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Louis didn’t even know how he’d gotten to the hospital; one minute he’d been having lunch and the next he’s waking up with the annoying beeping noise of machines in his ear. He was also, he noticed, almost consumed by pillows.
“Wah?” God his voice wasn’t working quite yet. All well. The noise he made did grab the attention of whoever was in the room though, so he was going to count that as a win.
“Oh my god Louis??” Was that Liam? A face peeked in at him from over the pillow mountain, yep. That was Liam. “Oh god are you okay? I wanted you to be comfortable so I got you some pillows an-“
Louis started laughing, a low wheezing sound that was honestly quite alarming. Liam seemed to think so too, since he pressed the button calling the nurses. Louis scowled at him.
Liam continued to babble at him, telling him that he was only trying to look out for him and that he wasn’t going to feel bad when he was just trying to help. The puppy eyes and guilt ridden pout said that he still felt bad but Louis figured he’d let him off since he didn’t have the energy to fight him, or anyone, really.
Then the nurse walked in. Louis wasn’t sure that walked was the right word to describe the way the man came into his room, perhaps tripped would be a better descriptor. Normally Louis would laugh and taunt anyone making such a display, but this man was breathtaking; and Louis didn’t have enough breath right now to have it stolen.
Long brown hair was pulled up into an adorable bun, green eyes flicked over Louis and the machines currently hooked up to him. His jaw line was sinful, the edges so defined that Louis wanted to get up and lick them. This was not okay; Louis did not like this feeling.
That was probably why the first words out of his mouth were “Fight me.” Liam started at him, surprised and obviously mortified. The nurse started at him, amusement glinting in his eyes.
“Maybe later, if you behave.” He shifted Louis’ pillows around a bit, ensuring he could see Liam properly and with a smile he left the room.
“What the hell Louis? You can’t fight the nurses!” Louis rolled his eyes.
“Only one nurse I want to fight Lima Bean.” Liam scowled at the nickname, but didn’t say anything else about it.
“You should rest, your lungs took a beating; I have no idea why you didn’t have your inhaler with you.” Oh so that’s why he’s in the hospital. Makes sense, he hated his inhaler.
“You know I don’t like it.”
“You know it keeps you from dying right?” Louis sighed mentally, “You’re lucky someone called an ambulance.”
“Yeah yeah, I’m going to sleep now.”
“Yeah, you do that. I need to go pick up your mum from the train station in about an hour; I won’t bother waking you if you’re asleep so don’t panic if I’m not here when you wake up.” Louis groaned.
“Fine.” Stubbornly Louis closed his eyes.
Surprisingly he did fall asleep.
When he woke up it was to an empty room, except for the tall beautiful nurse who was fiddling with his IV. Louis struggled to sit up a bit.
“You should fight me.” The guy looked at him, startled. His face melted into a small smile, an indulgent smile. “Really, fight m-“ Louis cut off, his lungs rebelling and throwing him into a spectacular coughing fit.
The guy immediately lifted him into an upright position and patted his back until the coughing had slowed down. The glass of water that appeared in front of Louis’ mouth was greatly appreciated; if slightly humiliating as they guy held it while he drank.
“Seriously, fight me.” God why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut?
“But you’d win.” The guy was smiling again, waving as he left the room. He didn’t trip that time.
Louis made a sound of frustration, breathing carefully as he got his breath back. His mum chose that moment to walk into the room, Liam trailing behind her.
“Oh Boo! I was so worried when Liam called!” Louis shot Liam a look over his mums shoulder.
“Mum I’m fine, I absolutely promise.”
“I know you are darling, I’d be crying my eyes out if I didn’t know that. You’ll be released tomorrow morning; they want to keep you tonight just to be safe.” Louis nodded, he could live with that.
“Alright. I’m still really tired…” His mum was awesome, which is why she just smiled at him.
“Of course Boo, visiting hours are nearly over, Liam and I will be here to pick you up in the morning.” Louis nodded, smiling at her.
“Sounds great mum, love you.”
“I love you too Boo.” His mum hugged him, for too long really, until Liam put a hand on her shoulder and gently led her out of the room.
Louis was actually really tired, his chest still hurt and he found himself falling into an easy sleep.
When he woke up in the morning it was to the beautiful nurse standing at the foot of his bed. It was nearly time for his mum to pick him up. The guy smiled, pulling a coffee cup out from behind his back.
“I figured you’d want some coffee before being released to the real world.” He handed him the cup. Louis was glad to find that his hand was no longer heavy and was cooperating with holding onto the cup.
“Thank you…” Louis’ attention was caught by the writing scrawled along the side of the cup. A row of numbers, a phone number, was carefully written under the words ‘Fight me?’.
“Harry, my names Harry.” Louis looked up, seeing the nervous glint in Harry’s eyes.
“Thank you Harry.”
The tension was broken when Louis’ mum came into the room, Liam practically throwing clothes onto the bed for him to change into. Harry smiled and slipped out of the room.
Louis couldn’t help it.
“Fight me!” He yelled out after him. The loud laugh that echoed in the hallway was worth the looks Liam and his mum gave him. Neither was enough to wipe the smile off of his face.