As soon as the boys entered the building, Liam seemed to regain his composer. He flinged himself towards Louis and embraced him into a tight bear hug, squeezing the life out of him. Louis startled and winced at the sudden action but nonetheless, he hugged back.
"Thank you so much Tommo. I'm proud of you. You saved him today, again." Liam whispered in his ear, patting his back.
"It's alright Payno. Now let go. You're making it difficult for me to breath." Louis said with a tight-lipped smile, wriggling to get out of the embrace.
Letting out a watery laugh, Liam let him go.
By then, the rest of the boys also returned to reality as they came forward and uttered small 'thank yous'. Well, Niall and Zayn thanked him to which he nodded but Harry suddenly hugged him and Louis' eyes widened. His hands remained paralysed at his sides.
"Thankyou thankyou thankyou so much." Harry kept on muttering.
After a moment, Louis pulled himself together and loosely wrapped his hands around Harry's neck, patting his head, lightly, feeling the soft curls. A sense of familiar warmth and nostalgia filled his mind.
Suddenly Liam gasped loudly, causing Harry and Louis to pull away quickly. Everyone stared at Liam in confusion.
"What is it Lima?" Niall asked.
Liam chose to ignore him and spoke up pointing at Louis's now-bleeding knuckles.
"Your knuckles..."
Louis looked down where Liam was pointing and winced at the sight of his own blood-dripping knuckles. The other boys' mouth hung open in the realization of how powerful the blow actually was.
"Uh- y'all carry on. I'll just clean it up and reach Simon's room." Louis said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Yeah ok but I'll follow you." Harry spoke up and Louis' expressions became unreadable. As he was about to protest, Harry spoke up again, stomping his foot like a baby.
"Don't you dare say anything against it Lou. I'm accompanying you and that's final."
Although Louis perfectly heard the nickname, he didn't object it; rather he nodded his head hesitatingly.
Niall, Liam and Zayn headed towards Simon's cubicle while Louis headed towards the loo with Harry following him.
__________________________________
As soon as they entered the bathroom, Harry started thanking Louis once again, without any break.
"Could you please stop thanking me? Just forget that I helped you alright? I didn't do it because I wanted to be your hero or something." Louis snapped after a few moments while holding his fist under running water, without flinching.
Harry's face dropped.
"Then why did you do it?" He whispered.
"I- it dosent matter." Louis dismissed the subject abruptly, his own eyes widening at what he was about to say. Without spending any more time on diacussion, he started rubbing the blood off his knuckles roughly in order to punish himself for the slip up.
Fortunately, Harry didn't notice it. Rather, he spoke up quiet vulnerably and pleadingly.
"Please Louis, it's been five years. Can't we just start over? Not as in a relationship but can't we be atleast friends? I miss my first ever best friend Lou, even after everything you did, I can't help but miss the times we spent together. Just, for once, let's forget about the past and start over. As friends? Please?"
Louis stopped rubbing his knuckles momentarily to take a look at Harry in order to search for any kind of lie or hesitancy in his eyes. When he didn't find any, he got back to his job.
"I don't think that would be a good idea. Your other bestfriends won't be happy if you get back in good terms with your ex-boyfriend who cheated on you five years ago." He laughed without any hint of humour, dabbing his hands dry with his handkerchief before securing it around the wound.
"Louis. Just listen to me." Harry said frustratingly when Louis started walking away. Even if Louis didn't want to discuss further about the topic, he stopped and turned to look at Harry.
"Niall and Zayn will be happy if we get along like we used to. They don't want to hold grudges against you life long Lou. Actually, it's Niall who suggested me that I should talk to you. Please Lou? Just friends. I promise."
As much as Louis wanted to say no, he didn't because it was out of his expertise to reject Harry in anyway.
"Okay but don't expect me to act completely different. I'll surely talk to y'all but only when required. And you said you missed your bestfriend so I'll be there for you whenever you'll need me but nothing more than that. Alright?" He asked sternly.
Harry nodded enthusiastically, smiling uncontrollably, dimples appearing.
"Thank you Lou. Thank you so so much."
With that, both the boys left the loo with different thoughts in their minds.
Harry was happy to make peace with Louis. He was happy that he was friends with him again.
Louis, on the other hand was extremely stressed. Don't get him wrong but continuing his act of not caring would become more difficult while being just friends with Harry.
Just friends huh? Pathetic. Louis laughed internally at the irony caz if there was anything more painful than being left alone, that would be being just friends with Harry.
Other than that, the incident that took place before entering the building was also stressful. Louis knew that by then, the video of him punching someone for calling Harry names was all over internet. Fans would go mad and call it a loud 'Larry moment'. It wouldn't take long for Simon to find it out too and that wouldn't be ending nicely.
He was traumatized just by thinking about what Simon would make him do to deny the rumors that will appear with the video.
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YOU ARE READING
It was always you ~ L.S. ✅
Fanfiction[COMPLETED] Its been 5 years since one direction have broken up. 5 years since Harry and Louis ended up in bad terms. After 5 years in 2020, each member of the band receive calls from Simon Cowell who informed them about their reunion. What will h...
