AUTHOR'S NOTE~THIS BELONGS TO MY FRIEND WHO TOLD ME TO UPLOAD IT. IT DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. But anyway...just some 1D to brighten your day(:
Management had called in the boys for yet another meeting. The new album was bound to be a success. The songs were very catchy and the old album, Up All Night was going to be released in the USA in two months. Changes were planned to make and the boys were tired of the endless stream of meetings.
"So, boys." Sophie, one of their staff members started. "We made a few changes regarding the album."
"What changes?" Harry looked puzzled. This meant even more hours of rehearsing.
"Some solo-switching and yeah, basic things." Steve, another man in a suit added.
"Oh…" Liam looked at the pieces of paper that were put in front of them. "But these are songs from Up All Night."
"Yeah, I know." Sophie replied, irritation in her voice. "There'll be changes for that album, you know that."
"Yeah…so, what changes?" Niall asked, looking rather puzzled.
"Here, in More Than This, we thought we'd make a change between Liam and Zayn. You can see the two marked verses. So, it's Zayn first, then Liam." Both boys nodded. They could easily take up their verses since their voice was about the same range.
"And we think that Niall should sing the whole part here, cutting it into so many pieces doesn't helpwith the live performances." Steve added.
"Oh…Ok?" Niall glanced at Louis who simply blinked, then slowly nodded. "If it's okay with Louis…"
"It has to be. This is already decided." Sophie shrugged, then turned to the sheet where "I Want" has been imprinted on. "So, here, we thought that the lines 'but that's crazy' and 'that's not me' and 'all the girls say' are not emphasized enough. We think that a deeper voice would do much better with these so we gave them to Harry."
"What?" Harry was as shocked as Niall. "But why? There's no point in that, really. I already sing a few of those lines."
"Well, from now on you'll sing all of those, with the other boys harmonizing to it, okay?" Steve affirmed.
"Oh, and in 'Another World', Niall will sing the 'Baby let me find out your secret' part, along with Zayn." Sophie declared, her voice confident.
Four pairs of eyes were glued to Louis. He shifted awkwardly for a bit, gazing at his toms. He didn't make eye-contact with anyone in the room as he spoke:
"Okay. And what do I get?" He looked up, all smiles. Harry was sure that this expression was the HappyLouis-Mask. He was able to smile anytime, he never showed his disappointment or sadness to them. He tried his best to remain calm.
"Um, nothing really. These are all the changes we've made so far." Steve shook his head in disbelief.
"Oh, okay then." Louis smiled at him. That stiff grin remained plastered on his face throughout the whole interview.
x
"So, guys." Steve was giving them the last pack of advice before they entered the studio for their next interview. "No information about tour-dates, the album or anything regarding the future plans. Oh, and Louis?"
"Yes?" Louis looked up, and Harry could see fear in his eyes.
"Try not to talk so much."
"What?" Louis turned around to face the manager. His shoulders trembled slightly. Harry wasn't sure if he was on the verge of crying or on the verge of breaking their manager's teeth.
"Give some space to the others, Louis. Especially Niall and Zayn, they don't talk enough."
"Well, I…" Louis almost said something, but he bit on his tongue as he glanced at the other boys. He was sure that none of them heard the conversation, he wasn't aware of Harry standing in the background. "Oh, sure thing, you're probably right." He faked a smile again. "I'll look out for this."
"Good." Steve nodded. "Boys, you're on. Go!"
x
Louis and Harry got out of the car and entered their flat in silence.
"This was the most awkward interview we've ever done!" Harry groaned as he kicked his shoes off.
"Why?" Louis glanced at him, a sad smile spreading on his lips.
"We were standing there in silence like a pack of idiots." Harry growled. "Why did Steve tell you to shut up, Lou?"
"What…?" Louis looked surprised. "You heard that…"
"I was standing right there next to you, Louis." Harry rolled his eyes and patted the older boy's shoulder.
"I don't know why he keeps telling me to shut up. I have like 5 solos on the whole UK album and they took two away. And now he asked me this…Isn't that weird, Harry?" Louis looked genuinely puzzled.
"I don't know, Lou… You were always the one to keep the interviews going if we were shitty like today."
"It worries me…you know, Harry? It's only me they've been trying to hold back. Did I do anything wrong or…?" The older boy looked really sad. Harry hugged him instantly.
"No, you didn't. I think they're just stressing out…because of America and all that…" He rubbed circles into the older boy's back, trying to comfort him.
x
The next week was a mixture of horror and anger for Louis. Management slowly cut off al of his solos on the album. The only one that remained was the one in Moments. Al the other boys were concerned about the situation, but none of them dared to say anything.
"Harry…" Liam asked, eyes filled with worry. "How does he handle it?"
"What? That's he's practically being pushed into the role of a back-up singer?" Harry was getting seriously angry about the situation. "Well, he looks like he's handling it very well, doesn't he?"
"He…he does." Zayn mumbled, looking into the direction of the oldest boy who was chatting with Niall.
"Well, I thought the same. But I heard him crying at night. Like really crying. Sobbing and all that…" Harry muttered, remembering the painful sight of Louis curled into a ball, looking miserable in his bed. "And he's talking to his mum 24/7 now. I think he's really feeling bad about it."
"What could we possibly do?" Liam whispered, as the other two members of the band got closer.
"I don't know, stand up for him, maybe?" Harry rolled his eyes and looked back to Louis who looked interested.
"What are you muttering about?" He asked, a smile spread across his face.
"Nothing particularly…" Zayn winked at him.
x
"Ok, boys. Now that the changes were made on the album, we'll have to change your dance-routine too." Their dance-teacher started.
"Dance routine?" Niall laughed. "We don't dance."
"I know that." The teacher chuckled. "Your places on the stage should be a little more adjusted to the changes in the songs." He corrected himself.
"Louis, you should stand in the back, like between Harry and Liam, but more to the back." He commanded, the older boy surrendered and did as he was told to do. Harry couldn't help but notice the waves of hurt and pain in those ocean-eyes. Louis was good at hiding his emotions, but for Harry he was an open book. Harry knew everything about him.
Later that night Louis knocked on his bedroom door.
"Haz…can I come in?" He whispered, not sure if the younger boy was awake or not.
"Sure, come here." Harry smiled at him, pushing himself on his elbows on the bed. Louis simply lied down next to him, glancing into his eyes.
"Are you okay, Lou?" Harry whispered, pulling the older boy closer.
"Did you know that they cut out my on-stage talk to the fans too?" Louis whispered as a reply, nuzzling into Harry's chest. He didn't know that.
"What?" He gasped.
"They said that the concert was too long and it needed to be shorter, and my speaking time wasn't that important so…yeah." Louis muttered into his chest, trying and failing to restrain the shaky sound of his voice.
"Lou, if you…"
"No, I don't want to talk about it…" Louis cut him off. "Just…just lay with me, please…" He begged, making Harry's heart break at the sight of the oldest member of the band all miserable and torn. He rubbed his back reassuringly, trying his best to comfort him. After a while he could hear the silent sobs, he could feel Louis' shoulders trembling, he couldn't do anything to ease the pain.
"I love you, Louis." He whispered against the older boy's feathery hair.
"I…I love you too and I'm sorry…" Louis replied, his tears still falling.
x
The next day, when they were called in to meet management again, Harry could see that Louis was panicking. He tried his best to look good and normal and happy, but Harry saw the puffy and tired eyes that once were shining with joy.
"So, the last thing we'd change on the album is your solo on Moments, Louis." Sophie announced, Louis' heart starting to beat faster. "Liam should take over this one because it would sound much better. Is that okay?"
"Sure. No problem." Louis muttered slowly, his voice numb.
"What?" Harry burst out. "That was his only solo left on the whole album!"
"I don't want to sing that…" Liam joined in. "It's Louis' solo, okay?"
"Sorry, guys." Sophie spoke, she didn't really care, obviously. "Liam, it's your job to sing it. It's better if you accept it from me and not the top-management, you'll get in trouble."
"It's okay, guys." Louis muttered, his voice weak. "It's the best for the band, surely. So, now I'm the official back-up singer for One Direction?" He asked, cerulean eyes looking up at the woman.
"What kind of question is that?" Steve jumped from his computer. "You should be grateful to be in this band, Louis. You are too rude sometimes, you know?"
"Am I?" He slowly asked. "Am I really that rude?" His voice raised, tears were shining in his eyes. "I'm the oldest one in the band and you treat me like a child! You slowly took away all my solos in all the songs I had, you asked me to shut up during interviews, you pushed me back into the corner or to the back of the stage during live performances, you are now trying to take away the last little solo I have. Okay. Okay, I get it. I'm not even close to the others' talents and I'm a sucker in interviews and I talk too much and I don't work hard enough. Okay, I got it. But if you want to throw me out of the band, then just tell me and stop this! I…I can't take this anymore, okay? It's just not fair. I…I'm done." He ran out of the room, not looking at any of them, leaving the two staff members frozen.
"Just what the fuck have you done?" Harry suddenly shouted as he stood up.
"This can't be happening." Niall whimpered in his chair, rubbing his cheeks in mere stress.
"Harry, go find him before he does something stupid. We'll fix this." Liam spoke up, slightly pushing the youngest boy toward the door.
x
Harry ran out of the office as fast as he could, dialing Louis' number over and over again. The older boy didn't respond and that made Harry's stomach swirl in stress.
"Where the hell are you?" He muttered mainly to himself, still trying to dial Louis' number. Suddenly he heard the familiar ringtone. Look After You was playing somewhere in the hall and that meant only one thing.
"Lou? Lou?" Harry called his friend's name, following the phone's sound. He found the older boy sitting on the ground, hiding his face in the sleeves of his shirt. He was crying.
"Lou." Harry muttered gently as he kneeled down next to him. "Baby, look at me…"
"No…just…just…don't make it any harder, Harry." Louis mumbled into his arms, still not bothering to look at the younger boy.
"What are you talking about, honey? Please look at me." Harry pulled Louis' arms away slowly to see puffy, reddened eye staring on the ground.
"I'm leaving the band." Louis announced, his voice husky with crying. "I've already talked to mum and I'm leaving the band."
"What are you talking about?" Harry felt a strange trembling feeling creep into his chest, making his heart beat faster.
"I'm just not needed anymore, Harry. They keep tossing me away." Louis broke down again. The curly-haired boy wrapped his arms around him, but he was disturbed by the sound of his phone.
"Liam?" He answered once he'd seen his fellow bandmember's name on the screen. "We're down the hall. Yeah, he's safe, but not okay. Yeah, sure." And he hung up.
"What did Liam want?" Louis looked at Harry, calming himself.
"He asked if you were okay." The younger boy replied. "Louis, you can't leave us. You can't leave me!" He stuttered, changing the subject briskly.
"I don't want to leave you either, Harry. That's what makes it so hard." Louis muttered, nuzzling into his chest.
"Then don't leave. Please, don't leave. I'll sue them myself if they don't give your solos back."
"But what if they are right and I'm a disgrace to the band?" Louis glanced up to the emerald eyes that flickered panic and care into his thoughts.
"That's bullshit." Both Harry and Louis looked into the direction where the third voice spoke from. It was Zayn, followed by Liam and Niall.
"Louis, you know pretty well that you're not a disgrace to the band." Liam stuttered as he knelt down next to the hugging couple. "I called Simon and told him about this."
"What?" Both Louis and Harry gasped. They were only supposed to call Simon Cowell when they were in great trouble. Harry let out a relieved sigh, contrary to Louis' shaky gasp.
"How could you disturb him with my issues?" Louis was falling apart.
"Well, if this is not an emergency, then nothing is." Niall shrugged one of his shoulders as he brushed Louis' fringe out of his eyes. "He said that he's firing these retards and we're getting a whole new crew behind us. You'll get all your solos back and he'll pay much more attention to us."
"So, that's good." Zayn added, smiling at Louis' blank expression.
"You're not leaving me, right?" Harry whispered to him, gazing deeply into his eyes. "I don't care about management, Louis. But you can't leave me. You can't think of that, okay?"
"Harry…" Louis tried to say something, but he never got the chance to finish his sentence.
"Because I love you, Louis. I love you more than I should and I can't stand the thought of you walking out of my life just like that, okay? I don't care. Okay?"
"Harry…" Louis tried again, and failed again.
"No, please, don't say anything, you can hate me afterwards. Just tell me that you won't leave me. Please, just promise that you'll never leave me."
Liam, Niall and Zayn shared a confused glance, they felt too overwhelmed by what happened. They could hardly imagine how Louis and Harry were feeling. None of them knew about those feelings, not even Louis.
"Harry…"
"Just say you'll stay." Harry cut the oldest boy off again. "Just say it, Louis."
"I'll stay with you forever, Harry. No matter what happens. I promise. If everything falls apart, I'll still remain next to you, okay?" Louis smiled his sincere, weak smile for the first time in weeks.
"Okay…" Harry mumbled as he hugged him tightly.
"Harry?" Louis asked carefully, swiping some of the younger boy's curls away.
"What?" He muttered, nuzzling calmly into the older boy's neck.
"Those feelings you were talking about…" Louis whispered, making the other three boys lean closer to them. "They were always mutual, you know."
"I know. Don't ever scare me like this again. Ever." Harry whispered back, still gripping the older boy as if he was afraid that he could disappear from his sight.
