For the Road

26

The sound of a fist connecting with flesh brings Louis back to reality. He looks up and frowns as he sees Harry clutching a bloody nose. Louis quickly pushes himself away from the fans.

"Get away from him!" Louis can hear the distress in his voice as he hurries towards Harry. Louis looks up and sees a passerby holding back the guy that must've hit Harry. Louis pulls Harry's hands away from his face and looks over Harry's bloody nose and swollen eye.

"Are you okay? Jesus, what's happening? Why did he hit you?" Louis knows that the fans that had been taking pictures with him, are now, probably, shooting videos. He knows that he shouldn't be too caring towards Harry in fear of them getting labeled 'more than friends', but he can't care less.

"I'm fine, my nose just hurts," Harry groans. Louis lets out a sigh of relief. He angrily flips off the guy that punched Harry knowing the cameras are filming him. Louis doesn't care if anyone captures the Moment or his finger. The dickhead deserves it.

Louis stays close to Harry. He knows he shouldn't be worried about his bloody nose or swollen eye, but he is. Louis can't get a good look at Harry's nose here, so he figures they should probably head back to the hotel. He feels a little bad for leaving the fans behind, but he's sure they'll forgive him.

"Yeah, bet you're feeling cocky now, huh! You load of faggots," The guy screams. Louis clenches his jaw angrily and forces his anger down. He'd be lying if he said that his temper isn't short. Being in the music industry hasn't helped his anger issues any.

The walk to the hotel isn't long since they hadn't walked that far to begin with. Louis keeps checking on Harry to make sure he's okay as they make their way to the elevator. When they finally get up the elevator, Louis opens the door to his room and ushers Harry in. "Let me get your nose cleaned up," Louis says. He hurries to the bathroom and wets a piece of toilet paper before joining Harry.

"I'm fine, Louis, really," Harry protests. Louis glares at him and points for Harry to sit on the bed. Harry rolls his eyes but does it anyway. After Harry sits, Louis stands in between Harry's leg so he can get access to the boy's face.

"No, you're not fine. You just got punched. Let me at least clean off the blood," Louis demands. Harry turns away from Louis' hand as he goes into dab at the blood.

"I said I'm fine. You're acting like I've never gotten punched before. It's not a big deal," Harry argues. Louis' stomach clenches. This isn't the first time? Someone's punched Harry before now?

"Let me clean off the blood and that'll be the end of it," Louis argues back. Harry sighs loudly and gestures for Louis to hurry up.

Louis smiles, glad that Harry's letting him at least clean the area up a little. The blood around his nose as already started to dry, but the boy's under-eye is starting to turn a light shade of purple. Louis leans in with the paper towel, but Harry flinches away before he has the chance to touch Harry's skin. "I haven't even touched you, yet," Louis sighs. Harry grimaces.

"It hurts, Love," Harry complains.

"I've gotta clean it off so I can see how bad it is. You need to ice it too," Louis throws in. Harry grumbles loudly and sags his shoulders.

Louis leans back in and gently presses the wet paper to Harry's nose. Harry tenses under his hold but doesn't say anything. Taking this as a sign, Louis continues lightly dabbing away at the blood until most of it's gone.

"Okay, all done, let me just grab some ice so you can ice it. It'll help with the swelling," Louis explains.

"I know," Harry mutters.