inferno // l.s.

thirty four

15 fucking thousand reads. inferno jumped 5k reads in a MONTH. DO YOU REALIZE HOW BIG THAT IS???? TWICE THE AVERAGE!!!! used to be 1k every 2 weeks, 2k a month...holy balls. you. are. incredible. thank you. thank you. thank you. ❤️‍🔥

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"easy, easy," zayn puts a supportive hand on louis' back when the boy starts coughing hard. he wanted to smoke but everything inside of him is just telling him no. "here," he hands him his gatorade and opens it up for him to take a drink.

louis sips slowly at it and groans. "i am so over this."

"i know, lovey," zayn croons, then hands over louis' inhaler, "want me to see if niall can get edibles instead? he may have some at liam's."

after taking his dose, the smaller man's eyes twinkle. "edibles?"

zayn smirks and grabs his phone to text his partner. a few messages later, he smacks a kiss to the side of louis' face. "we got some on the way."

louis throws his arms up with a cheer and coughs again, dropping his arms to cradle his injured ribs. "fuck."

the younger boy supports his side with another pillow and hands cosmo to him for moral support. it's been three days since the locker room situation. everyone has updates on luke except for the two that were also in the fight. zayn has asked liam countless times if luke is dead or alive, but all liam does each time is tell him he can't disclose any information because mitch ordered him to keep his mouth shut.

louis has avoided questions because harry promised him he would be fine. not luke, but him. harry's main concern is getting louis out of this situation without any consequences.

niall shows up to the apartment twenty minutes later with his backpack, which usually means he's going to spend the night. good, because louis could use some niall cuddles.

harry's down in san antonio, texas with cara doing a scouting for female dancers. harry usually doesn't partake in the actual population pool, just watches and sees how dancers act with customers, but niall said before harry left that cara does everything with the girls. she dances, she drinks, she chats, and she gives harry input. it's a two hour flight to texas. they left around seven this evening. harry said they're catching the first flight back after they're done.

"this just calls for a boys night in," niall sits on the edge of louis' bed and opens his backpack. he pulls out a handful of small packages, each causing louis' interest to only grow and grow. he immediately takes the pack of sour patch kids and opens it to inspect the candies inside.

he hands zayn a green one and takes the only blue one for himself. it's been a while since he's done edibles. he only takes one, but zayn sneaks a second one for himself.

"and," niall pulls out a stuffed animal from his bag, a fluffy little orange cat that has hearts on its paws, "this is for you." he smiles at louis before throwing it at his face.

louis squeaks in surprise and rubs his nose, picking up the plush toy. "thank you," he holds the cat and cosmo close to his chest while he gets comfortable to the best of his ability. "'s a cutie."

"you have your own little shark here now," zayn croons.

louis gasps in realization. "i do! my sharky!" he beams. "this is shark 2.0."

"hey, speaking of shark boy," zayn murmurs and opens his phone. he shows them a picture louis' mum had sent him, of shark laying on the entertainment center in her living room right beside zayn's senior portrait. "this is what i got today."

louis croons. "my boy...i miss him so much. emma reminds me so much of him when he was a kitten."

"want me to go kidnap your baby?" niall asks. "she's probably bored over there anyways. i'll grab food and stuff for her too."