Swan Lake - Larry Stylinson Ballet AU

Act XV - Relevé

Louis laughed a little and wiped his eyes with his fists. "Are you going to cry? Do you cry at your shows?"

Harry nodded, "I do. Sometimes it's joy, sometimes it's sadness. Sometimes both. I always wonder which it'll be."

Louis shuffled his chair up to Harry and put his head in the man's lap, looking up at him. Harry moved his left arm and stroked the boy's hair back. They smiled at each other, the softest smiles they'd ever shown; and the world forgot to turn.

They heard nothing but each other's breaths, saw nothing but the blue skies and green grass in each other's eyes, and Louis brought up his hand to hold Harry's as if the red strings around each other's little fingers were tugging them towards one another. They did nothing more, said nothing more, and their love-a growing tree from the very start-burst into flower.

After the while that Louis had spent stroking Harry's hand with his thumb, and Harry had spent watching him with that wonderful love, they finally spoke again. Harry asked him why exactly he had cried and said, 'I'm just like her,'.

And the little boy in Mickey Mouse plasters had opened his eyes and smiled, "No reason really. I just realised that she's real." He'd replied, "Mother's real, she'll hurt me again."

Harry watched a light in those blue eyes shiver, like a thought that spun around and around in Louis' head. There was no doubt about it that the reason for Louis' tears was the thought hidden in that trembling light, but he'd not conveyed it.
Harry wondered what a boy like Louis would hide. He had an honest heart, the kindest and most truthful, so what event could possibly have happened to make him keep it a secret?

"Come here." Harry said, and he tapped his own lips with his left hand. Louis stood up, making sure to not touch Harry's arm that was getting bluer by the minute. He moved to Harry's mouth and stopped before he reached him, for no other reason than to look at his lips and compare them to rose petals in his mind. Harry didn't hesitate, and leant in just that missing inch until the rose touched Louis' mouth. He brought his left hand to Louis' nape and pulled him forward.

Harry's tongue licked Louis' lips, then moved into his mouth and their mouths touched once more with a love that was bittersweet, and they really liked the taste.

They went on like that in the closure of the little hospital ward where no one could see nor hear them. Harry kissed Louis all over his face and on each of his plasters, and Louis turned into some sort of kitten that wanted every bit of attention and seemed to almost purr in response to it.
Finally Harry pulled back to lean his head on Louis' shoulder and sigh. He then groaned and Louis stood up. They looked at his right arm. His fingers were purple, and there was now faint bruising appearing all the way up to his shoulder.

"That's not good." Louis said, frowning. "Shall I get a nurse?" He asked.

Harry shook his head and laughed faintly. "No. Don't let it worry you." He glanced at the clock and it read a-quarter-to-four. "You should go home."

"Why?" Louis asked a little too frantically for it to not raise suspicion. Harry gulped, glanced down at his arm, and said, "I'm going to another room soon. I'll be asleep for a while. I'll come and see you at the Ballet studio and I'll look a little different. Practice well, and don't forget to stretch before and after or you'll get muscle ache."

Zayn then returned with a handful of lollipops and a plastic cup of water. He was to stressed to even glance at Harry, and ushered Louis out of the room while dabbing his own forehead with a polkadot handkerchief.

Harry smiled at Louis through the glass and half-closed blinds until the boy was gone. And when he was, Harry's smile dropped.

On his sharp face where a loving look had been waiting just a few seconds before was now a contorted look of pain. His eyes were tightly closed and his eyebrows furrowed. He threw his head back and cried out in pain. His heartbeat on the monitor rose until it began to send an alarm through the hospital ward.