for neozeka:
There’s blood trickling down Louis’ temple, onto his cheek. His head feels woozy, as though it’s been stuffed with cotton. His hands are cuffed behind him, legs tied together at the ankles, and he can’t move. There’s no escape.
There’s no escape.
It’s not the first time Louis has been in a situation like this. Caught and defenseless with seemingly no way out, but it is the first time he hasn’t thought to die would be an awfully big adventure. This is the first time he’s ever felt scared.
Terrified.
For years, he’s thought about death fleetingly, in split second intervals. And all the times he’s thought about it, he always assumed that it would come at the hands of Captain Hook.
He hasn’t thought about it in months. Years, maybe. And now, here in this dingy little room with Smee on the other side of the door, it’s all Louis can think about. It’s the only thing Louis can think about.
There’s no escape, and that’s the most terrifying thought Louis has had in his entire life.
Maybe that’s a part of growing up.
The door slamming open comes before Louis is ready for it. Not that Louis will ever really be ready for it. Smee strides in, all of his pot-bellied glory hanging out for the entire world to see, goons hanging out behind him.
“Peter,” Smee booms, belly jiggling, “Have you come to terms with your predicament yet?”
Slowly, Louis blinks. Blood drips unnervingly close to his eye, threatening to enter. His hands flex behind his back, trying and failing to find a way out. “Go fuck yourself.”
Smee laughs. “My, my, someone has grown up,” he observes. “Such foul language from a pretty little lad like yourself.” He grasps Louis’ chin between his fingers, holding it still even as Louis tries to jerk away.
Louis’ eyes burn, but it’s not with tears. Anger, fury. “Get your hands off me,” he spits, still struggling to get away.
Smee obliges, making it obvious he’s only doing so because he’s choosing to do so. “Do you know why you’re here, little Pan?” he asks, stroking his own chin now.
“Because you’re a vile, despicable human being who assaults people in their sleep,” Louis spits, gaining a second wind and struggling to get himself free of his bonds again.
He has even less success this time.
“No,” Smee says, eyes suddenly turning cold in a way Louis has never seen before. Smee has always been an annoyance but usually only that - he’s always cared more about loot and treasure than defeating Peter Pan and his Lost Boys. “He cares about you, you know. We could have beaten you hundreds of times over but he’s always too busy chasing after you to realize that.”
Louis goes still before he even realizes he’s doing it. He clenches his jaw and looks away, refuses to give in to the bait. Harry - Hook doesn’t care about him. Not like that, at least, not to the extent where he can’t see anything else like Smee is claiming.
“Stop pretending that you didn’t know!” Smee shouts suddenly, spittle flying from his mouth and hitting Louis’ cheek. “You distract him with your antics, and your ploys, and I’ve had enough! It’s time to be rid of you for once and for all!”
He lunges for Louis, sharp glint of a knife playing off the light, and it’s only out of that instinctive self-preservation reaction that Louis twists to the side, sending the chair he’s sitting in toppling over. Smee falls over, landing on his face against the floor, giving Louis a chance to shove himself as far away as possible.
As far as possible isn’t far enough. Louis is still tied to the chair, immobile, all of his weight on one arm now, and there’s nothing he can do, nowhere he can go.
Death doesn’t seem like a big adventure anymore.
Smee rises ungracefully to his feet, stalking over to where Louis lies, knife still glimmering in his hand. Louis’ breath is coming fast and short, heat beating triple time in his chest. He doesn’t want to die. He doesn’t want to die.
“There’s nowhere for you to go,” Smee snarls, eyes still filled with that cold, unfeeling stare. “You’re going to die, Pan, and there’s nothing left to do but accept that.”
Louis closes his eyes. If he’s to die then his last image isn’t going to be Smee’s too-small shirt, his belly hanging over his trousers. No, Louis is going to die thinking about Tink and his Lost Boys, Liam and Niall and Zayn, about the green of Harry’s eyes and the way he kisses, devout and devouring, all consuming.
Louis had his chance, and he missed it. Now he’ll go to his grave regretting not having taken it.
A loud burst of sound startles Louis’ eyes open. Smee looks towards the door in shock, but it’s already too late. Wood splinters, breaks apart, and then there’s Harry standing in the space he’s created, dressed in full Captain Hook get-up, sword at the ready.
“Mr. Smee,” he says. “I think you’ve taken something that rightfully belongs to me.”
Louis can only watch with wide eyes, craning his neck, as Harry and Smee clash swords, blocking and parrying and thrusting, dancing around the small room as they fight for the upper hand, drawing small measures of blood from each other.
It was never a fair fight. In a matter of minutes, Harry wins, driving his sword through Smee’s chest, sending him toppling over to the ground, dead before he hits the floor.
It’s a minute before Harry turns around, shoulders heaving in his shirt, back tense and unwelcoming. Louis licks his dry lips and waits, blood starting to dry on his temple.
Harry’s shoulders aren’t any less tense as he turns around, expression almost frighteningly blank. He doesn’t say anything as he crosses the room, kneels beside Louis and starts untying him. He’s careful not to touch Louis more than absolutely necessary.
Once he’s free, Louis sits up carefully. Harry still hasn’t said anything, shoulders still holding that tightness in them. It’s been a long, trying day and there’s a dead body only a few feet away from them, but Louis doesn’t care. He reaches out and touches Harry’s cheek gently, finally drawing his attention. “I’m okay,” he says, promises. “I’m okay.”
Harry draws in a deep, ragged breath. “You need to go,” he says finally, meeting Louis’ eyes. “I can’t keep doing this with you, Louis, not when it’s going to put you in danger. Our lives are incompatible.”
Louis blinks. “Five minutes ago you were announcing to the entire world that I rightfully belong to you,” he says a little numbly, refusing to let go of Harry’s face.
“Five minutes ago I thought you were about to die,” Harry says, shrugging. “I can’t be held accountable for the things I say when I think you’re about to die.”
That’s bullshit. “No,” Louis says, pushing himself up onto his knees so they’re mostly eye level, pinching Harry’s shoulder. “You don’t get to swoop in and save me from your own right hand and then tell me to get lost. You don’t get to do that.”
“So tell me what I’m supposed to do, then!” Harry shouts, pulling back and flinging his hat off his head so he can rake his hand through his hair. “I’m a pirate, Louis, and you’re Peter Pan. There’s no reconciling those two things.”
Louis blinks again, slower this time. Harry’s not a villain. Louis has thought of him that way in the past, but the truth is that Harry is not a villain. And for all of his posturing and imagined self-importance, Louis isn’t the good guy, either. Neither of them are exactly what they pretend to be, and maybe it’s time they admit that.
“The first time you kissed me I panicked and thought I was going to pass out from how much I liked it,” Louis says abruptly, and just like that he has Harry’s fully attention again, has Harry’s full intent again.
“You’re lying to yourself again,” Harry says, crowding Louis against a wall and holding him there with his body. “The first time we kissed you kissed me.”
That’s something Louis is never going to admit, no matter how this turns out.
Louis isn’t scared of him anymore, hasn’t been for a long time. Scared of his feelings for Harry, maybe, but not of him. He reaches up and tangles his fingers in Harry’s hair, pulls him down a little more. “If I wanted to be rid of you I could have been rid of you ages ago.”
Against him, Harry’s gone still. “What are you saying, Louis?”
This is the turning point. There’s no coming back from here, and maybe a day ago, a week ago, a month ago Louis wouldn’t have been ready for it, but now? Now Louis is ready to live.
“I’m saying,” Louis starts, finishing the sentence by pushing himself up onto his tip-toes and kissing Harry. He puts his entire heart and soul into it, dragging their mouths together. It takes barely even a second for Harry to start kissing back, deep and wet and dragging. It’s toe-curlingly good, achingly good, and Louis can wait to start the rest of his life.
“Second star to the right,” Louis murmurs into Harry’s mouth, feeling the curve of Harry’s smile.
“And straight on ‘til morning,” Harry finishes.
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