"NIALLER! NIALLER! NIALLER!" Louis stormed into the apartment. Niall wasn't up yet it seemed and he ran to his room, yanking the door open and flinging himself on top of the sleeping body in the bed, shaking his shoulders violently.
"Louis! What the hell are you doing?" Niall cried.
"Contracts! Fucking contracts, Niall!" He waved the papers in his face.
"What are you talking about?"
"Contracts!" he exclaimed loudly. He began reciting lines from the papers. "Louis Tomlinson, boyfriend of Mr. Styles, will not be held responsible for any misfortune in the matter', 'One Direction members take full responsibility if careers were to fail because of the matter'."
Niall frowned and Louis exploded. "NIALL. This is a fucking coming out contract!"
"Wait? So why are you mad?"
"The other contract!" he shoved the other paper into Niall's face. "It basically says that the boys will get sued if I mess up! They all fucking signed it without talking to me. Harry didn't fucking tell me anything! He signed a paper that fucking says he's responsible for everything that happens! And his fucking lawyer thought it was a good idea! They all agreed without so much as a thought! Niall," he shook his shoulder. "If this goes to hell, it's all on me! I could mess up and their careers would be over and they don't care. They didn't talk to me at all, just happily signed over their lives and what if I do something to ruin this?! I can't even make breakfast how am I supposed to have three careers on my shoulders?"
"Louis, it's not on you. Calm yourself."
"I can't calm myself. I'm so fucking angry with him. He's so stupid, he doesn't think of what is good for himself. He's too... I don't know, he just takes everything on himself and just does things that he shouldn't just because he's too kind and too- God, I don't even know! It's just wrong. Wrong and unfair to him! It's unfair, that's what it is! And he gladly does it! It's not good. Unhealthy! Like drinking too much coke and your teeth get all gross. That's exactly what it's like! He takes too much on himself, he's too kind and he gives and gives and gives and he's teeth get all sugary from everyone's problems and his teeth turn gross! Do you get me?"
"Louis, are you mad at him for being nice?"
"He's too nice! It's irresponsible!"
"Lou, I'm sure he has read through that contract a hundred times and his lawyers have gone through every sentence with the boys and if he still signs, it's what he wants."
"I want- I need to get blamed too! He can't have it all on his shoulders!"
"I thought it was on your shoulders?"
"Niall, if I mess up, their lives are over," he said. "And on top of that Harry will get sued."
Niall frowned, seeing his point but, took the contracts from Louis' hands. "Let's look through these, Lou. Let's make some tea and calm down, yeah?"
"Okay," Louis said, half breathing, half crying.
They spent the next hour reading through each of the contracts. They were long and detailed and Louis and Niall wrote down every rule on a list. They went through the list and Louis said what he absolutely could not accept and they crossed out what he could deal with. They read about the coming out plan. They were to proceed by hinting at "Torry" and get the public used to the idea, like trying to increase the amount of Torry shippers. They would start off by having an interview where Harry was asked about the Keek clip and the boys would hint at a relationship going on behind the scenes. It was all very planned out. Different steps of outings and hints until everybody pretty much knew before Harry would come clean about Louis. They would keep his identity hidden for as long as possible, something Louis appreciated immensely.
When they had gone through everything there was, Louis knew what he was definitely okay with, things that had to do with his relationship with Harry. Things he actually found stupid that they even had printed out in black and white. No he would not give out his own, Harry's or his work address. No he wouldn't reveal anything about their sexual relations and no he wouldn't go screaming out on the street about anything band related.
When they were done they also had a list of four things that would have to be changed. First, Louis was not going to go innocent if he was the one to mess up. Second, he was sure as hell not going to give Modest his twitter password. Third, he would not going to be involved in any lies about his personality or life, like what he did for a living or how he knew Harry and so on. No lies, he wasn't having that. If people didn't like him for him, then fuck them. And fourth, he was most definitely never going to do any staged outings in public. No. Keeping it real was what mattered to him and he hated the publicity schemes and media twists above all else. No, if it was going to go down, it had to be kept true.
Louis sighed. They'd figured this out now. "Niall, what do I do next?"
He shrugged. "You call Harry."
He was right and Louis suddenly felt ashamed about his dramatic ways earlier. He sort of blamed it on giving into that old run, run for your life before you get dragged down instinct, but really he'd kind of just left Harry stranded without giving him any opportunity to defend himself or get to say at least a word. But Louis dialed anyway, feeling a little anxious. It took a moment and then a loud tone of Marimba sang out from behind him, almost giving him a heart attack.
"Oh Jesus Christ," he breathed when he turned and found Harry standing behind him, obviously having let himself in. His face was hard to read to Louis, and he felt a little uneasy. Usually Harry was an open book to him.
"You said I couldn't call, but you didn't say anything about coming over so..." Harry said, trailing off. Louis rolled his eyes.
"Louis," Harry said seriously. "That contract we all signed, that was about me and One Direction. You can't be mad at me for that. Those contracts have been lying in Harvey's drawer since the day he found out I'm gay. I know what I signed myself into."
"But you're risking it all, Harry."
"I know what I'm doing, Louis."
"Harvey told me you didn't want to come out before. Now you do, and it's because of us?"
"Yes."
"What if I fail? You didn't even talk to me about this. I feel like I'm going to mess up and ruin everything for us and your life."
"You're not going to ruin anything, Louis," Harry said fiercely, stepping forward to grasp hold of Louis' arms. "I know what I'm doing and everything will be fine. I don't care if people will hate me and my career will fall apart, because I have you." His words were honest and serious, and they warmed Louis' heart, but he felt uneasy to the whole thing.
"Harry, I'm scared I'll fuck up."
"You won't," he said determinedly.
"You're so stupid, Harry," he said lovingly. "So annoyingly caring and perfect and kind and you do all these things for other people. But you have to look out for yourself too, Haz."
"Lou, I know what I'm doing. I know this."
"I read the contracts. I have a few change requests, four to be exact. One of them being that also I will be held responsible. And I still thing you're stupid. But I love you," Louis said. "...and sorry for being ridiculous and acting out before."
"Louis, you have to stop and listen to me sometimes."
"I know."
"If you could just chill with the spontaneous fits you throw and do things a more calmly, things would be a little easier."
Louis sighed. He was being lectured by his two year younger boyfriend, who was also completely right. "Yeah. I can work on that I guess," he said sheepishly and Harry smiled down at him.
"Make up kiss?"
"Okay," Louis said in a small voice and crawled into Harry's arms.
---
"Louis!" his mom greeted him over the phone. He was on speaker while he preparing something to eat, which consisted of milk and coco pops. Harry was in the shower and Louis thought it'd be a good time to talk to his mother. "How are you sweetheart? It's been a while since I talked to you. You should call more often, I miss you, you know."
"I know, I'm sorry, Mom," he apologized. "I miss you too."
"Are you good, baby?" she asked.
"I'm good, yeah," he answered as he sat down at the breakfast bar.
"How's work?" she wondered and he told her about Lindsay who he'd actually grown quite...okay with. It was nice to talk to his mother, loving and happy as she was. He hadn't spoken with her in what seemed like ages and he felt ashamed. She asked him about his studies and he promised he was trying (she knew getting him to try for the A's was a bit farfetched) and that he kept his average C's. Louis asked about his sisters, who he actually missed quite a lot, and he found out Lottie was in some sort of rebellious phase that his mother tampered with, although his other three sisters were alright and helpful.
"And how's my baby?" Jay asked and Louis rolled his eyes.
"Niall's fine. Had some girl trouble before but he's getting better."
"Aw, that's too bad. You tell him he is too good for whoever she was anyway! Niall deserves someone good."
"I'll tell him that." Louis tried to act annoyed with her fondness of his best friend, but secretly he couldn't love it more.
"And you? Still playing the field, are you?" she sighed. She was hoping he'd settle soon.
"Yeah um, Mom...?" Louis said slowly and his heart picked up a pace. "That's actually why I called." He put a spoon of coco pops into his mouth, chewing frantically. How to put this?
"Why?" she asked eagerly. This was the reason he did not talk about his relationships with his mom. Every time he mentioned anything that could possibly have something to do with love, his mother danced in circles, sacrificing Satan knows what, just for the slight chance that Louis had finally found somebody he wanted to keep around.
"Have you met someone?" she asked.
"I, uh... I have."
"Yes!" she exclaimed loudly. "Tell me everything!" she demanded.
"Actually-"
"I want to meet this boy! How old is he? What does he do? What does he look like? I bet he's tall, is he tall? How long have you dated? Hey, what's his mother's name? Why haven't you changed your Facebook then? It says 'single'." The reason why never mention boyfriends near his mom.
"Mom. Stop."
"What? I want to know. I deserve to know, Boo Bear."
"Mom, that name was banned from your vocabulary years ago. Use of that name is punishable." Would she never learn?
"Tell me, Louis," she ordered.
Deep breath. "Mom, can you make sure nobody is around? I don't want anyone to hear, okay?"
"Oh, okay." There was some shuffling around and Louis chewed on some more coco pops.
"Don't freak out-"
"Is he a goth?" she gasped. "Ooh, I've always wanted to meet one of those! Does he have a piercing?"
"No, he's not a goth!" Dear lord. "And would you please be quiet? How am I supposed to get this out if all you do is talk?"
"Alright, alright sourpuss." He ignored that.
"Can you please not interrupt me through this? Just be quiet and listen?" There was silence. "Mom?"
"You told me to be quiet!"
"Oh for Christ sake. Whatever! Here I go." He shook his head, annoyed, but went on. "So I'm dating someone, right? And it might be a little shocking for you to find out who it is, or at least for Lottie and Fizzy. Anyway, he's sort of...uh...a high profile kind of guy?" He struggled to find the right words. "People like, know who he is. He's sort of known...all over the place? Just uh – oh right, I should probably say this. People doesn't know he's gay so you can't tell anyone! Not a word! I'm just telling you because... uh, in a few weeks or months my face will probably be on the Internet... Well, hopefully that will be far up the road. Really far. Like a miles. But yeah, he's famous."
He fell quiet. His mother didn't say a word. He stayed silent for a minute and then he had to do the inevitable. "It's Harry Styles."
Silence. It took a while. Harry even had time to step out of the shower with a towel around his waist and wrap his arms around him where he sat on the stool, staring at his phone.
"Mom?" he finally said. "You can talk now."
"OH DEAR CHRIST!" she breathed out. Had she really been waiting for him to tell her the rule was broken? "Louis William Tomlinson! What have you been up to!? Are you serious with me? How have you met someone like that?"
"At a club?" He winced at her loud voice.
"Louis! At a club? How do you even find someone like that in a club? Is there anything else you'd like to tell me? Maybe how you've got stalkers nowadays and are going to Kim Kardashian's baby shower?"
Yeah... uh. "Mom. Chill."
"Louis! If you sleep with a celebrity you call your mom!" Jay chastised and Louis rolled his eyes. Harry chuckled behind Louis and he swatted one of his arms that were still hugging him.
"Are you laughing at me Louis?"
"Erm...no. That was Harry." Wonder how she'd take that...
Silence. Then she said lowly, like she was trying to talk to Louis without Harry overhearing, "Is he there...? Louis. I swear, if you say a word I will-"
"He's here, Mom. He can hear you."
"Oh."
"Hi, Mrs. Tomlinson!" Harry cheered with a laugh.
"I think I'm going to have to take a moment and then call you back, Louis."
Louis rolled his eyes with a grin. "Alright, Mom. Take it easy with the gin."
"Louis!" she scolded. "Talk to you later...Boo Bear." She said evilly. Oh, she did not. He could feel Harry still behind him. Frick, frucking, fricken, frudge. Damn it.
"I hate you." He told her. She hung up and the phone dimmed. Louis hopped down from the stool, trying to escape as quickly as possible. Of course, Harry had other intentions. He locked him in an embrace, giggling like an idiot.
"Boo Bear?"
"Don't ever call me that."
"Hmm, I don't know. I kind of like it." Harry snickered.
"Please don't."
"Booooo Beaaar..." Harry dragged the words out and kissed him under his jawline. "Booo..." Louis pushed him off.
"She's so evil! Why would she do this!" he complained and Harry laughed louder.
"You're the exact same person! She is you but female and older! You're her exact copy, it's insane. I tell you, you can be sure. You're not adopted."
"I'm not like my mom!"
"Are you kidding me?" Harry laughed exaggeratingly loud as Louis shook his head.
"I hate you, Styles."
"But you love me."
Louis mumbled something intelligible about yeah, sure, okay, maybe he did. Harry chuckled and wrapped his arms around him, pressing a hot kiss on his lips. Louis became slightly aware of the fact that Harry was only wearing a towel. He kissed the two birds on his chest and he felt Harry's growing erection against his hip.
He snapped his head up, his eyes meeting Harry's and finding them dark green and filled with lust. "Seriously?" he asked. "We had sex half an hour ago! The shower you had like ten minutes ago, you only had 'cause you had cum all over you!"
"But you're hooootttt...!" Harry whined and kissed him again, tongue trying to enter Louis' mouth.
He pulled back. "You're hopeless," Louis rolled his eyes but nonetheless allowed Harry to whip him around, feeling him press against his bum. He bit into his neck from behind, hands roaming over his chest and stomach, making Louis squirm against him in pleasure.
---
Louis was on the floor, playing games on his phone. Harry had downloaded some stupid shit on his phone and now Louis was addicted. He had started by sitting on the couch but after many rounds he had ended up lying on the floor, hidden from anyone's view. When he lost at the same level for the eighth time he gave up, sighing. It was Thursday night. During the day he had been to classes (and overheard two girls complaining about Harry Styles maybe not being single anymore), then worked for a few hours and then went down to the office (Modest headquarters?) together with Harry and Niall (his lawyer) and he'd held his ground firmly. He'd managed to negotiate pretty well. He didn't have to give up his twitter password, which was a great win. He also didn't have to lie about how he lived his life. The biggest thing though, that Harry reluctantly had agreed to, was that it didn't say "Harry Styles will be held responsible" but instead, "Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson will be held responsible" and how they wanted to deal with the consequences was up to them. He needed to be in that contract and be able to get what he deserved if he messed up. And also putting their names together like that made him feel like they were a married couple, an item. It felt kind of great.
The only thing he couldn't get out of was staged meetings between Harry and Louis. Modest insisted and straight out refused to take it out of the contract. Niall though came up with a solution. To Louis' benefit the meetings wouldn't be staged, but to Modest's delight they were allowed to hire paps to take photos of Harry and Louis together when they knew where they were (which was pretty much all the time). Louis had left the building satisfied and had bought Niall dinner and a new soccer jersey just because he was such a brilliant kid and helped him out so much, and of course for the reason that he loved him so damned much too.
Louis yawned on the floor. Harry was at the studio, writing with Liam and some music dudes he didn't remember the names of. He opened one eye when he heard the door to Niall's room slowly creek open and saw the man himself stick his head out. He scanned the flat quickly and then sneaked out his room, tiptoeing as quietly as he could towards the front door.
Louis sat up with an amused smirk and waited until Niall had just reached the door until he spoke. "And where are you going, Nialler? Looking all made up and sexy."
The blonde stopped in his tracks, cursing under his breath. So close! He sighed and turned around, internally groaning as he took in Louis' smirk.
"Seeing someone, are we?" Louis grinned. Niall was leaving at ten thirty a Thursday night, looking like he'd been working on that quiff for hours. He probably had.
"Just let me leave, Louis."
"Who is the lucky one to get laid by Niall James Horan this Thursday?" he grinned. His friend didn't answer, just impatiently groaning where he stood. "Does the name start with a G?"
"I'm not sleeping with Georgia."
"Sure," Louis smirked and waved the poor lad off, wishing him good luck on the banging and he got flipped off in return. He jumped up from the floor and tucked himself into his bed with a cup of tea, deciding to go to bed early.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
I'm calling it a night. Long day, school, work and business on the same day :)
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
But first, let's do this #AskTommolicious
He smirked when immediately his mentions were overflowing. He checked the tag and his eyes widened at how many people had already tweeted him. Not two minutes later, #AskTommolicious was trending worldwide, and Louis felt a little uneasy. Nobody knew who he was, what he looked like or anything at all. They didn't know who the fuck he was and still they were so eager to know him and hear from him.
#AskTommolicious
"How did you meet Harry?"
"When did you meet Haz?" – a couple of months ago
"Do you like eggs?"
"What's your favorite number?" – 17
"What was he first thing Harry said to you?" – Oops!
"What's you favorite color?"
"Fuck me?" – I'll pass
"First kiss?"
"What kind of business?" – Mind your own
"What's your favorite thing about Harry?" – his attention to detail
One question in particular stood out to him.
- Max - (@caged_max)
@TheTommo #AskTommolicious What does your mom say about being gay? How did you come out? Struggling
TheTommo (@TheTommo)
@caged_max She's supportive, I think she tried to make me gay when I was a kid... I told her and she laughed hysterically because she thought it was ridiculous that I even felt like I had to tell people. I'm that gay, my friend.
- Max – (@caged_max)
@TheTommo Lucky. Wish I had the same.
A tight knot formed in Louis' chest and he felt uneasy all over. He quickly pressed the follow button to this Max and typed out a public tweet to him again.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
@caged_max DM me?
Several minutes ticked by and Louis waited anxiously for the message. Another minute passed. When it finally came he sighed out in relief. He just wanted to talk to this kid, make sure he was okay.
-Hello?
- Hi max!
- um hey
- having trouble? Don't wanna intrude, just wanna help
- can I ask you one thing
- yes
- were you scared telling everybody else, your school?
- yes
- what did you do?
- I stood up on a bench in the locker room while everybody was changing and yelled out that I was gay
- wow
- a little dramatic maybe
- what did they do?
- some shrugged and someone told me I was a faggot and should burn in hell
- oh
- you know what I said, and what you should say to everyone that gives you shit about being gay? I pouted my lips and acted as stereotypically gay as I could and said "bitch please, mhm, you wouldn't kick me out of bed unless it was to fuck on the floor"
- omfg
- of course then I ran, but it was pretty sweet to see his face (before he threatened to kill me) ... sorry if this is not helping
- ... how do you stand up for yourself so well?
- max, people used to tease me for wearing too tight pants and for liking suspenders and just because I "looked" gay. After being shoved into a locker for like the billionth time, one day I had simply had enough. I said, and I've said ever since that day when somebody gives me shit, "I'm gay and I'm fucking proud of it and if you have a problem, you know exactly where to shove it".
- you're pretty great. Thank you.
Louis' face lit up and his chest tinged with happiness. Yes. He'd helped!
- no problem mate
- one last question before I go?
- shoot
- I don't want to be rude or invasive but... Torry?
- "Nice shoes" "Nice shirt"
He grinned and tucked away his phone and turned off the lights.
---
"So lads, how's the new album coming along?" the female interviewers asked at the end of the interview. The boys were seated on a red couch, smiling politely into the cameras. Louis stood in a corner, half hiding from Harvey who was watching the interview from a few yards away and half hiding just because he was nervous and didn't want people to look at him where he was practically quivering with nerves.
"It's going absolutely brilliant. Harry has actually written a lot on this," Liam said proudly and Zayn clapped him on the back.
"Really? Is this album going to be different from the last?"
"Um.." Harry said. "Maybe a bit more mature?"
"Mature how?"
"A little more grown up?"
"And more love songs," Zayn snickered. His comment was caught by the interviewer and she eagerly went down that path.
"Love songs? And Harry's written most of them?"
"He's written a lot," Liam said, a little annoyed with how she bended the words.
"Has this anything to do with the video clip that has spread all over the internet and we've all seen, Harold?" Louis narrowed his eyes. That was his nickname. Bitch, he muttered.
"I don't know what clips you've seen so..." he said and Louis grinned.
"Cheeky, Harry. But you know what I mean, don't you? The clip where two people are cuddling in the background? Is that you Harry? Can you confirm that?"
"Um.."
"Awwww, he's getting all blushy!" Zayn grinned but Louis knew it was an attempt to evade the serious question. They wanted people to think he had something to hide, not confirm it entirely.
"Aw precious little, Hazza!" Liam grinned and poked his cheek. They bantered for a bit, successfully distracting the woma. Louis watched Harvey nod in approval.
"But Harry in all seriousness, is there someone special in your life?"
"Of course," Harry grinned, avoiding the question. "These two idiots. They are my best friends and make me feel very lucky." He smiled widely and in a way so that everybody who watched knew that Harry knew what they wanted to hear, and also knew that everyone knew he was doing it on purpose. It was the first of many steps along the road to coming out.