Always, Forever (Larry)

Chapter Seventeen

A dozen red roses stood proudly in the cemented pot adjacent to the gold letters of JOHANNAH DEAKIN. A tear fell silently onto the soft grass beneath Louis's feet as he reflected upon his mother's grave.

'I've fucked up, mum. It's all my fault.' The trees wafted caringly in response, almost as though his mother was trying to comfort him.

'Harry is breaking more and more every day and it's all my fault. He's not taking his medication for his PTSD and I don't know what I would do if it all went wrong. I would never forgive myself if he died. I couldn't have done more, but I would feel as though I could've. I can't lose him, mum, he's my everything and he has no idea.'

Louis broke down on the floor as the words flowed free into the world. 'I wish you were here. I miss you. I hope I'm making you proud.' And with that he wiped his cheeks and stood up slowly, making his way back to the car before driving home helplessly.

As the click of the door sounded through the house, Harry threw his arms around Louis. He had been gone for hours and the younger boy was worried sick. Louis sniffled into the embrace, another tear exposing his emotions to the fragile atmosphere.

'Movie night?' Harry suggested soothingly into Louis's shoulder. The older boy simply nodded and headed to the kitchen to prepare the popcorn whilst Harry fetched the blankets from upstairs. Before Harry made it back to the living room, Louis had logged into Netflix and selected the curly boy's favourite movie – Mamma Mia!

Harry lifted the blanket up to invite Louis underneath, taking the popcorn from his hands as he snuggled his face into Harry's chest. He soon fell asleep under the soft caress of the younger boy's fingers massaging his scalp, leaving the film playing to itself.

...

The chatter of voices bounced off the walls of Harry's living room as the fire crackled softly. It was getting colder outside as they had hit the start of the winter season. Harry turned slowly towards Liam and opened his mouth to speak, unable to push the words past the lump in his throat. It wasn't as though he didn't know what to say, just how to say it.

Liam raised an eyebrow at Harry's confused expression before watching him glance at the stairs. Harry knew that he wasn't going to know if Louis was awake yet just by looking at the staircase, but it gave him some reassurance that the boy wasn't in the room, therefore not hearing what he was about to say.

"I'm worried about him. He was really upset last night. He went to see Jay but wouldn't tell me anything." Harry explained briefly as Liam's mouth turned slightly inwards. Louis hadn't been to see Jay since last year. He would only ever go there if something was seriously wrong. Liam knew this; Harry did not.

"Did he say anything?" Liam almost whispered towards the curly lad. Harry shook his head, fighting back the tears that were threatening to escape his eyes. "I'll go talk to him. Better if he's up anyway so we can start writing."

Louis grunted in Liam's direction as he entered the room, clearly awake. He felt the bed dip slightly as Liam sighed and took a seat. What the fuck did he want now?

"Why haven't you come downstairs yet?" Liam enquired, mind quickly casting back to his conversation with Harry that neither of them would appreciate Louis knowing about.

"Just thinking..." Louis wasn't himself and Liam could tell. As he raised both eyebrows and gestured for Louis to continue, he sighed and finally opened up to his best friend. "I went to talk to Jay about Haz..."

Liam was taken aback. Of course, he knew that Louis had been to see his mother, Harry had told him as much. But to talk to her about Harry? Confusion clearly plastered itself on Liam's face; Louis explained further.