Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter Seventy One.

Trees whizzed through Harry's vision while he sat with his head pressed against the glass of the car windows, mind foggy and feelings numb. Trees turned into houses, houses turned into traffic lights, traffic lights turned into businesses and he realized he was no longer in Northwood. He was in the, what could loosely be called a city, just on the opposite side of the dense forest that surrounded his hometown. He wasn't at all familiarized with the majority of town, just the small section where he and Liam had made countless trips to Walmart just to wander around and look at pointless crap neither of them needed.

Harry's eyes fluttered closed to block out the view, too much to see for his clouded sense of reality. He missed when the massive super stores turned back into residential streets filled with apartments and tiny homes. The car soon stopped, and the engine died. He looked up to see they had parked in the driveway of a small, one story, ranch-style home. Built with a combination of red brick and yellow siding, lined with green hedges, the light hanging beside the doorway was flicked on despite the sun still hanging high in the sky. It was in a neighborhood he recognized he used to trick-or-treat in, when he became greedy and Northwood's candy wasn't enough for his sugar-filled veins.

As soon as he stepped outside and the car doors were shut the bellowing bark of a dog disrupted the quiet, and that triggered the neighborhood dogs to go off as well.

"Don't be alarmed, there's a massive German Shepherd that definitely wants to lick your face," Louis spoke, his keys jingling between his fingers. "Also, protect your valuables. He's a cockstomper."

Harry followed behind Louis when he stepped up the short pathway, made of worn cobblestones embedded into the dirt and sprouted dandelions between each slab. The dog's barking never ceased even after the neighbor's dog had given up, and he wasn't kidding when he said the dog was massive. He nearly wiped Louis straight off his feet as soon as the door opened, barreling past in pursuit of the stranger behind him, and his paws dug into Harry's already sore thighs. Nails dug into his flesh, and soon the dog was propped up on two feet and Harry was face to face with puppy eyes and a wet nose.

He clung onto the metal railing to keep from plummeting to the ground at the bottom of the steps, but quickly Louis was grabbing the dog by the collar to rip him off. "Gunther, down."

Once back on all fours, he resorted to shoving his nose into Harry's crotch and stopped resisting Louis' pull to get him back inside the house after he got a feel for who Harry was. The continuous sniffing didn't stop even after they stepped in and the door was shut, and it took less than ten seconds for him to be lurching himself back up to stand face to face with Harry, coating his cheek with dog slobber.

Louis groaned, "Sorry, he's still a puppy," while ridding Harry's body of the oversized canine a second time. "No, down."

"Still a puppy?" Harry gawked. The dog had to be twice the size of Winnie, and even Winnie herself was huge.

"Not even a year."

"Louis!" The voice bellowing throughout the house immediately registered in Harry's mind. "I have a question!"

It took all of seconds for Niall to appear from around the corner, peeking through the doorway into the kitchen they'd stepped into. Louis stared when he got a glimpse of him. Pieces of yarn draped over top his head, a frilly pink tutu looped around his neck, and a shade of red lipstick was swiped sloppily over his mouth. "I have questions of my own."

"I'm playing dress up, I'm supposed to be Lady Gaga." Niall's eyes glanced to Harry, a momentary smile showing on his reddened lips, but when he caught the unhappy expression he wore, the smile fell. "Hey, man."

Harry's acknowledgment was a single wave of his hand, feeling Gunther's nose sniffing along his ankles.

"What did you want? I can't take you seriously with yarn on your head," Louis rushed.