Harry somehow managed to hold back the tears until he was in his car. When he ran away from Louis, he only stopped to pull on his trousers, everything else he just grabbed into his arms and got the hell out of there. Now, sitting alone in his car, he leaned his arms on the steering wheel, cradled his head on his hands and started sobbing. How could he have been so stupid? Why did he still have that tiny little bit of hope that Louis would be able to change? Wasn't last time enough?
He should have known better. Louis had been more than wasted yesterday, which was the only reason he even talked to Harry and let him take care of him. But Harry had always been an optimist. And he did have a really great evening before. He had been at the launch of the Another Man Magazine that featured him, photos which were supposed to be the first small step towards his coming out. He had felt so free and accepted, even Gemma had showed up. He should have gone home with her. Or anywhere else, really.
But no, he agreed to join Alister Mackie and a few others to that pub that everyone said would be phenomenally discreet and safe for celebrities. Well, at least that was true. Harry didn't think he could deal with some headlines of Louis and him on top of everything.
When he had managed to hold the tears back for over a minute, he collected himself, breathed deeply and then started the engine.
~~~
It was two days later when Harry heard from Louis again.
He was in his studio, writing some bits and pieces for some new songs that had been in his mind for a while. He was so immersed in his music, that he didn't even hear the phone ring the first few seconds, and therefore didn't look at the caller's ID before hurrying to accept the call.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Harry."
Oh. He didn't expect to hear that all too familiar, high pitched voice.
"Louis, hey."
He didn't know what else to say. He was running out of ideas how to handle Louis without driving him away again, so he decided to just let Louis decide for him.
"What are you up to?" Louis asked then, but he somehow didn't really sound like himself.
"Nothing much. Just in the studio, writing a little bit. What about you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to disturb you. Just tell me if you want to get back to writing. I don't want to bother you."
Okay. There is definitely something going on and Harry wasn't going to let Louis get away that easily again.
"No, you're not bothering me, Louis, never. What's going on? Are you alright?"
"Yeah. Um... no actually. But I can't do this over the phone."
"What- Louis? Is everyone ok? What happened?" Harry started to panic.
"No, yeah, everyone is alright. For now. But - I just. Can I talk to you please? I just need someone to talk to right now."
Louis sounded so anxious and Harry didn't like it one bit.
"Of course Louis. Anytime. Where are you? I can come to wherever you are."
"I'm at my house. But I don't want to be here right now. Can I come to yours?"
"No problem. I'm home. Drive safe, see you in a bit."
"Alright. Thanks, Haz."
~~~
When Harry opened the door, he wasn't prepared for a tired and pretty battered looking Louis, who was wearing big sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, a beanie over his hair and the hood pulled on top of that. He had dark circles under his eyes and his whole posture was slumped.
YOU ARE READING
After all that time
Fanfiction"I'm sorry I fell asleep on you." Louis murmured. "It's alright" Harry answered. Because 'Oh no it's alright, I loved having you near me again, all sleepy and cuddly' seemed not the right thing to say at that point, he opted for adding "You seem...
