Larry Stylinson One Shots II

Rescue Me

Sunshine: SOS

After seeing the message, he immediately calls Harry, who answers after the fourth ring.

"Harry? What's wrong?" Louis quickly asks.

"C-Come home." Harry's broken voice comes through the phone. A thump sounds, followed by Harry's muffled sobs. The last time Louis heard sobs like that come from Harry was two years ago, around the time of his suicide attempt.

"I'll be home as fast as I can. Remember to breathe, okay? I want you to go lie in bed for me. Can you do that?" Louis says as he speeds down the street, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. The only response he gets is Harry hanging up, which only makes him more worried.

When Louis and Harry first started dating, they created a rule for when they were separated. If either one of them is in danger or any other emergency situation and needs the other person right away, they text "SOS". The first time it was used was when Harry was lost in a foreign city after wandering alone around outside and being chased by fans. Most recently, Louis used it when his car ran out of gas in the middle of a storm.

Louis doesn't bother parking in his usual spot in the driveway. As soon as he pulls his car up to the house, he rips the keys from the ignition and runs inside.

"Harry?" Louis calls, darting upstairs to the bedroom. Right away, he sees Harry curled up on the floor. His face is red because he is crying so hard, and his hair is messy and he looks completely destroyed. One of their wooden storage bins is pulled out from the shelf and its contents are strewn on the floor. Louis sits on the floor next to Harry and notices that he is clutching a piece of paper against his chest.

"Why did you keep it?" Harry shouts. Before Louis can ask what Harry is talking about, Harry harshly slaps the crumpled page onto Louis' thigh. It is only then that Louis sees that Harry's forearms are covered in red scratch marks. Louis takes the paper and only has to glance at it for a millisecond before he identifies it. The piece of paper he has read over and over, analyzed every word and still couldn't make sense of it: Harry's suicide note.

"I-" Louis cuts himself off because he truly doesn't know why. "Did you read it?" Louis quietly asks, already knowing the answer.

"Yes. I still feel every fucking thing in that letter," Harry jeers.

"Harry, you're miles away from what you were like when you wrote this. You're a year and a half clean, you're going to therapy, and you have had days where you have literally told me that you're happy to still be alive. This," Louis says, holding up the note, "isn't you anymore."

"Then why does it hurt so bad?" Harry cries. Louis sighs, and his heart aches as he places his hands just below Harry's armpits and pulls him closer.

"Come here," Louis gently says, shifting so that he is sitting with his legs slightly spread and stretched out. Harry sits between Louis' legs and hugs the older boy's torso, and Louis holds him. "The note triggered you and brought you back into a headspace that you haven't been in in a long time. This response is normal," Louis reassures him, then slowly rocks him back and forth and shushes him until he calms down. "I'm sorry you found the note, and I'm sorry I kept it and unknowingly put it somewhere where you could find it. You shouldn't have had to go through that," Louis says when Harry seems to have calmed down.

"Why did you keep it all this time?" Harry mumbles. Louis pauses, not speaking until he has a good enough answer. However, he quickly realizes that no amount of searching his thoughts could provide Harry with an answer as to why he kept such a raw, personal thing of Harry's without the boy knowing.

"At first, I couldn't get rid of it. When you were in the hospital, it felt like that was the only piece of you that I had. I put it in a storage box when you came home, and then I just forgot about it," Louis replies, feeling guilty that he caused this due to his negligence. "How about we get rid of it together, hm? It'll be like turning a page in life. You're already doing amazing mental health wise, so this'll just give you a little boost."

"Okay," Harry agrees. Louis helps Harry stand up, then holds him by the waist as they walk down to the home office.

"It's so clean in here," Louis notices before kissing Harry's temple. Harry hums, then turns on the paper shredder.

"I wanna do it." Harry holds out his hand to retrieve the paper, and Louis smooths it out a little before handing it to him. Harry scans the note once more before taking a deep breath and inserting it in the machine. They both watch as the machine shreds the note, and Harry's eyes water as he sees the shreds fall into the receiving basket at the bottom.

It feels like an integral part of him was just stripped away, but it also feels liberating. The thing that has defined Harry for two years is now destroyed at its foundation, and the only thing left to do is to remove the bricks built on top of the now vanished base.

-

Smut, angst, or fluff next? I'll write whichEVER u pick, I already have prompts for each one :)

Also I'm at States for shot put now eeeee (I'm not gonna do very good bc the girls I'm against are GOOD good and I'm just good in my conference hahaha but still at least I qualified 😛)

-