It's What You Know

Summary: AU Larry Stylinson fic, based on the film Mr and Mrs Smith. Harry and Louis are highly skilled assassins, working for rival organisations. When they become each other’s targets, they must decide on their priorities.

“I don’t know who you are and, quite frankly, I don’t care. Just tell me what you want and you’ll get it. As long as Harry isn’t harmed,” Louis seethed, Zayn resting a supportive hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. The person on the end of the phone laughed. 

“Well, well. You really mean business don’t you?” Aiden sneered. “Why don’t we chat first? Or better. Want to talk to Harry?” Harry’s heart picked up at that, despite the fact that he was currently tied to a post with his psychotic ex-colleague sneering down at him. He’d give anything to hear Louis’ voice. Aiden nodded to himself, smiling that sickly sarcastic smile once more before holding the phone up to Harry’s ear. 

“Harry? Harry are you alright? I love you, okay, I really, really love you,” Louis breathed and Harry could’ve cried. He couldn’t stop the words from forming in his brain and tumbling out of his mouth at the sound of Louis’ voice. All he could think was Louis Louis Louis, Louis needed to be safe.

“Whatever he asks don’t do it Louis, don’t listen. Don’t even think about coming here, don’t try to sav-” Harry was cut short by Aiden’s foot to his stomach, kicking him forcefully. Harry couldn’t stop himself from crying out in pain, though that only made Louis more likely to do something stupid in an effort to save him. Harry doubled up in pain, bringing his knees up to his stomach and squeezing his eyes shut. He cursed himself for not using the time to tell Louis that he loved him.

“If… when I find you and Harry is anything but in one piece I will personally kill you,” Louis spat, unable to stop the panic from bubbling up and spilling out at the sound of Harry’s cry of pain. Zayn made a move to take the phone but Louis shook his head fiercely and gripped it tighter. 

“You just don’t get it, do you!” Aiden half-shouted, both to Harry and to Louis, “I’m in charge, here. You do what I say. So I’d take a long look at how you’re going about this and I’d try playing by the rules,” he finished smartly, regaining his composure. “Here’s how it’s going to go. You’re going to come here, alone. No back-up, no bursting in with a room full of armed men. Alone. Then we’ll talk,” Aiden stated, turning his back on Harry now. “I’d tell you where I am, but my guess is that you’re tracking this phone call. So I’ll see you soon, Louis.” 

Louis froze with the phone in his hand as Liam and Zayn shook their heads frantically. They were tracking the call and it was leading them to the outskirts of London, an address that none of them recognised. No way Zayn mouthed there is no way we are letting you go alone he finished, gesturing between him and Liam. Liam nodded his assent, trying once again to reach out and take the phone from Louis’ now trembling hands. 

“I have to,” he choked out, surprising both Liam and Zayn with the rawness of his pain, “I have to go. This is Harry. My Harry,” he whispered, only distantly aware of the phone still in his hand. He put it back up to his ear with trembling hands and said with false confidence, “I’ll be there. Alone.”

Louis ended the call and threw the phone to one side, no care where it landed. Zayn rubbed a hand down his face and Liam already had his head in his hands, shaking it from side to side. 

“What have you done, Louis? You’ve put yourself and Harry in even more danger!” Zayn said angrily, pointing at the phone that lay on the floor across the room. Louis shook his head, folding his arms to stop them shaking.

“I had no choice,” he said quietly, all of his anger wasted on the anonymous caller. “I have to go alone and get Harry. I have to,” Louis repeated, like a mantra. To his surprise, Liam nodded.

“He has a point, Zayn. Whoever that was on the phone has us cornered. He knows what he’s doing and he’s undoubtedly dangerous. Plus, I can see that there’s no way we’re going to change Louis’ mind. We have to let him go,” Liam sighed, looking for Zayn’s approval who bit his lip pensively. He sighed, matching Liam, and put a hand on Louis’ shoulder.

“Go, then. But don’t think that we won’t be keeping a close eye on you and if we think things are getting out of hand, we will intervene,” he said fiercely, causing Louis’ heart to swell with appreciation. He nodded and to Liam and Zayn’s surprise wrapped the both of them in a hug.

“Thank you,” he mumbled and he almost heard Zayn’s eye roll.

“Go on, before I change my mind and send the army in there to get your boy,” Zayn said, entirely serious. Louis didn’t miss the way Zayn said your boy, how his voice was filled with awe and fondness. They hid a tracking device in Louis’ jacket so that they could follow his movements, equipping him with his phone and a revolver. It was completely against everything the two organisations stood for, letting Louis go to a place like this alone, but it was an affirmation for how much Louis loved Harry (and how obvious it was to both Liam and Zayn).

Then he was in his car and driving to the place that they had managed to track from the phone call.

__

Harry watched Aiden’s retreating back as he left the room without another word after ending the phone call, shutting and locking the door and leaving Harry alone and in half-darkness once again. His stomach and ribs were in agony from Aiden’s kick and he was terrified that Louis was on his way here, that Louis had fallen right into Aiden’s trap and willingly set up his own death.

His whole body ached from his uncomfortable position, his stomach was tight with hunger and his eyelids stung from lack of proper sleep. His wrists had been rubbed raw from the rope that bound his hands and he could feel the bruise forming just below his eye from Aiden’s slap, could taste the harsh, metallic tang of a bloody lip. He didn’t think he wanted Louis to see him like this.

He remained awake, counting up to one hundred and back down again, wriggling his fingertips and his toes to try and keep the feeling in them. He watched as darkness flooded the room completely, the little box window in the corner telling him that it was night, now. It couldn’t have been more than two hours since Aiden had left but it felt like days with nothing to do except from sit and accept his fate.

It was as he observed the window that he heard noise directly above him - what sounded like a door opening and closing and muffled voices. He hadn’t heard it before and he strained to listen. He assumed that it was the front door and the reason he had yet to hear it was because nobody had entered or left since he’d been brought here. It made his heart skip, thinking that there was someone who might be able to get him out of here.

“Where is he?” was all it took for Harry’s heart to sink and his hope to disintegrate. It was Louis, and now they were both trapped. 

__

“Good to see you, Louis.” Aiden smiled falsely as Louis stepped over the threshold and demanded to know where Harry was. Aiden took a quick glance to check that there wasn’t anybody with Louis and shut the door when he was confident that the man had come alone. It was then that Louis’ arms were grabbed and pinned behind him and his gun and phone were taken from him by two people - one that Louis recognised and one that he didn’t.

The one that Louis recognised worked for the same organisation as him, responsible for finding out information about targets for the assassins. She was a woman, named Rebecca, and she smiled at him wickedly as she spun his phone between her fingers. This was who’d ensured that he and Harry had been given each other as targets then, Louis assumed. It felt like a punch to the stomach, to think that people he trusted were conspiring against him and he knew, now, why Zayn had always told him not to trust anyone. Hell, Zayn had told Louis that he shouldn’t even trust him.

His arms were released and he was shoved towards what looked like a living room by the man he didn’t recognise. 

“Sorry about all that,” Aiden said, gesturing towards the hallway and to Rebecca and the man Louis didn’t recognise, “can’t have you losing your temper and doing something silly now though, can we?” Louis hated this man, had never been more certain of anything. “How rude of me!” Aiden suddenly gasped, “I never introduced myself. I’m Aiden. Used to work with Harry, nice lad,” Aiden mused, causing Louis’ fists to clench and fire to erupt in his stomach. He forced himself to stay calm, for Harry’s sake if not for his own.

“What do you want?” Louis asked, keeping his voice as even as he could manage, “tell me what you want with me and Harry and then let him go.” Aiden cocked his head to one side, considering. Then he sat down on the sofa, looking somewhat comfortable, and patted the space beside him for Louis.

“I want to talk. Then we’ll see what happens next.” Louis did as Aiden asked, sitting on the sofa, as far away as Aiden as he could. Aiden laughed at that, a horrible, sarcastic sound. “I’ll get straight to the point then, as you don’t seem in the mood to chat.”

“Do you remember how you and Harry met, Louis?” Aiden asked, humour hidden in his words. Louis stuck to nodding, afraid that his voice would betray how angry and terrified he actually was. “Thought you might. A botched mission, I believe. One which resulted in the death of Matthew Lloyd. A friend of mine,” Aiden said through gritted teeth. Oh. So that’s what this is about. Louis nodded again but still refused to speak, to Aiden’s obvious dismay.

“I found out it was Harry, thanks to my friends here,” Aiden used his thumb to point towards Rebecca and the other man, who stood with arms folded in the doorway like ridiculous bodyguards. “And you can imagine my surprise when I found out that you were also involved. That you found your precious Harry at the scene of a murder. Sick, if you ask me,” Aiden scorned and Louis refused to bite. He knew Aiden was doing this deliberately, trying to make him angry so that he’d even more of an excuse to kill him or Harry.

“How can you defend Matthew Lloyd? He was a gang leader, responsible for the death of god knows how many people!” Louis said, exasperated.

“Well, it seems you two had something in common then.”

“It’s my job, Aiden,” Louis said calmly, desperate now to see Harry, to see for himself if Harry was alright. 

“Well I hope it was worth it,” Aiden said bitterly, rising and walking over to the door. “Come on then, Louis. I’ll take you to Harry.” Louis’ head shot up at that, expression disbelieving.

“I can see… you mean, I can see Harry?” he whispered, forgetting that he was supposed to appear confident and calm. Aiden’s wicked smile returned and he nodded, exiting the room with Rebecca and the unnamed man in tow. Louis followed, unsure if this was a trap or if he was actually being led to Harry but not finding it in himself to care. They walked through what was nothing more than a dingy house, a long pathway leading to stairs that led down to a door. Louis watched as Aiden took a key and undid the padlock, pushing it open and turning up to Louis.

“He’s all yours,” Aiden commented as Louis peered in, spotting the unmistakeable figure of Harry slumped against the wall at the other side of the room. He ignored all of his professional judgement as he ran towards him, wincing as the door slammed shut behind him, the sound of a padlock being clicked shut pushed to the back of his mind as Harry looked up at him.

“Louis,” Harry whispered, voice cracked from lack of use and probably from dehydration, a smile lifting his features. Louis knelt and cupped the younger man’s face in his hands, gently stroking the bruise under his right eye with his thumb and fighting the urge to cry. 

“I’m here, Harry.” Louis’ voice wavered as he spoke, putting his arms around Harry and pulling him as close as Harry’s restraints allowed. Harry rested his head in the crook of Louis’ neck, unable to reciprocate the hug with his hands tied behind his back. Louis stroked Harry’s back comfortingly, kissing his hair and cheek and nose and finally his lips. He could taste the coppery tang of blood from Harry’s lips and pulled away, observed how pale and thin Harry looked. 

He moved behind Harry to tug at the restraints but they were tied tight. He struggled with the knots but couldn’t undo them, fingers slipping against the rope as he kept trying. He winced when he saw Harry’s red skin beneath the rope, settled for linking Harry’s fingers with his own and sitting beside him, head on his shoulder.

“What happens now?” Harry sighed, though he found he couldn’t help but be relieved that Louis was actually here.