Chapter Text
Chapter 1
-L-
Louis shifted from one foot to the other. Partly because his feet just hurt, but also partly because he was a little nervous. Understandable, seeing as he is standing in the queue for the X-Factor auditions. Yes, the X-Factor. The funny thing is, he never actually thought he would go to the auditions, like yeah, the thought had crossed his mind, but not really seriously. That is, until his mum had told him to sign up. At first, he just dismissed her. As if he could actually go on the X-Factor. But she had been very insistent and eventually he had signed up. And now here they were. And here they had been for the last five hours. Louis really couldn’t understand how his mum was still all smiles and happiness. His mood had just progressively gotten worse. First, they had to get up at four in the morning. In theory that tactic had sounded great. Be at the audition really early, so you can make an impression. Problem was, Louis was not a morning person. Some people don’t mind getting up when it is still dark out, but Louis was not one of them. And after that they arrived here, expecting maybe a few people, but it was already crowded, and they couldn’t do anything but stand in the queue. Where they have been standing for five hours. Nobody could stand around for so long and still be in a good mood, well apparently except for his mother. Louis let out a sigh, the third one in just one minute.
“What is it now, Louis?”, his mother asked, next to him.
“Don’t you think that question is a little unnecessary, what do you think it is?” Louis turned to his mum, with his eyebrows raised. She let out a sigh not unlike his own.
“It probably won’t take that much longer.” That was what she had said an hour ago. But well, it is what it is. And anyway, it was super sweet of his mother to come, anyway, because technically he would be old enough to go on his own. Seeing as he turns twenty-one this December. But honestly, he has always been mama’s boy. And when she offered to come, he only tried to convince her to stay very half-heartedly.
“Thanks for coming mum. You know I really appreciate it, right?” Louis sent a smile in her direction, and she smiled back.
“Of course, I know that. And I want to be here.” Louis turned back to face the queue. It had become a lot shorter in the last hours, it hopefully won’t take that much longer. Louis took another look at the faces around him, thy were all here to audition. Honestly, how could he have the smallest chance of getting through? It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in his singing, it was just that compared to others it might only be average. But trying never hurts. And he had been standing here for five hours, he could take a few more.
-
It took another hour before they could even enter the building. But at least they were in the shade now. Not that it was particularly sunny outside, they were in England after all. Louis had taken to looking at the people around him, and he had even started a short conversation with the girl behind him. But that ended when they ran out of things to say. Louis also had the feeling she didn’t think his jokes were too funny. He took a lot of pride in being able to bring a laugh out of pretty much everyone. Now he was staring at a boy quite a few places behind him. He hadn’t noticed him before. The boy was tall and had longish brown curls. And his statue reminded him of someone, but that couldn’t be. Louis dismissed the thought that had come to his mind. There was no way.
Then the queue started moving again and Louis was reminded of his slight nervousness. In general, he wasn’t a nervous person, and he didn’t believe in things like stage fright. But he still got a little anxious now. Not in a “sweating and throwing up”- kind of way, more in a “his pulse may be a little faster than usual, and no he doesn’t want to eat anything”- way. His mum is enjoying herself next to him. She started speaking to another mother a little further back in the queue and had even left him standing alone, when she went to talk to her more. But Louis was prepared, he didn’t have to be nervous. He took a deep breath and relaxed. No use getting worked up over it now. It won’t be long anymore.
His eyes returned to the brown-haired boy for a second but flickered to the person in front of him. It was a woman, who looked to be a little over forty. But that was not the most interesting part of her, because she was wearing a mini dress. Like mini-mini-mini dress. Louis really hoped, she wouldn’t decide to pick up something from the floor. He doesn’t want to take away the liberty of dressing hoe they want from anyone, but in his opinion there comes a time, where you’re just too old for short skirts. But she probably not the only one, dressed in a similar manner, they were on X-Factor and it’s a TV show, after all. At this moment his mum came walking back to him. “You know, these people are very nice.” Louis just smiled, because his mother says that about pretty much everyone. She is just one of these persons who gets along with anyone and finds everyone nice. Louis sadly had only inherited part of that. He could get along with anyone. But only if he wants to and he certainly didn’t find everyone nice. Because some people just are not worth being nice to. The queue in front of them had shortened considerably and the people around them were starting to get really nervous. Annoying.
-
When Louis came down from the stage, he was grinning widely. The feeling of standing on that stage was absolutely brilliant. He was pretty sure he had never felt so great in all his life. And then, his performance definitely was successful. Very successful even, he got three yeses, after all. A very good reason to be proud of himself. He looked around in search of his mum and was met with only unfamiliar faces. Some of the people even congratulated him. And patted him on his back. In general, Louis didn’t have a problem with being touch by strangers. It would be a little hypocritical if he did, seeing as he has had his fair share of hook ups in various bathrooms, with people he didn’t know the name of. But right now, it would be great to finally find his mum. Where could she have gone? He left the direct backstage area and let his eyes scan the next room he entered.
After looking around for a few seconds and surveying all the different people in the room, his eyes landed on the big screen on one wall. It showed the big stage he was on just minutes before. Now you could see the audition unrolling itself onstage. And just before the screen he found his mum. She must have come here to watch his audition. Understandable, as the view was much nicer in the screen, than from behind the stage. Now his mum turned around and her eyes found him. Her smile grew wider, and she started making her way over to him.
When she was just a few steps away she exclaimed: “Louis, my dear, my baby boy.” That made Louis cringe. Baby boy? Honestly? She continued. “My Bou Bear.” And it got even worse. His mum hadn’t used that term for him in a long time. He had thought he had evaded it. He was twenty after all. Definitely not a “Bou Bear” anymore.
“Louis, you were absolutely brilliant. So good. I’m so proud of you. And just imagine, you didn’t even want to sign up. I bet you’re happy you did right about now.” His mother chuckled. “My dear son. On the X-Factor. I’m so proud of you.” Then she was right in front of him and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace.
“So proud.” She whispered. And yeah, that made him feel even better. It was always nice, to get a good mum-hug. Not that she didn’t hug him often enough, but since he was at Uni now, his hug-time has gotten significantly less. And his mum, does work a lot, even on weekends, when he is home, he mostly gets to see his sisters, and Ernest of course.
“Thanks, mum.” He answered her. She loosened her arms around him and inclined her head in the direction of the screen.
“Come on, we can watch the next auditions.” The people standing around the screen also congratulated him on getting through. It was a great feeling. All the attention on him. He thrived with it.
-
The next contestant on the stage also seemed to thrive with it. Just maybe a little bit too much. The swagger the boy showed, when he walked on stage made him seem like a proper show-off. Louis said just that to his mother, and she giggled softly.
“If you just knew how you looked on that stage.”, she said. Louis felt his face heat in a little bit of embarrassment.
“I didn’t look like that, did I?”, he whispered back to his mother, the slight panic evident in his voice.
“Oh no”, answered his mother. “You looked just fine. Not too much of a show-off, but also just confident enough to not look like you had just peed in your trousers.”
“Wow, thanks mum.” Was his dry reply to her statement. He really hoped he didn’t make a fool out of himself on stage. Now that the adrenalin is fading out of his system slowly, he starts to think about it. But it probably had been fine. Next to him his mother made a compassionate noise. A little hum. Louis focused back on the screen. The overly confident guy was definitely knocked down a few notches by the judges. Simon Cowell was basically trashing him. Louis just chuckled softly. The guy had it coming anyway. Poor him, for it to happen while on camera and broadcasted for the whole country to see, but Louis couldn’t really find it in him to care. His mum sent him a disapproving look. It said: You should not be enjoying yourself because of someone else’s misery. True, probably.
On the stage the next contestant had just walked on. It was a girl this time. She looked to be around his age and when she started singing, it actually sounded quite fine. Not overly great, but better than the last one definitely. In the end the judges put her through, and Louis regretted not getting her name. She seemed nice. Watching this part of the auditions as a whole is very … interesting, because in the TV Series in the end, they filter out the most ridiculous acts, and also the boring ones. The latter Louis definitely didn’t mind. It must be quite annoying to be a judge on a show like this. The pure bullshit you have to watch the whole day.
Louis now turned to his mother again, he wanted to ask her, whether she wanted to find something to eat, but when he searched for her with his eyes, he realized, that she had moved from his side to stand a little closer to the screen, where a bit of space had opened up. How had he not noticed her leaving? Never mind. He was hungry now, and they would probably have to be here for a while yet, since he had to wait to get the information, for the next round and stuff like that. He couldn’t really understand, why they couldn’t send that in an e-mail, but well. The point is, they were definitely going to be here long enough to get something to eat. He pushed himself forward through the few people standing around the screen and settled in next to his mum. He was just about to ask her about the food when his gaze fell on the next contestant on the screen.
-
It was the boy he had seen earlier in the queue. He had already seemed kind of familiar back then, but now Louis was almost a hundred percent sure. The figure just seemed too much like him. It couldn’t be someone else. Except if cloning is a thing now and Louis had missed that. Louis let his eyes travel across the body of the boy on stage. He hadn’t change very much. Of course, he had gotten older, grown up. The last time Louis had seen him had been something like three years ago. Shit, it really was him.
Louis let his eyes travel across the face belonging to the body, there was something that hadn’t changed, it sounds cheesy, but his eyes were the same. And to get even more cliché, his smile was kind of the same to. When Louis noticed how intensely he was staring at the screen, he quickly averted his eyes. Louis’ mum made a completive sound next to him, which caused Louis to focus his eyes on her. His mother repeated the sound one more time, before she turned to look at Louis. He just stared back expectantly and when she didn’t say anything he raised his eyebrows.
Now she started talking: “I was just wandering…” She paused for a second. “The boy there, seems quite familiar.”
Oh shit. Somehow Louis had still hoped that it had only been his imagination. His mother continued.
“Isn’t that, that the boy. Your friend. What was his name? Oh, I’m very sorry for not remembering his name. What is wrong with me? Say, what was it?” His name was Harry. And well, he had been Louis’ … friend. His best friend. Had been. Kind of. Now he tuned back into what his mother was saying.
“Harry, that’s what his name was. I knew it was something ‘nickname-y’”. Ohh, we should go say hello. Have you spoken to him lately? It should be nice to catch up, no?” Actually, that sounded like a nightmare to Louis. He definitely did not want to catch up with Harry. He could never meet him again. His mother looked at him a little inquisitive. She was probably wondering, what the fuck his problem was. He should be jumping at the chance to meet up with an old friend. Louis cleared his throat and turned away from his mother’s gaze.
“Actually, I really need the loo. Sorry.”
Then Louis started walking out of the room and ignored the voice that was telling him to stop acting like a coward. It was fine to avoid people. Everybody did it. Now he just needed to find the loo, because he couldn’t just stand around here in the hall. People would wonder. Worst case he would run into Harry.
-
Louis did find the loo eventually. It only took him about three minutes. He did not understand why it was so hard to just put up signs, where you can actually see them. Now he was standing in front of a sink and looking at his face in the mirror. How ridiculous to run away and hide in a bathroom. Louis wasn’t usually scared of a confrontation. He liked confrontations and he may sometimes provoke them unnecessarily. But this was different. He really, really, really didn’t want to see Harry. The first time he had met him he had been seventeen.
…
Louis was in the park with his younger sisters. It was once again his task to take care of them. He hated that his mum had do work so much. Not that he didn’t love his sisters and spending time with them. Right now, he was sitting in the sandpit with Daisy and Phoebe. At least Lottie and Felicity didn’t need to be watched at every second anymore. Right then, Daisy took a handful of sand and chucked it directly at him. That used to be funny, when her hands were too small to actually hold sand, but it’s definitely not funny anymore. Louis was about to take his revenge on her, when someone behind him cleared his throat. Louis turned around and was faced with the face of a boy. He looked to be a bit younger than him. Maybe around sixteen. The boy cleared his throat.
“Does the child over there belong with you? Like, are you supposed to be watching her?” The boy sounded a little uncomfortable, but Louis didn’t pay any mind to that. It sounded like something had happened to one of his sisters. “
What happened?”, he asked urgently. He must have seemed pretty distressed, because the boy answered very fast.
“Ohh, nothing bad. Well, not really bad.” Could this boy talk any slower? “Just, I think, the two might be, like, fighting. If you can call it that.” Louis exhaled. Nothing happened. “
Well, thanks for informing me. They can continue their fight.” The boy looked a little bit puzzled at that.
“Shouldn’t you… break up the fight or something?”
At that Louis just laughed. “You don’t have younger siblings, do you? I don’t think you’d have asked me that, if you had. You don’t go and break up a fight.”
Then Daisy decided that Louis’ attention had been away from her for too long. She took the next hand full of sand and it flew in the direction of the boy. It him square in the chest.
“Oh shit. ‘M so sorry.” The boy brushed the sand away from his shirt.
“It’s fine.” He sat down on the edge of the sand box next to Louis. “These are all your sisters then? All four?”
“Uhh, yeah. They are.” Louis didn’t quite understand why the boy wanted to start a conversation, but he didn’t mind the company.
“What’s your name then? Mine’s Harry.” The boy, Harry, asked. Louis turned to look over at him and said:
“It’s ‘Lewis’, well it is written as Louis, and well it is Louis, but Lewis sounds better. Never mind, I’m ‘Lewis’.” The boy looked a bit taken aback, but then he started grinning.
“No way, that’s not how names work, you can’t just choose your own. You’re Louis as in without any ‘s’ at the end.”
…
Louis had spent quite a few hours talking to Harry like that. But he needed to stop thinking about this. Hopefully, he would never have to see Harry again. If fate didn’t have some kind of beef with him. Oh God, what if they put Harry through. Stop, not this again. If he starts thinking about Harry, then he will start thinking about the other stuff and that just won’t do. Louis just had to calm down enough, so his mother won’t notice something was up with him. And just wait until Harry was gone so there would be no chance, his mother would drag him to say hello. He held his hands under the water from the tap and splashed a little bit on his face. His mind was making this a bigger deal than it really was. It wasn’t like he would die if he met Harry. He just really didn’t want to.
Louis pushed himself away from the sink and took a few paper towels. He hated drying his hands with these thin paper thingies. Why can’t there just be normal towels? Realistically, Louis knew why there were paper towels and that it was stupid, to get annoyed by this. But that did not stop him from sighing loudly. This day had been so good, great actually, before Harry showed up. Louis heard multiple people passing by in front of the doors. How high were the chances, that he would run into Harry by accident? They would have to be pretty low. There were what feels like a thousand people in this warehouse. Surely, he wouldn’t run into the person he wanted to meet the least. Louis was finally satisfied with his state of mind. (Keep thinking positive!) He took a last glance at his reflection and painted a smile onto his lips. It wasn’t even totally fake. He just added to it a bit.
Then the door of the bathroom was thrown open with a lot of momentum. Since Louis had been shortly before stretching out his hand to open the door himself, he flinched back. Who would throw a door open with that much power? Honestly, that could be kind of dangerous. Louis was just about to complain loudly to whomever was on the other side of the door, when he saw who exactly was standing opposite of him. Fate really has to have some kind of problem with him. Or the universe is just playing a cruel joke with him. Maybe he should have paid better attention in church. Because he clearly offended somebody. Somebody really wanted to make his life miserable. Infront of him was Harry. Harry freaking Styles. That’s what his last name was. Luckily Louis’ subconscious caught up quicker than him and he turned away from Harry and faced the sink again. Maybe, just maybe, Harry would have forgotten about him. Or he just wouldn’t recognize him. Because it had been like two and a half years. Then Louis heard Harry’s voice.
“Ooops.” That was just like him. But Louis didn’t turn around. He was just waiting for Harry to get out of the doorway, so he could leave as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. Maybe Harry really hadn’t recognized him. That thought made Louis pause shortly. It was what he wanted. But it also made him… Never mind. Why was Harry still standing there? Louis just cleared his throat quietly before he turned around to assess the situation. He shouldn’t have. Harry was staring at him. And now he was staring back, because apparently, he had lost control over his body.
Through the screen Harry hadn’t looked so different. An important detail Louis hadn’t noticed was his height. They had been about the same height, but now Harry easily had a few inches on him. Louis basically had to crane his head to look at him. (Not really, but it sure felt like it.) After a few seconds Louis finally came back to his senses. He cleared his throat again and then decided, that he would just take off. Before Harry decided to start speaking or something.
“Umm…” He started. “Hi. Sorry, could I just…” He gestured to the door and Harry stepped aside. Bless him. Louis walked out of the bathroom quickly. When he passed by Harry, he actually held his breath. Not that he was afraid of the smell or something, just…
-
When Louis was in the hall and the door closed behind him, he finally started breathing again. Literally, how high were the chances? Louis really shouldn’t play lottery today. It didn’t seem to be his day. Louis made his way through the hallways until he reached the room, where he left his mother behind. At least she hadn’t vanished, in the time he was away. With his luck today, she could have. He stood beside his mum and smiled at her. In that moment, a producer came in and called all the contestants to him, to receive the information, of how to proceed further. After that, Louis and his mother could finally leave. And Louis had successfully avoided Harry, he just had to find out without being too obvious, if he had been put through.