rescue me / larry

twenty-two / home

Louis slowly got better; he gained the weight like he was supposed to do even though most days he was still struggling to eat. He was allowed to leave his bed a few weeks after he'd been admitted and he didn't think he'd ever miss walking around.

Louis went on the hospital terrace and just sat there for half an hour, letting the wind blow through his hair and inhaling the fresh air before a nurse asked him to go up to his room for a round of check-ups.

Everything was routine for Louis now; waking up, getting medicine, eating breakfast, watching random TV shows, eating lunch, going out on the terrace and then eating dinner. Sometimes he got snacks in between and doctors were constantly checking on him.

The boys came around for a visit almost every day and they kept Louis up to date with what was happening with their friends or their family, but Louis still hasn't had the heart to tell Harry he wasn't going to go home with him.

It was hard to listen to Harry rambling on about stuff they were going to do when Louis was home once again without telling him, but Louis didn't know how to tell Harry. He seemed to be looking forward to having Louis home again, and the boys told Louis how miserable Harry was when he was in the flat on his own.

Louis' heart ached, but for once in his life he had to put himself and his health first.

Harry was going to find out soon anyway, because Louis was going to be released soon. The doctors were really happy with his progress and his case was being transferred to a doctor in a hospital in Doncaster so Louis could still go to check-ups and his sessions without having to handle the three hour drive to London every time.

And although Louis had gotten used to being in a hospital he was more than happy to be able to finally sleep in his own bed, to finally be able to sleep without being woken up at 7 am every morning.

~

Louis had his bag packed and was sitting on his hospital bed, looking around. He woke up at 7 am and got dressed although his mother wasn't arriving until 10 am. The nurses already came by to say goodbye to Louis, telling him they were going to miss him and that it would be weird not to have Louis anymore.

His favorite nurse, one he spent hours talking to on some days brought Louis a small box of sweets, wrapped up nicely with a card.

And Louis had to admit he would miss the nurses as well, he had grown to really like them.

The door swung open and Louis' head snapped up, and he watched Harry walk into the room with a huge smile on his lips. Louis' heart immediately sunk and he suddenly felt a lot less happy.

"Are you ready to go home?" Harry asked, still smiling and Louis tried his best to smile back, but he was sure you could easily tell it was faked. It almost hurt his cheeks and Louis sighed.

"Everything alright, Lou? Do you still have to stay here?" Harry then questioned and sat down across from Louis, looking concerned.

"No, it's not that. The doctor was here this morning and checked me and told me I'm still ready to go," Louis answered.

"Then why do you look this unhappy?"

Louis sighed again.

"I'm not going home, Harry," Louis said, and Harry raised his eyebrows.

"But you just told me-" he started but Louis cut him off.

"I'm going home, Harry. My mum is going to pick me up any time now and I'm going to live with her for a time," Louis said. "I was meaning to tell you, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up because you always talked about me being home and you looked so happy and-"