Labels || H.S. [#Wattys2020]

N I N E T Y - N I N E

By the end of the week Louis sat before the room with a huge smile plastered upon his face. He had been waiting in the studio since seven in the morning waiting for every person to arrive. But above all, he had been waiting for Lydia. She sat there before him now, wordlessly, a smile plastered upon her face. She would let him have his moment for now. That is, if Liam ever showed up.

Billboard had released it's official review of their new single less than an hour before, and upon having read it, Louis felt tears well in his eyes. He had never before been more proud and protective of an album than this one, so to read that Drag Me Down came in at number one, was the most requested single of the week, and to top it off got a four out of five rating, was almost too much to handle for him. They had come so far, they had gotten over the one thing he thought would break them.

When Zayn had left he was so sure that the band would fall apart. There were days of silence, of the boys sitting in the tour bus not saying a word to each other. Days of anguish and utter despair. They had been faced with their biggest fear, they realized they weren't invincible. They were still like they had been at sixteen when they were on the XFactor. They were still vulnerable, susceptible to the scorning world. They did care about what people thought about them, and it was almost as if they realized that people could define them after all. Their world ultimately collapsed around them. They had always thought that they were fireproof, that they could make it through, but when Zayn left they realized that they weren't above the labels. They felt defeated.

But the day they decided to move forward, to say fuck it all and put their heart and souls into their next album, it was almost as if Zayn had never left. They were stronger than ever. And this single proved it.

"Finally." He said, pointedly looking at Liam as he strolled in with a steaming mug of tea.

"Oh, so I'm late one time and you have to call me out on it?"

Louis sighed, "Just sit down already!"

Reagan smirked, "Is this about the review that came out?"

"It came out already?" Niall asked.

"Yes! God, please can we talk about it?"

Lydia chuckled, "Please, induldge us."

Liam sat between Niall and Harry on the couch as Louis cleared his throat and pulled up the Billboard article on his iPad. He began reading, "1D Can't Be Dragged Down" He had highlighted the specific parts of the article that he wanted to read to the boys, so he read them verbatim, "One Direction's new single "Drag Me Down" has surprisingly shown us a different side to the once poppy boy band. While the departure of Zayn Malik had left us all sure that the boys would soon be singing their goodbyes, they have proven us wrong once again. "Drag Me Down" premiered at number one this week, and perhaps more interesting of all, it proved a new level of maturity for the group. While they're playing with some interesting sounds, they're not unrecognizable. Regardless though, they have proven one thing: Zayn Malik can not drag them down. These boys are unstoppable."

Harry began clapping, and while it was such a Harry thing to do, the rest of boys followed his lead. So did Reagan, Lydia, Julian and the rest of the band. The song was Louis' after all. It was his pride and joy. While they shared the success, no doubt, they knew who they owed it to. Had it not been for him, perhaps they never would have pulled through Zayn's departure.

"Alright, alright." Louis said, waving a hand. It almost looked as if he was flushed, "That's enough now."

"No, you made us sit here. Now we get to clap." Harry said, still clapping even though everyone else had stopped.

Louis rolled his eyes, "Really, we should all be clapping for ourselves. And popping some champagne! We did it!"

"It's eight AM." Liam said, squinting at Louis and looking at his still full mug of tea.

"And we're at work?" Reagan said, motioning at the room of people around her.

"Who cares! It's time to celebrate!" Louis said excitedly.

Everyone automatically turned to look at Lydia, who shrugged, "What the hell. Get the bottles, Paul."

Paul nodded, laughing as he left the room. Everyone was rather shocked that Lydia was rather laid back about the situation considering how livid she had been the morning after the release, but as soon as the official charts came in she was all smiles.Besides, the boys were leaving again tomorrow to resume this leg of the tour and wouldn't be back for two months. She figured today was the perfect day to celebrate their successes. But alas, she would be far, far away from them. Locked in her own office, with a bottle of her own. Now that was the perfect celebration.

No one had noticed Lydia had slipped away other than Reagan, mostly because she was looking fondly upon the boys as her heart swelled with pride. She had heard the song on repeat the last few days, she had to admit, it was probably her favorite song of theirs. They had achieved a sound that would most certainly get a ton of airplay, that both fans and non-fans would enjoy, and finally a song that would finally perhaps begin to destroy the boy band persona they so badly wanted to be rid of.

She felt a tad out of place, being as this was not a celebration she should technically be a part of. She didn't want to impose, she would rather the boys take this moment and live it anyway. So she took her glass and slipped out, just as Lydia did. Reagan found herself wandering the halls of the currently empty floor and smiling like an idiot remembering the first day she had started working there. How could she ever have imagined that she would manage to knock out Harry Styles and still keep her job. That she would get to know the boys of One Direction for who they actually were. That she would find herself in the process. How far she had come, how far they had all come.

Somehow she ended up climbing the stairs up to the roof, a place Louis had only told her about but she had never actually managed to check out until now. As she opened the large, reflective door, she was immediately in awe of the beautiful view of downtown LA. She had never considered the fact that they worked in one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city, but today, from the roof of the building, she realized how incredibly lucky she was. She had the whole world in the palm of her hands, she really did. And she figured that if the boys could pick themselves up after losing all faith, then why couldn't she? As cliche as it was, she didn't want to be dragged down any further. In the warmth of the sun and the breeze of the ocean kissed skin on the top of one the highest sky scrapers in LA, Reagan felt invincible. And the feeling was only intensified the moment she felt the door close behind her, and she turned to see no one other than Harry walking toward her.

"Hey." He mumbled, cheeks flushed from drinking too much too quickly.

"Hey."

Her heart began beating rapidly, as it did every time she saw him. But then a sudden calm washed over her. The kind of peace you obtain only when everything is as it should be.

"What are you doing up here all alone? He asked, approaching her.

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Nothing."

He smiled dopily, placing an arm around her, "Let's do nothing together then."

She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder, "I wouldn't have it any other way."