night shift // l.s.

sixty three

long chapter, you know what this means 👀👀

ITS BEEN EDITED BC MY MEMORY SUCKS

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it had been a week since harry had louis and raven relocated into zayn's safehouse and things were going smooth for the most part. harry was with them at all times, if he wasn't with evan, as if they were back at home and nothing happened to begin with. if harry had a gut feeling something was wrong, he was usually right, so he hopped on that first instinct and went to the next best person who knew exactly what to do.

louis agreed to stay at zayn's safehouse because zayn made him feel more comfortable. the safehouse was like zayn's own place, decorated with darker furniture and gave off that younger lad vibe compared to evan's more proper, retirement home ordeal. zayn let the couple crash in the master bedroom and said the house was free game as long as they needed it. he stayed there sometimes if he and niall decided they wanted a little getaway but other than that he never used it unless it was for its intended use as a safe haven for those that needed it.

raven took interest in zayn's collection of puzzles he had littered across one of the walls in the smaller bedroom. they had set her pack-and-play up in there with her favorite toys and a tote full of clothes so she had everything she needed while being entertained by anything playing on the tv while louis supervised her. she was happy with anything that was colorful or made noise so her nonstop babbles and "ooh!"s were a sign that she was definitely alright.

louis missed his home for sure. the home where joker would lay at the foot of the bed snoozing his day away while raven and harry played in the floor. the home where niall and zayn used to walk in with pizza and beer in their hands and the four could hang out together like old times. he never took anything for granted knowing the lifestyle he walked into. it may have stressed him to the point he left bounty because he just wanted to be home with his kid at all times instead of her with harry during his free times, or with trisha when they were both crammed with their schedules, but he felt like it was the best thing to do at this point. it would be better on him mentally, with the recent events.

this was only temporary, everything should be back to normal soon.

then again, what was normal in this life?

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harry was out more than louis was and the younger lad was starting to go a bit crazy being cooped up in zayn's house. the scenery was lovely, it was a nice home, but louis was bored. he hated being bored more than anything. he completely read a whole trilogy of books in three days, put together one of zayn's puzzles and organized raven's laundry tote twice. there was nothing for him to do except sit and wait for this to be over.

so being the person he was, harry let his guard down a bit and opted for louis to go to the mall with zayn. he wanted to get niall something special and needed louis' input since they were best friends after all. louis knew niall like the back of his hand. if anyone could help, it was him.

the couple was sitting on the porch while raven sat in the grass in front of them, focusing her attention on the flowers growing in the yard.

louis discovered that her new thing to say was "pret", picking up on her daddy harry calling her pretty all the time. she couldn't completely say the word but anything she liked, she called pret. so pret it was. louis crouched beside his daughter and carefully brushed grass off of her pants, plucking a flower from the yard and showed it to her.

"look how pretty, rae," louis crooned. "pretty flowers, yeah?"

"pret!" the baby crowed and kicked her feet, giggling when her daddy tapped her nose with the plant. "pret!"