under your bed in new york. // larry stylinson

nine.

It was 5:31pm when Louis arrived outside his old apartment.

Over the couple of days following his ruined date with Lucas and his big epiphany, Louis had managed to gather his feelings and figure them out. He loved Harry with everything he had, so much that it made his heart ache - he knew that now, but he couldn't do anything about it. Harry had a girlfriend, didn't he? He'd moved on, and Louis wasn't about to ruin another one of Harry's relationships. Besides, he was afraid that if he did do anything about his feelings, he'd lose Harry's friendship almost as suddenly as he'd got it.

On Thursday afternoon, the day after the date, Louis had called Lucas, hoping to explain everything. He'd dreaded it, but he knew he had to do it, or else it would have been incredibly unfair for Lucas. He was packing up his things at work when he decided to call, sitting in his giant chair and hoping that Lucas wasn't busy. Sure enough, Lucas answered his call and Louis braced himself for an extremely angry Lucas. "Hey, Lucas."

"Hey, Louis. Are you alright? You seemed really panicked last night. What happened?"

"Um, about that..." Louis scratched his eyebrow. "I think, uh, I think we should stop seeing each other." There was silence on the other end of the line, and Louis tacked on, "I think we should stop seeing each other, at least romantically. I'm so sorry for leading you on for three dates, but it's just not really clicking for me."

There was some more silence, and Lucas said, "Okay. Okay, I get that."

Louis was a little surprised at how calm Lucas sounded. "You're okay with that?"

"Uh huh, maybe I was expecting this, especially after last night. You do seem a little cold with me, and it's such a shame, I like you a lot." Louis could hear some bustling behind Lucas, and guessed he was still at work. "But if you really don't feel anything, there's no point."

"I'm so sorry."

"No, don't apologize, Louis." Lucas chuckled slightly. "It's not your fault you feel that way. I do want to know, though, what happened last night?"

"Well..." Louis' voice lowered a bit. "That roommate I told you about? We sort of... dated for five years. And when we were texting I pretty much realized that I still loved him."

"I see." Louis was impressed by how well Lucas seemed to be handling everything. "I suppose you're going to pursue him now?"

"No, he's taken and I don't think he loves me anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lucas said sympathetically.

"Thanks." Louis felt relieved - he'd been expecting to get yelled at. "Do you think we can stay friends? I don't like you in that way, but I do like you."

"Of course! I'd love that. Thank you for being so honest, by the way. You're a good guy, Louis, I hope you figure everything out with your ex."

"Me too."

So now Louis was standing outside Harry's door on a Saturday afternoon as promised, a bag of groceries over his shoulder and Milky on her leash next to him. He'd practiced cooking a few times at home, and although he wasn't exactly confident in himself, he felt ready. He rung the doorbell and waited for Harry to open the door, preparing himself for seeing Harry and hoping he'd be able to act normally around him.

Harry opened the door and a huge smile and dimples immediately graced his face, making Louis' heart do a couple flips. "Hey, Louis! Hey, Milky!"

"Hey, H." Louis bent down to take Milky's leash off and she immediately ran into Harry's apartment, excited to explore.

"I'm expecting to be impressed by your cooking, Tomlinson," Harry said as he stepped aside to let Louis in. "You've practiced, right?"

"Once or twice, but don't get your hopes up. You're a professional chef, I doubt you're going to be impressed." Louis stepped in and took off his shoes. "You promise that you'll help me out if I started burning anything, right?"