If Soulmates Were Real (Larry Stylinson)

Prologue

Louis Tomlinson.

Nineteen years old and fresh out of his first year of Uni. His best mate is Stanley Lucas, whom he met in primary school when Louis decided to push Stan off of a chair in a friendly game of musical chairs. But his closest and forever friend is his sister, Riley.

Riley and Stan, against Louis' wishes, decided that 'hanging out' was a good idea until six months later when Louis was sat down in front of Riley with her explaining an accidental pregnancy to a baby boy who was due to arrive in another six months.

Now for Louis, this was all fine. 'It's gonna be okay' were his exact words to an in shock best friend and sobbing sister.

It was even fine when his newest best mate, Zayn Malik, moved in with Louis and Stan in their two bedroom apartment to help with rent and found out his girlfriend was also pregnant and had a daughter due only five days after his sister's baby.

Seven months and two babies later, Louis is woken up by a wailing sound coming from a baby boy in their living room.

Of course, he tries to ignore the noise, seeing as last time he went and got his nephew, Ryler, he was told off with Stan saying 'Please Lou, let me learn to do this on my own.'

Riley had unfortunately passed away in childbirth, with the determining factor being Pre-eclampsia. Riley had known this was a possibility, but knew she wanted to keep her baby safe by not telling anyone except Louis' other sister, Lottie.

'This was no one's fault' Louis had to remind himself when he found himself boiling in anger at Lottie. It really was no one's fault, but that was sometimes hard for Louis to see. Most of all, he blamed himself for Riley not feeling as though she could fully trust him.

Louis' heart never stopped aching, and neither did Stan's, really. Riley and Stan were soulmates and Louis was convinced of this until Stan came home crying four months before Riley was due, claiming that they're done and nothing would mend their relationship.

This is when Louis gave up on love and never looked back.

He broke up with his boyfriend, Makus, by saying, 'you can't love someone who doesn't believe in it.'

Once he saw the twinkling brown and gold heterochromatic eyes of his nephew, Ryler, he did believe in love—only platonic though. Despite Louis' previous three attempted relationships—two girls and one boy—he never saw the future ending in love.

Especially not now.

"Louis!" Zayn calls from Stan and his shared room—since Zayn and Stan were the fathers, they shared the larger room, whereas Louis got the smaller one; the one month olds staying in their double crib which was held in the living room.

Don't get any of it wrong though, all three of them knew that it would never last having five humans in a two-bedroom flat, but with all three older boys going to school and all of their free time was either taking care of newborns or working, it wasn't realistic to be moving anytime soon. They needed to save money and this was their way of doing so.

Louis and Zayn's days consist of early mornings with multiple cups of coffee and tea as the latter takes Ari (Zayn's daughter) and Ryler while Louis and Stan attend classes. After, Stan and Zayn work while Louis watches the babies. Louis and Zayn then end their days with late night football practices for the University while Stan takes the kids.

One of many good things about Zayn's little girl, Ari, is that her mother, Gigi, is still in her life, taking her every weekend while Zayn gets her every weekday. With his girlfriend being a model and traveling every which way at any time of the week, that's just how things ended up.