concealing ➸ tomlinson

x

unfortunately for kris, the rest of her night was restless.

when she finally fell asleep, she had flashes of nightmares, of which didn't last for very long. buildings were collapsing in on themselves, someone was screaming. every part of her body was frigid with cold. there were voices as well, but what they were saying was nearly impossible to make out. it took what felt like forever, but kris managed to make out what was being said.

"j-just stay away from me, please."

"it's ok, i just need you to calm down."

"louis, go. i can't hurt you."

"you won't hurt me. it doesn't matter, we just need you to stop."

"i can't. i'm sorry."

kris's eyes flew open, mouth wide for air. her heart pounded painfully inside her chest. the room was still as dark as it had been when she'd gone to bed.

jesus, she thought, relaxing back into her pillow and closed her eyes again.

louis. those had been the voices of her and louis. but why? why had she had a nightmare about a boy she barely knew? kris sat up and put her head on her knees, taking deep breaths to calm her heartbeat.

after a moment, she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror on the door. the veins in her arms were slightly more prominent than last she'd looked. her hands ached worse than her feet did.

there was an explanation for that, certainly. she was just too tired, too distracted to think of one. or, a good one, anyway.

kris walked down the hallway to the ugc. something familiar had to be there.

and there was, as she found, walking in. down near the fountain, louis had a large target propped up against the wall. it appeared to have small daggers sticking out of the fabric. kris walked over, bare feet clicking against the tile until she was standing next to him.

"nice aim." she said.

louis rolled his right wrist, then flicked it up the target. spikes of ice pierced into the cloth, perfectly fired.

"nice ammo." kris added.

louis glanced at her and smiled. "icicles kill over 150 people each year over in russia."

"remind me not to travel to russia, then." kris smiled in return.

"you want to do a bit of target practice?"

"i don't think my powers would be able to work with hitting a bullseye."

"so we'll improvise." louis wiped away a thin layer of frost from his hands and walked over to a large crowd of dummies, wheels attached to what would be legs. "pretend this nice fella here is an enemy. when i push him to you, defend yourself."

kris turned her body so she was entirely facing him. "can i pretend it's jacob?"

louis didn't bother trying to hide a smirk. "please do."

then, he stepped behind the dummy, took it back a few steps, then pushed it hard. it took kris two seconds to open up her hand, then close it and snap the dummy right in two.

"holy shit." louis laughed, "i'm actually going to print out a poster warning everyone not to get on your bad side."

kris laughed along. their laughs were vastly different. louis's was much louder and caused his entire face to light up. kris laughed quietly, and her eyes closed. it was a weird detail to notice, but she noticed nonetheless.