Right By Your Side ~ Larry Stylinson

Chapter 15: Our armageddo

"I really don't know what to tell you Louis. It's such a difficult decision – and either way you'll lose in one way or another. Have you spoken to your Mum about it?"

Louis shook his head. "No – she doesn't know about any of this. That's why we didn't go public on Facebook or anything. Plus, I didn't want her to worry about the treatment being compromised, so I just kept it quiet."

"Yeah, I suppose that's best when you think about it" Stan replied.

There was a knock at the door and Harry popped his head into Louis' room. He'd just got back from work and apologised when he saw Louis was on Skype.

"No it's OK H – actually I'd love you to meet Stan. Come here and say hi."

Harry suddenly looked nervous, running a hand through his hair trying to tidy his unruly curls and it was endearing that he was worried about making a good impression. Louis smiled as he walked over, trying to reassure him.

Harry sat down next to Louis, awkwardly waving a hand and giving Stan a small smile.

"Hiii, I'm Harry."

"Great to meet you mate" Stan smiled warmly. "Feel like I know you already, what with Facebook. Louis and Zayn have also told me a lot about you."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond, looking at Louis nervously. He knew Louis hadn't told people back home about them, particularly his parents. "Oh..."

"It's alright Haz" Louis told him with a soft smile. "He knows everything. Apparently Zayn can't keep his big mouth shut."

"Hey!" replied Stan, offended. "I'm not just anyone Louis!"

"I know love" Louis soothed with a smile. "I was only joking."

Harry watched the interaction between Louis and his friend fondly. Stan seemed like a nice guy. If there was a tiny niggle of jealousy over how close the boys obviously were, he quickly dismissed it, embarrassed at his own possessiveness.

"So Harry!" Stan's voice drew him back to the conversation. "Thank you for taking such good care of our boy. It seems he's making great progress."

Harry grinned. "He sure is. He's been working really hard. I'm incredibly proud of him."

Stan smiled back at him. "I saw that photo on Facebook of him with the dolphin the other day – that was sick!"

"It was awesome!" Louis answered before Harry could speak. "We swam around the pool on her back, holding her fin."

"Brilliant!" Stan answered. "I suppose you do it all the time Harry – what a great job!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty fortunate to do what I do. I love my job – it's why I moved here. I've always wanted to work with dolphins and SeaWorld is fantastic. The therapy is only one of two places they do it in the world, so it's pretty unique."

Louis felt his heart drop into his stomach at Harry's words. It was clear that Harry would never leave Australia, never leave his job, and who could blame him? Louis could never take him away from something he loved so much.

"Anywaaay" Harry added, into the awkward silence following his comments. "I'll leave you two to finish chatting and go take a shower. It was nice to meet you Stan."

"Yeah you too mate!" Stan grinned. "Hey, I'll send you a friend request on Facebook!"

"That'd be great" Harry replied with a grin. "Bye."

Harry ruffled Louis' hair and headed off to the bathroom. Louis watched him go, an affectionate goofy grin on his face, before turning back to see Stan watching him closely.