So, What? // 1D AU ✓

Chapter 2

~I guess I just lost my husband,

I don't know where he went~

I am utterly and totally alone.

Harry sat with his legs crossed and hands clasped on top of the table. A fake smile was on his face as he pretended to listen to the conversations, pretended to care about these people's lives. Who were these people, anyways?

Every time the two of them went on any social outing, Harry played the role of the ever-doting husband. Not a single one of the friends that Cole had made in the two years since the two of them had moved to Los Angeles ever liked him - he supposed that this was payback for Harry's Northern California friends hating Cole with a passion. Maybe things just worked out like that, he supposed.

He didn't drink, despite his overwhelming desire to. Someone had to be the sober one in a room full of bad intentions. And if rational level-headed Harry wasn't there, who in the hell was going to make sure they all got home with all of their body parts and wallets? That didn't stop Cole from pushing shots towards him for at least an hour.

More so than earlier that night, no notifications popped up on his screen. At least before, Gemma was replying to his texts. Now she was likely asleep, the grandma.

"Harry!" Cole's hands were cupped around his mouth, shouting across the table and over the full drinks at him. He looked up from his phone with wide eyes, not wanting to give into whatever dumb idea his husband was about to suggest. "Let's dance! I love this song!"

He shook his head, not breaking eye contact. Between the sea of bodies on the dance floor and this loud table, Harry preferred it over here. But Cole just stared him down and then made that little smile that melted his heart every time. So of course his Vans planted on the ground, and his husband's hand snaked around his waist.

"Are you having fun?"

I have never wanted to jump off of a bridge more.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He smiled, grabbing Cole's shirt and pulling him for a kiss. The two of them lingered there before someone bumped into them, ruining their moment. "Come on, let's dance."

Harry's throat was closing up and he knew that he was going to have to sneakily take a bathroom break and use his inhaler. He felt like his heart racing, but attributed that to the music and the energy in the room. Clubs were never his scene - he preferred Friday nights on the couch or with a group of friends, playing cards.

But we all have to adapt.

Cole started jumping up and down, screaming the lyrics to Harry. The two of them spun around in a circle, and he felt a laugh bubbling up. Nothing could ever be truly that bad. Sweat poured down his face and his cheeks began to hurt from smiling for the first time in a long time. When the song was over, his husband placed his hands on his cheeks and kissed him again.