Heroes of the Orange Skies

Part 14

It’s not until later, much later, late enough that the only light in Harry’s room comes from the small light on his balcony, and the silvery glow of the full moon, that Louis sees the text from Niall. Louis is lying in Harry’s bed, sheets pulled up on his bare legs, and he’s warm and sated and there’s a Harry-shaped indent in the bed next to him, and Harry-sounding whistling coming from the kitchen where he’s making them late-night eggs and bacon. Louis is sweaty and sticky, and his bum is starting to cramp a little bit from being in bed for so long, but he’s so content and fucked-out; he never wants to move ever again, would love to lie in Harry’s bed forever and smell his cologne and cigarette smoke on the pillows, and look down the hallway at the naked Harry puttering around the kitchen whistling Beyonce.

When he checks his phone, there’s a message from Niall, at 11:45 pm, although it’s 2 am now.

Saw one of ur notes mate at the dancing daisy sumthin u wanna tell ur best mate niall?

Niall is the only person who knows about Louis’s habit, because Louis can’t lie to him, and also because once when Louis was writing something and not responding to one of Niall’s long monologues about the best way to finger a girl, Niall had slid his head under the stall door and caught Louis in the middle of writing a note, so. It was hard to keep it a secret after that.

The Dancing Daisy is the club Harry and Louis were at the previous night, and he smiles, because he remembers what he wrote: i think i’m falling in love.

Before Louis can respond, another text buzzes in from Niall. sum1 wrote u back

With anxious fingers, Louis texts back, heart in his throat, what does it say. With a jolt he realizes that his anonymous responder must have been at the club last night, probably at the same time as Louis, and he feels a weird creeping sensation under his skin, knowing that someone who has seen Louis’s most intimate thoughts was in the same room as him, and he didn’t even know it.  It feels strange to be so anxious about some anonymous person with a bird signature, to feel like there’s a connection there, but this person seems to find Louis worth responding to, and everytime Louis sees a new response, he feels as though someone out there in the universe is watching him with his daily struggles, and sending him little supportive notes via, like, carrier pigeon or owl delivery or smoke signals. Or something. Something revolutionary and exhilarating - it doesn’t feel like they’re communicating via bathroom stall doors, it feels like they’re communicating through tremors in the galaxies or earthquakes of massive magnitude.  

its signed by sum weird symbol lol me n josh can’t figure out what it is

why are you and josh in the same bathroom stall, the symbol is a bird, and christ ni the response what is it

Niall doesn’t respond for a while and Louis lies in bed, phone lying on his face, waiting for it to buzz, fingers anxiously tapping against the mattress. It’s not until twenty minutes later, just as Harry is walking in balancing two plates and two tall glasses of milk, a wide smile on his face, that Niall texts back and Louis hurriedly unlocks his phone to read the text.

“What are you smiling about?” Harry curls himself onto the bed, dropping crumbs from his mouth where he’s holding a piece of toast.

Louis shakes his head, a small smile on his face as he gazes down at the tiny letters on his phone. He likes Harry, might even love him, probably, most likely, pretty much definitely, but this thing, its weird and it feels like something else entirely and it’s all Louis’s, and he’s not sure he’s ready to give that up for a boy with eyes that make Louis feel on top of the world.

While Harry munches on his toast and occasionally makes small appreciative noises, leaning against the headboard with his eyes closed blissfully, Louis rereads the text three times, and each time he reads it, his skin prickles.