THE BEGINNING OF THE END L.S

13. S A M E M I S T A K E S

C H A P T E R T H I R T E E N

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"Harry had never hurt like this before"
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Things got better after that.

Actually they got worse, much worse. Harry was dying second by second, day by day, getting sicker and sicker.

But it was better because Harry had Louis. He had his Louis to get through it with him, and this time the pair understood each other. This didn't mean it wasn't beyond explainably hard on them because it was. And it was shit, the whole thing was still fucking shit, but when Harry and Louis had each other, it took a lot to bring them down.

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Harry had begun to come more absent.

He was present, he was there, but he wasn't there. He didn't argue, he didn't start fights, he sat and smiled as people spoke to him. In fact, last Thursday he and Louis had a disagreement about how they should say the word scones, and Louis didn't think he had ever been so happy to disagree with Harry in his life.

Louis told everyone to quit pretending that Harry wasn't dying, but this was a lot harder said than done, including for Louis.

The lead up to Christmas also brought a lot of joy for Louis, joy that could have only been brought by Love Actually, hot chocolates, cookies, presents and Harry.

And it may have taken a lot of persuading, but Harry's doctors finally gave them the okay for Harry to go home to Holmes chapel for Christmas, where his and Louis' family would spend the week together.

"No way!" Harry had grinned at Louis when Louis told him the news "They seriously said yes?"

"Not at first" Louis admitted "But I persisted, I told them that you weren't any old patient, you were Harry Styles and you deserved to be at home for Christmas"

"Louis!" Harry said in disbelief

"They agreed then" said Louis smugly "Although I had to sign you up to the hospital in Holmes Chapel, just in case"

"I can't believe you Louis" Harry said, shaking his head

"Are you Happy?" Louis asked him

"Beyond happy!" Harry grinned before throwing one of his legs over Louis' waist to straddle him and kiss him excitedly.

Niall, who had walked in to give them the matching pyjamas he had bought for the band for Christmas, didn't complain when he saw them, but smiled, pulled out his camera and captured the moment to be remembered for centuries to come.

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When it was finally time for them to travel up to Manchester, Niall, Liam and Zayn gave them both massive hugs before the other three left to go to their hometowns.

"Are you sure you don't want us to stay with you guys over Christmas?" Liam asked Harry, after pulling out of the embrace

"No!" Said Harry "You guys have been looking after me non-stop for the past three months, you need a break and deserve to spend Christmas with your families"

But Harry didn't realise how scared the three of them were to leave Harry, even for a week over Christmas, in case they would never see him again afterwards.

They weren't stupid, each of them knew that Harry's time left on this earth was becoming less and less, his three months were almost up, and they wanted to spend as much time left with him as they could.