Drowning || Larry Stylinson

chapter six

After Louis had passed out at the last interview, Niall and Zayn were being oddly doting towards him. Zayn usually wasn't one of the types to be very affectionate, he showed his appreciation and love in much different ways. He was the type to give good, solid advice when Louis needed it, or could provide some weed in order for them to just forget it all. He was calm and stoic and not how he was in those moments. Niall was a different story, as Louis was used to him being very cuddly and compassionate. He was always in Louis' personal space and loved hugs. But even he had been acting odd.

The second they all arrived to the limo, Zayn had opened the door for Louis and made sure he didn't hit his head against the top. He also, instead of Louis scooting down the seat, crawled around the man instead. Niall took the seat next to Louis by the door and gave him a worried look.

"Are you going to be okay? Do you wanna be sitting by the door? Maybe you need the window in case you have to be sick...or maybe it's best you stay in the middle? I don't want you to hit your head again, so maybe Liam should sit on the other side of you. Liam, go sit on the other side of Louis so he doesn't sway so much," Niall instructed. Sometimes Niall reminded Louis of his mother, who loved to coddle just as much when something so small happened.

But was it really all that small? Louis had never felt like he had in those moments. It took literal seconds for Louis to just pass out like he had been hit in the back of his head. Yet, nothing had really happened. For a moment Louis really had thought he was dying. His heart had hammered against his chest, his breath had quickened so much he couldn't fill his lungs. His head still ached from banging against the side of the couch. What had happened to him?

"Niall, he's going to be fine, stop," Liam replied with a frown. He sighed when Niall gave him a wounded look in response. "I'm sorry, Ni. It's all okay, though. He's not acting concussed and he's perfectly conscious."

"Well, you never really know," Zayn said. When Liam gave him a glare, he added, "I mean, Louis is fine, Niall...don't worry."

The blond nodded and looked over at Louis again. "Well, I'm still going to spend the night with you, if that's okay," he said.

More than anything, Louis just wanted to spend a night alone. He rarely got the opportunity to just properly decompress. He craved a nice, long shower with the door open. He wanted to walk straight from the shower over to his bed in the nude and just flop into the sheets. Just one night where he didn't have to hear Liam's horrid snoring or Niall panicking over every single thing.

But another part of Louis knew that if he refused Niall's niceties, he would just hurt the lad more. So he accepted his fate and nodded.

"That would be nice, Ni, I could use some company tonight," Louis replied.

---

Later on that night, Louis was sat upon his bed as Niall rambled on and on about the best way to eat pizza. Louis really had tried to understand the boy, because he seemed quite passionate that eating pizza 'taco-style' was simply the best way. In fact, it was the 'only correct way'. But his head was swimming with what Harry had said earlier. That they could talk about everything going on between them. On top of that, Louis still wanted to figure what exactly had happened to him when he passed out like he had.

"And you have to eat it with ranch. You can't have pizza without ranch! It simply makes everything better," Niall rambled as he waved his hands around, like he was preaching the gospel. He paused for a few beats and then grabbed the takeout menu on the side table. He flipped through it quickly, then smiled wide. "Okay, enough with this pizza talk. I think I'm going to go buy us some pizza for dinner. What do you think?"

Louis raised his brows. "Really? Didn't you just have pizza a night or two ago?"

Niall sighed like what Louis said was the most ridiculous thing in the whole entire world. "Louis, you can have pizza as many times a week as you want. Pizza is basically the best thing you can eat every day."