Clean Criminal // l.s.

xxii.

There was something that made Harry nervous as he approached the dorm room. Something that stirred in the pit of his stomach, causing him to nearly throw up earlier that morning.

"I'll get you some ginger ale," Louis had offered, "that should calm your stomach."

And although that was the sweetest thing Louis had ever offered to do, Harry turned down his offer insisting that he would be okay. However, that wasn't exactly the case.

His stomach was in knots and his mind was spiraling out of control. He felt as though he didn't have a handle of anything in his life.

Except Louis.

Louis was the only good thing Harry had going for him. Harry knew that he would come home to Louis and dinner would be ready because that's how Louis was. Louis liked things done. He liked schedules and calendars and timers because they all made life simpler; they served as Louis' life savers. To Harry, Louis was his own life saver.

Louis kept a balance that was very much needed in Harry's life. He was able to bring organization and time management. Meanwhile, Harry was able to open up Louis to the endless possibilities of life. Harry had shown things Louis never even thought of. He showed Louis how to love and be loved. He showed Louis what it meant to smile and truly be happy. He showed Louis that the world wasn't perfectly aligned or symmetrical or straight, but there was still a beauty to it.

"The stars are scattered," Louis had pointed out as they looked at the sky from the roof too of Louis' apartment building just a few days prior.

"But they create these incredible constellations. Gods, animals, big and small dippers, all created by these things man has no control of. Isn't that amazing?"

And Louis couldn't help but think about how much that reminded him of love; something indescribable, something that was never created by man, but instead something bigger.

"Yeah," Louis said with a smile, lifting his head off of Harry's chest to give him a soft kiss, "they kind of remind me of you; disorganized yet beautiful in any other way."

Harry shook his head, trying to shake these memories out of his head for the time being.

He knocked on the dorm door and waited for someone to answer. When no one did, Harry had one of the cops kick the door down.

The blonde stood there with wide eyes and a loom of pure shock as Harry made a formal arrest, "Niall Horan, you are being arrested for the death of Zayn Malik. Anything you say can and will be used against you..." As the words spilled from Harry's mouth, he gave no mind to the words he was saying. He was so used to repeating these phrases over and over again that they held no significant meaning to him.

Harry escorted Niall to the interrogation room once they had arrived back at the department. Louis stood to watch as Harry did so. Niall had caught Louis' eye and he tried to fight his way over to the feather haired lad, but Harry had a strong grip and there was no way that was going to happen.

"Have a seat, Mr. Horan," Harry stated, pushing Niall towards the table. The lad stumbled, but eventually sat down. "Tell me why you're here."

"You think that I murdered Zayn," Niall mumbled.

Harry nodded, his voice stern, "I know you killed him."

Niall leaned back in his seat, "I can bet you right now that whatever you have will not land me a cell in prison."

Harry annoyingly opened one of the files in front of him, "text messages and audio messages make me believe that you have a very strong motive." Harry read one of the texts out loud, "I miss you. Can't wait to see your pretty mouth stretched over me again."

"So what?"

"Mr. Horan, we have reason to believe that you were being sexually and mentally abused by Mr. Malik. Where you not?"

Niall honestly was trying so hard not to cry, but he needed to release the ten months of torture Zayn had him in. It was as if everywhere he went, Zayn was three steps behind him or even breathing down his neck. He was tired of being treated as someone's pet.

He weakly nodded, unable to open his mouth to form a coherent sentence.

"He touched you. He manipulated you. He made you feel loved when really all he wanted was your body. He was never invested emotionally because it was all just sex to him. So why didn't you file a report? Why didn't you call him in for raping you?" Harry questioned.

"Because I fucking loved him!" Niall yelled. He blinked back the rest of his tears and took a deep breath, "I loved him and that was stupid, I was stupid. Loving someone who only hurts you isn't right. It's unhealthy. But there's something pulling you back to them. It's like they're the magnet and your just another paperclip. You can't help but get attached whenever they're there."

And everything Niall had said was true. He did love Zayn and fuck him for doing so because loving Zayn was like falling for the devil. He was an evil mastermind, a venomous snake really.

"But that didn't stop you from killing him, did it?"

"Detective, I spent an entire week in bed bawling like a fucking baby over his death. Do you honestly think that I would kill him?"

Niall had a point. Why would he kill the person he loved?

"Do you have any habits, Mr. Horan? Do you like things organized a certain way?"

"If you are trying to imply that I have OCD, I most certainly do not and see no correlation to this case."

Harry quickly closed the file in front of him. If it wasn't Niall then who was it?

"Who would hurt Zayn? Who wanted revenge that they would go to such lengths?" Harry asked, his voice raising with each word.

"I don't know!" Niall yelled again. He slumped back into the metal chair, finding it hard to speak about the issue. "Look into people who have tried to get close to Louis. Zayn gets possessive. He loved Louis...more than he could have ever loved me."

Harry took a deep breath figuring that maybe it would help him think. "He could never love you or anyone else for that matter. He was sick! He was an inconsiderate bastard who only wished for sex! He never loved you or Louis or anyone except himself, that's just something you're going to have to learn."

With his final words, Harry left the room, telling the guard to keep an eye on Niall. He couldn't help but think that there was more to Zayn's story, there just had to be and he just wished he could find it.