|Chapter 6

It's late afternoon, around five-thirty, and the driver was finally pulling up to a large white house. A big gate surrounded the front, obviously to keep outsiders from looking inside of the One Direction household.

"Wow..." Was all Louis could say when the house came into his view. Niall was the same, looking out the tinted window and staring in amazement at the beautiful house.

"Welcome to your second home, boys." Paul called out from the passenger seat.

The van parked outside the front door, the driver saying that he would bring all their bags and suitcases inside. Niall and Louis thanked him before they followed Paul up the stairs to the door. Paul opened the door, walking in casually, while Louis and Niall slowly made their way in, looking around and taking in everything.

Paul looked to his left into the lounge room, and to his right to see into the dining room. He didn't see the boys anywhere. So he just called out to them. "Liam, Zayn, Harry! I have a couple of people you need to meet!" He said loudly enough to hear up the stairs.

Out of nervous habit, Louis started fiddling with his sweater sleeve hems again, tucking his hands into the material to make sweater paws.

He was about to meet One Direction. Of course he already did at the audition, but this is right in front of him. He could be less than a metre away from all of them. It's a dream come true. Even after all the paperwork signing, Louis hasn't truly caught on that he is actually part of the band. He still felt like his fanboy self, imagining this was like a meet and greet. A meet and greet that isn't going to end any time soon... he hopes at least.

Next things they know they hear many foot steps coming down the stairs in front of them, rushed steps.

It was Liam, Zayn and... Harry. Don't freak out Louis, don't you dare freak out!

Louis didn't know how to feel for a moment. He didn't want to make a fool of himself and just stand there frozen, freaking out.

But he was kinda doing both.

"They're here?" Liam called out halfway down the stairs, a smile growing on his face. As well as Zayn and Harry's.

When the boys made it down the stairs, they walked up to Niall and Louis with big grins. "Hey guys!" Harry said, doing a little wave.

Niall seemed to have grown some confidence and waved back casually, while Louis did a small wave back, his hand still in his sweater.

"I'll leave you boys to it, I'll see you soon. Don't annoy Louis and Niall too much now, you buggers." Paul jokes, waving good bye and heading back out to the van, closing the house door behind him.

It was silent for a second before Liam spoke up. "So, welcome to our home. As well as your home." He gestures to Louis and Niall.

"This place is massive! It's sick!" Niall commented with a smile.

The three boys laughed.

"Well, why don't we get to know each other a bit, aye?" Zayn suggested.

Everyone nodded and made their way into the lounge room to the left. Louis couldn't help but love the big soft couches they had, sinking right into them. Louis' eyes couldn't stop flickering over to Harry, who now had his phone out, reading a text. The small smile that crept on Harry's lips made Louis' stomach do back flips.

Liam, Zayn and Niall started to talk back and fourth with each other, a few laughs slipping in from time to time, but Louis couldn't keep his mind and eyes off of Harry who was sitting right in front of him. Harry was hardly looking up at anyone, eyes glued to his phone. It made Louis a little curious as to who he was talking to, but he wouldn't dare ask.

"Louis?"

Louis was taken out of his trance by a soft jab of Niall's elbow into his side. The older boy quickly turned his head to Niall, seeing the boy having a confused yet knowing look to his face as he saw Niall looking between Louis and Harry.

"Huh?" Louis looked towards Liam and Zayn, blushing a little when he notices that they are both looking at him. "Oh, uh, sorry. K-Kinda in my own world for a bit." Louis trailed off at the end.

Liam smiled softly at the boy. "It's okay." I chuckled. "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?" He asked.

Louis racked his brain of things to tell them. He didn't think he was that interesting of a person. Not like his best friend who could talk loads about moving to the United Kingdom and all the stories he had to tell anybody.

"Um, well, you already know the little things about me." Louis thought for a bit, for anything! "I have four younger sisters. Lottie, Felicity, Phoebe and Daisy." Louis smiled at the thought of them. He wished he could have said goodbye to them at the airport, but they had school, and Lottie and Felicity had some important tests to do. "I miss 'em.."

"We know how you feel. Having sisters and not being able to see or even talk to them sometimes is hard, but we know they'll always be there when we need them." Zayn smiles reassuringly at Louis.

Louis smiled back at him. "Yeah.." Louis sighs silently.

"Sorry for the suddenness," Harry spoke up, standing. He had a massive smile on his face. "but I really have to go." He said, jogging out of the room and starts up the stair case to his room to get ready.

"Is Kendall back?" Liam calls out to him.

"Yeah!" A small giggle followed after.

'Who is Kendall?' Louis thought to himself. Louis never knew Harry had a friend named Kendall, but it could just be a friend that wasn't mentioned to the fans.

It was quiet for a moment, until Liam broke it. "So, do you guys want a bit of a tour around?" He asks.

Louis and Niall nodded, smiles on their faces. All four boys stood up and walked back to the front of the house. "So, over here is obviously the kitchen." Liam points out. "And down this hall is a big music room where we all kinda jam and such. Where we write songs together."

Niall perked right up and the mention of a music room. "Can we see it?" He asks excitedly.

Liam chuckled softly with a soft 'sure', before leading the small group to the room.

Walking inside, Niall and Louis were amazed by the amount of guitar on the walls and even a big piano in the corner. Microphone stands were placed in a line in the middle of the room. They saw a window in the wall in front of them, noticing it was actually a room, a booth attached beside it. A recording booth.

"Woah.." Louis and Niall said in sync, amazed.

"You have a home recording studio?" Niall asked with wide eyes.

Liam nodded, asking if he wanted to check it out, which of course Niall said yes and followed the boy into the room.

Louis was walking over to the big piano in the corner of the room, brushing his fingers lightly over the wood and keys. He always wished of having a piano like this, but he was quite content with his small keyboard at home for now.

Zayn watched the quiet boy examine the instrument for a moment before walking over to him. "Do you play anything, Louis?"

Louis looked up to Zayn who was now standing next to him, shrugging a bit. "I can play a piano and a little bit of guitar."

"Can I hear you play?" Zayn asks, gesturing to the piano in front of them.

Louis nods shyly, taking a seat on the stool. He places his fingers on the keys, thinking of what song he should play. He decided on playing 'They Don't Know About Us', since it was his favourite song on the band's new album. He didn't sing the song, but just played until the end of the chorus, finishing the song slowly and softly.

When there was only silence in the room, he slowly looked up at Zayn who had raised eyebrows.

"You're incredible!" Zayn says, which causes Louis's cheeks to redden slightly. He still wasn't use to compliments.

"Th-Thanks Zayn." Louis smiles.

Suddenly, Harry's head popped into the room, calling out, "I'm leaving now! I'll be back later for dinner." He smiles wide, full of happiness.

Louis found the smile adorable and heart warming, but he still couldn't get the thought of who Kendall was out of his mind. And now he was wondering why Harry seemed so excited to see this person. Not that you can't be excited to see a friend, but he seemed a little.. too excited to see Kendall.

Zayn and Liam nodded to him, calling out goodbyes as Harry left the house.

Louis didn't notice his stare was still on the slightly ajar door until Zayn sat down next to him on the piano stool, a hand on the older boy's shoulder. He gave it a little squeeze. "Louis? You okay?" Zayn asked, slight worry laced onto his expression.

The blue eyed boy snapped out of his stare and looked to Zayn, giving a small nod, saying a soft, "Yeah...".

Zayn offers Louis to come with him to get some pizza for dinner, looking down at his watch and noticing the time. Louis accepts, feeling the need to get some fresh air anyway, and they both tell Liam and Niall they they are going down to the shop to get some pizzas.

Although Zayn knew it would probably be better and safer to take a car to the shop, they walk instead. The shop wasn't that far away, and it also gave Zayn the chance to talk to Louis a bit more. As well as it gave Louis the chance to ask the questions he's never gotten to ask the boys himself.

"As much as I do like the silence, I'm positive you have some questions you want to ask." Zayn says, stuffing his cold hands into his coat pockets. "Any 'fan' questions you want me to answer?" He chuckles.

Louis looks up at him. "Well, I can't exactly ask for a photo, an autograph, a twitter follow and a hug now, can I? That would be a bit weird." He jokes, but then racks his brain for actual questions. "Okay, um... I don't know! They're embarrassing..." He mumbled the last part.

Zayn rolled his eyes with a slight smirk. "C'mon, they can't be that bad. I've gotten some weird questions before."

"You should be asking me questions. I know a fair bit about you already." A fair bit, as in a lot more than someone should know about someone they've never met before.

"Oh yeah, you were a fan!" Zayn says. "Okay, I've got a question. Who's your favourite? I'm pretty sure every fan has a favourite." He smirks.

Louis looks down at his black TOMS, his hair falling over his eyes and a blush rising quickly onto his cold cheeks. He wrapped his arms around himself, pursing his lips before answering softly, "Harry..."

Zayn notices Louis' red cheeks and how he went all shy with answering the question. Sure he might be a little embarrassed, but Zayn was also slightly confused, as well as a little intrigued. He didn't speak up about it though, instead joked about Louis not choosing him as his favourite.

Louis was hating the embarrassing attention on him and decided to take it off him by saying, "Well, N-Niall's got an obsession with Liam! I-It's worse th-than my liking f-for Harry." Of course that was a lie. Niall's little obsession with Liam wouldn't dare come close to Louis' love for Harry.

Zayn crossed his arms over his chest, pouting over exaggeratedly. "I don't like any of you." He huffs out.

Louis' brows furrow, feeling like he's done something wrong. "W-Wha-"

"'Cause none of you picked me."

Getting that it was a joke, Louis started laughing, Zayn joining in.

+

Finally after a few minutes, the two boys where in the pizza shop. Zayn was ording the pizzas, while Louis was looking outside of the shop windows.

Something caught his eye when he saw two girls start jogging over to the shop, tapping on their phones quickly. They had massive smiles on their faces, one looking like she was going to have a heart attack.

Louis didn't make much of it until he saw a couple more girls crowd around the store. Then a few more. Enough so that you couldn't see out the windows any more.

What was going on?!

Louis didn't realise he had such a look of shock and nervousness on his face, but Zayn noticed the second he collected the pizzas and turned to the older boy.

"Louis? You okay?" Zayn asked worriedly.

And then Louis realized. He was with Zayn, and all of these girls were fans. Why did it take him that long to realize?

Louis' eyes flickered between Zayn and the shop windows which were now crowded. He knew the One Direction fandom could spread news quick, but he didn't know it was that quick!

Louis let out a shaky, "yeah... kinda.... I don't know." He knows he's going to have to get use to the crowds and the attention soon, but right now it was a bit overwhelming.

"Just stick close to me, okay?" Zayn said to the slightly shaky boy.

Zayn wrapped his arm around Louis' shoulder, Louis moving in close to him, and he opened the door. Suddenly there were screams and yells of random things heard all around them. Louis couldn't believe how loud it was.

"Zayn! Can I get a picture?!"

"Who's that guy?!"

"Why aren't you stopping to talk to us!?"

"Zayn!"

The girls continued to yell, while the boys were trying to get through the crowd. When they finally made their way out, they heard someone yell out, "seriously?!"

Zayn turned his head towards the crowd of girls, Louis still curled close into him. Louis noticed some paps coming out of nowhere, and honestly, it made him even more nervous.

"I'm sorry, I just can't stop right now." Zayn said to them. Normally he could say a quick hello to the fans that come up to him, but with a shaky Louis by his side, he knew that he needed to get Louis out of that atmosphere quickly.

"This is why everybody likes Harry!" The same girl shouted, and Zayn wouldn't lie about that comment hurting him a little.

Soon, Louis and Zayn got away from the shouts and camera flashes, and it was silent, just Louis' heavy breaths were heard.

Zayn became a little worried, looking down at Louis who was still curled up to his side. "Louis? You okay?"

All Louis could do in response was a small nod, still in shock over what just happened. To think that all of that is going to happen again some time was a scary thought to the older boy.

Louis wanted to question Zayn about what that one girl called out, but he decided to ignore questioning him.

Instead the two just made their way home.

+

"We're home!" Zayn called out into the quiet house.

Liam and Niall made their way out, they were still in the music room the whole time, Niall learning some of the songs from the new album on guitar.

"Pizza!" Niall exclaimed, taking the hot boxes from Zayn's arms, opening the top one and smiling at his favourite pizza inside.

"Is Harry home yet?" Zayn asks as all the boys moved into the lounge.

Liam shook his head. "Nope, he's staying the night. He called before."

The dark haired boy shrugged. "I understand why I guess. Just, couldn't Kendall come back a day Louis and Niall weren't coming?"

They all sat down on the soft couches, digging into their pizzas, one box extra since it was Harry's.

And there the named popped up again. The name still got Louis thinking. For some reason, it also brought a slight pang to him, like jealousy. But he didn't understand what there was to be jealous about. Kendall was obviously a friend on Harry's, and Louis wasn't, yet. So, why does hearing that name pull something at Louis?

When all the boys finished their pizzas, putting away Harry's into the fridge, Liam and Zayn showed the two new boys to their bedrooms.

It was so much different to home, Louis felt small in the large bedroom.

He just hoped he could get a good first nights sleep.

+

After waking up three times during the night, Louis decides he just can't sleep at all. It was a weird feeling sleeping in a new bed and not your own. To sleep in a new house that's not your own.

Louis looked over to the glowing alarm clock reading 4:12 AM. He sighed, slipping the warm covers off of his body and stands up. He slowly makes his way towards the kitchen, keeping as quiet as possible to not wake anyone else up.

When he turned to walk through the arch to the kitchen, he jumps a little when he sees Harry sitting there, eating his pizza from before, tapping on his phone. A small smile on the curly head boy's lips.

Louis shyly walks into the room, saying a small "Hi," causing Harry to jump and whip his head around to see who was there. When he knew it was just Louis, he let out a soft sigh of relief, giving a smile and a "Hey," in response.

Louis walked to the kitchen island, his gaze flickering on and off of Harry. Harry finally put his phone away, taking a bite of his pizza. 

"I thought you were staying the night at Kendall's." Louis said softly, looking at Harry.

Harry nodded. "I was.. but the paps found me once again, and I didn't want them following me to Kendalls. Wouldn't want to give thier address to the public and all." He explains, a slightly sad look on his face. "And, I'm sorry I rudely left before. I knew you were flying in today, but I promised Kendall I'd meet him the first day they came back. Since we started working on the album and had all the live performances and such, we haven't had time to catch up. But I'm glad I got a little bit of time with 'em." He smiles tightly, looking up at Louis.

Louis just shrugged slightly, shaking his head. "It's okay. It was clearly important to you, nothing I should step in the way of."

Harry's brows furrowed a little, bit then shook the look of of his face, replacing it with a smile. "But good news is I'm free from now on, only focusing on the boys and you."

Louis couldn't help but blush a little, returning the wide smile.

The older boy remembers what he actually came down to get, turning to the glass cupboards and opening the one with glass cups inside. He reaches up to grab one, but much to his luck, the glasses were pushed back slightly too far for his reach. He tried standing on his tip toes, but it didn't help.

Suddenly, he felt a large hand on his lower back, stopping him in his movements. Louis turned his head to see Harry standing next to him, grabbing a glass easily for Louis, the taller boy smiling softly down at him. Although Louis was really embarrassed that he couldn't get the glass himself, he felt himself looking into the bright green eyes that he only ever saw on posters or his laptop screen.

They were much prettier in person...

Louis didn't realize he said that out loud until he saw Harry's cheeks redden slightly.

Harry tried to ignore the compliment, although it did send a weird feeling inside of him. "Why are you up so early?" He asked.

Louis tried to not be fazed by the very short distance between him and the taller, but younger boy. "I-I just couldn't fall asleep properly."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

Louis shook his head. "I just, haven't exactly gotten use to this new lifestyle yet. I don't know how you do it." He chuckled softly.

"You never really get use to it, I still haven't. But you'll get into a rhythm of it soon." Harry smiled warmly. "Don't worry." He almost whispered.

The two boys didn't realize just how long they were both staring into each others eyes in complete silence, until Louis blinked out of his trance, looking away shyly. He slowly stepped away from Harry and opened the fridge to fill his glass with water.

Harry threw away his pizza box, telling Louis he was going to head off to bed. Louis followed beside him.

At some points while they were walking down the same hallway to their bedrooms, their hands would brush in the slightest, which sent sparks up both the boys' arms. Harry tried to ignore the feeling, knowing he shouldn't be feeling it at all, but the sparks brought a smile to Louis' face, loving the feeling.

Louis and Harry's rooms were directly opposite to each others. They gave a final wave to one another before closing themsleves into their rooms. Both boys let out a sigh. One of happiness from Louis, and one of confusion and stress from Harry.

________________________________________

Here is my REALLY LONG chapter, which ended up being 3650+ words! Whaaa? I hope this wasn't too bad, there was even some larry (and zouis) in there!
That moment between the girl yelling at Zayn was the same as when a fan yelled that to Liam when he was trying to spend time with the fam. It was sad, but I wanted to use it somewhere.
Also, there will be more Larry in the next couple of chapters chapters!! 

-Chloe xx