homeless [l.s.]

03

the sound of birds chirping filled louis' ears, before he blinked the sleep away from his eyes.

his son, on the other hand, was resting peacefully on his chest, his tiny hands clutching his tiny biceps.

louis stared for what felt like forever, watching his angel of a son sleep like nothing was wrong.

but everything was wrong.

but of course, he didn't know that.

louis rubbed circles on zayn's back, causing the four-year-old to stir and shift positions.

"zaynie, love, it's time to get up."

he didn't move.

"zaaaaaaynieeee."

before louis was about to speak again, zayn shuffled up his chest and buried his face into the crook of his fathers' neck.

"no." the muffled sound rang through louis' ears. he grinned and picked him up off his chest.

"yes." he stared into his sons' green eyes.

zayn pouted, before squirming out of louis' grasp and shimmying over to his little pile of toys. he picked up the digger he found the day before and started rolling it all over his fathers' body.

"hey, stop that." louis chuckled.

zayn giggled and started rolling it over louis' collarbones.

"okay, time to get clean, you're getting sand all over everything." louis spoke, zayn's grin disappeared and he looked down.

"sorry daddy." he said.

"it's fine, love," louis replied and kissed his forehead, "what do you say, you go outside and try to find a river or a lake, and i'll get everything ready, okay?"

"okay."

louis pushed the side door open for him, and zayn hopped out and toddled along, looking for a river.

to his right, louis picked up a plastic bag, sifted through its contents, before ticking off his mental checklist that everything he needed was inside.

the bag had a towel, which probably had all kinds of diseases and bugs on it by now but louis was too poor to even care.

it also had a water-bottle full of soap, which louis made from an aloe vera plant he found a few weeks ago, and he washed out the water-bottle before filling it with his hand-made soap, which, he was quite proud of, if he did say so himself.

the bottom of the bag contained a brush which was presumably supposed to be used for cleaning pots and pans, but louis stole it from eleanor's place before he left and went on his life-long journey of starting a proper family.

"found one yet, love?" louis called out before taking some random clothes out of a different bag.

"yeah!" he heard a reply, before he saw zayn running towards him in his peripheral vision.

"okay," louis said, before sliding out of the back of the dust-infested car, "lead the way, sir."

he heard a slight giggle before he was speed-walking to keep up with his son, the bag scraping the side of his leg.

after a couple minutes of walking, the pair arrived at a small lake with leaves sprinkled over the waters' surface and making tiny ripples everywhere.

louis took off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his underwear. zayn did the same.

"okay, love, it's freezing so we're gonna be quick, okay?" louis said as goosebumps rose on his body.

"okay daddy," zayn replied, and he took off his underwear.