Life Inc.

“Harry, we have to go, right now!” Louis was suddenly panicked and urgent, pushing Harry towards the stairs with hand on the small of his back. Harry was resisting the urge to lean into the touch, which surprised him; where was that coming from?

“Louis, what’s going on? What are operatives?” Harry asked as he hurried down the stairs, Louis hot on his heels.

“Operatives are Life Incorporated’s police. They’re chipped but they have the tech to find us. They’ve come to kill you, Harry.” Louis wasted no time trying to be sensitive now. He knew how dangerous operatives could be and he knew that they would kill them both when they found them. Suddenly what they had been talking, what he had been thinking about earlier didn’t matter, all that mattered was keeping the boy he loved alive.

“What?” Harry gaped, mind struggling to process now that everything was suddenly happening so fast.

“Harry, not only were they already trying to kill you, but now you’ve malfunctioned too. And because of me, their previous attempts of failed so now they’ve sent operatives to kill you. This is all my fault, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not,” Harry murmured, but Louis didn’t hear him.

“Here’s what we’re going to do - follow me as fast as you can. We’re going to run into the woods about six gardens away. Then when we get enough distance between us them, I’ll hijack a car and we’re going to get the fuck away from here and pray that you don’t switch on in the process.”

“If I do, leave me,” Harry warned, turning round to face Louis, who nearly crashed into him, only just managing to halt himself before their chests collided.

“No.”

“Louis, I mean it.”

“So do I! I’m not going to leave you, I promised, didn’t I? We don’t have time to talk about this now. Let’s go, out the back.” Louis sidestepped Harry, hurrying towards the kitchen, Harry close behind, frowning.

“Wait!” Harry suddenly exclaimed, halting. Louis spun, adrenaline making all his movements erratic. Suddenly Harry was gone, running back up towards the stairs.

“Harry? Harry, what the fuck are you doing?! Harry?!” Louis shouted after the younger boy, but to no avail. A torch beam flashed over the window and Louis’ panic grew. “Harry! I think they’ve found us!” Louis yelled, but Harry had appeared again, clutching a familiar small metal box in his hands.

“I couldn’t let you leave yourself behind,” Harry muttered.

“Christ Harry,” Louis growled, reaching for his wrist. Deft fingers curled around, skin against skin, light pressure pulling Harry out of the back door and into the dark garden. Louis led him to the end of the garden, letting go of Harry’s wrist to pull out a fence panel, ushering him through the gap and replacing both the panel and his hand swiftly.

They ran. They ran until Harry’s lungs burned and then they kept running. They made it through the six gardens to the edge of the woods, torch beams still flashing behind them. Louis let Harry take a quick breather before they started running again.

After what felt like hours of stumbling as quickly as they could through the woods, Louis final ducked into a small hollow that was hidden beneath some large tree roots. He collapsed against them, clutching his aching sides as Harry gingerly lowered himself down next to him.

“I haven’t seen any torches for a while, so sleep here for an hour or two and we’ll getting moving again when either they get close or it gets closer to dawn. I’ll need light to hijack a car. I’ll wake you up with whichever comes first.”

“No.”

“No?” Louis asked, confused.

“No. You still need sleep. You need it more than I do anyway. You sleep, I’ll wake you up when it’s time.”

“What if you switch on?” Louis asked, studying Harry’s face as the younger boy stared at the floor.

“I’m getting used to what it feels like before it happens. I’ll wake you up.”

“Swear to me Harry. Don’t do something stupid because you think you’re protecting me. ” Harry faltered, his gaze moving up to meet Louis’, surprised that he had sussed out his plan.

“How - ?”

“I’d have done it if I was you,” Louis murmured, captured by Harry’s eyes. “Swear you’ll wake me?”

“I swear,” Harry nodded. Louis smiled in relief. “Go to sleep Lou.” Louis shifted round slightly, curling up, only just realizing how exhausted he was. The stress of the week and then breaking down in front of Harry, then having to run for miles made his eyelids instantly heavy. The last thing he saw before they drifted shut was Harry watching him with a small smile.

***

Louis wasn’t woken by Harry, but by small droplets of rain falling delicately on his face. His eyes fluttered open, feeling undeniably, and a little frustratingly, refreshed. Relief and love bloomed him his chest when his eyes came to rest on Harry, still sat in the same place, staring intently with narrowed eyes at the small box that contained who he was. He hadn’t left, he hadn’t abandoned him, he had kept his promise.

“You know, you can’t open it with your mind. Believe me; I’ve tried.” Harry jumped at Louis’ amused mumble, shooting him a sheepish look as the older boy’s eyes fluttered shut again and the rain began to fall more heavily.

“I know that, I was just trying to work out how we can open it.” Louis tried to ignore the way his heart stuttered at the ‘we’. He mentally berated himself for being so completely head-over-heels for the boy who would never love someone like him. “Feeling any better?” Louis only grumbled a response, which made Harry chuckle.

“Do you want to sleep at all?” Louis asked. Harry shook his head, but realized that Louis still had his eyes closed.

“No, it’s okay,” he replied quietly, eyes drawn back to the infuriating box.

“We should think about moving on again then. Move before they catch up with us,” Louis sighed, letting the rain wake him up properly.

“Shit, Lou? Too late – there are lights.” Louis’ eyes snapped open with Harry’s words and with surprise as large, soft fingers curled around his and tugged his hand until Louis was heaving himself off the damp ground. “Come on Louis, time to start running again.” Their eyes met again, Harry glad to see that life was beginning to appear in the depths of Louis’ crystal eyes again, electricity coursing between them were Harry’s hand was still clutching onto his. Louis was the first to break the eye contact – he could almost feel himself falling more and more in love with every passing second. Harry’s fingers tightened almost imperceptibly as they became wrapped up in each other and the rain and the smell of the wet forest around them.

“Harry...” Louis breathed, hyper-aware of their contact, of how close they were standing. His dreams were coming true in the most twisted of ways. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but another voice filled the air before he could

“Two unidentified heat signals, this way!”

“Fuck,” Louis muttered and, making sure that Harry’s hand was still tight around his, they began to run again.