I Do

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Louis dragged Liam's drunken arse into the bedroom, shoving him towards the bed before heading into the loo to find some paracetamol; he knew his friend would be hurting in the morning. Much more than he was hurting already. Louis should've known better than to agree to go out with Liam that night.; Liam only called when he wanted to forget and forgetting meant a very drunk Liam. He grabbed the pills and filled a glass with water, staring at himself in the mirror over the sink, trying to force a smile to his face before heading back to the bedroom.

Reentering the room, Louis discovered Liam, surprisingly, sitting up in his bed clutching a jeweler's box tightly in his hand. He must have a made a noise because Liam began speaking, his voice choked with tears.

"I tried, Lou. I tried to give it to him. I called him about four months ago." The tears were falling so freely now, that Louis had an image of his best mate drowning himself right in front of him.

Louis moved slowly to sit next to Liam, forcing him to take the pills before setting the, now, empty glass on the nightstand and pulling Liam into a cuddle, a hand running over his sweaty hair. "What happened?"

"Lousy fucking timing is what happened. I called the night he proposed the that fucking-" Liam cut himself off as he threw the box across the room. The box broke open and a simple silver ring flew out bouncing along the wooden floor and rolling away under the bed. Louis thought about retrieving it, but decided to remain focused on his friend instead.

Liam opened and closed his mouth a few times, seeming to struggle to find the words to describe Zayn's fiance, but Louis knew that no matter how angry he was, Liam couldn't bring himself to insult the person Zayn chose to be with for the rest of his life. "I was finally gonna get off my arse and propose, and he tells me he's getting married and that he didn't think it was a good idea for us to ever speak again." Liam pulled away, burying his face into his pillow and letting out an agonized scream. When he was done, he turned to look at Louis, his face twisted in agony. "If only I had called sooner." He turned back into the pillow and his body racked with sobs.

At that moment, Liam's phone began to ring. A familiar tone that hadn't echoed in their lives in quite some time, and Louis felt his anger flare. "Oi!" he snapped as he picked up the phone. He glanced over at Liam who was crying so hard that Louis' own eyes began to tear up. He strode out of the room before speaking again. "Of course he's here. You called his bloody phone, didn't ya?"

The person on the other end began to say something, but Louis didn't want to hear it, so he huffed into the phone. "He's in no shape to come to the phone. Not even for you. Especially not for you, mate," he said the word with enough venom to halt the voice of the other person.

Liam appeared in the doorway of the sitting room, his large frame appearing small and lost as Louis continued. "Just fuck off. You've done enough fucking damage for one lifetime." He hung up on his once best mate and went over to gather Liam into his arms before escorting him back to his bed. The boy needed nothing more than a year's worth of sleep.

"It could've been me," Liam repeated over and over as he finally let exhaustion take over and finally Louis let his own tears fall.

Louis awoke the next morning feeling hot and crushed. He blinked his eyes a few times and glanced down to see Liam clinging to his chest, breaths coming in the even pattern of deep sleep. With a sad smile, Louis wiggled himself out from the grasp of his broken-hearted friend and made his way into the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and groaned that he looked almost as bad as he knew that Liam felt.

It had been almost a year since Zayn had disappeared from their lives. Almost a year since Liam had showed up on his doorstep with tears running down his face and not even enough sanity left to tell him what had happened. Liam had come home to a half-empty flat and a note saying that Zayn just couldn't stay, that he couldn't live with someone who didn't love him enough to commit to him. Two days later, Liam had finally left his flat and come to Louis, looking and smelling like someone had died.

Liam had sobbed, and that was the first time he had shown Louis the ring. He had popped open the jeweler's box with a sad smile. "I bought it for him, but I just couldn't ever bring myself to give it to him."

Louis knew that Liam was afraid of commitment, had been burned so many times before. A broken engagement. Being left at the altar. One divorce. He had every reason to hesitate when it came to forever. They all knew it. They had all stood by him through everything.

Or, Louis had thought they all understood, but apparently Zayn wasn't as understanding as the rest of them. Zayn had no regrets about adding to Liam's long history of broken relationships. Had no issue leaving behind the man he supposedly loved in a million pieces to be put back together by his best friend, who had been harbouring a quiet crush for more years than he could remember. The man who had stood back, watching, as his best friends fell in love with each other, hiding his own breaking heart with a blinding smile.

Louis splashed his face with cold water and quickly brushed his teeth with the spare toothbrush he kept at Liam's. When he returned to the bedroom, he was surprised to find it empty. He glanced around, even chancing a look under the bed to see if Liam was trying to dig the ring back out. The ring was still there, glinting slightly just out of Louis' reach. After trying to retrieve the ring and failing, Louis rose to his feet and ventured out into the flat.

Liam was standing in the kitchen, a pan on the stove in front of him, but he was staring at the wall, gaze unfocused. Louis was relieved to see the stove was off, the pan empty. "Li?" he said quietly, feeling badly when Liam flinched before turning around, his eyes red-rimmed and puffy. "Sit down and let me cook," he offered.

A ghost of a smile quirked Liam's lips, and Louis gave an internal cheer. "I'd prefer not to have my kitchen burned to the ground," Liam said as he moved towards the fridge and opened it, pulling out a carton of eggs.

"No guarantee that won't happen anyway," Louis said, taking the carton and putting it back into the refrigerator. "Let's go out instead, yeah?" Liam hesitated before nodding and turning to go back towards his bedroom.

Louis followed a few moments later, not entirely surprised to see Liam's legs sticking out from underneath the bed. "Can you reach it?" He heard a mumbled response before Liam started scooting backwards and finally reappeared. He sat up on his knees and looked down at the ground, a pout on his face as he shook his head. "Get up, let's move the bed," Louis said, pulling Liam to his feet.

Working together, they managed to move the bed just enough for Louis to grab the ring. He handed it to Liam who put it back in the jeweler's box before stashing the box in the nightstand drawer. Louis went to grab the bed to move it back, but realized that Liam was glancing around the room, a thoughtful look on his face.

"What?" Louis asked, feeling a bit of dread in his stomach.

"We should rearrange the furniture," Liam said, with a decisive nod. "Yeah, we should totally do that."

With a groan, Louis resigned himself to manual labor before he'd be able to eat.