Save You Tonight

“I… how do I even say this?” I began, watching as Harry glared at me. How would he take it if I told him that I had super powers? In the few seconds I had to wonder about the consequences of my confession, I realized that if I didn’t speak soon, it wouldn’t matter.

“Just say whatever it is, Maya! I’m so bloody tired of waiting for you to make up your mind about me!” he exclaimed, pulling the cushioned dining chair out from under the table and throwing himself down onto it.

“I have powers,” I told him simply, letting the tears form at the brim of my lower lids. His face showed complete confusion as he stared up at me.

“What?”

“I have superhuman powers,” I repeated with more clarification. This statement caused his green eyes to shoot me an expression of offense.

“Ya think this is funny? Here I am, trying to make something out of this and you're mockin-” Harry abruptly cut off, his jaw hanging open as I used my palm to pull all the rain water from my hair. The orb of liquid floated in the air, following my hand and leaving my hair completely dry. “How-how…?”

“It’s a long story,” I whispered, sitting myself on the opposite dining chair. Staring down at the hardwood floors, I listened as he breathed in and out slowly.

“Am I dreaming?” he asked, poking my knee roughly.

“No.”

With a look of desperation, he leaned his chair backward and fell onto the floor. He opened his eyes after the blow and all the color drained from his face. Rushing to his side, I popped him upside the head, demanding to know why he would do such a thing.

“I saw Inception… thought it’d be worth a shot,” he said quietly with a slight smile, peering up at me and rubbing the back of his head where it hit the hardwood floor. “Tom Hardy makes it look so easy.”

At this, I attempted to push away the feelings of adoration for him, just in case this night ended in rejection. But Harry again reminded me as to why I… well, loved him. I loved him. Even in a situation such as this, he could make it less dramatic with the smallest remark or action.

“I was seven when it happened,” I began, feeling a sense of sureness in what I was about to tell him. He quickly stood up, repositioning the chair next to my own and stared at me intently with a slight nod, assuring me that he wanted me to go on. “I was in North Carolina, where I was born. Both of my parents worked for a company in Research Triangle Park, which is one of the most prominent high-tech research centers in America. At the time, I had no idea what they were doing there, but there would always be strange men in suits that would come over to the house and talk to them about whatever they were doing.”

I sucked in a breath and paused, wondering how Harry was still here. He was still listening to me, so I went on. “One day, I remember it so clearly; I got off the bus and walked down to the end of the street and down to my house. You see, our house was set off back into the woods. We still lived in a neighborhood, but we lived away from everyone. It was a sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky. There were a few big, black vans in the driveway, but that was normal for my house. But- well, then I went inside. There was a lot of yelling as a large man grabbed me and took me back outside and into the van. They drove me and my parents to a building that was very white on the inside. Or at least that’s what I remember from the room we were in. And then they put me under and I woke up feeling like a completely different person. Everything was brighter, more detailed. I could hear the faintest of sounds; I could crush metal with my bare hands.”

Harry scowled, at what I wasn’t sure. “I found out later that the CIA had been on to the genetic research my parents had been doing on the side. My mother and father had been playing around with some of their own extracted DNA. The CIA wanted to see if a super human could be possible to create a bigger and better army, but the problem was that my parents were older. They wanted the subject to be young so they could see how the subject would develop under such conditions. The fact that my parents had been using their own DNA made me an obvious choice, seeing as that mine was extremely similar to their own.”

“How could they do such a thing?” Harry asked, enraged. I placed a hand on his forearm and continued.

“My parents, who are the only ones who know how to do this type of work, are now in confinement so that they can’t tell the public about the work that the CIA is doing. They also took me away and put me in a laboratory for a majority of my adolescent years, running tests, seeing what I could do to enhance my skills. The thing is that as I’ve aged, I can now do other things that weren’t meant to happen. I can move around and control water. I can shapeshift myself, like this-” I stopped talking to change my hair from a dark brown to a deep red color. Harry’s eyes widened, so I changed it back, “- and I can heal minor cuts on myself. So, in addition to enhanced senses, strength, and flexibility, I can also do those things.”

Harry was quiet. He pursed his lips and stared off into space, seemingly avoiding eye contact. “I have some friends I have made over the years, especially Tom. Tom has rank and he pulled some strings to give me my own life. I came to London to get away, but they’re never far from me, as you witnessed.”

“The man in the alley…” he whispered. Everything started to click for him. I could see the wheels turning and the realization come to his face. “The crazy strength you used to beat him up. And whenever I say something under my breath, you seem to respond as if I’m saying it aloud. And you can see things from so far away! The time we were on the street and you saw paparazzi when all I saw was a speck a few blocks down. And that cut you got with the knife in the kitchen and, oh my god the egg. Do you remember the egg?”

I laughed in relief. Although I was unsure of whether he’d want to be with me, I knew he wouldn’t hate me for being who I was. Emotion swelled up inside me and another boost of confidence surged. “I’m so sorry I kept this from you. I was never supposed to tell anyone about all this, but I felt like I should let you know because… because I love you.”

His eyes snapped to mine and he seemed to take a moment to digest it all. The long silence worried me, but he finally grinned and replied, “I love you, too, Maya.”

As he reached forward to embrace me, I felt my world shift into an unknown abyss. I had never had anyone to know my secret and still truly love me for it. But Harry Styles did. It was like lifting a huge weight off my shoulders now that I knew that he accepted me for who I truly was.

Before I knew it, our lips were reconnected and he was pulling me onto his lap. His hands slid beneath my thighs, lifting me up as he stood. I wrapped my legs around his hips while he carried me into the bedroom. He placed me down and reached for the hem of my shirt, lifting the material over my head and throwing it onto the floor. His hands wandered down my body, tracing my curves and stopping at my waistline, not daring to go any lower just yet.

With one hand working its way through his messy hair and the other one clawing at the bottom of his shirt, I had had enough of just kissing and each other. I needed him. It was time. He seemed to sense the urgency in my kisses.

The thunder cracked and rain pounded the roof, but it just made our feverish activity that much better. The two of us quickly shed the rest of our clothes, wasting no time. He pulled away from my lips and slowly made his way down my chest, to my stomach and even lower, causing me to let out a moan. My head spun; I couldn’t take it any longer. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up so that his eyes were directly above mine. He let a grin spread across his face before his lips lingered over my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine. While placing his lips on my neck and rocking his hips forward, I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. This was it.