"Hazza! Come down! You've been sleeping all morning!" Louis yelled from where he stood at the bottom of the steps. 

No, I hadn't. The moment that I ran from the shower to the bedroom and huddled beneath the sheets was in sheer fear. I had too much adrenaline running through my thin web of veins and pumping through my heart to even hope to close my eyes for a wink of sleep. I did try though. I did try to hope for sleep, but none came and I expected that none would come in the near future. I had merely pulled the sheets over my curls and closed my heavy eyelids as the message from the intercom ran wild through my mind for the better majority of three hours. 

"Harry!" Lou called again.

My fingers shook mildly as I pushed back the sheets and sat up. I had nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all. I was just tired. Today was my birthday and I didn't need to spend it tucked beneath the sheets of my bed because I was likely an unfortunate coward that had watched one too many horror and thriller movies.

"Coming!" I shouted back to him as I slid off of the bed and pulled a pair of sweats on. I chuckled to myself before pulling them off and grabbing another pair. The initial sweats were Lou's and they hardly covered further than the middle of my shins. I tugged on a pair of my own joggers and made my way toward the stairs.

Lou stood down at the bottom of the steps with an apron hanging from his neck and covering his bare chest. Flour dusted his cheeks and created angled shadows on his features. "There you are," he grinned whilst holding his arms open wide. 

I rolled my eyes before taking my time walking down the stairs to him. 

His arms slowly began to drop back down to his sides as his grin turned into a sour grimace, "Harreh! Hurry up!" 

"Patience," I mumbled before throwing my arms around his waist and nudging his arms up to my neck. I could feel his heart beat faintly against my chest as he stood on his toes.

We stood there for a small moment before Lou grew restless and the airy smell of burning cake began to fill the room.

"What kind of mess did you make without me?" I laughed as he slipped away and began a mad dash for the kitchen. 

He scoffed loudly. A light grey smoke littered the air as he opened the oven and I finally trailed into the kitchen. To say that it was a mess would be much of an understatement. The kitchen was the resulting aftermath similar to that of a tornado. Flour dusted the kitchen cabinets and the tile flooring. Cake mix and egg shells created colored spots about the kitchen. Empty cake boxes, candles, and icing tubs littered the counter in large quantities. However, no mess compared to the burnt and charred disaster that Lou pulled from the oven. 

His blue eyes shifted from me to the burnt remains of the cake in dismayed uncertainty. 

"Lou..."

With his lips pursed he groaned, "I'm no good at this."

"Close the oven before you darken the ceiling with that smoke," I smiled at him before slipping on an oven mitt and dragging the cake pan from his grasp.

He reluctantly did as he was instructed before following me to the table. 

"I'm grateful that you tried," I began as I grabbed one of the tubs of icing from the counter and began spooning it onto the charred cake.

His lips curled down into a grimace as he watched, "You really don't have to eat it..."

I dipped the spoon into the portion of the cake covered with sweet sugared icing and plunged it into my mouth. 

"Harry..." he murmured whilst staring intently at me. His eyebrows were raised as he tilted his head.

I nodded my head a moment as I forced myself to swallow it, "Delicious!" A smile curled my lips before spreading onto Lou's.

"Really!" he exclaimed.

It tasted like shit.

"Mmhmm." I chuckled before pressing my lips to his in an attempt to avoid having to eat anymore of the mess. "Thank you Lou-lou..."'

He grinned against my lips as his nose bumped mine, "Anything for you Harry. Happy birthday..."

My fears vanished a midst the charred cake bits that threatened to stop any and all air that filtered through me, and the sweet taste of Lou's mouth. I could say goodbye to the worries that tried to race my heart as Louis quickly beat them. For the moment I had all I needed and I didn't need to think about souls that hadn't yet passed on and things that might bring harm to what I loved. All I needed to calm my nerves was wrapped up in the boy in front of me. 

------------Week Later------------

"Harry?" 

I glanced up from the textbooks that covered the floor in front of where I was sprawled out on my stomach. "Hm?" I hummed as his stare met mine.

"My mum invited me up for the weekend. Will you be alright here?" he asked with his cell phone still attached to his hand and near his ear. 

Louis was going to leave for the weekend? "Yeah, I'll be fine," I smiled at him before continuing my revisions. End of the term final exams were approaching and I would be busy with studying so it would be quite alright for him to go. I wouldn't be able to pay him much attention anyway.

A smile tugged up the corners of his lips before he spoke into the phone, "Yeah, I'll be there in a few hours mum!" His footsteps echoed through the house as he stumbled his way up the stairs. 

The sound of drawers being carelessly thrown open began to reach my ears moments later as I tried to refocus my attention on the letters that were, for the moment, floating about the pages in aimless wanderings of things that I wouldn't understand any time soon. I rested my chin on the edge of the closest textbook with the hope that touching it might force my body to absorb it.

"I'll be going then Hazza!" he shouted as he almost fell down the steps with his bag slung over his shoulder.

"Lou..." I murmured as I pushed myself to my feet and threw my arms around the stumbling boy. "Slow down. You're leaving me too quick," I mumbled into the coat covered spot on his neck. 

His bag thudded to the floor as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "I'll be back before you know it..." he hummed into my curls as he stood on his toes. 

"Get out then, can't come back if you're still here," I shoved him lightly with a grin.

He stumbled over his bag before hauling it up onto his shoulder and stalking toward the door, "Styles, I swear." He shut the door less than quietly as I stood there in the new silence. The car started and he pulled out of the drive way as I caught a small glimpse of his disappearing presence through the curtains on the windows.

A small sigh escaped my lips as I turned to look back at the now empty house. I glanced at the textbooks with diminishing interest and didn't bother to return to my studies for the moment. 

I wandered about the bottom area of the house before trekking up the steps to our bedroom. I aimlessly straightened out the drawers that Louis had pulled out and picked up the clothes that he deemed unworthy of travel. 

It had been quite a while since Louis and I had actually spent any substantial time apart. Really, the last time had probably been when Louis still wasn't sure that he was in fact Louis. 

My fingers twirled the tips of my curls as I stared about the slightly tidier mess of a room before moving back down the steps to my textbooks. I would have thought that studying without Lou there would have been much easier. Unfortunately, it wasn't. I had grown used to the loud, forever young boy that would mess about and poke at my ribs while I tried desperately to concentrate. It wasn't like he had been gone long either. 

I pushed the books shut with the tips of my shoes and pulled my phone from my pocket. I dialled a familiar number and held the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" 

"Hey Zayn," I replied. "What are you doing today?"

There was a rustling of papers on his end, "Today? I can't do anything today. You know you should be revising right? Maybe we can meet up on Sunday?"

My lips curled down into a frown, "Oh... Yeah. Alright."

"You alright Harry?" 

I nodded my head although he couldn't see it, "Yeah. Good. I'm good. I'll see you Sunday then."

"Well, if you need anything just give me a call. See you," he hummed before the line clicked off and I was once again left to the empty house. 

The tips of my fingers played lightly with the edges of the round button on my phone before I tossed it onto the couch. I slid onto the cushions and rested my head against the arm of the couch and flipped on the television. 

My stare unfocused as the television program lulled my thoughts and the warmth of our home pushed me into a sleep that I didn't need.

"How are you feeling today Harold?" a familiar voice filled my ears as I tried to focus on the white walls and the clean tile floor. Black lined the tile squares as a reminder that something had to keep them in place. "Harold?"

"Harry..." I mumbled out. My limbs felt weak as I sat in a cushioned chair. 

My vision was blurred and incoherent as I tried to make out the figure of the man talking to me. His stature was lean and tall, broad shouldered even but young. "Feeling like being Harry today? Alright. Harry how are you feeling?" he asked again.

"I'm feeling alright. Was just taking a nap... Where am I? Where's Louis?" I shifted absently in the chair taking in the white fabric of my pants and the cleanly pressed threads of my shirt. A label was sewn into the breast of the shirt but I couldn't make out the words even when I traced over the threads with my fingertips.

"Louis' gone remember Harry?" he prodded.

Gone? Oh, right. "Oh, yes... Louis went to see his mum and the girls this weekend. That's right," I nodded at the memory as I tried to remember how exactly I ended up in this rather blindingly white room.

The man paused letting his hands fold together on the desk in front of him. When he finally spoke again, his voice was hesitant and tentative, "Is that right, Harry?"

"Of course. His mum asked if he would come visit for the weekend. I would have gone too if it weren't for my end of term exams," I explained as I tried desperately to remember the owner of the voice that was speaking to me. It was familiar and if I could remember who it was then I could remember why I was here. "But this is a dream, so I suppose it could be wrong here. He could be on the moon or something. Mm, a random trip to the theme park seems a bit more like Lou though..." I continued.

He nodded his head hesitantly, "Do you know where you are Harry?"

"I'm in London, I presume," I answered proudly. That, I was at least almost positive of.

"That you are Harry. Do you know where in London?" he asked.

I pushed myself off of the plush couch and began pacing around the room, "Well, I was in my flat in London watching the telly. In a dream you can be anywhere though right? This is one shitty dream might I add."

He chuckled half heartedly, "Do you know who I am Harry?"

"In dreams you can make up people right?" I countered with a grin pulling at the corners of my lips.

"Dreams are often reflections of reality, although they may be distorted," he leaned back in his chair. "Are you sure you're dreaming Harry?"

I stopped pacing for a moment and looked back at him. "I am dreaming," I replied bitterly. 

 A knock on the front door brought me out of my sleep, "Coming...!" I stumbled off of the couch and over my stacks of textbooks to the front door, swinging it open when I finally managed to get a handle on it. 

Niall stood on my doorstep with a white coat tightly hugging his upper half, "Hey Harry!"

"Niall?" I grinned at him as he pushed passed me and into the house. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged his shoulders a little and glanced about the room, "Just thought you could use some company."

"What made you think that?" I chuckled as he stopped walking.

His eyebrows knitted together in thought, "Okay so I wanted company and Zayn was busy..."

I rolled my eyes at him before making my way into the kitchen, "Fine, fine... Pick something on the television and I'll make us something to eat to fill your loneliness."

"You're going to make me fat like that," he grumbled.

My stare shifted about the fridge before grabbing the leftover pizza Lou and I had shared the night before. I pulled out the remaining pieces and set them on a plate in the microwave. 

"Harold."

"What are you calling me that for now?" I laughed as I punched the numbers and turned the microwave on.

Silence filled the air only accompanied by the soft hum of the microwave.

"Niall?" I walked hesitantly toward the living room.

The television played a rerun of some American sitcom while my couch remained empty.

"Niall?" I called out a little louder as my stare searched the room. Fear settled in my stomach as I tried again, "Niall! This isn't funny! Come out!"

My desperate cries were to no avail. 

I made my way nervously up the steps and hesitantly checked inside our bedroom before checking the bathroom and even the linen closet.

Niall was no where to be found.

A Note From Kaity: Hello my lovelies. How are all of you doing today? This story is so intricate that it makes me excited haha. I think all of you might love/hate me at the end. Fun information: Looks like I might be going to London next year ;) Oh the perks of being an adult... xx

COMMENT what do you think is going on? Should I go to London next summer or Roadtrip the states with friends?
VOTE cause you love me maybe? 

AUTHOR'S NOTE AS OF 2017: On January 1st, 2018, IF YOU SEE THIS BOY will no longer be available for purchase on Amazon. If you would like a copy, please purchase before that date. Thank you for reading!