"So what did you get up to today Lou?" Harry asks as they sit down to dinner. Drew and Edward joining them too.

"Oh, just work" Louis says as he plays with his food

The boys brought Thai home, knowing it's Louis favourite and it might entice him to eat.

"Yeah? Did you design anything cool?" Drew asks

Louis giggles at that and the boys stop and stare. They haven't heard that noise from Louis in so long and they all missed it so much

Drew chuckles

"What?" He asks smiling

"Just a funny question, I....it takes weeks to design something, I just...sorry" Louis blushes

The boys chuckle

"Well are you working on anything cool at the moment" Drew corrects

Louis smiles and shrugs

"I just started a collage library today, that's pretty cool" Louis says smiling

The boys miss how passionate Louis is about his work, how he used to talk about it all the time.

"That sounds really awesome" Edward says

"Do you have to go visit the site at all?" Scott asks, knowing most of the time Louis likes to see the location before he does his designs.

"Um yeah actually, tomorrow" Louis says

"Where's site?" Harry asks as he takes a sip of his beer

Louis looks down and doesn't answer

"Louis?" Scott asks pointedly

"London Elite" Louis whispers

The boys are silent

"Louis" they all say

"It will be fine, it's fine" Louis says upset

"Louis it's not fine, you don't have to go back there" Harry says

"I do if I want this job and it's paying really well" Louis says

"Like you need the money!" Scott scoffs

"What's that supposed to mean?" Louis asks

"It means, you're loaded Louis, you don't even need to work, why take a job that's going to bring up the past and where it all happened?" Harry asks and he's angry, because he's worried and wants to protect Louis.

"Like this whole case isn't turning everything on its head, like it's not dragging everything up. I can't keep living like this, I can't let it keep ruling my life. I'm sick of feeling like this and it's all coming back regardless of if I take this job or not" Louis yells back angrily

"Okay calm down" Edward tries to calm the situation

"I'm sorry Louis, okay, I'm just worried about you" Harry then apologises but his voice is raised

"Harry, I'm sorry I don't get it. You disappear for a whole year, all of you. You say your job was finished but there was no warning, you just stopped calling me, stopped coming around stopped answering my calls. I spent months wondering what I did wrong. I'm sorry if I was to close to you, I'm sorry if I thought you were my friends. But fuck, it fucking broke me and now you think turning up here, pretending to worry about me, moving in here, is going to fix anything, is going to make me forget? You've made it very clear I relied on you to much, so don't come in here and tell me which jobs I can and can't do or that you're worried about me" Louis says and he finishes yelling.

"Louis, we didn't mean to make you feel like that" Drew says

"Didn't mean to? What do you think was going to happen when you started ignoring me and ghosting me. I saw you and Edward in town at the coffee shop and you pretended you didn't know me, that I didn't exist. What possible reason could there have been for that? How the fuck do you think that I wouldn't feel abandoned by the closest people to family I had since I lost my parents" Louis says

"Kid" Edward tries

"What, please for the love of god explain it to me" Louis yells

Edward and Drew turn to Harry and Scott

Louis catches on and looks to the two of them too.

"It was you two wasn't it" Louis scoffs

"Louis, please can we not do this right now" Scott pleads

"I'm sorry it's not a convenient time for the two of you" Louis says

"You know what, we are going to get going, we have to stop by the station on the way home" Drew says

He and Edward get up to leave and say goodbye to Louis

"We will talk tomorrow kiddo" they say as they kiss Louis on the head and are out the door quickly.

It's silent as Louis plays with his food forcefully, an angry look on his face. Which looks more like a cute kitten if Harry and Scott are honest.

"Louis, we can explain" Harry says, breaking the silence.

"That's all I've ever asked for Harry, so I don't have to wonder what I didn't wrong anymore" Louis says vulnerably

"You didn't do anything wrong darling, we did and we are so bloody sorry for everything" Scott says.

Louis becomes a little more willing to listen, his defensive walls coming down a little

"Then why Scott" Louis asks and the boys can see him about to break.

Scott and Harry look towards each other and share a silent agreement. Harry then turns to look at Louis in the eyes, Louis loves Harry's eyes, he can't get enough of them, but tonight they look sad and Louis hates it.

"Our boss at the time we took the case was riding our arse and was an absolute arsehole. He found out we were seeing you outside of the office and began spying on us, he had a vendetta against Scott and I, he knew we were in the running to take over the job above him and he didn't want us too. He found out a few things and used them against us, and blackmailed us with Drew and Edwards positions. For the sake of our jobs and theirs we had to pull back. We didn't want to ruin Edward or Drew's careers for our selfishness either so we ordered them to pull back too" Harry says sadly

"They only found out the real reason a few months ago, when we moved up three ranks and took them with us" Scott says

Louis feels bad for being mad at Drew and Edward.

"Why didn't you just tell me" Louis asks

"Because we didn't want to hurt you, as dumb as that sounds now, we really couldn't watch you hurt" Scott says as he puts his fork down and runs his hand through his hair

"Well I'm even more hurt but...I understand, I appreciate you telling me" Louis says

"We don't want you to hate us Louis, and that boss is long gone, we pushed him out as soon as we could" Harry says

Louis sighs and looks down

"I just have one question" Louis asks, he doesn't look at the boys, he can't.

"Okay" the boys say at the same time

"Did you actually like me? Was I your friend?" Louis asks and he holds back his tears

The boys nearly both cry at Louis innocent face, this poor kid, they feel awful.

"Louis" Scott says

"Please, I just want to know the truth" Louis says innocently

"Drew and Edward, love you like a little brother Louis, they would do absolutely anything for you, they still love you and were so angry at us for a long time" Harry says

Louis relaxes at that, at least he didn't imagine the relationship. He absolutely adores Drew and Edward.

"And you?" Louis asks swallowing hard

It's silent before Scott speaks

"It was more complicated than that for us" Scott says

"So you didn't?" Louis whispers

"At first we were just doing our job Lou, there was a connection with you and we wanted to look after you and make sure you were okay" Harry says

"Then we started hanging out and we loved being around you, Harry and I genuinely loved your company, the friendship was always the next step, it happened so naturally" Scott says

"But then..." Harry starts

"Then?" Louis asks thinking they are about to tell him what he did wrong

"Then, Harry and I crossed the line, we have always talked about adding a third person to our relationship and it became obvious to both of us that we......wanted you" Scott says and he looks straight into Louis eyes

"Wha?" Louis asks, disbelieving what he's hearing.

"Scott's right and then when our boss threatened us and found out about our feelings for you. We panicked, it's frowned upon and it would have      jeopardised the case and we couldn't do that to you" Harry says

"We know we handled it wrong Louis and gosh we're so sorry, but please, can you forgive us" Scott says

Louis is looking at the two like a deer in headlights, he has no idea what to say

"So you both had feeling for me?" Louis asks in confirmation

"No Louis, we STILL have feelings for you" Harry says vulnerably

"We don't mean to make you uncomfortable and we can ask Drew and Edward to take over staying here if it makes you more comfortable" Scott rambles

"No, Scott, it's....I'm not, uncomfortable, at all, I just, I, I guess I just thought I was crazy when I thought there was something there, because you just left and.... I thought maybe you'd picked up on my feelings for you and didn't want me" Louis says as he sighs and chances a glance at the two

Louis finds them both looking at him fondly

"No not at all Louis and we are just so sorry" Harry says

Louis nods

"Can we maybe just like, start over, I, just would really like it if we could do that" Louis then says

Harry and Scott smile

"We would really like that too Lou" Harry says and they all nod

"Can I ask another question?" Louis says

"I guess one more won't hurt" Harry says jokingly

"Um, is it still frowned upon?" He asks quietly

Harry and Scott smile widely

"We're so high up now Louis, that no one would ever question anything" Scott says

"Good to know" Louis half smiles

The boys chuckle

"Just so...you know,  if you disappear again, you have no excuse" Louis smiles and the boys laugh.

"Just so we're clear here Lou, like, we don't expect anything from you, we don't want you to fell like you need to act on anything. We aren't here for that okay....just know we care about you a lot" Scott says

"I....It's not like I'm not open to something, I just trusted you so much and I'm scared to let you in again. I just need to trust you again" Louis says

"And we completely understand that sweetheart, we really do, there's a lot going on right now but just know we aren't going anywhere" Harry says

Louis nods in understanding

They then actually finish dinner together, talking a little. Louis eats a small amount and feels a little lighter, feels something inside him ignite  again and he's happy they sorted some things out.