Chapter Text
Niall Aged 18, Harry Aged 15
Louis Aged 19
Zayn Aged 18
Liam Aged 18
Harry Edward Styles sat comfortably on his bed, back leant against the headrest, laptop resting comfortably on his thighs, homework questions to his right, a large package and a calendar to his left.
He frowned as he considered the next sentence to write, his fingers tapping nimbly over the keys as he constructed his essay, keeping one eye firmly on the time as well as his information source.
"Think that sounds good Boo?" he asked aloud to a large cuddly toy hedgehog that he had propped at the foot of the bed. "Does it actually answer the question? Or have I just rambled?"
The hedgehog said nothing unsurprisingly, but Harry smiled warmly at it anyway. He checked the little clock in the corner of his laptop. It was almost time. He was always nervous, but he was also pretty excited.
A soft tap sounded on his bedroom door, and his mother's head slowly came into view.
"Are you ready baby?" she asked smiling at him. "Do you know what you're going to say?"
Harry nodded, beaming so brightly his dimples popped, "I've got props this time too!" he explained enthusiastically, indicating to the brightly coloured package and calendar.
"I'll leave you to it then," Anne Styles replied lovingly, blowing him a small kiss, which he caught and pressed to his cheek. "Have fun, give my love to the boys... and tell my other son to call me!" Anne finished a little indignantly, "It's not just you who misses Liam!"
Harry nodded seriously. He ran his fingers through his chocolate brown curls, noticing the second hand on his watch was ticking closer and closer.
With two minutes to spare, the familiar Skype ring tone filled the bedroom, Harry leaping to answer it as soon as he could.
"Harry!"
Harry was grinning so hard, his whole face felt like it was going to crack, but he didn't care in the slightest if it did, because finally, after a rubbish day at school, Louis William Tomlinson was calling him.
"How's it going?" Harry blurted out almost as soon as he saw the face of his best friend filling his computer screen, his blue eyes sparkling with well-known cheekiness, "I wish I was there!"
Louis chuckled. "Not long now love," he promised, "just another week and then you'll be at every show till Christmas!"
"Two whole weeks!" Harry breathed dreamily, "I can't wait! I've already packed!"
Louis shook his head, really excited at the prospect himself. He exhaled loudly, blowing his fringe out of his eyes. He liked his hair a little on the long side, but it could do with a trim. He'd have to mention it to Lou tomorrow.
"Zayn's just doing his bit out there, we'll get you on in a sec, all ready?" he asked Harry, craning his neck to see what was happening back on stage.
"Yup!" Harry grinned proudly. "And I have props!"
"Ooh!" Louis teased. "Someone is taking this seriously!"
"Well, this is your life," Harry told him seriously, "I love that you trust me to do this. I don't want to let you down."
"You could never let me down," Louis hurried to reassure him. "Never ever!" and he meant it.
Louis looked around to check he was still on cue, then back to Harry. In the background Harry could hear the faint sounds of screaming girls, and could only imagine the sight of the crowd - male, female, alpha, beta or omega - Louis and the lads were adored by almost everyone. Warmth of pride filled his chest as he listened. This was something special, and he was so honoured to be a part of it.
"Ok, love, I'm going back out. You know the drill, be ready!"
Harry nodded. He could feel the adrenalin starting to build up inside, butterflies nervously collecting in his tummy. But it was a good kind of nervous, the most wonderful kind.
Louis strutted back on stage, tipping Liam the wink to get introductions started.
"Cardiff are you having a good night?" he shouted out at the crowd who screamed back their approval.
Liam grinned, taking a breath to bask in the moment.
"We really want to thank you all for coming tonight," Liam said seriously. "It's been an absolutely amazing couple of years for us, and you know we would not be here without your constant love and support!"
"As you all know," Zayn Malik took over, walking along the front of the stage to raucous screams from the crowd. "four years ago, two of my best friends and I decided to take our little Saturday night jam sessions, and do something proper with them - really make something out of what we were doing," he paused and clapped Niall Horan on the back.
The blonde Irish lad was grinning away as he always was, pleased as punch to be there. No matter how many times he heard this planned speech, he knew he would never get tired of hearing it. He would never feel anything but humble at how so many different people, all from such different walks of life, would all come together to listen to him and his best friends play the music they loved, hoping to put a few smiles into their worlds and make them feel wonderful - even if it was for just a couple of hours, the memories of every night would last him a lifetime.
"We looked high and low for someone to complete our group," Zayn continued to explain, the lights making his eyes gleam with pleasure, "and somewhere along the way, this lad tagged along. We clicked, we formed a bond, and for that very reason we never got rid of him! Even if he does eat us out of house and home! Aren't you glad we didn't?"
Zayn shouted the next bit at the crowd, who instantly hollered and stamped their feet with approval. Everyone loved Niall with his infectious laugh and sunshine personality. Everyone loved how placid and normal he was. In short, everyone just loved him.
"If it hadn't been for Niall, we would have never auditioned for The X Factor!"
More cheering. More whistling.
Niall glowed with pride. It had been him who had sent in their application form. It had been him who had dragged all four stubborn lads out of bed on that cold, dark Saturday morning. It had been him who had begged his older brother Greg to skip footie practice and drive them down to London, all to surprise them with the audition that would change their lives.
But to be fair, he couldn't take all the credit. He may have got them to the audition location, but it hadn't been him who had persuaded the lads to actually go through with it and face the judges. Only four of them were in the group, and it was the one who wasn't who managed to persuade the other three at that critical moment.
"However. There is one person who we wouldn't have made it here without," Liam stated fondly, wrapping an arm around Zayn's shoulders, so caught up in the memory that he just had to hug someone.
"There is one person, extremely close to all four of us - pretty much the fifth member of the band he's so involved. He was there for every one of our practices, before and after we recruited Niall. He came up with the name you know us as today, and he was the one who shoved us in front of the judges and told us that we were something special when we all - except Nialler here - doubted it! Was he right?"
Liam laughed at the screams which held nothing back except their unwavering agreement.
The boys themselves didn't think they were special as such.
No matter of their success, all of them considered themselves to be four ordinary lads, who believed in a dream, sharing the same thirst and desire to showcase their passion, and got lucky.
They didn't win The X Factor. But they could never complain about coming third place in the final.
For ten weeks they were on prime time television.
Ten weeks of four ordinary and relatable lads, putting everything they had into their live performances, mucking around in their now legendary video diaries - they showed the viewing public everything that they were inside and out, ashamed of nothing.
Because of their unassuming innocence, it still surprised them to no end to realise that they had actually won over a huge percentage of the British public. Even when they didn't win and their future could have gone one of two ways - there was no blocking out the audible sigh of relief that echoed around the television studio when Zayn uttered the immortal line that within the fans hearts signified the start of something huge:
"This isn't the end of One Direction."
With their carefree attitude, witty banter, individual personalities, and a huge thanks to social media and their solid, passionate English fan base spreading the word, very unexpectedly, pretty soon the whole world was rooting for them.
One Direction may not have won The X Factor, but they won the world. Not bad for four young lads who used to sit around singing cover versions for fun on a Saturday night!
"Now, this is a new feature to this tour," Liam started to explain. "Does anyone know it?"
The ticket holders who had access to Twitter already knew what was coming.
It had started as something silly that Niall had posted as a joke after his success of #WhereWeGoingTodayMark? which was silly in itself. Niall and his personal trainer (get him!), would make up a funny thirty second clip of the town they would be performing in that night and post it to the masses. Needless to say it was very popular. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Niall's next jokey feature which had been comically titled #WhatDidYouDoTodayHazza had the same impact - but it did - everything came as a surprise, everything astounded them and they took nothing for granted. After all, how long could this level of popularity possibly last for?
Random things were shouted out to him, and Liam grinned at them, pleased that so many people were already aware.
"That's right!" he nodded. "But if you don't know, this feature is centred around our honorary fifth member, who is co-incidentally..."
"My best friend!!!" yelled out Louis, getting bored of having to keep quiet at the back whilst Liam made his introduction.
Liam went to cuff him playfully, not quite managing to get hold of him as Louis had foreseen it coming, and had run to the other side of the stage laughing uncontrollably.
"He's also my little brother!" Liam continued. "But apparently being Louis' best friend is more important. Anyway, coming to us live from a secret location in Cheshire - it's my absolute pleasure to introduce you to our number one fan, and in some ways, the brains behind One Direction! For a special live version of 'What Did You Do Today Hazza!' - my little brother..."
"And my best friend!" Louis yelled out, unable to contain himself.
"HARRY!" Liam hollered, almost drowned out by the squeals echoing in his ears as Louis (helped by a technician), linked their Skype stream to the big screens at the back of the stage, and Harry's adorable, slightly chubby little face appeared, looking so excited, and yet so nervous at the same time, with a huge smile, yet slightly apprehensive wide and dazzling green eyes.
Harry's heart was racing. He'd only done this less than ten times, and admittedly it had started off as an accident.
Louis always called Harry at some point during the show. Usually because he couldn't wait until the end to speak to him and check that his day went ok, and also because if Harry couldn't watch the whole show, he always liked to see the lads play his favourite song. How could Louis deprive the boy of something that always brought him so much happiness?
On this particular night, Louis had called mid set, just as Harry was getting ready for bed, wrapped in a huge blue blanket from head to toe.
"Lou's not around," Louis told Harry regretfully, thinking of their good friend who styled them on a nightly basis, and seeing Zayn waving wildly to get his attention so he'd get back on stage, "I'm just gonna prop the phone up at the back ok?"
Harry nodded happily, but very sleepily. He'd had a long day at school, and it was pretty late, but he would never admit to being so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open to experience the best part of his day.
Louis blew him a little kiss, before running to join a very impatient Zayn and Niall who were waiting for him to 'hurry the fuck up Tommo!'
Propping his phone up on a bit of staging, Louis gave his favourite boy a big wink, before running to grab his mic off Liam. The music of Harry's song started up, and through bleary eyes, Harry watched Louis waving at the fans, that were desperate for just a split second of his undivided attention.
No one really knew what happened, how or why, and for almost a minute none of the singing boys noticed that the picture projected on the screens behind them, was not them, but of a sleepy and pale Harry, wrapped up in his blue blanket.
It wasn't until a group of girls in the front row had gotten Liam's attention, pointing wildly at the screen behind him, that the mistake had been noticed.
"What did you do?!" Liam hissed loudly, grabbing Louis by the arm who had just started his solo and jerking him around, stopping mid line and gaping up at Harry's huge face who was now frowning at the screen, peering closer at the picture on his laptop and wondering what was going on.
"I don't know!" he stammered, breaking away from Liam and running to where he had left his phone.
"Harry, we gotta... erm... you're on the screen..."
"Oh no!" Harry squeaked, his high pitched voice booming through the theatre, "Can everyone..."
The music had stopped. Liam, Zayn and Niall all did some individual quick thinking.
"So, we're having a minor technical glitch," Liam announced, striding to the front, after glaring at Louis, "so whilst we wait, let's see some of those banners!"
"I know him!" screamed a girl near to Niall. "You do those videos with him!"
A lightbulb moment suddenly clicked inside the Irish lad's head.
"Yes!" he shouted out enthusiastically. "As a special treat for you, for one night only! A one off, live version of 'What have you done today Hazza!"
On the other end of the call, Harry sucked in a lung bursting breath, as he heard every word Niall had uttered.
"Everything's gonna be fine," Louis was muttering to him, pleading with Harry silently to get him out of this mess, "just a couple of seconds love. You can do this!"
"Everyone wave to Harry!" Niall was shouting, Harry watched pale faced and heart racing as Louis turned the camera around so he could see hundreds of people waving frantically. Despite his nerves he mustered a little wave, which was barely a fluttering of his fingers.
"Hi!" he barely managed to whisper, stuttering as he heard his own voice repeated back to him. This felt horrific!
"Ok!" Niall elbowed Zayn to get him to help him hype the crowd up. "I know you can do better than that! Everyone say hello to Harry!"
"Hello Harry!" roared the audience loudly, jumping up and down, waving frantically at the screen.
All the boys breathed a sigh of relief, but were still on edge. Could they actually get away with this? Each of them were getting some very funny looks from the crew from all angles... only time would tell.
"After three, we're all going to shout the question!" shouted Zayn into his mic. "One, two, three!"
"What did you do today Hazza!"
Harry's heart was pounding in his ears, he had little to no moisture in his mouth, and his brain had emptied of anything that made any sense at all. It was one thing to make a short clip with Niall that was kinda rehearsed and planned, but it was another thing to do it live! Live and unplanned! His bright green eyes flickered over the huge audience, his brother and his friends - they were all waiting for him to say something, anything!
But then, his eyes fell on Louis. The closest friend he had ever had, smiling that special, encouraging smile that was only ever produced especially for him, and a wash of calm swept over him. He trusted Louis so much, and knew that the lad would never ever put him in a position where he would look stupid. If he could do this for anyone, it would be for Louis Tomlinson.
Back in the present. Harry swallowed his worries about what mistakes he could possibly make, and just went for it!
"Hello Cardiff!" he smiled unintentionally charmingly. "Are you having a good night?"
"He's really getting into this isn't he?" Liam commented to Louis, who could only be described as bursting with pride as he watched Harry place a fluffy red and white Christmas hat atop his curly head.
"Nice hat Hazza!" Louis called out encouragingly. It wouldn't be obvious to anyone apart from him, because they were so close, but he could tell the younger lad was a little bit nervous.
True to his belief, Harry seemed to relax, which would have been invisible to anyone apart from Louis, and smiled gratefully. Harry could have been smiling at anyone, but Louis knew it was for him alone.
"So what have you been doing today?" Niall asked in his most exaggerated Irish accent. "Is the hat a little clue?"
Harry nodded, "I've been ..." he did a little drum roll on his lap, which was instantly followed by the boys and the crowd stamping their feet. "Christmas shopping!" he revealed, "and I got Louis a present!" He waggled his eyebrows at the camera, eyes so bright with excitement, "want to see it?"
"Hell yeah!" Louis shouted into his mic, "I wanna see!"
He made grabby hands at the screen. "Gimme!"
Harry looked so proud of himself as he reached off camera, and pulled a large wrapped box onto his lap.
"This is Louis' Christmas present," he told everyone, holding it up in front of him and turning it around so it could be seen at all angles, then pointing to a festive ribbon stuck on the side.
"It's even got a little bow on it," he confirmed showing it to the camera, "wrapped it myself!" he finished, clearly chuffed to bits.
"Wow, someone's a lucky boy!" Liam grinned, patting Louis on the back. "But Harry? My smart and delightful little brother? Is there maybe a little something for me back there?"
Harry put the present carefully to the side and made an awkward little face.
"Well... erm... I was concentrating more on family first!" he told his older brother cheekily, laughing at how comic Liam's mock outraged face was drawing positive reactions from the audience.
"Hey Hazza?" Louis called out mischievously. "You know it's my birthday before Christmas right? Got me a present for that?"
"It's your birthday before Christmas?" asked Harry in mock surprise. "Why didn't you remind me sooner? Or write it somewhere where I would see it?"
He reached off camera again, bringing back a large date calendar, where someone had scrawled Louis Tomlinson's 20th Birthday in big Louis style letters with a red marker pen and about eight arrows pointing to 24th December.
"If only you had left me some kind of hint," Harry dead panned, not able to hold his serious face for long before cracking into a giddy grin.
The crowd laughed, even more when Louis pretended to buff his finger nails on his shoulder.
"So, Harry, now we've found out what you did today, how about you pick the next song we play?" Niall suggested, "Consider it payment for being such a cracking sport in joining us tonight!"
Louis' eyes had never left the screen, so he was the first one to have his face crinkle into the fondest smile, as he watched the sweet little face shine so brightly, bobbing his head with excitement. This was something he'd never done before, and if he knew Harry at all (which was something he was proud to say, that he considered himself a wealth of Harry Styles knowledge. He would even wager that he would even rival the lad himself on Mastermind), he would pick the first song Louis had ever written with him in mind.
Harry opened his mouth. Louis waited.
"I'll be ok," he said confidently, which had Louis giving himself a mental high five as he mouthed the words at exactly the same time.
Just like all boys Harry's age, he had bad days.
When everything is going wrong, and things are just a little strange, it's been so long now, you've forgotten how to smile.
Sometimes his school work was too hard, the pressure of his exams and coursework was just too much. He knew he wanted to get the best grades possible because then he would have so many options when he was applying for college, and later for university. But right now he couldn't see himself passing anything.
And overhead the skies are clear, but it still seems to rain on you, and your only friends all have better things to do.
Sometimes he got lonely, and wished his friends and brother were closer than a phone call away.
As much as he was proud of the lads who the rest of the world knew as the all mighty One Direction, sometimes he missed it being just the five of them, messing about in his and Liam's family garage, or when it was just him and Louis - getting up to mischief by themselves.
Once upon a time, which seemed like an age ago now, Harry didn't have to worry about Louis' schedule if he wanted to hang out, or even just talk.
They had lived next door to each other for all of Harry's life, bonded from the moment they met, and even though Louis was four years older than Harry, the age gap had never been an issue - at least not to them - and they had always been close.
Harry missed the days when he could look out of his bedroom window, and right into Louis' room, which was directly opposite. The window and room were still there of course, only Louis was hardly ever in it.
These days, it always felt like Harry was waiting.
Waiting for Louis to finish recording, waiting for him to finish a photoshoot, waiting for a show to end. Even when he was available, it would only be a phone call - which by their standards was a pretty shabby alternative to their proper one on one time.
Sometimes he felt envious of all the fun the boys were having without him. The places they got to go to, the people they were able to meet, but mostly, because he couldn't be with them.
Sometimes it felt as though the most important people in his life, who he looked up to and strived to be like, were constantly evolving, constantly growing, constantly learning and experiencing - and he was just Harry - getting left behind.
He disliked finding out everything after it had happened, and it felt like he missed out on so much!
He hadn't been able to be there on the day Louis had presented as an alpha, because Louis and the lads had been in Sweden recording the band's debut album.
Presenting was a massive deal, something Harry had started to learn about (among other things) since it happened.
But once again, Harry had felt left out. He hadn't even been allowed to the celebration party that had been thrown for him when the boys arrived home. All because his mum said he was underage and it was deemed too grown up for him. She let Liam go... he had been underage too... Liam wouldn't have been eighteen for another three months, but that was fine... it was so unfair!! He hated being so much younger. It was times like these when their age gap was so restricting.
When you're down and lost, and you need a helping hand, when you're down and lost along the way, just tell yourself, ah, I'll be ok.
Because he could talk to Louis about anything and everything, Harry, had at some point shared all of his worries with the older lad. Louis never told him he was being silly, or immature, and he always listened, making promises about weekends away and holidays that he always kept.
"Not long now love," Louis would always promise, "you'll be ok."
"Yeah," Harry would always reply, "I'll be ok."
"Keep telling yourself that," Louis would say seriously, "and if you need a reminder, call me."
Now things are only getting worse and you need someone to take the blame, when your lovers gone there's no one to share the pain.
Harry always called. Louis always answered. They talked, they laughed, they made plans and it felt like it was back to normal.
You're sleeping with the TV on, and you're lying in an empty bed.
But then Louis had to go, and Harry was left alone again, trying not to cry into his cuddly hedgehog called Boo as he tried to fall asleep.
Liam and Niall got the crowd to say goodbye to Harry, who waved enthusiastically back. It felt like it had gone well.
Louis knew the screen was going to switch back to their own faces at any moment, so he savoured seeing his past, present and future shining up there for all to see.
Louis was so proud of the lad his boy was growing up to be.
"Did I do ok?" Harry asked anxiously as Louis' face appeared on his screen, solely showing on the lad's phone.
"You were fantastic love!" Louis promised, "I'm so proud of you! Was that really my Christmas present?" he couldn't help but add cheekily.
"Er... you gonna play my song or what?" Harry asked with the same amount of cheek that only Harry could get away with, "Not gonna sing itself!"
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Louis countered. He should really get back on stage. Niall only had a couple of seconds of talking left, but as always, when he got talking with his closest friend, he never wanted to say goodbye.
"Can't you prop me up somewhere?" Harry asked a little sleepily. "Might as well listen for a bit... beats sleeping with the TV on!"
Louis rolled his eyes, Harry smiled sweetly.
"I'll throw you a text when we get on the bus again," Louis promised him, knowing the lad would worry if he woke up and didn't know Louis had gotten "home" ok.
"Get your bum on stage!" Lou Teasdale urged, whipping Louis' phone out of his hand. "They can't keep waiting for you."
Louis blew a playful kiss to Harry.
"He'll fall asleep within the next song," he whispered to her, "just hang up on him when you hear snoring!"
Lou just sighed and gave the lad a big push. It really did seem like the other lads in the band were constantly waiting for Louis.
He was always late to bed because he was texting Harry, always dawdled onto the stage if he knew Harry was watching over Face Time, because as much as he wanted to perform, there was a big part of him that just wanted to talk to his best friend. Then there was the fact that Lou always had to remind him to sit up straight when he was having his hair cut - because he was sat hunched over, nosing on Harry's social media profiles.
Sometimes it seemed that although Louis was having the time of his life with his three amazing friends, seeing the world and experiencing things that most people his age could only dream about - he was always counting down the days until he could go home and hang out with his best boy, just the two of them like it always had been.
Sometimes Louis worried that if he was away for too long, Harry would move on and find a new best friend. Someone who could help him with his homework, invite over to hang out with, someone to share his most intimate secrets with.
Sometimes he had to tell himself that he was going to be ok too.
All the alcohol in the world could never help me to forget.
The rest of the show went as perfectly as always. The crowd was especially loving and responsive as always, and a pleasure to perform to as they liked to muck about the same amount as the lads did on stage.
"Love you, bye!" hollered Niall, always the last to bound off stage, joining his mates in sprinting to the exit where security had already organised the bus to pull up right outside, engine already running.
"That was sick!" Zayn stated obviously, all hyper from the enthusiasm of the encore, running a hand through his hair and heading straight for the kitchen. "Are we stopping for food or have we got shit here?"
Leaving Niall to plead with the driver to stop off at a drive through, Louis went straight to his bunk to retrieve his phone to text Harry.
Show was sick! On the bus heading for KFC, but am gagging for one of your ham and cheese toasties. Why is it when I make them they're burnt on the outside and uncooked in the middle? But you make a culinary masterpiece? Want one now please! xx
He smiled to himself as he watched the text send, then debated between grabbing a quick shower whilst the others were distracted or... .
Kitchen's closed ;) xx
Harry's answering text bounced to his phone bringing the most gleeful smile to his face, fully making his decision for him, and cuddled down on his bed, carefully nudging a cuddly toy frog off his pillow.
Lame excuse Curly. Ps. Miss you xx
Miss you too Boo. Only six more sleeps! Xx
Why are you still awake? You have school tomorrow and you'll complain when you remember you have double maths and science! xx
Memorising my timetable... creepy Lou... just creepy.
No xx's?! It's what best mates do Hazza bear, gotta look out for you lad! How about if I promise to go sleep now too, I'm in my bunk with Frog Face, so grab Boo and tuck down - you can thank me with a cheese and ham toastie when you get here! xx
You can't call him Frog Face. That is not a name. Ok, I'll try... sleep well Lou. Love you xx
Love you too, sleep well love xx
Louis knew Harry wouldn't text him back again that night, he had been very surprised he'd been awake at all - unless he had forced himself to keep his pretty little eyes open, just to receive Louis' goodnight text... this was Harry after all!
Louis pictured Harry, snuggled up in his tiny single bed, buried in his fluffy blue duvet just the top of his curly head sticking out. Boo the hedgehog would be in his arms, held tightly to his chest, his nose probably rubbing against its plush forehead.
With that in mind, he plucked the toy frog from where it was laying against the wall and held it up, inspecting it from all angles. It was a funny little thing, quite ugly to look at really, but Louis loved it, it came with him on every trip, slept with him every night, ever since the day it had become his.
When Louis was ten, and Harry was six, Louis had met Harry and Liam at the school gates, bursting excitement with the news that his class were going on a school trip and they were going to be staying away from home for "two whole nights!"
Louis was so excited, bouncing all the way home, too caught up in his own happiness that he didn't realise that Harry wasn't nearly as happy as he was, until he burst into uncontrollable tears when they reached the end of their road.
"What am I going to do without you?" Harry sobbed, fat tears tumbling down his pudgy cheeks, red in the face and looking as though Louis had told him that he was moving away and never coming back. "I'm going to miss you so much! Won't you miss me?"
The realisation hit Louis suddenly. He had been so excited about all the activities he was going to do whilst away, and staying with the other boys in actual dormitories like in the films he'd seen, he hadn't properly considered that Harry - his best friend of all his friends - couldn't come too.
"Don't be such a baby Harry," nine year old Liam scolded a little unkindly, a little jealous that his friend Louis would be going away on such a cool trip, "do you have to cry at everything?"
"I'm not a baby!" Harry screeched at the top of his lungs, shoving pathetically at his older brother, then breaking into a run on his short little legs, high tailing it to the back door and letting it slam behind him.
"That was mean!" Louis glared at Liam. "He's only little!"
"You're going to be away for three days!" Liam scowled back. "He's just being pathetic because he won't have anyone who will play with him after school or sit with him at lunch time, or walk home with him after school! He's such a stupid cry baby!"
"I am a much better brother than you are!" Louis grumbled. "Go and say you're sorry or you can't come to my birthday party!"
Liam's bottom lip trembled. Louis' birthday wasn't for another seven months, but at their age this kind of threat was the worst possible kind. Louis always had the most exciting birthdays - last year he'd had a Spider-Man theme with a man with actual tarantulas for the children to hold, and a cake with sugar that was spun to look like webbing! It had been amazing!
"Don't want to say sorry," Liam said stubbornly, sticking his nose in the air and stalking off in the same direction that Harry had run. "Stop following me!" he snapped as Louis stamped behind him at his heels. "Go home Louis!"
"I'm going to stop Harry from crying," Louis told him, following him into the kitchen, "I'm his best friend! And you know what?" he asked as he made for the stairs to search for the little boy, undoubtedly in his bedroom, "I'm going to miss him massively! Does that make me a baby too?"
He didn't wait for Liam's reply. Harry needed him right now.
Poor Harry was crying under his bed, too loud to be properly hidden. Throwing his school bag into the corner of the room, Louis fell onto his tummy and wriggled under as well, scrabbling his way so that he and the younger boy were lying shoulder to shoulder.
Harry's face was bright red, wet with tears and his nose was running.
"I'm... I'm... sorry... ." Harry hiccuped, clutching hold of Louis' shirt with little fingers, "I'm... I've never been away from you before! I'm going to be all alone!"
Louis let Harry cry, promising him that everything would be all right, that he wouldn't be away for long, but Harry was not convinced. Who would he watch cartoons with after school? Who would he sit with at break and share his snack with?
"Harry? Baby? Where are you?" Anne Styles, Harry and Liam's mum called, coming into the room, and looking straight under the bed, not at all surprised to find both Harry and Louis wedged under there. "Do you still want to go to the fair tonight?"
It was because he was so young that Harry's mood had gone from one of utter heartbreak and despair to one of giddy glee, wriggling out and dragging Louis with him, throwing himself at his mum and giving her a huge hug.
"Baby? What's the matter?" Anne asked, upset as every mother would be to see the tear tracks on her youngest sons face, "Why have you been crying?"
"Louis' going away!" Harry's bottom lip started to wobble again. "For ages and ages!"
Anne hid a small smile, and shared a glance with Louis who was dutifully patting Harry's back, and making his tears subside into little sniffles. He was so good with her baby, always had been, always would be. She'd have to come up with some extra fun things to do whilst Louis was away to try and distract him.
Louis was sent home to change his clothes and collect his spending money from his mum. Harry changed into his play clothes, but after seeing what Louis was wearing, ran back to his bedroom so he could put on a t-shirt which was almost a carbon copy of the older boys. He loved it when they matched.
Liam refused to come with them - clearly still sulking over Louis and the birthday party threat. It wasn't his fault that Harry was such a baby!
Harry held Louis' hand the whole way in the car, bouncing around in his seat. He loved everything about it - he loved the pretty lights, he loved the smell of smoke and sweets in the air, he loved the rides and he loved playing with his best friend!
"Can we go in the fun house Lou?" he begged as he fell out of the car in his haste. "Can we go on the big slide? Can we look at the toys?"
It was impossible to not look into Harry's ecstatic little face and not feel like he was six years old again too, and everything was incredible and exciting. Harry dragged Louis from stall to stall exclaiming at everything before dashing off to the next one. They went down the helter-skelter in a sack with Harry sat snuggly in Louis' lap, screaming with excitement the whole way down, then racing each other to the top four times in a row until Harry's legs were too tired to climb the steps again, so they took a break on a roundabout.
"Lou! It's you!" Harry suddenly exclaimed running over to a hoopla stall. "Look at it! How do we get it?"
Louis rolled his eyes. Harry had gone through a stage when he was five when he was obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog. He adored the game, he wore Sonic pyjamas to bed, he only wanted to drink milk if it came in the special "Sonic" carton. And at some point Harry had decided that if Louis was a superhero he would be Sonic, because they both wore red and white trainers, they both looked irritated if they were kept waiting, and when Louis smiled he did look like an actual hedgehog!
Louis nodded along with it, but he wasn't too impressed... it was hardly Spider-Man was it?!
At the fair, he followed Harry's gaze to a rather cute, very fluffy normal looking hedgehog cuddly toy.
"Please can you win it for me Lou?" begged Harry. "You can have my tickets! I can pretend it's you and have him with me when you go away! It can watch cartoons with me and have lunch with me!"
Behind them, Anne clasped a hand to her chest at how sweet her baby was, and how lovely Louis was with him. All Harry had to say was 'please can you win it for me?' and Louis was already queuing up for hoops.
Ring toss was not one of Louis' strengths. He was rubbish, even with Harry calling encouragement to him, telling him how fantastic he thought he was, but try as he might, those stupid little rings did not go anywhere near the little stands.
"I'm out of tickets Haz," Louis finally told him after the last ring he had purchased had fallen down the back.
Harry looked disappointed but he didn't want Louis to feel bad.
"I still love you Boo!" he smiled at him, wrapping his little arms around his middle, and drawing even a little smile from the stall owner.
"Love you too Haz." the older boy smiled down at him, then picked him up. "Want to go on the..."
"Are they your tickets?" the hoopla stall owner asked, pointing to Louis' feet, which the lad was sure were not his.
"Go again! Go again!" Harry excitedly sang out, jumping out of his arms, and taking his position at Louis' side.
The owner gave Louis a little wink, then just as Louis was preparing to throw the hoop, pointed over Harry's shoulder and exclaimed loudly.
Young and innocent, Harry whirled around searching behind him, then turned back just as fast as he heard Louis yell out with happiness as he had finally managed to get a ring around a block - or rather, the hoop had been snatched out of his hand and dumped onto the nearest stand.
Harry's face was absolutely delighted, even more so when Louis finally handed him the large hedgehog which Harry promptly called Boo (after Louis' childhood nickname), and insisted on taking his 'back up Louis' on the big slide, and then to play 'Hook a Duck'.
Louis patiently watched with Anne as Harry talked to Boo, carefully deciding which duck they were going to aim for. It was going to be the last game of the night, Harry was on his last ticket, and it was getting close to Harry's bedtime. Finally deciding on a duck with a pink hat on it, Harry stuck his tongue out with concentration as he held the fishing rod between Boo's little paws, and dangled it towards the ducks hook.
"I got it! I got it!" He squeaked in astonishment as he 'fished' the duck out of its little pond. "Look Lou! Look mummy!"
Anne and Louis both prayed that there was a winning number on the bottom of it. There wasn't. But there was a small prize for 'hooking a duck'. Harry was delighted! The owner presented him with a choice of an ugly looking cuddly toy frog, or an ugly looking cuddly toy chicken. Harry chose the frog.
"I won it for you Lou!" he told him excitedly, "You can take him with you when you go away, and I can send him secret messages in my head so it will be like we're together!"
It was the ugliest toy Louis had ever seen, but it was given with such pure intentions that Louis couldn't even consider denying it.
The following month, Boo looked after Harry when Louis was away on his class trip, and the frog was packed in Louis' rucksack to take with him. And maybe in the middle of the first night, when Louis was homesick, wishing he was in his own bed and knowing that his best friend wasn't sleeping just a few meters away, he might have got the frog out and cuddled it - just to make him feel more at home - and maybe the frog had gone everywhere with him ever since, for exactly the same reason.
"What are you doing?" Niall asked in amazement, stopping at his bunk to grab his own phone, and seeing Louis removing his t-shirt, hugging a toy frog and looking like he was bedding down for the night. "Are you going to sleep?" He looked at his watch, "It's barely 11pm!"
"Just a bit tired mate," Louis stated, not feeling sleepy in the slightest, and squinting up at his band mate. "Don't wanna be tired for tomorrow."
Niall gave him a funny look. Usually it was Louis who was the last to bed and scoffing at anyone who turned in at what he considered 'early'. But then he caught sight of the phone clutched in Louis hand.
"Tell Haz we said goodnight," he told Louis pointedly. "He was on point tonight wasn't he?"
"Our lad did really," Louis agreed. "Was a good idea of yours. It's nice we can actually get him involved with the show - I think he feels left out sometimes, I think this helps."
"How many sleeps?" Niall asked, grabbing a hoodie from his bed. "Six?"
Louis nodded. Niall grinned.
"Cool," he commented, then took great pleasure in messing up Louis' hair. "Sleep tight."
Louis carefully pulled his curtain across, and then bedded down properly, putting his phone on charge.
Six days till he got his playmate back at his side.
That was definitely cool. More than cool. It was going to be the best part of the tour so far!