Play Pretend, Find a Friend? (Larry Stylinson)

12

XII.

Louis barged into the room without knocking, already preemptively covering his eyes for the sake of his own sanity. If Liam and Zayn were alone in a room for more than five minutes, there was a ninety-five percent chance they were engaging in unsavory activities. Louis had seen it all before, so he didn't let it inhibit him.

"Darlings, I have a horrible problem that's probably going to kill me."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Liam swore, jumping back from Zayn at the sound of the door slamming and Louis announcing his entrance. As predicted, the two of them were in varying states of undress, half-covered by the dark purple mess of sheets on Zayn's bed. Since all Paramount students lived on campus all four years, Zayn lived in a single dorm, but somehow he'd managed to secure a queen-sized bed, while everyone else was stuck with a twin. It made absolutely no sense.

"That is not my name," Louis pointed out. "Did you not hear me? I have a horrible problem that's prob-"

"-ably going to kill you," Zayn finished in a dry voice, looking bored, despite the fact that his lips were shiny with spit. Liam's spit. And he was still being half-pressed against the mattress by his secret boyfriend.

"It's about Harry," Louis supplied, because he knew that would get their attention. He waited patiently by the door. "But we have to talk about it somewhere else. It reeks of sex in here."

Liam sighed. Zayn cupped his face and pressed a deep kiss to his lips before gently shoving him out of the way and climbing out of bed. "C'mon, babes, our child needs us."

"Ew, I am not your child."

"You sure act like it."

Louis glared, then fixed his fringe. Then he covered his face in his hands and groaned. All the bravado in the world could not cover up the fact that he actually was really, really distraught about what happened this morning. He was so embarrassed to say it out loud, but worse than that was the thought of keeping it bottled up inside forever.

After Liam and Zayn got dressed, the three of them made their way across campus to the central quad. The cloudless blue sky and balmy breeze was a pleasing departure from the previous weather of torrential downpours and unforgiving wind. They laid a blanket on the grass to avoid getting mud on their clothes, since the ground was still saturated from yesterday. Liam and Zayn sat down like normal people, with a respectable distance between them now that they were in public, but Louis flung himself across the blanket and groaned. After his minor outburst, he repositioned his head so it was in Zayn's lap, allowing him to stroke his hair.

"Are you gonna tell us what happened, or do we have to guess?"

"Does this have anything to do with Harry asking me about you this morning?" Liam added.

"What? He asked about me?" He tried, and failed, to keep the hint of panic out of his voice.

"Yeah," Liam said slowly. "We're in the same Earth Systems class."

"What'd he say?"

"He asked if I knew if you were okay. Which is obviously a concerning question to be asked, especially since I hadn't heard from you, so that's why I texted you."

Louis squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, god."

"So then I asked why he was asking about you, and he told me you 'left abruptly,' and he 'just wanted to make sure you were okay.' To which I asked when and where. And he said, and I quote, 'my room, this morning.' End quote."

Zayn's hand stopped petting his hair. Louis wrapped his arms around his chest and squeezed himself in a hug. "Oh, god."

"Babes. Did you..."