Impulse

Chapter 14

*NARRATOR'S POV*

Edward got out of bed when his thoughts morphed from scary to crippling. It didn't make a difference when he started descending the staircase and he had maintain that much more of his balance in order to keep stable. His demons that ruled the deepest fantasy of his imagination were alight and aloof, making him see double when there wasn't even anything there.

He was least surprised to find two of his house-mates in the kitchen, carrying on as teenagers do when the awkwardness of their first date has past. Ah yes, the date Edward promised.

"Is there a particular reason you and my brother are hidden in our kitchen?" He asked Louis when he got closer, near enough to the bemused boy to have the scent of his early morning sleepiness.

"Harry cooked." Louis hadn't been able to finish his portion of the breakfast meal Harry prepared, and so offered some to Edward. "I can't finish it all."

"I can help with that, petal." Edward speaks with an increasing huskiness to his voice.

Louis feels the unwavering singe of eyes staring, open-ended and burning bright as it penetrated all the walls Louis put up to keep safe behind. Edward swallows hard and turns his attention with record-breaking speed as soon as Louis looks at him.

"Edwa-"

Edward can't handle this right now, as early as it is in the morning. He abandons all chance of helping Louis with any eating. "I'm going outside."

Harry catches Edward's line of sight in that moment, about to say what Louis soon will, and stops himself. He doesn't understand the look in his brother's eye and he knows every look as of their birth.

"It's freezing outside." Louis comments, eyes squinting but so appealing and soft as they peered up at Edward.

The latter clenched his fists until he felt the sting of his nails digging into his palms, to keep from reaching out and caressing some sacred part of his personal holy grail. He didn't know what to do when his petal looked at him this way, couldn't begin to comprehend the ordeal of what emotions it rendered highlighted and festering within him. It was beautiful torture.

Edward turns around and leaves before any more reason to not escape to their own yard - thinking of this place as Louis' home too made him nauseous with glee. He unlocked the glass sliding door and disappeared behind the curtains that whipped noisily in the new cool air. Edward shut it from the outside before the indoors got unbearable.

"It's okay, petal." Harry was suddenly in front of Louis, drawing the boy's priceless attention back to him. "My brother is a man with many faces. He's just trying to protect you from them."

Louis doesn't say anything and when his cheek comes to rest on Harry's sturdy shoulder, his eyes are trained on the exit Edward made.

He loses his mind to his thoughts for a brief trek down his train of thought's path. Edward had become so...hostile? Is that an inappropriate adjective? Why was he keeping his distance after last night when they hadn't even fought with a gruesome outcome.

"We need to ice your ankle, I believe." Harry breaks up the reverie that Louis' concentration zeroed in on.

Louis could only nod dumbly and hope it was act outside the duty of his vivid imagination. He let Harry help him off his perch on the maroon stool structure then be lifted entirely off the ground before laying down on a noisy couch. The fabric was remarkably smooth and turned a shade darker in brown when he ran his hand over the shiny tendrils of synthetic fur.

"Harry, please don't-" He started to get up when he realised what this man hoped to accomplished. Louis can take care of himself, even in this decrepit state.