Louis had forgotten how much he loved hot showeres. He enjoyed the warm water running down his body for nearly an hour, until Niall knocked at the door and told him to 'get the fuck ready, mate!'.
So the cat-hybrid turns the water off and steps out of the shower. He dries himself off, ruffling his hair with a towel - careful to not hurt his ears. Once all dry he puts on some boxers Nick gave them and sweatpants along with a black t-shirt. His tail gets tucked into the pants out of comfortable reasons. He runs a hand through his hair to get it out of his face and then leaves the bathroom.
"Finally!" Niall exclaims, lying on the bed. "Get your stuff and we can eat breakfast." he says and gets up.
The irish boy takes his duffle bag and his guitar. Louis takes his own bag. Both bags more filled with old clothes from Niall now. Luckily his aunt always bought clothes too big in case the boy suddenly grows five foot over night.
"Let's get something to eat." Niall says, leaving his room. Louis is right on his heels.
-
After they ate some breakfast - toast with nutella, because there was nothing else to put on the toast - they again grab their stuff and are about to leave through the front door.
But Louis pulls Niall back before the dog-hybrid can touch the door handle. He holds his index finger over his lip, indicating him to be quiet as Niall asks what's wrong.
The brown cat ears are straight up, listening carefully. Louis hears car doors close and then voices.
"It were two boys. They were in the kitchen."
"And they don't belong here?"
"No, I never saw them here before. The woman who lives here is on vacation."
"Please stay here. We gonna-"
Louis stops listening, pulling on the grey beanie he held in his hand. "Cops and a neighbour." he says, looking at Niall. "They are coming in. Can we leave some other way?"
Niall thinks for a second before taking Louis' hand and pulling him to the back door. He opens it and they run towards the wooden fence.
Louis helps Niall climb over it and gives him his duffle bag and the guitar over it the moment the back door opens loudly.
"Hey!" One of the police man shouts.
Louis throws his duffle bag over the fence and is on the wood with one jump. He jumps down, taking his bag and he and Niall run into the woods as fast as they can, not listening to the police officers that are threatening them.
-
After they ran for ten minutes straight they stop, catching their breaths. Louis pulls his beanie down from his head and listens for any sign of them being followed. Nothing.
"We're good." he says breathless, resting his hands on his knees. He definitely hasn't had enough sport the last years.
Niall sighs relieved, pulling his snapback down, freeing his ears. "Where to now?" he asks.
"Well, we ran into the direction of London so let's go there." Louis suggests.
Niall agrees immediately and they start walking again.
-
Just a few minutes later they come across a street and decide to follow it. So now they walk next to it towards London.
"I used to sing every day. You know, before I got kidnapped." Niall says, looking ahead.
Louis nods. "Me too. And I annoyed my whole family with it." he smiles down at the ground sadly. He does miss his family.
"Did you want to pursue it? The singing?" Niall askd curious.
"I wanted to study music. My mum didn't understand it, meaning music is not good enough of a job." he says sadly. "She didn't want me to built a career onto something so unsteady as the music industry." He looks at Niall, who shrugs.
"Well, you never know until you try it." he claims. "You said you wrote your own songs? Why don't you record them and send them to a record label?"
Louis snorts and looks amused at the younger boy. "Yea, how the hell will I do this?" he asks Niall. "And I think you forget something really important." Niall frowns confused. "I am part cat. I would have to hide it." Niall bites his lip, but nods in understanding.
The two hybrids already discussed that they won't tell anyone about what they are. The people probably wouldn't let them live freely, because they know hybrids are held and treated like pets. So Louis is pretty cetain that no one would sign a cat hybrid and make them famous. And to be honset, humans are scared of everything that's different and having animal ears and a tail is definitelly different.
"I will teach you how you can controll it. I would even be your manager!" Niall says smiling.
Both laugh and Louis pushes the blonde boy playfully onto the street. Then he suddenly freezes, eyes turning to the direction they came from.
A car is coming towards them. Fast.
Louis wants to grab Niall's arms and pull him back, off the street, but it's already too late. The car stopps with squeaking tires, but Niall flies down the street due to the impact. You can hear the guitar breaking as Niall crashes it between the street and his body.
The cat-hybrid runs immediately to the irish boy. His ears are showing so Louis puts the cap back on, it lies just an arm length away. Niall's tail is luckily tucked into his sweatpants and not visible.
"Niall!" Louis exclaims shocked. "Niall! Can you hear me?!" he panics. What has he done? Niall could be seriously hurt. Louis can see the dog-hybrids chest rise and fall, to his relief. That means he is breathing and alive.
"What the fuck dude! Why did you push him onto the street?" a unknown voice says, Louis deciding to ignore it.
"Niall." Tears start forming in the blue eyes. "Niall, please come back. I can't do this without you." he pleads quietly.
"I'm calling an ambulance." another voice claims and Louis' eyes widen.
He is quick to turn around, holding his left hand up. "No!" he exclaim loud and two unknown guys are looking at him. "No ambulance." he repeats looking serious at them.
The one with curly hair and the phone in his hand points at Niall. "He is unconscious. We need to call an ambulance. Who knows what's wrong with him." His voice is calm, but stern.
"No. Fucking. Ambulance." Louis growls while he is gritting his teeth at him. Both lads look confused and shocked at him.
The one with the phone holds up his hands in defence, stepping back. "Fine. No ambulance." he says and the cat-hybrid sighs relieved.
"But we have to do something." the other one, with black hair styled in a quiff claims, looking nervous.
Louis bites his lip, knowing the guy is right, but not sure what to do.
"Liam?" Curly ask Quiff. Quiff looks unsure of that idea.
"Who is Liam?" Louis asks, looking kinda desperate at them.
"Our friend at our house. He will know what to do. His parents both worked at a hospital." Louis puts his hands over his beanie, feeling his cat ears beneath the fabric, pulling his hair through it. What should he do?
He looks back to Niall. His eyes are closed, scratches over his face, a bad bleeding cut close to his eye. Who knows what else? Once again Louis bites his lip as the first tear leaves his eyes.
Then he nods. "Fine. Liam." he just says with a shaky voice, eyes not leaving Nialls face.
Quiff steps closer to lift Niall up but Louis' head snaps up, glaring at him with watery eyes. He steps back as Louis gets up, Niall in his arms.
Curly opens the door to the back seat for the two hybrids and Louis gets in. He puts Niall so he is lying on the seats, head on Louis' lap.
The other two get inside the car as well and Quiff starts driving. Louis' blue watery eyes stay on Niall.
Fuck! That's all my fault. Why did I push him onto the street? Why didn't I hear the car? Louis thinks.
His ears work totally fine and he is a cat. He hears better than dogs, but why didn't he hear the car? Louis feels like such a bad friend. What will he do if Niall doesn't make it? What if he dies - something Louis doesn't want to think about.
"Hey." A voice pulls Louis out of his thoughts and his head snaps up. Curly turned to look at him. "He is going to be fine." he tries to assure as Louis lets out a sniffle. He curses himself, because he doesn't want to cry in front of strangers. "I called Liam and he will check on your friend." He smiles at the cat-hybrid sympathetically.
If Louis wouldn't have been so stressed about his friend, he would have been cursing Curly for having dimples. So instead he just nods, eyes turning back towards his unconscious friend. He hears Curly turn back around in the leather seat of the car as a tear lands on Niall's sleepingface.