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Louis was fuming. He tossed the magazine away from – he knew he’d have to pick it up later but right then he didn’t care. These supposed journalists didn’t know a thing about them, every second day a new rumour would be circulated about himself or his bandmates – his best friends - and whenever they read the things said about them Louis would have to watch their faces fall while feeling completely helpless. It wasn’t just the articles either; it was the backlash on Twitter and Facebook – some days it got so bad that for every supportive message they got there’d be five more slagging them off – and Louis was tired.
He grabbed his phone and was about to tweet something decidedly passive-aggressive when there came a knock at the door. He dropped his phone on the table and walked to the door. Thinking it was Harry he yelled, “You have got to stop forgetting your keys.”
But it wasn’t Harry. It was Nick Grimshaw. Exactly what Louis didn’t need at that moment- a representative of the media he was furious with – besides Nick wasn’t his favourite person on a good day.
“Oh, it’s you,” Louis said, all charm. “Harry isn’t here.”
“Yeah, I know. He said to wait for him,” Nick said, taking his social cues from Louis and not greeting.
“Whatever. Just don’t expect me to entertain you, I’ve had my fill of being the butt of everyone’s jokes this week,” Louis said, before he stormed off to his bedroom and slammed his door.
Nick gaped at the now empty space in front of him. He didn’t get along with Louis but he usually knew what the fuck he was going on about. Nick shrugged and went to sit on the couch Louis had just vacated. He was about to reach for the remote control when he noticed the magazine where Louis had tossed it, he went to pick it up and started to read. It wasn’t long before Nick got to the article that had angered Louis- he was appalled. The article didn’t even try to get things right – the boy’s names included – it was just mean, not to mention badly written.
Before Nick realised what he was doing he found himself knocking on Louis’ bedroom door.
“Go away, Grimshaw.”
Nick ignored this and turned the handle, he’d expected it to be locked but the door opened easily.
Louis was sitting at the end of his bed and didn’t even bother to look up when Nick entered. He started to say, “I told you - .” but was cut off because suddenly his face was pressed against Nick’s chest and Nick’s arms were wrapped around with one hand stroking his hair. What surprised Louis even more was that he could feel himself relaxing into Nick’s embrace.
“I read that article. You know I’d never say anything like that about you guys. I’m really sorry you have to put up with crap like that all the time,” Nick said still stroking Louis hair.
Louis sighed and said, ‘Yeah, I know and I’m sorry I was kind of a dick to you earlier.”
“That’s okay,” Nick said, because well being dicks to each other was kind of how he and Louis communicated.
Louis pulled away and said, “Thanks for coming to find me.”
Nick grinned down at him and said, “I like you riled up, Princess, but never sad.”
Louis swatted Nick’s arm before standing on his toes and pressing his mouth to Nick’s.
Which is exactly how Harry found them when he finally arrived home.