Just Hold On // L.T. ✓

9

~‪So what do you want them to say when you're gone?‬,

‪That you gave up or that you kept going on?‬~

[warning: verbal abuse]

Louis is stoic, walking through the airport with his carry on bag. His two suitcases have been checked, and he will head back to England with Louis as soon as the job is over. Luke, Perrie, and Palmer walk quite a distance behind him, enjoying their trip.

Their reason for being in North Carolina? To enjoy a nice weekend down at the racetrack and to spend time with with some family. Perrie is supposed to be overly Southern, as is Luke, and Palmer is supposed to just be normal, and Louis is supposed to be deaf. That was their agreement.

Good thing Louis knows sign language.

Louis is completely comfortable with his seat arrangement too, sitting next to Luke. He can handle the flirting of Luke, but not Perrie and Palmer, in any capacity. So next to Luke he sits, still pretending that he is deaf.

But once the plane is taking off, Louis leans in to talk to Luke. "Would you mind switching with me, taking the money back to New York? Me mum is h-having surgery, and I want to be there."

Luke turned to look at Louis, smiling widely. Louis' anxiety left his mind. "Why would you ever think that I would want to help out someone like you?"

Louis blinked - the meaning behind what he said was quite clear. 

Luke turned back to his own seat, picking out a movie, making sure everything was in the right spot.

Louis blinked again. "What?"

"You heard me." Luke said, grumbling. "You're weird for liking dudes, and you look like a mangy rat. You probably got that Adidas trackie from the thrift store, didn't you?"

Louis mumbled a couple of curses, immediately standing and leaving his seat. Everyone was still filling into the plane, so he had a moment to fall apart in the bathroom. "It's 2015." He told himself. "It's 2015. Love is love. I am not a rat."

But, Louis had never dealt with bullying very well, and the stress of the next week or so was getting to him, so he cried.

Giant heaving sobs, like he was a little boy in the bathroom at school during recess. Louis doesn't remember crying in the bathroom as a child, however. He was never bullied very much as a child. To him, it seemed fitting that the bullying would then come as he was an adult.

Not wanting to hold anything up, he exited the bathroom, trying to calm down and find a flight attendant. "Miss? Miss?" He asked, his Yorkshire accent coming through. "Do you know if there are any empty seats towards the back of the plane? The people I'm flying with are really rude, and I don't want to sit next to them? Can you do me a solid, mate?"

The flight attendant took in his puffy eyes, still wet with tears, and nodded simply. "One seat in the back, next to her." She pointed at an older lady, a little bit older than Louis' mum.

Louis grabbed his carry on bag from his seat, not noticing Perrie's confused glance. Immediately following his move to the back, however, she grinned widely. The plan was working.

Still calming down, Louis sat in the aisle seat, nodding at his seat partner. "Do you need a tissue?" She asked, handing Louis one from a travel-sized package. He took one gratefully.

"Thank you, ma'am." He said, fixing his hair and staring down at his shoes.

"Are you okay?" She asked, turning to look at him. Upon further notice, Louis noticed how much she looked like his mum, but different. Longer hair, but the same color. Different colored eyes. The cheekbones looked similar. Her style was way different.

It all came rushing out, even when he knew that it wasn't socially acceptable to tell your life story to a stranger. "My mom has leukemia and my fifteen year old sister is giving up some of her bone marrow and now I'm being bullied for loving whomever I want to love and I don't know what to feel, say, act, or anything at all!"

Sometimes the therapy session of one plane ride, talking to one stranger, can be just what you need.

And it was definitely what Louis needed.