Just One Little Favour

Nine

They left early this morning, Harry and Louis bickering over a shirt that Louis was very sure was his. Harry made him try it on, and when the sleeves came just below his knuckles, it confirmed everything for them. Louis simply huffed, threw the shirt at Harry's face and packed the remaining of Joseph's toiletry bits.

That brings the two—Louis and his nephew— pulling up at Lottie's house now. Harry dropped them off at Louis' earlier and after dumping his bags in the kitchen, he switched to his car and is now switching off the engine.

He unbuckles his seat belt, Joey doing the same and jumps out his car seat, charging for the front door.

Louis slings Joe's bag over his shoulder, striding up to the door and using the key he has just taken from the flower pot to unlock the door. Joe goes bombarding in.

"Mummy, I'm home!" he calls out, running into the front room.

"Shoes, Joey!" Louis yells to him, kicking off his own shoes and walking into the front room where Lottie has her cup of tea to her lips, setting it down quickly in order to bring Joe in for a cuddle.

She throws daggers at Louis, stroking Joe's hair back off his forehead. It's definitely in need of a cut but the boy cannot sit still long enough.

"I'm so angry at you," Lottie addresses to Louis.

"And a hello to you, too. We had such a great time, thanks for asking." Louis rolls his eyes, crashing into the chair to the left of her.

Lottie huffs. She scans Joe. "What's with the cuts on his knees?"

"Mummy, I fell off my bike. But it's okay! I learned to bike without stables-izers."

"Stabilisers," Louis mutters, reaching over and taking a sip of Lottie's cuppa, scrunching his nose up.

Bloody sugar.

"That's great to hear, love," Lottie says gently, smiling at her boy, shoulders slumping.

Louis can't help but feel a little agitated at the fact that she's angry at him, when he's given Joe a memory that'll be with him for a very long time.

"So you had fun, then?" Lottie asks.

Joe nods, playing with the silver necklace around her neck. "Yes! We stayed in a treehouse, and there was a pool table and I was good at hitting the balls. But I use my hands, not the sticks. Loulou says it was okay to do that, as long as no one sees. We went on a zip line! I went down like superman. We have spaghetti one night, and chicken nuggies. We played mums and dads all the time, because it's Harry's favourite game," Joe rambles.

Lottie's brows furrow. "Harry?"

"Mr Styles," Joe inputs.

Lottie's brows quirk. "Oh." She looks to Louis.

Louis shrugs. "He had a spare room, asked us a few days ago." He knows he shouldn't lie to his sister, but if he told her the truth, who knows what'll happen.

Lottie pecks the top of Joe's head. "So you had fun then." It's more of a statement than a question.

Joseph nods vigorously. "Mmhm. Can I have some choccy milk?"

Lottie pats his outer thigh to signal for him to jump off. "Sure, go ahead, you know where it is."

"Yay!" He charges into the kitchen.

"Get me one, Skimbleshanks!" Louis calls after him.

"So, how's you?" Louis asks, spreading his legs slightly, head against the head rest.