rescue me / larry

seven / no one was supposed to find out

Louis was standing in the middle of his bathroom, feeling the cold tiles beneath his feet. His heart was almost beating out of his chest and he was holding his breath. Louis was trying not to make a sound because he internally had the slight hope that Niall might think that he misheard something and leave. On the other hand Louis knew he wouldn't be that lucky – his life had never been in his favor, and it wasn't likely it would start being now.

"Louis? I know you're in there, please open the door!" Niall said in that second, almost as if he could read minds. Louis swallowed hardly and looked around like the solution to his problem was written on the cold, white tiles that surrounded him, but by the time Louis saw the door handle move again he knew he wouldn't get out of that one.

Louis slowly walked towards the door. He felt his knees getting weak and took a deep breath, reminding himself that it wouldn't help if he passed out right now – if anything it would cause even more problems, and Louis knew his luck and he probably would hit his head while falling down. He bit his lip and grabbed the key, turning it around in the lock.

A part of Louis expected Niall to break the door down as soon as the little click was audible, but the door remained close. A slight hope came up in Louis; maybe Niall had left already and Louis opened the door, but the first think his eyes fell on was the blond-haired boy who stood leaned against a wall, his hands shoved into his pockets and his slightly wet, blonde hair hanging into his face.

Niall had his usual smile on his face but as soon as he looked up the smile vanished off his lips and his jaw dropped for a second as he eyed Louis' body. Louis could see that Niall was shocked, and he could understand why but he had the urge to run to his bed to grab his shirt – he would've done it if he wasn't for his weak knees.

"L-Louis, oh my god," Niall said and Louis looked at his friend with a worried expression. Right now Louis expected any reaction from Niall; maybe he was disgusted from how Louis looked (a thing that Louis would understand, sadly) or maybe he would go without saying a word, but Louis was surprised as he felt Niall's arms wrapping around his tiny, fragile body.

Louis didn't know whether he should hug Niall back or not so it felt a bit awkward before Niall let go of his hug and Louis looked into Niall's eyes again. They were shimmering a bit and a lump formed in Louis' throat because he didn't want his friend crying because of him. He wasn't worth any tears.

"Louis, you're so..." Niall said, his voice sounding weak and Louis bit his lip, cutting his friend off.

"...fat? I know, you don't have to tell me," Louis said on the verge to tears and he tried his best to hold the tears in. He had many options right now, and to him being weak wasn't one of them.

Louis' eyes were fixed on Niall and he saw the sad expression in his friend's eyes, it was like a knife piercing right into his heart even if Louis didn't show it. Niall slowly shook his head, it was almost invisible but Louis saw it – just like he saw the tear running down Niall's cheek even if Niall quickly wiped it away with his thumb.

"N-No, you're not fat," Niall said, taking a deep breath. "It's the exact opposite, actually. You're skinny, dangerously skinny."

Louis looked at Niall, not knowing what to say but Niall anticipated him.

"And don't think I don't see the cuts on your arm, Lou. They're still bleeding," Niall said and Louis' eyes widened. He slowly looked to his arm and hid it behind his back; feeling like his heart would stop if it beat any faster by now.

"Louis, we need to talk, now," Niall said and Louis shook his head as he walked over to his bed, slipping his shirt on to feel less exposed as Niall sighed, shoving his hands back into his pockets.