Prince Not-So-Charming And His Tipsy Princess (l.s)

Chapter 9

"Harry? Might wanna be careful. Louis is in one of his extra lack of fucks given moods, today." Harry looked up from his drink at Liam, clocking his head to the side.

"What do you mean?"

"I sent him to the toilets to go cool off. So far, he's made three customers walk out with his rudeness. Can you... Talk to him, maybe? Since you two are closer, these days."

"Oh, yeah. Course." Hopefully, Liam had forgotten all about that innuendo at his birthday party that made it sound like they had done some things. That would just be awkward. Harry rushed into the toilet without another word. There was some guy peeing there but honestly, who gave a shit? Not him.

"Louis?! Lou, I know you're in here...! Boo bear, come on, talk to m-"

"Don't call me that." Harry smirked. Got 'em. He moved over to the door and leaned against it, knocking to a random tune until Louis exhaled and bluntly asked,  "what do you want, Styles?"

His voice sounded different. Usually, it was monotonous, yes, but now it sounded more drained than that. He sounded defeated. Harry tried to ignore how deeply scared he was as the anxious overthinker he had been since childhood and attempted to keep his voice perky because maybe he could cheer Louis up. His voice still shook a little as he asked, "are you okay, Louis...?"

There was a scoff, then silence. Harry stood still, watching the stranger that had been there walk out the door. Then he heard Louis mumbling under his breath and stilled. He couldn't hear him but he sure hoped he hadn't upset him, further. Louis got up eventually, after letting out a couple more curse words, frozen when Hazz nearly fell in once the door swung open.

"You... Are still here. Why are you still here?"

"I... Don't know?"

"You have a crush on me, correct? Funny. Do you know that when the fog goes away every once in a while and my mind decides to work, my memory is actually pretty good? I don't forget things. Ever. The only reason I haven't been kicked out of my uni by now."

"I don't understand..."

"I went to prison because I killed someone. I stabbed him in the stomach. I waited till he was dead and called the police on myself. And if I could go back, I would still do it again. And again. And again. So... Still like me?" Harry stared at him, wide eyed and Louis shook his head, chuckling bitterly to himself as he pushed past Harry. Their eyes met and the concern in Harry's eyes had him faltering, the blank expression wavering but he fought that quickly. Showing even more weakness would be stupid but at least, this way, Harry would think twice about "liking" him.

"I've got to go. But relax, okay? If you're planning to get all panicky over me; don't. Just don't. I'm fine. Everything's fucking fine. Have a good night."

Everything was not fine. Harry walked out of the toilets once he had gotten over his initial shock, rushing towards the bar but Louis was gone, already. Liam sadly muttered that he claimed he was sick and jetted. Not one to waste time, Harry asked for the address of his place, struggling not to think about the worst case scenarios. He seemed surprised but luckily, Liam let him know without questioning it once. He was clearly worried, too. Zayn stopped him on his way out, looking him over.

"Harr, where are you off to?"

"Lou needs me. I'll be fine. I've had one cocktail, I can go on my own. I need to make sure he's alright, Zayn, I- I-"

"I'll get you there." And that was what they did. Zayn stopped his motorcycle after what felt like hours of riding and Harry rushed up the steps, fidgeting until the elevator doors pulled apart. He ran down the hall to the very last door, as Liam instructed and gave himself a quick pep talk, peering inside. Louis wasn't in the living room. He wondered how creepy this was on a scale of one to ten, showing up at the smaller man's apartment without his permission but he needed to make sure he was alright.