eighteen ∣ one direction

chapter eleven

Quick warning: In a flashback including Simon, a homophobic slur is said. I will censor it but I just wanted to give a warning.

--

As Ophelia prepared herself to leave the bathroom, Louis was having a mini panic attack outside. No matter how much planning the group had gone through during the last month and a half since Princess approached them with this plan, nothing could prepare him for this moment. He was about to meet his second soulmate.

Meeting Harry was different, unexpected. He had no expectations going into the x-factor bathrooms. He didn't expect the little 16 year old in the urinal next to him to be his partner for life.

Now, everything was planned out. In a few moments, he would meet Princess. 'Ophelia,' he had to remind himself. He knew her name now. Tightening his grip on Harry's hand, Louis stared at the un-opened bathroom door.

For over a decade, he blamed himself and Harry for never getting a soul dream. Normally when two soulmates meet, the dream stops. Louis thought that maybe him meeting Harry canceled out all of their dreams and they were doomed to never have a hint on where she could be, what she could look like. They would have to rely on first touch alone (his only consolation being the fact that they came into contact with thousands of people every month, eventually they would have to find her). Although the others said that his thought process was shit and that she just hadn't turned 18 yet (and then that she didn't exist in the first place), he couldn't help but think that he and Harry meeting had blocked the dream.

Harry had stepped into his position as the balance in Louis' life. He was rubbing circles along the back of the hand Louis had a death grip on and was whispering comforting words into his ear, trying to calm the racing heart beating inside his lover's chest.

Nothing would work. Today was it. After years of contracts, hiding, being alone together, he and Harry would finally meet their third piece. They could be free.

And that scared the shit out of Louis.

--

Harry, despite not being able to sleep the previous night due to nerves, was now oddly calm. Now that he had seen her - seen that she was, in fact, real - Harry felt a sense of calm he had not felt in years. Currently, his main focus was rubbing comforting circles along the back of his boyfriend's tense hand.

"Shh. It's gonna be ok, Lou. She's here for us. We've found her, Boo." Harry had a constant stream of sweet words coming out of his mouth and into Louis' ear.

Harry should be more nervous. He really should. Not just for meeting his last soulmate, but for what comes after. Now that he and Louis finally found Ophelia, they could be free. All of the lads could, really. The last contract that Modest! and Simon had hanging over their heads would be gone as soon as they meet her.

Realistically, it would have to be a while before they introduced her to the world. He wanted to get to know her first, to fall in love outside of a dream.

But eventually, she would be revealed in all her glory, and Lou and him could follow. Their contracts had been the shackles of their lives, but Ophelia held the final key.

--

Niall, on the other hand, was completely over the moon. When he first saw his little soulmate, he swore he could see stars. After a little over two months of nightly dreams with this angel, he was finally going to meet her.

Ever since Niall was little, he had been dreaming of what his soulmate could be like. When his Da first sat him down and told him the story of the mark on his chest, he spent hours staring at the mirror, running his hand over the mark, and thinking of every possible name his soulmate could have. Olive. Octavia. Odette. Olivia.