Burn to ash

Chapter 8

Harry is right. Their first rehearsal is a complete disaster and Louis isn't even surprised. One Direction hasn't performed together in five years, longer even than they were ever together, and even though they were never exactly the most in sync of boy bands, they've all grown apart so much that being even remotely on the same page is a pipe dream.

It doesn't help that in the interim years since their last (disastrous) tour, all their support staff have gone their separate ways, and nobody is interested in resuming their former positions. They've moved on with their lives and Louis is caught between wondering if he should be moving on with his or if this reunion tour is actually one of the better ideas that Harry has ever had.

The worst loss is Paul. Louis can't explain how he just assumed the tour manager would be Paul, but he did. Their tour manager has always been Paul. But of course, it makes sense because Paul's name wasn't mentioned in any meetings that he paid attention in, and he hasn't seen him since the last tour broke up prematurely.

The new manager is named Bernard, and they've been introduced for about five minutes and already Louis doesn't like the man. First off, his name is Bernard, so that's a strike against him already.

When he introduced himself, Louis found himself glancing over at Harry to see if he was thinking the same thing he was-and of course, he was. "Bernard," Harry pipes up, a wide smile on his face, "like Emma Thompson's horrid son from Love Actually."

Zayn chuckles, and Louis valiantly tries to keep his own smile under wraps. He's supposed to be keeping his distance from Harry. Giggling over Harry's comment like a fond boyfriend is not going to help the situation.

As it turns out, the sole individual who doesn't at least crack a smile at Harry is Bernard himself. Louis frowns, because he can tell right away that giving them a tour manager who lacks a sense of humor is a really, really bad plan. Second strike.

They might be grownups now, but deep down, they're still those pain in the ass teenagers. Going on tour is going to bring out all those tendencies all over again. Hell, just being together in the same room again will probably bring them out.

The third strike is that he's a middle aged square, with a good paunch in the tummy and a sneer that won't quit. Louis thinks he's only maybe a handful years older than he is, but Bernard acts like he's a million times better and wiser than they are, and that just rubs Louis the wrong way.

Bernard pulls out a tablet and opens a document, frowning at it, as the five of them stand in front of him. They're in a warehouse, the stage marked out on the floor in tape, and Louis is already annoyed about Bernard instead of Paul, and then he asks where the band is and he's told they aren't rehearsing with the live band until the last few days of rehearsals. Until then, they're going to be using a backing track. They all frown at this, but Niall is the one who actually speaks up.

"That's not going to work for us ," Niall says, and Louis thinks he's actually being reasonably nice about it. He could have said it was total bullshit because it is. They make real, actual music. They aren't Britney fucking Spears in Las Vegas. They've never relied on a backing track, and they are definitely not about to start now.

"It'll be fine," Bernard says distractedly, not even bothering to glance up at Niall as he just casually shoots him down.

Louis glances over at Liam, whose frown is deepening. "I don't think it will be, no," Liam interjects. And again, Louis thinks he's being even a hair too nice, even though he can hear that Li's trotted out his "in charge" voice.

Bernard finally looks up from his tablet and Louis doesn't think he imagines the roll of his eyes. Yeah, he thinks, this is definitely not going to work. Paul, even when they were young and so ridiculously stupid, never, ever patronized them. He controlled them, yes, because he had to and that was his job. But he never forgot that essentially, he worked for them.