It's a Yes From Me // l.s.

Chapter 4

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"How may I be at your service, Mr. Styles?"

The younger boy looks up at the other judge, contemplating whether or not this is the right thing  to do. "Louis." Is all he lets out, hoping he will understand what he's getting at.

Shawn raises his eyebrows. "Tomlinson? What about him?"

Harry looks down at his lap. "Confusing..." He mumbles out. He doesn't know what else to say.

The other young judge laughs, propping his legs up onto the couch he was sitting on. "Ah, yes, very. He's got reasons to be confusing, though. A lot has happened to him in the past." He explains but seems to regret it after he says it. "Forget that I said that. Do you want to play a game? Monopoly, maybe?"

Harry shakes his head. "I came to you because... um... you're someone I thought would know something. I don't know what to say around him because I don't know anything about him. Help me?"

Shawn thinks about this. "I do know a lot... Nick used to be one of my best mates and used to tell me everything."

Harry looks up at the mention of the host. "So it has to do with Nick?'

"What has to do with Nick?"

"The way he is." Harry says, eyes now wide and eager. 

Shawn takes his bottom lip between his teeth before releasing it. "Not everything. The majority, yes, you could say that it has to do with Nick. He didn't always used to be so... Vulgar."

The boy nods, thinking about what to say next. "Why did he leave the other day after Nick said..."

"That Louis loved him?"

Harry winces but Shawn doesn't notice. "Yeah."

"Louis Tomlinson has had a lot of people hurt him in the past... He has trust issues, you could say. Nick has caused a lot of the bad in Louis' life." He pauses. "That's all I'm going to say, though. Louis can tell the rest of the story if he wishes." Shawn stops, deciding it isn't right to tell Harry the full story.

Harry nods in understanding. "Thank you for telling me."

He stands up, preparing to leave when Shawn speaks up once more.

"Oh, and Harry?"

He turns back around to look at the boy. 

"He really did love him."

...

"Back on your bullshit, I see?"

Louis glares at Nick from behind his phone. "Leave me alone, you heartless wench."

Nick clutches his chest in mock hurt. "You have wounded me. Come on, Tomlinson, how do you go from slapping my bare ass to drawing dicks and devil horns on all of my pictures around the studio?"

Louis doesn't look up. "It's quite easy, actually."

Nick ignores him and sits down next to him. "Let's talk."

"Let's not." 

Louis stands up from the sofa and walks to the vending machine, buying himself some crisps. Nick pops up beside him and grips his shoulder, putting his lips next to his ear.

"Come on, babe. You have to admit, we have good chemistry. What if you had never thrown it all away? We could be so strong..."

The older boy shoves him away. "You destroyed me, Nick. Fuck out of my life." 

Nick still continues to follow him, much to Louis' discomfort. He follows him as he weaves his way through the hallways of the studio, matching his pace. "You can't run away from your problems, love."

"Don't call me that. Go suck that little audition boy off in the loo instead. Much more enjoyable for you, I bet." 

"I would much rather suck you off instead."

Louis lifts his arm up and gives Nick the middle finger while continuing his walk. "Piss off. You make my dick soft."

"Pity. You make mine quite the opposite."

"Stop being disgusting."

"Stop being drop dead gorgeous."

Louis stops and whips around right where he's at. "Just shut the fuck up already, will you? I made a huge mistake in the past. You're annoying as fuck, your face isn't the least bit cute, and your dick is small. Conclusion? Leave me alone." 

Nick seems stunned for a few seconds before he shakes the look off of his face and continues to follow the boy. "You don't mean that."

"I would literally love to see you fired from this show just so you would stay out of my life."

"You think that would stop me?"

"A retraining order certainly would."

Before they can turn a corner, Simon stands in front of them. "Ah, boys, any trouble?"

Louis nods and starts to say yes when Nick puts his hand over his mouth.

"Everything is perfect, boss man. Louis here just needs a good heart to heart conversation with a fellow young male. Romance is troubling him lately. So if you wouldn't mind...?"

Simon puts his hands out and nods in understanding. "Ah, of course. I hope you feel better, Louis."

Louis shoves Nick's hand away roughly once Simon is gone. "What the fuck? Keep your hands off of me, prick."

"You didn't mind them on you in the past."

Louis immediately snaps, shoving Nick up against the brick wall roughly. He grips the collar of his shirt and gets right up in his face, breathing rapidly in fury. "I've been playing nice with you, Nicholas. You've been the most annoying shit recently and I haven't even touched you."

Nick rolls his eyes with a smirk which causes Louis to grip his shirt harder and shove him back, his head slamming against the wall.

"Shut the fuck up and don't think I won't do worse. I would love to see you hurting and bleeding just like you did to me but I care about this job too much. Keep your damn mouth shut."

Louis releases him with a shove and Nick's head crashes into the wall again, this time causing him to slump down to the floor. He looks up at Louis with a smirk. 

"You'll come around."

Louis ignores his comment as he walks away from him, avoiding making yet another scene. He instead grins when he sees a certain head of long, curly hair walking in front of him. He jogs to catch up with him, his short legs no match for the boy's long ones. 

"Hey, Curly, wait up."

The boy slows down and turns carefully. "Louis?"

Louis finally reaches him and matches his pace. "That's what they call me. Well... Sometimes they call me Tommo... I have a lot of names." He chuckles.

Harry smiles and looks down. "Lou?"

Louis raises his eyebrows at this. "What?"

"Do people call you Lou?"

Louis thinks about whether or not he should tell the younger lad. "Uh, mainly only my mum and the rest of my family. Not anyone here, really." He says, sounding a bit shy now at the mention of his childhood nickname.

Harry looks up and cocks his head to the side. "Could I call you Lou?"

His breath hitches at this. He has a bit of trouble coming up with a response. "U-Uh... Sure, yeah. You can call me that."

Harry bobs his head with a smile. "I better get going. Later, Lou."

Louis' stomach feels fuzzy for a second but he shakes the feeling. "See ya, new boy."

...

shorter chapter, I know, I'm sorry

hope it filled ya in a bit more

thoughts? x