It was okay to feel hurt at times, to feel as if it was the end of the world. It's absolutely normal to feel like nothing in the whole damn world could make you smile. So Niall didn't even bother to cheer Louis up, instead, he walked towards the older man and hugged him tightly, not saying any word but just taking the papers and placing them on the table before letting go. It was the least he could do, show that he wasn't taking sides in this entire matter.

"Can you guys please leave me alone? I'm sorry that you got caught into this entire mess but I would like to be alone right now. Can you do that, please?" Louis whimpered, bringing his knees to his chest as he glared at the papers. It was funny how the relationship he had worked so hard to build could just be destroyed like that, by mere pieces of paper, as if all that time and effort had absolutely no importance.

"Sure." Harry responded for the two of them, repeating Niall's actions and giving Louis a much longer hug, with a soft "call me whenever you feel like" before taking the blonde's hands in his own and entwining their fingers together and leaving. It hurt him to see the famous Louis Tomlinson, the prankster of the group, becoming so weak and just sad. It was exactly like 2015, when Louis had taken to extensive smoking and drinking, late night partying and what not. Harry shook his head, not wanting to think of those rough times when they had to call for a hiatus.

"He's going to be okay," Niall whispered softly, squeezing Harry's hand as they entered the parking lot. He didn't know whether his sentence actually held any truth or not but he hoped, with everything in him, that everything would soon be fine. "He's hurting now, badly but with time, it will all be okay."

"I wonder how long it's going to take for everything to be alright." The curly brunette sighed, opened the door of the car and getting inside, letting go of Niall's hands in the process. He wondered if it was the same for Louis and Zayn, during the time they were together. Did Louis blush at Zayn's compliments as easily as he did when Niall so much as glanced his way ?Did Louis fall asleep to the Pakistani's soft rhythmic heartbeat? Did he laugh, cry and spend all his gloom and angry moments with him too? He probably did and that's what made it harder to be okay.

"Not quickly but eventually he will be fine. I'll try talking to Zayn. I want to know exactly what caused him to take such a big step. I thought he was going to talk to Louis, not do this entire fucked up shit."

"Zayn isn't to blame entirely. Louis did end up getting some chick pregnant. While they were together." Harry shook his head, not even wanting to remember how it was like for all of them to wake up to loud screaming and fighting, all because a girl had randomly shown up and produced some pregnancy tests, claiming she was pregnant with Louis Tomlinson's baby. As much as they all would have liked to believe it was a lie, the look on the feathery brunette's face said otherwise.

"But Zayn could have really dealt with the situation better rather than leaving the band and then, after two years, calling it quits. He could've either gone for divorce the moment it happened, there was no need for him to wait for two whole years." The blonde huffed, fingers still tangled with Harry's once they had started the drive back to their house. It was a mess really, their entire life. Funny how in a band of five boys, three of them were bisexual and one was straight while Niall himself was gay. And while they had been open about their sexuality with one another, they had never dared to announce it to the outside world. Except for Narry and that too, was done as a basis for more promotion. It was all Modest! luck that their fake romance surprisingly ended up becoming quite real.

"Can we talk about something else? This topic is giving me a headache." Harry chuckled, turning in the lane where their house was located. He sneaked a glance at the blonde, smiling to himself that at least he finally had his crush by his side. It was strange how he was experiencing love this time around and it was finally being reciprocated.

"Sure love. Whatever you want to talk about." Niall grinned, reaching a hand out to brush Harry's wild curls to the side as the taller man kept on driving, only stopped once they had reached their house. The blonde quickly got out of the car, rubbing his hands together as the chilly air caused shivers to run down his spine.

"Let's talk about how our date went. Did you have fun babe?" The curly brunette smiled, opening the door to the house once he had parked the car in the garage. He flicked on the lights, getting inside the kitchen to grab some beer for himself and Niall.

"I did. Except for the Shawn part, everything else was rather fun." Niall huffed, remembering exactly how his cheap replica was trying to flirt with his date.

"He's a nice lad. Cut him some slack alright?"

"Are you defending him?" The blonde huffed.

"No. Nothing of the sort. I just feel like you don't have to be scared of him. I'm all yours."

"I'm not scared of him." Niall frowned, shaking his head clear of the memories of the day when Harry had gotten the lad home, in a drunk state but no doubt the moans and grunts coming from his room where symbolic of the fact that Shawn happened to be incredibly great in bed. Something that did tick Niall off a lot.

"And I'm saying you don't have to be. It's a good thing you aren't," Harry nodded his head agreeing with everything he himself had just spat out. He passed a beer bottle to Niall, frowning when the Irishman rejected the drink.

"Do I have a reason to be scared Harry?" Niall raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms at his chest as he waited for a reply.

"What? No - of course not."

"You were quite happy to see him there. Same goes for Shawn." The blonde scoffed.

"You're just jealous. I was happy to be on a date with you. I love you Niall." Harry sighed, sitting at the bar stool as he uttered the words out. He didn't want to say them, not right now, not when they were just trying things out but he couldn't stop himself. They might have been just words but now they gave Niall the power to break his heart or keep it.

"You know I can't say that back Harry. Not right now." The blonde sighed, rubbing a hand down his arm. He felt cold in the room even though the heating was on.

"I know. I didn't expect you to say it back."

"Don't be like that."

"Like what?" Harry gulped.

"Don't look so sulky and don't make me feel guilty for not saying those words back." Niall snapped, taking two deep breaths to calm himself down. "Look, let's forget about this entire conversation and think of Louis. He must be hurting a lot right now and -"

"How can I think of others when my own relationship is fucked up?"

AN/ So I'm definitely going to update this soon bc after this shitty chapter, I have ideas for this story lol. No clue where it's going though. I feel like such a bad author for writing stories with zero clue of where they are going to go.