Just Kiss Me Slowly

Chapter Text

Harry woke up to insistent knocking on the band’s bedroom door. He barely registered what was going on until there were flashes of both tattooed skin and pale skin coming toward him. Harry wasn’t ready for the two men that were now piled on top of him. The other men in the room were slowly waking up to the disrupting sound. The suite itself had three beds total. They all agreed that Harry deserved the single bed for the time that they were there. He shouldn’t have been surprised that there were two people currently piled on top of his body. It came as a surprise that it was Liam and Niall when it used to be Louis and Niall.

He groaned, trying his best to shove off his old best mates and wake up at the same time. It was slightly difficult, but he did it. Niall and Liam were grinning at him from the foot of the bed. He looked confused before looking at the other men in his room that were looking more awake than he currently was. Disoriented, Harry huffed and tugged the duvet back over his head.

“Get off,” He mumbled into the pillow.

“Haz!” Niall stated, standing up on the bed. He looked down at the mattress before he started jumping up and down.

“Get up you lazy arse!” Liam chimed in. “We’ve got a full day!”

Harry swatted at Liam.

“I don’t want to,”

“He’s never been like this,” John’s voice stated from where he was getting up from his shared bed with Alex. “H is usually the first one up,”

“’Uck you,” Harry mumbled from underneath the bodies.

Niall furrowed his brows, looking at the other members of Compromising Me.

“Harry get the fuck up we’ve got shit to do I need you up,” Niall yelled at him. “Get up! You’re my best fucking man I need you to get up,”

“Yeah, come ‘on Harry.” Liam stated softer than Niall’s yelling. “Louis’ not going to be there,”

Harry lifted up, smacking Liam with a pillow before shrugging them off of his lankly body. Harry’s irritation from the previous night had returned, and his mood was already sour. He shuffled his hand through his chocolate waves. He didn’t even give them a second glance as he walked into the toilet, nearly slamming the door shut behind him.

Niall shot him a glare to which Liam just shrugged.

“What?”

“Come on, Liam! You didn’t have to mention Lou. For fuck’s sake it’s not your place,”

Liam sighed.

“If I didn’t tell him he wouldn’t have gotten out of bed,”

“It’s not your place.”

“Excuse me for caring, Ni. I’m worried about them. Their relationship is so screwed up. I just want it back to how it used to be before all the fucking fame got in the way,”

“Maybe you should focus on your own relationships with the lads,” Niall spoke, standing up off of Harry’s bed.

“What?” Liam looked confused, and very puppy-like.

Niall sighed, looking around at John, Chris, Riley, and Alex’s curious eyes.

“Fucking hell, Liam, you really are oblivious,”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that he’s been bloody in love with you for years!” Niall nearly shouted. “He’s been pining after you for too fuckin’ long. Ask anyone with yes! Ziam was real to so many people for a fuckin’ reason. They’re not the blind ones, Li. You are the one that is blind.”

“What do you mean?”

Liam’s facial expression resembled a gaping fish.

“I’m sorry that you can’t handle the truth. He’s been there for you this entire time. He was there for you every time that you and Daniel broke up. HE’s been there when you were trying to sleep around, and he is still fucking here, looking at you the same way he did when we were kids on X Factor.”

“Ni-“

“Zayn is in love with you, Liam,”

Liam’s eyes left Niall, looking dazed. Niall looked confused as every eye was looking the same direction; behind him. Slowly, Niall turned around. Standing there, leaning up against the door was Zayn. He looked sleepy, but something was different in his eyes. His normally well done hair was stuck underneath a black beanie, his tattooed arms were crossed across his wrinkled white t-shirt.

“Thanks, Niall.”

“Zayn….”

“Save it,” Zayn sighed, standing up straight.

“Zayn, please,” Liam stood up, walking toward him.

“I don’t want anything from you,” Zayn spoke slowly. “I mean…you are really blind,”

“Zayn….is it? It’s true?”

“I don’t know, is it?” He spoke, looking in his eyes.

Liam blushed slightly.

“I-I don’t know.”

Slowly, Zayn walked toward Liam. It was like all of the oxygen was sucked from the room, and well, they were the only ones there. Cheesy, but Liam felt like Zayn was the only person in the world. In that moment, Liam knew what Zayn felt. Suddenly everything over the years had started to make more sense. All of the years that they spent closer to each other than the others made sense. The jokes that Louis would make about Ziam, Zayn’s blush, and the general closeness seemed to all add up. It seemed as if everything up until this point was a build-up. This was supposed to happen years ago. Liam lost his breath because Zayn. It was…freeing. Liam was looking at him for the first time, and fuck he was beautiful even if he was a mess. In that moment, Liam was undeniably in love with Zayn. He needed to tell him.

Zayn had reached from Liam’s hand, and the younger lad didn’t pull away. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. Slowly; Zayn laced his fingers in-between Liam’s. Liam shuddered at the contact.

“I’m….uh…I’m gonna kiss you now , if that’s okay,” Zayn muttered. Liam was speechless, he couldn’t form a coherent sentence so he just nodded slowly. Everything was moving in slow motion and Liam just couldn’t fucking breathe. Zayn slowly placed his forehead against Liam’s, and sucked in a deep breath. No one said anything. Zayn leaned closer so his lips barely brushed against Liam’s. This is it, Zayn thought.

“Whoa….what’s going on in here,”

And the mood was broken. Liam snapped out of the Zayn daze he was currently in to look behind him. Louis was standing in the doorway where Zayn was just a few short minutes ago. Zayn groaned, leaning his head against Liam’s muscular shoulder.

Niall snorted.

“Thanks for ruining what may be the greatest moment in history, mate,”

“I’m sorry?” Louis shrugged, he didn’t look very sorry. “Anyway I just came to uh….uh…”

“What are you doing in here?”

And no one had seemed to notice a shirtless Harry Styles returning into the room.

“Um….I….I thought….maybe….uh…fuck,”

Harry raised his eyebrow at Louis.

“Spit it out,”

“uh….”

“Guys!” A very-girly sounding voice came from behind Louis. Soon enough, Demi entered the room and looked around at everyone. “Can we all stop just staring at each other? We’ve got shit to do, and frankly we’re on a time crunch. The wedding is approaching.”

“Right. Sorry.” Louis pressed his lips into a tight line.

“Move? Now,” She demanded. “For God’s sake Haz, put on some clothes.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded before the blonde turned away and walked out of the room with her fiancé following her. The second that she left total ciaos ensued. Compromising Me quickly got changed and left the tension filled room where Zayn, Liam, Harry, and Louis now remained.

“I…I’m gonna catch up with you later, okay?” Liam asked Zayn, hands still tangled together.

“Yeah…” Zayn nodded slowly.

“We’ll pick up where we left off, yeah?”

“Totally,” Zayn muttered back.

Liam beamed at the boy before giving his hand a final squeeze and turning away to leave. He blushed as he ducked past Louis. Zayn stood there, blushing slightly from Liam’s affection already. He looked helplessly at Harry and shrugged.

“What was that?” Louis questioned.

“I…I think that I’m in love,”

“You think? Mate you’re so sexually frustrated that it’s embarrassing.”

“God, Lou,” Zayn rolled his eyes. “We need to get to work,”

Harry pulled on his tight clothes, leaving his shoes on the floor as Zayn ducked out of the room leaving the two former lovers.

“Harry…”

“Save it,” Harry snapped, hitting Louis’ shoulder with his own.

Harry didn’t need anything from Louis, nothing at all.

§

Louis Tomlinson was mad. He was beyond irritated, and it was only half noon. Harry Styles is the always the reason for his madness. It’s like…hell Harry didn’t have to look like he did. He was just an average looking person maybe it would be easier to forget him. If he didn’t have floppy hair, emerald eyes or fucking dimples then maybe, just maybe, Louis might be able to get over him. There have been far too many times that images of Harry had helped him uh…. get over some sexual frustration. Louis was really upset with Harry. He couldn’t just get out of his life when he wanted him too. And well, Louis wasn’t that okay with Harry leaving his life anyway. Trust is; Louis actually misses him. Louis misses him so much that it physically hurts.

Louis was aware that it was his own fault that Harry wasn’t in his life anymore. He dedicated the past seven years making sure that he wasn’t close to him. Louis tried everything to get Harry to walk away. He just wasn’t aware that Harry would actually do it. Some part of his conscious he felt like no matter how far he pushed him, Harry would be there to catch him. Harry was always there. He was Louis’ safety blanket in so many ways until one day he just wasn’t. Louis didn’t attempt contact anymore because Harry would come around. When six months went by without a phone call, Louis lost all hope that Harry would even speak to him again at all. Then Compromising Me came out, and Louis’ heart shattered.

He knew that he broke Harry’s heart. He didn’t exactly mean to, but he was scared. He was terrified of a future with Harry because all of the names that they would be called and their fans. It was…it was too real for him. He was content on keeping Harry his, but Harry didn’t see it that way. Harry was so young, so in love, and he wanted the world to know. Louis simply couldn’t give Harry that. He couldn’t come out. He wasn’t nearly as brave as the kid that looked at him as if he was the greatest person in the world. For a while, Louis thought Harry would never stop looking at him like that until one day he did.

Louis sighed as he watched Harry work with his new band from afar. It irked him that Riley was all over Harry. It rubbed him the wrong way that Harry had seemingly replaced One Direction with a group of hipster freaks. It wasn’t fair, and Louis knew that. He just wanted things to go back to a time that things were easier. But you can’t change the past, only make the future better. Louis’ future wasn’t looking the best. He wanted Harry. He needed Harry more than he needed anyone else in the world. Now Harry doesn’t need him. Harry doesn’t want him anymore.

“Pining doesn’t look good on you,” A rough voice came from beside of him.

“Pining doesn’t look good on anyone mate. Trust me, you’ve done it for years,”

Zayn lightly smacked his hip against Louis’ playfully.

“Yeah, but I nearly kissed the person I’ve been pining after,”

“I’ve fucked mine.” Louis winked, putting on a façade that Zayn saw right through.

“And fucked over,” Zayn spoke. “He misses you, Lou,”

Louis snorted.

“Yeah….sure looks like he does,” He commented, nodding his head to where Harry had Riley pinned down to the ground as they wrestled instead of worked. “What’s their deal?”

“Why don’t you actually get to know the others lads? They’re not bad people,”

“Sure,” Louis shrugged.

“Don’t be bitchy,”

“I’m always bitchy,”

“Never said you weren’t,” Zayn smirked. “Come on, Tommo, H is still as in love with you as he was ten years ago. He’s miserable without you,”

“Sure….whatever,” Louis whispered, the anger disappearing from his body as soon as he saw Harry’s smile widen. It was never as wide as the one he could put there himself, but it was still a smile. That’s the happiest Harry has seemed since he arrived. “Come on, let’s go help with flowers or something,”

Zayn rolled his eyes, placing his arm around Louis’ shoulders anyway.

“You’re hopeless.”

Harry watched from just across the yard as Zayn steered Louis away, and he felt his smile drop. Even with as angry and as hurt as he was with Louis, Harry missed him like hell. He was mental for even wanting him back, but he did. Harry wanted Louis back so much, but he couldn’t put it into words.

“H?” Riley questioned, flipping his hair away from his eyes. “The band and I think that we all need to talk,”

Harry sighed.

“I was afraid that was going to happen the second that Liam left,”

Liam had left just a few moments ago to help Demi hang some things in the manor for the actual ceremony.

“I think it’s time to tell us, H,” Alex stated.

Harry sighed, looking at his phone for a moment before looking back up.

“Okay,” He nodded. “Where should I start?”

“Start with anything.”

“This place fucking sucks,” Harry laughed, looking around the scenery that he used to call home. “Not because of the city, but the memories. I hate Paris too. Fuck Paris” The men laughed with him. “The first time I moved away from home I was still sixteen, so Louis had to be my guardian. He was a shit guardian. I got away with everything. We lived together until I was nearly nineteen, in a huge flat in central London. My life was so controlled. I couldn’t do anything, especially go out to drink.”

“The age is eighteen, right?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, sighing heavily. “Louis had a lovely girlfriend named Eleanor whom I quite literally hated with every fiber of my being. So when Louis and I hooked up something had to be done about her. She found out from me that her boyfriend was a bit gone for another bloke. It was a proper mess. Liam, he’s the one that kept us all in line, he and his girlfriend Danielle were always on and off. For the first two years, they were pretty sold, and then they kept breaking up and getting back together. It was time that they broke up. Zayn and his bird Perrie finally broke up. Zayn had this big realization that involved another male, and well…he wasn’t exactly okay with it. As you saw this morning, Zayn’s been in love with Liam since we first started. You blokes know Niall and Dem’s story.”

“Why did the band break up?”

Harry sighed, looking anywhere but at them.

“Liam was trying to find a different identity, Zayn couldn’t handle himself, Niall was heart-broken, Louis turned to the bottle instead of us, and I was trying to hold us all together. It was time. One Direction was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I wouldn’t be me without them. Since I’ve left, I’ve been a different person. Louis left, my world changed.”

“What did Louis do to you?” Chris asked softly.

“He broke me,” Harry sighed, looking back at Chris. Harry looked over to the spot that Zayn and Louis were once standing, almost wishing he was still there. “Paris, seven years ago, I asked him to marry me. He said no and literally walked away. He left Paris that morning,”
Riley swung his legs off of the table he was sitting on, and tossed an arm over Harry’s shoulders.

“That’s heavy.”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “Kiss Me Slowly is about ‘im. It’s about that night. Fourteenth floor and all that,”

“What about the rest of them?”

“They didn’t know how to handle our break-up. They split their time between the two of us, and we weren’t in a room together for too long. On our last tour, Paul accidently put Lou and I in the same room. We got a big bill for vandalizing the room. He broke a few lamps, lobbing them at my head.”

John laughed, petting his curls.

“I thought dishes were going to start flying last night,”

Harry laughed fondly.

“I was surprised that he didn’t. God…I…I’m so in love with him. Even if he broke my heart,”

Riley sighed.

“Harry, either you tell him or you move on with your miserable life. Choose one, and it looks like you need to tell him. Because you can’t move on,”

“Thanks, Riley,” Harry rolled his eyes. “You guys suck,”

“No, that would be you,” Chris joked. “Come on, guys. We’ve got a wedding to practice for,”

“Chris is being serious for once?” John questioned jokingly, propping his elbow up on Alex’s shoulder.

“Hmmm….it would seem as if someone has taken over his body,”

“Interesting…very interesting,”

“Interesting indeed,”

“Can you two stop messing about?” Harry questioned, playing with the microphone that the small stage supplied. “Niall, you’ve got the sound, right?”

“Yeah, mate,” Niall nodded, giving him the thumbs up. “I’ll give Grimmy the down low,”

“Good,” Harry laughed at the mention of an old friend that was doing the sound as a favor. It was going to be nice to see him, as he hadn’t had time to catch up with the aging Radio 1 DJ. “When does everyone begin arriving?”

“Family is coming in tonight and everyone will start showing up by two tomorrow morning.”

“Great,” Riley stated. “Now can we please go over our set list?”

Chris rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“Whatever, man.” Riley huffed, standing behind his drum kit. “I’m just ready to make sure that everything sounds right,”

“Okay lads, get to playing,” Niall suggested as they took their places. They decided to do a quick run-through of their songs that included Kiss Me Slowly, Stay, Hitmen Hit Men, Save Your Heart and Let’s Be Friends (Get In My Pants). Compromising Me were playing a lot of their original songs, but they were also covering some per Niall and Demi’s wishes.

The boys started to go through Kiss Me Slowly. They played Let’s Be Friends second when Niall started to fist pump, Zayn and Louis reappeared, Liam came down with Demi all during it. As soon as Harry finished, Niall gave him the okay.

“So I think that we should run through the song that we’re playing for D,” Harry stated, voice booming through the tent.

“Aweeeeee,” She cooed. “You guys are playing me a song?”

“Niall wants to dedicate it to you,” Alex stated, running a hand through his auburn hair. “His idea,”

“He even helped me write it,” Harry laughed. “So…this is Save Your Heart….we’re Compromising Me,”

Harry felt a little more than awkward with his former band-mates watching him up on the stage without him. It felt like he was a completely different person; like both Harry’s couldn’t co-exist.

She fell to the bottom of her life

This wasn’t meant for two

She struggles to find herself in time

But she can barely move

Just try and get up

You gotta slowly brush off

I know that words aren’t enough

But you’re better than this

Save your heart

For someone that’s worth dying for

Don’t give it away

Torn apart

Never getting what you’ve been crying for

It’s always the same

She turned the pages everyday

Just to change the mood

But every chapter reads the same

So hard to make it through

Just try and get up

You gotta slowly brush off

I know that words aren’t enough

But you’re better than this

Save your heart

For someone that’s worth dying for

Don’t give it away

Torn apart

Never getting what you’ve been crying for

It’s always the same

And you give (and you give)

And they take (and they take)

And it’s love that you want

But not love that you make

Save you heart

For someone that’s worth dying for

Don’t give it away

Save your heatr

For someone who leaves you breathless

And I know that you’re scared

Seems like someone said you had it in you

All along you said you knew this was wrong

But still worth dying for

Save your heart

For someone who leaves you breathless

And I know that you’re scared

Seems like someone said you had it in you

All along you said you knew this was wrong

But still worth dying for

And you give (and you give)

And they take (and they take)

And it’s love that you want

But not love that you make

Save your heart

For someone that’s worth dying for

Don’t give it away

Don’t give it away

The band finished the song, and Demi quickly walked to the stage to grip Harry and pull him into a tight embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly back around her, smiling. Niall playfully stated that the hug was too long for his liking, in which Harry replied that he liked dick so Demi was safe. The girl laughed loudly before going about her schedule, pulling Liam with her. He helped her rearrange plates while the lads went back to practicing the rest of their set. If Louis’ eyes never stopped glaring, well Harry pretended that he didn’t notice, even if that was all he ever noticed.