You Make My Heart Race • l.s

Three

This chapter was written by: qualitystylinson

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Today was not Harry's day. No matter how cheery he was in the morning, once he started his shift all his hopes of doing surgeries went down the drain. His attending, Dr. Yang, didn't like him all that much. She knew he was an excellent doctor, who was an overachiever and amazing in every aspect, she just didn't like him. He was annoyingly overachieving, just as she had been. Which is why it drove Harry nuts.

It also didn't surprise Harry when she told him he needed to keep an eye on Louis, or Mr. Tomlinson, all day. He obliged, of course. Since if he didn't he'd be in trouble, but he still wasn't happy. It wasn't Louis either. It was just the fact that he wasn't showing himself off in his skills in surgery.

But as directed, he made his way to Louis' room. And as he entered, he felt at ease with the man's bright smile. It was welcoming, just as anyone would want if someone else was forced to spend all day with them.

"Are you serious? You don't watch footie at all?" Louis asked him as he fiddled with  the television remote. He was searching for a match that was supposed to be on. Only thing was that the channels were different than the ones he had at home, and Harry didn't know where they could find the game. "You may be smart, but you're no help to my life," he joked, shaking his head. He turned on some random show, giving up on his search.

"Damn. If only I was a doctor who could potentially save your life," Harry tsk'd. He had a small smile on his face, the dimple on his right showing itself.

"I know right. Then maybe you could help me," Louis played along more, and Harry couldn't help but snort to refrain him from laughing into his hand.

Harry calmed down, and sighed, "You are a piece of work, Mr. Tomlinson. First the heart, now the wittiness," Harry stood up from the uncomfortable chair, and dragged in one from the hallway. If he was going to be there all day, he damn well wasn't going to sit in a plastic fold up chair that probably doesn't last even a whole year.

Louis was turned on his side, his cheek smushed into the pillow. "It's really boring here," he mumbled, "no ones ever around."

Louis' words made Harry frown. It's not lonely at all in this hospital, always packed. The obvious problem was just Louis' lack of family. Which was weird since just the day before .

"Um," Harry started, not quite sure if his next words were going to be invading or not, "why don't you like... where's your family?"

Louis frowned, for only a split second, not letting Harry see it. "That's a personal question," he muttered. Harry opened his mouth to apologize, but before he could Louis spoke up again. "But I'll answer it. My parents are divorced, and once my dad found out I was gay when I was nineteen he sort of just... left. He yelled at me a lot, and I even tried introducing him to my boyfriend at the time, but it was just uh... yeah," he folded his hands in his lap, "my mum moved. One of those weird things where you decide to move like to a different country. She calls most days, but can't really visit," he brought his hand up, scratching at his head, "my sisters don't ever really get in touch with me," he muttered uncomfortably.

Harry looked down at his hands, "I'm sorry, Louis."

Louis shrugged, "It's quite alright...how about you tell me bout yourself," he lifted himself further up the bed to sit up more.

Harry chuckled, "Uh, I've got an older sister. She's in the journalism business. I graduated second in my class at Stanford, and am currently doing my residency in this hospital. I was born in Cheshire, read a lot, sing in the shower, and I play scrabble with my family whenever we can," he said, smiling along, "was that good?"

Louis nodded, "Yeah," his voice was breathy, "yeah, that's good. Maybe you'll get to sing for me some time. I sing a little bit as well, but I'm not the best," he shrugged, "and books are better when they have pictures," he pointed out, joking.

A silence went over them, before Louis shifted and spoke up once again. "Scrabble? Shall we give it a go? They've got to have the game somewhere in this hospital."

Harry stifled a laugh, cocking his head, "You wanna play scrabble with me? I'm quite good at it, so be warned," he raised from his seat, and left the room to one two doors down to grab the game from a closet. He had brought one from home and kept it there after leaning that surprising more people bring up board games when being there a while. There's nothing to do for them, so it can get boring very easily.

"Time for you to go down," Harry said smiling, walking back into the room. Louis laughs from his spot on the bed.

Surprisingly, his comment back wasn't related to scrabble at all. "This sucks that all you're doing today is watching me," he scoffed.

Harry frowned, and sat down in front of him, setting the game at the end of the bed. "Why?"

"Well, wouldn't you rather be doing surgeries and stuff?" he asked as if it was obvious.

Harry's mouth formed an o. "I mean, yeah, anyone would. But unfortunately today's my day of not doing anything, so at least I get to be in here with you rather than some cranky older patient who bosses me around," he pointed out, "plus you're a lot more attractive than my other patients, if I'm honest."

Louis chuckled, his cheeks going pink with bashfulness. He grinned at Harry, who was smiling right back at him, his dimples popping out so deep that it made Louis want to poke them, despite barely knowing him. He felt a bit overwhelmed. Sure, he'd had a doctor or teacher that he thought was cute when he was a teenager, but now he was twenty-seven. And by the looks of it his doctor was probably the same age as him. It's alright to think he's cute but to actually develop a crush on him isn't something that can happen. Harry could get in trouble if that happened, right? Right. Most likely.

Louis snapped out of his thoughts by beeping. His eyes widened, and he looked to Harry. "W-What's that?!"

Harry leans over him, shaking his head, "Louis, calm down. It's just the monitor telling you you're heart rate is picking up. You need to calm down and breathe. Whatever made you... nervous, or something, has to just be let be for now. Don't think about it. Just take deep breaths," his voice was soothing, quite calm and simply beautiful. Louis nodded, taking deep breaths. Harry reached and gently put his two fingers on Louis' neck, and sighed. The beeping stopped within a few seconds.

Harry sat down, giving Louis a soft smile, "It's okay. You're fine, Louis," he told him.

Louis only nodded again, keeping his thoughts inside his head.