take care of me // larry au

02

Louis hates this hospital. For one, it smells funny. For another, everyone is really, really depressing.

No one wants to be in a hospital (except pregnant women, maybe, but then again he took a look at the maternity ward yesterday and all he could hear was some woman shouting her head off about the creature that was ripping through her vagina, so maybe they're as unhappy about being here as he is).

Either you're hurt, sick or possibly even dying, or you're visiting someone who is hurt, sick or possibly dying. Everyone walks through the corridors in a sort of rushed slump, head down like they don't want to make eye contact.

Unless they're one of the hospital's employees, in that case they all walk with too bright smiles and their heads held high (up their asses, in his opinion).

On top of hating the hospital, Louis also has the pleasure of being unable to walk anywhere. He wants to go to the bathroom? He's either got to call someone for help (not happening) or use the wheelchair provided by the hospital.

And everyone who works here likes to be up early, so there's someone who comes in and cleans away his dishes every morning at about six, which is the most satanic time in the morning, Louis has decided.

So overall he fucking hates everything, except on Thursday he finds out that maybe there's one thing about the hospital that he doesn't completely, fully hate.

"Morning," the boy says, hesitantly pushing open his door. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Louis takes in the light blue shirt he's wearing, a nametag pinned to it that reads "Hi! I'm a volunteer! My name is: Harry". The 'Harry' part is written in neat, curly writing, standing out black against the white.

Hello Harry, Louis thinks lewdly. Harry is all kinds of attractive, in Louis' eyes. Okay, so maybe Louis sort of has a type, and Harry fits it completely - in the looks department at least.

He's got curly hair that frames his features perfectly, tanned skin, a fair share of muscles, a jawline that the Crimson Chin himself would be jealous of, and adorable dimples that sink deep into his cheeks.

His shoulders stretch his blue volunteer shirt and his jeans are tight enough on both the front and back for Louis to check out his behind when he turns around to shut the door. And his eyes are a warm, bright green that Louis has decided is his favorite color.

"What are you doing?" Louis asks anyway, mostly because seriously, what is this guy doing? It's like, ten, so it's not as if he's bringing Louis' lunch, and his breakfast dishes were cleared out earlier by an older woman with beady eyes.

Harry turns back around to face him, and he tugs on the hem of his shirt sheepishly.

"Um, this is going to sound really creepy," he admits, and fuck, if the look on his face isn't endearingly adorable. "I might have noticed you rolling through the corridors the last two days and I thought you looked interesting, and it's really boring here, so I thought I'd come introduce myself."

Louis's eyes narrow a bit. "Shouldn't you be volunteering?"

Harry looks confused for a moment, but then he looks down at his nametag and his cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

"Right, volunteering," He blinks at Louis. "I'm on a break?"

"You don't sound sure." Louis says.

"I'm on a break," Harry repeats more firmly. Then he grins. "So what's your name, anyway? I asked around but everyone here is sort of extremely unhelpful."

Louis considers giving him a fake one, just to fuck with him. Instead he says, "Louis." for reasons he can't quite figure out.

"Louis." Harry repeats, like he's testing the way it feels on his tongue. Louis sort of wants to test the way Harry's skin would feel on his tongue but he has a feeling that if he says as much, Harry's cheeks will turn even pinker.

Louis closes the book he was reading and attempts to sit up a bit straighter. He's aware of how shit he looks right now, mostly because he never expected to meet really hot guys while being in his hospital bed. Zayn will have a stroke when he hears this, Louis thinks.