Locked Up Tight (Ziam/Larry/Nosh AU)

Chapter Eighteen

Long note at the end. Sorry, I'm long-winded.

...

Life in Juvie after Zayn and Liam finally get together kind of slows down. Boys leave, fights break out, more boys show up, another fight over someone stealing another person's food, a new guy sits at the wrong table and more fights.

Aside from all the fights, Louis' little group themselves slow down. Most days they sit around in the library, Harry and Louis doing their thing, and Niall and Josh cuddling and sleeping more than should be healthy. Usually Liam has his head in Zayn's lap, teetering on the edge of being just awake and almost asleep listening to Zayn read. Or they're out in the yard where Louis and Niall kick around a soccer ball, Harry and Liam occasionally joining when the game gets kind of intense and they need a laugh. Mostly because Harry is just as uncoordinated as a newborn calf.

Then there are  days where they're sitting in the rec room, all of them too lazy to do anything but sit around and listen to Niall pluck around on the guitar in there. Sometimes they get a little circle going, most of the other boys gathered around them singing or drumming along to whatever Niall is playing. Also the days where half of them are crowded around the air hockey table cheering on whoever has the highest score.

Everything is wonderful, or as wonderful as it gets in Juvie.

Until less than two months later Louis comes down to roll call without Harry and puffy red eyes instead. They all knew this day was coming, but none of them expected that it would creep up on them like a theif. Of course it was emotional for all of them, but mostly for Louis.

He and Harry spent the night talking and coming up with ways to keep in contact. But it wouldn't be the same and they both knew it.

The funny thing is most people would be excited to be out. They'd be excited to get home and eat food that actually tastes nice (most likely from McDonald's or another fast food chain) and sleep in a bed that isn't lumpy or under scratchy sheets.

Harry, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Maybe, he is kind of looking forward to his mum's delicious home cooking and bugging the mess out of his sister. But what he really wants is to stay with Louis and Niall and his friends.

.

"I'm gonna miss you guys," Harry says solemnly. "You make me want to break the law again just so I can come back and be with you."

Louis is sniffling from under Harry's arm and none of them, not even Niall, hungry little Niall, can eat. In the short time that Zayn was there, he noticed how Harry found his way into Louis' heart. Harry brought something to their exclusive group of friends that was irreplaceable. He actually felt like the little brother that Zayn never had.

"That reminds me," Liam says, "how did you get here?"

Niall and Louis both laugh softly, like they'd heard the story before.

"Three words. Five Finger Discount," Harry grins, and the cheeky boy that they'd grown to know and love is back.

Harry was always a cheeky little devil.

He was mischievous and charismatic and could charm the pants off of anyone. Maybe it was the dimples, or his bright smile, or the earnest look in his eyes. Whatever it was, it worked.

Not only did Harry have a way with people and words, he had a way with his hands. (Not like that, perverts.) In short, Harry was a child with sticky fingers. Or if he wanted to go by the clinical term, he'd call himself a Kleptomaniac.

He started out when he was around 5 years old, "start young" they say, and he was on a playdate at his mom's coworker's house. He had recently broken one of Gemma's dolls and she was very upset, but Harry hated when she was mad at him. His playmate just happened to be a girl not much older than him, and all she wanted to do was have tea parties and play with her dollies.