I'll be home soon - Larry AU (boyxboy)

Chapter three

The living room was dark when Harry woke up from the tune of the late news broadcast. It was past midnight, meaning he'd been asleep for at least two hours on the couch.

He picked up the glasses and the bottle of wine he'd taken out but never touched and took them back to the kitchen where Louis' dinner was still waiting for him on the kitchen counter.

Another broken promise. Harry had honestly tried to keep the kids up as long as possible, hoping that Louis would come home before they were asleep. When Jack had fallen asleep with his head on top of his toys and Beth couldn't stop yawning even if she tried hard, he knew he had no other choice. Beth had begged him to talk to Louis, so he'd called him, but he never picked up. His heart had broken when Beth hadn't even cried, she'd just nodded when he told her he couldn't reach her dad and crawled into bed, gripping her plush dragon and squeezing her eyes shut. He'd kissed her goodnight and went back to the living room to wait for Louis, because he'd said he'd be home soon, and how much longer could that be?

Long, apparently. Harry was just on his way to the bedroom when he heard Louis' key turning in the lock of the front door. He leaned against the banister, waiting for Louis to come inside and find him there. He wasn't sure how to look, angry, sad or just disappointed. All three feelings were swarming inside him and he didn't know which one was strongest. He could tell Louis didn't expect him to be still awake from the way he silently toed off his shoes in the foyer and softly opened and closed the cupboard to hang his coat.

“Harry!” he sounded surprised, and maybe even somewhat scared. His hair was a mess but at least he didn't smell of alcohol like last month when he had promised to be home for dinner.

“Louis. I saved you dinner, like you asked. I do think it's cold now though, after waiting for you to come home for about six hours. Have a nice meal.” His voice was cold and distant, and he could see that Louis was taken aback by it.

“Harry...” he tried desperately, grabbing his thin wrist as he turned to walk upstairs.

“What, Louis?” it sounded more harsh than he had intended, but well, he supposed Louis should know how angry he was right now.

“I'm sorry, okay? I really wanted to come home after the interview, but then they called a meeting about the training camp for the national team so I had to stay and it really lasted until half an hour ago, I swear!”

“Newsflash, Louis, this isn't the seventies. You have a cellphone and I have one too. We even have a landline. You could have called or even texted. Hell, even just answering my calls would've been absolutely brilliant..”

“I'm sorry, I didn't have time.”

“Bad excuse, Louis.” he shook his head, having to push his curls back as they fell in front of his eyes. It was weird to fight like this, with hushed voices not to wake the kids up, but it wasn't like it was the first time this happened. “Do you have any idea what it feels like to put your 6 year old daughter to bed after she heard once again that her dad won't be home to kiss her goodnight? How hard it is to see her put on a mask because she finds herself to tough to cry? I don't even care if you break a promise to me Louis, but if you break their hearts, it breaks mine a hundred times worse.”

“I'm sorry.” It was barely more than a whisper but Harry heard it. He huffed and turned around to go to bed.

“Tell Beth and Jack that, Louis. Goodnight.”

“I'll be up in a bit.”

“Whatever. Oh, in case you forgot, it's Beth's birthday next week, it would be nice if you could make the effort to come home for dinner for once.” he stormed upstairs almost forgetting to close the door softly in order not to wake up the children and pulled his clothes off before he flung himself on the bed, letting silent tears escape his eyes now that he could. He didn't hear Louis' quiet reply, telling him he did remember Beth's birthday.