safe haven │ larry stylinson

12

Louis' POV

They had two weeks off before the first rehearsal. After heading back to the UK, Louis spent most of his time with his sisters and by playing football with some friends a few times. He enjoyed it but could never let go of the thought of seeing Harry again. He wished he could undo what he did. He wished he had known better but he hadn't.
There had to be a way to tell Harry everything. But he knew he couldn't. They wouldn't allow this even if Harry would agree on speaking to him. And if he did this without their knowledge and they would find out everything was over. And Louis couldn't risk that. He needed it.

The first rehearsal was on a Thursday morning. Louis was late. He couldn't be quiet on the way there.
"Those sons of bitches, bastards, those-"
"Lou, calm down. That's not gonna change anything"
"How can you be so fucking calm, El?"
"It wouldn't change anything. Breathe, Lou. We'll figure something out"
For a moment he shut up just to go on with his insults a few minutes later. Eleanor let him. She knew him for so many years now, she knew she couldn't stop him.

When they arrived, Louis had calmed down a little bit. He was furious after all but he didn't plan on the others to notice that.
As he got out of the car, he thanked El and made his way to the studio.

The rehearsal was fun. Even though they weren't used to performing as a band anymore, Louis loved it. He had missed this so much, he even forgot about his anger in the car.
The only thing that bothered him was Harry nearly ignoring him. When they had to interact, he did talk to him but that was it. He didn't smile at him like before or tried to make jokes that weren't funny at all. He wasn't his Harry but Louis couldn't be mad about it, he had no right to be mad about it. Though, nothing bothered him more.
In their lunch break, he wanted nothing more than talk to Harry and explain him everything but he simply couldn't.

When the rehearsal was over, Louis headed to the parking lot where Eleanor would pick him up. As soon as he was visible on the outside, the paperazzi started taking their pictures. As planned, he leaned in and kissed her. He didn't feel anything but he knew he had to do it. There was no other way. Suddenly he heard that the paparazzi started taking pictures of somebody else and heard them screaming names.

When he turned around he saw Harry and Niall. Harry was looking at him having his hand on Eleanor's hip. Louis thought that he looked at his hand but in the next moment, he walked up to his own car only looking at Niall. The curlyhead waved at the paperazzi and got into his car, ignoring Louis and Eleanor. Niall followed behind, getting on the seat next to Harry after he waved at the couple.

"I'm so sorry, Lou.." Eleanor whispered and got into the car. She saw in how much pain he was. Louis just nodded and sat beside her, trying to figure out a way to tell Harry everything without actually telling him.

Harry's POV

Why was it so fucking hard to get over him? Even after five years he still wasn't over him. It still hurt like the first time seeing him with her. He wanted to move on, didn't he? There was no chance they would get  back together. It was over. He had to move on.

He parked in front of Niall's apartment a few minutes later and said goodbye to the blonde. They hugged and Niall left.
As soon as he was inside, Harry took his phone and texted his sister: 'Need to talk. Are you home? - H xx'.
Not even five minutes later, Gemma texted back: 'Sure. Everything ok? x'.
He answered that he would be there in a few minutes and started his car again. He needed to talk to someone and he was sure that Gem wouldn't judge him.

When his sister opened the door of her apartment, he hugged her immediately. She held him close and patted his back without saying anything. That was why he loved her so much. She understood him without any words. She knew what to do.
He let go of her and they went inside. She got them something to drink and they sat down on the couch.
"C'mon, spit it out" Gemma looked at him and Harry took a deep breath.
"Promise not to get angry"
"Promise"
"So.. There was this relationship I was in five years ago.." He looked at his hands while talking. "I- Louis and I- we were a thing.." Expecting her to be surprised, he looked at his sister. He was scared of her reaction but there was no sign of suprise on her face. He looked at her questioning.
"I am your sister, Harry. I know you. I knew it all along"
He should've known that he couldn't hide anything from her. She stroke his hair and he rested his head on her shoulder.

"I never felt anything like that. He was perfect. Just- When I was with him, I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted to be with him. We hid our relationship as much as possible. No one knew- well we told no one. Zayn was the only one of the other boys who knew..
I mean, of course there were rumours. There always are. But it didn't bother us- at least it didn't bother me. I was with him and that was all that mattered. He never told that the rumours bothered him. But one day.. Out of nowhere.."

Flashback - 24th August 2015
Harry's POV

He sat on their bed reading his favourite book again. It was 9 AM but Louis hadn't been there when he had woken up. That was unusual but Harry didn't think about it. He enjoyed having a day off today before performing in Milwaukee tomorrow.
Hearing his phone ringing endlessly, he picked it up to see that there were hundreds of tweets every minute. He opened the Twitter app and read.
'TAKEN! Louis Tomlinson confirms relationship!'
His heart stopped. Why would Louis make it official without telling him?
But as he looked at the next tweet, he saw a picture of Louis kissing a girl. He recognised her, it was Eleanor. He tried to convince himself that the picture wasn't real. It had to be photoshopped. But it wasn't. It was as recent as it could be. It was taken only minutes ago when they had left a café. He recognised Louis' outfit. He wore the same trousers he had worn yesterday with a shirt. The shirt he had given to him.
Harry swallowed. There had to be an explanation but he couldn't think of a single one. He felt pain. His heart ached as he read through the tweets. His eyes filled with tears.

Suddenly the door opened. Louis came in. Harry looked at him, not even trying to hide his pain. He held up his phone. The blue eyes looked at him in shock.

"Tell me that's not true"
His voice trembled and tears rushed into his eyes.
"Harry- It's- I-"
"Is it true, Louis? Did you kiss her? Are you with her?"
Louis looked at his feet and nodded.
"Listen Harry- I- I can't do this anymore- I can't be with you anymore. I can't take it anymore. I- I have to be with someone. In a normal relationship. Without hiding, without pretending to be just friends. I have to be in a relationship that has a future. I'm sorry, Haz.."
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"You cannot make me happy Harry- I'm sorry, I am so sorry. It doesn't work. I want to be with her"
Every word hurt him. It was like someone shot him several times.
"Please don't hate me- Please don't hate her. She doesn't know that there was something between us-"
"Leave"
"What?"
"You heard me! Get the fuck out of here"
"Please Harry, please try to understand me-"
"Shut the fuck up, Louis! Fuck you."
"Harry, I-"
Louis tried to stroke his back but got pushed away.
"Don't you even dare to touch me! Fuck off Louis, really. I don't wanna see you EVER again!"
"Please Harry-" He shook his head.
"Go fuck yourself, Tomlinson"

As he heard the door closing after a few seconds, Harry cried. Several times he tried to stop but kept looking at the pictures on his phone and simply couldn't. He knew he couldn't be around Louis now. It would kill him. He forced himself to take a shower and calmed down as far as possible.
Whilst the water was running down his body, he decided that Zayn was right. One Direction became toxic.

After his shower, he put on some clothes and made his way to the living room of their suite. Everyone had his own bedroom and those were connected through a living room with a balcony.
Niall and Liam were sitting on one of the couches, Louis on the other. Harry didn't even look at him.
"Zayn's right. It's too much. This is getting toxic. I'm out"
"What?"L A R R Y  12b
L A R R Y  12b

After his shower, he put on some clothes and made his way to the living room of their suite. Everyone had his own bedroom and those were connected through a living room with a balcony.
Niall and Liam were sitting on one of the couches, Louis on the other. Harry didn't even look at him.
"Zayn's right. It's too much. This is getting toxic. I'm out"
"What?"
Liam looked up from his phone and Niall looked at him shocked.
"But- you can't-" Liam was confused.
"I can and I just did. I can't do this anymore"
"But Harry, we are best buddies-"
Niall looked at him sadly. His eyes were glimmering with tears.
"We are Niall. And that won't change- I just need a break"
"Are you ok?" The Irishman looked at him, concerned.
"No, I'm not"
"Harry-" It was the first time that Louis spoke but Harry cut him off.
"It wasn't a question. I'm done. I just told you before I'm going to tell Simon now"
With those words Harry left them and called Simon.
End of Flashback