slight alterations ➸ larry

eight

"yeah. okay." louis looks down at his feet, and then back up. "this way," he says, and drags harry down the path in the forest that they had been approaching.

of course, harry knows what's coming up, now, but he doesn't let on to louis that he knows.

"when i was little, i found this old tree house in the woods over here," louis smiles at the memory, "it was kind of old, and obviously abandoned. so, i decked it out with all my little kid stuff, you know, crayons and toy guns and that." he laughs a little, "i actually stole a tarp from my dad so that i could cover up the roof so that rain water wouldn't get in.

"i was kind of obsessed with it, i would come after school nearly every day and just sit in there, until i was, like, fifteen. eventually i just forgot about it, until about last month. i thought we could come check it out together."

harry feels kind of wrong, because this is one of the important bonding moments for louis and zayn, but what's he going to do? louis brought him here, and not zayn. the book is changing...

"harry?" louis kicks a branch on the ground. 

"hmm?"

"i really need you to stop looking like you've just killed a puppy."

"oh." harry didn't realize he'd been portraying his thoughts onto his face.

"like, okay, i get that you have predetermined notions or whatever about zayn and i, but they're gonna have to change. if the book itself is changing, why can't you?" 

"good point," harry agrees, and the duo continues their trek into the woods. (harry still feels weird about it, but he isn't about to tell louis that.)

louis spots the tree house before harry does, but when harry does see it, he's shocked. it's kind of like when you see a movie based on a book and nothing looks the way you pictured it in your head. 

the tarp over the top is mangled and old, but green, not the blue harry had imagined. the ladder up to the tree was metal, rather than wood. when the pair climbed up the metal ladder and inside, harry felt a bit better. at least the things in here were kind of like what he had pictured. 

"wow..." louis admired his childhood place, and harry loved watching as he did. 

his blue eyes widened as memories streamed into louis' mind one after the other, and he began to speak them out loud. 

he told a story about how he found a cat up here at one time, and he asked his mom if he could keep it but then he found out it belonged to the old man down the street, and a story about how he almost fell out one time because there was a "giant ass spider." 

harry loved listening. he hadn't heard these stories before, louis had told different ones to zayn. maybe there were just so many that louis couldn't tell them all. the thought made harry smile. 

"hey, i have an idea," louis says randomly, after looking at some of the water-damaged drawings that he had pinned up years prior. it was kind of surprising how well the things in here had stood the test of time. 

harry perks his eyebrows as if to tell louis to go on. instead of explaining, louis just sticks his arm out the window and tries to yank the tarp off of the roof of the structure. he can't quite get a good grip on it, so he sticks his whole torso out the window and reaches for it. he starts to fall backwards out of the window, but luckily harry is there to stop him from falling. harry presses his hands to louis' hips, steadying him against the window pane. 

"thanks," louis breathes, and then he grabs a fistful of the tarp and pulls it downward. after a little part of it starts to fall, the rest comes down with it, right onto the man hanging out of the window. 

"oh, ew!" louis gags as the tarp falls on him and leaves and branches came down on him with it, some falling into his mouth. 

harry helps him back in and pushes the tarp off so that it falls to the ground. louis wipes the leaves off himself, and then nods his head towards the ceiling, where there's a huge hole. 

"that's why i needed the tarp," louis explains, as if harry hadn't noticed it before. "but i figured since it's clear out tonight, we could stargaze." louis sits on the floor underneath the hole.

"i love the stars."

"as do i!" louis cheers, beckoning for harry to join him on the floor. 

harry does, of course, and then they both lay back. harry thinks about how much this messes up the plot, but then he wishes the thought away and enjoys the moment.

it starts to get colder outside, so louis scoots closer to harry as instinct. harry can feel the heat radiating off louis' body, and it's making it really hard for harry to think zouis is his otp anymore. 

he thinks, is it really so wrong if everything in the book changes? he doesn't know the answer to that. but, as louis closes his eyes and hums the tune of a song harry doesn't know, he really hopes that it's not wrong to want it to change. 

-

ok sorry this is short but i thought that was a really nice ending!!

i love this book honestly i wish i had more time to write it 

speaking of stars in this chapter, what's your zodiac? i'm a pisces.