Animal

Chapter 22

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

*NARRATOR'S POV*

Louis quietly sits in the back with Niall for the second leg of the journey. Liam stays put because his gut doesn't give him a great response in Harry's respect. He feels the man is too dark for Louis' good, and too full of secrets to be in proper order. He's either a walking train wreck or has a stronger mental capacity than anyone Liam's met before.

Harry wasn't expecting Louis to abandon his seat in the front so readily in favour of watching movies on Niall's iPad. Except, that's what Louis did. They shared the Spongebob blanket and Louis got a glaring everytime he rustled the little chocolates packet for too long.

"How much farther, Harry?" Liam had retrieved his laptop to work on and the question popped out, bypassing his brain-to-mouth filter.

Harry glances at him using the rear-view mirror, and his gaze is not something you want to remember. The man takes a deep breath and answers anyway, hoping that Louis will notice that he is in fact trying to be nice here.

"Two hours." Is all he says before turning back to the open road, where in the opposite lane there is a hectic amount of traffic. "Lou?"

Louis' eyelids lift from their half-closed state to meet Harry's dissolved green in the mirror, striking down his anger with his innocent shade of ice blue. Harry never could deny Louis' eyes their beauty and he could spend all eternity just describing them, staring into them.

"Aren't you tired, love?" Harry didn't have to speak loudly because Louis sat in the middle and leaned forward slightly. "You said you wanted to nap."

Surprised at Harry's mercurial manner and ability to just fixate upon many things at a time - moods, atmospheres, circumstances - he inclines himself towards Harry's seat.

"I'll sleep at the hotel." Louis answers softly.

Except, he knows Harry wanted to go out when they reached the hotel. They booked somewhere really expensive - Louis and he had an hour long argument about it - where there was a mall, casino and theme park practically walking distance from them. Harry was mechanical, Louis had observed over time, and driving for ten hours was not enough to tire him.

"Fine."

Harry's jaw went rigid again and Louis sat back in his seat next to Niall. This time Liam joined them in watching the remainder of Sherlock Holmes while Harry boiled in his seat. He hated anyone being so close to Louis, when Louis could have been sitting next to him and keeping him company.

You fucked up again and you'll have to clear it up again. You're wasting your time here, Harry.

To silence the demon that lurked in the blackness of his heart, coming closer whenever he was alone with his own thoughts, he looks at the mirror and sees Louis almost asleep on Niall's shoulder. He feels the tingling on his own shoulder where several L's are carved into the muscular flesh as a reminder that he as a whole belonged to someone. He'd given Louis is cross necklace back in Middleston but he hasn't seen him wearing it recently, which is preposterous and must be rectified.

When they arrive at Southern Sun Hyde Park - the hotel Harry chose - it's almost half ten at night and he gets out to go check them in when Louis decides he wants to go too.

"Wait for me." Louis uses his meagre burst of adrenaline from his power nap to squeeze past Niall and stumble into Harry's arms. "Hi."

Harry is sceptical and raises a questioning eyebrow at his boyfriend's sudden change in mood, but cracks a smile for him anyway. Louis slips his hand - cold fingers to the touch - into Harry's gigantic one and follows him into the lobby. He couldn't hold Harry's left hand just yet because the brace was still on but he was healing quickly and hopefully could do so soon.