Perfect // 1D AU ✓

Chapter 6

~ But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms,

And if you like having secret little rendezvous ~

On Tuesday, Louis went over to their base extra early. He found Niall sleeping in one of the bedrooms, and Liam was asleep on the couch. He found a large book, and he dropped it on the ground to wake him up. Niall was in the doorway instantaneously, and Liam slept on. Two different people.

"What'd you do that for?" He asked, panting. Niall was only wearing small black boxers, and his hair was bleached. Yesterday it had been red. Louis was thoroughly perplexed.

"What color are you going for now?" He asked.

"I'm going to do platinum blonde for the edges." He said, rubbing his eyes. "It's seven o'clock. What do you want?"

"LIAM!" Louis yelled, and still the boy didn't wake up. A minute later, he rolled over, exposing a bare arm, which was full of tattoos and track marks. "He's a druggie?"

Niall also had a look of shock of his face. "It makes sense though. It's why he looks like a rat. Lives in a bad part of town, according to Zayn. I think he's clean, though."

"Up for debate." Louis said, bending down to look at Liam's arm. "Yeah, they look pretty old. It was heroin, though. That's a deep hole." Liam moved his arm then, and slapped Louis in the face. Louis fell on his butt, and Liam and Niall laughed.

"What do you want?" Liam asked in a sleepy voice.

"I'm taking you guys shopping before our meeting today. Because Liam, you dress like a deadbeat, and I'm tired of seeing Niall wearing the same pair of shoes every day. I'm buying."

Niall and Liam didn't refuse the offer. They seemed to already know how stubborn Louis was.

---

"Louis, these are amazing!" Niall said, looking down at the shoes Louis had just bought him. Louis just smiled from behind his shades and drank his own iced coffee. And yes, he had made Niall buy him a donut. Liam was across the mall, trying on clothes, and Louis and Niall were walking back there.

"Let's buy a cheesecake." Louis said, looking up at the shop.

"I've never seen a store in the mall that sells cheesecake."

"I've never either. Also, I love cheesecake. We'll bring it to the meeting so that Zayn and Harry can have some."

"Harry can't come to the meeting." Niall said. "He texted me."

"You have Harry's number?" Louis asked, slightly jealous.

"Yeah. We kind of bonded yesterday at the gym. He's a cool guy." Niall went back to his phone, texting and scrolling through social media sites.

"Oh." Louis said, sauntering up to the line to buy his cheesecake. Niall watches him, promptly naming him flamboyant in his book. Harry could certainly be filed under that label by the way he dresses. Niall decided in that moment that he shipped them. They would be a cute couple.

"I'm gonna go find Liam, before he wonders after us." Niall said; Louis waved him off. Walking through the crowd, Niall felt invisible and visible at the same time - he went in waves. They all know who I am, he thought. They can't know who you are, he told himself.

"Hey." Liam said to Niall, looking at himself in a jacket in the mirror. He had one bag with him, which had a pair of pants in it and that was it. "I'm not going to put Louis in debt. I'm a good kid."

"So says your track marks." Niall said, and Liam glared at him.

"11 months clean." Liam shot back, albeit sweetly. "I'm gonna buy this jacket."

"Louis is buying a cheesecake." Niall told Liam - who did not look even the slightest bit surprised.

"Louis can do whatever he wants. He's robbed a bank. He's unstoppable."

Niall put his palm on his face and squeezed. "I don't like cheesecake."

"I swear..." Liam chuckled to himself.

---

"Stop being a crybaby." Gemma said, eating another cup of pudding.

"I think I'm dying." Harry said, not joking at all. Gemma looked at his IV, which was full of what Harry thought was pain meds, but was actually saline.

Gemma kept working on her laptop, sitting criss-cross applesauce in the doctor's swivel chair. She was a journalist for a local paper, which they allowed her to do from her permanent residence - the hospital. While she did that, Harry made faces through the open curtain at a kid who was across the hall.

Harry loved kids. This one was around five or six, and giggled whenever Harry did anything remotely funny. God, Harry loved kids. "What's going on in your life?" Gemma asked, distracting him.

Harry tuned back into the conversation him and his beautiful sister were having. "I'm going to Vegas in a couple weeks."

"Christmas is in a couple weeks." Gemma furrowed her eyebrows at her younger brother. "We're supposed to go see mum."

"I'll fly you out early, and then I'll be home in time for Christmas." He said. "Me and my friends are going."

Gemma raised a skeptical older sister eyebrow. "Hmm. I want to meet these friends."

"Geez, Gem. They're not bad people, I swear. Nothing like the crowd I used to get messed up in." Harry realized that they actually were like that crowd - all criminals. They were actually worse than the other crowds. But, Harry would like to think that they had better character than those fools.

"I still want to meet them." Gemma told him. "I want to make sure that you're not going downhill again." Harry facepalmed. "I worry about you," Gemma added. "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"You can't do anything. You live in a hospital because of this dumb disease." Gemma was hurt, but got over his jab quickly.

"I love you!" She yelled. "I love you, Harry Styles!"

"Gem, stop." Harry told her.

"Say you love me back and I'll stop. I love you! I love you!"

"Fine, I love you too, you weirdo."