Burning Skies » larry

Chapter 14

Louis woke up to the incessant sound of his phone ringing. He groaned, reaching around to find it. Eventually, he found his phone in his cupholder and picked up without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?" Louis said sleepily.

"Open your door, I'm outside." It was Zayn.

Louis finally opened his eyes, squinting at the sun filtering in through the windshield of his car. He groaned when he felt a crick in his neck, leaning over a bit so he wasn't slumped back on the backrest anymore.

"Uh…" Louis said, looking out the window towards Harry's building. It was still fairly early so there weren't many people out. Louis looked up to where Harry's window was and the curtains were still closed. He was probably still asleep. "That might be a problem."

"Why? Have you broken your legs and can no longer walk? Just open the door, Lou." Zayn said exasperatedly.

"The thing is," Louis stretched his body a bit  trying to get rid of the kinks in his back, "I'm not in my flat."

"Oh." A pause. "Are you creeping on Harry again?"

"Creeping—?" Louis barked out a laugh, "You know what, tease me all you want. I'm not creeping. I'm just looking out for him considering he was literally almost kidnapped a few days ago."

The memory still made something ugly erupt in his chest. Louis knew Harry was capable of fending for himself, but when Louis and Zayn had arrived there, he'd been pinned down by some buff guy to the ground, seconds away from unconsciousness. Louis didn't want to think of what might've happened if they hadn't arrived right then and there.

So, he had every reason to be sleeping in his parked car near Harry's building. He didn't want a repeat of that.

"Whatever you say." Zayn grumbled from the other line. It sounded like he was walking now, if the slight whoosh of air was anything to go by. "You should really tell Harry you've been doing that for days now."

Louis sighed. "Look, we just made up, alright? I have a feeling Harry wouldn't appreciate what I'm doing even if it's for his own good."

"Exactly. You just made up. Do you want to give him another reason to get mad at you?"

"I hate it when you have a point." Louis grumbled.

"Get used to it." Zayn quipped. "Anyway, I came by your flat in the first place because Katrina wanted to know how things were going with Harry."

Louis ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, I've told Harry about the shelter and all, but I haven't exactly...invited him there yet. I don't want to overwhelm him too much."

"Well, work on it, because Harry needs a bit of explaining to do." Zayn said.

Louis frowned. "What?"

"The mutants that attacked him in the alley, it seems like they're connected to some bigger underground organization. This isn't your usual rogue mutants—they have a bit of  a reputation." Zayn explained.

Louis had always assumed that the men after Harry were just some random gang looking for a recruit, and that Harry had merely caught their attention because he was powerful. Of course, it was far deeper than that.

"Harry's just a victim in all of this," Louis said defensively.

"I didn't say he wasn't," Zayn said softly. "We just feel like if he told us what he knew about these people, it would help us a lot."

"How do you even know Harry knows anything at all about them?" Louis asked.

"We don't. But it's possible that he does, so we're just going to ask him anyway."