Perfect // 1D AU ✓

Chapter 13

~I could tell that you were curious (oh, yeah)~

"Want a cuppa?" Harry asked the next morning, waking Louis up from his position in the big room, where Zayn also was asleep because he was worried about him.

"Yes." Zayn replied, mostly still asleep.

Louis nodded at Harry, noticing that it was already ten o'clock in the morning. Harry brought in a tray of tea stuff, and Niall and Liam also came into the room. "Is this an intervention?" Zayn asked, rubbing his eyes.

"No." Harry said, handing him the tea. "It's time for me to come clean. Liam talked about his kidney thing the other day, and now it's my turn."

"You don't have to." Louis said, as Harry handed him his cup, already with milk in it.

"I do." Harry said. "And I should start from the beginning, I guess. I was born in Cheshire, England. Holmes Chapel. My granddad owned a go-kart track, and that was where I got into driving. As I got older, I got into street racing. And it got easier to sneak out when Gemma went to college. She's four years older than I am. But, I got busted for the racing, and I went to juvie. I was a mess in there. I cried like every day and asked to call my mom all the time. When I got out, after I learned my lesson," Harry began to look at the ground instead of all around the room. "She sent me to boarding school for my last couple of years, and I dropped out. Backpacked around Europe with some bad people. I joined a band. Did more racing. All fun stuff. Then, the band broke up, and I had a lot of debt to the wrong people, so I did a stint as a bounty hunter to pay it back." Harry finally took a deep breath to breathe. "Sometime in the middle of that, Gemma got diagnosed with SLE, which is an autoimmune disease."

"Lupus." Zayn whispered.

Harry nodded at him. "She has a severe form that affects her kidneys, and she's not expected to live long if she doesn't get a transplant. But she keeps doing things that push her further down the list to get one, because she believes in charity and helping others. And it was all going well, she came to America to get better treatment. My mom works way too hard to pay her bills, which is one reason that I'm doing this, to help Gem and my mum. But, yeah, it was all going well, until around early March of this year, when I was diagnosed with SLE as well." Harry stopped after that, and Louis set his tea down so that he wouldn't spill it. They were all of the edge of their seats.

"Damn, Harry." Liam said.

"I'm in better condition compared to Gemma." He said. "I get flare-ups once a month or even more infrequent than that. It won't impact the mission, I swear." Harry started crying then, feeling emotional. "I didn't tell anyone, because it's just part of the burden of being me."

The four of them crowded around Harry, giving him a hug. Louis had the most direct hug, and Harry was hugging him back. "I'll talk too, to make you feel better. But it isn't nearly as sad as yours. And then, no more storytime. We'll get to your guys' some other day." The other three nodded, and Louis started to speak.

"Born in Yorkshire. Doncaster. Me mum and my dad separated when I was two, and she got remarried to my dad. I've always called him my dad, even after they got divorced a while ago. But, I have five sisters. Lottie, Fizz, Phoebe and Daisy, and Ernest and Doris. Ernest and Doris are the youngest, and they have a different dad, because me mum got remarried after her and my dad split again. It's complicated, that's all I'm getting at. She died about two years ago, of leukemia. Worst thing of my life. I met Simon when she was in the hospital, and I did the first job to help pay for better treatment. But, even with the treatment, she didn't get better, and she died.  And I still stay in New York quite often, do odd jobs for Simon. But this is the last one, because I'm having a baby girl with a girl named Eleanor, and I plan to be there for her. Both Eleanor and the baby. But, I don't like Eleanor. Like romantically or anything. No way. But yeah, that's my story. Yada yada."

"I'm sorry, about your mum." Harry said, back to his slow way of talking now that he was done.

"It's alright." Louis said, but he pulled away like he wasn't okay.

Niall exclaimed then. "I've done it! I know how to crack the safe!" He ran into the other room and started working, and Louis left the house after that, needing some air and a cigarette.

"Just let him be." Zayn said to Harry. "He needs some space. And that was brave, what you did." Harry sniffled and nodded back to him.

Liam went to make breakfast. Zayn continued to hug Harry. "Give him like ten minutes, and then go get your man. He cried himself to sleep last night. I assume he's upset about the surprise ending to your date." Harry smiled at Zayn.

"Thanks, Zayn." He said. "And for what it's worth, I think Liam may be softening to you too." Harry kissed Zayn on the cheek, and then he went to go look for his coat and shoes.