Time B0mb

Chapter 1

THIS IS NOT MY WORK!! ITS WRITTEN BY ThisSentimentalheart on AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3641511/chapters/8142651#workskin 

TW: DRUGS, ALCOHOL ABUSE, MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

THIS BOOK CONTAINS SMUT

Prologue:

Louis was fairly surprised when the first words to come from the interviewer's mouth weren't, "So you're gay, then?"

This was probably for the best, because after that bold of an opener, Louis would have had no other choice than to whip his hair theatrically with a flourish of jazz hands and say, "What clued you in?" At these words, he assumed a chorus line covered in glittery rainbow leotards would burst into the room with a resounding rendition of It's Raining Men. Sure, the whole display would be playing into stereotypes, but at least it would be a good show for all involved.

But alas, no chorus line. Instead, Louis was left facing this mousy haired interviewer who peered up at him over her thick glasses and began to speak.

"Since it was announced last year that you had been cast in the upcoming film adaptation of the Metal Heart series, there has been considerable speculation about your private life. Most notably there have been sizable rumors about your sexuality, a topic that you have remained silent about. Is there anything you'd like to say now in regards to the rumors?" She asked. What a completely rational question. How boring.

Louis inhaled a shallow breath that clipped against the back of his throat. He knew exactly what he was supposed to say next; his management had worked him through every imaginable talking point over the last week. He'd spent at least a full thirty hours in that cramped office, being grilled by middle-aged men about what words he should use.

"Stay away from anything that might be construed as a gay pun. 'Setting the record straight' for example. Or 'I'm just going to come out and say it'."

"So I probably shouldn't work the term 'Captain Blowjob' into the conversation?"

Louis was pretty sure he was hilarious. His management team wasn't convinced.

It was still a complete fever dream to just use the words "management team". There was a whole team of people who handled his career. What poor souls.

It was already six years since Louis had arrived in LA at the idyllic age of eighteen. Eighteen-year-old Louis had survived on peanut butter sandwiches and corn chips. Twenty-four year old Louis had a management team. Back then, he'd shared a tiny flat with Zayn in a dodgy neighborhood overrun by feral cats. Zayn would zip across town on the city bus back and forth between modeling go-sees while Louis tried to squeeze auditions between his shifts at Red Robin's.

At the end of the day they would both tangle up on the couch together, splitting a pot of Kraft mac and cheese, to watch whatever two line role Louis had landed on a daytime soap that week. Weekends were spent sneaking into every gay club in a twenty-mile radius with their fake ID's and conning every man in the building into buying them a drink. 

Louis would bring just about anyone with a penis and a pulse back to their flat until one of his random hookups fled in the middle night with the stereo tucked under his arm. Fear of burglary had put a serious damper on his libido.

Like clockwork every Sunday morning he would wake up to a call from his mother, calling in a panic that he had been shot or had died in a meth lab explosion. He'd assure her that he'd actually have to enter a meth lab before he could possibly die in an explosion, and he was much too cute to get shot. She'd remind him that there was always room for him at home in Doncaster, but she knew it was in vain. Louis was where he had to be.