Can I dip? | Larry Stylinson

t w e l v e

"Wake up, boys." Anne whispers, patting Harry's and Niall's shoulder, Maura behind her. Niall goes home in the morning after their sleepover. He never exceeds a day. Harry always needs to wake up every time Niall goes home. He needs to bid him good bye. He just needs to.

There was once a time where he woke up without Niall beside him. He cried the whole day. Anne doesn't want that to happen again, of course.

Harry shuffles in his bed, knocking Niall on to the carpeted floor. The two mums gasp at first but then chuckle when they bring Niall up to their lap. The bed isn't that tall. It was made perfectly for situations like this.

"I'm awake!" Harry croaks, rubbing his eyes with his hands. Niall is still not awake despite of the knocking over. He's a heavy sleeper, got it from his dad.

Harry wobbles over to Niall, cradled onto his mother's lap. Harry pokes Niall's nose, "wake up, Ni. Time to go home!" Harry says in a whispered tone, his lips slightly touching Niall's ear lobe, making him stir in his sleep. His eyes finally open.

"Ni! Good morning." Harry greets, the two mothers coo at their sons, once again. "Morning, H."

They let the two boys walk out of the room hand-in-hand.

Anne prepared breakfast for the guests. It's nothing special, just bacon and eggs. Harry's usual favorite.

The two boys sit beside each other. Harry occasionally steals Niall's bacon strip whenever he glances away from the table.

-~-

"Bye Niall." Harry waves at Niall, who is inside the car. Niall waves back as the car drives off.

Harry's alone, again.

They both walk back into the house, holding each other's hand. "Mummy? When will Gemma come back?" Harry asks, his eyebrows curved.

"Soon, Harry. Soon." Harry frowns at the response. She always replies with this phrase. Soon. Harry wants to know when is soon. How long is soon?

The last time he saw Gemma was when he was 3 years old. She treated him with Mcdonald's. It was fun while it lasted. They both went home and he suddenly heard shouting. Long story short, Gemma was packing her bags. She was out by the door and looked at Harry the last time and—she was gone.

She never came back ever since.

"Mummy, I'm just gonna go and play in my play place. Good bye!" Harry runs to the door after Anne nods in reply.

Harry is once again outside his backyard. He sniffs the air and oh boy it smells like grass and rain. Harry's favorite smell—for some weird reason.

He does his daily routine. He checks the flowers planted in the yard. He looks for any bugs on it. He removes it and places it away somewhere else. He doesn't kill it. That's a huge no-no for him. He dislikes killing bugs. They're just so gooey and the goo sticks on to his fingers.

After that, he plays in the pool. He quickly runs up to his room to fetch some paper. He'll be making paper boats to make it float on the pool. It's something he saw when he watched something on the telly. It was this show where this kid's brother made him a paper boat and he went outside to make it float on the puddle. Harry didn't get to finish it though because it was already his bed time.

He hurriedly makes a little boat labeled "Captain Harry's ship". He carefully plops it on to the pool. It successfully floats, making Harry light up in joy.

After a while, it sank. Harry then moves on to the swing. He sits on it and sways for a bit until he's finally bored.

He stays on the grass, lying on his chest and his legs all raised while he picks on the grassy floor. He sees a little lady bug, quickly petting it with his index finger but ends up squishing it, making him go all ballistic. He immediately wipes all the goo on to a cloth nearby. He moves on to another spot where he sees a little flower starting to sprout. He observes how beautiful it is.

He's always dreamed of being as beautiful as a flower. His thoughts get ruined when someone calls his attention.

"Psst! Curly."