Larry Stylinson Oneshots

Baby I'll Never Leave (if you keep holding me this way)

Author : we_are_the_same

Summary: His fingers curl around the first thing he can find that would be suitable as a weapon, an umbrella that has a rather impressive looking metal pin at the end. He holds it in front of him the way he imagines people hold a sword, tiptoeing through his living room until he can find whoever's in his kitchen. He briefly considers calling 999, figures that if someone's trying to burgle him, he should probably not be a hero and actually rely on professionals to arrest them, but he's never been the type to sit back and wait, and -- is that singing?

It is singing. Whoever is trying to rob him is in his kitchen, singing an eighties pop song under their breath.

And they made cookies?

___

The sink is almost overflowing with dishes.

Louis balances his empty bowl of cereal carefully on top of the stacked dishes, letting out a quiet sigh of relief when it doesn’t topple over, though he makes sure to back away slowly, afraid that just a ripple of air will be enough to force the dirty plates and bowls into an avalanche. It’s the last thing he needs right now, when he’s already late for work.

It’s Monday. Louis is never great with time management, but even worse on a Monday. And the stupid thing is, he doesn’t even have a busy weekend to blame for it. He hadn’t necessarily gone to bed too late (though he had slept in until noon both days off) or spent most of his time out of his apartment.

He never does, these days.

It’s safe to say that he’s not in the best place in his life, but, he thinks, he’s allowed. Considering he just got dumped.

Well. Four months ago, but really, what is four months compared to the entirety of a human life?

Louis feels justified in ignoring the mess in his apartment, in claiming he’s busy when really he just doesn’t seem to have the coping skills to actually clean. It’s easier to spend his afternoon on the couch, watching footie, than it is to tidy up, do laundry, do the dishes, vacuum, mop, because the whole of it is so daunting that Louis doesn’t really know where to start.
It’s always a problem for future Louis. For tomorrow Louis. For ‘I’ll do this on the weekend’ Louis.

The funny thing is, he’s the complete opposite in his professional life. Granted, he works with young kids, but he runs a tight ship in his classroom. Kids will be kids and all that, but at the end of the day, the toys are cleared away and the tables and chairs are all wiped down (because Louis loves kids but they’re somehow always a sticky menace and Louis would quite like to be able to place his hands on any available surface and not have to wonder what on earth he’s getting on his hands), and anyone looking in would think that Louis is the kind of person who has his life together.

He used to, before. When people were actually coming over to his place, because he might be a slob but he’s not immune to what people think of him. He at least made an effort to do more than the laundry on the few items he wears to work. But things have been different ever since Covid struck, his family not able to visit as much and most of his friends not coming over since he works with kids and might put people at risk.

He understands it. He appreciates it, too, because the last thing he wants is to somehow be responsible for someone else getting sick. But between the lack of social interaction (that isn’t with 4 year old kids) and his recent break-up (and it’s not like he can easily go out and meet someone if he were ready to do so) it’s been easy to let his already messy lifestyle get worse. To wilfully close his eyes to the mess, even when his apartment stops feeling like home and starts feeling like another thing that stresses him out.