Summer camp *ON HOLD*

Chapter 49

As they enter the field, Ben whistles and beckons Liam over to help with the fireworks. The leader nods, claps Zayn on the back and ruffles Louis' hair before walking over to lend a hand. Zayn guides Louis over to where James and Nick are setting up the barbecue. 

"Hey sweet angle" James coos as he reaches out to take hold of Louis, the little one slotting himself comfortably in the man's arms. 

"You come to help us Lou?" Nick asks.

"Yep, thought we better supervise, don't want the whole camp getting sick. Ain't that right munchkin" Zayn replies, sending a wink over to Louis who is nodding and giggling as James wacks a pair of oven gloves over the back of Zayn's head. 

Louis spends his time observing James and Nick man the barbecue from his perch on James' hip, feeling very content now as he brings Lucy-Dog up to his face to snuggle into the soft fur. 

"I love barbecues" James states passionately "I mean I just LOVE barbecues" he states dramatically, going as far as to close his eyes and nod his head. 

"I know" Nick says casually from where he's standing next to the man, casually flipping a burger. 

"I mean this, this is one of the finest inventions since... ever" James continues. Zayn rolls his eyes at the man as Nick just nods his head in agreement. 

"I use them all the time. Can get enough of them! I've got a whole stack of them at home in my garage. Had one the other day, in the garden, couple of sausages, but of bread, lovely." James says, making his fingers and thumb all collect to a point and kissing them in the 'delicious' hand signal. "Then, when you're done with it, chuck it away." He finishes, gesturing with his arm of throwing something over his shoulder. 

"Very environmentally friendly" Nick sassily mumbles.

"Oh don't start" James sighs, making a point of turning his body away from Nick so him and Louis were facing out to the field. 

"But it's not is it?" Nick replies with raised eyebrows.

"Right ok well let's all buy a Prius and have a shit in the woods" James sassily replies back, making sure to mime the swear word though, ever conscious of the little one. 

Zayn snorts at the level of sass before wondering off when he spots a couple of the camp mates attempting to climb into the roof of one of the cabins. He's pretty sure he recognises that head of curls and distant voices of certain Australian lads.

Nick rolls his eyes before turning his attention to Louis. "How'd you fancy being my little assistant chef for the day?" 

Louis nods eagerly, looking towards James with wide pleading blue eyes full of excitement as if asking for permission. James chuckles as he sets the boy back down on his feet, taking hold of Lucy-Dog and putting her safely in one of the storage boxes containing paper plates under the table. 

Nick gives Louis a hand with rolling up his pyjama selves and tying an apron around his waist, the material reaching his ankles. "Right quickly wash your hands then we can get started" Nick says as he leads Louis over to a hose pipe connected to one of the cabins. 

"Ahh!" Louis lets out a little scream, not expecting the water to be so cold. 

"Sorry Lou, shoulda warned ya!" Nick apologises, squirting some soap onto his little hands before turning the tap on again. 

Once their hands are all cleaned and dried on a spare tea towel, Nick shows Louis how he is making stuffed peppers for roasting, following a Jamie Oliver recipe he has open on his phone. 

The pair have a lot of fun, nick handling all of the sharp utensils, cutting the tops off the peppers while Louis gets his hands dirty pulling out all of the insides. "Like making pumpkins at Halloween time!" Louis comments, looking up at Nick with a wide smile. 

"You're right, it is!" Nick gasps, mirroring the little ones smile. 

The pair are just finishing the last couple peppers, having made around 40 for the whole camp to enjoy, when Liam and Zayn come over to have a look at how the food going. 

"Oooo, looking tasty Lou! What have you been making my little Remi?" Liam asks as he places the baseball cap he was wearing on Louis' head and hauls Louis up to sit on his shoulders, trying to recreate ratatouille. 

"Stuffed peppers" Louis replies, a proud grin on his face. 

"Stoofed" Liam snickers, trying to take the piss out of Louis' accent. 

"Yeah stuffed Liam, that's what Jamie Oliver said!" Louis sasses back quickly. 

Zayn, James and Nick both looked up at him, proud smirks on their faces. "Jeez James, I don't know who's worse, you or Lou when it comes to sassing people out!" Nick chuckles. 

"He's the sass master from Doncaster!" Zayn states, sending a wink up to Louis. "But his mum calls him boobear!" He adds in a feign whisper.

"Yeah and he's the Bradford bad boy!" Louis says, pointing his finger at Zayn before he attempts to make a 'cool' hand gesture whilst saying "yo" in a deep voice. 

"Ugh I don't even say that anymore" Zayn face-palms. 

Everyone was in a fit of giggles after that. It was so funny to see Zayn cringe and Louis almost feel backwards off of Liam's shoulders from how he was laughing so hard. Thankfully, Liam has good reflexes as he was able to hook his little legs under his armpits and grab onto Louis' arms to steady him back onto position. 

"Right, I think that's the food all done!" James cheered on a clap, looking very proud of himself for all f the food they had successfully not brunt on the barbecue. 

"Here Lou, why don't you call everyone for food yeah?" Nick asked as he looked up to Louis from where he was setting out all of the bottles of sauce.

Louis nodded eagerly in reply and shuffled slightly on Liam's shoulders, straightening his back and drawing in a huge breath before he placed his hands in a cupping motion around his mouth, creating a megaphone shape and belting out at the top of his lungs "Grubs up!"

The four leaders around him winced, Zayn sticking his finger in his ear and Liam using Louis' thighs as ear defenders. However, the loud call certainly worked as they were soon bombarded by teenagers all barrelling towards the hot dogs, burgers, chicken kebabs and peppers while strategically avoiding the salad. And they're pretty sure they could hear a certain Irish voice yelling "fooooood!".