fearless/ [L.S]

32

Louis awakes the other day, and the rest of the week unwillingly.

his body had turned into a big void that sense nothing but work and drinks. he doesn't steer towards food the whole week and barley does anything humane other than work and sleep. he'd gained an alarming amount of pity looks from coworkers and even clients but he does as little as ignore them.

it's three days later when as promised, Louis door swings open with no warning and harry steps in.

Louis turns his body away from where he had been staring at his window blindly and when he comes face to face with harry, he chokes a little.

he notices that when Harry's eyes fall on him, they widen a bit and Harry straightens noticeably. they stare at each other silently.

with those same fucking terrorized eyes.

"what are you doing here" Louis questions. Harry's not wearing his outfit instead his body is wrapped in skinny jeans and a black button up that allows Harry's tattoos to be peaking through the chest area.

"I'm back in London" harry breathes, his voice distracted as he assesses louis' appearance. Louis doesn't look unpleasant, it's just that he can see the exhausting seep through louis' skin and draw tiredness on his face gingerly.

Louis grabs his tea mug from his desk and returns to his position "welcome back" he mocks with a smile then turns to face the window carelessly.

"Louis?" harry takes a step closer into the office and shuts the door behind him to buy them some privacy. Louis hums around a mouth full of tea. "are you okay?"

Louis rests his tea cup on the windowsill "I'm great"

"you're not" harry states and crosses his arms over his chest, raising a question brow when Louis turns around to face him. Louis stays silent for a while before he walks to his desk and drops carelessly on his chair, resting his tired eyes to avoid glancing at the worried eyes of harry.

"who cares?" he questions.

"I do" harry follows his movements and settles on the chair that accompanies the front of Louis' desk, keeping a steady eye on louis' profile "is it the case, or is it me?"

truthfully, Louis had been already losing bits and pieces of his brain due to the unsolvable case that has been taunting him for a few months now, but the twisted situation he had encountered a few days beforehand was just the tipping to his path to insanity.

Louis sighs "does it really matter?"

harry frustratedly sighs and rubs his temples "of course it does. we need to understand what's causing you to be such a..." his voice dims out and the furious words die in his throat as they stare at each other with glassy, misunderstanding eyes.

"continue"

"Lou.."

"say it"

"a fucking mess. drastically wretched." harry finally hisses and slaps a fist against his thigh, eyes burning into louis'. Louis doesn't react with a mirroring word or venom shooting out of his eyes instead he places his head in his hands and inhales, praying the itch in his eyes would go away.

"Louis?"

"I'm fine" Louis runs a hand over his face and stands up, grasping his keys and phone in one motion to signal his urge to go home and curl onto his couch as the melody of silence dance in his earbuds. Louis walks around the desk just as harry jolts up and walks towards him.

"come on, Lou, just talk to me" he secures his wrists into his hands and rubs over his tattoos gently.

his fingers come in contact with the marks that has been left by the cuffs a few nights ago and they both awkwardly break eye contact.