Imprisoned In My Heart: A Larry Stylinson Fanfic

16.

Louis did honestly have every intention of not listening to Adam, and at first it seemed to work – they avoided each other, and had no contact whatsoever, not even eye contact. Still, Adam’s presence lingered everywhere he went, worsening not only his mood, but Harry’s as well. Almost every time they spoke, Harry had another bitter complaint to make, and although Louis understood, he kind of wished that they didn’t have to talk about Adam. He missed their easy banter, he missed them being carefree and having a relationship that was easier and more enjoyable than breathing, and even though it was still there, and Harry was still Harry, it started to feel like Adam was ruining everything just by being around.

Then, things got even worse, because all of a sudden, Adam started making things a whole lot worse. Seemingly determined to make Louis’ life a misery, he started appearing everywhere Louis went simply for the purpose of muttering filthy comments as he walked past, or making obscene gestures that made Louis burn with embarrassment and caused his skin to crawl. Louis started wishing that the prison was a whole lot bigger: when Harry had been the only one constantly looking for him, he had loved that it was small and finding each other took mere minutes – but it was distracting and uncomfortable to find Adam turning up every time Louis and Harry tried to snatch a second together. If he hadn’t been so sure that Adam would have immediately turned them in if he had even the faintest idea of their relationship, he would have sworn that the man was doing it on purpose. As it was, he decided that it must just be bad luck.

Still, whether Adam had an ulterior motive or not, he was driving both Harry and Louis insane. They mutually decided that it was unwise to speak to each other at length if anyone was within hearing range, seeing as neither of them had the restraint to hold back a little of the flirting, and therefore every time Harry approached Louis only to see Adam lurking behind him, he had to swerve and head to the other side of the room, clenching his fists – and whenever Louis started wandering in Harry’s direction and spotted a familiar muscular body standing in his way, he had to be content with a quick nod at Harry, or sometimes a wistful smile. After six days of this, Harry and Louis were both practically tearing their hair out with frustration; every time he saw Adam hanging around, Harry would growl and flex his fingers as if he were going to throttle him, and Louis just scowled at him, and braced himself against another wave of the abuse that never seemed to ease off.

Carrying an enormous mug of coffee with six sugars in it, Louis slowly walked up the corridor, knowing that at least Adam couldn’t follow him here. He sighed and pulled the door open, slipping inside with a sense of relief. It didn’t last for long; he frowned as he scanned the room and realized that it wasn’t how he had left it. Someone had neatened the previously messy heap of paper on his desk and his high-backed chair was turned to the wall when he could have sworn he’d left it facing the desk…confused as to why anyone would break into his office to tidy up, he slowly walked forwards and placed his coffee on the desk, ready to start yelling and punching whoever leapt out at him.

All of a sudden, Louis’ chair slowly spun around to reveal Harry sat in it, stroking a white fluffy toy cat and looking at judgementally at Louis. For a while, Harry’s eyes travelled up and down, scrutinizing every inch of Louis’ body and absently petting the soft toy on his lap. Eventually, he grinned and relaxed back into his chair. Louis felt his eyebrows fly up in confusion.

“Ah, Mr. Tomlinson, I’ve been expecting you,” Harry said, in a typically evil-villain type voice, manically stroking the cat.

Louis let out a snort of laughter as he stepped forwards and dropped into the chair Harry usually occupied. “You’re mad.”

“I know,” Harry agreed with a laugh, throwing the toy away. It landed neatly in the wastepaper basket, although Louis wasn’t sure whether that had been intended or was just lucky.