10 Years Later (Larry 1d)

Chapter 29

They made a call to the staff line and ordered some dinner, deciding to watch a film and relaxing on the sofa. They didn't really paid attention to the screen, mostly chatting quietly and sharing soft chaste kisses; neither of them wanting to get too carried away with the chef preparing their food in the kitchen. When dinner was ready, they ate off their laps on the sofa, not bothering to get up to eat at the dining table in the kitchen. Once they'd finished, Louis spoke hesitantly, worrying his lip nervously as he brought up something that had been disturbing him since the lads were questioning them earlier.

"What happens if it doesn't work Haz? What happens to the band? What happens to us? I don't think I could deal with that?" Harry exhaled and looked deep into Louis' cerulean eyes, running a large rough thumb over Louis' soft and chapped lips to keep him from biting them, "I don't know love, I hope that will never happen. All I know is that it would be agony having experienced this, having experienced what it could be like for us, to go back to the way it was. I don't want to miss out on loving you because I'm scared. I'm all in babe, completely gone for you, I'm not bothered about the fans or the fame, I just want to be with you. As for the rest of the band, I think that if we have come through the last ten years, we can come through anything – as long as we're all honest with each other."

Louis nodded, feeling a little better and agreed, "I don't want to go back either, I don't even think I can. I can't just be friends with you, knowing how we feel about each other. I guess we'll just have to do our best, and trust one another, trust in the band". Harry pulled Louis into a long hug and whispered, "I love you Boobear, I will fight for you until the day I die". Louis was overwhelmed and lost for words so he just buried his head in Harry's neck and eventually mumbled back, "I love you too Haz". They cuddled for a while until they heard Harry's phone beep, Harry checked his phone and grinned widely, passing his phone to Louis so he could see the message Liam sent to the group chat:

'Hey Harry & Louis, Niall, Zayn & I have spent the last hour talking about you guys coming out publically, and we're really happy for you to do so. We love you guys and we don't want you to have to hide who you are and your love for one another. Thank you for trusting us with this, we know it couldn't have been easy. We are happy with whatever consequences come with this, even if we lose fans etc. Just please don't break each other's hearts. Xxx'

Louis smiled and tapped a quick reply on Harry's phone, 'Thanks guys, we love you too xx H&L'. He raised an eyebrow at Harry and asked "Management or family first?" Harry thought for a second and then said decisively, "Management, that way we can hopefully be honest in the interview tomorrow". Louis nodded, seeing the sense of that and feeling ever so grateful for Liam's negotiating skills which meant the decision was in their hands and the management team couldn't stop them. Although, Louis thought with a frown, they could try to persuade them not to in other ways if they weren't happy about it. Louis scrolled through Harry's phone to find Sally's number, being too lazy to find his own phone. He passed it to Harry who dialled the number on loudspeaker and asked Sally if she and Melanie could come to the house that night as they had something they wanted to discuss with them. Sally agreed and let them know it would have to be in about an hour as they were still finishing up some last minute tour plans. They wrapped up the conversation and rang off.

Louis waggled his eyebrows and asked cheekily, "What can we do in an hour?", pouting as Harry replied, "I'm going to call my Mum, might as well get it over with." Harry laughed and kissed the pout off of Louis' lips, saying in a stern voice as a joke, "Don't be greedy, princess", and then raising an eyebrow as Louis froze, flushed and let a soft moan fall from his lips. Harry laughed to himself, as he headed to the bedroom to call his Mum, very intrigued at Louis' reaction and the possibility of exploring that at some point. Louis collected himself and found his phone, turned it on and called his own Mum, figuring he might as well use the time for that too. His Mum squealed at the news and chatted happily, obviously having no issue that her son was gay. Not that Louis had really expected her to, after their conversation the other day – but he was still relieved anyway. They spoke for a while, catching up on what Louis had been up to, and what Jay had seen on twitter about it. Louis smiled as his Mum mentioned a new occupational therapist she'd seen that day, pleased that she was seeking help again and engaging in trying to get better.

He spoke to Lottie after he'd talked to his Mum, telling her the news and hearing what she'd been up to, and her opinion on how Mum and the kids were doing. Lottie's reaction was a little more cautious than Jay's was, but she was very happy for Louis after he explained how they felt about each other and allayed her fears. He ended the call promising he'd bring Harry to visit soon and asking Lottie if she could tell the rest of the family over the weekend, as he would be crazy busy with work. Louis felt a little bad as that was kind of a white lie and a bit of a cop-out, he didn't even know what the schedule for the weekend was. But he couldn't talk to everyone, there were so many people he had to speak with before the news broke and he was pretty beat after the fan meet and greet, coming out to the boys, his Mum, Lottie and in a few minutes he'd have to tell management too.

Harry came back downstairs looking relaxed and happy after speaking to his Mum and Gemma. They chatted about the phone calls, Harry telling him how happy Anne was that Louis finally returned his affections, Louis raised an eyebrow, having not realised that Anne knew and flushing with embarrassment, Harry kissed his nose and said, "It's okay babe, she wants us to come up as soon as we have a chance". Louis nodded and told Harry that he'd promised the same to his Mum, laughing when Harry crowed, "Road trip!", before tensing as the doorbell rang.

Harry squeezed Louis' hand encouragingly before going to the door and letting Sally and Melanie into the front room. The two ladies looked at Harry and Louis expectantly, with small smiles as Harry told them that he and Louis were together and they would like to come out publicly. They nodded at the news, Melanie saying with a grin, "We figured as much after the other day. Are the rest of the band in agreement?" Louis nodded and told her that they were happy to go public, and that he and Harry would ideally like to do it ASAP as they didn't want to have to lie. Sally let the pair know that after seeing the two of them together at the edit, the management team had an emergency meeting to plan for the possibility. Harry laughed then, saying, "We weren't even together at that point!" Louis joining in the laughter when Melanie smirked, "Call it woman's intuition".

Sally told the couple that it was the management team's recommendation business-wise that they didn't come out, in case it affected sales; or to wait until the relationship was established to come out; but they had agreed that if Louis and Harry got together and wanted to come out and the band members were happy with this, they would not try and dissuade them. This meant that they were free to discuss their new relationship in the magazine interview they were doing tomorrow, but as that wasn't being published until the end of the week after, they recommended coming out properly in the live TV interview on Monday, the day after the reunion show had aired. Harry laughed happily and said, "That's great, thank you. What a relief". Melanie and Sally excused themselves, as they had to renegotiate the privacy clauses and amount of people present at the interview and photoshoot in the contract with the magazine, to ensure that the news didn't get out before the live interview aired. The women left shortly after, letting the boys know they would set up a full band meeting tomorrow with the new PR team just to clarify their position as a band before the interview took place.

After they left, Louis collapsed exhaustedly on the sofa. It was only about 9, but he was shattered after the long day. Harry grabbed his hold-all and held out a hand to him and said, "Come to bed, love", and ever obliging, Louis obeyed.