Let Me Show You How to Love Yourself (Larry Stylinson) ✅

Release

"Liam," Niall said calmly, not trying to anger him. He knew how volatile Liam could be when he was upset. "Now isn't the time to discuss this." Liam looked at Niall with furrowed eyebrows, shaking his head.

"I heard someone say they cheated. And it was clearly Louis' British accent I heard. So it's pretty clear he cheated on Harry. Now is the fucking time to tell me what's going on," he demanded, his arms shaking with rage.

Niall shot Louis a discouraging look, shaking his head and widening his eyes as if to say "don't you fucking do it." But Louis just looked past his worried roommate, letting his face falling as he ran a hand through his tangled hair.

"Just beat me up now," Louis said in a breathy voice, taking a step towards Liam. Liam was tall, muscular, and agile--even on crutches, he could beat Louis in a fight three times over. Liam looked Louis up and down, his eyes flickering from the purple circles under Louis' eyes to the ragged sweatpants on his legs.

"I'm not gonna do you the satisfaction," Liam spat as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "The mental torment seems to be doing it's job well enough. No need to beat you up and turn myself into the bad guy here."

Over the past few days, Liam learned more than anything that anger and violence were going to get him nowhere in terms of helping him deal with his emotions. In fact, they would just make him worse, sending him deeper into a world of hatred and despair, filling him with more hopelessness and making him feel worse then he even did before.

No. He wasn't going to hurt Louis. By the looks of his terrifying appearance, he was hurting already. Plus, if Louis was literally inviting him to beat him up, that meant he was going to use the physical pain as a form of release. And the last thing Liam wanted to do was help Louis escape reality through the blow of his angry fist, a crack to his unworthy body.

Louis smirked at Liam, his eyes wild and frantic as a twisted smile crept across his lips. If Liam wasn't giving in now, he would soon soon enough. It was time to turn things up a knotch.

"I had sex with Zayn," he said, walking towards Liam slowly, but confidently, like a predator encircling his prey. Liam locked eyes with Louis, his face darkening as he stepped out of the flat closing the door behind him.

"You What?" Liam growled. He took a step closer to Louis, so they were face to face. Liam towered over Louis by several inches, staring at down at him with a look of pure hatred, his brown eyes nearly black.

"Zayn fucked me. In the plane bathroom. On the way to go see you," Louis said through clenched teeth. Niall, who was watching the conversation in horror from a distance, immediately sprinted over between the two boys, trying to separate them before things escalated.

Liam took a deep breath and resisted the inescapable urge to tackle Louis on the spot, locking him into a chokehold until he was gasping for breath. He thought about twisting his ankle until it snapped or sucker punching him in his face until his nose was bloody and broken. There were so many ways to make things right.

But no. He couldn't do that shit. He had to stay in control. Even if every fiber in his body still loved Zayn— still wanted more than anything for Zayn to love him. Even if he only started that stupid break to avoid the empty, crippling feeling he felt every time Zayn looked over at him with disinterest, every time he checked out another man in the office. Every time he made Liam feel w o r t h l e s s.

And then there was Harry. Innocent Harry. Liam winced internally as he realized his worst fear had fucking come true — Louis had hurt Harry. Fragile, unstable Harry who could hardly handle eating lunch let alone dealing with a cheating scandal.

Liam let his thoughts whirl around in his head before answering. He chose his words carefully, trying to make his response as simple and selfless as possible. This wasn't about him. This wasn't even about Zayn. This was about Harry.

"You're trash, Louis. Absolutely disgusting. But I'm not wasting my energy on you or Zayn. This is just one more reason to move out. Our relationship was dead anyways," Liam growled, pushing Niall forcefully and sending him falling to the ground. Now nothing was separating him from grabbing Louis by the throat and squeezing until he turned blue....

"I don't give a fuck who you cheated with... even if it was my boyfriend. I care who you cheated on," Liam continued, his voice deepening by several octaves. "Listen to me. And listen carefully. You are not to tell Harry. Ever. Literally ever. Tell him you're not ready for a relationship. End it like I told you too so many times. But do not tell him what happened."

Louis laughed, throwing his head back to expose his bright, white teeth. "You're not the boss of me, Payne. He deserves to know how awful I am. I'm telling him. Plus, aren't you moving out of here? Fuck off," Louis spat, inching closer to Liam with clenched fists.

At this moment, as he stared into Liam's eyes, Louis could hardly comprehend anything anything anymore. He heard Niall somewhere behind him, shouting to walk away, to go back inside. And he heard Liam answering something back— saying the word Fucking over and over again, like it was the only word he knew at the moment.

But Nothing really mattered to Louis anymore. All he could think about was the tall curly haired boy with big green eyes. All he wanted to do was go inside and tell him exactly what happened, to get that dirty, guilty, dreadful feeling out in the open. To purge himself of his sins.

Only he wasn't sure if that was even fair to Harry. He wasn't even sure if that was the right thing to do anymore. It was just the thing he needed to do— he wanted to do. And suddenly he realized he was being selfish all over again, putting his needs before Harry's. Pure hypocrisy. He hated that quality in himself.

As Liam continued shouting, Louis became more and more lost in his own thoughts. Time seemed to slow around him, the sounds dulling and the corridor becoming blurrier. Suddenly, he felt a blow to the head, followed by a wet, dripping sensation on his neck.

He quickly realized that it was Liam's hand— it was bleeding from the punch he had just delivered. But Louis hardly felt the pain from being hit so hard. Feeling like he was in slow motion, he fell to the ground in the corridor, limply, and laid there, allowing the world to turn black around him.

Louis woke up a few seconds later to Niall's face— his vision was still a bit blurry, but he could easily decipher the strong sense of panic and anxiety in his roommate's gaze. He watched as Niall's strong arms began lifting him up, pulling him back into the flat. "It's okay, Lou," he kept saying. "You're okay."

The two boys got about halfway inside the door when Louis heard something— a warbled noise, a whimper. What he saw sent shivers down his spine and caused to him lose his balance, falling onto Nialls chest with a thump.

He blinked his eyes to make sure it was real. It was. Harry was standing a few feet in front of him, staring at him with his bright green eyes, a look of confusion engulfing his angelic face.

A/N: omg I promise in the next chapter Harry will find out. I have been waiting so long to get to the point where everyone is on the same page and their thoughts are revealed. The climax is coming. How do you think harry will react???