Who are you?

epilogue

There was a steady beep in the depths of Louis' mind. He felt like he was awake, aside from the never-ending emptiness with the steady beep following him everywhere he went. He was unconscious, he could tell. He didn't know if he was knocked out, if he suddenly died and this was some fucked up version of purgatory he was stuck in, but he needed to figure it out before he went insane. 

Suddenly, the beeping was interrupted by a muffled voice that he couldn't identify. It was distant and he couldn't tell if actual words were being said, but it was better than the beeping; but alas, as soon as it arrived, the voice was gone and the beeping returned. 

"Hello?" Louis called out into the emptiness, but he got nothing in return. He wasn't even sure if anyone heard him. Suddenly, what felt like both an eternity yet no time at all had passed, Louis felt a heavy pressure build within him, starting with his hand. It was strong, and Louis could barely move before it hit him. 

He was probably in a coma. Something happened to land him in a coma, and he was waking up now. He remembered his mum talking about what would happen with comatose patients when they wake up, and what was happening to him felt almost like she described. 

Mustering up as much strength as he could, he tried to open his eyes, but failed. After a few more attempts, Louis decided to redirect his focus to his hand. He's seen plenty of movies where the patients hand moves first, it was worth a shot at least. He put all of his strength into his hand, but didn't feel anything. He tried again, and he thought he felt a twitch, but he wasn't positive until the muffled voices returned quicker and louder. He repeated his actions with the other hand, and with each effort the noise got louder and louder. 

Soon, he decided it was time for him to try to open his eyes again. He pulled as much as he could, and suddenly the emptiness was gone. He could feel himself lying down, simply as if he was waking up from a nap or a long night's sleep, mixed with the feeling of numb and nausea from being asleep so long. His eyes cracked open, and he immediately shut them again. 

He was right. He was in a hospital. 

"Louis oh my god, you're awake, can you hear me?" A deep voice asked, and it took a second before Louis registered it as Harry's. He tried to open his eyes again, slowly adjusting to the light, before resting them on a very disheveled Harry Styles. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead of noise, he just coughed. 

"You've been out for five days, Lou, I wouldn't strain yourself too hard just to say hi," Harry said, sitting down next to him. Louis looked over at the nurses who were inspecting him, but they didn't provide any further information. Louis furrowed his brows and looked back to Harry. 

"The morning after the London show, when I went to wake you up, you had a massive fever. 41.5C, it could have killed you Louis. You weren't waking up, and we don't know what caused such a bad fever. The doctors think it's from stress, but we aren't positive," Harry explained slowly, and it all made sense in a fucked up way. But then it hit him. 

They weren't in London when Louis went to sleep. He was with Harry in Spain last he knew. He wasn't even there for their London show. 

Unless...

"You seemed fairly out of it after the show anyway, you weren't running around the stage as much as you normally do," Harry chuckled, but Louis just teared up. He was home. Nearly two months later, after being stuck in a world that wasn't his, he was finally home. 

"Louis? Why are you crying?" Harry asked, standing up to check on his boyfriend. Louis just shook his head and tried to gesture for Harry to come closer. Even though he didn't say anything, Harry must've picked up on what he was trying to say because he leaned in for a hug anyway. Louis tried his damndest to hug back, but failed as his arms felt like weights kept pulling them down anyway. 

"I missed you, baby," Harry muttered into Louis' ear, and with as much strength as he could, Louis managed to whisper back, "love you."

---

The tour remained postponed for two more weeks to give Louis time to recover, telling the public Louis had a family emergency that he couldn't miss, giving them a coverup as to why the band was at the hospital as much as they were. Since he was only out for the better part of a week, it didn't take him long to get back on his feet, but the doctors said they could never be too careful. The fans sent their regards anyway through worldwide twitter trends and posts. 

Niall, Zayn, and Liam visited him as much as they could, but doctors always kicked them out once visitor hours were up. Harry, however, was welcome to stay as long as he wanted as per Louis' request. 

The day before they released Louis, he asked Harry the question he'd been dying to know since he woke up. 

"How did you know something was wrong?" He had asked, to which Harry looked down, clearly still reeling from the past two weeks. 

"I woke up in the middle of the night after the London show, right? I went to see if you were awake because I could tell you weren't feeling your best after the show, but I noticed you start to twitch. I thought you were just having a bad dream, so I tried to wake you up, but when I did, I noticed your body was way too hot to be safe," Harry said, keeping his gaze on the ground. Louis grabbed his hand, urging him to continue. 

"I woke up the other boys, Liam stayed with you while Niall and Zayn made some calls. We got someone to take your temperature, it was 40.2 and rising so we had to reroute to the nearest A&E. It was scary, Lou, they had to put you in a medically induced coma because if they didn't, you could have died. It was the worst night of my life," Harry said, looking up to him in tears. Louis squeezed his hand before pulling him closer for a hug. 

"I'm still here, baby, I'm not letting you go again," Louis mumbled, holding him tighter. 

"You better not, One Direction needs you," Harry laughed, making Louis pull away.

"Just One Direction?" Louis asked with a small smirk, making harry lightly slap his shoulder. 

"You know what I mean," Harry laughed, pulling him back in. Louis laughed.

Hugging Harry, he realized, in the few days he'd been awake, he didn't really care about what the fans or management thought about his importance to the band. He knew his worth, and so did his boys, and they showed him as much since he woke up. 

He wouldn't have it any other way.