REHAB [5SOS]

DAMAGED

[ A/N I am so sorry at how long this has taken. I tried to make it extra long to make up for the wait. I hope you enjoy. ]

DAMAGED

Liam

Liam would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous.

He'd always known Harry was a bit mental, even without the whole Louis situation, and that made him a little bit less than eager to venture straight into the mouth of the lion.

Still, Harry was his best friend, and he owed him a visit. It had been a while, anyways.

So that's why Liam was standing there, in front of Harry's door, trying to summon the courage to reach out a hand, turn the knob, and open it.

He'd tried to stall by talking to Zayn and Hazelle, chatting about how they were doing, and more importantly, how Harry was doing. Zayn had been stoic, as usual, although his expression was tight when Liam asked him about Harry. Hazelle started crying when she recounted how Harry had reacted when she'd gone to see him.

Liam might look impressive, but at the moment he felt like his stomach was twisting itself into knots.

Finally, he reached out a hand and opened the door.

"Who is it?" a ragged voice croaked before Liam had gotten the door open more than a sliver. And before he'd opened it all the way, the voice had continued, "No, Lou, calm down."

Liam opened the door and looked in.

Harry was lying perfectly still on his back, looking up at the ceiling, one of his hands curled around nothing. He seemed perfectly fine, calm, his expression smooth. But Liam knew Harry enough to recognize the slight clench of his jaw, the subtle wrinkle in his brow.

"Harry?" Liam asked quietly.

The reaction was instantaneous. Harry jumped into a sitting position, eyes locking on Liam, raking him up and down several times before his tense stance relaxed slightly. "Oh, Liam," he muttered, voice rough. "It's all okay. It's all fine. Liam's here now."

Liam was pretty sure Harry wasn't talking to him.

"How are you?" Liam asked.

Harry winced before answering, "Fine, fine." He brushed his hair back; it had gotten rather long. "I'm good, I guess. It's been better... but I've got Lou back." He managed a weak smile.

Pain twisted Liam's expression. "Harry, you know-"

"I love him," Harry said quietly, looking down at his dirty boots before looking back up at Liam, eyes glowing. "I can't explain it. But he's everything. He's the only thing I'm sure about."

Liam groaned inwardly, because he recognized that tone. "The Louis Tone" he'd nicknamed it. It was the tone Harry adopted whenever he talked about Louis. Liam had a fairly good idea of what Louis looked like: they'd tried art therapy on Harry, until they'd realized that Harry drew nothing but Louis.

"Harry, you need to take-"

Harry flinched, and Liam could only guess that Louis hadn't liked that suggestion.

"I can't, I can't lose him."

Liam bit his lip and looked at his friend, his sympathy warring with his practicality. Harry needed to take his medicine. But Harry also needed Louis. Liam had never seen his friend as happy as he was when he was with Louis.

"We want to help you," Liam whispered.

"You can't," Harry said, shaking his head. "But at least I'm happy, right?"