~You will find me,

And you will find me~

AUGUST 10TH

There's never been tension before one of Simon's jobs like there's been before this one. Since the day they got back from America, Harry's locked himself in his room and hasn't come out. Luckily there's a bathroom in there, and Louis is his dutiful butler, providing him with food and constantly checking to make sure that he's ok. Which he isn't.

The second that Harry wrapped his arms around Louis at the airport, he knew that he was having a flare. That was probably why he had gotten sick on the flight over, and it was just such an obvious thing for him to notice - his face was flushed and breaking out in a rash, his skin was burning up, and his lips were chapped in his customary dehydration that marked a flare.

They always came once a month. The last one had been a week or two prior, and Harry simply stayed in bed for an entire day and then was fine. That's how it had been for the last half of a year - it was manageable. But stress had set him off, and he wasn't getting better. He wouldn't let Louis into the room, but he could feel the pain coming from the room - physical, emotional, and mental.

Without Harry's calming influence, Louis was beginning to go insane. All of them were realizing that this job was going to be different from any other, but things were really falling apart for him. "No, I want her until the 5th!" At the current moment, he was screaming to Eleanor on the phone, as he always was.

"I'm taking her to see her grandparents on the third! I've said this! Non-negotiable!" The two of them continued to yell, and Louis paced the living room. Liam waited anxiously in the kitchen to try and be able to calm him down once he inevitably lost the battle. While he tried to be inflexible in his desires, Eleanor always walked all over him and got what she wanted.

For the last five days, Louis had been experiencing severe mood swings that Simon was beginning to get worried about. When it had rained a couple days prior, he played soccer by himself outside and tore up the yard with his cleats. Now there was mud everywhere, and the gardener didn't even want to think about going out there without a significant pay raise.

Yesterday, he found a BB gun in Hailee's stash and shot all of the plates in the front yard, much ot the chagrin of the security guards, and Simon's personal chef. Liam tore the gun out of his hands and Louis sat in the corner and cried for thirty minutes before passing out like a child throwing a tantrum. But despite his mood swings and overall grouchiness, he's kept up on his promise of making sure that his friend is drug free, and the two of them are pretty much the only ones prepping for the job at this point.

They've been under extreme house arrest to protect them. No coffee that isn't black. Louis and Zayn ran out of cigarettes 24 hours ago. Niall has been begging Simon for anything to relieve their situation and to calm everyone's nerves, but he's been refusing to see visitors in his office too. Working every hour of the day on his business, and on changing the plan.

"Want some tea?" Liam questioned, to which Louis nodded, pursing his lips together and listening to the conversation.

As he moved towards the cabinets, Zayn appeared, looking to be in need of a shower and some lunch. "Hey," He murmured with the smile that was always reserved for the person he loved.

"Finally come out of your cave?" Zayn and Niall have been in a bit of a minor depressive funk compared to Harry. The trip was also hard on them. Niall has been playing a lot of video games and playing with various locks, while Zayn has been watching movies on his laptop in his room. Like this is some college frat house and they have nothing to do.

He limped over to Liam, grateful to see him for a moment. Someone else had to take over as the full-time caregiver of the much-older-than-him brat known as Louis, and that job took up all hours. Which meant that the two of them hadn't had a second to talk since they had gotten back. "Just to see you," Zayn winked. Then he boldly stated, "I'm thinking the two of us should go on a date."

Liam was very much in favor of such an idea, but it seemed like his dear pal was forgetting one crucial thing. "We're under house arrest, if you remember you almost dying in Boston? Philadelphia. Not even a week ago." He moved towards him, closing the distance between them, and Zayn pressed his back against the counter as Liam put his hand over the bandages on his thigh.

Zayn moved the hem of his shorts up a bit more to show him the full size of the bandage. "It's healing. And yes, I know that we're under house arrest. It doesn't change that I still want to take you on a date. And that I want to kiss you. Like all the time."

"So kiss me then."

The two of them were in the center of the kitchen, and Louis' tea was brewing. Then Palmer cleared his throat from the dining room, where him, Luke, and Perrie were playing UNO, in full view of the intimate moment that the couple was sharing.

"Sorry," Liam threw the apology in their direction, but he didn't really mean it. Then he pecked Zayn's lips again.

Like background characters, the trio had been very unproblematic and minding their own business. The others needed some time to recover from that trip, and no one wanted to catch the crazy that Louis had. Because there was something about it that seemed contagious. So they played card games during every single hour of the waking day. It was hard to tell whether they were actually getting any work done, but Perrie's toolbox was always sitting in the seat next to her. So maybe there was some progress being made.

Moments later, Louis was brought tea - warm and delicious and exactly what he needed. His foot tapped on the floor and his eyes were unfocused, as he was either deep in thought, or thinking about nothing. "Thanks," was the simple reply.

"We need to get out of this house," Liam sighed, watching Zayn walk back down the opposite hallway with a sandwich in his hands, looking pleased with himself. Most likely with the kisses he got, and not with the sandwich. "And I don't mean into the backyard, since you destroyed that."

"Are you talking about sneaking out? From under Daddy Simon's watch?" Louis' blue eyes sparkled with the good kind of mischievousness. Not the kind he had had when he found that BB gun, which was a hell of a disaster that no one had bothered to clean up yet. No one wanted to feel tiny shards of glass get stuck in their palms.

He nodded, watching Niall powerup the playstation and plug his earbuds into the controller. "Yes, but please never call him Daddy again."