Love Competition (The X Factor Larry Stylinson)

Together, Part One

He bounced down the halls, took a stop at the water fountain even though he wasn't thirsty, said hi to some girls. Took a mirror selfie in the bathroom. Roamed through some hallways. Checked tumblr. Finally, he found his way to the room.

He seemed to get there just in time. The room was packed with boys - his age, late thirties, maybe even an eighty year old. Instead of a lady with a clipboard like last time, standing in front of the room was a buff guy with a megaphone. Talk about a change in personell.

Harry strained to listen in as the guy turned his megaphone on and off.

"Alright! It's pretty simple. Cameras start rolling as soon as I finish talking, so be ready. You walk out on stage, stand in a line. Simon and the other judges will call the names of those safe. If your name is called, come back into this room. If it's not, go to the other side of the stage. Johnny will take you from there - you guys have met Johnny, right?"

Murmurs of disagreement and confusing filled the room.

Megaphone man sighed. "Alright, well, you'll see him there. Go with Johnny and you'll be told what to do from thar moment forward. Same goes to those who get through - Mikey will be there for you. Alright? Alright. Let's do this thing!"

He clicked the microphone off and suddenly everyone was being herded on stage in a line. Harry got pushed around, being the youngest there, but he was eventually standing out in the blinding lights in front of the judges once again. Only this time, there were about fifty boys alongside him.

Louis was afraid. Very afraid. There was a very fine line between calm and panicked, and he seemed to be teetering back and forth between those two emotions for the majority of the day. He was between a guy only a few years older than him and a guy his age, which wasn't a bad start, but he began to worry when their names got called and his didn't. "They're only ten names in right now. Fifteen more to go. Any minute now, they'll be saying your name. 'Louis Tomlinson.', right....?"

Now that there were only thirty boys left, Harry let himself look around. He spotted Louis on the far side of the line, but he couldn't catch his eye. He focused his attention back on the judges.

"Coady Simpson."

"Tyler Prowe."

"Jamie Owens."

"Daniel Willmier."

"Okay, there's one spot left. It's me or him. Or..." Harry thought.

"Adam Finnick."

"Neither of us."

Louis' heart was on the floor. "What? That's it? That's all the names? Surely there must be some kind of mistake... Unless I really do suck."

Harry felt that sick feeling returning as he was ushered off the stage just as quick as he was ushered on. Everything seemed to be happening in a blur of some sort - he saw Johnny instructing them what papers to sign and where, people pulling out their cellphones, a short boy crying silently, and the cameras coming in once again. He watched them record a blonde Irish one in the corner, which really snapped himself back into reality - he was getting sent home.

He felt tears welling up in his own eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall. Not here. Not here. Not....

A producer came running into the room frantically, the headphones covering his ears nearly falling to the floor from force.

"Guys, guys! Please come here. Simon has requested something..."

Everyone curiously formed a crowd around this random guy. Louis was at the back of the group, so he stood on his tippytoes as he listened in.

"Simon has asked me to get five boys back on stage immediately, along with five people from the girls category. So could the following people please go back out on stage ASAP?"

Louis frowned. He didn't want to get his hopes up. No if's, and's, or but's about it. He was out of the competition.

That's when the names started being called out.

"Liam Payne." A boy with a swoopy haircut and a very serious look on his face stepped forward, biting his nails.

"Niall Horan." The little Irish boy from before stepped forward with a tear stained face.

"Louis Tomlinson." He tried to contain his grin as he joined the other two boys at the front of the crowd. He didn't know what he just got picked for, but he was happy. Any suspicion from before was thrown out the window.

"Zayn Malik." A boy wearing a hoodie stepped forward and looked down. He looked nervous. Louis liked his ear piercings.

"And... Harry Styles."

Harry's eyes widened as he joined the others at the front. Before he could ask what was going on, they were put back on the stage.

"What's going on?" Whispered Niall. Harry shrugged in response.

They all looked over at the group of girls nervously standing in a circle similar to there's.

"Alright," said Simon, grabbing the microphone. "We've obviously eliminated you all because you couldn't make it through the boys and girls division, yeah?"

Everyone nodded, unsure of where this was going.

"But you're too good to let go," he continued. "So, I've come to the decision that we're gonna put you into bands. You'll be back in the competition under the bands category."

That did it. I can't say much about the girls, but the boys were going nuts. Niall was jumping up and down. Zayn jumped with him. Liam broke down. And Harry and Louis....

Louis jumped into Harry's arms without any hesitation.

"We did it," he laughed into his neck.

"We did it!" Harry repeated, putting him down and hugging him. Then he ran off to see the others.

They celebrated until they were told to get off of the stage, and then they celebrated some more.

A man walked in and told them Simon would be seeing them shortly. They nodded.

Then they went right back to celebrating.

The five of them didn't know it, but they would soon be unstoppable.