More Than This

The smell of bacon crept up the stairs into the pretty much empty bunks. At first a groggy Louis tried to ignore it, he was still absolutely shattered and all he wanted to do was sleep for an hour or so more. With a sigh he climbed out of bed and dragged himself down the stairs, unable to ignore the empty, hungry feeling that was chewing at his stomach. Louis wasn't one for letting his true feelings show, if Louis was sad or pissed off then he acted happy and carefree, and nobody ever saw through him. Not even Harry. This had earned him the title of the most immature member of the group, this morning he wasn't sure if he have the strength for his little act. Louis stepped off the last stair and walked to the back lounge where Harry was stood at the tiny portable hot plate cooking bacon and scrambled eggs, laughing and joking with the other guys. Lou planted himself down on a sofa and crossed his arms, suddenly not very hungry anymore.

"Here Lulu!" Harry smiled, holding out a plate of food to Louis.

Louis frowned and stood up again "I'm going to get dressed," he grumbled, shoving past Harry and storming back upstairs. It was silly and irrational, but he was angry at Harry for not instinctively knowing something was wrong, after all he was personally very good at calling Harry's bluffs.

Harry stared at the spot Louis had just been sat looking bewildered. He turned to Niall with a desperate look, clearly needing some kind of comfort or reassurance. Niall stood and put an arm around Harry.

"He's probably just tired. We'll go out later, try cheer him up before tonight's plane."

Niall patted Harry's back then turned and made his way up the narrow staircase to see what was wrong with Louis, he seemed to be in a great mood after the gig except from being tired, Niall hoped it was just sleep deprivation related moodiness. Ni opened the curtain of Louis bunk to find him laying on his side picking at the fluff on a cuddly toy of the crocodile from Peter Pan that Harry had bought him from disneyland months back when they had all decided to go together. Niall frowned and ducked into the bunk, sitting at the end.

"What's wrong with your face this morning?"

"Nothing."

Niall shoved Louis' arm playfully with a half smile. This did not got down well with Louis, who glared at the younger boy before turning around and ignoring him, hugging the croc close to his chest.

"Louis' you're usually so happy...its obvious something is wrong."

"Why do I always have to be the loud, hyper, happy one? Why do I always have to pretend that everything is okay? Why can't I just be fucking upset??" He buried his face into the croc to hide the tears that were prickling down his cheeks.

Niall frowned and placed a hand softly on Louis' arm. Lou pushed him away with a sad sigh. Niall grabbed onto Louis' shoulder and forced him to roll over and face him.

"This is about Harry."

Louis' sat up, his already tear stained face crumbled before Niall, he broke down and pressed his face into Niall's chest.

"I'm in love with him Niall, and he's with Candice, and she's so sweet, and pretty, and female...I...I can't compete."

Niall put a hand on the back of Louis' head as he sobbed into his chest. The two were unaware that Harry had came upstairs to check on them. He was stood close enough to hear the conversation but at a distance that they couldn't see him. His heart broke at the sound of his best friend sobbing, he wanted more than anything to make it right, to make Louis happy. Its not that he'd never thought of Louis in that way -they were so close, it was hard not to- but he had a girlfriend, and Louis was a boy, he was pretty sure that he wasn't gay. He frowned and turned, climbing back down the stairs quietly.

"Come on Lou, cheer up. We'll go downstairs and get breakfast. Then me and you can go see a movie, the flight isn't until 9pm anyway."

Louis nodded, drying his eyes and climbing out of bed.

"Let me get dressed before I go down," he mumbled sadly.

***

Niall threw his 3D glasses into the bin with a frown. His had left the tour bus intending on cheering Louis up and creating a distraction from Harry, instead he had made the older even sadder. The film they had gone to see had been misleading in its name and was infact about a horde of blood sucking zombies taking over New York in 3D. At first Louis seemed distracted even though the film was utter rubbish, then the main characters childhood sweetheart was ripped apart by her zombie dad. Safe to say after that Louis' mood decreased significantly. Niall turned to Louis with a forced smile, Louis was checking his watch.

"Niall it's almost five, we should probably get back before Paul has an aneurysm..." He said glumly.

Niall looked around for a cab then swore, there seemed to be none...anywhere. He had no idea of taxi numbers in LA. Of course he could easily have checked google for a number, anybody with common sense would have, however at the time most sense seemed to have escaped Niall's mind. He pulled out his phone with a grumble and called Liam.

"Hey buddy, what's up?"

"Me and Louis are stranded...can you tell Paul? I'll text you the street..."

He heard Liam sigh hesistantly on the other end, disappointed that Niall hadn't worked up the balls to call Paul himself. He agreed reluctantly and hung up the phone. Niall sat down on a hot concrete step, cheering Louis up hadn't exactly gone well, especially since now Paul was going to come and shout at them.

And shout he did.

Louis ducked into the car without so much as a word. Paul had calmed down since his little scene in the middle of the street (a few fans had even stopped to watch and film the little show) and had quietly asked Niall if Louis' was okay before they got in the car themselves. Niall never revealed much, blamed lack of sleep. Paul knew he was lying but decided to leave it. Instead of going to the tour bus they drove to a restaurant.

"We have time for food before we have to get to the airport and check in." Paul explained, check in was the worst part of travel in Niall's books.

The restaurant was gorgeous. Huge with skylights and impressive artwork hanging to the walls. The table cloths were soft and a delicate aroma filled the air. Louis made a point of sitting between Zayn and Liam, away from Harry.

***

Harry has spent the day on the sofa. He wanted very much to go out and enjoy the Los Angeles sun but there was so much on his mind after hearing Louis talking to Niall. He couldn't bear the thought that he was causing his best friend so much pain, it made him feel so small.

As the hours crept by he managed to convince himself he would speak to Louis, let him down gently, tell him that there were better men than he out there who would love to have Louis as a boyfriend. But then what if he wasn't gay? What if it was one of those things where its the person not the sex, surely then Louis would get angry that Harry had assumed he was gay? Plus Louis had no idea Harry knew, he'd assume Harry to be pretentious and full of himself. Vain.

At the restaurant when Louis sat down away from Harry, his heart ached. Louis was so upset he was avoiding him. Horrible thoughts ran through Harry's mind. What if he lost Louis? What if it got to the point where they were in a band together and that was all? No friendship. And what if in turn, that split up the group? Harry must have looked distressed because Paul leaned over and questioned him.

At the end of the meal everyone stood to leave. Paul was starting to get agitated as the flight was in two hours and they still had to check in. Paul always liked to be on time. Harry asked the older man if he could hang back for five minutes and talk to Louis, said they had a small fight and he wanted it sorted quietly while they could still be alone. Paul agreed but stressed that it had to be no more than five minutes.

Harry moved over to Louis with a small smile, "Can I have a quick word Lou?"

Louis nodded.

Harry grabbed his wrist and dragged him up and into the men's room. He let go.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

At first Harry had no idea what he was going to say, what was he sorry for? It wasn't his fault he liked Candice. She was sweet, pretty. She didn't give him butterflies, no fireworks like in the movies...but she was sweet. Not mention she was fun to be around, of course she was no Louis. Louis was the best company, he always knew exactly what to say or do to make Harry laugh. He was always there. Great for comforting too. Some nights when Harry missed home, Louis would wrap his arms around him and they would just lay there, warm in each others embrace. Harry was comfortable in those arms, safe, he felt more at home then. It made his stomach flutter like...well, like butterflies. That's when a tiny little light bulb lit up in his brain, he was stupid to not have realised before. It also came to his attention that thinking of your male best friend and wondering what it would be like to kiss them was not a normal thing. He had always subconsciously had something more for Louis.

"For not seeing you when you were right there infront of me."

Louis' sad expression faltered and changed to one of the utmost confusion. Harry smiled at his realisation.

"Louis I think...I think I'm in love with you!" And with that he flung himself into a shocked Louis' arms.

He leant up and carefully pressed his lips softly to Louis', savouring the best for everything it was. Perfect. For four whole seconds Louis did nothing, then he wrapped his arms around Harry's lower back, kissing the younger boy back, still in disbelief. Harry put more pressure, more urgency into the kiss and Louis parted his lips with a tiny smirk. The two stood there for minutes that felt like hours before Louis pulled away with a pink blush in his cheeks. Harry smiled bashfully and placed one soft, single kiss on his best friends lips. Butterflies danced around in his stomach, he couldn't help but grin.

"I..." Louis' words were cut off early.

There was loud, distressed shouting from outside the bathroom. Everything went quiet then a loud, terrorising sound banged into their eardrums. A gun had been fired. Louis looked at Harry in absolute horror as the two stayed rooted to the spot. Screams followed the shot and the words 'down on the ground' were barked out.