Life Changes

5. I Can Feel The Pressure, I Know The Pain And The Hurt

"I run a successful business, Tommo. I do pretty well for myself actually."

Louis' eyes dropped to Harry's lap. There was a notepad tucked between Harry's crossed ankles in which he had notes scrawled all over it. In Harry's other hand, he held a book that was titled The Sh!t No One Tells You: A Guide to Surviving Your Baby's First Year. Funny, that. Louis snorted and looked up to see Harry's eyes boring into his, the green color intense even from a few feet away.

"Yeah? Well, running a baby is not like running a bakery."

"I didn't say it was."

Louis' voice pitched higher, the stretched vein right above his clavicle visibly pronounced. Harry raised his eyebrows at Louis, amused at how much Louis was getting worked up. Christ, it wasn't even 9 a.m. and Louis' temples were already throbbing with a new headache.

"They're a mess. They pee on things. They bite. They're basically dogs." Harry's face broke out into genuine, soft laughter at that, the book he had been so severely invested in was now completely forgotten. "Except at least a dog knows not to lick the electrical sockets."

As if on cue, Isabella started wailing in the background, fussing and crying out choked sobs.

"Oh, she's up."

Harry stood up immediately to tend Isabella with Louis following closely behind. Isabella was standing up in her crib, her face completely red with tears staining her cheeks. Louis glanced worriedly at Harry before both men approached her cautiously.

"Hey, look at the sleepyhead."

"Hi, honey. Hi."

Louis was about to pick Isabella up when hands smacked his open arms away. He looked at the culprit with a questioning glare, his eyebrows seaming inwards at the contact from where Harry was holding him back. He looked from Harry's long fingers wrapping all the way around his own wrist to Harry's flushed face.

"No, don't pick her up. Don't pick her up."

"Why?"

"Because she needs to learn how to self-soothe. It's really important."

Louis squinted his eyes at Harry for what seemed like the tenth time that day. Harry had probably gone mental with his absurd theory, all bright eyes and sharp teeth snagging on his lower lip. If this was an action comic book, a drawn light bulb hanging over Harry's head would have been long overdue.

"She needs to what?"

"Self-soothe. Soothe herself. I just read it, Tommo, it's important. Let's just give it a minute."

Isabella kept crying, throwing her hands in the air for someone to pay her enough attention to pick her up. Louis resisted the urge to reach out to grab her and instead stayed put, glancing at Harry every so often and waiting for him to make the first move. Harry forced a happy smile on his face and clapped his hands together cheerfully.

"Everything's okay. Happy, happy girl!"

When that didn't seem to work, Harry swung his arms in the air stupidly but held back. Knowing Harry's obsession with pregnant mothers and babies, Louis knew he was dying to pick Isabella up at the first sight of her tear-stained face. Harry seemed to be in deep thought before he snapped his fingers and smiled manically.

"You know what? Let's just sing a song. We'll sing a song. Um, uh, the wheels on the bus go round and round..." Louis caught on quickly, both men singing along, "Round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round. All through the town," while clapping their hands to the beat of the song.