Rivals - L.S.

Twenty Seven - A Tomlinson Holiday

It was barely eight in the morning and Louis was already having a holiday straight from hell.

He woke up at five a.m. to a frantic pounding on his front door. In only his boxers, Louis raced to open it up, being met with the building doorman, parking garage security team and the head of his personal security detail. His car and everything inside had been stolen during the night. That didn't seem too bad, Louis knew that it was all replaceable and he'd rather lose a car instead of losing something really important to him.

But it only got worse.

Seeing no use in going back to sleep when he was wide awake, he made some coffee and some toast and was looking up the phone number to his car insurance company. The toaster caught on fire and when he jumped to get an extinguisher, his coffee spilled all over his laptop.

Louis may or may not have punched a hole in the wall.

He took a shower and he got dressed, coming back out to find two voicemails; one from Harry and one from his uncle.

"Hello Louis. I would like to invite you to come to out the Doncaster home for lunch this afternoon. Bring your boyfriend if you'd like. Be here at noon."

"Hi baby! I know its early and you're probably sleeping still but my mum called and she invited us to come stay the night in Holmes Chapel. She and my sister are making a Christmas dinner and they're both dying to meet you! If you don't want to go then I suppose that's fine but I think it would be fun. I love you, call me back!"

Louis face-palmed.

First off, he hadn't seen his uncle in years and it had been longer since the man extended any kind of invitation to Louis. To be quite honest, Louis was terrified to go back at all, there were a lot of unpleasant memories surrounding his uncle's home and just his uncle in general that he wasn't so sure he wanted to face.

And second, this would be the very first time Louis meets Harry's family- which is a huge step in their relationship. What if they didn't like him? What if they thought he was weird? What if they thought he was messed up for the way he grew up? It was stressful.

This was going to be a lot of family time for a boy with no family experience.

So, Louis called Harry and told him everything. They made the plan to quickly swing by the Tomlinson household just long enough to eat a snack and say hello on the way to Holmes Chapel for an evening with Harry's family.

Louis was just praying that nothing else would go wrong.

But then, on his way down the elevator to meet Harry, he got stuck for thirty five minutes with a coughy-sneezey stranger, and he knew that he was screwed.

"You okay there, love?" Harry asked, the pair now in the car on their way to Doncaster. The curly haired boy was wearing a dark suit and his signature little boots. A small kerchief hung from his suit pocket that was a light blue color, one that he insisted he bring solely because it matched Louis' eyes.

Louis let out a breath, he didn't even realize he had been holding it in until now. "Yeah, yeah. Just nervous, s'all," he replied, looking over at Harry from his spot in the passenger seat, "It's been forever since I've seen my uncle. And, I'm meeting your family for the first time, which is huge. I'm just hoping it all goes smoothly."