✓ lights /styles au/

29 Sensitive

what's it like when you can see it coming?

(a/n: just an excuse to say hello.)

Josephine was woken up by the feel of her vibrating phone against the side of her face. Startled, she used her shaking hands to answer the call before sitting up and trying to steady her rapidly beating heart.

The bedroom was dark and Harry's legs were thrown on top of hers. His breath was heavy against her arm though he had a pillow topped on his head haphazardly.

"Hello?" She whispered, biting down with unease onto her bottom lip. Harry shuffled a little beside her, his hand coming up to splay onto her lap.

"Uh. Uh, Josephine?"

She frowned at the voice. It was so familiar yet so alien at the same time. "Niall?"

"I think I'm lost. I got out and I swear I knew the way home, I just-" he let out a restless breath before continuing. "I lost the way and nothing looks right anymore."

Her eyes widened at the image that snapped into her mind. A nervous, anxious looking Niall wearing nothing but sweats and a gray shirt that had to have been given by his doctor. Standing lost on an empty street with signs he couldn't recognize. "Why did you leave the hospital?"

"Please," his voice was heavy. "Come help me. There's- there are street signs here if you just stay with me. If you just stay on the line and like, wait-"

"Read a sign, Niall." She held a hand out, preparing to shake Harry awake but Niall's voice came back again, rushed and knowing. She figured the sound of her shuffling around in the bed wasn't as concealed as she thought it was.

"Please don't tell him. He worries too much, please don't wake him up."

"Niall."

"Amsted and First," he said quietly. "I'm on the corner of Amsted and First." With that, the line went dead and Jo just sat there for a moment, unsure of whether or not everything would go right if she didn't just nudge Harry the tiniest bit.

Slowly, and with her mind made up, she tore herself from the sheets and walked gently out of the bedroom, only throwing on a sweater over her short sleeved shirt before slipping her feet into flats. Jo grabbed her keys and left the apartment, already typing in an address into her phone before she was even sat behind the wheel of her car.

In short timing she was pulling over at the corner of First Street and Amsted Avenue. Her eyes were trained on the figure against one of the brick walls of a run-down building. "Hey," she called out, leaning over the center console and paying no mind to the pain it brought to her side as Niall's head lifted. "Hey, get inside."

He tilted his head a little, fingers stilling. He looked dazed, she thought. Like he wasn't exactly catching onto reality at the moment. Jo opened the car door and then walked over to him, lifting her hands to either side of his face. "Let's go," she tried to coerce him into getting in the car. "It's about to rain."

He didn't move. Just stood there like he'd seen a ghost. Joey used her hands to tug his head upward so he would look at her. Their eyes met for just a moment and she felt her breath hitch in her throat at the sight.

His eyes were bloodshot and glass-like, glossed over in tears that were threatening to spill past his lower eyelids. In the poor light, he looked like a child. "Hey, hey what's wrong? What is it?"

He dropped his eyes to the ground, a small, wicked smile taking place on his lips. She stepped back, mildly scared of his response to the question. "I can't find my way back home."

She shook her head with a frown, eyes still glued to him. Niall put his hands in his hair, roughly pulling at the strands. It was something Harry also did when he was anxious. It made sense that they would share some habits.

He paused to close his eyes.

"Tell me the address and we'll go." She knew she'd get into trouble for not sending him back to the hospital, but she just couldn't turn her back on him when he was so sensitive, only asking for one night away from the building.

Niall nodded slowly, his attention back on her for a moment as he wiped at his eyes with trembling hands. Walking back to the car, the first few drops of what was to become a rainstorm had found their way on their skin, catching his full attention. He stepped into the car and watched the drops against the window pane as she drove to her apartment instead of his.

She had to help him out of the car when they arrived. Had to help him into the elevator and down onto the couch when they were inside of the living room.

"Harry?" He mumbled. Josephine steadied herself and put her right hand's index finger against her lips, eyes hard on his.

"Stop talking," she whispered. "He's sleeping."

His eyebrows knit together, lips opening just the smallest amount before he started shaking his head. "No, no, no, no."

"Niall," she warned. A clap of thunder sounded outside of the open window behind the smaller couch and Joey flinched backward. She'd always been afraid of thunder.

"He'll hate me," Niall was mumbling. Rubbing at his eyes with his knuckles. "He'll want to bring me back and I can't-"

She took a seat beside him, bringing her hands back to his face before searching his eyes for something other than worry. They were wide enough for her to know he was looking at her, but not wide enough for her to see the blue bands around his rises. "Niall," she said quietly, trying to coax him into calming down.

His hands were still shaking in his lap, bottom lip caught between his teeth as he nodded slowly.

"You need to cool down and get some sleep. We'll think of something tomorrow." He'd have to go back to the hospital tomorrow. "You have to-"

A streak of white light broke through both windows in the living room and her eyes widened when it lit up the shadow in the hallway. Jo let out a sound that sounded a lot like a whimper as her eyes met Harry's.

"What the-"

Niall interrupted his friend with a tense, "Fuck."

Harry ran his hands through his hair and then tilted his head to the side like he was still processing what he'd walked into. Josephine dropped her own head in her hands and closed her eyes, preparing herself for whatever was going to happen next.

"Wait." Harry licked his lips. "What?"

(A/n: It's my birthday! :) I'm not yet done with finals yet but I really wanted to update to say thank you for the 320 favorites and 3.8k reads. I know this chapter was eh but I promise the next one is better. Have a great day and please excuse the errors!)