Lively. {Larry}

Eight

Louis sighed as he rested his head against the white tile that decorated the walls of his bathroom, his arms resting on the sides of his pearly white bathtub that was filled with lavender smelling bubbles.

After a strenuous shift at the music store which involved absolutely no one coming in for eight hours, he decided that when he got home, he would open up a bottle of red wine and take a candle-lit bath.

His grey eyes were shut while his chest rose and fell softly. He was consumed by darkness with the exception of the two candles lit at the end of the tub near the faucet, allowing him to feel at ease as the bubbles gradually decreased.

It had been a week since he had run into Harry and you could say he was unbothered but a small part of him was still curious as to who that woman was. She was no competition to him, that was for sure.

But even if he did try to steal Harry away from her (which wouldn't be that hard), Harry still didn't fancy the person that he was. Major set back.

She's not even pretty anyways, He repeatedly told himself as the painful memory of Harry's face embedded its way into his mind. He could do much better. He did much better.

That last comment had his eyes opening with an annoyed expression littering his face. He glared at the candles that glistened brightly, both the same scent of apple cinnamon.

He rolled his eyes as his mind kept replaying when he first saw his ex-boyfriend at the party, wanting to change the subject immediately due to how he wanted to avoid getting up from his relaxing bath and go to his medicine cabinet where his blades resided.

He has been three months clean. And that was a major accomplishment due to how he couldn't even go two weeks before. His wounds were healed yet those disgusting scars still laid on his sun-kissed skin for the whole world to see.

Louis brought his hands to the water, dipping his fingertips to distract himself. Once his whole hand was submerged, he wiped his face off that was still dry, pressing on his eyes that were honestly so sore.

"Hey Louis," a voice called out, startling him to the point that he jumped in his place just as the bathroom door was swinging open and the lights were being flickered on. "Did you hear about this?"

The grey eyed man moved his hands to glare at the intruder, seeing that it was a boxer-clad Keith who was holding onto the newspaper with an amazed expression on his face. His body was open for anyone to see and that was something that Louis envied heavily.

"What?" He grumbled, rubbing at his eyes that were adjusting to the sudden brightness. His gaze raked up his body from his Rasta ankle bracelet to his defined collar bones.

"They're finding bodies all over that nearby swamp. They're saying that there's a mass killer on the loose." The man stated, showing him the paper with his finger pointing at the photograph of yellow crime scene tape wrapped around several trees.

"Oh, yeah?" The smaller man asked in faux-disbelief, leaning forward to blow out his candles since it was obvious that he wasn't going to be left alone any time soon.

"They say that this has to be the crime of the century. At least 50 bodies have been found." Keith sighed, raking a hand through his brunette locks in shock. "This must be some smart ass killer. Do you think they'll catch him?"

"What makes you think its a him?" Louis questioned, playing along with his little act while his hands rubbed at his shoulders to cleanse himself. "Could be a woman who has accomplices or something."

Keith merely shook his head, taking a seat on the toilet seat cover where Louis' towel rested. His blue orbs were fixated on the paper that was filled page to page with the scoop.

"No woman could alternate like this, between both genders." He noted, his gaze skimming through the words. "And the way that it was done was so violent. Some were choked, stabbed, drowned, poisoned, and beaten. No woman could do that by herself."

Louis flinched at the methods, clenching his jaw because he knew exactly who was doing these deeds. He still didn't like hearing these things no matter how much he didn't care about Harry anymore.

He put it out of his mind while he dated the curly haired man. Yes, he was aware that he was taking lives but he never asked how or who when the man came home.

"I don't think they will catch him." Louis mumbled, using the water to push back his hair from his face. "If he had done all of that, he must have been doing it for years under everyone's noses. Which means he has experience and the smarts to avoid being caught."

Keith shrugged as he continued to read, not making a move to leave the room because he didn't feel the need to. He and Louis have been intimate numerous times throughout the week which allowed him entrance into his apartment whenever he needed a sexual fix.

"I'll tell you something, Lou," he said rather loudly, making the smaller man flinch once again at the name. "This guy has to be one fucked up guy. A true psycho. He's probably one of those people who care nothing about others. A real loner. Or he doesn't feel pain, something wild like that."

But he does care about others, Louis wished he could say, he cared about me. He loved me. Loved, past tense.

"I don't know." The grey eyed man breathed, asking the man for his towel which was handed to him after a moment. One hand held the towel while the other pulled at the plug at the end of the tub, releasing the water to swirl down the drain.

Louis stood to his feet, drying off his arms and torso while his manhood swung between his legs. His attention was so focused on drying himself that he paid no mind to how Keith was watching from the corner of his eye sneakily.

The brunette blushed when his stare was noticed, his gaze returning back to the paper as he turned the page to look at the comics. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the section where wedding announcements were shown, a small smile spreading on his face as he saw the picture of two men holding hands.

"Don't you just love gay weddings." He blurted out, showing Louis the photograph which caused the smaller man's jaw to slack. Keith giggled as he read the names, "What kind of name is Niall?"

"Give me that." Louis snapped, dropping his towel despite his lower half not being dried off to grab tightly at the edges of the paper. He repeatedly read and reread the announcement, his heart aching in his chest. "These are my friends." He whispered more to himself, "Were my friends." He corrected.

"Aw, that's great! Congrats for them." Keith cheered, waving a fist in the air because he was a bit of a hopeless romantic and loved the idea of marriage and unity between a couple.

"They didn't tell me." Louis muttered, his grip on the paper tightening to the point where his knuckles were white. "I had no idea." His tone was a more deadly one as his jaw clenched.

"Maybe, it's because you guys aren't that close anymore."

Louis wanted to scream. The smiles on their faces were sending fire through his bones and the fact that the date was just a few days from that day was making his blood boil. "Maybe," he growled, releasing his grip before handing him the paper carelessly, bending down to grab his fallen towel and dry himself off.

"Well, i'm going to go set up a movie. Do you care which one it is?" The brunette questioned, slapping his thighs as he stood to his feet before padding out of the bathroom.

"Nothing romantic." Was all the smaller man said before clenching his jaw, rubbing the towel aggressively against his skin.

            ____________________

So guys, i'm actually an official college student now!! I'm so proud of myself for getting here and just thinking about it makes me nostalgic af because I joined this app when I was just getting into high school lmaooo.

How times flies, am I right?