Like Water Over Fire (Like Water On Fire)

unoooo

The television in the Tomlinson household was older than any one member of the family, and nearly just as worn. It had a habit of losing service, despite the fact that the worn out satellite still stayed in the same place, and every so often a person on the screen would become a collection of enlarged, multi-coloured pixels. It was so old that it still had a dial on the side and sometimes it would get caught on loose metal and jam on some undesirable channel until Louis' dad would come home and pry it from its place. It was completely useless when it came to any sort cable television and picked up at total of 4 channels, the public access news, a children's cartoon channel, one that showed old sports highlights, and the shopping channel.

Because of the costs of satellite, it was normally only on twice a day. Once very early in the morning, when only the weather channel was available, solely so that Louis' mum could decide if it was best to wear a skirt or pants, and once after dinner for the nightly report.

The report was half an hour long, and Martin McSilver, a larger than life character with an affinity for the colour by which he was named, hosted it. He was fun enough that Louis' little sisters laughed, and informative enough that Louis' mum deemed it worth watching, but most importantly, he was the official royal correspondent. This meant that every Sunday he would bring the public either a live interview with the royal family, or a newsreel of "They're Just Like You" moments for inside the palace.

Louis could watch it for hours. The lavishness of the palace, with its crown moulding, turquoise walls, mirrors in ornate gold frames, and tables topped with marble. Or the beauty of their clothes, made of silk and tweed, heavy with jewellery from around the world. Queen Anne's tiara of pure white diamonds catching every light in the studio and King Desmond's watch made of pure gold. The glittering caught in Louis' eyes and stayed there for hours after, filling his dreams with images of himself surrounded by these niceties and riches.

That was long before he realized that his life was not meant for that.

His life was meant for things like worn out soles in old shoes and never quite enough to eat. For cockroaches and washing dishes in the back of restaurants, wishing for nothing more than to be sitting with the patrons. Louis gave up on any hope of a life like that long ago.

He accepted where he stood, far from the palace in London, in a town outside of Manchester, in a house with too few rooms for too many children and little to do about it. He was only one person in a crowd of so many like him, not meant to shine with the gleam of gems or silk. That was just his destiny.

But Louis found that no matter how much it pained him, he could still wonder at the world so far from his own. A world full of vast gardens, and rooms to one's self, and maids, and cooks. A world where a Queen lived with her King and their only son, in a palace that could fit so many. And so, Louis watched the report every Sunday religiously, to find his half hour of escape into the world of royalty.

Sometimes, he would still dream of his own life there. On nights where Lottie slept soundly beside him, and the twins had fallen to sleep early, he could find himself dreaming. Each and every dream included one common theme, he was a prince, and Prince Harry didn't exist.

It wasn't that he hated Prince Harry; in fact he thought that he was quite likable, but after years of realizing every degree that separated them until they were nearly separate species, it was difficult not to resent him just the littlest bit. Prince Harry had everything that Louis didn't. He had money, and a family who was not falling apart at their seams, and a beautiful house with what Louis was sure were very few if not no bugs. He had a horse named Dusty (Louis had learn from one of many film reels over the years), and a kitten named Molly who had a habit of getting lost in the palace only for Harry to have to go and find her. He had many friends from other royal families, who were interviewed at every English royal gala saying how lovely Harry was to be around. He had a four-poster bed with silk curtains patterned with little leaves and a computer on his desk in a shade of gold, complete with a golden mouse.