"Harry she's hungry again!" Louis calls from where he's walking at the front of the group. Darcy has just begun to cry against his chest, little arms flailing about as she tries to escape her carrier.
"Bring her here," Harry says, looking up from his conversation with Ella. The two of them have become fast friends over the last three weeks. Louis claims he's jealous, and that it's not fair that he has to take care of Darcy while Harry hangs out with his new friend, but Harry knows he grateful they're getting along, and he loves caring for Darcy.
Louis takes Darcy out of her blanket carrier, unstrapping her from his chest as he walks over to Harry, who quickly pulls off his shirt.
"Trade," he says, throwing the shirt at Louis's face as he takes their baby from his boyfriend's arms.
"Hey!" Louis protests, sputtering as he bats the fabric away from his face. Harry just chuckles and lets Darcy latch onto him. As always, she immediately stops fussing and begins to feed. It seems the girl only ever cries when she's hungry. She's one of the happiest babies ever.
Louis comes up behind Harry and wraps his arms around his waist, propping his head up on Harry's shoulder. He rubs soft circles into Harry's stomach with his fingertips. Harry melts into him, leaning against his chest.
"You're so hot," Louis whispers into his ear, running his hands along Harry's lower belly.
"Shut up," Harry tells him, shivering slightly. "I'm literally in the middle of feeding our daughter."
"And you look hot while doing it," Louis argues.
Harry just giggles slightly and pulls away from Louis, moving to join Niall on the log he's sat on. The rest of their friends had seen that Darcy needed to be fed and they'd stopped walking, sitting around on the forest floor to take a break.
"Hey, come back," Louis protests, coming to sit next to Harry.
"Not if you're going to hit on me while I feed Darcy," Harry denies, scooting closer to Niall, who just laughs.
"But you're so beautiful," Louis says, smirking and leaning towards Harry. "You deserve to know."
"Stop it," Harry giggles, pushing Louis's face away with his free hand. Louis chuckles as he does, trying to lean closer.
"You're gorgeous," he continues, trying to avoid Harry's hand as he continues to try to push Louis away. "You're gorgeous, and beautiful, and hot, and sexy, and adorable, and cute all at once and it's ridiculous."
Harry laughs, standing again to escape Louis, careful not to disturb Darcy.
"I don't know how anyone could be all of those things at one time, but you are and it's perfect," Louis declares, following him.
Harry walks faster, trying to avoid him, but Louis is persistent. He follows Harry as they weave through trees and logs, around their friends who are all watching them, laughing. Louis keeps shouting compliments at Harry as Harry laughs and blushes, trying to feed Darcy at the same time.
"You're smart and funny and kind and sweet and endearing," Louis's saying, grinning as Harry hops over a log and heads for Ella.
"Here," he says quickly, handing her Darcy, who's finished feeding. "Can you hold her for a sec?"
"Course," Ella grins, taking the baby from him gently.
"You are the most perfect person," Louis continues, following Harry, who starts to run, stumbling over Stan and Liam who are watching them from the ground, laughing.
"Stop it," Harry orders, pointing at Louis who's beginning to run after him as well. "Stop!" he laughs.
"I love you, Harry," Louis calls, chasing him around Zayn, Sara, and Paul. "You're beautiful inside and out and you deserve the world!"
"What is this?" Harry laughs as he tries to get away. "Are you just going to aggressively yell compliments at me for the rest of the day or something?"
Louis finally catches up to him and wraps his arms around Harry's waist as the younger lad struggles to get away. "Until you let me kiss you," he says, picking Harry up and spinning him around a few times.
Harry shrieks with laughter, gripping onto Louis's shoulders so he doesn't fall. Louis sets him down next to a tree and pushes him against the trunk, pressing their bodies together.
"You're so gorgeous," he whispers into Harry's ear.
Harry just laughs, dimples showing and green eyes crinkling. Louis's giggling too, blue eyes shining with mirth.
"Now kiss me you fool," Louis says.
Harry doesn't need to be told twice. He kisses Louis deeply, arms wrapping around his shoulders to pull him closer against his body. Louis sighs into the kiss, carding his fingers through Harry's hair with one hand, the other one gripping onto his waist.
They kiss passionately, mouths sliding against each other until Louis runs his tongue along Harry's lower lip, silently pleading for entrance. Harry opens his mouth for him and feels Louis pressing him closer against the tree, the bark scratching against his bare back.
From there, things escalate as Louis grabs the back of Harry's thigh, pulling it up to wrap around his waist. Harry gasps in shock as he does, but he doesn't separate their lips. He feels Louis's other hand move from his hair down his neck to his shoulder and chest, running his fingers across the bare skin. Harry shivers, pulling Louis closer until-
"Alright, enough," Liam calls, chuckling. "If you wanna go make love, just leave and find some random cave like you did last time. We'll watch Darcy again, just don't make us watch this."
Louis and Harry break apart. Harry rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.
"You're still beautiful," Louis tells him softly, kissing him of the cheek quickly before grabbing his hand and pulling him back to their friends. He throws Harry his t-shirt from where it lay abandoned on the ground.
He pulls it on quickly and goes to sit down next to Ella. Darcy gurgles happily when she sees him, but doesn't reach her hands out to be held. Ella readjusts her in her arms.
"She's so cute," she coos.
"Yeah," Harry agrees. "She likes you a lot, too."
Ella leans down to make a funny face at Darcy, who gives her a gurgle-ly baby laugh, clapping her tiny hands together. Ella grins and tickles her belly gently, making Darcy smile more.
Harry's own face breaks into a grin watching this. "You'd better not steal my baby girl from me," he warns.
"Oh, you're never going to get her back," Ella jokes, holding Darcy closer to her chest.
Harry just smiles, looking over at Louis who has sat down next to Stan and Liam, stealing a piece of cooked rabbit meat from Liam's hand.
He loves just sitting and admiring Louis, watching the way the sun dances across his tan skin, lighting the edges of his hair with a golden glow. He loves the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles and his entire face lights up. He looks like sunshine.
He's changed, yes. Harry has too. They both noticed the extent of it the first time they snuck off to a quiet cave they had found half a mile away from their campsite. It was three days after they had found each other again. They left Darcy with their friends who promised to look after her, and went to spend some alone time.
They made love to each other that night, delighting in their moans and soft sighs as they kissed and worshiped each other for the first time in months. Harry was so glad Louis didn't pull away when he undressed, revealing his soft tummy, covered in stretch marks. His once firm stomach, made of hard muscle and tough skin had become something squishy and flabby, covered in wrinkles and permanent marks.
Louis hadn't made him feel bad about the change at all. In fact, he took extra care to kiss every part of Harry's tummy, declaring that it was beautiful and he didn't care that it looks different. He said the change is proof that Harry carried their daughter, and the marks are just a beautiful reminder of what their love had created or something like that. Harry wasn't much listening because as Louis was speaking, he was also running his hands along the inside of Harry's thighs, and kissing the soft skin around his V-line.
Louis made sure to be extra gentle with Harry that night, knowing that he was still sore from delivering Darcy, even a month and a half later. He never did anything without making sure Harry was comfortable, which made Harry fall in love with him even more. That's the way it's been ever since. Louis staying gentle and Harry loving him for it.
But Louis's body had also changed in the time they were separated. He's much thinner, almost scarily so. He explained to Harry that first night that it's because they never fed him enough at the concentration camp. It scares Harry a little because every time he touches Louis's chest, he can feel each one of his ribs poking against his skin. His collarbones and cheekbones are even more prominent than they were in the past and there's almost no softness to his body at all anymore.
Where he used to have love handles and squishy skin, he now has bones and hard muscle. He seems smaller, more fragile, but stronger at the same time. Harry knows that he himself is also a bit thinner, used to not eating much anymore while on the run, but Louis is even worse. It reminds Harry of pictures of prisoners from WWII concentration camps, although he knows it isn't actually that extreme. It just scares him that Louis's lost that much weight in that short amount of time.
Despite everything, though, their bodies still fit together like puzzle pieces. They're able to pick off right where they left off, both of them remembering exactly what the other likes. Louis knows exactly how to draw soft moans of pleasure out of Harry's lips, and Harry does the same for him, delighting in the gentle pants and sighs Louis makes while they make love to each other.
They stay careful, having no protection. Louis's sure to pull out in time, but not before he has Harry panting, unable to say anything but Louis's name. That night, they lay together in the cave, bodies pressed together in the aftermath, whispering "I love you"s into the darkness.
When they finally headed back to camp, they found Darcy happily gurgling in Ella's arms while Niall pulled funny faces at her. They ate dinner with their friends and Niall teased Harry about his limp, but Harry just smiled. It had totally been worth it.
That night, they had cuddled close together, Louis spooning Harry against his chest. Darcy was laying beside them in her little bed of blankets and Harry had smiled, thinking that he was so lucky to have this beautiful family. Just him, Louis, their baby girl, and all their friends.
Now, he looks around, again admiring Louis. He seems to only be doing that recently. Ever since Louis came back, he's all Harry's been thinking about. Well, him and Darcy, but that comes as a package deal.
And after they'd gotten over the initial shock of being back together, things between them started to get back to exactly how they used to be. Teasing, bickering, sweet nothings, shameless flirting, and randomly snogging have once again become a part of Harry's life.
And he wouldn't want it any other way.
-----
"You're so beautiful," Louis says.
"You can't even see me," Harry giggles, holding the phone closer against his ear.
"I don't need to see you to know it," Louis tells him. Harry can hear the smile in his voice.
They've been on the phone for the past three hours. It's almost two in the morning and they have school the next day, but neither of them care much.
"Hazza," Louis says softly, voice cracking through the phone's speakers, "Go outside."
"Why?" Harry asks.
He hears Louis chuckle a bit. "Because I said so."
Harry giggles and complies, getting out of bed and opening his bedroom door. He sneaks down the hallway, careful not to make noise that would wake his parents or his older sister. He slips on his shoes when he gets downstairs and goes out into his backyard.
"Okay," he says into the phone. "I'm outside."
"Look up," is all Louis tells him.
Harry does and he gasps. The sky is completely clear. Stars litter the blackness, glittering above him like a blanket of light. The moon is nearly full and it hangs low over the sky. It's truly a beautiful picture and Harry wants to stare at the stars forever.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Louis asks, a laugh dancing in his voice.
Harry nods, and then remembers Louis can't see him, so he says, "Yeah, it is," instead.
"Just like you," Louis tells him. "Beautiful."
"You're beautifuller," Harry says.
Louis laughs. "That's not a word, my love."
"Doesn't matter."
Harry smiles up at the sky, thinking about how Louis said he was just as beautiful as the stars above him. That doesn't make much sense to Harry. How could he be that pretty? He's about to ask Louis when suddenly, the ground beneath his feet buckles.
There's a loud bang and an explosion sets off behind him. He whirls around to see a giant fireball ripping it's way through his house with a blast louder than anything he's ever heard before. He screams as he watches his home get blasted into oblivion, crumbling stone and concrete raining down while the rest catches on fire, or even vaporizes.
Hazily, he registers that the exact same thing has happened to all the houses on his street, every single one of them has exploded and he doesn't know why.
He hears Louis shouting on the other end of the phone but he can't think about that right now.
"Mum!" he cries, running up to his destroyed house. "Gemma! Robin!"
He knows it's pointless. There's no way they could have survived that explosion. There's no way they could still be alive. He's going to get hurt if he goes into the flaming rubble that used to be his home.
"Harry!" Someone is calling his name and it takes him a moment to realize the voice is coming from his phone.
"Harry, are you okay?" Louis cries, panic filling his voice. "Harry, please tell me you're okay!"
"Louis," Harry sobs, holding the phone up to his ear as he looks around his neighborhood. All around him houses are burning. All around him homes have blown up. He seems to be the only one alive for miles. "Louis my house..."
"I know, love," Louis says, and Harry can tell that he's crying too. "I know, it happened here too. I heard the explosion on your end over the phone but my house... it happened to mine too."
"My mum..." Harry cries, running towards his house, desperate to see if any of his family had survived. "Gemma, Robin..."
"Harry, you need to get out of there," Louis says urgently. "We both need to leave. The war's come to our town. We need to hide."
"I can't leave them," Harry protests, trying to find a way through the burning rubble.
Louis's voice cuts through the night, crying through the speakers. He's completely sobbing now, Harry can tell. "You have to, Harry. We have to leave them. I don't want to either but we've got to get away. Please Harry, I can't... I can't lose you too. You need to get out of there before-"
But then Harry hears them. Soldiers round the corner of his street, guns drawn as they walk down the road. They're Purge, he knows it. They'd clearly set up bombs in each house just to eliminate the civilians there. Now they're searching for survivors.
"Harry?" Louis asks urgently. "Harry?"
"Where do I go?" Harry says quietly, running into the forest behind his house as discretely as he can.
"Meet me at our place," Louis tells him. "Get there as fast as you can."
Three minutes later, Harry's at the park, exactly halfway between both of their houses. He sees Louis running up to him.
"Harry," Louis sobs, running to him and wrapping his arms around him.
"My mum," Harry cries into his shoulder. "My sister, and Robin..."
"I know," Louis says softly, tears streaming down his cheeks and sobs choking his voice. "Mine too. My mum and my sisters, they're all..."
He can't seem to finish his thought because he just starts to cry more. All around them, neighborhoods are on fire. Not a single house remains standing.
"We need to leave," Louis says urgently. "We need to get out of here before the Purge can find us. They'll just kill us."
"Where do we go?" Harry asks, grabbing onto Louis's hand tightly.
The older boy looks at him, eyes swimming with tears. It's clear he doesn't know what to do. Harry looks up to him, relies on Louis for protection and guidance. Harry hates that he does, but it's the truth. Louis's two years older than him, has more experience, and he's definitely been paying more attention to the war than Harry.
"I don't know," Louis says. "We just get as far away from here as possible."
So they run. They run through the forest for three days, until, weakened and exhausted, they're found by a young woman clad in armor. She introduces herself as Scarlett Raye, the woman in charge of the entire Resistance cause. She guides them to a base where she helps them gain their strength back.
It's there that Louis decides he wants to fight. He says he wants to get revenge on the people who killed his family. He wants to fight to make sure no one else has to go through that. Harry decides to join him. They train with Scarlett until they're eventually even better in combat than she. That's when she puts them with the other boys.
All of the lads are ecstatic to know the others survived. The night their town was destroyed, Niall had been outside with his dog, letting her relieve herself since she wouldn't stop whining that night. Zayn and Liam had fallen asleep in Zayn's treehouse, having been studying that night. They'd all managed to escape the explosions and find the Resistance. Niall said it was fate.
Together, Harry, Louis, Liam, Zayn, and Niall form the Direction Squadron: the best force in the Resistance. They fight to end the war and stop the Purge from killing innocent people. The reason for the attack on their town remains a mystery still, but it will forever be the Purge's greatest mistake, because from that rubble, the team that emerged became their worst enemy.
------
A/N
Okay, this one was kind of a filler chapter, but I have some exciting stuff planned for the next few chapters, so just hang in there :)
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy!