The next morning, Harry got up earlier than he wanted to. He looked around the room and was surprised to find the couch empty and Louis' duvet folded neatly at a corner along with his pillow. In fact, Louis was no where to be seen. Too sleepy to feel bothered, he grabbed his phone and checked the time.
It was 6:00 in the morning.
Yawning quietly, he got out of the bed, folded his duvet neatly and proceeded towards the bathroom to brush his teeth and have a wee.
After completing his business, he waddled towards the balcony, whose door was slightly open. He opened the door completely and stopped right in track after seeing Louis hunched over the railing, having a smoke.
"Lou..." He spoke up softly.
Startled at the sudden voice, Louis dropped the cigarette and turned around hastily. His cheeks were slightly pink from the cool morning breeze and his hair was sticking out in every direction. He looked tired with those bags under his eyes and slight stubble on his jaw.
"You're up early. Feeling alright?" Louis asked quietly, after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"Uh yeah. I've slept a lot since yesterday. But why are you smoking at this hour? Most importantly why are you up this early? You were never a morning person." Harry asked curiously, still standing still in the spot.
Louis seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with the topic but didn't snap out as Harry expected him to. Rather, he replied calmly.
"Well, you know, habit."
Gradually, Harry walked inside the balcony and hunched over the railing, mirroring Louis' previous position.
Louis did the same before fetching out another cigarette and both of them fell into a comfortable silence, none of them daring to destroy it.
They watched as the sky slowly changed it's colour, the birds flew away from their nests in order to search for foods for their families.
They watched as the city seemed to wake up and get busier as each minute passed.
It felt good to both of them to have each other by their sides, but none of them acknowledged the feeling of butterflies in their stomachs.
Both the boys were sneaking glances at each other and admiring the other's beauty, but, none of them were brave enough to speak up or talk about their feelings and all past misunderstandings.
After staying in the same position for half an hour or so, Harry's stomach growled and he turned red in embarrassment.
"Come on, let's make some breakfast." Louis said and pulled away from the railing, stomping the half-burnt cigarette to turn out the flame.
Harry followed him into the kitchen quietly.
"You know, we need to go for shopping as soon as possible or we will run out of necessary food." Louis said after shuffling around for a bit, gathering a few eggs, cheese cubes, potatoes and some packs of bacon.
"Yeah. Maybe we shall go for shopping after todays interview. Louis' face instantly dropped at the mention of the interview but he was quick to mask it with a small cough. But Harry noticed.
"Lou.."
"Yeah?"
"Last night you asked me to not feel bad about anything you're gonna say in the interview. So, what are you gonna say?" Harry asked timidly, playing with the hem of his top.
"Uh- I can't tell you that Harry, I'm-you've to wait. I-I can't."
Even though Harry was super curious, he saw the distraught look on Louis' face and decided against asking more.
"It's okay. So, you're gonna make the breakfast or you want me to-"
"I'll make it. You can take a shower in the meantime." Louis answered, grabbing a pan.
Harry was really surprised that Louis was confident enough to cook by himself without burning the whole house, but he didn't question it and proceeded towards the stairs.
"Oh and Harry." Louis peeked his head out of the kitchen, effectively stopping Harry from climbing up.
"What is it? You need any help?"
"No. Like, after you're done taking shower, wake the boys up and bring them down for breakfast."
"Yeah sure." With that, Harry disappeared from sight and Louis concentrated on making breakfast with the minimum ingredients available.
He washed the potatoes, peeled them and diced them into small cubes. He put a pan on the burner and added a good amount of butter in it to melt. As the butter melted, he transferred the diced potatoes in the pan and kept the flame low, in order to fry each side evenly.
As the potatoes were cooking, Louis moved on to the bacon. He cut open two packs of bacon, saving the rest for later and chopped the bacon strips into tiny pieces. Checking the potatoes, he found that they were nearly cooked so he added salt and pepper, along with the bacon and covered the pan with a lid.
He grated a few cubes of cheese and once the sizzling sound reduced, he uncovered the pan and cracked five eggs into it. He added seasonings and the grated cheese before covering the pan again.
He was too dedicated in cooking to notice that the rest of the boys were standing at the kitchen door with their mouth hung open.
Louis Tomlinson was cooking. COOKING. All by himself. That too, without making any mess.
Once the food was ready, Louis turned around to call the boys and found out that they were already looking at him with their jaws touching the floor. Instead of being surprised, Louis let out an involuntary chuckle which widened their eyes even more and he was quick to cover it by turning around.
"Food's ready." He said and started gathering plates.
"I'll carry them to the table. Guys y'all go, sit. Lou and I will get the food to the table." Liam said and the rest of the boys nodded and did as told.
"Lou you did a great job. When did you learn to cook?" Liam asked asked as he took the plates from Louis, who just shrugged in response.
Moving to the table, the boys were already seated so it didn't take Louis much time to serve them their breakfast.
"Mm Lou it's delicious." Niall moaned after taking a bite and Louis thanked him by giving a tight lipped smile.
"He's right. It's great mate. Thank you." Liam complimented.
"Thanks." Louis replied quietly.
"Seriously Lou. When did you learn to cook? Its awesome." Harry asked enthusiastically and Louis shrugged in response.
"Do you cook for Eleanor too?" Zayn asked out of nowhere. Louis stopped eating and shrugged after a moment. He dropped his spoon, quietly stood up and turned towards the stairs, just to move away from the other boys' sight.
"What happened? Was it something that I said?" Zayn asked confusedly, unable to comprehend what triggered Louis that he left the breakfast table without acknowledging them.
"Can you like, not bring his love life in the middle of a normal conversation?" Liam said irritably, knowing exactly why Louis left.
"It was a simple question mate. Why are you getting so defensive?" Niall asked.
"Never mind. Its not my story to tell. By the way, did you guys talk to him? Haz, I know you did and thanks for that. But Niall? Zayn?" Liam asked, cocking his eyebrows.
"Yea I did. I kind of apologised but he said that it was his fault and that I shouldn't apologise. Well it is his fault but I feel kind of guilty." Niall admitted truthfully, looking down to his lap regretfully.
"I didn't get a chance but I will." Zayn responded.
Liam nodded and got up from his seat.
"It's nearly time for us to leave for the interview. Go get ready. Paul will be here with our car within an hour or so."
The rest of the boys hummed in agreement and walked away towards their respective rooms.
__________________________________
Entering his room, Harry heard the sound of running shower and assumed that Louis was using it. As he had already taken a shower before, Harry crouched down in front of his suitcase to find an outfit for the interview.
He didn't have to spend much time and picked up a black shirt with a cute knot and red suit. He put on the outfit and stood in front of the mirror to have a look at himself. He looked rather good.
Few moments later, as Harry was putting on his shoes, Louis came out of the bathroom, already dressed. Harry frowned at that as their shower isn't really big and it's kind if tough to properly put on clothes there. Nonetheless, Louis looked cute.
"Did you really change inside our shower?" Harry asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah."
"But why?"
"I don't feel comfortable around people while changing."
"You could've told me. Anyways I'm ready."
"Yea I can see that. You look really good Harry." Louis said as an effort to make up for his sudden disappearance from breakfast this morning.
"Thank you. You look cute." Harry beamed.
"I'm not cute. You are." Louis muttered under breath.
"Did you say something?"
"Nah! Let's go."
Downstairs, the other boys were already waiting for them, looking chill as ever.
"Looking good lads." Liam complimented.
"Thanks. You guys look great too." Harry smiled.
"Come on. Paul is waiting with our car ourside. And he also brought the whole security team along with him to avoid any scandal." Zayn informed and the boys nodded.
Outside, they met Paul and greeted him, before boarding the car and setting off for their interview.
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