"Stop! He's not just a guy! He's mine!" Louis cupped his hand over his mouth as soon as he realized what he said.

***

Louis backed out of the kitchen slowly, his hand still over his mouth and his eyes wide. He stumbled against the counter but turned and kept going. He grabbed his jacket and slipped his Vans on before looking back at Harry, hard and still kneeling on the floor with his head down. Louis froze again. He couldn't just...Harry was so good, just waiting, Louis couldn't...

He went back to the kitchen. "Zayn," Zayn looked up from where he was staring at the marble counter, "Don't leave him like that. He'll do whatever you want. Just get 'im off for me, please." Louis didn't wait for an answer, he knew Zayn wouldn't be as cruel as Louis was being, before running out of the hotel room and to the stairs, unable to wait for the elevator. He ran down a dozen flights of stairs, sweating more from nerves and confusion than the physical excertion.

The air was warm but not hot, as LA tends to be, so Louis slipped on his thin jacket and calmed his speed to fairly normal, but couldn't stop clenching and unclenching his fists. He ran his hand through his hair over and over. He was jittery and flinching at every movement around him. Louis was actually loosing his mind. He played with the idea that he was out of his mind whenever Harry would chant his name like he was God. He figured he was crazy when he woke up and made sure Harry was there before he made sure his gun was still there. But now he was mumbling to himself and staring at the sky and the ground alternately. He was actually certifiable.

He kept walking until the street of the city gave way to the beach. It wasn't very busy, the sun was about to set and people were heading home, so Louis was one of the few that walked the sand. He was the only one that was fully dressed and talking to himself. People gave him wary looks as they put their stuff away and scurried off.

"Mine, not mine. Not mine, mine. Shit, mine. Need him. I need him. Can't. Don't want-shit need it." Louis fell to the sand on his knees and pulled his hood up to cover his face as tears fell down his cheek. Louis rubbed his face, unsure what was happening. Then he realized he was crying and didn't know what to do. He hadn't cried in over fifteen years. Not since he was a
kid. Not his first job, way before that, he was taught that crying only meant weakness.

No. No. Don't go there. Louis knew if he went back to that place he'd never get out. You need to take care of this. You knew this was a bad idea from the start and now look what you've done. You've laid claim on a person. You barely have a single friend and you think you have the right to own another human. After everything that's been done to you, you of all people should understand what's wrong with trying to own someone. Louis wiped his face harshly and got back up from the gritty mass below him. You have to fix this. Louis wrapped his jacket around himself and started back to the hotel.

***

Zayn was sitting by himself on the couch when Louis got there. The TV was on but muted and he was staring at it like it held all the answers to life. Louis looked in the kitchen then Harry's room, but saw no sign of him. "Where is he?" Louis croaked, his voice hoarse from crying and lack of use.

Zayn's head jerked up like he just realized Louis was there. "Oh, uh," he looked around for a moment before looking back to Louis, "my room. He said it smelled more like you than his room." Zayn eyes never blinked and his mouth kept moving even after his sentence was finished. It was like Zayn had seen one of Louis' more brutal tortures (which Louis refused to let happen).

Louis went and sat next to him, "You alright?" Zayn just nodded slowly without really looking at him. "What, um, what happened after I left?"

Zayn chuckled darkly and finished really looking into Louis' eyes. "I've never, after everything, I never imagined someone could...He's broken. You broke him."

Louis licked his lips, stalling for a moment to think about what Zayn said. "I don't under-"

"Go see him," was all Zayn said before curling up on the couch and turning away from Louis.

Louis looked to Zayn's door and back, trying to pluck up the courage to do this. He could just imagine Harry on the other side crying and alone. That single thought, Harry alone, made Louis get up and gently open the door to the dark room. He closed it gently behind him and stood in the darkness waiting to see if Harry was awake. All Louis heard was even, if incredibly slow, breathing, and assumed Harry had finally drifted off. He was going stripping off his clothes to join Harry when he heard a small, scared voice come from where the bed was in the black.

"You left."

Louis eyes shut against the pain in his voice. "I came back."

"You left me," Harry's voice was still quiet but firmer, "You got me hard, put me on my knees, and left me."

"I made sure Zayn took care of you. He did, didn't he?"

Harry made a small wounded noise and said, "I couldn't. I couldn't let him touch me when you weren't there."

"You never came?" Louis walked to the side of bed and could see the outline of Harry's body coiled up into a shape that should've been too small for such a long boy. Harry didn't respond, but Louis heard the pillow rustle so he assumed he shook his head. "I didn't know. I-" Louis brushed his hands over his face and laid down under the covers. "I'm so sorry."

Harry's body stay folded but he scooted closer to Louis so his shins and forearms were pressing into Louis' front. Louis folded his arms around Harry's body and kissed his forehead. "I didn't know what to do. I've never felt like that before," Harry admitted.

Louis laughed but the humor was missing. "Yeah me neither. I sort of freaked."

"Is it because of what you said in the kitchen?" Louis huffed. "I heard you. I'd apologize, but it wasn't eavesdropping, you were really loud."

Louis pushed his face further between Harry's and the pillow. "I didn't think before I spoke."

"You said I was yours."

They were silent while Louis tried to find something to say, but he only came up with, "Yeah."

"I've never been someone's before."

Louis was surprised that Harry didn't sound offended or hurt by the fact that Louis claimed him like property. "I shouldn't have said that. You're not mine. You're yours. No one can own you, Harry."

Harry nodded but stayed quiet. Louis wasn't sure if that was it until Harry whispered, barely audible over their breathing, "What if I want to?"

Louis knew. He knew what Harry meant. Instantly his heart soared and plummeted simultaneously. Harry wasn't supposed to want this. He was supposed to be repulsed. Dejected. Turned off. Hate Louis for what he said. That way Louis could give him up and go home and be who he was and not fall asleep and think about haunting green eyes and tattoos that seems to make no sense but he wanted to learn everything about.

"You can't own another human being. It's not right, Harry."

"What if you don't own me? What if we share me? I'm mine, but I'm yours too."

Louis was shaking his head even as Harry spoke. "I can't."

"Why not? I'm willing to work with this. Whatever it is."

Harry's voice was getting steadily smaller. Louis wanted to caccoon him in his body and hold him until he was back to the smiling boy Louis wanted. "I can't. Not because it's hard, which it is, but because I, me, I can't. I've learned a long time ago that claiming a person as a piece of property is wrong, Harry."

Harry tried to wiggle away from Louis. Louis held on for a moment before letting him go, and Harry turned over in the bed and faced away from Louis. "Letting you have me isn't wrong. Giving you ownership over me isn't wrong. Not if I want it."

Louis could tell he was crying. His whole body was twitching to comfort him. Louis let his mind run a million miles a minute for just a minute before turning it off and settling into a single choice. "Harry," he didn't respond so Louis pressed his body to spoon him from behind, "Harry, listen to me please, very closely. I...I am willing to try. I can't own you. I just can't. But I'm willing to try with this."

Harry turned over and ran his hand up Louis' arm, "Really?"

"But I have to ask you something first."

Harry kissed Louis softly of the chin, "Please, anything."

"Are you willing to die for me?"

What do yall think?? My mind is honestly scrambling right now because there's so much I want to write!

COMMENTS AND VOTES MY LOVES! MWAH!! Xoxo