Oh Brother

The Explanation

Harper Payne

"What actually happened?" Louis asked as they all knelt down by my bedside. I cringed. "If it's too soon-" Louis continued. "No, it's fine. Basically, I was sat on the floor in the hallway waiting for you guys to finish up and then the lift opened," I began and Louis frowned and Harry knitted his eyebrows together. "Yeah, that's how I reacted. Anyway, they came up to me and were trying to force me to tell them which rooms you guys were in because they saw me come up with you and I obviously told them no. They threatened me and started like hitting me and kicking me and such it didn't really hurt but one of them pushed me to the ground. Someone else took advantage of that moment and kicked me right in the ribs. I swear she had like steel toe capped boots on or something. And here I am." I explained. They were all sat in silence until a look of realisation washed over Harry.

"You alright, Edward?" I asked. He didn't answer but just pull his phone out. "Are these them?" He asked as he showed me a picture of the girls who had beaten me up. "Y-yeah, how did you- how did you know it was them?" I gulped. "When Niall and Liam were carrying you to the car, Niall shouted at me and told me to take a picture of them, I was so confused. To be honest I was genuinely thinking, 'this isn't time for Twitter right now'." He chuckled. I smiled weakly and laid my head back on the pillow. "I'm so sorry for all the fuss," I began and I knew they'd all take pity on me and tell me it wasn't my fault, so I added, "What time is it?" Liam pulled his phone out. "Eleven." He said. "Oh, damn! We need to get going!" I exclaimed as I sat up and winced from the pain. 

"No, it's ok. I think we'll call off tomorrow's concert and stay here until they release you." Harry exclaimed as Louis gently pushed my shoulder as I laid back down. "No, no! You have to go!" I shouted. "The fans will understand, sweetie, go to sleep." Niall assured. "No, I'm pretty sure they won't! Last time fans were involved in my business I ended up in the hospital!" I cried as tears formed and fell. The boys were quick to wipe them away though. "If it bothers you that much, we won't tell them why we're calling it off." Louis said softly. "Guys, you don't understand. All I want is for us to all go to wherever your next destination is and you just continue as if it didn't happen." I shouted as more tears came.

I saw the boys share a glance and then Louis mouth, 'I'll go speak to the doctor'. "It doesn't even hurt that much!" I shouted before prodding the bruise and as much as it hurt, I wanted to prove to them that I wasn't weak. "Harper, stop! You'll make it worse and then you'll have to stay longer!" Liam shouted but I kept pressing and feeling the bruise, it was weird. I couldn't really feel the bone that was meant to be there. Somebody grabbed both of my wrists and held them in one of their hands. It was Harry, of course. "Get off me. I'm proving I'm ok." I growled. He shook his head, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. 

"Don't you see? The more you touch it the longer you'll have to be here and do you know how painful it is seeing your best friend in a hospital gown in a hospital bed prodding at what causes them most pain?" Harry asked as a couple tears slipped down his cheeks. Maybe I should prod Harry then because what actually caused me most pain was when he called me his best friend. I thought we had something more but I guess I was wrong. I wriggled my wrists from his hands and brought them up to his face which was about a meter away from mine. I wiped the tears. Zayn stood up and grabbed Niall's arm then walked over to the other side of my bed and grabbed Liam's.

Liam Payne

"Where are we going? I'm not leaving her!" I shouted. "Neither am I!" Niall shouted after I'd closed the door. "Boys, give them space. They've been through a lot more than you know and they need time." Zayn said shooting Niall a side glance. Niall sighed and pulled his arm away from Zayn's grasp before going to find Louis. 

Harry Styles

I looked down at Harper who still had her hands pressed to my cheeks. I leaned ever so slowly down to Harper's face and she just smiled patiently, waiting for me to get close. She stared into my eyes as I got closer and closer. Our faces were a few inches away and she must've gotten bored of waiting because she sighed, rolled her eyes and put her hand on the back of my neck, immediately pulling my lips to hers. I kissed her lightly just in case the fans had caught her face. She didn't seem to mind because the kiss was only soft. It wasn't rushed or deepened or any of that. It was slow and passionate and everything I ever wanted. That sounded very cheesy I know, don't judge.

Harper Payne 

Harry pulled away from my lips and rested his forehead against mine. He got up and moved to the side of me which didn't have a broken rib on and told me to shuffle over. I moved as far to the side of the bed as possible and wondered why he'd asked me to. He laid down on the bed next to me. I really wished he'd wrap his arms around me but I knew he was scared to hurt me so I resisted from hugging him. He laid on his back and I decided to rest my head on his chest and he didn't mind at all. "Harp, go to sleep. When you wake up, hopefully we'll be able to get you home- well. On the tour bus. And your rib will be healing and everything'll be ok." He whispered all sorts of things like this to me. 

I did as he had told me and listened to his heartbeat until I fell asleep right there, not caring what anyone had to say about me.

Harry Styles

I felt a hand on my shoulder shaking me gently. I cracked my eyes open and saw a nurse. "Are you the boyfriend sir?" She asked. "Um, no. Just... a friend." I replied, saddened that we weren't anything other than friends. Yet. "I'm sorry to say sir but if you are not romantically involved with her and she doesn't give her consent for you to stay, you're going to have to leave so we can do some last check-ups. Once we've done them, you're all free to go." The nurse explained. I nodded and gently removed myself from underneath her and left the room.