strings that snap | larry

eleven

tw: drug use

"everything is blue, his pills, his hands, his jeans."

Louis wakes up on the floor, groggy and disoriented. The tiles under him are cold to the touch and his body is hot hot hot. His limbs feel limp and he struggles to get up. It's like a newborn foal trying to stand. His legs buckle under him and his arms are splaying out.

He keeps hearing this sound. A thumping sound. It echoes in the wall of his head and he assumes he should have a pounding headache.

It takes him only a few minutes to realize it's the door, but to him it feels like only second.

Everything moves in slow motion.

The thumping happens again. He begins to make his way to the door languidly. He is moving through water.

When he opens the door he knows the person standing on the other side is not real. The person towards over him and he knows the presence, but he can't see the face through the damn fog.

"Hey," The other person says sheepishly. "Jeanine called and said--"

"Your body is blurry from all the pills I've taken." Louis interrupts. He usually thinks before he says things.

The boy just stares at him blankly. He probably hadn't expected Louis to be too blunt.

"Are you okay?" The man invites himself in and closes the door behind him. Louis is still wobbling. The curly haired boy reaches out to steady him.

"But my mind is still sharp." Louis doesn't fight the grasp. He can barely feel it.

The boy is mumbling to himself as he leads Louis down the hall. Louis can pick out words like mess and disaster.

Louis sometimes forget that he's the adult. That it's unlikely that this boy has any idea what he's doing. But here he is, leading Louis through his suite in his stupor. 

"When was the last time you bathed?" Louis' eyes focus on the man's face. Harry, Harry, Harry is back.

There's a long pause, mostly because the question doesn't register. Harry just sighs and instead of taking Louis' to his room, they head towards the bathroom.

Harry puts down the toilet seat and sets Louis on top of it. He's never realized how cold his bathroom is. For all the time he spends in here, he thought he would have. He watches as Harry bends over and turns on the bathtub faucet. Louis has always had trouble turning it on, he lacks the leverage, but Harry doesn't seem to have a problem.

"When was the last time you bathed?" Harry repeats as he checks the water to see if it's warm enough before sticking in a plug.

"'m not..." Louis tries to think back but it's just an endless fog. "Sure." He finishes slowly. Harry pulls up the hem of Louis' shirt and is a bit frustrated when it sticks to his skin.

Harry doesn't say anything about the pills that are spilled all over the sink. He doesn't say anything about the blood that's dried on the floor. He just gets Louis down to his boxers before picking him up and putting him in the tub.

He might as well of put a toaster in there while he was at it.

****

Louis wakes up for a second time that day. He's wrapped in one of his fluffy white robes and is laying on the couch. His boxers are wet and so is his hair. He doesn't remember showering. He hadn't in a week since Harry left.

He hears humming from the kitchen and his first thought is an intruder.  There are eggs and bacon cooking and he has a feeling that no intruder would stop and take the time to cook themselves breakfast.