My mouth hung open as I watched the specks of white paint drip from my shirt onto the plastic covering the floor. I looked up to see Harry watching me with cheeky grin, eyes sparkling in delight. He waving his brush teasingly.
"Harry!" I exclaimed with a laugh, lunging in his direction with my own brush. I narrowly missed as he nimbly darted out of the way, cackling loudly. He dragged his brush across the grey wall as he ran by, drawing a long wavering line that reached all the way down the hall way.
"I'm going to get you!" I dipped my paintbrush deep into the can and chased after him, splattering spots of paint over the walls on my way.
Soon I had him trapped in the corner. There weren't a lot of places to run in a hallway. Neither of us could dredge the goody grins from our faces as I sauntered closer, holding the brush out threateningly. Harry held his arms out, "No! Niall!" he giggled, "I like this shirt!"
I snorted and leered close enough to touch him, "you like hot chocolate stains do you? That shirt is at least a hundred years old."
Harry closed his eyes, "it's chocolate sauce actually."
"Well how about I paint it white for you? Cover it up nice and quick?" Harry shrieked as I lashed out, leaving a thick streak of paint across his cheek and another down the length of his face. His eyes flew back open and I squeaked at the playfulness sparking in them, he was coming after me. Laughing and hyper I took off in the other direction, Harry right on my heels.
Ten minutes later we both covered head to toe in thick paint and sprawled out on the floor, just cracking up.
I'm not embarrassed to say that it took the two of the entire day to paint the walls of the hallwayWe didn't do the best job of it either but we'd had fun and opened up the space like we'd wanted to. It was a lot brighter now and finally it looked big enough to slap some colour on the walls.
Harry seemed a bit sleepy by the time we finished up so we closed the paint cans but didn't bother cleaning much else up. We made up a couple of homemade pizzas to eat in front of the TV and I couldn't help but chuckle at Harry as he sat on the couch chewing languidly at a slice of pizza without even biting it. He looked super tired, it hadn't been the most eventful day but being on his feet for all of it must've been enough to tire him out properly.
Lazily his gaze slid over to me, "huh?"
I laughed again and shook my head, "nothing babe, you just look exhausted."
Harry sighed and put his pizza down with a nod, "I am, and the paint fumes are starting to give me a headache. Can we maybe sleep in the guest room tonight?"
The guest room wasn't connected to the hallway like the other room, instead it was just off the lounge. It was supposed to be the master bedroom really but one of the other rooms had a balcony so we'd set up in there, despite it being a little smaller.
"Course we can H, how about we head off for bed now? You're gonna drop off right here if we don't go soon," I suggested with a smile. He was right about the paint fumes, I'd gotten to used to the smell ages ago but I could tell by the itchiness of my eyes that it was still kind of strong. Really we should've found somewhere else to sleep the night probably, but it was too late now. The guest room would be fine for one night.
Harry stretched his arms up above his head and yawned, squeezing his eyes shut, "okey dokey, you'll grab the pizza then? Are you offering to clean?"
He opened a single eye hopefully.
I rolled my eyes but I found that I couldn't possibly deny him, I could tell that he really was dead on his feet and cleaning up wouldn't take much longer than five minutes anyway. "Okay, you head off to bed then, I'll meet you there."
Harry cheered and pressed a slow kiss to my lips, "thanks Babe."
"This is a one off," I warned playfully. Harry smiled sweetly, dimples flashing for a brief moments before they disappeared in another yawn. He used my shoulders to lever himself onto his feet and then trotted off towards the guest room.
I switched off the TV and piled the empty plates on top of each other to carry to the kitchen. After scraping Harry's crusts off into the trash I loaded the plates into the dishwasher and turned it on so that we'd have dishes for in the morning. The oven was all switched off so I scurried around turning all the lights off for a few moments before going to the guest room to jump into bed beside Harry. I would've like some cuddle time before going to sleep but Harry was already fast asleep, mouth hanging open and curls tossed all over the pillows.
I smiled fondly and quietly changed out into half a set of pajamas. Harry hadn't even closed the curtains before passing out so I did that, brushed my teeth quickly, and then got into bed. Harry shifted slightly as I got comfortable and made soft whistle sound but he didn't wake, even when I knocked my elbow on the bed frame and clanging sound of bone against steel reverberated around the room, along with my little shriek.
I chuckled as I rubbed my elbow, he must've really been tired.
It didn't take very long for my own eyes to become droopy and before I knew it I was falling asleep too.
***
At some point my dreams became strange enough to wake me up, completely confused and wondering why something as simple as a boring tractor stalling over and over had seemed so realistic in my sleep. I shifted, frowning to myself in the darkness.
It was a mere few moments later than I realised the wheezing sound had followed me out of my dreams.
"Harry?" I whispered, rolling over and blindly reaching for him.
He didn't respond but by then I knew what the wheezing was and where it was coming from, I needed to wake him up.
I quickly turned the lamp on and shook Harry's shoulder, using my other hand to move his sticky hair away from his face. He was curled up on his side, his chest rattling with every breath. I wanted to hit myself for not recognising the familiar noise earlier, this was by far not the first of Harry's asthma attacks I had witnessed. Although, it was a bit strange. We stayed prepared for them in the colder months and when he was sick but right now I couldn't think of anything that could've triggered his asthma. The only thing that was different was the bedroom, but that didn't really make any sense either because there was no big change in that. Unless it had something to do with the paint fumes.
God, why didn't we think of that earlier?
Harry woke with a breathless gasp. Groggy and still half asleep he clung to my arms to pull himself up into a sitting position.
"It's okay Babe, you're okay. I just need you to tell me where you've put your inhaler," I promoted as gently as I could. I knew from experience that things definitely went smoother if I could keep him from panicking and getting flustered.
Harry coughed and spluttered some, inhaled sharply and then told me in a choppy voice, "normal place, table, bedroom."
He bent over his chest with a groan and a wheezy cough, "hurts."
"I know, come on H, sit up properly. Nice and straight so the air can get in yeah?"
Harry hummed and did as I asked, swallowing hard and then coughing again.
"I'll be right back." I left a chaste kiss on his temple and ran off to the bathroom, flicking on just about every light in the house on my way past. I tore through Harry's bedside draw until I found his emergency inhaler and then raced it back to him in the guest room. In the dull yellow lamp light he was as white as a sheet and glistening with sweat, wheezing like a ninety year old smoker. It was hard to picture him running down the hallway like he had been all day, he looked so sick.
"Here Haz, do you need me to help you?"
He shook his head and swiped the inhaler out of my hand, hastily sliding it between his lips and inhaling a choked breath of the medication. His hand shook and he wheezed again, pausing.
"Again H," I prompted, stabilising his hand with mine. He squeezed his eyes closed and took another puff.
I kneeled there beside him on the mattress for another fifteen minutes while we waited for the scary rattling to ease. Harry continued to take breaths of the inhaler, gradually lengthening the time period between each one. He slouched against my chest so I shifted closer to keep his back straight and airways wide open.
"How are you feeling?" I murmured quietly.
"Better..." Harry breathed raspily.
"Up to walking? A sit outside in the fresh air would do you good. And then I reckon we should spend the rest of the night in the garage away from all this paint." I rubbed his bare back.
"I'm kinda sh-shaky Ni," Harry mumbled. He sounded so exhausted I almost wanted to tell him not to bother but I knew that it would be a lot safer to sleep somewhere else.
"I can feel it, you're vibrating," I chuckled.
Harry smiled slightly, "I don't know how well my legs are gonna work."
"I'll help you. Are you going to be okay if I leave for a couple minutes to set up a mattress in the garage? I won't leave you if you still feel breathless or something."
Harry shook his head, "I'm good, that part's over thankfully. I'm just really tired."
"Is your throat okay this time? Sore chest?"
"It's not too bad."
I winced and sighed sympathetically, "I'm really sorry babe, I wish I'd have realised the paint fumes would set you off."
Harry blinked meagrely, "it's not your fault."
I sighed again, "try not to fall asleep while I'm gone, I'll be as quick as I can."
"Okay..."
Dragging our heavy mattress through the house was no easy task and by the time I'd gotten it across the driveway and into the garage I was sweating and red faced, and my arms were aching furiously. The damn thing must've weighed a ton. When I got back to Harry I had to laugh at how hard he was trying not to drift off. If I'd gotten back to him five minutes later he'd have probably been snoring away.
"I've gotcha Babe, just a quick walk and you can go to sleep," I said as I helped him shuffle to the edge of the bed.
"I'm about to fall asleep now..." He croaked, amused at himself, "can hardly keep my eyes open."
"Close them if you want, I'll make sure ya don't walk into any walls."
Harry hummed happily and leaned his head on my shoulder as I levered him slowly up onto his feet. I could feel his knees shaking and he let out a grunt as he forced them still.
I'd been planning on sitting down in the deck chairs for a few minutes but it was obvious Harry wasn't going to stay awake long enough so we went straight into the garage. Thankfully we'd carpeted the floor so it was reasonably warm in there.
Harry smiled at me and coughed dryly as he laid down and snuggled into the blankets.
"Your inhaler's right beside you if you need it again Hazza."
A grunt of appreciation.
"Wake me if you need anything."
Another grunt.
"I'm sorry about the paint thing."
"Shut up Niall, hurry up and cuddle with me."
Asthma actually terrifies me. I don't know what it is about it but holy shit does it scare me. I would be absolutely useless in a situation like this because I would be freaking out too. Despite fearing the subject, this was pretty fun to write, so thanks for the request!
The next request is for: stylinhoraynexxx