you are half of me (and I am all for you) - larry stylinson

five

They got lost in New Mexico. It was an eventful day surrounded by uneventful landscape. Louis had never seen so many prickly shrubs clinging to the dry, dusty dirt in his life.

Louis became the new driver, trading out the spot with Niall, because Patricia was his baby and he didn't trust others to drive her in stressful situations like this. Harry was his navigator, which in hindsight was a bad idea, because he was too damn calm and slow to read the map and give Louis accurate, up to date directions at the same time.

It wouldn't have been a problem if their GPS hadn't died. None of them had service out here, so they couldn't use their phones. Thus, Harry held up a finger, saying, "Wait a minute!" before he pulled a very, very old, outdated atlas out from the glove compartment.

Louis had never seen the atlas before, so he assumed it was original to Patricia, when he rescued her from the junkyard. Even then, the atlas probably wasn't new. Harry checked the copyright date and they found it was from the 50's.

"Christ." They could probably sell it to an antique store for a decent amount of money.

Harry shushed him. "Okay, so it might not be accurate, but..."

Which led to them getting so lost, they had to pull over to the side of the road and use the position of the sun to try to figure out which way was North.

"Okay, so the sun rises in the West..."

"It rises in the East, you idiot."

"East, that's what I met."

Liam covered his face with his hands.

"Well," Louis said, petting the steering wheel as if to pacify Patricia. Poor Patricia. Today, she was a van full of idiots. "Right now seems like a good time for lunch, and maybe a joint."

"But if we smoke now, we'll never get out of here," Harry complained. "None of us are productive when we're high."

"Does it matter?"

"We have to be at the venue in," he checked his watch, "Five hours. Four, if we want to actually set up our shit before we go on stage. Louis. I don't want to perform when feeling like I'd rather take a nap."

"Harry. It's gonna be okay."

So maybe he was a bit of a bad influence. They all piled out of Patty and sat on the side of the road while Liam made them PB&J sandwiches, because he didn't trust any of them to not contaminate the peanut butter container with jelly or vice versa. Which was a fair concern, quite frankly. Anyway, Louis got out his tupperware and rolled a joint, and they all passed it around, even Harry.

By then, the fact that they were still hopelessly lost in the middle of New Mexico was funny. They couldn't stop laughing about it. Louis laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes, and he ended up dropping his sandwich on the burning hot road. Then they all laughed even harder. God, they were never going to make it out of here.

"I think I need a break from driving," Louis declared. "And Harry needs a break from navigating. We should take a nap in the back. Together."

"Together?" Harry asked, laughter dying out and eyes widening.

"Isn't that what I said?" Louis asked, genuinely confused.

"Calm down, Harry," Niall laughed. "It's not like he asked you to sleep with him. Well, he did, but-"

Harry reached out with his big hand and pressed it to Niall's mouth, effectively quieting him. It was funny. Well, everything was funny.

"Can I lay my head in your lap? Will you pet my hair?"

"Of course, if that's what you want." Louis had always liked to play with his hair, whether it was long or short or somewhere in between.

Harry nodded. His eyes were red-rimmed and glassy, but he still looked very beautiful, like always. "Yes, that is what I want."

"Cool." Louis pulled the atlas away from Harry and thrust it against Liam's chest, but his movements were slow enough to be anticipated. "Good luck. Harry and I are gonna take a nap."

With that, he grabbed Harry's hand and tugged him back into Patricia, getting them situated amongst all of their sound equipment. He made sure Harry's seatbelt clicked into place before he lied down with his head on Louis' lap, looking up at him.

Louis ran his fingers through his hair a few times. "Happy?"

Harry's eyes drifted closed and he let out a pleased sound. Louis knew from experience that having your hair played with when you were high was one of the best feelings in the world. It was way up there on the list, second only to kissing and fucking.

"Mm, so good..." he murmured, one of his hands coming up to grip Louis' thigh, just above his knee. Even that small touch sent fissures of pleasure through Louis' body. He was glad to have the warm, heavy pressure of Harry resting safely in his lap.

In the front, Niall was driving, and Liam had the atlas spread out in front of him, the paper maps fluttering in the wind of the open windows and glowing in the bright New Mexico sun. They were just trying to get to Albuquerque.

On the radio, Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" played, the pretty guitar chords drifting through the air. As Louis dozed off, he imagined what it would be like to have their own songs playing on the radio someday.

It was a longshot, a pipe dream and a fantasy, but it was a beautiful thought to have while falling asleep.

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