Mind Over Matter ~ Lilo Family

2. No Such Thing as Better Things in Life

It had a been an odd night. For Niall it felt like some kind of odd sleepover with a stranger. Harry had stayed in his bed all night and was so quiet Niall almost forget he was there. Niall wasn't quite sure what he was expecting Harry to to do... Cry maybe? He'd stayed awake, but pretended to be asleep for a little bit, just to see if Harry would cry. He didn't.

He'd awoken in the morning to find Harry sat in his bed playing with his phone, his face devoid of emotion. The guy's mother literally died a week ago! Why wasn't he showing any of the signs of grieving? Niall found it very weird, and a little unsettling.

Harry was quiet, he glanced over at Niall, offered a small smile, then went back to looking at his phone.

"What's the time?" Niall asked.

"Half past six." Harry answered, not looking up. "What time does school start?"

"Uh, eight forty-five I think." Niall shrugged rubbing his face sleepily.

Harry nodded, "And what time do you usually have to wake up?"

Niall groaned and fell back so that he was lying against the pillows, "Someone usually comes in at about seven."

"Cool." Harry mumbled, still completely engrossed on whatever he was doing on his phone. "What's it like to have two dads?"

Niall shut his eyes, it was too early for questions. "I don't know any different." He muttered, "It's pretty good I guess, 'cause they're nice. If they weren't nice it might be a bit different. You'll soon find out." Niall wanted to ask what it was like having a mum, but thought the better of it.

Harry nodded, a thing he seemed very good at doing, and didn't say anything further. Not until Niall had almost fallen back asleep, keen for an extra five minutes of rest before he was to be woken again. "What's school like?" Harry asked.

Niall scrunched his face, and propped himself up on his elbows. Harry wasn't on his phone anymore, he was sat up and looking at him. "It's school."

"Yeah, but like... What's it like," Harry asked, playing with the scab on his lower lip.

"Boring. Some teachers are nice, others aren't. Some kids are nice, others aren't... I don't know it's just school. Does that hurt?"

Harry stopped nibbling his lip for a second, "Only when I break the scab... Like this." Harry bit down and both boys winced.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

Harry shrugged, "So that it doesn't go away."

Niall opened his mouth to call Harry strange, and ask why he didn't want the scab to go away, but Louis interrupted, wearing only his pyjama pants, and fuzzy bed socks, he crept into the room, obviously thinking he'd need to wake the two boys up.

"Oh, you're both up early." Louis stated, as if it wasn't obvious.

"I'm always up early." Harry mumbled.

"Well that's good to hear, maybe you can teach Niall a- Harry you're bleeding." Louis strode over to him, and gently took the young boy's face in his hands, examining the bleeding lip. "Come with me to the bathroom and I'll clean it for you."

Harry shook his head, gently freeing himself from Louis' grasp, "No thank you Mr. Tom-"

"I know I said call me anything, but please don't call me that." Louis smiled softly to show Harry he wasn't in trouble.

"Sorry. You don't need to clean it for me Louis, I can do it."

As Niall watched the two, he felt some sort of a pang in his chest, and he almost wished it were him that was bleeding so that Louis would come over and give him attention. He was not used to sharing his Dad yet.