ᵒⁿᵉ 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐒 ˡᵃʳʳʸ ˢᵗʸˡⁱⁿˢᵒⁿ (ᶜᵒᵐᵖˡᵉᵗᵉᵈ)

little white lies

"Lou." Harry says that morning. He lays horizontally across his bed, a blanket draped over his torso, legs in the air, resting his chin in his hands. "Lou. Lou. Louis. Louis. Louis Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson, listen to me." 

Louis turns around from where he was writing. "Yes, Hazza? What do you need?"

"Come cuddle with me." Harry says, looking at his boyfriend with his bright green eyes. "You're always writing. Just take a break and cuddle with me." 

"Harry, not now." Louis says. "Later."

Harry looks at him, a frown on his face, his eyebrows furrowed. "You're not doing anything important. Not more important than me. Louis, I'm more important. Get your ass over here."

"Harry." Louis says, putting his arm on the back of his chair. Harry looks at him, tilting his head. 

"Please?" Harry says, drastically changing his tone. He pauses. "I love you."

Louis sighs, shaking his head, laughing slightly. "I love you too, Haz, but I have work to do. Honestly, you have work to do too."

"Nooo," Harry says, dragging out the o's. "I'm better. You're better. Come cuddle with me."

"I know that." Louis says. "But I have to do work. I get to be with you."

"You could have said something very different there." Harry points out, his face very matter-of-fact.

Louis looks at him. "Harry."

"What?" Harry says. "I'm just pointing it out. I didn't do anything."

Louis rolls his eyes, a smile playing on his lips. "Har, I have to get back to this, okay?"

"No-kay." Harry says. 

Louis gets up and Harry sits up, leaning against the back of his bed. He looks at Harry.

"Hello." He says, an innocent smile on his face. Louis wishes he didn't find it so fucking cute. 

Louis sighs, laughing. "Sometimes I wish I didn't love you so much."

"But you do." Harry says, leaning forward and kissing him. "And I love you too."

Suddenly, the door flies open and Niall barges in. Harry and Louis both turn to look at him, Harry jumping slightly. 

"Yeah, thanks for knocking, by the way." Harry says sarcastically.

"No problem." Niall says quickly before turning to look at Louis. "Louis William Tomlinson-soon-to-be-Styles, I need you to tell me what the fuck this is right now." He pulls out his phone and thrusts it at him. 

Louis fumbles with it before opening it and hitting play on the video that's on the screen. It's him. Louis's face turns white. "Oh my fucking god." He breathes. "How did this get out? Wh-where did you get this?"

"What is it?" Harry asks, putting a hand on the phone too. His stomach sinks and his heart falls. "Lou, when did you take this?"

"I was eighteen." Louis says. "I had a crush on you and didn't know what to do."

"So you did this?" Harry says, gesturing with the phone which he's now taken from Louis. "Most people ask out their crush, some maybe write about it in their diary and tell no one, but no, you, my boyfriend, love of my life, Louis fucking Tomlinson, chooses to make a video that could potentially ruin your career. Louis, seriously, what the actual fuck were you thinking? Why the hell would you do this!?"

"Yeah," Niall says dully. "You know that now everybody who follows this girl on Instagram is going to know. And then they'll tell their friends. And soon, Liam and Zayn will find out and everyone will know. So what the hell do we do?"

"We deny it." Harry says immediately. "Say you were drunk or didn't mean it. Say you made it as a joke. Yeah. We'll say you made it as a joke. A dare, maybe."

"Harry..." Louis says. "They already know, why can't we just tell them the truth?" Louis looks so desperate it breaks Harry's heart.

"No, Louis." Harry says quietly. "We can't. Right, Niall?"

Louis looks at Niall, looking at him, eyes full of hope. "Shit, Louis," Niall says. "I'm sorry."

"Harry..." Louis says, turning back to him, nearly crying. "You can't do this. Please, Harry, please."

"I'm sorry, Louis." Harry says, tears welling in his eyes too. "But we have to. You know we have to."

"Then what we tell them has to be true." Louis says dryly. "We're done. Over. Not a thing anymore. I love you, Hazza, I always will. I'm really sorry but you fucked up too badly this time. I can't forgive you." He walks out the door, not looking back.

Harry's arms drop to his sides, one tear falling down his cheek. "I messed up, huh?" He says to Niall, his voice shaking. He's just trying to keep it together. Just until Niall leaves. "I really fucked up this time."

Niall doesn't say anything for a minute. "Louis loves you, Harry, but he really needs you to tell the truth and I don't think there's any hope for you if you don't."

Harry nods. "Now, uh, I need you to go." Harry says. He presses his palms to his eyes. "Because I can't do this right now. Not yet." 

Niall squeezes his shoulder. "I'm here for you, Harry. If you need me."

Niall walks away and out the door. Harry sinks onto his bed. His shoulders start to shake. He always thought that Louis and him would be together forever. He never imagined that something this awful could happen, not to them. They were Louis and Harry. They were blue and green. They were meant to be. He just didn't know what do anymore. 

Harry crawls under the covers and pulls them up to his chin. Today, just today, he isn't coming out. Maybe tomorrow, too.