Caged Birds Don't Sing

Chapter 1

Louis POV:

I bounced on the balls of my feet, getting myself excited for the performance. But no matter how much I tried to distract myself, I was still nervous as hell.

"Lou..."said a deep voice from behind me, and I felt the tension immediately ease. I turned to find myself face to face with a gray shoulder. Long, tattooed arms wrapped loosely around my waist and I looked up to a mass of curls.

"Hazza," I replied, leaning up on my toes to kiss him lightly. I had wanted to wait till the stage, but he just looked so damn good, I couldn't help myself. His lips were so soft, as always, and it took most of my willpower to pull away.

"Save it for the stage, love," Harry whispered in his raspy voice, the voice that made me shiver, even after all these years. Tonight was it. We were finally just saying 'fuck it' to Modest, and we were coming out on stage. These fans simply were not prepared for this, which was going to make it all the more worthwhile. I snuggled into Harry and he hugged me, kissing my hair gently.

"Oi, you two, we are on in one minute...save it for later, yeah?" Liam chastised, but his expression was soft. As much as he tried to keep us in line when we were out in public, even he couldn't deny how adorable we were.

"Fuck off, Payno," I mumbled, but Harry just shushed me and pressed another kiss to my forehead.

"Later, baby. For now, we sing."

The four of us put our hands in, doing the traditional chant as the lights started to go down. The screams coming from the stadium were almost deafening, but it gave me life. This was what it was all about: the fans. They kept us going, no matter what kind of shit the media threw at them. I was kind of surprised that they were still around for us, but I guess they just believed in us and trusted us. I couldn't be more grateful for that, because there were times when that was what I needed. I needed to see that there were people out there who cared about us as real people, and not so much as the people that the media made us out to be. They were why hiding for so long had been worth it. But soon, we wouldn't have to hide anymore. With that thought firmly in my head, the panel slid aside and we walked out to a sea of screaming fans and phone lights.

____________

The regular adrenaline rush of being on stage had my heart racing as usual, but it was nothing compared to how fast it began to pound when we finished a song and Harry was in the spotlight. This was it. The crowd had been loud so far, but they were about to completely lose their minds. As I looked out into the first couple rows, I could see at least ten signs, all with 'Larry' quotes written on them.OK...it was fine...we could do this...it wasn't like I was nervous.It was more...excited. But still nervous, I guess. This was a big thing we were about to do. Our management had been adamant about keeping our relationship in the dark, and I couldn't imagine them being too pleased with what was about to go down. There was a point where Harry and I would just stand near each other and it would cause Modest to cover it all up with lies. The fucking lies. That stupid baby shit...I almost felt bad for the poor girl they were using in all of this. She didn't deserve it. But none of that really mattered now, because this was it. No more screwing around and hiding. We were doing this.

"Who here came with their boyfriend or girlfriend?" Harry yelled to the crowd at large, and people screamed, as usual. Some people waved their arms to alert Harry to their presence, and he waved back, blowing kisses and smiling that stupid dimpled smile that always make me weak at the knees. I sipped some water, watching Harry carefully. He glanced at me for the briefest of moments and gave a very sly wink. I looked away from him as quickly as possible, but by the looks on some fans faces, they had caught me. Oh well. They were in for the surprise of their lives.