Don't Wave No Goodbye

Wrong.

The moment Darcy and Nick walk in together, Nick’s already scanning the crowd and stops suddenly, freezing up beside Darcy as she looks over at him in concern. Following his line of sight, she spots Louis spinning around the brunette bird he’s always papped walking around and drinking Starbucks with and it takes a lot of effort to drag Nick away from the scene and towards the bar.

It’s only when he’s downed two shots that he speaks, looking shattered. “He brought her! He brought his fucking media girlfriend! Of all the rotten luck, shit.”

“Hey, none of that, okay? You and I both know that they’re not really dating and even if he brought her along tonight, it’s only for show, right? This doesn’t have to change anything,” Darcy tries but Nick’s already slumping forward against the counter, moaning in self-pity.

“This changes everything, Darce! There’s no way I can tell him, not when he’s going to spend the night with her on his arm and whispering in his ear and ugh, fuck it all. It was a stupid idea anyway.”

Darcy shakes her head furiously, grabbing Nick up by the collar and he stares at her with wide eyes. “Nicholas, cut this shit out right now. Telling someone how you really feel is never a stupid idea, especially when it can lead to so many good things. You like this boy, right? Then he deserves to know the truth. And if not for him, for you. Whatever happens, at least you can tell yourself you were completely honest and there’s no fault in that,” Darcy hisses, before realising how tightly she’s holding onto Nick’s shirt and releasing him immediately.

“You know,” Nick says slowly, smoothing his crinkled collar down absently. “That advice sounds a lot like someone talking from experience. Maybe someone wishing they’d taken their own guidance a little sooner.”

Darcy sighs, saying nothing and downing half her drink in one go. Nick looks at her with gentle eyes, resting his hand on the back of her neck and pulling her in so he can kiss her head lightly. She leans into his embrace, just thankful for that feeling of closeness and when she looks up at Nick, she’s grateful he doesn’t mention the tears in her eyes.

“But you’re right, Ms. Lewis. All I can do is tell him, and no matter the outcome, it leaves me with a clear conscious. I think I’m just going to bite the bullet and be done with this. You going to be okay here?” Nick questions, his hand still warm on her shoulders and she gives him the best smile she can muster.

“I’ve got alcohol and front row tickets to whatever crazy shit is going down tonight. I’ll be fine,” she tells him, before moving to shoo him away from the bar. “Just go do what we came here for. Good luck, though I doubt you’ll need it.”

Nick grins, planting a kiss on Darcy’s cheek. “Let’s hope not,” he whispers before making his way onto the dance floor where Louis and Eleanor are laughing together in each other’s arms to an upbeat Christmas jingle. Nick’s confidence fades the minute he sees Eleanor lean in to whisper something in Louis’ ear that has him throwing his head back with a hearty laugh, a smile strung up on his face that has Nick immediately changing direction. He’s a coward and the thought of facing Louis now is just too much from him to have to think about.

So Nick avoids Louis, like he does with every other problem he comes across. He also avoids Darcy too because he knows she’ll give him that look that makes him feel like a scolded boy then force him to man up and face his problems like she always does. Instead, he dances with everyone and anyone who’ll let him, he drunkenly grinds against Greg for the laughs, and makes out with Rita Ora after sucking tequila out of her bellybutton just because he can. He drinks and drinks and dances and laughs and generally feels good about everything because he’s on this incredible drunken high when suddenly someone’s grabbed him up, dragging him off down the corridor and away from the party.

He’s kind of confused about how he ends up in this dark, musty storage closet with the muted sounds of the party only just able to be heard through the thick walls when he turns around to see Louis, looking gorgeous and livid.

“What the fuck is your problem, Grimshaw?” Louis spits, looking so furious and delicious that all Nick can think about is how much he wants him.

“I, err, what?”

Louis rolls his eyes at Nick’s not so eloquent response. “Don’t play stupid, Nick. You’ve been ignoring me all bloody night, every time I try and get close to you, you just turn the other way! What gives?”

“Sorry not all my attention can be on you, princess,” Nick drawls, looking down his nose at Louis like he’s nothing more than a petty child, and god, does he love seeing Louis like this, all haughty and dark flashing eyes.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Louis lets out a huff of unamused laughter. “Nick, you’re the one who invited me to this thing in the first place and all I wanted to do was say hi. Why are you acting like such a petulant brat?”

“Well, why did you bring your fucking girlfriend?” Nick finally snaps, throwing his arms out hopelessly as Louis draws back, obviously not expecting this.

Louis blinks in confusion. “It’s a public party, Nick, so I had to bring my public girlfriend. Would be a bit strange for me to turn up to one of the biggest Christmas parties in London without my girlfriend, don’t you think?”

Nick’s pacing now, back and forth, feeling like a caged animal. “Does she know? Does she know about us?”

“Who, Eleanor?” Louis’ forehead crinkles at this. “Well yeah, of course. We’re friends, we talk. Just because I have to fake date her doesn’t mean I don’t want anything to do with her. I tell her a lot, actually.”

Nick sort of deflates upon hearing this. “Oh,” he says slowly, licking his lips to fill in time. “Oh.”

“What does that even mean, Nick? What does any of this mean? Are you going to explain to me why you’re so upset over Eleanor being here? Go talk to her yourself if you don’t believe me, there’s nothing going on between us! It’s all smoke and mirrors to keep the public and my management happy!”

“It’s just, I don’t -” Nick stops himself, sighing lightly as Louis waits patiently. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”

“Nick, whatever you have to say, just say it,” Louis says slowly. “Before you hurt yourself.”

Nick wishes he could grin at this, say something snarky back, and have this all blow over but he knows that’s not the case here. He needs to say what he has to say, and be done with it. “I, um, I need you to not freak out over what I’m about to say, okay?”

Louis looks only blankly before giving a quick nod. “Nick, get it out.”

“Right, yeah, okay,” Nick answers before breathing in deeply, realising it’s now or never. “So maybe I uh, I’ve realised lately that I might sort of be into you a little bit more than I probably should be.”

“Today would be a great day to start making sense, Grimshaw,” Louis prompts unhelpfully but there’s a hint of a smile on his face and that’s all Nick needs.

“I maybe want to sort of date you?” Nick blurts out quickly, leaving Louis looking stunned as minutes pass by. “Erm, any time you wanna put me out of my misery, that would be fine.”

Louis shakes himself, watching Nick through alert eyes. “Is this a joke? Because I swear to god Nick, I will disembowel you if I find out this is you having a laugh.”

“What? No! God, do you really think I’d put myself through all this for a joke? Hell no,” Nick tells him, looking so surprised by Louis’ reaction that Louis has no other choice but to believe him. “But I can understand why it might seem like that. I don’t know how it happened, you know? One minute, you were that annoying shit that pissed the hell out of me and then the next minute, you’re that annoying shit that I kind of want to be with. Like, exclusively.”

Nick begins to wonder if Louis’ eyes are about to fall out of his head when Louis’ grinning. “This is insane. Nick Grimshaw, afraid of all things that require commitment and effort, wanting to date little ole me?” Louis bats his eyelashes playfully, smiling wider when Nick growls at him.

“Yes, and can you believe it? Out of all the people I could choose to try have a proper adult relationship with, I pick some scrawny little kid in a band?” Nick grumbles, ignoring Louis’ glare. “And I’ve never been afraid of commitment, I’ll have you know, I just never had anyone to offer it to me.”

Louis’ about to making scathing remark in response to the scrawny comment, when he stops, his face immediately becoming pensive over Nick’s final statement. “You mean, you’ve never… No one’s ever wanted to date you?”

Nick screws up his face at this, trying to hide the blush he can feel present. “God, sounds a bit pathetic when you say it like that, right? Not in so many words but the people I’m usually involved with just want a good time, not dates and hand holding and tea in bed. It could be my fault for picking the people who don’t want that but I suppose no one’s ever really just wanted to be with me because they want to, because they find me tolerable enough to want to try and make a life together.”

“Wow,” Louis breathes out, amazed. “I mean, I don’t find you tolerable in the slightest but… I want the dates and the hand holding and I’ll make the tea because you’re horrid at it, but I do want all of that with you. I guess this is me, offering you that commitment if you want it. But you’ve got to be sure, I can’t go into this without being absolutely sure you’re going to give this everything, ya know?”

“I have it on good authority I make delicious tea, thank you very much,” Nick mutters but he’s smiling, harder than he thinks he ever has before. “Don’t worry, I’ve already had the same lecture from your other boyfriend, Styles, and I’ve had time to think about this and… Yes. I really want this; I think more than I’ve ever wanted anything before.”

“You’re getting a bit soft in your old age,” Louis teases, stepping closer to side his arms around Nick’s neck. “But I think I kinda like it.”

Nick grins, his hands coming up to rest on Louis’ hips gently. “Is that so?”

“Mmm,” Louis hums in response before leaning up and bringing Nick into a kiss. Nick’s quick to respond, holding the smaller boy against him desperately as they kiss like it’s the first and last time and Nick thinks he’s never felt something so good.

Finally, Nick breaks away and rests his forehead against Louis’, both of them smiling stupidly. “So does this mean that you’re mine now?”

Louis huffs a laugh. “I guess you could say that. Yeah, I’d say so. You’re mine too.”

“Good,” Nick says decidedly, pulling Louis impossibly closer. “I like that.”

This time Nick’s the one to initiate the kiss and Louis doesn’t object, letting the older man take charge as the sounds of the party continuing on without them fill up the room. For the longest time they stand together, wrapped up in one another and still slightly amazed that they managed to get each other like they did. The fast paced song playing through the wall dies out to be replaced with a slower song this time, and Louis instantly smiles upon hearing it.

“I love this song!” he says brightly, and Nick feels a certain amount of guilt that he can’t just take Louis out onto the dance floor and dance together like idiots without it ending up with Louis being cooped up in an all day meeting with management for ‘damage control’.

“Well, you’d better get out there and twirl your girl around to it, yeah?” Nick says lightly, smiling to show he isn’t being a dick about this, he’s just being understanding.

Louis smiles but shakes his head, only tightening his grip on Nick. “Nah, I think she’ll understand that I want to share this dance with my boyfriend.”

Nick can’t fight of the stupid grin that takes over his face at the term and for once in his life, doesn’t feel the need to have the last word, only pulling Louis in tighter as they move together slowly.