Love Lock

Next Steps

Louis looked around the flat conspicuously. Harry must still be sleeping, he thought.

Liam watched the oldest with questioning eyes. What was on Louis' mind and why was he searching their flat like a mad man? Liam made a mental note to ask Niall about it later.

Just as Louis sat down on the sofa, a certain someone emerged from his room.

"Good morning Harry, you're up early as well!" Liam chimed and looked over to see Louis' reaction. The boy nervously licked his lips and tapped his fingers against the side table. What an odd morning it was turning out to be, Liam thought.

"I guess I slept so much yesterday I'm not tired anymore," Harry shrugged, smiling when he saw Louis on the sofa.

"Glad you're feeling better mate," Liam remarked.

Harry grabbed a granola bar and made his way over to the lounge.

"Hi Louis," Harry sat down next to the caramel haired boy carefully.

"Harry...I," Louis started, turning towards his friend.

Louis swallowed hard. God was Harry beautiful in the mornings. Tousled curls and sleepy eyes.

Harry waited nervously, not knowing what the boy had to say. 

"I need to talk to you about something," Louis lowered his voice so Liam couldn't hear.

Harry blinked a few times, staying silent as his mind traveled to the worst thoughts possible. Was Louis upset ? Did he do something wrong?

"If that's alright with you?" Louis continued after Harry stared back at him without a word.

"Yea, what is it?" Harry barely whispered. There it was again, the doubt.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't consumed with fear that the boy he loved was about to disappear again. Maybe this time for good...

Forcing the negative thoughts out of his mind, Harry followed Louis to his room where they could talk in private.

It's okay, Harry told himself mentally. Whatever Louis had to say would be okay. It had to be. Harry couldn't bare to imagine anything else.

The 23 year old took a deep breath as he shut the door and came face to face with his boy. He thought he might pass out if he didn't start talking soon.

"Okay, so...Harry...you and I...well we've..." Louis stumbled helplessly over his words, stopping to take another breath. He had prepared all night for what he would say, but standing in front of Harry made his knees weak and his thoughts scattered.

"Louis you're scaring me. Whatever it is, you can tell me," Harry put his hands on the boy's shoulders, searching his eyes for some sort of answer.

"I'm sorry, let me start again," Louis shook his head.

This was the moment that had the potential to change Louis' life. The boy was well aware that things would never be the same after he laid his feelings out for the curly haired one.

It was now or never.

"What I'm trying to say is that I..." Louis began again but was interrupted by a banging much louder than usual on the door to their flat.

Both Harry and Louis looked at each other silently. No more than ten seconds later Liam came barreling down the hallway.

"Boys? Louis, Niall, Harry? You've got to come out here now, we have a visitor," Liam yelled.

Louis huffed. Everything he had ever felt for Harry was left hanging on his lips.

How desperate was he to tell Harry that he loved him at 18, that every time they touched felt like pure energy and exhilaration.

How badly did Louis want to tell Harry that he loved him now, that he loved him so deeply today, and that he was sure he'd spend the rest of his life loving him if he'd let him.

But as Harry's eyes broke away from his, Louis realized that everything would have to wait. He needed the boy's full attention.

"I guess we should see who it is.." Harry bit his lip, unaware of Louis' intentions.

Louis looked up at the ceiling. He nodded to Harry with a small frown. It would be fine, he thought, but if not now, then when?

All three boys opened their doors and walked towards the lounge. An uncomfortable feeling hung heavy in the air.

There he was, sitting on the sofa with his glasses on and a pile of papers on top of his lap .

"Simon?" Louis' face scrunched up in confusion.

"Hello boys," the man gestured for the whole band to sit down with him.

"What are you doing here?" Niall asked, taking a seat next to Harry.

"Richard and I were going to have Harry and Louis come to us, but I wanted everyone to be included in this conversation. I figured it'd be simpler if I stopped by," Simon explained, looking down at his papers.

"This is about the stunt then? What's wrong? I thought things were going smoothly?" Liam rubbed his hands together worriedly.

"Yes this is about the stunt. Everything is going fine, but after analyzing fan response we've noticed a slight dip in popularity," Simon pointed to his color coded charts.

"Well that's just because Larry isn't super new anymore, but the fans still love them, it's all we see on social media," Niall spoke up to point out.

"Precisely Niall. The idea of Larry Stylinson is beginning to become old news. We need to do something that's going to grab the attention of the world again. Bring these numbers back up!" Simon declared without hesitation.

"Like what?" Harry asked in a small voice.

"It's time to take the next step in this relationship," Simon leaned forward, pulling a small box out of his briefcase.

"Simon, no," Liam started, wide eyed.

The relentless man tossed the box onto Louis' lap as he sat back with a grin.

"It's time for a proposal."