Protect Him L.S. (Slow Updates)

Chapter 10

Louis -

Honestly, if anyone had said I would be doing this a month ago, I'd have said they were crazy.

I sit in a seat without a hand holding the hem of my shirt. No one breathing slowly, trying to keep calm. I'm not constantly looking around to make sure no one is staring at my boyfriend. Because he's not by my side.

Liam and Niall are currently at mine and Harry's place, looking after him. While I sit here, waiting for the therapist.

I wasn't going to come. But this morning when Harry and I took a shower together, I wanted to cry. He's lost so much more weight. His bones have started to press against his skin, making them all visible, and he's looking weaker and weaker. His sleep is more and more restless and his appetite is almost non existent.

I can't take it anymore. He can't either. At this rate he won't live to be thirty. And I need him to stay around at least until he's 120, so we can be together for another hundred years.

What I hate the most about this situation right now, even more than leaving him at home, is that I lied to him. Well, I didn't outright lie, but I didn't tell him where I was going although he obviously wanted to know.

I've kept my phone on, holding it tightly waiting for a text or phone call asking me to come home.

The door creaks open and a woman with black glasses and redline walks in, her high heels clicking against the hardwood floor. She sits down across the desk from me and smiles a therapist's smile.

"Hello, Louis. So you're here to talk about your friend, correct?" Her voice is amazingly calming and soft.

Maybe Harry wouldn't freak out if he met her.

"He's my boyfriend actually." I correct her and she smiles even more.

"That's wonderful. How long have you two been together?" She asks, almost excitedly.

"Since...God, since forever to me. But I guess it's been...a bit more than ten years, really. Obviously we weren't dating since we were kids, but we've been close since we met. So...yeah."

"That's just amazing. So, tell me, what's been going on? What's made you come here today?"

"My boyfriend, Harry, has...a problem. Well...maybe it's a lot of problems, but...it's started two years ago on the last day of school..."

And so I tell her the story of that horrific day. I talk her through Harry's surgeries he had to have after the attack and the mystery as to why he won't speak. Except those few words recently.

I tell her about him speaking, and my hopes that he was getting better. But then about how he has lost more weight and seems to be giving up on life.

"I see. Well, I can't really suggest anything to do about the situation without meeting Harry and having him come to a session. Do you think there is some way you could convince him to come?"

"Do you think you could really help him?" Is my real question.

"There's never any promises in this line of work. But he will continue to get worse without some type of treatment. Better that it be here than in an institution."

My ears start ringing and my mouth dries. An institution?

********

I walk into the house and see Niall jumping on the couch, a smiling Harry laying down on the couch, looking up at the jumping Irishman with shining green eyes.

Liam walks into the room, looking worn out. He looks utterly relieved when he sees me.

"Louis, you're back. Thank god. And- Niall, would you stop jumping on the couch!" Liam's tone changes and I want to slap his mouth shut before he finishes and Niall stops his movements and Harry tenses up.

His hands cover his ears and he pulls his legs up to his chest. He shuts his eyes tightly and I can see the rapid rising and falling of his chest to indicate his breathing. And I'm not the only one to notice.

"Liam, look what you did." Niall says accusingly, but quietly before kneeling next to my boyfriend and trying to calm him down. But he's only pushed away by Harry.

I hurry over and replace Niall. I run my hand through his hair and his eyes immediately open, and he starts to calm down.

"Hey, there. You're okay. Liam was just being an idiot, as always."

"Amen!" Niall adds and then comes over and scoots up against Harry.

"Aw, he was being a big meanie. He scared my bestest friend." Niall murmurs, wrapping his arms around the thin shoulders of my boyfriend.

"Niall, Harry's not a puppy for you to snuggle up with." Liam says from his position behind me. I stand up and turn to face him before motioning for him to follow me into the kitchen where I fill him in on the plan I have to follow through with.

******

Once Liam and Niall go home, it's just Harry and I alone in the house. Harry's snuggled up on the couch, a blanket draped over him, and his eyes fixed on the TV screen.

The sun has gone and the house gets darker and darker, so I flip on a couple lamps before sitting next to Harry and putting my arm around him, holding him close against me.

"You haven't said a word today." I tell him, in a hopeful voice. Hoping he'll take the hint and speak.

He doesn't respond, but instead continues to stare at the TV.

I move my hand to slip under the blanket covering him and feel that he's wearing only his boxers. I go to push the blanket off of him, but he's quick to grip into the fabric and keep it covering him.

"What's wrong?" I ask, and he only stares at me.

I can see it in his eyes. He's scared.

"Harry, baby, how many times am I going to have to tell you?" I ask, while pushing the blanket off his body, revealing the ever thinner him in his black boxers. Fear behind his eyes.

"You are beautiful. And I don't mind your scars." I grip into his scarred thighs and pull the lanky boy into my lap, having his thighs rest on either side of my lap. I drag my hands up his aides slowly while I stare into his eyes.

"Your scars don't change who you are. Or the way I feel about you. I don't care if your thighs are scarred or your stomach or any other part of you, I still think you are the most beautiful boy in the world." Harry's green eyes glisten and he stares down at his lap and a couple tears all from his face.

"Hey...no, don't cry, love. Please don't cry." I wrap my arms around him, pulling him close until he rests his head on my shoulder and my hands are rubbing soothing circles on his bare back.

"We can get through this, babe. But you're going to have to work with me, yeah? Can you do that?" He nods against my shoulder and I take a deep breath.

"So you'll try therapy again, right?"