Good or Bad Influence? Larry Stylinson Fanfic

Chapter 22

"I'm never seeing, speaking or socialising with that... that... it again." Louis talked into his palms, head buried in his hands.

"I don't blame you, babe." Harry was rubbing circles in to the older boy's back. A metre away, Jo was sprawled in an armchair, holding a bunch of tissue to her nose.

"All that stuff about changing... it was all lies. Are you okay mum?"

"I'll be fine, love. You'd best get to bed, you two, you've had a stressful night. It's nothing a goo night's sleep can't solve. Now go, both of you." Jo insisted.

"Night, Lou." Harry gave Louis a kiss and made for the door.

"You can stay here, if you want. I'll explain to your mum... I think it's best. He might still be outside and I'm not okay with the burden..." Jo raised an eyebrow. Harry cringed at the thought of Louis' dad waiting for him. "Go on, upstairs. I'm sure your mum will pack your stuff."

"She probably would." But Harry and Louis didn't need telling twice. They quickly stormed the stairs, before Jo shouted:

"And no funny business!" She then heard a giggle from Harry.

"Nope. None at all." Louis called back down.

Once settled in to bed, Harry and Louis switched position, so Louis' head lay on Harry's chest, his hands stretched over his body.

"This is nice, too." Louis shuffled around comfortably to prove the point.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?" Louis looked up into the darkness.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." A pause.

"Do you hate me?"

"Yeah." Harry said without thinking, then realised that he had been daydreaming (or nightdreaming). "Oh, sorry, Lou, I wasn't thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Us. One Direction. Like, in the final of Battle of the Bands." Harry talked as if he were thinking about he and Louis on a romantic trip to Venice. This thought made Louis chuckled.

"I doubt we're gonna get past the auditions, let alone the other rounds."

"Don't talk like that! You'll never know..."

"Can we try something? After all, it's the last day in this bed..."

"No."

"Why not?"

"'Cause I don't think I'm even ready, let alone you."

"Oh, please, Haz..." Louis begged, starting to suck and bite at Harry's neck.

"L...Lou... No. Now go to sleep." Harry rejected him.

"Not even a goodnight kiss?"

"Go on, then." With Harry's approval, Louis crept up his boyfriend's body and pressed their lips together. "Minty."

Harry and Louis talked to each other for a while before slowly drifting off to sleep, falling asleep with Louis on top of Harry, in a hugging position.

The days crept past quickly, and the day before May 21st they got their time and place. Harry and Louis settled in to the flat comfortably, as they had the same bed (Louis was obviously wrong.). Niall's father had come down with his work van and carried things over like Louis' wardrobe, bookcase, desk, and of course, the mattress. There wasn't much of Harry's stuff, because his bedroom was tiny.

Louis had also settled back into Uni well. Now he, Liam, Zayn and Niall could walk there together; Harry didn't start at the opposite Art College until the day after. The night before, he said he was 'bricking it'. They all decided to catch an early night after a film.

The week went great, and, obviously, although Harry wasn't the top end of his class, he was somewhere in the middle. He was amazing at working with oil pastels and acrylic, though shading and colouring were not his expertise.

And so, on Saturday night, they got their songs sorted; at the audition, they only had to sing a thirty second snippet of a song they wrote, and backing tracks weren't allowed. The more instruments they play, the more points they get.

"Zayn, you play a bit of the guitar, babe. Borrow one of mine." Niall told his boyfriend on the rug they usually sat on.

"Why, what happened to his?" Louis asked.

"I sold it for the rent." Zayn answered, and it made an awkward silence. "Nialler's got plenty though."

"Babe, why don't you bust out your saxophone?" Harry put an arm round Louis' waist, on the sofa.

"I could. I could do a small solo at the end... but most songs we've written are quite hard to play and I'd have to practice for ages. I could do What Makes You Beautiful... that's quite a simple tune, but I could jazz it up a little." Louis smiled at his boyfriend for making him feel included.

"Cool. I'll write you some sheet music for the morning, Lou." Niall told him, playing with the strings of his guitar.

There was a silence where they all looked at each other. The atmosphere was filled with tension, excitement and adrenaline.

Morning, 10:30am. Harry was the last to get up; Zayn the first, quickly followed by Niall, who had to write the sheet music. Once they were all crammed round the dining room table, Zayn let Liam in after he knocked.

There weren't any words that morning. Zayn went to the bathroom twice to throw up his nerves, while Louis just sat on Harry's lap on the sofa, Harry's hands interlocked over his partner's stomach.

The only words exchanged were when Niall handed Louis the sheet music, and Louis said thanks. They were all sat in their usual places in the small living room, and when a bird flew into the window, they all looked at it gratefully, wanting a distraction.

An hour passed, and they left for their audition. It was well and truly on.