Young & Beautiful

When they’re disguised in the neon lights of clubs and lost in swarms of sweaty bodies, sometimes
Louis worries that Liam will lose himself when he drops his polite and professional exterior and
dons something much more chaotic and ecstatic.
To put it bluntly, he does too many drugs and doesn’t sleep enough and never, ever says no.
Louis thinks he can see his own concern reflected in the corners of Zayn’s eyes—Zayn who
always carries Liam back home as the sun begins blinking from beneath the horizon—but it’s
never spoken of or discussed, never addressed, and so Louis never lets his thoughts linger on it.
Occasionally he’ll hear Niall’s voice in his head, his words spoken so long ago, about how Liam
is a ‘wild animal’ and it stirs something inside of him, some instinctual sense of dread, but… But
it’s no big deal, really. Because it’s probably under control.
So essentially, everything’s golden and everybody, especially Liam, is buzzed about April’s big
rowing match against the rival university. Niall’s decided to join the team again—because
apparently you can do anything when you’ve got money—and he and Liam practice diligently,
coming home sweaty and sharing inside jokes about the rowing team while Zayn and Louis
exchange eyerolls and throw grapes at them as they lounge at the table, slouched in their chairs
with matching smirks.
Well. Liam practices diligently.
Niall…
Niall sort of floats around, skirting by on his new status as ‘upcoming name in the music industry.’
He spends most of his time outside of rowing practice partying relentlessly, bringing back girl, or
rather, girls to the flat, sometimes only stopping by to change his clothes and re-spritz himself with
a bit of cologne before hopping back out the door, calling out “I love you!”s and farewells to
Louis. He boasts about the offers he’s gotten and the big names that he’s got in the palm of his
hand, and Niall doesn’t care about this stuff or these people, not really, but he likes the
opportunities and he likes the game and he’s absolutely winning at it, Louis is certain.
In fact, Louis really doesn’t know why he chooses to stay in school when, clearly, he would have
an incredible career for himself if he just…left.
He mentions it late one night when they’re both in their boxers, sitting at the piano side by side,
eating cheese sandwiches and swigging scotch from the bottle. They’re plonking away at the
keys, a random reality show on in the background on low volume, and Louis looks up at the
golden boy with his bright eyes and blushed cheeks and thinks that he can do whatever he wants
in the world.
“Why do you stay at school? I mean, when you’ve got all these job offers lined up for you?”
Louis asks, nibbling on some crust.
Niall rips his gaze away from the TV screen, slides it over to Louis.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, why do you stay?” Louis repeats with a roll of the eyes. “Like, why aren’t you out there
making money and getting a career? The only reason we’re here at school is to do just that—and
you’ve already got it, mate, haven’t you? The world’s at your feet. Why not take it?”
Niall smiles, beams actually, and takes another bite of his sandwich. “I like it here. I like my
mates.” He looks pointedly at Louis, grinning through a massive bite, before continuing, words
muffled by an inhumane amount of sandwich stuffed uncomfortably into his mouth. Which is