Led By Your Beating Heart [L.S AU]

10

The first rebranding meeting goes well.

In fact, it goes really well, and Harry walks out of the office with his heart pounding, feeling elated and confident and so bloody ready for the months to come. Of course, it's not final yet, they still have to iron out the kinks in their current contract and negotiate with the label, the management and the PR team, but Harry doesn't care. He doesn't care if he has to sit through a million more meetings. A few meetings is nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially when it seems like they've been fighting an uphill battle for the past two years.

Beside him, Niall whoops at the top of his lungs, punching his fist in the air. Liam and Zayn are in front of them, with Liam laughing at something, and Zayn smiling, quiet but exuding an aura of jubilation.

Things are actually going to change. Harry can't believe it.

He wants to shout, wants to run around the empty parking lot until he's heaving for breath. He's just got so much energy that he doesn't know what to do with it. He needs to move, to do something, anything. He doesn't want to go home to the quiet emptiness of his large house.

So he decides to text Louis.

Can I come over?

The reply is instantaneous. now?

Now. Are you busy?

just marking. you can come over if you want. i think dirty dancing's playing on the telly. i'll order a pizza.

It's not exactly the sort of energy-releasing activity he's looking for, but he's not complaining. Anyway, it's ridiculously easy to goad Louis into running around and throwing things. He'll manage it.

He spends the whole drive there with his hands shaking on the steering wheel, his heart pounding in his chest. Shit, he feels brave. He feels brave and reckless and he feels like he could run a marathon or climb a mountain. He feels like he can do everything.

He parks his car at the back of Louis' building, taking care to lock in and everything, before he's running out the car and into the building. The wind whips at his hair and stings his cheeks, but he can't stop smiling. Everything is just so exciting.

Eventually, he's standing in front of Louis' door, out of breath, his heart pounding. He knocks.

When Louis answers the door, Harry's brain short-circuits.

"You got here pretty quick," Louis comments, stepping back to let him over the threshold. Harry dumbly takes one step forward, Louis closing the door behind him. "Not as quick as the pizza, though."

Harry's...at a loss for words. Louis is standing in front of him, dressed in an oversized sweater and a pair of sweatpants that look incredibly soft. His hair is a bit messy, and he's got a thick dusting of scruff on his jaw, and his blue eyes are a bit bleary.

Harry's seen all this before. Louis likes comfort above style, and every time they're hanging out at his place he's always dressed in some variation of the sweatpants/hoodie combination, so this soft-looking Louis isn't new. Still ridiculously cute, but nothing new.

No, what's new are the glasses perched on Louis' nose.

They're thin, with plastic black frames, and they frame his pretty blue eyes so nicely, and God, he's so. Attractive. He's the most attractive person Harry's laid his eyes on.

"I got a pepperoni," Louis is saying, when Harry's ears start working again. "You can't complain, okay? I ordered it, so you're going to have to eat it."

The energy returns to Harry's body, dripping like honey in his veins. His fingers itch--Harry wants to reach out and touch, wants to run his fingers through Louis' hair, wants to use his fingers to trace the tops of his cheekbones, the bridge of his nose, the shape of his jaw. He wants to grab onto a part of Louis, any part at all, wants his skin to come in contact with Louis'.