~So I also forgot to mention that one of my other goals (one of the never in a million years ones) is to have one of the boys see this and actually like it. I didn't want some fanfiction like After where it's all awkward and filled with sex. I wanted something I thought Harry, Niall, Louis, Liam, and Zayn would all appreciate. I know a few of them don't even like to read, but a girl can dream, can't she?~
“Hello?” Louis said, lifting his phone to his ear.
“Louis?” Perrie's voice was almost trembling on the other end of the call.
“Perrie, are you ok? You sound really shaken up,”
“No. It's Simon. He found out about Harry and Tori.”
Louis sucked his breath in between his teeth in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair. “Fuck!” He hissed.
“I know! He's called a meeting. You and the other boys are supposed to be in his office immediately.”
Louis groaned. “I'll be there in a second.” He hung up the phone. “Eleanor!” He called into the bathroom.
“Yeah?” The beautiful brunette stepped out of the bathroom, in the process of putting in an earring. She wore a short black dress with a low cut top. Her hair was curled to perfection and she looked stunning.
Louis sighed and grabbed a fist full of his own hair. “We have to cancel the dinner reservations.” He told her. Eleanor's beautiful face fell.
“Why?” She said.
“Simon found out about Harry and Tori and he's called all of us into a meeting.”
“Me too?” She asked.
Louis shook his head. “No. Just me and the lads.”
Eleanor sighed and her shoulder's slumped.
“I know,” Louis said, stepping up to her and rubbing her arms in a comforting way. “Maybe we can reschedule for next week.” He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. “I have to go, though. I'll be back soon.”
“Ok,” Eleanor said sadly. Louis kissed her on the forehead and hurried over to the elevator.
Nobody else was inside like he expected, but Louis didn't mind. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, loosening his neck tie. He had gotten all dressed up like Eleanor to go to a fancy restaurant and maybe go for a late night walk around the city. But now they couldn't go on their date because Simon caught Harry with Tori. Louis sighed, keeping his eyes closed and adjusted his tie a little. Simon had been trying to call Harry all day to let him know about Niall bringing Zayn back injured. Simon had come in a little after Liam and Zayn's banter and asked if anyone knew what Harry was doing. They all lied and said they had no clue, even though Harry had texted them all earlier and told them not to bother him because he was on a date with Tori.
Simon had given Harry the benefit of the doubt, but he still tried to call him. He finally thought Harry was up to something and hurried up to the youngest boy's floor to see what was going on. Louis tried to call Harry and warn him, but it was too late.
The elevator doors opened onto Simon's floor and Louis stepped out. Unlike the other boys' floors, Simon's emptied into a hallway, lined with various doors. Behind all of them, Simon conducted his experiments with other scientists.
Louis looked to both ends of the hallway, absentmindedly unbuttoning the first two buttons on his shirt. When he realized he was the only one on the floor so far, he turned to the left and walked to the last door at the end of the hallway. There was a plaque on it that read “Simon Cowell” and Louis knocked beneath it.
“Come in,” A sharp voice said behind the door.
Louis swallowed, but kept his face composed as he walked into Simon's office. The walls were lined with bookshelves. All the books were stacked neatly. A few tacky plants were placed in the corners and sat on the top of the mahogany desk. Simon sat behind the desk in a rather impressive chair. He was leaning back with his elbows propped on the armrests, his fingers steepled. The whole scene created an aura of power around the man.
Just outside the bubble of authority sat Harry Styles, looking small, timid, and scared out of his mind.
“Sit,” Simon ordered. Louis obeyed and took a seat next to his friend. To Louis' right were three more seats, waiting to be filled. “We're just waiting for the others to arrive,” Simon said coolly.
There was a knock before Liam poked his head through opened the door Louis forgot to close all the way. “Sir?” Liam asked timidly.
“Liam,” Simon said. “Come in. Make yourself comfortable.”
“Yes, sir,” Liam said, more to himself. He stepped into the room and was just about to close the door, but Zayn called out his name and ran up to the room.
Zayn sat down next to Louis and Liam sat on Zayn's right. They waited for Niall in a few moments of complete, awkward and intense silence as Simon stared them all down from the other side of his desk.
Finally, Niall burst into the room.
“Niall,” Simon said firmly. “You're late.” Niall winced at the words, expecting the worst. Perrie must have filled him in on Simon's foul mood.
“Yes, I know. I'm sorry.” Niall said, staring down at his shoes as he moved to the only empty seat next to Liam.
Simon dismissed the apology and eyed all the boys carefully before speaking. “I have worked very hard to make sure only a small hand full of people know who you are.” He said quietly. Louis braced himself. When Simon spoke like that, he was angrier than if he were shouting. Everyone had to watch themselves now to make sure they didn't say something wrong.
Simon continued, leaning forward in his chair, placing his elbows on the top of the desk and looking at them intently. “Do you know why?” He asked in the most condescending tone possible. The boys sat in silence before they realized the question was not rhetorical.
It was Harry that spoke up first. “So our families can't find us,” He said quietly.
“Yes,” Simon said. “Even more important, you boys are powerful. Like gods walking among mortals. If someone outside our area of protection and safety were to find out about the skills you possess before you are shown off as mine, there would be riots in the streets. You boys will not be shown off as superheros that only appear when there is danger, you will not wear masks or have a secret identity. You will be shown off as yourselves. Of course your families will see you, of course they will try and claim you as their own,” He stood and turned around to a filing cabinet and pulled out five large files. Simon tossed them onto the desk and they splayed out perfectly so they all could see the pictures paper clipped to the front of them.
From where they sat, One Direction could see their own pictures of identification staring back at them on Simon's desk.
“But according to these files, none of you ever really existed until now.” Simon turned to look out the window behind his desk, his hands clasped behind his back. Louis could see in his godfather's body language that he was trying to stay calm and collected, but at a closer look, his shoulders were extremely tense and the reflection of his face on the window made him look older and completely exhausted.
Zayn carefully reached for his file and leafed through the papers. All the boys timidly followed the boy's lead, save Louis. He already knew that his would say Simon was his godfather and the papers would mostly tell the truth, unlike the rest of the lads.
“It says I was given up for adoption by my alcoholic parents at eight months old,” Liam said.
“Mine says I was found at a park as a baby,” Harry whispered.
“My mother died during my birth and my father took his life shortly after, leaving me all by myself when I was three months old.” Niall stared down at his file.
Zayn sucked in a small, sharp breath. “It says my family died in a house fire when I was little.” His voice broke in various parts of his sentence.
“And all of them say that your parents are unknown and I graciously adopted you all as my own.” Simon said quietly. He turned around to face them. “And that you have no family except me. People will do research on you when I finally debut you, boys. They will want to know everything about the gods in New York.” He nodded at the files in the stunned boys' hands. “And this is what they will find.”
“But what does this have to do with having girlfriends?” Harry said a little too boldly.
Simon slammed his hand on the desk, making everyone jump, and he shoved his face into Harry's. “Because you and your powers are a secret. How do I know weather or not you tried to show off to that girl how you can move cars with just your mind, or guess what number she's thinking just to impress her? How do I know she doesn't go and blab do all of her bloody friends what her boyfriend can do?”
“I... She'd never do that. I'd never do that!” Harry said firmly.
“And how do I know that, Harry?” Simon seethed. “How can I trust you anymore when you've been sneaking behind my back with her, deceiving me and lying to me? How can I believe anything you tell me anymore?” He looked around to all of the boys. “This is why I do not approve of any of you being in a relationship.” He looked sharply at Zayn before standing up straight again. The engaged boy looked down quickly at his lap. “Any of these girls can easily betray us and tell the world of who you really are, as opposed to those files.”
“But... What about the other scientists?” Louis asked carefully. “They know, don't they?”
Simon plopped into his chair and rubbed his face. “Everyone else working here knows only what the files tell them. Nothing more. That's the only way I can trust them.”
“What about Xavier?” Liam said. “He left. He knows about half of us. Couldn't he talk?”
Simon stopped rubbing his face and gave Liam an angry look none of the other boys understood. “I have already told you boys,” Simon said almost through his teeth. “Xavier left to pursue his own scientific studies. He left on friendly terms and I trust his secrecy.”
Something about the way Simon spoke made Louis feel like his godfather was lying, but he couldn't quite be sure why he would lie to them.
Simon sighed and his shoulders slumped. “In exactly one week, I have scheduled a banquet here for One Direction to be debuted.” He said in a tired voice.
The boys' eyes grew wide and they looked at each other, completely surprised.
“Are you serious?” Niall said, astonished. Liam let out a small scoff.
Simon looked up from rubbing the bridge of his nose and gave the blonde a smile as tired as his voice. “You boys have been working hard. And I think you're ready, despite some bumps in the road.” His eyes flickered over to Harry who looked down, ashamed, at his lap. “You obviously have to be trained even harder in every category of combat before I set you lose on the streets, and I have a few surprises to give you before then, but I think you are completely ready otherwise.”
The boys' eyes grew even wider and all their jaws dropped.
Simon smiled at them. “Congratulations, boys. How does it feel to be the worlds first superheros?”
Zayn let out a scoffing laugh. Niall jumped out of his chair, his fist thrown over his head victoriously as he let out a cheer. The rest of the boys jumped too, hugging and shouting and celebrating.
Simon stood, too, grinning and shaking the boys' hands.
When they finally calmed down, Simon told them, “Tomorrow, I have a few meetings to attend to so I can arrange this banquet properly. But the day after, we will all meet in the training room so we can start rehearsals for those extra surprises I mentioned. Now, I have a few things I need to see to now.” He motioned towards the door and everyone filed out, still completely giddy from the news they were just told.
All except Louis. He had his back faced to the room, his hand on the door while he had a mental battle with himself. He looked back at the celebrating boys and towards his godfather who was sitting back in his massive chair, a pair of glasses on his face and he was looking over one of the lads files.
“Yes, Louis?” Simon asked, not looking up from the file.
Louis took a deep breath. “You said we were ready, but... Do you really think... I am?”
Simon glanced up at his godson from the top of his glasses. “I do,” Simon told him, sitting up straight, taking off his glasses and tossing them on the desk. “Do you?” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
Louis hesitated. “Well, all of the other lads were... Chosen. You saw something in all of them. Except me. I basically had to beg my way into this. I can still barely heal anyone without throwing up. Did you only chose me because I asked for it? Was I even meant to be in this group?”
Simon chuckled softly. “Louis. I came up with this idea before you were born. When I saw you as a toddler, I knew you would be perfect for this. Your parents and I would talk about it all the time that you were going to be something amazing when you grew up.”
Louis stared at the dark haired man in awe. “Are you kidding me?” He breathed.
Simon smiled and shook his head. “I knew I wanted you to be apart of this when you were young. I could see your potential before you even started school. Your parents even worked with me on the first stages of my plans. They were brilliant scientists. They were going to be apart of it before...” He trailed off and Louis nodded knowingly. “Is that all you needed?” Simon asked after a moment.
“Y- yes,” Louis stammered quickly. “Thank you so much. For everything.”
“My pleasure,” Simon said before putting his glasses back on and turning his attention back to the file in front of him.
Louis walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He walked through the hall with a spring in his step and a smile on his face.
He was a superhero.
~So here's a double update for you lovely, beautiful, wonderful, amazing, people! I cannot thank you guys enough for the amount of views and votes and comments on this book and all I can do in return is update another chapter of my insanity. I love you guys so much!!!~