if it means a lot to you (Harry/Louis Merman AU #3)

Chapter Four

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L

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Louis woke up an entire day and a half later.

He was sure he had never left his bed. He was positive he had been on his bed, asleep, for who knows how long. Louis definitely hadn't been in the ocean at all in the past week. That's all. He's been sleeping. The images that ran through his mind all had to have been from some vivid, wild dream that seemed to be much longer than fifteen minutes. In just a few minutes, he would soon forget his dream since that tended to happen with Louis and dreams and... and he'll get up and go about his day like normal. That seemed realistic, yes.

The truth was that he was so, so, so very happy to know that he was in his room. He was happy to know he could exhale fully, slowly, and without pain. His eyes opened up with such gentleness and they swept over his room. God, he was so happy to be here, so happy to know he was just... just okay, to know that the dream was over. It was more like a nightmare in some parts. Other parts were nice, but... but man was it a vivid, horrifying dream all the same.

It had to have been a dream... right? Suddenly, Louis wasn't so sure. Or... maybe he was about to forget it all together.

The door of his room opened. Louis looked over to see a tall person walk into the room with pointed boots, dark, knee-broken tight jeans, and a dark shirt to go along with it. Curls sat at the person's shoulders, full and soft. Harry was in his room... Harry was in his room. Harry... what was Harry doing here?

"You didn't put any salt in the water, did you?" A voice called. Zayn. Harry frowned, looking down at something he was holding. Louis saw a glass of water.

"I might've... whoops. Forget you guys take your water without." Harry said, stepping out of his room.

Louis bunched his duvet up under his chin and wanted to make himself smaller for once—considering he always preferred to be tall, that was saying something. Sometimes he thought he was bigger than he actually was—but right now, he definitely just wanted to shrink away. He didn't know why. Harry was a welcome sight right now. He didn't feel upset or anything. He felt like a boy with a strong crush that he had hoped would've died away already. He felt like a boy with a crush who wasn't ready to see his crush even though he was right here. He was not prepared. It was very unexpected to wake up to Harry. That's all.

Harry returned with a new glass of water. He came closer and set it on Louis' nightstand, but did a double take to look at Louis. Harry's mossy eyes brightened at the sight of him. Louis' stomach fluttered. "You're awake." Harry drawled, sitting at the edge of his bed, facing him. Louis' eyes were soft, but surprised as he looked up at Harry. "You kept my clothes." Well, what was he supposed to say to that? Louis swallowed and ended up settling on a bashful nod, his lashes fluttering sleepily. Harry smiled at him and in a heartbeat. Louis was captivated. "Good thing you did, huh?"

"Yeah." Louis whispered. He gave Harry a small smile. "Had a surreal dream."

"Did you?" Harry asked. Louis nodded and carefully sat up to lean his back up against the pillows. He almost fell back and Harry grabbed another pillow to set it up right behind him. "Better?" Louis nodded again. "Water?"

Louis sniffed lightly, his nose twitching a little. "Sure." Harry handed him the glass. Louis took it gingerly, staring down at the crystal clear liquid. "I almost drowned again... I think... twice. But... the second time was... it was kind of weird, really." He said as he took a sip of water that he had meant to be small. The moment the water seeped into his mouth and swished down his throat, Louis felt like he was drinking the nectar of the Gods and downed the entire glass. He didn't even know he had been parched. "Thanks." He said as he set the glass down on the nightstand.