Swan Lake - Larry Stylinson Ballet AU

Act XI - Penché

Hi! I hope that you'll like this chapter. Updates might slow down a little for the next few weeks because I have a lot of presentations and assignments to do. Also, the picture attached was too big for inserting as an inline photo, but it is up on instagram with close-ups.

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With love, Lucy.

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The fire crackled and popped, sending ash to burn out on the tiles. Harry lay on the old, worn sofa, with a woollen blanket over himself. It was itchy, not soft in the slightest, but it held the heat on his body well, and that was why Louis could be found buried beneath it, as well. He lay on Harry, his head on Harry's chest, and he was ever so warm, smelling ever so sweet. Harry wrapped an arm around the boy's waist, holding a mug of hot chocolate in the other, and he kissed the top of Louis' head. That was all he could see, for the rest of the boy was hidden beneath the woollen blanket.

The rainstorm had calmed, and the rain fell less ferociously than before, draining down the gutters and making the moorlands soaked with mud. The sheep had taken shelter in the barn, and Harry could hear them bleating. He was glad that the animals still lived here, even after his Grandparents' deaths. The villagers, despite barely ever seeing the old couple, respected them highly, for their chickens had lain the best eggs, and their cows had produced the finest milk. That was why, every morning, the villagers would wander the moors and let the cattle out, take the chicken eggs, and look after the baby lambs in the spring. They knew Harry, loved him as everyone ever did. Harry had always been loved by everyone that had ever crossed his path, and he loved those people in return, despite not ever showing it.

Harry saw the hot chocolate in his mug begin to tremble, and he lay it down on the tiles as to not drop it. He let out a sound of discomfort, stretched his arm, but no matter how much he did, that pain didn't leave. His hand clenched around Louis' waist, without him realising it. He grimaced out of pain, stretching his left arm and shaking it but nothing ever stopped that pain but the passing of time, and time passed slowly. Ever so slowly.

"Harry?" Louis asked, poking his head out from the blanket. His hand was on his hip, gripping to Harry's fingers that dug into his skin. His face was pink from the heat beneath the blanket, and he had the marks of Harry's shirt on his face. "Are you alright?" He asked, sitting up when he saw how heavily Harry breathed. Harry couldn't reply for a few minutes, his cheeks heated, his breaths heavy, his arm going limp and falling down by the side of the sofa. Occasional splinters of pain crawled through him and it showed on his face. Louis couldn't see what hurt, and he didn't dare to touch any part of Harry's body but his hips which he was straddling already. It scared him to see Harry like this, yet it was not quite as new as that. Harry, for the past few weeks, had been getting slower. His dances were not so perfect. His movements were not so fluid. He'd run out of breath easily, nowadays, would trip more, and he'd struggled to hold Louis in the air for the amount of time that he should have. Everyone had noticed how the King of Ballet was falling, how the crown on his head was slipping, but he denied it. He denied everything wrong with himself, and he danced, with that pain getting deeper, with his self-trust growing thin-he danced, and he never stopped.

"Please, answer me." Louis begged, panic on his own face, "Can you hear me? Harry?"

Harry growled in pain and stretched his back, his head drooping over the armrest, and then he relaxed, groaned, and the lines of his face became less strained. Beads of cold sweat covered his forehead, and he let out one last cry of-not pain-but misery, before looking up at Louis and smiling slightly. "You really are a loud little thing... I hear you." He put a hand out weakly, and fondled a strand of Louis' hair before moving his hand to the boy's nape and pulling him back down. Louis followed, and lay his head on Harry's chest.