C O M M E N T!

for those of you that don't remember; stan is louis' ex-boyfriend. [read chapter 4 for a small recap; when they wake up in the morning]

anyone going to otra on the 5th? i am :) (i.e. where harry got threatened)

chapter thirty-one

N.J.H.

"Louis! Louis where the hell are you?!"

All of us are fear stricken, our eyes wide and our minds on high alert. I glance at Louis, giving him a look that told him to calm down, and not have a panic attack. The fact that Stan even found us is unbelieveable.

"What the hell is going on?!" Zayn and Harry whisper-shout at the same time. Louis and I look at each other frantically once again, tears dripping from Louis' eyes.

"We need to hide Louis," I whisper, "Now. That guy up there will hurt him."

Zayn takes his hips in his hands and leads him away from the room, taking him into the closet. It's not small, so I know Louis will be fine. My own boyfriend has his own tight grip on me as the banging continues upstairs. Glass is shattering, wood is breaking, and I know it's only a matter of seconds before he breaks down the door to the man cave.

"Niall." Harry says sternly, "Who is that man?"

"Stan Vance," I answer quickly, "he's Louis' ex-boyfriend and we haven't seen him in years."

"Then how is he here n--"

"Louis!"

The door breaks off the hinges and I take out my broken phone, calling 911 quickly.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"A man just broke into my friend's house," I say quickly, "we're not sure if he's armed or not but he may hurt him."

"The police are on their way," the dispatcher says, "Is there anything else we should know?"

"I--"

I don't even realize that Stan is in front of me, gripping my shirt and launching my phone on the wall again, completely disintegrating it. I hear Harry yelp as I'm snatched from his grip and into Stan's threatening arms.

"Where is he Horan?!" he shouts in my face.

"Let go of me!" I shout, squirming frantically to get out of his grasp. I see Harry grab an empty bottle behind him and smash it over Stan's head. He shakes it off easily, which petrifies me. That's not normal.

"Where is he Niall?! I swear I'll tear this house to pieces until--"

Zayn comes barreling out of nowhere, attacking Stan with all his force. He falls to the ground almost immediately, his power over me vanquished as Harry comes to my aid.

"Are you okay?!" He whispers, holding me close to his body. I'm not paying attention though, because Zayn has taken to fighting Stan with full force. Every punch Stan throws, he dodges. Eventually he throws Louis' ex over the counter, rendering him unconscious.

Relieved to see him motionless and hear police sirens blaring outside, the five of us slowly inch away from the limp body. Louis' breathing is ragged, and within seconds he's falling on the floor, leaving him comatose as well.

"Louis?!"

Zayn scoops him in his arms, holding him bridal style as the officers come down to the man cave. Liam peeks his head out from behind the couch, and Harry and I stay still, him holding me tightly and me clutching his arms with the same strength and urgency.

"Harry..." I whisper.

"I know baby," he assures me, knowing what I'm going to say, "but this time I think I have a reason."

•

The hospital has us silent between the four of us. It's now 2:30 in the morning and we all sit anxiously in the blue plastic chairs. Louis lays asleep in a hospital room, not waking up since he passed out. Stan is here too, but on lockdown in a room far from Louis'.

Harry and I sit together in a corner, far from Liam and Zayn, who are quietly conversing about the situation. His arm is secured around my shoulders and my head rests on his chest. My legs stretch on two hospital chairs and it's becoming harder for me to fall asleep.

"Babe," Harry soothes me, "you can sleep you know."

"No," I argue, "I wanna see Louis when he wakes up."

"Alright," he surrenders, "but..."

He stops talking and I open my eyes slightly, to see Zayn standing above us with his arms crossed.

"I need to borrow Niall." He says seriously to Harry.

"Okay," he agrees. Harry releases me and I get up slowly, stretching my back out. He squeezes my hand before letting go. I follow Zayn's quick footsteps outside of the hospital until we stop at the front door. He leans up against the wall, pulling out a pack of cigarettes,

"Want one?" he offers me a smoke and I shake my head, sticking my hands in my pockets instead. A lighter appears in his hands and he lights the stick. The snow falls atop our hair as we both stare out into the vague night.

"Niall."

"Yes?"

"Who was that guy that broke into Louis' house?"

"I...Zayn, I don't think I can tell you without Louis' permission."

"Niall," Zayn stands in front of me, "A man broke into my boyfriend's heavily guarded house and tried to attack him ferociously. Harry hit him over the head with a bottle and he still stood tall. I'm not asking you to figure out his deepest darkest secrets. I'm asking you, so I can protect him."

He holds a good case, but I know Louis will kill me if I tell him. There's more to the story than he thinks and I remember Louis' chilling words as if he said them yesterday;

If you tell anyone about what happened with Stan, you'll wish you had your mouth ripped off.

"...Alright. Fine Zayn, I'll tell. But Louis will not be happy."

"I'll make sure he doesn't kill you," Zayn mutters, "I'll calm him down. Now tell me."

"Okay..." I sigh, not expecting to ever tell this story again, "Stanley Vance is his name. He and Louis met in college. He was a junior and we were sophomores. The two of us went to this party and he came up to us with drinks and a smile that swooped Louis' away. That night they hooked up and they started dating right after. They had been together for at least two years; Louis was in love with him. But then Stan started acting weird, started drinking and soon that led to abuse--"

"Abuse?! And you didn't do anything?!" Zayn exclaims, crushing his cigarette into the ground.

"Zayn," I explain calmly, "I didn't know until they broke up and Louis confessed everything."

He nods, muttering a quick 'continue' before glancing down at the ground.

"So yeah, Louis had told me he was taking boxing lessons and got hurt quite a lot because he wasn't exactly good at it. I had laughed it off, trusting Louis with himself and not knowing his boyfriend was drinking and hitting him. One morning, he calls me on the phone, sobbing his eyes out because Stan dumped him for a rising celebrity. He had explained what Stan had done to him then."

"Poor baby..." I hear him stutter. I'm surprised (but not so surprised) to see a tear fall from his eye.

"It was depression, weed and cutting after that. He felt like he wasn't good enough for anyone. After a long time I got him back on his feet, and stronger than ever. He spilled all of Stan's secrets on the Internet, using the small fame he had back then. The celebrity dumped Stan and since then he's always been pissed at Lou. But once he tried to find us, we were long gone, leaving the United Kingdom and moving to New York City, especially for my internship. I guess Louis' rising fame is the way he found us."

"...Wow," Zayn mutters after a long pause, "that's intense."

"Yeah," I tell him, "now you're the third person that knows."

"Third? He didn't tell his parents?"

"His parents would take him back in and never let him out," I explain, "I think he made a terrible mistake, not reporting him, but it looks like it doesn't matter anyway..."

I look back through the hospital doors and see a doctor talking to Harry,

"I think everything's gonna come out in the wash now."

"What?"

"Nothing I...it's an expression."

"Oh, okay."

Harry looks at me through the glass, waving us in,

"I think Louis is awake," I tell him, "are you coming?"

"Yeah, you can talk to him first just...give me a moment."

I leave him to his thoughts as I step through the sliding glass doors. Harry greets me immediately with a kiss on the forehead,

"Louis is awake. You wanna see him?"

"Yeah," I say immediately, "I need to talk to him anyway."

The doctors waves me over and I follow as he leads me to Louis' room. It's not far from the waiting room, so I'm relieved I can just call Harry and Zayn in when I'm done talking to him.

"He's just woken up, so don't get him stressed or anything," the doctor reminds me. I nod, letting myself in and shutting the door behind me. Louis is laying on the hospital bed, holding his head in agonizing pain.

"Worse than a hangover, or nah?" I say, breaking the silence. He looks up at me with a pained expression.

"Niall what the fuck is going on?"

"You passed out when Stan broke in," I explain, "he's over in another room on another floor, nowhere near you."

"Why is he in a room?" he asks again.

"Zayn beat the hell out of him," I say. He smiles, a blush rising on his cheeks as he stares down at his lap.

"I... Louis I had to tell him," I confess, "he's so worried for you and I couldn't just leave him in the dark."

"I figured," he sighs, sitting up slowly, "I'll figure my way out of it--"

"What?" I say, walking up to him in anguish, "Louis this is gonna get out whether you want to or not-- it should've been out right when it happened! Stop trying to run away from the truth."

"Niall, it's my life and I'll do whatever the fuck I wanna do with me secrets!" he says loudly, clenching his fists. I close my eyes and breathe, trying to loose my temper, because I've never been so mad at Louis in my life. He's being stubborn, per usual.

"I... I'm sorry."

He opens his arms,

"C'mere."

I slump over to his embrace and crawl into the hospital bed with him. He wraps his weak arms around me and squeezes my body close to his,

"Am I being stubborn again?"

"Yeah."

"Should I just let Zayn have the truth as the real story?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"...Thank you Lou."

"For what?"

"Being you."

"No problem."

"I'm sleepy Louis..."

"Go to sleep then, I won't mind."

"Night."

"Night babe."

"...Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Niall."

dramatic or situational? everyone has to choose one or the other. you'll see where it comes in.