15 Days of One-Shots

3 Months

15 Days of One-Shots (3/15) 

”Maybe three months” was what he and Lou were given to work with. Three months to live a lifetime together, before Harry would succumb to his disease. They had so much to live, in such little time.

Harry was diagnosed June 4th, 2012.

“We can start you on chemo, right away,” the Doctor said, and Harry stared back blankly, the weight of the world suddenly much heavier, weighing everything down. “But, at this point. I’m sorry to say. There isn’t much-“

“How long?” Harry asked, his mouth dry, the words foreign. He was literally asking when he was going to die, this wasn’t one of those fun fortune teller predictions at a fair. This was his life, and his life was ending.

“Maybe three months.”

Harry stood up suddenly, his legs shaking under his weight, “Thank you very much,” he muttered stiffly, walking to the door.

“Mr. Styles, we can try chemo, if you’d just-“

The door slammed shut behind him, and Harry waited until the elevator door closed behind him, before he cried.

-o-

 

He told the boys together on June 10th, 2012.

He’d told his Mum and family over the phone, he knew that was bad, but if he’d gone home his mum wouldn’t have let him leave. He’d only managed to keep her from packing her bags and moving into he and Louis’ flat with a couple of well placed lies of him not even feeling bad.

Which wasn’t true. Because everything was still heavy, weighing him down each day, and it was getting tiring.

“I have cancer,” Harry suddenly announced, in the middle of take-out food, spread amongst the table in Harry and Louis’ kitchen. The four boys at the table looked up suddenly, forks held halfway to their mouth, staring at him, as if waiting for him to finish with a joke or a laugh.

Instead he finished with a:

“And only have three months to live.”

Zayn threw a couple plates.

Liam cried.

Niall left the room.

And Louis held his hand, giving it a gently squeeze. Promising to be there until the end.

-o-

 

It’s announced to the public June 22nd, 2012.

An announcement of his illness, though the whole ‘two and half months time bomb’ wasn’t used, instead ‘terminally ill’ accompanied a statement from the band, announcing ‘a break’.