The New Sitter

Part 4

Title: The New Sitter

Pairing(s): Harry/Louis (Larry/Lourry)

Rating: PG

Word Count: 2,674

Summary: Harry's mother has always been overly protective of her son, but when she accidentally hires Harry's crush from high school to be his new baby sitter, Harry realizes his one-sided crush from high school may not be as hopeless and one-sided as he thought. 

Disclaimers: Some mild angst, then some heavier angst, but some goodness to balance it all out.

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Louis' mother lied when she called Harry's by saying that the two boys ha fallen asleep early in light of the recent controversy at home. She suggested that she allow Harry to stay the night at the Tomlinson residence and reassured her that he would be well taken care of during his stay. Harry's mother only agreed after Louis' mother cleverly pointed out that he was staying with his babysitter, but simply in another location with additional adult supervision. She had made a kettle of tea for the boys to have for the evening and retired to her bedroom. She felt horrible about the incident that occurred at his house and decided it was probably best to leave the two some space from adults for a while, all things considered. She prepared a palette of sheets and pillows on the couch in the living room and made sure to find the softest sheets and fluffiest pillows her home could spare for them. She retired to her bedroom early on in the evening and left the two on the couch in the dim lighting of the television screen.

The two boys spent the majority of the early evening on the couch in silence. Various images flashed across the screen, but the volume had been kept low for the majority of the night. Both of the boys were busy processing all of the events of the evening, so neither objected to the inaudible programming. Louis wanted to ask Harry how he was doing every few minutes, but was unsure of how he could approach the topic since the boy became so reclusive when the situation was occurring. He wanted to ask if the panic attack was something that had happened to Harry before in the past, both being caught in the middle of a serious fight and clamming up in such an unpleasant way. Louis had never seen anything that intense before and he did not like it at all, especially since it happened to Harry.

"My parents got divorced when I was really young," Louis said in an attempt to break the ice, "I barely remember my father honestly. I was old enough to know what was going on, but that was so long ago that most of the memories have faded. My mother tells me that they ended things in kind of a mutual way -- they both realized what they wanted and it wasn't each other. In my dads case, it was either of us. That's how I ended up living with my mother all my life." Louis shifted his weight in his seat and pulled his legs onto the couch underneath him, then shifted again. He found it difficult to get comfortable and could not decide if that was due to the conversation topic or not knowing what was going through Harry's mind. He looked at the younger boy who had found refuge under a quilt his mother had crocheted herself. He had curled up on the couch and had rested his head on the arm of the couch. Louis looked for a moment and tried to read something from Harry's blank stare at the images on the television, but this made him more uneasy because in the entirety of Harry's face he saw nothing. Louis had never seen Harry with such an empty expression.

"Mine got divorced two years ago."

"I'm sorry, Harry." Louis reached out and placed his hand on the younger boy's knee in consolation. "I'm sure that must have been an awful feeling."

Harry pulled his knee away as rolled over onto his side. "I don't really care, though. You see how they are together, I prefer it this way, honestly."