a/n: when characters are talking in sign language, the sentences will be in italics!

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"Meg, you know you can't get a tattoo right now," Francis says with a slight frown. "Didn't the oncologist tell you no?" I let out a quiet sigh at his words; I had expected him to say this when I told him my plan, but I still feel disappointed.

"Well, yes, but I want to get it now," I say, unable to hide my frown. "I know that I could get an infection but I don't care. We don't even know if I'll survive this time around and I want to get it in case that I--"

"Okay, okay," Francis interrupts, sighing. "I don't want to hear you talking about dying. Let's go pick up Harry because lord knows he'll want to be with you, and then we can see Louis," he continues with a sigh.

"I'm just being realistic here," I shrug as I grab my jacket. I send a quick text to Harry explaining what we're going to do and he replies that he'll be ready. "I don't really see the problem with me talking about death."

"Yet you assure your parents that you'll be okay," he replies as we get into his car. "Look, you need to think about how you talk about yourself. It really sucks, and I know why you do it, but just..."

"I understand," I mumble as I tie the bandana around my head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he sighs. "I'm glad you talk about this to somebody. Getting this off your chest is good, but maybe I'm not the right person to talk to about this. I think that actually going to those group therapy things would be good for you."

"I don't like talking about my deepest secrets and fears to complete strangers," I say with a frown. "But I guess if you truly want me to go to one, I might. I know that listening to my dark thoughts isn't always fun. It's not fair of me to just dump this stuff onto you."

"It isn't, but if you're more comfortable talking to me then I'll deal with it." The two of us fall silent after this so I turn on the radio. We hum quietly along with the song and when we get to Harry's house, I see that he's not alone. Gemma and Anne are waiting with him and both of the women immediately walk over to me when I get out.

"Margaret," Anne says happily, smiling at me. "I was wondering when Harry would let us see you again."

"Yeah, the dickhead's been purposefully keeping us away," Gemma says, rolling her eyes.

"That's because I know she'll end up liking you two more than me," Harry says as he rolls his eyes at us. "I'd like to put that off for as long as possible."

"Too late for that," I tease as I wrap an arm around his torso. He sighs comically and pretends to pout for a few moments before leaning down to kiss my cheek.

"I better better be the maid of honour at your guys' wedding," Gemma says as she watches Harry and I.

"Actually, I'm going to be the maid of honour," Francis says with a huff. "I've already picked out the perfect wedding dress, I've planned how I want the ceremony to go...hell, I've even figured out the bachelorette party."

"Wait--"

"Before you ask, Meg, you technically never said that I could be the maid of honour, but I will fight you if you don't choose me," he interrupts. "I'm serious about this," he adds as he narrows his eyes at me.

"I guess I owe you that much," I say with a small smile. Francis rolls his eyes at me before we get into the car. I wave goodbye to Gemma and Anne as we drive away. As we go to the tattoo parlour, I give Harry some more context and information on Louis. He listens intently and he takes a deep breath as we stand outside. The sign on the door says closed but I know it's not. Louis usually does this when I come over because he doesn't want anyone to interrupt what little time we get to spend together. Both of us have been fairly busy so it's been hard to see each other.

After knocking on the door, I see my friend walking over to us. I immediately smile when I see how happy and healthy he looks. There had been a brief time after he got out of the hospital where he was unable to gain weight and looked pretty bad. It broke my heart to see him so weak. His hair had been almost nonexistent and now it's long and looks quite healthy. He smiles wide when he sees me and he immediately begins to sign.

It's really good to see you, Daisy.

I grin at him using the nickname he's always called me. When we were in the hospital, he always told me how much I reminded him of a daisy flower and he's been calling me that ever since. He's the only one who I let call me that.

I've missed you, Louis.

The two of us hug tightly.

Who's your new friend?

Louis raises his eyebrow at me and gives Harry a suspicious look. He's always been fairly protective of me when it came to guys, even towards Reed, when he was alive. I laugh quietly and I'm about to reply when Harry clears his throat and  takes a hesitant step forward.

Hello...my name is Harry...I'm Meg's girlfriend.

Louis' blue eyes light up in amusement and grins widely. A small noise escapes his mouth, and Harry's eyes widen in alarm. If you didn't know Louis and what was 'wrong' with him, you would think that he was choking when he laughs. That's what he's doing currently doing.

"He's okay," I assure Harry. "He's just laughing."

"What did I do?" he asks, worried. "Did I offend him or something?"

"Nothing bad, don't worry," I say as I kiss his cheek. "You signed girlfriend instead of boyfriend." He immediately turn a light shade of pink while Francis chuckles. While he's somewhat familiar with sign language, he isn't able to understand it very well.

"Thank you for learning some though, I know Louis appreciates it a lot," I whisper quietly. "I appreciate it."

"I watched some videos on YouTube so I could learn some ASL, just in case I ever met your friend," Harry mumbles, seemingly embarrassed. Louis clears his threat and I turn my head to watch as he signs to me.

I'm sold. I give you permission to date him.

I let out a snort of amusement and free my hands.

Thanks for the permission, dad.

Hey, don't you sass me, young lady.

Louis and I grin at each other before leading the other two into the tattoo parlour.

"Hey, relax," I say softly as I grab Harry's hand. "He likes you, I promise."

"You're not lying to me, right?" I can see in his eyes how important it is to him that my friends like him and it makes me smile wide. The fact that he cares about something like that means so much more than he'll ever know.

"I promise," I whisper as I stand on my toes to lightly kiss him. I hear gagging noises behind me and I pull away to see that Francis and Louis are pretending to throw up. "Oh grow up," I say as I stick my tongue out at them.

Now where's the fun in that?

I laugh at Louis' response and for awhile, the four of us talk. I have to translate for Harry and Francis but I don't mind at all, especially because it helps me practice with the language. When we finally get to why I've come today, Louis listens intently as I explain where I want the tattoo--on the inside of my arm. He raises the same concerns that Francis did, but he isn't as forceful. He knows that I'll get the tattoo with or without his help.

So Daisy, what did you want to get?

I talk aloud as I sign so Francis and Harry can understand what we're talking about.

For your eyes only.

Louis' face lights up at this and he eagerly pulls up the sleeve on his left arm. I see that he has the same sentence written onto his forearm.

"It's a song," I explain, answering Francis and Harry's silent questions. "Louis and I wrote it when we were in the hospital together. He had such a lovely voice and I remember how he was always able to lull the babies off to sleep," I continue. Louis smiles sadly as memories go through his head and I reach over and place my hand on top of his.

"Could you share it with us at some point?" Harry asks slowly, clearly sensing how sensitive this subject is. Francis keeps his mouth shut, not wanting to insert himself into the conversation. He knows without me having to say anything that he shouldn't press me to talk about the song. This is one of the few things that I hadn't shared with him and I look into his eyes to see if there's any resentment there. Thankfully there isn't.

"Maybe," I say evasively.

Alright, let's get going.

I nod and lie on the chair, taking off my sweater and holding out my right arm. Louis carefully cleans off the area holds up the tattoo gun. His eyes flicker over to me, silently warning me about the pain that's inevitably going to come. Francis and Harry fight for a moment to see who's going to hold my hand and the latter concedes and decides to just talk in an effort to distract me. He goes through his list of awful jokes. I still laugh though and Francis lets out groans.

"Please tell me you're done, Louis," Francis says. "Just nod or do something, I can't take the stupid jokes anymore." He merely smirks in response and I get the sudden feeling that he's taking longer than expected because he wants Francis to suffer. That sadistic bastard. I smile to myself.

"You haven't heard my favourite joke," Harry says with a wide grin. "Meg, why couldn't the flower ride its bicycle?" I lock eyes with Francis and he glares at me.

"Don't you fucking dare, Margaret."

"Why, Harry?" I ask, smirking as Francis lets out loud cry and throws his arms in the air.

"Bloody fucking--"

"Because his petals fell off," Harry says proudly. I let out a quiet chuckle while Francis begins to mutter under his breath. Louis starts laughing and he moves away, signaling that he's finished. I immediately turn my head and smile. In his beautiful handwriting is for your eyes only. It's absolutely perfect.

"Thank you, Louis," I say in a hushed voice. He smiles and lets me show Harry and Francis before wrapping it in gauze. Louis spends the next couple of minutes explaining how to care for my new tattoo. We spend a few more minutes at the parlour before I hug Louis and force him to take a forty dollar tip--since I technically didn't pay for the tattoo.

"You were right," Harry says as we drive home. "I really liked him."

"He's great," Francis says with a nod. "Even with the language barrier, Louis is definitely one of the best people to talk to. He really listens."

"He's one of those kinds of friends where you instantly connect even if it's been months or weeks since he's seen you," I add with a happy smile. The three of us are in a very good mood and I wave goodbye at Harry when we drop him off. I realise that the next time I'll see him, we'll be going to prom. I smile in anticipation and I lay out my outfit on my bed and smile at it.

🌼    🌼    🌼    🌼

"Oh shit, you look hot," Francis says when I finally walk out of the bathroom. I stumble slightly because I'm wearing heels--something that I rarely do. "I knew that wearing those black leggings would tie the whole look together," he says with a grin.

"The only problem is the fact that the dress doesn't fit as well as it used to," I say with a slight frown. The torso is loser than when I had put it on, but luckily the chest area isn't too loose.

"You still look amazing," Francis says. "Now, turn that frown upside down and lets go to the living room. I'm sure that Harry's already here."

"I'm nervous," I admit quietly. Not only is this my first dance, but it's also the first time I'll be around people from school. The doctor only just gave me permission to go back and he told me to be careful about prom.

"And that's okay, Meg," he says softly. "It's okay to be nervous but don't let that control you. You're going to have Harry with you, and whether you like it or not, I'll be around as well. If anyone tries to hurt you, I will fight them and I'm sure he will too."

"You always want to fight someone," I say with a slight smile, already feeling better.

"That's because the world is full of idiots and I'm doing my part to even it all out," he says. "Now, lets just go downstairs otherwise your mother is going to barge in and ask what's taking so long."

"You're right," I say with a nod. "Let me get the boutonniere first," I say as I go and grab the small box. Francis holds out his hand and I take it. He leads me downstairs after announcing from the top that we were heading down. I hear a shuffle of noise as we go down and when we reach the bottom, I see a small group of people. Francis' parents are standing beside my parents and Anne and Gemma. They're smiling wide but not nearly as wide as Harry. His emerald eyes are staring at me and I swear that I've never felt more beautiful.

"Oh my baby girl looks so amazing," Dad says as he bursts into tears. Mom rolls her eyes and has me stand on the bottom step so she can take a few photos.

Harry then walks over to me and nods at Francis before taking my hand. I see that he has a small box and he smiles shyly at me before opening it. I see a large and beautiful flower that's on top of a pearl band. The corsage is perfect and I smile wide as he carefully slides it on. I nervously put the boutonniere on but my hands are shaking too much. Francis chuckles quietly and hastily steps forward to help me out.

"Hold on," I say. His eyebrows furrow in confusion but he moves back to where he had been. Mom then steps forward with a small box and together, Harry and I take out the boutonniere that we got for Francis. His eyes widen in surprise and he looks touched as it's put on him.

"You guys are the best," he says, sniffing as he throws his arms around our shoulders. The three of us laugh and as this happens, everyone else begins to take pictures. It takes a long time before we're finally allowed to start eating.

Harry can't stop looking over at me as we do this and I feel his hand search for mine underneath the table. Even in the car, he can't seem to let go of me and every time Francis looks away from us, he leans over and kisses me. He's being extremely affectionate tonight and I couldn't be happier.

"Remember that it is okay for you to come home early if you feel unwell," Mom says as we get out of the car. "Boys, keep an eye on her," she adds sternly.

"Yes ma'am," they say at the same time. I wave goodbye to her and we watch as she drives away.

"Alright, who's ready to get absolutely fucked up?" Francis asks loudly as he starts to whoop.

"Sorry mate, but no one's getting fucked up," Harry says, amused. "Now, let's go inside and have a safe night."

"Honestly Harry, you're no fun at all," Francis grumbles as he starts going into the school, where the dance is being held.

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a/n: we're slowly getting closer to the end...

I saw this photo on Instagram under that weird random page and I still can't stop laughing