Night Changes // l.s.

▰ 13; pt. II ▰

[😩😩😩😩😩 marching band camp; why is it so hard to teach freshmen how to march

REALLY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE PLS READ]

Incrementally is Louis' word of the sixth week.

By the time they enter into what is the fifth week of veritable hell, Harry's getting stronger. Incrementally. He's staying awake for longer periods of time. Incrementally. His arm is seeping whatever the hell's coming out of it in incrementally smaller amounts. He can breathe for longer periods of time unassisted.

Incrementally.

Louis considers writing a letter to the Oxford English Dictionary and having it struck from the world's collective consciousness forever.

Slowly, his chances of getting Harry home without a flag are becoming higher.

And even more slowly, he allows the tiniest bit of hope to settle itself somewhere in his heart.

▰

They're bypassing Germany.

When they tell Louis that, his legs turn liquid. In his state of pure exhaustion and barely-beneath-the-surface continuous panic, he hears we're giving him a bypass in Germany.

After a cup of tea and a series of hurried no no no no's, he realizes that he's getting Harry home sooner than he'd expected, and for the first time in as long as he can remember (then again, he doesn't remember a lot about anything right now), he feels himself smile properly.

He calls Sophia, because he thinks she might just understand this part.

"Hello?" Sophia's talking in her very professional I'm in the office so don't yell an expletive too loudly voice. Louis doesn't care.

"Hi," Louis says, and he thinks Sophia half drops the phone at the sound of his voice.

"Lou," she croaks, and Louis hears her get up and push a door open a few seconds later, hopefully going outside so he can exhibit some sort of emotion, "holy shit. I...I didn't want to call too much, you know. Didn't want to ask for news if there wasn't anything good, you know, and I feel like I've-"

"He's coming home in three days." He sounds like a schoolgirl telling a friend she's got a date to formal, giddy and fast and the smile almost louder than his voice. Louis, again, doesn't care.

"Crap," Sophia hisses, "oh my God, Lou. I'm so happy," she says, and she lets out a teary little laugh. Louis remembers, then, that he's not the only one who'd miss Harry, should...well. Whatever. "Oh my God, have you talked to him?"

"Kind of," he says, leaning his head back against the wall of the living room, closing his eyes for a moment, "it's a long story. Sorry, that's a shit answer. I'll tell you one day. I'm just so tired."

"No, no, it's okay," she assures, "how is he?"

"He's...Soph, he's really good," Louis says quietly, like he'll jinx it if he speaks any louder, "he's breathing by himself, like, all the time. They're getting him up for a walk today. I think they'll let me call him tomorrow, before he comes home."

Sophia lets out a relieved laugh; Louis hears the smile in her voice.

"I don't even know what to say," she says, "I'm so happy, mate."

Louis smiles, bites his lip, and this time, it's not to stop himself crying. It's to stop himself smiling like an idiot. He's not really let himself believe it yet, but it's different now that he's said it out loud. He's going to see his boy.

"Me too," he says, "me too."

▰

Louis calls over his family.

He's been communicating with them more often. His mother even took the time to apologise and so did Louis because he felt like he should apologise for being a twat on his part (even if he had a good reason to). The Tomlinson-Deakin family crowd the hall in front of Louis' flat, Dan's hand filled with pizza.

Harry loves pizza.

Harry.

Louis smiles, a genuine smile, and greets his family.

▰

He gets patched through to the base five minutes before the designated call time; 1500 GMT, 1930 UDT.

He thinks his heart might flip out of his chest.

Harry, apparently, has different ideas. Quite exhausted from being made to get out of bed and get dressed and shower himself today, Harry is fast asleep.

They offer to wake him, but Louis says no, to let him get his rest, even though he wants to say yes, wake him up, do whatever you'd have to fucking do to make him conscious enough to talk to me.

He doesn't, though, of course. He'll see him tomorrow, and that's enough.

He's not sure, but he thinks he falls asleep that night with a small smile on his face; his Harry smile.

【an; I am very sorry that the chapter is so short but there a reason.

The next chapter is the epilogue.

I know I know it's so sad cause like I don't want it to end but every good story has an ending.

Anyway,,,

After the epilogue I will post the original version of Night Changed, called "Hold Onto Your Stars."

I highly suggest you read it.

You'll see a lot of differences and similarities between the two and really you'll love it a lot. like mine sucks but hers, hers is fucking awesome.

So yeah, I will post it after the epilogue with the complete format and everything. I won't cut nothing out or add anything.

Just the original.

Anyway, enjoy.
bh .x】