Footie & Frames » stylinson

four

Chapter 4

"Quit coddling me, Harry!," Louis moans, struggling helplessly in the sea of blankets that I've buried him in. I chuckle at him, shaking my head, leaning down to kiss his cheek lightly, ignoring his irritated scowl.

"I'm not coddling you, I'm simply... nourishing you," I smile, and he scoffs, trying to reposition himself, flailing his arms around madly when he just sinks in farther. I cover my mouth and laugh quietly and he tries to shove some on the floor, but he catches himself and stops struggling to scowl again.

"Harry!," he cries, knitting his eyebrows at me as I continue to laugh, pulling my phone out to take a quick photo. I get about three taken before a pillow miraculously flies and hits me square in the face. I had just enough time to lower the phone, but not enough to duck or dodge, and it knocks my glasses clean off my face and onto the floor. "Aha!," he screams in victory, and I nod my head.

"Okay," I murmur forlorn, nodding my head and stepping over the pillow and my glasses, leaving the room at his indignant whine.

"Harry!," he shouts, "Harry, Harry come back, baby! Harr─oof! Dammit! God bless─"

"Louis!," I yelp, quickly hustling in from the kitchen, tripping up over the forgotten pillow and I land on my hands and knees, quickly─and blindly─crawling over to where the blurry blob of Louis is on the ground, clutching his knee with agonizing sounds pouring through his mouth, which is pressed in a straight line.

"Harry- Harry- Harry-," he garbles, his voice squeaky as he grips his knee with both hands, and I slowly slide up beside him, carding my fingers through his soft hair soothingly, even though my hands are anything but steady.

"Lou, baby?," I say quietly, and he looks at me with tears in his eyes. Even through the foggy haze, I can see the tiny specks of water going down his cheeks, "I'm going to help you stand up, okay?"

"'K─'Kay," he hiccups, nodding his head as I feel around the couch for a sturdy place to pull myself up. Grabbing onto the arm, I shakily stand, dusting my bum off as soon as I'm off the ground.

"Gimme your hand, love?," I say gently, and he slowly releases his knee with one hand, offering it to me. I lean down and grip him under the armpit, lifting up with all of my strength and almost drop his when he screams so loud in my ear I'm surprised it isn't bleeding, "Are you okay? What happened, what's wrong?"

"M─My knee─My leg, I c─can't put any pressure on it─it hurts s─so bad, Harry! Hurts so, so, so, so, so. . .," he babbles, burying his face in his hands. I shudder a breath and look around, trying to blink the blurriness from my eyes.

"Okay, baby, I'm gonna help you, I'm gonna help. But can you point me to my glasses? Do you see them, honey?," I say, nodding and he raises a hand to point towards the pillow. Slowly crawling to the bright white pillow, feeling around until my thumb bumps the cool frame of the glass.

"Harry─," he hiccups, and I can clearly see the distress on his white face, drained of color. I hold up a finger and give him a sympathetic look as I duck into the kitchen, shakily rummaging through the medicine bucket that I left on the bar beside the door earlier.

Scrambling my fingers in it, I struggle until I find the bottle of pills the doctor prescribed for pain. "I'm coming, I'm coming!," I call in reply to his loud groan of protest. Quickly grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and hustling back into the living-room, I dodge the pillow and slide back to Louis' side.

He leans into me gently, nuzzling his chin into my shoulder until his hands curl into mine and he feels the pill bottle, flinching away with a yelp and then a look of betrayal.