the aftermath • larry„ziall

twenty-one »

[flashback]

"Set us free!"

"What if I don't?!"

Louis and Harry were standing right in front of Simon, as Liam and Niall were sitting in the corner of the room, watching everything go down. Styles looked right at his manager, as his eyes got darker and darker by the second.

"We'll sue you!" He threatened.

"I'd love to see you try." Cowell replied, smirk on his face. "I've been in this industry for years, I know how everything work around here. So please, sue me."

"You must've fucked up somewhere." Louis stated, staring into Simon's eyes. "We will find what we're looking for, expose you then come out and be happy. We will ruin you, forever. You have my word."

"How cute." He replied after chuckling evilly. "You do realize that if you decide to carry on with this, there will be no more One Direction, right?"

"What?" Liam finally said, getting out of his seat. "Why?"

"Why?" He repeated. "Because your little friends over here are trying to sue me. Therefore, I don't really feel safe working with them until everything is settled."

Niall made eye contact with his best friend, trying to communicate to him that this is not what they agreed on. None of them expected this, they really didn't want to go on a hiatus. All they wanted was for Harry and Louis to be free and public about their relationship.

"So?" Simon asked, smirk on his face. "Still want to sue me? If I were you I'd reconsider."

The pair shared a look before facing Liam and Niall. Payne just slowly shook his head 'no', as the leprechaun stared at his feet. What their bandmates wanted was pretty clear, but Harry and Louis had a complete different view on this. They really thought they could win this lawsuit, they wanted to. They'd do anything for their freedom.

Even if they had to sacrifice their own friends for it.

"See you in court." Louis simply said as Harry nodded.

Simon's smirk faded away, as Liam and Niall looked at them with wide eyes. Blue and green gave their manager one last glare, before walking out of the room.

The brown eyed lad quickly ran after them, soon followed by Horan. So, that's it? The end of an era, just like this?

No fucking way.

"Wait!" Liam shouted, grabbing Louis' arm. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, we are." He simply replied, facing his bandmate. "We have to do this, for us."

Payne was quite upset, but he tried to understand. His friends have been closeted for years, and their freedom was probably way more important than the band. He took a deep breath, calming down a little bit.

"Are you sure you got this?" He asked, looking straight at the both of them. "Will this hiatus be worth it? Will it equal your freedom?"

"Yes." Harry confidently said. "Its worth it, trust us."

Niall and Liam did, they trusted them.

Wrongfully so.

[end of flashback.]

"Thank you for joining us today boys." The interviewer said as he looked at the lad with a smile, which they gave back. "You heard it here first from One Direction, thank you for watching and we will see you next week!"