Joy of Missing Out

Chapter 8: Did they ever fight like us?

Some things you never get used to. Some things you never expect. With Louis, three years into our relationship, nothing he did surprised me anymore. I got used to three morning kisses and lots more in the evening. Every interaction in between depended on whether people around knew about us and how comfortable they were with it. I never questioned our love, but I also never expected Louis to be the one to formalize it.

Because we had another concert in Perth the following day, we left the arena after the first one in no rush. It was a short car ride to Crown, where we had been staying for two days already. We never unpacked for short hotel stays. Except for the US and Europe, and when we played big cities, we still stayed on bus. This time in Australia, we travelled by plane and stayed longer in hotel rooms. In Perth, all of us brought suits. Those were probably the only ironed pieces of clothing we had, and they were neatly hung on a clothing rack in Niall's room. There was a casino in our hotel and we wanted to go. Everyone, including me, was old enough to gamble. We dressed up all together.

"What's wrong?" I asked Louis. He seemed to have trouble putting on his tie so I helped him. "Here, I'll do it."

"It looks kind of... Should I go without it?"

"There. You look handsome. Don't worry too much about it. It's probably a bit dark down there, I highly doubt anyone would notice if it looks crooked."

"I want to look good for you," he turned to me and smiled, still slightly messing with his tie.

"Lou, you always look good. Why are you suddenly so insecure? Cheer up. You might win big tonight!"

"He will," Zayn added and received a mean look from Louis. "I'm telling you."

I went back to lie on the bed, when Niall yelled at me, "No! Careful, my nuggets are behind you."

"And why are they? It could've stained my suit. And your bedsheets, Niall," I yelled back.

"Shut up, this is my room. I'm sure there're stains on your bedsheets, and probably not from chicken nuggets."

"Won't deny that," Louis added.

"Will you eat those?" Liam asked Niall and got the expected response.

"Obviously! We spend too much time together, I hoped you would know the answer to such a question."

"I want some," Louis approached the bed where I carefully lay next to Niall and his nuggets.

"Heck no. Have Harry get you some," he paused. "Yeah, that's it... Right?"

Louis nervously paced back and forth. "You're right. That's how we're gonna do it."

"Do what?" I asked. They seemed to be communicating in a way only they could understand.

"Love, can you get me some chicken nuggets from McDonalds? There's one just downstairs."

"We can eat in a restaurant before casino, why are you complicating it?"

"He's right, Harry. We've all eaten already. I don't love Louis that much to wait for him to eat instead of going straight to the casino," Liam said.

"Oh, fuck you," Louis quickly reacted. "But he's right too. Come on, please!"

"We'll wait for you by the elevator. Louis will quickly eat it and then we go downstairs," said Zayn.

I obeyed, of course. I went down there with a bodyguard but I didn't get recognized. It was eleven o'clock; I was the only customer at that moment. Crown is a posh hotel, no one wondered why I was in a suit that late. They only gave me weird looks for being so pampered yet walking weirdly back to Niall's room with a bag of fast food in my hands trying not to spill the orange juice I got myself.

"Hey, you took it off," I made a hand motion to refer to Louis' tie then noticed Niall, Liam and Zayn behind him. "Look at you all! So handsome."

"Harry," Louis started.

I interrupted him by giving him the bag, "Here. I got you nuggets and juice for myself but you can have some too, after that non-organic chicken. Since someone wouldn't share..."

Niall interrupted me now. "Again, Harry, shut up."

"Let the man speak," Liam added.

When Louis started talking it took me a moment to realize I was being proposed to.

"I've known you for three years. I've also loved you for three years. As I grow old I want you to be right there next to me to see me love you. You are the happiness of my life, the smile of my lips. I wasn't always like this, you know... tremendously happy. Well, not until 2010. I can still be a little wild, insecure... but you make those feelings go away. So crown and anchor me by accepting to be my husband."

Louis got down on his knee while I was in a flood of tears. He started to cry as well when he took my hand and presented me the ring in his other hand. I didn't care about the ring, and I also couldn't see it because my eyes were blurry from tears. At that moment, I cared about Louis more than ever. He saw me as someone with whom he wants to spend his life. He saw in me a lifetime partner despite the circumstances of our relationship. I took a better look at everything. Niall, Liam and Zayn were standing behind Louis like best men, a woman was filming, and a few of our closest crew members joined as soon as I stepped out of the elevator. I didn't expect this to happen.

Despite everything and to spite some, I answered honestly, "Yes! A million times yes!"

Louis and I never went to the casino. Everyone else did, but the two of us stayed in our room. For some time we just held hands lying on the floor in our suits. Later we went to the pool. At four a.m. we ate cold nuggets in our bed. Louis quoted her in his proposal and I tweeted a line from Joni Mitchell's song – We don't need a piece of paper from the city hall. Exactly. Loving each other was enough. A ring made it official, but true love made it real. We never went gambling, but some would say we gambled our careers that night.

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I really considered skipping this part. The only reason I almost didn't 'marry them' in this fanfic is because same-sex marriage wasn't legal in Australia before 2017. I don't know what to think of September 28, 2013. I certainly believe something important happened that night, but I have to take into consideration the legal aspect, so I imagined them engaged.

Also, something the fandom probably noticed but I did just when I was researching for this chapter, Perth Arena is in Wellington St. Probably a coincidence because Wellington is interesting to us for being strong evidence but I doubt it means a lot to them to make them want to get engaged/married in a city in which they played in a street named that (very confusing sentence, I know). I don't know who decided to propose but I chose Louis because only Harry wears his rings publicly. 

Q: Who do you think proposed in real life?