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It's two a.m and Louis cannot breathe.
He doesn't mean this in an emotional way or something like that, no, he legitimately can't breathe.
He sits up quickly, throwing his Power Ranger sheets off his body and clutches his shirt covered chest, gasping for air. "Mum!" He calls weakly, tears welling in his eyes. His throat is sore and he can't breathe so he calls louder, "Mummy!"
That wakes up Lottie, who only starts crying as well, but Louis doesn't care because now he's crying even harder. The light turns on in the hallway as he watches the shadow of his mum come running into his room, panicked and frazzled.
She's eight months pregnant with his second sister and she can hardly walk though Louis just sobs more, gasping that he can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't breathe.
Louis' mum scrambles with the phone and scoops him up into his arms, trying to calm him down and call the emergency room all at the same time, and Louis' flailing his arms around, choking on his breath and he can't stop coughing or crying and he's a whole seven years old now, he shouldn't be crying so hard but he's so scared. He's so, so scared.
"Mummy," he wails, coughing loudly to catch his breath, clutching her shirt between his fingers and closing his eyes as she tries her best to soothe him, and then she's talking to someone on the phone and explaining what happened and Louis thinks it's the hospital but he can't be sure, you can never be sure.
"It'll be alright, baby, come on, you'll be okay, just try and breathe for me, okay? Just breathe." His mum starts to coo as she carries him down stairs with Louis' thrashing arms and all. She sets him down on the couch and kisses his face and Louis' still heaving for air and coughing when there's a knock at the door seven minutes later.
Louis' mum answers it and five different men come in and start pulling things out of their bags and poking his throat and they tell him to stay calm but he can't not when there are strange people touching his face like this.
"We'll take him down to the emergency room, see what's happened to him," one man says to his mum, who nods uneasily.
"I'll come with, it's just my daughter's upstairs and she's only two and can't be alone," Louis' mum says frantically, and then the men assure her everything will be alright, that she can go and get her daughter and they'll set him up in the ambulance.
The ambulance. That sparks up Louis' attention more than it probably should. Louis' always wanted to ride in one of them, but not in this circumstance, really. He supposes it will be a great story to tell all the kids in school, if he, you know, lives.
"Louis, honey," his mum says, kneeling beside him, "Will you go with the nice men into the ambulance? Lottie and I will be there in just a few moments, promise you."
Louis does not want to, but he's a Big Boy now, so he nods warily and let's himself get picked up and carried into the ambulance. He still can't breathe, but he keeps his mouth closed and tries not to cry anymore as he's strapped into a bed in the back of the ambulance.
His mum and sister join him pretty soon after, and Lottie's fussing but his mum holds his hand the entire time. It's the most attention he's gotten since Lottie was born, and he loves it, besides the fact his lungs feel like they're on fire.
When they arrive at the hospital, Louis' calmed down a bit and he's led off into a room where's he strapped into another bed, and people are looking at him with wide eyes.
A nice lady with pretty hair comes in and gives him a shot, which hurts, but he doesn't even flinch, and she praises him. "We'll do a few tests on you, find out what's the matter," she promises.
Louis likes her, because she gives him cups of apple juice and it's his absolute favorite of all the juices.
His mum sits in the seat next to him and tells him he's a brave boy, and that she'll buy him loads and loads of ice cream for being so good when they get back home until Nice Lady comes in again, looking distraught.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Tomlinson," she starts, looking at his mum, "It's just, my son is here and we were about to go home when this happened, and I need to treat another patient and I have no udea where to put him, do you mind if he stays here? Just for a little while?" She looks sad and a bit worn out, and Louis wonders if mum's have sixth sense to help others in need.
"Of course, oh yes, of course, he's welcome here!" His mum exclaims, as if it wasn't even a question, and Nice Lady thanks her at least ten million times before she leaves and runs to go grab her son, and when she returns, she's holding the hand of a boy.
He's younger than Louis, probably, with a big mop of curly hair. He's clutching Nice Lady's arm with one of his hands and a stuffed bunny in the other. He looks sleepy and a little scared, but probably not as scared as Louis is.
"This is Harry," Nice Lady says, pushing him forward slightly, a warm hand on his back.
"Hi, love," his mum greets, standing up with Lottie in her arms, "do you wanna sit up here?" His mum asks, offering him the seat.
Harry looks excited and nods eagerly, climbing up on the seat and swinging his legs around, the stuffed bunny in his lap.
He's not even looking at Louis, but he's got this sort of light to him, like he's just bursting with warmth. Louis doesn't want to think of him nicely, though, because he misses being the center of attention more than he's willing to admit.
"If he's any trouble at all, just call for Anne Cox, okay?" Nice Lady tells Louis' mum, to which she smiles and nods at, and then the door closes and they're alone. Or, well, as alone as you can be with four people.
"Louis, love, the doctors will be here any moment, and I'm gonna lay down with Lottie, alright?" His mum tells him, and Louis nods, even though he wants her to hold his hand.
"What happened t'you?" Harry asks once Louis' mum settles down on the couch like thing on the other side of the room, Louis listening until he hears her snoring until he actually looks up from his lap. Harry's got these wide eyes and his stupid curls are hanging in his face, and as much as Louis hates to admit, he looks kind of cute.
Louis thinks the question is pretty disrespectful, though, even though he doesn't know what the word means that well.
"I couldn't breathe," Louis tells him matter-of-factly, because even though he can breathe again, his voice is still hoarse and he still can't coughing. He reaches for his apple juice, but he can't reach, so Harry hesitantly stretches his little arm out and hands it to him.
Louis doesn't thank him despite feeling guilty about it.
"That's scary," Harry whispers, and brings his knees to his chest, staring at Louis curiously. "You're very brave," he adds, looking over at him from across his knees.
"I know. I'm also a big boy, so I didn't cry once," Louis tells him, and even though he's lying he feels good about himself by the way Harry's eyes widen even more. Louis decides Harry's the type of boy to cry over everything. Louis is not that kind of boy, those kind of boys are babies. And stupid.
"You're a stupid baby," Louis says to him to prove his point, which makes Harry's eyes go from wide to little, then he just starts crying. Really hard. Which proves Louis' theory correct, but also makes him feel pretty bad.
"You're not a stupid baby!" Louis says quickly, and it hurts to talk but it may hurt to see Harry cry even more. "You have pretty curls. Prettier than your mum's! You're not stupid, you're very nice," Louis adds, waving his hands around to try and stop him from crying.
Harry sniffles, not speaking and Louis sighs, exasperated.
"Come on. You can come and sit in here and pretend you're dying, it's funner than it sounds," Louis says, scooting over in the bed so Harry can crawl in, patting the empty space. Harry looks hesitant, but he climbs into the bed anyway with the bunny still in his hands.
"M' not a baby," Harry whispers, and Louis' small for his age, so he's only a little taller than Harry, but he doesn't care. He wraps his arms around Harry anyway and nods, ignoring how badly his throat hurts.
"You're not a baby," Louis repeats, and it's like a promise.
Louis doesn't remember falling asleep, but when he wakes up it's to a doctor looking down at him and Harry with something like fondness in his eyes.
"Is that your friend?" The man asks, and Louis just nods, rubbing his eye with his free hand, because he considers Harry a friend by now. "I need to have him sit on the chair for a little while, is that alright? Just while I look at you for a few moments." Louis' hesitant but he nods again anyway, let's the man scoop Harry up and set him back in the chair. The bunny still lays in Louis' finger tips, but Harry doesn't say anything, so he figures it's alright.
The doctor uses a bunch of things as he looks into his mouth and pokes his throat a bunch of times, too. Louis stays still and opens his mouth whenever the doctor asks, and when he get's a little scared he squeezes Harry's stuffed bunny tighter, and he can feel the boy smiling from the chair over.
"It looks like you've got Croup," the doctor says when he finishes, and his mum is waking up, listening intently.
"What's that?" Louis asks worriedly, looking from his mum to Harry, who both look equally concerned.
The doctor just laughs, smiling warmly. "Nothing you need to be concerned of. It's a fairly common in toddlers, but older kids like yourself get it as well, too. It's just inflammation of your windpipes and voice box, is all, and you should be back and running in just a day or two." He then get's out some weird thing in a tube and makes Louis drink it, saying it'll make him feel better. He's got a name badge on, so Louis believes him.
Once the doctor talks to his mum for awhile, he leaves, and she comes up and kisses him on the forehead, smiling at Harry who smiles shyly back.
"You two get along while I was sleeping?" She asks, and Harry giggles, nodding. Louis' just relieved Harry hadn't told on him for the whole 'stupid baby' incident, because he'd get in trouble.
Nice Lady, otherwise known as Harry's mum, comes in, then, and beams at Harry like he's sunshine and a bucket full of lolly's. Louis reckon's that he kind of is.
"Hi, Harry baby," she coos as she picks Harry up, the boy wrapping all his limbs around her like a kola bear, face tucked into her neck. "Was he a problem at all?" She asks them, and Louis' the first to shake his head, beaming up at her.
"Harry's my new favorite," she tells him very seriously, and that makes the two adults in the room laugh, though he's not sure why.
"We'll have to set up a play date for you two then, when you're back up on your feet," Louis' mum tells him, stroking his hair. Harry nods excitedly from his mum's neck, turning around to grin at Louis, two front teeth missing and all.
Louis believes he's never seen someone glow like Harry, and maybe it's weird to think, but he doesn't care. He beams back, and he hopes that they sort of glow together.
When Nice Lady leaves, she takes Harry with her. Louis still has his bunny, but he supposes it's an excuse to see Harry again very, very soon.
And when he falls back asleep, he thinks of curly hair and dimples and a boy who shines.