Wrong Place To Rob [L.S.]

Seventeen:

"I'm sorry we did that."

~~~

It wasn't until there was a steady knock on the door that Louis and Harry parted their heads and gave each other a small smile. Harry gently took Louis' hand before turning to the door and raising his voice to speak, "Yeah?"

Zayn's head popped up from behind the door, an apologetic look on his face. He let his lips curl in a tiny smile towards Louis and then Harry.

"Harry, can I- erm. Can I have a minute with Louis?" He spoke hesitantly, although Louis wasn't sure if Zayn was scared of Harry or just uncertain.

Harry looked at Louis and smiled while shortly caressing his cheek once more and whispering, "I'll be back, love."

There was an understatement between them, both knowing they could trust Zayn alone in there, before Harry got up and left while patting Zayn on the back and closing the door softly behind him.

"Hi." Louis spoke, voice soft before he cleared his throat. He noticed the paper bag and plate Zayn was carrying.

"Hey, erm. You okay?" It was a silly question, Zayn knew that too. Of course he wasn't fucking okay, but Louis understood he meant right now, relatively. So he nodded and patted the space on the bed beside him where Harry sat just a minute ago, inviting Zayn to sit with him.

He watched as Zayn approached slowly and let himself sunk onto the bed, letting it dip a bit more again. The room was silent, until Zayn cleared his throat again to hide the awkwardness.

"I brought you some food. Just bread and some cheese and minced meat." He spoke softly, again, and placed the plate on Louis' lap, getting a knife and the cheese and meat out of the paper bag.

"Thanks." Louis spoke softly and took the knife from Zayn to start making a sandwich.

"How's the- how's your wound?" Zayn then asked, again hesitantly. He seemed to be scared to say something wrong. Louis looked down as Zayn lifted the hem of his shirt, sort of asking permission to look at it. Louis sighed and put the plate with food next to him on the bed before pulling off his shirt entirely and turning his body towards his friend a bit.

Zayn took it in slowly, eyes following the curves and cuts in Louis' delicate skin, normally soft and smooth, now raw and filthy.

"Lou," Zayn then whispered, fingers hovering over the dirty letters, almost grazing the edges of the cuts, "I'm really sorry."

When Louis looked up, he noticed how wet Zayn's eyes were. He shrugged it off, though, and let his shirt fall again and started to eat.

"It's fine. You can't change what's already happened."

"I know, but I should've been there. I heard you scream, Louis, but I thought they'd kidnapped someone. I should've fucking recognised your voice sooner." A tear made it's way down his cheek to the corner of his mouth.

Louis' eyes started watering too, he couldn't hear this again, but Zayn kept talking. "I should've at least checked. I knew Niall was angry with you and I could feel he was planning something. I should've made sure he couldn't get to you. I should've-"

"Stop it."

"Lou, hear me out. I'm-"

"Stop, Zayn. Please."

It was silent after that, Zayn not sure why Louis was interrupting him. He was scared. Zayn was scared that Louis would never forgive him, he was scared to lose his friend.

But Louis didn't see the point in all this. He'd accepted, for a while now, that Zayn was working with them and wouldn't be able to help him anymore. He did still consider him his friend, the trust was just somewhat gone.

"Look, Z. I can't blindly trust you and you can't blame me for that. We're still friends, okay? Just, don't try to get closer to me anymore. I'm glad you want to and you're trying to protect me, just like Harry, and I am in fact so fucking scared of Niall," he chuckled shortly, but Zayn stared at him seriously, "You know I can't work for them-"

"I know." Zayn said determinately.

"Good." Louis breathed, then went on in a whisper, "Zayn, I- I need to get out of here, for Harry."

"For Harry?" Zayn looked utterly confused, Louis couldn't blame him, "Why for Harry? Look, you need to get out of here because I don't want you to get killed and hurt. I know you and Harry have a thing, or are- are together? Doesn't matter, I know you care about each other, but you don't even want to leave for yourself?"

"Of course, but if everything was different, if Niall was different. I wouldn't want to leave him," he whispered the last part as his eyes welled, partly afraid of Zayn's reaction, "but I'm bringing him in danger. Niall wants to get to me and he won't stop until he actually succeeded. Harry constantly tells me he'd do anything to safe me, and I think Niall is aware. I'm so scared, Zayn, for him. That's why I need to leave."

Zayn nodded in silence, frowning, but nodding. Louis got from that that Zayn hadn't quite understood, but he accepted where the idea came from.

"And his- your bosses. That's another thing. What if they find out? What would they do then, threaten to kill me if he doesn't obey? What if they already know and they assume for him to kill me?"

"Boss knows about you," Louis was the silent one now, looking at Zayn with big eyes, "They know about me, obviously, and they know that you're with us, but they don't know about you and Harry."

"So, he would get in trouble if I got away," Louis murmured as he looked down, deep in thought as Zayn nodded, frowning while trying to see through Louis' thoughts, "Unless..." Louis looked up in Zayn's eyes.

"Unless what?" Zayn asked, but Louis stayed silent, his cheek clenching as he considered different ideas in his head, Zayn still clueless, "Louis. Unless what?"

"Unless you can prove it wasn't his fault." He whispered, eyes bluntly focused on nothing, still deep in thought.

"Louis," Zayn spoke slowly, suddenly quite concerned, "what are you thinking?"

Louis stayed silent for a while, again. Then he sighed, seeming to finally get out of his trance, and turned to Zayn, eyes blank from emotion as he spoke, "I have a plan. Don't worry about it, trust me," he whispered, and then leaned in to hug Zayn, who was quite shocked, tightly. A proper goodbye.

"Goodbye."