Chapter Text
Louis should’ve known it was a bad idea. He should’ve known he would never actually go through with it.
This morning he still got out of bed, ate breakfast and went to his car, with his mind made up. The doubts only came as he drove.
It wasn’t summer, but the car was stuffy and it was too hot outside to open the windows and let a bit of fresh air in. Louis cursed at himself, wishing he’d gotten around to fixing his air conditioner after it broke down recently. It was the first time in a month that he’d driven his car and now he had to deal with the busted A/C. He let out a defeated sigh, wondering if this was indeed a good idea.
Zayn’s address was still familiar to him, burned into his memory long after his departure from One Direction, even after he moved from their shared flat into a house on the outskirts of London. The knowledge sat in his stomach with a feeling that Louis had tried to chase away for years.
Louis lost count after half an hour of doing loops around the block. He knew he had to get his shit together, and staring at Zayn’s house wasn’t getting him anywhere. He needed to just park the car, go inside, and talk to him.
Maybe if this was Niall he would’ve been able to get out of the car, but he wasn’t and Louis wasn’t nearly ready enough for it. Besides, Niall didn't have the same history as he did with Zayn.
Louis stopped the car when he reached Zayn’s once again, looking at the inviting bright white of the house and matching red curtains. He stared at it for a moment, debating if he should go in, but then quickly drove away.
Maybe Zayn wasn’t even in London right now. How embarrassing would it be if he just knocked on the door and nobody answered the door? The chances were high that Zayn was once again in America. He seemed to spend all his time there. With that other woman, Gigi, from what Louis remembered. He didn’t know their relationship status, but the tabloids made it sound like they are a happy couple. It’s sad, really. He and Zayn weren't even close enough anymore to wish each other a happy birthday, so why would he tell Louis about his relationship status.
In the end it was all Niall’s fault, wasn’t it?
-
“Louis,” Niall pleaded.
“No,” Louis pouted.
“Just hear me out-” Niall tried it again.
“I don’t want to, Niall,” Louis groaned, wanting to smash his head into the cereal bowl in front of him. “Whatever fucking funny idea you think you have now, do it yourself, yeah?”
It wasn’t even noon and Niall was already at Louis’ house. He couldn’t listen to this so early in the morning, he hadn’t even had breakfast yet.
“But it’s a good idea. You’ve been in your house for a month. You could use some time outside, mate.”
“You know that’s the whole point of quarantine? Staying in your house and not meeting others,” Louis sends another annoyed look over to Niall.
“I know.” Niall rolls his eyes. “But hear me out, this could be funny.”
“Then tell me.” Louis gave in, hoping he could finally finish his breakfast in peace, even though he knew Niall wouldn’t leave him alone anytime soon.
“Alright, so the other day I was watching TV.” Niall started, getting more excited as he went on. “And the Bake Off was on-”
“Niall, no.” Louis interrupted him. “Whatever you want to say, I won’t be fucking baking, not to mention on public television.”
“But it’s such a good idea,” Niall pleaded. “They said this year is going to be special and all that.”
“Not in a million years! You know I can’t even boil water without nearly burning down my kitchen.”
“But nobody on that show can really bake. Haven’t you ever watched an episode of Celebrity Bake Off?” Niall blinked his sad puppy eyes at Louis.
“Of course I have,” Louis groaned. “But I can promise you, I’m ten times worse than all of those other celebrities combined.”
“Every other person there thought they were the worst too. Even Jade baked something halfway decent and she wasn’t even able to turn on the oven. It’ll be good for you. Not only will it get you out of the house, it’ll give you something to do now that the tour is-”
“Please don’t remind me.” It irritated Louis that Niall had brought it up again. He knew that cancelling the tour because of the pandemic was a sore subject. Now he wanted to smash Niall’s face into the cereal bowl.
The sun shone through the window, blinding Louis, but Niall’s glee was palpable and his wide grin contagious, even in those early hours, so he let him continue.
“Alright, alright, sorry. Now let me finish,” Niall mumbled.
“Fine, go on..” Louis shrugged his shoulders, going back to his breakfast.
“So, you go onto the Bake Off, have a bit of a laugh, get your face out there and yourself out of the house. Maybe you’ll even make some new friends. It doesn’t sound that bad now does it?” Niall pushed out his lower lip into an exaggerated pout.
“Well,” Louis pointed with his spoon at Niall, “when you say it like that it doesn't sound so bad, but it’s literally all about the baking.”
“We could practice together! Have some bonding time between mates,” Niall replied.
“Yeah, sure.” Louis raised his eyebrows.
“Don’t be so pessimistic, Lou. I already printed out everything that you need.” Niall turned around in the chair he was sitting in, looking for his bag that he left at the door, then stood up, going to the front. .
“Next thing I know he’ll have already signed me up.” Louis mumbled under his breath, taking a last look at Niall.
“See?” Niall reappeared in front of Louis, pointing to something on the printouts.
“Mhmm.” Louis eyed the papers skeptically.
“Jesus, I’ll just leave you to it, yeah?” Niall shook his head in frustration with one hand on the doorknob. “I don’t need to ruin everybody's mood here, I’ve got other things to do anyway.”
“Bye.” Louis waved distractedly from where he was sitting, indifferent to Niall’s exit.
In the evening, once Louis had procrastinated through the small list of tasks he had for the day, he forced himself to take a closer look at the papers Niall had left. Maybe this wasn’t the worst idea in the world. How bad could it really be, right?
It was only April, and the weather hadn’t been particularly good the past few days. Today was just one of those rare days where the temperature climbed close enough to the 20°C mark so you could sit outside without worrying about freezing to death.
It was actually pretty nice outside, Louis had to admit. The change of scenery was a surprisingly welcome change of pace. He didn’t realize how stir crazy he was getting, being stuck inside his house for so long.
Louis sat on the the swing on the back porch overlooking his garden with the papers in his hand and Yorkshire tea by his side. He admired the few flowers beginning to bloom. It was mostly a sea of green grass but here and there you could see some spots of yellow and purple poking out. It was nice. Even some of the birds were back from their winter slumber, chirping on their perch in the trees. He took a moment, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back to take it all in. A brief respite before he got back to the matter at hand.
At first Louis just skimmed through the words on the paper. Nothing really stood out to him.
He had no idea how Niall got the idea that he should go on the Bake Off in the first place or why he was so persistent. Everybody who knew him could tell it would be a god awful idea to make him bake on live TV. Everyone would have a field day dragging him on the internet for this, even worse than that time he made the now-viral video attempting to make a fish sandwich for Marcus’ charity. But considering he had nothing better to do, Louis took a closer look at the paper, seeing what the Bake Off would look like in a pandemic.
As Louis found out while reading through the papers, as a safety measurement this year they apparently chose one set of celebrities that would bake for the whole five weeks, instead of switching through like they did in the previous years. So it would be a proper competition.
Louis took a sip from his tea, laying the papers to the side.
2020 had been a very harsh year, even though it had started out really good. He had released his debut album as a solo artist and had a world tour lined up, but in the end everything had to be postponed.
He’d been so excited at the start of the year, to finally go back to touring, and be able to see the fans again and just go out in the world. He was looking forward to having time to do some exploring and sightseeing in some of the places he could never see while he was in One Direction. Their schedule was so tight and the massive crowds didn’t allow them to do anything but go from stage to hotel room before being whisked off to the next city. Louis had been so hopeful. It had been a year with so much potential but in the end his hope was nipped in the bud before it could grow. Instead he was forced to put the tour on hold and return to London after only two shows and forced to shelter in place alone for months on end.
-
There was so much he could’ve done in the down time, fix the things he had been meaning to around the house, write some songs, practice his guitar. But the pandemic took all his motivation, leaving just an empty shell.
It was hard, getting over everything that was supposed to be, trying to find new motivation in this new normal. It was all so foreign, like nothing he’d ever experienced. Once he found his motivation, it hit him like a rock that he was seemingly the only one suffering so much.
The first time he opened the news page on his phone was the worst. Everybody seemed to be doing all they could to keep their careers moving. There were dozens upon dozens of online interviews that people had done. Liam put videos of himself up on his YouTube channel and Niall had been live on instagram nearly every day. It was hard to see everybody thriving when Louis felt so stagnant.
Louis put his feet up on the swing, closing his eyes and contemplating Niall’s suggestion. Niall was right about one thing, it would get him out of the house, and people loved to watch the Bake Off. If only he could call his mother right now to ask her advice.
-
“Hey Lots!” Louis opened the door for his sister and pulled her into a hug.
“Hi.” She mumbled into his shoulder before freeing herself out of his embrace. “So what have you been up to? You haven’t given us any updates.”
“Not much, not much.” Louis let out a chuckle while thinking back to the papers that Niall had brought with him that were still on his desk.
Lottie let out a laugh, throwing her hair back, “You must’ve been up to something, otherwise you would have never been so willing to have me over.”
“I like to have my sisters with me, what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing.” Lottie flashes a smile over to him. “Just that you usually aren’t that willing.”
Louis rolled his eyes. ”Just come in, I’ve got some cake from the bakery down the street.”
“Thank god you didn’t try to bake yourself!”
“You should talk with Niall about that.”
Lottie stepped inside and took off her jacket. “What’s he been up to? I hope his house is still standing. Lord knows none of you could cook to save your life.”
“Harry would be offended, love.” Louis scoffed.
“Who cares about him?” Lottie huffed, “Anyways what has Niall been up to lately?”
They made their way through the living room to the kitchen. The sun was streaming through the windows facing the back garden, creating a golden haze lighting up the whole room so the dust looked like it was dancing in the sun. Normally his rooms were rather dark, only minimal lighting and dark furniture, but the natural light coming into the room once natura made everything seemed just this little bit lighter, more magical.
“You want something to drink?” Louis asked Lottie after she sat down.
“Sure, but first you just have to tell me all about Niall, you're making me curious.”
Louis let out a chuckle. What Niall had been up to was the entire reason Louis had been so open to Lottie coming over to his place. He still had no clue what to take from Niall’s idea for him to take part in the Bake-Off.
In the kitchen Louis saw Lottie over the counter and once he had the water boiling, leaned over it. “Well, Niall has decided that it would be a good idea for me to take part in this year’s Bake Off.”
“He- What?” Lottie leaned forward, looking at him with big eyes.
“Yeah.” Louis shrugged his shoulders.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Lottie crackled. “Oh Jesus, you, baking? You’ve got to be kidding me.” She whispered and burst out laughing again.
“I wish! Look at the dining table. Niall even printed out all the requirements and shit for me already, gave me an entire speech on why it would be such a good idea to go on the Bake Off.” Louis was trying to laugh along with her, but the idea hadn’t left his mind and he really wanted her opinion.
Lottie stood up again from where she was sitting on the couch, went around to the table and took the papers that Niall had printed out into her hands.
In the background, Louis could hear the melodic clicking from the kettle, indicating their water was ready. While he was anxiously waiting for what Lottie had to say, he took two mugs out of the cupboard, put a teabag in them, and poured the water to steep.
The mugs were hot in his hands, and Louis tried to get them over to the small coffee table as fast as he could .
“So?” He asked, prompting Lottie to tell him what was on her mind.
“I mean, I guess it could be fun.” She sat back down beside him, shrugging, propping her legs onto the coffee table.
“ I can’t bake for shit.” Louis said bluntly, leaning back into the couch, taking a sip from his mug with the still hot tea.
“Everyone knows that, but it could still be fun?” Lottie looked over to him, shrugging with her shoulders. “I mean, it is still pretty funny to me, but I don’t see the harm.”
“That’s what Niall said too, putting myself out there, having a bit of fun.”
“He has some solid points there.” Lottie agreed
Louis groaned in response. “So you think it’s a good idea too?”
“I’m just saying it could be, but if you’re serious about it you should probably start practicing now, shouldn’t you? ”
“D’you know what? The papers even said that it’s going to be a proper competition this year.”
“Really?” Lottie took the papers back into her hand to look over everything again.
“Yeah, they’re going to have us there for five weeks and each week somebody is going to get eliminated.”
“Sick.” Lottie looked back at him. “All the better to do this, finally something new.”
“Yeah but they haven’t explained the whole concept yet; they said they’re going to explain it at one of the meetings beforehand.”
“Oh wow, I wonder what they’re up to there.” Lottie leaned even further over the papers.“You have to tell me what it is when you find out.”
She stuck out her lower lip, looking at Louis with big puppy eyes, “Please.”
“You know I’d have to do the bake-off then, otherwise I won’t be able to find out.”
“I thought Niall already convinced you it was a good idea.”
“Nooo,” Louis dragged the word out. “He just told me it’s a good idea. He didn’t convince me to do anything. I mean, I’d need somebody to teach me how to bake.”
“Worry about that later. I wanna know what they’re up to. It all sounds so mysterious.”
“Dear god,” Louis rolled his eyes. “What the fuck did I walk myself into here?”
“So you’re going to do it?” Lotties eyes lit up.
“I guess.” Louis shrugs his shoulders, “There isn’t much use in fighting it, is there? I am outnumbered by all of you.”
“Exactly,” Lottie’s smile was as innocent as a baby shark as Louis looked down, focusing on the mug in his hands.
Both Niall and Lottie of course had good arguments to take part in the Bake Off. There was nothing to say in that. But Louis just didn’t trust his baking skills to be good enough for an actual competition; nevermind that it was the fucking Great British Bake Off.
“It’s also for a good cause. You really don’t have much to lose, Louis.”
“I guess I really don’t.”