On The Horizon || L.S.

Day 9: Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

Sunday, the 21st of August, 2022

"Left. Left! Louis, left, shit!"

Louis turns the handles of their all-terrain vehicle hard, cackling as a cloud of dirt spurts up behind the wheels. They barely avoid cascading over the dip in the road and into the murky puddle beside them. Harry's fingernails threaten to tear through the light fabric of Louis' olive shirt; his stomach threatens to spill over it, too.

"You're having too much fun with this," he groans, distracted by his swirling head such that when Louis slams on the gas and swerves back to the right, it catches him off guard, and he squeaks, his bum sliding on the slippery seat. "Lou! We're gonna crash. Slow down!"

"Poor thing. Let me help you out there." Smirking, Louis circles the wheel to the left as far as possible until they start to do doughnuts in the dry earth, the sweat on their skin latching onto every particle clouding around them. It coats the cherry red ATV paint in a layer of dust. Harry buries his head into Louis' neck, knees tight around his hips to keep from falling to his untimely demise.

You're going to die. This is where it ends, for real, this time. You'll be flung from the ATV, knock your head on a rock, and get covered in dirt. What a way to go. Not as exciting as the waterfall. Here lies Harry: he bumped his head. Compare to: he took the slide of doom.

When they finally stop, Harry carefully lifts his head, using the inside of his now-nasty shirt to wipe some grime from his face. "You owe me new clothes and a few years of my life back."

"I think I'm siphoning it off. I can feel the youth flowing in my veins, feeding me. Thanks for keeping me fresh, Doctor."

"That loss of life is probably ruining my back as we speak."

"We got massages yesterday. Surely we'll be good for...." Louis casually swirls a hand in the air. "Like, at least a week."

"That's definitely not how that works."

"Are ye movin' or not?" Behind them, Niall idles on his ATV, raising an eyebrow. Shawn's head pops up and rests on Niall's shoulder, his eyes sparkling and his smile warm. "Was a nice show, but we're losing Zayn."

Up ahead, Zayn and Liam are puttering along, lazily smacking lips before refocusing on the path, meandering towards a main road.

Laughing, Louis gives Niall a thumbs up. "Very true, don't want to lose track of those speed demons." He gets back on course and follows along, revving the engine for good measure.

That morning, they had wholly avoided discussing the previous night's events. They could have started the day nervously, walking on eggshells, but instead, Harry woke up to a hand on his cock and lips caressing his neck. The tense energy was gone by the time Louis coaxed him to his orgasm, whispering filth into his ear like poetry. They were left with warmth and comfort like nothing had ever changed between them.

Of course, everything had changed between them. Harry couldn't forget how it felt to have his relationship dreams sucked out in a vacuum, to feel his heart splinter in an unfamiliar way. But with sleep came a new start, and he was determined to take advantage of it, starting by sucking Louis off so enthusiastically that it was over in two minutes.

So, nothing is alright, but Harry's perfectly fine with pretending it is. Yet another thing to add to the list of false realities he's swimming in.

They turn off from the dirt connector onto a street that's fully paved and active with traffic. An ATV on the main road feels out of place, but their rental company had told them the islanders were used to it from other tourists and not to worry. Sint Maarten is a small island, able to be traversed within a matter of hours, so ATVs allow for easy exploration of anything they want to experience.