12. I Wanna Be Like You (From "The Jungle Book")
I wanna be like you, walk like you, talk like you too
.
"So you read it?"
Louis kept his eyes on the target in the centre of the tree as he let another arrow fly, this one hitting the edge. Zayn and he were practising shooting arrows, seeing as though it had been a good five years since Louis had shot one.
Louis had been tiptoeing around the subject since he gave the notebook to Zayn, but now he was ready to know if the stories he and Harry wrote did, indeed, happen.
"The notebook?" Zayn asked from his position in the grass, lounging back and eating fruit while he watched Louis fetch the arrow. "Yeah, I tolf you I had."
He pulled it out of their bag, knowing Louis would have brought it with them, and let it fall onto the blanket he was sitting on.
Louis kept his eyes on the ground, walking back over to Zayn before flopping onto the blanket next to him.
"Yeah, I was just, uh," he tried to find the words, covering his eyes with a hand as he layed on the blanket. "What did you think, of it all? I know you said it was real, but like, do you think it's enough for Harry to want to come here too? I really want him here and-"
"Love's made you weak, Tommo." Zayn laughed, only laughing harder when Louis kicked him. "Kidding, kidding. It was a good read. You two are adorable, still."
"Fuck off," Louis laughed. "I'm being serious."
"So am I," Zayn chuckled. "You guys were sickly sweet when you were here, you managed to perfectly capture that in writing."
"Shut up." Louis laughed along.
After a few moments of nothing, just the two of them sitting in the quiet, munching on fruit and taking in the fresh air, Zayn spoke.
"Those stories you wrote all happened," Zayn broke the silence. "Didn't know about the parts when you two were alone, but yeah, the parts that I was there for, all completely real."
"Good," Louis breathed, sitting up as he crossed his legs and looked at the ground. "I was hoping they did. It sounded like Harry and I were really happy here."
"You were." Zayn told him. "Very happy. You still good back in big old London?"
Louis let out a long breath. He really was from Neverland, and so was Harry at some point. He had to admit, he really liked the island, and it did feel an awful lot like maybe, a sort of... home? He wasn't sure.
Home was where Harry was, always, but Neverland felt different, and now he knew it was because he really was from there. The island was great, but he still needed his Harry.
Louis sighed. Harry.
"Yeah," Louis nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Very happy, I was going to ask him to marry me. And we were trying for a baby."
"No way!" Zayn clapped his shoulder. "Congrats man!"
"Thanks." Louis chuckled.
Harry was his entire world, and the fact that he wasn't his fiancé yet hurt his heart. He'd thought of everything, the ring, the location, the time, but now he was in another goddamned world- And he just needed his Harry with him before he went insane.
"You're thinking about him, aren't you?" Zayn asked with a sly smirk, and Louis rolled his eyes.
"I'm always thinking about him," Louis retorted, punching his arm lightly. "It's part of being in love, Z."
"Whatever." Zayn rolled his eyes.
Feeling lonely and without his usual fix of Harry, Louis settled for the next best thing. While Zayn stood up and resumed practising, Louis settled for the next best thing, besides the real-Harry, their memories.
Louis hummed, picking up the notebook and flicking through the book until he found the part he was looking for.
.
They walked around the back of a tree and appeared in a huge clearing, filled with wooden practice dummies and racks of wooden swords, wooden bows and soft arrows, targets and small knives to throw.
"This, is the training grounds." Louis announced, his arms wide as he presented it.
"Woah..." Harry breathed as he looked around. "There's so much stuff..."
Louis shook his head as he laughed. He patted Harry on the back and walked ahead, over to the targets where a few bows and a quiver of arrows were sitting.
Luckily, the grounds were empty, they were the only ones there.
"C'mere." Louis motioned to Harry, who was still standing in the middle of the area, looking around at everything.
"This is so cool!" Harry cheered as he walked over to Louis, eyes sparkling. "Which one do you use?"
"I shoot." Louis answered, leaning down to pick up a bow and slung it over his shoulder. "Bow and arrow."
"Cool." Harry breathed, still smiling as he watched Louis grab an arrow too. "Show me."
"What?" Louis asked as he turned away from the target and started moving back into the middle of the area.
"Show me how you shoot." Harry asked.
Louis took the bow off his shoulder and drew the arrow in one swift movement, letting it go and sending the arrow straight into the middle of the target.
"Woah." Harry whispered as he watched. "Nice job." He nodded as he looked at Louis, impressed.
"Now, what do you want to learn?" Louis asked, putting the bow back on his shoulder and indicating to the arena full of equipment.
"That." Harry was staring at Louis with wide eyes. "I wanna do that."
"Okay." Louis nodded as he smiled back. "But it took me a long time to get that good."
Harry stood still until Louis was next to him, so they could walk over to the bows side by side.
"Well, with you as a teacher," Harry shrugged. "Maybe I'll learn quicker."
Louis smiled and looked down at the ground, blushing at Harry's compliment. It was crazy, the way he was feeling about that boy after only a few days.
"Okay," Louis clapped his hands together. "Grab a bow."
Harry did as he was told and picked one that looked similar to Louis'. Then, he walked back to the mark where Louis was standing next to the quiver of arrows and stood next to him.
"Pick an arrow." Louis instructed, doing the same himself. "Now, hold it like this. And pull the arrow up so you're aiming at the target."
Louis demonstrated, one eye closed as he held the arrow ready to shoot. He stole a glance at Harry, who had his tongue sticking out slightly as he concentrated.
"Here," Louis put his bow and arrow down as he stepped behind Harry. "Like this."
He pressed his chest against the younger boy's back and put his hands over his, making Harry's breath hitch.
Louis felt the warmth of Harry's back against his body as he leant his head closer and closer to the back of Harry's.
"Now," Louis whispered into his ear as he nose disappeared into Harry's hair. He moved Harry's aim a little and pulled his back arm back a little more, tightening the string. "Release."
Once the words left Louis' mouth, Harry let go of the arrow and sent it soaring. It didn't quite hit the middle of the target, but it was very close.
"Yay!" Harry chirped, jumping up and down as he squealed happily, still in Louis' arms. "I can't believe- Did you see that? I almost-"
Harry turned around to face Louis, a huge smile on his face and stopped all of a sudden.
Louis was smiling too, arms still around him as he celebrated.
But when Harry stopped rambling, he just stared into Louis' eyes, happiness seeping through every fibre of his being.
His heart started beating faster as Louis stared back at him, both grinning like idiots as they felt something they couldn't quite describe.
Harry's eyes flickered to Louis' lips for a second as he let his hands rest on the other boy's shoulder.
Louis stared back, unable to speak or do anything except stand there while Harry leaned closer and closer.
"I-" Louis whispered, snapping them both back to reality.
Harry looked away and removed his arms, Louis doing the same as they tried to think of something, anything, to say.
"T-That was a good shot." Louis pointed to the target, scratching the back of his neck.
"Thanks." Harry answered, gulping.
"Do you want to try again?" Louis asked, turning away to pick up another arrow.
Harry took that moment to compose himself, going back to his smiley self so the awkwardness could go away.
"Sure." Harry answered, picking up his bow and taking the arrow Louis had given him.
Louis took a step back this time Harry shot, not wanting to repeat what had just happened.
Harry shot another arrow very close to the first one.
"Yay!" Harry cheered again. "That was so close!"
"It was." Louis laughed at his happiness. "Nice job."
Harry grinned back, picking up more arrows and shooting them, slowly getting them all on the target.
Louis just watched with a smile the whole time, proud of Harry and his infectious cheers each time he got one.
.
"We should probably head back."
Louis blinked once and was snapped back to reality, out of the story he was reliving. He looked up from the notebook to see Zayn standing with an empty quiver and a target full of arrows.
He had no idea how long he'd been reading for, but apparently it had been a while. The sun was beginning to set, and they'd obviously been out there for sometime, considering they'd used just about all the practise arrows, and eaten all the fruit they'd brought.
"Yeah, probably." Louis answered, standing up as he shoved everything into a bag. "I need to see Pan about getting Harry here."
"Aw," Zayn ruffled his hair as they packed up and began to wander back. "That's cute."
"Shut up." Louis muttered as they walked.
Once they'd made it back, there was an unexplained commotion in the dining hall.
Louis frowned at Zayn as they weaved through the groups of people to sit at their table. As they sat, they realised Pan was on the stage, speaking.
"... all know what this means. Everyone needs to stay calm, and increase their training hours. We're going to need to send out the search party earlier than intended, so this whole thing is going to be sped up a fair amount. You all know your jobs. Goodnight everyone. Now head to bed and tomorrow, let's get going."
At that, everyone stood up and went their separate ways, mumbling in serious voice as they all kept their heads down.
Louis and Zayn had no idea what was going on, and stayed seated, as the room cleared out.
"What's going on?" Louis asked, and Zayn shook his head.
"I have no idea..." Zayn breathed.
It wasn't until Pan came over, that they began to get their answers.
"Boys." He said, sliding into the seat beside Zayn.
"What's going on?" Zayn asked, and Pan put his head in his hands.
"Another one of us is sick," He told them. "It's Perrie."
"What!" Zayn exclaimed, standing up. "Is she okay? Sick like the island, sick? Or-"
"Zayn," Pan pulled him back down. "She'll be fine, as long as we get the antidote to fix the island. So, we need to get the others here as soon as possible."
"Harry?" Louis asked, and when Pan nodded, Louis couldn't help but smile.
"And Niall and Liam." Pan said. "Then you five will be in charge of finding the antidote as soon we possibly can, and putting in the Infinities. That should start the healing process."
"Okay," Louis nodded as Pan began to get up. "Harry first though, yeah?"
"Yes." He nodded, patting Louis' shoulder as he climbed out of the seat. "I'm going to go now, he should be here in the morning.
That made Louis' heart swell.
"And Zayn," Pan added. "You can go and see Perrie when Tink is done. She's trying to help, so don't go and distract her right now."
"Okay." Zayn said weakly, his head in his hands.
Pan nodded once, then left them alone.
Louis was so happy that Harry was going to be there soon. All he wanted was to hold him in his arms and tell him that he loved him. To kiss him and never let him go. He just hoped that Harry wasn't going to be to mad at him for leaving. Hopefully he'd understand.
"C'mon," Louis put an arm around Zayn's shoulder as he led him to their room. "Let's get to bed. You can see her tomorrow."
Once inside, they both went to bed in silence, too much on both of their minds to speak.
"Hey Lou?" Zayn called out into the darkness as they both laid still.
"Yeah?" Louis answered, his voice laced with sleep.
"I'm happy for you, that Harry's coming here." He said. "And the others. I'm happy we're all going to be together again."
"Yeah." Louis hummed. "Me too."
"What about after?" Zayn continued. "After all this is over, then you're all going to go back again and leave me here, aren't you."
"Who knows, Z." Louis said sleepily. "You could always come with us."
"Yeah," Zayn breathed, then after a beat, continued. "Good night, Louis."
"Night Zayn."
And with that, they fell asleep.
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I am so so so sorry about the wait omfg what's wrong with me
thoughts?
opinions?
feelings?
how are you all? it feels like its been ages!