Things Have Gotten Closer To The Sun -starseas on ao3

Twenty-Nine

An hour later, the house grows loud as the rest of the boys wake up.

They all pile down into the kitchen where Liam's set out five steaming mugs of warm milk and honey on the counter, and Harry drinks his slowly, letting the warmth of it run down his throat like sunshine. They sit in silence, and then after that they all leave their mugs in the sink and dress up in coats and gloves and boots before heading out back-past the snow and the broken wooden fence, past the woods full of ice and soft sunlight, and out onto the frozen pond that sits surrounded by frosted pine trees, completely closed in.

It's a quiet sort of afternoon, passing by like a dream.

No one really speaks much and Harry likes that, somehow-he likes the way that they all know what to do without actually having to hear the words said out loud. Louis lays down on the ice first, and Harry lays beside him, and then Niall, Liam, and Zayn are all hunkering down as well, faces towards the sky, limbs all over the place. Whether it be at their knees or their hands or their feet, they're together. And it's nice.

As the evening moves closer, the world becomes tainted blue.

Their breath comes out white and everything seems frosted and still as the sun dips lower beneath the trees, disappearing. They all just lay there on the frozen pond, and Harry focuses on the sound of Louis breathing next to him and the warm feeling of Louis' arm brushing his. He's wearing that red jacket again, bright and vivid against the white and blue tones of winter, and Harry thinks that he could live in this moment forever, he's so bloody happy.

"Quick," Niall says from the other side of Harry, his voice floating up into the dark. "If I was a part of the solar system, what'd I be?"

"Boys, I think Niall's been drinking again," Louis says, teasing.

The boys laugh and Niall shuts them up, saying, "Hey, I'm being serious here. If you could choose any part of the solar system, what would I be? Name anything."

"I think you'd be Uranus, personally." Harry grins, his eyes still on the white blue sky above.

Louis laughs, the sound making Harry glow, but Niall just nudges him with his shoulder, shaking his head. "Pipe down, Harry, we all know the only anus you think about is Lou's anus, am I right boys?"

Harry groans out an, "oh my god," but then Louis' next to him saying, "God, I hope so," and then that's it they're all laughing, each and every one of them, their breath puffing out white and frosted. Harry can't even feel his toes anymore but he doesn't mind it, not really.

When they all calm down and the world grows silent again, Zayn sighs from where he's laying somewhere above Harry. "I think we'd be a solar system, all of us. We'd be our own planets but we'd still be together."
It's quiet for a moment before Louis says, "that was the cutest bloody thing I've ever heard in my life," and his voice sounds like he's in literal awe which makes them all start laughing again, dog-piling on top of Zayn and smothering kisses over his face, smothering love.

Later on, they go back to the house and hang up the decorations and lights for the party while Harry makes chicken fajitas on the stove, thinking that if he could have chosen any way to spend his last day, this would have be it.