Louis wakes up to an annoying beeping noise. He groans and tries to turn on his side but with all the machines hooked to him, and his injuries not to mention, it's almost impossible.
"Careful there Lou." He hears Liam say.
"What time is it?" Louis asks, his voice groggy.
"It's 2 in the morning." Liam says yawning. "What happened? Everything alright?"
"Nothing, I just.. I guess I wanna turn to my side but it's proving to be impossible with all these stupid tubes and stuff still hooked to me. Can we just go home? I'm tired."
"Sorry Lou, they still have to keep you under observation and I know that it can be annoying, but you should try sleeping." Liam tries, he himself is completely exhausted. It was a long day today.
"What do you think I was doing before?" Louis asks, folding his arms over his chest
"Then close your eyes and try going back to sleep. It's important for you to rest as much as you can and in order for your injuries to heal more faster."
"I can't." Louis tells him, groaning.
"Can you close your eyes and try to atleast? Louis I'm tired." Liam says.
"If I could, I would've been asleep a long time ago. But I can't! So can you just fucking spare me of the 'try to sleep' talk!?" Louis yells.
"Watch your tone Louis." Liam warns.
"Or what!?" Louis pushes.
"Louis don't."
"Just fucking say it that you wanted me dead instead of mum! I know you hate me because I'm being annoying right now but I hate this! I hate being in the hospital, I hate being hooked to machines, I hate the fact that I can't turn around to sleep, I hate that I cannot sleep, no matter how much I try! I hate being in constant pain, I hate my life! I hate everything! I miss mum so much. I just want her back." By the time he finishes, Louis is struggling to breathe and hot tears are streaming down his face.
"Hey now, calm down. Take a deep breath with me." Liam instructs Louis, wiping some tears from Louis' face with the sleeves of his sweater. He hates to see his little brother in so much pain but there's nothing he can do about it to make Louis feel better and that breaks his heart.
Once Louis has calmed down, Liam looks him straight in the eyes and tells him, "Louis listen to me, you're not being annoying. I'm so sorry for acting selfish before and that I got so upset at you but I promise I don't hate you. I could never hate you! So don't ever think that. I know it can be frustrating staying here and your body aching but I promise this will all be okay soon."
For a while, there's a comfortable silence that surrounds them before Louis breaks it. He sniffs, "I wanted to tell you something."
"Yeah, go ahead." Liam tells him gently.
"Before um, I mean after the ac- accident, when we were in- in the ambulance, uhh mum told me to- to tell you this..." Louis says quietly. Liam can sense that Louis doesn't want to talk about it and is getting tense.
"Hey Lou, it's alright if you don't wanna talk about it. You can tell me some other time." Liam tells him.
"But I want to."
Liam nods, encouraging Louis. "Alright, take your time."
Louis takes a deep breath and starts again, "Uhh so when we were um in the ambulance, m- mum told me to tell you that she loves you and that sh- she trusts you and Zayn and Harry with- with me."
"Aww Lou, come 'ere." Liam says wrapping Louis in a warm embrace, careful of his injuries. "I know it's gonna take time to heal and it's gonna be hard, but I'll always be there for you. No matter what." Liam tells him sincerely, landing a light kiss on his head.
"I love you."
"I love you too. I just miss mum so much. I wish she was here."
"Yeah, I know, me too." Liam sighs.
"Do you think she's watching over us?" Louis asks in a light voice, his head on Liam's shoulder.
"Mhm." Liam nods, he didn't even realise he was falling asleep.
"She told me she'll always be with me, in my heart." Louis says and let's a tear slip from his eye. Liam wipes it with him thumb and kisses Louis' cheek softly, "Yeah, she'll always be with us."
Louis rests his head on Liam's shoulder and closes his eyes, hoping he would fall asleep. Liam starts humming a song that their mother sang for them when they were little and when they couldn't sleep. Even though Louis can't remember the song, he can never forget the tune of it and that's enough for him to lull him into a deep sleep.
_._._._._
"How's he?" Harry asks Liam the next day.
"He's fine. Had a little meltdown yesterday but nothing I can't handle." Liam tells him.
Harry nods his head. There's still an awkward tension in the air between them.
"Zayn's at the office, getting some work done." Harry informs Liam, trying to start some sort of conversation.
"I know. He called." Liam says. Then there's a silence. They're just staring at each other, not knowing what to say.
"Fuck the small talk." Harry shakes his head. "Liam, I wanted to talk to you. About yesterday."
"Harry it's fine. I shouldn't have lashed out on you."
"Yeah but I definately did not do the right thing on my part either and I'm sorry. We were having a silly little fight and it could've cost us Louis." Harry says sincerely.
Harry hugs Liam and Liam returns the hug.
"Aww look at you too." Zayn startles them.
"I thought you were at the office?" Harry asks.
"I was. I came by to say hi." Zayn tells them.
"Please don't tell me, you took a picture of that too." Harry asks shaking his head.
"Oh you bet!" Zayn smirks.
"Good morning everyone!" Niall chirps, making his way to Louis' side.
"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" Liam asks Niall.
"Yeah but I just can't focus without Louis being there. I miss him. And besides I'm stuck with Amelia. Don't get me wrong, I like her a lot, but she just doesn't measure up to Louis." Niall explains.
"So you took the day off?" Harry asks.
"Nope, I ditc-" Niall almost slips.
"I meant yeah, I took the day off." He nods his head. "And besides look what I brought!?" Niall exclaims. He opens his bag to reveal two video game consoles.
"I figured Louis would be staying here for a while and he must be getting bored. So, what better way to kill it, the time of course, by playing some video games?" Niall raises his eyebrows to convince them.
"Oh my god, that's great! Niall you're a genius." Zayn exclaims.
"Yeah, he's just happy he'll get to play with it." Harry teases.
"Don't act like you're not tempted by it." Zayn rolls his eyes.
"What? Lou-" Harry stops himself as soon as he realises what he was about to say. "Lobster tails? It's a video game, not some exotic dish." He says the first thing that comes to his mind.
"I think I've been forgotten of." Louis rubs his eyes, ridding himself of the sleep.
"Good morning sunshine. How are you feeling?" Niall says, a bit too excited for someone who's visiting his injured friend in a hospital.
"What's with that voice?" Louis asks, his eyebrow raised.
"Well, look what I got!" Niall clearly can't contain his excitement and shows the Louis the gaming console.
"Niall! You gotta be kidding me!" A smile forms on Louis' face.
"I knew you'd be happy." Niall pats himself on the back.
"Oh great, you're awake." Ethan enters the room with a clipboard in his hand. "How did you sleep last night?" Ethan asks Louis gently.
"I slept fine." Louis replies, shrugging his shoulders.
"That's good to hear. Alright Lou, I had to do some tests on you. But before that, have you eaten anything yet?" Ethan asks.
"I just woke up." Louis tries to get himself out of the situation he's positive he'll be a part of soon.
"It was 20 minutes ago." Liam narrows his eyes.
"Yeah that's what I meant." Louis says.
"No problem. I'll have someone bring some food. We need to get something inside of you before performing those tests."
"But I'm not hungry." Louis tells him.
"I understand Louis. With all the medications and everything, you might not want to eat anything but it's really important for your body to get some nutrition in order to heal. I'm not asking you to finish the whole meal but at least try some of it. It's gonna benefit you only." Ethan tells him.
"Fine I'll try." Louis' not in the mood to argue and let's Ethan take the win for this one.
"I'll set the game." Niall says. It's good if Louis will be distracted for some time.
"I'll have to run back to the office. Something's come up." Zayn informs Liam and Harry.
"Liam babe, I'll actually need you. Can you come with me?" Zayn asks with hopeful eyes.
"I'm sure you'll be able to handle it." Liam says. Truth is, he doesn't want to leave Louis.
"I know you're worried about Louis but I think he'll be fine. Harry's with him." Zayn tries to convince Liam. He just wants to take Liam out for a while who hasn't left the hospital since the accident except for when he needs something from the house.
Liam puts a lot of thought before agreeing with Zayn. "Alright. But we'll be back in a few hours, right?"
"Yeah, of course." Zayn tells him.
"Where are you going?" Louis asks.
"Work. But I promise I'll be back soon." Liam says.
"Yeah ok." Louis' actually really relieved that Liam's not gonna be here for a while. Because if he was, he was sure Liam was gonna get him to eat something one way or the other.
Soon after Zayn and Liam leave, the food arrives. Just the sight of it makes Louis want to throw up. They set it in front of Louis who just stares at it.
"Everything alright?" Harry asks Louis.
"Yeah." Louis nods.
"Why don't you eat something? You must be starving." Harry tries, even though he knows damn well Louis' not at all hungry.
"Umm yeah." Louis nods slowly before picking up the fork and playing with his food.
"All done." Niall tells them setting up the video game. "Here." He hands Louis a remote control who takes it willingly unlike the food in front of him.
Harry on the other hand, has other plans. Now that Louis is distracted, he thinks he can get Louis to eat something.
"Here, I'll help." Harry takes the fork from Louis' hand. His hand brushes Louis' and an involuntary blush creeps onto Louis' face. He quickly hides it though to avoid getting caught.
"You ready Lou?" Niall gives Louis a smirk.
"Mhm." Louis nods and they start the game.
Harry waits for a while until the perfect opportunity presents itself. It finally does when Louis seems to be fully invested in the game.
Harry puts the fork in front of Louis' mouth, who without even realising it opens his mouth. It works till three more bites when Louis stops what he's doing and turns his gaze towards Harry.
Harry smiles awkwardly.
"I'm not hungry." Louis tells him, matter of factly.
"I know but just a few more bites, please." Harry says with puppy dog eyes that are enough for Louis to say yes to anything for him but he keeps his gaurd up.
"Harry, I told you I'm not hungry. I think I'm gonna puke."
"You weren't paying any attention and I got three bites inside of you. That's amazing Louis! You continue playing the game and I'll feel you. You'll not even realise." Harry tries.
"Well I already ate three bites. Isn't that enough?"
"I'm afraid not. Just a few more and I promise I won't bother you."
"Yeah Lou, just a few more and then you're done." Niall pipes in.
"Nope. I'm not eating anything. I'm full." Louis gives back the same puppy dog eyes to Harry. Knowing Harry, he knows he won't be able to resist him.
"Alright how about one more bite and the you're done." Harry reasons with him.
Louis rolls his eyes and is about to refuse when Harry speaks up, "It's either this or I'll make you eat the whole plate, I don't care how much time that takes. I can sit here all day."
Louis knows that's the best offer he can make with Harry and finally agrees.
"Awesome." Harry says, bringing the fork near Louis' mouth. They lock eyes and there's a spark between them. Louis obediently eats the food off the fork, still maintaining eye contact. Niall clears his throat, causing the both of them to break the eye contact that they were holding.
"Well, um I'll go keep this outside." Harry says standing up with the plate of food in his hands and walking out of the room.
"That was weird." Louis says, particularly to himself.
"Sure was." Niall says before turning his attention back to the video game, with a small smile playing on his lips.
~~~~
Chapter 10!
I'm back! I hope you didn't think I was dead or something lmao. Sorry for the long delay though!
Anyways, your thoughts? :)
How was your day/is going?
Stay safe and healthy luvs and I'll meet you in the next one! 💕
Lots of love xx <3
Also, it's Harry's birthday!! ILHSM!💚💚