safe haven │ larry stylinson

82

Harry's POV

The world stopped. Right in that moment, the world stopped. It stopped turning. Louis' lips on his were hot and desperate but full of love. And Harry didn't stop him. He kissed him back and for the first time he felt free.
When their lips parted, Harry looked into Louis' eyes. That was when he heard the crowd around him. Golden was playing in the background while the hall was filled with screams and cheers. It was louder than everything Harry had ever heard before. But still he could hear Louis whispering "Now go get what you deserve" as he let go of him.
When Harry stepped away from his boyfriend he mouthed 'I love you' and saw the smile on Louis' face getting wider.
He felt Liam, Niall and Zayn patting his back but he didn't hear what they were saying. He heard nothing but whirring.

Harry made his way towards the stage and stopped when he saw Taylor. He pulled her into a hug. "Congratulations, Harry. You deserve this so much. I'm so happy for you both!" She hugged him back and he smiled, not quite realising everything that was going on. As he continued making his way to the stage, people continued to pat his back and he smiled at them, not really seeing them.
On stage, the woman gave him the Grammy and kissed him on the cheek as she congratulated him. "Well that was a pleasant suprise.. Congratulations!"
"Thank you so much" He gave her a smile and turned to the microphone. The lights were shining on him and he nearly couldn't see the crowd standing, still cheering and applauding. He looked for Louis and once he found him, a smile made its way on his face before he took a deep breath.

"Well..the cat's out of the bag I guess" He could hear people laughing and chuckled quietly. "Honestly, I don't know what to say"
For a moment he locked eyes with Louis and took another deep breath. "Wow. Thank you so much for this. I- this is unbelievable. To everyone who made this album with me, thank you. Tom, Tyler, Mitch- and everyone at Columbia, my manager Jeffrey who's always nudged me to be better and never pushed me. Thank you so much. Thank you to my family and to the fans who have always supported me since day one. Thank you to the other boys for supporting me as well.
I'm so grateful to be here, thank you. All these albums are fucking massive and I don't know what I did to deserve this, so thank you so much. I feel very honoured to be among all of you, so thank you so much.
And thank you to Louis for being my safe place, my safe haven for so many years now. I love you.
I- uh- I just wanted to say. Fine Line is an album about love in its cruelest and hurting ways but more importantly an album about finding your true self and be able to be your true self, to stand up for yourself. It's an album about loving whoever the fuck you want. So do that, treat people with kindness and love. Thank you so much, this is amazing" He touched his chest and felt his heart nearly bursting out. Harry was so nervous, his hands were sweaty and his body was endlessly heating up. When he left the stage, his legs were shaking and he felt like he was about to fall. Everyone was clapping and cheering. Everyone was standing. For him.
"Mr. Styles, your Grammy" The woman came running after him and gave him the award, earning a embarrassed smile from him.
"I'm so sorry, I completely forgot- thank you so much" He took it and tried to make his way back to his seat - without luck. He didn't even make it past the first seat. Taylor hugged him, Billie grinned at him and hugged him. Even Lady Gaga and Elton John congratulated him.

He knew the look on Simon's face immediately. It was the 'happy-for-the-public' but 'wait-until-we-speak' look. He patted his shoulder and Harry gave him a smile. He couldn't care less what that man thought. It didn't matter. From this day on everything would change. Cameras surrounded them as Harry finally reached his seat next to Louis. They grinned at each other and Harry took his hand, squeezing it tightly.
Louis leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I'm so fucking proud of you"
Harry chuckled and blushed before they sat down. "I love you" was the only thing he could whisper before the show continued. And when most of the cameras turned and focused back on the stage, Harry felt Louis squeezing his hand.
"I love you too"
He wouldn't have thought that the smile on his face could get any wider. But it did.

When the award show was over, Louis and Harry couldn't even think about being on their own. Everyone congratulated them, everyone wanted to know everything.
And the two of them smiled, held hands and answered. During all that time Harry couldn't stop smiling. His eyes met Louis' eyes now and then and his smile got wider. It was over, wasn't it? No matter what Simon would say or do. He couldn't change the fact that the world knew. Their secret wasn't a secret anymore.

They left late at night. It was nearly morning when the couple could finally leave the after-party and go backstage. Simon and the other three boys were still talking so they sneaked out without anyone noticing. Louis followed Harry down the hall to his changing room, their hands still entangled. Harry opened the door and let him in before closing it again.
"Fuck, that was-" Harry didn't let him finish. His lips were on Louis' as soon as possible. Harry pressed his body against Louis, his right hand on the door next to Louis' head and his left on his boyfriend's waist. The kiss was passionate and hot when Louis kissed him back, their tongues moving with one another.
When they parted, Harry let out a sigh. "I love you so much"
Louis chuckled. "Good. Now that the whole fucking world knows that I love you"
"You could've warned me!" Harry accused with a smile on his face.
"I would have, if I had known that I would do that love" Louis grinned at him and Harry shook his head.
"You are unbelievable"
"And you love it"
"I sure do" Harry grinned even more and pecked on Louis' lips again.
"Did I tell you that you look absolutely gorgeous?"
Harry could feel his cheeks heating up a little. "Thank you, Lou.."
Louis grinned and stroke over his cheek. "I can only give that back. You're hot as fuck"
Now it was Louis who was blushing and Harry grinned.

He let himself fall back on the couch. "My feet huuurt"
"Poor baby" Louis teased and sat down next to him, within seconds Harry's head rested on his shoulder.
"Hm" He closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence until the door got torn open.  A few seconds later, Simon and the other three men walked in. As soon as the door was closed, Simon lost it.
"Are you out of your fucking minds?!"
Both, Harry and Louis, flinched and stood up a moment later.
"Actually, we're pretty clear in our minds. Thanks for asking" Louis answered and Harry could see a quick smile on Zayn's face.
"Don't you dare, Tomlinson!" Simon pointed at him, his head turning read already. "This will have serious consequences! You can bet on that!"
"Oh Simon, come on. What do you want to do? Spank me? Sorry only Harry is allowed to do that"
Harry couldn't help but chuckle about his words.
"What are you laughing at?! You won't laugh anymore when I'm done with the two of you. You two are forgetting about my influence in this business! You two are forgetting about what I did for you! All of you!"
"What you did for us? What the hell did you do for us? You put five boys in a band. That's the only thing I'm grateful for. What did you do for our mental health? For our health? You made us believe that whatever we do it is not enough. And whatever we say is not right. Who we are is not good enough. You were the one who told us that we would need to change if we wanted to achieve something. You threw us to the wolves. You gave a damn about us. All you saw was money. And we should be fucking grateful for that? You were the reason why we went on hiatus. We couldn't carry on that way because it broke every single one of us.
Zayn had the guts to say it first and I'm so fucking thankful that he did because you are toxic" Harry finally had enough. His voice was calm and steady but inside he was raging. It was enough.
Simon listened to him, getting more red every second. He swallowed, then took a step forward - standing opposite of Harry, pointing his index finger at Harry's chest.
"You made a huge- a huge mistake, boy"
This time, Harry didn't back away. "I'm not your boy, Cowell" He paused, staring right back at Simon.
"You'll pay for that"
"What do you want to do about it? What, hm? Pick me up and throw me against the wall? You already did that one time, you won't do it a second time"

Simon breathed loudly. "You're going to regret this. Once I'm done with his sisters-"
"Oh you can try that, Si" Louis took a step forward as well.
"They'll be kicked out faster than you think" He threatened and Harry noticed Louis tensing a little bit.
"Do that. You think we can't get them a better agency? One that really cares about them as persons, not as objects?"
"Your underestimating my abilities"
"No, he's not. But you're underestimating us. We can leave One Direction behind, we have absolutely no problem with that. You think we can't join another label? Form another band? All you own about us is the band's name, Simon. You think our fans would stop supporting us under a different label? With a different name? Right Direction? You'll be on your own. Never forget that we made you grow as well" Liam put his hand on Harry's shoulder and looked at Simon.
"You are a pack of ungrateful bastards-" The man began to shout at them but Zayn stopped him.
"And Simon you? You are fired"
Even Niall took a step forward. "Get the fuck out of here before we carry you out of here. And we would enjoy that, bet on it"