three hearts in one home (l.s.)

8. Rhimes and certain someones

“This shirt”, Jonah determines and points to a light blue shirt with an orange deer on it, “deer is my favourite.”
I smile and hand him the shirt out of his closet.

“And this.”
He points to grey joggers and I get them for him as well before I go to the kitchen to prepare him his breakfast.

I’m actually kind of familiar with the surroundings by now, its the second day we’re spending at Louis’ house.
I make Jonah his cereal and make myself some tea, it looks like Louis doesn’t drink any coffee.

“So, what do you say, are we visiting your dad afterwards?”, I ask when he walks into the kitchen.
He nods eagerly and sits down in front of his bowl with cereal. “He get better soon.”

I nod while dumping my teabag into the hot water. “Of course, he will. Bet if you visit often, he’ll feel even better because he loves you so much.”
Jonah grins and starts eating his cereal happily.

I check my phone and see a lot of messages from the boys, apparently, they can’t really deal with me being away for two days, they think I’m totally crazy for doing this.
I know it’s a little fast forward. I barely know Louis but I like him and I know he needs help. So, why not help him?

Jonah runs of to the hallway, grabbing a brown coat and orange beanie he puts on with some sneakers.
“I’m ready”, he shouts and impatiently starts jumping up and down, “Hurry, Harry!”

He giggles after that. “That rhymes. Hurry, Harry, Harry, hurry.”

He doesn’t stop shouting so I down my too hot tea in one go after heading to the wardrobe.
“Alright, love, calm down. We’re leaving soon.”

~~

“Daddy”, Jonah shouts when we enter the room, I’m glad Louis wasn’t asleep before.
Louis opens his arms and Jonah climbs onto the bed to hug Louis tightly.

“Hi, my love. I missed you.”
“Miss you too, daddy.”
They talk for some while, Jonah telling Louis all about ice cream, the dog series and his goodnight book.

Louis looks up at me after a bit and smiles. “Hi, Harry.”
I smile back, realising how much I like it when he smiles at me. “Hi, Louis. How are you feeling?”

He shrugs and pulls Jonah a little closer. “Alright. I’m still on a lot of medication but the headache is getting better.”

“I’m really glad.” It’s the first time I feel butterflies around him, the way his face lights up and the way his hair sticks to his forehead a little sweaty.

“Jonah, baby, how about you go and play in the playroom for a while, while me and Harry talk? I promise we’ll cuddle a lot afterwards.”
Jonah nods happily and let’s go of Louis to climb of the bed. He quietly shuts the door after him.

“How is everything?”,Louis asks after a few moments of silence, “Be honest, please, is it too much? I still have the opportunity to call my friends home, please just tell me.”

I shake my head slightly. “Everything’s totally fine. Jonah misses you a lot but he’s so easy to take care of, no worries.”

“I’m so thankful for you, Harry, really. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

And I think the butterflies in my tummy are back when he says that. “You don’t need to thank me all the time.”

Louis rolls his eyes but than frowns and shuts his eyes for a second. “Ouch. Moving my eyes makes my head hurt.”

He chuckles lowly. “I do need to thank you though, Harry. I will pay you back for this, with money or anything, just tell me how I can thank you.”

That makes me blush a little. “You being okay is enough, really. I want you to get better and not think about any thankful gestures. I’m happy when you’re okay again.”

Now it looks like Louis is the one blushing and my heart skips a beat when he takes my hand and presses it quickly before letting go again.

“Thank you. I know how hard it is to take care of a child so I really, really appreciate your effort, love.”

I smile. I wonder where Jonah’s mum or other dad is, wonder, how Louis ended up in that situation, completely alone.

“How is it, raising him alone?”, I just blurt out. I don’t know if this is too personal already, I am not sure if he’s ready to talk about it to anyone but I want to get to know him better.

“Not easy but the most beautiful thing in the world. It couldn’t make me happier. Not the being alone part, the raising him. I sometimes wished someone was there to support me but it was fine, really. Jonah was fulfilling every need.”

I raise my eyebrows and grin a little. “Oh, shut up, curly. I didn’t mean every need. As a child, obviously.”

I chuckle quietly but the ‘curly’ makes my heart beat a little too fast.

“Why, I mean, when”, I take a pause. I shouldn’t ask him about Jonah’s other parent yet, “Forget it.”

“Why I’m raising him alone?”, Louis finishes my question and I nod a little shy.

“His mum was a friend, nothing more until we got a little too drunk. Was in my gay denial phase so I slept with every girl I could find to convince myself I’m straight. That didn’t go so well.” He laughs quietly. “We thought we could raise him together but she couldn’t. She had some mental problems and I had to take Jonah all by myself. Not that I regret a single decision.”

I smile softly. Him saying he’s gay made me a little happy. Sure, I already noticed and he might have mentioned it somehow already but I never heard him saying it so openly.

“You did very well with raising him. You can be proud of yourself.”
He smiles and then quickly looks at his hands.

“Thank you. Sometimes I wish someone was there with me, but who knows, maybe I’ll find that certain someone sooner than expected.”

~~~

another chapter later today yes or no?

how did you like this one?