Hi I am back

Shortish chapter with a lot of substance. I cut this chapter into  because it was 7,000 words long which is too much lol. I'll post the other two soon!

Sour diesel is such a bop and the video is so good ugh wow. All together now THANK YOU ZAYN

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The look of utter confusion that took over Louis' face was hyperbolic; brows furrowed enough to crease his forehead and lips parted enough to show the soft pink of his tongue

"What?" He questioned, hardly able to get that singular word out as he walked straight up to Harry

The older man blinked, looking to Louis before looking back at the picture and pressing his fingertip to the man in the photograph "That's my dad" he repeated

Louis swallowed, looking at the man in the picture "W-why's he..?" Louis cut himself off, squinting down at the picture

"I don't know" Harry admitted

Louis blinked a couple of times before shaking his head "Why do our dad's have a picture together?" He exclaimed, taking the photograph from Harry's hands and taking a closer look at the picture of the two men

"I don't know" Harry repeated, more forcefully this time

Louis turned over the picture to look at the date in the corner "Nineteen ninety nine" he muttered

Harry squinted "I was five" he muttered

Louis scrunched his nose, eyeing the picture still "Wasn't even born" he noted, looking at the month "November" he whispered

"Almost" Harry commented "So why would your dad be out with mine if your mother was heavily pregnant at home?" He questioned "It makes no sense"

"Why was my dad with yours at all?" Louis muttered "You said that your dad was-"

"A massive dick" Harry cut him off "Yeah"

Louis blinked "But my dad..." he trailed off, shaking his head "My dad wasn't like that" he added softly

"Sometimes people aren't who we remember them to be" Harry replied

Louis looked down "Why does everyone in my life have to be bad?" He asked "What have I done to...?" He cut himself off once more "Why?" He questioned

Harry offered the boy a sympathetic smile "Not everyone can hold your light" he told Louis softly "There needs to be some balance" he added "For every good there's some bad" he pointed out

Louis finally smiled softly, handing the small picture back to Harry and retreating to the desk in search of something that would explain the photograph

"That's why we fit, you know?" Harry said softly after a couple of seconds "You balance out my bad" he whispered

Louis looked up slowly, not making a sound as eyed Harry

"I'm sorry" the green eyed man added before Louis even had the chance to reply "For everything"

Louis sighed, shaking his head before looking away "It's alright" he muttered, only half heartedly "Did what you had to do or whatever" he grumbled

"No I didn't" Harry admitted "I did what I thought needed to be done for your safety" he explained

"You did what you thought would benefit yourself" Louis said simply, shrugging "Just like you always do" he muttered, gathering up a couple of things before leaving the room with a heartbroken Harry behind

***

When the pair arrived back at the mansion, Harry went straight to Liam to sort through all of the information that he and Louis had gathered at Mark's home

Louis, on the other hand, headed straight to Zayn's balcony to get some air and space from the others

"Oh" Louis said softly, upon realising that Zayn was already at the balcony "You're already up here" he observed "Good, because I need something from you"

Zayn scoffed at this, rolling his eyes at the younger boy "Well, hello to you too" he greeted grumpily, huffing out a puff of smoke as he did so

"Oh yeah, hi, Zayn" Louis muttered half-heartedly, eyeing the cigarette between the brunette's fingers "Gimme" he added, making grabby hands at the older man

"Again?" Zayn quizzed, rolling his eyes when Louis nodded before handing the boy a cigarette "I don't know what to say, Louis" he admitted, sighing when Louis took the cigarette and lit it up with ease

"Don't say anything then" the younger boy replied, puffing out the smoke and polluting the air around them

Zayn shook his head "Does Harry know?" He asked

"No" Louis answered "And he doesn't need to" he added "Won't tell him, will you?" He quizzed

Zayn huffed "You trust me too much" he stated "Could have already told him for all you know"

"Zayn" Louis scolded "It's just- I'm not addicted"

Zayn scoffed at this "Sure" he replied

"I'm not!" Louis exclaimed defensively "It's been a rough week" he defended "And you guys say that it helps"

"I also said that it's not good for you and you shouldn't pick up our dirty habits" Zayn replied

Louis sighed "It's not a habit" he promised "I just told you I'm not addicted"

Zayn raised his eyebrows at the boy, watching his puff out the smoke so naturally "Yes, you are" he stated

"I'm not" Louis whined softly

"Prove it" Zayn replied, holding out his hand "Give it to me and go back inside"

Louis blinked at him, pulling the cigarette from his lips; he was about to hand it to Zayn, but hesitated and slowly recoiled "I-I need this one" he stuttered out "This can be my last one" he added defensively

"Harry's going to kill me" Zayn muttered, blowing smoke from his own lips are he spoke

"Harry's never going to find out" Louis replied

Zayn sighed "Whatever you say" he grumbled out, standing in silence as the two of them smoked together, left with nothing but the simplicity of their own thoughts

***

Meanwhile, Harry found it that his time was best suited being occupied with the work they had at hand. Liam was always a good sounding board, if nothing else;  a substitute Louis, a mediocre, taller version of Zayn, or a more dull and less enthusiastic version of Niall. Liam would do, Harry supposed

Harry sighed, handing over a couple of papers to the man that was stood behind him "This is most of it" he said, spreading the rest of on the table in front of him

"Find anything else of interest?" Liam quizzed, looking over Harry's shoulder to take a look at the papers that they'd collected from the house

Harry shrugged, looking down at the files "Feel free to look through them" he said "Might have missed something" he admitted "Doubt you'll be the one to spot it though" he added smugly

Liam scoffed at this, offended "I'll have you know that I do have some brains" he replied

"Some" Harry repeated fairly "But hardly enough to spot something of use that Louis and I couldn't" he said

Liam huffed, rolling his eyes at the boss "One day I'll surprise you, Styles" he stated "Crack the code or some shit when none of you guys can" he said

"And that'll be the day you become commendable, Liam" Harry replied "For now, you're just sat with me so I can speak aloud and not sound crazy"

Liam bit back a laugh, shaking his head "What's this?" He asked, showing Harry the paper with notes about France, particularly Paris

Harry hummed softly "Might have to send you back there" he admitted

"Paris, why?" Liam quizzed

Harry shook his head "Marne la Vallee" he corrected, picking up a paper and handing it to Liam "And that's why" he explained

Liam frowned, reading it over a couple of times before reaching over Harry's shoulder to sift through the rest of the following papers; he looked through them briefly before sighing in realisation "Oh" he said softly "Fuck, that's-"

Liam cut himself off, speechless, and Harry nodded in agreement "Yeah" the green eyed man muttered

"Children?" Liam questioned, voice merely a mutter

Harry nodded again, hardly able to get out his words "That's why he took residence in Marne la Vallee" he pointed out

Liam sighed but nodded in understanding "Disney land" he mumbled

"Frank's been abducting kids for years" Harry stated "Looks like Mark was trying to track him down and stop him" he added as Liam flicked through the papers

The brown eyed man scoffed "Why would he do that when..." he trailed off, shaking his head "What I'm saying is that, Mark didn't exactly seem to care about the well being of children" he stated

Harry sighed "Maybe Mark wasn't who we thought he was" he said

"Then why?" Liam questioned "Why would he do that to Louis?" He asked

Harry shrugged, no answer whatsoever "I don't know" he admitted "I just- I saw all of the pictures, all of the letters-" he cut himself off, shaking his head "He loved them"

Liam blinked, entirely confused "How can you say that after...you know?" He quizzed

"I can- I just...I just saw it" Harry answered "The way he spoke to Louis' mum in his letters, the way he wrote about Louis, the way he looked at them in pictures" he explained, looking over all of the papers with Liam

Liam sighed softly "How could he do that to someone he loved?" He asked

Harry shrugged once more "There's something we don't know" he said "There's a reason for this all" he muttered, fingering through all of the papers he hadn't yet looked at

After a couple of seconds of silence, Harry picked up an unopened letter. He eyed it for a couple of seconds as he scanned over the name it was addressed to. Gold lettering and crumpled edges; a blue ink mark on the bottom left corner of the envelope. Harry could only focus on that once golden name in the centre

Louis

"What's that?" Liam quizzed as Harry went to open it "Stop!" He said quickly, grabbing Harry's hands "Don't open it, idiot, give it to him" he ordered

Harry narrowed his eyes "What if it has something dangerous inside?" He quizzed

Liam scoffed "You're the one who just tried to convince me that Mark loves him" he reminded

"How do we know that this is from Mark?" Harry asked simply

"Don't open it" Liam repeated firmly, ignoring Harry's reasoning "Do you want to piss him off even more?"

Harry huffed softly "What do you suggest, hm?" He quizzed "You want me to actually give it to him?"

"Duh" Liam muttered, snatching the letter from Harry's hands "If you don't do it then I will" he stated "And we both know that you should be the one to give him this" he said

Harry nodded softly before shaking his head in amusement; for once, and ironically so, Liam was absolutely right

***

Begrudgingly, Harry went upstairs to find Louis who wasn't present in their own bedroom and so naturally he went to the garden

Sure as the sunrise, Louis was sat in the garden, despite the soft but bitter winds. Harry couldn't help but smile

He walked over, slow and quiet as a lion, watching the younger boy with a sort of look that could only be described as soft "Hey, baby" he said, voice just as gentle as the look of pure admiration on his face

Louis turned to face him in a flash, a small smile on his lips "Hey" he echoed, beckoning Harry over to him

Harry obliged, obviously he did, walking over and standing next to Louis in front of the infamous rose that marked the entrance to their garden

"What you doing out here?" Harry asked, enveloped clasped in his hands behind his back

Louis shrugged, hardly knowing the answer himself "Just thinking, I guess" he answered

Harry smiled at this "What about?" He quizzed

Another shrug "Dunno" Louis whispered "Everything" he said finally

"Sounds serious" Harry remarked

Louis finally smiled, huffing out a tiny laugh "It might be" he admitted "There's a lot going on" he stated

"Always is" Harry agreed "Don't need to worry your pretty self about it" he said "We're handling it" he promised

Louis hummed, knowing full well that they were trying their best to do so "I don't doubt it" he replied

And then the blue eyed boy's eyes flickered upwards, gazing at nothing but the stars that were slowly becoming visible as the sun set right above them; golden sunlight turning it to that of pale moonlit sadness

But Louis, undoubtedly so, looked just as beautiful in any lighting that the earth could provide, and Harry just wanted to kiss him; wanted to be forgiven by him; wanted to be loved by him

Only able to control the former, he leaned forwards to do so. Louis hesitated for a second or so before pulling back indefinitely, taking a step away from Harry

The older man blinked, almost flinching at Louis' actions "You're not? You can't be-? Are u still mad at me?" He asked "Louis I-I'm...you know that I never wanted to hurt you" he stated "You know that I didn't mean to"

Louis sighed, shaking his head "But you did" he replied. Louis closed his eyes, his smile fading, and Harry watched painfully as if the sun had eclipsed right in front of him "You did hurt me" he repeated

"Yeah, I did" Harry admitted "And I'll spend forever trying to make it up to you" he added "You have to at least give me the chance to try" he said

Louis swallowed, interrupted by Harry before he could even begin

"I did it for you!" Harry said "I was mad about what he did to you!" He defended loudly

Louis looked away "You've done worse" he whispered 

Harry blinked, more hurt than offended "I-I would never do anything like...that" he said, his lips parting and eyes widening that Louis really thought that of him "I-I'd never do anything like that to you" he rambled quickly

"I know" Louis said finally, still not meeting the older man's eyes

Harry almost let out a sigh of relief "And I do care" he told Louis "Despite what you think, I do" he repeated

"You think you care" Louis replied "But you don't" he stated "You've taken something from me that you can never give back"

"I'm sorry" Harry said helplessly, running out of words

"We've already established that you're not" Louis stated "You think you did right by me" he said

"I'm not sorry that I killed him" Harry admitted "But I'm sorry that it hurt you" he added "And I would take it back if I could"

Louis sighed finally, nodding "I know" he said, voice soft

Harry's shoulders finally stopped tensing and he almost let out a relieved sigh, leaning closer to Louis "J-just come here, please" he said slowly, holding out a hand for the smaller boy "I have something to show you" he added, fiddling with the envelope in the hand behind his back

Louis stepped closer hesitantly, taking Harry's outstretched hand and leaning into him

"Have u been with Zayn?" Harry questioned suddenly, brows furrowing as he looked Louis over

Louis blinked "What? Why?" He quizzed

"Because you- you you smell like-" Harry cut himself off, leaning closer only for Louis to quickly pull away "What are you-?"

"Yes, I was with Zayn" Louis rushed out "What do I smell like?" He asked cautiously, as afraid of being caught as an addict would be

Harry eyed him thoughtfully "You smell like smoke" he said slowly, blinking before shaking his head and handing the letter to the younger boy as he brushed off his suspicions "Here" he said softly "I found this with the pile of papers that I brought from Mark's" he explained "It's for you"

Louis took it hesitantly, looking the letter over "Have you read it?" He asked

"Course not" Harry answered "It's yours" he said gently

Louis nodded thoughtfully, poking out his tongue to lick at his lips "What do you think it is?" He asked

Harry shrugged, pondering on a single thought "The truth" he said

OOoOh :)

Questions:

What's in the letter?

Has Louis forgiven Harry yet? Why/why not?

Thoughts on Zayn providing Louis with the means to smoke?

Vote? Comment? Ilygsm. Mwah x