the funny thing about time (minishaw)

The fall

It took him by surprise. One minute Harry was dribbling the ball and the next he was on his back, looking at the decidedly grey skies. JJ laughed as he neatly rolled the ball back and continued running with it. Harry went to stand up and let out an involuntary cry of pain. He hadn't noticed before how his ankle was at an odd angle, and now he closed his eyes tightly, willing the pain away.

"Harry! You alright?" Then Vik was there, happy little Vik. He was leaning over Harry in concern, and Harry saw the worry etched onto his face when he opened his eyes.

"My foot." Vik's eyes ran down Harry and he screamed.

"What the hell?" He shrieked as he stepped away. "Don't move, Harry. That looks really bad. Josh! Hey, Josh! Call an ambulance!" Tears leaked down Harry's face and he moaned in pain. He hadn't felt pain like this before, not even when he rolled off his roof onto his dads car. Then Harry was staring into into the beauty of an almost cloudless day. He pondered about what one of the clouds looked like. If he was honest, it looked a bit like Simon.

"Guys! Stop playing for Gods sake!" Josh shouted at the offenders when he took off to check on Harry.

"Why?" Ethan was dumbfounded, and Vikk groaned.

"JJ broke Harry's foot or something!" Vik most certainly wasn't a doctor, but he wasn't blind. Harry had clearly broken something. Vik stepped away from Harry as Josh arrived, and called an ambulance. JJ and Ethan shared worried looks and when they went to look at Simon they found that he wasn't there. He was already flying across the field towards his injured friend.

"That's the quickest I've seen Simon run. Wait, the only time I've seen Simon run." Ethan chortled as JJ and himself followed Simon. JJ wasn't laughing as they reached Harry. Hot tears were leaking out of his eyes, and he sounded like an injured puppy. Simon wasn't helping.

"Dear Lord, please let Harry survive-" He began.

"Simon! You're scaring him! Shut up for three minutes." Tobi cut off the blond, who nodded, relieved someone had stopped him.

"It's alright, Harry. Help is coming. Get away from his foot! Are you blind, or just fucking stupid?" Josh shouted as JJ took a step closer to Harry's balled up figure. JJ held his hands up in surrender.

"I'm just checking the damage! Calm your tits." He scoffed. "I'm sorry, Hazza. I didn't realise I'd hurt you." He continued more quietly to Harry. Simon whirled around to look at him.

"This is your fault!" He accused JJ, who hung his head. Tobi stopped Simon.

"Hey! JJ couldn't have known that Harry would be hurt like this! Lay off with the blaming." He defended JJ, who shot him a grateful glance.

"You're joking! It's his fault! We caught it on the video, and I'll happily fucking replay it so you can see it too!" Simon stopped yelling abruptly and sat down. His head went into his hands and Tobi glanced up from Harry's side.

"It's alright, Si. He'll be fine." Josh tried to reassure his best friend, but Simon couldn't be consoled.

"Tell him to shut up before JJ breaks his ankle as well." Harry muttered a weak joke in between the crying and yelping, and Tobi laughed in relief. Harry wasn't gone yet.

"Simon! Harry said to shut up! You're making this worse by overreacting." Tobi shouted at the other boy on the ground, who, to his credit, did shut up. Until Harry passed out from the pain, that is.

"JJ you're fucking dead!" Simon was already diving towards his oldest friend before Ethan yanked him back and held him there.

"What the fuck, Simon? Why are you being like this?" Ethan stared at his mate, and watched the panicked look in his eyes.

"I-I don't know." Simon swallowed thickly, and looked down. He didn't understand himself. It was just Harry. Good old, flakey Harry. Why was he so worked up?

"Simon! Calm down! What're you doing? Harry's going to be fine, I can hear the sirens." Sure enough, ambulance sirens were sounding in the distance, growing increasingly closer till they watched the vehicle turn around the corner.

"D'you really think he'll be okay? What if he can never play again? It'll crush him." Simon whispered, safe in Ethan's arms.

"It's okay. Nothing ever stops Harold." Ethan reassured his friend.

"No, I'm going to throw up. That's disgusting, fam!" Tobi had taken another look at Harry's foot and bolted towards the emergency vehicle.

"Helps on the way, Harry. I know you can do it." Vik murmured. Simon subtly glared at him. Why was Vikk comforting Harry anyway? Tobi was Vik's best friend. If anyone, it should be Ethan comforting Harry. Simon realised that Ethan wasn't comforting Harry because Ethan was comforting him. Simon stepped away from Ethan, who looked confused.

"Help Harry instead. He's your best friend." Josh stepped in to take Ethan's place and squeezed Simons shoulder comfortingly. Vik stepped aside to let Ethan take his place and patted JJ's arm. JJ looked miserable, and he kept staring at Harry in regret. Simon didn't regret yelling at JJ. Maybe that would teach him to be more careful. He couldn't stand the thought of Harry doing himself a serious injury. He thought about the look on Harry's face when he first fell, and Simon sunk to the floor. There, he buried his head in his hands, hiding his face. When the tears leaked down his face, none of the sidemen knew that Simon was experiencing a deeper pain level than any of them had felt before.