It's just a spark but it's enough || ENG version

Chapter Two

The usual sky-blue table that Niall found himself and his colleagues occupying every day was far too quiet during that lunch.

The older teachers used to mumble throughout the meal because Louis and Zayn threw paper balls made from napkins at each other or because the blond nurse always accidentally played whatever embarrassing song of the moment at super loud volume.

From time to time, they would also improvise group dances or flash mobs in which literally only they participated, but it was a good way to have fun and annoy all the other people in the canteen.

However, they were far too off that day.

Niall was fumbling through his phone with boredom etched on his own flushed face from the cold that had hit him two days earlier, Zayn was constantly grading test after test in any spare moment - risking dropping chunks of chicken curry on top of the boys' papers - Harry still felt completely out of place, and Louis...

Louis wasn't Louis.

His eyes were misty and at the same time overly alert, as if he was mainly eating energy drinks without ingesting anything else. Obviously, Harry didn't know what he ate at the other meals of the day, but he couldn't stop analysing whatever he took from the canteen buffet for lunch.

For three days - that is, from the moment he found him wandering around looking for Damian even though he had him in front of him - he had been taking only mild things, far too low in calories for a toned physique like his.

Maybe some plain or saffron rice, a few pieces of grilled chicken and a small bowl of tomatoes without seasoning would have been a fairly balanced meal for an eight-year-old on a strict diet, not for a man who barely seemed to be able to stand.

Besides, Harry had noticed well, he didn't even finish eating the little he took as each time he immediately headed for the tea and coffee machine immediately after throwing the leftovers in the rubbish.

He had spent whole hours wondering why Louis had changed his attitude completely, why he seemed to have seen a ghost or why he seemed to see one every time a blond boy came out of the canteen.

He managed to take the opportunity to ask him just as he saw him ready to get up the moment a figure with light, short hair walked through the open door.

"Is there a problem?" he asked him in a low voice, as if Niall and Zayn, so busy with their chores, could care less.

Louis, on the other hand, calmly sat back down and "No, absolutely not." he lied for the umpteenth time that week, rubbing his eyes with his palms and risking to rest his elbows inside the plate of mushroom soup he had hardly touched.

"I've been watching you these days. You're always tired, you drink little, you eat even less, and you're obsessed with Dam-" he tried to finish the list for which he was counting points with his long ringed fingers, but Louis grabbed him by the wrist leaning towards him and dragged him away from the table, even risking tripping him over a rucksack lying on the floor. They were in a corner of the huge room, in an empty spot between the door and the grey wall leading to the kitchen: no one was passing by.

"You're making me worry," Harry admitted, exhaling as he sought Louis' gaze and the boy's blue eyes darted from left and right to make sure no one was listening.

"Damian's weird and I feel like he's going to have one of those runaway seizures soon," he felt his mouth go dry and his hands shake more than they should have.

"Christ, has this happened before?" Harry ran a hand through his hair, casting a glance at their small table and noticing that, despite everything, the two friends hadn't even noticed their absence. That was strange, too.