"what do you want?" harry asked, looking around the boys. they'd been filming moresidemen videos for hours, in a studio they'd been to countless times, so they were all more than comfortable leaving alone to grab whatever drinks they needed from upstairs.
they all reeled off their requests, harry nodding along, before heading off, leaving the others to chat while the new video was being set up.
alone on the top floor, he grabbed a few cans of drinks from the mini fridge, dawdling, wanting to stretch his legs a bit longer. they'd been sitting down filming for hours, and he was beginning to cramp up. wandering around the room aimlessly, just trying to get in some steps, he was suddenly interrupted by a deafening, blaring sound that rung in his ears, making him jump out of his skin.
it had to be the fire alarm, surely, but they would have informed them if there was to be a drill, so that could only mean it was real. he panicked slightly, trying to reason with himself. fires didn't just happen, it was probably somebody accidentally pulling the alarm. but still, he knew he had to leave.
picking up his pace, he walked to the stairwell he came up, opening the double doors, only to be met by a sudden, thick black cloud of smoke wafted into his unsuspecting face. backing away, blue eyes watering with the force of the cloud, harry looked around in fear, no other exits available.
taking a few deep breaths, trying to clear his burning lungs, he opened the metal doors again, hands warming against them. ducking down, he looked around, coughing at a sudden inhalation. a faint orange glow caught his eye, relentless fear creeping up on him, which he tried desperately to quell, failing miserably when he realised he was all alone.
knowing the stairs were blocked, fire raging against them, he closed the doors for a final time, rushing to the other side of the room, opening a window, trying desperately to inhale the fresh, pure air, lungs thick with toxic mess.
harry's eyes remained wet, from fear and pain, wondering what it would be like to die.
—
"only two more," vik shrugged, referencing the amount of videos left to film. they all enjoyed their job, all of them knew just how unbelievably lucky they had gotten, but that didn't mean hours upon hours of sitting in one place, putting on a wide smile and loud voice, wasn't the slightest bit annoying.
"i'm so thirsty, where's harry?" simon complained, scrolling on his phone, barely paying attention to his surroundings.
"he better hurry up, i'm pretty sure the cam-" josh's voice was cut off by a blaring fire alarm, jolting them all upright, jj waking up from a light sleep.
ethan groaned, the drill would just drag out their filming, and he wanted to be able to go to the pub and watch the football with harry that night. however, as they slowly started to stand, a panicked man burst into the room, sweat evident on his forehead even from a distance.
"everyone, quickly, there's a fire on the seventeenth floor," he called, making pushing gestures with his shaky hands, trying to get them all out.
the sidemen stared at eachother in shock, before starting to move faster, hurrying to get out. the ringing alarm was adding to the situation, dramatic and loud.
"hey, have you seen harry? has he gone out?" vik asked the man, who seemed distracted, barely listening.
"yeah, everyone out,"
realising everybody was safe, they all felt a bit less stressed, allowing the man to rush them all down the stairs.
gathering in the car park, the sidemen started to look around, searching for their missing friend, and watching as the fire became more and more visible.
