WE ARE ONE

Prologue

- Hey, hey, hey. We give up! - he hurried to say and raised his arms up to stop himself from being attacked... with water. 

     The boy cheered and jumped happily for his victory and ran away.

- Nooo. - a small soft voice whined, still clinging to his legs, not looking eager to let go, and trembling. 

     Louis chuckled and knelt down, bringing the child in front of himself. The boy was pouting, but it was obviously a part of his game. He was already wet from head to toe and that explained the reason he was trembling. Louis grinned at him and rubbed his small arms, cooing when the child looked up and his huge chocolate eyes were in sight. 

- Hi there! Seems like you had some fun, huh? - he grinned. 

     The child nodded and giggled, showing his tiny teeth and his body leaning closer to Louis, liking the warmth after all the cold water.

- What's your name, giggly? I'm Louis. - the man asked and flicked the boy's button nose.

     The kid scrunched his eyes, making an adorable frown appear on his face. He giggled at the nickname and tried to stop Louis' inked hand. First he concentrated on the answer but before a word would leave his mouth, he sneezed. Louis shook his head and brushed the wet hair away from his forehead but the child was determined to answer. 

- Hi! I am Leeyum! 

     The man's body nearly melted from the boy's soft voice and he brought him close to his chest and kept rubbing his back to warm him up. 

- How old are you, Leeyum? - he asked gently. 

     Liam looked down at his hands and frowned, trying to remember how he counted his fingers. His face lit up and he looked up at the man, almost bumping Louis' chin with the top of his head from excitement. 

- Three! - he announced proudly.

     Louis let out an extremely amazed "wow" like that was a huge achievement and thought about how Liam was so small that his best guess was one and a half, or two maximum. 

- That's so cool! Now, what if I take you to that lady, so she'll get you into dry clothe? Don't want you to catch cold, do we? - he said stood up with the boy in his arms. 

     Liam's hand found its place around his neck and he leaned his head against the side of Louis' face, his hair falling into Louis' eyes and making him chuckle fondly. Louis took him to one of the caretakers, who shook her head when she saw them. 

- Oh, Liam. You and your water fights again? - she sighed and took him from the stranger's arms. - Let's go get you changed. 

     The boy nodded slowly but kept looking at Louis. 

- I hope he wasn't bothering you, sir. - the woman turned to Louis and playfully tickled Liam's side. 

- Bothering? Please! It was an honor to meet this young fella. - Louis chuckled and waved at Liam, when the caretaker walked away with him.

     The door was shut behind the two, and Louis was back to waiting. There was no point in looking around, as he found the one. Or, more precisely, the one ran to him and hid behind his leg, already having Louis as his protector. While the boy was with the caretaker, Louis took his phone and grinned at Harry's text letting him know that they'd meet in fifteen minutes.

     Thirty minutes later, as Harry couldn't find a free parking spot, the tall man entered the room, looking moody. 

- You better have some good news, or I'll kick your ass for being so sneaky! - he whispered, looking as intimidating as ever. 

     But Louis didn't have time for playing along. He waited too long for it. That morning was just it! As dramatic as it was, he couldn't wait a few hours longer for Harry to get back from work. Harry's face softened, as he felt the happiness radiating from the shorter lad. Without getting an official answer, he understood the reason behind that kind-hearted smile. 

- Come see. He's the sweetest little boy, Haz. - Louis whispered and grabbed his hand. 

     Harry's eyes crinkled, and he followed, feeling lucky that it was a boy, as he was secretly hoping. One part of him was jealous that he didn't get to choose. But the more dominating part knew Louis would make the best decision, anyway. They got to the corner, where the boy was sitting in front of a small table, pencils and papers covering it. He was completely changed and dried and if it wasn't for his hair, Louis wouldn't find him easily. 

- Hey, love. This is Harry. He's an amazing guy! We live together and we want to take you with us. Do you want to come? - Louis asked, while kneeling down beside him just like earlier. 

     But the boy didn't look happy about seeing him. He furrowed his eyebrows and pulled himself away from Louis. 

- No. Why would I?! - he snapped, sounding twice rougher than before. 

     Louis stood up and took a step back, giving the boy some space, not wanting to scare him. He looked up at Harry shamefully. While he was dragging him to the kid, he wanted to demonstrate how likable he was and how he got the boy's affection and respect immediately. But now the child was kind of ruining that. But Harry wasn't surprised. He understood that it could be a difficult process for both sides. 

- You don't need to be scared, ok? We are here to take you home and to take care of everything. I know you may feel frightened but you can trust us, kid. - he told him calmly.

     But even Harry's comforting voice didn't help with the obvious confusion that was growing bigger and bigger on the boy's face. Harry and Louis shred a helpless look, pleading each other to find a way. They were determined to adopt him but he scrunched his eyebrows and pushed himself away. Seeing how the body movement hurt Louis, as he could see his love for the boy already, Harry put his hand on Louis' shoulder and tried to think of something to say. 

     But before he could say anything, they heard someone approaching them and turned around. Louis raised his eyebrows, when he saw the same woman. But what surprised him more was the tiny body tiredly snuggled in her arms. They both stood in their places and stared at her and then back at the boy, and even Harry who just got there felt the awkwardness around him. 

     The caretaker put the boy down on his feet and Louis only realized it was Liam. He looked at him and back at the other Liam, who reached a hand for the original version, who took it and sat on the doppelganger's side tiredly... all Louis could do was shake his head and hope for some explanation. 

- There you go. Oh, I see you met Axel! Don't mind his grumpiness. That's just how he is. - the woman sighed and shook her head at the boy, apparently named Axel, who had Liam behind himself, as if they were thrown into a cage with tigers. 

     Liam ignored Axel's movements, though, and reached for Louis, happy to see him again, even though he was tired from his small watery adventure. His innocent and shining eyes brought the smile back to Louis' face and he picked him up, not missing the other boy's glare. 

- Are they twins? - Harry asked awkwardly, as if it wasn't obvious. 

     The woman nodded and asked if the possible parents wanted to know more about any of the boys. But the two didn't even need to discuss it, as Harry asked for the twin's files, knowing well that they would never separate them. After the tiring paper work, he went back to Louis and his soon to be legal sons to find them in front of the same table. Axel just ignored their existence, concentrated on the piece of paper. While Louis and Liam were just goofing around, getting everybody's attention by the small boy's loud laughter. The two boys looked identical but so, so different! They had the exact same features, but Axel was slightly bigger. As the documents claimed, he was the first born, while Liam came in hours later, when there was no hope that he would survive. Also, another major different was their attitude. Harry chuckled to himself, when he remembered about movie characters having evil twins. But Axel wasn't evil. He was just cool. Nowhere as sweet and nice as the other boy.