the royal family of the music industry

09. Vibez

Harry Styles, 2017

"ACE OF HEARTS!" Niall Horan screams and slams the card down onto the table.

"Fine." Mick Jagger sighs and pays Monopoly money to Niall.

"+4" Harry Styles says and lays his Uno card on top of Niall's gently.

"That is the wrong piece." Liam Payne screams at Zayn Malik and Ariana Grande and throws the whole puzzle into the air, breaking their hard work that took hours. It's a One Direction puzzle.

Taylor Swift rests her chin on her hand and rolls the dice, blowing air out of her mouth and creating a fart-noise.

Louis Tomlinson sighs dramatically and throws his poker cards openly on the table, muttering a "fuck you all, I'm out of this." under his breath.

"No honestly, what are we even playing?" Paul McCartney asks, almost crying.

There they are, the royal family of the music industry, drunk, having the time of their lives having a games night in the dining room. What game? They have no idea since Harry plays Uno, Mick Monopoly, Louis Poker, Ariana, Zayn and Liam puzzle, Taylor plays some sort of dice game and Niall plays a game with normal cards which he invented himself. It's called "cunt" and no one really understands his made up rules.

"No idea." Taylor sighs and stands up. "Anyone wanna race to the kitchen and back?"

"HELL YES!" Harry screams and empties the left over champagne right out of the bottle.

There they are, Taylor, Harry and Niall, racing around in the castle, tackling each other down and sliding down the railing of the stairs.

Sweaty and drunk, but happier than he had felt in a long time, Harry sits down on the floor back in the room where everyone else is.

Maybe, maybe, placing himself as close to Louis as possible without being suspicious.

Louis, who looks so incredibly handsome, his hair a bit messy, his wonderful eyes lazy because of the alcohol and his stubble visible.

Louis, who reminds Harry of everything good that had happened in his life, and at the same time of the one worst thing Harry ever had to go through.

Louis, who currently talks to Zayn for the first time in two years.

It doesn't seem awkward or suffocating, it seems chill and normal. Harry doesn't know if it even is the first time. Maybe they talked it through before. Or they just push away the need to talk about it.
Harry hopes it's not the latter. They can't ignore it, they have to face it before they can be close again.

"Remember when we broke away from security?" Louis says laughing, creating the simple noise that is like a melody to Harry's ears.

Zayn's eyes light up and he smiles widely, eyes sparkling in the dim candle light that fills the room and warms the stone walls. "I do. And the fans chased us so we just-"

"-sat on a roof." Louis finishes for him and they both laugh, the nostalgic thought slowly bringing back the old friendship.

"I missed you." Zayn blurts out and seems to immediately regret it, as his eyes turn serious and he looks at Louis, completely on guard.

Louis is quiet for a very long time.

"Lets agree to apologize on the count of three?" He suggests and Zayn nods.

"One... two... three." Louis counts and Harry waits.

They both stay silent.

"See? Now I'm just disappointed in both of us." Louis says and bursts into laughter, which Zayn quickly joins, nudging Louis' shoulder with his.