Given A Chance (1D Version)

21.

Maybe he had a drug addiction he didn't know about and these were the side effects. Or he was in a coma after a terrible accident and he simply had a vivid imagination, that was keeping him alive. Or maybe he had entered another parallel universe and this time for real because this couldn't actually be happening to him right now. It was strictly impossible. He couldn't be sitting here for real with his mother, Zoey and Harry. The four of them couldn't be hosting his two oldest younger sisters with their partners while his daughters were playing upstairs and all of this in his childhood home. No, this had to be a very real-looking dream.

And this dream robbed him of any words he could say to them, so he watched from his place on the couch how Harry conversed with Sophia and Emily like they had known each other for years. The three of them got along so great and Zara and Tyler looked absolutely and completely charmed by Harry just like his mother and Zoey from the moment they had met him a month ago.

It has been a whole month now and so much has changed even though nothing has really changed. Harry was his boyfriend now and he was getting along with his family perfectly, the girls adored him and had advised Louis to let Harry into their lives for good and Louis was trying. He really was but he was still struggling with grasping this entire situation and believing it was real. Stuff like this didn't happen to him normally. He has never had love, never felt it in a romantic way before although he had tried. It's been six days by now and Louis wasn't used to being in a relationship with that man yet. That wonderful and perfect man, who wanted to be with him for some unknown reason. It still felt like a forbidden dream.

A dream he wanted to be reality. He wanted it to be them at the end of all things but he wasn't sure that was in the cards. For six days, they had mostly lived in a bubble. Only work had pulled him back to reality but as soon as he had been home, fantasy land had taken over and had made him forget about all of his doubts and worries and still-existing fears. He was mainly fighting a battle against himself and he was losing somehow but he wanted to win.

"Lou, are you with us?" Harry touched his hand softly, stopping his finger from twitching with nerves and pure anxiety.

"Mh?" Louis' head snapped up, glancing at everyone looking at him questioningly. "Yeah, sorry. My thoughts were drifting away".

"I noticed that. What's on your mind?" Harry hooked softly.

"Nothing important, Haz" Louis patted Harry's hand tensely. "What were you guys talking about? I didn't catch anything".

"Funny that you're asking. We were talking about you" Jasmine crooked her head, looking smugly at him. "And the girls".

"What about us?" Louis hooked suspiciously.

"I told them that Zayn mentioned something to me" Zoey spoke up now. "Is it true that he gave his room to Eve for now and is rooming with Liam? I mean, back at your apartment".

"Yes, that's true but only temporarily" Louis felt himself being dragged out of his dreamy bubble and back into the harsh reality. "Eve and Mae can't share a room any longer and Zayn and Liam came up with that solution for the time being but I'm looking for something better. I can't let them do that but the girls are getting too old to share a room. They're fighting so much lately".

"So, you're trying to give them separate rooms to reduce the fights and give them space" Jasmine understood where he was coming from. "That's probably the most efficient way, Darling".

"I know. Especially now that they're used to it from living here. They can't go back to sharing a room for much longer, which sadly means we definitely have to move at some point next year. I hate moving" Louis tried to come off as unbothered but inside, he was already freaking out about this entire situation. He was screwed.