stockholm syndrome

epilogue

(1 year later )

"Are you nervous, Lou?" Mused Liam, unable to resist from obsessing over the smaller boy's attire. He'd already redone his tie six times now, and he patted at his shoulders, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles. Zayn was no better, licking his thumb and fixing his fringe as well as his eyebrows. Louis was blind to the imperfections Zayn so keenly found in his hairstyle, but the attention to detail boy had laser vision for all things, well, attention to detail. They had wanted to put foundation and powder on him (whatever that was) and hire a professional to style his hair, but Louis had strongly refused such things.

"Surprisingly, not at all." Louis tries to take a step back, away from their prodding hands, but simultaneously, both boys grab a hold of an arm each, wordlessly pulling him back to resume their fawning, eyes never straying from their work. Louis sighed, shifting his weight and allowing his outfit to be played with. He was hardly the glamorous type, but it was the most important day of his life after all, so there's really no harm done in looking put together. "Why- should I be?" Louis furrowed a brow, looking between them.

"No, of course not babe," breathed Zayn, his voice light like a warm summer breeze. His eyes shone brightly when he smiled at Liam, who returned his happy look. "Louis, I think you're ready!" He announced, both releasing him and shoving him before a tall mirror. Louis took a deep breath, nodding at himself and resisting the urge to run a hand through his hair. He was not taking any chances, because he simply could not sit through another hour of Zayn's god-awful hair gel and Liam's pep talks that were strangely rather depressing.

"You think?" Louis checked himself out some more, readjusting in his suit before wringing his hands out slightly. He honestly wasn't nervous, more like excited. Anxious, per say.

"Of course! You look great Louis, really. We'd tell you if you didn't. And as far as being ready goes, there's really only one way to know for sure, isn't there?" Louis smiled back at Liam, embracing him in a tight hug, careful not to crease his tuxedo or muss his hair. Liam's jacket smelled like butterscotch and bubbles, which made a lot of sense somehow. He hugged Zayn too, and they both said they loved him and wished him luck that he wouldn't need.

Then they were off in search of Harry, who was currently with Niall, and Louis was left all alone. He glanced down at his sweaty hands, his freshly done tattoo of today's date, a '28' on his middle and ring fingers. He smiled, inspecting it with love, imagining Harry's reaction. He hadn't seen it yet, so today would be the first time, and he'd see it when he slid the ring on. Louis was enraptured.

He couldn't believe the day was finally here, after so many hours of planning, every second spent awaiting the moment he now resided in. Everything led up to this day. Except- not really. In all reality, it's just a day, a check mark on a calendar, twenty four hours, the sun rises until it sets and before you know it, it's the next day already. Sure, it was an incredibly wonderful day so far, and it hadn't even truly started yet. But everything does not bow down to this day, it is not the end all be all of calendar dates, moment of truth that nothing will ever come close to topping the joy and importance and glory of.

It's just a day.

And as much as Louis had looked forward to this day, he looked forward to tomorrow just the same, and the day after that, and every day succeeding that. Every day with Harry was a holiday, each one multitudes sweeter than the last, each filled with the most blissful blips and moments in time that Louis held within his overflowing heart of gold.

Therefore as much as Louis loved that today was his wedding day, he loved even more the meaning behind it, the promise that every day from here on out would be filled with Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry and nothing else. He didn't need anything else, just Harry. He wanted to drown in Harry, let the name Harry seep through him, taking captive his insides and every other part of him too. Just Harry.