Harry turns in bed, opening his eyes and expecting to see Louis sleeping peacefully beside him, his arm protectively around Harry like it used to be every morning.

But Louis wasn't there.

The events of last night come back to Harry and he slowly sits up, burying his head in his knees, trying to reduce the ache he felt in his chest.

He felt incomplete without Louis.

He had hurt his Louis. Louis, whom he cared about the most in this world, the one person who stood by him when his own parents hadn't, the one person he hoped would never get hurt, was now hurt, hurt because of him. The worst part was he didn't even know what he had done to cause him the pain.

***

Louis opens his eyes the next morning and then immediately shuts them again. 

He doesn't want to wake up. He doesn't want to deal with what happened. Atleast while he was asleep, he was able to find a temporary escape from this mess.

He checks his phone, there are over forty missed calls from Harry and many many messages.

He plays a voice mail.

Lou? You aren't answering any of my calls and I um don't know how else to get you to talk to me so that's why this voicemail. Um I don't know what I did wrong but I know I hurt you so I'm very sorry for that.. it'd be great if you could erm maybe forgive me? I don't even know where you are and I'm getting very worried so even if you don't want to talk to me atleast let me know somehow that you're fine? Please please call me when you get this Lou, I can't lose you.

Harrys voice cracked and there was a slight tremble to it as though he had been holding back his tears and it send a jab straight to Louis' heart.

This wasn't fair. First Harry causes him pain and then he causes him more pain by being in pain himself. It wasn't fair at all.

"Louis? You're up thank heavens" Niall walked into the room, worry clear on his face.

"Well.. do you feel any better?"

"Do I look any better Niall?"

"No mate, you look like a complete mess to be honest. Louis, I need you to talk to me. You can't hold it all in like this, you know you can't or you're never going to end up feeling better."

Louis sighed.

"Remember when I told you I was in love with Harry?"

" 'Course I do"

"That was the first time I've ever felt that way about somebody Niall. For the first time in my entire life, I knew what it felt like to care so much about someone that you think your heart will burst from how much it feels for them. For the first time in my life, I knew how it felt to love someone so much that I'd do anything to see them happy, anything to bring a smile on their face."

Niall said nothing, just nodded encouragingly while patting Louis' back slowly.

"I was going to tell him Niall, I really was but after yesterday-"

"Louis? What exactly happened yesterday?"

Louis took a deep breath before starting to speak.

"He walked in with his arms around some guy, kissing him as though his life depended upon it Niall. He promised hed be home that night and I was all mentally prepared to tell him how I felt, what I didn't know was that he would bring a special 'guest' back home with him."

Niall's eyes immediately grew sad. "Oh Louis"

"And I know you probably think I'm over reacting but I'm not, I swear I'm not.  It's just that I've never felt this strongly about someone.. I never knew I was even capable of feeling this way and to have it all falling down like that in front of my eyes.. I couldn't handle it."

"I don't think you're over reacting at all Louis." Niall softly whispered, pulling him into a hug.

***

"Niall?" Harry said softly over the phone. After spending an entire day looking around for Louis, visiting all his favourite places, parks, cafes and what not, he realised that he should have called Niall up long ago.

"Harry." Niall replied shortly, his voice wasn't it's usual chirpy self, he sounded cold and detached.

"Is Louis with you?"

"Harry I very much doubt he wants to talk to you."

"I don't know what I did wrong Niall. It's killing me. I can't handle this anymore. Please talk to me, please don't be cold.." Harry's voice broke and Niall's heart thawed. 

"Harry, look I'm sorry yeah? It isn't your fault either but it's just that when it comes to Louis I get very protective and so I.. anyway, I'll try talking to him. You guys need to sit together and clear things up."

***

"I think you should speak to Harry."

"Are you out of your mind Niall!?"

"Louis you need to understand and accept that what happened is not his fault. He doesn't know you're gay, he doesn't know that you feel a certain way about him and you've made it pretty clear to him that you are 'in fact straight'.. maybe what happened last night was just his way of dealing with things."

"But Niall-"

"No Louis, there's so much love wasted in this world just because people are afraid of telling someone how they really feel, because they choose to move on rather than confess, because they fear that the feeling won't be mutual. I'm not going to let you do that. You love him and from what I can make out, he cares deeply about you too. So what's stopping you guys? This was a silly misunderstanding, something you both need to move past and you'll only be able to do that if you talk to him and clear things up."

Slowly, Louis nodded, his heart beginning to flutter with hope again.

Author's Note

What would we do without Niall?