Sleepless Nights

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Louis is startled awake to his phone ringing in the middle of the night.

In all honesty, he shouldn't be as surprised as he is when he picks up the phone and sees Harry's name in bold letters.

Automatically, Louis thinks the worst and assumes that Harry is dying. He doesn't know why he believes this, yet despite how irrational it is he fully leans into the terror.

He is out of bed and running to the door once the realization strikes. Then, he answers the call.

"Are you dead?"

There is silence on Harry's end and it only confirms his suspicions. Dread fills Louis's veins and he suddenly feels ice cold.

"Okay, okay, I'm on my way-  can you tell me where you are?"

Finally, that jolts a reaction out of Harry.

"Wait don't come, why would I even be dying?"

Louis pauses in his tracks, faltering despite his instincts telling him to go find Harry.

"I'm not dead, I swear."

Now, Louis simply felt ridiculous.

"Then why are you calling?" He doesn't mean for the words to come out as harsh, but he can't help it as he takes a moment to catch his breath.

There's an awkward silence, and Louis counts seven seconds before Harry responds. When he does his voice is so quiet, as if he were confessing a big secret.

"Sometimes it's nice to hear your voice..."

The realization hits Louis instantly, and he hates that he hasn't connected the dots sooner. Of course Harry would have a messed up sleep schedule of his of his own. It's impossible to sleep when you have someone talking your ear off for most of the night.

He hadn't realized that Harry would come to rely on it as well.

Louis had been ridiculously selfish from all the times he had called Harry in the middle of the night yet had never stopped to consider why or how he was so overly-willing to make conversation.

"You wanna talk about it?" Louis tries to keep his voice as gentle as possible, attempting to persuade Harry to actually share.

And for once, it works.

"It's just... I miss you so much and I thought I was moving on from the breakup, but then we started talking again and I don't know, I guess it made me realize that I don't ever want to move on from you."

Harry's confession was a jumbled mess, and it was obvious that he was crying now. Maybe he had been crying for a while.

"Well it's a good thing I'm right here to bother you, huh."

Much to Louis's horror, Harry offers a laugh that quickly turns into a sob.

"Can you come over?"

Harry asks the question as if he were afraid to, and Louis wishes he had acted upon this sooner, or at least before Harry had reached his breaking point. Another regret he'll carry.

Louis was already in the car and on his way to the apartment, and he presses on the brakes as he ignores several traffic laws.

When Louis finally knocks on the door, it's immediately swung open and then he's engulfed by an armful of Harry.

It's only when they have their bodies pressed against each other when he figures out why he has had so much trouble sleeping. He can't do it without Harry by his side.

He repositions himself so he can hug Harry just a little tighter, and his breath hitches at the cries he lets out as he tucks his head into his shoulder.

Louis hates himself for not noticing the signs earlier, but he would do whatever it takes to fix the problem.

He had spent so much time pushing Harry away after the breakup, pretending that he didn't care for him as much as he did. Those actions must have been what made Harry reluctant in calling Louis himself, and he can't believe he ever thought about ending this.

He promises himself that he's going to give more than just phone calls this time around.

So, when Harry tells him that his still loves him, Louis softly brushes the tears with the pad of his thumb and ensures that they are both okay. He ensures that he loves Harry more than life itself, and that he can always call if he needs too (a statement that he assumed was obvious).

The next night, when Harry calls at three in the morning, Louis is actually grateful for the interruption of sleep.

He picks up after the first ring.