Princess » l.s ✔️

The One Where He Forgot How To Breathe

Chapter Ten: The One Where He Forgot How To Breathe

"So you haven't spoken to Zayn since?"

Louis shook his head at Niall, reaching for the ketchup across him.

It was lunch. A Thursday. One of Louis' free days to be exact.

Usually, he'd be at home, on his bed watching shows he's already seen but the same four walls were beginning to be tiresome, suffocating. He would've lost his mind if he hadn't went out and seen someone. Another person that could rid him of his loneliness.

Harry had to drive the kids to school and back, and Zayn...

"Just because he called you gay?"

Louis rolled his eyes, rubbing his temple as he ate his burger. "It's not that, Niall, I'm not-"

"Homophobic, I know, I know. You've been reminding me this entire time."

Louis relaxed. "Zayn is." He mumbled, his eyes fixating on the bottle of ketchup.

"Don't say that."

"It's true! The only way to explain why he flipped out." Louis continued, as if he was looking for assurance. And maybe he was. Perhaps he was looking for someone to say yes, and agree to everything he was thinking.

He had been thinking a lot. To the point where he would be caught in another world almost all the time.

"Yeah, he flipped out." Niall said, Louis sensing the judgment in it.

"Niall, if you're on his side then you can tell me right now so I can leave."

"I'm not on anyone's side!" The blond defended. He then sighed, beginning to chew on his fries. "Maybe you should calm down, rethink things. Zayn was probably trying to just help you figure things out for you."

"There's nothing to figure out! Why is everyone trying to shove this onto me?" Louis was exasperated at this point. He was tired of having to say the same things over and over again, to prove things to others over, and over.

If he was... gay, he'd know. He'd have known from the beginning. It would've been easy to know, wouldn't it? It would've been as simple as knowing where you were from.

Louis sighed.

"No one's doing anything, Lou." Niall said. "But, what if you were? Questioning, I mean. Wouldn't it push you more to the conclusion of all this? If you have that idea planted into your head, it could drive you to think about it at some point, and push you one way. Maybe you are gay, maybe you're bi. Don't you at least want to try and figure yourself out?"

When Louis stayed quiet, Niall went on. "Do you?"

The tanner boy got up from his stool and turned to the fridge, opening it to pull out a can of beer. "Do I, what?" He muttered, cracking the drink open.

It took Niall a while to answer. "Like him?"

Louis rolled his eyes to the back of his head, groaning under his breath. "Do you really wanna get on my list? I don't, alright. Stop this. I told you I don't. I told Zayn I don't. That should be enough. Enough. Please. Can we move on to another subject, because my life definitely isn't the hottest topic right now." He sat back on his stool, not sparing a glance at Niall.

The blond was left silenced, chewing on his fries quietly while he watched Louis' frown grow deeper, as if he was having an inner debate he couldn't hear.

Maybe he was.

*

When Louis' phone went off at 3AM, he almost thought, for a quick second, it was his call to get up and go to work.