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Chapter Text

With the lives of over twenty-thousand people riding on his shoulders, Louis really did not have time to deal with anything unexpected. Unexpected, like the phone call he received from his brother earlier that morning reminding him that his niece and nephew would be arriving at the famed ‘Jurassic World’ this morning to visit him, a forgotten addition to his tight schedule that he would just have to cram in. Tension was tightening into a knot at the base of his neck and Louis tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator continued its smooth, slow descent. Like every morning, Louis would greet the possible investors on the ground floor and take them back to the lab. He knew the process, the pitch, and the type of people that would be waiting for him once those doors slid open. They were like everyone else who came into Jurassic World looking to invest, just as bad as the more dangerous assets, cunning and ready to do anything to get their intended target. If they smelled one drop of blood, they wouldn’t hesitate to rip into Louis and in turn create a domino effect that would cascade into a disastrous collapse of the park’s respectable chain of command. 

Louis would show no weakness, he would leave no room for error, only perfection. It was just like any other day. 

“Louise Teasdale, vice-president...Simon Cowell, bad hair...Roman Kemp, deserves better...Louise, Simon, Roman. Louise, Simon, Roman. And I am Louis Tomlinson,” his mind raced to file away the reminder, and Louis pushed any sense of urgency or anxiety from his face as he brushed back the silk sleeve of his Burberry shirt to glance at his watch. Louis fought a scowl, “Three minutes late.” 

Finally the elevator came to a stop and Louis readjusted his cuff as a smile curled his lips and the doors opened to the vultures, “Welcome to Jurassic World.”

“While year-over-year revenue continues to climb, operating costs are higher than ever. Our shareholders have been patient, but let's be honest,” tourists parted before them, sparing the group a quick and curious glance as Louis led the hopeful investors through the sliding glass doors. His voice went wry, “no one's impressed by a dinosaur anymore.”

Gesturing around the lab, a long rectangular room with multiple tables of varying equipment that were all surrounded by at least a dozen of the park’s genetic engineers and their bright-eyed lab assistants, Louis watched as the investors took in the space with smooth, barely-controlled expressions. Tourists watched from the surrounding glass wall, eyes fixated on the multi-colored test tubes that were moving back and forth between the microscope and the centrifuge. Louis kept moving, “Twenty years ago, de-extinction was right up there with magic. These days, kids look at a Stegosaurus like an elephant from the city zoo,” amusement painted his tone for a moment before dissolving back into the nonchalant professionalism Louis strove to exude. “That doesn't mean asset development has fallen behind. Our DNA excavators discover new species every year.”

Louis faced their cool expressions with another wry smile that was charming despite the tension that continued to build in his neck, acting as fuel for the horrible headache that was starting to pound against his skull, “But consumers want them bigger. Louder. More teeth.”

Folding his hands, he continued, catching the looks exchanged between the three, “The good news? Our advances in gene splicing have opened up a whole new frontier. We've learned more from genetics in the past decade than a century of digging up bones,” he walked in reverse, maintaining eye contact as he led them to a cluster of computer screens, “So, when you say you want to sponsor an attraction, what do you have in mind?”

The vice-president, Louise, gave him a once-over with the critical eyes of someone with expectations they didn’t expect to be met, “We want to be thrilled.”

She should get in line with the thousands of others and Louis was tempted to tell her so, but instead his lips parted and his eyes went smug, “Oh, but don’t we all?”

His fingers brushed across the screen, spinning the double helix to show off the impressive graphics and a scientific explanation for the pitch, but Louis was here to sell, not bore, so he simply said, “May I present to you... the Indominus Rex . Our first genetically modified hybrid.”

Simon’s face morphed into a dubious expression, “How did you get two different kinds of dinosaurs to…” he smashed his hands together suggestively and Louis barely refrained from slamming his head against the nearest wall, “y’know.”

Louis paused. “Oh, Indominus wasn't bred,” Dr. Henry Wu had walked up behind the investors during the pause, a sly smile tugging on the corners of his lips at the chance to brag about his creation, “She was designed . She will be fifty feet long when fully grown. Bigger than the T-rex.”

Louis cleared his throat, thankful for the explanation but displeased with the interruption, and his chin lifted as he continued his pitch, “Every time we've unveiled a new asset, attendance has spiked. Global news coverage. Visits from celebrities. The eyes of the world become fixed on Jurassic World.”

Louise understood, eyes alight with the opportunity, that of money and profit. Her voice was as eager as her colleagues’ eyes, “When will she be ready?”

Louis watched the smug look on Dr. Wu’s face grow, and he knew that he should be just as proud of their success, but his gut churned when Henry said, “She already is .”

It was the headache , he told himself, that was the cause of his unease. The sharp sound of his ringtone broke his train of thought. He smiled at the group and excused himself, sliding his thumb across the screen to accept the call.

“This is Louis Tomlinson speaking,” he marched down the halls, his watch pinging to tell him that he should be getting downstairs to the Innovation Centre to try and catch his nephew and niece before they started their day in the park. 

“Lou, you know you’re my best mate and that I’m only saying this because I love you dearly. You need a vacation.” 

“I work on an island in Central America, Zayn,” he murmured, rolling his eyes even though his best mate couldn’t hear that through the phone as his feet tapped down the stairs. 

“Okay, then you need to get railed,” the accent of his best friend was like a breath of fresh air, “seriously, when you do manage to come visit me in the flat that we technically share, you look like the type of tightly wound that only has two solutions: relaxing on a beach somewhere or getting fucked within an inch of your life or both.”

“I’m doing perfectly fine, Z, and I am definitely not ‘tightly wound,’” he heard the sound of protest that came over the line, but Louis was calling to the owner of the familiar curly bob, “Liza, is that you?” 

“Uncle Louis!”

“Louis, please try and take time off, spend time with Liam’s kids, yeah? Also, find some guy to roughen-”

Coughing, Louis chose to ignore the antics of his part time flatmate, “Okay, yeah. No. Gotta go, Z, talk to you later.”

He hung up the phone before he was subjected to any more embarrassment and finally cleared the last few steps, letting a smile curl his lips and crinkle the corners of his eyes, “Hi!” 

Liza, his niece stumbled into him, wrapping her arms around him and then squeezed him tight. Louis did his best to reciprocate the hug, but the unexpected affection had him stuttering through his words awkwardly, “Wow, um, you’re s-so sweet,” he patted her back, eyes falling on his nephew, Bear, who stood a few feet away, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his grey hoodie. 

When Liza stepped back to adjust the headband atop her head, Louis turned his attention to his nephew, taking in the very noticeable changes in the young man’s demeanor, “Bear, wow, you’ve gotten so tall, last time I saw you, you were only like here,” he put his hand mid chest, completely ignoring the fact that Bear was already taller than him, “That must’ve been, what? Three, four years ago?”

“Seven,” Bear mumbled, british accent sharp with sarcasm, “Seven years, but y’know close.”

Louis’ eyes darted to the ground for a moment in his guilt before latching onto a new subject, “I see you got your wristbands!” a smile stretched across his lips and he pulled an envelope from the back pocket of his cream trousers, “here’s money for food. Eleanor will be keeping an eye on you two.” 

His assistant was just now joining the group and she straightened up at the sight of Louis, adjusting her blouse. Uncomfortable, Louis cleared his throat and turned to Liza who looked exactly like her father when they were disappointed, brown eyes wide and pleading like that of a puppy, “You’re not coming with us?”

“I wish that I could,” he kept his voice smooth, it was just like selling another pitch, “tomorrow, however, I’m all yours. I can take you to the control room and show you the behind the scenes,” his phone dinged and he looked down as his voice grew distracted, that’s cool right?”

The next notification merged seamlessly into an incoming call and Louis looked back at them guiltily, “I’ll see you at six, yeah?”

“No, no, you have the-”

Louis cringed at the reminder, “Right, of course, eight o’clock then? Wait,” his pointed at them, “when do you go to bed? Or do you guys have separate bedtimes?” His phone began to ring again and Louis took another step away without an answer, “Okay, um, have fun.”

He waved awkwardly, picking up the call and walking away. By the time Louise hung up the call sealing the deal, Louis had a hot cup of coffee in his hands and a migraine pushing at the back of his eyes. The control room was its normal chaos of voices talking over each other and the sound of fingers tapping against the screen.

“Live count?”

“Twenty-two thousand, two-hundred sixteen.” 

He shuffled closer to Lewis and Taylor, eyes scanning over the wall of monitors, “Any incidents?”

“Six kids in the lost and found,” Lewis sighed, “twenty-eight down with heatstroke-” 

Louis’ gaze caught on Lewis’s t-shirt as he cut off the tech. He narrowed his eyes and pointed at the graphic of the vintage logo, red letters spelling out, Jurassic Park , “Where did you get that?”

The tech grinned, “I found it on eBay, awesome, isn’t it? This isn’t mint condition so I got it at a hundred fifty which is a steal compared to three-hundred dollars-”

“Didn’t it occur to you maybe that’s in poor taste?”

Lewis flushed and stuttered out an explanation, scottish accent slurring the words “I mean I know a lot of people died, it was just horrible, but that park was legit. All they needed were the dinosaurs, natural dinosaurs, not genetic hybrids. Well as natural as they can get these days-” Louis cut him off with a hand motion, eye flitting back to the parkwide monitor, “Just don’t wear it again.”

Taylor looked up at him, “Speaking of hybrids, how’d the pitch go? Did you seal the deal?”

“Looks like it,” Louis took a sip of coffee, “Verizon Wireless presents the Indominus Rex. ”

Lewis groaned, “That is so terrible, I mean you might as well let them name the fucking dinosaurs, Louis...”

“Why are the West Plains closed?” Louis pointed at the red highlighted area, signaling restriction. Taylor pulled up the Plains camera to show a team of vets and ACU kneeling around a dinosaur, “Another Pachy roaming outside his zone. They sedated him and are ready for relocation.” 

“….Pepsi-saurus,” Lewis ticked the name off on a finger, “Tostido-don…”

Louis pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice annoyed, “Security assured me that the invisible fences were a no fail, but this is the second incident this month.” 

“Pachys short out their implants when they butt heads.” 

Sighing, Louis looked back at the screen, “How much longer before they can get him out of there?”

Taylor grimaced, “They just gave him five milligrams of carfentanil.”

“Yeah, he’s very stoned. So why don’t we show a little sympathy,” Lewis turned his chair to face Louis, raising an eyebrow, “You do realize these are actual animals, right?”

Louis raised an eyebrow in return, “Clean up your workplace..it’s chaotic,” he pointed to Lewis’s dinosaur collection and disorganized sticky note collection. 

"I like to think of it as a living system. Just enough stability to keep it from collapsing into anarchy…” his hands hovered over the figurines in a gesture and Louis rolled his eyes, nudging a trash can over with his foot before he left to catch his next appointment, so when Lewis knocked over the precariously balanced cup on his desk, it wouldn’t spill.  

Louis’ watch buzzed with the time, and as he turned to walk away a mechanical voice buzzed over the intercom, “Inbound chopper, Jurassic 1. ETA, five minutes.”

“Louis!”

“Mr. Masrani!” Louis’ artificial smile strained to hide his anxiety as he greeted the park’s owner and climbed into the helicopter, reports in hand, “you’re flying?”

It came out as more of a question than an exclamation, but the man just shrugged as if it was no big surprise, a large smile on his face, “I got my license.” Louis was none too pleased to see the other man in the pilot’s area, who was a sickly color of green, hold up two fingers, “Two more.”

“Well, two more days,” it seemed insignificant the way he said it, but Louis felt like he should maybe not be in the back of this helicopter as Masrani turned in his seat, “so, how’s my park doing?”

Louis shifted, ignoring the nerves in his gut, opening his folders to look at the paperwork that displayed the numbers he already had memorized and bouncing around in his brain, “Great. We're up two and a half percent over last year, a bit lower than our initial projections-”

Masrani shook his head, “No, no, no, how's it doing? Are the guests having fun? Are the animals enjoying life?”

His nose scrunching slightly, Louis closed the files and adjusted his answer, “Well, guest satisfaction is steady. In the low nineties. We don't have a way to measure the animals' emotional experience.”

“Sure you do. You can see in their eyes, right?”

Louis wanted to roll his eyes, but he just allowed another smile to curl his lips, “Of course.”

The man who had turned to look at Louis faced back toward the controls and Louis heard the childlike glee in the business man’s voice, “Okay, now show me my new dinosaur…” Louis pulled on the padded headphones and checked his seatbelt. Masrani pulled back on a lever and the helicopter jumped off the ground, Louis’ hands immediately going to grip the seats next to him as they rose in the air. Nausea sunk into his stomach, the wobble to their path instilling a flutter of panic into his bones. 

“You look tense, Louis.”

I wonder why, Louis thought bitterly, hand gripping tighter to its hold as they flew dangerously close to some trees. 

“You should spend a day at the beach. Get some sun.” 

Louis avoided the topic, his boss’ words sounding eerily similar to those of Zayn’s, “Uh, right, so marketing thought we could offset some of the costs--” His voice shook slightly before he got it under control and he scolded himself mentally for losing the professional air that he wore like a well-matched accessory. 

“Ah, enough about costs!” Masrani took a hand from the yoke to motion at him and the helicopter dipped slightly before evening out. Louis tried to take a deep breath, “John Hammond entrusted me with his dying wish, and not once did he mention profits. ‘Spare no expense,’ he used to say.”

Louis closed his eyes, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, “I appreciate that, really, but the practicality of that while operating a theme park-”

He felt another wave of nausea hit as the helicopter swerved to the right suddenly as they narrowly avoided hitting a flock of birds. Louis swallowed, decidingly ending the conversation until they were on solid ground. 

The concrete walls with metal framing provided an intimidating, dark demeanor as they approached Paddock 11. Louis glanced worriedly behind him at where the flying instructor was puking into the grass. Masrani paid the man no attention, dismissing it with a wave of his hand as he looked up curiously at the crew who was working on extending the walls. Louis gestured to the construction, “We planned to open in May, but Asset Containment insisted we build the walls up higher,” he paused, “It's bigger than expected.”

Louis had anticipated some sort of surprise or at least annoyance toward the delay, but all Louis got was a simple, “It’s a good sign.”

They entered the observation deck, Louis nodding to the supervisor as he explained carefully, “We hit a few speed bumps early on. It began to anticipate where the food would come from. One of the handlers nearly lost an arm,” He looked over at Masrani who just continued to stare out the glass observation wall, searching through the jungle foliage. Louis continued, “The others threatened to quit if I couldn't guarantee their safety.”

Louis gave the supervisor a pointed look which was understood and followed by a prompt exit, leaving them to stare out at the tropical landscape. 

“She’s intelligent, then?”

Louis tilted his head before admitting, “For a dinosaur.”

“And that?”

Forcing himself to be nonchalant, Louis looked at the cracked glass that Masrani was indicating before fixing his attention elsewhere, “It tried to break the glass.”

“I like her spirit,” the words were chuckled out darkly and Louis felt his stomach twist as the leaves rustled and a dark shape moved through the habitat. 

Taking in Masrani’s expression, Louis felt his brow crease, his voice worried, “Think it’ll scare the kids?”

“The kids?,” a breathy scoff, “It’ll give the parents nightmares.”

“Is that... good?” he was almost scared to hear the answer and a feeling similar to fear fluttered in his own stomach.

“Fantastic,” Masrani breathed, staring at the luminous glimpse of white skin contrasted against the green canopy as the rustling went silent, “Can she see us?” Louis regarded the danger on the other side  of the glass with cool matter-of-fact-ness, “They say it can sense thermal radiation, like snakes.”

Masrani followed the motion of the rustling canopy as the asset moved away, no longer interested in its visitors. He looked as if he were waiting for something more, when he faced Louis again, “I thought there were two of them.”

“There was a sibling in case this one didn’t survive infancy.”

“Where is the sibling?” 

Louis felt his mouth twist, and he was completely aware that he should not be so unfazed about the whole occurrence, “She ate it.” 

His boss gestured to the room, “The paddock is quite safe, is it not?”

“We have the best structural engineers in the world,” Louis assured smoothly. 

Flinching internally at the next words, Louis debated whether or not it would hurt less to just throw himself to the dinosaur, “So did Hammond.”

If there was anything that Louis hated more than impracticality or disorganization, it was comparing his park to that park. They were built on the same principles, but Jurassic World was safe, secure, and successful. He lets the silence fill the space, the words falling forgotten and useless without a response. 

“There's a Navy man here,” Masrani spoke again and tension bled into the line of Louis’ shoulders, “He’s a part of a research program one of my companies is running. Harry Styles.”

Louis was unsuccessful in hiding the scowl that name brought to his face, “I know who he is.” 

“His animals often try to escape. They're smart. He has to be smarter.”

Barely refraining from rolling his eyes, Louis settles on smiling sarcastically, “He only thinks he’s smarter.”

To his credit, the dark headed man beside him said nothing about the bitter distaste in Louis’ comment, continuing without batting an eye, “I want you to bring him in. Let him inspect the paddock. Maybe he sees something we can't.”

Harry Styles kept his steps deliberate, eyes following the squealing pig as it darted through the terrain beneath him. He saw the leaves rustle and four blurs go after their prey, but as the pig practically flew toward the trap door which was its safety, Harry held up his hand and let his voice project, “Hold!”

The four Raptors, his Velociraptors, slid to a halt obediently albeit a bit reluctantly, eyes still fixed ahead of them as they watched their prey get away, claws tapping impatiently against the soft jungle floor. 

A piece of hair fell out of his bun and he let it, not breaking eye contact with the four predators that were staring up at him and the catwalk he was on curiously, he could tell their attention wouldn’t last long and he pressed down on the clicker in his hand, “Hey! Hey!,” he held his hand up, “Okay!” He saw Blue shifting, hungry eyes flitting to the trap door, “Eyes on me! Blue? Blue!” 

He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, pointing to the raptor with her identifiable blue stripe, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Charlie snapping his jaws, mouthing off, “Watch it. Charlie. Hey! Don't give me that! Shut it.” Delta was shifting out of position, and Harry barked out, “Delta! Lock it up!” The raptor shifted closer to her siblings, and Harry, satisfied with the formation, held his hand a little higher, “Good! And we're moving.”

Harry walked sideways to the other branch of the catwalk, where a bucket was attached to the rails, the raptors followed as they snapped at each other, the soft leaves indenting under their feet, “Hold!” he warned. 

They stood below him, obedient and still, watching him, “Very good! See, Charlie, that's what you get!” reaching into the bucket his fingers wrapped around the dead rat, throwing it to Charlie who happily snatched it from the air, “Echo, there you go! Delta!” The two raptors happily ate the bait as Harry grabbed another rat. “Blue?” The raptor looked up at him and Harry fought a smile, “This one's for you.” 

“Hold!” His hand was steady as it stretched straight out from him, still clutching the clicker as he watched them hold the formation, “Eyes up!” Harry felt pride racing through him as their eyes followed the upward motion of his hand, the adrenaline of success short behind it, “Go!” he swept his hand and the Raptors were gone. 

Grinning, Harry felt some of the tension leave his shoulders, repocketing the clicker he turned to see Niall walking toward him with laughter in his eyes, “You finally did it, ya cunt!”

He shook his best friend’s hand with matched enthusiasm only to be pulled into a brief hug by the Irishman, who patted at his back before pulling back and giving Harry another grin. Harry returned it, pulse rabbiting under his skin. 

“Styles,”Niall and Harry shared an annoyed look, as they turned to face Jeff Azoff, “I was starting to think I hired the wrong guys, but damn you got them eating out of your palm.”

“You came on a good day. It's not usually a happy ending,” Harry admitted.

Jeff looked up at him, squinting against the sunlight, “Is that why you’re not sending in your reports?”

Harry tilted his head, mouth quirking nonchalantly as he exchanged a look with Niall, “We’ve been busy.” 

Jeff snorted, “Not too busy to cash your paychecks.” 

“What do you need, mate?” Harry forced the word out as they walked across the catwalk, eyes shifting over the habitat below them. 

“A field test.” Harry sent him a sharp disapproving look and Jeff held his hands up, “Hey. I've just seen they can respond to commands. We need to take the research and get it on its feet.”

Niall snorted and Harry rolled his eyes, “These are wild animals, Azoff. Trust me, you don’t want them in the field.”

The older man didn’t give up, pressing with a nasty smile, “I just saw a bond. A real bond. Between man and beast.”

Tugging at the hair tie, Harry let his hair loose, hands tugging through the wild curls as he turned, fully prepared to walk away from the conversation, but Jeff stepped in front of him. Harry watched his expression darken in the reflection of his boss’ eyes, “You’re in my way.”

“Come on. We’re the same. We’re dogs of war,” He pushed a finger into Harry’s chest, ignoring the look he received from him that was echoed in Niall’s expression, “We know that the military needs to reduce casualties. Some people think that robots are the future. They don’t realize that nature gave us the most effective killing machines 75 million years ago. And now we know they can take orders.”

Niall stood next to Harry, pushing in between Jeff and him and looking out over the rails, eyes shifting to his friend incredulously, “We finally make progress and that's the first thing he says? Make a weapon ?”

Jeff looked exasperated, grasping at anything there might be to draw them in, “Come on, gents. It's grown-up time. Drones can't search tunnels and caves. And they're hackable. The minute a real war breaks out, all that fancy tech is gonna go dark.”

Harry huffed, leaning against the rail, “But that tech’s not gonna eat them if they forget to feed it.” 

The pot-bellied man gestured out to the habitat where Blue and Charlie were in sight, Echo and Delta probably not far away, “Look at these creatures. They've got millions of years of instinct in their cells, instinct that we can program. Their loyalty cannot be bought. These guys are gonna run straight into the enemy's teeth and eat them, belt buckle and all.” 

Harry felt disgust curl in his belly, eyes darting out over the raptors he had practically raised, he heard Niall’s mocking accent, “Then what if they decide they wanna be in control? What’s gonna stop them from making you their next target?”

Jeff shrugged like he had already thought of that and got everything figured out without ever  learning about Velociraptors let alone how to handle them, “Well, then we remind them who is. We terminate the rogues. Promote only loyal bloodlines.”

Niall let out a laugh and gave Harry a look that screamed, good luck, mate, and walked away shaking his head. Harry laughed softly, and he heard Jeff halt his glory speech to look at him, “What? What’s so funny?”

“I don’t know,” Harry snorted, his not-so-amused smile twitching in the corners of his lips, “You come here and you don't learn anything about these animals except what you want to know. You made them, and now you think you own them.”

Jeff laughed behind him, following him as Harry walked down the steps, “Oh, but we do own them. Extinct animals have no rights.”

Opening the gate and letting it shut, Harry walked into the secondary room, only separated from the cage by thick metal bars, “They’re not extinct anymore, Azoff.”

Harry was hoping that keeping Jeff outside the bars would end the conversation, but stubborn as ever, the man pushed on, arms hanging through the horizontal cutouts, “Exactly. We're sitting on a goldmine and Masrani is using it to stock a petting zoo.”

“He just wants to teach people some humility. He doesn't make weapons.”

Jeff’s laugh was mocking, “You think that the eighth richest man in the world is only into oil, telecom, and family fun parks? He's so diversified, he doesn't even know what he owns.”

“How long has InGen been practicing this pitch?” 

“Since the day we hired you out of the Navy,” Harry didn’t want to hear the rest, but Jeff just kept on talking, “You knew the end game. These animals can replace thousands of boots on the ground. How many lives would that save? War is part of nature. Look around, Harry. Every living thing in this jungle is trying to murder the other. Mother Nature's way of testing her creations. Refining the pecking order. War is a struggle. Struggle breeds greatness. Without that, we end up with places like this that charge seven bucks a soda.”

Harry turned back from checking the equipment, expression condescending, “Do you even hear yourself when you talk?”

Not amused by the insult, Jeff told him, “This is happening. With or without you boys. Progress always wins.” 

Eyes falling to the ground minutely, Harry squared his shoulders, “Maybe progress should lose for once.”

A squeal ripped cut off whatever Jeff was about to say and Harry turned his attention to the cage as a worker called out, “Pig loose! Pig loose!”

Harry saw the pig get snagged by Echo and in turn watched as the worker was pulled over the rails by the looping meant to catch the pig and fell into the cage, landing with a muffled thump. He was moving before he could even think about what he was doing, hand slamming on the button to the industrial gate, watching as Delta, Charlie, and Blue close in on the down worker. 

He heard Niall yell after him, “Harry, don’t!” but he was already inside, running in front of the retreating man and holding out his hand. The gate groaned to a stop, but Harry didn’t dare look back, eyes only daring to glance up at the catwalk where movement had caught his eye. There two men were leveling non-lethals at the four raptors, “Oh no, no, hold your fire!”

He stepped closer, hearing the scramble of leaves as the worker struggled to get further and further away from the approaching danger, “Do not fire! Put 12 amps into those animals and they never trust me again.”

Harry raised his hand, locking eyes with Blue as he stated firmly, eyes hard, “Blue, stand down. Stand down .”

The raptor snapped at him, and Harry fought the instinct to flinch, keeping his voice stern, hand steady, “Hey, hey! What did I just say?” He saw movement from his right and moved his eyes to stare down the female, “Delta, I see you. Back up.”

Delta snarled at him but stopped and didn’t come any closer, “Okay, good. Good. Charlie? Stay right there. Good.”

He kept his eyes on the animals in front of him, but spoke to Niall, “Close the gate.”

The idea was insane and became even worse when you didn’t exactly work out all the details and Niall expressed his opinion on Harry’s apparent stupidity, “Are you crazy!?”

“Trust me, close the gate.”

He listened to someone frantically advocating for his idea, “You heard him, close the gate!!”

Niall stepped to the side and hit the button, the screech of the gate filling Harry’s ears as he took a few slow steps backward, raptors matching him inch for inch until he was close enough to whip around and roll into safety. The gate hit the ground with a thud against his back, followed almost immediately by the bang of four raptors slamming into the metal bars, snarling.

He flinched, sweat rolling down the back of his neck as Niall held out a hand to help him up, “I’m okay, Nialler.” Niall smiled tightly before glancing down at the ground behind Harry, mouth twisting in sympathy.

The worker was sprawled on the floor, eyes still glazed over with terror, Harry grimaced, “You’re the new guy?”

The young man nodded, chin still wavering as he swallowed, throat bobbing, “Yeah.”

Taking his hair tie, Harry shoved his curls back into a bun, allowing the cool breeze to blow against the back of his neck. 

“You ever wonder why there was a job opening?” He watched the impact of his words, the man’s eyes constricting as he looked up at Harry, nervous. “Hey,” Harry’s attempt at being reassuring went dark, “Don't ever turn your back to the cage.”

Catching eyes with Jeff, whose expression was smug as he finally walked away. Harry shook his head and made his way out of the gate, the sound of a growling raptor fading into the background.

Louis ignored the nerves settling in his stomach as he drove through the jungle, the dirt road smooth from travel. His phone rang and he groaned when he realized that the contact read Liam. Ignoring his brother’s call earlier was one thing, and Louis was completely aware that he couldn’t ignore it a second time. 

“Hey, Liam,” his voice screamed innocent little brother, but he knew that Liam didn’t buy it when his voice filled the speaker, disapprovingly. 

“Louis, glad you could answer my call,” Louis winced slightly, “how’s everything going?”

Head still throbbing, Louis shifted his hands on the steering wheel nervously, “Oh, everything’s great. Liza and Bear are having fun, have you noticed how tall Bear has gotten?”

Oh geez, Louis bit his lip, he was rambling. Of course Liam knew how tall his own son was. Stupid Stupid Stupid. 

“Really?” Liam’s accent was bitingly sarcastic, “Because I just got off the phone with Bear, and he had the funniest thing to tell me. You’re not even with them, Lou?”

The accusation in his words made guilt pool in Louis’ mouth, ready to pour out with whatever excuse he could come up with, “Yeah, look. Today turned out to be a really bad day for me. They're in great hands. They're with my assistant,” oh shit, Louis, what’s her name? he came up short, stuttering out, “She's British, you know we Brits invented nannies.”

Louis laughed nervously, turning down another road, as Liam sighed heavily into the phone, “ Louis, you know this was supposed to be a family week. Is work so important that you can’t spend at least the weekend with your niece and nephew who you haven’t seen in seven years.”

Guilt stabbed at his gut and Louis knew that his older brother was giving him that look through the phone, big brown eyes glistening sadly until you gave in to whatever he wanted, “Okay, I'm sorry. Tomorrow, I'm gonna spend the entire day with them. I'm going to take off work, and I will not leave their side. I promise.”

“Well, a promise tomorrow is worth a lot-”

“Oh don’t even try and finish that line, Li. Quoting mum, really?”

Liam laughed into the phone, “My God. I am using Mom's lines. I'm sorry, but you know, I have to tell you, they work. You'll see when you have kids.

“Yeah,” Louis scoffed, “‘if.’”

“‘When.’” Liam corrected, “It's worth it. Even if you do have to adopt, Louis, don’t use your sexuality as an excuse-”

Louis flushed, cutting off Liam, “Bye, Mom,” hearing the soft farewell he got in return before hanging up and groaning into the steering wheel as he finally pulled up to his destination. The nerves that had gone forgotten during his phone call returned as he caught sight of the man he was looking for. 

Harry Styles looked exactly like Louis remembered, broad and muscular, his t-shirt stretching thinly over his biceps, his hair was longer than before and swept down to curtain part of his face from where he was sitting. He turned at the sound of Louis’ car, green eyes narrowing as he watched Louis step out of the car, hand sweeping to rake through his hair, as he asked, “What do they want now?”

Louis wasn’t sure if it was meant for him to hear, but he just bypassed the question, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he stepped closer, “Mr. Styles.”

He tried not to stare as Harry straightened in his seat, eyes fixing on Louis, arm propped on the motorcycle he had been evidently working on before Louis’ arrival. 

“I need you to come take a look at something.”

Cheeks feeling warm as Harry’s eyes trailed up and down his figure, Louis fought not to fix his attire out of self conscious habit, “Why are you calling me Mr. Styles?” Harry sounded suspicious if not a bit offended and Louis bit his lip. “Harry,” he corrected almost too quickly, eyes darting around, trying to land anywhere but on Harry’s, “If you’re not too busy?”

Louis glanced pointedly at the beer in Harry’s hands and the rusty motorcycle, his teeth sinking into his bottom lip when the Raptor trainer smirked lightly, head tilting back to take a swig of beer, “I’m pretty busy.”

Instead of allowing his annoyance to show, because he was not about to give Harry the satisfaction, he continued, “We have an attraction.”

Harry snorted, hands flexing on his thighs as he stood up to his full height, already towering over Louis despite the distance between them, “That’s not what you said last time I saw you.” Heat threatened to crawl up Louis’ neck but he swallowed and forced himself to roll his eyes, “The dinosaurs, Mr. Styles.”

The chuckle he got in return sent a rush of something through him and Louis glared at the man as he was reminded, “Harry.”

Louis ignored him, his reply steely and professional because that’s who he was, a professional. “A new species we made.” The look he got in return was incredulous and he fought not to stare at Harry’s hands as he wiped the oil off them with a cloth. 

A fly buzzed around his head, and he tried to shoo it away with his hand, but then Harry was in front of him, fist closing around the fly. Louis’ throat went dry at their proximity and he suddenly wished the fly was still alive so the silence between them wouldn’t be so...loud. Harry stepped back and Louis sucked in a subtle breath, skin threatening to light up with a blush.

“You just went and made a new dinosaur?”

Louis nodded, responding to the dubious tone with his most effective weapon: sarcasm, “Yeah, it's uh kinda what we do here,” he saw amusement flash for a moment in Harry’s eyes before it was gone, “The exhibit opens to the public in three weeks. Mr. Masrani wanted me to consult with you.”

For the first time since he had arrived on Harry’s small chunk of property, Louis remembered just why he avoided eye contact with Harry Styles when their eyes locked and Louis felt his mind go fuzzy with the knowledge of what was behind those forest green eyes that shone like emeralds. “You want to consult here,” Harry smirked smugly, thumbing over his lip as Louis watched the motion, snapped from his reverie, “or in my bungalow?”

The words were dripping with implication and Louis subconsciously rubbed at his neck as if he could still feel the hot press of lips and sting of teeth against the sensitive skin, the marks that he was left with the next day, the ghost of a hand around his neck before shaking his head minutely, returning Harry’s comment with a sneer as the man laughed smugly, “It’s not funny,” he deadpanned, before taking a deep breath while Harry chuckled, letting his face settle back to neutrality, “Look, Mr. Masrani would like you to evaluate the paddock for vulnerabilities.”

Harry stopped laughing, eyes more serious as his nose scrunched curiously, “Why me?”

“I believe he believes that since you are able to control the raptors…”

Exasperation filled Harry’s expression and Louis’ jaw snapped shut abruptly, resisting the urge to grind his teeth. “See, it's all about control with you. I don't control the raptors, it's a relationship. It's based on mutual respect . That's why you and I never had a second date,” he finished matter of factly, turning his back to Louis and stepping away. 

Louis gasped, protest rushing through him as he pointed an accusing finger at Harry’s back, “I never wanted a second date!” 

Harry paused by his motorcycle taking the dirtied oil cloth to wipe down the tools laying on a cloth on the ground. He looked unamused, eyebrows raised, “You printed out an itinerary for a night out! Who does that?”

“Oh, wow, sorry for being organized and presentable,” he retaliated, arms crossing over his chest defensively, “you wore pants with rat blood on them , may I remind you.” 

The man scoffed, “You're the one who made an itinerary that started ten minutes after I finished working with dinosaurs that eat rats! Of course there is gonna be a little collateral. I’m not the one who couldn’t drink tequila because of some idiotic diet.” 

“All of them, actually,” Louis’ lips parted with the urge to continue the argument he desperately wanted to come out of on top, but he had a schedule that had to be followed and the imbecile in front of him had already took up more time than Louis could give, “it doesn’t even matter, it doesn’t affect me or the fact that we need to be focusing on the asset.”

Harry glared at Louis, “The ‘asset’? Look I get it. You're in charge out here, you gotta make a lot of tough decisions, it's probably easier to pretend these animals are just numbers on a spreadsheet,” Louis conveniently made sure to stop himself from making the comment about the fact that he did have a spreadsheet because he was sure it wouldn’t help him in the slightest, “but they’re not. They’re alive .”

Scoffing, Louis shook his head as Harry walked back over to him, “I’m fully aware they're alive, Mr. Styles-” a sharp look, Louis sighed, “Harry.” 

“You might have made them in a test tube, but they don't know that. They're thinking: I gotta eat. I gotta hunt. I gotta,” green eyes glistened with immaturity as Harry pumped his fist back and forth suggestively, “I know you can relate to at least the last one,” another smirk shaped dark lips and Louis blushed hotly, suddenly too close the bungalow and implication of remembering just what Harry was referring to. He let his dress shoes tap down the wooden steps, stopping on the last one and standing far closer to Harry than he should. 

“I’ll be in the car,” the smell of Harry, vanilla and tobacco, just as intoxicating as he remembered and he fought to force a snarky grin on his lips as he sniffed and scrunched his nose up in feigned disgust, “you may want to change your shirt. It’s sensitive to smells,” he flashed a demeaning smile before he walked away, shoulder barely brushing against Harry’s chest as he passed. He could feel Harry’s eyes on his back, but then he was in the car and he could breathe again, realizing that sometime in that painful conversation, his headache had finally ebbed away and that really just made no sense because Harry Styles was a headache. The worst kind of headache that never seemed to go away and Louis despised headaches like that idiotic, smug, arrogant, attractive bastard.

Paddock 11 loomed over them as Louis led Harry toward the staircase to the observation deck, the need to release some of the information in his mind leading him to say, “We've been pre-booking tickets for months. The park needs a new attraction every few years in order to reinvigorate the public's interest. Kinda like the space program,” he shrugged, “Corporate felt genetic modification would up the ‘wow’ factor.”

Harry didn’t seem impressed, “They’re dinosaurs, ‘wow’ enough.”

Rolling his eyes, Louis allowed his lips to twitch into a smirk, “Not according to our focus groups. The Indominus Rex makes us relevant again.” Harry laughed and Louis stopped halfway up the stairs to look back and see ridicule masking Harry’s face, “The Indominus Rex,” he snorted out. 

“We needed something scary and easy to pronounce,” Louis pushed his hand through his fringe, glaring at the man, “You should hear a four year old try to say ‘Archaeornithomimus .’”

Seemingly upset by Louis’ pronunciation of something Louis was most positive the British Navy man below him couldn’t say, Harry mumbled out, “You should hear you try to say it..” with a frown before following Louis up the steps and through the door. 

The supervisor from earlier was sitting at a table in the room, a bag of chips and a burger sitting in front of him as he nodded to Louis and the stranger. Louis went to the touch screen, watching Harry approach the glass from the corner of his eye. Louis waited for the familiar flash of white skin and the scary glow of an orange eye, but the still silence in the habitat remained undisturbed. 

“What’s this thing made of?”

“The base genome is a T. rex, the rest is,” Louis folded his hands, “ classified .”

Harry looked at him, eyebrows pinching together, “You made a new dinosaur but you don't even know what 'it’ is?”

Louis felt another wave of annoyance wash over him, but he dismissed the comment with cool nonchalance, “The lab delivers us new assets and we show them to the public,” he turned to the supervisor, “Nick, can we lower a steer, please?”

Wiping his hands, Nick looked upset at the interruption but said, “Sure thing, boss,” and hit a few buttons on a control screen. They watched as the crane moved a carcass to rest in the lower treeline of the paddock. 

Harry seems unperturbed by Louis’ avoidance, “How long has it been in there?”

Louis’ nose scrunched in confusion but he answered anyway, “All its life.”

Pointing to the large walls, “She’s never seen anything outside these walls?” Harry seemed to dislike that fact, his expression concerned. Louis sighed, tapping at the glass impatiently, “We can’t exactly walk it, Harold.”

Harry stared at the crane that had the meat hooked to it, the chain moving slightly in the breeze, “And you feed it with that ?”

Still not understanding what Harry’s issue was, Louis crossed his arms as he faced the trainer, “Is there a problem?”

“Animals raised in isolation aren’t usually the most functional,” and Louis had to snort at that, eyebrow quirking. 

“Your raptors were raised in captivity.”

“Yeah, with siblings ,” Harry emphasized, “they learned social skills.” 

Louis decided that telling Harry about the asset’s sibling probably wouldn't disprove Harry’s point, but he didn’t have to respond because Harry continued, “And I imprint on them when they're born. There's trust. The only positive relationship this animal has is with that crane,” he pointed at it sharply, “At least she knows that means food.”

Louis felt like he should match Harry’s concern, but he couldn’t help taking on a patronizing tone, “So she needs a friend? I’ll get someone on scheduling her some play dates.”

What he wasn’t expecting to receive in return was a dark chuckle that sent shivers down his spine and five words, “Probably not a good idea.” Louis decided that looking anywhere but Harry was the best plan and he felt confusion pressing down heavily on his brow as he looked out the glass, “ Where is it? ”

Louis felt panic rise in him, he heard the sarcasm in Harry’s words as he asked, “What, is it in the basement? Is there a downstairs? Maybe it's in the rec room.” Louis just shook his head, nausea rising in his throat as he began a thermal scan, reassuring himself aloud, “It was just here. We were just here.”

The red signals, the message popping up on the large monitor as the thermal scan came back, NO THERMAL SIGNATURES DETECTED. 

He heard Harry’s soft curse as he strode to the opposite side of the observation deck, eyes scanning out the window, and Nick sat up straighter, disbelief painted on his face, “That doesn't make any sense. These doors haven't been opened in weeks.”

Louis tried to find comfort in the logic of that, there was no way it could have escaped, it was impos- 

“Were those claw marks always there?”

His throat got impossibly tighter as he walked up behind Harry to look at the deep indentations that led all the way up the wall, “You think it…?” It hit him like a brick was just dropped on his head and Louis couldn't keep his hands from trembling as he choked out, “ Oh, God. ”

For the first time since he first began working at Jurassic World, Louis felt afraid of a dinosaur. The fear filled him like a sick sort of adrenaline as he stumbled backward toward the door, “She has an implant in her back! I can track it from the control room!”

Running out of the room, Louis almost fell down the stairs to get to his car, phone already in hand as he dialled the emergency number. “We have an asset out of containment!” his voice shook slightly as he barked out the orders, “Put ACU on alert! This is not a drill!”

He hung up the call and dialled the control room, praying for them to hurry up, “Yeah, hello?”

Louis’ words were quick, rushed, as he struggled to find any sort of assurance that this wasn’t a complete disaster, “Lewis, get me coordinates on the Indominus.”

Lewis sounded confused, “Okay, yeah….let me do...uh, workin’ on it right now.”

Harry’s instincts were buzzing as he walked into the cage, eyes scanning the canopy above him, the man from the control room, Nick, he thought Louis had called him, walking behind him anxiously. They walked toward the wall with the scratches where a technician was studying them, white hat crooked on his head. 

Pressing his palm to drift over the groove in the concrete, Harry felt his mouth turn down, eyes drifting up to study the similar marks running up the wall. 

“That wall’s forty feet high,” Nick sounded skeptical, drawing the other men’s gaze, “You really think she could've climbed out?”

Harry swallowed, chest tight with dread, “Depends,” he trailed off, eyes darting. 

“On what?”

“What kind of dinosaur they cooked up in that lab,” the implication had Harry pressing his hands back against the wall, feeling to make sure they were in fact real and this wasn’t some sort of nightmare. 

“Wait, what the hell? It’s in the cage…”

Louis shook his head despite the fact that it wasn’t visible over the phone, “No, that’s impossible,” his throat constricted, “I was just there.”

“Louis, I'm telling you, she's in the cage…” Louis heard shuffling on the other side, a sharp inhale that sent another chill of fear racing down his spine, “What? Wait a second, there are people in there..”

His foot slammed against the brake, his heart hammering, practically screaming into the phone as he realized, “Get them out of there! NOW!”

He heard Taylor call into Paddock 11, but as he started to drive, Louis felt the claws of fear shredding his insides, mind racing as he hung up, unable to stomach hearing what would come next. 

He closed his eyes, Goodbye, Harry.

Harry had been on alert since he walked into the home of the most dangerous creature alive, but at the time it had been for no reason because the animal wasn’t home. So when the buzz of Nick’s walkie talkie came on in the sound of broken-up, frantic sentences, Harry felt his shoulders go tense.  

“...ddock...Paddock 11….do yo...copy?”

“Yeah,” Nick tilted his head to talk into the speaker on his shoulder, “what’s the problem?”

“It’s in the cage! It’s in there with you!”

It took Harry two seconds to process the words, shouting, “Go!” as he began to run toward the small door where they had entered from, the technician right beside him. The trees rustled in front of them and Harry felt terror chill his bones as he stared up at the newest attraction Jurassic World had to offer. Harry worked with Velociraptors everyday, he looked danger in the eye and said that he was in charge and unafraid; but in that moment, as Harry looked into those eyes, he decided that he never wanted to see danger like that again. He wasted no time, knowing that staring too long at the white skin and wicked claws would mean his death, Harry turned sharply, running back toward the supervisor who was pressing his hand against the recognition software and opening the large gate. Harry heard the scream of the technician, the swoop of air as the man was clawed off the ground and lifted to his death. He could’ve sworn he even heard the wet slap of blood hitting the leaves but he forced himself not to think about it, legs burning as he sprinted for the exit, completely aware that the opening was getting slimmer as the gate began to close. 

Deja vu rolled over him as he barely squeezed through the gate, sliding and tumbling to relative safety under a parked Jeep. The sound of the gate being crunched and broken, the resounding boom of heavy footsteps that followed set Harry on edge as he hardly dared to breathe. He could see Nick leaning against the front of a white truck, hands shaking as his face glistened with tears. His hands pressed into the rough rock of the coarse gravel, palms aching as he watched the body of the beast go out of sight, tail swishing by the end of the white truck. Harry flinched back when the truck was lifted up and thrown back down into a twisted heap of broken glass and metal, his eyes found the terrified ones of the supervisor and watched as jaws snapped around him, death too quick for him to even scream. 

Harry’s mind raced, heart hammering as he reached behind him, drawing his knife and cutting through the fuel line, letting the gasoline pour over him. He made sure that his shirt was soaked in it before clamping his arms to his sides, acutely aware of the presence of the Indominus Rex lurking next to the Jeep. The jaws, teeth yellow and stained red with blood, littered with pieces of ragged skin, were visible as it leant down, presumably looking for him. A hot puff of air hit his arm and he fought to keep his mouth shut, holding his breath as he turned away, squeezing his eyes shut. 

Even when he heard the thump of the footsteps fade as she walked away, Harry barely allowed himself an exhale, heart pounding at his ribs, trying to beat out of his chest. He shivered, the gasoline a cool reminder against his skin, as he let his head thump back, a shaky breath of relief echoing from his lips.

“Everyone remain calm,” Louis tried to imitate the authority he used everyday when walking into the control room, but he could feel the cold tremor of his hands inside his pockets, “The implant will shock it if it gets too close to a perimeter fence.”

Lewis looked at the monitor, the red line of its path chartered by its implant, “Okay,” he sounded nervous, doubtful, “it’s moving really fast.”

Taylor was already picking up the phone, “This is control, put out a park-wide alert-”

Masrani’s hand landed heavy on Louis’ shoulder as he leaned and hissed out an order to Taylor, “Hang up the phone. Please!”

“Sorry, I'm getting new information. Everything is fine,” she sighed into the phone, hands playing with the sleeves of her cardigan. Louis winced when Masrani calmed with, “Let Asset Containment capture it quietly. The very existence of this park is predicated on our ability to handle incidents like this. It was an eventuality, okay?” 

Lewis shook his head, mouth pinched in disgust, “You should put that in the brochure. ‘Eventually, one of these things will eat somebody.’” Knowing the consequences of attempting anything other than what Masrani was suggesting would lead to everything Louis had built and supervised crumbling to disaster around him, he sighed, “That paddock is four miles from the closest attraction. ACU can handle this, no one else is gonna get-”

“Eaten?”

Louis didn’t know how to answer, so he let the silence do that job.

Niall had come to work with the raptors out of the curiosity that had always gotten him in trouble growing up. He had no expectations of making friends in the dangerous career, but he had been pleasantly surprised when had shown up on day one only to be met with a British Navy man who had wild curls and a dimpled smile. 

Harry and him got along almost instantly, and shared more than a few laughs over close calls with snapping jaws and razor claws as they bonded with their animals. They also happened to share a certain dislike for their supervisor, Jeff Azoff. 

Checking up on them like he did every afternoon, Niall pressed his hand into the skin of Echo’s jaw, an orange eye blinking curiously at him from the metal muzzle that allowed them to get close to them for evaluations without losing an arm...or life. 

“How fast can they run?”

Speak of the devil and it shall appear, Niall rolled his eyes internally, but the baby blues flitted up to glance at the man walking through the gate toward him.

“Forty. Fifty when they’re hungry.”

He stood, hands leaving the raptor to look suspiciously at Jeff as he got closer to Echo, eyes gleaming with darkness, “Ooh! You ever open them up, see what they can do?”

Niall wasn’t amused, “No,” his accent remained flat.

Jeff let his hand wander too close and Echo snapped, her jaws restrained by the muzzle, but the minute movement was enough for the man to jerk back with a curse, “Shit! That got me. It got me,” he repeated thickly. 

Letting out a laugh, Niall’s words took on a mocking lilt, “What do you think? Want to take one home?”

“Hey, don't joke. When I was your age, I rescued a wolf pup. It was, like, two months old. It could barely walk. It used to sleep by my bed. Watch over me. My wife, she came at me with a steak knife. It took a chunk out of her arm.”

The smile on his face made Niall seriously hope that the approval for Jeff’s ‘field test’ would never come because people like him weren’t afraid of a little sacrifice until it was too late and the bloodbath was over. 

“Did you put it down?” Niall asked. 

Jeff grimaced, “No, no. We had an unshakeable bond, you know? Just like you and…” he gestured to the other raptor that Niall had just sat next to, his hands pressing into her neck, “What's his name?”

“Delta,” Niall frowned, “And she’s a girl.”

“Can I….”

He trailed off and Niall motioned for him to go for it, knowing how they would react to anyone who wasn’t Harry or him. And just as he expected her to,  Delta snarled at the foreign hands and Niall immediately went to soothe her, the impressed whisper from Jeff going ignored as Niall’s Walkie Talkie beeped, “Code 19!”

The blood drained from his face, “That’s the new one!” he called out to the other workers, one who called back, “They said we lost two guys!” 

Jeff stopped him when he went to leave, “What’s Code 19?”

“Asset out of containment. These people, they never learn,” he shoved past, heart thumping wildly, not hearing Jeff’s whispered words. 

“....we might have an opportunity here.”

Harry felt anger fuel his steps as he pushed past the security guard that tried to stop him, “I need to see a badge, sir. I need to see a badge.” He ignored the hands that grabbed at his arms, “What happened out there?”

His voice shook with barely restrained anger, and he watched as Louis turned around to look at him. He was scared, Harry could tell that much, but he could also see the stubbornness that tightened the line of Louis’ jaw. “Sir,” the guard repeated.

“There are thermal cameras all over that paddock. She did not just disappear!” Harry’s jaw ticked angrily as blue eyes met his. Louis sighed, eyes flitting away from the contact, “It must have been some kind of a technical malfunction.” The avoidance, the blatant ignorance that Louis knew better than to adopt, made Harry’s voice rise as his anger boiled over, “Were you not watching? She marked up that wall as a distraction. She wanted us to think she escaped!”

“Hold on. We are talking about an animal here.” There was Louis’ insistent refusal to believe that the dinosaurs were nothing more than flesh and blood bags with no emotion and no intelligence. Harry stepped closer, his fist clenching by his side at Louis’ ignorance, “A highly intelligent animal.”

A girl with blonde hair interrupted, stealing Louis’ focus back to the monitor, “400 metres to the beacon.” Harry’s attention flitted to the screen displaying the Asset Containment Unit’s approach to the tracking implant signal. His jaw went slack, disbelief overtaking anger, “You're going after her with non-lethals…”

The dark haired man that Harry knew had to be Masrani gestured exasperatedly, “We have $26 million invested in that asset. We can't just kill it!”

“Those men are gonna die,” his voice was low and he watched as Louis’ throat bobbed slowly, eyes wide as he kept quiet.

“300 meters to the beacon.”

Harry snarled at Louis, his hand gripping the older man’s elbow, “You need to call this mission off right now.” Louis looked up at him, eyes wavering, but his mouth set in a firm line as he held eye contact.

The girl who spoke before whispered out again, her voice shaking, “They're right on top of it.” It was too late, Harry was almost sure, but he let command bleed into his voice in one last effort, “Call it off right now, Louis.” It almost worked, he could see the pliancy building into the corners of Louis’ eyes and he relaxed into Harry’s grip for a moment before he tensed and pulled away, blue eyes flashing at him dangerously, stubborn and hard, “You are not in control here!”

Harry felt his teeth grind together, jaw clenched as he forced himself to watch the screen. The camera was good quality, depicting the stream as the map indicated with a blinking red dot that they were right there with it. He heard the slosh of water as one of them, presumably the commander, trudged through the water, lifting up a chunk of white skin with a blinking pill of light. 

“Blood's not clotted yet. It's close,” the voice was smooth, clear, and confident, but Harry’s unease only grew the longer he watched. 

“What is that?”

Harry felt the realization creep up his spine, “That's her tracking implant. She clawed it out.”

Louis’ head snapped up, “How would it know to do that?” shock coloured his voice. 

“She remembered where they put it in,” Harry breathed, and Louis locked eyes with him, neither of them looking away, a certain understanding of something passing between them unsaid, he almost thought that Louis would retract the team when he heard the same voice scream, “It can camouflage!” 

They all watched as the pulses of the team slowly faded into red lines, the life ripped out of them, Harry’s voice was hoarse, “Evacuate the Island.” Louis’ head tilted, eyes full of knowledge, fear, guilt, but he stated, “We’d never reopen.”

Inhaling sharply, Harry pointed a finger at him, “You made a genetic hybrid, raised it in captivity. She is seeing all of this for the first time. She does not even know what she is. She will kill everything that moves.”

Louis didn’t respond, but Masrani seemed fascinated, “Do you think the animal is contemplating its own existence?”

“I think,” Harry leant into the words, “she is learning where she fits in the food chain, and I'm not sure you want her to figure that out,” he gestured to the number of red lines, the casualties already suffered. “Now, Asset Containment can use live ammunition in an emergency situation. You have an M1-34 in your armory. Put it on a chopper and smoke this thing!” 

It was the only option, the best one, and Harry could see that people were agreeing with him, but they weren’t in charge, “We have families here. I'm not gonna turn this place into some kind of a war zone!” Louis’ words were emotional, practical, but were also disregarding the bloodthirsty hybrid dinosaur that would love to eat those families. Harry scowled, “You already have!”

“Mr. Styles,” Louis was tense, and Harry sent him a sharp look, “if you're not gonna help, there's no reason for you to be here.”

Cursing, Harry sent his hand out, sweeping toy dinosaurs from where they were situated on a desk, they cluttered to the ground as he walked toward the door, stopping to lean in close to Masrani, “I would have a word with your people in the lab. That thing out there, that's no dinosaur.”

After Harry left, Louis expected his frustration, the tenseness in his muscles to fade as well, but instead he just felt more anxiety and unease stir through him, “Okay. I'm going to close everything north of the resort. This is a Phase One, real world. Bring everyone in.”

Taylor relayed the order, and as he watched the families pile into the designated area, Louis suddenly realized that Liza and Bear were out there somewhere. With his heart hammering, he stepped away, calling Eleanor, who picked up with a rushed ‘ hello,’ Louis took a deep breath, “I need you to bring Liza and Bear back to the resort as soon as possible.”

Panicked mumbling filled the other side and overwhelmed, Louis interrupted, “Slow down, I can't hear you.”

“They’ve run off, I can’t find them.”

Louis felt a different kind of terror settle, tightening around his lungs until he couldn’t breathe. He hung up, fingers fumbling to press on Bear’s contact, gasping in relief when the line connected, “Hey, Louis.”

“Oh thank god, Liza’s with you?”

“Yeah, it’s getting hard to hear you, we’re in that hamster ball thing. ”

Louis inhaled sharply, “Bear, I need you to listen to me very carefully-”

“Louis?”

His heart thudded against his ribs, “Bear-” the line went dead and Louis ran over to Lewis, voice desperate. 

“Are there any Gyrospheres left in the valley?”

Lewis shook his head, “No, they're all accounted for. It's my job,” he swiped across the screen, paling when a rogue gyrosphere appeared on the graphic, “What? Yeah,” he sighed, pointing to it, “there's one in the field.”

Louis’ voice went hard, “Send a team of rangers, bring them in.”

Taylor pressed at her ear piece, “Security, we need a search and rescue in the Valley.”

“We've got our hands full out here.”

Louis’ anger pushed him to grab the mic, snarling lowly, “No, there are two guests missing! You need to make this your top priority!”

He heard Lewis mutter softly, “Just do it man.”

“There's a lot of guests missing. We're doing the best we can.”

Dropping the mic back to Taylor, Louis pushed his hands through his hair, frustrated, “Fine, I'll do it myself!” His eyes caught a glimpse of wild curls and aggressive stance, Harry’s voice mixed with all of the other sound feeds, “Do you think I'm the one you need to be worried about right now? Back off!”

He hurried down to the lobby, pushing his way carelessly through a projection, nearly wilting with relief when he heard, “Louis!” rushing to grip at Harry’s biceps, eyes wild. 

“I need you,” he felt close to tears as he saw his words register in Harry’s eyes, the green darkening with confusion. 

“Okay…”

“My niece and nephew, they’re in the valley. I need to find them. You have to help me. Please, if anything happens to them...” The tightness in his throat became too much and he cut off abruptly, eyes closing. Harry guided him away from the curious eyes of the crowd, rubbing soothingly at Louis’ shoulders, “How old?”

“The boy, he’s older, um, about two inches taller than me, high school age, uh, then the girl is younger, by a few years and she’s shorter.”

Harry looked more confused, “You don’t know how old they are?”

Louis was fidgeting anxiously in the passenger seat of the vehicle as he got Bear’s voicemail  again, too consumed in trying to get ahold of his nephew to notice that they were coming to a stop. Harry gives him a strict look, “Stay in the car.”

Harry got out of the G-Wagon, hoping that Louis would listen to him for once as he approached the reason for their stop. He fell to his knees next to the fatally injured Apatosaurus, hand caressing her neck to comfort the dying animal, “Hey, hey. I know, I know. It's all right. All right, girl.” 

He heard another door open but didn’t look up until Louis was stumbling to his knees, eyes the colour of a frozen lake, sad and empty, as he looked at the dinosaur. He reached out almost hesitantly, but jerked back, fingers shaking when she let out a pained bellow, a large tear welling up in her eye. 

Their eyes met as Harry continued to whisper softly to the Apatosaurus , “Okay, okay. You're okay.”

His words seemed to give Louis enough comfort to press a gentle palm onto the slightly rough skin, tears welling up in his eyes, one fell down his cheek as the breathing stuttered and the pulse came to a stop under his fingers. 

Harry stood, face stoic as he walked around to help lift Louis up from the ground, arm wrapping around his shoulders as Louis cried, their eyes scanning over the valley. Corpses littered the bloodied grass and the air was filled with the residual fear of an animal who had no escape, “It didn’t eat them. It’s killing for sport.”

Louis stepped through the wreckage, eyes widening as he took in the smashed sphere, broken glass littering the forest floor. He saw Harry yank a tooth from the disformed metal frame but then sunlight glinted off something and he rushed over to the smashed phone, shaking as he picked it up, “No no no.”

A hand settled on his shoulder, dangerously close to the back of his neck and Louis fought not to sink into the touch as Harry pointed to the muddy imprints of two different shoe sizes, “Hey, they made it out.”

Pushing off the ground, Louis didn’t hesitate to follow the trail left behind, running with Harry close behind him. They came to a cliff, next to a flowing waterfall, where the footprints ended and Louis felt his eyes widen, “My god, they jumped.”

Harry nodded, voice holding a bit of pride or maybe awe, “Brave kids.”

“Liza! Bear!” He saw Harry jump in surprise at the desperation behind his shouting and Louis went to continue but a hand clamped over his mouth and he was pulled into Harry’s chest, shushed firmly by the larger man. 

Louis punched Harry’s chest, annoyance itching his nose as he snarled, “Hey! I am not one of your bloody animals!”

Harry sent him a look, but Louis stood his ground, arms crossed defiantly, “Listen, those kids are still alive, but you and I will not be if you continue to scream like that.” Feeling like a scolded child, Louis lowered his voice to a whisper, gesturing to Harry and the footprints wildly, “So...You can pick up their scent, can't you? Uh, track their footprints?”

Harry looked down at him, “I was with the Navy, not the Navajo,” he sneered.

“So then what should we do? What do you suggest we do?” Louis was impatient, distinctly feeling like they were running out of time. 

“You head back. I’ll find them.”

Louis scowled, “No.”

Harry raised his eyebrows, “You really gonna argue with me, little one?”

“I am not little and yes, I will be arguing with you because you will not find them,” Louis huffed, “ We will find them.”

Harry glowered, “You'll last two minutes in there,” he pointed behind him at the terrain, “Less, in those ridiculous shoes.”

Louis would take offence at the comment but glancing down at his Fendi sabots, he would admit that they were not ideal. He huffed and popped the first few buttons of his shirt, rolling up the sleeves as an answer. Harry stared at him blankly, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m ready,” Louis put his hands on his hips, this is exactly why you hate him , he’s an ignorant idiot, he reminded himself, even if he is risking his life to help you and looks unfairly attractive while doing it. 

“Fine,” Harry tied his hair back and Louis did his best not to stare, “Let's get one thing straight. I'm in charge out here. You do everything I say, exactly as I say it.”

As always, to cover any nerves Louis cocked a hip and raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

Harry must’ve seen something inside of him that reflected the fear he actually felt, because he smiled lightly, a dimple poking out, “Just relax. It's just like taking a stroll through the woods...65 million years ago.”

Comforting, Louis thought as Harry adjusted the gun he was carrying, jawline tense and sharp from where Louis was standing. Shaking his head, he dodged around Harry, walking toward the forest, aware of the eyes following him. 

“Oi, Styles, stop staring at my arse!”

He heard a smug laugh but no denial as Harry jogged to catch up and they disappeared into the trees. 

Harry heard the rumble of an engine, locked eyes with Louis and they both took off toward the sound, dodging branches and roots until they came to an old structure, some sort of garage. He saw the tire tracks in the dirt, and then crouched down and swept up a dirty flannel from the floor, “This one of theirs?”

Louis nodded, “Yeah,” he pointed in the direction the tracks were going, “That road leads straight back to the park.”

Harry hummed in acknowledgement, shuffling around the shelves curiously, he grabbed a pair of jumper cables with about ten layers of dust on them and turned back to the old Jeep, “How did they even get one of these started?”

He went to open the hood, Louis sliding up beside him when they heard a low thud, the ceiling shaking as dust filtered down. Harry automatically wrapped a hand around Louis’ bicep as they flinched. Another thud, the footstep of a very large animal, and Harry pushed Louis to the far side, crouching down onto the floor. Harry glanced around the corner of the Jeep, his only weapon left leaning out of arm's reach, he caught a glimpse of white scales just in time to dodge back behind the Jeep as a large jaw poked its way into the empty space vacated by the other Jeep. The familiar puff of hot breath made Harry flinch, hardly daring to breathe as Louis clung to his arm. 

The Idominus retreated, and Harry was about to warn his companion to stay still but Louis didn’t seem like he was going to move as he clutched at Harry’s arm and they remained tense, breathing in short, quiet gasps. The ceiling to their left collapsed, a roar filling the room as they scrambled up, a scared shout leaving Louis’ lips as they began to run. Too soon, Harry thought, I knew it couldn’t have been that easy.  

The sound of destruction followed them, but as they twisted a strange path through denser trees, it must have split off and began heading for something else that caught its attention. Louis made a call next to him, turning to follow the creature despite Harry’s shock that they weren't running in the opposite direction. 

“Lewis, we found her. South of the Gyrosphere Valley, between the old park and the Aviary.”

Harry could make out a muffled, accented voice from the other end, “ Wait, are you following the dinosaur?” He wanted to second that question and ask why exactly they were running after it, but he could already  practically hear the eyeroll in Louis’ voice as he replied, although he was too busy running after a monster to double check, “Yes. Get ACU out here. Real guns this time.”

“ACU is airborne. They took the helicopter.”

Louis slowed, “What? Who's flying it?” The answer had Louis cursing and handing up as they emerged from the foliage, his phone shoved back into his pocket, just in time to watch the helicopter crash through the Aviary, Masrani down with it. Louis’ mouth dropped into an ‘o,’ eyes wide. Harry grabbed Louis’ wrist, eyes settling on the hundreds of prehistoric birds flying toward them and starting to run again, dragging Louis with him back toward the cover of the trees, “Trees! The trees! Let’s go!”

The next time Louis’ phone rang they were back on the main road and he halted, Harry running ahead as he picked up the call.  “Louis!” It was Eleanor, “We spotted the boys on surveillance.They're approaching the west gate. I'm headed there now.”

It was like a large weight amid a crushing ton had been lifted off his chest and Louis felt dizzy with relief, “Okay. Stay right there. I'm on my way. Stay right with them.” He hung up just as Harry called out to him, revving up an ATV he found and telling him, “Get on! Let’s go!”

The park was a frenzy of chaos, and Louis fought not to think about the disorganization of it all as he sprinted into it head first. A mechanical voice bled through the speakers as they got clear of the ACU building, “All units take position on boardwalk. Use liquid tranquilizers. Do not fire live ammunition.” 

They meld into a group of ACU officers and Harry began to shoot at the birds, his targets dropping to the ground as he turned to Louis, gesturing for them to run ahead, “Come on!”

They sprint through the frenzy, Louis really finding his lack of long legs annoying as he strained to see over the mass of panicked people so he could try and catch a glimpse of Liza and Bear. He climbed up onto a car’s hood as Harry stood nearby, looking like an adonis in the late afternoon light, arms flexing as he kept firing. Pieces of his hair had fallen from the mess of a bun he had forced them into, the curls brushing across his cheeks. 

Louis would love to stare at him but his eyes caught on a familiar red headband atop a curly dark head, “Liza! Bear!”

They were further down the boardwalk, and Louis waved his arms trying to get their attention. He heard Harry’s voice call out a warning and watched as a Pterodactyl approached Bear and Liza from behind, “No, hold your…” a smaller flying dinosaur landed on Harry’s back, clawing at him.

The shot was already fired, the tranquilizer stilling the bird as it fell and began to slide, Bear grabbing his sister’s arm to try and get them out of the way. Louis tore his eyes away when he heard Harry grunt, still fighting to not get his face eaten by the relative of the Pterodactyl; and he jumped down, grabbing Harry’s gun from where it had fallen. He used the butt of it to hit the head of the violent creature before lifting the gun, closing an eye and firing, the dart sinking into its neck. 

He offered a hand to Harry who grabbed it, and hauled himself to his feet. Louis offered the gun back revelling in the pride and slight shock on Harry’s face, “Oops,” he smiled. 

Harry grabbed the gun with one hand and the other went to the small of Louis’ back, skirting dangerously close to the curve of his arse. He was offered a dimpled grin, “Hi,” Harry whispered back, before tugging Louis forward and knocking their lips together. 

Louis had kissed Harry before, but right now it seemed like centuries ago as the smell of vanilla, tobacco, and sweat clouded his senses and lips pressed desperately against his own. He gripped at Harry’s stupid vest as Harry pulled away, smirking smugly and Louis was breathing heavily, wanting to forget that they were in the middle of a crisis and lean back in, but an “Uncle Louis?!” brought his attention away from the idiot he had just been kissing as he turned to see Liza and Bear gaping at them from a hundred feet away, the crowd frantic between them. 

“My God! Thank God!” He broke away from Harry running to meet them halfway, voice frantic, “Thank God! What happened? What is this?” He thumbed over a scrape on Liza’s chin, “Are you okay? Where did you go? Why didn't you come back? I was so worried about you.” 

Liza just pointed at Harry who had walked closer to them, face stoic despite his swollen lips and that smug, attractive , stupid, idiotic, arrogant glint in his eyes, “Who’s that?”

Louis looked at Harry before looking back at his niece, “We work together,” he blurted. Harry waved to them shortly, face controlled as he gestured to the chaos and said, “We gotta go.”

“Yeah, okay. Come on, come on,” he ushered his nephew and niece toward Harry and the four of them made their way toward the control room. 

Louis’ phone rang as they kept up a hurried pace, “Lewis, we’re on our way back to you.”

"That's a bad idea. The board assigned emergency ops to InGen's private security division. This guy Azoff is in charge. And he has this insane plan to use the Raptors to hunt the Indominus.”

The four of them came to a halt before a pair of gates, “What do you mean ‘use the raptors?’”

Harry scowled next to him, “Son of a bitch.”

“You shouldn’t say bitch, it objectifies women,” Liza told the taller man almost as an afterthought as they watched the gate move back and forth. Harry’s eyes bore down on Louis’ the weight of them warm but intimidating, “Take the kids. Get them someplace safe.” 

But then the doors pushed inward again, like something was pushing against them harshly. Louis’ eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The gate broke open with a cry from the other side and a crowd of people rushed through, trying to get out of the park. Eyes widening, Louis gestured to the park vehicle and the four of them got in as fast as they could. Louis looked at Harry as he gripped the wheel, frantically turning the key in the ignition, “Okay then, here goes nothing.”

They backed up through the streets, the wave of people getting closer and closer to them until Harry was able to pull off into a clear side area, “That did not feel safe,” he breathed, watching as the crowd got thinner and thinner running past them. 

“Can we stay with you?”

Louis turned to Liza with a grimace that turned to a sweeter smile, “I am never leaving you as long as you live.”

Bear shook his head, “No, him,” pointing at Harry the same time Liza did, “Yeah, definitely him,” his niece said. Harry winked at Louis, a smug smirk tugging the corners of lips in an intoxicatingly attractive way, but Louis just shook his head with zero malice because he wasn’t planning on leaving Harry either. 

Harry wasn’t sure when the anger actually took hold of him, but he did remember slamming to a halt and stepping out of the park vehicle, red clouding the corners of his vision when Jeff grinned at him, arms spreading wide, “The mother hen has finally arrived.”

Taking a deep breath in, Harry exhaled and brought his fist up, punching Jeff straight in the jaw, the older man crying out as he bent in half, hand gripping delicately at his chin, “Get out of here and stay away from my animals.” 

He heard another person get out of the car and then Louis was standing next to him, hands on his hips, snarling at Jeff, “Azoff, you wanted this to happen, you stupid son of a bitch-”

What was sure to be a string of expletives from a pissed Louis was interrupted by the idiot himself, “How many people have to die before this mission starts to make sense to you?” 

Niall came up behind Jeff, smiling grimly at Harry before grunting out, “It’s not a mission. It’s a field test.”

Temperament had never been Jeff’s strong suit and his face turned red, arms flying out angrily as he got into Harry’s face, hoping to force him to take a step back, “This is an InGen situation now. Okay? There are gonna be cruise ships that show up here at first light. Everybody's gonna get off this island. You're gonna watch a news story tomorrow about how you all saved lives. No, better yet, how your animals saved lives!”

Harry didn’t move, just remained emotionless in the face of Jeff’s anger, he felt a small hand clutch the back of his shirt and felt Louis press slightly closer, quivering. He knew that Louis wasn’t scared of Jeff. Louis was faced with angry, screaming men with god complexes every day, and Harry understood that the trembling he felt against his back was because this time, Louis was angrier than the one yelling. 

Niall sent him a look, the shared fear for their Raptors going unsaid, “They’ve never been out of containment,” he shook his head, “It’s crazy.” He was right of course, letting them out for something like this as the first time ever, was suicidal, dangerous, and just plain insane, but as Jeff pressed a finger into his chest, Harry knew that they might not have a choice, “This is happening! With or without you.

“Let’s move it out!”

Niall walked up to him, face grim, “This is bad.” Harry nodded even though the statement didn’t require a response, “I’m not letting them go out there without me,” he said. 

“Would it be so bad if Azoff got eaten by a raptor?” Louis grumbled, stepping away slightly, and Harry felt a stubborn frown fall on his lips, resisting the urge to pull Louis back into his side. Niall just grinned at Louis as if he was just now seeing him, an ironic smile tilting his words, “I suppose not, but Harold here was talking about the Raptors, not the humans. I’m Niall.”

“Hi, Niall, I’m Louis,” he lifted his hand in a friendly gesture, before turning to look at the movement of the InGen soldiers around them, “They’re really doing this?”

Harry’s smile was dry, empty, “Afraid so, sweetheart. You've hired idiots.”

“I’ve been aware of that fact since I started this park. How else would you work here?” Louis huffed, turning and walking back to his niece and nephew, smiling when Niall’s laugh and Harry’s eyes followed him. 

Harry looked around the table, soldiers glancing down at the map as he sank in as much authority into his voice as he could, if they were doing this then he would be the one calling the shots. “We know that she is in sector five,” he indicated the area on the map before continuing. “This is a game we call hide-and-seek. It's a scent drill. We've done it about a thousand times with these animals. When they get on target, and they will get on target, wait to engage.”

He sighed, “Velociraptors are pack hunters. They like to herd the animal into a kill zone. That's when we take our shot. Get a clear shot, wait on my command, and give her everything you got. We got one good target, gentlemen. Do not shoot my Raptors,” pausing, he took in the grim, annoyed looks around the table before tilting his head and adding, “Please.”

Blue was looking at him, a snarl in her eyes as it bubbled up and she snapped at him as much as she could through the metal muzzle, “Easy, Blue. Easy,” he murmured. 

Harry tried to fit as much apology into his eyes as he could, hand soothing the side of her head, she relaxed slightly and he smiled, “Attagirl, you don’t scare me,” he adjusted the camera on her head, still not at ease with using the unnatural and probably uncomfortable technology. 

“Harry.”

He turns to see Liza and Bear leaning against the bars, eyes glancing at the contained Raptors curiously. Liza, her shirt torn and dirty with her glasses crooked across her nose, seemed unperturbed by the fact she had been chased by a ravenous dinosaur and grinned at the Raptors, “Are they safe?”

The toothy smile faded when Harry sighed and stepped closer to them, “No, they’re not.”  

Her expression turned morose, as if she could understand how badly Harry wished they were safe, “What are their names?”

Cracking a small smile, Harry turned and pointed to each of them, “Well, you got Charlie. There's Echo. Here is Delta. This one's called Blue.” Blue’s eyes are fixed on them, defiance somewhere buried deep despite her loyalty to the other Raptors and Harry supposed, him, “She's the beta.”

Bear, who had been quiet, following the conversation with his hands stuffed in his jean pockets, tilted his head, “Who’s the alpha?”

“You’re looking at him kid,” he threw his hands out with a confident glint in his eyes that disguised his worry, and it was evidently worth it when Liza giggled and Bear cracked a smile. He felt his own lips curve into a smile, small but genuine.

Louis was positive that he had never been more filthy in his life. His shirt was torn and smudged with mud, gaping open at the top slightly, his collar bone jutting out sharply. His cream trousers had remained mostly intact, with small tears in places where glass or branches caught and scraped at his skin, but the color would never be the same. But for the first time in a long time he didn’t care that he looked unorganized, because he was perfectly aware that this was quite literally the only way you could look after running for your life in a jungle and fighting to help kill a rogue asset  a rogue dinosaur that had wreaked havoc and was so much more than another number on a spreadsheet. 

Liza and Bear were alive, Harry was alive and maybe less of an idiot than he originally thought, since Louis was also still alive. It seemed like a bloody miracle at this point and maybe that was enough for Louis to let go of his need for control or it allowed for his hidden need to be controlled to come to the forefront. He pushed his way past a soldier, looking for the familiar sight of Harry, his hair tied back messily, shirt too tight and large, clunky boots. Finding Harry was easy, but Louis hadn’t expected to see Liza and Bear talking to the man, fascinated smiles on their faces. 

“Hey,” Louis slid up next to them, hand ruffling through the back of Liza’s hair which miraculously still had her characteristic headband in it. She looked up at him, “Uncle Louis, did you know that Harry’s the alpha?”

Louis raised an eyebrow at Harry who looked like he was holding in a laugh before he settled on smirking like he always did, smug, warm, and annoyingly attractive, “Oh, is he?”

“The protective van-bus thing is here, armoured and all, should be safe for you three,” It was Niall and Louis turned to him with a smile, “Thanks, Niall, would you mind leading Bear and Liza over there?”

“Course not,” he moved his head, “follow me, youngins.”

Louis watched them walk away until they were far enough for him to turn back to Harry, “The alpha? Really?”

Harry laughed and Louis felt something inside him light up because he had made him laugh when they were minutes away from almost certain death, “Yeah, don’t act like you’re surprised, little one. I distinctly remember how you react to taking my orders.”

Face flushing red, Louis looked away, voice strained and defensive “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

It was a lie and they both knew it. The whole reason they had that disaster of a date was because of what Harry was referring to. Also known as the fact that when they first met, Louis had found himself “consulting” with Harry in his bungalow a few too many times.

“Hands above your head.”

Louis whined at the order, hips pressing up into empty air as he lifted his hands to rest on the pillow above his head. 

“Look at you,” his eyes snapped open to see Harry leaning over him, thumb pressing into the corner of Louis’ mouth, “Love taking orders so much that you’re leaking all over your tummy, sweetheart.” Harry tutted softly, eyes dark and gleaming, “Gonna be a good boy for me, baby?”

A throat cleared, and Harry was biting at his bottom lip when Louis snapped back to the present, stuttering around the embarrassed blush covering his face. “I just wanted to tell you to be careful, I know you’re worried about this. Scared, even,” he mumbled out. 

Louis saw the change in Harry’s face, the clench of his jaw and the way green eyes shifted to something dark and more serious. 

“Are you scared?” Harry asked, stepping closer to the bars. 

Louis wanted to shake his head because Louis Tomlinson wasn’t scared of anything, but the word stumbled out before he could stop it, “Yes.”

Harry stepped closer, something in his eyes that was predatory and dangerous, and Louis suddenly understood why Harry found success with the raptors, “I won’t let anything happen to you, baby.”

“I know,” Louis’ filter had apparently stopped working because he hadn’t meant to respond so quickly. He blushed more, fingers tapping at the bars nervously. 

“Liza or Bear either, all of you will be okay, I swear I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”

“Just take care of yourself,” the unsaid drifted through the air, heavy and cold, please don’t die. Harry’s hands covered his, “I always do,” he winked, “now how about a good luck kiss.”

Louis rolled his eyes, stepping away from the bar, hands sliding out from under Harry’s, “Nice try.” He smirked, turning away, only to hear the gate open and feel a hand wrap around his wrist. He was pulled back into a warm chest and he blinked up at Harry through his eyelashes, mouth opening to chew him out, but Harry’s smug smirk was already present, “It wasn’t a question,” and then any protest Louis had was swallowed by Harry’s kiss. 

It was different from the first kiss, which had been in the heat of the moment, adrenaline fuelled passion. This one felt strangely familiar and it tasted like goodbye; sweet, slow, and sad. It had Louis’ eyes glistening and his mind dizzy when they parted, “Good luck,” he whispered, pressing his forehead against Harry’s chest. It was meant to be reassuring but Louis realized just how much it sounded like goodbye when Harry pressed a kiss to his head, shaky hands shifting through Louis’ hair as the sun fell below the horizon, sky darkening to a dark purple as a distant roar filled the air. 

Louis found Liza and Bear leaning against the back of the armoured truck, and he smiled at them trying to push confidence and reassurance into his words as he opened the metal doors, “See?” he gestured to the space, “Totally safe. All right, get in,” they clambered in, silent, “Come on. Get all situated.” 

Hands on his hips, he looked at where they were sitting awkwardly with a shaky smile, “If you need me, I'll be right up front. Just open that window. Okay? Put your seatbelts on.”

Both of them went to search for the straps but apparently armoured vans (that were supposed to be extremely safe) didn't have any seatbelts and Louis smiled tightly, “Um, just hold hands,” he said and closed the doors, walking around and sliding into the driver's seat. 

He listened to their muffled conversation and felt a sappy smile spread over his lips, proud that Bear seemed to be exactly like his dad, a great big brother. Louis glanced down at the tablet as the little window slid open and Liza’s head popped through, Bear following. 

They watch Harry riding on a motorcycle, following close to the Raptors, his mouth set in determination, “Your boyfriend’s bloody cool,” Bear told him. Louis smiled and didn’t bother with denial, yes, he was. 

“They’re slowing down,” Niall pointed ahead of them and Harry recognized their hunting formation and knew that they were getting near, closing in on the target. He spoke into his mic, “They’ve got something.”

“They’ve got something,” Louis felt the knots in his stomach grow tighter at the anticipation behind Harry’s words. He grabbed the metal bar on the divider window, sliding it shut, “No no, you guys are not gonna watch this. Keep that window closed.” Louis didn’t particularly want to watch it, but his eyes remained locked on the tablet, unable to look away. 

Harry crouched down, leaning against the fallen tree, gun at the ready as Delta, Echo, Charlie, and Blue came to a stop. The soldiers lined up on either side of him, Niall settling to his left as the Indominus Rex came into view. 

It was unclear what initially told Harry that something was wrong, that something was seriously wrong, but it clicked when the Indominus let out a pitching sound and Blue responded . 

Niall must have noticed it too because he sounded just as confused as Harry felt, “Something’s wrong. They’re communicating.”

It hit Harry with a blow that sent the air rushing out of his lungs, and he suddenly wished that the weight of the realization was enough to push him underground as his throat went dry, “I know why they wouldn’t tell us what it’s made of.”

“Why?” Niall’s voice was shaky and Harry knew he must have come to the same conclusion and was desperately hoping for it to not be true. 

Harry’s face went grim, his voice flat, “That thing’s part Raptor.”

Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Blue all turned to face them, eyes glowing against the light of their laser pointers. Dread clogged his throat when he realized that they weren’t his raptors anymore. 

Jeff’s voice filtered through the comms, “Light’s up! Engage!”

Harry flinched when the guns went off catching how the raptors scattered out of line of fire, his fingers numb as he began shooting himself. A missile was fired, the explosion flashing hot over Harry’s eyes as he watched the Indominus stumble, wounded, before it got to its feet and ran off again, practically unaffected. 

Then Harry was up with the group of InGen soldiers and Niall, walking toward the burning trees in pursuit of their target. “Watch your six,” he warned, “Raptors got a new alpha.” 

That was when the first man screamed. 

Niall lost Harry in the chaos, his heart hammering as he caught a flash of blue through the trees. Shit. Pulling his revolver he sat against the back of a fallen tree, the InGen people running past him to the bikes. He frowned, searching for an escape before he started to run again, feet fast, the sound of a hunting Raptor fast behind him. 

He dove for the open end of a log, his pistol tight in his hands, a last ditch effort because he did not want to shoot Blue. The wood crumpled as Blue leaped on top of his hiding place and began to claw at it, “No! No! Blue!”

She stopped when the name registered and an orange eye blinked down at him, teeth gnashing before the rumble of a motorcycle and familiar whistle had Blue running off, and Niall exhaled shakily.

“Is everyone dead?”

Louis jumped at Liza’s voice, the sadness in it made his heart hurt, and he turned to look at his niece and nephew who were back to poking their heads through the window, “No, everyone’s fine.”

“Don’t lie to her,” Louis glared at Bear. 

“I thought I told you guys to keep that window shut,” he tried to sound stern, but it was more nervous chatter than anything else.

“I wanna go home,” tears were gathering in the corners of Liza’s eyes, and Bear was wrapping an arm around her. Louis wanted to cry too, but he tried to smile reassuringly, “I know, love, and you will. I promise, tomorrow you will be home,” Louis winced slightly, “and your father will never let me see you again.”

A hand slapped against the window and Louis screamed when it left a bloody print behind, the red smearing as the man it belonged to fell to the ground and yelled, “Get out of here! Go! They’re coming!”

Louis fumbled with the key, fear instilling a tremor in his hand as he started the van and pressed down on the gas hard, “Just hold on back there!” 

Something else hit the window as Louis began to take off down the road, this time shattering into shards, one of which sliced into Louis’ arm while a Raptor tried to take a chunk out of his arm. Louis screamed and pressed down harder, the engine groaning as it sped up, the thrashing Raptor thrown out of the window and onto the road. 

He heard shouting in the back of the truck and he opened the window, fear in his voice, “Are you guys okay?”

All he got in return was Bear shouting, “Did you see that?” he sounded on the verge of proud hysteria and Louis didn’t know what just happened but it was definitely bad, and to make it worse, Liza poked her head through with a grin, “I can’t wait to tell Dad!”

Louis paled, shaking his head emphatically, “Oh no, please don’t. Do not tell your father about that, ever.”

“Harry!” “Harry!”

Louis’s eyes whipped up to see Harry on his motorcycle in the rearview mirror, coming around to ride beside them. 

“We gotta get indoors, follow me.”

Adrenaline still rushing through him, it took Louis a minute to hit the right button on the walkie talkie as they drove behind Harry, “Lewis, we’re headed your way. Call in a chopper.”

Harry was exhausted by the time they ran up the steps and into the Innovation Centre; desperation, adrenaline, and his promise to Louis were the only things keeping him upright. “Come on, come on,” Louis was panting, half shouting as he dodged around an exhibit and pointed down a hallway, “that way…”

He trailed off and Harry halted, Liza and Ben in front of him. He could hear the confusion in Louis’ voice as he walked toward the empty lab, “They evacuated the lab,” and then sharper, accusing, “What are you doing?”

Jeff Azoff slid into Harry’s view and he barely resisted the urge to raise his gun and shoot the douchebag, especially when he smiled lewdly at Louis, “That’s above your paygrade, darlin.’”

“Where’s Henry?”

Harry wanted to reach out and soothe the angst that was obvious in Louis’ voice, but his boy was already farther away, fists clenching as he glared at Jeff. “Dr. Wu? Well, he works for us.”

Liza was peeking at a computer screen, stepping up closer to Harry, “That’s not a dinosaur.”

Jeff’s laugh sent the worst kind of chills down Harry’s spine, “No, it ain't, kid. But somebody's gotta make sure that this company has a future. Imagine, that one, a fraction of the size, deadly, intelligent, able to hide from the most advanced military technology. A living weapon unlike anything we've ever seen. You see…millions of years of evolution, what did we learn? Nature is the gift that just…”

A snarl came from an open door and Delta edged into the room, eyes dark. Harry’s eyes went wide and he grabbed Louis’ wrist, pulling him back and out of the way. He pushed Liza and Bear behind him as they watched Delta corner Jeff against a glass wall. 

“Easy. Easy, boy,” Girl, Harry corrected mentally, “Easy. Hey, hey. We're on the same side, right? Right? Easy.”

Delta froze, eyeing the hand Jeff held out curiously. The man seemed to think that he was in the clear because he smiled slightly, repeating, “I'm on your side.”

Harry winced when Delta’s tail swished through the air and the Raptor sent her Jaws snapping shut around the outstretched arm, the spray of blood and resulting scream had Harry ushering them out of the room as Delta went for the kill. 

Louis pointed down the hall, the way to the control room and the opposite of whence they came, but as soon as they lunged to go that way, Delta smashed through the lab wall and stumbled, blocking the way. They sprinted in the other direction, Liza slapping her hand down on one of the projection buttons as they moved for the exit. 

It projected a potential opponent, slowing Delta down as she tried to fight the nonexistent beast. Harry tried to breathe a sigh of relief but as they got down the outdoor stairs, Blue was there, snarling, Echo approaching from their left, and second later the doors banged open, Delta once again to their backs. 

Harry let the gun drop, his hair loose around his shoulders, flying around his face as he held out a hand, “That's how it is?” 

Blue tilted her head, something close to recognition in her eyes as Harry soothed, “Easy. Easy.” 

She snapped her jaws but Harry didn’t flinch at the motion that lacked any malice behind it as Harry reached and undid the headset. “Easy. That's it,” he breathed.

The Indominus appeared from around the corner, and Blue turned, listening to whatever the hybrid communicated before turning back to Harry and bobbing her head. He felt a proud smile spread across his face, the alpha was back . He whistled and then the Raptors attacked. 

Louis stared in amazement as the Raptors ran at the Indominus , Blue first who got knocked aside by the enormous beast. Harry whistled again and then the other two, Delta and Echo he thinks, jumped onto its back, clawing at the skin. Harry started to shoot at the Indominus as Louis began running behind Liza and Bear, leading to a booth where they could take shelter. Liza started muttering under her breath, “24, 50,” she looked up at Louis, “We need more.”

“More what?” Louis was out of breath and he could barely hear his niece over the roar of his pulse in his ears. 

“Teeth. We need more teeth.”

Teeth , how was he supposed to get more teeth? His face blanched, “Okay,” he took a breath, motioning to them with shaky hands, “so you just wait here. It's gonna be fine,” he turned to the first aid kit and broke it open, taking a flare and his walkie talkie, bracing himself. 

He stood up, legs trembling as he struggled to get over the little bar, flare clutched in his hands. Harry did a double take as he sprinted by him and across the courtyard, dodging debris. He heard him hiss out his name in warning, but Louis ignored Harry as he pressed the walkie talkie to his mouth, “Lewis, are you still there?”

“Hey, yeah, I’m here, where are you?”

“I need you,” oh god, was he really doing this? “to open Paddock 9.”

“I think you’re breaking up because I could’ve sworn you just said to open Paddock 9.”

“Lewis,” his voice was firm and Louis took another breath as he stood in front of the door, staring up at the warning signs and the white letters that painted it as Paddock 9, god, he was such an idiot, “be a man for once in your bloody life and I’ll buy you a pint after all this is over.”

“Why do you have to make it personal?” 

Louis dropped the walkie talkie as the door creaked open and Louis took a deep breath, lighting the flare and holding it out to his side as dark, beady eyes flickered in the shadows of a forest, a large shape moving toward him. His chest heaved as the T-Rex stomped toward him and Louis stepped backwards, completely aware of the terror surging through him, but he forced himself to be steady as he turned and ran, the T-Rex following behind him.

If someone told him this morning that later he would be running from the largest dinosaur to the largest hybrid dinosaur without screaming, Louis would have laughed in their face and gone on a rant about how all their safety precautions would never allow any such situation to happen. 

Being alive this morning was so much easier, Louis groaned, dodging under the fossil reconstruction of the T-Rex, and threw the flare, hitting the Indominus in the side of the neck, the flare bouncing off before falling to ground, dying into nothing. It drew its attention from the booth where Louis, with horror, realized he had left Liza and Bear. 

The skeleton shattered behind him and a piece of broken bone sliced his arm. Louis cried out, stumbling to get as far away from the fight as possible. Harry was in front of him then, Liza and Ben in between them, and then they watched in a sort of horrified fascination as the Indominus and the Tyrannosaurus Rex clashed together, the combination of their roars sending tremors through the ground that vibrated up Louis’ legs.

He wasn’t aware that he had gripped Harry’s hand until the younger man was squeezing his back gently, “Let’s go.”

Louis nodded, his breathing still heavy, as he turned back to the fight and watched the Indominus throw the T-Rex to the ground. He felt his throat close up, the overwhelming anxiety ripping through him, but he managed to choke out, “Run!” 

They looked back as they ran, dodging the wreckage of the once pristine park, and watched as the Indominus held the T-Rex down by its neck and opened her jaws, ready for the killing blow. She froze, eyes fixing on something and Louis stumbled to a stop, eyes fixing on Blue who was running toward the Indominus, a defiant growling noise echoing through the heavy night air. 

Harry grabbed Louis’ hand again and pulled him along as the fight began again, like them, moving down the boardwalk, toward the line of decks that overlooked the water exhibit. They dodged into a store, screaming and halting when Blue smashes through the window inches in front of them, shaking off the glass before she reengaged in the fight. Taking as much shelter as they could, they waited for a victor to come out on top, crouching inside of the store, watching from the jaggedly shattered window. 

The bloody, white beast fell to the ground, and Louis felt like shouting because it was finally over, but then the joy, the relief he felt faded as she rose again, roaring as Blue and the Tyrannosaurus closed in. He wanted to cry, curl up in a ball, fall to the ground, and just scream out the tears because he just wanted it to be over . 

The jaws that snapped around the Indominus’ neck didn’t belong to Blue or the T-Rex , but to the Mosasaurus who must have sensed prey near the surface and attacked, sinking its teeth into the bitten flesh and dragging the struggling dinosaur into and under the water. 

The Tyrannosaurus turns to Blue who chirped roughly, moving from foot to foot as some sort of truce passed between them, that the enemy had already been taken care of. He breathed a sigh of relief when the larger beast ambled off, leaving the fight and the resulting wreckage behind her. Harry was already walking out of the store and Louis followed, albeit a little more reluctantly, Liza and Bear trailing behind him. Blue looked at Harry and Louis could see that the trainer was sad by the slight slump of his shoulders and twitch in his fingers, like he was trying not to reach out for the animal as he slowly shook his head and Blue took off into the night. 

“Harry!” 

Harry smiled when he saw Niall lumbering toward him, clumsily bumping into a few people along the way. 

“Neil, I’ve never been happier to hear your voice!” he pulled the Irishman into a hug, “I was scared you didn’t make it.” Niall laughed, pulling back to smile at Harry, “You know me, I’m not going out unless it’s with a pint in my hand!”

It was Harry’s turn to laugh, the feeling strange after the last twenty-four hours, but it was nice, freeing and he looked over to see Louis sitting with Liza and Bear, a paramedic wrapping gauze around his injured arm. 

“And I know you,” Niall winked at Harry, “Go get your boy, Styles.”

Louis thanked the paramedic who bandaged his cuts and turned his attention back to Liza whose head was in his lap and Bear who was leaning against his good arm. His eyes caught on a familiar, ambling figure with brown hair and puppy dog eyes practically running toward them. 

“Your parents are here,” they all stood up, and Louis stood back as he watched Liam embarace Liza, while his wife, Maya, wrapped her arms around Bear with tears in her eyes. 

Liam released Liza, who attached to her mother and brother, and Louis’ older brother walked over to him, smashing him into the biggest hug Louis had ever received, breaking any resolve Louis had left. 

“I’m so sorry,” he sobbed. 

Liam hushed him softly, “I’m just glad you’re okay, Lou. I was so scared I lost you,” Louis hugged back fiercely, his face burying itself into Liam’s soft coat for a moment before he pulled back and Liam looked him over, “Are you okay?”

When Louis nodded and wiped at his eyes, Liam gave him a look that said, I’m not done coddling you , and turned to hug his son. 

“I hate you, you know that,” Louis gasped at the voice that spoke up from behind him and was wrapped in another hug. 

“Zayn!” Louis took a deep breath, and his best friend smelled like he always did, smoke, flowers, and weed. Louis relaxed into the hug, “what are you doing here?” 

Brushing back Louis’ fringe, Zayn’s angelic features stared back at him, his eyes worried, “You almost died, Lou, I flew out here as soon as I heard about the Island.”

Louis snuggled into his friend, “I think I might need that vacation.” 

Zayn laughed, tugging Louis back, eyes flitting over to another part of the room, “I think you might want to go with my other suggestion,” then he was gone with a wink, going to greet Liam with a smile. 

Louis turned to look at what Zayn had been referring to and found Harry, smiling down at an older man while his hand combed through his unruly hair. Harry looked up, their eyes met, and Harry smiled at him, dimples poking out from the corners of the grin. Louis found his feet moving before he even really thought about it and he came to a stop face to face with Harry Styles, who was looking down at him with the greenest eyes Louis had ever seen. 

“Hi,” Louis breathed, heart stuttering in his chest. 

“Oops,” Harry mocked, head tilting to look down at him fondly. Stupid, arrogant, idiotic, smug bastard-

“So, what do we do now?” Louis breathed. 

Harry’s tongue teased over his lip, as he shrugged, “We stick together,” his face turned mock-serious, “for survival.”

Louis laughed, “If we want to survive, I’m afraid we’ll also have to deal with that group,” he shoved his thumb in the direction of his family, where Liam, Maya, Liza, Bear, Zayn, and now Niall stood, all grinning cheekily. 

Harry grinned, “Expected nothing less,” his face turned serious, “we need one more thing though.”

Tilting his head, Louis gestured for him to continue, confusion furrowing his brow, but Harry was already gripping his chin in one hand, the other pressing at the small of Louis’ back, as he leant down and kissed him. 

Now that he was able to kiss Harry without some apocalyptic doom hanging over their heads, Louis went pliant, hands gripping at Harry’s shirt. His teeth tugged on Harry’s bottom lip causing the younger man to jolt, his fingers tightening on Louis’ chin as his tongue teased over the part of Louis’ mouth. He got lost as Harry started to lick into his mouth, head swimming as he whimpered softly. 

Louis pulled back, chest heaving as he stared up into Harry’s darkening eyes, his voice breathless, “That’s necessary for survival?”

“You ask stupid questions,” Harry breathed, the words brushing over Louis’ lips and drawing him in to see how they tasted. They kissed again and Louis could hear Liza’s happy shout of, “Go, Uncle Louis!” and Niall’s rolling laugh as Zayn repeated his advice and then Liam’s scolding about language

Chapter Text

Harry let his hand settle against Blue’s neck, checking up on her as the machine took her vitals. Her jaws snapped lightly in the muzzle and Harry smiled, “I know you don’t like it, but I also happen to like my arm, so it’s staying on.”

Blue made a motion that vaguely reminded Harry of someone rolling their eyes and he smiled, standing to move over to Delta. Clapping echoed from behind him, and Harry turned to find a boy leaning against the bars. 

The boy, or rather a man, as Harry got a closer look, was small, curvy, and well-dressed, something of an oddity for the people one usually saw around the facility. 

“Pardon my late applause,” Harry felt his eyebrows jump at the man’s British accent, “I watched your demonstration earlier and didn’t have time to congratulate you then.”

“I’m afraid I don’t remember seeing you.”

Thin lips, pink and glossy, turned up into a pretty smile and Harry was suddenly very sad that a pair of sunglasses hid the man’s eyes, “Yes, well, you were quite concentrated and then Jeff pulled me aside immediately after.”

“You know Jeff?”

Harry crossed his arms, stepping closer to the bars to get a better look as the man lifted his sunglasses to rest on his head and adjusted the sleeves of his lace shirt, “I’m his boss.” Blue eyes stared back at him, cool and clear, a lighter shade of the waters that surrounded Isla Nublar. 

“You’re Mr. Tomlinson?”

Mr. Tomlinson nodded although his lips turned down into a pout, “Please, do call me Louis. Mr. Tomlinson is dreadful.”

“Alright, Louis,” He held his hand out through the bars, “I’m Harry. Harry Styles.”

The man, who had to have been several inches shorter than Harry, took his hand and looked up at him through his eyelashes, a coy smile quirking his lips as he said, “Alright, Harry Styles.”

Louis at first came to visit the Raptors every two weeks until eventually his designer clothes and snarky attitude began to show up weekly. 

“It’s hot,” he complained one afternoon while he walked the catwalks with Harry, hand fanning at his face. Harry scoffed at him, “Then maybe you shouldn’t wear wool trousers on a tropical island.”

Louis glared at him, “They’re Gucci, Harold, you should always wear Gucci.”

Harry glanced down at himself, “I’m wearing rat blood and khakis.”

“No wonder you smell like that,” Louis sniffed, eyeing him from the corner of his eye. 

“I work with animals who eat rats, it can’t be helped.”

Louis turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised, “I was talking about the khakis not the rat blood.”

Harry scoffed and backed Louis up against the rails, hands settling on the metal on either side of his hips, “You’re a brat, you know that?” Louis looked up at him, eyes defiant despite the blush that was painted across his cheeks, “Am not,” he defended, “Not my fault that you don’t have any taste.”

“If I didn’t have taste, I would say no when you beg me to eat you out.”

Louis turned red and pushed at Harry’s chest, “I do not beg.”

He was only pushed farther against the railing, Harry looking for any workers that had wandered back from their lunch break before fixing his attention on the squirming boy pressed against him, “You don’t beg?”

Louis shook his head, eyes wide as he blinked up at Harry who contemplated it for a moment before stepping back and away, “Okay.”

Blinking, Louis watched as Harry walked away, “Where are you going?”

“I have some things I need you to take a look at, Mr. Tomlinson, why don’t you follow me?”

Louis scowled at the name, but trailed after Harry nonetheless as he walked toward the door that led to the indoor part of the facility. Harry led him down a hallway and stopped at a door, unlocking it with a set of keys and drawing Louis inside with him. It was a janitor’s closet and Louis scowled, “You’re an idiot. There’s no way we’re having sex in a janitor’s closet.”

“We are,” Harry told him, “You know why, sweetheart?”

Louis shook his head, eyes sharp. Harry grinned, “Proving your point. You don’t beg so the fact that the break room is on the other side of this wall shouldn’t be an issue.”

Louis looked up at Harry with wide eyes and the man leant down to press a kiss to his lips, hand going to grip the back of Louis’ neck. “You could always admit how much you love to beg and I’ll save you the embarrassment of having people hear you beg for my cock by gagging that pretty little mouth of yours.”

A thrill ran through Louis’ stomach, “I don’t beg.”

Harry grinned, hand moving from the back of Louis’ neck to take a handful of hair and pull it, the boy’s head tilting back with a gasp, “Let’s make a deal, you don’t beg, I’ll eat you out until you pass out from cumming so much. But if the word please as much as passes from those perfect little lips, you’re gonna let me take you on a date.”

Louis smiled cheekily, “Please.”