Things Have Gotten Closer To The Sun -starseas on ao3

Twenty-Four

After twenty minutes of driving, they find Liam on the highway.

The lane is bracketed in with dark pine trees on either side, and rain is falling down in sheets, soaking through Liam's hair and through his clothes, pelting against the car windshield and making everything into a blur. Liam keeps moving though-even as Zayn rolls up behind him and the headlights slice through the storm, he keeps moving forward with his two feet balanced on the dashed line that runs down the road.

"Damn it," Zayn mutters, his voice loud against the silence as he brings the car to a stop, not even bothering to take the key out of the ignition before cracking the car door open and climbing out, icy wind and rain flooding in to the car. He moves like somebody's life depends on it.

Then again, Harry thinks, maybe it does.

He goes to undo his seatbelt but then Zayn's stopping him with a hand to his wrist, half of his body in the car and the other half out. He's already soaked and shivering, dark hair slicked down with rainwater. He shouts so Harry can hear him over the thunder, "It's alright, man, you stay here, I'll get him!"

Harry's eyebrows knit together. "You sure?"

Zayn glances away, peering at the place where Liam is walking further and further away in the distance. The glow of the headlights illuminates the road in front of them, making it shine bright while the rest of the world stretches off into darkness. "Yeah," Zayn says, his eyes still trained on Liam. "Yeah, just-I'll be right back!"

Harry nods, and then Zayn's slamming the door shut, the storm becoming muffled again. Raindrops pelt against the rough, and through the windshield, the sky is nothing but a dark purple haze. It brightens up every now and then as lighting rips across it, turning the plum of it into lilac. Sighing, Harry shifts in the seat, his tired eyes settling on the place where Zayn is walking fast towards Liam, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him around.

They're the only thing Harry can see, really, just them and darkness, and beneath the flash of the headlights, Liam looks like a broken bird. Even through the storm, Harry can tell that he's crying.

He sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face.

The air conditioner blows hot air around the car, making it a bit hard to breathe, so he rolls the frosted window down and lets the storming air flood into the space. It's all wind and rain and it's so fucking cold that Harry's teeth start to chatter. In the distance, Zayn has his arms around Liam but Liam's fighting him off, trying keep moving, but Zayn's yelling, his words distorted and drowned out by the storm as thunder roars above. The iced rain slants into the car and drenches as he listens to Zayn shouting over the rainfall. "Fuck, Liam, do you want me to build you a bloody shelter? Huh? Is that want you want?" He keeps his arms around Liam as Liam punches into his chest, the storm soaking through their hair and clothes. "Because I'll do it, alright?" He shouts, sounding like he's on the verge of tears now. "Shit, Liam, you know I will!"

And then Harry's watching through the blurred glass of the windshield as Liam's hand fists in Zayn's shirt, his drenched body racking with sobs and shivers-and he has to look away, he has to roll the car window back up and be on his own again. It's just something about seeing them together like that that makes Harry feel like he's intruding, like he's putting himself in places where he has no right to be. There's something about them together like that that makes him think of the sun, of the world ending, makes him think of the time running out-

Harry starts a bit at the feel of something vibrating against his leg, and then calms when he realizes it's his phone. He almost forgot he even had a phone. "Hello?" He breathes when he answers.

"Niall passed out," Louis says, his voice swimming on the other end. And there's warmth spreading through Harry just at the sound of him, all soft and far away like that. He sinks back deeper into his seat, closing his eyes as he leans his head against the cold glass of the window.