"I'll get it." Louis calls as he hears the doorbell ring. They'd texted Niall about the possibility of a Skype date, but he'd opted for calling around instead seeing as he was in the neighbourhood anyway.
Louis saunters over to Harry's front door, legs still feeling a little shaky from the shower he'd shared with Harry earlier. A shower that may or may not have included mutual blow jobs.
He swings the door open and is greeted with a one armed, yet enthusiastic, hug from Niall. "So weird seeing you open Harry's door." Niall exclaims, patting Louis on the back. "Mm, get used to it." Louis laughs, shutting the door behind him and leading him into the living room where Harry's sat. He waves at the two of them from where he's sat on the sofa, tiny red gym shorts and a cotton t-shirt, hair thrown up in a bun. "Hello," he sings, grinning at them.
Niall flops himself down next to Harry on the sofa, pulling him into a hug. "Hiiii, Harry." He replies, dragging out the words like a song.
"Hiiii, Niall." Harry mimics him, leaning his head against Niall's shoulder.
"Alright, bloody hell." Louis interjects bouncing himself down next to Niall. "This ismy boyfriend you're flirting with."
Niall raises his eyebrows, mouth dropping open into a smirk as he looks at Louis. "Boyfriend? So it's official then?"
Harry smiles, lips pressed together and nodding slowly. "Yup. As of last night." Louis can't stop his face from contorting into an embarrassingly wide grin at Harry's words. Holy shit, they're official. Niall slings an arm over the both of their shoulders, pulling them in tight. "Love you boys."
They all giggle, wrapping their arms around each other and it feels reminiscent of the early days. The times when they'd all pile on top of each other for no reason in particular other than they liked the close proximity. When they pull apart, Louis tweaks Niall's nipple. "So, me and Harry need to talk to you about something."
"If it's a threesome proposal I love you but not that much."
"Dammit," Louis sighs playfully, "Knew we should have gone for Liam."
Harry chuckles, reaching in front of Niall to poke Louis' cheek. Louis bites at his finger, forgetting Niall's existence for a second. He's quickly reminded by Niall obnoxiously clearing his throat.
"Shall we try and Skype Liam first, so we can all talk about it together?" Harry suggests, chewing his thumbnail.
"Why?" Niall interjects, worry in his voice. "What's going on?"
"S'nothing bad, Niall." Louis assures him, "Just...contract stuff."
"You don't want to resign, do you?" Niall replies almost instantly.
Harry and Louis blink at each other, surprised he caught on so easily. "How did you..." Harry begins.
"I mean, why would ya?" Niall shrugs. "Don't blame either of you at all."
"Are you...pissed off?" Louis asks quietly, biting his lip.
Niall shakes his head, furrowing his eyebrows. "Of course not. I'm just worried, I suppose. S'quite a big deal, like."
Harry nods at him, focused gaze. "Yeah, it is. But we think it's best for all of us, y'know. We could sign with a new label, now we've got experience and pulling power we can choose what's best for us as a band."
"I'm with you completely. Our contracts are a fuckin' joke, s'just the thought of getting on the wrong side of Sony." Niall ponders, chewing his lip.
Louis swallows, he sees the way Harry's eyes are glued to floor and suddenly he wishes Niall wasn't sat in between them. Wants to hold Harry's hand. "What's the worst they can do?" Louis asks, sounding a lot braver than he feels. "Honestly, we know who we are. The fans know who we are. Our team fucking up album promo is nothing new, and neither is making us look like complete dickheads in the press." He flicks his fringe, swiping through it with his fingers. "I'm not scared of them."
Niall purses his lips, shoots the two of them a thoughtful expression. "So we don't resign. We find a new label, then what happens?"
Harry meets Louis' eye, there's vulnerability there and it makes Louis' stomach jump. "Me and Harry go public."
Niall blows out a neat stream of air, raising his eyebrows. "You're really ready for that?"
And Louis gets it, totally understands where Niall is coming from. They've been a couple for less than twenty four hours and they're already making plans to come out to millions of fans and the rest of the world. But it already feels so set in stone that this isn't something temporary. Louis knows it might be ridiculous, but he truly believes Harry's going to be a part of him forever. It's been building up and building up for five years, like someones been laying out stepping stones and they've finally reached the other side of the stream.
"Yeah." Harry answers for him. "I don't want to hide who I am anymore. I shouldn't have to. Neither should Louis."
"I know that." Niall replies, running a hand through his hair. "But you're going to bebombarded. Like, nobody'll leave you alone. Has there ever been a same sex couple in boy band before? You're world firsts, imagine how much pap pics of the two of you'll go for."
Louis swallows, he honestly hadn't even really considered that aspect. "Well s'either that or carry on the way we are. Like, at this point I'm barely allowed to acknowledge Harry's existence."
"The positives outweigh the negatives, like, massively." Harry chips in, twisting the rings on his fingers. "And people'll get bored after a while, won't they? I mean, for the first few months it'll be...extreme. But, s'worth it in the end."
Louis nods, humming in agreement. "And I know this all seems really soon and a bit dramatic, but, me and Harry know what we want."
"S'not not just about us either, y'know." Harry says quietly, glancing at the two of them. "We've got a huge platform, and I wanna use it. D'you know how many kids could benefit from seeing me and Louis out? We could actually help people, we could make a difference."
Louis watches Harry's eyes light up at that and he reaches over Niall's shoulder, just resting his fingers against Harry's back in a gesture he hopes is reassuring. "Exactly."
"If you two are really serious about this, then you know I support you one hundred percent." Niall replies, patting Harry's leg. "I want you both to be happy and if this is what makes you happy, then I'm happy too. It's been shitwatching you avoid each other for years, especially when I could see there was something there. To be honest with you, I always knew you'd end up together though."
Louis groans, poking Niall in the side. "Really?"
"Yeah!" Niall laughs, "I remember saying to Zayn once, in the X-Factor house, 'twenty quid they'll end up shagging.' I should ring him and tell him he owes me money."
Harry snorts, rolling his eyes. "We need to tell Zayn, he doesn't even know we hooked up."
"He's in LA soon." Louis replies, "Invite him over and we'll tell him face to face." It feels like they owe Zayn more than just a hurried explanation over the phone. Zayn had been a huge part of Louis' life, he'd latched onto him when Louis' relationship with Harry had been the most strained. Louis recalls nights on the bus where they'd get too drunk or too stoned and he'd cry into Zayn's shoulder, letting Zayn stroke his hair and pat his back, never offering him an explanation as for why he was crying to begin with.
"We should Skype Liam." Niall offers, glancing at the clock. It's not long before they have to leave for Sony and the thought makes Louis bite at his lip.
Harry stands up, brushing himself down. "I'll go grab my laptop from my room."
He gives Louis a small smile as he walks past the sofa and Louis can't resist reaching out and pulling Harry's t-shirt down over the strip of skin between his shorts and hem of his shirt. He taps Harry's hips and grins up at him, Harry dimpling and tucking his hair behind his ears before leaving the room.
"Gross." Niall laughs, shaking his head affectionately. "Quick, while Harry's gone, who made the first move."
Louis rolls his eyes, shrugging. "It was a mutual making of moves."
"Psh." Niall splutters, "You're not even gonna tell me how your first kiss went down?" Louis feels himself blush as he recalls the memory, how they'd been a little bit tipsy but completely overwhelmed by each other. How terrifying and completely safe it'd felt all at once.
"Nah, it's a secret." Louis shrugs, flashing Niall a cheeky grin when he sighs in mock disappointment.
"I'm sure it was disgustingly sappy and unnecessarily romantic however it went down.
Louis nods, "Something like that."
*
They manage to get Liam on Skye and the conversation goes pretty much exactly how Louis had expected it to go. Liam's sensible is the thing, always has been and always will be no matter how much the rest of the boys have seemingly corrupted him over the years. And he's got this ambition, one of the most driven people Louis has ever met and a business mind to match it. When Liam's face drops a little the moment Harry mentions leaving the label, Louis notices immediately. The fact that Liam quickly attempts to cover it with a definite nod is wasted on him.
Liam's sensible, and his reaction is what Louis expects because dropping the label isn't sensible, not really. It's not sensible to essentially ignore your bandmate for years and it's definitely not sensible to declare your undying love for them either. That's not how it's meant to go. That's not what anybody at the record label wants to deal with.
Louis remembers back at the X-Factor, when they first got put together, he remembers how him and Liam were always at odds with each other. Liam'd always nag him about 'taking it a bit more seriously' or 'focusing more in rehearsals.' It probably goes without saying that Louis' main distraction during X-Factor-and pretty much the rest of his life since-has been Harry. They'd stay up talking all night and be late to rehearsals because they slept in. Louis'd forget the choreography because he spent most of the lessons more focused on trying to make Harry laugh than actually learning the steps. And god, that must have been annoying for Liam, for all the boys, but Liam especially. Liam, the boy who'd auditioned once before, who came back with a point to prove and instead got lumped in with a group of lads less experienced and a little less serious about the whole thing than he was.
That's why Louis can't help but feel guilty as he watches Liam try to hide his look of worry as Harry tells him about their plans. Here Louis is, throwing a spanner in the works of a machine that up until this far had been working pretty decently. It's not been ideal, of course it hasn't. Louis'd meant what he said about how dropping the label would be better for all of them, but he can't help feeling like it's leaning more in his and Harry's favour.
That's why Louis interrupts Harry, a choked up "Fuck, I'm sorry Liam," falling from his lips.
Liam looks at him through the screen, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Sorry for what, mate?"
Harry and Niall are silent next to him, Niall biting his thumbnail the way he always does when the situation starts to get a little awkward.
"I dunno, being a bit of a dickhead. Like, for years."
All three boys blink back at him, the room silent as someone tries to figure out exactly what sort of tangent Louis' going off on. "Erm..." Liam begins, clearing his throat. "That's alright?"
"No, I mean it." Louis persists, he always gets like this. Once he's started something he can't help but keep going. "Sorry that I don't always take everything seriously and that I fuck around a lot and drag you into it. I'm sorry...I'm sorry I don't make your life easy." He takes a deep breath, getting ready to speak again before anybody else gets a chance to. "I just-I dunno it's just me and Harry, what we're doing. That's gonna affect both of you, you and Niall and it's probably going to be a bit shit for a while."
He hears Harry's breath catch in his throat and suddenly he has a whole other person to apologise to, to feel guilty about. They've been over that though, that's done with and instead of speaking he just reaches out and cups Harry's knee, rubbing his thumb against the bone.
"Louis." Liam speaks, voice cracking a bit and it might just be the quality of the laptop speaker but the way his lips quiver suggests otherwise. "I literally have no idea why you're apologising. Like, none. D'you think I'd be anything but one hundred percent support of you and Harry?"
Louis swallows at that, of course he doesn't think that. He doesn't think that at all. Liam's one of his best friends in the world, he's supportive and understanding and Louis knows he's not a dickhead. "I don't think that." Louis says, "I don't. I'm just...I just feel a bit of an inconvenience is all."
Niall shakes his head at that, scoffing quietly. "You're an idiot is what you are. Me and Liam love you and Harry, like, loads. We want the best for you and you two being happy isn't aninconvenience."
Niall puts his arm around Harry, pulling him into his side and messing with his hair. Harry groans playfully, leaning into Niall, although his knee still presses against Louis'. "We're all in it together." Liam states through the screen. "We're a team, aren't we? We've all got each others backs and we support each other through everything, yeah?"
They all nod back at him in unison, almost like it's choreographed.
"Like brothers." Liam adds. "Well...some of us are like brothers." He gestures towards Harry and Louis. "You pair...let's not go with brothers."
That makes all four of them laugh and soon the Skype call becomes nothing but a mass of cackles all merging together in one tinny symphony through the laptop speakers. There's a collective intake of breath, the type that's littered with little laughs after a quick burst of hysterics. Liam grins back at them through the laptop, looking slightly out of frame before he speaks again. "I've gotta get going lads. Me and Sophia are heading down to see the Formula One place in a bit."
Niall snorts, "Payno, do you even know the name of a singular Formula One driver?"
"To be honest with you, I'd struggle to pull one of the top of my head. Soph's well into it though, she proper watches all the races and everything. She's dying to go."
"Not that you're whipped or anything then." Harry teases, flashing Liam's image a cheeky grin.
Liam shakes his head, "I prefer to call itaccommodating."
"Nah, you're whipped." Louis adds, laughing when Liam flips him off.
"Alright lads, enjoy the meeting, yeah? Good luck with it all, you'll be fine." Liam tells them, and there's something in his tone that makes Louis believe it.
"Bye, Li." Harry offers, waving a big hand at him. "Love you."
"Love you too Mr. Styles. See you boys, love you both too."
"Later Payno, love ya!" Niall chips in offering him a wave.
Louis swallows, pressing his lips together and giving Liam a smile that he hopes conveys at least some of the millions of emotions stirring around in his brain. "See you Liam, love you mate."