“Wait up!” Louis shouted as he ran after Harry, laughing so hard he was doubled over by the time he made it. His arms, of their own accord, slipped around the taller boy’s waist. The van was just coming around the bend as the rest of the boys showed up. Louis dropped his arms.

At sound check they stood not an inch away from each other as they practiced. Harry couldn’t be near
Louis without touching him; it was so bad that he couldn’t even pretend. Harry’d given them away more often than not. Not that either of them minded too much. The fans, though, they cared. They loved every second of what they called Larry Stylinson.

When the other fans began tearing apart their relationship and calling those who believed in Larry liars, Modest had to step in. Before X Factor, Louis’d been dating Hannah Walker; he just needed a new girlfriend to squelch the Larry rumors. Modest pushed Eleanor into Louis’s life.

~

Louis walked inside the apartment, not bothering to shut the door behind him. It was still raining outside; he was sopping wet. He didn’t care. Harry’s grave had been a muddy puddle today, so Louis’d spent two hours clearing the excess water away. The cemetery guard had tried to tell him that it was useless, seeing as it was raining. Louis didn’t care.

Inside his flat Liam, Niall, Zayn, and Eleanor were sitting on his couch. He barely gave them a passing glance as he stalked to Harry’s room. Louis shut the bedroom door and leaned his forehead against it. Slowly, realizing he was dripping on Harry’s floor, he turned and grabbed some dry clothes to change into. Crossing into the bathroom, Louis changed and hung his wet clothes on the shower door. He padded back out to the living room as he dried his hair and sat down in the chair opposite his girlfriend and band mates.

“Lou,” Eleanor began and her voice cracked. Liam patted her shoulder and took over.

“Louis, we want you back. You’re our best mate and we love you.” Liam’s throat got tight and his voice hitched. “I miss you.”

Zayn stood up and moved blindly over to Louis. He fell to his knees in front of his best friend and threw his arms around him. “I’m so sorry,” He sobbed into Louis’s shoulder when Louis had pulled him up. Niall was only seconds behind Zayn and they held each other for a long time. Liam and Eleanor joined the tear-dampened heap.

They sat like that for almost an hour, finally letting everything out. It seemed to be what everyone needed. When the boys got up to leave, Louis left with them. They were happy to have Louis back; they didn’t know that he was nowhere near okay.







~

Louis stretched out on the rough mattress. Harry curled up on his side. Neither of them spoke for a long while. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore and Louis met his best friend’s eyes. “Are you angry?”

“I couldn’t be angry with you, Lou.” Harry replied, but it was a lie. He didn’t know that he could be upset when it came to this boy.

Eleanor had only been around for a couple weeks. Yesterday, she’d kissed Louis. Right in front of the world, she’d put her lips on his.

It was the beginning of the end for them.






~