C H A P T E R    T H I R T Y F I V E

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ED DIDN'T LEAD Harry very far; they were just outside his mum's hospital room, a few steps away and against the wall, out of the way of the hallway's traffic. In hindsight, Harry knew they should have gone further.

"What did he say?" Harry was asking, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"He wants to talk to you first."

He sighed. Of course. "Did you set up a time?"

"Duh." Ed dug around in his own pocket and pulled out his phone, swiping over the screen and tapping it until he'd found whatever he was looking for.

It was then that Harry felt another presence beside him. He glanced down, though he already knew who it was, and offered Louis a tight-lipped smile, because shit. But Louis didn't look as though he intended to say anything, and really, that's all Harry could ask for. They never did resume their argument over this the last time they'd had it, and it had been simmering beneath the surface, just waiting for the perfect moment to boil over. At least Louis looked like he might wait until Ed was gone.

"Will you still be here in two days?" Ed asked, lifting his eyes from his screen to Harry. He spotted Louis at the same time, spared him a second's glance, but said nothing about this new addition to their meeting.

"Possibly," Harry shrugged. "Depends on Mum."

"He wants to meet then, during dinner."

"That sounds... Okay. Yeah, that'll work."

"Good," Ed said. He looked between Harry and Louis almost purposefully, like he wanted them to know he saw the tension, saw whatever Harry didn't want him to see. And then he added, "Let me know if you need anything else," and left them alone.

Slowly, like he was worried he'd startle a wild animal, Harry turned toward Louis and jerked his chin toward his mum's room. "Shall we?" Of course, he never expected this to work, but he began moving in that direction anyway.

"Harry..."

With a sigh, he stopped, turned back to Louis who looked like he was still formulating what he wanted to say. So Harry tried, "I know what you're going to say – "

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do, because we started this and didn't finish it, but – "

"So when are we going to finish it? Because – "

Harry suddenly became very aware of not only how many people were roaming the hallway they still stood in, but also how close they were to his mother's room. The last thing he wanted to do was get Ed and Gemma involved in it, or his mum for that matter. So he quickly said, reaching for Louis' upper arms, "We'll finish it. We'll finish it, Louis, okay, but not here, alright? Not here. We'll go back in there and say our goodbyes and then we'll go somewhere to finish talking about this. No talking over each other like this, no audience. Okay?"

And though Louis didn't necessarily look like he wanted to drop it, he seemed to conditionally agree. "Today." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, today. Soon. Under an hour."

He moved his hands from Louis' upper arms to his jaw, both sides of his face, to brush his thumbs along Louis' cheekbones. He loved to do this, loved the way it tended to help calm Louis down.

The lad in question let his eyes close, and eventually he said softly, "I'm sorry for interrupting you. And for following you guys into the hallway. It was none of my business, technically."

Harry shook his head. "I was interrupting you too. So I'm sorry. I'm also sorry if you felt like I was trying to keep this a secret from you. I'm not, I just... I didn't think you wanted to hear any of it anymore. Didn't want to upset you. You're always welcome to follow me wherever I go. Including and especially the janitor's closet down the hall."

At this, Louis cracked a smile. Harry could feel his silent chuckle through his hands, and witnessing the irritation give way to this expression felt like Harry had released a breath he'd been holding since Louis followed him out here. Harry dipped his head to kiss him, and to his surprise, Louis gripped his sweater with both hands and pulled him impossibly closer. It was...it was far more than Harry planned for in this hallway.

When he pulled away, he was smirking, removing a hand from Louis' face in order to wipe at his bottom lip with his fingertips. "But also, who needs a closet?"

"This is the children's floor," Louis reminded him, pushing him away as if it was Harry's fault all along that the kiss became a little more than just that.

And then Louis's hand was around his, and he was pulling him back toward his mum's room, a half-smile aimed at him over a dainty shoulder.

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To be continued...

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Please don't hate me! I know it's been months since this has last been updated, but I wanted to prove to you that I'm not just sitting around and abandoning this story. I'm working on it, just slowly. So here is a quick look at chapter 35. Enjoy, and I'll see you with the full update soon!