"We'd like to give the fans what they want." Magee states, placing his hand on the table in front of him and leaning forward. "We want to give them Larry Stylinson."
Or, take a parallel universe where Louis and Harry were never together, mix in a tw...
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I thought our story was epic, you know, you and me.
Spanning years and continents.
Lives ruined, bloodshed.
(Veronica Mars - "Look Who's Stalking")
PROLOGUE:
They finished their "Where We Are"-tour on a Saturday night in Sydney, and Louis had never been as tired nor as high on adrenaline in his life. Looking back on it now, almost two years later, Louis can still hear the screaming fans, still feel the pressure from Harry's hands squeezing his shoulder, still smell the sweat that clung to their bodies like a second skin, still feel the energy in the air. They'd stood there on stage, having just performed What Makes You Beautiful, arms around each other, grins matching, and it had felt like they could literally do anything in the world.
Truth is, back then they could have. They'd had success for breakfast, fame for lunch and idolization for dinner. They'd been the world's biggest boy band, they were loved and adored and coveted, and, damn it, they were good.
And they were tired.
They were worn out, worked to the bone, and they needed a break. A hiatus, Liam kept calling it, feeling the need to remind everybody that it wasn't the end, that it wasn't permanent. They'd sat down in Louis' hotel room on a Monday during the Australian leg of their tour, and it had been Zayn that brought it up first.
"Little Mix is taking 2014 off," he'd said. "They're gonna use the time to write a new album, right? But also, you know, to get some peace and quiet..."
And they all knew what he was getting at. Perrie and Zayn had been engaged since August 2013, but between One Direction and Little Mix, they saw each other so rarely that they hardly had time to be engaged, much less plan and have a wedding. They understood how much of a temptation it must be for Zayn, knowing that Perrie will be home in London for a year, knowing that they could finally be an actual couple, waking up next to each other every day, doing the weekly shop together and finally, finally getting married.
None of them had known how to respond, and the next few moments were filled with silence.
"It'd be nice, wouldn't it?" Harry said eventually. "Just for a little while. Just to slow down a bit, yeah?"
And the thing is, it did sound nice. Nice and fantastic and unbelievable... and also fucking terrifying.
"It'd just be a hiatus, right?" Liam spoke. "Like we'll take some time off, write some songs, appreciate the quiet life, and then we'll be back, yeah? Together again? New album, new tour?"
"'Course, mate!" Niall smiled. "Like you could get rid of us that easily. We'll still be One Direction when we're old and senile."
Four pairs of eyes shifted to Louis, who had remained silent throughout it all. He sighed quietly, ran a hand through his unstyled hair and nodded, "I think a break is exactly what we need."
