Louis nervously fixed the collar of his shirt, frowning at his reflection. This was the fourth shirt he had tried on and his whole bedroom was in a mess, clothes laying around everywhere. But, then again, when was his room ever clean?

"Oh lord! Lou, I can't even see the carpet of your room!" Zayn oh so dramatically said.

"Shut up, I don't have a carpet anyways, you twat." He rolled his eyes removing his shirt and picking a brown one.

"What?" Zayn furrowed his eyebrows and walked over to Louis's form, slightly hopping around to avoid stepping over something.

"I threw it away, I guess. After, throwing up all over it, or maybe the removal of dried cum was too much work for me..I don't know." He shook his head in frustration, not understanding why Zayn's here and just trying to find a decent pair of clothes!

"Why are you fussing over what to wear so much!" Zayn frowned till he realised, "Got yourself a date?" He smirked hoping so bad that it isn't Harry.

"No. Yes." Zayn raised his eyebrow. "I mean technically no, I don't think so..?"

"Then just wear the first thing you see or something, you always do that." Zayn shrugged.

"I-i-ugh." Even the boy doesn't know why he wants to 'dress up' (it's to show Harry, what's he missing at) "When was looking good become a crime? I'm doing it for myself."

Of course, it has to be Harry. "Didn't he tell you where you were going or what to wear? Like formal or casual?" He let out a sigh. At this point all he can do is support Louis at whatever decision the boy makes.

Harry- This is what I want to see you in.

*picture attached*

Louis- There's nothing in the pic, Harry. -.-

Louis- Oh my god! You little shit😒

Harry- 😂 I'm anything but little, you know that.

Louis- 😑

Harry- you have to agree that it was a good one!

It really was cause it still made him blush thinking about it. "No, not exactly."

"Here, let me help you."

------

"Wow. This- this is really beautiful, Harry." Louis was awed by the reflection of the fairy lights on the pond surrounding a podium which consisted of one set of table and a couple of chairs. "You're such a sap." He rolled his eyes fondly noticing the candles on the table.

The feeling of let down by someone else reared his ugly face again in Louis's life after his birthday. He learned to not ever be dependant on anyone else for a very long time, only to find himself up at late nights, face stuffed with ice cream, drunk till the 'Love Actually' playing on his tv became blurry and high to not even realise that he was crying just for his neighbour not replying back in time. But, it was not Harry's fault. It's his to fall for him.

So, when that curly haired frog ass bitch who stole his heart called Louis to take him out, he really shouldn't be blamed to hope that maybe this was for asking Louis's forgiveness since they hadn't really seen each other for a long time.

"I'm glad you liked it." Harry smiled at Louis and just like that something shattered inside the boy when the truth hit him hard.

This all was for Nick, not him.

Turning his body swiftly towards Harry, Louis said trying very hard not to crack, "I'm not going to he Nick's substitute, Harry." His voice might've sounded firm, but his interiors were hissing at the reopened wounds.

Harry gulped. "What?" He's not man enough to agree that since the past couple of weeks spend with Nick, he was wishing for their relationship to get back to they way it was and preventing himself to cheat again. This candlelight dinner arrangement was setup by the man in dire need to rekindle the romance, the happiness, the want in their relationship. Remember something great that will over power these same exact things he feels even when he just thinks about Louis and that's really very scary. And when Nick cancelled, Harry being Harry didn't want to be alone.

Louis shakes his head, looking down playing with the straps of his suspenders (He had dressed for an occasion only to realise that his efforts weren't even going to be acknowledged), when Harry didn't say anything. He knows this was the truth, then why the fuck did his stupid self hoped to listen to Harry's defence. "Why are you even with Nick!?" Not holding back any venom from his voice, he spat, "You're cheating on him, he's cheating on you! What's the fucking point of this!?"

Before Harry could think about what he should say or support, he boomed, "I can't give up my 8 years of relationship for something we had in 8 weeks."

The only thing you could hear was the rapid beating of both their hearts, ragged breathing of Harry's as he flared his nose in anger. The time seemed to be the last thing on their minds, so after God knows how long, Louis closed his eyes and sighed sadly, "That didn't stop you from shoving your dick inside me."

"What- what's gotten into you!?" Harry fisted his hair in frustration, he's confused as to not knowing why he doesn't want to act the way he is, "Weren't you the one who started all this!?" At this point, this is the only safest way for him to defend.

"So, I'm the slut now." No, he refused to let his eyes water hearing his true self from that one person he doesn't want to be judged. Guess, that was a lot to ask.

"Well, you did practically throw yourself at me!" Harry's gone with the flow of his anger not bothering about who he blows it up on.

"No one forced you to!" Louis returned his glare.

"I love Nick!" Everybody knows who Harry was trying to convince at this point, it was himself, but that didn't not clench Louis's heart.

"That's a little hard to believe when you pounce at any chance you get at pounding inside my arse." And with any dignity Louis had left with, he turned and walked away. "Don't bother coming after me, now."

With each step of going away from Harry, a little bit of Harry's heart was been taken away till he felt empty. He's used to this vacancy and he should be relieved by it, after all this normality was his number one priority, but when noticing how somehow the lights and everything surrounding him had gotten dull, like Louis had taken away all the shine from his life, regret overwhelmed him.

He dropped his face in his hands and took deep breaths in. This is what was suppose to happen, it was what he wanted after all and he just has to deal with now. It's too late to act anyways.

------

"Happy Birthday, baby." Nick kissed Harry's cheek since he had subtly moved his lips away. This was happening a lot, Harry not wanting to be intimate with Nick. He felt like laughing for this was what he wanted initially, but he doesn't even want to think about what he wants now.

He smiled not reaching his eyes, doing it mandatorily seeing so many people in his backyard for his 'surprise' birthday party arranged by Nick. Not a surprise there.

"Thank you." He wasn't suppose to be glad that Nick didn't see through his fake demeanour, or maybe he did and just didn't care unlike his pretty blue eyed boy.

Fuck! He misses Louis a lot. It's useless to keep lying to himself. He fucking misses him a lot and there's nothing he can do about it. That's it, that's the brutal truth.

And unfortunately, his feelings were not reciprocating back when he looked at yet another one of Louis's picture with some other random guys, sitting on their laps while one kissed his cheek and the other was kissing the either side of his neck.

The way how Harry saw some new guy almost everyday dropping Louis off late at night, when Harry stayed awake working (checking up on his neighbour's safety is considered work) did not really help his case. His blood boiled seeing those pansies grope hi- Louis like they fucking owned him, they don't and so does Harry. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair, his right of raging over this was not acceptable when he knew he had been such a huge jerk.

But, damn! Seriously, he will personally make sure that these boys loose their arms which were touching Louis's waist!

As someone else approached him with greetings, he looked up from his phone realising how pathetic he must be for stalking his neighbour on his own birthday party.

He'd never wished for anything else as bad as he wished to see that blue eyed beauty in front him.

It's not like Louis doesn't know about Harry's birthday, everybody in the neighbourhood does thanks to the party and Nick did invite Liam and Zayn, he must have known since the couple too wished him, if you count their deadly glares and Liam's a bit too firm handshake a greeting.

Why couldn't he just text him a happy birthday, or maybe just something! Did he give up this fast? Was he ever even in it at first place? All this was making his head spin and guilt made a bile rise up in his throat when he blew out the candles wishing for some other man while standing next his husband.

The night came to an end, but not Harry's suffering. Everybody had left and he was making his way back to his room when the ringing of the doorbell caught his attention.

He frowned thinking who could it be this late at night.

A coo left his voice when he opened the door and saw a basket with a curled up kitten inside. Gently picking it up, Harry grinned wide for the first time in the entire day, "You're so cute!" The kitten was white with a black patch on it's right ear and eye and had a black tail.

A bow attached on the handle of the basket indicated it being a gift. The best gift of Harry's life! He always wanted a cat, since he was a little kid, but couldn't have one because of his dad being allergic to them and Nick just didn't like cats.

As he cradled the kitten in his chest, who nuzzled back to him, a note at the bottom of the basket caught his eye.

'If someone can't do this much of a sacrifice for your happiness, then you're a fool for staying with them. All the fucking love for the cat, Styles.'

Okay, the last part was a bit rude making fun of the way Harry generally tweets. But, only one person knew about this.

With a broken voice Harry whispered in the silence of the night, "Louis."

-------

Hope you liked that