This Town//Niam - disc.

prologue

"I just don't get it. Like, me and my sister were always close, why don't they want me to go see her again?" Harry complained to Louis. They were skating at Princess Park at about two in the afternoon. They'd gotten out if school early that day, seeing as it was the start of winter break.

"I don't know. Maybe they just don't want you to go during Christmas. Maybe they want you to spend time with them," Louis tried to reason with him.

"Yeah but why now? They've had the last... who knows how long to spend time with me."

"I don't know, Haz. But this is your first Christmas with them separated. Maybe they don't want to have to coordinate their Christmases with Gemma's."

"Why do their problems have to effect us?" Harry groans, sitting down on the cement.

"Because you're their kids," Louis told him, sitting down next to him and grabbing his hand, rubbing small circles with his thumb to try and calm him down.

"Ugh," Harry groaned, knowing Louis was right. Why did his boyfriend have to be so rational?

"Do you know what's happening with that now?" Louis asked.

"With what?"

"With Christmas, with your parents and everything," Louis explained.

"Oh, umm, I've kind of been avoiding that conversation. Me and my mom will probably do Christmas at my grandma's."

"With the whole big family?"

"Yeah, with everyone. And then with my dad, it's just me and him."

"That'll be nice, though. At least you get to spend time with him," Louis tried.

"Don't get to spend time with Gemma," Harry mumbled.

"I know your upset, Haz, but please try to look on the bright side."

"What bright side?" Harry groaned.

"You get to spend time with your parents! Your parents want to spend time with you! Your parents get to spend time with you!"

"What does that even mean, Lou?"

"Umm..." Louis got quiet. Did he seriously not know. Harry looked at him incredulously. Louis just rolled his eyes, stood up and walked away.

"Where are you going, Louis?" Harry yelled.

"You know what I mean, Harry?" Louis yelled, turning back around to face him, throwing his hands in the air. "I mean that my birthday is in two days. I'm turning eighteen. And I haven't had a parent to celebrate it with since I was fourteen. Fourteen, Harry! The only family I've had for four years was my sisters. So yeah I know how important and how special a sibling relationship is. But you get parents - two of them - who love you and care enough to spend Christmas break with you."

"That not fair, Lou-"

"You know what's not fair? None of this is fair. Not what you're going through, not what I went through. None of it. But the only thing you or I or anyone can do is try to look on the positives."

Harry didn't say anything, so Louis turned around and went home. Harry didn't text him that night. And Louis had said all he needed to say.

-x-

"And I don't get it, like, how can he compare my thing with my parents to his. They're completely different!" Harry said to Niall, over the phone the next day.

"Because it's Christmas, which is special anyways, plus it's his birthday, and you're complaining about spending time with your parents when he would give anything to spend time with his."