I Don't Love You (And I Always Will)

Chapter Twenty Five

Louis

Louis really had no idea why he brought Harry over. The girl's Tangled tradition was sacred, and not even Niall had ever been. He preferred taking a shot of vodka as a show pre-game. But as Louis watched Harry leave the studios that morning deflated, he knew he had to step in. The only time he had seen that look on Harry's face was his first day at the NYCB, when Louis was such a prick to him.

Louis hates thinking that he had the same effect as Nick Grimshaw at one point.

He spent his afternoon trying to subtly observe Harry, who was slurping zucchini noodles and humming along to the songs onscreen. He was sharing a loveseat with Gigi, his head on her shoulder as they shared a plaid fleece blanket. The girl's apartment was ALWAYS freezing. Last summer, the heat in the city got up to 95 degrees. Louis brought a thermometer to the girl's place, where it was 60 degrees. Wasn't heat supposed to rise?

Thermodynamics aside, Harry seemed closer to himself. Louis felt eyes on him, and turned to find Eleanor smirking at him. He flicked her ear, and she kicked him in the stomach in retaliation.

This quickly devolved into a wrestling match between the two, Gigi and Harry cheering them on from the couch.

"What the hell." A voice mumbled from the doorway. All four heads whipped to see who it was, finding an unexpected figure, wiping his eyes from sleep.

"Zayn?" Louis and Harry exclaimed, turning to look at Gigi, who had gone beet red. "Where did you come from?"

"The bedroom?" Zayn said, pointing back to Gigi's room down the hall. "Where did you come from?"

"He's always here." Eleanor explained from her position on the floor, straddling Louis' chest in an attempt to keep him down.

"What's all this noise about?" Yet another man asked, this time from behind Zayn.

"Liam?" Louis and Harry asked again, the latter's mouth popping open in shock.

"Yeah..." Liam said, throwing an arm around Zayn's shoulder from the hall. "My apartment is being treated for termites."

"Still?" Louis questioned. It had been a month. Louis had never had a termite problem, thank god, but he doubted it took that long.

"Yes." Eleanor cut in, her face now the red one. Gigi was cackling from the couch. "Oh, shut it G." Eleanor quipped.

Harry and Louis turned to look at one another, Louis still on the floor, busting out laughing.

"Oi, what's so funny?" An irish voice chimed in.

"NIALL?" Everyone exclaimed, turning to the kitchen island, where the blonde boy was sitting on the counter eating ice cream.

"What in God's name are you doing here?" Eleanor screeched, Niall seeming unfazed in response.

"We ran out of ice cream."

"We need new locks." Gigi sighed, putting her head in her hands.

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The next morning, Louis was on a mission. He was going to keep a smile on Harry's face all day. In a platonic bro way, of course.

This meant Louis would have to intercept Harry before he came to the studio, which resulted in Louis getting up at the ungodly hour of six in the morning.

When Harry arrived at seven, he was greeted with Louis sitting on the treadmill, legs crossed.

"Louis?" Harry asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. "I don't think I've ever seen you in here."