Bromance One-Shots [Closed]

16. Tomlinshaw: As Bright As The Stars

Prompt: Louis gets jumped and raped on night and Nick is there to save him and help him recover...

Bc Tomlinshaw is perf... Don't fight me on this.

This contains rape, fowl language, mentions of suicide and I wrote this with a freind, she did most, I just fixed the grammar and tweeked a few things so please leave some feed back for her. Thanks love you Green Beans.

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Louis walked the streets. His blue eyes fearful as he gripped onto the nearest brick walls to keep himself upright as his small boyish body trembled uncontrollably and unbearable pain shot up from his lower back to his neck, the pain elongating in his entire spine, making it increasingly hard to stay upright. Cool and sticky liquid dripped down between his legs, causing discomfort for the small brunette boy; his mind kept going back to half an hour ago, where everything seemed so transparent but clear in his mind. He was deeply ashamed, hurt physically and mentally, fearful of everything and most of all, he was in unimaginable pain; the physical pain in his lower back from forcefully getting fucked even though he had protested one too many times, the pain in hips from the same person who assaulted him chucking him roughly to the cold, hard ground and the pain in his head from hitting it when he fell and for getting punished when he cried out in pain.



A punitive, spine-chilling voice whispered in his ears, his words sticking around like a bad smell, 'Such a beautiful boy' the voice cooed, turning Louis around so his back was to him. Knowing what was coming, tears escaped his eyes and an incoherent sound escaped his thin lips. 'Oh no' the voice cooed, 'you and I both know you want this. I saw the way you looked at me' Louis cried out as the man placed his large hand on his small chest, 'I..i ...d..didn...look...a..you' Louis finally managed to say through the tears that were rolling down his pastel cheeks.






'Stop crying!' the man exclaimed, grabbing Louis and roughly throwing him to the ground.



Pain shot up through his side and in his head as it had collided with the ground, but before Louis could react to the pain in anyway, the big man was on top of him and had his lips on his. He had tried to fight. He really did, but there was only so much he could do considering his small stature compared to the man's stature. 'No' he choked out, desperately gasping for air as the man took off his shirt and planted rough kisses all over his torso and his nipples. 'NO' he yelled, but his voice was drowned out in the alley by the insane laughter of his attacker.



Louis jumped as he heard laughter booming across the road; the laugh sounded so incredibly deep and it sounded so familiar, reminding him of his attacker....wait, maybe it was his attacker. Panic quickly overcame him. His sympathetic nervous system kicking in, giving him an extra shot of adrenaline. Without a second thought, the small bunette ran as fast as he could with his whole body aching. He had to get away from his attacker. He heard the laughter subdue as he fell over, landing extremely hard on his back and his head hitting the concrete floor again, but he did not care about this. All he cared about was the fact that his attacker was going to get him. Cries escaped his lips and before he knew it, his body was once again trembling as terrible sobs racked his body.



Louis put his hand over his mouth as he heard hurried footsteps run in his direction and he knew this was it, he was going to get fucked senselessly again, and all for one man who was neurotic and had nothing better to do with his time. "I'M SORRY" Louis yelled as more than one pair of hands touched him. "I won't run from you again....j..j..j.us...don...hurt..me"



"It's okay" a soft voice said, surprising Louis as he had expected the same rough voice as before, "you're okay."



Louis must have blacked out, because when he came to, there were three more voices, and all of them trying to talk over the top of each other.



"He's not okay, just look at him" a husky voice said. "There's, oh my God, Nick, look at the blood"



Nick, what a nice name Louis thought disjointedly, whilst soft and gentle hands touched his back lightly. "What's your name?" the same soft voice as before asked and Louis instinctively answered, his natural instinct telling him that he was in no immediate danger.



Louis sighed but winced as his body convulsed in pain and he cried out in pain, his eyes blinking rapidly to try and blink away the black dots that were obscuring his vision. His breathing was becoming more erratic as the seconds went by and he would have started hyperventilating but the hand on his back prevented him from doing so. Nick was rubbing calming circles, waiting patiently for Louis to calm down. "Louis." he eventually said, his voice void of any emotion.



"Okay Louis" Nick said to him, shooting glances at his three friends making sure they stayed quiet whilst he spoke to the small brunette. "I'm going to need you to be completely honest with me and tell me where you're in pain"



"Lower back" Louis replied.



"Okay, anywhere else?" Nick asked, putting pressure on Louis' upper back. "Does it hurt when I push here?" he asked, when Louis shook his head he went further down and placed his hands on his lower back, emanating a whimper from the boy. "Did that hurt?"



Louis took a deep breath, making sure to even his voice out before he spoke, "yes"



Nick frowned and looked to Harry, "Call an ambulance immediately" he said before turning his attention back to Louis. "Louis, it is crucial that you tell me where else you are in pain"



A tear escaped his blue eyes as the memory of his attacker ramming in and out of him came back to him, "My hip and neck hurts, but mostly my hip."



"Anything else?"



Louis closed his eyes, too tired to care for life right now, "head"



Nick sighed and took off his jacket to place over the frail boy as he was shaking too much. "Ed, can he have your coat as well? He's absolutely freezing."



'Cold are we?' The voice whispered to him as he lay on top of him, both of them completely naked. Louis was shaking violently and his teeth were chattering, but that wasn't because he was cold, no, it was because he was truly afraid of what was about to happen. 'Answer me' his attacker said, slapping his cheek.



His voice was small and shaky as he said, 'no'



'No what?' His attacker taunted him, his hand stroking Louis' member slowly in attempt to get him hard. It wasn't working. There was no excitement at all for Louis. All there was extreme fear and panic coursing through his veins.



Louis took a deep breath, 'No, don't touch me'



'Oh' his attacker said sarcastically, taking extra effort to mock the boy, 'I know you like it when I do this' he started kissing Louis' neck roughly, his tongue making Louis tremble in fear.



"HEY" a voice called out, making Louis jump and causing him to open his eyes and being shocked when he was staring up into dark, brown eyes, "Louis, I need you to keep your eyes open. Just listen to my voice okay? You'll be fine" Louis closed his eyes again, only to feel someone slapping his cheek. "Stay awake, talk to me." Louis paused, waiting for Louis to say something, but when the smaller boy didn't he decided to keep the conversation going. "How old are you, Louis?"



"Eighteen.....what about you?" Louis responded, his speech slurring.



Without thinking, Nick gently picked up Louis in his arms and cradled him against his chest, knowing full well that he shouldn't be moving a person who was complaining about back pain, "Twenty." he replied, keeping his voice as calm as possible.



"Oh." was all Louis said as he looked around and saw three other males, all of whom were kneeling beside Louis and Nick. One of them kept readjusting the coats on Louis, making sure he was warm as his small body continued to tremble, possibly from shock. The other two were staring at Louis intently and one of them, with incredibly soft hands grabbed Louis' hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze and started rubbing circles on his hand. Louis didn't have any idea who these guys were, but he knew he was safe for now, so despite Nick's insistent voice that he stays awake and continues talking, he closed his eyes. The last thing he remembered before going slack in Nick's arms were the wail of the sirens in the background and also a strong smell of cologne and smoke. For the first time that night, he felt comforted by the person who smelt like smoke.



'Don't worry, this won't hurt...much' the attacker said, right before he flipped Louis over and rammed into the small brunnette s entrance, causing him to shout out in pain. 'You like that?' he asked, thrusting in and out of Louis, making sure to slam his hands against Louis' lower back as hard as he could, actually enjoying the fact that he was inflicting pain among another.



Louis felt the attacker tug on his hair and pull his head back rather forcefully, emanating another small whimper. His entire body felt as though it was on fire and his entire body had large lacerations, small bruises and cuts all over his body whilst large bruises and cuts also were all over his body. Truthfully, he just wanted to die right then and there. He couldn't handle it any more; the pain was blinding him. He was sure his entrance had been torn and he swore he could feel blood leaking out of him.



He didn't know why or what he had done to deserve this. All he had been doing was walking home from his lecture with his text book in his hand and his bag on his shoulder with a small smile on his face and a skip in his step; basically he was minding his own damn business. It all happened so incredibly fast. One minute he was walking, enjoying the beautiful sunset and the next minute, rough hands had grabbed him from the waist, causing him to drop his text-book and bag and scream as loud as he could.



"ARGHHHH!" Louis screamed, thrashing about in a bed that was awfully uncomfortable. Louis kept thinking about that man touching him, thrusting in and out of him like he was a rag doll. He didn't even use any lube which hurt so bad and Louis didn't think he used a condom. He probably caught an STD now. Oh God, Louis thought as he tried to sit up but a pinching sensation in his arm caused him to cry out in pain and fall back on the bed, crying out once more as pain jolted throughout his body.



A little voice in his head was telling him to remain calm before he hurt himself even more, but he couldn't. Louis didn't know where he was and it pained him to know that his attacker could have gotten to him again and was keeping him on the bed to do who knows what with him! Strangled sobs escaped his lips as hands touched his chest and arms, which were refrained him from moving any more. Through his fear, Louis subconsciously started wishing for the man who smelt like smoke and expensive cologne. It was the only thing that made him feel safe and though he had no idea where he was, he would kill for the person who smelt like that.



"Mr. Tomlinson." an urgent, yet professional voice said in attempt to get through to Louis who was panic-stricken. Through his fear, Louis heard him again, "Mr. Tomlinson, open your eyes."



Without even thinking about it, he slowly opened his unusually dim blue eyes, flinching tremendously as the lights overhead were exceedingly bright. He slowly and carefully turned his head, cringing when that little movement caused him pain. At first, everything was blurred and Louis had blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the light and his new surroundings. He could make out table next to the bed and an I.V. stand, making it clear that he was in fact in the hospital.



The professional voice spoke again, snapping Louis out of his reverie, "Mr. Tomlinson, look at me."



Obediently, Louis looked up at the middle aged man, taking in his greying hair and soft wrinkles around his eyes that were wrinkles from laughing too much. "Um..." was all Louis said before coughing like a madman, his throat literally feeling like sandpaper. He was extremely glad when the man put a cup with water in it on his thin lips, the cool liquid gliding down his throat soothingly, refreshing him to the point where he almost felt human again.



"Slowly." the doctor warned him, taking into account how fast Louis was drinking, "you'll make your system go into shock."



Once Louis finished, he weakly pushed away the cup from his mouth and stared up at the doctor with his wide eyes, 'Nick' was the first thing that came to his mind and he had no idea why. The only memory that obtained from his horrific ideal was a person's smell and the name Nick.



The doctor frowned a little, before pressing the button to call a nurse for assistance to run tests on Louis, who was now lying completely still and pining over the smell of cologne and smoke. "Rest" the doctor ordered, to which Louis obliged obediently, his eyes drooping a little.



He was physically drained. It hurt to even keep his eyes open any more, but he refused to succumb back to darkness because when it was dark he would remember all the horrible things. When it was dark he can recall laying in the darkness whilst someone rammed into him. When it was dark he could hear the laughter of his attacker, his laughter ringing through his ears. Louis shivered, ignoring the worried stares that the doctor was giving him, but he kept his cool, remembering the smell of his rescuer. When the nurse walked in the room, Louis' eyes went wide and his heart started pounding almost painfully in his chest. It was him, the guy who smelt like expensive cologne and cheap smoke.



Louis cleared his throat, "I know you" he managed to say, but it went unnoticed by both the nurse and the doctor, who were now checking his vital signs on the monitor.



"Vital signs seem good, his heart rate is a little high, possible infection, get him started on simple dosage of ibuprofen and that should do the trick." the doctor ordered the nurse, whose name Louis was sure it was Nick. "OK" the doctor said to Louis, "Where are you in pain?"



Louis cleared his throat before speaking in a low voice, "everywhere, but mainly my lower back" Louis shifted and winced, pain making its way onto his face. "And my hip!" He exclaimed, breathing heavily, "why the heck am I so sore?" Louis asked panicked, looking into the tanned boy's face.



The doctor shifted from foot to foot, "Mr. Tomlinson, you were severely attacked and sexually assaulted, you are incredibly lucky that you didn't bleed out."



Louis didn't say anything, there was nothing to say. The realisation that he had been raped had hit him again and he was breathless and dazed; so dazed that he was, he didn't realize when the doctor's pager went off and it was only him and his saviour in the room. The brown eyed boy, whose name was Nick he was sure of it, was looking down at him with soft and sympathetic eyes.



"Louis" Nick said slowly, moving closer to him. 'I have to perform a physical examination. That involves touching you, is that okay?'



A small cry escaped Louis' lips at the thought of hands toughing him, "No" he replied, his voice shaky as he looked up at Nick with tears in his eyes. "Please no, I don't want to be touched. I can't, no, this is just....don't....God...please." Louis froze as a soft hand caressed his even paler cheek.



"It's either I do the examination, or some other nurse does, and I can promise you I'm the nicest nurse here."



Louis placed his hand on Nick's, that was still touching his cheek, "Okay" he breathed, "but please don't hur-"



Nick cut Louis off, "I could never hurt you, Louis."



Louis zoned out throughout the examination, wincing in pain and sobbing incoherently when Nick looked at his private parts. He just couldn't handle this any more, it was all too much for him to handle and it felt as though any minute he would break. He had worked himself up to a state that his heart rate became dangerously high and Nick had been forced to sedate him to calm him down. The last thing Louis remembered before blackness consumed him again was Nick grabbing his hand and whispering to him that he would be okay.



'Still not hard, I see?' the attacker said, flipping Louis over on his back for what seemed like the tenth time in an hour and started pumping the boys member in attempt to get him hard, but it wasn't working as he had been too afraid to get excited. This made his attacker angrier than he ever had been and he roughly flipped Louis over on his stomach, causing Louis to hit his chin on the ground, right before ramming into him again, causing him to scream loudly.



"Hey" the voice said to Louis before he could scream, "It's okay, Louis, I'm here. Open your eyes."



For a moment Louis lay completely still before daring to open his eyes, but once he did open his eyes he saw the same kind face as before, but this time he was in actual clothes rather than his light blue scrubs that Louis saw him in last time he was awake. His hair was styled in a stylish quiff and Louis couldn't help but stare at him due to how utterly gorgeous he looked.



He cleared his throat before talking; making sure his throat wouldn't cause him too much discomfort, "Nick?" he questioned, his eyes still blurred.



"Yep," He responded, grabbing the cup of water and assisting Louis in drinking it, "How are you feeling?"



"Like I've been run over by a truck multiple of times." He responded, reaching out for Nick's hand again and squeezing it. He didn't even think about how weird it was that he didn't know Nick or that Nick might not like it, he just knew that this guy who smelt like cologne and smoke was the one keeping him relaxed and down to earth, and honestly, he appreciated Nick for that.



Nick didn't even flinch when Louis grabbed his hand; instead he just grabbed a chair and sat next to the bed, holding the brunettes hand even tighter. "Well, that's to be expected. Do you remember anything?"



Louis' insides went cold and he shivered. Truth be told, he couldn't remember much, it was only when he had his eyes closed that he remembered everything, but when he was awake he chose to forget. He just couldn't handle remembering all that happened.



"It's okay." Nick said once it was clear that Louis wasn't going to say anything, "You don't have to remember just yet, I was just wondering."



Louis looked down at Nick's hands and fell silent for a moment, before saying, "I think I remember you though."



Nick raised his eyebrows, "Oh yeah?"



Louis blushed, "And I remember some other people...I think."



"Oh yeah?" Nick replied instantly, his voice becoming less worried the more that Louis talked, "Those are my mates, Harry, Ed and Joey. Speaking of which, they were worried about you."



"Well that's nice of them to care." Louis responded slowly, wincing as pain flared up from his hip.



Nick pretended not to notice Louis wincing, instead having the intention of distracting the small blue eyed boy, "We tried to get in contact with anyone, but there were no emergency contacts associated with you."



"That would be because I moved from Doncaster a couple of months ago to come to university."



"Oh, well is there anyone you want me to ring for you?"



Louis thought about this for a moment, thinking maybe he should contact his Mum or Dad, or perhaps even his oldest of younger sisters, but he would be immensely embarrassed to tell them why he was in hospital. "No." He eventually replied, the last of his strength leaving him, causing him to put his head back on the pillow. "What's wrong with me?" He asked Nick.



"Proximal femoral fracture, more commonly known as a hip-fracture and fractured vertebrae in your lower back, as well as cuts and bruises. Also, I hate to break it to you, but that idiot tore your, you know..." he mumbled, feeling horrible for Louis.



At this, Louis went completely rigid and let go of Nick's hand and wrapped his arms around himself, fighting the urge to wallow in despair. He just wanted this horrifying nightmare to end. His life hadn't been that good to begin with, what with getting a lot of shit from people for no reason, but he had been able to override all the negatives in his life by focusing on the positive. But this time it was different. There were no positives right now; all he had was a fractured hip, a broken vertebrae and a broken body to deal with, absolutely no positives at all.



"Louis." Nick said softly, reaching out for Louis' hand, but was shocked when Louis recoiled.



"No." Louis said, "Don't touch me."



Nick held up his hands in defence mode, making sure that Louis knew he wasn't the threat. Making a patient comfortable was one of the very first things he learnt as a nurse and though he was off duty right now, he guessed the same rules applied considering Louis' current state. "I'm not going to hurt you Louis."



"Yes you are!" Louis exclaimed, trying to get out of bed but felt the familiar tug on his hand, causing him to scream out in frustration. Nothing was alright and nothing was ever going to be alright again!



"Calm down!" Nick said, placing his hands on Louis' shoulders to prevent him from moving about, scared that he was going to further injure himself. "You're going to alert the other nurses and then they're going to sedate you. Do you really want that again?"



It seemed like hours, when really it was only two minutes, before Louis slowly stopped thrashing about but started to silently cry, biting his bottom lip as he did so, not wanting to make any noise. He fixated on a spot on the white ceiling and continued to stare at it as though it was the most interesting thing in the entire world, and was completely ignoring the concerned boy next to his bed, who was watching him intently.



"I'm sorry." Louis mumbled, letting out a heart wrenching sob, "I'm just so..." He struggled with the wording before he said, "Alone! I'm new here and I just..." his words died out as his crying took over and tears were freely spilling out his unusually dim eyes, making him look a little boy who was lost.



Nick took his hands off him and sat back down on the chair, elbows on the bed as he watched the boy try and stop crying, "You know, it's okay to cry, in fact, it's healthy"



"But I don't want to cry." Louis responded, sounding like a petulant child getting told off in the shopping centre by his parents for doing something naughty.



"I know you don't want to, but you need to." Nick smiled slightly and slowly moved his hand up to Louis' cheek and caressing it softly and when he didn't flinch, he tousled the teen's hair. "And just to let you know, you are not alone. You have me."



"We barely know each other and I don't want to burden you." Louis' tears were still gliding down his face, but he had stopped sobbing.



"You're not a burden." Nick replied, smirking when Louis attempted to give him a small smile but failed. "It's okay" he told him, looking at him straight in the eyes, "You'll get better soon. I'll help you get better."









Two weeks had passed and physically Louis was making an improvement, he had even made an attempt at going to the toilet, but couldn't continue as he was just in too much pain. He had started walking; albeit very slow as pain would still consume his body like darkness would consume a shadow. Mentally, Louis was not getting better. Some days he would wake up completely fine in the hospital room, smiling as Nick would walk in his room and bring him little gifts, but other days he would wake up and be depressed and anxious. It was days like this that he would lay in the hospital bed, refusing to move, and would scream as loud as he could, which often ended up in the nurses rushing in to sedate him as he was beyond help by this point. Whilst all this would be happening, Nick would be watching from outside the door, closing his eyes as it hurt to see his new friend like this.



When Louis would black out from the sedatives, he would walk into the room on his breaks and stroke his forehead, and would sometimes hold his hand and give it a light squeeze, feeling pleased when Louis would give it a squeeze back in his sleep.



When Louis would wake up from the sedative induced sleep, he just lay there and wished he didn't feel so dead on the inside. It was like had nothing to live for any more, which in a sense was true seeing as he had missed out of two weeks of Uni, which would make him far behind and he would probably be forced to drop out and start the course in the second semester again. The only reason Louis hadn't killed himself yet was Nick always coming in to see him in his breaks, or even when he was checking up on the patients that he was assigned to. Nick was the reason why Louis smiled.



Now, on Nick's day off, he came to visit Louis, bringing him a teddy bear, which he thought was a good idea as it made Louis feels less alone at night time when he couldn't sleep or when he would wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night. Louis deeply appreciated these gifts as it would often smell like cologne and smoke, the very smell that saved him.



"Look what I got you." Nick said as he walked through in Louis' hospital room, chucking the brown bear at Louis, who let it land on the bed as he was unable to lift his arms up to catch it as it would hurt him to do so.



He gingerly picked up the bear and cradled it to his chest, looking wide eyed at Nick with a small smile on his face, "Thank you so much."



"No problem, buddy." Nick went ahead to the bedside table where Louis' left over food was at and started picking at the "food" that really shouldn't be classified as food. "Ugh, is that what you've got to eat every day? This is gross, ugh, I can't even eat this shit."



Louis chuckled, "I used to love food until they started feeding me this crap."



The wheels in Nick's head started turning and he thought of a perfect way to motivate Louis to get out of bed more often and start moving as just the yesterday he had heard the doctor discussing Louis' case to another nurse and how he needs to start moving more often.



Smiling slightly, he said, "Can I make a deal with you Louis?"



Louis frowned, "Um, depends on what it is."



"If you can walk three laps of this room by the end of the week, which mind you, is in four days, I'll persuade the doctor to release you earlier than he originally wanted to and I'll take you out for an awesome dinner."



Louis sighed dramatically, "I can't do that Nick. It hurts too much."



"I know it does" Nick replied slowly, chucking out the food that he knew Louis wouldn't end up eating, "But the longer that you don't move, the worse you'll get and when you do decide to start moving again, it will be harder."



Louis rolled his eyes, but his small smile still remained, "I dunno'."



"Come on." Nick reasoned, "I've got the next few days off, I could even help you instead of those gross physiotherapists."



"Fine!" Louis replied, feeling anxious again, "But don't you have stuff to do on your days off, like hang out with friends?"



"Lou, you are my friend." Nick replied enthusiastically, thinking about how he liked Louis more than a friend but couldn't exactly say that to the small brunette, considering the state in which he was in, especially with his mood swings and he thought it was wrong to take advantage of him during this hard time.



"Wow." Louis eventually responded, "Is it sad that you're my first friend in London?"



"Nah, not weird at all, considering the fact that you haven't been here that long. Hey, maybe when you're up and about, I'll introduce you to Harry, Ed and Joey. They've wanted to meet you for quite some time."



Louis raised his eyebrows in questioning, "Really? And how the hell do they know about me?"



"Oh um." Nick faltered, "They were there when I found you...and um, I may have told them about you, just a little bit..."



For the first time since the incident happened, Louis smiled a genuine smile, "Aw, you're blushing!"



The next day was a horrible and excruciating day. Louis didn't wake up in a good mood and he had woken up crying from a horrible nightmare, finding comfort in the bear that Nick had brought him the previous day. His mood worsened when his body began aching terribly and the doctor was forced to give him more pain medication just for him to be able to rest comfortably. However, Louis being in pain did not stop Nick, who had come to visit him at 9:00 a.m. bring him some sweat pants and a loose tank top that he could change into as it was much better to be in normal clothes rather than these unattractive hospital clothes.



"Hey." Nick said as he walked in, "I brought you some of my old clothes from when I was younger. You're smaller than me so they should fit you"



"Thanks." Louis mumbled, not giving a damn about these clothes as he was in too much pain to even change into them.



Nick's smile faltered at Louis' lack of enthusiasm "So the doctor told me you were in pain when you woke up." Lous just nodded, staring at the clothes that Nick placed gently on his bed next to him. "Oh." Nick said, "You're in one of those moods. Well that's fine! As long as you get up and move around for a bit. Come on, I'll help you change."



"No." Louis responded, making his tone as cold as possible when Nick touched his arms. "Do not touch me."



"Louis." Nick responded firmly, not going to back down that easily, "You haven't gone up in two weeks instead to go to the toilet, and even then you only walked once. It's time to get up and move"



"No." Louis responded again.



"Louis" Nick repeated again, "Come on, three laps of the room by the end of the week and you'll be released"



Louis looked up at Nick and simply said, "No"



It had taken a lot of coaxing on Nick's behalf and a lot of crying and screaming on Louis' behalf before the older boy had managed to persuade Louis into changing. Of course Nick had to soothe the boy by stroking his hair soothingly and whispering to him that everything would be okay. Once Nick had helped Louis change into his top, he paused momentarily, looking down at the teen as he realised that he would have to help him change into his pants.



"I'm fine" Louis said, "I'm okay with you helping me... Just you, though." he added as an afterthought.



"Okay." Nick replied instantly, smiling on the inside as this was another huge step for Louis.



Walking proved to be more difficult than expected and had resulted in Louis wincing in pain more times than Nick could count. The moment the small brunette had gotten out of bed, he had tripped and would have fallen if it were not for Nick catching him and holding him up. When it was time for Louis to try and use the crutches he threw a tantrum and chucked them on the floor, feeling miserable with himself as he had only managed to walk around his small room once before nearly collapsing in exhaustion.



"Fuck." He exclaimed, grabbing onto Nick's shirt, "Why can't I fuckin' walk properly?"



"It'll take time"



"This is bloody ridiculous. I'm so fuckin' weak and pathetic!" Louis complained, leaning heavily on Nick as the older boy lead him back over to his bed. "This is why I didn't want to do it in the first place!"



Nick pursed his lips together before pouring Louis some more water, "You're doing well, trust me." he reassured the teen, "I've seen patients in here who can't even get out of the bed."



"Can we try again?"



"Sure!"



Two hours had passed and Louis was making considerable progress and managed, with Nick's assistance of course, to walk around the room one and a half times before he had collapsed in exhaustion in Nick's arms, relishing in the warmth and protection that Nick offered.



The walk to the bed was enough to make the last of Louis' strength dwindle, causing him to fall face first on the bed, wishing he hadn't exerted himself so much, but at the very same time, he was pleased with the progress he had made within only a couple hours. He just hoped that if he continued at this rate, he would get released by the end of or early next week and then he would have to go.....home. He shivered at the thought of being alone but pushed the thought of being alone at the back of his mind, incredibly thankful for the company he had right now.



"I can't believe I walked that much." Louis said in disbelief, gratefully accepting another cup of water from Nick and drinking it as if his life depended on it.



Nick just laughed at Louis' enthusiasm and ruffled the brunette's hair.



Two days after, Louis was slowly getting his physical strength back; he could slowly walk around his room twice without Nick's assistance, but still needed help on his third go, but still, both Nick and the doctor had been pleased at the considerable progress that he had been making. Whenever the doctor got the chance to, he would watch Louis work on his strength, feeling pleased that he had been doing this without the assistance of the physiotherapist.



Moving around was helping Louis by giving him new things to think about. He set his goal and he wouldn't stop until he reached his goal. However, despite his mental condition improving, the nightmares still plagued him when he slept or when he closed his eyes for too long, making him incredibly jumpy.



When his therapist had walked into his room for a session the third time this week, he had declared that Nick needed to wait outside, but Louis threw a fit. He needed Nick here with him. At first the therapist was unhappy with this decision, but soon was glad that Nick was here when Louis started crying and yelling incoherently when the therapist tried to soothe him. Louis had made it clear that only Nick could touch him. However, he was still making progress and it was with great pleasure that the therapist announced that Louis was in the right state of mind to go home, but made it clear that he needed to have one therapy session a week due to Louis' slight instability.



The therapist looked Louis in the eyes, "These nightmares you're having are not going to be rid of easily. With time and sessions they will cease eventually, but don't expect them to disappear altogether."



"But could he take some sort of medication for them?" Nick asked, grabbing Louis' hand and entwining his fingers with the younger. Both Louis and Nick not even realising that they were holding each-others hands, but Louis had to admit that it felt nice.



Before the doctor could reply, Louis said, "No way in hell that I'm taking more medication. I'm already on so much."



"But this could help you, Lou." Nick chided.



"I don't care. I'm on antibiotics and multiple pain medication and I don't fancy taking any more medication. I'll get through these nightmares on my own."



Nick looked up at Louis through his dark and long eyelashes, "We'll get through this together."



The rest of the day had gone fantastically. Nick holding Louis' hand had given him the strength to be able to walk three lapse of the room at a solid pace. Once he had reached the third lap, he went for another, using the aid of his crutches whilst he felt Nick's hand on his upper back, giving him the strength to continue walking on. The pain in his hip and back was enough to want to make him curl up in bed and cry, but he would not succumb to the thought, knowing that moving around was the best thing for his physical as well as mental well-being.



When Louis went to bed that night, he was thankful when Nick didn't leave like he normally would. Instead he stayed in the chair all night, holding Louis' hand in his own and talking to him like nothing bad had happened to him. Louis had never smiled or laughed so much before in his entire life, but Nick was bringing out the happiness in him that had been engulfed by his sadness.



That night, right before Louis fell asleep he slowly got up to a sitting position and pulled Nick close to him, so that he was leaning his head on his shoulder. "You wanna' know something, Nickky? I think I like you a lot."







Nick smiled and put his arms around Louis' small frame, "I think I like you as well, but we'll talk about this in the morning, for now you need to rest." Nick gently guided Louis back to the bed, being extra careful of his back and hip.



Two days after, Louis had told Nick how he felt, after being stunned that the feelings were reciprocated, he had lightly kissed the older boy on his lips, feeling a weird feeling within him be ignited as soon as his lips touched Nick's. He could feel Nick's resistance at first, but then he could feel Nick slowly relaxing, putting his arms around him and pulling him close. Louis could only smile and move closer to the older boy.



When the doctor came in Louis' room a day later and gave him the "Okay." to go home, he experienced mixed emotions and reactions. At first he cheered in triumph and smiled brightly as he grabbed Nick's hands tightly, very happy that he would be able to go home. His second reaction was to bite his lip to prevent himself from crying as he realised that he would have to go home where he would be all alone, where his nightmares would plague him at night time and he wouldn't have any one to hold him or tell him he's okay. His third reaction was to feel his heart heavy with anguish as he wouldn't be spending his time with Nick that much any more.



"Mr. Tomlinson" the doctor said, standing in front of Louis with his hands on his hip, "did you hear what I just said?"



Louis jumped a little and reached for Nick's hand, "Yeah, I heard. Therapy session, medication, the usual." He replied rather forebodingly.



"You just need to sign yourself out at the nurse's desk and you're free to go." The doctor chirped happily, shaking Louis' hand and walking out the room without a second thought, leaving Louis and Nick together.



Louis didn't even know he was trembling until Nick wrapped his arms around Louis' small body and rocked him back and forth. Louis knew he would have to speak to Nick about what was bothering him, but he just couldn't find the words at the moment, so instead he placed his hands on the older boys chest and leaned his head against the muscular frame.



Louis took a deep breath, trying to keep his unshed tears from spilling out, "I don't know if I want to go home. I don't want to be alone, what if people break in or something?"



"Louis." Nick began, rubbing circles into the younger boy's back, "Don't hate me, but it was never my intention to let you go back home alone. I was hoping you would stay with me and my room mate Harry."



As tempting as that offer was, Louis knew he shouldn't accept. It wasn't fair, "That's unfair to Harry and you."



"Louis, I've discussed this with Harry and he's fine with it. We have an extra bedroom and it's yours for however long you want to stay, whether you stay indefinitely or not."



Louis looked up at Nick with tears cascading down his pale cheeks, "Are you sure?"



Nick bent down and planted his lips firmly on Louis', before breaking away and staring at him with all the sincerity and love that he could muster, "We're in this together and if that means having you live with me, then so be it!"





That night, when Louis went to his new home with Nick, he met Harry and was glad to see that he was kind-hearted and caring, always offering whether Louis wanted anything or not. It struck Louis that night, when he couldn't sleep and had gone to sleep next to Nick, that he had seen Harry before. On the streets when Nick found him.



It was weird living with Nick, but Louis and Nick got used to each other. Nick took two weeks off of work and Louis had taken the rest of the semester off. Those days that they spent together were spent falling hopelessly and irrevocably in love with each other.