Shattered. ls

One.

I wrote this about a year ago for a fic exchange, and have just managed to pluck the courage to post it on here.
Please leave any feedback below x

2016

Harry's knuckles don't hurt, he's numb all over, except from the ebb and swell of his heart as it breaks at the view of Louis' frail body. Eyes glossy and pale, the blue almost hollow as he whines and wails for his soulmate to return. Hands wound and tangled tightly in the bed sheets, thin fingers twisted around the white fabric as though it is the only thing he has keeping him there, an iron grip on the last thing he and Harry shared. His hair is a swooping mess across his forehead, matted with sweat, messy from sleep and greasy due to the invisible force confining him to the bed.

The pounding ache in his heart is dreadful, tearing him apart from the inside out as Harry slams his fists to the glass again and again. Feeling the vibrations reverberate against his skin with every hit, it's breaking, he can feel it.

It shatters.

Propelled forward by a gushing force, Harry's head spins and everything becomes a blur; Louis' small figure fading away and his haunting wails drifting into echoes that only he can hear.

It feels like torture. To be back in the bed again, the plaguing sight of his soulmate so distraught fresh in his mind as he regains feeling in his body. The numbness dissipating slowly, the warmth of the bed surrounding him in a tauntingly slow gush that threatens to be ripped away by one wrong move. The smooth plane of Louis' stomach against the palm of his hand, the bony slant of the man's ankle between his calves, the fresh scent of his soothing fragrance occupying his senses as he presses his nose to the thin strands of chestnut hair.

The golden tresses of sunlight filter through the blinds, drawing thin lines of light across their combined bodies, warming their exposed shoulders and caressing the sheets around them. Harry inhales the wholesome scent once more, one eye blearily focused on their soul tattoos that align so naturally beneath a golden slash of the sun.

He presses the pads of his fingers slightly closer to Louis' supple stomach, the smooth flesh warm and comforting to his racing heart and buzzing thoughts. Louis doesn't stir; smooth, low breaths humming through his nose rhythmically and it almost feels taunting to Harry how, even now, their hearts are beating in time. The methodical thud, thud, thud of their connection being rubbed right in his face; illustrating just how painful this whole process will be for Louis. It won't hurt Harry, he'll be numb again; and, if what they say is true, repeating this same procedure again and again until he's worthy to move on.

There's noise outside the bedroom, the shuffling of feet and the clanging of the kitchen cupboards being opened and shut as Zayn hunts out some kind of breakfast for Liam and himself. Harry tries to tone it out, focus on the body beside his and the thrum of their hearts but it's hard. The vivid view of Louis' crumpled form aching in the back of his mind and pulsing guilt through his veins as he grips slightly tighter once again.

-0-

2007

Beaming rays of molten gold fan across the tanned expanse of his back, heating the skin and relaxing his muscles. The slightly damp towel pressed to his cheek is warm, lulling him into a calming sleep as the waves crash against the shoreline in an infrequent, unmelodic beat.

A hand, slightly rough and clammy, slaps against the heated skin of his shoulder. Shattering the serenity of the moment, like the foaming waves against sandcastles. Harry lifts his cheek from the towel, a maze of reddened lines pressed into his left cheek from the screwed up towel, and groggily swats at his sister's sun kissed knee.