Although not consciously, Louis started avoiding Harry a bit. Louis always wanted to please people, and his idea of being in a relationship meant keeping Eleanor happy, despite how unhappy he was when he didn't see Harry all the time.

Every second away from Harry felt like a lifetime, and Louis's days were starting to feel longer and longer.

Harry, on the other hand, was too observant for his own good. While Louis just kept living his life, Harry spent hours on end wondering what had happened between him and Louis. He could only see Louis distancing himself for no reason.

Harry thought he was doing the right thing by telling Louis to go see Eleanor that night -- he couldn't see that Louis felt that Harry was pushing him away. While Harry was trying to be a good friend, Louis for once just wanted Harry to admit that he wanted something more.

After a week or two, Harry got used to Louis not calling as much. It hurt, but he could respect what Louis wanted. One day after school, though, while Harry was laying in bed blasting sad music, his phone rang.

"Hello?" Harry answered.

"Harry?"

"Lou? What's wrong?" Harry asked immediately upon hearing Louis's raspy voice through the phone.

"I feel terrible," Louis coughed.

"Do you need help? Are you alright?" Harry stood up quickly and headed for the door. He froze as he remembered that he and Louis weren't exactly on good terms, swaying with uncertainty in the doorway. "What do you need?"

"I'm so sick," Louis groaned. Harry could hear him flopping back onto his bed. Although Harry felt terrible for him, he thought optimistically that maybe could explain why Louis was avoiding him.

"Oh," Harry said, turning and heading back to his bed. He sat carefully on the side, still unsure of the situation. "What do you want me to do?"

"Come over and take care of me," Louis spoke softly.

Harry frowned. It was a school night and his mother was out of town on a week-long trip, but he had no way to get to Louis's house. "Lou, I can't drive," he replied, genuinely feeling bad. "I'm sorry, I really wish I could."

"It's okay, love, I forgot you don't drive. Don't worry about me, yeah?"

"Alright, feel better, Lou," Harry replied, cheeks flushing red at the nickname. "Sorry again."

"It's okay, Haz. I'll see you soon," Louis said before ending the call.

Harry groaned, falling back down onto his bed. He hated that Louis had so much power over him, even when he should be angry with the other boy for avoiding him. Just one call and Harry was back in Louis's hands.

When a knock came at the door, Harry groaned again and rolled out of bed. The man who dropped off their packages always knocked at the door as though he were a guest and then disappeared. It frustrated Harry every single time the man did it.

He pulled open the front door aggressively, mentally cursing out the delivery man, but instead of a package on the ground, he saw a pair of worn out Vans. He slowly raised his gaze, raking his eyes all the way up the smaller figure standing before him.

And once again, Harry definitely should have been angry, but when he found himself looking into those beautiful blue eyes, that emotion just didn't exist to him anymore.

"I didn't think I was up to climbing through the window today," Louis coughed, pulling his jacket more tightly around his small body with a slight shiver.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Harry exclaimed, pulling the boy inside and slamming the door. "It's freezing outside and you're sick enough already!"

And as Louis expected, Harry immediately switched into the role of a caretaker. He shoved Louis toward the stairs, ordering him to go lay down, and Louis obeyed immediately just so he could hide the smile on his face. Harry was adorable when he acted like this.

Harry grabbed a can of soup from the cabinet and put it on the stove to heat up. As he waited for that, he grabbed some medicine from the bathroom and an extra blanket. Once the soup was ready, he carefully brought the materials up the stairs to his room.

He found Louis snuggled into the blankets, waiting patiently. As soon as he saw Harry, a wide smile spread across his face. Harry tried to shoot him a glare, but Louis just laughed.

"You won't be laughing when I dump this soup on your lap," Harry retorted as he carefully handed Louis the bowl, making sure the boy had it before he let go. He stood beside the bed, crossing his arms as he looked down at Louis.

"You wouldn't," Louis chuckled. "Thank you, love."

Harry's cheeks flushed again at the nickname and he turned away so that Louis wouldn't see, pretending to look for an extra pillow in his closet. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I needed someone to take care of me," Louis said with a slight shrug. He sipped the soup carefully, wincing at the high temperature and putting it carefully on the nightstand.

Harry returned with an extra pillow and gently pushed Louis forward, propping the pillow behind his back. "And I was your best choice?"

"Of course," Louis grinned. Harry rolled his eyes, crossing the room again to grab his phone, giving Louis the opportunity to mutter under his breath: "Always."

Harry didn't hear, fortunately, and he turned back to the sick looking boy with a pointed look. "You need to sleep, and you could've done that in your own bed," Harry said.

"I like yours better," Louis replied simply.

Harry had no way to protest that, so he simply repeated, "Fine, but you're not sleeping. So close your eyes and rest, yeah?"

"But I'm not tired," Louis whined, sliding his back down the wall so he was laying down on the bed. "Come talk to me."

Harry crossed the room slowly until he was standing beside the bed. "About what?"

"Anything."

"You wanna talk about, um, your girlfriend?" Harry asked, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he tried to ignore the nauseating feeling in his stomach.

Louis had to suppress a groan, seeing as he secretly wanted to talk about anything but his girlfriend but nodded slightly in agreement. "I guess so. What do you want to know?"

"What do you like about her?" Harry asked tentatively, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside Louis. He would give anything to understand what Eleanor had that he didn't. Maybe then he could learn to be someone that Louis wanted.

Louis raised his gaze to meet Harry's, studying the beautiful boy sitting nervously before him. Harry was biting his lip as he watched Louis's reaction, waiting for the older boy to break his heart by talking about his girlfriend.

"Well," Louis sucked in a breath, blue eyes never breaking from Harry's green ones. "She has beautiful green eyes -- eyes that you could just stare at for hours without saying a word. And soft, brown hair that I could just play with for the rest of my life," he continued. "I think it looks best curled, though. It looks good all the time, but I've got something for curls."

Harry nodded, completely oblivious to Louis's description. He had to blink back tears in his eyes as Louis described the person he loved, especially knowing that it wasn't him.

"She's just the most wonderful person I know. Absolutely gorgeous," Louis said, never taking his eyes off of Harry. "And she doesn't even know it."

"That's great, Lou," Harry managed to choke out, forcing a supportive smile. "I'm really happy for you." Louis simply hummed in response, snuggling further into the blankets and releasing a sharp cough.

"I'm gonna get you some more soup," Harry said awkwardly, standing from the bed quickly.

"Wait," Louis said suddenly. His hand shot out from the nest of blanket and grasped Harry's arm, pulling the boy back to the bed. "Stay with me?"

"Lou," Harry said, uncertainty lacing his voice.

"Please, Haz," Louis pleaded, opening his eyes to give Harry a full pout and lifting the blankets slightly for Harry to get under.

Harry sighed, slipping under the blankets and letting Louis wrap them around his side. He was definitely going to get sick after this, but he didn't care. Louis snuggled into Harry's side and Harry wrapped his arm around him and let Louis fall asleep in his arms, hoping that he would feel a bit better when he woke up.

Harry hadn't slept well since Louis had started avoiding him, but at least for the moment, everything felt right again. And Harry fell asleep to the sound of Louis's steady breathing.