I Still Need You

Chapter four

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(Happier by Ed Sheeran)

Harry woke up around one, hours after Louis had left him on the couch. He groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes as he tried to recall his surroundings.

Louis was in the kitchen making a cup of tea when Harry walked in wrapped in a blanket and squinting at the light five minutes later. Louis looked up from his mug and smiled, leaning against the counter when he saw him. "Oh good, you're up. I was thinking, maybe we should skip the hospital today? We've gone every day this week. I think we should give mum a day of peace." Louis handed Harry his own tea when he walked closer. He took it slowly.

"Thanks. Uh- yeah sure, whatever you want." He rasped, his voice laced with sleep. He sipped his tea, it was perfect. Louis still knew how to make his tea the way he liked. No one else had yet to do that.

"Wanna order in and have a relaxing day? Just watching movies or whatever?" Louis asked, pushing himself off the counter and going to the fridge to grab eggs.

"Yeah sure. Again, whatever you want." Harry watched as Louis got out a pan and struggled to crack an egg over it. Harry laughed softly and walked over, nudging Louis out of the way with his hip and lifting the egg out of his hands. "Still don't know how to crack an egg? Have I taught you nothing?!" He joked. Louis just shrugged and sat himself on the counter beside the stove.

"We both know I'm terrible in the kitchen. Always have been, always will be."

"Yeah, yeah. Doesn't mean I won't stop trying to teach you though."

"Good luck Styles."

"Hey," Harry giggled. "Don't pretend like I didn't teach you some stuff. You know how to mash an avocado now."

Louis grimaced "Bleh! Fucking avocados. Hate them. Next thing I know you'll be teaching me how to cut a tomato." They laughed and some of the still residing tension in the room was lifted.

"Anyways, here are your eggs, over easy on toast, as always." Harry slid Louis' plate over to him with cutlery

"Why thank you lo-Harry. Haz. Thanks." Louis grinned, hopping down from the counter and sauntering off to the living room. Harry grinned soppily after him, shaking his head at the old pet name Louis gave him when he was sixteen while he cleaned up the dishes. "Are you coming or what!?" Louis called from the couch, "I found Greenhouse Academy, that show we used to watch."

"Yeah, yeah. Coming!" He finished drying the few dishes that were there and walked over to Louis, taking a seat beside him on the couch. Louis pressed play on an episode in the newest season and they watched in silence.

A couple minutes in, Louis leaned over and whispered, "Do you have any idea what's going on?" Harry shook his head.

"No. Not a clue. I stopped watching after we, well, you know." He shrugged. Louis nodded.

"Yeah, me too. Let's just go back to the last episode we remember watching." He paused the episode and went back to one they recognized and pressed play.

Again, after about ten minutes of the pair silently watching, Louis quietly and softly asked, "So, you also stopped watching this after we broke up?" Harry turned to look at him only to see that Louis had fully positioned his body to face him.

"Well, yeah." He raised one shoulder to his ear, "It was our thing, you know? It felt wrong to watch it without you."

Louis nodded and briefly looked back to the screen before turning again. "Yeah. Same for me. Old habits die hard I guess. I've thought about watching it on my own, but like you said, it just didn't feel right."