#liamlouis

He turns to Liam. “We could come up with a points system, we don't even have to do anything outside of what has set points. The interviewers would hate it. Or, are you too... chicken?"

Liam rolls his eyes, but smiles and gives Louis a pointed look. "No, Louis."

And that's the end of it.

Until a week later.

If Simon Cowell could look uncomfortable about anything, he would be right now. He shifts on the plush chair in the house in Doncaster, and the dark suited man next to him raises an eyebrow above his sunglasses slowly. Simon gives an almost invisible shake of his head. 

"You have a gift, yes." A pause, another shift. "Do you know why I'm here, Mr. Tomlinson?"

*

"Because I'm different, yeah?" Niall Horan shifts his gaze from his lap, and Simon can see a fierce pride that surprises him. His face is a little blotchy, the tips of his ears red, but he's steady when Simon's eyes meet his, slowly shrugging his mother's hand off his shoulder in the house in Mullingar. 

"Because I want to offer you an opportunity."

*

"Business opportunity? I mean considering who you are." Zayn Malik is, in a word, wary. His eyes watch Simon consideringly, listening like he's looking for double meanings. Simon tries on a kind smile, for all the good it does him. 

"Well, looking from a cynical perspective, yes." No sense in misplaced idealism, after all. Simon feels that on a level different from the other boys he's talked to, he and Zayn understand each other. And even after Zayn spares a look for his sisters, giggling at the far side of the kitchen in Bradford, his next expression toward Simon is no less calculating. 

*

"But I get a chance to learn too?" Liam Payne has the look of someone who shot up in the night like a fast action video of a tree's growth. Pinched but lengthy, and hungrier than his kind face would suggest. Liam's deep down need for knowledge and skill is hidden by his polite demeanor but it's so, so easy for Simon to see how badly he wants this, and how much it would mean to him.  

"Of course," says Simon smoothly. "The best facilities, the best mentors and teachers, and whatever else you require."

Liam takes a deep breath, steadying himself as he spaces a glance for the portrait of his grandfather over the mantel in Wolverhampton, and looks at Simon again.

*

"And you'll help me control it, yeah?" Harry Styles still looks like he might be sick all over again as he leans away from the toilet in Holmes Chapel. "I...I don't want to-" 

"Harry, I swear." Simon cuts him off, waving off the black suited man and stepping into the bathroom to crouch down beside Harry. "You'll never use your power again unless you choose to." 

Harry exhales shakily, tries to unclench his jaw, and gives an single decisive nod. 

*

Louis takes his bottom lip between his teeth, worrying at it for an uncomfortably long moment. Simon is unable to stop from leaning forward, just a little. 

"I just don't know, I mean, it'd be leaving home, pulling out of school..." Louis looks down and to the left, and arches his back with a shuddering movement. Simon is startled to come face to face with himself. His mirror image smirks.