concealing ➸ tomlinson

Lvi

louis had been sleeping almost peacefully.

admittedly, it wasn't for more than two hours. he'd dragged himself back in around five in the morning, the sky had been brightening with new light by that point. he'd remained in the tree the entire time after kris had left. had eventually figured out to stop choking on the smoke of the cigarettes, eventually cried. came up with twenty reasons why he shouldn't go back until he told his thoughts to go properly fuck themselves and came down.

walking back, louis forced himself to breathe steady. he was lucid to the fact that he'd have to confront kris and harry. probably apologize to zayn, since he had no idea why his friend had to be there in the first place. he was frankly unsure of where to begin.

he almost checked on kris first thing. the guilt was intense and led him there. but, no matter how much he tried to coax himself into it, louis just couldn't open her door. it wasn't his pride- god knows he hadn't had any form of pride in many years- or anything of that sort. but there was some kind of emotional block there to prevent him from walking in.

louis exhaled in irritation, more at himself than anything, and made himself walk away. if he'd been at the mental and physical ability, almost undoubtedly he'd wait out in that hall until morning. but the mental exhaustion tolled too much on him. finally, louis made himself return to his room. it felt a little colder, probably only because he convinced himself of that without reason. he, typically, never had reactions to cooler weather.

sleep came almost the instant his body touched against the mattress. it really only felt like seconds had passed before something woke him up.

at first, it felt like he had just... woken up. for no clear reason. louis blinked a few times, adjusting to the light of the room. and then the room shook; almost like a small earthquake, putting aside the fact that the city never had a proper earthquake with a magnitude that allowed it to be felt. bits of paint chips drifted down from the ceiling once it was over not six seconds later.

louis was wide awake now. he stumbled onto the ground and onto his feet. they were underground for god's sake, it wasn't exactly an optimal place to be. louis threw open his door to run out and almost plowed into harry. they both jumped back.

louis swallowed and caught his breath. "sorry. what's-"

"someone's causing chaos on the other end of town. "harry cut him off with the answer. "buildings are going down like dominoes; almost certainly someone with powers. we're keeping updated as much as we can, but no one of us is over there yet."

"why not?"

"because we're trying to make sure it's safe for everyone else to stay here in the meantime."

louis exhaled, still sort of bouncing in place in anxiousness. "okay. okay, is everyone okay?"

"at the moment."

"we should probably get everyone out and wait until we've got this dude under control. i'll get kris and anyone i see on the way back and i'll meet you back here to plan this out."

he started to run down the hall, but harry stuck out his arm and blocked him.

"i already checked the entire place over and everyone's on high alert. and kris isn't here."

louis frowned. "what?"  

"jacob, michael, ashton, luke, calum, and courtney are nowhere to be found either. one possibility is they went down to the commotion without telling anyone. which is like courtney, but the others..?" he shrugged hopelessly.

a pit slowly sank to louis's stomach. "i don't like the way you're saying that."

"yeah, me either. which is why i'm getting a few people together and going after them."

"then i'll be damned if i stay behind and just sit here-"

"that is exactly what you're doing." harry dragged him back over. "if kris is there, for whatever reason, you're going to get hurt trying to help her. and i'm not letting you get hurt anymore."

he gave louis a squeeze on the shoulder, smiled, and ran off down the left hall. halfway down, he turned around and shouted, "stay!" before leaving.

louis let his shoulders drop. harry's smiled hadn't reached his eyes. hadn't even come close. he knew something that louis didn't, and it felt almost terrifying. was kris already hurt? was anyone hurt yet? he exhaled. he couldn't let harry or kris or anyone at all get hurt, least of all for him.

with a sigh of "this is another one of your shitty, shitty ideas, tomlinson", louis began to run in the direction of the garage that led out. all that was going through his mind was what could possibly be going on. he refused to believe that kris was a catalyst in this, it just didn't feel possible.

on his way out, nearly so, in fact, louis ran past liam. he skidded to a stop, almost flying around the corner anyway from sheer momentum.

"hey, li!" louis steadied himself still.

liam was already staring at him, one eyebrow raised. "yeah?"

"if harry- or anyone else, for that matter- asks where i am, say you saw me walking around. i never left, got it?"

"wait, what exactly are you doing?"

"checking out the anarchy across town."

liam frowned. "but-"

"look, you're a smart person you can think of something good. but just don't let them know i left."

"loui-"

louis had bolted down the hall by that point, not hearing liam, who was left confused and a little scared, honestly.

louis finally stopped in the garage, slammed the code into the panel, and waited in anxious silence as it took him up. the overwhelming emotions reached the point of effecting his abilities. ice began to coat the floor in a rapid fashion. the sense of dread was becoming equally unmanageable. louis put his hands over his face, covering his nose and mouth, and tried to steady his breathing.

at last, the garage stopped at ground level. louis forced himself to exhale, then rushed out onto the street.

if kris was involved in this, in any way, then he had to get down there and stop it.

--

stats;
date- january 2nd, 2015
words- 1,070
reads- 4,255
comments- 40
votes- 138