concealing ➸ tomlinson

xiii

| “some people are given relatively fair lives. but others-- they carry the burden of the unfairness of the world.” -david levithan |

louis occupied himself by practicing in the ugc for several hours.

every throw stung with significant pain, but he didn't care. harry was right; he was too delicate. why did he bother with well-being of a girl he'd known for less than a week? he shouldn't have cared.

he did, though. that was the problem. louis loved having kris around for reasons he couldn't specify. she was just... kind and soft and small in a good way. she wasn't as vulgar as his friends. everything about her was a breath of fresh air.

louis had been too obvious with that. he'd let jacob get around emotional hold on him. as if he didn't have enough as it was.

he'd been told nearly a dozen times how his face became wonder struck when he looked up at his friends; at anyone he admired, really. louis couldn't help it. hell, he didn't even know that he was doing it. he wished he could act emotionless. to people like jacob, things like that told them- "
hey, here's someone i love and care for and can totally be held against me!"

another icicle into the target. louis exhaled. there had to be something he could do to stand up to jacob without one of his friends having to pay the price.

"afternoon, louis." a hand roughly clapped his shoulder.

louis nearly jumped through the roof. he spun around and received a face full of smoke. he winced and moved back, coughing.

"jumpy much?" jacob smiled, then gave him a look of false sympathy. "oh, sorry. i forgot you don't smoke."

"well, i also don't like it being shoved down my lungs."

jacob shrugged, his eyes scanning over louis. "harry seemed pretty pissed off at me today. didn't even care to hide it. any wonder as to why?"

"maybe because your monkeys were a little too physical on me." louis rolled back the sleeve on his left arm and stuck his arm out. "to be honest, i can't really blame him."

jacob held his cigarette between his teeth and looked over louis's arm. without warning, he took louis's arm, removed the cigarette and put it out on louis's exposed skin. louis jumped, new pain surging through his body. jacob held him in place until it was nearly out. finally, he let go. louis retracted his arm and hugged it to his chest.

"i can't either." jacob answered before dropping the cigarette and walking out of the ugc.

louis took a sharp breath, looking at the burn. it was circular, going from pink to white from the outside in. it hurt. it was apparent this new brutality wasn't going to stop. he had to avoid jacob now at all costs. before, it hadn't mattered as much. now, it did.

idea.

quickly, louis ran out of the ugc and across the complex. towards mr. hill. he'd ask for a mission, one that would take a lot of time. missions meant distance. distance meant freedom, for just a little while.

on the way, he saw zayn in the hallway. in a split second, he grabbed his friend's arm, which spun him around and dragged him along.

zayn gave him a look. "may i help you?"

"yeah. you and i are going to go on a mission."

"...why?"

louis finally stopped. he let go of zayn and rolled up his sleeve of the arm that hadn't been burned. zayn's eyes widened.