The Brother I Never Wanted (Larry AU)

Chapter 11

Louis shoves his small hands under his thick thighs, feeling the sharp, cool sting of the metal beneath them even through his mittens. He planned to be sitting out today after his injury and everything. He even had everything packed in his bag in advance the night before - but it's just not enough for the chilly English weather. The only thing that could make it worse would be if it started to snow. His legs are numb and his nose feels, disgustingly, like it's frozen with snot. He envies the players who prance around in front of him as if mocking him. He really should've brought another jacket.

Distantly, he can hear the faint voices of his team at the other end of the field, but it's unintelligible and he struggles to maintain interest. It's so fucking cold, he's frozen, he's tired, and his leg seems to be getting stiffer by the minute. The list just keeps getting longer. It does get him thinking about his bandage however, and he frowns, wondering if it'd be wise to change it or not.

Ah, what the hell? He's just sitting here wasting time and energy anyway. Louis attempts to pry the first mitten off using his other hand, but it seems to be near impossible with his frigid fingers, so he settles for using his teeth and it comes off hesitantly. He grumbles incoherently under his breath. What's the point of wearing mittens if they can't even keep your bloody hands warm?

Earlier, towards the beginning of practice, Louis had pulled his homework from his bag and spread it across the bench, pencil in hand and ready to tackle his learning. It didn't take him long to realize that wasn't going to happen. He had felt like a little kid, trying to hold the utensil in his mitten and shakily scratch out some words that turned out to be mostly squiggles. He had quickly dismissed the idea of getting anything productive done and crammed the papers back into his bag with a sigh. He doesn't understand why he can't just go home. Why does he have to stay after school and watch when he's injured? Is he learning anything from watching? No. Is he healing any faster? No, he's probably healing slower with the way his blood feels frozen. It just doesn't make sense to him.

Louis sucks in a sharp breath, wincing as he rolls up the leg of his sweatpants just above the bandage wrapped securely around his knee. He's immediately assaulted with a blast of cold air as soon as his skin is exposed, and he almost yanks it back down. He shudders violently, teeth clanking noisily. Using his hands, he frantically feels along the ground beneath the bench, running over the crispy, dry grass until they land on the first aid kit.

A whistle pierces through the air, and Louis looks up as he unclasps the case. The players all sprint gratefully towards the sideline where a bunch of plastic bottles are dumped carelessly on the turf, diving to take a quick drink and bouncing up and down on the balls of their feet. Ha, they think they're cold, he spits bitterly in his head. They should try spending five minutes on the bench with him. He's quick to find Niall hovering at the edge of the group, sending him concerned stares, but when he looks closely, Harry's tall frame isn't among the mingling bodies. Weird. He could've sworn he saw him earlier. He's probably just hiding under one of the many hats bobbing on the field. Louis waves at Niall to assure him he's fine.

The kit in front of him is laid out exactly like how he remembers it being yesterday, so it's not hard to find the roll of gauze that Niall used. He sets it beside his hip and gives a quick blow to his hands, scrubbing them before digging his fingers under the edge of the bandage and slowly peeling it off. It already looks kind of old and dirty - the white stained red, brown, and maybe a light yellow. The final length of wrap sticks almost painfully to his skin, and he grimaces. Just yank it off like a bandaid, Louis. Finally, it snaps off and he's left with a healing, but pretty gruesome, wound. After cleaning it out with some more of that spray that makes him want to cry and scream at the same time and some wipes, it doesn't look nearly as big, nor as bad, as he first gave it credit for, and he exhales in relief. It's actually healing rather nicely, leaving mostly just a scab to heal.