strings that snap | larry

twelve

"but you weren't on the same wavelength at all."

Nothing clicks with Louis  until three days later. 

Yeah, it's his birthday. He wakes up and heads to the kitchen like he usually does. Harry isn't making eggs though. He's making pancakes.

When the boy sees him, he smiles wide. "Harry birthday, Louis."  Something about the boy flipping pancakes seems so domestic. Louis pushes the thought out of his head.

"Happy birthday to Lou!" Daisy squeals as she jumps on the boys bed, her tiny twin in tow.

"Happy birthday to Lou!" Phoebe sings as she throws her hands in the air. Louis would normally be angry but it's his birthday and they're just trying to be sweet.

"Happy birthday dear brother."  Lottie pops her head in the door. 

"Happy birthday to you." Fizzy finishes. She walks in with a tray. From the presentation, Louis can tell that their mother let the girls prepare it. A pancake with a lopsided smiley face drawn on with whipped cream, fried potatoes, and bacon.

Daisy is still on his bed. She leans over and wipes at his face. "Why're cryin' Lou?" She frowns. Daisy still wasn't very good at articulating her words and sometimes it was a struggle to understand her. Louis was good at piecing it together though. "Did we make you sad?"

Louis laughs and shakes his head, wiping away the tears that Daisy missed. Fizzy sets down the tray out of harms way and gives Lottie a look.

Before he knows it, the girls are piling on top of him and he's laughing and crying and he's filled with such joy. He thinks about how important these girls are to him. How they're his life.

It's when he realizes they could be ripped from him any second.

"Morning, Superstar." He ties his robe tighter around his waist and sits at the table with his book. He missed having the paper in his hand. Now that Harry's back he's got time to relax and finally finish the wretched thing.

Harry has a way of moving that's distracting. For a killer, he is pretty clumsy. When he flips the last pancake it falls straight to the floor. The dopey boy just stares at it for a while.

"Don't worry about it." Louis' eyes crinkle a little at the side. He had a way of showing so much emotion through his eyes without his mouth even twitching. Harry sighs in relief and throws out the pancake before plating the rest.

They sit in silence while they cut up their pancakes. Louis hates butter knives, really. He thinks they're useless. Even if he has a blade hidden in his room, no one trusted him with a steak knife. The pancakes Harry made were so fluffy that Louis probably could have cut them with plastic utensils.

Louis tries to tell himself that he is definitely not jealous of Harry's cooking skills. He's very good at lying to himself.

Harry raises an eyebrow when Louis puts nothing but butter on his pancakes. Looking across the table, Louis sees the other boy has his plate drowned in syrup.

"I am not a fan of sweet things." He thought that Harry would of picked up on that by now.

"Is that why you hate me?" Harry is absolutely infuriating. He had been bringing it up since he showed up last. Louis lets out a huff.

"'Nother time, superstar." Harry seems to have realized that he killed the light hearted mood that surrounded the kitchen. He looks a bit guilty.

It's a while before the dolt decides to open his mouth again. "What do you wear when you go to talk to the president?"