I Still Need You

Chapter three

~

(Skinny Dipping by Sabrina Carpenter)

"This is where you can sleep." Louis gestured awkwardly to the newly furnished guest room beside his own.

"Again, thanks for letting me stay Louis. It means a lot." Harry strided into the room, throwing his suitcase and bag haphazardly onto the bed. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet when heavy, awkward silence filled the room.

"Yeah no problem. Don't mention it. I'll uh, see you later." Louis lightly pushed himself off of the doorframe and walked into his room, closing the door. When Harry heard the door click he walked over to his and closed it as well, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He looked around the room, the cream coloured curtains billowing into the room with the wind from the partially opened window. The beige room was accented by the black bedspread covering the double bed lined up against the wall to the right of the window. The shelves above the bed were lined with some of One Direction's old awards and photos. One caught his eye. He climbed on top of the bed and reached for it.

The photo was of him and Louis from 2010. He had a rose in his hand and he was posed as if he was proposing to Louis with it. A stray tear escaped as he traced his thumb along the black frame, a sad smile on his face. "If only we knew all the shit that was coming for us." He whispered, placing the photo back on the bedside table instead of the shelf. His phone went off as he started to unpack his suitcase.

Hey haz, is everything okay? Paps released photos of you going into the hospital today.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Hey gems. Uh, no actually. Jay's in the hospital indefinitely. Cancer has spread. Lottie called and told me Jay wanted to see me so I went.

Oh no :( How's everyone doing since they heard? Where are you staying right now? The hospital u were papped at is like two hours away from ur house.

They're doing okay I think. Ernie and Doris are too young to really understand what's going on. Daisy and Phoebe seem to be coping from what I've seen. Fizzy is as well. I think this is hitting Louis and Lottie the hardest though. I've never seen Lottie cry so much in one day. My house flooded last week and I can't go back for a while. I'm staying with Louis at his house.

That's good that you're there for them Haz. I'm sorry about your house though. Are you sure it's a good idea to stay with Louis after everything that's happened?

We'll see. I needed a place and he said I could crash for a while. I'm just hoping we can at least be civil.

Yeah alright. Call me if anyone needs anything.

I will :) thanks Gems

No problem! And Haz, don't forget to use protection ;)

GEMMA! Really? *unimpressed*

Hehe ;) alright, ttyl haz.

Ttyl?

God you're useless with modern trends. Talk to you later.

Oh. Alright yeah tlk ltr :)

🤦‍♀️

Harry smiled, successful in annoying his sister and continued to organize his belongings. He paused after a moment,

Wait did you say you found out I was at the hospital because I was papped in a magazine?

Uh, yeah?

What was the article called?

'Timeline of Harry Styles being there for Louis Tomlinson in one of the toughest parts of his life' I believe. Also, Larry Stylinson is trending on twitter again.

Fuck.

...

The next few days passed by awkwardly. Side steps in the kitchen to avoid touching each other as if the other had the plague, scarce words shared, and silent, heavy drives to the hospital each day to see Jay. They barely talked unless need be.

Almost one week after Harry had taken up the guest bedroom, he was sitting on the living room couch, computer in his lap, finalising and touching up the last details in Two Ghosts that he hadn't gotten to when Louis strolled into the room, sighing loudly and plopping down on the sofa next to Harry, their shoulders almost touching.

"Yes?" Harry questioned. Louis had avoided coming withing two feet of harry all week yet here he was, Sat beside him and trying to look over his shoulder at his computer screen.

"I'm bored." Louis groaned, "whatcha working on?"

Harry muttered, "oh y'know, just final details on the first song of my album. I'm almost done so I can leave and you can watch the telly or whatever."

"Can I listen instead?"

"Uh- sure if you want. I guess... I'll grab the headphones." Harry stuttered as he reached to the coffee table for the bulky, black headphones Louis had given him two christmas' before. He plugged them into the computer and handed them to Louis.

"Thanks." He smiled as he put them on. "What's it called?"

"Two Ghosts." He shakily pressed play and fiddled with his fingers in his lap, knowing what part of the song was playing based on Louis' reaction.

After the song had played through Louis took the headphones off slowly and folded his hands around them in his lap. They sat in silence for a moment before Louis rasped out, "when did you write this?"

"Twenty-thirteen I guess. It felt relevant enough to dig out." He nodded solemly. The silence encapsulated them once more for a while, neither daring to move or leave. Louis gingerly reached for the television remote and tuned into an early episode of Hells Kitchen.

They stayed like that for a while, beside one another, shoulders barely touching and close enough to feel the heat radiating from each others bodies.

At some point a while later, they fell asleep in a half-spoon with re-runs of Love Is Blind playing softly from the tv.

...

Louis woke up first. He groaned, trying to reach for his phone but was blocked by a warm body instead. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused, until he remembered the night before. He smiled lightly and almost cuddled into Harry's warmth. You can't do this. Not anymore. The voice in his head reprimanded him. Louis rolled his eyes at himself but nonetheless moved out from behind Harry as silently and softly as he could without waking up his sleeping figure. He draped a blanket over Harry's body and turned the telly off before dragging himself away and up to his cold bed where Harry wasn't a comforting weight lulling him to sleep. 

(A/N)

This was originally going to be a longer chapter but it made more sense to split it. The next chapter will be longer and has some important bits in it so it might take a little while longer to upload but please be patient :) 

How's everyone doing?

Are you eating and drinking enough?

I love you all ❤️

Gigi x.