Chapter 1
Chapter Text
PART ONE: FALLING
1.
"Shit," Louis said, peering inside his fridge and not seeing any milk. "Shit shit shitting shit."
He knew there was no milk. He knew he'd had the last of it when he'd got back yesterday and he remembered telling himself he'd better get some before morning. But then he'd started playing Fifa and he'd talked to his best mate Stan back in Doncaster and he'd drunk a few beers and he'd just forgotten all about it. And now his mouth tasted of beer and the massive bag of Doritos he'd polished off in the early hours and he needed tea. The kettle was already boiling.
"Shit."
He closed the fridge door and then opened it again in case his cleaner had picked some up and stashed it somewhere different that he'd missed, but no. There was no milk. And no tea for Louis.
As he crossed the kitchen, the floor tiles cold on his bare feet, his phone buzzed in his pocket. The pocket of the trackie bottoms he hadn't even taken off last night, instead sleeping fully dressed on top of his duvet. He really needed to sort his life out.
He pulled his phone out, scratching the back of his neck with his other hand, hearing his spine crack and pop and remembering that Paul had told him he should go and try yoga - it would help him relax. Louis didn't really do relaxing, unless it involved Fifa and/or lager.
"Morning, knobhead," he said into the phone.
"Nice," Liam said, his voice much too perky for this time of day, Louis thought. Although... what time was it? He turned to look at the digital clock on the microwave, but that said half eleven. It felt earlier.
"Is it half eleven?" he said into the phone. Unlike Liam's, Louis' voice sounded rough and croaky.
"Yeah. Are you only just up?" Liam said.
"No no, I've been up," Louis lied. "Been working on some lyrics." That wasn't really a lie. He'd thought of a line when he'd been lying in bed, wondering whether or not to have a wank: "In the heat, where you lay, I could stay right here and burn in it all day." And then he'd had a wank. Of course he had. It had never really been in question.
"Good," Liam said. "What time can you get to the studio?"
Louis tipped his head back, feeling a pop at the base of his skull. He stared up at the kitchen ceiling, squinting slightly at the overbright halogen bulbs.
"Dunno. I need a shower. And a brew. But I haven't got any milk. Two hours?"
"Right," Liam said. "We'll expect you here for half one then. At the latest, Lou!"
"Two at the latest," Louis said, hearing Liam sigh down the phone. "No problem."
He ended the call, rolling his eyes at Liam, and then thumbed Twitter open and typed "Nothing worse than waking up with no milk for a cuppa !! Gutted" He added an angry face emoji and sent the tweet, waiting a second for the RTs and faves and replies to start coming in before shutting Twitter down again and putting his phone back in his pocket.
Liam had been on and on at him to use Twitter more - it was really good promo apparently and since he had sixteen million followers he should probably try - but he never felt like he had anything interesting to say. Well, he had plenty of interesting things to say, but nothing he could put on Twitter. He opened the fridge again and took out a can of Red Bull, cracking it open and wincing at the too-sweet sharpness of the first sip as he headed back down the hall to his bedroom. He probably shouldn't be drinking Red Bull. He was already in a weird mood - restless and tense and wanting to fuck it all off. Instead he stripped off yesterday's clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor at the foot of his bed and padded over to the en-suite with it's huge rainwater power shower.
