Labels || H.S. [#Wattys2020]

FIFTY-ONE

It was around four in the afternoon when Harry's phone started buzzing. he ignored it, wasn't quite in the mood to talk to anyone. But then it wouldn't stop. It just kept buzzing and buzzing until finally he picked it up and yelled, "What!?"

"Where the fuck are you?" Louis asked, obviously taken aback that Harry had just yelled at him for absolutely no reason.

Harry had left the studio, gotten in his car, and drove. He didn't get far though, just far enough to get fro-yo and pout in his car.

"Why?"

"We're all here. We're waiting for you?"

"It's only four."

"Well, we're all here, Harold. Lydia's waiting for you to arrive so we can talk."

Harry cleared his throat, "Did you get the letter?"

"Yeah. I mean it was fucking open, but I read it." He responded in an accusatory tone, "Also, I have a bone to pick with you. Who do you think you are coming in to my house and-"

"Another time, Lou. Please." Harry pleaded.

"Look, it's just an hour, okay? Lydia knows we all want to get home. Niall's jet lagged and being a proper dick, nobody wants to be around that. Reagan's out of sorts as well. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

Harry stayed quiet.

"Figured you two had a spat. Well, if you want we can have have a chat after? You can clean up the fucking mess you made in my home?"

"It's perfectly clean."

"The Adidas is in the Vans drawer and I don't even know where my favorite jumper is..."

Harry sighed, putting his bright pink fro-yo cup in the cup holder and leaning back in his seat.

"Fine, just come over. We'll knock back some pints. Unless you're still juicing?"

"Okay, yeah." He put the key in the ignition, reluctantly. "I'll see you in the studio."

"Alright, well, Reagan's not doing too great."

"What do you mean?"

"She just seems....off?" Louis tried, "I'm not sure. What happened between you two?"

"Nothing, it's just-" He ran a hand through his hair, as he usually did when he was frustrated, "I-I have to do it again Lou."

"What do you mean?"

"Lydia, she's at it again."

"You mean, another girlfriend? It's not even winter though." Louis chuckled, even though nothing about the situation was funny. He just wanted to lift Harry's spirits a bit. It didn't work, obviously.

"I don't want to do this anymore."

"So don't."

"But...What's the point, I mean, if Reagan doesn't care I should just do it."

"Don't be an arse, Harold. She clearly cares."

"It's just a couple of weeks anyway."

"What, you want to make her jealous? How old are you?"

Harry shrugged uncomfortably, knowing that this wasn't him. He wasn't an asshole. He wouldn't do this to Reagan on purpose, would he?

But he was just so incredibly disappointing. Yeah, he wasn't going to push her to tell him she loved him. But he expected something, anything. God, why couldn't she just tell him not to do it? Does she really not care about him?

"Harold?"

"I'll be there in ten."

—✴—

Harry hadn't run into Reagan before going into the conference room with the boys, and she had left by the time they had finished. He didn't like what was going on, not one bit. But he couldn't call her, couldn't confront her. Not yet. Maybe they just needed some time apart. At least, that's what he told himself. After all, maybe it was his fault, he just kind of blurted out that he loved her, no warning whatsoever.

"She was probably just tired, been a long day." Louis said, trying to reassure him as they settled into his living room. He looked around suspiciously, scrunching his nose as he looked at everything meticulously.

"Yeah." Harry said, tipping his bottle back and taking a long swig.

Louis eyed him, but didn't say a thing.

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"With what?" Louis asked, finally sitting down.

"With everything. You, me, the boys, Rae?"

"It's just a hiatus." Louis shrugged, popping the cap off his own bottle. "We need it. Liam and Niall have no qualms about it."

"Yeah, but, we don't have any contracts lined up."

"So?"

Harry shrugged, "Sometimes it just feels nice to have a safety net. To know that something will always be there waiting for you."

Louis looked at him, "At the risk of sounding like a total fruit, let me just say we don't need a piece of paper to be there for each other. You fucking know that."

Harry reddened slightly, both from the rush of the alcohol hitting his bloodstream and the fact that Louis was actually displaying some kind of affection towards him. It had definitely been a while. After all, they hadn't been this close in what felt like years. Coming over to Louis' twice in a little over a month? He never would have seen it coming.

"And about, Rae." Louis said, "It'll work itself out."

"Things don't just work themselves out." Harry pouted.

"Whatever is meant to be just happens. Just go with the flow, Haz. Aren't you the one always spouting that hippy shit?"

"I just..."

"Well, stop. Have a drink, relax, and fix my fucking closet."

Harry chuckled, "Who has a drawer for each brand?"

"Me. I don't like my Adidas things mixing with the others."

"And they call me the weird one."

They both chuckled, until the laughter slowly died down and all that was left was the sounds of them intermittently drinking from their glass bottles.

"Harry?"

"Yeah."

Louis cleared his throat and put his beer down, eyes darting around the room. This made Harry sit up. That was a classic tell, Louis was about to drop a bomb.

"You remember Briana?

Harry nodded, "The stylist? That girl you've been hanging out with?" He used the phrase 'hanging out with' lightly. After all, Louis was just now starting to enjoy his life of freedom after breaking up with Eleanor. He'd been 'hanging out with' a few different girls.

"Yeah."

"What...what about her?"

Louis paused for a second, almost as if trying the words out before actually saying them."She's pregnant."

Harry held his breath, his words coming out in a jumble,"Oh, Lou. God."

Louis swigged the rest of his beer, "Yeah."

"You're-"

"Yeah."

"But you're sure?"

Louis nodded. "I'm the father."