day twenty-one. world; fantasy
( challenge on infinite earths: pairing nick/louis)
title: it's yours if you want it.
rating: pg-13
word count: 1,868 +/-
warning(s): swearing, fluff isn’t a warning, is it?
summary: "the snowflakes are still lightly falling, and nick can see where they land on louis' eyelashes, where patterns of their shadows shift and move along louis' skin, where they land in louis' fringe and beanie and this is another image that nick needs to burn into his skin, something he can look back on later, let it take his breath away over and over."
a/n: so this is a little late, woops. it’s a completely fluff-filled valentine’s day gift to everyone in the tomlinshaw tag and anyone else who follows me who’s not so much into tomlinshaw. thanks for stickin’ around and i love you of you guys so much, you’re the best. this is kind of a modern day fantasy au with witch!nick. also, i've made them younger than their canonical ages - louis' just finishing high school. unbeta'd.
**
"nick, where are we going?" louis sighs exasperatedly for probably the tenth time in as so many minutes, gloved hand small in nick's. they're in a forest, kind of typical enchanted forest, with pretty, but stark trees and snowflakes falling gently down around them. it's picturesque and beautiful, but it feels like they're been walking for hours and it's getting harder and harder to follow along. nick seems to forget that he's got longer legs than louis, stepping over logs that louis practically needs to crawl over, and louis' not a witch, he doesn't have some magical powers to keep him from feeling exhausted after being dragged through a forest.
"nearly there lou," nick explains badly, looking back to smile at louis, nose pink from the chilly air and his tumbling, curling, falling apart at the seams quiff low over his forehead and catching the snowflakes that are trying to fall in his eyes.
nearly there turns out to be another ten to twelve minutes, and louis is about four seconds off demanding a piggy back when they make it to the clearing. they almost stumble out of it, like nick's forgotten exactly where it is, and they trip, toppling over, louis winding nick as he falls straight on top of him and laughs into the gap of nick's scarf and sweater. nick smiles up at him, and tilts his jaw up with one hand and stares as louis' eyes refocus from nick to the scenery, thumbs along louis' bottom lip and feels the sharp intake of breath as it happens.
"oh." louis says, short and simple and sweet and bends his head back down to press feather light kisses to nick's freckles and nose, pushing nick's hands away as he tries to stop louis. he threads his fingers through nick's hair and kisses him properly.
"you like it?" nick asks, breathless and cheeks pink and louis' smile is bright in the weak sunlight, eyes sparkling and wide.
"you say it like you're bought it for me," louis grins, eyes flickering to and fro, staring and searching and nick wants to take a picture, maybe burn the way louis looks right now into his eyelids so every time he closes his eyes he'll see louis smiling because of him, "you didn't buy it for me, did you?" louis asks, like he's a little unsure and nick laughs.
"i don't think it belongs to anyone." he says and that's as close as an admission of it's yours if you want it that louis is ever going to get and he leans back down to continue the freckle worship, lips butterfly soft against nick's nose and cheeks.
louis helps nick up when he's finished, dusting themselves off from the ground and the second louis' gloved hand slips into nick's he's pulling nick along, eyes full of child-like wonder. a corkscrew of an old roller coaster lays upon the ground in front of them, splintered and broken struts, grass curling up the edges and vines clinging to the tracks. the rest of the roller coaster is still high in the sky, broken and rusty, the paint of the edges fading from the sunlight. louis drags nick through the corkscrew, jumping over beams and touching at the flaky edges, and nick mutters something under his breath, a few latin words, louis turns back to him. and, his eyes widen even more as the colour returns to the roller coaster inching back over the ruins, bright as the day they were freshly painted; orange and red and blue and green and yellow. other colours bloom in the distance, bright whites and maroons and a variety of purples and colours that louis can't even name.
"you shouldn't be using your magic on this," louis chastises but he's pulling nick along once more, determined to look at the rest of the amusement park and there's no heat in his words and even if there was, nick would have anyway. seeing louis like this is worth it. louis is always worth it.
"it's not a real amusement park if the rides don't move," nick simply replies and frowns as he mutters some more complex sounding latin, pronouncing the vowels carefully and it drives louis to a halt as the ferris wheel; big and ridiculous bright, with the proper seats and fabric tops, creaks and groans into life. it spins slowly, gentle moans of the rusted metal soft in the muffled, lightly falling snowflakes and the lights flicker on, weak and jumpy. music starts - a little way in the distance and louis jumps, looking up at nick in awe.
"that's fucking creepy," he says but pulls nick over to the carousel anyway, the paint looking fresh and golden; what was left of the animals and things in the carousel bright and cheerful, slowly moving up and down as the carousel turns, creaking and jolting a little like the ferris wheel, "is it safe to go on?" he asks and nick doesn't see why not, so he nods and louis grins, letting go of nick's hand to climb upon the old carousel and talk to the animals; patting the horse with only two legs on the neck and telling it that it's still a champion, picking up the remains of the emu to help fix a wing back on. nick watches as louis goes round and round and round, pursing his lips and thinking, murmuring out some more tricky latin and grins as the slats of wood and broken glass littered around the abandoned amusement park pick themselves up and put themselves back together.
when louis finally steps off the carousel, his legs are wobbly and he basically just falls into nick, calling out a "catch me" when he's half in nick's arms and tugs nick's head down for a bruising kiss.
"let's keep exploring," nick suggests into louis' mouth, hopes the words stick there and so does the joy and the sparkling of happiness in his blue eyes. louis is more than happy with the suggestion, small, warm hand slipping back into nick's, pulling him along once more because apparently louis can't walk normally, just next to nick, not in this place.
"this is amazing," he breaths, staring at a triad of laughing clowns in a booth, their bodies twisting like they're waiting for some child to run up and pay for those small orange ping pong balls to plop in their mouths, excited to win a stuffed toy. he drags nick over, watches as the clowns move and stares down at the faded numbers painted at the bottom of each tray. nick sighs and says another incomprehensible word and bright orange and white ping pong balls sit in front of louis. he laughs as he puts them in the mouths of the clowns, adds up his score and tells nick that he owes louis some ridiculous fluffy toys.
other side show booths stand along and around the amusement park; oops for tiny basket balls and cans for air rifles to knock over and paint guns to splat balloons. louis tries them all, laughing and giggling up at nick and demanding that he needs a lot of presents from nick to make up for not actually winning anything. nick rolls his eyes but agrees, turning on lights and brightening up faded colours and fixing broken glass. they find an old cotton candy machine, cracked down the middle, and louis wants some, on a stick and bright pink like you buy in actual fairs and nick conjures up some, multi-coloured and sickly sweet. louis gets some stuck on his chin, pink and sticky and nick licks it off, laughing at the way louis wrinkles his nose, and kisses the sugary taste of out louis' mouth.
louis is just about to demand more crappy amusement park food, corn dogs and hot chips with vinegar and ice cream in a cone, when they come across the bumper car alley. it's broken at the edges, sides falling down and the metal bars of the ceiling only stand by a few posts, rusted and creaking in the wind. nick doesn't say anything, only snaps his fingers and the colour returns; sunflower yellow of the cars and pillar-box red of the flapping material of the roof. most of the bumper cars are broken; snapped electric wires and seats missing or rusting and steering wheels, but louis still finds the least messed up one and sits in it, knees bumping his chest as he tries to fit in what really is for a small child. the bottom of the alley is long gone, dry weeds and grassed sprouted all over it and louis closes his eyes like he's pretending he's enjoying the feeling of a bumper car, knocking into others and speeding around. nick tries out a few more bits of latin, and it stirs up the wind, brings back past sounds of that so happening and louis smiles, crinkles by his eyes and pointy teeth showing.
they finish up with the bumper cars and go to another, smaller roller coaster broken cart sitting ready, like it's waiting for giggling happy children to line up to have a go and nick makes it's colours the brightest out of the lot; it's one of the most haunting things that nick has ever seen. louis runs his hands over the edges and tugs at a safety bar, trying to pull it down and lock it into place. it croaks and groans with rust, but eventually clicks down and louis pulls nick into the seat behind it, cozing up into nick's space.
"i'm not going to make the roller coaster go louis," nick warns because he can see that glint in louis' eyes and fingers reaching over to pull their own safety bar down stop, "it's not oiled or safe or anything. i don't particularly want to kill either of us."
"you're a romantic nicholas," louis drawls, but forgets about the safety bar and squishes up farther into nick's space, legs and hands and warm little body in nick's lap. the snowflakes are still lightly falling, and nick can see where they land on louis' eyelashes, where patterns of their shadows shift and move along louis' skin, where they land in louis' fringe and beanie and this is another image that nick needs to burn into his skin, something he can look back on later, let it take his breath away over and over.
"happy valentine's day lou," nick smiles and louis catches gloved fingers against nick's jaw and whispers the words back into nick's mouth, bites at his cold bottom lip and licks in his way in.
(later, when their cheeks are pink and are breathless from kissing louis will smile a smile that's slightly too devious for nick's taste and will mutter something about not being able to wait to get back to school. nick's offended, because hey, this was special and different and kind of stupidly romantic but louis looks so pleased as he tells nick that all his friends will be going on about flowers and chocolates and movie dates and his boyfriend got him an abandoned amusement park. nick appreciates the sentiment, and kisses louis again.)
title: it's yours if you want it.
rating: pg-13
word count: 1,868 +/-
warning(s): swearing, fluff isn’t a warning, is it?
summary: "the snowflakes are still lightly falling, and nick can see where they land on louis' eyelashes, where patterns of their shadows shift and move along louis' skin, where they land in louis' fringe and beanie and this is another image that nick needs to burn into his skin, something he can look back on later, let it take his breath away over and over."
a/n: so this is a little late, woops. it’s a completely fluff-filled valentine’s day gift to everyone in the tomlinshaw tag and anyone else who follows me who’s not so much into tomlinshaw. thanks for stickin’ around and i love you of you guys so much, you’re the best. this is kind of a modern day fantasy au with witch!nick. also, i've made them younger than their canonical ages - louis' just finishing high school. unbeta'd.
**
"nick, where are we going?" louis sighs exasperatedly for probably the tenth time in as so many minutes, gloved hand small in nick's. they're in a forest, kind of typical enchanted forest, with pretty, but stark trees and snowflakes falling gently down around them. it's picturesque and beautiful, but it feels like they're been walking for hours and it's getting harder and harder to follow along. nick seems to forget that he's got longer legs than louis, stepping over logs that louis practically needs to crawl over, and louis' not a witch, he doesn't have some magical powers to keep him from feeling exhausted after being dragged through a forest.
"nearly there lou," nick explains badly, looking back to smile at louis, nose pink from the chilly air and his tumbling, curling, falling apart at the seams quiff low over his forehead and catching the snowflakes that are trying to fall in his eyes.
nearly there turns out to be another ten to twelve minutes, and louis is about four seconds off demanding a piggy back when they make it to the clearing. they almost stumble out of it, like nick's forgotten exactly where it is, and they trip, toppling over, louis winding nick as he falls straight on top of him and laughs into the gap of nick's scarf and sweater. nick smiles up at him, and tilts his jaw up with one hand and stares as louis' eyes refocus from nick to the scenery, thumbs along louis' bottom lip and feels the sharp intake of breath as it happens.
"oh." louis says, short and simple and sweet and bends his head back down to press feather light kisses to nick's freckles and nose, pushing nick's hands away as he tries to stop louis. he threads his fingers through nick's hair and kisses him properly.
"you like it?" nick asks, breathless and cheeks pink and louis' smile is bright in the weak sunlight, eyes sparkling and wide.
"you say it like you're bought it for me," louis grins, eyes flickering to and fro, staring and searching and nick wants to take a picture, maybe burn the way louis looks right now into his eyelids so every time he closes his eyes he'll see louis smiling because of him, "you didn't buy it for me, did you?" louis asks, like he's a little unsure and nick laughs.
"i don't think it belongs to anyone." he says and that's as close as an admission of it's yours if you want it that louis is ever going to get and he leans back down to continue the freckle worship, lips butterfly soft against nick's nose and cheeks.
louis helps nick up when he's finished, dusting themselves off from the ground and the second louis' gloved hand slips into nick's he's pulling nick along, eyes full of child-like wonder. a corkscrew of an old roller coaster lays upon the ground in front of them, splintered and broken struts, grass curling up the edges and vines clinging to the tracks. the rest of the roller coaster is still high in the sky, broken and rusty, the paint of the edges fading from the sunlight. louis drags nick through the corkscrew, jumping over beams and touching at the flaky edges, and nick mutters something under his breath, a few latin words, louis turns back to him. and, his eyes widen even more as the colour returns to the roller coaster inching back over the ruins, bright as the day they were freshly painted; orange and red and blue and green and yellow. other colours bloom in the distance, bright whites and maroons and a variety of purples and colours that louis can't even name.
"you shouldn't be using your magic on this," louis chastises but he's pulling nick along once more, determined to look at the rest of the amusement park and there's no heat in his words and even if there was, nick would have anyway. seeing louis like this is worth it. louis is always worth it.
"it's not a real amusement park if the rides don't move," nick simply replies and frowns as he mutters some more complex sounding latin, pronouncing the vowels carefully and it drives louis to a halt as the ferris wheel; big and ridiculous bright, with the proper seats and fabric tops, creaks and groans into life. it spins slowly, gentle moans of the rusted metal soft in the muffled, lightly falling snowflakes and the lights flicker on, weak and jumpy. music starts - a little way in the distance and louis jumps, looking up at nick in awe.
"that's fucking creepy," he says but pulls nick over to the carousel anyway, the paint looking fresh and golden; what was left of the animals and things in the carousel bright and cheerful, slowly moving up and down as the carousel turns, creaking and jolting a little like the ferris wheel, "is it safe to go on?" he asks and nick doesn't see why not, so he nods and louis grins, letting go of nick's hand to climb upon the old carousel and talk to the animals; patting the horse with only two legs on the neck and telling it that it's still a champion, picking up the remains of the emu to help fix a wing back on. nick watches as louis goes round and round and round, pursing his lips and thinking, murmuring out some more tricky latin and grins as the slats of wood and broken glass littered around the abandoned amusement park pick themselves up and put themselves back together.
when louis finally steps off the carousel, his legs are wobbly and he basically just falls into nick, calling out a "catch me" when he's half in nick's arms and tugs nick's head down for a bruising kiss.
"let's keep exploring," nick suggests into louis' mouth, hopes the words stick there and so does the joy and the sparkling of happiness in his blue eyes. louis is more than happy with the suggestion, small, warm hand slipping back into nick's, pulling him along once more because apparently louis can't walk normally, just next to nick, not in this place.
"this is amazing," he breaths, staring at a triad of laughing clowns in a booth, their bodies twisting like they're waiting for some child to run up and pay for those small orange ping pong balls to plop in their mouths, excited to win a stuffed toy. he drags nick over, watches as the clowns move and stares down at the faded numbers painted at the bottom of each tray. nick sighs and says another incomprehensible word and bright orange and white ping pong balls sit in front of louis. he laughs as he puts them in the mouths of the clowns, adds up his score and tells nick that he owes louis some ridiculous fluffy toys.
other side show booths stand along and around the amusement park; oops for tiny basket balls and cans for air rifles to knock over and paint guns to splat balloons. louis tries them all, laughing and giggling up at nick and demanding that he needs a lot of presents from nick to make up for not actually winning anything. nick rolls his eyes but agrees, turning on lights and brightening up faded colours and fixing broken glass. they find an old cotton candy machine, cracked down the middle, and louis wants some, on a stick and bright pink like you buy in actual fairs and nick conjures up some, multi-coloured and sickly sweet. louis gets some stuck on his chin, pink and sticky and nick licks it off, laughing at the way louis wrinkles his nose, and kisses the sugary taste of out louis' mouth.
louis is just about to demand more crappy amusement park food, corn dogs and hot chips with vinegar and ice cream in a cone, when they come across the bumper car alley. it's broken at the edges, sides falling down and the metal bars of the ceiling only stand by a few posts, rusted and creaking in the wind. nick doesn't say anything, only snaps his fingers and the colour returns; sunflower yellow of the cars and pillar-box red of the flapping material of the roof. most of the bumper cars are broken; snapped electric wires and seats missing or rusting and steering wheels, but louis still finds the least messed up one and sits in it, knees bumping his chest as he tries to fit in what really is for a small child. the bottom of the alley is long gone, dry weeds and grassed sprouted all over it and louis closes his eyes like he's pretending he's enjoying the feeling of a bumper car, knocking into others and speeding around. nick tries out a few more bits of latin, and it stirs up the wind, brings back past sounds of that so happening and louis smiles, crinkles by his eyes and pointy teeth showing.
they finish up with the bumper cars and go to another, smaller roller coaster broken cart sitting ready, like it's waiting for giggling happy children to line up to have a go and nick makes it's colours the brightest out of the lot; it's one of the most haunting things that nick has ever seen. louis runs his hands over the edges and tugs at a safety bar, trying to pull it down and lock it into place. it croaks and groans with rust, but eventually clicks down and louis pulls nick into the seat behind it, cozing up into nick's space.
"i'm not going to make the roller coaster go louis," nick warns because he can see that glint in louis' eyes and fingers reaching over to pull their own safety bar down stop, "it's not oiled or safe or anything. i don't particularly want to kill either of us."
"you're a romantic nicholas," louis drawls, but forgets about the safety bar and squishes up farther into nick's space, legs and hands and warm little body in nick's lap. the snowflakes are still lightly falling, and nick can see where they land on louis' eyelashes, where patterns of their shadows shift and move along louis' skin, where they land in louis' fringe and beanie and this is another image that nick needs to burn into his skin, something he can look back on later, let it take his breath away over and over.
"happy valentine's day lou," nick smiles and louis catches gloved fingers against nick's jaw and whispers the words back into nick's mouth, bites at his cold bottom lip and licks in his way in.
(later, when their cheeks are pink and are breathless from kissing louis will smile a smile that's slightly too devious for nick's taste and will mutter something about not being able to wait to get back to school. nick's offended, because hey, this was special and different and kind of stupidly romantic but louis looks so pleased as he tells nick that all his friends will be going on about flowers and chocolates and movie dates and his boyfriend got him an abandoned amusement park. nick appreciates the sentiment, and kisses louis again.)