You You You | ORGINALLY WRITTEN BY ISTHATYOULARRY ON AO3

Chapter Nine: You're Both In The Wrong

"Do I really have to wear a patch?" Niall complained.

"Shush," Louis said as he placed it over the hickey, letting the purple show in the edges. They were in the bathroom while Harry, Liam and Zayn were in the living room. Niall was placed on the toilet while Louis fixed him up. He nodded in approval at the result and they stepped out of the bathroom, finding the boys hunched over Liam's phone.

"What's going on?"

"The new interview was released. You know the one we did two days ago?" Harry told him. Liam handed him the phone to let him read.

"It's really good," Liam said. "At least this one was interesting." Louis nodded and he and Niall skimmed through it. The interview seemed laidback and easy and very accurate. It was nice. Louis had read a lot of bullshit interviews with One Direction that honestly mostly revolved around if the boys preferred dogs or cats. The article was nice... until the end.

"Interviewer: So boys, one last thing we do need to sort out. Who of you is in a relationship and who is not?
Zayn: I'm not seeing anyone. I'm single.
Liam: I have a girlfriend. Her name is Danielle and we've been together for a few months now.
Interviewer: And you Harry? Do you have someone special in your life?
Harry: Nope, I'm single."

Single. Sin-gle. Louis didn't expect to feel like this. He knew Harry couldn't go out and tell people he was seeing him, but still. What bothered him the most was that it wasn't even a lie. Harry was single. They weren't boyfriends, no matter how much Louis wanted them to be. But he couldn't help but feel hurt. 'Do you have someone special? Nope.'. He handed back the phone to Liam, deliberately not looking at Harry.

"Did you like it?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Yeah," he said, not really being able to hide the edge in his voice. "It's great." Harry eyed him for a second, obviously knowing something was wrong, but before he could ask there was a knock on the door and his face turned grim. Darren was here.

"I'll get it," Niall said.

---

Niall and Louis were trying to balance on the armrest of the couch at the same time. It was very hard as both were highly uncoordinated tonight and Louis suspected Niall had smoked something that wasn't entirely legal. Liam was on the beanbag still laughing at the last ridiculous thing Niall had come up with, Harry was in the kitchen trying to find something sugary that Louis had demanded and who knew where Zayn was?

"HARDWOOD!" Niall bellowed and put his hands in the air, trying to resemble a tree. Louis looked down at his crotch and frowned. "Not your dick!" Niall laughed.

"Oh!" Louis leaned on his shoulder, laughing uncontrollably. Niall continued pretending he was a tree and Louis yelled, getting even more attention.

"TIMBER!" He bellowed, pretending he was cutting down Niall the tree with big gestures. Niall as stiff as nail let himself fall headfirst like a chopped tree down on the couch, landing harshly but not being able to stop laughing.

"TIMBER," Louis yelled again and jumped flat stomach down on Niall who whined in pain when he landed on top of him. He laughed and hugged him tightly, sprawling on top. "Neal, you're my favorite kind of Neal. You're adorable," he said affectionately.

"Aww Lewis! Your my favorite kind of Neal too!" Niall wrapped his arms around him.

"Guys you're out of beer," Zayn informed them as he sat down on the sofa. Louis rolled off Niall and landed loudly on the floor. He laughed.

"Lou," Harry said coming up to him and pulled him up into a sitting position. "I found some marshmallows." Louis stared at him in awe and adoration. Harold had gotten him marshmallows!