Part two let's gooooo

Also if I don't come back here for a few days I just wanted to say, Merry Christmas to you all you are all amazing and you have made me so happy over the last one and a half years and I can't believe that all of you like reading the things I write. It truly makes me feel better when I doubt my writing. Thank you immensely and merry Christmas have a good holiday. <3

3rd person P.O.V

Harry and Louis hadn't spoken, or seen each other in almost two months. They avoided each other at every occasion they could, Louis had stopped turning up to writing sessions a month ago and no one had really seen him in a while.

Which was why Liam and Zayn were now knocking on his door, hoping to talk to him and try to get him to come back to the studio before he gets in serious trouble with Simon, more than he already is.

"Louis, if you don't open this door I will break it down and I won't pay for it." Zayn called, his arms crossed over his chest as Liam continued knocking.

"Lou. Please." Liam added, in a softer tone than Zayn.

Just as Zayn was about to yell again, the door opened and Louis was stood in front of them, a navy wrinkled T-shirt covered his chest, he was wearing black joggers and he had bags under his eyes. "What do you want?" He asked, voice croaky. "I'm busy."

"Doing what?" Zayn asked. "Sulking? Well I don't care. You look like shit." He walked inside Louis' old apartment (he had to move back into), looking around the room. "At least you kept it mostly clean."

Louis closed the door behind Liam and walked into the living room, reaching for his cigarette, placing it between his lips and breathing in. "What do you want?"

"Lou, you need to come back to the studio." Liam sighed, sitting down on the couch, a sad expression on his face.

"I can't."

"Of course you can. Just come back with us. It's not fucking difficult. It you don't you're hitting self destruct on your own career." Zayn added in, leaning against the wall opposite his boyfriend and best friend.

"I can't." Louis muttered again, breathing the smoke out between his lips.

"Yes, you-"

"I fucking can't!" Louis interrupted. "You don't get it! You didn't know what I saw every day I walked into that fucking place. One of my best mates looked at me like I was nothing to him anymore! He looked at me with disgust and wouldn't even talk to me! And my boyf- someone I love couldn't even look at me! It's so difficult when the person who holds your heart can't even look at you anymore, it hurts. So no... I'm not going back. I can't see their faces knowing they hate me." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I can't."

"I can't say I know what it's like, because I don't but mate this is your career, you can't just walk away from it because of Harry and Niall." Liam spoke cautiously as he watched Louis take another drag of his cigarette. "You're a great songwriter, and an amazing singer. We need you. So, come back with us. Ignore Harry and Niall. Just focus on me and Zayn and the work."

"Simon will be pissed if you don't." Zayn said, walking over to Louis and sitting down next to him. "I just don't want you having to deal with him anymore than you already do."

"He's already pissed." Louis mumbled, putting the cigarette out in the ash tray on the table that was already filled with old ones. "I've refused to do the last few PR stunts and he's not happy with me."

"Why have you refused? I thought you were doing them so then you won't have to do them at all one day." Liam asked, knowing that Louis' plan was to do everything Simon wanted hoping for a bit of leniency.

"There's no reason for me to do them anymore." Louis admitted. "I was doing them for Harry, if I did them, he didn't have to. We're not together anymore, and Simon only wants to keep doing them so it doesn't look suspicious if we suddenly stop them. But I haven't felt like going out recently so I just refused, he can't exactly do anything. I've got nothing to protect anymore." He went to reach for another cigarette when Zayn stopped him.

"Just please come back to the studio with us today, you can stay in a room with Li, and you two can work your songwriting magic." Zayn offered, a smile on his face. "Please, Lou."

Louis thought for a moment, his head tilted back as he stared at the ceiling. "Fine. But if it sucks ass, then I'm not going back again."

"Deal." Liam and Zayn said in unison.

~

Louis had been messing around with lyrics and melodies with Liam for almost three hours, he hadn't seen Harry yet which was a good thing but he had seen Niall the minute he walked in but luckily Zayn steered the Irish man away.

In a way, Louis had missed being able to just write out his feelings and create something from it, it gave him a sense of power he felt like he normally lacked. "Mate, can we take a break? I'm starving." He asked Liam, putting his pen and notebook down on the floor as he stood up.

"Sure. I need to speak to Niall anyway."

The two left the room, Louis turning left, Liam turning right. Louis was on the way to where there was a vending machine when he overheard a conversation that piked his interest.

Eric and Sam were stood at the end of a corridor talking quietly, their voices were hushed but Louis was close enough to hear them. "I can't believe it actually worked." Sam smiled as Eric nodded.

"I told you it would." Eric replied. "All it took was a little bit of false words to Harry and more stunts to Louis and then they did the rest of the work for us. But I didn't expect them to break up so quickly. I thought Harry would take longer to convince that Louis was cheating on him."

"So did I. They seemed really close, but I guess there was always hidden doubt."

Louis turned away, already hearing enough to understand what had caused his entire world to turn upside down. There was only one thing he could think of doing, and that was to fix this whole situation, and to do that he needed to talk to Harry and tell him everything he just heard.

He walked around what felt like the entire studio before he found Harry, he was sat in the main recording area by himself, he had a guitar sat on the seat next to him and he was looking down at his phone, hair falling in his face.

"Harry?" Louis' voice came out a lot more unsure than he meant it to, but he cleared his throat and tried again. "Harry, can we talk?"

Harry didn't say anything at first, he didn't even look up. But then right as Louis was about to walk away, he looked up and muttered, "I guess."

Louis sighed out a breath of relief and stepped further into the room. "I just- I need to tell you something that I heard and I just need you to listen for a minute."

Harry slowly nodded, his eyes not really meeting Louis'.

"I overheard Sam and Eric having a conversation, they were talking about us." Harry's expression seemed to change to intrigued at that and he stayed silent. "They were talking about how they fed you false information and got me to do more stunts to try and break us up. And how it happened quicker than they thought. They were the ones who lied and made you think I was cheating on you." Louis looked at Harry hopefully when he finished talking, hands shaking nervously at his sides.

But when Harry spoke, he was no longer hopeful.

"You'd do anything to get the blame off you, won't you?"

"What?" Louis looked at him, confused. "I-I was just telling you what I heard. I didn't do anything, it was all Eric and Sam. Eric was the one who told me I had to do more stunts and he was the one who sent me to the hotel with Eleanor. It was them."

Harry shook his head, chuckling dryly. "When are you ever going to be honest and admit you did something wrong? It's pathetic honestly."

"Harry- I...I didn't do anything."

"Did you really think I was going to believe that Sam and Eric were behind our break up. No. It was your fault, Louis. Don't try to blame someone else." Harry's words were coming out harsh and Louis didn't think he had ever felt so hollow.

"What do you want me to do, Louis?" Harry asked, his eyes cold. "Do I have to break up with you all over again so you understand I don't want this anymore. I can't be with someone who I can't trust and who constantly lies."

"I'm not lying!" Louis was tired of trying to defend himself, his whole body was aching for contact with the man in front of him, it felt like he was dying without it.

It was that moment that Niall and Liam decided to walk in. "Woah, what's going on?" Liam asked when he saw Harry looking angry, and Louis with a hurt expression.

"What did you do?" Niall glared at Louis, immediately walking over to Harry.

"Niall I-"

"Haven't you done enough?" Niall spat, turning his back to Louis as he whispered something to Harry.

"Niall, maybe we should just, hear both sides of the story." Liam tried, stepping into the middle of the room.

"Why bother when Louis would probably lie anyway?" Niall muttered, not meaning for anyone but Harry to hear.

"Is that all you two think I do?" Louis asked. "Lie? Blame other people? Have any of you ever trusted what I say? Or am I just that bad a person you can't believe what I say?"

"Lou-"

"Don't bother, Liam. They've made it very clear what they think of me." Louis sighed, his whole body deflating. "And Y'know what?" He looked up to see everyone's eyes on him. "I'm too tired to convince you I'm telling the truth. I'm just too tired." With that he turned and walked away, the room still in silence behind him.

But as he walked away, Louis couldn't help but wonder maybe there was hidden doubt like Eric had said. Maybe Harry never really did trust him?

"Niall, what the fuck?" Liam groaned as he watched Louis retreating figure. "I don't care what you think you know about what happened but you can't get involved in this. It's nothing to do with you." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know you want to protect Harry but from who? Louis? He's not gonna hurt him. In fact I think he's the one who's most hurt. You didn't see him a few months ago. He didn't look like him. He looked dull. But you won't let him explain." He paused and looked at Harry. "Either of you."

"Liam-"

"No." Liam cut Harry off. "Maybe you should try to remember Louis before all this started, do either of you really think that he would have cheated on you? Harry you were his world. You were everything to him."

"I just don't understand." Harry mumbled, Niall stood silent by his side. "I doesn't make sense."

"Because you haven't tried to understand. I'm sorry for what you had to see and hear but Louis wasn't in control of any of it. He's never been in control." Liam sighed when he saw that Harry still didn't look like he believed. "I need to go find him before he goes home."

With that Liam quickly walked the way Louis left to go find him, leaving Harry lost in silence with Niall stood next to him.

~

It was a few hours after Liam had left to go find Louis, and Harry had been aimlessly walking around the studio trying to piece together the last three months and understand. Because after hearing what Liam said he realised he had been closed off to what Louis was saying and he wasn't allowing himself to believe him.

He wondered if what Liam said was true, that Louis really didn't cheat, he wanted to believe it but he had just been so hurt to hear all those things about him and Eleanor and that not cheating seemed untrue.

Then he was too hurt to listen to what the man had to say. He didn't let him explain. He was just too worried that the person he loved no longer loved him and after hearing their management constantly say they would never last he started to believe it.

He was about to go back to the recording studio to grab his stuff when he overheard Eric and Sam talking.

"Did you hear them arguing earlier today?" Sam asked, smiling.

"Yeah, it was rather entertaining." Eric replied. "We did better than I though at breaking them up, even Niall hates him now."

Sam nodded. "It shows that you only have to tell one person lies and then the problem expands on its own. Louis even helped us by not even explaining why."

"Idiot." Eric laughed. "We did what we were supposed to and now we can relax."

Harry felt like time had stopped as he watched the two continue with the conversation about something random. Louis had told him the truth. Harry had called him a liar. He broke up with him when he did nothing wrong.

He felt like an idiot, this whole time Louis had been telling the truth and he hadn't believed him because some assholes from their management tried to split them up. And they'd succeeded.

"Oh god." He breathed out. "What have I done?"

"Harry?" Niall's voice echoed down the corridor, his body turning the corner and coming into Harry's view. "Are you leaving soon?" He got closer and saw the younger man's expression. "What's wrong?"

"I need to see Louis."

Niall's eyes widened. "What? I thought-"

"He was telling the truth." Harry rushed out already moving to get his stuff so he could drive to Louis' apartment. "This whole time he was telling the truth and we were horrible."

"Wait, so he... didn't cheat on you?" Niall asked, walking with him.

"I don't think so." Harry breathed out. "And I broke up with him for no reason. And I hurt him as much and maybe more than I thought he had hurt me." He sighed as he grabbed his bag. "Oh god, I wanted to hurt him because I thought he had cheated. I wanted him to feel like I did. But now... I need to apologise and I need to talk to him."

"Do you need me to drive you?" Niall asked.

"No. My cars out the front. I'll talk to you later, I need to go." With that Harry practically ran out the door to his car and chucked his bag in the back before starting the car and speeding towards Louis' apartment.

~

Harry's hands were shaking as he reached Louis' apartment and knocked on the door, the sound seeming to ricochet through his body. He felt like he was waiting forever before the door opened and Liam was staring at him with an unrecognisable expression on his face.

"I-Is Louis here?" Harry asked, voice low.

"Depends." Liam muttered. "Why are you here?"

"I need to talk to him."

"He's not home."

Harry sighed. "Cmon, Liam please. I need to speak with him."

Liam eyed Harry suspiciously as he pulled the door closer to his body so Harry couldn't see inside the apartment. "Why should I let you in? Every time you've talked with him. I've been there to see how it affects him. And I won't watch you hurt him again." Liams voice was stern and Harry may have turned away if he wasn't so stubborn.

"I messed up." He started. "I know that. But I need to try and make it right. I need him to understand and hear what I have to say."

"I don't think that's a good-"

"Liam." Louis' voice came from further inside the apartment, Liam went quiet for a moment before the door was opened more and revealed Louis who was wearing a plain T-shirt and sweatpants, he had bags under his eyes and frown lines on his forehead. "Thank you, but I can handle this." He smiled slightly at his friend.

Liam looked to Harry with a cautious look before he stepped back and grabbed his bag that was on the floor by the door. "I'll leave you. Call me soon." With a final nod from Louis, Liam left and Louis and Harry were left alone.

They were both stood in silence for a while until Harry spoke up. "Louis...I'm really sorry. I heard Sam and Eric talking and I'm so sorry for not believing you before."

"Maybe you should come inside." Louis mumbled. "If you wanna talk about this then we need to sit down and do it properly." He opened the door further and stepped to the side, letting Harry in before closing the door behind him.

They walked into the living room in silence, stepping past a few unpacked boxes Louis had left out after he had moved back in. They sat apart on the couch, Louis was staring at the floor while Harry looked around the room, noticing the lack of personal items.

"I know you're sorry." Louis started to speak, his voice a lot stronger than he felt. "But for months you called me a liar, and a cheater and you didn't trust me when I was telling you the truth. And that... that hurt more than I ever thought it would." He ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. "I'm not trying to make you feel bad, it was my fault too. I didn't explain anything to you. I just expected you to understand."

"No. This is on me." Harry said, eyes looking into Louis' blue ones. "I should have believed you when you said you didn't cheat, I shouldn't have listened to what I was hearing and I shouldn't have just brushed you off when you did try to explain. And I think I understand now."

"Look, we both have things that we regret doing and saying but we can't change it, and we can't just forgive and forget because that doesn't solve anything." Louis turned to look at his ex boyfriend properly. "We need to talk about it from start to finish. You need to tell me what you heard when you heard it and when you started to doubt me. And in return I'll tell you everything that Eric told me from start to finish." He swallowed and looked directly into Harry's eyes. "We need to talk this shit over before we start on apologies."

Harry nodded and began their long talk about where things started to go wrong.

Almost an hour later they had finally finished talking and now they both understood what the other was thinking. Harry now knew that Louis' logic was if he did more stunts, then the sooner he could never do them at all, and he just wanted to get it over with so he did things he knew would work. And Louis understood why Harry doubted him as he now knew what Harry had overheard and what it looked like from another perspective. But he still wasn't sure about wether to forgive him. For the past two months he'd felt like something had been ripped out of him and he'd felt so hurt when Harry didn't believe him.

"Thank you for telling me everything." Louis said as the sun started to go down and a soft, golden, yellow swept into the room through the windows.

"Thank you for listening." Harry replied, hands clasped in his lap. "Louis, I really am so sorry for everything. I was horrible, I wanted to hurt you because at the time I thought you hurt me and I wanted to make you feel what I felt. But now, I just feel guilt because I doubted you and said all those things that I didn't mean. I just- I'm sorry. I'm going to keep saying sorry until I feel like I've said it enough." He looked down at his hands. "I would ask for your forgiveness but I don't feel as if I've earned it back yet. I know I hurt you. I know that me saying I didn't trust you and that you were lying hurt you. So I'm not going to ask you to forgive me yet."

Louis nodded, he was glad Harry had said that because frankly he didn't know if he could forgive him yet. He loved Harry of course he did. He would never stop loving him. But all the things said while they were fighting were still fresh in his mind and it's better to let them heal before they try again.

"I should probably go. Thank you again." Harry smiled at him before standing up and going to walk to the door when Louis stopped him by grabbing his wrist. His touch was so gentle and he felt a rush of electricity in his veins, igniting his body.

"Wait." Louis looked up at him as he let go of his wrist. "Did you- did you have any doubt about my loyalty before. Not obvious doubt but like... a hidden thought that I may have not loved you as much as I do." He asked, expression curious.

Harry was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "Before I didn't think I did but now I think I realise I was always worried that you may not love me anymore. It wasn't anything you did. It was more or less what I thought, and how our management isn't supportive and makes us hide, it just created a thought that one day you would prefer to love someone who you could actually be seen out with." He shrugged as he looked at the floor, head down.

"I would never love someone else." Louis whispered. "I don't think I physically can."

Harry raised his head and looked into the eyes of a man he loved. "I want you to know that I do trust you. I do. I just got confused for a while. Things became blurred. But Louis I do trust you. I trust you with my life." His eyes glassed over as he tried to stop the tears from falling. "I know I said I couldn't trust you but I was hurt and confused and scared. I said things I didn't mean to hurt you. But I do trust you."

Louis let a small smile grace his face, the corners of his lips tipping up. He didn't know what to say so he nodded a little, still smiling at the man in front of him.

Harry took a deep breath and grabbed his coat that had been discarded on the back of the couch. "I should actually go now." He laughed a little. "Thank you for listening to me. I'll give you some time to think. And if you don't ever want to forgive me then I understand, but if you do eventually forgive me then... just let me know... I guess." He turned and walked towards the door, only looking back as he was about to walk out. "Goodbye, Louis."

"Goodbye, Harry."

~

It had only been a few days since Harry had come round but Louis hasn't stopped thinking since. Everyday he would think about what happened between them over and over.

He wanted to talk to Harry today and say he forgave him because last night he realised just how much he missed having the younger lad around and how much he missed everything about their life. He wasn't the only one who was hurt, Harry was hurt because he thought the person he loved cheated on him. Emotions were going wild and Louis couldn't hold that against him even if he wanted to.

He knew that Harry had already forgiven him, he had said so during their long talk four days ago but Louis had yet to tell him he forgave him too. He didn't know how to bring it up without having to go through everything all over again.

They hadn't ignored each other since they talked, they would just smile and have small useless conversations if they saw each other during the day but Louis wanted to talk to him properly.

"Are you sure you want to do this now?" Liam asked as the two walked back into the recording studio after getting some lunch. "You can wait a little longer."

"Liam, I appreciate you." Louis started. "But none of it was Harry's fault, he said things to me that hurt but it wasn't his fault. It was our fucking management that tried their best to ruin things. Neither of us are to blame for what happened between us so why should I keep acting as if he is."

Liam nodded as the two kept walking through the empty halls to where Zayn, Niall and Harry were all sat around the table talking about lyrics and melodies.

"You're back!" Zayn yelled when he saw the two walk in the room, he jumped up from the table and ran over to Liam who was carrying a bag of food. "Did you get chicken wings?"

"Yes. All for you." Liam laughed as he handed the bag to Zayn who grabbed it and took it back over to the table.

Louis walked further into the room, over to where Harry was sat. "Harry? Can we talk for a minute?"

Harry looked up and smiled. "Sure."

"We can walk if you want? Just so you get out the studio for a bit?" Louis said as more of a question than a statement but Harry nodded and got up from
his seat.

The two left the room without a word to the others and headed outside where the wind was starting to pick up and the sky was starting to darken. They both walked in silence for a bit as their shoes scuffed the path and their arms brushed occasionally by how close they were.

"I don't think I need to forgive you." Louis spoke, making Harry whip his head to look at him with a worried expression. "Because I don't think you did anything that means you need my forgiveness." The younger man relaxed a little but kept his eyes on Louis as they walked. "You were hurt, and you acted in a way to cope with what you felt. You're shouldn't blame yourself because frankly neither of us are in the wrong, it was Eric and Sam and probably Simon."

Harry shook his head a little. "But Lou... I broke up with you and I said things to hurt you and I was horrible, I need you to forgive me. I need to know that your forgive me for that."

Louis stopped walking and gently wrapped his hand around Harry's wrist, pulling him to the side of the path, under a tree so they were out the way. "Okay." He whispered. "If you need me to say it then I will." He looked directly into Harry's eyes, his fingers still warm against his skin. "I forgive you. For everything you said, I forgive you. I don't blame you for anything. You broke up with me because you thought I had done something horrible to you. And that's acceptable. And yeah, you hurt me, but you already no that and I think you punish yourself enough for it so I don't need to hold it against you. The only thing I ask is please, trust me when I say something, just let me talk so we can communicate properly."

"I know. I'm so sorry. I don't even know why I kept ignoring what you were trying to tell me. It just all started happening at once and I was scared of losing you. I'm sorry." Harry mumbled, subconsciously moving his body closer to Louis'.

"You didn't know how to handle it, you acted in a way in which you felt and that's okay. I would have preferred if you tried to listen to what I was telling you but I know that in that moment you were hurt. I don't hold anything against you, love." Louis replied, still holding Harry's body close to his own.

"But if I didn't break up with you we would still be together and if I hadn't listened to what Eric and Sam were saying none of this would have happened and-"

"Stop." Louis whispered, moving his hand off Harry's wrist and moving it up to hold his cheek. "Stop saying sorry." He gently rubbed his thumb over Harry's cheek bone, catching the few tears that had had fallen. "We broke up. We didn't talk for months. That happened and we can't do anything about it but it's not your fault. Harry... I love you. And I have and will always love you. Okay? We can try again. Now we've handled everything, we can try and start our life again."

"You want that?" Harry asked, his hands moving to hold onto the end of Louis' jacket in a tight grip, as if he was afraid he would leave.

"Of course I do. I always want a life with you. My life is you. We can start it slow. I'll stay in my apartment for now and we'll build the foundations up again so that we're stronger than before." Louis smiled and leaned his head forward to lean against Harry's.

"Everything will be fine, right?" He whispered, their faces leaning closer as if they were magnetised to each other. "Everything will go back to normal. We'll be okay?"

"We'll be better than okay." Louis reassured, his other hand going to cup Harry's cheek. "Everything will be better than before. I'll move back in later, and we will have grown from what happened. The only thing that will change will be that our management is not getting away with this. If they want to keep us in their label, things are gonna change. Because I love you. And I want everyone to know it's you. No one else."

Harry smiled. "I love you." Their eyes were locked on each other as if they were mesmerised by each other. Louis' hand was still cupping Harry's cheek, his other hand was gripping his waist and it wasn't long before Louis was leaning the extra space to kiss Harry's lips for the first time in months. He couldn't wait any longer to finally get a taste of the oxygen he'd been craving.

It felt like such a relief to be be this close again, for Louis to be able to feel Harry's soft lips against his own and to hear the small hitches in his breathing. He hadn't felt this alive in months and finally he had his boy back. "God, I missed you." Louis pulled back only slightly to look in Harry's eyes before he was moving back to kiss his lips, then along his jaw and down his neck. "I missed you so much."

Harry didn't seem to be able to talk, he just nodded as his breathing became more and more erratic and his hands were desperately gripping Louis' body.

They only pulled apart when the rain started falling and drenching their bodies. Harry laughed against Louis' lips when he kept trying to kiss him despite them now literally dripping with water. "Cmon we should go." He started to pull at Louis' hand trying to get him to walk but Louis had other plans as he gripped Harry's waist and gently pushed him against the tree.

"It's just a bit of rain." He smirked, going back to nip at his jaw. "Are you afraid, love?"

Harry just a shook his head with a laugh. "No, but I don't fancy either of us getting a cold, you're grumpy when your sick." His hands were loosely holding Louis' wrists as he let the man kiss wherever he pleased.

"I do not get grumpy." Louis denied as he pulled back to study Harry's face. "That's a lie."

"Lou, I've had to take care of you when you were sick and you were the worst." Harry laughed, watching his boyfriend frown. "Now Cmon, we need to get back to the studio. We're both already soaking wet."

"Wait." Louis stopped Harry again, this time as he pushed him against the tree he followed and his body was pressed up against Harry's. "I never actually asked you properly."

Harry looked at him confused before Louis' lips were on his, "Be my boyfriend again." he whispered in between loving kisses.

Harry pulled back and smiled at Louis. "How could I ever refuse that?" He kissed Louis' forehead once before pushing the man off him and grabbing his hand. "Now let's go."

Louis hesitated but allowed Harry to guide him back to the studio anyway, their hands still linked and bodies close as they shared secret kisses as the rain continued to fall around them.

~

Almost four months had passed and Louis had moved back in with Harry a few days ago, the two were still going strong, they talked whenever they had doubts or problems and relied on trust. Only the boys knew they were back together, they hadn't even told their parents yet because they wanted to be able to build the foundations of trust back up before they officially told people.

They weren't going to tell the boys but Niall had caught them kissing one day and blabbed to the others so not telling them was out the window.

They had been careful when at work as they didn't want Simon to know they were back together as they had found out it was Simon who put Eric and Sam in charge of splitting them up and they didn't want a rematch of what happened before.

The couple had been contacting lawyers and constructing a case against Simon silently so when the two would go to confront him they already had a plan in place and couldn't be blindsided.

~

It was a rainy Tuesday when the couple were stood outside Simons office, waiting. They had asked to speak with him but hadn't mentioned what it was about. Louis was managing to hide his panic but Harry was a little more obvious with the way he kept fidgeting and playing with the rings on his fingers, trying to distract himself.

Finally after what felt like hours the door was opening and Simon was stood in front of them with a fake smile. "Hello, boys. How can I help." He sounded sarcastic as he stepped to the side allowing the two in before closing the door.

"We know what you did." Louis cut straight to the point, he didn't want to be in here longer than needed.

Simon froze for a moment but only a moment before he was regaining his powerful posture and sitting down in his chair, hands linked on top of the desk. "And what did I do?"

"You promised that Eric and Sam would get a raise if they managed to split me and Harry up." Louis stepped forward leaning down so his palms were on the desk, looking directly into Simon's eyes. "You didn't want to have to keep dealing with the rumours that you believe were tarnishing our career. You wanted them gone. You figured that if we hated each other then people wouldn't find anything in the way we acted to start new rumours. And it would be easier for you because there would be nothing to try and hide." He leaned closer again, his posture as powerful as Simon's as he tried to take control of the situation. "I'll admit it worked. Your plan worked for a bit. Harry hated me. I bet you were overjoyed. But I bet you didn't expect us to figure it out. Did you?" Louis shook his head, chuckling. "No. You didn't plan for that. And now we've gotten back together and you can't do anything about it."

"Of course I can." Simons snarled, leaning back in his chair. "I own you." Louis tried his best not to want to punch the man in front of him as he spoke. "Y'know you were all so excited when I offered to sign you." He glanced over at Harry as he smirked. "You couldn't wait to be able to start working with me, oh you were so naive. So young. But Louis, I thought you would look closer at the contracts you signed. But you were too excited and didn't read it properly. You signed all control over your romantic life to me. I make the rules. I always do." He glanced down at his desk. "Maybe I should get you to do more stunts again now you've decided to get back together. But this time Harry will have to do them as well. It didn't have to be this way but you never listen."

"I'll refuse." Louis snapped. "We'll both refuse."

"Then I'll ruin your careers." Simon looked over to Harry who was watching the interaction nervously. "Both of yours."

"How?" Louis asked, standing straight again but his eyes were still locked on Simon. "We can tell the truth. All I have to do is say the truth and more people will believe me than you. What do you think people will think about you closeting two boys who were only young when you shut them away. And you can't even lie about it. We have evidence against you. Anything from now on, will backfire on you." Louis glared at the man. "I'll ruin your career." He paused for a moment when he felt Harry come stand beside him.

"We won't lose fans because we're together." Harry spoke up. "We could actually gain more support. But you won't be the one in charge of us anymore. You don't get to decide what we have to do anymore."

"You'll regret this." Simon snapped, his powerful facade starting to melt as he realised he was losing one of the biggest bands in his label and his public appearance may be tarnished.

"Tell that to our lawyer." Both boys left the office without another word, finally feeling like they weren't weighed down.

~

The couple shared their relationship by posting a picture on Instagram and an article by GQ which explained their whole experience with Simon and closeting.

There seemed to be an uproar that carried around the entire world at the news that two boys from one of the biggest boy bands in history we're together and had been for some time. And when people found out how they had been treated, not just them but the whole band, Simon's name was slandered across multiple articles and news reports.

Thanks to their lawyer they had managed to find a loophole in the contract and were able to break it early which meant the band no longer had to deal with Simon and the huge workload they always had to try and handle. They now had the chance to join a new label and be treated correctly and be able to continue making music that people loved. But this time there would be no secrets. No fake girlfriends, no cheating rumours. Just the truth.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Louis called as he grabbed Clifford's dog lead off the counter and walked into the living room to see his boyfriend sat on the couch typing a message on his phone.

"Yeah, just give me a minute." Harry replied as he felt Louis' lips gently kiss his forehead before hearing Clifford's claws tapping the floor as he ran towards Louis, excited to go for a walk. "Okay, I'm done. I was just telling my mum the plans for Christmas."

Louis nodded and made sure he had his phone and house keys in his pocket. "So we're going to my mums on Christmas Eve and then your mums Christmas Day. Is that what we decided?" He asked as Harry put on his shoes and grabbed his coat.

"Yeah, we'll stay overnight at your mums and then just before lunch on Christmas Day we'll head to my mums. That okay?"

"That's perfect." Louis smiled and kissed Harry's lips twice before he was turning to open the front door, a gust of wind hitting them immediately.

Harry slipped his hand into Louis' free one as they began walking down the street, their shoulders brushing with each step. "Sometimes this doesn't feel real." He whispered, watching Clifford sniff at something in the grass.

"What doesn't?" Louis questioned, tightening his grip on his boyfriends hand.

"Being able to do this. Just walking hand in hand with you in public. It's something that I used to wish we could do and now we can. It-it just doesn't seem real." Harry turned his head to look at Louis, his cheeks we're turning red from the cold and his eyes were a deeper blue than usual.

"Well it is. And I'm so glad because it means I can do this." He leant forward and pressed his lips against Harry's for a few seconds. "And if anyone sees. It doesn't matter."

Harry couldn't help but smile as he squeezed Louis' hand and looked back at the path. He would have never thought they would have been able to come out so soon. He thought it would be years before they would be able to act like a couple in public. But here they are, walking down the street in the middle of December, hand in hand, walking their dog. It was so mundane but it felt so special to them.

When Louis had to move back into his old apartment after Harry broke up with him because he thought he was cheating, he felt like his whole world had just shattered. But that couldn't be right because his whole world was right next to him, and he was laughing at the fact Clifford got scared by a squirrel. And he was reminded just how much he loved the man who he happily called his whole world, he loved him more than words could ever express.

Because words simply cannot describe the feelings he gets when Harry is near. It's indescribable.

~

Oh my gawwwwddddd. I've finally finished this. I'm so sorry for how long this one took to write, for whatever reason I just couldn't write more than like two paragraphs a night and it wasn't going anywhere. But it's done. I hope it isn't bad and that you liked it.

Don't forget to eat and drink something today (even if it's small). I love you. <33

Honesty will always get you farther in life than lies ever could. A lie may open many doors but they will only be slammed in your face when the truth comes out - Unknown

Forgiveness does not change the past but it does enlarge the future - Paul Boese