Labels || H.S. [#Wattys2020]

E I G H T Y - T W O

"I'm sorry...what?" Louis asked, his voice a notch higher and his face quickly turning a shade of red bordering on purple. Everyone turned to look at him, worried looks upon their faces.

"Louis, mate. I'm sorry." Liam said, "I know that it's-"

He disregarded Liam though, quickly getting up and storming out. Everyone stared after him blankly, not quite sure what to do. Only Harry yelled, "Lou, wait!" he got up and stumbled after him.

Louis didn't wait though, he took quick steps towards another closed-off area of the arena, trying to get away from Harry. But Harry with his abnormally long legs caught up with him in no time.

"Louis, I said wait!"

Louis turned to look at him sharply, "I don't want to talk about it!"

"I know. But we have to."

"Why!?"

"Because! I don't know! Isn't not talking about things what made all of this happen?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

Harry looked away from Louis, "Why Zayn left. It's because we didn't talk, ever. You know? None of us talked to each other, or ran after each other when things got bad."

"Is that why you ran after me?"

"Yeah, mate. I don't want to lose you too."

Louis looked at him a bit ajar, but quickly composed himself and made a snarky remark, "Harry, that is so gay." Of course he appreciated his friend's concern. Had it been a year ago, he knew he would've stormed off and probably would not have come back until they had to go on stage. Had it been a year ago Harry nor Liam nor Niall would've cared that he ran out. Had it been a year ago it would be Zayn and him getting high in the tour bus just to forget the world around them. But this was now, and as he looked at Harry's furrowed brow and worried eyes, he knew that everything had changed between the lot of them. Zayn's departure had made them band together now more than ever. But he would never let anyone know that, fuck no. He wasn't about to let Harry or any of the boys know how much he actually did love them. That was incredibly foreign to him, and he wanted not part in it.

Harry shrugged, "It is what it is. We already lost Zayn, I don't want any of us to feel like we have to run away to solve things."

"Fine." Louis huffed, "Look, I just..." He leaned against the concrete wall and slid down to sit upon the cold floor. Harry did as well, sitting cross legged and upright to look directly at Louis.

"You just?"

"When he left..."

"Yeah?"

He didn't want to admit it. Admitting that it hurt Louis that badly made him feel weak and impotent. It made him feel like shit. But he said it anyway, "God, I just can't believe he fucking left that way."

"Didn't you guys fight the night before?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think he'd actually leave. You know Zayn! He would pack his bags and make a big fucking deal out of everything, saying he was leaving in the morning, but he never did. He never fucking left, he would still be there in the morning. But he wasn't."

Harry shook his head, remembering how it played out. They woke up at six in the morning to loud thuds, only to find Louis violently punching his wall, and a slip of paper beside him on the floor that said I had to do it this time. I hope you'll understand one day.

Harry hadn't been very close with Louis that past year. Louis had changed, he and Zayn had enclosed themselves in their own world, both spitefully observing the lives they now had to live. Harry didn't get it, and he hated that he didn't. He couldn't get through to them, and since that day he had been convinced that if they had all tried a little harder, that Zayn wouldn't have felt as if he had to leave to be happy. But it had happened, and Harry was of the belief that they had to learn from it.

"This is fucking mad." Louis said shaking his head, "Didn't he want to be a normal 22 year old? Isn't that what all his statements said!?"

"You know he's always loved singing." Harry said, trying to calm him down.

Obviously it didn't work. In fact, the statement just made Louis even angrier, "Yeah, but it hasn't even been a fucking year! How did he even get out of the contract with Syco!? Of course fucking Simon gave him whatever he wanted. What's stopping me from leaving then if the contract isn't worth shit? Fuck management, fuck Syco, fuck Simon Cowell, and fuck Zayn! I'm so sick of this!"

"Louis-"

"No! You know I'm right! We all have the fucking talent and potential to go solo, but we don't desert the band to do it."

"Because we're in it together."

Louis grimaced at the sentimental statement, but relented, "Yeah, Haz. Because we're in it together."

Harry smiled, "See is it so hard to be nice?"

"Almost as hard as quitting my smokes."

Harry got up and offered Louis a hand, pulling him up with one motion, "So what are we gonna do?"

"When does he sign with RCA?" Louis asked, brushing his skinny jeans off.

"Next week."

Louis smiled smugly, "Then we're gonna drop the single the same day."

—✴—

Reagan sighed loudly, rubbing her temples and leaning back on her chair, "What are we going to do?"

Niall shrugged, "What can we do? It's his life."

"Yeah, but isn't this bad PR?"

Liam nodded, "Of course it is, so much for that whole 'we're still friends even though he left' act."

"Well, you guys weren't pulling it off anyway."

"What?" Niall said, "Really? I thought we were doing good."

"That last interview the both of you did. It was pretty unconvincing. Plus, Louis' face completely changes whenever you even mention Zayn." Reagan looked at Liam, "How did you even find out about him signing with another label?"

He sheepishly looked at Reagan, "I overheard Lydia this morning talking on the phone."

"Liam Payne." She said with a smirk, "I never would have pegged you for the type."

"Well, you know I don't gossip. But if this is something that's going down, I thought it would be better for all of us to sort it out together, without management."

"Yeah, they've done enough already." Niall muttered.

"You think Lou will be okay?" Reagan asked.

Liam nodded, "He's probably planning his revenge."

"But what if it isn't even true?"

"Oh, it's true." Liam said, nodding his head.

"How can you be so sure? I mean, maybe you heard wrong."

"Reagan, you know me. I wouldn't just say this to Louis without thinking about all of the repercussions. I know what I've heard."

Reagan sighed, "Guess I was just hoping for better news."

"Aren't we all? But, fuck..." Liam said shaking his head, "We can't just let him do this, can we? Like I know Louis and him were best mates, but we all were close. And if even I'm feeling bloody mad, imagine Lou."

"It's going to be bad, huh?"

"Well, I can't blame him. He and Zayn were the closest of us all."

"Major betrayal." Niall said, interjecting himself in the in the conversation.

"I can imagine." Reagan said. "But-"

She was about to continue speaking when the door opened once more and in came Louis and Harry. She looked up at Louis worriedly, "You okay?"

He nodded, "I'm just peachy, Reagan." He said, plopping down and sitting next to her, "Just great."

"Enough with the sarcasm." Harry said, meeting his stare firmly.

"Yeah, yeah."

Liam crossed his legs and leaned over in his seat, looking directly at Louis "You think we should do something about this?"

"I think I have a plan." Louis said smugly, "It's on now. For sure."