Adopted

Halloween

The music on the phone's playlist changes to a song that makes Louis' ears perk up. He recognizes the tune. While the daddies just stare at their little, Louis glances at the phone and rocks his body back and forth.

"Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh it's what you do to me," he sings along. "A thousand miles seems pretty far. But they've got planes and trains and cars. I'd walk to you if I had no other way."

"Has anyone ever told you that you have an amazing voice," Zayn asks.

The boy looks down at his feet, his cheeks burning a dark pink color.

"This was the first song I ever sang at karaoke night. My mates made fun of me for picking such a sappy song, but I love the Plain White Ts," he says in a fond tone.

The daddies smile. "They're pretty good," Liam says.

Louis smiles, but deep down there is an ache in his chest, almost like he's missing something, but he hasn't got a clue what it could be. He feels like he should be crying, but instead his face just remains frozen as the singer finishes his song, singing about the love of his life that he will one day get to be with.

Zayn frowns, noticing Louis' mood change. "Everything alright, Dove?"

Louis looks up and plasters a bigger smile on his face, hoping it's convincing. He nods, "Yeah. This song just gets me sometimes."

"Well, perhaps you'd like to help us finish making dinner," Zayn offers, wanting to distract the boy.

"What're you making?"

"Mummy dogs," Zayn says.

Louis scrunches his nose in disgust.

The men laugh. "Relax, it's just a sausage wrapped in dough to look like a mummy," Liam tells him.

"Oh, okay," Louis nods.

"Let's wash your hands first," Zayn says, guiding the boy over to the sink. He squeezes soap on the boy's palms and turns on the tap, allowing Louis to do the rest. Zayn pats his hands dry with the dish towel before they go back over to Liam. He's holding a can of crescent dough.

"Ready for the fun part," the man asks.

Louis nods eagerly. "Okay! On the count of three I want you to say 'pop'. Ready? One. Two. Three!"

"Pop," Louis calls out as the can of dough bursts open with a pop.

Louis claps his hands together and chuckles at the noise. Liam flours the surface of the cutting board and rolls the dough out until it's flat. He takes a knife and cuts the dough into many thin, long strips. His husband takes a few sausages out of the packaging and lays them on a plate in front of Louis.

"Okay, so what you're gonna do is take a strip or two of this dough here," he says holding up the flimsy dough. "And then you take a sausage and you wrap it around it a few times like this. And when you're done just set it on that baking sheet right here."

Louis nods and copies Liam's actions. His mummy doesn't look as good as Liam's so he frowns and backs away from the counter. "Can't do it," he pouts.

Zayn rests his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Yes you can. Mummies aren't supposed to look perfect. Go on, give it another try," he says, pecking the boy on the cheek.

The boy walks forward again and picks up a strip of dough. This time he carefully wraps it around and decides to add another strip so it looks less bare.

"Very good," Zayn praises. "See, you can do it, Lou!"

Louis smiles and finishes with just a little help from Liam. The man puts the tray in the oven.