Cosmic Love (l.s)

Part 1 ~ You Bought a Star in the Sky Tonight

Louis and Harry have always burned brightly. There's really not much else to do when you're a star, though.

Louis was alone in the darkness of space for thousands of years before Harry came along. Harry is the closest star to him and when he began to form, hydrogen boiling up inside of him, Louis became excited because this was new. This was exciting, and this was meant to be.

Harry says he's always burned for Louis alone. It makes Louis feel things he didn't know a star could.

Louis and Harry have been twinkling at each other for centuries now. Louis can remember when Harry was a smaller star than him, but now he's bigger. His pull is stronger, and Louis likes it. Harry twinkles at him when Louis says that.

Sometimes it gets quiet in space. Even though Harry is thousands of miles near, it still feels far away sometimes. Louis itches to get nearer, to burn with Harry. Harry feels the same way, little solar flares curling up when he says this softly. The dark of the permanent night is a contrast against their bright bodies, Louis watches Harry. Harry watches Louis.

One day something quite strange happens. Louis had been feeling odd for the past decade or so, worrying Harry, putting a slight shake in his rotation. Louis feels like something different is in the atmosphere. So he tucks inside himself and he says to Harry, "Whatever happens. I will find you. Know that."

Harry doesn't know that. Why does Louis have to find him? They've always been right here, next to each other. Harry can't burn without Louis, he just can't. But Louis keeps tucking inside himself, getting smaller, and smaller, and Harry cries out, "No. Don't leave me, please!"

"I'm sorry. I'll find you," Louis whispers. Then he blinks out. Shoots towards the outer reaches of the galaxy, and it feels like Harry's core is collapsing.

At that moment, after Louis has gone, there is just the infinite silence of space. And the darkness where Louis used to be.

Harry doesn't know what to do without Louis. He'd always known Louis was older than him, that something like this could happen, but it all seemed so far away. Such a distant possibility. Now Louis was gone.

Harry spends the next decade staring at the spot where Louis used to be. The one after that he turns away from it. It hurts too much to stare at an emptiness when you know love should be there. Harry always holds close to his core through Louis' last words before he left.

A century passes, then two. But one day Harry feels it. He hasn't been feeling strange, or rather, he hasn't stopped feeling strange since Louis left. But he feels himself tuck in, tucking into himself until he is just a wink.

Then he's shooting across the sky, across the universe, losing his body and landing. Ethereal, inside a woman. He lays there for nine months and when he is born his body is different. He has things called arms, legs, and a face. A heart, a mind, lungs that must breathe in air.

As Harry grows up and gets bigger he finds the world of art and music, and he sings. It feels like burning to him sometimes. It reminds him of someone yet he doesn't know who.

Sometimes he looks up at the night sky, and he'll circle his wrists together and try to place the familiar feeling. He can't.

He decides to try out for X-Factor. It feels right, it's the best he's ever felt. It feels like he's on the right track. He auditions and when he interviews he feels a prickle on the back of his neck, he turns but there's no one there. The entire day he feels restless. Like he's waiting for something to happen.

He hops over to the loo, to try and clear his mind. He feels warm and bright, so he splashes his face with water at the sink.

While he's there a boy comes up to him. 'Louis' his mind says, and he doesn't know why. 'Mine' his mind says, and he doesn't know why. 

"Hi," Louis breathes out.

And he knows why. And he feels it in his bones like centuries of longing and waiting. He feels it in his heart like this is right. 'This is why I burn.' 

And Harry circles Louis' wrist, closer than he ever thought he'd be and he looks up and says, "You found me."