smiles for the cameras and
the audience.

“Yeh, feels good to be back” Zayn replied with a smile.

“Why did you return to the band then? Because a lot of the fans doubted
you would want to” Jonathan asked curiously.

“Well, firstly I missed the lads, secondly I think I just prefer the band
career to the solo one, it’s nice to have some company around you while
on tour and recording so yeh, thought it was the right decision when I
heard about the reunion” Zayn explained with a shrug, the lads smiling
at their mention.

“But there was a lot of controversy surrounding this topic with you and
the media about a year ago, am I right to say it was mainly feuded
between you and Louis?” He pushed, the lads were waiting for this
question to come up, glad they had already talked about it themselves.

“Well, I mean, partly I guess. Although not everything that was told in
the media was true. Me and Louis are getting on fine as you can tell,
and anything that did happen in the past has now been resolved. For the
controversy? Most of the shit I said— wait, can I swear on here?” Zayn
stopped, looking slightly worried that he slipped up.

“Yeh that’s fine, carry on” Jonathan chuckled, gesturing for him to
continue.

257
“Okay good, as I was saying, most of the shit I said back then was for
publicity as it was during the time I was bringing out my solo material,
management thought I would get more attention from it I think, no hard
feelings though” He continued with a breathy laugh.

“Well that’s great then. I’ve heard your world tour has completely sold
out already, did you expect that kind of reaction after so long of being
away?” Jonathan quizzed, not asking anyone in particular, it was open
for anybody to answer.

“Honestly we didn’t know what to expect” Harry began. “Obviously

after being away for the amount of time we were it was hard to tell
whether our fan base would be as large as it was before the hiatus, but
we were hopeful that they still supported us even after we made them
wait so long” He finished, looking towards the lads who were nodding
in agreement.

“I think having our solo careers also helped the fandom grow in a way,
because each of us individually gained fans that didn’t even listen to
one direction, a lot of people may have only just discovered our own
music and our Styles and now might even check us out as a band” Louis
added on, Jonathan humming along.

“And I suppose you’ll be showing some of that solo material on tour

then?” He asked with a smile.

“Yeh yeh, definitely. I don’t think it would feel right to do a whole

performance without some sort of recognition of our solo careers”
Louis continued with a smirk, the lads agreeing with him.

“Okay well now that we’ve gotten the basic questions out of the way
we can get to the good stuff” Jonathan said with a smug look, pulling
out cards from his desk.

“Oh god, here we go” Harry said with a cough, sitting up straighter and
fixing his blazer, causing the audience to laugh at his reaction.

258
“Don’t worry, these are just some questions from the fans—

“Don’t worry? You realize they ask the weirdest shit right?” Niall said
sarcastically, gaining another round of laughter.

“We’ll start of easy then. Okay this question is from Harrybabe on

Twitter” Jonathan said, causing Harry to blush in embarrassment.

“She asked, what is your favorite tattoo you’ve ever gotten and what
does it mean?, and this can be answered by any of you” Jonathan asked,
sitting back for the answer.

“Oof, I’m not sure, I’ve got too many to choose from” Niall suddenly
said, causing the lads to snicker at him.

“You can just say the one of James Corden on your bum” Louis stated,
everyone laughing at the memory.

“Thank fuck that wasn’t permanent” Niall replied.

After a moment, once the laughter had died down, the lads returned
their focus to the question.

“Um, I’m not sure really, I love a lot of them. But I’d probably say the
Hi tattoo, just because I’ve had it so long and it holds meaning to me”
Harry replied smugly, knowing that only him and the lads knew the
significance of this particular tattoo.

Louis seemed to catch on and smirked, this topic is something they

could get away with talking about related to their relationship, as
management didn’t know the true meaning of the dark ink embedded in
their skin.

“Yeh I quite like my oops tattoo, it’s not anything special though” Louis
said, silently teasing Harry who turned to him with a look of mock hurt.
A second later they were laughing to themselves, the rest of the
audience and Jonathan having no idea why.

259
“Something funny?” Jonathan asked the two lads.

“Um, haha, no, nothing— Louis said in between laughs.

“Yeh, don’t— don’t worry about it, we’re fine now” Harry continued
whilst the lads beside them just smirked and bit their lips in order to
contain their grins.

Once Louis had calmed down out of the corner of his eye he could see
Simon on side of the stage, face pulled into a glare and holding up their
contract in a motion that looked like he was about to rip it. Louis’ smile
instantly dropped off his face, a victorious look taking over Simons.

Louis sat up straight and forced himself to take a more professional role,
Harry was still smirking and every few minutes he looked at Louis from
the side, who in return gestures for him to knock it off. It was for their
own sake.

“Okay moving on then, this next question was from potatodirectioner—

“What is with these names?” Liam exclaimed, the audience laughing.

“Don’t ask me, they’re your fans, anyway she asked what your most
embarrassing moments have been on stage?” He asked, the lads
thinking longly.

“Well, we’ve had quite a few falls, Harrys probably being the worst—

“Heyyy” Harry cut Zayn off, who smirked in return.

“Sorry mate, but yeh I don’t know, usually just falling over and having
things thrown at us I guess” he continued with a shrug.

“Oh yeh! Remember when Harry had a dildo thrown at his face?” Liam
suddenly exclaimed, the audience roaring with laughter as Harry face
palmed and laughed, face going red.

260
“Don’t fucking remind me” He huffed out, groaning at the memory.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t like it” Louis said, laughing at the memory,
but soon his smile fell once again as he realized what he had said. Shit,
Simon.

Louis snapped his head in the man’s direction and looked on in Horror
as Simon began tearing the contract up long and slow, the pieces of
white paper falling to the ground before he walked away, shaking his
head.

I didn’t even do anything that bad! Louis screamed mentally, it was just
a fucking slip up. Any of the other lads could have said this and their
bloody contract wouldn’t have been ripped to shreds.

Harry seemed to notice Louis’ discomfort and pale face and followed
his gaze to see Simon storming out of the studio doors. What the fuck
happened? Was it the comment? Louis barely said anything!

Shit shit shit, these were the only words spinning around Louis head as
his palms began to sweat. Had he just fucked up their careers? Or worse,
had he just gotten trapped in Simons grasp for further two, maybe even
five years?

Louis was pulled out of his thoughts when he was nudged in the side
by Niall, who was looking at him in confusion. Louis returned him with
a look as if to say he’d tell him later, for now, he was in the middle of
a fucking interview.

“This question doesn’t need to be answered, it’s your choice, but

seeming as this has been circulating social media for the past few weeks
we thought it’s about time it was asked” Jonathan began, the lads now
nervous for what was about to come.

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“This question is from weknowlarry and this person asks if Larry
Stylinson is or ever was real? I’m assuming this is the relationship
between Louis and Harry?” Jonathan asked, gesturing to the two lads.

Now this was getting plain messy. On one hand they didn’t want to fuck
up their contracts even further than they already had just a few minutes
ago, but on the other hand, what did they have to lose? Their careers
were already fucked ,with Simon at least, and they had already pretty
much kissed in front of their whole fan base so why shouldn’t they?

Louis looked to Harry and saw he was having the same mental debate
as him, but soon their eyes locked and Louis could see the hesitation
and confusion in them emerald green orbs, silently asking if they should
really do this or not.

The thing is, it would be so easy to just admit the rumors right then and
there, but that would also mean they’re coming out to the world on a
bloody talk show, it just didn’t seem right. It should be done properly,
not in front of a stage crew and audience with cameras rolling and bright
lights blinding their eyes.

So instead, Louis took control and decided to answer this question with
what he knew best. Sarcasm.

“Oh yeh, definitely. Me and Hazza here are in love, isn’t that right
Harold?” Louis said with a smirk, flinging his arm around the man’s
shoulders and pulling him in close, their heads resting together.

At first, Harry was confused, but he seemed to catch onto what the
smaller man was doing and played along, being over dramatic.

“Of course, did you know that apparently we got married in 2013, crazy
right?” Harry said with a laugh, kissing Louis on the cheek for
emphasis.

“I’m sensing sarcasm here” Jonathan stated, looking confused.

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“You’ll never know Jonathan, you’ll never know” Louis said, sarcasm
dripping in his tone as he smiled and winked at the man, letting go of
Harry who sat up once again and fixed his hair.

“Okay that was too confusing so I’m gonna pretend that never
happened, anyway ladies and gentlemen, stick around because after the
break I think we’ve got a little game that was left unfinished, we’ll be
right back” Jonathan said, shrugging it off and letting the lads go for
their five minute break.

They knew what was to come after the break now, the only game ever
left unfinished last time was never have I ever, it was cut short because
of a certain comedian called Michael.

They were dreading it.

“Right, What the fuck happened out there?” Zayn said, stopping all the
lads in their tracks once they were backstage.

“A lot of shit happened out there Zayn, care to elaborate?” Louis said
with a sigh.

“I don’t know, just, everything. That’s why I’m asking you dipshit” He
replied sarcastically.

“We can’t get into details now because we don’t have enough time but
basically I think our contract is fucked with Simon as he ripped it up
right in front of my fucking eyes before storming out” Louis rushed out,
the stress eating him up gradually.

“What the fuck? He ripped our contract up? What does that even
mean?” Niall asked in shock.

“I’m not sure, we’re getting our lawyers onto it when we get a chance
to ring them and we will talk about this properly when we’re back home
but for now we need to get back to this damn interview” Harry said, the

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lads turning away to walk back on set but he caught Louis’ arm before
he could walk away.

Louis turned to the man and saw the confusion in his eyes, his grasp
tightening on his arm.

“What is it?” Louis asked softly.

“We could have came out you know? Why didn’t you admit it?” Harry
asked, hurt laced into his tone as he thought Louis was still embarrassed
to be out with him.

Louis saw this hurt and his features softened, looking sympathetically
towards the lad.

“I want it to be done properly you know? No audience and not on

television, it should mean something when we finally get to come out,
I mean, it should after years of practically being trapped in a contract”
Louis explained, moving his hand in soothing circular movements on
Harrys back.

Harrys lips broke out into a wide smile and he nodded in understanding,
glad his assumptions weren’t true.

“Your right, I’m sorry” Harry said in an almost whisper.

“Don’t be love, but come on, we need to prepare ourselves for this
fucking game again, it was mad last time” Louis said with a chuckle,
leaning his forehead against Harrys.

They shared a small peck before walking back onto the set to join the
rest of the lads who were now holding the familiar red and green boards
that looked like pink pong bats.

They took their seats and waited for the camera cue, the signal finally
coming and Jonathan introducing them once again for the new viewers.

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“Okay now it’s time for a game of never have I ever, thankfully we
don’t have an annoying comedian here this time to ruin it, sorry to say
this but there’s no getting out of the questions this time boys” Jonathan
said sarcastically, the lads looking worried but sporting smiles none the
less.

“Okay these questions are again from fans on Twitter. The first one is,
never have I ever been caught by a band mate shagging someone” He
said with a smug look and turning his board to the red side, indicating
he hasn’t.

“Straight to it then?” Louis said with his eyebrows raised, clearly

Jonathan wasn’t going to ease them into it this time.

“Of course, you’re used to this by now don’t look so surprised, come
on then” he said, gesturing to their boards that were still unturned.

Harry and Louis turned their boards to the green side with smirks on
their faces whilst the rest of the lads stayed put on red. Great, Louis
thought, not subtle at all.

“I’m beginning to think your sarcasm to the Larry question earlier on

may have been fake” Jonathan said with raised eyebrows at the two
lads, gaining a laugh from the audience as the two boys turned beet red.

“Moving on then, never have I ever been in a relationship with someone

10 years older than me” Jonathan then asked, Harry throwing his board
down in a huff.

“Okay What is this game?” Harry said with a slight smile, the room
filling with laughter.

“Well we all know the answer to this one then, you happen to know a
certain someone called Caroline by any chance?” Jonathan asked
smugly, Harry ignoring the comment.

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Liam reluctantly turned his board to the green side, being that he was
previously with Cheryl. However he wasn’t as embarrassed of it as
Harry was, as it was a serious relationship which he was a lot older at
the time for, unlike Harry.

“Nobody else? No? Okay never have I ever had a crush on a band
members parent” Jonathan asked.

Harry kept his board turned to red whilst the other lads turned theirs to
green, with the exception of Louis as he knew they were teasing Harry,
and it would be weird if he had a crush on his (ex) boyfriends mum.

“Yeh Anne’s fit” Niall said, causing everyone except form Harry to
laugh who just shook his head with a sigh.

“Is this bully Harry day or something?” He asked, causing the laughs
to grow louder.

“Sorry mate, have to agree with Niall on this one” Zayn said smugly,
patting the curly haired man on the shoulder.

“Alright last one, never have I ever cheated on my partner” Jonathan

finally asked, causing the lads to tense, especially Louis.

Louis looked down at his board, undecided of what to do. He didn’t

want to lie, in case it somehow upset Harry, however he would look
like a shit person if he answered this truthfully. He knew the media
would latch onto this and draw up some shocking stories about him, he
would be frowned upon and seen as untrusting.

Harry noticed Louis’ down and regretful expression and decided not to
be selfish. He discreetly squeezed Louis hand that was trapped between
their bodies and when Louis looked up he gave him a reassuring nod,
as if to say he could do what’s best for himself.

Louis sighed and slowly turned his board to the red side, feeling even
shittier about the situation he had put Harry through than ever before,

266
now realizing how much of a big deal it is to cheat on the one you
supposedly love.

Soon enough the lads had all turned their boards to red and the game
was coming to an end. Thankfully.

“Alright that’s all we have for tonight, I hope you enjoyed the show and
please make a round of applause for one direction everybody!”
Jonathan exclaimed, the lads standing up and waving to the audience
and the cameras before making their way backstage once again.

As soon as they were out of view, Louis burst into tears, sobbing into
Harrys chest because of the amount of regret and sadness that washed
over him. The entire interview was a mess and the stress of it all came
crashing down on him. The realization of what he had done hit him like
a truck out there, he felt like the world’s worst boyfriend and the guilt
was eating him alive, tearing at his brain and dousing his thoughts with
poison.

He couldn’t believe he had done that to Harry, he had never thought

about the impact it must have had on him until that question was asked
and he vowed never to make anyone feel that pain again. Not Harry, not
anyone.

“Shh, it’s okay, it’s over now” Harry shushed into his ear, rubbing his
back soothingly as the lads watched on sympathetically from afar.

“I’m-I’m so so fucking s-Sorry. I’m a t-terrible person” Louis chocked

out, gripping onto Harry as if his life depended on it.

“It’s alright, that’s in the past Lou. Don’t beat yourself up over it” Harry
said calmly, when in reality his heart was breaking for the boy.

“I-I get it if you h-hate me. I understand if y-you don’t want to be with
me. I c-can’t believe I d-did that to you” Louis stuttered out, his throat
raw from the crying.

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“I could never hate you. No matter what. I love you and I always will”

268
 31
Legal Actions

The lads sat in the car while they’re chauffeur drove them back to the
house, Louis was resting his head against Harrys shoulder, dried tears
sticking to his face.

Their hands were interlocked, every so often Harry would give the
smaller man a reassuring squeeze and smiled down at him, which he
returned with glittering blue eyes staring back at him.

Louis was mentally exhausted and seriously didn’t want to have this
talk when back at the house, but he knew it had to be done. The sooner
they sorted this shit out the better.

Soon enough, they were pulling up outside the house and although
Louis insisted not to, Harry carried him bridal style into the house and
rested him carefully onto the sofa, sitting partly underneath Louis while
he snuggled up closer to him.

“I’m gonna go make us a cuppa and then we can figure this out, it can’t
go on any longer” Liam said before he walked away to the kitchen, the
sound of a kettle boiling just a minute later.

The lads were grateful for Liam’s kind actions and seated themselves
comfortably around the living room, a calm silence settling the room.

Not long later, Liam emerged from the kitchen with their cups of tea,
trying to not spill them on the expensive wood flooring.

Once he was sat down Harry sighed and decided to break the silence.

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“I agree, we need to sort this out as soon as possible. I honestly think
getting lawyers involved is our best bet at this point” He began, the lads
nodding at his suggestion in agreement.

“Well, I know fuck all about Legal shit so please can someone elaborate
on how this can help us” Louis said lightly, the lads chuckling at his
lack of knowledge.

“Well, I actually looked into this a while back when things were getting
out of hand” Liam began. “If we were to get lawyers involved it would
be considered a discrimination lawsuit, which is basically a case on
management bosses or the team treating their client with disrespect due
to their personal matters” He explained, the lads deciding to stay silent
while Liam told them, nodding when necessary.

“We’re going to need a lot of proof, that’s for sure, especially seeming
as we are taking legal action against such a well known celebrity, the
court won’t take this lightly and neither will the media as they’re bound
to find out. Just videos and recordings won’t cut it, we need
circumstantial evidence, which relies on inference to connect it to a
conclusion of fact. So, we need to find other people who have been
treated in the same way by Simon and our management themselves to
make a statement, bear in mind we may need several people to come
forward, so then our accusations aren’t just opinions, they’re fact” Liam
finished, they lads looking stunned at his knowledge.

“How do you know so much about this?” Harry asked in confusion and
shock.

“As I said, I’ve read a lot about this” He replied with a shrug.

“Anyway, the first step we need is to gather evidence. It could take a

few weeks or months depending on how fast we get the evidence. Over
the time in which however long it takes, we need recordings, videos,
writings and any other form of documentation on how we’re treated as
a whole group, and I mean this as in even the smallest of things, like
being told not to sit together, because anything can help us on this and

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we need as much evidence as we can get. It’s a bit of a stretch but it
would help to write down how you’ve felt after the action taken place
and date it, so that we can link our accusation to emotional abuse,
because at the end of the day if the court thinks it’s Not affecting us
they won’t do shit about it” Liam continued, the lads still in shock at
how intelligent he sounded right now.

“You know what, we don’t need a lawyer we’ve got Liam” Niall said
with a grin, making Liam blush slightly.

“Seriously mate you’re so good at this” Zayn added on with a smile.

“Well, anything I can do to help I will. Look, it’s going to take time but
once we’ve gathered enough evidence then we can take it to our
lawyers, we need to be able to provide them with something to work
with for them to even consider taking on a case as big as this, I’ll be
surprised if anyone would even take on Simon and his team to be
honest” Liam said with an eye roll, knowing this was going to be a lot
of work on top of tour and recording, but he was happy to, as long as
his mates were happy then he was too.

“Yeh, I trust my lawyers will help us out on this. If not, we will find a
better one, even if it costs us triple the amount I don’t care, I want this
over with” Harry said sternly, clenching his jaw but soon relaxing it as
Louis rubbed circles into his lower back.

“But, what if this doesn’t work? What if it all goes to shit and Simon
wins the case? Then we will be out of a management team and label
and I’m sure other company’s wouldn’t take us on after it because they
will be too scared that we’ll pull a lawsuit on them” Louis said sadly,
returning to his pessimistic role once again, making Harry frown.

“Don’t worry babe. I’m sure we will win this, considering the amount
of shit that comes out of Simons mouth it won’t be hard to get evidence,
and with that evidence there’s no way the court can let him get away
with it” Harry reassured softly, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

271
“Yeh I guess. Fuck I’m tired” Louis replied sleepily, rubbing his eyes
with sweater paws, making Harry coo at the sight.

“Wanna go to bed then?” Harry whispered, noticing Louis nod in

return, his eyes closing.

“Right I’m going to take him up to bed, we can discuss this more
tomorrow” Harry said, standing up with Louis in his arms, feeling no
lighter than a feather.

Harry turned to walk out the room but stopped once again, turning back
to the lads.

“Oh and Liam. Thank you. I don’t know how we could get through this
without you, and of course you two as well” Harry said truthfully,
gesturing to Niall and Zayn at the last part.

“Don’t worry about it mate, go get some rest, we’ll see you in the
morning” Liam said, the other two nodding his way.

“Night” Harry said with a smile, turning to continue out of the room
once more.

He carried Louis up the stairs and into their bedroom, laying the smaller
man down on the crisp white sheets before pulling his shirt and pants
off and climbing in next to him.

He lay on his side, watching the beautiful man’s face, his eyelids closed
and long, dark eyelashes resting above his smooth cheeks. God he loved
him.

Louis suddenly opened his eyes, blue meeting green and Harrys breath
hitched at the sight.

“Harry?” Louis said in a whisper.

“Yes?” Harry replied in a just as quiet voice.

272
“Did you mean it?” Louis asked nervously, chewing on his bottom lip.

“Mean what?” Harry questioned, tilting his head in confusion.

“When you said you loved me” Louis said, if possible even quieter.

Harry hesitated for a moment due to the shock of the question, he didn’t
expect Louis to even remember as he was in such a state earlier on. He
realized the slight frown that turned on Louis’ face as he hadn’t yet
answered the question.

“Of course I did. I love you so much” Harry replied, the smile returning
to Louis’ face one more making Harry beam. He loved making Louis
smile and laugh, it was one of his most favorite sights in the world.

“I love you too” Louis whispered shyly, making Harrys heart flutter and
he grinned widely.

Harry moved in closer and connected his lips with Louis’, the soft and
plump pair fitting with the thinner chapped ones, like the perfect puzzle
piece.

They smiled into the kiss and held it for a few more seconds before
Harry pulled away, only to pepper Louis’ entire face with more kisses,
making the man giggle like a teenager.

Harry chuckled and stopped, snaking his arm around Louis’ waist and
pulling him impossibly closer to his chest, their legs tangling under the
warm sheets and Louis face was nuzzled into Harrys neck, resting
comfortably.

“Goodnight Lou” Harry whispered, pressing a kiss to his feathery hair.

“Night Haz” Louis replied quietly, embracing the warmth emitting from
the bed and Harrys body.

273
Louis thoughts drifted away as he fell into a deep sleep, enjoying the
moment whilst he could because the next few months were only going
to become more hectic.

274
 32
Rehearsals

“No look, you go this way and Liam you go the other. No, that way, do
you not know directions?” Their choreographer huffed out in a defeated
tone, clearly exhausted.

The lads were currently rehearsing for their first concert as a band after
the hiatus, and to say it was a disaster would be an understatement.

After being solo for so long they had completely lost touch with stage
direction and how to perform as a group, all of them wanting to do their
own thing that they had grown accustomed to while performing alone.

“No Harry, you do not dance madly around the stage, how many damn
times do I need to tell you!” Paul (Roberts) their choreographer
exclaimed with a huff, his arms flailing around besides him.

“But I want to, the fans love it” Harry argued with a pout.

“Yes Harry, your fans love it, however we are choreographing a one
direction concert, not a Harry Styles concert, so would you please just
listen to me for one minute?” Paul pleaded, running his hands across
his tired looking face.

“Ugh Fine” Harry reluctantly replied, stopping his movements and

looking around at the other lads.

Niall was currently strumming his guitar as if he were a rock n roll artist,
Liam was dancing provocatively mumbling the words to strip that
down, Zayn was pretending to be in a music video and Louis looked
like a hyperactive four year old that had eaten too many sweets. God
help them.

275
“Right just gather round me for a moment please” Paul said once he had
gotten himself together.

The lads stood around him and waited patiently for their instructions.

“Right, have you chosen the song you want to perform from your solo
careers for this concert, as I’m assuming you will be doing a different
one each show?” He asked them.

“Yeh” they all replied, nodding their heads.

“Right good, I’m going to take you one by one to figure out the
choreography and any stage lighting you want to request and then we
can move onto the group rehearsals later. Who’s up first?” He explained
then looked at each one of them waiting for someone to volunteer.

“I can do mine now?” Niall offered, Paul nodding and gesturing for the
lad to follow him to the far side of the stage where they can talk more
privately.

Then there were four. Who were now stood about not exactly knowing
what to do.

“Uh, anyone wanna do shots to pass the time?” Louis asked, breaking
the silence.

“Louis, were at work and it’s 9am, you are not doing shots” Harry
replied sternly, looking at him as if it were the most ridiculous idea ever.
Which it was, just not to Louis.

“Aww come on, it will be fun. Better than standing here and doing
nothing” Louis whined.

“Nope. None of us are doing shots and that includes you” Harry argued,
not giving in to the beautiful man even though he found it hard not to.

276
“Sorry mum, forgot you make the rules” Louis sassily replied, quirking
his head to the side.

“I don’t, Management do and not drinking while on the job is just

common sense Lou” Harry said with a smirk, gaining a slight smack on
his shoulder from the man.

“I’ll have you know lots of people drink while at their job” Louis
retorted, placing his hands on his hips.

“Oh yeh? And who’s that then?” Harry asked smugly.

“Um— Bartenders?” Louis shyly replied, scratching the back of his

neck awkwardly, knowing Harry had proved him wrong, again.

“Your such a dork” Harry said with a breathy laugh, smiling down at
the man.

“Yeh but I’m your dork” Louis said, smiling back at the taller man, his
blue eyes glistening.

“That you are” Harry confirmed, before leaning down and capturing
Louis’ lips with his own, moving them in sync, and before it could get
anymore heated they were broke out of their trance by a cough besides
them.

Harry and Louis looked up to see Liam and Zayn stood their staring at
them with smirks on their faces.

“You realize we’ve been here the entire time right?” Liam asked, biting
his lip in order to contain his laughter.

“Not really no, your irrelevant Lima” Louis said back sarcastically,
gaining a laugh from Harry.

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“Excuse you Louis William Tomlinson, my fingernail is more relevant
than you” Liam exclaimed with a gasp of mock hurt, clutching his hand
over his chest as if he were in pain.

“Oh please, Dan Wooten wouldn’t even write about your crusty nails
and he’s the creator of just about every rumor that’s been released on
us” Louis said sassily.

“That is not true! He would be honored to write such a story” Liam

replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Why are we talking about fingernails again?” Zayn asked with a weird
look on his face.

“I don’t even know, it doesn’t matter anyway. What should we do then,

I’m not standing here for ages not doing anything” Louis said with a
huff, looking around for any sort of distraction.

“Well. We do have this” Zayn said with a grin, grabbing a football from
his duffel bag which was laying at the side of the stage.

“Fuck yeah! Why’d you have a football though?” Louis asked, taking
the ball from Zayn’s grasp and performing some kick ups.

“Thought we might need it. It’s how we used to pass time back then, so
I thought why not” Zayn said, kicking away the ball just as Louis was
about to get to 15 kick ups.

“Hey! You little shit” Louis said, running after Zayn who had taken off
with the ball and trying his best to tackle it away from him.

Soon enough, all four of them were happily kicking the ball around the
stadium, the loud crashes echoing off the walls every so often.

“Hey! Don’t break anything!” Paul exclaimed from where he was

onstage with Niall.

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“We won’t!” Liam shouted back from the row of seats he was stood on.

Louis was on stage when Harry called for him to pass the ball, waving
his arms up high in the air from quite far away in the seats. Louis looked
up as he was walking backwards, and then did a run up before drawing
his leg back and kicking the ball as hard as he could, the ball soaring in
the Air before finally… hitting Harry straight in the face.

“Shit Haz!” Louis said panicked, running from the stage and jumping
off before running down the aisle to reach Harry, who was now laying
on the floor holding his nose in pain.

“Shit, shit. I’m so sorry babe, I didn’t mean to— I didn’t think I could
kick it that hard” Louis stuttered out, helping Harry up from the floor.

“It’s fine I’m sure it’s not that bad—

“Fuck! Haz your bleeding, come on let’s get a tissue or something”

Louis said in shock when he saw that streams of blood were cascading
down from his nose.

The lads seemed to have noticed what had happened and rushed over to
the two boys, frantic to see if Harry was ok.

“Mate are you alright?”

“Does it hurt”

“Do you need some ice?”

“Guys! I’m fine alright, it’s only a nose bleed, it will pass in a few
minutes” Harry exclaimed, cutting the lads worried voices off before
grabbing the nearest cloth and holding it up to his nose.

“I’m so sorry” Louis said once again, feeling extremely guilty.

279
“Honestly, it’s nothing Lou don’t worry about it. Your being over
dramatic” Harry said with a slight chuckle, only to wince at the pain it
emitted from his nose.

“Yes Harold but being over dramatic is my thing. I wouldn’t be Louis

Tomlinson if I didn’t kick off over the smallest things” Louis said with
a grin, which Harry laughed at once again, not able to help himself.

“Yeah, I guess your right” Harry replied with a smile.

“Harry are you alright?” Paul asked, looking worriedly at the man.

“Yeah I’m fine, just a nose bleed, no big deal” Harry said with a shrug.

“Alright good, I’m gonna finish up with Liam and Zayn and in the
meantime get yourself sorted out, Louis you can help him, go” He said,
gesturing to the backstage area.

The two lads nodded and stood up, making their way backstage to go
find a bathroom and hopefully a first aid kit to find something that will
stop the bleeding.

Once they had found what they needed they went to a quieter room so
they could sort Harry out.

“Alright, sit up there” Louis instructed, pointing to the bathroom

counter which Harry rolled his eyes out.

“I can sort this myself you know, you don’t need to baby me” Harry
said with a sigh.

“Yes I do Haz cause you're my baby and I hurt you, so quit complaining
and let me help you” Louis replied sternly, patting the counter again.

Harry reluctantly boosted himself up and waited for Louis to begin

cleaning him up.

280
“I never was good at football” Harry said with a laugh “I’m not
surprised I came out of it injured”

“Your just fine at football, maybe a bit clumsy but not that bad” Louis
said with a smirk, gaining a small smack from Harry on the arm.

“Not my fault someone kicked a ball in my face” Harry retorted with a

scoff.

“Oh how awful I wonder who could’ve done that?” Louis replied,
sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Right now hold still” Louis said as his hand was nearing Harrys face
with what looked like an antiseptic wipe. Harry did as Louis told him
and waited for the impact, when it came he hissed and tried pulling
away, only for Louis to hold him still.

“Stop moving I’ve got to clean it” Louis said in a soft but firm voice.

“But it hurts” Harry whined, grimacing at the wipe in Louis hands.

“It will only take a second if you would sit still, come on let’s just get
it over with and then we can go back to rehearsals” Louis said, looking
at Harry pointedly.

“Fine, just do it quick” Harry said with a pout, holding still for Louis.

As he said he would, Louis got the job done quickly and soon Harrys
nose was looking normal once again, the blood now staining the wipe
red.

“There see, wasn’t so hard was it?” Louis said with a smirk, throwing
the cloth into the bin.

“Stung like a bitch though” Harry said with a small smile, jumping
down from the counter.

281
Just as Harry was about to leave the room Louis grabbed his arm and
pulled him back, turning the taller man to face him.

“You might want to change your shirt first, you’ve got a bit of blood on
it” Louis pointed out, Harry now looking at his shirt in the mirror which
had drips of red blood staining the white.

“Shit! This was Gucci!” Harry exclaimed dramatically.

“Oh shush it’s not like you can’t afford another one” Louis said with an
eye roll.

“Bitch you can buy me another one, it’s your fault anyway” Harry said
with a smirk, removing his shirt and throwing it onto the floor.

Louis eyes trailed up and down the long, toned torso that was littered in
tattoos and he felt like his mouth could water. Harry seemed to notice
and he smirked, turning around to face the smaller man.

“Like what you see?” He asked, his tone teasing.

“No— I mean, yeah? Sort of?” Louis stuttered out, Harry cooing at his
cuteness.

Harry moved and trapped Louis in between the counter and his body,
warmth now radiating around them.

“Do something about it then” Harry whispered, moving his hand along
Louis arm, tracing the soft, tanned skin.

Louis looked up into Harrys eyes and hesitated for a moment before
surging forward and crashing his lips against Harrys, moving them
erratically.

Harry returned the passionate kiss and grabbed Louis neck, pulling him
in impossibly closer.

282
He then trailed kisses along Louis neck, licking and biting at the skin,
Making Louis emit hushed swear words at.

Just as Harry was about to remove Louis shirt, there was a knock at the
bathroom door, making the lads stop in their tracks and pull away
quickly.

“Who is it?” Harry called, trying to get himself together so that his voice
wouldn’t stutter.

“It’s Niall, Paul wants you back onstage to finish rehearsals” Niall
shouted through the door.

“Shit” Louis muttered, but tried to stay quiet.

“We’ll be there in a minute” Harry called back, running his hands

through his hair in frustration.

They heard nothing back and looked at each other before bursting out
into a fit of giggles, laughing about the entire situation.

“Fuck sake, we better get back out there” Louis said with a smirk.

“But what if I want to stay?” Harry offered, moving towards Louis

again only to be stopped by a palm on his chest.

“No can do Haz, sorry to cut this short but I’m needed elsewhere” Louis
replied sassily, smirking as he walked towards the bathroom door.

Harry shook his head at the man and with a smile he followed Louis out
the door. They made their way through the backstage area and finally
found themselves on stage, Paul waiting for them impatiently.

“Took you long enough” Paul said, walking over to the two lads.

“I think they were a bit preoccupied with each other, if you know what
I mean” Niall called with a smirk, Zayn and Liam laughing at him.

283
“What the fuck Niall?” Louis exclaimed, cheeks heating in
embarrassment.

“What? You were” Niall retorted with a shrug.

“No need to tell the whole world though” Louis said with a huff, but it
was lighthearted.

“Okay enough, Harry I need to sort out your solo” Paul said, grabbing
Harry by the arm and pulling him off to the side.

Louis watched them walk away after Harry had put a fresh shirt on and
then walked over to join the other lads.

“You and Harry then, in the bathroom? Really I thought it would be a

bit more romantic” Zayn said sarcastically, earning a glare from Louis.

“We didn’t do anything” Louis said with a sigh of irritation.

“Yeh, only cause Niall interrupted you before you could” Liam said
with a laugh.

“Oh Shut up, I do recall you and Zayn shagging on the tour bus a few
years ago so don’t even try” Louis said with a smirk “honestly, my poor
mind has never been the same after witnessing that”

Zayn and Liam blushes in embarrassment, not knowing how to respond,

but Zayn soon broke the tension.

“Yeh yeh whatever, anyway, we’ve got a meeting with management

soon, we need to make sure we get some evidence for the case” he said.

“Shit yeh, I think I’m just gonna record it on my phone under the table
or something, do we know anyone who can make a statement yet?”
Louis asked, almost forgetting about the entire thing.

284
“No not yet, I’m looking into it though. There must be someone who’s
been treated the same by Simon” Liam said with a sigh, running his
hands through his hair.

“Don’t stress about it, we’ve got time” Niall said reassuringly to Liam
who was clearly worried about not finding anybody.

“Yeh, but we want to get this over with as soon as possible, I don’t think
I can take Simons shit any longer never mind how Louis and Harry are
feeling” Liam replied sadly.

“Don’t worry about it, we’re just glad you’re helping us in the first
place, you didn’t need to after all” Louis said with a smile, patting Liam
on the back.

“We want to, we’ve been through just as much shit as you guys have so
it would make sense to help” Liam said.

“Thank you, it really does mean a lot” Louis said to all of them, truthful
with every word.

“Louis! You’re up” Paul shouted from the other side of the stage, Harry
now making his way over to the lads.

Louis nodded at the lads and walked over to Paul, who was writing
something down on his notepad before hiding it quickly.

“What are you hiding?” Louis asked, confusion written across his face.

“Nothing really, Harry just didn’t want you to see his plans for his solo”
Paul said, biting his lip anxiously.

“Umm, okay then?” Louis said slowly, wondering what Harry could
possibly want to hide from him.

“Anyway, what song are you performing?” He asked him, flipping over
to a clean sheet of paper.

285
“Two Of us, seeming as it’s the first show I want it to be special, this
seems like the perfect song for that” Louis said with a smile.

“That’s a great choice, I was hoping you’d pick it. I’ve already got a
few ideas for the stage direction and all that so if you just tell me some
of your ideas then I can incorporate it into what I’ve already got, then
we can properly go through it tomorrow before the show” He said,
scribbling down his own ideas onto the paper quickly.

“Okay, I wanted to be at the front of the stage, you know, at the end of
the walkway. I want it to be quite simple, no dancing and all that, just
me and the band. I was thinking the lads could sit at the back of the
stage for the majority of the song but join me at the last verse, maybe
even sing some of it if they wanted to or at least the harmonies, just to
show that they were there for me during that part of my life” Louis
explained, Paul writing down all his ideas before finishing and looking
up at Louis.

“Yeh that sound good, for the lighting I thought we could dim it and
have a spotlight on you, maybe some blue lights at the back of the stage
and shit like that, I was also thinking the same about the lads singing
with you so that’s fine. Anything else I will run over with you when
we’ve got it all sorted tomorrow but for now I think we’re done” He
finalized, standing up and shaking hands with Louis formally before
telling him he was free to go.

Louis walked up to the lads with a smile on his face and then
remembered that Harry was hiding something, so he pulled him over to
the side by his arm.

“What are you hiding from me?” Louis asked with squinted eyes.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked, looking oblivious.

“Your hiding something about your solo, what is it?” Louis asked, a
look of realization crossing Harrys face.

286
“I can’t tell you that, you’ll find out tomorrow babe” Harry said with a
grin, making Louis sigh in annoyance.

“Ugh just tell me, you know I hate surprises” Louis whined, looking
like an angry kitten.

“No can do, I can tell you one thing though” Harry said smugly.

“What?” Louis asked in curiosity.

“Your gonna enjoy it” Harry said with a smirk, kissing his forehead
before walking off back to the lads, leaving Louis more confused than
ever.

287
 33
Busy Day

To say it was a busy day would be an understatement.

Today on the agenda was a meeting with management, rehearsals,

sound check, makeup/hair and outfit, the concert and then finally
getting on the tour bus and heading from London to Manchester.

Yeh, a busy day.

And that busy day began with the loud ringing of an alarm, waking
Louis up with a groan.

“Fuck turn that shit off” Louis groaned to Harry who was laying beside
him in their warm bed.

“Ugh you do it” Harry whined, snuggling deeper into the sheets.

“Can’t. Be. Arsed” Louis said with his eyes still shut, his eyebrows
furrowing in annoyance.

“Fuck sake, your such a little shit you know that right?” Harry said with
his groggy morning voice, sounding deeper and huskier than normal.
Louis didn’t want to think it was hot, but he did anyway.

“Hmm, but you love me” Louis said, cracking his eyes open slightly to
look at Harry with a smirk on his lips.

“Shut up” Harry said as he reached over for his phone and turned the
alarm off before flopping back down onto the sheets.

“Say it” Louis said sleepily.

288
“Say what?” Harry asked with a smug look.

“You know what bitch” Louis replied sassily.

“I love you” Harry gave in, smiling down at the man who was wrapped
tightly in the sheets, looking like a cocooned butterfly.

“Awe Haz, I like you too!” Louis sarcastically replied, laughing at the
way Harry pouted in annoyance.

“I can’t deal with your sarcasm this early in the morning” Harry said,
rolling his eyes.

“Who said I was being sarcastic?” Louis asked with a smirk.

“Okay, fuck off” Harry said, pretending to be offended as he began to

climb out of bed.

Louis quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the warm bed,
looking him deeply in the eyes.

“I’m joking. I love you” Louis whispered truthfully.

“Love you too” Harry repeated, a wide smile etching onto his face,
dimples on show.

“But, we need to get up, we’ve got a busy day ahead of us” Harry said,
pecking the man on the cheek before pulling away from him, getting up
from the bed once again.

“But I don’t wanna! It’s too fucking early for this shit” Louis groaned,
stuffing his face into the pillow.

“Come on, think about the fans later on, will that motivate you?” Harry
encouraged, pulling off the sheets from the bed to reveal Louis shirtless
body, only wearing boxers.

289
“Shit! Give that back I’m cold!” Louis exclaimed, shooting up to try
and grab the sheets.

“The fans Louis, the fans” Harry said with a pointed look.

“The fans don’t warm me up for gods sake!” Louis retorted.

“They will when your performing for them, now get the fuck up” Harry
said before walking away into the bathroom, the sound of a shower
running not a minute later.

Louis sighed and checked his phone, seeing the fans all hyped up for
the beginning of tour on social media. He smiled at some of the tweets
and replied to a few before huffing and pulling himself out of bed.

Once he had stretched he shuffled downstairs to go make a cup of tea,

seeing all the lads in the kitchen eating breakfast with tired looks on
their faces.

“Morning lads” Louis said as he walked into the room, heading straight
for the kettle.

“Morning Lou, where’s Harry?” Liam asked in between bites of toast.

“In the shower, he should be down soon” Louis replied, rubbing the
sleep from his eyes.

“Thought you’d be in the shower with him” Zayn said with a smirk, the
other two laughing at his comment.

“Not in the mood, it’s too early for your witty comments” Louis replied,
facing the man to glare at him for a second before returning to his cuppa,
making Harry one for later.

“Oof, Sorry mate, hit a soft spot?” Zayn said smugly.

290
“Haven’t you got something better to do? Like I don’t know, shag Liam
or something?” Louis retorted sassily, Liam almost choking on his food
while Niall laughed, Zayn blushing slightly.

“Do you have an infatuation with me and Liam shagging or something?

You comment on it a lot, want me to video it for you?” Zayn said
sassily, not wanting Louis to get the better of him.

“Already seen it once, in real life never mind a video. Never. Again.”
Louis said with a grimace, shaking the thought out of his head.

“You loved it really” Zayn said with a smirk.

“Ew. No. Just— no. Wanna show someone? Show Simon, maybe you
can show him what he’s been missing out on all his life. Hey, maybe he
will come out as gay within the next year or so, or, even better, we can
make a bloody contract saying he can’t come out, he can have a taste of
his own medicine” Louis ranted, not even knowing what he was talking
about but the lads were laughing none the less.

“Bitch can you imagine. I’d actually die if he was secretly closeted and
was just jealous of you lot” Niall said with a huff of laughter.

“Who’s secretly closeted?” Harry asked from the doorway, now fully
dressed and hair still damp from his shower.

“Oh, we’re just talking about how funny it would be if Simon was
actually gay and jealous of you being proud” Niall explained, calming
down from his fit of giggles.

“I’d pay for that to be real” Harry said with a smirk, making his way
over to Louis and resting his chest against the smaller man’s back,
looking over his shoulder whilst Louis was making their tea.

Harry sneaked his hands around Louis waist and kissed him on his neck,
Louis smiling at the action.

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“Hey! No PDA this early!” Niall exclaimed from the kitchen island.

Louis and Harry laughed and broke apart from each other, Louis
handing Harry his tea before they sat down with the lads.

“Thanks love” Harry thanked Louis, gesturing to the tea.

“No problem, although you don’t deserve it, making me get up” Louis
said, rolling his eyes.

“You’ll be thanking me later when you’re not late to the meeting” Harry
retorted, scoffing at the man whilst grabbing a slice of toast and an
avocado.

“Wait, you eat fucking avocado now?” Louis exclaimed dramatically,

shaking his head in disappointment.

“Uh, Yeh, why?” Harry asked in confusion, cutting the avocado and
scooping the contents out onto his toast.

“It’s just so— basic. People only fucking eat it cause it’s trendy!” Louis
argued, scoffing at Harry.

“Excuse me but it’s delicious. Have you ever even tried it?” Harry
asked, his eyebrows raised.

“I, well, um, not exactly” Louis said shyly.

“Fuck sake Louis. Your making assumptions without even trying it,
come on just take a bite” Harry said, waving the avocado on toast in
front of his face, making Louis pull back and push away his hands in
disgust.

“Fuck no, get that mushy green thing away from me” Louis exclaimed,
Harry waving it in his face once again.

“Just eat it, it doesn’t hurt. It’s amazing Lou just try it”

292
“No”

“Come on”

“No”

“For me?”

“N— fine” Louis sighed, damn Harry fucking Styles for manipulating
him.

“Yay! Go on then, try it” Harry said excitedly, bringing the food to
Louis mouth.

Louis rolled his eyes and reluctantly opened his mouth for Harry to feed
him. He took a small bite and Harry watched hopefully as he chewed
the food and swallowed it.

As much as Louis hated to say it. He actually liked it. Fuck sake.

“So? Do you like it?” Harry asked with a smirk.

“I mean, it’s okay I guess” Louis replied with a shrug, not liking being
disproven.

“You totally fucking love it don’t lie!” Harry exclaimed, smirking

wider at Louis as he sat with a nonchalant expression.

“Yeh Louis, Sorry mate but you’re a shit liar, you love it” Liam said,
laughing at the man’s expression.

“Whatever” Louis said, rolling his eyes at the lads.

“Aw babe don’t worry, just cause you love the avocados and you were
wrong doesn’t mean your dignity has been bruised, even if it has” Harry

293
said sarcastically, nudging Louis in the shoulder who in return slapped
his arm.

“Fuck you and your fucking avocados. Avocados can suck my dick for
all I care” Louis said, grabbing a slice of toast and scraping butter onto
it. No way was he going to eat avocado on toast now, as much as he
wanted to.

“Lou, avocados can’t suck dick hunny” Harry said softly, laughing at
the pouting man.

“No but you can” Louis retorted, making the lads choke on their food
and Harry turn a bright red.

“What did I say about PDA!” Niall exclaimed, shoving his food away
which was so out of character for him.

“Technically Niall it’s a sexual innuendo, not pda” Louis said sassily,
biting into his toast.

“Well then, no sexual innuendos this early in the morning!” Niall said
before getting up and walking out the room, the lads assuming he was
going to get ready.

“Well, I’m gonna go get ready too then” Zayn said, putting his dishes
in the sink and walking away.

“Same” Liam said, now leaving Louis and Harry alone.

They sat in silence filled with tension for a moment before Harry broke
it.

“Soo, about that last comment—” Harry began with a smirk, resting his
hand on Louis upper thigh.

294
“Later” Louis said with a wink before finishing his last piece of toast
and putting it with the rest of the dishes. He then walked out of the
room, swaying his hips a little more than usual.

Harry sat their watching as Louis left, sighing in frustration but a small
smirk playing at his lips. What a fucking tease, Harry thought before
getting up to finish getting ready.

————————————————————————

“Is your phone recording?” Liam asked Louis who checked his phone
for the third time, just to be sure it was going to capture everything
management and Simon say.

“Yup, lets do this shit” Louis said before hiding his phone and pushing
open the door to the meeting room where management were all sat
around a large table with Simon at the center of it.

“Took your time” Simon said with a bored expression.

“We’re not even late!” Louis exclaimed with a sigh.

“It doesn’t matter, we were informed you go to the building 10 minutes

ago so what took you so long finding the meeting room?” Simon asked,
his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“We just got a coffee, chill out” Zayn said, holding up his cup which he
was now glad he had gotten, at least they had an excuse rather than
having to make one up on the spot. They couldn’t exactly tell Simon
they were plotting how to take legal actions on him and management.

“Alright just sit down so we can get this over with” Simon said, looking
back down at his notes.

Once the lads were seated Simon began talking about the show tonight
and what was going to happen.

295
“Right so I’m assuming you already know timings and where to be so
we won’t go over that. But let me tell you now, if there’s any funny
business on stage between you two then I’m upping the contract time”
Simon said, gesturing to Louis and Harry.

Louis hid his smirk behind his hand as he had just caught what he had
said on video, meaning he had just gotten the first piece of evidence.
However he needed more, he needed Simon to elaborate, so he started
asking questions.

“What exactly do you mean by funny business?” Louis asked, tilting

his head to the side.

“You know what I mean” Simon replied, not giving Louis the answer
he needed, fuck sake.

“No I don’t actually, I need to know what I am and aren’t allowed to do

on stage” Louis pushed, needing the answer from Simon on record.

“Fuck sake Louis, no kissing, holding hands, hugging, touching, all that
shit. To put it simply, don’t act gay” Simon said in frustration.

Bingo.

Well, he may not care now, but Simon would soon be regretting that
sentence as it will surely come back to bite him in the ass.

“But why, what do you have against gay people?” Harry asked,
knowing what Louis was doing and playing along.

“What’s with all the damn questions today, the fuck are you up to?”
Simon asked, finally hitting breaking point and beginning to get angry
at the lads.

“Nothing, were just curious as you’ve never actually told us. It’s always
the same bullshit excuse about our careers going down the drain. Don’t

296
you think we deserve an explanation as to why we’re being treated like
shit?” Harry asked smugly.

“It’s not a bullshit excuse, your careers would go down the drain as
people in this industry don’t like fags like you. I’m doing you a favor”
Simon said in a bitter tone.

“You seriously believe that? News flash Simon, we’re in the year 2020!
People don’t think that shit anymore, they love it” Liam interjected,
wanting to get his point across.

“And who the fuck asked for your opinion?” Simon asked, glaring at
Liam.

“Nobody, I just wanted to get reality through your thick skull” Liam
said dismissively, leaning back in his chair as the lads bit back their
laughter.

“Oh please, you’re not cultured enough to even know what reactions
you would get, and you’re not off the hook either, I’m not stupid, I
know that you and Zayn like it up the ass just as much as the other two
fags do so don’t even start” Simon said with a scoff.

“Not cultured enough? Are you serious right now? We know more than
you do! Were the ones that talk one on one with fans all the time and
we’re the ones who’ve been managing our socials for the past few years
while on hiatus so we know exactly what reactions we would get, all
you do is sit behind a desk all day assuming shit because your
homophobic” Liam retorted, getting angrier by the minute at Simons
disgusting behavior.

“I’m not even having this discussion with you anymore, you know the
rules and you know the consequences, if you end up stuck in this
contract for five More years then it’s on you, don’t come crying to me
about it when you fuck up your careers, now get out of here” Simon
said sternly, pointing towards the door.

297
“Gladly” Louis said before grabbing his Adidas hoodie and storming
out of the door, the lads following behind him.

Once out Louis broke out into a huge smirk, looking down to his phone
to see the entire conversation had been recorded. Louis:1 Simon: 0.

“Well?” Harry asked as he looked at Louis expectantly.

Louis grinned and showed Harry his phone, showing him the recording.

“We got evidence bitches” Louis said triumphantly.

“I mean, we still need more, but it’s good for now” Liam said with a
smile.

Harry smiled at Louis and pulled him into a bone crushing hug, smiling
into the crook of his neck widely.

Louis returned the hug and smiled so bright he thought his jaw might
break from how wide it was.

Never did he think he would be walking out of a meeting with

management with a smile on his face, but here he was, and it’s going to
continue that way. ————————————————————
————

“Up the audio!” The sound manager shouted to his team from the stage,
calling up to the rooms at the top of the stadium where all music and
mic pitches were controlled.

The music playing was boosted up and it echoes around the empty
arena, the speakers vibrating off the walls and the stage.

“Perfect” he called, sticking his thumb up so the team would know to

stop.

298
The lads were going over their routine with Paul once again, this time
it went a lot smoother. They now knew when to go on and off stage and
their set list by heart, although Louis still couldn’t see which song Harry
was going to perform which he cursed at.

They could faintly hear the screams of the fans emitting from outside
the arena. The lads were both excited and nervous, being that there were
20,000 people waiting in line to be let into the stadium.

It was crazy. They had completely sold out their world tour and they
were kicking it off with an audience of 20,000, after all this time they
had stuck around and they loved and appreciated it.

“Fucking hell this is gonna be mad” Louis said in amazement, listening

to the screams and cheers of their fans from behind these walls.

“I’m so excited, I want to do it right now” Harry said, the adrenaline

already pumping through his veins.

“Same, but oh well, it’s only an hour and a half now before it begins”
Liam said, a wide smile crossing his face.

“Fuck, an hour and a half? I thought we had longer” Zayn said in

disbelief.

“Time flies I guess” Niall shrugged.

“Right we better go get sorted then, we’ve got hair and makeup to go
through before harmonies and outfits” Liam explained, gesturing for
the lads to follow him after getting the approval from Paul to leave for
the backstage area.

They walked through the corridors backstage, people from their team
were running about frantically trying to get everything in order before
the show begins. They finally made it to the dressing rooms where
Louise and her team were waiting for them.

299
“Alright go get showers and then we can start okay” Louise said,
pushing them in the direction of the bathrooms as she didn’t want to
waste time.

“I already had one though?” Hardy whined.

“Well take another!” She retorted frustratingly.

“Alright alright we’re going jeez! Calm down woman we’ve got ages”
Louis said with a laugh.

“An hour and a half is not as long as you think Louis, especially when
it comes to you lot so get going” She retorted sassily, her hands resting
on her hips.

Louis ignored her comment and rolled his eyes, walking towards the
bathroom.

This bathroom was specially made for groups like the lads, having more
than five showers in them so it would be easier to get ready for a show
on time. So with that, Louis grabbed the things he needed for a shower
and stripped down to his boxers just like the rest of the lads did.

“Hey, you know Harry, seeming as your all about saving the planet and
shit, why don’t you take a shower with Lou? You know, just to save
water” Niall teased the man smugly, grinning like a madman.

Harry blushed and looked down at his feet before looking towards
Louis, who was looking straight back at him.

He wouldn’t mind to be honest. It’s not like they haven’t seen each
other naked before. But then again, won’t it be awkward? Like sure,
they’re sort of together again, or at least getting there. But shower
together? They’ve barely done anything but kiss so far. Okay Harry
snap out of it your thinking way to hard about this, he thought to
himself.

300
Louis seemed to be having the same mental dilemma. Would Harry
want to? Were the lads even serious? Would it be awkward?

“Aww, look at them being so shy! They wouldn’t do it anyways” Niall

said with a laugh, the other lads joining on in his laughter.

“Are you challenging me Nialler?” Louis suddenly said, whipping his

head towards the lad with his eyebrows raised.

All Niall did was shrug, he didn’t actually expect Louis to take it
seriously. It was just a joke. But the next thing he sees is Louis dragging
Harry into a shower stall by his hand. Wow ok.

“Shit Lou I almost fell!” Harry exclaimed, almost falling on the wet
floor.

“Aww, too bad” Louis said with a smirk, turning his back to the man
and turning the temperature up on the shower.

“Please, Whatever you do, don’t shag! We’re in the room and we’ve
got to be on that stage in an hour and 20!” Liam shouted in disgust,
Louis and Harry laughing at the man.

After their laughter died down Harry broke the silence.

“I didn’t think you’d take that seriously” Harry said in a hushed tone.

“Neither did I, but you know me, if someone says shit I have to act on
it” Louis said with a small chuckle.

“Well, um, you weren’t planning on— um, you know” Harry stuttered
out, trying to find his words as he didn’t want to embarrass himself.

“What? Shag like they expect us to? No Harold, that needs to be done
properly, not in a cheap shower at the back of an arena before going on
stage” Louis said, grinning widely.

301
“Okay phew” Harry said awkwardly.

“What do you mean phew? I’m a great shag Harry Styles and you know
it!” Louis said loudly, making the lads in the showers next to him scoff
and laugh.

“I know you are babe, I didn’t mean it like that” Harry said softly,
smirking at the man’s little outburst.

“What did you mean then hmm?” Louis said, tilting his head to the side.

“About it being done properly, I didn’t really want to get off in a cheap
shower either” Harry explained with a smile, moving Louis wet hair off
his forehead.

“Well ok then, you’ve redeemed yourself, now wash my back slave”

Louis said with an expectant expression before turning around to face
the wall.

“Bitch I’m not your slave” Harry retorted with a scoff but grabbed the
shower gel none the less.

He squirted a decent amount onto a shower scrunchy and began

scrubbing Louis back, trying his hardest not to look at Louis ass. I mean
come on, how could he not, he thought to himself.

“Your weirdly good at cleaning” Louis said, closing his eyes at how
nice it felt on his back, it felt like when you finally reach that itch and
scratch it.

“I’ll take that as a compliment” Harry said with a chuckle, continuing

to move the scrubber in circular motions.

“Lower” Louis said, to which Harry complied with, moving it an inch

lower.

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“Lower” He repeated, making Harry confused but he did as he was told,
now scrubbing the man’s lower back.

“Lower” Louis said once again, making Harry furrow his eyebrows in
confusion.

“Louis, if I go any lower I’m pretty much gonna be scrubbing your

bloody arse” Harry said, rolling his eyes.

“Who said I didn’t want that?” Louis said smugly.

“Lou we can’t—” Harry began But all of a sudden was trapped against
the shower wall and Louis body.

“Who said we can’t?” Louis whispered in Harry’s face.

“You, just a few minutes ago” Harry retorted matter of factly.

Louis seemed to ponder it for a moment before muttering ’fuck it’ and
surged forward, smashing his lips against Harrys.

Harry was reluctant at first, knowing they shouldn’t be doing this right
now, they had more important things to take care of. But he couldn’t
help himself, and began to kiss the man back erratically, moving his
hands lower and lower to grab Louis ass which the man responded to
with a moan.

“Shh” Harry whispered with a smirk, flipping their positions around so

that Louis was now against the shower wall.

And you guessed it, just as Harry was about to continue what Louis had
started, they got interrupted by the lads.

“What the fucks taking you so long, come on we’ve got to get ready!”
Liam shouted from behind their shower stall.

303
“Why the fuck is everyone being such cock blocks lately!” Louis
groaned, rolling his eyes and sighing.

“I did tell you not to” Harry said with a smirk.

Louis pushed Harry away from him and grabbed his towel to wrap
around his lower half before walking out the stall, trying to hide his
obvious problem in the nether regions.

Harry soon did the same and followed the man out of the stall and into
the changing area.

As they were just going to have to get changed again later on the lads
changed into their boxers and made their way into the dressing room,
knowing nobody from Louises team would care.

“Right sit down, we’ve got work to do” Louise said as soon as the lads
entered the room, they then complied with her instructions and took a
seat.

They went through the usual routine with hair and makeup and then it
was time for outfits.

Everybody was wearing what was expected of them to suit their style,
but they were all surprised when they saw Harrys outfit.

Plain, boring, old Harry. Black skinny jeans, white t shirt, and brown
boots.

“Mate are you feeling okay?” Niall asked Harry when he saw his attire.

“Yeh why?” Harry asked, looking confused.

“Where’s the sparkles? The bold colors? The patterns? Where’s the
Gucci!” Niall exclaimed, looking at Harry in shock.

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“Don’t worry about it” Harry said with a wink, but leaving the lads still
confused.

“Whatever you say” Liam said with a sigh.

“You’re on in ten minutes!” Someone from their backstage team called

through the door, gesturing for the lads to follow him to the main stage
area.

They got a couple of encouraging words from the hair and makeup team
and some more whilst they were walking through the dark corridors,
which they thanked them for and soon enough they were standing under
the stage, ready to be shot off up onto from their platforms.

As they could hear the screams of the fans from the audience they
huddled into a group, resting their arms around each other necks and
leaning in close.

“Alright lads, we need to smash this, give it all you’ve got” Liam said
encouragingly.

“Of course, and Niall, Don’t. Say. Chonce.” Harry said, pointing his
finger sternly at the man’s face.

Niall put his hands up in a gesture seeming to be surrender and crossed

his heart, meaning to say he wouldn’t.

“Come on then, let’s do this” Louis said, putting his hand into the circle
which the other lads did as well, resting theirs on top of each other
before they chanted some words and lifted them into the air.

They took their places on the platforms that would push them up onto
the stage and got ready for their que.

“3,2,1” A man said from behind them before they were shot off up to
the stage, making their presence known to the 20,000 fans in front of
them.

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A sense of nostalgia hit them full force as they looked out into the crowd
to see their fans smiling, crying, cheering, laughing. The signs were
being held up, scattered around the sea of people and being waved
around madly. The screams were deafening and the lads smiled widely
at each other as the first beats of the music began to sound through the
arena, vibrations coming from the floor beneath their feet.

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself before he brought the mic to
his mouth and belted out the first few words.

“Hey angel, do you know the reasons why, we look up to the sky?”

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 34
Medicine

After Harry had sung the first line the crowd seemed to have gotten
wilder than ever before, if that was even possible.

“Hey angel, do you look at us and laugh, when we hold on to the past,
Hey angel” He continued, waving off to the crowd as he belted out the
words.

Louis was smiling widely at the fact that Harrys voice seemed to have
gotten even more angelic than before. He snapped out of his thoughts
when he Instagram it was time to sing.

“Oh I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be more
like me, oh I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be
more like me”

Louis sang the words beautifully and Harry looked over to the man just
as Louis did the same, they stared at each other with huge grins on their
faces, enjoying the time they were having. They didn’t realize how
much they had missed this until now.

“Hey angel, tell me do you ever try, to come to the over side, Hey angel,
tell me do you ever cry, when we waste away our lives” Harry sang,
noticing a few girls in the crowd bawling their eyes out when he noticed
them.

He shook his head with a smile, laughing to himself before making his
way down the slope on the stage to get to the runway.

“Oh I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be more
like me, oh I wish I could be more like you, oh I wish I could be more,

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I could be more, I could be more” Niall then sung, reaching down to
touch a few of their fans hands.

“Yeah I see you at the bar at the edge of my bed, back seat of my car in
the back of my head, I come alive when I hear your voice, it’s a
beautiful sound, it’s a beautiful noise”

Louis and Liam sung the faster bridge of the song, walking together
down the runway and stopping at the bottom, Liam doing small dance
moves while Louis leaned over to get closer to the crowd.

“Hey angel” Harry sung, walking up behind Louis.

Louis turned around and Harry was stood right in front of him, looking
right into his eyes as if nobody else was in the room.

“Hey angel” Harry repeated, as if he were speaking to Louis. And he

was.

“Do you look up to the sky” Liam sang twice, breaking Harry and Louis
out of their trance and focusing their attention back on the song and the
fans.

All five of them formed a line at the very end of the runway and sang
out the last few lines of the song, Zayn finally getting to use his voice
even though he wasn’t in the band for the made in the am era.

“Oh I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be more
like me” They all sung out, the first time the fans were hearing them
sing all together after the hiatus.

“Oh I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be more
like me” They repeated, leaning over to the crowd whilst singing at the
top of their lungs.

“Oh I wish I could be more like you, do you wish you could be more
like me” the lads stuck out their microphones into the air to indicate to

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the crowd to start singing, which they did, and it was the greatest thing
they had heard in a very long time.

Then to finish the song it was left to Harry . The lads all put their arms
around each other’s shoulders and waists as Harry sung out the last few
words, smiling out into the crowd.

“Hey angel, Hey angel” Harry finally sung, the music coming to a halt
and the crowd erupting in cheers, echoing around the walls of the arena.

The lads took a deep breath and stopped for a second to just admire
what was in front of their eyes. A sea of lights were covering the arenas
floors and walls, looking like stars in the nights sky as they twinkled
and flashed from the fans phones. People were crying, smiling,
laughing, singing, screaming. It was amazing.

“Good evening London!” Liam shouted out, the loudness of his voice
amplified by the mic, sending the crowd into hysterics.

“Feels good to be back” Liam continued, walking around the stage as

he spoke and the rest of the lads waiting for their turn to speak.

“It’s now been about five years or so since we went on hiatus, and let’s
just say everyone has grown a lot” Liam said cheekily, looking around
at the fans to see a much more mature audience than it looked five years
ago.

“We honestly can’t thank you enough for sticking with us through this.
We understand the break was much longer than intended, but at least
we’re here now right?” He asked the crowd, who then began shouting
and screaming what Liam would make out as yes.

“Good, good, well I just wanted to say on my part thank you for
supporting me and the lads through our solo careers, we couldn’t have
done that or even this without you guys so we appreciate that. Alright
I’m going to pass it onto Mr. Zayn Malik now who I’m sure you’ve all

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missed” He thanked the fans before turning around and gesturing for
Zayn to speak to the crowd.

“Hello London” Zayn began with a smile across his face, looking into
the crowd.

“So, obviously I’ve been away a little longer than the rest of the lads
and I know some of you were surprised about me coming back to the
band, but it just felt right” Zayn said, pausing to try and find the right
words.

“I know I’ve made the right decision, based on this experience right
now and I’m happy about it. You guys are the best fans in the world
and, as Liam said, we couldn’t have done anything even after the hiatus
without you” He said truthfully, looking back at Liam when he was
mentioned, the man giving him a wide smile and a thumbs up.

“Thank you for being so supportive when I left the band, I understand
it hurt a lot of you but you stuck by me and listened to me, I couldn’t
ask for anything else. And great now I’m rambling” He said awkwardly,
rubbing the back of his neck as the lads laughed at him from behind his
back which he rolled his eyes at.

“Anyway, to sum it up, thank you. I’ll let the rest of the lads actually
get a word in now” He said with a chuckle and turned his back to the
crowd that were now screaming at him with fondness.

“Alright, no point going over thank yous because these two have
basically done it for me, cheers lads” Niall said with a grin as he looked
at Liam and Zayn who rolled their eyes in return.

“I just wanna see how you’re doing! You good? Having a nice time?”
Niall exclaimed cheerily, the crowd screaming back at him to which he
assumed they were most definitely feeling ok.

“Good, me too. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed this until now but
I really have missed you guys, even if you did stick by me with my solo

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career. Anyway, I’m gonna keep it short as we’ve got more songs to
play soon, enjoy the show!” Niall finished with a wave, Harry then
standing up to speak.

“You all look beautiful tonight!” He exclaimed, getting a huge reaction

from the crowd and Louis smiling fondly.

“How you doing up back?” He asked, getting a faint but loud scream
from the people sat way back in the farthest seats of the arena.

“How you doing at the sides?” He asked, gesturing to the seats along
the sides of the arena, getting the same reaction.

“How you doing on the floor?” He finally asked, getting the biggest
reaction yet as they were the closest.

“Good, I’m glad. Now, we’re all going to have a good, equal time
right?” He asked, gaining sarcastic groans from the rest of the lads who
knew he was going to pull something like this.

“What?” Harry turned around and asked the lads, pulling a sassy stature
with his hand against his hip and his eyebrows raised.

“Nothing, Nothing, you do you Harold” Louis replied cheekily, some

of the fans in the crowd screaming Larry.

They both smirked at the name and Harry turned back to the crowd to
continue his speech.

“What was that?” Harry asked, hearing a group of fans in the audience
trying to gain his attention.

“Where’s your suit!” They screamed as Harry cupped his ear to try and
hear them better.

“Where’s my suit?” He repeated, the girls nodding at him eagerly.

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He paused for a second with a smirk before replying “I’m saving that
for later darling”

They all screamed in excitement along with the rest of the arena, now
wondering what it was going to look like and saving them from their
disappointment.

The rest of the lads now understood why he wasn’t wearing anything
fancy like normal. They assumed he was going to make some sort of
grand reveal when he does his solo.

Harry laughed before turning to the crowd once again and shushing
them, pressing his finger to his lips and motioning with his hands for
the volume to decrease.

It took a few tries as the fans kept screaming but after a while it was
deadly silent. Until Louis ruined it.

“Here we go again” He said sassily, knowing Harry was going to

perform one of his ridiculous repetition games with the crowd.

As soon as Louis said that the crowd were once again screaming and
laughing at the man, making Harry groan in annoyance, turning to send
a deadly glare towards Louis.

“Damn it Louis!” He screamed into the microphone, faking his anger

but also trying to hold back his laugh. He just couldn’t stay mad at the
beautiful man.

“What? We all know what was going to happen. You’d scream oh yeh
and they’d repeat it, you dirty, dirty man” Louis said with a grin as
Harry pouted.

“It was not. This is a family show!” Harry said with a large smirk, the
crowd instantly beginning to scream once again as they all knew what
was coming.

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Harry paused dramatically before turning to them and saying “or is it?”
With a cheeky look.

The rest of the lads laughed at the interaction whilst Louis sighed,
hearing this many, many times before. But he secretly loved it.

“You walked right into that one mate” Niall said whilst laughing, Harry
turning to him and nodding with a smile.

“That he did Nialler, that he did. Now, everyone be quiet!” Harry said,
winking at Louis before turning back to the crowd.

He repeated his actions before until the crowd was deadly silent once
more. He waited for a minute before doing just as Louis had predicted.

“Oh yeh!” Harry screamed into the mic before pulling it away from his
lips and waiting for the 20,000 people to mimic him.

“Oh yeh!” They all said in union, making the lads and Harry laugh.

Harry walked to the other side of the stage and repeated what he had
previously done, but this time it sounded more like a moan and not just
two simple words, making Louis blush and fidget.

The lads sat next to Louis noticed this and laughed, giving him a wink
which made him even more uncomfortable, shoving them away and
giving them a middle finger.

“Louis there are children in here!” Harry suddenly shouted, pointing

towards the crowd as he had noticed Louis swearing.

“They wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t pointed it out Haz” Louis
retorted sassily, the crowd aweing at the nickname.

“That— fair enough” Harry said, knowing Louis was right. Why was
Louis always right? He thought to himself.

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“Okay, I think I’m having too much fun here, we’d better get on with
the songs or else you’ll all be missing trains and stuff. Sorry Lou you
can speak later babe” Harry said cheekily, the Larries in the crowd
going mad at the nickname.

“You’re not sorry though are you?” Louis asked as he stood up, tilting
his head to the side as he watched Harry grab a rainbow flag from the
audience.

Harry then skipped past Louis with the flag held behind him, waving it
around as he muttered “nope” into the mic.

Louis shook his head fondly as he watched Harry prance around the
stage with the rainbow flag, showing off his pride to the fans who
cheered for him. Yeh, Simon “your career will be over” Cowell can
fuck right off to get his head checked, Louis thought.

The instrumental for drag me down suddenly began pounding through

the speakers, making the crowd go crazy with excitement.

“I’ve got a fire for a heart, I’m not scared of the dark, you’ve never seen
it look so easy. I’ve got a river for a soul, and baby I boat, baby I only
reason” Harry sung, now throwing his rainbow flag back into the crowd
for some lucky fan to keep.

“If I didn’t have you there would be nothing left, a shell of a man that
could never be his best, if I didn’t have you I’d never see the sun, you
taught me how to be someone yeah” Louis then sang, the fans singing
along each word with him.

“All my life, you stood by me, when no one else was ever behind me,
all the lights, they can’t blind me, with your love nobody can drag me”
Liam sung, dancing along with the lyrics and egging the crowd on.

“All my life you stood by me, when no one else was ever behind me,
all these lights, they can’t blind me, with your love nobody can drag me

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down” Niall then joined in, singing the words with Liam and the lights
changed behind them to blue and white.

“Nobody nobody” Louis sung out, shaking his finger at the crowd.

“Nobody can drag me down” Harry followed on.

“Nobody nobody” Louis repeated.

“Nobody can drag me down”

They carried on with the song like that before nearing the end when
Harrys high note was going to come up, which he had been preparing
for since the first lyric left his lips.

“Sing it!” Liam shouted into the crowd.

“All my life, you stood by me, when no one else was ever behind me,
all these lights, they can’t blind me, with your love—

“Nobody can drag me down!” Harry sang out loudly, the rest of the lads
continuing with their parts of the chorus.

“Nobody nobody”

“Nobody can drag me, down” Harry repeated, quieter this time.

“Nobody nobody”

“Nobody can drag me down!” Harry again belted out, this one being his
highest note of the entire song as he dragged out the last word and the
crowd going wild. Louis looked over at Harry in amazement, that part
I being his favorite in the song.

“Nobody can drag me”

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“Down” Harry sung, dragging out the word once again as the music
slowed and the song was nearing its finish.

“Nobody can drag me down” Harry finally sung, getting out the last
words of the song before the music came to a stop altogether and the
fans cheered for them.

“Thank you” Harry said to the fans, walking over to grab his water
bottle and also one for Louis, walking back over to the man and handing
him his.

“Thanks love” Louis said to Harry in his ear so he could hear him.

“No problem” Harry replied with a smile.

“Nailed that high note” Louis said proudly, grinning up at Harry.

“Really?” Harry asked, Jim thinking it was a bit flat.

“Of course. You always do” Louis reassured, rubbing Harrys lower
back before pulling away to go sit further back on the stage as it was
time for Zayn’s performance.

“This song started off my career as a solo artist so I thought it would be

the right song to kick off tour with, this is pillow talk” Zayn said into
the microphone before the music began sounding through the arena.

“Climb on board, we’ll go slow and high tempo” Zayn sung whilst the
rest of the lads sat behind him, watching his figure almost as a silhouette
as he belted out the words.

“Light and dark, hold me hard and mellow” He sang softly, his angelic
voice sweeping across the arena that was lit up by flashlights.

“I’m seeing the pain seeing the pleasure, Nobody but you, body but me,
body but us, bodies together. I love to hold you close, tonight and
always, I love to wake up next to you.” Zayn repeated the last line

316
before it was time for the chorus, the beat dropped making the floor
vibrate and Zayn sung the words with even more passion than before as
the lads watched in awe.

“So we’ll piss off the neighbors. In the place that feels the tears, the
place to lose your fears yeah, reckless behavior, a place that is so pure,
so dirty and raw. In the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day, fucking
and fighting on, it’s our paradise and it’s our war zone. It’s our paradise
and it’s our war zone” Zayn sung.

The fans sung the chorus with him and it was a beautiful sound, if you
weren’t at the concert you could probably hear it from miles away. The
lads had taken out their ear pieces to listen to the song and they
Instagram they hadn’t appreciated Zayn’s solo work that much at all
until now. He really was a lyrical genius and it wasn’t surprising that
he had grown as big as he did with the public.

The song soon came to an end and Zayn thanked the crowd before
walking back over to the lads and taking a seat.

“Right, before we move on we’re going to read some of your signs and
they will be displayed on the big screen behind us” Liam explained,
gesturing to the screen that was at the moment focused on him.

“Oh my god we haven’t done this in so long” Niall exclaimed excitedly,

grinning like a mad man.

“Yeh that’s why we’re doing it dumbo” Louis said sassily, making the
fans laugh and Niall pout.

At the mention of signs being read the fans who did bring them
suddenly shot them as high as they could into the air, desperately
wanting to be noticed by the lads.

“Alright, what’s the first one then?” Liam asked, turning his body to
look at the screen.

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’18 months my ass’ was what was written on the board in sharpie, an
unimpressed face drawn next to it.

“Well then, we’ve just been called out” Harry said, clicking his tongue
to make noise which indicated the situation was awkward.

“Um, lets move on then I guess?” Louis asked awkwardly.

’Harry punch me in the face’ was written on the next one, making the
fans and the lads laugh and turn to look at the man.

“Heyy, I will not. That’s mean and I respect women thank you very
much” Harry replied looking offended.

“She’s saying it cause she likes you Haz” Zayn said with a small laugh.

“Well in that case then, Harry, Punch me in the face” Louis said,
opening his arms up as if to give Harry a free punch.

“Jesus Christ is that some weird way of flirting these days?” Harry
asked looking confused.

“Well if it is I’m gonna be using it on you a lot so be ready” Louis

replied with a smirk, making the lads roll their eyes and the fans scream.

“Oh my god just move on already, I am not and will not punch anybody
in the face!” Harry exclaimed, shaking his head as the next sign got put
up on the screen.

“Get naked” is all it read.

“What is up with these signs tonight? Who’s even picking them out?”
Liam asked looking confused.

“Louise probably did” Niall said with a laugh.

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“Anyway, the sign, I’d love to be one with nature right now and let
myself be free, but we’re in the bloody UK, I’m not getting hypothermia
for a show thank you very much. Moving on” Louis said dismissively
making the lads laugh and the crowd groan in annoyance. Aren’t some
of these girls like, what, ten? Louis thought whilst shaking his head.

’Louis is a great person to just sit and admire what he’s like — Harry
Styles’ the sign read, making Harry blush a shade of red.

“Aww Haz! How cute!” Louis exclaimed, grabbing Harry by the neck
and pulling him into a hug, kissing his forehead as the fans cheered and
screamed, many more flashes going off at that moment.

“Stopp” Harry whined on embarrassment, hiding his face in the crook

of Louis neck.

“It’s okay Harry, I know you love me” Louis teased, making Harry
groan But nod none the less.

“Well, That was cute, but we’ve got a few more songs to sing now, so
back to the music” Niall said, standing up to perform the next song.

The night continued like this, filled with laughter, music and a few witty
comments from the lads every now and again.

They were loving it, even if they did fall over a few times, that mainly
being Harry, no surprise there. Niall even made it without singing
’chonce’ which Harry was extremely proud of and he congratulated him
mid song with a loud cheer, making the fans laugh at the action.

But even through a happy concert, there was always going to be that
one Ballard that was sad and often made the fans cry. That song was
Two of us.

The lads gave Louis reassuring smiles as he took his place at the end of
the runway, them not being far away as they were seated behind him,
ready to get up and finish the song with him.

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This of course wasn’t Louis first time singing the song to a large crowd
such as this, but it was the first time singing it with the lads here, which
made it all that more emotional for him.

The piano sounded through the speakers as it was connected to the real
piano at the back of the stage where their musician was playing for him.
The crowd went a lot quieter than they had been throughout the majority
of the show, as they Instagram what was about to be played to them.

Flashlights began to appear in the crowd again as Louis took a deep

breath and began the song.

“It’s been a minute since I called you. Just to hear the answerphone.
Yeah I know that you won’t get this, so I’ll leave a message so I’m not
alone” He sang, the words spilling from his mouth with such raw
emotion that a lot of the fans already had tears in their eyes, even though
the song had barely began.

“This morning I woke up still dreaming, with memories playing

through my head. You’ll never know how much I miss you. The day
that they took you, I wish it was me instead”

At them words Harry let his first tear fall. He hadn’t yet heard the song
as he was too angry at Louis at the time it came out, all he knew were
the words he needed to sing when the time comes. He wishes he had
been there for him. Sure he went to his performance for the X factor
when it first happened, but after that he hadn’t spoken to the man until
he heard about the reunion, and he felt awful about it.

“But you once told me don’t give up, you can do it Day by day, and
diamonds they don’t turn to dust, or fade away” Louis sung the pre
chorus with his soft and broken voice, willing for the tears to seep back
into his skull, he didn’t want to let them fall, not yet anyway.

320
“So I will keep you Day and night, here until the day I die, I’ll be living,
one life for the two of us, I will be the best of me, always keep you next
to me, I’ll be living, one life for the two of us”

As he sang the fans waved their lights in the air slowly, side to side in
remembrance of Jay, tears cascading down their faces.

“Even when I’m on my own, I know I won’t be alone, tattooed on my

heart are the words of your favorite song. I know you’ll be looking
down, swear I’m gonna make you proud, I’ll be living, one life for the
two of us”

Louis paused his singing and lifted his hand to his lips, dressing a kiss
against his fingers before lifting them into the air as if he were sending
it to Jay, some of the fans did the same, following his actions as they
watched on in pity.

“I could feel your blood run through me, your written in my DNA,
looking back in every mirror, I know you’ll be waiting, I’ll see you
again”

The lads were letting their tears fall by this point, wiping them
continuously as they watched proudly as Louis sung this song in front
of 20,000 people. They didn’t know anybody as strong as this man and
they felt honored to be sharing a stage with him.

Louis sung the chorus again before he reached the bridge, the lads now
standing up and coming to stand beside him, resting their arms on his
shoulders. That’s when Louis broke, letting the tears fall freely down
his face as he thought about his beautiful mother.

“I promised you I’d do this, so all of this is all for you, oh I swear to
god your living, through everything I’ll ever do”

Louis sung that final part alone before the lads all brought their mics to
their mouths and sung proudly for Louis, his mother, their family and
their fans.

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“So I will keep you Day and night, here until the day I die, I’ll be living
one life for the two of us, I will be the best of me, always keep you next
to me, I’ll be living, one life for the two of us. Even when I’m on my
own, I know I won’t be alone, tattooed on my heart are the words of
your favorite song, I know you’ll be looking down, swear I’m gonna
make you proud, I’ll be living, one life for the two of us”

They finished the song together, standing side by side as the crowd
clapped and cheered for them, still having tears running down their
cheeks.

The lads pulled Louis into a bone crushing hug, telling him how proud
they were of him and how strong he is, Louis couldn’t ask for better
people to have just shared that song with on stage, he loved them all.

Louis was feeling much better now, after seeing the support from his
band mates and the fans he put a smile on his face and wiped his tears,
knowing his mum would just want him to be happy while on his first
show of tour.

The seat in which Harry had been occupying before was now empty,
ready for Louis to take a seat as the man had disappeared off stage
somewhere. They knew it was his performance next and Louis was
dying to finally find out what Harry had been keeping from him.

It took about five minutes before music started playing again, in which
the lads spent talking to the fans about random things, pointing out signs
once again and looking at the objects they were throwing at them.

The lads turned their heads towards the front of the stage where the
lights had been turned to a deep shade of red, only being lit up in white
when the beat dropped.

The fans erupted into cheers as they heard the intro to Medicine, a song
which Harry had still yet to release the studio version of, only ever
playing it while on stage.

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Out of the lads, Niall was the only person that had heard the song as he
had been to one of Harry’s concerts while on tour and he played it. And
Niall smirked as he knew exactly what the song was about.

Niall quickly tapped Louis and gestured for him to take his ear piece
out, which Louis did before leaning closer to Niall to hear what he had
to say.

“Trust me when I say this, your gonna enjoy this performance” Niall
said with a wink as he backed away from a confused looking Louis.

The cheers got louder as a figure walked out onto the stage, only his
black silhouette to be seen in the red lighting. Louis was excited as he
had never seen Harry perform and had heard all sorts of stories about
it.

Suddenly Harry stepped into the spotlight and Louis jaw practically
dropped at his outfit. He wore a satin red suit with black printed patterns
all over it, beneath it was a black shirt witch had a tie type thing around
the neck. The suit fit him perfectly, accentuating his figure in all the
right places, making him look lean and muscular at the same time. Louis
was practically drooling.

Harry shook out his suit and sorted his collar out before leaning back
and thrusting his fist in the air as the beat dropped, making him look
powerful whilst performing. He then grabbed the mic stand and pressed
his lips against it to begin singing.

“Here to take my medicine, take my medicine, treat you like a

gentleman”

He began, making Louis eyes widen already, gentleman? He thought to

himself, who was he singing about? It couldn’t be him could it? He kept
asking himself all these questions but quickly snapped back to Harrys
performance.

323
“Give me that adrenaline, that adrenaline, think I’m gonna stick with
it”

Harry sung and then thrusted his hand into the air once again when the
beat dropped.

“Here to take my medicine, take my medicine, rest it on your fingertips”

As Harry sung them words he brought his hand into the air and Louis
noticed the fans did as well, knowing his exact actions.

“And up to you mouth, feeling it out, feeling it out”

Louis eyes widened even more as he began to realize just what this song
was really about, Niall saw Louis reaction and began to snicker at him
which Louis didn’t react to as he had other, more important things to
focus on right now. That being Harry.

“I had a few got drunk on you and now I’m wasted, and when I sleep
I’m gonna dream of how you—”

“Tasted!” The crowd finished, making Louis gasp, yup, his sumptuous
were most definitely true.

Louis watched as Harry smirked and stuck out his tongue, before
grabbing the mic and walking to the sides of the stage, ready to belt out
the words of the chorus.

“If you go out tonight, I’m going out cause I know your persuasive.
You’ve got that something I’ve got me an appetite now I can taste it.
You get me dizzy oh you get me dizzy oh”

Harry sung whilst strolling around the stage, dancing madly at certain
points and then cupping his ear for the audience to sing out to him.

“Lalalalala” The fans screamed.

324
“You get me dizzy oh you get me dizzy oh”

When Harry sung the last Oh it sounded more like a moan and Louis
was finding it hard to stay still in his seat, wanting nothing more than
to grab the man and take him backstage.

“Tingle running through my bones, fingers to my toes, tingle running

through my bones”

As Harry sung them words he made his way over to Louis, not taking
his eyes off the man who stared back up at him with a dazed look.

“They boys and the girls are in, I mess around with him, and I’m okay
with it”

He sung loudly into Louis face, slowly coming to eye level with him
and all of a sudden Harry straddled Louis lap, making Louis gasp in
shock as the man now sung the song provocatively right to him.

“I’m coming down I figured out I kinda like it”

He sung, his face coming closer to Louis own as he played with the hair
at the back of his neck, Louis won hands coming to rest on Harrys hips.

“And when I sleep I’m gonna dream of how you”

When Louis expected the man to once again not finish the sentence he
was proven wrong when Harry leaned into his ear and whispered the
last phrase “ride it”

Harry then quickly jumped off Louis lap which Louis whined at as
Harry winked at him and made his way down to the end of the runway,
Louis watching his every move.

Louis looked at the lads briefly who were sat there smirking at him with
knowing looks, normally Louis would have some sort of witty comment

325
but at this moment, he could do nothing but divert his attention back to
the man on stage.

“If you go out tonight, I’m going out cause I know your persuasive.
You’ve got that something, I’ve got me an appetite, now I can taste it”

Harry sung with his arms stretched out wide and was once again
dancing, moving around the stage to sing to every person as they
jumped about and sung loudly beneath the stage.

“You get me dizzy oh you get me dizzy oh”

“Lalalalala”

“You get me dizzy oh you get me dizzy oh”

Harry made his way back to the mic stand and grabbed it tightly in his
hands.

“I’ve had a few, got drunk on you and now I’m wasted”

Harry moved his arms in the air and then waved goodbye at them before
everything went pitch black, the only lights being from the fans phones.

The crowd screamed and all of a sudden the red lights were flashing
back on, Harry was now stood with a rainbow flag and thrusting it into
the air as he sung the final chorus with such passion and power that all
the lads were in shock at how good at performing he was.

“If you go out tonight, I’m going out cause I know your persuasive.
You’ve got that something, I’ve got me an appetite now I can taste it.
You get me dizzy oh you get me dizzy oh” he sung, moving around on
the spot.

“Lalalalala” the crown sung loudly.

“You get me dizzy, oh, you get me dizzy oh”

326
After the last few beats and Harry last line he spun around while
curtsying and the lights went out once again, the crowd erupting into
cheers and applaud at his amazing performance.

When the lights turned on again Louis was still sat there in shock,
knowing that Harry had basically written a song about them shagging.
Fuck.

“You alright there Louis?” Zayn asked in a teasing tone, nudging the
spaces out man whilst laughing.

“Uh, Yeh, Yeh I’m good, totally fine” Louis stuttered out, trying to find
his voice again.

“Was that about you two, you know?” Liam asked cautiously, raising
his eyebrows.

“Yeh it was” Harry said from behind them, making Louis snap his head
up at the man, their eyes locking once again.

“We’re gonna go talk to the crowd” Liam said, pushing Niall and Liam
to the front of the stage to give them some privacy.

“So did you like it?” Harry asked, hopefully.

“Of course I fucking did, but uh, now we’re gonna get shit for you
practically giving me a lap dance on stage you know that right?” Louis
said with a chuckle, making Harry smile at him.

“It was worth it” Is all Harry replied before smirking and walking off
to stand with the rest of the lads, needing to finish the concert.

327
35
Party Bus

“Thank you all for coming, good night!” Harry exclaimed to the
audience after finishing their final song of the night.

He then joined the lads to take a bow and wave to the audience before
they all sprinted off stage, ready to get going as fast as possible.

The adrenaline was still pumping through their veins as they ran
through the dark corridors back stage, smiles stuck onto their faces.

“That was mad oh my god!” Louis exclaimed as he ran next to the lads.

“Woooo” Niall shouted with his hands in the air, making the lads laugh
at him.

They finally made it to their dressing room and had to race against time
to gather their things, they needed to be out of the arena as quick as
possible so they don’t get mobbed by the fans.

“Fuck, has anyone seen my Gucci loafers?” Harry called out, rushing
around the room in search of his beloved shoes.

“Harry nobody gives a shit about your Gucci loafers, hurry up” Liam
said sarcastically, rolling his eyes playfully at the man.

Harry pouted and furrowed his eyebrows in return, huffing before going
back to his search.

“Hey! Don’t make my baby pout, I love your loafers don’t worry Haz”
Louis said in a stern but soft voice, making Harry smile.

328
“Louis, you literally said they were ugly like two days ago” Zayn said
matter of factly while snickering at the man.

Harrys smile instantly left his face and was replaced by a glare, he stuck
his middle finger up at Louis before finally cheering when he found his
shoes behind the sofa.

“Wha— I, I would never! Zayn you dirty little liar” Louis stuttered out,
trying his best to pull an offended face.

“Lou, babe, you know I love you, but you can’t lie for shit” Harry said
with a smirk, not really caring if people liked his sense of style or not.
What mattered to him is that he was comfy and unique.

“Haz, why would you think I’m lying? I love your extremely bright,
sometimes obnoxious shoes. And, and your grandpa pants, oh! And I
love how nothing ever matches, because like, that makes you different,
you know? And I love that—”

Louis was suddenly cut off from his nervous rant by Harrys lips on his
own, the man’s larger hands cupping his cheeks and jaw as he did so.
Louis practically melted into the kiss and closed his eyes to enjoy the
feeling, but it was soon broken when Harry pulled away and looked into
his now wide open eyes.

“Louis, I couldn’t care less what you think of my clothing choices. Now
shut up you idiot” Harry said fondly, smiling down at the smaller man
and pecking his lips once more before he returned to packing.

Louis smiled to himself and didn’t notice how the lads were looking at
him from afar with smirks on their faces, knowing Louis is just as
whipped as he was all them years back.

Louis snapped out of his little daze and grabbed the rest of his things
before they were all ushered out the room to go to their tour bus.

329
Once they had gotten onto the large bus they smiled at the memories
they had together in here. All the vines they made, the late night talks,
getting each other out of bed the next morning, it was all so nostalgic
and Louis was wondering if he would be sleeping on here all the time
like he used to back in the day.

The things they would be needing for the rest of the tour was already
on the bus waiting for them as they had previously packed it all up
before coming to the stadium this morning, knowing they wouldn’t
have time to do it now as they needed to set off straight away for
Manchester.

They could still hear the fans screams from around the area as many of
them were either still in the stadium or just now leaving, they only
hoped they wouldn’t get mobbed on the way out.

“Fucking hell I’ve missed this bus” Niall said happily as he plonked
himself down on his old bed, the bottom one of the right hand side bunk
bed.

“Yeh same. Allen! How longs the drive?” Louis called to their bus
driver who was now seated up front.

“About five hours, so make sure your comfy” He called back to him
with a smile, setting up the sat nav.

“Well then, what do you guys wanna do?” Zayn asked, moving some
things around on his bed.

“I’ve got a joint we can smoke in a bit, if you’re up for it?” Louis asked
with a smirk, pulling the item from a container in his bag.

“Lou I thought you’d stopped with this?” Harry said with a stern look,
grabbing the item from his hand.

330
“Haz, I caught you snorting coke only about a month back, and I one
telling me not to do drugs?” Louis said rolling his eyes, but a small
frown appearing on his face at the memory.

“Harry does coke?” Liam asked with a look of shock and concern, not
knowing about this until now.

Everyone went silent and they only thing that could be heard was the
car moving along the road, faint screams still being heard from the fans.

“No, uh, well not recently. I’ve stopped now” Harry said awkwardly,
sounding disappointed with himself.

“Harry you could have gotten addicted! What were you thinking?”
Liam retorted with a scoff, now looking slightly angry with the man.

“I fucking know that! I know I could’ve but I didn’t Okay, I was just
going through a rough patch” Harry exclaimed, stumbling over his
words as he sighed, clearly stressed out about the subject.

Louis noticed his discomfort and wrapped an arm around his waist,
moving his thumb in circular motions over his smooth skin to help him
calm down. He really did pity Harry at this moment, knowing that Harry
regretted ever doing it and probably only did because of him, he felt so
fucking guilty about it.

“Look, I’m sure Harry regrets doing it and wasn’t in the right state of
mind at the time. He said he’s not going to do it again and we should
believe him. Now can we move on please?” Louis said pleadingly,
looking all the lads in the eyes and Harry silently thanked Louis for
being so understanding, he really did love this man.

“Yeah, Okay. Just don’t do it again Haz, we wouldn’t want you

destroying yourself over something as silly as coke” Zayn said with a
small smile, patting Harry on the shoulder.

331
“I know, I won’t. Thank you” Harry said in a small voice, nodding his
head.

“Okay let’s get this party started then!” Niall suddenly exclaimed,
turning on some music which was blasted through the speakers and all
the lads broke out of the tense atmosphere with a laugh.

“What fucking party Nialler?” Louis said whilst shaking his head, a
smile playing on his lips.

“Well, we’ve got to celebrate our first show as a band again don’t we?
So, let’s have a few drinks, listen to music, and smoke a joint” Niall
explained excitedly, walking over to their mini fridge to grab some
beers and a bottle of vodka.

At the front of the bus, Allen smiled at the lads behavior and dimmed
the lights go to a deep shade of red and blue, creating a perfect
atmosphere for their mini party.

“Cheers Allen!” Niall exclaimed, popping the lid off his beer before
taking a large gulp of the alcoholic beverage.

After a while all the lads had soon loosened up and were dancing around
the surprisingly large space for a tour bus, the music pounding through
the speakers and bottles were laying around everywhere.

Currently, Zayn and Liam were dancing provocatively, Zayn being too
drunk to even think about Gigi at the moment, too lost in Liam to even
care. Niall was standing on top of a bunk bed, lip syncing the words to
some upbeat song that the lads didn’t really know. And Louis was sat
on Harrys lap as he lit up his joint.

“You’re not really gonna smoke that are you?” Harry slurred out, yes
he was drunk, but not too drunk to be unaware of what his ’boyfriend’
was doing.

332
“And why wouldn’t I Haz? We’re having fun! Loosen up a little babe”
Louis also slurred out, looking Harry in the eyes as he brought the joint
to his lips and took a drag, blowing out the substance into Harrys face
which he grimaced at.

“You know I don’t like you doing this” Harry whined, placing his hands
on Louis hips firmly.

“Yeh but what’s the fun in listening to what you say?” Louis said with
a smirk, winking at Harry.

“Your such a little minx, you know that right?” Harry said with a grin,
before deciding to grab the joint from Louis and take a drag himself,
’fuck it’ he thought to himself.

“Look who’s smoking the joint now ey? I’ve corrupted you from your
innocence” Louis said dramatically, gasping in fake shock.

“Yeh yeh, whatever” Harry laughed out, taking another drag and
pulling Louis in by the back of his neck, blowing out the smoke into
Louis mouth whilst the other man breathed in, inhaling the weed from
Harry before blowing it back out again.

Louis then grabbed Harrys neck and smashed his lips onto his,
butterflies erupting in his stomach as he licked into his mouth, tongues
dancing together.

Louis whined as Harry bit his lip teasingly, hard but not enough to draw
blood. Harry then peppered his cheek with kisses and gradually moved
down along the smaller man’s neck, littering it with nips and bites to
hopefully leave a mark there, so everybody knows that Louis is his and
only his.

Louis moaned and threw his head back, giving Harry more room to
violate his neck and Louis closed his eyes at the feeling, loving every
second of it.

333
“You’re so beautiful” Harry whispered into Louis neck, making Louis
smile towards the ceiling of the bus.

“Got nothing on you” he retorted in a just as hushed tone as Harry was

using.

Louis had almost forgotten about the joint in his hand, glad that he
hadn’t dropped it in his dazed state, he wouldn’t want the whole fucking
bus erupting into flames just because he was making out with Harry.

“Hey! Don’t fuck on the bus whilst we’re still awake you horny
bitches!” Niall exclaimed from the top of the bunk bed, gaining the
attention of Zayn and Liam as well.

“Why Niall? We could have put on a show for you” Louis said cheekily,
smirking at the man before he trailed his hands down Harrys chest
nearing closer and closer to his crotch.

“Nope! No, no, no! I am not watching this!” Niall said, covering his
eyes with his hands and turning his head away as the two lads laughed.

“You’ve changed then” Liam suddenly said from the other side of the
bus, breaking away from Zayn for a moment.

“What do you mean?” Niall asked with a confused look.

“If This were to happen a couple years ago you’d be the first one to
whip out your phone and document the entire thing. I do remember you
having a folder saved as ’Larry proof’ in your gallery” Liam said with
a grin, making Zayn and the other two lads laugh at the revelation.

“I-I did not!” Niall stuttered out, his arms flailing by his sides.

“I’m pretty sure you did, here, give me your phone” Liam said,
gesturing for the man to hand it over.

334
“No! I am not giving you my phone you weirdo!” Niall exclaimed,
pouting like a baby as his crossed his arms over his chest.

“Really? Okay then Niall, if you don’t have any Larry proof on your
phone you would give it to us to check, but seeming as you won’t show
us then we’re just gonna assume I perv who gets off to teenage boys
making out whilst you filmed it, how about that?” Zayn said with a
smirk, backing up Liam as the lads laughed once again.

Niall went red in the face and had a mental debate on whether to show
them his phone or not. He was sure he had deleted them videos and
pictures ages ago so why not?

“Fine, have a fucking look, you won’t find anything anyway” he said
with a shrug, throwing his phone to Liam who catches the device
quickly.

“Cheers, now lets see…” He said sneakily as he I clicked the phone and
began scrolling through his gallery folders.

“Um, Niall, why do you have a folder called ’Nando’s’?” Liam asked,
biting his lip in order to contain his laughter.

“Is that even a question? Nando’s is practically my second home! Don’t

you dare diss Nando’s you dick” Niall said with a glare, clearly
protective over his favorite restaurant.

“Alright alright, chill out mate” he said with a chuckle as he continued

to scroll through the phone.

“Ah ha! I’ve fucking found it!” Liam suddenly exclaimed, eyes
widening at the folder he hadn’t seen in god knows how long.

“Wha— no, no you haven’t. I’m sure it’s a mistake! Give that here
now!” Niall said, jumping off the bed as he raced towards Liam, who
ran away from the man clutching his phone tightly in his grasp.

335
“Oh my god, let us see” Louis said with a laugh, desperately wanting
to see the old photos and videos of him and Harry.

“No! Do not show them!” Niall shouted, still chasing Liam around the
bus.

“You filmed them shagging? Niall you dirty bastard!” Liam said with
a laugh, making Harry and Louis turn red with embarrassment.

“No, no I did not! Don’t listen to him, he clearly drank too much” Niall
stumbled out, soon getting out of breath from all the running and feeling
slightly dizzy from the amount of alcohol he had drank.

“Jesus Christ, show us now” Harry said with a smirk, looking at Liam
as he made his way towards them with Niall’s phone, stretching out his
hand to give it to them.

Liam held Niall back as Louis and Harry scrolled through the many
pictures and videos of them ranging from times dating back to the X
factor up to the break.

“Fucking hell” Louis muttered as Harry stopped on a video of them in

a heated make out session in wellington, how long had Niall been doing
this? He thought.

“Just— let me explain” Niall said, out of breath.

“Nothing to explain here Niall” Louis began, stopping to take a drag of

his joint before continuing. “We always knew you were the biggest
Larry shipper, wouldn’t be surprised if you were the one who started up
the rumor” He said with a small laugh.

“Ugh, Whatever, didn’t realize this was bully Niall night” Niall said,
his shoulders slumping down as he stopped thrashing against Liam.

Liam let go of him as Niall stumbled to sit next to the two lads, still
quite a bit drunk, and peered over their shoulders to look at the content.

336
“Could you imagine if we leaked these? The fans would go crazy”
Louis said with a giggle, resting his head on Harrys shoulder as they
continued looking through the pictures in awe, not Instagram how
infatuated with each other they really were.

“Why don’t you?” Zayn spoke up from the opposite side of the room,
now sitting with his legs over Liam’s lap.

“What do you mean? We can’t just leak them, we’d get into so much
shit” Harry said, his eyebrow quirking up as he finally looked away
from the phone.

“Well, firstly, I don’t think you can get into any more shit than you
already are with that stunt you pulled during the concert—” He said,
making Harry and Louis blush. “Secondly, do you guys remember that
fake fan account we used to run?” He asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Uh, Yeh, Why?” Louis asked, confused.

“Why don’t we use that account to release Larry proof? That way the
fans won’t know it’s us and neither will Management or Simon, it could
kinda be similar to what you did with the rainbow bears, like indirectly
tell them your together, or in this case give them more of a reason to
believe it” Zayn explained, the lads understanding and smiles suddenly
appearing on their faces.

“You fucking genius!” Louis exclaimed, shooting up from Harry’s lap

and pressing a huge wet kiss against Zayn’s cheek, who tried pulling
away with a grimace.

Liam and Harry both sent death glares towards Louis, and Harry pulled
Louis back into his chest whilst Liam put a protective arm around
Zayn’s waist.

“Mine” Harry growled But in a playful manner, making Louis giggle

and sink further into his embrace.

337
“Anyway, does anyone remember the log in details?” Harry asked,
going to the log in page of Instagram and trying to remember anything
linked to the account.

“Fuck, no” Louis said sadly, desperately trying to remember the details.

“Maybe one of us saved it somewhere? Like in our notes or something”

Niall asked, making all of them rush to get their phones out and look
through their notes.

“Oh my god! I do, fuck yeah!” Liam exclaimed excitedly, handing over
the device for Harry to log in to.

Harry entered the log in details and suddenly their old account was
popping up onto the screen, having multiple comments and likes
waiting to be seen from over the many years that the account has been
inactive.

“Holy shit” Harry said in shock at how many followers they had, that
being 54k, which may not seem like a lot compared to their actual
accounts, but for this being a fake fan account that hadn’t been active
in so long was amazing.

“They don’t even know it’s us and it’s got so many followers” Louis
said in awe, thinking of how it’s going to blow up when they start
posting some of the proof.

“Where to start then?” Harry mumbled, going through the photos in the
’Larry’ folder and wondering which they should release.

“Well, lets start out small, then post the more revealing ones, like do
the blurry ones first or something” Liam said, now him and Zayn
coming over to watch the process.

338
“How about this?” Harry asked, looking at one of the pictures from
Wellington which he knew the fans would go crazy over, being that the
proof already out there was filmed on a potato.

“Can you tell it’s us?” Louis asked the lads who nodded in return.

“Right post that now and then in like an hour or so we will post another
one” Niall said to Harry who nodded whilst looking down at the screen
and going to write a caption.

’Unseen: Wellington proof’ is what he wrote out, then hesitating for

only a second before posting the photo and watching as it was
confirmed as posted.

Not even a minute later and the picture was gaining thousands of
comments and likes, the fans going mad and asking how they had gotten
a hold of the photo.

“This is crazy” Louis said quietly whilst laughing at the reactions.

“Knew it would blow up” Zayn said with a smirk.

“Right we will leave it for an hour and then check up on it again and
post something else, let’s just continue partying until then” Harry said,
giving the phone back to Niall who turned off the notifications, not
wanting to be disturbed every second by the beeps and tones going off.

So then, they waited.

339
 36
Hangovers

The music was still pounding through their ears, vibrating off the walls
from the speakers as they danced and drank into the early hours of the
morning.

They probably shouldn’t have even considered having this little party,
seeming as they have a show tomorrow, but when your cooped up in a
bus for hours on end you need a way to entertain yourself.

Harry was currently pretending to be a stripper. No surprise here.

He danced provocatively against Louis in a dazed state, the alcohol still

running through his system as he grinded his ass against Louis crotch,
making the man whimper and squirm, wishing he wasn’t on this damn
tour bus so he could have some real fun.

The lads watched on besides them, cheering in encouragement and

laughing to themselves as they watched the drunken men.

“Bit excited there Lou?” Zayn called out with a smirk, but Louis took
no notice of it, just nodding his head with his eyes closed.

Harry turned around and smirked at Louis before pulling him in but the
neck and licking into his mouth sensually.

Louis reciprocated the kiss with such hunger he hadn’t felt in years,
desperately trying to pull Harry as close as possible, needing to have
every part of the man.

Suddenly the bus seemed to have gone over a speed bump, making the
ground shake and causing Louis and Harry to fall right onto the floor
with a loud thump.

340
“Sorry!” Allen shouted from the front of the bus, looking back for a
second to make sure the lads were okay before turning his attention
back to the road.

All Louis did was laugh into Harrys chest, laying there right on top of
him. Harry soon joined in on the laughter and ran his hands through his
hair with a huge smile on his face.

“It’s alright” Louis called back, sitting up on Harrys lap with glassy
eyes.

“What?” Harry asked, noticing Louis was staring at him for much
longer than necessary.

“Why didn’t you grow your hair out again?” Louis asked with his head
tilted to the side and a pout on his lips.

“I don’t know, just seemed like it was a part of the past. One direction,
our relationship, just everything. I needed a fresh start” Harry slurred
out with a shrug.

“But I loved your long hair! I used to braid it and everything” Louis
said with a fake scowl, but to Harry he looked more like an angry kitten.

“I know love. I was thinking about growing it out again” Harry said
with a smile, rubbing circles into Louis hips.

“Do you want me to grow mine with you again? Like we did the first
time” Louis asked innocently.

“Well, it’s up to you. I do feel more comfortable with it being long

though now so you don’t need to if you don’t want to” Harry reassured,
thankful for his kind gesture.

“Hmm, I’ll think about it then” Louis said before standing up and
offering a hand to help Harry.

341
Harry accepted Louis Hand and was pulled up off the floor, then
brushing his clothing off once he didn’t feel as dizzy.

They turned around to see the other three lads now sat on the floor in a
circle, passing a joint around as if they were in some sort of fucking frat
party. Louis scoffed and rolled his eyes at the sight but walked over to
join the group none the less.

Harry followed and sat next to Louis, resting his head against the man’s
shoulder and Louis smiled down at him.

“Anyway, What are we doing?” Louis asked the lads who were focused
on their phones, or, Niall’s phone.

“Checking the fan account. It’s been an hour now” Niall replied with
excitement.

“Shit, what are they saying?” Louis asked giddily, wanting to know
what the reactions were.

“Well, the account has blown up again, it’s now got 200k followers so
that’s like 150k more than last time. The picture has thousands of
comments and likes, half of them asking how we got the photo and the
other half saying how they knew it was real. I’d say it’s going pretty
well” Niall explained, still scrolling through his post.

“That’s good, we need to post another one though” Harry said as he

grabbed the phone from Niall.

“Hey! Give it back!” Niall exclaimed, making grabby hands for the
phone.

“Nope, were only posting another photo chill out” Louis said
nonchalantly as he peered over Harrys shoulder.

342
“Or, a video?” Harry suggested with a smirk, making Louis catch on
and grin widely.

“Sounds good, which one?” Louis asked, looking as Harry scrolled

through the folder in Niall’s gallery.

“Well, we could post the video from the bar at Wellington, you know,
the clear version. Then it will go with the photo we posted as well” He
said thoughtfully, watching How himself and Louis made out against
the bar in Wellington.

“Fucking hell, they’re gonna go mad. You don’t think they’ll catch on
right?” Louis asked, both anxious and excited.

“Nah I doubt it, and if they do we can just blame it on Ed or something”

Harry reassured with a chuckle, knowing that Ed was always one to
drop hints towards their relationship.

“Sure, Hey, pass me the joint would ya?” Louis suddenly said to Zayn
who was taking a drag.

Zayn rolled his eyes and reached over their little circle to give the joint
to Louis, who smiled and thanked him before taking a drag himself.

“Alright it’s posted” Harry said, locking the phone and tossing it back
to Niall.

“You lot better be sober by the time we reach Manchester, the paps will
notice if you’re out of it” Allen called back to them, realizing they only
had about an hour left until they reached their destination.

“Yes mum” Louis called back, laughing with the rest of the lads as they
passed around the joint.

Soon enough, they were all pretty high and talking nonsense.

343
“Hey, how come the sun will light up earth but it won’t light up space?”
Liam asked in his dazed state, not really sure what he was talking about.

“There’s Nothing in space to light up you idiot, it’s a vacuum” Harry

retorted, rolling his eyes with a smirk.

“Ooo sorry smart arse, sorry I don’t read about astrology shit every day,
what’s your zodiac today Haz?” Liam said back sassily.

“Hmm, let me check” Harry said, pulling out his phone but not actually
going on anything.

“Oh, it’s talking about past, present and future. And guess what it says
Liam” Harry said with a smirk.

“What?” Liam asked with a sigh.

“It says that in the past, Liam looked like an egghead when he went
bald” Harry said with a fake shocked expression, making the rest of the
lads laugh loudly at the dig.

“Heyy, I did not” Liam said with a pout, but was then pulled into Zayn’s
side as he wrapped an arm around him protectively.

“Don’t talk about my little egghead like that” Zayn said with a snicker,
causing Liam to shove him off with a slight smack to the shoulder.

“Zayn you fucking went bald once you can’t talk!” Liam exclaimed at
him.

“Yes love but Zayn actually suited it” Niall said with a laugh, the other
lads joining in.

“Why did I agree to this reunion again?” Liam said, shaking his head
whilst trying to hide his fond.

344
“Because you love us Lima” Louis said from the other side of the circle,
his back now leaning against Harrys chest.

“Yeh yeh, whatever. Anyone know what time it is?” Liam suddenly
asked, not knowing where he had placed his phone.

“4am, holy shit we haven’t slept!” Niall exclaimed, the realization

hitting him that they were meant to be preparing for a concert later on.

“Shit, we’re gonna be knackered later” Liam said, dragging his hands
across his face as the tiredness began to wash over him, the same going
for the rest of the boys.

“Maybe we should go to sleep for the last hour. We don’t wanna be

completely drained for the show” Harry suggested, beginning to gently
make his way up off the floor, being careful not to harm Louis.

“No, carry me!” Louis whined like a baby, gesturing for Harry to carry
him to bed because he was too tired to even stand.

“Ugh, you’re like a fucking four year old you know that?” Harry said,
rolling his eyes but a smile playing on his lips all the same.

“I’m your four year old, now carry me!” Louis exclaimed once again.

“A four year old dating a 26 year old would be quite disturbing though
don’t you think?” Harry said in disgust, but laughing at Louis immature
behavior.

“Yes Harold But that’s not the point. The point is I’m too tired to even
move and your here. And as my boyfriend you should be carrying me”
Louis sassed, not realizing the word that slipped from his mouth until
he saw Harrys reaction.

“Boyfriend? Am I now?” Harry teased with a smirk playing on his lips.

345
“Well, I would certainly love that, but I’m drunk so this is not the time
to make it official” Louis said matter of factly.

Harry decided to ignore the comment and instead huffed as he snuck

his arm under Louis’ legs, the other securing him on his back as he lifted
the man up without struggle, being that Louis was so light with his small
frame.

“Thanks babe” Louis said drowsily with his eyes closed, snuggling into
Harrys chest as he carried him over to his bed.

“Wait, no, sleep here with me” Louis said desperately as Harry was
about to turn to his own bed, pouting at the man with his big blue eyes
wide open.

“Lou, there’s barely any room in here” Harry said softly, pushing Louis
hair back off his forehead.

“Didn’t have a problem fucking me on it back in the day though” Louis

said with a smirk, grabbing Harry’s hand and pulling him into the small
space.

“We’ve both grown a lot since then, or, I have, your still small” Harry
said with a grin, giving in and deciding it wouldn’t hurt to be snuggled
up with Louis for an hour.

“Give me a break, I’m big!” Louis retorted, pulling his best bitch face
as Harry laughed.

“Sure baby” Harry said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Night guys, or morning, I don’t fucking know” Liam said tiredly as he

climbed onto his own bed, along with Zayn after him, making the other
three lads widen their eyes in surprise but they decided not to question
it.

346
Once they were all comfortable in their beds the bus went silent, the
only thing being heard was the whirring of the tires on the concrete
roads and the occasional beeps from other passing cars.

“I love you Haz” Louis whispered into the silence, Harry only just
catching the phrase.

“I love you too Lou” He replied with a smile on his face, kissing Louis
forehead before drifting into a deep sleep, dreaming about the day he
can call Louis his boyfriend once again.

————————————————————————

“Louis” Somebody whispered.

“Pst, Louis, wake up” the unknown person whispered again.

“Mph, no mum, another five minutes. I don’t wanna go to school” Louis

replied in a groggy voice, thick with sleep.

He then heard a round of quiet laughter but decided to ignore it,

snuggling deeper into the sheets.

“Harry died” The voice whispered again.

And that gained his bloody attention.

“What! No! Harry — Haz, he can’t, h-he can’t b-be dead. Harry cant—
” Louis stuttered out, bolting right up from his bed and pulling his hair
frantically in worry. But he was soon cut off by a strong pair or arms
around his waist, warmth emitting from the person making Louis
instantly calm down.

“They’re only joking, I’m right here baby” Harry cooed, whispering
into his ear whilst stroking his sides comfortingly.

347
“Holy shit you guys! That’s not fucking funny! I almost had a bloody
heart attack” Louis exclaimed, turning around and pushing Harry away
from him as he tried to hold back his sobs.

Louis just couldn’t imagine living his life without Harry, not again, not
after last time. The thought alone scared the shit out of him and he never
wanted to feel that kind of panic and distress ever again.

“Babe Shh, Don’t worry Lou, I’m right here okay? Right here” Harry
said as he took a step closer to Louis, wrapping his arms around him
once again and hugging him tightly.

“You, you can’t fucking do that to me, you just can’t” Louis said both
to Harry and the other lads who were now regretting what they did
immensely, just looking at the distressed man and wishing they could
take it back.

They also realized how death was a touchy subject for Louis, and they
really shouldn’t have fucking said that. They can’t even imagine what
would happen to Louis if he lost Harry, Harry honestly seemed to be
the only person in the world who could keep Lou sane. He couldn’t
have made it through all the tragedy in his life without him, even if he
wasn’t particularity there for a lot of it.

“Lou, we really are sorry. We were just trying to wake you up, we didn’t
think, Sorry mate” Liam said apologetically, looking at the shaking man
who was gripping onto Harry for dear life.

“I-it’s okay. I g-get it. Don’t worry about it” Louis sighed out, just the
smell of Harry calming him down.

“You good?” Harry asked, pulling Louis away from him so he could
look at his face, only to see the sadness and worry held within his ocean
blue eyes.

“Yeh, just scared me is all” Louis admitted in a vulnerable tone, staring

back up into Harrys forest green orbs.

348
“Glad to know you’d care by the way” Harry said with a slight smirk,
trying to lighten the mood.

“Yeh yeh, you should be honored that I’d care so much Harry Styles”
Louis said sarcastically with a chuckle, his blue eyes brightening up
instantly.

“Well, I’m glad you do” Harry said before pecking the man on the lips.

“Alright enough of the mushy shit, we’ve got to get going” Zayn said
whilst rolling his eyes at the scene, grabbing his duffle bag and
collecting any of his belongings that were laying around the bus.

Louis sighed once he had gotten himself together and began collecting
his things, not wanting to stay on the bus tonight as he could do with a
good rest in a luxurious hotel.

The rest of the lads did the same and before they knew it, they were
shielding their faces away from the crowd of paps that were desperately
trying to get a good shot of them.

“Over here!”

“How was the concert?”

“Are they hungover?”

Louis heard the last remark and groaned, not wanting this shit wrote all
over the media within a few hours, as he knew for a fact it would be.

“Louis How was the lap dance on stage?” One man called, causing the
entire crowd to begin laughing and asking more and more questions
related to that particular subject.

349
Louis tried to ignore it at first, being slightly embarrassed and his
cheeks blooming a light shade of red, but he soon got tired of the
comments and decided why not speak up?

“It was fucking fantastic, greatest lap dance I’ve ever received. Now
will you lot piss off, haven’t you go something better to do?” He said
sassily, making his way through the crowd of people who now were a
little angry at his attitude.

The shouting became louder and suddenly a large hand gripped onto
Louis wrist tightly, tugging and pulling causing Louis to trip and fall
down slightly.

“Get your fucking hands off him or I swear to god!” Harry growled at
the pap, tearing the disgusting hand away from Louis and pulling the
smaller man into his side, a protective arm sneaking around his waist.

Louis was shaking like a leaf. Sure, there had been times in the past
where he had been harassed both physically and verbally, but after
having a hangover and almost having a panic attack this morning, this
’little’ incident didn’t do much in his favor.

“Find out that things fucking name, he’ll pay for this” Harry shouted
sternly to Paul, their body guard, who nodded in return and once he had
gotten them safely into the hotel, he took off out of it again in search of
the man who had grabbed Louis.

Harry was seething in anger, red faced and fists clenched, But right now
his main priority was Louis, so for his sake he calmed himself down
and went to comfort him.

“Lou babe, are you alright?” He asked softly, placing his hands gently
on Louis cheeks and making the man look up at him, only to see his
eyes showing a mix of anger and worry.

350
“I swear to god if I see that fucker again I’ll—” Louis began but was
soon cut off by Harry pecking him on the lips. That seemed to happen
a lot lately.

“Shh, it’s okay. I’ll deal with him don’t worry. Let’s just go up to our
room yeh?” Harry asked, and in response Louis nodded his head, finally
calm.

It’s not like Harrys intentions were to beat the guy up, that’s not the
type of person he was. But when he said he’d deal with him, he meant
it in a sense that he would report the man to management and his own
employment company, hopefully he would lose his job after the stunt
he pulled.

Whilst everything had happened the other three lads had decided to get
themselves checked into the hotel, not wanting to waste anymore time
that could be spent resting in their rooms before the concert.

They had around four hours until they needed to leave again for the
stadium, that time would be spent relaxing and getting settled in, or as
settled in as they can for only one nights stay.

“There’s your room key, you’re coming up with us now right?” Niall
asked Harry and Louis, handing over the key to the taller man.

“Yeah one second” Harry replied before he bent down to grab their
luggage, even carrying Louis’.

“I can carry my own stuff you know” Louis said with an amused
expression.

“Hm, But wouldn’t want you straining them pretty little arms of yours
now would we” Harry said with a wink, holding his luggage in one hand
and Louis in the other.

351
“Whatever, be my servant for all I care” Louis said with a smirk before
sauntering off at a fast pace to join the lads, leaving Harry to trail after
him whilst rolling his eyes.

“You alright Lou?” Zayn asked the man as he came up next to them in
the elevator.

“Yeh, I’m good now, I guess I was just a bit shocked when it happened”
Louis said with a shrug, watching as the numbers increased on the wall,
showing that they were nearing their floor.

“Good, I’m glad” Zayn said with a small smile, patting Louis on the
shoulder.

Once they reached their floor there was a loud ding and the doors slides
open, letting the lads walk out in search of their rooms.

“Where the fuck are the rooms!” Louis exclaimed in frustration, having
been walking down the same corridor for about five minutes now.

“Louis, your stood right next to it” Harry said with a chuckle before
swiping the key card and pushing open the door with a pointed look in
Louis direction, as if to mock him.

“I knew that” Louis said quietly as he walked into the room, not really
caring about the scene in front of him as after years of staying in hotel
rooms they all started to looked the same.

Louis threw himself on the soft sheets of their king sized bed, humming
in content after the tiring night and morning he had experienced.

“Quite comfy there?” Harry said sarcastically, smiling fondly at the

man who was sprawled out across their bed.

“Yup” Louis said, popping the p at the end of emphasis.

352
Harry shook his head and dumped their luggage on the floor, not caring
for where they ended up before stripping down to his boxers and
climbing into bed besides Louis.

“Aren’t you gonna change?” Harry asked when he noticed Louis had
just been laying there silently for the past few minutes.

“Can’t be arsed” Louis replied, his eyes shut tightly as he breathed

deeply.

“Suit yourself” Harry said with a smirk before turning his back to the
man and pretending to go to sleep.

“Ex-fucking-scuse you? Suit myself? Isn’t that the moment where you
do it for me so that I can go to sleep peacefully?” Louis whined, bolting
upright from his laying down position and grabbing Harry shoulder and
pulling him over to lay back on his back.

Harry just kept his eyes shut and smirked towards the ceiling. What? It
was fun pissing Louis off.

“Harryyy” Louis drawled out, poking said man multiple times on his
chest, face, arms. You name it, he poked it.

“Your awfully persistent this morning” Harry said with his eyes still
shut.

“I’m always persistent. Now bloody undress me” Louis ordered,

making Harry laugh at his antics.

“Kinky” Harry said with a smirk as he finally obeyed Louis, moving

over to lazily remove his clothing down to his boxers.

“Cheers love” Louis said happily, pecking Harry on the cheek before
snuggling up to his chest under the covers, finally getting the rest he
needed.

353
“Your something else” Harry whispered with a smile as he shook his
head and pulled Louis in closer, feeling content as he drifted off to sleep
once again.

354
 37
Family

“So, you’ve cured the hangover then?” Simon asked as the boys waited
for their hair and makeup to be done before the show.

“Like you care, how’d you know about that anyways?” Louis spat out,
rolling his eyes whilst he took a seat in front of the lavish vanity.

“No, I don’t care. What I do care about is the paps seeing you in that
state. Now we’ve got multiple media outlets talking shit about how you
lot don’t take the job seriously and that you’re not cut out for it, honestly
I’m starting to believe it with the way your acting, what the fuck were
you thinking?” Simon explained with a harsh glare, getting louder and
angrier by the second.

“Give it a rest. All we did was celebrate our first show together after
hiatus, what’s the problem with that?” Louis replied, the frustration
eating at him.

“The problem is you don’t do it responsibly enough. I don’t give a shit

whether you get drunk or high, or whatever the fuck you do, but it stays
the fuck out of the media you got that?” Simon shouted, making the
lads shocked for a split second before they sighed and bit their tongues,
there was no use arguing with the man anyway.

“Whatever. Not like we control what they wrote about us though” Harry
muttered under his breath, rubbing a hand over his forehead.

“What was that Harold, I couldn’t quite hear you?” Simon smugly
taunted, raising his eyebrows expectantly through the mirror making
Harry turn around in anger at the man.

355
“You fucking heard me. I don’t talk back much to you but I’m honestly
so sick of your complaining. Your so controlling over us it’s insane that
we haven’t even just walked away from the contract ourselves—” Harry
ranted, and out of the corner of Louis eye he saw Liam gesture to his
phone. He instantly caught on and slyly began recording.

“You won’t let us come out, you constantly change the contract without
our permission, you and modest treat us like shit daily and now we can’t
even fucking celebrate for one night? And you wonder why we rebel so
much” Harry said with a scoff, finishing the rant and noticing the lads
were staring at him with a look of shock and pride. He felt good.

Simon stood there stunned for a moment, digesting all the words that
had just left Harrys mouth, but of course he had to open his fucking
mouth again.

“Don’t act all innocent, I saw that stunt you pulled on stage” Simon said
with a grimace, thinking back to the countless videos he had seen of
that pathetic lap dance.

“So what! I gave my boyfriend a lap dance, big deal!” Harry exclaimed,
throwing his arms around the air and Louis breath hitched at the word
boyfriend.

“You know it’s against the contract” Simon said with a glare, tapping
his fingers against his arms which were crossed over his chest.

“Oh yeh, you know what else is in the contract? The agreement that you
would respect your clients and help their every need to ensure a
successful and easy as possible career for them, you’ve broken that and
you’ve broken the deal on how long it would last. Read up on your facts
before you accuse us of shit” Harry said calmly, finally turning around
and sitting at his vanity once more.

The room filled with silence and the tension was so thick you could cut
it with a knife. The lads sat stunned looking between Harry and Simon,
feeling immensely proud of what the man had just done for them. On

356
the other hand Simon stood feeling both shocked and angry, not exactly
knowing what to do about the situation, for once.

“Have a good fucking show, this conversation isn’t over” Simon finally
said before leaving and slamming the door shut behind him, the crash
echoing around the room.

The lads let out a breath that they hadn’t realized they were holding in
and sighed, not wanting all this stress right before a show.

“You got that?” Harry suddenly asked, nodding down at Louis’ hidden
phone.

“Oh, Yeh I did, could use it as evidence you know” Louis said with a
smirk which Harry returned whilst nodding.

“That was really great what you just did for us Haz, none of us could’ve
done that right before a bloody show” Liam said with a smile, patting
Harry on his shoulder.

“It’s alright, I just lost my temper I guess, which rarely happens, I know.
But I’m just so sick of the way he treats us it’s unbelievable. I couldn’t
just sit there and not say anything” Harry said with a shrug, looking at
his reflection in the mirror to see dark circles hanging under his tired
eyes.

“Yeah we understand, we’re glad you did it” Zayn said reassuringly,
making Harry utter a quiet thanks in return.

“Hello boys!” Louise exclaimed with a smile on her face as she made
her presence known in the room, he smile soon fading as she felt and
uneasy tension.

“Wait. What’s happened?” She asked wearily, not liking the situation
already.

357
“Just another argument with Simon” Niall said with a sigh, not wanting
to go into details.

“Oh, should’ve known, that man is fucking intolerable, I don’t get why
you haven’t cut the contract with him yet” She said with a small smile,
setting down her things next to the vanities.

“It’s a lot more complicated than you think. Anyway let’s not talk about
that old fart, we’ve got a show to put on” Harry said with a smirk,
leaning back in his chair to await his makeover.

“Actually, I’ve got a little surprise for you” She said with a grin, looking
oddly suspicious.

“Oh god, you’re not planning on shaving my head again are you?” Liam
asked worriedly, reaching his hand up in a way to shield his hair.

“God no don’t be silly, that was a huge fucking mistake and we all know
it, Sorry mate” She said sarcastically making Liam pout.

“No, there’s some people here to see you actually” Louise said before
turning back to the door and slowly opening it, revealing a large group
of people.

These people consisted of all the lads friends and family.

“Louis!” Said man’s younger sisters exclaimed as they rushed into the
room first and attacked him in a huge hug, having not seen him in so
long.

“What’re you lot doing here?” Louis asked with a huge smile on his
face, looking towards Harry who was staring at him fondly.

“Everybody organized for us to come and see you perform because we

couldn’t come down to London for your first show” Daisy said
excitedly, still gripping to her older brother.

358
They may be grown up now, but of course they still get extremely
excited when seeing their older brother, especially when he was with
the other lads.

Whilst Louis was conversing with his siblings Harry was now talking
to Anne and Gemma, who were a little more calm but happy to see him
once again none the less.

They hadn’t seen him since he had gotten the call about the reunion and
all they were thinking about was how much he had changed since then.
The cold, broken man who didn’t have his Lou was now gone and
replaced with the old Harry that they all knew and loved. To say they
were happy was an understatement and there were so, so many
questions they needed to ask, but most of them would have to come
after the show.

“I can’t believe I” Harry said in awe, smiling widely at his mother and
sister.

“Well we felt bad not coming to your first big show that we all chipped
in to organize this meet up, we’re glad to see your doing alright Haz”
Anne said whilst playing with his hair, her eyes glazing over with
happiness.

“Don’t cry mum, I’m doing fine now” Harry said with a smile, wiping
his mums tears.

“So I’m guessing you’ve made up with Louis?” Gemma said with a
smirk, nudging her brother teasingly.

“Oh Shut up” Harry said bashfully, looking down with a slight blush
before raising his head a meeting Louis gaze once again.

“So you have then? Oh that’s great Harry, I knew it would all work out
again. So what are you guys official yet?” Anne asked excitedly,
looking over with a smile at the smaller man who was teasing his sisters,
she really had missed him, Louis was like a part of their family and

359
although she knew what Louis had done, she was sure there was a
deeper reasoning behind it which she would ask Harry about later on.

“Uh, no not yet, haven’t quite made it that far. We’ve talked and stuff
though so it’s getting there, I’m gonna ask him when the times right,
when everything’s a bit calmer you know” Harry explained with a fond
look, thinking about making Louis his again.

“Either way I’m glad you’re happy again, I had almost lost hope with it
all” Gemma said with a sad smile.

Harry scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and let out a sigh,
desperately trying to think of a way to apologies to his family whom he
had treated so badly over the past few years due to his mental state.

“Look, I Uh, I really am sorry, f-for—” Harry began anxiously,

stuttering through his words until Anne finally shushed him and rubbed
his back soothingly, not wanting her son to be in any distress when she
already knew how he felt about the situation and she knew for a fact he
regretted it, there was no need for apologies.

“Don’t worry about it, we already know Haz. Now, are you gonna let
me talk to Lou or not?” Anne said with a smirk, once again letting her
gaze drift over to the boy who had captured her sons heart since 2010.

“Yeh, come on” Harry said with a smile as he made his way over to
Louis, his mum and sister following closely behind.

Louis looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of Anne and Gemma
drawing closer to him. Shit, he thought to himself, how could he face
them after what he had done. He was sure they hated his guts, but then
again, Why were they smiling?

“Louis come here darling” Anne said with a large smile, bringing Louis
into a bone crushing hug which he wasn’t expecting.

360
At first he froze, not knowing what to do, until he finally gained back
his senses and practically melted into the hug, missing how it felt to be
in a mother figures arms.

Anne was like his second mum, after his own which he greatest missed.
She was the closest thing he had left to a mother in his and his siblings
life so he wasn’t surprised when he felt his eyes watering slightly.

He opened his eyes to look over Anne’s shoulder and saw Harry smiling
at him widely, the same going for his sister Gemma.

“How’ve you been love?” Anne said as she pulled away from the hug,
noticing Louis wet eyes and cooing before wiping them for him.

“I, I’m good Anne, how about you?” He asked with a smile, so so happy
for how this was turning out.

“I’m good, although I have missed you” she replied with a sad smile,
thinking about all them years Harry and Louis could have been together.
All the time wasted that could have instead been used creating more
memories together.

“I’ve missed you too, but, I don’t know why you would miss me if I’m
honest, after everything that happened” He said quietly, looking down
at his shoes as his mind was filling with guilt once again.

“Look, what happened in the past stays in the past. I’m sure a lot more
went on that I don’t know about so who would I be to judge. You and
Harry can tell me more about it later, just have a nice time with the
show tonight Alright” She said reassuringly, lifting the man’s head so
her gaze would meet his own.

“Yeh, Alright. Thank you Anne” Louis said politely, nodding his head
with a smile.

“Don’t forget about me dickhead” Gemma said teasingly, being scolded

by Anne for her language which she sheepishly ignored.

361
“Wouldn’t dare to” Louis said with a smirk, bringing her in for a hug
which she reciprocated just as forcefully.

“So, you and Haz made up then. That’s good, but don’t think you’ll get
away with it if you hurt him again, I mean it” Gemma said both sternly
and sarcastically, knowing Louis wouldn’t dream of letting Harry go
again but saying it just to be sure.

“Gemma” Anne said sternly, giving her a glare.

“Oh he knows I’m joking mum, unless he did do it again. Then he’s in
trouble” She said with a wink at both Louis and Anne, making Louis
let out a sigh of relief even though he had nothing to worry about,
there’s no way he’s letting go of Harry this time, not on his watch.

“Harry!” Louis sister suddenly called, running to give the man a hug
which he smiled widely at.

Louis sisters absolutely adored Harry, they were so heartbroken when

they found out about the split and thought they were never see the man
again, but of course they were wrong as they felt Harry sneak his huge
arms around their smaller frames.

“You’ve gotten so much bigger since the last time I saw you!” Harry
said in awe, looking at how grown up they’ve become.

Their jeans and crop tops were now replaced by long elegant dresses
and high heels, their hair cascading down their backs in curls and
waves, makeup covering their faces but in a simplistic way. It was like
Harry was seeing completely different people.

“Yeh well we are 16 now” Phoebe said smugly, her sister pulling the
same facial expression.

“I think you’ve gotten too much sass from your brother. Anyway,
how’ve you been?” Harry said with a smirk, making Louis laugh and

362
nudge his shoulder, Anne and Gemma watching on with grins on their
faces.

“We’re good, we loved your album by the way” Daisy said with a
smirk, knowing very well about the songs Dedicated to her brother on
there.

“You listened to it? I thought u said you didn’t?” Louis accused,

looking at his sister with raised eyebrows.

“Well we obviously weren’t gonna tell you we’d listened to it when

even you hadn’t, have you yet by the way, seeming as you’ve made up
with Haz?” Phoebe asked curiously, wanting to know what Louis
thought about them particular songs.

“Not yet, I haven’t had time to, but I’ve heard medicine, during the first
show” Louis said with a smirk, eyeing up Harry who laughed and gave
him a look as if to cut it off.

“Oh yeh, nice lap dancing skills by the way Harry , didn’t know you
had it in you” daisy said with a smirk causing Harry to go a deep shade
of red, Louis to high five his sister, and Anne and Gemma to relentlessly
tease Harry for it.

“Jesus I’m never gonna live this down am I?” Harry said with a groan,
slightly regretting the decision.

“Nope, it was great though, you should do it more often” Louis said
with a wink, making everyone except Harry roll their eyes and make
gagging noises.

“One thing I didn’t miss about you two was the PDA, cut it out or I’m
leaving” Gemma said whilst shaking her head, the other two girls
agreeing whilst Anne just stayed silent.

363
“Your just jealous that you don’t have as good a relationship as us”
Harry said to his sister, slinging his arm around Louis shoulders with a
smirk.

“Oh stop teasing her Harry, you know it’ll just turn into an argument,
you still act like bloody five year olds I swear” Anne said whilst biting
her lip to contain her laughter, shaking her head at the two boys.

“Where’s Lottie and fizzy anyway?” Louis suddenly asked his sisters,
they couldn’t have came here without them.

“I think they went to the bathroom or something, I don’t know but they
should be here soon” Daisy explained with a shrug.

“Alright, well we better get ready for the show, you can stay in here and
catch up with everyone if you’d like?” Louis said to his sisters and Anne
and Gemma, who nodded before walking away to converse with
everyone else they hadn’t seen in ages.

“I can’t believe this” Harry said in awe as he looked around the room
to see everybody smiling and laughing with one another, happy to be
seeing their loved ones after such a long period of time.

“I know. I’m glad Anne’s not angry with me, I was kinda expecting the
worst” Louis said shyly, making Harry turn his attention to him.

“Why? You know my mum loves you” Harry said reassuringly,

slipping his hand around Louis waist.

“I don’t know, I guess I was just being pessimistic about it. Cause I
know that if I was in her position I’d hate me too” Louis said sadly,
sighing.

“Don’t say shit like that about yourself. You and I both know there was
a meaning behind what happened and it was no thanks to Simon and
Management, we can tell her about it later on if you’d like?” Harry said,
cupping Louis face and staring at him so he got his point across better.

364
“Sure, sounds great Haz” Louis said truthfully before they took their
seats once again at the vanity’s.

For the next hour of hair and makeup the lads all sat with huge smiles
on their faces, surrounded by the people they loved most once again.

365
 38
Water Fight

“Good evening Manchester!” Harry screamed loudly into the

microphone, the sound of his voice echoing around the stadium.

The fans cheered and screamed in reply, putting a large smile on all of
the lads faces. Their family members were sat in a more secluded area
of the stadium so they could enjoy the show without the fans
recognizing and mauling them.

Anne and Gemma grinned at one another upon hearing the reaction
Harry got from the fans, they found it amazing that the band could still
fill out stadiums as large as this even after so much time being away.

“You all look fabulous tonight” Harry said to the crowd, gaining yet
another scream in return, making him smirk and laugh slightly into the
mic.

“Wherever you came from, whether that’s here in Manchester or from

miles away, we appreciate you taking the time to be with us tonight.
We love you all very much” Harry said truthfully, speaking on the other
lads part during the little speech.

“Now, our family members are actually here tonight” Harry said
making the fans scream in excitement as they looked around in search
of said family members.

“Um excuse me, attention up here please. This isn’t doing well for my
narcissism” He joked sarcastically when he saw the fans turning their
attention away at the mention of their family members.

366
They all suddenly laughed and faced him once again, the lads were
shaking their heads fondly and their family members were in awe at
how good he was when entertaining the audience.

“Good, thank you, well we better get on with the first song. This is little
black dress” Harry finalized with a grin before turning away and
making his way to the lads once again, the fans left screaming behind
him.

The chords of the song sounded around the stadium and the lights
dimmed, creating an atmosphere of excitement and tension.

Louis and Harry glanced at each other with smirks on their faces, ready
to begin singing the first verse together. They brought the mics to their
lips and began belting out the lyrics as they made their way around the
front of the stage.

“Little black dress just walked into the room, making heads turn can’t
stop looking at you”

Louis turned to Harry and pointed to his chest whilst singing that part,
as if dedicating it to him. The lyrics were true to him, whenever he saw
Harry in one of his lavish suits he honestly couldn’t turn his head away,
even when on a large stage like this surrounded by thousands of people.

The fans took notice and went into a frenzy, the show had only just
begun and the two lads were already teasing each other, they were
excited now more than ever for what’s to come.

Anne, Gemma, Lottie, fizzy, Daisy and Phoebe were smirking at each
other after seeing the interaction, happy that they were going against all
the rules put in place by Simon and doing whatever they wanted to
anyway. They were no longer hiding in fear of the man, they were
embracing themselves and each other, showing their fans the truth.

“It’s so right, it’s so right, it’s so right you know”

367
Harry walked closer to Louis so their faces were almost touching as he
sung the words loudly with the man, swaying his hips slightly with a
smirk playing on his lips before he abruptly broke away and walked to
the other side of the stage, leaving Louis smiling and slightly aroused.

“Little black dress did you come here alone, it’s too late, it’s too late,
it’s too late to go home, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright you know,
it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright you know”

Harry sung to one set of fans whilst Louis took the other, their voices
mixing angelically over the music. Louis turned to see a fan throw water
on Harrys expensive Gucci suit, making him roll his eyes playfully and
walk away from the fan in question, and this gave Louis an idea as a
sneaky grin came up on his face.

He hadn’t had a water fight in years. And he knew it was immature for
his age, but fuck it, nobody’s too old for a water fight, right?

He thought he’d leave it for later though, make it so nobody sees it

coming, especially Liam.

Zayn joined Harry and Louis and began singing the chorus with them,
making the fans even more excited if that was even possible.

“I wanna see the way you move for me baby, I wanna see the way you
move for me baby, I wanna see the way you move for me”

Louis smirked and sung the words directly at Harry, who raised an
eyebrow and began dancing against his microphone stand as if he were
putting a show on for Louis. Louis laughed and thought that Harry
looked both sexy and utterly ridiculous at the same time, only
something that Harry Styles could do.

He shook his head at Harry who laughed adorably and stopped his
dancing with a shrug, beginning to sing the second verse again with
Louis.

368
“Little black dress who you doing it for, Little black dress I can’t take
any more, it’s not right, it’s not right, it’s not right you know”

Louis and Harry both slightly frowned when singing these words. These
words that they’d been told so many times by management and Simon.
That their relationship ’wasn’t right’ and they really can’t take it
anymore, making them have to resort to legal action.

“Little black dress what’s your favorite song, Little black dress I won’t
do you no harm, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright you know, it’s
alright, it’s alright, it’s alright, cause I’ll take you home”

Harry winked at the last line making Louis smirk and blush slightly.
Niall and Liam suddenly made their appearance next to them and they
all sung in a line at the end of the stage, singing the lyrics with the fans.

“I wanna see the way you move for me baby, I wanna see the way you
move for me baby, I wanna see the way you move for me”

And with that the song was over, the fans were going mad for all the
’Larry proof’ they had gotten from just one song and they felt like they
had travelled back to the early days of one direction, where Louis and
Harry did stuff like this all the time, not having a care in the world and
no restrictions.

“I’m glad they’re back to how they used to be” Lottie said to the group
of people surrounding her who were watching the band play in awe.

“Me too. They’ve done enough hiding, it pained me so much having to

watch them be treated the way they did and still do by management”
Anne replied, shaking her head in disgust at the mere thought of modest
and Simon.

“Can’t they get out of the contract somehow?” Daisy asked, taking her
attention away from the lads on stage.

369
“There must be a way, it would probably have to be done legally
though. I’m going to ask them about it later” Anne said with a nod,
smiling at Louis younger sister.

“God they proper went at it out there, and that was only the first song.
I don’t even wanna imagine what they’re going to do later on in the
show” Gemma said with a laugh, shaking her head at Louis and her
brothers behavior.

“Don’t even mention it, he acted like a stripper for God’s sake” Lottie
said, referring to Harry whilst laughing with the rest of the girls.

“Well, you get used to the sight after seeing him with Louis for years”
Anne said, joining in with the laughter, looking down on the two boys
that were currently whispering something to one another.

“My brothers a bad influence” Fizzy said with a grin, knowing exactly
why Harry had acted that way on stage.

“Too right he is, where’s my innocent baby gone?” Anne said

sarcastically with a smile.

“He’ll never be innocent again as long as he’s with Louis. Honestly,

how’s he not dying in embarrassment after doing that knowing his
family are here?” Gemma said with a scoff.

“Well he’s always been quite a show off, I don’t think he cares to be
honest” Anne replied with a smile, focusing her attention back on the
boys.

“Hey Karen, I think Liam’s about to perform” Anne suddenly called to

Karen who was talking to Zayn’s mum about god knows what.

Karen whipped her head up and watched with wide, focused eyes as her
son took his place on stage and the intro of strip that down began
playing.

370
“You know I’ve been taking some time and I’ve been keeping to
myself, I’ve had my eyes up on the prize, ain’t watching anybody else,
but your love hit me hard girl yeah your bad for my health, I love the
cards that I’ve been dealt, do you feel the same as well?”

As Liam sung he danced the usual routine he had learned specifically

for this song, making the lads watch, stunned at his performance. Where
did the boy that couldn’t dance for shit go? Louis thought.

As Zayn heard the lyrics he felt a pang of what he suspected to be

jealousy surge through him. He knows their little fling didn’t exactly
work out because they were both bisexual, meaning they were still quite
involved with other girls at the time they developed feelings for each
other.

It was a tough situation for the both of them. They had talked a little
about it since returning to the band but there were still a lot of
unresolved topics they needed to sit down and really talk through.

On one hand they both definitely had feelings for one another, the same
feelings that never really went away during hiatus, but they had a lot of
problems getting in the way of it. Liam has a son now, bear, with Cheryl
and to Zayn’s knowledge they are still a bit on and off. And Zayn is still
talking to Gigi, whom he isn’t sure if he has feelings for or not. He
really needed to figure this shit out and soon, he can’t bare it anymore.

“You know I used to be in 1D, now I’m out free”

Liam sung these words with a smirk, looking back towards the lads who
were making gestures towards themselves, as if to say they’re right
here, right now, back as a band.

“People wanted me for one thing, that’s not me. I’m not changing the
way that I used to be, I just wanna have fun and get rowdy, one coke
and Bacardi, sip it lightly, when I walk inside the party, girls on me, F1
type Ferrari, 6 feet speed, girl I love it when your body grinds on me,
baby”

371
As Liam sung the lads were laughing at the lyrics, knowing that this
isn’t what Liam used to be like and still isn’t, this song was probably
just written for publicity to kick start his solo career.

“Fucking hell he sounds like one of those self centered mumble

rappers” Louis said sarcastically, laughing with Harry.

“Zayn you need to sort him out mate” Niall said whilst snickering with
the other two lads, making Zayn shake his head with a smirk.

Liam sung the rest of the song and soon it was over, the fans screaming
his name and he waved at them making his way around the stage.

Louis smirked as he grabbed a large bottle of water, the lads turning to

him to say something but stopped when Louis places a finger against
his lips and shushed them with a grin.

Liam was in the middle of a speech, facing the audience and seeming
oblivious to the sneaky man coming up behind him.

As Louis went He shushed the fans and they nodded towards him,
trying to hold in his laughter.

“Oh god what’s he doing now” Lottie said with a sigh, but a smirk on
her lips none the less.

“Water fight, again” Phoebe replied while laughing.

“Why’s it gone all quiet in here?” Liam asked the crowd who were now
focused on Louis as he strolled up behind Liam, taking the lid of the
bottle and preparing to douse the man in it.

“I think Liam’s a bit full of himself don’t you?” Louis said making his
presence known and without a second thought spilling the ice cold
water all over his head, the water cascading down Liam’s body as he
let out a girly scream.

372
Liam tried to get away from Louis but he was held in place, even though
Louis was small he was surprisingly strong, not letting Liam get away
as he finished pouring the entire bottle on him.

The fans were in hysterics, laughing at the scene in front of them as the
two men stumbled around the stage.

“Your gonna pay for that Tommo” Liam said, before grabbing a bottle
of his own and opening the cap, running after Louis down the stage
runway, trying not to slip on the water.

Louis flipped Liam off over his shoulder as he ran far in front of him,
being a lot faster than Liam or any of the other lads. Speaking of them,
they were watching what was happening whilst laughing, doubling over
at the sight of Liam trying to catch Louis like they were four year olds.

Liam soon caught up to Louis when there was no stage left to run on.
Louis accepted his fate and stood still whilst Liam tipped the water all
over him, the water drenching his clothing and making it stick to his
body.

Harry caught sight of Louis and felt as if his eyes were going to pop out
of his head. Louis looked extremely hot with the water dripping down
his body, his muscles defined under the white shirt clinging to his skin.
He soon snapped out of his trance though when Niall snapped his
fingers in front of his face, grinning like a madman at Harry practically
drooling.

“Jesus that was cold” Louis said as he grabbed a towel, drying himself
off as best he could, but not succeeding.

“How’d you think I feel? You got one right out of the ice box whilst I
only had a room temperature bottle to Throw on you” Liam retorted,
shoving Louis a bit playfully, which was a mistake as Louis slipped
over the puddle of water beneath his feet and fell on his back with a
loud thud.

373
Louis groaned in pain but smirked as Liam came towards him looking
worried, holding a hand out for him to help him up.

Louis took his hand and pulled harshly, bringing Liam tumbling to the
stage floor on top of him. Louis was laughing loudly, unaffected by the
situation whilst Liam was muttering curse words under his breath.

The crowd were laughing loudly whilst their family members were
shaking their heads fondly, thinking how ridiculous they were being.

The other three men made their way down the stage to Liam and Louis,
calming down from their laughter as they saw them laying on the floor
drenched in water.

“If I help you you’re not gonna pull me down too are you?” Harry asked
Louis as he bent down to talk to him, giving him a smirk.

“Never” Louis simply replied, grabbing Harrys hand and using it to pull
himself up off the floor, the fans awing at the cute gesture.

Louis stood chest to chest with Harry , staring at him with a smile on
his face.

“You look hot by the way” Harry whispered in his ear with a smirk,
making Louis blush and laugh.

“Don’t I always?” Louis asked sarcastically, tilting his head to the side.

“Sure babe” Harry said, the smirk not yet leaving his lips.

The lads continued with the concert and when it was over they thanked
the crowd and bowed, waving at them and sending kisses as they left
the stage, the screams still being heard from behind them.

374
Their family members were escorted back stage and met up with them
in the dressing room where they saw them changing into more
comfortable clothing.

“Jesus I don’t wanna see my brother in his underwear” Daisy said with
a grimace as she turned around and faced the wall until they got
changed.

“Rude” Louis said sarcastically but then gestures for her that it was safe
to look once he was in his clothes again.

“Did you enjoy the show?” Harry asked all their family members as he
was brushing his hair back away from his face.

“Yeah it was great, apart from the fact that you couldn’t leave Louis
alone for two seconds” Gemma sarcastically replied with a smirk at her
brother.

“Heyyy” Harry said with a laugh as he flipped her off teasingly.

“Harry” Anne warned but had a smile on her face, not actually caring.

“Sorry” Harry said sheepishly as he turned his attention back to his bag
that he was packing.

“Wait, do you guys have to go to the next city already?” Lottie asked a
little disappointedly as she saw all the lads packing their stuff up.

“No don’t worry, we don’t leave until tomorrow afternoon. We were

thinking we could either go out for drinks or just go back to the hotel
and talk?” Louis replied reassuringly as he also packed his belongings
away.

There was a small debate on what to do after that, some people wanting
to go out where as others wanted to go to the hotel, so in the end they
settled on going for a drink or two then going to the hotel for the rest of
the night.

375
The huge group of them were all escorted to a large limo that would fit
them all and were driven straight to a private club/bar in Manchester
City center. The place they were going was booked out for them last
minute, the owners agreeing as they were such huge celebrities. Their
life did have some perks amongst all the bad shit after all.

“Fuck sake” Zayn muttered as he saw all the paps outside the bar, how
did they even know there’d be here? It was last minute for God’s sake.

“Right, Paul here will take you guys in first then come back for us, wait
in the entrance for us okay?” Louis told their family members, seeing
Paul make his way out to their car and telling the paps to move out of
the way.

They all nodded and got out of the car one by one after Paul opened the
door. It was a little stressful as there were a few rude paps who wouldn’t
leave them alone, but the majority were respectful, well either that or
they just didn’t care for them, they came for pictures of the lads after
all.

Louis saw one pap get in Lottie and Fizzy's way, And was about to get
out and say something but stopped in his tracks when he saw his sisters
sassing the man aggressively, making him step back with his arms up
as if he was surrendering. Louis laughed and felt proud of his sisters,
they were exactly like him, Little Donny chavs at heart, not taking any
shit from irrelevant people.

Once they all made it inside Paul came back for them and opened the
door. They were immediately met with flashes and shouting, the paps
desperately trying to get their pictures and questions answered.

They all ignored the crowd until Louis saw the man who tried to stop
his sisters, he smirked before calling out “haha you got sassed by my
sisters” earning a glare from the man and a nudge from Harry, as if to
say cut it out.

376
They made it into the bar without any problems and met up with their
family again in the entrance, Louis immediately high giving his sisters
and laughing with them about the situation. Yup, bad influence indeed.

One of the waitresses greeted them and navigated them to a large

seating area around the fireplace in the main area of the bar. It was a
cozy place, especially without it being crowded with people, it was just
the lads and their family and friends seated on comfy couches and chairs
around a fireplace in a dimmed room.

“Could I take your orders for drinks?” The waitress kindly asked once
they were all seated, Louis leaning into Harrys chest as Harry wrapped
an arm around him.

Everyone took notice of the two lads and cooed at them as they seemed
to be oblivious to the stares, just embracing each other in this time of
much needed calmness during a busy time in their lives.

“Can I get a pint please?” Louis asked as he looked up to the woman,

who smiled and nodded, noting down his order.

“I’ll have tequila on ice please” Harry answered, ordering the drink he
usually liked after a show.

“Ooh I want a cocktail!” Daisy suddenly exclaimed, looking excited, as

did Phoebe.

“You can’t have a cocktail babes, your too young” Lottie said with a
small smile, making the two girls pout.

“We’re 16, it’s not that young. Everyone else is drinking” Phoebe
argued.

“Oh come on, let them have a drink, it’s only for tonight. I was drinking
at 16” Louis said with a smirk, him getting a say as he was the eldest of
the siblings.

377
“Yeh but that’s you Louis” Fizzy said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Every 16 year old has had a drink by that age” Louis shrugged,
honestly not thinking it would be a problem allowing his sisters to have
one drink for the special occasion, it didn’t even need to be a strong
drink.

“Would the bar even allow it?” Lottie asked, now turning her attention
back to the waitress who looked slightly awkward and unsure of the
situation.

“Well we don’t normally serve 16 year olds, well not cocktails anyway,
usually they’re only allowed a beer or blue wkd, something like that
and that has to be with an adult, but I guess we could make an exception
for a cocktail each seeming as nobody else is here and well, it’s you so”
She said with a small smile.

“Yes! Can we then?” Daisy asked excitedly.

“Whatever, Louis said yes so I guess so, only one though” Lottie replied
with a sigh.

Lottie liked to think of herself as quite responsible when it came to the

younger siblings, trying to act as their mother figure after Jay passed.
But when she really thought about it, she did drink at 16 as well and the
girls sometimes have parties back home whilst drinking much more
than just one cocktail, so what was there to be worried about?

“Thank you” They both replied, now feeling content that they wouldn’t
be left out.

The waitress then collected all their orders and walked away to get the
drinks, leaving them to talk.

“So, how’s the reunion been so far?” Anne asked the lads, interested in
what’s gone on in the past few months.

378
“It’s been good, busy, but good. We got back from America a few
weeks ago” Liam answered as Harry and Louis seemed to be to
immersed in one another.

“Yeh? Bet the weather was better over there” Anne said, thinking about
how sunny it was in LA whilst here in England it was none stop rain.

“Yeh it was great, how have you guys been anyway?” Niall asked
politely.

“Not much really, I spent a lot of time with Gemma though” Anne said,
smiling at her daughter who was sat cuddled up next to her.

“I got my sunglasses range out” Gemma said proudly, smiling at the

thought of her accomplishment.

“Oh yeh I saw that on Instagram a while back, well done by the way”
Zayn said with a smile.

“Thank you” Is all Gemma replied, smiling gratefully at the man.

The waitress returned with their drinks, trying not to spill them as there
were a lot to carry. She sat them down on the large table in front of the
fire place and was thanked by everyone before she left once again.

Daisy and Phoebe excitedly grabbed their drinks and drank a large gulp
of the alcoholic beverage, loving the taste of their blue cocktails.

“Hey slow down, you’ve only got one and it’s not bloody water” Louis
suddenly piped up, watching his sisters giggle smugly as they now
sipped their cocktails.

Louis shook his head and took a sip of his beer before putting it back
down on the table and handing Harry his tequila, Harry thanked him
with a kiss on the cheek and also took a sip before handing it back to
Louis to place on the table.

379
Maura, Niall’s mum, noticed the gesture and smirked at Anne, now
wanting to know the details behind how they got back together.

“So, Harry, Louis, your back together again” Maura said with a grin,
sipping on her red wine as the two men looked towards her, broken out
of their trance.

All the attention was now focused back on the couple and Louis
squirmed slightly under their watchful eyes, Harry noticing and
soothing him with gentle rubs on his shoulder.

“Yeh, it’s not like official yet though, we’re working on it” Harry
explained, smiling down at Louis.

“I’m glad, is Simon giving you trouble again though?” Karen asked, not
even wanting to say the man’s name.

“Yeh, that’s what we needed to talk to you about actually” Louis sighed
out, rubbing his forehead.

“Why? What is it? Did he do something wrong again?” Anne suddenly

asked, worried about the tone of Louis’ voice.

“It’s a long story. I guess I’ll start from the beginning” Louis said with
a shaky breath, now having to explain the breakup once again which he
dreaded.

“So, I’m pretty sure you all know how me and Harry broke up, with the
Uh, the cheating thing” Louis began, picking at his nails, a habit he used
to deal with his anxiousness.

Harry continued to soothe him and everyone else in the room nodded
their heads, knowing exactly how everything went down, at first when
they heard the news they were all disappointed with Louis, wondering
how he could throw years of love away for one girl, but they didn’t
know the truth.

380
“Well, it was actually a PR stunt, kind of, or set up to be. Simon had
told me that I was going to do a PR stunt with Eleanor and had told me
beforehand that Harry knew about it, which he didn’t, but I didn’t know
that. I ended up getting piss drunk when at the club, I actually think
Eleanor was giving me more and more drinks on purpose but I’m not
sure. You know how the rest of it went and I regret it immensely, but
it’s in the past now, me and Harry have talked it over and were both in
a better place” Louis finished, taking a deep breath and running his
hands through his hair as everyone sat in silence, not knowing how to
respond.

“Wait, so your telling me that Simon set you both up?” Fizzy asked, her
tone laced with anger at the revelation.

“Uh, Yeh, I guess” Louis said sadly.

“Sorry for my language, but what a fucking dick. I knew he was a shit
person but I didn’t think he’d go as low to split you guys up” She
continued, shaking her head in disbelief.

“It’s still partly my fault though—” Louis began but was stopped by
Anne.

“No, Louis do not take the blame in all this. If Simon hadn’t set you up
in the first place it would never have happened, and if Eleanor really
did have a part in this by getting you drunk on purpose and taking
advantage of you then it’s just as much her fault as anyone else’s” Anne
said sternly but softly, trying to reassure Louis.

All Louis did was nod and sink further into Harrys arms, seeking all the
comfort he can get.

“So, What now? What else were you gonna tell us?” Trisha, Zayn’s
mum asked.

“To put it bluntly, we’re going to take legal action. Liam knows all
about it and him and the lads are helping us, but we’re gathering

381
evidence of his verbal abuse, it would go to court as a discrimination
act” Harry explained, taking a sip of his tequila.

“Jesus, it’s that bad then?” Anne said sadly.

“Yeh, we’ve already got some evidence though, some voice recordings
of Simon and modest” Liam said.

“Can you show us?” Lottie asked, wanting to know what really goes on
behind the scenes.

“Yeh, Louis has it on his phone” Liam agreed, gesturing to her brother.

Louis hesitated for a moment, not knowing if he really wanted them all
to hear the shit they go through every day, but he decided they needed
to, they wouldn’t be able to understand the extent of it without hearing
it for themselves. So with that he pulled out his phone and scrolled for
the video, finding the worst one of them all.

He shuffled forward and presented his phone to them, they all leaned in
to hear the recording better and then Louis pressed play.

“If there’s any funny business between you two then I’m upping the
contract time” Simon could be heard saying after a while, making
everyone except the boys turn and look confusedly at one another,
another thing they would need to explain.

“Fuck sake Louis, no kissing, holding hands, hugging, touching, all that
shit. To put it simply, don’t act gay” Simon spoke up again from the
video, making everyone gasp in shock at the man’s cruel words. Now
what the lads had been telling them was proved, it really was real.

“It’s not a bullshit excuse, your careers would go down the drain as
people in this industry don’t like fags like you. I’m doing you a favor”

What Simon then said was the icing on the cake, making everyone even
more infuriated.

382
“Right, I think we’ve heard enough, turn that bullshit off” Fizzy said,
not caring if she swore at this point, she was too angry to even think
right now.

Louis shut off the video and put his phone away again, moving back
into Harrys grasp.

“I can’t believe him, how can you stand to work with that man?” Anne
said in a bitter tone, hating Simon more than ever.

“That’s why we’re taking legal action, to get out of this mess. But you
can’t say a word about this to anyone, and I mean anyone. If word gets
out about this the whole plan is going down the drain, Simon will find
out and wipe our phones of any evidence. He’d probably treat us even
worse if he found out” Harry said sternly, looking pointedly at each
person with a look that made them all shiver, Harry can be very
intimidating when he wanted to be.

“Yeh, we understand and we wouldn’t even dream of telling anybody.

Now what was that shit about upping the contract?” Lottie said on
behalf of everyone else.

“Simon ripped up our contract a while ago, now saying that if we pull
anymore stunts like we’ve been doing on stage then he will up our
contract to five or more years, it will go up and up as punishment each
time we do anything. But we’re choosing to ignore it, after all, it will
be soon over once we’ve spoken to our lawyers, well hopefully” Louis
explained, gripping the couch in anger, his knuckles turning white.

“He can’t fucking do that! There’s got to be so many rules he’s breaking
by doing this?” Gemma exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

“If nobody knows about it he can do what he wants I guess, but now
we’ve got evidence so it won’t be so secretive soon enough” Niall said,
shrugging his shoulders.

383
“Okay. I think we’re all up to date now though and honestly I’m hating
this negative atmosphere, let’s stop talking about this bullshit and enjoy
ourselves, we won’t be seeing you for ages after this so we best make
the most of it” Anne said, everybody else agreeing with her and getting
their drinks to have a toast.

“To your reunion” Anne said and smiled as everybody clinked their
glasses together before taking swigs of their drinks, now in a slightly
better mood and all the serious topics dropped.

Everybody chatter amongst themselves for a while, Louis and Harry

keeping to themselves and sharing sweet kisses now and then, not
taking notice of anybody else. Suddenly after ages of them seeming to
not speak, the twins spoke up.

“Oh my god, I’ve been wanting to ask you guys this for ages now, but
do you know what edits are on social media?” Phoebe asked Harry and
Louis, who nodded slightly, but not really knowing a lot about them.

They had only ever seen one or two examples of edits made of them,
having accidentally found them on social media such as Instagram.
Some were actually quite good, others were ridiculous.

“Here look, there’s video edits and picture ones” Daisy said as she
pointed her phone towards the lads and everyone else to have a look at.

On the screen was a picture of Harry and Louis holding hands as they
seemed to be walking out of a club, Harrys suit jacket draped over Louis
shoulders as if he was cold.

“What the fuck that looks so real” Louis said in awe of the editing skills
a fan had, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Wait I’ve had an idea” Niall said as he looked at the picture, a grin
forming on his face.

“Go on then” Louis said, gesturing for Niall to continue.

384
“You know the fan account” Niall began, gaining nods from everyone
except their family members who shook their heads in confusion.

“Oh yeh basically we have a fake fan account that we’re using to
release” Larry proof “that the fans haven’t seen before” Niall explained.

“Wait, So that’s how them Wellington pictures got released! I saw that
all over social media when it got posted, Jesus that was you then?”
Phoebe asked in shock.

“Yup, Anyway, I was thinking what if we posted some real pictures of

you guys on the account saying they’re edits, they’ll never know” Niall
continued with a smirk, thinking about how confused the fans would
get, he really did love tricking them, it was hilarious.

“Shit, Yeh we should, they’ll be so confused when they look so real”

Harry said whilst laughing, the lads agreeing on the plan which they
would take care of later.

“There’s more though, I like the video ones the best” Daisy said with a
grin, scrolling down on her phone to see a video come up.

The song playing was ’often’ by the weekend as video clips were shown
in a compilation. It was weird to watch because it seemed like a sexy
type of video, alternating between hot shots of Louis and Harry on their
own before showing people together that were supposed to be them, but
were really just some people they didn’t even know.

Their eyes widened at the video and were both getting a little flustered
at seeing sexy videos of one another. They blushed as they realized
every one including their family members were also watching this.

“Um, that’s nice but don’t you find it weird watching shit like that, I’m
your brother after all?” Louis asked hesitantly, finding it weird that his
sisters could just happen to scroll past and see this on social media at
any time.

385
“Yes we find it weird obviously, we only played it to see your
reactions” Phoebe said with a smirk, giggling at Harry and their
brothers reactions to the video of one another.

“You little shits” Louis said before shoving the phone out of her hand,
making it fall to the floor with a loud thump.

“Oi! If that’s broke. Your buying me a new one” Daisy exclaimed,

rushing to grab her phone from the floor, but sighing in relief that it
wasn’t smashed.

“Yeh yeh whatever, please say you don’t watch that regularly though,
that’s just weird” Louis said, covering his face with his hands in
embarrassment as Harry laughed besides him.

“Don’t worry, we only see the cute ones, that was just to mess with
you” Daisy said whilst laughing.

“Thank fuck” Louis said in relief, honestly social media can be a bitch
sometimes.

“If you look as hot as you did in that I may have to watch them more
often” Harry said with a smirk, pulling Louis into his lap and gripping
him tightly.

“Shh, there are children here!” Louis said whilst laughing, putting the
palm of his hand over Harrys mouth to shut him up.

“Hmm, too bad” Harry said teasingly once he had pushed Louis hand
away.

The night continued like this, laughter, chatter and drinks. Everyone felt
content with their family’s surrounding them and it was the calmest the
lads had felt during the entire time of the reunion. They just wished they
could spend more nights like this.

386
 39
Just Hold On

“I don’t wanna go to the back yet” Louis whined against Harrys

shoulder as the rest of their family members and the lads were currently
getting ready to head back to the hotel.

“But it’s late babe, we’ve got a lot of Traveling to do tomorrow, we

need our rest” Harry replied in a soothing tone, running his hands
through Louis’ feathery hair.

“Oh come on, I haven’t been in Manchester for ages, Let’s go explore!”
Louis said excitedly, whipping his head up to look at Harry, his blue
eyes wide with hope.

“I’m not sure—” Harry began But was cut off by Louis pecking his lips
in order to try and shut out his doubts.

“Just forget about everything for once, it’ll be fun, please?” Louis said
with a pout on his lips, making a face that Harry just couldn’t refuse to.

“Ugh Fine, Just this once, we can’t be out too late though” Harry said
sternly, But on the inside he was just as excited as Louis was for this.

The two lads hadn’t gotten a proper time to be alone yet since the
reunion, always being busy with work, Traveling and being surrounded
by the lads and the fans. It would be nice to spend some time together
and not have to worry about getting caught, seeming as it was already
so late into the night, or early morning.

“Yes! Thank you Haz” Louis said with a wide smile, kissing Harry once
again on the lips.

387
“Come on then” Louis continued, standing up quickly and pulling
Harry with him.

“Wait wait wait, what about Paul? He’ll never agree to this” Harry said
in a hushed voice, looking over to where Paul was standing by the exit.

“Leave that to me” Louis said with a smirk, mischief glinting in his eyes
making Harry grin but also look confused.

Louis put a finger up to signal he’d only be a minute before walking

over to the lads and whispering something in their ears, trying to be
discreet but not really achieving it.

Harry saw Zayn nod and smirk over at Harry, making the man more
confused than ever, but he shrugged it off seeming as he was used to
being oblivious half the time.

Louis smiled and quickly walked back to Harry who gestured for him
to explain what was going to happen.

“Right, were gonna say bye to our families now, don’t worry we can
still see them tomorrow before we go, and then the lads are gonna cover
for us when we sneak out the back. If Paul sees us we can just tell him
we’re quickly going to the bathroom before we leave, got it?” Louis
explained, looking giddy as ever.

“Alright, got it. But what if he—”

“Haz, seriously babe stop worrying. The worst that could happen is Paul
giving us the cold shoulder for a day” Louis said calmly, trying to
reassure Harry.

Harry finally gave in and nodded, taking Louis hand and going to say
goodbye to everyone before they snook out.

Louis reassures everyone That him and Harry would be seeing them
tomorrow morning and for them to keep quiet about leaving. Anne just

388
smirked at Harry and told him to have fun whilst Gemma told him to
use protection, you can’t win with siblings, Harry thought whilst
shaking his head.

“Wait for my signal” Louis whispered to Harry as they waited for Paul
to assist their family members.

“What are you, a fucking spy or something?” Harry said sarcastically

whilst laughing, teasing the smaller man.

“Shut it” Louis warned but in a playful manner, shoving his shoulder
slightly.

They waited patiently behind everybody else and finally found their
moment. As Paul turned around to take the youngest of Louis siblings
out to the Limo, Louis grabbed Harrys hand and tugged harshly, making
Harry follow as they ran out the back door, laughing under their breaths
to try and stay quiet.

Louis pushes through a door and ran through it, all the while Harry was
following behind him like a lost puppy dog. They found themselves in
a dark room filled with alcohol behind the bar, no staff members to be
seen.

Louis smirked and turned around to face Harry whilst walking

backwards, Harry was still laughing at the situation they were in,
running away from their own bodyguard just so they could spend time
together.

Louis accidentally knocked over a bottle of Jack Daniels and it came

crashing to the floor with a loud smash, the broken glass going
everywhere.

“Shit” Louis cursed whilst laughing, trying his best to navigate Harry
around the broken bottle so he didn’t get hurt.

389
“Fuck Lou, what if they heard us?” Harry said, also laughing as he
gripped onto Louis hand tightly, not being able to see anything but
silhouettes in the dim room.

“I doubt it, they’re too busy cleaning all our left over drinks” Louis said
with a shrug, smiling at the taller man.

Louis looked around for a light switch, celebrating slightly like a child
when he finally found one, but his celebration came to an end when the
only lighting it provided was neon red lights, not really making much
of a difference, although he could see Harry better now which was a
plus.

“Fucking hell” he said when he saw the mess he made, chuckling with
Harry at the sight.

They honestly couldn’t stop themselves from laughing, even at the

smallest of things. It was probably due to the drinks they had previously
had and the sheer joy of finally being alone together, that and the
excitement of sneaking away.

“Jesus Christ, are you gonna clean it up or?” Harry trailed off, raising
his eyebrows at Louis expectantly.

“Nah, they can do it when they find it later” Louis said with a smirk,
referring to the staff members.

“Your such a little shit” Harry said whilst shaking his head, moving
closer to the man in the confined space of the room.

Harry grinned and leaned in, as if he were about to kiss Louis once
again, but just as Louis pursed his lips, waiting for them to crash
together, Harry leant over him and grabbed a new bottle of Jack Daniels
before stepping away from Louis and opening the cap, taking a swing
of the strong alcohol with a smirk playing on his lips.

390
“Fucking tease” Louis said playfully, grabbing the bottle from Harrys
hand and taking a swig himself, the burning liquid dripping down his
throat and warming his insides.

Louis then snook his arms around Harrys neck, the bottle still in his
hand and crashed their lips together, tongues roaming each other’s
mouths as the taste of whisky lingered there.

Harry pressed Louis against the wall that was filled with alcohol bottles,
accidentally causing more bottles to come falling to the ground besides
them and crashing to the floor, the alcohol spilling everywhere. But
they didn’t care, all they could think about was each other as they
heatedly made out in the dim room, hands roaming each other’s bodies.

Harry then grabbed Louis ass, causing the smaller man to moan into
Harry’s mouth, their hot breaths mixing together. Harry smirked at the
reaction and began to trail kisses down Louis neck, nipping and biting
at the skin to create new marks that would linger for days.

During their daze they didn’t realize the door swinging open, one of the
bars staff members walking in with a gasp, taking the lads attention
away from one another.

“Shit” Harry said as the woman stared with wide eyes, looking at them
and the mess they made all over the floor.

It was silent for a minute, nobody knowing what to do until Louis

dropped the bottle of whisky and exclaimed “run!” Before grabbing
Harry’s hand, running out of the opposite door and out onto the cold
streets of Manchester.

They could faintly hear the woman shouting at them to come back to
clean up the mess they made and pay for the broken bottles but instead
Louis and Harry laughed and ran down the street, further and further
away from the bar.

391
The adrenaline was pumping through their veins as they rand hand in
hand down the empty back street of the bar, the cold nipping at their
flushed cheeks. They soon came to a stop once they were out of breath
and knew they were far enough away from the woman.

They both leant against the brick wall, catching their breaths in a
peaceful silence before looking at one another and busting into another
fit of laughter, hunching over and clutching their bellies to contain
themselves.

“T-the look on h-her fucking f-face” Louis said in between laughs,

squeezing his eyes shut at the memory.

“That p-poor poor woman, probably scarred f-for life” Harry said with
a huge grin.

“Nah, she probably got off on it” Louis said with a smirk, finally
calming himself down.

“Oh my god” Harry breathed out, gulping. He leant against the wall
once again and looked up to the dark sky, littered with bright stars and
a full moon.

Louis wasn’t so focused on the sky, he was more focused on Harry.

His head was leaning against the wall as he watched in awe at how
beautiful Harry looked. His hair was soft and his jawline sharp, his eyes
were sparkling under the moonlight and his lips were pulled into a
smile, his dimples on show. Louis couldn’t get enough of him.

“Beautiful” Louis whispered, causing Harry to turn his head to look at

him, their eyes meeting.

“I know it is” Harry replied, nodding up to the sky.

“No you dip I meant you” Louis said with a slight chuckle, moving in
front of Harry.

392
“Oh, right” Harry mumbles shyly, looking down at the ground with a
smile, blushing furiously.

Louis tilted Harrys head up with a delicate finger under his chin and
drew Harry in, their lips meeting once again but his time in a soft, gentle
kiss, not as passionate or hungry as the one in the bar.

Louis smiled into the kiss and they soon broke apart, looking into each
other’s eyes. Louis then gestured for them to keep going and Harry
obliged, taking Louis hand in his much larger one once again as they
began to skip and jog through the desolate streets.

There was nobody to be seen, no people, no cars, nothing. It was just

Louis and Harry together, doing whatever the fuck they wanted in the
early hours of the morning. They were walking directly down the
middle of the road, passing by houses and Shops to make their way to
the city center.

Louis turned around and walked backwards facing Harry, Harry tilted
his head and quirked a brow as Louis began dancing like they did in
Greece, making him grin and do the same, mimicking the movements
that the two main characters did towards the end of the movie.

They laughed and Harry suddenly jogged up to Louis, catching the man
off guard as he lifted him into his arms and spun them both around.

“Harry! I’m gonna fall, put me down!” Louis exclaimed, half joking
half serious.

“Don’t worry Lou I’ve got you, I wouldn’t let you fall. Even if I did I’d
be here to catch you” Harry said with a smile, finally placing Louis back
down onto the ground and hugging him tightly as they were still
walking down the road.

393
“Oh my god you almost gave me a heart attack” Louis said breathlessly
as Harry put an arm around his shoulders whilst they continued
walking.

“Aw is my baby scared?” Harry cooed, teasing Louis, making him pull
a face and shove Harry away from him half heartedly.

“Am not” Louis argued, a wide smile on his face as he said so.

“Yeh yeh whatever, anyway where are we going?” Harry asked, still
having no idea what Louis had planned for them.

“The moon!” Louis shouted, his voice echoing down the silent streets.

Harry laughed and shook his head, face palming his hand.

“As cool as that would be, seriously, where are we going?” He asked
again.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I was just going with the flow I guess. Wait,
oh my god let’s go to a club!” Louis then exclaimed, grabbing Harry by
his wrist and pulling him in the direction of a club he knew of nearby.

“Won’t we get recognized?” Harry asked, his worries returning but he

followed Louis none the less.

“Nah, trust me, everyone will be too out of it in this place to give a shit”
Louis said with a grin, squeezing Harrys hand and speeding up his pace,
practically going into a sprint.

Harry was still unsure but shrugged it off, caring more about having a
great night with Louis than worrying about what other people think.

They continued running until they spotted the club across the street, the
booming music being heard from a mile away. A huge line of people
were stood outside behind red ropes waiting to be let in and instead of
joining the line like anyone else Louis and Harry walked right up to the

394
bouncer and were granted access to the club immediately, being that
they were famous and all.

The people waiting in line groaned in frustration and began shouting in

annoyance but the two men took no notice of it, making their way inside
and heading straight for the dance floor that was packed with random
people.

Like Louis had said, nobody gave them a second glance as they joined
the mass of people dancing, everyone too high or drunk to care. The
room was lit up with white and blue neon lights and the music was so
loud they wouldn’t hear each other unless practically shouting in one
another’s ears.

Louis dragged Harry towards the center of the dance floor and once
there began grinding onto him, dancing provocatively in time with the
music.

Sweaty bodies were surrounding them but all they could think about
was each other. They jumped and danced to the music like everybody
else was and to put it simply, just had fun.

Harry laughed when Louis almost tripped over but caught him last
minute, Louis’ head resting onto his shoulder as he giggle and swayed
to the music.

They kissed passionately as Harrys hands were cupping Louis cheeks,

eyes closed in bliss. But as Louis peaked open his eye he paled as he
saw someone calling out to them from the front of the dance floor. Paul.

How the fuck did he find them so quickly? Louis thought to himself.
He didn’t want the night to end, not so soon. He was having too much
fun to have it all taken away now by being dragged back to their hotel
rooms, so in a second he grabbed Harry and shouted over to the music
that Paul was here.

395
Harrys eyes widened and he looked over to where Louis was pointing,
sure enough Paul was there, making his way through the crowd to
desperately catch up to them.

Louis and Harry pushed their way through the crowd of people, not
caring if they were being rude. They looked back and saw the angered
look on Paul’s face and burst out laughing, continuing to run away from
the huge man.

As they passed the bar Harry cheekily grabbed the pint of beer that was
being handed to an older man and took a gulp, Louis laughing loudly at
the action that Harry definitely wouldn’t do under normal
circumstances.

“Hey what the fuck man!” The guy shouted to Harry in anger.

“Sorry mate, cheers!” Harry said whilst laughing before dragging Louis
with him out the back door of the club.

Unlike the bar they were in before, this door lead to a kitchen which
was probably used for when the club did meals for the VIP guests.

There were staff members in there who immediately shouted for them
to get out, obviously not being allowed in the room. The two lads
laughed and continued on their way through the room, Paul probably
following behind closely.

“Sorry!” Louis shouted as he ran out of the kitchen exit, laughing to

himself as Harry almost stumbled over the door ledge.

“Fuck I wish I wasn’t so clumsy” Harry breathed out with a laugh as

they continued running from Paul.

“It’s cute don’t worry about it” Louis called with ragged breaths as they
sprinted down the street and into a random building.

396
The building turned out to be an arcade/casino. The place was almost
empty, only a few people lingering around betting all their money away.

“We just hit the jackpot with this place, no pun intended” Louis said
with a grin as he stared at the long rows of machines and various betting
wheels.

Harry suddenly pulled out his wallet and opened it to find a large wad
of cash, smirking at Louis who in return raised his eyebrows.

They then suddenly rushed off together and began betting on anything
they could, not even caring that half the time they didn’t win anything.

The member of staff who was running the wheel looked at them as if
they were crazy, betting all their money away without a care in the
world, but he recognized them as soon as they walked into the place,
knowing they were millionaire celebrities so it wasn’t as surprising as
he initially thought.

“Sir, are you sure you want to continue?” The man asked them with a
hesitant look, seeing that Harrys was of cash was now decrease by
almost half.

Louis leaned down on the circular table and placed his head onto his
crossed arms, looking up at Harry whilst laughing. Harry laughed along
with him and suddenly grabbed Louis by the arm, pulling him away and
over towards the arcade.

“No were good, have a nice night” Harry called to the man who just
shook his head and went back to work, assuming they must just be
drunk.

“Right, you are not spending any more money, you’ve already wasted
£5000 for nothing” Louis laughed out, taking Harrys wallet and putting
it into his own pocket out of reach from the man.

397
“But how am I going to get you something from the arcade?” Harry
teased, gesturing to all the machines and objects they could win.

“Don’t worry babe I’ll handle that” Louis said with a wink before
turning around and running to a coin machine.

Harry followed behind Louis and whilst Louis was facing the machine,
Harry snuck up and wrapped his arms around Louis waist, so that his
chest was pressing up against the smaller man’s back.

Louis hummed and looked up at Harry over his shoulder, leaning up to

press a quick kiss to Harrys lips which he reciprocated before Louis
excitedly turned his attention back to the machine.

“How does this thing even work?” Louis asked with a slight pout.

He began banging on the machine and shouting at it when it wouldn’t

work, causing Harry to laugh and pull him away so he could try work
it out.

“Uh, Lou” Harry said, biting his lip in order to suppress his grin.

“What?” Louis asked.

“You didn’t even turn it on babe” Harry said, pressing the start button
for emphasis before laughing once again, making Louis scowl and
shove Harry out the way so he could play the damn thing.

“Whatever smart arse, I one who can’t win the big boy games” Louis
sassed, smirking at Harry who rolled his eyes playfully and leant against
the coin machine, watching Louis with a smile on his face.

Louis inserted a coin into the machine and pulled down on the leaver,
waiting as the images spun on the screen patiently.

The first image dropped, the jackpot.

398
The second image dropped, again the jackpot.

Louis widened his eyes as he waited for the third image to appear,
excitement bubbling in the pit of his stomach, and it finally stopped.

Dead on the jackpot for a third time.

“Fuck yeah!” Louis screamed, Harry just stood there with his mouth
agape that Louis had won so easily on his first try.

“Holy shit, how much have you won?” Harry asked in amazement,
coming round to get a better look at the screen.

“£10,000, fucking hell!” Louis exclaimed as he jumped into Harrys

arms, the taller man catching him with ease as they turned around in
circles and smiled.

“I mean, it’s not like I need it, but still, it’s exciting, I’ve never won one
of these before” Louis said once Harry had put him back down onto the
floor.

“I know Lou, come on, let’s get your winnings” Harry smirked as he
took Louis hand and walked over to the front desk.

“Hello how can I help you?” The man asked them as they stood at the
desk giddily.

“We won on machine 6, we got the jackpot” Louis said proudly, being
more theatrical with the statement than needed just because he was
hyper.

“Well done then, I won’t be a moment I’m just going to get your
winnings” he said with a smile before walking over to the large cashier
where they draw all the winning money from.

399
Suddenly there was a loud bang and Paul along with another one of the
security guards came rushing into the casino, spotting the two lads
immediately.

“Shit shit shit, what is there like fucking tracking devices on us or

something what the hell?” Louis said in a rushed voice, seeing Paul
getting closer and closer.

“Not to be rude, but could you maybe hurry the fuck up, we’ve got a
very angry man chasing us right now and we don’t want to be locked in
our hotel rooms again. But don’t worry, it’s not some shady kidnapping
thing we just—”

“What he’s trying to say is hurry up before we get mauled by our body
guard” Harry finished for him, cutting Louis off from his ranting.

The man hastily pulled all their cash into a small bag and practically
threw it at them, not wanting to get involved with any of their drama
while working.

“Cheers mate!” Louis called and grabbed Harry for the hundredth time
today to make their escape.

Paul was getting close, but there was no way he could outrun Harry and
Louis, them having the advantage with their younger ages and their
speed.

They threw open a door and took the stairs upwards instead of down,
knowing the most obvious option was to walk downstairs to the streets
and that was most likely going to be the direction Paul assumed they
went in.

They ran at a fast pace up the staircase and when they reached the top
they pushed open what seemed to be a fire exit and found themselves
on the roof of the building.

400
With no time to waste they Shut the door as quietly as they could and
rested against it, just in case Paul did decide to make yet another
appearance.

“He’s like an FBI spy or something, how does he keep finding us?”
Louis asked, bewildered that they had almost been caught for the
second time today.

“Well, he has been trained to look after us for years so I guess he would
be used to following us by now” Harry said with a shrug, pushing
himself off the door and walking over to the farthest wall of the
building.

He hopped up and sat down on the wall that overlooked the city. The
sight was beautiful, although it was only Manchester, and the city lights
sparkled in the darkness beneath a sheet of stars.

Louis came up besides Harry and sat close to him, interlocking their
fingers as they admired the view.

“I think this has been one of the best nights of my life” Harry said with
a breathtaking smile on his face, thinking about what a rush it had been
running away from Paul like that, doing whatever the fuck they wanted.

“Yeah, me too. I missed this, us” Louis clarified, looking up at Harry

who looked down at him with the same love filled expression on his
face.

“Haz?” Louis asked nervously, but never leaving his gaze.

“Yeah?” Harry replied, seeing how nervous Louis was but not
understanding why. So he rubbed calming circles onto his hand with
his thumb which did relax Louis immensely.

“I want to make it official again. I know I’ve done wrong in the past, I
know I’ve hurt you. But there’s absolutely no one I’d rather spend my
life with. Will you be my boyfriend, again?” Louis said anxiously,

401
stumbling over his words a few times but finally getting it out, the
question he’d been wanting to ask since the very beginning of the
reunion.

“Of course I will, I love you” Harry said with a dimpled smile, pulling
Louis into a passionate kiss.

They stayed like that for a minute longer, their lips molding together as
if they were made for one another, but soon pulled apart.

“I love you too, always have, always will” Louis said truthfully, leaning
his upper body against Harry’s as he wrapped an arm around him,
embracing the calmness as they watched the sun rise.

“Are you cold?” Harry asked Louis who was visibly shaking.

“Yeh, just a bit, it’s fine though” Louis replied with a shrug.

Harry shook his head and took of his jacket, wrapping it around Louis
and pulling him closer into his side to try and warm him up a little.

“Thank you” Louis said, snuggling into Harry’s embrace.

And just as Harry was about to reply, the door swung open and out came
Paul, Looking furious.

402
 40
Caught

“Shit” Louis muttered, his eyes wide at Paul’s figure getting closer and
closer to them.

Louis and Harry got to their feet quickly but carefully, not really feeling
up to falling off a high building tonight.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Do you even know how
worried I was? This is my fucking job! Did you every stop to think
about how it would affect me if something happened to you guys? Not
only would I be feeling guilty and devastated, I’d lose my job!” Paul
ranted once he reached them.

Louis and Harry felt immense guilt flood through them when they
realized what state they had put Paul in. The older man was dripping in
sweat from the amount of chasing he had to do. His hair was a mess
sticking in all different directions, probably due to pulling on it in stress.
His eyes were wide with fear and his breathing was ragged, hunching
over to try and catch his breath.

“Fuck, we’re so sorry Paul. Seriously, we didn’t realize what we were

actually doing” Louis said, ashamed of his actions even though it was
the most fun he’d had in ages.

“It’s alright I guess. I’ve dealt with this before, I just thought you guys
had matured by now” he said with a sigh but chuckling slightly, now
standing straight and running his hands through his thinning hair.

“Yeh I guess we are like little kids huh?” Harry said with a small smirk
playing on his lips. “We really are sorry, I guess we just wanted some
time alone, you know, away from all the drama” Harry continued,
placing his hand on Louis back and smiling down at him.

403
“I understand, I can see it’s all a bit hectic for you lot right now, but just
don’t do it again. I’m too fucking old to be running round cities
anymore” Paul said with a laugh, Harry and Louis joining in with him.

“Don’t put yourself down Paul, you’re a buff bodyguard, work it man”
Louis said sarcastically, over enthusiastic in his tone as he tried to
reassure him.

“Yeh yeh, whatever, you may charm Harry here but it won’t work on
me. Now come on I need to take you back to the hotel” Paul said with
a roll of his eyes, grabbing the boys by their shoulders firmly but not in
a bad way and moving them in the direction of the staircase that led
them here in the first place.

Louis and Harry sighed But followed reluctantly, not wanting their
night to end but realizing they can’t be chased around forever. They
knew one day everything would settle for them, they would be at peace
with each other. They just had to be patient, for now though, they were
living the lives of worldwide celebrities.

Harry got lost in his thoughts whilst walking back, thinking about his
future with Louis. It’s what keeps him sane most of the time, knowing
that after this crazy life they’re living has settled down a little, he will
be able to grow old with his boyfriend. They can get married, get a few
pets, buy a home for themselves. Maybe even adopt a child of their own
one day. He couldn’t wait.

He was broken out of his thoughts by Louis squeezing his hand and
asking him something which he didn’t quite catch.

“Hm? What did you say?” Harry asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“I asked what you’re thinking about” Louis said with a grin, finding it
funny how Harry seemed completely oblivious to the world for a
moment there.

404
“Oh, nothing much” Harry said nonchalantly with a shrug, keeping his
head forward as they neared the hotel.

“Come on, I know you better than that Haz. You can tell me” Louis
pushed, knowing something important had Harrys mind occupied.

“Was just thinking about the future. When this has all settled down and
we can live our lives together. I don’t know if it’s weird to say, seeming
as we’ve just got back on track and all, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to
grow old with you, and I can’t wait for it. No more running, no more
hiding. Just us” Harry said dreamily, making Louis smile widely and
nod at every word, thinking the exact same thing.

“I can’t wait either Haz. Just you wait, we’ll have the perfect life” Louis
said, leaning up to press a kiss on his boyfriends cheek before entering
the hotel lobby.

“Right, I’m gonna head to my room, you lovebirds don’t get up to

anymore trouble alright? I’m not chasing you around anymore tonight”
Paul said sternly, but smiling at the two of them all the same.

“Don’t worry mate, you won’t hear from us until tomorrow. Go get
some rest” Louis said kindly, patting Paul on the back before he
retreated off to his room.

Harry was surprisingly quiet as they made their way to the elevator, but
Louis decided maybe Harry was just tired, after all they had ran through
the city for half the night and it was pretty late, they’re been going none
stop for the whole day and they were definitely going to be getting a
good nights rest tonight. Or so he thought.

As soon as the doors of the elevator closed Harry practically pounced

on Louis, shoving him up against the wall and pressing their lips
together hungrily.

Louis was surprised at first, not able to reciprocate the kiss, until Harry
bit into his bottom lip teasingly and broke Louis from his trance. Louis

405
kissed back with just as much hunger as the taller man, them both
fighting for dominance, but eventually Harry won.

Louis teased Harry, not opening his mouth when Harry so desperately
wanted him to, but this changed when Harry smirked and grabbed Louis
ass, making him gasp and finally giving Harrys tongue an entrance.

Harry licked into Louis mouth, tasting the traces of liquor and mint in
every crevice. Louis moaned into his mouth as Harry trailed his hands
wherever he could, over Louis back, down to his hips and finally
ghosting over his crotch, making Louis whine in need.

Before they could take it any further the elevator dinged and the doors
opened wide, Louis and Harry barely having enough time to part before
an old couple stepped into the confined space with them.

The couple looked weirdly at them but shrugged it off, nodding their
way as a hello and pressing the button for their floor of the hotel.

They stood directly in front of Louis and Harry, so that they were facing
the door instead of the two lads which they were thankful for.

“Fuck” Louis whispered under his breath, but Harry caught the word
and a smirk pulled on his face.

Slowly, Harry moved his hand down Louis arm, his fingertips barely
touching the golden tanned skin making Louis’ breath hitch. Harry
heard it and smirked even more, finally letting his hand return to Louis’
crotch and palming him through his jeans, making Louis have to place
a hand over his mouth to physically retain himself from moaning.

Harry didn’t look at Louis, instead keeping his focus trained on the old
couple in front of them to make sure they didn’t turn around for
whatever reason. They didn’t, so Harry continued with his act, just
listening to Louis’ ragged breaths and tiny whimpers that escaped his
beautiful lips now and again.

406
“S-stop it” Louis said in barely a whisper, squeezing his eyes shut in
order to control himself.

“Stop what Louis?” Harry teased, leaning over to whisper the words in
Louis ear provocatively.

“You fucking k-know what you tease” Louis spat out, but still keeping
his voice lowered.

“I don’t think I do though” Harry replied, giving an even tighter squeeze

which made Louis almost lose it, but thankfully for him the door dinged
again and Harry retracted his hand, standing as if nothing had happened.

“Goodnight” The old man said to the lads with a smile before walking
with his wife out of the elevator, leaving Harry and Louis alone once
again.

“Jesus Christ and they call me the tease” Louis huffed out, adjusting the
crotch area of his skinny jeans as they rested uncomfortably against his
member.

“You are a tease, that was just payback” Harry said smugly, itching
towards Louis again.

“Payback for what?” Louis asked, backing away from Harry until he hit
a wall.

“Don’t you remember that morning, we were sat with the lads and you
made a comment about me sucking your dick, yeah, that” Harry said
with a grin, before leaning in once more and reattaching their lips again.

Louis sighed into the kiss and brought his arms up around Harrys neck,
pulling him deeper into the kiss and pulling on his hair harshly which
he knew drove Harry insane. Harry always did have a pain kink,
something Louis often used to his advantage.

407
When they reached their floor the doors opened and the two made their
way out into the hallway, not letting go of one another for even a
second.

Luckily for them, their room was only about two doors down from the
elevator, so they didn’t need to stumble far to reach it. Once they did
reach it Harry pulled out his key card from his back pocket mid kiss and
pushed open the door, letting it slam against the wall behind it.

They stumbled into their room whilst in a heated kiss and kicked the
door shut behind them, leaning up against the desk that was placed
nearest to them, but stopped when they felt eyes on them.

They broke the kiss and looked with wide eyes at each other before
slowly turning around to see their entire family and the lads seated
around the room, mouths hanging open and shock written all over their
faces.

It was silent for a moment, nobody daring to speak as the awkward

tension filled the room, but Louis decided he had had enough of it.

“Uh, hi?” Is all he could get out and mentally face palmed.

Everyone suddenly burst out laughing, hunching over and clutching

their stomachs as they tried to breathe properly, wiping tears from their
eyes as Harry and Louis just stood there sheepishly, blushes coating
their cheeks.

“H-holy fuck that was f-funny” Niall exclaimed, still laughing

hysterically.

“Alright alright, it’s not that funny” Louis said, rolling his eyes.

“Sorry mate but yes it was. We did tell you we would be waiting for
you to return. Didn’t expect to see a porno though” Zayn said whilst
still laughing, calming down a little now though.

408
“Shut up” Harry said, drawing out the last word and hiding his face in
the crook of Louis neck.

“Hey you know we can leave if you wanna sort, that, out” Liam said
with a grin, nodding down to their quite obvious boners. Great, Louis
thought, shaking his head.

“Oh yeh thanks Liam, thanks for pointing that out mate, good one”
Louis exclaimed, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“Seriously though, if you want us to leave we can” Anne said, her tone
a mix between seriousness and teasing.

“No were fine, you can stay, just let us get sorted and we’ll be with you
in a minute” Harry replied with a blush before taking Louis hand and
dragging him into the en suite bathroom.

“Oh my fucking god that was so embarrassing” Louis said, placing his
head in his hands.

“Wasn’t it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so mortified. It’s one thing
getting caught by the lads, it’s another being caught by all the family
members” Harry said, shaking his head but he also had a small smile
playing at his lips.

“What? What are you smiling at?” Louis asked, placing his hands on
his hips and looking at Harry expectantly.

“When you think about it, it was kinda funny though” Harry said with
a small chuckle, his dimples on show.

“Only you would think this is fucking funny” Louis said, shaking his
head fondly.

“It was though, since when were you uptight?” Harry teased, wiggling
his eyebrows up and down.

409
“Oi! I am far from uptight, embarrassed is the better word Harold”
Louis retorted, putting emphasis on the nickname, knowing Harry
didn’t really like it when it came from Louis. He preferred Haz.

“Whatever you say, Lewis” Harry said with a smirk, gaining a small
smack on his arm from Louis who was acting like an angry kitten.

“Call me that again and this relationship is over” Louis replied,

pretending to be unbothered.

“You wouldn’t dare” Harry said, gasping in mock shock, causing Louis
to bite his lip in order to contain his laughter.

“Oh but I would, could call it off right now you know, maybe I’ll get
back with elan—”

Before Louis could finish the sentence he was slammed against the sink
counter and Harry attacked his lips for what felt like the thousandth
time tonight, he was sure he would be left with swollen lips tomorrow
morning.

“Don’t fucking say her name, ever” Harry growled in between the kiss,
now picking Louis up and placing him on top of the counter.

“Haz w-we can’t, our f-family” Louis said, struggling to get the words
out in between their heated make out session.

“Fuck sake, maybe we should have told them to leave” Harry said with
a smirk, tracing his fingertips over Louis thighs, making Louis tremble.

“Too bad, come on” Is all Louis replied, jumping from the counter and
away from his boyfriends grasp, sashaying away with a swing to his
hips to tease the taller man, who groaned in frustration.

He walked back into the room to see their family members still there,
some laying on their bed whilst some were seated on the couches in
their large room.

410
“Took you long enough” Lottie said with a smirk, making Louis flip
her off before he plopped himself down on the bed with a sigh, tired out
from the long day.

All he wanted right now was to snuggle up with Harry in bed, maybe
share a few sweet kisses or maybe even take it further, and talk about
everything and nothing. But he can’t, because everyone is here and he
should feel grateful for that, having not seen them in so long. But his
desire to spend every minute alone with his boyfriend is much stronger
than his desire to do this right now.

Harry joined him on the bed and lifted Louis up so he could slide in
behind him, resting Louis comfortably against his chest as he ran his
hands through the smaller man’s soft, feathery hair as the people around
them cooed at them.

“So, What did you get up to?” Anne asked curiously, wondering why
they took so long out and about in the city.

“You don’t even wanna know” Harry said, before realizing how that
sounded and his eyes widened a little as he saw everyone’s reactions.

“Wait, no not like that! I meant as in we went to so many places I can’t

even begin to explain it all” Harry rushed out, sighing a little.

“Hey, calm down yeh? We get what you mean. Just explain it simply
then” Gemma said with a smile, noticing her brothers distress probably
due to his tiredness.

“Well, we snuck out the back and may have accidentally broke a shit
ton of bottles of Jack Daniels, oops” Louis said with a smirk, causing
Harry to laugh at the memory.

“You better have paid for that” Anne said sternly, looking Disappointed
at her son.

411
“Mum don’t worry, I’ll pay before we head off tomorrow” Harry
reassured, not wanting to upset his mother.

“Alright, then what?” Anne asked, relaxing a little.

“We almost got caught by a staff member so we legged it to a club in

the city center, but then Paul showed up so we ran from him. We ended
up in a casino, Harry betted away £5000 but we won £10,000 back so
it worked out I guess” Louis said whilst laughing with Harry , everyone
now looking with wide eyes.

“Harry Edward Styles you did not bet that amount of bloody money!”
Anne said and scowled, her eyes turning to slits as she glared at her son.

“Mum I’ve got more money than I can handle, it was just a spur of the
moment type thing, it’s not a big deal” Harry said whilst rolling his
eyes, but Anne wasn’t having any of it, but decided to let it go as there
was no use in arguing over it.

“So then Paul showed up again out of nowhere and we went up to the
roof of the building. We were sat out on the ledge and I… I asked Harry
to be my boyfriend again” Louis said shyly, a blush returning to his
cheeks as everyone gasped.

“You said yes right?” Gemma asked her brother with wide, hopeful
eyes.

“Of course I did, I love him” Harry said fondly, kissing the top of Louis
head as Louis smiled blissfully, snuggling into Harrys embrace even
more.

“Finally!” Almost everyone exclaimed, now sagging down as if they

were relieved. How dramatic did they want to make it, Louis thought to
himself.

“I love you too” Louis replied to Harry as Harry tightened his arms
around him.

412
For a while everyone stayed and they talked about random things,
enjoying themselves as they mingled with their family members. Once
they left the room, Harry and Louis were too tired to do anything else,
so they snuggled up under the covers and fell into a peaceful sleep.

413
 41
Gone

Not even two hours later, the lads had to wake up for their journey to
Birmingham.

The alarm rang loudly in their ears from the bedside table, making them
groan in frustration, due to the lack of sleep.

“Fuck, I swear we only went to sleep like a minute ago” Louis said
groggily, reaching his hand from under the warm covers to turn off the
annoying sound, feeling cold as soon as he left the blankets.

“We probably shouldn’t have stayed out so late, but I don’t regret it
either” Harry replied with a smirk, his eyes still closed tightly.

“Oh yeh? Good, I am the best at making plans after all” Louis said
smugly, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“If you call running around the city with no idea where we’re going
plans, then sure, you’re the best” Harry said with a chuckle, gaining a
light smack from Louis, honestly feeling more like a poke with how
delicate he was being.

“Shut up, you loved it really” Louis argued, rolling his eyes.

“Make me” is all Harry said, fluttering his eyes open and teasingly
licking his lips.

Without a second thought Louis rolled over to him and pressed their
lips together, not even caring if they both had morning breath. It was
more intimate this way anyway, it showed how comfortable they were
around one another, knowing they wouldn’t get judged no matter what
they did.

414
The kiss soon turned heated, Harry moving his large hands down to
Louis hips and pulling the smaller man further on top of him, making
Louis groan with the new position.

They playfully fought for dominance, neither of them wanting to put

their guard down but eventually Harry won, flipping Louis onto his
back and trailing his hands down his body, from his collarbones all the
way down to his hips before grasping his ass firmly, gaining a moan
from Louis underneath him.

“Fuck Haz” Louis moaned, feeling the soft trail of kisses being placed
down his neck, hitting his sweet spot which Harry surprisingly
remembered.

“If we didn’t need to leave in about 15 minutes I’d take you right now”
Harry whispered hotly into Louis ears, making him roll his eyes back
and rut up to Harry in order to gain at least a little friction.

With that, Harry left one last kiss to Louis neck before pulling away,
but not without extreme effort, wishing he could just lay in bed with his
boyfriend all day long.

“Get up, we’re leaving soon” Harry said with a smirk, taking one last
look at Louis who was splayed across the bed just for him before turning
and walking into the bathroom.

Louis groaned and adjusted his boxers before sitting up and rubbing his
hand across his face. He sat there for a moment and thought how unfair
it was how he couldn’t ever just get time alone with Harry.

Each time they had an opportunity to do whatever the fuck they wanted
to each other, it was either interrupted or they needed to go somewhere,
and each time it happened it frustrated Louis more and more. It would
happen soon though, he just knew it.

415
Louis pulled himself out of bed and walked over to the large wall
mirror, seeing his reflection and honestly not being too pleased with it.
He had dark circles under his eyes due to the lack of sleep, his hair was
sticking out in all different directions, his skin was dry and dull and his
lips were chapped. The only thing he liked right now was the love bites
covering his torso and neck and his shining blue eyes that seemed to
have brightened up ever since he got back with Harry again.

Suddenly Harry came into view behind him in the mirror as he snaked
his arms around his bare waist, easing circles into his skin with the pads
of his fingertips whilst he placed a warm, delicate kiss to his shoulder.

Louis smiled brightly and leaned into his chest, enjoying the moment
of bliss.

“I love you so much” Harry whispered. “Your beautiful” he continued

dreamily.

“Not as beautiful as you” Louis replied, feeling lucky to call this man
his own.

Harry smiled, “come on, you still need to get ready, we’re leaving soon”
He said, kissing Louis once more before he let the man get changed and
pack.

Once they were both ready they made their way out of the hotel room
carrying their luggage and locked the door behind them. They made
their way down to the hotel’s restaurant/cafe for breakfast which they
would be having with their family before they needed to leave.

Upon walking in the room they noticed all the lads and their family
members were already there, sat around a huge dining table and
hungrily tucking into English breakfasts, waffles and pancakes, kind of
in a buffet style where they could pick whatever they wanted.

416
“Morning” Harry and Louis greeted as they took the last two seats at
the table, causing everyone to break out of their conversations to speak
with them.

“Not gonna lie I thought you were gonna be late again” Liam said with
a chuckle, shaking his head at them.

“Oh come on that was one time! You can’t hold that against us for the
rest of our lives” Louis said sarcastically, huffing in slight annoyance.

“Hey, not my fault you two can’t break away from each other” Liam
retorted, shrugging his shoulders with a smirk on his face.

“Yes we can, your being dramatic” Harry argued, even though he knew
himself it wasn’t completely true.

“Oh yeh? Why don’t you prove it then?” Niall cut in with a smug look,
as if he were planning something.

“How? You realize we’re a band right, it’s not like we can stay apart
from each other even if we wanted to” Louis said matter of factly as he
dug into his English breakfast, moaning at the godly taste, which
inevitably sent dirty thoughts through Harrys head which he had to push
to the back.

“Of course I know that. But, I bet you two can’t go an entire day without
talking to one another” Niall said with a smirk, challenging the two lads.

“Niall, I bet we could, if we weren’t on bloody tour where it requires us

to speak to one another” Harry said whilst shaking his head.

“Plus we’ve got a show tonight, don’t you think the fans would catch
on if we weren’t talking?” Louis said with a grimace.

“To be honest there you’d be doing Management a favor” Zayn said

with a small chuckle, knowing if they did this bet management would
probably throw a party in their honor.

417
“Look, do you accept the bet or not. I’m betting £1000 you can’t” Niall
said as he pulled out the cash from his wallet, waving it around in the
air as if to taunt them. “Each” he clarified.

Louis and Harry looked towards one another hesitantly, silently

debating whether to take the bet or not.

“You think we can do it?” Harry asked with his eyebrows quirked up.

“I think we could—” Louis began but was cut off from Niall calling
“wouldn’t be so sure of that”.

“Shut it Nialler, Anyway, I think we should give it a shot, could be fun”

Louis said with a smirk.

Before Harry could reply, Anne spoke up from besides him. “Baby I
know you better than anyone and even I think you can’t go a day
without speaking to Lou” She said with a grin, raising her eyebrows at
her son.

“That’s just given me even more of a reason to try, I’ll do it” Harry
finalized, before shaking on it with Niall.

Niall looked expectantly at Louis who sighed before reaching out to

shake his hand also.

“Guess I don’t really have a choice” Louis said with a small smile,
already knowing this was gonna be hard.

“Okay, from now until 7am tomorrow, you can’t talk to each other, if
you do you owe me £1000 each, good luck, you’ll need it” Niall said
with a grin, knowing he was gonna win some money out of this.

Not even two minutes after the bet was made, Louis turned to Harry,
about to say something, before he shut his mouth closed tightly and

418
internally screamed. Why the fuck did he agree to this? He thought to
himself frustratingly.

“What was that Lou? Gonna say something there?” Lottie said as she
saw Louis actions, laughing with Fizzy at the situation.

“Fuck, why did I agree to this shit?” Louis spoke his thoughts, groaning
as he rested his head into his hands on the table.

“I’m so winning this bet oh my god, you can’t even go two minutes
without almost speaking to him” Niall laughed, causing the whole table
to join in with him, humiliating Louis.

Harry just sat there and smirked at Louis, knowing he was the stronger
one of the two when it came to biting his tongue. He was sure of himself
that he could get through the day without talking to his boyfriend, Louis
however, not so much.

They got through their breakfast without talking to one another, instead
mingling with their other family members and happily eating their food.
But soon enough, it was time for the lads to leave for Birmingham, sad
that they would once again have to say their goodbyes to their families.

“I’m going to miss you so much Haz, be safe and enjoy the tour okay,
don’t forget to ring me every now and again. I love you” Anne said to
Harry with her hands placed on either sides of his cheeks.

“Of course I will mum, I love you too” Harry said with a smile, pulling
his mum into a tight embrace, holding the older woman to his chest
tightly.

“Good luck with the bet” Anne said cheekily whilst still hugging her
son, making Harry groan in annoyance, rolling his eyes.

“I shouldn’t have agreed to it, there’s no way I’m gonna get through
this” Harry said in a huff, seriously regretting his decision.

419
“Sure you can, let me know how it goes okay, you better get going
before your bus leaves without you” Anne replied, pulling away from
Harry and giving him a kiss on the cheek for reassurance.

Harry then said goodbye to his sister with a hug before moving around
the rest of the people, doing the exact same thing.

Louis was currently saying goodbye to his siblings, giving each of the
huge hugs and telling them all how much he would miss them.

“We will miss you too, and don’t worry, you can get it on with Harry
after the bet” Lottie teased with a smirk, causing Louis to blush
furiously and hide his face in embarrassment.

“Oh my god, you should not be telling me these things!” He exclaimed,

shaking his head.

“We only do it to annoy you, anyway you better go, I think they’re
leaving already” Phoebe said, gesturing to the lads who were now
waiting for him by the door with Paul.

“Yeh your right, I will call you whenever I can, don’t get into any
trouble, I love you guys” Louis said, giving them one last hug before
walking away, waving at the rest of the family before Paul escorted
them to the tour bus.

“Hey Allen” the lads greeted their bus driver as they got inside,
throwing their belongings onto their beds.

“Hi lads, we’ve got about a 2 hour drive so get comfy” He said, starting
up the sat nav and getting ready to begin their long drive.

“I’m probably gonna sleep most the way anyways, I’m tired as fuck”
Louis groaned, flopping his body down onto the comfy mattress.

“And why you so tired Lou?” Liam said smugly, wiggling his eyebrows
in Harrys direction.

420
“Oh not like that you perv! If you don’t remember you did stay in our
room until like 5am” Louis said with a sigh, closing his eyes as he felt
the bus begin to move.

“Yeh but we don’t know what you got up to when we left, don’t think
we don’t know that you and Harry like all that kinky shit” Niall said,
laughing with the other two lads whilst Harry and Louis were once
again blushing.

“Just shut the fuck up and let me sleep” Louis groaned, pulling the
pillow over his head to muffle the sounds of their voices.

Harry smiled down at the tired man before grabbing his phone and
heading to sit with the lads in the small space they called a living room.

Niall got them all a beer each, even though it was still early in the
morning, and handed one to each of them, gaining a Thanks in return.

“Jesus Niall it’s like 8am” Harry said, But was smiling none the less.

“So what? Your still drinking it” he said with a shrug, which Harry
couldn’t argue with, it was nice to sit and have a chat with a beer every
now and again, even if it was an early time.

“I guess you right” Harry muttered and took another swig if his drink,
enjoying the cool taste in his mouth.

“So, you and Louis are official again?” Zayn stated, a smirk pulled up
on his lips.

“Yeah, we are” Harry said with a huge smile, remembering how Louis
had asked him on the building ledge.

“Took youse long enough, shagged yet?” Niall asked, making Harry
spit out his beer in shock as the other three just laughed at the reaction.

421
“Jesus Niall, I swear you have no brain to mouth filter” Harry said,
shaking his head after he had stopped coughing and spluttering.

“What? It’s just a question. Come on I need Larry details!” He whined

out, looking at Harry expectantly.

“Why on earth do you need to know if we’ve had sex or not?” Harry
said, pulling a look of grimace.

“God your sounding prudish, we’re lads, your best mates, what’s wrong
with telling us?” Niall pushed, Liam and Zayn just snickering with one
another at the situation.

“Fucking hell, fine, no we’ve not shagged yet Niall, we could have done
if you lot stopped bloody interrupting us” Harry said in frustration,
pushing his hair back from his forehead and drinking more of his beer.

“Shit. I’ve failed my role in this ship, I stopped it from happening. No!”
Niall exclaimed dramatically, putting a hand over his head as if he was
in distress, causing Harry to roll his eyes and the other two to laugh.

“Alright alright, you can stop being so dramatic now” Harry said, biting
his lip in order to contain his grin.

“You always need one person to be over dramatic in the group, and
that’s me, or Louis, we’re both quite theatric” Niall replied, gesturing
over to Louis who was sound asleep in his bed.

“I think Lou takes the cake for being theatric, that boys crazy half the
time” Liam said with a chuckle.

“That’s what makes him Louis though, the funny one in the group”
Zayn confirmed, smiling at the thought of all the crazy and funny shit
Louis has done over the years.

“My crazy boy” Harry murmured, dreamily gazing at Louis.

422
“Hey, I think we should post on the fan account again, do that manip
thing Louis sisters were on about” Niall said, taking out his phone and
logging onto the account.

“Shit yeh, I had forgotten about that” Harry said, his eyes widening.

“Right, here pick a photo” Niall said, passing Harry his phone. “It needs
to be really obvious that it’s you two, so it looks kinda like a manip, if
you get what I mean. One where you’re not blurry and shit” He
explained.

“Got it” Harry replied, nodding his head as he looked through the folder
in Niall’s phone.

“What about this one?” He said when he finally found a picture he liked,
it was one Niall had caught of them making out, the faces clearly theirs
in the picture.

“Yeah that’s good, pass it here” Niall said, gesturing for Harry to give
the phone back once again.

Niall took back the phone and began writing a caption. “New manip I
created, #larryisreal” he wrote, and once happy with it he posted it to
the account, not a minute later having hundreds of comments and likes
coming through.

“Oh my gosh, this is hilarious. They have no idea whether it’s real or
not. Some girls are arguing about it” Niall exclaimed whilst laughing,
reading through some of the hilarious comments and beef going on.

“You see, this is why I don’t understand how Simon can think it would
ruin our careers, everyone fucking loves it for gods sake” Harry sighed
out, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I get what you mean. Oh, shit, some of them want Ziam manips” Niall
suddenly said with another laugh, looking towards the two men who
were blushing and looking slightly awkward.

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“Uh, really? I thought they’d stopped believing that ages ago?” Zayn
asked, scratching the back of his neck.

“Of course they fucking didn’t, ships don’t just go away Zayn, ask
Harry he would know” Niall said with a smirk, causing Harry to throw
a pillow at him in retaliation.

“Have you got any pics of us?” Liam asked, making the three of them
turn to him with a look of shock.

“Wait. You’re not seriously considering posting a picture of us are

you?” Zayn asked, since when did Liam get so bold? He thought.

“Why not? It’s quite fun taking the piss out of it” Liam shrugged with
a cheeky wink at Zayn, making him look to the floor with flames
cheeks.

“Yeh I do have pics, are you sure though? Zayn do you want to?” Niall
asked hesitantly.

“Uh, Yeah, fuck it, why not” Zayn said, now gaining his confidence
back and smirking with Liam.

“Alright, how about this one?” Niall asked, pointing his phone in their
direction.

On the screen was a picture of Zayn and Liam cuddling up on the sofa,
Liam kissing Zayn’s cheek at the same time, looking quite cosy with
one another.

“Yeah looks good. Post it now” Liam said, snuggling closer to Zayn on
the chair they were currently sitting in, looking quite like they did in the
picture.

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Just as Niall was posting the photo, Louis sat up from his position on
the bed and yawned adorably, wiping his eyes with sweater paws and
ruffling his hair up a bit before he joined the lads.

“Morning” He said, almost forgetting about the little bet with Niall but
directing his attention away from Harry at the last minute.

“Louis you’ve only been asleep for about half an hour mate” Liam said
with a chuckle, Louis clearly being confused on how long he had really
been asleep for.

“Oh, right. I knew that” Louis said with a pout, taking a seat in the chair
next to Harrys and opening a beer for himself, not caring if he had only
just woken up, if everyone else was drinking then so would he.

“What are you doing anyway?” Louis asked, taking a sip of his
beverage.

“I’m posting more photos to the fan account, we did one of you and
Harry before and called it a manip like your sisters said, then we did the
same for these two” Niall explained, gesturing to Zayn and Liam.

“Ah right, what are the fans saying?” Louis asked, intrigued.

“Most of them are arguing over whether it’s real or not. But they love
it either way” Niall replied, smiling at all the comments coming
through.

Louis didn’t reply but smiled at what he said, glad nothing negative was
coming through. He sat up and kissed Harry on the cheek, because even
if he can’t talk to Harry , that doesn’t mean he can’t interact with the
man affectionately.

Harry smiled and pulled Louis into his lap, bringing him in for a kiss
on the mouth as Louis smiled into it. It was a little awkward seeming as
they couldn’t talk at all, but it was weirdly intimate, sharing silent kisses

425
and touches with one another. But the silence was interrupted when
Niall exclaimed something.

“Holy shit, Freddieismyqueen has uploaded!” He announced,

excitement bubbling in his stomach.

“Sorry? What the fuck are you on about?” Louis asked Niall, confusion
written all over his face.

“How do you not fucking know? It’s probably the best Larry account
out there, they make the best videos on you guys ever” Niall explained,
his eyes wide as he pulled up the video.

“I thought you ran that account?” Liam suddenly said with a laugh,
believing all this time it was Niall as he seemed to be the most obvious
person in his eyes.

“Fucking hell I wish, like I have the skills to edit them videos” Niall
said with a scoff, the video finally playing for him.

“What’s the video? Show us” Harry asked, now excited to see what all
the fuss was about.

“It’s, Louis Tomlinson making men fall in love with him” Niall said
with a grin as he made sure his phone was visible to everyone in the
room.

The first thing that came up on screen was a tweet by some guy on
twitter reading “I’m marrying a woman at the end of the year. However
Louis Tomlinson has me questioning my sexuality. Handsome fucker”

“I mean he’s not wrong” Harry said, even though jealousy was bubbling
up inside him, damn it.

Louis smirked and kissed Harry on the cheek before turning his
attention back to the video.

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“Tommo the tease” is what a woman said in the video, and Harry
nodded his head in understanding, he really is a fucking tease half the
time.

It showed Louis walking in slow motion, him moving his fringe out of
his eyes and all Harry could do was stare. It was fucking hot in his
opinion. But the jealousy soon arises again once he saw Louis with
Aiden, him sat on the other man’s lap during the X factor days.

Harry tightened his grip on Louis’ waist possessively and scowled at

the video, not wanting to see his boyfriend flirting with other men and
them reciprocating it.

“This is how to be a heartbreaker, boys they like a little danger” the

song playing said, and Harry agreed completely. When it came to Louis
he did like danger, it was exciting and thrilling and he couldn’t get
enough of it.

Harry then saw a clip of Zayn smacking Louis ass and he instantly
turned to said man and glared at him, making Zayn put his hands up in
surrender.

His jealous facade went away and was replaced by a smile when he saw
a clip of him and Louis, when they bumped into each other and Louis
gently caressed his arm. God he loved him.

But guess what? His jealousy came back, once again. Harry honestly
didn’t think one video could make his emotions go all over the place,
one minute he was fonding and the next he was jealous. This time it
was because of an interview clip which he already knew of.

One time a few years back, Zayn Liam and Louis were in an interview
with some Australian man and the entire way through Louis was flirting
with him, making cheeky comments and licking his lips. It drove Harry
mad when he first watched it back and he ended up having an argument
with Louis over it.

427
He thought he had gotten over it by now, but apparently not, as he felt
the anger and jealousy rise again whilst watching the clip, and it didn’t
go unnoticed by any of the lads as Louis drew soothing circles into his
hip whilst the other three laughed.

Harry raised his eyebrows when he saw an interviewer clearly checking

Louis out, and it really wasn’t helping with how he was feeling right
now. He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself
down. Louis was his and only his, nobody but himself can fucking look
at Louis that way, he thought to himself.

Whilst seeing the actions Louis had taken during some of these clips,
the other three lads were trying to hold back their laughter at how
desperate Louis seemed. The way he was very obviously flirting with
these men while he was supposed to be a “straight” man was quite
hilarious. Louis noticed and grew embarrassed, wondering why he even
did that in the first place. He assumed he was just trying to make Harry
jealous at the time, and it defiantly worked.

His embarrassment soon faded away thought after hearing countless

celebrities gush about how amazing he was, it really did make him feel
good inside and if he said he didn’t like this video he would be lying.

The video soon came to an end and the lads were stunned. They actually
really enjoyed it, Niall most of all of course. Louis was sat there looking
smug at the effect he had on other people, whilst Harry was battling
against whether he felt jealous or fond.

“Holy shit, why didn’t I know about this channel sooner?” Louis
exclaimed, already wanting to watch more of these videos.

“Go subscribe to it, they’ve got more videos like this” Niall said with a
smile, and Louis jumped up to get his phone immediately.

“You alright there Haz?” Liam asked with a smirk, noticing his spaces
out look.

428
“I swear to god if he flirts with anymore interviewers I’m out” Harry
said dramatically, leaning back in his chair and shaking his head,
causing them to laugh.

“Alright I’ve got it I’ll just—” Louis began, unlocking his phone before
he stopped with wide eyes.

“Lou what’s wrong?” Harry asked, not giving a shit about the bet when
Louis looked so shocked and confused right now, it was worrying him
immensely.

“Louis?” Zayn said, and stood up with the rest of the lads to go by Louis
side.

“Fuck, he— he couldn’t have. Shit” Louis whispered, tapping

frantically on his phone, but nothing was there, nothing was coming up.

“What’s wrong babe, speak to me” Harry said soothingly, But the worry
was building up and up inside him as the Seconds passed.

“My fucking phone. It’s been wiped” He stuttered out, and as the
silence fell around the room, the realization hit.

The evidence was gone.

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 42
Touched

“It— it’s gone, its fucking gone!” Louis exclaimed, harshly tapping
away on his phone in hopes that something, anything would come up.

He felt like he could cry. Everything they had worked towards so far,
was gone. The videos, voice recordings, pictures. It was all gone.

Louis continued to thrash at his phone. Pressing the button

continuously, tapping the screen over and over again, thinking that
maybe, just maybe, it was a glitch. Maybe his phone was just spazzing
out. But it wasn’t. It really was gone for good.

“Louis, Louis babe, calm down” Harry soothed in his boyfriends ear,
gradually getting more and more concerned for his emotional state.

“I— I can’t. It’s all my fault. Why the fuck didn’t I transfer it? Fuck,
it’s all my fault” Louis chanted over and over again, his fingertips going
white with how hard he was pressing onto the screen.

“Louis calm down for us, it’s not your fault—” Zayn began, about to
reach out for Louis to comfort him but flinched away when Louis
suddenly threw his phone against the wall, the item smashing to pieces
all at once, creating a loud thud to echo around the room.

“It is my fucking fault Zayn! If I hadn’t been so fucking stupid and

transferred the damn evidence we wouldn’t be having this problem!
You can sugarcoat it all you want but it’s my fault and it always will
be, I always manage to fuck everything up” Louis exclaimed, throwing
his arms to his side for emphasis.

The lads looked over Louis with worry. His face was red in both
frustration and sadness. His eyes had begun to pour out tears, dripping

430
down his inflamed skin. His hair was a mess from tugging on it with
stress and his knuckles were turning white, clenched by his sides.

“Lou, look at me, look at me” Harry said, taking Louis face into his
large hands and cupping his cheeks delicately.

Their eyes finally met, blue meeting green, and Harry could see all
Louis emotions just from the image before him. His once vibrant, blue
eyes were now dull and blurred by tears, holding so much anger,
frustration and sadness within them.

“It’s not your fault. It will never be your fault. Any of us could have
gotten you to transfer the evidence, but we didn’t, it’s just as much our
fault as it is yours. How your phone was wiped, I have no idea, but I
know for a fact Simon had something to do with this and we will find a
way around it, Alright?” Harry said, pouring out his reassurance to the
man whilst rubbing circles into his skin, making Louis slowly calm
down.

“But Haz—” Louis began, But was cut off from Harrys finger being
placed on his soft lips, as if to shush him.

“No buts. I don’t want to hear any more of that. If we can’t retrieve the
evidence we already have, we can just get new evidence ok. We can
start over. I don’t care how long it takes, we can get through this, I love
you” Harry said with a small smile which Louis soon reciprocated.

“I love you too” Louis said in a small hoarse voice, sounding

vulnerable.

“Now, I hope you didn’t smash your phone too hard, we need the SIM
card” Harry said with a smirk, before reaching down to pick up the
broken device.

“Why? What do you mean?” Louis asked, tilting his head to the side in
confusion.

431
“I have a friend, and let’s just say he’s a bit of a tech wiz. Hopefully he
can help us out” Harry said with a grin, taking the phone and putting it
safely back into his bag, along with any missing pieces.

“Fuck. I shouldn’t have smashed it” Louis said, once again feeling
guilty and ashamed.

“No, it’s not your fault. You were stressed out, I would’ve probably
done the same to be honest” Harry replied with a chuckle, making Louis
crack a laugh along with him.

“Don’t worry about it mate, we can sort it out one way or another” Zayn
said, bringing Louis into a warm hug which Louis was grateful for.

“Fucking hell I’m a mess” Louis said with a small smile as he wiped
his eyes and ruffled his hair, sighing as he took a seat once again.

“All the best of us are” Niall said with a grin as he sat down along with
the rest of the lads.

“Are you lot okay back there?” Allen said from his driving position at
the front of the bus, confused at what all the commotion before was
from.

“Yeah down worry about it, we’re all good now” Liam called, sticking
his thumbs up which Allen saw through the mirror, nodding in return.

“Anyway, who’s this friend you were on about?” Liam asked, directing
his attention towards Harry.

“Oh, Uh just someone I met about a year ago, he’s called Jack, I swear
that man can fix or hack just about anything” Harry said with a shake
of his head, thinking back to when his friend showed him all the cool
stuff he could do, he was like one of those spy’s from the movies.

“Where’s he from? Do you think we can meet with him soon?” Louis
asked, curious as to who this guy was and if he could really help them.

432
“He’s from Newcastle, which is good seeming as we’re heading there
after the show tonight. We could stop by before we go to Sheffield?”
Harry explained.

“Sounds good, I just hope we have enough time” Zayn said, worried
that they will be whisked away right after their show there.

“We could make up some excuse, say it’s a meeting with one of our
solo labels or something, seeming as we haven’t really sorted all that
out yet” Niall said, the idea making a lot of sense to the rest of the lads.

“Yeah that’s actually a really good idea, cheers Nialler” Louis said,
ruffling the man’s hair with a grin, only to be shoved away by him.

“Well, if that’s sorted, I’m gonna go sleep for the rest of the ride, wake
me up when we’re there” Harry said, standing to head to bed, the
tiredness finally hitting him.

“I’ll join you” Louis said with a lazy smirk, winking at the man and
making him blush slightly.

After about half an hour they arrived in Birmingham.

With heavy sighs and groans the lads tiredly made their way out of the
bus, this time thankfully not having a crowd of photographers and fans
awaiting them.

They were escorted by Paul into the hotel they would be staying in for
the night and were pleasantly surprised by its standards.

It was bright and open, but contained a warm and cosy feeling to it at
the same time. Everything in sight was squeaky clean, you could
practically see your reflection through the marble floors. Plants were
decorated around the room and the staff all had bright smiles on their

433
faces, welcoming the celebrities in kindly whilst containing a
professional standard.

“This place is amazing” Harry said as he gaped in wonder at the sight

before him, it was beautiful.

“No disrespect, but I didn’t see this coming from Birmingham” Louis
said with a slight chuckle, scratching the back of his neck as the lads
scowled at him.

“Has nobody ever thought you to bite your tongue?” Harry asked
sarcastically, tilting his head to the side.

“No, but you could teach me how” Louis said cheekily, winking at the,
now, flustered man.

“Jesus could you at least wait for the bedroom?” Liam groaned, rolling
his eyes at the two.

“I was planning on it” Is all Louis replied with, looking smug as hell
with a smirk placed on his lips.

Harry bit his lip to contain his laughter and instead shook his head
fondly at his boyfriend before walking to the front desk to get their room
keys.

“Hello how may I help you” the woman at the front desk asked, twirling
her hair through her fingertips and fluttering her eyes as she leant
forward, putting her assets on show.

Harry noticed the action and rolled his eyes, not caring if he was being
rude seeming as she clearly didn’t know anything about
professionalism.

“We’d like to check in” He said in a dull voice, forgetting about the
pleases and thank yous, she didn’t deserve it anyway.

434
“Name please?” She said in an attempted flirtatious tone, when in
reality she sounded like a desperate hag.

“Harry Styles” He replied, although he shouldn’t have had to, it was

quite clear she knew who he was.

By this point Louis was making his way over, intending on hurrying
this up as he wanted nothing more than to get to his room, but stopped
when she saw the woman place her hands on Harrys arms, dragging it
up slowly.

Louis scowled, his eyebrows furrowing as he marched his way up to

the desk and slapped her hand away before leaning onto the desk and
pulling the best fake smile he could muster.

“What do you think you doing?” Louis asked in a calm voice, but
malice was laced within it.

“I-Uh, nothing, sir. Can I help you or something?” She asked, stumbling
over her words in shock of being caught.

“What’s your name?” He then asked, ignoring her question and raising
his eyebrows slightly.

“Cara, sir” She said nervously, fidgeting in her spot behind the desk.

“Well, Cara, I suggest you stop your pathetic attempt at flirting with my
boyfriend and give me our room key so I can take him there and do
things to him you probably don’t want to hear about, Alright?” He said,
all the while keeping his calm I and ending his little rant with a huge
fake smile, gesturing for her to get on with it.

The room had gone quiet after Louis’ outburst, everyone hearing what
he had said and finding it both shocking and amusing. The woman in
front of him stared with wide eyes at what she had just heard whilst the
lads behind him were struggling to contain their laughter.

435
“Well, What are you waiting for? We haven’t got all day” Louis
continued, snapping his fingers in the woman’s face which broke her
out of her trance.

“I— Uh, y-yeh, o-okay, just one m-moment, I’ll be right with you” She
said before rushing off, probably to get another member of staff to
handle him.

Louis huffed and rolled his eyes before he turned around to see the lads
all with huge smirks on their faces, snickering with one another.

“What?” Louis asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Someone’s jealous” Niall said as he laughed behind his hand, face

going slightly red.

“Honestly, What the fuck was that? The poor woman looked terrified”
Zayn asked, now laughing along with Niall.

“Poor woman? She was practically undressing Harry with her eyes!”
He exclaimed, throwing his arms out to his sides.

“That makes two of you then” Liam said with a laugh.

Louis rolled his eyes and turned to Harry who was stood staring at him
in shock, mouth slightly agape.

“Oh don’t look so surprised” Louis said with a huff, crossing his arms
over his chest.

“I’m not surprised, it’s a very, You thing to do. I’m more amused than
anything. You practically ordered her to give you the key so you can go
shag me” Harry said once he came back to reality, laughing at his sassy
boyfriend.

“Jesus— Whatever, you lot can go fuck yourselves” Louis said, sticking
his middle finger up at them before he turned to the desk, grabbed the

436
key that was in the new staff members hand, and walked off to the
elevators.

“Your boyfriends, Uh, feisty” The staff member said with a small
chuckle, also finding it amusing.

“That he is” Harry said fondly and began to sort out the check in with
her.

Once it was sorted Harry and the rest of the lads made their way to their
rooms and Harry had to mentally prepare himself before entering, not
wanting any more of Louis sass today, even if it was hilarious.

He slowly peaked his head through the door to see Louis pacing around,
biting his nails as a habit he got when stressed out.

Harry sighed and walked into the room, closing the door behind him
and causing Louis to snap his head up, meeting his boyfriends gaze.

“Oh don’t give me that look, she was all over you” Louis said in a
frustrated tone, shaking his head.

“You didn’t need to be so rude though” Harry replied, placing their

luggage beside the bed and making his way over to Louis.

“Like fuck I didn’t, I had every right to be rude! Fucking touching you
without permission, who does she think she is? I swear to god these—
”

—Smut warning in case you don’t wanna read it, they don’t go all
the way though so it’s up to you lol—

Louis was suddenly cut off by Harrys lips smashing against his own,
Harry bringing their heads together by the back of Louis neck. Louis
practically melted into the kiss, his ranting long forgotten about. Now
all he could think about was Harry, Harry, Harry.

437
Harry drifted his hands down Louis sides until he reached his ass,
giving it a quick squeeze and making Louis gasp, giving Harry entrance
to lick into his mouth hungrily.

Louis whined as Harry walked them backwards, until he felt the edge
of the bed against his legs and Harry pushed him onto it, the soft
mattress and covers meeting his back.

Harry crawled on top of him, straddling his waist as he leaned forward

and placed chaste kisses from his mouth down along his neck, nipping
and biting on the skin to create small love bites which made Louis
squirm.

“What did you say you were gonna do to me Lou?” Harry whispered
into his ear, the hot breath tingling the surface.

Louis couldn’t get the words out, too hot and bothered to even register
the question in his mind as he wriggled against Harry , desperate for
any form of friction.

“Answer me Louis” Harry said sternly, biting at his neck softly but
harsh enough to bring Louis back to his senses a little.

“T-that id bring you back to our room, d-do things she wouldn’t want
to hear” Louis stuttered out, gasping when Harrys hand made its way
under his shirt, tracing shapes into his skin.

“What wouldn’t she want to hear?” Harry asked as he pulled the top
over Louis head, throwing it behind him carelessly.

“I-fuck Haz” Louis gasped as Harry placed kisses all over his torso,
lower and lower towards the region he wanted, needed to be touched
the most.

“Answer the question” Harry said as he began to slowly unbutton Louis

pants, pulling the zipper down teasingly.

438
“Fuck— that I’d t-take you just as you’re doing t-to me now, j-just
please, touch me for fucks sake” Louis whined out, extremely sexually
frustrated at the slow process.

“Language babe” Harry said with a smirk as he suddenly yanked down

Louis pants and boxers in one go, making Louis hiss as the cold air met
his member.

Instead of touching Louis where he wanted to be, Harry places delicate

kisses along his inner thighs which were trembling now with
anticipation and need. He avoided Louis’ dick and went further and
further up, kissing his torso and neck before finally reaching eye level
once again.

Harry stared down at Louis for a moment, searching for approval. He

knew Louis wanted it, but he would always do this just to be sure, he
would never make Louis do something he didn’t want to whether that
be sexually or casually, but he finally found the answer he needed and
brought their lips together once again.

Louis brought his legs up around Harrys waist as they made out hotly,
tongues dancing with one another and teeth biting lips. Louis moaned
into Harry’s mouth as his clothed crotch brushed against his dick,
giving him a tiny amount of relief that he knew just wasn’t enough.

His hands tugged at Harrys shirt, and the man understood what Louis
wanted and complied, pulling it over his head to reveal his smooth and
tattoo littered skin. Louis was practically drooling at the sight.

Harry reattached their lips and his hand slid down Louis’ body, finally
taking the base of his cock into his hand making Louis throw his head
back in pleasure, god he had missed this, he thought to himself.

Slowly, Harry began moving his hand up and down, pacing a rhythm
that he knew would drive Louis mad in need. Louis moaned at the
sensation and bucked his hips up slightly, desperate for any more

439
friction he can get, but his hips were soon pushed back down onto the
mattress by Harrys large hands, keeping him in place.

“Haz—” Louis began, But was shushed by Harry as he moved his way
down his body, face now levelling with his dick.

“So impatient” Harry whispered, his breath ghosting over Louis

member and causing him to groan again, the noise he made being music
to Harrys ears.

“Come on—” Louis said, But was cut off when his breath hitched as
Harry took his tip into his mouth, tongue circling around it teasingly.

Harry could taste the salty precome on his tongue as he licked it away,
hearing Louis let out breathy moans every now and again which only
encouraged him further.

As Harry took him deeper into his mouth, Louis began to fist Harrys
hair tightly, tugging on the strands as he shut his eyes closed, enjoying
every second of this moment.

Harry soon took him all the way in, the head hitting the back of his
throat which went unbothered, now used to the feeling. He continued
his actions, going up and down and building a quicker pace along the
way, swirling his tongue around and feeling every ridge and vein in
Louis’ dick. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying himself too.

“Fuck— Haz I’m close” Louis breathed out, tightening his grip on
Harrys hair as he felt the familiar warm sensation in the pit of his
stomach.

At this Harry sped up his pace, his mouth dipping up and down quicker
as he began to trail his hands along Louis body, adding to the immense
pleasure Louis was feeling.

440
“Holy shit—” before Louis could finish his sentence, he spilt his cum
down Harrys throat, the hot fluid coating his mouth as he swallowed it
down quickly, not missing a drop of it.

Louis panted breathlessly as Harry sat up and rolled off his body, now
laying besides his boyfriend as they both tried to catch their breaths.

“Wait, don’t you want me to—” Louis began, turning over to Harry to
help him out as well until Harrys hand stopped him as the man shook
his head.

“Nah, I’m good, I may have gotten off to you moaning” Harry said with
a lazy smirk, making Louis’ eyes widen as he grinned widely.

“Why have we not done this sooner?” Louis asked with a shake of his
head as he leant down to place a kiss onto Harrys lips, slightly tasting
himself in the process.

“Because everyone seems to like to interrupt us, I’m surprised we got

away with it this time to be honest” Harry replied with a small chuckle,
bringing Louis into his side.

“True. I love you” Louis whispered, smiling up at Harry besides him as

his arm snook around his shoulders, giving him a tight squeeze.

“I love you too” Harry replied, returning the smile.

They lay there for a while contently, even with sweaty bodies and
disgusting hygiene right now, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was this
moment right now being spent together.

441
 43
Bears

Louis and Harry woke up about an hour later from the lads barging
through their hotel room.

They had been contently sleeping, Cuddled up within each other’s arms
and blissfully dreaming of the actions that had taken place just before,
but woke up startled by the lads shouting and throwing pillows at their
heads.

Louis groaned as a pillow hit him right in the face and sunk further
down into Harrys arms, pulling the duvet over his head.

“Come on lovebirds, we need to go get ready for the show!” Niall

screamed, a smirk on his face along with Zayn and Liam, they all knew
instantly what they had been up too.

“Fuck off pricks” Louis said with a groggy voice, only wanting to fall
back into slumber with his boyfriend.

“No can do, not unless you want to explain to the fans why you didn’t
turn up to your own show” Liam replied smugly before grabbing the
duvet and yanking it off the bed, exposing Louis and Harrys naked
bodies.

“Mate what the fuck” Harry screeched as he searched for anything to

cover himself and Louis with, finally grabbing two pillows to place over
their crotches.

“Nothing we haven’t seen before, now get the fuck up and meet us at
reception in five” Zayn said causally and left the room once again with
the other two lads in tow.

442
Once the door had been slammed shut once again Louis sighed and fell
back onto the mattress, wiping his hands tiredly down his face as Harry
looked on fondly.

“You’re so beautiful” Harry said as he took in the sight of Louis’

tousled feathery hair, bright blue eyes and toned torso.

Louis turned his face to Harry and smiled shyly, bringing his hand
around Harrys neck and bringing him down for a passionate kiss,
lingering a little longer than usual.

“I’ve got nothing on you Haz” Louis whispered, their faces mere inches
apart as Harry broke out into a huge smile, his dimples on show.

Harry traced patterns into Louis face, as if memorizing every dent,

wrinkle and feature on it, the comfortable silence settling around them.

“I love you, but we do need to get going. Come on” Harry said before
pecking Louis on the lips quickly and standing up from the bed,
stretching out his limbs as Louis watched on hungrily, practically
drooling at Harrys toned abs and black ink scattered over his tanned
skin.

Louis reluctantly dragged his gaze away from Harry and stood up as
well, going straight to his suitcase to grab something comfy to wear to
the stadium, knowing he would be getting showered and changed whilst
there anyway.

He chose some Adidas sweatpants and a loose, oversized t shirt from

YSL, making sure to cover his messy hair with a cap and placing a pair
of Nike trainers on his feet. Harry wore an equally comfy outfit that
consisted of oversized trousers, a Gucci t shirt and his own merchandise
hoodie, not caring about his hair and placing Gucci loafers on his feet.

“Haz, you realize your outfit does not match at all right, like, you pull
it off of course, but really? What are them grandpa pants all about?”
Louis asked, trying to hide his laugh behind his hand.

443
“Heyy, I don’t make fun of your clothing. And besides, it’s comfy and
I’ll be changing soon anyways. Like I care what people think of my
outfits” Harry said with a shrug, smirking at Louis.

“Whatever you say babe” Louis replied before taking his hand and
pulling him out their room, locking it with the key card before they
made their way down to meet the lads.

“Took you long enough” Zayn said when he saw them approaching,
getting a middle finger from Louis in return as Harry laughed.

Zayn shook his head and they made their way out to the car waiting for
them, ready to take them to Barclaycard Arena where they would
perform tonight.

Just as they had finally settled in the car, Liam’s phone began ringing,
it was management.

“It’s management. Should I pick up or not?” Liam asked, a hesitant look

in his eyes as he directed his attention towards Louis.

“You kinda have to, it could be something important. If they mention

anything about the phone or stunt shit then end it” Louis replied,
nodding for Liam to answer the call.

Liam gave a look towards Louis that silently asked if he was sure, but
when he got the answer he was looking for he finally clicked the green
button, the call connecting instantly as he put it on speaker.

“Hello?” Liam asked, hoping nothing bad was to come.

“Hey Liam. We just needed to let you know about some plans that have
recently come up regarding your solo careers. Can the other lads hear
this?” The woman asked on the other end of the phone.

444
“Yeh it’s on speaker, we’re on our way to the venue for the show now”
Liam confirmed, nodding his head even though she couldn’t see him.

“Okay good. Anyway, as the reunion was so sudden we obviously

hadn’t sorted out much to do with your solo careers, but the Brit awards
are coming up soon and your all nominated as solo acts. Regardless of
whether you’re a band or not you need to attend as there’s a good
chance of you winning and it will give the band more publicity” She
explained, making the lads all raise their eyebrows in shock as they
assumed they were completely done with their solo careers.

“Okay, but how’s that going to work with the tour schedule?” Liam
asked the question that was on everyone’s minds.

“Luckily the award ceremony is taking place a few days after you finish
the UK leg of tour so it shouldn’t interfere with the schedule, however
I hope you don’t mind taking a day out of your break” She replied,
making them groan a little.

They planned to have a week’s break before they head off for the
European leg of tour, so they could go see family and relax a little, but
now they had to give up one of those precious days for the bloody Brit
awards. They were all great full for being nominated, of course, but it
did suck when the little time off they get is taken away, for busy people
like them time is everything.

“Uh, Yeah, sure I guess. But we really do need to get going, we’re
nearly at the venue so could you just ring us back tomorrow or
something with the details?” Liam asked with a sigh.

“Sure. Have a good show” She said then hung up, Liam putting his
phone back into his pocket.

The woman he was talking to happened to be one of the kinder people

working for management. The lads wouldn’t say she’s an angel, but she
is significantly less judgmental than the others which was nice.

445
“Fuck sake” Louis said under his breath, but Harry still noticed it and
pulled him further into his side, drawing soothing patterns into his arm
which Louis was great full for.

“We’re here lads, go put on a good show yeh?” Their chauffeur said
with a smile, patting Liam on the back as he was upfront before they
thanked him and got out of the car.

Paul escorted them to the dressing rooms and once again met Louise
and her team there who got straight to work after they had taken
showers.

Tonight, Harry was wearing a deep but vibrant blue suit that was
detailed with sparkles and beading all down the sleeves and collar,
standing out above his plain black shirt that was unbuttoned half way
down his chest.

Louis mouth dropped as usual when he saw his boyfriend, standing

casually in front of the mirror as he adjusted the sleeves and ran a hand
through his brown locks, looking like someone straight out of a vogue
magazine.

Harry noticed Louis staring at him through the mirror and smirked a
little before saying “take a picture it will last longer” smugly, breaking
Louis out of his trance.

Louis scoffed and rolled his eyes playfully. He thought about grabbing
his phone and actually complying with Harrys remark, but his smile
dropped when he remembered the whole phone fiasco, the remaining
broken parts of it laying in Harrys bag back at the hotel.

“Why the frown baby?” Harry asked as he made his way over to Louis,
a crease forming in between his eyebrows and concern flirting through
his eyes.

“Nothing, just remembered about my phone, it’s no big deal” Louis said
with a shrug, sighing slightly.

446
“Don’t worry about it Lou, we’re gonna fix it, I promise you. For now
though, get changed, we’ve got a show to put on” Harry said with a grin
and pulled Louis in for a kiss, their tongues dancing together as they
closed their eyes shut tightly, embracing the blissful moment.

“Jesus get a room!” Louise shouted, groaning as she turned around and
walked out of the room, shaking her head as she heard the two laughing
loudly.

“Also, keep your eyes peeled on stage. I’ve left a little surprise” Harry
said with a wink before walking away from a confused Louis.

What could it be? He thought to himself, now more excited than ever
to get out there and find out what Harrys hiding from him.

Louis shook himself out of his thoughts and continued to get ready,
wearing tracksuit bottoms with a Givenchy sweater, paired with his best
sneakers. He checked himself once more in the mirror and when he was
pleased with his appearance it was time to head on stage, hearing their
cue from the speakers in the room.

The lads rushed out the room in a quick pace and got in their positions
to set out onto the stage, giving each other reassuring looks and
encouragement, hyping themselves up for the concert.

As the stage doors slowly slid open, the stage lights blinded them and
they smiled at the sound of 16,000 fans screaming their names in
excitement, encouraging them further.

As the beat of their first song flooded throughout the arena the lads
made their way onto the stage, finally making their presence known and
causing the fans to erupt into even louder cheers.

They smiled at one another as they prepared to sing, the adrenaline

already pumping through their veins as they waved to the audience.
Then finally, Niall sung out the first words.

447
“Saw your body language and I know what you’re feeling, you look
like the kind of girl that’s tired of speaking, standing with somebody,
but he doesn’t know what you like”

Niall sung loudly, his voice reverberating through the speakers as the
fans sung along with the lyrics perfectly.

“You caught my attention, you were looking at me first, all that I can
see is you waking up in my t shirt, if you’re not hooked to anything I
can be your vice”

Niall continued with the fast pace song whilst the other lads interacted
with the crowd, taking a section each to entertain as they waved and
danced for them.

“All you need to know is, you can call me, when your lonely, when you
can’t sleep, I’ll be your temporary fix you control me, even if it’s just
tonight”

They sung together, the crowd singing “yeah’s” every now and again
when needed and putting a smile on their faces.

“You can call me, when you feel like, I’m you good time, I’ll be your
temporary fix, you can own me, even if it’s just tonight, let me be your
good night”

Throughout the chorus Louis and Harry kept sending subtle winks to
each other, flirting across the stage cheekily as they enjoyed their
moment. The good thing about being on stage was management
couldn’t come between them at every second, meaning they could
banter as much as they wanted and deal with the consequences later.

“The night is on your lips and I feel like I’m locked in, there’s a million
lights I don’t care if their watching, your body’s saying everything I
don’t need to read your mind”

448
Harry sung his verse all the while looking at Louis, once again
serenading him. The lyrics meant so much more now that they finally
had an intimate moment not even two hours earlier. He could tell Harry
meant it about them watching, he didn’t care whilst on stage and he
didn’t care out in the public, if only it were allowed.

“Feel you on my neck while I’m calling a taxi, climbing over me while
I climb in the backseat, now we’re taking off, now we’re taking it off
tonight”

This was probably one of Louis’ favorite verses of Harrys on the album.
One, because his voice sounds so fucking sexy it’s hard for him to even
breathe properly, and two this part is something that actually happened
to them while out in Wellington that night, the first time they went all
the way.

They all sung the chorus again and then made it to the bridge. Louis and
Harry walked to the front of the stage side by side and belted out the
lyrics, all the while messing with one another and making the fans
scream in fondness and excitement.

“We can roll in the darkness, let me touch you where you heart is, and
if you’re feeling the weakness, well I told you baby that you can call
me, I’ll be your temporary fix you can call me”

They sung together angelically. Their voices mixed together so

smoothly it was hard to tell it was even more than once voice and the
fans were going wild for it, Harry and Louis even noticing some Larry
signs out in the audience that made them smile proudly.

They all sung the chorus one last time before the music came to a stop
and they were all out of breath, smiling widely whilst panting and
sending kisses to the fans who cheered and applauded them.

“Have you noticed yet?” Harry whispered into Louis ear behind his
hand, his other one resting on Louis bicep gently which some fans
undoubtedly noticed.

449
“No, I don’t even know what I’m looking for” Louis replied with a pout,
growing frustrated that he couldn’t seem to find Harrys surprise for him.

“You’ll know it when you see it” Harry said with a smirk, laughing
lightly at Louis expression.

“Oh come on, give me a hint” Louis whined, desperately wanting to

find out.

“Fine. We used to use it a lot on stage” Harry replied, raising his

eyebrows a little and looking expectantly at Louis to see if he was
catching on, but Louis still seemed oblivious.

“Uh, buttplugs?” Louis said sarcastically, tilting his head to the side and
pasting a confused expression on his face as Harry burst out laughing
loudly, smacking a hand over his mouth to contain himself.

“Fucking hell, no of course not, but good idea though” Harry said with
a smirk, winking at Louis as he laughed and walked off to sit with the
rest of the lads at the back of the stage, it was now Niall’s turn to
perform a solo song.

Louis shook his head and sighed, thinking he would never find out what
it was as he walked over to the lads and took a seat next to Harry.

“This is slow hands, sing along if you know the words” Niall introduced
to the crowd, making them erupt into more cheers.

Niall stood with his guitar strapped to his front, microphone on its stand
in front of him as the backing track began to play.

He strummed along with the music, hitting the right chords effortlessly
as he began to sing, swaying in his spot whilst he did so.

“We should take this back to my place, that’s what she said right to my
face, cause I want you bad, yeah I want you baby”

450
He sung softly into the mic as the lads behind him swayed along to the
song, enjoying every moment of the calmness that seeped through them
as they watched the fans put their hands in the air and swung them side
to side slowly.

“I’ve been thinking bout it all day, and I hope you feel the same way,
yeah, cause I want you bad, yeah I want you baby”

Louis rested his head onto Harrys shoulder as Niall continued to sing,
feeling at ease besides his boyfriend and the comfort of their fandom.
Harry smiled down at Louis when he looked up and they kept their gaze
lingering for a moment until Niall go to the chorus and the lads joined
in on certain parts.

“Slow hands” all of them sung.

“Like sweat dripping down our dirty laundry” Niall continued.

“No chance” they all sung again.

“That I’m leaving here without you on me” Niall sung.

“I know” the lads joined in again.

“Yeah I already know that there ain’t no stopping, your plans and those,
slow hands” Niall finished the first chorus and began with the rest of
the song, pointing his mic out to the audience when he wanted them to
sing and then quickly going back to his guitar.

During the song, the whole audience had gotten out their flashlights to
create a sea of stars under the arena whilst the stage lights were dimmed
and the spotlight was placed on Niall. It was beautiful, but Harry still
thought the most beautiful thing in the entire stadium was the man
sitting besides him.

451
Louis didn’t need flashlights to create a sea, he already had the ocean
in his eyes.

Louis continued to gaze over the stage, his eyes dragging across the
fans to the boxes placed next to Niall, and that’s when he noticed it.

Right there, perched upon a speaker box, was the two bears of which
Louis and Harry used to expose their love with.

The rainbow bear and sugar baby bear.

He thought he had lost them. He thought Harry had thrown them away
when their relationship had ended. But Harry had kept them all this
time.

These two, ridiculous stuffed bears would seem stupid to outsiders, why
would grown men be carrying around teddy bears on tour? But to Louis
and Harry they meant everything.

Back in the day, it was their only way of showing their relationship to
the public whilst they were trapped in rules they were too afraid to
break.

Fans caught onto it after a while, and it was great to see all the support
they had gotten from it. It was the first time they really felt comfortable
with coming out, but if only they could.

Louis whipped his head back up to Harry with a huge smile and Harry
knew he had found the little surprise. Louis suddenly got up from his
seat, not caring if Niall was in the middle of a song, and strided over to
the bears, grabbing both of them in his hands before running back to
Harry and straddling his lap to give him a huge hug.

“You kept them” Louis whispered and Harry could feel his smile
against his neck.

452
“Of course I did Lou” Harry replied, sneakily kissing Louis neck whilst
his face couldn’t be seen.

Louis pulled back and gave Harry the bigger bear before grabbing his
hand and pulling him up, the other lads watching with interest.

Niall continued to sing as Louis and Harry danced for the audience,
swirling around each other whilst tightly grasping the bears, huge grins
on both their faces as they laughed with one another.

Niall couldn’t contain his laughter into the mic when he saw Harry
almost fall, due to his long limbs and clumsy nature, but luckily Louis
caught him at the last minute making the audience coo at them.

Niall finally finished the song and Louis and Harry bowed to the
audience and held the bears high above their heads, showing it off to
their fans who screamed in realization.

They knew they were gonna get so much shit for this. But it was worth
it.

453
 44
Plan B

“Right. How do we go around this then?” Liam asked as he held his

phone tightly into his hand, the display showing recent messages from
Simon and management.

“On one hand we can ask why he wiped Louis phone, that way we won’t
straight up tell him we’ve been gathering evidence against him. On the
other hand we could do that and Simon knows exactly why, making life
ten times more difficult for us” Harry replied in a frustrated tone,
weighing up his options.

“Well we need to find out if it was really him or not. Your friend did
say it would be easier to retrace the footage and everything if we knew
where to get it from. So I guess it’s our only option” Louis said,
referring to the tech guy Harry knows.

“Yeh I guess you’re right. May as well get it over with then” Liam said
with a shrug, hitting the call button and putting it on speaker.

The phone ringed twice before Simon finally answered the phone, and
the nerves were already kicking in. Everything could go to shit because
of this one phone call.

“Liam. Why are you calling?” Simon asked in a bored tone, causing the
lads to roll their eyes.

“We’ve got a serious situation we need to discuss with you” Liam

replied, scratching the back of his neck out of habit.

“Well okay then, get on with it” Simon said with a sigh, clearly not in
the mood for more shit to deal with.

454
“Recently Louis phone was wiped. We were wondering if you had
anything to do with it, or management?” Liam finally asked hesitantly,
the uneasy tone clear as day in his voice.

“So you finally had the balls to ask huh?” Simon said in a mocking
voice, the smile evident through the phone.

Everything that could have gone wrong had now happened in just a
second.

The lads were holding onto that last little bit of hope that Simon hadn’t
been the one to wipe Louis phone. Hoping it was just some sort of
malfunction. Hoping that when Simon heard the question, he would be
clueless as to what’s really been going on.

But their hope was shattered when the realization hit them. Simon did
wipe the phone, Simon knew they were plotting this behind his back
the whole time, and now Simon had all their evidence in his grasp,
locked away from them.

And now, Simon can do absolutely anything he wants with them.

Simon can do whatever he wants because he’s got the upper hand.
Simon has proof of their ’backstabbing’ actions and he will hold that
against them for the rest of their lives, or until they find a miracle to get
them out of this mess.

They knew that if Simon ever found out he would just up the
consequences. He would make them pull more stunts, keep the lads
further apart, make it impossible to carry out normal relationships with
one another. Simon was going to ruin them, they knew this for a fact.

And their only way out of it would be to gather more evidence, or

retrace what they had, but with the knowledge that Simon would be
watching their every move from now on, the idea seemed impossible.

455
A long silence drew out after what he said. The lads looking at each
other with worried looks, mouths gaping open and eyes blown wide.
They were so fucked.

“What? Got nothing to say now? Maybe start with explaining

yourselves” Simon said in a cold voice, almost making shivers run
down each of their spines.

“I— Simon it’s not what you think” Liam stuttered out, desperate for
any kind of redemption, even if he knew it was a lost cause.

“Oh, so taking pictures and videos of me and management under the

folder name evidence isn’t what we think? You don’t seriously think
we didn’t know what you were up to this whole time? We’ve heard you
little conversations before meetings, you should know the building had
thin walls” Simon scoffed out, chuckling to himself.

“I don’t understand” Liam replied, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Why don’t I make it clear for you then. This little stunt you’ve pulled
is going to have consequences, whether you like it or not. I’m going to
make sure you regret this for the rest of your fucking careers, and this
time, you won’t have a way out of it. From now on you’ll have someone
watching your every move, one slip up and your punishments will just
get worse and worse. I don’t want Louis and Harry anywhere near each
other unless it’s mandatory, same goes for you and Zayn, if you fail to
meet my expectations you’ll be doing stunt after stunt after stunt, I’ll
make sure of it. This is what you get when you go behind our backs,
you try ruin me and I’ll just do the same”

Simon finished his little rant and left the lads stunned, more angry and
upset than ever. The emotions were racing through them, making them
unable to get a word out as they gripped their chairs tightly. And just as
the thought Simon was done, he spoke up again.

“We’ve got another meeting lined up before you head to Ireland so we

can discuss this more then. In the meantime remember what I’ve said,

456
and don’t fuck it up” He finalized before ending the call, leaving the
lads sat in silence.

Louis whimpered and burrowed his face into Harrys chest, clutching
onto his shirt for dear life. He couldn’t stand the thought of staying
away from Harry. He didn’t even think he could physically restrain
himself from doing it, he needed him 24/7 and the thought of keeping
his distance broke his heart. They were back to square fucking one.

“Shh” Harry whispered as he held Louis against him with just as much
need as his boyfriend.

Harry felt like crying. His chest was tight and his head was spinning.
He felt like this one phone call had his world falling apart. It may not
seem like a big deal to others, but others haven’t experienced what they
had to back in the day.

Even when it was just small stunts they had to pull and keeping their
distance in interviews was hard enough, he doesn’t even think he could
handle staying away from Louis for the entirety of tour, for the entirety
of his career. He simply couldn’t do it.

Louis was his world now, he was every part of him. Staying away from
Louis would feel like ripping his soul away from his body, cutting off
a limb. He just wouldn’t be whole without him.

He knew he had to do everything he could to find a solution to this. He

would stay up all day and night if he had to, just to find a way out of
this mess. Hopefully his friend could help them.

Zayn’s eyes were cold with hatred as he stared out the bus window,
thoughts running round his head nonstop.

He thought about having to keep his distance from Liam, the man he
was just beginning to get back on track with again. He thought about
the pain Louis and Harry must be experiencing, having a love so pure
and rare as theirs ripped away from them. He thought about Liam

457
feeling powerless to the situation, when normally he was the one in
control, always finding the solution. He thought about Niall being stuck
in the middle of this, undeserving of all the drama going on around him
when he hadn’t done a single thing wrong. And finally he thought about
his hatred for Simon, the man who just seems to ruin every chance of
happiness they could get.

Zayn knew he needed to be strong for the other lads, bringing out his
calm demeanor in this messy part of their lives. All he wanted was for
them to be happy and at peace.

Liam knew this was all going to go to shit at some point, and he
regretted even calling Simon in the first place. Sure, he had it tough
right now, but he knew he wasn’t experiencing anything like what
Harry and Louis were.

He had watched the two of them blossom into their relationship, from
the early days of the X factor to now, with all the stress and obstacles
in between.

He had watched them cry, shout, scream, argue, but he had also seen
them kiss, smile, hug, hold hands, stare, even make love, although that
last one wasn’t exactly something he wished to have witnessed. Either
way, he had seen the good sides and the bad sides, and he knew they
were perfect for one another.

Their love was like nothing Liam had seen before, it was like something
out of a damn movie. They completed each other in ways nobody else
could imagine. Harrys cheeky, confident and kind nature balances out
Louis’ loud, sassy and outgoing one. He had seen just what being apart
lead them to, and he wouldn’t wish that on his greatest enemy, (or
maybe he would on Simon but nobody needs to know that).

Being apart even just for a few years lead to Louis’ depression, being
withdrawn and quiet, his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes or make them
crinkles besides them, he wasn’t as energetic or silly. He had become a

458
more serious, sad version of himself, and it was honestly the saddest
thing he had ever witnessed, but Harry shocked him the most.

Being apart from Louis, had turned Harry into the exact opposite of
himself.

He took substances he would have rather burned in his past, inevitably

trying to destroy his body. He treated people like they were the dirt he
walked on. He developed a cocky, reckless demeanor in which the
people around him despised him for. He withdrew himself from his
loved ones and didn’t speak to them under any circumstances, isolating
himself from the real world. He couldn’t even apply his utmost rule to
himself anymore. To treat people with kindness.

If Liam ever saw the two of them like that again he didn’t know what
he would do. He would rather kill Simon than have him put his best
mates through that situation again. But he did have hope. He knew they
would find a way around this, even if it meant sacrificing things along
the way.

And Niall. He felt helpless.

He didn’t know what to do at all. He felt his heart break at watching his
best friends going through this again, watching on with sad eyes as they
gripped one another as if they would float away at any second.

He knew he was the most fortunate right now, being that he didn’t have
relationships on the line and wasn’t constantly belittled by Simon and
management every day, all for something the lads couldn’t change
about themselves.

But just because nothing significant was happening directly to him right
now, it didn’t stop the ache forming in his chest and the feeling of his
lungs being filled with water.

He felt like he couldn’t do anything. He wanted to help his friends so

badly, make sure everything is going to be okay, but he doesn’t know

459
how. All he can do right now is offer his support and keep high spirits
up, he vows to himself that he will make sure they’re happy in any way
he can. He won’t let Simon ruin this for them, not when they’ve just
gotten back on track.

“So, What now?” Zayn asked, a small but sad smile on his face.

“I have no fucking clue. He can’t do this though, it’s just not right” Niall
said with a huff as he pushed the hair back from his face.

“You know what. Let’s just forget the phone call. I don’t give a shit
what Simon said on the phone, it doesn’t change any of our plans
anyway. Yes he may be threatening us with distance and more stunts,
but as long as we keep on track, eventually we will have this sorted.
First we need to go see Harrys mate, see if he can fix Louis phone, then
we will gather more evidence, but we will need to find more ways to do
it seeming as we’re gonna he watched 24/7, once that’s done we can
continue with getting our lawyers onto the case. All we can do right
now is support each other and try not to worry about it too much, we’ve
come too far now to give up on it all. There’s no way Simons getting
away with this” Liam said once he had gotten himself together, finding
a way to fuel his anger into determination.

Louis listened to what he was saying with his head still hidden in Harrys
shoulder, not wanting to remove himself from his boyfriends grasp. But
as soon as Liam had finished his little speech, he was feeling more ready
than ever.

Louis sat up slowly and smiled at Harry before pulling his head into a
long, passionate kiss. Harry smiled into the kiss and then withdrew
himself, needing air, and pulling Louis into a hug, wrapping his long
arms around his body tightly as Louis sunk into his embrace once again.

“Liam’s right. We’re gonna get through this. I don’t care how long it
takes, we will find ways to stay close with one another and we will find
ways to gather more evidence. We could even buy a separate phone just
to store everything on, one that Simon and modest won’t know about”

460
Louis said proudly after taking his head out from Harrys neck, smiling
widely.

“Fuck that’s actually such a good idea Lou, we could get one before
seeing jack, that way anything he can retrace from your old phone he
could put onto the new one, so that doesn’t get wiped again” Harry
replied with a grin, finally feeling like they had a solid plan.

“Thank fuck. Let’s just hope it all works out this time around” Niall
said with a smile, all of them ready to get this going as soon as possible,
this time without fail.

461
 45
The Rebound

Soon enough, the lads arrived in Newcastle and were heading straight
to Harrys friend (Jack’s) place, hoping the man could help them out.

“Do you really think he can help us?” Louis asked Harry, the
nervousness evident in his voice.

“Honestly, if he can’t help us nobody can. His work is like the type of
shit you see in movies” Harry said with a reassuring smile, rubbing
Louis thigh to comfort him.

Louis smiled softly up at Harry before resting his head on his shoulder
as the car headed for their location, seeking all the warmth and comfort
he could get which Harry granted him.

“How did you meet him anyway?” Niall asked from the front of the car.

“Uh, at a club, last year” Harry said with slight nervousness.

Harry tensed up at the question and Louis didn’t miss his sudden change
in body language, how he seemed to be stuck in his thoughts as he
looked out the window, the rubbing of his hand coming to a stop.

“Haz? You alright?” Louis questioned, his eyebrows furrowing as he

raked his mind for some sort of explanation.

“Yeh, I’m good, why wouldn’t I be?” He replied with a smile, but Louis
saw how it couldn’t quite reach his eyes and the wariness in his tone.

“You kinda froze up at the question love, do you not get on with him or
something?” Louis quizzed, his eyes searching for the answer.

462
“No, no we’re fine, don’t worry about it” Harry replied, almost hastily
as he changed his demeanor back to normal, almost like placing a mask
over his face to appear unaffected.

But Louis wasn’t buying it, neither were the lads. But nobody pushed
it, seeming to understand that Harry clearly didn’t want to talk about it
for whatever reason.

The car soon came to a stop and Harry muttered out a small “We’re
here” before climbing out, the lads following his actions and now facing
a large apartment complex, the walls a white brick and the front door
huge and detailed, looking expensive and lavish.

“Damn, I’m assuming he’s rich?” Zayn said, looking up to the building
in awe.

Sure, it’s nothing compared to their million pound houses with too
many bedrooms and luxurious swimming pools, but it’s just not what
they were expecting. They hadn’t ever heard about this guy and
assumed he was just a typical bloke, probably living in either a small
house or shitty apartment, but it was quite the opposite. However, a tech
guy who can hack just about anything? Yeh they should have known
he’d be reeling in cash.

“You could say that” Harry said with a smirk, walking up to the door
and pressing the buzzer of Jacks apartment, the reply coming almost
instantly.

“Mate it’s Harry, we’ve got a favor can you let us up?” Harry said with
a smile on his lips.

“Holy shit, I haven’t seen you in ages Haz, sure thing, but who’s we?”
The man replied and Louis scowled at the use of his nickname, already
getting dodgy vibes from him.

“Lou, Liam, Niall and Zayn, hope you don’t mind” Harry answered,
resting his body against the wall as he waited to be let up.

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“Oh is he the one who—” Jack began, a teasing tone to his voice but
was cut off by Harry.

“Yeh, now can you let us up or are you gonna leave us standing here all
day?” Harry quipped back, his body tensing once again.

Louis was now even more confused and the curiosity was eating him
up. Just who was this guy and why is he making Harry so secretive all
of a sudden? He knew he would find out soon enough, Harry can’t keep
anything from him for long.

“Yeh sorry mate, come on up” Jack replied and the little buzzing noise
went off, along with the click of a lock and the door soon swung open
for them.

Harry gestured for the lads to go in before him, placing a hand on the
small of Louis back as he helped him inside, the small gesture making
Louis smile and causing butterflies to erupt in his stomach. Even after
knowing him for so long, he would never get used to the effect Harry
had on him. He would surely be the death of him.

“Follow me” Harry said as he walked ahead, going straight to the lift
and waiting patiently for the doors to open for them.

They got inside when it opened and Harry pressed the very top floor
button, sending them shooting off to said floor.

“If he says anything out of the ordinary just ignore him, he can get a bit
ahead of himself sometimes” Harry said as they reached the top floor,
pushing his hair away from his head as he stepped out.

“Uh, sure, but what do you mean?” Liam asked, his eyebrows furrowing
in confusion.

“You’ll know it when you see it” Harry replied and found himself
knocking on the last door at the end of the hallway.

464
The door swung open quickly and the lads were shocked at his
appearance. He was practically Louis doppelgänger.

He was short and clad in black skinny jeans with rips at the knees. His
hair was swooped to the side and was a honey brown color. His lips
were thin and red, quirked up in a smile as he saw Harry and them
fucking eyes. Them damn eyes that were a replica of Louis, ocean blue
with a hint of green and sparkling in the lights. This had to be a joke,
Louis thought to himself.

The only slight differences were his build, a little more muscular than
Louis, and his face shape, the jawline sharper but his cheekbones less
prominent. At least Louis could give that to himself.

As Harry was pulled into a tight hug by The man Louis saw the way
jack smirked slightly over his shoulder, his eyes piercing into Louis’ as
if to intimidate him. And fuck no. Louis was not having any of that as
he scowled back to the guy, disgust clear on his face.

The other three lads looked shocked with their mouths hanging open.
They could clearly see the similarities as Louis could, frowns etched
into their faces.

The tipping point for Louis is when jack placed a kiss to Harrys cheek,
over exaggerated as it made a loud popping sound.

“All right, that’s quite enough” Louis said in a loud voice, tearing his
boyfriend apart from him and pulling him into his side, a protective arm
around his waist and his eyes never leaving jacks, pointedly glaring at
him with hooded eyes.

Harry smirked down at Louis behavior as jack let out a small laugh,
shaking his head as he gestured for them to come inside, Louis shoulder
bashing him on the way in, not giving a damn if he was being rude.

465
“Lads, this is Jack, Jack, these are the lads” Harry said once they were
all inside the apartment, gesturing to each one of them as they sent silent
nods of acknowledgment to one another, apart from Louis who
continued to stare him down.

“Nice to finally meet you. Harry wouldn’t shut up about you guys when
he was here last” Jack said with a cheeky grin, winking at Harry who
rolled his eyes playfully.

Louis saw the interaction and had to ball up his fists in order to contain
himself from throwing a punch at his fucking face, his lips tight and his
eyes deathly.

“All good things I hope” Niall said with a laugh.

“Yeh, for the most part” Jack replied, subtly sending a look towards
Louis at the last part as the anger and betrayal washed over Louis.

Harry had been saying bad things about him? To this, this fucking
replica of himself? That’s low, even for him, but Louis guessed he
couldn’t blame him after everything that went down. He couldn’t
exactly imagine Harry saying wonderful things about him after their
breakup.

“So, have you known Harry long?” Zayn asked, and Louis could tell he
was feeling off about him as well, thank fuck he wasn’t just
exaggerating then.

“Well, since last year, but he spend a lot of nights here. Didn’t you Haz”
Jack said with a smirk, and Louis felt his heart clench at the words.

All Louis could think was please don’t say they were a thing. Please
don’t say he meant what he think he meant with them words. Please
don’t say this guy was just a fucking rebound to take his mind off Louis.
Because if that was true, then this little meeting was not going to go
down pleasantly.

466
“Uh, Yeah, I guess. Anyway, why don’t we get on with why we’re here
yeh? We’ve got shit to do after all” Harry replied with a slight stumble
with his words, before covering it up swiftly and changing the subject.
Typical Harry.

“Sure love, what did you need?” Jack asked in a seductive tone, doing
nothing but enrage Louis more than ever, and if he didn’t stop with the
fucking nicknames he thinks he’s going to go mad.

“We’ve had a problem with management. You already know the shit
they were and are still doing to us revolving around our sexualities and
relationships, and we’ve just about had enough of it. We were gathering
evidence against them on Lou’s phone to hopefully begin a court case
against them, but somehow Simon found out and wiped Louis’ phone.
We were hoping you could help us retrace some of the evidence, or all
of it?” Harry explained, the words pouring out of him like a fountain.

Jack made a stunned face after hearing what had happened, but his
expression soon turned to a thoughtful one, nodding slightly.

“Well I’ve never had to deal with retracing things from such a large
company before, but I’ll give it my best shot. Do you have the phone?”
Jack said with a shrug, biting the inside of his lip.

“Uh, Yeh, about that. It’s kinda, a little broken” Harry said with a small
chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

“A little? How much is a little?” Jack asked with a roll of his eyes,
knowing he would have to do twice as much work now.

Harry put his bag down on a nearby counter and looked through it for a
moment before pulling out Louis’ battered up phone, along with the
pieces that had dropped off it.

He sheepishly handed it to jack who’s eyes widened in surprise at the

sight, just staring down at the mess in his hands.

467
“You would call this a little? Fucking hell it looks like it’s been run
over by a truck” Jack exclaimed, poking and prodding at the pieces of
broken glass and metal, shaking his head in disbelief. “It’s gonna take
a miracle to sort this shit out” he mumbled.

“Yeh, my bad” Louis said his first words since arriving here, making
Jack whip his head up in surprise.

“He speaks” Jack said with a smirk, laughing quietly to himself. “So
you did this then?”

“Well, if throwing it at a wall makes me the one who broke it then yeh,
I did” Louis said with a shrug, a bored expression on his face.

“Anger issues much?” Jack replied with a smug look, gaining an elbow
to the ribs from Harry who glared down at him, as if to say to cut it out.

“Nah mate, unless you piss me off. Then you’d better get out my way”
Louis challenged, not at all fazed by his remark and standing tall (or as
tall as he could) and proud in front of him. He wouldn’t be messed with
by this prick.

“Oo feisty, I like it. However, I’m not sure you could do much, no
offence” Jack said with a smirk as he placed the phone onto the table
and got out his laptop and other essentials, ready to begin his work.

“Pity I don’t like you. So why don’t you shut your fucking face and get
on with the job, some people have better shit to do than sit here all day
on a laptop” Louis sassed back, the lads trying to contain their laughter
and Harry looking at him with disappointment.

“I’d suggest you quit it with that fucking mouth of yours if you’re
expecting me to do you a favor, you should be glad I even agreed to this
in the first place” Jack said with a calm tone, not taking his eyes off the
laptop as he typed frantically.

468
“Sorry ’love’ I’m not one to bite my tongue. I’d be more glad if you
weren’t eying up my boyfriend this entire time, Jesus have some damn
respect” Louis said in a huff as he sat down on one of the sofas, not
giving a shit if he did so without asking.

“Oh, So you did get back together? Shame, I was itching to get Harry
in my bed again” Jack replied, now looking Louis in the eyes with that
damn smirk again.

Louis couldn’t take it anymore. He leapt of the sofa, his intentions being
to knock this fucking guy out, but was stopped when all the lads jumped
in front of him, Harry grabbing his arm and pulling him away with
soothing circles into his arm.

“Get the fuck off me, this fucker needs to know his place” Louis
shouted as he struggled against Harry, desperate to just punch the guy.

“Babe, stop. Just ignore him, he’s talking rubbish—” Harry began, but
was cut off when Louis pushed him away with a hurt look in his eyes.

“Oh, So him saying you guys fucked is rubbish is it? Tell me Harry, did
you or did you not sleep with that prick over there?” Louis shouted,
anger being let out into Harry instead now.

He knows he shouldn’t care. It was him who fucked the relationship up

anyway, and he knew Harry had multiple rebounds during hiatus, he
had seen some himself. But it didn’t stop the pang of hurt and jealously
soaring through his heart, like a knife was jabbed straight through him.
It only made it worse that the guy looked just like him.

“I— Lou just, just calm down alright, we can talk about this another
time” Harry said with sad eyes, desperate to take away the look of
complete betrayal on Louis face.

“No, answer the fucking question Harry or I swear to god” Louis

shouted, just wanting to hear the word no, wanting to hear that Jack

469
really had just been fucking with him the whole time. He needed to hear
it.

“Yes we did, no point lying Haz” Jack piped up from behind them,
sitting back carelessly with a smug look.

“Jack just drop it already!” Harry shouted back, having enough of his
attempts to stir shit for him and Louis right when they had just gotten
back on track.

“Did I fucking ask you dickhead? No, so once again, shut the fuck up
before I come over and do it for you. Harry, answer the fucking
question” Louis said, his voice low and demanding, seeping out fury.

There was a long silence after the question, jack finally shutting the
fuck up and the lads watching on with helpless looks. Harry just stared
at him with a guilty look and that’s all Louis needed to walk right out
the door, slamming it behind him and rushing down to the exit of the
apartments.

470
 46
Hospital

“Louis Wait!” Harry called, struggling to keep up with the smaller man
as he stormed out the exit of the apartment complex, hands balled into
fists by his side.

Louis ignored him and carried on walking at a fast pace, his mind
swirling with the idea of Harry and that, that prick. That prick who
looked so much like himself.

“Louis! Just, just slow down babe, can you at least talk to me?” Harry
called as he began running, panting for breath as he did so.

As soon as Louis had left the room before Harry had sent a scowl
towards Jack and ran out the room in search of Louis, leaving the rest
of the lads to keep an eye on Jack and make sure he was doing their job.

But right now, Louis wasn’t slowing down, not even registering that his
boyfriend was running after him. Not even registering that he was
nearing a busy road.

Louis was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn’t even realize
he was about to step onto the road, just as a large car was speeding
towards him, ready to inevitably crush his bones and leave him for dead.

Harrys eyes widened as he saw that Louis wasn’t stopping, wasn’t even
looking at where he was walking.

“Louis stop!” Harry screamed as he picked up his pace into a sprint.

He ran as fast as his clumsy legs could carry him and grabbed Louis by
the arm just as he was about to be hit, pulling him down onto the
pavement with him with a large thud.

471
“What the fuck Haz!” Louis shouted as he felt the impact of the floor
on his side, the pain shooting through him, but it wouldn’t have even
compared to the pain he would have felt if Harry hadn’t caught him at
the last minute.

Harry shot up to check if Louis was okay. He patted down his face,
sides, legs, anything to see if he was hurt, and he caught the slight wince
when Harry rubbed along his ribs.

“Fuck, Lou, are you hurt? Where is it hurting? What can I do?” Harry
rushed out the words, stumbling over them as he pushed Louis hair
away from his forehead.

“You can get the fuck off me for a start” Louis scoffed out, pushing
Harry away and standing up quickly, dusting off his clothes and
wincing once again when he stretched out his torso.

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked in a vulnerable voice as he

peered up at Louis from the ground, still in the position Louis had
pushed him into.

“Why do you care? Run back to your fucking boyfriend” Louis said
with a bitter tone, disregarding the frown on Harrys face as he got up
from the floor and stood directly in front of him.

“Louis, your my fucking boyfriend. I don’t even understand what

you’re saying right now” Harry replied, his voice sharp and loud as he
shook his head in disbelief.

“You know what, it doesn’t matter. Forget it” Louis said with a sigh
and turned to walk away, but was prevented from it when Harry caught
his wrist and spun him back towards him.

“Louis— you’re not seriously jealous right now? Of Jack, of all people?
You’ve got to be kidding me” Harry scoffed out, not believing his own
words.

472
“Who said I’m fucking jealous? Of your little play toy who just happens
to look exactly like me?” Louis asked in a sarcastic tone, pasting a fake
smile onto his face as he spoke, shrugging his shoulders.

“Louis the last time I fucked him was way before the reunion! Before
we even began speaking again. We broke up, I don’t see what the
problem is?” Harry shouted with a confused look on his face, using his
hands to emphasize his statement.

“I know that! I fucking know that Harry! I know that we broke up, I
know that it was all my damn fault, I know that I have no right to be
angry, or jealous, or sad. But I fucking am and I can’t help it! I can’t
help that I get jealous when my boyfriend’s rebound is stood there,
looking just like me, talking about how you fucked him and eyeing you
up the entire time! Kissing you on the damn cheek and purposely trying
to get under my skin. I can’t fucking help it Harry because I love you
and I can’t stand to be around someone you replaced me with while we
weren’t together!”

Louis ranted, spilling all the thoughts that were inside his head while
standing in front of Harry by a busy road where anyone could see them.
He couldn’t stop the words from coming out and didn’t even notice the
look of realization smear across Harrys face, followed by the look of
pity and empathy.

“Oh Lou. I never replaced you. I couldn’t, nobody could replace you.
Not jack, not anyone. Don’t ever think that okay. Yeh, you made shit
decisions back then, but that couldn’t make me replace you. He was just
a bit of fun to take my mind of you for at least a night. But I guess it
didn’t really work, because all the while I was thinking it was you,
because like you said, he looked so similar” Harry said in a softer, more
gentle voice as he hesitantly reached out and brushed the hair behind
Louis’ ears before cupping his jaw and holding it in his large hands,
staring him in the eye to get his point across as best as possible.

473
Louis just stared back with wide eyes, his mouth parted slightly with
regret. He regretted ever blaming Harry for this when he was the one
who was being a prick. He hadn’t even considered Harrys feelings
during hiatus and he couldn’t really blame him for finding a rebound, it
was only natural.

“I’m sorry Haz” Louis whispered, shaking his head as he looked down
at the ground, mentally cursing himself for making such a big deal out
of nothing.

“It’s okay, I understand where you’re coming from” Harry replied with
a small smile.

“No, it’s not okay. I made a big deal out of nothing and was being
dramatic as per usual. I think, he just got under my skin, that’s all. I
would have probably understood more if he wasn’t fucking with me the
entire time” Louis said with a bitter tone.

“I’m sorry about him. He seemed nice when I first met him, but I didn’t
realize he was going to egg you on like that. I knew he would do
something, after telling him about you, but that’s just— not what I was
expecting I guess. I really am sorry on his part, I understand why you
got so angry, I would have too if someone was blatantly flirting with
you like that” Harry said with a small chuckle.

Louis furrowed his eyebrows at one thing though. What was Harry
saying about him?

“Jack, he hinted that you weren’t saying pleasant things about me. What
was that about?” Louis asked hesitantly, staring with wide innocent
eyes up at his boyfriend who suddenly tensed around him.

“I-Uh, when I first met him, I was having a really bad time. I drunkenly
told him what had happened between us and may have talked a bit of
shit, but he knows how I really felt about you, seeming as I told him
that when I was sobered up. I’m pretty sure he would tell you all about

474
it if you had gotten on anyway” Harry said whist scratching the back of
his neck, a guilty look in his eyes.

“Oh great, can’t wait to hear that” Louis replied sarcastically, shaking
his head in amusement.

“Yeh, anyway we should probably head back inside, he’s gonna run us
through what needs to be done to your phone. But you know I love you
right and don’t take anything he says too seriously, I wouldn’t even
dream of leaving you for him, you have nothing to worry about Lou”
Harry said with a gentle voice as he pressed a kiss to Louis forehead,
making Louis close his eyes in return.

“Alright, I love you too Haz, and I’m sorry, again for this” Louis said
with a sheepish smile.

“Stop apologizing you oaf, come on” Harry said with a small laugh,
pecking Louis on the lips before pulling him back in the direction of the
apartment complex, finally feeling somewhat peaceful.

________________________________

Harry pushed open the door to the apartment and strolled in with his
arm around Louis shoulders, keeping the now scowling man as close to
him as possible.

Louis didn’t want to go back inside. He didn’t want to see this prick
again. He didn’t want to hear his comments and he didn’t want him
flirting with his boyfriend. The only thing he wanted was the footage
back so they could get the fuck out of here and get the concert over
with.

To say he was in a bad mood was an understatement.

Sure, Harry had calmed him down a considerately large amount, but it
wouldn’t keep him from feeling utter hate towards this man.

475
So, with a deathly glare and tight lips he walked inside with Harry and
ignored Jack as best he could.

He felt the eyes of each of them on him when he came back in and
honestly felt a little embarrassed having just stormed out before for little
to no reason. But he kept his head held high when Harry rubbed his
shoulder in a comforting manner, deciding to not let this bother him.

“Finally calmed the fuck down then?” Jack spat out upon seeing Louis,
a smirk lingering on his lips.

“I’m gonna day this one more time jack. Shut the fuck up. I thought you
were a mate but all you’ve done so far is cause trouble” Harry said with
a frown, shaking his head in disappointment.

“What the fuck Haz? It’s not like he didn’t do shit as well!” Jack
suddenly exclaimed, getting defensive and causing both Louis and
Harry to roll their eyes.

“I don’t want to hear it, and I don’t want to hear that nickname either.
You know as well as I do what you were trying to do before. I mean,
what would you expect when trying to flirt in front of my boyfriend?”
Harry scoffed out, laughing a little and gaining a smirk from Louis.

“I—” Jack began, a nervous look now on his face as Harry cut him off.

“Save it. If you’ve got some bitchy comments then take them
somewhere else, I didn’t come here for that so I don’t expect to receive
any” Harry said harshly, sending daggers to Jacks head.

As Harry sighed and took a seat with Louis tucked up close to him, Jack
stared and pondered for a moment, a look of regret crossing his face
immediately before he spoke again.

“Fuck, look. I didn’t mean to cause any drama, even if it seemed that
way. But, after not seeing you for so long and you having told me all
this shit that Louis did, I don’t know, it made me want to get back at

476
him, if that makes any sense? It sound stupid, I know that, but we’re
close Harry, even if it’s just as friends, and I felt so angry at Louis at
the time you told me, even though I didn’t even know him. I felt like I
couldn’t miss my chance to at least do something to remind him that he
fucked up and left you with me” Jack began, nervously picking at his
fingers and never releasing his stare from the ground.

The lads listened with furrowed brows, in some way understanding

what he was trying to do but at the same time thinking it was fucked up.

“But I messed up and it was the wrong move. I realize that now and I’m
sorry. It wasn’t my intention to try and split you two apart or anything
like that and I should have just kept my mouth shut. I’m sorry Louis,
and you too Harry, forgive me?” Jack continued, now looking the two
men in the eyes with a pleading look, desperate for reconciliation.

Louis and Harry shared a look, a mix between anger and understanding,
before Louis sighed and stuck his hand out with a pointed look, gaining
a confused one in return.

“What?” Jack asked slowly, eyeing Louis hand with caution.

“I forgive you” Louis said with a bored tone, gesturing to his hand once
again.

“Really?” Jack asked in surprise, not understanding why Louis would

even consider this.

“Yup” Louis said, popping the p at the end and rolling his eyes when
jack still hadn’t shook his hand.

Jack finally smiled and reached out for Louis hand, grasping it in his
tightly and giving it a shake. But suddenly Louis pulled his harshly,
drawing his face up close to his with a sarcastic smile playing on his
lips as he stared into his eyes.

477
“But I’m telling you now jack, if you ever flirt with my boyfriend in
front of me again, I won’t hesitate to beat the shit out of you until you
land in hospital. That clear?” Louis asked with a menacing tone, the
smile never leaving his face as he watched jacks eyes widen in horror.

“Y-Yeh, I promise I won’t” Jack stuttered out, and got a final nod from
Louis before he withdrew from his hand, falling carelessly back into
Harrys side as Harry hid his grin beneath his hand, amusement evident
in his eyes.

“Good, now can you help us or what?” Louis asked brightly, his normal
self back which had Harry smiling gratefully.

“Oh yeh, sure. I’ve already gone through the main bits with the other
lads whilst you were out but I’ll go over the basics. First I need to fix
your phone, which will be hard but it shouldn’t take more than half an
hour or so. Then I can use the SIM card to try retrace everything that
was wiped. Once we’ve hopefully gotten that I can transfer it for you
into a new phone and you should be good to go. If you’d like I can also
set up this thing on your phone which blocks other people from wiping
it again, maybe that’ll get management off your case” Jack explained
with a smile, already sorting through the broken pieces of the phone and
figuring out how he will fix it.

“Sounds great, cheers for this” Louis said with a smile, grateful that he
would even want to do this for him after he almost attacked him.

“No problem mate. While I work on this you could go buy another
phone or something to transfer the evidence onto” Jack suggested with
a shrug.

“Sure, we can go, come on Lou” Harry said with a smile as he tugged
Louis up who groaned in return, not wanting to leave again as he
couldn’t be bothered.

478
“Fuck sake I’m too tired for this shit” Louis whined, rubbing his eyes
as he followed behind Harry, sending a wave to the lads who were
laughing at his laziness.

“Don’t be pathetic, it’s not like we’re walking there” Harry teased with
a laugh, shoving Louis to the side slightly.

“Oi! I am not pathetic Harold Edward Styles. I’m merely exhausted

from our travels” Louis said with a sarcastic voice, eying Harry with a
smirk.

“Sure thing, whatever you say” Harry replied with a shake of his head,
smiling down at the ground as he walked to their car.

“I don’t appreciate this Harry, where’s the support?” Louis sighed

dramatically, pouting up at Harry who let out another laugh.

“Oh, I’m supposed to support you buying a new phone now am I?”
Harry asked with eyebrows raised.

“Of course you are. Buying a phone takes a lot of effort, you have to
pick the brand, type, color, case. It a whole ordeal when you think about
it” Louis said with a shrug.

“Yeh and that’s why most people don’t think about it when they buy a
phone, they just find one they like and buy it, no big deal” Harry argued,
though the smile never left his face.

“No, that’s what you do because your impulsive with money. Jesus I’m
surprised you haven’t just bought Gucci yet” Louis laughed out as he
got into the passenger side of the car, Harry taking the wheel with a
smug look on his face.

“If I bought Gucci it wouldn’t be the same when wearing the suits”
Harry replied as he started up the car before turning to face Louis as the
engine rumbled.

479
“Either way you look damn good wearing them” Louis said and winked
as Harry laughed and brought him into a kiss with the back of his neck.

It was a short but passionate kiss, no tongue, just the two perfect lips
molding together for a brief moment, sending sparks up each other’s
bodies and butterflies to erupt in their stomachs. Their intimate
moments never ceased to affect them.

“I know I do” Harry replied smugly, causing Louis to laugh and shake
his head as Harry finally broke away and turned the car down the road,
heading for the apple store.

When they arrived they soon realized they should have brought Paul
with them.

The shop was crowded with people and the streets were alive. They
were sure that as soon as they step outside the comforting confines of
the car they were done for. But desperate times call for desperate
measures.

“Haz were gonna get murdered out there” Louis said with wide eyes,
flitting from one stranger to another, his mouth agape.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure as soon as we enter the shop they’ll
close it off for just us anyway” Harry said with a reassuring smile,
grabbing Louis hand and giving it a tight squeeze.

“But, what if paps are there and management find out. Simon will kill
us, we’re not meant to be together” Louis said in a desperate attempt to
make Harry recoil and go back to the apartment, but the man was so
stubborn.

“Fuck Simon and fuck management. I don’t give a shit, we will have
this sorted soon. They’re just empty threats anyway, it’s not like they’re
drop us from the label” Harry said with a scowl.

“That’s not the point Haz” Louis replied sadly, shaking his head.

480
“Look, if you wanna Wait here while I go in then that’s fine, but we
need this bloody phone Louis” Harry said determinedly, placing his
hand on the door handle as if ready to get out.

Harry stared at Louis for a second but saw no movement and sighed as
he stepped out the car, slamming the door shut from irritation.

Louis bit his lip in anxiousness as he watched Harry walk around the
car. He was going to stay put until he began seeing strangers noticing
Harry and making their way over to him. And fuck no. He was not about
to just let Harry walk into this sea of people who could potentially harm
him without any form of protection present. No way.

’Fuck sake’ Louis mumbled as he quickly got out the car, rushing over
to Harry who was a few steps away from the car and took his hand into
his, holding it tightly.

Harry looked down in surprise, flinching a little as he thought it was a

fan, but released a breath when he saw it was only Louis, and a bright
smile graced his face at the sight.

“Thank you” Harry breathed out, glad he wouldn’t have to face all the
fans alone.

“No problem” Louis replied with a squeeze to his hand which Harry
reciprocated.

As expected, they were suddenly surrounded by a large group of people

who were screaming and grabbing at them, tugging on their shirts and
arms whilst fighting over one another to get up close.

One girl tried to pry Louis and Harrys hands away from one another but
this only made them hold on tighter as they pressed through the crowd
and neared the entrance to the apple store.

481
Just as they were about to enter, a hand came out of nowhere and
dragged Louis body to the ground, him letting out a chocked scream as
he fell onto the hard floor, his head crashing onto the surface.

Gasps erupted around them and everything seemed to stop at once.

Louis could faintly hear Harry shouting his name as he drew closer
towards him, but his vision was blurry and he felt numb, the ringing in
his head doing nothing to help.

“Fuck, Louis!” Harry screamed as he pushed past the last person

hovering over Louis’ body, only to find his boyfriend lying on the cold
ground, his head gushing blood and his arm bent in, well, the wrong
direction.

Right next to Louis was a man. Sitting next to him on the pavement and
rubbing his elbows which were now grazed and bruised. Harry had
definitely found the culprit.

“What the fuck have you done?” Harry exclaimed angrily to the man,
who was probably in his early twenties, as he rushed to the floor to
cradle Louis limp body.

“Fag deserved it” The guy spoke, with a small laugh as he got up from
the floor and steadied himself on the wall Louis probably just hit his
head on the corner of.

Harry wanted to knock the guy out, he really did, but he knew that
would only do bad rather than good. So instead he cursed him out a few
more times before ushering a nearby fan to call the police whilst he
called an ambulance.

Once that was done he focused all his attention back into Louis. He felt
extremely guilty. It was him who said it would be fine, it was him who
reassured Louis they would be okay even when Louis had his doubts, it
was him who got angry when Louis refused to leave the car. It was him
who lead Louis into this mess, and he felt so, so guilty.

482
A stray tear dropped down his face as he looked at Louis unconscious
body. He must have fallen hard, like really fucking hard. Harry glanced
up and could still see the mark in which Louis left on the wall as his
head impacted the hard stone. He had seen how Louis had landed on
his arm, his whole body weight collapsing on his frail bones beneath
him as he tried but failed to instigate a softer landing for himself. But
the fall was so sudden that Louis couldn’t have done much about it, and
neither could Harry.

But he was hopeful, as he knew at heart Louis would be fine. This type
of fall couldn’t do any serious damage, Louis was most likely just
suffering from a concussion. Which yes, is a dangerous thing, but Louis
would get the best help possible and he would make sure of that.

Harrys head shot up when he heard the ambulance making its way over
to them in the street, the horn being blared when fans were in their way.
Harry shouted for them to move in which they did, now making a clear
path for the medics to attend Louis in.

“Over here” Harry shouted to the woman who was getting out of the
car, rushing with her other team member to help Louis.

“Name” The woman said as she hastily checked Louis pulse and
checked over his broken body.

“I’m Harry Styles, this is Louis Tomlinson” Harry replied, not once
taking his gaze away from his boyfriend.

“What happened?” The other man said and he cushioned Louis head to
protect it from any further assault.

“He was pulled to the ground by this guy we don’t know, Louis hit his
head on the corner of the wall over there and landed on his left arm”
Harry explained with a grimace.

483
“Alright thank you, we’ll take it from here love” The woman said with
a reassuring smile, the man attempting to lift Louis up.

“Please, let me” Harry said in a rush as he took Louis body into his
arms, lifting him delicately as he always did and taking him to the back
of the ambulance.

“Thank you Mr. Styles, but we best get Mr. Tomlinson to the hospital
now” The man said in a soft tone, clearly seeing the distress written all
over Harrys face.

“Wait, I need to come, I’m his boyfriend” Harry pleaded, his eyes
darting between the two paramedics before settling on Louis once
again.

“That’s fine, just take a seat in the back” She replied to him and gestured
for him to get in, before climbing in with him and closing the door shut.

“Will he be okay, Natalie?” He asked, reading her name off the name
tag pinned to her uniform.

“Oh, yes of course. He isn’t suffering any major injuries, just a

concussion which will pass shortly, although his arm will most likely
need to be operated on and he will need stitches for his head” She said
with a small smile, cleaning up Louis wounded head as best she could
whilst Harry held onto his hand tightly.

“Thank god” Harry breathed out, letting a smile cross his face at the
relief.

Once they arrived at the hospital Louis was immediately taken into
operation, the staff must know who they are, and Harry was ordered to
wait in the waiting room.

Harry was reluctant at first but took a seat eventually, and decided to
use his time to ring the lads, Liam picking up on the second ring.

484
“Harry, God I was just about to ring you, is it true?” Liam rushed out,
the panic clear in his tone of voice which instantly made Harry
confused.

“How do you know?” Harry asked, bewildered.

“It’s all over social media. News outlets are already talking about it
Haz. Please tell me he’s alright” Liam asked desperately.

“Yeh, Yeh he’s going to be fine. Some dickhead pulled him to the
ground and Louis hit his head, got a concussion and has broken his arm”
Harry explained with a sigh, resting his head in his hands as he hunched
over himself.

“Thank fuck for that, you called the police right?” Liam asked, a new
found sense of relief in his voice.

“Yeh, I’m pretty sure they’ve taken him in for questioning. We’ll
probably hear back from them soon enough” Harry said with a smile.

“Good, now, what hospital are you at, we’re coming there right now”
Liam replied with a stern tone.

“No, no Liam you can’t come” Harry rushed out.

“What? Why? We need to see Louis” Liam said in a defeated tone.

“I know you want to, but he’s having his operation now so there’s no
point, you can see him afterwards. But in the mean time I need you to
finish what we started today. Get the new phone, take Paul with you,
and get the evidence sorted. Tell me what you find out later when Louis
has woken up alright. Also, you’ll need to ring management to let them
know we can’t perform tonight, they should know why anyways if it’s
all over the media” Harry instructed.

485
“Shit, okay fine. But you ring me if there’s any updates on Louis, if you
need us we will be right there okay. We will get the evidence back,
don’t worry” Liam said reassuringly.

“Yeh, I hope so. Thank you Liam. Talk later mate” Harry replied with
a small smile before ending the call.

So Harry waited, he waited to hear the results back on Louis and he

waited to be able to see his beautiful face again, hopefully no new
drama would arise.

486
 47
Another Problem

“Harry Styles?” A nurse called out from the front of the waiting room
and caused Harry to jump up like lightning, desperate for any sort of
news on Louis.

“Yes, Yeh that’s me, what’s happened? Is he alright? Will he be okay?”

Harry rushed out, his eyes wide.

“Mr. Styles if you could please calm down I will explain the situation”
She asked in a calm tone, her expression soft as Harry slowly nodded.

“Mr. Tomlinson will be fine. He had a mild concussion and a broken

arm but he is out of surgery now and is recovering. He’s been asking to
see you” She explained with a smile which Harry released a relieved
sigh at.

“Oh thank god, can you please take me to him?” Harry asked politely,
itching to see his boyfriend.

“Of course, right this way” She spoke in a formal tone and gestures for
Harry to follow her down the hall to Louis room.

Harry rushed after her and upon finding Louis’ room he burst in without
a second to spare, his eyes instantly landing on the small figure laying
in bed with wires around him and a monitor besides his bed, his arm
wrapped up in a sling.

“Fuck Lou” Harry whispered as he quickly made his way over to his
bed, kneeling down on the floor besides the bed and taking Louis good
hand into his own before pressing a kiss to his knuckles as he closed his
eyes.

487
“Hey Hazza” Louis replied in a small voice, his eyes brightening at the
sight of the man and a wide smile stretching across his face.

“Are you okay? Are you in any pain at all? I can get a nurse if you want
me to, or I can go get you food? A drink?” Harry rambled, staring into
Louis eyes as the words tumbled out of his mouth.

“Shh, all I need is you right now. I’m fine, they’ve got me on pain
medication so my arm and head doesn’t hurt so don’t worry about me
Alright” Louis reassured with a grin.

“Okay. I’m glad your fine, I swear to god when I find out who that guy
was I’m gonna kill him” Harry replied with a sigh, the anger evident on
his face as he spat out the words.

“No, you’re not. That’ll just get us into trouble. We can just file a law
suit against him and get a restraining order so he doesn’t bother us
again” Louis said sternly, squeezing Harrys hand.

“Yeh I guess you’re right. The police have taken him in anyways so it
should be dealt with soon” Harry replied, squeezing Louis’ hand back.

“Good, but what’s happening now? With the evidence and tour?” Louis
asked with a slight tremble in his voice, hoping he hadn’t ruined any
plans.

“The lads have stayed back to sort out the phone and said they’d be here
afterwards. I’m pretty sure they’ve called management and they should
be sorting out the tour plans so don’t worry about that. It will all be
okay soon” Harry explained with a smile, running his fingers up and
down Louis arm in a comforting manner.

“Okay. How are you anyway?” Louis asked.

“I should be asking you that” Harry replied with a chuckle.

488
“You already have, now it’s my turn” Louis said with a smirk, tilting
his head to the side as he awaited an answer.

“I’m fine, apart from the fact that my boyfriend has a concussion and a
broken arm cause some dick pulled him into the floor. But yeh, totally
fine” Harry answered sarcastically, earning a slight smack to his
shoulder.

“Oi, I said don’t worry about me Alright. The only thing that sucks right
now is the hospital food” Louis said with a grimace, turning his nose
up at the food laying on an old tray besides his bed, the sandwich
looking sloppy and the cheap pudding resting besides it.

“Yeh, not exactly up to your standards is it Mr. I only eat expensive

foods” Harry teased as he laughed.

“Hey, I’m from Donny, I’m a chav at heart and will in fact eat cheap
food thank you very much. But this, this doesn’t even class as food so
no it is not up to my standards” Louis sassed back, laughing along with
Harry.

“I mean true. Seriously I thought hospitals were meant to care for their
patients, not poison them with this shit” Harry replied as he picked up
the sandwich and threw it in the bin, causing Louis to laugh harder.

“Good thing I brought mc Donald’s then” A familiar voice suddenly

came from the doorway.

There stood Zayn, Liam, Niall and Jack, looking tired but happy at the
same time as they saw Louis looking better than they had expected.

“Thank fuck for that! Gimmie some now” Louis ordered, making
grabby hands in the air towards Niall and the bag of food.

Niall smiled and handed Louis the bag, who then rushed to open the
box containing a Big Mac and grabbed the burger before taking a huge
bite, moaning at the taste.

489
“Someone’s hungry then?” Liam said with a smirk as he took a seat in
the room.

“No shit” Is all that Louis replied, continuing to devour his burger.

“Jesus Lou slow down, you’ll fucking choke in a minute” Zayn said as
he laughed, shaking his head at the boy.

“Shut the fuck up and let me eat my burger in peace. If you don’t like
the way I eat leave the band again” Louis replied with a smirk, not even
taking a second glance at Zayn’s shocked face.

“Whatever medication he’s on must be giving him his daily dose of

sass, remind the doctor not to give him any more please” Zayn said with
a sigh, amusement written across his face as he smiled at Louis.

“I’m sassy with or without the medication, doesn’t make a difference

so suck it up” Louis said with a shrug, making the lads roll their eyes
fondly.

“I’ll suck you up in a minute” Harry muttered without thinking and it

took him a second to realize everyone had gone silent and Louis had
stopped eating, almost choking on his food.

“I did not mean it like that!” Harry exclaimed as they all burst out
laughing.

“Holy shit, no filter here then” Niall said in between laughs, causing
Harry to turn red and place his head in his hands.

“Shut up you know what I meant” Harry mumbled with a groan.

“No I don’t think I do Haz, could you maybe repeat that for me?” Louis
asked in a teasing tone, nudging Harry in the arm with a laugh.

490
“How about some tea? Anyone want tea? Yeh okay, I’ll get some tea,
be right back” Harry suddenly exclaimed in a rush, standing up from
the floor and practically sprinting out of the room with a red face, the
lads laughter following him out the door.

“What am I gonna do with him” Louis asked as he shook his head,

returning to his food.

“You tell us, he’s your problem not ours” Jack said with a laugh, finally
making his presence known.

“Oh, I didn’t even see you there. What’re you doing here anyways?
Isn’t the job done?” Louis asked in confusion, looking between jack
and the lads.

“Yeh the job is finished but I wanted to explain some things to you and
Harry in person before you leave” Jack explained with a smile.

“Ah okay, you can tell us when Harrys back then” Louis replied with a
nod.

“What actually happened anyway?” Liam asked.

“Some dickhead pulled me over when we were about to go into Apple,

I fell on my arm and hit my head on a wall. Got a mild concussion and
a broken arm so it’s not all that bad, I think the police have taken him
in or something though” Louis explained nonchalantly, shrugging at the
end.

“Yeh he has, it’s already all over the media. The guy is apparently a
major homophobe and that was his reason for attacking you. He will
probably get either time in jail or community service depending on the
court” Liam replied as he showed Louis his phone which displayed
countless media outlets discussing the situation.

Louis groaned at the screen and pushed it away, rolling his eyes at the
headlines.

491
“I know, sorry mate” Zayn said sympathetically as he saw Louis
reaction.

“Nah it doesn’t matter, it will all blow over soon enough” Louis replied
with a tight lipped smile.

“What will?” Harry asked as he reentered the room, carrying six cups
of tea in his hands. Large hands must come in handy.

“Media talking about what happened” Louis said as he took a cup from
Harry and muttered a small thank you with a kiss on his cheek.

“No problem babe” Harry replied with a cheeky wink before handing
everyone else their drinks and taking a seat besides Louis once again.

“So, explain what’s going on then” Harry asked the lads and Jack,
referring to tour and the evidence.

“Right so tour first. Management have re scheduled the concert for two
days time, so the whole tour is being pushed back for that same amount
of time. Most people seem fine with the change but there’s the obvious
problem with fans not being able to refund transport tickets and all that,
but they do understand that this is a serious situation and they can work
around it. Then there’s the evidence” Liam began, Louis and Harry
nodding along and letting him speak.

“We went and got a new phone and jack managed to retrace all the
evidence using the fixed phone and the SIM card. He then transferred
all of it onto the new phone which we will use solely for the evidence.
I’ve also sent all the evidence to Anne and she’s agreed to store it on
her phone in case anything like this happens again. Louis your original
phone is completely normal again with all its old things on it so you can
use that again. But there’s also one other thing we found” Liam
continued, but paused with a hesitant look towards the lads before he
finished what he was saying.

492
“Someone else, other than management, has taken the evidence”

493
 48
Released

“Holy shit, who? What do you mean?” Louis asked in a panicked voice
as he tried sitting up in his bed, only to be pushed back down gently by
Harry who tried to calm him down.

“I needed to be sure it was management that had wiped your phone,

which it was, however I also found out someone else has gotten hold of
the evidence” Jack explained calmly.

“But who could’ve taken it? And how?” Harry asked, his eyebrows
furrowed in confusion.

“I’m not sure. There’s no way of me finding out who it was, and even
if there was a way it would take me ages to program it all. My guess is
they either hacked your phone, or they took it from management after
they took it” Jack continued as the lads took the new information in.

“Fuck. Well, what do we do now then? We can’t just let whoever this
is walk free with all our shit, they could expose everything and ruin the
plan” Louis exclaimed, arms flailing about as he spoke to emphasize
his point.

“Not necessarily” Liam suddenly said, more so to himself than the other
lads.

“What do you mean?” Zayn asked, turning his attention to Liam who
was pondering something.

“Think about it. If whoever it is knows all the shit about Lou and Harrys
relationship then they would use the evidence in our favor, that is if they
support it anyway” Liam explained, gesturing towards the couple on
the bed.

494
“So you’re saying a fan could’ve taken it?” Louis scoffed, thinking the
idea was ridiculous.

“Well why not? They’ve hacked into security cameras and leaked shit
of us in the past. Why wouldn’t they be able to do the same with this?”
Liam replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Yes but hacking into security cameras is actually quite simple for a fan
who knew their way around a computer, I would know, but hacking into
a phone with endless security that can only be breached by, say, your
management, or hacking management themselves, that takes some
fucking work. Even I can only just do that shit and I’ve been trained in
this for years” Jack argued in disbelief. There’s no way a bloody fan
could’ve done this, not unless they’re some sort of FBI cross one
direction stan.

“I guess you’re right. But that still doesn’t solve our problem. What the
fuck do we do?” Niall asked, slumping back into his chair.

“I could try retrace the location? I’m not 100% sure it can give us any
leads but if it does we could start from there and see if we can find
anything else?” Jack asked, unsure of his own abilities.

“Mate if you can retrace evidence from management I think you can
handle finding a location” Louis said sassily, but laughed at the end so
he knew it was all in good measure.

“It’s not as simple as you think. The person could have high security,
fire walls, all that shit that takes a good fucking amount of time to
breach. I’m just hoping I can get it done quick enough” Jack replied
with a smile.

“Jesus I feel like I’m in some spy movie. This shit is intense” Niall said
as he laughed, shaking his head.

495
“Your telling me. Since when did a reunion turn into this mess?” Harry
replied as he stroked Louis hand soothingly.

“Fuck knows. All I wanted was to expose management, didn’t realize

there would be hackers and unknown masterminds involved” Louis said
sarcastically, pecking Harry on the cheek which made his boyfriend
smile brightly.

“Right well I’m gonna go get started on finding that location. I’ll keep
you updated, get better soon Louis” Jack suddenly said, standing from
his chair and waving at the lads before slipping out of the room quietly,
leaving the boys to talk.

“Well then” Niall said once jack had left, sighing as he sunk further into
his chair.

“Let’s not worry about the whole hacking shit now. We need to focus
on Louis getting better so we can get back on tour alright” Liam said
wisely as he smiled at the lads and ruffled Louis hair, earning a smack
to his hand and an icy blue glare.

“Watch it Payno” Louis sassed, Liam drawing his hands up in surrender

as he leaned away from Louis once again, causing the lads to laugh.

“Be nice baby” Harry cooed teasingly, ruffling his hair the same as
Liam just had.

“I would hit you, but then I might not get cuddles so I’ll let you off”
Louis huffed out as he snuggled into Harrys side, closing his eyes
tiredly.

“Aww how cute, little Lou needs cuddles” Zayn teased in a high pitched
voice, making the lads laugh and Louis eyes to fly open to shoot a glare
Zayn’s way, but they soon closed again as the tiredness washed over
him.

496
“Right we will leave you to rest then, but when do you get released so
we can come pick you up?” Liam asked as he saw Louis drifting away.

“He gets out tomorrow at noon, I’m gonna stay here with him” Harry
replied for Louis, not wanting his boy to lose any more energy.

“You sure? You don’t want to go change or anything, have a shower?”

Niall asked as he was putting on his coat.

“Nah I’m good, I can get one tomorrow. I’m gonna stay and make sure
he’s okay” Harry replied with a smile, running his fingers through Louis
hair.

“Alright then, call us if you need anything” Zayn said with a pointed
look, which Harry replied with a nod at, ushering them away with his
hand.

With that the lads left, leaving Harry to care for Louis who slept soundly
in his arms.

________________________________

“Everything seems alright, we’ve prescribed you some pain medication

but it may not be needed. Your free to go Mr. Tomlinson” The Nurse
said with a warm smile, writing what they assumed was his prescription
on a piece of paper and ripping it off to hand to Louis.

“Thank you” Louis replied as he pocketed the slip of paper, waving

before making his way over to the lads, Harrys arm wrapped around
him tightly.

“You good to go?” Niall asked when he saw Louis and Harry
approaching them, handing Louis a tea from Starbucks.

“Yup, get me the fuck out of here, I’ve always hated hospitals” Louis
said with a grimace, but Harry saw the sadness lingering in his eyes at
the thought.

497
Harry pulled Louis in impossibly tighter, kissing the top of his head
gently as Louis smiled down at the floor, not noticing Paul walking
towards them.

“Paps outside. Stick close to me Alright and don’t answer any

questions, we don’t want to stir the media up more than it already is”
Paul explained as he gently pulled Louis away from Harry, him only
protesting a little before realizing it was probably safer with him than
himself.

“Ready?” Paul asked Louis as they stood in front of the glass door, the
flashes already blinding him through it.

“I guess” Louis muttered with a sigh as he put on some sunglasses to

shield his eyes away from the cameras.

Paul proceeded to open the door and suddenly the sound of screams and
questions were being thrown around Louis at full force, causing his
head to ache. The bright lights did nothing to help as he took his first
step out of the hospital, following the path Paul had made for him.

Louis felt Harrys hand catch his as they intwined their fingers, tight so
they couldn’t possibly be broken apart. It brought a sense of comfort to
Louis and his racing heart began to slow down a little.

“Louis are you pressing charges against your attacker?”

“Is it true you went into a coma?”

“Has tour been cancelled?”

The questions kept coming but Louis ignored them all, continuing to
push his way through the crowd before he finally met the car, jumping
inside instantly as the door was held open for him.

498
He scooted over and made room for the lads, Harry taking the seat next
to him and once again pulling him into his side.

“Your very clingy lately” Louis said with a laugh, causing Harry to grin.

“How could I not be after what happened. If I had just held you tighter
last time this wouldn’t have happened in the first place” Harry replied
with a sad smile, guilt washing over him.

“It’s not your fault Haz, it’s that prick who pulled me overs fault. Don’t
bring yourself down for it. I love you” Louis said as he kissed Harrys
knuckles, never breaking their gaze.

“I love you too. But are you alright? After all that” Harry asked,
gesturing out the window.

“Yeh I’m fine don’t worry about it, I’m used to all that by now” Louis
said with a shrug.

“Yeh but you don’t normally have to deal with it after just coming out
of hospital” Harry replied.

“As I said, I’m fine, just a bit of a headache, nothing a little ibuprofen
won’t fix” Louis reassured.

“If you say so” Harry replied with a sigh, kissing Louis once more as
the car began to move.

“Hey when’s the concert?” Louis called, almost having forgotten about
the rescheduling.

“Tomorrow, you’ve got the rest of the day to relax just to make sure
your 100% okay for it” Liam replied from the front seat.

“Okay good, I would’ve hated this concert to be cancelled because of

me” Louis sighed in relief.

499
“It wouldn’t have been because of you, it would have been cause of that
dickhead, how many times do I need to say this” Harry said with a
scowl.

“He’s right you know, quit blaming yourself for it, it’s not like you
asked to be pulled over” Zayn said, backing Harry up.

“I know that, but it still involves me” Louis mumbled as he looked out
the window, realizing they’re nearing the hotel.

“Your sisters have been calling” Liam suddenly said, clearly wanting
to change the topic.

“They have?” Louis asked in surprise. Well, of course they have, he

thought to himself, he had just been in hospital.

“Yeh, said they wanted you to call them when your back at the hotel,
and you better, or I’ll be getting blamed for not making you” Liam said
with a chuckle, remembering how stern and sassy them girls could be
when it came to their big brother.

“Guess I have no choice then. God am I gonna get an ear full” Louis
said dramatically, rolling his eyes.

“They won’t be that bad, your just being over dramatic” Harry replied,
grinning down at Louis.

“Whatever, you try dealing with multiple sassy sisters and then get back
to me on that” Louis sassed back.

“No wonder they’re sassy with a brother like you” Niall said, looking
pointedly at Louis.

“Hey it runs in the family okay” Louis exclaimed, thanking the lord
when the car came to a stop.

500
“Don’t even think about it” Paul ordered as he saw Louis about to get
out.

“Oh for fuck sake will everybody stop treating me like a five year old!”
Louis exclaimed with a huff as he retreated away from the door.

“We just don’t want you getting hurt again and we’re not taking any
chances” Paul explained sympathetically before getting out the car and
shutting the door, making his way round to Louis’.

“Jesus, I highly doubt there will be any more psycho dudes ready to
attack me anytime soon, once is enough in a week” Louis argued.

“You’re a celebrity Louis, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to be

honest” Zayn said as he shrugged.

“Yeh yeh, whatever, let’s just get inside, I’m ready for a nap” Louis
huffed, getting out once Paul opened his door.

They safely made their way up to their rooms and Louis threw himself
onto the bed once they had gotten inside, only to groan at his pounding
headache afterwards.

“Fuck” Louis groaned as he put a hand to his head, wincing at the pain
he was still receiving from his concussion.

“Here, take one of these, it should help” Harry said, handing Louis an
ibuprofen and a bottle of chilled water.

“Cheers” Louis mumbled as he sat up on the bed and took the pill,
gulping down the water along with it.

“You need to call your sisters” Harry reminded him, waving Louis
phone in front of his face.

“Ugh do I have to? Can’t I just do it later?” Louis argued as he stared

up at the ceiling.

501
“Yes you have to. They’ve been worried sick the past few days and you
can sleep as much as you want afterwards” Harry explained before
taking off his shirt and heading to the bathroom, Louis assuming he was
going for a shower.

When Louis’ thoughts were confirmed by the sound of running water

he sighed and grabbed his phone, searching through his endless contacts
for Lottie’s number.

When he finally found it he hesitated before pressing the call button and
brought it up to his ear, hearing it ring twice before Lottie finally
answered.

“Jesus finally, Lou, are you okay? What happened? Are you still in
hospital?” Lottie screeched down the phone, making Louis pull the
device away from his ear with a grimace before putting it back.

“Yeh I’m fine lots, calm down alright, I’m out the hospital now
anyway” Louis explained calmly.

“Thank god, seriously though what happened? I heard a bit from the
lads and the media but we’re all just a bit confused” Lottie asked, her
voice wavering slightly.

“Some guy pulled me over outside apple, I hit my head on the way down
and broke my arm. Got a bit of a concussion but it’s all fine now,
they’ve just given me some pain medication and I should be back on
tour tomorrow” Louis said, thinking he had explained this for about the
thousandth time already.

“Well at least your all right. What a prick though, you’d better be
pressing charges or I will do it myself” Lottie said sternly, her voice
now taking a more angered tone.

502
“The police have already taken him in. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do
about it yet though, I’ll have a talk with Harry about it” Louis replied,
shrugging to himself.

“Good, that’s good, how’s Harry?” Lottie asked, the question bringing
a smile to Louis face.

“He’s good, got a bit worried about me which is understandable but

he’s fine now, just in the shower” Louis said as the smile never left his
face.

“Surprised you’re not in there with him to be honest” Lottie said

cheekily, Louis could practically hear the smirk on her face.

“Oi shut up you. How are the rest of the girls?” Louis asked, quick to
change the subject which Lottie laughed at.

“They’re fine, were a bit shaken up when hearing you were in hospital,
I think because they’re still young they assumed the worst, but they
know your fine now because the lads spoke to them on the phone”
Lottie explained, making Louis sigh.

“Did they want to speak to me?” Louis asked, thinking he should

probably reassure them that he was in fact still alive.

“They’re out at the moment, at a friend’s house I think, but I’ll let them
know you called and that your well, don’t worry about it I got you
covered” Lottie replied with a chuckle.

“Cheers, was honestly just wanting to go to sleep now anyways” Louis

said truthfully, yawning coincidentally.

“I’ll let you rest then, smash it tomorrow Alright” Lottie replied.

“Will do, I love you” Louis said with a wide smile.

“Love you too, bye Lou”

503
“Bye lots” Louis finally said before ending the call, throwing it onto the
bed besides him.

Just as he was drifting to sleep he felt warm arms wrap around his
middle, kissing him on the cheek as he fell asleep peacefully.

504
 49
If I Could Fly

Louis wasn’t enjoying the concert tonight, neither was Harry.

Any glances between the two held sadness and pain, with a hint of anger
burrowed within.

The atmosphere was tense the entire time they were performing, the
words that left their mouths were strained and the lads watched on with
pity.

What was meant to be a good day, a release from all the stress and
tension over the past few days, turned out to be one of the worst since
the beginning of the reunion.

They couldn’t understand it.

How could someone hold so much anger and disgust towards someone
based on their sexuality? Of all things? They just couldn’t get their head
around it.

And to go to lengths as far as faking relationships, destroying a person’s

mental health and tearing apart a love so powerful and rare, just to
“secure their careers” was incredulous to them.

Harry had just about had enough, the same went for Louis, but the
difference was Harry had a hold of something that can show their
current emotions and their situation without Simon being able to stop
them. Something the man had no idea about. A song.

As simple as that. A song.

505
It couldn’t change their situation as of now, it couldn’t change the way
Simon and their management felt about them, but it was a form of
communication without any boundaries.

So that’s why Harry build enough courage to take his seat at the piano,
in front of thousands of fans, ready to pour his heart out into this one
song.

Hopefully they’d get the hint, and hopefully it can mend some wounds
that him and Louis are suffering from at the moment, though they may
not be visible. Hopefully.

________________________________

9 hours earlier, 8am

Louis and Harry woke to the sound of Louis phone ringing relentlessly
on their bedside table.

With a groan Louis slowly sat up, looking down at the pout that had
formed on his boyfriends face and gently brushed the hair out of his
eyes before answering the phone without taking a look at the caller ID.

“Hello?” Louis said in a hushed voice, although it didn’t matter all that
much as Harry’s eyes began to flutter open.

“It’s Simon, we need to talk, you know where to go so be there as soon

as possible, it’s important” Simon said in his usual strict tone, laced
with boredom.

“What? Why? We’ve got a concert tonight, I’ve got shit to do” Louis
argued, his eyebrows furrowing, what the fuck was so important that it
meant him going to a meeting first thing in the morning?

“I’ll explain when you get here so don’t ask any more questions, I
expect you here in 15 minutes” Simon replied dismissively before
hanging up, leaving Louis dumbfounded.

506
“Babe, who was it?” Harry asked in his husky morning voice, deeper
than usual due to sleep.

“Simon, he asked me to go in for a meeting, something important

apparently” Louis answered with a shake of his head, standing up from
the bed to get ready.

“He knows we have a concert right?” Harry said in a confused tone,

matching Louis.

“I know, I fucking told him that but he dismissed it as usual. I swear to

god if he’s just gonna give me shit for nothing then I’m leaving” Louis
spat out, not at all happy with the start to his day.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Harry asked in a sweet tone,

standing up to rub Louis’ back comfortingly which made the latter
smile.

“No it’s alright, it will probably be quick anyway” Louis replied as he

leant into Harrys touch, warmth radiating from the man.

“You sure? If you need me just call me and I’ll be right there okay”
Harry pushed, concerned that Simon will, as Louis put it, give him shit.

“Will do, but don’t worry about it, I can handle that prick, have done
for a decade” Louis scoffed, a smirk on his face as he turned around and
planted a short kiss to Harrys lips before continuing to get changed.

“I know you can my feisty kitten” Harry teased in a high pitched tone,
pinching Louis cheeks as he said so.

“Oi, I was a cat one fucking time! One. James bloody Corden turning
me into a cat, who does he think he is?” Louis said sarcastically, his
sass coming to show.

507
“One times enough for me to tease you for the rest of your life for it,
now go your gonna be late” Harry said with a cocky smile, pushing a
now dressed Louis to the door and handing him his phone which Louis
accepted with a roll of his eyes.

“Don’t get too bored without me” Louis called and blew a kiss as he
walked down the hallway.

“Wouldn’t dream of it” Harry replied with a chuckle and shut the door
once Louis was out of sight.

________________________________

“What’s this about then?” Louis asked as he walked into the meeting
room, a spare one they used when management had to travel to certain
places, having an office in just about every city in England.

“Take a seat” Simon replied, ignoring Louis’ question which he rolled

his eyes at, but obliged anyway, slumping down in the chair furthest
away from Simon and management.

“Are you gonna tell me or am I just wasting my time here? Come on Si

get on with it already” Louis sassed, sitting back in his chair as if to
look bored.

“Cut it with the attitude for gods sake, you wonder why we get so pissed
off at you” Simon spat, glaring daggers at Louis’ head.

“Sorry if this is the first You’re hearing of it, but when you’ve had to
put up with a shit management and a homophobic boss for the most part
of your life you do begin to get tired of it” Louis snapped with a shrug,
not giving a shit about formality.

“This homophobic boss pays your bills so I suggest you shut up and do
as I say” Simon replied, his tone harsh but Louis was unaffected,
immune to the bullshit that comes out of his mouth nowadays.

508
“Ha, your funny, you really are Simon, because I do recall the fans
being the ones who pay for the album and concert tickets, so no, you
don’t pay my bills, they do, and they also pay yours. Know your facts
before you say shit” Louis retorted, laughing at the man’s idiocy.

“I’m not here to fucking argue with you Tomlinson, I’m here to sort out
the shit show you and Harry caused, So id shut the fuck up and listen if
I were you” Simon replied, confusing Louis even more.

“What are you talking about? We haven’t caused anything” Louis asked
in surprise.

“Now you’re the one joking. Jesus I have a fucking list full of the shit
you and Harry have done in the past few months. Where to start hm?
Should I mention the pet names in public? The suggestive answers on
talk shows? Oh, not to mention the damn lap dance!” Simon ranted, his
voice growing each time he mentioned something.

“Look, I know your jealous that even the tramp you call a secretary
won’t give you a lap dance, but there’s no need to take it out on my
boyfriend, alright?” Louis said sarcastically, his voice low in almost a
whisper and his words coming out slow, biting back a smile.

Simon suddenly slammed his fist on the table with a loud thud, this face
red with anger and his eyes blown wide. It startled everyone in the room
including Louis as he jumped in his seat, almost knocking his broken
arm in the process.

“That’s enough! You’re lucky I haven’t dropped your ass from my

company yet Louis. Your talentless and have a shit personality, I don’t
even know what Harry sees in you. Without me, you’d be fucking
nothing. You wouldn’t be in the band, instead you’d be sat on your arse
in Doncaster drinking yourself to death with your chavy friends. It’s
about time you grow the fuck up and take some responsibility” Simon
exclaimed, every word feeling like a knife was being stabbed into Louis
as his jaw hung open in shock.

509
“Now shut the fuck up, quit it with the comments, and listen to what we
have to say” Simon said in a calmer tone, sitting back into his chair that
Louis hadn’t even realized he had stood from.

Louis closed his mouth and gulped audibly, turning his attention to the
floor as Simons words sunk in. The only words running through his
head being ’talentless’ and ’shit personality’.

“As I was saying, I needed to sort out the shit you and Harry have
caused. So, I’ve talked with management and we came up with a
solution, one that your probably very familiar with by now may I add”
He began with a smirk, noticing Louis expression turn to one of dread
as he knew what was coming.

“Eleanor, come on in” Simon called, and Louis head shot up and his
eyes widened at the sight of Eleanor Calder entering the room with a
shy smile on her face.

“What the fuck is this?” Louis exclaimed as he stood from his chair,
gesturing towards Eleanor.

“Your girlfriend Louis” Simon said casually, as if this wasn’t a big

fucking deal.

“You can’t be serious? I have a boyfriend for crying out loud!” Louis
scoffed, almost laughing at the false statement.

“Call her what you like, beard, friend, bitch. I don’t care, but to the
media, she’s your girlfriend whether you like it or not” Simon
continued, looking nonchalant.

“Like hell she is. No offence el, but I’m gay in case you didn’t notice,
and I don’t know why you keep fucking agreeing to this considering
you yourself have a boyfriend, but you need to get the fuck out of my
sight right now” Louis said harshly.

510
He didn’t necessarily want to upset the girl, they once called themselves
friends, but after years of Eleanor using him to gain money from Simon,
all the while not giving a shit about his own relationship, he honestly
couldn’t care less anymore.

“Sorry Lou, I know it sucks but I need the money and being with you
gets media attention” Eleanor said with a shrug, not sounding sorry in
any way, shape or form.

“I thought you were better than this? I thought you had gotten over this
shit?” Louis asked with a hurt tone, his eyes pleading with the girl to
drop the game she was playing.

“I thought I had, but shit happens okay? You’re not the only one going
through stuff at the moment and if this is my only way out of it then
you can bet your ass I’m gonna do it” Eleanor said with determination,
staring into Louis’ eyes with anger and sadness.

“Has it never occurred to you that I can help you? I have money! If it’s
money you want then so be it, if you want a modelling contract, I know
people. Just don’t do this, please” Louis practically begged, tears
brimming his eyes.

Eleanor hesitated for a moment, looking between Louis and

management, then at Simon who shook his head sternly, tapping his pen
against the contract laying on the glass table persuasively, and she
finally made her decision.

“I can’t, I’m sorry Louis, I really am. But I need to think of what’s best
for me now” Eleanor said in a hushed tone, before walking over to the
table and signing the contract, leaving Louis with no time to stop her.

“All you’ve ever done is think of yourself for the past few years! You
use me for money and at the same time your helping this prick destroy
mine and Harrys relationship. We had just gotten back on track. This
could ruin everything and you know it. Your just as bad as him” Louis

511
said in disbelief as he shook his head, falling back into the chair,
defeated.

“Well, not everything revolves around you and Harry. You both got
yourself into this mess in the first place. If you had just toned it down
instead of rebelling then you wouldn’t have to do fucking PR stunts
would you? Quit blaming everyone else for your shit” Eleanor said with
anger laced in her voice.

“But then we wouldn’t be free” Louis almost whispered, but Eleanor

caught the words and suddenly felt a pant of regret, but she brushed it
off just as quickly as it came and took a seat.

“Well, now that that’s sorted we’ve set up your first PR stunt. Straight
after this I want you to head into the town center and got to a few shops,
we’ve hired some paps to take a few pics for the media and then you
can go to your concert. Now go and get it over with” Simon dismisses,
and gestured for them to leave.

Louis practically raced out of the room, leaving Eleanor to chase behind
him, trying to keep up but failing miserably.

“Lou, fucking wait alright!” Eleanor shouted from behind, her heels
tapping away at the tiled floors.

“And why on earth would I do that? Maybe pick less ridiculous shoes
if you want to keep up. You look like you work on the damn corner”
Louis called back, grinning to himself when he heard Eleanor gasp.

Unfortunately, Eleanor soon caught up and they headed into the town
center, just as Simon had told them to.

Louis was reluctant at first and almost headed straight for the hotel, but
then realized how much shit he had gotten into the last time he didn’t
show for a stunt and decided to just get it over and done with so he can
go back to Harry.

512
Harry. Someone Louis should have probably texted about the entire
situation, but had forgotten to with his head being so clouded by the
words Simon had said to him.

Suddenly Louis felt a hand brush his own as long, bony fingers tried to
lace with his own. He pulled back his hand instantly as if he had been
burned, but when he noticed the paps across the street taking pictures,
and Eleanor’s stern glance, he sighed and took her hand into his own,
faking a smile. Something he was rather good at doing nowadays.

“Let’s just get something from Starbucks then we can fuck off out of
here, the dickheads should’ve gotten their pictures by then” Louis
huffed out as he spotted the shop close by, dragging Eleanor along with
him.

“Won’t we get mobbed in there?” Eleanor asked in a worried tone,

looking at the large amount of people in there.

“Knowing Simon he probably has a guard following us somewhere, he

always does for stunts” Louis replied as he opened the door and held it
for Eleanor to walk in, rolling his eyes at himself for even having to do
that.

“Oh okay” Eleanor mumbled once they were inside.

Sure enough, a guard followed them inside and shielded them away
from the fans that had now taken notice of the pair, some fans even
looking confused as to why he was with Eleanor.

As Louis was waiting in line he heard a fan behind him mutter “Harry
won’t be happy” and it hit Louis hard. He winced at the comment and
felt even more shitty, if that was even possible. Soon his boyfriend
would be seeing all sorts of shit in the media about him and his
’girlfriend’ and wouldn’t even know what the fuck was going on. He
really needed to text him.

513
They finally got their drinks and sat down at a table outside so the paps
could get a better shot of them, Louis taking this time to send Harry a
message.

Louis: Just wanted to let you know beforehand that I’ve been set up for
a PR stunt with el. I know this sucks but I will explain everything later,
I promise. Love you xxx

Louis then set his phone down and waited for a reply, sipping his iced
coffee as he feigned interest in whatever the fuck Eleanor was saying,
when Finally his phone vibrated against the glass table.

Harry: Wait, What the fuck? A PR stunt? Lou what’s going on? Xx

Louis sighed at the response and rubbed his forehead, not wanting to
explain this through text.

Louis: The meeting with Simon was about a PR stunt he had set me up
for with Eleanor. Just to go out and have some pics taken by hired paps.
Don’t worry about it though, I’ll explain it later xxx

Harry: Fuck, Okay then. I love you too xxx

Louis smiled at the response, glad Harry was being understanding of it

all so far. He pocketed his phone once again and grabbed his drink,
standing from his seat and beginning to walk away.

“Where the fuck are you going?” Eleanor asked in a harsh tone,
following behind Louis once again which caused Louis to roll his eyes.

“To the hotel? This shit is over with now, they got their fucking pics so
now I’m out of here. Have a nice day, bitch” Louis sassed, smirking at
her shocked face as he continued his walk down the pavement, only
Eleanor wasn’t having it.

514
Louis suddenly felt a strong grip on his bicep as he was spun around on
the spot, too quick to retaliate before Eleanor slammed their lips
together, needy and viscous.

Louis’ eyes widened as he got his senses back and pushed Eleanor away
with all his force, causing her to stumble backwards and almost fall
over, but she caught her footing at the last minute.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Louis straight up shouted
at her, some people passing by turning to give him a nasty look, but he
couldn’t care less.

“It’s for the paps Lou, just giving them some content” Eleanor replied
innocently, smirking at the man before her.

“You’re sick, fucking sick you know that right. Stay the fuck out of my
life or I swear I’ll get a damn restraining order on you” Louis
exclaimed, pointing his finger in her face as he spat out the words,
before turning away and walking off at a past pace.

“Crazy bitch” He muttered under his breath, his mind racing.

Whilst walking back to the hotel all he could do was pray that the paps
hadn’t caught the ’intimate’ moment, knowing it would only cause
unnecessary drama.

________________________________

Louis finally made it to the hotel, scrubbing at his mouth with the back
of his hand as he walked through his room door, feeling disgusted to
have even felt those lips on his own.

Once he had shut the door he turned around, ready to greet his boyfriend
and hopefully set the record straight about the whole situation, but
stopped in his tracks at what he saw.

515
Sat on the unmade, white sheets of the bed, was Harry. Facing the huge
windows so that his pale back was towards Louis, hunched over as he
stared at the floor. The floor which was now littered with beer bottles
and empty cigarette packs.

The room seemed lifeless. It was bright, but dull and the only sound to
be heard was Harrys erratic breathing amongst the silence between the
four walls.

“Harry?” Louis finally got out, though the word was nothing more than
a whisper, his voice cracking towards the end as his heart beat picked
up, something was wrong.

When he got no response Louis began to make his way over to figure
sat on the bed, but stopped once again when he finally heard a strangled
sob escape the man’s lips.

Louis eyes widened and it felt like his heart had stopped when he saw
Harry pulling at his messy strands of hair, more and more sobs escaping
his lips, he sounded like he was almost chocking on his tears with his
breathing being so out of pace. He was having a panic attack.

Louis had only experienced this once with Harry. That time all the way
back to the X factor days when Harry sat back and read all those nasty
comments about him, eventually sending him into a state much like this
one now.

Louis was there for him that day, he comforted him and lulled him to
sleep when he could feel Harrys heart beating rapidly against his chest
and the tears cascaded down his cheeks like a waterfall. He was there
then and he would be there now.

Louis rushed over to Harry, kneeling down on the floor in front of the
man to get a better look at his face. He was heartbroken by the sight.

Harrys eyes were bloodshot and puffy, the tears seemed never ending
as they fell down his red cheeks, making his irises all that more a

516
brighter shade of green. His hair was tussled and messy, sticking out in
all different directions from the amount of times Harry had pulled on
the locks, surely to emit some pain to take away his anxiety. His hands
were shaking as they tried to conceal his face and his leg was bouncing
on the spot, the vibrations from the beat going straight through Louis’
knees. Louis honestly thought he could have a heart attack with how
fast Harrys heart was beating, being able to hear it from where he was
sat on the floor as it knocked against his rib cage repeatedly.

He was basically a mess. And the cigs and alcohol probably didn’t do
much to help his case. But Louis was determined to help him, seeming
as he was pretty damn sure this was down to today’s events.

“Harry, I need you to look at me babe, look at me” Louis said in a

hushed tone, stroking Harry’s bare back to try and comfort him.

But Harry didn’t look, it was like he couldn’t. He couldn’t tear his eyes
away from the one spot on the floor that seemed to fascinate him right
now, Louis assumes it’s down to the daze his mind is in.

Louis slowly reached up and took Harrys hand into his own, taking it
away from his face and instead resting it into his lap where he gave it a
squeeze and didn’t let go. He wouldn’t let go.

“Harry, I need you to talk to me. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me
Haz” Louis tried again, keeping his tone soft as he attempted to catch
his gaze, but with no such luck.

“C-cant” Harry stuttered out, his voice low and broken as he squeezed
his eyes shut tightly, only creating more tears that fell down his cheeks.

Louis left his broken hand in Harrys grasp and used his other to wipe
away Harrys tears, causing the man to flinch slightly from the
unexpected feeling, but to soften again soon after.

“You can’t what Haz?” Louis asked cautiously, continuing to comfort

him.

517
“I— I just c-can’t” Harry tried again, but unsurprisingly his voice broke
and he gasped for breath, panting uncontrollably.

“Breathe Harry, breath for me. Take nice slow breaths okay, you can
do it” Louis shushed, using a technique he himself had been taught
when he used to experience panic attacks.

Harry tried to do as Louis said, but the first few times all he could do
was intake too much air into his shaky lungs, causing him to panic
further. Each time it happened Louis would hold him in place, patting
his back so that Harry could regain his breath, and after a while it did
work and Harry developed a somewhat normal breathing pattern.

They sat in silence for a short while, just letting Harry get his wits
together and continue to focus on his breathing as to not have another
panic attack right on the spot.

Louis was patient, letting Harry take his time before he wanted to speak,
but he wanted to know what happened whilst he was out. He was sure
it was due to the PR stunt, that’s an obvious one, but he couldn’t
understand why Harry was so worked up when Louis had sent him a
text prior to the photos being released.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t leave me again?” Harry finally

whispered, not looking Louis in the eyes.

Louis furrowed his eyebrow, his lips forming a pout. What? He thought
to himself. He wouldn’t leave Harry for anything, not after last time.
He would be mad to, after everything they’ve been through. He didn’t
understand.

“What do you mean Haz? I’m not leaving you. I’m right here” Louis
asked, kissing Harrys knuckles gently.

“I saw the pictures” Harry replied, his voice slowly turning sour.

518
“I’m sure you have. But that still doesn’t explain anything. I told you
about the stunt, we said we would discuss it when I came back here”
Louis stated, still confused.

“You fucking kissed her Lou!” Harry suddenly exclaimed, for the first
time looking Louis in the eyes but unfortunately with a completely
different emotion than what Louis expected.

“What?” Louis asked, not quite catching on.

“Don’t play dumb, you kissed that bitch. After everything that
happened you still kissed her! And to think I believed you when you
said you wanted nothing to do with her, that she was a mistake. I should
have known you wouldn’t change. I should have fucking known. If you
didn’t want to be with me you could’ve just said, you could’ve called it
off, hell, you could’ve not played with my emotions at all! You—”
Harry rambled, spitting out anything he could think of that crossed his
mind as he stood up and began to pace the room, not even
acknowledging Louis.

“Harry stop! Just stop. What the fuck are you talking about? First of all,
I didn’t kiss her! She kissed me as I was about to leave and I had no
way of stopping it because it happened so damn fast. Secondly, you
know that for stunts we sometimes have to kiss them anyway, so I don’t
see what the problem is? Of course I want to be with you you idiot, I
fucking love you, I don’t know what I’d do without you. So stop
fucking assuming shit and have a conversation with me!”

Louis exclaimed as he cut Harry off, causing him to stop his pacing and
face the opposite way to Louis, furrowing his eyebrows.

Louis stared at Harrys back from his now standing position against the
bed, breathing heavily from the amount of words that just left his mouth
in such a short amount of time.

“You didn’t kiss her?” Harry asked, still not facing Louis, his fists
clenched tightly by his sides.

519
“Jesus Christ, course I didn’t, the bitch kissed me! Thought you knew
by now that I’m into dick, something a girl doesn’t actually possess
mind you” Louis states, half sarcastic half serious, shaking his head in
disbelief.

Harry slowly turned to face him, staring at Louis with an unreadable

expression.

“I swear to god I’m gonna fucking kill her” Harry suddenly said as he
walked past Louis and headed for the door, not even stopping to put on
a shirt or shoes.

“No your fucking not Harry. You’re not thinking straight, just sit down”
Louis rushed out as he grabbed Harrys arm, pulling him back with all
his strength.

“Why should I? If a bitch kisses my boyfriend without permission you

can bet your ass I’m gonna have some words” Harry said firmly,
sending daggers to Louis, but not because he was angry at him, more
so because of the thought of someone else kissing his boyfriend.

“That won’t solve anything, it will only get us into more trouble. Now
sit the fuck down so we can talk about this. I’m not letting you leave
either way so you can either make this difficult or accept it” Louis said
in a strict tone, gesturing for Harry to sit on the bed like he had asked.

Harry stared at him for a moment longer, as if to challenge him, but

sighed in defeat when he realized Louis wasn’t backing down, and sat
on the bed with a huff and pushed his hair away from his forehead.

Louis sighed in relief and took a seat next to him, staying silent for a
while as they looked out into the city through the large windows, seeing
cars drive by the busy roads and people bustling around the shops.
People living normal lives, with no boundaries. These people were free,
unlike the two men confined in their hotel room.

520
“So, another PR stunt huh? What brought that about?” Harry asked, still
staring out the window as he picked at the bed sheets.

“Yup, Simon said it was to sort our shit out, if that even makes any
sense” Louis replied in a tired voice, focusing his attention on the floor.

“To be honest I’m not surprised. He was bound to do it sooner or later”

Harry said with a small chuckle, shaking his head at the shitty situation.

“Yeh, I guess you’re right. Anyway, are you gonna tell me what
happened whilst I was out or what?” Louis finally asked, turning his
attention to Harry who still wouldn’t look at him.

“There’s nothing to say. I got your text, saw the pictures, assumed shit,
got drunk, smoked and had a panic attack” Harry explained casually, as
if what had just happened didn’t really matter.

“Haz— fuck, stop making it seem as if it wasn’t a big deal. If I’ve

walked in on my boyfriend having a damn panic attack then I want to
know the details, as small as they may be. We’re supposed to trust and
support each other. I can’t do that if you don’t talk to me” Louis replied,
exasperated. He felt helpless at this moment.

Harry sighed and rubbed his face before letting his arms go limp by his
sides as he finally turned to face Louis, his eyes looking worn out and
his expression sad and bored.

“I just— when I saw that picture. Of you two kissing. And after reading
all the fucking comments and shit the media were saying, it brought
back old memories. Bad memories. And I guess because I’ve always
assumed you were gonna let me down again, leave me, I just jumped to
the conclusion that it had finally happened. I think that in a way I
wanted to confirm my doubts, just to be able to say I was right. But I
know that that’s wrong now because that’s taking such a pessimistic
view of our relationship. I want to be able to trust you, I don’t want to
be having these doubts, but it’s so hard after experiencing it before in
such a sudden way, it’s like it could happen at any time, unexpected,

521
and it wouldn’t even surprise me because of how unexpected it was the
last time. And I’m sorry, because I don’t want to think this way about
us, but it’s just so damn hard not to”

Harry finally explained, sighing once he had finally gotten all the words
out. To say it didn’t hurt Louis a little bit would be a lie, because it
fucking did. It hurt to know his boyfriend had such little trust in him,
but then again he couldn’t blame him. He knew it was going to be rocky
getting back on track, but he didn’t think it would be as bad as this, that
even such a small misunderstanding could send Harry into a panic
attack and need to resort back to alcohol and cigs just to release some
of the stress. The realization hit him hard, as much as Harry said he did,
he didn’t trust him, that being evident in today’s events.

Louis didn’t reply, instead he let his head drop to stare at the floor again,
picking at his fingernails as his habit when anxious. He could feel
Harrys eyes on him, like a burning sensation in the side of his head, but
he couldn’t bring himself to look up.

“Lou, please, say something” Harry whispered, the tears returning to

his eyes, but not yet falling.

Louis could feel his own tears brimming the edges of his eyes, but he
couldn’t let them drop either, too scared to show his vulnerability at a
time like this. He just didn’t know what to do. Could it really work out
when his boyfriend had zero trust in him? Relationships were based on
trust, like the foundation of it, the structure. And if that structure fell,
so would the building. Just like their relationship.

“I don’t know what to say” Louis stuttered out, his voice shaky as all
the negative possibilities ran through his head.

“Something, anything. Just, please.” Harry practically begged, taking

Louis good hand into his own and holding on tightly, as if Louis would
disappear if he let go.

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“I just— I don’t see how this can work if you don’t trust me. I’m not
blaming you for this, it’s partly my fault too as I’m the one who broke
your trust in the first place, but I don’t see how we will last if you don’t
even trust me on PR stunts, something that will inevitably happen more
and more. I can’t be arguing with you every time we do a stunt Haz, it’s
not healthy” Louis said with a heavy heart.

It hurt to even say those words, he felt like his throat was closing up
and his lungs were being filled with water. He felt like his heart was
slowly falling apart piece by piece all for the man sat in front of him,
holding onto his hand so tight it may as well just break like the other
one. And that’s when his first tear fell.

“What are you saying?” Harry asked in a vulnerable voice, his own tears
falling now as well.

“I don’t even know. I don’t want to say this, but, m-maybe we should
t-take a break. Get our heads sorted or something so we can work on
this when we’re both in a better mental state” Louis finally got out,
hesitantly lifting his head to look at Harry, but he wished he hadn’t.

Harrys tears had once again flowed over the barriers, falling down his
cheeks as he bowed his head slightly, his grip on Louis hand slowly
releasing.

“You c-can’t leave me” Harry got out in between choked sobs, looking
at Louis in the eye once again with desperation, pleading for Louis to
take it back.

“Not forever, I could never leave you completely. I will still be right
here, we both need time to think Haz, it’s for the best if we want this to
work out in the future. I still love you, I always will, this isn’t
permanent. We just need time” Louis replied, but his words were
constricted and he felt like a knife was lodged into the side of his neck,
twisting the words out of his throat.

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“Please” Harry begged, feeling as if his whole world was crashing down
around him.

“I’m sorry” is all Louis managed to finish with, before standing up,
pressing a kiss to Harrys forehead, and leaving the room without
another word. ________________________________

For the rest of the day Louis avoided Harry as much as possible, only
seeing the man again when the concert came.

The entire show Harry seemed out of it, unsurprisingly, and he looked
as if he would rather run off stage than continue the entirety of the show,
the same feeling was in the pit of Louis stomach.

They didn’t speak or interact with one another and the fans were surely
picking up on it. The banter was gone, the cheeky winks, the insinuating
comments, none of it was there.

But a lot of fans did know, or at least had their suspicions, seeming as
a lot of them had seen the pictures of Louis and Eleanor together,
confusing them as they assumed Harry and Louis were an item.

And then came Harrys performance.

Louis didn’t know what to expect, didn’t even know which song he had
chosen to sing, and he was anxious for it. If it was upbeat the fans would
definitely know somethings up, as Harry wouldn’t be the same
performing it, but if it’s a slow tempo, the raw emotion would be a
pretty good indicator.

And of course it was the latter, as Harry took his seat at the Piano.

The lads sat behind him on a step of the stage as Harrys silhouette
draped in a blue suit sat down on the expensive wooden bench below
the grand piano.

524
Harry shook out his nerves and cleared his throat, needing to be ready
for this performance. It may be the only way to save their relationship
as of now.

“This is a song you have never heard before, it’s quite personal to me
and I hope you enjoy it. This is if I could fly” Harry said into the mic,
his shaky voice sounding around the arena as fans grew excited for the
new material.

Louis eyes widened. He couldn’t believe it, neither could the lads.
Harry had vowed never to play nor release this song to the public, being
that it was so personal. But here he was, sat in front of thousands of fans
ready to play them it, and Louis knew the reason why. He was playing
it for him.

The sound of the piano keys suddenly released from the speakers
hooked up to the piano as Harry began to play the song, his head bowed
and eyes trained on the instrument, but closing them tightly as he sang
the first words.

“If I could fly, I’d be coming right back home to you”

He sang, the first line already containing so much raw emotion that
Louis knew he was a goner, he knew by the end of this he would be a
crying mess in front of everyone, but he didn’t care. All that mattered
now was Harry, who was putting his vulnerability on the line just to
save their relationship.

“I think I might, give up everything just ask me to”

He continued, his eyes still shut as the words escaped his lips in a
breathy melody, sounding angelic to every person in the stadium.

“Pay attention I hope that you listen, cause I let my guard down, right
now I’m completely defenseless”

525
The lyrics he just sang basically summed him up right now. Vulnerable,
defenseless, his guard is down and his soul is open for thousands of
people to see, all for the boy with blue eyes.

“For your eyes only, I’ll show you my heart, for when your lonely, and
forget who you are, I’m missing half of me, when we’re apart, now you
know me, for your eyes only”

He belted out the chorus, holding so much power with the words that
they hit Louis’ heart dead on. He could feel the lyrics vibrating through
him with every word that left Harrys mouth which only added to the
emotion. He let a tear fall as he realized how big of a mistake he had
made. They didn’t need a break, they were stronger than this. They had
fought off so much shit from countless people over the years that it
would be stupid to let it all go over a fucking PR stunt. They could work
on their trust issues, it would take time but Louis was up for it, ready to
take back what was his. It may honestly be the shortest break he had
ever been on to be quite honest. Just shows how much they needed each
other.

So with that thought in mind, Louis stood up slowly, and headed for the
piano. He took his seat on the bench next to Harry and leant towards
the microphone. Harry looked confused at first, but then let a sad but
hopeful smile break out onto his face, his eyes glistening in tears.

Louis knew the lyrics after hearing it once and reading them over
countless times in the studio when Harry had left his notes there one
day. And it felt right, it felt like he should be up here, supporting Harry
through this song. They were a team and they needed this together.

“I’ve got scars, even though they can’t always be seen, and pain gets
hard, but now your here and I don’t feel a thing”

Louis sang the words with just as much emotion as Harry , facing him
and he pushed the words past his lips, taking more strength than he
thought needed. He took a second to look out at the crowd, who now
had flashlights up in the air, glowing like fireflies in the dark stadium.

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It was beautiful and Louis knew now he may not have the support of
management and Simon, but he had the support of the fans and the lads,
which is all that mattered to him anyway.

“Pay attention I hope that you listen, cause I let my guard down, right
now I’m completely defenseless”

Harry sung once again, letting Louis savour the sound right next to him
as it filtered through his ears and flew down his chest to his heart,
picking up the pieces as if by magic.

“For your eyes only, I’ll show you my heart, for when your lonely, and
forget who you are, I’m missing half of me, when we’re apart, now you
know me, for your eyes only”

They sung the second chorus together, their voices mixing perfectly to
create such a beautiful sound. Their heads were close together as they
both sung into the same mic, the warmth radiating from each other in
their small bubble of comfort. The lads smiled at the pair from behind
and felt proud that they were able to push through the terrible day. They
knew they’d be back together quicker than they could snap their fingers,
but it was still a relief. They had only found out about what had
happened through Louis when he had come to their rooms in the hotel
crying his eyes out, babbling nonsense about his hasty breakup with
Harry, but of course they had reassured him that they’d soon be back
together, and they were right, as per usual.

“I can feel you hear inside of mine, I feel it, I feel it, I’ve been going
out of my mind, I feel it, I feel it, know that I’m just wasting time, and
I”

They sung the bridge together as well, but the next line made more
sense to Louis now more than ever as Harry sung the words solo.

“Hope that you don’t run from me”

527
Louis had ran earlier today. He had ran from their problems like a
coward, and had turned his back on their relationship as quick as he
could, without giving any effort to save it. He regretted it immensely
and knows he did the wrong thing, but this was a learning curve for the
both of them that they can now move past stronger than ever before.

They soon finished the song with heavy hearts but smiles finally
gracing their faces, genuine smiles as the crowd cheered and applauded,
showing their support, as did the lads.

The two looked at each other for a second before pulling one another
into a giant hug, Louis on his tiptoes to reach which was adorable to
both Harry and the fans.

“I’m so fucking sorry” Louis whispered into his ear, his smile never
fading.

“Same here. I love you” Harry replied, squeezing Louis tighter.

“I love you too” Louis repeated back, causing Harry to grin from
happiness, glad that his plan had worked.

It may have been a day full of arguments, disagreements,

misunderstandings and heartbreak, but there was no doubt in their
minds that they would push through it, and they did, a lot faster than
expected as they left the concert content and in love.

528
 50
Shit Show

“Haz I’m so fucking sorry, I didn’t mean it I swear, I just got caught up
in the moment”

Louis had been spitting out apologies ever since they left the stage. He
felt awful for even suggesting they go on a break, because now he
realized that as much as Harry didn’t trust their relationship, neither did
he as he called it off as soon as there was a minuscule issue.

“Lou you need to stop. I’ve heard you say you’re sorry about a thousand
times now, there’s no need for it. If I was angry or upset with you I
wouldn’t have even considered singing that in front of all those people.
It’s over now, let’s just forget it and move on” Harry replied in a stern
but soft tone, holding Louis by the shoulders.

“I know but, I shouldn’t have called it off as soon as we had a

misunderstanding, it just shows my lack of effort in this relationship
and I hate myself for it. You don’t deserve it” Louis argued with sadness
laced in his tone, looking down at the floor in shame.

“Like I said, it’s over now. There’s no point going over and over the
same thing when it’s already been resolved. We’re good yeah?” Harry
continued, lifting Louis’ chin so their eyes could finally meet.

“Of course were good, doesn’t make me feel any less shittier though”
Louis practically whispered.

“Look, it was a tense situation alright. You probably didn’t know what
to do and jumped to the first solution, even if it was a shit one. But this
doesn’t change the way I feel about you, nor does it affect or make me
want to end our relationship. I love you” Harry repeated, sighing by the
end of it but hopeful that Louis would understand.

529
“Alright, I love you too” Louis finally gave in and dropped the topic
with a heavy sigh.

Louis sunk further into the seat, or Harrys chest, as the taller man pulled
him closer, placing a gentle kiss to the top of his head with a grin spread
wide on his face.

They were sat in the dressing/lounge room backstage and they could
still faintly hear the screams of the fans as they left the stadium. The
lads were sat around them on various chairs and smiled in fond at the
two boys who had found one another again.

They knew they would, it was inevitable. But it still caused them great
joy to see them smiling, gazing, sharing lingering kisses every now and
again. A drastic contrast to when they were shouting, arguing, crying.

It also caused Liam to long for what the two shared. As he watched
them gripping to one another for dear life, in their own little world being
content with just each other, it made him realize he once had that, but
not so much anymore.

He still hadn’t figured out what he and Zayn were. Their little fling in
the past was cut off abruptly when Zayn stated he was trying to figure
himself out. You see, as good as it was between the two, Zayn was
confused with his sexuality, and often found himself trailing his eyes
down women’s bodies instead of his boyfriends. It just didn’t work out
in the end.

But now that the band is back together, and so is Zayn, Liam can’t help
but wonder what it would have been like if it had worked out. What if
Zayn stayed? What if he really did love Liam the way he claimed he
had. There were too many possibilities that ran through his head and
with the way things were going at the moment, he desperately needed
answers.

530
It was almost as if Zayn was indirectly toying with his emotions. The
Small actions, the words that left his mouth, the gestures, the sarcastic
remarks, the hints, the winks, the touches. This happened almost every
day. Zayn would do something that would get Liam’s heart racing, but
then aching when he realized it was all in a playful manner.

He couldn’t put any blame on the man, he probably didn’t even realize
he was doing it. But at the same time all he wanted was to take Zayn
aside and demand an explanation. So that is what he was going to do.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a moment? In private” Liam whispered to

Zayn who was sat closely to his side.

Zayn turned and raised an eyebrow before nodding and taking his hand
to pull him away from everyone else.

They left the room and Liam could feel everyone’s eyes on them, but
he didn’t care, all he could focus on was his rapid head beat and jumbled
thoughts, secretly hoping Zayn couldn’t feel the sweat that was
practically pouring out of his clammy hands.

Once in a secluded area, Zayn leans against the wall and cocked his
head to the side, waiting for Liam to speak. But he just couldn’t get the
words out, therefore Zayn was the one who began the discussion.

“So, What did you want to talk about?” Zayn asked in a confused tone,
noticing Liam’s tense stature and nervous expression.

“I-I, um, fuck, never mind it doesn’t matter. This was stupid let’s just
go back to the lads” Liam rushed out, stumbling over his words as he
reached for the door handle, but he was unable to open it with how much
his hands were trembling.

“Hey hey, wait a minute. What’s going on? Your shaking like a leaf. I
don’t make you that nervous do I?” Zayn asked teasingly, not exactly
helping Liam with his inner dilemma.

531
“No! No o-of course not. You don’t affect me like that in any way. I’m
not nervous, I-I just made a mistake—”

Liam began, but was cut off from Zayn who placed his hands on his
shoulder whilst rubbing circles into the fabric of his t shirt, trying to
calm the obviously distressed man down.

“Not nervous? Please, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. I don’t know
what you just blabbered about, but I’ll ask you again. What’s going on?
You know you can talk to me, I’m not going to judge you” Zayn said
in a soft tone, smiling for reassurance.

Liam sighed and fell back against the wall, turning his head up to look
at the ceiling whilst he tried to calm his breaths down. Zayn just stared
at him with concern, confusion and worry. What could be getting him
so worked up?

“Fuck this is messed up” Liam muttered to himself, shaking his head.

“What is? Come on li, just talk to me” Zayn asked again, still rubbing
his shoulder.

Liam cringed at the feeling of Zayn’s hand on his shoulder. Not because
it was unpleasant, god no, but because he doesn’t think he can hold back
from the man for much longer, and the touching was not helping him,
even as innocent as it was.

“Please don’t touch me” Liam whispered desperately, shrugging the

hand away from him and keeping his gaze anywhere but the man’s face.

“What? Why? Just, Liam what the fuck is going on with you?” Zayn
repeated, feeling a pang if hurt in the pit of his stomach at the rejection.

“What are we Zayn?” Liam finally spat out, frustrated at the shit
situation and finally looking in them beautiful eyes as they stared right
back into his own.

532
“W-What?” Zayn spluttered out, more confused than ever. He was
taken aback from the sudden question, not at all ready for this
conversation.

“You heard me. What the fuck are we? Because I’m sorry but I can’t
stand this tension any longer” Liam said sternly, finally gaining his
confidence back as he had control of the conversation.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about Liam” Zayn lied, he did
know what he was talking about, he just couldn’t bring himself to face
the issue head on, not right now anyway. He didn’t think he was ready
to admit anything to himself so soon.

“Bullshit. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Our little fling
may have ended years ago, but the feelings never left. The remarks,
gestures, actions, nicknames, touches, insinuations. It’s like your trying
to drive me mad. You can fucking deny it all you want, but I know for
a fact you still feel the same way you did all those years ago, even if
you don’t want to” Liam ranted as he pushed Zayn against the wall,
towering over his figure as the man stared at him with wide eyes.

“Y-you don’t know shit Liam” Zayn replied, but as he tried to put on a
confident tone all that came out was a whisper. It was not believable at
all to say the least.

“Don’t I? It may sound cliche, but I see the way you look at me, like
you did back then. If you don’t feel anything, what’s with all the kisses,
the touching,” sarcastically “making out that you want to take me to
bed, hm? What’s with all that shit if you don’t feel anything more than
platonic with me. You refrain yourself from feeling anything more
towards me because your scared. Your fucking scared about your
reputation and your image, you’re a coward. And it may be harsh to
hear the truth, but you’ve had years to sort your shit out and I’m done
being a toy in your games. When you’ve figured yourself out, come
find me, until then, quit it with the teasing”

533
Liam finished, and with one last lingering glare to the man he turned
and reached for the door handle, ready to leave. Zayn watched his
retreating back with his mind going a mile a minute, the battle in his
head reeling. But he couldn’t hold back anymore. Everything that Liam
had just said registered in his mind and it all suddenly made sense. Liam
was right. He was right about everything. He was too stuck up his own
arse to give a shit about Liam’s feelings and in the process almost lost
the one thing that actually mattered to him. That being the man that was
just about to walk away.

So, he made his decision.

“Wait!” Zayn called and fumbled to grab Liam’s arm. Once he did he
pulled the man towards him with all the strength he had and crashed
their lips together in a hot, messy kiss full of passion and desperation.

Liam felt like he was flying. For a moment he hadn’t returned the kiss,
to surprised to even register what was going on. But once he did his
heart was soaring as he returned the kiss with just as much passion and
hunger.

He pushed Zayn against the wall once again, never breaking their lips
apart as they fit with one another perfectly. Once against the wall Liam
placed his hands next to Zayn’s head, trapping the man in his place as
Zayn wrapped his own around Liam’s neck.

It was all Liam had been thinking about since they reunited. All he
wanted to do, all he wanted to feel. And it finally happened. Zayn had
finally grew a pair and initiated what Liam could have only dreamed
off for the past few months. And to say to was worth the wait would be
an understatement; it was perfect.

They could have stayed like this all day, but a familiar, angry voice
boomed from the room next door, causing the two men to break apart
with a start, eyes wide and confused.

“Get the fuck out of here now before I do something I’ll regret!”

534
It was Harry. And god help anyone who angers Harry Styles.

The man may be the sweetest, kindest man on the planet, but if you
anger him, run for the fucking hills.

All the lads knew that Harry was by far the scariest one of them when
he was pissed off. Which was strange as he is also the loveliest, but
there was just no denying the fact, so that’s why the two rushed out of
the room in a hurry to figure out what the fuck was going on.

“I’m not going to tell you again, get the fuck out of here right now
before I make you!” Harry screamed, and Liam and Zayn knew exactly
what the reason was for his outburst.

Stood in the doorway was Simon, accompanied by Eleanor Calder.

“Now now Harry, this isn’t any way to treat your guests is it?” Simon
asked in a cocky tone, gesturing between him and Eleanor who looked
between awkward and smug.

“I honestly couldn’t give a flying fuck about how to treat the likes of
you. Now get the fuck out, or do I need to repeat myself for a fourth
time to your pathetic ass” Harry sassed, standing in front of Louis who
was gripping at his shoulder looking like a scared but angry kitten.

“I’m not leaving Styles, Louis had some unfinished business with
Eleanor here” Simon stated, infuriating Harry even more of that was
even possible.

“Oh please. You think I’m gonna let my boyfriend anywhere near that
bitch again. No way, not after she kissed him without permission. No,
fucking, way” Harry said with a laugh, seeming to find Simons
statement hilarious.

“She only tried to kiss the fag out of him” Simon said nonchalantly, and
that was the final straw for Harry.

535
Harry clenched his fists at his sides as he strode up to Simon, ready to
pounce, but before he could act on his intentions he was held back by
Louis and the other lads.

“Get the fuck off me or I swear to god” Harry breathed out, struggling
against the hold on him as he watched Simon smirk at the situation.

“Harry just calm down babe, I know your angry but this won’t fix
anything, I swear” Louis said desperately as he made his way around to
the front of Harry, looking him in the eyes as he cupped his cheeks,
trying to calm him down, the roles seeming to have changed from
earlier on.

“Louis he’s had it coming for years now, just fucking let go” Harry
sneered, the fury above all other emotions and clouding his mind.

“No. I’m not letting you get yourself into trouble over his pathetic ass.
He’s not bloody worth it, just calm down and we can get security to
escort them out” Louis reasoned, never once letting go of his face.

Harry hesitated for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he

visibly relaxed, the lads finally letting go after another minute of
hesitation.

The room was tense and silent, nobody dared to move or speak up as
Harry grabbed a water bottle and downed the contents, not facing any
of them. The lads were concerned, Eleanor was shaken and Simon
looked like he had just watched coronation street. Typical.

“I’ll say it once more. Get the fuck out of this room” Harry said in an
eerily calm tone, still not facing the man.

“Fine, we’ll leave, but you better get your shit together because if you
ever try to lay a hand on me again, I’ll be sure to press legal charges.
And Louis, you’ve got another stunt next week, I’ll email you the

536
details” Simon said smugly before he held the door open for Eleanor
and left after her, leaving the silent room once again.

“Well, that was a shit show wasn’t it” Niall finally said, trying to ease
the tension, which he successfully did as the lads broke out into a fit of
laughter. All but Harry.

Louis noticed his boyfriends deflated posture, who was now sat on the
sofa staring at the ground, as if trapped in his own head. He frowned
and sat down next to him, causing Harry to look up with a sad
expression.

“It’ll get better, I promise” Louis said softly, pulling Harry into his side
to comfort him.

“I hope your right” Harry mumbled back, mulling over the eventful day.

537
 51
Exposed

Before the lads could move any further with tour, they were each
expected to attend the Brit awards which would be taking place later on
tonight.

Although they were once again a band, there were still so many things
left unresolved from their solo careers, awards being included in that
package as they were each individually nominated for a different
category.

They had almost forgotten about the damn thing with everything going
on in their extremely busy lives, causing a shock when they were hurled
out of their hotel rooms to get ready for the big night.

“Am I the only one who fucking forgot about this?” Louis said in a
groggy voice from lack of sleep when he met the other lads in the hotel
lobby.

“Nah mate, I almost had a heart attack when Paul told me” Zayn replied,
looking disheveled as his hair was a mess, his clothes were wrinkled
and he was sporting large black circles under his eyes.

“I don’t even know what I’m nominated for” Niall sighed out with a
confused look, he hadn’t had the time to even check with how busy
they’d been, making a mental note to check before they arrived at the
venue.

“Come on boys were gonna be late if you don’t move your arses” Paul
said sternly, pushing them out of the doors and into their tour bus.

They were heading from Sheffield back to London where the Show
would be held, meaning the lads had around a four hour trip ahead of

538
them before they were inevitably going to be rushed straight into the
dressing rooms, let’s just say they really couldn’t be bothered with it.

“I don’t see why were even attending, couldn’t we have just filmed
videos in case we won like we usually do? I mean it would be a lot
easier considering we’re so busy at the moment” Harry muttered as he
took a seat in the bus, pulling Louis to his side for a cuddle.

“I think Simon just wants us there for publicity, seeming as we’ve just
gotten back together. It will be our first show attendance since the split,
so I do see where he’s coming from” Liam answers, shrugging his
shoulder as he made a coffee in the small kitchen.

“Doesn’t make our lives any easier though” Louis mumbled, rolling his
eyes as he sunk further into his boyfriends grasp, loving the warmth and
smell of Harry completely enveloping him.

“At least we get a short break before we head to Ireland, or in my case

I’ll meet youse there” Niall said with a wink, smiling at the thought of
seeing his family again.

“Oh that reminds me, my mum asked if you and your sisters would like
to come down to our place during the break, like we used to” Harry
asked Louis with a kiss to his forehead, quirking his head to the side as
he waited for an answer.

“Well yeh sure, but won’t it be a hassle for your mum, having all my
siblings there. I don’t know if you’ve forgotten but they’re a crazy
bunch” Louis said with a small chuckle, eyes glinting up at Harry like
bright stars.

“Of course not, she loves your siblings just as much as she loves you.
She’s the one who offered anyways, I doubt she would have if it was
going to be a problem” Harry said matter of factly, bushing the hair
from Louis’ eyes gently.

539
“Alright then, we’d love to” Louis accepted with a nod of his head
before kissing Harry in a soft sweet way, their lips molding together
like a jigsaw puzzle. Harry deepened the kiss as he tilted his head to the
side and slid his tongue into Louis’ mouth, their tongues dancing with
one another as their eyes shut tightly.

“Hey, what did we say about PDA on the damn bus!” Liam shouted, he
was stern but the lads knew he was joking, or at least half joking as he
sent daggers their way.

The two men pulled away with a laugh and Harry leant down to hide
his face in the crook of Louis’ neck from embarrassment, causing Louis
to laugh harder.

“Is my baby embarrassed?” Louis said with a chuckle, his fingers toying
with the soft strands of brown hair atop Harrys head delicately.

“Shut up” Harry muttered with a chuckle of his own, the feeling
vibrating onto Louis skin along with the warm breath skimming over
the surface, sending tingles down Louis’ spine and butterflies to erupt
in his stomach.

“Anyone want a coffee? Tea?” Liam called from the kitchen, pulling
out mugs from the cabinet and the milk from the fridge.

“Tea please” Louis called, “Yorkshire” he added with a smirk, always

Yorkshire for him.

“Of course, couldn’t think of anything worse” Liam said sarcastically

as he pulled out the Yorkshire teabags from the stash Louis kept on the
bus, just to make sure he didn’t run out of the substance he was
practically addicted to.

“Coffee, black no sugar” Harry called, causing Louis to roll his eyes
once again.

540
“Jesus you’re not on that no sugar diet thing again are you? It’s not like
you need it” Louis groaned, poking Harrys flat, hard stomach.

“It’s not about that, I just prefer plain black coffee, I’ve gotten used to
it over the years” Harry explained with a shrug, thanking Liam as he
passed a mug in his direction.

“Black coffee is disgusting, I don’t know how you drink that shit” Louis
teased, scrunching his nose up at the smell and instead taking a sip of
his steaming cup of tea, soothing his insides as it slid down his throat
but leaving a twinge of pain afterwards.

“Oi don’t diss my coffee, I don’t offend you when you drink 10 cups of
tea a day” Harry quipped back, going to shove Louis but stopped
himself as he saw the hot drink in his boyfriends hand. He didn’t exactly
want to take a trip to A and E for second degree burns.

“Why are we talking about tea and coffee again?” Zayn asked from the
other sofa, shaking his head at the ridiculous conversation and instead
focusing his attention back on his phone.

“Because Zayn, it’s an important debate we must have every so often

to keep ourselves grounded at the fact that TEA is much, much nicer
than coffee” Louis said with sarcasm dripping from his tone, raising his
voice at the mention of tea to emphasize his point.

“Whatever Tommo, you keep your tea discussions to yourself yeh?

Nobody gives a shit on this bus” Zayn replied with a bored tone, not
looking up from his phone.

“Fuck off” Is all Louis replied with before finishing his tea and taking
a long nap, comfortable in Harry’s embrace.

________________________________

The lads arrived at a studio not far from the venue in which the Brits
would be held at in just a couple hours time.

541
As soon as the doors to the bus opened they were rushed off inside the
studio where countless team members were ready to get to work on
them, holding various objects such as combs, spray bottles and brushes.

Louise was at the head of it all, ordering different people to do different

jobs on each one of the lads whilst they sat in front of the vanity mirror
and simply looked pretty for them. Not a bad job ey?

“Fuck, I don’t even have a suit ready” Harry suddenly exclaimed, eyes
wide in shock of the realization.

“Harry don’t be stupid, we got it sorted love” Louise called out from
across the room before pulling out a large black bag which could only
contain the expensive Gucci suit inside.

“Oh thank god, cheers Louise!” Harry sighed out in relief, his smile
plastered back onto his face and his dimples visible, causing Louis to
smile at the view.

“Does anyone round here know what we’re nominated for?” Liam
called out to nobody particular in the room, hoping someone would step
up and reveal the answer to them, which thankfully their assistant
manager did.

“Liam your up for best hit single and music video, Niall your up for
best album, Zayn your also up for best music video, Louis your up for
best single and best album and Harry your up for best Album and best
British solo artist” The assistant said as he read the words from his
clipboard, the lads nodding along as he went.

“Jesus, I haven’t been nominated in so long” Harry said as he shook his

head in shock, a smile gracing his face yet again.

“Well it’s about fucking time then isn’t it” Louis said with a grin as he
took Harry’s hand from besides him and kissed his ring encased
knuckles, causing Harry to blush slightly.

542
“Could say the same to you” Harry replied with a wink, and then his
head was turned to face the mirror as a young girl got to work on his
hair for the big night.

“It’s a shame we can’t be nominated as a group this time around, it

would have been nice to accept an award together again” Liam said
with a slight pout.

“At least any of us are even nominated to begin with, they could have
easily just forgotten all about us like they usually do” Zayn replied with
a shrug, lacing his hand with Liam’s and giving it a quick squeeze.

“Hold the fuck up. Are you two actually a thing now?” Louis
exclaimed, noticing the action with wide eyes.

“Oh, Yeh, forgot to mention. Sorry lads” Liam said sheepishly, a blush
creeping up his neck as he bit his lip in order to contain his grin.

“Holy shit, well, it’s about time. Congrats guys” Harry said with a huge
smile, his pearly whites showing and his eyes sparkling with fond and
shock.

“Cheers Haz” Zayn said before looking at Liam once again and giving
his hand another tight squeeze.

It took another hour and a half before the lads were fully ready. Zayn
wore a sleek black suit with white criss-cross patterns decorating the
expensive fabric. Liam wore a grey tailored suit paired with fitting
black shoes. Niall wore a deep navy blue suit with a crisp white shirt
below the jacket. Louis wore all black, black shirt, black pants, black
jacket, black shoes. Harry was finding it hard not to jump him right then
and there, but he forced himself not to as he didn’t want to mess up his
attire; a checkered white and black suit that fit snugly around his tall
frame, and paired the lavish look with heeled boots.

543
“Damn, you look so fucking good Haz” Louis whispered as he took in
the sight; he looked like a god.

“Oh please, your practically sex on legs right now” Harry replied
smugly, his eyes trailing up and down Louis’ body slowly as he bit the
inside of his lip.

“Jesus, your practically undressing me with your eyes Harold, thought

it’s all about the family show around here” Louis replied sassily,
smirking at the thought.

“Guess we’ll have to save it for the bedroom then” Is all Harry quipped
back with, sending a cheeky wink before grabbing his hand and leading
them out to the Black limo waiting for them.

Each of the lads climbed in and instantly grabbed the champagne bottle
resting in the cooler for them, Harry handing out the glasses like a
gentleman and popping the bottle open with a cheer, not at all worried
about the expensive leather of the seats getting ruined.

“I thought we’re meant to celebrate after we’ve won?” Niall exclaimed

with a laugh, drinking his share of the bottle anyway.

“We’ve already won Nialler, we don’t need some stupid trophy to prove
that” Louis said with a smirk, taking a swig straight from the bottle
instead of the glass, causing Harry to shake his head in fond.

“You lads don’t get too drunk back there, you’ll be talking to very
important people inside and they won’t be too pleased if you show up
tipsy like Liam did that one year” Paul said from the front of the Limo,
stern but playful all the same.

“Sorry dad!” Louis shouted at the same time that Liam said “heyy, that
was one time, one!”.

“Now, are we gonna play it cool for our own sakes, or piss Simon off?”
Harry whispered into Louis’ ear when he realized they were nearing the

544
entrance; he needed to know if they were gonna lay low or not, on their
relationship and all.

“Honestly, I think I prefer option two, how about you?” Louis said with
a smirk, mischief glinting in his eyes.

“I think you’re right” Harry replied, before kissing Louis’ roughly on

the lips just as the limo came to a halt.

Louis kissed back just as rough, lifting his hand to pull Harry in further
by the back of his neck and all the while causing the bottle of
champagne to drop to the floor with a loud thud, the contents spilling
everywhere. Oh well.

“Cut it out, were going” Liam shouted as the doors began to open mid
kiss, quickly pulling Harry off Louis just in time before the flashes of
the paparazzi began to filter through the car.

Liam released a loud sigh whilst Harry and Louis just laughed hard and
wiped their lips, smirking to one another as the other lads left the car.

Harry quickly ran a hand through his hair and Louis straightened out
his jacket before they both followed the lads out and into the view of
countless paps and fans, some other celebrities mingling around the red
carpet as well.

The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as the fans helplessly

pushed against the barricades, desperate to meet their idols that had just
been drinking inside a limo not even seconds before. All the chaos
caused more security guards than ever to rush out of the building to
push them backwards and surround the lads so they didn’t get hurt, it
was like nothing they’d ever experienced before at an awards show, it’s
never been quite this hectic.

Other celebrities turned their attention their way at the sudden craze,
some even looking shocked and their eyes widening at the sight of the
band that had been gone for so long. Of course everyone had heard of

545
the reunion, but the only people to have seen the lads together were the
fans from the concert, interviewers and their staff teams, nobody in the
industry had witnessed something like this since the band took a break,
so it caused quite a fuss.

A man from the directing team walked over to the lads and quickly
introduced himself, shaking each of their hands before explaining the
situation to them. They were instructed that they were to do one or two
interviews whilst on the red carpet, take a few photos and talk to some
of the fans, and if they wanted they could speak to the other celebrities
they knew mingling about. They also needed to do a few shots for the
paps before they would finally be let into the actual event itself, which
would be broadcasted all over British tv and most likely live streamed
online globally.

It was a lot to take in at once, seeming as they hadn’t done this together
in such a long time, but they knew they would manage, especially with
all the help they were getting. So first things first, they took off and
spoke to some of the fans.

Louis and Harry stayed close together throughout the meet, linking their
arms together as they walked witch many, many people were already
catching onto.

“Are you and Louis together?” One fan bravely asked Harry as he
walked by the certain group of fans who were holding up Larry photos,
causing him to smile and send a cheeky wink.

“Maybe, maybe not, who knows?” Harry said cheekily with a shrug as
he continued to walk by them, Louis letting out an adorable laugh at the
action.

“You can’t just tease them like that Haz” Louis said over the loud
cheering and screams.

“We basically already are, and come on, we’ve done worse shit to tease
them over the last couple months, that was practically child’s play”

546
Harry replied smugly, and gave one quick, short smack to his ass before
walking on ahead of him, leaving Louis stunned in place as the fans did
cat calls and whistles.

Louis soon shook out of his immediate shock and rushed to catch up
with the curly haired man, keeping his own trick up his sleeve for later.

The lads were soon stopped for a short interview with a nice looking
woman who smiled warmly and ushered them over, a mic ready in hand
and a phone in her other which displayed the questions she had ready
for them.

A cameraman was following their every move as they made their way
over and greeted her with a short kiss on the cheek, as they were told to
do for every interview (if it were a woman).

“Hey guys! My name is Kate, it’s lovely to meet you, do you mind
answering a few questions before you head inside?” She asked kindly,
but as with all interviewers the words flew out of her mouth at a quick
pace as she knew she didn’t have long with the boys.

“Yeah sure” Harry said with a smile, being that he was the closest one
to her, whilst the other lads just nodded in approval.

“So, it’s a big night for you all as you’ve each been nominated for
different categories as solo artists, how does that feel and is it weird
coming here based on your solo material when your now in the band
again?” She asked, and most of the lads sighed in relief that she was
sticking to professional questions.

“Yeah, were all very excited to be here and were just thankful for even
being nominated at all really. I wouldn’t say it’s weird per say because
we knew that some of our solo career aspects haven’t yet been resolved
since the reunion, so we kind of expected it to be honest” Liam
answered, not surprising as he’s normally the one who takes the
professional questions being that he is most definitely the mature
member of the band.

547
“I understand, how’s tour been then? I’ve seen a lot of it on social media
myself, but what’s it like to be back on stage as a group? And Zayn,
seeming as it revolves around the album you didn’t work on, how do
you fit singing time in for yourself during these songs?” She asked, now
pointing the mic back in the direction of The lads.

“It’s great to be back on stage, it’s also a lot less daunting going out
there compared to when I did it solo, because I always know I’ve got
the lads there with me to back me up in case something goes wrong,
even though that rarely ever happens. As for singing the album, we have
a really great director and choreographer who manages to fit me into
the songs, so I’ll always have a part to sing. We just change it up really,
sometimes I’ll take Harry’s solo, sometimes I’ll take Liam’s, it just
depends. And of course I get to sing my solo music every now and again
so it’s all good” Zayn takes the question, being charming as always as
he answered it.

“That’s great. But I hope you don’t mind me asking, and you don’t need
to answer if you don’t want to, but what’s going on between you two?
There was a video circulating of Harry giving you a lap dance on stage,
and the Larry rumors are bigger than ever. Is there anything you’d like
to say on this?” The woman asked hesitantly, gesturing between Louis
and Harry who looked embarrassed, shocked and nervous.

The lads looked at the two with wide eyes whilst Harry silently asked
Louis what to do, his eyes searching for any kind of answer. But Louis
just smirked and answered the question without hesitation.

“Just a bit a banter really. Two guys can have a lap dance every once in
a while right? I mean, Harry would normally prefer to do it wearing
only a gold thong but sadly our concerts are rated PG and as always,
it’s a family show” Louis said sarcastically, cockily looking at Harry
who was now red in the face from sheer embarrassment, shaking his
head slightly at Louis who did nothing but grin madly at the man who
had embarrassed him earlier on in front of all those fans. Karmas a
bitch.

548
“O-oh, um, right, I guess everyone has their preferences don’t they?”
The lady stuttered out, looking completely taken a back and shocked at
the answer. Louis would have felt bad for her if Harry hadn’t looked so
funny right now.

“Yes they do, but we must be on our way now, once this is over with
I’m sure Harry will want to take a look around Victoria’s Secret.
Thanks for the interview love” Louis said with a calm tone, smile
etched into his face as he walked away without a second glance, feeling
smug with himself.

“Your so gonna pay for that” Harry suddenly whispered into Louis ear,
his breath hot on his skin and his voice raspy and seductive. Louis
visibly shivered and slowly turned round to see Harrys face red with
slight anger and humiliation, but Louis knew it was all light hearted,
Harry couldn’t stay mad at him for long.

“Guess we’ll see won’t we” Louis replied cockily with a smirk on his
face before they were all lead to the paparazzi section of the red carpet.

In this section was a large white and black background which had the
Brit awards label spread all over it, along with the logos of sponsors
and other companies involved with the event.

Hundreds of cameras were lined in front of them that were handled by

professional photographers, ready to get the best shots possible in order
to make some money. Flashes instantly set off as soon as they stepped
in front of the white background, almost blinding them from the
intensity of it all; they could never get used to this.

“Turn to your left!”

“Face forwards!” Lean to the side” “Pose”

Orders were coming at them in all different directions and it was hard
to keep up with them all. Liam would want to face one way, Louis
would go another, Zayn would pose over dramatically, Niall would face

549
the opposite way and Harry would start walking off. It never worked
out for them, giving multiple orders to four different lads was confusing
and tiring, something they definitely did not miss from their solo
careers.

Thankfully it didn’t take longer than five minutes to be over with, and
finally they were escorted inside to the main event.

After following the director down many hallways and passages they
found themselves in the grand hall which had a stage front and center,
tables on the floor for all the celebrities and VIP’s and the walls along
the sides of the hall were filled with seats that were occupied by fans of
all the different celebs.

As soon as the lads walked in there was an eruption of screams let out
from the sides where all the fans stood, it seemed like almost every
single one of them were a fan of theirs amongst fans of other people.
All head turned their way as they were lead towards their table, people
such as Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, the weekend and Billie Eilish all
greeted them, seeming as international artists could also attend if they
were nominated for an award.

Their table was placed near the end of the walkway of the stage where
there would be easy access to the platform in case they needed to accept
an award, much like all the nominees were usually sat at.

“Where do you wanna sit?” Harry asked Louis before they took a seat.

“Next to you, of course” Louis said with a smile and blushed slightly
when Harry drew his chair out for him a gestured for him to take a seat.

“Cheers Haz” Louis said as he sat down and got comfy, it would be a
long night after all.

“No problem babe, do you reckon you’ll win?” Harry asked as he took
the seat next to Louis, grabbing the vase of water to pour himself and
his boyfriend a glass.

550
“Honestly I’m not sure, the fans are great and I don’t doubt their ability
to get as many votes as possible, but there’s big competition who are
just as worthy of the award as I am. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see
yeh?” Louis replied with a shrug, taking a sip of the water that Harry
had poured for him.

“Louis you put so much work into that damn album, if anyone should
be worthy of winning it should be you mate, none of us took years to
get it out, but you spent all that time trying to get the perfect quality for
your fans. Don’t put yourself down” Liam said in a stern voice,
reassuring the lad who seemed to have little to no self confidence.

“The other nominees put just as much work in though, they spend
nearly the same amount of time on their albums, it doesn’t make a
difference at the end of the day. It’s down to the fans” Louis argued,
gesturing to the fans sat around the stadium who then erupted into more
cheers.

“Yes but between us, we know we have the best fans on the planet.
Back in the day we won every single award we were nominated for, I
doubt it will have changed now” Niall said with a grin.

“I guess that’s true, like I said, we’ll just have to see” Louis said with a
nod, trying to steer away from the topic, it would only make him more
nervous.

“It’s not the end of the world if any of us don’t win an award anyway,
it’s only a piece of metal that we’ve got countless of the same at home,
what matters at the moment is tour and getting out new music” Harry
continued, giving a fair point that all the lads agreed with.

“Cheers to that” Zayn said as he raised his glass, the lads doing the same
with huge smiles on their faces as they clinked their glasses together
and took a sip.

551
Suddenly, Harry’s phone alerted him of a message where it was sat on
the table. It was from Jack.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and read the message out loud, knowing
the lads would want to know if it was anything linked to their little
problem with the unknown evidence stealer.

“Ring me ASAP!” Harry read aloud, concern bubbling in the pit of his
stomach.

“What’s that about?” Louis questioned, his face plastered with concern
much like Harry’s and the other lads.

“It must be important, maybe a lead on the person? But I can’t call him
right now, the shows about to start” Harry said as he read over the words
countless times.

“Just send him a message then” Liam replied, desperate to know what
information Jack may or may not have discovered.

“Alright” Harry said with a nod before writing out his reply.

’Can’t mate, I’m at the brits, I’ll call you later’ is what he wrote before
locking his phone and placing it back onto the table faced down just in
time before the lights dimmed and James Corden walked out on stage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Brit awards 2020!” James

announced, being the host of this years award show.

The crowd clapped and cheered for the man until he gestured for
everyone to quieten down so he could get on with the show.

“Now we have many big faces in here tonight, let me see, we have Ed
Sheeran, Billie Eilish, wow you must have come a long way jeez, uh
Rihanna, Ellie Goulding, Jessie J, Sam Smith, and look everybody, if it
isn’t our favorite boy band it’s One Direction!” He called out as he

552
scanned the room, landing on the lads who smiled at the camera now
facing them and giving a wave.

“I’m just gonna come down and have a little chat if that’s all right with
you, if not I’m going home” James said sarcastically, pretending to
walk off the stage but instead turning around and stepping down the
stairs to walk towards the lads, the room filling with laughter.

“Long time no see, how’s tour been for you?” James asked as he pointed
the mic towards Harry, who was leaning back in his chair with his arm
around Louis back.

“It’s been great, we’re off to Ireland next” Harry said with a smile, the
room filling with more cheers at the mention.

“Bet Niall’s happy about that then?” James asked, now pointing the mic
in his direction.

“Yeh I can’t wait, it’s always good going back to my roots” Niall
replied with a grin.

“Well I see why you went back to your old hair color then” James said
cheekily, referring to his once blonde locks now returned to their root
color, brown.

“You two look cozy don’t you?” James said with a subtle wink,
directing his statement towards Louis and Harry who were practically
sitting on each other’s laps.

“Just getting comfy James, it’ll be a long night” Louis sassed back, not
realizing how dirty it sounded until it left his mouth and the room
erupted into laughter at the joke.

“Tone it down Tomlinson, we don’t want to hear about your long night
with Harry Styles alright” James replied in a sarcastic tone as he made
his way back up the stairs to the stage.

553
“You’re gonna get fucked because of that slip up you know that right”
Harry said with a grin, him referring to Simon being on their case.

“Yeh, hopefully by you” Louis quipped back taking a sip of water as he

looked directly into Harrys eyes.

“Fucking hell, don’t wind me up at an award show, I’d prefer not to

have a boner whilst accepting any awards” Harry said with a groan,
shoving Louis away slightly as the smaller man laughed.

“Our first award of the evening will be presented by none other than
Mr. Simon Cowell!” James exclaimed into the mic as everyone clapped
for the man walking on stage, except from the lads who sat in both
shock and anger, not knowing he would be here tonight.

“Oh shit, I’m fucked, I’m so fucking fucked” Louis muttered as his eyes
widened, looking at the man who was scowling down at him from the
stage.

“Tonight I will be presenting the award for best British single, and the
nominees are” Simon said before a tape rolled on screen showing
various different artists, Louis being one of them.

“Fuck, and he’s presenting my award too! This just keeps getting better
and better” Louis sighed, his palms already beginning to sweat. For the
first time ever he doesn’t want to win an award, he would rather get up
and run out of the hall as quick as possible.

“It’ll be alright, he can’t do anything in front of all these people

anyway” Harry tries to reassure, but even he is worried for his boyfriend
with how angry Simon looks right now.

“That doesn’t excuse him when I have to go backstage though” Louis

said in a small voice, his chest tight.

554
“If you’re not back out here when you’re supposed to I’ll come back
there and find you myself okay. I love you” Harry said sternly, but soft
in a way to soothe Louis.

“Alright, I love you too” Louis replied with a small smile before
returning his attention towards the stage just as Simon was opening the
envelope in his hand.

“And the award goes to… Louis Tomlinson!” He announced, and

instead of feeling excitement and happiness, Louis felt his heart drop at
the thought of having to share the stage with that man.

Everyone in the room stood up to clap and cheer for Louis as he stood
up shakily and practically threw himself at Harry. Harry caught him and
held him in a tight hug, drawing soothing circles into his back.

“This probably isn’t helping your case right now so get your lovely ass
up there, accept that damn award that you deserve and ignore that
dickhead” Harry whispered into his ear and Louis finally relaxed a little
and smiled into the crook of his boyfriends neck.

Louis pulled away from Harry with a nod and reached over the table to
shake hands briefly with his band mates before taking a deep breath and
walking up the stage stairs to claim his award.

He made it up in front of Simon who handed him the award and pulled
him in for a hug that Louis didn’t reciprocate.

“A word backstage, no excuses” Simon whispered to him in a harsh

tone before drawing back and gesturing for Louis to give his speech
which he definitely wasn’t prepared for.

Louis looked visibly shaken from where Harry was sitting and it took
all his strength not to run up the stairs and pull Louis away from the
prick before punching him square in the nose. But he restrained himself
and instead smiled up at the boy who was holding the first award of the
night.

555
“Uh, wow. I-I don’t know what to say honestly. I’d like to thank my
team and my management who I couldn’t have created the single or my
album without; you are all incredibly talented people who have guided
me to where I wanted to be at all these years. I’d like to thank my
family, for staying so, so strong throughout everything since our dear
mother sadly passed away, I love you all to pieces and I don’t think I
would make it without you. I’d like to thank the fans, because this
would not be possible without each and every single one of you. You’ve
stuck by me for years and I’m incredibly thankful for that, so this one
goes out to you. And finally I’d like to thank the lads, for being by my
side since the beginning and showing me self confidence, love and
compassion. Thank you all very much and have a good night”

Louis finished his speech with a smile as he hoisted his award high in
the air and left the stage with shaky legs and uneven breaths. Simon
came up behind him and when out of sight, pushed him against the
nearest wall, causing Louis to almost drop his award.

“What the fuck are you playing at? What was that out there? In front of
all those people! In front of celebrities! Are you asking for me to beat
the fag out of you or what?” Simon exclaimed, his face red with anger
and his fists balled up to his sides.

“Well, considering I need to go back out there in a few minutes I don’t

think you’d want them to see me with a bloody nose and bruised cheek
do you?” Louis sassed back, hiding his fear with sarcasm, like always.

“Your seriously pushing your luck. I’ve already began with the stunts,
what the fuck will it take to get you to cut this shit out? I’ve tried
fucking everything!” Simon shouted back, irritation in his tone as he
pulled on his neatly placed strands of hair.

“Nothing will get me to cut it out! Don’t you get that? I’m happy with
Harry for fucks sake! I love him! No stunt or contract is going to change
that whether you like it or not. So I honestly don’t see why you keep
trying to turn me into someone I’m not. Being gay won’t affect my

556
career, or my status or my damn spot on the charts, for Christ sakes it
would probably do me more good than bad! Your old fashioned ways
need to change Simon, and fast because sooner or later you’re going to
be the one who’s a disgrace to society, it damn well won’t be me, or
Harry, or Liam, or Zayn, or any other fucking gay, lesbian, bi, trans,
whatever it may be, we can be loved. You however, will be spat on in
the streets when people find out the way you’ve been treating us. I’ll
make sure of it”

And with that, Louis barged past the shocked man and walked out from
backstage to leave the stage area. Only Louis wasn’t expecting what he
saw when he walked out in front of everyone else.

The room was deadly silent, even a pin could be heard if it were dropped
onto the pristine floor. All eyes were set on him, every single one. Louis
looked around the room to see shocked faces and, oddly, proud ones.

What the hell was going on?

Louis looked over at Harry who had a smirk on his face as he pointed
to the direction of the huge screens, and when Louis looked up for
himself, he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.

There on the screen, was Simon, still in the same place as he was just a
minute ago, with a stunned and angry expression; right where Louis had
just given the man a piece of his mind.

Louis slowly turned his gaze back to the many people in the room,
expecting each one of them to scream profanities at him, but what he
got was quite the opposite. People began to clap, loud and clear and
some even shouted support to the man. They all accepted him. They
accepted him and Harry, and now almost everyone who was a big name
in the industry knew he was gay, knew he was in love with Harry Styles.

And before he could speak any further, the lights cut out, leaving the
room in complete darkness as people began to panic, wondering what
the hell was going on.

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And up on the screen, illuminating the room, began a video
compilation. A compilation that Louis soon recognized as his own. The
exact evidence he had filmed himself.

And the lads could have been prepared for this moment if only they had
read the message on Harrys phone.

“I’ve found the guys location, he’s in the room with you”

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 52
Revealed

Panic and confusion flooded the room as the darkness engulfed them.
People screamed as chaos erupted and more body guards than ever took
their places inside.

Suddenly, a glitch formed on the large screen in front of them, white

light flickering in front of their eyes before it halted on a video
compilation.

With the newly formed light emitting from the screen, everybody froze
and the room became silent once again. Louis took this moment to run
for Harry, needing the safety of his boyfriends arms before the lights
would cut out again.

Louis made it as quick as possible and flung himself at Harry, who

caught him in his grasp and held on tight as if Louis could evaporate
into thin air at any moment. Louis was trembling, hands shaking and
clammy from the initial panic that had rushed through his veins not a
moment before.

“H-Harry, What the hell is going on?” Louis whispered, his voice
wavering and stuttering as he tried to get the words out.

“Fuck I don’t know Lou, I really don’t know” Harry replied, and
although he was trying to be brave for Louis, Louis could hear the edge
to his tone and feel the rapid pace of his heartbeat against his own chest.

“They know Haz, they know about us, they know about Zayn and Liam.
Fuck, I practically told them all” Louis rushed out, stumbling over his
words as they left his chapped lips quickly.

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“Shh, babe, I know, it sucks having it come out this way but at least it’s
done with yeah? It was bound to happen at some point” Harry replied
with a reassuring tone. “Besides, they seem to support us” He
continued, stroking the back of Louis head as the smaller man burrowed
his face into the crook of his neck, desperately trying to calm his
breathing.

“But h-how? I don’t understand? Who put the camera on me?” Louis
asked in realization, someone would have had to move the camera and
follow him and Simon on purpose.

“I only know as much as you do. But, I guess we’re about to find out”
Harry said as he turned Louis around to face the big screens, now seeing
the video begin to play.

Louis looked up in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes

squinted up at the screens. He recognized the footage instantly, it was
the evidence. The stolen evidence.

The imagery wasn’t much, all that could be seen was the inside of Louis
pocket as he shifted around a little on the chair inside the office at
Modest’s headquarters. It was the audio that counted, every single word
spoken was clear as day to each person inside this very room, and all
attention was focused on the screen. Nobody moved an inch as they
listened, it was as if the whole room was frozen in time, the only thing
that mattered was the screen as it seemed to hypnotize each and every
person.

It was when Simon spoke that the first reaction left each person, as they
gasped in shock at the cruel words.

“Right so I’m assuming you already know timings and where to be so

we won’t go over that. But let me tell you now, if there’s any funny
business on stage between you two then I’m upping the contract time”

“He can’t do that!” Someone shouted in the room, followed by more of

the same angered words from almost every person; it was like a big

560
discussion had broke out revolving around the lads themselves who
were stood right there, watching the entire thing go down.

“What exactly do you mean by funny business?” Louis could be heard

asking.

“You know what I mean” Simon replied in a cold tone, even being
heard through the audio.

“No I don’t actually, I need to know what I am and aren’t allowed to do

on stage”

“Fuck sake Louis, no kissing, holding hands, hugging, touching, all that
shit. To put it simply, don’t act gay!”

And that’s when shit went down.

Angered voices erupted, shouts and screams of disgust vibrated against

the walls. The lads looked around to see each person shaking their heads
in disbelief at the vile words coming from a man they had all respected
for years on end; they were finally finding out the truth.

“Turn this damn thing off right now!” Simon suddenly belted out from
backstage, only to be shoved out onto the stage to face every single
person.

The shouting only got louder, more vicious as the man was revealed to
them. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, stood vulnerably in
front of hundreds of celebrities who no longer looked up to the man,
but instead despised him.

“I-I can explain! Just, turn off the video, sit down and we can resolve
this. It’s only a misunderstanding” He pleaded, arms stretched out to
the people as he begged for redemption.

But of course, they weren’t having it. They were only enraged more by
the lies Simon was spilling from his mouth, they had heard it all, they

561
had seen the discriminative behavior directed towards the lads and there
was no way the man was getting out of it.

From around them, the lads saw many people begin to walk up towards
the stage at a fast pace, shouting profanities and pointing fingers as they
sent daggers with their eyes from just below the stage.

“These boys don’t deserve any of this shit, do you hear me? You’re a
disgrace to the industry!” Rihanna shouted as she stood directly below
the man, pointing up at him with all the sass she could muster.

“I’m proudly gay and I’ve made it, who are you to say they can’t?” Sam
Smith shouted bravely, looking the man in the eyes with a scowl before
spitting at the man’s feet and walking away back towards his seat but
not before sending a nod of approval towards the boys.

“I’ve known these lads as long as I can remember and I know exactly
what you’ve done to them over the years, to be honest I’m ashamed I
never said anything to you sooner. Go fuck yourself Simon” Ed said
calmly, but his facial expression gave all the anger needed. Ed then
stood next to the lads with a clap on Harrys shoulder, showing he was
with them all the way.

The lads stood in shock at the events they were witnessing. Not in a
million years did they think this would be the way in which they would
come out, expose Simon and announce it publicly.

There was too much going on in one sitting to even process it all. Their
heads were fuzzy and their ears were ringing from the continuous
shouting; it was all just too much to handle.

Finally the lads looked up to the man who was still stuck on stage,
visibly shaking and panicked due to the inevitable downfall of his own
career. Simon made eye contact with each of them, scowling bitterly
before he took off of the stage, leaving a crowd of furious people behind
him.

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Even after he had left the shouting didn’t seem to simmer down, only
continued as everyone seemed to be discussing their thoughts with one
another on Simon and the boys.

“What the fuck just happened?” Niall exclaimed over the shouting as
he finally got himself together after the initial shock, looking dazed as
he tried to wrap his head around the situation.

“Fuck, were out. They all know” Louis mumbled mostly to himself as
he stared down at the floor, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Yeh mate, fucking finally, and everyone still loves you guys the same.
Look around you, each person in here just stood up for you against that
disgusting man, we all support you guys” Ed said as he gestured around
the room, causing Louis to finally lift his head and take a look at his
surroundings.

He wasn’t surprised to see infuriated faces, all using wild hand gestures
as they spoke erratically to one another; but what did surprise him is as
he caught people’s eyes as he scanned the room, each one of them
smiled widely at him, showing their love and support to a gay man in
the industry. It was refreshing to say the least, after years of being told
that these people would react in the exact opposite way.

Louis turned to Harry and beamed up at him, giving his boyfriend a

large toothy grin as a tear of joy escaped his eye, rolling slowly down
his tanned cheek. Harry smiled down at him in return, his dimples on
show as he held the same expression. He then gently wiped the tear
from Louis face and held his warm palm against the soft skin as the two
held their eye contact.

“God I’ve wanted to do this for so long” Harry whispered for only Louis
to hear before he ducked down slightly with the intention of finally
kissing the man he loved in front of the public eye; but once again, the
lights cut out.

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The loud and vicious chatter died down to gasps as the screen flickered,
making a horrible buzzing sound release from the speakers.

The lads looked at each other in utter confusion; they had assumed it
was over, apparently not.

When the glitches and flickers came to a stop all that was left on the
screen was an eerie looking figure. No matter how much you squinted
your eyes you couldn’t see the persons face, as it was shadowed over
by a hood as whoever it was sat in front of the camera in a dark room.

The only thing that could be heard was the shallow breathing of the
mysterious figure, sending chills down everyone’s spine as they
assumed the worst. Nobody dared to move or speak and instead opted
for patiently waiting for something, anything to happen.

And the person finally spoke.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, firstly, I’d like to apologies for
ruining your night; but I think we can all agree it was time this came to
light”

It was a shock to hear the voice. Not because it was familiar, not
because they knew who it was like they expected to, but because they
had assumed it was a man. But no, this voice was feminine and high
pitched, it was quite obviously a woman behind the camera.

“You’re all most likely very confused right now, including you boys.
You see, I’ve been waiting for this moment for just over three years
now, and damn does it feel good to finally speak to you all”

The lads all raised their eyebrows at the mention of this being in the
making for three years. Whoever this was, had been following their
every move and plotting for three years. Three fucking years; and they
didn’t even know.

“But the thing is, I’m not the only one who wants to speak to you”

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Again, the screen glitches and another person popped up on the screen.
This time there was no shady background, no coverage. Just a normal
looking teenage boy.

“There’s many of us who share the same ideas, who see the same thing
and have done for years on end”

The screen glitches again, now showing a girl with red hair and
glittering blue eyes.

“We get told countless times online and in the fandom that our ideas
are ridiculous, that we’re delusional to think that two men could
possibly be together”

Glitch, now another boy, slightly older looking than the first one.

“But we believe love is love, and anything is possible, even two men
from a boy band made to hide their love from the world”

Glitch, three girls sat in their bedroom, one direction posters stuck to
the walls.

“We’ve seen everything since the year 2010, since the very first time
Louis jumped into Harrys arms on the X factor stage”

Glitch, two boys holding hands, seemingly a couple.

“And we’ve followed ever since. You’ve inspired people like me and
my boyfriend here to stay strong even throughout the hate and
discrimination, we can’t thank you enough”

Glitch, a transgender boy who smiles widely into the camera.

“I’ve been able to make so many new friends because of this belief we
all had in common”

565
Glitch, two girls holding a rainbow flag.

“We could all share ideas, point out new evidence, create fan fiction,
create videos. There’s so many aspects to this fandom that tie us
together and you’re at the center of it”

Glitch, a woman with spotless dark skin and wavy hair cascading down
her back.

“We thank you for staying proud, for loving us all unconditionally and
showing us the meaning of love is love”

Glitch, a red head with pale porcelain skin.

“But we are also sorry if this isn’t what you wanted. We’re sorry if you
weren’t ready”

Glitch, A tall boy clad in black clothes and a beanie, his black curly hair
sticking out the front and sides.

“We’re sorry it came out like this, on national television at one of the
biggest events of the year. We’re sorry if we took something special
away from you”

Glitch, five teen girls wearing one direction t shirts.

“We’re sorry, but we didn’t see a way around this anymore, and when
we had a chance to use evidence that could have potentially saved you
guys from anymore suffering, we had to take it”

Glitch, a woman stood in front of the Eiffel Tower, by a cafe where she
must have set up a camera to record, her French accent heavy through
the speakers.

“We could see through pictures and videos just how much it was
affecting you. From the stunts, to the media, the interviews, the

566
statements. At times you were made to ruin your image just to hide your
love for one another, and this isn’t okay on any level”

Glitch, back to the mysterious hooded person.

“It had to stop”

Suddenly the screen flicked to a compilation of Larry evidence

moments, beginning with videos and pictures from the very beginning
on the X factor in 2010, transitioning through more and more beautiful
moments the two have had throughout the years as the hooded woman
spoke over the top of it all.

The audience, including the lads, were now staring up at the screen with
smiles on their faces. Reminiscing all the good times from the past
where their love for one another was clear as day. Some laughed when
embarrassing moments would pop up, such as the interview in which
the two were asked who gets in front and who gets behind in “Mario
kart” or the not so subtle sexual moments on stage where they would
mimic dirty actions to one another. Louis and Harry were blushing at
these moments, but it didn’t falter the smile on their faces when
watching each other on the big screen.

“It may be a little selfish of us to out you like this, because I guess you
had it in mind to do it yourselves properly? But you and I both know
that would be a long time coming and from the evidence I retrieved,
Yeh, sorry about that, I could see for myself how much you wanted this.
You share something so beautiful and rare that we couldn’t just let it go
to waste, not when the only thing holding you back was a homophobic
prick and a team of money hungry sociopaths. It was evident to us that
the industry would support you, it’s 2020 for gods sake, we have artists
such as Sam Smith who are in demand for content and are loved for it,
despite their sexuality”

The woman’s speech ran throughout the compilation, but stopped when
she paused, ending with some of the moments the two have shared since
the reunion.

567
“And all these people here, they all support you for who you are” She
said as a huge screen full of at least a hundred fans showed up on the
screen, some of which the lads recognized from the beginning of the
video. All of them were in on it.

“And as do I, seeming as I came up with this entire thing. But that leaves
the question, who exactly is this strange girl looking like a serial killer
from those scary movies; sat behind a screen wearing a Harry Styles
merch hoodie, it’s great by the way, you should all get one, very comfy”
she said, causing many people in the audience to laugh, despite not
knowing who the fuck it was.

The screen went black once again and everyone was blinded in the
darkness of the room. But suddenly the dimmed lights flicked on and a
girl, probably in her early twenties, was sat at the edge of the stage,
right in front of the lads who were gaping up at her.

None of them knew who she was, but Harry thought she seemed a little
familiar, however he couldn’t quite put his finger on where he had seen
her before.

“I know, not exactly what you were expecting right? I’m not some
celebrity friend who was behind the whole thing, I’ve never even met
you guys before. But it doesn’t matter who I am, I just wanted to share
this with everyone whilst I still could” She said in a sarcastic tone,
shrugging her shoulders as she picked at her nails, all the while smiling
at the boys who looked utterly confused.

“Who are you? You seem familiar” Harry finally asked, furrowing his
eyebrows as he squinted at the girl.

“My names Kelsey Hall” She replied. “Nice to finally meet you, I
almost shit myself when my brother told me he met you” She continued
with a grin, wiggling her eyebrows in a hinting manor.

568
“Holy shit— You’re Jacks sister? Jack Hall?” Harry suddenly
exclaimed, the realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. Jack, hookup
dude who helped them retrieve the evidence, yeah, that Jack.

“Yup, how else do you think I stole the evidence from Louis phone? I
can’t do any of that hacking shit, but he’s a pro at it as you know” She
said with a smirk, before suddenly waving at someone backstage.

And casual as ever, Jack strolled out from backstage and into
everyone’s view, a cocky grin on his face as he high fives his sister
before sitting on the edge of the stage with her, amused at The lads
shocked expressions.

“Alright lads? Nice night?” He said playfully, looking around the room
in awe of even being at the brits, never mind on the stage.

“You— You knew about this? Even when we asked you for help? What
the fuck I’m so confused right now” Louis stuttered out, unable to
pronounce proper words as his mind was spinning at a mile an hour.

“Look, I’ll just explain everything alright. I’ve been a fan of you guys
ever since you Auditioned for the X factor, and like many others I got
sucked into the Larry conspiracy. It was literally all I thought about,
every day I would look on social media and see all this new evidence
supporting the theory and I couldn’t help but want to figure it out for
myself. Those people you saw on the screen, they were all here for the
last three years to back me up with what I was planning, and they also
wanted to be a part of it. So, after hearing that Jack had met Harry I
thought this could be my chance, as I knew he had all the skills
necessary to get valid evidence that could support what I wanted to
show. It had taken about a year for him to find a way around breaching
the codes and walls protecting Louis’ phone, but he finally got it, and
luckily for us you were collecting your own evidence against Simon at
the perfect time. Jesus it was like you were asking us to expose you.
Anyway, I created the compilation with the people from the video and
jack hacked into the system for the brits tonight, and, well, you know
the rest”

569
After explaining the situation it all became a lot clearer to the boys as
they nodded their heads slowly. It made sense now, this girl had been
planning to out them all along; and surprisingly, they weren’t even mad
at her.

In fact, they wanted to thank her. She had actually made everything a
lot easier for them, because now there was a big chance they wouldn’t
even need to take legal actions, and they didn’t need to plan a coming
out situation themselves. She had basically explained the entire
situation to the industry for them, which was a huge weight off their
shoulders as now they didn’t need to worry about everyone getting the
message and understanding it properly. She had done everything they
would’ve had to do themselves for them; and now, maybe they can get
on with their lives in peace. Without the homophobia from their
management and Simon, without the worry of what they can and can’t
do in public, without the strain on their relationship, without the stunts
and without secrecy. It was finally over with.

“There’s obviously some people in here that already knew about their
relationship, but for those of you who didn’t before tonight I hope you
understood what the lads had to go through for the most part of their
careers. I hope you stick by them and show your support, which I have
no doubts that you will. But I thank you all for listening and I’m sorry
if I ruined the night. Goodbye”

And with that, Kelsey stood up, bowed to the audience, sent a wave and
a wink to the lads, and walked off stage with her brother as the audience
clapped for her.

“Wait, she can’t just leave can she?” Zayn asked the lads who were still
a little in shock from the turn of events.

“I’m pretty sure we will be seeing them either later tonight or tomorrow,
I mean, I want to bloody speak to the girl after all that. I didn’t even get
to thank her” Harry said as he shook out his hair and sighed.

570
“I can’t believe that just happened” Louis said as he shook his head,
smiling to himself as he heard the room cheering and clapping.

“Me neither, Jesus Christ the brits turned into a tea spill channel” Niall
said as he laughed, drinking from his glass of water.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, I’ve spoken with the producers and
we’ve managed to fit in the show till a later time, so we can now get
back on with the award ceremony!” James called as he walked back on
stage, causing many people to sigh in relief that they wouldn’t need to
change their plans to come for a rescheduled show.

“I still can’t get my head around this” Louis said as he laughed, his blue
eyes sparkling in the lights of the hall.

“Neither can I, but I’m gonna make the most of it” Harry said with a
smirk before pressing his lips against Louis’ in a passionate kiss, for the
first time ever in public, for every person to see; without the worry of
Simon, or management, or hate.

The crowd took notice and cheered for them, a few people cat calling
and whistling as they made their display of PDA in front of hundreds
of celebrities and fans, not to mention the camera filming them for
national television.

“Alright alright, we know you just came out but Jesus, chill out, get a
room! You dirty, dirty boys!” James called them out from on stage,
pointing at them in mock disgust, when in reality he was extremely
happy for the two lads he had seen in so much pain for the past few
years; finally able to show themselves completely and be proud of who
they were.

The two broke apart from the kiss as they laughed with one another,
finally sitting back in their chairs to relax, Harry’s arm resting around
Louis back for the remainder of the night.

571
 53
Speech

“And the winner, of best British solo artist goes to… Harry Styles!”

The room filled with applause as Harry was announced winner; even
more so than usual due to the events earlier on in the show.

Harry’s jaw dropped in shock before splitting out into a wide grin across
his face, his dimples showing and pearly whites gleaming. He stood up
on shaky legs and was immediately pulled into Louis’ arms as the man
engulfed him in a bear hug.

“I knew you would win Hazza, I fucking knew it” Louis whispered into
his ear as Harry smiled into the crook of his neck, closing his eyes and
letting the moment sink in as he listened to the ongoing applause and
cheers.

“I love you so much, you deserve this, all of it” Louis continued, feeling
so proud and happy that his boyfriend had succeeded just as he knew
he would.

“I love you too, I couldn’t have done this without you” Harry mumbled
back to him as he pulled away from the hug, his heart racing with
adrenaline.

“No, this was all you Haz, go get that trophy babe” Louis pressed,
gesturing for Harry to go and collect his award that was waiting in the
grasp of Stevie Nicks’ hands, the same woman who had travelled all
the way from America just to present this very award to the man she
had grown to cherish and adore.

Harry gave a brief nod and quickly hugged the rest of the lads who all
congratulated him on the win before he began walking towards the

572
stage stairs. But just as quick as he walked away, he walked right back
and grabbed Louis by the neck to slam their lips together in a heated
kiss.

Louis was surprised at first but soon got himself together and returned
the kiss with just as much passion whilst the audience erupted into
screams and cheers for the action, along with the odd whistle sounding
from cheeky people in the back of the room.

Harry pulled away from the kiss with a grin and sent Louis a wink
before jogging up to the stage, ready to collect his award. Behind him,
the entire room were on their feet congratulating him, with proud smiles
on their faces for the man who had shown pure bravery to each and
every one of the throughout the event.

Once on stage, Harry greeted Stevie with a hug and a kiss on the cheek,
thanking her for showing up even with such a long journey. She merely
waved him off with a warm smile and gestured for him to take his stand
at the podium.

With a shaky breath, Harry turned to face the room, trophy in hand and
a sparkle to his green eyes as he watched everyone clap for him. After
a moment, he shook his head and began his speech, every single person
in the room listening intently as silence overshadowed them.

“Well, what a crazy night this has been, I’m sure you’ll all agree?” He
began with his signature smile, the audience nodding in agreement.

“I didn’t expect any of this to happen, not just the revelation, but the
award too; which I’ll start with first. Even after a decade in this industry,
it still amazes me how often I get to experience moments such as these.
Being up against all the other incredibly talented nominees makes me
realize how special the opportunity this life has given me. And to win,
makes me realize how important a role I play in other people’s lives,
and how badly I want to use my recognition to my advantage for the
better. I don’t care for the money, or the fame, what I care about is using
my voice to put out a positive message that others wouldn’t get a chance

573
to” Harry said in a slow drawl, the words sounding crisp and clear in
his deep voice that was amplified by the microphone. He looked up to
the fans seats before continuing.

“So I owe it to my fans really; I want you to know that weather your
black, white, gay, straight, bisexual, trans, whatever you are and
whoever you want to be, I support you, I love you, and I couldn’t have
done any of this without you” Harry said proudly as he counted off the
people on his fingers, causing the entire room to burst out into more
applause.

“And to provide you with the music I have I couldn’t have done it
without my incredible band. Sarah, Mitch, Adam And Claire, I love all
of you and I deeply thank you for sticking by me through my terrible
dancing on tour” Harry said sarcastically with a small chuckle, gaining
another reaction from the crowd.

“Of course I worked with others on the album, such as Jeff Bhasker,
Alex Salibain, Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon, again, thank you for
helping me create my first and second albums, you guided me through
the process each step of the way and I honestly would have been
clueless without you all”

“I’d like to thank my family, Mum, Gems, I love you with all my heart
and I don’t thank you enough for all the support you’ve given me
throughout my entire life” Harry thanked and blushes slightly when the
audience cooed at him.

“I’d like to thank the lads. I met you in 2010, a complete coincidence
that we happened to be put into a band together, but god it was the best
thing that has happened to me in my entire life, or, well, the second”
Harry paused and glanced over to Louis. “I’m glad I entered the
industry with the four of you, I’d probably have been terrified and
clueless if I hadn’t, but you always had my back each time something
would go wrong. The majority of my best memories were spent with
you guys and they will stick with me for the rest of my life. Each of you
are incredible solo artists, but I’d like to say I prefer it when we’re a

574
team, and in that case I’m over the moon to be sharing a stage with you
once again. So thank you for the love, support, memories and I can’t
wait for the future alongside you all”

Below the stage the lads were smiling from ear to ear after hearing the
heartwarming speech, tears prickling their eyes from the beautiful
words the man above them spoke. They felt deeply connected to Harry,
seeming as they had known each other for so long, and hearing him
pour his heart out to them after so long of bottled up emotions and
miscommunication it was like they had travelled back to the early days
of one direction where this type of love was shared daily.

“And lastly, I’d like to thank my boyfriend, Louis William Tomlinson”

Harry breathed out, staring the blue eyed man in the eyes as if no one
but them were in the room.

“Fuck it feels good to say that in public” Harry said with a sigh as the
audience laughed slightly. “After tonight’s events, all of you know the
truth now, however I’m sure you’re still a bit confused as you don’t
know the details. I’m not going to go into too much depth, because that
would be years worth of story telling which I don’t have the time nor
energy for, but I’m sure you’ll be finding out a lot more in the near
future anyway” Harry continued with a grin, laughing as some fans in
the audience protested, clearly wanting to find out as much as they
could right here and then.

“But yes, I’m very much gay, proudly of it. And many people have had
their assumptions in the past revolving my sexuality, but like I said then
and like I say now, my sexuality doesn’t define me as a person and I’m
not one for labels. I’ve loved Louis Tomlinson since I was sixteen,
straight out of the X factor, and to this day I still get butterflies and shit
just from being in his presence. He is my strength, my world, my life,
he is my everything. Louis, I love you with all my heart and I always
will; there’s no doubt in my mind that I will spend the rest of my life
with you. You’re funny, smart, beautiful, talented, compassionate,
determined, strong; the list could go on but I’d be stood here all night.

575
I will be here with you always for love and support just as you are with
me”

Harrys speech left the audience stunned, eyes glazed over as they
listened to him pour his heart out to Louis. It was pure, honest and from
the heart; they all knew it. And Louis was in bits. Happy tears trailed
down his cheeks as he stared up at his boyfriend, thinking to himself
how he could’ve gotten so lucky. The lads threw their arms around
Louis’ shoulders as a form of comfort, smiling knowingly as they
watched Louis drift into his own world that consisted only of him and
Harry.

Once the speech was over Louis broke out of his trance when he heard
the loud applause around him and the lads patting his shoulder. He blew
a kiss to Harry and mouthed the words ’I love you’ in which the man
reciprocated.

“Anyway, I won’t bore you any further with my sappy love speech, but
I want you to know how thankful I am not just for your support tonight,
but for the support you’ve all shown me throughout my career. I feel
welcomed and accepted in this industry, which I haven’t felt in a long
time; so again thank you for that and I wish you all the best for the
future. Goodnight”

Harry finished and waved off to the audience, pressing his hands
together in a prayer action as a thanks before leaving the stage with his
award clutched in his grasp.

“Damn, that was one good speech” Niall said as Harry left the stage, a
smile seemingly permanently stuck to his face.

“You’re telling me. He’s gotten everyone in fucking tears” Liam said
with a chuckle as he looked around the room to see exactly what he had
just described.

“Fuck sake, now I want a relationship” Niall whined, causing the lads
to laugh and grip his shoulders with sympathetic looks.

576
“Lou, you good mate?” Zayn asked Louis, who was stuck inside his
own head.

“Oh, yeah, more than good. Just a bit shocked really” Louis replied
once he snapped out of his trance, smiling at the lads to reassure them.

“I would be too if someone poured his heart out to me like that on

national television” Liam stared with a shake of his head, Niall and
Zayn agreeing with him with a nod of their heads.

“Wasn’t too cheesy was it?” Harry suddenly spoke up from behind
them where he was walking out from backstage, a huge grin on show.

“God no, that was the sweetest thing I’ve ever fucking heard, I don’t
think Lou will recover from it to be honest” Niall joked, gesturing to
Louis who was once again, staring at Harry.

“Well, I meant every word” Harry said gently as he pecked Louis on

the lips before taking a seat next to him, placing his award carefully on
the table.

“Haz, that speech was fucking incredible, I can’t get over it. I love you
so fucking much” Louis said breathlessly as he was still trying to wrap
his head around it, pulling Harry into another kiss to show just how
much it meant to him.

“I love you too, I’m glad you liked it” Harry said softly, moving the
hair away from Louis’ eyes delicately. “Oh, and whilst backstage I saw
Jack and Kelsey, they said they’ll wait for us at the club where the after
party is being held, so we can catch up and all that” He continued, as if
just remembering it.

“That’s good, at least it’s sorted then. I was worried they were just
gonna leave, but I want some answers first” Louis said with relief, glad
he would be able to get the answers he was dying to ask for.

577
“We can head there as soon as the event is over, so, about an hour at
most?” Harry asked, unsure how long the event even lasted for.

“Sounds good to me” Louis agreed with a shrug, giving one last peck
to Harry’s lips before the next award was announced.

On the pavement, various celebrities where being escorted from their

luxurious cars into the venue for the after party.

Multiple flashes were going off from all different directions as the
paparazzi yearned for their best shots.

The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as people of the

community hung around the area, waiting to see if their idols happened
to be attending the booming party. One direction fans were in luck as
the lads stepped out of their car with Paul guarding them.

A frenzy took place as Harry and Louis made their way in to the public
eye, arm in arm for everyone to see, because they had no reason to hide
their affection any more.

Every single person who had watched the Brits knew what had
happened, they were going crazy over it. The majority of people
shouted their support to them as they made their way inside the crowded
club, but of course, a few insults lingered in their ears of which they
chose to ignore; they couldn’t let anything deter their good moods after
such an incredible day.

As they walked through to the more secluded part of the club, many
people stopped the couple to send them words of encouragement in
which they thanked them for and continued their search for Jack and
Kelsey.

It would have been impossible for the two siblings to get into the club
had it not been for the lads, seeming as this party was for A listers only

578
and they were merely distant friends. So with one phone call they had
their names on the list.

“Oi, Harry!” A familiar voice shouted, gaining his attention as he turned

and saw Jack and Kelsey gesturing for them to come over.

After a minute of pushing their way through crowds they finally

situated themselves in the private booth with the pair, greeting them
briefly as they took their seats.

“I’m guessing your looking for some answers?” Kelsey asked with a
smirk as she sipped from her cocktail, a vibrant blue color with a straw
and mini umbrella sticking out the side of it.

“Just a few, were all still a bit confused” Louis replied with a nod,
sinking into Harrys arms on the comfy seats.

“Well, I’m all ears, I’ll answer everything honestly” She said truthfully,
smiling in reassurance.

“Right, um, obviously we already know how you did it as you’ve

explained it, but I don’t understand why? What spurred you to do it
now?” Louis asked with a shake of his head, eyebrows furrowed
together.

“It’s been a long time coming hasn’t it? I’ve been a fan of yours for
years, always had the idea that the two of you were a thing like many
others believed, and, I don’t know, I guess I just wanted the security of
knowing I was right, if that makes any sense? Like now I’ve done it, I
feel more at ease with my ideas, I know now that I wasn’t conjuring up
silly stories based off of internet theories. I was right, as were many
others, and it seemed like the right time. Because my brother had met
Harry, then there was the reunion, then all the new Larry content we
were getting. It was just the perfect timing really, and what better way
than to do it on national television. Although, I must say it would have
been pretty awkward if I had gotten the whole thing wrong”

579
She said with a laugh, shrugging her shoulders as if what she was saying
didn’t make sense at all, but it was perfectly clear to the lads in what
she was trying to say; they understood her.

“No I understand, we wanted to thank you actually” Louis said as he

looked at Harry with a smile.

“Oh? Why though? I thought you would’ve been angry because I

practically outed you” Kelsey asked with a shocked expression,
assuming she would’ve gotten the worst reaction possible.

“No of course not, you’ve done us a favor. For years we’ve had to hide
away, always ridiculed for our love for one another. We got
homophobic insults spat in our faces every single day, for absolutely no
reason. A times we could just be talking to one another, and Simon
would come over, pull us apart and call us fags”

“That’s awful” She said in a pitiful but angered tone.

“I know, He actually caused us to break up before the hiatus, he set up

this whole PR scheme without us knowing, but you’ll find out more
about that another time; it’s not important right now. Anyway, we had
dealt with the abuse for years on end and finally decided we were going
to do something about it. We had planned to file a law suit against him
using the evidence that you stole, no worries about that by the way, at
least you didn’t use it against us” Louis said with a laugh, noticing her
flinch at the mention of the stolen evidence.

“Yeah, that would’ve been rough” She said, scratching the back of her
neck with a small chuckle.

“So, like I was saying we were gonna have to plan this whole law suit,
which could’ve easily taken years for us to handle and it would have
been extra stress that we didn’t need. You coming there tonight and
exposing him like you did actually took a weight off our shoulders, not
just for me and Harry, but for all us lads because this was affecting each
of us. I think the reason we’re not so bothered about you outing us is

580
because we’ve had to go through so much of the same shit over the
years, it’s nice to finally have it taken care of. Plus, I’m pretty sure we’ll
get roped into doing a documentary or some shit on it in the future
explaining everything so we can still get one thing we wanted to do out
of it. You’ve just done the hard part for us, now we can express
everything in our own ways and through different projects; so thank
you, really, it means a lot that you put so much work and effort into it”

Louis finished his mini speech and saw that Kelsey was holding back
tears. He cooed at the girl and pulled her into a hug.

“Darling don’t cry, what’s wrong?” Louis asked in a hushed voice,

feeling sympathetic for the girl.

“Sorry, I’m being silly” she said with a laugh, pulling away from Louis
to wipe her tears.

“No you’re not, you’re probably just overwhelmed” Harry said with a
smile, rubbing the girls back to comfort her.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I think it’s just a bit much because I’ve wanted to
do this for so long, so badly, and now that it’s finally happened and I
was right, and to have your support and gratitude through it, it’s all I
could’ve ever asked for. Thank you for being so understanding” She
said kindly, calming down a bit as the seconds passed.

“No, thank you for finally sorting this shit out for us. Like damn, we’ve
been trying to figure out a way around this for months and you’ve just
gone and clocked it in a few weeks. I’m just glad we don’t have to go
through with the fucking law suit” Niall said as he laughed, causing the
girl to cheer up more and her face to brighten.

“Well, no problem then. I’m glad I could help” Kelsey replied before
downing the last of her drink.

“Thanks for helping her as well mate, I never even knew you had a
sister” Harry said with a confused expression towards Jack.

581
“Just never came up I guess, but no worries, I’m glad I could help you
guys and my sister at the same time, I feel like this is my good deed of
the day or some shit” Jack replied with a shrug.

“Well, enough with the serious talk. Let’s fucking party!” Liam shouted
before pulling Zayn away to get some drinks, leaving a table of laughter
behind him.

For the rest of the night, the lads drank way too much, danced like mad
men and sung at the top of their lungs to various different songs, all
whilst getting to know their new friend throughout the time they had at
the club.

She turned out to be kind, funny and even had a bit of sass to her. The
lads knew they would be staying in contact with the girl, seeming as
she wanted all the updates on the next few months regarding their
coming out.

They knew it was going to be hectic, but they had each other, and they
could get through just about anything.

582
 54
Alone

“Everything’s gonna be so much better now, I can already see it” Harry
said quietly, his voice sounding amongst the chirping of the birds as the
sun rose.

“Yeah?” Louis replied in a questioning tone, wondering what the

beautiful man was thinking about as he snuggled closer to him in their
warm, cosy bed.

“Yeah. Think about it, one day, when we get married, we won’t have
to hide it. We can invite whoever we want, we can post pictures, we can
tell our fans how amazing it was, we can do it all without having to
worry about Simon, or management, or the press. It will be easy, it will
be amazing” Harry explained slowly as he traced shapes on Louis’ soft,
tanned skin.

“Now, I’m sure that wasn’t a proposal, because quite honestly Harry,
that would have been one shit but cute proposal, however, I’m down”
Louis replied cheekily, laughing to himself as Harry swatted at his
chest, shaking his head but smiling fondly.

“Way to ruin the moment Lou, but seriously, I can’t get over it. We
don’t have to hide anymore, we don’t have to fucking hide and I love it
so much. I love you so much” Harry said seriously, smiling down at
Louis for the first time since they had woken up.

“I love you too Haz, so much” Louis replied in a whisper before their
lips met in a sweet but passionate kiss. Neither of them caring for
morning breath, they were way past that issue by now.

“I remember when you once serenaded that song to me before we began

dating” Louis said after their lips parted, smiling at the memory.

583
“Which one?” Harry asked with a furrowed brow, he had serenaded
multiple songs to Louis over the past 10 years.

“I don’t wanna be your friend I wanna kiss you on the lips” Louis sung
gently, laughing as the words escaped his lips.

“What about it?” Harry said as he laughed along with Louis,

remembering the moment clearly as he had sung it when he didn’t know
how to describe his feelings towards the boy.

“I was so shocked, but it described us perfectly. We were young and

naive, didn’t know how we were feeling, but that line just made sense
to me” Louis explained as he rolled over so he was chest to chest with
his boyfriend, head resting just below Harry’s neck, peering up at him.

“Jesus Lou, I thought I was the sappy one” Harry replied with a smirk,
causing Louis to hide his face into his chest with a groan, Harry bursting
our into a soft chuckle.

“Hey, I’m joking. I understand. I remember being fucking terrified to

sing that to you” Harry continued, lifting Louis’ chin with his pointer
finger, staring into them gorgeous blue eyes.

“Terrified of me? Why?” Louis asked with a quirk of his head.

“You intimidated me, you were older and seemed very much straight. I
was scared you didn’t feel the same way” Harry sheepishly replied, the
statement sounding ridiculous considering where they are now.

“Really? I honestly thought my hints would’ve been enough for you to

catch on that I’m Gay” Louis sassed back, raising his eyebrows.

“Hints? What bloody hints, you gave none! You were the most
unreadable person I had ever met” Harry argued playfully, putting on
the most shocked face he could manage.

584
“Oh I don’t know, joking about sleeping with you multiple times seems
straight does it? Teasing you? Flirting with you? God I thought I had
made it so obvious, the fans noticed before you did, you were just sweet,
innocent little Harry back then weren’t you?” Louis teased, sitting up
further to see Harry clearer.

“Sweet? Yes, innocent? Definitely not. I offered to blow you at 16 for

God’s sake” Harry said sarcastically, trying to look even more shocked.

“Hm, yeah I guess you did, you didn’t follow through though” Louis
quipped back, winking suggestively.

“No, I didn’t, and I would offer again now, but sadly we need to head
to Ireland in half an hour and we haven’t even packed yet. Maybe
handle yourself out this time” Harry said, lowering his voice as he
whispered the words against Louis lips teasingly before kissing him one
last time and getting up out of bed, winking at a flustered Louis on the
bed.

“God damn it Styles, not even a quickie?” Louis whined, rolling his
eyes as the man walked away in just a pair of tight Calvin Klein boxers,
not helping his current situation at all.

“Nope, get your lazy ass out of bed” Harry called back, laughing to
himself as he headed into the bathroom.

“Fuck” Louis muttered, falling back onto the bed helplessly for five
minutes before he finally dragged himself out of the warm sheets to get
ready. ________________________________

“Lads, sit down, there’s an issue I need to discuss with you before we
head off” Paul said in a stern tone as the lads gathered around him like
children going on a school trip.

They all threw confused glances towards one another, clearly stunned
that there was yet another problem; as always.

585
“What issue? I thought everything could go smoothly now” Louis
asked, passing his luggage to a man who was loading up their bus.

“Your life is far from smooth Louis, to be honest with you, it’s probably
gonna be a rocky couple of months ahead of you all” Paul replies with
a shake of his head, gesturing for them to take a seat at a nearby dining
table.

Louis sighed at the response and took a seat next to Harry, holding the
man’s hand as they awaited Paul’s “issue”.

“What’s this about then?” Liam asked, rubbing his forehead as a sign
of tiredness.

“Did you lads ever consider what would happen once you exposed
management and Simon?” Paul began, sitting back in his chair with his
arms folded tightly across his chest, biceps bulging out.

“Well, yeah, I guess. We just assumed we would join a new

management and everything that goes along with that” Niall replied,
still lost on what the issue was.

“Right. Well, clearly you haven’t thought too much into it. Don’t get
me wrong, none of this is your fault and I’m fucking delighted that
you’ve gotten out of that toxic contract, but there is a lot that needs to
be sorted over the next couple of months. You’ve not only lost your
management team, but everything that comes along with it” Paul stated,
not yet being clear on what the fuck was going on.

“Sorry Paul, But you’re gonna need to be a bit more clear mate. I
honestly don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about” Louis said as
he shook his head.

“Even as cruel as they were, your management were damn good at their
job. Modest provided you with scheduling, busses, bodyguards, hair
and makeup teams, outfit teams, promo, gigs, events, concert teams,
instrumental bands; the list goes on and on. And without them, you

586
don’t have any of that because all these people they were paying to back
you guys up and help you out, now don’t work for modest anymore;
thus now are not working for you anymore.”

The words spilling from Paul’s mouth were sinking further in as the
seconds passed. The realization hit them hard, and the panic and shock
soon came after it.

“But— they can’t just stop working for us in the middle of our fucking
tour! We have shows to do, we have a bloody show tomorrow for God’s
sake! We can’t do all this shit without them” Louis exclaimed, referring
to their teams, not management, he couldn’t care less about them.

“I’m afraid they can. With Simon and modest on trial for shutting down
completely, there’s nobody to pay their checks, therefore they don’t
work for you anymore. Technically, I don’t even work for you
anymore; but that doesn’t mean I’m going to drop everything now. I’ve
known you lads for years and I would watch over you all with or
without a pay check; I’m sure that goes for Louise and her team as well,
but the rest, I’m not so sure about”

Paul smiles sadly at the lads as they stared into nothing, just letting the
words sink in as they tried to find any solution. It warmed their hearts
to know Paul had their backs, but they would be damned if the man
thought he wouldn’t be getting paid.

“Don’t be silly, you’re getting a fucking pay check even if it has to

come out of our own pockets; it’s not like we can’t afford to anyway.
But thank you, we need all the support we can get right now and we’re
great full for you sticking with us” Harry said in a soft but stern tone,
pulling out his phone quickly before the man could protest.

“Harry, thank you but that’s really not neces—”

“It’s done, I’ve transferred £7000 for this week, that’s what
management normally give you right?” Harry cut him off, sliding his

587
phone back into his pocket nonchalantly as the lads had smirks on their
faces, watching Paul’s eyes grow wide.

“Seven thous— Harry they normally only give me half that amount!”
Paul exclaimed, stumbling over his words in shock, looking at his
phone that had now notified him of the transfer.

“Oh, Uh, oops? My bad, anyway, you deserve it. But what I want to
know is why the fuck modest were only giving you half that amount?
Celebrity body guards are meant to earn up to £1000 a day” Harry asked
with clenched fists, and angered look spreading across his face.

“What? They told me they only gave out up to £500 a day” Paul said in
a deep voice, sounding just as angered as Harry.

“Those fucking pricks, I wonder how many other people they’ve

scammed into working for us” Harry muttered as Louis tried to sooth
him with a rub on his back.

“Fuck. Well, what’s done is done I guess, it’s not like I can get any
money out of them now, seeming as they’ve likely already gone
bankrupt. It’s fine, I’ll just work with more celebrities as well as you
lads” Paul said with a shrug, but the lads could see how defeated he
really was.

“You won’t need to. Once you’re earning £1000 off us every day and
then from our new management, you wouldn’t need to work for anyone
else. We will make sure our new management employ you if it’s the
last thing we do” Zayn said pointedly, patting the older man on the back
with a smile.

“I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you lads, you don’t deserve
all the shit modest and Simon put you through. I’m proud that you’ve
stuck it out, and now I’ll get to watch as you gain a supportive
management, which I’m sure you will, because after the brits I bet
you’ve got a shit ton of labels lining up to have you as an asset. But
speaking of, you really do need to contact someone about that. You

588
can’t go on without a label” Paul said with a bright smile, acting like a
dad of the group.

“I was thinking, we could use one of our labels from our solo careers.
Of course we were also linked to Syco back then, but we also had
Columbia, epic, Arista. I personally think Columbia worked best for
me, they were really supportive and let me do whatever I wanted
personally and music wise; but we can talk about this more on the bus
if you’d like?” Harry asked thoughtfully, resting his head on his hand
as he pitched the idea.

The lads agreed, thinking it was a good idea, and soon after they were
climbing onto their tour bus to head off to The airport, leaving for
Ireland.

“Hey, how come the bus is still working for us then?” Niall asked as he
sat down on his bed.

“The bus company had already been paid in advance for the whole tour,
so even if they aren’t working for modest anymore they still need to do
their job for you boys” Paul replied as he sat down in the kitchen.

“But isn’t that the same with everyone else on our team?” Harry asked,
sitting beside Louis once again and flinging his arm around the smaller
lads shoulders.

“No, the other teams have a different system where you can’t pay in
advance, only monthly, so by the end of this month they won’t work for
us anymore and unless we can find a way to pay them without having
to use all your own money, then we don’t have a team” Paul said with
a sad look, sighing in frustration.

And that’s when the realization hit.

“But, Paul, today is the end of the month”

589
 55
Responses

“But Haz, what if no one has shown up at the stadium to get everything
ready. Nobody has been paid, nobody knows what the fuck is going on
since we came out because we haven’t made any statements and we
don’t have a management team anymore” Louis rushed out, anxiety
creeping up on him at the thought of letting down the fans.

“Lou you need to calm down. We’ll figure it out when we get there, just
like we always do. Worst comes to worst we can just make a few calls
and we will have a team right there to help us out. We can pay them
ourselves, you’ve got nothing to get worked up over love” Harry said
softly as he caressed Louis cheek, the man laying in his lap as he ranted
about all the things that could possibly go wrong.

“I know, you’re right. I just can’t help but worry about these things
because I’m scared of letting the fans down. I don’t wanna have to
cancel another show just because management got exposed, it’s not like
that’s their faults” Louis replied with a heavy sigh, tightening his grip
on Harrys t shirt that smelled like his usual cologne.

“I’m sure they would understand anyway, even then we would just re
schedule the show, it’s not a big deal. Now, stop moping about this
because I have something better in mind to do” Harry said as he patted
Louis head to gesture for him to sit up.

“And what’s that then dear Harold?” Louis asked sarcastically, sitting
up from Harrys lap.

“We need to check our socials. I’ve been meaning to do it since the
brits” Harry said with a cheeky smile, grabbing his phone from his back
pocket.

590
“Oh shit. Are you not at least a little scared of the responses? Cause I’m
not being funny, but I’m shitting myself right now” Louis whined, his
eyes wide as he watched Harry log into his accounts.

“Not really no. I got over that shit a long time ago, and if people
disagree with my love for you, then fuck them” Harry replied with a
shrug, causing Louis to shake his head with a smile.

“Well, you’re certainly not the lad who cried on tv because of hate
anymore, are you?” Louis stated proudly, loving his boyfriends new
self confidence.

“Nope, I couldn’t care less what they think of me anymore. The only
opinions that matter are my family’s, the lads, and yours” Harry said as
he looked up from his phone, planting a chaste kiss on Louis lips before
going back to logging in.

“Also, don’t be scared Lou. You know that tons of people support you
and they outweigh the couple homophobic pricks out there who can’t
grasp the fact that love is love. And I love you, nothing could ever
change that” Harry continued honestly.

“I love you more, thank you” Louis replied with a huge smile splitting
across his face, taking Harrys hand into his own and squeezing lightly.

“Not possible. I love you more than, um, oxygen, yeah, oxygen” Harry
argued with a cute furrow to his brow, practically making Louis melt
on the spot at how adorable he was.

“Sorry to say this, but you can’t live without oxygen Harry” Louis
teased with a laugh, only to get shoved slightly by Harry as he pouted.

“But I can’t live without you either” Harry said with a grin, pulling his
boyfriend in for another kiss.

591
“You cheesy fuck” Louis replied jokingly after he broke away from the
kiss. “Now, what have people been saying?” He asked, peering over at
Harry’s phone.

“Holy shit, it’s fucking everywhere. The hashtag ’we support Larry” is
trending on twitter, along with ’we knew it’ and the blue and green
hearts. I knew they would support us, I fucking knew it “Harry
exclaimed with a huge grin, pulling Louis in for a bone crushing hug.

“Seriously? Fucking hell, that’s great. God I’d love to see Simons
reaction to this” Louis replied with a laugh into Harrys neck, the action
vibrating against the man’s skin.

“He’d have to eat up all the words he fucking spilled in the past. Bet he
regrets it all now” Harry said with a smug look, scrolling through the
millions of tweets.

“Wait— oh my god, hashtag ’shitty Simon’ is trending. That’s fucking

gold” Louis pointed out, howling with laughter as he rolled onto his
back, Harry looking down at him as he laughed along, eyes watering as
he tried to steady his breathing.

“I might actually print this out and send it to him” Harry said, clutching
his stomach as he continued to laugh.

“Better yet, hand them out as flyers at the concert tonight” Louis replied
as he gasped for breath, by now both their sides were in pain from the
laughing fit.

“Oi, what’re you bloody laughing about, we can hear you from the
kitchen” Niall said as he poked his head around their bunk bed
cautiously, not knowing what to expect.

“Just— fucking look— at this. It’s priceless” Louis replied, throwing

the phone to Niall which he nearly missed.

592
“Wha— Holy fuck, I mean, he deserves it. But that’s honestly the best
thing I’ve read all day” Niall said as his eyes widened at the phone, a
grin spreading onto his face.

“Too right he deserves it, now he’s got a taste of his own medicine”
Harry replied without thinking, only understanding the slight pun when
the two lads went silent.

“Oh for fucks sake, I did not mean it like that! Just because I wrote a
song where medicine is a metaphor for cum, does not mean it has to
apply to everything, especially that!” Harry said with a groan, hiding
his face in his hands as the boys broke out into more laughter.

“You sure Harold? You did come up with the metaphor” Niall teased,
only to be swatted in the arm by an embarrassed Harry.

“go fuck yourself Nialler” Harry mumbled with a pout.

“Oh what, like Simon does?” Niall quipped back with a smirk, now
having a pillow thrown at his head rather harshly.

“Hey, what you do that for?” Niall exclaimed, rubbing a hand through
his thoroughly messed up hair to try and tame it.

“You bloody know what for, now leave” Harry replied with a cheeky
grin, gesturing for him to leave sassily with a wave of his hand.

“But rude don’t ya think?” Louis asked sarcastically, smirking at Harry

who was flushed in the face.

“Not really no” Harry said with a shrug, Niall now walking back to the
kitchen.

“Hey, look, they support Liam and Zayn as well” Louis suddenly
pointed out, looking down at the phone in his hand.

“I’m glad, they really are the best fans” Harry said with a smile.

593
“Yeah, they are. Anyway, I think we’re nearly at the airport” Louis
replied, pointing out the window to see they were turning into the large
car park.

“Thank god, I’m sick of this stuffy bus” Harry said with a sigh, wishing
the windows would open properly instead of just using air con all the
time.

“Same, maybe we’ll get a better bus in Ireland?” Louis questioned,

more to himself than anyone else.

“Probably, But we need to get our shit together before we leave, so get
your lazy ass up” Harry stated, smacking Louis on the bum for
emphasis with a smirk as Louis squeaked like a girl before flushing red.

“Oi, my ass is delectable thank you very much” Louis said as he crossed
his arms, tilting his head to the side.

“That it is” Harry replied with a nod, smirking as he began to pack his
things. Louis stayed seated as he shook his head and rolled his eyes.

________________________________

The flight was short and the lads spent the time they had catching up on
sleep before the show tonight. God knows they needed it.

“Thank god the bus is better” Zayn said as they stepped inside with their
luggage, needing to head straight to the stadium.

“Knew it would be” Harry muttered, a smile on his face as he saw the
windows could open and there was more space in the bunks.

“Well, there’s no point setting up my bunk, I always end up sleeping in

yours anyway” Louis said with a wink as he dumped his luggage beside
Harrys as the taller man shook his head fondly.

594
“Hm, and what if I don’t want to share a bed with you?” Harry asked
cheekily, leaning against the bunk with a smirk.

“Oh please Hazza, you’d be dragging me back into your bed with in
five seconds if I even attempted to sleep in my own bunk. Don’t get too
proud of yourself” Louis sassed back, a hand resting on his hip.

“You wanna bet?” Harry questioned with a tilt of his head.

“Neither if you can win bets, just saying!” Niall shouted from the back
of the bus, referring to the time they were betted not to talk to each other
for 24 hours.

“Shut it Niall!” Both Harry and Louis shouted at the same time,
laughing slightly afterwards.

“So, What do you say? Think you can actually stay away from me for
one night?” Harry asked cockily, looking smug as ever.

“You’re on Styles” Louis agreed with a smirk, shoving his hand out
towards Harry to shake.

Harry took his hand and pulled him in roughly, so their chests were
pressed together, Harrys breath on Louis’ ear.

“Your gonna lose, and when you do you owe me” Harry whispered
huskily, causing shivers to run down Louis’ spine.

“Owe you what?” Louis asked hesitantly.

“I’ll decide when we get there” Harry answered with a grin.

“And what if I win? What if you come crawling into my bed?” Louis
asked, his confidence returning again.

595
“Then same goes, I’ll owe you something” Harry said with a shrug.
“But that won’t be happening” he added before turning away to the
kitchen.

“Fuck sake” Louis muttered before angrily shoving his luggage by his
own bunk bed, sighing at the thought of the stupid bet.

________________________________

As they walked into the stadium it was eerily silent. Nobody could be
seen rushing around like usual, there were no sound checks and the
stage hadn’t been set up.

“Fuck, they really didn’t show up” Liam said in disbelief, shaking his
head in shock.

“I thought they would at least have the decency to call us, you know, to
maybe tell us they either wanted a pay check or for us to fucking find
another team!” Louis exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

“Shit, right I’ll call the team I’ve worked with here before, see if they
have time to come down right now” Niall said as he hurried to get his
phone out.

The lads were just glad Niall was from Ireland and had many
connections here, otherwise they would be fucked right now.

As Niall walked away to take his phone call, a few voices were heard
from another stage opening. Soon enough, the vibrant colored hair of
Louise could be seen, along with a few members of her hair and makeup
team. They all seemed to be stressed out and rather confused.

“Oh my god, thank fuck Your here. What the hell is going on? We
thought the show was cancelled or something, why is nobody here?”
Louise exclaimed as she rushed over to them, looking even more
stressed than the lads did.

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“They haven’t been paid because we’re now out of a management team,
so they haven’t shown up. Niall’s making a phone call now to see if we
can get some help up here” Harry explained with a heavy sigh.

“I can’t get over this shit. Your bloody concert is in less than three hours
and the stage hasn’t even been set up yet, never mind sound check and
lighting. If fans begin lining up out there, which they will in about an
hour, then there will be no one to manage them all. We don’t have the
barricades set up and there’s nobody on the entrance check in. How the
hell are you gonna pull this one off?” Louise ranted, not helping the
situation at all.

“Louise, love, you know we love you, really. But can you please stop
listing all the shit that could go wrong, it’s not exactly doing anything
to help the situation is it?” Louis sassed, earning a slap to the arm from
Harry.

“Lou she’s only worried for us, don’t be so harsh” Harry said with a
look of disappointment.

“No, Harry he’s right, I shouldn’t be saying all this shit, I should be
helping you guys. I’m sorry Louis, now, what can I do to help?” Louise
apologized with a soft tone.

“Well, do you have any suggestions for managing the fans, I didn’t even
think about that until you brought it up” Louis asked.

“Um, I guess you could tweet something out, but there’s no guarantee
that everyone attending the concert will see it” Louise suggested with a
shrug.

“I guess, I mean it’s the best and only idea we have so far so we may as
well. We could ask them to show up an hour later than they were
planning?” Harry said as he took out his phone, ready to type out a
tweet.

597
“Yeah that should do it, we need all the time we can get” Liam agreed,
Harry nodded and began to write out his tweet.

“Lads, thankfully the team I worked with here last have an opening free
and can be here in twenty minutes” Niall said with a proud smile on his
face, running over to them.

“Thank fuck, thanks Nailler” Zayn said as he ruffled his hair lightly.

“I’ve sent the tweet, I just hope the majority of them see it” Harry
suddenly said as he pocketed his phone with shaky hands.

“Well, I guess all we can do now it wait” Louis said before they all
walked to the dressing room with Louise, silently praying that no more
problems would arise.

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 56
Blue and Green

The night of the concert was overwhelming to say the least.

With such little time on their hands, everyone had to be working at their
best in order to save the fans any more trouble and the lads knew they
needed to put on a damn good show to make up for it.

As the lads were getting ready backstage they could hear the
commotion through the arena.

Workers were bustling around frantically as they tried to set up the stage
in record time. Sound and lighting technicians needed to set up all the
wiring and the guards were doing their best to contain the fans that were
already lining up outside, despite the tweet that had been sent out
earlier.

And all the while Louise and her team were rushing about the room
trying to get hair and makeup done without making the lads look like
hot messes.

“You sent the bloody tweet right?” Zayn spat out harsher than he had
intended due to the nerves running through his system.

“Yes Zayn, I do remember fucking doing it right in front of you” Harry

snapped back, his usual calm demeanor slowly slipping as the minutes
ticked by.

Louis has to bite his lip in order to contain his smile at this, always
finding it amusing when Harry lost his wits. It seemed even the man
who created ’treat people with kindness’ had his moments.

599
“Alright, jeez, I was just asking” Zayn said with a sigh, rubbing his
forehead.

“Zayn cut it out, you’re smudging your makeup!” Louise suddenly

scolded, slapping the man’s arm away from his face.

“Has anyone seen the hairspray? I swear I had it right here a second
ago!” One of Louise’s team members called out, turning in circles
repeatedly as she searched for the bottle that was actually right behind
her.

“It’s right behind you Liz” Liam said in a bored tone, not tearing his
eyes away from his phone as he read the tweets coming in from
thousands of fans wondering what the fuck was going on.

“Shit you’re right, cheers” Liz said as she grabbed the bottle before
spritzing the mist across Liam’s hair as she protected his eyes.

“What’re they saying now Li?” Niall asked from the seat next to him,
trying to peer over at his phone but being held back by his stylist.

“Some are pissed off, which is understandable. Some are just confused
and others are excited” Liam answered as he continued to scroll
through, replying to some that caught his eye.

“Were starting to let the fans inside now, are you guys almost ready?
We have about half an hour before you need to be onstage” Someone
from Niall’s team called through the door, only causing Louise to panic
further.

“Shit! Okay ladies, we need to hurry the fuck up and get these lads out
there asap” Louise exclaimed, clapping her hands for emphasis as she
began to do finishing touches.

“Wait— do we even know the set list? Or fucking choreography?”

Harry asked all of a sudden, his eyes widening at the realization. They

600
had been so busy with getting presentable that they hadn’t even figured
out what the next step was once they were out there.

“Fuck, no, but to be honest we never really stuck to that cringy

choreography anyways. We can just wing it on the set list” Louis
replied with a sigh, finally being allowed to stand and get changed.

“Oh my god, this is awful. Fuck Simon and fuck management. Even
when they’re gone they’re ruining things” Harry said in irritation as he
chewed on his painted nails, a nervous habit of his.

Louis sighed and walked back over to Harry where he was sat at the
vanity, wrapping his arms around his shoulders but being careful not to
piss Louise off with her freshly done hair and makeup on Harry.

“Shh, don’t worry about anything Haz. It’s gonna be alright and you
know it. The fans love us no matter what, they’ve proven that in the
past few days never mind years. All they need us to do is sing and be
our stupid selves as usual” Louis hushed him in a calming voice, visibly
relaxing Harry instantly.

“I know, I just get worked up when things don’t go to plan. I’m a damn
perfectionist when it comes to shit like this. But thank you, and I love
you” Harry replied sweetly, reaching up to caress Louis hand that was
on his shoulder before meeting Louis in a short but passionate kiss,
closing his eyes in bliss.

“Alright, I love you too, I’ll meet you over here once I’ve gotten
changed yeah?” Louis asked as they parted, giving his one last pat to
the shoulder.

“Sure” is all Harry said back before Louis disappeared off to get
changed.

“Hey, I think the fans are planning something” Liam suddenly said,
causing all the lads attention to focus on him.

601
“What do you mean?” Zayn asked curiously, tilting his head to the side
in confusion.

“There’s something about a fan project during this concert, I think

it’s— Oh, never mind, got mixed up” Liam quickly replied, cutting
himself short for no apparent reason and chancing a glance at Harry and
Louis with a strange look on his face.

“Wait, what?” Harry asked, more confused than ever.

“Just don’t worry about it, made a mistake is all” Liam said before
locking his phone and putting it in his back pocket.

Zayn eyed him suspiciously but all he got back was a muttered ’you’ll
see in a bit’ from Liam, causing him to shrug his shoulders and leave it
there.

Harry looked back at Louis with a questioning look, but he saw the
same expression on his boyfriends face as Louis also shrugged and
walked away. Maybe it just was Liam’s mistake, but somehow Harry
just knew it wasn’t.

With finishing touches done the lads were finally able to change into
their outfits for the night.

As Harry hadn’t had time to prepare a luxurious outfit, he sported an all

black attire of black trousers, a black tank top and a black blazer, fitted
perfectly for his body type. It may not have been fancy, but it looked
just as good as anything else the man wore.

Zayn was clad in black skinny jeans, a t shirt and an oversized cargo
jacket. His hair was messy but stylish and his expensive chains and
various bracelets completed his look.

Liam wore a white Hugo boss t shirt with black joggers and some
chains. His joggers were hanging low around his waist and the t shirt

602
was baggy but fitted, showing off his biceps that were littered with
black ink.

Niall wore a plain white t shirt, matching his white vans as his turquoise
blue trousers and blazer matched accordingly. His golden watch was
the final touch as it gleamed in the light.

Louis went causal with an oversized hoodie, probably Harrys, and a pair
of Adidas track pants. He finished off the look with a pair of white
yeezy’s and a black cap, ignoring his stylists complaints after just
finishing up on his hair.

And with that, the lads were as ready as they could be to walk out on
stage.

However they still had about ten minutes to spare as the concert opening
video played for the screaming fans in the audience. Thankfully, they
still had a hold of the usb drive containing any footage they needed
whilst on tour seeming as the previous team had handed it into Paul
rather than management.

The lad gathered around each other behind the stage opening, trying to
mentally prepare themselves for what was to come.

“Look, Whatever happens out there we all know the fans wouldn’t love
us any less. We will go out and put on a great show despite not knowing
what the fuck were even supposed to do. I’ve told the band to just play
any of our tracks, the majority obviously being from our last album, so
just go along with their lead okay?” Liam said as they stood in a circle,
arms around each other’s shoulders as if they were in a football team.

“Alright, worst comes to worst we will have the fans suggest a song
they want us to play. I’m sure they’d love that to be honest” Niall
suggested with a smile, his pearly whites glistening.

603
“True, lets just go smash it yeah? Then we can sort out the next concert
tomorrow” Louis said encouragingly, patting Harry and Zayn on the
backs as he was stood in the middle of the two.

The lads nodded and with that they were being called to go on stage.

The video had just finished and the fans were screaming at the top of
their lungs, waiting patiently for the lads to step out on stage any
second.

The lights were dimmed down, so the boys found it almost impossible
to see whilst they tried not to fall over as they walked on stage, the only
light source coming from the fans phones.

But once they were at the center of the stage, and the lights had finally
come up, their jaws dropped at the sight in front of them.

The crowd, thousands of people, were a beautiful sea of green and blue.

604
 57
Free

All of their jaws were dropped as they looked at the view in front of
them.

A sea of blue and green laid before them as fans held up sheets of said
colors, along with various pride flags.

The lights shone blue and green from their phones through the plastic
covering their torches and signs were held up high reading quotes from
the past and words of kindness.

Along the farthest back row of the stadium the words “we support you”
were written out with more sheets, large and bold, standing out clearly
amongst the fans.

They supported them.

The lads were grinning so wide their faces looked as if they would split.
Zayn, Liam and Niall watched on fondly as tears of happiness were
visible, glazed over Harry and Louis’ eyes.

They slowly walked further out onto the stage towards the center, taking
in the view as they went with the screams growing louder and louder
following them.

“Holy shit” Louis muttered in disbelief, gazing around the stadium as

he smiled.

He suddenly felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his waist as Harry
pulled him into a bone crushing hug, the reaction of the fans only
getting wilder.

605
Louis breathed in Harrys scent as he tucked his head into his boyfriends
shoulder whilst Harry laid his own above his, smiling just as wide as
his heart seemed to be beating out of his chest.

“I fucking love you so much” Harry mumbled into the crown of Louis
head before kissing the spot gently, causing Louis’ own heart to swell.

“I love you too” He replied, swaying slightly as they began to break

apart the hug.

Harry grabbed hold of Louis’ hand as he tugged him along the runway
of the stage, skipping along to the front with Louis laughing behind
him.

Once they reached the very end, Harry grabbed Louis, spun him around
to face himself, and smashed their lips together for the entire stadium
to see with more passion they ever thought they could show.

They screams were defaming by now as the fans watched the two
practically make out for them. You couldn’t blame them really; they
had suspected this very thing for years without ever getting an answer.
But finally, they had, and they were right all along.

The two boys pulled apart with a laugh and turned to the crowd once
again, taking a bow as they held hands and saluted just before the music
began to play throughout the arena; time for the show to begin.

“My hands, your hands, tied up like two ships. Drifting, weightless,
waves trying to break it,
I’d do anything to save it, Why is it so hard to say it “

Zayn began singing as the lads walked around the stage, Harry and
Louis still hand in hand as they made their way up to the main stage,
smirking at the meaning in the lyrics which has now been confirmed
silently.

“My heart, your heart, sit tight like book ends.

606
Pages between us, written with no end. So many words were not saying,
Don’t wanna wait till it’s gone, You make me strong “

Liam sung as he waved out to the crowd, gaining screams as he did so,
before moving over to the other side.

“I’m sorry if I say I need you,

But I don’t care, I’m not scared of love, Cause when I’m not with you
I’m weaker,
Is that so wrong, is it so wrong, That you make me strong “

As the chorus was belted out, Harry walked up to Louis and sung they
lyrics with him, an arm secured around his waist in a tight grip whilst
the crowd cooed at the couple.

“Think of, how much, love that’s been wasted,

People, always, trying to escape it, move on to stop their heart breaking,
But there’s nothing I’m running from, you make me strong “

Still in Harrys arms, Louis sung his verse with a pointed look towards
the crowd and quickly placed a cheeky peck on Harrys lips before
running off down the run way once more to sing the chorus; leaving
Harry to shake his head fondly.

“I’m sorry if I say I need you,

But I don’t care, I’m not scared of love. Cause when I’m not with you
I’m weaker, Is that so wrong, is it so wrong “

“So baby hold on to my heart,

Need you to keep me from falling apart, I’ll always hold on, cause you
make me strong “

Zayn sung his verse to Liam, suddenly taking the focus away from
Harry and Louis for once during the concert. He sung the words as he
walked across the stage towards the man, his arm out towards him and
nailing the high note with precise and ease.

607
Liam was both shocked and heart warmed at Zayn’s actions, because
sure, they had finally put a label on their relationship and know where
they stand; but Zayn isn’t normally one for pda, especially in front of a
room full of thousands of fans. The small gesture meant something to
him.

“I’m sorry if I say I need you,

But I don’t care, I’m not scared of love. Cause when I’m not with you
I’m weaker, Is that so wrong, is it so wrong “

The lads pointed out their microphones as they let the crowd sing with
Niall. Thousands of fans voices mixed together in one stadium sounded
angelic, the noise bounding off the walls and vibrating against the floor.
All they could do was listen and smile.

“I’m sorry if I say I need you,

But I don’t care, I’m not scared of love. Cause when I’m not with you
I’m weaker,
Is that so wrong, is it so wrong. That you make me strong “

After repeating the chorus once more, the song was finally finished and
the crowd applauded them hysterically.

“How’s everyone doing tonight?” Harry shouted when the noise had
died down a touch, making his way to the end of the runway.

The crowd screamed positively, indicating to Harry they we’re having

the best time of their lives here at a one direction concert.

“Good, good. You all look amazing by the way, what you’ve done for
us tonight is incredible and we can’t thank you enough. Blue and green
really suits you all”

He said cheekily, winking to the camera that was focused on his face,
displaying the action on the large screens behind him and causing the
fans to scream even louder.

608
“Now obviously a lot has happened in the last week, it was both a shock
to us and you guys I’m sure. But you’re support through it all is more
than we could have ever imagined and I along with Louis, thank you
so, so much for it. We love you all and this next song is dedicated to
you”

He finished and the instrumental began to play through the speakers for
the next song.

“Good speech love” Louis whispered to Harry as the man walked up to

him, and in return he got a smack on his ass and a playful smirk.

The lads all took a seat on the ledge of the stage as the sweet melody of
little things began to sound from Niall’s guitar, contrasting peacefully
from the loud song before. Harry and Louis sat next to each to each
other with their hands intertwined, at the very middle of the stage so
they could look out at the beautiful view in front of them.

“Your hand fits in mine like it’s made just for me, but bear this in mind
it was meant to be, And I’m joining up the dots with the freckles on
your cheeks, and it all makes sense to me”

As the song began, the fans had their hands in the air, swaying them
along to the music with tears of happiness in their eyes. They were
happy for the lads, truly. After years of what they suspected coming out
as the truth, they could finally put a fact to their beliefs. All the fans that
had shamed them in the past for simply believing in a love between two
men had now been silenced; some were bitter about the fact, but others
simply came to terms with the fact that they were wrong.

“I know you’ve never loved the crinkles by your eyes, when you smile
you’ve never loved your stomach or your thighs. The dimples in your
back at the bottom of your spine, but I’ll love them endlessly”

As Liam sung his verse, the lads teased Louis with pointed looks and
nudges to his shoulders; causing the smaller man to blush profusely and
try to hide his face in Harrys shoulder. He knew some of these lyrics

609
applied to him, having Harry had slipped some of his insecurities to Ed
whilst the man wrote the song for them; but the fact that it also applied
to the fans who had their own insecurities made him feel a little more
comforted.

“And I won’t let these little things slip, out of my mouth, but if I do, it’s
you, oh it’s you, they add up to, I’m in love with you, and all these little
things”

“You can’t go to bed, without a cup of tea,

Maybe that’s the reason that you talk in your sleep, and all those
conversations are the secrets that I keep, though it makes no sense to
me “

Louis sung with the blush still spread across his cheeks, fiddling with
Harrys fingers that were still laced with his own. He played with the
expensive rings from Gucci that surrounded them heavily and eyed the
blue gem standing out amongst the other peculiar sets of metal.

“I know you’ve never loved the sound of your voice on tape, you never
want, to know how much you weigh. You still have to squeeze into your
jeans but you’re perfect to me”

Harry lifted his head higher as he sung the lyrics, facing Louis to get
his point across. Even after years of hearing these words in a song it
still made Louis tingle with raw emotions, loving the way Harry always
dedicated it to him.

“I won’t let these little things slip,

Out of my mouth, But if it’s true, it’s you, oh it’s you, they add up to,
I’m in love with you, and all these little things “

“You never love yourself half as much as I love you, and you never
treat yourself right darling but I want you to,
If I let you know, I’m here, for you, Maybe you’ll love yourself, like I,
love you, oh “

610
“And I’ve just let these little things slip, out, of my mouth,
Cause it’s Lou, oh it’s Lou, it’s Lou they add up to, And I’m in love
with Lou, and all his little things “

Harry smirked whilst changing his lyrics, seeing Louis gasp at the
words and giggle slightly at how ridiculous the repetition sounded; but
he thought it was cute all the same. Louis slightly smacked Harry on
the shoulder playfully, the other lads laughing at the banter whilst Harry
shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

The fans finished off the song and screamed when it finally finished, all
hyped up after seeing the interactions and lyric changes during it.

“Back to the lyric changes then?” Louis asked Harry sarcastically whilst
they got up from the ledge on the stage, tilting his head cockily with his
eyebrows raised.

“Shut up, you loved it” Harry replied, sticking out his tongue at his
boyfriend playfully, causing Louis to return the action whilst the fans
took pictures and videos.

“Oi Oi” Louis suddenly shouted into the microphone, walking with
Harry along the stage.

The fans repeated the phrase, causing Harry and Louis to laugh; it
probably sounded ridiculous outside the stadium.

“So, we had a few issues regarding our team before the show, I’m
assuming most of you read the tweet to come a little later. I’m sorry for
those of you that had to change your plans or get later transportation,
but thank you for complying with us, most of you thankfully respected
our wishes. Anyway, we thought we would answer some more twitter
questions before the next song considering we probably fuc— Sorry,
messed up a lot of your plans”

611
Louis caught himself just before he swore, knowing that even though
they do sometimes slip up, it’s not great getting complaints from over
sensitive parents.

“Louis, it’s a family show!” Harry suddenly shouted, clearly not

missing the almost slip up.

The crowd screamed, knowing what was coming next as Harry smirked
and raised his eyebrows up at Louis. Louis laughed and brought the mic
up to his lips before saying “or is it” along with Harry, laughing at the
end as the other lads shook their heads fondly.

“Okay okay, enough lads. Let’s move on to the questions. First up,”
when did Louis and Harry become a couple? “Liam said with a wave
of his hand, pointing over to the couple who now realized most these
questions would most likely be related to them seeming as the whole
Larry conspiracy had now been revealed as true.

“Well you would have found this out anyway with what we have
planned; but we became a couple about a month or so after the X factor,
after we moved in together” Harry answered, placing an arm around
Louis shoulders and smiling down at the man.

“Guess I just couldn’t resist his charm” Louis joked, but instead of
laughter he got cooed at instead, making him roll his eyes sarcastically.

“I mean, how could I say no to this one when he made me chicken,

wrapped in Parma ham, stuffed with mozzarella with a side of
homemade mash” Harry replied as he followed through with the
actions, the fans joking along with him.

“Oi my first meal was delicious, you said so yourself!” Louis retorted
sassily.

“Yeah, after you almost burned the house down” Harry said with a
laugh, Louis scoffing at the accusation.

612
“Did not Styles, okay, moving on please!” Louis replied quickly,
gesturing for the screen to move to the next slide.

“Next question is,” what happened in Wellington? “Niall read before

bursting out into laughter, along with the other two lads as Harry and
Louis blushed and scratched the back of their necks awkwardly.

“Sure you wanna answer this; thought it’s a family show Harry?” Zayn
teases, knowing all about what happened that night if the noises he
heard were anything to go by.

“I— Uh, well, you see—”

“You can guess what we did, moving on” Louis cut Harry off, smirking
as the crowd whistled and cat called.

“Alright then, Tommo the tease doesn’t want to answer apparently, next
question is” Did Louis and Harry really get married on the 28th? “

“We had promise rings and planned to; but then some other things got
in the way and unfortunately it never happened. Maybe in the future
though” Harry answered with a pout, knowing their breakup got in the
way, but smiled at the thought of finally getting to marry Louis in the
future and have a family of their own.

“Are you proposing Haz? Cause honestly I thought it would be a little

more romantic knowing you” Louis asked with a mocking tone, not
really caring when or how either of them proposed; just the idea of
marrying his boyfriend was enough.

Harry laughed and began to get down on one knee, but stood up quickly
just as the crowd began to gasp, waving them off with a shake of his
head.

“No, we’ve got time babe, no need to rush” Harry said as he chuckled
at the groans from the audience; it would have caused a frenzy if he had

613
actually planned to propose on stage, but with everything going on he
hadn’t even thought about the idea until now.

“Okay we’ve got a couple left,” so Zayn and Liam are a couple or what?
“

Harry read out the question and looked hesitantly at Zayn, knowing he
wasn’t good with announcing his private life to the public, but he was
sure The man could handle it.

“Uh, Yeah, we are actually. Became a couple quite recently as we had

to figure out some things, but were happy and that’s the main thing”
Zayn answered before placing a kiss to Liam’s cheek, the audience
letting out “awe’s” at the gesture.

“Last one,” when will Niall and Shawn get together? “Louis read,
laughing at the thought of Niall even being gay in the first place, never
mind with Shawn.

“Jesus Christ, I am in fact straight thank you very much. To be fair, I’m
too busy with my love for Nando’s to love anything else” Niall joked,
“but Shawn is a great friend, I love his music and he seems to be quite
cosy with Camilla, so, that’s that” he added, smiling when the crowd
cheered for one of his best mates.

“That’s it for the questions, you’ve been great so far tonight and we’re
gonna play you another song. This is happily” Liam announces, gaining
more screams and shouts from the fans.

“You don’t understand, you don’t understand,

What you do to me when you hold his hand, we were meant to be but a
twist of fate, Made it so you had to walk away “

Harrys angelic voice vibrates through the stadium, it was deep and
raspy, sending chills through Louis spine whilst he listened, a smile
gracing his face.

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“Cause were on fire, we are on fire, we’re on fire now, Yeah we’re on
fire, we are on fire, we’re on fire now”

The fans stomped and clapped to the beat as the lyrics were repeated.
The upbeat song always caused an energetic energy to fill the room,
that being the reason it was one of their favorite songs to perform.

“I don’t care what people say when we’re together, you know I wanna
be the one to hold you when you sleep. I just want it to be you and I
forever, I know you wanna leave so come on baby be with me so
happily”

Harry once again sung the lyrics to Louis, and this time, instead of
turning away with fear from management, Louis sung with him, proud
and loud without a care in the world.

“It’s four a.m and I know that you’re with him,

I wonder if he knows that I touched your skin, and if he feels my traces
in your hair, Sorry love but I don’t really care “

Louis ruffled Harrys hair whilst singing with Liam, making a point to
the fans and chasing Harry to pout at his now messed up locks. Louis
kisses the pout from his lips and smiled when seeing he was successful.

“Cause were on fire, we are on fire, we’re on fire now, Yeah we’re on
fire, we are on fire, we’re on fire now”

“I don’t care what people say when we’re together, you know I wanna
be the one to hold you when you sleep, I just want it to be you and I
forever, I know you wanna leave so come on baby be with me so
happily, so happily. 1,2,3,4”

“Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, we’re on fire now,

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, we’re on fire now, Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, we’re
on fire now “

615
The fans once again clapped along to the beat as Harry stood at the end
of the run way, mic between his legs as he raised his hands above his
head and clapped the rhythm with them, his actions showing on the
screen.

“I don’t care what people say when we’re together, you know I wanna
be the one to hold you when you sleep,
I just want it to be you and I forever, I know you wanna leave so come
on, baby be with me so happily “

The chorus got repeated one last time before yet another song had
finished. The show so far was going great; but one question was on
Harrys mind: How the fuck have I not fallen over yet?

“Thank you all so much, you’re one of the best crowds we’ve had on
tour so far; maybe even the best? You’ll have to keep it up and we’ll
decide at the end of the night” Niall teased, grabbing a bottle of water
and downing half of it before getting back to his speech.

“I’m glad to be home, haven’t been in Ireland for months now—”

“Scream if you love Ireland!” Harry cut him off, prancing down the
stage and past an irritated looking Niall as he smiled to himself when
the crowd bursted into screams.

“Harold, I’m trying to make a speech here if you can’t already tell
and— Hey, where the heck did you get that from?” Niall suddenly said
in confusion.

Looking over at Harry, he was now eating a banana, and looked like a
child caught stealing a cookie when Niall called him out on it.

“What? I’m hungry” Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“I— *sigh, okay, you do you Haz. Louis, sort your boyfriend out would
you? Anyway, as I was saying, it’s great to be home and I’m glad you’re

616
all enjoying the show” Niall said with a shake of his head, but
something in the audience caught his eye, “woah, did you paint this?”

He asked a girl who was holding up a painting of Harry and Louis

hugging, with the lads in the background, in the center of a stage with
the audience’s flashlights painted around them. It was incredible, the
girl had skill that’s for sure. The girl nodded with a huge smile,
enthusiastic as Niall had noticed her.

“What’s your name love?” Niall asked as he gestured for the lads to
come and see the art work.

“Cathrine” she called just as Harry came up behind Niall.

“Catrina?” Harry asked, looking confused.

“She said Cathrine Harry” Niall corrected with a laugh, Harry looking
frustrated.

“Why can’t I ever get the names right? You lot never have a problem
with it!” Harry exclaimed with a pout, the girl in the audience laughing
at the tall man.

“Maybe you need hearing aids babe” Louis said sarcastically, laughing
at his boyfriends shocked face as he placed a hand across his heart in
mock hurt.

“Treat people with kindness!” The fans shouted from below the stage
where they were stood, gaining their attention once again.

“See, they know what it’s about” Harry said as he gestured for the
crowd to keep it up, waving his hands towards himself.

“Enough enough, I was only kidding” Louis groaned when the fans got
louder, the entire stadium beginning to shout the same thing at him.

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“You lot shut up and appreciate her art alright? Can we see it up close?”
Niall asked, leaning down to take the canvas from the girl who nodded
giddily and passed her work to one of the body guards to give to Niall.

“Damn, that is good” Louis remarked as he peered over Niall’s

shoulder, letting his hands trail over the painting to feel the ridges of
the canvas. It seemed to be top quality, probably with expensive
materials, the girl could easily make a living with her talent.

“It’s for you, take it!” She screamed up to them, smiling widely.

“Really? Well thank you, you’re very talented. Harry will probably
hang it up somewhere” Louis replied, kissing the tips of his fingers and
waving them out to the girl as a thank you.

“Yeah I will, thank you love” Harry said, and placed his hands together
in a praying form to thank the young girl.

“Back to the songs then, this is they don’t know about us” Zayn said as
he walked away, grabbing his own bottle of water before the next song.

“People say, we shouldn’t be together,

Too young, to know about forever, but I say, they don’t know, What
they’re talk talk talking about “

“Cause this love is only getting stronger,

So I don’t wanna wait, any longer, I just wanna tell the world that you’re
mine boy “

Harry once again changed the lyrics, feeling a little too proud of himself
each time he did so. Louis blushes and shook his head for what felt like
the thousandth time during the show, rolling his eyes, but of course, he
secretly loved it.

“They don’t know about the things we do, they don’t know about the I
love you’s,
But I bet you if they only knew, they would just be jealous of us “

618
You could say some fans were jealous. But it was for two different
reasons. On one hand, antis were jealous because the lads were now
definitely taken, therefore their unrealistic dreams of one of the lads
taking them backstage after a show were crushed. On the other hand,
fans were jealous because they wanted a love like theirs, strong and
passionate. But either way they were happy for them as they smiled and
sung along with the song.

“They don’t know about the up all nights,

They don’t know I’ve waited all my life, Just to find a love that feels
this right, Baby they don’t know about, they don’t know about us “

The song took Louis back to when he was writing it. Back when they
were forced to hide, back when management controlled every aspect of
their lives, back when he could only reveal his deepest thoughts and
feelings on a piece of paper. And now look at where they are. Standing
on stage for the first concert as an openly gay couple, allowed to show
their love, allowed to kiss and interact on stage; and all without the fear
of punishments and rules. They’ve come a long way since then, and
their life will only get better, that’s for sure.

The rest of the song went on much like the others. There were lyric
changes and banter, along with reactions from the crowd as they sung
along with them as loud as they possibly could.

And as the night was nearing to the end after countless more songs both
from the past and more recently, they had one left to finish off.

“We have one song left” Harry announced, causing the crowd to groan
and sigh, wishing the night could last forever.

“I know I know, but you’ve all been incredible. Thank you so much for
coming, thank you for having us, and thank you for all the help we’ve
had from both you guys and the team tonight for getting this concert
together when we didn’t think it was possible. We’re going to try and
get signed to a new management that will hopefully be better for us in

619
the future, and we’re working on some things for you that will be
coming very soon. We love you all, this is 18”

The crowd cheered as Harry turned to stand with Louis when the music
began to play, their last song of the night.

“I’ve got a heart, and I’ve got a soul,

Believe me I will use them both. We made a start, be it a false one I
know, Baby I don’t want to feel alone “

Harry sung the first verse beautifully, leaving Louis once again in awe
as he leaned his head on his shoulder, Harrys arm wrapped around his
waist where it usually belongs.

“So kiss me where I lay down,

My hands pressed to your cheeks, a long way from the playground “

Zayn carried the pre chorus, looking at Louis and Harry with a smile on
his face, happy for the two. After so long of hiding they could finally
be themselves and he was happy they could express their love for each
other without any boundaries.

“I have loved you since we were sixteen”

Harry sung with a cocky smile, as Louis gasped and suddenly called out
“eighteen!” In retaliation. They always did argue about the lyric.

“Long before we both thought the same thing,

To be loved and to be in love, all I can do is say that these arms were
made for holding you, I wanna love like you made me feel, when I was
sixteen “

Louis gave up on correcting his goof of a boyfriend this time, instead

just laughing and letting the man go with what he wanted. Technically
the lyrics he was creating were true, Harry had loved him at 16 years of
age, so who was he to correct him?

620
“We took a chonce”

Niall said, followed by a scream from Harry “Chance Niall,

CHANCE!”

“God knows we’ve tried,

Yet all along I knew that we’d be fine, so pour me a drink, oh love,
Let’s split the night wide open, and we’ll see everything we can, Living
love in slow motion, motion, motion “

Niall chuckled after Harrys comment but carried on singing anyway.

He loved to perform this song just as much as the rest of the lads. It held
so much meaning and of course it was written by none their than Ed
Sheeran, so of course the song would be great.

“So kiss me where I lay down,

My hands pressed to your cheeks, a long way from the playground “

“I have loved you since we were eighteen,

Long before we both thought the same thing, to be loved and to be in
love,
All I can do is say that these arms were made for holding you, I wanna
love like you made me feel, when we were eighteen,
When we were eighteen, oh lord, when we were eighteen “

Louis walked to a section of the fans and noticed a girl in particular

practically had a waterfall of tears rolling down her cheeks, black
mascara running with it. He made a pouty face at the girl and continued
to make silly faces until she finally stopped crying, and was instead
laughing hysterically at the man. He gave her a thumbs up and walked
away with a bright smile, proud of himself for cheering up the girl; she
was probably sad that the concert was ending.

“Kiss me where I lay down,

My hands pressed to your cheeks, A long way from the playground “

“I have loved you since we were eighteen,

621
Long before we both thought the same thing, To be loved and to be in
love “

Louis finally said the right lyrics to Harry during his solo, giving the
taller man a pointed look as he let the words flow from his mouth softly.
Harry did nothing but smile, a glint in his eyes as his heart was beating
erratically.

“All I can do is say that these arms were made for holding you,
And I wanna love like you made me feel, when we were eighteen,
I wanna love like you made me feel, when we were eighteen, I wanna
love like you made me feel “

Harry stood facing Louis the entire time he sung the last chorus, never
breaking eye contact, never tearing his attention away from the sweet
creature in front of him.

“When we were eighteen”

And as the last words left his lips, and the crowd burst into applause,
Harry pulled Louis in for a gentle but passionate kiss. Their lips fit
together like the perfect puzzle piece as they loved in rhythm. The
crowd was no longer there, the lads were no longer there. It was just the
two of them on a stage, in each other’s arms as they shared their love
for one another.

Their journey to finally reach this moment of pure bliss had been long
and painful, filled with hate and denial. For the most part of their
relationship, it had been as if a glass wall was permanently stuck
between them. They were there, so close, but could never fulfil their
love for one another without this barrier, without this glass wall getting
in the way.

But right now, stood on this stage in front of thousands of people who
loved and adored them; the glass wall had been shattered, along with
the hate, the rules and the boundaries.

622
They were free.

623
 58
Our Story: Part 1

Two weeks later:

“Are you ready for this?” Harry asked Louis as they took a seat on the
couch placed in front of the camera.

They were in a dimly lit studio, cameras and lights placed in front of
them ready to begin recording. Everyone was behind the scenes
watching, from the crew to friends and family members; ready to re-
live their story from their point of view.

“Yeah, I think so. You remember everything right?” Louis replied,

speaking in a hushed tone as the crew bustled around behind the
equipment.

“Of course, how could I ever forget? I remember everything from the
first time I met you” Harry reassured, brushing his thumb over Louis
hand gently with his fingers interlocked with his boyfriends smaller
ones.

“Me too, everything” Louis replied, smiling softly at Harry.

“Okay, are you guys ready, we’re filming in two minutes” The camera
man called, taking his place behind the lens in his director chair.

“We’re ready” Harry replied with a nod, before kissing Louis on the
lips, lingering a little afterwards.

Louis smiled and looked around the room, everyone he loved and cared
for mingling with one another. The lads were sat together with smiles
on their faces, and when they noticed Louis looking they put their
thumbs up for encouragement. Louis’ sisters were sat on the floor

624
talking with one another, laughing and pulling funny faces whilst taking
pictures. A few of their friends were chatting with one another, drinks
in their hands as they caught up, having not seen each other in months.
Harrys mum and sister were looking on fondly at the couple, seeming
to be talking about them but blushed and smiled sheepishly when they
were caught staring.

There were many others, all chatting about god knows what, but as soon
as the final que came in it became deadly silent, all attention focusing
on Harry and Louis.

Both men took a deep breath as the countdown began, trying to calm
themselves before they had to tell their story. It would be filmed, edited
and posted online for everyone to see, to finally hear what exactly
happened regarding their relationship.

“5,4,3,2,1, and recording” the director announced, it was time.

“Hi, my name is Harry Edward Styles” Harry began, biting his lip to
contain his chuckle at the ridiculous opening.

“And I’m Louis William Tomlinson” Louis said with a smirk as he

played with Harrys rings, leaning into his shoulder.

“A lot has happened over the past few months, and a lot of you are
probably still confused at what exactly did happen. After coming out at
the brits unexpectedly, we hadn’t planned anything regarding the
situation, and it left us and a lot of other people confused as to what
would happen next. But you deserve an explanation, and We think it’s
best for us to do this properly so we can make sure we don’t miss
anything”

Harry began to explain, unscripted so it felt more real and meaningful,

basically just saying what came to mind so that he and Louis could tell
their story in their own way. This video would be more like a
conversation, as if they were telling the story to a close friend or family
member.

625
“So I guess were just going to start from the very beginning, back in
2010, Well, if we’re not counting the time we met at a concert and battle
of the bands” Louis added, eyes widening when he remembered seeing
Harry play with white Eskimo at the competition, even before the X
factor.

“Oh shit yeh, I guess we really haven’t thought this timeline through
then” Harry cut in with a laugh, “as you can tell, this isn’t going to be
scripted, we’re just going to go through everything from memory”
Harry continued to the camera with a shrug, everyone behind the scenes
trying to keep as quite as possible with wide smiles on their faces.

“Right— well, I guess I’ll start with battle of the bands then, I remember
being there with my band ’the rogue’ in 2008, you were getting ready
to perform with ’white eskimo’ and you were taking forever to begin
singing…”

2008, battle of the bands, flashback:

The room was small, just a school hall with a make shift stage towards
the far end of it, but it was packed with people.

Louis stood with his band ’the rogue’ amongst a crowd of amateur
singers and bands, all holding up cardboard signs reading the name of
their act on them. Everyone was rowdy, shouting and chatting with
excitement before the next band would take the stage in hopes of
winning the small contest.

It had been about five minutes now, and there was still no sign of the
next band, causing Louis to become agitated as he acted out in front of
his mates. He always was one to show off at his age, always making
petty comments to gain a laugh from someone, and that was exactly
what he was doing.

“Jesus Christ this is taking fucking forever, how long does it take to get
some shitty singer up there?” He huffed out, his friends all agreeing

626
with him as nobody had really stood out so far, all either having no
singing talent what’s so ever or just went up there to take the piss.

“I know, whoever is up next is probably pussying out of it” Stan, Louis

best friend who had come to support, replied, causing Louis to laugh
and nod his head.

“Nah mate, there’s a band going on right now, look” Another friend of
Louis’ corrected, pointing up to the stage just as a band was setting up
their equipment.

Louis looked up to see exactly what his friend had pointed out; a band
around their age getting ready to perform. They looked average, dressed
in what appeared to be a school uniform, white shirts and black ties,
with headbands and bracelets for accessories; but it was the main singer
that stood out.

Louis noticed he looked a little younger than himself, a baby face with
clear skin and big doe eyes; though he couldn’t see the color of them
from where he was standing. He had wild curly hair, pushed back by a
red bandanna and when he smiled he had two matching dimples. ’Cute’
he thought, before pushing the remark to the back of his mind, shaking
off the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He noticed he was wearing the same outfit as his band mates, however
he had multiple rubber bracelets along his arms, all in different vibrant
colors and pushed closely together.

“Jesus Louis, Stare at the boy any longer and I’d begin to think you
were gay” Stan remarked sarcastically, laughing when Louis snapped
out of his trance and pulled a shocked face.

“I’m not fucking gay! I was just wondering why the fuck they’re taking
so long” Louis rushed out, looking appalled at the statement. He wasn’t
gay, the thought to himself. He liked girls.

627
“Jeez, calm down, I was only joking, no need to get your knickers in a
twist” Stan replied furrowing his eyebrows together with a smirk.

“Whatever. They are taking forever though, they’ve been sorting their
guitars out for ages” Louis muttered frustratingly, shaking his head and
placing his hands on his hips.

“They probably don’t know what they’re doing, they look younger than
most the acts here” Stan said with a shrug, looking around at the other
acts.

After another minute of the band still faffing about on stage, Louis had
had enough and placed his hands around his mouth as he shouted at the
top of his lungs, “get on with it!”

It drew the attention of the people around him but he didn’t care, what
he cared about was the small pout from the main singer, who now
looked uncomfortable as he fiddled with his bracelets and looked
behind him towards his band mates, saying something to them that
Louis couldn’t make out.

Louis continued to watch as the boy as he stuck his thumbs up at the

man to the side of the stage who was in charge of the event. The man
then took his microphone and made his way on stage.

“All right, up next we have white Eskimo! Everyone make some noise
as they perform ’summer of 69’” the man announced, causing the crowd
to scream whilst he walked back off stage just as ’white Eskimo’ began
to play.

Louis rolled his eyes when they finally began to play, thinking he had
probably waited all that time for them to be shit, but instead, he was
pleasantly surprised.

The boy who had caught his attention had a great voice for his age, his
tone perfect for the song choice. They were miles better than any of the

628
acts before them and Louis even thought they had a great shot at
winning the entire thing.

As the boy sang he fidgeted in his spot, almost dancing as he held tightly
onto his mic stand. Louis could tell he had a great stage presence,
interacting with the crowd as they jumped and danced on the floor
below the stage.

“Well, they may have taken a while but you can’t deny they’re fucking
good Lou” stan shouted over the loud music, and all Louis could do is
nod, never taking his eyes away from the boy on stage who had his eyes
shut tightly whilst he belted out the lyrics.

Louis found himself dancing and having a good time throughout the
rest of the song, and when it finally ended he actually wanted to listen
to more; unfortunately each band could only perform one song each.

“Thank you” the main singer muttered into the mic with a blush spread
across his face, smiling widely as he walked off the stage with positive
screams following him.

And of course white Eskimo won, leaving Louis with the image of the
boy stuck in his mind for the remainder of the night, having no idea
they would meet again in the future.

End of flashback.

“I still can’t believe you’re the one who told us to ’get on with it’, you
made me feel so fucking uncomfortable after that” Harry said with a
chuckle, shaking his head at the memory.

“To be fair you were taking forever, I guess it was worth it though, you
did amazing love” Louis said in a soft voice, pecking Harry on the
cheek.

“Thank you, you weren’t so bad yourself” Harry teased, earning a light
smack from Louis in return.

629
“Anyway, then a year later, February 8th, 2009, we met at the script
concert, which you guys already know as I said it during our own
concert in that very stadium a couple years later. I actually met you in
the bathrooms there” Harry said, remembering the funny story all too
well from this concert.

“Yeah you fucking pissed on me!” Louis exclaimed, laughing at the

memory whilst Harry blushed shaking his head towards the ground as
some people behind the camera also laughed.

“Oops” Harry mumbled sheepishly, with a knowing look on his face.

“Hi” Louis replied, smirking.

February 8th, 2009, script concert, flashback:

“Hey, I’ll be back in a few, I’m gonna go find the toilet alright?” Harry
shouted over the music to his group of friends who nodded in response,
too into the music to even really care about what he was doing.

He was at the script concert and so far it was amazing. The atmosphere
was unreal and everyone was having fun dancing and singing. But he
had been holding in a wee for about an hour now and couldn’t wait any
longer; as much as he wanted to stay and listen to the music until the
end of the show he couldn’t get over the fact that he might just piss
himself at any moment if he didn’t hurry the fuck up.

Without another word he raced off in search of the toilets, trying his
hardest not to run into strangers and inevitably spill their drinks. That
would be a nightmare.

He finally found them, thankful that they weren’t that far away and
pushed the door open without any hesitation.

He briefly noticed there were two other people in there already. One
man who seemed much older and another who seemed around his own

630
age. But he wasn’t here to look at other people taking a piss, so he
quickly walked to the urinals and did his business.

Everything was fine, it was just like taking any other piss he usually
would; nothing special. That was until his hand slipped.

He had pissed on a strangers foot. Literally, pissed on him. Shit.

“Oops?” Harry muttered sheepishly, looking shocked with wide eyes

and a slack jaw.

He finally turned to look at the poor boy he had just pissed on, and he
wished he hadn’t.

He was, dare he say it, stunning. He had caramel brown hair that was
swept to the side in a neat fringe, covering most of his forehead. He had
clear, tanned skin and thin, pink lips. But his eyes are what caught his
attention. They were the most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen,
sparkling at him widely.

“Hi” Louis replied with an amused expression, not knowing what to

say.

He was broken out of his trance when the other man in the room with
them walked past them, mumbling something along the lines of “put
your dicks away for gods sake”. Well then, he thought.

“Shit” Harry said, quickly doing as the man said and zipping his jeans
back up, fumbling whilst doing so.

“I-Uh, s-Sorry, about that. I don’t normally piss on people, I swear I

just slipped— I can buy you some new shoes if you want—”

Louis looked back at the boy and began laughing, finding the way he
stuttered over his sentence adorable. The boy whom he didn’t know the
name of yet gave him a confused look, and scratched the back of his
neck awkwardly.

631
“What?” He asked, biting his lip nervously.

“Stop rambling, it’s fine mate, no worries. If I had to get someone’s pee
splashed on me, I’d much rather have your pee than his pee” Louis said
whilst laughing, pointing at the door the man had just exited out of.

“R-right” Harry said awkwardly, now not knowing what to do with

himself. This had to be the most embarrassing moment of his life.

“Hey do I know you by any chance? You look familiar” Louis asked
him, tilting his head in confusion as he studied his face, trying to figure
out where he’d seen him before.

“I-Uh, I’m not sure, I don’t think so? What’s your name anyway?”
Harry asked, not having a clue whether he had seen the boy before or
not.

“I’m Louis, Louis Tomlinson— Hey! I think I saw you perform at battle
of the bands last year! Yeah, that’s where I’ve seen you, white Eskimo
right?” Louis asked enthusiastically, looking excited to be seeing him
again.

“Yeah, that’s my band. I don’t remember seeing you though?” Harry

replied in an unsure tone, racking his mind for any memory of the lad.

“Well, I don’t know if you heard, but I kinda shouted for you to get on
with it” Louis mumbled, laughing as he shook his head.

“That was you? Holy shit, yeah I do remember. Small world I guess?”
Harry exclaimed, now remembering the mortifying moment that had
made him ten times more nervous to perform.

“Yup, what’s your name then?” Louis asked, happy to finally meet the
boy that he couldn’t get out of his head all night.

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“Harry Styles, nice to meet you” He said politely, causing Louis to roll
his eyes sarcastically.

“Damn, you’re polite aren’t you?” Louis joked, causing Harry to turn
red once again.

“Well my mum taught me to always be kind and polite, so I guess you

could say that yeah” Harry agreed, shrugging his shoulders.

“I guess it’s better than you being a dickhead. Anyway, how old are
you, are you here with friends or?” Louis trailed off, realizing they were
in fact still at a concert and they were missing the show.

“I just turned 15, this is my first concert with just my mates” Harry
answered, his birthday just being a little over a week ago.

“Happy late birthday then! I’m 17, but I know I don’t look it” Louis
said, circling his face with his hands.

“Thank you and Yeah I thought you were my age” Harry chuckled, the
boy was the same height as him, maybe a little taller, but he did indeed
look younger than he was.

“Well there isn’t much of an age gap but I can see why you’d think that.
But unfortunately we’re missing the show and my friends are probably
wondering where I am, so I guess I’ll see you around?” Louis asked
hesitantly.

He honestly wished he could spend more time with the younger boy,
but he knew his friends would get worried if he didn’t show up soon;
he hoped he would maybe see him in the future.

“Yeah I should get going too, and are you sure you don’t want new
shoes or something?” Harry asked, pointing to Louis shoes that he had
just pissed on.

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“Honestly don’t worry about it mate, nothing a washing machine can’t
fix. Anyway, gotta go, see you!” Louis said with a smile, waving at the
boy as he made his way to the door.

“Bye” Harry mumbled, sad that he had to leave but happy to have met
him.

Louis was just about to walk out the door, but stopped and spun around
quickly.

“Wait, I know we just met and all, but could I maybe get your number,
so we can stay in touch. You seem like a cool guy” Louis asked with a
blush, taking out his phone.

“Yeah sure, I’ll put my number in” Harry agreed, a little too quickly but
he brushed it off, instead taking Louis’ phone and adding his contact.

“Cheers, I’ll text you some time, bye Harry” Louis said once he was
done, putting his phone back into his pocket and leaving the room.

Harry stood there for a second and smiled to himself, knowing he had
just made a great friend, before finally heading back to the concert.

End of flashback:

“You don’t even understand how embarrassed I was that day” Harry
said into his hands, cringing at the memory.

“I found it funny to be honest, you were so cute, he kept trying to buy

me new shoes after pissing on them” Louis said to the camera, laughing
whilst doing so.

“Shut up, right I’m gonna move along with the story because this is
fucking embarrassing now. Anyway, after that night me and Louis
texted back and forth over the next couple months, but we never
actually agreed to meet up seeming as he lived in Doncaster and I was
in Cheshire. Which sucked actually because I had just made a new

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friend and he was in fucking Doncaster” Harry said, waving his hands
as he told the story.

“Donny isn’t that far away from where you lived, you could have easily
gotten the train or something” Louis cut in, raising his eyebrows at his
boyfriend.

“At 15? I wasn’t going to get the train to Doncaster at 15 to meet

someone I barely knew Lou, my mum wouldn’t have ever let me
anyways” Harry argued, looking over to his mum behind the camera.

“He’s right Louis, plus you’re older, I wouldn’t let my baby go and see
an older boy that I didn’t even know” Anne said, laughing at Louis
shocked expression.

“Anne! It’s not like I was gonna murder him, he was too adorable to
anyway” Louis said, teasing Harry who once again hid his face in his
hands.

“Can people stop calling me cute! I’m bloody taller than you now, if
anyone’s cute it’s you” Harry retorted with a smirk, pinching Louis
cheeks and pretending he was a baby; because he was, he was Harrys
baby.

“Oi, get off me you goof, we’re supposed to be telling a story here”
Louis said as he slapped Harrys hands off him, patting his cheek
afterwards to get the sting to go away.

“But then of course we met at the X factor, coincidence right? It was

like fate had brought us together again!” Louis said dramatically,
looking up towards the ceiling and smiling, causing Harry to giggle.

“Yup, we were soulmates from the beginning” Harry agreed, their

friends and family members cooing at the two.

July 2010, X factor, flashback:

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Louis sat nervously on the edge of his seat, hands trembling as he
gripped onto the chair harshly, his knuckles turning white.

“Louis you need to calm down, they’re gonna love you” His mum
suddenly said, noticing his nervous behavior.

“I can’t just fuck—”

“Louis, language” Jay cut him off, scolding him with a glare which he
brushed off.

“Sorry, sorry, just a bad habit. I’m just so nervous, what if they hate
me? What if I get buzzed out, they’ll probably say no, considering how
many talented people are here” He rushes out, stumbling over his words
from the nerves eating away at him.

“Shush now, I don’t want to hear any more of that nonsense. You’re
just as talented, if not more, than anyone else here okay. Stop putting
yourself down and show them judges what they’re looking for. I love
you Lou bear” She said as she rubbed soothing circles into his back,
causing him to smile widely despite the butterflies in his stomach.

“Lou bear? I might have to start calling you that myself”

Louis snapped his head up at the oh so familiar voice coming from in

front of him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It’s Harry.

“Harry? What’re you doing here? Oh my god!” Louis practically

squealed as he leapt from his chair and brought the younger boy into a
bone crushing hug, only to pull away a second later when realizing what
he was doing.

“I-Uh, sorry, about that. I’m just so surprised to see you here” Louis
stuttered out, embarrassed by his actions.

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He turned red as a blush coated his cheeks, looking at the ground instead
of the boy in front of him. But he smiled when he heard Harrys adorable
giggle.

“It’s fine Lou, I was gonna hug you anyway” Harry said with a blush
of his own, unable to wipe the grin off his face. “And what else would
I be here for? I’m gonna audition!” He continued enthusiastically, the
excitement running through his veins.

“That’s great! Me too. Are you here with your band or?” Louis trailed
off, tilting his head as he waited for the answer.

“Nah, they pussied out of it. So, why not go solo?” Harry replied with
a shrug, his dimples popping out as he smiled.

“Ah so you’re the brave one then?” Louis teased, nudging Harry with
his hip.

“I guess so, oh, I’m so sorry, is this your mum? Hi, I’m Harry Styles,
it’s nice to meet you” Harry suddenly said, noticing the woman who
looked so much like his friend sitting in front of him. He politely offered
his hand to shake hers as she stood from her chair.

“Oh, So you’re the famous Harry then? Louis won’t stop banging on
about you, it’s cute actually. You guys met at a concert right?” She
asked as she shook his hand, already taking a liking to the boy.

“Yeah, well, technically. We saw each other at battle of the bands

though, so we met when I peed on him at the urinals during the concert”
Harry said without thinking, only realizing what he had said when Jay
burst out laughing.

“Oh my gosh yes! He told me about that, don’t worry though, I washed
his shoes for him” She replied, still chuckling over the fact.

“Um, well, sorry about that, again” Harry said sheepishly, scratching
the back of his neck out of awkwardness.

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“Never mind, it’s a funny story. Anyway, I’ll leave you guys to catch
up, it was nice meeting you Harry” Jay finally said with a smile,
hugging Harry and kissing Louis on the cheek before leaving with a
wave.

“So, how have you been? I feel like we haven’t spoken in ages” Louis
asked once his mum had walked away, focusing all his attention on
Harry.

“I’ve been good yeah, and I know, I missed talking to you” Harry said
with another blush, causing Louis to coo at him.

“Aww Harry! Didn’t realize you loved me that much, you just can’t get
enough of me can you?” Louis teased, pinching Harrys cheeks.

“Stoppp” Harry whined with a chuckle, pushing Louis hands off him,
but keeping them in his grasp.

“I’m only teasing don’t worry. How are you feeling about the audition
then?” Louis asked, brushing off the tingle in his hands when clasped
in Harry’s.

“I’m not sure to be honest, I’m excited, but nervous. I’m usually okay
being in front of an audience but this is so much bigger. And it’s on
television! Everyone at home will see me” Harry replied as he bit at his
lips, Louis noticing the action.

“Well I’m sure you’ll be fine if you’re voice is anything to go by. And
I bet everyone at home will love and support you; you’ll have all the
girls cheering for you” Louis joked, making Harry laugh slightly and
shrug his shoulders.

“What? You don’t think girls will be falling for your curls?
Impossible!” Louis continued when Harry didn’t say anything.

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“I mean I wouldn’t go that far, I’ve only ever kissed like one girl before”
Harry said as he fidgeted in his spot.

“Oh yeh? How was it?” Louis asked, not expecting the answer he got.

“Well, it was pretty steamy. We were up against a tree in the woods

back in Holmes chapel, so, yeah, it was great” Harry said with a
confident grin.

Louis laughed at the response, but the weird feeling in the pit of his
stomach didn’t go unnoticed.

“She’s a lucky lady then. She’ll be watching at home, no doubt” Louis

stated monotonously.

“Yeah, maybe. How about you then? Got any girls back in Doncaster?”
Harry asked curiously, seeming as he had just told Louis his first
experience.

“Kinda, there is one girl, Hannah, we’ve got some sort of thing going”
Louis replied, thinking about the blonde girl back home.

“What sort of thing?” Harry asked, chewing on the inside of his lip.

“I don’t even know, I’ve taken her out a few times and we’ve kissed
and shit, but we’ve never made it official” Louis answered with a shrug,
not thinking his love life was all that interesting.

“Well then, at least I’m not the only one with a practically none existent
love life” Harry replied with a laugh.

“Yup, maybe we will just become a thing so we’re not both lonely”
Louis said sarcastically, making kissy faces at the younger boy as he
giggled.

“Perfect! We will be married by next week!” Harry exclaimed,

following along with the joke.

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“Of course, but you’ll have to ask me first” Louis replied with a wink.

“Alright, Louis William Tomlinson, will you marry me so we don’t

have a pathetic excuse of a love life” Harry asked as he got down on
one knee, holding out an imaginary ring box.

Louis laughed loudly at the boy, thinking the whole ordeal was both
ridiculous and cute.

“Why of course I’ll marry you Harry Edward Styles, it would be an

honor” Louis accepted, taking the imaginary ring and placing it on his
finger just as a man from the X Factor team walked up to the two.

“Hi, my name is Michael, I was just wondering if you’d both like to

take part in an interview that might make the final cut of the show. It
will only take a moment and you seem like a lovely couple” The guy
asked, a camera team behind him.

Both their eyes widened before they burst out laughing, bending over
and holding their stomachs as they cried from laughing so hard.
Meanwhile, the man looked on with a confused face, not knowing what
the fuck he did wrong.

“Oh, my, gosh. Mate— were, we’re not a couple” Louis wheezed our,
still laughing.

“Yet” Harry added, bringing on another fit of laughter from them both.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry, so, the interview? As friends?” Michael asked
awkwardly, looking back at his camera crew only to get a confused
shrug in return from the majority of them.

“Yeah, yeah sorry. We’ll do it” Harry replied, finally calming down
from his laughing fit.

“Sure” Louis also said with a nod.

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“Great, follow me” Michael said, gesturing with his hand for the two to
follow him.

“Shall we?” Louis asked with a grin as he held out his arm.

“We shall” Harry replied, smirking as he linked arms with Louis and
began to follow along.

End of flashback:

“That interview didn’t actually make it into the final cut did it?” Louis
asked Harry, who though for a second before shaking his head no.

“No I don’t think so, shame really, it was funny” Harry replied, smiling
at the memory.

“Why didn’t it get into the final cut?” The producer behind the camera
asked.

“We were probably flirting too much” Louis answered, winking at

Harry.

“So, did you know either of you had feelings for each other right off the
bat?” Their producer continued, wanting to make sure every aspect of
their story was involved.

“Well we obviously weren’t an item at that point, we barely knew each

other. But I know that I felt a strong connection with Louis straight
away, even if it was just as friends” Harry said as he held hands with
his boyfriend.

“Yeah me too, he was certainly very charming” Louis teased, looking

Harry in the eyes the entire time with a mischievous glint in them.

“Just my natural charm Lou” Harry joked, “anyway, we spent a lot of

time together through the whole process of the X factor, seeming as we

641
were the only people we both knew whilst there, and I guess we built
our friendship before we were even put together in a band with the other
lads who we met properly just a few days before one direction was
formed”

July 20th, X factor, flashback:

Louis and Harry walked into a room full of contestants together

backstage, shoving and pushing each other as they joked around.

“Aren’t you nervous for the results in a few days?” Louis asked Harry
as they walked around.

“A little, I really want to get through, but I guess if it doesn’t work out
that way then I could either audition again another year or try get my
music out there in a different way. What happens happens” Harry
replied with a shrug, smiling as he looked around the room full of
talented people.

“I don’t get how you’re so calm about this, I’m literally shitting myself”
Louis said with a laugh, picking at his nails out of nervousness.

“Don’t worry about it Lou, I’m sure you’ll get through, you’ve got an
amazing voice. Don’t put yourself down” Harry said, noticing Louis
habit and taking his hand into his own to run circles into the boy skin,
trying to calm his friend down.

Louis heart fluttered at the small gesture, blushing slightly, but he

brushed it off as nothing more than a reaction due to his nerves.

“Thanks Haz, you’re a great friend, and even though we only met a little
while ago you mean so much to me. I can see us being best mates in the
future” Louis said whole heartedly, and he meant every word. He knew
him and Harry had a strong bond and he couldn’t bear the thought of
not seeing him again after the X factor.

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“Same with me, it’s weird how close we’ve become in just a few days,
but I know that no matter what happens I’ll always stay in touch with
you” Harry agreed, grinning so wide he thought his face might split in
half.

“Don’t go forgetting me when you’re big and famous then. I can already
see it, Harry Styles, international pop star. You’ll be selling out arenas
all over the world, I just know it” Louis said dramatically, causing
Harry to giggle.

“Oh stop it, I’d be lucky to even win this, never mind become famous”
Harry replied, shaking his head at the thought.

“Don’t be silly, here look, sign this for me, I want to be the first person
to ever get your autograph so when you make it big I can brag about
you” Louis said with a laugh, grabbing the nearest pen and paper and
holding it out for Harry.

“That won’t happen but sure, whatever you want Lou” Harry replied
with a grin, rolling his eyes playfully as he took the paper and pen and
signed his name with a note to Louis.

“To Lou, my biggest fan and man crush, I’ll never forget you — Harry
Styles”

“Oh, So I’m your man crush am I?” Louis teased as he read the note,
eyebrows raising.

“Of course, how could you not be? Just look at them eyes!” Harry said
sarcastically, although he knew deep down he meant every word.

“Aww Harry! Well, I guess you’re mine then. Just look at those curls!”
Louis mimicked, ruffling Harrys hair as the boy tried to get away.

“You’ve ruined my hair!” Harry squeaked out, messing with his hair to
try and get it back into the position it was before.

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“Oh please, you only need to run your hand through it for it to get back
to normal” Louis argues, looking pointedly at Harry.

“Yeh yeh, whatever. Should we go talk to the other contestants?” Harry

asked, gesturing to the other people mingling about the room.

“Sure, lets go” Louis said with a nod before pulling Harry with him to
a group of lads.

“Alright lads, I’m Louis, this is Harry, we thought we’d just come and
say hi” Louis said enthusiastically to the group, not caring if he don’t
even know them, he was a social butterfly.

“Hi, I’m Liam Payne, nice to meet you” one of them replied, smiling
kindly.

“I’m Zayn Malik, this is Niall” another boy said, and gestured to the
blonde besides him.

“Nice to meet you too. How’s it been so far for you then? You know,
with the whole contest” Louis asked, wondering do their experience had
been different from his so far.

“It’s been pretty good, they seemed to really like me when I auditioned.
But I did this like two years ago and they sent me away saying I was
too young and inexperienced, so I’m pretty familiar with the whole
thing” Liam explained.

“Really? I don’t think I’d have the guts to come back after being
rejected” Louis stated, surprised.

“I wasn’t going to at first, but then I realized why not? Because I’ve got
nothing to lose and they did tell me to come audition again so why not
now?” Liam replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“True, I think I’ll come back in a few years or something if I don’t get
through in the next results” Harry interjected, nodding at Liam’s words.

644
“Yeah you should, but I think you’ll get through anyway, I heard your
audition” Niall said, smiling politely at Harry and giving him a pat on
the shoulder.

“Thank you” is all Harry replied with, glad that people actually liked
him and his music.

“Yup, Harry here has the whole package” Louis said with a smirk,
putting an arm around his shoulder and looked expectantly towards the
other lads.

“I’m sure he does. You two seem close, do you know each other or
something?” Zayn asked, looking at the two with squinted eyes.

“We met once last year at a concert and then met again here on the first
day, so yeah, I guess were pretty close now” Harry replied, smiling at
the lads and then Louis.

“Oh yeh, he pissed on me at the concert. Quite the first impression”

Louis teased, the lads laughing whilst Harry blushed.

“You just won’t let that go will you?” Harry groaned, shoving Louis
away lightly.

“Nope, and I never will” Louis replied, laughing at the now

embarrassed boy.

“Alright, well I think the producers are calling everyone over now so I
guess we will see you around” Liam suddenly said, looking at the
contestants who were now leaving the room.

“Yeah Okay, see you” Louis said with a nod, taking Harrys hand and
pulling him along with him once again.

End of flashback.

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“What were your first impressions of the lads then?” Their producer
asked from behind the camera.

“Well we obviously didn’t say much the first time we met them because
it was a busy day, but they seemed nice, and of course we were all
around the same age so we had similar interests and stuff” Harry
answered, looking at the lads who were smiling.

“Yeah, we only properly got to know each other when we were put into
the band together, but obviously it worked out in the end” Louis added,
sticking his tongue out at the three men across the room.

“I guess we should talk about the band getting out together then” Harry
said, Louis agreeing.

July 23, X factor, flashback:

All of their hearts sunk when the list of names had finished; their own
not being a part of said list.

All Harry wanted to do was go and hug the living daylights out of Louis,
but sadly the boy was further down the line than him.

“I’m sorry guys, you’re all so talented but it’s just not your year” Simon
said with a blank face, making the fact that they didn’t get through all
the more real.

Harry burrowed his face into his hands, frustration and sadness taking
over his body as tears escaped his eyes.

He followed the long line of contestants or now, ex contestants, off the

stage and instantly went in search of Louis.

“Oh my god Harry, come here mate” Louis called, and instantly Harry
threw himself into the boys arms as he sobbed.

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“God I knew this would happen, I just knew it Lou” Harry wept,
shaking as the sadness enveloped him.

“Fuck them. Fuck them Harry for not seeing how bloody talented you
are. You’re gonna make it someday, I just know it. Please, don’t give
up on this, you’re too amazing to throw your gift away just because
some idiots couldn’t see your potential” Louis said in a somewhat
angered tone, feeling sympathetic for Harry but furious at the judges for
not putting this damn boy through.

“But what about you? Your talented as well, you deserved to go through
Lou, I can’t believe they don’t put you through” Harry argued, shaking
his head in disbelief at the situation.

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t think I’d get through anyway so I didn’t get
my hopes up. I’m not surprised I don’t get through, the other contestants
are miles better than I am” Louis replied unbothered, he knew he could
go into his acting career anyway.

“Stop it, don’t talk like that. You’ve got just as much talent as anyone
else here” Harry said with a furrowed brow, angry that Louis can’t see
how amazing he is.

“It doesn’t matter now anyway, it is what it is. Come on, we can walk
out together” Louis said with a sad smile, taking Harrys hand into his
own as they made their way towards the exit of the studio.

“Wait! Nobody leave, I need all the boys and all the girls in separate
groups over here please” A producer called, causing the lads to stop in
their tracks.

“Oh for fuck sake, what do they want now?” Louis groaned, rubbing
his hand across his face.

“I bet they just want some good material for tv, get us all fucking crying
on camera for their own benefit. God they’re so selfish, they don’t care

647
if we’re all miserable as long as they get some good footage out of it”
Harry ranted, anger taking over him once again.

“I’m sure it’s nothing like that Haz, come on let’s just see what they
have to say” Louis said calmly as he and Harry walked back over to the
group of rejected boys.

They were surprised to see Liam, Niall and Zayn in the mix of
contestants when they stood with the group, they thought for sure they
would have gotten through.

“What the fuck? How did you lot not get through?” Harry asked in
shock, furrowing his brows.

“I don’t know mate, it was their decision” Liam answered, he looked

visibly heart broken by the news he had received just a moment ago
seeming as he had been rejected yet a second time.

“What do you think this is all about then?” Niall asked, gesturing to the
group around them.

“They probably just want to make some good television, get us all on
camera looking miserable and shit” Harry grumbled out, shaking his
head.

“Calm down Haz, it’s probably nothing like that” Louis said quietly,
rubbing the boys back just as the producer began to speak.

“Okay, five of you are being asked to go back on stage, I’m sorry if
your name is not on the list; Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles,
Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. Please make your way back on stage,
the rest of you are free to leave” He said, causing the lads to look up in
shock.

“Holy shit, what a coincidence” Louis said with his mouth agape.

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“Oh my god, come on let’s go!” Harry suddenly exclaimed, ushering
the lads to follow him immediately. His entire demeanor has changed
with in a second, the excitement running through him at What this could
possibly mean.

Once back on stage they noticed another group of girls on the opposite
side of the stage to them, only four instead of five like them.

The judges were sat patiently at their desk just like they had been a
moment before, with smiles on their faces indicating there must be
some good news.

“Hello, thank you so much for coming back. We know judging by your
faces that this must be really hard, we’ve thought long and hard about
it and we’ve thought of each of you as individuals. And we just felt that
you’re too talented to let go of” Nicole began to say, causing each of
the lads to look at each other with happy but confused faces.

“We think it would be a great idea to have two separate groups” She
continued, the statement hitting them like a ton of bricks.

“We’ve decided to put you both through to judges houses” Simon

finally said with a grin.

Harry fell to the floor with his face in his hands, wiping away tears of
happiness that had fallen due to the utter shock of the revelation.

The other lads jumped into a hug and bounced around on their feet as
they had a mini celebration, before Niall noticed Harry and hovered
over him as he patted his back.

“Guys, guys listen. This is a lifeline, you have got to work ten, twelve,
fourteen hours a day every single day and take this opportunity. You’ve
got a real shot here” Simon interrupted as they finally stood still with
their arms linked as they listened to the man who had just given them a
second chance.

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“Don’t take this lightly, you can leave” Simon dismissed, and as soon
as the words left his mouth Louis jumped into Harrys arms as they
laughed and spun around; taking each other in.

Harry proceeded to carry Louis off the stage, missing the slight grimace
and pointed look from Simon.

End of flashback.

“I’ll never forget that moment” Harry said with a look of awe on his
face, staring at his boyfriend.

“Me neither. The fans picked up on that pretty quickly. Even when we
really were just friends they were shipping us together, I remember just
the day after that it was all over Twitter. People were sending me dm’s
asking if we were a couple; it was mad” Louis said with a laugh, shaking
his head at the thought.

“I know, we just made a joke out of it after that, you know, pretending
to be a couple and all that when we really weren’t. Back then we weren’t
lying, we really were just good friends. I guess that started to change
after we spent a while at my dads cabin” Harry stated to the camera.

Flashback:

“Oh my god Harry, this place is sick” Louis gasped as he looked around
the small cabin that Harrys dad owned.

It was a bungalow of sorts, having three bedrooms, a kitchen, sitting

area and bathroom. There was also a pool outside which they were all
excited to use as long as the weather was alright.

“Isn’t it. The rooms are pretty big so we can either all share one or pair
up, although one person would have a room to themselves if we did
that” Harry said as the lads placed their luggage in the sitting room.

650
“How about we have a pair in one room and a three in the other, so we
all have someone in a room with us. To be honest I’m sure we will end
up falling asleep anywhere whilst here” Liam suggested with a shrug,
all the lads agreeing with him.

“Yeah alright, how about me, Liam and Zayn in one room and Harry
and Louis in another” Niall asked with a grin, pointedly looking
between Harry and Louis.

“Them two in a room alone all night? Good luck getting any sleep then
boys” Zayn joked, the rest of them laughing in return as Harry and
Louis blushed.

They all knew of the bond the two shared, they were the closest pair out
of the band and it was no secret that they indulged in a lot of flirting
even if the two themselves made a joke out of it.

“I’m not sure if I could handle Harry during the night, he seems like he
knows what he’s doing” Louis teased, winking at Harry who shook his
head towards the ground with a grin on his lips.

“You’d better get used to it then” Harry played along, causing Louis to
raise his eyebrows in both shock and amusement. “Anyway, come on
I’ll show you the bedrooms” Harry continued, gesturing for the lads to
follow him.

“We have three, and I’ll give you three the biggest one seeming as
there’s more of you, me and Lou will take the second biggest, it’s just
across the hall from you” Harry explained, pushing open the door of the
room that Liam, Zayn and Niall would be staying in.

“Cheers Harry, the rooms amazing mate” Liam thanked, taking his bags
into the room and placing them by the bed, followed by the other two.

“Right no problem, me and Lou will go sort ourselves out, if you need
anything just come get me” Harry dismissed, beginning to walk towards
his bedroom with Louis.

651
“Don’t get too frisky!” Niall shouted behind them, causing the boys to
laugh loudly.

“Can’t promise you that Nialler!” Louis shouted back, Harry was glad
his back was towards the boy so he couldn’t see his red cheeks.

“This is our room” Harry said as he pushed another door open,

revealing a large room with a double bed, a tv, a wardrobe and two
tables on each side of the bed.

“Looks cosy” Louis muttered with a smile as he wheeled in his suitcase,

leaving it beside the bed before he jumped on top of the white sheets,
sinking in the mattress comfortably with a sigh.

“Oh yeh, just make yourself at home why don’t you” Harry joked,
grinning at the older boy who was down spread out across the entire
bed.

“Was already planning on it Hazza, now come here a sec” Louis said
with a devious smirk, gesturing for Harry to come towards the bed.

“Why? What’re you doing?” Harry asked with a confused face, slowly
walking towards the bed with hesitance.

“Just come here, wanna check something” Louis replied nonchalantly.

“O-kay?” Harry said with his brows furrowed, taking more steps
towards the bed until his knees hit the edge of it.

Louis suddenly attacked him, pulling the boy down onto the bed with
him as Harry squeaked in surprise, falling over Louis and into the sheets
with a groan. Louis laughed loudly when seeing Harry had face planted
into the mattress, half his body laying on top of Louis’ as he struggled
to move.

652
“Jesus Christ Lou, you scared the shit out of me” Harry said as he turned
to look up at Louis, smiling none the less.

“Oh shush, don’t pretend you don’t like being on top of me” Louis said
with a smirk, loving the banter they had.

“Don’t get so full of yourself Lou, who said I wanted to be pulled on

top of you?” Harry asked with a quirked brow, leaning his head on his
arm propped up on the bed.

“Well you haven’t gotten off of me yet, so that’s a pretty big indicator”
Louis quipped back, grinning when Harry blushed and shifted off him
slightly.

“You have an answer to everything don’t you? I just can’t win” Harry
said with a huff, rolling his eyes at his friend.

“Of course I do, I’m the sass master from Doncaster!” Louis replied
dramatically, pointing to himself with a smug smile.

“Yeh you don’t need to say that again, anyone can see that. But what
am I then?” Harry asked, tilting his head as he waited for the reply.

“Hmm, you’re Holmes chapels biggest flirt that’s for sure” Louis said
as he ruffled Harrys curls, smiling fondly at the lad.

“Oi, What have I said about messing up my hair!” Harry squawked,

pushing Louis away.

“But it’s made to be played with!” Louis argues, laughing as Harry

pushed his down on the mattress, trying to get at his own hair.

Harry laughed as he straddled Louis lap, their hands were clasped

together as Harry tried pushing down, Louis trying to push him away.

“Hey its only fair for me to mess up yours!” Harry said through
laughter, still desperately trying to get at the older boys fringe.

653
“Is it fuck Harold” Louis gasped back, slowly getting tired arms from
the pushing. Louis smirked and as Harry pushed harder, Louis dropped
his arms down to his sides, causing Harry to topple over against him,
his head in the crook of Louis neck.

“What the fuck is going on— oh shit! Jesus Christ we were only joking
about getting frisky” Niall screeched as he walked in on the scene, that
being Harry in top of Louis, looking as if he was giving the boy love
bites. “Fucking hell, anyone can turn gay with how horny they are these
days” Niall muttered to himself as he walked out the door, presumably
running off to tell the other lads.

“Damn it” Harry whispered as he climbed off Louis, a blush spread onto
his cheeks once again.

“Well then, how’d you suppose we get out of this one?” Louis asked
from the mattress where he had propped himself up on his arms.

“I doubt we can, they already assume there’s something going on, now
they’ve seen that they won’t let it go” Harry replied, smiling at the boy.

“Oh well, they can believe what they want, we are just mates after all”
Louis said with a shrug, although he strangely felt like he was lying to
himself. He had only just met the boy for God’s sake.

“I— yeh, you’re right” Harry replied hesitantly, his stomach seeming
to drop, though he didn’t know why. “Best friends?” Harry added
adorably, his eyes shining with hope.

“Course Hazza, Best friends” Louis replied, standing up to pull the boy
into a bone crushing hug.

654
 59
Our Story: Part 2

Flashback, Mid August, X Factor:

“Harry!” Niall shouted from his, Zayn and Liam’s room after
unpacking their suitcases.

“What?” Harry replied, poking his head out the door to see what the
boy wanted.

“Could we go in the pool? We thought it could be fun” Niall asked

hopefully, a huge grin on his face.

“Sure, I’ll just tell Louis and we will meet you out there” Harry agreed
with a nod before turning back into his and Louis’ room.

“We’re going in the pool, did you bring any swim wear?” He asked Lou
as he was finishing up with his unpacking.

“Uh, no actually, I didn’t. Shit” Louis said with wide eyes. “I could just
go in with my boxers on?” He asked, unsure.

“I’ve got a pair you can wear and I’ll wear my boxers instead. I’ll
probably just end up taking them off for a skinny dip anyways” Harry
offered nonchalantly, smirking at Louis shocked face.

“Mate, you’re that comfortable already are you?” Louis teased, shaking
his head at the younger lad.

“Well, there’s something you should know about me if we’re going to

be in a band together” Harry said with a cheeky smile, shrugging.

“And what is that dear Harold? Do tell”

655
“I get naked, a lot, so you lot better suck it up as you’ll be seeing plenty
of me” Harry stated, grinning once again.

“Well then, guess I could get used to that” Louis said sarcastically,
winking at Harry who laughed in return and shoved his shoulder
playfully.

Harry walked over to the wardrobe where he had unpacked all his
clothes and pulled out a pair of black swimming shorts, handing them
over to Louis who thanked him in return as Harry turned away for him
to get changed.

Once ready, Louis in Harrys shorts and Harry in his white and black
striped boxers, they walked outside to meet the lads by the pool.

It was only when Harry stepped out the door that he realized he didn’t
have shoes on, and it would be a pain in the ass trying to walk on the
gravel pathway.

“Shit this hurts!” Harry exclaimed, tip toeing his way around the side
of the bungalow as Louis walked casually ahead of him, actually
wearing a pair of shoes.

“Oh don’t be a baby, you should’ve worn shoes. Don’t you know your
own house?” Louis joked, laughing as Harry stumbled away behind
him.

“I’m not a baby, and I forgot my shoes not the bloody path!” Harry
argued, wincing as he stepped on a particularly sharp stone.

“Yes you are Haz, you’re the youngest, therefore making you the baby
of the group” Louis said fondly, finally putting an arm around Harrys
shoulders to help him along the final patch of gravel before he finally
reached the smooth tiled flooring.

656
“Yeah yeah, whatever” Harry grumbled, rolling his eyes although he
was smiling, the feeling of Louis hands on his bare shoulders making
his skin tingle.

“Finally! What took youse both so long?” Zayn asked from the side of
the pool where he was dangling his feet in the water.

“We were trying to find swim wear, Harry lent me his” Louis replied
with a shrug, releasing Harry from his grip and running towards the
pool before canon-balling into the cold water.

“Holy shit it’s freezing!” He exclaimed as he breached the surface of

the water, panting aggressively as he felt the icy substance consume
him.

“It’s fine after a while, what did you expect anyway? It’s a pool in the
fucking UK” Harry laughed, walking over to the side of the pool and
dipping his toes in the water to test the temperature; sure enough, it was
in fact freezing.

“Well you bloody get in then you twat” Louis retorted, smirking as he
made his way over to Harry.

“I don’t wanna get in yet” The curly haired boy said, shaking his head
as he crossed his arms over his chest, shivering at the cold air.

“Oh come on, thought you said it was fine after a while?” Louis sassed,
tilting his head to the side as he mocked him.

“Yeah, once you’re in. But that’s the hard part”

“Help me out then, I’m not staying in here alone, that’s no fun” Louis
whined, holding his hand up to Harry at the edge of the pool.

And of course, Harry was naive enough to actually take the boys hand;
missing the smirk on Louis face.

657
“Gotcha!” Louis yelled as he tugged harshly on Harrys hand, causing
the boy to tumble into the water with a large splash and yelp.

Louis laughed manically as he watched Harry splutter once he had

come up from the water, along with the other boys who were watching
from the side.

“You tricked me!” Harry yelled, a pout forming on his cold lips.

“No Harry, I simply forgot to push instead of pull. Funny how gravity
works ey?” Louis argues sarcastically, grinning at the drenched boy.

“Ha ha very funny” Harry replied before splashing Louis with a large
amount of water, right into Louis face.

“Oi!”

“You deserved that” Harry said with a smirk.

“Oh so you wanna play that game huh? It’s on Styles!” Louis exclaimed
dramatically before splashing a wave of water at Harry, it soon turning
into a plain old water fight.

“Cannon ball!” Niall exclaimed before jumping into the water right by
the other two lads, creating a large splash over the two who laughed at
the action.

“Come on, Liam, Zayn? Get in already!” Louis called, gesturing with a
wave of his hand for the two to join them.

“It’s too cold” Liam whined, standing away from the pool.

“It’s fine once you’re in, like we said. Don’t be spoil sports” Harry
replied, attempting to slash water at them from his position in the pool.

“Alright alright fine” Liam sighed before slipping into the water
carefully, hissing at the cold temperature.

658
“Zayn?” Niall said with a raise of his eyebrows, nodding for him to get
into the pool.

“Ugh, Alright” He agreed, and then there were all five of them
splashing about in the water.

About ten minutes in, Harry decided it was time to free his manhood.

“Harry, What the fuck are you doing mate. Put your clothes on Jesus!”
Liam called, looking away as Harry pulled his soaking wet boxers out
from the water.

“What? None of you into skinny dipping?” Harry replied casually, a

smirk playing on his lips.

“No Harry, we’re not. Fucking hell” Zayn said, scrunching up his face
and looking away.

“Well, I happen to like being naked, a lot. So you better get used to it,
or leave the band” Harry said sarcastically, causing Louis to laugh at
his sass, thinking he’ll use that sometime in the future.

“Let the guy do what he wants, not like we can stop him” Louis stated,
winking over at Harry who grinned in return.

“How the fuck are you both so comfortable already? Are you secretly
dating or some shit?” Liam asked, raising his eyebrows at the two.

Louis was taken back by the question at first, but quickly re composed
himself as he swam over to Harry and put an arm around his shoulders,
not caring if the boy was naked or not.

“Yes, in fact Liam we are. Isn’t that right Harry?” Louis joked, looking
at Harry and patting his shoulder.

659
“Yup, I proposed to him at the X factor and everything” Harry said
cheekily, laughing along with Louis.

“Oh, perfect, we’ve got an old married couple in the band guys! Won’t
that be a good headline” Niall shouted, smiling over at the lads.

“We are not old, Niall. Just married, thank you very much” Louis said,
putting his free hand on his hip.

“Mate, you’re the oldest in the group. Funny coming from you isn’t it”
Zayn said with a laugh, making Louis roll his eyes.

“By like a year! It’s not that much difference” Louis shrugged, finally
taking his arm off Harry.

“Whatever, you don’t act like it anyway” Zayn retorted, earning a slap
from Louis on the arm.

“I think the better way to put that is I’m more fun than you Zayn” Louis
replied with a smirk before splashing more water into the man’s face.

“My hair! You— you wanker! Fuck you Tommo” Zayn screeched, after
spending about ten minutes prior desperately trying to keep his locks
dry.

“Oh get over yourself. Who you trying to impress anyway, it’s only us
lads” Louis replied, scoffing at the insult thrown his way.

“Nobody, especially not you” Zayn retorted, earning a fake gasp of

shock from Louis in which he rolled his eyes at.

They spend another half an hour in the pool before deciding it was time
to head back inside, their now pruny skin being the big indicator.

And as Harry pulled himself out of the pool, stark naked, Louis got an
eye full of the boys ass. And if he slightly enjoyed the sight, nobody
needed to know but himself.

660
End of flashback. — Present day, filming the video.

“And that my friends, was the first time I even saw Harry Styles naked”
Louis said as he finished explaining the memory, sending a cheeky
wink to the camera.

“Bet you loved it” Harry stated, grinning at his boyfriend.

“Maybe a little” Louis admitted with a smirk, shrugging the comment

off.

“Um, sorry, but I do recall catching you eyeing me up at least five times
while in that pool. ’A little’ is a bloody understatement, I know you
were fucking enjoying yourself the entire time” Harry sassed back,
looking offended when in reality he found the entire situation funny.

“Do keep in mind though that at that point in my life I considered

myself straight. So obviously any thoughts I may have had were pushed
away just as quickly. It was confusing as hell Harold” Louis quipped,
looking pointedly at Harry.

“I guess you’re right. Neither of us had had any experience with boys
at that point in our lives so we were pretty much in denial of any feelings
towards one another” Harry explained with a shrug, Louis agreeing as
he nodded his head along.

“Hm, your ass was good back then, fucking pale though” Louis stated
while in thought, earning a smack on the shoulder from Harry as
everyone behind the camera began laughing.

“Well I’m sorry I didn’t go on holiday much back then. Hard to get a
tan in the fucking UK” Harry argued, crossing his arms over his chest
as he faked a pout.

661
“Yeh, shame there weren’t orange girls and fake tan back then. They
could’ve taught you how to be a cheese puff” Louis said with a huge
grin, instantly lightening the mood as Harry cracked a smile.

“God, you’re so right. Teens nowadays may as well be orange

highlighters” Harry said as he shook his head, laughing with Louis.

“Oi! We’re not orange!” Phoebe shouted from the back of the room,
daisy agreeing with her.

“Maybe not anymore, all your fake tan has washed off now” Louis
teased, only to have a pillow thrown at his head from where they were
sitting on the couches.

“Alright alright enough! You’ll end up knocking over the camera

equipment” Louis shouted, but smiled at them before getting back on
track with filming.

“Okay, soo, then what?” Harry asked, thinking back to what else they
did at the bungalow.

“Oh shit! Remember when we played truth or dare round the fire pit”
Louis suddenly exclaimed with a smile, the lads behind the camera
instantly peeking up, knowing exactly what had happened.

Flashback, mid August, X factor.

“Okay, so we need to get to know each other properly and make sure
we all get along well before we head to judges houses. I think now’s
the best time to do that. Anyone got any suggestions on how we do this,
cause in my opinion I think it’ll just be boring if we sit and ask shitty
questions like ’what do you do in spare time’”

Louis asked as they all got comfy around the fire pit, each seated on
deck chairs and pillows, with blankets each. They had marshmallows
and sticks to roast over the fire, and Harrys dad had stocked up the

662
fridge with beer for them, knowing they needed to have as much fun as
possible before heading to Simons house.

Of course though, if they ran out, Louis could always run to the shop
nearby and get more alcohol, seeming as he was 18.

“How about we play a game then? Truth or dare, we can have a laugh
and get to know each other at the same time” Niall suggested, smiling
widely when all the lads agreed.

“Alright, Niall can go first then, seeming as he came up with the idea”
Harry stated as he snuggled further under his blanket.

Louis looked over at the boy and couldn’t help but think how adorable
he looked, with his knees tucked under his chin, a blanket cocooning
him and a marshmallow stuffed in his rosy cheek. God help him.

“Alright. Liam, truth or dare?”

“I go with truth first, start off easy” Liam shrugged, earning a groan
from Louis.

“Boring!” Louis exclaimed, earning a scowl from Liam.

“Whatever” Liam muttered, focusing back on Niall.

“Okay, hmm, if you had to get rid of one of us, who would it be?” Niall
asked with a smirk, the rest of the lads all ’ooo’ing at the question.

“I barely know any of you” Liam said, furrowing his brows.

“From first impressions then” Zayn negotiated, smiling over at Liam as

he tried to help him out.

“Okay, based on first impressions, I’d say Louis”

“What the fuck? Why?” Louis spat out, giving Liam the bitch face.

663
“Chill mate, it’s only cause I think we’re very different. You’re too loud
for someone like me” Liam explained with a shrug, rolling his eyes
slightly.

“Nah, you’re just a bore” Louis sassed, taking a sip from his beer
smugly as he heard Harry try to muffle a laugh.

“Fuck off you know nothing about me” Liam replied in a much firmer
tone, slowly losing his patience with the sassy boy in front of him.

“I know you well enough to gather that you’re a goody two shoes bore
with zero personality”

“Oh yeh? Mate, you’re the fucking oldest here and act like a bloody
seven year old. Grow the fuck up”

“Grow the fuck up? You’re telling me to—”

“Alright! Fucking stop the both of you!” Harry suddenly exclaimed,

finally growing tired of the back and forth arguing.

Everyone suddenly became quiet, shocked at the small outburst from

Harry who always seemed so calm and put together, who was now on
the edge of his seat, shaking his head at the two lads with piercing eyes.

“We’re meant to be fucking getting along! Not arguing for fucks sake.
I didn’t ask my dad to set all this shit up for us just so you two can
bicker like two year olds, both of you grow up or fuck off for all I care”
Harry seethed, rolling his eyes at them before standing up and walking
back into the house on the verge of tears.

It was silent once again as the remaining boys sat in shock over what
had just happened. The game had barely even started and there was
already an argument. Guilt washed over both Liam and Louis as they
heard Harry crying from the living room, knowing it was their fault that
the boys plans were ruined.

664
“You guys really fucked up there. The poor boy planned all this for us
to get to know each other and you two are at each other’s throats not
even one day in. He’s the youngest, we need to be here for him the most,
he’s not used to all this shit. You’d better get your asses in there and
apologies” Zayn said calmly, disappointment written across his face.

“Yeah, yeah you’re right. I’m sorry guys, and you Louis” Liam said in
a sad tone, before realizing that Louis’ gaze was fixed to the floor.

“Louis, mate? You alright?” Niall asked the boy, confused at his
behavior.

“Fuck, I just made my best mate cry” Louis whispered, but the boys all
heard it.

“Lou it’s alright mate—”

“No it’s fucking not! I just made my best mate here cry all because I
couldn’t bite my fucking tongue” Louis exclaimed, biting his bottom
lip and willing himself not to let any tears fall.

“Look, Louis I’m sure he will understand. I haven’t known you long
but I know that Harry loves your friendship just as much as you do and
if anyone here can cheer him up it’s you. Go in there, make him feel
better, then come back out and we can start the game over” Zayn said
soothingly, smiling over at the boy sadly.

Louis nodded and without another word he got up and raced into the
house. He instantly saw Harry tucked up into the corner of the couch,
hugging his knees to himself as he tried to dry his tears.

Louis sighed at the sight and shook his head, feeling even more guilty,
but he put on a brave face and crouched down besides Harry so he was
at eye level with his best friend, smiling softly up at him.

“Haz?” Louis timidly asked, but the boy was ignoring him.

665
“Harry, babe, are you okay?” He tried again, and this time he was
successful as Harry whipped his head over to look at Louis with wide
eyes.

“Babe?” Harry asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion, causing
Louis to blush as he realize what he had called his best mate.

“Oh, shit I’m sorry, it just slipped. I won’t say it again if you don’t
want—”

“It’s fine Lou, I liked it” Harry cut him off quietly, now having his own
cheeks turn rosy.

“Okay. Um, anyway, I just wanted to come check you were okay. I was
bang out of order out there and I’m really sorry, I’m just not good at
biting my tongue. Probably get it off me mum to be honest” Louis said,
causing an adorable giggle to escape Harrys lips.

“It’s fine I guess. It’s just— I don’t know. I was so excited for this, and
planned it all out thinking we were all gonna get on so well, but then
that happened. And I guess it just made me feel like it was a bit of a
waste” Harry said with a shrug, feeling small and vulnerable.

“It wasn’t a waste babe, I’m so glad we all came here because apart
from what just happened out there it’s been amazing. I think me and
Liam’s—”

“Liam and I’s” Harry corrected with a smirk.

“Okay, Liam and I’s personalities just clash a bit, you know? Like, I’m
all energetic and loud, he’s sensible and quiet. An argument was bound
to happen at some point, at least it’s over with” Louis said with a smile,
bushing Harrys fringe away from his eyes.

“Y-yeh, you’re right. I accept your apology” Harry stuttered out, never
taking his state away from those gorgeous blue eyes.

666
“Thank you” Louis whispered, in a trance of his own as he too looked
into Harrys emerald green eyes.

It felt like this moment was going on forever, neither one of the two
wanting to break the contact; that was until a loud cough came from the
door.

“Am I interrupting something or?” Niall trailed off, giving the two boys
a funny look as they practically threw themselves away from each other.

“No, I Uh, was just making sure Harold here was okay. He’s good. Um,
wanna come back outside now? We’re gonna re start the game” Louis
stuttered out, turning back to ask Harry the question.

“Yeah, s-sure” Harry said, gulping loudly and shaking his head from
the tornado of thoughts racing around his mind.

The two boys smiled awkwardly at each other as they followed a

smirking Niall out of the glass door and round the fire pit once again,
seating themselves down and re encasing themselves in the fluffy
blankets.

“Ready to start again?” Zayn asked, smiling over at Harry who was now
in a much better mood.

“Are you guys sure it’s best to play this game again? After the last
time?” Harry asked nervously, biting his nails.

“It’ll be fine Haz, I know to bite me tongue now” Louis reassured with
a wink, patting Harry on the shoulder.

Harry just nodded and waited for the game to begin.

“Okay, well Liam should ask now, seeming as he has just been asked”
Zayn said, referring to the last question that had started all that drama.

667
“Alright, Louis, truth or dare?” Liam asked with a smirk.

“Dare” Louis replied casually, always being up for one.

“I dare you to skinny dip for 10 seconds” Liam said with a grin, causing
Louis to groan.

“Fuck sake, it’s gonna be freezing, there’s no sunlight!” Louis whined,

but stood up none the less.

“Too bad Tommo, you asked for it” Liam said as he laughed along with
the other lads.

“Fine then, but don’t stare at my ass too long, I’ve been told it’s great”
Louis said with a wink before stripping off in front of them all, not
caring one bit about anything other than the freezing wind.

“Fucking hell its freezing” Louis said as he stood in just his boxers,
Harry trying his hardest not to glance at the boys bum. How could he
not take a peak after the lad had mentioned it for crying out loud.

“Skinny dip Lou, that means butt naked” Niall stated, laughing at the
scowl thrown his way.

“Whatever, you asked for it” Louis said before tugging down his boxers
and throwing them to the side, only taking a moment before running off
to the pool and jumping in, screaming along the way.

And Louis was right, Harry thought. He did have a nice ass.

Harry furrowed his brows at the thought he had just had, silently asking
himself what the fuck was going on with him. He had never in his life
experienced any feelings towards guys, until now, and it was confusing
as hell to him.

668
He shook the thought off, thinking he probably just envied the older
boys amazing figure and wanted himself to look like that. He wasn’t
interested in guys.

“I think my dick has caught hypothermia, thanks Liam” Louis said

sarcastically as he ran back over to the fire pit, grabbing his blanket to
dry himself off before throwing on his clothes as quickly as possible.

“No problem mate, your turn” Liam replied with a chuckle, shaking his
head.

“Okay, Zayn, truth or dare?” Louis asked, taking a seat again and
grimacing as he felt the wet blanket touch his skin.

“Um, truth” He answered hesitantly.

“Fuck sake, I can’t be the only person doing dares” Louis huffed, but
asked a question anyway. “Fine, who’s the fittest lad here?”

“Fuck that mate, I’m not gay” Zayn scoffed, thinking the question was
ridiculous.

“You can think a guy is good looking without being gay Zayn, fucking
hell, just answer the damn question” Louis sassed back.

“Fine. Liam” Zayn answered with a shrug, seeing Louis smirk at his
answer. He didn’t dare look at Liam though.

Liam’s breath caught in his throat for a second, surprised at the answer,
but gathered himself quickly.

“Thanks mate” He said with a smile at the black haired boy, who smiled
shyly in return.

“Okay, Niall, truth or dare?” Zayn quickly asked the blonde,

desperately wanting the attention off him.

669
“Dare” Niall replied with a confident grin.

“Alright, I dare you to Irish dance to no music whilst downing a beer”

“It’s gonna be awkward but alright” Niall said as he grabbed a new can
of beer and began to dance, kicking his legs out as he jumped on the
spot, trying his best to not let any of the alcohol escape his mouth with
the rough movements he was making.

The lads watched in amusement, laughing loudly as Niall jerked his

hand too much and the beer spilled down his face, choking on some of
the liquid that went down his throat the wrong way.

Niall spluttered and coughed, breathing heavily as he dropped the beer

can to the floor. The lads continued laughing whilst he wiped his face
from the beer and took a seat again, finally laughing at his own mistake.

“That was bloody awful, some went up me nose” Niall said as he

laughed to himself.

“It was fucking funny though” Louis replied, finally calming down
from his own laughter.

“Okay, Harry, truth or dare?” Niall asked with a sly grin, knowing
exactly what he would ask.

“Dare, I guess” Harry replied cautiously, biting his lips from nerves.

“Well, seeming as you and Louis are so close. I dare you to kiss Lou”
Niall said with a grin, watching as Harrys face fell and Louis spat out
his beer.

“You want me to what?” Harry exclaimed, his eyes wide in shock at the
dare.

“You heard me. It’s only a dare anyway, it doesn’t mean anything”
Niall replied nonchalantly, shrugging.

670
“I’m not gonna kiss my best mate, I’m not even gay!” Harry said with
a frown, his hands emphasizing the words.

“Like Niall said, it’s a dare, it doesn’t mean anything” Liam cut in,
agreeing with the Irish man.

“Lou might not even want to” Harry said quietly, looking over to his
best friend as he fiddled with his beer can, avoiding eye contact with
Harry.

“Look, if I was ever going to kiss Harry I sure as hell won’t be doing it
just for a dare” Louis finally spoke up, gaining some confidence back.

“So you would kiss Harry if it weren’t a dare?” Zayn asked smugly,
tailoring his head at the boy.

“No! I didn’t— you know I didn’t mean it like that” Louis rushed out,
only to feel guilty when he saw Harrys frown. But why on Earth was
he frowning?

“Fucks sake, just kiss him in the cheek then” Niall compromised,
sighing in defeat.

“Fine. Lou?” Harry said in a questioning tone, making sure it was okay
with his friend.

“Yeh, go on then” Louis said with a playful roll to his eyes, turning his
cheek in the direction of Harry.

Harry hesitated for a moment before leaning over and pressing a quick
kiss to his cheek, falling back into his seat immediately afterwards.

Harry blushed at his own actions and stared at the floor, thinking about
how his lips tingled from even the quickest of kisses.

671
Louis felt the same feeling ignite on his own cheek, that was now
burning with redness from the peck. But again, he brushed it off as
nothing.

“There, wasn’t so bad now was it?” Niall quipped, smirking at the two
blushing boys.

“No” Harry mumbled whilst Louis stayed silent.

“I Uh, I’m gonna head to bed. ’m feeling tired. I’ll see you guys in the
morning Alright” Louis suddenly said, averting eye contact as he
smiled to the lads and walked back inside the house.

“Shit” Harry muttered, his eyes following Louis from inside the living
room.

“What?” Liam asked, wondering why the lad suddenly seemed

panicked.

“Why the fuck did I do that? He probably thinks I’m so weird now, he
wouldn’t even look at me” Harry replied in a rushed voice, his heart
rate slowly picking up. “It’s gonna be so awkward now. Why the fuck
did you dare me to do that Niall?”

“Harry calm down. It was only a peck on the cheek, no biggie. Like he
said, he’s probably just tired” Niall said comfortingly, scratching the
back of his neck.

“Like fuck he’s tired. Lou always stays up with me on the phone either
texting or calling late at night. He wouldn’t fucking go to sleep at half
ten” Harry stated, his voice rising slightly.

“It’s been a long day mate, to be honest I’m even getting quite tired and
I stay up late all the time. He’s your best friend, he’s not going to think
any less of you just because you kissed him on the cheek for a dare”
Zayn cut in, smiling reassuringly over at Harry who was again biting at
his nails.

672
“How do you know that. He could be bloody homophobic for all we
know” Harry argued, shaking his head.

“Louis? Homophobic? You’ve got to be kidding Haz. He’s one of the

most accepting people I know, like fuck would he be homophobic”
Liam said with a shocked face.

“Liam’s right, Lou wouldn’t be homophobic. Plus, he did slip up a bit

during the game” Niall said with a smirk.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked in confusion.

“He hinted that he would kiss you if it weren’t a dare, like, in the future
or somet” Niall explained as the rest of the lads caught on and grinned
at the realization; Harry was still in disbelief.

“As if. Louis is straight, he wouldn’t kiss any boy, let alone me” Harry
huffed, rolling his eyes at the thought.

“I bet he would, you and him seemed quite cosy in the living room
before” Niall replied, Liam and Zayn furrowing their brows.

“What’re you talking about?” Zayn asked, Liam nodding.

“I don’t even know, they were staring into each other’s eyes or some
shit. Looked a bit too close for friends to me”

“I’m right here!” Harry shouted, arms thrown out as he pointed to

himself.

“Oh yeh. Hi Haz” Niall replied with a smile, waving over

enthusiastically at the boy who sighed in return.

“Anyway, I don’t know what you think but I don’t care either. There’s
nothing going on and it’s gonna stay like that. Me and Lou are just best
mates and he was making sure I was okay. Now I’m going to bed, come

673
in when you want to” Harry said calmly before putting his beer can on
the floor and walking back into the house, leaving behind three
confused boys.

Harry tiredly walked down the corridor towards his room, thoughts
racing about what he might say to Louis if he is still awake.

He sighed as he reached the door, gently pushing it open and peering

inside. The lights were off, but he could faintly make out a figure laying
in their double bed.

Once he walked into the room he quietly shut the door and began to
undress himself, leaving just his boxers on as he’s sure Louis wouldn’t
care; he has already seen him naked.

He tiptoed around the other side of the bed and gently got under the
covers, finally relaxing once he was snuggled under the soft duvet.

“Haz?” Louis suddenly whispered, breaking the silence and startling

Harry who jumped in his spot.

“Fuck, I thought you were asleep” Harry groaned, keeping his voice
down for no particular reason.

“No, I’m sorry for scaring you” Louis replied in a shy tone, and Harry
could faintly make out the smile the boy sent his way through the dark.

“It’s alright Lou, why aren’t you asleep?”

“Couldn’t sleep”

“Why not?”

“I dunno, just, thinking I guess” Louis replied with a shrug, averting

eye contact.

“What were you thinking about?” Harry asked, intrigued.

674
“You are very nosy during the night aren’t you?” Louis teased,
smirking, but it was obvious he was avoiding the question.

“Don’t change the subject, what’s going on in that pretty little head of
yours?”

And Harry wanted to shoot himself right then and there. The words had
just slipped from his mouth without realizing it. And now, Louis is
probably even more uncomfortable than before, Harry thought.

“Shit, I’m sorry, it just slipped” Harry rushed to redeem himself,

shaking his head and closing his eyes tight.

A warm hand suddenly caressed his cheek, causing Harry to shoot his
eyes back open in shock.

“It’s alright Hazza, I’m flattered” Louis said with a blush, biting his lip.
“And I was just thinking about the game” he continued hesitantly.

“What about it?”

Louis sighed loudly before running a hand through his fringe, not
answering the question for a couple of moments. He looked towards the
ceiling and thought about how to go about the question.

“Would it be weird if I said I liked the kiss?”

Harry took a sharp intake of breath, not at all expecting that kind of
answer; he thought he had scared the boy off with the dare.

“What?” Harry replied, just to check he hadn’t been hearing things.

“Fuck, I don’t know. I mean— it was only on the cheek. It should have
had that much of an effect on me, but it did. And I don’t know why”
Louis answered, stumbling over his words as he tried his hardest to get
them out without it sounding like utter nonsense.

675
“Well, what if I told you I felt the same way?” Harry nervously replied,
trying to reassure the boy.

“You liked it?” Louis asked, surprised.

“Yeah. Gave me tingles. That’s some movie shit right there” Harry
joked to ease the tension, and it worked, because a second later both
lads were laughing about the situation.

Louis calmed down and sighed again, shaking his head and finally
looking back at Harry.

“I mean, it doesn’t mean anything though, right? It was just a stupid

dare” Louis said with a shrug, still smiling, but Harry felt the complete
opposite way.

Harry didn’t know why, but he felt like Louis had just crushed all the
hope inside of him. He shouldn’t even be feeling this way, it’s his best
friend for god sake. By this point he didn’t even know what he was
feeling; he was too confused.

“Yeah. Just a stupid dare” Harry said slowly, his voice quiet and
vulnerable, though Louis didn’t notice.

“Alright then, I am actually quite tired now, I’m gonna try get to sleep.
Question first though” Louis said with a smirk, raising his brows at the
younger boy.

“Shoot”

“Big spoon or little spoon?”

“Little spoon” Harry replied with a blush, his heart practically doing
flips at the thought of cuddling with Louis all night.

676
“Good answer” Louis replied with a grin before gesturing for Harry to
turn onto his side.

Harry complied and rolled over, seconds later feeling Louis chest press
up against his back and one of his arms sneak under his own, lying
gently on his stomach.

“Goodnight Haz”

“Night Lou”

And with smiles on both their faces, they fell into a blissful sleep.

End of flashback. Interview,

“That night had me really confused. Like, at that point I considered

myself straight, so I had no fucking clue why I liked the kiss or why I
wanted it to happen again. It made me think a lot about myself after
that” Harry said as he fiddled with the fabric of the couch, smiling to
himself at the memory.

“Same. I had to leave because I literally thought I was about to have a

panic attack right then and there. Because before I met Harry, I couldn’t
even picture myself with another lad, I’d always been interested in girls.
So it really threw me off I guess” Louis explained, turning to look at
Harry with a smile on his face as their eyes met.

“Exactly. Afterwards I just kept trying to dismiss the situation, kept

telling myself to think nothing of it because it was probably just a new
experience I wasn’t used to” Harry continued with a shrug.

“But, it was the first of many more kisses to come. We just didn’t know
it yet” Harry added, smirking at Louis once more before they continued
telling their story.

Flashback, X factor, judges houses, late August:

677
“Holy shit, this place is amazing” Louis said with a gasp as he looked
at the mansion of which was Simon Cowells home.

It was absolutely huge. The building stood tall and covered acres of
ground surrounded by the most beautiful scenery the boys had ever
seen. Inside it was crisp and clean, marble flooring covered the entire
house and lavish furniture was dotted about in perfect position. There
had to be at least ten bedrooms, two kitchens, 12 bathrooms, four living
rooms, a cinema room and many more. Outside was a large pool with a
hot tub connected to it, right beside a patio with comfy chairs and a fire
pit.

It was simply the most amazing place they had ever been to.

“You got that right Tommo, could you imagine having a house like
this? I bloody can’t” Liam said in amazement, looking around the
mansion.

“You never know. The band could become big and win the show” Niall
argued with a shrug, already trying to imagine himself owning a place
like this.

“I hope so. I’d love to have a mansion one day” Zayn said in a dazed
like state, trying to take everything in.

“I’d live with Lou in one” Harry said with a grin, pulling Louis to his
side as they laughed with each other.

“Already planning on moving in are we?” Louis asked teasingly, raising

his eyebrows at his best friend.

“Of course, were so gonna live together Lou. You just wait” Harry
stated confidently, knowing that if he had the chance he would move in
with Louis in a heartbeat.

“I’ll hold that to you then” Louis replied, smiling at Harry.

678
All the groups were gathered together in the main entrance of the house,
holding their suitcases to their sides as they waited for Simon to arrive.
And not a minute later he did.

“Hi everyone, welcome to my home. Now, I understand that you’re all

probably very tired after your trip, but before I let you go to your rooms
I need to explain the rules and what’s going to happen whilst you’re
here” Simon began, everyone nodding their heads in agreement.

“Okay, so some of you will need to share rooms whilst here but you can
sort that out yourselves and decide who you want to share with. Later
this evening my personal chef will be making you all some food, so
make your way down to the dining room at 6 o clock. You can stay up
as late as you want, however I recommend that you get to sleep early as
you need to be up early certain mornings for your session with the vocal
coaches. That being said you need to keep the noise down by at least 10
o clock so that you don’t disturb any other contestants. My producers
will come round each group individually to let you know when and
where you need to be for the vocal coaching and preparation for your
performance at the end of the week” Simon finally paused after
explaining all the main information.

“That’s basically all you need to know as of now. You’re all free to
explore but if you’re leaving the grounds you need to inform a member
of the team. If you need any assistance with anything there are maids
round the house and the producers can also help you. I hope you all
have a great week here, now off you go and pick your rooms, please
don’t fight over it though”

When Simon finally finished he smiled and gestures for everyone to

head upstairs to find their rooms. As they all passed Simon they greeted
him and thanked him for this opportunity, in which he replied to
politely.

“I’m sharing with Hazza!” Louis exclaimed as he grabbed Harrys hand

and pulled him along quickly to the stairs “come on, we’ve got to get
the best room!”

679
Harry laughed at the older boy and followed along like a lost puppy,
not realizing that Simon was following their moves carefully with
squinted eyes.

“Lou, slow down, there’s plenty rooms to choose from” Harry squeaked
out with a chuckle, shaking his head.

“But we need the best Harold! You deserve the best” Louis said with a
wink, causing Harry to blush, but shake the comment off.

They finally made it to the top of the grand staircase with the lads and
many more groups following behind them. Louis looked left and right
down both hallways, trying to figure out which way to go.

“Right, I think this way!” Louis shouted before sprinting off again down
the right hallway, passing many doors to rooms that he didn’t bother to
look in. Harry sighed before running after the boy once Louis shouted
“come on Harry!”

Louis suddenly came to a stop, causing Harry to bump into his back and
almost fall over. “Sorry Lou” Harry mumbled before confusion took
over his head. “Why did you stop?”

“Hi, I’m Louis, sorry but do you know which is the nicest room down
here?” Louis asked, confusing Harry further until he poked his head
around and saw a maid smiling kindly.

“Of course, go straight to the end of the hallway and it’s your first door
on the left. Have fun” She replied with a small wink before getting back
to work.

“Thank you so much, we will” Louis said excitedly, turning to grin at

Harry before pulling him once again down the hallway.

“Think it’s this one” Louis muttered before opening the door, gasping
at what he saw.

680
The room was huge and the two outer walls were made completely out
of glass, giving an amazing view of the ocean and the beach. There was
a huge double bed opposite the window, adorned in blankets and
pillows. The floor was heated and soft to the touch, making it feel as if
you were walking on clouds. And probably the best part, they had their
own private bathroom connected.

“Fucking hell, she was right. This must be the best room. Well, other
than Simons, he obviously has the best room” Louis said as he walked
over to the window, taking in the view.

“I know right, it’s beautiful” Harry agreed, walking up behind Louis

and wrapping his arms around his chest, causing Louis to smile
brightly.

“This is gonna be the best week ever, I’m telling you” Louis stated,
looking over his shoulder at Harry, not realizing how close their faces
were.

“Well, that’s if we don’t get kicked out the competition” Harry said
with a small frown.

“We won’t, I’m sure of it, all of you were great as soloists, never mind
with your voices combined together. You sound amazing” Louis replied
confidently.

“What do you mean us? Louis you’re a part of the band too, you’re just
as good as the rest of us. It wouldn’t be right without you” Harry argued
with a sad look, shocked that Louis feels so insecure about his voice
that he can’t even include himself in the band.

“Harry, I’m nowhere near as good a singer as the rest of you, don’t be
silly” Louis said with a sigh, looking back out into the distance.

Harry furrowed his brows and walked to stand in front of Louis, placing
his hands on his shoulders and looking him straight in the eyes.

681
“Take That back” Harry said firmly, a serious look across his face.

“Wha—”

“You heard me, take it back”

Louis looked dumbfounded, confusion written across his face. He

shook his head and tried to speak, but nothing came out other than a
small voice crack which he coughed to cover it up.

“Hm? I’m waiting. Haven’t got all day” Harry said teasingly, tilting his
face to the side.

“But I’d be lying” Louis whispered, looking back at the floor.

Harry sighed in frustration before delicately placing a finger under

Louis chin and tilting his head back up towards his own.

“I’m not having any of that. You wouldn’t be lying. Lou, you’ve got a
fucking fantastic voice, you sound like a bloody angel when you sing,
I can’t get enough of it. This band wouldn’t even work without you, it’s
your higher pitch that balances the rest of ours out. If you disagree?
Well, you’re clearly in need of a hearing aid. Now take it back before I
make you” Harry said seriously, not taking his eyes off Louis’ for even
a second.

“Like you could make me do anything” Louis scoffed, rolling his eyes.
But his heart was warmed by the loving words Harry had just said to
him.

“Oh really? You wanna bet?” Harry asked with a cocky grin,
challenging the boy.

“In fact I do” Louis replied, placing his hands on his hips as he stared
Harry down.

682
“Alright, you asked for it” Harry said with a shrug before lunging at
Louis and picking him up before throwing him over his shoulder,
laughing as he squirmed and punched at his back.

“Let me down! I swear to god Harry!”

“Take it backkk!” Harry said in a singing tone, purposefully jumping

around to jolts Louis about.

“No!” Louis whined, his head beginning to hurt from the blood that
rushed towards it.

“Guess you’ll have to stay up there then” Harry replied casually,

walking around the room.

“Ugh, Fine, I fucking take it back you big oaf!” Louis finally said,
huffing in defeat.

“Well done” Harry replied with a grin before throwing Louis onto the
bed softly, climbing on it with him.

“Happy now?” Louis groaned, looking at the ceiling.

“Very” Harry smirked, laying on his side to look at his friend.

“If you ever do that again Styles, I’ll hit you so hard on the ass that you
won’t be able to sit for a week” Louis warned, scowling at Harry who
just smiled in return.

“No you won’t, you love me too much” Harry cheekily replied,
knowing he was right.

“I-true” Louis admitted, laughing with Harry for a moment before the
calmed down and laid on silence.

683
“Your hair is so curly” Louis said after about five minutes of silence,
reaching over and gently moving some hair out of Harry’s face,
caressing the skin on his forehead. “I bet you perm it”

“Oh fuck off, as if” Harry whined whilst Louis laughed, imagining
Harry with curlers in his hair. “I bet you straighten yours”

“I’ll have you know my hair is naturally straight thank you very much”
Louis sassed back, loving his own fringe away from his eyes.

“Your eyes are so blue. They look like the ocean out there” Harry said
when he noticed the bright shade of them in the current lighting of the
room.

“Well, mum gave me them, can’t complain. Oh, speaking of me mum,

she wants to see you again sometime properly. Think she likes you
more than I do to be honest” Louis said, smiling at Harry who looked
surprised.

“Oh, well I’d love to see her again. You know, I bet our mums would
get along so well. They’re pretty similar” Harry replied, thinking about
getting all their family’s to meet.

“We should have a get together once the competition is over. You could
meet my sisters as well. Only thing is, they live in Donny and yours live
in Cheshire” Louis said excitedly, before frowning at the distance.

“If it were a big get together I’m sure my family wouldn’t mind coming
down to Doncaster. My mum would love it I’m sure” Harry offered
with a shrug.

“Well, that’s if you really want them coming to Doncaster, it’s not the
brightest place in the UK lets just say that” Louis joked, though he
believed every word he was saying. He loved his home town, but it does
have a reputation.

684
“It would be fine. It better than Cheshire anyway. Sure, it has beautiful
scenery, but it’s boring as fuck. There’s nothing to do there” Harry said
with a chuckle.

“We can figure it out next time we speak with our parents yeh, for now
let’s just enjoy this” Louis dismisses the conversation and pulled Harry
closer to him, snaking his arm around his waist.

Harry giggled and let Louis pull him closer, snuggling his face into the
crook of his neck and enjoying the moment. “I love cuddling with you”
He mumbled into his neck and closed his eyes.

“Me too. It’s nice you know, I’ve never been this close with any of my
other mates back home, not even Stan” Louis replied, breathing Harrys
scent in and sighing in bliss.

“Who’s Stan?” Harry asked with furrowed brows.

“My best mate, well, apart from you. I’ve known him my whole life,
we get on so well. But I could never have moments like this with him,
he would probably find it weird”

“Why is this weird?”

“It’s not, but I guess it’s just not that type of friendship with him”

“What type of friendship is this then?” Harry asked, confused.

“We’re closer than friends Harry. You mean more to me than just a
friend. You’re the person I can share anything with, I can be myself
around you no matter what. You never mind us practically being
attached at the hip, neither do I. Where as normal friends need space. I
don’t know, you’re just special to me Haz”

Harry was lost for words once Louis finished. He had never in his life
felt so close to a person more than he did with Lou. But that’s the thing
that confused him. They were just friends, and to his knowledge both

685
of them were straight. But if they’re more than friends then what are
they? Brothers? That just didn’t seem right.

“You’re special to me too. I’ve never connected with someone in such

short space of time as I have with you Lou. You’re my best friend and
you always will be” Harry said truthfully, however he could help but
feel unsure when labelling him as his best friend. It didn’t sit right with
him.

“You’re my person Haz” Louis whispered, smiling into his curly hair.

“And you’re mine Lou” Harry agreed, feeling giddy. They couldn’t feel
more content.

Later that week (still flashback) :

“Harry stop!” Louis screeched as more sea water was splashed in his
face, some getting into his eyes, causing him to shit them tightly from
the stinging feeling.

“You started it. Don’t begin something you can’t handle Lou” Harry
teased, grinning as Louis stumbled about, rubbing his eyes.

“Oh fuck off, I didn’t expect you to get salt water into my— FUCK!”
Louis stopped kid sentence as he cried out in pain, startling Harry as he
swam over to him as fast as possible.

“Lou? Louis! What the fuck? Are you okay?” Harry exclaimed, looking
over Louis as he struggled to tread water because of the amount of pain
he was in.

“No, fuck. Help me Haz!” Louis managed to get out before he

accidentally got a mouthful of sea water.

“Shit, alright. Liam! Guys, help!” Harry shouted over his shoulder to
the boys who were messing around in the water a few meters away.

686
“Come on Lou, I got you” Harry shushed as Louis yelped again. He
gently gripped Louis waist and pulled Louis into his arms.

“My foot Harry, fucking hurts” Louis whined our, hissing when it made
contact with Harrys shin.

“Sorry, can you walk?” Harry asked, careful now of his foot.

“Like fuck can I walk, it’s killing” Louis replied sassily, but it was all
in good nature, it obviously wasn’t Harrys fault.

“Alright alright, keep your pants on” Harry replied with a chuckle.

“I should be saying that to you-ow!” Louis hissed again, his foot

banging against the other.

“Karmas a bitch huh?” Harry joked, but immediately shut up when

Louis flared at him.

“What the fuck happened?” Liam asked as he saw Louis in pain,

immediately panicking.

“I’m not sure, my foot fucking kills though. I must have stood on
something” Louis whined, clenching his fists tightly around Harrys
arms.

Harry continued to carefully carry Louis out the water, the rest of the
lads following behind with a look of worry and confusion on their faces.

Once they reached the sand Harry placed Louis down on a beach towel,
being careful of the foot that he could now see was red and swollen,
some parts even turning a shade of purple.

“Fucking hell Lou, What the fuck did you stand on?” Harry asked in
shock as he sat down next to Louis and placed his own shirt under
Louis’ foot to keep it away from any sand and to cushion it as best as
possible. He wanted the boy to be comfy.

687
“I dunno, I wasn’t looking. Maybe it was one of those sand fish or
something? Or some poisonous coral?” Louis replied, now laying on
his back as he held a hand over his face, trying to calm himself down
and not think of the pain. “Distract me Harry, please”

“Uh, Okay. How?” Harry replied with a sheepish look, biting his lip.

“Really Harry? If anyone can distract him it’s you, just do what you
normally do with him whilst I call an ambulance!” Liam scolded,
walking away to call for help.

“Fuck okay. Um, wanna hear a joke?”

“God no. But go on then” Louis groaned, knowing a terrible joke was
to come, but it was better than having to deal with the pain.

“Knock knock”

“Who’s there”

“Voodoo”

“Voodoo who?”

“Voodoo you think you are, asking so many questions?”

And it was so silent, you could hear the nonexistent crickets chirping.

“Harry”

“Yeah”

“Do us a favor, never tell me a joke again”

“I— okay”

688
“Louis”

“What”

“Knock knock”

“God damn it Harry!” Louis groaned but couldn’t help but let out a
small chuckle at the boy. He was just too adorable for his own good.

“What? You said to distract you, I bet it worked didn’t it” Harry
retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No” Louis mumbled, but looked to see Harry was giving him a pointed
look. “Okay fine, it did, so what? Doesn’t make the joke any better”

“Still, the point was to distract you, not tell a good joke” Harry argued,
leaning back on the palm of his hands.

“Shit, it’s starting to hurt really bad. Where the fuck is Liam?” Louis
groaned, his smile leaving his face once again.

“He’s coming now don’t worry” Niall said as he and Zayn made their
way over, followed by Liam who was a little further behind.

“Thank fuck for that”

“Right, an ambulance is on its way and I’ve also informed the producers
of what happened. They’re gonna meet us at the hospital because they
need to know if you’re gonna be back on time to perform or not” Liam
explained, pocketing his phone.

“Holy shit! The fucking performance! No no no, oh my god what if I

can’t perform? What if I’m not back in time! It’s literally today!” Louis
suddenly exclaimed, bolting upright but wincing when he tensed his
foot.

689
“Calm down Lou, I’m sure you’ll be back in time and if not the
producers will figure something out, we can’t perform without you”
Harry said soothingly, rubbing Louis thigh.

Louis blushed for a second but brushed it off, he had other things to
worry about.

“But what if I’m not. You guys better go ahead and sing without me if
it comes to it or I swear to god I will fucking beat your arses. You’re
not giving up this chance just because I bloody got injured” Louis said
sternly, looking them each dead in the eye to show that he meant every
word.

“But Lou—”

“No, you’re gonna have to sing without me if it comes to it Haz, I can

just sing next time if I don’t make it back” Louis said in a softer tone
this time, not wanting to upset Harry.

Harry sighed but nodded his head slowly, patting Louis leg to show he
meant it. He would do what Louis told him to if that’s what he really
wanted.

“Good” Louis said before the ambulance pulled up onto the sand, a
team rushing out with a stretcher.

“What happened? Do you know what he may have stepped on?” A

woman asked as soon as she got out the ambulance, crouching down to
inspect Louis’ foot.

“Um, no I’m not sure. It was spikey though” Louis answered, wincing
as the woman put too much pressure in one particular spot on his foot.

“Okay I’m thinking it may have been a sea urchin but you’ll need to go
to the hospital for further treatment. Are any of you lads coming?” The
woman asked, finally standing back up again.

690
“Yeh—”

“No, Harry we can't, the producers want us back at the mansion to

prepare for our performance” Liam said, shaking his head sadly.

Harry looked conflicted as he watched a frown appear on Louis’ face,

he desperately wanted to go with him, to make sure he was okay. But if
the producers said no then he can’t really do anything about it.

“Go on Haz, I’ll be alright. If I can I’ll text you to keep you updated
okay?” Louis said after noticing Harrys silence, smiling up at his friend.

“You sure?” Harry asked, double checking.

“Positive”

Harry gave Louis one last hug goodbye before he was taken into the
ambulance.

End of flashback Interview:

“You don’t even understand how nervous I was that day. When I got
back to the mansion I could barely even focus on rehearsing during
vocals because I was just worried about Lou the entire time. I think by
the end of it the lads were sick of telling me to calm down” Harry
explained with a chuckle, shaking his head.

“I did text you though, I was telling you I was alright but you wouldn’t
listen to me” Louis teased, ruffling up Harrys hair.

“Well my best mate was in hospital and we had a performance coming

up, how was I supposed to react?” Harry defended, putting his arms out
at Louis.

“True but it worked out in the end just like I told you it would. You’re
just a little drama queen” Louis replied with a wink, sticking his tongue
out at the man.

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“You’re the biggest drama queen out of the group Lou” Harry retorted,
looking behind the camera to see all the lads nodding in agreement.

“Oh shush, you’ve got to have one dramatic bitch in the band” Louis
joked, causing the lads to laugh.

“But yeh, anyway, I guess that was the day I properly realized how
much you meant to me. I mean, I literally nearly had a panic attack just
from you standing on sea urchin” Harry concluded, looking back at the
camera.

“Awww Harry!” Louis said in a high pitched voice, causing Harry to

groan and roll his eyes sarcastically. “But yeh you’re right, that week
we got a lot closer, I think that was kind of the turning point when we
began to properly develop feelings for one another, even if we didn’t
realize we were” Louis agreed.

“Yeah, that week was confusing as fuck to say the least” Harry added,
shrugging.

“But there’s a lot left to the story, so I think we should continue or we

will be here all night” Louis said with a smile, and Harry agreed, the
two of them trying to remember what happened next.

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 60
Our Story: Part 3

Flashback— September 13th, 2010

The past month had been crazy for the boys, Louis and Harry in
particular.

Getting through judges houses was one of the best feelings in the world
and they were happily making their way through the next stages.

And they’re now finally back in England, as much as they enjoyed the
hot summer days abroad, they would be lying if they said they didn’t
miss their own country.

The lads sat in the studio with their vocal coaches and producer,
preparing for their next performance, and everything was fine, apart
from the fact that Harry seemed to be stuck in his own head.

“Harry love, what is going on with you today? We’ve only got one more
day before performances and you’re barely with us. We need to get this
finished” their vocal coach, Bella, asked in a soft tone, looking
concerned.

“What? Oh, nothing, I’m sorry don’t worry about it. Guess I’m just
tired” Harry replied lazily, snapping himself out of his thoughts when
his name was mentioned.

“Cut the bullshit Haz, I know you better than anyone else in this room.
Bella is right, somethings up, and you need to tell your best mate why
right now” Louis said in a teasing tone, trying to cheer him up, but those
two words only made him feel worse.

“Best mate”

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You see, the past month had been great, that wasn’t a lie. However with
how great things had been going between Louis and Harry, it only made
things more confusing.

As time was going by, even as short as the time had been, Harry could
feel himself developing feelings that grew stronger by the day for his
so called ’best friend’, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He spend most nights laying awake, conflicted by the idea of himself

possibly being gay. It even went as far as to taking a quiz online to see
what the results came up as. Just to desperately try and find an answer
so he didn’t have to figure it out himself. But all he ended up getting
was a percentage of 63, so according to a generated online quiz, he was
“bi curious”. Bi-Louis more like.

And he found it stupid. So utterly stupid that he was affected this much
by his best friend, by Louis. Small touches would send tingles right
through his spine. He could find himself mesmerized by his smile. He
could stare into them gorgeous blue eyes for hours. And don’t even get
him started on his ass.

Few too many times had he been caught by Louis staring at his behind.
It was ridiculous. And all he would get was a cheeky wink or teasing
line when he caught Harry practically drooling.

But it was more conflicting because he had never, and still hasn’t, been
attracted to any other guys except Louis fucking Tomlinson.

And that is the exact reason why half the time nowadays he’s spaced
out, because all he can think about is Louis, Louis, Louis. All the damn
time. Questions circle his head such as “could he be gay” “do I just
admire him” “how would I get over this” “how do I bring this up”. He
still hasn’t answered any of them.

And he’s scared to answer them. Because he knows once he comes up

with a conclusion, there’s no going back. If he knows for definite, then

694
he’s going to have to live with it. And if living with it means living with
wanting Louis but not being able to have him, he doesn’t know how he
could cope with that.

So instead he’s brushing it off, or he thinks he is, when really it’s all he
can think about twenty four seven.

“Lou there’s nothing wrong, I promise, like I said, I’m just tired. No big
deal” Harry replied with a shrug, smiling at Louis who looked adorable
in one of his own hoodies, it practically engulfed the boy.

“Alright, well if nothing’s wrong then snap out of it. We’ve got singing
to do” Louis teased, pinching his cheeks before turning back to their
producer who was looking between the two with a confused look. That
makes two of them then.

“Okay so, viva la vida, you’ve all got your parts—

“Why can’t Louis or Niall have a solo? It always seems to be me and

Liam, occasionally Zayn” Harry interrupted, slightly annoyed by the
fact.

“Um, I mean it’s just how it works you know? Like, certain parts sound
better with certain tones of voices, so, it just fit better with you two
having the solos. Why? Do you not want yours because we can cut your
solo if you’d like?” Bella replies, seemingly nervous to answer the
question, but also defensive.

“I-no that’s not what I said. I asked why they haven’t had a solo yet”
Harry shot back quickly, earning a rub on the shoulder from Louis who
could see he was tense.

“It’s alright Haz, I don’t mind, honestly. She’s probably right anyway,
you sound better” Louis said with a smile, but Harry could see straight
through it. He knew Louis was obviously bothered by the fact, Niall as
well, they just didn’t want to admit it.

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“No it’s not fair on you guys though. You’re not getting the chances
you deserve to show your full potential to the judges. Your just as good
of singers as the rest of us, or you wouldn’t be in the competition” Harry
replies, looking sadly at his friend.

“Don’t stress love, we will get our chances, you watch. Right now it’s
your turn to shine” Louis said in a quieter voice, looking straight into
Harry’s eyes whilst he did so, causing Harry to blush.

“Yeah don’t worry Harry, it’s only early in the competition yet, they
will get solos for sure” Bella reassures, tightly smiling at the group
though they didn’t notice.

After an hours rehearsal, the lads were free to leave and do whatever
they wished for the rest of the day, except leave the house, sadly that
wasn’t allowed.

“God that tired me out, I’m thinking about just watching a movie or
something. Wanna come Haz, we can just cuddle for a bit in my bed
yeh?” Louis asked as he rubbed his eyes, Harry having to stop himself
from cooing.

“Sure, sounds good” Harry replied, giving a dimpled smile to Louis

before he was taken by the hand and dragged upstairs.

“No invite for us then, no cuddling? No? Okay” Niall muttered before
heading to the kitchen.

Once they got to their room, Louis shut the door before grabbing his
laptop whilst Harry slid under the covers on the bed, getting himself
comfy. Louis then joined him “move up you plonker” and snuggled into
his side.

The tight space was constricting, especially with Louis right up on his
side, and Harry was practically finding it hard to breathe. This was the
shit he couldn’t deal with. With his feelings being so strong, his instinct
was to wrap his arms tight around Louis and hold him close whilst

696
watching the movie, maybe kiss him on the head and stroke his hand
through his hair. But he couldn’t, because they are “friends”.

“I love this. Just cuddling with you while watching movies. It takes the
stress of the competition away, you know? Just having this moment to
ourselves” Louis suddenly said, halfway through the movie as his head
rested on Harry’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I understand. It’s nice to just relax after all the rehearsing” Harry
mumbled, biting his lip unconsciously from his nerves.

“Hm, do you ever miss your family? Or friends? You know, with being
here all the time” Louis asked, tipping his head up to look at Harry.

“Course I do, but I mean, we still get to call them and stuff, so it isn’t
all bad”

“Yeah same. I miss my mate, Stan, we were so close before I

auditioned, not as close as us mind you, but we practically saw each
other every day. He’s like a brother to me” Louis said thoughtfully,
confusing Harry as to where he was going with this.

“Oh, uh, yeah must be rough. Being away from someone you care about
so much. But it’s not like he’s gone forever, you’ll see him during
shows if he comes to watch, and then once this is over you can see him
whenever” Harry replied, brows furrowed as he didn’t really know what
to say.

“Yeah I guess. He’s great, but like, he can be a prick sometimes”

“How so?”

“He’s a bit, um, unaccepting. Like, we once saw this gay couple in our
local park, they were just minding their own business, holding hands
and kissing every so often. And Stan turns to me and says” fucking fags,
don’t they know not to do that shit in public “. I was shocked, because
he had never shown that kind of behavior or dislike towards anyone

697
before, and he was always so accepting of other people, but not that
time. I couldn’t understand it” Louis said, his voice shaking a little as
he explained.

Harry froze, on the verge of running out the room right then and there.
Why was he telling him this now? When they’re sat all cuddled up
against each other in the dark room watching a movie. Why? Was he
catching on or something? Does he know he likes him?

And shit. He just admitted it to himself. He really does have a crush on

his best friend.

“Haz?”

“What?” Harry asked in a daze.

“You zoned out again”

“Oh, um, sorry yeh. That’s a pretty shit thing to do” Harry said
nervously, chewing on his nails.

“Yeah. I never understand how people can be like that. Like, what’s so
bad about liking a guy? It doesn’t matter what gender you’re into, it
doesn’t change you as a person, right?” Louis asked, with a somewhat
hopeful tone.

“Right. It doesn’t matter, at the end of the day you can’t help who you
like. It just happens” Harry said, forcing himself to look down at Louis
who was already staring up at him.

He hadn’t realized how close their faces were until now, and the panic
only simmered more in his stomach. Scratch that. It boiled in his
stomach, like it was about to blow any second.

“Yeah, it just happens” Louis whispered, flicking his eyes down to

Harry’s lips for a split second before meeting his eyes again.

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Harry noticed the action, unconsciously licking his lips in return, and
for a moment he thought he might be about to do what he’s been
wanting to for about a month. But he couldn’t Let himself.

Harry backed away quickly, almost giving himself whiplash as he

bolted out of the bed, stumbling as he did so. He mumbled a “sorry I’ve
got to do something” before running out the door and leaving Louis to
himself in the room.

He ran downstairs as quick as he could, heart thrumming away in his

chest as he bee lined for the kitchen. He knew Niall would be in here.

He spotted Niall chatting to Cher and grabbed his arm, tugging him out
of the room.

“Hey what the fuck, I was eating!” Niall shouted, but he got no reply
and was pushed into the small bathroom, Harry locking the door behind
them as he began to pace.

“Fuck I don’t know what to do” Harry muttered to himself, shaking

whilst he gripped his hair.

“Harry calm down alright. Just talk to me, what’s going on?” Niall
asked in a worried tone, eyes wide as he watched his band mate
practically pull his own hair out.

“I think I’m bi-Louis”

“Bi what now?”

“Louissexual”

“Louis what?”

“I think I’m gay”

699
“You’re— oh” Niall said, finally understand what Harry was trying to
say.

“Yeah. I think I’m gay for my best friend” Harry said, finally stopping
with the pacing and sitting on the floor, back against the wall.

Niall looked shocked for a moment, before a huge grin spread on his
face. “Fucking finally” he exclaimed, patting Harry on the back.

“Wait, what?” Harry asked, tilting his head up in confusion.

“Finally mate. It took you long enough. You banged him yet?” Niall
asked with a cheeky grin, wiggling his eyes brows.

“What the fuck? No Niall, I have not banged my best friend. For gods
sake I only just admitted to myself that I like him” Harry exclaimed
with a shake of his head, before realizing he should probably keep the
noise down.

“Okay okay, I get it, no need to shout. But, good on ya mate, it’s about
time you realized it” Niall replies with a reassuring smile, rubbing
soothingly into Harry’s back.

“What do you mean about time?”

“We could all see it from the moment we met youse, the lads and I made
a bet on when you would get together”

“What? You made a fucking bet? We’re not even together Niall, that’s
the problem. I don’t even know if he’s gay, or if he likes me back. I
don’t know shit right now and it’s so confusing” Harry said with a sigh,
hitting his head on the wall.

“Are you joking right now? You must be blind if you can’t see the way
he looks at you. Yes we made a bet, because it was so blatantly obvious
you both like each other. I mean, you’re definitely too close and

700
comfortable with each other for it to be considered friendly” Niall said
with a roll of his eyes.

“How?”

“Okay, answer this then. Do you cuddle with any of your other mates?”

“No”

“Do you tease your other mates?”

“Not really”

“Do you sexually tease your other mates?”

“I— no what the fuck?”

“Do you feel that you can’t be without your other mates for more than
a day?”

“Nope”

“Do you do all this with Louis?”

“Yes, wait—”

“Case closed” Niall finished with a smirk, crossing his arms over his
chest with a proud look.

“Okay whatever, but that doesn’t change anything. I don’t know if he

likes me that way, and I don’t want to ruin our friendship by bringing it
up to him in case he doesn’t” Harry said with a groan.

“Okay but why are you telling me all this now? Why are you so
panicked about it?”

701
“Um, well, there may have been a moment when we were watching a
movie. And he brought up this story about his mate not liking gay
people. So he was asking me all this shit about how I feel about the
subject. And we both agreed that you like what you like and it just
happens, and we kind of nearly kissed” Harry replied, so fast that he
needed to take a breather afterwards.

“You what!” Niall exclaimed, eyes wide.

“Shh! Keep it down would you” Harry said with a panicked look.

“You almost kissed and you’re asking me about how to know if he likes
you or not? Come on man, thought you were smarter than that”

“It could have just been in the moment though, I don’t know. He might
not have realized what he was doing or some shit” Harry said with a
shrug, but he knows he’s just trying to come up with any other excuse.

“Don’t be daft, nobody just kisses someone without meaning to. Well,
if you’re not drunk anyway. But I’m pretty sure use weren’t”

“I guess”

“Harry look mate, you can think all you want on it. You can try come
up with all the excuses under the sun if you want. But none of them will
be true, because that boy likes you just as much as you like him and I
know it. Fucking hell, I’m pretty sure even Simon knows it and he’s
barely round us. Just don’t stress alright. If it doesn’t work out it doesn’t
work out. It is what it is. But I’m telling you now, that won’t be the
case. You can always come talk to me about it, I’m here for you Haz,
and don’t put yourself down about it. You can’t help who you like and
it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m pretty sure Louis would love you no
matter what happens because you’re too close to let something like this
come between you. Just don’t over think it, and talk to him when you’re
ready”

702
Niall finished his mini speech with a warming smile and a touch to
Harry’s knee. And it’s all Harry could’ve asked for. He stood up after
a moment and hugged Niall tightly, murmuring a bunch of thank yous
into his shoulder whilst Niall rubbed his back.

“No problem mate, anything you need just ask. Now, I suggest you
relax for a bit, clear your head, and then think up a plan to get your
man.” Niall said with a wink before leaving the bathroom.

And whilst Harry was left alone, Niall instantly ran up the stairs to go
find Louis.

The only problem was the boy wasn’t in their room. Nor we’re his
laptop, phone, chargers and clothes. It wasn’t looking good.

Niall tried remained calm, but with the performance coming up in just
a day, and Louis being nowhere to be seen, he could feel the panic
settling in his gut already.

He took out his phone and tried to call Louis, but it was no luck. It went
straight to voice mail. He could tell the lads, but then they’ll tell Harry
and he would think it’s his fault. So that was out of the options.

Then an idea struck him. Twitter.

They have already gained a large following on their twitter accounts, if

he tweeted something Louis would be sure to see it in his mentions.

But he would have to be careful, if it was too obvious the lads would
ask questions.

“Louis ring me, Harry told me somethin tday that u told him, TALK T
ME”

He sent the tweet and began the waiting game.

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After about 10 minutes of waiting, Liam walked into the bedroom with
a confused look across his face. Shit.

“Nialler, what’s that tweet about? Where’s Lou?” He asked, beginning

to put on his serious voice.

“Oh it’s nothing Liam, don’t worry about it. Louis is just, um, hiding
somewhere. Yeah. Hide and seek” Niall replied, his voice wavering as
he tried to come up with an excuse on the spot.

“I’m not stupid Niall. Hide and seek, really? Look, where’s Louis? Has
something happened?” He asked, now standing against the door with
his arms crossed.

“I, uh, fuck fine, you can’t tell Harry though. Promise me mate, it’s a
touchy situation” Niall said, giving up as he knew he had no way out of
this.

“Sure, unless this is something really serious, it’s his best mate Niall”
Liam agreed, walking over to the bed to sit down.

“Okay fine fine. Basically, something happened between Louis and

Harry, no surprise there, and they almost kissed, according to Haz. And
so I came up here to talk to Lou, but he’s gone. Like, there’s no point
checking the rest of the house cause his phone and clothes are gone too.
I didn’t know what to do, so I sent that tweet out in hope that he will
see it in his mentions”

“Shit. Niall, did you not think there’s a possibility that Louis could be
in danger for gods sake. He’s alone and he hasn’t said where he’s off
to, we really should let someone know. Never mind the fact that we
have a performance coming up” Liam said in a concerned tone, sighing
as he ran a hand down his face.

“Fuck I know but then Harry will find out and think it’s his fault” Niall
said with a frown.

704
“Don’t you think he would feel worse if Louis got hurt because we
didn’t say anything than if we went and found him?” Liam replied,
giving Niall a pointed look.

“I mean, yeah, but we could just try find him without letting Haz know,
can’t we?” Niall asked, hopefully.

“Let’s just try figure this out and if he finds out he finds out, nothing
we can do about it” Liam said with a shrug.

“Well, how the fuck we gonna find him then? We can’t leave the house.
Or, we can’t without getting into shit for it” Niall said with a sigh.

“Try calling him?”

“He didn’t pick up last time”

“Try again then”

Niall nodded and called Louis, it rang about four times before, finally,
Louis answered.

“Thank fuck, mate where are you? We’re worried. Did you not see my
tweet?” Niall asked frantically, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I just need to figure some shit out. I’m going to talk to me mum, don’t
worry about it, I’ll be back as soon as I can” Louis replied, his voice
sounding both frustrated and vulnerable.

“But— you can’t just leave Lou, it’s against the rules. The producers
will go mad if they find out, and they most likely will. Just come back
and call her instead” Niall pleaded.

“I can’t. I’m nearly home anyway, I need to see her in person. I’ll deal
with the producers if I have to, I don’t give a shit. I’m 18, they can’t
control me” Louis spat.

705
“They could kick you out though” Liam interjected, seeming as the
phone was on speaker.

“They wouldn’t, it would ruin their rep. We’ve got too many fans now
for them to get rid of a member. I’ll call you later, I need to go” Louis
replies calmly, sounding so sure of himself.

“Look, okay do what you want, but be safe. We need you through this
Lou, whatever issues you’ve got right now, it’ll be okay. You can talk
to us anytime” Niall said softly.

“Cheers. And I will, be safe I mean. I just needed to get out of there for
a bit, think it was driving me mad” Louis says with a small chuckle, and
this was something the lads could agree on. Being cooped up in a house
for weeks wasn’t the greatest thing in the world.

“Yeah, we understand. Talk soon Lou. Hope you’re alright” Liam said.

“Thank you. Bye” Louis replied, and with that he hung up, leaving the
lads confused.

“Well, it’s safe to say he’s having his own inner conflict, and I think we
both know who’s causing it” Niall said once he turned his phone off.

“They just need to get together already, it’s quite clear they both like
each other” Liam agreed, nodding his head.

“Let’s hope it’s sorted soon then ey?”

“Hope so”

End of flashback. Present day. Interview:

“So you had a full on melt down then? Because you liked me. God I
thought you were straight and that I had just fucked everything up, what
with you running away and all” Louis said with a laugh, grinning at
Harry who had a grimace on his face.

706
“No, I wanted to kiss you so bad, I had wanted to for the past month.
But I felt that I couldn’t let it happen like that, if it were to, because we
hadn’t talked anything through and I didn’t know where your head was
at with it. I guess I just panicked” Harry replied, shaking his head at the
memory.

“Well, I can say I definitely felt the same way. And after being rejected
there Haz you kind of broke me heart. That’s why I went to talk to my
mum about it all. But I guess that didn’t really end well did it” Louis
said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, and Harry knew exactly what
he was talking about.

Flashback. September 14th, 2010:

Louis had been on the train for hours now, making his way back to
Doncaster with an unrelenting urge to talk to his mum.

The whole journey there he felt sick to his stomach; like he was about
to throw up all over the nice old lady sat besides him. Don’t ask.

He knew he shouldn’t have done it. Harry’s straight, his straight best
friend. And making a move like he had done may have just costed that
friendship.

As he thinks back on it, he could’ve sworn that Haz was leaning in. He
could’ve sworn that he had seen Harry’s tongue swipe his bottom lip.
Just for a second, he thought it was finally going to happen. He thought
his dream was about to come true, and fireworks would shoot off into
the sky writing letters that’s said “I’ve kissed my best friend, bitches”

But no, sadly life doesn’t work like that. And instead he got a frantic
Harry fleeing the room like there was some kind of disease lingering in
the air.

And the sad part is, he believed he actually had a chance. He believed
that Harry would feel the same way, and they would run off into the

707
sunset together holding hands like they’re in some sappy romance
movie. And again, that scenario also didn’t and would never happen.

So when Louis finally made it to Doncaster, and through the door of his
shabby house, he all but ran to find his mum before throwing himself
into her arms.

“God Lou! You scared me, what on earth are you doing here?” Jay
gasped out, once finding her senses holding back her son in her arms
just as tight.

“I needed to come see you” Louis mumbled into her shoulder, breathing
in her scent that always seemed to comfort him.

“But, love, you can’t just leave the house. You have a performance
coming up and it’s one of the main rules. Don’t get me wrong, I’m
bloody glad to see you, but I don’t want you risking your position on
the show when you’ll be seeing me in less than a week” Jay said softly,
concern laced into her voice as she pulled Louis away from her to look
him in the eyes.

“I know that mum. God I know, but I couldn’t handle it, I needed to
speak to you in person. You’re literally the only person I can talk to
about this” Louis frantically said, on the verge of crying by this point
out of frustration.

“Talk about what hun? Wait— you know what, I’ll make us a cuppa
whilst you get comfy in the living room, then you can tell me all about
it. How’s that?” She suggested with a warm smile, causing Louis heart
to ache. This is what he needed.

“Yeah, sounds great. Thanks mum, I love you” Louis replied, nodding
his head before leaning in to give his mum a quick peck on the cheek.

“You too love, now off you go, put the fire on will you, it’s bloody
freezing in this house” Jay shooed him off, turning around to make a
cup of tea for the two of them.

708
“will do” and with that Louis walked into the living room, put his
belongings down by the sofa and turned on the fireplace before getting
comfy with a big blanket bundled up around him.

Two minutes later, jay returned with two cups of steaming Yorkshire
tea and sat down besides Louis, handing him his mug.

“Thank you”

“No problem, now, what’s got you so stressed out? I’m all ears” Jay
asked, gesturing for him to begin talking.

“I-uh. I don’t really know how to put this” Louis said nervously, biting
his lip.

“Go on, just be straight up about it. You know I would never judge you,
I’m always here for you no matter what Lou, you’re my son and I love
you” She said, rubbing circles into his shoulder as he looked down at
his mug.

“Okay. Uh, I think I might be gay”

Louis hadn’t anticipated blurting it out quite like he did, but he wanted
to get it over with. He may as well be blunt about it, she would have to
find out sooner or later and it was the entire reason he was here in the
first place.

For a second, jays eyes widened in surprise, but they softened just as
fast, a warm smile appearing on her face once more.

“Oh Lou, that’s amazing hun, I’m proud of you” She said, pulling him
in for a hug.

“You’re not bothered by it? Or surprised?” Louis asked, releasing a sigh

of relief.

709
“Of course I’m not bothered, and, to be honest with you, I always did
wonder about it. What with you never seeming to be interested in any
of the girls you met” She said with a small chuckle and a knowing look
in her eye.

“I mean, I could still be bisexual. I haven’t really figured it out 100%”

he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Okay well I love you no matter what. But I’m still confused, is this the
actual reason you came to see me, or just part of it? Because you were
in such a state when you first came home. Is it something to do with a
boy? Has someone caught your eye who made you realize this?”

Louis hesitated for a moment, before nodding his head, turning his eyes
back down to his cup.

“I, uh, it’s Harry. I think I really like him, as more than just a friend.
But he’s straight mum, I’m sure if it” Louis said with a sigh, shaking
his head.

“How do you know? Have you asked him?”

“No. But, we had a moment I guess. I tried to kiss him, and I thought
he was up for it at first, but the next thing I know he’s running out the
room. I’ve just gone and messed it all up now”

“You don’t know that Lou. Maybe he’s scared, like you are. He could
just be trying to figure himself out before he wants to start anything
with you. I don’t know his reasons, but what I do know is that you mean
the world to that boy and he wouldn’t let this come between such an
amazing connection you both share. Don’t let this put you down, talk
to him”

When jay finished Louis felt overwhelmed. He knew his mum would
give him the advice he needed, and now, he knew what he needed to
do.

710
“Thank you mum, and I will, you know, talk to him. I’ll let you know
how it goes and thank you for this, it’s exactly what I needed. I don’t
know what I’d do without you” Louis said with a huge smile.

“No problem Lou, it’s what I’m here for. But, one more question”

“What?”

“Do you like him? Or do you love him?” She asked, smiling softly at
Louis who whipped his head up, staring at her with wide eyes.

He hadn’t even thought about it. All he knew is he had really strong
feelings for the boy and they only seemed to be growing stronger as the
days passed with him. Could he be in love with him? Or was it just a
crush? Now even more questions were circling his head and he couldn’t
find the answer.

“I— I don’t know. How can you be in love with someone you’ve only
known for a couple months?” Louis asked, stuttering slightly as he took
in a shaky breath.

“It happens more often than you think Lou. It’s possible. You just need
to realize how strong the feeling are”

They didn’t say anything after that, and for the remainder of the time
he spent with her, that’s now the only thing he can think about.

After another three hours catching up, talking to his siblings and
watching movies, Louis decided it’s probably best if he sets off back to
the X factor house.

He had intended on staying the night, but after the chat with his mum
he realized he really does need to sort things out with Harry.

The longer he leaves it the more nervous he would get, that and the
producers will probably have a lecture to give him. He just hopes he
hasn’t blown it.

711
And he knew he was fucked as soon as he entered the gates of the huge
house. Producers along with the whole filming crew were stood outside,
along with a police officer and what looks to be a journalist. Some
contestants were even out there, probably trying to figure out what was
going on. But out of the many people crowded outside, the first person
he saw was Harry.

Harry who was biting his nails, stood with their head producer of the
show, looking like he was on the verge of tears.

“Look, Louis’ back!” Another contestant shouted, gaining every single

persons attention to land right on him.

“Louis what the fuck were you thinking? You know the rules, you could
very well be kicked off the show for this!” The producer exclaimed in
an angry tone, walking right up to Louis who merely blinked back at
him.

“I-I’m sorry. Please don’t kick me off, I had my reasons!” Louis

frantically said as he shook himself out of it, widening his eyes once he
realized what he had said.

“Louis! Thank god mate. I’m so sorry, we had to tell someone, they
noticed you were missing and demanded we told them where you were”
Niall said as he came running out the house, with Liam and Zayn
trailing behind him.

“Yeah we wouldn’t have said anything if we didn’t have to, we were

worried as well though so” Liam trailed off, looking somewhat guilty.

“Louis Tomlinson, do you have anything to say on why you left the X
factor house? Are you quitting the show? Did you have a fall out with
your band mates?” And yes, it was in fact a journalist, and annoying
one at that who couldn’t seem to shut up.

712
Like Jesus, he didn’t think the band was this popular already for them
to be getting journalist attention.

“Lou” Harry suddenly said in a low, sad voice. Looking at Louis in the
eyes with sheer sadness and guilt.

He was about to reply before the producer cut him off. “Come on, we
need everyone back inside, we’re going to have a chat about this”

Louis was pulled into the house by the man with the lads rushing off
behind him. He couldn’t even think straight by this point. There were
too many people, too many questions and he couldn’t deal with it. It
was just one thing after another, and he had only been back five
minutes.

“Sit down, the lot of you” He said, gathering them into a large room
with sofas, technology and books. Must be his office.

“Right, what’s going on? I’m going to try and be as nice about this as
possible because I know how stressful it can get in this house, but I need
you to be honest with me. Tell me what happened from the start” he
said as he sat down at his desk chair, and now that he was away from
everyone he seemed sympathetic, making Louis calm down a little.

“I, uh, I guess I just really needed to get out of here, to see my mum. I
needed to speak to her in person, because I had a lot on my mind that
only she would have understood. I’m sorry, again, truly I am. I don’t
want to be kicked off the show” Louis said quietly, and the lads just
listened in feeling sorry for the lad.

“Okay, I understand. But you need to realize we make these rules for
your protection Louis. I don’t know if you’re aware, but this band in
particular has gained a lot of the public’s attention. You lot already have
the UK in the palm of your hands, maybe even fans from other
countries. And it’s only early in the show, we’ve actually never seen
something quite like it in a long time. So for you to leave unannounced

713
like that could have been very dangerous, I’m surprised nobody spotted
you”

The lads looked shocked at that. They really hadn’t realized how
popular they were already becoming, and this is the first instance that
has shown it.

“I get that, I’m sorry” Louis said as he nodded his head slowly.

“In terms of the competition, fortunately for you it would cause too
much drama to kick you off the show, what with the band having so
many fans. So you’re just lucky we’re going to let this slide just once.
If you do this again you won’t be so lucky. If any of you need to see
family members we can always arrange for them to come up to the
house and see you, but you can’t leave alright. Now I don’t know what
caused this, and I don’t know if it’s anything between you lot, but if it
is I suggest you leave now and figure it out because it can’t happen
again”

Although he was being strict, the lads could tell he was a nice man and
they were lucky to be off the hook with no consequences. So with that
they thanked him and left the room.

They silently made their way up to their bedroom and sat down for a
moment, before Niall chose to break the tension.

“So, how did it go then?”

Louis mentally face palmed and tried to communicate with his eyes that
Harry was in fact in the room. Niall caught on and widened his eyes for
a moment, coughing awkwardly.

“Oh, um, never mind. Zayn, Liam, wanna go downstairs and play FIFA
for a bit?” Niall asked, standing up quickly and without waiting for an
answer he pulled the two of them up by their arms and dragged them
out the room, leaving Louis and Harry alone.

714
“Why did you leave?” Harry finally said, not even lifting his eyes to
look at Louis.

“I already said, I needed to talk to me mum” Louis replied, sighing in

frustration.

“About what though? I mean, not to be intrusive or anything, you don’t

have to say. But, I can’t help but feel like you left because of me” Harry
said hesitantly, running a hand through his messy curls.

Louis didn’t know what to say. The whole way home he had been
rehearsing this over and over in his head, but it’s as if just from the sight
of the boy all his words had disappeared, and that same feeling of
nausea had hit his stomach.

“I— I don’t know what to say. I’m just really confused right now”

“Tell me what’s on your mind then” Harry stated, looking up at Louis

for the first time since he had arrived.

Louis breath hitched as they locked eyes. He could see fear, pain,
confusion and curiosity all at once in those emerald green orbs, and they
still looked beautiful. Even with bags underneath them that were a deep
shade of purple from the lack of sleep. He looked beautiful even with
his hair a mess, the unruly curls scattered across his forehead. He looked
beautiful even with chapped lips, and pale skin and bitten nails.

And he doesn’t know how he came to the realization, just from looking
at him in this moment alone, that he loved the boy sitting in front of
him. He loved Harry Styles, his best friend, even after only knowing
him for a couple of months. His mum could see it, that’s the reason she
had asked him, and he didn’t understand any of it. But it was clear to
him that he couldn’t lose Harry, and he wanted him with all his heart.

And to be fair. It wasn’t just a couple of months. He had known Harry

since 2008, had met again in 2009, and had became the best of friends
in 2010. Maybe three years isn’t too short after all.

715
“We met in 2008 at battle of the bands, remember? Not directly, but I
shouted at you to get on with the performance” Louis started, seeing the
confusion clearer now in Harry’s eyes.

“Uh, yeah I remember, but Lou what’s this got to do with anything?”
Harry asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Then we met at the scrip concert properly, 2009, where we switched

numbers and were talking for months before the X factor began” Louis
said with a small smile creeping up on his face.

“Yeah, funny how things worked out” Harry said with a small chuckle.

“And we became best mates right off the bat. I knew that I could count
on you for anything, that you would have my back no matter what. And
so far I’ve been right, because you have been there for me—”

“Lou where are you going with this?” Harry interrupted, his green eyes
glimmering with confusion, and from what Louis could see, hope.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been attracted to a lad before. I never thought I
could be gay, or even bisexual. But I know what I want Harry. I want
you so badly it hurts and I don’t know what to do with myself half the
time I’m around you. And this is a risk, because I could have easily just
misread this entire situation, but, I was thinking you might feel the same
way. I can’t lose you Harry, but I also don’t think we can ever be just
friends”

Louis averted his eyes the entire time he was talking, but now he had
finally gotten it out, he looked at the boy he knew he was in love with
to find him staring right back with shock clear as day written across his
face. He couldn’t stop shaking.

“I love you Harry Edward Styles”

716
Louis smiled. He smiled so brightly as the weight of this secret had
finally been lifted. He looked up to the ceiling and grinned because even
if Harry didn’t return the feelings, now he knows he won’t ever regret
telling him.

“I love you too” Harry said quietly, snapping Louis back to reality as
he looked back down at the boy again, his smile only widening.

They stared in silence for a moment before letting out shaky laughs,
never breaking eye contact. They could see the happiness bursting out
of each other, the heavy feeling dissipating and the love they had for
one another finally being uncovered.

Louis took a step towards Harry with confidence he had never felt
before. He gently took Harry’s hand into his own and looked they curly
haired boy in the eyes.

“Can I kiss you now?”

Harry nodded his head, smiling widely. “Kiss me you fool” he breathed
out.

And it finally happened. Their lips met, at first with caution, but it soon
melted away as their emotions did with one another. The ice had been
broken and all that was left was passion, lust and love. That innocent
curiosity gave way to an uncontrolled feeling of want, to a desperate,
messy kiss they had both been craving for months. And they felt high
on each other, like nothing could stop them now that they had each
other.

Louis smiled into the kiss, bringing his hand to grasp the baby hairs at
the back of Harry’s neck, pulling on them slightly to elicit a breathy
groan from the younger boy. He knew he wanted it as much as he did,
and he knew now he had it he wouldn’t be able to get enough.

For Harry, it felt like trying to walk for the first time as a baby. A new,
profound experience that he would then continue doing for the rest of

717
his life. It didn’t feel like all the other times he had kissed a girl, because
it was Louis. The boy he was in love with, who was in love with him,
who he had been wanting for god knows how long. He felt like the
luckiest man alive.

They broke away slowly, lost in each other’s eyes as they smiled. Their
foreheads rested against one another’s as they caught their breath,
excitement bubbling away in their stomachs.

“I love you, I love you, I love you” Louis whispered. He wanted to

repeat the three words over and over again for as long as he could live.
He wanted to scream it on a tall building for the whole world to hear.
Because he wanted the world to know what was now his and how unreal
it even felt for him to have someone so beautiful, real and honest as
Harry.

“I love you more” Harry whispered back, giggling as he said it like a

school boy.

“Not possible curly” Louis grinned back, gently pushing away the hair
on his forehead.

“Why are we whispering again?” Harry asked, but he still whispered

even though he didn’t know why.

“Because at some point, I’m going to scream it to the world”

If only Louis knew how long that would take.

End of flashback, present day:

“That was probably the best day of my life, or one of them at least. I
mean, it wasn’t very romantic or out, but it was all we needed I guess”
Louis said with a shrug, rubbing Harry’s hand.

“It was perfect Lou. I was so scared I’d fucked everything up when you
left to see your mum that day, but then when you returned it felt like a

718
relief, because at least you were still talking to me” Harry added,
squeezing Louis’ hand at the thought.

“I’m sorry, but hey, my mum did give me good advice. If I hadn’t gone
to her I don’t think I would have realized I loved you that day, and I
wouldn’t never have had the guts to say it to you. It worked out in the
end though” Louis replies with a shrug.

“Yeah. I miss jay, she was a great woman” Harry said quietly with a
sad smile.

Louis breath hitched for a moment. He was still sad about his mum, he
always would be, but he’s better at dealing with it now. He no longer
breaks down crying at the mere mention of her, instead he thinks about
how she would have wanted him to be strong and proud of himself. She
would have been proud, he knows that, and that’s what keeps him
going.

“I miss her too. She absolutely adored you Harry, she was practically
counting down the days till our wedding” Louis said with a small
chuckle, shaking his head with a smile.

“She will still watch it from up there, one day” Harry replied, toying
with the ring on his finger.

“I’m sure she will” Louis stared at Harry fir a moment, a grin on his
face before looking back towards the camera. “Anyway, after that it
went pretty smoothly. The competition was going great and me and
Harry were closer than ever. He taught me how to make my first meal
ever. You all probably know what it was”

Harry laughed at that, beginning to mime the actions of the dish.

“Chicken, wrapped in Parma ham, stuffed with mozzarella. With a side

of homemade mash”

Flashback: dec 3rd, 2010

719
“Louis you can’t cook for shit babe, I’m sorry, but you’re just not cut
out for it” Harry teased, patting his boyfriend on the shoulder.

“Because I’ve never tried Harry! Do you think Gordon Ramsay was
Michelin star rated on his first try? No, I didn’t either. Cut me some
slack jeez” Louis sassed back, shaking his head.

“Okay but there’s always a start for everyone. Maybe if you actually
tried you could be quite good? Don’t knock it till you try it” Harry
replied with a smirk.

“Teach me then”

“Fine. What do you want to make?” Harry asked, looking through the
cupboards in the kitchen as Louis sat on the island.

“Umm. Mac n cheese?” Louis asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Lou, I meant proper food, a meal, not just pre prepared pasta from a
packet” Harry said in amusement, taking out potatoes and chicken
breast.

“Well I don’t know do I! I’ve never cooked anything other than toast
and I burned it. How would I know what meals to make?” Louis asked
in frustration.

“Okay, we’ve got chicken, Parma ham, mozzarella and potatoes. We

can make a pretty decent meal out of what we’ve got” Harry said as he
looked at the ingredients.

He looked back at Louis who was pouting, sat on top of the island
making him look so small. Harry grinned and swept Louis off the
counter into his arms, twirling the boy around the kitchen as Louis
thrashed about, trying to be put down.

720
“Harry! Harry stop, put me down now!” He screamed, but he couldn’t
contain his laughter, especially when Harry almost dropped him after
hitting his hip on the table.

“Shit, that hurt” Harry whined, rubbing his hip.

“Want me to kiss it better?” Louis asked with a smirk.

“Piss off” Harry laughed, turning back to the ingredients to show Louis
what to do.

“Right, you peel and chop the potatoes whilst I cut the chicken” Harry
ordered, handing Louis the bag of potatoes.

Louis just stood there with a confused expression.

“What? You don’t know how to peel a potato?” Harry joked, laughing
until he realized Louis wasn’t saying anything. “Seriously Lou?”

“Oh what? So I don’t know how to peel a potato, big fucking deal”
Louis retorted.

“God you’re worse than a three year old. Come here, I’ll show you then
you can do the rest”

Harry took the potatoes to the sink and placed them into a bowl of cold
water. He then took the peeler and began running it over the skin of a
potato, letting the peels drop into the water.

“See, like this, just take this side and pull it outwards so you don’t cut
yourself” Harry instructed, demonstrating before handing it over to
Louis.

Louis struggled at first, so Harry came up behind him and directed his
hands in the right way, pressing his chest flush against Louis’ back.

721
Louis could barely concentrate on the potatoes when his boyfriend was
so close to him, Harry’s crotch pressing against his ass. But then Harry
was fine again and so was the sensation.

“You got it from here?” Harry asked with a smile, turning away to start
on the chicken.

“Yeah, sure, t-thank you” Louis said breathlessly, obviously flustered

with red cheeks and trembling hands.

“No problem” Harry replied with a smirk, patting him on the bum
before turning away.

Louis shook his head and continued to peel the potatoes, finally getting
the hang of it, and soon enough all of them were done. He placed the
potatoes in a separate bowl and took them over to the chopping board
where he cut the potatoes in halves, waiting for his next instruction.

“I’m done Haz, what now?” He asked, his hand resting on his hip with
an arched brow.

“Boil the kettle and get a big pan out. Put it on the stove and let the
water boil before putting the potatoes in. Then once you’re done with
that, leave them to simmer and you can help me prepare the chicken”
Harry said, not once taking his eyes off the chicken he was cutting,
making sure all the bad parts were out.

“Alright sir” Louis teased, going on his search for a large enough pan.

Once he had done what Harry had told him, he helped Harry with the
chicken. “Right, were gonna put mozzarella inside the chicken and
wrap it in Parma ham. Then we season it and let it cook in the oven for
about an hour. You can do one and I’ll do one” he said, putting the
ingredients out in front of us.

“Alright, how much mozzarella?” Louis asked, taking the cheese.

722
“Just enough to fill the inside and still have the chicken close around it”
Harry said, demonstrating how much to put in.

Louis did so with difficulty, almost having the entire chicken breast fall
apart as Harry laughed. “It’s not funny Haz, it won’t close” Louis
pouted.

“Then take some cheese out. It will close tighter once you wrap the ham
around it anyway. Don’t worry babe, you’re doing good” Harry
reassured and kissed him on the cheek, causing Louis to smile and get
back to work.

They ended up pretty good, the potatoes were mashed and ready to be
served, all they had to do was wait for the chicken.

“Okay, what do we do for an hour then?” Louis asked, leaning against

the counter.

“Where are the lads at?” Harry asked, causing Louis to furrows his
brow in confusion.

“Uh, in the studio practicing I think. Why?” Louis replied.

Harry took his hand and started walking to the staircase, a smirk on his
face. “Come on” he said, nodding his head in the direction of the
bedroom.

“I don’t think there’s enough time for a movie Haz” Louis said,
assuming that’s what the lad had planned on doing.

“I don’t either” Harry replied, still pulling Louis towards their room and
opening the door.

“So what are we doing—”

Harry closed the door behind them and immediately pressed Louis
against it, kissing him roughly. Louis gasped in surprise but soon

723
melted into the kiss, moving his lips against Harry’s with just as much
enthusiasm and hunger.

Harry pressed against him and Louis could instantly feel how hard he
was against his thigh, letting out a small groan at the realization.

Harry pulled back for a moment to look Louis in the eyes, searching for
some kind of answer. “Lou, can I give you a blowjob” he asked
hesitantly.

This was all new to the both of them, and Louis never thought he would
ever have a sexual relationship with another man, but seeing Harry here,
willing to give him anything he wanted, wanting to give him it, drove
him mad with lust.

“Yeah, only if you want to” Louis said, nodding.

“Course I want to” Harry replied before directing Louis towards the bed
and laying him on it gently.

Harry climbed onto his lap, his knees straddling Louis body as he dove
down for another kiss, grinding down as their mouths touched and
moaning at the sensation.

“Harry, please” Louis groaned, thrusting his hips upwards to gain any
form of friction.

“Patience Lou” Harry grinned, slowly making his way down Louis’
body. He began to unbutton his jeans and slide them down his legs,
kissing his thighs as he went.

Louis kicked off the jeans when they reached his feet, Eager for Harry
to touch him. He writhed on the bed helplessly waiting for Harry to do
something, and he finally did when his boxers were tugged down and
the cold air of their room hit his length.

724
“Fuck” he whispered, looking down at Harry who’s head was hovering
over his crotch, taking a moment. “You don’t have to”

“I want to, I just don’t wanna mess it up” Harry replied, smiling slightly.

“You won’t, I know you won’t” Louis reassured, tangling his fingers
through Harry’s curls.

“Okay” Harry said with a nod before gripping the base of Louis dick,
causing unimaginable senses of pleasure to spread throughout the older
boys body. Harry had barely done anything and he knew it was already
the best he had ever had.

“God Harry” Louis groaned as Harry began to move his hand up and
down. He was slow, but he back to gain speed, flicking and twisting his
wrist to gain different reactions from Louis and see what the boy liked
best.

Harry stopped when he saw Louis was breathing heavier, he didn’t want
him to come now. Just as Louis began to protest, he ducked his head
down and hesitantly licked the tip of Louis’ dick. He wasn’t sure what
to do exactly, but from the noise that came out of his mouth it appeared
he was doing something right.

As he gained more confidence, Harry sucked and twirled his tongue,

going further and further down his length with every bob of his head.
Louis fisted the sheets in his hands and moaned loudly. He didn’t care
if anyone could hear him, the whole house practically knew him and
Harry were a couple now so it wouldn’t make a difference.

“Harry, Haz I’m close” Louis stuttered out, his breath quickening once
again.

“Come for me Lou” Harry said before sucking him down again,
increasing the pressure and speed. That’s all it took for Louis to let go
with a scream of pleasure.

725
Harry managed to swallow it all down, and he was pleased with himself
for his first time. However, he had lost all sense of control after hearing
his boyfriend moaning so loud, and, well. Let’s just say his boxers
would need to be thrown out.

“Jesus Harry. You sure that’s not your first time doing that?” Louis
asked, out of breath as he pulled Harry up to him and kissed him
roughly.

“I’m sure. But uh, I’m glad you enjoyed it” Harry said with a sheepish
smile, hiding his face in the crook of Louis neck.

“Wait. Do you want me to return the favor or?” Louis trailed off, trying
to look at his face.

“No, m’ fine” Harry said quietly, embarrassed that he came untouched.

“You don’t want me to?”

“No, it’s not that. You just don’t need to”

“Why? You-wait? You already came? Untouched?” Louis asked in

disbelief, widening his eyes as a grin spread across his face.

“Yeah. I couldn’t help it, you sounded so hot” Harry groaned, shaking
his head.

“Well, I’m flattered. But you might wanna change because the food
should be done soon” Louis said, smirking as he stood up and smacked
Harry’s ass.

“Ow. Not so rough yeh?” Harry whined.

“Thought you liked it rough?” Louis asked with another smirk, before
walking out the room to leave Harry to get changed.

726
Harry shook his head with a smile before getting up and changing into
a new pair of boxers. He threw his old ones in a bag and would deal
with them later. Right now he was starving.

Harry joined Louis in the kitchen again and found the lads there too.
They were laughing about something but Harry couldn’t tell what they
were on about.

“What’s up?” Harry said with a smile, hugging Louis from behind.

“Oh nothing. Hey, just to let you know, you guys might wanna keep it
down next time. We could hear you from the studio” Zayn said with a
smirk, causing the rest of the lads to laugh before they all ran out of the
kitchen, leaving a blushing Louis and Harry behind.

“We’re we really that loud?” Louis asked.

“Hm, I don’t know about me, but you were” Harry replied with a wink,
earning a towel slap from Louis.

“Heyy, what was that for?”

“Commenting on my vocals in bed” Louis replied, but a smirk lingered

on his face.

“Okay whatever, the chicken should be ready, can you take it out whilst
I heat up the potatoes?” Harry asked.

“Sure” Louis accepted and got to work serving the chicken, he didn’t
realize when Harry snapped a photo behind him and tweeted the picture
out with the caption “Louis’ first ever cooking experience”

It smelt amazing, and it must have been drifting through the X factor
house as more and more contestants began wondering into the kitchen.

“Hey! That is our food that We made, make your own” Louis said
sassily, wafting away the housemates as if they were dogs.

727
“But it smells so good” Cher said, pouting as she stared down the food.

“Too bad, me and Harry are going to go away and eat this as if we were
dating at a fine restaurant. Shoo” Louis stated, not giving into the
hungry looks on everyone’s faces.

“Sorry, he’s right. We spent all evening making this. I’m sure the chef
will make you all something later” Harry said a lot more
sympathetically than Louis did.

“What’re you doing in here?” Claire, the house chef asked as she
walked in, ready to start making everyone’s dinner.

“Um, I cooked for the first time. Harry helped me! You don’t mind do
you?” Louis asked, looking a little guilty because of the mess they had
made.

“No, it’s fine as long as you didn’t use the potatoes I bought earlier.
What did you make?”

Louis and Harry made a run for it.

They giggled as they settled down in the dining room, tucking into the
food like starved prisoners.

“God this is so good. I’m an incredible chef!” Louis exclaimed, prideful

at his own work.

He looked over at Harry who had a raised eyebrow, the fork with food
on half way to his mouth. “Oh, ye you’re good too” he said nonchalantly
before eating more of the chicken.

Harry laughed and shook it off, he knew Lou was being sarcastic, and
to be honest, once Louis had directions he was a pretty good chef.

728
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it” Harry commented, grinning at the way
Louis moaned around the mouthful of food.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Well, apart from me mums roast.
Nothing can beat that” Louis said. “Did I do good then? For my first
time cooking?”

“Course you did, we make a pretty good team huh?” Harry said with a
fond smile, reaching over and taking one of Louis hands.

“You bet we do. We’re a power couple” Louis agreed, smiling widely.

End of flashback, present day:

“First time giving a blow job, it became a regular thing after that” Harry
said casually, leaning back in his chair.

“He’s a pro now” Louis smirked, winking at Harry.

“God please shut up. I don’t want to hear about my brothers sex life
thank you very much” Daisy shouted, pretending to gag.

“Shush daisy, pretty sure you’ve read fan fiction about us and most of
that contains smut. Don’t even try” Louis sassed back.

“Not my fault it always gets sent to me. My mates take the piss, why
the fuck would I want to read about my brother getting it on. That’s
disgusting” Daisy exclaimed, probably gagging for real now.

“Not my problem” Louis replied with a fake smile. “So, what happened
next then?”

“Well, as you said it was going fine. That’s until Simon found out”
Harry said slowly, a sad look on his face.

“I don’t even want to all about him to be honest, but it’s a key part to
the story. It’s probably the most important part actually. Because that’s

729
when it all went to shit” Harry continued, taking Louis hand in his own
for comfort whilst they told the worst moments of their lives.

Flashback, Sep 14th, 2011:

The X factor experience had been unreal. Sure, they came third in the
competition, but everyone knew one direction were the true winners.
They had already broken into fan bases across the US and other
countries, most dominantly the UK, and it was only growing bigger by
the second.

They kept in touch with fans on social media and did video diaries
throughout their time in the X factor house, talking about teach week in
the competition and Louis being his silly, outgoing self.

It was through these videos that fans started to notice just how close
Harry and Louis really were. From the small touches to lingering stares
they created a ship name, Larry Stylinson, and they were sure the two
boys were in love. They were correct. But the lads couldn’t confirm
that.

They couldn’t confirm anything due to the hold the X factor producers
had over them. They still didn’t know how a fan base would react to a
gay couple in their favorite band and the producers didn’t want to risk
anything so early on. The situation only got worse once the band was
signed to Syco records with a £1 million deal and Harry and Louis fell
even more in love with one another.

Simon was catching on, and he was very opinionated on the subject.

It brought about a meeting with the band, Simon and his co producers.
It was in the fancy building in London that Simon owned, and they were
sat around the meeting room waiting for Simon to being talking.

“Hello boys. Glad you could make it. I’m on a tight schedule today so
we need to get straight to business. You’ve had great success with your
first single, it’s only been about 4 days since it dropped and you’ve

730
already broken into the US charts, congratulations, but In this industry
it’s not all about the music. If you lot want to stick where you are right
now, and continue climbing the charts as you are, your appearances also
have to work with the specific fan base you have; teenage girls” Simon
began, his tone very professional and straight to the point.

“Okay, but what do you mean appearances? Physical or? What?” Liam
trailed off, confused.

“Well, yes there’s that aspect of it. But I’m not here to talk about that
today” he paused, eyeing Louis and Harry who we’re cuddled up
between two desk chairs. “These girls are obsessed with you. Your
good looking teenage heart throbs, you have great music so far, and for
the most part, you’re single”

Harry and Louis looked at each other for a moment with confused faces,
knowing this had something to do with their relationship.

“By all means, I’m not homophobic. And I’m happy the two of you are,
well, in love or whatever. But I don’t think this will appeal to the fans”
Simon said, feigning sympathy.

“what do you mean? The fans are already conspiring about whether
we’re a couple or not and they seem to love it” Louis said, hurt by what
the man had said and hurt by the thought that the fans may not accept
them.

“Yeah, I get some people are homophobic and don’t agree with it, but
the fans love us. They love Larry Stylinson, so I don’t see what the
problem is?” Harry continued, agreeing with his boyfriend.

“It’s a lot more difficult than that. Many religious people forbid
homosexuality. If some religious parents out there found out their
children were listening to a band that contained a gay couple, well, sales
might go down I’m afraid” Simon replied. He knew he was
exaggerating it, but he couldn’t let them know that.

731
“I’m sure it wouldn’t end up that way. People believed in our
relationship before we even dropped the single, and we’ve still broken
into the US market. That just shows it, right?” Harry asked, gripping
Louis hand tightly.

“Harry, you’ve only been in this band and this industry for what, half a
year now? You wouldn’t understand it, you’re too young to know the
ins and outs of music. That’s why I’m here, to help and guide you lads
to success. I’m only here to help you boys, with your best interest in
mind” Simon said with a sickly sweet tone.

And of course the lads were in fact too young to realize they were being
manipulated. They didn’t yet have the courage to disagree, or fight
against advice, because they were so close to being world famous, the
biggest boy and in the world. At this point in their careers they couldn’t
afford any fuck ups. And because Simon was so famous for bringing
success to bands like theirs and other artists, they simply believed him.

“Yeah, I guess. I understand you’re here to help us reach our goals. But
I really don’t think it’s necessary to change anything between me and
Harry. We love each other, and people love us” Louis said, sounding so
very vulnerable.

“I know, I’m sorry. This must be hard for you to hear. But I’m doing
what’s best for you and your careers. If you just take our advice and do
what we say, you could be earning millions, you could take over the
world. You’ll be bigger than the beetles, hell, your practically there
already. But it could turn into so much more if we just avoid Any—
complications” Simon persuades, smiling through gritted teeth.

The lads looked at each other for a moment, sad looks across their faces
before they nodded at one another.

“So, what are you proposing exactly?” Louis asked, hesitantly.

Simon grinned widely before clapping his hands. The door opened and
Eleanor Calder walked in, a friend of Harry and Louis’.

732
“You know Eleanor right? Lovely girl, very pretty too. Fans would live
her” Simon said as she stood awkwardly with her hands behind her
back, looking at Harry with a sad expression.

“Why’s Eleanor here? What’s she got to do with anything?” Niall

asked.

“Well, like I said, I support your relationship but the fans might not. I
don’t want to split the two of you up but we also can’t have the public
finding out. So I propose that Eleanor here, should pretend to date Louis
for publicity” Simon said, smiling widely.

Harry’s heart dropped so far he thinks it shattered right across the shiny
floor like glass. This could not be happening.

“What? How is that going to help anything. Why can’t I just remain”
single “in front of the fans?” Louis asked, shock and anger in his tone
of voice.

“Because think Louis. How long are the fans going to believe that
you’re single for? You can’t be someone of your status without dating
anybody for however long this will last. Nobody will believe it for a
second. At least one of you has to be dating someone for this rumor to
disappear, and Eleanor looks better with you Louis. You just look like
the picture perfect couple. I reckon Harry will be” dating “higher
profiles characters anyway”

“So what? She’s going to be my beard or something?” Louis asked,

irritation beginning to surface.

“Well, yes if you want to call it that” Simon replied with a shrug.

“What do you mean? About me dating higher profile characters” Harry

asked warily.

733
“Well, that’s the second part. Caroline flack agreed to do a stunt with
you so it looks like you have a thing to the public. She’s already famous
so it would bring publicity and you would be known to date more
known women. Don’t worry, we will also set you up with girls closer
to your age in the future” Simon explained, causing all the lads faces to
drop in shock.

“You can’t do that! That’s too far Simon, Harry’s only 17, she’s a 31
year old woman. Harry’s gonna look like he’s into older people and
gain some sort of womanizer image. That’s not fair on him and the
public will surely disagree with such a story. How on Earth do you think
that’s going to help us?” Louis exclaimed, angry by the mere mention
of it.

Harry sat in silence trying to process all of it. He doesn’t want that. He
wanted Louis. He’s not into women for a start, especially not older ones
as lovely as Caroline is. He didn’t want it. He didn’t want a womanizer
image, that’s not him. He treats people with respect and if he wasn’t
gay, he would be treating women with respect. Not having one night
stands for a stunt.

“This is not about making Harry look bad Louis, it’s about bringing
publicity to the bad. Getting you in the headlines and on the news.
Having the stories trend on social media. I know what I’m doing, I’ve
been running this company for years. If I thought it would damage you
I wouldn’t go through with it” Simon said calmly, not at all affected by
Louis’ outburst.

“But I don’t want it” Harry said quietly. He was a lot more vulnerable
and sensitive compared to the other lads, being that he was the
youngest. He didn’t want any of this. He wanted Louis and the band.
That’s all.

“You have to make sacrifices for the band Harry. People would kill to
be in your place right now, you need to be willing to do anything for
your goals and this is part of stardom. Many people have done this and
came out of it just fine, I’m sure you’re mature enough to do the same”

734
Simon encouraged, once again using manipulation to gain what he
wanted.

“So what you're saying is, Harry and Louis can’t come out to the public,
Louis will have a girlfriend, and Harry will be a womanizer. I honestly
think just letting them come out would be much less work” Liam said,
disagreeing with the situation entirely.

“It’s not about how much work we have to put in, we could be doing so
much more than this with no problem. But yes, that is what I’m saying”
Simon agreed, nodding his head and sliding the contract down to them.

The first contract. The one that started it all. If only they had been smart
enough to read it.

“It’ll be okay Haz, I’ll make sure of it” Louis said, pecking him on this
lips before taking the pen and signing his name on the dots at the end
of the contract. It was there in ink, he couldn’t erase that mistake.

“If you say so” Harry replied, signing the thing just as Louis had, the
other lads following their actions.

“I’m glad we’ve settled this lads, you’ve made the right choice” Simon
said with a smirk.

End of flashback.

“We had no clue. No fucking clue what was to come after that damn
contract and we were too stupid to read it. Or, I was I guess. I signed
first, the lads followed my actions because I was the oldest, so I guess
I kind of set the example back then when it came to them types of
situations. I’ve regretted it ever since and I’ll never forgive myself for
that stupid mistake”

Louis said with a frown. The lads knew he blamed himself for not
reading the contract in the first place, but it was an honest mistake. Just
because he was the oldest didn’t mean he was mature enough yet or

735
even had the slightest idea of how the industry worked. He may have
been the oldest but he was still only 19.

He had gotten caught up in Simons manipulation. To them, that man

was their ticket to success, a key to stardom, a role model. He was the
man that could make it happen and had made it happen for so many
other bands and artists much like themselves, who were they to question
him?

The devil had a mask on that would only be taken off when he had them
in the palm of his hands.

“You can’t blame yourself Lou. We were all clueless, all of us! We
could have easily stopped you, or denied to sign the contract. But we
didn’t. It’s as much our fault as it is yours. He manipulated us, he took
our innocence for granted and it’s him who’s to blame. We were all just
a bit too naive at the time” Harry reassured, rubbing Louis’ back
comfortingly.

Louis turned to him with a sad smile. “I guess we were” he said quietly,
but loud enough to hear it in the now silent studio.

Everybody was watching the two men with heavy hearts. They had been
there during everything. When Simon manipulated them, when PR
stunts became a regular thing. They had all witnessed the strain it put
on their love, how hard it was for them and how it almost tore them
apart. Did tear them apart. But as they had always done, they got
through it. They made it and now they’re sitting here telling the world
their story just like they had dreamed to ever since they were teenagers.
Their dream became a reality and now they’re free.

“It got progressively worse from then on. But I think that first stunt was
the hardest of them all. It was the first time I had to push everything I
loved away. I had to push Harry away and pretend I was in love with a
girl. Mine and Harry’s—

“Harry and I’s” Harry interrupted with a small smile. Louis returned it.

736
“As I was saying, Harry and I’s feeling we’re so strong for each other
at that point, much like they are with any new relationship. So to have
that first complication arise was a shock for the both of us. I guess after
the first time we both knew it was going to continue that way as much
as we didn’t want it, but we couldn’t do anything. We were stuck”

Flashback, September 14th, 2011:

“Trust me, it’s all going to be okay. I promise you. One stunt won’t do
any harm, it’s not like I actually like her. I’m not even into girls Haz”
Louis said as he and Harry sat in the kitchen of their new house, princess
park.

Louis was practically Harry’s guardian now, seeming as the younger

boy moved in with him. Harry had begged his mum to let him move
into the house, and Anne knew he and Louis were together, so she didn’t
have much problem with it other than the fact that she would miss not
having him round the house.

“I know, I trust you. It’s just shitty. I don’t think anyone would want to
see their boyfriend out on a” date “with another girl, especially when
all the headlines are going to be calling you a couple. It’s hard, because
I want to be in her place, you know” Harry said sadly, holding onto
Louis hand for dear life.

“I want you in her place too. Hey, maybe you should grow your hair
out and try pass for a girl” Louis joked, trying to ease the tension.

“Maybe I’ll just do that” Harry said half heartedly. In all honesty, he
wouldn’t actually mind having long hair, maybe he would in the future.

“Can’t wait to see that then. You’ll look like a prince” Louis replied,
smiling fondly as he played with Harry’s curls.

737
“You’re a king” Harry said with a smile, pecking his boyfriend on the
lips before checking the time. “You’d better head off, your stunt is in
20 mins”

“Yeah I guess. God I don’t even want to leave you. We could have spent
the day cuddling” Louis groaned, leaning his head on Harry’s shoulder.
“Instead I have to go and hold a girls hand, ew”

“It won’t be that bad, I’ll be waiting here for you. Now go, you’ll be
late” Harry said with a small laugh, pushing Louis off him.

“You’d better be” is the last thing Louis said before kissing Harry and
leaving the house.

Louis got into the car waiting for him and was taken to the location he
would be meeting Eleanor, a small ice cream shop on oxford street.
Thankfully it was a pretty warm day, so it wouldn’t be too sketchy that
they were getting ice cream.

“Alright mate, Simon said Eleanor will be waiting in there for you. You
get ice cream and come back out, there will be paps waiting to take the
pictures. Show some pda yeh, this needs to be believable” The driver
said, listing the instructions he had been given.

“Okay, cheers” Louis replied with no emotion. He just wanted to get

this over with.

He got out the car and spotted the paps as he walked into the ice cream
shop. He was sure they’d be taking pictures whilst he was in there, so
he’d better start his act as soon as he spots Eleanor.

Once he did, he gave her a look, trying to communicate that this was
only a job, before putting on a huge grin and kissing her on the cheek.

He was already disgusted.

738
“Hey Lou” Eleanor said, smiling brightly. She seemed to be enjoying
this much more than he did.

“Hey, uh, what would you like, I can get us an ice cream and we can
chat in here for a bit before heading out” Louis offered, he wanted to
set the record straight with her before really doing this.

“Sure, I’ll just have a magnum please. I’ll go get us a seat” She
accepted.

“You sure you don’t want anything different? This is a fancy shop, I bet
they have some great flavors” Louis asked, confused.

“No I’m fine, I prefer the classics to be honest. Thank you though”

“Whatever you say” He replied before leaving to get the ice cream.

He decided he might as well get the same, to be “more couply” or

whatever Simon said. Honestly though, he just wanted the caramel
flavor. He knew Harry would be more exciting on a date like this.

“Two magnums please” He requested are the till, the cashier being a
young girl with blonde hair.

“Oh my god, you’re Louis Tomlinson, from one direction right? I can’t
believe this! I’m such a big fan” She gushed, excitement taking over.

“Cheers love, glad you like the band” he smiled, giving her a quick,
slightly awkward hug over the counter.

“Aren’t you here with that girl? Eleanor or something. This a date?”
She asked curiously.

“Yeah, it’s our first date” he said, plastering a fake smile on his face.

“Awe that’s so cute. I really believed you were with Harry for a second
there” She laughed, thinking she had gotten it wrong. She hadn’t.

739
“Oh, yeh. Crazy theories out there right” He said hesitantly, laughing
falsely.

“Too right. People make fan edits of you guys and everything. Larry
Stylinson. It’s cute actually”

“That’s funny that. Anyway, how much for the ice cream?” He asked,
changing the subject quickly as he got out his wallet.

“Oh! Ye sorry, got a bit carried away there. That’ll be £6 please”

He handed over the money and said goodbye before walking away to
find Eleanor. She was sat by the window, making sure the paps could
see them. Typical.

“Here” he said, handing over the magnum.

“Thank you Lou” she said, a sickly sweet tone to her voice.

“Sorry to be rude, but we really don’t need nicknames. We’re not

actually dating” Louis snapped, the stress of this stunt already taking a
toll on him.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry” she replied quietly, keeping her head down.

Louis sighed, feeling bad for the girl. She was in as just a shitty situation
as he was, maybe a bit less, but it’s not her fault. Simon dragged her
into this with money, and he agreed to it. He may as well be friends
with the girl, it would probably make things easier anyway.

“Look, sorry for snapping. It’s just stressful okay. Like, no offence to
you, but I’d rather be with my boyfriend than pretend to be dating a girl
I don’t love. We can be friends and shit, but don’t take this farther than
it needs to go okay” Louis explained, rubbing his temples.

740
“Yeah, sure, I understand. I think what you and Harry have is beautiful,
I wouldn’t want to come between that and I only agreed because I really
need the money right now. Otherwise I wouldn’t want anything to do
with it. I’ll tone it down, I’m just new to this, just like you are and I
don’t really know how to go about it” Eleanor replied, smiling sadly at
Louis.

“Okay. How about we make rules?” Louis compromises, smirking a

little.

“Uh, sure. What rules then?” She asked, smiling.

“Number one, no nicknames” he smirked, causing her to laugh and nod.

“Two, we only need to be affectionate when the paps are around, other
than that we just act as mates would. Three, if we have to kiss we do
the bare minimum, I’m not up for upsetting Harry so we can’t over do
it alright” He said sternly, thinking about all the ways he can keep
Harry’s feelings out of the situation.

“I can do that. I guess we can just add more rules as we go along. And
yeh I completely agree about Harry , I don’t want him to think of me as
an issue, I was friends with him before this after all. I’d like to keep it
that way” She said, and it actually made Louis smile for real, she was
being considerate of Harry’s feelings and that’s all he could’ve asked
for.

“Glad we’re on the same page. Now, let’s get out of here so we can
finish up yeh” Louis said with a smile, taking her hand to walk out of
the shop.

They nodded at each other when they saw the paps, ready to put on an
act. As they walked, they teased and joked with each other. Louis
almost dropped his ice cream which had Eleanor cackling, and the paps
sure got some great photos.

It was pretty quick, which Louis was thankful for. He walked Eleanor
to her apartment and kissed her on the cheek before she went inside and

741
headed off back to the car. He made sure the driver went as fast as
possible so that he could see Harry.

He raced up the steps to the front door and barged his way in, shouting
Harry’s name as he went. He found his boyfriend curled up on the sofa,
he must have fallen asleep whilst watching the notebook. He was
adorable.

Louis sat down by his head, stroking the curls away from his forehead,
and watched as Harry’s eyes fluttered open gently.

“Lou” Harry said groggily, reaching to pull him down in his drowsy
state.

“Hey Hazza” Louis whispered, leaning down to kiss his boyfriend.

“How did it go?” Harry asked, moving over to make room for Louis on
the sofa next to him.

Louis sat down properly and got under the blankets, draping his arm
around Harry’s neck and pulling him in as close as possible.

“It was alright actually. Me and Eleanor agreed on a lot of things and
made some rules. We’re gonna keep the pda to a bare minimum, only
for when the cameras are around, and she really cares about how your
feeling in all this Haz. She wanted you to know that she doesn’t want
to become an issue for us and she still wants to be friends with you”
Louis explained softly, rubbing Harry’s shoulder.

“Well, I’m still not okay with the situation, but it’s nice of her to
consider my feelings too. I’m glad she’s not being bitchy about it”
Harry agreed, smiling.

“Yeah, what did I say? It’s all gonna be okay Hazza” Louis replied,
peppering kisses all over Harry’s face until he squirmed and laughed.

“I hope so”

742
End of flashback:

“But of course, the fame and money got to Eleanor’s head along the
way. She believed if she wasn’t with me for real then she would lose
everything. So over time, she began making more and more moves on
me, trying to keep Harry away as well. It was a nightmare. And it was
such a waste, because deep down she was genuinely a nice girl, she was
our friend once, but her priorities laid where the money was” Louis
explained, grimacing at the thought of her.

“She acted as if she had some hold over Louis. She believed Louis
secretly loved her and was straight, she thought she was in my place
and I was just the side bitch or whatever. It pissed me off to be honest.
She bragged to all her friends that she was dating Louis, and when
confronted by them about it actually being a contract, she denied it all.
Said it was just some rumor” Harry continued, shaking his head at the
memory.

Eleanor betrayed them both, and it was partly Simons fault. He fed her
lie after lie to manipulate her into thinking she needed to be with Louis.
“He really loves you Eleanor” “he’s told me himself” “he’s not gay”
“you should be where Harry is, by Louis’ side” “take it while you still
can”

And she did believe him, after a while. She would delete Harry’s
number from Louis phone constantly, often sending vile texts
beforehand, pretending to be Louis. She would flirt with him in front of
Harry and the rest of the lads, putting them in awkward situations. She
would lie about things that “had been said” and try turn the two boys
against each other. And so on, she just wouldn’t quit.

“I’m pretty sure she was also fucking around with my mate Calvin at
the time. They were pretty close, and it didn’t bother me because, I
mean, I loved Harry. But some fans caught on and instead of her taking
the blame for it, I got into shit with management because apparently she
had told them that I pushed her to start dating him”

743
“Yeh, Calvin surprised me when that happened. I can’t believe he didn’t
stick up for you” Harry said, a scowl on his face.

“He loved el, of course he would be blind sighted by it all” Louis

replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“That’s not an excuse, he was your friend first, he had no right to do

any of that” Harry disagreed, balling his fists up.

“Well it’s in the past now and he’s apologized. I’m over it”

“Still a dick move, but anyway, there were of course more stunts after
that, and I had to do mine with Caroline. Nothing even happened
though, I just went to her apartment and we had a meal and watched
movies. It wasn’t this big sex scandal it was made out to be. She knew
she was too old for me and I loved Louis, so it was almost as if we were
just friends meeting up. She was really nice actually, and offered me
advice that I needed at the time. It felt nice having support from
someone that was older and had more experience in the industry, she
had worked with Simon before and knew all his tricks, so she gave me
a warning. And it was the first time I had really heard something bad
about him, it made me re think everything”

“She got a lot of shit for it in the end though, I kind of felt bad for her.
Everyone made it out that she was a pedo” Louis said, shaking his head.

“Well yeh, it did look sketchy. And like we said, the public disagreed
with the age gap and practically threw a fit over it. It brought bad
publicity but Simon didn’t want to listen” Harry replied, rolling his
eyes.

“He knew he fucked up with that one but he was too proud to admit it.
Fucking idiot” Louis said with a small laugh.

744
“Exactly. But, moving on. Louis also tweeted out his most famous tweet
around that time.” Always in my heart Harry Styles, yours sincerely,
Louis “” Harry mentioned, now smiling again.

“I wanted both Harry and the world to know he was always going to be
my number one. I couldn’t speak out about what was actually
happening, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t show affection for my”
friend “on social media. It shocked me at how much attention it got, it
was the most retweeted and news articles were made about it” Louis
said with a prideful look, smirking.

“Yeh Simon wasn’t too happy about that was he” Harry said with a
chuckle.

“No, he wasn’t. They tried to make me take it down but I refused. It

meant something to both me, Harry and the fans who supported us so I
wasn’t going to take that away. If I took down that tweet, it was like I
was saying management even had control over such a small part of my
life, social media, which was basically my voice at the time. I couldn’t
let them take my real voice and my separate one” Louis explained, a
firm look on his face.

“They gave up eventually, they realized it had already gotten so much

attention that there wasn’t much point in taking it down. So seeing that,
I also used socials for my voice, the first time I did it was by retweeting
a tweet that said” Harry has a broken heart “. I didn’t necessarily have
my heart broken at that point, but I could tell this was only the beginning
and getting heartbroken would be inevitable. I was right, but that’s later
on in the story” Harry said, taking Louis hand again and giving it a
squeeze.

“I’m sorry” Louis said, looking at him with sad eyes.

“That’s over with now” Harry replied, pecking him on the lips, causing
Louis to smile.

745
“So, from there we even began getting told not to whisper to each other
on stage, we couldn’t sit together during interviews, and if there were
paired interviews, we never got put together. I think there was only one
interview where we were allowed, it was for Teemix in Paris. The full
interview only got released about a year and a half ago, some girl
bought it or something. And yeh, it was fun, but we flirted too much
according to management. After that we couldn’t have solo interviews
with each other ever again”

Flashback, Feb. 14th, 2012:

“You’ve got one shot at this guys. Keep the flirting to a minimum, act
like friends, or there won’t be a repeat of this” Simon said over the
phone.

Louis and Harry had began to notice that Simon was becoming more
and more controlling over them. He wasn’t kind about it anymore
either. It was like he was their strict, homophobic dad or something.

“Yeh we get it. You tell us this shit every time” Louis snapped into the
phone, rolling his eyes.

“Because half the time you don’t listen to me. You should be great full
I’m letting your two have an interview together in the first place. So
quit it with the attitude and get it done” He replied, his tone venomous.

“Whatever” Louis said and hung up.

“Don’t let him get to you, he’s just a moody old shit” Harry said,
rubbing his thigh.

“I can’t help it, he fucking infuriated me. Our relationship is none of his
business. Jesus Christ, I can’t even take you out on a date because of
him! It’s ridiculous” Louis spat, shaking his head in anger.

“Lou, we can always go on a date in secret”

746
“No Harry we can’t. We’re famous now, anyone could recognize us and
get it out on socials, then Simon will find out, and we’ll be in shit, again.
As much as I want to, We can’t risk it” Louis sighed, looking
apologetically at his boyfriend.

“Someday we will. I promise you, I’ll make it happen” Harry said

truthfully, and Louis could tell he was being honest from the
determination in his eyes.

“I’ll hold you to that” Louis said with a grin, winking at Harry and
causing him to giggle.

“Alright, boys! Cameras rolling in 2 minutes, get seated please” the

producer said as the interviewer walked into the room and took her seat.

“Cheer up babe, we gotta make the most of this” Harry said with a
smirk, pulling Louis over to the chairs that were placed in front of a
table with glasses of water on it.

Harry messed about with the water, filling his glass up as Louis watched
curiously.

“I don’t think this is a very good one” Harry said randomly, staring at
the water.

Louis burst out laughing, he didn’t know why, he didn’t even know
what Harry was talking about. But he was happy, sitting here with his
boyfriend as they did their first interview together.

“So you’re Louis and Harry, or Harry and Louis?” The interviewer
asked in a heavy French accent.

“Louis” Louis said, pointing to himself.

“'Arry and Louie” Harry replied, putting on a fake accent as he pointed

between themselves.

747
There was a pause for a moment, Louis looked over to one of the men
from modest who gave him a stern look.

“And we’re available” Louis joked, commenting on what they were

meant to say when the relationship questions will be asked.

“Single!” Harry dragged out, smirking over at Louis.

Louis grinned and tugged at Harry’s chair, pulling it closer to his. Harry
got the hint and jumped up a little, making it easier for his chair to be
moved.

“We met at boot camp on X factor” Harry said, but all he could think
about is how much of a lie it was. “Uh, Louis was always really quiet
at boot camp, how things changed, he’s come out of his shell,
completely, he’s lost his shell”

“That’s not fair” Louis whispered, making Harry breathe out a laugh.

“Yeah I dunno, we’re having a great tome really” Harry continued, he

had always been a bit clueless when it came to interviews.

“So are you friends or?” The interviewer asked, tilting her head to the
side with squinted eyes. She was obviously testing them.

“Yeah we’re friends, but when we need to be we’re more like brothers,
because we’re so close you know, we literally see each other every day,
every minute of every day with each other so yeh” Harry trailed off, fist
bumping Louis and putting his arm around him.

“So you always wanted to be a singer?”

“Louis?” Harry said, letting him answer first.

“Yeah I either wanted to sing or act. I didn’t my school musical, and

we did Grease, I played Danny”

748
“He smashed it” Harry complimented.

“And ever since then I just wanted to do something with that kind of
approach” Louis finished, looking at Harry.

“Um, I think I always just wanted to entertain people. I was a bit of an

attention seeker. And then I sang in a band with some of my school
friends, and that’s when I thought I really wanted to sing and stuff so I
really enjoyed it, it was good fun” Harry explained.

“And your first single is a tribute to grease, and life?”

Louis laughed at that. “Uh yeh, I guess the single does have a
resemblance to the start of a summer nights from grease, but it wasn’t
done deliberately, but then again, who doesn’t love grease?”

There were a few random questions after that, and then the interviewer
finally moved onto the relationship questions.

“So it’s Valentine’s Day today, are any of you in love?”

“It is! Single, Valentine’s Day, in Paris, the city of love” Harry
excitedly said.

“The city of love” Louis said, imitating Harry . “Uh, I’ve got a girlfriend
actually” He lied.

Harry pulled a face, and he instantly knew Simon would be calling later.

“And what type of boyfriend are you?”

“A nice one I hope” Louis said with a smile.

“He’s caring, he treats me really well” Harry interrupted, looking away

from the camera. Louis grinned.

749
“I think he does a lot for her” Harry finished, knowing he had to stop
with the jokes or both himself and Louis would be in for it.

Louis pointed out a picture laying against the wall, “you can see that
lady’s bum” He commented, watching as Harry picked up the picture
and pointed it out.

“Nice bum” Harry said, before placing it back down.

Louis shrugged. He knew his was better anyway.

They finished off the interview with an improvised song, using water
bottles as microphones and glasses to make noises with. The sung
randomly about Valentine’s Day, creating the lyrics as they went along.

“Thank you for that” the woman said, laughing slightly.

“You’re welcome” Harry said with a smile as he placed back down the
bottles.

“I was wondering what you were doing but it was good baby” Louis
said, referring to the bottles and magazine Harry had grabbed to use
before they improvised the song.

“Yeh?” Harry asked, grinning.

“Yeah”

Harry grabbed the painting from before and headed out the door with
Louis, “au revoir” he said, waving as he walked away.

End of flashback:

“It was a fun interview, but as we thought we would, we did get a phone
call from Simon saying they were going to have to cut down the
majority of the interview because we apparently flirted too much. I

750
didn’t think that was necessary, but he was strict and wouldn’t allow
even the smallest of comments” Harry explained, thinking back on it.

“I’m glad that girl bought it. It was our first and only interview together
and to have the producers cut it down to about half was upsetting. I
wanted the full thing to go out but they wouldn’t allow me or Harry to
boy and release it. I don’t know how the girl managed to get a hold of
it to be honest” Louis said, confused.

“Yeh I know right, if she could get hold of that imagine all the other
videos people could just buy from management. There would be so
much more proof out there today if that was the case” Harry agreed.

“Hm, anyway, of course after that we weren’t allowed to do interviews

alone together. But there was one case where the interviewer was
insinuating a question about our sex life, the Mario cart interview I
think” Louis said, laughing at the thought of it.

“Oh yeh! She was asking who got in front and who got behind when
we play Mario cart. I took me a second to catch on, but then I saw the
rest of the lads trying to hold back their laughter and I got it. She was
asking who topped and who bottomed. I just decided to let Louis take
the lead on the question, I was too embarrassed” Harry explained with
a red face, his cheeks flushing.

“I just said we shared it. I couldn’t go into detail or anything, because

firstly, why would I want to? Secondly, I wasn’t allowed to. So I kept
it brief whilst the lads were making fun of us” Louis said, eyeing the
lads sat in the room behind the camera equipment.

“It was too funny alright, you would have laughed if it was about me
and Liam” Zayn said, throwing his hands up.

“Well yeh, but you could have controlled it until we stopped filming.
You lot practically gave it away” Louis retorted.

751
“Well your answer wasn’t exactly innocent was it” Liam said, giving
Louis a knowing look.

“Like I said, I kept it brief” Louis sassed, shrugging.

“Okay moving on” Harry said quickly. “I think this is probably the part
everyone’s been waiting for” He paused.

“What happened in wellington?”

Flashback, April 22nd, 2012:

It was during the Oceania leg of the up all night world tour. The lads
were sat in their hotel room in wellington, bored out of their minds as
they couldn’t sleep from jet lag.

“How about we go out?” Louis asked the lads. “I’m in the mood to get
pissed” he said with a laugh.

“It’s 2am Lou, management will murder us” Harry said, looking up at
Louis as his head rested in the boys lap.

“They don’t need to know, I can persuade Paul to come with us in case
we need help. I’ll make sure he doesn’t say anything” Louis retorted,
trying time convince him.

“Where would we go?” Niall asked.

“I dunno, any bar will do. Let’s just go, get a few drinks, then come
back when we’re tired. We can’t sit here all night and do nothing” Louis
whined.

“But aren’t we going to the set of the hobbit tomorrow? We’re supposed
to watch the filming. They invited us specially” Liam said, looking
hesitant.

752
“We can still go, I just want to make the most of this before we get back
on the road. We haven’t been out for drinks in ages” Louis replied,
huffing.

“Alright, fuck it, I’m in. What harm will it do?” Harry said, now getting
excited.

“I guess. Fine I’ll go too, but any trouble I’m blaming it on you
Tommo” Liam said, Niall just nodding in agreement.

“Great, lets go!” Louis cheered. “Wait, Zayn, you coming mate?” He
paused.

“Nah, I’m actually getting pretty tired now anyways. You lot go ahead,
I’ll see you in the morning” Zayn replied, waving them off.

“Alright, your loss” Louis shrugged, pulling Harry off the bed and out
the room.

They all walked out the hotel and texted Paul to meet them at the
location. They had found a small bar on the Main Street of the City.
There were crowds of people wondering about, many of them drunk,
and some fans even spotted them and stopped them to take pictures.

“This is crazy! The atmosphere of this place is amazing, don’t you

think?” Louis asked Harry, grabbing onto his arm.

“Yeah it’s great, we need to come back here for a proper holiday some
time” Harry said, a big smile on his face as he clutched Louis’ hand.

“Uh, guys there’s a lot of fans about. Keep the pda down if you don’t
want to get skinned alive by Simon” Liam Warner, noticing their
interlocked hands.

“Oh shush Liam, we’re here for a good night. Nobody will care” Louis
retorted, rolling his eyes as Harry grinned.

753
“Whatever you say mate” Liam replied monotonously, shaking his
head.

When they reached the bar, Louis ordered 4 beers and 8 shots of tequila
to get them started. “Been waiting to get smashed all tour. Finally”
Louis sighed as he quickly downed the shot.

“You’re not doing it right babe” Harry commented, noticing the left
over salt and lime waiting for them.

“Body shots?” Louis asked, staring Harry in the eyes.

“Um, I don’t know Lou, it’s a bit risky here don’t you think?” Harry
said, looking around at all the people and possible fans that were either
in the bar or lingering on the street.

“Come on, loosen up a bit. Nobody will see, we’re in the private section
you dummy” Louis said with a laugh, leaning Harry back and already
beginning to apply the salt to his neck, the lime placed in his mouth.

Harry went with it, looking out the corner of his eye to see Liam and
Niall watching nervously. They didn’t want them to get into any trouble
with modest.

Louis leaned down and licked the salt of Harry’s neck, followed by
taking the shot and eating the lime out of Harry’s mouth.

Harry was flustered, already feeling hot from the action, but he calmed
himself down by drinking almost half his beer.

“See, wasn’t so bad. Anyway, I’m going to get more shots, back in a
moment Haz!” Louis said excitedly, running off to the bar after pecking
Harry on the cheek.

“Bet you anything this is going to be all over socials tomorrow” Liam
said to Harry who was in a daze.

754
“What? Oh, I mean yeh possibly, but I think we’ll be fine. Don’t worry
about it” Harry replied, snapping out of it.

“Just warning you. I know how harsh Simon is ok the two of you. I hate
what he puts you through” Liam said sympathetically, looking at the
boy sadly.

“Yeh, well, can’t do anything about it can we” Harry said with no
emotion, sighing at the end.

“Here” Louis said, carefully putting down a tray of shots onto the table.
“Drink up lads, I didn’t buy them for nothing”

They each took one shot after another, progressively getting more and
more drunk throughout the night. Louis was by far the worst. He had
probably drank about 5 beers and 10 shots of tequila, and he still wasn’t
done.

“I want more Harry!” Louis whined stumbling towards the bar as Harry
was pulling him back.

“You’ve had enough babe” Harry said with a lazy smile.

“No! I haven’t, I want to get pissed. More pissed. Like, sooo drunk I
can’t walk. Huh, is the room spinning to you?” Louis rambled, slurring
his words and making Harry laugh. “What? What’re you laughing about
curlyy”

“You, you’re funny when you’re drunk” Harry replied, going to peck
him on the lips but stopping as he saw fans with the phones out, pointed
directly at them.

“So I’m not funny when I’m sober? The cheek on you Styles!” Louis
accused, putting a hand on his chest and pushing Harry away.

Louis began chanting a song, and Harry joined in, it was loud and it
echoed off the walls. Louis stopped and suddenly screamed “boyfriend”

755
Harry stumbled but grabbed Louis again, stepping behind him so that
his chest was pressed up against Louis back. “There’s fans recording us
over there” Harry whispered into his ear, his hands coming around
Louis’ neck.

“And? They can film us, who are we to stop them? They deserve a bit
of Larry content” Louis said, stumbling over his words.

“We’re not allowed to do this Lou” Harry said with a pout.

“I don’t care anymore” Louis said, rocking them back and forth.

Harry drunkenly tried to wave the fans away, but it didn’t do anything
seeming as they were across the street. He decided to ignore it, and
pushed Louis neck to the side to press a kiss onto his tanned, hot skin.
Louis laughed “that tickles” he said, trying to wriggle away. Harry then
put his thumb up at the fans, he didn’t know if they saw or not though.

Louis turned around in Harry’s arm and kissed him quickly before
rushing back to the table. Harry smiled and shook his head, following
after the big once again.

He knew the fans were filming all of that, but he was too drunk to care.

After a while, they decided to head back to the hotel. Louis was so
drunk he could barely even keep his eyes open, he even fell into the
elevator and did a forward roll, only to bang his head on the wall
afterwards.

Once back in their rooms, Harry and Louis got into bed, still in their
clothes, and kissed for a while.

“Tonight was so fun” Harry said, tracing Louis’ sharp jawline.

“Hm, it was” Louis said drowsily. It only took him a few seconds later
to fall asleep.

756
Harry sighed with a smile and took out his phone to make a new tweet.

“A moment, a love, a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry, our rights, our

wrongs, a moment. AHHHHH!”

End of flashback:

“I remember seeing a lot of fans assumed we went back that night and
had sex. I’m not surprised people thought that, we were very intimate
with each other that night. But, we were both too drunk and too tired, it
wouldn’t have been right, so we just cuddled, slept and kissed instead.
It was perfect” Harry said, smiling fondly at his boyfriend.

“Yeah yeah, I remember that. God the amount of tweets surrounding

wellington the next morning was mad. It was trending and everything.
It was probably the biggest piece of proof out there the entire time we
were closeted. But we did get into deep shit the next morning.” Louis
explained with a sigh.

“Simon called, he was furious. He had even gotten my sisters to”

confirm “it wasn’t us in the video, but that was stupid in my opinion
because it was pretty obvious. From that point he gave us even more
restrictions. We weren’t allowed out drinking together unless it was for
an event with the whole band, and we couldn’t go out in public together
unless there was either more security or an element of modest with us.
Paul almost got fired from that as well, because he was responsible for
us, which meant he was also responsible for not letting us slip up with
the Larry theories. It was terrible” Louis continued, taking his time.

“I mean, I don’t understand why Simon was so drastic about it. Sure, it
was real footage of us flirting and shit, but it was almost unseeable
because of how shitty the quality was. That video was practically
recorded on a potato” Harry said with a small chuckle.

“I know, like come on, there were better quality cameras and phones
out during the time” Louis agreed with a laugh. “But anyway, a lot of

757
the footage other fans had recorded wasn’t posted, I’m not sure why.
They either didn’t want to post for some reason, or management had
something to do with it. I wouldn’t be surprised”

“Yeh. The next day we were in so much shit with management that they
didn’t let us go to the filming of the hobbit. It sucked, but at the same
time we were all too hungover to do anything but lie in bed and eat all
day” Harry said, looking over at the lads who nodded.

“Ian Mckellan called us out on it on the Graham Norton show a few

years later. He asked us why we didn’t show up but it’s not like we
could tell him, we were on live tv. We didn’t really know what to say”
Harry continued, shaking his head.

“I just wanted to scream at him to shut up, but that would have been
rude so I bit my tongue” Louis added, smirking.

“But yeh, that’s what happened at wellington” Louis finished, smiling

at Harry.

“Now you know” Harry said as he looked at the camera, shrugging his
shoulders.

“As the years went on, and the more restrictions and rules were put in
place, it really did begin to affect our relationship. I think it was the
built up stress of it all caused us to argue a lot more over stupid shit”
Louis began again, frowning.

“I hate to admit it, but I did feel myself losing hope a couple times along
the way. I guess I just started thinking that it may not be worth it. We
both thought it would never end, so I just thought to myself, am I really
going to stay closeted for the rest of my life? Or should I call it quits
now so that I can try at it with a normal relationship, even if that meant
having to date a girl”

Harry had heard this from Louis himself multiple times, but it still hurt.
He himself was in it for the long run. He would go through anything,

758
endure anything to be with Louis. But he could tell at some points it
was one sided. Louis had always been less open with his sexuality than
Harry had, and Harry knew some part of Louis didn’t want to be gay or
bi, he didn’t want to come out. He was afraid of it.

Harry had spent countless nights crying at the thought of Louis falling
out of love with him. He didn’t see himself as worth it anymore because
he truly thought that’s what Louis believed.

“I loved Harry, I still love him to this day. But I was scared about
coming out in the first place. Even if management didn’t have a
problem with us coming out, I don’t even know when I would have
done it myself to be honest. Harry’s always been more accepting of
himself than I am, he doesn’t care about his clothing choices, or what
jewelry he wears, or if he paints his nails. And that’s what I admire the
most about him, how confident he is in himself, because I remember a
younger Harry who did care about other people’s opinions way too
much. I had to be the one there for him when he would cry at the cruel
comments of people on the internet. But then it switched, because
whilst he wasn’t giving a shit, I was the one too insecure about my
sexuality” Louis said, his voice cracking a little, causing Harry to wrap
an arm around him for comfort.

“I guess that’s why I got into all the shit I did back in the early years of
the band. I did drugs, smoked nonstop, drank way too much, got
multiple tattoos and took on the persona of a bad man that didn’t care.
But that was always just a mask to hide how I really felt about my
sexuality. I was too scared to be even the slightest bit flamboyant
because of how many times Simon had told me it’s wrong, and it’s not”
manly “to dress the way I did, or act the way I did. So I wore darker
clothes, did all of what I said before and in the process, I was pushing
Harry away” Louis continued with glassy eyes.

“I remember one time, in 2012, I tweeted out about Larry being the
biggest load of bullshit I had ever heard; and I’d don’t even need to do
that. I had been scrolling through hate comments, saw all the ones that
were homophobic, and I guess I just remembered what Simon had said

759
about deflecting it all. I wanted to deflect the homophobic comments,
so I did what management said to do, deny it”

Harry cringed at the memory, it was a terrible day. He had been so

heartbroken by it, because he knew management hadn’t told them to
tweet anything out recently.

“I hurt Harry so much when I did that, I still regret it. But I just didn’t
know how to cope. I remember going back to our house and Harry was
crying, he thought I wanted to break up, that I didn’t love him anymore.
But that was the farthest from the truth. I simply just wanted the
negative sides of it to go away, Harry was never a negative, he was the
most positive thing I had going for myself and I almost Fucked it all up
because of a dumb tweet” Louis said, squeezing Harry’s hand.

“I get why you did it. I had moments like that too, I just wasn’t as open
about it. When we both had to deal with the negative sides of it, you
became more extrovert, telling people what you thought, and I became
more introvert, hiding myself away from it all. We all deal with things
in different ways, that’s just how you coped with it. Yes it hurt me
tremendously, but I knew you didn’t mean it in a way to hurt me, you
wanted to lash back at haters” Harry sympathized, never taking his eyes
of Louis whilst he said so.

“You always see the good in people, one of the many things I love about
you” Louis replied, warning a loud “aww” from friends and family in
the studio. “Oh shut up, you’re ruining it” Louis called out to them,
causing everyone to laugh.

“Another thing we did in order to communicate without really speaking

is obviously the tattoos. Many of the fans have noticed the links
between them, for example the dagger and rose, the sparrows, oops and
hi and countless more. We couldn’t say anything out loud, so instead
we inked it onto our kin permanently. I remember every single one I
got and the meaning behind them all, it’s kind of like a reminder of how
far we’ve come” Harry said, pointing out tattoos between them both.

760
“Yeh, I had to do a YouTube video talking about my tattoos and their
meanings. I just lied my way through the whole thing to be honest. I
just said most of them were random. That video would have been so
much better if they had just waited another year to film it” Louis
commented, laughing.

“Yes, but the video would also have been about an hour long” Harry
pointed out.

“True, that is true” Louis agreed.

“Back to the story. I think the worst person I had to” date “was probably
Taylor during the whole womanizer image thing. Yeh, big surprise
there. It was really stressful after we had to break up publicly, because
I had no idea what Taylor was going to do afterwards. The whole,
writing a song about me, making me out to be the bad guy and calling
me out numerous time’s wasn’t even in the contract. We were just
supposed to date for a while, the hottest celeb couple or whatever, and
have a quiet breakup. Of course that didn’t happen, and Taylor saw it
as an opportunity to make herself look good whilst topping the charts.
So she wrote” I knew you were trouble “which had huge success. If it
wasn’t about me I think I would have actually enjoyed that song, but
the way she portrayed me to be just ruined everything. I never did one
single thing wrong to her, and she took my kindness for granted”

Harry was still angry about it to this day. She’s one of the few people
he can’t stand, and he won’t ever forgive her for what she did. His
image was almost completely ruined after that song came out. All the
tabloids wrote about it, he was shamed online for “using her” and he
had to sit there with a smile on his face the whole way through it.

“Nasty piece of work she is” Louis said with a scowl.

“You’re telling me” Harry said, raising his eyebrows.

“I got through it though. And thankfully I lost all contact with her, other
than a few times we ran into each other at celebrity parties and stuff. I

761
actually laughed when people thought I’d written my own love songs
for her, because no, they were all for a man thank you very much” Harry
said, draping his arm around Louis once again as if to show him off.

“Alright alright, I’m not your trophy wife jeez” Louis said sarcastically,
brushing Harry away.

“I like to show off what’s mine” Harry retorted, grinning.

“Yeh yeh, pipe down Mr. confident” Louis sassed.

“So, what’s next?” Harry asked.

“Rainbow bondage bear and sugar baby bear” Louis said with a smile.

Flashback, June 13th, 2015:

The bear first appeared at a concert during the on the road again tour.

At first it was a simple, rainbow bear that held no significance. This

only changed when tape and bondage gear was strapped up to it.

“Harry!” Louis shouted, running round the beck of the stadium in

search of his boyfriend.

“In here!” Harry called back, coming from the direction of the changing
room.

“I found a bear!” Louis exclaimed, causing Harry’s eyes to widen as he

looked around the room.

“What the fuck are you talking about? There’s no bear here Louis”
Harry said after almost having a heart attack.

“No silly, it’s a teddy bear, and look, it’s rainbow!” Louis said with a
grin, holding up the bear in his hand.

762
“Uh, okay? And?” Harry asked, confused as to why Louis was so
excited.

“Well, josh found it on stage and brought it back to me. He said we

would probably like it because of the rainbow pattern or whatever. So I
was thinking, why don’t we bring it on tour with us? It could be a
symbol of our relationship!” Louis explained, giddy at the thought of
his idea.

“Louis”

“Yeah?”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard” Harry said,
continuing to get changed.

“What! How dare you. I think it’s a fabulous idea” Louis said, leaning
against the door frame with his hands on his hips, the bear resting
between his hand.

“Okay, and what is the point in this exactly? I don’t get what you’re
trying to prove, the fans aren’t going to take notice in some random
bear” Harry said with a laugh.

“Of course they will. It’s Larry shippers were taking about here, they
look into just about anything! If we leave clues surrounding the bear,
I’m sure they will catch on soon enough” Louis retorted, rolling his
eyes.

“Alright. Suppose you go through with this, what exactly are you going
to do then?” Harry asked, turning to face his boyfriend once again.

“I’m going to dress it up” Louis said with a proud smile.

Silence.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Louis asked.

763
“You’re telling me, as a way to show our love to the fans without
actually saying anything, you’re going to dress up a stuffed teddy bear.
Really Louis?” Harry asked, furrowing his brows.

“Exactly” Louis confirmed with a nod.

“Jesus Christ— right go ahead then. I’m only in if the fans start to
notice” Harry said with a smirk.

“Fine, you just watch” Louis said sassily before strutting out the room,
leaving Harry bewildered.

He dressed up the bear in bondage gear, somewhat showing the bdsm

side of his and Harry’s relationship. He thought it would be funny,
seeming as the fans had assumed they’re into all that. This bear would
be Harry.

Louis continued putting the bear in various places on stage for the next
few concerts, much to Harry’s disapproval, and finally, he noticed some
fans began to point it out on Twitter.

They hadn’t quite caught on to it being tied to Larry yet, but it was a
start. If they knew it was there they would be looking for it at future
concerts. Louis next step would be setting up a twitter account for the
bear, seeming as that’s where all the attention on it was.

@bondagebear1d

He posted random photos of the bear dressed up partying, setting the

location to wherever the band was.

It was getting more and more attention each day, gaining many
followers as fans tried to figure out what the bear meant and who was
behind it. But still, no links to Larry.

Louis decided he needed to take it up a notch.

764
He tied the bear to a reference of Judy Garland, a famous gay icon from
the 50s and 60s. There was a rumor that if you said you were friends
with Judy, it was a code for telling people you’re gay. Louis thought
using the bear, which represented Harry, was practically doing the same
thing. Telling people Harry was gay.

Many fans did make this link and thankfully began to question of it was
to represent Larry Stylinson, but that beginning was short lived as the
twitter account got suspended.

Louis had no idea what had happened. He reckoned it had something to

do with modest, as always, and thought he would tone it down with the
bear for a while in Order to make sure management weren’t getting
suspicious.

He only brought the rainbow bondage bear back again during their last
tour.

He basically had to start from scratch, putting the bears in funny, cute
outfits.

“You’re really starting this up again? It didn’t work last time, just like
I said” Harry commented as he saw Louis dressing up the bear.

“Oh shush Harold, it’s only because the account got suspended for god
knows what reason” Louis sassed back, continuing to dress up the bear.

“You’re wasting your time” Harry said, kneeling down to touch the
bear, only to get his hand slapped away.

“Don’t touch if you don’t believe in it” Louis said, raising his eyebrows
at Harry.

“Bloody hell alright. How do you even plan on making it work this time
of it didn’t the first time?” Harry asked, sitting down on the floor.

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“I’m gonna do it exactly as I did it the first time, hence why I’m dressing
it up. The fans were beginning to catch on until the stupid account go
suspended. If it made a return now I’m sure they will notice” Louis said
with a shrug.

“Guess we’ll see then” Is all Harry said before kissing Louis on the
head and going to prepare for the show.

Louis noticed that the fans believed the person behind the bear was josh,
the drummer, seeming as he had been in multiple photos with the bear,
as per Louis request.

Louis saw this as a good thing though. If fans thought he was behind it
and management saw it on socials, they would blame josh, not him.
Win win situation.

He knew it was selfish, but what harm would it really do?

Soon enough, Louis even began dressing the bear up as Freddie

Mercury. Another gay icon. He thought it was rather fitting for a bear
to represent Harry, what with his new strange sense of fashion he was
getting into.

It only really clicked with the fans that the bears represented Larry when
sugar baby bear was brought in.

Louis decided the only way to get the point across was to have two
bears. A smaller one and a bigger one. Representing him and Harry. Of
course it worked, Fans were quick to take to Twitter with their new
discovery and it even got trending.

Louis grinned and rushed off to find Harry.

“Ha! I fucking told you it would work, but you didn’t believe me did
you” Louis said, holding up hair phone directly in front of Harry’s face.

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“What the fuck?” Harry said after a moment of reading the screen,
seeing that Larry was trending and so was rbb and sbb.

“What have you got to say hm?” Louis asked, propping his hand against
his hip.

“Fine! Okay, I was wrong. There, happy now?” Harry said, both
frustrated and amused. He was actually happy it worked out, now they
definitely had another way of communicating with the fans.

“Very. So, you gonna help me or not?” Louis asked, sitting down in
Harry’s lap.

“Course. What we going to do next then?” Harry asked, kissing Louis

neck.

“Well, first of all we can’t under any circumstances acknowledge the

bears whilst on stage. The fans can’t know it’s us doing it, so we need
to seem clueless about the situation. That stops us from getting into
trouble with management if they see any videos of us on stage with the
bears” Louis explained, Harry nodding along.

“Okay, got it, and what have you been doing so far then?” Harry asked.

“Dressing them up in bondage gear, thought I’d make a joke out of the
whole Larry bdsm thing. I’ve been linking the bears to gay icons, and I
made sure the bears are different in size. The bigger one is you and the
smaller one is me” Louis said with excitement clear in his eyes.

“Sounds good. But, I have an idea” Harry said with a smirk.

“Okay, go on” Louis said, intrigued.

“How about, if we do something during the day before concerts. That

night at the concert, we make sure we link the bears to whatever we
were doing during the day?” Harry said, looking hesitant about his idea.

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“That sounds great actually, we can do that tomorrow because we’re
going out during the day right?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, we start tomorrow then. As a team this time” Harry said with a
smile.

“As a team”

The next day Harry got Ice cream whilst Louis went to McDonald’s.
They made sure to put ice cream (a fake one of course) on rbb and fake
McDonald’s fries on sbb.

Again, the fans noticed and were tweeting about it all night. Harry and
Louis celebrated with a few drinks in the hotel room and they spent the
night coming up with different ways they could leave clues and hints
with the bears.

Harry had gotten a crown for his bear, it had green and blue jewels on
the front of it and when he saw it in a random shop he thought it was
perfect. Meanwhile, Louis had bought green and blue stickers to put in
the bears feet.

One of the bigger things they did was dress up the bears in wedding
attire for a concert. They placed them on the stage with a picture of a
man named Larry Grayson in front of them, signed “love Larry”.

On October 10th, 2015, Louis and Harry set up a new twitter account.
@rbbsbbofficial and josh made sure to be the first person to follow.

It blew up much faster than the first account did, being that more fans
had noticed what was going on than they ever did before.

The whole band was involved with the bears now, always coming up
with new ideas, helping to discreetly place the bears somewhere on
stage and taking turns managing the twitter account.

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Some would say it’s a lot of effort just for two stuffed animals. But
when you’ve been so restricted that you can’t even look at the person
you love in public anymore, you would go to extreme lengths to show
your love for one another.

Unfortunately, it soon all came crumbling down once again.

Simon had caught wind of the situation and demanded whoever was
behind it owned up to it or he would take matter into his own hands.

“This isn’t acceptable. All this time and hard work we’ve put into
keeping these rumors behind closed doors is for nothing if you idiots
keep rebelling against it! I’ve told you time and time again that you are
bound to a contract and can’t come out, so what’s the point in using a
fucking stuffed bear to converse with the fans? Even if they do believe
in it, you can’t come out anyway, you can’t make it official, so why put
effort into keeping the fans in the loop?” Simon screamed at them in
the meeting room.

“Because we don’t want any of this shit Simon. We want to come out,
but seeming as we’re not allowed this is the next best thing! You can’t
keep this going for the rest of our lives, just drop it already. You’re the
one that’s homophobic, not the fans. You don’t care about whether or
not it brings the band down, you just don’t want to be associated with a
gay couple” Louis shouted right back, tired of the continuous meetings
that told them no.

“Either way, I’m in control here Louis. If I say you can’t come out then
you can’t. It’s none of your business what my reasons are, you just need
to learn to keep it shut and there won’t be any problems” Simon replied,
giving Louis a deathly stare.

“This is bullshit! Harry is my boyfriend, the person I love most in the

world and it’s gotten to a point where I’m not allowed to even look at
him! Seriously Simon? What the fuck is going to happen if I look at
him, Hm? Will the band collapse, no, I didn’t think so. You’re being
ridiculous” Louis continued, his fists balled tightly.

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“I’m not going over this again Louis. I don’t know who’s behind it, but
you stop with them damn bears right now, got it? This meeting is over
with” Simon said before storming out the room, his assistants following
after him.

“Maybe we should stop—” Niall began, only to be interrupted by Louis.

“No, hell fucking no. I’m not quitting now because of some old
homophobic man! We carry this on, I don’t care if you’re with me or
not but I’m not stopping on his behalf. I don’t know about you lot, but
I’m tired of submitting to him all the time. I’m not doing it anymore”
Louis said furiously, pacing the room.

“I agree with Lou. I’m not backing down now, we’re finally getting
somewhere” Harry said, causing Louis to smile even in his frustrated
state.

“Well, we support you guys with whatever you decide to do. We’ve got
your backs” Liam said on behalf of all of them.

Louis and Harry smiled, determined to go on with their plan.

Once they began putting the bears out again at concerts, this time
around they had even gotten security for them. Yes, security for two
stuffed bears. They took it seriously alright.

Louis and Harry had been at a gay bar in Newcastle one night and had
even met some fans there. The next day the bears tweeted out a picture
at Newcastle football stadium. The lads used it as a way of confirming
they were indeed at the Newcastle gay bar, together, seeming as no fans
had gotten pictures with Harry.

Harry thought about how Louis had said his idea for the bears was
fabulous at the very beginning, he hadn’t believed him. So to make up
for it, Harry got a certificate for the bears in honor of “being fabulous”.
They tweeted out the picture on the bears twitter account and the fans

770
instantly recognized Harry’s handwriting. Just like they thought they
would.

And for the first time ever, the band was asked if they had anything to
do with the rainbow bondage bear in an interview.

It was so sudden they didn’t really know what to say, and surprisingly,
Harry was the one to lie about it on the spot, claiming it was just a bear
that had been thrown on stage during a concert, but they had “no clue”
other than that.

It caught them off guard but they recovered, only just. Fans noticed the
tension when the question was asked and pointed it out in numerous
videos online.

February 1st, one direction officially left modest, and whilst celebrating
that, they also celebrated Harry’s 22nd birthday.

With one final picture, a cake with 22 candles in front of the two bears,
also having a cake fight to resemble one of their early concerts where
there was a cake fight on stage, Harry was the one to delete the account.

Just after his breakup from Louis.

End of flashback:

“Damn, that went on for a while didn’t it” Harry said, only realizing it
after they had talked through it for so long.

“Mate, this documentary is going to be so long” Louis said with a laugh,

causing Harry to as well.

“It’s nearly finished now anyways. However, we need to talk about the
big breakup. This will probably be the hardest part” Harry said, his
smile turning into a frown.

“Shit, yeh. Well, may as well get it over with” Louis said with a sigh.

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It would be the first time speaking about it to other people, the first time
talking about their breakup in detail and putting the pieces together.
And it would be the final part to their story before reuniting.

Flashback, December 2015, one month before hiatus:

This would be the final stunt.

Simon and his team had it all planned out. After years they were finally
going to stop the Larry Stylinson conspiracy once and for all.

Because how can there be a conspiracy if they really aren’t together

anymore, right?

Louis got the phone call from management one morning, informing him
that Simon and modest needed to speak with him about another stunt.

He agreed with a sigh and headed over to the company building right
away, he would talk to Harry about it later.

What he didn’t know, is that Eleanor had already had her own
conversation with modest the day prior.

Modest had offered Eleanor a hefty price to take Louis to a club, get his
piss drunk, and get him into bed with her. And of course, after the game
and money getting to her head, she agreed with no regrets.

Louis walked into the office and sat down at the large table he had been
sat at many times before. He called it the chair of doom. Nothing good
ever came out of sitting there.

“Louis”

“Simon”

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“We’ve got another stunt for you” he said with a smirk, causing Louis
to roll his eyes. “You’re going to a club with Eleanor tonight for a few
drinks, paps will be there as usual. You know the drill, just be where
we say to be at the right time” Simon explained, tapping his pen on the
table.

“Right. Now that’s over with I’m going to head off” Louis said, sticking
his middle finger up at Simon as he stood up to leave.

“Not so fast” Louis sighed and sat back down. “We wanted to let you
know that Harry’s already agreed to this, we spoke with him over the
phone seeming as he’s with his family for tonight. He knows to be
expecting photos” Simon explained.

“Since when do you call Harry before a stunt. Normally you’re too cold
hearted to give a shit” Louis asked wearily, squinting his eyes at the
man he knew not to believe so easily.

“Well we knew you would be telling him anyway, so we saved you the
trouble so you can get out and do the stunt ASAP. We need these photos
quickly” Simon lied, but he was calm, so Louis brushed it off as
nothing.

“Whatever you say” Louis said before standing up and leaving the
room.

That night Louis headed to the club, not knowing that Harry was
unaware of what was happening.

He met up with Eleanor who he had slowly grown to hate over the years
and knew he would need a drink to survive this. So he headed straight
for the bar and ordered the strongest thing they had.

Of course he wanted to get drunk, but he also knew he needed to be

aware of what was going on around him, especially with a girl like
Eleanor. So he told himself he would keep it to a minimum for the night.

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“Here Lou, I got you another drink babe” Eleanor said, bounding over
time the table with a tray full of drinks and shots.

“I’m not having any more” Louis sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Oh don’t be such a grump. You need to let loose a little, you’ve been
so tense lately. What would I do anyway?” Eleanor said, putting on a
sweet tone.

“Fucking hell fine! One more” he said, taking the closest drink to him
and downing it. He knew he shouldn’t have, but the girl was already
doing his head in and he couldn’t get through this without being at least
a bit tipsy.

“See, it doesn’t do any harm. Drink up Lou” She encouraged, pushing

more and more drinks his way until he was on the verge of passing out.

The room was spinning and he was surrounded by a large group of

people. He didn’t even notice when Eleanor began to get a little too
close for comfort. She was practically sitting on his lap, touching him
anywhere she wanted, he was too drunk to even stop her.

He knew he shouldn’t be doing this, he knew because there was a small

voice in the back of his head screaming at him to stop, walk away. But
as much as he hated this girl, he missed Harry and he had too much
alcohol in his system. He went along with it.

Eleanor whispered something incoherent into his ear and dragged him
out the club, pulling him into the car that had been waiting for them all
night as the paps took flashing photos of them. Eleanor kisses him on
the way out of the club, knowing she needed to get the best pictures in
order to please Simon.

“My place please” she said to their driver, who already knew the
location as this entire night had already been planned and set up.

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They soon arrived at her apartment, the whole way there Eleanor had
been seducing him. He was powerless and too out of it to put an end to
it. All he knew was He just needed someone to touch him, he missed
Harry’s touch so much after not seeing him all week, and this was the
closest he was going to get.

So, he slept with her.

It was the biggest mistake of his life, and in the morning when he was
throwing up, it wasn’t all just because of the alcohol. He felt disgusted.

He was disgusted with the act itself, and with himself. He had cheated.
He had betrayed the person he loved most in the entire world and he
couldn’t take it back.

He knew it wasn’t all his fault. Eleanor had gotten him drunk and made
the first move, but he could have stopped it there, And he didn’t.

That day Louis sat alone in his apartment crying his eyes out.

It would be okay, he repeated to himself, Harry didn’t know, Harry

knows it was a stunt and that’s all. It would be fine, it would be alright.

But it wouldn’t, because the next day, sat in the dressing room, Louis
knew Harry had found out.

“How could you to this to me?” Harry exclaimed as he threw open the
dressing room door, only to be met with the confused eyes of his band
members and the entire hair and makeup team.

He didn’t care though. He didn’t care if these people watched Him

break down. He didn’t care if they heard the truth. He needed to
confront Louis and he was going to do it now.

“Haz, please” Louis began, a look of realization crossing his face, but
he was cut off by Harry.

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“No Louis, you know what you fucking did, how could you?” He once
again asked, tears streaming down his face.

“I— I didn’t mean to I swear Haz just listen to me” he pleaded.

“Don’t even dare call me that name after what you’ve done” he said,
shaking his head.

“Haz— Harry, come one lets just talk about this in private” Louis asked
softly, giving Harry a stern look while grabbing his arm and attempting
to pull him out the door.

Harry quickly snapped his arm back as if he had just been burned.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You don’t tell me when and
where I talk” he scoffed, throwing a disbelieving look towards the man.

“What? You think I’m gonna do what you tell me to after you willingly
fucked the girl you apparently can’t stand? The girl who our
relationship has been tied to and brought down by for the past four
years? Your fucking crazy” He exclaimed, more tears pouring out of
his eyes like a waterfall.

Many of the people in the room gasped at that, being the first time they
had heard the news. Some even turned a disappointed look towards
Louis, who cowered down in shame at his actions.

“Please, Haz— don’t” Louis stuttered out, choking on his words

through the tears threatening to fall.

“I’m so fucking done. We, are done” Harry said finally, walking out the
room, slamming the door, and leaving a broken Louis behind.

End of flashback:

“I had found out Louis slept with her because some paps had followed
them both back to Eleanor’s apartment. There were also pictures of him

776
leaving the next morning. I was heartbroken. I didn’t even want to
believe it at first, I was telling myself it was all just some fucked up
nightmare. But it was true. Louis had slept with her, he did cheat, but at
the time I didn’t know the full story. I didn’t know management had
anything to do with it, I didn’t know Eleanor had been given strict
instructions to seduce Lou whilst he was drunk, take advantage of him
like that. So I broke up with him then and there, without letting him
explain anything to me”

Harry said as a tear fell from his eye. He didn’t like re living this story.
It brought back the memories of all the self destruction he went through
after finding out, how painful yet emotionless it all felt.

“I went down a path I never thought I would ever go down in my life.

It’s like I just completely shut down. I got into drugs, smoking,
excessive drinking. I would party every night and work all day. I
suffered from insomnia and depression for a good two years, possibly
more. I didn’t know how to live without Louis, because it was always
me and him, always. I just thought, if there’s no Louis to complete us,
then who was I supposed to be? When I tried being myself at the
beginning, the same old Harry that I am when around Lou, I was in so
much mental pain that I would rather take on a new persona to mask it
all. So I did. I slept with multiple men and women, not giving a shit
about anyone’s feeling but my own. And I think that was because I
didn’t think anyone deserved my kindness when the person I cared
about the most just threw it all back in my face. I basically numbed
myself from everything”

Harry explained, causing many people, including Louis, to tear up at

the thought.

“But I still loved him. Even after what he had done to me, I still loved
him with everything I had. As much as I tried, I couldn’t just get over
the boy I had been in love with for the majority of my life. He was
everything to me, is everything to me. So I guess that’s why I caved so
easily when the reunion happened. I wanted him more than I wanted
my pride. So I set that aside in order to be with him, to forgive him”

777
Louis and Harry were both crying uncontrollably by this point, facing
each other as the tears ran down their cheeks.

Harry reached out and wiped a stray tear from Louis face, causing him
to smile and laugh slightly.

“God, we’re a mess” Louis said.

“A beautiful mess” Harry reiterated, smiling at the man he loved most.

After a moment of silence, the men turned back towards the camera for
a few final words. This was it.

“We built our relationship slowly. It was hard at first, because Harry
was still broken, he still hated me at that point, which I couldn’t blame
him for. He was so cold to me but I deserved it after what I did. We did
get past that though” Louis said with a smile.

“You didn’t deserve anything. Nobody deserves to be treated the way I

treat you, and vice versa. It was all just a big mistake, and now look
where we are. Telling the world our story like we had been dreaming to
for years on end. We’re free Lou” Harry said with excitement, a huge
grin on his face.

“So now you know the story, and you know how it went after the
reunion. Thank you for the endless support, and thank you for the
determination to believe in our love when others couldn’t. We couldn’t
have done this without you” Louis said with a smile, directing at the
fans through the camera.

“I’d also like to thank the lads and our friends and family for being so
supportive of us. They were there for us through thick and thin, they
held us together and encouraged us to stay strong. So thank you guys
for that, we both live you all” Harry said to everyone say in the studio.

778
They sat with smiles on their faces, some still crying, others with pride.
But they all knew life would be much easier now. They knew one day
they would be attending their wedding openly, they could now freely
post about the two of social media, none of them had to hide.

Louis and Harry had a love so passionate and strong, they had been each
other’s rock through the toughest stages of their lives.

And they were now free because of the reunion.

FIN

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