Save You Tonight

Louis tried for a second time to force his bronze house key into the key hole. As the key slid in he let out a triumphant cheer and his friends all clapped for him. Louis turned and started to bow in appreciation.

"Lou open the door, I'm freezing!" Harry complained loudly as he clutched onto a very wobbly Niall.

Louis opened up and let everyone inside before locking the door shut. Zayn sprinted to the bathroom and could be heard being violently sick. Louis followed Harry, Niall and Liam into the kitchen and laughed as his friends already started to make themselves at home, pouring drinks, making toast. Louis sat down at the breakfast bar next to Harry and wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close and kissing his temple. Harry turned into the embrace and snuggled into the older boy's neck with a smile.

***

At 4am Louis sat up gasping in shock. An intense pain pressed down on his lower chest and there was a dull burning sensation in his abdomen. He groaned and tried to crawl out of bed without waking Harry or tripping over Niall and Liam. Louis was determined to get to the bathroom without anyone waking up, he didn't want to ruin a good night. The pain in his chest slowly numbed away to nothing but the feeling in his tummy stayed.

"Lou?" There was a soft knock at the bathroom door only a few minutes after Louis had locked it.

Louis had doubled over from the pain and clutched onto the sink for support, he took a deep breath and stood up straight forcing one of his usual, bouncy smiles and shouted to Harry that he could come in. Harry stepped inside and gave Louis a worried look.

"Are you okay? You look pale"

Louis didn't want to worry Harry, he didn't like it when Harry was worried or upset, especially if it was his fault. He smiled and pulled Harry into his arms, giving him a soft kiss on the top of his messy head.

"I'm just tired, I'll be fine by morning."

Harry leaned his mouth up to Louis' and pressed their lips together softly. Louis shut his eyes, his hand shaking as he tried to ignore his stomach.

***

At breakfast Louis didn't eat. Harry gave him toast but he just sat and picked it apart for fifteen minutes as they all laughed and joked about the previous night. Harry didn't understand why Louis wouldn't eat, there were plenty of softer foods that didn't make him sick and he usually nibbled throughout the day, it wasn't normal to see Louis refusing meals.

Zayn, Liam and Niall left just before lunch. Jay made the two remaining boys some sandwiches before she had to go to work. Harry sat on the living room floor, legs crossed, munching away happily with his eyes glued to an old rerun of Come Dine With Me. He had calmed down about breakfast as he could hear his boyfriend crunching lettuce from behind him. He decided he ought to trust Louis more, its not like he was anorexic.

Louis shifted in his seat several times hoping it would stop the burning feeling that had remained all night. He was starting to feel really sick and light headed. At first he remained adamant that Harry did not need to know...then the pain came; a gigantic, agonizing pain searing through his lower abdomen, so much so that he cried out and doubled over clutching his stomach. Harry jumped to his feet and grabbed Louis' shoulders, kneeling infront of him.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"M..my -argh!! Sto...stomach..." Louis had never felt anything this painful in his life, tears streamed from his eyes as he shook from the shock.

He tried to stand up but the pain was over bearing, Harry pressed a hand to his back to keep his head down and grabbed his mobile typing in 999. Louis had started to calm down by now but was still shaky. His stomach felt bloated and he was nauseated. The pain struck again and he cried out, falling onto his side on the sofa and screwing his face up in agony, after a few seconds he folded himself into the fetal position and hugged his belly as if this would help the agony. Harry tried to remain calm as he told the emergency line Louis' details.

***

The hospital was big and cold. The corridors were long and white. A trolley stood down the hall with a white cloth covering an old woman, the doctor who had been with her had been called away urgently; a car crash victim needed surgery right away. The man from the morgue had been paged four minutes ago and was on his way up.

A curly haired teenager sat at the end of the corridor hugging onto his legs in a plastic blue chair, trying desperately not to think of the dead body. His boyfriend had been put to sleep and wheeled off for an endoscopy. The doctor had explained to the young man that this was basically a camera put down his boyfriends throat to locate what was causing his pain.

Harry had googled Louis symptoms and found a few possibilities, including stomach cancer. He couldn't bare the thought, his brain switched off and he was left sat staring at the white wall. Jay arrived five minutes before and had calmly reassured Harry before going to find somewhere to get coffee. Harry knew she was just as terrified as he was.

Louis was wheeled back to his room soon after Jay returned. The doctor said he would go look over the results and get back to them within the next half hour. Harry walked through the curtain that had been pulled shut and sat on an old wooden chair right by Louis head. Jay sat at the end of the bed quietly.

"You better be ok!" Harry whispered as tears made their way down his cheeks. He just got Louis, he couldn't lose him.

Louis eyes started to twitch as he came to. Harry sat up straight and grabbed onto his hand, careful of the iv that was pumping him full of painkillers.

"Harry..." Louis croaked "my throat?"

"It'll be a bit rough from the camera. You're fine" Harry kissed Louis temple and played with his warm fingers.

After almost half an hour the doctor returned. Everyone went quiet to hear what he had to say.

" Louis, you're suffering from a type III peptic ulcer, these are usually caused by excess stomach acid..."

Louis looked at the doctor shocked then tears suddenly started pouring from his eyes, he thought of one way there could have been extra stomach acid in his body, and if that was the cause of the ulcer then it was entirely his own fault. Harry grabbed Louis hand reassuringly.

"Louis...tell them."

"C-can you ge-get ulcers from...long term bulimia?"

Jay's eyes went wide and her hand flew to her mouth. Her son was bulimic? How had she never noticed this before? Was she a bad mother? Had she caused his bulimia from the divorce? How long was long term?

The doctor nodded sadly "peptic ulcers can be caused by constantly bringing up stomach acid and the strain bulimia puts on the stomach from wrenching..."

Louis cried harder. He felt so dumb, all that time he had been in pain after eating was the startings of an ulcer. He should have stopped, its not like he couldn't have...he wasn't addicted to throwing up or anything, that would have been ridiculous.

"We're going to keep you in for today just to keep an eye on how you take to your treatment, which will just be a strong course of Medication."

Once the doctor left Harry stood up and told Louis to squeeze up. He climbed into the bed next to his boyfriend and let him cry on his shoulder. Jay got up and left the room, not sure what else she could possibly do or say.

***

That evening Harry was told it was best for him to go home and let Louis try to rest. Harry had kicked up a fuss at first but Louis had told him it was ok, he had his mother. Just as Harry turned to leave Louis turned a funny pale colour. Jay grabbed the little basin and handed it to him incase he threw up. After the sound of Louis wrenching everything was a massive blur. A nurse said something about coffee coloured vomit, the doctor was paged, Louis started panicking and Harry was removed from the room by a nurse.

It took almost an hour of different tests before Louis was wheeled from his room, the words 'Upper gastrointestinal bleeding' seemed to echo down the hall from the doctors mouth. Harry slumped down into his chair in complete shock. What was going to happen to his Louis?