Human Weapon | Larry Stylinson

t o m l i n s o n

hi

_

The sky always beamed upon him. The sunlight illuminated his face and his laugh illuminated the world. He remembers his 6th birthday well. Him making lego castles and his friends giggling as they watched in awe. His mother's encouragement as she sat with the other moms.  Everything made him laugh brighter, happier. Everything was okay.

And it was fun, until it wasn't.  

Until the clouds took over and the kids ran away.

Until his hands bled power and his words spit venom and his mother looked at him horrified horrified horrified. 

.~.~.~.

The phone was blaring on the nightstand, screaming out the ringtone begging to be heard. And Louis did not want to get up. Did not want to know what kind of idiot was calling him on a Sunday morning, or was it night? Was it Saturday?

Fuck.

Louis got up with a groan, shifting where he lay in his duvet cocoon with his hand outstretched and grabbed the phone.

"Lou! Good morning."

"Niall, what the fuck." He pauses to check the time, eyes squinting and watering. "It's 3 AM."

A laugh. Then, "Darling, you know I know how much your beauty sleep means to you. But." A sigh. "It's important." 

It always is, isn't it? Nothing he ever gets reached out for is insignificant or trivial. It's always some thing which can't be lost or someone's life that's worth too much. And he can't say no, because what does that make him? Greedy? Apathetic? Evil? Human?

He clears his throat, mentally slapping himself. How selfish can he be? Someone needs him and he's complaining. 

"Speak." He orders Niall, well it's more of a tired request.

"Yeah you see, you gotta come here sweet cheeks. Can't say it on the phone." His voice is chirpy. Full of life and willingness to do good in the world, make a change, save and protect and...

 Louis winces. Because it's all pretend. How can someone be that optimistic? He's faking it. He has to be. 

"Okay. At The Cube?" The Cube is like their office or headquarters. That's where they meet and stay most of the time. 

"No. Meet me at Beachwood café. I'll buy you something to cheer up that pretty face."

"Fineeeee." He hangs up and for a second contemplates standing up Niall. He almost snickers imagining a dumbfounded Niall at the café with his table full of baked goods waiting for Louis to show up. His pout.

But he knows he doesn't have a choice. You can either have a choice or a gift, not both.

And Louis had one hell of a gift.

.~.~.~.

Beachwood Café was the only shop open 24/7, or the one with decent coffee at least. Its tiled floor and beige walls had secured a place in Louis' heart. The woman at the desk had become family and the scent of pastries had become home, kinda.

He walked inside, watching where the cash register was and how the utensils and crockery were displayed. It was the first thing he did whenever he walked into a room, noting exactly where every object is kept and deciding which one was the heaviest or the most dangerous. It had become a habit, given his gift. his power.

It didn't take Louis more than 3 seconds to spot fluffy blonde hair sticking out from an ever-happy face. 

"Honeybun! You're here." Niall smiled as Louis sat down opposite to him in a thud. He rolled his eyes at the pet name, Niall always came up with something ridiculous to call him. Louis immediately started gulping the down the black coffee which had already been ordered for him. It was a bit too hot, as it burned his tongue and scorched his throat as it went down. 

Good. Louis badly needed to feel something anyway.

"So? What made you ruin my Sunday?" Louis asked as he dug into one of the many sweets Niall had splayed out in front of him.

And Niall frowned, full-on puppy eyes-pout frowned. "Ruin? You're so mean to me, Lou!" 

Louis always found himself examining Niall. All throughout the 4 years, he had known him. If it wasn't his flippant exterior it was his sheer power. He found Niall fascinating. But he found Niall annoying, too. When he smiled after a mission or laughed as blood ran down his own face, or when he justified their fucked up lives by saying some holier-than-thou bullshit and it was just-

So optimistic. So cheery. So fucking fake.

He motioned with his hands for Niall to continue as he chewed on a muffin.

"Right, anyways." When Niall spoke again, the air around him shifted.

"There's been a string of murders." He pulls out some documents filled with mindmaps and data and scattered with sticky notes.

A murderer? The police usually handled it. Why would they ask me....? He waited for Niall to resume.

Niall must notice Louis' confusion as he says, "But it's not just some serial killer. There's magic involved."

Ah, of course. Magic. The word sounds so enchanted. It's bullshit, really.

 Some of us are born with powers the ordinaries refer to as "gifts" (well, the nicer ones.) and we carry that burden on our backs for the rest of our lives at least that's how Louis sees it, a burden.

 A very small percentage of the population is magical. And aside from hereditary techniques, everyone has a different power. A unique one. Louis has one of his own and so does Niall. Their techniques give them power, and a shitload of responsibility.

But still, it was nice when he found out there were others like him. That there were other freaks like him.  He remembers..

Rain. Blood. Blocks. Birthday. Mom.

Niall snaps Louis out of his little trance and speaks, "All of the victims' death had two things in common."

"First, they all died the same time, kind of. Their methods were different but it was the same time, 5 pm. 6 days in a row. 6 people dead. Strangulation, suffocation, drowning-" Niall stops, gesturing an 'etc etc'. "Periodically."

Louis is waiting for the magic bit to come in because till now, this sounds like every other murderer. There were quite a lot around nowadays...he's not sure why.

"And second?" he asks. Two common things.

"And second.." Niall looks excited almost, which...what? Had the man finally gone insane?

"They all were in contact with only one person in the 24-hour window surrounding their death. The person who's most likely behind this, the person none of us actually ever reached, no matter how hard we tried to get a hold of him but we have a lead now and its-"

Is it....no. It can't be. Please don't let it be him. Please not him. For fuck's sake-

Niall fully smiles this time,

"Harry Styles."

.~.~.~.

stay tuned to know what Louis' power truly is and why Harry's such a big deal lol. <3