taming mr.tomlinson [larry stylinson] ✔️

28.

"Should I stay in the car?" Liam asked nervously, staring up at Louis' house from the inside of his car, then glancing over at Harry in the passenger seat. "Or do you want me to go with you? No, actually you got yourself into this mess, so you're going to go in there and see if he's okay. I'm not saying that you have to tell him you did it, but at least comfort him or something."

"I'm scared," whispered Harry as he put his hand on the handle, but he didn't open the door until Liam shoved him in the arm. "You're right. I'm going, I'm going."

So Harry sucked in a breath and walked up to Louis' door, his fist hovering tremulously over it before he had enough courage to knock. After a few seconds, Harry was about to give up and run back to the car, but the door opened—though it wasn't Louis that answered. It was the man that Harry saw when he went to the restaurant with Liam, who Harry suspected was his father since they didn't look much different.

"May I help you?" The man asked dubiously, his questionable expression wavering as Harry began to respond.

"I'm—Louis'...um, friend. I guess. M'Harry. Hi, you must be his father, right? It's nice to meet you again. Not that you know me since I was the one creeping on you that time at the restaurant..." Harry laughed nervously in between his pauses, but the older man didn't look the tiniest bit amused by his awkwardness like Louis would be. "Is Louis home?"

"He's not feeling too well. Maybe you should come by later." The man said swiftly, then shut the door in Harry's face without giving him the chance to explain. Harry huffed and knocked on the door ten times harder than before, forcing a smile when the man opened the door again, his face grim. "Listen. I know who you are, and frankly enough, I don't like you. Louis was doing quite fine on his own, he was himself, until you got involved. So please, young man, leave."

Well, thought Harry indignantly, putting his hand on the front of the door and pushing it open more, causing the man to stumble back. "Sir, last time I checked, this is Louis' house. Not yours. So I'm not going anywhere until Louis comes out here to talk to me."

"And last time I checked, I am his father, which means that I know what's best for Louis. For your sake and mine, you do not want to see him right now."

The door shut in Harry's face again, causing him to turn around and purse his lips at Liam, who was sitting in front of the car window watching while biting into a granola bar. Harry mouthed the words what do I do?, but Liam only shrugged and wiped the crumbs off of his face. Just as Harry was about to give up, yelling came from behind the door before it opened for the third time, revealing Louis in just a t–shirt and boxers.

His hair looked sweat out, his eyes were bloodshot red, and his cheeks were blotchy along with wet from crying. Harry was so much in shock that he had trouble opening his mouth, never thinking he'd see the day where this man, who sometimes lacked emotion during the day, actually was upset. Harry forgets that Louis is human sometimes.

"Hi," said Louis hoarsely. He looked behind Harry's shoulder and lifted his hand to wave at Liam, who began sinking in the front seat to hide. "I'm sorry about Troy...or my dad. He's an ass."

"Yeah." Harry replied without thinking, then laughed nervously when Louis raised his eyebrow at him. "I didn't mean yeah as in he's an ass—I was just agreeing that—"

"He's an ass."

Harry cleared his throat. "Yeah."

"Is there any reason why you're here?" Louis asked after a moment of silence, reminding Harry of the real reason why he showed up in the first place. As much as Harry wanted to talk to Louis about it, the man didn't look like he wanted to have any kind of conversation from the way he was impatiently tapping his finger against the door.