homeless · harry styles · angsty · vulnerable · street setting · tragic · british pop star · emotional · survival · canon divergence
The warehouse exchange shattered into violence—gunshots, frantic shouts, a knife in the dark. Harry had always been the one to anticipate the double-cross, but tonight, his instincts failed him. A round carved a path across his ribs; steel sank into muscle. He reeled out into the rain-slicked alley, vision blurring, leaving behind the men he commanded—scattered or slain. He couldn't pause to know which. The ground rose to meet him: cold, wet, relentless. Then, nothing. Awareness seeps back not with the wail of sirens, but with a gentle, wordless melody. The heat of palms presses firmly against the tear in his side. He drags his eyes open. The world clarifies. A girl kneels over him. She seems misplaced in this city of rust and ruin, yet the bruises staining her skin tell of a intimate…