"Louis. I love Louis." Harry whispered. His eyes were shut, head bowed down. He was sweating like hell.

"Harry that's awesome!" Zayn nearly shouted while Liam hushed Zayn. Harry smiled at Zayn, finally opening his eyes and looking at him. Zayn hugged him and patted his back. Pulling away from the hug, Harry and Zayn both looked at Liam.

It was Liam who was sweating now.

"Li?" Zayn asked.

"Harry...I'm happy for you but I'm so sorry...I-Louis doesn't believe in love for himself...He thinks nobody can actually love him; he is even sure that nobody wants to befriend him...I-I'm really sorry Harry I can't even help it." Liam said shakily.

"I-but why?" Harry asked, almost in tears.

"I can't tell you that, I'm sorry. I'm not the right person who should, Louis is." Liam said.

"Is that why he was silent crying and singing 'The Heart Wants What It Wants' to himself?" Harry asked, clearly shaking.

"Yes. That's his favourite song. I'm so sorry Harry, I've even spoken to him about it but he's unable to move on from what had happened." Liam said.

"Can you indirectly tell me what has happened? Like give me an outline of it?" Harry pleaded, now openly crying.

"All I can tell you is that he had a best friend, who was not me, who Louis had started liking and eventually fallen in love with, but he didn't reciprocate the feelings and things just got really bad..." Liam's voice trailed off and Zayn held him.

"It's okay Li, our Tommo is strong. He's no longer hurting physically. He hasn't taken the pain killers for over a month now, remember?" Zayn told him.

"Hurting physically? Pain killers? What is going on?!" Harry shouted.

"Harry calm down. There are things we both can't tell you, alright?" Zayn shouted back.

"You both? You also knew? And you never told me?" Harry shouted.

"I can't tell you Harry! You are my friend, my best friend, but even Louis is! I can't betray him now, can I?" Zayn shouted and Liam just watched on.

"And you betrayed me?" Harry shouted but while crying.

"He didn't betray you, alright?" A new voice spoke.

All three of them turned their heads to see Louis leaning on the wall, arms crossed on his chest.

"Lou?" Harry spoke.

"Haz. Just know that neither Zayn nor Liam betrayed you. I don't want to ruin your friendship with either of them because of my problems." Louis said flatly.

"Our friendship won't get ruined Lou, never." Harry said with certainty and looked at Zayn and Liam who nodded.

"You three are sure about that but I'm not, especially not when your friendship's downfall could be due to my problems." Louis said.

"If you could just tell me what's wrong Lou."

"Nope, I'm sorry. I can't." Louis said and with one look at Liam and Zayn, he exited the dorm saying, "I'm going back to my dorm, see you tomorrow."

"Lou it's 2am, come back." Harry shouted midst crying but once the door closed, it didn't open.

And Harry stormed back to his room and closed the door behind him. He sunk down to the floor and cried his heart out. Midst cries he said, "Why did I have to fall for Louis?!" and didn't know when but he fell on the floor, while crying.

***

Harry woke up in the morning to someone stroking his curls. He opened his eyes and met a blue pair. "Lou?" He sat up but he saw someone else. Gemma Anne Styles. "Gemma!!"

"Hey baby bro." Gemma said happily. Both shared a quick hug and that was when Harry saw Zayn sitting at his feet. Then he realized he was on a bed. He quickly remembered all the incidents of previous night, or early morning. The tears automatically streamed down his face and Gemma quickly thumbed them away while Zayn squeezed his foot.

"Zayn and Liam told me what happened. I'm so sorry for all that happened H, but let's give Louis some time, yeah?" Gemma said.

"Yeah, I nearly lost my shit yesterday." Harry giggled. "Where's Liam?"

"He left after Gemma arrived. Louis was all alone so he was worried Louis would do something stupid." Zayn said.

"Shit, shit, shit! Is Lou okay? Did he-" Harry said, hurrying out of the bed.

"Calm down, calm down. Louis is all fine, Liam texted me 10 minutes ago. He was still sleeping." Zayn calmed him down.

"Oh thank God." Harry flopped down on the bed. Gemma put her hand on his shoulder, "Already so concerned, eh H? You're honestly sooo in love with your Louis." Harry blushed at this. Your Louis. How he wished Louis could be his. "Who put me on the bed by the ways?" Harry asked.

"Me, you gotta repay me." Zayn joked.

"How do I repay you?" Harry asked, finally smiling ear-to-ear.

"Do the dishes for a week." Zayn said.

"Alright, I can do that."

***

"Good morning Tommo." Liam said cheerily.

"Morning Payno." Louis said groggily.

"Slept well?" Liam asked.

"Hmm...Yeah. Where's Hazza?" Louis asked, with a smile.

"Uhm...Louis, do you remember what happened last night?" Liam asked.

Louis was in thought for a while then realization hit him and he said, "Holy fucking shit! He wanted to know about my past innit?"

Liam nodded and said, "Why can't you trust him with your past? You trusted Zayn and see how trustworthy Zayn is. He didn't give up your secret even to his best friend, Harry."

Long pause. Louis had his head in his hands. Then Louis spoke, "What's the time?"

"Don't. Change. The. Topic." Liam said, firmly.

"I'm not! I just wanna know the time." Louis said.

"It's 10 in the morning. I got here half-an-hour ago." Liam said.

"How was Haz the entire night?" Louis was genuinely concerned.

"Why do you care? He's too depressed that you trust his best friend but not him even though you are way much closer to Harry than Zayn. You talk to Harry more than to me nowadays and no, I'm not complaining." Liam said.

"I didn't mean to hurt him." Louis said, in a broken voice.

"Then why can't you tell him? I'm not forcing you but just want to know why." Liam asked.

"Because...it's been a while since I've had a close friend like Harry. Harry knows everything about me, the time I wake up, sleep, eat and even at what times I use the washroom." Louis said, with a chuckle at the end.

Liam decided not to say anything. If Louis was saying something, let him. Seeing Liam's silence, Louis continued.

"He knows what I like to eat, drink or wear. He knows how I like my cupboards arranged, he knows my favourite colour, animal, food, singer and whatnot. He even knows the number of boxers I have." Louis said with a smile which he thought Liam didn't notice.

Louis continued, "But even I know everything about him. I know what he prefers, what he despises, everything. No wonder I keep the dorm clean nowadays. I hate to see him cry or upset. The first day I went to his dorm, he told me about his hate for untidiness. I don't know why I just decided that very day that I will keep my dorm clean no matter what. There are so many such things that have happened. Like, after he told me about his father's cruelty, I swore I would kill anybody who hurt him."

Liam was surprised at the number of emotions Louis was showing. Ever since what happened 2 years ago, Louis shushed all emotions and feelings towards everyone except his own family and Liam. Now, however, everything seemed different. Liam felt that his old Tommo was making a comeback. And Liam could thank only one guy: Harry Edward Styles.

"Louis...why didn't you tell me about all these things before?" Liam asked.

"Because I didn't want to waste your time. You are having a great relationship with Zayn and Harry both, I didn't want to bother you." Louis said.

"You are my first priority, alright?" Liam said. Louis smiled.

"Now, if you already care so much about Harry, why can't you tell him about your past?" Liam asked.

Louis knew the answer very well to that. "Because Li... I'm really scared."

"Of what? What is Louis William Tomlinson scared of?" Liam asked.

"Losing him." Louis said.

"And why don't you want to lose him?" Liam urged. Louis was one step away from actually saying what Liam was waiting for him to say.

Louis stood up. "I need to brush my teeth, drink some tea, have a bath."

"But-"

"I'll be right back." And Louis rushed to the washroom.

***

Gemma opened the door and saw Liam standing. "Hey Liam. All freshened up?" "Yeah." Liam replied, with a smile. And that was when Gemma saw another lad with blue eyes looking at her. He wasn't too tall, but not too short either. He looked a little bit familiar.

"Uh hello there. You are?" Gemma asked.

Louis smiled and said, "I'm Louis Tomlinson." Something about the girl reminded Louis of Harry but he ignored the thought.

Gemma's eyes grew wide in realization, "Ohhhh Louis! Louis, right. Come in."

Louis looked at her in confusion, "Y-you k-know me?"

"Yeah! Of course. My brother does nothing but talk about you." Gemma said but looking at Louis' still confused face she said, "Hi, I'm Gemma. Gemma Styles."

Louis' expression broke into realization and he said, "Oh...no wonder you look so much like him! It's great to meet you Gemma, I'm Louis. Your brother definitely loves you too much." Gemma was about to say that My brother sure does love you more but swallowed the words and instead said, "Hehe not as much as I love him." Louis nodded and moved into the dorm, Gemma following close behind.

He saw Harry eating popcorn while watching Frozen. Louis loved that movie; he'd watched it a gazillion times with his sisters. So, he said, "I love frozen." Harry turned away from the television to face Louis. Louis looked like...winter. His blue sweater making his eyes bluer, his hair in a fringe on the forehead, cheeks rosy because of the cold weather, lips-something Harry looked away from.

"Hi Louis." Harry said and looked back to the television. "Haz, I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't mean getting angry or leaving like that." Louis pleaded, sitting down next to Harry. He was lowkey hurt that Harry called him Louis and not Lou.

"One, I'm not Haz, I'm Harry. Two, sorry not accepted. Three, don't sit next to me." Harry said, watching the movie.

"Please Hazza? I'm so sorry babes...I need some time too, to open. Remember you taking your time to explain to me about your dad's homophobic shit? Even I need some time Hazza." Louis said and placed his hand on Harry's thigh. Harry turned red at the sudden contact and hoped Louis didn't see his face. He turned the movie off and looked at Louis.

"I'm sorry too Lou. So very sorry. I just get too grumpy when I'm worried." Harry said, took Louis' hand in his own and gave it a little squeeze. Louis smiled and said, "I knew you'd understand. Thank you Haz." "It's nothing Lou. I lov-" Harry paused when he realized what he was saying and immediately changed his sentence to "I love to help people."

Louis nodded his head. Gemma, who had been listening to the entire conversation, knew that her brother had fallen truly, madly and deeply for Louis. In just 2 and half months! But she liked Louis and wasn't against anything.

She saw Harry put his head on Louis' shoulder and Louis wrap his right shoulder around Harry. She wondered how they were so oblivious of not only their own feelings, but also each other's feelings for themselves. Only if they spoke to each other would they understand. She shook her head and walked to the kitchen, where she had been given the job to cook.

She entered and saw Liam and Zayn making out in front of the stove.

"Boys!?! Get a room!?" She shrieked.

They pulled away and looked at her. "Sorry got a bit carried away while celebrating..." Zayn said. "What are you celebrating about?" She asked and saw Zayn and Liam look at each other. "Oh lord wait...are you-Liam are you pregnant?" She asked.

Liam's eyes widened and he asked, "Who told you I bott-" "No he's not pregnant Gem." Zayn cut Liam and glared at him. Gemma grinned but asked, "What is it then?"

"You won't believe it." Zayn said, excitedly.

Gemma looked at both silently.

"Louis loves Harry too!" Liam said quietly but cheerily.

***

2128 words. How was this chapter?

So Gemma finally arrived, and she's a queen.

What do you think will happen next? Are Liam and Zayn simply assuming things?

A massive shoutout to all those who've been with me since the start of this ff!

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Lots of love,

S

P.S. Lots on the wayyyy xx