Wild Side [h.s au]

Chapter 31

"Hey bunny, I almost suffocated and I think it's bound to happen again if you keep squeezing me so tightly," Harry says and coughs once again, humour in his voice.

I don't say anything, just keep holding him, slightly loosening my grip on him while I bury my face into the crook of his neck. He hesitantly wraps his arms around me as well, not urging me to get off, only holding me silently. I blink away the newly gathered tears in my eyes, giving myself a couple of more seconds to collect myself before pulling away.

Both of us sit up and my palms push away his damp hair sticking to his face, green eyes locking with mine. My hand slides to the nape of his neck and I pull him to me, pressing our lips together in a firm kiss, showing him how much I'm glad he's okay. And I am, I am more than glad, I'm scared to think what would've happened if the situation had turned out differently.

He places his palm where my jaw meets my neck, breaking the kiss so he can look me in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I ask as my eyes search his face, taking in every single detail as I silently appreciate he's alright.

"For scaring you," he says. "This is the first time I've ever seen fear in your eyes and I hate to be the cause of it."

I leave a quick kiss on his lips then let out a breathy laugh, shaking my head. "It's definitely not your fault. But for the sake of both of us, let's stay away from water."

"Agreed, I can't swim for shit." He chuckles, running his hand through his soaked hair, drops of water sprinkling around as he does it.

"Are you sure you're alright? Can you breathe properly? Is there a bruise anywhere? Do you need-"

"Easy there, Tiger," he says, leaning in to kiss my cheek. "Everything is okay, I'm safe."

My heart almost melts when he uses the soothing words I always say when he has one of his episodes or to calm him down in general. I can see by the look in his eyes and his gestures that this calming effect is exactly what he was aiming for, a breath of relief pushing past my lips.

"Wait a minute, where the hell are we?" I ask as it strikes me we're basically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but trees, grass, and water. I'm still shocked by what has just happened, but I'll deal with that later.

"In deep shit, obviously," he mutters, pulling his earpiece out, shaking it and tapping it with his fingers. "It's dead, water has damaged it. We can't call for help now."

I check mine too, seeing it's broken, so we end up chucking them into the water, giving ourselves some time to think this through. We can't go back since those soldiers are most probably looking for us, or at least expecting us to be there if we call for help. Well that, and we have no idea which way we used to get here.

"I only hope they made it back to Hazard safely," Harry mumbles, a frown on his face.

"Of course they did, I bet they're looking for us as we speak," I tell him, a reassuring smile on my face. "How much you wanna bet Alex and Niall are freaking out right now?"

"Your crazy brother is probably rambling about us dying in some horrific way," he says and snorts. "Oh no, I bet they're all alone and unprotected, Lenny has probably broken all of her bones and H has amnesia and thinks his name is Howard!" He imitates him, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically.

I burst out laughing so loudly and obnoxiously, I'm glad no one but Harry can hear me. It's come to that point where no sound is coming out, I'm just flapping my hands awkwardly while my mouth is open, tears brimming in my squinted eyes. The fact I can imagine Alex's reaction so clearly is making it worse.