The Bank of England - It is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of the United Kingdom, it is the world's eighth-oldest bank. -"BoE"

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I knoooow it's been a LONG time since I've updated, but I've made a New Year's resolution to get back into my passions, do what makes me happy. One of those things is writing, and I started rereading my unfinished stories. As I did so, the inspiration came back to me. 

I am sooo happy about it, and this chapter is around 7k, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it x

It's good to be backkk!! And thank you for your patience with this

Let me know your thoughts throughout the chapters (I've also checked comments on the past chapters and honestly they crack me up I LOVE THEM I LOVE U) :D

Happy reading :)

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Previously on Chapter 9 (Day 7, Part 1):

Day 7 – 153 hours into the heist (Wednesday, December 26th, 9:40pm)

Eleanor's men and the rest of their associates were asked to go and wait inside the same room as Harry and Niall, supervised by Hailee, so they couldn't see where the end of the tunnel lead to. Nick and Liam were assigned to stand by the armory and make sure Simon doesn't try to blow something up, while Eleanor was with the Chemist, counting all the money that was coming through. The rest of them have been transferring money bags and gold for the past two hours through the tunnel. They're nearly done, when they hear an explosion above, coming from the basement. Then, persisting shots.

"What was that?!" Louis asks, arms already numb from carrying the money.

"This bitch Cowell tried to blow up the door and is using another machine gun now!" Nick yells.

"Fuck!" Louis screams, and hurries to pass along what's left of the money bags dropped down in the tunnel. "We have some bags left Mercury! What did you do?"

"He didn't do anything. Simon got tired of tantalizing us and us not responding so he threw a grenade he found to open the door. I think he's wondering why the army hasn't come in yet." Liam chips in.

Louis stands still for a moment, trying to listen to any sounds he can hear so he can assess the situation. The shooting has stopped, but the silence is eerie, not helpful at all.

"What's happening?" Louis asks.

"He stopped. I removed the brick from the hole so I can see inside." Liam replies. "It's very smokey, I can't see anything."

"Take your head out before you get shot, Iron."

"Hydrogen, I just heard something through the device we planted on the detective. They're going to send the army in."

Louis freezes on the spot and sees Zayn do the same from about twenty meters away where he is also carrying money bags towards the drop-off.

"Are you sure?"

"They heard an explosion."

"How long until they come in? How would they even come in?"

Stupid question.

"If we seal off all entries into the bank, how would the army even come in?" Gigi asks during the last week in Brentwood.

The Chemist points at her. "Yes."

She projects the blueprint of the bank on the wall. "First is entry 1, which is the roof. Even though the door is bolted shut, they can drop down on the roof and blow up the door. If they do so, you have about fifteen minutes until they're inside the bank. From there, about an hour until they're down in the vault, based on how well you sealed off all access to the roof. Entry 2 is through the windows in the courtyard, but that would take way more time since they're bullet proof and can only be cut through with angle grinders. Entry 3 is through the basement. The room which will be converted into the armory is the easiest entry for them because they can cut through the door from outside and then try to blow up the door inside. If they come in through the basement, you have about ten minutes until they're inside. But that's where the armory comes in. Your machine guns and weapons will be ready to use, and I cannot stress this enough: do NOT shoot at them, shoot to delay, not to kill."

Louis realizes that every single weapon that could potentially help them if the army manages to come in is in the armory. He looks at Zayn for a moment, who's looking back at him as if he was expecting an answer.

For a moment, there's no sound. No drilling, no shooting, no complaining, nothing. Just silence.

Then, he runs to Zayn, drops the bags by his feet, then speaks into the mic.

"Code Green. We have to leave NOW!"

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Day 7 – 153 hours into the heist (Wednesday, December 26th, 9:45pm)

Adrenaline is pumping throughout Louis' entire body as he climbs out of the tunnel, following Zayn. The vault feels heavier now, like all the air has been sucked out of it. The remaining gold and the bags filled with money still fill up a quarter of the room, but they've got more important stuff to take care of right now.

If the army really moves in while they're still in the bank, all these past few days would have been for nothing. Harry shooting himself in the leg, everyone functioning on barely three hours of sleep a day, making deals with the hostages who are now on their side – everything will be for nothing.

Louis can't allow that. All he can think of right now are Lottie's health condition (which is the main reason why he's here in the first place), and how scared Harry must feel in that room, not knowing what's going on.

He composes himself as he follows Zayn to see what Nick and Liam are up to. As soon as they turn the corner towards the armory, the heavy smoke enters his lungs.

He can barely see them on their stomachs through the fog, caused by the bullets and the grenade.

"What's going on?" Louis whispers, crouching down next to Liam.

"He stopped a few minutes ago. I don't know, we can't see anything."

"He must've run out of ammo for the machine guns." Zayn concludes. His stare lingers on Liam's face longer than necessary.

"Get Neon here to cut through the door. I think he might've run out of ammo." Louis says into his headset.

"There are bullets in the boxes though, there's enough ammo there to last for days." comes the answer from the other line.

"He doesn't know which ones though. Just bring her here."

The Chemist hesitates, and Louis wonders whether they should just take what they have now and leave. Their business partners/hostages would get by until the army saves them.

Harry crosses his mind then. Harry, with his soft face and pink lips, and Louis wonders what might be going through his head right now. Their associates don't have headsets, so they can't hear anything. All they can probably hear are gunshots and the explosion.

"Maybe I should check on H-our associates." He mumbles.

Louis also wants to know why. He feels deeply betrayed, and he can't explain to himself why he felt hurt more than scared or disappointed when he saw the gun in his face this morning.

"Don't do anything until I know what the army's doing."  She sounds annoyed, like she definitely heard his slip up.

The next few minutes feel like hours, neither of them sure of what's going to happen next.

Nick peeps through the hole in the door once the dust has settled. "He's looking through the boxes. Shit, where's Neon with the-"

As if on cue, Eleanor appears with a plasma steel cutter in hand.

"Finally." Louis breathes and moves to the side to let her cut through the door.

"Stand back."  She says and pulls a pair of protection goggles over her eyes.

"What the FUCK are you doing?" comes Simon's panicked voice from inside when he hears the machine working, sparks flying.

"I'll bring the bulletproof vests." Louis decides on the spot, and doesn't wait for anyone's approval before he's up the stairs towards the main office.

There are ten vests in a box they've brought, and since they're going to face a psychotic Simon surrounded by guns, it's the smart thing to do.

He puts one under his suit then grabs four more and goes back.

The door is nearly cut off now, and Simon is screaming, fear obvious in his voice.

"I have a gun!" he warns, and Louis can see him waving a handgun he must've found lying around.

He makes sure Simon doesn't pull anything while his colleagues suit up with the vests.

Five minutes and seven threats from Simon later, Eleanor is done carving a rectangle big enough to fit a human through the door.

"Any news on the army? We're about to get Cowell." Louis announces.

"No. It's been silent up until now. They don't have the green light to go ahead. Something's stopping them."

"Go." Louis mouths to the rest.

Nick grins before screaming from the top of his lungs. It's a happy, crazy scream, coming from the bottom of his soul. It rings throughout the silent hallway, bouncing off the walls. "Time to come out and plaaay!"

Louis watches him kick the cut rectangle out, and it falls with a heavy thud on the other side of the room. Liam quickly follows him inside, gun in hand and serious face on.

Simon shoots at them blindly, obviously paralyzed by fear.

"FUCK!" Louis screams when he feels pain in his shoulder. Then, a warm wet feeling where he's been hit. He looks down at his suit and he can tell that's blood, even though it's nearly the same color.

He drops to his knees, a bit dizzy from the pain and the shock, but still watches as Nick jumps Simon. They fall to the ground with a loud thud, struggling for a few moments until Nick kicks the gun away from him and kneels on his neck.

"Don't kill him, for fuck's sake!" Zayn interjects and drops his gun, going over to help.

"Are you okay?" Liam asks Louis as he helps him stand up.

"What's going on? Is anyone hurt? We heard shots and an explosion!" Hailee's worried voice comes through the headset.

"I've been shot." Louis announces, whimpering at the end as he clutches his shoulder. "I'm fine."

"You've just been shot, you're not fine. Bring me the first aid kit."

"We don't have time, the army's going to move in any minute." He answers, but starts walking towards the stairs anyway.

"Actually, we do." Says the Chemist. "They can't reach the Chief of Defence Staff because I managed to block his signal. They're going to bring him, so you have some time left. He needs to give the green light, alongside the Secretary of Defence."

"How much time?"

"The roads are blocked and there are thousands of people gathered outside-"

"They're bringing him over from Buckingham, that's twenty fucking minutes!" Zayn exclaims from behind him. "There's no time-"

Louis stops in his tracks. "Wait. You said there are thousands of people outside?"

He gets out of Liam's grip and runs to the main office where he turns on the TV. The news are showing the situation outside, the tagline reading "The military is assembling in front of the Bank."

They show hundreds of soldiers surrounding the bank. Then, ten times more people screaming and holding signs that favor and support the heist men. They're being held back by the police, who are struggling to maintain order behind the makeshift fences.

"The explosion that was heard just about twenty minutes ago in the bank has set off alarm bells for the Secretary of Defence and the Chief of Police, both whom have allegedly given the green light for the military to enter the bank. The army has not moved for the past half hour, so we're not sure-"

"How many people would you say are in front of the bank?" Louis asks Zayn, completely forgetting about the bullet in his shoulder.

Zayn looks at the screen. "Maybe two thousand?"

Louis smirks and turns to Zayn and Liam, who are watching him very confused.

"You know, the fact that you're smiling right now scares the shit out of me man."

Louis presses the button on his headset, so everyone can hear what he's saying. "I think it's time to make it rain."

"FUCK YEAH."  Comes Nick's response.

It was two days before they were supposed to enter the bank. That evening they were sitting inside, drinking beers, and playing poker.

"What, you're scared to go all in?" Nick mocked Gigi, who had the least chips out of all of them.

"Don't make me bet a million, Mercury." Gigi snarled at him.

"From the money you don't have yet?"

"I can't even imagine what we'd do with all that money." Hailee butted in after Gigi flipped Nick off.

"I know what I'd do." Eleanor smirked. "I'd go and buy myself a giant villa somewhere like Costa Rica or a tropical place, then live my best life there."

"Same." Louis agreed. "Maybe the Maldives. Or somewhere in the Caribbean."

"Yesss." Hailee whined. "I have this vision, for when I'll have that much money. How awesome would it be to make it rain?!"

At this, Zayn turned to the Chemist, who had been really quiet the whole game.

"That's an idea."

She looked up at him, snapping out of her thoughts. "Hm?"

"Making it rain with money. We talked about getting the public on our side. If the initial behind the scenes plan doesn't work, we could use some of those giant confetti canons and have money rain from the windows into the crowds."

The Chemist sat up straight in her seat. Her eyes were sparkling, and she had a smile on her face now.

"Not bad, Zinc."

'He's not the Brains for no reason.' Louis thought then.

"Bring the canons." He tells his three colleagues, who are still watching him with confused looks on their faces.

They brought eight of the same confetti canons, all three meters long and able to shoot about 15 meters into the air. It was just in case they'd need them for getting the public on their side.

"We don't need them on our side though, they're already there."  Gigi says through the headset. Eleanor seems to agree, because she nods as she holds out the first aid kit for Louis to take.

"They are on our side. But imagine if we threw millions of pounds at them."

Zayn is the first to get it. "They'd storm towards the bank, surround it from all sides. The army wouldn't be able to get in until all the civilians have been constrained and safe."

Everyone exchanges looks.

"Get five more associates and have them help you." Louis says and grabs the kit.

"What about you? You're hurt."

"This plan, if it works, will definitely buy us a few hours. I'll be fine."

"Then there' would also be enough time to get all the money out." Gigi says and Louis can hear her running through the tunnel.

Zayn, Liam, and Eleanor leave to do exactly as told, leaving him alone in the room for a few moments.

In the silence, he remembers that he's been shot, due to the excruciating pain pounding in his shoulder. The adrenaline is wearing off, so he has to find Hailee before he bleeds to death.

Man, part of one of the greatest heists in the world, dies from shoulder wound.

What a pathetic way to die, he thinks. Then, fuck.

He knows Hailee must be in the secretary's office with the rest of the associates. On his way there, he bumps into Gigi and her team coming out, heading towards the basement to retrieve the rest of the money.

"How much do we put in the canons?"

"Enough to fill it up and have them work for a fee minutes." he suggests off the top of his head. "And make sure to cover all the sides of the building. We need it to be surrounded."

She nods, excitement showing in her eyes. "Just give us the signal."

Then she's off in the opposite direction, followed by her team.

"Thank God." Hailee breathes when she sees him enter the room. Her shoulders visibly relax, but Louis is more focused on not looking towards the others. There are about eight more people in the room right now, and Louis can basically feel Harry's presence.

"Aw, missed me?" he pouts as he drops his gun on the desk by her propped up feet. Then, the kit. What he doesn't drop is his 'I don't give a fuck' attitude. The last time he'd shown weakness, and let himself be vulnerable, he woke up with a gun between his eyebrows.

"No, but these two were worried sick." She says, motioning towards the couch where Harry and Niall are sat.

Louis makes eye contact with Harry. There's a feeling that settles in his stomach, which takes away the pain from his shoulder for a split of a second. He forces himself to look away.

"Sit down." Hailee says, bringing him back to reality.

She gets up from her seat and lets him take her place.

"Take off your suit."

Louis is trying his hardest not to look in Harry's direction, okay?

He unbuttons the jumpsuit as best as he can, because the pain is now spreading to the entire right side of his body. Hailee helps him push it off his shoulders, then unclasps the bulletproof vest and pulls it over his head, leaving him in his white tank.

Louis hisses as he raises his arms. The fact that Harry's eyes are trained on him doesn't help the situation one bit. He looks at his blood-stained shoulder.

Hailee applies hydrogen peroxide to the wound, which hurts like hell, but he tries his best to mask his hurt. He thinks of the joke Harry made, how hydrogen peroxide is basically Hydrogen and Oxygen. It makes everything hurt a little less.

He licks his lips when unwanted flashbacks of their kisses come into his brain, so he looks around the room to distract himself.

Unavoidably, they make eye contact. Harry is leaning forwards now, elbows on his knees, and Louis realizes that his suit is half unbuttoned.

Neither of them break the eye contact for a good eight seconds, and Louis' throat suddenly feels dry.

"Stop eye fucking." Hailee whispers to him.

"Shut up." Louis mutters back under his breath.

"It makes me horny."

At that, Louis has to laugh.

"So? Act on it."

Hailee flips him off before she turns around to get a pair of tweezers and a rag from the desk.

"Now bite down on this. This part is going to hurt."

"I don't need that shit."

She rolls her eyes. "Look at you trying to act all tough in front of your boyfriend."

Louis isn't sure whether Harry can hear them or not, but the worried look on his face lets him know that he probably can't. Mainly because Niall is aggressively whispering in his ear about God knows what.

"Fine. I'll count down from three."

Louis braces himself.

"Three, two-"

"FUCK!" A flash of pain shoots through his entire body, from the top of his neck all the way down to his toes.

Hailee innocently smiles at him as she holds up the tweezers with a bullet between them. "It's out."

"I should've known you were going to do that."

She throws the bullet in the small silver tray on the desk, then gets the elastic bandage out. She wraps it under his armpit and over his shoulder a few times before she cuts it off and ties it up.

"I've got some pain killers, do you want any?"

Louis shakes his head as she starts packing up the kit. "The last thing I need is to be incapacitated while the army threatens to come in."

"The army is coming in?!" Niall exclaims and jumps up from the couch.

"No...t yet."

"Do they have all the approvals?" Harry asks, eyes taped to Louis' arm tattoos.

Niall looks down at him confused. "What approvals?"

"The Chief of Defence Staff and the Secretary of Defence. They both need to give their approval. The Chief of Police as well. But in a case like this... I don't know, it might be more complicated than that."

This gets Louis' attention. "More complicated how?"

The fact that Louis spoke to him directly seems to fluster Harry more than whatever that eye contact was. "Uh...I mean, you have hostages as far as they know, civilians, plus my dad is also in the mix, I don't know. With so many people around it's a matter of national security. They might need to go higher than that."

Everyone in the room is looking at him now, expecting.

"The Queen." Harry clarifies.

"He studies Law. He knows his shit." Niall nods, then runs a hand through his hair. "Are there any precedents?"

"I mean...there have been robberies before, and heists that involved jewels and art...but like this? No, I don't think."

Niall's eyes bulge out of his head. "Which was the biggest in the UK?"

"I think the City bonds robbery, which was about three hundred million pounds."

Hailee and Louis exchange looks.

"How much are you robbing?" Niall asks them.

"Shut up." Hailee says, sounding amused rather than serious.

We're stealing exactly 0, Louis thinks, but doesn't say.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom." Hailee tells him and pushes her gun in Louis' direction. "I'll be right back."

Silence settles in the room once the door closes behind her.

Harry finally interrupts the silence. "What was that explosion? And the gunshots?"

Louis grits his teeth. "It was Simon."

Harry's eyes fall on his wound, eyes saddening. "Did he shoot you?"

Louis gives a swift nod, not looking at him. He knows Harry feels guilty, he can sense it in the air. And he also knows that if he'd look at him right now, he'd forgive him in a heartbeat.

The door suddenly opens and crashes against the wall. Nick's laugh echoes from the hallway. The first thing Louis sees is Simon being pushed inside with the barrel of Nick's gun pointed at his back, followed by Nick himself.

Simon's suit is only half put on, with the top half hanging behind him. He's got a pair of makeshift explosives taped to his chest with a red detonator in the middle of his chest. He looks absolutely terrified.

"Someone came to say hello." Nick sings. Harry and Louis exchange looks.

Louis knows those aren't real bombs, but nobody else in the room besides Nick knows that. And it shows.

"What did you do?" Louis asks, trying to hide his amusement.

"If this one here misbehaves, all I have to do is press this red button here." Nick explains, showing the other part of the detonator to the room. It has a red button in the middle. "And Mr. Bank Director goes bye-bye."

Louis rolls his eyes. "Why did you bring him here? To blow all of us up?"

Nick smirks at him playing along. "Who knew that an annoying prick would bring the gang back together, huh?"

"You're crazy."

Nick grins from ear to ear. "That's what they're saying."

Hailee comes back a few seconds later, stopping in her tracks when she sees the scene in front of her. "Oh, for fuck's sake."

"Missed me?" Nick teases.

"I see you're in a good mood again. Good to have you back."

"Hydrogen, we're ready."  Liam's voice comes through the headset.

The three of them exchange looks.

Louis presses the button by his ear. "Where's the Chief of Defence?"

"His police escort has just arrived."  The Chemist answers. "Should be in the tent in about five minutes, max."

"Well then." He smiles and stands up from the desk, grabbing a gun and looking around the room.  "Who here wants to see a show?"

Day 7 – 154 hours into the heist (Wednesday, December 26th, 10:30pm)

"I can't believe there are so many people outside at this time." Gigi says, looking out the window into the night. The entire outside of the building is well lit, which lets them see the mass of people surrounding two-thirds of the building, except for the back, which is also where the armory is.

For the plan to work, they need to fire off canons on all sides, so the public surrounds the entire building. They must get so close that the army can't do anything in order to not hurt the public.

"The good part is, they can't see inside." Louis smiles. "It's too dark."

They have two canons on each side of the building, ready to be filled with 50 pounds bills totaling up to ten million pounds each. Hailee is the main office with a few other associates in order to keep track of the situation outside.

"Do you think it'll work?"  Zayn asks.

"It will if we time it right.

He follows Gigi to the windows pointing South, which is where the main entrance is. The metro station right by the bank has been sealed off, with people filling the streets all around them as far as the eye can see.

There are ten times more people there than the last time Louis checked. The fact that they're here at night, standing in the cold while it's snowing with banners and Anonymous masks, is surreal.

"Why are there so many people?" he asks in awe.

"They've been saying that the army is making moves to come in on the news. They're probably here to watch it all play out." Gigi explains and then pats the two canons pushed up close to the windows. The loading box attached to the canon has already been filled with bags of cash.

"Is everyone in position? North?"

"Ready." Zayn answers.

"East?"

"Yes Sir."

He can hear Eleanor smirking in his ear.

"West?"

"Fuck yeah." Liam confirms.

"Can you see people on your side?"

They all answer positively at the same time, so Louis presses a finger on the button, ready to talk again.

"Wait."

The Chemists' voice sends shivers down his spine. Him and Gigi look at each other, worried.

"The Chief of Defence has just given the green light for the army."

The blood in his veins turns cold as he grips into the gun flung over his other shoulder for support. His head turns to the right, where a few of their associates are looking out the windows further down the hall.

He catches Harry's stare for a second, who instantly notices something's wrong. His face looks serious in the dark hallway (the lights had been kept off since they got here so nobody could see inside).

"We have to go-"

"Wait. They're talking."

The next two minutes are the longest two minutes Louis has ever experienced in his life.

"They need Her Majesty's approval. They're getting her on the line now."

Those words feel like music to Louis' ears. He watches Gigi's shoulder relax.

"Isn't it past her bedtime?" Nick asks out loud from his left, where he's looking outside while still holding the 'detonator' in one hand and a gun pointed at Simon in the other.

"Don't be rude!" Gigi exclaims, but slaps a hand over her mouth to hide a laugh nonetheless.

Louis presses the button again. "Ready?" Once everyone confirms, he gets nervous. It might work, or it might not. Either way, they're buying themselves some time. "Open the windows now."

Both of them open the window in front of them, before quickly pushing the openings of the canons into the square shaped holes of the bars.

"Three...two...one...shoot!"

He slams the button at the bottom of the canon. There's a rustling sound, like the canon started but malfunctioned.

Nothing happens.

Then, hundreds of bills start shooting out of it and into the sky. Their trajectory changes after a few seconds, and nobody outside seems to realize what's happening in the first few seconds.

A wave of shrieks fill the air, hitting them through the opened window from all sides. The fresh air mixed with screams creates goosebumps all over Louis' body, making him forget where he is or the situation he's in.

Louis' heart fills with something strange, something he hasn't felt in a long time; bliss, euphoria, gratitude. He's got tears in his eyes as he watches the people outside break through the police barriers, swallowing the policemen dressed in reflective jackets.

They storm the sealed off area by the entrance and suddenly, everything around them is just people ecstatically yelling and laughing. The money keeps shooting up in the air and then falling for a few minutes, the box not even half empty yet.

"Are you seeing this?" comes Zayn's voice through the earpiece.

Gigi and Louis look at each other for a moment, and she's also got tears in her eyes.

Someone screams something about the army standing down as an order, but Louis isn't even sure who it is or where it's coming from. Gigi engulfs him in a tight hug, saying something about how good of an idea it was and how they might have just managed to buy themselves a couple more days so they can leave as planned.

He looks at Harry over her shoulder, who's looking at the scene unfolding outside with his mouth open. As if he could feel Louis' stare on him, he turns his head.

Harry's eyes are glimmering in the darkness, expressing awe mixed with shock and elation. He shakes his head in disbelief and Louis forces himself to look away once more.

They break the embrace when the canons run out, getting back into their roles so they can pull away from the windows and close them. Louis doesn't realize how soundproof the windows are until the noise from outside suddenly cuts off.

A dead silence fills the large hallway out of a sudden, and everyone just stands there for a moment, taking in what had just happened.

"You have to see this!!! You have to see this! Hydrogen you son of a bitchhh!!"  Hailee yells, nearly leaving Louis deaf in his right ear.

They take off towards the main office without any other discussions.

The TV is on BBC when they get there, and the room gets very crowded very quickly. Eleanor and her crew are the only ones missing, because they're back to working on getting all the money through the tunnel.

Hailee is excitedly pointing at the screen.

BOE 7 have won the public over while Her Majesty disapproves of army plan, the tagline reads.

"You did it!! You fucking did it!" Liam enthusiastically pats him on the back, before pulling him into a hug.

He energies are high when Nick enters the room a few minutes later, without Simon this time.

"Where's the champaaagne?" he calls out, going over to Louis so he can shake his hand.

Zayn is already by the utilities closet, pulling out two bottles and handing one to Liam.

"Where did you leave Cowell?" Louis asks Nick as he takes his headset off and chucks it in a corner.

"Locked him in a room without windows."

The phone on the table suddenly rings, making everyone go silent. Everyone's eyes are on the red phone, still ringing. Hailee mutes the TV and turns to the room.

"Everyone who doesn't belong here, leave." She says.

As they wait for their associates to leave the room, Louis watches Harry turn his head to look at him (this time with a sad face).

Hailee picks up the phone. After a few seconds, she presses a button and places the phone down.

"Congratulations."

Nobody says anything.

"The army has officially been called off."

"What does this mean for us?" Louis asks.

"I want to talk to you, Hydrogen."

Unsure of what could possibly be the problem now, Louis walks over and picks the phone back up.

He hesitates. "Yes?"

"I am very proud of you, Louis. If it wasn't for you, the army would've been inside the bank by now. Well done."

"Thank you, but what do we do now?"

"For now, get some rest until tomorrow. All the money will be out soon, and the hard drives with the new names and passport IDs are already wiped clean."

"Does that-"

"Yes, we can leave two days early. We'll talk about the next steps tomorrow morning."

"Alright."

"Goodnight."

"Night."

He hangs up and stares at the phone for a second, before turning around to face his colleagues.

"We leave tomorrow."

A cheer erupts, like they just won the world cup or something. Liam and Zayn pop the champagne bottles, spraying them around the room before drinking from them as Hailee changes the channel to Capital TV, turning the volume up to blast music.

A bottle of champagne gets pushed in his face, with Liam urging him to drink first. Once he sets his gun down on the table and lights up a cigarette, he feels a like he can breathe normally again.

He ends up getting tipsy, and even helps Nick open up the pull-out couch by the window so they can stand on it while they sing and chant. At some point, Nick grabs a bag of money from the corner and rips it apart, making it rain throughout the room. For a few hours, time doesn't seem to exist, and they're back at the house in Brentwood, drinking and enjoying their last night together.

They are just happy, the happiest they've all been in a long time.

Day 7 – 157 hours into the heist (Wednesday, December 26th, 1:07am)

Louis doesn't know how much time passes as they sing and dance and just enjoy their pre-victory, but it's way past midnight when people start getting tired. After all, they were being shot at and threatened with the army just a few hours ago.

The room is empty now, and he's getting ready for bed, feeling somehow refreshed. He's tipsy and optimistic. Hailee had changed his bandage before she left to go sleep with some of the associates in the secretary's office.

He changes the channel back on BBC as he gets ready for bed. He takes a shower, brushes his teeth, and it's only when he's in his tank top and briefs that he lets out a deep, relieved sigh. He's nearly made it. Tomorrow by this time, he'll be out of here, with his entire life ahead of him. No worries, no stress (hopefully).

There's money everywhere; on the table, on the floor, on the desk, the couch. A few months ago, this much cash would've made him faint, would've been a gift from God. But right now, it's like dirt that must get cleaned after a party at his house.

He'll do it tomorrow.

For now, just a clean couch where he can sleep will do. He turns off the main switch, so the only source of light remains the TV.

"Unbelievable scenes at the Bank of England!"

The TV catches his attention, stopping him midway of bending over to push the money off the couch.

"The public has made a human chain around the building, stopping the police or army from going near it! Ladies and gentlemen, I have never in my life seen such a scene!" the presenter yells into the microphone, tears in his eyes as he watches everything unfold in front of him.

Louis is standing now, mouth agape as he looks at the images on the screen. The camera shows scenes from all sides of the building, including the entry to the armory. There are people sitting down on the ground with their elbows linked. Their hands, clothes, and hoodies are filled with banknotes. They look happy.

"The police is making sure that everything is in order, but people have refused to move for the past two hours. There's a sense of unity, a sense of camaraderie between the public and the heistmen! This will be something for the history books!! I cannot believe my eyes-"

The door to the office opens, startling him and making him turn his head.

His stomach feels empty when he sees Harry standing there, looking unsure about what to do. His eyes check Louis out from head to toe, stopping on some of his tattoos in the process.

"Wow, I didn't know it could rain inside." He tries to crack a joke as he looks around the room at the money splayed out everywhere.

Louis grits his teeth to stop himself from smiling. "Did you forget something?" he bitterly asks, turning around to fully face him.

Harry doesn't reply, but his face falls.

Then he takes the last few steps between them and throws his arms around his neck. It makes Louis weak in the knees.

He sinks into the hug but doesn't move his arms to hug him back.

"I thought you were dead when I heard the gunshots and the explosions." He says into Louis' neck, voice breaking at the end.

"Well, I'm fine." Louis answers with all the coldness he can muster right now.

Harry doesn't let go yet, and Louis doesn't move to break their sort-of embrace either.

"I'm sorry. I know it's my fault."

Harry's elbows slip a little, grazing against Louis' wound, which makes him whimper. At this, Harry takes a quick step back and looks down at the bandaged shoulder before meeting Louis' eyes.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not as much as you betraying me."

Harry looks devastated, and Louis can tell that he's genuinely sorry, regretting everything he's done.

"I'm sorry." he whispers, not meeting his eyes.

Louis takes a step back, putting some space between them. Harry smells like he just got out of the shower, and the attraction Louis feels for him right now isn't doing him any favors.

"I didn't- I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry I broke your trust."

"It doesn't matter anymore, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"We're leaving early." He pauses. "Shit, maybe I shouldn't have told you you that."

Harry's eyes sadden. "Tomorrow?"

Louis nods. For some reason, there's a strange pain in his chest.

It's the cigarettes and champagne, he tells himself.

"What will happen to us?"

"You'll most likely wait with the rest of the associates until we tell you to open the doors so you can go outside. Be free."

Harry shakes his head.

"That's not what I meant."

The air suddenly feels like it's been sucked out of the room completely.

"What did you mean then?" Louis asks, unsure whether his exhausted mind is playing tricks on him right now.

"You know what I meant."

"What 'us', Harry?" Louis snorts. It comes out harsher than intended, almost mocking. He feels bad as soon as he says it, although he knows he shouldn't. "I'm a hijacker and you're my hostage."

"I thought I was your business associ-"

"Don't try to be funny right now, I swear."

Harry's eyes fall to the floor.

"Whatever you think this is, or was, just because we-" Louis' voice cracks mid-sentence. He realizes just now, as he's saying those words, that his feelings aren't that far off from Harry's either. He just hasn't had the time to think about it for the past few hours.

He thinks about Harry's side, how he must've sat in that room while shots and explosions went off, without a clue about what was going on. He thinks about if it were the other way around.

Louis tries to compose himself. "Just because we kissed or did whatever, that doesn't mean...it doesn't mean anything."

"I-"

"If anything, it's just a really fucked up case of Stockholm Syndrome mixed with adrenaline." He continues, trying to convince himself right now.

"You're a prick."

This catches Louis off-guard.

"Exfuckingcuse me? I'm the prick?! You're the one who pushed a fucking gun into my face this morning! After I trusted- fuck, after I trusted you enough to let my guard down and sleep next to you! It's not even the first time you've tried pulling something! And I'm the fucking-honestly! Where the fuck do you get off?"

"What did you even expect?" Harry raises his voice. It's the first time Louis has ever seen him angry since they got here. "You're a thief with an artillery of guns! I was scared!"

It hurts, but it's the truth.

"See? Mystery solved." Louis mutters.

Silence settles in the room as they both look at each other without saying anything.

"I'm tired. I want to go to sleep."

Harry opens his mouth to say something, but Louis interrupts him. "Go away and I'll lock the door. If you think there's any chance of you spending the night here, you're way off mate. There's no way I'm going to let you near any guns while I'm asleep."

"Louis-"

"Don't fucking say my name." Louis nearly growls, stepping closer and pointing at his. "Don't ever say it again."

Realization settles in, shaking him to the core. It's as if someone just threw a bucket of ice cold water on him. Harry knows who he is. He knows his whole name, and he knows the entire country is after him.

"You understand? Never call me that again. Forget it ever existed, I mean it."

Harry's nostrils flare. "You don't scare me." He spits.

A feeling settles in the pit of his stomach right then. It's different, and Louis realizes he's turned on.

"No?" Louis raises his eyebrows, trying to be threatening and mask whatever is going on inside his body.

"No."

Harry's eyes flicker to his crotch for a split of a second, but Louis catches it anyway.

His throat feels dry, and he's very aware that he's in his boxers. And turned on. Fuck. He can feel the blood rushing downwards and tries to think of literally anything else but Harry.

"Fuck." He breathes, shaking his head at himself.

Harry doesn't miss a beat. "Sure."

Fuck it

He takes the last step between them and their lips collide before their chests do. Harry's lips are soft and he takes like minty toothpaste.

The feeling in his stomach grows as their tongues find each other.

Louis' hands go up to Harry's hair, unconsciously trying to pull him in as close as possible. He feels a cold hand on the back of his neck as the kiss deepens, which makes him let out a soft moan into Harry's mouth. They switch head positions at one point, hands gripping harder, tighter, like the last five minutes didn't even happen.

"I've missed this." Harry whispers against his lips when they pull away for a short break.

"Shut up." Louis kisses him again. "And I swear if you say make me-"

Harry lets out a genuine laugh before softly pushing Louis down on the couch. The contact feels uncomfortable, because there are about a million pounds in cash on that couch, but he quickly forgets about it when their lips meet again.

Harry climbs on top of him, stretching him out with a leg between his thighs. He brushes against Louis' growing bulge, which makes him hiss.

He can feel Harry smiling against his lips as he sits up to straddle him and unzip his jumpsuit.

Louis watches as Harry's bare chest gets revealed bit by bit. Impatent, he sits up as well so they're face to face and kisses him again.

They make out for another couple of minutes, their heavy breaths mingling, until Louis pulls back and takes off his tank.

Harry takes a moment to shamelessly roam his eyes all over his tattooed chest. "Fuck, you're so hot." He breathes, then places a hand on Louis' chest to push him on his back again.

Louis pushes the upper half of his jumpsuit off his back, before pulling him back down for a kiss.

Reality suddenly sinks in then, and he places his palms against Harry's chest.

"What?"

"No."

"What?"

"This is a bad idea."

"Wha-"

Harry watches him, devastated, as he's being pushed to the side.

Louis stands up from the couch and looks at him for a moment.

Then he walks over to the camera hanging in the corner and throws his tank top over it, covering it compeltely.

----

Let me know what you thought of this chapter O.O (idk if i can put emojis on Wattpad, but this would be the eyes emoji)

+ how do you think it will end? any thoughts?

I can honestly say that this chapter took me 2 and a half days total to write, because I was sooo invested in it. I am currently working on the next chapter, and the story should have 12 total (so 2 more).

(i missed this I'm so happy rn)

I have also made a TikTok (ronniewrites) but I haven't gotten around to do anything with it, but I'd like to, to get my stories out there, check reader's tiktoks about them etc.

+ if anyone has ideas for videos/tiktoks I would like to comission you to create them (ofc i'll also give credits), I just want to get into it, but I am also working on a side hustle, so I need to fit everything into my schedule (DM me if you're interested)

Aaalso, I have published some of the books I've written so far on Amazon, so if you look up Ronnie Bennett, you can find them and help support me, even if it's just a rating  :) 

I hope to get the next chapter up within a week, so I'll keep you posted on my progress through Wattpad/Twitter.

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See you soon :)

xoxo,

Ronnie