xxiii. Memory Keeper


Louis and I had walked home late from the movie night together, hand in hand. Louis had teased me about how my hands were shaking slightly from excitement the entire way, the fact that I had a special talent still not settling in for me yet.

It certainly explained why I could remember every time I had been in the hospital, why I never forgot Dad's birthday, why I never lost things. I could remember it all in perfect clarity, I just needed help for some of the older and foggy memories.

We had reached the cabin quickly, considering I began to tug on Louis' hand to go faster so we could try more memories out. Louis chuckled behind me as I tried to pull him, eventually hurrying his pace.

Dad had barely said hello from the couch and his war movie marathon before I led Louis up the flight of stairs to my room. Louis was a bit cautious of my sudden movements, eyes trained on my to see if I would get breathless or be in pain as a result. I felt perfectly fine though, sitting on the bed and patting the sheets next to me for Louis to sit.

I must have seemed a bit awkward when I just sat there for a few moments, my hands knotting themselves together.

"So...how exactly does this work?" I asked, Louis laughing before holding out his hands to me.

"This is how you do it." His hands took hold of mine, but nothing happened right away. My eyes shyly looked up to Louis, only to find his were closed. His teeth peeked out from between his thin lips, biting the bottom one as he concentrated.

I waited, and eventually it came.

My vision gradually began to turn white before changing into various other colors and shapes.

I was brought to the stargazing meadow, only this time, I was Louis. I saw everything he saw that night, felt everything he did.

I could feel his heart racing, his palms growing sweaty just from our proximity and his concentration struggling to stay focused on the stories of the heavenly stars above us as I hugged him a little closer. I could smell my favorite flowery fragrance on my jacket as Louis' arms encircled my waist, a blossoming feeling of warm growing in Louis' chest as he took a deep breath to enchant himself with my cherry blossom perfume again. His eyes shut as he kept talking, only this time about his powers. I felt the urge he felt to tell me all about him, like he had this need to tell me absolutely everything just to see the fascination in my eyes.

'You see what crazy things you do to me?' Louis' voice rang out inside my head before I was brought back abruptly to the present. I had to blink my eyes to clear them of the fog that had previously covered my sight, my head spinning a bit afterwards. My balance must have been off when I returned to the present, Louis' hands now on my arms to keep me steady.

"You alright?" He chuckled as I lazily blinked and smiled up at him. "You look a bit dazed."

"'M fine." I assured Louis, ignoring the slight ache in my head as I reached to hold his hands again. Louis seemed to take a bit longer in thinking of what to show me next, the same blinding fog appearing as the next memory came to me.

This time I wasn't in Louis' mind, only a passerby in the hectic and crowded building. Teenagers and adults of all ages dressed in light blue scrubs raced around the medical building, all kinds of people resting on beds and being ushered into rooms only adding to the crowd.

Louis was following one Asian girl in scrubs in particular through the crowd. Her hair was an inky black and plaited in a French braid that hung down the length of her back and her slender frame was emphasized by her slightly baggy scrubs. Her dark narrow eyes would look back ever so often to make sure Louis was following, yelling at him to keep pace whenever he slowed down too much.

The Asian girl led him down a few hallways and turns before reaching their destination: a room with a closed door marked 'training' in big bold letters.

Louis followed the girl inside, sitting himself down on a chair by the wall while the girl got busy getting things from cabinets and closets. She pulled out what I figured was usual medical stuff: bandages, alcohol swabs, ointment for scratches. My interest was peaked when she pulled out a huge dummy figure of a person, laying it on a bed in the center of the room.

"Okay, what did you want me to teach you exactly? You weren't very specific in your message." The girl asked, stretching out her arms as Louis got up from his chair.

"The basics. Healing cuts, bruises, headaches, all that." He said, the girl suddenly looking mildly disappointed.

"That's it? I'm one of the best students in this healing center and you make me teach you the basics?"

"And something else. But I'll need the basics first if I want to know how to that. Don't worry, Mimi."

"For the hundredth time Tomlinson, my name isn't Mimi. It's Asami, why you insist on calling me Mimi is something I'll never understand." Asami sassed, rolling her dark eyes.

I watched with wonder as Asami moved her hands up gracefully, the dummy lighting up in a soft glow.

"The key is concentration. If you can't focus, you can't heal. Got it?"

Louis nodded, intently watching as the girl named Asami kept working. As soon as the dummy lit up, it faded away, Asami's arms falling to her sides as a serious look crossed her face.

"Seriously Louis, what's this 'something else' you need to know?" She sighed, glittering eyes refusing to take no for an answer.

Louis' eyes were cast to the floor as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, a sad look gracing his beautiful features.

"How do you heal someone with an enlarged heart?"

I felt slightly dizzy as I came back to the world, but a heartwarming feeling soon overtook my vertigo as I rushed to hug Louis tightly. However, my balance was still thrown off, my body lurching forward and leaning into Louis rather than hugging him as I tried to regain my strength.

"Hey, you alright?" Louis asked, his arms holding me close while I tried to focus again.

"Y-yeah, just a bit dizzy." I managed to say, relishing in the feeling of Louis' hand rubbing my back gently.

"It'll go away once you practice more." Louis assured me, kissing my forehead as he waited for my mind to collect itself once more.

"You learned?" My eyes were wide with the excitement of a promise I never knew Louis planned to keep. "For me?"

The dim lamp light in the room illuminated Louis' face in a divine way, every facet of his glittering eyes sparkling. The little crinkles by his eyes appeared as he kissed the back of my hand.

"I'm still learning it, but hopefully I'll be ready in a few weeks, a month at the most." He assured me, a smirk on his lips as he took advantage of my dizzied mind. He leaned into me to place heavy kisses on my mouth, easily pushing me back into the mattress and intertwining our hands by the sides of my head. My hair fanned out around me as I could do nothing more than savor the feel of Louis' lips on mine, eyes fluttering closed as he peppered small kisses from the corner of my mouth down to the spot of skin where my pulse could be felt on my neck.

"It won't be too long until you're healed." He promised me, brushing his fingertips over the curve of my cheek.

"You'll really do it?" I asked, my wide grin only growing more as Louis nodded.

"Eventually, yes." Louis confirmed for me, an elated feeling of joy and fondness for the boy above me spreading inside me. Louis was silent as I reached up to trace over his jaw, admiring his eyes that were faceted like diamonds, the shades of blue astounding me and making me breathless.

He really was beautiful, and even though I figured men didn't want to be beautiful (more tough and grueling) I decided Louis was beautiful. He was the kind of beautiful painters only hoped to capture on canvas, the only kind of beautiful authors scoured dictionaries to describe simply because they couldn't think of a good word. He was the kind of beautiful that needed no words, needed no description simply because there wasn't one to give. He was a special breed of beautiful that made people wonder instead of envy, wonder what he was like and what he thought of the world and what it held.

Louis was the kind of beautiful I didn't think I would ever get used to.

"Stay the night?" I offered, Louis contemplating above me as I traced over the bit of scruff on his chin he was growing.

"I don't think your father would be happy with that." Louis said, but I furiously shook my head, intertwining my fingers with his chestnut locks to gently pull him closer. My lips reached his ear and I whispered for him to pretend to leave the cabin and then just sneak back into my room after Dad had gone back to bed, Louis pulling away with a surprised look on his face.

"Why, Butterfly, I didn't know you were so bad, having boys sneak in after everyone's asleep." He snickered, but the glint in his eyes told me he would indulge in my plan. With a quick kiss on the forehead and a promise to be back soon, Louis went downstairs to bid my father goodnight before I heard the front door open and shut.

Just as I figured, the lights downstairs went out soon after Louis' departure, Dad finally heading to bed after an exhausting day.

I had turned my lights off and got back into bed, trying to make Dad convinced I was actually asleep. After a few minutes, I heard the lightest tap on my glass door, my legs hurrying over to unlock the sliding door and let my boyfriend in.

"If your dad catches us, I think he'll murder me." Louis snickered, but I shook my head and reached up on my tip-toes to place a kiss on his lips.

"He won't. He likes having you around, I think it calms his nerves having you watch over me." I assured my boyfriend, gripping the sides of Louis' jacket and pulling back towards my bed. I fell back onto the mattress, my legs hanging off the side. I giggled softly as I bounced back up from the springs before settling on the soft blankets again.

Louis smiled softly as both of his hands moved next to my head, his head leaning down to kiss my lips.

I watched Louis' eyes turn to my alarm clock, noticing the late hour.

"I think it's time for us to go to bed, Butterfly." He told me, chuckling at my pout. "No Mira, you really need some sleep. Think about your health."

The mention of my poor heart suddenly chilled the happy mood, the events of the hospital still fresh in my mind. They would always be fresh in my mind, I guess that was one of the cons of being a memory keeper.

Louis took no notice to my change in mood, only kissing my cheek before getting up and wandering over towards my cabinets of clothes.

"Where are your pajamas?" He asked before I pointed him to the correct drawer, blushing as Louis went to the wrong one and ended up pulling out lacy underwear with a childish grin. He put the underwear back soon enough and pulled out an oversized t-shirt and old running shorts for me to sleep in. Louis brought them back to the bed and laid the garments on the covers, but he stopped me when I reached for them so I could change in the bathroom.

"Stay with me." He mumbled before taking my pajamas from my hands and quickly kissing my already swollen lips. I kissed him back hard, and the distraction was enough for me to not notice his fingers reaching for the hem of my top, swiftly pulling it up. He only parted our lips to finally pull it over my head, leaving me topless with the exception of my plain blue bra. I attempted to quickly reach for the t-shirt to put on, but Louis beat me to it. The t-shirt was placed behind him as he leaned in more for our kisses, pushing me back onto the mattress. My blood felt white hot as it rushed through my veins, and I feared for my poor broken heart as it raced in my chest at Louis' intimate actions.

Louis' hands kept mine at bay by the sides of my head, but his lips moved down to brush down the skin of my chest, between my breasts, and finally down my stomach. Kisses were given to areas of skin Louis felt needed some love, my eyes fluttering closed with the delicate touch before opening when he stopped.

I found him looking almost in a daze, starry eyes gazing over me with an unbelievable amount of admiration. His fingers released my hands, but to both of our surprises, I didn't try to cover myself up. Louis' hands moved to my sides, admiring the extra bits of weight there and the way his thumbs pressed into my hips.

"How are you mine?" I heard Louis barely whisper before reaching behind him for the t-shirt. He helped me tug it on over my head, dressing me like a child as he helped my arms through the holes and my head through the collar.

"Because you are quite the charmer, Tomlinson." I teased, swiftly getting up to take off my jeans and pull on my shorts afterwards. I soon realized Louis would be stuck wearing his uncomfortable clothes from tonight to sleep in.

"You want something to sleep in? I think I have some of Dad's old basketball shorts. They're big on me, they might fit you?" I offered, Louis shrugging before following me to my cabinet and taking the shorts. He quickly took off his jeans and put on the shorts, his tattoo on his chest becoming visible for a fraction of a second as he leaned over before vanishing underneath soft fabric.

I couldn't help myself as I unconsciously drifted towards Louis, fingers tugging at his t-shirt, big eyes begging to see what artwork was hidden underneath. It was like he was the sun, and I another admiring planet obsessing and spending all of eternity drifting around him.

Louis seemed to understand without words what I desired of him, tugging his t-shirt off to allow me to see the ink creations on his body. 'It Is What It Is' was written in sprawling cursive across his chest, my fingers tracing over the lines as my eyes took in his muscled body. I knew Louis had to be strong to be as talented as he was, but I wasn't expecting something rivaling a Greek god.

Various other tattoos were present on his tanned skin, but Louis took my hand and whispered again that we should get to bed. I sighed but complied in Louis' request, crawling onto the left side of the bed and leaving the right to Louis. I shivered as Louis pulled the blankets over us, gasping softly as a strong arm wrapped around my middle and pulled me into a warm chest. Louis must have decided to leave the shirt off.

"I'll keep you warm, Mira." Louis whispered into my ear. I took a satisfying deep breath and couldn't help the smile creeping onto my face as Louis held me tight, my eyes closing before I drifted into a deep sleep.

A/N: The pic at the top honestly has nothing to do with the chapter I was just scrolling through tumblr and saw it and was like DAYUM WHY ARE YOU SO HOT

Super duper long chapter is dedicated to @esth-ers for their lovely comments and for coming up with the other ship names #Tomlinlane or #Lanelinson (again, be sure to comment which one you like better)

Comment and vote! Next chapter will be up soon! - Maddie

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