I Hope That You Listen

Golden, but Back to Black

Here goes the bridge between the arcs. There's actually two song references in this chapter, but no singing because I couldn't get them to be diegetic (bonus points for those who know what that means without looking it up).

They'll be credited at the end of the chapter as usual. Y'all know the drill by now.

Thank you for all the votes, comments, and shares!

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Harry had been gone on the European leg of his tour for about a week now and Louis was buckling down on his writing. He finally fine tuned the sound he wanted for his album and the subject matter that he wanted his album to be about.

He decided that his and Harry's relationship was as good a subject as any.

He also decided to throw in some things about his life with One Direction and some jabs at their management for some spice. They were half the reason that he and Harry were so miserable half the time, so he would confirm things for the fans...in a roundabout way of course.

He'd be doing all of this right now if he wasn't currently heading to a meeting with his management, a meeting that is giving him a sense of foreboding.

He and Harry were in a good place. He felt like Harry trusted him more and he's finally gotten to a place where he felt he could begin to trust himself...mostly.

He still feels like he has to be careful with what he does when he's by himself, even watching what he says, otherwise it could be misconstrued and if it somehow makes it back to Harry in a way that he didn't intend-

Louis, get a hold of yourself. He shook himself, Harry would talk to you first, he always has.

Louis was very proud of Harry. He'd heard his entire new album as well as some new songs that he didn't plan to put on the album. Harry's sound was definitely more experimental than the one Louis decided on for himself, but it definitely fit him. It was so versatile just like Harry himself. One minute he could nearly be growling into the microphone with a rocker vibe, the next he could be singing softly and delicately with the best ballad singers out there, then in the following breath he would belt out the most powerful notes Louis had ever heard him sing since he heard him sing his iconic riff in Drag Me Down.

Louis can only hope that he lives up to the same standard with his singing.

This is all to say nothing of his songwriting. Louis wasn't under confident about his songwriting, in fact, that was one of the places in his career that he was proud to call a strength. He looked at Harry's songs and he was blown away at the evolution of his songwriting since his tentative writing forays back in 2012 and 2013. He has well and truly come into his own and developed his own way with words and it has no less impact than Louis' own.

Louis entered the office of his manager, John, a man he still strongly disliked but decided to keep around because he was damn good at his job, so he was too valuable to get rid of, "Mr. Tomlinson, good afternoon." He greeted.

"What do you need, John?" Louis cut in shortly, not in the mood for paltry pleasantries, "I was meant to be recording today."

"Yes, about that," John looked at him pensively, "I'm not sure if you've been on Twitter recently, but there are rumors flying about..."

John let the sentence hang, and Louis raised his eyebrow as if to ask, 'Your point?'

John sighed as his eyes hardened, "We can't allow these rumors to continue unchecked."