Chapter Text
“You can’t do this Louis; he’s going to kill us. And then he’ll bring us back to life for our tour… and kill us again.” Niall said as he tuned his incredibly old, and slightly beat up, acoustic guitar. He wasn’t even going to use that one during the show; it’s just that he brought all five of his guitars to every show.
Louis Tomlinson was currently sitting in the makeup chair while his trusted friend and artist, Sutan, painted his face. He was also currently sitting on a four week number one spot on the Billboard 100, for his newest album and single “For Your Entertainment”. Tonight was the annual American Music Awards, and it would be the song’s debut live performance. “Come on Niall, don’t be such a drama queen. That’s my job.”
“If you tell Zayn that you want to kiss me onstage ‘for the hell of it’, he’s gonna kill you.” Niall said again. He strummed a few chords and looked back over his shoulder at the singer. “I’m only being realistic.
“Ugh,” Louis groaned, blinking up at Sutan. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea?”
“Oh Honey, you know I love all those gaudy performances of yours,” the makeup artist said as he applied black lipstick to Louis’ pouty lips. “What have you got to lose anyway? You’re not exactly the darling of the media.”
It was true, ever since Louis came out two years ago, he’d become a media craze rather than darling. After such a controlled teen-hood, Louis wanted to let loose, and he did so by going full force into the queer world. He started wearing heavy makeup, skimpy clothes, writing more sexual songs, and over all did a complete 180 degree flip from his old self. He was a twenty three year old flamboyant glam rock star, and you either loved him or you hated him. The important thing was that Louis, for the most part, loved himself.
“Exactly,” Louis agreed with Sutan, who walked behind the chair and started to tussle up Louis’ feathery brown hair. He even doused it in glitter, as it was Louis’ signature look. “Zayn’s done a good job of handling all my antics thus far, so—”
Louis was interrupted by Zayn Malik, his best friend and manager of the past two years, bursting in the green room. He immediately noticed the strange looks from the three people in the room, and grew suspicious. “Sandy, Jon, and Josh finished setting the stage and we’re on in fifteen. Sutan, once you finished with Niall, you can go touch them up.”
“Sure thing, Boss Man,” the man said. He tapped Louis’ shoulders once the hair was done, and motioned for Niall to come sit.
Zayn slowly took a seat in one of the red chairs set out for them, and crossed his arms as he stared Louis down with a suspicious expression. “And what were we all talking about when I came in?”
Louis smirked at Zayn’s reflection as he looked himself over in the mirror, fixing his clothes. He had body glitter all over his arms and chest, and it was sparkling through the black mesh shirt that tightly clung to his slim torso. His body curved down to tight black skinny jeans, which honestly were probably jeggings, and then into sparkly silver converse. To complete it all, he had black fingerless gloves on his hands and three earrings in each ear. “Well, Zayn, you see I thought it would be a very new and bold idea to kiss Niall onstage during the performance.”
Zayn’s breathing grew heavy, as if he were using all of it and his strength not to burst into flames. He loved Louis, really, but he knew the industry and he knew the media as well. They were already turning against Louis, yet here he was, trying to push their buttons. “No, it’s too much.”
“Oh come on and hear me out,” Louis said. He turned on his heels and strutted to the back of Zayn’s chair, placing his hands on Zayn’s shoulders. “We’ve already got the raunchy song, the dancers are in leather or practically nothing, would it really be so bad to add just one more thing in? A kiss would really push the performance over the top.”
Zayn wished he couldn’t believe Louis was saying this, but it was genuinely classic Louis Tomlinson. However, Louis had been getting more and more adventurous with his antics. In fact, it was all really in the past two months that Louis decided to be more sexual than usual.
“Tell me Louis, this wouldn’t have to do with anyone else, would it?” Zayn asked, placing his hands over Louis’.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Louis said innocently.
“Oh, really?” Zayn asked again, and he could see the confidence drain from Louis’ face. “So you’re not acting out because of—”
Sutan gasped, “Girl, don’t say it!”
Niall joined in the panic, “Zayn, I wouldn’t—”
“—Liam?”
Louis almost pushed Zayn out of the chair at the sound of his ex’s name. Sutan clicked his tongue disappointingly and Niall just burst out, “What the fuck mate?”
Zayn threw his hands up in defense, “I’m only saying what I think!”
“What you think?” Louis glared daggers into his friend’s head. “For the past two months, I’ve been getting over that prick, and all I asked was for you to never speak his name. Yet here you are, breaking my heart.”
“Am I wrong?”
Technically, he wasn’t wrong. Ever since the breakup, Louis became more inclined to do things Liam wouldn’t approve of. But Louis Tomlinson was a stubborn piece of shit, and he’d never admit this to Zayn. “Yes. You are wrong. I’m only out here trying to have fun, and you’re spoiling it! Speaking forbidden names and all that.”
Of course Zayn didn’t believe him, but Louis was going to perform soon, and Zayn had to keep his mood up. “Alright, I’m sorry. If you want to kiss Niall… as much as it’s going to kill us in the press, you can do it.”
“If you wanted it to seem more heterosexual, we could always have Sutan here go out dressed as Raja, and I could kiss her.” Louis said, sending a mischievous wink to him.
Sutan just snorted. "Honey if you think I'm getting in full face tonight—”
Zayn just shook his head. “Making out with a drag queen will most certainly not make it more heterosexual. And I wouldn’t want you to go straight, anyway. I’m just afraid of it being too much, and you getting a lot of hate for it.”
“Aw you do love me,” Louis cooed obnoxiously.
“I hardly have a choice,” Zayn sighed. “But I love Niall more at this point.”
“What a coincidence!” Louis cheered. “I love Niall more too. He’s ace.”
Niall burst out laughing from the chair, and it almost messed up Sutan’s work. “Nice one Lou!”
Louis started laughing too, eyes crinkling up from his joke. “Get it Zayn? Because Niall’s asexual, and ace means—”
The manager let out a long groan. “I know what Niall is, and I know what that word means. Now, let’s get a move on! You should already be backstage.”
+
Louis was belting out the repeated hook of the song, grinding on a male dancer nearly a foot taller than him. He looked over to Niall and smirked through the next line, sultrily walking to his guitarist.
“Can you handle what I’m ‘bout to do?” Louis sang out when he grabbed Niall by his blonde hair. He yanked him forward, spurred on by the intensity of the song, and kissed him hard.
There were cheers and there were gasps, and when Louis pulled back to sing, “Cause it’s about to get rough on you.” He could see every eye glued to him. “I’m here for your entertainment.”