painless ➸ larry

eleven

*chapter eleven;

"'Need to talk about something important, Loubear." Jay says as she sits on their couch in the living room.

Louis cautiously sits down next to her, having no clue what she wants to talk about.

"Dr. Archambault and I were talking about something before he moved; he told Anne about it."

"What is it?" Louis demands.

"Patience, it's a lot to comprehend." Jay sighs. "So, there's this treatment for your, uh, disorder." Jay cringes; she hates that word.

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, um, they can use this drug called Naloxone to counteract all the extra endorphins in your brain."

"That's great! When can I start?"

"Louis, it doesn't always work. Don't get your hopes up, okay?" Jay replies.

"But there's a possibility that it will work, and that's something to get excited about!" Louis' eyes get big and dreamy with hope.

"It's—the treatment is experimental, really, but it can't cause you harm if it doesn't work. Anne says she wants to start you on it in a week or so." Jay pauses. "But, if you don't—"

"Of course I want to!" Louis interrupts.

"Anne also says that it takes two weeks to go into action, and if it doesn't work by three then it doesn't work on you." Jay bites her lip.

"Okay. I'm more than willing to try it," Louis says. "more than willing." he repeats.

"Alright, I'll let Anne know."

With that, Louis returns  to the sanctuary that is his room.

★

Meanwhile, Harry is at school. He's in English, which he isn't really good at, but he's not really bad at it, either. And, next to him sits Nick Grimshaw, the guy who obviously has a crush on Harry and the guy that Harry doesn't return the feelings for. Oh, and a few desks in front of Harry sits Niall, whom Harry has now learned just moved to Doncaster this past weekend for his father's job. (Harry forgot what Niall's dad even does, and he didn't bother ask anyone.)

"How's everyone getting through Hamlet?" The teacher asks, and Harry begins to drift off into his own little world. That is, until Nick taps on his shoulder.

"Isn't this class so boring?" Nick groans. "It's like—like, boring as a five hour speech about a carpet."

"Was that a metaphor?" Harry asks absentmindedly.

"No, it was a simile. Did you like it? I know more. This class is as boring as—"

"Stop trying so hard." Harry yawns, stealing a glance in Niall's general direction.

Nick slits his eyes at Niall. "You and him?" he sneers.

"Used to be." Harry bites his lip and looks down at his desk.

"Oh. I saw you hangin' around with that Tomlinson guy the other day. You walked past my house and I waved through the window, but you didn't see me."

"What a shame." Harry replies, deadbeat. His mind wanders to Louis. He definitely likes Louis, and he's pretty sure that Louis likes him, too.

Harry's abruptly shaken from his thoughts when he feels Nick's hand playing with a few ringlets of Harry's hair. Harry freezes, clenching his jaw. Nick doesn't notice the sudden tense-ness, and continues to play with the chocolatey curls.

"Nick," Harry hisses. "stop."

"I saw Louis doing this to you while you were walking." Nick replies, not stopping.

Harry's definitely getting creeped out, now. How often did Nick watch them?

"Can you stop?" Harry replies through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, but I don't think you want me to."

"Yes, I do. We are in the middle of class, and you are making me very uncomfortable!" Harry blurts much louder than he had intended to.

"Would you like to share your conversation with the rest of the class, boys?" The teacher asks as the whole class turns their heads and stares at the two—including Niall. Harry and Niall make eye-contact, but Harry panickingly looks away.

"No, we're fine." Nick answers, raising his eyebrows at the teacher, signifying she should move on. She rolls her eyes and begins talking about Hamlet again. This time, Harry tries to pay attention to the teacher and not the annoying boy sitting next to him.

"Harry, are you busy after school?" Nick whispers.

"Yes." Harry lies, looking down at the measly notes he took prior to this conversation.

"Doing what?"

"Would you leave him alone, Grimmy?" Ashton pipes up from the seat behind Harry. "He doesn't want to talk to you."

"Who invited you?" Nick retorts, looking back to Harry. "As I was asking, what are you doing tonight?"

"I'm going out with Louis." Harry lies again.

"Where?"

"Oh my god, screw off, Grimmy!" Ashton demands, running his hand through his hair.

"Oh my god, screw off, Ashton!" Nick responds in a highly exaggerated Australian accent.

"I'm leaving." Harry mumbles, scooping his books into his arms and walking out the door, feeling all the eyes in the class follow him as he does it. Of course, Nick thinks it's a good idea to follow him out.

"Ashton was being such a prick. Really, I can talk to who I want to! You think he was being a dick, ri—"

"Would you shut the hell up?" Harry groans, leaning up against the row of lockers they two were just walking past.

"Sure." Nick replies, leaning a little too close to Harry. Harry scoots away.

The silence lasts for almost thirty seconds until, "So, about you and Lou—"

"Bye, Grimmy." Harry says immediately, speed walking away from Nick and out the doors of the school. He doesn't actually go off-campus, he just stays outside long enough for Nick to think he did. When he hears the bell ring for the end of the class, he walks back inside and goes into his chemistry class.

★

yey so there's grimmy

isn't he an annoying little fuck? lmao

tbh this is my favorite of all my fanfics idk i just really like this one

oh yeah this fic is gonna be hella rad but hella sad so get ur tissues on sale at ur local walmart (idk??)