Adore You [Larry AU]

Twenty.

I was curled up on the sofa, my duvet from the bedroom wrapped around me. My hands were cupping a warm mug of hot chocolate while I watched my favourite movie of all time – Love Actually.

I was trying my hardest to forget about this morning, to forget about the look on Louis' face when he made me promise to trust him. Each scene of the film made it harder, watching someone else fall in love in front of my eyes. They all had it so easy.

It is now the scene where Hugh Grant is dancing through Downing Street. The words to the music slipped out my lips involuntarily and I couldn't help but smile a little. However, a knock from the front door sounded out, and it dropped from my face as quickly as it had come.

Sighing, I paused the movie and unwrapped myself from my duvet burrito. I shuffled slowly, hoping the person would be gone when I made it, so I could go back to the film. To my surprise, when the door opened it revealed Louis.

It wasn't raining anymore, but his face was still damp. His eyes were red and puffy and I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I realised he may have been crying. "Lou..." Without even thinking I opened my arms to him and he jumped between them. I wrapped him up in a hug and his arms clung tightly to me. "What's wrong?" I gently stroked the top of his head and his hair, feeling it was still damp from earlier.

"I did it." His voice was muffled against my jumper.

I knitted my eyebrows together, in confusion and worry. "Did what?"

He pulled his head away from me then, so we were staring into each other's eyes, but still hugging. "I broke up with El." My mouth plopped open into an 'o' as I stared at him. My heart rate leapt up and I so desperately wanted to dance like Hugh had been.

Louis untangled his arms from me and moved away from the doorway. I shut the front door behind him and followed him into the living room. He was eyeing up the TV and even though he was sad I knew some sort of tease was coming.

"Love Actually...really?" He fell onto the sofa and I snickered.

"The fact you knew which film it was speaks volumes Tommo." He rolled his eyes but the corners of his mouth turned up. I switched the TV off and sat next to him. I pulled the duvet over us so it covered both of us as best as it could and he cuddled into me.

"What happened?" I reached for his hand under the covers and stroked the back of it with my thumb. For a second I thought about how strange this was. Me comforting him. He had always been the strong one, the one looking out for me. I felt good being able to repay him just a little. I knew I could never give him back everything he had done for me, so this small moment meant the world to me. I made a mental note to bookmark this feeling for a poem.

He sighed and stirred a little under the covers. It reminded me of an insolent child for a moment. Someone who doesn't want to do what they're told so wriggling to get away. He didn't respond.

"Did you tell Eleanor about us?"

He sighed a much bigger sigh. "No. I met her after classes and I drove her home. It was the least I could do really. Anyway, she invited me in and...I just did it. I bit the bullet and did it. I told her it's not working out. We're not happy and she cried. A lot. She threw her shoe at me." He chuckled, a light tingly noise that made my heart skip a beat. I smiled a half smile back at him.

"It hurt." We froze just smiling at each other at that. Like the whole world was stopped around us and I was glued staring at him forever. Not that I would mind.

I don't know how much time passed before he continued talking. "I didn't tell her about you or us. But she guessed there was someone else. She said I have been distant for ages and she knew something was wrong. She practically begged me to tell her their name. When I didn't she kicked me out. So I came here and...I've been sat outside for half an hour."