TIRED TIRED SEA (Larry Stylinson) by MediaWhore on AO3

CHAPTER 4

The end of November arrives almost unnoticed. Or it would, if only for the tiny exception that the sun starts setting at half-three in the afternoon, then at quarter past, then at three, the daylight becoming this almost cryptid presence on the island, barely glimpsed until it vanishes again. It"s hard to live without the sun for so long sometimes, which is why Louis and Harry spend so much of their days either on the beach or on top of the tower, surrounded by windows. They soak up the light as much as possible until the almost never-ending night covers them again, day after day.

Louis isn"t surprised by it anymore which is why that specific afternoon, he barely glances up from his novel when the sun starts setting, simply moving along the bench towards the lamp in the lantern room to turn it on easily. Harry doesn"t startle either, keeps writing in his famous journal without paying Louis, or the lamp, any attention. He seems to be struggling a little today, writing pages and pages and then going back to read them over and sighing at what he finds there. Still, the sounds of whatever it is he"s creating have been accompanying Louis for days now which is why he barely pays attention and keeps reading the family drama he picked up the day before.

He"s fully immersed in the story when the light mysteriously goes out a few hours after sunset. Louis has been known to sink into a good book and forget the rest of the world before, but he knows deep in his bones that it"s nowhere near eleven.

He lets out a small sigh, putting his book aside and mumbling a tiny "of course", mostly to himself as he reaches inside his pocket for his phone.

As he suspected, he"s already got quite a few texts from people in the village confirming they"re without power as well, and asking if he"s alright at the lighthouse.

"What"s wrong?" Harry asks, sounding puzzled, and maybe even a little worried. "What"s happened?"

"It"s nothing," Louis says reassuringly, not looking up from his device as he texts everyone back. "Just a power cut," he adds, finally looking at Harry and giving him a warm smile. "It"s the whole island," he explains, throwing his phone from one hand to the other. "A few of the neighbours have texted, though we could hardly call them neighbours considering how far away they are."

Louis clicks his tongue, then puts the phone back in his pocket, getting up from the bench and walking towards the chest in the middle of the room. He opens it and starts rummaging inside.

"It"s nothing to worry about, happens all the time," Louis continues to explain as he keeps looking through the mess. "You"ve been quite lucky so far actually," he comments as his hand wraps around a torch. "Here we are." He throws it at Harry without really looking, satisfied when he doesn"t hear any groan of pain.

"Aren"t you worried?" Harry asks and when Louis turns around to look at him, he clicks his torch on, almost blinding Louis with it. "Oh! Sorry," he laughs, pointing it away from Louis" face.

"Why would I be worried? We literally live without power every night, it"s not like we aren"t used to it."

"You run a business, a restaurant!" Harry insists. "What about your fridge? Your freezers?"

Louis shrugs, turning away to look into the chest again. "Night generator should be strong enough for a few extra hours. It comes on whenever the power cuts off and sustains the essential amenities, whether the outage is planned or not. Cuts are frequent, but rarely last long. Unless we"ve got a proper storm brewing, but we would have had a warning if that was the case. Should be fine."

"Well, if you"re sure," Harry says, sounding one hundred percent unconvinced.

"It might surprise you to find that this isn"t the first time this has happened to me," Louis jokes, finally finding a second torch. "Ah ha!" he says triumphantly, checking the battery is working before closing the chest. He makes his way back to the bench, and his book. "So yeah, should be all good tomorrow morning. Until then, we"ll have to use these early, sorry about that," he says, waving the torch in Harry"s direction, making sure to keep the light beam away from his face.