Darling//l.s

3

Word count: 2673

Louis POV

To say Zayn and I spent a lot of time with Liam and Harry would be an understatement.

We spent nearly everyday with them after our little 'sleepovers'.

That following morning, I had woken up to Harry walking in with bagels and coffee from the cafeteria. He walked me back to my dorm after and left me with a kiss on my forehead and a blush on my cheeks. When Zayn had returned we laid on his bed facing one another, whispering about our nights with our boys like we were teenage girls.

I also kept the rolling stones shirt Harry let me borrow. It's been two weeks now and he hasn't asked for it back.

Harry has also been proving time and time again to Zayn that he is a decent guy, between constantly doting over me, giving me his jacket when I'm cold, making sure I'm eating enough, and keeping me out of trouble; I think Zayn almost owes him an apology. Zayn swears still if Harry tries to pull anything he'll 'have his dick', but so far Harry hasn't even tried to kiss me or anything, and quite frankly, I don't think Zayn and Liam can say the same. Nonetheless, their lack of fighting has made it much easier for us to all hang out and enjoy ourselves, which is what we were doing now.

It was another long week of classes, they were just starting to really pile on the homework now as the teachers all feel as though we are settled in enough to handle a heavy workload, so while Liam, Zayn, and Harry were playing some Xbox game in the common room, I had my nose pressed into my laptop, furiously typing a paper on England's rate of productivity compared to other countries and how we can fix it.

I must admit, it was my fault that I waited until the last day to work on it, but that still didn't stop my eyes from burning with frustrated tears. It was now nine at night, leaving me with three stressful hours to finish it, and knowing myself two of those hours would be spent panic crying while the very last hour would be spent with me typing so fast it would be a miracle if the paper actually made sense.

I was glad to not be in direct eyesight of the three boys, I was sat on the couch behind them actually, my legs crossed while Harry sat directly in front of me, Zayn in the middle and Liam on Zayns left. The last thing I wanted was to hear the 'I told you so' from any of them if they saw how stressed I was.

I dug the heels of my palms into my eyes as I willed myself not to cry. I inhaled sharply and tried to calm down, but I've always been one to get worked up about these types of things. I would practically throw up before tests and I'd sometimes send myself into full blown panic attacks over papers.

"Ha! Beat you both again! Must be because you guys are so old, don't know how to play video games," Zayn laughed from his spot on the floor as a victory screen came up on their game, displaying Zayns character.

"We aren't that much older than you! We're still teenagers and only three years older than you two!" Harry said, shooting Zayn an incredulous look.

Zayn snorted in response to that. "Yeah, 19 going on 50," he muttered under his breath. Even I let out a wet laugh at that, and I watched Harry shoot Liam a look of disbelief.

"Are you gonna let your boy talk to us like that?" Harry said with a smirk and a wink in Liam's direction.

"Absolutely not. Come here you little monster," Liam said before gently tackling Zayn to the ground, tickling his ribs as he shrieked with laughter. Harry watched on, laughing lightly while I watched him. He was always his best when he looked young, when he smiles or laughs; it brings out a certain youth in him that isn't usually there. The indentations in his cheeks and the sparkle in his eyes made him look less intimidating than when I first met him, although I can admit I'm not completely over my shyness.