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After Harry and Louis finish breakfast, they take a little stroll along side the river, where there's lots of tourists and parks and benches. Harry walks with his hands sunk into his trousers pockets and silently, wistfully admires the boats sailing across the river and Louis studies him carefully and that's when Harry's phone begins to ring and he presses it to his ear and Gemma's voice is greeting him, causing Louis to listen in.
"Hey, Harry. I know you're busy and all and this probably nothing to worry about but I just thought I'd let you know. Bressie has arrived, apparently Niall called him while I was away. He knows everything, Niall had to tell him. I...I accidentally spilled the beans, I'm sorry. Also, uh, Liam is with Louis right now. I don't know if he's told you or not but, yeah. I thought you should know." Gemma breathes and at that last part, Harry's head snaps up to Louis who's blushing furiously, looking away from him.
"Liam's with Louis, hm?" Harry wonders curiously.
"Yeah, but Niall is fine. You've got nothing to worry about, I promise." Gemma assures him and Harry sighs.
"Okay, thanks Gemma. I appreciate it."
The phone line goes dead and Harry slips his phone back in his pocket, giving Louis a look of betrayal in which Louis returns with look of sheer guilt.
"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know Liam was going to show up last night, it was a surprise. Besides, this is why I didn't want to tell you. I hate that look your giving me, you're making me feel guilty as fuck." Louis murmurs, scuffing his shoe against the pavement they're walking on, making Harry chuckle amusingly.
"I take it you know about Bressie, too?" Harry guesses and Louis sighs.
"Yeah. Liam filled me in. He wouldn't have left if he didn't think there was anything to worry about."
"That's not the point." Harry mumbles, sitting himself down on a park bench and Louis joins him.
"Then, what is?"
"The point is that I'm here and not with Niall. Bressie's with him and I'm not. You and I both know what happened the last time they were alone together." Harry explains and Louis shakes his head.
"I don't think Bressie is going to be a problem any more," Louis points out and Harry gives him a puzzled look, "You're forgetting about one thing. Greg. Niall's brother."
A light bulb flashes in Harry's mind then at Louis' words. Harry remembered how Greg was at their engagement party. He was well aware of how jealous Harry got with Bressie being around Niall all the time and he was also well aware of Bressie not being very respectful of him. He's also quite protective of Niall (as a brother should be giving what Niall had been through in the family previously) and Harry could only imagine that Greg wouldn't be entirely convinced by Bressie's bar fight story after New Years and to be honest, it put Harry's mind at ease a little bit. Bressie wanted and needed his friendship with Greg a lot more than his respect for Harry. There was too much history there to lose it all over his feelings for Niall.
"You really think so?" Harry asks hopefully and Louis giggles at Harry's innocent state, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I know so." Louis assures him.
There was literally no reason for Harry to doubt Louis. After all, Louis was the one that erased Bressie's memory in the first place. Maybe he did that not just because Bressie asked him too but because he knew that somewhere along the lines, Greg would start to get suspicious over Bressie's close and growing friendship with Niall. Harry and Louis fall into a comfortable silence and they look ahead of them, watching the world go away and after a moment, Harry's phone starts to ring again.
"Hello?"
Gemma's frantic voice was to be heard over the other end of the line.
"Whoa, whoa. Gemma. Slow down. What's the matter?"
"It's Niall. Faye thinks he's caught the flu. It's nothing serious just now but Faye's doing the best she can too maintain it. She figures that's what the morning sickness was, just symptoms of it showing. He's sleeping on the couch just now, he's too sore to move. I – I know you're busy and all but you know I wouldn't call you unless it was absolutely necessary."
Harry stands up and turns around his heel and stares at Louis and his heart begins to race at the mention of the word flu. That can't be good. That really can't be good and certainly not in Niall's condition. Harry exhales deeply and runs a hand down his face before sitting back next to Louis on the bench.
"How – how fast can you get here?" Gemma offers and Harry winces at her words.
"Gem – I can't leave. I gotta meet this guy." Harry protests.
"Okay, we'll...we'll see what Faye can do," Gemma sighs, with defeat, "I'll keep you updated."
"I'm sorry, Gem."
The line goes dead again after that. Harry sinks his phone back in his jeans pocket and he doesn't even bother looking at Louis but he can already tell there's an expression of sheer guilt plastered across his face.
"The flu," Harry breathes, "Niall was fine. I don't understand, how can he just catch the flu?"
"I don't think that was just morning sickness, mate." Louis mumbles.
Harry flashes Louis an impatient glare and they both stand up, heading back down the river.
- - -
That afternoon, Harry and Louis head to the restaurant where they were supposed to meet their client. It was quite a fancy and posh restaurant, which wasn't surprising considering their client was quite high up in the markets – and they're friends with The Dalca. The person they were meeting is a vampire and was known by the name of Wesley. Wesley somehow became friends with The Dalca after their parents died and he had been looking out for them ever since. It's probably why it was such a big deal for both Harry and Louis to meet him in person. The pair hadn't actually met him in person up until now – they had been exchanging phone calls and e-mails.
As they sat at a booth in the restaurant, Harry's knee begins to jiggle nervously and Louis, beginning to get impatient after a while, finally rests his hand on Harry's thigh to stop him and flashes him a warning glare. Harry gives him an apologetic look and Louis is shaking his head at him.
"You gotta stop, Harry, you're making me nervous." Louis says.
"I got a bad feeling about this, Lou. Hell, I didn't even want to be here in the first place." Harry mumbles.
"And you think I did?" Louis points out and Harry couldn't help but scowl at him.
"Your boyfriend is upstairs in your hotel room, you have nothing to worry about." Harry retorts and Louis falls silent.
Suddenly, a male approaches them in a quick haste and sits down opposite them, quickly shrugging off their jacket.
"Hey. I'm sorry I'm late. You must be Louis and Harry. I'm Wes. It's nice to meet you." He greets, offering the pair a handshake.
"Likewise." Louis replies, both of them feeling a bit hesitant and Harry glances quickly at his watch, with Wes catching him.
"I'm sorry, do you have somewhere you need to be?" He asks, quite rudely and both Harry and Louis' head snap up.
"No, I don't." Harry replies hotly.
"Believe me, I don't wanna be here any more than you do. I'm just doing this as a gesture for Luca." Wes scoffs, holding his hands up in surrender.
Harry leans back in his seat, snorting derisively and Louis frowns at him.
"Would you like a drink?" Wes offers but Harry shakes his head.
"I have a water." He says dismissively, holding up his glass.
Wes looks Harry up and down skeptically.
"What kind of vampire doesn't drink?" He asks coyly and Harry's hand turns into a fist under the table.
"I made a deal with my husband." Harry says through gritted teeth, although he's not really sure why he's explaining himself.
Wes does a double take.
"Wait, you're gay? You're married to a guy?" He presses.
Harry and Louis exchange glances.
"Luca didn't tell you?" Louis asks softly.
Wes shakes his head, "No. Bloody hell, he's gone soft." He mumbles, running his hands down his face.
"Excuse me?" Harry scoffs, feeling slightly offended.
"Luca never would've have allowed this back in my day. It's those brothers and sisters of his, they're rubbing off on him." He explains gruffly.
"Okay, we'd like to get back on track and talk about the deal -" Louis starts impatiently but Wes interrupts him.
"Hang on, what kind of "deal" did you make with your husband?" He asks, using air quotes.
"Not that it's any of your concern but my husband is a little sick just now. I promised I'd stay off the drink until he's better." Harry replies and Wes is guffwaffing now.
"He's a vampire, how can he be sick? Vampires don't get sick." Wes states and once again, Louis and Harry are exchanging glances and the grin disappears from Wes' face.
"That's because he's not a vampire. He's human." He whispers, realization dawning on him.
There's an awkward silence filled amongst them all but Louis is still eager to get back on track.
"Look, about this deal -"
"I can't believe Luca set me up with a bunch of queers." Wes mumbles to himself.
"Hey, if you're calling my friend a queer, you're calling me one too and I'm not about to take that." Louis retorts, this time impatiently.
Wes' head snaps up and Harry places a warning hand over Louis' arm.
"Louis -"
"I'm not surprised, Luca has is out of his mind." Wes scoffs back and Harry stands up, throwing his jacket over his shoulders.
"You know what? I didn't even want to come here in the first place and the way you're acting, just proves it. The deal is off. Good luck finding another job as good as this one." Harry spits, looking Wes up and down before heading out the door, Louis following quickly behind him.
"Harry!" Louis calls, catching up with him and it's raining when they get outside but neither of them seem to care.
Harry is standing outside the restaurant, with his phone in his hand and the rain is pelting hard, making his hair het and his leather jacket soaking. Louis reaches out to grab Harry's arm but Harry snatches his arm away, pressing his phone to his ear to call a cab.
"You can do what you want here, Louis but I'm done. I'm going home." Harry confirms.
Louis stares wistfully beyond Harry, feeling a little helpless with himself as Harry is getting into a taxi, without even saying goodbye to Louis and that's when Louis decides to rush back to Liam, in high speed. When Harry reaches back to the hotel, he's swiftly packing his back to head back home. He'd had enough of this place. He hated the fact that his gut instinct was correct, he shouldn't have came here. He should have been with Niall. He's left alone with his hotels as he heads out of the hotel room (and he hears Louis and Liam giggling in the room next to him) and he gets the first flight out back to Manhattan.
It was around eleven o'clock at night by the time Harry got home and he's surprised to see everyone was still up, including Niall. Niall was laying on the sofa with a blanket draped over him and Harry stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw him, causing a few heads to turn. Gemma, Faye and Luca were crowded around Niall while Bressie sat on the sofa next to Niall with Niall's feet propped up on his thighs. Niall looked different from the last time they had been together, he had definitely changed. His skin was more pale, dark circles formed under his eyes, his cheek bones were more definded and – to be quite frank – there was just no life about him at all and that scared Harry. Niall's eyes tiredly lifted up to Harry's – and even the blue-ish light of his irises seemed to have dimmed – and a small, relieved smile spread across his face. Harry dropped his suitcase by his side and strolled to Niall's head, bending down on his knees so that he was eye level with Niall on the sofa and he pressed the palm of his hands to his cheeks, kissing his forehead gently.
"Well, you look like hell." He teases, earning a meek chuckle from Niall.
"It's nice to see you too, Harry." Niall responds but Harry's face turns serious.
"How are you, love? Really?"
"Much better now that you're here." Niall breaths.
"Boy, that was corny as fuck." Bressie inputs, with a smirk, causing Harry and Niall to look at him and Bressie blushes embarrassingly a little.
"We'll, uh...we'll give you guys some privacy." Gemma decides, beckoning a finger at Bressie and he removes himself from the sofa, following Gemma into the kitchen.
"How was Amsterdam?" Niall asks softly.
"It sucked. Complete waste of my time, to be perfectly honest. But don't worry about that, it doesn't matter now." Harry adds dismissively, when Niall opens his mouth to protest.
They fall into a comfortable silence, gazing into each others eyes while Harry applies gentle strokes to Niall's warm skin against his cheek and then Harry speaks again.
"Y'know, for a while I thought the whole flu thing was just a sort of scheme to get me back home." He confesses and Niall chuckles weakly.
"That would be nice if that were true, wouldn't it?" He sighs, his eyes sleepily drooping a little.
"Wouldn't you be more comfortable in our bed?" Harry offers.
"I would but unfortunately, I can't move. Muscles ache every time I move and I'm big as fuck now." He snorts, rolling his eyes.
Harry wets his lips and thoughtfully gazes around the living room before he wraps his arms around Niall and begins to lift him.
"Hold onto my neck." He instructs, grunting a little and with a frown on his face, Niall does as he's told and Harry has quite literally lifted him up off the couch and carried him up the stairs and to their bed.
They're in their bedroom in a quick haste and Harry has laid Niall down on the bed, covering him up with the bed sheets and Niall is the most content he had been since before Harry left for Amsterdam. Niall lets out a satisfied sigh, laying his head on the pillows and pulling the bed sheets up to his chin and Harry lies next to him, cuddling him for a moment until he hears a soft growling sound coming from the woods outside the balcony and goes to investigate. With his eyes narrowed, he approaches the balcony with caution and gazes down at the open woods before him, listening intesively to the sound of the growling and padding footsteps.
"Wolves?" Harry wonders, gazing curiously at Niall, who nods defeatedly.
"They've been hovering around the past couple of days, as if they're waiting for something to happen." Niall mumbles, with a half grunt and Harry's eyebrows knot together in suspicion.
Without saying anything, he nears closer to the balcony, so that he's practically outside and without warning, he takes a leap and lands on two feet on the ground, following the wolves into the trees.
"Bloody hell." Niall groans, thumping his head back against the pillows again and rolling over to sleep.
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