The results from the tests came back yesterday and according to them, Louis was doing well and was shifted from the emergency to the general ward. Ethan told them that he'll be discharged soon and Louis couldn't be more happier.
"I feel gross." Louis groans. "It feels like I haven't showered in like forever."
"Do you want to take one?" Liam asks.
"Yeah obviously." Louis nods. A nice warm shower sounds really tempting after the kind of week Louis' had.
"Alright, let me just ask Andy real quick if it's fine."
"Liam no! I can shower on my own!" Louis says completely embarrassed.
"What I meant to say was that if it's alright for you to take a shower. I don't want you having pneumonia or something."
"First of all, showering is completely fine and hygienic, if you're forgetting. And second of all, no I'm not gonna get pneumonia or catch cold or something if I shower."
"I just don't wanna take any chances. You're still vulnerable to these things." Liam tells Louis. He doesn't want anything else happening.
"Fine, go ask Andy." Louis rolls his eyes.
Liam calls Andy who shows up a minute later. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah. Louis wanted to take a shower. I just wanted to ask if that's alright?" Liam asks.
"Yeah of course, why wouldn't it be!" Andy tells them to which Louis shoots Liam a 'I told you so' face.
"Or if you want, I can give Louis a sponge bath, if that's fine of course." Andy suggests.
"Uhh no. I'll stick with showering for now." Louis tells them, completely horrified by the idea.
"Okay then, I'll get the water ready." Andy says. "Oh and Louis once you're done, just give me a call if you need me." And with that, she leaves the room.
"Shoot, I forgot to get your clothes." Liam tells Louis, shaking his head. "Don't worry though, me and Harry were texting earlier. He's coming anyway. I'll tell him to drop by the house and get you some clothes."
"Are you sure?" Louis asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, by the time you finish showering, Harry will have arrived. Nothing to worry about."
"I hope so or I'll haunt you in your dreams." He threatens Liam.
"Ok ok." Liam laughs.
Andy comes back to inform them that the water is warm now and Louis can shower.
Louis gets up for the first time from the bed he's been spending almost one and a half weeks in. He thought it wouldn't be difficult standing up but the idea betrays him when Louis tries standing up. He loses his balance and is about to fall but fortunately, Liam's there by his side and helps him stand up.
"Lou are you sure you don't need any help? You can barely stand up. I can help you shower." Liam asks a little worried.
"Liam it's alright. It's probably because I haven't gotten up for a long time. I'm sure I'll be fine." Louis tells him.
He starts walking slowly, one step at a time. Liam helps him to the bathroom door.
"Liam I'll be fine, you worry too much. It's not like I'm gonna trip and fall and bang my head." Now that Louis hears it, it actually sounds viable.
"I hope not." Liam says.
"Hey, it's ok." Louis keeps his hands on Liam's shoulders firmly and tells him.
"Fine, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me."
"I won't." Louis assures Liam before going inside.
He strips down of the hospital gown and carefully unwraps the bandage around his torso before turning on the shower. This was more hard than he imagined it to be. But once the warm water hits his body, he lets all the tension and stress wash away.
He closes his eyes and relaxes his body. He's not able to though when Jay's image is the first thing that pops up in his mind and her constantly calling out for him to help her. He tries to focus his thoughts on the feeling of warm water on his body instead but fails.
It soon becomes suffocating for him to stay in the small bathroom, and he decides it's better if he gets out of there. He wraps the towel around his torso and accidentally brushes his hand a little too hard against it, "Fuck." He almost yells.
He opens the door, hoping Liam would've kept his clothes on the bed but those are nowhere to be seen and he finds the bed and the room empty.
"Liam, I brought Louis' clothes and your stuff you asked for." Louis hears a deep familiar voice.
"Oh uhh Louis. Hi." Harry greets looking up from his phone. They lock eyes and Louis suddenly feels a little insecure about his torso being exposed.
"My clothes." Louis snatches the bag from Harry's hands like his life depends on it and runs to the bathroom as fast as he can.
"Uhh yeah." Harry shakes his head, trying to get a hold of his thoughts. For a second Harry thinks he forgot to breathe. Even though Louis is weak and has some scratches and the scar from his operation, he still looks beautiful. But he probably freaked Louis out.
There's a different story in the bathroom though. Louis, with great difficulty manages to get his boxers and sweatpants on. He tries to put on the hoodie, but it hurts a lot when he raises his arms and he remembers he still has to bandage his torso.
"Louis, you okay in there?" Harry asks from the other side of the door, knocking gently on it. He sounds worried.
"Umm yeah?"
"Need any help?"
Louis thinks of the options he has, in his head. First, he doesn't need any help and can do it by himself. Second, he can call Andy or Liam, which he probably should. Third, he can accept Harry's offer. After pondering on it for a while, he chooses the latter.
"A little help maybe, if you don't mind. Also can you call Andy?"
"You're kidding, why would I mind? Oh and Andy's not available. There was an emergency in the upper ward I think." Harry tells him.
"Can I come in or are you gonna come out?" Harry asks.
"I'll come."
Louis opens the door, the hoodie in his hand. "Uhh Andy said she'd bandage me. Um so uhh can you like uhh you umm you know uhh." Louis gestures with his hands, hoping Harry would understand what he's trying to say.
"Sit." Harry instructs him onto the bed. Louis follows his orders obediently and sits on the bed as told. Andy must've kept a new bandage on the side table.
Harry applies the bandage and Louis' quite impressed with it. "Were you like a nurse or something before joining the business?" He jokes.
"I'm a natural baby." Harry winks and a blush creeps onto Louis' face which he's not quite able to hide.
"Alright arms up." Harry chuckles.
"It hurts a little when I raise them." Louis tells him.
"No problem. Just raise them as much as you can, without stressing too much on your chest area."
Louis does as he's told and Harry puts the hoodie on Louis. His fingers lightly brush against Louis' skin and a surge of electricity courses through Louis' body. The touch sends goosebumps to his skin and he can feel the lingering touch of Harry's fingers. He wonders if Harry felt the same.
"Harry, there you are." They hear Liam entering and Harry backs away from Louis like lightening just struck him.
"Yeah, umm I couldn't find you." Harry says lightly scratching his hair.
"Oh I was talking to Ethan about something." Liam shrugs his shoulders. "Are you sure you brought the right hoodie?" Liam asks Harry while scanning Louis.
"Um I guess? Why?" Harry says.
"Oh it's just that the hoodie looks way big on him. Or maybe it's just the hospital."
Now that Harry actually sees Louis, the hoodie is in fact one or two sizes big on him. It engulfs him completely and that's when it hits him that he may have brought his hoodie instead of Louis'. Louis still manages to look cute, so it's nobody's loss.
"I think I may have got my hoodie." Harry says uncertainty, even though he is certain that it's his but nobody needs to know that.
"Oh." Louis says more to himself than the boys. Now that he notices himself, he's basically swimming in the hoodie, but it's so warm and cosy and Harry's faint smell on it is really comforting, it makes him feel more like at home. But is it weird? He thinks to himself, that he finds Harry's sweet scent soothing out of everyone's? He doesn't get to give much though to it though when Ethan enters the room.
"Louis I have something to tell you." Ethan says, playing with the tip of his pen.
"Shoot." Louis says, chewing the insides of his cheeks as he awaits Ethan's next words.
He tries to stay calm, when internally he's freaking out. What if there's something wrong and he'll have to stay in the hospital forever? He can't do that. His mum died here, and staying for 10 days here is enough of torture already, he doesn't want to spend more time than he has to in this god awful place.
"I'm happy to tell you that you're doing fine and I'll be discharging you from the hospital today."
Louis' face lights up like a kid on Christmas when he opens his presents the second those words come out of Ethan's mouth. A fond smile creeps onto Harry's face when he sees Louis' smile and he doesn't even know why.
"But-"
"There's always a but." Louis says rolling his eyes, causing the others to chuckle.
"Me discharging you from the hospital doesn't mean you're fully healthy and back on your feet again. You have still not fully recovered from your injuries and will have to remain cautious for a few days, maybe two weeks. I'll prescribe you some medications that you have to take. They're mostly for the pain, but they're important and we'll have weekly checkups." Ethan informs.
Half of what Ethan said went straight over Louis' head. He's just happy that he gets to leave. The weekly checkups though kind of scare him for some reason but he'll cross that bridge when he comes to that.
After Liam and Ethan are done with the conversation they are having, Louis asks, "Can we go now?"
"Yeah, you can. There's just some paper work that you have to fill and then you're free to go."
Liam goes with Ethan to help with the paperwork, while Harry stays back with Louis and packs the few things that are around the room.
"I think I've never been more happy in my life." Louis tells Harry.
"Well, there's a lot more things that I'm sure you're gonna be happy about." Harry says.
"And what are those?" Louis asks, interested in Harry's answer.
"What I meant to say is that there are a lot of happy and more delightful things to come. Don't set your standards too low bub." Harry says giving Louis that smile of his that can lift up anyone's mood. And that's when Harry realises what he let so effortlessly slip from his mouth. He's not guilty though, if Harry's being completely honest. Okay, maybe he's a little bit guilty but it's worth the blush that Louis tries to hide from him. He looks absolutely adorable.
Louis' face flushes and he suddenly feels hot. The heat creeps up from his neck to his cheeks and he cannot hide the furious blush that is now plastered all over his face.
Harry wonders if he should do something, but that's just going to make things more awkward between them so he doesn't say anything.
"All done, we can go now." Louis is so thankful for Liam. He wouldn't know what to do or say but Harry probably doesn't even mean it and Louis' just working himself over nothing.
"Louis I think it's probably best if-" Liam starts.
"Nope, no way. I'm not being wheeled out." Louis refuses straight away.
"But you could hardly walk to the bathroom." Liam tries to reason.
"But I did and I'm fine. Liam I'm not going to be wheeled out." Louis says, standing his ground.
"Are you sure you're gonna be able to walk all the way to the parking?" Liam asks, not convinced at the slightest.
"Yes, I am sure. Now let's go." Louis says. Harry walks behind Louis just in case anything happens.
They make it out to the hall. It does hurt a bit to walk but Louis' not gonna admit it. He walks steadily, watching his every step.
"Alright, that's enough." Harry says from behind him and picks Louis up.
"Harry! What are you doing?" Louis asks, his eyes wide.
"Carrying you to the car."
"I told you I can perfectly walk. Put me down." Louis whisper yells.
"It's okay love, you need to calm down." Harry says gently and Louis doesn't know what comes over him but he obeys Harry and lets him carry him to the car. It's kind of nice being this close to Harry. What is Louis thinking!? He needs to get a hold of his thoughts, really.
"See! Wasn't too hard." Harry says once they reach the car and puts Louis down.
"I'm never letting you walk behind me again." Louis says and Harry quietly laughs.
Liam makes his way to the driver's seat and Harry sits on the passenger seat. They buckle up and Liam starts the car.
"Um Liam?" Louis calls to Liam quietly. He's a bit scared about Liam driving a little too fast.
"Yeah?" Liam asks.
"Can you drive slow? I just- I don't feel too good."
"Sure Lou. You okay back there?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"Are you hungry?" Liam asks further.
"Uhh no." Louis keeps his head against the window and relaxes his eyes. His mind goes straight towards all the horrible things that can happen right now, which makes him shudder involuntarily. He tries to convince himself that nothing of the sort is going to happen and that he's just exaggerating the whole thing-
"Stop the car!"
Liam pulls over and Louis gets out of the car. He takes a few deep breaths.
"Everything's alright Louis." Liam tells him.
"I just- I don't think I can. I know you're probably thinking that I'm being stupid, but I'm scared that it'll happen again and I'll lose you too. I can't do that. It's too high of a price to pay." Louis tries to hold the tears in.
"Aww Lou, I'm not going anywhere and you're not stupid. It can be overwhelming and that's completely fine. You're never gonna lose me, ever." Liam gives Louis a warm hug which effectively calms him down.
"Now come on. I'll drive slow."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, promise."
They get back inside the car and Harry decides to sit in the backseat with Louis. The drive from there is calm and by the time they reach home, Louis' already fallen asleep on Harry's shoulder.
~~~~
Chapter 11!
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