Reunion (L.S) Our story/Part three

Soo, long time no see?
Again, sorry for this taking so long to get out, I had major issues with my phone breaking, and then I forgot my wattpad password and had a whole ordeal with trying to get logged back on, so there’s that haha. Plus, again I have school work and shit to do, sigh, so it’s taken a while to get this written but this is it guys, this is the ACTUAL FINAL CHAPTER!!!! I hope you enjoy, it’s gonna be a long one, and thank you so much for reading. Please read author notes at the end, so I can explain what I’m going to do in the future considering this fic and new ones, love you all, enjoy 🙂 xxx

P.s sorry for any mistakes, there was too much to go over and re read hahaha 🙂

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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”

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 mesmerised 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 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 nothings 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.

“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 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 ever 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 behaviour or dislike towards anyone 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 realised 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.

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”

“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 realising 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 realised 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 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?”

“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 realised 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”

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.

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.

“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.

“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.

“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 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.

“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.

“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 realise 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.

“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 realise 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 realised 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.

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 realised 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.

Like Jesus, he didn’t think the band was this popular all ready 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 realise 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 like that could have been very dangerous, I’m surprised nobody spotted you”

The lads looked shocked at that. They really hadn’t realised 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.

“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 realisation, 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.

“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”

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, brining 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 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 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 realised 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 home made mash”

Flashback: dec 3rd, 2010

“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.

“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 realised 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.

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.

“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 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 realisation.

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 mouthes 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.

“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 through out 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.

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 favour 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.

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 realise 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.

“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.

“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 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 favourite 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 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 wether 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.

“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 realise 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’.

“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 how ever long this will last. Nobody will believe it for a second. At least one of you has to be dating someone for this rumour 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.

“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 womaniser 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 womaniser 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” Simon encouraged, once again using manipulation to gain what he wanted.

“So what your saying is, harry and Louis can’t come out to the public, Louis will have a girlfriend, and harry will be a womaniser. 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 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 theirselves, 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.

“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.

“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.

“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 flavours” 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 flavour. 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.

“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.

“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 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”

End of flashback:

“But of course, the fame and money got to Eleanors 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 rumour” 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”

“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 apologised. 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.

“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 realised 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 heart broken 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.

“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”

“No harry we can’t. We’re famous now, anyone could recognise 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.

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”

“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.

“I think he does a lot for her” Harry finished, knowing he had to stop with the jokes or both himself and Louis would he 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 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 stoped filming. You lot practically gave it away” Louis retorted.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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”

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 our 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.

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 a 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 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 effect 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, 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 jewellery 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 non stop, 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 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 sympathised, 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.

“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 womaniser 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 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.

“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.

“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 our 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.

He tied the bear to a reference of Judy Garland, a famous gay icon from the 50s and 60s. There was a rumour 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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

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 rumours 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 wether 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.

“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 the 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 ver beginning, he hadn’t believed him. So to make up for it, harry got a certificate for the bears in honour of “being fabulous”. They tweeted out the picture on the bears twitter account and the fans instantly recognised 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 realising 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.

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”

“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.

“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.

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 it’s self, 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 realisation 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 your 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- dont” 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 Eleanors apartment. There were also pictures of him 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”

Louis and harry were both crying uncontrollably by this point, facing each other as the tears ran down their cheeks.

Harry reached our 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 re 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 verse. 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.

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.

________________________________
Well, that’s it guys.

Reunion is finally complete.

I’m really sorry if this seemed like too long of a chapter, I know it can be hard reading so much in one sitting for some people, so I apologise but I really just wanted to get this final chapter out because it took so long to write!

You guys are the most supportive, caring and understanding group of people I’ve ever had the privilege to write for.

I honestly don’t think I could have finished this without the endless comments and love I’ve received from you. It means the world to me.

I hope you read this next page because I’m going to talk properly about my experience with writing this and what I’m thinking of writing in the future.

I hope you all enjoyed, thank you so much.

I love you all xxx