California Sold

Chapter 5

AO3 AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi there! This is a bit of a long chapter. If you follow me on twitter you might have seen that I asked if you wanted me to split it into two, but the responses I got wished for a long one instead, so here this is, nearly 12k :) A small warning: there are tiny One Tree Hill and Captain America spoilers in here somewhere.

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According to Jeff Azoff, Louis is a beautiful tool to Harry's coming out. It happens to be that Harry's label and public relations team agree. Thus, in the middle of July, Louis and Harry's public relationship has turned into a constant full-page subject in almost any magazine or tabloid.

The following two weeks after their beach date are spent in a similar manner. Louis' Instagram and Twitter accounts have never seen as much light, several posts a week going up. They keep it subtle, and not 'Louis' hashtag' subtle, because that got Louis an irate phone call from Jeff, along with a word for word reiteration of the encyclopaedic definition of the word. Apparently it caused a bit of dramatics online, but the topic of discussion was quickly swayed after Liam in Harry's band apparently was seen out with an actress.

It all runs very smoothly after the first couple of hiccups since Louis arrived in Los Angeles. If there is too much attention on Harry, wow, looks like one of his band mates has done something far more interesting. The talk about Harry and Louis quiets down a bit too much? Social media post! And, hey, did a larger paper write that Harry and Louis are probably only good friends? Well, cue the half-subtle romantic lyric tweet from Harry's Twitter account.

So much has been jammed into only two weeks. It would even seem stressful from an outer perspective, but the truth is that most of Louis and Harry's time has been spent in the studio working (Harry), or by the pool (Louis) – the beauty of stunts operated through social media.

"So," Harry says, perched on the edge of Louis' sun chair, holding his phone in both of his large hands, his fingers tangled around it in a truly fascinating manner. "We leave on Monday morning at eight, and I've got promotion for the three coming days. You could come hang around and chill with the lads, or if you want to you can go back home a few days early? Check on the flat?"

Louis hums, stretching. He itches his shin with his other foot. Harry is blocking the sun. "Maybe we can go back up north together after London? And if it's still alright, Lottie could travel with us back to LA after, if you still think it could work out."

Harry's hand lands on his shin, just leaving it there as though it were a subconscious movement. It probably even was; his eyes are still locked on the phone.

"Of course it will work. You'll be here as well, it's not as if she'll be on her own." His hand squeezes Louis' leg, and Louis hums, crossing his arms behind his head. Harry is currently going through their joint schedule for the coming days that Esme sent over this morning after presumably chatting with Harry's public relations team.

Louis sees his brows knit as he reads. "What?" he asks.

"We have the photo-op tomorrow."

Louis' brows lift in surprise. "Already?"

Earlier this week Jeff had been talking about giving the magazine he has a deal with a larger story than what has been circulating in the media for the last weeks since the failed stunt. It would be something more proper than the subtle social media posts. They have got about two months until the album release, which means that in Jeff's opinion it's high time to actually start seeding the relationship.

Apparently for a normal coming out one would start off with slowly hinting toward the celebrity in question's sexuality, and then the relationship. As it is, it works out fairly alright. Harry's public image and public sexuality has been altered for nearly more than a year now. Considering the media is already hot on Harry's heels they had decided to keep it as discreet as possible for now, making what they have done so far mostly fandom targeted.