Under Coloured Trees || Larry Stylinson

12

TW: Panic attack

***

Louis wakes up in the middle of the night, but this time it's not because of crying or screams.

At least not his. 

He can hear someone moving on the bed next to him and it takes him a while to remember that it's not Liam the occupant of said bed. His head hurts as if someone had taken a bowling ball and thrown it at his face, which makes him reminiscence the party and the music and the dancing and the alcohol. Yeah, he especially remembers the alcohol which, now that you mention it, is starting to feel like it wants to turn back time and make a special appearance.

He remembers Niall kissing Harry and laughing like he hadn't laughed in literal years. He could swear he didn't drink that much, but then again, what does 'not drinking much' mean when one is with Niall? He could have downed a whole bottle of tequila in one go and not noticed it because Niall was yelling some crap at the sky in that Irish accent of his or something.

All of this -which he will probably remember better in the morning after some Advil- makes its way back to his brain as he hears the tousle of sheets and Harry turning around and shifting endlessly on the bed across the room. He's also emitting these weird sounds Louis' drunken mind can't identify right away. But after a while of listening, he concludes Harry is sniffing and sighing and sort of whining and judging by the movement and the spinning and twisting on the bed, Harry is crying in his sleep.

And it's not very loud. If Louis hadn't woken up or if he were a heavier sleeper, he probably would have missed it. But he's awake. And he wants to look at Harry but the room is completely dark and all he can do is hear him and Louis doesn't know what he should do.

Just when his eyes are starting to get a little bit used to the light and he's able to make out Harry's moving figure, the boy sits up with a loud gasp, like Louis does when he's just had a nightmare, except Harry doesn't scream like Louis, and no Liam nor Lottie go save Harry from his monsters and his predators. 

***

Louis stayed in his bed after Harry woke up. He stayed there and listened to Harry's heavy breathing and how it slowly -very slowly- became more and more regular as the boy grew less and less scared.

Louis saw Harry's silhouette wiping his face of the tears he had clearly shed while he was dreaming and then lying back down on the bed again.

He's now in class next to Zayn, who came back with Liam a couple of days before Christmas break was over, and he can't stop thinking about that night and how Harry woke up crying and how he did nothing about it. Louis didn't sleep for the rest of the night because he had sobered up by then and he couldn't risk having a nightmare himself and waking Harry up. Because Harry apparently isn't loud but Louis is. And he would definitely wake Harry up and he couldn't allow himself having to give any explanations. Because Liam doesn't ask questions but he gets the feeling Harry would. So Louis didn't go back to sleep.

And he gets the feeling that Harry didn't either. Because when Louis came out of the bathroom at 5 am, Harry was gone.

"What are you thinking about?" Zayn asks without taking his eyes off his own work.

"Nothing" Louis answers automatically.

Zayn hums. "You do know you can't give me all that "pretending I'm okay" crap and expect me to believe it, right?" he says. "I'm not Niall"

Louis sighs loudly, dropping the paintbrush in the glass of water by his side. "I knew there was something different about your hair," he says sarcastically.