Wishing (Will Make It So) One Direction 1/2
Title: Wishing (Will Make It So)
Fandom: One Direction
It's essentially gen (or really OT5) but whoops it's definitely also Liam/Louis if you squint, how did that happen?
17,000 words | G
It's also here on AO3
teaforbryony prompted a WWII evacuated kids AU - and I can't resist found family OR orphaned kids.
Torakowalski as always, fixed all the things, and Elucreh made the end work. Any remaining mistakes are mine. The title's a Glenn Miller song that was a hit in 1939.
(Here is a stupid post I made about how to tell the One Direction kids apart. THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER MY LIFE.)
Standard disclaimer applies: It's not meant to be about or imply anything about these actual people, just fictionalized versions of their public personas, ie, if Sorkin got to write a movie about Mark Zuckerberg, I get to write this fic. But please don't share this fic with anyone portrayed in it.
Historical note:
It's an AU but it would really bother me not to apologize for three things. 1) Yes, even at 16 the 1D kids would have been too old to be evacuated. 2) No, none of them are from London so the first point is moot anyway. (It's moo. It's a cow's opinion.) 3) I was having trouble placing Zayn in the context of the 40s as a child of mixed race, but doctor_denmark has pointed out: "There was a sizeable South Asian population in the UK at the time (over 50,000), most of whom were men who worked in the shipping trade. And precisely because they were mostly men, they did tend to marry white British women. (They were known as Lascar sailors, if you want to look them up.) These communities tended to be geographically concentrated in port cities (for obvious reasons), but of course, London was one of the country's largest ports." I'm really grateful to her for this. ♥
Otherwise it's all AU, apologies, apologies for everything.
Liam has never been to the countryside before and he doesn't think much of it, frankly.
The air feels wrong. He's used to London, and lately London has been tense and crowded. There is no rumble of buses or cars or the underground, there is no shrieking of Liam's friends playing football or his sisters scolding him for reading the paper too much.
The air here smells distinctly of grass and also manure, and he can hear some wind and maybe a duck somewhere, and… nothing else. It's horrifying. And it doesn't even look like a proper village, it's just a country lane in the middle of nowhere, where he and four other boys have been dropped off with their bags and told to wait for people to come and get them. "Hard times, not enough volunteers, keep a stiff upper lip, lads," the teacher had said, and then driven off. This is probably what the end of the world looks like.
"Right," says Liam, to no one in particular, "I'm going back." Twenty minutes by car can't be more than an hour on foot, and Liam is fairly sure he knows which direction to go.
"Are you?" asks one of the other boys curiously. "Can we do that?"
"No," says a third. He's found a rock and in lieu of a football he's kicking it up and catching it on his instep over and over. His hair is sort of ridiculous and goes sideways over his face. Liam's mum would kill him if he let his hair get that long.
"Well, I am," says Liam. His mum and both of his sisters are still in London; he's worried sick about all of them. At least they can look after Mum while Dad is off in Belgium or wherever he is by now, but they need Liam; he tried to tell them that over and over while Mum was packing his bag.
"I'd like to go back," says the second boy. He's got dark hair and a very pretty face and Liam pretended not to see him crying when the train left London.
"I reckon London's about a hundred miles straight that way," says the one of them who's Irish. At least he's being vaguely helpful.
The last one of them is lying on the ground with his jumper pulled over his face to block out the sun. "You'll be eaten by a bear," he says, in a sleepy, serious drawl.
Liam sincerely hopes that all five of them are going to different houses because he suspects these boys will drive him mad eventually.
Abruptly the boy with the rock lets it fall to the ground. "We could have a race," he says.
"Where to?" Liam asks grumpily. There is nothing around them in any direction since they got dropped off at what is clearly not anyone's house; it's just a spot where a dirt lane gets a bit wider and then trails off through a field to a copse. It doesn't look like a town or a farm, it doesn't look like anything.
"Anywhere. Over there? I don't know; I'm bored."
"Hi bored, nice to meet you," says the boy on the ground. "I'm Harry."
"Ah, young Harold, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Louis, pronounced the French way. I'm very particular," says the one who is apparently called Louis. He flings his arms out and spins for a minute, trips over his own feet and sits down on the dirt instead.
"This is stupid," Liam grumbles.
"No, this is Harry," Louis says. He clearly thinks he's hilarious, and Liam has to stop himself rolling his eyes. "And you are…"
"I'm Niall and I'm starving," says the Irish one. "Can we eat those berries, d'you reckon?" He looks speculatively at the hedgerow.
"No," says Liam.
Louis looks up at him curiously, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "Are you a great expert on the wilderness?"
"Oh," says Liam. He didn't mean to sound quite so rude. "Well. No. But what if they're poisonous?"
"What if they're not?" says Niall.
Liam isn't hungry enough to find this a compelling argument. "I'm Liam," he says instead. "If no one shows up soon I'm walking back to the station and then I'm catching the next train home to London."
"Unless you get eaten by a bear," says Harry helpfully.
"Don't be ridiculous; there are no bears at train stations," Louis says. Harry giggles and pulls his jumper down off his face. His hair isn't any more sensible than Louis's, actually, and it's curly to boot.
"Have you got a name?" Niall asks the dark haired boy, who is holding his bag and looking miserable.
"Zayn," he says. "Can we go home, d'you think?"
Louis sighs wearily and flops backwards onto the grass. "No," he says. "I'm fairly certain they look out for kids who've been evacuated trying to sneak back. You can't be the first one to get here and decide you hate it and you want to go home. Loads of kids went home after the first round of evacuations and look what's happened. Sent off again."
"But-"
"They sent you away for a reason," says Louis flatly. "London's dangerous. Your parents don't have to worry if you're here. If you go home you're only worrying them again. We've all got family there still, all right? We're all worried. Maybe the war'll end tomorrow and we can go home." Liam had thought Louis was the youngest of them, but maybe he isn't after all.
"Oi, look!" says Niall, pointing. There is a horse-drawn cart coming up the road. Harry and Louis sit up and everyone looks at the cart.
"That can't be for us," says Harry. "This must be a joke."
"We shouldn't all be going to the same place anyway," says Liam. He realizes suddenly that in a few minutes he might be all by himself, in a strange house, with strange adults, for weeks or maybe months. A tremendous wave of homesickness washes over him and he shoves it down ruthlessly. There is no room for self-pity in the war effort.
They're all quiet by the time the cart pulls up and stops in front of them. There's an older man driving it; he's bald and tall and rangy and he looks like a stern old grandfather type. "You lot from London?" he says, and some of them nod. The farmer - he must be, he's got patches on his sleeves and boots covered in mud - pushes his cap back and scratches his head. "I thought there were two of you?"
"Er," says Liam. "Which two?"
The farmer shrugs. "Dunno. They told me two boys from London who would help out on the farm."
Everyone looks at each other and there is a long silence. Liam doesn’t know anything about farms, but he could probably be helpful. He isn't sure about any of the others. It seems horribly forward to say, "Pick me," though, and leave someone else just standing on the road all day.
"Well," says the farmer after a thoughtful minute. "I don't suppose anyone else is coming round here today, since we're the only farm on this lane. So I suppose I'll have to take all of you and sort you out later."
"I thought they had planned out where everyone was going," says Harry.
"They haven't," Zayn says. Everyone looks at him and he shrinks just a little. "I saw a boy yellin' that his sister got put on a different train than him. And no one could tell him where that train was going."
All the boys go quiet and vaguely horrified. Liam tries to imagine losing track of his sisters for the rest of the war and feels like he might be ill.
"Never mind, don't worry about that," says Louis suddenly, brightly. "We're all here and we're fine and we'll just look after each other." He slings a friendly arm round Zayn and puts his chin on Zayn's shoulder. "My sisters are off with my mum somewhere in the north, but I'm sure they're fine. We'll just send off some letters and tell them where we are once we know where we are. Where are we?" He directs this toward the farmer.
"Johnson's farm, or you will be as soon as you put your bags on the cart and hop in," the farmer says. "I'm Mr. Johnson. My wife's not expecting five but I expect we can find some food somewhere."
"Thank god," says Niall loudly. He throws his bag up on the cart and climbs up after it. "Come on, then, lads; the sooner we go the sooner we eat."
Louis lets go of Zayn, who is blushing at the attention, and pulls Harry to his feet. Harry laughs cheerfully and climbs up after Niall. Zayn climbs up and then Louis, who pretends to fall and rolls about on the back of the cart, knocking Harry over in the process. Harry laughs and shoves him off and Niall offers Liam a hand up. Liam doesn't understand how they can all act like this is just a bit of a laugh and not the worst day of their lives.
"He can't keep five of us," Liam says, mostly to himself.
Louis drapes himself across Liam and Liam doesn't know what to do, so he goes stiff and uncomfortable. "He can do for a bit," Louis says. After a second he lets go of Liam with an apologetic little pat on the shoulder which makes Liam feel bad; he isn't trying to be rude, he's just not used to being mauled by strangers.
The cart jerks to a start and then trundles down the road and Liam has to stop himself shouting No, go back, I don't want to go. He promised his mum he'd be helpful and brave wherever he ended up. So he just bites his lip and doesn't look back as the wagon carries them further and further from home.
***
There is enough food for everyone, even when Niall seems determined to eat twice as much as everyone else, but there is only one bedroom. Mrs. Johnson apologetically offers them the attic, which has some boxes of old dusty books covered in cobwebs, a little square window looking out over the roof of the rest of the farm house, and an old mattress on the floor. The only way up is a rickety staircase and there isn't a light, just a half-melted candle on the windowsill.
"One of you could sleep up here," she says.
All the boys look at each other and Liam can see clear as day on their faces that they're thinking the same thing he is; the attic is terrifying and obviously haunted, and none of them want to be alone badly enough to sleep up there.
"Thanks," says Liam eventually, because apparently no one else is going to say anything. (Louis is pulling increasingly silly horrified faces to make Harry laugh. Zayn chokes down a giggle as well.) "I think the floor downstairs'll be fine for us."
"We've got the two beds, and I'll clean up the front parlor tomorrow. We can put curtains over the door and one of you can sleep on the sofa," says Mrs. Johnson. "We really weren't expecting five."
"I rang the evacuation board and they say loads of the houses that promised to take kids are already full, so there's a shortage of space." All the boys shuffle uncomfortably at this news. Liam tries to imagine himself volunteering to go somewhere else, but he's only just got his mind around the idea of staying here.
Mrs. Johnson wipes her hands off on her apron and puts her hands on her hips. "We can always use more help on the farm, can't we? And we've got room those other folks haven't got. We'll put some of you in the bedroom and one of you on the sofa downstairs and--"
"I can sleep on the floor!" Louis volunteers immediately. "And Harry'll take the sofa, won't you?"
"Why not?" says Harry with a shrug.
Liam is secretly relieved that he'll be sharing a room with Niall and Zayn; they aren't as weird as Harry and Louis. "Thanks a lot," Liam says earnestly. Mrs. Johnson smiles at him, obviously relieved that they aren't going to be troublesome, and then Louis smiles at Liam as if he's done something grand. Liam stares at his shoes.
This doesn't, however, fix the problem of there being only two beds in the proper bedroom. "Hmm," says Liam.
"I can share, I'm not fussed," says Niall, throwing himself onto one of the beds.
Liam tells himself that sacrifices are necessary during war time and anyway he's so tired he's not sure he'd care if he were sleeping standing up. There's enough room for both of them on the bed as long as Niall doesn't turn out to be the kind of person who flails in his sleep.
"I could sleep for a million hours," says Zayn, sitting down on the other bed. He looks sad again, homesick probably, and Liam wishes Louis were with them because Louis seems to have a talent for cheering people up by being ridiculous.
"It's a farm," says Liam. "We're probably supposed to be up at dawn." Zayn groans and buries his head under a pillow.
Niall looks thoughtful. "You reckon they're gonna have us milk cows?"
"I dunno," says Liam. He hasn't seen a cow, but it's a farm; farms have cows, don't they?
"'Cause I've never touched a girl's, er, bits," Niall says, "and I don't know that I want to start with cows."
For a minute Liam can't believe what he's just heard, and then Zayn starts laughing, shoulders shaking under the pillow, and then Liam starts laughing, too, because who are these ridiculous people and is he really stuck with them?
"You've probably got a better shot at pulling a cow than a girl, anyway," says Liam. Niall bursts out laughing and then hits Liam with a pillow. Liam hits him back. Niall shoves him a little and Liam lands on Zayn, who tries to look offended but he's laughing when he shoves both of them off his bed. And then somehow the three of them end up on the floor, hitting each other with pillows or whatever happens to be handy.
"Boys!" says Mrs. Johnson's voice down the hall and they all stop guiltily. Then Liam looks at Niall, who is wide-eyed with fake innocence, and that makes Liam start snickering again quietly, which makes Zayn laugh, too. They try to be quiet but they don't manage it very well; Niall's laugh is loud and he laughs with his entire body. Liam puts a pillow over Niall's face and pretends to try and smother him, and Niall does a decent impression of someone being smothered to death, flailing his limbs around. Zayn's laughing so hard it looks like he might cry before he hides his face against the bed.
"I thought we were the sensible ones," Liam says, trying to calm down, but he's got too much energy from traveling and meeting strangers and being away from his family, and it's all bubbled up into this silly laughing fit.
Eventually they crawl into bed and turn out the lights. Niall does turn out to be the kind of person who flails in his sleep, but he settles down when Liam throws an arm across his chest, and after that it's fine.
***
A little bit after dawn Louis and Harry sneak into the bedroom, for some definition of the word "sneak" that means "be incredibly loud and snicker about it." Liam pushes the blanket back to blink at them, not very awake and completely confused.
"Time to get up!" Louis shouts, and does a terrible impression of a rooster. Niall groans and rolls further under the blankets. Zayn doesn't appear to hear them at all. Liam is impressed with his ability to ignore things; a minute later Harry starts shaking Zayn's mattress and shouting, "Up! Up! Come on!" and Zayn still doesn't stir.
"The Johnsons told us to get you lot up," Louis says gleefully, dragging Niall out of bed by the ankle. Liam is awake enough to mostly fend off Louis's grabby hands and overly chummy hugs, but not quite awake enough to be coherent about it.
"Is Zayn dead?" Liam asks, hugging the blanket around his shoulders like a cape. It's been a warm, dry May so far, but this early in the morning the air has a chill and there are clouds hanging threateningly low over the farm.
"Are you dead?" Harry asks curiously, face inches from Zayn's face. Zayn doesn't respond to that, either, although he does wrinkle his nose.
"I'm hungry," Niall says loudly. "If I have to get up this early there had better be breakfast."
Louis grabs Zayn under the arms and hauls him, groaning in protest, out of bed. "There's food downstairs," Louis says, which is enough to get Niall going, and then Louis and Harry drag Zayn out of the room with them.
Liam trails along behind everyone, feeling a little bit lost. Zayn and Niall and Harry and Louis seem to think it's perfectly normal to jump on each other as they go down the stairs, half-dressed and ruffling Niall's hair. They tease Zayn until he grudgingly rubs the sleep out of his eyes and admits he's awake. Liam doesn't know when they all got so friendly. Maybe they've all gone and become best friends without telling Liam.
Breakfast is a rowdy affair and the Johnsons look a little surprised at the sheer volume of their guests. "This is amazing," says Niall, mouth full. "Butter and bacon!"
"It's a farm," says Louis. "They've got their own; we don't need coupons."
"Not for much longer, I don't suppose," says Mr. Johnson. "It'll be the last of the pigs soon, and the cows are quite old."
"I've heard they're rationing tea next," says Mrs. Johnson, and everyone sits in horrified silence for a moment.
"Did you hear," says Harry, "apparently the new rule is no more than five inches of bathwater? I don't mind. I never take a bath."
"We've got a pond full of ducks, if you want a bath," says Mr. Johnson, and Louis immediately gets an evil glint in his eyes.
"After you spend all morning out in the sun helping Mr. Johnson move the wood out of the barn you'll want a bath, you'll see," says Mrs. Johnson. "Our Corey always does."
"Where's he?" Louis asks.
The Johnson's exchange a glance. "He's in Belgium," says Mrs. Johnson. "He volunteered. He's a good boy."
"I volunteered," says Louis.
"You never did," says Zayn.
"Yes, I did, only they said I was too young and told me to go home."
"Well, you are," says Liam reasonably. Louis frowns at him.
Mr. Johnson pushes his chair away from the table. "You aren't too young to help me," he says. "Come on, you lot. There's work to do."
"Come on, Harry," says Louis. "Let's go and get our hands dirty."
***
To no one's surprise they are not very good farmhands. Mr. Johnson tries to show them how to collect eggs, but Louis scares the chickens, jumping around and flapping at them. Zayn won't go near the cow or the horses on the grounds that they might kick him and he'd die. Niall is cheerful about every single thing he's asked to do, but he's also the smallest of them. Harry is only apparently able to do hard work for a few minutes before he gets bored and wanders off, usually with Louis.
Liam wants to be helpful but he's not used to doing anything like this and after a few minutes his hands hurt and his back hurts and he's bored. Mr. Johnson's asked them to load cords of wood onto the wagon and bring it round to the barn down the lane, but the second he leaves them alone Zayn gets a splinter and Niall drops a bundle of logs on his foot, and even though the horse is at least a hundred years old, Harry can't persuade it to stop trying to wander off. The wagon nearly runs over Liam's foot and he scowls at everyone. (It nearly runs over Louis' foot and he hops up and down, howling with mock-pain. It's pretty funny. Liam laughs even though he thinks maybe Louis is making fun of him.)
It takes hours longer than it should. The sun has burnt off all the clouds and it's hot and miserable by the time they've finished. "Where's this pond, then?" Louis asks. The farm is mostly just big grassy fields with trees ringing the edges, and a one-lane dirt path for the horse and cart between the house, the barn they've just emptied, and the barn with the cows and the horse in it.
"You aren't really going to jump in?" Harry asks, horrified and fascinated.
"I will if I can find it," says Louis.
"It's got to be that way," says Zayn, pointing down the lane. Everyone looks at him. "Well, it's the only place we haven't been yet," he says, and that sounds reasonable.
Even though it means he's not being very amusing, Liam can't stop himself from asking, "What about the horse? We're supposed to take him to the other barn to drop off all the wood."
"The horse wants to go there anyway," says Harry. "He keeps trying to walk off without us. He knows the way better than we do." He drops the reigns for a minute and the horse begins calmly plodding down the lane toward the barn, which is around the corner and past the first row of trees.
Liam bites his lower lip. "But," he says. "But surely we should go with the horse and make sure he gets to the barn all right."
"You can," says Louis, already walking in the other direction. "I'm looking for the pond."
Liam reluctantly feels like he ought to be the voice of reason. "We're supposed to be helping," he says.
"We have helped," Harry argues, walking backwards so he can follow Louis and still look at Liam. "We've done loads of work."
"Well, we have, but--"
Niall looks from one of them to the other and then shrugs. "He didn't say we couldn't take a break. You comin'?" He tugs on Zayn's sleeve and Zayn bites his lip, but lets Niall pull him after Harry.
Liam is standing all by himself. He almost entirely certain he's right about what they should do, but he's acutely aware that he's also not being any fun. The horse is still plodding slowly toward the other barn. If Liam goes after him it'll be half an hour there and then however long it takes to find the pond and everyone else. The day has got really hot and sweat is trailing down Liam's back.
"I suppose the horse looks like he knows where he's going," Liam says slowly. His feet take a couple of steps in the direction everyone else is going without consulting him.
Harry cheers. "Last one there's a rotten egg," he says, and turns, running. He dashes past Louis, who shouts with indignation and runs after him. A minute later Niall and Zayn take off after them and Liam rolls his eyes, but he breaks into a run, too. By the time they get to the line of trees Liam's only behind Harry.
***
The pond is full of ducks and marsh grass and mud. "It looks cold," says Harry. Liam can't tell if Harry is implying he's more or less likely to jump in.
Louis takes his shoes off and rolls his trousers up and wades out a few steps. "It's freezing!" he says happily. "C'mon in. The mud is squelching between my toes."
Liam and Harry and Zayn share a dubious look. "How deep does it get?" Harry asks.
"Dunno. Come and find out!" says Louis.
This is enough incentive for Harry and Niall to start taking their shoes and socks off. Liam looks at Zayn, who laughs and shakes his head. "I'm all right here," he says, sitting down on the grass.
"We'll drag you in," warns Harry sternly, but then he gets distracted because Niall goes rushing into the water and trips over something, falling face-first into the muddy water. He comes up spluttering and flailing around, soaking Louis, who laughs so hard he falls in, too. Harry follows them and Louis grabs him by the arm, pulling him down in to the water.
They're all laughing and soaked and having a good time. Liam feels oddly uninvited to join in. They've known each other for exactly the same length of time, so it doesn't make sense that Louis and Harry have become such good friends. Liam is horribly aware that they should probably have stayed with the horse, and that Mr. Johnson might not want them wading through his pond and upsetting the ducks. On the other hand, everyone in the water seems to be having a tremendously good time.
Liam bites his lip and tries not to look like he's considering this too deeply; it's just messing about in a pond. "My mum'd kill me if I got in trouble," he says finally, and Zayn nods sympathetically. Liam sits down next to him, because if he's not in the water then at least he's not entirely alone.
Louis pulls Harry under the water for a minute, and then Harry turns around and seems to be trying his hardest to drown Louis in return. Niall has found some frogs that apparently bear close inspection.
"I'd kill for a cigarette," says Zayn, pulling his knees up so he can put his arms round them.
"Maybe Mr. Johnson has some," says Liam.
Zayn shrugs. "Maybe. I knew how to get them at home, but here…" He trails off. Liam nods; there's a little town where the train stopped, but if that's the only thing around then they're all going to go stir-crazy stuck on this farm.
"Maybe we can walk into town sometime soon," says Liam. "I'd like to get the paper."
"There's a wireless in the kitchen," Zayn offers.
Liam nods and doesn't explain that the paper will have lists of soldiers who've gone missing or been killed in action. Last Liam heard from his father he wasn't anywhere near the front, but… Liam needs to check anyway.
A duck wanders up the grass and quacks angrily at them. Zayn shifts just a little closer to Liam, and Liam tries not to laugh. "It's funny here," says Zayn eventually. "Like there's no war on at all."
Liam wishes he could forget about the war for a few minutes but it's always there at the back of his mind. How are his sisters and his mum doing in London? Have there been bombings? "I need to send a letter home," he says. "They'll want to know where we are and that we're being looked after." The mention of home makes Zayn look sad again and Liam wishes he could take it back.
"Oi!" someone shouts. "What do you lads think you're doing?"
All five of them freeze and then turn. There's a tough-looking fellow standing on the dirt road, shirt sleeves rolled up, pitchfork in hand. He could probably skewer them all with that thing, Liam thinks in mild hysteria.
"Hiya," says Harry. "We've all been evacuated from London, we're staying with the Johnsons."
The blocky man considers this for a second with a frown. "Well, what are you doin' in the pond?" he asks, because as strange as five boys wandering around the farm is, he clearly can't imagine any reason for anyone to go into the water.
"It's hot," Louis explains.
"Sorry," says Liam, standing up. "Should we not be, or…"
"Of course you shouldn't be in the pond, it's not for swimming," he says. "You'll be covered in leeches by now."
Harry and Niall scream and come running out of the water. "Get 'em off, get 'em off me," Niall demands, flailing wildly. Harry shakes himself off like a dog, dripping all over Zayn, who splutters and jumps to his feet to get out of the splash zone.
"The pond looked like it needed jumping in," Louis explains. Apparently he isn't scared of leeches.
"We're sorry," says Liam again. "We should probably get back to the farmhouse, shouldn't we?"
"You should," says the man. He steps towards them and Liam notices that he limps when he walks. "I didn't know there would be five of you."
"Some of us are extra," says Harry. He inspects Niall's legs for leeches and eventually gives him a reassuring pat on the back. Niall still looks a little ill.
Louis wades out of the pond. "I suppose we ought to get back to the house and see if there's other things we can help with."
"I suppose you should," says the man with the pitchfork. He looks slightly annoyed, but mostly baffled, as if he really can't imagine what they're all doing.
"D'you think we'll be in trouble?" Zayn whispers to Liam. Liam is absolutely sure of it, but he shrugs and follows everyone else back toward the house.
***
They get in trouble. Mr. Johnson shakes his head and looks disappointed, and Mrs. Johnson sighs a lot. There is a long lecture about responsibility and how easy it is to get hurt on a farm if you go running about like idiots. Liam feels like the worst person in the world. It's as if he's being scolded by the kindest grandparents on earth for carelessness. It hurts.
Louis doesn't seem especially bothered; he laughs and apologizes. Niall and Zayn manage to escape getting yelled at directly by looking mostly at the floor. Liam apologizes a lot and then goes upstairs to go and wash his face so he can feel bad about it in private.
Liam spends a minute looking out the window and telling himself not to cry; he hasn't disappointed his mother entirely. He can make up for it with loads of hard work from now on.
It takes him a moment to realize the sniffling noise he hears is Harry, who has followed him upstairs. He's sitting on the edge of the tub and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. "You all right?" Liam asks.
"Fine, yeah," says Harry unconvincingly. His voice is thick with tears.
Liam doesn't know what to say. "It's going to be fine," he says. His voice sounds stiff in his own ears. Harry just shrugs and sniffles again, quietly, like he's hoping Liam won't hear it, so Liam doesn't say anything else.
Louis comes bounding in to the room. Liam wonders if he's ever done anything quietly in his entire life. "There you are, come on, we're going to help dig for victory, by which I mean plant carrots. I've never planted a carrot." He must see the tear streaks on Harry's face but he doesn't say anything, just grabs Harry by the hands and hauls him up. "Come on, I've bet Niall we can plant twice as many as he can. You won't make me a liar, will you?" Harry laughs reluctantly because Louis is pulling the most ridiculous sad face anyone has ever pulled. Louis drags Harry toward the door. "Come on, Hazza; don't make me cry."
Liam experiences a stab of jealousy that he isn't expecting. It takes him a moment to work out that he wishes he knew how to cheer Harry up like Louis does so effortlessly. Louis is all wrong about nearly everything all the time, as near as Liam can tell, and yet he's so cheerful and breezy and funny and ridiculous.
"You too, Liam," says Louis sternly.
Liam realizes he's been staring blankly into space. "What?"
"Come and help us dig for victory!" Louis says. He shoves Harry through the door, laughing, and then grabs Liam by the hand.
"Oh - But - I -" Liam says awkwardly, smiling out of reflex. Louis is so confusing. Liam feels a million different ways at once; resentful that Louis can cheer Harry up, jealous that Louis has paid such careful attention to Harry, annoyed that Louis thinks Liam needs dragging around, pleased to be included in Louis' silliness… Liam can't get a sensible sentence out because he can't work out what he'd like to say.
"You'll have to be on Zayn's team; I don't think he's ever got dirty on purpose," says Louis, and Liam laughs. Apparently that's all he can manage in response to Louis.
***
For a few days after that everything is fine. Liam was a scout; he knows how to work if he isn't distracted. And honestly, the Johnson's aren't asking them to do much that's especially hard. After the disaster of the first day someone always stays with them. Generally Mr. Johnson takes Niall and Liam to do actual work in the barns, and the fellow with the pitchfork who turns out to be called Paul takes the other boys to town to fetch and carry whatever Mrs. Johnson needs.
Zayn brings Liam back a newspaper and Liam is so ridiculously grateful that he gives Zayn a hug. Zayn laughs and shrugs and then Louis yells, "Me! It's my turn, isn't it?" and jumps on Zayn, who laughs and says something rude and tries to shove him off. Louis is hard to dislodge, though.
"Can I give you some names to look for?" Harry asks, when he sees which page Liam has flipped to.
"And my brother, and my friend Sean," Niall adds, when Harry's finished. Liam adds all the names to the growing list he keeps inside his head, the one he goes over and over every night while he's trying to fall asleep.
***
It's possible to crawl from their bedroom onto the ledge and up to the roof. Liam learns this when he wakes up in the middle of the night and sees Zayn slipping out the window. "Hey," Liam says, but Zayn doesn't hear him. Liam slides out from underneath Niall's arm and crawls over to the window, sticking his head out. "Where are you going?"
Zayn leans out over the roof, dangling slightly upside-down. "Just having a smoke," he says. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you." He glances down and wrinkles his nose. "Ugh. Didn't realize how high we were." He vanishes again.
Liam considers for a minute and then climbs out the window after him. It's dark and cold outside and there's a breeze. He's cold and his arms have come over all goosebumps. It's not hard climbing up to the roof, though. Zayn is sitting there with his cigarette and a book of matches he's been hoarding since they arrived. It's been hard to find matches since the beginning of the war. He's got his knees drawn up and his hair is a mess, which it never is, not even when he's just woken up.
"So," says Liam, sitting down beside him. "What're you doing up here? Gonna be one of Churchill's Jim Crows and spot a plane?"
Zayn huffs an almost-laugh and offers him a cigarette. Liam shakes his head. He doesn't drink and he doesn't smoke. Zayn shrugs and lights his cigarette and takes a long drag.
"Okay," says Liam, trying again. "Can't sleep?"
Zayn bites his lip. He looks away from Liam for a minute and when he looks back his eyes are glittering. "I've never been away from home before. I just… Don't laugh. I woke up because I missed my mum."
"Why would I laugh?" Liam asks. "I miss my mum so much I… I don't know. I miss her all the time."
Zayn blows out a lungful of smoke and they both watch it drift off into the darkness. There aren't many clouds and Liam has never seen the stars looking this bright in London. According to his paper and the wireless France has just surrendered to the Germans. He wonders if there are RAF planes flying overheard somewhere at the moment. He wonders if there are German planes heading across the Channel toward London.
"It's hard, being away," says Zayn finally. "Any time we're not busy I feel like I'm going to fall to pieces." He grimaces, embarrassed, and looks at his cigarette instead of Liam. "I'm not such a complete baby normally, I swear."
"I think we're all a bit homesick," says Liam. "I saw Harry crying the other day. It's just got to be like Louis said; we have to look out for each other. I expect loads of kids ended up on their own out in the countryside somewhere, doing god knows what. At least we've got each other."
Zayn nods. He's stopped crying. "I've only got sisters," he says. "Always thought it'd be fun, having a brother or two."
"I've only got sisters as well," Liam says. He considers the idea of brothers. It feels nice.
Zayn smiles at him. "You're really good to talk to," he says. Liam is immediately unaccountably embarrassed.
"Oi!" says Niall's voice from the window. "Have you two gone off for adventures without me?"
Zayn and Liam exchange a guilty glance and start laughing quietly. "We're up here," says Liam. "Hang on; we'll come down."
"Er," says Zayn, stubbing out the last of his cigarette. Liam scoots over toward the edge of the roof. "We're up pretty high, aren't we?"
"Not really," says Liam. "Thirty feet, maybe?" Zayn pulls a face and doesn't move. Liam waits. Zayn is still not moving. "Oh my god," says Liam. "You climbed up here, you idiot. Didn't you think about getting back down?"
"I didn't have to look down to go up!" Zayn protests. "It's really… far."
Liam sighs a great put-upon sigh and leans over the edge. "Zayn's an idiot," he says. "Can you give him a hand down?"
"I suppose," says Niall. "Next time you lads get up to something you’ve got to wake me up, though."
They spend a long time arguing with Zayn that it's not scary at all to swing himself down over the roof and into the window. Zayn's adamant insistence that he'd rather live the rest of his life on the roof is pretty funny, though. Niall eventually gets fed up with waiting, grabs Zayn's ankle, and yanks. Zayn doesn't quite plummet to his death, although Niall nearly kills himself laughing. Liam is amazed they don't wake up the whole house.
It's a good night.
***
Louis gets a letter from his family. Apparently his mum and sisters are all staying with a cousin somewhere near Leeds. Louis' little sisters have drawn pictures of the house and of themselves crying because they miss him.
Liam only knows this because he is shamelessly nosy and leans over Louis' shoulder. None of the rest of them have got anything by post yet, and Liam can almost pretend it's from his own family.
Louis reads the letter and doesn't say anything for a really long time. Harry is distracted chasing one of the ducks with Niall, and Zayn has snuck off to try and catch a nap under a tree. Louis is never this quiet; it's unnerving. "Good news, right?" Liam says finally, when he can't stand the silence anymore.
It's as if Louis has just woken up. "Yeah, of course," he says, blinking and shaking his head a little. He smiles at Liam and Liam realizes that he is still leaning over Louis' shoulder. "Glad they're away and safe."
"Are you going to go stay with them?" Liam asks. Since they all got to the Johnson's farm Louis has accidentally given Liam a black eye with his elbow, and startled him into spilling tea down the front of his trousers (and told everyone that Liam pissed himself whilst laughing uproariously). And yet Liam thinks maybe he'd miss Louis if he left.
"Nah," says Louis with a shrug. "There's not room. It's fine, though. They don't need someone else underfoot up there. Four little girls is enough."
"But-" Liam starts.
Louis shoves the letter into his pocket. "Do you think we can get the duck to run across Zayn's face while he's sleeping? That would be hilarious."
That would definitely be hilarious. "Without waking him up?" Liam asks, because it's clear Louis wants to change the subject. "I don't know. The duck is loud."
"Zayn could sleep through a blitz," Louis scoffs, and dashes off to steal the duck from Harry. Zayn is right, Liam decides. When they have free time to think they all fall to pieces, so it's a good thing Louis knows how to distract himself.
***
"Look at this!" Harry shouts. "Liam, come and look!"
Harry has been shirking his half of moving the hay bales around, and Liam is annoyed with him. It's hot and Harry's been mostly standing in the shade of the barn, pretending he was looking for something he dropped. Paul clearly knows exactly what Harry's doing, but for some reason he seems incapable of shouting at Harry the way he does at Liam and Louis.
"What?" Liam asks, wiping sweat off his forehead. He hopes Harry can see how hard he's frowning.
"You have to come here!" Harry shouts.
Liam isn't sure he's ever heard Harry sound quite so hysterical, so he jogs over. It's probably a stupid trick. "This had better be amazing," Liam grumbles.
"It is," says Harry. "Liam, look. Puppies!"
There is a brown dog they've seen wandering around the farm. Liam had assumed that it was a male dog who wanted to avoid the rowdy teenagers, and that it was fat from lying around the farm all day. Instead, apparently, it's a female dog, because those are three squirming little brown puppies with their eyes still tightly closed, making squeaky whining noises and pushing at her teats.
"Oh my god," says Liam. "They're so tiny!"
"D'you think we can touch them?" Harry asks.
Liam has no idea. "I dunno. Maybe? They're only barely born at all."
Harry runs a tentative finger down the back of one of the puppies. It whines and wriggles and the mother gives Harry a tired, grumpy look.
"Maybe we can keep them," says Harry hopefully.
Liam opens his mouth to point out that there are five boys and only three puppies, and that they aren't staying on the farm forever, and they don't know how to train puppies, and they probably won't be allowed to take them home to London. But Harry looks happier than he's looked in days, so Liam just shrugs. "Not until they're bigger," he says.
Harry jumps to his feet and shouts, "Paul! Paul! Look; Liam and I've found puppies!" He turns to Liam and adds, "Louis is going to be sick with jealousy." Liam doesn't mean to laugh at that, but he does anyway, and Harry grins at him.
***
"Since we found them, obviously, we get two of them," says Harry. Liam, sitting next to him, feels very smug at being included in this, because Louis is so obviously pouting at being left out.
"What're you gonna do with the third one, cut him into pieces?" Zayn asks. Niall hits him with one of the pillows from the couch. "I was joking," says Zayn, slightly resentful.
"We're going to award him to whoever wins," says Harry.
"Wins what?" Niall asks. Liam would like to know that, too.
"Wins the contest," says Harry breezily, as if he isn't making all of this up on the spot. "The usual sort of things. Jousting, pistols at dawn-"
"Throwing Harry into the duck pond," Louis interrupts.
Liam says, "Paul says they might not all survive." He doesn't mean to always be the one to tell everyone bad news, but, well, they ought to know.
Everyone groans. "Well, mine will," says Harry firmly. "I'm going to call him Champion."
"What if it's a girl puppy, then?" Niall asks.
"Champion is a perfect name for a girl puppy, too," says Harry immediately. "I'll teach her to bite anyone who bothers me, like you do." He says this to Louis, who immediately pounces on Harry, knocking him off the couch. They laugh and pretend to be trying to hit each other for a couple of minutes. Liam and Zayn and Niall have all got used to that sort of thing, though, and don’t pay it much attention.
"You're gonna break something," says Zayn eventually, because they've come perilously close to rolling into Mrs. Johnson's table and knocking her framed photos onto the floor. Mrs. Johnson has gone to visit a poorly neighbour for the day, and Mr. Johnson and Paul have gone into town. They left the boys with a few chores to do but they're already finished and everyone is bored. It's not particularly surprising Louis and Harry are on the brink of breaking things.
"I have an idea," says Louis abruptly, sitting up. He's still got one of his knees on Harry's chest. Liam pulls a face. "What?" says Louis. "You haven't even heard it yet!"
"I've heard enough," says Liam. "Last week Harry got stuck in that tree, and yesterday poor Mrs. Johnson-" The rest of what he was going to say is lost because Niall grabs him and puts his hands over Liam's mouth.
"Go ahead," says Niall. "I'm bored."
Louis doesn't have a good idea. He has a terrible idea, an idea involving sneaking bottles of port and sherry out of the cellar for a drinking contest because he heard Mr. Johnson saying that they've been down there for ages and no one is ever going to drink them. Liam would object strenuously - they are so obviously going to get in trouble for this - but he's a bit bored as well, and Louis gives him a stern look and says, "You aren't going to be dull again, Liam, are you?"
Liam is stung by this accusation. He's not dull. He just has a sense of consequences, which apparently Louis hasn't got at all. "That's not fair-" Liam starts.
Louis grins at him. "So you'll help me nick some bottles? Harry, go and get the wireless. We'll have a party."
"Brilliant," says Niall, and dashes off to the kitchen to see what he can scrounge.
Liam follows Louis down to the basement grumbling the whole way. "Oh stop it," says Louis.
"What if the Johnsons come back?" Liam asks. He thinks he is being perfectly reasonable.
Louis stops and turns on the step, putting his hand on Liam's arm. Liam never knows what to do when Louis does that. He wishes he were able to be silly about it, like Harry is, but by the time Liam works out what would have been silly, the moment has always passed. "Liam," says Louis, the most serious that Liam has ever seen him. "Have you ever been allowed to have any fun at all in your entire life?"
"I'm fun!" Liam protests. Louis raises his eyebrows. "I can be," Liam insists. "I just don't think being stupid and getting in trouble is fun."
"Then you've never done it properly," says Louis. "Relax." He gives Liam a little shove, not in a mean way, the teasing way he shoves Harry. Liam nearly falls backward onto the steps.
"Hey," says Liam, and pushes Louis back. Louis grins at him - damn it, Liam has fallen in to doing exactly what Louis wanted him to do - and pushes him again. Liam grabs Louis' arm and yanks and Louis falls on top of him and then somehow they're both trying to strangle each other on the steps.
"What are you doing?" Zayn shouts, opening the door.
"Teaching Liam who's boss!" shouts Louis happily. He's got his arm round Liam's neck and Liam isn't trying as hard as he might to shove him off.
"Get your knee out of my back," Liam says.
"Stop complaining about absolutely everything," Louis counters. "You worry more than anyone I've ever met."
"I do not," Liam says, but probably he does. He definitely worries more than any of the other boys do.
Louis leans down and gives Liam an unexpectedly loud kiss on the cheek. "I just want you to have fun," Louis says, and then he lets go of Liam's neck and runs down the rest of the steps.
Louis is the most confusing person Liam has ever, ever met. "I am having fun!" Liam says, following him.
"Well, stop having fun and get the drinks!" Zayn yells.
Louis and Liam both yell, "Shut up!" at him at the same time.
part two
Fandom: One Direction
It's essentially gen (or really OT5) but whoops it's definitely also Liam/Louis if you squint, how did that happen?
17,000 words | G
It's also here on AO3
teaforbryony prompted a WWII evacuated kids AU - and I can't resist found family OR orphaned kids.
Torakowalski as always, fixed all the things, and Elucreh made the end work. Any remaining mistakes are mine. The title's a Glenn Miller song that was a hit in 1939.
(Here is a stupid post I made about how to tell the One Direction kids apart. THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER MY LIFE.)
Standard disclaimer applies: It's not meant to be about or imply anything about these actual people, just fictionalized versions of their public personas, ie, if Sorkin got to write a movie about Mark Zuckerberg, I get to write this fic. But please don't share this fic with anyone portrayed in it.
Historical note:
It's an AU but it would really bother me not to apologize for three things. 1) Yes, even at 16 the 1D kids would have been too old to be evacuated. 2) No, none of them are from London so the first point is moot anyway. (It's moo. It's a cow's opinion.) 3) I was having trouble placing Zayn in the context of the 40s as a child of mixed race, but doctor_denmark has pointed out: "There was a sizeable South Asian population in the UK at the time (over 50,000), most of whom were men who worked in the shipping trade. And precisely because they were mostly men, they did tend to marry white British women. (They were known as Lascar sailors, if you want to look them up.) These communities tended to be geographically concentrated in port cities (for obvious reasons), but of course, London was one of the country's largest ports." I'm really grateful to her for this. ♥
Otherwise it's all AU, apologies, apologies for everything.
Liam has never been to the countryside before and he doesn't think much of it, frankly.
The air feels wrong. He's used to London, and lately London has been tense and crowded. There is no rumble of buses or cars or the underground, there is no shrieking of Liam's friends playing football or his sisters scolding him for reading the paper too much.
The air here smells distinctly of grass and also manure, and he can hear some wind and maybe a duck somewhere, and… nothing else. It's horrifying. And it doesn't even look like a proper village, it's just a country lane in the middle of nowhere, where he and four other boys have been dropped off with their bags and told to wait for people to come and get them. "Hard times, not enough volunteers, keep a stiff upper lip, lads," the teacher had said, and then driven off. This is probably what the end of the world looks like.
"Right," says Liam, to no one in particular, "I'm going back." Twenty minutes by car can't be more than an hour on foot, and Liam is fairly sure he knows which direction to go.
"Are you?" asks one of the other boys curiously. "Can we do that?"
"No," says a third. He's found a rock and in lieu of a football he's kicking it up and catching it on his instep over and over. His hair is sort of ridiculous and goes sideways over his face. Liam's mum would kill him if he let his hair get that long.
"Well, I am," says Liam. His mum and both of his sisters are still in London; he's worried sick about all of them. At least they can look after Mum while Dad is off in Belgium or wherever he is by now, but they need Liam; he tried to tell them that over and over while Mum was packing his bag.
"I'd like to go back," says the second boy. He's got dark hair and a very pretty face and Liam pretended not to see him crying when the train left London.
"I reckon London's about a hundred miles straight that way," says the one of them who's Irish. At least he's being vaguely helpful.
The last one of them is lying on the ground with his jumper pulled over his face to block out the sun. "You'll be eaten by a bear," he says, in a sleepy, serious drawl.
Liam sincerely hopes that all five of them are going to different houses because he suspects these boys will drive him mad eventually.
Abruptly the boy with the rock lets it fall to the ground. "We could have a race," he says.
"Where to?" Liam asks grumpily. There is nothing around them in any direction since they got dropped off at what is clearly not anyone's house; it's just a spot where a dirt lane gets a bit wider and then trails off through a field to a copse. It doesn't look like a town or a farm, it doesn't look like anything.
"Anywhere. Over there? I don't know; I'm bored."
"Hi bored, nice to meet you," says the boy on the ground. "I'm Harry."
"Ah, young Harold, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Louis, pronounced the French way. I'm very particular," says the one who is apparently called Louis. He flings his arms out and spins for a minute, trips over his own feet and sits down on the dirt instead.
"This is stupid," Liam grumbles.
"No, this is Harry," Louis says. He clearly thinks he's hilarious, and Liam has to stop himself rolling his eyes. "And you are…"
"I'm Niall and I'm starving," says the Irish one. "Can we eat those berries, d'you reckon?" He looks speculatively at the hedgerow.
"No," says Liam.
Louis looks up at him curiously, flicking his hair out of his eyes. "Are you a great expert on the wilderness?"
"Oh," says Liam. He didn't mean to sound quite so rude. "Well. No. But what if they're poisonous?"
"What if they're not?" says Niall.
Liam isn't hungry enough to find this a compelling argument. "I'm Liam," he says instead. "If no one shows up soon I'm walking back to the station and then I'm catching the next train home to London."
"Unless you get eaten by a bear," says Harry helpfully.
"Don't be ridiculous; there are no bears at train stations," Louis says. Harry giggles and pulls his jumper down off his face. His hair isn't any more sensible than Louis's, actually, and it's curly to boot.
"Have you got a name?" Niall asks the dark haired boy, who is holding his bag and looking miserable.
"Zayn," he says. "Can we go home, d'you think?"
Louis sighs wearily and flops backwards onto the grass. "No," he says. "I'm fairly certain they look out for kids who've been evacuated trying to sneak back. You can't be the first one to get here and decide you hate it and you want to go home. Loads of kids went home after the first round of evacuations and look what's happened. Sent off again."
"But-"
"They sent you away for a reason," says Louis flatly. "London's dangerous. Your parents don't have to worry if you're here. If you go home you're only worrying them again. We've all got family there still, all right? We're all worried. Maybe the war'll end tomorrow and we can go home." Liam had thought Louis was the youngest of them, but maybe he isn't after all.
"Oi, look!" says Niall, pointing. There is a horse-drawn cart coming up the road. Harry and Louis sit up and everyone looks at the cart.
"That can't be for us," says Harry. "This must be a joke."
"We shouldn't all be going to the same place anyway," says Liam. He realizes suddenly that in a few minutes he might be all by himself, in a strange house, with strange adults, for weeks or maybe months. A tremendous wave of homesickness washes over him and he shoves it down ruthlessly. There is no room for self-pity in the war effort.
They're all quiet by the time the cart pulls up and stops in front of them. There's an older man driving it; he's bald and tall and rangy and he looks like a stern old grandfather type. "You lot from London?" he says, and some of them nod. The farmer - he must be, he's got patches on his sleeves and boots covered in mud - pushes his cap back and scratches his head. "I thought there were two of you?"
"Er," says Liam. "Which two?"
The farmer shrugs. "Dunno. They told me two boys from London who would help out on the farm."
Everyone looks at each other and there is a long silence. Liam doesn’t know anything about farms, but he could probably be helpful. He isn't sure about any of the others. It seems horribly forward to say, "Pick me," though, and leave someone else just standing on the road all day.
"Well," says the farmer after a thoughtful minute. "I don't suppose anyone else is coming round here today, since we're the only farm on this lane. So I suppose I'll have to take all of you and sort you out later."
"I thought they had planned out where everyone was going," says Harry.
"They haven't," Zayn says. Everyone looks at him and he shrinks just a little. "I saw a boy yellin' that his sister got put on a different train than him. And no one could tell him where that train was going."
All the boys go quiet and vaguely horrified. Liam tries to imagine losing track of his sisters for the rest of the war and feels like he might be ill.
"Never mind, don't worry about that," says Louis suddenly, brightly. "We're all here and we're fine and we'll just look after each other." He slings a friendly arm round Zayn and puts his chin on Zayn's shoulder. "My sisters are off with my mum somewhere in the north, but I'm sure they're fine. We'll just send off some letters and tell them where we are once we know where we are. Where are we?" He directs this toward the farmer.
"Johnson's farm, or you will be as soon as you put your bags on the cart and hop in," the farmer says. "I'm Mr. Johnson. My wife's not expecting five but I expect we can find some food somewhere."
"Thank god," says Niall loudly. He throws his bag up on the cart and climbs up after it. "Come on, then, lads; the sooner we go the sooner we eat."
Louis lets go of Zayn, who is blushing at the attention, and pulls Harry to his feet. Harry laughs cheerfully and climbs up after Niall. Zayn climbs up and then Louis, who pretends to fall and rolls about on the back of the cart, knocking Harry over in the process. Harry laughs and shoves him off and Niall offers Liam a hand up. Liam doesn't understand how they can all act like this is just a bit of a laugh and not the worst day of their lives.
"He can't keep five of us," Liam says, mostly to himself.
Louis drapes himself across Liam and Liam doesn't know what to do, so he goes stiff and uncomfortable. "He can do for a bit," Louis says. After a second he lets go of Liam with an apologetic little pat on the shoulder which makes Liam feel bad; he isn't trying to be rude, he's just not used to being mauled by strangers.
The cart jerks to a start and then trundles down the road and Liam has to stop himself shouting No, go back, I don't want to go. He promised his mum he'd be helpful and brave wherever he ended up. So he just bites his lip and doesn't look back as the wagon carries them further and further from home.
***
There is enough food for everyone, even when Niall seems determined to eat twice as much as everyone else, but there is only one bedroom. Mrs. Johnson apologetically offers them the attic, which has some boxes of old dusty books covered in cobwebs, a little square window looking out over the roof of the rest of the farm house, and an old mattress on the floor. The only way up is a rickety staircase and there isn't a light, just a half-melted candle on the windowsill.
"One of you could sleep up here," she says.
All the boys look at each other and Liam can see clear as day on their faces that they're thinking the same thing he is; the attic is terrifying and obviously haunted, and none of them want to be alone badly enough to sleep up there.
"Thanks," says Liam eventually, because apparently no one else is going to say anything. (Louis is pulling increasingly silly horrified faces to make Harry laugh. Zayn chokes down a giggle as well.) "I think the floor downstairs'll be fine for us."
"We've got the two beds, and I'll clean up the front parlor tomorrow. We can put curtains over the door and one of you can sleep on the sofa," says Mrs. Johnson. "We really weren't expecting five."
"I rang the evacuation board and they say loads of the houses that promised to take kids are already full, so there's a shortage of space." All the boys shuffle uncomfortably at this news. Liam tries to imagine himself volunteering to go somewhere else, but he's only just got his mind around the idea of staying here.
Mrs. Johnson wipes her hands off on her apron and puts her hands on her hips. "We can always use more help on the farm, can't we? And we've got room those other folks haven't got. We'll put some of you in the bedroom and one of you on the sofa downstairs and--"
"I can sleep on the floor!" Louis volunteers immediately. "And Harry'll take the sofa, won't you?"
"Why not?" says Harry with a shrug.
Liam is secretly relieved that he'll be sharing a room with Niall and Zayn; they aren't as weird as Harry and Louis. "Thanks a lot," Liam says earnestly. Mrs. Johnson smiles at him, obviously relieved that they aren't going to be troublesome, and then Louis smiles at Liam as if he's done something grand. Liam stares at his shoes.
This doesn't, however, fix the problem of there being only two beds in the proper bedroom. "Hmm," says Liam.
"I can share, I'm not fussed," says Niall, throwing himself onto one of the beds.
Liam tells himself that sacrifices are necessary during war time and anyway he's so tired he's not sure he'd care if he were sleeping standing up. There's enough room for both of them on the bed as long as Niall doesn't turn out to be the kind of person who flails in his sleep.
"I could sleep for a million hours," says Zayn, sitting down on the other bed. He looks sad again, homesick probably, and Liam wishes Louis were with them because Louis seems to have a talent for cheering people up by being ridiculous.
"It's a farm," says Liam. "We're probably supposed to be up at dawn." Zayn groans and buries his head under a pillow.
Niall looks thoughtful. "You reckon they're gonna have us milk cows?"
"I dunno," says Liam. He hasn't seen a cow, but it's a farm; farms have cows, don't they?
"'Cause I've never touched a girl's, er, bits," Niall says, "and I don't know that I want to start with cows."
For a minute Liam can't believe what he's just heard, and then Zayn starts laughing, shoulders shaking under the pillow, and then Liam starts laughing, too, because who are these ridiculous people and is he really stuck with them?
"You've probably got a better shot at pulling a cow than a girl, anyway," says Liam. Niall bursts out laughing and then hits Liam with a pillow. Liam hits him back. Niall shoves him a little and Liam lands on Zayn, who tries to look offended but he's laughing when he shoves both of them off his bed. And then somehow the three of them end up on the floor, hitting each other with pillows or whatever happens to be handy.
"Boys!" says Mrs. Johnson's voice down the hall and they all stop guiltily. Then Liam looks at Niall, who is wide-eyed with fake innocence, and that makes Liam start snickering again quietly, which makes Zayn laugh, too. They try to be quiet but they don't manage it very well; Niall's laugh is loud and he laughs with his entire body. Liam puts a pillow over Niall's face and pretends to try and smother him, and Niall does a decent impression of someone being smothered to death, flailing his limbs around. Zayn's laughing so hard it looks like he might cry before he hides his face against the bed.
"I thought we were the sensible ones," Liam says, trying to calm down, but he's got too much energy from traveling and meeting strangers and being away from his family, and it's all bubbled up into this silly laughing fit.
Eventually they crawl into bed and turn out the lights. Niall does turn out to be the kind of person who flails in his sleep, but he settles down when Liam throws an arm across his chest, and after that it's fine.
***
A little bit after dawn Louis and Harry sneak into the bedroom, for some definition of the word "sneak" that means "be incredibly loud and snicker about it." Liam pushes the blanket back to blink at them, not very awake and completely confused.
"Time to get up!" Louis shouts, and does a terrible impression of a rooster. Niall groans and rolls further under the blankets. Zayn doesn't appear to hear them at all. Liam is impressed with his ability to ignore things; a minute later Harry starts shaking Zayn's mattress and shouting, "Up! Up! Come on!" and Zayn still doesn't stir.
"The Johnsons told us to get you lot up," Louis says gleefully, dragging Niall out of bed by the ankle. Liam is awake enough to mostly fend off Louis's grabby hands and overly chummy hugs, but not quite awake enough to be coherent about it.
"Is Zayn dead?" Liam asks, hugging the blanket around his shoulders like a cape. It's been a warm, dry May so far, but this early in the morning the air has a chill and there are clouds hanging threateningly low over the farm.
"Are you dead?" Harry asks curiously, face inches from Zayn's face. Zayn doesn't respond to that, either, although he does wrinkle his nose.
"I'm hungry," Niall says loudly. "If I have to get up this early there had better be breakfast."
Louis grabs Zayn under the arms and hauls him, groaning in protest, out of bed. "There's food downstairs," Louis says, which is enough to get Niall going, and then Louis and Harry drag Zayn out of the room with them.
Liam trails along behind everyone, feeling a little bit lost. Zayn and Niall and Harry and Louis seem to think it's perfectly normal to jump on each other as they go down the stairs, half-dressed and ruffling Niall's hair. They tease Zayn until he grudgingly rubs the sleep out of his eyes and admits he's awake. Liam doesn't know when they all got so friendly. Maybe they've all gone and become best friends without telling Liam.
Breakfast is a rowdy affair and the Johnsons look a little surprised at the sheer volume of their guests. "This is amazing," says Niall, mouth full. "Butter and bacon!"
"It's a farm," says Louis. "They've got their own; we don't need coupons."
"Not for much longer, I don't suppose," says Mr. Johnson. "It'll be the last of the pigs soon, and the cows are quite old."
"I've heard they're rationing tea next," says Mrs. Johnson, and everyone sits in horrified silence for a moment.
"Did you hear," says Harry, "apparently the new rule is no more than five inches of bathwater? I don't mind. I never take a bath."
"We've got a pond full of ducks, if you want a bath," says Mr. Johnson, and Louis immediately gets an evil glint in his eyes.
"After you spend all morning out in the sun helping Mr. Johnson move the wood out of the barn you'll want a bath, you'll see," says Mrs. Johnson. "Our Corey always does."
"Where's he?" Louis asks.
The Johnson's exchange a glance. "He's in Belgium," says Mrs. Johnson. "He volunteered. He's a good boy."
"I volunteered," says Louis.
"You never did," says Zayn.
"Yes, I did, only they said I was too young and told me to go home."
"Well, you are," says Liam reasonably. Louis frowns at him.
Mr. Johnson pushes his chair away from the table. "You aren't too young to help me," he says. "Come on, you lot. There's work to do."
"Come on, Harry," says Louis. "Let's go and get our hands dirty."
***
To no one's surprise they are not very good farmhands. Mr. Johnson tries to show them how to collect eggs, but Louis scares the chickens, jumping around and flapping at them. Zayn won't go near the cow or the horses on the grounds that they might kick him and he'd die. Niall is cheerful about every single thing he's asked to do, but he's also the smallest of them. Harry is only apparently able to do hard work for a few minutes before he gets bored and wanders off, usually with Louis.
Liam wants to be helpful but he's not used to doing anything like this and after a few minutes his hands hurt and his back hurts and he's bored. Mr. Johnson's asked them to load cords of wood onto the wagon and bring it round to the barn down the lane, but the second he leaves them alone Zayn gets a splinter and Niall drops a bundle of logs on his foot, and even though the horse is at least a hundred years old, Harry can't persuade it to stop trying to wander off. The wagon nearly runs over Liam's foot and he scowls at everyone. (It nearly runs over Louis' foot and he hops up and down, howling with mock-pain. It's pretty funny. Liam laughs even though he thinks maybe Louis is making fun of him.)
It takes hours longer than it should. The sun has burnt off all the clouds and it's hot and miserable by the time they've finished. "Where's this pond, then?" Louis asks. The farm is mostly just big grassy fields with trees ringing the edges, and a one-lane dirt path for the horse and cart between the house, the barn they've just emptied, and the barn with the cows and the horse in it.
"You aren't really going to jump in?" Harry asks, horrified and fascinated.
"I will if I can find it," says Louis.
"It's got to be that way," says Zayn, pointing down the lane. Everyone looks at him. "Well, it's the only place we haven't been yet," he says, and that sounds reasonable.
Even though it means he's not being very amusing, Liam can't stop himself from asking, "What about the horse? We're supposed to take him to the other barn to drop off all the wood."
"The horse wants to go there anyway," says Harry. "He keeps trying to walk off without us. He knows the way better than we do." He drops the reigns for a minute and the horse begins calmly plodding down the lane toward the barn, which is around the corner and past the first row of trees.
Liam bites his lower lip. "But," he says. "But surely we should go with the horse and make sure he gets to the barn all right."
"You can," says Louis, already walking in the other direction. "I'm looking for the pond."
Liam reluctantly feels like he ought to be the voice of reason. "We're supposed to be helping," he says.
"We have helped," Harry argues, walking backwards so he can follow Louis and still look at Liam. "We've done loads of work."
"Well, we have, but--"
Niall looks from one of them to the other and then shrugs. "He didn't say we couldn't take a break. You comin'?" He tugs on Zayn's sleeve and Zayn bites his lip, but lets Niall pull him after Harry.
Liam is standing all by himself. He almost entirely certain he's right about what they should do, but he's acutely aware that he's also not being any fun. The horse is still plodding slowly toward the other barn. If Liam goes after him it'll be half an hour there and then however long it takes to find the pond and everyone else. The day has got really hot and sweat is trailing down Liam's back.
"I suppose the horse looks like he knows where he's going," Liam says slowly. His feet take a couple of steps in the direction everyone else is going without consulting him.
Harry cheers. "Last one there's a rotten egg," he says, and turns, running. He dashes past Louis, who shouts with indignation and runs after him. A minute later Niall and Zayn take off after them and Liam rolls his eyes, but he breaks into a run, too. By the time they get to the line of trees Liam's only behind Harry.
***
The pond is full of ducks and marsh grass and mud. "It looks cold," says Harry. Liam can't tell if Harry is implying he's more or less likely to jump in.
Louis takes his shoes off and rolls his trousers up and wades out a few steps. "It's freezing!" he says happily. "C'mon in. The mud is squelching between my toes."
Liam and Harry and Zayn share a dubious look. "How deep does it get?" Harry asks.
"Dunno. Come and find out!" says Louis.
This is enough incentive for Harry and Niall to start taking their shoes and socks off. Liam looks at Zayn, who laughs and shakes his head. "I'm all right here," he says, sitting down on the grass.
"We'll drag you in," warns Harry sternly, but then he gets distracted because Niall goes rushing into the water and trips over something, falling face-first into the muddy water. He comes up spluttering and flailing around, soaking Louis, who laughs so hard he falls in, too. Harry follows them and Louis grabs him by the arm, pulling him down in to the water.
They're all laughing and soaked and having a good time. Liam feels oddly uninvited to join in. They've known each other for exactly the same length of time, so it doesn't make sense that Louis and Harry have become such good friends. Liam is horribly aware that they should probably have stayed with the horse, and that Mr. Johnson might not want them wading through his pond and upsetting the ducks. On the other hand, everyone in the water seems to be having a tremendously good time.
Liam bites his lip and tries not to look like he's considering this too deeply; it's just messing about in a pond. "My mum'd kill me if I got in trouble," he says finally, and Zayn nods sympathetically. Liam sits down next to him, because if he's not in the water then at least he's not entirely alone.
Louis pulls Harry under the water for a minute, and then Harry turns around and seems to be trying his hardest to drown Louis in return. Niall has found some frogs that apparently bear close inspection.
"I'd kill for a cigarette," says Zayn, pulling his knees up so he can put his arms round them.
"Maybe Mr. Johnson has some," says Liam.
Zayn shrugs. "Maybe. I knew how to get them at home, but here…" He trails off. Liam nods; there's a little town where the train stopped, but if that's the only thing around then they're all going to go stir-crazy stuck on this farm.
"Maybe we can walk into town sometime soon," says Liam. "I'd like to get the paper."
"There's a wireless in the kitchen," Zayn offers.
Liam nods and doesn't explain that the paper will have lists of soldiers who've gone missing or been killed in action. Last Liam heard from his father he wasn't anywhere near the front, but… Liam needs to check anyway.
A duck wanders up the grass and quacks angrily at them. Zayn shifts just a little closer to Liam, and Liam tries not to laugh. "It's funny here," says Zayn eventually. "Like there's no war on at all."
Liam wishes he could forget about the war for a few minutes but it's always there at the back of his mind. How are his sisters and his mum doing in London? Have there been bombings? "I need to send a letter home," he says. "They'll want to know where we are and that we're being looked after." The mention of home makes Zayn look sad again and Liam wishes he could take it back.
"Oi!" someone shouts. "What do you lads think you're doing?"
All five of them freeze and then turn. There's a tough-looking fellow standing on the dirt road, shirt sleeves rolled up, pitchfork in hand. He could probably skewer them all with that thing, Liam thinks in mild hysteria.
"Hiya," says Harry. "We've all been evacuated from London, we're staying with the Johnsons."
The blocky man considers this for a second with a frown. "Well, what are you doin' in the pond?" he asks, because as strange as five boys wandering around the farm is, he clearly can't imagine any reason for anyone to go into the water.
"It's hot," Louis explains.
"Sorry," says Liam, standing up. "Should we not be, or…"
"Of course you shouldn't be in the pond, it's not for swimming," he says. "You'll be covered in leeches by now."
Harry and Niall scream and come running out of the water. "Get 'em off, get 'em off me," Niall demands, flailing wildly. Harry shakes himself off like a dog, dripping all over Zayn, who splutters and jumps to his feet to get out of the splash zone.
"The pond looked like it needed jumping in," Louis explains. Apparently he isn't scared of leeches.
"We're sorry," says Liam again. "We should probably get back to the farmhouse, shouldn't we?"
"You should," says the man. He steps towards them and Liam notices that he limps when he walks. "I didn't know there would be five of you."
"Some of us are extra," says Harry. He inspects Niall's legs for leeches and eventually gives him a reassuring pat on the back. Niall still looks a little ill.
Louis wades out of the pond. "I suppose we ought to get back to the house and see if there's other things we can help with."
"I suppose you should," says the man with the pitchfork. He looks slightly annoyed, but mostly baffled, as if he really can't imagine what they're all doing.
"D'you think we'll be in trouble?" Zayn whispers to Liam. Liam is absolutely sure of it, but he shrugs and follows everyone else back toward the house.
***
They get in trouble. Mr. Johnson shakes his head and looks disappointed, and Mrs. Johnson sighs a lot. There is a long lecture about responsibility and how easy it is to get hurt on a farm if you go running about like idiots. Liam feels like the worst person in the world. It's as if he's being scolded by the kindest grandparents on earth for carelessness. It hurts.
Louis doesn't seem especially bothered; he laughs and apologizes. Niall and Zayn manage to escape getting yelled at directly by looking mostly at the floor. Liam apologizes a lot and then goes upstairs to go and wash his face so he can feel bad about it in private.
Liam spends a minute looking out the window and telling himself not to cry; he hasn't disappointed his mother entirely. He can make up for it with loads of hard work from now on.
It takes him a moment to realize the sniffling noise he hears is Harry, who has followed him upstairs. He's sitting on the edge of the tub and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. "You all right?" Liam asks.
"Fine, yeah," says Harry unconvincingly. His voice is thick with tears.
Liam doesn't know what to say. "It's going to be fine," he says. His voice sounds stiff in his own ears. Harry just shrugs and sniffles again, quietly, like he's hoping Liam won't hear it, so Liam doesn't say anything else.
Louis comes bounding in to the room. Liam wonders if he's ever done anything quietly in his entire life. "There you are, come on, we're going to help dig for victory, by which I mean plant carrots. I've never planted a carrot." He must see the tear streaks on Harry's face but he doesn't say anything, just grabs Harry by the hands and hauls him up. "Come on, I've bet Niall we can plant twice as many as he can. You won't make me a liar, will you?" Harry laughs reluctantly because Louis is pulling the most ridiculous sad face anyone has ever pulled. Louis drags Harry toward the door. "Come on, Hazza; don't make me cry."
Liam experiences a stab of jealousy that he isn't expecting. It takes him a moment to work out that he wishes he knew how to cheer Harry up like Louis does so effortlessly. Louis is all wrong about nearly everything all the time, as near as Liam can tell, and yet he's so cheerful and breezy and funny and ridiculous.
"You too, Liam," says Louis sternly.
Liam realizes he's been staring blankly into space. "What?"
"Come and help us dig for victory!" Louis says. He shoves Harry through the door, laughing, and then grabs Liam by the hand.
"Oh - But - I -" Liam says awkwardly, smiling out of reflex. Louis is so confusing. Liam feels a million different ways at once; resentful that Louis can cheer Harry up, jealous that Louis has paid such careful attention to Harry, annoyed that Louis thinks Liam needs dragging around, pleased to be included in Louis' silliness… Liam can't get a sensible sentence out because he can't work out what he'd like to say.
"You'll have to be on Zayn's team; I don't think he's ever got dirty on purpose," says Louis, and Liam laughs. Apparently that's all he can manage in response to Louis.
***
For a few days after that everything is fine. Liam was a scout; he knows how to work if he isn't distracted. And honestly, the Johnson's aren't asking them to do much that's especially hard. After the disaster of the first day someone always stays with them. Generally Mr. Johnson takes Niall and Liam to do actual work in the barns, and the fellow with the pitchfork who turns out to be called Paul takes the other boys to town to fetch and carry whatever Mrs. Johnson needs.
Zayn brings Liam back a newspaper and Liam is so ridiculously grateful that he gives Zayn a hug. Zayn laughs and shrugs and then Louis yells, "Me! It's my turn, isn't it?" and jumps on Zayn, who laughs and says something rude and tries to shove him off. Louis is hard to dislodge, though.
"Can I give you some names to look for?" Harry asks, when he sees which page Liam has flipped to.
"And my brother, and my friend Sean," Niall adds, when Harry's finished. Liam adds all the names to the growing list he keeps inside his head, the one he goes over and over every night while he's trying to fall asleep.
***
It's possible to crawl from their bedroom onto the ledge and up to the roof. Liam learns this when he wakes up in the middle of the night and sees Zayn slipping out the window. "Hey," Liam says, but Zayn doesn't hear him. Liam slides out from underneath Niall's arm and crawls over to the window, sticking his head out. "Where are you going?"
Zayn leans out over the roof, dangling slightly upside-down. "Just having a smoke," he says. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you." He glances down and wrinkles his nose. "Ugh. Didn't realize how high we were." He vanishes again.
Liam considers for a minute and then climbs out the window after him. It's dark and cold outside and there's a breeze. He's cold and his arms have come over all goosebumps. It's not hard climbing up to the roof, though. Zayn is sitting there with his cigarette and a book of matches he's been hoarding since they arrived. It's been hard to find matches since the beginning of the war. He's got his knees drawn up and his hair is a mess, which it never is, not even when he's just woken up.
"So," says Liam, sitting down beside him. "What're you doing up here? Gonna be one of Churchill's Jim Crows and spot a plane?"
Zayn huffs an almost-laugh and offers him a cigarette. Liam shakes his head. He doesn't drink and he doesn't smoke. Zayn shrugs and lights his cigarette and takes a long drag.
"Okay," says Liam, trying again. "Can't sleep?"
Zayn bites his lip. He looks away from Liam for a minute and when he looks back his eyes are glittering. "I've never been away from home before. I just… Don't laugh. I woke up because I missed my mum."
"Why would I laugh?" Liam asks. "I miss my mum so much I… I don't know. I miss her all the time."
Zayn blows out a lungful of smoke and they both watch it drift off into the darkness. There aren't many clouds and Liam has never seen the stars looking this bright in London. According to his paper and the wireless France has just surrendered to the Germans. He wonders if there are RAF planes flying overheard somewhere at the moment. He wonders if there are German planes heading across the Channel toward London.
"It's hard, being away," says Zayn finally. "Any time we're not busy I feel like I'm going to fall to pieces." He grimaces, embarrassed, and looks at his cigarette instead of Liam. "I'm not such a complete baby normally, I swear."
"I think we're all a bit homesick," says Liam. "I saw Harry crying the other day. It's just got to be like Louis said; we have to look out for each other. I expect loads of kids ended up on their own out in the countryside somewhere, doing god knows what. At least we've got each other."
Zayn nods. He's stopped crying. "I've only got sisters," he says. "Always thought it'd be fun, having a brother or two."
"I've only got sisters as well," Liam says. He considers the idea of brothers. It feels nice.
Zayn smiles at him. "You're really good to talk to," he says. Liam is immediately unaccountably embarrassed.
"Oi!" says Niall's voice from the window. "Have you two gone off for adventures without me?"
Zayn and Liam exchange a guilty glance and start laughing quietly. "We're up here," says Liam. "Hang on; we'll come down."
"Er," says Zayn, stubbing out the last of his cigarette. Liam scoots over toward the edge of the roof. "We're up pretty high, aren't we?"
"Not really," says Liam. "Thirty feet, maybe?" Zayn pulls a face and doesn't move. Liam waits. Zayn is still not moving. "Oh my god," says Liam. "You climbed up here, you idiot. Didn't you think about getting back down?"
"I didn't have to look down to go up!" Zayn protests. "It's really… far."
Liam sighs a great put-upon sigh and leans over the edge. "Zayn's an idiot," he says. "Can you give him a hand down?"
"I suppose," says Niall. "Next time you lads get up to something you’ve got to wake me up, though."
They spend a long time arguing with Zayn that it's not scary at all to swing himself down over the roof and into the window. Zayn's adamant insistence that he'd rather live the rest of his life on the roof is pretty funny, though. Niall eventually gets fed up with waiting, grabs Zayn's ankle, and yanks. Zayn doesn't quite plummet to his death, although Niall nearly kills himself laughing. Liam is amazed they don't wake up the whole house.
It's a good night.
***
Louis gets a letter from his family. Apparently his mum and sisters are all staying with a cousin somewhere near Leeds. Louis' little sisters have drawn pictures of the house and of themselves crying because they miss him.
Liam only knows this because he is shamelessly nosy and leans over Louis' shoulder. None of the rest of them have got anything by post yet, and Liam can almost pretend it's from his own family.
Louis reads the letter and doesn't say anything for a really long time. Harry is distracted chasing one of the ducks with Niall, and Zayn has snuck off to try and catch a nap under a tree. Louis is never this quiet; it's unnerving. "Good news, right?" Liam says finally, when he can't stand the silence anymore.
It's as if Louis has just woken up. "Yeah, of course," he says, blinking and shaking his head a little. He smiles at Liam and Liam realizes that he is still leaning over Louis' shoulder. "Glad they're away and safe."
"Are you going to go stay with them?" Liam asks. Since they all got to the Johnson's farm Louis has accidentally given Liam a black eye with his elbow, and startled him into spilling tea down the front of his trousers (and told everyone that Liam pissed himself whilst laughing uproariously). And yet Liam thinks maybe he'd miss Louis if he left.
"Nah," says Louis with a shrug. "There's not room. It's fine, though. They don't need someone else underfoot up there. Four little girls is enough."
"But-" Liam starts.
Louis shoves the letter into his pocket. "Do you think we can get the duck to run across Zayn's face while he's sleeping? That would be hilarious."
That would definitely be hilarious. "Without waking him up?" Liam asks, because it's clear Louis wants to change the subject. "I don't know. The duck is loud."
"Zayn could sleep through a blitz," Louis scoffs, and dashes off to steal the duck from Harry. Zayn is right, Liam decides. When they have free time to think they all fall to pieces, so it's a good thing Louis knows how to distract himself.
***
"Look at this!" Harry shouts. "Liam, come and look!"
Harry has been shirking his half of moving the hay bales around, and Liam is annoyed with him. It's hot and Harry's been mostly standing in the shade of the barn, pretending he was looking for something he dropped. Paul clearly knows exactly what Harry's doing, but for some reason he seems incapable of shouting at Harry the way he does at Liam and Louis.
"What?" Liam asks, wiping sweat off his forehead. He hopes Harry can see how hard he's frowning.
"You have to come here!" Harry shouts.
Liam isn't sure he's ever heard Harry sound quite so hysterical, so he jogs over. It's probably a stupid trick. "This had better be amazing," Liam grumbles.
"It is," says Harry. "Liam, look. Puppies!"
There is a brown dog they've seen wandering around the farm. Liam had assumed that it was a male dog who wanted to avoid the rowdy teenagers, and that it was fat from lying around the farm all day. Instead, apparently, it's a female dog, because those are three squirming little brown puppies with their eyes still tightly closed, making squeaky whining noises and pushing at her teats.
"Oh my god," says Liam. "They're so tiny!"
"D'you think we can touch them?" Harry asks.
Liam has no idea. "I dunno. Maybe? They're only barely born at all."
Harry runs a tentative finger down the back of one of the puppies. It whines and wriggles and the mother gives Harry a tired, grumpy look.
"Maybe we can keep them," says Harry hopefully.
Liam opens his mouth to point out that there are five boys and only three puppies, and that they aren't staying on the farm forever, and they don't know how to train puppies, and they probably won't be allowed to take them home to London. But Harry looks happier than he's looked in days, so Liam just shrugs. "Not until they're bigger," he says.
Harry jumps to his feet and shouts, "Paul! Paul! Look; Liam and I've found puppies!" He turns to Liam and adds, "Louis is going to be sick with jealousy." Liam doesn't mean to laugh at that, but he does anyway, and Harry grins at him.
***
"Since we found them, obviously, we get two of them," says Harry. Liam, sitting next to him, feels very smug at being included in this, because Louis is so obviously pouting at being left out.
"What're you gonna do with the third one, cut him into pieces?" Zayn asks. Niall hits him with one of the pillows from the couch. "I was joking," says Zayn, slightly resentful.
"We're going to award him to whoever wins," says Harry.
"Wins what?" Niall asks. Liam would like to know that, too.
"Wins the contest," says Harry breezily, as if he isn't making all of this up on the spot. "The usual sort of things. Jousting, pistols at dawn-"
"Throwing Harry into the duck pond," Louis interrupts.
Liam says, "Paul says they might not all survive." He doesn't mean to always be the one to tell everyone bad news, but, well, they ought to know.
Everyone groans. "Well, mine will," says Harry firmly. "I'm going to call him Champion."
"What if it's a girl puppy, then?" Niall asks.
"Champion is a perfect name for a girl puppy, too," says Harry immediately. "I'll teach her to bite anyone who bothers me, like you do." He says this to Louis, who immediately pounces on Harry, knocking him off the couch. They laugh and pretend to be trying to hit each other for a couple of minutes. Liam and Zayn and Niall have all got used to that sort of thing, though, and don’t pay it much attention.
"You're gonna break something," says Zayn eventually, because they've come perilously close to rolling into Mrs. Johnson's table and knocking her framed photos onto the floor. Mrs. Johnson has gone to visit a poorly neighbour for the day, and Mr. Johnson and Paul have gone into town. They left the boys with a few chores to do but they're already finished and everyone is bored. It's not particularly surprising Louis and Harry are on the brink of breaking things.
"I have an idea," says Louis abruptly, sitting up. He's still got one of his knees on Harry's chest. Liam pulls a face. "What?" says Louis. "You haven't even heard it yet!"
"I've heard enough," says Liam. "Last week Harry got stuck in that tree, and yesterday poor Mrs. Johnson-" The rest of what he was going to say is lost because Niall grabs him and puts his hands over Liam's mouth.
"Go ahead," says Niall. "I'm bored."
Louis doesn't have a good idea. He has a terrible idea, an idea involving sneaking bottles of port and sherry out of the cellar for a drinking contest because he heard Mr. Johnson saying that they've been down there for ages and no one is ever going to drink them. Liam would object strenuously - they are so obviously going to get in trouble for this - but he's a bit bored as well, and Louis gives him a stern look and says, "You aren't going to be dull again, Liam, are you?"
Liam is stung by this accusation. He's not dull. He just has a sense of consequences, which apparently Louis hasn't got at all. "That's not fair-" Liam starts.
Louis grins at him. "So you'll help me nick some bottles? Harry, go and get the wireless. We'll have a party."
"Brilliant," says Niall, and dashes off to the kitchen to see what he can scrounge.
Liam follows Louis down to the basement grumbling the whole way. "Oh stop it," says Louis.
"What if the Johnsons come back?" Liam asks. He thinks he is being perfectly reasonable.
Louis stops and turns on the step, putting his hand on Liam's arm. Liam never knows what to do when Louis does that. He wishes he were able to be silly about it, like Harry is, but by the time Liam works out what would have been silly, the moment has always passed. "Liam," says Louis, the most serious that Liam has ever seen him. "Have you ever been allowed to have any fun at all in your entire life?"
"I'm fun!" Liam protests. Louis raises his eyebrows. "I can be," Liam insists. "I just don't think being stupid and getting in trouble is fun."
"Then you've never done it properly," says Louis. "Relax." He gives Liam a little shove, not in a mean way, the teasing way he shoves Harry. Liam nearly falls backward onto the steps.
"Hey," says Liam, and pushes Louis back. Louis grins at him - damn it, Liam has fallen in to doing exactly what Louis wanted him to do - and pushes him again. Liam grabs Louis' arm and yanks and Louis falls on top of him and then somehow they're both trying to strangle each other on the steps.
"What are you doing?" Zayn shouts, opening the door.
"Teaching Liam who's boss!" shouts Louis happily. He's got his arm round Liam's neck and Liam isn't trying as hard as he might to shove him off.
"Get your knee out of my back," Liam says.
"Stop complaining about absolutely everything," Louis counters. "You worry more than anyone I've ever met."
"I do not," Liam says, but probably he does. He definitely worries more than any of the other boys do.
Louis leans down and gives Liam an unexpectedly loud kiss on the cheek. "I just want you to have fun," Louis says, and then he lets go of Liam's neck and runs down the rest of the steps.
Louis is the most confusing person Liam has ever, ever met. "I am having fun!" Liam says, following him.
"Well, stop having fun and get the drinks!" Zayn yells.
Louis and Liam both yell, "Shut up!" at him at the same time.
part two