Loving You's The Antidote || l.s. ✓

Chapter 24

"Harry?" Louis sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes as he squinted to see the curled up boy. "What are you doing?"

"I-I...uh, I-fuck-" He stammered out, "I, I'm s-scared..." He finally admitted. "I, I just had an anxiety attack."

"Oh god, are you alright?" Louis sat up fully.

"I'll be fine."

"But what about now?"

Harry took a deep breath, he removed his fingers from where he was pressing on his scars before finally coming out with a "not really."

"Do you wanna come up here?" Louis shuffled over, patting the empty space on his bed.

"I-I'll be okay, you can go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you."

"C'mon." Louis instructed, "you look far too scared to be left alone."

"It's okay, honestly. 'm used to being alone."

"You shouldn't have to be. Just come and lie on the bloody bed will ya?"

Harry stood up, holding onto the wall as he stepped towards Louis's bed and settled down on it.

"Talk to me."

"I'm scared. I-I, I don't wanna go home." Harry never would've admitted that if he wasn't so drowsy and was thinking straight.

Louis reached down to pull the covers back over them both, "why not?"

"B-because my uncle hates me, and I can't tell him about what happened, h-he'll just be mad."

"Stay here as long as you need." Louis told him, "don't feel you have to go home if you really don't want to." He knew Louis couldn't see it, but he couldn't speak, so he just smiled appreciatively. Harry felt his breath hitch as Louis shuffled closer, hugging him. "Is this alright? I know you don't trust me but you like hugging and I thought it might comfort you."

"I-It's nice." Harry nodded, inhaling shakily. "Thank you."

"Sleep well."

"You too."

And soon enough, Harry did fall asleep, to Louis's heartbeat. Louis however, could only concentrate on the boy who was releasing small sighs against Louis's chest.

Shit.

Louis may or may not have a teeny tiny crush on him. Only a small one. But he couldn't. He was with Eleanor, he couldn't have a crush on the boy he had bullied for the past 4 and a half years, could he?

He willed himself to think of other things, eventually joining Harry in his slumber.

The next morning Jay peered through the door, thinking the boys may be awake for breakfast, but she was instead met with the sight of them cuddled up together in Louis's bed.

Harry's face was pressed into Louis's chest as Louis held him close, his head upon Harry's.

She smiled, backing away and shutting the door softly. "Girls, quiet please." She asked as the twins ran past her. "Louis and Harry are asleep. How about we go and watch the telly? Yeah?"

They nodded eagerly as she picked them up, placing one on each hip and carrying them down the stairs to the living room.

"What time is it?" Fizzy yawned as she entered the room, flopping onto the sofa next to them.

"10 my love. Did you have a good sleep?" Jay brushed the hair out of Fizzy's face.

"Yeah. Where's Lou?"

"Still in bed sweetheart."

"But he's always up at like 9?"

"I know. Him and Harry are still asleep though. They must be tired. What do you want for breakfast?"

"Can I have Weetabix?" She asked, now distracted by the TV.

"Of course you can. Daisy, Phoebe? Same for you?"

They nodded, eyes fixed on the TV.

//

Harry groaned, stretching out before he realised where he was, and how close he was to the person next to him.

He backed away from Louis until he fell off the bed, fortunately landing on the mattress he was supposed to use.

"What just happened?" Louis sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Fell off the bed." Harry smiled sheepishly, "suppose a single bed isn't meant for two people."

Louis let out a chuckle as he looked down at Harry. "How are you feeling?"

"Um, good as I can I guess."

"What time are you going home?"

"I don't know. Would you like me to go now?" Harry looked up with wide eyes.

"No. No, I didn't mean it to sound like that. I was just wondering. You said you didn't want to go home so don't, of course you'll have to soon but you can stay here as long as you want."

Harry sighed in relief, he couldn't quite manage going home yet. However he wasn't sure he'd be able to manage it anytime, "thank you. Um, I have work at 5, so I'll probably be out by 4."

"Are you alright to be working?"

"I gotta."

"But are you alright to?"

"Doesn't matter if I am or not. At the end of the day I have to work."

Louis frowned at that, "let's go get some breakfast."

//

"Thank you for letting me stay here but I need to get to work." Harry smiled shyly. "Um, you won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Course not. But you can't go to work love." Jay looked at him in confusion.

"I need to. It's fine, it's quite relaxed."

"You promise me you'll tell your boss if you need a break or get overwhelmed." She said sternly, Harry nodded.

"I will."

"Okay. Good. I'll drive you."

"It's alright. I'll walk. I could probably do with the fresh air." He smiled gratefully at the offer. "Thank you though."

"Okay, be safe."

//

"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" Paul asked, pulling Harry aside.

Harry nodded, looking up expectantly.

"Um, so my wife has got a high paying job and we're moving away for it. So I won't be your boss here anymore, someone else will be taking over."

"O-oh. When are you going?" Shit. Paul always looked out for him, making sure he ate and letting him take a break when things got too hard. What if his new boss was horrible?

"Tomorrow, I know it's short notice but I hadn't seen you to tell you."

"Oh, okay. Um, okay." Harry gulped. "Thank you for looking after me. I wish I could repay you."

"There's no need to repay me." He smiled. "You have my email if you need anything."

Harry nodded, "yeah. Um, I should get back to work."

"I'll say goodbye to you before your shift ends. Go on, go and do whatever you're doing."

Well shit. Life was going brilliantly.

This is the last prewritten chapter I have so I'm not sure how long until the next update, but unfortunately my grandad passed away early this morning. It hasn't really sunk in yet but I'm sure it will soon, and I'm not sure how much I'll be writing.

Thank you for reading and your kind messages xx