[A/N]: I'm so sleepy right now xD there might be a lot of errors. I hope there wasn't fanart that I forgot about? If there is just slap me or something...
The nurses were literally always in Louis' room, preventing him from being able to text Harry. His mother even had to exit the room if she wanted to call Lottie, who was on her way home from UNI to see Louis. But apparently the nurses were needed, and Louis had to get the oxygen tubes back in his nose, as a few hours after his mother arrived his chest felt so heavy that it was hard to breathe.
They elevated him after x-raying his chest again, they found that he was developing pneumonia, which led to him having a slight fever and an extremely difficult time breathing. They gave him drugs that, unlike the other drugs, made him nauseous rather than happy or tired. He sat pouting and shivering in the hospital bed as painful coughs shook him and asked his mother to cover him with Harry's coats. His head was pounding and he wanted to read, but he knew it would worsen his headache. He was too embarrassed to ask his mother to read to him, wanting more than ever for Harry to be there with him. His mother was great, she'd taken care of him for as long as he could remember, but Harry was just... Harry. His boyfriend. Louis really liked that. There was something about him that made Louis feel great even when he felt horrible.
His mum turned on the television the room had, but the only decent thing on was the news, and once Jay realized that Louis was the lead story, the television was instantly off again.
"Well on the bright side, no one knows that you're in this hospital besides the nurses and guards," Jay sighed, walking over to Louis to frown and fix his hair in a motherly fashion.
"And Harry," Louis croaked out through slightly chattering teeth.
Jay bit her lip, pulling Harry's coats a little further up Louis' body, "You're still cold?"
"It hurts so bad to shiver," Louis nodded.
"You already have so many blankets, though, love," Jay said softly.
"I need my space heater," Louis requested. "When will he get here, what time is it?"
"Well Lottie and Fliss are going to be here later on as well, remember?" his mother reminded. "Still only two people allowed in the room. Your space heater, which I assume is Harry, will have to wait."
Louis smiled slightly, "I am excited to see them..."
"They're going to cry all over you," she chuckled.
"Well for the record I'll probably cry all over them, too, and then my nose will get all stuffy and I won't be able to use these oxygen tubes and I'll cough a lot-" Louis rambled until Jay pressed a finger to her lips.
"Louis. Save your energy."
"Can I text Egghead?" Louis requested.
Jay looked to the door, almost as if waiting for a nurse to come through it, but then handed her phone over with a sigh, "I'm surprised he doesn't get offended at that name."
"He knows I don't think his head is shaped like an egg," Louis explained. "He's just... he's my Egghead. But now you've made me self-conscious!"
Louis: Babe, is it okay that I call you Egghead?!
His mother chuckled, "I'm sure it's fine. What does he call you again?"
"Shakira," Louis smiled fondly. "I like when he calls me that."
"Well then he probably doesn't mind when you call him Egghead," his mother assured. "Now just... as much as I love listening to what you have to say, stop talking so much. You can barely breathe correctly as it is."
"Okay," Louis murmured absentmindedly. The phone buzzed in Louis' hand, and he contented himself then as he talked to Harry.
Harry: Of course, it's okay. xx Shakira. ;) Not many people can say that Shakira is their boyfriend.
Louis: That's because no one says that Shakira is a boy.
Harry: You've got a point. But how've you been, you haven't been texting me. I was getting worried about you.
"Louis, you're blushing," Jay chuckled. "If you're... just delete those texts when you're done."
"We're not sexting, mother," Louis huffed. "And even if we were I'm twenty-four and I can sext my boyfriend if I want to."
"Which is why I told you to delete them," Jay pointed out.
Louis: I'm alright, I'll be better when you get here. xx
Harry: How's your ribs?
Louis: They're decent I suppose.
In all honesty Louis was not decent. His chest hurt, he constantly felt like he needed to cough up a lung despite the fact that he'd punctured one days prior, his ribs ached from coughing, and he felt slightly sick to his stomach from his medication. All of that was topped off with a fever and a headache. But if he told Harry, then Harry would worry and a worried federal agent was never a good idea, especially if they had to go to a scene.
Harry: Oh? Define decent.
Louis: So... how is work.
Harry: Are you changing the subject?
Louis: Not at all...
Harry didn't text back for a bit, and Louis fiddled with the blankets with his good arm while he waited for the younger boy to respond. His mother was examining him with an amused look, and then the phone buzzed once more.
Harry: Ah, babe! I've got to gear up and head out for the first time in forever, you're going to specify on your ribs when I get back. xx
Louis: Wait where are you going?!
Harry didn't respond, after that, leaving Louis feeling slightly anxious for Harry's wellbeing. It was Harry's job, and Louis couldn't exactly feel afraid every time Harry was heading out to bust some criminal.
Louis: Be careful... xx
"Can we watch the news again?" Louis requested then, sadly offering the phone to his mother.
Jay stood and set down the magazine she was reading, walking over to get her phone, "Are you done with the phone for now?"
"Yes," Louis sighed. "Harry had to go out. Do agent things."
"Ah," Jay murmured in sympathy. "Agent things. Hardcore agent things?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Louis whined, but then coughed so hard the nurse had to come in and check on him. His mother sat closer to Louis and flipped on the news for him. There was nothing but his own story on for some strange reason, probably because he was one of England's most wanted and he'd finally been caught. It was also apparently in question whether or not Louis was alive. And much to Louis' chest's dismay, he was very much alive.
He allowed the nurses to change the bandages over his injury, which always hurt like a bitch, because once the brace around his middle was loosened his ribs were able to expand more efficiently, resulting in a shooting pain throughout his middle. But hours passed, and there still wasn't another text from Harry. Louis glanced at the clock on the wall, slight nausea rolling through him as he realized it was already 5:45pm. Harry got off work at 5:30pm, and if he still hadn't texted... Louis didn't want to focus to much on it.
His mother suddenly pulled out her phone to glance at it, and he thrust his hand out for it immediately, hope bubbling up in his stomach. She arched a brow, showing him the phone, "Lottie and Fliss are on their way with the twins... I'm supposed to meet them in the lobby."
"No text from Harry?" Louis whispered.
"Not yet, dear," his mother reached out and patted Louis' hand. "But he'll be here eventually, so-"
"But the last thing he said was that he was gearing up and going out!" Louis croaked, anxiety flooding him once more as he felt his chest tighten with his quickened breaths.
His mother stood and leaned over him, quickly pressing the call button, "Relax, relax.... it's alright."
"He never texted me back," Louis pressed on, trying to grab onto his mother's hand to make her understand. "I told him to be careful but he never texted back!"
"I'm sure he's fine, Louis, we'd have seen it on the news," his mother hushed, and then a nurse was hurrying in.
"Everything alright?" she asked.
"Is there something to help Louis' cough?" Jay smiled to the nurse.
The woman chuckled sadly, walking over to Louis' IV and checking it, "I think we've got him on all the medication we can for now, he'll just have to try and keep relaxed. Even breaths, try not to have irregular breathing."
"But I-" Louis tried, but another cough racked through him and sent him clutching onto his chest and ribs.
"Mr. Tomlinson," the nurse murmured once Louis had caught his breath. "You must relax, or else we'll have to give you something to make you sleep. If you're coughing your ribs aren't healing. Now... let me take your temperature."
Louis stared at the room entrance the entire time, clutching onto Harry's jackets with his good hand as the nurse used a strange device that she briefly stuck inside his ear, and then tsked softly. Jay inched closer, "How is his temperature?"
"He's still running a fever," the nurse sighed. "It's a little higher than before, but not by much. I believe he could sleep it off."
"I..." Louis looked desperately to his mother. "Have you heard from Agent Styles about my case?"
"Still no, love," his mother sighed. "I've got to run downstairs and meet your sisters in the lobby. I'll bring up one of them first, then the next, alright?"
"Okay," Louis nodded, trying to cheer up a little for his sisters. But Harry. He just wanted to know that Harry was okay.
The nurse bustled around him a bit more, pointing to the jackets on Louis, "Oh. We have a coatrack, would you like me to put those elsewhere?"
"No, no," Louis shook his head. "I need these, they're warm."
"I could get you more blankets-"
"I want these," he said insistently.
The woman was confused, but she nodded and exited the room. He looked around sadly, glancing up at the clock. It was a little past 6pm, and he knew that Harry had gotten to the hospital at a little past 6pm the few days prior. But Harry still hadn't made an appearance, and it made his chest hurt in a way that he knew wasn't just his ribs. However, his mother returned, ushering an anxious blonde girl with wide blue eyes. And it had only been a year, but she looked so much older.
Louis felt himself choke up, tears pooling up and spilling over as he craned an arm out for his sister, "Lottie!"
"Louis!" she wailed, launching herself at him before freezing. "Where are you hurt? I want to hug you, but-"
"Right side, and no one else will hug me either so just-" Louis coughed slightly, curling an arm around Lottie and gently leading her down. "C'mere!"
"I missed you!" she sobbed into his shoulder. "Why'd you leave? I guess I kind of left, too, by transferring schools but you moved out first and-"
Louis shook his head, "No, no you're still around. You did much better than me, I haven't even gone to UNI yet. I'm very proud of you for that. My kind of leaving is probably unforgivable."
Lottie stood, scrubbing at her eyes, "There's nothing to forgive, we weren't even mad. Just upset... and then when we heard that you were stealing things, it was our only way of knowing that you were alright. When mum told me you'd been shot I was so scared... but you're okay and I had to come see you for myself."
"Eh," Louis chuckled. "I'm alright. A little bruised, broken, and hoarse, but I'm good."
"And you've got some dreadful looking tubes in your noses... what about like... do you have to go to prison or something?" Lottie squeaked, and she suddenly looked about six years younger. It made Louis want to cuddle her in and tell her stories like he'd done when they were little.
"Maybe, maybe not," Louis' nose scrunched. "I've got a bit of an inside source? An inside source that- mum?"
He was prepared to ask Jay if Harry had texted, but was startled to find her dabbing her eyes after his and Lottie's little scene, "Sorry, sorry... yes, dear?"
"Harry?" he asked hopefully.
"No," she shook her head. "No texts."
Louis' heart sank once more, and he figured his face must have fallen an excessive amount, because Lottie touched his arm, "Who's Harry?"
"My boyfriend," Louis murmured, and the word sent slight shivers through him. Shivers that unfortunately hurt his ribs. "He was supposed to be off work ages ago."
"What does he do?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Louis smiled softly. "You really should meet him, though, he's lovely."
"He's alright," Jay corrected, hurrying forward and offering Louis her phone to hide under the covers. "He's... I don't necessarily trust him, but I can't control what Louis does."
"I'm worried about him," Louis admitted, looking to the phone and shooting Harry a desperate text.
Louis: Harry... :(
He thought a moment before he sent another.
Louis: I need you.
Lottie pulled up the chair Harry usually sat in and began asking Louis all sorts of questions about how he had been, where he'd been living, and in return Louis asked Lottie all about school and threatened to beat up any boyfriends she might have.
At around 7pm, his mother stood and sighed, "Lottie, dear, I'm afraid it's Fliss' turn to come see Louis."
Lottie hung her head, but stood and kissed Louis' cheek as he squeezed her elbow, "I'm not going anywhere, so you'll be seeing plenty more of me."
That seemed to cheer her up, and then she and Jay were exiting the room once more while Louis frantically dug the phone back out from under the covers. Harry still was MIA, and it was beginning to make the nausea from his medicine worsen. But the churning of his stomach had to be ignored as another girl, slightly younger this time, was tearfully launching herself at Louis and once again starting his tears up.
"How's it been Fliss?" he croaked out through his tears as he tried to soothe the sobbing girl.
But then she said something that really hit a sensitive spot, "I'm so sorry if we scared you away from home!"
It required both of his arms, even though his ribs protested, to seize Fliss' hands in his own, "Felicite Tomlinson you did not scare me away from home. I was only a hassle there. You all were getting back on your feet and I didn't want to be in the way of that. I may have helped bring in a little money, but I probably spent more than I provided and that's not what I wanted at all."
"Money isn't tight at all now," Felicite insisted. "Daniel helps out and-"
"Daniel?" Louis arched a brow.
"Ah," Jay murmured. "Yes. He only just arrived a few months before you left. Daniel is my boyfriend?"
"Does he take good care of you all?" Louis asked, suddenly feeling protective. "I mean, I thought that you had found someone, mum, but I wasn't sure."
"He takes care of us, yes," she explained. "He doesn't live with us, but he helped us get back on our feet. He works during the hospital's visiting hours, at another hospital to be exact, or else he would have watched the twins while Fliss and I came to visit you."
Louis nodded slowly, convinced enough until he would be able to meet this Daniel. Fliss was still sniffling, and he reached up to wipe the tears off her cheeks, "Don't cry, now... it's okay. We're alright and I'm here from now on. I won't disappear again."
"I don't think I could bear it if you did," she sniffled, and Louis' heart clenched in sympathy.
It made his chest tighten up again, and he tried to clear his throat as he felt the cough build up, but he could tell by the intensity of the tightening that it was going to be quite the cough. And he was right as he began hacking into the crook of his arm, clutching his ribs with his other hand. He heard Fliss start, but Jay touched her arm and murmured over Louis' coughs, "He's developing a slight case of pneumonia, but they're treating him for it."
"Ugh," Louis choked out through coughs. "Kills my side, though-"
And then suddenly, there was a familiar and anxious voice asking loudly, "Is he alright?!"
Louis' watery eyes flickered to the doorway where a curly haired man came limping in quickly, and he couldn't stop the smile from stretching across his face until he focused more on Harry. Limping, limping wasn't normal.
"He's fine," Jay told Harry, who was standing behind Jay and a confused looking Felicite, sternly. "He's been worried about you, though, and apparently you didn't have the mind to answer his texts."
"Harry-" Louis finally managed to gasp out. "Harry, are you okay? Why are you limping?"
Jay stepped aside as Louis reached for Harry, letting the agent step up next to Felicte. Harry's hands moved to stroke Louis' forehead that had beaded with sweat from his coughing, and Harry froze, "You are burning up holy shit, Louis, you-"
"And where's your coat?" Louis continued, still clearing his throat and giving small coughs. "You gave me both your coats and-"
Harry turned to Jay then, "Has he had a fever and the oxygen tubes in all day?"
"For most of it," Jay nodded with a sigh. "And he is developing pneumonia, so they're giving him medicine for that and monitoring his ribs to ensure that they're still healing correctly."
Harry turned back around to Louis, his mouth mashed into a hard line as he stared at the older boy, "You failed to mention that in your texts."
"You failed to text me back at all!" Louis huffed with a pout. "You just said you were gearing up, which meant the situation you were going into could be dangerous, and you never. Texted. Back."
"I-"
"And now you're limping!" Louis coughed out. "How did you twist your ankle?"
"Um..." Felicite said slowly.
Harry blanched in surprise, almost as if he didn't notice her, "Oh. Hello. Felicite, right? You're the younger one who was in the waiting room the first night Louis arrived."
"Harry!" Louis gasped. "Stop ignoring me!"
The agent looked up at the monitor, "Louis William Tomlinson, I don't want you talking until your oxygen levels are normal, do you hear me? They're red right now. I love you, and I want you to be okay. So please, just relax. I'm alright and I'll answer whatever questions you have when you're breathing normally again."
Louis wanted to protest further, but then Harry's fingers were in his hair and he was melting into the sheets, shivering slightly. Harry adjusted the blankets and coats, looking back to Felicity. The girl's eyes were wide as she murmured slowly, "Agent... Styles?"
"That's me," Harry shook her hand with the hand that wasn't petting Louis' hair.
"You're... in a relationship with my brother," she shook her head in confusion.
"Yes, I can imagine that comes as a bit of a surprise..."
"Oh yeah," Jay supplied. "It's not something that one can just accept automatically, but we can tolerate it. But I think that's the harshest I've ever seen you with Louis, so-"
Harry looked back to Louis worriedly, "I was harsh? I... I didn't mean to-"
Louis shook his head, "You were just your normal asshole self."
Harry raised his eyebrows, sliding his hand down Louis' cheek but being mindful of the oxygen tubes so he could press a thumb softly over Louis' lips, "No talking yet, Shakira..."
"Shakira?" Felicite still looked completely lost, and Harry nodded.
"Right, right... I'm probably hogging your brother," he murmured. "Plus there's only supposed to be two people in here at a time, so-"
"Don't you dare leave," Louis blurted out. "I will get up, and I will follow you."
So Harry moved to the other side of Louis' bed and sat quietly while Felicite hesitantly talked to Louis, nervously glancing at Harry from time to time, "Um... so like, you aren't leaving again right? The twins have been going on nonstop about seeing you, they tried to talk me into sneaking them in here."
"I'm not leaving again," Louis assured, and Harry nonchalantly peeked up at Louis' oxygen levels before settling contentedly once more. "I'm pretty excited to see the twins as well. They're probably taller than me, right?"
Felicite laughed, but she shook her head, "We're all still smaller than you."
"I think all of you are just small," Harry spoke up, but then covered his mouth quickly. "Sorry, sorry, I'll go back to playing with Louis' hair."
"No, keep talking," Louis requested. "I haven't gotten to talk to you nearly all day."
"We should actually be getting going," Jay sighed sadly, and Felicite's face crumpled a bit. "It's not fair to the twins to have to sit in the waiting room for more than two hours."
"Can we come back tomorrow?" she asked.
"We should try and find a baby-sitter for the twins," Jay nodded. "Perhaps they could go over to one of their friends' for a few hours."
Felicite stood and kissed Louis' cheek as he attempted to give her a one armed hug, Jay kissed his forehead and stroked his hair, and he croaked out, "Love you both! Tell the twins and Lottie I love them as well."
"We love you, too," Jay hummed, looking to Harry. "Take care of him until you leave, agent."
"Always," Harry promised.
The moment Louis' family was gone, Louis looked to Harry, "You've got a lot of questions to answer."
"Let's get you some food, first," Harry frowned. "It's 8pm and I'm guessing you haven't eaten yet? I meant to bring you something but I didn't have a coat to sneak it under."
"I'm perfectly fine," Louis declared. "Now what happened to your ankle? Well don't walk on it!"
Louis protested as Harry limped around his bed to hit the call button, simply chuckling, "It's fine, love."
The older man pouted slightly as Harry pulled up his usual chair and waited for the nurse, still changing the subject each time Louis asked about his ankle. The nurse came into the room, "I'm guessing Mr. Tomlinson is hungry?"
"What's good here to eat?" Harry asked. "Tomlinson here can never seem to find the right things."
"The chicken salad sandwich is fairly good," the nurse replied. "It comes with mint tea. Would you like that?"
"Yes, please..." Louis nodded, anxious to get the nurse to leave so he could question Harry further. When the woman left, Louis once again instantly looked to Harry. "If you do not tell me what happened right now I'm going to pull my oxygen tubes out and-"
"Okay, okay," Harry chuckled softly, leaning and kissing Louis quiet. "Easy. After I last texted you we went to a scene where a man decided to play hide and go seek through some aisles, and he was armed. I twisted my ankle pushing one of my team members behind a shelf when the guy opened fire."
"Was anyone-?!"
"No one was hit," Harry assured. "The worst injury was a broken finger- and before you say anything, it wasn't mine, clearly."
Louis relaxed a little. Harry was safe. He hadn't been shot, although thinking of him being shot at still made him queasy, and Harry was safe and sitting with him. Louis still pouted, however, stretching his hand out for Harry's, "But you never texted me back and I was afraid that like... something had happened to you..."
"Aww," Harry cooed, kissing Louis' knuckles carefully. "I'm alright, Shakira! The screen of my phone cracked. So I can't see anything on it. You should have called me, I can answer calls... I just can't make them until I pick up a new phone tomorrow."
And then Louis felt incredibly silly for harassing Harry over the texts, and he blushed, "Oh... so you weren't just like, ignoring my texts. Gotcha."
"No," Harry laughed. "I wasn't ignoring you. I wanted more than anything to talk to you, but because of the guy earlier I had a bit of paperwork to do before I left. That's why I'm late getting back to you."
"Well all I care about is that you are back to me," Louis sighed, but then winced as his ribs protested and he coughed slightly. "My Egghead."
"Your Egghead," Harry assured, standing to kiss Louis, but then sitting down just as fast as the nurse came back into the room with Louis' food.
"Here you are, Mr. Tomlinson," she hummed. "After you eat you should really try and sleep... Agent Styles, I assume you won't be staying much longer?"
"I'll be leaving once Mr. Tomlinson is asleep," Harry promised.
The nurse exited, and Harry stood and kissed Louis more efficiently, bringing a smile to Louis' face as the man giggled, "You need to shave."
"So do you!" Harry reached out and poked Louis' cheek. "You're even scruffier than I am. Caveman."
"Frog face."
"Frogs don't have facial hair!" Harry crowed. "So you admit that your face is worse than mine."
Louis did what he considered himself best at, turning his face away from Harry in a pout until Harry reached for him, cooing out apologies and standing and limping to help Louis eat his sandwich.
"You need to stop walking on that," Louis huffed.
"I'm perfectly fine," Harry chuckled. "And don't tell anyone, but no one knows it's hurt. They'd probably send me home or something and then I wouldn't have an excuse to come here and visit you."
"They don't-" Louis began shrilly before he broke off into coughing. Harry stroked his hair anxiously until Louis regained his composure. "You need to tell them you're hurt. What if they send you off to do something dangerous and you get hurt even further, what-"
"My ankle is fine," Harry huffed. "Besides. Tomorrow I'm going to talk to Agent Murs again and see if Grimshaw is headed to court yet. The sooner we get your trial up, the sooner I can be sure that you're getting house arrest and community service. Now, eat your sandwich."
"Agent Murs should come here," Louis teased. "He could probably give me more information. Plus I love him tons more."
Harry's face grew jealous, and he playfully but still not so playfully growled as he leaned and nipped Louis' ear, "Eat your sandwich..."
Louis complied with Harry's wishes, finding that the sandwich actually wasn't horrible. It was far better than come soup, yet he still made Harry eat half of it so Harry would stay around longer. He finally got to be read to from Robin Hood, and he actually found himself drifting off to sleep as Harry's slow and deep voice read to him softly. He fought against his heavy eyelids, though, tangling his fingers together with Harry's and wincing a bit as he accidentally jostled his IV, "I'm really glad you still visit me even though I'm stuck here and forced to practically use my own bed as a bathroom. It even grosses me out that nurses have to come change my bedpan and freaking bag of piss every few hours."
"Go to sleep, Louis," Harry chuckled.
"No listen," Louis insisted.
"Are you on drugs again?"
"No!" Louis huffed, pouting until Harry urged him to continue. "I'm just extremely glad that you come and visit me everyday. All of this would really suck without you here and I really love you a lot for doing all of this for me."
"Wouldn't have it any other way, Shakira," Harry hummed, leaning and kissing the man softly. "Now sleep. We want your slight fever to go down."
"Don't even feel like I have a fever," Louis sighed.
"It's all the medication," Harry said softly, reaching to stroke Louis' hair and adjust Louis' blankets and the coats that covered him.
"Oh," Louis frowned, nodding at the coats on top of him. "Take one of these with you, you son of a bitch. I should kick your ass for going coatless. Just wait till my ribs are better, you'll be in for it then."
"I'm ready," Harry chuckled. "Bring it."
"I'll crush you like the Egghead you are," Louis sighed, his eyes fluttering closed as his hand clasped Harry's tighter. "I love you. And I mean it. Boyfriend."
"I love you and I mean it. Boyfriend." Harry whispered, tugging the coats higher around Louis as a slight shiver ran through the man. Although, it was more from Harry's words than cold, Louis was suddenly too tired to protest.
And of course, because he hadn't expected anything more, he was still covered with Harry's two coats the next morning, once more with one of Harry's notes that were growing increasingly famous:
Boyfriend,
You need my coats more than I do. I'll see you later and hopefully bring you news on your case. Which is what I've actually supposed to have been doing all this time, but you know how it works. I really hope you don't have a fever today and I want you to know right now I'll be worrying for you the entire time I'm away. I know you worry that I'll get hurt on the job, too. So I'll make you a deal - you stay okay for me, and I'll stay okay for you. Deal? I love you in scary amounts.
Love (much more than Agent Murs),
Other Boyfriend ... AKA Egghead
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