inferno // l.s.

seventy five

louis gasped as the purple sign lit up in front of him. his eyes widened in awe. this was it. this was really happening.

"oh my god," he whispered. "it's perfect."

"i love it," mitch said from beside him. "the parallel was such a smart idea, lou. he is gonna freak when he sees this."

"i know. that's why i've been stressing about making sure everything is perfect with it. the building, the equipment, this..." louis motioned to the sign and dropped his hands. "it's in my name until i give it to him and then it's gonna get transferred to his. i'm so nervous and excited. i'm honestly surprised i've kept it a secret this long..."

"i am, too. i fully expected you to already spoil it for him."

louis chuckled and turned the light off. "this is insane. what else came in?"

"the window designs and cards. i think some gear came in too. i know a huge box of organization got shit here yesterday and the day before. i've just been waiting to get you to come by at the right time."

"i'm taking the entire weekend to put this together. at least start it up. harry works all weekend, i'm off for whatever reason, so i think i'm just gonna come by with zayn and niall and get everything sorted out."

mitch opened his phone and said, "i can do stuff in the mornings. just let me know what's needed to be done and i'll get it in. i can get some extra hands in here as well. we got the walls painted and the floors done, so really, it's just putting it all together."

"i want him to do it. we can get the initial set up going, but i want him to do it how he wants. this is his."

the boss looked around the room and smiled to himself. "hell yeah it is. he's gonna do great things with this. both of you will."

"you think so?"

"i do. he's come a long way. i've watched him grow up for the last few years and this was all he ever wanted. just a bit of simplicity. he wanted to do things he loved and be around people he loved...he just wanted to live. he had no plan. he just wanted to do whatever came up next. go here, go there, do this, see that. he was a very curious kid with an eye for everything around him."

louis leaned against the wall as mitch stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"we did a lot of that together. but so much shit got thrown in the middle of it," mitch said softly. "i was his setback. i was the reason he never had this right here. we came up with an idea but we never acted on it. there would have been no way to manage inferno, plus this, on top of blackwater. we were always gone."

"i know. i remember the trips."

"we used to take more. we were out every weekend. partying, selling, buying, recruiting, everything. it was me and him against the world. we didn't go anywhere without the other."

"zayn and i were the same way. we worked together, lived together, we've done everything together. this is the first time in years that we've been separated. we've just...grown up, i think. we've grown up a lot."

mitch nodded along. "you have. i can tell a big difference in you guys, and the same goes for haz. i'm proud of all of you. even though a lot of shit could have been prevented and i know i was the cause of a lot of things...i'm kind of glad things turned out the way they did. only kind of because harry is still suffering for my wrongdoings and i hate that."

"he's forgiven you," louis murmured. "internally, anyways. i think he's just struggling to get back to the old him and try to mend your old friendship."

"the old him was slowly killing himself. i don't want the old him. i want him to be the real him. he doesn't need to put on a show for anyone. as long as he takes care of himself and puts his priorities first, i'm happy with whatever."