Chapter Text
The uni’s train stop is far less crowded than Louis is used to.
Hoards of students go back to their homes after a good nine months of studying and partying and living day by day. The seats are not numbered, so everyone is early for once in their lives to catch the seat by the window. And there are no closed compartiments, so friends can come and go saying goodbye to everyone they know when they get bored of the conversation.
But it’s not that time of the year yet, Louis reminds himself. It’s late May, and he’s got all day to get to the platform.
Louis’ always liked wired headphones because they don’t need to be charged every two days. This way, his mind can focus on other things, like what will his parents say about the email they got from the student’s dean last week, instead of freaking out over low battery —they’ve just texted him to ask at what time will he be arriving to Doncaster, so his mind doesn’t rule out any scenario.
Once the noon train comes he hops onto the first wagon he sees —the closest to the escalators— and takes a seat beside a window. With his uni friends’ playlist on loop, he stares out of the window trying not to get lost in thought.
Riiiiing. Beep beep beep bop. Twa la la la la. Riiiiiing. Beep bee-
He struggles to get his phone from his well-packed tote bag. Shoe eater 3000 is calling him.
“Where the fuck are you, mate? We’ve been looking for you for half an hour!” Luke screams into his ear. “Dont tell me you went back to the dorm! The pub is getting crowded by the minute so we can’t save you a seat for much longer!”
Louis’ usually thankful for his friend's thoughtfulness, but not right now. He hangs up without thinking and before he says something he’s not supposed to.
It is what it is.
He rests his head against the window, staring at the way the packed day darkens the green from the trees. The train enters a particularly long tunnel just as his mind starts drifting off to the last time he hanged out with Luke and the girls, just a couple weeks ago, and the fun they had befo-
Boooooo uhhhhhhhhh mua ha ha ha haaa booo-
Now it’s Bambi’s turn with him, it seems.
“‘ello? Whatsapp?”
“LOUIS! What’s with that- achoo” He interrupts himself. A nasty sound tells him Harry’s blowing his nose. Excruciatingly slow, in fact, as most things he does “Anyways, um, HOW ARE YOU?”
He loves his bestest friend in the entire world to bits but what could he be calling for that requires shouting like that?
“Where the fuck are you, Haz?” he quietly asks. “What’s that shouting for?”
“Uh, sorry, Louis. My hands are a mess so you’re on speaker. ‘m just in my bed” Jesus Christ “Anyways, how was your exam? Or rather, how much will you have to spend on the prof?”
Louis’ lips let out the slightest twitch. “Not as much as last year, I think. Sharing dorm with a bookworm has actually been helpful”
Harry hums “Your friend Luke, right? And to think he didn’t look that sharp when I first met him…”
A fly flies dangerously close to his face. That is such a lie. Harry had been enchanted by Luke the first time he met him, just like most people crossing paths with Luke. Louis, on the other hand…
“Yeah, sure” Louis clears his voice. “What are you doing in your room now? Shouldn’t you be at the store?”
Harry’s parents own a little herbal shop, and his bestest friend has been working there full-time for the last couple years, since he’s not studying anymore.
“We were stocking up the potions, mum and I. She sent me to my room after messing up the remedies she was making, so I’ve got nothing better to do than bothering you”
Louis feels the boob on his nose that Harry would’ve given to him if they were face to face.
“Typical Harry, making a mess of everything he touches”
It’s impossible not to hear his smile through the phone “That’s right, bubaloo” Louis hopes the girl in front of him doesn’t catch him blushing.
“Baby cakes, what did you call for?”
“Was on the phone with Zee and Drake earlier today, and like, they were asking when were you coming back. Like, they want to take some days off work to go all out after the party, you know, like, just like last year”
Uh oh.
His friends back home had organized a little-get together last year, when he came back from his first year away. One way or another, everyone at their old school in Doncaster found out, so it turned into a huge party for all the people who came back for the summer. It ended up being pretty epic, Louis has to admit. His friends have always loved a good party, so he’s not surprised they want to go for a second round.
The thing is, Louis actually had enough trouble for the next ten years, or even more. But his best friend in the entire world doesn’t need to know that.
For once, he’s grateful for the laid back character of his Donny crew. They will understand that he’s not in the mood for it this year. Right? Best he can give them is grabbing some rounds at the pub after he takes a nap.
“Actually, is it fine with you lot if we keep it simple this year? Don’t know if you’ll gather many people with just a two hours notice”
Louis hears Harry’s brain processing the information.
“Oh my God, what? What do you mean?” He sounds genuinely confused.
“I’m on the train back home as we speak, Haz”
“OH MY GOD why didn’t you say anything? Don’t you still have, like, tons of exams to do?”
How many courses does his friend think he’s taking? “I’m only enrolled in the mandatory classes so I only have three finals.” He declares.
“But I thought you were there for like a couple weeks more? At least, last year you didn’t come back until June.”
That is true, he thinks. But last year he wasn’t forced to rush his calendar to be sent home two weeks early.
For a moment, Louis thinks about telling Harry what happened. He’s a nice lad, not as judgy as people here in Doncaster tend to be. But to which extent does his kindness go? He’s seen his best friend forgive bullies and cheaters, after some work on their part. But would he excuse witchcraft?
Louis doesn’t want to get into that right now, so he goes with a little white lie. “They were all with Dr. Vince so we could take them all together. I miss the girls too much to pass on that opportunity, right? And you, obviously. Probably miss you the most”
Harry only hums and doesn’t push back. Sweet talking always works with him. “Anyways, have you seen what Gemma..”
They talk for about half an hour before Harry has to go help out his mother again, his kitchen exile ending when she’s finished and in need to put the special pots on the high shelf of the cabinet. The rest of the train back home is quiet, light rain blurring the windows view. He exchanges a couple texts with his parents to confirm they’re still picking him up. The lack of emojis on every response makes Louis think they must be pissed about the situation, so he doesn’t press them much about making him wait in the rain that seemingly falls all over Yorkshire.
1.2-
Doncaster’s station is way emptier than Louis has ever seen it —there’s not much to do in town at 3 pm besides coming home from nine months abroad— so he gets to wait inside the rusty pub while the rain pours outside. His parents are apparently stuck in traffic just two streets away. He takes a seat by the bar, on his own, watching groups of friends come for a pint to celebrate whatever. Probably just life.
A nice cuppa will go down better with this weather, though.
Riiiiing. Beep beep beep bop. Twa la la la l-
His phone rings one more time. Some Irish cunt in your zone wants to call him. Unfortunately for his friend, Louis’ not in the mood to hear about the festive atmosphere back in Manchester, so he lets it go to voicemail. It only takes four missed calls for Niall to take the hint and stop. He drowns the tea while it’s still boiling and almost chokes when someone puts his hand over his shoulder.
“Auch, what the-”
“Louis? England to Louis! Bloody hell, where the fuck do you have your phone?” he demands.
Fuck, the last missed calls must be from him. It’s just what he needed, to spend the next thirty minutes locked in a car with an angry father.
Louis struggles to follow Mark’s fast walking under the rain. When they arrive at the car he gets into the backseat without a word. His mum just says a shy hello to him, looking through the rear mirror with a conflicted look. They make small talk as they exit town. When they’ve run out of things to comment on, Johannah addresses the elephant in the room.
“Darling…” she starts, voice lower and sweeter than she usually uses “Mr. Fletcher called us to tell us something” Louis tenses his jaw but keeps quiet “He said you were involved on an unfortunate accident. Since the exams were the only thing left to do, he agreed to let you take them early just like you asked” neither father nor son fill in the silence. “That was nice of him, actually, so this year’s money won’t go to waste…” she adds in an afterthought.
She starts again after his father clears his throat “But I’ve asked around a little bit, you know how I am”
Oh no, Louis thinks in panic. His mother is the most noisy person on this Earth. Her eagerness to collect local knowledge has generally benefited Louis but, in this case, he can already feel it will bring him no good “You know your friend Trevor studies in Manchester too, right? Well, one of Trevor’s uncle’s a cop, you know, down there in London?” Shit “Don’t know if you know it, but Trevor’s uncle relocated here to be closer to his family, just a couple months ago. He’s been hittin’ the gym with your dad and Tony, Trevor’s dad, you know they’ve trained together for years now…”
His dad hits the breaks all of a sudden.
They’ve stopped at the petrol station just two blocks over their house. The nerves distracted him from noticing he’s five minutes away from his sisters and friends, who might or might have not thrown him a surprise party. The thought cheers him up the tiniest bit, just enough to not crash down.
“What your mother wants to say is that the investigation is coming to an end. They’ve gotten to the conclusion that something really extraordinary must have happened for that poor girl to end up drowning in the pool with a chandelier on top” he says harshly, unforgiving, without any intention of softening the blow “And their main theory is certainly extraordinary, boy” The car behind them starts beeping at them, but Mark has no intentions to move. He’s fully turned to his left to look at Louis in the face “They will accuse you of witchcraft, Louis. There’s no other way any of you school boys could’ve…”
He keeps going on, but Louis can’t focus on a single word. The cops absolutely cannot think Louis would use magic to murder a stranger for no reason at all. They certainly cannot know that that is an actual possibility for Louis —Louis cannot end up on the BBC or their local newspaper without it ruining his life and, potentially, all of his family’s.
So he denies such accusations with grace and virtue, just like he’s been taught.
“I don’t know where the fuck they got that intel, but that is absurd, dad. Why am I to blame for Bonnie’s death? There were dozens of bloody people in that house, and I doubt anyone was bloody sober enough to remember what actually happened! Also, how could I have used magic? I’ve never even met a bloody witch, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life!”
He feels the blood rushing to his cheeks and his temper beginning to unravel. Would they suspect anything for getting so defensive? He knows his parents are not against witches as a collective, just the evil ones, as the public opinion has come to name some of them… Would he be considered one of those if it came out what happened?
“Louis, darling, we were just telling you…” Her mother talks again. Her little nervous laugh betrays her a little “Just so you know, you know? We know you’re not a… magical human, right, Mark?” His dad keeps staring at him without answering “Right, we will help you pay for a solicitor, I know a couple people who can give us references…”
“Right” he answers, though the word feels wrong on his throat.
The three of them sit in silence again while the rain seems to pick up. “Well, now that we’ve established you’re not a fucking witch, we can go home and pretend this hasn’t happened” His dad says “Your sisters are excited to see you earlier than expected”.
Without waiting for a response, he starts the car up and takes them back to the road.Louis panics in silence because he does not know what his sisters —or anyone in Donny— know about his return. He himself does not know what to expect, either, but he doesn’t want to reopen the topic for as long as he can, so he doesn’t ask. Given his parent’s reactions, it won’t be nice asking around. He’ll cross that bridge when he arrives.
1.3-
Louis’ four sisters are waiting for them outside besides the door: Lottie, Felicité, Daisy and Phoebe. His soured mood clears up as he sees them running towards the car, screaming his name. The sight warms up his heart and pushes the situation to the background of his mind for a while.
Louis runs up to them too as soon as he gets out of the car, to get showered in kisses and hugs even from Lottie, who was in his moody too-cool-for-my-family phase the last time he saw her.
“Oh my god, girls, I can’t even breathe” he exclaims as he pushes Felicité closer. When the fuck has she gotten so tall? Has she stolen their mum’s heels?
“Lou! Lou! Your hair’s so long now!” one of the twins screams from behind him.
Oh, right. He shaved his hair in the middle of an obnoxious heat wave last summer because the heat was too much to handle, but he hasn’t touched a scissor since then —so this is probably the longest hair he has ever worn.
“Whoah Phoebe, we can braid it now! And we can all get braids, the five of us!” Daisy gasps “Pleaseeee Lou Lou, will you let us braid your hair? We will be sooooooo gentle with your hair, I swear you will love it!" The group hug dissolves as she starts jumping up and down.
His sisters sound so excited that he can’t bring himself to tell them his girlfriends have been braiding his hair since it was long enough to do it.
“Of course I’ll let you, love”
“C’mon girls, let’s go inside before y’all catch a cold” his father interrupts.
Louis heads inside with a twin on each hand while Lottie starts talking about the changes she’s made to the house in his absence —it seems like she now wants to study interiorism, and their parents will indulge her as long as she doesn’t spend too much.
The first thing he notices is a new collage of pictures decorating the hall. From baby pictures to memories with friends, a big family portrait hangs in the center of it all; it was taken a couple years ago, when he came home for Christmas and his birthday after four months away in university. He remembers it fondly because it was taken the same day he told them he was gay, and they all took strangely well —even Mark, who decided he loved him anyway despite not being his biological son.
Now that he thinks about it… He wonders why they seemed to be against the idea of him being a witch. Just like his sexuality, he couldn’t choose to be born this way, could he? Louis hopes they aren’t getting crazy ideas from TikTok.
He returns to the moment when Felicité shakes his arm and sits him on the couch. The rest of them sit around them on the floor, looking at him with those big green eyes they all inherited from Mark. He had always found them intimidating in moments like this, when they expected him to do something without actually telling him what they wanted. After a rare minute spent completely in silence, Lottie speaks:
“So, did you know Daisy fancies Richard from ballet?”
A couple of hours later, with half his hair on a messy braid, Louis goes to the kitchen to get some water and snacks the girls swear their parents let them eat before dinner. He enters the little space to find his parents panting and pressed against the fridge, which… Okay, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s walked on them doing adult things. When he makes sure they haven’t seen him coming, he tips toes toward the pantry. They’ll have to settle for room temperature drinks.
Right when he’s opening the door, his phone starts ringing full volume. The spooky music coming out of it tells him it’s Harry. As he grabs the object to decline the call, his mother screams and Louis shuts his eyes cringing at the sound. He really does not want his mother to lecture him about sneaking in, especially when she’s always respected them by always knocking on their doors before coming in.
“Oh my god, Loui-”
She stops mid sentence. Harry’s customized ringtone does too. The phones decided to fall out of his hand at the same time. Shit, if it breaks he’ll have to buy one with-
Shit. When he opens his eyes, he is in his room, no parents nor phone in sight.
Fuck.
1.4-
His first reaction is screaming holy bloody hell from the top of his lungs, but he still has a bit of self-control, so he doesn’t.
He also doesn’t start panicking, as much as his racing heart is aiming him to do so. Instead, he shakes his head and starts thinking in silence holy bloody hell this can absolutely not be happening.
This hasn’t happened in almost two years, actually. Since the first day at university, when he was all alone and lost in the hall desperately trying to find the loo. He closed his eyes to accept his tragic destiny, and when he opened them he appeared inside a bathroom stall way too clean to be real. It turned out to be the girl’s loo, but he’d take the embarrassment of walking into the wrong bathroom more than the embarrassment of wetting himself. Then, he got lucky the girls that saw him were so understanding they decided he could go with them after classes. Nothing he’s done after has gotten such a reaction out of him, so he had practically forgotten about it. Until now, after getting caught grabbing food. The stress must be affecting him more than he thought.
Breathe in, breathe out. Nothing good comes from crashing out. Breathe in, breathe out. Nothing good comes from crashing out. Breathe in, breathe out. Nothing good comes from crashing out. Breathe in…
He repeats his mantra a couple times before calming down. It’s so quiet upstairs that he can hear muffled voices coming from below. They are not streaming, but they feel harsh. Louis’ guess is her mother has started freaking out.
Good lord, he has just sworn to them he had nothing to do with magic. What will his parents think of him now? Will they believe the rumors? Will they turn him on to the cops? What would they tell his sisters when he gets arrested for fucking murder? His parents are not extremists in any sense of the word —they criticize the new PM whenever he appears on TV to demonize immigrants and transexual people— although he’s pretty sure they’ve never dealt with murder firsthand before.
He’s so screwed.
Boooooo uhhhhhhhhh mua ha ha ha haaa booo-
Harry really has a knock with timings as of lately. Louis’ not confident he will be able to get something coherent and normal out of his mouth right now, though, no matter how much he likes talking to his best mate. He would definitely notice something was off, and then what would he even tell him? That he saw his mother with her hands all over his step father so he disappeared into his childhood bedroom? What was he, five?
He throws the phone over his suitcase and decides it’s actually time to take a long nice shower. Just to rinse off this day. When he comes out, he’ll go talk to his parents like the responsible adult he is.
Without wasting time, he gets naked and grabs his gel and bathrobe, which takes him a while since they are still between his unpacked belongings. Louis then walks into the bathroom in a hurry and locks the door, praying that none of his sisters come inside looking for all the weird shit they’ve left scattered around the counter. He turns on the water to find it boiling hot, just like Mark and the twins like it. Meanwhile it gets cold enough to not give him a third degree burn, he looks at the mirror and admires his sister’s work. They were so happy to make him his first braid… He hopes they get the chance to do his hair for his trial.
Breathe in, breathe out. Nothing good comes from crashing out.
With one last look in the mirror, he steps into the shower.
The sprinkler is high enough it resembles a waterfall. He pictures it washing away this situation and relaxes into it. At some point, his tears enter the mix of water and shampoo. Louis also borrows a bit of his mum’s shower oil: it’s the same one she’s used since he was a kid, so it reminds him of their nicest moments —like when she told him she was pregnant with Lottie.
Breathe in, breathe out. Nothing good comes from crashing out.
He finally turns off the water and opens the curtain. The bathrobe he grabbed from his room is waiting for him there, in the air. This is not a rare occurrence since last November, when this same bathrobe awaited him outside the bathroom after coming out of a really hot shower on a really cold day —though today he’s not as grateful for it as he usually is.
In the hallway, he hears the telly from downstairs playing some Disney movie, but he’s too on alert to recognize it. His parent’s room is empty, so they must still be downstairs.
As he approaches his own room to get dressed, though, he hears them whispering —or, more exactly, arguing. This is it, he thinks.
Maybe he can come clean and the three of them can talk about the topic at hand like the responsible adults they are, right?
This time, he does knock on the door, despite it being already open. This time, Johannah and Mark do stop their conversation and look at him. Her smile is sweet as ever, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Mark, on the other side, seems on the brink of punching someone — which is actually a strange look coming from him. Louis just stays by the door.
The first one to break the silence is his mum.
“Louis, my love, I think it’s time we have a little chat about the things you don’t tell us” No, it’s fucking not “Like that stunt you pulled in the kitchen just now, right, Mark?” he just hums. Her right foot starts coming up and down in a rhythm, a nervous tick of hers Louis has inherited “If you have something to explain to us, now’s the best moment to tell us”
Louis’ never been much of a strategist, and his heart is beating too fast to stop and think about his options. Moreover, she doesn’t sound particularly pissed, so… “I caught you two making out in the kitchen when I went to get some snacks for the girls but then my phone went off and I didn’t want you to see me seeing you so I kinda wished I was anywhere else” he blurts out “Also, I levitated this bathrobe so I wouldn’t get cold coming out of the shower”
Cold sweat runs down Louis’ back. He just admitted to using magic by his own will. But why did he do that? Hadn’t he established it was a bad idea? Will they go off to the police now and kill two birds —and possibly their son— with one stone?
“And when did that start, son?” she demands.
“Um… Back in October. Kind of” back when he got his Halloween make up done by just his friend’s brushes, no hands attached. At least, that’s when he decided there was definitely something going on with him.
Mark takes a firm step forward that puts him directly in front of his son.
“And what about April? April 29th, perhaps? Did you do any… of that during that night?”
He doesn’t say anything. The room starts feeling too crowded.
Bloody hell.
“I…” His throat closes off in a knot. What can he even say if he barely remembers anything at all?
His room starts feeling smaller and darker, as if the sun had gone down all of a sudden. Louis doesn’t feel welcome in his bedroom anymore. A weird feeling starts creeping inside of him, putting him on alert.
“We believe it’s best for our family that you get out of this house until you’re off to Manchester again” Mark declares.
And, what? What does that even mean? Where is he supposed to go? Louis’ voice comes out in a trembling whisper “But-?”
Mark and Johannah glance at each other, then she walks towards him and wraps him in her arms “You don’t know how hard this is for us, love. But witches are dangerous beings, you know what they say on the telly… And you saw what happened to the Thompson’s, and that Liam boy. And oh, you’ve heard the stories Anne tells about her clients…”
“The police are also coming after the witches' families, Louis” his father takes on “They’ve done such things that anyone who’s seen befriending them has their name written into their bad boys lists. Trevor’s uncle told me so a couple weeks ago. And they’re planning on doing so much more during the summer… Then we got the call about you and we connected the dots. It was just a theory… But you’ve confirmed it, son. Are you gonna tell me we are wrong?” Louis’ fight back the tears so hard he cannot even answer “A witch in our family… Think about your sisters. What would they go through at school if people got word of the situation?”
His head starts spinning so he tightens his grip around his mum, despite what she’s agreed to. At least she’s also shredding some tears.
“Honey, we think it would be best for us all if you don’t stay with us this summer” she declares, eyes weeping, letting him go. “Why don’t you call a friend and ask them to move in for a couple months? We’ll, um… We’ll take you anywhere you want”
He’d ask them to take him as far away from them as possible, but the thought of spending more than necessary with these people makes him sick.
“But what if people find out about me and where I’m staying? Wouldn’t that put another family in danger?” he complains, devastated. His parents share a quick look as if they’d already thought of this.
“We won’t tell anyone, love” his mother whispers. “We swear word of this won’t get out as long as you get away from this house”
Louis’ ears start ringing while his head spins. Their sentence sounds definitive, and maybe not so bad, given what could happen to him if they were a little more hateful. But then, when summer ends and he goes back to university, what will happen? Will they still pay for his studies? Will they allow him to come back for Christmas? Hell, would they agree to a truce for his next birthday so he can see his sisters again? Bloody hell, he’ll need to figure something out to be able to see the girls earlier. Of course, as long as the four gremlins don’t hate him… Could he figure something out about that, though, with his magic? The same magic that put him in this mess in the first place…
This offer isn’t the worst case scenario, given what the government swears they’re doing to the rogue witches that don’t follow their rules. His parents just want to protect their family — he can understand that. Still, he can’t bring himself to give an answer. A knot with all his thoughts and feelings on the situation stuck on his throat.
Mark and Johannah stand side by side in front of his bed. They lock eyes one last time, but neither of them say a word.
“MUUUUUUUM!” a feminine voice screams from the first floor. Louis panics, his parents widen their eyes. If he could ask them just for one thing, it would be that none of the girls could know about what’s going on.
As the hallway is filled with footstomps, his door slams closed on its own. Or, well, because of Louis’ abilities, probably. The footsteps come to an end. Knock, knock, knock.
“Louis, have you seen mum or dad? The twins are getting tired, and I am so hungry. You never came back with the snacks, you sneaky poophead” Lottie says. “You’re probably eating them all as we speak” she follows with her sweet laugh. Oh god, he’s gonna miss her so bad. “Lou, everything alright, bro? Are you with those noise-cancelling headphones of yours? I swear if you don’t answer in the next five secon-”
“Yeah, yeah, all’s good, Lotts! About mum and dad, um…” He looks at them with a questioning look, and they look back looking like two baby deers caught in a headlight. “Um, they’ve probably gone out for a walk or something, now that it’s stopped raining. Imma call them in a second”
She must be pleased with his answer because she goes away running a bit too fast for being indoors. His mum would probably scold her any other day. Mark breaks this little parenthesis by cursing under his breath.
Louis doesn’t have it in himself to argue with them. It’s unfair that he has to take off because he happens to have magical powers, but it is a fact that he’s putting his family in danger. The far-right party has skyrocketed and taken hold of many cities, including Doncaster. They’re reinstating witch-hunting to distract people from real problems in society, just as they blamed queer people years ago. If the police are onto him, the smart thing is to get away from his family, no matter how much it hurts.
They should head to the car the sooner, the better, but the girls cannot see them. Louis thinks there’s only one possible way to get to the car unnoticed, but he’s sure they’re not going to like it. “I… I can teleport us to the car” he offers
His mother hiccups, surprised. Louis would be surprised too, if he was in her position. How ironic that he has to use the thing that’s gotten him kicked out of his house to get them successfully out of said house. He can tell they don’t like his idea, but they aren’t proposing a better one. “C’mon… Give me your hands. I think, erm, we should be connected for this”
They approach him with careful steps and eyes. His parents’ hands are warm as they’ve always been, and they fit perfectly into his own. It takes him back to his childhood, when he made them ask him really nicely if they could grab his hand to cross the street, as he had too much fun running up and down free as a bird. Stubborn boy, he was.
Louis’ nostalgic smile freezes when he doesn’t notice any movement around them. They are still in his room. How the hell did he manage to teleport himself just an hour ago? Panic invades him and the space starts to feel too crowded again —or maybe it’s just him.
Okay, he just needs to relax.
Breath in, breath out. Nothing good comes from crashing out.
He closes his eyes and takes deep breaths to stop his head from spiraling. In, out.
Breath in, breath out. Nothing good comes from crashing out. In, and out. Breath in, breath out. Nothing good comes from crashing out. In, out…
Then, he wonders how the hell does teleportation work. Does he just think of the place he wants to go? When he did it an hour ago he didn’t think of anything. Wait, when was the last time he took a proper look at the garage? Would the magic still work if the toolbox is not exactly where he saw it the last time?
“Louis, love, we don’t have all day” his mother interrupts “Just… I don’t know, think of the car to appear inside of it or something”
Huh… Think of the car to appear inside. It sounds simple. He’s grateful Johannah’s not visibly freaking out. He closes his eyes again.
Think of the car to appear inside of it. Think of the car to appear inside of it. Think of the car to appear inside of it. Think of th- Auch. His ass crashes into something hard and big, kind of like… “Alright, Louis.” he hears Mark say. “Now buckle up and tell us where you’ll be staying”
Right. Back to reality. His head knocks on the ceiling when he moves to reach the seatbelt.
“But I didn’t have any time to think, dad,” he grumbles. “Besides, I don’t even have my thin-” He stops himself when he feels something way too hard for a carseat brushing his hand. Oh, he’s sitting over his luggage. Fucking great.
The engine starts while he changes seats. No music comes out of the radio. Mark starts driving around the neighborhood. His home gets smaller the far away they get. He gets more sad because he didn’t say goodbye to his sisters. Surely, he’ll find a way to sneak in soon. He prays they don’t hate him by then…
“We told you you could choose where to go, love. You can think about it while we get to Main Street”.
1.5-
Everything is great, he thinks.
The rain starts pouring again just as they make it to the next street. It’s so dense that he can’t see how much he’s got left to decide. At least, it fills in the silence that none of them are breaking. At least it lets him with no choice but to think about where does he want to stay for his foreseeable future. With whom. And who will believe whatever lie he tells them without calling him out too fast…
Boooooo uhhhhhhhhh mua ha ha ha haaa
He’s never answered a call so fast.
“Louieh” he hears Harry say. He sounds… far away, his voice muted by some ritualistic-sounding chants “I’m having the trip of my life! My parents never told me the greens could be this good!” the chants start to desynchronise, some of them being replaced with repetitive short noises. Is he getting high with his parents again?
“Harry, what the fuck are you on?”
“Life, mate, life” he answers, dragging the words even slower than usual. Louis rolls his eyes at his bullshit. Then, the chanting gets to an end and the noises turn into full-on laughing. Like, a laugh he knows way too well.
“Harry, are you smoking with Zayn and didn’t tell me?” He doesn't really want to touch any type of drug in the next ten lifetimes, but he could’ve called. What a downgrade from last year, going from a welcome party to getting exclu- “Wait, you haven’t called the whole town for another party, have you?” he panics.
Harry lets out a squeaky noise. “Absolutely not! Who do you think I am?” Oh no, he’s definitely done it. Just like they talked about on the train. Was that the reason why he called back in the kitchen?!?!?
“Hazza, I’m really sorry, I swear I am. But today’s not really the day for a party. Something… kinda came through. ‘s that why you called earlier?” Louis’ bummed he didn’t even read the text messages he left.
The line goes silent for a while. The laughter also comes down. If they were face to face, he’s sure they’d be looking dead into each other's eyes, and Harry would have that frog face of his on. He feels his mum’s eyes through the mirror. They’re not giving him the warm look he’s used to.
“Louieh, are you okay?” Harry finally asks. Louis takes a deep breath and decides there’s no one else in the world he could tell about this.
“I… Actually, can we hang out for a while? Like, just the two of us? Something has happened and I need to, um, get away from home for a while” he hopes Anne and Des don’t get mad if —when— the while turns into three whole months, but his only other option is becoming bloody homeless. At worst, he can couch-surf at his friends’ houses.
Harry, on the other end of the line, audibly lights up. “Oh my god yeeeeeeeessssss I haven’t seen you in soooooo long.”
February was just three months ago but, okay. He’s glad someone still wants him. That Harry still wants him.
Mark suddenly starts honking the car in front of them.
“Wait, are you already in the car? My parents aren’t even here, I’ll have to go to the shop to tell them you’re staying for dinner” he makes a pause “I also gotta kick Zayn out of here, if you wanna be alone. Hope he don’t take it the wrong way”
Louis thinks he’ll have enough time to make it up to them during the summer, seeing as he won’t have anyone else to bother these next months. Fuck, he won’t see his sisters. It makes him want to cry. “Louberryy, I gotta hang up, like, gotta get this place nice and ready for you. See you soooooooon. Bye.”
Then he hangs up. Louis keeps his phone near his face; Harry’s voice when he’s high is a sweet melody he keeps close to his heart.
“To the Styles’, then?” his father asks. The excitement of seeing his bestest friend in the entire world doesn’t last long as the reality of the situation starts sinking in. He slips down the seat.
“Yes, I guess” he mumbles.
Cheers to that.