Tales of a Writer

Chapter Five

He breathed heavily as he reached the fourth story. He had walked slowly up the apartment stairs pondering why the apartment didn't have an elevator. The stairs burned his calves and his lungs felt as if someone had set them on fire. Despite the fact that he felt as if he had run a marathon his heart was beating fast in his chest for an entirely different reason. A smile graced his lips and he found it incredibly hard to keep the butterflies in his stomach from making him float away. Adrenaline still rushed through his vein even though he was in the safety of his apartment building. He tried to force the smile off his face and stop the shaking of his hands, but it was a futile attempt.

He knocked on the door labeled 1D and Liam came to the door, remote in hand with teddy bears on his pajama pants. 

"Did you lose your keys?" Liam asked tiredly, running his hand over his face and leading Louis inside. Louis stayed silent until Liam turned to look at him. Liam examined him standing there, a timid, nervous smile forcing its way onto Louis' face as he raised his hands for Liam to see. Liam rubbed his eyes and looked at Louis' shaking hands. He touched them and looked up at Louis' face. 

"Did you see him?!" he asked, suddenly awake and holding Louis' hands.  Louis looked down at his hands and looked back to Liam. 

"I saw him, Liam, I saw the Highwayman," he whispered. Liam's face lit up and pulled Louis into a bro hug. He patted his back excessively and pulled back with an enormous smile on his face. 

"Dude, what happened?!" he laughed and sat down. 

"What happened? He's fucking gorgeous is what happened!" Louis exclaimed. He sat on the couch with Liam and he couldn't stay still. His hands bounced up and down over his crossed ankles. Liam's hand was laid across the back of the couch facing Louis. 

"No, no, no, don't tell me you have a crush on your writing assignment who- by the way- also just happens to be a freaking felon, Louis! Did you forget that?!" Liam asked, his voice raising octaves as he continued to shriek. 

"Jesus Christ, Liam! You go up another octave you're gonna shatter the glass. Calm down, eh? I don't even know him, and I most certainly don't have a crush on him," Louis scoffed and looked away. His hands still fidgeted in his lap, and his sock covered toes wiggled beneath him. 

"Okay, okay, fine. Just tell me what happened! I'm dying of suspense, holy god," Liam breathed dramatically. Louis rolled his eyes and proceded to tell him the story.

He'd finished telling the story and was breathing heavily when Liam burst into the biggest smile anyone had ever seen. 

"This is gonna be fucking awesome"

---

Niall sat on his old couch staring at the television screen in front of him. The sounds of cars honking outside the flat was loud and the light coming through the window creating moving shadow on the wall. Although the sound of the television and the cars outside were extremely loud, he could still hear the turning of his lock. He turned around and smiled as his flat mate walked through the door. 

"How'd it go?" he asked, an eager smile on his face. His hand bounced up and down on the couch in excitement. The TV show was completely forgotten as his flat mate slipped off his vintage combat boots and let them by the door. He smiled back as he peeled off his gloves and said, "Yeah, yeah," and then looked to his fingers, fiddling them around. There was a slight blush on his cheeks as he tried to force the smile off his face. He went to walk to his room, but Niall stopped him. 

"Eh, what's with the smile? C'mon tell me what happened," Niall insisted, jumping up off the couch and pulling the man back over to the couch. 

"Usually when you come home from a job you're all somber... and official... and sad... and, like, noble or whatever" Niall noted awkwardly, pausing unsurely after each word. The robber shook his head and continue to fiddle with his fingers. He reached up to his lips and picked at them as he spoke. 

"The journalist was there," he muttered, his voice deeper than usual. 

"Louis?" 

"Yeah," he smiled. "Louis,

"He called me the Highwayman... like, like it was the easiest thing. Like it was just so normal," he laughed, staring out the window. Niall watched him carefully, concerned but slightly excited.

"Don't tell me the 'Highwayman' is getting himself a Lois Lane," Niall said deepening his voice at 'Highwayman' and wiggling his eyebrows at Lois Lane. Niall's flatmate rolled his eyes and responded with, "It just sounds stupid when you say it," looking at his fingers again. 

"You just like it when Lewis says it," Niall insists laughing. The other man blushed and picked at his lips. 

"Did you talk to him?" Niall asked curiously.

"Yeah, yeah," the blushing man answered, clearing his throat. He laughed loudly and covered his mouth as he calmed down. 

"He was hiding in the bathroom, trash bin over his head over his head."

Niall laughed. 

"Of course. Kid hits the jackpot and doesn't even know it," Niall scoffs and shakes his head. 

"He looked so, ehm, so... shocked when I asked him for the bin." He laughed, "He thought I killed the Italian guys. For all the research he did on me, I'm surprised he didn't know I don't kill"

"He kept watching with his, ahem, wide eyes and, I don't know, he seemed... different than how I thought, uhm, initially, I guess"

"What do you think of him now then?" Niall questioned placing his chin in his hands and listening intently for his answer. 

Gorgeous, his mind said, but what his mouth said was even more embarrassing. 

"He's cool-" cough "-I guess." 

His cheeks turned red. Niall rolled his eyes but smiled and resumed his original television watching position. 

"Goddamnit, I missed everything!"

---

Louis yawned. Personally, he thought his yawn was unattractive. Whenever he was around someone his sleepy tendencies got the best of him, he would simply cover his mouth and hope no one would look. However, he was alone in his room, so he avoided any reflecting surfaces and yawned so largely it looked as if a kitten was mimicking a prideful lion. His arms stretched out from his body as he struggled to crack his back. He listened to his joints cracking, as gross as that sounds, and hopped out of bed.

He pulled a sweater over his boxer shorts and pushed his room door open.

The smell of tea almost overpowered the smell of bacon as he walked down the hall in his underpants. Liam stood behind the bar with his sweat pants hanging low. He held a mug filled with tea to his lips as he stared off into space. His elbows rested on the counter and he leaned over, his bum sticking out. 

"Morning," Louis sighed tiredly. Liam nodded his head in Louis' direction in response. 

"Whatcha doing this morning?" Liam asked absentmindedly. Louis sighed and sat down. 

"I'm- thank you- I don't even know" he thanked Liam as the fireman passed him a plate.

"I was gonna do some writing today, but my mind is completely blown and I don't even know how to put it into words" his eyes widened when he said words in an even higher octave. He sighed. He lazily stuffed his face with eggs. Then his eyes widened and he dropped his fork.

"I've got it!" he yelled. Liam blinked with surprise as Louis ran out of the room. He furiously typed and tried to pull on pants in between words. He tossed his laptop in his bag and ran out. 

"Love you, Li!" 

Liam stood here stunned. He rolled his eyes. 

"Whatever. I'll eat alone." 

He then proceeded to shovel in eggs and bacon furiously into his mouth.