A Twist of Fate - Larry Stylinson

Part VI

And so the next day, Wednesday, off Louis went to Harry's dorm. He'd texted Harry beforehand so that the sick boy could get out of bed slowly to open the door. When Harry opened the door wrapped in a thick blanket, Louis' heart seemed to ache with worry. Harry looked so pale and sick, his normally lively green eyes dull. It definitely wasn't normal to feel cold in the heat of Australia in December.

Louis stepped into the dorm and closed the door behind him, helping Harry back to his bed to lie down before sitting down beside him. Harry picked up a small whiteboard and a marker by his bed and wrote. 

I went to see the nurse, she said I can't talk. :(

Louis laughed. But under that, he was anxious and worried as hell. "Well, it's okay, I'll talk to you and you just write back," he smiled gently down at the boy, pushing his curls to the side of his forehead. 

No! I'll feel jealous because you can talk and I can't! 

Louis raised his eyebrow and chuckled. "Okay then, we'll take turns to write. And I'll play some music so it's not all quiet, is that alright for you, Mr. Styles?" Louis teased, and Harry nodded, grinning stupidly. Louis took out his phone and music began playing. Harry passed the whiteboard and marker to Louis, who put on his "thinking face", thinking of what to write. 

Hi.

Hi. 

Get well soon.

You're boring.

Ouch :( that hurt </3

Shut up and entertain me, Tommo.

So that was how they started playing hangman and the manual version of Draw Something. And by the end of the day, Harry looked a lot better.  Louis almost credited it to his loving care, but if anything, he knew all he did was entertain Harry. He didn't seem to do a very good job of it, because while he was attempting (and failing) to draw a portrait of Harry, the latter fell asleep, and Louis briefly wondered if he took that long. 

Asleep, Harry looked kind of lovely with his long eyelashes resting on his cheek. But Louis would rather see his gorgeous green eyes. Louis turned off his music and observed Harry for a while longer. In the loud silence all that Louis could hear was his and Harry's breathing, watching as his chest rose and fell rhythmically. Louis didn't dare to move, because it seemed as if he'd wake Harry up if he made the slightest movement or breathed harder.

Once again, he carefully pushed Harry's curls aside and placed his palm gently on Harry's forehead. Louis smiled to himself; the fever was finally gone. Quietly, he got up from the bed and pulled the covers over Harry. He took one last glance down at the other boy before turning the lights off and leaving the room.

~*~

When Louis got home, it was already evening, and it was with a sudden stab of guilt that he realized he hadn’t told his mother he would be late.

“Sorry Mum, I went to visit Harry after school,” he explained, ignoring Lottie’s accusing glare for being so late and walking sheepishly into the living room.

His mother just shook her head, sighing and saying something fondly about “spending all your time with Harry nowadays,” to which Louis had protested that it was only for a few days, since he was leaving on Saturday.

And only after the words left his mouth did he realise how little time he had left. Most of Wednesday was already over, and he was pretty sure Harry didn’t want to spend the whole of Saturday out before having to rush to the airport to catch his flight.