Wasting My Time [When it Was Always You]

Knock On The Door

Harry and Louis were best mates. They met when they were in primary school, when Harry's mother and himself moved into the house right next to the Tomlinson's. They hit it off quickly, the moment Harry was skate boarding a little too recklessly, effectively skinning his knee and toppling the other boy over. They both erupted in laughter and have been close mates ever since. Their friendship continued, only getting stronger as the years went on; eventually they were both in high school, then uni, Louis begging his mother to allow him to attended the same university. Their first year was wonderful, sharing only one class together but making time to do their favorite things after school, going to cafes, skating rinks, a few of Harry's shows. It seemed like they had a perfect friendship up until the second year came, when Harry's mother passed. Without her around, he couldn't afford to keep the house, inevitably being forced to move somewhere much cheaper; into the tour bus of his band. His pride had kept him from accepting his band mates offers of living with them, insisting the bus was more than enough space for himself alone. It came with simple accommodations, a small shower, a table top stove, and a cot where he spent every night sleeping. Harry woke up extra early in the mornings, just to make it to uni, and started struggling to keep his grades up. He was there studying music, but juggling his own band outside of school hours made it difficult to show up for studies and practices; often prioritizing his own project. Louis got busy with a new boyfriend, which from the little Harry hasn't heard about him he wasn't too fond of already. They had been dating for half a year, and it seemed that the worse things got, Louis continued to stay with him. 'I made him angry,' 'he's not that bad, H,' 'he loves me, really,' seemed to be the cycle of excuses Harry would hear. So, he stopped asking about him altogether, often stared at Louis blankly when he would bring up future dates with the man. Tonight was one of Harry's shows, one that Louis promised he would attend; but by the end of his set, Louis wasn't anywhere to be found. His band mates offered Harry empathetic expressions when the last song ended, and Harry gave a small shrug. They all packed up, loading into the bus and one by one being dropped off at home, all but Harry who parked the bus in his usual secluded area and cracked open a beer, sighing to himself as he plopped down on his worn mattress. After a few hours, he couldn't seem to get to sleep, an acoustic guitar placed over his lap as he stopped between humming and strums to write potential lyrics. He jumped in his seat at the abrupt sound of knocking on his door. He set his pencil down and guitar aside, making his way to the door, only to open it to Louis, tears pouring down his face.

If you asked Louis how he thought his night was going to go, he certainly wouldn't have thought he'd be outside Harry's tour bus with tears that didn't seem to stop no matter how hard he tried to blink them away. It was supposed to be a good night, he was supposed to see Harry's show and have a long overdue catch up with his best friend. Maybe he'd been naive for thinking that it would all go according to plan. Dressed and ready to leave for the night, he caught his boyfriend with another man, mumbling some excuse about how he thought Louis would already be gone by then. He could feel his heart ache, wondering how he'd been so stupid. The two of them argued for a while before Louis finally stormed off, bringing him to where he was currently stood outside Harry's tour bus. The only place he knew to go. He hoped Harry would still be awake, anxiously fidgeting with his fingers as he waited for an answer. He didn't know what he was going to say when Harry did answer, full of guilt for missing the show, but hopeful that his best friend would put it past them for the time being.

Harry jumped slightly at the unexpected knocks against his door, and set his pencil down, pulling the guitar over his head and setting it aside. He made his way over and opened the door slowly, peeking at first before he realized who it was, flinging the door open now and furrowing his eyebrows down at the man. He offered a hand to help him up into the bus, and quickly engulfed him into a tight hug, shushing him quietly and holding the back of his head. He swayed softly for just a moment, before pulling back and holding him by the arms, glancing around the visible parts of his body just in case there were any marks. He sighed a small sigh of relief when he didn't see anything, and reached his hand up to swipe away the tears with his thumb. "Sit down, Lou, please," he encouraged him to follow him over to the mattress. "What happened?" His mind was already racing with thoughts of what could've possibly happened this time; whatever it was it was enough to make Louis reach out to him and he was glad he knew that he was always an option for these moments. He didn't care much at all about the missed show at this point, and rose to step over to his tiny stove and start a kettle.