Chapter Text
It had been going on about a month now. Louis' unexplained disappearances. He claimed there was nothing going on, that he was out with Eleanor or Stan or his mum. But the boys knew better. He texted a lot, absent-mindedly smiling at his phone. Sometimes he would get a phone call and leave the room, only to come back moments later looking all too pleased with himself. He left the house early and was often unreachable on afternoons following a rehearsal or an interview. He had skipped out on hanging out with the other boys a lot more too, and Louis wasn't one to ditch his friends.
Zayn suggested maybe something was wrong, but the constant smile Louis wore said otherwise.
Just like today. Everyone was ready for a rest when rehearsal ended, but Louis seemed absolutely chuffed to bits as he made his way out the door of their rehearsal space, that dumb grin plastering his face as he glanced at the screen on his mobile. He told Paul he wouldn't be taking the car back today, he had other plans and would find his own way home.
~~~
Nick was in his bedroom when he heard the sound of feet coming up the stairs. He didn’t turn around just yet, but he felt that smile creeping across his lips. The footsteps stopped and he imagined his visitor now leaned against the door frames, smirk on those come hither lips, ankles crossed just so. “Hello darling.”
“Miss me?” Louis sauntered over as Nick stood and turned to face him.
“Not really, no.” Nick smirked, watching Louis scowl and then raise a hand to shove him.
“You suck! I hate you!”
Nick grabbed his wrists in retort, wrestling Louis back onto the bed with ease as he was a good head taller than the boy. Louis squirmed, but made no real effort to get away as Nick pinning him to the bed was one of his favourite things. “You don’t hate me when I suck your cock." Nick leaned down to press his lips against Louis' neck, "You don't hate me when I kiss you." He trailed a finger down Louis' torso, his hand tauntingly easing open the button on his jeans and ever so slowly slipping inside, "You don't hate me when I fuck you." Nick palmed at Louis' through his boxers, hearing that breathy gasp escape his lips. "Am I wrong?"
Louis sighed, "No, you're right." Nick started tracing kisses on and around his lips, and Louis murmured between breaths, "I fucking hate it when you're right."
~~~
The next morning, Louis was roughly awoken by his mobile ringing and beeping over and over for what felt like hours, but was in actuality only a few minutes. He finally pried himself away from the soft pillows and grabbed it from the bedside table, glaring at the name on the screen. Harry. Quickly clearing his throat in an attempt to sound like he had been up for a few hours, he answered. "Hello."
"Louis where the hell are you? You didn't come home last night and we have rehearsal in twenty minutes."
"What? What time is it?" Louis bolted up.
"It's 11."
"Fuck! I'll be there Harry, I swear, I'm leaving right now." Louis leaned over the sides of the bed, scanning the floor for his clothing.
"Where are you?"
"I'll explain when I get there. Don't start without me yeah?" He spied his jeans, and happily started tugging them on while he balanced the phone on his shoulder. No sign of his underwear, so he'd just have to forgo that. "I'm out the door Harry, promise. I'll be right there. Alright?"
"Yeah, see you there." Harry still sounded confused, but Louis accepted it and hung up, slipping the phone into his back pocket. He couldn't turn up wearing the exact same thing as yesterday, so he would have to borrow something from Nick. He flung open his closet doors and scanned his options. A pale blue hoodie caught his eye, it was soft and lightweight so it would be comfortable for rehearsals. Louis slipped it on, and of course it was massive. It looked more like a tunic on him. But it would have to do. He found his bag by the bedroom door and hurried downstairs.
On the dining room table was a cold cup of tea and a note.
Morning Lou,
Sorry I couldn't be here when you woke up. Work and all. Have some tea, bagels are in the cabinet.
xoxo,
Nick
"Nick Grimshaw, you darling...." Louis' eyes caught the microwave clock. He had no time to be sentimental now. He grabbed the note, stuffed it in the pocket of the hoodie, and scurried out the door.
~~~
When Louis walked into the rehearsal space he tried to slip in without much notice, but it seemed every eye was on him the moment he walked through the door. He looked up to see all of the boys, and the rehearsal director Wayne glaring at him. "Nice of you to join us, Louis. Think you could show up with the rest of the boys next time."
"Yeah, I just uh...I had a thing." Louis dropped his bag by the wall, reached into his pocket and scrunched up the note. "Won't happen again, sorry."
"Where'd you get that hoodie? It's massive on you." Zayn remarked.
"Oh." Louis glanced down at the oversized garment, "Yeah guess it is a bit big."
Harry folded his arms across his chest, "You know, it looks a lot like this hoodie that Gr--"
"Hey! Better start rehearsals right?!"
He walked over to stand in his spot between Harry and Niall, giving the boys a polite grin, putting his arms around them, and hoping they wouldn't ask to many questions. How the hell did this happen? One afternoon Nick had had lunch plans with Harry, but management had dragged him off for some randomly scheduled magazine interview they had forgot to mention. Not being as heartless as Nick would believe him to be, Louis offered to go out to lunch with him. Long story short, they ended up making out on Nick's sofa while frozen yogurt melted on the nearby table. That was nearly a month ago. Louis had been sneaking over to spend time with Nick ever since.
It wasn't that he was embarrassed, it was just, Nick Grimshaw. He was one of Harry's best friends, everyone in the band thought they hated each other, and sometimes keeping a relationship a secret made it feel a little more special. Like it was just yours.
Louis was listening to the music and keeping up with the boys fine, but his mind was elsewhere.
"Ok, take five and then we're jumping into the medley." Wayne said, switching off the stereo.
Niall practically jumped on Louis, "The lads and I were gonna have lunch at my place afterwards. You're coming right?"
"Um....I don't know...I have a thing..."
"Bullshit." he heard Zayn pipe up. "You've been canceling plans on us, running off, and giving us these crap reasons for weeks now. You've never spent this much time with Eleanor or your mum before. And Harry told us you didn't come home last night. What's going Lou? Where were you?"
"Nowhere, I just had a thing."
"Does this thing have a name?" Liam asked.
Louis sighed, he should've known this wouldn't be easy to hide. But he just wasn't ready to tell everyone yet. "It's personal, ok guys?" He shuffled over to is bag and reached in to grab his phone, seeing that he had two texts from Nick.
'Shame about the bagels. x.' the first one said.
the second said, 'And don't get my clothes dirty. x"
Louis laughed, before clamping a hand over his mouth.
"What's so funny?" Niall called over.
"Nothing. Text from Stan." He lied.
"Show me."
Wayne stepped in at that very moment and saved the day, calling the boys back over. Louis just smiled and shrugged as he dropped his phone back into the pocket. Niall's eyebrows narrowed suspiciously, he was off the hook, for now.
~~~
Nick felt his phone going off and he pulled it out of his pocket and grinned when he saw the name on the screen, "Hey duck. You out of rehearsals?"
"Just about to wrap up."
"Coming back to mine for dinner then?"
"Um...I don't think I can."
"What? Why not?" Nick's voice went up an octave as he expressed his displeasure into the phone.
"The lads are getting suspicious. I've canceled plans with them every day this week. They're asking questions."
Nick sighed, "Louis, just tell'em."
"I don't want to. Not yet. I just want to have you for mine for a while."
Nick smiled at the softness in Louis voice, "Aw, my little sentimental duckie."
"Shut up."
"Fine, no dinner tonight. Have some fun with that band your in, and I'll call you in a couple days, ok?"
"Ok. Hey! You're still going to text me before you go to bed right?"
"A'course."
Louis spied Harry walking over so he quickly ended the call and put his phone away, giving his best innocent smile to his friend when he approached him.
"What are you over here being all hush-hush about? You're acting weird Lou."
Louis dismissed him with a wave of his hand, "No, no hush-hush, just uh, had dinner plans, canceled them, thought I'd spend tonight with you and boys."
Harry's eyes lit up, "Oh! Great! Sp we'll do lunch at Niall's and shall we have everyone over to our place for dinner and do pizza and a movie?"
"Sounds good Hazza." Louis clapped him on the back, walking off to the other side of their rehearsal space. Harry's grin was evident he was quite happy with this turn of events. He missed Louis. How could you see someone you live with so little? And he still had no idea what was keeping Louis so preoccupied. He knew what he said, but Harry didn't believe that for one minute. He had to find someway to get Louis to spill the beans. Wayne called it a wrap and all of the boys made a mad rush for their jackets and bags and hurried out the door, where they knew the car would be waiting and they could go and eat.
In Louis' hurry he was fumbling with his phone and he slid it into the pocket of the pale blue hoodie. unknowingly knocking out the crumpled note. He raced after Niall, and Harry, who was grabbing a drink of water, saw the wrinkled bit of paper fall to the floor. Making sure Louis had gone, he scooped it up and unfolded it.
Morning Lou,
Sorry I couldn't be here when you woke up. Work and all. Have some tea, bagels are in the cabinet.
xoxo,
Nick
Harry gasped, raising a hand to his mouth, "Can't be. No. Gotta be someone else."
"Hazza?!" Louis called, "You coming?"
"On my way!" Harry bellowed back, shoving the note into his own pocket.