even though he swears he's okay and doesn't need the help, everyone has done the best of their ability to make him comfortable and as pain free as possible. does he enjoy being pampered? definitely. does he feel a bit smothered? yes. he does. he's not helpless, he can do his everyday tasks just fine...he just struggles.

the door to the apartment is opened as louis steps out of his bedroom and he pokes his head around the corner to see harry tiptoeing in. it's late, but he's back at seven as promised. he had to go on another trade for mitch since he's doing more work outside of the club while louis recovers. it gives him more opportunities to stop and check in on him while he's out instead of being locked up in the club and unable to leave until they're finished.

"you need to be resting," harry frowns.

"i have been," louis says. harry raises his eyebrow in disbelief. "i took a bath, drank half a bottle of wine and read an entire book. i'm fine."

harry puts his shoes by the front door and kisses louis' forehead once he makes it to him. he peeks at the bandage poking under the sleeve of the boy's shirt and peels it up. he's able to move his arm without his sling now. it seems to be healing fine. the area is still tender, a little bruised, but the stitches were removed yesterday. louis just keeps a bandage over it so his clothes don't irritate it or chance the risk of an infection. that's the last thing he needs right now.

they still haven't found out who could have possibly shot up the car but harry has suspicions. he won't say who, but he's definitely kept a keen eye around the club for anyone that could have done it. there's three on his shit list right now. it's all about the way they speak, hold themself, and react.

harry covers his arm back up and presses a kiss to his shoulder before guiding him back into his bedroom. they're both still adjusting to the bed being on the right side of the room instead of in the center, but louis' room looks and feels bigger, which is a good thing.

harry spots the bunny on the bed. it's head was poking out of his chicago hoodie with the sleeves of said hoodie tied around it.

"keeps your scent on it," louis says with a blush. "helped me sleep."

"precious," harry croons before flopping on the bed. "did you end up going with niall earlier?"

louis nods as he sits on harry's stomach. he and niall went to the supermarket because niall wanted to get sweets to bake but didn't want to go alone since zayn and liam were at work. and since louis was cooped up in the apartment losing his marbles, he asked the boy to come with. it was louis' first outing since he got shot, so he put on makeup and made himself look more alive even if they were going to be out for only an hour or so. harry could still see some remnants of eyeliner on louis' eyes from removing it when he first walked in.

"i gots stuff to make cupcakes," louis hums. "thought we could do that later."

"i'd quite like that," harry grins as louis' hands slowly rub up and down his chest. "d'you get frosting too?"

"of course. although i will have to leave some blank. zayn doesn't like icing."

harry' nose scrunches in disbelief. "what?"

louis lets out a small laugh and nods. "he doesn't like frosting on cakes unless it's a red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting. it's the only time he'll eat it."

"you two are probably the weirdest ones i have ever met. you don't like avocados and zayn doesn't like frosting."

"he says it's too sweet," the smaller boy shrugs. "yet he'll eat a whole peanut butter roll in one sitting."

the gang member purses his lips in a mild state of confusion before sighing. "he's something else. did you get anything else?"

louis gives him a small grin before wiggling off of him, laughing when harry reached over to slap his bum when he got to his feet. he grabs the bag from the grocery store that was on his dresser and hands him boxes of sour patch kids and multicolored nerds.

"know you got a bit of a sweet tooth," he murmurs, blushing a bit. harry cheeses up at him and pulls him down for a kiss before patting his cheek with the theater style boxes.

"you're so lovely," he croons. louis grins at the praise and gives him another kiss before striding out of his bedroom. harry's footsteps echo behind him and he turns his head to see his boyfriend already pouring a mouthful of the tiny nerds rocks in his mouth as he walks.

"so, cupcakes?"

"you wanna make them now?"

"well, you got me on a sweets kick now."

chuckling, louis pulls him into the kitchen and searches the cabinets for dishes to use. while the oven preheats, harry gets the box of cupcake mix poured into the bowl and adds the oil and eggs to it, sliding it over so louis could mix it together. he drops a bit of candy in louis' mouth as he mixes the cupcakes together and sits on the counter. zayn's bluetooth speaker is sitting in the windowsill, so louis connects his phone to it to keep noise around in the apartment. the obnoxious whirring of the mixer was starting to make his eye twitch.

harry places liners in the slots in the tray and fills an even amount in each one. then he slides in beside louis and puts the tray in the oven, leaving the heaping amount of cupcakes inside and ready to be baked.

"think we could do this more often?" he asks as he shuts the door to the oven with his hip. "i could teach you how to bake things from scratch if you wanted."

"i'd set everything on fire," louis admits. "i think the only thing i can make and everyone survives through is french toast...and maybe baked potatoes."

harry snorts and scoops a bit of remaining cake batter off of the lip of the bowl with his finger before tasting it. "i got you covered, love. come over tuesday and we'll start our first lesson."

louis leans back against the counter with a dopey grin. harry gets another bit of batter onto his thumb and holds it against louis' mouth. louis sucks the batter off of his thumb slowly, wrapping his thin lips tightly around the man's digit as he maintained eye contact with him. harry's eyebrow quirks up when louis nips at the pad of his thumb.

"you always gotta be a tease?"

louis shrugs as harry swept his tongue over his bottom lip. "not always...just sometimes. like to catch you off guard."

"right," harry murmured. the smaller boy's lips curl up into a sly smirk as his chin was lifted and harry put his mouth on his. "you drive me crazy, you know."

"mhm," louis beams. he presses soft kisses against his lips while harry's hands slide into the back pockets of his jeans. "take some pride in that, too."

harry hums as louis' lips move to his stubbled jaw and down his neck. "i know you do, bunny."

he always melts once that name falls from his lips. it never fucking fails to send him over the edge. louis bites down on the junction of his neck right near his collarbone just for that and harry squeezes his bum hard. if he wasn't coated in denim he'd probably have fingerprint bruises on his skin.

louis pulls away to admire the teeth marks on his partner's neck and runs his finger over the indentions. harry steps an inch closer, now really trapping louis between himself and the countertop. he removed his hands from louis' pockets to pick him up and sit him on the counter, leaning forward to kiss him once more.

louis' legs tighten around his waist as the kisses got more dominating, then they died down to just soft gentle ones. harry likes to do that, try and show who's in charge between the two of them. it drives louis mad. absolutely, completely mad, because he knows harry holds himself to a higher power, a more dominant persona than he does but always lets it smother when the slightest bit of control comes in response from his end.

"did you steal anything for me today?" he asks as he settles his hands on harry's shoulders. his eyes are trained on the man's cherry red lips as harry glides his tongue over them.

"not today, sweetheart," harry kisses his forehead in apology. "maybe next time."

"next time it is, then."

when the cupcakes finish baking, harry gets them out and lets them cool off after accidentally burning his finger on the side of the tray. he shakes his hand off and ignores it, but louis saw the blooming red mark on the side of his pinky finger. he brings harry's hand up to press a kiss to the burn before running the tap and holding his hand under it to soothe it.

"i got blue frosting, and sprinkles in case we felt colorful," louis informs him. "don't eat all the sprinkles by themselves."

harry juts his lip out in a small pout. "fine."

after harry's minor injury is tended to, they ice the cupcakes and louis counts out eighteen. they really don't need eighteen cupcakes, but he knows everyone will get stoned and eat them all before the night is even over with. harry puts sprinkles on six of them, leaving the other six iced ones be, and louis sets six unfrosted treats to the side for zayn.

"taste test," he holds one up to harry and smushes it in his face, giggling when blue frosting got inside the man's nose. harry sputters in surprise and gasps when the cake falls to the floor, bits and pieces on his face flurrying off of him as he looks down at it.

"you shit," he grabs a cupcake and smushes it in louis' face as payback, but doesn't drop it. he smears icing across louis' cheeks and nose and even takes the cake that remains in the liner to smack it against louis' forehead, busting into laughter when it sticks and stays in place. louis' giggles blend in with him and the smaller man wipes part of his face off, flicking crumbs and icing clumps at harry.

harry throws the damaged cakes away and wets a cloth to wipe their faces off, sniffling. "i'm gonna sneeze blue for a month now because of you."

louis smiles wide and cleans his partner up as much as he could before dragging him to the bathroom to wash their faces better. "you're welcome."

"y'know, i think some even went to the brain," harry continues to ramble as louis ties his hair back for him and lathers his face with face wash. "gonna give the braincells sugar rot."

"it might hype them up and make you think better."

"was that supposed to be an insult?"

louis giggles lightly, causing harry to whine, "hey!"

the smaller man kisses harry's shoulderblade and washes his face before they decide to hunker down in the living room to watch a film. louis chooses the first hunger games movie while harry grabs cupcakes that (hopefully) won't be smashed in their faces again. he fetches a blanket for them and waits until harry lays down to lay completely on top of him and cover them up.

"you're gonna get hot," harry tells him softly. "this is a thick blanket, babe."

"i'm hearing you don't wanna cuddle."

"never did i say that."

"that's what i'm hearing."

"i'm telling you you're gonna overheat yourself and then complain that you're hot, then you're gonna throw the blanket across the living room and take your shirt off and sit on the other side of the couch until you cool off."

"is me being shirtless gonna be an issue?"

"most definitely not," harry slides his hands under louis' shirt to intertwine his fingers on the small of his back. "but you do it quite often, i enjoy you being shirtless but i get sad that i get no cuddles."

louis lets out a small sigh and sits up. he shrugs the blanket off of him and rests it on the opposing arm of the couch instead of throwing it across the room as harry said. he pulls zayn's thin couch blanket off of the back of the couch and pulls it over them instead, resting his head on harry's tummy as he gets comfortable.

"there you go," harry croons as he drags his fingers through louis' hair. "your arm gonna be okay?"

louis nods against him. "'m fine, babes."

"alright."

louis ends up dozing off about halfway into the movie, leaving harry alone to watch the film as he continued to massage his fingers within the boy's caramel tufts. louis mentioned the day before he was thinking about getting a haircut, but harry loved that he could try and put braids in his hair. it happened once before aside from his braid at the dinner party. louis was cozied up in bed after a shower and harry put about four little braids on one side of his head.

his hair is definitely nearing shoulder length now, curling up at the ends and the california sun has given him a natural highlight look. so there's dark brown, the caramel tone, and blonde strips in louis' hair and it looks so pretty on him. it compliments his tanned skin and starry, shiny blue eyes, and the freckles across the bridge of his nose. he's a bombshell. an absolute wonder to be blessed with seeing all the time.

niall comes into the apartment with an overworked zayn by the time the second movie previews had popped up. harry saw the tear tracks down zayn's cheeks so he immediately stopped the movie and sat up slowly, resting the sleeping beauty's head on his thighs. louis stirred a bit at the movement and blinked his eyes open, rolling onto his back.

"zaynie?" he grogged out. he gets off of the sofa and wipes the boy's tears off of his face. "babe, you okay? what happened?"

zayn only shakes his head and wraps his arms around louis' neck, holding him close as teardrops fell into his hair.

"he said he needed you, lou," niall murmured and he pointed at harry, then to the kitchen, a silent cue for him to move.

louis nods and gives his best friend a squeeze before grabbing his hand and pulling him to his bedroom. he gets zayn cozied in his bed and kisses his forehead, then lays beside him.

niall makes sure they're settled in before taking harry out of the back door of the apartment to the back porch. if harry's being honest, he's never even paid attention to the back door. it only leads out to a grassy area anyways.

"someone put coke in zayn's locker," niall skims his tongue over his teeth, fresh tongue piercing clicking over them. "i assume you know about-"

"yeah, lou told me about that," harry pulls out his cigarettes to light one and offers one to niall. "in his locker?"

the purple haired boy nods. "he thinks it's puke, 'cause they got in that brawl and whatnot."

harry rolls his eyes at the name and sits on the porch with a sigh. "fuck..."

"someone knows about zayn's addiction," niall sits with him. he lays back on the concrete and rests his free hand on his stomach. "he's so torn over this, h...he's only been clean for a year. he's told me quite a few things about his problem and what made him get clean, that's why i immediately brought him home instead of finishing my shift too."

niall sighs again as he flicks his ashes, then takes another drag of his smoke. "he got clean for lou. said lou has been his only support system until he met all of us, but he said if it wasn't for that boy in there that he'd be dead."

"do you think it was him?"

"it's very possible. with his connects i wouldn't doubt that's where he got it from but if anything ashton would have just done it with him. i feel like this was a solo job."

harry kicks the back of his shoes along the side of the porch as he thinks. niall has a point, but niall also thinks about 20 steps ahead of everybody else so it's still a puzzle.

the back door swings open and louis tugs a sweatshirt over his head before he comes out. "i'm kicking his fucking ass," he jumps off of the porch and pulls his keys out of his pocket. "i'm bashing his brains in, he's choking on his teeth, and i'm gluing his balls to his nostrils."

harry stands and grabs him by the hood of his hoodie. "baby, hold on. we don't even know if-"

"i know," louis jerks himself around to face him. "put it together, h. zayn beat his ass for what he said about me and a week later there's coke in his locker? it's literally a sign."

"i called mitch on the way here and he said he's gonna watch cams," niall puts his cigarette out on the porch. "it's just a suspicion."

"you're not fighting anyone," harry says to louis as he takes his car keys from him, "you're gonna hurt yourself even more."

louis clenches his jaw as harry's command settles in his features. he narrows his eyes at the man just a bit and pokes his chest. "if i find out luke is behind this you better make him eat a bullet or you'll be the one eating it instead."

"yes, sir," harry pulls him to his chest and kisses the top of his head. "where's zee now?"

"in the shower. he'll be in there for a while..." louis sighs. "take his keys too. niall, take his phone if you can and hide it in my room. where's the coke?"

"liam sold it."

louis lets out an uneasy breath as his stomach twists itself into a knot. "he was doing so good..."

"hey, no," harry frowns and he pulls louis' head back to make eye contact with him. "zayn's still doing good. none of that. he could have took the coke and hid it and relapsed but he came straight to his safe zone instead. that's big of him to do."

"he begged me to bring him home," niall steps to them. "he had a meltdown, lou. i've never seen that boy cry so hard..."

"he's trying to stay clean," harry murmurs as he tightens his arms around his partner. "he did the right thing, babe."

louis' eyes burn as he tries to fight off tears. he buries his face in harry's chest, voice cracking as he says, "i just want him to be safe."

both of the other boys frown and niall lays a consoling hand on louis' shoulder. "bubs, as long as he has you i think he'll be okay."

"more than," harry agrees. "you're his rock, lou. he's gonna be fine," he strokes his back as he continues on. "when he gets out of the shower, give him his cupcakes. just be there with him and keep him distracted. i'm gonna go to the club and talk to mitch, see what he thinks."

louis nods, sniffling again as he watches niall enter the apartment. "be safe, please."

"always, baby," harry gives him a promising kiss. "i'll be back."

louis make sure he leaves safely before going back inside. he does as harry suggests and rounded zayn's cupcakes up for him, grabbing a soda from the fridge for him as well and sets them on zayn's dresser. not only has louis been brought into whatever this mess is, but zayn's now a target, too.

and that's not going to fly with him.

he'll do whatever it takes to keep zayn protected, sane and sober at all costs. he'd kill for the man, knowing zayn would do the same for him. it's a given fact that the two of them have been inseparable since the day they met, since the day seventh grade zayn punched that freshman in the nose for saying louis' shoes looked stupid. "they aren't stupid," zayn told him, "you're just mad that ninja turtles look better on him than you."

he still has those ninja turtle van's in a box in the top of his closet. they were his favorite shoes, still are to this day. he wished they made adult versions of them because he would wear them all the time, even to sleep, just like he did when he was in middle school.

he was definitely right though. ninja turtles looked better on louis. same with marvel characters, classic cartoons, anything now considered nostalgic.

niall alerts him that he hid the phone in louis' vanity as the two pile up on zayn's bed, both on either side of the king sized mattress so they could sandwich zayn in between them. louis rolled a blunt for the three of them to share and patted the empty space in the middle of the bed when zayn came into the bedroom puffy eyed and squeaky clean.

"got you cupcakes," louis points to the dresser. "harry said you were weird for not liking frosting."

"harry's weird for liking frosting," zayn mumbles as he swipes up the plate of cakes and his soda. he worms between his boys and rests against the headboard, giving his partner and his best friend each a kiss to the tops of their heads. "i'm okay...just a bit spooked."

"which is why we aren't leaving your side," niall assures. "we got your netflix ready to go and lou was napping when you got in so i'm sure he could use a cuddle buddy right now. maybe you two can nap now."

"you're napping with us," louis tells the boy. "sleepover?"

niall and zayn share a look before nodding.

zayn shares his blank cupcakes with louis and niall while they pass the blunt back and forth. he tries to focus on the tv, but his mouth waters for much more than the pot and sweets. it sends a shiver up his spine, goosebumps leaving a physical pathway on his arms as he thinks about it.

all he was trying to do was grab a cigarette and a heaping brick of cocaine greeted him instead. sitting right on top of his bag, wrapped in a shiny blue bow as if it were some sort of fucking present. it's not a present. that was the first love of his life and it's made a return, like a shadow that haunts him and follows in his footsteps everywhere he goes. a ghost of his past coming to remind him of his wrongdoings, a subtle reminder of what he once was.

of who he could easily become again.

niall squeezes his hand, shaking him out of his daze. "love you..." he said softly.

zayn sniffles and presses another kiss to his head. "i love you too, bug."

harry makes his re-appearance known by obnoxiously shouting, "zayn better have gotten rid of his niall cooties before i find him!" as he walked in.

"i'm infected!" zayn bellows back, grinning when he could hear harry groaning in response.

"'m not that bad," niall pouts.

"you're lovely," zayn hums. "harry is just a twat."

harry pokes his head in the bedroom and spots louis knocked out cold against zayn's hip. he pokes his bottom lip out in a fond croon at the sight of his boy and glances at the two that were awake. "you guys okay?"

zayn nods. "'m okay. thank you."

"find anything?" niall questions.

sighing, harry shakes his head. "everything on the cameras looked normal, nobody was acting suspicious as far as i could tell. no unfamiliar faces went in the locker room either, so i'm thinking it was one of the boys. maybe it was him." he walks over to the side of the bed louis was laying on and kisses his forehead before stroking his hair back. "lou, babe, wakey wakey."

louis reaches up to grab the hand that was touching him and held it to his chest. "come cuddle."

"i'll roll off the bed, silly."

"so you still don't want to cuddle," louis scoffs, back to his argument from earlier before. "harry hates me."

harry rolls his eyes and lays on the edge of the bed. "don't play that shit with me."

a sleepy chuckle comes from louis as harry glues himself to his back. louis remained glued to zayn's legs while harry cuddled him from behind. he presses his nose against his best friend's thigh with a yawn. "we have a hitchhiker."

"he's fine," zayn croons down at him. "as long as he keeps his pretty mouth shut about my bug, we should be alright."

louis reaches a hand back to pat harry's cheek. "lips sealed, h."

harry presses a kiss to his shoulder. "zayn and his bug can kiss my ass."

—-

welp.

how are you guuuuyyyyyssss? it's been a little bit since i updated but i've been struggling with writer's block so this is what i got. 😳 hope it isn't too bad.

thoughts?