i'm trying to work on the calendar in the fic here. early to mid december!

pls don't hate me 🥺

—-

thigh high boots were something louis never expected to have added to his wardrobe, but here he is, standing in front of a body length mirror in one of the boyfriend rooms checking his outfit out.

inferno itself is packed for the masquerade party but everyone's here. dancers, bartenders, bouncers, mitch, harry, everyone. even those who didn't have to work tonight. the smell of weed hit him as soon as he walked in and he already knew tonight was going to be fun. if the right people are around, it's always a great time.

he zips his boots and adjusts the shorts sitting over his fishnet tights then turns to the side. pulling the black feathered angel wings over his shoulders, he stares at the way the feathers and lace on his body coordinate well together. lace elbow-length gloves sit on his arms. he has on a black lacy crop top as well. he puts the black masquerade-like mask over his eyes and steps out of the private room onto the main floor.

zayn's standing on the bar holding a beer bottle in the air as he sings obnoxiously loud to whatever song is playing through the speakers.  he stops when he sees louis. "hot damn."

louis giggles when zayn makes him spin in a circle and the younger boy hops down from the bar to take a better look at him. he compliments louis' costume as he goes, and finds harry walking in wearing something similar. he's shirtless, tattoos on display for everyone in the world to gawk at, with a pair of black angel wings hanging off of his back and a mask over his eyes as well. his hair is down in loose ringlets, hands stuffed in his pockets as he searches the area.

louis had every right to remain half nude because he's a stripper. he thinks harry went shirtless to match...or maybe just to be a tease.

not that he's complaining, though. his boyfriend is hot. the fact he gets to call harry his boyfriend? even hotter.

"you two," zayn whistles, "hot. hot, hot, hot. go have fun. i'm getting drunk."

louis kisses his cheek as he departs and he finds harry easily through the crowd of people. his partner is amused and astonished at the same time at the sight of him.

"i didn't think you were serious," harry says as he hooks his fingers through the top of the boots resting around louis' thighs. louis told him he spent almost $200 on them. "gorgeous. fuck, i'm so lucky."

louis grins up at him and puckers his lips for a kiss. harry's quick to fulfill his wish and holds his hand as they walk around the club. their wings bump into eachother every once in a while as they cruise through inferno. harry has to keep his eyes on everything except for louis because if he continues to stare at him...he's gonna destroy him. in front of god, mitch, and everybody in this club. he wouldn't hesitate to do the unthinkable.

harry swallows back a groan at the thought and finds the boss, who is not dressed for the occasion, sitting at a table in the corner surrounded by a group of men. two of the men eye louis in particular and harry places his hand on louis' hip when he noticed it.

"mitch," the younger gang member greets. "where is your costume?"

mitch pulls a red mask out of his pocket and places it over his eyes. "happy?"

"yes, thank you."

louis turns his head to watch one of the dancers on the stage and his name is called next. he didn't expect to go up so soon. he kisses harry's cheek in departure and heads toward the stage, giggling when niall yells loudly from across the floor that louis is hot and wants to have his kids.

harry shrugs his wings off and sits at the only empty seat at the table. he looks at the men that were eye fucking louis. "i'll kill you both."

mitch kicks his leg under the table and harry rolls his eyes before turning his chair around. his eyes are on louis the whole time, watching the boy in awe. he watches the way his tummy flexes with each bend, the way his piercings glisten underneath the lights, and notices louis removed his masquerade mask to place it on a front row seater's face. he's flirty with customers. it's how he makes his money.

louis walks off of the stage with two buckets worth of cash from his first dance and a third bucket after his satellite stage round. niall carries one of them over his head like a championship trophy as he follows louis to the locker room. poor louis has to take his costume off and on multipe times tonight. maybe they really should have just gone simple.

although harry knows louis likes simple, simple is one thing that boy is not. he is extravagant. he is outgoing, charismatic and bright. simple? fuck no. it shouldn't even be in his vernacular.

mitch engages in light conversation with the table and harry learns that they are friends with an ally of theirs. they're in california for the weekend and the said ally recommended inferno for a good weekend outing, so here they are. harry didn't apologize for the death threat, but did excuse his tone by informing them that louis is a very special individual to not only the club but to him. he has to be protective of his bunny, point blank.

"i understand," the man beside him says, "good for you, mate. it's hard to find a pair like you two 'round here."

mitch stands from the table and tells everyone to follow him, so they make a single file line down to the lounge. harry can find louis when he's free again. he's probably busy organizing his tips and adjusting his costume until it needs to be taken off again.

once the lounge is unlocked, harry is greeted with suitcases on the front two tables. the boy nods to himself. it's either a trade, a hookup or a potential one. mitch shuts the door and locks it, then motions for the men to open the suitcases. there's four total. mitch never does hookups without harry's second opinion, as his underboss and left hand man. mitch may be a smart man when it comes to his line and money, but harry is wise beyond his years.

in each case is something different. one is full of drugs, two have various sizes of guns, and another has smaller hand weapons. harry immediately searches the smaller self defense weapons and picks up a switchblade, watching the blade spring out when he presses the small trigger at the bottom of it. closing it, he examines a pair of brass knuckles. there are sets for larger and tinier hands.

he offers an amount for three pairs of knuckles, two knives and one small handgun. he claps the leader's shoulder when the man lets him have them for a lesser amount because of his ties with mitch.

mitch does his own deal with them while harry bids them all a good night and hope they enjoy themselves. he would love to stay and chat, but hanging out at the bar sounds much more fun than listening to mitch talk about nothing for three hours.

he finds his wings where they were before and puts them back on, sitting at the end of the bar while michael tends to customers. some are dressed, some are not. he ignores the looks he gets from some of them and makes eye contact with louis as the boy walks across the floor. louis dips behind the bar and grabs a beer, placing it in front of harry and plants a kiss to his lips.

"thank you," harry grins and louis leans against the bar while he sips on his drink.

"i made seven thousand off of just those two dances," louis perches his chin on his hands. "i couldn't fit it in my bag or backpack so niall ran it through the counter and swapped it out for me."

"look at you," harry beams as he toasts him with his bottle. "here's to ten grand."

louis salutes him and makes himself a soda before sitting beside his partner. he's not wearing his wings or his mask, but he still looks good. he could easily just be a punk-rocker, or a biker, even. maybe. he just looks hot and harry wants to steal him away. unfortunately, he can not. not until louis goes on break, at least. for now, all he can do is just admire the artwork he's proud to call his partner and enjoy the party.

once louis finishes his soda he tosses the paper cup in the trash bin behind the bar and gives harry another kiss. pda is definitely going to be a problem for them. "i'll see you later," he promises.

"later, baby," harry waves him off.

louis ends up handling the private room for the next hour. he made 600 off of one session, 500 on another, both lasting about twenty minutes. there was small talk, some laughter, a strip tease and showing pictures of their cats off to eachother in that second show. now he's up to $8,100.

he does another dance that throws an extra grand into his pockets and niall nearly smacks his head on the table when louis comes to him for the third time to help turn his ones into big bills.

"you're so lucky you're pretty," he grumbles. "you and zayn both. he's making bank even while drunk."

"he's very social when he's drunk," louis giggles as niall takes him back to one of the offices they've been in twice already.

"i think this is the highest i've made in two hours since i've been here," louis says. "i make this in two nights."

"events," niall reminds him. "holidays are huge too. remember halloween? we each made fifteen grand. christmas is triple the amount. new year's maybe...five, six times."

even though inferno has only been open for two years, every night counts. events like this bring in customers. customers mean more money in the employee's pockets, clean profits for the club and mitch gets intel.

louis was dressed in a red devil costume for halloween, horns and tail and all, and zayn was an angel. it matched zayn's stage name, but louis wanted to match outfits with him like they have done for going on seven years.

louis' eyes widen. "shit."

"fuck yeah. this summer sucked, nobody made as much as they usually do. i think it's because we had that new club open across town but i heard some shit about them, so," the fellow stripper shrugs, "hopefully we get our customers back. plus, we have better parties. they just have cuter bartenders."

"michael is cute," louis argues. "he has a really squishable face. and nice hair."

"and a ring on his finger."

louis clicks his tongue. fair.

harry puts louis' money in his own safe for him because he didn't want the boy to risk losing any more money. after the leah and dani situation, he coughed up the code to his safe in his office so louis could stash his tips in there. even if he got a new lock on his locker, harry didn't want to take any chances.

on louis' break, harry locked him in his office and rimmed him until he cried. he cussed harry the entire time he reapplied his makeup, but his boyfriend wasn't listening. he was too enticed by the lace and fishnets and louis' overall beauty, he had to get his hands — mouth — on him before the night was over with.

when the doors closed at four, louis comes out with more than what harry set his potential goal for. $17,000 was burning a hole in his backpack. $2,000 more than halloween but if niall says that christmas and new years heightens their profits, about $45,000 for christmas and $75,000 for new year's — that's $120,000. what the fuck is he going to do with that kind of money?

maybe he can buy zayn a jaguar for his birthday.

not the car, either.

well, maybe a live jaguar plus the car.

where would they even put them?

"harold," louis hums. "have you ever been slapped with 17 grand before?"

harry re-opens his safe and pulls out his club stash. holding louis' money on top of his, he hands the thick bundle to the boy and pats his cheek.

"try a hundred seventeen, babe," he leans on the desk and breaks into laughter when louis successfully smacks him in the face with a mean $117,000. they're bundled with rubber bands, so when louis then smushes harry's face with the money and lets it drop, it doesn't scatter. that'd be one hell of a mess to clean up.

"where the fuck did you get this?" louis asks as he hands harry his amount back.

harry shrugs. "this is emergency money."

"by emergency," louis hums, "you mean if you fake your death and move to mexico?"

"i was thinking italy, but yes."

louis sits on harry's desk while the man reorganized his safe and his eyebrows shoot up when five things are placed by his thigh.

closing the safe, harry grabs louis' hand and slides the smaller pair of brass knuckles over his fingers. closing louis' fist for him, he examines the way the weighted metal wraps around his digits perfectly.

"these are for you," he says, and kisses louis' weaponized hand. "you are not to leave this club without these, and this," he places the switchblade in louis' other hand. "you and zayn each have these and the gun is for your place."

"i don't think i like the idea of the gun," louis swallows. "around zayn, at least. not yet."

harry puts both sets of knuckles and knives in louis' backpack. "i'd rather have you two protected than defenseless. i'll hold onto it here until you guys decide on if you'd want it there or not, but it's just a precaution."

louis nods and kisses his cheek. "thank you."

"of course," harry gives him an actual kiss and secures the gun back in the safe before leading his boy out of the club.

"can we stop at the store on the way home?" louis asked as they headed toward harry's audi. "i wanna get snacks for movie night."

"of course," harry says. zayn and niall wanted to start a new thing where they watch movies together at least once a week. liam was joining this time. "we gotta be quick, though. liam said he's gonna meet us there."

louis nods and rests comfortably in the seat on the way back, setting his hand on top of harry's that was holding his inner thigh. every turn he made, harry would dig his fingertips in louis' leg to hold him steady. the man was tempted to slide his hand up just a bit further to make louis squirm. it probably wasn't the best idea since louis was driving and the smallest touches could easily send him over the edge, it's not worth causing a wreck just because he palmed him while he was behind the wheel. road head was risky enough.

they come up with a quick list of things to get and switch drivers because louis wanted to guard everything with his life when they went back to harry's. plus, harry's a better driver at night compared to him.

he goes in alone so nobody gets sidetracked. he gets about halfway through his shopping spree when he noticed someone not necessarily following him, but ironically walking past every aisle he went down. he grabs what he needs and checks out in quick timing, making subtle glances around him to make sure he's good before heading out of the store.

harry had moved the car from a parking spot toward the front entrance. seated on the hood, he was staring at someone walking to the other side of the parking lot.

louis gets a glance of the man and puts the bags in the car as he says, "he followed me around. kinda creeped me out a bit."

harry frowns. "i should have went in with you."

"i'm okay," louis says as he plants a kiss to his cheek. "made it out in one piece. let's go. i got zebra cakes waiting on us."

harry remains the driver for the trip back to the house and gets a good few miles away from the store when someone pulls right behind him, headlights beaming bright in the rearview mirrors. their front bumper is centimeters away from the rear end of harry's car. if harry were to slam on his brakes right now, it'd be a nasty altercation.

he presses on the gas to speed up and the car behind him matches his speed, back to it's previous spot, before it switches into the lane next to him. maybe he wants to race. harry could use a good race.

he watches as the driver side window rolls down and his stomach drops. "lou-"

the smaller man lets out a startled yelp as harry completely floors it while the back passenger window was shattered, the sound of gunfire ringing in his ears. he ducks to cover his head and unbuckles his seatbelt.

he opens harry's glovebox, pulling out harry's gun, and he checks to see if it's loaded. ignoring harry telling him to stay put and put the fucking gun down, i got this, he apologizes for his next move.

the back windshield is busted out as louis fires four bullets at the car that made it's way back behind them and he watches as it swerves, spins completely around and stops.

harry pulls out his phone and puts it on speaker to call mitch, scolding louis in the process (yet he's amazed at the same time.)

"mitch. there's a black mistubishi outlander that followed us out and they've shot my fucking- louis, please-"

"i got your location. turn left and head straight to mine. i'm closer to you."

"shit, fuck, fuck," harry breathes as he spots red and blue lights from far behind. "lou, get the fuck down!"

not only did they have someone shoot at the audi, but there's cops that will be on their ass if they don't get out now. he ends the call quickly so he can drive without distractions.

harry takes a sharp left, smoke curling into the air as he skids his tires along the road and louis uses the seat as his cover when the black car that had followed them comes into view again.

"just fucking drive," louis says.

"you're gonna get yourself-"

"i'm fine-"

another round of gunfire bellows and louis is flung against the dashboard, gun in his lap as a bullet hits him in the arm.

harry nearly runs off of the road as he tries to grab louis with one hand. "oh, fuck, you're okay. you're okay. give me that," he goes to take the gun from louis. the boy swipes it back up first, already knocking harry's arm out of the way so he can shoot back. louis can see the driver slumped against the wheel as the vehicle veers off of the road and doesn't stop until it hits a tree.

more lights flicker ahead of them and harry slams on his breaks, turning the car to the right as fast as he could. the cop that was ahead gets out of his sight as louis starts to mention he feels sick. harry breaks too many rules of the road finding another way out. louis needs a medic.

he calls mitch again and tells him to meet him at the nearest emergency room which was fortunately another two miles away. if it's the one he's thinking of, one of their friends works there and can get louis in and out quickly.

"talk to me," harry says. he drives with his knee as he pulls his shirt over his head and hands it to louis, holding one end of it as he tells the boy to tie it around his arm. "we're almost there."

"i think i'm gonna-" louis takes a deep breath and grabs harry's hand, holding it tight. "fuck, this hurts, i'm sorry, i'm sorry."

harry shakes his head. "you're fine. i'm about to turn really hard, hold on-" the tires screech as he pulls around the lot of the emergency room and there's two medical looking people already running toward the audi. mitch must have called them and gave them a heads up.

getting louis out of the car was difficult because he wouldn't let go of harry, but once both boys got out of the vehicle and louis was put on a stretcher, harry raced them inside. held every door open for them, gave them louis' information for the records, and handed jana, the friend of their's, his car keys to give to mitch once he arrived.

they got louis to stop bleeding for the most part and found the wound site. he was clinging onto harry's hand for dear life as they told him the bullet didn't exit his arm, but it didn't go deep from what they could tell.

zayn was cussing the absolute hell out of harry when harry called him to tell him louis got shot during the small amount of time he had when louis got an x-ray done on his arm. harry had to pull his phone away from his ear because the boy's infuriated rampage got too much for him. fifteen minutes later, zayn and niall are running through the hospital looking for them.

louis was getting patched up when they came in the room, burying his face in harry's shoulder and trying his best to muffle small whimpers as jana stitched his arm up for him.

zayn stops in the doorway and observes harry lifting up to rest his chin on louis' head as he holds one arm around the boy's waist, the other hand was holding louis' head close to him. his eyes were a bit puffy and he was listening closely to everything that jana was telling them while he was blinking tears off off his eyelashes.

harry moves to kiss the top of louis' head as his stitches gets finished and louis leans back on the bed. he stretches his good arm out for zayn and his best friend wiggles between the two of them to hug louis as tight as he could without putting him in any more pain than what he was already in.

"quit playing with guns," zayn says into his neck.

"i was hunting ducks."

a small laugh comes from zayn as he squeezes him. "'m so glad you're okay, lovey." he props himself up to look at louis' bandaged arm and grimaces. "ouch...that's hot."

"isn't it?" louis murmurs as he looks down. "bet it's gonna leave a nasty scar."

niall comes by and cautiously gives louis a hug before sitting in one of the chairs beside the bed.

"i want to keep him overnight just to make sure he reacts to his medicine okay," jana says softly to harry, who had his full attention still focused on the boy. "i got him the good stuff. should knock him out here soon."

harry nods, turning his head to look at her. "get that bullet to mitch, please. thank you for everything you've done tonight."

jana nods and hits another dose of pain meds for louis before she steps out of the room.

zayn moves to pull a seat up and rests his head on louis' blanketed thighs. "i'm not leaving til you go to sleep. we can reschedule movie night."

louis rests his good hand in zayn's hair, massaging his fingertips in the boy's scalp. his arm hurts a little less, it's throbbing more than anything and the pain meds are making him more nauseated.

the bullet didn't go far into his arm at all. the car seat definitely helped him out because if it wasn't there, it could have lodged deeper and caused more damage. jana said that he needs to ice it, clean it, take his meds, and he should be good within a few weeks. he definitely can't work on the stage or do much at the bar for a while.

mitch finally comes by to bring harry a change of clothes since was using an extra shirt that was a little too small that jana found for him. sleeping in a hospital chair didn't sound too comfortable if he was going to be in jeans.

"the car is at my house," mitch tells him as they talk in the hall. "i'll get it in the shop and get it repaired for you. you worry about him, i'll figure out the rest. he is okay, right?"

"he's fine," harry nods. his heart rate has slowed down now that louis is safe. his hands are still twitching at the vision of louis' blood on his hands. "they initiated gunfire and he immediately fired back. i didn't think he even knew how to wield a gun, really..."

mitch looks at the door to the room with a head shake. "he's a hellion. i'm grateful for him even if he hates me."

they depart with a game plan and harry changes in the hallway bathroom, stuffing his clothes into a bag that the nurse offered him. he splashes water on his face, brushing his curly hair back with wet hands as he takes a few deep breaths. he's okay.

he's okay.

when he goes back to louis' room, the injured boy is cuddling with the pillow harry had laid against for the last hour and a half. staring blankly at the tv mounted on the wall, louis was starting to drift to sleep.

zayn and niall leave a little bit later, promising that they will be of help in any way, shape, or form that louis needed during his recovery. and as much as zayn wanted to strangle harry, he gave him a tight hug.

"i'm glad you're okay, too," he confesses.

harry returns the tight embrace and walks them out to niall's car. he smokes a cigarette while he's out there, contemplating taking mitch's suburban to go on a hunt for whoever decided to do the drive by to see if they were still on the backroads or if someone found them. he only walks back inside after finishing his smoke and crawls in the bed beside louis.

"they're gonna make you move," louis mumbles.

harry kisses his temple. "i'll beat them up."

louis gives him a drugged-up grin and rolls on his left side, laying his head on harry's chest. his right bicep is bandaged up.

"i'm proud of you for trying to fight back," harry says softly, "but you have to be careful. no stupid shit like i do."

"i was trying to save your ass," louis mutters. "you driving wasn't gonna be enough. one of us had to retaliate before we both got our brains blown out."

the younger boy sighs slowly, and with ease holds his boy by the waist.

as the night rolls on, he presses the little button by louis' head to get more meds in his system whenever he starts to complain about his arm hurting. harry doesn't even try to sleep. his full focus was on the boy beside him, making sure he didn't move too much and end up hurting himself. he even went as far as watching his chest to make sure that he was breathing.

the fact that louis' first reaction was to fight back, to search harry's car for something to protect them with, definitely told harry louis knew more than what he put off. louis isn't dumb, definitely not, but sometimes harry questions just how smart he really is.

he presses a kiss to the top of the sleeping boy's head and silently thanks the universe for keeping him okay.

it could be worse.

—-

when kai gets bored, she fucks things up.

hello hello! how are you doing on this lovely morning/night/whatever time frame it is when you read this?

lil update on me, i got the job i applied for! i start next month! (:

i have been working hard on trying to make this as good as i can because i really do want to see some sort of development in here, so please dont mind it if it seems messy. it all works out — atleast in my head, it does. i focus on characters, plus plot, so it lengthens out. as you all know, the shortest fic i have written is either optional or ridiculous. night shift just hit chapter 80 i think? so we aren't anywhere close to ending inferno.

with that being said; is there anything you think needs to happen? anything i have missed, or could throw in alongside my intended plans? gimme alllll the input and feedback, i like hearing your thoughts!

what do you think is gonna happen because of this?

since we are so close to 10k i am going ahead and starting up a character ask! i'll for sure do it this time and whenever we hit 10k — judging by recent reads i believe we'll hit it by chapter 27/28 — i'll post it! this will also help any confusion or miscommunication!

your characters to ask questions to are:

louis
zayn
harry
niall
liam
mitch
emma because i love her and she deserves it
and even though he's dead, mylo

you can ask for any other character too! anyone of the clique, anyone that works at inferno, even marshall & mason from paralyzer & pretty boy nathan from the beginning of the fic if you want. have fun. go crazy. this will keep me occupied!!!

thank you for 9.5k. you are incredible. absolutely incredible. so sorry for the long author's note! i'll see you soon! ❤️‍🔥