~In places that we've never been~

AUGUST 11TH

While Liam was a drug addict, and a member of the Russian mafia in upstate New York at one point, he was still that same kid who wanted to be a cop, and loved, following the rules. Simon's rules, that was. If he said that they were safer behind the gates with Hailee ready to kill any unauthorized person entering through them, then Liam was going to believe him.

But he also had a loyalty to his friends, and in this case, that was more important than the rules. That's why he made four dozen cookies with the best ingredients that he could get. Then he told everyone to get into Louis' car while he went down to see the guards.

"Hello!" He said in his best cheery voice, waving to the group of men dressed in black in the security booth. "How is everyone today?"

One man stepped out and crossed his arms. "Where do your friends think that they're going? Mr. Cowell was very particular about no one leaving, and I believe that you know that." He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted to Zayn, who was shutting the front door. "Go back inside, you lot!"

Liam raised the plate of cookies up higher. "I have cookies for you guys! I can even go back inside and make some cold drinks! Some beers? I can arrange that."

"It's nine at night," Liam read his nametag. "And we can't drink on the job. Or accept bribes."

"Anderson, the guys over them seem awfully interested in some cookies. And we're adults! We're armed!" Liam ran his hand through his hair. "Take the bribe and we'll just go out for a nice night on the town. They are going insane in there!"

"What do you think, boys?" He turned to the group.

One of them yelled out. "What kind of cookies?"

Liam smiled and let his teeth be seen. "We got chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodles, and oatmeal raisin."

"Let him through!" Someone else yelled, and Liam giggled and handed over the plate of cookies. Then he waved to Anderson and jogged to get into the passenger seat of the car.

Louis slapped a gun on his lap. "Put that in the glove box. For an emergency."

Niall yelled loudly as he saw the gate open. "Let's go! Zayn, play Queen!"

Zayn rolled his eyes and reached for the bluetooth cord. Liam took his own gun out from his waistband and put both of them in the glove box, as directed. "It's the middle of the night in the middle of the week, no one's coming after us."

Louis started the engine and gunned it down the driveway, throwing a middle finger at the guards and effectively ruining their chances of ever leaving again. "Rule number one of being a criminal, baby Liam,"

He interrupted. "Don't get wasted the night before a job?"

"No," Louis said with a glare. "Never underestimate your enemy. They know more about us than we do of them. We're getting out of the house, but we'll definitely get to fire our guns before the night is over. A little action on a perfect August night."

"I'm worried about him," Niall said loudly, not trying to conceal the remark. He ended up giggling as Louis took a corner like they were playing a video game. "We'll be fine, I'm certain of that."

They left the windows down and Zayn played Queen and whatever else he wanted to listen to. It was as much his night as it was the others, and he got to decide the music. Louis picked where they went, and he decided that they were going to a park. The club thing was overdone - the lot of them had been to a club or two in their day, and they weren't just going to get drunk and lose the night - no!

"Race you to the swings!" Liam screamed when all of the doors shut, and Niall quickly burned past him, and then jogged backwards and flipped them all off before sprinting with the rest of them to the series of six swings. It would've been enough for them and Harry, and Ed too, if he was still alive, and Harry wasn't emotionally comatose.

A summer night with a little breeze; it was the perfect night to be outside, not to be under Simon's house arrest. Louis kicked his short legs - the shortest of the group's - determined to go higher than anyone else. To make the swing set jump when he got to the top. Maybe he'd go in a full circle too.

Niall was keeping up a steady stream of laughter at Liam's painfully bad jokes - but they were never worse than Harry's puns. He was neck and neck with Zayn, feeling the air move as they did. The computer nerd of them had the biggest grin on his face - like that if he died after that night, he'd be okay with that. And Liam was, of course, cracking the jokes, going high up easily with his long legs, much to Louis' chagrin.

After a while, Niall jumped off and stumbled into the wood-chips. "I'm going to go unlock that tennis court! Who's coming?"

"Hell yeah!" Louis yelled back. "Give - give me a second!" He started dragging his feet along the ground to slow down. Eventually, he was able to jump off much like his friend did. The two of them raced towards the tennis courts, where there was bound to be a lock that was no match for Niall, and a tennis-ball shooter that they could pelt each other with. True friendship - making each other feel physical pain.

Zayn looked over at Liam, who was coming to a slow stop, staring out at the dark horizon, towards the car. "And what will the two of us do?"

"Want to join my at the top of the slide?"

The two of them shared a glance and hopped off the playground equipment at relatively the same second. Zayn skipped to the stairs while Liam took a ladder, and then the two of them crammed their adult bodies into the little area in front of the tunnel slide. Liam rested on his knees and the two of them were practically melded into each other. "You just got me up here to kiss me, didn't you?" Zayn questioned.

Liam leaned in with a puppy-dog smile and pressed their lips together. "Will you let that answer your question?"

The backdrop to their heavy makeout session was Niall trying to hit the tennis balls that were flying at light speed. There was a yelp every thirty seconds as Louis got him straight between his legs, the little pest. And there was no sign of a diminishing number of the yellow round balls anytime soon, except from the red and blue lights that were approaching through the trees.

"Just like New York, boys!" Louis pressed the off button. "Scatter! Come on, Niall!"

Liam slipped down the slide, pulling the boy attached to his chest with him. Nothing but giggles were coming out of both of their mouths as the two of them booked it through the trees. "We're gonna get caught, and Simon'll be pissed!" Zayn exclaimed giddily.

"Well, at least we'll just get an overnight stay. Niall has 3 life sentences at this point."

Zayn snorted in laughter and used his free hand to cover his mouth. The other one was holding Liam's hand as they ran. In New York, the two of them kissed for the first time in a very similar scenario to this. It's only fitting that they were kissing when the police arrived this time. "If only Harry was here. He'd have driven us safely away."

"Ah!" Liam tripped and the two of them fell into a creek, getting soaked instantly.

"Ew, ew, ew!" Zayn yelled, and Liam quickly covered his mouth, rolling over him to shush him as a light passed above them. He could feel his lips curving into a smile, and so did Liam's as they stared at each other. Brown eyes gazing lovingly back at each other.

"We'll be ok," Liam whispered to him, trying to remember the moment - the way the water, the air, the smells blended together to create something that felt so perfect and so unique after being locked in the mansion for two weeks or so. "We'll be ok."

---

Louis was smoking a cigarette and leaning against the car when the two of them walked back. Niall was throwing a tennis ball ridiculously high into the air to see if he could catch it. "Fall into a puddle, lads?" He flicked his cigarette ash at them.

"More like a creek, but same thing, right?" Liam said, wringing out the bottom of his shirt. "We clear to go?"

"Yes. And I'm thinking that we should find a club. Even though we said no. I'm ready to dance! No drinks, no drinks!" Niall pleaded, throwing the ball at Louis to get his attention.

Zayn opened the trunk, hopelessly looking for a towel or dry jacket. "A club sounds fine. I could use some whiskey to warm up."

"No drinks!" Liam yelled. "We can have fun without alcohol!" Liam and Louis had decided that the fun night meant no drinks on the basis of them possibly getting attacked by the opposition in this war they were in. And because their "detox" meant as little exposure to all toxins as possible.

"But I'm cold," Zayn pouted, trying to get his way, but the two of them simply shook their heads. Niall hung his lightly and they all got back into the car. "Into the city we go then."

The music was now being played from the radio - pop music of the worst variety - the kind that has a bad message but is way too catchy to not sing. That meant that Louis was singing at the top of his lungs. "I hate this song!" He screamed with a sigh.

"Uh guys?" Zayn was looking through the side mirror since he sat in the passenger seat.

"Shut up, Zayn!" Someone shouted, probably wanting to listen to the music.

Then all of a sudden, the radio cut out, and Zayn looked over to see Louis' hand on the volume dial. But his eyes were intently focused on the rearview mirror. "We're being tailed."

"I thought that SUV looked a little suspicious! I was trying to say that!" Zayn yelled. "Oh god, Harry's not here, we're going to die, we're going to die."

Niall immediately slid into the space between the back of Zayn's seat and his own on the floor, while Liam pried open the sun roof. "Could you pass me a gun, babe?"

"What?" Zayn said, having a panic attack and holding the side of his thigh reassuringly.

Louis took an abrupt right turn. "The glovebox, you idiot! I'll do my best, but I'm no Styles."

The back windshield exploded with a bullet hitting it. Liam popped his head through to check out the situation. One person out the side window, holding a handgun. "It's not semi-automatic or military grade!" Liam shouted excitedly.

"See, if these two were here when we were in America? No one would ever have been hurt," Niall was muttering to himself, but Zayn could hear it as he passed the two handguns over. "We shut down under pressure. These two love pressure. Love guns and almost dying."

"Comes with the job, sweetheart," Louis shrugged. "And with our positions I guess. We're both everything men, but I specialize in getaway driving, climbing, and negotiation."

"Guns and strength!" Liam yelled, firing. "Not on Hailee's level. She's a sniper, I'm just these kind of everyday kind of things. I'm also an amateur pharmacist, but we're not going to talk about that. Why are we talking about our positions?"

"Talking is calming me down. And we know that Zayn is the computer nerd, and Niall picks locks and opens safes." Zayn was pressed against the window to his left as there was another severe turn. One of Liam's bullets shattered the window of a building, and he frowned.

"I can also diagnose you with mental disorders and help you sort out your childhood trauma, but everyone always forgets about that," Niall sighed. "Yes, I'm a wanted criminal, but I'm also a therapist and psychologist at heart. Can we like maybe not die tonight, guys?"

Liam fired three times in rapid succession, and slid from side to side as the car turned with reckless abandon. No pattern, since the destination was just "away". When one gun was empty, he threw it on the floor, where the barrel burned a circular hole into the bare skin of Niall's ankle. "Watch where you throw things, Lee-yum!"

"Too busy trying to kill people, Nee-al!" The second gun came out and he was back to trying to save them.

"Duck in!" Louis screamed suddenly, and his friend immediately obeyed with a slash of the sun-roof shut. The next left turn took them straight into a long alley. Liam watched out the back, watching the SUV miss the turn and quickly try to recover. Louis sped up and turned out at the end, parallel parking on the road and shutting the car off. "Everyone down. If they find us, we're screwed."

"That's comforting," Zayn's sarcasm was evident in his tone. "Won't the broken glass from the back window give us away?"

"No street lights," Louis noted, crawling under the steering wheel while Liam laid down on the backseat and Zayn stretched his legs out as far as he could and cramped down. "We'll be fine. But we're certainly not going to a club after this. Ice cream, maybe?"

"Hot fudge sundaes on the way home?" Niall asked. "Because I'm not staying out with those crazies after us."

"There's a Macca's on the drive back, so that sounds good," They lapsed into silence, hearing the sound of tires driving by. Zayn was whimpering something about how they were all going to die. There was no way Liam or Niall could reach him to calm him down, and Louis wasn't the comforting type either, so they just had to let him quietly freak out.

Niall whined. "How long do we wait?"

"Forever, if we have to. I'm gonna take a nap," Louis pretended snoring, and it pissed Niall off as much as fake sleeping pisses off a toddler who really wants your attention. He silently raged out, while Liam tried to stop his laughter at seeing this happened three inches from his face.

"Did anyone bring any money?" Zayn questioned, going back to the discussion about hot fudge.

Louis giggled. "Simon gave me his credit card." His blue eyes shone out of the darkness beneath the steering wheel, and then the little plastic piece was held up a second later. "I was going to use it to pay for our adventures tonight, but it seems they've been cut short by some people who have been trying unsuccessfully to kill us."

"Yeah, they kind of suck." Zayn laughed, finally beginning to calm down.

"Ok, my knee is going to pop out if I stay cramped down here any longer!" Niall exclaimed. "Louis, start the car, we're going!" He started moving, and Liam sat up and looked around.

"Looks clear."

The four of them all sat normally in the seats then, and the engine started up again. Louis calmly drove down the street, waiting in anticipation of that SUV to attack them, but it never showed up.

---

The house was quiet when they arrived back, but it still wasn't late enough to justify going to sleep on what was supposed to be their fun night out. So they were sitting on the couch - Louis under four blankets, Niall only in his underwear, and the other pair were sharing a blanket and looking at memes instead of Mission Impossible.

"Tom Cruz is hot, but I've heard some questionable things about him, so I may retract that statement," Louis said, just eyes peeking out from the blankets.

"How are you supposed to eat your hot fudge from under there?" Zayn questioned.

One hand appeared, like from a creepy creature coming out from under the bed. In Louis' hand was his phone, and he quickly typed out a text to Harry, asking if he wanted to come downstairs and get some ice cream. "My stomach hurts. Asking if Harry wants it."

They went back to watching the movie, but Louis managed a smile when the door opened upstairs. His lanky boyfriend zoomed down the stairs to grab the hot fudge sundae from the arm of the couch. "Thanks," He murmured, before disappearing back to the room.

"We need Harry to be One Direction," Liam said after a moment. "Like, tonight was cool with just the four of us, but without him, it also feels kinda weird, huh?"

"I agree," Niall announced. "And I love all of y'all. No homo."

Louis stood up and launched himself across the couch to get to Niall and smother him in a hug. "Why not 'yes homo'?" He pressed his lips to Niall's, who immediately recoiled and looked at him with an alarmed face.

Liam and Zayn cried with laughter; they were really an awkward crazy family, huh?