Collision

chapter 16: earth

Louis' breath is caught in his throat and the brisk London air whooshes in his ear as he's aimlessly dragged behind Harry's tall and sprinting figure. The woman's shrieks are still ringing in his ears even though they must be too far away to hear her by now.

That doesn't stop Harry from running, though.

"What the-" Louis tries breathily before coughing one and two and three times. "What the fuck, Harry?"

Louis is yelling, and Harry is clearly not giving a single solitary fuck about it. Not even looking back to make sure Louis isn't dying, he keeps going until he's rounded at least eight corners and they're on a slightly less crowded street.

Then he finally stops, lets go of Louis' hand, and leans against the brick wall he evidently finds good enough to hide behind.

"We got... the medicine," he says slowly, raising his left fist which is still tightly gripping the prescription. "We got the medicine."

"Oh no," Louis opposes. "We stole the medicine."

Harry throws his head back and lets out a short laugh. It's a tiny bit strained and a bigger bit out of place, but he's smiling and Louis' mind suggests blooming gardens and woolen blankets.

"We did," he agrees. "We stole the medicine."

He stops laughing, whipping his head around to lock his stare with Louis'.

"And now we have to get out of here before they put up the wanted posters."

"Would they actually do that?" Louis asks, wide-eyed and slightly horrified and the pair once again start moving, however this time much slower and less panicked.

Harry snorts in amusement. "No."

"Oh."

"But the store will no doubt file a report which is the modern day equivalent, so..."

"Got it. We have to leave."

"We do. Like, leave leave."

"We have to leave so hard."

"We're going to leave so violently no one will even know what happened."

Louis bites down around a smile and looks to the ground. He lets out a wistful sigh.

"I'm going to miss Earth, though," he says. "It's been fun. Quite amazing, actually."

Harry shrugs, bumping Louis' side slightly and the playful-not to mention comfortable-gesture is unfamiliar for the two of them, but it doesn't feel entirely wrong.

"We'll sneak back sometime once the portals are fixed," he promises, a shadow of mischief shaping his features. "It'd be a crime not to; you haven't even gone to an amusement park yet."

It's casual, effortless, the way he says that, like he doesn't think much of it.

Louis thinks more of it, evidently. The fact that there's a "we" for Harry, the fact that that "we" is stretching beyond the end of this adventure, that's...

Warm. Fuzzy. Louis wants to giggle or jump around to get rid of the giddiness. He wants to touch Harry's skin, a little. He needs to do something to handle the deep, rich warmth spreading like blossoming flowers and spring streams in his chest all the way out to his fingertips.

The fact that this feeling is irrational is something Louis sets aside to ponder at another time. Right now he's just content knowing that maybe he's allowed to enjoy Harry's company sometimes. That maybe that's not so bad.

He can live with that.

~

They meet up with Zayn, Liam and Niall in this lovely park, and Louis feels a little more like home. There's just always a sense of comfort as soon as there are trees and flowers and green grass around. It's peaceful and pure, and it's uninterrupted and unfazed by everything happening in its surroundings. Louis loves nature a lot. He's missed it.