~
In honour of Harry's birthday, here's another chapter. Happy birthday beautiful.

~

[Thursday, 21.09 p.m, 42b Dulwich Road, Herne Hill., Brixton]

Louis parked the car right outside the apartment. Looked up at the bright blue door, swallowed hard and breathed in and out before he picked up his phone to call Harry.

"Outside?"

"Yes."

"I'll be down in a second," Harry hung up and he unbuckled his seatbelt. There was no turning back now. The phone buzzed in his lap.

Text message from Danielle:
21:10

Going out? Out where? A pub? Are you sure that's a good idea?

Text message to Danielle:
21.11
I'm confident. Don't worry. I'll call you tomorrow. Xx

There was a knock on the car window and outside stood a smiling Harry, waving at him to jump outside the car. He locked the phone, grabbed the car keys and stepped outside.

"Hi," Harry greeted him as Louis walked up beside him, "I'm glad you changed your mind!"

"How come? I have to warn you, it's been a while since I went clubbing." Louis asked as they walked up the stairs to the blue door.

"Well, for starters we all think you're a blast and secondly I didn't thank you enough for yesterday. It really helped to get out somewhere else, trying new things. And the dinner was lovely," he said, walking up the second stair and stopped at the first door, "And don't worry about the clubbing, I'll take care of you."

Blood trailed up his cheeks as he looked at Harry's smirking face. It was obvious he was a couple of drinks in, but it suited him. This confidence, the colour on his cheeks and the non-existent filter between his mind and mouth. Not to mention his clothes, the loose fit half-unbuttoned white shirt, together with a pair of high waisted loose black trousers. Louis surely felt underdressed.

"Come in," Harry stepped inside a small hallway, Louis following close behind. He caught the glimpse of four different doorways behind Harry. Music and shatter streamed out from the doorway closest to the front door, he believed it to be the living room, "I can leave your jacket in my room if you don't want to toss it into the pile over there," he pointed towards a teak bench next to the front door that was barely visible underneath a huddle of jackets.

Louis pulled off his jeans jacket, "This old thing won't mind," he said and tossed it over the pile. Harry smiled and Louis had to remind himself not to let his eyes get stuck on his visible chest.

"Can I get you something?" Harry asked and made a move towards what Louis assumed was the kitchen, "A beer?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you," Louis said, giving his host a reassuring nod.

Harry bit his lip, "I can't let you go around empty-handed. Would an alcoholic-free ginger beer do?" he turned and stepped inside the kitchen before Louis could respond.

"Fine, that would be perfect," he said and entered a kitchen that was even smaller than the hallway. The smell of newly cooked food lingered together with a candle that was still lightened on the wooden table placed against the wall.

"Oh shit," Harry rushed to blow the candle out, "fucking told him to put out the damn candle,..." Louis wasn't sure he was supposed to hear those last words, so he pretended not to notice.

"What a beautiful view!" He said and peaked out the window. Outside laid a large field of green grass and oaks, lightened street lanterns following the small paths around the park as long as the eye could reach, "Brockwell Park? Right?"

Harry turned from the opened fridge to join Louis by the window, "Brockwell is correct," he said and handed him the bottle, "I love living this close to the park, except on Sunday mornings when it's filled with screaming children."

Louis laughed, and brought the bottle to his lips, "Maybe you wouldn't hate it if you weren't hungover all the time," He bickered, and smiled when he saw Harry's face, "Just a thought."

"I don't have the strength for that," Harry said and went back to the fridge to grab another bottle of beer for himself, "Cheers!" He said and joined their bottles together in a toast, "Want to join the others?"

Louis felt the sudden need to shake his head, he wasn't here to meet the others, but did the opposite and followed Harry's long figure as they made their way towards the living room. Holding on tightly to his ginger-beer he stepped inside and was stung by a thick invisible wall of heat. There were too many people and too little space.

"Tommo!" He heard Liam's well-known voice and found himself in a tight embrace, "Kind of you to join us! Did you send Harry those notes?" He said as he made his way back to his seat at the floor. Fuck.

Harry turned his head towards Louis, "Notes? What notes?"

"Ehm," Louis shook his head, heat travelling to his cheeks, "Just some things from today, we can speak about it later." He said and watched as Harry's shoulders dropped. Of course, he believed it was something bad about him, him and his acting.

"Okay," he answered, pinning his lips together, looking away from Louis who stopped the impulse to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. But when the worried look on Harry's face didn't fade, he couldn't stop himself.

"Hey," He said and softly stroked his shoulder, Harry's arm flinched but his eyes were steady when they joined Louis. The heat from his body shot out towards him and he swallowed hard, "It's nothing you have to worry about, okay?"

"Okay." Harry said again, gave him a quick nod and turned towards his friends, "Everybody who hasn't met him, this is Louis. He's our new director at Jermyn Street."

"Assistant director," Louis leaned towards Harry who rolled his eyes.

"Assistant director, very important note, because God forbid you to step on Jeffrey Azlofs toes!" A laugh broke out from the sofa, where Zayn sat sipping on a glass of wine. Next to him sat a woman with her long legs curled up in his lap. She eyed him from top to toe and smiled without any actual emotion. He decided she wasn't high up in his get-to-know-list.

"Hi Louis," a women rose from the floor next to Liam and Niall, her dark hair falling in wavy curls around her face as she reached out her hand, "I'm Sarah, Harry's only best friend," she said looking meaningly at Zayn who gave out a laughing snort, "Really nice meeting you."

"Oh, hi! You too," He said, eyeing her curiously. How was it like being Harry's best friend he wondered and looked at Harry who looked a Sarah with so much warmth it shone through his eyes like a ray of sunlight.

"Have a seat," she said and offered him one of the cushions she used on the floor.

"Thanks," he smiled at her and placed the cushion at the end side of the wooden table, also in teak. They sure liked vintage interior in this household he noted as he glimpsed around the room. Everywhere were small details from the past, vintage cameras, old books, dark wooden bookshelves, retro lamps and next to the tv bench stood a record player and underneath a case filled with LP-discs. Streaming out from the speakers were Stevie Nicks sweet voice accompanied by her bandmates singing about love, what else?

He caught Harry's eye who had sat himself down in the couch next to Niall who eyed the feet of the women in Zayn's lap suspiciously. Harry's pink lips turned into a smirk as he looked into his eyes and Louis inhaled slowly as he smiled back, the sound of Stevie's words "Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?" filling up the room. There was a buzz from his phone and he quickly eyed it underneath the table, still with Harry's eyes on him.

Text message from Danielle:
21.47
I don't like this Louis, at all.

What the hell was he doing here?

[Thursday, 22.15 p.m, Heaven Nightclub Line.]

"I told you we should've gotten here sooner, look at this line!" Zayn complained as he turned towards Harry who shrugged his shoulders. Behind red barrier tape, a long line coiled down the street, people stood patiently waiting, all dressed up (and down) to the teeth charing laughs.

"Stop whining, it won't take more than fifteen minutes to get inside," Harry said and closed the door to the Uber who drove off with speed.

"Can you two just for once stop bickering?" The women accompanying Zayn snapped as she leaned towards them. Harry gave her a dark look before walking past them and into the line, waving Louis and Sarah towards him. Louis eyed the line and reminded himself to breathe. Everything would be alright. He was in control.

This was a good thing he told himself as he walked up next to Harry who handed Sarah a tiny jar, "Just a little on the cheeks, would you?" He asked and she blew him a kiss before opening the jar, dipping her finger and lightly stroking his cheeks. Soon his face glistened with tiny sparks of glitter, it looked beautiful and Louis had to bite back a smile, "Thank you, love." Harry leaned over to kiss Sarah on her temple.

"Watch it, if that gets stuck in my hair I won't get it out until spring!" Sarah pushed him away, laughing. Harry took the jar from her and turned to Louis.

"Do you want some?" He said and Louis eyed his glowing cheeks. Maybe he would've said yes, in another life, when he had been as carefree as Harry was right then. His eyes glistening, his cheeks flushed from the alcohol and his hair in a complete mess of curls. But Louis wasn't like him.

"I'm fine," he said, and watched as Harry's lower lip gave a pout and his eyes grew bigger, "I'm- no, Harry, I'm not going to do it," Louis tried to sound determined but failed as Harry changed his tactics. He went from begging to demanding with his brows furrowed and his lips tightly strained, "No! Just no," he laughed and Harry sighed but put the jar away in his coat pocket. Louis looked at him thankfully.

"Jeez, is Zayn and Gigi always fighting like that?" Liam said as he joined behind them, tilting his head towards the sidewalk were Zayn and his girlfriend stood closely together, their mouths moving rapidly and their hands throwing up and down.

Harry rose a brow, and then shook his head, "If you only knew."

"How can you stand it, living with that all the time?" Liam asked, tossing a glimpse at the fighting couple.

"I don't. But what's there to do? He does what he wants, never listens to me and now lives a terrible life thanks to-," he stopped mid-sentence and inhaled a heavy breath, "You know what, I should probably shut up now."

Louis' eyes met with Liam's for a second who patted Harry on the shoulder, "You're a good friend, Styles. And Zayn knows that."

Harry gave him a vague smile, "Thanks, Liam," before turning forward. Louis saw the tension in his face as he looked away, and once again fought the impulse to lay a hand on his shoulder when Zayn came up next to the line.

"Haz," He said, placing his hand on Harry's, holding it inside of his, "I'm sorry but we won't-,"

"Save it. Honestly I never expect anything else," Harry said in a sour voice, pulling his hand away from Zayn as he took a step back, almost crashing into Louis who lifted his hands to stop Harry from tripping over his feet.

"Hey, come on, don't be like that." Zayn pleaded, his eyes moving quickly to look a Sarah and Liam and then back to Harry.

Harry gathered himself and Louis removed his hands, "Be like what?" Harry gave Zayn a challenging look.

"Mad, stubborn, bitchy," Zayn spoke with a flat voice.

Harry gave out a snort, "I'm not surprised, that's it. You go have another fight at home and I'll see you tomorrow, probably. Great, good night." He said and gave Zayn a fake smile as he waved towards Gigi who stood leaning against a streetlight, rolling her eyes at the gesture. The line moved forward and Harry stepped away from Zayn who stood with his hands clutched against his sides.

"Grow the fuck up." He spat out between clenched teeth as he walked away from them. Harry pretended not to take notice of the words as he turned towards Louis, smiling. Something was definitely going on between the two, something that had boiled under the surface for a long time Louis figured.

"Are you excited?" Harry flashed of a big smile and Louis had to quickly gather himself from the scene he had just witnessed between the two friends.

"Yeah, definitely. Dancing, sweating, pissing in front of peeking people, can't wait," Louis said and moved forward as the lined moved when he felt another buzz in his jeans pocket. He grabbed the phone and unlocked it.

Text message from Danielle:
22.30
Where are you now? Are you okay?

Harry's eyes followed his movements as he sighed and shoved the phone down into his pocket again. He would deal with that tomorrow. It would be a pain, but a pain he had chosen when he agreed on coming here.

"Be ready with your ID," Harry said leaning towards him and Louis quickly grabbed it from the inside of his jacket.

"Ready," Louis smiled at him as the guard eyed Harry's ID and let him trough.

"Welcome to Heaven, sir. Please note that any drug use inside is forbidden, forbidden." The guard said as he had cast a glimpse on Louis age and let him trough, and there it was, he was officially inside of a nightclub for the first time in years. He felt the panic creeping but then he felt Harry's fingers enclose around his wrist as they moved forward inside the dark hallway towards the echoing music and suddenly he forgot all about what was bothering him.