Lirry Stayne One Shots

Tied Up With A Bow

In which Harry never asks for a kitten, but Liam gets him one anyway.

By neverhadthewords on Tumblr

It was supposed to be a way to make up for yelling, really. Liam had good intentions. He wasn't quite sure how Harry would take it, but that wasn't something he worried about. He just wanted his boyfriend to stop pouting all the time. He hadn't quite known what to do, not really; the fight had been pretty bad. Whatever he did to apologize, it would have to be something really good.

He decided on buying a present. It seemed logical; he had plenty of money to spare, and he knew he would never spend most of it. He definitely wouldn't be spending much of it on himself, if he could help it. Liam was fully prepared to go out and buy anything, whether it be a new car or a thousand new blazers. Whatever Harry asked for, he would buy. (This was a potentially dangerous proposition. Harry liked material things. So much so, in fact, that his mother had instructed the other boys to keep him away from stores whenever possible.)

Liam had even paid a visit to that very woman, asking her what Harry might've liked.

"Why? Is it an anniversary or something?" She'd asked, eyes bright and smile wide.

Liam remembered looking at the ground, scuffing his toes against the sidewalk. "No. I mean, not exactly. We kind of - we got in a fight last week. He's been avoiding me."

Anne had nodded as though she understood. Liam suspected that she might've. "I would tell you to take him out to dinner or something, but I don't think that's exactly what he would want. What did the two of you fight over, love?"

"Louis." Liam can feel his entire face heating up. He's embarrassed, and horribly so. Yelling at Harry about how much time he spent with Lou had been so terribly stupid. Harry loved Liam, had said so a million times, and it was wrong for Liam to assume or believe anything else.

Anne nodded. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Harry hasn't called me in a few days. Maybe you could make him something? He's always been one for sentimental things."

Of course, Liam was about as creative as a cardboard box. He'd left Harry's house with no idea what he could do. It seemed like he and Harry would be fighting forever, if he couldn't figure something out, and that was the absolute last thing he'd wanted. So Liam had still walked home, looking into the shops he passed by and seeing if there might be anything he could buy. Nothing seemed right. He was beginning to lose hope when he saw it: a cardboard box, sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.

The box wasn't the important part. Oh, no, the important part was what the box held. Kittens the size of Liam's palm were curled up in the bottom, piling on top of one another. They mewed impatiently when he knelt down, jumping and clawing at the sides of their prison in an effort to get out. There were only four of them; Liam imagined that there had been many more at some point.

He looked at all of them in turn, taking in their tiny paws and dirty fur. He couldn't very well just take one and leave the other three behind; that wouldn't be right. There weren't that many. He could take care of them, just as he'd taken care of his turtles. Dani wouldn't mind having a few more pets to watch when they were off on tour, would she?

So, before he could think too much about it, Liam picked up the entire box. He made his way home with the confused little things leaping and tumbling around, trying desperately not to let them get hurt. When he got to his flat, he washed them all in the sink, one by one, with shampoo that Harry left over in case he ended up spending the night. (That was okay to do, right? They wouldn't get a rash? Harry wouldn't mind. He would be too distracted by the fact that there were kittens in their flat. Right? Oh, god, they needed food. Cats needed to eat. Liam made a mental note to ask Zayn to go out and pick some up.)