Chapter Text
With heavy breaths, Louis’ legs pumped quickly, one after the other, as he sprinted around the corner. The earth crunched under his boots as they pounded across the dirt path.
Curling his fingers around the small metal bars, warmed by the sun, he pulled himself up and flung his body over the six-foot-tall chain link fence as if it was nothing, landed on both feet with a thud, steadied himself, and immediately picked up his pace again. His boots tore through the dry grass beneath him, his wispy brown hair being blown off of his face as he ran. Sweat dripped from his forehead to his neck, the blinding sun beating down from overhead. He was in desperate need of water, but there was no time to stop and rest.
He saw a flash of red in the distance, tucking between the shrubs as the man started climbing again. He was halfway up another fence, and Louis could tell that the man was getting tired from the chase because he was barely able to pull himself up. The man clung to the fence as if he were frozen there, his limbs shaking, chest heaving, as he attempted to ascend.
Pushing himself to run harder, Louis quickly approached the fence and launched himself toward the man just as he’d reached the top, securing his arms around his waist. The man’s fingertips clung to the links as Louis pulled him down, tearing him off of it and tackling him to the ground. The metal links sprung back into place with a clang as Louis worked quickly to pin the man down with his knees while twisting his arms behind his back. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he reached around his belt to feel for his handcuffs. His fingers quickly found the leather flap on his backside and popped it open, the metal feeling cool against his heated skin.
The dry grass crunched behind him, a large set of boots similar to his own appearing in his peripheral as he retrieved his cuffs. Louis’ eyes squinted as he looked up toward the bright sky at the officer towering over him. A tall, stalky silhouette with wild curls was all he could make out from that angle. Shaking his head, he sighed and cursed under his breath as he clicked the handcuffs around the man’s wrists.
Of course it’s fucking Styles.
He inhaled a deep breath of air, still a bit tired from running, as his eyes traveled back down to the yellowing grass.
“Took you long enough,” Louis snarked in between heavy breaths, his cheeks pink from the heat, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat.
The other officer knelt down next to Louis, wrapping his long fingers around the perpetrator’s arm and helped Louis pull him to his feet. “Thanks, I’ll take him in.”
With a scoff, Louis glared at the officer. “The fuck you will. I got to him first,” he fired back, his eyes shooting daggers through the other officer’s.
“I’m the one who spotted him in the first place and called for backup!” Officer Styles swiped a dark curl off of his forehead only for it to fall back into the exact same spot immediately after.
“And I’m the one who caught him.” His eyes momentarily caught on the perspiration beading up over Styles’ brow before they trailed to the tips of his sideburns, stuck to his face with a single drop of sweat threatening to fall at any moment. After a dramatic stare-down between the two officers, Louis added, “if it weren’t for me he’d be halfway across that field by now and you’d still be trying to untangle your Bambi legs to get over this gate and you know it.”
Louis turned away and squeezed his hand around the perp’s bicep, pulling him toward a cruiser from their station that had just pulled up on the street nearby. He patted down the man, emptying his pockets and making sure he wasn’t in possession of anything illegal before loading him into the car. Louis pulled the door open and helped him into the back seat, tucking his hand on top of his head so that he wouldn’t hit it on the frame of the car, and accepted a bottle of water from the driver, Officer Higgs, with a nod.
He tapped on the roof of the patrol vehicle twice after closing the door, taking a step back as the car pulled away. Wiping sweat from his brow, he turned around to head back toward his own car, stopping in place as he bumped into something halfway through his rotation.
“Oof–Fucking hell! Why are you still here, Styles?” Louis snapped, hot air fanning over Officer Styles’ neck from the close proximity.
Styles took a step back, putting both arms up in the air, his open palms facing Louis. His voice had a mockingly sarcastic tone as he responded. “Oh, I’m sorry for bumping into you, Styles. No problem, Tomlinson, don’t worry about it.”
That earned him a glare from Louis before he rolled his eyes and stepped around him, his fingers pushing his wet fringe to the side as he made his way back toward his vehicle. He cracked open the top of the water bottle and took a few gulps as he was walking.
Styles quickly followed, widening his steps to catch up with him. “What’s your problem? Why are you always such an asshole?”
With a heavy sigh, Louis looked down at the pavement, shaking his head as he walked faster. In an attempt to ignore him, his steps widened and his chest heaved as his speed increased, creating a bit of distance between them.
Now, the other officer had an advantage. He was a few inches taller than Louis, and his long legs allowed him to catch up quickly, finding himself beside Louis within a few seconds. “Tomlinson, slow down. I-”
“You WHAT, Styles?” Louis stopped in place, causing Styles to stumble as he turned around to face him. Louis’ arms were crossed over his chest, his blue eyes burning a hole through Styles’ face as he glared at him, waiting for an answer.
“I-I just don’t get it. You. I don’t get you. Why are you being such a dickhead?” His eyes trailed down to the pavement between their boots as his voice lowered. “You didn’t used to be like this.” Styles’ face softened as he smoothed his hair back through his fingers and returned his hand to rest on his hips.
Louis wiped away more sweat from his face using his hands, his eyes drifting to the sky as he dried his palms off on his trousers. He quickly realized that it was a bad idea to look upwards in order to avoid Styles, because the sun was extremely bright that day, but he squinted through the pain because he’s a stubborn little shit and would rather go blind than make eye contact with the other officer.
He scoffed, rolling his eyes and dismissing him with a flick of his wrist. “Just leave me alone, Styles. I have to get back to the station to process him.” He gestured toward the direction of the cruiser that was transporting their perp.
Louis started to walk again, his boots clunking against the hot pavement, his eyes drifting down to the ground as he watched one foot overtake the other.
Styles’ arm stretched out in front of him, his finger pointing ahead. “I’m, uh, parked this way, too.”
Without saying a word, Louis took one more swig from his water and extended his arm, slamming the bottle into Styles’ chest as a peace offering of sorts. Styles hesitated for a moment before taking the water and finishing it off as they walked back in silence.
The air between them was a bit tense and awkward as they walked the rest of the way to their cruisers before getting in and driving off without another word.
*
The man who Louis had arrested (with Styles’ help, of course) had been on the run for a few months. He had been identified as Oliver Black after leaving behind two partial fingerprints during his most recent crime (that they were aware of), and the police had linked his method of operation to at least seven other home invasions in the area. Black had been spotted a few times over the months, but he’d managed to slip out of sight every time the police had thought they’d finally caught up to him.
Black was smart, and he definitely knew how to live under the radar while they were on the hunt for him. He had been using prepaid phones that couldn’t be traced or linked back to him. He used cash for any purchases he made, being sure not to use cards or leave a paper trail to be tracked by. Once his cash flow had run out, he had resorted to stealing and selling the stolen items for cash, or he’d trade the stolen goods for the things that he needed in the meantime. He’d clearly been living off the grid for a while, and he was good at it. Once they had a lead on him, it sometimes took months before he would be spotted again and he was constantly changing his appearance to make it more difficult to ID him.
*
Earlier that day, Officer Styles was patrolling his regular zone in between calls when he saw him. He had been ticketing vehicles that were parked illegally in the red zone when he happened to spot Black walking out of a service station. After using his radio to call it in, he got out of his car and kept a safe distance while trailing him by foot. He didn’t want Black to see his patrol vehicle following behind him, so he thought it would be better to stay hidden while following on foot and waiting for backup.
Following Black on his own was potentially dangerous, as Styles didn’t know if he was carrying any weapons or to where he was heading next, so he wasn’t going to approach him without backup unless it was absolutely necessary. He just wanted to keep an eye on him while waiting for the other units to arrive so he wouldn’t lose sight of him.
Styles was laying low, staying tucked behind buildings and trees in the shadows as he kept Black in sight in the distance. It helped that he’d worn a red shirt that day. He stood out like a sore thumb against the greenery that surrounded him.
Two cruisers passed by a couple minutes later. They’d kept their lights and sirens off so that hopefully Black wouldn’t notice them, but when his slow, casual stroll turned into a frantic run, that pretty much confirmed that he was aware of the police presence in the area.
Styles had started running, too, needing to close the distance between them, now that Black was running and climbing over obstacles trying to lose them. He’d turned behind a house and hopped over their fence, and started running across their grass just as Louis had caught up to him. Harry was working his way up the first fence as he watched Officer Tomlinson take Black down. While he was happy that Black had finally been caught, and that he’d been the one to spot him and call it in, he was upset that he wasn’t the one to place the handcuffs around his wrists. He just had to remind himself that there was one less criminal on the streets and he had helped to accomplish that, even if he didn’t get the credit for the arrest.
Back at the station, Louis worked on the arrest paperwork while Black sat in a holding cell. Louis wrote out a detailed description of their encounter and the reason(s) for his arrest along with which charges he’d be facing. He had a late lunch, which was a sandwich that he’d made for himself and had sat in his hot car all day, but he wasn’t going to waste it. Once he finished eating and took a quick bathroom break, he went back to finish processing Black.
An hour later, fingerprints were done, mugshots were taken, Black’s phone call was attempted, and all that was left was for Louis to transport him to the main jail and then he’d be done with work for the night.
*
The Wellington Police Department had recruited Louis just over eight years ago as a patrol officer. He wasn’t exactly at the top of his class academically, but he was able to prove that he knew the material and was extremely passionate about the position during his oral exam and he had excelled in every category of the physical ability test, making him a top candidate for the job.
Louis Tomlinson was born about twenty miles northeast of Wellington in a small town called Maplebrook and had moved to the city when he was a young boy after his parents had separated. His mother had three children at the time and had added two more over the years, making Louis the oldest sibling to four younger sisters.
Throughout school he had always taken side jobs to help his family out with money, and even then, some days they weren’t able to eat more than a slice of bread or a can of beans, if that. Wanting to appear strong and stable to his colleagues and friends, he rarely mentioned his home life or his past. Only his close mates knew the true Louis, and how growing up in poverty had affected him as an adult. He still faced many challenges to this day that hardly anyone knew about, and he was the support system for not only his sisters, but also for his mom.
Of course now he was making a decent living as a police officer, but even so, he had purchased the smallest, most basic studio apartment possible. It was actually an add-on to his neighbor’s apartment, a single room with a small kitchen and bathroom added. Yeah, it was small, but it was enough.
He told himself he didn’t need more than a bed and running water, so when he had signed the purchase agreement for his studio, he was all set. His payment was only a fraction of his income, due to being modest with his housing situation, so he was able to build up a decent savings account, even after sending money to his mother and sisters every month, who needed it more than he did.
Louis didn’t like spending money that he felt was unnecessary. He rarely treated himself with new clothing or going out to eat. He wore a uniform to work anyway, and he had plenty of street clothes, as the police officers called them. Over the years he’d saved as much money as possible and had managed to only spend money on necessities. And on his sisters, but that's another story.
As far as his work life went, Louis was great at his job. There were times that being a patrol officer was very demanding and took it all out of him, but there were also very rewarding moments too. Over the years, Louis had been recognized for his hard work in tracking down criminals, as well as for his soft side that was shown during domestic disturbances that he’d respond to, and any calls that involved children. He loved kids, and was so good with them. The civilians loved him, too. Somehow he managed to make people laugh while he was in the middle of arresting them, and was able to joke around with them while he was driving them to jail.
Two years ago, he’d rotated from night shift to day shift, giving him a more ‘normal’ schedule. Most of his days were spent patrolling around in his cruiser in between calls, a lot of which were domestic disputes and suspicious person calls, and the usual minor injury motor vehicle collisions, but the ones he liked responding to the most were the ones that were out of the norm. The ones that didn’t happen every day. He’d had a few traumatic calls over his years as an officer, and while he didn’t necessarily like those calls, he’s glad that he was there for most of them. Sometimes he’s the last face that people see, the last voice they hear, and he’s there to hold their hand and talk them through their last moments. That part of the job wasn’t easy, but he was glad to be that person for them.
Aside from Tomlinson, there were three other officers on the day shift with him:
There was Keisha Wright, who had transferred from a police department down south a few years prior after her family had relocated due to some unforeseen circumstances. She was at the top of her class all through the academy and had made headlines when she had taken down one of the most prestigious serial killers of all time back in her hometown. Her passion was forensics, but since Wellington was a small police department, the patrol officers all took turns helping with cases when needed.
The third officer was Harry Styles, a seven year veteran of the police department, and son of the late Wellington Fire Captain, Edward Styles III. He was born and raised in Wellington, and had been known and loved by all since the day he was born. Well, except for Louis, apparently.
In the police academy, Harry was the opposite of Louis, whereas he was at the top of his class academically, but had barely passed his physical exams. He’d been working extra hard to make a name for himself, not wanting to use his father’s name to get him places in life as everyone had assumed he’d do.
Harry had approached the job differently from day one. His goal was to treat everybody with respect and kindness, even those whom he arrested who didn’t exactly treat him the same way. He’d been called names, assaulted, and even stabbed once during an arrest, and still managed to treat them all with respect.
Always looking at the bigger picture, he knew that their behavior wasn’t anything personal against him directly, it was just that the civilians were human and were in a rough patch of their lives and he wanted to help them in any way that he could, while still enforcing the laws and keeping the people of Wellington safe.
While trying to maintain a civil relationship with the citizens, he would often let people off with a warning if he was able to do so, and he would remember them by name if they ever crossed paths again. While he used reasonable force when necessary in order to take somebody into custody, he made sure that they were as comfortable as possible after the fact and he spoke to them as humans. He was respected by everybody, even having some of his regulars apologize to him and drop to their knees when he’d catch them red-handed, surrendering as they allowed him to place the cuffs on them.
Norman Higgs was the fourth officer on the day shift. He’d been with Wellington PD for longer than the other three, and didn’t really stand out at all. He showed up, did his job, and went home. Higgs was a good guy, he was just there in the background, not really one to make small talk or play nice. He had a job to do and he kept to himself for the most part.
Louis had just found out that same morning that he was one arrest behind Harry for the month, which explained a little bit about his attitude during their encounter, but it wasn’t completely out of the norm for him either. Harry could tell that something was going on, but he had never been able to get close enough to Louis to get him to open up. They were both competitive, and while they did have a quota to meet, they often competed to see who would meet it first, just to make things fun. They were neck and neck, after today.
That’s why the arrest of Black was so important to both Harry and Louis. Harry had spotted him by chance, and it wasn’t Louis’ intention to steal the arrest from him, it’s just that he runs faster and is quicker getting over fences and around obstacles. Black may not have been apprehended earlier in the day if it wasn’t for Louis, and they both knew that. They had worked together, whether intentional or not, to get the arrest, but Louis would be the one to get credit for it. They’d get over it, as they always did.
*
Back at home, Louis kicked off his trainers at the door, one palm flat against the wall helping him to balance, as he flipped the light switch with his other hand. A singular light bulb dangled from a loose cord in the ceiling, flickering before slowly illuminating the room with a dim orange glow. His fingers worked to quickly unbutton his top, removing his wallet from his jeans and placing it on the counter behind the door before untucking his shirt and tossing it into the laundry basket against the wall.
Once he had shed himself of his clothes, he made his way to the bathroom. The yellow and brown floral linoleum flooring was cold against his bare feet as he tiptoed over to turn on the bath.
His shower had broken years ago, and he didn’t want to purchase a new shower head when the bath worked perfectly fine, so he had gotten used to taking a shower in the bath. No, he didn’t just take a bath instead of a shower. He would either stand or sit down in the bath and he’d use a large jug to collect water from the faucet and pour it over himself manually.
After his bath. Shower. Shath? He made himself some dinner and sat down on the singular wooden chair that was pulled up to a small desk that he used as a dining table. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked, and that’s all he cared about.
Most of his furniture had come from giveaway piles on the road or items that he’d found for free on Craigslist over the years. The only exception was his bed, which he’d allowed himself to splurge on. Something about sleeping on someone’s discarded mattress just didn’t sit right with him, so he thought he’d sleep better knowing that he was tucked into a fresh clean mattress.
His studio was small and hadn’t been updated since it was built in the seventies, but it had everything he needed, so he was content with it. It wasn’t like he had anybody to impress anyway.
*
The next few days at work were pretty average by definition. He and Styles bickered as usual when they got stuck together on calls, he ate his boring lunch alone in his car, and Wright had, once again, lucked out with the latest serial killer case.
While Wright was working on the homicide case, Louis was busy in the field responding to calls. While most days, the calls were pretty routine, sometimes he had an interesting one thrown into the mix. His zone was common for receiving a lot of “suspicious person” calls, and half of the time he’d find himself driving in circles looking for said suspicious person with no luck. Then there were the noise complaints, which didn’t happen as often now that he was on day shift, and familial disputes. His citation log was full of parking violations, as many people would park in a convenient red zone “just to run inside real quick.” His job was often routine, but he just had to remember to keep his head up and focus on his work the best that he could. He loved his job.