Temptation (Larry Stylinson) ✅

15. Revelations

As Louis sat in his room Thursday night grading papers, he felt relieved that there finally wasn't a party in Zete for once. Louis would still be drinking tonight, of course, he loved drinking, and he took a sip of a gluten free wine cooler as he went through the papers, jazz music playing softly in the background.

When his glass was empty, Louis sighed and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. He hopped up off his bed and poured another drink, the tensions and stresses of the week melting away as the booze entered his system. Sweet release.

Liam and zayn were out tonight on a date, and Louis was glad they were out of the house, as he could use the alone time. He truly was happy for them — it was he who introduced zayn to Liam and convinced him to take him out — but he would be lying if he said there wasn't a tiny bit of jealousy remaining in his system. Though he would never admit it, his relationship with Liam was the most intimate one he had ever been in. They were mostly fuck buddies, yeah, but he actually cared about Liam and would even cuddle with him and ask how his day went. At one point, as Liam spooned Louis and rubbed his back, he actually began falling for him.

But Louis was a lone wolf, and he started to panic when he realized commitment was on the horizon. Louis just couldn't bring himself to be in a relationship, for various reasons, ranging from his extremely busy schedule to is personal insecurities— insecurities which he usually shoved down with shots and a shake of the hips in his flamboyant outfits. He didn't want to feel those feelings, relive those memories.

So of course, Louis self sabotaged, sleeping around with other guys within the frat, and purposefully being sloppy about it. Naturally, Liam found out, and was quite upset. They had never confirmed they were exclusive, but it was clear they were headed towards exclusivity and it really hurt that Lou felt like he wanted other men.

But liam couldn't stay mad at Louis for long, given their long friendship dating back to first year. And after two weeks of not talking, he eventually came back, on the condition that their relationship would be strictly platonic — no more sleeping together. A few months later, Lou introduced zayn to Liam and the rest was history.... aside from a little residual sexual tension. But they could deal with that, couldn't they?

Now, as Lou sat grading the papers, he thought about the kinds of stuff Zayn and Liam did together. What any couples did together...? And was that something he could even have? Lou was more of a dance at a party or grab a drink at a bar type guy. Not a dinner and movies type guy. And he certainly wasn't the type to keep things exclusive. It just wasn't part of his nature — or rather, it wasn't part of his persona, his current image at uni, which was independent, confident, and promiscuous. Not to mention a natural born leader.

After all, Being the president of Zete came with its consequences. It meant that he was in charge of safety codes and organization and recruitment— not to mention the dozens of parties they hosted throughout the year. It was a stressful job and even more stressful than the logistics was his reputation that he had to upkeep. Sassy, loud, life of the party. People pleaser. And Louis truly was all of those things, most of the time. But being that way all day, all week, all year without a break could take a toll on anyone. And it certainly did on him.

As a result, Louis quickly found himself strung out as he tried to keep up with his image as the lively, unapologetic poster child for Zete and juggle his coursework, job and theatre productions. Sometimes it felt like there was so much to do that he didn't even have time for himself, but day in and day out he put on a smile and chipped away at his responsibilities. He wasn't a quitter.

Sighing, Louis took another sip of his wine cooler and flipped through his stack of papers, hoping he would come across something that wasn't clearly written the hour before it was due. The reflections he was grading were barely a percentage of the grade, but as usual, he had lied to his students about it in an attempt to get them to take his course more seriously.

Flipping through the pile of poorly written, barely half a page long essays, Louis came across a longer one, which stood out because of its use high vocabulary and great detail. He smiled as he skimmed it and looked up at the name. Who wrote such a master piece? Louis wondered. The name on the page, however, was not what he expected.

Harry Styles.

Louis blinked at the paper, his stomach flip flopping as he thought of Harry. His long chestnut tresses, his big emerald eyes, his long, beautiful body. He was a god, if louis ever saw one, though he would never admit it.

Louis remembered how had told Liam he didn't want to be with Harry because Harry was in his experimental phase, and he wanted more of a challenge. That was true, and it definitely deterred him a bit. But truthfully, it was not enough to write Harry off right away. What really got Louis' blood boiling about Harry was his personality - he was the innocent type, full of nerves and anxiety, always wanting to say the right thing. Based on the conversation louis had with him at the Theta party, harry seemed like he needed to be coddled — taken care of even.

And clearly, Louis didn't have time to take care of anyone right now — not even himself. So with anyone else, He wouldn't even have considered it at all. But with harry, it was different. Though he would never tell anyone, Louis found Harry truly irresistible. In fact, ever the moment Louis laid eyes on him that night after dancing in his sparkly pink shorts— the tall, gorgeous man with the long hair and quirky smile—he knew that he would do anything for him.

And that's what terrified him.

Sighing, Louis shook his head as he read Harry's name on the page and resisted the urge to draw a little heart or smiley face next to it as he grew more tipsy. He opened a tiny one shot bottle of Smirnoff, downing it, and then wrote up His evaluation of Harry's essay.

'Great attention to detail and wonderful essay structural. I can tell you put a lot of work into this," he jotted down, circling and undermining a few key arguments that Harry presented.

"Ideas for improvement: don't be afraid to use 'I' and really assert your opinion. We don't want you to be neutral," Louis wrote, though it was blatantly clear that he was referring to something else.

Happy with his work, Louis put the stack of papers aside and tossed the plastic Smirnoff bottle into the bin. To his misfortune, it was piled high with other bottles and cans, most of which were lite beers and diet sodas. Louis knew Liam would be on his case if he came in here and found the mess of bottles, evidence of how bad his binge drinking had become lately. Liam was always nagging Louis about his alcohol consumption, telling him he was getting out of control and should see someone. But Louis didn't buy that baloney for a second. He was completely in control; yeah, he drank five nights a week, but never to the point of throwing up, and never during the day. He wasn't an alcoholic for Christ's sake....

Annoyed, Louis stumbled out of bed, sliding on a pair of fuzzy slippers and went to take out the garbage. He wasn't in the mood for a lecture tonight — or tomorrow — and his room needed cleaning anyways.

It was about 1am at this point, and Louis was tired and bleary eyed, not to mention tipsy. He made his way down the stairs, to the basement of the building where the dumpers were, tossed the trash, and then climbed back up, hiccuping a bit from all the booze.

To his surprise, when he came back to the fourth floor, he noticed someone in the hallway. A tall, lanky body was exiting his neighbors apartment — a group of three or four guys from uni lived there and rented it out. Louis figured it was just one of them, stepping out for a cigarette or something, but when he got closer he realized it wasn't. As he reached the end of the hall where his apartment was, he came face to face with the man, whose hair was toussled and clothes were wrinkled and clearly put back on lazily— he was clearly embarking on a walk of shame.

Louis shook his head, giggling to himself as he unlocked his door. But then, when he turned to the side, catching a glimpse of the man in his periphery.

Oh my god.

It was Harry.