EPILOGUE

                                    

                                          
         
                          
A/N: I finally finished this story! 
                          
This part is dedicated to @bravery55 who read my story last week and voted and commented on all my chapters. Thank you!
                          
A couple things about the epilogue: 
                          
It's all told from Harry's POV.
                          
It takes place a year and a half after the last chapter, after Darby published her article about H&L, and at the start of their new tour.
                          
There's a flashback to when H&L were crashing at Niall's place in L.A. It's marked with ***
                          


                          
HARRY
                          
I sat at the vanity, my skin illuminated by the frosted bulbs that framed the mirror. Debbie, our hair and makeup artist sponged on my foundation and left to fetch loose powder from her case. I'd sweat it all off onstage but at least the fans with floor seats would get to see me done up for the first few songs.
                          
Before Debbie got back her assistant dropped off some coffee and a stack of magazines. People Magazine was sitting at the top of the pile and I noticed a tiny picture of me and Lou in the corner of the cover. It was taken in Cheshire outside a pub. I was talking to him, smiling, gesturing with my hands; he was wearing sunnies, a cigarette dangling from his lip, looking directly into the pap's lens and giving him the finger. I flipped it open to the article and nearly fell out of my chair. It was the magazine's Valentine's issue and they had a list of the World's Hottest Couples. Louis and I were number two! "No. Fucking. Way." I ripped off the makeup bib that was tucked into my shirt collar and ran to find Louis. 
                          
He was playing a raucous game of Ping-Pong in the common area: him and Eleanor vs. Niall and Liam. 
                          
I held the magazine above my head triumphantly. "We're the second hottest couple in the world!"
                          
Louis dropped his paddle. "What do you mean 'second'?" 
                          
Liam, Niall and Eleanor crowded 'round. "Brilliant," said Liam. 
                          
"Well done, boys," added Eleanor, smacking Louis' bum with the paddle.   
                          
Louis snatched the magazine from my hands. "Who the hell is first?"
                          
"Kate Middleton and Prince William."
                          
"Do those two even fuck anymore?"
                          
"We're second only to royalty." I beamed.
                          
"We are royalty," Louis snapped. "Music royalty."
                          
"Louis, this is the first list we've made as a couple." I threw an arm around his neck and pumped my fist in the air. "We've arrived!" 
                          
"We've been robbed. I'm calling the editor."
                          
"I'm framing it!" I took the magazine back and smoothed out the page. 
                          
This was the first show of the new tour and my stomach was filled with butterflies. The People list made me forget how nervous I was for a second and allowed me to just enjoy the moment. Ever since Darby's article about us was published I'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thought album and ticket sales would dry up, that we'd be playing to half-empty arenas. But everything that our old team warned us about never happened. The vast majority of fans were happy for us! And even though we lost some fans, we gained new ones. 
                          


                          
Zayn was the first visitor backstage that night. I was at craft service spooning pasta salad onto my plate when I felt someone sneak up behind me and cover my eyes. "Guess who?" I felt his cold leather jacket and the scratch of his beard against my neck.